Cattle with no grass to eat after the 270,000-acre Lodgepole Complex fire near Jordan are being allowed to graze on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, federal officials confirmed Friday.

Two ranches have been approved to graze cattle on the CMR, which includes a grass bank of historic ranch land that hasnt been grazed in decades. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the decision Friday, saying it would meet with other interested ranchers that evening in Jordan.

The USFWS did not say how many cattle had been approved for grazing so far, or how many head the refuge could accommodate.

Grazing is not unusual on the wildlife refuge. Prescriptive livestock grazing is a CMR tool for managing habitat and conserving wildlife. Wildlife officials began looking for ways to help ranchers with water and forage on Monday as the Lodgepole Complex fires blackened more than 220,000 acres.

With little grass remaining in the burn area, and pump-supplied stock tanks out of commission, ranchers are desperate for water and feed for thousands of cattle displaced by fire.

The Garfield County Conservation District began contacting ranchers midweek about meeting with U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Turnout was uncertain because many ranchers are still rounding up cattle that scattered during the fire, which was mostly contained by Friday. As the blaze blew up from 69,000 acres July 21 to more than 220,000 two days later, ranchers cut barbed wire fences so animals could flee, while in other areas fences burned away.

Families were ordered to evacuate as the fire closed Highway 200. The four-fire complex destroyed about a dozen homes.

By Friday, the fire had consumed 270,200 acres but was 80 percent contained along its 193-mile perimeter. There was a new flare-up Friday, but the 553 firefighters working the complex were mostly focused on mop up duty.

The conservation district will take up grazing options at its regular meeting Tuesday.
British law and government in Ireland, with its successor regimes, has at all times succeeded from the de facto position and has never been established as de jure. There is no lawful right born of conquest and therefore Britain has never, and does not now, possess democratic title to any part of this country.Under international law, continuity of government can derive either from said de facto or de jure positions. This is of note because the Irish Republic, while unfortunately never able to establish itself as the de facto government of Ireland, having succeeded a popular mandate still has claim to the de jure position over and above the partition system, which is merely de facto.The latter proceeds not from a de jure constitutional succession but from conquest. While conquest can birth a de facto government, given there is no recognised lawful right to conquer and impose on others it cannot of itself give rise to a system of government that is de jure.The Republic of Ireland entity, unable to reconcile its succession with the de jure position  as it succeeded the Irish Free State  which in turn succeeded the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland  is outside of and apart from the Republican line, its lineage found not in the 1916 Proclamation but in British constitutional theory.While the preceding government at the time in question  that being the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland  may well have claimed lawful entitlement to rule Ireland, it succeeded from invasion and conquest  not lawful procession  and therefore was de facto and not de jure. On that basis, the entire existing order  while yes de facto and yes to be countenanced on that basis  has no de jure standing when stripped back to its point of origin. Rooted in invasion and conquest, it can never be otherwise.The bottom line? Conquest does not award democratic title, British rule in Ireland must end, the British-created 'Treaty State' styling itself the Republic of Ireland must go and the constitutional integrity of the true Irish Republic, which remains de jure authority in all of Ireland, must in turn and from there be restored.What could realise such lofty ambition? A British declaration of intent is the necessary first step and it is here where the national effort must focus. An election from there can give form to a Third All-Ireland Dail, this to sit as a Constituent Assembly with the remit of restoring the Republican Constitution, with provision made that it be in keeping with the requirements of modern Ireland. This is the pathway before us. Onward to that day.
BOZEMAN  Angela Des Jardins has worked for more than three years to experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that she wants to share with as many folks as possible  the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse.

If you dont do it, you might really regret it later, Des Jardins said.

Des Jardins is the director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium at Montana State University in Bozeman. In that role she has helped to coordinate the Eclipse Ballooning Project, in which 55 teams from across the country will capture the first aerial video of the eclipse from high-altitude balloons and live-stream the footage to NASAs website.

So even if you cant take time off from work to drive to nearby Wyoming or Idaho to view the eclipse in person, Des Jardins and her ballooning crew has your back. Even if you miss that, you can always watch it later.

Were going to be recording everything, she said.

What?

During a total solar eclipse, the moon aligns perfectly with the sun and obscures it entirely, but only within a 70-mile wide path. On Aug. 21 that path will cruise from Oregon to South Carolina. During the eclipse the moon will completely block the sun for about two minutes, producing the most dramatic effect.

NASA calls it one of natures most awe-inspiring sights.

The last total solar eclipse that was visible from the contiguous United States occurred on Feb. 26, 1979.

Its kind of a deep twilight, with basically a 360-degree sunset, Des Jardins said. Some of the brightest stars will come out.

The suns violent atmosphere, called the corona, will become visible as a ring around the moon, which is an amazing thing to be able to see.

The next total solar eclipses wont take place until 2024 and 2045. Recognizing the rarity of the event, folks have booked up motel rooms and Airbnbs months, if not years, in advance. Any rooms still available are going for outrageously high prices. In Jackson, Wyoming, the Snow King Resort is renting out indoor camping spots in an attempt to accommodate additional visitors since the mountain resort town is in the path of totality.

Driving to the dark

If you are game for a drive, there are plenty of spots along the eclipses path to view the event. Public lands abound in Wyoming and Idaho and maps can give you a rough idea of where to go.

You have to take precautions, though. Don't look at the eclipse with your sunglasses. That can cause permanent eye damage. Looking at the eclipse through your camera can ruin it. It is OK, however, to look at the eclipse or photograph it during the moment of totality, that period when the moon completely blocks the sun.

Glasses to view the eclipse are inexpensive and available online. Its important to purchase glasses that comply with international safety standard ISO 12312-2, Des Jardins said. Don't look through a telescope or binoculars with those glasses on, though, as those magnifying devices will concentrate the sun's rays. Information about obtaining free glasses at MSU can be found at www.coe.montana.edu/eclipse/viewing.html.

If you are in the Bozeman area, where viewers will see a partial eclipse in which the moon will obscure 95 percent of the sun, it will be necessary to wear protective glasses during the entire eclipse. Starting at 10 a.m. on Aug. 21 in front of the MSU Library, members of the MSU Physics Department will distribute glasses and will also have solar telescopes and other special viewing equipment. In Bozeman the partial eclipse will begin at roughly 10 a.m. and will peak at 11:36 a.m.

Where

The path of totality includes a tiny and remote corner of southwestern Montana, as well as Idaho Falls and Rexburg in Idaho and Jackson, Thermopolis and Casper in Wyoming. If you go, be prepared for crowds and traffic and bring plenty of water and food, Des Jardins said. Cellphone service may be temporarily unavailable due to high demand.

If driving and crowds dont sound fun, check out the aerial video that MSU and 54 other teams will livestream using high-altitude balloons. They will all launch helium-filled balloons to carry cameras to an altitude of more than 80,000 feet to capture the video.

Its a space-like perspective, said Des Jardins, who initiated the project in 2014. From that height you can see the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space.

From space

Youll get to feel like youre looking down on planet Earth, she said. It will invoke wonder and curiosity about whats happening, the special alignment that has to happen for the shadow to move across the Earth.

The video from all the teams will be livestreamed to NASAs website. During the eclipse, the MSU homepage will link to a livestream transmitted from one of the MSU teams three balloons, which the team will launch from the Rexburg, Idaho, area.

The livestream is meant to complement viewing the eclipse directly, not replace the experience, Des Jardins said. She recommends viewing the livestream during the hour before or after the local peak of the eclipse. Teams will be livestreaming from more than a dozen balloons in Oregon and Idaho before the eclipse peaks in Bozeman.

The Museum of the Rockies will show the Eclipse Ballooning Project livestream at the Taylor Planetarium. Doors open at 10 a.m. and normal admission charges apply. Eclipse glasses will also be available for purchase.

Get to it

Regardless of how or where people view the eclipse, Des Jardins is encouraging everyone to take the time to experience the extraordinary happening.
The estate of a Georgetown man killed in a crash involving two tractor-trailers last year in Orangeburg County has won a settlement of $11 million in a wrongful death lawsuit.

The estate of Kenneth Avis was awarded the settlement, with $6 million being allocated to the survival action and $5 million to the wrongful death action, in U.S. District Court on July 11.

Avis' estate will receive $7.2 million -- $3.9 million for the survival action and $3.3 million for the wrongful death action.

"It was a good resolution in what was a very tragic accident," said Charles Whetstone, the attorney for Avis' estate.

Of the $3.3 million wrongful death settlement allocation, about $875,936 will be given to the personal representative of the estate and a total of $2.4 million will be given to future descendants of the estate over a period of 32 years, the settlement states.

The remaining $3.8 million will go toward attorney fees, pro rata costs and probate fees. The settlement releases the defendants in the lawsuit of any further legal action.

Avis, 48, died of thermal injuries sustained in the crash when his tractor-trailer collided with another tractor-trailer on S.C. Highway 4, causing both vehicles to burst into flames.

The collision occurred in the early morning hours of Friday, Aug. 19, 2016.

Avis was driving a 2015 Volvo westbound on S.C. 4 (Neeses Highway) when it struck a 2016 Freightliner being driven eastbound on Neeses Highway by David Lee Gullikson.

The lawsuit was brought by the estate of Avis against the tractor-trailer company Eagle Transport Corp. and Gullikson.

Eagle Transport's attorney did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the settlement.

According to the lawsuit complaint, Gullikson, who was not injured in the crash, stopped in his lane of travel and began to back and maneuver the tanker truck across the westbound lane of travel onto Neeses Camp Road.

The lawsuit states that Avis came over the hill and struck the tanker, which was blocking the westbound lane.

The complaint states that both Gullikson and Eagle Transport were "grossly negligent and reckless" by their actions and failure to properly train Gullikson to handle the tractor-trailer.

Gullikson is currently facing a criminal reckless homicide charge, caused by injury from vehicle, stemming from the incident, according to Orangeburg County court records.

The case was filed on June 5 of this year.

According to an Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office arrest warrant, physical evidence, testimony and a post-collision urinalysis revealed Gullikson operated the vehicle "with reckless disregard for the safety of others."

Gullikson's case was sent on to General Sessions Court by Orangeburg County Magistrate Derrick Dash on June 2.

In response to the plaintiff's complaint, Eagle Transport stated that Avis was also negligent and requested a determination of Avis' contribution to the accident.

Eagle Transport also contended that the plaintiff's claim for punitive damages was inappropriate because the defendant did not engage in any "malicious, reckless, wrongful or intentional conduct" and that the accident was the "result of a sudden emergency and/or unavoidable accident."

Eagle Transport also answered the complaint by stating that punitive damages violate several constitutional amendments including:

Double jeopardy (multiple awards of punitive damages) cannot be imposed upon the defendant for the same act or omission.

Punitive damages require a greater standard of proof than applicable in civil cases and are quasi-criminal in nature.

Unlimited punitive damages violate the defendant's right to court access by chilling that access.

Punitive damages violate due process and equal protection clauses.
BEATRICE  President Abraham Lincolns signature scrawled across the Homestead Act of 1862 drew 38,000 people to the national park dedicated to the federal land giveaway when the document went on display in 2012.

Those record-breaking figures at Homestead National Monument could soon be eclipsed  so to speak  by the total solar eclipse that will black out the skies on Aug. 21, potentially drawing tens of thousands of people to the Beatrice area.

Near the path of totality's center line, the total solar eclipse near Beatrice will span more than 2 minutes.

Theres a lot of excitement here, and the staff has been working very hard and very diligently to get the park ready, said Superintendent Mark Engler.

What to see

Events on Eclipse Weekend begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 19, with storyteller Ryan Paul, who will trace "Native American Starlore," or the stories tribes told to explain the constellations.

Since Homestead has been designated an official NASA viewing site, NASA scientists will be on hand to discuss the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft set to be launched in 2018, science laboratories in space, exoplanet studies and the GLOBE Observer, a citizen-scientist initiative to track climate change.

On Eclipse Day, activities begin at 8 a.m. with music by Chris Sayre and the String Beans before First Contact is announced at 11:30 a.m., prompting visitors to find their preferred viewing areas.

Bill Nye The Science Guy," the CEO of the Planetary Society, and Amy Mainzer of the PBS Kids show "Ready Jet Go!" will explain the phases of the eclipse before they announce glasses on at 1 p.m., just in time for the 1:02 p.m. beginning of totality.

NASA TV will be broadcasting live from a point near the Heritage Center throughout the day.

Hands-on activities will be available throughout the weekend at multiple sites throughout the park.

A complete list of events is available on the Homestead National Monuments website: nps.gov/home.

Watching the eclipse

Homestead National Monument intends to open up spaces to their maximum potential, Engler said.

Rangers will mark areas targeted for a controlled burn this fall where astronomers can set up telescopes and visitors can stake out a spot to watch the cosmic event.

Farming demonstration areas at the Education Center on the banks of Cub Creek on the parks west side and the Heritage Center overlooking the parks eastern border will also be cleared and made available for visitors.

Further west along Nebraska 4, at the one-room Freeman School, Engler said astronomers bringing larger telescopes can set up.

Engler said one amateur astronomer requested enough room for his telescope that requires the viewer to scale a 12-foot ladder.

Other space closer to Nebraska 4, which cuts through the park from the southeast to the northwest, may also serve as viewing grounds, Engler said. Homestead is working with the Nebraska Department of Transportation to open those areas.

When the moon moves in front of the sun, however, and the shadow approaches at 1,500 miles per hour, Engler said Homestead plans to let the spectacle speak for itself.

"Basically, we're going to go silent with our programming during totality," he said.

Getting to the park

A free shuttle service will operate from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday of Eclipse Weekend between Homestead and three sites in Beatrice.

The shuttle will also operate from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Eclipse Day."

Park visitors who plan to use the shuttle should park near the Gage County Fairgrounds at 321 Logan St.; Aunt Marys Cafe at 111 S. Eighth St.; and Jims Carpet at 308 Court St. and follow signs and directions to the pick-up and drop-off points.

The pick-up and drop-off sites will expand to a number of area hotels, as well as the Beatrice Municipal Airport on Monday, Engler said.

Homestead will close the Heritage Center parking lot at 6 a.m. on Eclipse Day.

Parking will be available on the gravel roads surrounding Homestead: Southwest 75th Road, Southwest 89th Road and West Hoyt Road. Signs and staff will direct vehicles to the parking areas.

Engler said Homestead will be staffed 24 hours a day for Eclipse Weekend  a first for the park in his tenure  both to accommodate extended hours and to assist visitors.

Beatrice still open

Motorists backed up on U.S. 77 driving south into town might witness another rare event: Beatrice Municipal Airport is expecting as many as 200 planes to arrive for the event from all over the country.

People who arrive a few days early have a dwindling set of options.

Hotels in Beatrice have been sold-out for months for Eclipse Weekend, but city officials wont turn away those who dont mind roughing it.

Camping spots with hookups at Chautauqua Park and Riverside Park, both nestled along the Big Blue River, will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

But to accommodate an influx of people  outside estimates range wildly from 10,000 to 100,000 people expected to converge on the area  Beatrice will also open up other green space for dry camping free of charge.

"If someone wants to put a tent up in Chautauqua Park, were not going to chase them out, said Tobias Tempelmeyer, city administrator. We get to keep them in town, so thats the win we get.

Beatrice police and firefighters, as well as other city workers, will be posted at sites around the city of 12,500 people to answer questions and direct traffic.

Planning for the once-in-a-lifetime event lasting 2 minutes and 34 seconds began more than three years ago.

Lora Young, executive director of the Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce, has traveled across the country promoting Beatrice's vantage point for the experience.
A panel of seven experts gave the best advice they had to a group of young professionals gathered in Billings on Friday.

If youre an introvert, tag along with an extrovert.

Dont apologize (for joining a conversation)  youre not that big of a bother.

Tell people running for office: This is what is important to us, and we expect you to do something about it.

A leader is somebody willing to do what nobody else is willing to do.

Figure out what you need to get rid of and what you can be transparent about.

The advice was given to 160 participants in the Montana Young Professionals Summit, which continues today.

Gov. Steve Bullock also spoke during the event, hosted by the Billings Chamber of Commerce and the 275 members of the chambers NextGen group.

Panelists addressed four areas to people still developing their business chops  workforce, civic engagement, leadership and networking/relationship building.

Big Sky Economic Developments Steve Arveschoug said that Yellowstone County businesses will have more than 32,000 jobs to fill during the coming decade  24,000 of them because Baby Boomers are retiring.

Right now, we dont have the talent to fill those positions, he said. Its no longer enough for communities to build roads and bridges. Every community in Montana needs to be investing in themselves to attract talent.

Amanda Boerboom, executive director of Eagle Mount, had some tips for sizing up a room. Is it hopping, or quiet? How are people standing? People standing in a V- or U-shape are interruptable and approachable, she said, but not those in an O-shape, the sign of a more intimate conversation.

Effective networking sometimes involves taking a chance. Take it, she advised.

Everyone is a little uncomfortable, she said, going into an apparently cohesive group.

Two of Forward Montanas four main focuses, said the groups executive director, Rachel Huff-Doria, are issue advocacy and leadership development.

Forward Montana is the states largest youth advocacy and civic engagement organization.

Elected officials in their 50s or 60s have no student debt, so young peoples needs arent being addressed, she said. Its really important that all our leaders arent 65-plus with no kids in the house.

Its all just conceptual, said Jeff Walters of Vertex Consulting Group, unless you step forward and get in line with people who want to make change. Most often, thats not a lot of fun.

Bullock recalled some of his early jobs, including his favorite before being elected the state's attorney general and, later, governor. He once worked as a tour boat guide on a 90-passenger vessel.

Later he landed a job with a Philadelphia investment firm, a job he didnt care for as much. He drew some criticism, he said, for the black-and-white Mickey Mouse watch he sported, a watch given to him by his family. Most people at the firm wore gold Swiss-made timepieces, he said.

Bullocks solution?

I used my next three or four paychecks, he said with a grin, to buy an assortment of Mickey Mouse watches, including a gold one.

We spend a majority of our lives working, he said. Ive probably learned more from my failures than my successes. Make sure its something youre excited about  and make sure youre making a difference.
Few people would find a seventeen-hour flight to the Philippines relaxing, but for three TouroCOM Harlem students who just finished their first year of medical school, the flight was exactly what they needed.

It was nice to finally sleep, laughed Stephanie Morales, who noted that the flight left a day after their final exams.

Morales together with fellow students Brandon Chavez and Hector Zelaya spent two weeks in the Philippines volunteering with the Federation for International Medical Relief for Children (FIMRC). Morales, who encouraged her peers to join her on the trip, said she was attracted to the mission of FIMRC.

They are really focused on empowering the community members, said Morales. Theyre not a foreign organization that promises to fix things.

This was demonstrated by how FIMRC works. Local community members in the town of Mendez led the three students around the neighborhood as they went door-to-door to check on the health of residents.

For me, the most impressive thing was the time and effort the community members put in with us, said Morales. They didnt get paid and they had their own jobs, but theyd volunteer to make sure their friends could lead healthier lives. Instead of a stranger telling them what to do, they had their friend encouraging them to live better.

The most prevalent issue was hypertension and the students advised residents about basic life-style changes like avoiding alcohol and tobacco. The students also performed dengue and malaria patrols, looking for still water where mosquitos that carry the diseases breed.

Zelaya said that he found the culture of the Philippines inspiring.

Even though they live in what we consider an impoverished community, they still have an upbeat and positive outlook on life, said Zelaya. The culture is so rich and the people are genuinely happy. My takeaway is that you can find and create happiness even in places you might not expect.

"The Philippines was such a heartwarming experience, said Chavez. From treating patients with OMM to taking cold bucket showers. I have been able to see parts of medicine I would have never experienced at home."

The last few days of the trip the trio visited the general hospital in Manila and spent time in the pediatric and regular cancer ward.

It was really touching to spend some time with these young kids and adults who dont get many visitors, said Morales who helped run an arts-and-crafts workshop.

Many of the cancer patients travelled from far away and were alone in the hospital, added Zelaya. We were able to provide them with some basic human contact.

Morales said the one of the more remarkable instances happened when she returned. She asked the organization if she could set up a fundraiser for some medications. A member of the organization declined.

Theyre thinking long-term and trying to move away from the donation model, said Morales. Theyre very adamant about empowering the community to fix itself.
Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region, today announced the signing of an agreement to offer clearing services to UAE-based Delma Brokerage, making the brokerage firm the first non-affiliate trading member to sign with the bank.



Emirates NBD is currently the first UAE-based financial entity to be approved by the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) as a General Clearing Member providing clearing and settlement services to trading participants of the UAEs equity markets.



The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Dr Maryam Buti Al Suwaidi, deputy CEO for licensing, supervision and enforcement, Assistant Under Secretary, SCA; Khalid Al Shaikh, SCA head of licensing; Hassan Al Serkal, head of operations division of Dubai Financial Market (DFM); Maryam Mohd Fekri, head of clearing, settlement and depository division of DFM; and Mohamed Al Muhairi, head of clearing, settlement and depository division of Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and senior officials from Emirates NBD and Delma Brokerage.



As the first and only qualified general clearing member for the UAE equity markets, we are uniquely positioned to offer trading members in the UAE a range of tools and products in addition to access to credit facilities which will enhance their operational and cost efficiency, said Tariq Bin Hendi, executive vice president and head of products and advisory, Emirates NBD Group. We are pleased to extend our trusted services to Delma Brokerage and look forward to continuing to support additional trading participants in the UAEs markets.



Salem Al Mazrouei, chairman of Delma Brokerage, expressed his delight at the strategic partnership between Delma Brokerage and Emirates NBD, confirming that it is the culmination of a long standing co-operation between the two institutions.



Hisham Amer, CEO of Delma Brokerage, added: This move will further protect investors and preserve their funds through our strategic partnership with Emirates NBD as a General Clearing Member. -TradeArabia News Service
US-based Sallyport Global Holdings has been awarded a six-month service contract, for a not-to-exceed amount of $133.8 million, to provide base operations support, life support and security services at Iraqs Balad Air Base, said a report.



Sallyport is a global provider of protective, security and mission support services to government and commercial clients worldwide.



This contract is expected to be complete by January 30, added the Iraq Business News report.



This award is the result of sole-source request by the government of Iraq, it said.
Dentons, a leading global law firm, has advised Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) on the issuance by OmGrid Funding Limited of $500 million guaranteed notes, guaranteed by OETC.



OETC is a member of Nama Group and is the sultanate's main electricity transmission network operator.



This latest issuance follows on from the successful debut issuance in 2015, which was the first ever investment grade international bond issuance of its kind at that time by an Omani corporate entity.



The notes were listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and were offered to qualified institutional buyers in the US in reliance on Rule 144A under the US Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act), and outside of the US in reliance on Regulation S under the US Securities Act.



The transaction was also the first international bond offering for an Omani corporation since recent sweeping changes were introduced in Oman's tax regime implementing extensions to withholding tax, which was addressed with the inclusion of a novel issuer substitution mechanism in the terms of the Notes. The transaction was also launched in just over four weeks from the start of work to completion.



JP Morgan and Bank Muscat acted as joint lead managers on the transaction, said a statement.



Dentons' Middle East co-head of banking and finance Sadaf Buchanan, said: We are delighted to see the successful launch of another issuance on behalf of OETC, and are honoured to have supported the OETC team again throughout this transaction.



Dentons corporate partner in London, Cameron Half, said: We are very pleased to have advised OETC on not only another landmark transaction for the company but also Oman and the region. The pricing reflects the continued confidence of investors.  TradeArabia News Service
ESET, a global leader in cybersecurity, has investigated and identified a complex threat posed by a new strain of malware that has so far affected half a million users.



Dubbed as Stantinko, ESETs latest white paper analyzes this highly inconspicuous malware which tricks victims into downloading pirated software from fake torrent sites, and that has continually morphed to avoid detection for the last five years.



Targeting mainly Russian speakers, Stantinko is a network of bots which is monetized by installing browser extensions that inject fake ads while surfing the web, said the statement from ESET.



Once installed on a machine it can perform massive Google searches anonymously and create fake accounts on Facebook; with the capability to like pictures, pages and add friends.



Stantinkos ability to evade anti-virus detection relies upon heavy obfuscation and hiding in plain sight inside code that looks legitimate, it stated.



Using advanced techniques, malicious code is hidden either encrypted in a file or in the Windows Registry. It is then decrypted using a key generated during the initial compromise. Its malicious behavior cant be detected until it receives new components from its command and control server, making it difficult to uncover, said the statement from ESET.



Once a machine is infected, it installs two harmful Windows services that launch every time the system is started.

It is difficult to get rid of once you have it, as each component service has the ability to reinstall the other in case one of them is deleted from the system. To fully eliminate the problem, the user has to delete both services from their machine at the same time, explained Frederic Vachon, Malware researcher at ESET.



Once inside a device Stantinko installs two browser plugins, both available on the Google Chrome Web Store  The Safe Surfing and Teddy Protection. Both plugins were still available online during our analysis, Marc-Etienne Leveille, Senior Malware Reseracher at ESET.



At first sight, they look like legitimate browser extensions and even have a website. However, when installed by Stantinko, the extensions receive a different configuration containing rules to perform click-fraud and ad injection, pointed out Leveille.



Once the malware has infiltrated, Stantinkos operators can use flexible plugins to do anything they wish with the compromised system. These include conducting massive anonymous searches to find Joomla and WordPress sites, performing brute force attacks on these sites, finding and stealing data, and creating fake accounts on Facebook, he added.



Major source of revenue



Stantinko has the potential to be very lucrative as click fraud is a major source of revenue for hackers. Research conducted by White Ops and the Association of National Advertisers in the US estimated click fraud will cost businesses $6.5 billion this year alone.



Details of the sites victim to brute force attacks can also be sold on the underground market after it is compromised by Stantinko, which guesses the passwords by trying thousands of different credentials.



Although ESET Researchers couldnt witness the malicious activity on the social network, operators of Stantinko have a tool that allows them to perform fraud on Facebook, selling likes to illegitimately capture the attention of unsuspecting consumers, Matthieu Faou, malware researcher at ESET.



The Safe Surfing and Teddy Protection plugins are able to inject adverts or redirect the user. It allows Stantinko operators to be paid for the traffic they provide to these adverts. We even found users would reach the advertisers website directly through Stantinko-owned ads, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Mercantile Exchange hosted its latest auction on Wednesday, on behalf of Iraqs National Oil Company (Somo).

The 2-million barrel cargo of Basrah Heavy was awarded at a premium of $1.37 per barrel over the September Basrah Heavy Official Selling Price (OSP). 28 companies logged into the auction with 17 active bidders and more than 25 bids during the two-minute auction.

Over 50 companies have now registered with DME to access Somo auctions, a DME statement said.

Somo has sold a total of 10 million barrels of crude oil via DME Auctions since April. In June, a Basrah Heavy cargo for August loading was auctioned at a premium of $1.18 per barrel.

The stronger premium for the September-loading cargo reflects the anticipated tighter market for heavy crude oil later in the year, with Opec cuts expected to reduce availability in the spot market, the statement said.

DME is the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East. It aims to provide oil producers, traders and consumers engaged in the East of Suez markets with transparent pricing of crude oil.  TradeArabia News Service
Technological innovation is changing the face of finance. Recent years have seen fintech investment reaching new highs across the North America, Asia, and Europe. Now, the Middle East is beginning to catch on, says an industry expert.



Bana Akkad Azhari, head of Relationship Management MEA and the CIS, Treasury Services EMEA, BNY Mellon, discusses the potential for fintech to impact the Middle East financial sector, including perhaps most significantly the regions trade landscape.

Bringing with it the promise of enhanced efficiency, security and transparency, fintech is gaining recognition across the Middle East. Spurred on by a growing millennial population  some 60% of the UAE is under 25the region is increasingly looking to leverage fintech developments for all-round improvements to the financial sector.

Fintech has already found a degree of success in the payments space in the Middle East. The high profile status of PayFort (UAE) and other payment fintechs such as Fawry (Egypt) and Madfoo3atCom (Jordan), for example, are signalling growing acceptance of fintech in the largely traditional Arabic business market.



The state of trade

However, fintech has still been largely underexploited  and this is true across the globe  by a sector wherein it could be truly transformative: trade finance.



Global trade value chains are complex and laden with physical documentation  which, in turn, is highly susceptible to manual errors and fraud. For regions that can be prone to security issues, this is a crucial barrier to both intra- and inter-regional trade.



Moreover, enhanced regulatory measures such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) have resulted in a growing number of rejected trade finance transactions.



To both points of contention  the inefficiency of global value chains and the threat to growth posed by increasing regulations  fintech could offer the solution.



Blockchain and APIs



Two innovations that hold promise in this respect are blockchain and APIs (application programming interfaces).



First: Blockchain. The distributed ledger technology that underscores bitcoin, blockchain is cryptographically secure  that is, once a piece of information is entered into a block it is immutable, and becomes part of the infinite chain of information comprising this shared network.



While blockchain is still in the very early stages of development, it is believed that it could significantly enhance the finance industry  including trade. Indeed, the transparency of the blockchain, and visibility of all information and transactions that pass across it, is being closely looked at as a means of enhancing risk mitigation methods in trade. Blockchain could also help to improve the speed and efficiency of transactions.



The potential impact of blockchain in the Middle East is being attested to by the global community. Innovate Finance, a global fintech forum headquartered in the UK, recently set up operations in both Bahrain and the UAE. Furthermore, an Innovate Finance member, Infosys, recently helped to facilitate a sizeable trade finance transaction via blockchain with Emirates NBD.



Second: APIs. The value of APIs is becoming increasingly understood, and banks  and the wider industry  are exploring their capabilities. APIs allow seamless integration and interaction between online connected services. Moreover, their flexible and customisable properties mean that systems based upon APIs can easily adapt in line with changing client needs. Not only does this make APIs important tools in this fast-changing landscape, these properties also help to promote greater levels of collaboration. And by working together, banks and clients can ensure that end-products are specifically tailored to client requirements  a particularly key advantage for the trade space, where clients being somewhat less receptive to digital innovation than other sectors is a key driver in the speed of digital development.



Indeed, the trade landscape in the Middle East is formed largely of family businesses  who often prefer to stay rooted in their traditional, founding business methodologies. And while the Middle Easts young population is driving diversity, there can be a deep-seated reluctance to change in the crucial decision-making generation  which is a direct result of unfamiliarity with new, innovative technology.



Yet, the benefits that can be gleaned from technology are becoming ever-clearer. And banks are exploring ways in which digitalisation can enhance trade.



Banks driving change



Unmatched in industry experience, client reach and operational knowledge, banks are helping to drive fintech exploration in the Middle East. A key way in which they are doing this is by engaging with fintechs, which is a win-win scenario.



For banks looking to offer value-added capabilities to their clients, leveraging fintech offerings can be hugely beneficial. Indeed, not only do fintechs have the technology expertise and understanding to leverage new digital capabilities, unlike banks they are far less constrained by regulatory demands, and free from legacy systems. Fintechs have therefore been able to innovate more freely.



And for fintechs, collaboration with banks can be invaluable due to banks substantial client base and wider reach, trusted reputation and insights into the intricacies and regulations of the corporate finance industry, and capital. Because of this, there has been a considerable uptake in collaborative efforts across the region.



One of the most visible ways this can be seen is through the rise in incubator/accelerator programmes. Whereas in 2008 there were no new accelerators in the Middle East region, in 2015, 16 new enterprises were established. Furthermore, 55 per cent of those accelerators reported an interest in investing in fintech over the subsequent 12 months.

Without doubt, the region is ramping up its interest in fintech, and increasingly, locations are being established as fintech hubs. For example, Abu Dhabi is at the forefront of the Middle East fintech drive. Facilitating its own bout of leading fintech innovation, the international financial centre Abu Dhabi Global Market launched its sandbox in 2016  an environment where companies, including fintech start-ups, are able to explore new concepts, launch and operate for up to two years under loosened regulations.



Elsewhere in the Middle East  specifically, in Lebanon  a lack of financing for fintech initiatives is being addressed. Lebanons central bank, Banque du Liban (BDL) has initiated a US$400 million entrepreneurship investment stimulus called Circular 331, designed to invigorate financial innovation and endorse companies pursuing new fintech drives.



As fintech activity in the Middle East gains traction, banks in the region are playing a growing role in helping to propel new digital developments forward to positively impact the trade landscape.



Ultimately, trade is integral to overall economic prosperity. And by effectively applying fintech developments to trade finance relationships and transactions, banks can not only positively impact the trade industry in the Middle East, but also the wealth of the region as a whole.  TradeArabia News Service
Opposing sides in the battle over Brook Mine devolved into a social media spat ahead of a hearing Tuesday, where an independent council will decide the fate of one of the first new Wyoming coal mines in decades.

The group of experts will determine if state regulators erred by approving the companys mine plan  an outline for mining coal that needs state approval before permits are issued.

Brooks future neighbors, organized by the Powder River Basin Resource Council, have a list of concerns about how the company plans to operate in the historically mined region, where cave-ins and burning coal seams are not unusual, and where they say a number of waterways could be affected by new coal operations.

The last coal company to mine in the area 30 years ago, Big Horn Coal, still holds rights to a mine site bordering Ramacos proposed mining area. It is also fighting the Brook Mine as proposed, citing many of the same issues raised by the Powder River Basin Resource Council.

Ramaco argues that it has complied with every demand made by regulators in the draft process and disputes any disagreement with the states decision that the final version is complete and safe for nearby homeowners.

The Department of Environmental Quality has become a proxy champion of the coal mine, providing expert witnesses to defend its approval in a week-long trial in May.

The final decision Tuesday determines whether the Brook Mine plan stands, requires some revision or is thrown out. Meanwhile, Ramacos loose language regarding who would be working on its research and how much federal grant money it would receive has raised questions and confusion between the landowners, developers and research groups.

Finding a niche

Ramaco has a tense history in Sheridan County. Many see the firms coal mine, which the company says will sit adjacent to a coal research center and an industrial park, as an economic godsend for the region. Others see the company as a bad neighbor thats been hostile or absent when locals sought answers.

Initially the company planned to mine a modest 8 million tons per year. Thats a small operation compared to other coal mines in Wyoming, like Peabody Energys North Antelope Rochelle complex, which regularly digs up 100 million tons annually. But when first proposed, the coal market was booming compared with today. The company hoped to find a niche.

The industry has since declined. Natural gas prices are low enough to compete with coal in the electricity market, and regulations on carbon dioxide emissions have clouded the industrys future. Opening a small coal mine to serve the power market has become a risky venture.

Mounting tensions

Earlier this year Ramacos leaders announced that given the challenging coal market, its mine would feed a research and industrial park to be proposed nearby, using coal as a feedstock for products like carbon fiber for the automotive industry.

Last week the company announced that the Department of Energy would award a $7 million grant for its research.

The news has only heightened tensions with Brooks opponents, who criticized the facts of the companys press release and compared the research park to other high-profile coal ventures that have come and gone in Wyoming.

At this point, Ramacos press release is nothing more than a sales pitch to garner support for the deficient mine permit and further their attempt to mine local and national taxpayers, said Bob LeResche, chairman of the Powder River Basin Resource Council, in a statement July 21.

LeResche said Ramacos research and development project sounded like the infamous Two Elk energy park proposed in nearby Campbell County. That fiasco began with fanfare, political support and millions of dollars in Department of Energy grants but ended in fraud charges for its developer.

Ramacos spokesman Bill Bissett commented on the councils press release on its Facebook page, calling it too wordy and referring to the council members as stupid hippies.

Ramaco declined to comment on Brook until the mine plan dispute was resolved. However, Bissett told the Star-Tribune he made error of judgement in the Facebook post.

I apologize for my comment, he said in an email. It was meant to be sent as a private message, but is still unprofessional and insensitive. I will do better.

Federal money

As for the DOE grant, Don Collins, CEO of the Western Research Institute, admitted there was some unintentionally misleading information in Ramacos press release.

The agency is providing $3.7 million to WRI. Matching funds from various research partners including WRI will bring the total close to $7 million, he said.

The research will go on at the various labs across the countries partnering with WRI. Meanwhile, Ramaco will work through its permitting process both for the mine and for the adjacent research and industrial parks, he said.

Collins defended the company and its research goals.

The institute has been working with Ramaco for nearly four years, Collins said.

Its CEO, Randy Atkins, has a unique perspective on coal that comes from family background in the oil and gas industry, he added.

Coal companies are rarely involved in the coal market beyond the mine mouth, he said. They dig it and sell it. Oil and gas companies, however, are more commonly involved in other aspects of the industry, from transportation via pipelines they own to refining crude oil at company-owned facilities.

Ramaco is approaching coal in Wyoming with an oil and gas mindset, and its goals should be viewed with cautious optimism, Collins said.

Ramacos announcements have ruffled feathers with potential partners. Of the eight institutions and businesses named in the Ramaco release, three required clarification, including the University of Wyoming.

A spokesman for the school said there was a distinction between partnering with Western Research Institute and the coal company.

Don Collins of the Western Research Institute invited a number of UW Engineering faculty members to participate in a large Department of Energy proposal, and several participated in writing a relatively small portion of that large research proposal, said Christopher Boswell, Vice President for Governmental and Community Affairs. Ramaco is also a participant in that proposal through WRI.

In short, Boswell said, UW is not partnering with Ramaco as was stated in the companys release.

Ramaco also listed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Group and Autodesk Inc. as partners, but spokesmen for both companies were unaware of their part in the research.

Collins, of WRI, said those organizations had intended to work with WRI, but his contacts in the companies no longer worked there. Discussions over future collaboration with those groups were ongoing, he said.

The decision Tuesday will clarify the Brook Mines immediate future in Sheridan County, but the larger role Ramacos plans could play in Wyoming are likely to continue for years to come.
A New York City mattress company may now be the most famous Casper in the world. Casper Sleep sells sheets and pillows as well through its website and is known for amusing and creative advertising that canvasses public transit systems around the country and pops up on popular podcasts.

But if the average coastal commuter is more likely to associate Casper with a mattress billboard than a central Wyoming municipality, the folks at the sleep company are familiar enough with the Oil City.

Every time we Google Casper, we definitely share the spotlight with the city in Wyoming, said experiential marketing director Monica Brouwer. Since day one, even our founders have been very aware of Casper, Wyoming.

While the city was named after Lt. Caspar Collins, Brouwer said the mattress company was named after the founders college roommate, kind of a sleep fellow who was in the market for, you guessed it, a mattress.

And now, as the companys promotional material has been putting it online, Casper is coming to Casper. Not to manufacture or even sell. But to help people sleep during the eclipse.

Camp Casper will take over land surrounding the Trout on Inn, along the North Platte River near Alcova.

The details remain a little vague  under wraps for the moment, according to Brouwer  but the camp will sleep an unknown number of visitors on Casper Sleep products inside canvas tents on the Sunday night before the Aug. 21 eclipse. The company will run shuttles straight to the camp from Denver, and food and activities will be provided.

Camping costs $499 for the tent experience, which sleeps two, and the first batch of tickets quickly sold out. Brouwer said two more ticket releases are planned and the company has been promoting the event through social media.

Alamo Drafthouse will be screening eclipse movies, including a mashup of eclipse PSA-style classroom videos. Yoga and flashlight tag will also be on the schedule.

Locals will also be able to visit the camp on the day of the eclipse for a viewing party by reserving free general admission tickets, though for those not staying at the camp, there are other viewing options in Casper (the city) with a longer period of eclipse.

Casper Sleep has done what Brouwer calls offline marketing and promotion in the past, including providing lodging during the popular SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, this year, and the company actually operated another Camp Casper  albeit on a much smaller scale  in New York City two years ago. That effort consisted of a small parking lot set up during the day that appeared to be more street promotion than overnight accommodation.

All this spurs the question, though, of just what the point of Camp Casper is. Somewhere between 50 and 5,000 overnight guests was as close as Brouwer was willing to specify, but its almost certain that this is a marketing effort as much as a revenue generator (the promotion also tends toward storytelling over research, such as the companys incorrect assertion that hotel rooms in Casper have been sold out during the eclipse for three years).

Brouwer hinted at the use of promoting a nationwide company in central Wyoming. The camp and eclipse will be captured on photo and video to keep social media users around the world engaged and help build rapport with current and prospective customers.

We really like to create experiences that bridge the gap between our online and offline community, she said. The event will definitely live on even after the viewing experience.

Update, August 11: Casper has clarified that the camp itself will house 80 guests, though more may attend events and activities during the day.
Several local preschool options will be adding slots this school year thanks to money from a grant program created by the state Legislature, Gov. Steve Bullock announced Friday.

"Today it is a great privilege to be able to share that we're finally making a long-overdue investment in our kids," Bullock said at an announcement ceremony Friday morning at the Explorer's Academy Head Start building in Billings.

Around the state, 17 programs were awarded grants ranging from $27,190 to $150,000. The state had $3 million to dole out this year.

Billings' Head Start program, which operates three preschool centers in Yellowstone County and plans to open another, will add 18 slots for 4-year-old students.

Lockwood, which already dips into its regular school budget to run an alternating-day preschool program, will add a separate full-day program for 18 kids. The school has just started recruiting efforts for next school year.

"It's a pretty quick turnaround," said Lockwood director of special programs Don Christman.

Kountry Kare Preschool and Daycare program in Shepherd and the Beartooth Billings Clinic in Red Lodge were also awarded funding.

The grants are doled out through the Department of Health and Human Services' Stars to Quality program, which began as a preschool ranking system. Grant recipients had to meet certain criteria, and officials aimed to include Head Start providers, public schools and private preschools.

The grants will effectively function as a pilot program for the state.

"What theyve provided was money for a pilot so we can demonstrate, address some of the concerns that legislators have, like it wouldnt work in smaller rural areas or it wouldnt work with community-based providers," Bullock said. "So to demonstrate with a track record that this is an investment that we cant afford not to make."

Bullock said he would like to see the program expanded in the future and that he views it as both an economic investment and a means of providing opportunities children should have. "What we ought to be able to do at some point, I mean my hope, is that any program that applies and meets the basic qualifications, we'll say 'You're darn right we'll be funding you.' It won't be 'we can only fund so many of these programs.'"

Preschool funding proposals haven't gained traction in the Mountain West, despite programs providing variable levels of public funding in at least 45 states. Wyoming, Idaho, South Dakota and New Hampshire provide no funding; North Dakota recently killed a $3 million program.

Bullock asked for $37 million for preschool in 2015 and $12 million in 2017; instead, a compromise was reached during budget negotiations.

Legislators created a new fee for hospitals that will raise $13 million over the next two years; $6 million is earmarked for preschool grants, and the rest goes into the general fund. The payments were described as "temporary" in the law authorizing them.

Finding new funding sources for the creation of preschool programs has often been critical to getting them off the ground in conservative states. For example, New Mexico's Republican Governor signed off on a new preschool program funded through a state tobacco settlement in 2013.

Some Montana Republicans who objected to the grant funding bill pointed to bill language that says the state will "test multiple delivery models, including public programs, private programs and mixed delivery programs through public-private partnerships," as evidence that DPHHS will do more than expand the existing Stars to Quality program.

At least some school officials think renewable funding would be ideal.

"Our hope is that it will, in two years, just be embraced as part of what we do," Christman said.
The gallery filled with family, friends and colleagues of Mick McMurry. They reminisced as they admired a set of 10 paintings inspired by the Wyoming businessman and philanthropists life and the principles by which he lived.

Casper artist Zak Pullens series, Cowboy Code of Ethics, in honor of Mick McMurry, took about two years to complete as he drew on the stories from dozens of people in McMurrys life.

A private reception July 28 showcased the original paintings, which will appear as seven-foot, square panel reproductions on an outside wall of the NERD YMCA of Natrona County.

A public unveiling of the artworks will take place Monday at the YMCA. Pullen plans to reveal stories behind the paintings and McMurrys dedication to the Cowboy Code of Ethics. Some of the faces resemble McMurry, who found success in the oil and gas business and started the McMurry Foundation with his family.

But most are not portraits, rather illustrations based on his life for generations to remember.

A lot of people that knew Mick really well will pick up on a lot of the subtleties in the paintings and see their influence of story, Pullen said. But once we get a generation away from those people, this hopefully will tell a story of a mans life who has given more to this community than anybody that I know of.

It was McMurry himself who sparked the idea over lunch one day, Pullen said. He mentioned hed like to see the ethics from James P. Owens book Cowboy Ethics depicted in the artists style. So Pullen started the project a few months after McMurrys death in 2015.

A campground scene is one painting in the series that brought back memories for George Bryce, a friend of McMurry for more than 40 years and a McMurry Foundation trustee.

He fondly remembers McMurry cooking over a barbecue grill at a campground hed built with a view of Devils Tower in the distance. A man at the grill is laughing and surrounded by friends and family in a scene much like he recalls.

Bryce pointed out a motor home in the backgroundthe first thing his friend had bought after selling the Jonah Field in Pinedale.

He was more excited about the motor home than selling the gas field and what he sold it for, Bryce said, smiling.

The painting is called Some Things Arent for Sale, one of the 10 Cowboy Ethics.

Ashley Bright of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming pointed out a picture of MAD magazines Alfred E. Neuman in one painting, remembering how McMurry was a fan of the satirical humor magazine.

The picture hangs above McMurrys desk in the painting, Be Tough, But Fair, just as it did in his real office.

The McMurry Foundation has contributed generously to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming, said Bright, its chief professional officer.

He also worked with the local organization to teach the Cowboy Ethics to other club branches in Wyoming, as well as people of all ages in schools, youth organizations, businesses, police departments, fire departments and more through Wyoming and other states, Bright said.

Friends at the reception pointed out a figure in Be Tough, But Fair looks a little like Joe Scott, a longtime colleague in McMurrys business. The scene looks like one of the discussions in which theyd figure out where to place a pipeline or a well, Scott said. McMurry gazes thoughtfully over a cup of coffee emblazoned with the McMurry Foundation logo.

He treated everyone the same, whether a business executive or field worker, and was a worker among workers, Scott said. Thats why he was so popular with his hands.

The painting was inspired by the many decisions McMurry made about which projects to back, Pullen said, while always contemplating how to build a better Wyoming, a phrase for which he was known.

The paintings give a nod to McMurrys youth, service in Vietnam, philanthropy, working life and his dedication to family, Pullen said. People also will recognize the freezing winters to sunny days in the state he loved.

Wyoming is a definite character throughout them, Pullen said.

Pullen plans a family book featuring his 10 interpretations of the Cowboy Ethics with essays by ten Wyoming authors.

Susie McMurry, Micks wife, said she was touched to see the paintings that show Pullens admiration and friendship with her husband.

He always called Zak the Norman Rockwell of Wyoming, she said. She enjoyed the small details, like a Mickey Mouse shirt in one painting; his family called him Mickey and gave him Mickey gear, she added.

She couldnt pick out a favorite among the paintings. But her daughter Trudi Holthouses is one with McMurry standing with child on his shoulders looking out over a Wyoming landscape, Susie said.

It just shows that Mickey gave great thought and appreciation to everything in Wyoming, Susie said. It just looks like hes looking out with love and admiration for everything that he was seeing.
Sunday support meetings

Alcoholics Anonymous: 10 a.m., 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 10:15 a.m., 917 N. Beech; noon, 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 6:30 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott; 6:30 p.m., 328 E. A; 8 p.m., 917 N. Beech; 8 p.m., 328 1/2 E. A. Douglas: 1 p.m, Douglas, 628 E. Richards (upstairs in back), womens meeting; 7:30 p.m., 628 E. Richards (upstairs in back). Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are open. Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: (307) 351-1688.

Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 6:30 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 8 p.m., 15th & Melrose at the church. Web site: http://www.urmrna.org.

Nicotine Anonymous: 5 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club. Info: Pam M., 577-0518.

Weekly yoga class

Weekly yoga class has returned to the Bart Rea Learning Circle in Amoco Park. At 10 a.m., Yoga on the Labyrinth.

Super garage sale ends

The Casper Humane Society Super Garage Sale is 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (free admission), with the final box sale (everything you can fit in one box for $5/box) from 2 to 4 p.m. at 1743 E. Yellowstone Highway. All proceeds will benefit the Casper Humane Society, a no-kill shelter supported entirely by local contributions and charitable donations.

Dog show at fairgrounds

Central Wyoming Kennel Club and American Kennel Club present a dog show at the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds. There is no admission charge for spectators. Come meet handlers and breeders of different types of dogs that you may never have seen.

Relive life on the trail

Relive life on the trail at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center at 1 p.m. during the free interpretive program, Trail Journeys: Civilian Life & Hardships.

As families headed west along the pioneer trails, hardships became common. Men, women and children alike were tasked with specific roles and responsibilities. Join NHTIC volunteer Daniel Mattern as he shares stories concerning the daily life, chores, and trail experiences by a pioneer wagon train party.

The NHTIC proudly presents a summer of afternoon programs on pioneer, Wyoming and solar eclipse history. These short interpretive programs, ranging from 20 to 45 minutes, are free and open to the public.

For more information, please contact Jason Vlcan at the NHTIC by calling 261-7783.
Superintendents for two school districts that passed resolutions authorizing lawsuits against the state say theyre optimistic about a funding review that could reshape education finance in Wyoming.

I was pleased with where they were at, Campbell County School Districts Boyd Brown said Friday of the Augenblick, Palaich & Associates consultants hired to undertake the review. The firm presented its review plan to lawmakers and the public at a legislative meeting Tuesday in Casper.

The consultants plan to examine the states current funding model, as well as three alternatives and the educational standards that must be provided to each student. The consultants will hold group and one-on-one meetings with education leaders like Brown and will also hold four regional meetings to get input from educators and community members.

Brown, Donna Little-Kaumo, the superintendent in Sweetwater County School District No. 2, and Kathy Vetter, the president of the Wyoming Education Association, all praised the plan Friday. They were particularly pleased with the consultants desire for community input and the decision to review the basket of goods, as the standards are known.

In general, I think it might be OK, Little-Kaumo said. I read their studies from Alaska and Maryland and it seems like theyre pretty balanced. ... I dont have a problem with them right now.

Its notable praise: Brown and Little-Kaumo have been critical of cuts made by lawmakers in the past, and both voiced concern that the funding system review  known as recalibration  will be used to slash funds as legislators work to find a way to fill a looming education deficit that could hit $530 million in the coming years.

Thats not what recalibration is intended for, they and others have maintained. Both Campbell and Sweetwater No. 2 have passed resolutions allowing their school boards to sue the state should cuts become too severe.

The exact process that recalibration must follow is concrete and established by state Supreme Court decisions: Consultants must decide whats needed to provide an adequate education for all Wyoming students, and then they must determine how much it costs to provide that schooling. Rep. Albert Sommers, the chairman of the Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration, reminded the consultants of that two-step process at the meeting Tuesday.

Brown said Friday that Sommers comment and the consultants desire to follow the correct path assuaged concerns he had about the process.

The consultants seem like theyre well equipped to do what theyre working on, Brown continued. The only question I have is do they have enough time?

Recalibration is about three months behind schedule, he added. Thats likely because this isnt a typical recalibration year: The examination usually takes place every five years and last took place in 2015, but the deficit forced lawmakers to initiate the review early.

Since May, the select committee has held three meetings  one to draft a request for proposals from consultants, one to study potential tax increases with another key legislative committee, and one  held on July 25  to publicly meet with the firm and hear its strategy.

After the July 25 meeting, Little-Kaumo was cautious in her praise. She said the level of input the consultants are seeking from both educators and the general public is unusual. The consultants will hold four public meetings across the state  in Cody, Cheyenne, Rock Springs and Buffalo  in August, and Little-Kaumo said shes going to recruit as many parents and educators as possible to attend the Rock Springs meeting.

Our parents and our kids are our largest stakeholders, she said. And theyve got to have a voice.

She was pleased that the consultants would take a deep dive into the current system while also looking at alternatives. She believes that review will show that Wyomings 48 school districts are efficient with their funds, which in turn will demonstrate to lawmakers what the reality is: that money is tight, but districts are running as smoothly as they can.

Neither Brown nor Little-Kaumo could predict whether the consultants would select an entirely new model or stick with the system that Wyomings used since 2005. But both praised the current method  known evidence-based model  and said it fit Wyoming.

Theyre not alone: In 2015, during the last recalibration, lawmakers rejected a change proposed by the old consultants and kept the current model.

A change to a new system wouldnt necessarily herald a lawsuit, and officials from districts whove passed resolutions allowing litigation  including Campbell County, Sweetwater County Nos. 1 and 2, Albany County No. 1, and Laramie County No. 1  have said a courtroom is the last place they want to be.

Brown and Little-Kaumo said they remained optimistic that a lawsuit could be avoided, but neither would close the door completely.

You know, were sitting ready to go, Little-Kaumo said. Were going to wait and see what happens. If (the process is) not in favor of what we need, Im sure well be moving ahead.
SANTA FE, N.M.  Ranchers who want to scale back two national monuments in New Mexico competed for attention with the outdoor recreation industry as U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke conducted a series of private stakeholder meetings linked to a nationwide review of 27 monuments approved by past presidents.

Zinke skipped a heavily attended public forum about the future of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in southern New Mexico organized largely by monument supporters, amid a series of private meetings with ranchers, electric utility executives, irrigation district officials and some defenders of the monuments.

On Friday, Zinkes Twitter feed showed him on a mountain hike in the Organ monument with a military veterans and members of Sierra Club Outdoors, which promotes outdoor recreation.

I appreciate hearing all sides, Zinke tweeted. A private meeting was scheduled Friday with the pro-monument group Friends of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks.

The secretarys tightly controlled visit, mostly away from the publics eye, is stirring concern among business owners  from fishing guides to local homebuilders  who say they increasingly depend on the flow of tourists and outdoor enthusiasts to the monuments.

Bill Blackstock said the designation in 2014 of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument outside Taos has been a boon to his river guide business that floats clients down the monuments vast Upper Rio Grande Canyon  and helps other fishing, hunting and pack animal outfitters in a rural area with few private employment prospects.

I think it helps promote our area up in northern New Mexico, just that monument status, he said. It helps to control development somewhat.

President Donald Trump ordered the review of the national monuments based on the belief that a law created by President Theodore Roosevelt allowing presidents to designate monuments has been improperly used to protect wide expanses of lands instead of places with particular historical or archaeological value.

Monument designations protect federal land from energy development and other activities. A final report from Zinke is due next month.

Zinke met Thursday with leading members of a coalition that resisted the 2013 and 2014 monument designations in New Mexico called the Western Heritage Alliance that includes ranchers who fear gradual limitations could drive them out. Livestock grazing has continued undiminished at the monuments.

Zinke didnt say what his conclusions were or were not, said alliance member Tom Mobley, who operates a ranch within the monument under a federal grazing permit. I think he understood what we told him.

Zinke has recommended that Bears Ears National Monument on tribal lands in southern Utah be downsized. Zinke has also said three monuments in Colorado, Idaho and Washington will be left alone.

The former Navy SEAL took a tour by helicopter of the jagged spires of the Organ Mountains on Thursday.

His visit also highlighted a partisan political divide, as Zinke attempted to schedule a private horseback ride Saturday with Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, the son of former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall.

The two senators are vehemently opposed to proposals to reduce the footprint of the national monuments in New Mexico, citing current benefits to the state economy, environment and preservation of archaeological sites including ancient petroglyphs.

Zinke indicated that he spoke by phone GOP New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who has said the Organ monument is too big.

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, the lone Republican lawmaker among New Mexicos five-member delegation to Washington, has lobbied Zinke to reduce the outline of the Organ monument on the outskirts of Las Cruces from 775 square miles to about 95 square miles. Pearce is running for governor in 2018.
Several years ago I saw the Hoover Dam for the first time.

Our guide and driver was a relative, an engineer who had worked on the Yellowtail Dam in Montana his first year out of college.

Because of his background, he was especially impressed by the engineering of the massive project.

I was impressed by the fact that the dam construction finished two years early and under budget.

Located on the border between Nevada and Arizona, the Hoover Dam was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression.

During this same period another famous project, the Golden Gate Bridge, was being built in San Francisco.

Finished in 1937, it came in early and for $1.3 million less than estimates.

Today, construction projects are dogged by cost overruns in delays.

The most expensive projects are built in America, according to one study, which identified 39 possible causes of the huge difference in construction costs in the US. and Japan, for example.

The causes include land and labor costs and regulatory hurdles.

In Wyoming our major project is the $300 million renovation of the Capitol Building and the nearby Herschler State Office Building, an endeavor called the Capitol Square project.

Everyone involved, including the governor and the other state officials, the legislators, the contractors and the consultants, is struggling to keep the project under budget.

The full Legislature, faced with a K-12 school budget deficit of nearly half billion dollars, put a tight lid on spending for Capitol Square, capping it at $300 million.

To save money, the consultants have recommended shelling some offices and other spaces, including the visitors center and auditorium in the Capitol building extension.

They also have recommended fundraising for the visitor and student centers and to pay for four new statues in the rotunda.

David Hart of MOCA, the consulting firm, told the oversight committee that managing the costs will be a concern until the end of the project in May or June of 2019.

The overall aim of the project is to increase committee room and hearing space to make it easier for the public to watch government in action.

The committee and consultants also want to restore selected areas of the Capitol building to what it was like in 1888-1890.

The heart of the effort will be the Territorial Room in the oldest section of the building. It was the original House chambers and Supreme Court chambers.

The restoration will return the room to its original grandeur with two-story-high windows, skylights, a chandelier and historical decorative paints.

The room, recently uncovered, has been described as stunning, elegant and elaborate.

This room is, after all, where the Wyoming Constitution was debated, including the womens suffrage amendment that made the state the first to give women the vote.

It is that history and not the architecture that earned the Capitol a designation as a historical landmark.

At the last meeting of the oversight committee Hart said his group may recommend special treatment for the Territorial Room and other areas at the additional cost of about $200,000.

No final recommendation has been made.

But its not hard to see how spending on a project like this could get out of hand quickly without controls. The desire is for the best quality, the best experts and the finest materials to do the job right.

In an interview for the National Council of State Legislatures, Wendy Madsen, the special project manager for the Legislative Service Office, told about the history of the Capitol Square Project.

She also shared her insights through a list of ten recommendations for Capitol renovation projects.

Here is recommendation No. 10:

Be careful of scope creep. Three hundred million dollars doesnt go as far as you think it would. For example, spend as little money as possible on temporary space, so that money can be spent on a 50-year plus solution, rather than a three-year solution.
At a recent legislative forum in Powell, our local state senator remarked: Teachers have a sweet deal.

One might dismiss this as an off-handed comment, but this same legislator and others have made similar statements in recent months at other public meetings, suggesting their attitude toward educators.

One legislator stated that Wyoming might not be getting enough bang for its buck with its current education spending levels. Another cited bloated teacher salaries as a cause for Wyomings current education budget crisis.

But as Daniel Moynihan said, Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. Here are some facts:

Wyoming is ranked seventh in the nation for overall school quality in the 2017 Quality Counts Report published by Education Week. Additionally, Wyoming students were highly ranked in many categories on the 2015 National Assessment of Student Progress (NAEP) test. While between 2013 and 2015, national NAEP results either sank or remained flat, Wyoming met or exceeded national NAEP results in all areas.

According to a report published by the Economic Policy Institute, it is also a fact that those states which have made the greatest investment in building the capacity of their public school systems  have experienced stronger economic growth than those that did not. Education is not a cost to the state, but an investment.

Regarding teacher salaries: Nationally, in 2016, teachers earned 17 percent less than similarly educated workers (Economic Policy Institute). According to the Wyoming Department of Education, the average Wyoming teacher salary in 2016 was $50,932.75. Many workers in our state with less education make much more than our teachers do. A gas field worker in Evanston with no post-high-school education can make over $100,000 a year, not including benefits, while a teacher in Wheatland with a bachelors degree plus 30 credits and 12 years experience makes less than half that. Often the claim is made that teachers only work half a year. So do many in the gas and oil fields. In the extraction industry, shifts can run seven days on and seven off, plus vacation. The gas field worker cited above works less than half a year.

It is important to remember that while both workers are valuable, only the teacher is responsible for educating Wyomings future generations.

Schools in the United States are often compared to those in other countries, where the students score higher on international assessments. An April EdWeek blog post examined a recent study of common themes in high-performing schools around the world. One important factor is a high social regard for the teaching profession  in short, teachers are respected and appreciated. In higher-performing countries, teacher training programs are very selective and rigorous, but the people who are admitted to them receive strong financial support for teacher preparation and professional learning. Ongoing professional development is an essential part of continuous teacher improvement.

In other words, those school systems that are the most successful in the world dont blame teachers for their financial woes. They praise them for the essential, critical work they are doing. They rigorously vet the people who will become teachers, but then they adequately compensate those who do and financially support their ongoing professional development.

Certain members of the Wyoming Legislature should stop viewing teachers as a problem in the states budget and realize that hiring, training, developing and retaining highly qualified teachers is absolutely vital to making sure Wyomings children receive the best possible education.

Educating the children of our state is not merely a priority in our state  it is the priority. So says commonsense and our state Constitution. If Wyomings legislators want to secure the future not just of our young people, but of the state itself, they need to raise and allocate the necessary funds.
A Type 1 Incident Management Team was ordered and began mobilizing Friday afternoon to take over the Bruner Mountain fire burning south of Roundup.

Wildfire incident command teams come in five different levels, with Type 5 typically assigned to the least complex fires and Type 1 teams assigned to the most complex.

The Bruner Mountain fire began Thursday evening after lightning moved through the Bull Mountains and was estimated overnight to be around 150 acres. On Friday the fire grew and was estimated as of about 6 p.m. to be 800 acres and 10 percent contained, said Adam Carlson, disaster and emergency services coordinator for Musselshell County.

A backburn operation on Friday saved three homes in the Bruner Mountain subdivision and diverted the fire around them, Carlson said.

"We're starting to get containment on it," Carlson said early Friday evening. "Air attacks and retardant lines have been slowing it down greatly."

He said the fire showed the most growth on the south and southwest end and that some good lines had been established around parts of its northern front.

Nearly 300 people from local and federal fire crews, with the help of aircraft from above, have worked on trying to halt the fire.

Tom Kurth's Alaska Interagency Incident Management Team received word of their new assignment at around 4:45 p.m. on Friday, said Sam Harrel, a public information officer with the team.

As the Lodgepole Complex fire began to explode in acreage late last week, the team was sent down to Montana and stationed in Billings in anticipation of continued regional fire activity. On Tuesday they were dispatched to the 3,000-acre Buffalo fire burning 30 miles southwest of Broadus, where they also tackled the 1,000-acre Stallions fire burning on the Wyoming side of the border.

At the time, Harrel said that assignment was less because of the complexity of the fire and more due to the scarcity of incident management teams in the region and the desire to protect grazing land that has grown increasingly scarce due to drought and grass fires in Eastern Montana.

By Thursday the Buffalo fire was at 80 percent contained and the Stallions fire was 90 percent contained.

Initial attack crews, hot shots, dozers, engines and team leadership were to begin traveling toward the Bruner Mountain fire on Friday as soon as they were cleared, Harrel said. He estimated they would bring about 40 personnel to the fire, with more continuing to head toward the fire on Saturday.

Some residents in the Bruner Mountain area were put on evacuation notice Thursday night. On Friday morning, that notice extended to Rehder and Beard roads. A pre-evacuation notice was announced for Big Clearing Road.

Other evacuation orders in effect are for the Bruner Mountain subdivision and Portal Road. Pre-evacuation advisories are in place for the Johnny's Coal and Big Clearing areas.

Fly Creek

A fire sparked by lightning in the Fly Creek area Thursday evening is estimated to have burned 3,800 acres of private land, said Ed Auker, disaster and emergency services coordinator for Big Horn County.

Auker said the fire began to come under control around 10:30 p.m. Thursday night and was extinguished as of Friday. Though Auker wasn't certain on damages to property, he guessed the fire might have damaged some fencing.

The fire burned grass and sage south of the interstate between the Fly Creek rest area and the Fly Creek interchange.

Lightning started two other fires to the north and east of the Fly Creek fire, Auker said.

Multiple agencies responded to the fire. From Yellowstone County, the Haley Bench Volunteer Fire Department and the Worden Volunteer Fire Department sent crews. Big Horn County Rural Fire Department, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and local ranch hands were also at work on the fire.

"I don't know who all came out, but we certainly appreciate the help," Auker said.
If you love the blues  if you really love the blues  then you wont want to miss KXCIs House Rockin Blues Review.

Its slated for Friday, Aug. 4, at the El Casino Ballroom. The historic space seems perfect for a bangin blues concert.

And thats not the only reason to go. The headliners are guitarist Kid Ramos and the 44s.

Kid Ramos is a dazzling electric blues guitarist. Hes played with The Fabulous Thunderbirds, James Harman and Roomful of Blues, among others. Ramos quit music for a while (he wanted to spend more time with his family), and a bad bout with cancer sidelined him in 2012-13 (and brought a flood of support from blues musicians and fans from around the world). But the blues bug is hard to ignore. Thats good for us: His sometimes raucous, sometimes smooth, always dazzling guitar playing makes for a knock-em-out concert.

The Los Angeles-based 44s are hot and getting hotter. The groups blues-roots-rock music has won raves for its concerts and albums. From rockabilly to an L.A.-meets-Chicago version of Piedmont slow blues, the 44s blast out of LA like the Dirty Harry namesake pistol, gushed americanbluesscene.com about the bands Americana album.

The concerts opening act is Mike Hebert and his Prison Band, which plays songs about the rural South, Texas and Southeastern Arizona.
We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some July 29 papers in history. With a subscription to newspapers.com you can search the Arizona Daily Star and many other newspapers using keywords or dates, and download articles or pages.
PHOENIX  Gov. Doug Ducey wants Congress to adopt limits on what jurors can award to medical-malpractice victims, a cap that Arizona voters have previously rejected multiple times.

Ducey told Capitol Media Services that a limit on damages should be part of anything that becomes a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. He said some of the high cost of health care in Arizona can be blamed on high malpractice insurance premiums and awards to patients who sue.

The governors comments came as the U.S. Senate killed the last-ditch effort by Republican leaders to repeal what has become known as Obamacare. Sen. John McCain cast the deciding vote on the skinny repeal plan that would have annulled the Affordable Care Act with a promise to come up with something else later.

Ducey press aid Daniel Scarpinato said Friday his boss is disappointed that Congress has essentially thrown up its hands and will be taking a recess without repealing Obamacare.

The problems with Obamacare and the health-insurance markets are real and continue, especially in Arizona, he said. But the governor would not comment on the fact that it was McCain, as the deciding vote, who killed the repeal.

Ducey, however, still believes the Affordable Care Act can be repealed and replaced.

The governor already has ideas on what needs to be in what comes next. And a key provision of that is what has been dubbed tort reform.

In essence, Ducey wants federal law to set limits on non-economic damages in malpractice cases. That category covers everything from the pain and suffering of patients  or survivors  to punitive damages that can be awarded when juries conclude a doctors actions were so egregious as to impose a financial punishment and send a message to others.

Ducey acknowledged that what he wants would overrule two provisions in the Arizona Constitution that date to the first days of statehood.

One, in the Declaration of Rights  the states version of the Bill of Rights  says no law shall be enacted in this state limiting the amount of damages to be recovered for causing the death or injury of any person.

And another section says the right of action to recover damages for injuries shall never be abrogated, and the amount recovered shall not be subject to any statutory limitation.

Proponents asked voters for outright repeal in 1986 and 1990. And four years later they sought to amend those same provisions, albeit to allow for no-fault auto insurance.

All three were defeated, leaving the Legislature powerless to impose caps.

But the congressional action Ducey wants would override what voters here have rejected. Thats because the constitutional provisions are limits on the power of state government: They offer no protections against changes in federal law.

The governor defended the idea, saying he sees it as allowing justice when there is wrongdoing, but not pushing doctors out of the marketplace, not making it so burdensome to practice medicine, he said.

Weve certainly seen our (health-care) costs rise in Arizona and in America, Ducey said.

And I think part of it is how expensive the liability (insurance) and litigation has become.

Ducey said Arizona should look to other states. One of those often cited is Texas, where there is a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages for all doctors and others on individual health-care providers.

The idea of a federal override of the Arizona Constitution drew fire from David Diamond, president of Arizona Attorneys for Justice, a group composed of attorneys who represent plaintiffs in civil lawsuits. He said it would be wrong for Congress to impose its will.

Arizona voters have three times voted down efforts to amend their constitution to allow caps on damages, he said in a statement.

This bill would ignore their wishes and impose the very caps they rejected, he said. This is overreach by the Big Brother federal government at its worst.

Ducey said he has no specific language in mind for what he wants to see in limits.
NOGALES, Ariz.  Authorities say a Tucson construction company is being paid $300,000 to do emergency repairs on an international sewage line north of Nogales.

The flow of untreated wastewater has been pouring into a Southern Arizona wash from a partial break in the international sewage line about seven miles north of the border.

KE&G Construction of Tucson will perform emergency repairs to the international sewer pipe, according to a news release from the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission.

The emergency repairs will include building a cofferdam, which is a watertight enclosure that is pumped dry to permit the construction below the waterline. That is to be followed by an inspection of the sewer pipe to determine what repairs are needed. The company will then make the repairs.

The partial breech was detected Tuesday and occurred in a sparsely populated rural area.

The pipeline carries wastewater from Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, to a treatment plant in Rio Rico, Arizona.

Santa Cruz County officials say the wastewater has tested positive for excessive levels of E. coli.

Officials say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has personnel on scene to help rebuild slopes along the Nogales Wash that have failed, including a section about two miles north of the border that has exposed the pipeline. The Corps will also be helping devise a plan to divert the flow of water in the area of the partial breach, according to county officials.

The county is asking residents to stay out of the Nogales Wash and the Santa Cruz River channel.

Authorities believe the break occurred because of excessive rainwater that put too much pressure on the pipe.
The Tucson-based Udall Foundation is again finding itself under renewed criticism from a federal agency after a report of problems with its accounting practices, poor financial control and its policies for awarding scholarships.

The report from the Office of the Inspector General comes at the same time that U.S. House of Representatives considers an appropriations bill that would eliminate the single largest source of funding for the executive-branch agency that provides scholarships and internships for top students in environmental policy and tribal policy.

The bill, authored by Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, would strip an estimated $5.4 million allocated by Congress from the foundation, which also operates two institutes, the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution and the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management and Policy.

In a release touting the passage of his $20.2 billion financial reform bill out of the House Appropriations Committee, Graves said he was proud to cut $1.3 billion out of the federal budget. In it, he touted the elimination of several non-essential programs, specifically singling out the Udall Foundation, which has its office in downtown Tucson.

The appropriation bill is awaiting consideration by the full House, which will likely take place in September.

In early June, the Office of the Inspector General sent a 31-page final audit to Congress outlining a number of continuing issues with the federally-funded agency.

Overall, we found problems with the Foundations compliance with legislative spending requirements and program objectives; its policies for awarding scholarships, internships, and fellowships; and how it allocates costs between its two program areas, Education and Environmental Conflict Resolution, the report says.

We found that the Foundation was not separately tracking its spending for scholarships, internships, and fellowships and did not meet its legislative spending requirements in the years we reviewed, it reads.

We questioned the Foundations use of two different base amounts to calculate its spending requirements for scholarships, internships, and fellowships; administration and salaries; and the Udall Center. Using different base amounts gives the appearance that the Foundation is using the amount that allows it to spend more on administration and less on scholarships.

Philip Lemanski, the executive director of the foundation, and Eric D. Eberhard, the chair of the Board of Trustees, declined to be interview and referred all questions to a two-page response written to the OIG when the foundation received a draft version of the report.

In it, Lemanski wrote the board strongly disagreed with the lack of context provided in the draft report as well as the vague or, in some cases, misleading language of the draft report.

Taken together, the problems with the way the report is written may lead the reader to conclude that the Foundation willfully ignored statutory requirements, rather than made errors in calculation; has not yet fully documented most of the relevant policies; and has not proceeded in good faith based on guidance provided to it.

However, Lemanski agreed to the eight recommendations from the OIG on better accounting practices and changes to formal policies.

The Foundation is committed to continuous improvement in the reliability of its data and internal controls while meeting the statutory purposes of the Udall Foundation programs, he wrote.

This isnt the first time the Udall Foundation has been criticized by the Office of the Inspector General.

In 2013, it found significant issues with the Udall Foundations internal controls for financial management, personnel and contracting.

In 2015, the OIG found the federal agency failed to implement key policies and procedures over its contracting practices, including requiring evidence of managements receipt and review of contractors invoices.

In both instances, the foundation under Lemanskis leadership agreed to make changes in an attempt to meet federal rules and guidelines.
If a state land purchase deal goes through, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks will gain over 10,000 acres at Spotted Dog Wildlife Management Area in Powell County next year.

FWP is proposing to purchase 10,101 acres of land from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Currently, both state agencies own land in the Spotted Dog, creating a checkerboard ownership between two state agencies that have different missions. If the purchase goes through, it will benefit hunters and wildlife, say officials from both agencies.

How much FWP will pay for the cost of the land is unclear at this early stage in the process, said Michael Thompson, FWP regional wildlife manager.

FWP will offer the appraised value for the land, Thompson said. But the appraisal wont take place until sometime after this public comment period, currently open until Aug. 14, ends. The public will have ample opportunity to comment again after the purchase price information becomes available. This is the first step, when the agencies are scoping out the project.

If FWP buys the land, it will own the entirety of the Spotted Dog Wildlife Management Area, which amounts to a total of 37,877 acres.

That will be good news for hunters, Thompson said.

Hunters will no longer need to worry about which parcel of state land theyre on, Thompson said.

The two different state agencies operate with different rules and regulations, making the checkerboard ownership potentially confusing for the public. FWPs mission is wildlife management. DNRC spokesperson John Grassy told The Montana Standard the DNRCs primary use for land is to make money. The DNRC leases land it owns to ranchers for grazing. The DNRC also leases state land for mineral rights and oil and gas leases. The money earned goes into a state account that provides dollars for education and school improvement and helps a handful of state-run public institutions.

Thats not compatible with the management priorities FWP has, Grassy said.

One example of how the checkerboard ownership can be confusing for hunters and counterproductive for wildlife is elk management. FWP considers the Spotted Dog important winter range for elk and closes its land within the management area to the public from Dec. 1 to May 15 annually.

This allows elk to get through the winter without disturbance, Thompson said.

But the DNRC does not close the land it owns in the Spotted Dog during that time. This makes it potentially confusing for hunters.

The land owned by the DNRC is also not contiguous within the wildlife management area.

If the deal goes through, the money the DNRC will gain from the sale goes into a land banking account. The current balance on that account is almost $19 million.

Down the road, maybe in another year or three, when we see an opportunity to acquire a sizable block of land that would give us as much acreage as well lose in the Spotted Dog, well purchase it through land banking, Grassy said.

The public will get good access to the land and equal or higher return on the new land purchase as the Spotted Dog parcel, and the eventual revenue from the new land purchase will go into the states trust fund account.

Personnel from both agencies say that after the public comment period ends in mid-August, the next step would be to consider the comments from the public and then start an environmental assessment. Once that is complete, the agencies will open the purchase project up to another comment period, giving the public a chance to consider the environmental assessment and voice opinions on that.

The approval process will also be vetted by both the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission and through the states land board. Thompson said that, if all goes smoothly, the purchasing process will likely take about a year.

The Spotted Dog Wildlife Management Area is to the west of the Helena National Forest. The town of Deer Lodge is six miles from the southwest corner boundary. The towns of Avon, Elliston, and Garrison form the northern boundary.

Its a big deal. Its a lot of land, Thompson said.
Tucson Unified School District students continue to score far below the statewide average on the AzMERIT test, with less than 30 percent of TUSD students passing either the language arts or math portions of the test.

But TUSDs Governing Board appears to be in no rush to address the problem.

The board at its Thursday meeting ran out of time to discuss what board members agreed were disappointing AzMERIT scores and what can be done to bring them up.

Over protestations from two board members and Interim Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo, the board majority decided to adjourn the meeting at 10:30 p.m. without taking up either agenda item.

The critical items (on the agenda) are how the students across the system did on the AzMERIT in (English language arts) and math, and what the team is going to do about it to support schools across the district, Trujillo told the board. We probably want to communicate before the opening of the school year.

But board Chairman Michael Hicks disagreed, and along with board members Mark Stegeman and Rachael Sedgwick, moved to adjourn the meeting without discussing the test results.

Board members Adelita Grijalva and Kristel Foster opposed the motion.

Our big role here is supposed to be talking about student achievement, and those are the items were not going to review, Foster said, asking that the board get to those items first at its next meeting on Aug. 8  five days after the first day of school.

AzMERIT, which tests students from third grade up on English language arts and math, is said to be more difficult and rigorous than the AIMS test it replaced, and the majority of Arizona students have not tested proficient in any subject at any grade level over the last three years it has been administered.

Unofficial results from the spring 2016 test show TUSD students fared even worse and tested far behind the statewide average in every subject and in every grade level.

The unofficial results show that certain segments of TUSD students have made some small strides in the areas of both math and language arts since first taking the test.

But the vast majority of TUSD students are still struggling with the new standardized test, which first came online in 2015.

In some cases, the contrast between TUSD students and the state average is relatively minor.

Only 21 percent of TUSD 11th-graders scored proficient on the English language arts section of the test, for example, as compared to 26 percent statewide.

In many other cases, however, the contrast is stark.

Statewide, 41 percent of Arizona sixth-graders scored proficient on the math portion of the test. For TUSD students, that number is only 21 percent.

In eighth-grade math, only 13 percent of TUSD students scored proficient, while statewide, 29 percent were proficient.

But within the district, scores have slowly and marginally improved over the past three years, most noticeably in elementary school math, where the number of proficient students has increased since 2015 by 5 percentage points in third and fourth grades, and 10 percentage points in fifth grade.

That upward trend, however, is not across the board. Math scores for TUSDs eighth-graders plummeted over the past three years, dropping to just 13 percent proficient from 23 percent.

The data also show a sharp disparity between white, Asian-American and multi-racial students and Hispanic, Native American and African-American students.

The former group continued to score much higher on both the math and English language arts portions of the test, outperforming the latter group of students by a wide margin.

Stegeman and other board members agreed that the results were abysmal, but argued that while it would have been nice to address the issue before the school year began, the discussion shouldnt be held so late at night.

After the meeting, Trujillo explained that he hoped to present the board with a comprehensive plan to improve student achievement on the test, but that will now have to wait until after the school year begins.

He said he will emphasize three major points: Teacher training, a focus on early education and increasing K-3 scores, and using intervention methods for middle and high schools students who are falling behind.

To that end, the district will start requiring mandatory teacher training for the districts curriculum. Trujillo said in the past, that training has been offered during the summer and has been optional. He plans to change that by making the training mandatory and offering it during the school year.

Additionally, Trujillo wants to enact a rotation station-based approach for K-3 students that would allow teachers to break classes into smaller, more manageable groups and offer students who are falling behind in math or language arts special guided instruction, while other students who are already succeeding do more self-guided study.

Finally, he wants to implement an intervention for high school students who are falling behind on math and language arts that would take students out of their normal classroom for special instruction until they catch up.

When you look at the AzMERIT data that shows that our kids are behind, the natural next question is what is the school district leadership going to do about this? And those are the critical actions we need to take, consistent with what highly successful schools do, Trujillo said.

The Arizona Department of Education will release official results for the AzMERIT test, along with detailed school-by-school analysis, on Sept. 18.
Local attorney Paul Durham may have found a unique way to set himself apart in the three-way Democratic primary to replace Ward 3 City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich.

He differed by sidestepping a handful of yes or no questions on Thursday night at an elections forum organized by the Pima County Interfaith Council.

Durham didnt commit to support funding increases for the Kidco after-school program and the JobPath skills-training program, as well as a vow to protect a low-wage fare on city buses and the number of bus routes.

He said he supports after-school care, low-cost bus fares and job training programs but couldnt support a six-figure increase in funding for them without understanding them in the larger context of current budget issues.

And taking into account the cost of the city-funded transit system, such a pledge to keep some fares artificially low while protecting the current number of routes and bus stops could conceivably grow into multimillion dollar annual increases to the citys budget, he said.

While the candidates had been given the questions ahead of the forum, Durham said there is no way to know whether upcoming city budgets would be in a growth mode or dealing with some economic crisis.

I cant commit without specific facts, he told the crowd.

His two Democratic rivals, teacher Felicia Chew and businessman Tom Tronsdal, largely disagreed with Durhams reasoning.

Chew, a single mother, told the audience of 120 that the Kidco program helps her and countless Tucson families, which in turn, benefits the local economy.

With usually only 90 seconds to answer the yes or no questions, Chew briefly discussed her desire to create a dedicated regional tax that benefits local public transportation.

She did not offer specifics, but argued the public would be better served by such a funding model.

Currently, the city of Tucson spends about $30 million from the general fund to support day-to-day Sun Tran operations.

Tronsdal stopped short of promising there would be growth in terms of the number of Sun Tran routes but vowed to protect existing routes and the number of bus stops.

Tronsdal said he would be willing to commit up to $350,000 annually for the JobPath program  saying studies have shown that for every dollar the city commits the community gets back the equivalent of $10.

He said supporting the program is a no-brainer.

The three candidates did agree on other questions, saying they supported the councils decision to make the city of Tucson an immigrant- and refugee-welcoming community and on its ban on the sale of synthetic drugs known as Spice.

The forum on Thursday night was the fourth debate for the three Democrats vying to replace Uhlich, who is retiring this year.

The winner of the Aug. 29 ward primary will face Gary Watson, who is running as an independent, in Novembers election. There is no Republican candidate for the position.

Ballots will be mailed Aug. 9 to registered voters in the ward, one of three City Council wards holding a vote in Augusts primary. It and a Green Party race in Ward 6 are the only contested races in the primary.

Another Ward 3 forum, organized by the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Hispanic Chamber Commerce, is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 2.

That forum will be held at Tucson Medical Center, 5301 E. Grant Road. The event will be held inside the main auditorium and doors will open to the public at 5:30 p.m. with the debate beginning at 6 p.m.
Southern Arizonas dry air, dark skies, and plentiful mountain peaks are prime conditions for the many world-class telescopes that dot the region.

These conditions, unfortunately, come with consequences. Arizona summers bring heat and lightning, the perfect storm for raging wildfires.

Telescopes perched on Mount Graham, Mount Lemmon, Mount Bigelow, Kitt Peak and on Mount Hopkins were all at least potentially threatened during this seasons wave of wildfires.

Despite some close calls, including one fire that came within several feet of a telescope, officials said the equipment escaped largely unharmed by the dangerous fires.

Mount Graham

The Frye Fire near Safford was this seasons most destructive, burning more than 48,000 acres. It is still burning in some places but firefighters have the blaze 98 percent contained.

It ignited June 7 and grew to almost 11,000 acres by June 16, growing 4,000 acres overnight. We knew now we were going to be in harms way, said Eric Buckley, director of the Mount Graham International Observatory.

By June 18 the fire (in a combination of wildfire and back burn) surged within 50 feet of the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope in which the University of Arizona is a partner, said Buckley and Heidi Schewel, a U.S. Forest Service public affairs officer.

Also threatened by flames on Mount Graham were the Submillimeter Telescope and the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory, one of the most powerful telescopes in the world.

When the light from each of the LBTs 8.4-meter mirrors are combined, it can produce images with the spatial resolution of a 24-meter mirror  higher than any ground-based telescope and 10 times the spatial resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope, said Buell Jannuzi, director of Steward Observatory which oversees many telescopes in Southern Arizona.

Firefighters battled the flames by back-burning the forest and dousing the area with water and slurry.

All firefighters, telescopes, and observatory personnel emerged from the fire unscathed, but astronomers did lose weeks of observing nights, Jannuzi said.

Photos of the site show a large swath of charred forest and a thin line of green trees standing around the telescopes.

Im just amazed we didnt suffer any real damage, Buckley said.

It was not until the monsoons kicked in that we stopped really worrying about the Burro Fire and Frye Fire, Jannuzi said.

The problem now is the lack of vegetation left on Mount Graham which leads to erosion of the soil and ash when it rains, resulting in mud slides that can block roads to the observatories.

Mount Lemmon

and Mount Bigelow

Telescopes in the Santa Catalina Mountains including the Mount Lemmon Sky Center and the 61-inch Kuiper Telescope on Mount Bigelow were closed after the Burro Fire erupted June 30.

The fire, about 2 miles away from Mount Bigelow, prompted an evacuation of the mountain late July 3 and early July 4, and a closure of the telescopes, said Jim Grantham, head of mountain operations on both Bigelow and Lemmon.

Again, no telescopes were damaged, not even by smoke.

I was very satisfied with the cooperation of the incident management team with me, with the observatory, in making the preparations we deemed appropriate for the Bigelow Observatory, Grantham said.

The fire burned through more than 27,000 acres of forest, but is now 100 percent contained.

Kitt Peak

The human-caused Elk Horn Fire burned about seven miles south of Kitt Peak National Observatory, consumed 650 acres and is now extinguished.

Kitt Peak, southwest of Tucson, was closed to the public between July 6 and 10 because of the fire, but was never fully evacuated. Astronomers stayed on the mountain during the closure.

No observing was actually affected by the fire, which was surprising, said Lori Allen, director of Kitt Peak National Observatory. We got very lucky with this fire because the wind never drove it to the observatory.

When the fire broke out, Tohono Oodham fire management officer Guy Acuna called in firefighters and acted as a liaison between them and the mountain operations personnel on Kitt Peak.

The whole southwest regional firefighting infrastructure worked very well for us, because, you remember, they were battling very large fires in more densely populated areas at the same time, Allen said. Yet they still managed to divert resources enough to stop this fire.

Mount Hopkins

Lightning sparked a small fire on the west side of Mount Wrightson on July 2. The fire lasted just two days.

We were watching it because if it grew, it could have potentially threatened (the Fred Lawrence) Whipple (Observatory) on Mount Hopkins, Jannuzi said.

Theres a lot of fuel on Mount Wrightson, said Grant Williams, director of the Multiple Mirror Telescope on Mount Hopkins.

The fire was discovered and reported on Sunday afternoon, Williams said. It was too late for the firefighters to come in and do drops from a helicopter, so it waited until the next day.

Fortunately it was low wind that night and few raindrops fell, Williams said. They came in the next day with helicopter and did seven water drops. It completely extinguished the fire.

Another fire started a week later on the east side of Mount Wrightson during a storm, and the rain extinguished it right away.
These are just three examples. The letter writer is willfully ignorant of the events currently damaging the reputation of his country for no reason other than a desire to see Trump as infallible. Citing any source that says otherwise, the original author surely laments the growth of fake news in the form of many reputable news agencies that have reported on Russian connections to the Trump campaign. I'd challenge the write with this: If Barack Obama, on July of 2009, had been accused of the same degree of Russian association, would he still rise to Obama's defense? If Barack Obama, in July of 2009, was under FBI investigation for obstruction of justice, would he still defend the president? Put up or shut up.
Help India!

By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

National President of Bharatiya Janata Party Amit Shah is on a nationwide tour, and in the first phase, he landed in Lucknow on Saturday. But the biggest impact, or rather the shock of Shahs Lucknow visit was felt by the Samajwadi Party, whose three MLCs resigned from their posts.

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The SP MLCs, namely Yashwant Singh and Bukkal Nawab, have vacated their seats just as BJP was trying to find ways to fit the states Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and four other ministers either in state assembly or in the councils. Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya is among them.

Prior to the resignations of Singh and Nawab, it was already being speculated that few council members from opposition parties may resign. These MLCs have already revolted in the past from Samajwadi Party. While talking with the media, Bukkal Nawab said, We were being tortured since last one year. Akhilesh Yadav did not ask for our well-being even for once.

Bukkal also praised PM Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath, which has of course been seen as a sign of his enlistment under BJP. One more MLC from Bahujan Samaj Party, Jaiveer Singh vacated his post today, which has also brought a storm in the BSP camp of the state.

When asked about this major shuffle in UP, Health Minister of the state Siddharth Nath Singh told ANI, Only Akhilesh Yadav can answer why his council members are resigning.

Sources have informed that resigning MLCs have been promised prominent positions in the states political setup, which is yet not confirmed.

In his three-day tour, Amit Shah is also likely to finalise a new state president for BJP in Uttar Pradesh as the current president Keshav Prasad Maurya is already occupied with one position of deputy CM. Prior to this political shuffle, SP held 66 out of 100 council members. Now SP has slid to 63 with BJP has eight MLCs.

UPDATE : MLC Madhukar Jaitley has not resigned from his post, rather he is sitting on fence creating atmosphere that he may resign anytime soon.
Help India!

By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

Weeks after advocate Rohini Salian was not appointed as Special Public Prosecutor in Mohsin Shaikhs murder case, the family of the victim has now asked the Maharashtra government to let continue Ujwala Pawar as the special public prosecutor in the case.

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Twenty eight-year-old Mohsin Shaikh was a Pune based IT professional who was killed by members of Hindu Rashtra Sena killed in 2014 when he was returning from a mosque after prayers.

The case took a strange turn when its advocate Ujjwal Nikam withdrew hiss position as the special public prosecutor in the case. Left clueless after Nikams withdrawal, the family asked state government to appoint advocate Rohini Salian as a special public prosecutor.

Even after Rohini Salian gave her consent to appear as special public prosecutor in the case on July 17, states home department did not take any action regarding her appointment. Even Mohsins father Sadiq Shaikh made several requests for the same. As per the records, Sadiq Shaikh has written total four letters dated June 16, July 12, July 18 and July 19 this year to the Maharashtra government, but none of them was replied to.

However, Ujwala Pawar had appeared before the Pune sessions court on July 26, the date of the case, representing the case as SPP. Now Sadiq Shaikh sees hope with the representation of Ujwala Pawar. Therefore he has asked states Home Ministry to let advocate Pawar continue as SPP on later dated July 26.

Sadiq Shaikh has also told informed the ministry that accused personnel are taking advantage of the absence of special public prosecutor. Sadiq Shaikh said, Two dates have been passed already without SPP. Next date is on July 31, before we would like a confirmation of the appointment.

Maharashtra action committee has been trying to meet the states Chief Minister for the past several days regarding the appointment of SPP. Sources inform that the meeting was made possible after the intervention of SP MLA Abu Azmi, after which CM Devendra Fadnavis gave assurance to appoint Pawar as Special Public Prosecutor. Sadiq Shaikh has also shown hope after Chief Ministers assurance, and seek timely appointment of Pawar.
Help India!

By IndiaSpend Team

The attack on two women in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh suspected of carrying beef (though it turned out to be buffalo meat) was the 26th in 118 days since 55-year-old Pehlu Khan died after a mob attack on April 1, bringing the count to 27 cases of cow-related violence in seven months this year.

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This is the most in eight years, according to an IndiaSpend database that records such violence in India. We have now recorded as many as 70 cases of cow-related violence over eight years.

Created through a collection and content analysis of reports in the English media  which tend to have the greatest spread of national news  the database shows that 97 per cent (68 of 70) of such incidents were reported after Prime Minister Narendra Modis government came to power in May 2014. More than half or 54 per cent of the cow-related violence  38 of 70 cases  were from states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), when the attacks were reported, revealed our analysis of violence recorded until July 27.

The data shows that Muslims were the target of 51 per cent (36 of 70) cases of violence centred on bovine issues over nearly eight years (2010 to 2017) and comprised 86 per cent (24 of 28) killed.

As least 136 people were also injured in these attacks, and more than half (54 per cent) of these attacks were based on rumours.

Despite the increase in violence related to bovine issues, particularly over the last three years, the Ministry of Home Affairs does not collect data on lynchings, said a government statement to the Lok Sabha on July 25.

National or state crime data do not distinguish general violence from cow-related attacks and lynchings, so the IndiaSpend database is the first such statistical perspective to a growing national debate over such violence.

In nearly half the attacks (49 per cent), police register cases against victims

Of 70 attacks over eight years, 68 (97 per cent) occurred, as we said, after Modis government came to power (2014-2017), with most attacks within seven months in 2017. The year 2016 reported the second-most cases of cow-related violence at 25 incidents.

In nearly half or 49 per cent (34 attacks) of cases reported, police registered cases against victims/survivors  as they did in Mandsaur.

On June 29, 2017, a day after protests in Indian cities, London and New York against the governments slow response and silence after nationwide attacks against mostly Muslims and Dalits, Modi, speaking at the centenary celebrations of Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, said:

Killing people in the name of gau bhakti (cow worship) is unacceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve of.

No one has the right to take law into his/her hands. We belong to a land of non-violence. Violence is not the solution to any problem.

On July 16, the Prime Minister, in a series of Tweets, once again criticised cow vigilantes and put the onus on state governments to stringently act against them.

As many as 1,235 cases related to offences promoting enmity between different groups  under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, etc.) and 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Indian Penal Code  were reported during 2014-16, according to a July 25 Lok Sabha reply to a question on lynchings.

[Under sections 153A and 153B of the Indian Penal Code] the National Crime Records Bureau [NCRB] maintains data on offences promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth etc However, it does not maintain data on cases relating to cow vigilantes, cow trade and trafficking, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Minister of State for Home, told the Lok Sabha in his reply.

Offences promoting enmity between different groups increased 41 per cent over three years to 2016, rising from 336 to 475. Uttar Pradesh, Indias most-populous state, reported the most (202) cases, registering a 346 per cent increase, from 26 in 2014 to 116 in 2016. It was followed by Kerala (151), Karnataka (114), Telangana (104) and Maharashtra (103), among the top five states, over three years.

Cases in Uttarakhand increased at the greatest rate nationwide, 450 per cent, from four in 2014 to 22 in 2016.

With mob violence in the name of cow protection rising, the National Campaign Against Mob Lynching, a committee of civil society members, has proposed a new law. The Manav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA) suggests no bail for those accused of mob lynching, life imprisonment for those convicted and immediate suspension of the concerned station house officer. An online petition demanding MASUKA has received over 34,000 signatures.
In movies, the West is often portrayed as endless saloon brawls, shootouts and bounty hunts. Although things have changed, at least one group of Casperites were temporarily transported last weekend to the world of outlaws  and their ghosts.

A group of about two dozen gathered Friday downtown where a wild Old West saloon once stood, listening to Donna Fisher weave tales of jealousy, murder and ghouls.

They listened as Fisher told them about a jealous saloon owner who cut off the nose of a beautiful employee to stop other men from flirting with her. The woman, Lou Polk, later owned the saloon, but the establishment's reputation deteriorated due to continuous brawls and shootings.

Fisher is the tour guide for the Casper Theater Companys Hauntings Tour of Downtown, which continues Friday and Saturday evenings. The company also offers a Sand Bar Murder Mystery walking tour Aug. 18-26.

The stories on the Downtown Haunting Tour are real local history, Fisher said. Many of them are published in Charlotte Babcocks book, Shot Down! Capital Crimes of Casper. Fisher ties those stories with others contributed by business owners, employees, others she knows and even past tour participants.

Last weekend, Fisher led the tour through a few blocks of downtown, stopping at buildings to tell tales of bootlegging, brothels and things that go bump in the night. Here's where a man was hanged for shooting a former sheriff. Here's where a mother and her children died during an influenza outbreak and may still haunt the building. Here's where a prominent businessman and state senator shot his wife's lover in the street and never spent a day in jail for it.

The group gazed up at the seemingly innocuous parking garage on Wolcott Street as Fisher explained that its elevators sometimes run up and down at night when no one is there to operate them.

Later, Fisher told them about a jail that once stood in an alley behind Don Juan Mexican Restaurant. A drunken doctor arrested for trying an autopsy on a living person set the jail on fire in hope of escape, but he was burned alive. People today report seeing a figure rising from ashes, Fisher said.

Obstetrician Carrie Merrill joined the tour along with several staff members from her office. She hasnt lived in Casper long and enjoyed meeting new faces and learning about Casper's past, she said. She said she likes the town even better now.

The history was fantastic, I learned so much, Merrill added.

Some tour participants contributed stories of their own.

Casper native Michael Pierce relayed some from an elderly friend whod known the kids of former Wonder Bar owners many years ago. Night employees reported that a woman who fell down the stairs has lived in the building since, among other ghosts said to haunt the place.

Pierce enjoyed an evening wandering his hometown and musing about its stories.

Ive heard most of the stories," Pierce said, "Its interesting to see where they took place."

During one stop, the tour stepped inside Charlie Ts Pizzeria, where the owner told them about a mysterious presence in the building, which once housed a geology firm. Something  or someone  would move objects in the kitchen and the upper floors. That's where the presence  perhaps a former secretary of the office  can be felt most strongly.

The happenings have quieted in the past couple of years, but Charlie Tyrrel still leaves the upper floors mostly alone to respect the space, which is much as it was left in the 1950s.

Apparently, shes either taking a liking to us or is at rest, he said.
The heavily sanctioned state of North Korea test fired another ballistic missile late Friday night which is estimated to have landed 370 kilometres from the Japanese coast, the latest in a series of missile tests the country has conducted this year. Initial reports indicate no direct harm was caused by the test.

It is believed North Korea is testing its missiles to develop a range which encompasses the United States. The range covered by the latest test missile does not outright indicate the full range as it is assumed the planned trajectory is shorter so as to not cause direct conflict in the testing phase.

North Korea is under heavy sanctions from government bodies all across the world, the bulk of the sanctions originate from the United Nations, which includes demands to cease nuclear testing and various arms embargoes.

ICBMs and North Korea

Inter-continental ballistic missiles Icbms are usually capable of travelling a minimum distance of 5500 kilometres, and are fired into space and re-enter with very high velocity in the form of multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle, which carries the payload, usually nuclear.

The test has been part of a series of tests this year showcasing the military prowess while looking to develop a full-fledged ICBM capable of reaching US shores. This February saw another such test where the missile launched travelled a distance of 500 kilometres.

Another missile was launched designated as 'Hwasong-14' on July 4, 2017, coinciding with the American Independence Day celebrations. The missile is estimated to have a range of 6,700 kilometres to 10,000 kilometres. The biggest threat North Korea poses has always been direct to the United States and experts have estimated that they would be able to build an ICBM capable of reaching American coasts within the next two years.

ICBMs around the world

Six countries have been recognised as ICBM carriers, these countries are United States of America, Russia, China, India, Israel and France. It has been assumed that North Korea has ICBM capabilities but nothing has been confirmed, the threat, however, is very much real as there are indicators of successful missile development and tests.

The ICBMs are usually designed for nuclear payload delivery and contain various phases which differentiate them in terms of speed and range.

Unlike many other issues, the Trump administration has held the same opinion on North Korea as the Obama administration and called for the country to freeze all weapons programmes. Leadership in Japan and the United States have much to think about from the recent event as Kim Jong-un remains in charge of one of the last unhinged and uncontrolled nations in the world, which soon might be able to launch Nuclear ICBMs.
It's no secret that Donald Trump hasn't gotten along with many members of the mainstream media. After six months in the White House, the president is still piling on his war of words with the press.

Trump on "Morning Joe"

It's been just over two years since Donald Trump created a media frenzy by announcing his campaign for president at his very own Trump Tower in New York City. After his announcement, the majority of the media pushed back, with many believing his run for office was nothing more than a stunt to generate higher ratings for his reality show.

At first, some members of the media were willing to give Trump a chance, including the hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. However, as time moved on, the duo became increasingly critical of the former host of "The Apprentice," leading to Trump tweeting out his thoughts and mocking the show for its ratings. In the months since Trump's inauguration, Scarborough and Brzezinski have increased their criticism of the president, going as far as banning Presidential Counsel Kellyanne Conway from their program. In response, Trump decided to add his thoughts with a pair of new tweets on June 29.

I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017

Taking to Twitter on Thursday morning was Donald Trump who didn't hold back his thoughts on Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

"I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore)," Trump tweeted out. Not stopping there, the billionaire real estate mogul continued with his tweetstorm.

...to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017

"Then how come low I.Q.

Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me," Donald Trump wondered. Concluding his tweet, the president made a controversial allegation about the female MSNBC host. "She was bleeding badly from a face-lift," Trump said of Brzezinski, while adding, "I said no!" Trump's remarks come as his battle with traditional media has kicked into high-gear, especially following the recently retracted article by CNN which falsely linked the commander in chief to a Russian bank.

Moving forward

While Donald Trump continues his feud with members of the media, he also has more important things to worry about. With the Russian scandal growing by the day, the controversy surrounding his health care bill, and the in-fighting within his own administration, only time will tell how the rest of his presidency plays out.
A malfunction on the Fire Ball ride on the opening day of the Ohio State Fair killed one high school student and injured seven other riders, some critically. The student has been named as Tyler Jarrell of Columbus, Ohio. Just last week, 18-year-old Jarrell had enlisted in the Marines. Now investigators are working to find out what happened to the ride which had reportedly been inspected numerous times before the accident.

Section of seats breaks off from the Fire Ball ride

It happened on Wednesday at the Ohio State Fair, where a section of seats broke away from the "FireBall" ride, crashing to the ground, killing Jarrell and injuring seven other riders.

As the seats separated, Jarrell was thrown around 50 feet in the air before crashing to the ground, where he was pronounced dead.

A naval science instructor at the 18-year-olds high school said the teen had enlisted in the Marines on Friday last week and was set to start basic training after he graduated from high school next summer. Tyler was planning on becoming a combat engineer. Capt. Gerard Lennon Jr., who runs the Junior ROTC program at Franklin Heights High School, said it was devastating.

Tyler Jarrell, 18, was killed in an accident at the #OhioStateFair - he'd just enlisted in the @USMC https://t.co/UGrx8wh4fx pic.twitter.com/Am6VVfG25U  WSYX ABC 6 (@wsyx6) July 27, 2017

Survivors of the Fire Ball accident named

Jarrells girlfriend, Keziah Lewis, was also on the ride and while she survived, is in a critical condition in hospital.

Speaking to the Columbus Dispatch, her mother, Clarissa Williams, said Keziah has no memory of the accident on the "Fire Ball" and has suffered injuries to her ankle, pelvis, and ribs. Her mother said Keziah kept asking for Jarrell and she was the one who had to tell her he had died.

The others injured in the amusement ride accident have been named as Jennifer Lambert, 18, Abdihakim Hussein, 19, Jacob Andrews, 22, Tamika Dunlap, 36, Russell Franks, 42, and there was a further 14-year-old boy whose family requested he not be named.

Ride had been signed off with numerous inspections

As reported by the New York Daily News, inspectors had signed off on the Fire Ball ride mere hours before the accident occurred. According to inspectors, the ride had been repeatedly checked while it was being assembled at the Ohio State Fair. Now investigators are working to discover what happened to cause the accident.

18 year-old Tyler Jarrell of Columbus identified as person killed on ride at Ohio State Fair last night. pic.twitter.com/Ojh1TJwX4M  Blake McCoy (@BlakeNBC) July 27, 2017

Fire Ball manufacturer orders operators countrywide to stop operating the ride

In the meantime amusement park and carnival operators countrywide have been told by the Dutch manufacturer to stop operating the Fire Ball and other similar rides following the fatal accident and until further notice.

After the accident occurred, Ohio Governor John Kasich initially shut down all the rides at the fair and ordered new inspections for all. Kasich said it is unsure whether inspectors missed something on the Fire Ball ride that caused the tragedy.
When 39-year-old Kristy Manzanares was murdered on the Emerald Princess Alaska cruise on Tuesday, other passengers who heard the announcements believed it to be part of the murder mystery dinner show which was ongoing at the time. However, Manzanares had been discovered in her cabin at 9 p.m. after suffering a severe head wound, which FBI says was the result of a domestic dispute with her husband. Twenty minutes later, Manzanares was pronounced dead.

Murder Mystery turned into a real crime

Passengers on the Emerald Princess cruise were enjoying a murder mystery dinner show on the ship when announcements started coming asking for emergency assistance from security and medical teams.

As reported by Inside Edition, one of the passengers, Vic Simpson, said those who were enjoying the show reacted casually to the announcements, believing them to be all part of the murder mystery. Simpson said as it was a mystery about a death on a cruise ship, it just seemed to add to the dramatic effect of the evening.

Ship locked down by the FBI

However, it soon became clear something was very wrong when the ship was diverted to Juneau several hours ahead of its normal schedule. On arrival in Juneau, the FBI locked down the ship for hours as they investigated Manzanares death. Many passengers were restricted to their cabins and no one was allowed to leave the cruise ship until around 8:30 p.m.

on Wednesday.

Charges filed against the husband, Kenneth Manzanares

After interviewing passengers and members of the crew, officials eventually filed charges against Kenneth Manzanares, Kristys husband, on Thursday. Reportedly a witness who had entered the cabin and found Kristy in the blood-soaked room had asked Kenneth what had happened.

He responded that his wife wouldnt stop laughing at him and then reportedly attempted to drag Kristys body to the ships balcony. However, a security officer, who arrived moments later, cuffed him after noting the blood on his hands and shirt. Manzanares now faces anything from a maximum sentence of life behind bars to the death penalty for killing his wife.

Passengers describe learning woman died aboard Alaska cruise ship https://t.co/hwEYiqElau pic.twitter.com/ejjJzcQiH2  CBS News (@CBSNews) July 27, 2017

Cruise was to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary

The Manzanares neighbors, Nicole and Brice Beckstrom, told CBS News that the couple was on the cruise to celebrate their 18th anniversary. They also said the couples teenage daughters had accompanied them. The family boarded the ship in Seattle Sunday and was supposed to enjoy a seven-day cruise.
"General Hospital" spoilers have already revealed that Rebecca Budig is on her way out as Hayden Barnes, and now we know exactly how she's exiting the show. According to Celeb Dirty Laundry, Budig's character, Hayden, will be killed off in a new shocking revenge storyline. It will reportedly all start when Dr. Liesl Obrecht, played by Kathleen Gati, will begin a revenge plan against Dr. Hamilton Finn, portrayed by Michael Easton.

Goodbye Hayden Barnes

As many "General Hospital" fans know, Monica Quartermaine has Curtis Ashford pretending to be a computer tech so that they can finally bust Dr.

Obrecht for tampering with Finn's drug tests. The entire plan was orchestrated by Hayden Barnes, and she'll seemingly be the victim in what happens next. Hayden will reportedly get caught in the middle of Liesl and Finn's war and will end up end or in a coma because of it. The saddest part about these "GH" spoilers is that Hayden is currently pregnant with Finn's child, and Finn is over the moon with excitement about having a baby. Sadly, it looks like Finn could lose Hayden and their child just like he lost his wife Reiko in the past.

"General Hospital" spoilers and rumors also reveal that Dr. Obrecht may be leaving the soap opera, so Finn could decided to kill her for taking away his love and their unborn child.

However, she may also head to prison and end up in Pentonville with her sister, Madeline Reeves, who is behind bars for killing Silas Clay. It has not yet been revealed exactly how Liesl will kill Hayden, or if she does it in cold blood or by accident, but spoilers reveal that it will likely be unintentional.

However, this isn't the first time that Liesl Obrecht has overstepped her boundaries.

Just a few years ago, Dr. Obrecht shot Victor Cassadine, played by Thaao Penghlis, in hopes of hiding the secret of Nathan West's true father. So, the doctor has a history of criminal acts, which is why some fans can't believe she was ever allowed to be the Chief of Staff at General Hospital in the first place.

Steve Burton to return

Meanwhile, other big "General Hospital" news reveals that Steve Burton will be returning the show. Burton, who exited the role of Jason Morgan back in 2012, will return to Port Charles in the near future. However, the character of Jason is currently portrayed by actor Billy Miller, and fans are wondering how the show will bring Burton back. Will Miller be booted from the role, or could Burton return as a new character?
Do you love clowns  those common party characters sporting outlandish outfits, weird make-ups, and colorful wigs? If you do, then prepare to have a change of heart as you'll find them disturbingly creepy after watching the movie adaptation of a Stephen King original novel titled, It.

Based on Kings 1986 horror novel of the same title, the film will follow the monstrosities of child-killing clown Pennywise in Derry, Maine. The creepy evil clown (played originally by Tim Curry), who feasts on children every three decades, was first introduced in the '90s television miniseries.

Not a remake

Even though the 2017 It movie version will have some plot alterations, it vows to improve Kings original version of the story. It also promises to live up to the horror expectations of the novel.

Many have considered the movie adaptation as a remake, but actor Bill Skarsgard, who plays the role of Pennywise, insisted that it is certainly not a remake of the 90s TV series. Skarsgard told Bloody Disgusting that the film is actually a re-adaptation of Kings novel.

The 26-year-old Swedish actor also revealed that he "created" his own personal interpretation and version of Kings iconic character. He added that reading the book helped him describe his character.

Tilda Swinton as Pennywise?

As one of the highly anticipated horror movies this 2017, many fans are getting more interested in the others details of the film, including the chosen ensemble cast.

In fact, director Andres Muschiettis revelation about the other actor that he and the producers were considering for Pennywises role has made the fans curious.

According to the filmmaker, they had thought about enlisting 56-year-old British actress Tilda Swinton for Skarsgards role. Unfortunately, she was not available and wasnt able to audition.

Muschietti added that he was also interested in Will Poulter to play the villains role. But he revealed that the depiction of Pennywise in the film will be more similar to a 19th-century clown and not circus-like.

Pennywises lair and shifting eras

Apart from the cast, another element that is making fans really curious is Pennywises lair, which is in the sewers. Fortunately, IGN's Eric Goldman was able to personally visit the film's set and he revealed some pretty interesting descriptions.

As per Goldman, the clowns lair and the sewer were a jaw-dropper, which featured a pile of discarded toys, children's clothing and mementos. It also showed a rickety old circus wagon that bears the villains name.

Actor Jaeben Lieberher aka Bill Denbrough even described the set as crazy.

Meanwhile, the sequences in the novel were shifting from two eras  in the 1950s and the 1980s. But in the movie, producer Barbara Muschietti revealed that they decided to concentrate in the 80s as they know the era very well and a lot could really relate to the period.

In case you didn't want to sleep tonight, we put the 25 creepiest moments in the new #ITMovie trailer in one place: https://t.co/WbcsSYZlb0 pic.twitter.com/yoZjxOvJhg  Entertainment Weekly (@EW) July 27, 2017

Latest It trailer

The premiere of "It" cinematic adaptation is fast approaching, thats why New Line Cinema recently released a new trailer. Based on several reports, the latest trailer offers the most terrifying glimpse of the film.

Furthermore, it also gave a historical and horrific backstory, which provides some insights on the connection between Pennywises existence in Derry and the uninvestigated cases of children's deaths in town.

Horror fans were also able to hear the voice of modern-day Pennywise, as well as having a glimpse into the striking balance between the films haunting atmosphere and the nightmarish element of terror. Whats more interesting is the fact that Pennywise is not just an audaciously creepy and supernatural clown who has existed for centuries as the latest trailer revealed his shape-shifting capabilities.

You'll float too. You'll float too. You'll float too. Watch the official trailer for #ITMovie, in theaters September 8. pic.twitter.com/m60CHKwDUO  IT Movie (@ITMovieOfficial) July 27, 2017

Release date

Scheduled for release on Sept.8, MPAA has officially given Stephen Kings It a Rated R rating.

Apart from Skarsgard and Lieberher, the film also features Logan Thompson, Owen Teague, Nicholas Hamilton, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Jeremy Ray Taylor and Finn Wolfhard.
The states highest court ruled against the city of Casper on Friday, stating that Caspers municipal court was illegally sentencing minors charged with possessing alcohol to probation.

Theyve made their decision and thats something that we will live with, Assistant City Attorney Gary Way said after the decision.

The ruling confirms that of Natrona County District Court Judge Catherine Wilking, who found in October that the court was not able to sentence minors to probation, which had been part of the standard sentence for the misdemeanor crime. She wrote that city ordinance limited the sentence to only a maximum $750 fine.

The citys attorneys asked the Supreme Court to review Wilkings decision, though the justices eventually agreed with the district court judge.

The district court was therefore correct in holding that municipal courts cannot impose probation when the only penalty for an offense is a fine. We recognize that this ruling will limit municipal courts ability to impose what might be helpful conditions of probation to address the potential drinking problems of youthful offenders. However, the resolution of that issue lies in amending the ordinance to provide for incarceration, or through legislation, according to the courts opinion.

Minors found guilty of the crime were routinely sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation and a fine, according to a document written by Way.

As far as I know weve been giving out those sentences for as long as Ive been in Casper  thats 13 years, Way previously told the Star-Tribune.

However, the assistant city attorney said on Friday that the municipal court immediately stopped sentencing minors charged with possessing alcohol to probation following the district courts ruling.

Anybody who would have been placed on probation before the district courts ruling would have long been off probation by now, he added.

Way added that any necessary changes in city ordinance will be left to the Casper City Council.

Casper attorney Dallas Laird challenged the city courts practices for an 18-year-old woman charged with possession of alcohol in 2015 after officers cited her at a party.

Laird, who later became a city councilmember, argued that the court could not order probation for a violation that does not include incarceration as a potential punishment.

The attorney said on Friday that this form of punishment can have serious consequences for minors, as college or employment applications frequently ask applicants if they are on probation.

Who knows how [being placed on probation] effected them? he said.

Laird added that he was pleased by the Supreme Courts ruling.

Im always happy when justice is done, he remarked.
The rise of technology and whether or not itll take away jobs or deliver more to the common people has been a hotly debated topic. On one side we have folks saying technology is great for boosting the Job Market, and on the other, it will put an end to it. No one is fully certain what the future holds for the job market because both sides of the coin have made some excellent points. However, when a billionaire speaks of mass unemployment in the future due to technology, one needs to take notice.

Mark Cuban speaks out

Billionaire Mark Cuban appeared at the second OZY Fest in New York City, and he had a lot to say.

The question and answer panel began with talks about President Donald Trump, among other things. Cuban was asked if he was interested in joining Trumps cabinet, and to that, he said no. Nonetheless, he hopes to meet with President Trump in the future to talk about the state of the United States.

He then went on to talk about artificial intelligence. He believes the changes weve seen to the Apple iPhone and likely other mobile devices where AI is concerned, is nothing special. Cuban added that China is ahead of the United States where AI is concerned, and he may have a point.

Technology taking jobs

Xiaomi is one of the top companies in China, and the company has proven its worth. It created the impressive Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum, and at a cheaper price, it's much better than the Roomba 980 and the newest Neato.

It didnt take very long for the billionaire to mention technology and jobs. He believes business practices will change in the future, ultimately taking jobs away from many Americans.

Hes not wrong. If we look at what many fast food companies are doing today, its clear that technology is playing a major role in influencing how things will operate in the future.

Cashiers will likely be a thing of the past, and robots might end up making our lunch and dinner.

Furthermore, companies want to save money to bolster profits. Some of the best ways to do that include fewer employees on the payroll or none at all. For example, if we look at the taxi industry, we can see the rise of self-driving cars on the horizon.

The day will come when a person calls for a Lyft taxi, only to see a car coming up the street with no driver.

Nevertheless, theres always the chance that mark cuban could be wrong in his assessment. But, with the actions of many technology giants, it's clear artificial intelligence will play a major role in the lives of consumers, and this could affect job growth.
Weiqiang Zhong of American Wonder Porcelain, Jianping Huang, chairman and president of The Wonderful Group; Michael Kephart, president of American Wonder Porcelain; Bob Rolfe, commissioner of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development; and Bill Griese of the Tile Council of North America at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the American Wonder Porcelain plant in Lebanon, Tennessee, earlier this year. Provided to China Daily

For more than 30 years, Tennessee has cultivated foreign direct investment, and China is responsible for an increasing amount of that FDI, reports Paul Welitzkin from Nashville, the state capital.

Frank Chen, the CEO of Sinomax USA, had been looking for a US location for some time.

Logistics were developing into a challenge as "bedding products are bulky, and it takes a lot to ship them a long distance", he said.

So in 2013, when US retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc unveiled a plan to bring back manufacturing jobs to the US, Chen decided it was time for his Hong Kong-based company to find a stateside location. That choice was Tennessee.

Michael Kephart, president of American Wonder Porcelain and Jianping Huang, chairman and president of The Wonderful Group, outside of the American Wonder Porcelain plant in Lebanon, Tennessee. Paul Welitzkin / China Daily Sinomax plant in La Vergne, Tennessee. Provided to China Daily For Jianping Huang, chairman and president of The Wonderful Group, based in Dongguan, Guangdong province, proximity to the US market was a key factor in opening a US ceramics plant.

"We want to be near our customers in the US," Huang said. "The American ceramic industry imports about 70 percent of its product, with about 13 percent of that coming from China. Setting up this factory is better for our customers."

Huang also chose Tennessee.

Chinese companies have provided a boost to Tennessee's economy in recent years, whether it's building a new plant or retrofitting an old factory.

According to data from the state's Economic and Community Development department, in 2015 and 2016, Tennessee attracted $3.18 billion of foreign direct investment - China accounted for about $270 million of that will help create more than 1,000 jobs in the state.

The TN China Network, a trade promotion group, said that through June 2017, there were 47 companies in Tennessee that received Chinese investment.

According to the New York-based Rhodium Group, which tracks Chinese investment in the United States, the top three industries for that investment are health and biotech, followed by automotive and aviation.

All of these investments have a local impact.

"We were happy that the Chinese were coming. Any investment is a big deal for us because it helps our local economy," said Bernie Ash, mayor of Lebanon, Tennessee, upon learning that the Wonderful Group would invest $150 million and open a porcelain plant in his hometown.

In La Vergne, 27 miles southwest of Lebanon, more than 500 jobs were lost when the Whirlpool Corp closed a plant there in 2008.

Sinomax USA recently opened a plant in that facility that will eventually employ more than 300.

City Administrator Bruce Richardson said the area welcomed the Chinese investment.

"We are happy to see the facility back in use, and we hope that a lot of La Vergne residents will be able to get jobs there to support their families," Richardson wrote in an email.

Porcelain finds a home

Porcelain was developed in China more than 2,000 years ago before being exported to Europe and the rest of the world.

The American Wonder Porcelain facility signifies the first investment in the US from a Chinese ceramic tile manufacturer. The Wonderful Group is a division of Marco Polo, which is the largest producer of ceramic tile in China.

The Wonderful Group's plant is adding to Tennessee's roster of ceramic tile plants that now numbers six, and that was a major reason why the Wonderful plant is in Lebanon.

"Other ceramic factories are in Tennessee; there is a good supply of raw materials, and the Tennessee government welcomed us here," Huang said.

Michael Kephart, a veteran of the ceramic tile industry, was hired by Huang to be president and CEO of American Wonder Porcelain.

"Our goal is to produce a high-quality, finished porcelain tile that will be used in floors, walls and counters in residential and commercial applications," he said.

Porcelain is made from raw clay and other materials. "We mix it together with water to produce slurry that is dried, milled and processed before it is heated up," Kephart said.

He said he isn't surprised that he is working for a Chinese company. "I have worked in Europe and Asia before," he said.

In addition to Wonderful Group team members from China who are helping to set up the Lebanon plant, there are workers from Italy and other countries at the facility to help install machinery from those countries, plus residents from the Lebanon community who need to be trained.

Kephart believes that such diversity may be a harbinger of what a typical American workplace will look like in the future. He also praised Huang for enabling him to set up "a Western type of company".

"Despite some language differences, our team is cohesive, productive and dedicated," he said.

The plant has 50 to 60 employees, and when it begins full production, Kephart anticipates a work force of 175 to 225.

Riley Tang, who worked for The Wonderful Group in China, has been living in the Lebanon area for two years. "The people are nice and kind to everyone. I like living here and noticed that country music is very popular," he said through an interpreter.

Even with language hurdles, Tang described a smooth operating team. "We get along well, and (they) help me in work and life," he said. Tang added that he wouldn't object to staying in Tennessee and making a career there.

Brian Messamore has lived in Tennessee for 10 years and is a veteran of the ceramic industry. He said that diversity is a way of life in the industry: "Right now manufacturing porcelain tile in America is a multicultural thing. There is always a lot of cultural diversity.

"I think there is a lot we can learn from the Chinese, and there is a lot they can learn from us, "he said. "There is a bond developing on this team."

Retail pipeline attractive

Sinomax USA, a maker of memory foam bedding and related products, has been a supplier to Walmart since 2006. The company has since added Costco and Kohl's as customers.

"We were considering making an investment in the US several years ago," said Chen, a Beijing native. Initially he considered a partner for a joint venture. But "that didn't work because it's hard to find the right partner", he said.

Chen then considered acquiring an existing US company, but that didn't pan out either. Meanwhile, Chen said it was getting harder to take care of his US customers from a manufacturing base in China.

In 2013, Walmart unveiled a $250 billion initiative to re-shore, or bring back, US manufacturing jobs that had been outsourced to China and other nations. Rightly or wrongly, the company had been blamed for sending thousands of US jobs overseas since the 1990s.

That program turned out to be the tipping point for Chen and his company's ambitions in the US. "Walmart's program certainly helped us decide to make a US commitment," he said.

Chen then had to decide on a location for his first US plant and whether to construct a new building or remodel an existing one.

"Location was very important to us," Chen recalled. "Somewhere in the Southeast would put us close to most of our major customers."

Initially, Chen identified eight states and then narrowed his choice to two - Arkansas and Tennessee. Arkansas offered a very attractive package, he said.

But a closed Whirlpool plant near La Vergne just outside of Nashville met all the requirements Chen was seeking for his $28 million investment. There was rail access to the building. "That was important to us. But it was also close to major highways, and Tennessee is an ideal location," he said.

While the state provided incentives, there was another important factor in selecting La Vergne.

"The reason we came here wasn't just the incentives. We came here because there are technical schools and community colleges and universities nearby. This allows us to recruit a deep talent pool in the area," Chen said.

Bruce Miller, executive vice-president of operations at Sinomax, assembled a team for the Tennessee facility. When he told everyone the company owners were from China, he said the response was interesting.

"Initially, the reaction was most jobs are going from the US to China. Now a Chinese company is bringing jobs to the US. It was a change and it was, 'Wow this is a great new trend.' American workers can compete with those from outside of the country," he said.

When Tao Zhu was a year old, he and his parents left Fuzhou in Fujian province and moved to Minneapolis. Zhu was educated in Minneapolis and received his bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota. He is now an engineer at Sinomax.

"I never really expected it," he said of learning that Sinomax was a Chinese-owned company. I didn't see that many Chinese companies in the US. I was more aware of outsourcing to China, especially in manufacturing," he said.

"I feel lucky to be a part of this company," Zhu explained. "Having them build this plant here shows they are taking the initiative to bring jobs here."

DeWayne Cid, a product data manager for Sinomax who has lived in the area for 12 years, likes the company's approach.

"It may be a Chinese-owned company, but it is providing Americans with jobs," he said. "The company has partnerships and is supplied by other American companies. It does matter that we are manufacturing in the US and are not just distributing. That has really impressed me."

Economic shift

FDI has helped create a vibrant job market in a state that until recently had been best known more for agricultural products and a country music shrine, the Grand Ole Opry.

Beginning in the 1980s, Tennessee's economy began to shift from manufacturing non-durable products like leather goods and chemicals, to making durable products, according to Bill Fox, director of the University of Tennessee's Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research. "We added a lot of employment in durable manufacturing, specifically in automobile manufacturing."

Tennessee, called the Volunteer State, "has outpaced the nation by modest amounts since the 1980s. The transition in the state's economy has been as important as the growth," Fox said.

Now Tennessee is referred to by many as the "Detroit of the South". The automobile industry helped kick off the FDI wave in the state.

Investment wave

Fox said Japan's Nissan Motor Co Ltd put Tennessee on the auto industry map when it opened an assembly plant in Smyrna, outside the state capital of Nashville, in 1983.

"From there it expanded to Spring Hill when General Motors opened a Saturn plant in the 1990s, and recently we had Volkswagen open a plant in Chattanooga," he said.

Fox said that, in turn, the automotive plants helped to unleash a wave of investment from auto parts manufacturers and suppliers - many of them foreign-owned - "all over the state".

Yanfeng USA, the largest Chinese manufacturer of automotive interior components and a unit of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, China's largest state-owned automaker, built a plant near Chattanooga.

In 2014, South Korea's Hankook Tire Co Ltd broke ground for an $800 million car and light-truck tire plant in Clarksville that may employ up to 1,200. Hankook also intends to put its North American headquarters in Nashville. Japan's Bridgestone Tire also is in Nashville.

In April, Germany's Wacker Chemie AG officially opened its new polysilicon production site in Charleston. The $2.5 billion investment is expected to create about 650 jobs.

"There is no doubt that it (FDI) has been critical for us. We have led the nation (in FDI) the last couple of years," said Governor Bill Haslam.

Huang, chairman and president of The Wonderful Group, is aware that his company's US investment will be closely watched in China.

"The Wonderful Group investment in the US has been mentioned in the media. Many will watch and see if we are successful. If we are a success, it will be a good example for other Chinese companies," he said.

Contact the writer at paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com

The selling of Tennessee in China

As director of business development for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, it's Li Weaver's job to represent and market the state in China.

Weaver is a native of Taiyuan in Shanxi province, which is a sister city to Nashville, Tennessee's capital. She is fluent in English and Mandarin.

Weaver said many members of the Chinese business community are at least somewhat familiar with Tennessee, and when discussing the state with them, she emphasizes its location, vibrant manufacturing economy and pro-business attitude.

"Tennessee is perfectly located to service the eastern half of the US, particularly the Southeast," she said. "Our existing advanced manufacturing base helps to attract other companies. For example, we have a lot of automotive companies in China looking at the state because we already have a thriving auto industry. Our business-friendly environment and tax policies are also big draws."

Weaver believes that her office is critical in attracting Chinese FDI: "The relationships that we build are very important. We can help to bridge language and cultural gaps."
Wong Chun (left) talks with actors Shawn Yue (center) and Eric Tsang during filming. Yue played Tung, a former stockbroker, who is struggling with bipolar disorder, while Tsang played Tung's father. Photos provided to China Daily

WASHINGTON - Wong Chun got a warm welcome when his low-budget feature debut, Mad World, was presented as the opening film of the 22nd annual Made in Hong Kong Film Festival on July 14 in Washington.

Co-sponsored by the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, the festival, running from July 14 through Aug 6, features some of the most talked about recent films out of Hong Kong.

"To begin with, just in case you are wondering, this is not a kung fu movie, and is not even a comedy," Wong told the audience at the National Museum of American History before the screening.

The audience laughed, and got even more enthused when they learned that the 26-year-old director not only completed shooting the award-winning film in just 16 days, but also edit it himself.

"Hong Kong films are often associated with kung fu movies," Wong said. "We take that as a compliment and we're certainly proud of it, but we need to show more aspects of Hong Kong to the world."

Featuring the family of a former stockbroker who is struggling with bipolar disorder, Mad World was one of three films to win the premiere First Feature Film Initiative launched by Hong Kong's Commerce and Economic Development Bureau to support new directors and their production teams in making their first feature films.

"They served more like a subsidy provider than an investor, which allowed us more freedom to tell the real Hong Kong story we wanted to tell, a story that commercial films hardly pay attention to," Wong said.

The film was based on a real news story, which Wong and his team adapted to take a more comprehensive look at Hong Kong's housing problems, mental disorder problems, doctor-patient relationships and the pressures facing care providers.

With such non-mainstream themes, Wong cast mainstream actors - Shawn Yue, Eric Tsang, Elaine Jin and Charmaine Fong - to draw a mainstream audience.

Not only did Wong win the Best New Director at both the 53rd Golden Horse Awards and the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards, but his cast also won multiple nominations and awards.

"Hong Kong films have our own style. We may not be very exquisite or meticulous, but we are often witty and even peculiar," Wong said.

"Many say that Hong Kong film nowadays has stepped down from its golden age, the period when it played a leading role in the Asian film industry during the late 1980s and early 1990s," he said. "It is true. Audiences now have many more options with Korean films, Japanese films and films of Chinese mainland, so it's high time for us to really think about what stories we want to tell."

The challenge facing young Hong Kong directors like him remains: How can they win their audience back?

And in his mind this is not necessarily a bad thing. "It urges us to do better and make our films more unique," he said.

There was a time when some Hong Kong filmmakers tried to jump out of the context of Hong Kong and do big-budget productions in order to become more globalized, but that didn't work out very well, Wong said.

"During the past decade, more and more Hong Kong filmmakers have started to bring back the concept of localization, which makes more sense to me," he said, "because globalization can never be achieved if you throw your own identity and uniqueness away. I mean, you need to find out who you are before you present yourself to the world."

Mad World is one of those films that is local but also global-it's a typical Hong Kong story that reflects universal human emotions, conflicts and values.

"I was surprised to see how fast audiences from different parts of the world could really pick up on this film. It connects with people," Wong said.

And he came to realize that as long as he is telling a good story, it naturally reaches out to people no matter what their backgrounds are.

"This was an amazing movie with a very difficult subject matter. I can't wait to see the other films," said Josette Desfayes, a member of the audience who had been to Hong Kong more than 50 years ago but was not familiar with Hong Kong films.

For Wong, film is a powerful and influential medium, through which he tries to open a window for the world to really learn about Hong Kong and its people. With Mad World, he seems to be off to a good start.

Yuan Yuan in Washington contributed to the story.
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Imagine that you were forced to sign a 25-year contract for gas for your car at three to four times the market price. Thats the exact situation NorthWestern Energy customers were facing without the Public Service Commissions recent action to reduce the contract length and rate available to small renewable projects known as Qualifying Facilities.

As usual with actions that put ratepayers first, those who would have us promote renewables at any cost are hopping mad.

The federal law that the commission must follow, PURPA, clearly states that ratepayers shouldnt pay more for one form of energy over another. That law also requires long-term contracts for renewable energy projects without providing a precise definition of long-term.

Until recently, contracts were set at a term of 25 years; however, the commission received compelling testimony from the state consumer advocate, the Montana Consumer Counsel that fixed price, 25-year contracts were excessively risky for customers. My colleagues and I on the commission agreed and earlier this month we voted to reduce contracts to a maximum of 10 years.

The price that NorthWestern must pay for the power supplied by renewables is ultimately born by the consumer. The PSCs charge is to ensure that customers, you and I, pay no more for alternative energy than we otherwise would for power generated by the utility or purchased from the open market. The longer the length of the contract the less accurate these calculations become, and the greater the likelihood that consumers will wind up paying too much.

Case in point, last June the commission blocked a proposal by a handful of developers to build 130 megawatts of new solar generating capacity at a highly inflated rate of $66 per megawatt hour, roughly three times the market price today. That action is projected to save ratepayers an estimated $65 million over the next 25 years based on a forecast of current market prices.

Shorter contracts provide a benefit to both consumers and QFs by ensuring that rates paid to developers more accurately reflect the actual cost of generating electricity.

Recently circulated stories have strongly suggested that the commissions actions were mean to kill wind and solar development in the state. There is no truth whatsoever to this claim. In fact, the commission recognizes that the risk associated with locking customers into long-term rates is universal and thats why we voted to apply the exact same treatment to NorthWestern, as well as QFs.

To be sure, renewable development brings jobs and dollars to the local economy, but such concerns are outside the scope of the commissions mandate to select the least-cost resource to reliably serve customers. Federal law clearly prohibits the commission from favoring one form of generation over any other. Such incentives are the sole privilege of the Montana Legislature or Congress.

In the coming weeks, the commission will undoubtedly face motions to reconsider our decision. I will approach those requests with an open mind and will happily reverse my decision if presented with compelling new information, but any proposal must square with the legal requirement that rates remain neutral for customers. Montanas clean energy future must not be financed on the backs of ratepayers.
Sad news came out of the state capitol last week when budget cuts gave the Montana Historical Society no choice but to announce that its Uber talented staff just dont have the funding to travel to the hundreds of important places across the state, to gather stories, preserve historic buildings, conserve invaluable documents and photographs, and to celebrate with communities both large and small the history, traditions, and people that made Montana the special place it is.

Its unfortunate when a state steps back from its past and thinks its future is better without it. When I look for those who built the state, the deep past is where I start, and the leaps forward in how Montanas tribes are documenting and interpreting their history to their terms and needs  one of the most important developments in Montanas heritage development over the last 30 plus years.

Then there are the properties that link the peoples of Montana and their sense of themselves and their pastcemeteries large and small across the state, where veterans are commemorated and families celebrated.

Fort Kipp Cemetery is one of those places, nestled on the river bluffs overlooking the Missouri River. On a larger scale but still intimate, personal, and compelling is the city cemetery of Red Lodge, hundreds of miles away. Here surrounded by the mountains are graves from the early Finnish residents who came to work at the coal mines and build a community. Some are of a traditional design, immediately translated from the old country. Others are as mainstream as American industry could make it at the turn of the twentieth century, such as a prefabricated marker cast somewhere back East but with Finnish lettering, speaking to those who also came over in around 1900 to build a new land.

The Finnish imprint on the landscape of Carbon County has been eclipsed by generations of growth since the early 1900s, but as the 2016 Road Show of the Montana Preservation Alliance demonstrated, buildings large and small are still part of the landscape. With a few acres of land outside of Red Lodge, Finnish settlers and their descendants have maintained a place of community  the Kavela  which remains vibrant some 100 years later. At this place of ethnic identity and celebration, you almost feel like an intruderthat you have stepped inside a sacred circle as an outsider. But families go out of their way to make you feel welcome, through fellowship, good food, and stories of past and present. The Kavela naturally features one of the most traditional Finnish community buildingsthe sauna, built of concrete in the 1920s. Speak of tradition, ethnic pride, and assimilation  a concrete sauna might say it all.

Indeed what you can find in the Finnish landscape of Carbon County is repeated countless times across Big Sky Country, just in different languages and with different forms. It is why you get off the interstates and travel the back roads, the dirt roads, for the markers of the nations that built our nation can be almost anywhere. It might be of the many ethnicities who mined the copper of Butte, or the African American railroad workers and other average citizens who established permanent institutions such as the Bethel Union AME Church in Great Falls.

Stonemasons from Croatia are credited with many of the architecturally striking stone buildings in Lewistown. If you stop and explore the state capital of Helena, you can see where Irish Americans banded together to fund some of the states most iconic structures, from the majestic Catholic Cathedral that overlooks the city and the commanding statue of Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher in front of the state Capitol.

From the Meagher statue it is only a few steps to the east to the doors of the Montana Historical Society. Its operating hours are fewer, but you will find an institution not just of the past but of the future for like the land itself, the society, its collections, and dedicated staff are the keepers of the things and words that remain from those who built the state. The idea that Montana can stride into the 21st century without the Montana Historical Society is folly, defined.
HCM CITY  The Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACAS) has asked Government authorities to tackle obstacles in customs declaration procedure.

A new regulation is causing hundreds of raw cashew material containers to pile up at the citys ports.

According to the association, many enterprises importing cashew materials for processing and re-export are facing the risk of demurrage/storage charge hike due to the Prime Ministers Decision No 15/2017/Q-TTg on May 12 and the General Department of Vietnam Customs Document No 4824/TCHQ-GSQL.

Under these documents, raw material importers must make customs declaration in the localities where their factories are based, such as ong Nai or Binh Phuoc.

However, plant quarantine must still be carried out at HCM Citys Customs Department.

The citys plant quarantine agency is not allowed to take samples for examination right after the goods arrive at HCM ports; instead it has to wait until procedures of goods declaration at the localities are completed.

Therefore, to comply with the new regulation, each batch of goods has to be transported from HCM City to other cities/provinces for customs declaration, then back to HCM City for plant quarantine, and finally return to factories in the cities/provinces for production.

Ta Quang Huyen, director of the Hoang Son I Co Ltd which is headquartered in the southern province of Binh Phuoc, said previously, both works of customs declaration and plant quarantine were conducted on arrival at HCM Citys Customs Department, which helped save time and money for enterprises.

The new regulation, however, increased customs declaration time by 10 times, along with a hike in demurrage/storage charges. Further, transport costs of businesses increased because most cashew processing factories are situated in the southern provinces of ong Nai and Binh Phuoc, Huyen said.

Huyens company currently has 100 containers of cashew material, equivalent to 1,500 tonnes, stuck at the port. He estimated the storage cost for the consignment would amount to VN50 million (US$2,200) per day, adding that the company would likely fail to deliver its products to customers on time.

o Tat Thang, director of HCM City-based aKao Agricultural Produce Export and Production Co Ltd, said Document 4824 took effect from the moment it was issued, thus enterprises did not have time to adjust production plans.

He said the new requirement dis not help increase local budgets even when the goods were declared at local customs divisions because temporarily imported products for re-export are not subject to taxes. Thus it was a time-consuming procedure for the local staff, he added.

The company currently has to pay VN100 million for storage of 200 containers of cashew material at the port.

Accordingly, VINACAS general secretary ang Hoang Giang said the association on July 15 sought Government authorities permission for cashew enterprises to have flexibility in choosing the place where they could do customs declaration, depending on the business situation on the ground.

The request was sent to the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Giang said.

VINACAS chairman Nguyen uc Thanh said latest information on the nutritional value of cashew nuts was meanwhile, publicised by the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council, which would be the foundation to raise the added value of cashew products.

Therefore, authorities need to simplify administrative procedures to facilitate the development of the Vietnamese cashew sector, Thanh stressed.  VNS
CUU LONG DELTA -- Farmers in the Mekong Delta are growing a Japanese rice variety without approval from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, leading to a possible oversupply in the market.

Though the rice variety has been approved for use in the Red River Delta and northern midlands, its cultivation on vast areas in the Delta is expected to lead to a surplus, according to authorities.

In the Mekong province of Kien Giang, cultivation of the rice has continued to expand despite warnings from officials.

Kien Giang farmers are growing the rice variety on nearly 43,000ha of fields, mainly in the districts of Kien Luong, Hon at and Giang Thanh, according to the National Statistics Bureau.

o Le Huu, a farmer from Kien Giang Provinces Hon at District, said the Japanese rice variety produced higher yields than traditional varieties.

Ive signed sales contracts for our rice, so Im not worried about sales, Huu said, adding that traditional rice varieties were sold via middlemen at unstable prices, and the traditional rice was often difficult to sell.

Another farmer from Hon at District, who declined to be named, said he had signed a contract with a company in Tri Ton District to grow Japanese rice on 12ha of fields and to sell undried paddy for VN5,000 per kilo.

We are focusing on production and have signed contracts, so we arent worried about rice consumption, he said.

Risks to farmers

Kien Giang farmers have signed contracts for the purchase of 30,000ha of Japanese rice, and are seeking buyers for another 13,000ha cultivated under the variety.

However, local customers remain unfamiliar with the product, according to Nguoi Lao ong (Labourer) newspaper.

Nguyen Van Tam, director of Kien Giangs Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that several local companies were exporting Japanese rice, so many farmers from the Mekong Delta were growing the variety purchased from northern provinces.

Tam said that Kien Giangs Agriculture Department had asked the General Plantation Department and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to issue instructions on the unplanned cultivation of Japanese rice variety.

Many Kien Giang farmers have expanded cultivation, and buyers have signed contracts with individual farmers to purchase the Japanese rice.

Tran Anh Thu, director of An Giangs Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said farmers were growing Japanese rice varieties Naha and S1.

Local farmers have signed contracts to sell Naha rice planted on 5,000ha to a consortium composed of the An Giang Food Co. and Japanese company Kitoku.

The rice has been exported to countries with large Japanese communities.

The S1 rice variety is being grown on 12,000ha of rice fields in Tan Tien and Luong An Tri communes in Tri Ton District, under contracts signed between local farmers and Vinacam.

Thu said that Vinacam planned to expand cultivation areas for the S1 rice variety to An Phu, Tan Chau, Tinh Bien and Chau Phu in An Giang Province.

Dr Vo Tong Xuan, former rector of An Giang University, said the Japanese rice had been sold mainly to the Chinese market

"Although local farmers have found a market for the rice product, traders are ultimately the decision-makers in the market," he added.

Xuan asked local farmers to learn from the lessons of pork and banana producers, who lost money for several months because of abundant supply, low prices and poor sales.VNS
The export value of farming, forestry and aquatic products gained a year-on-year increase of 14.7 per cent, to US$20.45 billion, in the first seven months of this year.  VNA/VNS Photo inh Hue

HA NOI  The export value of farming, forestry and aquatic products gained a year-on-year increase of 14.7 per cent, to US$20.45 billion, in the first seven months of this year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Key farm produce raked in $10.89 billion, up 18 per cent while forestry products brought home $4.41 billion, up 10.8 per cent.

The US, China and Japan were the three largest export markets of Viet Nams timber and timber products in the first half of this year, accounting for 70.2 per cent of total exports of those products.

The markets with strong growth in timber export value included China (29 per cent), Canada (21.8 per cent), the US (18.7 per cent), Germany (10.6 per cent) and South Korea (9.2 per cent).

Viet Nam shipped 3.3 million tonnes of rice, worth $1.5 billion, abroad, up 15.7 per cent in volume and 13.7 per cent in value compared to the January-July period of 2016. China was still the largest export market of Vietnamese rice during the first seven months, the ministry said. The second was the Philippines.

Vietnamese businesses won contracts to supply 175,000 tonnes of rice to the Philippines at an open tender on July 25, according to the Viet Nam Food Association.

In addition, domestic rice exporters have also prepared enough supply to deliver rice under the previously signed contracts with Cuba, Bangladesh and Malaysia. Therefore, until the end of the third quarter, Viet Nams rice production industry wouldnt have any trouble selling rice, bringing benefits to farmers.

Nguyen Thanh Long, Managing Director of Gao Viet Co., Ltd agreed that the contracts won in the Philippines would have a positive impact on the Vietnamese rice market.

Other products

The ministry said in the first seven months of the year, aquatic products earned $4.31 billion from export, a surge of 17.5 per cent against the same period last year, including $727 million in July.

The increase was attributed to growth in key export markets, including China by 47.9 per cent, Japan by 32.5 per cent, the Republic of Korea by 27.7 per cent, the UK by 25.3 per cent, the Netherlands by 19.5 per cent and Canada by 18.1 per cent.

Imports of aquatic products reached $112 million in July, raising the total in the first seven months to $761 million, up 30.1 per cent year on year. In the reviewed period, aquatic production was estimated at nearly 1.96 billion tonnes, up 4.4 per cent year on year, including 1.85 million tonnes of sea catch, up 4.5 per cent from the same period last year and 66.1 percent of the years target. Vegetable and fruit exports witnessed a year-on-year rise of 50 per cent in export value to $2.03 billion in the reviewed period.

The outcome was regarded as spectacular progress, as export turnover of the commodity was approximately equivalent to the total amount in 2016 ($2.4 billion). So far, fruits and vegetables have emerged as one of the key exports in the agricultural sector.

Key export markets of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables were China, Japan, the US and the Republic of Korea. In the first six months, the four markets occupied about 84.4 per cent of total export turnover.

In January-June, other markets with rapidly rising import turnovers were the UAE (up 82.3 per cent), Japan (61.6 per cent), Russia (54.9 per cent), mainland China (53.5 per cent), the US (28.6 per cent), Taiwan (18.9 per cent), the RoK (12.3 per cent), and the Netherlands (11.6 per cent).

Meanwhile, coffee and cashew nut exports maintained stable growth in the period thanks to higher prices. The country earned $2.12 billion from exporting 937,000 tonnes of coffee and $1.83 billion from shipping 186,000 tonnes of cashew nuts.

The export value of rubber also recorded a strong surge, reaching $1.13 billion, 59 per cent higher than the same period last year. Pepper export turnover suffered an 18 per cent fall to $800 million due to a 30 per cent drop in prices.  VNS
An international seminar on information safety is scheduled to take place in Ho Chi Minh City on November 17 and in Ha Noi on December 1 on the occasion of Viet Nam Information Safety Day. Photo ictnews.vn

HA NOI  An international seminar on information safety is scheduled to take place in Ho Chi Minh City on November 17 and in Ha Noi on December 1 on the occasion of Viet Nam Information Safety Day, announced the Viet Nam Information Security Association (VNISA).

Apart from a major session themed Smart safety in the new connected world, two seminars entitled Information safety for smart cities and Ensuring information safety at different levels will be held, according to the organising board.

Within the framework of Vietnam Information Safety Day, the organisers will offer a national information safety competition for students, a training course for information technology managers and a technology exhibition.

The VNISA will also announce the results of information safety products and services reviewed by domestic firms.

The annual Viet Nam Information Safety Day has been held by the VNISA for the past nearly 10 years under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Education and Training. - VNS
The Government needs to be aware of the pros and cons of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Cities, establishing a strategic roadmap for the development to complement the national ICT roadmap. Photo VietTimes

HA NOI  The Government needs to be aware of the pros and cons of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Cities, establishing a strategic roadmap for the development to complement the national ICT roadmap.

Tran Minh Tuan, deputy director of the National Institute of Information and Communications Strategy under the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), said it was the right time for Viet Nam to think about developing IoT and Smart City applications in order to foster socio-economic development.

A recent survey conducted by Microsoft Viet Nam showed that Vietnamese youth expect IoT will have a major impact on their future.

In Viet Nam, IoT solutions hold great promises in solving everyday life issues and improving citizens quality of life, Tuan said.

He said the country had big potential for IoT and Smart City applications. Many application domains could potentially benefit from IoT and Smart City services.

The Vietnamese Government has been the driving force behind the countrys move into the age of digital economy.

The telecommunications infrastructure is now relatively developed, with more than 9 million broadband fixed internet subscribers at the end of 2016, according to the Viet Nam ICT White Book 2017.

Viet Nam has more than 43.92 million 3G and 4G subscribers, accounting for 47 per cent of its total population. About 36.5 million people are smartphone users.

4G LTE plays a key role in IoT and Smart City infrastructure, he added.

He suggested that the Government should plan carefully and realistically to prioritise peoples needs and not become misled by unrealistic prospects.

FPI IS director Phan Thanh Son said the Government should have a guiding framework and learn experience from global Smart Cities.

Viet Nam has taken drastic measures to develop Smart City technology. However, if all localities in Viet Nam build Smart City themselves without planning or a roadmap, the rate of failure would be too high, he said

He said Viet Nam should implement Indias step-by-step Smart City model. The Indian government mapped out 100 Smart Cities under its guidance and using various sources of capital.

Cities in India had to submit applications to be selected for funding and consultancy.

Incheon City in South Korea has been successful thanks to the establishment of a Smart City council with participation from relevant urban planning agencies.

He said the MIC has taken responsibility in studying and laying out a road map on Smart City in Viet Nam.

The transition from 3G to 4G has been a considerable improvement, opening a new door for development of Smart Cities in the areas of smart transport, smart healthcare and smart buildings.

Patrick Tsie, Marketing Director of Qualcomm Group said Viet Nam should take advantage of its available 4G infrastructure to develop Smart Cities.

Each city has different characters of geography, climate, population, income and IT capacity. It is for this reason that the Government should not apply a common model for all cities, he said.  VNS
HCM CITY  Viet Nam has great potential in renewable energy, but the Government should have suitable mechanisms and policies to encourage investment in the field, a seminar heard in HCM City on Friday.

Dr Nguyen Anh Tuan, director of the Renewable Energy Centre, said theoretically Viet Nams has a renewable energy -- biomass, biogas, wind, and solar -- potential of 9.1 million MW though its technical potential is only 385,708 MW.

The Governments revised power development plan VII approved last year set a target for renewable energy for around 7 per cent of total generation by 2020 and 10 per cent by 2030.

It now accounts for a very small proportion though it is increasing, he told the seminar titled Green Energy Insights: Viet Nam and Taiwans Trends and Development.

Talking about challenges, he said the huge initial cost of renewable energy was the key hurdle in Viet Nam.

Besides, tariffs are not very attractive for renewable energy, and there is difficulty and uncertainty in system connections, a shortage of skilled professionals and engineers in the field, lack of information/reliable database for assessing the potential of renewable energy sources and a potential constraint on land resources, he said.

He suggested that the Government should develop suitable mechanisms and policies to promote the renewable energy industry.

"A renewable energy fund to support solar, wind and biomass projects and organising training courses in co-operation with universities to train skilled engineers are also needed," he said.

Karen Ma, director of Taiwans Green Trade Project Office, said demand for green and renewable energy had increased globally.

"There is very good potential for green energy development in ASEAN, including Viet Nam.

"Taiwan targets a rate of 20 per cent from renewables by 2025," she said.

Organised by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the seminar sought to acquaint Vietnamese companies with global trends in green development and renewable energy opportunities in Viet Nam, photovoltaic technology, use of lithium ion batteries in green energy, and other technologies.

According to TAITRA, the Taiwanese green energy industry has been growing steadily, and today the island ranks second globally in the production of solar cells.

Both Viet Nam and Taiwan are working on green energy development, and the seminar is expected to promote co-operation between the two sides in the sector.  VNS
Hoang Nguyen

HCM CITY  Domestic companies have not taken full advantage of the incentives offered by preferential tariff policies for Vietnamese firms to sell products to South Korea, according to the deputy director-general of the Asia-Pacific Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Le An Hai said that South Korea could be a great market for Viet Nams agriculture, forest and fishery exports, but Vietnamese agricultural exports accounted for only a small amount of South Koreas total agricultural import value, which was around US$100 billion last year.

Hai spoke at a seminar on promotion of processed Vietnamese food, seafood and agricultural product exports to South Korea held in HCM City yesterday.

Reduced tariffs are available under the Viet Nam-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect in December 2015, and the ASEAN-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, offering opportunities for Vietnamese exports.

Though China is still the most important market for Viet Nams agricultural products [it imported $16 billion worth of Vietnamese agro-forest-fishery products last year], South Korea is one of our top priority markets, he said.

Like Japan, Australia and New Zealand, South Korea is a very strict market in terms of required quality for imported products. If we can win over these markets, we can access many other markets more easily, he added.

According to the General Department of Customs, last year Viet Nam imported $32 billion of South Korean products, up 15.9 per cent year-on-year, while exports were worth $11.4 billion, up 28 per cent year-on-year.

In the first six months of the year, bilateral trade between Viet Nam and South Korea reached $29.1 billion, up 45.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The MoIT is launching many efforts to help local firms enhance exports of Vietnamese agro-forest-fishery products to South Korea to achieve bilateral trade value of $70 billion by 2020.

Products with potential

Yoon Byung Soo, product strategy director of Korean conglomerate Lotte Mart Viet Nam, said that Vietnamese dried mango, dragon fruit, coconut-related products and coffee were favoured by many Korean consumers.

Since Viet Nam has many fruits that South Korea cannot produce, our supermarket chains are very interested in these products, he said.

Yoon said that bananas were a potential product for South Korea because Vietnamese bananas have good quality and a competitive price similar to the Philippines, which is a main source of imports for Korea.

Recently, our team from Korea visited Viet Nam and signed a contract to import 100 tonnes of bananas, he said.

However, he said that Vietnamese banana growers should pay more attention to ensuring consistency in the quality of bananas year-round as well as the hygiene of farms.

Another issue is the hiring of under-aged workers by farmers during harvest season, he said, adding that the owners of the farms could be fined for doing so and the reputation of the buyers could be damaged.

He said that Vietnamese firms should also improve product labels and packaging.

Yoon said that he noticed that some Vietnamese product packaging had colourful labels, but foreign consumers preferred labels with basic colours.

Changing designs of packages could increase sales of products significantly. One example was the new label for Cuc a tissue, which increased sales by 80 per cent in only three months.

Yoon said one of the good points of Vietnamese products was the competitive price. However, to enter a market and win it over, especially through a supermarket chain, the products should be unique.

"If the firms sell the type of products that are very common on the market, they will find it more difficult to compete with others that entered the market before them," he added.  VNS
The Ministry of Information and Communications is developing a draft circular on mobile telecommunication network information services, reported the Vietnam News Agency. Photo vietnamplus.vn

HA NOI  The Ministry of Information and Communications is developing a draft circular on mobile telecommunication network information services, reported the Vietnam News Agency.

The circular, which amends Circular No 17/2016/TT-BTTTT, aims to tighten management over services that charge customers periodically.

Specifically, the draft circular only allows network operators to provide services when receiving confirmation by SMS from customers.

The Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said that the requirement was reasonable and would ensure whether customers want to use the services or not.

In this regard, VCCI said that operators should send notifications to users each time they renew their services. The notifications must include information on how to cancel the service so that users may cancel.

au Anh Tuan, Head of the VCCIs Legal Department, also suggested the drafting agency consider and amend the circular to require providers to send messages to users via SMS each time services are renewed or charges are made.

The SMS must include the full content of the services, especially instructions of how to cancel the service, he emphasised.

The chamber also said that confirmation by SMS for only periodic services is not enough; the regulation should be applied to other services such as those charging according to Internet data packages.

The chamber mentioned controversial services such as 3G and 4G, which are charged by default according to data usage unless users register specific data packages.

The default charges based on data used are expensive, much higher than other packages.

However, when a specific package expires due to a lack of money in an account or a depletion of registered data, the system will automatically switch to default charge based on data used.

The VCCI asked the drafting agency to review and supplement the requirements for 3G/4G services.

In addition, it is necessary to supplement the requirements that periodic services must send notification on used data and amount of money deducted after each 30 days or when the services expired, the VCCI suggested.

This is similar to monthly electricity or water bill charges. Such regulations would help related parties reduce the risk of disputes between telecom providers and their customers.  VNS
HCM CITY  Unitel, a joint venture between Vietnamese telecom giant Viettel Group and Laos Asia Telecom, seeks to increase its turnover by 10 per cent to US$165 million this year.

Unitel has retained its leading position in Laos and a growth of 10 per cent in turnover requires a huge effort, Nguyen Hoang Son, deputy director of Unitel, told Viet Nam News.

In Laos, income from data has grown significantly to account for 40 per cent of turnover compared to 25 per cent in Viet Nam, according to Son.

Unitel has 2.8 million subscribers and a 50 per cent market share of mobile subscriptions and 35 per cent of broadband subscriptions.

With 4,000 base transceiver stations and 24,000km of fibre-optic cable, Unitel covers every district in Laos and 95 per cent of the population.

Since June 2015 it has been providing 4G services.

According to the London-based Brand Finance, an independent intangible asset valuation consultancy, in 2016 Unitel was the most effective telecommunications brand name in ASEAN.

Its brand value has grown by 106 per cent since 2015 to $132 million, and is the top telecom brand in Laos and the top 30 in the region.

The company has donated $9.7 million for social causes, provided free internet to 600 schools and helped change the Lao telecom market significantly with mobile use increasing from 18 per cent in 2009 to 80 per cent last year.

It has created more than 4,000 jobs, with another 20,000 indirect jobs being created through its collaboration programmes and partners.

Unitel recently won a bid to create an information system and management register of civil status, the largest smart society project in Laos.

This offers citizens a chance to electronically register information related to births, marriages and deaths.

The company is planning to launch U-money, which allows customers to spend through their mobile phone.  VNS
HA NOI  The growing importance of Australia and New Zealand as export markets for Viet Nam was emphasised at a conference yesterday.

Organised by the Asia-Pacific Market Department (APMD) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the conference aimed to provide valuable information and insights for Vietnamese firms exporting or looking to export to these markets.

It focused in particular on the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA).

Nguyen Phuc Nam, APMD Deputy Director, said that Viet Nam was fully aware of New Zealand and Australias importance as national trade partners.

With the AANZFTA in force since January 2010, ASEAN countries can enjoy 90 to 100 per cent tariff reductions in Australian and New Zealand markets, and Vietnamese firms should take full advantage of this potential, he said.

He noted that Australia and New Zealand were among the biggest importers in the world since both economies are largely dependent on imported products.

Viet Nams chief exports to these two markets include agricultural products, seafood, coffee beans, cashews, electronics parts, textiles, footwear and construction material.

If the AANZFTA was utilized well, Vietnamese producers could enjoy all the privileges contained therein, boosting export turnover and earning handsome profits, Nam said.

Phan Thi Dieu Linh of the APMD also commented that despite Australian consumers strict attitude towards domestic products, the country is open and welcoming to imported products, with less emphasis on products origins than on price and quality.

Linh said this could be a huge advantage for Vietnamese exporters to increase their market share in Australia, and they should not let it go to waste.

Statistics from the M oIT shows that in 2016 alone, two-way bilateral trade between Viet Nam and Australia was US$5.26 billion, up 6.5 per cent over 2015. Of this, Vietnamese exports accounted for $2.87 billion, marking a trade surplus of $480 million for the year.

However, Vietnamese exports only account for 1.6 per cent of Australias total imports.

Trinh Thi Thu Hien from the Trade Ministrys Department of Import and Export said that the export potential to Australia would continue to rise significantly, especially with the AANZFTA in place.

She also urged Vietnamese businesses to improve product quality to meet global standards and compete with other countries, not only in Australia and New Zealand, but also international markets elsewhere.

That New Zealand also welcomes Vietnamese products was made evident during talks held on Thursday in New Zealand between Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue and Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand Paula Bennett and the nations Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Todd McClay.

At the meeting, Hue and Bennett agreed to push bilateral trade towards the $1.7 billion goal in 2020.

Hue expressed his high regard for New Zealand as a development partner for Viet Nam, and thanked the country for supporting Viet Nam in projects related to high-yield dragon fruit, organic vegetables, hi-tech agriculture and dam safety.

Bennet and McClay affirmed that they would create favourable conditions for Vietnamese agricultural products to enter New Zealand market, with priority given to the rambutan fruit. They said this fruit would be the first to enter New Zealand after necessary procedures are completed, and other Vietnamese fruits would follow.

Both sides concurred on improving economic and trade co-operation in the context of an alternative for the elusive Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).  VNS
Gee whiz. I'm hurt, no one asked me to speak at graduation this past spring. I would be a great speaker at institutions of higher learning, but I'm a bit too conservative to be selected. Seems theyre always looking for someone who is well-educated, bright, full enthusiasm and knowledgeable about current affairs. That's Me. I even know what I'd say to the college class of 2017:

Greetings graduates ... welcome to the real world. I trust you've prepared yourself, so get on the bandwagon. It's going to be a bumpy ride. Put down the cell phone and listen up. You represent about a third of Americans adults with a four-year college degree. I hope you've studied meaningful subjects like science, technology, engineering and math. Challenge yourself and keep learning. Move out of your parent's basement, but don't forget to make your bed. First off, you've got to get a job, any job. Find a need and fill it.

Surround yourself with winners. Lunch with Tom Brady or Bill Gates. Maybe Warren Buffet could help you with some inside tips so you can make a few bucks. Learn how to balance a checkbook, contribute to worthy causes and volunteer. Keep an open mind and consider opposing views.

You are now expected to pay off your student loan, parking tickets and credit cards. Read the Constitution and the Amendments, be informed. Be the leader in your own parade. Always remember to vote and to put out the flag on holidays. Your future looks bright.

George Page

Billings
The Viet Nam Administration of Forestry (VNForest) has proposed halting two commercial activities projects on forest land in the central province of Phu Yen. Photo baotainguyenmoitruong.vn

PHU YEN  The Viet Nam Administration of Forestry (VNForest) has proposed halting two commercial activities projects on forest land in the central province of Phu Yen.

In a report issued on July 14, VNForest suggested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ask Phu Yen provincial Peoples Committee to stop a beef cattle farming project in sub-areas 310 and 311 in Song Hinh Commune of Song Hinh District and list the sub-areas as areas for protection.

The first phase of the beef project of Thao Nguyen Phu Yen Breed Joint Stock Company was set to cover nearly 39ha. The area is located next to and stretching over 20km along the main dam of Song Hinh hydropower reservoir.

These areas are natural forests, beside the protection forest in the Hinh River basin, and the alternative forest of the Ba Ha River hydropower project. Therefore, they are important to the protection of the Hinh River hydropower reservoir.

However, Phu Yen provincial Peoples Committee did not assess the projects effects as regulated in the then Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dungs Directive 1685/CT-TTg, dated September 27, 2011. Its actions were also not in line with Directive 13-CT/TW, dated January 12, 2017, of the Party Central Committees Secretariat on forest management, protection and development.

VNForest also requested New City Vietnam Co. Ltd, the investor of a high-end tourism site in An Phu Commune of Tuy Hoa City, to suspend all activities harming coastal forest.

The administration asked Phu Yens Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to direct its forest protection sub-department and subordinate units to investigate the companys exploitation of about 2.7ha of protection forest without permission of an authorised State agency.

VNForest also asked the agriculture ministry to request Phu Yen Peoples Committee to clarify the responsibility and strictly handle violations.  VNS
Nguyen Thi Hau, vice general secretary of the Viet Nam History Association, spoke with Viet Nam Government Portal (chinhphu.vn) about how the urbanisation process has affected urban architecture heritage sites.

The concept of urban heritage seems to be new in Viet Nam. Why do we distinguish urban heritage from heritage in general?

Actually, we are still getting acquainted with the concepts of tangible and intangible heritage. The concept of urban heritage mentions cultural architecture in urban areas. In the past, we paid less attention to urban heritage. But in the last 10 years, the changes of the city during urbanisation have caused us to notice urban heritage issues.

What are the difficulties and challenges faced by preservationists?

According to my research on urban heritage in big cities in Viet Nam, particularly in HCM City, the urbanisation process is one of the threats to heritage sites. It doesnt mean that modernisation is in contradiction to preservation, but the contradiction is caused by our policies and views. If we attach importance to urban heritage, we must have policies to preserve these heritage sites during urbanisation. But if we think they arent important, we will not care and be aware of their value in order to create measures to protect them. I think this will cause damage to the heritage sites.

Are there any damaged or destroyed heritage buildings or sites, particularly in HCM City, which we cannot preserve?

People often care more about buildings in downtown HCM City, such as the Saigon Tax Trade Centre and ong Khoi or Nguyen Hue streets.

In the view of an urban archaeologist, I am sorry that many industrial buildings built 100 or more years ago have disappeared. They marked the appearance of Western industry in our country -- for example, the Binh ong Wharf and Ba Son Shipyard. They were invaluable heritage sites that we cannot rebuild. We can build neoclassical or antique houses, but we will never be able to recover these lost industrial construction sites.

All of the old electricity plants have been replaced by modern buildings. With the old railway system, like the railway in a Lat, it is an industrial product. But we can turn it into a cultural heritage site to serve tourism.

In some peoples view, old and unused buildings should be destroyed, but learning how to keep their value is the most important thing.

How can we preserve urban heritage, especially buildings located on prime real estate plots in HCM City?

To me, the best measure is synchronisation. It means that we should preserve not only each heritage building but also the area covering it, because the full plot has its own value. Today we choose to do preservation of each heritage building. For example, we allowed the building of the Caravelle Hotel next to one of the citys heritage sites, the Opera House. Although it is a luxury hotel, it disturbs the beauty of the theatre. If in future this area is surrounded by buildings, the Opera House would look smaller and isolated. Im afraid that it will disappear some day.

From an economic perspective, the preservation of urban heritage buildings is difficult to do, which affects the spiritual and emotional life of urban residents.

The preservation architects are facing a fight between heritage preservation and economic issues. How can they resolve it?

It can be considered as a fight between heritage protectors and investors. To win the fight, we need justice and support from the authorities. I think that if the authorities dont love the city as the people do, we will have difficulties in protecting the heritage buildings and sites.

Have you ever conducted a survey about which cities in our country best protect urban heritage?

I have done many surveys in the south. In southern cities, there are many areas which havent been modernised and their architecture remains nearly unchanged. Viet Nam has an interesting concept called heritage town, such as Hue and Hoi An. The two cities tangible heritage sites are well-preserved. But what we want is to keep the soul of these heritage sites through local residents behaviour and thinking.

In the beginning, you said that a speed-up in urbanisation has turned many rural areas into urban areas. More and more heritage sites need to be preserved. Do we need an agency specialising in preserving urban heritage buildings and sites? In your opinion, which agency should be in charge of this issue?

Each city or town has its own Management Board for Heritage and Landscape. There is also a Heritage Site Preservation Centre under the HCM City Department of Culture and Sports. The centre is doing well in preserving historical sites, such as pagodas and Cho Lon (known as the citys Chinatown). But for urban heritage buildings under 100 years old, the centre has just paid attention to them in recent years.

I think it is not necessary to establish a new agency to manage urban heritage sites, because the best measure to preserve them is the authorities care and policies. The authorities and management boards should work together to classify urban heritage buildings and sites and then draw up a plan to preserve each kind of heritage buildings and sites.  VNS
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang yesterday stressed that oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities were being carried out by Viet Nam in waters completely under its sovereignty.  VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI  Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang yesterday stressed that oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities were being carried out by Viet Nam in waters completely under its sovereignty.

Relevant oil and gas activities of Viet Nam are taking place in sea areas that are completely under the countrys sovereign right and jurisdiction, which were established in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," she said.

"Viet Nam asks all parties concerned to respect its rights and legitimate and legal interests and together make efforts to actively and practically contribute to the maintenance of peace and cooperation in the East Sea, the spokesperson noted.

In another development, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh had a telephone conversation with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi yesterday.

The conversation focused on the Indonesian navy vessel (code 371) chasing and firing on Vietnamese fishing vessel (coded BD 31153 TS) from the south central province of Binh inh.

Two Vietnamese fishermen were injured in the incident.

Deputy PM Minh told Marsudi that the case was serious and did not match the sound development of the strategic partnership between Viet Nam and Indonesia at present.

Expressing the nations extreme concern, Minh said Indonesia should quickly investigate and inform Viet Nam of the results. He also called on Indonesia to refrain from similar actions in the future.

Earlier, the Consular Department of Viet Nams Foreign Ministry reported that the fishing boat had docked at the Con ao port on July 23. The injured fishermen have been taken to hospital for treatment.  VNS
QUANG TRI  Farmers in the central Quang Tri and Ha Tinh provinces were hit the hardest by storms Talas and Sonca as their fruits and plants were damaged by strong winds and floods.

In Quang Tri, a total of 120ha of watermelons was soaked in rainwater flooding, resulting in huge losses to local farmers.

Phan ao, a farmer in the provinces Trieu Trach Commune, said his family tried to take out the water in an attempt to harvest the inundated watermelons. These watermelons will be pig feed as they are rotten and cannot be consumed as fruit, he said, adding the family is facing losses.

A report by Trieu Trach Commune authorities said total loss could be as much as VN1.8 billion (US$79,000), a significant amount for the poor commune.

Some 600ha of rice in the province was also submerged due to Storm Sonca, with the water hindering growth.

Quang Tris Vinh Linh District also lost some 300ha of rubber trees in the storm. Strong winds damaged the trees and would take a long time for them to recover before they are ready again for latex harvesting.

oan Quang Luat, a local farmer, said he lost at least VN600 million ($26,000) due to the damaged trees, adding that he earned one million ong a day from harvesting latex.

In Ha Tinh, a total of 11,710ha of rice and vegetables was flooded due to Storm Talas, causing enormous losses to local farmers.

Nguyen Thi Que, a resident of the provinces Son Trung District, said her sweet corn and green beans were submerged in the water and she now had to collect plants to feed her cows.

Le Quang Vinh, head of agriculture and rural development in Ha Tinhs Huong Son District, said floodwater remained high, thus local authorities needed time to calculate the actual loss. However, he suggested providing seeds to local farmers to replant the crop.  VNS
HA NOI  In only three months, nearly 80 children under 15 including a 6.5-month-old boy from Khoai Chau Commune, Hung Yen Province were diagnosed with genital warts, a sexually transmitted infection.

Doctors warn that using the same unsterilised gloves or medical instruments on several patients may spread germs and diseases can spread in clinics and hospitals.

The more patients, the greater chance of infection

A 2014 measles outbreak in Ha Noi killing 150 children was an example of infections in a hospital. On April 17, 2014, alone there were 33 child patients transferred from other departments for measles treatments to the Ha Noi National Children Hospital, with six times that number infected.

Respiratory diseases such as measles, flu or tuberculosis spread the easiest. It is also possible for contagious diseases like hepatitis or HIV to spread via gloves used for different patients, according to Nguyen Trong Khoa, Deputy Head of Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management under the Ministry of Health.

The more patients, the greater chance to be infected. It is vital that doctors rinse their hands after having contact with patients, he added.

One pair of gloves for several patients

Wearing gloves means doctors are not afraid to touch wounds. Therefore, they may transfer germs or viruses to other patients if still using the same pair, an expert from Bach Mai Hospital told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Recent surveys show that about 30 per cent of medical workers dont clean their hands before treating patients, with doctors most likely to disobey sanitation regulations.

Duong uc Hung, Head of Integrated Planning Department at Bach Mai Hospital said public health facilities guarantee better sanitary procedures as most devices are anti-infection.

Single-use surgical gowns are used at the National Cardiovascular Institute under Bach Mai Hospital since blood with HIV or hepatitis B on doctors gowns poses a threat of infection. The one patient, one stethoscope practice is also applied.

Control recommendations

According to the Ministry of Health, being infected while in hospital adds up to 15 days to normal treatment and costs patients VN3 million (US$150) more.

Doctor Vo Pham Trong Nhan, Deputy Head of Peripheral Nerve Surgery Department under Nguyen inh Chieu Hospital, expressed concerns about infections at hospitals, taking the case of genital warts in Hung Yen Province for example.

He implied that as well as public hospitals, hygiene in private clinics has to be improved, however hygiene controls are largely under the control of private hospitals themselves, perhaps warranting an investigation of private clinics.  VNS
ONG NAI  Dozens of people in Phuoc Tan Commune, Bien Hoa City in the southern province of ong Nai are concerned they were exposed to HIV after chasing down and apprehending two dog thieves, one of whom was carrying the virus.

The two male thieves, aged 35 and 26, living in Xuan Tam Commune, Xuan Loc District, were found to have used stun batons to steal six dogs on Friday morning. Local residents chased and beat the men, who were left with cuts and bruises on their arms and legs. One of the thieves suffered a cracked skull and bleeding on the brain.

Local authorities arrived at the scene soon after being alerted, taking the injured thieves to ong Nai General Hospital.

After performing tests, the hospital reported that one of the thieves was carrying the HIV virus, and local residents who were exposed to his blood during the altercation were at risk of contracting the virus.

The provinces HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department asked people involved to take HIV tests and antiretroviral drugs if necessary, preferably two to six hours after contact with the HIV carrier.  VNS
Viet Nam needs to develop a legal framework and feasible roadmap to turn its wind energy potential into reality, which will help to meet the countrys rapidly rising electricity demand.  Photo qdnd.com.vn

HA NOI  Viet Nam needs to develop a legal framework and feasible roadmap to turn its wind energy potential into reality, which will help to meet the countrys rapidly rising electricity demand, experts have said.

Tobias Cossen, head of GIZs project on supporting the up-scaling of wind power said that Viet Nam has great potential to develop wind power as the country possesses around 3,000 km of coastline with excellent wind conditions.

The Vietnamese government has approved several programmes to encourage the development of renewable energy in the country. As many as five wind farms with total capacity of almost 200MW are currently in operation. More than 50 other projects are in the construction and planning phase.

However, a number of regulatory and market barriers as well as the lack of capacity have been identified as obstacles for investors in wind projects, according to Cossen.

Specifically, the major challenge for wind power investment is the Feed in Tariff (Fit) of 7.8 US cent/kWh, which is too low for investors to overcome the perceived risks for wind power development.

We all understand that the overall wind power market development and whether the government target for wind energy by 2020 could be reached or not highly depend on the level of FiT. Only with adjustments to a new FiT can the government target of 800MW by 2020 be reached, he said.

In addition, the Standardized Power Purchase Agreement (SPPA) for wind power projects is not seen as bankable to international financing institutions due to unclear terms and definitions regarding the force majeure, curtailment, and punishment of delayed payment. With difficulties in getting access to international financing institutions, the project developers and investors face a lack of capital from local commercial banks for huge investment projects such as wind farms.

Finally, the development of wind power projects in Viet Nam and related approval process has remained complicated and vague.

Tobias Cossen said that even though there were general guidelines about project development, they have been applied differently in different provinces. This makes the application process time-consuming, unclear and not as transparent as it should be.

Moreover, a lack of high quality data and regulations as well as information on wind power has been a big challenge for new market development. This has led to a longer processing time for project development, appraisal and permitting, he said.

Pham Phu Uynh, deputy director of the Institute for Urban Environment and Ecology at Nguyen Trai University and one of Viet Nams leading scientists on wind power said that the country must have a roadmap with modern technology to make wind power feasible.

One of the biggest challenges, he said, was the high cost of wind energy, which was caused by the high cost of manufacturing and importing wind turbines.

Uynh said the capacities of these turbines have been exaggerated compared to their actual manufacturing capacities. The turbine capacity does not only depend on the length of the turbine blades but also on other conditions, particularly wind speed.

For example, a five-wing wind turbine installed on a high building in Ha Noi, according to its manufacturer, can generate up to 100 Watts at a wind speed of 13m per second. But in fact, the wind speed and the turbine capacity was measured to be only 5.4 Watts.

Furthermore, there are already many windmills in operation in Viet Nam. The owners often imported technology from foreign firms. However, the imported cost is rather high, making the final electricity cost expensive.

"This is the result of Viet Nam depending heavily on foreign technology and not paying attention to developing the countrys own and training human resources in this field," he said.

Viet Nams climate is different from that of European countries, with more tropical typhoons and unstable wind speeds in coastal areas. This was a key reason that imported turbines often encountered trouble in their operation. This was something Vietnamese importers should consider carefully.

According to experts, some measures should be taken to improve the situation.

First of all, Viet Nam needed to build a suitable and effective support mechanism to trigger private investment. For example, the FiT should be adjusted adequately to attract investors  10.4 US cent/kWh for onshore wind energy would make a big improvement.

Secondly, a supportive and lean legal-administrative framework can reduce administrative risks and related costs for investors and financing institutions. Vagueness in the formulation of procedures or licenses, such as the permit for inclusion in the power development plan, investment licence (with firm figures on land use and MW included), SPPA and generation licence of 10 years, will jeopardise banks ability to finance projects and thus the realisation of the projects in general.

The country need a good strategy on energy development, particularly the utilisation of traditional energy sources like hydro-power and thermo-power, in addition to the development of new sources like solar energy, wind energy and others. It is high time for Viet Nam to focus more on the use of renewable energy, particularly wind energy, with advanced technology and its own human resources, they have said.

Viet Nam has great potential to develop wind power. The highest potential areas are on the south central coast, central highlands and the Mekong Delta region with about 24GW. To make a comparison, Southeast Asias biggest hydro-power plant, Son La hydro power plant, has an installed capacity of 2.4GW, according to the World Bank wind atlas in 2011.

Currently five wind farms with total capacity of almost 200MW are in operation, among them the first 4 are grid-connected. REVN, the first wind farm, with capacity of 30MW, is located in Binh Thuan Province. Cong Ly wind farm, producing 99.2MW, is a nearshore project in Bac Lieu Province. Phu Lac wind farm of 24MW also in Binh Thuan Province, Huong Linh of 30MW in Quang Tri Province, and a diesel-wind hybrid project of 6MW on Phu Quy island in Binh Thuan Province.  VNS
HA NOI  The health sector has called for more financial resources and efforts in the fight against hepatitis in Viet Nam and the world.

A meeting was held Friday in Ha Noi to mark World Hepatitis Day on July 28.

Viet Nam is one of three countries in the Western Pacific with the highest number of people suffering from chronic hepatitis B and C. Chronic hepatitis B infection is the main cause of liver disease, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, in Viet Nam, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien said at the event.

Although recently, the infection rate has witnessed a declining trend, the disease has still placed a heavy burden on capacities and resources of Viet Nams health system, Tien said.

To minimise new infection cases, preventive measures should be expanded with a focus on the increase of Hepatitis B immunisation rate and blood transfusion quality, especially increasing the vaccination rate of newborns within 24 hours after birth, the deputy minister of health said.

Tien said the health sector was working with relevant sectors to expand intervention measures against hepatitis B and C and develop policies to minimise treatment expenses for patients with chronic hepatitis B and C.

Tien said the treatment not only aimed to cure patients, but also prevent hepatitis B and C from spreading in the community. Hepatitis B can be prevented with the currently available safe and effective vaccine, while 90 per cent of hepatitis C patients can be cured thanks to the advent of new directly acting antivirals (DAAs).

On the occasion, the health ministry urged the Vietnamese to protect themselves and their families by bringing children to medical stations to get hepatitis B and C vaccinations. People at a risk of hepatitis should visit hospitals for tests and early treatment. Hospitals and doctors are required to ensure that patients are provided with safe services during examination and treatment, he added.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said an estimated 8.7 million people in Viet Nam are living with chronic hepatitis B and one million others are living with chronic hepatitis C, and require treatment. An estimated 8.8 per cent of women and 12.3 per cent of men are chronically infected with hepatitis B.

According to latest WHO data from the Global Hepatitis Report released in April 2017, an estimated 325 million people worldwide are living with chronic hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus infection. Of these, 129 million (40 per cent) are living in the Western Pacific Region (115 million with hepatitis B and 14 million with hepatitis C). The 2017 report also indicates that the large majority of these people lack access to life-saving tests and treatment. As a result, millions of people are at risk of progression towards chronic liver disease, cancer and death.  VNS
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect that staff writer Amie Steffeneicher contributed to the writing of it.

CEDAR FALLS  As a lifelong space and creative content enthusiast, Tim Dodd found it fitting to put the two passions together on what began as simply a valued hobby.

He joined up with another Cedar Falls photographer, Neal Johnson, as part of a Tesla contest of user-submitted ads. They were over the moon when their commercial was announced as the second-place finalist during a live Tesla event Friday night.

It was a big honor and really cool to see Elon Musk tweet out my name and our project, Dodd said.

The commercial, starring Dodd in a Russian high-altitude flight suit he purchased online a few years ago, features the Everyday Astronaut as he wistfully goes about his day.

He hangs his head as he halfheartedly brushes his teeth, irons his shirts and mows the lawn, longing for something. Finally, the Everyday Astronaut glances outside his window sees his spaceship  a Tesla Motors car  has arrived.

The commercial was originally chosen as one of the top 10 entries by the Elon Musk-owned company and was vaulted into the top 3 in recent weeks by online voting.

While the winners are not awarded a prize or even the airing of their commercial on TV, Dodd values the experience and opportunity to show what he can do.

I think a lot of people had different ideas on what was going to happen, but it was still fun and exciting, Dodd said. I absolutely love doing marketing things, so if anything would happen to come out of that, I would jump on that opportunity in a heartbeat.

One unique opportunity already has presented itself after the success of the commercial. Dodd said he received an email from an Austria-based company inviting him to ride a 0g flight in Russia. However, no official plans have been made to do so yet.

One thing is for sure. Dodd will continue his brand, producing more content for YouTube and his public speaking presentations like those he did at Musks other company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX.

Staff writer Amie Steffeneicher contributed to this article.
CEDAR FALLS  For the last three decades, volunteers have joined the Cedar River Festival Group to clear trash and debris from the water.

With 18 canoes donated by the Boy Scouts and others brought by participants, a large group was back at it Saturday, removing anything from scrap metal and water bottles to larger items such as a washing machine and even parts of a big oil tanker.

Each year the group focuses on different sections of the river but returned to everybodys favorite route for the 30th year, beginning at County Road C-57, floating to the Washington access and ending at Island Park in Cedar Falls.

The reward is pulling this stuff out of the water; thats the benefit, said Sofie Michalicek, a member of the Cedar River Festival Group. Its nice to keep it that way so it keeps the integrity of the group focused on what our main goal is.

The goal not only includes safely cleaning up the river but also raising awareness and advocating for preserving our water.

Each years cleanup is accompanied by a music festival. This years is from noon to 8 p.m. today at Island Park. The event is open to the public free of charge and features local music groups, food vendors and crafters displaying their talents.

While the group sells T-shirts to raise funds, the festival also includes several educational displays on how the public can assist and why it is important to do so.

Raldo Schneider is the backbone of the event. He began the Cedar River cleanup 30 years ago after moving to Cedar Falls. For several years, he had participated in a similar operation on the Mississippi River.

It all began with music. Schneider has been a musician all his life and is currently a member of a local band known as Rob Schneider and Friends, or simply The Boys.

A friend in Wisconsin introduced Schneider to another musician involved with the Mississippi River cleanup, and his experiences with the event progressed from there.

After moving to Cedar Falls, he wanted to recreate those experiences and was president of the event for three years before passing on the torch. He has since watched it grow from the sidelines.

Its pretty interesting. It almost died a couple times, but it always came back to life. Its a lot of work to organize it, especially as a volunteer, but its fun too, Schneider said.
Church hosts vacation Bible school

Cornerstone Community Church in Bismarck offers a vacation Bible school 6 to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the church, 111 E. Wachter Ave.

Groups Maker Fun Factory VBS program offers a free dinner and daily craft to top off each day's events. There also will be outdoor adventures, singing, Bible and Kid Vid Cinema. There is no charge. For more information, call 222-3649.

UU Church presents summer series

As part of the Summer Mindfulness Series, Angie Swiec Kambeitz will present "Yoga, Breath and Life Force" at the 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. services at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and Church, 818 E. Divide Ave. in Bismarck.

Swiec Kambeitz will explain how the practice of yoga and conscious breathing can transform bodies, energy and many aspects of life for the better. She will guide lead a few breathing and grounding exercises.

Swiec Kambeitz is a holistic bodywork therapist and an international yoga teacher who has studied extensively in Mysore, India, following the Ashtanga tradition. As a visual artist, she encourages her students to approach yoga-energy-body through artistic expression.

Church delivers outdoor worship

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is offering five services during the summer. They are at 5 p.m. Saturday, 8:30, 9:45 and 11 a.m. Sunday and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Services are held in Shelter #2 at Lions Park, 1601 E. Boulevard Ave.

For more information, go to goodshepherdbismarck.com or call the church office at 255-1001.

Evangelist engages in teaching seminar

Teacher and evangelist Wes Daughenbaugh will be speaking at Capital Christian Center, 3838 Jericho Road in Bismarck, at 7 p.m. Aug. 5, 6 p.m. Aug. 6 and 7 p.m. Aug. 7-8.

Daughenbaugh, an evangelist ordained with the Assemblies of God, travels nationwide holding revival and seminars in churches. He is known for his

teaching ability, making complex concepts easy to understand and applicable to life.

Topics include "21 ways to Forgive, Plus Nine Reasons We Must Forgive" and "Overcoming Life's Impossibilities: Nothing is impossible with God! Learn how to tap into God's power, provision, protection and presence."

There is no cost to attend this event. All ages are welcome. Find more information at cccbismarck.com.

New church offers preview service

A new church, led by Randy Upgren, is offering a service at 7 p.m. Aug. 7 as a sneak preview. Worship, with a theme of "Created to be Inspired," will be offered at Bismarck High School's Knaak Center, 800 N. Eighth St.

About 200 adults recently attended a previous preview service offered by Inspire Family Fellowship, a nondenominational church based on Lutheran teachings. The launch date is Sept. 10.

Upgren who has been preaching in the community for 25 years.

Send faith briefs to kimberly.wynn@bismarcktribune.com.
WATERLOO  Waterloo Police Department four K9 officers  Jason, Niko, Baron and Axe  will receive bullet and stab protective vests, provided by a donation from the nonprofit Vested Interest in K9s Inc.

The K9 vests will be embroidered with the sentiment In memory of K9 Ty, California City Police Department. Delivery is expected within eight to 10 weeks.

Vested Interest in K9s Inc. is a charity located in East Taunton, Mass., whose mission is to provide bullet and stab protective vests and other assistance to dogs of law enforcement and related agencies throughout the United States.

The nonprofit was established in 2009 to assist law enforcement agencies with this potentially lifesaving body armor for their four-legged K9 officers.

Since its inception, Vested Interest in K9s Inc. provided more than 2,400 protective vests in 50 states.

The donation to provide one protective vest for a law enforcement K9 is $1,050. Each vest has a value between $1,795-$2,234 and a five-year warranty, and weight an average of 4-5 pounds.
The sink stayed in the same location but was traded up for a new but vintage-looking console style with polished chrome front legs that better fit the style of the bungalow than the Victorian sink previously in the bathroom.

Oak Hill Console Sink: DXV by American Standard; Oak Hill Wall Mount Bathroom Faucet in platinum nickel: DXV by American Standard

Mende specified an optional marble sink shelf to help compensate for the lack of counter space.

The mirror looks like something out of a fancy dressing room, but it was an online purchase personalized with the couples initials etched into the top.

A pair of sconces with star-shaped embellishments mimic the design of the pendant fixture.

Mirror: from Ballard Designs, but no longer available; sconces: Etoile Sconce in nickel from Circa Lighting
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 29, 2017 | 12:16 AM | PADUCAH, KY





Paducah Main Street is hosting the second annual Pretty Super Saturday Meet & Greet from 10 am until 4 pm today.This is a free event in downtown Paducah. At the event, dozens of superheroes, princesses, and costumed characters will be stationed at local businesses, the downtown gazebo, and the Carson Center. JD Pass Carriage will be hosting free carriage rides including the Cinderella Carriage, Trolley, and Super Shuttle.Families are encouraged to stop at the gazebo located at 2nd Street and Broadway to pick up a free autograph book and a pen while supplies last. Maps and the location schedule for the characters can be found on the Paducah Main Street Facebook event page (see link below).During the event, Broadway and Kentucky Avenue will be closed inside of 3rd Street to the riverfront along with roads around Market House Square and Maiden Alley.Downtown Development Specialist-Main Street Director Melinda Winchester says, We have approximately three dozen costumed characters. Plus, this year we have added our local superheroes to the event with several Paducah Fire Department firefighters and a fire truck and Paducah Police officers with a patrol car in attendance. We encourage everyone to enjoy meeting other families and visiting our local establishments on this fun day.Some of the characters at the event include Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter, Batman, Belle, Captain America, Captain Hook, Captain Jack Sparrow, Cat Woman, Cinderella and Prince Charming, Dead Pool, Elsa and Anna, Fairy Queen Nyla, Iron Patriot, Jasmine, Joker, Michaelangelo, Moana, Rapunzel, Peter Pan and Wendy, Pocahontas, Power Rangers, Snow White, Spider Man, Star Lord, Supergirl, Superman, Thor, Tiana,, Tinkerbell, and Wonder Woman.Several Wizard of Oz characters will be in the lobby of the Carson Center from 10 am - 1 pm to get everyone excited about the play in April 2018 as part of the Carson Centers 2017-2018 Broadway Series.In addition to meeting your favorite costumed character, there will be face painting, balloon animals, a crafts table, and superhero tattoos. Also, many of the downtown restaurants and organizations are participating by providing foods that kids love including burgers, hot dogs, tacos, quesadillas, funnel cakes, and strawberry shortcake. ROK Photography will have a Pretty Super photo booth set up inside the 1857 Hotel, and a Super Hero obstacle course will be at Citizens Gym.The Grand Lodge at 121 North 5th Street is hosting a tea party with cupcakes at 2 pm. Space is limited to only 30 children. The cost is $5 with reservations required (702-544-2122). At the tea party, there will be dancing with Prince Charming and Cinderella and a meet and greet with Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter. Also, O So Beautiful Salon is accepting appointments (270-442-2333) for a fun time with hair and makeup.For more information about the Pretty Super Saturday Meet & Greet, contact Melinda Winchester at 270-444-8690 or visit www.paducahmainstreet.org.

On the Net:
[contentcards url=https://www.rt.com/news/397809-russia-us-diplomats-sanctions/]

In response to what America illegally did against Russia by confiscating property and sending Russian personnel home. Russia has cleaned house on American embassy employees and thousands up on thousands of people will be going back to America. The number of Americans hiding within the embassy and consulate walls is nothing shirt of staggering. These are the people stirring the pot, so to say, in Russia

Glad to see them go. Keep going Russia, now respond to the sanctions that are illegally slapped against you for things you never did and or care to do

WtR
A Brief History of Computerized Election Fraud in America

By Victoria Collier

Squadrons of shiny new touch screen Trojan horses are being rolled into precincts across America. Not, as we are told, to make voting easier or more accurate. The real reason America is being flooded with billions of dollars worth of paperless computerized voting machines is so that no one will be able to prove vote fraud. These machines are not just unverifiable, they are secretly programmed. Their software is not open to scrutiny by election officials or computer experts. They are also equipped with modems accessible by computer, telephone, and satellite.

We the People are responsible for taking back the control of our democratic process. No one else will do it for us. We cannot afford to be naive, or uneducated at this time in history. In order to fully understand the extent of the corruption we are dealing with, and to avoid making dangerous mistakes based on ignorance, we must understand the history, and the power structure, behind vote fraud in America.

I grew up with two men who spent twenty-five years investigating vote fraud in America: James and Kenneth Collier, my father and uncle. Their book, Votescam: The Stealing of America was published in 1992 and immediately banned by the major book chains, which listed the book as out of print and actively worked to prevent its sale. Votescam chronicles the Collier brothers groundbreaking investigation into Americas multi-billion dollar election rigging industry, and the corporate government and media officials who control it. [First six chapters available free online]

The Votescam investigation began in 1970, in  surprise!  Dade County, Florida, where Ken ran for Congress (with Jim as his campaign manager). Ken was rigged out of the election through a vote scam, which the Colliers later discovered was used throughout the country for decades. It went like this: The local newscaster would announce during the broadcast of election returns that the election computer has broken down. Instead of giving official returns from the county courthouse, the networks would be running vote projections for the rest of the night.

Jim and Ken, who had garnered 30 percent of the vote, noticed that when the vote totals came back on the screen after the announcement, they had mysteriously lost 15 percentage points. They didnt get another vote for the rest of the night. When they examined the official election results from for the September primary, October run-off and November final election in Dade County, the record listed a total of 141,000 votes cast for the governors race in each election. The exact same number of total votes were cast for three elections with a different number of candidates running each time. The same identical figures were listed for the Senate race in the primary, run-off and final election. This, of course, is a statistical impossibility.

When they compared the official vote results with a print-out of the vote projections broadcast by the TV networks on the final election night, they found that channel 4 had projected with near perfect accuracy the results of 40 races with 250 candidates only 4 minutes after the polls closed. Channel 7 came even closer; at 9:31 pm, they projected the final vote total for a race at 96,499 votes. When the Colliers checked the official number . . . it was also 96,499.

The networks then made the astonishing claim that the results from a single voting machine somewhere in Dade County were run through a computer program in order to get these vote projections. Elton Davis was the computer programmer responsible for the magic formula that could convert one machines vote results into near perfect projected vote totals for 40 races and 250 candidates. When Jim and Ken confronted Davis in his office at the University of Miami, he responded: Youll never prove it, now get out.

Finally the networks claimed that members of the League of Women Voters were out in the field on election night, calling in vote totals to channels 4 and 7. When the Colliers confronted the head of the League, Joyce Deiffenderfer, she admitted that there were no LWV members out in the field that night. She broke down crying, saying I dont want to get caught up in this thing.

When the TV networks claimed that the courthouse computer had broken down, and they would no longer be reporting actual vote totals, they were lying. They had never been reporting actual vote totals. The final shoe dropped months later when an official press release appeared from Dade data processing chief, Leonard White, which stated emphatically: The county computer at the courthouse was never down, and it was never slow.

This was the beginning. The Collier brothers had slammed their boat into the tip of a giant iceberg. As they continued to investigate, they were horrified to discover vote fraud collusion among key individuals in every branch and on every level of the American political system. Those who were not benefiting from the fraud were too afraid to fight it. Their search for justice led to dead-ends. Their lives were threatened. They were vilified as conspiracy theorists by the mainstream press . . . and yet they persevered.

The next quarter century was spent compiling a wealth of FBI documented evidence proving that elections in the United States have come under the tight control of a handful of powerful and corrupt people. Jim and Ken both died young during the 90s, as heroes to many thousands who heard them speak on the radio and at political meetings across the country. They helped to guide individuals and groups working for clean elections in their communities. The Colliers last hope was that Votescam would be used as evidence in a serious Congressional investigation into election fraud.

Many people still in power have yet to be held accountable for their role in aiding and abetting vote fraud. Ill give you two important examples. Famous Miami lawyer Ellis Rubin brought the original Votescam evidence to the Florida assistant State Attorney at the time, Janet Reno. The evidence included the shaved wheels of lever voting machines, forged canvass sheets, and pre-printed vote tally sheets. Reno refused to prosecute, claiming falsely that the statue of limitations had run out on the crime. Years later, Rubin would tell my father that behind closed doors Reno had stated that she could not prosecute. Why? Because she would bring down many of the most powerful people in the state.

Another notable Votescam criminal can now be found sitting on the bench of the highest court in the nation. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, while still a Federal Appeals Judge, single handedly destroyed what would have been an historic lawsuit filed against Justice Department lawyer Craig Donsanto, who had refused to prosecute the extensive vote fraud evidence brought to him by the Colliers. The evidence included videotape of the League of Women voters tampering with ballots in a close door vote counting session. The women were illegally punching holes in already cast ballots.

Id like to offer a brief list of important lessons learned from twenty-five years of fighting vote fraud in the trenches.

Secret vote counting is illegal. Counting faster is not a justification for counting secretly. Lever machines were the first to appear, and they were riggable in a number of ways. One could rig the lever machine itself, or the electronic scanning machines that counted the ballots. Computerized voting machines are the easiest to rig. Their software is not open to public scrutiny, or the scrutiny of Election Supervisors. There are nearly infinite ways to program the machines to count votes fraudulently. Since they are accessible by modem, they can be controlled from a remote, centralized location. Voting machine companies operate with no federal oversight, certification process, standards or restrictions. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have been complicit in vote rigging for decades, to their mutual benefit. Vote rigging is NOT a partisan issue. The corporate major media networks play a vital role in perpetrating and covering up vote fraud. Election Day media polls are untrustworthy at best.

The gravest error of judgment these days comes from those vote reformers who honestly believe that the answer to the butterfly ballot and hanging chad problems in the 2000 election is to embrace the ballot-less computerized voting machine. With the ballot-less computer, there is no way to recount, no way to prove any discrepancy, inaccuracy or fraud. Just the fact that companies like ES&S and Diebold would even make a ballot-less machine should be cause for a Congressional investigation.

A most grave error of judgment also comes from those who think that returning to a hand-counted paper ballot system is somehow impossible. An MIT/Cal Tech study done in 2001 shows that manually counted paper ballots are the most accurate system out of the 5 systems used in the last 4 presidential elections. They are totally verifiable, and first-world nations across the globe still use them, including Canada which counted their last presidential election in four hours.

The bottom line is that a computerized vote count is a secret vote count, and thats illegal. Technology cannot supercede the constitutional and mandatory provisions of election law, which require open and verifiable elections. There is no way to do a public vote count with computers. The count must be done by hand, in public, video-taped, aired live on television, and the results posted on the precinct wall  just like they used to be. Ballots should be counted on the same day as the voting takes place, making it much more difficult to alter ballots. Hand counted paper ballots and eternal vigilance are the only hope left for us.

About the author: A long time writer and political activist, Victoria Collier continues to educate the public on the subject of vote fraud in place of her father and uncle.
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President Donald Trump drove out his chief of staff on Friday, replacing Reince Priebus with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly in an explosive move that ends a turbulent six-month tenure.

"The President wanted to go a different direction," Priebus told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room" Friday evening. "A president has a right to hit a reset button. I think it's a good time to hit the reset button. I think he was right to hit the reset button."

"I'm always going to be a Trump fan," Priebus said. "I'm on Team Trump and I look forward to helping him achieve his goals and his agenda for the American people."

In his interview with CNN, Priebus repeatedly said he submitted his resignation to the President privately on Thursday. Yet throughout the day on Friday, sources close to him insisted that he was not resigning.

But around 5 p.m. ET, Trump made the announcement on Twitter just after landing on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.

"I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff," Trump tweeted. "He is a Great American... and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration."

It wasn't until after the President named Kelly as his new chief of staff on Friday afternoon that sources close to Priebus reached out to reporters to say that he had resigned the day before. Other White House officials questioned that version of events, suggesting Priebus and his allies were trying to put a positive spin on the President's abrupt decision to bring on Kelly.

The move followed months of on-again, off-again speculation that Priebus would soon be ousted from an administration where he has consistently drawn heavy criticism for failing to stem the flow of leaks and struggled to impose a sense of order in a chaotic White House beset by controversies.

Priebus, who was brought on by the outsider President in large part because of his Washington relationships, also wound up carrying a hefty share of the blame for the White House's legislative stumbles, including the latest failure to pass a health care replacement bill.

Rumors of infighting among Trump's staff eventually devolved into all-out warfare, bursting dramatically into the open late Thursday with a vulgar screed from incoming communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

Priebus also lacked strong support from key members of Trump's inner circle. Two sources familiar with the situation said Trump's family -- including daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, among the President's most trusted advisers -- had lost faith in Priebus. One of those sources says Trump's kin urged the President to finally execute a long-pondered shake-up.

White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is expected to stay, at least for now, sources told CNN. The President has sounded out people recently about whether to keep Bannon, including some conservatives who convinced Trump that getting rid of Bannon would damage the President with his base, a person familiar with the conversation told CNN. One of those conservative voices was Rep. Mark Meadows, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, who met with the President at the White House on Friday, a source familiar with the discussion said.

Priebus, who had traveled with Trump to Long Island for an event on gang violence, was seated inside a Secret Service van on the tarmac when the message came down. His vehicle split away from the motorcade and departed for Washington before Trump himself got off the plane.

New York Rep. Peter King, who traveled with Priebus and Trump to Long Island, said there was no hint of the impending shake-up during the flight, recalling Priebus' "poker face" aboard Air Force One.

Later, the outed chief of staff told CNN he had offered his resignation on Thursday.

"I think General (John) Kelly is a brilliant pick," Priebus said in the interview, conducted from the White House Roosevelt Room. "We'll be working on a transition here for a couple weeks together with General Kelly starting on Monday morning. So this is not like a situation where there are a bunch of ill will feelings."

Kelly takes over

Trump sent a message of thanks to Priebus after his initial announcement, and told reporters at the air base that Priebus was a "good man."

"John Kelly will do a fantastic job," Trump told reporters. "General Kelly has been a star, done an incredible job thus far, respected by everybody. He's a great great American. Reince is a good man."

Kelly is due to begin his tenure as Trump's chief of staff on Monday when he'll participate in a meeting of Trump's cabinet, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Conversations between Trump and Kelly about the role began two weeks ago, Sanders said.

Trump tapped Kelly after last November's election to run his Department of Homeland Security, a position that put Kelly in charge of the administration's policies on issues including immigration, cybersecurity, countering domestic terrorism and aviation security.

A Marine, Kelly served in the military for nearly five decades and served in positions including chief of Southern Command and senior assistant to the secretary of defense. He also worked as a legislative liaison to Congress and served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. His son, Robert Michael Kelly, was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010.

Unusual White House power structure

Priebus' 189-day tenure as chief of staff is the shortest in modern presidential history, according to David Cohen, a University of Akron professor who studies the position.

The former Republican National Committee chairman faced a difficult task from the outset as he attempted to wrangle a hodgepodge of rival staff factions divided by ideology and allegiance, his influence supplanted by several other top advisers -- including the President's own kin -- who reported directly to Trump and not to the chief of staff.

Priebus' appointment was announced alongside Bannon's, the former Breitbart editor in chief who was appointed chief strategist. The President's son-in-law Jared Kushner was named senior adviser and soon thereafter his wife -- the President's eldest daughter -- Ivanka Trump was as well.

Week of drama with Scaramucci

But it was the appointment of Scaramucci to communications director last Friday that set off Priebus' final unraveling. Within days of his appointment, Scaramucci, who was added to the roster of top aides who circumvent the chief of staff and report directly to the President, took to the airwaves and suggested Priebus was responsible for leaks coming out of the White House. He leveled those charges on CNN moments after speaking with Trump.

Priebus had worked against Scaramucci joining the administration when the New York hedge fund manager was first considered for a post and, while the two attempted to put on a show of unity in Scaramucci's first days at the White House, it quickly became clear the two men would continue to be at odds with each other.

The rivalry came to an explosive head on Thursday evening, when vulgar comments Scaramucci made about Priebus were published in the New Yorker.

Scaramucci called Priebus a "paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac," and offered no apology. Trump did not defend his top aide against the remarks.

In his CNN interview, Priebus repeatedly declined to respond to the comments.

"I'm not going to get into this personal stuff," he said.

Republican Party stalwart

Priebus, a Wisconsin native, joined the administration as chief of staff after a nearly six-year tenure as chairman of the RNC, the final months of which he spent in a dual role as a top adviser to Trump's campaign.

Priebus was tapped for the post at the urging of top congressional Republicans -- including House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Wisconsinite and close friend -- who advised Trump that he needed a Washington insider to help him shepherd his legislative agenda.

That left Priebus with the blame for many of the administration's legislative stumbles, including the arduous attempts at passing a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare -- which Priebus had advised Trump to make his first legislative priority, promising him swift victory.

On Friday, Ryan was not given a heads-up about the announcement.

In a statement, the speaker said Priebus "has left it all out on the field, for our party and our country."

The pick was unexpected for many in the Trump campaign who saw Priebus as the embodiment of the Washington Republican establishment Trump had defeated in the primaries, and Trump and Priebus did not always see eye-to eye.

Still, Priebus helped Trump bridge the divide with many establishment Republicans during the general election and into Trump's tenure as president, serving as a key bridge between the outsider President and the insider politics he found himself at the center of.

Priebus is just the latest former RNC official to leave the administration, following the departure of White House press secretary Sean Spicer -- who resigned in protest over Scaramucci's hire -- and the ouster of deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, a key Priebus ally who exited the administration after just two months on the job.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

CNN's Gloria Borger and Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.
Staying out of debt is easier said than done, I know. However, its something you can do, and its something you should be practicing everyday. As Christians, we are in this world, but we are
A startup needs to test an idea quickly. For this, an MVP is created. MVP, Minimal Viable Product  a test version of a product or service with a minimum set of functions (up to one or two), which allows you to see the product's value for consumers and the market. MVP is created to test hypotheses and check the viability of the intended product: is it worth developing the project further, what changes should be made? The sooner a startup brings its MVP to market and tests the idea, the better. This article will look at how no-code technology can help founders achieve their business goals.

This article will try to cover everything that a founder needs to know about no-code at the initial stage of creating a startup.

What is no-code?

No-code, zero-code platform is a tool for creating websites, applications, chatbots, and other programs without the need for direct code writing by programmers. No-code is a valuable alternative to traditional development.

No-code is confused with low-code, but there is a difference in these terms. Low-code includes no-code and the ability to "finish code", add parts of code and the functionality.

A user of a no-code platform usually does not need to know layout, programming languages, or hire a team of programmers. The user of the no-code tool creates an application using a visual block constructor, which he fills with the necessary content and functions, and the no-code platform itself does the processing of requests, compiling the application and other "magic." It generates code using AI and/or contains blocks of code pre-written by programmers.

No-code allows the startup founder to create an MVP himself, entrust it to his employee with basic technical literacy and understanding of the project, or hire a no-code developer. Even in the case of hiring a no-code developer, the cost of creating an MVP will be significantly lower than with classical development with programmers. For example, you can read the interview of a startup and no-code developer on our website, who initially worked as a Product Manager and was able to master no-code for his project himself.

Benefits of no-code for a startup founder

There are the following key advantages for a startup founder in using no-code technology:

a large selection of no-code tools, platforms, and their integrations at the moment  already in 2022, there are many tools and platforms for creating an MVP, a larger project, or even a finished product on no-code, but few people still know about them, and others are far from all startups and founders use their potential;

cost  no-code development saves the money by speeding up the development process, not hiring professional programmers or no need to maintain a developer department, monitoring functions and quick bug fixes, avoiding or reducing the growth of technical debt;

speed is the main advantage over classical development  no-code allows you to build a simple application in a weekend, and a more complex one can be built in a month. In this way, you can test an MVP and even several versions of an MVP very quickly;

low entry threshold  to master a no-code platform, you often do not need technical education at all, but only an understanding of a company's business processes or product from the inside. In the case of pro-level no-code platforms, technical education is required, but you can get used to it hundreds of times faster than with any programming language. This makes no-code available to almost everyone who wants to work with technology;

ease of use  no need to write hundreds of code lines  just move the blocks and assign links between them. Work on a project can be entrusted to your employee without communicating with a team of third-party developers. You can speak "in your language" without the need to understand the "inner kitchen" of developers;

flexibility  with the help of no-code, it is easy for a startup founder to add new functionality and new features right during a project or a MVP testing without a significant increase in development costs.

Possible disadvantages of no-code for a startup founder

As often, any property can be, under certain conditions, both a disadvantage and an advantage. In no-code, many of the benefits with the wrong choice of tool can turn into disadvantages:

no-code is not always a budget solution for a project. Sometimes in a no-code development package, you get unnecessary functions and additions (on AppMaster.io you can separately connect the frontend and pay only for the backend or only for those functions that you are using); if you do not understand the needs of your project, then you can make a mistake with the choice of a no-code tool and not be able to implement the necessary functions on it, or it will be too difficult to implement them; often, no-code tools fail to ensure proper data security and contribute to data leakage (but AppMaster.io allows you to host a finished application on any server); no-code tools often do not provide the ability to upload source code or provide uploading in an inconvenient format, which makes it difficult to move to another tool or to your development. You have to choose a no-code tool "once and forever immediately" (AppMaster. io gives you the ability to download the source code. Also, we generate human-readable code and you will not have any difficulties with its transportation); most no-code tools on the market are not suitable for creating a finished product, and there are significant difficulties with scaling the project if the MVP is successful (AppMaster.io is a professional no-code platform and our capabilities allow us to implement and support the finished product and scale it in the future).

Forewarned is forearmed. Choose your no-code tool wisely and take full advantage of your choice.

Types of no-code platforms

Conventionally, all no-code tools can be divided into several types: no-code devices with a low entry threshold (you can create frontend and not very powerful backend on them), integrators that help connect applications and services, and professional no-code platforms (they strive to replace the code completely, provide the ability to create a robust backend and high bandwidth).

The basic principle of operation of your MVP and the choice of a no-code platform depend on such a conditional division into types. For example, if you make a simple application like a diary, you can limit yourself to a no-code tool with a low entry threshold and a beautiful design.

If your application has powerful potential, high bandwidth, multi-user interface, and works with large amounts of data or real-time data, it is better to choose a professional no-code platform like AppMaster.io or Direcual.

If you use several services at once, link them on integrators like Integromat and Zapier.

Adalo

An easy-to-learn designer with a relatively user-friendly interface. The free version is helpful for learning. The free version contains Adalo watermarks and does not allow you to upload your applications to GooglePlayMarket and AppStore. Beginners often choose this no-code platform to create their first applications with simple logic.

Bubble

It will take more time to learn Bubble , but the platform allows you to work with the backend, databases, business processes, and layout. There are many plugins. The free plan allows you to master the tool, and you can start developing at the middle rate. The price increase is due to the rise in the number of users.

Integromat

It is an integrator. Experts talk about it as a simple and affordable platform for linking applications and services. Scenarios can be created personally, or you can use templates. If you need to connect an application with a service not from the Integromat database, fill out the form and connect to its API via HTTP.

Zapier

This is an integrator for linking applications with each other or with other external services. You can transfer data between thousands of applications. There is a script constructor (one event starts a chain of necessary actions).

Directual

The no-code platform positions itself for creating MVP applications (Minimal Viable Product, minimum viable product) and full-fledged applications of finished products. Scenarios are the backbone of the platform. Using scripts, you can automate the backend logic of the application, create and combine workflows. The Directual catalog includes out-of-the-box connectors, HTTP requests, webhooks, database listeners, and integration with popular services.

AppMaster.io

No-code next-generation platform for creating native and web applications on a real backend. Visual drag-and-drop designer, user-friendly business process designer, one-click app publishing to AppMaster Cloud, or integration with any cloud platform. Push notifications, authorization using social networks. Networks, email, and more. Connect applications to hundreds of services or programmatically access them using APIs. The ability to upload source code and documentation in a human-readable format and transfer it to your servers. Documentation auto-generation. Modern and fast language GoLang at the core.

No-code perspectives for startups

No-code development is gradually gaining popularity around the world. There are already more than 500 no-code tools for creating websites and various types of applications.

According to the forecasts of IT world experts, no-code will develop more and more actively and capture parts of the market responsible for medicine, small online business, small business, and all niches where it is possibly necessary to optimize and automate development processes.

The mass shift of businesses and their customers online and to gadgets has increased the demand for the fast and inexpensive creation of mobile applications that would work according to a single quality standard and have a simple, understandable, user-friendly interface.

Conclusion

No-code is visual programming in the form of a constructor without directly writing code. Usually, basic knowledge in development is enough to build applications on no-code.

The logic of no-code constructors is intuitive: the application interface is assembled from blocks, icons, buttons, and text which are connected to the database. Usually, you can choose a suitable template or do everything from scratch. Speed and economy are the main advantages of no-code tools.

No-code is suitable for creating an MVP, testing an idea or new features in a product, saving time for solving standard tasks. PRO level no-code platforms can provide you with a finished product, an application.

If you don't have an account on AppMaster.io yet, join us. After registration, you will be given a free trial period for 14 days, in which all the basic functionality of the platform is available. It will allow you to learn the intricacies of working with a professional-level no-code platform and understand its potential.
President Donald Trump has reviewed the final version of Russia sanctions legislation and plans to sign it, the White House announced Friday night.

Trump read early drafts of the bill, negotiated elements of it and "based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it," the White House statement said.

The legislation, which was sent to the White House on Friday, would sanction Russia while sharply limiting Trump's ability to ease penalties against Moscow independently.

Rejecting the bill would have further galvanized resistance against the President and deepened concerns about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. And Congress would have quickly overturned a veto -- a public repudiation that would underscore the President's impotence in this situation.

Signing the bill into law will send an inexperienced and undisciplined White House into an escalating confrontation with Russia at a time when safeguards to reduce tensions have eroded and domestic pressure in both countries will make it hard to reverse course.

Russia will likely retaliate in ways that go beyond the expulsion of US diplomats and the seizure of American diplomatic recreation areas that took place Friday, said George Beebe, a former director of Russia analysis at the CIA, and others. Russia is likely to more actively work against US interests on the international stage.

"He is in a lose-lose situation here," Beebe said. "There really are no good options for him on this."

Russia announced that it was expelling American diplomats and seizing property after Congress passed the bill. Trump has repeatedly said he wants better relations with Moscow and, according to his communications director Anthony Scaramucci, still doubts Moscow's involvement in the election campaign.

But there was "very little political space or rational for Trump to veto," said Aaron David Miller, a vice president at the Wilson Center, said prior to the White House announcement Friday night. He pointed to the FBI investigations into Russia's ties to the campaign, Putin's actions in Ukraine and Syria, and Friday's actions against US diplomats. "There's no rationale, no excuse for a veto," Miller said. "None. It would be a form of political suicide."

Russia's move against US diplomats is delayed payback for an Obama administration decision in December to expel Russian envoys and seize their holiday compounds, a response to Moscow's interference in the presidential election campaign.

Moscow said Friday that the US must reduce the staff at its embassy and consulates to 450, the same number Russia is allowed to have in the US. Moscow is also barring Americans from using two diplomatic facilities.

Russia had greeted Trump's election victory with "euphoria," confident it would usher in a new era of close cooperation and an easing of sanctions, said Angela Stent, director of Georgetown University's Center for Eurasian, Russian and Eastern European Studies.

With that in mind, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia wouldn't retaliate after the December sanctions, preferring to wait until the Trump administration moved into the White House.

Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn had to resign after his conversations with former Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak came to light, some of which are thought to have been about easing sanctions.

Flynn's ouster was part of a trend that caused early Russian excitement about Trump to dissolve.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement Friday that while Russia has been doing "everything possible" to improve the relationship, "recent events showed that US policy was in the hands of Russophobic forces, pushing Washington to the path of confrontation."

"Russophobic forces"

Indeed, lawmakers and analysts sounded confident that they hold the upper hand on managing the Russia relationship and it's not likely to improve soon.

"Not only are the Democrats to a man and woman against any form of improving ties because they are angry about Russia's election interference, but a lot of Republicans are concerned as well," Stent said.

Republicans on Capitol Hill had downplayed the notion that Trump would actually consider vetoing the sanctions bill. Both Republicans and Democrats alike had predicted a swift veto override if Trump did try to thwart the measure.

"I think it'd be very unwise  it would be overridden immediately," Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole said. "The President has every right to veto it, but it isn't going to change the votes."

Republican lawmakers also pointed to North Korea's latest missile test as yet another reason for Trump to sign the bill, which also includes new sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, who helped broker the Senate sanctions deal, said he spoke to both the President and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in recent days about the bill. Asked about a possible veto threat earlier in the week, Corker told reporters: "I don't think that's real."

Beebe said Trump's signature will confirm to the Russians "that he's lost control of Russia policy." And in that case, Stent said, Putin will come under pressure to act from his political right, hardline nationalists who see the US as Moscow's greatest threat.

"He can't not act," she said. "He has to show Russia can't be pushed around by the US." As the danger of an escalatory tit-for-tat grows, mechanisms meant to prevent US-Russian confrontation have been breaking down, analysts said. Arms control agreements and confidence building measures between the two militaries have atrophied, said Beebe. And in some areas, such as cyberconflict, there are no rules of engagement at all.

Russians could strike out at the US in any number of ways, continuing to target the US diplomatic presence in Russia and US properties there, and escalating its harassment of US diplomats.

If the US pushes back in ways that put Moscow on edge, for instance, by arming Ukrainian rebels with lethal weapons, a prospect the Trump administration is considering, "there will be a very strong reaction and it will be asymmetric, a reaction in areas where we're most vulnerable," Beebe said.

Russia could actively work against US interests worldwide, Beebe suggested. "They're going to hurt us on issues like North Korea, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba," he said. CNN has reported that the US and Afghanistan have accused Russia of arming the Taliban, a charge Moscow denied.

One thing is clear, Beebe said. Friday's exchange over US diplomats in Russia is "not the last thing the Russians are going to do and it's not the last thing we're going to do."
CHICAGO, IL, July 29, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Travelling from the company's HQ in Chicago, two of NRG Global Inc's top performers will be flying to New York City to attend the annual sales and marketing awards rally. The two individuals will be formally representing NRG Global Inc during their all-expenses paid trip to the Big Apple and have been handpicked due to the 100% effort they have been demonstrating so far this quarter.



About NRG Global Inc: http://www.nrgglobalinc.com



The awards ceremony will be taking place at Pier Sixty, Manhattan's Largest Waterfront. The stunning venue will accommodate a host of the biggest names in the business, making it an unmissable networking opportunity for NRG Global Inc. President of the firm, Rafael Grossi is unable to attend the rally due to his hectic schedule and the current focus on expanding the business. He is currently promoting and developing individuals who are smashing targets and showing future industry promise.



As the largest waterfront venue in Manhattan, Pier Sixty at Chelsea Pier is one of New York City's most stunning and expansive event spaces. The site features 20 000 square feet of luxurious space, accommodating 200-2000 guests with impressive water front views of the Hudson River through floor-to-ceiling windows.



NRC Global Inc. is a sales and marketing company based in Chicago that brings marketing to life through live promotions that allow their clients brand to be communicated directly to consumers. The company is passionate about facilitating the growth of businesses in the city and work tirelessly to penetrate new locations with their in-person marketing strategies, aiming to build their client's brand and consumer base.



The industry's New York awards rally will be a chance for the two attending individuals to maximise the firm's effective networking, with opportunities to meet many high-profile industry professionals and promote the current success that the business is experiencing.



Source: http://piersixty.com/pier-sixty/



To stay up to date with all the latest news and information, follow NRG Global Inc on Twitter or 'Like' them on Facebook!



# # #
North Dakota's senators again split their votes in a narrow defeat for Senate Republicans looking to fulfill their promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act early Friday, July 28.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., voted against the so-called "skinny repeal" along with all of her fellow Democrats and three Republicans, helping defeat the bill in a 49-51 vote. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., voted for the measure.

The narrower repeal effort, which came after several other votes failed this week, would have repealed the individual mandate to get health insurance. It also would have eliminated the employer mandate for eight years and the medical device tax for three years.

In a statement issued early Friday, Hoeven said he "voted for legislation to move forward the health care reform process." He said reform efforts would involve more than just one bill and pointed to rising premiums under the ACA, commonly known as Obamacare.

What we were trying to do is get it started, Hoeven said in an interview. Now weve got to kind of regroup and see what people are willing to do and get the process going again.

The dramatic early-morning vote came to a head when Republican Sen. John McCain cast his vote against the bill, with Hoeven leaning against a desk just a few feet away. McCain joined Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski as the only Republicans to vote against the bill, drawing the ire of President Donald Trump.

3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down, the Republican president tweeted early Friday morning. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!

Courtney Koebele, executive director of the North Dakota Medical Association, called for stabilizing the individual insurance markets and for bipartisan solutions to health care reform. She said they had serious concerns with the skinny bill, dubbed the Health Care Freedom Act.

The primary opposition of the medical association against a lot of these bills was because  it reduced coverage, Koebele said. Thats our goal, is to keep people covered.

A Congressional Budget Office report estimated the skinny bill would raise the number of uninsured Americans by 15 million in 2018 compared with existing law. Hoeven argued that had to do with repealing the mandates to sign up for health insurance.

We want people to have choice. We want them to have access to health care. And we want it to be more affordable, Hoeven said. But Republicans generally dont believe that the government should force people to do things.

Heitkamp again criticized Republican health care reform efforts in a Friday morning statement. Her office said the bill would have caused more than 34,000 North Dakotans to lose health coverage and average premium increases of almost $800 a year here by 2026.

In an interview, Heitkamp said she expected a return a more regular process on health reform that would include hearings. She said senators received the skinny bill shortly before it came to the floor.

Now we can get down to what we should have been doing, in my opinion, all along, which is fixing the ACA, keep the things that work, Heitkamp said. Now weve hit the reset button.
WOODBURY, Minn. -- An extortion letter threatening false claims of child abuse has been mailed to 27 Woodbury day care centers.

The letters, mailed between July 15 and July 18, demand the centers pay $2,500  or face police investigations of the bogus charges.

I have it up on my refrigerator, said Francine Eid, owner of Morning Star Daycare.

She did not make the payment; police said none of the centers did.

But the scheme still worries Eid. This could hurt us. I have no idea if this is a madman or some crazy teen, she said.

Woodbury Police Commander Steve Wills said Friday that the letters were probably sent locally, because they were processed through a St. Paul post office. Each envelope has a fake return address for Markham & Thomas, S.C.

Wills believes that the scammers looked at a list of licensed day care centers, which is available to the public.

The most important thing is that none of them fell victim, said Wills.

The letter claims to be from a customer, saying that a daughter has been sexually abused. Buying our silence will be simple and anonymous, and no one will ever know this happened, says the letter.

The scammers demanded payment through Bitcoin, an online payment system.

If the money is not received, it says, We will take the photos to the police department and you can consider your career as a daycare provider over.

The targeted day care centers range from tiny businesses in the homes of the owners to large-scale centers with dozens of children.

Police Commander Wills has never seen a scam quite like this one  but he has seen what he calls the Grandparent Scheme. In that one, grandparents get an email or letter threatening harm to their grandchildren unless payment is made.

The letter was the first time day care provider Eid experienced extortion firsthand. I have never heard of anything so weird, she said.
Moroccan authorities have arrested a British dealer in the virtual Bitcoin currency charged with financial fraud in the United States, the Daily Mail reported.

The Moroccan news agency had previously reported that the British citizen was arrested in Tangier in response to an Interpol notice without naming him and that his extradition will be decided by the court of cassation. The wanted dealer was later identified by other media outlets as Renwick Haddow.

Haddow was charged in the US for conning investors out of $5 million via fake exchange platforms.

The US security and Exchange Commission (SEC) had said in a comment after he was charged with securities fraud that Haddow created two trendy companies and misled investors into believing that highly-qualified executives were leading them to quick profitability.

Haddow, 49, is said to have tricked investors who contributed funds to his Bitcoin Store platform and other ventures, diverting funds to offshore accounts.

In reality, Haddow controlled the companies from behind the scenes and they were far from profitable, the SECs New York Regional Office director Andrew M. Calamari added.

It is a second high-profile Bitcoin case to surface involving the SEC this week, with the regulator also seeking $110 mln in anti-money laundering fines against Russian exchange BTC-e. Its assumed founder, Alexander Vinnik, is also under pressure to pay a personal fine of $12 mln.
Morocco was hailed by the United States as a stable security-exporting partner in North Africa thanks to its adoption of a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy and the vigilance of its security services.

Morocco is a stable security-exporting partner in North Africa and is the only African nation to contribute military assets to the Defeat-ISIS Coalition campaign in Syria and Iraq, underscored the US State Department in its Country Reports on Terrorism 2016.

Morocco has treated counterterrorism as a top priority and has undertaken efforts that have  effectively mitigated the risk of terrorism in 2016, said the US State Department, noting that Moroccan authorities dismantled 18 terrorist cells and conducted 161 terrorism-related arrests in 2016, including of Algerian, Chadian, French, and Italian nationals.

The report highlights facets of the success of Moroccos counterterrorism strategy, which rests notably on adapting legislation to address the foreign terrorist fighter threat, countering the financing of terrorism, fighting violent extremism and strengthening regional and international cooperation.

At the legislative level, the document underscores the adoption by Morocco in 2015 of a law to address the foreign terrorist fighter threat by widening the definition of terrorist offenses to cover terrorist acts or attempts to join a terrorist group and involvement in recruitment and training activities, making it compliant with UN Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 2178 (2014).

Moroccan authorities reported approximately 1,500 Moroccan nationals are foreign terrorist fighters. As a result of increased international cooperation and vigilance by Moroccan authorities, and consistent with global trends on foreign terrorist fighters, only a few Moroccans departed for Iraq or Syria in 2016, the report underlined.

The US State Department also shed light on the key role played by the Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), since its establishment in 2015, as the primary law enforcement agency responsible for counterterrorism law enforcement. The BCIJ conducted operations in cooperation with international partners leading to numerous disruptions of alleged terrorist cells and prosecutions of associated individuals, adds the document.

Morocco is also demonstrating success in detecting terrorist financing, notes the report, saying that the Kingdom is a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force, a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-style regional body. Its financial intelligence unit, the Unite de Traitement du Renseignement Financier (UTRF), is a member of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units. Morocco criminalizes money laundering violations in accordance with international standards and actively uses the statutes to detect terrorist financing, underscores the report.

At the level of countering violent extremism, Morocco adopts a comprehensive approach that prioritizes economic and human development goals in addition to tight control of the religious sphere and messaging, the document stated, adding that the Kingdom launched a reform of the religious sphere focusing on the promotion of moderation and the training of Imams from Morocco and abroad.

The Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs has developed an educational curriculum for Moroccos nearly 50,000 imams and Morocco is training hundreds of imams from African and European nations at its international imam training center in Rabat.

The US State Department also commends Moroccos contribution to international counterterrorism efforts, notably at international fora including the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) where the Kingdom co-chairs together with the Netherlands the Foreign Terrorist Fighters Working Group.

The report also points out to Moroccos role as a member of the Global Initiative to Counter Nuclear Terrorism, and sheds light on the contribution of Moroccos security and law enforcement officials in training forces from Sub-Saharan countries such as Chad, Cote dIvoire, Mali, and Senegal.

As a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally and a Mediterranean Dialogue (5+5) partner in the EUs Barcelona Process, Morocco participates in the 5+5 Defense Initiative, which brings together five European and five North African countries to address security issues in the Mediterranean. Morocco also participates in multilateral regional training exercises, such as the maritime-focused PHOENIX EXPRESS and the FLINTLOCK security operations exercise and hosts the annual multilateral AFRICAN LION exercise and MAGHREB MANTLET disaster response exercise, the US Department of State recalled in its report.

Morocco is also an active member of the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP), a US multi-year interagency regional program aimed at building the capacity of governments in the Maghreb and Sahel to confront threats posed by violent extremists.
In detaining a vessel loaded with Sahara phosphates bound for New Zealand, the ruling party in South Africa, the ANC, is reconnecting with its anachronistic populist marxist ideology, putting politics above justice in a hostile action that threatens to derail a peace process led by the UN, said the US public policy think tank, The American Enterprise Institute.

In an analysis issued after the pulling out of Moroccos phosphates giant, the OCP and its Sahara subsidiary Phosboucraa, from proceeding on the core of the case in South Africa, the Think Tank deplored South Africas intransigence to put partisan ideology above law, threatening to derail international processes, reward terror, and effectively encourage piracy.

The Institute deplores the decision of the South African court to maintain the ship detained in Port Elizabeth with 55,000 tons of phosphates worth $5 million on board.

The author of the analysis Michael Rubin said that South Africas justice had better follow the example of Panamanian authorities who decreed that the Polisario had no jurisdictional competence in the matter. In doing so, the Panamanian government and court recognized that allowing self-styled governments and groups to seize shipping amounted to piracy.

Groups like the Polisario would then use the proceeds to finance terrorism and the lavish lifestyle of the Polisarios politburo, and the precedent could disrupt diplomacy worldwide, warned Rubin.

In the face of the blatant partiality and violations by the South African justice system of the international law of the sea, the OCP declared their withdrawal from the judicial proceedings on grounds that the court has no legitimacy to pursue the question of whether the Polisario Front should be able to seize the Cherry Blossoms cargo, he explained.

The arbitrary detention of the ship will have a fallout on the locals in the Sahara, the author went on to say, noting that One hundred percent of the profits from Phosboucraa mine, whose product is being shipped by Cherry Blossom, are invested into the local community. Moreover, the author of the analysis said, 50 local Western Sahara companies subcontract with the firm, creating even greater employment. More than three-quarters of the work force is from Western Sahara as opposed to the rest of Morocco.

He added that Phosboucraa operates in line with the UN legal framework and international law governing the exploitation of international resources.

Less than two percent of Moroccos phosphate exports originate in the Western Sahara and the Moroccan kingdom spends more per capita on residents of the south than it does on any of Moroccos other regions, Michael Rubin explained.

In siding with the Polisario, South Africa defends a militia that locks people in abhorrent living conditions in Tindouf camps, and the self-proclaimed SADR republic is a criminal group accused of embezzling humanitarian aid and of connivance with terrorist groups, he said.

The unlawful decision of the South African court also sets dangerous precedent, as the SADR republic is not the only separatist group seeking international recognition.

If the South African court seizes the Cherry Blossoms cargo to hand it to a Marxist hold-over in a dusty corner of Africa, then it effectively is declaring open season on international trade and an end to talks as the primary means of resolving conflict, underlined the author of the analysis.
Two Moroccan MINUSCA Peacekeepers Killed, One Injured in Second Deadly Attack

Two other Moroccan peacekeepers operating under MINUSCA, the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) were killed on Tuesday and another was injured in an ambush by Anti-Balaka rebels in the second deadly attack, just two days after the death of a Moroccan soldier from the same contingent.

The MINUSCA regrets to announce the deaths of two more blue helmets on Tuesday afternoon in Bangassou, a town 700 kilometers (430 miles) east of the capital Bangui, the peacekeeping force said in a statement.

The UN peacekeepers were attacked as they were stocking up with water for the humanitarian needs of the town, the statement added.

On the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangassou has in recent weeks become the epicenter of the unrest in the Central African Republic.

Despite the warnings by the international community that attacks on peacekeepers amount to war crimes, the Christian Anti-Balaka rebels continue to target humanitarian convoys of the UN in the country, particularly in the area of Bangassou.

Last May, a Moroccan peacekeeper was killed in a fire exchange after an attack by the Anti-Balaka group on a Moroccan checkpoint in downtown Bangassou. The attack also claimed the lives of several civilians.

The May attack came just hours after the UN held a memorial ceremony to honor five peacekeepers, four Cambodians and one Moroccan, killed on May 8 in a nearby village of Yogofongo, in a deadly attack perpetrated by suspected Anti-Balaka elements.

Ten peacekeepers, 9 Moroccan and a Cambodian, were injured in this attack.

Morocco sent 1470 peacekeepers to the MINUSCA, which has a total of 12,870 uniformed personnel including 10,750 military personnel and 2,080 police personnel.

Since 2013, the Central African Republic has been mired in a civil conflict after clashes surged between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition and Anti-Balaka militias.
The UN Security Council Presidency issued a statement voicing concern over the surge of terrorist attacks in the Sahel and stressing the need for a holistic approach to curb terrorism.

The Security Council expresses its concerns over the threats of terrorism, including widespread terrorist ideology in the region and their linkages to transnational organized crime, as well the worsening humanitarian situation in the region, a statement issued by the Council said.

In this respect, the Council condemns all terrorist attacks carried out in the region, in particular in Northern and Central Mali and the Lake Chad Basin region, notably by Boko Haram and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

The Security Council, therefore, stressed the need to uproot terrorism from its sources and fight all its forms and manifestations, including by addressing conditions conducive to the spread of its ideology.

The Council also welcomed the leadership of countries in West Africa and the Sahel in spearheading initiatives to address security challenges. It also commended the engagement of UNOWAS with the African Union, ECOWAS, the Group of 5 for the Sahel (G-5 Sahel), the Lake Chad Basin Commission and the Mano River Union to promote peace and stability in West Africa.

The document shed light on the humanitarian ramifications of terrorist activities in the Lake Chad Basin region and called on the international community to immediately support the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance for the people most affected by the crisis in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, including by fulfilling the UN appeal for the Lake Chad Basin region.
As countrys rival governments sit down for ceasefire talks extremist militants believed to be preparing new attack on port city of Misrata

We have spotted movements by Daesh in the south of Sirte, a senior commander of coalition forces said Reuters

A militia fighting on behalf of Libyas UN-backed government has warned that Isis militants are regrouping in order to launch a new attack on the city of Misrata, the countrys trade capital.

We have spotted movements by Daesh in the south of Sirte, where they are trying to regroup and break through our forces lines in the south, Mohamed Ghasri, spokesperson and senior commander of the Misrata-based al-Bunyan al-Marsous forces, said on Wednesday.

The militia was a key force in helping drive Isis out of the coastal city of Sirte last year after a gruelling six-month-long campaign aided by US air strikes.

Al-Bunyan al-Marsous now believes an attack on the port city is imminent as Mr Ghasri warned that his troops have lacked international support to fend off Isis since driving them from Sirte city in 2015.

Isiss leaders in the country are now operating in the southern Sirte countryside. Mr Ghasri did not give details on how many fighters Isis is believed to be readying for a fresh assault on Misrata.

The civil war that has engulfed Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 has allowed warlords and extremists to gain footholds across the country.

A new round of diplomacy between the internationally recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj and rival eastern commander Khalifa Haftar began on Tuesday. A ceasefire has been implemented  except in the fight against terrorist organisations  and elections are possibly on the table in talks in Paris by the French government.

Faced with a string of military defeats in its caliphate across Syria and Iraq, observers believe Isis will concentrate on its operations in countries such as Libya, which face power vacuums, and step up terror attacks on civilians worldwide.
The Czech Foreign Ministry says a Czech woman who was wounded in a knife attack at a hotel in the popular Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada earlier in July has died.

Thursdays announcement comes a day after authorities said the 36-year-old was on the brink of death and only life support was keeping her alive in a Cairo hospital.

In the July 14 attack, an Egyptian university graduate first stabbed two German women to death and later attacked and wounded four other female tourists who, according to local media reports, were two Armenians, one Ukrainian and the Czech.

The woman was hospitalized with back and leg injuries after the attack.

The ministry says the family doesnt want to reveal any more details.

Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek and Health Minister Miloslav Ludvik offered their condolences.
Human rights groups have praised Tunisias progress in passing legal measures protecting women, however warn of financial barriers to their proper implementation. Tags: Tunisia, Womens rights, Rape, Domestic violence, HRW

Tunisian lawmakers on Thursday passed a landmark law aimed at protecting women against rape and domestic violence.

The law, tiltled the Law on Eliminating Violence against Women, abolishes a controversial clause that allows rapists to escape punishment if they marry their victims.

It also the countrys first piece of legislation that recognizes domestic violence as a punishable crime.

Its a very moving moment and we are proud in Tunisia to have been able to gather around a historic project, said Womens Minister Naziha Laabidi.

Womens rights activists have struggled for decades for legal protections against rape and abuse, in a country that has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the world.

The legislation, which will come into effect next year, allow women to seek protection from violent spouses and relatives. It also contains provisions for protection against public harassment and physical, moral and sexual violence.

In the bills early stages, Islamist Ennahda Party minister Sayida Ounissi pledged that it would redefine attitudes towards domstic violence in Tunisia, where it is often considered a private matter.

Rights groups have also praised the move as a positive stride for womens rights in the country, which has the highest percentage of female parliamentary representation of any Arab country.

This praise, however, was balanced with caution about the limits of the new law.

Tunisian authorities should ensure that there is adequate funding and political will to put the law fully into effect and to eliminate discrimination against women, said Amna Guellali, Tunisia office director at Human Rights Watch.

While the law requires authorities to refer women to shelters if they are in need, it provides no mechanisms for funding either governmental or non-governmental shelters.

It also does not set out provisions for the government to provide women with timely financial assistance to meet their needs or assistance in finding long-term accommodation. The law, in sum, does not stipulate how the state will fund the programmes and policies it brings into being.
Next week's ballot offers some intrigue for North Dakotans  from late congressional entries by independent candidates to term limits and marijuana legalization. Voters will decide whether to endorse changing the state constitution to limit the terms of the governor and state legislators. Another citizen-led initiative also will put the question of marijuana legalization before voters, who rejected the idea four years ago. Ninety-eight of the Legislatures 141 seats are on the ballot. All but one Democrat is up for reelection this year. Contests for secretary of state, attorney general and other state offices Also will appear on the ballot.
A massive construction project is underway to stop erosion at an early Mandan Indian village, where hundreds of burial sites are at risk.

Contractors with backhoes and earth movers are in the process of scraping and leveling dirt at the Double Ditch Indian Village Historic Site.

It's the first step towards stabilizing the slumping river bank that exposed 18 historic burials and caused a crack that could have washed away half the archaeological site.

The start of the project comes as good news to preservationists and members of the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation, who fought for funding during the 2017 legislative session.

"This project is a very high priority for us. We're so pleased that we have the funding and that the project is underway," said Fern Swenson, director of the archaeology and historic preservation division at State Historical Society of North Dakota.

Double Ditch is an earth lodge village north of Bismarck where thousands of Mandan people lived and traded from 1490 to 1785. The village and others at the Heart River confluence were centers of commerce and social life on the Northern Plains. Named for the protective ditches the Mandan people built to keep out enemies, Double Ditch was finally abandoned due to smallpox.

It has been owned by the state since 1936 and began seriously eroding after the 2011 floods.

On Friday morning, three archaeologists from the historical society stood by in orange vests while contractors from Veit Specialty Contracting used heavy machinery to scrape the eroding river bank and haul dirt off the site.

Since the area near the water was once used as a burial ground, the archaeologists were watching to see if any remains would be exposed. So far, 146 burials have come up during the construction project, according to Swenson.

"That just highlights the importance of stopping this erosion so that it doesn't continue further into the site," Swenson said.

Archaeologists are always on scene, and Swenson said that whenever burials come up, digging stops and the area is excavated by hand. The remains will be reburied with appropriate ceremonies by the MHA nation.

After the scraping is done, contractors will build a rock trench at the river's edge and put in pipe pilings along the bluff to stabilize it. The area will be reseeded with prairie grasses, and some extra supports will be added to buttress areas not currently eroding.

The historical society is taking the opportunity to improve recreation at the site. A path down to the water and a non-motorized boat dock for kayaks and canoes will be among the new features.

Swenson said the project has so far has come in half a million dollars below budget at about $3 million. The bid from Veit at $1,579,370 was less than expected, she said.

Work started this month and should be complete by November.

Double Ditch remains open this summer, though visitors are required to use the southeast entrance on N.D. Highway 1804 and cannot cross into the construction zone.

MHA Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Calvin Grinnell, who is often on-site and will coordinate the reburials, said the tribe has been kept informed of the progress, and he believes the construction is being handled well.

"We had no choice really. We have to do it," Grinnell said. "The other option would be the slump would fall into the Missouri River and our ancestors bones would be washed down the river. And I don't think anybody wants that."
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Cloudy with a few showers. High 74F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low 42F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
July 28, 2017

There has not been a single week when Turkey did not make headlines in the international media, especially by the second half of 2017.

The latest was last week; this time the subject was Israel. President Recep Tayyip Erdogans comments, though, were not totally unjustified. Turkey is the current chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and it was impossible for Erdogan to sit idle while Israel imposed excessive measures denying Muslim worshippers from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, the third holiest place for Muslims. Consequently, Erdogan took the initiative to call the leaders of the Muslim countries for joint action. He also called Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.

Erdogan made incendiary remarks in a speech to his partys parliamentary group in Ankara. When Israeli soldiers recklessly pollute the grounds of Al-Aqsa with their combat boots by using simple issues as pretexts and then easily spill blood there, it is because we [Muslims] have not done enough to stake our claim over Jerusalem, Erdogan said.

The spat between the Turkish president and the Israeli government fell short of mobilizing the Muslim masses all over the world, but it was sufficient in inspiring certain Muslim archnationalists in Turkey to mount two attacks on synagogues in Istanbul, a new source of embarrassment for the Turkish government. Although neither Erdogan nor his government endorsed such acts of aggression, the row with Israel was enough to inspire his loyalists to take to the streets.

This incident with Israel came at the heels of a crucial crisis between Turkey and EU powerhouse Germany. The relations between the two countries had already soured recently. Back in March, Berlin did not allow Erdogan and his ministers to hold election campaigns in Germany. In response, Erdogan accused the German government of implementing Nazi practices, the nastiest accusation that can be addressed to Germany. Turkeys refusal to allow German parliamentarians to visit their military contingent at the Incirlik air base led Germany to withdraw its soldiers and transfer them to Jordan instead.

The quick deterioration was accelerated by other two developments: the arrest of a Turkish-German journalist representing the German newspaper Die Welt on unconvincing charges of supporting a terrorist organization and by German approval of the applications of Turkish generals for political asylum. These generals were serving and representing Turkey at the NATO facilities at the time of the botched coup on July 15, 2016.

Many Turkish and German political analysts believe that Erdogan is holding German nationals in detention as a bargaining chip for a deal he may reach with Berlin and/or as a display of his frustration with German policies vis-a-vis Turkey.

If Erdogan has been testing his limits with Germany by his inflammatory accusations directed against it and provoking anti-German (as well as anti-Western) sentiments in the Turkish public, he may finally have reached that limit. The detention and ultimately the arrest of six (later became eight) human rights activists under the charges of supporting an unnamed terrorist organization triggered a very stern reaction from Germany. Among those who were arrested was German national Peter Steudtner.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel cut his vacation short and returned to Berlin to summon the Turkish ambassador. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble likened Turkey to the defunct East German republic.

For German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the imprisonment of Peter Steudtner was totally unjustified.

More importantly, Gabriel, with Merkels blessing, who the German press reports to be uncharacteristically supportive of hard-line measures toward Turkey, announced a reorientation of relations between the two countries. He warned German companies about doing business in Turkey and cautioned German citizens to refrain from visiting Turkey.

Turkey, according to the figures provided by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has lost $12 billion in revenue from foreign tourists over the past two years. German tourists who traditionally make up one of the biggest tourist groups visiting Turkey were already down by 25% in the first five months of this year.

Moreover, with almost 7,000 German companies doing business in Turkey and the trade volume between the two countries amounting to $36 billion, a German stand with economic and financial underpinnings could become painful for Erdogans fortunes in Turkey and would have an effect on the EUs already uneasy relationship with Turkey, adding further negative reactions from Ankara.

German authorities have called for a review of the EUs aid contributions to Ankara, which total around $650 million, and more importantly, of export credit guarantees for German companies investing in Turkey. This has created panic on the Turkish side.

Despite Erdogans statement that called Germanys actions unforgivable, Turkey stepped back.

A German misunderstanding occurred due to a communication problem, said Bekir Bozdag, the new Turkish government spokesman, as he tried to soothe German outrage.

By giving signals that it might capitulate when it comes to economy and finance, Turkeys leverage on Israel is weaker than ever. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with certain awareness of that fact, did not seem impressed with Erdogans anger. He retorted cynically with a statement from the prime ministers office. It would be interesting to see what Erdogan would say to the residents of northern Cyprus or to the Kurds. Erdogan is the last person who can preach to Israel, the statement said.

The way the spat between Turkey and Israel has evolved and the point it has reached are clear indications that Erdogan's anti-Israel stand cannot make up for the deterioration with Germany and the EU.

As much as Turkey is isolated in the West, it is losing its weight and leverage in the Middle East as well. Even Erdogans harsh rhetoric against Israel is not a remedy for it.

It is not difficult to figure out that a country with a fragile economy mostly dependent on the benevolence of its European partners, above all Germany, cannot swagger about in the Middle East as if it is a political powerhouse.
By David Brogdon

This story appears in Birmingham magazine's July 2017 issue. Subscribe today!

I moved to Birmingham 34 years ago, in 1984, on a job transfer from Gadsden. I married my wife Suzanne the following year, and we now have three children, two grandchildren, and one more grandchild on the way.

Birmingham is a special city. It's this perfect mesh between big city and small Southern town. I have traveled all over the world for work, but there's no place like Birmingham. The Southern charm of the people makes you feel at home. My kids grew up playing sports, so we often spent all day at the ballpark, sitting in the stands with neighbors and friends, or cooking hot dogs. Seeing the way the community pulled together to root for our kids is a special memory to me. It's hard to find that in big cities. The people, the pace of this city, it all makes you feel comfortable.

A lot of people who haven't been here have this idea that the South is dead. They think that it's an ugly, hot climate and that no one wants to live here. It's funny that that's so far from the truth. Birmingham is a wonderful place to raise your family, and it's full of high-tech industries. The medical industry here is so advanced and strong, especially with everything that UAB is doing downtown. People who haven't been here don't realize Birmingham is flourishing now more than ever.

When business associates come to visit, they cannot believe how beautiful

Birmingham is. I'm looking out my window now and the landscape is so green surrounding the lake outside my building. Also, it's easy to get around here. When you meet people visiting from Atlanta or Dallas, where they spend hours in traffic, you suddenly realize there is nothing to complain about when it comes to waiting 30 minutes on Highway 280.

Another thing people don't realize about Birmingham is we are still in the Appalachians here. I had this moment when I was visiting the mountains in North Carolina, and I thought, "Why can't I live here all the time?" That became the idea behind The Highlands Community in Chelsea. Back in 2012, we came across about 525 acres of hardwood forest and mountain land near Highway 280, just 15 minutes down the road from my office. It was so big that developing it just to share with the family didn't quite make sense, so we kept adding to it. We started building roads, nature trails, and stock lakes. Today we have 12 miles of hiking trails, and we have added a couple of hundred acres since 2012, and probably have another 400 to go. We are adding to it every day, and are enjoying being a part of something so special to Birmingham. The fact that you can have the big city experience, and still live in a retreat less than 15 minutes away is a testament to the incredible versatility of Birmingham.

What makes this city so special though is the heart of the people here. Birmingham is home, and like many in the community, I believe it's important to give back to the community that I call home. One organization I support is Red

Mountain Grace, which provides families with apartment-style housing when they have loved ones in the hospital. I also believe strongly in investing in Harvest Community Charities, which work to provide food for people living in food deserts. Because of my love for the outdoors, preserving our coastal marine resources through the Coastal Conservation Association is another great way to give back. The neat thing about Birmingham is if there is an issue that is important to you, there are countless ways to get involved through giving your time or finances!

For our kids, Birmingham is all they have ever known. We are a local family. The Highlands Community is a place my whole family wants to live, and we want to share it with Birmingham. It's a great place to leave your legacy.

Details

To learn more about The Highlands Community, visit thehighlandscommunity.com.
A federal grand jury indicted three men on gun charges stemming from a pawn shop burglary in Tarrant, U.S. Department of Justice announced today.

The two-count indictment states that 18-year-old Gabriel Nathaniel Powell, of Center Point, stole 17 guns from Scott's Jewelry and Pawn, which is a licensed firearms dealer, on April 5. Authorities also said Powell sold and traded the stolen guns. According to the indictment, three Century Arms model NPAPM70 rifles, one Leader Arms model AR 12 shotgun, one Sig Sauer model 716 rifle, six .40-caliber Glock pistols, one .45-caliber Glock pistol, three 9mm Glock pistols and two 10mm Glock pistols were taken from the establishment.

Ryan Arthur Johnson, 23, and 37-year-old Reginald Lamar Bonner, both of Birmingham, allegedly possessed stolen firearms the same day the items were stolen. Johnson's indictment states he had the stolen 10mm Glock model 20 Gen4 pistol. Bonner had two stolen Glock handguns, one 9mm pistol and one 10mm pistol, according to his indictment.

Bonner was also convicted of possession of controlled substance in 2008, possession of controlled substance by fraud in 2009 and third-degree burglary and possession of burglar's tools in 2011. All the convictions are from Jefferson County. Because of his previous charges, Bonner was also indicted for being a convicted felon in possession of firearms.

Powell is facing a maximum 10-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine for stealing weapons from a licensed firearms dealer. Johnson and Bonner faces the same penalty for possessing stolen firearms.

The DOJ also indicted the following five men for being convicted felons is possession of firearms in separate occasions.

Chastan Dace Morrow, 34, of Arab, for possession a Hi-Point .380 handgun on Oct. 16, 2015 in Marshall County. Officials said Morrow was convicted in Humphreys County, Tennessee in 2006 for initiating the manufacture of methamphetamine and second-degree assault in 2007 in Cullman County.

Antoine Dorman, 29, of Oxford, for possession a Hunter Arms 20-gauge double-barrel shotgun on Aug. 16, 2016 in Calhoun County. Officials said he was convicted in 2008 for third-degree burglary and third-degree robbery. He was also convicted in 2009 for third and second-degree burglary and first-degree receiving stolen property.

Donterio Navell Keith, 27, of Talladega, for possessing a Davis Industries .380-caliber pistol on Jan. 1, 2017. He was convicted in 2011 for second-degree receiving stolen property in Talladega County and in 2014 for first and third-degree theft of property in Clay County.

Logan Milam, 22, of Childersburg, for possession a Rohm .22-caliber revolver. He was convicted of third-degree burglary and second-degree unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance in Talladega County in 2016.

Michael Justin Parker, 30, of Lincoln, for possessing a Taurus 9mm pistol after being convicted in Talladega County for second-degree unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance in 2009 and 2012.

The maximum penalty for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Senate candidate Mo Brooks accused incumbent Sen. Luther Strange of trying to "con" the Republican primary electorate into thinking he was a "Never Trumper" and a "Nancy Pelosi lover," the Huntsville congressman told attendees of the Cullman County Republican Party's fundraising dinner on Friday night, which doubled as a candidates' forum for the top tier of candidates in next month's special election.

One of Brooks' main primary rivals, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, railed against the D.C. money boosting Strange and drew applause when he spoke of his support for President Trump's intention to ban transgender troops from the military.

Brooks said that Strange's attacks on him - which have included not supporting President Trump and tying him to liberals like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi - were signs that the Strange campaign views him as a threat.

"I've got millions of dollars of panic in my direction. I've never had someone portray me as a Nancy Pelosi lover before," Brooks said. "The incumbent in this race is trying to deceive you, they're trying to con you. They want you to believe that I'm a Never Trumper."

While Brooks conceded that he headed Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz's campaign in Alabama, he said he turned to supporting Trump after the real estate mogul became the GOP nominee, and maintained he consistently sides with Trump.

"I'm behind the America first agenda, and I am supporting President Trump's agenda," Brooks said, including President Trump's desire for the Senate to get rid of the filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to get legislation passed.

"I'm for elimination of that rule so we can get that agenda through the United States Senate," he said.

Moore tried to portray himself as the true threat to the Washington establishment, citing a CNN article from earlier this month that said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was near "panic mode" because Moore was at the top of a poll at the time.

"They're trying to buy the people of Alabama and buy their vote out of Washington D.C.," Moore told the crowd, referring to super PACs supporting Strange, including one controlled by McConnell. "They're trying to tell you who should be senator, who they want to keep there. And it's this establishment that is keeping things from moving."

The former Alabama chief justice said his campaign platform includes strengthening the military, which he said includes doing away with President Barack Obama's policy allowing transgender troops to serve.

"We don't need transgender troops," he said - a line that drew applause from the crowd. "When you're in a foxhole, you want to know whether the person next to you knows if he's a man or a woman."

Meanwhile, the third candidate who attended the forum, state Sen. Trip Pittman of Montrose, touted his business experience and expressed his disappointment that the so-called "skinny repeal" of Obamacare failed in the Senate.

"I think we need a strong leader. Somebody with experience in business ... and somebody that understands the legislative process. Not a disgraced governor, not the Washington crowd," Pittman said. "It's important to hire a businessman for this U.S. Senate job. We need to understand businessmen get things done.

At the end of the night, Brooks won a straw poll of the fundraiser's attendees with 48 votes. Moore was close behind with 45 votes, while Pittman earned 10 votes. Nine votes were cast for Strange, who was invited to participate but was stranded in Washington due to weather.
A day after a years-long effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act collapsed on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump castigated Republican senators for their inability to pass legislation.

"They look like fools," Trump wrote Saturday morning on Twitter. He also renewed his demand that the Senate abolish a rule requiring 60 votes for some bills, despite the fact that the filibuster had nothing to do with the health-care bill's failure on Friday.

His tweet: "Republican Senate must get rid of 60 vote NOW! It is killing the R Party, allows 8 Dems to control country. 200 Bills sit in Senate. A JOKE!"

Trump's rant against the filibuster kicked off early Friday, a few hours after three Republican senators joined every Democrat to sink the GOP's last-ditch effort to overturn Obamacare, 51 to 49.

Trump acknowledged at the time that "parts of health care could pass at 51" votes - as the GOP's "skinny repeal" bill could have.

But "so many great future bills & budgets need 60 votes," he wrote.

As he continued his tweet storm into Saturday, he offered a few examples of great future bills - along with a few demands and insults for Republican senators he said couldn't pass them until they killed the filibuster.

"Republican Senate must get rid of 60 vote NOW!" Trump wrote at 7:20 a.m., a few minutes after he plugged a report suggesting the Russian government was working against him during the election.

He demanded that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., eliminate the filibuster "NOW" - despite the fact that McConnell dismissed the idea when Trump raised it months ago.

By way of persuasion, Trump wrote that Republican senators "look like fools and are just wasting time," and will "NEVER win" until they kill the rule.

It's worth noting that while Trump now attacks the filibuster as antiquated, four years earlier he defended it as a venerable tradition dating back to Thomas Jefferson.

Once used rarely and memorably (as when a senator spoke and sang for 15 hours to block a vote in 1992), the filibuster has become an almost routine tactic for minority parties to impede bills and nominees they can't defeat in a straight-up vote.

On Saturday, Trump blamed the filibuster for hypothetically allowing Democrats to block "complete Healthcare," despite the fact that Republican senators have not been able to unite around even a narrowly tailored bill so far.

Trump also wrote that "Kate's Law," which would increase punishments for criminals who illegally reenter the United States after being deported, would never pass with the filibuster in place.

So to attempt a recap of the president's latest rounds of tweets: Trump knows that some health-care bills could pass through the Senate with a simple majority of votes. Friday's "skinny repeal" bill could have done it with only 50, for example.

But Republicans need to kill the filibuster anyway, Trump argues, lest it allow Democrats to block a more sweeping health-care reform bill - which does not yet exist but will be supported by a majority of senators (but not 60 of them) once it is written.

If that logic strikes you as confusing, you're not alone:

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., tweeted: "If McCain had just voted yes they would have had those 60 votes required under reconciliation! No, wait...."

But there's no reason to assume Trump's day-long argument against the filibuster has concluded. Shortly before 8 a.m., he added some new points.

"If the Senate Democrats ever got the chance, they would switch to a 51 majority vote in first minute," Trump wrote.

And also: "They are laughing at R's. MAKE CHANGE!"

(c) 2017, The Washington Post. Avi Selk wrote this story.
Donald Trump

President Donald Trump speaks at the Covelli Centre, Tuesday, July 25, 2017, in Youngstown, Ohio.

(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump will sign a package of stiff financial sanctions against Russia that passed Congress with overwhelming support, the White House said Friday.

Moscow has already responded, ordering a reduction in the number of U.S. diplomats in Russia and closing the U.S. Embassy's recreation retreat.

Trump's willingness to support the measure is a remarkable acknowledgement that he has yet to sell his party on his hopes for forging a warmer relationship with Moscow. His vow to extend a hand of cooperation to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been met with resistance as skeptical lawmakers look to limit the president's leeway to go easy on Moscow over its meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The Senate passed the bill, 98-2, two days after the House pushed the measure through by an overwhelming margin, 419-3. Both were veto-proof numbers.

The White House initially wavered on whether the president would sign the measure into law. But in a statement late Friday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had "reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it."

Never in doubt was a cornerstone of the legislation that bars Trump from easing or waiving the additional penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees. The provisions were included to assuage concerns among lawmakers that the president's push for better relations with Moscow might lead him to relax the penalties without first securing concessions from the Kremlin.

The legislation is aimed at punishing Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria, where the Kremlin has backed President Bashar Assad. It also imposes financial sanctions against Iran and North Korea.

Before Trump's decision to sign the bill into law, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the bill's passage was long overdue, a jab at Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress. McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has called Putin a murderer and a thug.

"Over the last eight months what price has Russia paid for attacking our elections?" McCain asked. "Very little."

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday said it is ordering the U.S. Embassy in Russia to reduce the number of its diplomats by Sept. 1. Russia will also close down the embassy's recreational retreat on the outskirts of Moscow as well as warehouse facilities.

Meanwhile, some European countries expressed concerns that the measures targeting Russia's energy sector would harm its businesses involved in piping Russian natural gas. Germany's foreign minister said his country wouldn't accept the U.S. sanctions against Russia being applied to European companies.

A spokesman for the European Commission said Friday that European officials will be watching the U.S. effort closely, vowing to "remain vigilant."

Trump had privately expressed frustration over Congress' ability to limit or override the power of the president on national security matters, according to Trump administration officials and advisers. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.

But faced with heavy bipartisan support for the bill in the House and Senate, the president had little choice but to sign the bill into law. Trump's communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, had suggested Thursday that Trump might veto the bill and "negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians."

But Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said that would be a serious mistake and called Scaramucci's remark an "off-handed comment." If Trump rejected the bill, Corker said, Congress would overrule him.

"I cannot imagine anybody is seriously thinking about vetoing this bill," said Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "It's not good for any president -- and most governors don't like to veto things that are going to be overridden. It shows a diminishment of their authority. I just don't think that's a good way to start off as president."

Still, signing a bill that penalizes Russia's election interference marks a significant shift for Trump. He's repeatedly cast doubt on the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia sought to tip the election in his favor. And he's blasted as a "witch hunt" investigations into the extent of Russia's interference and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.

The 184-page bill seeks to hit Putin and the oligarchs close to him by targeting Russian corruption, human rights abusers, and crucial sectors of the Russian economy, including weapons sales and energy exports.

The bill underwent revisions to address concerns voiced by American oil and natural gas companies that sanctions specific to Russia's energy sector could backfire on them to Moscow's benefit. The bill raised the threshold for when U.S. firms would be prohibited from being part of energy projects that also included Russian businesses.

Lawmakers said they also made adjustments so the sanctions on Russia's energy sector didn't undercut the ability of U.S. allies in Europe to get access to oil and gas resources outside of Russia.

The North Korea sanctions are intended to thwart Pyongyang's ambition for nuclear weapons by cutting off access to the cash the reclusive nation needs to follow through with its plans. The bill prohibits ships owned by North Korea or by countries that refuse to comply with U.N. resolutions against it from operating in American waters or docking at U.S. ports. Goods produced by North Korea's forced labor would be prohibited from entering the United States, according to the bill.

The sanctions package imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. The measure would apply terrorism sanctions to the country's Revolutionary Guards and enforce an arms embargo.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted against the sanctions bill.

-- By RICHARD LARDNER
Alabama is on the brink of an election process to select a new senator to replace the old senator who remains popular and, possibly, could soon be unemployed.

That's pretty much a snapshot of the political landscape in Jeff Sessions' home state.

And despite the unfolding drama, it may all end up meaning ... absolutely nothing.

"I won't say it's crazy," said Jess Brown, a retired political science professor from Athens State University, "but I think it's low probability."

The question - whether people are quietly wondering to themselves or, as in the case of one Senate candidate, firing off a press release about it - is this: Could Sessions, if he is no longer U.S. attorney general, seek to regain his seat in the U.S. Senate?

As Brown said, it's unlikely. And at the moment, Sessions still holds one of the most esteemed political positions in the country. That would seemingly make a career change a beyond-the-horizon distant thought for Sessions, who served as Alabama's junior senator from 1996 until resigning earlier this year upon being appointed AG.

Still, there are these circumstances:

Sessions has been vilified by President Trump over the past week both on Twitter and in interviews. The White House has declined to declare all is well between Trump and the earliest supporter of his campaign from the Senate.

Alabama's special election cycle to fill Sessions' seat begins Aug. 15 with the party primaries. The general election will be Dec. 12.

One of the 18 candidates who will appear on the primary ballots, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, issued a press release last week offering to withdraw from the Senate race if the remaining eight candidates would do the same. Brooks' rationale is the Alabama Republican Party, with no candidates remaining, would appoint Sessions as the GOP's nominee.

"The reason I think he won't (seek the Senate seat) is I'm not so sure if he's no longer attorney general, he's going to go do something else," Brown said of the 70-year-old Sessions. "He's no spring chicken."

And there's that little detail of Sessions still being the attorney general and resolving not to resign -- no matter the vitriol Trump may fire his way -- unless the president asks.

But Sessions' old job is still available and, if he wanted, it might be his new job.

Three paths to Senate.

There are three paths Sessions could be re-elected to the Senate in December. All are unconventional.

The first is that he runs as an independent candidate. According to the Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, the state's top election official, that would require collecting about 36,000 names on a petition by the primary date of Aug. 15.

That number of signatures represents the requirement set in state law that mandates 3 percent of the registered voters who participated in the last gubernatorial election, Merrill said.

If he collected the signatures, though, his name would be placed on the December ballot.

Another method would be a write-in campaign. While the Democratic and Republican candidates would campaign for the office, Sessions would urge Alabamians to write his name on the ballot.

"He could stage a write-in and would not have to get a majority of the vote to be sworn in," Brown said. "He could win that with a plurality. He simply has to get more votes than anybody else. And you know, I think Jeff Sessions could do that."

It's happened before, Merrill said. In 1983, after the federal courts essentially threw out the legislature election results from the previous year because of district lines, Lowell Barron of DeKalb County staged a write-in campaign and won his state Senate seat over the Democratic candidate David Stout.

Primary elections were avoided for the 1983 elections, Merrill said, because the major parties simply selected a single candidate to run for each office. And Barron was not the Democrats' choice.

"Barron got elected in '82 and (the state Democratic Party) assigned someone else, David Stout, to run in that seat in '83," Merrill said. "And Lowell Barron took it to the people up there in Jackson and DeKalb counties and said, 'Look, I was elected as your senator, they didn't allow me to run, this is your senate seat, it doesn't belong to the power brokers in Montgomery.'

"He ran a write-in campaign and beat David Stout."

The final option would appear to be the longest of long shots. That would be Brooks' proposal for everyone to drop out of the race.

Luther Strange, who holds Sessions' seat in the Senate pending the outcome of the election, dismissed Brooks' proposal as a "desperate" strategy of a candidate who is falling in the polls.

Strange, a leading candidate to win the GOP primary along with former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and Brooks, would appear to have the most to lose in Brooks' plan. Brooks, meanwhile, could run for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives next year if he dropped out or isn't elected to the Senate.

"The person who would have to make the biggest sacrifice in that set of circumstances is the current interim senator," Brown said.

Sessions for governor?

State Auditor Jim Zeigler offered still another piece of career advice for Sessions -- run for governor next year.

"Sessions for governor could possibly scare out Gov. Kay Ivey, Mayor Tommy Battle, Twinkle Cavanaugh, John McMillan and me," Zeigler, who is considering a gubernatorial himself, said in a statement. "There would likely only be nominal candidates to oppose Sessions."

For any of those scenarios to even reach the level of possibility, Sessions has to be looking for a job.

And he's still the attorney general.
Israeli Independence Day.jpg

Israeli Independence Day celebration this year at the Springhill Avenue Temple in Mobile

(Dana Kaplan)

Rabbi Dana Kaplan

By Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan, Springhill Avenue Temple, Mobile

Recent events in Israel and specifically at the Western Wall and the Temple Mount have focused the world's attention once again on the State of Israel.

This time it is religion which is the key dividing issue rather than -- or in addition to-- politics. In Alabama, the majority of Jews are Reform and most non-Jews are most likely to be familiar with Reform temples and to have visited Reform services on Friday night or Saturday morning.

So it is not surprising that we can easily forget that while Reform Judaism is most influential in the United States, it also exists in many other parts of the world, including Israel. In the Jewish state, Reform Judaism, called Progressive Judaism, has struggled to be recognized as legitimate.

It is time for us in the United States--Reform Jews and other Americans--to push the Israeli government to correct a religious inequality that is seriously inhibiting liberal Judaism's ability to thrive in North America as well as in Israel. But changing the political status of Israeli Progressive Judaism will take time. Meanwhile, the American Reform community needs a strategy to deepen our connection to Israeli Reform Jews, drawing on their faith and their talents to inspire a revitalized American Reform Judaism.

Israel's difficulty with Reform can be traced to the fact that most of its population originated in regions lacking a strong Enlightenment tradition. They arrived in the country with the perception that there was one authentic form of Judaism, Orthodoxy.

Some continued to follow the halachic dictates of Orthodoxy and others abandoned religious observance, but the terms of religious conceptualization were framed in black and white: "religious" meaning Orthodox versus "secular" meaning rejecting or ignoring all religious attachments.

The Israeli framework of religious experience has no room for those who would integrate the latest advances in science and technology--as well as philosophy, history, archeology, and biblical studies--into their understanding of what makes a religious person today.

The State of Israel recognizes only Orthodox Judaism, and only certain Orthodox leaders at that, as authoritative representatives of the Jewish religion. Only this self-selected group has the authority to perform civilly recognized weddings, for example.

Since there is no separation of church and state in Israel, a couple who wants to marry in a Jewish ceremony must go to one of the these Orthodox rabbis and only these rabbis. If they don't want to or if the rabbi deems them insufficiently Jewish, not only can't they have their government-sanctioned religious wedding in Israel, they can't even obtain a civil marriage license. The monopoly granted to these Orthodox rabbis stifles religious pluralism in Israel and makes life difficult for hundreds of thousands of its citizens.

Progressive Judaism has had a tremendous impact not only on religious life but on many aspects of society and culture over the past 150 years or so. To take one example, Reform Jews played a central role in the civil rights movement. Such positive influence of American Judaism on culture here benefits us all, and were liberal Judaism to decline, we would all lose out. But to be able to have a positive impact on society, it is necessary to be not only respected but also regarded as legitimate.

More and more Americans are traveling to Israel and finding that Reform is not endorsed by that state and is near to being dismissed as a cult by many, from citizens to political leaders. This does nothing less than undermine American Reform's influence in its home country.

Reform Jews from all over the world have struggled for the past several decades to build a movement in Israel under difficult circumstances. We understood how important this was. As Rabbi Richard Hirsch, then-executive director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, wrote in 1999, "If Progressive Judaism can develop and thrive only in a non-Jewish environment, if we cannot succeed in impacting on the lives and values of Jews living in the Jewish state, then the charges of our critics may be substantiated."

Therefore, he argued, the test of Jewish authenticity lies in whether we can build a vibrant movement in Israel: "If we succeed in Israel, we pass the test. If we fail in Israel, then doubt is cast on the authenticity of our Diaspora movement."

So far we are failing. As the relationship between American Jewry and the State of Israel continues to evolve, it would seem likely that American Jewish leaders will come under greater pressure to take further measures to push the Israeli government to change. The Israeli government, built on a fragile coalition, is likely to pay lip service to this, while maintaining the status quo.

Some have argued that this will lead to greater alienation, what has been called the "waning of the American Jewish love affair with Israel." But other outcomes are possible. The relationship between Israeli Reform leaders and those in the United States may become transformed, with the Israelis becoming spiritual mentors to the Americans. Alternatively, American Reform Jews may become further involved in pushing for political change in Israel, as an extension of their social justice advocacy.

If the Israeli Progressive movement could strengthen and acquire full civil and political status in Israel, this might have a tremendous positive impact on American Reform Judaism.

Obviously, Reform Jews in Israel are the only Reform Jews who speak Hebrew as their first language. They are the only ones completely immersed in a Jewish culture. They have other unique gifts. If the relationship can be transformed from a paternal assistance situation to a truly dual relationship of fully equal and thriving movements, there is the potential to reinvigorate the American Reform movement.

What is needed is a special shaliach program to bring young Israeli Progressive emissaries to American Reform congregations, rather than secular shaliachim who come to our communities primarily to encourage Israel advocacy. From what I see in my congregation in Mobile, Alabama, an energetic, charismatic emissary does generate excitement. But the impact is felt primarily in the area of interest in and support for the State of Israel.

Shaliachim with a different mandate could build interest in and commitment to Reform Judaism specifically, as well as build bridges to the Israeli Reform movement. In this way, Israel could truly become, as in Isaiah's words, a "light unto the nations."
This is Palestine aims to raise awareness of ongoing human rights abuses in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

After 50 years of Israels occupation of the West Bank and a decade of the blockade on Gaza, a new documentary tells the powerful stories of Palestinians living with these daily realities.

Award-winning producer and director John McColgan documented his journey through Palestine with Trocaire, an Irish human rights charity. This is Palestine aims to raise awareness of the human rights abuses that have been happening and are still happening in the West Bank and Gaza, McColgan told Al Jazeera, noting that he hopes his film will help to pressure the Irish government to recognise Palestine and encourage a peace process.

Many Palestinians in the occupied West Bank  especially those living in Area C, which is under full Israeli military control  live in constant fear of having their homes and communities demolished.

READ MORE: 1967 war  How Israel occupied the whole of Palestine

The documentary sheds light on life in Hebron, whose old city is under Israeli control. A military order closed all shops and businesses, and the daily life of the remaining Palestinian residents is made difficult through checkpoints, military raids and harassment by Israeli settlers.

I had done research in advance, but nothing prepares you for what you witness on the ground, McColgan said. I found Hebrons deserted old town an extraordinary encounter. I had never seen anything like it.

In Gaza, many Palestinians have lost family members to bombing raids and the 2014 war. The documentary allows them to describe their experiences, providing personal perspectives to give context to the larger picture of Israeli domination and control over Palestinian lives.

The film attempts to tell the story as honestly and balanced as possible within the context of the situation, McColgan said. The idea was born out of an art exhibition with the same name, in which McColgan and his brother photographed Palestinians living under occupation.

During 10 days of filming, McColgan and his brother interviewed Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and in the occupied West Bank. They also spoke with a former Israeli soldier, Yehuda Shaul, an advocate for Palestinians who founded an organisation called Breaking the Silence.

We also worked with Rabbi Arik Aschermann, who works for the Palestinian people in areas at risk of home demolitions, McColgan added. He supports Palestinians in court to prevent their homes from being demolished, and is frequently subjected to attacks and vilification.

In Gaza, the Palestinian struggle is depicted through the stories of farmers and fishermen who have difficulty making a living amid Israeli restrictions on the territory, as well as through the story of a childrens psychologist, who works with the children traumatised by years of conflict. The film also sheds light on residents of Hebrons old city and the Bedouins, who live under the constant threat of home demolitions.

INTERACTIVE: Bedouin communities in the occupied West Bank

I was really struck by the heroism, the dignity and the stoicism of the Palestinian people in telling their stories, McColgan said. It also struck me that the Palestinian women were very strong, eloquent and very dignified.

The documentary is available for streaming on Trocaires website, and McColgan said they were also encouraging schools and universities to screen it. This is Palestine will be entered in multiple film festivals, including human rights-themed festivals, and they are even discussing the possibility of a screening and art exhibition in Tel Aviv.

All of the people we met  were astonishing people in their patience, when telling their stories, and they deserve to be heard, McColgan said.








Tsagaandelger, Dundgovi Province, Mongolia  Nine-year-old Bujinlkham Damdinsuren sits surrounded by her sisters inside her familys ger  the round, felt-sided tent where nomadic Mongolian families live. I like to win, she says calmly of the 24-kilometre horse race in which she will compete the next day. The confident middle child in a family of three girls will be one of 50 competitors under the age of 12, and just three girls participating in the centuries-old, countrywide celebration known as Naadam, which includes archery and wrestling as well.

The whole family is inside the ger this morning. They live on the steppe of Dundgovi Province, 30km from the nearest town, surrounded by an arid landscape with views that go on for ever when not obscured by dust.

Bujinlkham with a heart-shaped face, wearing a sparkly Mickey Mouse shirt, plays a clapping game with her five-year-old sister Yanjinlkham, while her mother Muukhtsetseg rolls dough into discs, and her 15-year-old sister Namuunbaigal slices it into strips for fried noodles. Her father, Damdinsuren, wears a long burgundy tunic  called a deel  and weaves cowhide into a new whip for Bujinlkham.

Horses are pivotal in Mongolias nomadic culture. If we dont have horses, were not Mongols, explains Damdinsuren. Bujinlkham has been training every day for the past month, sprinting her horses in the arid landscape where temperatures range from 30 degrees Celsius to -30 degrees Celsius during the year.

We wish for her to come in the top five, says her father, looking up from weaving.

Mongol traditions

Bujinlkham and her sisters live in a country that has undergone rapid political, social and economic transformation since the peaceful 1990 democratic revolution in this former Soviet satellite state.

Yet cultural traditions remain strong. The families that remain out in the steppe maintain a nomadic lifestyle and their traditional values.

The girls and their father walk outside for Bujinlkhams final training ride. Damdinsuren lifts Bujinlkham into the saddle and she places her leather riding boots in the stirrups, singing softly. Bujinlkham rides as fast as she can through the steppe as her father and older sister trail behind on a motorcycle.

Training stops mid-afternoon. It is election day and Bujinlkhams parents must travel to the nearby town of Tsagaandelger to vote. Mongolia has been a democracy for little more than a quarter-century, and many Mongolians take their voting seriously, often dressing formally and travelling long distances to cast a ballot.

Muukhtsetseg puts on a pair of strappy black heels before tying an orange sash around her husbands waist, and the pair bow out through the ger door amid requests for ice-cream from Bujinlkham and Yanjinlkham.

Bujinlkham curls up on the couch and pouts, while taking a photo with her sisters iPhone. The three girls are close, despite spending little time together during the year. Because the nomadic families live in remote areas where there are no schools in proximity, many children are forced to travel away and live with relatives or in dormitories near schools.

Bujinlkham lives with her grandparents and attends school there in a nearby town, and Namuunbaigal lives with another relative near her school outside the capital, Ulaanbaatar. Only Yanjinlkham spends all the year with her parents.

Mongolia has nine years of mandatory education requirement, and in the 2014-15 school year net enrolment was 99.1 percent in primary school. More girls than boys are enrolled in school, yet rural students such as the Damdinsuren sisters can be at a disadvantage in gaining access to higher education, largely due to the cost of living and housing in Ulaanbaatar, where the bulk of higher education institutions are located. Namuunbaigal, who loves her high-school science classes, hopes she can gain university education and become a doctor one day.

The big day

On the morning of the race, Bujinlkham quickly eats a bowl of salty leftover fried noodles, mutton and fresh cows milk. She isnt nervous, but says she wishes there was an all-girls race.

The horses are boarded on to a truck and the family travels to Tsagaandelger, where the Naadam will be held. They arrive early, stopping at a relatives home. Bujinlkham quietly eats lunch, pulling cheek meat off of a leathery sheeps head sitting in the centre of the table, followed by dried cheese curds and milky tea.

A half-hour later Bujinlkham is on her horse, dressed in vivid yellow and ready to trot to the start line with the rest of the jockeys. The children line up before a steel gate. It drops, and the horses burst forward. Brothers and fathers run to their motorcycles and cars, accelerating to follow alongside the competitors during the 24km route.

Bujinlkham begins in last place. Her left hand grips the reins, while the right holds her new whip, arching overhead before each strike.

She sprints through the wall of dust kicked up ahead, and begins to pass riders until reaching the middle of the pack. She is alone for several kilometres in the open plain, until two boys quickly approach from behind. Bujinlkham nervously looks back at them and increases her pace, losing one and keeping the other at a safe distance.

She steadily holds her place in the middle of the pack, her tiny ponytail swaying. She crosses the finish line framed by spectators in pastel deels, coming in at 23rd place.

Bujinlkham stands dejected at the finish line beside her horse. She is disappointed with her performance. The family thinks an old leg injury on the horse may have affected the race. She doesnt linger long to speculate, hopping on the back of her older sisters motorcycle and speeding back to the relatives home to get changed.

A half-hour later she has calmed down, and she slowly dresses in the deel her mother sewed for her.

The family eats khuushuur  fried dough filled with mutton  and Bujinklham and her sisters run through the crowd, taking in the atmosphere of Naadam. Her mood lifts.

She admits she felt excited crossing the finish line, and wants to do even better next year. And when she returns to the start line in 2018, there may be four female competitors; five-year-old Yanjinlkham will work hard training this year to convince her parents she is also ready to race through the steppe atop one of the familys prized horses.

Photo Gallery:
Last week, thousands of people took to the streets in al-Hoceima in northern Morocco to demand the release of more than 200 activists jailed during demonstrations across the countrys Rif region over the past nine months.

The unrest dates back to October when fish vendor Mouhcine Fikri died in a rubbish compactor while trying to retrieve his wares, which had been confiscated by local police. His case set off a wave of public anger over the historical marginalisation of the people of Rif.

The protest movement, known as Hirak, focuses on the lack of infrastructure, hospitals, schools and employment opportunities in the region. Authorities have responded by making arrests in an effort to suppress the protests.
On Thursday, the US Congress passed a bill that in effect ranks Russia along with Iran and North Korea as US top enemy and limits President Donald Trumps ability to lift sanctions against Moscow. New tougher sanctions were also voted in. Some analysts have characterised this latest development as the return of the Cold War, while pro-Kremlin commentators have made analogies with the McCarthyism era  both are major exaggerations.

But the new legislation is important because it makes Russia again a formal enemy of the United States exactly 30 years after Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan signed a breakthrough treaty on eliminating short and medium-range nuclear missiles, putting an end to the arms race.





Russians themselves would be surprised to hear that their country has been recognised as an enemy only now. In the imaginary world which Russian state TV projects into the heads of Russian citizens, there have been two major world powers competing all along  America (and its submissive satellite  the EU) and Russia, which stepped back on its feet thanks to Vladimir Putin. If someone told Russians that up to 2016 the US and Western Europe did not even notice Russia, they would take this as an insult and refuse to believe it.

For a long time, this image of the world which Russian media was propagating was seriously schizophrenic. While TV channels were broadcasting vicious anti-West propaganda, Russia was participating in joint military exercises with NATO, was allowing the US to use its bases for the war in Afghanistan, was hosting the G8 summit in St Petersburg and was pursuing WTO membership. But gradually the imaginary world in Russian domestic propaganda started becoming reality  Russia started sinking deeper and deeper into economic and political isolation, and eventually, the West came to consider it a threat again. It is a bit like the plot of the film Wag the Dog, in which a war in Albania made up to save a failing presidency in the US turns into a real one.

But while in Russia, reality and a media-crafted image of the world are gradually converging, in the West they are diverging. In the US and Europe, it seems, they indeed believe that Russia must be addressed as a serious threat, like the USSR in the past. But is Russia really a threat to the West?

As outrageous as Russia's attempts to interfere in US elections may be, they had very little effect. What is worrying about the 2016 US election is not external interference, but the fact that millions of American citizens blindly accepted Trump's primitive populist slogans. by

Any comparison between Russia and the USSR today is comical. The Soviet Union was a poor country, but it regardless was the leader of the socialist camp. USSR satellites and allies made up half of the world. Today, Russias GDP makes up only 1.5 percent of the worlds and its allies number exactly 10 countries (as per the vote on the UN resolution on the annexation of Crimea). Two of those are former Soviet countries (Armenia and Belarus) and the remaining eight are Bolivia, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Syria and Sudan. The one thing the 10 have in common is massive poverty and internal instability problems.

Russia is behaving, like before, more aggressively on the international scene. But the influence of a country is measured in its ability to achieve its political goals. And what has Russia achieved in recent times?

Lets take for example the cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns supposedly organised by the Kremlin. The fingerprints of hackers linked to GRU, the Russian military intelligence directorate, were found in the attack on French President Emmanuel Macrons email and in the attempt to break into voting machines in the US. The same hackers are also accused of attempts of breaking into government servers or other major political institutions in almost all other European countries. It is also known that these hackers have been engaging with the Kremlins troll factories which spread disinformation on social media networks. But is there any evidence that these cyber campaigns have any effect?

A typical example is the elections in France. Hackers successfully broke into Macrons email and trolls actively spread fake evidence of offshore accounts, while his opponent Marine Le Pen was backed by Russia. And how much did this help her?

READ MORE: Russia  a resurgent superpower?

In the US, they are still complaining about Russias intervention in their elections. Russia, of course, tried to intervene, but all fake news that was spread in the US before the elections (such as Pizzagate and the story of Hillary Clintons sickness) were made up by US conspiracy theorists who didnt need any support from the Kremlin to spread them. Hackers could not really take control of voting machines on a large scale. And as for the meetings of Donald Trumps election campaign staff with suspicious Kremlin-linked individuals, did they actually help him? Even if Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya passed on any information on Hillary Clinton allegedly receiving illegal donations for her campaign, it clearly did not amount to much, or else Trump would have used it as a kompromat.





As outrageous as Russias attempts to interfere in US elections may be, they had very little effect. What is worrying about the 2016 US election is not external interference, but the fact that millions of American citizens blindly accepted Trumps primitive populist slogans.

In the end, did Russia benefit in any way from Donald Trumps victory? Clearly, relations have deteriorated even further and Russia has received no dividends out of its interventions in Ukraine and Syria. In fact, sanctions are getting worse.

It is the same situation with many other countries where Russia tried to interfere with domestic politics. In Central and Eastern Europe, and in the Balkans, Russia is actively sponsoring far-right parties. But despite these financial transactions, Russia has not gained popular approval in any of these regions. In Montenegro, GRU tried to organise a coup so it stops the countrys accession to NATO. The coup failed and in fact strengthened pro-NATO attitudes among Montenegrins. Their parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of NATO membership.

Vladimir Putin might be very happy about appearing on the covers of international magazines more often than The Beatles at the peak of their career, but we have to admit that he doesnt really deserve all that attention. Russia will not be a real threat to the West as long as all of its institutions (including military and intelligence) are corrupt to the core, as long as their employees are buying villas in Biarritz and sending their children to British and US universities, and as long as its economy depends on its oil and gas being sold to Europe.

Actually, Russia gets to understand the extent of its dependence on the West very soon, when Trump signs Congress bill into law and the new sanctions hit Russian energy companies and their projects in Europe. It is quite ironic that Trump is in a way forced to sign this bill very much because of the growing accusations of collusion with Russia.

By forcing the West to believe that it constitutes a real threat, Russia, in the end, might face a very real response. And that the Kremlin will not enjoy.

Roman Dobrokhotov is a Moscow-based journalist and civil activist. He is the editor-in-chief of The Insider.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
In April the Dutch public broadcasting agency NOS published a story on Uganda the refugee paradise. The article was titiled: Welcome refugee! Uganda welcomes you with open arms! A South Sudanese colleague frowned after reading the translated article. How can they see this as paradise? he asked. Dont they know that people who are here are the ones who are not able to go somewhere else? Live in the city, or perhaps another country? There is no such thing as a paradise here.

Ugandas refugee policy has received much media coverage in recent months. The country is currently hosting around 1.2 million refugees from neighbouring South Sudan, which is involved in a brutal, and endless, civil war. While a number of critical articles were also published on the difficulties that South Sudanese refugees have been facing, most of the coverage has focused on Ugandas hospitality. The range of superlatives used to describe the openness of both the government and the population of Uganda was especially eye-catching. Articles were, for example, titled Ugandas example to the world, Uganda may be best place in the world to be a refugee, Ugandas lesson in how to treat refugees and so on.

This euphoric coverage obscures a not-so-paradise-like reality. It serves a range of political agendas but it does not help the refugees situation.





Ugandas refugee policy is indeed progressive and open, and the countrys attitude may be remarkable in light of the high degree of resistance that refugees experience in other parts of the world today.

In Uganda, refugees are given small plots of land on which to build houses and cultivate crops, and they are allowed to work and move freely within the country. Because of this basic premise, Ugandas refugee policy has been lauded as one of the most progressive in the world. But what happens in reality is not as exemplary as has been reported in the media.

The north of Uganda, where most settlements for South Sudanese refugees are based, is characterised by structural underdevelopment and poverty. As a result, the presence of refugees, and the humanitarian aid which comes with it, leads in a number of areas to serious tensions.

Incidents have been reported in which refugees were attacked by the local population, for example when collecting firewood. Locals have disguised themselves as refugees to access the relief aid, which is considered an illegal and criminal activity. Incidents have also been reported in which refugees were allowed to rent or use land for cultivation, but were forced to give it back to the host community when the yield was ready. In urban areas, clashes have emerged in a university between refugee students and local students. A

necdotal, for sure  but so are many of the success stories which appeared in the press in recent months. In Lamwo, one of the districts currently receiving new arrivals, the local population has tried to stop the relocation of refugees on its land. This region has an exceptionally high unemployment rate and the governments decision to allow refugees to gain lawful employment has led to the fear that the refugees will take away the scarce jobs.

OPINION: The world has abandoned South Sudanese refugees

So, why is the media insisting on presenting Uganda as a success story?

First, this narrative is politically useful for different groups in Western countries. On the one hand, it allows Western governments to push forward with the externalisation of their asylum policy. For example, the EUs emergency trust fund for Africa is already aiming to externalise the blocs asylum policy and to tackle migration at the roots.

Ugandas success story allows it to show that African countries are also able to host refugees, which in turn supports European efforts to withhold migrants and refugees before they reach EU borders. On the other hand, this positive narrative strengthens the hands of people pushing for a more liberal and open refugee policy in the West: Look, if this poor country in Africa can host all these refugees, we should certainly do it!

Such one-sided success stories, depicting Uganda's refugee policy as an example to the world, hamper a critical questioning and a debate about durable solutions for the fundamental problems South Sudanese refugees are facing. by

Second, the story also comes in handy for Uganda. At best, the country can be described as a hybrid democratic regime. This success story allows it to deflect attention from its semi-authoritarian tendencies, as shown in the regimes recent efforts to abolish presidential term limits (effectively allowing a presidency for life), or neglect the international call for an independent investigation into the armys behaviour in a conflict in Western Uganda. Equally, the narrative on its hospitality allows Uganda to crucially deflect attention from its involvement in the South Sudanese conflict and particularly its support for Salva Kiir.

Third, the Ugandan success story is crucial for NGOs and humanitarian aid agencies. They use stories like this one to raise much-needed funds for the victims of the South Sudanese crisis.

All these hidden interests naturally make it difficult for journalists to tell a nuanced story about refugee experiences in Uganda. But, the way journalists obtain stories about Ugandas refugee policy is also part of the problem.

Much of the reporting on this issue is done through press trips organised by embassies or humanitarian organisations. This kind of hit-and-run journalism consists of a number of pre-arranged field visits and interviews, highlighting the positive work of the organisation and Ugandas refugee policy.

So, presenting Ugandas refugee policy as a success story benefits all actors concerned and makes journalists jobs a lot easier. But how is this narrative affecting the refugees?

It is true that Uganda and the humanitarian organisations working in the region are making an enormous effort to host the refugees. But they are not offering long-term solutions and the refugees future in Uganda is still in question. The humanitarian agencies will eventually scale down their efforts and leave, and the refugees wont be able to survive solely by cultivating the small plots of land given to them by the government. These lands are too small to provide a decent living and the local population still officially owns them. As a result, refugees are constantly feeling uncertain about their future in the country for good reason.

Such one-sided success stories, depicting Ugandas refugee policy as an example to the world, hamper a critical questioning and a debate about durable solutions for the fundamental problems that South Sudanese refugees are facing. Also, such rosy presentations may be particularly offensive for the people whose harsh reality is buried under superlatives. So maybe instead of praising Uganda it is time to ask questions: Why is Ugandas refugee policy so progressive? Who wins, and who loses? And what does this refugee policy mean in practice, in the experiences of the refugees and host communities who are subject to it?

Julie Schiltz is a PhD student at the department of Special Needs Education of Ghent University and has been conducting ethnographic research among South Sudanese refugee youth in Northern Uganda for more than two years.

Kristof Titeca is a lecturer at the Institute of Development Policy at the University of Antwerp, who has been conducting extensive research in Northern Uganda.
Afghan security forces have recaptured a district in central Afghanistan that had fallen to the Taliban five days ago, officials said.





After several hours of heavy gunfight, Afghan security forces managed to take control of Taywara district centre in Ghor province on Friday morning, the spokesman for the Ghor provincial governor, Abdulhai Khatibi, told dpa, adding that the operation had started early on Thursday morning.

Confirming the recapture, a military spokesman, Abdul Basir Ghori, said that, with the help of the air force, Afghan security forces inflicted heavy casualties on the fighters, with 59 of them killed and dozens of others injured.

At the moment there is no information on civilian and Afghan force casualties, Ghori added.

The warring parties in Afghanistan often distort casualty figures.

According to Ghori, the search and clearance operation was continuing in the surrounding areas, and there was a gunfight.

Taliban insurgents have burned all the buildings of government institutions, including a health clinic, during the past four days when they were controlling the district centre, Ghori said.

Taywara had fallen to the Taliban on Sunday after several days of fierce clashes with government forces.

The central province of Ghor shares borders with two insecure provinces, Farah in the northwest and Helmand in the south, both of which are known as strongholds for Taliban fighters.

Increasing attacks

In recent days, the Taliban have been increasing their attacks on districts across the country.

On Tuesday, they took control of Jani Khel in south-eastern Paktia province.

Fighting also broke out in Kunduz and Baghlan provinces in Afghanistans north, Badakhshan in the north-east, Ghor in the centre and Helmand and Kandahar in the south.

On Tuesday night, at least 26 Afghan army soldiers were killed and 13 injured in a Taliban attack on an army base in southern Kandahar province.

READ MORE: Afghan refugees return home amid Pakistan crackdown

There has been a surge in fighting in several northern and southern Afghan provinces in recent days, including in Helmand in the south.

There, amid the fighting, a US air raid last Friday killed at least 16 Afghan police officers in friendly fire.

Afghan troops and police are battling largely alone on the ground against anti-government forces, after US-led foreign forces withdrew from most combat operations in December 2014.

The US is actively considering sending more troops to Afghanistan and US commanders there have requested thousands of extra soldiers on the ground.

The US contingent now numbers about 8,400, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago. They mainly serve as trainers and advisers.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2016 were the highest recorded by the United Nations, with nearly 11,500 non-combatants  a third of them children  killed or wounded.
Rights groups slam US presidents call on police to abandon procedure when throwing thugs into back of a paddy wagon.

Human rights campaigners, activists and police have raised concern over Donald Trumps apparent endorsement of police brutality, at a time when officers in the United States are under scrutiny for their use of excessive force.

The president on Friday advocated rougher treatment of people in custody while delivering a speech on gang violence and illegal immigration.

Trump told police officers from the Suffolk County Police department in New York on Friday to not be too nice when dealing with suspects.

He said his administration was targeting gang members, but wed like to get them out a lot faster.

Please dont be too nice, he said, advising officers to use force when guiding thugs into the back of a paddy wagon.

OPINION: Who are the US police really protecting?

Trump then spoke dismissively of the practice by which arresting officers shield the heads of handcuffed suspects as they are placed in police cars.

You could take the hand away, he said to an audience of federal and law enforcement personnel from the New York-New Jersey area, many of whom applauded Trumps remarks.

But the Suffolk County Police Department distanced itself from the president hours after his speech.

In a statement, the department said that it has strict rules and procedures about how prisoners should be handled.

Violations of those rules and procedures are treated extremely seriously. As a department, we do not and will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners, the statement said.

READ MORE: Philando Castile killing  Police video sparks outrage

Barbara Arnwine, president of the Transformative Justice Coalition, a Washington, DC-based civil liberties group, said Trumps remarks will encourage bad cops and bad police divisions to get involved in roughing up suspects.

I think he is doing our nation a disservice by encouraging police departments to engage in unlawful, unconstitutional behaviour, she told Al Jazeera. He is actually placing peoples lives in danger.

Arnwine explained that in the moment someone is arrested, there are no formal charges or convictions against them.

When a police officer takes someone into custody, you have no idea if they are guilty or not and it is illegal and unlawful for police officers to try to administer punishment when there have been no formal charges filed, no conviction, no sentencing, she said. A punishment is specified by courts, not by police.

Police killings

US police killed more than 1,000 people last year, almost 300 of whom were black, according to The Counted, a tracker by The Guardian.

Another monitor, Mapping Police Violence, claims that police have killed at least 160 black people so far this year.

The April 12, 2016, death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American man, was one of the cases that led to widespread protests last year.

Gray had been in police custody for allegedly carrying a switchblade in the US city of Baltimore.





He suffered a severe neck injury after his arrest, apparently while being transported in the back of a police van.

He complained about breathing difficulties, fell into a coma, and died one week later.

Arnwine said by not securing people in police custody, there could be more deaths like Grays.

What the president is advocating would lead to more deaths, more illegal police behaviour, police brutality, she said.

Rights groups American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also condemned Trumps speech.

By encouraging police to dole out extra pain at will, the president is urging a kind of lawlessness that already imperils the health and lives of people of colour at shameful rates, said Jeffery Robinson, ACLUs deputy legal director.

Many took to social media to express their anger:

This is vile, and shame on every officer who cheered and whooped. https://t.co/j4YwKDaFiq  Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 28, 2017

I'm a cop. I do not agree with or condone @POTUS remarks today on police brutality. Those that applauded and cheered should be ashamed.  Ben Tobias (@GPDBenTobias) July 28, 2017

#Trump encouraged NYC police to be more violent. Wow..we must hold him accountable for these crazy remarks. @rollcall @Pontifex @ACLU  Cape47 (@Cape471) July 29, 2017

Trump's promotion of police brutality is one of the most harrowing assaults on our democracy. It brings us closer to being a police state.  Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 29, 2017

Trump encouraging police brutality in his Brentwood vaudeville act is why some folks hate & mistrust cops. This helps no one/solves nothing.  Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) July 28, 2017

The 700th person was just killed by American police in 2017. This year is on pace to be the deadliest year ever measured for police violence  Shaun King (@shaunking) July 28, 2017

Also the president just gave a speech to police encouraging brutality that was met with laughter and rousing applause. https://t.co/PCaOJYNv8h  Elad Nehorai (@PopChassid) July 28, 2017
White House says Trump to back fresh sanctions against Russia after politicians throw support behind punishing measures.

US President Donald Trump approves of a bill imposing fresh sanctions on Russia and is ready to sign, the White House said.

Trumps willingness to support the measure is an acknowledgement that he has yet to sell his party on his hopes for forging a warmer relationship with Moscow.

In a statement late on Friday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it.

Trumps decision followed negotiations on critical elements of the bill, Sanders said, without specifying what those elements were.

READ MORE: Russia  A resurgent superpower?

Moscow has already retaliated, ordering the United States to cut hundreds of diplomatic staff and closing the US embassys recreation retreat.

The bill passed Congress with overwhelming support on Thursday, dashing Trumps stated hopes for warmer ties with Russia.

The proposal was in part a response to claims by US intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election, and to further punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

It bars Trump from easing sanctions against Russia unless he seeks congressional approval.

Strong bipartisan support

Trump had privately expressed frustration over Congress ability to limit or override the power of the president on national security matters, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing anonymous Trump administration officials.

But faced with strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate, the president had little choice but to sign the bill into law.

Still, approving a bill that penalises Russias alleged election interference marks a significant shift for Trump.

He has repeatedly cast doubt on claims that Russia sought to tip the election in his favour.

The 184-page bill seeks to hit Russian President Vladimir Putin and the oligarchs close to him by targeting Russian corruption, human rights abusers, and crucial sectors of the Russian economy, including weapons sales and energy exports.

It also imposes financial sanctions against Iran and North Korea.

Meanwhile, some European countries expressed concerns that the measures targeting Russias energy sector would harm its businesses involved in piping Russian natural gas.

Germanys foreign minister said his country would not accept the US sanctions against Russia being applied to European companies.

A European Commission spokesman in Brussels said the bloc would be following the sanctions process closely.
Thousands attend noon prayers after two weeks of protests over Israeli-imposed restrictions on entering the compound.

Occupied East Jerusalem  Thousands of Palestinians attended noon prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Saturday, following two weeks of protests over surveillance equipment and other obstacles to free movement at the entrances and gates of the compound.

The compound was opened to worshippers of all ages, a day after Israel temporarily restricted men under the age of 50 from entering the holy site.





For Saturday, this is a high turnout, but al-Aqsa needs the support of all Muslims, Nabil Dumeiri, a resident of occupied East Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera.

We owe this to the people [Palestinians] of Jerusalem, to the field and to the supporters who came from nearby areas  the Israeli police have backed down and removed the metal gates in order to absorb the anger, he added.

Dumeiri was referring to Israels decisions to remove newly installed surveillance cameras and metal detectors from the entrances of the compound.

The Israeli restrictions were implemented nearly two weeks earlier after three Palestinians, citizens of Israel, shot and killed two Israeli policemen outside the compound on July 14.

The Palestinians responsible for the attack were chased inside the compound and shot dead.

The compound was closed for two days and reopened with the addition of newly installed metal detectors, angering Palestinians who feared Israel was attempting to alter the status quo and take full control of the holy site.

READ MORE: Has Israels security apparatus failed?

Surveillance cameras were also eventually added to the gates of the holy site.

Palestinians vowed to protest and pray outside al-Aqsa until the metal detectors and other surveillance equipment were removed.

1,300 injured

Over the course of two weeks, Israeli forces often met protesters with rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades. In some areas, live rounds were also used, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

At least six Palestinians were killed during the two weeks of protests across occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and at least four were killed in alleged attacks on Israeli forces.

According to the Red Crescent, more than 1,300 Palestinians have been injured during demonstrations since July 14.

Nearly 500 of the injuries took place in East Jerusalem alone.

Three Israeli settlers were killed last Friday when a 20-year-old Palestinian assailant jumped the fence of the Halamish settlement in the occupied West Bank and stabbed four members of a family.

Many of the Palestinian injuries took place last Thursday when religious leaders announced that worshippers should re-enter the al-Aqsa compound.

Ahmad Abu Saloum, a Palestinian artist from occupied East Jerusalem, was in Baba al-Huta  a neighbourhood in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalems old city  when he spotted a woman with her child on the ground.

Abu Saloum said that moments earlier, Israeli police fired stun grenades of people who crowded at the Baba Huta entrance, trying to get into the al-Aqsa compound after the police had reluctantly reopened the gate.

She was in danger of being trampled by large crowds  I barely lifted her off the ground when I felt a blow in my face and blood started gushing from my nose, Abu Saloum told Al Jazeera.

OPINION  Al-Aqsa: One encroachment too many?

The 65-year-old, who said he had been hit with a stun grenade, was taken to Lions Gate, but police would not let him through. He was then taken to Herods Gate where an ambulance was waiting for him.

Abu Saloums suffered a broken nose and said he will need an operation soon.

Despite his injuries, the East Jerusalem resident was able to go to al-Aqsa for prayers on Friday.

Israel had initially barred men under the age of 50 from entering the al-Aqsa compound on Friday, but later lifted the restriction, resulting in thousands of Palestinians re-entering the holy site.

I have never seen anything like it, he said. It is like a bright day in the gloomy skies of the Arab world.

Israels attempt to suppress the truth

During the nearly two weeks of protests, more than 300 Palestinians were arrested, according to Amjad Abu Asab of the Prisoners Society Club.

Israeli police told Al Jazeera that it doesnt have any immediate information regarding the arrests in East Jerusalem.





Abu Asab, himself, was briefly detained last Friday and later released.

He told Al Jazeera he was barred from entering Jerusalems Old City, including the al-Aqsa compound for 15 days.

Since the crisis, Israeli police have barred people in three ways from the city, Abu Asab said.

Some were barred from residing in Jerusalem altogether, others were barred from the Old City, and others were barred from al-Aqsa, he added.

Among those banned from the city of Jerusalem was Adnan Gheith, a resident of East Jerusalem who is currently living in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Gheith and other activists from the Fatah party were detained by Israeli police last Friday.

I have been expelled from the city for 10 days, Gheith told Al Jazeera.

This is not the first time. I was ordered out in 2012 for a whole year, he added.

This is an attempt to suppress the truth and break the will of the Palestinian people.

Eighteen-year-old Mutaz Saeeda was also detained in the Wadi Joz neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem.

His father, Wael, told Al Jazeera that Israeli police beat his son before dragging him to Lions Gate in the Old City.

The elder Saeeda said his son is expected to appear in front of a judge on Sunday, adding that he has not been charged yet.

The al-Aqsa compound is known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

It is Islams third holiest site after Mecca and Medina, as well as what is believed to be the ruins of the Biblical Jewish Temple.

Questions over control of the compound have often led to outbursts of fighting.
Poland protests against European Commissions interference saying EUs fears about its court reform are unfounded.

The European Union has announced it had launched legal action against Polands right-wing government over a new law that allows the justice minister to unilaterally replace the chief justices of common courts.

The move came on Saturday, a day after Poland published the law following the approval by the countrys President Andrzej Duda despite mass protests staged in the country against the legislation.

The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland by sending a letter of formal notice, the EUs powerful executive said.

The EU statement said Warsaw had one month to reply to the Commission letter, which raises concerns that [] the independence of Polish courts will be undermined.

The action eventually could lead to Poland being hauled before the blocs highest court, the European Court of Justice, and possibly fined.

The Commission has also warned of even tougher measures if the governing Law and Justice Party (PiS), which has raised EU concerns since winning the Polish elections in late 2015, forges ahead with deeper court reforms.

READ MORE: Poland is turning authoritarian

In Warsaw, Dudas chief of staff Krzysztof Szczerski warned on Saturday that the Commission had entered a path that leads nowhere, saying organisation of the courts was the sovereign preserve of member states.

At a certain point, a reversal will be obligatory for the Commission, which will face increasingly high costs each step it takes, Szczerski told PAP news agency.

Polands deputy foreign minister for European affairs, Konrad Szymanski, said the new law carried proper guarantees and the EU action was unfounded.

Dudas vetoes

Two other controversial reform bills approved by the parliament were vetoed by Duda.

One of them would have reinforced political control over the Supreme Court, the other would allow parliament to choose members of a body designed to protect the independence of the courts.

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo has vowed to push ahead with all the reforms despite Dudas vetoes.

European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans on Wednesday warned the commission is ready to immediately trigger the Article 7 procedure if Supreme Court justices are sacked.

Article 7 is a never-before-used EU process designed to uphold the rule of law, a so-called nuclear option that can freeze a countrys right to vote in meetings of EU ministers.

The chances are slim that its voting rights could actually be suspended. Populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has vowed he would instantly veto any such move by the EU.
William Ruto was not at home during the machete attack that left a policeman seriously injured, security sources say.

A man armed with a machete attacked the country home of Kenyas deputy president and injured a guard before holing himself up in an outbuilding, police said on Saturday, 10 days before presidential and legislative elections.

Deputy President William Ruto was out with his family at the time of the attack in the town of Eldoret, about 312km northwest of the capital Nairobi.





Ruto is the running mate of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is seeking a second and final term in office in the August 8 elections.

In circumstances that are yet unclear, he hit an officer on duty  with a machete and managed to enter a farm complex, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said in a statement, adding that officers were still trying to arrest the assailant.

The injured officer is undergoing treatment and is in a stable condition, Boinnet said, adding that Rutos house was secure.

Other officers were quickly mobilised and the intruder was forced to hide at a building that is still under construction next to the gate, Boinnet said.

Local television stations had reported earlier that gunmen were behind the attack on Rutos home, with NTV News and KTN News reporting that gunshots were heard at the scene.

Typically, the deputy presidents residence is guarded by an elite paramilitary police unit.

INTERACTIVE: How do the Kenyan elections work?

A spokesman for Ruto declined to comment but the security official said the vice president had left the house shortly before the attack to attend a rally alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta, his running mate who faces a tight re-election contest on August 8 against longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Rutos home sits in Kenyas western Rift Valley area, the flashpoint for an outbreak of election violence after the disputed 2007 polls that killed 1,100 people and tarnished Kenyas image as a regional beacon of safety and stability.

According to opinion polls, this years election will be close and tensions have been rising.

Odinga has repeatedly claimed the government is scheming to steal the election, while Kenyatta has accused Odinga of trying to delay the polls.

Threats and voter intimidation

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said it had received reports of threats and voter intimidation in Naivasha, a flashpoint town in 2007 and one of the potential hotspots in this years election.

In the Rift Valley, hate speech flyers have been circulating and some local residents have already left their homes.

The 2007 bloodshed haunted both Ruto and Kenyatta long after it ended, when the International Criminal Court put both on trial for orchestrating the violence.

Those charges were later dropped, with ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda blaming a relentless campaign of victim intimidation for making a trial impossible.
Tehran remains defiant as it seeks an appropriate reaction to US sanctions against Irans ballistic missile tests.

Iran has vowed to press ahead with its missile programme, denouncing new US sanctions as an effort to weaken the nuclear deal.

Bahram Ghasemi, Irans foreign ministry spokesman, said on Saturday Tehran considers the US move as hostile, reprehensible and unacceptable.

Its ultimately an effort to weaken the nuclear deal, he said, referring to the 2015 agreement between Iran and US-led world powers that lifted some sanctions on Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

We will continue with full power our missile programme, he said. The military and missile fields [] are our domestic policies and others have no right to intervene or comment on them.

Iranian state TV reported on Saturday that the countrys parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy held an urgent meeting to review its response to a package of sanctions approved by the US Senate.

It is imperative that we show an appropriate reaction in light of such hostile and vicious actions taken by the United States, Abbas Araghchi, Irans deputy minister and senior Iranian negotiator, told reporters.

READ MORE: Iran, US trade blame over naval incident

The US legislation imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Irans ballistic missile programme and anyone who does business with them.

It would also apply terrorism sanctions to Irans prestigious Revolutionary Guard and enforce an arms embargo.

The bill was passed by the US Senate on Thursday, two days after being approved by the House of Representatives. It is due to be signed by President Donald Trump.

Separately, Washington imposed new sanctions on Friday, targeting Irans missile programme, one day after Tehran tested a satellite-launch rocket.

Iranian state television broadcast footage of the launch from the Imam Khomeini space centre in the eastern province of Semnan.

The launch vehicle was capable of propelling a satellite weighing 250kg into orbit at an altitude of 500km, it said.

Destabilising action

Western governments suspect Iran of trying to develop the technology for longer-range missiles with conventional or nuclear payloads, a charge denied by Tehran, which insists its space programme has purely peaceful aims.

In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany and the United States condemned Tehrans destabilising action, saying the test violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the nuclear deal.

We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities, they said.

Resolution 2231 called on Iran not to test ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, and an arms embargo has remained in place.

Iran says it has proven its compliance with the nuclear deal as repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
US fires warning flares at unresponsive Iranian vessels in an incident that Iran says was unprovoked.

Iran and the United States have accused each others naval forces of provocative manoeuvres in the Gulf that culminated in a US helicopter firing warning flares at Iranian vessels.

Irans Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by local media on Saturday that the USS Nimitz, accompanied by another US warship and a helicopter, on Friday afternoon behaved in an unprofessional and provocative way while being monitored by the Guards frigates.

The statement said the unprovoked incident took place near Irans Resalat oil and gas platform in the Gulf.

The Guards ignored the unconventional move by the US ships and continued their mission, after which the supercarrier and its warship left the area, the statement added.

Later on Saturday, the US Navy said in a statement its ships were on a routine patrol when an American helicopter observed several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval vessels approaching US naval forces at a high rate of speed.

US naval forces attempted to establish communications, with no response from the Iranian vessels, it added. Shortly thereafter, at a safe distance, the US helicopter deployed flares, after which the Iranian vessels halted their approach.

READ MORE: US navy fires warning shots near Iranian ship

The incident came after a US Navy patrol boat fired warning shots on Tuesday near an Iranian vessel that American sailors said came dangerously close to them during a tense encounter.

The Iranian vessels actions were not in accordance with the internationally recognised rules of the road nor internationally recognised maritime customs, creating a risk for collision, the US Navy said, referring to Tuesdays incident.

Frequent occurrence

Such incidents between the Revolutionary Guards and the US Navy are frequent. The Pentagon reported 35 similar cases last year and 23 in 2015.

The Revolutionary Guard is a separate force from Irans military and it answers only to the countrys supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iranian forces view the US presence in the Gulf as a provocation. They have accused the US Navy of unprofessional behaviour, especially in the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the Gulf through which a third of all oil trade passes by sea.

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since 1979 when Iranian militant students stormed the US embassy and took 52 American hostages for 444 days.
Fighters hold assembly members at gunpoint, demanding they back down from a recently approved draft constitution.

Fighters aligned with Khalifa Haftar, the military general based in the remote east of Libya, have stormed the headquarters of the constitution drafting assembly in the city of al-Bayda.

They held assembly members at gunpoint and demanded they back down from a recently approved draft constitution.

It is unclear whether the fighters are still in the assembly.

The draft calls for a presidential and general election no more than 180 days from the passing of a constitution.

It is understood that the draft bans Haftar from running as president.

READ MORE  Libya: Will losing oil ports end Haftars power?

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya expressed concern over the reports of attack.

Disturbed by reports of attacks on the constitutional drafting assembly (CDA) HQ in Bayda, Libya, the mission tweeted on Saturday.

It added that as an independent elected body, the CDA must be allowed to work without intimidation or interference.

The incident comes after Prime Minister Fayez Serraj and Haftar agreed to a nationwide ceasefire on Tuesday during talks in Paris hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.

We commit to a ceasefire and to refrain from any use of armed force for any purpose that does not strictly constitute counterterrorism, Serraj and Haftar said in a joint declaration.

READ MORE: Haftars forces declare victory in battle for Benghazi

The joint declaration also said the two main rivals will work on holding early presidential and parliamentary elections.

Shortly after the ceasefire announcement, Hafter told Saudi daily Al Awsat News that not everything in the Paris agreement can be implemented.

Tuesdays meeting was the first between the Libyan factions since exploratory talks hosted by the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi in early May.

Libya has been locked in a state of violence and turmoil since 2011, when a bloody popular uprising ended with the overthrow and death of former President Muammar Gaddafi.

The country has splintered into rival political and armed groups, with the factions backing opposing governments and parliaments in the east and the west.
Thousands demand freedom for Liu Xia, who is under effective house arrest and whose location has been unknown for weeks.

A petition urging China to free late Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobos wife has gathered more than 60,000 signatures online, Amnesty International has said.

Liu Xia, 56, was with Liu Xiaobo when he died of cancer at a hospital in northeastern China earlier this month. He was serving an 11-year sentence on subversion charges at the time of his death.

Liu Xias current location is unknown and her Beijing apartment remains tightly guarded.

Activists feared she may have been forcibly disappeared.

Liu Xia did not commit any offence, Patrick Poon, Amnesty Internationals China researcher, told Al Jazeera.

Its illegal for the Chinese government to restrict her freedom, and we urge the authorities to lift all restrictions on Liu Xia and let her go anywhere she wishes.

Amnestys petition urges the Chinese government to end the illegal house arrest and surveillance of Liu Xia, stop her harassment and allow her to travel freely.

READ MORE: Is China afraid of Liu Xiaobos legacy?

Liu Xiaobo, a prominent dissident since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, leaves behind a powerful legacy that inspires others to continue the struggle for human rights in China, Amnesty said.

Our greatest tribute to him will be to ensure that Liu Xia is free to do the same, the rights group added.

Liu Xia, a poet who stayed out of politics, has been under effective house arrest since her husband won his Nobel in 2010.

She was never charged with an offence, but was kept guarded and largely isolated for more than seven years in the apartment she once shared with her husband.





She was last seen in an official photo taken on July 15, in which she and a few relatives lowered an urn containing Liu Xiaobos ashes into the Pacific Ocean near Dalian, a city in northeast China.

Only sustained international pressure can help Liu Xia, Poon said.

Human Rights Watch said the widows friends and relatives in Beijing have not been able to reach her directly.

A German embassy source in Beijing told the Reuters news agency on Friday that Germany was deeply concerned about Chinas apparent unwillingness to discuss lifting restrictions on Liu Xia.

A number of ambassadors have repeatedly asked for a meeting with Chinese security organs  so far to no avail, said the source, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The United Nations, United States, European Union and other foreign governments and groups have urged China to lift restrictions on Liu Xias movements.

But China has lambasted calls for her release, saying it was an internal matter.

Meanwhile, Liu Xiaobos supporters have also been prevented from holding commemorative activities.

At least six people were detained in the Chinese city of Jiangmen after they held a memorial for him on July 19, according to the Hong Kong Free Press.

In the days following his death, authorities in mainland China rigorously censored references to Liu Xiaobo on Chinas internet, with reports that social media posts containing candle emojis and the letters RIP were censored for violating relevant laws and regulations.








Anger spills into the streets after 20-year-old Rashan Charles, a black father, died having been forcefully pinned down.

Protesters angry over the death of a young black father after he was restrained by an officer have faced off with riot police in east London.

Clashes erupted on the streets of Hackney late on Friday, as police on horseback armed with batons tried to disperse the protesters, some of whom held Black Lives Matter placards.

Authorities are investigating the events that preceded the death of 20-year-old Rashan Charles.

He died in a London hospital on July 22, shortly after he was tackled to the floor and apprehended by a white officer in a small grocery shop.

A member of the public joined that officer in forcefully pinning Charles to the floor.

https://twitter.com/FatalityKorzz/status/888882404215205888

The moment Charles was restrained was caught on CCTV camera and has been shared widely on social media.

Fridays clashes were reminiscent of an uprising in England in 2011, which saw public anger explode on the streets following the death of a British black man, Mark Duggan, at the hands of police.

Protesters lit mattresses on fire and smashed shopfronts of some local businesses. Some threw bottles at police.

A police spokeswoman said she could not immediately confirm the number of arrests.

Meanwhile, Charles family has set up a GoFundMe page that has so far collected more than $1,700, all of which is going towards funeral costs.

The family are in need of practical support in order to bury their loved one and pay the costs that they need in order to get #Justice4Rash, their son, for the brutal and unjust way he was slain, the fundraiser page says.

In a Facebook page managed by the family, Justice For Rashan, relatives called for calm.

Be assured we are determined to get answers as to how and why this fatality happened, a statement posted on Thursday read. We will use every lawful method available to achieve these ends.

#Justice4Rash

Following Charles death, besides street protests, anger has erupted on social media with many demanding action from authorities.

Twitter hashtags #Justiceforrash and #blacklivesmatter have been trending, with pictures and videos of the protests, as well as tributes for the young victim.

But some backed the polices version of events that Charles died after the officer in the video fought to stop him from swallowing an object.

https://twitter.com/baileyandme_/status/889076594589007872

1. ITS BEEN ON THE NEWS

2. HE SWALLOWED EVIDENCE & CHOKED ON IT

3. POLICE TRIED TO STOP HIM

4. POLICE TRIED TO SAVE HIM

END #JusticeForRash   #ProtectThoseCloseFromCovid (@ShaGGy_Uk) July 23, 2017

The government-funded Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it would investigate the case thoroughly and rigorously.

We will independently examine the circumstances of this incident, we will follow the evidence, we will consider whether there is an indication there may have been misconduct or criminality, and we will seek to answer the questions that Rashans family and the community of Hackney understandably have, the IPCC said in a statement.

Charles death comes less than one month after Edson Da Costa, also a young black man and father, died in police custody.

In June, protesters gathered outside Londons Stratford bus station and Forest Gate police station to decry the death of the 25-year-old, who they say was brutally beaten by officers.

READ MORE: Does Black Lives Matter really matter?

Da Costa died on 21 June, six days after being stopped in a car in Woodcocks, Beckton, in Newham, east London.

The IPCC claimed that a number of packages were removed from Da Costas throat.

But campaigners said he suffered serious injuries to his head and neck after he was stopped.

The IPCC said a post-mortem into Da Costas death revealed no signs of neck or spinal injuries but the investigation continues as the cause of death is yet to be established.
Kim Jong-un says missile has ability to hit entire US mainland after second ICBM flight test reaches maximum height.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) demonstrated that his country can hit the US mainland.

His comments came hours after the launch which left analysts concluding that a wide swath of the United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now in range of North Korean weapons.

The Korean Central News Agency said on Saturday that Kim expressed great satisfaction after the Hwasong-14 missile reached a maximum height of 3,725 kilometres and travelled 998 kilometres, before accurately landing in waters off Japan.





The agency quoted Kim as saying that the launch reaffirmed the reliability of the countrys ICBM system and ability to fire at random regions and locations at random times, with the entire US mainland now within range.

Analysts had estimated that the Norths first ICBM on July 4 could have reached Alaska, and said that the latest missile appeared to extend that range significantly.

Immediately after the launch, US and South Korean forces conducted live-fire exercises.

Song Young-moo, South Korean defence minister, called for the deployment of strategic US military assets  which usually means stealth bombers and aircraft carriers  as well as additional launchers of an advanced US anti-missile system.

US President Donald Trump condemned the test as a threat to the world, and rejected North Koreas claim that nuclear power ensures its security.

In reality, they have the opposite effect, he said in a statement.

Weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people, he said, as he vowed to take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the US and its allies.

China meanwhile, North Koreas most important ally, urged Pyongyang to abide by the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and refrain from escalating tensions, according to a foreign ministry spokesman quoted by the Xinhua news agency.

Growing concern

Washington and its allies have watched with growing concern as Pyongyang has progressed towards its goal of having all of the US within range of its missiles, to counter what it labels as US aggression.

There are other hurdles, including building nuclear warheads to fit on those missiles and ensuring reliability.

But many analysts have been surprised by how quickly Kim has developed North Koreas nuclear and missile programmes, despite several rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions that have squeezed the impoverished countrys economy.

North Korea created a stir on July 4 when it test-fired its first ICBM, a Hwasong-14 missile, which experts believe could have the potential to reach Alaska.

Kim, who personally oversaw that launch on Americas Independence Day, described it as a gift to the American bastards.

North Korea is not believed to have yet developed the technology to miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit in a missiles warhead.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to serve as interim PM until Shahbaz Sharif can take over after national assembly election.

Islamabad, Pakistan  Deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has named his younger brother Shahbaz to replace him as the countrys leader, after having been removed from office by the Supreme Court a day earlier for lying on a wealth declaration.

Addressing a televised meeting of leaders of his PML-N party in Islamabad on Saturday, the elder Sharif said he accepted the Supreme Courts verdict, but did not agree with it.





Shahbaz Sharif, currently the chief minister of Punjab province, which is Pakistans most populous region and the Sharifs political heartland, will have to resign from that post and run for a by-election to join Parliament before he is elected as prime minister.

In the interim period, Nawaz Sharif said, party leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would serve as the countrys prime minister.

It will take Shahbaz some time to be elected, about 50 days  so in the interim period  I suggest Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the candidate, the former prime minister said.

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain is due to convene a session of Parliament shortly to elect Abbasi to the post.

Sharifs PML-N party holds a comfortable majority in the lower house of Parliament and the election is expected to pass without much drama.

I dont understand grounds for dismissal

Sharif was removed from office on Friday on grounds that he did not declare his role in a company based in the United Arab Emirates, from which he was paid a salary, in a 2013 wealth declaration made before running for Parliament.

Sharif dismissed the allegations against him as minor, adding that no corruption charges had yet been proven against him.

I still do not understand the grounds for my dismissal, he said. I am only content that I was not disqualified on the grounds of alleged corruption.

Sharif contends that he never withdrew that salary and was therefore not liable to declare it.

READ MORE: #Fontgate  Maryam Nawaz accused of document forgery

When I never took a salary, what would I declare? asked Sharif at the meeting on Saturday. When you take something, theres a problem; when you dont, theres a problem.

Panama Papers

Fridays landmark ruling followed months of hearings sparked by the leak of the Panama Papers, which showed that three of Sharifs children were connected to three offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Those companies, the documents showed, had been involved in the mortgage of four apartments in Londons posh Park Lane neighbourhood. Sharifs political opponents had been alleging for years that the properties had been obtained through ill-gotten gains made during Sharifs previous two terms in power in the 1990s.

The Sharif family has denied any wrongdoing, saying the apartments were bought using proceeds from the sale of a steel mill in the UAE.

READ MORE: Whats next for Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif?

The Supreme Court, having constituted a high-level investigative panel to probe the allegations, concluded on Friday that there was enough evidence to refer Sharif, his three children and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to a corruption trial court.

No democratically elected prime minister in Pakistans history has completed the five-year term in office.

Sharif himself has been removed twice before from power. In 1993, he was removed after a bitter struggle with the countrys president, and in 1999 the military overthrew him in a bloodless coup.

Other prime ministers have been removed through votes of no-confidence in Parliament, the dissolution of the assemblies by the military or in direct military coups.

Pakistans military has ruled the country for roughly half of its 70-year history.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeeras Web Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to choose next party leader after Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif over corruption.

Politicians from Pakistans ruling political party will meet to decide the countrys next prime minister after Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court.

Leader of the House in the Senate, Raja Zafar-ul-Haqaq, said Sharif would attend Saturdays meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, in which members will choose a new party leader who will become prime minister.

A day earlier, Pakistan was sent into turmoil as Sharif stepped down following a court verdict, which ruled he could no longer hold office on the grounds of his alleged corruption.

Haq, a PML-N member, dismissed the charge as a trivial allegation.

Fridays landmark ruling followed months of hearings in a case instigated by the Panama Papers leaks, related to alleged corruption during Nawazs previous two terms in office.

Pakistani media reported that the party was planning to bring in a provisional prime minister for a few weeks, before electing Sharifs younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, to the post.

READ MORE: Whats next for Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif?

Shahbaz, the chief minister of Punjab, will have to step down from his post and be elected to the National Assembly before being eligible to become prime minister, which could take 45 days.

Sources say there would not be any change in the federal cabinet once the new prime minister takes over, though some portfolios might be reshuffled, The Express Tribune reported.





Al Jazeeras Kamal Hyder, reporting from the capital Islamabad, said that if Nawaz decides to bring his younger brother to the post, an ongoing investigation looking into Shahbazs assets could also expose him.

The allegations against Nawaz centred around the ownership of four apartments in Londons posh Park Lane neighbourhood.

In 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists leaked 11.5 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, dubbed the Panama Papers.

Several documents included in the leak showed three of Nawazs children  Hussain, Hasan and Maryam  owned at least three off-shore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The documents showed that these companies had engaged in deals worth $25m.

Crucially, one of the documents also revealed that the companies had been involved in a $13.2m mortgage involving the London properties as collateral, the first time the Sharif familys ownership of the apartments was proven on paper.

Political turmoil

The Supreme Court judges on Friday asked Mamnoon Hussain, the countrys figurehead president, to ensure the continuation of the democratic process.

The ultimate responsibility for where we are today, which is potentially enormous political instability, is in the prime ministers camp, Pakistani political analyst, Mosharraf Zaidi, told Al Jazeera.

The minimum that we expect from elected leaders is to answer important questions in the public domain, and that is very much the business of ordinary Pakistanis. He [Nawaz] failed to answer those questions.

Al Jazeeras Hyder said: What the people dont want is selective accountability.

Most of the reaction coming out of the country has been positive, he said. The Pakistani people want all the politicians, bureaucrats, judges, generals and everybody across the board to be accountable, so there has been no violent reaction on the streets.

No democratically elected prime minister in Pakistans history has completed a full five-year term.

Nawazs first two stints in power in the 1990s were both cut short; he was unseated in a military coup by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999.

Other prime ministers have been overthrown in two previous coups in 1958 and 1977, by the courts or by motions of no-confidence within the parliament.
Qatar has accused Saudi Arabia of politicising the Hajj, claiming Riyadh has imposed restrictions on Qatari nationals planning to travel to Mecca for the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

Qatars National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Saturday that Qatari citizens have been told they can only enter Saudi Arabia through two airports and that they must travel via Doha to be allowed in.

This would be challenging for Qataris who do not live in Doha, such as those studying abroad.

The NHRC said it has filed a complaint with the UN special rapporteur on freedom of belief and religion over the restrictions, which it said were in stark violation of international laws and agreements that guarantee the right to worship.

The restrictions are part of a boycott launched on June 5 by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, which saw the group sever diplomatic ties with Qatar and impose a blockade. They accuse Qatar of funding terrorism, allegations Qatar has strongly denied.

The four Arab states cut transport links with Qatar, and Saudi Arabia has closed the peninsulas only land border.

OPINION: Qatar  Finding opportunities for reform in crisis

As the custodian of Islams holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia organises the annual Hajj.

The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, which every able-bodied Muslim who is able to afford the journey is obliged to undertake at least once in a lifetime.

Hajj is due to begin in early September.

The NHRC said it was extremely concerned over [Saudi Arabia] politicising religious rituals and using [Hajj] to achieve political gains.

The Saudi authorities have allowed the Qatari pilgrims to enter Saudi Arabia only through two airports via Qatar only, thus any Qatari citizen located outside Qatar, must first return to Qatar, then travel to Saudi Arabia, it said.

The civil liberties group also said that it will lodge a second complaint against Saudi Arabia with UNESCO for subjecting Qatari nationals to harassment and threats in Saudi territory.

During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the group claimed that officials in Saudi Arabia forced Qataris who were visiting religious sites to leave their hotel rooms. Unable to fly on commercial flights, which had been blocked from travelling from Saudi Arabia to Qatar, they were forced to use charter flights.

In June, the Doha-based Al Sharq newspaper reported that Saudi authorities barred Qatar nationals from entering the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

The NHRC said that its complaints were part of a wider effort to highlight Saudi Arabias violations of religious freedom and the right to worship, and expose them to the international community.
Billion-dollar agreement reached despite trade union opposition and protests over security fears, including from India.

Sri Lanka has signed a $1.12bn agreement with a state-run Chinese firm to operate a port in the southeast of the country, despite security concerns and protests from trade unions.

According to the long-delayed deal reached in the capital Colombo on Saturday, Sri Lanka Ports Authority agreed to sell a 70 percent stake in the Hambantota port to China Merchants Ports Holdings.

The Chinese firm will run the workings of the newly constructed port over a 99-year lease.

The Cabinet approved the agreement on Tuesday, almost six months after the framework deal was signed.

Public anger and protests had delayed the signing.

READ MORE: Protest over Hambantota port deal turns violent

Demonstrators rallied against the loss of land and concerns that the port could be used by the Chinese military.

Trade unions earlier in the week staged a strike against the deal, temporarily crippling fuel distribution on the island.

They fear the deal gives an advantage to China in the bunkering business, which provides fuel to ships, as the port is located on a key international shipping lane between Europe and Asia.

Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the One Belt, One Road project in May, pledging tens of billions of dollars to build ports, highways and power grids in about 60 different countries, linking China to much of Asia, Europe and Africa.

WATCH: Chinas mission to reinvent the Silk Road (25:19)

Al Jazeeras Minelle Fernandez, reporting from Colombo, said the Hambantota port located in a strategic position.

For China to be able to get its foot in, and essentially take over this port, is considered quite an important part of its plan particularly with the new Silk Road initiative, she said.





Sri Lankas government has dismissed the unions concerns, saying that the agreement would prove profitable and will help repay loans taken on to build the port.

India voices concern

The government argues that the port has been underused since its opening in 2010. The construction cost more than $361m, with the Export-Import Bank of China providing a large chunk of financing.

Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told journalists that Sri Lanka cannot afford to continue to pay back the loans without better returns at the port.

Only 44 ships have been handled by the Hambantota port since 2015, making it an unprofitable venture, DPA news agency reported.

Neighbouring India has also voiced concerns that China could use the deep sea port in the Indian Ocean to dock military vessels.

Sri Lanka has assured India that there are no security issues over the port, which it says will only be used for commercial purposes.

No naval ship, including Chinese vessels, can call over at the Hambantota Port without our permission, Samarasinghe said.

Al Jazeeras Fernandez said: The Sri Lankan government has sought to allay fears from both its neighbours and the people in the region that this is a commercial agreement which will help Sri Lanka on its road back to recovery from debt servicing.
Attack likely carried out by Boko Haram and resurgent groups recent activities prompt a shift in military tactics.

A suicide bomber killed 14 people in northeast Nigeria, the state emergency agency said on Saturday, in an attack that bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, days after a resurgence in the groups activities prompted a shift in military tactics.

A suicide bomber detonated the explosives in Dikwa on Friday night, after entering a building housing people who had previously fled the rebellion by Boko Haram and since returned, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said.

We have so far evacuated 38 victims comprising 14 dead and 24 injured, said SEMA spokesman Bello Dambatta. Dikwa is around 90 kilometres east of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Volunteers said at least two dozen others were wounded and had to wait until Saturday morning to be evacuated because of safety concerns and the lack of phone service.

OPINION: Boko Haram feeds off corruption in Nigeria

The attack brings the number of people killed by fighters in northeast Nigeria since June 1 to at least 113 and came days after suspected members of the group attacked and kidnapped an oil prospecting team, prompting a rescue bid that ended in the deaths of at least 37 people including members of the team and rescuers from the military and armed volunteers, officials say.

The group were part of a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation team on a mission to find commercial quantities of oil in the Lake Chad basin.

The unofficial death toll is much higher. An aid agency worker involved in the recovery of bodies after the attack in the Magumeri area of Borno state on Tuesday told AFP news agency that so far the death toll was 69.





The worker, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said 19 soldiers, 33 civilian volunteer fighters and 17 civilians were killed.

Another source with knowledge of the rescue operation gave the death toll as 70 or more and also said it was unclear whether all the victims had been accounted for.

News of the rising death toll came after Boko Haram published a four-minute video in which three men kidnapped men from the oil prospecting team identified themselves as being from the University of Maiduguri.

University of Maiduguri spokesman Danjuma Gambo confirmed the identities of the three kidnapped men in the video to AFP.

At least five members of staff from the university  two lecturers, two technologists and a driver  were killed, vice-chancellor Ibrahim Njodi said on Friday.

He told reporters the university had been hesitant to send staff with the NNPC team but had been assured about security.

Boko Haram stepping up attacks

Its a confirmation of the boldness and reassurance that Boko Haram has managed to gain over the last six weeks, Yan St-Pierre, from the Modern Security Consulting Group, told AFP.

They have been attacking more and more military outposts and more military convoys. For them to go after NNPC personnel just shows they dont fear any military reprisal.

Nigeria is searching for oil in the northeast to try to reduce its reliance on supplies from the Niger Delta, where attacks have slashed production.

Boko Haram has stepped up the frequency of attacks in the last few months. The rebellion in the northeast of the country has killed 20,000 people and forced some 2.7 million to flee their homes in the last eight years.

IN PHOTOS: Long-term effects of oil spills in Bodo, Nigeria

After the kidnapping of the oil workers, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday sent military chiefs to the northeast to help regain control of the situation.

The move was a change of tactics since the government and military have repeatedly said Boko Haram  which also carries out cross-border attacks in neighbouring Cameroon and Niger  was on the verge of being defeated.

President Muhammadu Buhari said in December that Boko Harams stronghold in the northeasts vast Sambisa forest had been captured.
As companies release their quarterly earnings reports, we look at their performance and the state of the global economy.

Some of the worlds biggest publicly owned companies are stepping up with their quarterly report cards.

Every three months, the earnings season acts like a kind of corporate health check. It allows us to gauge which sectors are growing the fastest, making the most profits and which operations are failing to make the grade or live up to the hype.

A company can make a profit, but this does not necessarily mean that the company is profitable. Profit simply means revenue that remains after expenses. Net income is what really matters. Its calculated by taking revenues and subtracting the costs of doing business such as depreciation, interest and taxes.

As second quarter earnings dribble out, technology companies are now some of the worlds most profitable companies.

The largest multinationals really out there in the world are still continuing to bring profitability onto their balance sheets and reward shareholders appropriately. by Jeremy Cook, chief economist, World First

Facebook reported quarterly net income of $3.89bn, a massive 71 percent surge compared with the previous year.

Emerging technologies are clearly changing the way we do business and our economy.

Koreas Samsung Electronics reported a record 89 percent jump in quarterly net profit of $9.9bn. It could overtake Apple as the worlds most profitable technology company despite the disaster that was the Galaxy Note 7, a new version of which is on sale in South Korea.

So what do the latest earnings say about the health of the global economy?

It shows that the largest multinationals really out there in the world are still continuing to bring profitability onto their balance sheets and reward shareholders appropriately, says Jeremy Cook, chief economist at World First in London.

The key thing around the global economy is actually whether we start to see those businesses reinvest those profits back into the businesses or whether it just sits on a balance sheet and doesnt get put to work. So theres a bit of a breakdown between Facebook blasting higher in the after market post a very good earning and how that feeds into global GDP, but the correlation is still strong that if these companies are losing money then the US economy, for example, is likely to be in a recession, says Cook.

Most multinational companies making big profits are doing something called share buybacks explains Cook, where businesses are taking the shares out of investors hands and putting it back onto their own balance sheets and spending money that way, which kind of secures up the business  in the event of a downturn, but it doesnt mean that money is being reinvested into a new division, for example, or a new product line  so for the moment, businesses are being very very cautious.

When asked about the state of the banking sector 10 years after the global financial crisis, Cook says theres still a broad split globally in the banking sector.

JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs  the US banking system has been very strong, and certainly the banking shares have been one of the main rises over the course of the past six or seven months since the election of Donald Trump  based on the belief that the Trump administration would be a friend to the banks in the form of lighter regulations. That may not come through for a while, so some of the shine has been taken off that apple, but banking shares have been doing particularly well and youd have to say that their earnings will be higher as well.

On the other hand, Greek banks, Spanish banks and Italian banks are still laden with non-performing loans, with debts that are not being paid off and obviously still having  in some cases  to go to governments, go to the European Union and ask for help and be bailed out, says Cook.

READ MORE: Debt and the Global Economic System

Also on this episode of Counting the Cost:

Brazils corruption scandal: Brazil, Latin Americas largest economy, is home to one of the biggest corruption scandals ever uncovered. The investigation known as Operation Car Wash has implicated state-owned oil company Petrobras, Latin Americas number one construction conglomerate Odebrecht and two separate administrations. These companies are some of the biggest employers in the region.

The country is also suffering from its worst ever recession and the widespread disruption means finding a job has become more difficult. In Brazil, there are now 13.8 million people unemployed, according to figures released this month. Alfredo Aaad Filho, a professor of SOAS University of London, explains what this could mean for the region.

Peru slavery: Safety inspectors in Peru are trying to crack down on dangerous working conditions. Its been prompted by the recent deaths of two young men who were locked in their workplace. The International Labour Organisation says its not uncommon for people to be working in what it calls slave-like conditions, as Mariana Sanchez reports from Lima.

Libya economy: Oil-rich Libya has been locked in a state of violence since 2011, when a popular uprising ended with the death of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. Its once vibrant economy has shrunk to less than half of its pre-2011 value. Ordinary Libyans struggle daily with power and water cuts and currency devaluations. With no single government and widespread insecurity, businesses are shutting down. Mahmoud Abdelwahed reports from Tripoli.

Hong Kong street food: Eating on the streets used to be part of the culture in Hong Kong, until safety and hygiene concerns meant the end for most hawkers and their mobile kitchens. But in recent months, the government has tried to revive the idea, although not everyone is pleased about it. Divya Gopalan reports from Hong Kong.

Congo and cobalt: Cobalt is one of the key compounds added in lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars. The Democratic Republic of Congo, the worlds leading source of the metal, has been named in a recent report by anti-corruption charity Global Witness, which says the country is missing a fifth of all mining revenues. An average Congolese national is among the poorest on the planet. According to the group, the money is being distributed through corrupt networks linked to President Joseph Kabila.
President Donald Trumps tough-on-crime speech to Long Island police officers Friday afternoon was met by a stiff rejection from Gainesville Police.

Within hours, GPD took to social media to address residents directly.

The Presidents remarks today have set modern policing back and erased a lot of the strides we have made to build trust in our community, the department wrote in a Facebook post.

On Friday, Trump traveled to Long Island, New York, to speak to law enforcement about his administrations efforts to fight internationally prominent gang MS-13, according to The Washington Post.

During the speech, Trump told police how he felt they should treat suspects and arrestees.

Please dont be too nice, Trump said.

Trump told the officers that during arrests, when they place suspects into the back of their patrol cars, they shouldnt rest their hand on the arrestees heads to keep them from slamming into the vehicle

Like when you guys put somebody in the car and youre protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Trump said. I said, you can take the hand away, okay?

Though Trumps remarks were met by laughter and applause from some officers in the audience, GPDs comments were stern

The President of the United States has no business endorsing or condoning cops being rough with arrestees and suggesting that we should slam their heads onto the car while putting them in, GPD wrote

Within three hours of his speech, Suffolk County Police  the department serving in the area of New York where Trump spoke  took to Twitter and said it will not tolerate roughing up prisoners, in a similar fashion to GPDs announcement later that night

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As of press time, neither the Alachua County Sheriffs Office nor University Police have made statements in response to the presidents speech

(The) Gainesville Police Department will continue to treat everyone with respect, no matter the circumstances, the department wrote. It is truly an honor to serve this community.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies has arrived in the Republic of China to attend the BRICS Industry Ministers Meeting and Trade Ministers Meeting. The two meetings will be preceded by officials meetings from the BRICS countries. The meetings will discuss areas in which BRICS countries can enhance cooperation on issues related []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...
Bulk carrier Diana Shipping has declined to provide many details regarding the incident, including how much damage the vessel sustained and how long it could be out of service.



The M/V Melite, a 76,436-deadweight ton Panamax dry bulk vessel owned by Greece-based shipping company Diana Shipping Inc. had to be temporarily taken out of service July 26 after it ran aground in Indonesia.

Although the company is still assessing the situation, the crew is in no danger as a result of this incident and there has been no pollution, Diana Shipping said in a statement, adding that it appeared that the vessel had suffered hull damage resulting from the grounding, which took place on the Indonesian island of Pulau Laut.

The Marshall Islands-flagged Melite, which was built in 2004, has an overall length of 225 meters (738 feet), a breadth of 32.2 meters (105 feet) and a gross tonnage of 39,964.

Diana Shipping, at least for the time being, has declined to provide further details regarding the grounding incident, including how much damage the vessel sustained and how long the Melite could be out of service.

In an unrelated move the day after the grounding, Diana Shipping announced that it, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, has entered into a time charter contract with Glencore Agriculture B.V., Rotterdam, for one of DSIs dry bulk vessels, the M/V Maia.

Under the contract, the gross charter rate is $10,125 per day  minus a five percent commission paid to third parties  for a period of 12 to 15 months. The charter commenced on July 27.

The Maia is an 82,193-dwt Kamsarmax dry bulk vessel built in 2009. The vessels employment, according to Diana, is expected to generate about $3.65 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter.
On Friday morning, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) cast the decisive vote and rejected the Health Care Freedom Act, colloquially known as the skinny repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Sen. McCains vote, along with two other Republican senators, left the final tally at 51 nays and 49 yeas, dealing a devastating blow to Republican efforts to repeal ObamaCare.

Conservatives like myself are understandably furious at our elected officials seeming inability to make good on their campaign promises. We are ideally situated to reap the gains of nearly a decade of tireless campaigning -- knocking on doors, making thousands of phone calls, and dragging our friends to the polls on election day -- all ensure true conservatives represented us in Washington.

We did our part.

But lets face it: the skinny repeal was bad law. It reflected a stunning lack of substance, and was intentionally designed to patronize conservative constituents without easing any of ObamaCares burdens.

In sum, the bill had two main provisions: a permanent repeal of the individual mandate, and a temporary suspension of the employer mandate and medical device tax. Otherwise, the law made no other substantive changes, leaving intact 411 of ObamaCares 419 sections.

Most destructively, the law left in place ObamaCares tremendously onerous demands of health insurance companies. This, as the American Medical Association explained, would have created a toxic concoction: insurance companies would be forced to cover a wide array of costly conditions, but without revenue from the individual mandate, they would be unable to recoup their losses through federal subsidies (at least without the taxpayers incurring a ghastly expansion in the federal deficit). The American people -- mostly the middle class -- would pay astronomical monthly premiums to make up the difference.

In that light, Sen. McCains vote was of sound political judgment. Opportunities for meaningful healthcare reform do not arise often. For example, seventeen years separated Hillary Clintons 1993 attempt to overhaul American healthcare and the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. I hate to imagine the grisly electoral consequences for Republicans if they were forced to defend across a seventeen-year span skinny repeals legacy of higher premiums for inferior care.

Make no mistake: for ObamaCare, the chickens will come home to roost. Even absent interference from the White House, ObamaCare will become what nearly every Democratically-conceived federal entitlement program (notably Social Security and Medicare) has become: an enfeebled government parasite hurtling toward insolvency. Insurers will continue dropping out of the market, healthcare choices will continue to vanish, wait times will continue to increase, and quality of care will continue to decline.

Sure -- millions will be insured, but their insurance policies will be about as valuable as the paper on which they are printed. No amount of accounting gimmickry from the Congressional Budget Office -- whose ObamaCare projections have been significantly wrong on virtually every material provision of the law -- or misleading comparisons to Scandinavian miracles will change this (predictably, Europe is currently struggling to sustain its public healthcare model, and is considering both rationing and privatizing healthcare access).

Some Democrats will likely sneer at this GOP fumble, but those having any moral compass will not. Indeed, the Democrats swindle has paid off; healthcare is now affixed in the body politic psyche as a human right. But the Democrats modus operandi of using the peoples money to buy power (relying, of course, on the stupidity of the American voter to cinch the deal) has put Americans in a perilous position. The exhilarating high of free healthcare may bode well for short-term political gain, but the unavoidable rules of economics will one day come to collect, and by that time, Democrats will have moved on to their next scam. The American people, sadly, will be left yet again to foot the bill for another one of the Democratic Partys historic ideas.

As a Republican and a conservative, I refuse to play the Democrats crooked game of deception. I believe conservatives are called to a higher standard of statesmanship than that which has been exhibited by the Democratic Party throughout the ObamaCare debacle. Our standard should reject political trickery in favor of deliberation and prudence. The skinny repeal reflected neither.

As Sen. McCain remarked after his vote, Republicans must send the bill back to committee, hold hearings, receive input from both sides of aisle, heed the recommendations of [the] nations governors, and produce a bill that finally delivers affordable health care for the American people.

Thomas Wheatley is a writer living in Arlington, Virginia. A regular contributor to the Washington Posts All Opinions Are Local blog, he holds a law degree from the Antonin Scalia Law School and was a 2016 Publius Fellow at the Claremont Institute. Email him at tnwheatley@gmail.comand follow him on Twitter @TNWheatley.
For those who may be unfamiliar, Miguel de Cervantes's novel Don Quixote tells the tale of Alonso Quixana, an elderly (and exceedingly mad) gentleman who fancies himself a chivalrous knight. He takes the name Don Quixote and fights to preserve the moral code of a wondrous past he read about in literature. The novel relates several episodes that signify his disconnect with 17th-century Spain, a reality where Quixote's fantasy is wholly unwelcome and anachronistic.

The transgender ideologist's delusions occur with a different impetus. He (or she, or whatever supposedly exists between) fancies himself a warrior fighting to destroy the codified notions of Western culture and to institute a new template of cultural understanding that allows his personal fantasy to be treated as reality.

In the end, both are quite insane, and their fantasies are at odds with the real world around them.

In the novel, the townspeople watch Don Quixote engage in his delusional behavior with curious bewilderment and sometimes pity. Similarly, we Americans watch the players in the transgenderism movement.

For example, there's Cass Clemmer, who "posted a picture of herself bleeding from the crotch captioned 'Periods are not just for women #BleedingWhileTrans.'"

It's not a pleasant picture, and why such an image should ever be offered for the public is anyone's guess (though in Clemmer's case, it appears to be an effort to drum up publicity for her coloring book, "The Adventures of Toni the Tampon"). But that's not the point.

Looking at the picture, it's easy to imagine how one might understand the image purely as a facade. She is not a boy experiencing menstruation. She is a girl who is clearly immersed in the fantasy that she is boy. And she is experiencing menstruation because she is, in reality, a girl.

Her outward assertions to the contrary should be no more convincing to us than to the townspeople first greeting the frail Don Quixote, who appeared to them astride his skinny nag and wearing a worn suit of armor while proclaiming himself a bold and formidable knight.

Then there's the case of Trystan Reese, who is now expecting to give birth to a child. Trystan was "assigned a female gender at birth" and chose to keep the "original parts"  i.e., her uterus. "I just happen to be a man who can carry a baby," Trystan says.

But Trystan is not, in fact, a man who can carry a baby. Trystan can conceive, gestate, and birth a baby only because she is a woman who pretends to be a man. In reality, she is no more a "man" than a windmill is a fearsome giant.

Millions of people derive satisfaction in believing something altogether different from what reality dictates. The challenge when it comes to transgenderism, for us as a culture, is in diminishing any pervasive damage to our society that may result from the indulgence in such fantasies.

In what is a pretty good telling of her varying philosophical interpretations of Don Quixote over at The New York Times, Rivka Galchen writes:

I didn't, on that first reading [of the novel], pay much attention to the way that Don Quixote's delusions often made others suffer. Thirsty mules can't drink from their trough because Don Quixote insists it's a baptismal font; Sancho Panza is roughed up after Quixote doesn't pay his hotel bill; and on and on. ... At a later moment, the book seemed to me to be about what a power move it is to be "eccentric" and how that eccentricity coerces others into serving your fantasy. I found Quixotism in the world to be at times irritating, and at times cruel, and at times I saw the heroism of Don Quixote's friends and neighbors, the "normal" people.

Galchen refers only to the novel and not transgenderism at all, but there is a parallel here that shouldn't be too difficult to discern.

To the question at hand, do we, the "normal" people who observe individuals headlong into fantasies like those described above and appraise them as delusional have redeeming virtue for tolerating their delusions?

Or perhaps to the better question, do people "suffer" as a result of those delusional and eccentric "power moves" to coerce others into "serving their fantasy" as we sit idly by?

Before the efforts to make the eccentricities of transgenderism commonplace, it was widely considered a mental illness. Many doctors (the honest ones, I argue), still maintain that position.

Suicide rates among transgendered individuals seems to bolster that assertion. Delusional social justice warriors will argue that psychiatric trauma leading to suicides among this demographic is caused by "rejection, discrimination, violence, harassment, and negative life circumstances," as Zach Ford of ThinkProgress argues. However, other minority groups pale in comparison to suicide rates among transgendered people. In fact, writes Daniel Payne at The Federalist, other minority groups that suffer "real and perceived amounts of discrimination," like blacks, have suicide rates that pale in comparison to whites, who supposedly endure no such discrimination. The "discrimination theory" doesn't hold water.

But Payne does note that the suicide rate associated with transgenderism is "extremely correlative with conditions of mental illness." Transgendered individuals commit suicide at a rate of over 40%.

He goes on:

Since transgenderism is a deleterious psychological affliction, it is wholly unsurprising to find higher rates of suicide among that class of people. A sane society would be advocating for robust, ameliorative psychological therapy to steer transgender people away from their delusions.

As a society, it seems we are doing precisely the opposite. Children are steered toward embracing their transgender (or "non-binary") delusions at ages as young as three. Medications meant to stifle hormonal development for such children in prepubescent years are offered more readily today than ever.

There are indeed casualties in the faux-science and cultural push to make the delusions of transgenderism our accepted reality. As pediatrician Dr. Michelle Cretella recently told Tucker Carlson, "transgender ideology" is promoting "large-scale child abuse:"

I have witnessed an upending of the medical consensus on the nature of gender identity. What doctors once treated as a mental illness, the medical community now largely affirms and even promotes as normal. ... Sex is hardwired from before birth, and it cannot change[.] ... By feeding families these lies (about gender fluidity and the safety of "transition-affirming protocols"), children are having their normal psychological development interrupted, they're being put on puberty blockers which essentially castrates them chemically, followed by surgical mutilation later on. This is child abuse. This is not health care.

The delusions of transgender individuals will undoubtedly persist. But there is nothing noble, and there is plenty that is detrimental, in our continued cultural enablement of the madness promoted by transgender ideology.
Over the last century America has gone from a nation that prized self-reliance to one where millions seem unbothered by dependency. For a political leader just to hint at curtailing entitlements or adding a work requirement certifies him as evil. This is hardly surprising is that Washington itself promotes dependency and this training for irresponsibility begins early in life. Long before a youngster can vote, he or she learns, regardless of what economist say, that there really is such a thing as a free lunch.

A recent Wall Street Journal article (July 19, 2017, A3) highlighted how this sorrowful condition is encouraged. The Journal article concerns government financed school meals (lunches but increasingly larger numbers of breakfasts). This generosity, in addition to providing daily vitamins and minerals also supplies a daily message that government, not parents, put food on the table. To be specific, in 2016, 73.3% of all school children availing themselves of school lunches ate either free or reduced priced lunches; this compares to 15.1% in 1969.

More is involved than just instructing youngsters in the statist Lords Prayer where the Department of Agriculture (USDA), not the Lord, gives us our daily bread. This instruction also applies to the millions of other youngsters whose families do not financially qualify for subsidized meals and must therefore pay something toward their daily bread. At least they, unlike those on the subsidized meal plan, ought to see the connection between the sweat of somebodys brow and their daily bread.

No such luck. Though the Department of Agriculture that administers school food programs explicitly requires schools to notify parents when junior is a deadbeat, inaction regarding no-pays is commonplace. Yes, some school districts are cracking down, for example, banning freeloaders from attending graduation or even withholding meals until the bill is paid (legally permissible), but many other school districts permit junior (and his parents) to stiff Uncle Sam. For example, the Los Angeles Unified School District recently absorbed $629,000 in debt for these unpaid meals; the Yonkers New York School District had an even more forgiving policy and thus wound up with a deficit of $800,000.

This tolerance for freeloading is predictable. Public schools are not like McDonalds and few educators seem alarmed over burgeoning education costs. In fact, some educators resist any effort to get deadbeats to pay up for their meals and if a school instead supplies a bag lunch to lunchroom deadbeats, the school is condemned for lunch shaming (nearly half of all schools engage in some form of shaming). Though shaming is permitted by USDA rules, Texas and New Mexico currently prohibited it and other states are now considering anti-shaming measures. A proposed federal law -- the Anti-Lunch Shaming Act of 2017 -- has even been introduced in Congress. And needless to say, a no money, no food policy is unthinkable in todays educational hyper-compassionate environment.

Almost on cue, private philanthropic organizations -- Fund the Future Forward, School Lunch Fairy, among others -- have stepped in to rescue the children of parents who, despite being financially able as per federal guidelines, refuse to pay juniors debt. For these philanthropic do-gooders, better to bail out deadbeat parents than to have children suffer shame.

Imagine what youngsters absorb from their daily school cafeteria experiences. They will learn that at least for meals, poverty has no costs but escaping poverty does -- escapees must pay for meals. Nor do needy students pay a price for parental poverty by receiving less, for example, just a peanut butter sandwich while the rich dine on hot roast beef. True egalitarianism, if not socialism begins early.

Most of all, no link now exists between work and benefits since those unable to pay are not required to earn the meals. Perhaps educators view helping clean up a mess as illegal child labor. Even more educational, is that those who actually do pay are just chumps since being a deadbeat often has no consequences. Further add that those receiving free meals are rarely pitiful emaciated barefoot kids dressed in rags. Many, no doubt, will have cell phones and dress stylishly.

This is an oft-repeated lesson -- assuming attendance of 170 days per school year, by his or her junior year, Washingtons free school food programs will have been witnessed some 1700 or so times (double that if there is a breakfast program). Perfect training for a seamless adult transition to food stamps, Section 8 housing, no-pay ER care and all the rest of todays free entitlements.

Todays government school meals program offers an ideological dividend: teach people that political power, not holding a job, is now what puts food on the table. No wonder so many of those permanently on welfare feel no shame -- years of free lunches have been eaten with zero embarrassment. And to be frank, it is probably more cost effective for educators to pressure government for these benefits than to implore parents to fix meals for junior.

Sadly, training for dependency only expands. Under Washingtons Community Eligibility Provision schools in high poverty areas (see here for details) can enroll all students, no application needed, in the free breakfast and lunch program regardless of family income (both Chicago and Boston among others are already in the program). In the meantime, the Department of Agriculture itself is busy instructing the public on how to lobby local officials for yet more government school meal assistance. The list of tactics to extract yet more free food includes forming partnerships with food banks and libraries, encouraging schools to work with migrants, coordinating efforts with hunger hotlines, and providing school children with flyers to take home and multiple other tactics to pressure Uncle Sam to pick up the check.

These free and subsidized meals are, of course, only a small part of training citizens for dependency. But, for those uneasy about such training it would be a mistake to focus the debate on hunger -- nobody wants starving children. The deeper issue is somehow restoring the link between eating and work. We are not psychologically debilitating youngsters by teaching them that somebody pays for putting bread on the table. School meals are not manna from heaven. Can we really be surprised that millions of Americans are no longer terrified by the prospect of falling into poverty given that they have personally witnessed the advantages of poverty -- you get free food.

Now imagine an alternative school meals universe. Everyone is now guaranteed minimum nutrition, for example, a cheese sandwich on white bread and a glass of milk. But students could sign up for various school jobs, from cooking to removing graffiti, all of which would, of course, reduce education expenses and impart some real-world skills. Teachers would check that the work was performed correctly, on-time and completing the task would earn school dollars redeemable for food, including goodies like ice cream cones. Students could now receive better meals all the while building good work habits while taxes would decline.

Whats wrong with that picture? Let me guess that at least one ex-community activist from Chicago would denounce the program in a speech explaining, this is not who we are.
In civilization's ongoing battle against the advance of progressive authoritarianism, the story of Charlie Gard  may he rest in peace  is an object lesson in the danger of unclear principles and the value of clear ones. The defenders of the despotism of socialized medicine have a vested interest in persuading you that the Charlie Gard case is at its core a medical issue. It is not, and it never was. It is an issue of individual liberty versus the tyrannical State.

To join an argument without understanding one's own position, right down to its grounding principles, is to leave yourself open to confusion and insecurity when confronted with the pseudo-logic of opponents who speak with a self-assurance that may shake your confidence  unless you can quickly identify how they are misrepresenting the issue, thereby rendering their bluster impotent and easily dismissible.

I have written numerous articles about this awful case of the true heart of socialized medicine, including several here at American Thinker. Invariably, the readers' comments on these pieces have included many  even apart from the obvious paid trolls  by people who insist that I am failing to appreciate the expertise of the Great Ormond Street doctors, professionals who face difficult decisions like this every day and therefore know much more about Charlie's illness than either his parents or moralizing political commentators like yours truly.

The cleverer among these defenders of Charlie's absolute right to be killed "with dignity" without his parents' consent have usually supported their position with arguments like the following (which I paraphrase closely from actual readers' comments and other writers' articles on this case):

"Haven't you considered the possibility that the doctors may be right, and that Charlie's case really is hopeless?"

"The American doctor's proposed experimental treatment is untested on humans and has little chance of success, and furthermore, it is probably far too late now anyway."

"The baby's condition is so deteriorated that even if he could be kept alive, it would be without meaningful brain function or quality of life."

"As much as we might sympathize with parents who cannot accept the death of a beloved baby, the truth is that terrible things happen, and this baby's condition is simply one of those tragic facts of life: sometimes there is really nothing to be done."

If any of those arguments resonates with you and leave you feeling a little torn, then you have entered this discussion without a firm hold on the principles involved. For in truth, we might answer, "Yes, you're exactly right" to each and every one of the above points and yet still say, with all the firmness in the world  as I do in fact say  that what the British government has done in this case, through the agency of its socialist slaves at the Great Ormond Street Hospital, is immoral and tyrannical in the highest degree.

For the issue at stake here is not, and never was, whether the GOSH doctors know more than most of us about medicine. Neither is it whether all sick infants can be saved. Nor is it whether a severely ill child's parents might tend to grasp beyond the reach of reasonable probability.

The issue is this: "All things being equal, who has the moral authority to make life and death decisions about a child in cases such as these  the child's parents or the State?"

To answer "the parents" is to abide by modern liberty's founding principles, including the principles of self-ownership and self-preservation. It is also to grant a notion that may be traced through the entire history of Western political philosophy and is of the essence of our modern concept of "civil society"  namely, that political community is preceded, both logically and chronologically, by the private family, such that a political community is, at base, a union of families. The family is thus nature's protective filter between the individual human being  particularly the child, who most needs protection  and the State's coercive and subordinating impulses.

In this light, it is clear that a society with pretenses of being free must preserve for the private family the greatest possible latitude in managing the affairs that fall properly under the jurisdiction of the family relationship and do not cross over into the realm of criminal rights violations. Families, or more specifically parents, are in effect the proxy rights-holders for their underage children and are therefore obliged to act in the interests of their children's rightful self-ownership and self-preservation to whatever extent they can, within reason.

Hence, for example, in a free society, parents, and not government, ought to have the ultimate authority in educating children  a premise we have long since abandoned, of course, which is the chief reason civil society has deteriorated to the tatters we live in today.

Hence, for another example, in a free society, parents, and not government, must have the ultimate authority in deciding whether to pursue one more last-gasp effort at saving the life of a deathly ill infant. Whether survival seems likely in the eyes of "most experts" is, and should be, a major factor the parents will weigh in making their decisions. But, assuming the parents' basic competence, rationality, and acceptance of their responsibilities as parents, there can be no legitimate grounds, in any society that hopes to remain free, for denying them their authority to do what they deem necessary or best for their child's life and welfare.

In short, the issue in the Charlie Gard case is not, and never was, whether Charlie would have been likely to respond well to Michio Hirano's experimental treatment if the parents had been permitted to take him to America in a timely fashion. The issue is, and always was, whether Chris Gard and Connie Yates had the moral authority and  on principles of modern liberty  the right to take their child to any available world-class specialist they damn well pleased (at their own expense) in their honorable efforts to save their son's life.

Seen properly, the whole case revolves around this pair of questions: does the impersonal State own the individual human being  in other words, are we slaves? Or does the individual have a right to self-ownership and self-preservation, to be represented, in the case of one who is pre-rational or unconscious, by those who most intimately and naturally identify with his rights and interests  namely, the parents who brought him into the world and thereby assumed personal responsibility for his life?

Stated in this way  the proper and clear way  the issue at stake here was obviously not a question of whether or not to respect medical expertise. It was an issue of freedom versus tyranny. If the State owns the individual, as the British government has declared with abundant clarity in its treatment of Charlie Gard and his parents, then tyranny has won.

What part of that is difficult for the defenders of State baby-killers to understand? Probably no part of it  which is why they take such pains to fool you (and themselves) into believing that this case was about medical expertise and "accepting the inevitable."

Don't let them fool you. They are defending tyranny, plain and simple. Make them own it.

Daren Jonescu writes about politics, philosophy, education, and the decline of civilization at http://darenjonescu.com.
The short life of Charlie Gard came to an end on Friday afternoon, July 28 (London time), when the baby, who had become an international cause celebre, died at a hospice one week shy of his first birthday. A British High Court judge had ordered the move from hospital to hospice, and that Charlie be disconnected from a respirator so he could die. On Friday evening, Charlie's mother, Connie Yates, announced that her only child had passed away earlier that afternoon.

As the Telegraph reported at 6:56 P.M. Friday London time (1:56 P.M. U.S. EDT), in a dispatch by its chief reporter Robert Mendick:

At just after 6.30 this evening, [Charlie's] mother, Connie Yates, announced: "Our beautiful little boy has gone." The breathing tube attached to a ventilator had been removed. He is thought to have died a few minutes later.

Charlie's story gained major international attention as a result of his parents' efforts to challenge his British doctors and have their son transferred to New York for innovative experimental therapy at Columbia University Medical Center for his extremely rare and fatal condition, mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. Since April, Yates and Charlie's father Chris Gard have been in and out of court, battling the London hospital where Charlie had been a patient since he was two months old. Legal rulings, including an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, consistently went against the wishes of the parents.

The British doctors had opposed Charlie's move to New York since February, claiming that his medical prognosis was hopeless and that he should be allowed to die. The heartbreaking case quickly catapulted to the top domestic news story in England, and in recent weeks, it has drawn major attention and media coverage in scores of countries around the world, with input in support of the parents coming from Pope Francis and President Donald Trump  all of it to no avail in terms of influencing a different legal outcome.

On Monday of this week, the parents conceded that their battle had come to an end and agreed that Charlie should be allowed to pass on. The final disagreement and unresolved debate with the hospital went on until Thursday afternoon, centering around on how long Connie Yates and Chris Gard would have to say goodbye to Charlie before he was disconnected from life support.

The end came quickly after Mr. Justice Francis decreed Charlie's move to hospice and disconnection from his ventilator in a terse order dated Wednesday and released by the High Court in London on Thursday. Within 24 hours, Charlie was gone.

The death of baby Charlie does not resolve the difficult issues that were raised during months of legal wrangling. The main disagreement involved who should decide the medical treatment, and the fate, of a sick child  his parents or the state, representing the will of the doctors. In the U.K., physicians work for the state where the system of health care delivery is government-controlled, single-payer socialized medicine.

In the United States, with single-payer now being proposed by the leadership of the Democratic Party, and a growing number of voters supporting the system according to public opinion polls, Americans were paying particularly close attention to the Charlie Gard story  many of them not without a feeling of fear and dread for what may be in store for the USA.

Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran journalist who writes about national politics, media, popular culture, and health care. His new website is AltMedNews.net. Peter's July 28, 2017 90-minute long interview on The Hagmann Report, in which the Charlie Gard story was discussed at length, can be viewed here. Peter's segment begins 31 minutes into the program.
The terrorist who stabbed six people at a Hamburg supermarket, killing one, was known to authorities as an Islamic extremist but was not considered dangerous.

The attacker was a rejected asylum-seeker who was waiting for deportation papers, say authorities. They say that "Ahmed A" had "contact with the Islamist scene" but did nothing to keep an eye on him.

Deutsche Welle:

City-state Interior Minister Any Grote on Saturday thanked bystanders who caught the fleeing knife assailant near the supermarket in Hamburg's Barmbek district in scant minutes before police arrived. Friday's civil arrest was "very courageous and very determined," Grote told a press conference, adding that pre-weekend shoppers' outings had been turned into a "nightmare." The attacker, a rejected asylum seeker, who earlier on Friday had inquired at a city office for foreigners on whether expulsion papers had arrived, had become radicalized, but his exact motive was still being probed, Grote added.

I guess screaming "Allahu Akbar" while brutally stabbing six people isn't a big enough hint for the clueless German authorities.

The suspect had no criminal record in Germany, with the exception of an alleged shoplifting incident in April that was dropped as a "slight" matter, according to Jorg Frohlich from the Hamburg state prosecutors' office. He is likely to be charged with murder and five counts of attempted murder, Frohlich said, adding that German federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe might take up the case. There were no indications of inclusion in a terror network or links with background instigators, said the interior minister, who made no direct reference to previous reports that the suspect was from the United Arab Emirates. Police on Saturday said they had searched a refugee shelter in the Hamburg district of Langenhorn, where the 26-year-old suspect, from the United Arab Emirates, was believed to have been staying. Nothing was found, police said.

Some can't fathom why he would attack Germans who had been so nice to him:

Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz said the attack had been motivated by "hate." It appeared that the suspect was facing deportation but this had not proceeded because necessary papers were lacking, Scholz said. "I am furious that the offender is apparently someone who has claimed protection with us in Germany and then directed his hate against us." the mayor added.

Many more Germans are going to die because of this dangerously ignorant attitude. Can they really not fathom the enemy they are facing? Are they so besotted with political correctness that the nature of the threat facing the German people escapes them?

They are so terrified of being accused of Islamophobia that the rational centers of their brains have been short-circuited.

What are they going to do now that the ISIS "caliphate" is disintegrating and thousands of trained fighters disperse across the world? What measures will they take to protect German citizens from not only organized mass-casualty attacks, but the random bloodshed caused by violent jihadists who will gladly sell their lives to murder Westerners?

The first step is to identify the enemy as an enemy. To date, the German government has yet to take that first step, putting all of its citizens at risk.
In Europe, there's a pervasive idea that halting Islamofascist radicalism is mainly a matter "preventing incarceration" for illegal associations and activities and just talking young migrants and their confused, resentful offspring out of it. Why wouldn't someone who goes from zero to hero in his own mind and has the mandate of heaven and the promise of eternal paradise change his mind when presented not just with the goodies of Western civilization, but its ideas as well? That women are equal, that gay is OK, that tolerance of all lifestyles is desirable, that secularism is grand, and the state is all powerful  who wouldn't swap out the promise of eternal paradise and martyrdom for all those pro-offered ideas, just by talking to them through "de-radicalization" re-education.

Such is the delusion over there: that stone-cold Islamofascists with pillage and terrorism in their minds can be flipped into secular-minded, wholesome, tolerant, self-guilting uni-worlders with views not at all different from those of the average European Union denizen. All nice people, it seems.

We saw it in Norway, where rape-minded migrants were expected to be talked into dropping their stone-age attitudes and loathing of the West all through the miracle of re-education, a highly touted re-orientation for the unassimilated migrants including the terrorists among them. Based on what is read in the news, it's not working.

We know that even Saudi Arabian de-radicalization efforts have failed, too. We can safely assume that these re-education efforts are not populated by European Union-style re-educators who will advise their supposed charges about the importance of gay rights and women's liberation - because many of these supposedly deradicalized have used these schools and camps as conducts for returning back to the battlefield.

Now we read that France's effort to de-radicalize Islamic militants has been an abject failure, too. Newsweek reports:

France's search for an effective strategy to combat extremism and prevent future terror attacks continues after the government announced Friday that the country's first center for de-radicalization is closing shop. The Pontourny center, situated in the middle of the French countryside, near the Loire Valley, has sat empty since February. At that time, a prominent senator described the project as a "total fiasco." France's Interior Ministry has now admitted defeat. "The experiment has not been conclusive," it said in its announcement of the closing of the center. France is the European country worst affected by radical Islamist attacks since January 2015, with more than half a dozen assaults claiming the lives of 230 people. The country is battling the most serious case of homegrown extremism in the European Union, with around 15,000 suspected radical Islamists on the watchlists of French authorities, overseen by the country's Counter-Terrorism Coordination Unit, with some 4,000 individuals at high risk of committing an attack.

This is a pretty sorry record for trying to soft-hand the threat of Islamic radicalism, which in fact is a manifestation of war. The only way, according to terrorism experts, to really get a shift in attitudes is to persuade the young malevolents that no, they won't get to heaven if they use a truck to mow down a promenade full of people or hotfoot it to Syria to join ISIS. Their actions don't make them go from zero to hero; their actions make them despised.

The tactics are terrorism are hard and merciless. The only thing that can really break a diamond is another diamond. Punishing radicalism, not coddling terrorists, is the only known tactic against terrorism that works.
Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer has been going after President Trump consistently, perhaps to ingratiate himself with almost all other reporters at the Post.

The following quote from his "Sessions Lessons" article indicates that Charles must be living in a cave:

Moreover, in America we dont lock up political adversaries. They do that in Turkey. They do that (and worse) in Russia. Part of American greatness is that we dont criminalize our politics.

Don't criminalize our politics? Where has Krauthammer been?

The Obama administration and FBI started an investigation and started spying on Trump in July 2016 either based on nothing or else a fake dossier.

The Obama administration illegally unmasked a large number of people, none of whom happened to be Democrats.

The Obama administration illegally spied for years.

The Obama administration threatened to put reporters in jail.

Democrats and a special counsel are threatening to impeach Trump for supposed collusion with the Russians, yet there has been no actual crime.

The Justice Department and Democratic attorneys general throughout the U.S. have threatened to jail adversaries on climate change for no actual crimes.

Obama had IRS target political opponents to shut them up.

...and now Krauthammer acts as though Obama never criminalized politics, yet Trump has, because he said negative things about Jeff Sessions and Hillary Clinton. Where has Trump threatened criminal action for someone who just disagrees with him? I would ask Charles: Where did Trump threaten to criminalize anything any of his opponents did that weren't crimes already, and why did he write an article implying that he did?
So Obamacare reform (repeal, replace, reanimate...re-nothing!) is dead and buried, right? Not so fast. Rep. Mark Meadows wants to resurrect the issue by introducing a brand new bill  a Zombie Obamacare reform bill that he says can "get to 51" in the Senate.

Washington Examiner:

Rep. Mark Meadows, a key negotiator in the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, said a new effort is underway to write a bill that can pass the Senate that would include proposals offered by Sens. Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy, Ted Cruz, and Rob Portman. "We continue to work on two different plans with our Senate colleagues," Meadows, R-N.C., told the Washington Examiner. "We will continue to do that over the next couple of weeks on a plan that can get to 51" votes in the Senate. Meadows said he has talked to senators, including Graham, in the hours after this morning's failure to pass a "skinny" repeal bill, and the mood is "all hands on deck" to come up with a new deal.

"All hands on deck"? But what sort of ship will be sailing? A ghost ship, methinks.

"I believe we deliver, still, on healthcare," Meadows said. To suggest that everything is over is not understanding the dynamics going on right now in the Senate. It's not over." Amendments sponsored by the four senators have yet to receive an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, which made them impossible to pass under special Senate rules that circumvent a Democratic filibuster. Now there is time to get the information from CBO, Meadows said. Cruz, of Texas, sponsored an amendment that would allow health insurers to offer a range of plans, which proponents believe would lower premiums, while Portman, of Ohio, offered a proposal to shore up Medicaid with additional federal spending to ensure low-income earners don't get shut out of healthcare. Graham, of South Carolina, and Cassidy, of Louisiana, have their own plan they are eager to try to pass, which would give states control of Obamacare dollars. "We can be disappointed with the results," Meadows said. "At this point, this is one try on the Senate side. We probably have two more tries before we have to pack it up and go.

I think we all understand the "dynamics" of health care reform just fine. It ain't going anywhere  even if, by some miracle, 51 senators could be hypnotized into supporting Meadows's alternative, there are so many poison pills in the bill, the House would sooner drink hemlock than pass it.

Obamacare reform has fallen victim to the Republican civil war. While there may have been an opportunity at one time to get something done in the Senate, the factions have gone to the mattresses and there is zero consensus on how to proceed.

Meadows is dreaming if he thinks he can construct a bill that will satisfy conservatives, moderates, the president, and the House of Representatives. Where is Monty Python's parrot when we need it?
Many people are saying that President Trump is crazy. Here are just some of the things I believe show that the previous president was the crazy one.

President Obama threatened to cut off education funds if schools didn't allow boys to go into girls' facilities if they felt like girls. Anyone who not only thinks that it is OK for boys to expose their sex organs to girls, but thinks the government should force everyone to allow it is off his rocker.

He continually lied when saying people could keep their doctors and their plans and premiums would drop substantially. Jonathan Gruber said they had to lie to get the stupid American people to support Obamacare. Pathological liars are both crazy and dangerous.

He kept Eric Holder even after Holder committed perjury. It is crazy that honesty was of so little importance to the president.

He knowingly allowed Hillary to accept and send classified documents on a personal computer and server. It is crazy and stupid for him to say he didn't know when he had personally sent her email. It is hard to describe a president who said he didn't see anything that put the U.S. in jeopardy or that violated the law. Crazy seems inadequate.

He continually illegally spied on people, including political enemies throughout his term in office. Paranoia certainly shows a mental illness.

He blamed Bush throughout his term, and now he and others blame Trump for the collapse of Obamacare. The fact that the media allow this deflection of blame shows that they are crazy, too.

He, Hillary, and others allowed Americans to die while concocting a lie about a video. Again, pathological liars are crazy and dangerous. Did the president go into hiding that night? We still don't know where he was that night, and the media never have cared.

He propped up Iran, the biggest supporter of terrorism throughout the world, when Iran was collapsing. That is crazy and dangerous.

He believes that if the people just give the government trillions of dollars, they can control the temperature, sea levels, and storms forever. Anyone with delusions of grandeur like that is bat crazy.

He promised flexibility to Russia and laughed at Romney when he said how dangerous Russia was. Now he pretends that he was always tough on Russia. Of course, the media also pretend. Selective memory could be a sign of craziness.

I can think of other indications that Obama was crazy, but I will leave that to others.

President Trump wants to give freedom, power, and purse back to the people. That is not crazy; it is what our founders intended.
Trump-hater Bret Stephens, recruited to the New York Times to add even more Trump hatred to its opinion pages, today calls the half-year-old Trump stewardship "the most morally grotesque administration in American history," while denouncing its "enablers."

Huh?

Yes, I agree that a few of these people  led by DJT  make salacious and idiotic comments.

But I would call Obama's reign the most morally grotesque in history.

Why?

His foreign policy has led to genocide in Syria, a mass exodus of migrants into Europe that severely weakens that continent, allowing China and Russia to run rampant and  saving the worst for last  empowering Iran and helping that country develop what will be a nuclear missile assembly line. Iran openly incites and calls for genocide. Genocide is happening in Syria via Assad, Iran, and the Russians  thanks to Obama ignoring his red lines and enriching Iran. He screwed allies and empowered our adversaries.

Plus Obama's rampage against oil and gas helped bolster oil and natural gas prices. Trump came on board and sent signals that have helped to cause these prices to decline  hurting Iran, Russia, and the petrocrats.

Which presidency is the most morally grotesque?
This past week's Senate Judiciary Committee featured Mr. Bill Browder, an international financier with extensive knowledge of the Russian government. Under questioning from Sen. Lindsey Graham, Browder revealed that the Russians paid Fusion GPS to create the infamous "golden shower dossier" on Trump. According to Browder, the Russians were looking to stir up trouble to harm Trump's presidential bid. That's how the Russkies roll, Browder essentially said. They like to create chaos.

Okay, I'll bite. Let's pretend it's a hack job by the Russians instead of an inside leak, despite all evidence to the contrary regarding the DNC's compromised server. If Browder's testimony about Fusion GPS is correct, even deplorable Americans can quickly connect the dots. I offer Donna in Oregon as an example. She writes:

Wait..waitI need to catch up here. This Golden Showers report was paid for by Russia.made by the Brits.picked up by John McCaindelivered to James ComeyJames Comey paid them $50,000.00 to further investigate Donald Trumpand now we have a Special Counsel to investigate President Donald Trump's involvement. Am I up to speed? Is that muh Russia?

(Author's note: The FBI didn't actually pay the $50,000 because the Brit  Steele  couldn't produce any facts to back up his claims in the dossier. Plus there's no hard evidence that Russians hacked anything of relevance. In fact, the evidence points elsewhere, as noted above.)

The Trump collusion meme is slowly but surely turning on Democrats. Facts tend to have that effect. The MSM soon will backtrack and do their best impression of Emily Litella from the original SNL cast, who famously ended her weekly screed with the disclaimer: never mind! Then it will be on to the next manufactured scandal. Trump is proving to be an elusive rascal.

Naturally, and to top it all off, if Donald Trump was bribed by the Russians to lie about their mutual collusion, Trump surely would have reported this expense on his income tax returns. Common sense alone would tell you that, right? Who doesn't report bribery payments? Thus, Trump's delay in voluntarily releasing his tax returns is prima facie evidence of collusion with the Russians. That must be why he doesn't make them public.

Believe it or not, there actually is a statement in the IRS instruction manual that requires citizens to report bribe receipts as income. Read it for yourself on the IRS's website.

Yes, folks, someone at the IRS actually went there. I can hear the committee meeting now:

Fred: Are we missing anything?

Sue: Well, what about income from bribes and meth sales? They should be regarded as 1099 income. But not deductible from gross. Those folks don't deserve tax relief.

Fred: Good thinking, Sue. Let's start with bribes and see how it goes.

There you have it. If that won't stop bribery, nothing will. I'm sure the Russians will provide that 1099 in a jiffy.

All that notwithstanding, the IRS overlooked one minor detail. The obligation to report income from bribery refers only to the person who receives the bribe, not the person who pays it. Thus, Trump is not obligated to report the illicit payments on his tax return. But still, if he did pay it, he should have reported it, shouldn't he, even if it required an addendum page, owing to the fact that there's no line item for "bribes paid." That's what rocket surgeon and Senate Judiciary Committee member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) would have us believe. Yes, Rhode Island, you voted him into office.

In unrelated news, jobs are up, wages are improving, manufacturing is on the rise, illegal immigration has dwindled, NAFTA is being retooled, bilateral trade agreements are underway, ISIS is facing decimation, the Paris Climate Accord is kaput, and Obamacare is in a death spiral. Democrats are out of ideas, and Republicans once again prove they don't deserve to be in charge. Ironically, America's outlook on the future is positive. Huh. I wonder why!

I'll leave you to connect the dots.
How Often Do Rape Charges Lead to Sex Crime Convictions?

A new report from the Idaho State Police paints a pretty bleak picture of the state's efforts to prosecute rape: just four percent of reported rapes in Idaho result in the accused being convicted of a sex crime. Only 24 percent of reported sex offenses statewide resulted in an arrest (compared to 50 percent of alleged other violent crimes), and rape charges were the most likely to be amended or modified to lesser offenses.

How do the Gem State's numbers compare to nationwide rape prosecution statistics? And what are the obstacles between rape reports and sex crime convictions?

From Crime to Charge to Conviction

Depending on your source, somewhere between 80 to 95 percent of rapes are never reported to law enforcement, making rape vastly under-reported as opposed to other crimes. So police and prosecutors are not investigating the vast majority of rapes. And even then, as in Idaho, reported rapes rarely end in criminal convictions. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, of the 109,060 rapes reported to law enforcement nationwide in 1992, just 21,655 resulted in felony rape convictions (and 80 percent of those were guilty pleas).

More recently, RAINN estimates that out of every 1,000 incidents of rape, only seven perpetrators will be convicted of a felony. This is compared to 22 felony convictions per 1,000 robbery cases and 41 felony convictions for every 1,000 assaults. And it's not only under-reporting that leads to fewer convictions: of those crimes reported to police, just 2 percent of rape reports resulted in conviction, while 3.5 percent of reported robberies and 6.5 percent of reported assaults saw perpetrators convicted.

Prosecutorial Problems

There are myriad reasons why rape reports lead to so few sex crime convictions, one being the difficulty of proving a negative. In most cases, the question isn't whether intercourse or penetration happened, but whether it was consensual. And given the vast majority of rapes are perpetrated by someone the victim knows, proving a lack of consent can be challenging. Also, from police and prosecutors to judges and juries, too many people still see rape accusations as "he said, she said" disagreements rather than serious crimes.

And then there is the persistent myth of a woman scorned -- someone who, for whatever reason, consented to sex but then regretted the decision and decided to claim she was raped. But most studies have found that just 2 to 8 percent of alleged rapes are false reports. None of these are good enough reasons for such a large discrepancy between rape charges and sex crime convictions.

Related Resources:
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Virtual Kidnapping Scams on the Rise

Few things are as terrifying as the thought of a loved one, especially a child, being kidnapped. So when the phone rings and someone says they have your daughter and will kill her immediately if you hang up or fail to wire $10,000, most parents will do whatever is possible to save their child.

That's exactly the kind of compliance scam artists are counting on when they call unsuspecting parents and relatives, a practice that's been on the rise in recent years.

Vulnerable Targets

Even a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant was caught up in a virtual kidnapping scam. He told the Los Angeles Times that a woman screamed, "Daddy, help me" into his phone in 2015, and even though didn't recognize the voice, he didn't hang up either. "All that training kind of goes out the window when it's personal to you," he said. "They specifically threatened to put a bullet in the back of my child's head."

A male voice got on the line and threatened to kill the sergeant's daughter if he didn't pay a ransom. Lucky for him, he was able to flag down some Torrance police officers who contacted his daughter's school to confirm she was safe before he wired any money. Other virtual kidnapping victims haven't been so lucky -- West L.A. resident Valerie Sobel wired scam artists $4,000 and a Virginia woman spent five horrifying hours wiring a total of $10,000 in small transfers to Mexico before being able to contact her daughter.

Don't Hang Up

A key component of the virtual kidnapping scam is a victim's inability to confirm whether a loved one is safe. Scammers target cell phones and tell victims not to hang up or the loved one will be killed. As hard as it may be however, LAPD Captain William Hayes recommends not following the caller's orders. "If you get a phone call like this," Hayes said, "immediately hang up. Contact that loved one."

And then contact police.

Related Resources:
MadridAvoiding any last-minute surprises, the Spanish government has followed to the letter its well-rehearsed response to Catalonias independence bid. Having received the endorsement of the Council of State only the day before, on Friday the Spanish executive formally asked the Constitutional Court (TC in Spanish) to suspend the new rules approved on Wednesday by the Catalan parliament that would allow it to fast-track key independence legislation.

Mariano Rajoy made the announcement himself during the customary press conference where the PM reflects on his governments policies to date, ahead of the summer recess. Rajoy stressed that the Catalan parliaments new rules merely aim to expedite independence and to impose without qualms a radical, divisive secessionist agenda, as well as destroy the law and Catalonias home rule. Rajoy's appeal was endorsed by Spains Council of State, which only needed twenty hours to issue a favourable report.

The Council warned that the new rules of the Catalan chamber are a violation of the right to participate of the minority in parliament which supposedly conflicts with article 23.2 of the Spanish Constitution and article 96 of the Catalan Statute. Rajoy emphasised that as mentioned in the report, the right of the parliaments minority to engage in political debate on equal terms, as guaranteed by the law, may have been infringed upon.

The Constitutional Court will meet on Monday

Spains TC will meet on Monday at 17.30 and will presumably allow the governments appeal, thus suspending the Catalan parliaments changes which will have been approved not even five days earlier. Two weeks ago the court held its last session before the summer recess, but the judges had remained on call in the event that such an appeal should be filed.

PM Rajoy insisted that there wont be any referendum because it is unlawful and he mentioned Foment del Treball, the employers group that recently slammed Catalonias referendum law calling it a legal coup detat, as well as the criticisms aimed at the October 1 vote by the head of the Catalan parliaments legal services. These facts prove that Catalan society, on the whole, is diverse and has a moderate disposition, he said, and he vowed to remain determined to uphold the law with restraint and to the extent which the rule of law allows for. Nevertheless, Rajoy insisted that he remains willing to discuss matters with Catalonias institutions.

Mariano Rajoy did not seem unduly concerned over the issues which his team has recently warned the Catalan authorities about. For instance, he did not mention the threat to cut Catalonia off Spains Regional Liquidity Fund (FLA, in Spanish) and he admitted that he didnt know whether the Catalan government has already acquired the ballot boxes for the referendum on independence. He also claimed "no knowledge of any interrogations of members of the Pact for the Referendum by the Guardia Civil without a court order, as Catalonias High Court has pointed out. Still, sources from the Spanish government claimed that the ballot boxes have not been purchased yet and that any information to the contrary is "merely a rumour.

The goal: to abort the independence bid

Furthermore, Rajoy gave no details of his governments next steps, but he stated that he has no intention to take away Puigdemonts power to call elections in order to hold a snap ballot in Catalonia. He did emphasise that things must return to normal in Catalonia after October 1. We cannot have another four-year term like this, he said, and he asked to turn a new page on Catalan politics. Rajoy added that he has already discussed the scenario after October 1 with Ciudadanos and the PSOE and he is keeping them permanently informed about his governments plans to stop the vote. We have had a preliminary discussion about what will happen after October 1, but no decisions have been taken, he remarked.

The subject of Catalonia keeps cropping up in Rajoys yearly political overview before the summer break. Two years ago he referred to the Catalan elections of September 27 as the greatest threat to Spain. A year earlier, it was the non-binding referendum of November 9 2014. Rajoy will be holidaying in Pontevedra whilst keeping an eye on the Catalan government. Yesterday a Spanish government official joked that we have been looking forward to Puigdemont going on holiday. We can relax for as long as he stays out of the picture.

No action is expected against the tabling of the referendum bill

Spanish government sources claim that no legal action is expected against the Catalan referendum bill, which is due to be tabled in parliament next Monday. They stress that the entire Board of the Catalan parliament has been warned that they mustnt table any referendum legislation unless they wish to face criminal charges and Madrid will only take action once the Board has made a move. The same sources say that the new legislation will be put on the back burner for a while and that it will not get the green light. This way and once the TC has suspended the reform of the Catalan parliament Madrid is hoping to avert the independence vote once and for all.

A phone call with Puigdemont

At present the relationship between Rajoy and Puigdemont is non-existent. However, today Rajoy rang the Catalan president to hear about the train crash in Barcelona and show his sympathy. Both leaders posted messages on Twitter thanking each other. Spanish vice president Soraya Saenz de Santamaria also rang her Catalan counterpart, Oriol Junqueras. The Spanish PM noted that they had only discussed the crash and did not mention any plans to meet the Catalan leader.

Rajoy complains about endless corruption questions

The subject of Catalonia was the highlight of Rajoys press conference and Wednesdays statement as a witness before the Supreme Court over the Gurtel corruption case took back seat. During the Q&A, the Spanish premier complained that the opposition keeps asking him about the same issue nearly a decade later. Rajoy stated that I believe we have enough political problems in Spain as it is, and we shouldnt give the public the idea that the most important issue is a ten-year-old affair. He stressed that he has every intention to work with justice.

Rajoy used the press conference to take aim at PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez over his deal with Podemos to try to force an extraordinary session in parliament to question the PM about his partys corruption scandals. Rajoy remarked that anything that gets blown out of proportion always becomes irrelevant. And, besides, its a bad idea to allow anxiety to guide your actions.
Yesterday Spanish democracy saw an unprecedented happening: the appearance of a sitting prime minister as a witness in a criminal trial, and a corruption case at that. Mariano Rajoy was questioned in the trial of the Gurtel affair, one of the worst scandals of recent years in Spain, with dozens of businesspeople and PP party officials being prosecuted, such as former treasurer Luis Barcenas. Our readers will recall that the alleged scheme, led by Francisco Correa, involved bribing PP politicians in exchange for favours. It was through this investigation that the PP was found to be keeping a slush fund fuelled by illegal commissions, which they used to pay off-the-books bonuses to the partys leadership, including prime minister Rajoy himself.

Curiously (or not), the Spanish Guardia Civil (gendarmerie) yesterday questioned two high-ranking officials of the Catalan government in relation with the 1 October independence vote. They have also called for Joan Ignasi Elena, president of the National Pact for the Referendum, to make a statement today. The Pact was an organisation that collected signatures to carry out a referendum, sure, but a referendum under terms negotiated with Madrid. Is this a smoke screen?

But back to Rajoy. What did he say yesterday in front of the judge? Well, he claimed that he knew nothing. That the PPs finances arent his business and his responsibility is politics, not accounting. In other words, he followed the political leaders playbook when talking about party finances: the responsibility belongs entirely with the treasurers.

But everything has a limit and, now, facing the avalanche of evidence as to how the PP was funded, there is little room to think that Mariano Rajoy knew nothing about the origin of that influx of cash that was used to pay for election campaigns far beyond the partys means and, certainly, beyond the means of the other political parties. Rajoys testimony is not credible.

Yesterdays statement was unprecedented for another reason. Rajoy didnt testify as just another witness. Rather, he sat next to the jury in a show of flagrant favouritism. Justice cant make this type of distinction because it breaks the principle of equality of all citizens before the law. The overall result is that Rajoy was spared an even more uncomfortable picture and was allowed the luxury of looking like an extra in the battle between the counsel for the defence and the prosecution. The show, however, was pathetic, a real mockery that we will continue to suffer for as long as Rajoy remains in office.
Types of Illegal Price Advertising

After it came out this week that Amazon, like airlines and Uber before it, employs surge pricing on its products, consumers were rightfully peeved -- why should the same product cost more just because more people want it, especially when that price hike isn't being passed on to the product's manufacturer?

Surge pricing, while not customers' favorite, isn't illegal in and of itself. But there are plenty of other pricing practices that will get a small business in trouble with the law. Here are a few.

Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing, which like surge pricing can fluctuate based on demand, is likewise not per se illegal. But price discrimination can cross the line if it's based on impermissible factors like race, gender, religion, or nationality, or if it violates federal antitrust statutes by injuring a consumer's ability to compete for fair prices.

Bait and Switch

Businesses are also barred from advertising an offer or a product with no intention of honoring the offer or selling the product at that price. This can be especially prevalent in online marketplaces where companies can purchase ads or adwords without proof that they offer a product. Groupon was sued for this practice after a San Francisco-based tour company claimed the coupon service purchased tour-related keywords in Google's AdWords service, but didn't back those with actual tour-related coupons.

Fake Sale Pricing

We all love to get a good deal, but how do we know how good the deal is? Normally, by comparing the sale price and the original price. A good practice, so long as retailers aren't lying about the original price. A recent lawsuit targeted Macy's, Kohl's, JCPenny, and Sears, for doing just that. Some consumer protection laws prohibit retailers from claiming an item is on sale from an original, non-sale, price if they haven't actually offered the item at that price within the last three months.

Pricing is generally up to the seller, but sellers need to beware these illegal pricing laws.

Related Resources:
I am running soon for a plane headed to Sweden. But first: I must tell you about a discovery by blogger, Rifftides reader and tune-detective-first-class Tarik Townsend. Mr. Townsend (pictured) writes that he has found a recording of one of the most elusive quotes that Paul Desmond ever worked into a solo. As evidence, his story incorporates three videos, one of which has the quote itself. Its a valuable and entertaining discovery. I congratulate Mr. Townsend for his diligent pursuit of a piece of Desmond ephemera that might have remained obscure but for the Townsend determination. To read his report and hear the music, go to his blog, which he named, Its A Raggy Waltz. Come back here after you listen, for a final thought

In the Townsend piece, you heard Dave Brubeck voicing his enthusiasm for his partners wit. The appreciation the two had for one anothers work was frequently on display. They did not hold back their admiration for humor and harmonic resourcefulness. When the enthusiasm surfaced it was one of the factors that drew audiences in and helped make themas Brubeck put itthe fifth member of the quartet.

Dave loved to laugh. Paul was happy to help.
Police had to step out, use canes, register complaints and take people into custody due to the incidents.

Bhopal/Indore/Mumbai: Congress and BJP workers on Friday clashed in front of a cinema hall in Indore which was screening Madhur Bhandarkar's film 'Indu Sarkar', based on the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975.

Police used canes to disperse the BJP and Congress workers who came to blows near Indore's Sapna-Sangeeta cinema hall, where the movie was being shown.

An official from Indore's Bhanwarkua police station said BJP and Congress workers shouted slogans and made advances against each other, forcing the police to use canes to disperse them.

Congress activists alleged that Bhandarkar distorted facts and the film seeks to tarnish the image of the party among the people of the country.

On the other hand, the BJP workers claimed the Congress was trying to suppress the freedom of expression.

Meanwhile in Bhopal, the BJP urged its workers and the public to watch the film, which released on Friday.

"The country passed through a bad phase during the Emergency. The BJP workers as well as common citizens should watch the film to know what happened during the Emergency," state BJP media in-charge Lokendra Parashar told PTI.

The democratic system had collapsed during that 21-month-long period in 1975-77 and BJP workers should know about it so that such a thing does not happen again, he said.

However, state Congress spokesman K K Mishra claimed the film is "fully sponsored" and seeks to tarnish the image of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, in a tweet, said he is going to watch the political thriller with his family members in Indore.

He also urged his supporters to watch the movie, which stars Kirti Kulhari, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Anupam Kher, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Supriya Vinod.

Congress workers also on Friday disrupted shows of Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Indu Sarkar', the film based on the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975, at several cinema halls in the state.

As the film released on Friday, party workers stalled its screening at some theatres and multiplexes in Thane, Nanded, Nashik and Jalgaon districts. However, the shows resumed later amid tight police security, police officials said.

"Police have kept a strict vigil outside the theatres and no untoward incident has been reported so far," they said.

At Kolshewdi in neighbouring Thane district, Congress workers gathered outside a shopping mall, which houses a multiplex, and held protests around 9 am, a police official added.

"The party activists pulled out placards and shouted slogans and disrupted the show. At least 10 party workers have been detained in this connection," he said.

In Thane city, around 15 Congress workers were taken into custody after they held protests outside a multiplex.

"Two separate offences were registered against Congress workers at Kolshewadi and Vartaknagar police stations accordingly," he added.

In Nanded city, at least 15 party men gathered outside a theatre, where 'Indu Sarkar' was scheduled to be screened.

However, the theatre had been kept shut by the owner since midnight, the official said.

The Congress has condemned the alleged "false depiction" in 'Indu Sarkar' based on the Emergency, claiming the film is "fully sponsored".
Arjun Kapoor is light and breezy, and Anil Kapoor as Kartar is excellent. He is the films emotional and loony core.

Rating:

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Pawan Malhotra, Ratna Pathak Shah, Rahul Dev, Ileana DCruz, Athiya Shetty, Neha Sharma

Director: Anees Bazmee

If someone were to go around conducting a community-wise survey to unearth the reasons why families do pakki-kutti with their loved ones, Punjabis would stand tall for having the most epic quarrels and enmity over the most trivial things. Surveyors would also find that most of these tiffs are located in some matrimonial scenario.

I remember a wedding where all the baratis were mighty miffed and blessing the innocent, gori-chitti, new-new bahu with such dripping scorn that one would have thought she had tiptoed into their rooms at night and cut offs all straps of all bras.

But no. The reason was that the new bahus family had served rajma twice to the baratis, the boys side  once on arrival, and once the next afternoon.

They might as well have collected every bra and underwear that the baratis possessed, made a bonfire and made the bride do laavan-pheras around it in a black bra-panty.

In the land of puttars and papajis, the moonch matters above all. And it reacts instantly, either by wilting sadly, soaked with heartbroken tears, or quaking vigorously with anger at the slightest, often perceived besti.

I dont know who handed the results of one such survey to Anees Bazmee, but his Mubarakan could not have been more true or more lunatic and funny.

Theres prerequisite though, to enjoying Mubarakan. If you dont get Punjabi, I mean their language-shanguage and habits-vabits, youll wonder why some people in the hall are guffawing so hard that the entire row is shaking.

If you do, then, well, balle-balle and shawa-shawa.

One day in England, in a tragic accident, one brother (Sanjay Kapoor) dies along with his wife, leaving his two judwa sons to his younger brother, Kartar Singh (Anil Kapoor).

But bachelor Kartar cant handle two infants, so he hands one to his UK-resident sister Jeeto (Ratna Pathak Shah), and packs off the other to his brother Baldev (Pawan Malhotra) in Punjab.

Upon becoming gabru-jawans, cut-Surd Karan (UK-based Arjun Kapoor) and pagri-walla Charan (Punjab-dwelling Arjun Kapoor) find themselves girlfriends.

Karan loves Sweety Gill (Ileana DCruz), and Charan loves Nafisa Ali Khan (Neha Sharma), but neither has the jigra to tell their parents.

Obvo, Jeeto has an encounter with Sweety in true SRK-Amrish Puri style (DDLJ), and Baldev, well, since he wont serve anything Mughlai at his posh Purani Haveli dhaba, hes not likely to allow Charan to bring home Razia Sultan.

Meanwhile, Jeeto decides that the very rich Sandhu saabs (Rahul Dev) daughter Binkle (Athiya Shetty) will marry Karan. But chalu Karan pushes Charan.

Bechara Charan confides in Kartar about gfriend Nafisa, and chachu throws a druggie twist in the midst.

This leads to the films big, blistering syappa!

Someone falls, theres some name-calling followed by silly confusion over a barking dog. At the end, Baldev is giving angry-and-hurting-with-besti look to Jeeto, whose innards are in flames with memories of her jawani spent bringing up little Baldev who is now making her see this worst-day-of-her-life-ever.

In true Punjabi style, big-big challenges are given to self to spite the other. And this is duly followed up by days and nights when men have too much sharaab and women keep folding hands and giving forlorn looks to Wahe Guruji in photo-frames and up in the sky.

Since everyones moonch has has been insulted, and paen-praa (behen-bhai) have sworn never, ever to see each others bootha (face), over many more large pegs of whiskey, terrible plans are hatched by Kartar which go terribly wrong, making the confusion more complicated.

Soon, Karan is to marry Binkle, and Charan is to wed Sweety, even though Nafisa keeps screaming at Charan to do something. It looks like Charans paying attention, but actually, mann hi mann mein, he singing Binkle-Binkle little star

And then, dead Veerjis bhoot arrives, with an attendant gora angel, to show Kartar the only way forward.

Director Anees Bazmees Mubarakan, written by Balwinder Singh Janjua and Gurmmeet Singh, is a very entertaining, enjoyable comedy of bad manners. It is politically incorrect and completely in control of its screwball plot, gags, funny asides, mental lines and sparkling characters.

In Mubarakans England, as was the case in Australia in Bazmees Singh Is Kinng (2011), the goras exist only to service the Punjabis. Theres poor Jolly, who keeps getting slapped, one druggie, some velle valets and neighbours without a life.

But the films strength really lies in the fact that each scene, exchange, character has a strong Punjabi flavour. Theres the shaadi ka card which looks like a 2-kg mithai box, Baldev using gargles to express his anger, a father of a bride whose only purpose in life is to hold on to his credit card till its needed.

Mubarakans plot uses encounters between the squabbling siblings and Kartars idiotic schemes to keep twisting the silly, tense situation tighter and tighter.

Disaster  wrong boy marrying the wrong girl  is imminent all the time and attempts to avert it only makes it spiral out of everybodys control till, in the end, some slaps are exchanged. That gives everyone a lot of maan ki shaanti and reason for a big jhappi.

Mubarakan is also a nice looking film that has a sharp tongue.

The films dialogue, by Rajesh Chawla, are all insult-laden sentences. Whether may be the issue or occasion, no chance is spared to abuse or offend someone.

I also liked that the writers made the judwa brothers wimpy, and their babes belligerent. The girls are smarter and cooler than the boys, and one of them even has a job. Ileana and Neha Sharma are spunky, and Im still wondering how to say what I want to say about Athiya Shetty without sounding mean.

Arjun Kapoor is light and breezy, and Anil Kapoor as Kartar is excellent. He is the films emotional and loony core.

But Mubarakan really belongs to Pavan Malhotra and Ratna Pathak Shah.

Enough has not been said or written about how fabulous an actor Mr Malhotra is. His comic timing is sharp, and here it is matched rather nicely by Ms Pathaks exaggerated, animated reactions.

Theres such spontaneity to their interactions that they make even the stony-faced Rahul Dev seem interesting.
With films like Timecrimes, Extraterrestrial, and some shorts in V/H/S Viral and ABCs of Death, Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo has made a name for himself for executing original ideas with heart and meaning behind whatever sci-fi or horror backdrop he uses. Not many people have done as great a job as he has on a consistent basis, while providing excellent characters and monsters all in the same film. Whenever there is a film with Nacho Vigalondos name attached to it, you need to run to the theater, grab your favorite candy and simply enjoy whats about to be shown, because you wont be forgetting it anytime soon.

That brings us to his latest opus called Colossal. There is so much more to this story than giant robots, monsters, and Kaijus. Colossal tells the story of Gloria (Anne Hathaway), who would rather get drunk every night than be responsible. Because of this, she loses her job and boyfriend in a posh Manhattan building. After this loss, she heads back to her small hometown to live and sort things out. Gloria runs into old flames such as Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), who owns the local bar, as well as some town locals she grew up with as she tries to make a new life for herself.

She is still off the proverbial wagon, getting drunk and making a mess of things, which is when she finds out that she is oddly connected to a giant Kaiju (monster) that has appeared and is attacking South Korea. There are many layers underneath this sci-fi aspect, which Nacho Vigalondo captures and tells perfectly in every scene without giving too much away right at the beginning. There is a path of crumbs and clues he leaves in each scene that furthers the story into whats really going on with Gloria that might hit home for some viewers with some aspects of addiction, loss, and love.

The visual effects are outstanding and never overly done, but rather executed in a simple way when we see the Kaiju monsters appear in South Korea. The characters are very fleshed out and you grow attached to them early on with Vigalondos excellent screenplay as well as Hathaways performance, which is one of my favorite roles shes been in. Sudeikis is also amazing here and is something different than the usual comedic roles were used to seeing him in. Bear McCrearys score is fantastic as always, leaving this small indie film called Colossal one of the better movies youll see all year long.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray

Colossal comes with a 50GB Blu-ray Disc and a DVD copy of the film that is Region A Locked. There is an insert for a digital copy as well. The discs are housed in a hard, blue plastic case with a cardboard/lenticular sleeve case.
Of the 57 Cong MLAs in the state, from where party leader Ahmed Patel is contesting, six resigned from the party in the last two days.

Ahmedabad: The Congress has sent 44 of its legislators to a resort outside Bengaluru to fend off "poaching" attempts by the BJP ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat, a senior party leader said.

Of the 57 Congress MLAs in the state, from where senior party leader Ahmed Patel is contesting, six resigned from the party in the last two days with three of them joining the BJP on Friday.

"Congress has shifted 44 of its MLAs to Bengaluru," Gujarat Congress general secretary Nishit Vyas, who is with the legislators in Bengaluru, said.

"It was for the safety and security of the MLAs who are being threatened if they do not agree to switch sides... that is why we decided to bring them to Bengaluru," he claimed.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani denied the Congress' claims.

"This is the internal problem of Congress as its leader of opposition Shankarsinh Vaghela, its chief whip Balwantsinh Rajput and spokesperson Tajeshriben Patel have quit as they faced difficulties.

"They have taken their MLAs to Bangaluru as they do not have faith in their MLAs," he said in Rajkot.

A section of the Congress' legislators claimed that seven MLAs decided against going with them to Bengaluru. The seven include Vaghela, who has already quit the party, and his MLA son Mahendrasinh Vaghela.

Party sources said Bengaluru was chosen as Congress has its government in Karnataka.

The MLAs have been kept at a resort some 50 km from Bengaluru city, Vyas confirmed without divulging more details.

According to Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Bharat Solanki, the BJP is playing "dirty politics".

"It is luring our MLAs with money, muscle and state power. In such circumstances, our MLAs decided that we should remain together and so they have gone to Bangaluru," Solanki had told reporters here last night.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala has demanded that the Election Commission (EC) lodge a criminal case against the BJP for poaching its MLAs using "money and muscle" power.

The Congress has re-nominated Ahmed Patel, political secretary to party chief Sonia Gandhi, to the Upper House of Parliament from Gujarat.

In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the strength of the Congress has gone down to 51 from 57.

The desertions have cast a shadow on the fate of Patel in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.

The BJP has fielded party president Amit Shah, Union minister Smriti Irani and former Congress MLA Balwantsinh Rajput who joined the BJP on Thursday.

Of the total 11 RS members from the state, the term of three - Smriti Irani and Dilipbhai Pandya (both BJP) and Ahmed Patel - is ending on August 18.
The developments come after at least six Congress MLAs in Gujarat resigned from the party to join the BJP.

As many as 44 of Congress MLAs left for Bengaluru on late Friday night to ensure they do not succumb to police and political pressure to join BJP. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Ahmedabad: In the backdrop of Gujarat Congress MLAs quitting and joining Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as many as 44 of the grand old party MLAs left for Bengaluru on late Friday night to ensure they do not succumb to police and political pressure to join the saffron party.

Speaking to the reporters, Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar said, "To ensure that BJP is not successful in its mission, 44 of us Congress MLAs are leaving from Gujarat for Bengaluru. To hide their failure, the saffron party is trying to make sure our MLAs resign by offering money and through police pressure."

Congress MLAs, who reached Bengaluru late on Friday night, said that there is no pressure and that they are not scared of the saffron party.

One of the MLAs said they will be visiting Tirupati.

Earlier on Friday, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused BJP in the state of horse-trading ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for August 8.

He said, "Crores of rupees have been spent in horse-trading in Gujarat by BJP. One Congress Gujarat MLA Punabhai Gamit has said he was offered Rs 10 crore by BJP to join hands with them."

Following this, Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad laughed off the accusation and said the Congress has become a sinking ship and is not able to hold their own house together.

"Congress has become a sinking ship and the senior leaders, who did not get respect, are now openly saying that they don't want to continue with them. This is the hard fact. The sinking ship is not able to hold itself together," Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

He said Congress has been making baseless allegation against BJP and further called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi to come up and clarify why their party is crumbling down like a deck of cards.

"They have to explain this. The allegations are laughable. They are making it in utter desperation," he said.

The developments come after at least six Congress MLAs in Gujarat resigned from the party to join the BJP.
Of the 27 ministers, 14 are from Janata Dal (United) (JD (U)), 12 from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one from Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

The new ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy at a function at the Raj Bhavan by Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi. (Photo: ANI/Screengrab)

Patna: A day after winning trust vote on the floor of the house, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expanded his cabinet with 27 ministers who took oath on Saturday.

Of the 27 ministers, 14 are from Nitish Kumars Janata Dal (United) (JD (U)), 12 from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pool and one from Ram Vilas Paswans Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

Sources said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar refused to include two of NDA allies Upendra Kushwahas Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Jitan Ram Manji's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) in his cabinet. It is being said that Manjhi had told BJP leaders that he was not keen on joining Nitish Kumars cabinet.

Instead, Jitan Ram Manjhi had asked the BJP to induct another member from his party into the cabinet but the offer was turned down by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

JD (U) sources said that Manjhi is a lone MLA from his party and it was difficult for the Chief Minister to include a Non-MLA into his cabinet.

However, Ram Vilas Paswans younger brother Pashupati Nath Paras who is not a member of legislative assembly was included into the cabinet on Saturday.

As it was being speculated Chief Minister Nitish Kumar handed over the finance, commercial taxes, forest and IT portfolio to Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi after cabinet expansion and oath ceremony Saturday evening.

Modi had earlier handed over the list of 12 members from the BJP to be inducted into the cabinet. Sources said Modi and the Chief Minister had also discussed the distribution of portfolio.

The Chief Minister kept home affairs, general administration and vigilance for himself.

Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Chief Minister on Thursday, a day after he left the grand secular alliance and joined hands with the BJP led NDA. BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had also taken oath as Deputy Chief Minister along with Kumar.

Internal sources said that most of the ministers from the BJP quota who took oath on Saturday are considered close to Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

However, a BJP leader denied the allegation and said that the list was finalized after several rounds of meetings with senior party leaders.

We are happy that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar didnt compromise and chose to leave Lalu Yadav, we will jointly take this state towards development, BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav said after the oath on Saturday.

Former state BJP president and the organizational in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Mangal Pandey couldnt turn up for the oath ceremony as his flight was delayed.

Party sources said, Pandey was supposed to return from Shimla for oath but he remained stranded at Chandigarh airport, a separate arrangement is being made for him and he will take oath after he returns.
Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party MLC and Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder Bukkal Nawab also tendered his resignation.

New Delhi: In a setback to Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party MLC Yashwant Sinha resigned on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party MLC and Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder Bukkal Nawab also tendered his resignation.

After resigning from the party, Nawab praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is doing good work and PM Modi has given a good slogan of 'Sabka sath, sabka vikas'. If they invite, then I might go with BJP. Yogi is also doing a good job in the state; at least there has not been any scam yet," Nawab told ANI.

Taking a jibe at Samajwadi Party and the family drama he said, "I am feeling very suffocated since last one-year. It is clear that when he (Akhilesh) is not with his own father then how can he be with the people."

He added that it doesn't feel right while writing party's name as Samajwadi Party, rather they should call it 'Samajwadi Akhaada', since it has become an arena now.

He further said, "More people may resign from the party soon."
All three submitted their handwritten resignations to the chairman of the Vidhan Parishad and are expected to join the BJP.

New Delhi: After the exodus in the Congress in Gujarat, defections from Samajwadi Party to the BJP seem to have begun in Uttar Pradesh. The SP on Saturday suffered its first major jolt when two of its MLCs resigned from the Vidhan Parishad. One BSP MLC also resigned from the party and the Vidhan Parishad. All three submitted their handwritten resignations to the chairman of the Vidhan Parishad and are expected to join the BJP.

The resignations were perfectly timed with the arrival of BJP president Amit Shah in Lucknow. The resignations of SP MLCs Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh are seen as a move to pave the way for chief minister Yogi Adityanath to enter the state legislature, a condition necessary for holding his post in the government. Following this, there would be no need for Yogi Adityanath to contest an Assembly seat. He will merely need to get elected to the Legislative Council. Five ministers, including chief minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and two ministers Swatantra Dev Singh and Mohsin Raza, are not members of the state legislature yet. They need to get elected to either House before September 19 or when they complete six months in office.

The BSP MLC Thakur Jaiveer Singh also resigned from the Vidhan Parishad. Yeshwant Singh, when contacted, said, Maine apni seat Yogi ji (Adityanath) ke liye samarpit kar di hai. (I have given up my seat to make way forYogiji.). This is an indication that the chief minister will probably take the Vidhan Parishad route to become a member of the state legislature.

Over and above this, the BJP has also set its eyes on SP heavyweights  Shivpal Yadav and Ramgopal Yadav. Cautioning SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, his uncle Shivpal Yadav on Saturday asked him to return the party to his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Akhilesh still has the opportunity. He should hand over partys leadership to Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and move on. Or else, dissension will rise in the party, Shivpal Yadav told the media in Lucknow. There are indications that more legislators from SP and BSP are likely to quit in the coming days. Shivpal Yadav reached Delhi on Saturday and is expected to hold parlyes with his elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Shivpal Yadav, who had earlier indicated that he would float a new political outfit has no intention of joining or merging his proposed outfit with BJP. The main objective of this outfit would be to damage the Akhilesh-led SP and offer issue-based support to the BJP, sources said. Earlier when talking about the proposed outfit, Shivpal Yadav had said: Humne ek mauka diya hai ki pura pariwar ikattha ho aur Netaji ko fir se samman mile. Agar nahi to Samajwadi Secular Morcha Netaji ke netritwa mein jald hi banayenge aur samajik nyay ki ladayi ladenge, (We have given them a final opportunity to end differences in the family, come together and give respect to the SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. If that does not happen, we will form the Saamajwadi Secular Morcha led by Netaji to fight for social justice).

As for Akhilesh Yadavs other uncle, Ram Gopal Yadav, there were murmrus that he too could be coysing upto the BJP. Eyebrows were raised when Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi attended a party in Delhi hosted by Mr Ram Gopal Yadav a couple of days back. Reports indicated that Mr Modi also praised Mr Yadav in the party. It may be recalled that Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav not only announced his support to the BJP in the presidential elections but he and his younger brother Shivpal Yadav even voted for Mr Ram Nath Kovind.

The Opposition leaders seemed to be in a total state of confusion following the sudden exodus of their legislators and leaders. Reacting to his MLA joining BJP the SP president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said that he had met Bhukkal Nawab on Eid last month and had no idea about his change of heart. BSP president Ms Mayawati, said in a statement that the BJPs craving for power has turned into a lust for power. The BJP is becoming dangerous for democracy. Deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya said that he was now working towards a SP-BSP mukt UP and the BJP would soon achieve its target.
Amit Shah is scheduled to address over 18 meetings during his three-day visit to Lucknow.

BJP National President Amit Shah being welcomed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditiyanath at the state office, in Lucknow. (Photo: PTI)

Lucknow: In an initiative to bridge the gap between the party and the government, BJP president Amit Shah has asked UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath to meet party workers without an appointment, at least two days in a week.

The chief minister has assured that he and all his ministers will now meet party workers every Monday and Tuesday without prior appointment.

Mr Shah was addressing a meeting of party leaders from Kashi, Gorakhpur, Avadh and Kanpur regions after his arrival on a three-day tour of the state when several leaders complained that officers were not entertaining their complaints.

The party leaders said that the distance between the party and the government was increasing. Also, some of them said that the new mining policy was creating problems in the rural areas because of the spurt in prices of sand and other construction material. The BJP leaders also lodged complaints about the Dial 100 services.

Mr Shah is scheduled to address over 18 meetings during his three-day visit to Lucknow. During this tenure, he will meet office bearers of various frontal organisations, ministers and other leaders. Also, he will interact with the functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh (RSS).

According to BJP sources, Mr Shah is also expected to resolve issues prevailing between chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya. Reports of a cold war between the two leaders have been doing the rounds for the past few weeks.

BJP national vice-president and in-charge of the state, Om Prakash Mathur, and national general secretary Arun Singh will accompany Mr Shah on this visit.

Mr Shahs visit comes after BJP MPs from UP had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and voiced their disenchantment with the state government last week in New Delhi.
The effectiveness of Ayurveda is its preventive and curative aspects.

Dr Syal Kumar, an Ayurveda doctor hailing from Ernakulam, has been the head of the department for Indian medicine at University DuisburgEssen in Germany since 2009. In an interview to Vinod Nedumudy, he says that there is increasing acceptance for Ayurveda in Germany. However, there is still lack of a standardised protocol for practising.

Q. How did you choose the research topic?

I work in a university hospital for integrative medicine established in 1999, which started as a model hospital for the German state NRW. After 5 years of scientific evaluation from the university board, the first German Chair for Complementary and Integrative Medicine was founded by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach-Foundation at the University hospital Duisburg-Essen in 2004 headed by Prof. G.Dobos. The chair paved the way to develop a standardized, natural and integrative medicine syllabus for medical students. In our hospital along with modern medicine, European natural medicine, Chinese medicine (TCM), Traditional Indian medicine- Ayurveda (TIM), Mind body medicine play a major role in patient management. In 2009, the Chair invited me to establish the department of Indian Medicine- Ayurveda with a major focus on patient management, research, publication and education. During my work along with colleges from other departments with the concept integrative medicine, I came across many positive and negative experiences which inspired me to select this topic.

Q. What is the concept of Integrative Medicine at your hospital?

We try to give the best possible therapy for the patient from available medical systems. We selectively combine different medical system treatments or stick to the most effective medical system. In our experience, chronic diseases can be treated well with traditional medicines like TCM, TIM, European herbal medicine and mind body medicine. TIM has room for the Integrative concept. Diseases that are treated with TIM are muscle and joint diseases, gastro Intestinal diseases, dermatological diseases, psychiatric diseases and neurological disease. Leech therapy is a good example of our integrative approach. The clinical study on leech therapy was published from our hospital in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. With TIM, we try to stick to serious Ayurvedic treatment concepts that are followed in reputed hospitals in Kerala.

Q. How can Ayurveda contribute in the integrative medicine field?

The effectiveness of Ayurveda is its preventive and curative aspects. The concept of food and activities, according to the disease condition and the internal classical medication, has got a big role in the integrative concept. This can be administered carefully along with other medical systems like conventional medicine (modern medicine). Panchakarma treatment is an effective treatment method because no other medical system has got the chance to purify the tissues like Ayurveda does. This also can be integrated effectively along with conventional medicine. In certain acute situations and for surgical treatments, conventional medicine is the best choice. Conventional medicine frequently relies on lifelong medication, on which patients come to depend. Many medications have side-effects, and withdrawal symptoms that, if the medications are later discontinued, can become problematic. In such circumstances, Ayurveda can be integrated well. Patients generally respond well to Ayurvedic treatments, experiencing a reduction, and sometimes even a cessation, of their symptoms. It is seen in patients that after Ayurvedic treatment, conventional medicines act better than before, whereby a reduction in the dose can be achieved.

Q. What are the details of your research?

Though Ayurveda is popular in different parts of the world, especially in Germany, there is no standardized protocol to practice Ayurveda, anyone can practice anything in the name of Ayurveda!

During my stay of 14 years in Germany I feel that Ayurveda has to be integrated properly and effectively among doctors who are into natural and integrative medicine. The study was started in 2013 and was completed in 2016. It was an exploratory research focusing on the potential for integrating far eastern medicine into western medicine. Based on Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss 1967, Straus & Corbin 1990), different methods are combined according to the concept of triangulation (Flick 2008). At the beginning of the study, qualitative expert interviews and problem centred interviews were conducted. Study participants were doctors who were practicing Ayurvedic medicine according to the inclusion criteria and were practicing in India and in different regions of Germany. German doctors who practice Ayurveda in their private practices were interviewed in focus groups, in order to focus on the aspect of integration and ambivalences in the process. All the interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Grounded Theory methods. Observation protocols were analyzed with the computer software Maxqda also using Grounded Theory methods.

The major research questions for this study were:

1. How is Ayurveda medicine integrated in the German medical system?

2. How is Ayurveda medicine being practiced and how authentic is this system in Germany?

3. What is the quality of practicing and education of Ayurveda in Germany?

4. Is there any difference in the practice of Ayurveda depending on individual practitioners?

5. What are the qualifications needed to practice Ayurveda medicine and the authenticity of courses being conducted in Germany?

6. What are the challenges faced in practicing Ayurveda medicine and the difficulties for its integration in the German health system?

According to Ayurvedic classics, there are four limbs which support this system. The physician (bhishak), medication (dravya), attendant/therapist (upastata) and patient (rogi). Questions of the interview were created also considering the above four areas. This helped to analyse the Ayurvedic system in depth.

Q. What are your recommendations in the study?

The current situation is somewhat alarming. Hence standardizing international Ayurveda, depending on each country is very much in need, as each country has got its own rules and regulations. This will only happen with the initiation of the Indian Government. Considering the situation in Germany, I developed a recommendation for standardizing Ayurveda and for its safety. A short version of this is

Approval from Indian authority

These standards will aim at internationally functioning clinics and hospitals, doctors, research centres and education institutions.

a) An authority can be formed in India who can grant approval for Ayurvedic clinics and hospitals, doctors, research centres and educational institutes working in other countries according to fixed standards. The authoritys office should be under the Indian Government with members having minimum Ayurveda MD qualifications. The authority can appoint one person, a qualified Ayurvedic doctor who studied in India with MD who works in respective countries, as its representative / contact person and will be closely associated with Indian Embassy.

b) Certification process: Ayurvedic hospitals, clinics, doctors, research centres and educational institutes will be subjected to inspection by local authorities. Depending on this report, the Indian authority will take an appropriate decision and further certification. The local authorities will work in close contact with the Indian embassy.

c) Health ministries of different countries could accept this certificate as a benchmark for Ayurveda and could further inform respective departments and the public.

I think this will help to standardize Ayurveda, thereby doctors can learn well and patients get quality treatment. The ideal medicine is that which helps the patients  whether or not it is classified as conventional, CAM or traditional. This integrative approach of treatment will be the future of medicine and the best way to get rid of ailments.
Seeing the commotion, the other two officials informed the control room and rushed to the ASIs rescue.

New Delhi: An official, from the liquidation department of the Delhi high court in Loknayak Bhawan, allegedly assaulted three policemen belonging to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the highly secured Shastri Bhawan on Wednesday, when they asked him to show his identity card before entering the building.

According to the complaint, the accused, Yadwindra Sharma, had gone to Shastri Bhawan to hand over a summon at one of the ministries, when at the entrance he was stopped by assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Atul Sharma attached to CISF at Shastri Bhawan.

Seeing the commotion, the other two officials informed the control room and rushed to the ASIs rescue. However, an enraged Yadwindra didnt stop and hurled abuses at the officials. Soon, he was taken away by the police. During questioning, he told the police that he is a patient of depression and has extreme behaviour pattern. The Sansad Bhawan police has taken up the case and is probing in this connection.
Aashu told police he and other accused had a heated argument with the player over some issue which led to the attack

New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI): A 34-year-old man was on Friday arrested in connection with the beating up of a differently-abled powerlifter in central Delhi's Paharganj, police said.

Anil Sharma (42), who had represented India at the paralympic games at Rio in 2016, was allegedly beaten up by seven people, including the accused, on July 21, police said.

Ashwini Naath alias Aashu (34) was arrested near north Delhi's Subzi Mandi police station, said Mandeep Singh Randhawa, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central).

The other accused are on the run, he said.

Aashu told police he and other accused had a heated argument with the player over some issue which led to the attack, the police said.

The incident took place on July 21 when Sharma was returning home from a restaurant with his two friends. Sharma is still receiving treatment.
The police has also made special arrangements to prevent any lone wolf attack as Independence Day and Janmashtami festival are on the same day

New Delhi: A 200 mega pixel camera will be a part of the multi-tier ground-to-air security ring in and around Red Fort from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation for the fourth time on Independence Day.

The police has also made special arrangements to prevent any lone wolf attack as Independence Day and Janmashtami festival are on the same day.

A senior police official confirmed that around 1,282 high-quality closed circuit cameras (CCTV), including 500 CCTVs inside and around Red Fort area, will be installed along the routes taken by the PM. A special control room has been set up to monitor the CCTVs for August 15.

For the first time, a German-made 200 mega pixel CCTV camera will be installed as a part of PM security on August 15. The camera has a range of around one kilometre. It has been developed by synchronising 10 cameras of 20 mega pixel each with the help of a special device, said a senior police official.

The camera will be installed by the vendor on a trial basis. If the trail is successful, it will be used during other VVIP visits to the national capital. The CCTV installation work in and around the Red Fort has already been completed.

The vendor installing the 200 mega pixel camera will be giving a demo to senior police officials before the installation. A sniper detection device has also been installed.

It would help identify snipers equipped with any optical/electro-optical surveillance device, like night vision equipment, binoculars, surveillance cameras, or laser range finders, said a police official.

To prevent any lone wolf attack, police is keeping a close watch on vehicles entering the city. Traffic cops have been asked to keep a check on non-destined vehicles.

We have arranged three-layer security barricades, tyre deflate device, and armed policeman at various check points around the Red Fort, added the police official.

All security measures will be in place till late night as Janmashtami is also on the same day. All temples have been put under surveillance. Temple committees have been instructed to install more CCTVs and deploy private security guards. We are conducting routine drills and it will continue till August 14, said an official.
A Mon State official has pledged K16 million (US$11,800) for a traditional Karen wrist trying ceremony, an event celebrating Karen culture and unity.

We are emphasizing development, and trying our best to support tradition and culture, said Saw Myint Khine, Mon States Karen Affairs Minister.

The annual wrist tying ceremony is celebrated on the full moon day of Wagaung to ward off evil spirits. This year, the full moon day of Wagaung falls on August 7.

The state funding will be dispersed among 18 venues in Mon State which plan to hold wrist tying ceremonies, Saw Myint Khine added.

This is the first time the Mon State government has allocated funding for the wrist tying event. In past years, the state government has sponsored Karen New Year ceremonies, and Karen literature courses.

Last years ceremony cost around K2 million. The Karen Literature and Culture Committee paid for the costs, said Saw Tar Paung, secretary of Mawlamyine townships Karen Literature and Culture Committee.
An anonymous call on July 13 had sent the railway police into a tizzy, but the information proved to be wrong.

The police traced the call to a PCO in Mahim, central Mumbai, and zeroed in on Chauhan from CCTV footage. (Photo: Representational/File)

Mumbai: The Government Railway Police (GRP) in Mumbai have arrested a 55-year-old labourer for allegedly making calls warning of bomb blasts at railway stations earlier this month.

An anonymous call on July 13 had sent the railway police into a tizzy, but the information proved to be wrong.

"It was Babu Chauhan who had called the control room at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and said that a blast was likely at the Churchgate station in South Mumbai," said a GRP official on Saturday.

The police traced the call to a PCO in Mahim, central Mumbai, and zeroed in on Chauhan from CCTV footage.

Chauhan, a native of Gujarat who works in the catering industry and lives on a footpath in Mahim, was arrested on Friday under section 177 (furnishing false information) of IPC, the official said.

He was produced in a court on Saturday which remanded him in judicial custody till August 4. After reading about terror attacks in newspapers, he feared similar attacks in the city and called the GRP control room to warn the police, the official said.

"After reading about attack on Amarnath pilgrims in Kashmir, he called the control room the next day and warned about a blast at Churchgate," he said.

Chauhan had also called earlier, on July 5, asking the police to increase the security at railway stations. "He called the control room and said, "Tomorrow is July 6. Increase the security at railway stations as explosives are being brought from Kharghar," the official said.

Though probe is on, it seems that Chauhan didn't have

any mischief in mind, the officer said.
The police suspect that Shitap might have informed the doctor about why he wanted to shut down the nursing home.

Mumbai: The Parksite police has asked for the blueprint and plan of Ghatkopars Siddhi Saidarshan building from the registrar of cooperative housing societies and the Briha-nmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Seventeen persons, including two babies, died in the crash.

The police is also planning to re-record the statements of all the residents of the ill-fated building as the official said they were in shock and with the passage of time, they would have more to share.

Officials are yet to get clarity on what accused Sunil Shitap was planning to make on the ground floor, and hence officials have recorded statement of a woman doctor who used to run Shitaps nursing home till a month ago, when she was asked to leave ahead of the renovation.

The police suspect that Shitap might have informed the doctor about why he wanted to shut down the nursing home.

The breaking of load-bearing pillars in the ground-floor nursing home could have led to the crash, according to the FIR registered by the police in the case.

The police is also trying to track down the labourers and contractors who were working at the site, who will be questioned with the help of the buildings plan.

We are yet to get the exact details of the case that can come from the labourers. We want to question them based on the blueprint to identify the exact pillar that was damaged, which brought down the structure, said a police officer.

The officials are yet to track down architect Ranjit Agale who was supervising the renovation work and was responsible for securing requisite permissions. Agale is on the run and police teams have been formed to search him and the contractors.

A team of 18 personnel of the municipal corporation has also been formed to scan through the debris and find valuables or belongings.

The team is filtering the debris that has been collected at Maniklal ground and whatever has been found has been collected with the police. We are keeping the belongings in our custody, said Sachin Patil, deputy commissioner of police, zone VII.
Acclaimed for her verses, de Souza reached out to the masses through her columns in daily newspapers and scholarly articles in magazines.

Mumbai: Noted English language poet, literary critic and novelist Eunice de Souza, who introduced countless neophytes to the joys of reading, passed away on Saturday at her Mumbai residence.

She was 77 years old. De Souza, who was an English professor and later the head of the department at St Xaviers College, was very popular among students at the prestigious institution. She retired in 2000, ending a teaching career of 30 years.

Acclaimed for her verses, de Souza reached out to the masses through her columns in daily newspapers and scholarly articles in magazines.

Her poetry collections Fix, Women in Dutch Painting, Ways of Belonging and A Necklace of Skulls and novels Dangerlok and Dev & Simran: A Novel were well received not only in literary world but also by readers. Her latest volume, Learn from the Almond Leaf, was released in 2016.

Apart from penning these works, she edited several anthologies such as Nine Indian Women Poets, 101 Folktales From India, Women's Voices: Selections from Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Indian Writing in English, Purdah: An Anthology and Early Indian Poetry in English.

Born in Pune in 1940, de Souza had received her PhD from the University of Mumbai after completing her Masters from the Marquette University in Wisconsin, USA.
JD(U) president Nitish Kumars ghar wapsi to the BJP was painstakingly planned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.

While the media in Bihar had been predicting that Janata Dal (United) president and chief minister Nitish Kumar was set to part company with the Rashtriya Janata Dal any day, his colleague in Delhi, Sharad Yadav, was apparently taken aback when the Grand Alliance collapsed last week. It is well known that he does not have a very cordial relationship with Mr Kumar, which probably explains why Mr Yadav was kept in the dark about his decision to resign and tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party again. On the other hand, Mr Kumar is learnt to have assured Mr Yadav that the alliance was intact.

Mr Yadav, in fact, conveyed as much to a senior Congress leader on the day Mr Kumar had met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi when he came to Delhi for former President Pranab Mukherjees farewell function.

Mr Yadav told the Congress leader that he had a long chat with Mr Kumar after his meeting with Mr Gandhi, and the chief minister, though crestfallen, had told him that the ongoing impasse would be resolved soon. But those who are acquainted with Mr Kumar are not surprised as he is known to be a master of doublespeak and, therefore, cannot be taken at face value.

JD(U) president Nitish Kumars ghar wapsi to the BJP was painstakingly planned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah. The strategy was obvious: discredit RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members to such an extent that it becomes impossible for Mr Kumar to continue his partnership with the RJD. Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi was initially not involved in this exercise as the Modi-Shah duo were not sure about his loyalties because of his old association with veteran leader L.K. Advani.

In fact, it was for this reason that he was denied a Rajya Sabha seat. It was finance minister Arun Jaitley who managed to persuade the Prime Minister and the BJP president that Sushil be entrusted with the task of running the campaign against the RJD chief because he had the necessary skills for this task. Although they were initially reluctant, the BJP bosses are pleased with the sustained campaign run by Sushil as it finally yielded the desired result. As a reward for his hard work, Sushil got his old job back as deputy chief minister of Bihar.

Mediapersons covering the external affairs ministry are normally informed in advance about the weekly briefings by the official spokesperson. The routine message, sent to all on the mailing list, usually said: All media cordially invited, which meant that journalists holding a Press Information Bureau card could attend the briefing. But of late, there has been a change. The message now reads: The recipients of this message are invited.

This may have gone unnoticed except for the fact that the security personnel at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan, the ministrys official headquarters, have been checking the mobile phones of mediapersons to see if they had received the invitation. Those who did not receive the message have been denied entry even if they possess a PIB card. The move to restrict entry to its official briefings is being seen as yet another example of the concerted efforts being made by this government to deny access to mediapersons. The external affairs ministry has never been comfortable with journalists who do not toe its line and this latest move is essentially meant to ensure that only friendly journalists are invited for the briefings.

Although he is the minister of informational technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad recently realised the power and reach of social media. When his daughter got married to an Iyer boy recently, the minister tweeted about it and sought everybodys blessings for the young couple. Mr Prasad was amazed by the response to his tweet. The minister was inundated with thousands of congratulatory messages, bulk of them from Tamil Nadu. While one tweet remarked that the people of Tamil Nadu were happy to welcome his daughter as their daughter-in-law, another one congratulated him for following in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari, who are the grandparents of Gopal Gandhi, the Oppositions vice-presidential candidate.

In an unusual move, the Congress expressed its unhappiness over President Ram Nath Kovinds inaugural speech as it failed to mention Jawaharlal Nehru while referring to those who led the freedom movement. The party reacted strongly at its official media briefing first and subsequently raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha. While the Congress was quick to complain about Mr Kovind, it was constrained from doing so about former President Pranab Mukherjee whose written farewell speech did not refer to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Though he did make amends by referring to her while delivering his speech, the Congress is furious at this lapse. What enraged the party further is that Mr Mukherjee devoted a full para to praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress is seething but is unable to say anything publicly.
PM Modi is expected to attend the Brics summit and high-level visits to China are being anticipated in official circles.

NSA Advisor Ajit Doval, attends the seventh meeting of BRICS senior representatives on security issues held at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse near front back to camera in Beijing. (Photo: AP)

From the sketchy available news reports of the recent trip of national security adviser Ajit Doval to Beijing to attend the meeting of NSAs of Brics countries to prepare for the summit of the grouping in September, it appears that the belligerence of the Chinese side in the context of the six-week long Doklam military standoff with India has been put away, even if temporarily.

The intemperate mass circulation paper of the Chinese Communist Party, Global Times, whose war-mongering tone in dealing with Indias strategic concerns regarding road-building by the Chinese Army in Bhutans territory prepared Indians to be ready for the imminence of possible conflict, held back on its inflammatory ways.

Mr Doval did interact bilaterally with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, though details are not yet out. Chinese President Xi Jinping also interacted with the assembled NSAs as a group and spoke of their contribution in enhancing mutual trust and cooperation. The Indian NSA later said some vital issues were discussed in this interaction.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the Brics summit and high-level visits to China are being anticipated in official circles. These appear to be positive signs, while the resolution of the military standoff is awaited.

Since drum-beating media outfits like Global Times were allowed a free run to go at India, some concern appears to be surfacing in China that unrestrained ultra-nationalistic coverage of the Doklam standoff is becoming a domestic issue in China just months before the 19th Congress of the ruling Communist Party. Beijing may seek to neutralise the hawkish stance by highlighting economic cooperation amongst the Brics bloc.
Shorts sellers have about $8.5 billion bet against Tesla, equivalent to about 20% of the company's float, according to Astec Analytics.

The $35,000 Model 3 is designed for easy production, with output targeted to reach 20,000 per month by December. The Silicon Valley car company aims to quickly ramp up its factory to reach a production target of 500,000 cars per year in 2018.

Shares of Tesla Inc rose nearly 1 percent on Friday ahead of a handover to customers of its first Model 3 sedans, the electric cars that Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk is betting will propel his company into the mass market.

Tesla is counting on the Model 3 to help turn the cash-losing company into a profitable one, and its event later on Friday at its factory in Fremont, California comes as the car maker's stock trades down 12 per cent from a record high set in June.

Fuelled by expectations that Tesla will become a carbon-free energy and transportation heavyweight, Tesla's stock remains up 58 per cent year to date, but it is also a favourite among short sellers.

Shorts sellers have about $8.5 billion bet against Tesla, equivalent to about 20 per cent of the company's float, according to Astec Analytics.

The $35,000 Model 3 is designed for easy production, with output targeted to reach 20,000 per month by December. The Silicon Valley car company aims to quickly ramp up its factory to reach a production target of 500,000 cars per year in 2018.

Tesla's last launch was the luxury Model X SUV in 2015, which had a number of production issues.

Tesla reports its second-quarter results on Wednesday, and investors are keen for an update on how quickly its output is expanding after deliveries for the first half of 2017 came in at the low end of the company's own forecast.

"This evening's event will keep investors focused on the Model 3 ramp, and less on the upcoming quarter," Barclays analyst Brian Johnson wrote in a note to clients. Johnson has a an "underweight" rating on Tesla.

Sceptics believe Tesla's growth targets are unrealistic and that it is at risk of being overtaken by General Motors Co, BMW and other deep-pocketed manufacturers that are ramping up their own electric-vehicle offerings.

The stock was up 0.86 percent at $337.33.
The Senate passed the bill, 98-2, two days after the House pushed the measure through by an overwhelming margin, 419-3.

Washington: President Donald Trump will sign a package of stiff financial sanctions against Russia that passed Congress with overwhelming support, the White House said Friday. Moscow has already responded, ordering a reduction in the number of US diplomats in Russia and closing the US Embassy's recreation retreat.

Trump's willingness to support the measure is a remarkable acknowledgement that he has yet to sell his party on his hopes for forging a warmer relationship with Moscow.

His vow to extend a hand of cooperation to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been met with resistance as skeptical lawmakers look to limit the president's leeway to go easy on Moscow over its meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The Senate passed the bill, 98-2, two days after the House pushed the measure through by an overwhelming margin, 419-3. Both were veto-proof numbers.

The White House initially wavered on whether the president would sign the measure into law. But in a statement late Friday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had "reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it."

Never in doubt was a cornerstone of the legislation that bars Trump from easing or waiving the additional penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees. The provisions were included to assuage concerns among lawmakers that the president's push for better relations with Moscow might lead him to relax the penalties without first securing concessions from the Kremlin.

The legislation is aimed at punishing Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria, where the Kremlin has backed President Bashar Assad. It also imposes financial sanctions against Iran and North Korea.

Before Trump's decision to sign the bill into law, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the bill's passage was long overdue, a jab at Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress. McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has called Putin a murderer and a thug.

"Over the last eight months what price has Russia paid for attacking our elections?" McCain asked. "Very little."

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday said it is ordering the U.S. Embassy in Russia to reduce the number of its diplomats by Sept. 1. Russia will also close down the embassy's recreational retreat on the outskirts of Moscow as well as warehouse facilities.

Meanwhile, some European countries expressed concerns that the measures targeting Russia's energy sector would harm its businesses involved in piping Russian natural gas. Germany's foreign minister said his country wouldn't accept the US sanctions against Russia being applied to European companies.

A spokesman for the European Commission said Friday that European officials will be watching the US effort closely, vowing to "remain vigilant."

Trump had privately expressed frustration over Congress' ability to limit or override the power of the president on national security matters, according to Trump administration officials and advisers. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.

But faced with heavy bipartisan support for the bill in the House and Senate, the president had little choice but to sign the bill into law. Trump's communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, had suggested Thursday that Trump might veto the bill and "negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians."

But Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said that would be a serious mistake and called Scaramucci's remark an "off-handed comment." If Trump rejected the bill, Corker said, Congress would overrule him.

"I cannot imagine anybody is seriously thinking about vetoing this bill," said Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "It's not good for any president - and most governors don't like to veto things that are going to be overridden. It shows a diminishment of their authority. I just don't think that's a good way to start off as president."

Still, signing a bill that penalizes Russia's election interference marks a significant shift for Trump. He's repeatedly cast doubt on the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that Russia sought to tip the election in his favor. And he's blasted as a "witch hunt" investigations into the extent of Russia's interference and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.

The 184-page bill seeks to hit Putin and the oligarchs close to him by targeting Russian corruption, human rights abusers, and crucial sectors of the Russian economy, including weapons sales and energy exports.

The bill underwent revisions to address concerns voiced by American oil and natural gas companies that sanctions specific to Russia's energy sector could backfire on them to Moscow's benefit. The bill raised the threshold for when US firms would be prohibited from being part of energy projects that also included Russian businesses.

Lawmakers said they also made adjustments so the sanctions on Russia's energy sector didn't undercut the ability of US allies in Europe to get access to oil and gas resources outside of Russia.

The North Korea sanctions are intended to thwart Pyongyang's ambition for nuclear weapons by cutting off access to the cash the reclusive nation needs to follow through with its plans. The bill prohibits ships owned by North Korea or by countries that refuse to comply with UN resolutions against it from operating in American waters or docking at US ports. Goods produced by North Korea's forced labor would be prohibited from entering the United States, according to the bill.

The sanctions package imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. The measure would apply terrorism sanctions to the country's Revolutionary Guards and enforce an arms embargo.
Maduro has remained determined to see through his plan, however, with backing from a loyal military.

Blockades went up across a few roads in Caracas and in a border town with Colombia, San Cristobal, but nothing on the massive scale seen earlier this week before the ban took effect. (Photo: File)

Caracas: Small numbers of protesters on Friday defied a ban on demonstrations in Venezuela, ahead of a controversial weekend election called by President Nicolas Maduro that has already provoked deadly violence and international criticism.

Blockades went up across a few roads in Caracas and in a border town with Colombia, San Cristobal, but nothing on the massive scale seen earlier this week before the ban took effect.

"It's normal that there's fear, but people are still coming out into the streets despite it all," a lawmaker in the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Freddy Guevara, said at one of the Caracas protests.

Maduro on Thursday warned that those taking part in any new protests against his holding of the vote on Sunday to choose a "Constituent Assembly" to rewrite Venezuela's constitution risked up to 10 years in prison.

The threat appeared to dampen public anti-government demonstrations of the sort that, in the past four months, have led to 113 deaths eight of them during a two-day general strike that ended Thursday. But international censure of Maduro's stance remained fierce.

US Vice President Mike Pence spoke by telephone to a detained prominent Venezuelan opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, who early this month was moved from prison to house arrest.

In implicit support for the opposition, Pence praised Lopez's "courage." He also called for the "unconditional release of all political prisoners in Venezuela, free and fair elections, restoration of the National Assembly, and respect for human rights in Venezuela," a statement from his office said.

The United States this week imposed sanctions on 13 current and former Venezuelan officials, including police and army chiefs, over Maduro's plan.

Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, also said his country would not recognize the results of Sunday's election in Venezuela, calling the basis of the Constituent Assembly "spurious."

Maduro has remained determined to see through his plan, however, with backing from a loyal military. "We have a card to play: a card that will win this game. And that card is the National Constituent Assembly," he said. He urged the opposition to stop its "insurrection" and hold talks instead. The leftist president has repeatedly accused the US of fomenting the unrest against him.

The new assembly would comprise 545 citizens chosen from across the country, and from societal sectors over which Maduro's government holds influence meaning opposition voices would be diluted or excluded.

The opposition, which calls the election of the body a ploy by an unpopular "dictator" to cling to power, has called for a boycott of the vote. Some 70 percent of Venezuelans oppose plans for the constituent assembly, and 80 percent reject Maduro's leadership, according to the polling firm Datanalisis.

An electoral expert, Eugenio Martinez, noted that most of Venezuela's 20 million voters would be able to vote twice, raising questions about the validity of final turnout and balloting figures, especially with no credible election observers present.

Fears of open civil conflict have prompted thousands of Venezuelans to join an exodus into Colombia. The neighboring country said it would give 150,000 Venezuelans who had overstayed permission to visit another three months before they had to leave.

On Thursday, the United States ordered families of its embassy staff in Venezuela to leave. Washington and Ottawa also warned against their citizens making non-essential travel to the country.

The United Nations human rights office said it was "deeply concerned" about the "very tense and very difficult situation" in Venezuela. Some in Maduro's administration have broken ranks, most prominently his attorney general. Some diplomats resigned this week, including one at the UN and one at the embassy in Panama.
The United States condemns this test and rejects the regimes claim that these tests and these weapons ensure North Koreas security.

Washington: The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says the US President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community.

North Korea on Friday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.

"North Koreas test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missile the second such test in less than a month is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action.

The United States condemns this test and rejects the regimes claim that these tests and these weapons ensure North Koreas security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region," Trump said.

Following Pyongyang's latest intercontinental ballistic missile test, US Secretary of State on Saturday said China and Russia bear "unique and special reponsibility" for the growing threat posed by North Korea.

"As the principal economic enablers of North Korea's nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development program, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability," Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

The launch was a "blatant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that reflect the will of the international community," he added.

The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 AM EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said.

This was North Koreas 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month.

The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call," Joint Chief of Staff Chairmans spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said.

Meanwhile the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Koreas missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said today.

This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on July 5.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

"The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range," Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, said in a tweet.
'Dear Leader Kim Jong-Un expressed great satisfaction with the perfectly successful test and praised its developers,' KCNA said.

Kim Jong Un said Friday's test demonstrated the North's ability to launch at any place and time. (Photo: AP)

Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said Pyongyang's latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile confirmed all the US mainland was within striking range, state media reported Saturday.

Kim said Friday's test demonstrated the North's ability to launch "at any place and time," the Korean Central News Agency reported, adding "the leader said proudly the test also confirmed all the US mainland is within our striking range."

"Dear Leader Kim Jong-Un expressed great satisfaction with the perfectly successful test and praised its developers," KCNA said.

The report said the test confirmed the missile's nuclear detonation control mechanism operated normally and that the warhead could endure the intense heat of re-entering the atmosphere.

With its second ICBM test this month, North Korea is doubling down on its threat to develop nuclear-strike capability against the US mainland in the face of severe warnings from President Donald Trump.

The US leader denounced the launch as a "reckless and dangerous" action and rejected Pyongyang's claims that such tests helped ensure its security.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people," Trump said in a statement.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region."

South Korean, US and Japanese monitors all detected the unusual late-night test Friday, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the missile may have landed within Japan's maritime exclusive economic zone.

"We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said, adding that the projectile travelled about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) before splashing down in the Sea of Japan.

However, the Russian military said it appeared to be a "medium-range" ballistic missile.

The launch came a day after North Korea celebrated what it calls "Victory Day" -- the anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang regularly times its missile tests to coincide with symbolic dates.

In Seoul and Tokyo, the governments convened meetings of their national security councils.

And the US and South Korean militaries began conducting a live-fire exercise using surface-to-surface missiles in response to the latest test, the US army said.

- 'Time for Trump to focus' -

Joel Wit, a senior fellow at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on the North's nuclear weapons programme, said Friday's launch confirmed time was running out for Washington to find a way out of a pressing security crisis.

"Another North Korean test of what appears to be a missile that can reach the United States further emphasises the need for the Trump administration to focus like a laser on this increasingly dangerous situation," Wit said on the institute's 38 North website.

US military and South Korean intelligence officials had in recent days warned that North Korea appeared to be prepping another missile test -- likely of an ICBM.

The ICBM test on July 4 had triggered global alarm, with experts saying the missile had a theoretical range to reach Alaska.

Kim Jong-Un, who also personally oversaw that launch on America's Independence Day, described it as a gift to the "American bastards."

It sent tensions soaring in the region, pitting Washington, Tokyo and Seoul against China, Pyongyang's last remaining major ally.

The United States instigated a push at the United Nations for tougher measures against Pyongyang, with Trump saying he was considering a "pretty severe" response.

Friday's launch came just hours after the US Senate passed bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang.

North Korea's accelerated drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability poses a thorny policy challenge for Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim Jong-Un's regime.

"It's clear Kim Jong-Un remains undeterred by the threat of tightened sanctions, and is not listening to its one major ally, China. The longer the world waits to deal with North Korea, the more advanced Pyongyang's arsenal will become," said Jean Lee at the Wilson Center thinktank.

Trump has repeatedly urged Beijing to rein in its recalcitrant neighbour, but Beijing insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.

There remain doubts whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for the projectile to survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

But since Kim came to power there has been a series of technical advances, including three nuclear tests and a string of missile launches.

France on Friday called on fellow members of the UN Security Council to swiftly adopt "strong and additional sanctions" against Pyongyang.

- 'Frustrating' -

Reacting to the launch, UN spokesman Farhad Haq said it was "frustrating" that the secretary general's calls for all sides to de-escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula had gone unheeded.

In an apparent reference to China, Haq said it was important for all parties to "use their particular influence to help resolve this."

In all, six sets of UN sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but two resolutions adopted last year significantly toughened the sanctions regime.

Meanwhile, the US military is preparing to conduct another test of a missile-intercept system in Alaska, perhaps as soon as Saturday.
New York's catastrophic homelessness is about to get much, much worse: the skyrocketing property values (driven by speculators who buy apartments in order to get their money out of corrupt and failing states abroad, leaving them empty with the understanding that they can be cashed out on short notice, thanks to the white-hot market of other money-launderers) have attracted very deep-pocketed, anonymous hedge-funds that are snapping up buildings with rent-stabilized and rent-controlled units, who use a ruthless set of highly refined tactics to kick out all their tenants and then flip the building.

It's destroyed the lives of multigenerational New York families and created a kind of invisible homeless army of working families with children who go from shelter bed or relatives' couches to jobs and school, teetering on the brink of living on the street.





The tactics deployed to evict tenants  elderly retirees, families, disabled people, veterans  are shocking and ghastly, including trumped-up claims of mental illness used to secure involuntary commitals to mental institutions; threats to take away families children if they report the lack of heat and water (on the grounds that only an unfit parent would keep a child in a home without heat and water), hiring homeless people to live in the corridors of family buildings and defecate on tenants doormats, and on and on.



When a landlord embarks on a campaign to "unlock value" in his building, it becomes a consuming psychological torment for renters. "Landlord harassment is practically all anyone I know talks about," a beleaguered tenant named Nefertiti Macaulay told me. "When it comes, it's like a bomb's gone off in your living room." After an equity firm bought her building and began pressuring tenants to leave, Nefertiti tried, with mixed results, to organize a rent strike. Amiable and proper, with a tattoo on her shoulder of the famous bust of the Egyptian queen who bears her name, Nefertiti has lived her entire life in Brooklyn. After her experience with her landlord she became a housing advocate and currently works as a community liaison for Diana Richardson, who represents Crown Heights in the New York State Assembly. She told me of a seventy-one-year-old man and his ninety-year-old mother who have lived in the same apartment in another building for forty years. "The new owner wants to give them $60,000 to move, and they think they have to take it because the landlord says so. They're more than likely to end up at the mercy of the [Department of Homeless Services], at an annual cost to the city of $43,000 per person. I see it happen all the time." One of the tactics owners employ is to hold rent checks without cashing them and then sue tenants for nonpayment. Delores, who has lived on Eastern Parkway for twenty-five years, found herself embroiled in this scheme. Between 2013 and 2015 her building was flipped twice. "We don't even know who the owners are. When we call, no one answers. And when they do answer, they're very disrespectful. They tell us they're going to relocate us to East New York. Where in East New York? It's like we're bad inventory they want to off-load to some warehouse so we're not in the way anymore." Some landlords bring tenants to court for putting up bookshelves (which may violate the letter of a lease that prohibits renters from drilling into walls) or for having a roommate or, in one case I know of, a pet canary. "Most people here don't believe in the courts because they're used to it working against them," said Nefertiti. "That's what landlords count on." Many renters are unaware of the laws protecting them and have little knowledge of how New York's intricate housing bureaucracy works, so they are easily intimidated by determined owners. A court date is also a missed day at work. Landlords don't expect to win all of these skirmishes, but the barrage of lawsuits helps set the stage for a buyout: financially and emotionally ground down, the tenant agrees to relinquish his rights and depart. An artist I know in South Williamsburg took flight after her landlord paid a homeless man to sleep outside her door, defecate in the hallway, invite friends in for drug-fueled parties, and taunt her as she entered and left the building. In East New York a mother tells of a landlord who, after claiming to smell gas in the hallway, gained entry to her apartment and then locked her out. In January, a couple with a three-month-old baby in Bushwick complained to the city because they had no heat. In response, the landlord threatened to alert the Administration for Children's Services that they were living with a baby in an unheated apartment. Fearful of losing their child, they left, leaving the owner with what he wanted: a vacant unit.

Tenants Under Siege: Inside New York City's Housing Crisis [Michael Greenberg/New York Review]

(via Naked Capitalism)
Basit was to retire in April 2018, but he opted for an early retirement and sent his resignation letter to former Pak PM Nawaz Sharif.

New Delhi/Islamabad: Outgoing Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Saturday said that the Pakistan military court would take a decision regarding alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has filed a mercy petition against his death sentence in the court.

"Kulbhushan Jadhav is convicted. There is a mercy petition filed and the Army court will take a decision," Basit, who had earlier maintained silence over the issue, said.

The Pakistan government had earlier accepted the request of Abdul Basit to resign from the foreign service after he was passed over for the post of foreign secretary earlier in 2017.

Basit was to retire in April 2018, but he opted for an early retirement and sent his resignation letter to former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The India-Pakistan relations have been strained ever since a death sentence was awarded to former Indian Naval officer Jadhav. India even moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek justice for Jadhav that stayed the death sentence till its final decision.

When asked about the future of the downhill relations, the outgoing envoy said, "Never give up. Keep trying; things will get better."

Jadhav was sentenced to death on April 10, 2017 after being accused of espionage and working for the India's external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). He was arrested from Balochistan on March 3, 2016.

Meanwhile, Sohail Mahmood, currently Pakistan's envoy to Turkey, has been named the next High Commissioner to India.

Mahmood, a 55-year-old career diplomat, is expected to take up his responsibilities in New Delhi, in August.
Abbasi will run the govt as interim prime minister for 45 days until Nawaz Sharif's brother Shahbaz is elected as member of parliament.

Islamabad: Pakistan's ruling PML-N party on Saturday named former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the interim prime minister until ousted premier Nawaz Sharif's younger brother Shehbaz is elected as a member of parliament to succeed him as his eventual successor.

The decision was taken in Islamabad in a meeting headed by Sharif and attended by the top party leaders who rallied behind the Sharifs, the country's most powerful political family.

The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.

Abbasi, the 58-year-old loyalist of Sharif, is expected to serve for 45 days and will resign to let Shehbaz succeed as permanent premier, party sources said.

Since Shehbaz is not a member of parliament and cannot succeed his brother immediately, it was decided to appoint Abbasi as interim prime minister to run the government until Shehbaz is elected as a member of parliament, they said.

The meeting also approved that Sharif's disqualification would be challenged in through a review petition in the apex court.
The Department for Transport said on Friday that the rule no longer applies to flights from Istanbuls Sabiha Gokcen airport.

Britains ban came after the US barred laptops in cabins on flights from 10 Mideast airports over concerns about explosives on planes. (Photo: AFP)

London: Britain has eased a ban on laptops and tablets in airline cabins, lifting the prohibition on some flights from Turkey.

In March, Britain banned electronic devices larger than smartphones on direct flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

The Department for Transport said on Friday that the rule no longer applies to flights from Istanbuls Sabiha Gokcen airport. The ban still holds at Istanbuls other international airport, Ataturk.

The department says restrictions at other airports will be lifted on a case-by-case basis once the UK government has verified that airlines have put in place alternative security measures.

Britains ban came after the US barred laptops in cabins on flights from 10 Mideast airports over concerns about explosives on planes. The ban has since been lifted for several airlines.
China Merchants Port Holdings will hold an 85 per cent stake in the port. A second firm, 50.7 per cent owned by Sri Lanka, will oversee security operations. Local residents are afraid of losing their lands. India, the United States, and Japan are concerned about a naval base.

Colombo (AsiaNews)  The Sri Lankan government has inked an agreement with China for the use of Hambantota as a port facility, but denied China total ownership, meeting concerns expressed by the United States and India.

The decision comes after months of protests and demonstrations by local residents afraid that they would be forced out to make room for Beijing's megaprojects.

With this decision, Sri Lankan authorities have tried to allay some of the concerns voiced by India, Japan and the United States over the possible use of the port as a military base for Chinese ships. Under the agreement, the port will be restricted to commercial operations.

The facility is part of a series of infrastructural developments in Chinas One belt, One Road strategy, which includes a chain of ports, highways, and railways across South and Central Asia to export Chinese goods to the heart of Europe.

At the centre of the dispute are 15,000 acres to be given to China to build an industrial zone next to the new port. Once the news was made public, local residents reacted immediately negatively, expressing their opposition to becoming a Chinese colony and especially to the loss of their land.

Several politicians have also come out against the plan, viewing it as a loss of national sovereignty.

Based on the agreement signed by the government on Tuesday, which goes before parliament next week, the area would be divided between local and Chinese companies.

China Merchants Port Holdings CO (CMPort) will hold an 85 per cent stake in Hambantota International Port Group, which will run the port and its terminals, whilst the rest will be held by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. CMPorts share is estimated at US$ 794 million.

A second firm, Hambantota International Port Group Services Co, with capital of US$ 606 million, will oversee security operations, with the Sri Lankans holding a 50.7 per cent stake and the Chinese 49.3 per cent.

Despite Colombo's decision, greeted by some as a success for withstanding Chinese expansionism, a number of experts remain doubtful.

Although CMPort agreed to reduce its stake to 65 per cent after 10 years, many doubt that Beijing will really give up control.

Apart from the 99-year concession term, CMPort got the Sri Lankan government and ports authority to agree that for 15 years no other development of any port or terminal directly in competition with the services and businesses of Hambantota Port will be allowed within a 100-km perimeter.
by Mathias Hariyadi

Asian Youth Day opens tomorrow with 3,000 young people from all over Asia. The final ceremony will see 20,000 young people from all of Indonesia's provinces. At the start, young people will stay with families in 11 dioceses. AYD activities will follow. The event sparks memory of John Paul II, who urged young people to be missionaries in daily life together with their peers.

Yogyakarta (AsiaNews)  The countdown is over. From tomorrow until 6 August, the 7th edition of Asian Youth Day (AYD) will be held in Yogyakarta (Central Java), Semarang Archdiocese. This years theme is Joyful Asian Youth! Living the Gospel in Multicultural Asia.

About 3,000 young people from Indonesia and abroad will take part in the ceremony. All 37 Indonesian bishops and some bishops emeriti as well as foreign cardinals and bishops will be present.

This years edition is divided into three stages. The first part, from 30 July to 1 August, will be the Days in the Diocese (DID), with participants living in 11 different dioceses, hosted by families, to share and learn about the faith. This includes celebrations with local communities and youth groups.

The dioceses involved are the Archdiocese of Semarang (Central Java), which hosts the main AYD events, Jakarta, Palembang (South Sumatera), Makassar (South Sulawesi), Pontianak (West Kalimantan); (West Java), Bogor (West Java), Purwokerto (Central Java), Surabaya (East Java), Malang (East Java), and Denpasar (Bali).

From 2 to 6 August, the actual AYD will be held with an opening ceremony, groups, seminars, reflections, celebrations, and the Eucharist.

The third stage, which will last 4 days, is open to bishops, priests and people involved in the National Youth Commission. Coordinated by the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC), it will assess the AYD and discuss future education for Asian youth.

AsiaNews spoke with Mgr Pius Riana Prapdi, bishop of Ketapang (West Kalimantan), president of the Youth Commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Indonesia (KWI).

"Now everything and everyone is ready for the 7th edition of AYD," he said. For the prelate, the presence of young Catholics from different nations and from many provinces of Indonesia is a symbol of what the Church represents: being the messenger of evangelical joy.

"I am excited and I welcome all the participants coming to Yogyakarta, he added. Somehow the choice of Yogyakarta is almost compulsory: it is a multi-ethnic city where thousands of university students come from many parts of the country.

For Bishop Riana Prapdi, AYD owes a lot to the personality of John Paul II. He "earned the confidence of young people because he took them seriously. Young people felt that the pope understood them in their concerns and hopes."

At the same time, John Paul II challenged them to give their lives for Christ. He asked them to follow a great ideal, inviting them to throw themselves into the New Evangelisation.

Mgr Pius Riana Prabdi remembers the words of the Polish pope at the World Youth Day in Manila (1995): You, young people, are especially called to become missionaries of this New Evangelization, by daily witnessing to the Word that saves. You personally experience the anxieties of the present historical period, fraught with hope and doubt, in which it can at times be easy to lose the way that leads to the encounter with Christ.

"Young Asians, the Catholic Church gives you the task of proclaiming to the world the joy that comes from the encounter with Christ, the prelate added. Welcome to Yogyakarta and enjoy this precious time to experience the evangelical joy in an atmosphere of pluralism and diversity in Indonesia."

Mgr Robertus Rubiyatmoko, archbishop of Semarang, noted that the AYD challenges the regions Catholic community to put into practice the dioceses missionary pastoral project for 2016-2035.

"Our greatest concern is for the Church to give more room to our youth so that they can contribute more to the development and life of the Catholic Church."

In his pastoral letter to the diocese, released a week ago, he stressed that "the 7th edition of AYD is a huge blessing for the archdiocese of Semarang."

"We must have great confidence in young people and prepare them from now on to develop their skills so that they become community leaders in society."

He urged all the bishops to work together with youth. "With them we must plan our pastoral apostolate and together with them we can create a culture of life and a civilisation of goodness."

AYDs opening ceremony will take place at the Yogyakarta Convention Hall. The final ceremony will be held at the Indonesian Airforce Academy.

Fr Johannes Dwi Harsanto, chairman of AYD Standing Committee, said that at least 20,000 young people from Java and all other parts of the country are expected.
Growth is due greater coal exports to China. North Koreas per capital income is US$ 1,300 compared to South Koreas US$ 28,600. Since the start of the year, Beijing has cut coal imports by 75 per cent.

Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies)  North Koreas gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.9 per cent per cent in 2016, this according to the Bank of Korea, South Koreas central bank, which has monitored the economic performance of Kim Jong-uns regime since 1991.

Agriculture, fisheries and forestry grew by 2.5 per cent. Mining  zinc, lead and coal  led the growth (+12.6 per cent), whilst heavy chemicals (+6.7 per cent) boosted manufacturing (+4.8 per cent).

Despite economic sanctions, trade grew by 4.7 per cent to US$ 6.5 billion, but the balance is negative with imports (US$ 3.7 billion) outpacing exports (US$ 2.8 billion). The dictatorial regimes main trading partner is China.

Most North Koreans have not benefitted from the improved economy. North Koreas per capita income stood at US$ 1,300 compared to South Koreas US$ 28,600.

Faster economic growth in 17 years is due to mining, mainly coal, which is exported mostly to China. However, Beijing reduced coal imports from North Korea by 75 percent since the start of 2017.

The second negative note this year is the drought, the worst in 15 years, which could leave people without food, this according to UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
GODWIN EMEFIElE ha-to.ongaku@aioros.ocn.ne.jp >

Date: Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 7:57 PM

Subject: Your Compensation of $500,000

To:





I am Mr Godwin Emefiele the Executive Governor Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). We are pleased to inform you that you are among the list that will be compensated with just Five Hundred Thousand United state dollars ($500,000 dollar) as directed by office of Mr.President Muhammadu Buhari, Federal Executive Council and Central Bank Of Nigeria in Conjunction with directives from United Nations and World Bank/IMF Delegations after their meeting last week due to petitions from those that are victims of scam as part of Campaign of new change in Nigeria. It was agreed that to retain the good image of Nigeria and the rest of African countries,all the victims who lost his/her hard earn money to these faceless thieves will be compensated (Five Hundred Thousand United state dollars) This we assume will help you to start a new life. All you need to do now is to contact the Director of UN diplomatic Company with below information. Your full name Your Address, Direct telephone Your nearest Airport Registration code: #898CHSSD79 Below is his Contact information Raymond Lau E-mail: raylauisok@gmail.com Contact them and get back to me with update. Sincerely yours. GODWIN EMEFIElE GOVERNOR OF CENTRAL BANK From:Date: Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 7:57 PMSubject: Your Compensation of $500,000To:



On Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 6:29 pm, Central Bank of Nigeria < fcecentbnngfggfg@outlook.com > wrote:

Dear Sir/ Ma

My name is Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central bank of Nigeria. We have just received a sworn affidavit from Mr.Jeorme F Karlz of United States of America,that you are dead and that you signed a deed agreement with him to re-route your overdue outstanding amount of $12.3 million to him as the Next of Kin. You are advise to get back to this office immediately also re-confirm the following information. Thus:

1. Your full name: 2. Your Contact address 3. Your contact cell phone number: 4. Your age: 5. Your sex: 6. Your occupations: 7. Your country and city:

I await your response

Regards Godwin Emefiele Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria

To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Subject: From Central Bank of Nigeria

Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2017 23:07:04 -0700



Central Bank of Nigeria Plot 33,Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Way Central Business District, Cadastral Zone,Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria Dear Value Customer . Am delighted to inform you by the World Bank Group Authorization & Hon President Muhammadu BuhariFederal Republic of Nigeriathat your payment,which just concluded in aseating this morning here in Abuja, Nigeria just released your name among those to benefit from the Immunity Payment This Paymentwas primarilydelegated to investigate manipulated paymentclaims, and over-invoiced payment as the effect has eaten deep into the economy of our dearcountry Nigeria .In this regards we are going to send your part payment of 21.9 Million Dollars . To you via our accredited bank. We are hereby officially notify you concerning your fund telegraphic Transfer through our bank, Central Bank of Nigeria, to your bank account, which has been officially approved by the management of World BankGroup & Hon President Muhammadu Buharito credit the sum of US$21.9 Million into your bank account.Note that I have started processing your payment and every thing concerning the immediate remittance of your funds will be carried out within the shortest possible time from the time we received your Below needed information you can reply to our bank official central_bank.of_nigeria@fast service.com <central_bank.of_nigeria@fastservice.com> email address : Please do send to me your address HOME or OFFICE ADDRESS and your identity such as, INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT OR DRIVER'S LICENSE, YOUR DIRECT PHONE AND CELL PHONE NUMBER and your bank information .I will be well wait to hear from you so that we can move forward to makeyour transfer . Sincerely Yours, Mr. Godwin Emefiele (CON) Governor Central Bank of Nigeria +234-808-870-7196 From: Central Bank of Nigeria < cbnofnigeria13@gmail.com >To: undisclosed-recipients:;Subject: From Central Bank of NigeriaDate: Tue, 11 Jul 2017 23:07:04 -0700



De la: Central Bank of Nigeria < jimmyg277@gmail.com >

Catre: @

Trimis: Vineri, 21 Iulie 2017 9:44:23

Subiect: FROM OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA



DEPARTMENT ON FOREIGN DEBTS RECONCILIATION/PAYMENTS AGENCIES.

FROM OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (C.B.N) MONETARY

Attention: Our Dear Hon. Beneficiary,



This is officially to inform you on this notice.

I need your urgent reconfirmation to this notice letter which was

submitted to my office by these two individuals, one Mr. Richardson

Marks-White and Mrs. Lissy Jones both are from United States of

America (U.S.A), who claimed to be your representative.



In the letter they claimed to be your representative here over the

fund, and in the letter of Power of Attorney stated that you have died

of cancer, also they brought a new bank account details in replacement

of your formerly bank account details / information's with our bank

here in other for the said fund in tune Sum of ($27.5 Million U.S

Dollars) only which is now lying DORMANT and UNCLAIMED in the Central

Bank of Nigeria for many years now to be transfer into the new

account.



In their attached letter to the Power of Attorney, they have accepted

to pay off your outstanding bill / debit of $3,800 U.S Dollars only to

enable us credit their account as soon as possible, and find below the

new account details they have submitted for claims of this fund on

your behalf:



Bank Name: BANK OF AMERICA,

Branch Address: 1099 Lincoln Avenue,

San Jose, CA.95125, U.S.A,

SWIFT Code: USBKU5441NT,

Routing Number: 121100782,

Account Name: Richardson Marks-White

Account Number: 153497286531.

Beneficiary: Richardson Marks-White



You are therefore given 24 hours to confirm the truth of the above

information, if you are still alive, and you are to contact us

immediately through this official Email Address:



centralbenkofnigeria@accountant.com just to ensure that we are dealing with right person or to monitor all the activities going on

here regards to this transaction as the right beneficiaries of this

inheritance fund and contract payment whom we knew well before those

two people submits to us another bank information.



Again, you are advice to respond back swiftly for more clarifications

over this update matter immediately you receive this message, and note

that after 72 hours with no response answer from you we will believe /

assume that they claims as truth. Be aware that any further delay from

your side could be dangerous, as we would not be held liable for any

wrong payment at the end as I have advice them to get a lawyer who

will assist them to get a letter of affidavit from Lagos State High

Court Ikeja, to back the claims.



Note that I am contacting you now to assist us over this ongoing

investigation into the matter / claims of this your fund here in

(C.B.N) before it is too late as we are now working to release the

fund into the new bank account which they have submitted to my office.



Best Regards,



Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

De la: Central Bank of Nigeria < fcecentbnngfgeeeg@outlook.com >

Catre:

Trimis: Sambata, 22 Iulie 2017 20:58:02

Subiect: INFORMATION







Dear Sir/ Ma

My name is Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central bank of Nigeria. We have just received a sworn affidavit from Mr.Jeorme F Karlz of United States of America,that you are dead and that you signed a deed agreement with him to re-route your overdue outstanding amount of $12.3 million to him as the Next of Kin. You are advise to get back to this office immediately also re-confirm the following information. Thus:

1. Your full name: 2. Your Contact address 3. Your contact cell phone number: 4. Your age: 5. Your sex: 6. Your occupations: 7. Your country and city:

I await your response

Regards Godwin Emefiele Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria

 CENTRAL BANK <remittancedeptnigeria2016@outlook.com>

 2017/7/24 () 4:13 PM

 RE: , Central Bank of Nigeria. CBN HomeFraud AlertContact U CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT

CORPORATE HEAD QUARTERS TINUBU SQUARE,

MARINA LAGOS NIGERIA.

DIRECT LINE: +234-902 039 7417 Our Ref: CBN/IRD/CGX/NNPC/021/17 FROM THE DESK OF MR.GODWIN EMEFIELE GOVERNOR CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN) ATTN: HONORABLE BENEFICIARY Attn: I Mr. Godwin Emefiele the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) received your message which you stated that you dont have IMF IMMUNITY CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE,I will assist you to obtain the IMF IMMUNITY CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE in your name with the service of a lawyer but it cost $350.00. You are advised to send the $350.00 with this payment information to enable me Transfer your US$5.5Million United State Dollars to your Bank Account tomorrow. Payment information

Western Union Money OR Money Gram

Receivers Name: ETO MOSES

Location: Lagos - Nigeria

Address: 6 ifoshi street ejigbo Lagos Nigeria You must call me on

direct number { +234-902 039 7417 } as soon as you

receive this letter for further discussion. YOURS SINCERELY, MR.GODWIN EMEFIELE GOVERNOR CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN) DIRECT LINE +234-902 039 7417



 CENTRAL BANK <remittancedeptnigeria2016@outlook.com>

 2017/7/23 () 5:00 AM

 RE: ., Central Bank of Nigeria CBN HomeFraud AlertContact Us

CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT

CORPORATE HEAD QUARTERS TINUBU SQUARE,

MARINA LAGOS NIGERIA.

DIRECT LINE: +234-902 039 7417 Our Ref: CBN/IRD/CGX/NNPC/021/17 FROM THE DESK OF MR.GODWIN EMEFIELE GOVERNOR CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN) ATTN: HONORABLE BENEFICIARY

Attn:

I Mr. Godwin Emefiele the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria assured you that your Fund most be Release to your Bank Account within one Banking week Order from the Presidency of Federal Republic of Nigeria. All we needed from you is your maximum corporations

Urgently Send to us this document immediately: PRESIDENTIAL IMF IMMUNITY CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE ISSUEDIN YOUR NAMES, SEND IT FAST BECAUSE YOUR $5.5MILLION WILL BE RELEASE TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT , IF YOU DONT HAVE THE MENTIONED DOCUMENTQUICKLY TELL ME TODAY. NIGERIA PRESIDENT HAVE SIGNED THERELEASE OF YOUR $5.5MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS IN YOUR NAME. I ATTACHED MY INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT AND MY BAKING I.D CARD FOR IDENTIFICATION. SEND YOUR BANKING DETAILS,

You must call me on

direct number { +234-902 039 7417 } as soon as you

receive this letter for further discussion. YOURS SINCERELY, MR.GODWIN EMEFIELE GOVERNOR CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN) DIRECT LINE +234-902 039 7417

On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 12:34 am, Central Bank of Nigeria < fcecentbnngfggfg@outlook.com > wrote: Dear Sir/ Ma

My name is Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central bank of Nigeria. We have just received a sworn affidavit from Mr.Jeorme F Karlz of United States of America,that you are dead and that you signed a deed agreement with him to re-route your overdue outstanding amount of $12.3 million to him as the Next of Kin. You are advise to get back to this office immediately also re-confirm the following information. Thus:

1. Your full name: 2. Your Contact address 3. Your contact cell phone number: 4. Your age: 5. Your sex: 6. Your occupations: 7. Your country and city:

I await your response

Regards Godwin Emefiele Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria

On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 1:31 am, Godwin Emefiele < jgbdyentbfh@outlook.com > wrote:



Dear Sir/ Ma



My name is Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central bank of Nigeria. We have just received a sworn affidavit from Mr.Jeorme F Karlz of United States of America,that you are dead and that you signed a deed agreement with him to re-route your overdue outstanding amount of $12.3 million to him as the Next of Kin. You are advise to get back to this office immediately also re-confirm the following information. Thus:



1. Your full name:

2. Your Contact address

3. Your contact cell phone number:

4. Your age:

5. Your sex:

6. Your occupations:

7. Your country and city:



I await your response



Regards

Godwin Emefiele

Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria



On Monday, July 31, 2017 3:12 AM, Mr Godwin Emefiele < roseabel011@gmail.com > wrote:





REMITTANCE UNIT,

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT,

CADASTRAL ZONE, ABUJA,

FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY,

MAV/NNPC/FGN/MIN/013,Swift Code:

BPH KPL PK,A/C#: 329606=

101244=169=678PHONE

Phone :

FOREIGN REMITTANCEOur Ref: CBN/IRD/CBX/021/11

INSTRUCTION / WARNING FROM CENTRAL BANK.

YOUR FUND APPROVED PAYMENT OF $5MILLION (FIVE MILLION UNITED STATE)

DOLLARS THROUGH ATM CARD)



Attention: Beneficiary,



I am Dr.Godwin Emefiele,The CEO of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) I am

contacting you today to alert you of a notification which will be a

great help to you,I am the new director of fund approved payment

department here in CBN and I saw a file last week in your name with

all your information from our central computer stating that abandoned

fund worth of $5MILLION (FIVE MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS ONLY)

belongs to you,Please;I want to know from you the reason why you

abandoned such big fund here in our bank for long up til this moment

without any claim by you. I hereby officially notifying you about the

present arrangement to pay you as i have been appointed and directed

to take in-charge of your fund payment here in my department,This

arrangement was initiated/constituted by the World Bank and the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the board meeting due to

fraudulent and scam activities going on within the African Region,I

officially contacted you today because your Inheritance Funds was

Re-deposited into the "Federal Suspense Account" of CBN last week

because you did not proceed with your Claim as the rightful

beneficiary which is well known to the board and management

team of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

I am now in charge of your fund payment in my department here in

Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) and like i stated in my mail that your

name appear in our Central Computer here as a beneficiary who have not

receive his contract payment for long,Be informed that your fund of

$5MILLION (FIVE MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS ONLY) been approved by

the IMF and the federal government for payment and we have decided to

convert your fund into an ( ATM CARD ) which we will send to you in

your country for the withdraw of your fund in any ATM machine in your

country to make it easy for your payment in other to avoid much

expenses in receiving your fund and we have made every arrangement

regarding your payment through ATM Card since last week Due to the

instruction given to us for your immediate payment. Dear beneficiary,I

therefore to inform you that we have approved an ATM CARD on your

behalf which we will send to you for the withdraw of your fund and we

have converted your total fund of $5MILLION (FIVE MILLION UNITED STATE

DOLLARS ONLY) into Your ATM Card which is with me right now in my

department,your ATM CARD worth the sum of $5MILLION (FIVE MILLION

UNITED STATE DOLLARS ONLY)has been ready for the delivery to your

home,Take note,Your ATM CARD Pin number is 2126.

You are hereby to quickly respond back to my department today and

provide or reconfirm to me your personal information once again where

you base right now and your home address where you desire to receive

your ATM CARD to avoid mistake during the delivery for us to quickly

submit your ATM CARD together with your current residential address

for the delivery to your Home in other for you to receive it and start

making a withdraw of your fund in any ATM machine in your country,This

is the conclusion and agreement of your fund payment here in our bank.

The information required from you for the delivery of your ATM CARD is

such as below.



Your Full Name:. . . . . . . . . . . .

Your Country And Location:. . .

Current Home Address:. . . . . .

Private Telephone Number:. . . .

A Copy Of Your Id Card:. . . .

Occupation:. . . . . . . . . . . .

Age/Sex:. . . . . . . . . .



Kindly provide the following information and respond back to my

department today as I will be waiting to hear from you as soon as

possible with the required information for the proceed and delivery of

your ATM CARD to your country where you desire to receive it.



Best Regards

Mr.Godwin Emefiele,



E_mail:( centraln60@gmx.com Executive Governor Central Bank of Nigeria

Phone:+234 9078465567







If you received a similar letter, please ignore it. Do not answer it. If you do, you will end up on more of the mailing lists used by the criminals behind this fraud. Read more....
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Are the worlds two most populous, nuclear-armed countries about to wage war against each other? Time to get prepped for the fallout

There is a tiny, little-known corner of the planet that has the potential to engulf two nuclear-armed countries with 2.7 billion of the worlds 7.5 billion people in all-out war, and virtually no one outside of them knows it. But as a prepper, you need to know so you can start making plans to survive should the situation escalate.

As reported by Bloomberg Politics:

China and Indiahave been in an eyeball-to-eyeball military stand-off over territory in Bhutan, a kingdom in a remote area of the Himalayas, since mid-June. The flare-up, one of the most serious since China won a border war in 1962, comes as the two rising powers jostle for regional influence. The current dispute is near a three-way junction between Bhutan, Chinas Tibet and Indias Sikkim.

The area in question, located near the Doklam Plateau, is vital to New Delhi because all land-based commercial and military traffic between Indias northeastern areas and the remainder of the country passes through a small strip of land known locally as the Chickens neck  or, more formally, as the Siliguri Corridor. (Related: Pentagon: China Is Restructuring Its Military For War As It Boosts Troop Levels Near Indian Border.)

At present, both India and China have some 3,000 troops facing off against each other on either side of the plateau; Indian defense officials believe that the corridor must be defended because it could be used by Chinese forces to invade lower India in case of war. And India is already spooked by Chinas rapid military modernization and expansion.

There have long been border disputes in this and other parts of the India-China border  conflicts that date back to an 1890 convention between Britain and China. That diplomatic effort was supposed to define the location of the India-China border, but as Bloomberg Politics notes, the agreement contains a contradicting provision that gives both countries the right to claim support for its position.

Taylor Fravel, an expert who studies border disagreements at MIT, notes that India says the border is located at Batang La, but China disputes that and says it is located at Mount Gimpochi, which is three miles to the south. If Beijing is right, then it gains full access to the Doklam Plateau.

Whos right?

All three sides agree that a Peoples Liberation Army road-building team entered the Doklam Plateau and started construction, Bloomberg Politics reported. India said that its troops entered Bhutans territory in coordination with Bhutanese authorities to stop the Chinese road builders. There are now about 3,000 troops on each side on the plateau, according to the Times of India. It is the first time that Indian troops have confronted China from a third country.

Where will this end? Most experts say they believe Chinese and Indian diplomats will work out a solution following a protracted stand-off. But theres no guarantee; even though fighting will not serve the interests of either nation, being the first to back down also means that whichever country does so will be showing deference to the other at a time when both are attempting to exert more influence and control over the entire southeast Asian region.

Neither side wants to be the first to withdraw troops, Bloomberg Politics notes.

So why does this matter to you? Simple; if these two nuclear behemoths decide to unleash their full arsenals on each other, the fallout will reach you at some point, no matter where you are on the planet.

In order to mitigate the effects of radiation you should:

 Get some radiation blocking protection in the form of potassium iodide and/or Cesium Eliminator if you havent already;

 Become intimately familiar with techniques aimed at helping victims surviving nuclear contamination (start with this free downloadable manual);

 Stay up-to-date on what is happening in this tiny corner of the world between these two nuclear-armed countries containing nearly one-third of the worlds population.

Chances are better than average that this will not escalate into a nuclear exchange, but no one can tell the future. Better to be prepared than caught unprepared.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

Bloomberg.com

TheNationalSentinel.com
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Entertainment / Music

by Staff reporter

RENOWNED actor, Gringo (real name Lazarus Boora), has requested to meet his purported look alike, South African entertainer, Zodwa Wabantu, who will be visiting Bulawayo this weekend to party.Gringo, according to Club Connect officials, has said he is prepared to travel to Bulawayo to see the person whom most have been nagging him about saying she looks like him. Zodwa is expected in the city on Saturday with Gringo indicating that he will travel tomorrow to meet her."Someone sent me a picture of this Zodwa saying I look like her. I looked at her closely and think she may be a relative so I really want to meet her."I'll be travelling to Bulawayo on Friday just to meet and get to know her," said Gringo.He said meeting Zodwa will also be good for him as he will also take notes from her."Zodwa has established herself as a top entertainer in South Africa and since I'm also in the arts industry, it'll be a good opportunity for me to network with her to better my acting career."Club Connect spokesperson, Zandile Moyo, said Gringo was welcome to come to their club where Zodwa Wabantu will be partying."Zodwa is coming to party at our club and since Gringo wants to meet her, we welcome him to the club. It'll be good to have the lookalikes dancing on one dancefloor and who knows, Zodwa may turn out to be Gringo's sister," said Moyo.She said they were anticipating Zodwa's arrival on Saturday. "If all goes according to plan, Zodwa will be in Bulawayo at lunch time on Saturday. We'll take her around town as she wants to have a tour of the city before partying hard in the evening."
Kenya Sx workers protest for continuous killings. PHOTO | Courtesy

The Cost of PrEP and PEP for HIV control to be reduced to Ksh 10 compared to Pregnancy testing Kits and the earlier prices of between Ksh 20 to Ksh 50.

This will make Kenya the second country in Africa, after South Africa, to roll out PrEP. Kenya reported 77,600 new HIV infections in 2015.

The cost of PrEP and PeP to be reduced in Kenya following public outcry over the increased usage of the substance. The Kenyan PrEP outlets have been short of the tablets following high demand. The tabs will be sold in all shops across Kenya at the cost of Ksh. 10 to Ksh 50.Pilot studies conducted in Kenya prove that if swallowed daily, the drugs can prevent HIV infection by more than 96 percent. Thousands of people will be potential beneficiaries.But the head of the National AIDS and STI Control Programme Dr. Martin Sirengo said trained health workers will assess who qualifies for this treatment, technically know as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).PrEP refers to HIV drugs that one takes before exposure so as to prevent any possible transmission, while post-exposure prophylaxis refers to HIV drugs that one takes after they have had exposure.Last year, the World Health Organization recommended Truvada as a PrEP drug for HIV prevention in combination with other safe sx practices such as condom use.The beauty with PrEP is that it is highly effective and will be given to those that are at risk of contracting HIV. This could include discordant couples where one partner is HIV positive and another is HIV negative; people who frequently contract STIs; individuals who are unable to negotiate condom use; people who frequently use Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) and also drug users who share syringes, Sirengo said.The treatment will cost between Sh50,000 to Sh80,000 per person per year, but it is expected that NGOs and other partners will subsidize.Those who choose to take PrEP should take a pill every day as long as they are sxually active. It takes seven days for the pill to be effective.At the same time, they will have to be monitored on a regular basis and take an HIV test every three months.PrEP is as good as it is taken. If taken daily during the period of risk, it is highly effective. We anticipate that PrEP will avert many new infections in Kenya, Sirengo said.Kenya is considered to be at risk of more infections if an action will not be taken against the hoarders of the PrEP and PEP tablets. The demand for those substances have risen due to an increase in Prost!tuition facilitated by the high cost of living.
this Saturday

He will grace the stage barely a week after his counterpart Wizkid rocked Nairobi on the same stage.









Kenya, the wait is over. Its happening on Saturday 29th July 2017 at the KICC Grounds. I am so excited to come to Kenya.

Kenyas dancehall king Wyre, Vivian and gospel sensation Mr Seed will curtain raise for the star. Busy Signal is excited to come to Kenya. Check one of his Instagram posts:Kenya, the wait is over. Its happening on Saturday 29th July 2017 at the KICC Grounds. I am so excited to come to Kenya.

Advance tickets for the Bedroom Bully concert go for Sh4,500 for VVIP, Sh 3,000 for V.I.P and Ksh1,000 for the regular. Prices for tickets purchased at the gate go up by Sh500.

Nairobi ladies claimed to price up and spice up the event with night shifts and bedroom bulls. Busy Signal is an outstanding reggae and Dancehall artist who is loved by Kenyans as seen when he arrived in the country.

Controversial Jamaican reggae and dance-hall superstar, Busy Signal will be performing liveat the 33rd Shashamane International Anniversary at KICC Grounds, Nairobi. The show is dubbed Free Up Peace Reggae Concert, perhaps named after the 38-year-olds popular jam Free up Black People.The artist is known for songs like "text message", Come Over, NightShift, One more Night, Bedroom Bully. This is a second time to perform in Kenya. He is expected to rock Nairobi with his swaggerific outfits.
Two teens are facing charges after investigators said they stole a car and attempted to run down a deputy. That deputy then fired at them.

Teens face charges of grand theft

17-year-old shot by deputy



Deputy placed on paid leave

When you're driving that car, which is about 400 pounds or so, give or take, that's a weapon," said Osceola County Sheriff Russell Gibson. "So that's definitely a threat on a deputy's life."

Deputies charged a 17-year-old boy and his 15-year-old female passenger, both from Lakeland, with grand theft. The 17-year-old also faces charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.

Around 3:30 a.m., Lakeland Police Department called Osceola County Sheriff's deputies to help them stop the teens.

Lakeland tailed the pair at a moderate rate of speed, without sirens or lights flashing -- but with a helicopter -- for miles, from Polk into Osceola County.

It's not clear how or when the car was stolen.

According to the Sheriff's Office, deputies set out stop sticks on State Road 429 by Sinclair Road. When the teens swerved to avoid them, the car spun out in the median.

One deputy got out of his car to approach the teens. As they began driving towards him, the deputy fired.

The 17-year-old was hit -- it's unclear how many times -- and taken to the hospital. He is stable and in custody. Neither the girl nor any law enforcement officers were injured in the shooting.

Investigators shut down SR 429 between Sand Hill Road and U.S. 192 due to the investigation.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the incident, which is standard procedure following any officer-involved shooting.

The Sheriff's Office placed the deputy on paid administrative leave.


News / Africa

by Vusmann

JOHANNESBURG - Our women of the world - The Zim-Imbokodo will again take centre stage on Women's Day as their fellow member will be launching her debut novel at the Busy Bee Combined School in Hillbrow.Social media woman of the hour, Phethe 'Mercy Kaitse' Ncube is set to parade her debut novel titled 'Yeka Ukumthanda Kwami' on the 9th of August before an eagerly awaiting audience. Edited and published by DAV MEDIA, this ground-breaking project will be unveiled at an event organised by The Zim-Imbokodo.Admission will be R50, the book will cost R100 during the event whilst it will cost R150 after the launch. Imbokodo, alongside renowned artists like Amabhukudwana, Amachwane Amahle, Izinkanyezi Zezulu, Mlambos Express and Zwangendaba will keep the masses entertained. Masters of ceremony Melusi Tshuma and Corrence Mkhosi-Ncube are expected to run the show smoothly as usually.Bulawayo24news caught up with both the event hosts and the publishers to find more clarity in their endeavors."The woman launching a book is a member of The Zim-Imbokodo. We are living in South Africa where Women's Day is celebrated on the 9th of August annually, so when Phethe Ncube approached us with her idea of publishing her own novel, we saw an opportunity to join masses of South Africans and celebrate Women's Day by launching her novel on the day."Our aim is to help those women who don't have an idea how to pursue their dreams. We are here to help women hence one of our aims is uplifting women and helping them fulfil their dreams like we have done to Phethe. She came to us with her dream of becoming a published author, we directed her to DAV MEDIA and she was helped.People must just sit, relax and watch this new organisation they call a new kid on the block, blossom and becoming an organisation that everyone will be proud of. This is just a start, a lot is yet to come. We will appreciate it more if people come and celebrate this Women's Day in style," said Victress Mathuthu, The Zim-Imbokodo chairlady.Their marketing and publicity director Mrs Corrence Mkhosi - Ncube went on to elaborate further about The Zim-Imbokodo."The Zim-Imbokodo is a non-profitable organisation with aims at helping women in need. We intend to praise them, recognise and empower them. We also accord their heroic status. The organisation was officially launched on the 7th of May 2017 on the first event of the organisation which was successful and had an impressive list of participants," she said."We had our second event on the 16th of June 2017. It was a successful fundraising where we joined masses of South Africans in celebrating Youth Day. The organisation's third event will take place on the 9th of August 2017 where there will be celebrations of Women's Day in style with 'Yeka Ukumthanda Kwami' book launch by Phethe Ncube aka Mercy Bakaitse. Our organisation will like to practice what we preach; giving back to the community through one of our members and as a marketing and publicity officer of the organisation, I am hoping for a big and successful event looking at how the event was marketed. Wathinta abafazi wathinta imbokodo," she concluded."As a publishing house, we aim at polishing rough diamonds, we seek to aid authors unto reaching their full potential. We specialise in editing, cover designing, publishing and marketing. We burn the midnight oil in assuring quality and excellence in our delivery, we believe nothing but the best is good enough. This is our first publication and we aim to publish more books before the end of this year," said Arnold Mayibongwe Nkala of DAV MEDIA.'Notwithstanding pain, women still long to give birth.'Event organisers can be contacted on +27 61 320 3824, +27 61 870 2584, +27 79 037 8720, +27 61 678 8404
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

The founder and leader of a Democratic Republic of Congo rebel group who is wanted for crimes against humanity has surrendered, the UN mission in Congo has said.Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, the founder of Nduma Defence of Congo, has been wanted since 2011 on a national warrant for crimes against humanity, including for mass rapes. He surrendered to UN forces in the country's North Kivu region on Wednesday. Sheka handed himself in "in full awareness of the fact that he is wanted by the government . . . to stand trial for alleged crimes", the mission said.It was not immediately clear why he had turned himself in, but his forces have been locked in a losing fight in recent years with a rival armed group, Reuters news agency said.The UN mission said it would support Congo authorities in pursuing criminal prosecutions for human rights violations, and it has a standing agreement with the government to ensure that those handed over to national authorities are treated in accordance with all relevant human rights standards.Eastern Congo has been plagued by myriad armed rebels since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.Ida Sawyer, the Human Rights Watch's Central Africa director, said Sheka's surrender brings hope for justice and a reprieve from violence. "Thousands of civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been affected by crimes committed by forces under Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka's command, and many still fear the next attack," she said.He remained at large for over six years as his troops continued to commit horrific crimes, Sawyer said. 
Oregon Coast History Videos: Shipwreck Facts, Volcano, Joe the Sea Lion

Published 07/27/2017 at 6:03 PM PDT - Updated 07/28/2017 at 5:03 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Oregon Coast)  Sometimes, knowing the history behind a spot on the Oregon coast can add much to your experience there. It fires up the imagination and helps you take in the vibe that much more, soaking up the sense of the place from all sorts of angles. (Above: a secret shipwreck at Rockaway Beach).

This shoreline's history is full of surprises  some of which you can still see and touch at times. These three videos cover such subjects and shed light on aspects of the past that will amaze, helping you to dive into these beaches in a whole new way.



First, there is the crazy yet cute (and yet sad) story of Joe the Sea Lion in Lincoln City. (Historical photos courtesy North Lincoln County Historical Society).

Back in the early '30s, the Oregon coast was still fairly inaccessible to many as a tourist destination. Parts of 101 were still being built and the roads to the beaches were not traversable when it got really rainy.

Yet one kooky sea lion changed that for a week or so.

They called him Joe, after this fairly-scarred male sea lion was found just flopping around the beaches of what was then a village called Nelscott (Lincoln City wouldn't be founded until the '60s, made up of little villages around this one).

One local managed to get him into a pen, where Joe quickly became as enamored of his human captors as much as they were of him. He loved getting his back scratched with a broom, getting hosed down  but most of all he loved escaping. Each night he'd get out and  while presumably thinking these were caves  he'd be found in the doorway of a home, or even inside one.

One article on the goofy beast and all of a sudden Nelscott was dealing with hundreds upon hundreds of tourists. Sadly, the neighboring burgh of Taft got jealous and complained to local authorities, which took him away and released him back into the wild.

Now, however, we realize this was the right thing to do, whatever the motives of Taft really were.

See the full story on Joe the Sea Lion here  and you can see a statue of him at the SW 35th access in Lincoln City.

Three Amazing Oregon Coast Shipwreck Facts You Didn't Know. There are definitely more than three shipwreck tales that are amazing and astounding on these shores, and in fact there is this deeper insight into Five Amazing Shipwreck Facts that is truly full of surprises.

But did you know?....

The wreck of the Peter Iredale at Fort Stevens nearly bit the big one in World War II? That infamous (yet not very well known) bit of history where a Japanese sub fired upon the U.S. mainland carries the unusual snippet of trivia that the wreck was nearly destroyed by the volleys. There's another fun factoid in the video as well.

The video also makes note of the J. Marhoffer shipwreck that not only gave Boiler Bay its name (near Depoe Bay), but the flaming ship set some of the trees of the bay on fire. (Historical photos courtesy Lincoln County Historical Society in Newport).

Also in this little movie: the secret shipwreck of Rockaway Beach and how to find it.

Scary Pre-History of Yachats and Its Volcanoes. Imagine a fiery, hellish landscape of molten lava covering your favorite beach and plunging into the nearby ocean. Imagine that area filled with toxic gasses and plumes of burning objects shooting into the air from a volcano right near you.

This was what would be the Yachats area around the Oregon coast about 50 million years ago, and that volcano was the beginnings of the famed Cape Perpetua. Granted, the actual shoreline was more than 80 miles east at this point and the volcanic Perpetua had likely sprung up from beneath the waves, however.

This and other volcanic action around this area is why there are so many layers of basalt. The video says more, but even more details are found at Yachats Geology: Wonders and Frights of Central Oregon Coast. - Oregon Coast Hotels in these areas - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours









More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging.....

More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining.....

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News / National

by Mlondolozi Ndlovu, editing by Divine Dube

A SECTION of Zimbabwe's War Veterans Association has come out guns blazing over the First Lady Grace Mugabe' controversial succession utterances.The ex-combatants want the wife of Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe arrested for daring her 93 year old husband to name a successor like what happened to them last year when they implored Robert who has ruled the country for 37 years to step down through a hard hitting communique addressed to the nonagenarian.Grace, in an unusual fashion, dared her aging husband to anoint a successor on Thursday this week during ZANU PF Women's League meeting which was also attended by Robert in the capital, in what pundits believe is the climax of a party currently grappling to contain infighting over who will take over the button from Robert should he die or retire.Although the succession matter is taboo within the revolutionary party, Grace is not the first one within the ZANU PF ranks to wade into the sensitive succession issue. War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube also recently torched the same storm when he urged Robert to choose a successor to put an end to factional battles within the ruling party.But Robert who has already been endorsed as ZANU PF' 2018 presidential candidate insists a successor is a "Congress issue" which no one should poke their nose into until the party's elective congress set for 2019.Responding to Grace's utterances at a press conference in Harare today, the ex-combatants who broke ranks with Robert last year said the First Lady was day dreaming and should instead be arrested just like they were arrested for urging Robert to chose his successor.Outspoken War Veterans secretary general Victor Matemadanda swore that the former fighters would never allow the President to chose a successor from home without giving much detail on how they would stop him should he chose a successor before Congress."We are not going to allow a situation whether dreaming or what, we are not going to allow anyone to appoint a successor from their home, it's not acceptable," Matemadanda charged."We have been harassed for saying that there is a dynasty in creation. In the same manner we were arrested for calling upon the President to appoint his successor, she (Grace Mugabe) must be arrested, we will be waiting for the police to do so," he fumed.Matemadanda and his allies were arrested in 2016 for demanding that the 93 year old appoints his successor or else risk letting the country slide into crisis.Zanu PF is currently embroiled in a factional war pitting Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and another allegedly led by younger Zanu PF members and rooting for the First Lady to take over from her husband.But both factions have denied any ambitions to power but President Mugabe has warned of their existence saying the people must choose their leader.Although it is not clear which faction has the support of Robert Mugabe as he often plays in between them, Matemadanda alleged it was now clear that the 93 year old ruler was the man behind the G40 faction.Ironically, war vets fronted by their embattled leader Christopher Mutsvangwa are reportedly canvassing support for Mnangagwa to replace Robert Mugabe.
Casualty actress Cathy Shipton has defended her co-star Derek Thompson's BBC salary saying he is "worth it".

Northern Ireland-born Thompson, who has played the character of Charlie Fairhead in the BBC One medical drama since its inception in 1986, was recently revealed to be the top earning actor at the corporation with a pay packet of between 350,000 and 399,000.

His salary was revealed after the BBC was forced to publish the wages of any on-air talent earning more than 150,000 during its annual report.

The list of 96 salaries published sparked a gender pay gap dispute as it revealed that its top earning male personality was paid at least four times as much as its highest-paid female.

Known for playing long-standing character nurse Duffy in the series, Shipton told Good Morning Britain: "I was quite low down on the list but I was on the catchment part of the list."

Asked whether she was angry about the pay disparity, she said: "Absolutely not. Derek and I started in the show 30 years ago, he has maintained... he didn't start on that figure, I'll have you know, so the show now really revolves around that character.

"Thirty years he's committed to that show, that's brought in so many actors, so many, all the crew working on the other side."

Prompted by Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway, who commented: "So he's worth it?", Shipton said: "I believe, the feedback I got, was that... he's worth it and I think for 40p a day the whole BBC output is absolutely worth it."

During his speech at the annual report, the corporation's director general Tony Hall defended the salaries which are drawn from TV licence funds.

Lord Hall said: "Ultimately, people should judge the BBC on the quality of the programmes and service they get for their 40p a day."

He also addressed the gender pay gap inconsistency saying: "At the moment, of the talent earning over 150,000, two thirds are men and one third are women. We've set a clear target for 2020 - we want all our lead and presenting roles to be equally divided between men and women."

Casualty, which is the world's longest-running medical drama, will tomorrow air an episode that was filmed in one single, continuous shot.

Shipton said: "I think the crew found it absolutely terrifying because they're used to that stop and start and having to concentrate for so long, it was just exhilarating, it was just fantastic."
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has launched an unprecedented attack on "Brexiteers", warning that the Republic of Ireland will not help create a border that isn't wanted.

In a dramatic shift of policy, Mr Varadkar said Irish people have the right "to be angry" at the UK for risking economic prosperity and the Good Friday Agreement.

He said the Irish Government did not believe there should be any form of economic border between the Republic and Northern Ireland and therefore "we're not going to be helping them to design some sort of border that we don't believe should exist in the first place".

He said: "So let them put forward their proposals as to how they think a border should operate and then we'll ask them if they really think this is such a good idea because I think it will have a very severe impact on their economy if they decide to go down that route."

The statement was met with shock among unionists, with former First Minister David Trimble saying the Taoiseach needs to "calm down".

The British Government said finding a solution to the border question was a "top priority".

A spokesperson added: "As we have always been clear, our guiding principle will be to ensure that - as we leave the EU - no new barriers to living and doing business within the UK are created. We aim to have as frictionless a border as possible between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and we welcome the European Council's recognition that flexible and creative solutions will be required."

Suggestions that the UK/EU frontier could be in the Irish Sea have been rubbished by the DUP, who are propping up Theresa May's Government in Westminster.

The party's leader in Westminster, Nigel Dodds, said: "This apparent hardening of attitudes within the Irish Government is untimely and unhelpful."

Writing in today's Belfast Telegraph, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said: "The DUP will not countenance or accept a post-Brexit border on the Irish Sea that makes it more difficult to live, work and travel between different parts of the United Kingdom.

"The Prime Minister has already reiterated this in the House of Commons and at Westminster."

Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann said: "If the Taoiseach thinks he is going to use the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to make a name for himself he should think again."

UUP MEP Jim Nicholson urged Dublin to clarify its position over an "unwanted and unworkable" proposition.

"If this is their position, then it causes a major threat to the Belfast Agreement and would pull it asunder. Such an arrangement would totally undermine the principle of consent," he said.

Mr Varadkar was asked whether he was concerned that by ratcheting up the rhetoric he could upset Downing Street, but bluntly replied: "I hope there won't be any angry response from anyone.

"Anger isn't a policy and anger doesn't lead to solutions. But if anyone is angry it should be us."

The EU will reveal its thinking this autumn on how to preserve the Good Friday Agreement and Common Travel Area after Brexit. EU ambassadors were told this week that Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier's team will come forward with a position paper, most likely in September.

However, amid growing uncertainty over Anglo-Irish relations, the text will not deal with solutions for the border.

The EU paper will focus on the six cross-border implementation bodies set up under the Good Friday Agreement - including the special EU programmes body, which manages EU peace funds - and all-island co-operation on energy, healthcare, education and other areas.

Talks on the border are not planned until a second phase of exit talks, which are likely to be delayed due to differences over Britain's financial obligations.

Both sides had hoped there would be enough progress on money and other phase-one issues by October so talks could move on to trade, but EU diplomats are increasingly pessimistic.

"Autumn will be turbulent," said one source close to the talks. "The UK cannot continue the same tactics."

EU sources were more upbeat on citizens' rights, where some progress was made at a round of Brexit talks earlier this month.
Last years Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre

Uniformed police officers will take part in Belfast's Gay Pride parade for the first time next Saturday in a bid to stamp out hate crime.

PSNI officers have participated in the annual festival - which kicked off yesterday - for many years, but they have never participated in the main parade in uniform.

Three PSNI Land Rovers, which have been liveried up with anti-hate crime messages, will be operational throughout the 10-day festival, and will also be used at Pride events in Newry and Londonderry. The PSNI has spelt out its message against a rainbow-coloured backdrop: 'Policing with Pride - Hate Crime is Unacceptable - To Stop It, Report It.'

The unprecedented move comes amid increased scrutiny from Britain on LGBT issues in Northern Ireland following the DUP's 'confidence and supply' deal with Theresa May's Conservative Government.

Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris said the festival, which will run through to next Sunday, is important for those in the community who identify as being LGBT.

"The Police Service of Northern Ireland see this as an opportunity not only to show support for these members of our communities, but also to highlight that hate crime, in whatever form, is wrong and the importance of reporting it," he added.

"Hate crime should not be tolerated and victims should be encouraged and feel confident that when they contact police that their concerns will be taken seriously and responded to appropriately."

The PSNI LGBT Network will also be involved in the Pride Picnic, which will start at Belfast City Hall at noon tomorrow.

Policing Board chair Anne Connolly said the board was delighted to support the message of the PSNI during Belfast Pride that any sort of hate crime was wrong.

"It's a very sad reality that homophobic and transphobic hate crime continues to be committed in our society," she said.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Belfast Pride Festival 2016: Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th August 2016 Belfast Pride Festival 2016 Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th August 2016 Belfast Pride Festival 2016 Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th August 2016 Belfast Pride Festival 2016 Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th August 2016 Belfast Pride Festival 2016 Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th August 2016 Belfast Pride Festival 2016 Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th August 2016 Belfast Pride Festival 2016 Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th August 2016 Belfast Pride Festival 2016 Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye 2016- Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Pacemaker Press Belfast 06-08-2016: Belfast Pride Festival 2016. Belfast awash with rainbow colours as the annual LGBT festival returns. Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press. Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th August 2016 Belfast Pride Festival 2016 Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 6th August 2016 Belfast Pride Festival 2016 Thousands of people take part in the annual Belfast Gay Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Belfast Pride 2016: Thousands of people take part in the annual Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Belfast Pride 2016: Thousands of people take part in the annual Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Belfast Pride 2016: Thousands of people take part in the annual Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Belfast Pride 2016: Thousands of people take part in the annual Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Belfast Pride 2016: Thousands of people take part in the annual Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Belfast Pride 2016: Thousands of people take part in the annual Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Belfast Pride 2016: Thousands of people take part in the annual Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Belfast Pride 2016: Thousands of people take part in the annual Pride event in Belfast city centre celebrating Northern Ireland's LGBT community. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye / Facebook

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"This is not an issue for the police alone to deal with, but as they are often the first point of contact, the message and service provided by the PSNI is critical.

"I welcome the fact that officers will be parading at Pride in their uniform for the first time ever, demonstrating the diversity among PSNI officers and staff and PSNI support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender people across our community."

The announcement comes after a poll by the Economic and Social Research Council suggested social attitudes here were changing.

Expand Close Pictured at the launch of the Policing with Pride vehicles are (L to R) Superintendent Emma Bond, PSNI Hate Crime Lead, Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris and Anne Connolly, Chair of Northern Ireland Policing Board. PSNI / Facebook

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Whatsapp Pictured at the launch of the Policing with Pride vehicles are (L to R) Superintendent Emma Bond, PSNI Hate Crime Lead, Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris and Anne Connolly, Chair of Northern Ireland Policing Board.

It showed that 44% of DUP voters support same-sex marriage, with 14% still on the fence.
William McAllister in 2016 with mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough Billy Ashe

One of the last survivors of the sinking of the Princess Victoria ferry disaster has died.

Larne man William (Billy) McAllister was just a 17-year-old galley boy on the ship when it sank during a crossing on stormy seas between Stranraer and Larne on January 31, 1953.

The ferry was overwhelmed by gigantic waves as she crossed the North Channel, sinking five miles north-east of the Copeland Islands.

A total of 133 lives were lost in the tragedy, which at the time was the UK's worst peacetime disaster at sea.

The loss of so many lives sent shockwaves through Northern Ireland.

In January 2013 - the 60th anniversary of the disaster - the RNLI brought Mr McAllister to the scene of the sinking at the mouth of Belfast Lough, where he was able to finally lay a wreath in memory of all those who perished.

Last year a special service in Larne commemorated the 63rd anniversary of the disaster. Twenty-seven of the victims were from the Co Antrim port.

Among the 133 who died were Deputy Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Maynard Sinclair, and Sir Walter Smiles, MP for North Down.

None of the women and children aboard the stricken vessel survived.

At last year's poignant commemoration ceremony, Mr McAllister spoke movingly to the Larne Times about his ordeal.

"I got up at six o'clock that morning and the ship was due to set sail at seven," he recalled.

"When we got out to the open sea, the ship was hammered about by large waves, and the stern gates to the car deck burst open.

"The crew couldn't get them shut.

"Water flooded into the ship and, as the cargo shifted, the ferry listed onto her side."

Billy was eventually rescued by RNLI lifeboat the Sir Samuel Kelly from Donaghadee.

The same lifeboat is now preserved for posterity in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Cultra.

"The memories of that day are as fresh in my mind today as they were in the days after the sinking," Mr McAllister told the newspaper in 2016.

"These commemoration services are very poignant for me, but they are important as they help to keep alive the memory of those who died that day.

Mr McAllister's remains will be removed on Monday at 9.30am from his son Kieran's home at Curran Road in Larne to arrive at St MacNissi's Church for Requiem Mass at 10am.

He will then be laid to rest afterwards in nearby Larne Cemetery.
A Belfast woman suffering from serious medical issues as a result of a vaginal mesh implant has gone public about the issues women in Northern Ireland are enduring.

Mary McLaughlin (53) is a former teaching fellow at the University of London and is currently on leave of absence from Queen's University, Belfast, where she is studying for her PhD.

"I am one of the hundreds of women who had a surgery I thought had worked. For 10 years I would have said it was a successful surgery. I knew nothing about the problems with the mesh implants," she wrote in a letter to the Belfast Telegraph.

Vaginal mesh implants are used to treat issues like pelvic organ prolapses and stress incontinence, conditions that are often brought about by childbirth.

Between 2007/08 and 2015/16 a total of 5,575 mesh implants were carried out in Northern Ireland - and now some of the women who had the operation are experiencing chronic debilitating pain from the procedure.

"Many women have suffered pain for years. Their physicians have either failed to identify or failed to inform them the mesh implant is the most likely cause of a broad spectrum of symptoms.

"We have already watched as healthy organs have fallen into dysfunction," she said.

"Organs such as the bowel and the bladder may be further harmed to the point of total dysfunction if our surgeons do not fully remove the mesh implants inside us.

"We are mainly middle-aged and elderly women who feel written off by the powers that be.

"We maintain it is our right to demand full mesh removal services on our public healthcare system."

She added that "the people in power" are failing to provide the services sufferers need.

Ms McLaughlin said that while surgeons in Northern Ireland have been trained to insert the controversial implants, no one here has the expertise to fully remove them after they have become embedded in the body.

She said women are having to travel to London and pay privately to have the mesh implants removed.

A support group for sufferers has been set up on Facebook.

It now has more than 200 members.

Three members of the group - including Ms McLaughlin - met Sinn Fein MLAs Orlaithi Flynn and Caoimhe Archibald at Stormont yesterday to brief the politicians on the issue.

Afterwards, Ms Flynn said she and colleague Caoimhe Archibald would raise the mesh implants issue with the Department of Health as a matter of urgency.

"The physical and emotional pain these women have had to endure is terrible," she said after the meeting.
The parents of a schoolgirl who passed away after an asthma attack have set a date for a 16k event in her memory.

Rachel Williamson, a fifth year student from Portavogie in Co Down, passed away on July 5, having been diagnosed with the condition at the age of six.

The 16-year-old had been described as a popular and well-loved teenager who made friends right across the generations.

The walk on September 23 will cover a kilometre for each year of Rachel's life.

The schoolgirl was described by classmates as someone who would "always look out for you".

Her parents said they hope to spare other families the heartache of losing someone to asthma. They want to remember Rachel by raising money and awareness to fight the condition which took her life.

Rachel's father, Simon Williamson, is campaigning for better ambulance coverage and community training for such emergencies.

The nearest hospital to Portavogie, on the Ards Peninsula, is the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald - more than 20 miles away and a 40-minute journey along poor country roads. Other areas of the Ards Peninsula are even more remote.

Mr Williamson wants to include first aid training focusing on asthma response as part of the 16k event.

Rachel had just finished her GCSE exams and would have been due to start a college course in childcare this September.

Her father said: "Everyone has heard of asthma, but what most people are unaware of is that it can kill.

"Three people die every day of asthma-related illnesses in the UK.

"Our aim is to give back through Rachel; we want her to be the leading light in this.

"We came up with the idea initially for a sponsored walk - the 16k to represent the 16 years of her life - and then we wanted to turn it into an event day and to have professionals teach CPR and first aid."
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by Staff reporter

Police officers in Mashonaland West-Hurungwe West Ward 24 reportedly invaded the villages and compiled the names of the village heads in a move believed to be meant to consolidate Zanu PF's power ahead of the 2018 elections.Heal Zimbabwe Trust reported that Kenny Musekiwa, a constabulary police officer, on the 15th of July 2017 moved around the ward compiling names of all village heads."Musekiwa highlighted that he was compiling the names under a directive from Magunje District Police Station. He ordered that all village heads should not conduct any meetings without the presence of a police officer."He further threatened that he will use the information to find out traditional leaders who are anti- Zanu-PF," said the trust.
Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel met with Theresa May last September at the UN General Assembly (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Britain could have to pay a Brexit divorce bill of more than 50 billion, the prime minister of Luxembourg has warned.

Xavier Bettel compared the EU stance to Margaret Thatchers bitter battle to get a major rebate for the UK in the 1980s.

Mr Bettel told The Mail on Sunday: It is now time for the European Union to make an analogy with the famous quote of Mrs Thatcher, We want our money back.

Expand Close Xavier Bettel accused Boris Johnson of bragging when he claimed Britain could have its cake and eat it over Brexit (Victoria Jones/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Xavier Bettel accused Boris Johnson of bragging when he claimed Britain could have its cake and eat it over Brexit (Victoria Jones/PA)

Concerning the exit bill, it is important to underline that the British government took this commitment in the past and needs to honour it. It is not a penalty.

The sum ranges between 36 billion and 54 billion.

Mr Bettel accused Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson of bragging when he claimed Britain could have its cake and eat it over Brexit.

He said: It is not possible to have your cake and eat it too  Boris Johnson knows that.
Detectives investigating a fatal knife attack are offering a 20,000 reward for video footage of the stabbing.

The Metropolitan Police said a crowd of up to 70 people are believed to have been present as Bilal Kargbo was stabbed to death in Peckham Rye, south-east London, on April 28.

The 26-year-old, from south London, was killed in broad daylight and detectives said people were seen filming at the time.

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Relatives of the father-of-three said: Please think of the trauma and hurt caused to our family. Our family is absolutely devastated with Bilals loss; he was a wonderful father, partner, son and friend.

Bilal meant so much to us and it is heart-breaking to know that we will never see or speak to him again.

It is hard to put into words the suffering that this has caused our family and it will take a long time for us to come to terms with what has happened.

Detective Inspector Jason Grafham said: Our inquiries have led us to believe that a large crowd gathered around the altercation Bilal was stabbed during  a crowd of around 60 to 70 people.

Expand Close The scene in Peckham Rye, south east London (Chad O'Carroll/Twitter/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp The scene in Peckham Rye, south east London (Chad O'Carroll/Twitter/PA)

Crucial to our investigation, the inquiry team believe a number of people recorded the attack on their mobile devices.

Therefore we are now offering a reward of up to 20,000 for video footage that would assist and ultimately lead to the conviction of the person or persons responsible.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 020 8785 8267 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has told Donald Trump we are not schoolchildren, in the wake of attacks on him by the US president.

Mr Khan said he did not know what Mr Trumps beef was with him after the president launched a Twitter tirade against him in the aftermath of the London Bridge terror attack.

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The mayor told the Guardian: Im a reluctant participant in this dialogue with Donald Trump, because Im trying to be a full-time mayor doing my job, and Im not sure what he and his son have against me, and why they are tweeting about me.

Were not schoolchildren. Hes the president of the United States, so Im unclear what his beef is with me.

In the wake of the deadly June attacks, Mr Khan said Londoners should not be alarmed by visibly increased security on the streets of the capital.

In response, Mr Trump tweeted: At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is no reason to be alarmed!
This Iranian picture claims to show the launching of the Simorgh satellite-carrying rocket in an undisclosed location (Iranian Defence Ministry/AP)

Britain and other Western nations have condemned Iran's launch of a satellite-carrying rocket into space as t he US imposed sanctions targeting the country's ballistic missiles programme.

The UK, Germany and France, which helped broker the landmark Iran nuclear deal in 2015, said the launch was too close for comfort to the type of intercontinental ballistic missiles used to deliver a nuclear payload.

At the United Nations, US ambassador Nikki Haley said Iran was "breaking its obligation" adding: "We can't trust them."

She said: "Under this administration, the United States will not let Iran off the hook for behaviour that threatens our interests and our allies.

"We will continue to impose consequences until Iran stops its provocations and complies fully with (UN) Security Council resolutions."

The US sanctions hit six Iranian subsidiaries of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, described by the Treasury Department as "central" to Iran's ballistic missiles programme.

Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin cast the sanctions as part of an ongoing US effort to aggressively oppose Iran's ballistic missile activity, including what he called a "provocative space launch" carried out on Thursday.

In another allegation against the US adversary, Mr Mnuchin said missile attacks on US partner Saudi Arabia over the weekend by Houthi rebels in Yemen had probably come with the support of Iran.

The US has long accused Tehran of shipping weapons to the Houthis, a Shiite group that controls part of Yemen and is being fought by a Saudi-led coalition.

The sanctions came a day after Iran successfully launched its most advanced satellite-carrying rocket into space, in what is probably a major advancement for the country's space programme.

The Simorgh rocket is capable of carrying a satellite weighing 550lbs, Iran state television said.

The US National Air and Space Intelligence Centre said in a report released last month that the Simorgh could act as a test bed for developing the technologies needed to produce an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

In a joint statement, the US, Britain, Germany and France called the launch "inconsistent" with the UN Security Council resolution enshrining the nuclear deal, adding that such activities destabilised the region.

The grouping represented all of the Western nations that are part of the nuclear deal, which also includes Russia, China and the European Union.

"We condemn this action," the countries said. "We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities."

But beyond the US sanctions, it was unclear what, if anything, the group could do to increase pressure quickly on Tehran.

Notably, the nations stopped short of saying the launch had "violated" the UN resolution, saying only that it was "inconsistent" with the text.

That is because the resolution calls upon, but does not oblige, Iran to refrain from ballistic missile development.

Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif opposed any suggestion his country had done anything wrong by launching the satellite into space.

He said on Friday that Iran was complying with the nuclear deal and drew a contrast with the US, accusing Washington of not obeying "the letter and spirit" of the deal.

"Rhetoric and actions from the US show bad faith," Mr Zarif said.

He also rejected the notion that Iran was working to develop missiles that could carry a nuclear warhead.

"Iran is not and will not be developing nuclear weapons; so by definition cannot develop anything designed to be capable of delivering them," he said on Twitter.

The US penalties reflect an attempt by Donald Trump's administration to show it is staying tough on Iran, even though Mr Trump has yet to scrap the 2015 nuclear agreement, despite threatening to do so as a candidate and labelling it a bad deal.

The six entities being sanctioned contribute to Iran's liquid propellant ballistic missiles, the Treasury Department said, including development and manufacturing of engines, launchers, guide-and-control systems and ground support as well as the liquid propellant itself.

The sanctions freeze any assets the entities may have in the US and ban Americans from doing business with them.

AP
Retired US Marines general John Kelly is a battle-hardened commander who would bring a background of military discipline and order to Donald Trump's stormy White House as its new chief of staff.

Mr Kelly's experience as homeland security secretary and a veteran of three tours in Iraq, plus a sobering family tragedy, suggests he will be a loyal manager for the US president when he starts the job on Monday.

"He has been a true star of my administration," the president tweeted on Friday, announcing that his current secretary of homeland security was in - and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus out.

Mr Trump called Mr Kelly a "great leader" and "great American". He called Mr Priebus, ousted after a tumultuous six months, a "good man".

As homeland security secretary, Mr Kelly has taken the lead on some of Mr Trump's most controversial policies, including his executive orders suspending the admission of refugees and temporarily barring visitors from several Muslim-majority nations.

Those orders have been stripped down by courts pending a Supreme Court review in the autumn.

People who know Mr Kelly said he was not aware of the details of the initial orders until around the time Mr Trump signed it.

Yet, just days after taking office, he had to lead the agency as it dealt with the chaos and confusion that ensued at airports in the US and around the world.

He defended the orders to reporters and politicians and insisted he indeed had been part of the decision-making process.

Mr Kelly has stood up to Congress, another facet of his history that Mr Trump might find attractive.

In April, Mr Kelly bluntly challenged members of Congress critical of the Trump administration's aggressive approach to immigration enforcement to either change the laws or "shut up".

But Mr Kelly has won cross-party respect as a result of his distinguished military career.

He joined the Marine Corps in 1970, carving out a reputation as a highly respected but often outspoken commander who could stir debate and issue unpopular directives on issues ranging from women in combat to the treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention centre.

Kelly was the fifth person to lead the Department of Homeland Security, which includes agencies that protect the president, respond to disasters, enforce immigration laws, protect America's coastlines and secure air travel.

His selection as secretary bolstered concerns about an increase in military influence in a Trump White House.

Mr Kelly also holds a sombre distinction as the highest ranking officer to lose a child in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

His son, Marine 1st Lt Robert Kelly, was killed in November 2010 in Afghanistan.

Mr Kelly retired from the military last year, wrapping up a three-year post as head of US Southern Command, which spanned some of the more fractious debate over the Obama administration's ultimately failed attempt to close Guantanamo.

In his final Pentagon news conference, Mr Kelly spoke about the loss of his son - a topic he did not often discuss publicly.

"To lose a child is ... I can't imagine anything worse than that. I used to think, when I'd go to all of my trips up to Bethesda, Walter Reed, I'll go to the funerals with the secretaries of defence, that I could somehow imagine what it would be like," he said.

But, he added: "When you lose one in combat, there's a - in my opinion - there's a pride that goes with it, that he didn't have to be there doing what he was doing.

"He wanted to be there. He volunteered."

Mr Kelly said he received "occasional letters from Gold Star families asking, 'Was it worth it?'

"And I always go back with this: It doesn't matter. That's not our question to ask as parents," he said.

"That young person thought it was worth it and that's the only opinion that counts."

AP
Police officers outside a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, where a man with a knife fatally stabbed one person and wounded several others (Markus Scholz/dpa via AP)

A Palestinian man who allegedly stabbed one person to death and injured six others in Hamburg was known to German authorities as a suspected Islamic radical but was also psychologically unstable, officials said.

The suspect, a 26-year-old who had no identity papers other than a birth certificate showing he was born in the United Arab Emirates, was quickly overwhelmed by passers-by and arrested after Friday's attack at a supermarket in Hamburg's Barmbek district.

He was not named by authorities, in keeping with Germany privacy laws.

The man's motive remained unclear on Saturday, but he is believed to have acted alone and there are no indications that he had links to any network, Hamburg state interior minister Andy Grote said.

Police said the suspect grabbed a kitchen knife with an 8in (20cm) blade from a shelf at the supermarket on Friday afternoon and stabbed three men, one of them fatally.

He then left the shop and injured another three people outside, not all of them with the knife. Passers-by then pursued and overwhelmed the suspect, who was arrested by police.

Mr Grote said none of the wounded suffered injuries considered to be life-threatening, though some were seriously hurt.

The man arrived in Germany in March 2015 after stops in Spain, Sweden and Norway. His request for asylum was rejected late last year and authorities were trying to secure new Palestinian papers to deport him - a process in which they said he had co-operated.

Officials said he was on their radar as a suspected Islamic radical, but not as a "jihadist".

A friend had tipped off authorities about changes in the man's behaviour, telling them he had stopped drinking alcohol and started talking about the Koran, said Torsten Voss, head of the Hamburg branch of the domestic intelligence agency.

Officials interviewed the man and came away with the impression that he was a "destabilised personality" but not someone who posed an immediate danger, Mr Voss said.

"We evaluated him rather as someone who was psychologically unstable than had clear Islamic extremist motivations," he told a news conference. Authorities are not aware of any connections to Hamburg's Islamic extremist scene.

A search of the man's room at a centre for asylum-seekers turned up no weapons or weapon-like objects, prosecutors said.

The suspect has not yet talked about Friday's attack, prosecutor Joerg Froehlich said, though he has indicated that he acted alone.

Mr Froehlich said authorities intend to ask that he be held in custody on suspicion of murder and five counts of attempted murder, but may seek to have him held at a psychiatric unit instead.

AP
White House chief of staff Reince Priebus kept a 'poker face' aboard Air Force One, according to a politician on the flight (AP)

President Donald Trump has again threatened to end required payments to insurance companies unless lawmakers repeal and replace the Obama-era healthcare law.

In apparent frustration over Friday's failure by the Senate Republican majority to pass a bill repealing parts of the Affordable Care Act, Mr Trump tweeted: "If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!"

No Democrats voted for the bill.

Repeal-and-replace has been a goal for Republicans ever since President Barack Obama enacted the law in 2010.

That aim, which was one of Mr Trump's top campaign promises, remains out of reach even with Republicans controlling both the White House and Congress. The issue has dominated the opening months of his presidency.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after the bill failed early on Friday that he would move to other legislative business in the upcoming week.

The subsidies are required under the law. They total about 7 billion dollars a year and help reduce deductibles and co-payments for consumers with modest incomes.

But the payments are the subject of a lawsuit brought by House Republicans over whether the law specifically included a congressional appropriation for the money, as required under the constitution.

Mr Trump has only guaranteed the payments throughout this month, which ends on Monday.

Mr Trump previously said the law that he and others call Obamacare would stop immediately whenever those payments stop.

The Senate's Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, said such a step will make healthcare even more expensive.

"If the president refuses to make the cost-sharing reduction payments, every expert agrees that premiums will go up and healthcare will be more expensive for millions of Americans," Mr Schumer said.

"The president ought to stop playing politics with people's lives and healthcare, start leading and finally begin acting presidential."

AP
This week's ITV programme to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, brought back many memories for all of us. During the period when her remains were in St James's Palace, I happened to be in London on business and was on my way to France, where I was attending a European university conference. Those few days before and after her funeral in Westminster Abbey were extraordinary.

That night, as I stood outside St James's Palace, where hundreds of thousands of flowers had been placed- with more being placed by the minute - I asked a policeman, "Where is Diana's body, inside the Palace?"

He pointed to a stained-glass window in front of us and told me: "Her body is lying in a room just on the other side of that window."

I carried that image with me to France, and on the morning of Diana's funeral several of the delegates from the UK universities joined me to watch the service live from Westminster Abbey. Incidentally, none of the other Europeans joined us.

For many reasons it was a remarkable funeral, which had been organised by the royal family, and in particular by the Dean, the Very Rev Wesley Carr.

Wesley Carr was an abrasive and at times overbearing figure, but he knew how to run a major State funeral, including those of Diana and, later, the Queen Mother.

There were many odd moments during Diana's funeral, including Elton John playing and singing Candle in the Wind, Earl Spencer - of all people - lecturing the royal family from the sanctity of the Abbey pulpit, and Tony Blair reading from the New Testament with a certain theatricality that somehow diminished the occasion. The funeral service was, at times, teetering on the edge of showbusiness, but it was an unforgettable occasion.

I remember particularly the magnificent music, including Sir John Taverner's haunting Song For Athene, which was sung by the choir as eight young Welsh Guards, some taken from serving in South Armagh, carried Diana's weighty coffin out of the church.

It was an immensely tragic and moving spectacle. Having just watched it again tonight for the first time since then, on YouTube, I can feel the goose pimples rising. After a minute's silence, the coffin was taken into the sunshine and Diana's body was transported while hundreds of people applauded and threw flowers at the slowly moving hearse.

That in itself was an extraordinary example of sorrow and respect, and at that time unique. I remember thinking to myself that this was a picture of a nation where so many people had abandoned or had not known a Christian faith, and did not know how to react to such a loss. This was something that also greatly surprised Dean Carr, who before the funeral had walked anonymously through the crowds outside the Abbey. He said later that this was evidence of generations of people who had never grieved or had forgotten how to grieve.

Princess Diana's funeral was in a milestone in social history, for it marked the beginning of a period when people became no longer inhibited about crying in public and showing their deepest emotions.

In the past, the norm was maintaining a stiff upper lip, and keeping the emotions firmly in check. Some people looked on a display of emotions on such occasions as a form of weakness, and perhaps the pendulum has swung too far.

Nowadays, people display their emotions quite openly, perhaps too openly, on almost every public occasion, from a funeral to a television studio. This - if nothing else - shows that they are human.

However, there is still an argument for handling grief and sorrow with a tight-lipped dignity, which in fact emphasises what may be going on behind that stiff exterior.

The great paradox of Princess Diana's funeral is that it combined both approaches to death - the tears outside the Abbey, and inside the depth of a Christian service of a beautiful woman and mother who had died so tragically, and so young.

It also showed that the Church, in times of public or personal crisis, still plays an important role in the affairs of the nation and in family life by helping people to cope with the harsh reality of death.
News / National

by Staff reporter

National People's Party spokesperson Methuseli Moyo has claimed that President Robert Mugabe has disarmed Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa by telling the military to back off on issues of politics.Mugabe on Thursday told the military to back off and leave the politics for politicians."By telling the military to back off, Mugabe has disarmed Mnangagwa. By saying name your successor, Grace has said the one touting himself, that is, Mnangagwa, is not the one."By saying it did not matter that the next president is what tribe, Mugabe was saying his successor could be Zezuru like him, and that is Sydney Sekeramayi," Moyo said."By saying there has to be a third VP who should be a woman, Mugabe is saying Grace will be VP by end of year. In one move, Mugabe has undone all Mnangagwa and his crew in the military and state media thought was a done deal."He said Mnangangwa may soon find himself battling for his political survival."Mugabe is the Maradona of Zimbabwe politics. Once more, he has dribbled his way past a cluster of successionists. But come 2018, we must tackle this Maradona so hard and end his career," he said.
It appears Leo Varadkar has been bingeing on his Love Actually DVD again.

Towards the end of the movie there's a scene where the British Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) and the US president (Billy Bob Thornton) hold a joint press conference to convince people that relations between the two countries are top notch.

A smarmy Thornton confidently tells reporters "our special relationship is still very special", but Grant stuns the room by interjecting that he fears "this has become a bad relationship".

"A relationship based on the president taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to Britain. We may be a small country but we're a great one too," he says.

The parallels to the new Taoiseach's performance yesterday are striking.

There was no joint press briefing but Mr Varadkar played the role of Grant with aplomb. His message was that the Republic of Ireland might be a small country but he won't bend to Brexiteer bullies.

He invited political correspondents to Government Buildings for an hour-long briefing on his plans for the months ahead.

Standing at a podium he breezed through questions on a range of matters, but when it came to Brexit there was a noticeable change of tone.

For some reason the UK media yesterday picked up on comments made by Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney last month in which he indicated that a 'smart Border' based on technology would not be a runner for the Irish Government.

As the story grew legs, Mr Coveney conferred with the Taoiseach to ensure they were on the same page. Mr Varadkar assured him they were and that he would be setting out the position in no uncertain terms.

While Enda Kenny had played along with Theresa May's friendly photocalls, the time had come to lay Ireland's cards on the table.

Sources say there has been a sense in Government for some time that Britain doesn't have a workable plan for Anglo-Irish relations in the post-Brexit era.

The lack of an Assembly in Northern Ireland is exacerbating the problem with a "crunch point" coming.

Shortly after taking over as Taoiseach, Mr Varadkar held phone conversations with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones.

He told them both that he would advocate on their behalf at the highest level in Europe "to keep the door open for the UK to allow them stay in the customs union and single market if they want to".

In return the SNP and Labour politicians promised "to try to push the UK towards a soft Brexit".

By contrast, when it came to Northern Ireland, Mr Varadkar had "nobody to ring".

He will travel north for two days next week to meet whichever political leaders aren't on summer holidays - and in light of his latest Brexit comments it's likely they will have plenty to discuss.

For better or worse Mr Varadkar turned up the rhetoric in the full knowledge that he was bound to upset unionists and Downing Street. He didn't care.

"It is the British and the Brexiteers who are leaving, so if anyone should be angry it's us quite frankly," he said serenely, enjoying his Hugh Grant moment.

The move stunned senior politicians in the UK as the message clearly translated into 'get over yourselves and start facing up to the hard realities of Brexit'.

In a surprisingly frank fashion, Mr Varadkar answered a question about what the 'borders of the future' might look like.

"We don't want one," Mr Varadkar said.

"They are the ones who want a border, it is up to them to say what it is, to say how it would work and to first of all convince their own people, their own voters, that this is actually a good idea," he said.

"So let them put forward their proposals as to how they think a border should operate and then we'll ask them if they really think this is such a good idea because I think it will have a very severe impact on their economy if they decide to go down that route."

The reaction was brisk.

Former Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble said the Taoiseach needed to "calm down" or he would do "enormous damage" to the relationship between Belfast and Dublin.

He told Sky News that Ireland joined the EU at the same time as the UK and "should seriously consider following us out".

Of course, Mr Trimble is partly right. Mr Varadkar can't sit back and wait for the British Government to come up with solutions.

The process to date suggests it doesn't have any.

Placing a border in the Irish Sea will never work for unionists. The prospect of DUP leader Arlene Foster having to show her passport at the airport before flying to the 'mainland' is a bridge too far - even if it would protect cross-border trade.

At the same time the notion of having Theresa May's invisible border points at 400 road crossings is ambitious at best.

The stakes are high and Mr Varadkar issued a wake-up call to everybody involved.

Ireland was supposed to be the UK's closest ally in the Brexit talks, albeit while on the side of the EU.

But since taking office, Mr Varadkar has obviously decided the prime minister is trying to take exactly what she wants from Brexit and casually ignoring Irish needs.

The relationship is at risk of turning sour.

The only problem is that this particular drama has years to run and is unlikely to have a happy ending for anybody.
Indonesian coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs Wiranto (right), joined by Australian Attorney General George Brandis, speaks to reporters following the six-nation meeting in Manado, Indonesia, July 29, 2017.

Officials from Southeast Asian nations, Australia and New Zealand agreed at a meeting in Indonesia on Saturday that their governments would support one another in a forum working against a rising terrorist threat tied to battles with militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) in Marawi, the Philippines.

High-level officials from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Brunei joined their counterparts from Canberra and Wellington in a one-day conference co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia in the North Sulawesi provincial capital of Manado. Their discussions focused on terrorism in the region surrounding the Sulu and Celebes seas.

Global terrorism is that lethal threat to all of our societies and with the collapse of the caliphate in the Middle East, the return of foreign terrorist fighters to our region and the increasing prevalence of cross-border terrorism, it is a threat that is becoming more severe, not less and therefore it demands a regional response, Australian Attorney General George Brandis said.

That problem has been thrown by recent events in Marawi.

Wiranto, Indonesias coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, said the forum is focused specifically for countries surrounding the Sulu Sea to prevent the spillover of the Marawi conflict to neighboring countries.

Countries surrounding the Sulu Sea have direct interests about security in the sub region and we limit this forum at the sub regional level, Wiranto said in a joint press conference with Brandis after the meeting.

Wiranto also said IS changed its strategy by scattering militants to establish new strongholds around the world including Southeast Asia, following defeats in Syria and Iraq.

They initially wanted to establish a new stronghold in Indonesia, in Poso (Indonesia), or in Marawi (the Philippines), but given the objective conditions, they chose Marawi, Wiranto said, adding the participating countries were briefed by the Philippine delegation on the status of Marawi where government troops have battled militants since May 23.

Fighting terrorism through social media, laws

Other discussions focused on militants use of social media.

The six countries agreed that there is an urgency to cooperate with companies that provide social networking, content sharing and messaging services, Wiranto said.

Terrorists are using social media and the six countries agreed to learn from one another to counter extremist propaganda, he said.

The Indonesian government blocked online messaging service Telegram earlier this month over concerns that terrorists were using it to spread radical propaganda and teach followers to mount attacks or assemble bombs.

The participants also agreed to study prevailing laws in each country that criminalize extremists and militants returning to their home countries along with those who provide assistance and support to militants. This would be particularly important for Indonesia, as officials deliberate amendments to a counterterrorism law to criminalize terrorists or their supporters and allow possible military involvement, while maintaining respect to human rights.

Brandis commended Wiranto for bringing the six countries together to address common problems and to build an architecture in which the six nations represented today can continue to work together, to learn from one another, to assist one another, to ensure that we always stay ahead of the terrorists."

Working together

Philippine National Security Adviser Hermogenes C. Esperon Jr. called the meeting fruitful because participants were able to learn from one another, he said.

I think we have established good links with countries that have the same concerns, he told BenarNews after the meeting.

Esperon said the leaders agreed to meet because they realized that they needed to cooperate because of the borderless nature of terrorism.

Terrorism can happen in any country, because there is no need for big forces. They do not have to move in big formations, it can take one determined mind to impose upon us, thats what we want to prevent, he said.

In Marawi, operations to combat militants are ongoing while the battleground has been reduced from the original 16 to three villages in the densely populated area. Civilians remain trapped, Esperon said.

We want to be very, very careful about it. It will be slower but that might serve the purpose because being slow in their liberating, we may be saving some innocent lives, he said.

Wiranto and Brandis said participants agreed to repeat the forum next year.

Wiranto, the Indonesian coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, speaks to participants at the six-nation meeting in Manado, July 29, 2017. (Courtesy Indonesia Ministry of Political, Legal and Security Affairs)
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News / National

by Staff reporter

EVERY school should concern itself with building a strong, unique and easily identifiable brand that it can commit to and deliver upon to help build loyalty among its customer base and connect with the community.Speaking on Thursday at celebrations to mark 107 years since Milton High School was established, Ernst and Young Zimbabwe partner Mr Nqaba Mkhwananzi said a consistent brand connects people at an emotional level and challenged the school to put its stakeholders at ease by rebranding to reclaim its lost glory."I have observed the dilution of Milton's brand over the years. Adverse publicity over the last few years has not helped protect the school's brand. The Milton story has evolved from one of greatness, one of conquering obstacles, to one of mediocrity, to one of ill-discipline, to one of disgruntled stakeholders and one of negative publicity," said Mr Mkhwananzi, also a Milton old boy."For a long period, I have felt that there is a strong need to rebrand this great institution. Milton is a great institution that has stood the test of time. I believe the initiative to rebrand Milton is one that is not only appropriate, but long overdue."The Milton brand needs a revamp, it needs a refresh and enhancement."He said the great Milton story had over the years been diluted by economic challenges, bad publicity, dilapidated infrastructure, ill-discipline and low all-round morale.Mr Mkhwananzi challenged learners and school's authorities to work towards rebranding Milton into an institution that will be favourable, not because of history, but for development and intellectual quality.Branding, he said, shouldn't just be about the logo, badge or emblem. Although they are important elements, they must involve the visual representation of what Milton stands for; the services it offers or the philosophy it practises.The Milton brand is the total experience of its product or service, which includes the school's history, location, service and the ease with which people can find and do business with it.When the school is clear on the brand and can deliver on the promise of the brand, only then can it start to produce fruit."For any institution to succeed it must be clear on what it does, why it does it and how it does it. Our vision gives parents a promise to a first rate educational institution, but is that promise being lived up to?" said Mr Mkhwananzi.He questioned whether Milton understood that parents are its customers, since they pay the bills, and further asked if the way the school does its business or is structured meets the needs of parents.Milton High headmaster Mr Similo Ncube said the school revenue base had slumped due to a drop in enrolment over the years."Because of negative publicity the school has been receiving over the years, our enrolment fell from an average of 1 400 pupils to the current 923," said Mr Ncube."The school is working on rationalising the workforce in line with what the school can afford to pay without hindering its capacity to provide quality education."He said the school was also working on completing 19 projects aimed at improving service delivery and quality results.
Opinion / Columnist

With all the drama surrounding the 2018 election, I am convinced it will not be won by the opposition, the reason being instead of joining established political parties, the easier thing to do, which many are now doing is to form a political party and then join the coalition talks. More mileage gained I suppose as opposed to joining a political party and having to rise through the ranks.I would be pleased if all "opposition " parties that have not been represented in parliament or that do not have members that have served in parliament could just be banished and sent where they belong. It seems Zimbabweans have shifted from the trend of starting churches as prophets to starting political parties in their houses and this will not work at all.Assuming this happens and we don't have the forty or so small political parties, we are likely to be left with 3 or so main opposition parties, there is still the problem of who leads, who gets what (ministry allocation) in the event that a government is formed. And whilst all this tussling goes on and on, uncle Bob will be showing how "more organised " ZANU PF is as they have already anointed him as the ZANU PF candidate. So it is also my belief that this so called grand coalition will yield nothing more than fights for something that is still a dream and may not materialise, more like fighting over what to do with lottery winnings when you have a very remote chance of winning it.My ideal solution for the opposition is each party goes on its own and the party that poses the best challenge gets support of the others going into the run off (I believe there is a better chance to get a run off as individual parties than a grand coalition). Like what happened in France a typical scenario is where the losing parties then urge their supporters to rally behind the best opposition candidate in the run off. That being said, this is a very unlikely scenario with the state of affairs in Zimbabwean politics at the moment and that leads me to believe the man for the job is none other than Professor Jonathan Moyo and I am sure the man himself knows it. I will outline a few reasons why.Firstly, the professor has beaten both Zanu PF and the MDC as an independent candidate in Tsholotsho. This is a feat that has not been achieved by many since independence, and the reason this happened I believe was because he does serve the people. The people of Tsholotsho are a happy lot because of his works and although they then voted against him when he returned to ZANU PF, he has won their hearts again. As a president, I do believe he will work for the people to feel his influence and in as much as I hate to admit it, he does a good job as the Tertiary Education minister as well.The second reason is that the professor is probably the only politician who is most accessible and connected to Zimbabweans. For example, going through his Twitter feed, I notice that in most cases, he generally responds to literally anyone who asks him a question on Twitter. Whilst this may have no significant role in Zimbabwean politics, it shows he is happy to publicly defend his policies to the people, something which is rare in African politics.Another reason is the fact that back in 2008, Moyo and a few others were punished for the 'Tsholotshogate', a meeting where succession was planned. He was the mastermind, and that shows in 2008, some 9 years ago, he knew this old fossil had to go and because his strategy did not work, he was expelled, left, and came back to destroy from within. I do not have an accurate idea of what goes on in the guy's head, but I surely know he has it planned but he is still lacking lieutenants that can help him put plan into action.Lastly I believe he is well positioned, being already in ZANU PF, he is guaranteed support of the military, and most if not all government arms if he were to be elevated. I personally don't like the guy, but I believe he is the best and will serve the people if he does finally manage to get into the hot seat.And Jonathan Moyo is only 60 years old.
The senate has approved the $1.8bn federal government 2016-2018 external borrowing (rolling) plan for Lagos-Kano railway modernisation project and reconstruction/rehabilitation of the North-East.

Photo by Ankush Minda via Unsplash

It also approved the $750m medium term external loan requests for six states, out of the Federal Government 's request of $1.49bn for 10 states.

The breakdown of the utilisation of the $575m World Bank loan includes $125m for polio eradication support and routine immunisation project, $75m for community and social development project, and $125m for Nigeria States Health Programme Investment project.

Others are $100m for State Education Programme Investment project, $100m for Nigeria Youth Employment and Social Support Project and $50m for Fadama III project.

Further breakdown of the approved loans are $70m from African Development Bank (ADB) for Ebonyi Ring Road Project (to be co-financed by Islamic Development Bank), $200m ADB facility for Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) in Abia State, and $200m IDB loan for Kano State Integrated Agricultural and Water Resources Development.
 

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Opinion / Columnist

I remember it was in 2013 in Bulawayo in Cowdray Part Surbub at Mukitika Primary School on a Sunday. The COPAC had announced that they will hold a public hearing on the proposed Zimbabwe Constitution. Although the meeting was supposed to be attended by Cowdray Park residence ZANU PF bussed people from nearby plots and farms with an obvious aim to disrupt the hearings. Thanks for the Honourable legislators who were chairing the meeting progressed without any incidence.After the meeting had been officially opened deliberations started. We first discussed the Bill of Rights. There was a rare unity between ZANU PF and MDC supporters on the Bill of Rights. All people present unanimously agreed that every Zimbabwean must have a right to life. We agreed that no one must be allowed to take away someone's life for whatever reasons. Christians contended that nobody have a right to take anybody's life except God the life giver. MDC ZANU PF Christians we unanimously agreed on that.We then moved to the issue of the death penalty or death sentence whether it must be maintained in the constitution or total be removed. There was a contestation of ideas here. It seemed the majority wanted the death sentence to be maintained. Suddenly people changed. It looks like they had completely forgotten what we had agreed under the Bill of Rights. Speaker after speaker stood up to support the idea of maintaining the death sentence in the constitution. I was given a chance to speak. I advocated for the removal of the death sentence reminding the gathering what we had just agreed under the Bill of Right. Unfortunately I was in the minority. When the issue was finally put to vote we lost. People wanted the death sentence to be retained in the New Constitution of Zimbabwe. It was sad.The death sentence had always a controversial topic. Some people are in support of it some are against it.However, it must be noted that people are being killed throughout the world almost every day, a number are still on death row. Some people are being killed for trivial crimes like "who you sleep with, in others it is reserved for acts of terror and murder." (Amnesty International)The author is of the view that Zimbabweans made a great mistake in retaining the death sentence in the new constitution which we voted for in 2013.The author advocate for the total removal of the death sentence from our constitution and laws.According to Amnesty International the death penalty is unfair because before anyone is executed he or she is made to wait for years on the death row. Certain Japanese man was made to wait for 46 years not knowing when his time was to come. In Zimbabwe we have people who are still on the death raw for more than 10 years now. It's unfair.The death penalty is also cruel, inhuman and degrading. According to Salil Shelty "The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, not a solution to it." Execution methods includes beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection, shooting in the back of the head or shooting by a firing squad. It's so chilling, ruthless, cruel and violent.The other issue is humans can make errors and judges are not an exception. Let's say someone is erroneously charged and erroneously convicted and sentenced to death and then killed immediately. If at a later stage it is found out that the person was erroneously convicted, it is not possible to reverse the killing of an innocent person.I had also pointed it out in one of my recent articles that long jail sentences do not deter crime. The idea that long jail terms deter crime hasn't been proven anywhere this includes the death sentence, it doesn't deter crime in any way. Life sentences are rather better than the death sentence in serious crimes.The death penalty is also discriminatory. The Amnesty International says it is the poor belonging to a "wrong "race, ethnic group, religious minority group, or political party that end up facing the gallows. In Zimbabwe the discrimination is quite glare, it is men only who can be given the death sentence women are spared. We were not told the reasons for this discriminatory nature of sentencing. We all know that 52% of Zimbabwean population are women then why kill the few and spare the majority. Is there any motive to extinguish men in Zimbabwe?The death penalty breaches two essential human rights: the right to life and right to live a life free from torture. Both rights are protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948, according to Amnesty International. Zimbabwe is a member of United Nations, why are we then killing people violating their rights?Since 1948 the momentum to ban the death sentence globally is growing. As of 2016 104 countries had totally banned the death penalty including the majority of countries in Southern Africa but Zimbabwe still maintains the death penalty in its laws.Vice President Mnangagwa who is also the Minister of Justice has been quoted on numerous occasions in the media as saying he is opposed to the death penalty. Recently he crafted the first constitutional amendment which was adopted by parliament. We hope that he will do the honourable thing and craft the second constitutional amendment and remove totally the death sentence from our constitution. I also hope that legislators from ZANU and MDC will unanimously vote and approve the second constitutional amendment to remove the death sentence from the Zimbabwean Constitution.Etiwel Mutero is an archivist and political commentator.You can contact him on etiwelm02@gmail.com
Opinion / Columnist

Zimbabwe is sitting of the knife edge of the abyss, one false move and the country would tumble down. 37 years of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption, vote rigging and murderous tyrannical rule have left the country's once promising economy in ruins, unemployment has soared to 90% plus, Zanu PF's own Minister of Welfare has admitted that 72.3% of the population now live in poverty, etc. This is socially and politically unsustainable; the need to do something constructive and urgently to revive the economy, end the people's heart-breaking economic and thus step back from the abyss is the single most important matter on the nation's agenda.If Zimbabwe's next elections are transparent, free, fair and credible the nation will heave a huge sigh of relief that will echo round the globe because the country would have taken its very first step back from the edge. Only a democratically elected government that is accountable to the people will have the political will and mandate to start addressing the mismanagement, corruption, etc. that have landed us in this dangerous situation.However, if next year's elections are rigged signalling that nothing has changed, the gross mismanagement, rampant corruption, etc. will continue as before; this will be the final push to send the nation over the edge. The people have suffered in silence for nearly four decades now, there is a limit to how much misery anyone can endure before they finally lash out. The prospect of another five years of Zanu PF misrule and abject poverty will concentrate the people's minds. The cup is full to overflowing!No one can say when exactly the people's dammed up anger will finally burst but burst it will. And when it does, it will send a wall of water, mud, rock and uprooted trees two storeys high and kilometres wide which will sweep all before it.The consequences of another rigged election in Zimbabwe are just too gustily to contemplate.This is why we must do everything in our power to ensure Zimbabwe's next elections are free and fair. If we fail to stop the elections going ahead with no reforms in place, then the whole process must be shown for what it is  a sham election  and thus declared null and void.It is most disheartening that both Zanu PF and the opposition led by Morgan Tsvangirai continue to behave in their usual reckless manner oblivious of the people's suffering, the precarious position the country is in and, most important of all, the critical importance to ensure the next elections are free and fair. In Zanu PF the factional war to decide who will take over from President Mugabe is all the regime is interested in."There is no succession which will take place without the involvement of Mugabe. I know the president says: No, no, I don't want to impose a candidate", comment Grace Mugabe."But I have always argued with him that you have a role, you have the right to be part of that process. Because we respect him, his word will be final. Mark my words, his word will be final. I am asking him right now in your presence. Don't be afraid, tell us which candidate we should back."Of course, President Mugabe is lying, he has imposed himself on his party and the nation. He has had millions of Zimbabweans beaten and/or raped and over 30 000 murdered in cold blood to establish and retain the de facto one party dictatorship so he could ride roughshod over the people's freedoms, rights and dreams. Grace Mugabe wants her husband to name her his successor and thus impose her as the next dictator.No one in Zanu PF is even concerned about next year's elections because they know the party will once again rig the vote to secure another landslide victory. With not even one democratic reform in place, so the party retains its undemocratic control over every aspect of the electoral process. The party's war chest full of cash, looted from the diamond bounty, to bankroll all its multifaceted and expensive vote rigging schemes; etc. Victory for Zanu PF in next year elections is given.The total chaos and confusion in the opposition camp fuelled by greed has only made Zanu PF even more arrogant, confident the party's political dominance makes it the only serious political player in the land. Zanu PF's refusal to concede to even one token reforms since the July 2013 rigged elections has left the opposition with excuse for contesting the flawed elections, other than greed."As we approach the 2018 harmonised elections, the MDC would like to emphasize the need for the holding of free and fair elections to enable the people of Zimbabwe to choose a government that is legitimate and democratic," was Obert Gutu's, MDC-T spokesman, response to Grace Mugabe outburst."We will not tolerate the notion that Robert Mugabe, somehow, has got a God - given and sacred role to appoint whoever is going to be the next President of Zimbabwe. Indeed, Zimbabwe is not Robert Mugabe and Robert Mugabe is not Zimbabwe."How utterly predictable and utterly stupid!As long as President Mugabe continue to exercise his tyrannical powers; looting billions of dollars of State wealth to bankroll his vote rigging schemes whilst millions of people wallow in poverty and anguish; then, for all intent and purpose, Robert Mugabe is Zimbabwe. And, which is more, the tyrant is set to pass on his dictatorial powers to his success.MDC-T could and should have ended Mugabe's tyrannical powers by implementing the reforms; they failed to get even one reform implemented in five years of the GNU.By participating in the flawed July 2013 elections, Zanu PF blatantly rigged to stay in power; MDC-T gave the process the modicum of political legitimacy. SADC leaders warned Tsvangirai & co. that all these would happen and, literally begged they not to contested the elections but, of course, MDC paid no heed.MDC-T and all their friends in the opposition camp are gearing themselves to contest next year's elections knowing fully well that not even one reform was implemented since the rigged July 2013 elections. They are doing this contrary to SADC leaders warning not to contest flawed elections and in disregard of the opposition's own "No reform, no election!" pledge.What is the point of MDC-T claiming, "Zimbabwe is not Robert Mugabe" when the party is doing nothing to stop him doing as he please! Indeed, MDC leaders' blundering incompetence has helped Mugabe consolidate his iron grip on power and by continuing to contest flawed elections they are giving the vote rigging the veneer of legitimacy.Zimbabwe is in a serious economic and political mess and, today, the threat of the country descending into social and political chaos is real and eminent. It has taken nearly four decades for the nation to get here, we should have done something about but wasted many opportunities to do so. We are staring down into the dark, dangerous and unforgiving abyss. This is our last-minute chance to step back and all we must do is make sure our next elections are free, fair and credible.Zimbabwe is standing on the edge of the abyss. It is Zanu PF's insatiable greed for absolute power, wealth and influence that has not us into this mess. If the nation should tumble over the edge then it must be said it was MDC's blundering incompetence of participating in flawed elections, that pushed the nation over the edge.
Canada NewsWire

VANCOUVER, July 28, 2017

VANCOUVER, July 28, 2017 /CNW/ -

TSX VENTURE COMPANIES

CHIMATA GOLD CORP. ("CAT")BULLETIN TYPE: Consolidation, NO Symbol Change BULLETIN DATE: July 28, 2017TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Pursuant to a resolution passed by the directors on May 31, 2017, the Company has consolidated its capital on a (5) five old for (1) one new basis. The name of the Company has not been changed.

Effective at the opening on July 31, 2017, the common shares of Chimata Gold Corp. will commence trading on TSX Venture Exchange on a consolidated basis. The Company is classified as a 'Mineral Exploration/Development' company.

Post - Consolidation

Capitalization:

Unlimited

shares with no par value of which

10,329,800

shares are issued and outstanding

Escrow

Nil

shares are subject to escrow

Transfer Agent:

Computershare Investor Services Inc.

Trading Symbol:

CAT

(UNCHANGED)

CUSIP Number:

16934T202

(new)

________________________________________

FANCAMP EXPLORATION LTD. ("FNC")BULLETIN TYPE: HaltBULLETIN DATE: July 28, 2017TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at 6:34 a.m. PST, July 28, 2017, trading in the shares of the Company was halted at the request of the Company, pending news; this regulatory halt is imposed by Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the Market Regulator of the Exchange pursuant to the provisions of Section 10.9(1) of the Universal Market Integrity Rules.

________________________________________

FANCAMP EXPLORATION LTD. ("FNC")BULLETIN TYPE: Resume TradingBULLETIN DATE: July 28, 2017TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at 10:30 a.m. PST, July 28, 2017, shares of the Company resumed trading, an announcement having been made.

________________________________________

JACKPOT DIGITAL INC. ("JP")BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement-Non-BrokeredBULLETIN DATE: July 28, 2017TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to a Non-Brokered Private Placement announced June 30, 2017:

Number of Shares:

15,600,000 shares

Purchase Price:

$0.05 per share

Warrants:

15,600,000 share purchase warrants to purchase 15,600,000 shares

Warrant Initial Exercise Price:

$0.05

Warrant Expiry Date:

January 20, 2022

Number of Placees:

25 Placees

Insider / Pro Group Participation:

Name

Insider=Y /Pro-Group=P

# of Shares

30 Rock Management Inc.

Y

2,000,000

(Jacob Kalpakian)

Neil Spellman

Y

400,000

Aggregate Pro-Group Involvement [6 Placees]

P

2,980,000

Finder's Fee:

Steve Singh

280,000 shares

544449 BC Ltd. (Val Cheer)

320,000 shares

Mackie Research Capital Corporation

400,000 shares; 400,000 warrants

Finder Warrant Initial Exercise Price:

$0.05

Finder Warrant Term to Expiry:

two years from Closing

The Company issued a news release on July 27, 2017 confirming closing of the private placement.

The above information is a summary only. Neither TMX Group Limited nor any of its affiliated companies guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this document. Readers should consult the issuer's continuous disclosure record for complete details of the transaction.

________________________________________

OPUS ONE RESOURCES INC. ("OOR") [formerly GFK Resources Inc. ("GFK")]BULLETIN TYPE: Name ChangeBULLETIN DATE: July 28, 2017TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

The Company has changed its name from GFK Resources Inc. to OPUS ONE RESOURCES INC. There is no consolidation of capital.

Effective at the opening on Monday, July 31, 2017, the common shares of OPUS ONE RESOURCES INC. will commence trading on TSX Venture Exchange and the common shares of GFK Resources Inc. will be delisted. The Company is classified as a "Gold and Silver Ore Mining" issuer (NAICS Number: 212220).

Capitalization:

Unlimited number of common shares with no par value of which

60,279,373 common shares are issued and outstanding

Escrow:

Nil common share

Transfer Agent:

Computershare Investor Services Inc., Montreal and Toronto

Trading Symbol:

OOR

(NEW)

CUSIP Number:

684007107

(NEW)

RESSOURCES OPUS ONE INC. ( OOR ) [Anciennement GFK Resources Inc. ( GFK )]TYPE DE BULLETIN : Changement de denomination socialeDATE DU BULLETIN : Le 28 juillet 2017Societe du groupe 2 de TSX Croissance

La societe a modifie sa denomination sociale de GFK Resources inc. a RESSOURCES OPUS ONE INC. Il n'y a pas de consolidation du capital-actions.

Les actions ordinaires de RESSOURCES OPUS ONE INC. seront admises a la negociation de la Bourse de croissance TSX a l'ouverture des affaires lundi le 31 juillet 2017 et les actions ordinaires de GFK Resources Inc. seront retirees de la cote. La societe est categorisee dans le secteur  Extraction de minerais d'or et d'argent  (numero de SCIAN : 212220).

Capitalisation :

Un nombre illimite d'actions ordinaires sans valeur nominale, dont 60 279 373 actions ordinaires sont emises et en circulation

Titres entierces :

aucune action ordinaire

Agent des transferts :

Services aux investisseurs Computershare inc., Montreal et Toronto

Symbole au telescripteur :

OOR

(NOUVEAU)

Numero de CUSIP :

684007107

(NOUVEAU)

____________________________________

PENTANOVA ENERGY CORP ("PNO")BULLETIN TYPE: Resume TradingBULLETIN DATE: July 28, 2017TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

Effective at open of trading, Monday July 31, 2017, PST, shares of the Company resumed trading, an announcement having been made.

________________________________________

PROFOUND MEDICAL CORP. ("PRN")BULLETIN TYPE: Property-Asset or Share Purchase Agreement BULLETIN DATE: July 28, 2017TSX Venture Tier 1 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation pertaining to an Asset and Share Purchase Agreement (the "Agreement"), dated June 30, 2017, between Profound Medical Corp. (the "Company") and Koninklijke Phillips N.V. (the "Vendor"), whereby the Company will acquire Sonalleve MR-HIFU and related assets  a company based the Netherlands that specializes in Magnetic Resonance Ultrasound ablation therapy (the "Target").

Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company will issue 7,400,000 common shares to the Vender at a deemed value of CDN$1.10 per share as consideration for the Target. Additionally, the Agreement also includes certain earn-out provisions tied to future revenue levels.

For further details, please refer to the Company's news release dated June 30, 2017.

________________________________________

RADIENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. ("RTI")BULLETIN TYPE: Shares for DebtBULLETIN DATE: July 28, 2017TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing the Company's proposal to issue 77,540 common share units ("Units") at a deemed price of $0.53 per share to settle outstanding debt of $41,096 owed for interest payments on a convertible debenture. Each Unit consists of one common share and one common share purchase warrant each exercisable for one common share at an exercise price of $0.53 exercisable until February 13, 2019.

Number of Creditors:

1 Creditor

Insider / Pro Group Participation:

None

Warrants:

77,540 warrants

Warrant Exercise Price:

$0.53 until February 13, 2019

________________________________________

RAPIER GOLD INC. ("RPR")BULLETIN TYPE: Private Placement-Non-BrokeredBULLETIN DATE: Jul 28, 2017TSX Venture Tier 2 Company

TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to a Non-Brokered Private Placement announced Jun 21, 2017:

Number of FT Shares:

5,010,000 flow through shares

Purchase Price:

$0.10 per flow through share

Number of Placees:

9 Placees

Insider / Pro Group Participation:

Name

Insider=Y /Pro-Group=P

# of Shares

Lotan Holdings Inc.

Y

100,000

(David Lotan)

Aggregate Pro-Group Involvement [1 Placee]

P

150,000

Finder's Fee:

Medalist Capital Ltd.

$24,000.00 cash; 240,000 warrants

Finder Warrant Initial Exercise Price:

$0.10

Finder Warrant Term to Expiry:

24 month term

The above information is a summary only. Neither TMX Group Limited nor any of its affiliated companies guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this document. Readers should consult the issuer's continuous disclosure record for complete details of the transaction.

________________________________________

NEX Companies

ARKADIA CAPITAL CORP. ("AKC.H")BULLETIN TYPE: Reinstated to TradingBULLETIN DATE: July 28, 2017NEX Company

Further to the Exchange bulletin dated November 26, 2013, effective at the opening, Monday July 31, 2017, the securities of the Company will be reinstated to trading.

____________________________________

VATIC VENTURES CORP. ("VCV.H")BULLETIN TYPE: Reinstated for TradingBULLETIN DATE: July 28, 2017NEX Company

Further to the TSX Venture Exchange Bulletin dated July 5, 2017, the Exchange has been advised that the Cease Trade Order issued by the British Columbia and Ontario Securities Commission dated July 5, 2017 has been revoked.

Effective at the opening, Monday, July 31, 2017, trading will be reinstated in the securities of the Company.

____________________________________

SOURCE TSX Venture Exchange
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How To Keep A Long-Distance Relationship

Long-Distance Relationships Can Be Tough -- Here Are Five Essential Tips To Make Them Work

Page 1 of 2

If given the choice, were pretty sure no one would pick to be in a long distance relationship. Sure, absence makes the heart grow fonder, but were calling bullsh*t on that one: being apart from the person you love is hard. And to make it work - and keep it a healthy, functional and sexual, you have to put in time, commitment and well, get a little creative.

The good news is you're not alone. Over 14 million couples define themselves as being in long-distance relationships. If you're a student, the numbers are even higher: about a third of student relationships are long-distance relationships, and 70% of students have been in a long-distance relationship at some point.

The other good news is that some studies actually suggest that long-distance couples feel more love for each other than those that are geographically close, and even idealise their partners more. On the other hand the loneliness factor increases, and satisfaction levels are lower.

Heres how to make sure you stay connected, regardless of how many kilometres or oceans separate you.

Keep Your Word

In long distance relationships, building trust is the most important element that will keep you happy as a couple. Because youre not constantly around each other or even have the option to see one another on a weekly or monthly basis, its easy to let your mind wander or worry. However, to keep you both grounded and build the foundation your relationship needs, make concrete plans - even if theyre virtual! - and keep them. By having something consistent - a call after work every day, a Skype sesh at nighttime, or just the agreement that you always text I love you before bed - you build the legs your love can stand on.

Keep The Sex Alive

A photo posted by Kiss Me Stupid Mag (@kissmestupidmag) on Feb 17, 2015 at 3:16pm PST

There are only so many dirty photos and text messages you can send before you start to feel burnt out and sexually frustrated. Instead of doing the same message, photo, right hand dance, try something else instead: get on the phone! Hearing each others breath, moans and talking to one another while youre pleasuring yourself will make it feel about as real as it can when youre not physically together. And when youre reunited after a long strint, get in as much intimacy as you can - and not just that gotta-have-you release - but make an effort for some romance, too.
Abortion Rights Campaigners say it is time Ireland's abortion laws are brought into line with the rest of Europe.

Campaigners have reacted to comments made by the UN this week which challenged Irelands lack of progression on the issue.

The comments came from a United Nation committee which found that Ireland violated the human rights of a woman who had to travel to Britain for an abortion after her baby was diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality.

Abortion Rights Campaign spokesperson Michali Hyams said the government needs to do more than just call another referendum.

She said that the government needs to ensure that the referendum passes to ensure that Ireland comes in line with UN human right laws.

Its not enough for us to call a referendum, have it not pass and then our laws still arent compliant, said Ms Hyams.

Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment has also called on the government to ensure it times the referendum on repeal of the Eighth Amendment to facilitate full and active participation by all sectors of society.

They said that holding a referendum during the summer months could affect the participation of students, who may travel during these months.

The Coalition also stressed the need for the referendum to be standalone, focusing solely on the issue of abortion.

Ailbhe Smyth, Convenor of the Coalition, said: Media reports that the Taoiseach is looking at June or July of next year for the referendum are extremely worrying, as are indications that the Government may decide to hold more than one referendum at the same time.

She said that repealing the Eighth Amendment is far too important and complex an issue to be bundled together with other potential referendum topics.

The people of Ireland have been waiting over 30 years for their chance to repeal this harmful Amendment, said Ms Smyth.

Opinion polls show the public want this issue addressed in a timely and definitive way, while a range of EU and UN bodies have sternly criticised Irelands failings and have urged the Government to reform Irelands abortion laws, she added.
Update 9.45pm: A large gorse fire in South Dublin has been brought under control.

Dublin Fire Brigade say that a damping down operation will continue throughout the night.

#Drone video of the Lead Mines gorse #fire, 4 units at the fire inc water tanker. Smoke was drifting widely in the wind #Dublin #Rathmichael pic.twitter.com/rTqrzij2RC  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) July 29, 2017

Earlier:Dublin Fire Brigade are currently responding to a gorse fire at the Lead Mines near Rathmichael.

A spokesperson confirmed that they have been attending the scene since 10am this morning and the fires are burning towards the forest.

Three fire engines are in attendance as well as a water tanker and drone.

Firefighters say windy conditions are not helping their efforts.

Scene from the gorse fire at the #LeadMines. We have a #drone deployed to help direct fire fighting resources pic.twitter.com/2KseCWkNSX  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) July 29, 2017

The ESB have confirmed that a line has been turned off in the area, but that no customers electricity supply have been affected.

Dublin Fire Brigade has also issued a warning to drivers on the M50 with smoke causing visibility issues. They are asking drivers to switch on their lights.
The founding President of the University of Limerick will hand back his honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland following its decision to give the honour to former Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

Edward Walsh, who received the honorary degree in 1998, has criticised the NUI's recognition of Mr Cowen.
The Taoiseach has put it up to Britain by stating that the Government is not going to design a border for the Brexiteers.

Theresa May and Leo Varadkar

A tough-talking Leo Varadkar has said Theresa Mays government are the ones who want a border and has vowed that Ireland will not help develop something we dont believe should exist in the first place.

Government sources have confirmed that Mr Varadkar is pushing for a hard shell or border around the entire island  and not a soft border between north and south. This would see tougher checkpoints for sea and air crossings.

Taking a hardline stance, Mr Varadkar said an economic border would be bad for both the Republic and the North and if Britain wants to go down that route it will be up to them.

Mr Varadkar hoped his comments would not ignite anger but added that if anyone is angry it should be us.

It is the British and the Brexiteers who are leaving, so if anyone should be angry its us quite frankly, he said.

In comments that infuriated the DUP, Mr Varadkar said: What we are not going to do is design a border for the Brexiteers. They are the ones who want a border, it is up to them to say what it is, to say how it would work and to first of all, convince their own people, their own voters, that this is actually a good idea.

Were not going to be helping them to design some sort of border that we dont believe should exist in the first place.

The Taoiseachs comments came after Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney suggested that the Irish Sea effectively become the border with the UK after Brexit.

Mr Varadkar said that he was absolutely on the same page when it comes to this issue.

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed later confirmed to the Irish Examiner that the idea of a sea border was in currency and was an option very much backed by Irish farmers. This is opposed to any type of a high-tech controlled soft border between the Republic and the North.

Separate Government sources confirmed it was absolutely the case that Ireland was now pursuing the option of a sea border or checks around the entire island after Brexit.

The plan would see traffic on the island of Ireland function as normal, as if the North was in the EU, sources said. Whatever borders then would instead be enforced at sea and air entry points. Customs and border checks would operate there.

Sources said the new checks would operate in the same way as people moving between Cherbourg in France and across the English Channel into Dover.

It would be the same scenario across the Irish Sea, said a source.

Furthermore, funds needed to enlarge checkpoints at ports and airports could also come from some of the so-called Brexit divorce bill which Britain must pay.

The Taoiseach said that while there is a political border between Ireland and the North, there has been no economic border since 1992.

Were not going to be doing that work for them because we dont think there should be an economic border at all. That is our position, said Mr Varadkar.

A spokesperson for Britains department for exiting the EU said: It is our priority to deliver a practical solution, that recognises the unique social, political, and economic circumstances of the border.

This story first appeared in the Irish Examiner.
North Korea's testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile has been condemned by the UK's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

Mr Johnson warned Pyongyang that Britain and its allies would confront the "growing threat" posed by the country.
A Palestinian man who allegedly stabbed one person to death and injured six others in Hamburg was known to German authorities as a suspected Islamic radical but was also psychologically unstable, officials said.

The suspect, a 26-year-old who had no identity papers other than a birth certificate showing he was born in the United Arab Emirates, was quickly overwhelmed by passers-by and arrested after Friday's attack at a supermarket in Hamburg's Barmbek district.

He was not named by authorities, in keeping with Germany privacy laws.

The man's motive remained unclear on Saturday, but he is believed to have acted alone and there are no indications that he had links to any network, Hamburg state interior minister Andy Grote said.

Police said the suspect grabbed a kitchen knife with an 8in blade from a shelf at the supermarket on Friday afternoon and stabbed three men, one of them fatally.

He then left the shop and injured another three people outside, not all of them with the knife. Passers-by then pursued and overwhelmed the suspect, who was arrested by police.

Mr Grote said none of the wounded suffered injuries considered to be life-threatening, though some were seriously hurt.

The man arrived in Germany in March 2015 after stops in Spain, Sweden and Norway. His request for asylum was rejected late last year and authorities were trying to secure new Palestinian papers to deport him - a process in which they said he had co-operated.

Officials said he was on their radar as a suspected Islamic radical, but not as a "jihadist".

A friend had tipped off authorities about changes in the man's behaviour, telling them he had stopped drinking alcohol and started talking about the Koran, said Torsten Voss, head of the Hamburg branch of the domestic intelligence agency.

Officials interviewed the man and came away with the impression that he was a "destabilised personality" but not someone who posed an immediate danger, Mr Voss said.

"We evaluated him rather as someone who was psychologically unstable than had clear Islamic extremist motivations," he told a news conference. Authorities are not aware of any connections to Hamburg's Islamic extremist scene.

A search of the man's room at a centre for asylum-seekers turned up no weapons or weapon-like objects, prosecutors said.

The suspect has not yet talked about Friday's attack, prosecutor Joerg Froehlich said, though he has indicated that he acted alone.

Mr Froehlich said authorities intend to ask that he be held in custody on suspicion of murder and five counts of attempted murder, but may seek to have him held at a psychiatric unit instead.

AP
Supreme Court of Florida. CURTIS WINDOM Appellant(s) v. STATE OF FLORIDA Appellee(s) CASE NO.: SC16-1371 Decided: July 28, 2017

Curtis Windom, a prisoner under three sentences of death, appeals the circuit court's denial of his second successive motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. We have jurisdiction. See art. V,  3(b)(1), Fla. Const. Windom was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder in 1992. He was sentenced to death for each of the three murders and to a consecutive term of twenty-two years' imprisonment for the attempted murder. Windom v. State, 656 So. 2d 432, 434 (Fla.), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1012 (1995). We affirmed his convictions and sentences in 1995. Id. at 438, 440. He filed his initial motion for postconviction relief in 1997 and amended it in 2000, and we affirmed the denial of that motion in 2004, Windom v. State, 886 So. 2d 915, 918 (Fla. 2004).

We now affirm the summary denial of Windom's second successive postconviction motion. The single Brady claim presented could have been discovered with due diligence more than one year before the date this motion was filed. See Franqui v. State, 118 So. 3d 807 (Fla. 2013) (table); see also Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851(d)(1), (2)(A). Therefore, it is procedurally barred.

Even if this claim were not procedurally barred, we would affirm because the circuit court correctly determined that the claim does not satisfy the prejudice prong of a Brady claim, which requires showing a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Mordenti v. State, 894 So. 2d 161, 170 (Fla. 2004) (quoting Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 280 (1999)). This standard is met when the alleged Brady material could reasonably be taken to put the whole case in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict. Id. (citing Allen v. State, 854 So. 2d 1255, 1260 (Fla. 2003)).

The claim at issue concerns Windom's discovery that State witness Jack Luckett was arrested two weeks before Windom's trial and had a pending felony charge at the time. At Windom's trial, Luckett's testimony was relevant to show that Windom shot and killed Johnnie Lee, his first in a series of four shooting victims, in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner. See Windom, 656 So. 2d at 435, 439. Essentially, Luckett testified that Windom made statements in advance of the shooting indicating that he was going to kill Lee because Lee owed him money and had not paid it. Id. at 435. Luckett further testified that he saw Windom shoot Lee within a few hours of making that statement. See id. Luckett's testimony was largely corroborated by other witnesses, some of whom saw Windom shoot Lee multiple times, one of whom heard Windom reference his money as he began to shoot Lee, and another of whom testified that Windom calmly purchased ammunition minutes before the shooting. Id.; Windom, 886 So. 2d at 924. While Windom did not know that Luckett had a pending charge when he testified, he did know that Luckett had been convicted of three prior felonies, and he used those felonies as impeachment material.

Windom argues that, if he had known of Luckett's 1992 arrest, he could have more effectively impeached Luckett, which would have changed the strength of the State's case to such an extent as to create a reasonable probability of a different outcome in both the guilt and penalty phases. We disagree. Luckett was already impeached with prior felony convictions, and it is undisputed that if Windom had further impeached him with the new arrest and then-pending charge, then the State could have introduced prior consistent statements to rehabilitate him. Further, the additional impeachment evidence would not have changed the fact that Luckett's testimony was corroborated in significant part by other witnesses, who independently provided sufficient evidence to support Windom's convictions and sentences. In sum, Luckett's 1992 arrest and then-pending charge could not reasonably be taken to put the whole case in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the outcome. See Mordenti, 894 So. 2d at 170 (citing Allen, 854 So. 2d at 1260); Waterhouse v. State, 82 So. 3d 84, 107-08 (Fla. 2012) (holding that new impeachment evidence did not undermine confidence in the verdict when considered in light of the other evidence of [the defendant's] guilt); cf. Ponticelli v. State, 941 So. 2d 1073, 1086 (Fla. 2006) (finding no reasonable probability that the jury would have doubted a witness' testimony based on additional impeachment evidence where other trial evidence corroborated the witness' claim that the defendant confessed).

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the summary denial of Windom's second successive postconviction motion.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED.

A True Copy

Test:

John A. Tomasino Clerk, Supreme Court

cd

Served:

ERIC CALVIN PINKARD

SCOTT A. BROWNE

ALI ANDREW SHAKOOR

ANN MARIE MIRIALAKIS

HON. RENEE A. ROCHE, JUDGE

KENNETH SLOAN NUNNELLEY

HON. TIFFANY MOORE RUSSELL, CLERK

HON. FREDERICK JAMES LAUTEN, JR., CHIEF JUDGE

FOOTNOTES

. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963).

LABARGA, C.J., and LEWIS, CANADY, POLSTON, and LAWSON, JJ., concur. PARIENTE and QUINCE, JJ., concur in result.
A man in his 60s is in hospital after being hit by a brick hurled through a bus window in the UK.

The passenger suffered a serious head injury and is now stable in hospital, Merseyside Police said.

They are appealing for information on the incident at around 11.05pm on Thursday on West Derby Road, Liverpool.

Detective Inspector Alan Martin, of Merseyside Police, said: "The sheer recklessness and stupidity of throwing items at a bus or any vehicle is clear. The actions of the offender left a man in hospital and very fortunate his injuries were not more serious.

"Throwing a brick at a bus obviously carries great dangers and I would urge anyone in the community who has information to identify the person responsible to do the right thing and come forward with any information. CCTV enquiries are ongoing to identify those responsible.

"We already do lots of work with local schools to highlight the dangers of this behaviour, but I would also encourage parents, guardians, teachers and friends of any young people around the area to help us spread this message."

The suspect is described as white, aged 16-18, 5ft 7in-5ft 9in tall, of slim build, clean shaven, with short blonde hair. He was wearing a black jacket and black tracksuit bottoms.

Members of the community with any further information are encouraged to speak to officers in the area, or contact police on 101. Anyone with information who does not wish to speak with police directly can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Festivalgoers can have their drugs tested as part of a controversial new scheme being run in the UK this summer.

Campaigners say malaria medication, insecticide and cement have been found in recreational drugs sold to festival-goers.
The US and South Korea have staged a joint missile exercise - in response to the North's latest missile test.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said the second test of North Koreas intercontinental ballistic missile has demonstrated his country can hit the US mainland.
Electric car maker Tesla is about to enter the road through hell, and it's paved with intentions to make a whole lot of electric cars.

That's how Elon Musk describes the task of meeting the lofty targets he's set for the Model 3, a cheaper sedan that the future of his company rides on. Demand won't be an issue -- reservations for the car now exceed 500,000, according to the Tesla chief executive officer.

The herculean undertaking ahead will be to produce the vehicle at a scale the automaker has come nowhere close to achieving to date.

"Frankly, we're going to be in production hell," Musk told a crowd of hundreds of Tesla employees on Friday behind its assembly plant in Fremont, California. "That's going to be where we are for at least six months, maybe longer."
Taken from a scene in The Matrix, in which Keanu Reeves's character chooses between swallowing a red pill (a truth-revealing chemical that allows him to see ruthless reality) or a blue pill (which maintains the blinkers of blissful ignorance), The Red Pill was the second top-selling movie in Australia on YouTube in June, after Hugh Jackman's blockbuster, Logan. The term has been co-opted by the men's rights movement to refer to the so-called "red pill" moments when it dawns on them they are really living in a women's world. "You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe,"says Laurence Fishburne's character Morpheus in The Matrix. "You take the red pill  and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." As Jaye explains it, she was sucked down a rabbit hole herself in the course of making the documentary, not only with regards to her feminism but also the policy prescriptions of the men's movement ("Sometimes I think the MRAs are just duping me," she reflects in one of her many in-film video diaries). "When I started this project, my perception of MRAs was definitely negative," she tells me. "I thought they'd say shocking things, that it would be a peek inside a misogynistic community. But when I started to listen to them, I began to empathise with a lot of their issues." While the overall arc of The Red Pill is sympathetic to the MRAs, choosing to focus on their gentler rather than darker side, it also contains interviews with feminists and critics of the men's movement, who point out that the real-life data on the position of women doesn't back up the MRA vision of the world. Says Jaye: "As a filmmaker I'm not trying to insist that the audience agrees with the MRAs or the feminist voices in the movie  they can make up their own minds." It's not easy teasing the strands of the men's movement apart. On the one hand they seem a throwback, complaining that in an increasingly feminised society, men  no longer kings of the castle  are belittled in the likes of popular culture (think jokes about multiskilling) and the Family Court (being devalued as fathers). On the other, they're calling for an end to old-fashioned chivalry (opening a car door, being the last off a sinking ship), declaring it redundant in an equal world. Im not anti-feminist nor do I consider The Red Pill anti-feminist. But thats how the Australian media were trying to brand me.

The MRAs fire off a battery of US statistics (outlined in The Red Pill) to prove their point and repeatedly insist they're not trying to drive women, barefoot and pregnant, back into the kitchen. Among those numbers: that men represent 80 per cent of suicides, 93 per cent of workplace fatalities and 98 per cent of deaths on the battlefield. The MRAs put this down to male life being seen as less valuable, more disposable, citing news reports on natural disasters and terrorist attacks in which phrases abound like "100 people were killed, including women and children". In calling for an end to chivalry, the MRAs don't seem so far away from feminists who call for a stop to the male-power thinking that underpins it, that only decades ago branded women the "weaker sex" in need of masculine protection. "Men are seen as success objects and women as sex objects," says author Warren Farrell, whose book The Myth of Male Power is the bible of the men's movement. "Women cannot hear what men do not say," adds Farrell in The Red Pill. Reflecting on some men's tendency to silence, Jaye says: "Even in my own relationship with my fiance, I began to realise he knew every grievance I had, because I'd let him know." Most of his own sacrifices, especially during the filming of The Red Pill, went unspoken, she explains. The MRAs point out that it's overwhelmingly men who do society's more dangerous jobs: securing steel beams on 100-storey skyscrapers, going down mines, building interstate highways and rail lines and driving the trucks and trains that run on them, operating oil rigs, excavating for natural gas, fighting bushfires, rescuing injured people from mountain tops and burning buildings. Predictably, this prompts Paul Elam, the ruddy-faced, high-profile public face of the men's movement in the US, to gripe in The Red Pill: "You don't hear feminists complaining that there aren't more women coal miners and ditch diggers." Jaye weighs in on whether, to purloin a comment from American social critic Camille Paglia, feminists shouldn't give credit  to men  where credit is due. "Our cultural conditioning is that women have been oppressed and men are the oppressors, but it's more complicated than that," she tells me. The subtleties, she argues, often aren't picked up in the media, which usually opt for default political positions.

Jaye took particular exception to the "gotcha" video graphic that preceded her interview with Waleed Aly, Carrie Bickmore and Peter Helliar on The Project, which claimed that 2300 men's right's activists funded her film. Jaye says she emphatically denied this in her 15-minute pre-recorded interview with the show, a statement which didn't make it to air. "The film, which took three-and-a-half years to make, was funded by three self-identifying feminists: myself, my mother, who was the producer of the film, and my fiance, who was the director of photography," she tells me. Only in post-production did Jaye, having depleted her coffers, upload a Kickstarter video for crowd funding, the online equivalent of standing on the street, holding out your hat. "It was very clear that feminists, men's activists, and mostly people who don't identify with either, contributed funds," she explains. "But this explanation wasn't a snappy enough sound-bite for The Project." Jaye scored a counter strike when she appeared on Weekend Sunrise, where she faced co-hosts Andrew O'Keefe and Monique Wright. "Did you see the film?" she asked, frustrated by the line of questioning. O'Keefe had to admit he hadn't watched it in its entirety. (To be fair, he went on to suggest viewers watch it, and has since emailed Jaye his own critique.) Jaye being grilled during her The media weren't the only ones trigger-ready to object: the University of Sydney's student union set up a campus protest and screening boycott, claiming The Red Pill had "the capacity to intimidate and physically threaten women on campus". To someone like me who's seen the film, that seems a very big stretch. For those who haven't, Jaye's earlier films are not the stuff of right-wing cultural propaganda. Daddy I Do, her 2010 documentary about the US purity ball movement  the odd and vaguely creepy practice of girls pledging to their fathers to remain virgins until they wed  shows that sex education results in a lower teen pregnancy rate because many pledgers still had sex before marriage while being less likely to use contraception. Daddy I Do won numerous awards at film festivals around the world, and became an educational tool to promote sex education in US schools.

Jaye's heart-wrenching 2012 documentary about gay marriage, The Right to Love, features two gay fathers  one a police officer and Gulf War veteran, the other a stay-at-home dad  who are raising a pair of kids while battling against a tide of hate and prejudice. Explains Jaye: "No straight couple was willing to adopt the kids as a pair  some were willing to take the girl, but not the boy, because he suffers from Goldenhar syndrome [a life-threatening disease in which half the face develops at a slower rate]." Jaye, who was drawn to the solidarity she saw within the couple's local circle, enthuses that "it was very well received by the LGBTI community". The film went on to win four documentary awards. So let's back up a little. A critique of purity balls? A crusading doco about gay marriage? How then did Jaye become a cause celebre for conservatives and target practice for the left? She explains that as a documentary filmmaker she's simply drawn to politically controversial topics, and in the course of making The Red Pill began to question her feminist beliefs. But there was no flash moment, no post-feminist epiphany. In fact, Jaye insists she has a firm commitment to equality of the sexes. "I'm not anti-feminist, nor do I consider The Red Pill anti-feminist. But that's how the Australian media were trying to brand me. I'm not a men's rights activist, and there are many aspects of the men's rights movement with which I personally disagree." It's probably not hard to guess why Jaye would seem the perfect poster girl for anti-feminists: young, attractive and media friendly, she cuts quite a different shape from the testy, grey-haired men who usually front the cameras on MRA issues. "I interviewed some younger men, but they weren't as articulate as the older generation," she says. Jaye, who won a Women in Film award for The Red Pill at the Hollywood DigiFest festival the day before we meet, began her career at 18, when she set off for LA to take a crack at acting after graduating from high school in Las Vegas. For three years from 2004 she endured the usual struggling-actor lows: surviving on waitressing shifts ("I was the worst waiter"), refusing to go topless ("I was frequently scantily clad") and grabbing walk-on roles in low-budget horror films, the most notable of which was Cosmic Radio with Daryl Hannah. "I was very blonde with a round face and so would often be cast as a bimbo, but in my mind I wanted Hilary Swank-type roles," she recalls with a smile.

The Hollywood blast furnace forged Jaye's feminism as a young woman, if only because she was taken aback by the excess of old-fashioned sexism. "In LA, women's sexuality is their power, whether it's being a sexual figure in films or behind the scenes, becoming sexually friendly with the producers," she says. "It wasn't something I felt at all comfortable with. Although I'm no longer a feminist [as a result of making The Red Pill], I still care about women's issues." Jaye discovered her true calling during the Writers Guild of America strike of 2007, when all the acting work dried up. Living in a rundown apartment in West Hollywood, the then 21-year-old found herself with free days and an unlimited subscription to the Blockbuster video rental chain. "After exhausting all the independent films I wanted to watch, I started hiring documentaries, and fell in love with the way they caught all those authentic moments  unspoken things like tics, frowns or the way a mouth moves." Jaye discovered that the documentary form synthesised her two passions: true-life stories and the real human characters who form them. Within months she had established a production company with her mother, abstract artist Nena Jaye, naming it Jaye Bird Productions. Because of her own preference for stepping back, Jaye has an ability to put her subjects at ease  a gift for a documentary maker ("People reveal more when you give them the air to think"). This has led to accusations that Jaye didn't challenge her subjects enough in The Red Pill, especially MRA head Paul Elam, whose website has been described as misogynist by the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a hate-group watchdog. "It just seems to me you don't really question their views in the film," said O'Keefe in the Weekend Sunrise interview. Jaye interviewed the MRAs public face, Paul Elam.

While it's a safe bet Elam probably wouldn't have stayed in front of the cameras  and vented about how he really felt  had Jaye adopted a more hardline form of questioning, viewers were owed a more balanced back-story. You don't have to dig very deeply to learn that the now 60-year-old Elam once created a website called RegisterHer, which encouraged men to name and shame women who supposedly made false rape allegations. He also set up the A Voice for Men site in 2009 that has its 13,000 members posting grievances in Reddit-like forums. Among other things, A Voice for Men calls for an "end to rape hysteria" and contains many highly offensive comments about women, posted under the convenient cloak of anonymity. Married three times, and estranged from his first two wives, Elam abandoned the biological kids from his first marriage, refusing to pay child support. "I went into The Red Pill thinking I was going to expose the men's rights movement, which is why I interviewed Paul Elam," explains Jaye. "I was horrified by what I'd read and thought he was the source of the problem. But if I didn't feature Elam, Sunrise and The Project would be asking why I didn't interview the most high-profile MRA. As a documentary filmmaker I'm interested in listening to all sides of a group." Which of course doesn't address the issue of why a more balanced approach wasn't taken. Jaye acknowledges that men are more predisposed to violence than women. US figures presented in The Red Pill report that men commit more than 90 per cent of homicides and 98 per cent of rapes. Across the globe, from armed conflict to terrorism, most violence is committed by men. But the component that is often overlooked  raised in The Red Pill  is that while women are far and away the primary victims of domestic violence, in 2010 men were the victims in almost four out of five non-domestic homicides and aggravated assaults. Jaye was blind-sided on The Project when co-host Carrie Bickmore explained that domestic violence is "really on the agenda" in Australia because of Rosie Batty, who has campaigned against it since 2014, when her 11-year-old son Luke was killed by his father Greg Anderson (Batty was named Australian of the Year in 2015).

Jaye hadn't heard of the tragedy. "And it was his son that passed away?" a bewildered Jaye asked her hosts. "It was her son that was killed by his father," Waleed Aly said. "That's interesting, because it shows that there are male victims of domestic violence," Jaye replied. "Sorry  that's the lesson you took from that?" Aly asked incredulously. s Carrie Bickmore caught Jaye off-guard.

It wasn't a great moment for Jaye, who now explains: "I had no idea who Rosie Batty was. Violence against women is a huge problem in Australia and the rest of the world. But we shouldn't be saying that only women can be victims." Having since read up on the case, Jaye acknowledges that Batty suffered horrendously at the hands of Anderson. "But there are many boys who are victims of domestic violence by male figures, and we shouldn't forget that." Indeed we shouldn't, but experts on domestic violence don't claim that victims are purely female; just mostly. Further, many see crimes such as the murder of Luke Batty as really all about punishing the mother. If a red pill moment is one in which you see the world with brutal, unforgiving clarity, then by any measure it's still a man's world. Never mind the very real problems for women in the West. For women in other parts of the world it's a far, far grimmer picture of powerlessness. Honour killings. Arranged marriage. Child marriage. Sexual slavery. Minimal or no education. Restricted reproductive rights. No right to vote, to drive, to travel without permission. The women who blazed a path to the freedoms and rights Western women enjoy today faced hostility and scorn not only from men, but from a powerful posse of conservative women who opposed female suffrage and any divergence from non-traditional paths. The resistance rumbled on over the decades, from opposing access to the pill in the 1960s, with claims it would lead to promiscuity and the breakdown of marriage, to later resisting reproductive rights, equal workplace opportunities and abortion. Jaye acknowledges her own career would not have been possible without the sacrifice of her brave feminist predecessors. "I'm career-driven, so I'm grateful to the previous generations who brought about a more even playing field," she says, adding as I prepare to leave: "You know why I'm not anti-feminist? Because I see feminists doing wonderful things for gender equality. All my friends and family are feminists; after all, I live in San Francisco."
The Australian Federal Police have conducted a number of terrorist raids across Sydney over a suspected bomb plot to bring down a plane.

The raids, conducted by the Sydney Joint Counter Terrorism team, took place in Surry Hills, Lakemba, Wiley Park and Punchbowl on Saturday afternoon.

The operations are part of an ongoing investigation.

Fairfax Media understands the raids relate to a terrorist cell and a bomb plot to bring down an aircraft. The raids were not planned but instead were a rapid response to information about the plot received by police.
The family of a Brisbane woman who died while volunteering in Africa has no idea what happened to her and are trying to raise enough money to bring her body home.

Bronwyn Lee Fielding was 37 when she was brought into a Ugandan morgue on June 28 by local police.

Bronwyn Fielding's body remains in Mbale morgue.

A post-mortem report identified a blood clot as the cause of her death, however her family, who live in Brisbane, still have no clues as to what happened to the mother-of-three.

The legally-blind woman moved to Mbale, a region of Uganda, several years ago from Brisbane to work with a church organisation to help orphaned children.
Fire has engulfed an inner-Brisbane home on Sunday morning, sending plumes of smoke into the air and causing police to close the street.

Emergency services were called to the single-storey brick house on St Pauls Terrace about 7.20am, to find the building "well-involved".

Fire crews were battling the blaze at Spring Hill on Sunday morning. Credit:Dominic Geiger - Twitter

Six crews, about 20 firefighters in total, battled the blaze externally, due to concerns about structural damage to the property. They also managed to protect a neighbouring property, which was under threat from the fire at one point.

By 8am, the fire was under control and soon crews were dampening down hotspots. A search of the building, which was at least 29 years old, was later conducted and found the home was vacant.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. ISRAEL WEINGARTEN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent-Appellee. 15-923 Decided: July 27, 2017

PRESENT: BARRINGTON D. PARKER, RICHARD C. WESLEY, CHRISTOPHER F. DRONEY, Circuit Judges. FOR APPELLANT: TODD W. BURNS, Burns & Cohan, San Diego, CA (Jodi D. Thorp, Clarke, Johnston, Thorp & Rice, San Diego, CA, on the brief). FOR APPELLEE: JENNIFER M. SASSO, Assistant United States Attorney (Jo Ann M. Navickas, Assistant United States Attorney, on the brief), for Bridget M. Rhode, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, NY.

Petitioner-Appellant Israel Weingarten, currently serving a thirty-year sentence following convictions of two counts of transporting a minor in foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in criminal sexual activity and two counts of travel in foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct with a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C.  2423, appeals the District Court's denial of his petition for relief under 28 U.S.C.  2255. In an opinion also issued today, we affirm a portion of the District Court's order pertaining to Weingarten's statute of limitations defense. We AFFIRM the remaining issues on appeal in this summary order. We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts and the procedural history, which we reference only as necessary to explain our conclusions.

I. Standard of Review

We review de novo ineffective assistance of counsel claims on an appeal from a denial of relief under  2255. Puglisi v. United States, 586 F.3d 209, 215 (2d Cir. 2009). We also review de novo prosecutorial misconduct claims on an appeal from a denial of relief under  2255. See United States v. Cuervelo, 949 F.2d 559, 567 (2d Cir. 1991).

II. Trial Counsel's Preparation

Weingarten argues he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel because the District Court forced him to choose between proceeding to trial pro se or with trial counsel with whom Weingarten could not effectively communicate. We resolved whether Weingarten was entitled to eve-of-trial relief of counsel in his first direct appeal. We concluded that the district court conducted a detailed inquiry into Weingarten's concerns, and after reviewing his complaints and hearing from counsel, adequately satisfied itself that there was neither a complete breakdown of communication nor an irreconcilable conflict. United States v. Weingarten, 409 F. App'x 433, 436 (2d Cir. 2011). We also held that there was no evidence to suggest the District Court should have granted Weingarten's belated request for a continuance or relief from counsel after they had represented him ably for months. Id. at 43536. The arguments Weingarten raises here either were resolved or are implicitly covered by the reasoning of that prior decision. The law of the case doctrine therefore bars us from considering their merits on collateral attack. See Yick Man Mui v. United States, 614 F.3d 50, 53 (2d Cir. 2010) (noting that, at the appellate level, the law of the case rule bars re-litigation of issues on collateral attack that were already decided on direct appeal).

Weingarten also argues that trial counsel were constitutionally ineffective because they did not adequately investigate the facts underlying the allegations in the indictment and otherwise failed to prepare for trial. As the Supreme Court has explained, counsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 691 (1984). In the context of an ineffectiveness claim, a particular decision not to investigate must be directly assessed for reasonableness in all the circumstances, applying a heavy measure of deference to counsel's judgments. Id. Here, the record does not establish that counsel's conduct in preparing for trial was objectively unreasonable. Counsel litigated Weingarten's case vigorously ahead of trial, and they made reasonable efforts to work with Weingarten to rebut the government's case, especially in light of the unique difficulties and circumstances of this trial. See Weingarten, 409 F. App'x at 436 (noting that Weingarten and his supportersthe persons he referred to throughout trial as his peopleshared much of the blame for any disharmony between Weingarten and his attorneys). Contrary to Weingarten's arguments on appeal, the duty to investigate does not compel defense counsel to investigate comprehensively every lead or possible defense, nor are counsel required to scour the globe on the off-chance something will turn up. Greiner v. Wells, 417 F.3d 305, 321 (2d Cir. 2005).

Finally, the District Court did not err in denying Weingarten's  2255 petition without holding an evidentiary hearing. The parties' extensive written submissions and supporting materials were sufficient for the District Court to adjudicate Weingarten's claims of ineffective assistance. See Puglisi, 586 F.3d at 215.

III. Counsel's Failure to Object at Sentencing

Weingarten argues his counsel at sentencing was ineffective because she failed to object when the District Court, in Weingarten's view, punished him for proceeding pro se and for exercising his constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him. In fact, the District Court did not punish Weingarten for proceeding pro se or for cross-examining the Government's witnesses in fashioning its sentence. Rather, the court cited the abusive manner in which Weingarten exercised his right of self-representation as context for its sentencing decision. It was reasonable for Weingarten's counsel to believe that it was proper for the District Court to consider that information. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 68788.

IV. Government Misconduct

Finally, Weingarten argues the Government violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), and Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 (1959), by admitting into evidence a handwritten repentance letter found in Weingarten's pocket, by suggesting to the jury that two members of Weingarten's religious community, Principal Stauber and Rabbi Weis, corroborated the claims of sexual abuse, and by failing to disclose information about this evidence to the defense.

For Weingarten to prevail on his Brady claim, he must show that (1) the Government suppressed (2) evidence in its possession favorable to the defense (3) resulting in prejudice to his defense. See Banks v. Dretke, 540 U.S. 668, 691 (2004).

Weingarten argues the Government did not comply with its Brady obligations with respect to the handwritten letter because (a) he told the Government and the Court that he did not write the letter and (b) because the Government did not disclose to Weingarten a second page of the letter. Weingarten cannot make out a Brady claim on a theory that the Government suppressed statements Weingarten himself made. See DiSimone v. Phillips, 461 F.3d 181, 197 (2d Cir. 2006) (Evidence is not suppressed if the defendant either knew, or should have known, of the essential facts permitting him to take advantage of any exculpatory evidence.). Weingarten's contention that the Government failed to disclose a supposedly exculpatory second page of the letter is speculative and lacks evidentiary support. He merely states that, because the Government has an affirmative duty to investigate fully each prosecution, [i]t seems likely the [G]overnment  learned that Weingarten did not write the letter. Appellant's Br. 70. That cannot support a Brady claim. See United States v. Graham, 484 F.3d 413, 417 (6th Cir. 2007) (Brady clearly does not impose an affirmative duty upon the [G]overnment to take action to discover information which it does not possess. (quoting United States v. Beaver, 524 F.2d 963, 966 (5th Cir. 1975)); see also Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. 39, 57 (1987) ([T]he [G]overnment has the obligation to turn over evidence in its possession that is both favorable to the accused and material to guilt or punishment. (emphasis added)).

Weingarten also contends the Government violated Brady by failing to disclose that Principal Stauber and Rabbi Weiss told FBI agents they doubted Weingarten's daughter's allegations. Suppressed impeachment evidence is material if the witness whose testimony is attacked supplied the only evidence linking the defendant(s) to the crime, or where the likely impact on the witness's credibility would have undermined a critical element of the prosecution's case. United States v. Diaz, 176 F.3d 52, 108 (2d Cir. 1999) (internal quotation marks omitted). Importantly, neither Principal Stauber nor Rabbi Weiss testified at trial, and any suggestion by the Government that these individuals had corroborated the claims of sexual abuse was not the sole evidence linking Weingarten to the abuse. Nor are we persuaded that these two uncorroborated statements would have sufficiently undermined Weingarten's daughter's testimony regarding his sexual abuse.

To prevail on his Napue claim, Weingarten must prove, inter alia, the Government knowingly allowed false evidence to be admitted. See United States v. Vozzella, 124 F.3d 389, 393 (2d Cir. 1997). As noted above, Weingarten provides only speculationnot proofthat the Government knew he did not write the handwritten repentance letter. And Weingarten fails to show the record evidence pertaining to Principal Stauber and Rabbi Weiss was false.

V. Conclusion

We have considered Weingarten's remaining arguments and identify no basis for reversal. The order of the District Court is therefore AFFIRMED.

FOR THE COURT:

Catherine O'Hagan Wolfe, Clerk

FOOTNOTES

. In addition to the statute of limitations issue, this Court granted Weingarten's motion for a certificate of appealability to address: (1) whether trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance in failing to prepare for trial and failing to object to the District Court's consideration of Weingarten's pro se cross-examination conduct in imposing sentence, and (2) whether alleged government misconduct deprived Weingarten of a fair trial.
Water Police are continuing the search for a kayaker missing off Altona since Thursday after severe weather conditions hampered their efforts on Saturday.

Japanese national Junichi Yoshimura, 41, launched his kayak from Altona boat ramp about 5am on Thursday.

The Torquay resident was a regular visitor to Altona and keen fisherman.

His colleagues raised the alarm when the very dependable baker failed to arrive for work on Friday.
Strong winds and patches of heavy rain lashed Perth overnight and continued to do so into Saturday evening as the unpleasant weather continued in the west.

The temperature dropped to 10 degrees around 6am on Saturday morning, with the lowest morning temperature recorded at Bickley - 6.8 degrees at 2am.

Rain over Perth's CBD and the Swan River. Credit:David Allan-Petale

While a high of 17 was forecast for Perth, the Bureau of Meteorology predicted Saturday afternoon's heavy showers would continue into the evening.

Gusty winds and small hail hit metro areas on Saturday morning, with the chance of a thunderstorm later into the evening, the result of a cold front moving across the south-west corner of the state.
A Perth teenager has been rushed to Royal Perth Hospital after falling from the fourth floor of an apartment complex.

Police said the incident happened around 1:30am at an apartment block on Mounts Bay Road, and it's believed the 16-year-old and a friend were trying to visit people in a nearby apartment... scaling the complex when they couldn't gain access.

The teenager is in a critical condition. Credit:File image

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ABC News reported that police said the pair realised they were on the wrong side of the building and started to climb down, and that's when the boy fell.
Washington: In most countries where the United States has national security interests, the toppling of a prime minister would prompt hurried meetings in Washington and concern over how the change in government will affect US strategy in the region.

But not so with Pakistan.

The resignation of Nawaz Sharif, who was forced to step down as prime minister of Pakistan amid corruption charges, raised eyebrows at the US State Department and the Pentagon, but little else. The Pakistani military is largely viewed as the real source of power in Islamabad, and that is not going to change with a new prime minister.

Still, the removal of Sharif comes as the White House is trying to determine a strategy for Afghanistan that officials say has stalled amid concerns about how to deal with Pakistan, where both the Taliban and the Haqqani network have a sanctuary.
Over 1,200 mail-in votes added to Montco totals; Bucks still in limbo

Two of Montgomery County's three commissioners said they did not support disenfranchising more than 1,200 voters because of a handful of rule breakers
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. SEAN SNYDER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION AND CORRECTION, Defendant-Appellee. Case No. 16-4052 Decided: July 27, 2017

Before: SUTTON, McKEAGUE, and THAPAR, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

Plaintiff Sean Snyder worked as a corrections officer in an Ohio prison. After Snyder pepper sprayed an inmate in a wheelchair, the prison's female warden fired him. Snyder then sued the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.  2000e, alleging that the warden discriminated against him because of his sex. After discovery, the district court granted summary judgment for the Department. For the following reasons, we affirm.

I

The prison's security camera captured the lead-up to this litigation's primary event: the pepper-spray incident. One morning in 2012, Snyder ordered an inmate to leave the prison's shower area. The inmate refused. Snyder responded by raising a pepper-spray canister towards the inmate's face. This subdued the inmate enough so that Snyder could eventually grab the inmate's wheelchair and push him back to his cell. The video shows that when the two reached the cell's entrance, the inmate wheeled himself inside. Snyder, rather than simply shutting the cell, followed behind.

Unlike the journey from the shower area to the cell, however, no camera captured what happened inside. According to Snyder, the inmate became agitated, spun his wheelchair around, and then started to push off the chair's arms toward Snyder. The officers who later reviewed the incident found Snyder's story implausible. But whatever happened, the conflict ended with Snyder pepper spraying the inmate.

Snyder's supervisor reported the incident, which triggered a multi-layer review process. First, the Department convened a use-of-force committee (headed by two men) to determine whether Snyder appropriately deployed his pepper spray. That committee (which, again, was headed by two men) disbelieved Snyder's account and concluded that he used excessive and unjustified force. Next, the committee sent its report to the warden (a woman) who agreed with its findings and started a disciplinary investigation. The investigator (a man) also found that Snyder acted inappropriately. Then, Snyder's case moved on to a pre-disciplinary hearing where the presiding officer (a man) found that Snyder broke three Department rules. Finally, the warden (as the reader might notice, the only woman in in this chain) fired Snyder.

After Snyder's termination, he complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which declined to intervene. He then sued the Department for sex discrimination. The Department moved for summary judgment following discovery, arguing that Snyder lacked sufficient evidence to support his claim. The district court agreed and granted the motion. Snyder v. Ohio Dep't of Rehab. & Correction, No. 2:14-CV-300, 2016 WL 7852524, at *6 (S.D. Ohio July 19, 2016).

This appeal followed.

II

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Cox v. Kentucky Dep't of Transp., 53 F.3d 146, 149 (6th Cir. 1995). A party may use a summary judgment motion to challenge the sufficiency of his opponent's evidenceessentially, to challenge his opponent to put up or shut up. Id. at 149. Unless the non-movant produces evidence which would allow a reasonable jury to return a verdict for him, the court must grant the motion. See id. at 151. The court draws all reasonable inferences in the non-movant's favor. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 58788 (1986). The non-movant cannot rest on this standard alone, however. He must present significant and probative evidence to support his claim. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249 (1986).

III

To survive summary judgment here, Snyder must produce sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find that the Department discriminated against him for being a man. See Simpson v. Vanderbilt Univ., 359 F. App'x 562, 568 (6th Cir. 2009). We analyze this claim under the burden-shifting framework from McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973). See id. Under that framework, Snyder must first establish a prima facie case of discrimination. See St. Mary's Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 506 (1993). If he does, the Department must articulate a nondiscriminatory reason for his firing. See id. at 50607. Then, it is up to Snyder to prove that the proffered reason is really a pretext for discrimination. See id. at 515.

Although the district court concluded that Snyder failed to make out a prima facie case, and we in no way call this an error, we find it simpler here to skip ahead to the pretext inquiry. See Thomas v. City of Columbus, 854 F.3d 361, 364 (6th Cir. 2017) ([W]e may affirm a decision of the district court for any reason supported by the record, including on grounds different from those on which the district court relied.) (citation omitted). The warden offered a nondiscriminatory reason for firing Snyder: he used excessive and unnecessary force on an inmate in a wheelchair. Thus, Snyder must produce sufficient evidence to show this reason is a pretext for her true motive. See Hicks, 509 U.S. at 515.

Ultimately, Snyder must actually make two showings: both that a reasonable jury could find that the warden's proffered reason for his firing was not the real reason and that her real reason was unlawful anti-male discrimination. See id. Snyder fails to deliver any significant, probative evidence to support either conclusion. His evidence amounts to this: 1) his opinion that he used force appropriately and that the investigation was a sham; and 2) a female lieutenant once improperly used pepper spray and was only suspended, not fired.

To start, nothing about the investigation's supposed deficiencies creates a reasonable inference that the warden fired him due to anti-male bias. Sometimes, a plaintiff can show pretext by demonstrating that his employer's stated reason for firing him had no basis in fact. Simpson, 359 F. App'x at 569. But Title VII exists to prohibit discriminationnot to litigate the accuracy of employment decisions. See Tingle v. Arbors at Hilliard, 692 F.3d 523, 530 (6th Cir. 2012). If an employer believes her lawful reason for firing an employee, the employee cannot establish pretext simply because the reason is ultimately shown to be incorrect. Majewski v. Automatic Data Processing, Inc., 274 F.3d 1106, 1117 (6th Cir. 2001).

Here, the warden acted on several male officers' findings that Snyder used excessive force. Even if a jury could believe that Snyder justifiably used forcea doubtful propositionhe offers no reason to doubt that the warden believed otherwise. Only Snyder's speculation supports the notion that she agreed with these men's findings because Snyder himself was a man.

Next, that a female lieutenant once used pepper spray improperly without being fired adds little to Snyder's case. Sometimes, a plaintiff can show pretext by comparing his discipline to that received by others. See, e.g., Madden v. Chattanooga City Wide Serv. Dep't, 549 F.3d 666 (6th Cir. 2008). But the employees' misconduct must be similar enough, and the discipline dissimilar enough, to raise inferences regarding pretext and discrimination. See id. For example, a company saying that it fired a black worker for setting off firecrackers at a worksite while white workers did so with impunity would create such inferences. See id.

The similarity between the incidents here begins and ends with pepper spray. The lieutenant inappropriately sprayed a handcuffed inmate while she tried to assist others in restraining hima legitimate endeavor marred by poor judgment. But nobody distrusted her story. And, at any rate, the Department took her error seriously: she received a week suspension. By contrast, Snyder followed an inmate into his cell after a situation deescalatedan inexplicable action with little or no utility. Further, the investigating officers doubted Snyder's honesty. On these facts, a jury could not reasonably chalk up Snyder's stiffer punishment to anti-male bias.

IV

Snyder views his case as raising profound issues about discrimination. He reminds us that it is no longer 1964. Appellant's Brief at ix. His case turns, however, on a simple issue: whether a plaintiff can proceed to a jury trial based wholly on unsupported speculation. There is a simple answer: he cannot. Thus, we affirm.

FOOTNOTES

. Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to call this his counsel's speculation. Snyder appears to have little conviction about the warden's supposed misandry. See R. 21 Snyder Dep., PID 357 (I don't know the reasoning behind why Warden Richard terminated me.  She could have hated me because I was bald.).

McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge.
State Senator Steve Santarsiero (D-10) presented a check to Yardley Borough Police Chief Joseph Kelly for $68,600 for the purchase of a new police vehicle and motorcycle during a visit to the station. Our police put themselves on the line every day to keep our community safe, said Sen. Santarsiero. Dating back to when I was a Lower Makefield Township Supervisor more than...
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The Myers Group is pleased to announce the opening of its latest branch - Myers Building Supplies at Knaresborough.

Myers Group Directors, James Berry and Katie Berry, are committed to expanding the Myers branch network and look forward to opening further branches in the region in the not too distant future.

The new branch at Knaresborough follows the acquisition of a branch at Leeds and the expansion of the branch at Sowerby Bridge, during the last two years. The opening of the branch at Knaresborough takes the branch count up to 15, which includes a specialist timber branch at Huddersfield.

Managing Director James Berry said: The opening of a new branch in Knaresborough is particularly exciting as it confirms the commitment of the Myers Group to continuing growth in Yorkshire.

The new branch will be fully stocked with a core product range as well as featuring an indoor landscape display area. The addition of a kitchen and bathroom display is on the way which will enhance the product offering. The branch features a literature library and project discussion area, so customers can find all the information they need in the one place, no matter what type of project they are working on.

To celebrate the opening of the new Knaresborough location, customers are invited to the branch for a week of discounts, beginning on Monday 23rd July, which will feature exciting product offers together with an opportunity to meet the team. There will also be special events from suppliers.
SIG Distribution has opened a new 144,000sq ft distribution branch, which will ensure quicker deliveries and a wider selection of products available to the construction sector. This will be SIGs biggest trade branch in the UK.

The Trafford Park site, called T1, will act as the main hub for five SIG brands, serving the north west and North Wales - SIG Insulation, SIG Construction Accessories, SIG Interiors, SIG Technical Insulation and SIG Fixings. The regional hub will improve the customer experience as orders from all five brands can now be consolidated to be made in one delivery to any construction site in the north west or North Wales.

This new operation will therefore reduce the number of vehicle movements at construction sites, while reducing road miles. The SIG site operates 24 hours a day with the dedicated team working to pull together orders for next day deliveries.

In addition, there is a trade counter to serve local contractors and tradespeople, with immediate collection of a wider range of products available.

In addition, SIG360, the Technical Centre which provides energy efficiency guidance on newbuild and retrofit projects, is now also based at T1, providing customers access to a growing team of technical specialists who can identify and recommend the best insulation solutions for any project.

Martin Fearon, General Manager at T1, said: This is a carefully designed, fit for purpose site with new processes and operations that meet the needs and demands of the 21st century construction sector. This new site will provide a more efficient service to our customers across the north west and North Wales, due to our location close to all major road networks, while helping to reduce on-site traffic by ensuring all required materials can be delivered in one trip.

We are also looking forward to welcoming local contractors to our new order and collect facility, ensuring that whatever the building requirement, the T1 site should be able to provide a solution.

Picture caption: The T1 Distribution Centre Will Serve the north west and North Wales.
With more women's sports on TV, more fans are tuning in
Amazon.com Inc on Thursday reported a jump in retail sales along with a profit slump, as its rapid, costly expansion into new shopping categories and countries showed no sign of slowing.

The world's largest online retailer posted second-quarter revenue of $38 billion, up 25 percent from a year earlier. The breakneck growth stood in contrast to the fate of many brick-and-mortar rivals, who have struggled to find their footing as more people shop online.

Yet Seattle-based Amazon posted a 77 percent drop in quarterly income and even said it could lose up to $400 million in operating profit during the current quarter. Beyond reflecting retail's notoriously thin margins, the forecast signalled Amazon would invest heavily to maintain its dominance.

Shares - up nearly 40 percent this year - fell 3.2 percent to $1,012.68 in after-hours trading. The company had earned 40 cents per share instead of $1.42 as analysts had expected, according to Thomson Reuters

"Q3 is generally a high investment period," Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said on a call with reporters, citing spending on fulfillment and hiring to prepare the company for the Christmas holiday rush. He added, "Our video content spend will continue to grow, both sequentially and quarter over quarter."

Indeed, investing in faster shipping and video has become a refrain of sorts for the company. While some expected Amazon's spending in these areas - stepped up since last year - to ease, the company is plowing ahead to reinforce its fast-shipping club Prime.

Olsavsky said video content included with Prime membership has helped Amazon retain subscribers and persuade those on a free trial to sign up for $99 per year in the United States. A cornerstone of the company's strategy, Prime encourages shoppers to buy more goods, more often from Amazon.

Subscription sales including Prime fees rose 51 percent in the second quarter to $2.2 billion. Cowen & Co analysts have estimated that more than 50 percent of U.S. households will have Prime membership by the end of 2017.

"The fact that they are investing on so many fronts right now just speaks to the opportunity that they have before them," said Edward Jones analyst Josh Olson. "We are giving them the benefit of doubt here because they have executed so well historically."

NEW FRONTIERS AND COSTS

Shares of Amazon had touched a record high of $1,083.31 earlier on Thursday, helping Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos briefly unseat fellow tech billionaire Bill Gates to become the world's richest person, according to Forbes. His wealth has followed the meteoric rise of Amazon's stock.

From its origins as an online bookseller, Amazon has jumped into areas that historically had barriers to e-commerce, from apparel to appliances. The specter of Amazon's disruption now hangs over a dizzying array of industries.

Grocery is the latest to feel the threat. The company said last month it would buy Whole Foods Market Inc for $13.7 billion, pending regulatory approval.

Olsavsky declined to discuss in detail the company's strategy for the upscale grocer but said, "We really think it will be a big boost for us as we expand our grocery and consumables offering."

Amazon also announced its two-hour delivery service Prime Now in Singapore on Wednesday, part of its ongoing investment to be a major retail player in Asia. Amazon has committed to investing $5 billion in India and earlier this year said it would take on commerce in the Middle East by acquiring Dubai-based Souq.com.

Even excluding the proposed Whole Foods deal, Amazon forecast an operating income of between $300 million and a loss of $400 million for the current quarter. Analysts had expected $931 million, according to FactSet StreetAccount.

"You tend to expect like this to grow their expenses at a slower rate than their revenues," said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities. "G&A up 50 (percent) is crazy," referring to general and administrative costs in the second quarter.

Operating expenses rose 28.2 percent to $37.33 billion in the second quarter ended June 30. Costs for fulfillment, marketing and technology all rose.

Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian said in a note Amazon's profit margin was "a bit mixed" but added, "accelerating growth in core retail and relatively steady growth in AWS underpin our positive long-term view."

Sales from Amazon Web Services, the company's cash cow and the biggest cloud-computing business in the world, rose 42 percent to $4.1 billion. The subsidiary will expand in France, Sweden and China in the near future, Olsavsky said.

(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.)
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United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ALEXIS MIRANDA-SOTOLONGO, Defendant-Appellant. No. 16-3881 Decided: July 27, 2017

Before DIANEP. WOOD, Chief Judge DANIEL A. MANION, Circuit JudgeDAVID F. HAMILTON, Circuit Judge

ORDER

Alexis Miranda-Sotolongo appeals for the second time his sentence for his conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He argues that the district court erred by modifying his conditions of supervision in his absence and that the district court insufficiently stated its reasons for the modifications. We disagree and affirm the decision of the district court.

The underlying facts of Miranda-Sotolongo's conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon under 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1) are explained more fully in our opinion in his first appeal. United States v. Miranda-Sotolongo, 827 F.3d 663 (7th Cir. 2016). Miranda-Sotolongo was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm after a jury trial. At sentencing, the district court imposed a sentence of sixty-three months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Miranda-Sotolongo successfully challenged four terms of the supervised release as unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. Id. at 67172.

Applying recent case law from this circuit, we found that two conditions imposed unconstitutionally vague limits on Miranda-Sotolongo's use of alcohol. A third condition imposed an unconstitutionally vague prohibition on the purchase, possession, or use of mood-altering substances. A fourth condition required Miranda-Sotolongo to obtain his GED diploma rather than just to seek a GED. We vacated the four challenged conditions, confident that the district court on remand [would] consider whether to impose similar but more narrowly tailored conditions and, if so, [would] explain its decisions to the extent required. Id. at 671. Because the problems with the supervised release terms were narrow, we saw no need to order a full re-sentencing. Id. at 672.

On remand, the government said it would not object to eliminating the three conditions involving alcohol and mood-altering substances. The government also recommended altering the requirement that defendant obtain a GED to a requirement that he seek a GED. The government further suggested that because the elimination of three conditions and the modification of the fourth were favorable to Miranda-Sotolongo, Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.1(c)(2) allowed the court to act without a hearing. The district court agreed with the government's recommendations and implemented them, striking the restrictions on alcohol consumption and mood-altering substances and modifying the GED condition so that Miranda-Sotolongo will be required to seek a GED but not to obtain one.

Miranda-Sotolongo appeals. He argues that Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 43, not Rule 32.1, governs and that he was entitled to be present at the required resentencing hearing. He also argues that the district court did not adequately explain the reasons for modifying the conditions of supervision. We review de novo the scope of the remand. United States v. Lewis, 842 F.3d 467, 473 (7th Cir. 2016), quoting United States v. Mobley, 833 F.3d 797, 803 (7th Cir. 2016). While we often vacate the entire sentence and remand for full resentencing when there are narrow problems in the conditions of supervision, see Mobley, 833 F.3d at 801, we have also found that [s]ometimes it is sensible to fix problems in the supervised-release portion of the sentence and let the rest stand. United States v. Ray, 831 F.3d 431, 439 (7th Cir. 2016) (collecting cases).

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 43(a)(3) requires the defendant's physical presence when his sentence is imposed. Rule 32.1(c) more specifically addresses the procedural requirements for modifying conditions of supervised release. The general rule is: Before modifying the conditions of  supervised release, the court must hold a hearing, at which the person has the right to counsel and an opportunity to make a statement and present any information in mitigation. Fed. R. Crim. P. 32.1(c)(1). Under Rule 32.1, however, a hearing is not required if  the relief sought is favorable to the person and does not extend the term  of supervised release; and  an attorney for the government has received notice of the relief sought, has had a reasonable opportunity to object, and has not done so. Fed. R. Crim. P. 32.1(c)(2). These conditions were satisfied here, so an in-person hearing was not needed.

We were clear in our remand that the errors in the conditions of supervision were narrow enough that there was no need to order a full re-sentencing. Miranda-Sotolongo, 827 F.3d at 672. We remanded only for reconsideration of the four challenged conditions of supervised release, observing that the district court could impose similar but more narrowly tailored conditions. Id. at 671. The modification does not extend the term of supervised release, and the government received notice of the relief and had a reasonable opportunity to object but did not do soit was the government's recommendations that the district court adopted.

The modifications were all favorable to Miranda-Sotolongo, so an in-person hearing with the defendant was not required. The defense argues, however, that because we vacated the four conditions and remanded for reconsideration, the correct comparison to determine whether the changes were favorable is not, as common sense might dictate, between the four challenged conditions and the one modified condition, but rather between the no conditions in place after we vacated them for vagueness and the new condition. This argument elevates form high above substance. We are persuaded we should not adopt the rather metaphysical notion that, because we vacated the challenged conditions of supervised release, none were actually in effect. Thus far, none of the conditions have ever gone into effect since Miranda-Sotolongo still has a while to go on his prison sentence. After having received the relief he sought in his first appeal, the relief he received on remand was clearly favorable to him. Three of the conditions were eliminated. The fourth was modified to make it less demanding. What could be more favorable to the defendant?

The exception to a hearing requirement for modifying conditions of supervised release under Rule 32.1(c)(2) was thus satisfied. In fact, the district court provided Miranda-Sotolongo with more than was required under Rule 32.1. The court held a hearing, although it was not required, and offered Miranda-Sotolongo an opportunity to participate by telephone. (He refused to participate.) We do not see any harm he suffered as a result of his absence from the hearing.

Finally, we address Miranda-Sotolongo's argument that the district court failed to explain sufficiently its reasons for the modifications. See United States v. Bryant, 754 F.3d 443, 44445 (7th Cir. 2014); United States v. Farmer, 755 F.3d 849, 852 (7th Cir. 2014). The district judge said that he intended to comply with the mandate from the Seventh Circuit and would resentence the Defendant on those conditions as indicated by the record. Further, the proposed changes to the four remand conditions agreed to by the Government are appropriate and are consistent with the Seventh Circuit jurisprudence. That is sufficient to explain the elimination of three conditions and the modification of the GED requirement from obtaining a GED to seeking one, which we said we would uphold. See Miranda-Sotolongo, 827 F.3d at 671. No more needed to be said, and the district court did not abuse its discretion. See United States v. Evans, 727 F.3d 730, 732 (7th Cir. 2013) (applying abuse of discretion standard to review challenge to modified terms of supervised release); see also Farmer, 755 F.3d at 853 (acknowledging tension in our cases as to the proper standard of review), quoting United States v. Shannon, 743 F.3d 496, 499 (7th Cir. 2014).

Accordingly, we AFFIRM the decision of the district court.
Scoot expects its operations in India to grow by just 5-7 per cent in the next few years, despite the domestic market for international travel to South East Asia and Australia expected to explode
Alembics board on Friday rejected the request by Unifi Capital to appoint Murali Rajagopalachari as a director for small shareholders but experts said it might write to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on the issue.
What is the single biggest factor that is lacking in Indias healthcare sector today ? You dont need to be a rocket scientist to come up with the answer: trust. The relationship between the doctor and his patient has never been this tenuous.
With just two days to go before the month ends, Ahmedabad may break a 112 years old record of highest rainfall in July it had set in 1905. Gujarat, especially in the northern and western parts, received good rainfall this year. Ahmedabad has already received 828.2 mm rains, as against a normal level of
In the seven months since the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) became operational, the resolution process for 200 companies has started, said Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) Chairman M S Sahoo on Saturday. This includes the 12 large accounts that were referred to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
A special court on Saturday dismissed the bail plea of an alleged middleman who was arrested in the Election Commission bribery case involving AIADMK (Amma) faction leader TTV Dhinakaran.

Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry denied bail to Sukesh Chandrashekar, who was arrested on April 16 and chargesheeted by the Delhi Police on July 14.

"Bail application dismissed. Detailed order to follow later in the day," the court said.

Chandrashekar had sought bail on the ground that his custody was not required as the investigation regarding him was complete.

The prosecutor had opposed the bail plea saying that the investigation in the case was still going on.

He has been denied bail twice by a sessions court and then by the Delhi High Court.

The court has already fixed August three to consider the issue of taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed in the case.

The Delhi Police Crime Branch has chargesheeted Chandrashekar for alleged offences under the IPC including forgery of valuable security, forgery for purpose of cheating, using forged document as genuine, possessing a forged document, intending to use it as genuine and criminal conspiracy.

He was also charged with the alleged offence of taking gratification by illegal means to influence public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

If convicted, the offences carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The police have alleged in the charge sheet that Dhinakaran and Chandrashekar had conspired to bribe Election Commission (EC) officials to get the 'two leaves' symbol for their party.

They have told the court that a supplementary final report would be filed later against accused Dhinakaran, his close aide T P Mallikarjuna, suspected hawala operators Nathu Singh and Lalit Kumar, who are out on bail, after completing the probe against them.

The police has claimed that the money allegedly recovered from Chandrashekar was sent by Dhinakaran through unaccounted channels with the help of other accused persons.

Chandrashekar was arrested for allegedly taking money from Dhinakaran to bribe ECI officials to get the AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol for the Sasikala faction.

According to the police, Rs 1.3 crore in cash was allegedly recovered from him at the time of the raid at a hotel in Chanakyapuri area of south Delhi.

Dhinakaran was arrested here on the night of April 25 after four days of questioning for allegedly attempting to bribe ECI officials for the symbol. Mallikarjuna was also arrested the same day.

His faction had hoped to obtain the symbol for the bypoll to the R K Nagar Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu which was later cancelled by the ECI after the alleged irregularities surfaced, according to the police.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa who represented the constituency.

The ECI had frozen the AIADMK's symbol after the two factions of the party -- one led by Dhinakaran's aunt Sasikala and the other by former chief minister O Panneerselvam -- staked a claim to it.

Mallikarjuna was arrested for allegedly facilitating a Rs 50 crore deal between Dhinakaran and Chandrashekar.

Dhinakaran has been accused of arranging the money from undisclosed sources and getting it transferred from Chennai to Delhi through illegal channels.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief on Saturday said the 'power hungry' Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Central Government has crossed all limits to remain in power.

Her statement came following the resignation of BSP MLC Thakur Jaiveer Singh as member of Uttar Pradesh's Upper House.

She further said that for power the BJP is blatantly misusing the government machinery which is condemnable and has endangered the democracy of the country.

"The political turmoil in Manipur, Goa, Bihar, Gujarat and now in Uttar Pradesh are the evidence of the fact that Modi government has endangered the democracy of the nation," said in a statement.

"The BJP is misusing its power in Gujarat forcing MLAs to quit their parties. All the constitutional bodies are seems to be helpless in performing their work," she added.

She further said that after forming government in Manipur and Goa, the BJP is trying to take over Bihar, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh by using government agencies including CBI, Income Tax and ED to target the Opposition.

"To deviate the mind of people from its wrong policies and corruption, the BJP is running a campaign to prove the Opposition leaders corrupt and tainted. This is very condemnable," she added.

She further urged the Opposition parties and its leaders to fight back against the BJP's atrocities.

"Instead of kneeling down and giving up before the BJP, the Opposition parties should fight back against its terror. By doing this only we can stop its arrogant, destructive and dictatorship actions," she said.

Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party MLC and Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder Bukkal Nawab also tendered their resignation, to which Akhilesh Yadav responded by attacking the BJP.

(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.)
Can the reservation of seats for economically weaker sections (EWS) in private unaided schools bridge the gaps we see in our society? Can it make it more inclusive? Is there a psychological cost that children from EWS pay to study at the private options? Why dont schools manage to fill the reserved seats? Adopted in 2012, The Right to Education (Section 12 (1)C) requires private unaided schools to reserve 25 per cent of their seats in an entering class. At a national level, there are around 2.2 million seats available on a yearly basis, of which 15% seats have so far been filled up. 11 states are implementing it at different levels so far. 18 states are still in violation of the Supreme court. Tarun Cherukuri, a chemical engineer from BITS Pilani and a Fulbright scholar, started Indus Action after he was back from studying at the Kennedy School of government in Cambridge. Indus Action helps in getting the information across to families, helps them navigate the state bureaucracy to get the requisite certificates and complete the application process. Cherukuri spoke to Anjuli Bhargava on the merits of the policy and where its reached so far. Excerpts from a chat:
A Delhi Court on Saturday reserved order on bail plea of Shivani Saxena, an accused in the AgustaWestland chopper money laundering case.

The court is likely to pass the order at 4 pm today.

On July 21, the court has sent Saxena, an accused in the Agusta Westland chopper scam to five-days of Enforcement Directorate remand.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier arrested Saxena, Director of Matrix Holdings Dubai, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in connection with the case.

Saxena is wife of Rajeev Shamsher Bahadur Saxena, a resident of Palm Jumeira, Dubai. She is an active director of UHY Saxena, Dubai and Matrix Holdings, through which the proceeds of crime was routed.

The investigation conducted and various documents collected so far revealed that Agusta Westland International Ltd., UK paid an amount of Euro 58 million as kickbacks through Gordian Services Sarl, Tunisia and IDS Sarl, Tunisia.

These companies further siphoned off the said money in the name of consultancy contracts to Interstellar Technologies Ltd., Mauritius and others, which were further transferred to UHY Saxena, Dubai, Matrix Holdings Ltd. Dubai and others.

Further investigation revealed that her husband Rajiv Saxena is a beneficial owner of Interstellar Technologies Ltd., Mauritius.

Shivani Saxena and her husband Rajiv are partners in UHY Saxena, Dubai and Matrix Holdings Limited, Dubai. Both these companies received proceeds of crime in their respective Dubai bank accounts from Interstellar Technologies Ltd. Mauritius.

It was also revealed that the couple have remitted huge amount of money through their companies at Dubai to various other accounts.

Shivani Saxena was produced in the Court of Special Judge PMLA and was given four days remand to the Enforcement Directorate in the matter.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has received around 5,000 applications for its new housing scheme, with senior officials conjecturing that demonetisation could be a factor behind fewer people applying for it.

The 2017 Housing Scheme, which offers 12,000 flats for four income categories, was launched on June 30. The last date for submitting applications is August 11.

"We held a meeting with our partnering banks. Though the full details across different categories, we are yet to receive, I can say that at this point of time, about 5,000 applications have been received," DDA's Principal Commissioner (Housing), J P Agarwal told reporters.

Agarwal said the housing authority will make every possible efforts to address all concomitant issues, including water supply and transportation.

"Yes, some areas like Narela, Rohini, have connectivity issues, and some of flats need repair, but before allotting the flats, we will make them fit to move in as well," he said.

He said the Delhi Jal Board has committed to the DDA to ensure water supply in all areas where it is lacking in the next six months.

"We have also written letters to the Delhi Metro and DTC authorities seeking transport infrastructure in these areas," he said.

The draw of the lots is slated to be conducted in the first week of November and could be streamed online.

"50,000 forms have been sold so far, which is less, but we are waiting and watching as of now," he said.

"One of the reasons for low number of application could be due to the impact of demonetisation. The entire market is down, including the real estate sector," another senior official of the DDA said.

The flats are spread across Rohini, Dwarka, Narela, Vasant Kunj, Jasola, Pitampura, Paschim Vihar and Siraspur.

Of the 12,000 flats, around 10,000 unoccupied ones are from the 2014 housing scheme, while 2,000 have been lying vacant.

The price of flats range from close to Rs 7 lakh to over Rs 1.26 crore.

Agarwal said, the DDA wants genuine people to apply and ward off market speculation.

"In the event that we get less than 12,000 applications by closing of the scheme, we may decide to extend the date of the draw or even hold it, depending on the final number.

"Or we may hold the draw for HIG and MIG categories, for which we have received about 2,000-3,000 applications and postpone the draw for LIG segment. But, that call would be taken once we near the August-11 deadline. Nothing is finalised as of now," he said.

The four categories of houses are -- HIG (High Income Group) with 87 flats ranging from Rs 53.52 lakh to Rs 126.81 lakh; MIG (Middle Income Group) with 404 flats ranging from Rs 31.32 lakh to Rs 93.95 lakh; LIG/one-bed room flats numbering 11,197 and ranging from Rs 14.50 lakh to Rs 30.30 lakh; and 384 Janta flats ranging from Rs 7.07 lakh to Rs 12.76 lakh.

For the LIG (Lower Income Group) category, the registration fee will be Rs 1 lakh while for Middle Income Group and High Income Group flats, Rs 2 lakh will be charged.

The 2014 scheme offered 25,040 flats across categories, with prices ranging between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 1.2 crore. The online response was so massive that the DDA's official website crashed soon after the launch.

The one-bedroom flats were offered in Dwarka, Rohini, Narela and Siraspur areas.
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF ARKANSAS & EASTERN OKLAHOMA, on behalf of itself and its patients, doing business as Planned Parenthood Great Plains; Stephanie Ho, MD, on behalf of herself and her patients, PlaintiffsAppellees v. Larry JEGLEY, Prosecuting Attorney for Pulaski County, in his official capacity, his agents and successors; Matt Durrett, Prosecuting Attorney for Washington County, in his official capacity, his agents and successors, DefendantsAppellants American Public Health Association; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Amici on Behalf of Appellee(s) No. 16-2234 Decided: July 28, 2017

Before RILEY, Chief Judge,1GRUENDER, Circuit Judge, and GRITZNER, District Judge.2 Counsel who presented argument on behalf of the appellants was Nicholas Jacob Bronni, Deputy Solicitor General, of Little Rock, AR. In addition to Mr. Bronni, the following attorney(s) appeared on the appellants' brief; Mindy D. Pipkin, Senior Assistant Attorney General, of Little Rock, AR. Counsel who presented argument on behalf of the appellees was Maithreyi Ratakonda, of New York, NY. In addition to Maithreyi Ratakonda, the following attorney(s) appeared on the appellees' brief; Bettina E. Brownstein, of Little Rock, AR., Carrie Y. Flaxman, of Washington, DC., Helene T. Krasnoff, of Washington, DC., and Melissa Ann Cohen, of New York, NY. The following attorney(s) appeared on the amici brief of American Public Health Association and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in support of appellees; Shannon R. Selden, of New York, NY., Johanna N. Skrzypczyk, of New York, NY., Joshua E. Roberts, of New York, NY., and John T. Chisholm, of Washington, D.C.

Prosecuting Attorneys for Pulaski County and Washington County, Arkansas (the State) appeal the district court's grant of a preliminary injunction preventing the enforcement of an Arkansas statute requiring medication-abortion providers to contract with a physician who has hospital admitting privileges. Because the district court failed to make factual findings estimating the number of women burdened by the statute, we vacate the preliminary injunction and remand for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2015, Arkansas enacted the Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act (the Act). Ark. Code Ann.  20-16-15011510. The Arkansas Legislature made findings that abortion-inducing drugs present significant medical risks, including abdominal pain, cramping, vomiting, headache, fatigue, uterine hemorrhage, viral infections, and pelvic inflammatory disease. Id.  1502(14). It further determined that medication abortions are associated with an increased risk of complications relative to surgical abortion[s] and found that, based on a 2011 United States Food and Drug Administration report, complications included eight deaths attributed to severe bacterial infection, 612 hospitalizations, 339 blood transfusions, and 256 infections. Id.  1502(15)-(17).

To address these health concerns, the Act created new requirements for physicians providing medication abortions. Section 1504(d) sets forth the contract-physician requirement, which is the subject of the current appeal. The provision requires that:

(1) The physician who gives, sells, dispenses, administers, or otherwise provides or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug shall have a signed contract with a physician who agrees to handle complications and be able to produce that signed contract on demand by the patient or by the Department of Health.

(2) The physician who contracts to handle emergencies shall have active admitting privileges and gynecological/surgical privileges at a hospital designated to handle any emergencies associated with the use or ingestion of the abortion-inducing drug.

(3) Every pregnant woman to whom a physician gives, sells, dispenses, administers, or otherwise provides or prescribes any abortion-inducing drug shall receive the name and phone number of the contracted physician and the hospital at which that physician maintains admitting privileges and which can handle any emergencies.

Id.  1504(d). The Act imposes civil and criminal penalties for violations of the contract-physician requirement. See id.  1506-1507.

Planned Parenthood of Arkansas & Eastern Oklahoma (PPAEO) provides medication abortions in Arkansas at its two facilities, one in Fayetteville and the other in Little Rock. The only other Arkansas abortion provider, Little Rock Family Planning Services (LRFP), administers both medication and surgical abortions at its Little Rock facility. PPAEO and one of its physicians, Stephanie Ho, M.D., (collectively Planned Parenthood) filed suit seeking to enjoin enforcement of the Act days before it was set to take effect, claiming that the contract-physician requirement unduly burdens their patients' right to an abortion.

Both parties submitted affidavits concerning the medical benefits of the contract-physician requirement and the burdens on abortion access purportedly caused by the requirement. The district court found that Planned Parenthood's protocols provided continuity of care because patients with concerns could call Planned Parenthood's twenty-four-hour hotline to speak with nurses, Planned Parenthood referred patients experiencing complications to clinics or health centers for surgical completion, and Planned Parenthood physicians could consult with emergency-room physicians in the case of serious complications. The district court thus concluded that the contract-physician requirement provided few, if any, tangible medical benefits over Planned Parenthood's continuity-of-care protocols such that the [S]tate's overall interest in the regulation of medication abortions through the [contract-physician] requirement is low and not compelling. Planned Parenthood Ark. &E. Okla. v. Jegley, No. 4:15-cv-00784-KGB, 2016 WL 6211310, at *20 (E.D. Ark. Mar. 14, 2016).

The district court then turned to the requirement's alleged burdens on abortion access. The court first concluded that Planned Parenthood could not find a physician to contract with and that, as a result, the Planned Parenthood facilities in Little Rock and Fayetteville would stop offering abortion services. It also found that medication abortion would no longer exist in Arkansas and that LRFP would be the sole abortion provider in Arkansas and would only administer surgical abortions. The district court and the parties generally treated LRFP's surgical-abortion services as a viable alternative to medication abortions, and as a result, the court determined the contract-physician requirement would not burden most Arkansas women seeking medication abortions because they already would have traveled to Little Rock prior to the enactment of the contract-physician requirement. The district court, however, found that the closure of PPAEO's Fayetteville facility would force women in the Fayetteville area to make two, 380-mile round trips to obtain an abortion at LRFP. Id. at *4. As a result of the increased travel distances, the district court determined that some women in the Fayetteville area would postpone the procedures, leading to an increased risk of complications, while others would forgo abortions entirely. Id. at *8. The court further noted that the record did not allow a finding as to whether LRFP would be able to absorb such an increase in the number of procedures or whether [LRFP] will be able to cover fully the needs of women who might have sought care at [Planned Parenthood]. Id. at *30.

Balancing the benefits of the contract-physician requirement against its burdens, the district court concluded that the requirement was a solution in search of a problem. Id. at *18. It thus held that Planned Parenthood was likely to succeed on the merits, that it and its patients faced irreparable harm, that the equities weighed in its favor, and that the public interest weighed in its favor. As a result, the district court granted Planned Parenthood a preliminary injunction, preventing Arkansas from enforcing the contract-physician requirement. The State timely appealed.

II. DISCUSSION

This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.  1292(a)(1) to review an interlocutory order granting a preliminary injunction. We review such an order for an abuse of discretion. Planned Parenthood Minn., N.D., S.D. v. Rounds, 530 F.3d 724, 733 (8th Cir. 2008) (en banc). A district court abuses its discretion when it fails to consider a relevant factor that should have been given significant weight, when it considers and gives significant weight to an irrelevant or improper factor, or when it considers only proper factorsand no improper onesbut in weighing those factors commits a clear error of judgment. Novus Franchising, Inc. v. Dawson, 725 F.3d 885, 893 (8th Cir. 2013).

Generally, in issuing a preliminary injunction, the district court considers: (1) the threat of irreparable harm to the moving party, (2) the balance between this harm and the injury that granting the injunction will inflict on the non-moving party, (3) the probability that the moving party will succeed on the merits, and (4) the public interest. See Dataphase Sys., Inc. v. C L Sys., Inc., 640 F.2d 109, 114 (8th Cir. 1981) (en banc). Where a preliminary injunction is sought to enjoin the implementation of a duly enacted state statute, however, the moving party must make a more rigorous showing that it is likely to prevail on the merits. Rounds, 530 F.3d at 732-33. This is necessary to ensure that preliminary injunctions that thwart a state's presumptively reasonable democratic processes are pronounced only after an appropriately deferential analysis. Id. at 733. Thus, we must analyze whether Planned Parenthood demonstrated that it is likely to prevail on the merits of its undue burden claim. See id. at 732.

A finding of an undue burden is a shorthand for the conclusion that a state regulation has the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus. Planned Parenthood of Se. Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 877 (1992). In Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court clarified that this undue burden analysis requires that courts consider the burdens a law imposes on abortion access together with the benefits those laws confer. 136 S. Ct. 2292, 2309 (2016). The Court explained that after the passage of Texas House Bill 2 (H.B. 2), the abortion regulation at issue, the number of Texas facilities providing abortions decreased from approximately forty to about seven or eight. Id. at 2312, 2316. These closures led to increased driving distances, though the additional driving distances alone were not dispositive. Id. at 2313 (We recognize that increased driving distances do not always constitute an undue burden.  (citing Casey, 505 U.S. at 885-87)). Instead, the closures burdened abortion access because women seeking abortions also faced fewer doctors, longer waiting times, and increased crowding. Id. Furthermore, patients would be less likely to get the kind of individualized attention, serious conversation, and emotional support at the abortion facilities. Id. at 2318. As a result, the Supreme Court struck down H.B. 2 because its numerous burdens substantially outweighed its benefits. See id. at 2313, 2318. At the same time, because Hellerstedt expressly relied on Gonzales v. Carhart, see id. at 2310, the Court preserved its command that state and federal legislatures [have] wide discretion to pass legislation in areas where there is medical and scientific uncertainty, 550 U.S. 124, 163 (2007).

In the present case, the district court abused its discretion because it failed to consider whether Planned Parenthood satisfied the requirements necessary to sustain a facial challenge to an abortion regulation. Facial challenges are disfavored, Wash. State Grange v. Wash. State Republican Party, 552 U.S. 442, 449 (2008), and generally, they can only succeed if the proponent establishes that no set of circumstances exists under which the [statute] would be valid, United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745 (1987). For challenges to abortion regulations, however, the Supreme Court has fashioned a different standard under which the plaintiff can prevail by demonstrating that in a large fraction of the cases in which [the law] is relevant, it will operate as a substantial obstacle to a woman's choice to undergo an abortion. Casey, 505 U.S. at 895. The Supreme Court has clarified that cases in which the provision at issue is relevant is a narrower category than all women, pregnant women, or even women seeking abortions identified by the State. Hellerstedt, 136 S. Ct. at 2320 (quoting Casey, 505 U.S. at 894-95). Thus, because the contract-physician requirement only applies to medication-abortion providers, the relevant denominator here is women seeking medication abortions in Arkansas. See id. (finding that the relevant denominator must be those women for whom the provision is an actual rather than an irrelevant restriction (internal alterations omitted)). Accordingly, in order to sustain a facial challenge and grant a preliminary injunction, the district court was required to make a finding that the Act's contract-physician requirement is an undue burden for a large fraction of women seeking medication abortions in Arkansas.

The district court did not make this finding. The court correctly held that individuals for whom the contract-physician requirement was an actual, rather than an irrelevant, restriction were women seeking medication abortions in Arkansas. Nonetheless, it did not define or estimate the number of women who would be unduly burdened by the contract-physician requirement. Instead, it focused on amorphous groups of women to reach its conclusion that the Act was facially unconstitutional.

First, the district court did not determine how many women would face increased travel distances. The court noted that most women residing in Arkansas and seeking medication abortions would be unaffected by the contract-physician requirement, as they could travel to LRFP for an abortion. However, it found that women in the Fayetteville area would have to make two, 380-mile round trips to obtain an abortion from LRFP in Little Rock. Jegley, 2016 WL 6211310, at *4. Nonetheless, it is unclear how many women would have to travel these additional distances. For example, the district court did not explain if women in the Fayetteville area referred to women residing only in the city of Fayetteville, women residing in Washington County (where Fayetteville is located), or women residing in surrounding counties as well. Additionally, as the Supreme Court acknowledged in Hellerstedt, increased travel distances are relevant but may not independently constitute an undue burden. 136 S. Ct. at 2313 (citing Casey, 505 U.S. at 885-87). The Supreme Court found an undue burden in Hellerstedt because women seeking abortions faced fewer doctors, longer waiting times, and increased crowding. 136 S. Ct. at 2313. Here, it is not clear that women in the Fayetteville area traveling to LRFP would face fewer doctors, longer waiting times, and increased crowding. See id. As the district court recognized, the record did not demonstrate whether LRFP would be able to absorb such an increase in the number of procedures or whether [LRFP] [would] be able to cover fully the needs of women who might have sought care at [Planned Parenthood]. Jegley, 2016 WL 6211310, at *30.

Next, the district court failed to estimate the number of women who would forgo abortions. The court cited an affidavit from Dr. Stanley K. Henshaw, Ph.D., who opined that an increased travel distance of 100 miles would cause 20 to 25 percent of women who would have otherwise obtained abortions to forgo them and that [g]reater distances will be a barrier to an even higher percentage of women. The record is unclear as to whether the 100 miles of increased travel distance refers to round-trip or one-way distancesor whether it concerns single or multiple trips. More fundamentally, however, the district court did not apply this conclusion to estimate the number of women in the Fayetteville area seeking medication abortions who would actually forgo abortions.

Finally, the court did not estimate the number of women who would postpone their abortions. The district court maintained that increased travel distances would cause some women in the Fayetteville area to postpone their abortions and thereby face an increased risk of complications. Id. at *8. The district court again, however, did not explain or estimate how many women constituted some women. While the record does indicate that delaying abortions can increase the risk of complications, the court failed to estimate the number of women who would face an increased risk of complications.

As a result, we are left with no concrete district court findings estimating the number of women who would be unduly burdened by the contract-physician requirementeither because they would forgo the procedure or postpone itand whether they constitute a large fraction of women seeking medication abortions in Arkansas such that Planned Parenthood could prevail in its facial challenge to the contract-physician requirement. In situations like this, where the district court did not make the necessary factual findings, [w]e conclude that the better course is to afford the district court an opportunity to make appropriate findings of fact and conclusions of law. See Phelps-Roper v. Troutman, 712 F.3d 412, 417 (8th Cir. 2013) (per curiam); see also Mo. Pac. Joint Protective Bd., Bhd. Ry. Carmen v. Mo. Pac. R.R. Co., 730 F.2d 533, 537 (8th Cir. 1984) ([W]e believe the findings and conclusions should, in the first instance, be made by the district court.).

On remand, we do not require the district court to calculate the exact number of women unduly burdened by the contract-physician requirement. We acknowledge that the large fraction standard is in some ways more conceptual than mathematical. Cincinnati Women's Servs., Inc. v. Taft, 468 F.3d 361, 374 (6th Cir. 2006). Nonetheless, like the Sixth Circuit, we find that this standard is not entirely freewheeling and that we can and should define its outer boundaries. See id. ([T]he term large fraction, which, in a way, is more conceptual than mathematical, envisions something more than the 12 out of 100 women identified here.). Thus, on remand, the district court should conduct fact finding concerning the number of women unduly burdened by the contract-physician requirement and determine whether that number constitutes a large fraction.

Accordingly, we vacate the district court's grant of a preliminary injunction and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FOOTNOTES

. The Act also requires physicians administering medication abortions to follow an FDA-approved regimen, which differed from the one Planned Parenthood used. The district court enjoined this portion of the Act along with the contract-physician requirement. Following the issuance of the preliminary injunction, the FDA updated its regimen to one that reflected Planned Parenthood's regimen. As a result, Planned Parenthood withdrew its challenge to this provision, and, thus, the requirement that physicians follow FDA regulations is not before us.

. Planned Parenthood's efforts to recruit a contract physician did not include any offer of financial compensation. It is unclear whether the district court considered this fact in its assessment.

. The court noted that medication abortions could be medically indicated for women with specific health conditions. However, it also acknowledged that the record was unclear as to what percentage of the patient population that may be. Jegley, 2016 WL 6211310, at *30.

. A separate Arkansas statute requires women to receive state-mandated information forty-eight hours before their abortion procedure. See Ark. Code Ann.  20-16-1703(b)(1), (2). This information must be given orally and in person, thereby possibly necessitating another trip. Id.

. Indeed, in 2014, medication abortions accounted for only 14.3 percent of all abortions in Arkansas.

. Although the record does contain evidence that, in 2014, 145 women residing in Washington County had medication abortions, applying the 20 to 25 percent figure would mean that about 29 to 37 women would forgo their abortionsapproximately 4.8 to 6.0 percent of all medication abortions provided in Arkansas in 2014. We are skeptical that 4.8 to 6.0 percent is sufficient to qualify as a large fraction of women seeking medication abortions in Arkansas. See Cincinnati Women's Servs., Inc. v. Taft, 468 F.3d 361, 374 (6th Cir. 2006) (holding that 12 percent does not constitute a large fraction).

. We find it unnecessary to reach the issue of the contract-physician requirement's benefits, though the district court's method gives us some pause. In determining that the contract-physician requirement's benefits would be low and not compelling, the district court concluded that Planned Parenthood's current continuity-of-care protocols were adequate. Hellerstedt, however, compared H.B. 2 to Texas's pre-existing law, not Texas abortion providers' current protocols. See 136 S. Ct. at 2311 (We have found nothing in Texas' record evidence that shows that, compared to prior law (which required a working arrangement with a doctor with admitting privileges), the new law advanced Texas' legitimate interest in protecting women's health. (emphasis added)). Moreover, Planned Parenthood could unilaterally decide to discontinue its twenty-four-hour nurse-staffed phone line, end patient referrals to surgical providers, or stop consultations with emergency-room physicians in the case of serious complications. While we elect not to quantify it at this time, we certainly see some benefit for patients where the State mandates continuity-of-care standardsespecially in the face of known complications and where there previously had been no state requirements. For instance, had the State merely mandated Planned Parenthood's existing continuity-of-care protocols, Planned Parenthood likely would not argue that these would be of no significant benefit to its patients. At the very least, codifying Planned Parenthood's continuity-of-care protocols would constitute a benefit because it would set a legal floor to prevent retrenchment in the standard of care. The question here, however, is whether the contract-physician requirement's benefits are substantially outweighed by the burdens it imposes on a large fraction of women seeking medication abortion in Arkansas.

GRUENDER, Circuit Judge.
An appreciating rupee has been posing a major challenge to sustaining growth of domestic textiles industry, which has seen a low turnaround in the past few quarters, mainly due to high raw materials prices.
South Korea and the US conducted another round of combined ballistic missile drills on Saturday in a show of firepower against North Korea, their armed forces said.

The live-fire exercise held along the east coast involved the South's Hyunmoo-2 and the US Eight Army's ATACMS, Yonhap news agency quoted the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) as saying.

They fired missiles into the East Sea, where the North lobbed what's believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) hours earlier.

The Hyunmoo-2 is a road-mobile tactical ballistic missile with a range of 300 kilometers. The ATACMS, or the Army Tactical Missile System, is a similar-range guided missile.

The allies reaffirmed their capabilities for "precise strike on the enemy's leadership," the JCS said in a statement.

The US military unit stressed that the ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and provide "deep-strike precision capability."

It enables the allied forces to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

The two sides held such joint ballistic missile drills early this month following the communist nation's firing of the Hwasong-14 ICBM.

Earlier in the day Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis told media that it has detected an ICBM launch by North Korea at about 10:45 am eastern time.

The launch was first reported by the Japanese government which said that the missile flew for about 45 minutes and appeared to have fallen into Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Japan government spokesman Yoshihide Suga, no damage has reported to any vessel or aircraft.

He also said that the missile launch was in violation of the United Nations' related resolutions and Japan protests the move on strongest terms.

The South Korean media also reported the missile launch and immediately reported the move to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who convened an emergency security meeting early Saturday.

According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea fired the missile into its east waters.

Yonhap news agency cited JCS as saying that the missile was launched into the East Sea from North Korea's Jagang province.
The Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that the Chinese yuan's exchange rate is broadly consistent with fundamentals and desirable policies.

"The yuan, despite moving closer to the level consistent with the overall assessment, remained broadly in line with fundamentals and desirable policies," said the in its latest External Sector Report released on Friday.

According to the report, in 2016, the average real effective exchange rate (REER) depreciated by about 5.1 per cent compared to 2015, reflecting in part the strengthening of the US dollar, reports the People's Daily.

China's policies that were put in place to stabilise the growth has led to the yuan's appreciation and helped ease capital outflows and foreign exchange reserve loss, Luis Cabeddu, research department's division chief said at a press briefing on Friday.

China's current account surplus declined to 1.7 per cent of GDP in 2016, falling substantially from its peak of about 10 per cent of GDP in 2007, the People's Daily quoted the report as saying.

The IMF expected that China's current account surplus will continue to be narrowed if the country continues to implement reforms.

Despite the declines in foreign exchange reserves in 2015 and 2016, the IMF estimated that China's current level of forex reserves to be adequate.

The IMF warned that China may face potential risks of protectionist policies by its key trading partners in the future.
A US congressional panel this week asked 22 government agencies to share documents on Moscow-based cyber firm Kaspersky Lab, saying its products could be used to carry out "nefarious activities against the United States," according to letters seen by Reuters.
Qatar's foreign minister on Thursday accused Gulf neighbors and Egypt of "stubbornness" in their ongoing diplomatic dispute and said the United Nations should step in to help resolve the crisis.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York to discuss tensions after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut ties with Qatar on June 5.

The four countries accuse Qatar of backing extremism and have imposed sanctions against Doha in what the foreign minister said was a "serious violation of law."



"There is a role for the Security Council and for the General Assembly and all the United Nations mechanisms, because of course the violations have continued," the foreign minister told reporters after his meeting with Guterres.

"We are seeing from the other side of the conflict this stubbornness without even taking any forthcoming step to solve this problem," he said.

Last month Al-Thani met with several Security Council members to lobby for support, but the council and Guterres have repeatedly stressed that a solution should be found among regional partners.

Kuwait has been trying to mediate the crisis and several top Western diplomats have toured the region to try to defuse the row, including US Secretary of States Rex Tillerson.

"This is the right place where we have to start to seek all our options in order to find a legal solution," said the foreign minister.

"Qatar has already stated more than ten times that we want to solve this issue by dialogue, and we are not willing to escalate, and they need to retreat from all their illegal actions," he said.

The crisis between the regional allies is the worst to hit the Gulf in decades.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia and its allies unveiled a "terrorist" blacklist of 18 organizations and individuals suspected of links to Islamist extremism tied to Qatar.

The countries have demanded that Qatar break its longstanding ties with the Muslim Brotherhood -- blacklisted as a terror group by the four governments, although not by the community.

They also demanded that it close broadcasting giant Al- Jazeera and a Turkish military base, and fall in line with Saudi-led policy in the region, particularly towards Iran.

Qatar has dismissed the demands as a violation of its sovereignty and has received significant support from its ally Turkey.
A man born in the United Arab Emirates killed one person with a knife and wounded six in a supermarket in the German city of Hamburg on Saturday, shouting "Allahu Akbar" before being overpowered by passers-by and arrested, said police.

Police said they were unable to immediately determine the motive behind the attack and were "continuing to investigate every possibility".

Citing security sources, Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel reported that the 26-year-old perpetrator was known to police as an Islamist. News agency DPA reported that security authorities were investigating evidence the man had Salafist ties.

Around 1310 GMT, the attacker stabbed to death a 50- year-old man believed to be a German citizen.

Police said that he "struck out wildly" at others, wounding five more in the supermarket, a 50-year-old woman and four men aged 19, 56, 57 and 64.

Another 35-year-old man was hurt while overpowering the attacker in the street alongside other passers-by shortly after the killing.

All of the wounded were being treated or operated on in hospital, some of them for serious injuries, police said.

A police murder unit and a specialist politically- motivated crime squad are investigating the attack and were able to secure the suspected murder weapon.

German daily Bild published a picture of the attacker in the back of a police car with a white, blood-soaked bag over his head, and reported that he cried "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) during the attack.

"Suddenly I saw a man smeared with blood running along the other side of the road with a knife," an eyewitness identified as Ralf W. Told Bild. "He shouted out 'Allahu Akbar' as he was running."



A female witness standing in line at the supermarket till also told NTV rolling news channel that "as he was running out... He held up his arms and shouted 'Allahu Akbar'."



"I thought I was in a horror movie, I thought he would kill me," an unnamed woman who had been in the supermarket told rolling news channel NTV.

She said she feared she would die, as she was "queueing for the till and couldn't get away".

The suspect fled the supermarket after the attack.

But "people were running after him with improvised weapons, chairs and sticks... They ran after him into a side street," Ralf W. Told Bild.

"People chased after the killer with chairs, they were throwing them at him," bakery worker Shaylin Roettmer told DPA.

The witnesses slightly injured the attacker while they were overpowering him, before handing him over to police.

Police blocked off the lively and diverse high street dotted with cafes and shops in the northeast of the port city, Germany's second largest and host of the G20 summit of world leaders in early July.

Anti-terror officers armed with automatic weapons patrolled the scene and onlookers gathered behind strips of red-and-white police tape.

While the attacker's motives remain unknown, Germany has been on high alert about the threat of a jihadist attack, especially since last December's truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the carnage in which a Tunisian rejected asylum seeker and ex- convict, Anis Amri, 24, ploughed the stolen truck through a crowd.

It was Germany's deadliest attack by an Islamist militant, but not the first.

In 2016, the IS group also claimed a suicide bomb attack in the southern city of Ansbach which wounded 15 victims, and an Afghan man's axe rampage on a train in Bavaria that hurt five, before the perpetrator was shot dead by police.

Public fears about more extremist violence have grown amid Germany's mass influx of refugees and migrants, mostly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan as well as several African countries.

More than one million asylum seekers have arrived in Germany since Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country's borders in 2015.

Germany's domestic intelligence service estimates there are about 10,000 radical Islamists in the country, including 1,600 who are considered potentially violent.

In one case of a homegrown attacker, a German teenager identified as 16-year-old Safia S Was in January sentenced to six years of juvenile detention for stabbing a police officer in 2016 "to support the Islamic State group".

Authorities were also investigating an IS claim of the stabbing death of a teenage boy in Hamburg last October.

The 16-year-old boy was fatally wounded in the knife assault on the banks of the Alster river but a 15-year-old girl who was with him escaped unharmed after the attacker shoved her into the water.

Germany is a target for jihadist groups, particularly because of its reconnaissance and refuelling missions to support the coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, and because it has deployed troops in Afghanistan since 2001.
US President Donald Trump will sign legislation that imposes sanctions on Russia, the White House said on Friday, after Moscow ordered the United States to cut hundreds of diplomatic staff in retaliation for the measures and said it was seizing two US diplomatic properties.
Vowing retaliation over the new sanctions approved by US lawmakers, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that Russia is not ruling out any steps "to bring the US to its senses".

"We are not ruling out any steps, so to say, to bring to their senses those presumptuous Russophobes who are setting the tone on Capitol Hill today," Russia TV quoted Ryabkov as saying.

The statement comes after Moscow's decision to reduce the number of US diplomatic staff in Russia and suspend the use of American embassy storage facilities.

A ministry statement sets a September 1 deadline to "bring the number of diplomatic and technical staff at the US Embassy in Moscow, the consulates general in St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok, into strict correspondence with the number of Russian diplomats and technical staff currently working in the United States, by Sept. 1, 2017."

Russia will never submit to this kind of techniques. We stand for law, for the fair, consistent finding of necessary solutions to world problems, which can be found only together," Ryabkov said.

The sanctions are aimed at "intimidating the whole world with the consequences of disobeying [America]," according to Ryabkov. The main thing now is to impede US attempts to "impose its will" on the rest of the world, Ryabkov told.

Russia's move came a day after the US Senate approved new sanctions against Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The bill is now headed to President Donald Trump's desk, who has hinted he may veto it, but the bill passed with a veto-proof majority.

The measures were passed by a vote of 98-2 and include sanctions against Russian officials in retaliation for their alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The ministry said the total number of personnel employed in US diplomatic and consular offices in Russia will be reduced to 455 people.

It also suspended as of August 1 the US use of a summer residence in Moscow's Serebryany Bor and storage facilities on Dorozhnaya Street.

"Russia reserves the right to resort to other measures affecting US. interests on a retaliatory basis," it added.

It said Russia has done its "utmost" to normalize bilateral relations and develop cooperation with the US on the important issues.

"The new bill uses political means to create a dishonest competitive advantage for the US in the global economy. This blackmail aimed at restricting Russia's cooperation with its foreign partners threatens many countries and businesses," it added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that President Vladimir Putin approved the ministry statement as a response to the US"Of course, such measures are impossible without authorization by the president," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
Three hundred ten. Thats the electric range of a $44,000 version of Teslas Model 3, unveiled in its final form Friday night. Its a jaw-dropping new benchmark for the cheap range in an electric car, and its just one of several surprises Tesla had in store as it handed over the keys to its first 30 customers.
Five weeks after Travis Kalanicks surprise resignation as chief executive of Uber Technologies Inc., the board of the now-leaderless company is wrestling with a thorny question.
Outgoing Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Saturday said that the Pakistan military court would take a decision regarding alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has filed a mercy petition against his death sentence in the court.

"Kulbhushan Jadhav is convicted. There is a mercy petition filed and the Army court will take a decision," Basit, who had earlier maintained silence over the issue, told ANI.

The Pakistan government had earlier accepted the request of Abdul Basit to resign from the foreign service after he was passed over for the post of foreign secretary earlier this year.

Basit was to retire in April 2018, but he opted for an early retirement and sent his resignation letter to former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The India-Pakistan relations have been strained ever since a death sentence was awarded to former Indian Naval officer Jadhav. India even moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek justice for Jadhav that stayed the death sentence till its final decision.

When asked about the future of the downhill relations, the outgoing envoy said, "Never give up. Keep trying; things will get better."

Jadhav was sentenced to death on April 10 this year after being accused of espionage and working for the India's external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). He was arrested from Balochistan on March 3 last year.

Meanwhile, Sohail Mahmood, currently Pakistan's envoy to Turkey, has been named the next High Commissioner to India.

Mahmood, a 55-year-old career diplomat, is expected to take up his responsibilities in New Delhi next month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Director and producer Anubhav Sinha is all set to bring Rishi Kapoor and Tapasee Pannu together for his upcoming movie 'Mulk.'

The movie is a social thriller, based on true life events that will go on floors in October.

It will be shot in Varanasi and Lucknow and is scheduled to release early next year.

Anubhav, who has directed 'Dus' and 'Cash' in the past, will revisit the thriller genre after close to a decade.

Screenplay writer-producer Mushtaq Shiekh, who is known for his prolific repertoire of work in films like 'Om Shanti Om,' 'Gulaab Gang,' 'Ra One' will be the associate producer of 'Mulk.'

The plot of the film revolves around the story of a joint family, hailing from a small town in India, who are out to reclaim their honour, after being embroiled in a controversy.

The film will also star Rajat Kapur and Prateik Babbar.

According to Anubhav, "I am doing a thriller after 10 years and this will be quite different from what I have attempted in the past. I'm returning to my roots after so many years. It's my way of giving back to my hometown and it feels emotionally satisfactory. The plot of the film revolves around true life events. I am yet in the process of closing in on a few more actors."

Speaking on the same, Mushtaq stated, "Some stories resonate with your soul. They are heartfelt yet thrilling. Mulk is one such story -that has a pulsating vibe to it and will have you completely captivated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The 44 Congress MLAs, who left for Bengaluru to ensure they don't succumb to police and political pressure to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said on Saturday that there is no pressure and that they are not scared of the saffron party.

The MLAs reached Bengaluru late Friday night.

One of the MLAs said they will be visiting Tirupati.

Yesterday, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused the BJP in Gujarat of horse-trading ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for August 8.

Following this, Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad laughed off the accusation and said the Congress has become a sinking ship and is not able to hold their own house together.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The newly formed Bihar Government will witness 16 MLAs from Democratic Alliance (NDA) and 19 from Janata Dal (United) (JDU) taking oath as ministers on Saturday at Raj Bhawan in Patna.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers like Mangal Pandey, Prem Kumar and Nand Kishore Yadav's names have been finalized for the cabinet.

On July 27, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar won the floor test with 131 votes in favour, against 108.

The Chief Minister faced vote of confidence in the Bihar Legislative Assembly to prove his majority to form the state government.

Nitish-led JD (U)-NDA government had a support of 132 MLAs.

According to the communique issued from the Raj Bhawan, Nitish had claimed the support of 131 members, including the BJP, two independents and legislators of BJP allies Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM)-Secular and Rashtriya Lok Samata party (RLSP).

On Thursday, Nitish and BJP leader Sushil Modi were sworn-in as Bihar Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively, and former has been asked to prove his majority on the floor by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi.

Nitish, on July 26, resigned as Bihar Chief Minister citing political differences with former ally, Lalu Prasad Yadav led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), over corruption charges against the RJD supremo's son Tejashwi Yadav.

He, however, on Thursday, took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the sixth time, marking a historic transition of the state from a Grand Alliance government to an NDA regime.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) worker Minhaj Khan was shot dead in Sheikhpura village of Bihar's Siwan, last night.

The deceased was close to Siwan strongman and former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, who is currently in high-security Tihar jail serving term for multiple murder cases.

According to initial investigation, it is possible that the incident was conducted by notorious local gangster Raja Khan and his partners.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Sanjeet Kumar Prabhat along with Basantpur police has started the probe.

Police has also recovered a carbine, bomb and petrol near his house.

Police has been deployed in nearby areas to avoid any unwelcome situations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A doctor of JJ Hospital has been suspended by the Maharashtra Government on Saturday for allegedly providing incorrect information on the murder of Byculla jail inmate Manjula Shetye.

"I am aware that Dr Vishwas Roke has been suspended by the government but an official communication is still awaited at dean's office." Dean of JJ Hospital Dr TP Lahane told ANI.

Yesterday, Maharashtra minister Ranjit Patil said Sheena Bora murder accused Indrani Mukerjea will be interrogated in connection with murder of Shetye.

Patil announced the development in the monsoon session of the Legislature.

Earlier, six Byculla women's prison officials, accused of murder of inmate, Shetye have filed their bail pleas at a sessions court in Mumbai.

In the bail pleas, they blamed Mukerjea of hatching a conspiracy against them for framing them in the murder case.

Their bail plea mentioned, "Indrani Mukerjea, a murder case under trial prisoner along with others have masterminded the false case to gain advantage and personal grudge against public servants."

The plea also says that Shetye's death was a result of her illness.

Earlier on June 30, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Bombay High Court seeking Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inquiry in the murder case of Shetye.

Mukerjea's lawyer had filed an application in the special CBI court, claiming that she was assaulted by the jail authorities after the death of Shetye sparked a protest in the prison.

Reportedly, over 200 women inmates, including Mukerjea, were booked for rioting and criminal conspiracy inside the Mumbai's Byculla jail.

The Nagpada Police also filed an FIR against six women prison staffers, including the jailor for the murder of Shetye.

Shetye died at the J J Hospital on June 23 after being allegedly beaten up by the Byculla jail officials and staff.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Terming dialogue as a "pre-requisite" for normalisation of relations, outgoing Pakistani High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said that it should not be disrupted and both the nations need to work out to find a solution to Jammu and Kashmir issue, which is in synchronization with the aspirations of people living in the Valley.

He further admitted that Pakistan's support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir is not limited.

Basit stressed, "Dialogue process should resume and it must continue to discuss issues, no matter how much time is being spent for mechanisms, negotiations. We need to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir issue. Somehow that is one problem area where the two sides have not been able to lay solid foundations for building mutual trust between our two countries."

"We have seen, since 1947, both the countries allowed Jammu and Kashmir dispute to linger on and more issues have been added- Sir Creek, Siachen, terrorism. So all issues are complex and we must muster the courage and political will to find solution to these problems.The Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be resolved for any real progress," he said.

Further talking about Pakistan's support to Kashmiris, he said, "Perceptions and misconceptions in India about Pakistan's support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir are not limited to moral, diplomatic or political support. They are beyond that."

"The people of Jammu and Kashmir should not be allowed to suffer because of what Pakistan or India did or did not do. Kashmiris have the right to self determination as was committed to them by both countries ," he added.

"Both India and Pakistan need to see how to find a solution which is in sync with the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, as what the two countries decide may not find resonance with the people, leading to its unsustainability, " Basit said.

Basit was appointed as the High Commissioner to India in 2014.

Abdul Basit said a dialogue was a "pre-requisite" and it should not be disrupted, which may require "give and take" from both sides, as huge time and energies had been spent to build confidence building measures (CBMs).

"Whenever we engage, we manage to get good results. We need to commence a dialogue process and ensure that the CBMs (Confidence Building Measures) are adhered to in letter and spirit. We must not allow artificial barriers between the two countries," he said.

"Engagement is the key. Dialogue is a pre-requisite and a necessity to resolve our problems. Talks may not produce immediate results," he said when asked, if Pakistan was ready to make certain concessions.

Adding, "Compromises always involve give and take."

The Indo-Pak peace process came to an abrupt halt after the Pathankot terror attack in 2016. Since then, bilateral ties have worsened, entering into a period of fresh uncertainty.

Basit added, "Resumption of Dialogue process was linked to the progress of Pathankot. We need to decide of not disrupting the dialogue process. While we were cooperating on the Pathankot issue, we could have carried on the dialogue process. That would have helped."

The outgoing envoy said that Pakistan does not shy away from discussing issues like terrorism, as the country too has concerns when it comes to this.

"Once we start talking to each other there would be other issues like terrorism," he said.

"We had decided at Sharm El Sheikh to separate talks from terrorism. We should not be held hostage to forces that do not want progress," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Janata Dal (United) leader K.C. Tyagi on Saturday supported Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti's remark denying the idea of revoking the state's special status granted as per Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

"I support the statement made by Mehbooba ji. No attempts should be made to dilute Article 370 otherwise the country would face problems," Tyagi told ANI.

Earlier in the day, saddened by the portrayal of Kashmir and India as separate identities by the media, Mufti highlighted that the country is being misrepresented, adding that the society should be more welcoming to the idea of Kashmir and its natives.

"Kashmir is a mini India within India. We are a diverse state with all kinds of multi-diversity of religion and everything. Opposing religious divide, the state had aligned to a more secular and accommodative India where Hindus and Muslims pray together at a shrine and statues of Hindu gods are being made by Muslim artisans," she said, urging that the sentiment of 'azadi' needs to be replaced with a better idea.

Furthermore, Mufti while backing the people of her state vehemently denied the idea of revoking the state's special status granted as per Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, and said the flag and the special status were a crucial element of preserving the Valley's culture and heritage.

Meanwhile, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh has criticized Mufti's remark on the Indian flag calling it ridiculous and categorically stated that the flag will fly high in the Valley as much as it does in any other state.

Speaking to ANI, Singh said, "This is the most shocking and ridiculous statement which Mufti has made. Tricolour is sacrosanct to us. It will fly high in Jammu and Kashmir as much as it does in any other state of the Indian Union. Being in power does not make one misuse it!".

Yesterday, Mehbooba warned that any change in Article 35(A) of the Constitution, which gives a special state provision to Jammu and Kashmir and is being debated in the Supreme Court would not be in favour of the people living in the Valley and would invite repercussions.

Article 35(A) of the Constitution empowers the state legislature to define permanent residents and accord special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Any tempering with Article 35(A) won't be acceptable. I won't hesitate in saying that nobody will even carry the corpse of the Flag in Kashmir, if it happens. Let me make it very clear," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday fired a fresh salvo at the Narendra Modi-led Central Government over unrest prevailing in different parts of the country including Jammu and Kashmir, saying there was a peace during the UPA regime.

"Today there is crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, anger in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim and other northeast states. During UPA all was peaceful," Rahul said while addressing Students' Union of India (NSUI) workers in Bastar.

He further said that terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir was uprooted till 2014 and the state was a tourist spot then.

"Till 2014 terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir was over. 45-50 flights used to land in Srinagar daily. Tourists would flock the region," he added.

Earlier too, the Congress vice president slammed the Centre over its failure in controlling the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir and said, "I have been saying this for a long time that the policies of Narendra Modi and NDA has burned down Jammu &Kashmir."

Rahul also blamed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-People's Democratic Party (PDP) Government for creating space for terrorists in the Valley.

"Modi's policies have created space for terrorists in Kashmir. Grave strategic blow for India," he had tweeted.

He said Prime Minister Modi's party alliance with the PDP has cost India massively.

"Short term political gain for Modi from PDP alliance has cost India massively. Modi's personal gain= India's strategic loss + sacrifice of innocent Indian blood," he had tweeted.

The Kashmir unrest has become a matter of concern for the Central and state government with incidents of stone pelting, infiltration bid, ceasefire violation increasing in the state in past few month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Parson's Chicken & Fish Wants To Expand To Lincoln Park

By Stephen Gossett in Food on Jul 28, 2017 7:00PM



Chicken sandwish and negroni slush at Parson's. Photo via Facebook.

Our friends in the northeast part of the city could soon see a big new food addition. Parson's Chicken & Fishwell-known at its original Logan Square location for fried chicken, oysters, some of the best frozen cocktails in Chicago and a sprawling, summer-friendly patiohas eyes on a second Chicago location, in Lincoln Park.

Land & Sea Dept., which operates Parson's, is looking at the property at 2435 - 2430 N. Halsted St, which formerly housed Lemay Auto Parts. A community meeting to discuss a proposed zoning change for the property is scheduled for Monday, July 31, Ald. Michelle Smith (43rd Ward) told ward residents via email. The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Children's Memorial Research Center (2430 N. Halsted Street).

A representative for Land & Sea Dept. confirmed to Chicagoist that the group is pursuing the Lincoln Park location, with hopes of opening sometime next year. A statement didn't address if there are plans for a patio, but it did note that the menu would offer the same items as Logan Square location:



"Land and Sea Dept. is interested in opening a Parsons Chicken and Fish location in Lincoln Park  specifically, at 2435 N Halsted Street. If approved, this project would open in 2018. This second Chicago location of Parsons would serve all the favorites from the Logan Square location; Chef Hunter Moores menu of fried, grilled, and hot chicken, hush puppies, fritters, and more, plus bar manager Charlie Schotts slushies, cocktails, and beers."

Related:

The Best Frozen Cocktails In Chicago
The Panthers Party (NPP) on Saturday said Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's remark on the Indian flag is unacceptable and amounts to violation of the Indian Constitution.

"This is the most disgraceful, shameful and unacceptable statement. It amounts to violation of the Indian Constitution and is an insult to the Indian flag. Does she even know what 35 (A) is? It was not created by the Parliament. It was an amendment made in 1954 by the then president of India on the recommendation of then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru," NPP leader Bhim Singh told ANI.

Yesterday, Mehbooba warned that any change in Article 35(A) of the Constitution, which gives a special state provision to Jammu and Kashmir and is being debated in the Supreme Court would not be in favour of the people living in the Valley and would invite repercussions.

Article 35(A) of the Constitution empowers the state legislature to define permanent residents and accord special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Any tempering with Article 35(A) won't be acceptable. I won't hesitate in saying that nobody will even carry the corpse of the Flag in Kashmir, if it happens. Let me make it very clear," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah's visit here on Saturday has left in its wake a massive uproar in Uttar Pradesh's political corridors.

Both Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party MLCs (Member of Legislative Council) are resigning from their parties and in addition, three SP MLAs (Member of Legislative Assembly) have also steeped down and waiting for a joining call from BJP.

SP MLCs Bukkal Nawab, Yashwant Singh and BSP MLC Jaiveer Singh have tendered their resignation from their posts.

After resigning, SP MLC Nawab said, "I am feeling very suffocated since last one-year. It is clear that when he (Akhilesh) is not with his own father then how can he be with the people."

He added that it doesn't feel right while writing party's name as Samajwadi Party, rather they should call it 'Samajwadi Akhaada', since it has become an arena now.

"It's his personal decision that he has resigned from his party. BJP will win the elections of Vidhan Parishad," said Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Nawab's resignation.

Amit Shah will hold a meeting with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to attend issues of governance and plug gaps with Keshav Prasad Maurya.

Emphasising on Shah's visit BJP's spokesperson and Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh said, "It is very important from organisation's point of view. There should be coordination between the government and the organisation. It will give new energy and strength."

Meanwhile, the Congress Party has been jolted in Gujarat after at least six of its MLAs have joined BJP, barely months before crucial assembly polls in the state, where it is out of power for the past 22 years.

In a bid to keep the MLAs together in Gujarat, Congress flew most of its Gujarat MLAs out of the state in a midnight flight to Bengaluru on July 28.

A Congress delegation will also meet the Election Commission in Delhi today to complaint against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over alleged 'horse-trading'. The delegation, comprising of heavyweights Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Manish Tiwari, and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, will meet the poll panel at 5 p.m.

Speaking to ANI Singhvi told, "In Gujarat, Prevention of Corruption Act is being breached and abolished. The horse-trading for MLAs is taking place openly in the state. The ways BJP party is using to form the government is not good.

As the MLAs switching over to the saffron party, it could be tough for Congress to re-elect its senior leader Ahmed Patel to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat.

Earlier, Amit Shah along with Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani had filed their nominations for Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat on July28.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Beijing termed Nawaz Sharif's disqualification from public office as an "internal affair of Pakistan" and said that it will not impact China-Pakistan strategic cooperative partnership involving 'One Belt, One Road (OBOR)' initiative, that includes China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as its "flagship" project.

Reacting to the political changes in Pakistan, arising due to the Supreme Court verdict in the Panama Papers case, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang said during a press briefing, "We believe that the China-Pakistan strategic cooperative partnership will not be affected by the change of the situation inside Pakistan. China stands ready to work with Pakistan to continue jointly building the [One] Belt and [One] Road."

The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding public office in a landmark decision on the Panama Papers case.

China expressed hope that various parties and sections in Pakistan could "prioritise state and national interests, properly deal with their domestic affairs, maintain unity and stability, and keep focusing on the economic and social development."

The all-weather friendship between China and Pakistan has withstood the test of times, Kang added.

Nawaz Sharif resigned from the Prime Minister's office, roughly one year before the scheduled general elections. It is the second time in Pakistan's 70-year history that the Supreme Court has disqualified a sitting prime minister. In 2012 then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was disqualified over contempt of court charges for refusing to reopen a corruption case against the sitting president Asif Ali Zardari.

Speculation is rife, however, that Nawaz has suggested his brother and Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif be the party's contender for the post.

The Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) has announced Punjab Chief Minister and Nawaz Sharif's younger brother Shehbaz Sharif as the next Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The appointment came after a high-level PML-N meeting, the Geo News reported. Shehbaz will steer the country until the next general elections scheduled for 2018.
The process for attachment of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) president Zakir Naik's property has been initiated by the Investigation Agency (NIA) under Section 83 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

Earlier on July 21, the NIA court passed an order to the effect that the requirements for publication of the proclamation against Naik have been complied with.

The Delhi High Court had recused from hearing a plea by Naik to set aside judicial tribunal decision to ban the organisation under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The hearing continued before a different bench of the High Court on July 27.

On November 17, 2016, the Union Home Ministry imposed an immediate ban on the organisation under UAPA, following which the Delhi High Court on March 20 dismissed IRF's plea on the ban.

Following this, the organisation had said that actions done by individuals named in the FIRs -- Zakir Naik and Arshi Qureshi -- cannot reflect on the organisation and will affect the charitable and educational work being done by the IRF.

The IRF also argued that the FIRs were based on speeches allegedly made by Zakir Naik years before the charges were raised. Naik had condemned the actions of terrorist organisations and said that the ISIS is un-Islamic.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un has issued a fresh challenge to President Donald Trump by launching another sophisticated missile test that could potentially hit the mainland U.S, North Korea's state news agency said.

The missile launch was meant as a "stern warning" for the United States, North Korea's state news agency said.

The ICBM, which aimed for "maximum distance", flew for 47 minutes and 12 seconds while reaching a maximum altitude of 3,724.9km, the North said.

The test was ordered and supervised by Kim Jong Un, who termed his country's weapons programme was an "invaluable asset" and demonstrated a "surprise attack capability."

The rare late-night launch sent a ballistic missile into space. It remained airborne for more than 40 minutes, flying 1,000 kilometers due east before splashing into the Sea of Japan.

North Korea has successfully tested the re-entry component of its intercontinental ballistic missile program, according to North Korea's state news agency.

In terms of the missile's distance, North Korea's estimates line up with the Pentagon's calculations, which said the missile traversed approximately 1,000 kilometers before landing in the Sea of Japan.

During Pyongyang's last ICBM test on July 4, US personnel had a "very easy" shot at Kim while he strolled around the platform for 70 minutes but never took the shot. United States and South Korean military officials on Friday discussed "military response options," after North Korea carried out its second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in a month.

Marine General Joseph Dunford, who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with Admiral Harry Harris, the Commander of U.S. Pacific Command spoke with General Lee Sun-jin, Chairman of the South Korean Joint Chief of Staff, the Telegraph reported.

Both Dunford and Harris have expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. "The three leaders also discussed military response options," said Captain Greg Hicks, a spokesman for Gen Dunford.

The Pentagon confirmed that the missile, which flew for 45 minutes, travelled an estimated 600 miles and landed on west of Japan's Hokkaido island, was an ICBM. It flew for six minutes longer than the previous one, on July 4.

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Pakistan is responsible for the turmoil in Afghanistan and is not helping the United States at all in countering the threat of the Taliban, said a retired U.S. Air Force officer and defence expert.

In an interview given to Fox News on a day when President Donald Trump visited the Pentagon for a security briefing on steps being taken to counter the ISIS and the Taliban, Retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General and military analyst Thomas G. McInerney squarely held Pakistan responsible for the stalemated situation in Afghanistan.

When pointedly asked by the Fox News presenter as to why the United States has been achieving success in Syria and Iraq and not in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. (Retired) McInerney said, "One word, Pakistan, Pakistan for the last almost 16 years, has been supporting the Taliban. When they (Pakistan) said, when (President) George Bush said, 'you are either with us or against us, they (Pakistan) said they are with us ... Well, they have not been with us and we have to acknowledge that."

Lt. Gen.McInerney further said, "There are nine major cities in Balochistan that are raising money, supporting them (the terrorists) and recruiting, as well as their training areas. We have a major problem, because in the non-fighting season, in the winter time, they (terrorists) retreat back into into Pakistan."

When asked why Washington continues to support Pakistan, and in fact be Islamabad's pay masters as regards funding the fight against terror groups and extend support for neutralizing a real problem, Lt. Gen. McInerney cited two reasons:

"The first being that Pakistan does not want a strong Afghanistan, where say India or others start working with them (Afghanistan) and outflank the Pakistanis. They are definitely afraid of that, and second, there is the Pakistan-China economic corridor that moves into the Middle East through Afghanistan."

Lt. Gen. McInerney said there is a need for the United States to use its air power to target terrorist training areas in Pakistan, and added that there was also a need to take care of Pakistan first before deciding whether more American troops needed to be deployed in Afghanistan.

He further said that China is supporting Pakistan due to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Last month, Defense Secretary James Mattis had said that the United States and its allies "are not winning" (the war) in Afghanistan.

In February, Army General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, had said that more troops were needed as outside powers have increased their meddling in Afghanistan, making it tougher for the US-backed forces in Kabul to control the situation.

About 8,400 U.S. troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan in a train-and-assist capacity.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan Army wants jehadi prime minister and not a rubber stamp, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Saturday said.

He was reacting on the political development in Pakistan where Nawaz Sharif was on Friday forced to resign after the Supreme Court found him guilty in Panamagate case.

Speaking to reporters here, Swamy said, "All prominent Pakistani Politicians have Panama Papers entries but the Pakistani Army targeted Sharif because they want a jehadi Prime Minister not a rubber stamp one".

He also said that need of the hour is to divide Pakistan into four parts with the help of China.

"We need to divide Pakistan into four parts, especially for places like Balochistan, Sindh and West Punjab and for that we need to make our relations good with China.

Yesterday, Swamy had also tweeted: "All prominent Politicians of Pak have Panama Papers entries. But Pak Army targeted Sharif because it wants a jehadi PM not a rubber stamp".

This statement and tweet came after the Pakistani Supreme court disqualified Nawaz Sharif from the post of the country's Prime Minister.

Following this, Sharif's brother Shehbaz Sharif was declared as the next Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Shehbaz will steer the country until the next general elections scheduled for 2018.

It is the second time in Pakistan's 70-year history that the Supreme Court has disqualified a sitting prime minister. In 2012 then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was disqualified over contempt of court charges for refusing to reopen a corruption case against the sitting president Asif Ali Zardari.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Friday's landmark verdict by Pakistan's Supreme Court to disqualify Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding office and finding him guilty for accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income, may have a resounding impact on that country's political landscape, but by no stretch of imagination, can we expect Pakistan's foreign or defence policy towards India undergoing any change.

No change either should be expected whatsoever in the status or standing of the Pakistan Army or its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency vis-a-vis policy towards India.

As such, the quad erat demonstrandum can only be expected to be business as usual. India, needless to stress, must maintain its guard and keep its powder dry in the wake of the changes taking place across the border.

No matter who replaces Sharif, there will be no change with regard to dealing with various terrorist organizations operating from Pakistan's soil and their leaders.

Pakistan's policies towards Afghanistan and Bangladesh, where its terror is being exported, will also very likely be status quo. And, as far as China is concerned, the latter will ensure that its interests in Pakistan are not affected.

The Panama Papers were an unprecedented leak of 11.5million files in 2016, from the database of the world's fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca.

The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which in turn shared them with a large network of international partners.

The documents reveal how in various ways the rich and powerful can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes.

Twelve leaders are among 143 politicians, their families and close associates from around the world, who are known to have been using offshore tax havens.

Among leaders with offshore wealth was Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The high-profile scandal is about alleged money laundering by Sharif in 1990s, during his two tenures as prime minister. He used the money accumulated to purchase assets in the United Kingdom, which included four expensive flats in Park Lane, London.

Information about the assets surfaced through the leak of the Panama Papers last year. It was revealed that several offshore companies were owned by three of Sharif's children.

Following petitions filed by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Awami Muslim League and Jamaat-e-Islami, in October 2016, a six-member Joint Investigation Team was set up by Pakistan's Supreme Court in May 2017, with the mandate to probe the Sharif family for allegedly failing to provide the trail of money used to buy properties in London in 1990s.

Investigating the charges against Sharif and his family, the JIT submitted its report to the court stating that the lifestyles of Sharif and his children were beyond their known sources of income, and recommended filing of a new corruption case against them.

Sharif dismissed the report as a "bundle of baseless allegations" and refused to quit, despite demands to do so from several quarters, including opposition political parties.

The apex court, which concluded hearing the case on July 21, reserved its verdict for July 28, and now, we all know what the outcome is.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the backdrop of Gujarat Congress MLAs quitting and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the latter on Saturday said it is happening as people do not see any future in the Congress Party.

At least six Congress MLAs in Gujarat have resigned from the party to join the BJP.

BJP leader S. Prakash said the development speaks of the failure of the and state Congress leadership.

"The Congress leaders are not sure of getting re-elected and see no future in the Congress Party. Many of the MLAs are deserting the party," Prakash told ANI.

Similarly, another BJP leader Prabhat Jha mocked the Congress, saying it is not more a party, but is being run by a family.

"All the good people in the Congress would not want to stay now in the party. Congress is not a party, but is been run by a family. A country cannot be managed by a family, but by a party," he said.

The 44 MLAs of the grand old party have reached Bengaluru. They left for Bengaluru on late Friday night to ensure they don't succumb to police and political pressure to join the saffron party.

The Congress has also accused the BJP of horse-trading ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat.

However, the BJP laughed off the accusation and said the Congress has become a sinking ship and is not able to hold their own house together.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Soda Tax Is A Go, & It's Starting On Wednesday

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jul 28, 2017 9:40PM



The expensive stuff / Getty Images / Photo: Justin Sullivan

It's official: Chicagoans with a sweet (drinks) tooth will pay more at the checkout line, starting middle of next week.

A Cook County judge on Friday ruled against a challenge to the sugary-drinks tax, clearing the path for the penny-per-ounce surcharge to take effect next week. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the tax will begin on Wednesday, according to the Tribune.

The tax was originally supposed to be instated July 1. But it was blocked the day before it was scheduled to stat by a judge who ruled the tax failed to spell out how it would refund taxpayers in the event that it was judged unconstitutional. The suit was brought by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, who have lobbied against the measure since it was first floated. But the same judge who temporarily barred the tax settled the constitutionality question on Friday.

The sugary-drinks tax was passed last November. The city estimated it would bring in about $200 million a year in hopes of helping close the budget deficit. Cook County laid off more than 300 employees two weeks ago after the tax was suspended.

Preckwinckle said in a statement to the Sun-Times that the Cook County Board would look over finances and make decisionsincluding potential rollbacks of layoffs:



The delay in implementing the tax caused by the merchants lawsuit forced us to put into motion cost-saving measures to cope with this revenue loss, which currently is at least $17 million. Until we are able to fully implement and collect revenues from this tax, we will continue to review our financial position and make adjustments accordingly.

But one thing's certain: that Coke'll soon cost you a little morebeyond the tooth enamel.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at the ruling Democratic Alliance (NDA) and said Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and his family's name is also involved in the Panama Papers, but no action has been taken against them.

"Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had to resign as his name was in Panama papers, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and his family's name was also in it, but no action has been taken against them," said Gandhi while addressing a rally here.

Rahul said the prime minister makes tall claims to curb corruption in the country, but cannot see corruption of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister.

He even targeted Prime Minister Modi for November 8, 2016, decision of demonetisation and said demonetization created a chaos in the country, leading to loss to the small scale businessmen and framers.

"I met small sector businessmen of the state, they asked me for help. They said that BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) have destroyed them, first they brought demonetization and now they have introduced GST (Goods and Services Tax)," he said.

He alleged that since the the NDA government came to power at the Centre, unrest has started in several states, including in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Congress leader even accused the NDA government of changing the rules of Chhattisgarh as per its convenience and benefit.

"We want you (tribals) to get benefit of your land and forest not anyone else. We want to protect the right of the people. Why the prime minister is trying to snatch the land of the people? He is doing so that he can give the land, mines to industrialists," Gandhi alleged.

Earlier on Friday, Rahul hit out at the BJP and alleged that the saffron party has time and again lied to the people of Chhattisgarh and used them for their benefits just to come to power.

"Just to come to power, the BJP plotted scams in Chhattisgarh, killed the tribal people, closed the small-scale industries, and killed the Dalits. They didn't spare anyone. They did all these things just to come to power," Gandhi said, while addressing a gathering of party workers and leaders in Bastar.

Gandhi said that BJP leaders speak so 'loudly' that even their lies seem to be the truth.

Chhattisgarh will go on polls to elect members from the 90 constituencies in the state next year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russian Government's former deputy minister of transport and Railways Dr. Vladimir Yakunin has asked China and India to resolve the issues between the two countries arising out of 'Doklam standoff' by peaceful dialogue saying that "No country wants to see war or direct confrontation between any countries and there is no issue which cannot be resolved through dialogue."

On the question of ongoing standoff between India and China in the Doklam area of Bhutan close to India's Sikkim sector, Dr. Yakunin said while talking exclusively to ANI, "Who wants war today? No one in the wants to fight perhaps. Every country wants peace and progress. And, if there is any dispute, it should be and must be resolved through peaceful dialogue between the two countries."

Dr. Yakunin, chair of the supervisory board of DOC Research Institute, a Berlin based international think tank was recently on his visit to Delhi to meet with a cross section of stakeholders including the government, businesses, think tanks, UN agencies and media organisations to understand various developments taking place in respect of social economic and political developments both in India, South Asia and at large.

Expressing concern over the Chinese and Indian soldiers continued face-off in the Doklam area of the Sikkim sector for over a month after Indian troops stopped the Chinese army from building a road in the disputed area, Dr. Yakunin said," both countries must initiate direct talks to resolve it."

China claimed that they were constructing the road within their territory and has been demanding immediate pull-out of the Indian troops from the disputed Doklam plateau.

India has conveyed to the Chinese government that the road construction would represent a significant change of status quo with serious security implications for it.

Dr. Yakunin refused to comment on the ground situation between the two countries saying, one should find the points of agreement rather than looking for disagreements. And if there is any dispute on the ground, both should immediately start a dialogue to find a mutually acceptable solution.

One of the key objectives of Dr. Yakunin's trip to New Delhi was to find dialogue based solutions to problems of regional concerns and offer alternative solutions to conflict resolution and peace building exercises. He was also here to explore the possibility of kicking off DOC Research Institute's activities based out of Delhi.

It is worth mentioning that Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Doklam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region. Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim.

Speaking on India-Russia Relations, he stressed the need for deeper engagement between the two countries and build on the long standing good will and relations that the two counties have enjoyed over the last 70 years in particular in context of changing geo strategic relations in the regions and emergence of unipolar .

"Both countries together can play a decisive role in addressing new developments in the regions effectively," Dr. Yakunin said, while addressing an international conference on 'Future of Cities' organised by ITPI and another one on ' India-Russia Bilateral Relations in Global Context'.

Dr. Yakunin met with the Vice President of India on the sidelines of a book launch and several ambassadors and members of the diplomatic circle. He also held series of meetings with officials of FICCI, IMF, UNESCO, UNFPA, WHO, NIUA, RIS, ITPI and representatives of Swedish Embassy and Brookings India.

He also stressed that in the given situation there is also a need for alternative solutions and DOC Research Institute will set up its operations soon in Delhi, given the fact that South Asia region is now a pivotal actor needing credible and factual assessment of situation on the ground and providing dialogue among actors as an instrument of finding consensual solutions to various aspects of social, economic and political that hold the key to regional partnership and people's well being.

He said that, in coming months, DOC Research Institute will start to focus on Asian region with particular focus on India, China and Russia coinciding with the start of its operations in Delhi.

Dr. Yakunin during his recently concluded trip was accompanied by Pooran Chandra Pandey, CEO, DOC Research Institute, who before heading the Institute in Berlin worked with Times of India as its Director and as Executive Director, United Nations Global Compact India.(ANI)

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The Love and affection between Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma can be seen and felt in the real life too.

The duo will be seen soon in Imtiaz Ali's 'Jab Harry Met Sejal'.

After creating a positive buzz in the home country, the team of 'JHMS' is now off to Dubai for promotions.

King Khan shared a selfie from the flight and captioned it, "Australia aur London Harry Sejal have reached.now onwards to Dubai.even at 5 am Sejal looks resplendent.. Doesn't she!"

Being tired did not stop Shah Rukh from gushing over his gorgeous co-star.

With just less than a week left for JHMS to release, excitement amongst the fans is at its peak. With 'Hawayein' and 'Safar', the music album has already created a space for itself.

The 'Raees' star and Anushka will be seen sharing screen space for the third time after 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' and 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan.' However, this is their first collaboration with Imtiaz Ali.

The story revolves around Harry and Sejal's journey across Europe. A search for Sejal's engagement ring makes Harry understand love and relationships better. Sejal experiences new found freedom, security and solace in Harry's company and in between all of this - there is love, life, lies, thrill, fantasy and the search for the voice within.

The movie is all set to release on August 4, 2017.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With North Korea boasting that its latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch can target the entire U.S., President Donald Trump condemned the launch branding it as 'reckless and dangerous'.

"North Korea's test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missile-the second such test in less than a month-is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," President Trump said in a statement.

"The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these tests-and these weapons-ensure North Korea's security. In reality, they have the opposite effect," the statement added.

Trump further said that by threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

He assured that the U.S. will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect its allies in the region.

North Korea on Friday conducted its second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in a month.

The rumoured launch comes one day after the 64th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War.

The anniversary had led to increased concerns the regime planned another test to fire another intercontinental ballistic missile.

The United States have been concerned over the North's accelerated missile and nuclear programme.

North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un has issued a fresh challenge to President Donald Trump by launching another sophisticated missile test that could potentially hit the entire United States, North Korea's state news agency said.

According to reports, the missile launch was meant as a "stern warning" for the United States.

The missile, which aimed for "maximum distance", flew for 47 minutes and 12 seconds while reaching a maximum altitude of 3,724.9km.

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The United States on Friday imposed new sanctions on six Iranian companies, which it said are central to the Islamic Republic's ballistic missile program, a day after Iran successfully launched a rocket-borne satellite into space.

The economic penalties are "in response to Iran's continued provocative actions, such as yesterday's launch of the Simorgh space launch vehicle", the Treasury Department said.

The six Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group subsidiaries the agency called "central" to the Iranian missile program, are responsible for a range of components to Iran's ballistic missile program, including the development of structural components, liquid-propellant, missile engines, guidance systems, research and ground control systems.

"These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program, and underscore the United States' deep concerns with Iran's continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behavior," Fox News quoted Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin as saying.

The new sanctions i.e. the blacklisting of the companies come amid President Donald Trump administration's continued deliberations on scrapping the 2015 accord with Iran and international powers over its nuclear program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly verified Iran is in compliance with the agreement but the Trump administration has maintained Tehran is in violation of its "spirit".

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The Minister for Communications Shri Manoj Sinha said that as per information provided by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), there were 422.19 million broadband subscribers and the internet penetration (internet subscriber per 100 populations) was 32.86% in the country as on 31st March 2017. He said that the National Telecom Policy-2012 envisages 600 million broadband connections by the year 2020.

He further informed that the Government has planned the BharatNet project to provide 100 Mbps broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country.

Under first phase of the project, 1 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) are to be connected by laying underground Optical Fibre Cable(OFC) which is under implementation. Under Phase-II, targeted to be completed by March 2019, connectivity will be provided to remaining 1.5 lakh GPs in the country using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media.

The Minister said that the provision of last mile access to the network and broadband service provisioning shall be through Wi-Fi or any other broadband access technologies in all 2,50,000 GPs in the country. As on 23.07.2017, the status of implementation of BharatNet is as under:-

No. of GPs where OFC laying is completed : 100,299 GPs

Optical Fibre Cable laid : 221,925 Kms

Broadband Connectivity provided in GPs : 25,426 GPs

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A small batch of 200 pilgrims left Jammu on Saturday to perform the ongoing Amarnath Yatra.

This is the smallest number of pilgrims to leave for the valley on a single day during since the yatra began on June 29. It will conclude on August 7 on Shravan Purnima coinciding with the Raksha Bandhan festival.

"A batch of 200 pilgrims comprising 180 males and 20 females left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas at 2.55 a.m. in an escorted convoy of nine vehicles," officials said here.

All vehicles carrying pilgrims have to cross the Jawahar tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar highway before 3.30 p.m. for security reasons.

This precautionary measure has been taken to ensure that the pilgrims reach the two base camps of Pahalgam and Baltal before sunset.

So far, over 2.50 lakh pilgrims have reached the cave shrine situated at 3,888 metres above sea-level.

Last year, only 2.30 lakh pilgrims performed the yatra.

Forty-eight pilgrims have lost their lives this year.

Of these, 17 died in a road accident, eight in a terror attack while 23 of natural causes.

--IANS

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An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced eight persons to death over charges of breaking into a police station in 2013, the media reported.

The defendants were convicted of assaulting a government institution, setting it ablaze, wounding 19 policemen and civilians, and burning 20 police and three private cars, Xinhua news agency reported.

The court referred the sentence to Grand Mufti, the country's highest Islamic official who will give the religious judgment of all preliminary death sentences.

The Mufti's opinion is non-binding as it is usually considered a formality.

The court will give its final sentence against other 60 accused with the same charges in October.

The case dated back to August 2013, when the Brotherhood members broke into some police stations, killing security men in retaliation for the police's crackdown on the supporters of the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi who was ousted by the army in response to mass protest against him.

Morsi along with prominent figures of his Brotherhood group were sentenced to death over killing protesters, spying for foreign countries amid other charges.

--IANS

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Abu Dhabi, July 29 (IANS/WAM) Abu Dhabi police have successfully arrested a drug dealer of Asian origin in possession of three kg heroin.

The drug dealer was arrested during "Operation Falcon Eye". Colonel Taher Ghareeb Al Dhaheri, Director of Abu Dhabi police's Drug Control Department, said that they had information about the man trying to sell heroin capsules in the United Arab Emirates's capital, the news report said on Saturday.

The drug dealer's residence was also searched where the remaining narcotics were found, said the police. Al Dhaheri called on people to communicate through official channels provided by Abu Dhabi Police to deal with any promotion, smuggling, transfer or use of drugs.

He said timely reporting of such incidents can help police take timely measures necessary to ensure the safety and security of society.

--IANS/WAM

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China will take a string of measures to encourage private investment, the country's cabinet said Friday.

China will streamline investment project approvals for private investors, according to a statement released after the State Council's executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.

Private enterprises are encouraged to participate in major projects as part of "Made in China 2025", modern agriculture and enterprise technology updates.

The government will develop mechanisms to ensure private investment can enjoy reasonable returns in public-private partnership projects.

The credit rating mechanism for private enterprises will be improved to make it easier for them to get loans.

Local governments are encouraged to set up credit risk compensation funds to increase support for small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups.

China will also strengthen supervision on fee charging and punish governments which hurt enterprises' interests or refuse to honor policy commitments, the statement added.
When it comes to delivering intelligent Cloud experience, robust (AI)-driven solutions are going to decide who is better equipped to provide enterprises with extended capabilities, says a key IBM executive.

Among all future technologies, AI has been hailed as the next big thing and is steadily becoming the driving force behind tech innovations and existing product lines across industries  going further from just being part of Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled home appliances and smartphones.

Market research firm Tractica forecasts that the revenue generated from the direct and indirect application of AI software will grow from $1.38 billion in 2016 to $59.75 billion by 2025. According to IDC, the cognitive systems and AI market (including hardware and services) will grow to $47 billion in 2020.

To make sense of data on Cloud, data miners need to decode and align it in order to deliver enhanced experiences to customers and they can't do this mammoth task alone.

Here is where AI  their "virtual colleagues"  steps in to help them deliver "enterprise-grade" Cloud that scales to the requirements of the market and benefits all industries.

"When I say an 'enterprise-grade' Cloud, I mean that we have a global network of data centres. We have 55 data centres worldwide, offering a full range of services that includes virtualised infrastructure," Vikas Arora, country manager, Cloud Business, IBM India and South Asia, told IANS.

Present in India since 1951, IBM India has expanded its operations with regional headquarters in Bengaluru and offices across 20 cities.

IBM has research centres in Delhi and Bengaluru; software labs in Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Pune, Hyderabad and Mumbai; India Systems Development Labs (ISDL) in Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad; a Cloud data centre in Chennai; and eight delivery centres across the country.

With over 55 Cloud centres in 19 countries, IBM Cloud is the leader in Enterprise Cloud. IBM's $14.6 billion cloud business grew 35 per cent in the first quarter this year.

With a market capitalisation of over $135 billion, IBM, which traditionally has been manufacturing and selling computer hardware and software, has now forayed into areas like AI and cognitive analytics.

The company now provides tools for data management that are able to analyse the data  be it on public or private Cloud  so as to translate it into useful insights.

"What makes us different is that our Cloud is built for the cognitive era. There are many robust capabilities with us, led by 'IBM Watson'," Arora told IANS.

IBM Watson is an intelligent cognitive system. With it, people can analyse and interpret data, including unstructured text, images, audio and video, and develop personalised solutions.

Watson now has a new cognitive assistant, the "MaaS360 Advisor" that leverages its capabilities to help IT professionals effectively manage and protect networks of smartphones, tablets, laptops, IoT devices and other endpoints.

"We believe that at some point, everyone would be able to provide Cloud; but I think the solutions that are going to win are those that are able to provide customers with extended capabilities, which they are going to need for the future and AI is a big part of that," Arora noted.

When it comes to the Indian Cloud ecosystem, CTOs and CEOs want to control their data on-premises.

"I think it's not as much about control. It is basically about trying to get the most out of whatever investments have already been made. So we don't see control other than, of course, in industries that are heavily regulated where they need control," Arora explained.

More than control, added the IBM executive, it's efficiency and return-on-investments that drive large enterprises -- but it is different for mid-sized organisations.

"For them, it's more about reducing the headache of handling an IT department, building an infrastructure and having someone managing it. Mid-sized organisations tend to struggle on this point as this isn't their core business," Arora said.

When it comes to working with the government in the country, IBM sees a positive trend emerging. "Today, government departments have a clear set of guidelines as to what a Cloud environment should deliver in terms of capabilities, operational management, security and sovereignty," the IBM executive maintained.

Among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), new IT spend is giving Cloud a big push.

"SMEs are not hesitant any longer to go for New-Age IT initiatives because they are not relying on a hardware vendor or a small system integrator and aim to have a world-class IT environment in Cloud, without having to have a particular IT department around it," Arora told IANS.

(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.)
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday asked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to explain if his family had deliberately attacked the Golden Temple in 1984 with the aim of destroying the symbol of Sikh faith and taken advice and help from the United Kingdom government to make this conspiracy successful.

In a statement here, former minister and SAD General Secretary Bikram Majithia said the recent disclosures by British Sikh MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi about the help extended by the UK government to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to plan and execute Operation Bluestar on the Golden Temple complex, which houses the holiest of Sikh shrines -- the Harmandir Sahib.

"It has become clear that the aim was not to flush out militants as claimed. This could be done in many ways. But the manner in which the attack was carried out with foreign help using helicopter gunships and tanks indicate it was carried out deliberately to destroy the symbol of the Sikh faith," Majithia said.

Dhesi, UK's first turban-wearing MP who is on a private visit to Punjab, had told the media that he would pitch for an independent inquiry into the role of the UK government in Operation Bluestar.

The Indian Army carried out Operation Bluestar in June 1984 to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple complex.

Majithia said this was the reason why the Gandhi family had never offered an unqualified apology for the attack on the Sikh race.

"Rahul Gandhi has never expressed remorse, forget seeking forgiveness from the community for attacking their supreme religious places and butchering its members en masse in massacres engineered by his family members," he added.

"Even now the Gandhi family was keeping a studied silence on the issue of seeking help from the UK government to attack the Golden Temple. After disclosures that a security adviser from the UK visited India and that those storming into the Darbar Sahib complex were given training by the UK's elite SAS (special forces), the Gandhi family has not thought it fit to explain its actions.

"The family should apologise for seeking help to suppress Sikhs from the British who suppressed the country and butchered its freedom fighters. This amounts to disrespecting the freedom fighters also," he added.

Saying, it was never too late to express remorse and beg forgiveness from the Sikh community, Majitha asked Rahul Gandhi to "come clean and lay bare the entire conspiracy" hatched by his grand-mother to strike against the Sikh race besides seeking forgiveness for the same.

--IANS

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah, who arrived here on Saturday on a three-day visit, is expected to tackle several issues dogging the party in the state, including reports of growing disenchantment among party workers with the Yogi Adityanath government.

Soon after his arrival at the Chowdhary Charan Singh International Airport where he was received by Chief Minister Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and many other ministers. Shah was mobbed by party workers, garlanded and showered with rose petals.

Shah is to meet office bearers of various frontal organisations, ministers and other leaders at the 18 meetings he is scheduled to preside over. He will also interact with the functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh (RSS).

BJP sources say there has been growing disenchantment within the party workers about the state government. Accusations that the bureaucrats were riding roughshod over party workers was also worrying the central leadership.

Reports of growing tension between Deputy Chief Minister Maurya, also the state BJP chief, and Chief Minister Adityanath is also likely to come up. Shah is likely to counsel them on the issue that threatens to wreck the huge mandate the party won in the 2017 state Assembly elections.

Shah is accompanied by BJP Vice President and in-charge of the state, Om Prakash Mathur, and General Secretary Arun Singh. Shah is also to meet office bearers of the Kashi, Gorakhpur, Avadh and Kanpur regions amid reports that the organization is feeling "let down" by the state government.

BJP MPs had met Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and voiced their disenchantment with the state government last week in New Delhi.

"Shah's fire-fighting skills are to be put to use in the balance of power between the organization and the government in UP, which is very crucial for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," a party leader told IANS.

Coincidentally, three senior legislators of the Samajwadi Party quit the party on Saturday, spurring rumours that they are likely to join the BJP.

The BJP president is also likely to deliberate on the vacancies that would arise after resignations of Adityanath as Gorakhpur MP and Keshav Prasad Maurya as Phoolpur MP and their subsequent election to either House of the state Assembly before September 19.
Four persons were arrested in Sydney on Saturday in an anti-terror operation, the police said.

The arrests were made after "multiple searches" were conducted by the Australian Federal Police and the New South Wales Police in the suburbs of Lakemba, Surry Hills, Wiley Park and Punchbowl in Sydney, Efe news reported.

"Four men have been taken into custody and were assisting police with their enquiries," the joint statement by the Australian Federal Police and the New South Wales Police said.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that he had been kept "closely briefed on the progress of the operations", which were ongoing. He said that the operations were "designed to disrupt and prevent plans to undertake terrorist attacks in Australia".

The raids in Sydney were conducted on the same day when Australian Attorney General George Brandis was co-hosting a sub-regional meeting on fighting cross-border terrorism in Indonesia, which also brought together representatives from the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and New Zealand.

Standing alongside the Indonesian Security Minister, Brandis announced at the end of the meeting that the six nations in attendance had "resolved to take specific, tangible steps in cooperation with one another to address the threat of foreign terrorist fighters and cross-border terrorism", which he said was becoming "more severe, not less".

--IANS

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With the BJP upping the ante against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over alleged poll funding irregularities, the ruling BJD on Saturday countered the charges and levelled dubious poll funding allegations against Union Minister Jual Oram.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) alleged discrepancies in the election affidavit of Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and sought his resignation on moral grounds.

"There are severe discrepancies in the affidavit of Jual Oram submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) after the 2014 polls. We will move the ECI and may resort to knocking the door of the court seeking action against Oram," said BJD MP Pinaki Mishra.

Mishra, a senior Supreme Court lawyer, said the Tribal Affairs Minister should tender his resignation on moral grounds for filing a false affidavit.

He said there were discrepancies in the declaration of funds received through cheque and cash in the affidavit.

He accused the BJP of attempting to malign the image of BJD and its President Naveen Patnaik.

"Naveen Patnaik never believes in personal attack in politics, but the BJP is stooping low and targeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and disseminating misleading information for its political gains," said Mishra.

BJD's Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Deb also countered the BJP's dubious poll funding allegations and questioned the Union Minister's election expenses.

"This is the tip of the iceberg. We will open more such cases against the BJP if it continues to attack the BJD and our President Naveen Patnaik. The allegations levelled by the BJP are politically motivated and only to malign our party," said Deb.

The BJP has moved the Election Commission of India, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department seeking a probe into the BJD's election funding.

--IANS

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Brazilian President Michel Temer has signed an executive order authorising the deployment of 10,240 soldiers and federal law-enforcement officers in Rio de Janeiro state, where violent crime is on the rise.

The federal forces will be used primarily for specific operations targeting organised crime, Defence Minister Raul Jungmann told the media on Friday.

Even so, the federal contingent will also be available to provide support to the state police in carrying out their ordinary duties, Efe news quoted Jungmann as saying.

"The military will not take part in occupations of 'favelas' (shanties), as on previous occasions. They will be used as a last resort when necessary. But we don't rule out their also helping patrol the streets," Jungmann said.

The announcement of the federal deployment coincided with the appearance of armoured vehicles as the army established checkpoints on several highways leading into the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Published in a special edition of the official gazette, Temer's order authorizes the federal forces to remain in Rio state until Dec. 31.

Jungmann, however, said that the President is prepared to extend the employment as long as necessary.

Most of the federal troops and police will be concentrated in the Rio city metropolitan area, he said.

The federal contingent comprises 8,500 military personnel, 620 members of the elite National Security Force and 380 officers of the Federal Highway Police.

--IANS

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Dabang Delhi scripted a remarkable comeback to defeat Jaipur Pink Panthers 30-26 in their opening match of the Pro Kabaddi League's (PKL) fifth edition at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.

Delhi were trailing 9-16 at the half-time with the side being all out in the 12th minute. But Delhi's Iranian pair of Meraj Sheykh (seven points) and Abolfazl Maghsodlou (four points) and a stupendous defending from Nilesh Shinde (five points) Sunil (three) ensured that Jaipur were all out twice in the second half and conceded the match.

Jaipur, though they looked good at the beginning, Delhi kept a check on them trailing by 4-5 till the eighth minute. But two consecutive raids from Jasvir Singh eliminated four Delhi players -- Nilesh Shinde, Bajirao Hodage, Anand Patil and Viraj Vishnu Landge -- triggering an all out which gave the Rajasthan outfit an 11-4 lead.

After the all out, Delhi brought in substitute all-rounder Abolfazl Maghsodlou of Iran and his agility and strong physical presence improved Delhi even though fellow Iranian and captain Meraj Sheykh was still struggling. Maghsodlou also made impact in defence.

In the 17th minute, raider K. Selvamani's leg injury too affected Jaipur as one of their best talents, bought at Rs 73 lakh, was sidelined.

At half-time, Jaipur kept the seven-point advantage with the scoreboard at 16-9. But Delhi had already got the momentum with the late show.

With Jaipur ending the first half with only two men, Delhi didn't waste any time in forcing Jaipur's all out which put them three short Jaipur's tally of 16.

In the second half, Delhi captain Sheykh had regained his firepower and touch. He and his compatriot Maghsodlou and a collective strong defence pulled the Capital outfit from a weak position to equalise at 18-18.

Sheykh eliminated rival star raider Jasvir with a touch point to ensure that Jaipur struggle with their raids.

Nilesh, Hodage (two points overall), Sunil and Viraj (two) tackled one Delhi player after another to force another all out for Jaipur, and the scoreboard at this juncture stood at 24-21 in favour of the Capital side.

Later, a desperate Jaipur side, inspired by Pawan Kumar (seven raid points), did their best but they were not able to hold off Sheykh and his team from sealing this match in a remarkable fashion.

(Abhishek Purohit can be contacted at abhishek.p@ians.in).

--IANS

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested an agent of a Chandigarh-based firm Uni Pay Group, which siphoned off Rs 600 crore from thousands of investors through its ponzi schemes, an official said on Saturday.

The agency arrested Kamal K. Bakshi on Friday during its raids at five places in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur and Haryana's Gurugram, Faridabad and Ambala.

Bakshi, who had been absconding and was declared a proclaimed offender, was produced before a special court on Saturday that sent him to 14-day judicial custody in an ongoing Prevention of Money Laundering Act case being investigated by the ED against Unipay 2U Marketing Pvt Ltd and Unigateway2U Trading Pvt Ltd.

"During its probe, we zeroed in on two of the active agents of Uni Pay Group, Bakshi and Arvind Kumar Singh, and accordingly conducted searches at five different places on Friday. Searches resulted in recovery of some immovable properties, jewellery, high-end cars estimated to be valued at Rs 4.18 crore, which have been seized," an ED statement said.

An ED official said that thousands of unsuspecting investors were systematically lured and cheated of Rs 600 crore by floating a ponzi or pyramid scheme assuring exorbitant returns.

According to the official, the initial investors were paid the exorbitant returns to win over the confidence of a greater number of people.

"When thousands of people across the country invested crores of rupees in the ponzi schemes, the companies stopped monthly returns since October 2010 and gradually siphoned off crores of rupees of investors.

"The mastermind of the scheme is one Malaysian national Mugundhan Gangam, who floated Unipay 2U Marketing Pvt Ltd and Unigateway2U Trading Pvt Ltd in India. After executing his operation, Gangam fled India and is suspected to be in Malaysia," the ED official said.

The company manipulated by using a web of bank accounts and layering of money through a plethora of bank accounts, he added.

--IANS

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The European Commission on Saturday launched an infringement procedure against Poland over a judiciary law which the EU said falls foul of gender equality in employment and undermines judicial independence.

In the wake of the publication of the Law on the Ordinary Courts Organisation on Friday, the Commission sent a "letter of formal notice" to Warsaw, putting the infringement procedure in motion, said a statement from the Commission.

The Polish government has been given one month to reply to the letter, Xinhua news agency reported. The key concern the Commission raised in the letter is that the law introduces a different retirement age for female judges (60 years) and male judges (65 years), thus in violation of gender equality, a principle enshrined in Article 157 of Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.

The Commission also frowned on the discretionary power invested in Polish Justice Minister to dismiss and appoint court Presidents, saying the independence of Polish courts will be undermined.

If the Commission is not satisfied by Poland's reply to the letter or get no rely within the one-month deadline, the Commission will issue a "Reasoned Opinion", the second stage of the infringement procedure, said the statement.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans earlier this week warned that the infringement procedure would immediately be launched once Poland publishes the Law on the Ordinary Courts Organisation.

The EU has been at loggerheads with Poland over four controversial bills, two of which have been adopted by the Polish Parliament but vetoed by President Andrzej Duda.

The Law on the Ordinary Courts Organisation was pushed through by the Polish Parliament earlier this month and signed by Duda on July 25. The other one -- the Law on the National School of Judiciary -- has already been published and in force.

The Polish government's judicial reforms, creeping since late 2015 when the Law and Justice Party took power, has drawn criticism from the EU, which has sent Warsaw several warnings since then.

--IANS

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Unidentified gunmen on Saturday raided Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto's rural home in Eldoret city of Kenya after shooting a police officer guarding the home.

A senior area police chief said the armed assailants stormed the home and still held up in the premises, Xinhua news agency reported.

The incident happened a few minutes after Ruto left for a political rally in a neighbouring town.

"Fighting is still going on but reinforcements have been sent to the area," police officers were quoted as saying.

--IANS

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A grand gala was held in Beijing on Friday evening in celebration of the 90th birthday of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, state president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and other senior leaders Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli joined about 3,000 people to watch the gala at the Great Hall of the People.

Aug. 1 this year marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese armed forces.

Through singing, dancing and chorus, the gala depicted the history of the PLA, from a small and vulnerable army to a large and strong military force.

The performance showed solid achievements of the PLA on its path to a strong army under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core since the 18th CPC National Congress.

The gala also demonstrated the determination of the PLA to become a world-class army, for the realization of the country's "two centenary goals" and the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

Shortly before the show began, Xi and other senior leaders met with representatives of veterans, retired comrades and military officers honored with the Order of Bayi, the country's highest military award.
Six widows of sailors of the erstwhile Royal Indian Navy who took part in the RIN Mutiny of 1946 were honoured by the Indian Navy at a function here on Saturday.

The felicitation at the Indian Naval Academy was held to recognise the services of the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) sailors who were dismissed from service by the erstwhile British rulers for their involvement in the rebellion.

Vice Admiral S.V. Bhokare, Commandant, INA, presented an honorarium of Rs 1 lakh each to the six widows.

The Naval uprising that lasted five days began at the Bombay harbour on February 18, 1946 and soon spread to Calcutta and Madras before it was suppressed.

Several sailors were thereafter discharged from service.

--IANS

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Indonesia will send six male shooters to compete in the shooting events at the (Southeast Asian) SEA Games in Malaysia next month, the Indonesian association said here on Friday.

Head of Indonesian team Marsono said that the shooters will compete in the individual events of 10 metre pistol, 10m air pistol, 10m air rifle, 50m pistol, 50m rifle prone and 50m rifle 3 positions, reports Xinhua news agency.

He said Vietnam shooters are considered as the toughest rivals in the regional sport event.

"But we have anticipated them by undertaking serious practice," he said, adding that the six shooters would show their best performance for the best achievement.

Shooting is scheduled to be held from August 21 to 26 in Selangor of Malaysia, according to Indonesian shooting and hunting association (PERBAKIN).

--IANS

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An international drug smuggling racket has been busted with the arrest of three persons, including a Nigerian national, here and 2.1 kg heroin worth Rs 10 crore has been recovered, police said on Saturday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjeev Kumar Yadav identified the accused as Sukhjeevan Singh, 30, Swarn Singh, 33, both residents of Punjab, and Chukwuma Celestine, 32, from Nigeria.

The police officer told IANS that Celestine was out on bail in a drug smuggling case and his original passport was with the court.

Yadav said that Sukhjeevan and Swarn, who were travelling in an auto rickshaw, were arrested from a flyover in Janakpuri area on Tuesday and 1.5 kg heroin was recovered from their possession.

"Swarn Singh jumped off the flyover with the bag containing Heroin as we were to arrest him. He sustained injuries and is currently admitted in the AIIMS Trauma Centre," the DCP said.

According to police, interrogation of the two led to the arrest of Celestine, who supplied them drugs, on Friday evening from Dadri.

Police recovered 650 grams of heroin and 985 grams of Methamphetamine from his possession.

Celestine, who was carrying two fake passports, had contacts in Afghanistan from where drugs were smuggled to India via courier service and through people who swallowed heroin-filled capsules.

Police said Celestine confessed that he used to send consignments of heroin to England, France, Italy, Canada, South Africa and Nigeria via courier service.

Yadav told IANS that Celestine was also arrested earlier for sending drugs through courier service.

The DCP said they had information that peddlers from Punjab were procuring drugs from African nationals in Delhi and the arrest followed a three-month investigation.

The officer said that in the past six months, 75 kg of drugs had been seized by the Delhi Police.

"We are investigating to arrest rest of the accused connected to the gang," Yadav said.

--IANS

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An acclaimed Iranian illustrator who was denied entry to the UK to attend the Edinburgh International Book Festival has been granted the document after the British embassy in Tehran overturned its decision, the media reported.

Ehsan Abdollahi's original visa application was declined by the Home Office despite the festival's invitation to him to speak about his books. But the decision was overturned by the embassy, reports the Guardian.

The visa refusal caused uproar among festival organisers and book lovers, who complained it was the third consecutive year that Iranian authors and illustrators of children's books had been denied UK entry to attend festivals.

Adbollahi's publisher, Tiny Owl, which promotes Persian books for children, and the festival said on Friday they were "absolutely thrilled" that the decision had been overturned after "enormous public support".

"The fact that the embassy granted Ehsan Abdollahi's visa is a cause for great hope," Tiny Owl's co-founder, Delaram Ghanimifard, told the Guardian.

"At a time when the subject of walls, of borders and barriers is ever present, we should remember that we all have something to learn from one another. Art is for everyone - it isn't limited to one region or country."

Abdollahi, a scholar at Tehran's Honar (Art) University, has illustrated "When I Coloured in the World" and "A Bottle of Happiness" - both published in English by Tiny Owl.

In response, he told the Guardian on Friday: "I couldn't believe the support of people in the UK and beyond. It made me feel very welcome."

In 2016, Marjan Vafaian, also an illustrator, had to cancel events in Edinburgh and London after being refused a visa.

--IANS

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Nearly one in four shops is breaking the law on knife sales to minors, with blades sold to children as young as 12, a report revealed on Saturday.

The report issued by the Local Government Association (LGA), machetes, nine-inch serrated knives, razor blades and craft knives were being sold to children across England and Wales.

Major supermarket chains were among the offenders, the Guardian quoted the report as saying.

The results, which the LGA said were alarming, follow widespread concern at police-recorded crime figures, which found a 20 per cent rise in knife offences to 34,703 incidents - the highest level in seven years.

Responding to the new crime figures, the head of parliament's youth violence commission said that 2017 could be a new low point for knife deaths in the UK, calling for an "urgent, united and societal response" to the problem.

"Indications so far suggest that knife crime and knife-related deaths will be much higher in 2017 than in previous years," said Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft, who established the commission last year after a spate of killings of young people in her Lewisham constituency.

Foxcroft suggested that the number of incidents was likely to be higher because many people who went to hospital with stab wounds did not go to the police.

"We need to have much more accurate reporting," the Guardian quoted the MP as saying.

In London, where knives have been behind a spate of murders, 96 out of 725 test purchases carried out saw knives and blades sold to children as young as 13 including a national supermarket chain, the LGA report said.

In London, 19 traders were prosecuted or have cases pending. Others received official warnings or provided with compliance advice.

The total number of children and teenagers killed in 2017 by violence involving knives has reached 21.

--IANS

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Saturday trade with Pakistan should not be stopped and reviving the "Lahore Declaration" engineered by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the way forward for peace between the two countries.

The Chief Minister said trade with Pakistan needs to be strengthened and not stopped to bridge distances between the two neighbouring countries.

She said peace between the two countries as envisaged in the Lahore declaration during the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was still the best way forward to move in India-Pakistan relationship.

On the 18th foundation day of her party -- the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) -- Mufti said Kashmir was the crown of India and the country was incomplete without it.

She said legislators from Pakistani side of Kashmir should be allowed to come here and interact with the lawmakers on the Indian side to know each other's viewpoint.

Mehbooba Mufti said it was the time to take steps to save the people in Kashmir and not to compound the problems already faced by them.

Party Vice President and parliament member Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said 50 per cent of state's area which was presently under Pakistan administration has virtually passed into China's control.

"The position today is that even if Pakistan wants to talk to India it cannot do so without China's permission," Beigh said.

--IANS

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Senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on Saturday interacted with the through Twitter and Facebook after authorities disallowed his scheduled presser in Srinagar. The Mirwaiz said the Indian electronic was out to malign him and his family with unfounded and baseless allegations.

After the authorities sealed all roads leading his Nigeen residence on the city outskirts, preventing the presser, the Mirwaiz read out a statement online - rubbishing allegations that he had been the recipient of funds to promote unlawful activities like stone pelting in the valley.

"One of these Indian TV news channels has levelled allegations against me and my family, saying I have been receiving funds from Pakistan for promoting stone pelting here.

"I find it below my dignity to even send a legal notice to this TV channel because I know to further their TRP ratings, these channels have been spreading false propaganda.

"But, I want to make it clear that I am living with my mother in a house constructed by my late father (Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq).

"My family owns a piece of land in Rajouri Kadal area on which some shops have been constructed and a branch of the J&K Bank functions in the first floor of that construction.

"The rent of the shops is deposited in my account at this bank branch. I have also constructed six shops in Lal Bazar area of Srinagar and the rent thereof is received by my family.

"I solemnize marriages and attend religious functions organized by my disciples in my position as the Mirwaiz. The disciples make devotional offerings to me in terms of presents including gifts or money.

"The school run by the trust headed by me has income that is spent on the school functioning and the income from shopping complex at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar is spent on the maintenance, upkeep and renovation of the grand mosque.

"The accounts of both the school and the Jamia Masjid are audited every year and these are in public domain."

The Mirwaiz has been under house arrest for over a month. No Friday prayers have been allowed by the authorities in the Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta area in Srinagar for the last six Fridays.

The Mirwaiz delivers his Friday sermon at the Jamia Masjid.

--IANS

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North Korea has confirmed that it has "successfully" test fired a second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and described it as a "stern warning" to the US, the media reported on Saturday.

A combination of US, South Korean and Japanese analyses of Friday's launch from Mupyong-ni, near North Korea's border with China, showed the missile flew about 47 minutes, going 3,700 km high and for a distance of 1,000 km before falling into the Sea of Japan, reports CNN.

If the missile were fired on a flatter, standard trajectory, it would have major US cities like Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago well within its range, with possibly the ability to reach as far as New York and Boston.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Saturday that the latest ICBM is more advanced than one launched earlier this month based on the range it travelled. Experts had said that test showed Pyongyang had the ability to hit Alaska.

A statement from Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency on Saturday said in a statement that the latest missile launch was a Hwasong-14, the same missile tested earlier in the month.

Friday's test was designed to show the Hwasong-14's maximum range with a "large-sized heavy nuclear warhead", the statement said.

It said Washington should regard the launch as a "grave warning".

US President Donald Trump condemned the launch and said: "Threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

"The US will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region."

South Korean President Moon Jae-in in an emergency meeting on Saturday called for a "stern response" and warned that the latest test could bring about a fundamental change in the security landscape of the region.

He also asked his administration to study the possibility of imposing "strong and effective measures" and unilateral sanctions on North Korea "if necessary".

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang on Saturday asked North Korea to respect the resolutions of the UN Security Council and refrain from any actions that could escalate tensions in the region, reports Xinhua news agency.

Pyongyang has carried out 12 missile tests since February and conducted its first-ever test of an ICBM on July 4 -- which it claims could reach "anywhere in the world", CNN reported.

Less than six years into his reign, Kim Jong-un has tested more missiles than his father and grandfather combined, according to military experts.

--IANS

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A greenhouse to grow fruit has been constructed with Nepal's financial support in Kabul's Paghman district, the Afghan Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock Ministry said on Saturday.

With a capacity of 60 tons, the greenhouse was built by the $36,000 provided by Nepal within the framework of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), Xinhua news agency reported.

The ministry has so far built more than 2,800 greenhouses across the country to grow vegetables and fruits.

--IANS

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He refused to testify against the now-ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999 after General Musharraf staged a coup, landing himself in a military jail.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has remained loyal to his political master ever since. Now, after nearly two decades, his master has chosen him to step into his shoes, though for a short stint of 45 days. This period will allow the annointed prime minister, Shahbaz Sharif, brother of the ousted leader, to win a seat to the National Assembly, as required by law.

A second generation politician, 59-year-old Abbasi has been a staunch supporter of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. He was chairman of Pakistan Airlines from 1997 to 1999 when General Musharraf overthrew Sharif's government. He was arrested and remained in jail for two years. He was acquitted by a court in 2001.

He has steadfastly refused to turn approver against Nawaz Sharif in the corruption cases which reinforced the confidence of senior leadership reposed in him. After PML-N victory in 2013 general elections, he was made a part of federal cabinet by allotting him the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources. He conducted various projects for the discovery of fossil fuels in Sindh and elsewhere.

The announcement came a day after Pakistan's Supreme Court removed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from the office, after finding that he was dishonest to Parliament and had misled the courts.

Abbasi, also the CEO of private airline Air Blue, has Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University in Washington DC, and has been elected as Member of the National Assembly in six elections since 1988. He was also the Federal Minister of Commerce in the Yousaf Raza Gillani cabinet.

Abbasi will now need to obtain a trust vote from the National Assembly  a rubber stamp cermony -- before he is sworn in.

The rulling party also decided to rally behind Nawaz's younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, as his eventual successor.

Sharif would be sworn in after 45 days of Abbasi's caretaker prime ministership. Sharif needs to get elected to the National Assembly before assuming the highest government office, and he will fight from seat NA-120 in Lahore. Pakistan's Election Commission will issue the date for the polls on July 28.
 Flash

President Xi Jinping.

The BRICS cooperation will usher in its second "golden decade" as long as the five members make joint efforts for closer ties with the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, cooperation and win-win, President Xi Jinping said on Friday.

Xi made the remarks while meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing with heads of the delegations for the 7th Meeting of BRICS High Representatives for Security Issues. During the two-day meeting, which ended on Friday, the five countriesBrazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa reached consensus on many things, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

South Africa's Minister of State Security David Mahlobo, Minister Sergio Etchegoyen of the Office of Institutional Security of the Presidency of Brazil, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev of the Russian Federation and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval of India attended the meeting. State Councilor Yang Jiechi hosted it.

The president offered his congratulations on the success of the meeting, saying it has made important political preparation for the BRICS summit to be held in Xiamen, Fujian Province, from September 3 to 5.

Given the common wishes of BRICS peoples to boost exchanges and communication, the five countries should push forward economic and financial cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and security coordination at the same time, Xi said, adding that only through such efforts will BRICS cooperation last long and remain stable.

China calls for joint efforts of the international community to push the global economy onto the path of sustainable development, promote economic globalization to develop in a fair, inclusive and sustainable direction, and resolve global issues including terrorism through development, Xi said. The BRICS countries work together for common interests and goals, he added.

Noting that BRICS cooperation has existed for 10 years, Xi said the cooperation has crossed the longest geographic distance of the world, crossed different development paths and social systems, and gathered the five countries' resolution and moves to seek stability, development and improvement of people's livelihood.

The enhanced cooperation among BRICS members has not only maintained and expanded the five countries' interests, but has also provided meaningful exploration of the establishment of a new type of international relations, Xi said.

The senior officials of the BRICS countries extended their state leaders' sincere wishes to the Chinese president. They expressed the willingness of enhancing BRICS cooperation to deal with such challenges as anti-globalization and terrorism in economic and security areas, and to expand the influence of BRICS countries in international affairs.
A day after winning the trust vote, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday expanded his Cabinet, inducting 27 ministers - 14 from his Janata Dal-United and 13 from the BJP-led NDA.

Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi administered the oath to 26 new ministers at the Raj Bhawan.

One BJP legislator, Mangal Pandey, failed to take oath as he was held up in Shimla in Himachal Pradesh due to bad weather.

Nitish Kumar refused to induct ministers from two allies of the NDA in his cabinet -- Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) of Union Minister Upender Kushwaha and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

Nitish Kumar informed BJP leaders that he would keep the two parties out of the government.

Besides the 14 ministers from JD-U, 12 ministers are from the BJP and one from its ally LJP.

The JD-U has inducted most of those from the party who were ministers in the previous Grand Alliance government, to avoid any controversy.

On the other hand, the BJP named those as ministers who are considered close to Deputy Chief Minister and party leader Sushil Kumar Modi.

Manjhi, sensing trouble from Nitish Kumar, on Friday itself said he was not keen to join the cabinet and would work to strengthen his party. Nitish Kumar has not forgotten how Manjhi had betrayed him when he was appointed Chief Minister in 2014 by him.

Manjhi had lobbied with the BJP to induct three leaders of his party into the cabinet after it was decided that Pasupati Kumar Paras from the LJP will be inducted in the cabinet. Paras is the younger brother of LJP chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Paras is not a member of the legislative assembly. He was defeated in the 2015 assembly polls. Paswan is said to have put pressure on the BJP to induct him in the cabinet.

"Manjhi reportedly told BJP leaders that if Pasupati Kumar Paras can be inducted in the cabinet despite the fact that he is not a legislator, then his party leaders should also be inducted on the same lines," a BJP leader said.

Manjhi is the lone legislator of his party.

JD-U leaders said that Nitish Kumar has strong reservations against Upender Kushwaha, who had repeatedly attacked and targeted him in the last three years. Kushwaha is a friend-turned-foe of Nitish Kumar in the state .

"Nitish Kumar does not like Upender Kushwaha. When he proposed the name of one of his party legislators to be inducted in the cabinet, Nitish Kumar said no to it," another JD-U leader said.

Nitish Kumar on Wednesday resigned as the Chief Minister, dumping Grand Alliance partners Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress.

He again took oath as the Chief Minister with the support of the National Democratic Alliance on Thursday. Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi took oath as Deputy Chief Minister.

--IANS

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North Korea on Saturday confirmed the test firing on Friday of the second "Hwasong-14" intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

"Respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un signed the order to carry out the second test-fire of intercontinental ballistic rocket Hwasong-14 on July 28, 2017," Xinhua cited a report by the Korean Central News Agency.

Earlier media reports said North Korea test-fired the ICBM on Friday night, the second time in one month.

North Korea test fired its first ICBM on July 4, which it hailed as the final stage of developing its nuclear and missile capabilities.

--IANS

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A 50-year-old person was killed and six others injured in a knife attack in a supermarket in German city of Hamburg on Friday, police said.

According to the police, the suspect was detained and "his motive remains unclear", Xinhua news agency reported.

The attacker is a 26-year-old man who was born in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). His nationality is still being clarified, police said in a statement.

The suspect entered the supermarket and suddenly began stabbing customers before running off.

--IANS

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Pakistan fishes in the troubled waters of Jammu and Kashmir but they are not the creators of violent unrest in the Kashmir Valley, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Saturday.

Speaking at a Kashmir conclave here, the opposition National Conference leader said he was aware that it was popular to blame Pakistan for everything that is happening in the troubled state.

"We know that Pakistan fishes in troubled waters, but we also know that they are not the creators of the sort of agitation that we have seen in 2008, 2010 and 2016," Abdullah said.

The former union Minister of State for External Affairs was referring to the three deadliest street protests the Kashmir Valley has witnessed in the nearly three-decades of separatist war.

New Delhi has been blaming Islamabad for inciting and sponsporing trouble in Jammu and Kashmir -- a charge Pakistan has been denying.

Abdullah said the blame for shrinking space for mainstream polity in Jammu and Kashmir needed to be shared by all, including the central government.

He said ruling Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) inability to deliver on promises like making peace between India and Pakistan and initiating talks between the central government and separatists has cost the mainstream politicians their credibility in the state.

Abdullah said the case in point was the agenda of alliance between the PDP and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"I think what is important is that we as regional political players understand our limitations. The problem arises when in our desire to attract votes in elections, we sell promises far beyond our ability to deliver.

"It is not within the scope of the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir to decide whether India and Pakistan are going to engage with each other. When we fight election on the promise that we will make peace between India and Pakistan you are setting yourself up for defeat.

"Similarly with the best of intentions, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir cannot armtwist the Union of India to engage with the Hurriyat Conference."

He said the PDP fought the 2014 assembly elections promising they would facilitate a dialogue without a precondition between the central government and the Hurriyat.

But the PDP-BJP has not delivered the promise despite it forming the "cornerstone of the agenda of alliance".

"When you enter into agreements like the agenda of alliance and find that it is gradually being dismembered and you see the developments as they have taken place over the last six to eight months, then obviously question marks arise against mainstream polity."

He said the mainstream politicians needed to focus on the things that they could deliver.

"And here in lies my major grievance with (Chief Minister) Mehbooba Mufti. The fact is that set aside the things that she has not been able to do that are not within her control. Focus on the things that you can do," Abdullah said.

Abdullah said the blame for the shrinking space of mainstream political parties had to be shared by the central government as institutions like the Election Commission were also not in a position to show how much their writ run in the state.

"It is not just mainstream political players that are responsible for what is happening, the Union of India is also responsible. Whether it was the UPA government or the NDA government," he said.

Abdullah cited an example of the cancellation of the parliamentary election in Anantnag following violent protests in the Kashmir Valley and said it was for the first time that the separatist Hurriyat Conference had been handed over an electoral victory.

"This is the first election in Jammu and Kashmir which the Hurriyat Conference have won, because since 1996 whenever elections were called the Hurriyat Conference had a single point agenda that some how this election should not take place. This is the first time on the back of protests you cancelled an election and handed victory to them."

He said the cancellation of the south Kashmir election proved the inability of the Indian government and the Election Commission to make their writ run in Jammu and Kashmir.

--IANS

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan said on Saturday that his party had chosen Awami Muslim League leader Sheikh Rashid to be the oppositions joint candidate for the Prime Ministers slot that fall vacant on Friday.

"The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will further dent its cause by appointing (current Punjab CM) Shehbaz Sharif as the Prime Minister," he added.

"How did Shehbaz Sharif's name come up in the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case? We will file a reference against him," Khan said while presiding over a meeting at his Bani Gala residence of the PTI's parliamentary parties to chalk out a strategy following the Prime Minister's resignation.

"Doesn't the PML-N have any better candidate than Shehbaz Sharif?"

The PTI chief said this time his party would be prepared. "We have learnt a lot from the rigging in the 2013 elections."

Khan said his party would not allow the country to fall into the grips of corruption again.

He added that the Supreme Court's verdict disqualifying Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his subsequent resignation were a a victory achieved through hard work and patience.

During the meeting, the political scenario following the Prime Minister's resignation and the efforts of the PML-N that could possibly negate the effects of the top court's verdict were discussed.

In a landmark verdict, the apex court's five-judge larger bench on Friday unanimously disqualified Nawaz Sharif due to his failure to disclose his "un-withdrawn receivables, constituting assets" in his nomination papers filed ahead of the 2013 general elections.

Interestingly, disqualification of the premier was not made on the basis of the corruption charges levelled by the PTI after the emergence of Panama Papers.

--IANS

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Palestine's Ambassador to India Adnan Abu Alhaija on Saturday hoped India will follow principles and not just interests while strengthening ties with Israel.

"I hope this country will follow principles not only interests. I do understand their interests but hope they follow the principles at the same time," he said while hinting that India's attitude on Palestine has undergone some change since the times of Mahatma Gandhi.

"Mahatma Gandhi used to say this openly and it was quoted by former President Pranab Mukherjee during his visit to Palestine. Palestine is to Palestinians like Britain is to British."

The ambassador was talking to reporters on the sidelines of an all-party meeting organised by Indo-Arab League to express solidarity with Palestinians and to condemn the "Israeli atrocities".

Alhaija hoped there will never be any change in India's stand on Palestine.

Replying to a query, he felt India should have reacted to last week's developments in the wake of Israel's "act of provocation" at Al-Alqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

He noted that India historically supported the Palestinian cause but in 1992, New Delhi started diplomatic relations and built them in subsequent years.

"This time there is good relations between the two prime ministers," he remarked referring to the recent visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel.

The Palestinian ambassador, however, said they were not upset over Modi's visit.

"It is matter of a country having bilateral relations with another country. It's okay as long as it is not affecting India's support to the Palestinian cause."

He hoped that India will use its relations with Israel to find a solution the Palestinian problem, saying it was central to the peace in the region and the world.

He also did not agree that Modi not visiting Palestine indicated change in India's stand on Palestine.

"I discussed with the Indian officials who told me that we deal with Palestine as an independent country and not as a tail to Israel. (India's Minister of State for External Affairs) M.J. Akbar visited Palestine but he did not go to Israel."

"I know they have some interest. They are looking for some technology. Let them do it but India had been supporting the Palestinian cause for decades and we hope this will continue," he added.

He believed India could play a positive role in solving the problem as Indian politicians and people know its origin and always supported the rights of Palestinians.

He said Palestine accepted a two-state solution even though Palestine will get only 22 per cent of its historical land.

"We hope India will give more support to the Palestinian cause. We appeal to India and all other countries to be with justice, otherwise without peace the region will have an uncertain future."

Alhaija termed as 'sad' India's move to abstain at UNESCO when it declared Al-Aqsa mosque compound to be uniquely Muslim.

On India-Palestine trade, the ambassador said it was discussed during President Mahmoud Abbas' visit to India and they were working to promote it.

He pointed out that the items imported by Palestine from India constitute a small portion as majority of the products were registered with Israeli companies and go to Israel. Palestine and India were working to find a solution.

He said a group specialized in investment will soon visit India. "We are working with CII and FICCI to organise a meeting with Indian businessmen to encourage investment in Palestine. We will also encourage Palestinian businessmen to invest in India," he added.

He also slammed the "blatant attempt by Israel" for Judaisation of the Al-Aqsa mosque.

He said the world community should keep an eye on Israel's actions, which has the potential to embroil the entire region into a mess.

Stating that Israel must rein in Jewish settlers, Alhaijaa said Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, can never allow their holy sites to be desecrated and destroyed.

Earlier, an all-party meeting organized by Indo-Arab League condemned "Israeli atrocities on Palestinians".

Chairman of the League, an NGO, and chief editor of Urdu daily 'Rehnuma-e-Deccan' Syed Vicaruddin said for the last 50 years the organization had been working to mobilize support of the Indian government and people for the Palestinian cause.

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mehmood Ali appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to continue India's support to Palestine. He said India as a key player at the international level should play its role to solve the problem.

Communist Party of India (CPI) secretary K. Narayana said there should be no deviation in India's traditional stand on Palestine.

Former MP and CPI leader Azeez Pasha said everybody should support the just cause of Palestinians.

--IANS

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Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said hat the Parsi community in India has made "immense contribution" to nation building and is a "role model" for other communities.

The minister added that the declining population of Parsi community in India is "a matter of concern".

Addressing a gathering of Parsi community, including several renowned personalities at the launch of "Jiyo Parsi Publicity Phase-2", Naqvi said that the community had given so many great people who had been "architects of the nation building".

Naqvi said that even though the Parsi community was a very small minority community in India, it had been one of "the most liberal, aware towards education and an example of peace and harmony".

Remembering key Parsi personalities, Naqvi said that Jamshetji Tata played a crucial role in industrial development of India, Dadabhai Naoroji and Madam Bhikaji Cama played an important role in India's freedom struggle and Homi J. Bhabha is the father of Indian nuclear programme.

"Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw's services to the nation will be remembered always. Be it industry, military service, legal service, architecture or civil services, the Parsi community has always shown its talent," the minister said.

The Jiyo Parsi Publicity Phase-1 was initiated in 2013 "for containing the declining trend of population of the Parsi community and reversing it to bring their population above the threshold level", as per an official release.

"The main objective of the "Jiyo Parsi" scheme is to reverse the declining trend of Parsi population by adopting a scientific protocol and structured interventions, stabilising their population and increasing the population of Parsis in India," the release said.

"Ministry of Minority Affairs' scheme has two components: Medical Assistance and Advocacy/Counselling. The scheme has been successful. One hundred and one babies have been born in Parsi community through 'Jiyo Parsi' scheme," it added.

--IANS

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Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and said he has not resigned even though his "family's name" figured in the .

"Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had to resign because his name figured in the . Here the name of Chief Minister's family also figured in Panama Papers, but he (Raman Singh) didn't resign," Congress Gandhi said while addressing "Jan Adhikar" rally here.

"How can he resign? He is the leader of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)," Gandhi said.

The Congress had targeted Raman Singh earlier also citing an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) leak and said that "name of Raman Singh's son Abhishek Singh figured in it".

The list spelt his name as "Abhishak Singh", with "a" replacing "e" in his first name. A company -- Quest Heights Ltd -- was said to be registered in the name of "Abhishak Singh".

Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress leader said: "He speaks over corruption but he cannot see the corruption of his own leaders."

Gandhi said that in Chhattisgarh, the government was busy snatching the rights of the people of the state.

"I can see only one thing happening here, whether it is land, water or forest, whatever belongs to you is now being snatched by the government," he said.

Gandhi also accused the BJP and the RSS of trying to end the reservations by using the tool of "outsourcing".

"RSS and BJP are trying to end reservations. They are using the word 'outsourcing' to end reservations from the backdoor," he said.

In Chattisgarh, everyone could get employment but the people of the state, he added.

The Congress Vice President asked the people whether they had the the merit to get a job in their own state. "Do only people from Maharashtra know how to work in Chattisgarh?"

The Congress leader also accused the state government of telling a lie about building a steel plant in Bastar only to acquire land.

"They acquired your land saying that we would construct a steel plant here, and many of you will get employment. But later you came to know that the plant was not coming," he pointed out.

"And to date, the people have not got their land back," he added.

--IANS

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Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Raghuvar Rai was shot dead on Thursday by unidentified assailants in Bihar's Samastipur district, police said.

He was killed by two motorcycle borne assailant when he was out on morning walk near his home in Kalyanpur, District Superintendent of police Harpareet Kaur said.

Rai was a former Zila Parishad member.

Angry over the killing hundreds of his supporters blocked Samastipur-Darbganga road, burned tyres demanding arrest of the assailants.

--IANS

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Filmmaker Linguswamy's upcoming Tamil actioner "Sandakozhi 2", a sequel to his own 2005 Tamil blockbuster "Sandakozhi", will roll from the last week of August, a source from the film's unit said.

"The film will start rolling from last week of August; most likely from the 30th. A huge set is being erected in Chennai where the film will be shot for 40 days at a stretch. It's being planned as a Sankranti release next year," the source told IANS.

The film stars Vishal, Keerthy Suresh and Raj Kiran.

Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar is tipped to play the antagonist.

To be bankrolled by Vishal Film Factory, Imman has been signed as the music composer.

--IANS

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Forces of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition on Friday killed at least 40 Houthi militants in a Yemeni region near the Saudi border, the Al Arabiya TV reported.

The Saudi-led forces, supported by Apache attack helicopters and artillery, killed the Houthi militants in an area near the Saudi border city Jazan, after managing to lure them into a place within their target range, Xinhua cited the report as saying.

The coalition forces set up the ambush after getting intelligence that the Houthi militants and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh were mobilising in the region near the Saudi border, it said.

The four-hour operations were carried out opposite the Al-Khashl, Al-Fadna and Al-Malhama mountains.

Saudi forces also fired rockets at strongholds held by Houthi militants near the border of Saada province in Yemen, it added.

Yemen has been suffering from a civil war, which began in 2015 after the Houthi militants, with support from forces loyal to Saleh, ousted the UN-backed transitional government and occupied capital Sanaa.

The legitimate government controls the south and some eastern parts, while the Houthi/Saleh alliance controls other parts.

The Saudi-led coalition, which includes nine African and Middle East countries, launched a military intervention in Yemen since March 2015 to support the government led by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.

--IANS

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An informal meeting, chaired by ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Saturday deliberated the PML-N's political strategy after Sharif's disqualification and decided to rally behind his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif after discussions that stretched over four hours.

The meeting came ahead of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary party meeting, to be convened at the Punjab House later in the day.

If the parliamentary party validates the decision, Shahbaz will have to resign from the Punjab Assembly and a new provincial Chief Minister will have to be chosen. Shahbaz will then have to get elected from the seat left vacant by the elder Shairf and an interim Prime Minister will have to be elected until Shahbaz enters the National Assembly.

Sources claim that PML-N leaders and former federal ministers Rana Tanveer, Khurram Dastgir and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi were front-runners for interim post. Punjab Excise and Taxation Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman was likely to replace Shahbaz as the Punjab Chief Minister.

The meeting, expected to be the last under Sharif in the Prime Minister house, was attended by close aides of the outgoing Prime Minister, including Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Ahsan Iqbal, Ayaz Sadiq, Saad Rafique, Rana Tanveer, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif.

--IANS

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A Russian Soyuz MS-05 carrying the three new crew members to join the Expedition 52 docked to the International Space Station (ISS) after a six-hour spaceflight, to continue important scientific research in the orbiting laboratory, NASA said in a statement.

NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Paolo Nespoli of European Space Agency (ESA) launched aboard the Soyuz MS-05 at 11.41 a.m. on Friday from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

The three crewmates aboard the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft orbited Earth four times, before docking at the space station.

Their arrival restored the station's crew to six people, which includes Expedition 52 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer of NASA.

The new Expedition 52 crew members will spend more than four months conducting approximately 250 science investigations in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development.

The expedition team is expected to soon conduct new science investigations arriving on SpaceX's 12th NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission targetted to launch in August.

The astronauts will assemble and deploy a microsatellite investigation seeking to validate the concept of using microsatellites in low-Earth orbit to support critical operations, such as providing lower-cost Earth imagery in time-sensitive situations such as tracking severe weather and detecting natural disasters.

In addition, their work will also include an invesitgation into the study developed by the Michael J. Fox Foundation of the pathology of Parkinson's disease to aid in the development of therapies for patients on Earth as well as the use of the microgravity environment in stem cell research

Whitson, Fischer and Yurchikhin are scheduled to remain aboard the station until September, while Bresnik, Ryazanskiy and Nespoli are scheduled to return in December.

--IANS

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Sri Lanka on Saturday signed a $1.1 billion deal with China to lease the southern Hambantota port to Beijing, after several months of delay caused by protests.

Hambantota port, overlooking the Indian Ocean, is expected to play a key role in China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative, otherwise known as the new Silk Road, which will link ports and roads between China and Europe.

The amended agreement was signed between the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and the China Merchant Port Holdings at the Ministry of Ports and Shipping under the auspices of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Daily Mirror reported.

"We are giving the country a better deal without debt," Wickremesinghe told media. Sri Lanka's government said that money from the deal will help repay foreign loans.

Under the proposal, a state-run Chinese company will have a 99-year lease on the port and about 15,000 acres nearby for an industrial zone, BBC reported. The plan envisaged the eviction of thousands of villagers but the government said they will be given new land.

The deal had been delayed by several months over concerns that the port could be used by the Chinese military, according to reports. In a move to ease those concerns, the Sri Lankan government announced a revised deal to cut the Chinese firm's stake to 70 per cent.

Officials also made assurances that the port would not be used by the Chinese military. "We are giving the country a better deal without any implications on security," Wickremesinghe said on Friday.

The Sri Lankan government said that China will run only commercial operations from the port, on the main shipping route between Asia and Europe and the deal will help it to get out of the debt trap.

It borrowed billions of dollars from China to build roads, ports and airports to revive the economy after the end of the civil war in 2009. Now it is struggling to repay Beijing. The money from the deal, officials said, will be used to repay part of the loan, said the report.

Those who oppose the agreement argue that Sri Lanka is giving away its land to China. The Hambantota port deal between the two countries concerns India as it helps China gain a foothold close to its southern tip. Beijing is already developing ports in Myanmar and Pakistan.

These ports are expected to play a key role in China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative or the new "Silk Road" - with huge investment in ports and roads to boost trade with rest of the world.

Colombo said that the Sri Lankan Navy will be in charge of security at the Hambantota port and no foreign Navy will be allowed to use it as a base.

--IANS

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In a jolt to the Samajwadi Party, three of its legislators quit the party on Saturday, alleging suffocation within the party, even as BJP president Amit Shah arrived here on a three-day visit.

The three lawmakers - Bukkal Nawaab, Yashwant Singh and Madhukar Jaitley -- all are members of the Upper House of the state Assembly.

Buqqal Nawaab was very close to former party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and owed his prominence to him until he decided to side with then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the turf war within the party earlier this year.

Yashwant Singh is a close aide of independent legislator from Kunda, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias 'Raja Bhaiyya'. There is speculation that he may switch to the BJP.

Madhukar Jaitley, also a close aide of Mulayam Yadav, was a state minister level functionary in the Samajwadi Party government and was advisor to Akhilesh Yadav on externally aided projects, including Lucknow Metro.

Jaitley threw his weight behind Mulayam Yadav after his son overthrew him and took over as national president of the party. Jaitley was one of the few who openly rebuked and challenged Akhilesh Yadav in his hey days as Chief Minister and slammed him for the "shoddy treatment" meted out to the senior Yadav.

Buqqal Nawaab is facing many probes currently, specially of land grabbing. On Saturday, he praised the Yogi Adityanath government and said that a lot of good work was being done by the ruling BJP. He also rued that his mentor Mulayam Yadav was being humiliated in the party. He announced that many more SP members would be resigning from the party soon.

Nawaab had created waves some time ago by saying he would be happy to carry the first brick to Ayodhya for the construction of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya and that he would also financially contribute to it.

The resignations from the SP coincided with the arrival of Amit Shah in the state capital on a three-day visit to interact with party leaders.

--IANS

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President Donald Trump has planned to sign a bill approved by Congress which will impose new sanctions on Russia, the White House announced.

"President Donald Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement late Friday.

"He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it," The Hill magazine quoted Sanders as saying.

The new legislation will effectively tie the President's hands when it comes to lifting sanctions.

The House passed their version of the legislation on Tuesday, while senators voted 98-2 on Thursday night to send the legislation to Trump's desk, The Hill reported.

The bill gives Congress the ability to block Trump from lifting the Russia sanctions and also includes new penalties against Iran and North Korea.

The new sanctions come as the White House grapples with several ongoing probes into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, which the President has blasted as unnecessary.

In response to the bill, Russia announced that it was expelling American diplomats and seizing property, reports CNN.

Moscow said on Friday that the US must reduce the staff at its embassy and consulates to 450, the same number Russia is allowed to have in the US.

Russia is also barring Americans from using two diplomatic facilities.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that while Moscow has been doing "everything possible" to improve the relationship, "recent events showed that US policy was in the hands of Russophobic forces, pushing Washington to the path of confrontation."

--IANS

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A British community radio station has been shut down after broadcasting 25 hours of lectures by an Al Qaeda recruiter.

Sheffield-based Iman FM claimed on Friday that its staff were "not aware of the background" of American hate preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011, the Independent reported.

The station broadcast a series of his lectures entitled "The Life of Mohammed" throughout the holy month of Ramadan in June, sparking complaints to broadcast regulator Ofcom.

Awlaki's lectures included "a direct call to action to members of the Muslim community to prepare for and carry out violent action against non-Muslim people" and "statements clearly condoning and encouraging acts of crime, terrorism or violent behaviour".

The regulator said the content, including calls for "virtuous jihad" and anti-Semitic statements, was in "serious breach" of the broadcasting code amounting to hate speech.

"Ofcom has decided that it is necessary in the public interest to revoke the licensee's Broadcasting Act licence, and that the licensee is unfit to hold a broadcast licence," a spokesperson said.

"The service has been off-air since July 4 and will not be reinstated," the Independent quoted the spokesperson as saying on Friday.

Iman FM also broadcast parts of Awlaki's tirades that took aim at the mainstream and Western society, which Ofcom said "aimed to undermine social cohesion".

--IANS

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The 44 Congress Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), who left for Bengaluru to ensure they don't succumb to police and political pressure to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said on Saturday that there is no pressure and that they are not scared of the saffron party.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday tore into Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the recent political drama that unfolded in the state leading to Nitish taking the oath sixth time in 12 years.

Lalu said Nitish's move of joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was indeed surprising as he had been the most vocal in calling for a 'Sangh-mukt Bharat,' referring to an India free of the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

"Nitish Kumar was the one who was the most vocal in calling for a 'Sangh-mukt Bharat'. He had left the BJP and came," Lalu told ANI.

Lalu also gave a pointed reminder that his party has the most number of seats in the legislature and that he has played an important role in framing the state .

Lalu's wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi downplayed the whole hype surrounding the alleged properties owned by the Yadav family and said that many skeletons from others' closets would surely fall off.

"Who does not have property? Everybody has. Will Nitish Kumar and other politicians agree for probe into their properties? Why are they after our family?" Rabri told ANI.

Rabri further said that their family isn't "scared of anybody and is ready to go any place we are called to."

"We trusted Nitish, because he left the BJP and came. We never pressurised him to do anything. He himself went back to where he had come from," she further said.

"Nitish had been targetting my sons for very long. They were doing good in and moving ahead. They were being appreciated. So he conspired with the BJP and did this," she added.

Former deputy chief minister and Lalu's son Tejashwi Yadav reiterated what he had been saying for long and asserted that the people of Bihar are feeling cheated.

"The mandate was against the BJP. They have cheated the people by doing this," he said.

Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar won the floor test in the Bihar Legislative Assembly with 131 votes in favour and 108 against.

Nitish came back to the Democratic Alliance (NDA) fold with taking the oath for the sixth time.

The Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) and the BJP MLAs met Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to stake claim to form the government in the state, after Nitish ended the 'mahagathbandhan' in the state and resigned from his post, instead of Tejashwi Yadav, as was being speculated and expected.

Nitish resigned citing political differences with a former ally, Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD, over corruption charges against Tejashwi, following which the state saw a rigmarole of political events including dharnas and probationary orders.

The development came hours after Lalu took a jibe at Nitish, saying he was aware of his longtime friend's party's growing bonhomie with the BJP.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister on Friday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership but said for her "India is Indira".

At a Kashmir event here, said she was saddened to see the idea of India projected on television prime times that widens the gap between India and Kashmir.

She said she has not known this India projected in "hyperventilating" TV debates.

"I am sorry to say that the image of India which the (TV) anchors project is not what India is about, is not the India I know," she said.

Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir, defying the two-nation theory that was based on religious divide, had aligned to a more secular and accommodative India where Hindus and Muslims pray together at shrine and statues of Hindu gods are being made by Muslim artisans.

"To me, India is Indira Gandhi. When I was growing, she represented India for me. Maybe some people won't like it but she was the India," the Chief Minister said, apparently referring to Sangh Parivar's dislike for the Nehru-Gandhi family.

"I want to see that India which cries, feels the pain of Kashmir. The India that embraced us on our terms. We are a diverse state with all kinds of multi-diversity of religion and everything. Kashmir is a mini India in India," Mufti said.

Strongly opposing any move to revoke Kashmir's special constitutional status, she said some people were talking "about our flag, sometimes about Article 370... which are very dear to the people of the state and they help preserve the state's unique identity".

Mufti said the government of India and the people of the country needed to do more to accommodate the aspirations of Kashmiris even as the sentiment of 'azadi' needed to be replaced with a "better idea".

She did not spell it out but spoke of more cross-border contacts between the people of divided Jammu and Kashmir.

The Chief Minister pinned her hopes on Prime Minister Modi for resolving the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

"I feel Modi is the man of the moment. He can become the man of history and his leadership is an asset which needs to be harnessed. And there has to be a way to work together and take Kashmir out of the mess," she said.
The Madras High Court in a recent ruling said that Vande Mataram should be played in educational institutions and workplaces in Tamil Nadu. Former cabinet secretary tells Veer Arjun Singh that while he respects the spirit of the ruling, he does not believe patriotism can be forced. Edited excerpts:


A prisoner abducted and killed an assistant warden's teenage stepdaughter after he escaped from a Louisiana prison, authorities say.

The inmate was later found dead after a standoff with police.

Deltra Henderson, 39, walked away from his prison assignment at David Wade Correctional Center on Thursday afternoon, stole a car and kidnapped Amanda Carney, the Claiborne Parish Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

The 18-year-old's body was found in a wooded area near the prison where Henderson crashed the car. Sheriff Ken Bailey said during a telephone interview that investigators believe Henderson stabbed Carney to death, but they're awaiting autopsy results.

Henderson stole a second vehicle and crashed it, too, before he entered a nearby home on prison property and found a gun, authorities said. He barricaded himself inside after a gunfight with prison guards. Police found his body inside the home after the standoff ended.

Investigators suspect Henderson was fatally wounded while he traded gunfire with prison guards, before police arrived, according to the sheriff.

Carney recently graduated from a local high school and was enrolling at Southern Arkansas University in the fall to study nursing, the sheriff said.

"Everybody knows everybody (here)," the sheriff said. "It's just tragic."



The corrections department is offering grief counselling to staff members and inmates at the prison in Homer, which is in north Louisiana and can house up to 1,244 inmates.

Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc said it was a "dark day" for the state's prison system.

"Our hearts hurt today as we grieve, and mourn the loss of one of our own," LeBlanc said in a statement.

Henderson had been an inmate at the prison since June 2001. He arrived there about a month after he began serving a 30-year prison sentence for convictions on charges of cocaine distribution, attempted armed robbery and aggravated burglary. Henderson had a potential release date of March 28, 2025, the corrections department said.

The News-Star reported that Henderson pleaded guilty to a 1999 armed robbery at a Farmerville home where a 14-year-old girl and her mother were seriously wounded by gunfire during the robbery.

In 2015, Henderson petitioned a judge for a reduced sentence, expressing remorse and highlighting his status as a first offender, the newspaper reported.

In his petition, Henderson wrote that he had completed programs in prison "to become a better person" and said he had been a "young man, running around with the wrong crowd" at the time of his offences.

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Expressing shock and surprise over its ally and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's flag remarks, the BJP today asserted that Article 35-A of the Constitution which grants special status to the state is "not a sacred cow that cannot betouched".

The state unit of the BJP said that while the party stands by the Agenda of Alliance with the PDP and won't seekalteration of existing constitutional position, "it is equally truethat Article 35-A has done more harm to the state than any other provision of law."



The biggest challenge before the state is to save the Sufi ethos of Kashmir's culture which are facing an assault from separatism and Islamic fundamentalism in theValley, it said.

The party said all efforts of the state government and theKashmiri people should be towards the protection of the these humane values and identity, instead of raking issues of Article 35-A and Article 370 which have led to inequalities and have retarded the state's growth due to "self-isolation".

"We are greatly shocked and surprised by the statement of Mehbooba that by challenging Article 35-A, the nationalist forces in the Valley get weakened and that... India will not get a shoulder to carry its national flag in the state", BJP state spokesperson Virender Gupta told reporters here.

"Article 370 was incorporated in Indian Constitution as atemporary provision. It (Article 35-A and Article 370) is not a sacred cow thatcannot be touched," he said.

Mehbooba Mufti yesterday said at a function in New Delhi "Who is doing it? Why are they doing it? (challenging the Article 35-A). Let me tell you that my party and other parties who carry the national flag there (in Jammu and Kashmir) despite all risks.... I have no doubt in saying that there will be no one to hold it (national flag) (if it is tinkered)."



Referring to militancy and fundamentalism, the BJP today said "these challenges are extremely great than what these leaders, in particular the separatists, perceive, i.E. The removal of Article 35 or Article 370", Gupta said.

Sunil Sethi, chief spokesperson of state BJP, said the CM'sremarks on Article 35-A do not depict the truepicture and are politically incorrect.

"Article 35-A has in fact led to disparity and inequalities in the state," Sethi said.

It has created a situation where there is no gender parity for female state subjects and their children, he claimed.

"Though the party stands by the Agenda of Alliance and won't seekalteration of existing Constitutional position, but it is equally truethat Article 35-A has done more harm to the state than any other provision of law," he said.

He also blamed the provision for slow growth and progress of the state.

"Despite having natural resources, the state is in a financial mess because of self isolation," Sethi said.

He said that bearing the national flag in the state is an honour for all citizens andthe party firmly believes that every person of the state is first an Indian andthen a state subject.

"Nationalism of the people of the state can't be understated by linking it with continuation of Art 35-A," he said.

Gupta said terrorists and separatists are causing disturbances in the Valley, at the behest of Pakistan, its spy agency ISI and ISIS.

"The majority of the population in Jammu and Kashmir is nationalist and committed to uphold the integrity of the country and believes that their interests and aspirations are safe as Indians," Gupta said.

He said that Kashmir is facing a serious danger from the spreadof Islamicfundamentalism and referred to the "unimaginable disaster" unleashed by these forces in Syria, Iraq and some of the other countries.

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John Morris, a celebrated US-born editor who commissioned and published some of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century, died in Paris, Magnum Photos said. He was 100.

In an extraordinary career that spanned some of the most turbulent events of the last century, Morris worked for publications that included Life, Magnum, The Washington Post, The New York Times and National Geographic.

He edited and oversaw the publication of Robert Capa's historic images of the 1944 D-Day Allied landings in Normandy while photo editor commissioning photographs from the front throughout World War II for Life magazine in London.

After a post-war stint at Ladies' Home Journal in New York, he became executive editor at Magnum, dispatching the agency's photographers across the globe to cover some of the most important stories of the time.

During the height of the Vietnam War he was picture editor at The New York Times from 1967 to 1973.

While at the Times, he successfully lobbied for a photograph of a Saigon police chief shooting a suspected Vietcong insurgent in the head -- which became one of the most iconic images of the war -- to be published on the front page.

He also witnessed first hand the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles in June 1968.

"The cries of admiration changed to hysterical screams as the shots -- muffled by the crowd noise -- penetrated the consciousness of the bystanders," he reported in a front page account for the Times.

A devoted Quaker and lifelong pacifist, Morris was born in New Jersey on December 7, 1916 and grew up in Chicago. He died at a hospital near his home in the French capital, Magnum Photos said.

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A police constable was shot dead allegedly by armed men in the city this morning, police said.

The incident took place when Satish Yadav, attached to the Etmauddaula police station, was on a patrol duty in Tedhi Bagia area, and chased the armed men along with his colleague Kuldeep Yadav, they said.

Kuldeep claimed the four armed men were fleeing on two motorcycles on the Sau Phuta road. When the constables heard the cries of some people, they chased the four men and managed to catch hold of two of them, police said.

The other two who had managed to escape returned and allegedly opened fire on Satish, killing him on the spot.

Senior police officials arrived at the spot, they said, adding that the police has stepped up search but till 4 pm there was no success.

A few suspects have been taken into custody.

At the police lines, senior police officials including ADG Ajay Anand and SSP Dinesh Dubey attended a condolence meeting and praised the bravery of the deceased constable.

They announced a day's salary by the local police personnel to the family of the deceased.

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A fire broke out at the maternity ward of the state-run Calcutta National Medical College & Hospital today.

Nobody was injured in the fire, a senior officer of the fire department said.

The fire was reported from the fifth floor of the hospital around 12.05 pm, the officer said.

All the patients of the ward were shifted to other parts of the hospital immediately.

Fire fighters doused the fire within 45 minutes, the officer said.

The cause of fire was yet to be ascertained till last reports came in.

Later, the evacuated patients were taken back to their respective wards, a hospital spokesman said. The cause of fire was being invested.

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At least four persons, including three government officials, were killed in a road mishap near Hatibandha on Baripada-Udala road, police said today.

The accident took place when a speeding dumper hit a motor-bike with two persons and a cyclist last night. All the three persons died on the spot and another was injured.

The injured person died today on the way to SCB medical college at Cuttak while being shifted for treatment.

The deceased are identified as Rajashri Dhir, Revenue Inspector and Subhasmita Behera, Additional Revenue Inspector of Khuta Tehsil office along with Sangram Behera, senior assistant of Gopabandhunagar Tehsil, cyclist Bhutala Baskey, said police.

The driver of the dumper managed to escape while the dumper was seized by the police.

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JIM FALLS  What do a Washington D.C. sailboat and a Rib Lake, Wisconsin RV have in common? Anne Probst of Jim Falls has lived in both.

Probst, a 32-year-old Neenah native, bought a recreational vehicle for $100 in December 2014. After 2 1/2 years, Probst has transformed the vehicle into a cozy home: 216 square feet of arched ceilings, hidden shelving, sailboat-inspired design and, of course, a bedroom loft.

Probst, a social worker by trade, did not take the easy route. With her woodworker father acting as a consultant, she tore the 20-by-8-foot RV down to its axles and wheels, and built the house from scratch: walls, roof, siding, windows and more. She said she spent between $10,000 and $15,000 on the project.

Probst will host a housewarming party on Saturday, August 12, for curious tiny house fans and friends. The celebration is at 16009 200th Street, Jim Falls and is open to the public; those interested should bring a dish to pass and a non-perishable item for the Feed My People Food Bank.

Probst asks all attendees to RSVP at the Tiny House Warming Party Facebook page or at (920) 841-2323.

To redecorate or demolish?

Thats what it looked like, Probst said in a July 26 interview, pointing to a photo of a boxy RV with cracked windows and chipped walls. She has kept a detailed scrapbook of the construction process.

When Probst first purchased the RV on December 26, 2014, she intended to fix up the interior then move in. However, after investigating her $100 purchase, she realized the vehicle was unliveable. The wood was rotted. The license plate came back as a 1952 truck, Probst remembered. The roof was tarred instead of sealed. There were eleven vents on the ceiling.

Instead of purchasing a new RV, she took the plunge and began designing a tiny house to build on top of the RV frame. I tore it all down. I only saved the sink and the fenders, she said.

Probsts father is a former woodworker. When I asked him to help, he just smiled and sighed and said hed thought it was going to be a quiet winter, she said.

A history of tiny living

Probst is no stranger to adventure. After a stint in Florida, she moved to Washington D.C. and began considering moving onto a sailboat. I remember thinking, what if we hate it? Where are my shoes going to go? How am I going to get ready for work? Probst remembers.

Their previous living arrangements in Washington D.C. could top $1,600 per month. After a month spent persuading her partner, Probst moved aboard a sailboat with a $100-per-month price tag.

Probst is a social worker, often working a part-time side hustle, so she doesnt have much free time. But she values her surroundings more than her belongings.

Being on that boat, I learned that I really didnt need anything, she remembered. It took us five minutes to pack it up. We went sailing every day.

Back to her roots

Probst returned to Jim Falls in 2014, and spent a month milking cows at a Chetek farm: I used to sing to the cows when I milked them. What else are you going to do at 5 a.m.? she asked.

But after traveling to Egypt, Europe and much of the U.S. for ten years, Probst was not satisfied living in her parents Jim Falls house.

What was I going to do? she said. Id been gone for a decade. I needed to keep living and challenge myself.

One trip to Rib Lake and $100 later, and Probst was the proud owner of her two-wheeled future home. Her father, Bob Probst, offered to act as a consultant. My dad taught me the basics, she said. I sandblasted and painted. I wasted a lot of material. I literally built it all, from the ground up.

The t2 1/2 year process hit quite a few roadblocks. The RVs frame can only hold 7000 pounds, which tripped Probst up. The popular HGTV series Tiny House Hunters is an inspiration for many who dream of their own tiny houses, but Probst said the shows portrayal would not work for her model.

Half of the materials they use, beautiful oak stairs, tree trunks and stones  I couldnt use them. I have a weight problem (with the project). Im already pushing it with the arched ceilings, she said.

Insulation for Wisconsins winter weather also had Probst unsure. The walls are only an inch and a half thick, Bob Probst said.

But with propane heat and electricity, she is optimistic that come January, she will be able to watch the snow fly from her tiny house, nestled in a pocket of trees on her parents land.

Interior re-designer

Probst was in her element, she said, designing all 216 square feet of her home  which she has nicknamed Mabel. Instead the darker wood and rustic style of many tiny houses, Mabel is painted in Victorian-inspired whites and grays, with hammered metal doors and homemade shelves.

Sunlight streams through the whole house from the windows lining the sitting area. Probst said she finds window trim at thrift stores, then paints and cuts it to fit.

The house has functioning electricity, and mismatched light fixtures line the ceiling. Since Probsts loft acts as a bedroom, the kitchen and bathroom areas are spacious. She has designed and built a compost toilet, and has plans to install solar panels and an outdoor shower.

Probst demonstrates a surprise shes been working on: she reaches up, moves a latch, and a hidden shelf swings down from the bathroom ceiling. I dont know what I should do with these, she says. Towel storage? Jewelry box? What do you think?

Over and over, she emphasizes that nearly everything inside her four walls is designed, constructed and installed from scratch. Her mother made the seat cushions and curtains; she built her own mattress using a couch pad and goose feathers.

I dont know what Im doing, she said, gesturing a metal bowl she plans to mount as a bathroom sink. So a lot of times, I think, what can I figure out in this moment?

A blueprint for the future

Probst said she intends to keep her tiny house on her parents plot of land for some time. Theres still plenty to do, she said. Maybe Id like to buy a piece of land on a river and move it there.

Paul Probst looks back on the experience fondly. She did very well for her first time. Shes got grit. Shes stubborn.

Probst intends to move in within a week of the housewarming party on August 12; however, the house is potentially for sale for the right price. Although the upfront cost was between $10,000 and $15,000, the house will save her money in the long run, she said.
A group of Dalits from Andhra Pradesh's Garagaparru village is in the national capital to seek help against the community's "social boycott" allegedly by an upper caste group over the installation of an Ambedkar statue.

The group comprising four villagers today said the boycott by "upper caste landlords" was continuing and posing "livelihood and safety issues" for the families in the West Godavari district village.

They are trying to meet central government ministers, MPs and the National Human Rights Commission over the issue.

There has been unrest in the village for about three months between the upper caste Kshatriyas and members of the Mala community (a scheduled caste group in AP).

It started when the Kshatriyas allegedly objected to the SC community's move to install a statue of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar on the village tank bund.

On July 25, Social Welfare Minister Nakka Anand Babu, Labour Minister Pithani Satyanarayana and SC Corporation chairman Jupudi Prabhakar had visited the village and brokered peace between the warring factions. They had also handed over cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to the Dalit families.

"We demand that the Centre and the government of Andhra Pradesh take immediate steps to end the social boycott otherwise it could spread to other parts of the state," said V Srinivas Rao, national coordinator of Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch, in a press conference.

The Dalits in Garagaparru who used to work in the fields of the landlords have been rendered jobless, Rao said.

A Dalit leader was killed recently in an accident but there are "doubts" over it, he claimed.

"An atmosphere of insecurity and helplessness is prevailing as there are no jobs. Dalit families are getting food from a community kitchen set up by social organisations," he said.

In May, the social boycott had begun with the Dalits being stopped from working in the fields and doing other jobs of maids and drivers, Rao claimed.

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The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says the US President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community.

North Korea yesterday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.

"North Korea's test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missile-the second such test in less than a month-is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action.

The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these tests-and these weapons-ensure North Korea's security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region," Trump said.

The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 AM EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said.

This was North Korea's 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month.

The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call," Joint Chief of Staff Chairman's spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said.

Meanwhile the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Korea's missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said today.

This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on July 5.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

"The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range," Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, said in a tweet.

"Now is the time to ramp up sanctions. China cannot have it both ways; it cannot do business as usual with the US and subsidising North Korea," he said.

"But we need to be ready to talk too, and ready to accept a freeze, something far less than denuclearisation for the foreseeable future," Sherman added.

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Union minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday played down reports of former Hizbul Mujahideen commander Zakir Musa being named as the head of al-Qaeda's cell in Jammu and Kashmir, saying India is capable of meeting any challenge.

Islamist terror group had on Thursday officially announced the establishment of its unit in Jammu and Kashmir, naming former Hizbul Mujahideen militant Zakir Musa as its chief in the troubled state.

The announcement was made by the Global Islamic Media Front, the media wing of and its allied jihadist groups across the world.

"I think Kashmir today and India today is much more awakened than ever before. India is capable of meeting any challenge," Minister of State in the PMO Singh said here while responding to a question on al-Qaeda's new cell in Kashmir.

He said the greatest assets are the common masses of Kashmir particularly the youth of the valley, who are ready to join mainstream India and want to be part of the developmental journey led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The youth of Kashmir is very well connected globally. He (youth of Kashmir) is aware about the enormous opportunities available to him in the rest of the country in last 2-3 years," Singh said.

He said "that is why, you have seen 30 young boys and girls of Kashmir qualified for the IITS and IIMs. We have Kashmiri boys qualifying and topping in civil service exams. They are aware about the opportunities available to them in central government".

"They (youth of Kashmir) are keen to avail the opportunities made available to them and they are keen to do it regardless of what is being fed to them (by separatists)," he said while ruling out the youth getting influenced by terror.

"It is only the wheel of fear that is preventing them and very soon, when the militancy is down and out, Kashmiri youth will look forward to a giant leap in the country," he said.
Indonesia and Australia today co- hosted a counter-terrorism meeting to address the rising threat of foreign fighters, as the Philippines battles pro- Islamic State militants.

The one-day gathering in North Sulawesi brings together six countries including Malaysia, Philippines and New Zealand.

Ministers are due to discuss the challenges posed by growing terrorism in Southeast Asia as well as concerns that IS is trying establish a regional caliphate in the Philippines, where government forces are pitted against Islamist gunmen holed up in a southern city.

"I am hopeful that this meeting will produce a valuable outcome so together we could fight terrorism, especially in Marawi, Southern Phillipines," Indonesia's chief security minister Wiranto told journalists late Friday ahead of the event.

Parts of Southeast Asia have long struggled with Islamic militancy, with hundreds of radicals from the region flocking to join IS in Iraq and Syria.

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Iran today condemned new sanctions passed by the US Congress against its missile programme, which President Donald Trump is set to sign into law, and vowed to continue it.

"We will continue with full power our missile programme," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told state broadcaster IRIB.

"We consider the action by the US as hostile, reprehensible and unacceptable, and it's ultimately an effort to weaken the nuclear deal," Ghasemi added, referring to a 2015 agreement with the United States and other world powers that lifted some sanctions on Tehran.

"The military and missile fields... Are our domestic policies and others have no right to intervene or comment on them.

"We reserve the right to reciprocate and make an adequate response to the US actions," he said.

The sanctions bill, which also targets Russia and North Korea, was passed by the US Senate on Thursday, two days after being approved by the House of Representatives.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Friday that President Donald Trump will sign the bill into law.

Separately on Friday, Washington imposed new sanctions targeting Iran's missile programme a day after Tehran tested a satellite-launch rocket.

The US Treasury singled out six companies owned or controlled by Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which it said was central to the programme, freezing their US assets and barring US citizens from dealing with them.

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Sri Lanka today signed a USD 1.1 billion deal to sell a 70-per cent stake of the strategic Hambantota port to China, amid concerns over the massive debt the island nation incurred in building the port.

The deal had been delayed by several months over concerns that the deep-sea port could be used by the Chinese navy.

Cash-rich China has invested millions of dollars in Sri Lanka's infrastructure since the end of a brutal civil war in 2009.

As part of the deal, the stake in the loss-making port has been sold to China's state-run conglomerate China Merchant Port Holdings (CMPort).

Sri Lanka's Minister of Ports and Shipping Mahinda Samarasinghe and China's envoy to Colombo Yi Xianliang were present when the Concession Agreement was signed.

Under the 99-year lease agreement, CMPort is to invest up to USD 1.1 billion in the port and marine-related activities.

"This is a very favourable agreement compared with the plan in 2014," Samarasinghe said, referring to the original plan laid out during former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's tenure.

The agreement was open for further amendments, he said.

The deal may raise security concerns in India.

According to the new deal, only Sri Lankan Navy will be responsible for security of the deep-sea port, and the port will not be allowed to become a base for any foreign navy.

The new provision is seen as an attempt to allay India's concerns over Chinese navy's possible presence in Sri Lanka.

The port, overlooking the Indian Ocean, is expected to play a key role in China's Belt and Road initiative, which will link ports and roads between China and Europe.

The Sri Lankan government had to face huge opposition to the deal from trade unions, who called it a sellout of the country's national assets to China.

Last week, petroleum workers brought the country to a standstill for two days by stopping fuel distribution. They



But Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said: "We are giving the country a better deal without any debt."



The accumulated loss from the port was more than USD 300 million and the money realised from deal will set off the debts owed to China, he said.

Sri Lanka's Cabinet had on July 25 approved the transfer of stake in the port to the Chinese firm, tweaking the deal after the initial agreement sparked protests in the country.

The initial 80:20 share distribution has been revised to 69.55 per cent to CMPort and 30.45 per cent to Sri Lanka Port Authority.

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"Stranger Things" actress Natalia Dyer is set to star in an indie drama "Mountain Rest".

The film will mark the directorial debut of writer- director Alex O Eaton, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The 20-year-old actress has joined Frances Conroy, Shawn Hatosy and Kate Lyn Sheil in the film, which is set to go on floors on September 10.

The script centers on an aging actress who after sequestering herself in a small mountain town, calls her estranged daughter and granddaughter home for reconciliation and one final celebration.

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Differing with other parties on the NEET issue, Puthiya Tamizhagam today criticised them for seeking exemption to the state from the test, instead of preparing students to take it to come on the merit list.

"Tamil Nadu students are on par with students across India and are capable of succeeding in the NEET. Parties should take steps to prepare the students so that they also come in the merit list," PT leader Dr K Krishnasamy told reporters here.

On the argument by political parties that rural and urban poor and students from oppressed castes would be affected, Krishnasamy, a former MLA and a doctor, pointed out that in the last 10 years, 30,000 students had joined the medical stream in Tamil Nadu, of whom only 300 were from rural areas.

Stating that there are nearly 6,500 seats in Government and private colleges in Tamil Nadu, he said students from the state can get at least 85 per cent of them on merit by appearing in the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test(NEET).

Political parties, without going into details of the admission process,were blaming the ruling party and BJP at the Centre, he said, adding that state ministers were needlessly going to Delhi to seek exemption for the state from NEET.

He said Puthiya Tamizhagam would stage demonstrations in all district headquarters on August 1, seeking selection of students based on NEET score.

Krishnasamy said the state government's move to bring in ordinance in this regard was not the solution to this problem, as students are mentally upset over whether they will be able to join the medical course, as all other states have started counselling with a deadline of August 1.

The AIADMK, DMK and other parties in the state have been opposing NEET, saying state board students, especially from rural areas, would find it difficult to compete with CBSE students.

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Condemning North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Russia and China bear "unique and special responsibility" for Pyongyang's "relentless" pursuit of nuclear weapons.

He blamed Russia and China for being the "principal economic enablers" of the reclusive regime's nuclear weapons programme, despite it violating multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

Tillerson urged all nations to "take a strong public stance" against North Korea. He asked them to strengthen UN sanctions to ensure North Korea faces "consequences for its relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them".

North Korea late yesterday launched its second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) within in a month. The missile travelled about 1,000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, reports said.

Hours after the launch, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said it demonstrated his country can hit the US mainland.

The launch came a day after the US Congress voted to impose tougher sanctions against Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Condemning the ICBM launch, Tillerson said that this was in "blatant violation" of UNSC resolutions that reflect the "will of the international community".

"As the principal economic enablers of North Korea's nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development programme, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability," he said.

He said the US seeks a peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the end to North Korea's "belligerent actions".

"As we and others have made clear, we will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea nor abandon our commitment to our allies and partners in the region," he said.

Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asked the US to pursue a "comprehensive approach" to force Pyongyang to back down.

He suggested rigorous enforcement of sanctions, strengthening regional alliances, and expanded deployment of missile defence systems to confront the North Korean threat.

Congressman Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said another advance for the North's missile programme amplifies the danger to the US homeland and accelerates the need for steps to protect Americans and its allies.

"We need a stronger approach on a faster timeline now," he said.

Senator Joe Donnelly, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, said: "The administration can and must step up sanctions against China and anyone else who contributes to propping up this dangerous regime".

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Former Union minister Sanwar Lal Jat, who was shifted to AIIMS here from Rajasthan, is critical, doctors said.

The 62-year-old BJP MP had collapsed during a meeting chaired by party president Amit Shah at Jaipur last week, following which he was admitted to the ICU of Sawai Man Singh Hospital there.

"His condition is critical. He is on ventilator," AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria said.

The saffron leader was airlifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Thursday.

According to the doctors at AIIMS, Jat had a cardiac arrest which has caused damage to his brain.

A team of doctors is monitoring his condition.

Jat had served as minister of state for water resources in the Modi government before the cabinet reshuffle last year.

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For every 10 jobs created at a massive electronics manufacturing campus planned to be built by Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn in southeastern Wisconsin, 17 more jobs will be created elsewhere in the state, an analysis by a company consultant shows.

A study commissioned by Foxconn and released by Gov. Scott Walkers administration Friday shows the facilitys operations would support more than 35,000 jobs statewide  a figure that includes the 13,000 planned to be at the campus itself.

The electronics manufacturer has signed a tentative agreement with Walker to build 20 million square feet of manufacturing facilities on about 1,000 acres in the southeastern area of the state.

Such an operation would spin off thousands of jobs to supply the factory and to supply the workers with personal services, products and homes, according to the study conducted by the Ernst & Young accounting firm.

The analysis estimated about 400 jobs at a glass manufacturer that would be located near the facility, which would create LCD panels, for example.

About $181 million in state and local tax revenues would result from bringing that workforce and operations to Wisconsin, and the facility would produce $7.6 billion of gross economic output per year once the plant is fully operational, assuming the campus assembles 6 million televisions annually.

State taxpayers would offer $3 billion in incentives.

Of the $10 billion investment needed to create the facility, $5.7 billion would be for construction and equipment sourced from within Wisconsin, the study said.

Plant workers are expected to earn an average of $73,500 in total compensation, including an average base wage of $53,875. Since that figure is an average and not a median amount, it could be significantly affected by a few workers making very high salaries.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has said most entry-level jobs would pay about $13 to $15 per hour and up.
President Donald Trump has fired Reince Priebus as chief of staff, replacing him with Homeland Security Secretary Gen (rtd) John Kelly, amid growing tensions at the White House due to infighting among top staffers.

"I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff," Trump told his more than 34.8 million followers on twitter soon after his return from New York.

"He is a Great American and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration," Trump said.

The latest shakeup of the White House leadership comes as the feud between Priebus and the new Communication Director Anthony Scaramucci went nasty over the past few days, hogging the media limelight.

Scaramucci was appointed the new White House Communication Director on July 21.

Soon after, Sean Spicer had resigned as the White House Press Secretary in protest.

Trump also promoted his Deputy Sarah sanders as the new White House Press Secretary.

Before being appointed as the White House Chief of Staff, Priebus was the chairman of the Republican National Committee, in which capacity he played a key role in Trump's presidential election.

Kelly has been a staunch supporter of Trump, during his election campaign days.

He previously served as the former Commander of US Southern Command and was the commanding general of the Multi- National Force-West in Iraq from February 2008 to February 2009.

As Secretary of Homeland Security, Kelly has played a key role in the border security of the Trump Administration.

Over the last few weeks, Trump has expressed frustration over the White House leaks.

With a retired general in charge of his White House now, the president hopes to bring in some discipline and end the current mess inside the White House.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Voting has began amidst tight security for the by-election to the Northern Angami-I Assembly constituency in Kohima district from where former Nagaland chief minister president Shurhozelie Liezietsu is contesting on a NPF ticket.

Voting started at 7 am and will end at 4 pm, official sources said.

A total of 16,235 voters, which include 7697 male and 8538 female will exercise their franchise in 25 polling stations.

The contest in the Northern Angami seat is straight between Liezietsu and and his only rival Independent candidate Kekhrie Yhome.

The by-election was necessitated following the resignation of sitting MLA Khriehu Liezietsu on May 24 last, so that his father Shurhezelie Liezietsu could get elected as regular member of the state assembly.

Long ques of voters were seen in polling booths.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
State lawyers defending Wisconsins 2011 redistricting plan, which was called an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander by a federal court panel, filed their opening brief Friday with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the high court should reject the lower court ruling and throw out a lawsuit brought in 2015 by a group of state Democratic voters.

The Supreme Court in June announced that it would decide the case, and later set oral arguments for Oct. 3.

The group of Democrats charges that the 2011 plan was designed to heavily favor Republican candidates in state legislative races, giving them a built-in advantage to retain a large majority of seats in Wisconsins legislative houses, despite statewide vote totals in presidential races that typically split nearly evenly between Republicans and Democrats.

The group said it has devised a means of measuring partisan gerrymanders, which the Supreme Court in the past has said was missing. Its measure, called the efficiency gap, shows how cracking (breaking up blocs of Democratic voters) and packing (concentrating Democrats within certain districts) results in wasted votes  excess votes for winners in safe districts and perpetually inadequate votes for the losers.

In its brief, the state argues that the Supreme Court has never found that any state legislature has engaged in unlawful partisan gerrymandering, and that the Democratic group has given the court no new redistricting principles or test.

They have, instead, recycled arguments that this court has already rejected, while attacking a plan that complies with traditional redistricting principles and is strikingly similar to the immediately prior, court-drawn plan, lawyers from the state Office of the Solicitor General wrote. Given the jurisdictional and merits-based deficiencies in plaintiffs claims, their lawsuit must be dismissed.

The state also argues in its brief that the plaintiffs in the case lack standing to challenge a statewide redistricting plan, when their only concrete concern is within the individual districts where they live.

The group that organized the lawsuit disagrees.

A federal court ruled the legislatures map-rigging was unconstitutional because it violated the rights of Wisconsin citizens, and were confident the Supreme Court will uphold that decision, said Sachin Chheda, director of the Fair Elections Project, which organized and launched the case on behalf of plaintiffs, including the lead plaintiff, retired UW-Madison law professor William Whitford.

The Whitford group has 30 days to respond to the states brief. Friend of the court briefs, filed by groups that have expressed an interest in being heard in the case, are due a week later.

Initially, the three-judge panel had ordered Wisconsin to redraw districts by Nov. 1, 2017, in time for the 2018 elections, but in June the Supreme Court stayed that order until after it decides the case.

In a statement Friday, state Attorney General Brad Schimel said the stay brings me additional confidence in the sound legal arguments we are advancing.
Fugitive businessman Guo Wengui raised $3 billion from Abu Dhabi investors for the ACA Investment Fund, most of which he sunk into a bad investment in 2015.

Using government connections and bombastic rhetoric, Chinese fugitive businessman Guo Wengui once pictured an investment oasis to lure billions of dollars from Abu Dhabi investors seeking higher returns in Chinas financial market. But as Guos business network unraveled amid unfolding graft investigations, the oasis turned out to be a mirage.

Guo, the real-estate magnate behind the landmark, dragon-shaped Pangu Plaza near Beijing's Olympic stadium, is listed by Interpol in an arrest notice at Chinas request. Prosecutors in China are investigating a series of suspicious bribery, embezzlement and fraud cases allegedly linked to Guo and his companies, according to sources in the judiciary system.

Guo fled China in 2014 to avoid investigations that brought down his close ally Ma Jian, the disgraced former vice minister of the Ministry of State Security. But Guo has continued to move capital among dozens of shell companies registered in Hong Kong, the U.S., Canada and the British Virgin Islands to hunt for profits in the Chinese market and to fund his extravagant lifestyle in Hong Kong and the U.S., Caixin found from business and legal documents and sources close to the matters.

A large chunk of money Guo maneuvered overseas was raised from the Abu Dhabi royal family, Caixin has found. Leveraging his ties with Ma as well as with former British prime minister Tony Blair, who served as a United Nations peace envoy and has known Guo since 2008, Guo portrayed himself as someone with an official background and promised tempting investment opportunities into Chinas profitable financial institutions, including the Minsheng Bank, the countrys largest private-owned commercial lender.

But Guos promise of big investment returns never materialized. Instead, the Abu Dhabi investors later found part of the $3 billion they put in an investment fund managed by Guo has been used in loss-making deals, debt repayment and Guos personal spending, including the purchase of a yacht, sources said.

Abu Dhabi Wealth

After the 2008 global financial crisis, the Abu Dhabi royal family sought to allocate more of their massive investment portfolio to the Asia and China markets to hedge risks. In early 2012, during a visit to the United Arab Emirates by then-Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the two sides first proposed the idea of setting up an intergovernmental joint investment fund. But it wasnt until late 2015 that the official UAE-China Joint Investment Fund was created.

Guo sensed opportunity and moved early and quickly. Beginning in 2013 he started approaching senior members of Abu Dhabi, including Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chief executive officer of Mubadala Investment Co., an Abu Dhabi strategic investment fund, sources close to Guo said. In the summer of that year, Guo received Abu Dhabi guests in Beijing. He also took several trips to Abu Dhabi during the year, civil aviation flight records show.

On one of the trips, he traveled with Blair, who introduced Guo to key Abu Dhabi figures, including Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, sources close to the matter told Caixin.

Guo was expecting to use the Abu Dhabi money to invest into a domestic securities firm and boost the companys value, a former employee of Guo told Caixin. Guo in 2013 partnered with Li You, then CEO of Peking University Founder Group Co., to merge Guos Minzu Securities with Founder Groups Founder Securities.

Guo and Li expected the Abu Dhabi fund to push up Founder Securities share price and make it the most wonderful share in China, according to the source.

Abu Dhabi will do what we say, said Guo at that time, the source said.

But after the merger was completed in August 2014, relations between Guo and Li soured amid a fight for the control of the new Founder Securities. Each accused the other of fraud and other wrongdoing. The business dispute soon triggered graft investigations and led to the detention of Li, who later made accusations to authorities against Guo and Ma. Guo soon fled China.

The threat to Guo in China didnt stop him from going ahead with the Abu Dhabi investment plan. In December 2014, Guo and Abu Dhabi representatives signed an agreement in Macau to set up the ACA Investment Fund in Hong Kong with $12 billion, in which each side would invest $6 billion. The fund is jointly held by Alfa Global Ventures and Alfonso Global Ltd., two British Virgin Islands-registered companies controlled by Guo, and the Cayman Islands-registered vehicle Roscalitar2 owned by the Abu Dhabi royal family.

The two sides set up ACA Investment Management Ltd. to manage the fund, with Guo and Roscalitar2 respectively controlling 70% and 20% of its shares. The remaining 10% stake went to veteran investment banker Je Kin Ming, also known as William Je or Yu Jianming, who worked for Hong Kong-based financial company Macquarie Capital Ltd. at the time. Je helped Guo, one of his key clients, rent an office in Hong Kong for the fund, and negotiate the funds investment plans with several Chinese businessmen, sources with knowledge of the matter told Caixin.

Under the agreement, Guo would borrow $3 billion from the Abu Dhabi royal family to inject into the fund for initial investment. Guo pledged his BVI-registered company Shiny Ace -- which controlled Guos assets, including a hotel in Henan Province, a private residence in Beijing and a villa in Hong Kong -- to Abu Dhabi partners as collateral for the loan. Guo agreed to invest another $6 billion into the fund one year later.

But most of Guos assets had already been pledged to domestic banks and trust companies for loans, Caixin has learned.

Empty Promises

In a tempting promise, Guo said he would invest the first batch of $1.5 billion of the ACA Investment Fund he received from the Abu Dhabi partners into Minsheng Bank, Chinas largest private lender, with 5.9 trillion yuan in total assets, and dual listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

But most of the money was used to repay bank loans owed by Guos companies and to fund his personal lifestyle, including a lavish home renovation and the purchase of a yacht in Hong Kong, according to Yang Ying, former financial chief of Beijing Pangu Investment Co., a property company controlled by Guo.

We transferred the money back to China within three days (after the fund arrived), Yang told Caixin. She received a two-year sentence with three years of reprieve in July, along with two other former executives of Beijing Pangu, for obtaining loans and foreign currency with fraudulent documents. They asserted during the court hearings that they had followed Guos orders.

Guo had talked with Minsheng investors about a potential stake purchase, according to Zhang Hongwei, chairman of the Orient Group, one of Minshengs largest single shareholders.

Zhang told Caixin that in December 2014, Je, in the name of a representative for Abu Dhabis sovereign wealth fund, started to discuss a plan with him for investing in Minsheng with money from the Middle East. Zhang said that he didnt think Guo took the lead in the plan.

In February 2015, Zhang and Guo reached a framework agreement, in which Zhang agreed to help ACA Investment Fund obtain a 29% stake in Minsheng in two batches. In return, the ACA fund would buy convertible bonds issued by United Energy, a Hong Kong-listed energy firm controlled by Zhang.

But, as unease surrounding Guo mounted after his top ally Ma fell under graft investigation in January, the agreement soon fell apart.

Storyteller

To try to dispel his business partners concerns over him being the subject in graft investigations, Guo made up a new story. He said he was supported by a senior leader of China and stayed overseas for safety reasons, a person close to Guo said. His story apparently convinced the Abu Dhabi investors, who in May 2015 transferred the second batch of $1.5 billion to Guo. But the Abu Dhabi side also required a supplemented agreement with Guo demanding collateral of two of his companies--Alfa Global Ventures and Genever.

The money became the chief vehicle to fund Guos acquisition of Hong Kong-listed Haitong Securities, Chinas second-largest brokerage, in a private placement in 2015.





After the partnership with Founder Securities collapsed, Guo started looking for a new investment target. In early 2014, he negotiated with Swiss Bank UBS about potential investment in Haitong. UBS later served as the investment bank in Haitongs share placement.

In November 2014, Guo told Wang Kaiguo, then chairman of Haitong, that he could invest in Haitong with money from the Middle East, Wang told Caixin. In June and July that year, Je also talked to him about a similar matter, Wang recalled.

According to public documents, Haitong completed the HK$32.9 billion ($4.2 billion) private placement in May 2015. Of the seven investors who participated in the share sale, four were investment vehicles of Guo-Dawn State, Maunakai Capital, Insight Capital and AMTD, business registration documents viewed by Caixin show. The four companies bought a combined 42% of Haitongs Hong Kong-listed shares, equivalent to 12% of the brokerages total equity, making Guo the de facto second-largest shareholder of Haitong behind the Shanghai government.

In addition to about $2 billion from the ACA Investment Fund, the companies also borrowed more than $1.2 billion from UBS and Morgan Stanley to finance the investment.

Haitong offered a more than 20% discount to the market price in the shares sale. The companys share prices soared amid a bull market that began in late 2014. When the placement transactions were completed on May 29, ACA Investment Fund had seen 35% gains on book for the investment.

But the strong performance of Haitongs shares didnt last long. When Chinas stock market bubble burst in June 2015, the meltdown spread to Hong Kong where Haitongs shares plunged by 25% between June 5 and July 3. The market crash dealt a major blow to Guos stocks. He lost nearly $1 billion, partly because UBS issued a margin call and sold a big chunk of his stocks, and the remaining stocks he held also lost more than 20% of their book value.

Finding Way Out

As the deadline approached in 2016 for when Guo had promised to kick in his share into the ACA fund, Guo felt the pinch, especially given the loss-making Haitong stock investment and the intensifying investigations in China.

A person close to Guo said that Guo has mainly remained in the U.S. since May 2015 and tried to transfer some of his interests and benefits in mainland assets to investment vehicles in Hong Kong. But as investigations have unfolded, most of Guos assets in China have been frozen.

Guo also planned to sell his yacht and villa in Hong Kong, even though the villa had been pledged to Abu Dhabis Roscalitar2 as collateral.

Seeing that their hoped-for investment gains hadnt been realized, Abu Dhabi investors renegotiated the terms with Guo in 2016. Under an agreement signed in December of that year, Guo agreed to transfer all his assets in China to the ACA Investment Fund, which would pledge the assets to Roscalitar2. Guo claimed that his China assets, including the Pangu Plaza, were worth $12 billion.

The two sides also agreed to transfer Guos Alfa Global Ventures, which held half of Guos rights and benefits in the ACA fund, to Roscalitar2. The management of the fund was also reshuffled, with Abu Dhabians taking the important seats while Guo lost his control. But in exchange, the Abu Dhabi side agreed to offer an extra $3 billion loan to Guo, sources told Caixin.

It is unclear whether the Abu Dhabians can recoup the losses through such arrangement since most of Guos assets in China are frozen. But Guo has moved quickly to cash in his remaining assets overseas.

In June, Guo listed his luxury Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park for $78 million on the website of property broker Brown Harris Stevens. But Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund (PAX), a hedge fund affiliated with Hong Kong investment firm Pacific Alliance Group, earlier this month asked a New York state court to block the sale, citing concerns that Guo will leave the U.S. PAX sued Guo in New York in April, claiming $88 million in defaulted debts.

A source close to Haitong International Securities Group, the Hong Kong subsidiary of Haitong Securities, said Haitong International on July 5 offered a $100 million loan to a company owned by Guo. Haitong International declined to comment on the matter.

Editors note: A Caixin report in 2015 revealed how Guo and Ma formed a close alliance, using national security power to meddle in business deals. In response to Guos subsequent attacks on Caixin, Caixin filed lawsuits against Guo and his companies, accusing him of fabricating and disseminating false information.

Lin Jinbing contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)
"Thirdly, data from this Austrian trial showed that two thirds of people discarded their pill if the machine detected a particular [substance] with 50 per cent reconsidering their need to ever take drugs again. There's too much riding on drug policy to bungle it."
The survey results, released this week, also found 28 per cent of respondents in the ACT think the economy is growing, compared with 14 per cent who think it is slowing. The result is down four points, while Canberra is now the second most confident state or territory on the measure.
"It's clear from the words of the chief policer office and many others that community safety is at risk and it's only a matter of time before somebody is killed or seriously injured. And we are talking about innocent members of the community because if you fire 27 rounds of high-power ammunition in the suburbs it's only by chance that someone isn't injured or killed."
The changes, championed by the party's left faction and voted up 128 to 72, would allow members vote on preselection without attending sub-branch meetings but have been criticised by the party's right as a way for the left to gain control of a possible third federal seat.
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 ...
The reasons for the Republicans difficulties in redeeming their seven-year promise to repeal Obamacare range from President Donald Trumps erratic leadership and unfocused salesmanship to the unpopular GOP health proposals inherent problems.

But underlying their problems is a split in the Republican Party that existed before Trumps election and threatens to grow as House and Senate members confront the political fallout that could envelop them in the 2018 and 2020 elections.

The way that the partys conservative majority has been resisting the concerns of more moderate senators and Republican governors raises the question whether this widening split could become a full-fledged rupture, leading to the first real three-way presidential race since Ross Perots candidacy in 1992.

And rather than hurting Trumps re-election prospects, a three-way race could actually enhance them.

In one sense, the current circumstances mirror the GOP divisions more than a century ago when Theodore Roosevelts breakaway Progressive party undercut President William Howard Taft and made Woodrow Wilson the first Democratic president in 16 years.

Just as Roosevelt hurt Taft, most third-party candidates have tended to damage the party from which they skimmed off most of their voters (though Democratic President Harry S Truman survived the candidacies of not one but two splinter Democrats in 1948.)

However, the candidate who most benefits from that sort of situation in 2020 may be Trump. A three-way race might be the only way his inability to broaden his 40 percent base would prove an advantage that could win him a second term.

Without any increase in his appeal to independents, the president might struggle to repeat his 2016 victory in a two-way race, since he might have trouble holding voters who backed him out of disdain for both parties and candidates. Thats assuming Democrats put up an acceptable alternative.

Already, there are signs that the opposition to Trump that first surfaced in the 2016 Republican nominating race is persisting and widening. Its been evident in the repeated criticism of Trumps policies from Ohio Gov. John Kasich, whose actions belie his repeated demurrals he plans a second White House run after finishing third in the GOP contest last time.

Allied with Kasich are some other Republican governors, such as Massachusetts Charlie Baker and Nevadas Brian Sandoval, who have lobbied against the Senate GOP leaderships health bill because of the Medicaid cuts it would inflict on their states. Unlike the federal government, most states have balanced budget requirements that limit their flexibility to absorb something like a federal Medicaid cutback.

It seems highly unlikely that someone like Kasich, whose term as governor ends in 2019, could wrest the Republican nomination from Trump. But it is easy to see a repetition of the 2016 defections from Trump morphing into some kind of an independent presidential effort, especially if Democrats go too far left in choosing their standard-bearer.

While third-party candidates have failed to win the presidency since the Civil War, many have had far more influence than is generally realized in tipping or coming close to tipping the outcome.

Two recent GOP victories, Trumps in 2016 and George W. Bushs in 2000, were aided by left-wing Green Party nominees who polled only 1 and 2.7 percent nationally but drained off enough Democratic votes to affect the outcome in key states. In 1976, an independent bid by former Democratic Sen. Eugene McCarthy swung four states from Jimmy Carter and might have elected Republican President Gerald Ford had the Democrats not succeeded in keeping him off the ballot in New York.

On the other hand, though Perot polled more than 19 percent in 1992 and polls showed some two-thirds of them had previously voted Republican, post-election analyses also showed he probably didnt alter the outcome. His voters said they would have divided evenly between Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican President George H.W. Bush.

Admittedly, any discussion of a three-way 2020 race at this point is highly speculative, given that it is sometimes difficult in todays confused political climate to predict what will happen next week or next month.

But it may well be the end result of the disdain and mistrust toward Trump among establishment Republicans like Kasich. And it may be a circumstance for which this White House might yearn if Trump is unable to regain his lost support.
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!
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
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If you missed out on the new Ford GT, an 11-year old example could turn out to be the next best thing, as it has just 60 miles on the clock.



Set to shine under the Californian sun at Monterey for the RMSothebys auction that takes place on August 18 and 19, its described by the vendor as being the ideal example of the iconic modern American supercar, still very much as it was delivered new over a decade ago.

It is the 1,664th out of a total of 2,011 GTs, and the 145th of 190 finished in Midnight Blue Clearcoat, features the full set of white racing stripes, forged aluminum BBS rims, and a 5.4-liter V8 engine that delivers 550 horses and 500 pound-feet (678Nm) of torque.

The 0-60mph (96km/h) sprint takes 3.3 seconds, bringing it closer to the Mercedes-McLaren SLR and Porsche Carrera GT, rather than the Ferrari 360 which was Fords original target.

The auction house estimates that it will change hands for $275,000-$350,000, and bidders should know that this Ford GT is also accompanied by the delivery documentation, product information, and a copy of the window sticker.

PHOTO GALLERY
There is no current production vehicle thats more sought after than the Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta and we imagine driving through a city as crowded as London in one would be hellish. That is unless you hit the road in the early hours of the morning, where theres no traffic.



Thats exactly what the HR Owen dealership in London did a few days ago, and watching the ferocious Italian hypercar pass some of the western worlds most iconic man-made sights as the sun begins to rise is quite incredible.

Only 209 units of the LaFerrari Aperta are bound for the production line and demand for them is said to be so high that speculators could stand to make almost eight figures by selling one on the used market with very few miles on the clock.

The LaFerrari Aperta doesnt just represent the pinnacle of the companys range, but it also celebrates Ferraris 70th anniversary and is bound to go done as one of its most iconic models.

VIDEO
Rolls Royce is considering the expansion of its range, but unlike the current market trends, they are not looking to increase their sales. The companys boss said that theres no pressure to grow the brand and that theyre looking to offer a broader range of models within Rolls Royces existing volumes.



Volumes are nonsense, Torsten Muller-Otvos said. Customers dont want to see other Rolls-Royces.

Rather surprisingly though, the British companys future plans dont include a replacement for the Phantom Coupe or the Drophead models, Autocar reports. The smaller Dawn and Wraith models will take their roles in the range, while the brand will not go smaller than the Ghost.

Last year Rolls Royce sold just over 4,000 cars, with sales expected to grow towards 5,000 units once the Cullinan SUV is launched in 2019, which will bring new customers to the brand, according to Muller-Otvos.

Rolls Royce just revealed the eighth generation of the Phantom, which is based on an all-new, and bespoke to the company, aluminum architecture and powered by a twin-turbo 6.75-liter V12 with 563hp and 663lb-ft of torque.

PHOTO GALLERY
It doesnt take a genius to recognize that the vast majority of Formula One fans are not in favor of the sport adopting the controversial Halo protection device in 2018. However, what do the drivers think?



Well, on the eve of this weekends Hungarian Grand Prix, reporters asked eight of the grids finest drivers to express their opinions about it and, to our surprise, there are actually some supporters of the device.

Most notably, both Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, two of the sports most experienced and respected drivers, understand where the FIA is coming from in implementing the device and dont seem too concerned about how the Halo looks. If it can save just a single life or prevent someone from being seriously injured, they see no issue with it.

On the other hand, many of the younger drivers in F1 dont believe it is necessary. Among the most outspoken critics interviewed were Max Verstappen and Kevin Magnussen, who both believe head protection isnt need. Current F1 cars are already safe enough, they say, with Magnussen also voicing his concerns that the Halo may detract from the excitement of the sport.

VIDEO
Made in an era when automakers were more concerned in coming up with fast and safe cars, rather than being eco friendly and achieving fast Nurburgring lap times, the E39 M5 was one of the quickest saloons money could buy.



Over the years, it has been subjected to countless reviews, drag races, and pretty much everything one could think of. However, the best way to enjoy it, without actually driving it or riding shotgun, is through a POV video, such as this one, which was posted earlier this week by WindingRoadMagazine.

The film reveals the pros and cons of owning a BMW M5 E39 (okay, mostly pros), and shows the driver, who also happens to be the owner of the car, talk about it, as he blasts through the city streets and highway.

If the video has indeed opened your appetite for such a model, then get ready to spend somewhere around $20,000, or more, for a well preserved example. Thats not actually bad, considering that this sum would barely land you a new Toyota 86 instead of an M Division-made executive saloon with a V8 that packs 400hp.

VIDEO

Ask any BMW enthusiast what their favorite M5 is and they might say the .
Photo: Contributed

A celebration of life for a well-known Penticton man is taking place this weekend.

People are being invited to remember Joseph Foy Frocklage  better known as "Bear"  who died of an overdose in December.

"It's a celebration of life and we want to show all the positive things about his life and people like him," said his father Joseph Frocklage. "He was kind, gentle and a protector of people on the street."

Bear, 46, died after snorting what was believed to be a mix of heroin and fentanyl in December.

He had recently begun living with his parents at their 55 plus residence in the city. His death was part of a spike of overdoses that hit Penticton last winter.

The memorial is slated for 2 p.m., July 29 at the Ooknakane Friendship Centre at 146 Ellis Street. A traditional lunch will follow.

Any donations in Bear's memory can be dropped off at Green Essence at 409 Martin Street.
Photo: Contributed

Tickets are still available for "Totally Tom Petty hosts the Women of Rock" at the Frank Venables Theatre in Oliver on Saturday night.



The show is a Tom Petty Tribute, played by Phil Dunget, and his All-Star Vegas Show Band, playing all of Tom Petty's major hits.

The three famous women rockers are Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac and Pat Benatar. All three women artists are portrayed by Linda Maze.

All three women stars make their way one by one to rip up the stage with Totally Tom Petty and the Band during the concert.



aTickets are $37 in advance and $40 on the day of the show. The show is at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, go here.
Photo: RCMP Police service dog Grinder helped nab a bad guy.

A violent crime spree in Chilliwack has come to an end with the arrest of two men, one of whom allegedly tried to kill a police dog.

In June, RCMP were conducting investigations into a rash of violent crimes in the Fraser Valley.

Officers were led to the 8000 block of Lickman Road, where a man was reported to have suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Evidence ... linked two suspects to the allegation, said Cpl. Mike Rail.

On July 1, police responded to a report of a stolen pickup being driven near Yale and Dyke Crest roads.

The Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team along with a dog team located the truck at the Vedder River.

A 26-year-old woman was taken into custody, while a second occupant of the vehicle ran away.

"Loaded firearms and ammunition were seized by officers during their search of the pickup truck, said Rail.

Police service dog Grinder tracked the suspect through heavy brambles along the river.

As Grinder closed on his target, the suspect moved into deeper water, where he allegedly attempted to drown the tracking dog to escape capture, said Rail. The suspect was later located and taken into custody by ERT officers.

Rail said police were able to link the suspect to the Lickman Road complaint.

Jonathon David Olson, 38, of Courtenay faces charges of assault with a weapon, attempted kidnapping, possession of a loaded restricted weapon, attempt to kill or maim a law enforcement animal, and possession of stolen property.

The second suspect in the Lickman Road investigation was eventually taken into custody at a later date.

Two hand guns were seized.

Brodie Tyrel Robinson, 25, of Chilliwack faces charges of assault with a weapon, attempted kidnapping, and possession of a restricted firearm.

The woman was released from custody the following day by police.
Photo: Contributed

Campfires are still not allowed, but cooler temperatures and a lower fire danger rating in the northeastern part of the Cariboo Fire Centre have allowed officials to reopen Bowron Lake Provincial Park.

In consultation with the BC Wildfire Service, the park reopened Friday.

However, officials warn the level of wildfire activity can change quickly, so BC Parks and the BC Wildfire Service will continue to assess the situation for public safety, and the park may be closed again if warranted

BC Parks and the BC Wildfire Service are asking the public to remain vigilant and help prevent human-caused wildfires. To report a wildfire or open burning violation, call *5555 on a cellphone or 1-800-663-5555 toll-free.

A campfire ban remains in effect across British Columbia.
Photo: Colin Dacre The former Motel Super 8 on South Main Street

B.C. Housing has purchased the former Motel Super 8 in Penticton, with plans of turning it into housing for those in need of mental health and addictions services and others in housing crisis.

The conversion of the 54-unit motel has been a bit of an open secret within the city, but was finally confirmed this week with a rezoning application for Tuesdays council meeting.

The property will also be the new home for the citys homeless and emergency weather response shelters, which are currently operating at Compass House in the downtown.

The facility will be run by the Penticton and District Society for Community Living in partnership with Interior Health, who will be managing the units intended for persons with mental health issues and the Salvation Army, who will be operating the emergency shelter and emergency weather shelter, a City of Penticton staff report reads.

Major renovations will be needed to convert the existing pool area into the shelter. Other renovations to the property will include cosmetic upgrades, painting, new flooring and general clean-up of the existing motel rooms.

Once complete, the development will be dubbed Compass Court.

The staff report states environmental testing and plans are being developed with actual construction slated to begin after councils zoning approval, if successful.

The intent is for the emergency weather shelter to be open for November of this year as work on the long term housing units proceeds, Planning Manager Blake Laven writes in the report.

Staff are recommending council approve the plan, citing a over 200-unit deficiency in local subsidized housing units.

The need for this type of facility is evident, however, the question with this type of facility is always where an appropriate location would be, Laven continues. The location selected by BC Housing for this project is, in staffs consideration, a good location.

This is an area easily serviced by transit, is close to major shopping areas including several fast food restaurants, grocery stores and Value Village. More importantly, the site is close to the hospital and other emergency services.

The facility will reportedly have security measures in place including fencing, locking gates and 24-hour-a-day on site management.

The report points to two previous motel conversions by BC Housing, at the Skaha Sunrise in 2010 and Fairhaven last year. Growing pains are acknowledged in the report, but both now have waitlists for entry. This new, more ambitious project will aim to take the pressure off those two developments as the high resource residents are better placed where they will succeed.

If council accepts first reading on Tuesday, the project will be sent to public hearing on Aug 15.

BC Housing declined to comment, stating more information would be released next week.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Ontario MP Charlie Angus says he will miss a leadership debate next week in Victoria due his sister's illness.

Angus says his sister has been moved into palliative care, adding her time is running short.

He says his sister supported him at his campaign launch in February and he must now be there to support her.

Angus is among four candidates in the race to replace Tom Mulcair.

Other contenders include Quebec MP Guy Caron, Manitoba MP Niki Ashton and Ontario legislator Jagmeet Singh.

The Victoria debate is set for next Wednesday.
Photo: Contributed Traffic is backed up on Waterman's Hill following a strange police pursuit Tuesday evening.

RCMP are finally releasing details of a wild police chase in the South Okanagan on Tuesday evening.

Around 6:10 p.m., a Penticton resident reported her grey 2006 Ford F350 stolen from the Walmart parking lot. Less than one hour later, an employee at the prison in Oliver contacted the Penticton RCMP to report an unknown male had visited the facility to drop off an item for an inmate in the stolen truck.

The Penticton Target Enforcement Unit departed towards Oliver and spotted the stolen truck travelling north on Highway 97 near Vaseux Lake.

A spike belt was successfully deployed at Highway 97 and Weyerhauser Road which resulted in three tires on the truck being deflated, Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said The male driver did not stop for police after driving over the spike belt and continued to drive another 2.6 kilometres through residential streets in Okanagan Falls and on Highway 97.

Police report that the truck came within several feet of hitting a fire hydrant and commercial building, running two stop signs, almost hitting pedestrians and forcing cars on the highway to swerve around it.

The male suspect finally stopped the truck about 1.5 km north of Okanagan Falls and ran into the brush on the west side of the highway. He was spotted ten minutes later running toward Skaha Lake, said Moskaluk.

Gregory Montague was eventually arrested after trying to swim away from RCMP officers for about 20 minutes in the lake. Police say he provided a false name when he was arrested. A search of the truck located documents in Montagues name and a small amount of methamphetamine, an open bottle of alcohol and multiple pliers.

He made his first court appearance on July 26, pleading guilty to theft over $5000, fail to stop for the police and dangerous driving. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail and a 3 year driving prohibition.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Former B.C. premier Christy Clark announced Friday she would be resigning as leader of the Liberal party and as a member of the legislative assembly in Kelowna West. Here is a list of Clark's political highlights:
Photo: CTV-Chopper 9

UPDATE: Saturday 6:30 a.m.

A teenager is dead after a fall at North Vancouver's Lynn Canyon.

The 16 year old, from Pennsylvania, was sucked over a waterfall and fell about nine metres into another pool.

The boy died in hospital following an 18-metre rope rescue.

ORIGINAL: Friday 9 p.m.

Emergency crews performed a rope rescue to get an unidentified man out of the water in North Vancouver's Lynn Canyon Park Friday afternoon.

The young man was apparently swimming in an area known as Twin Falls, just east of the suspension bridge, when he went under.

He was pulled to shore by people in the area, but emergency crews needed the rope rescue to get him safely out of the park and off to hospital.

The man, believed to be about 20, was taken away in what was said to be life-threatening condition.

The area is popular with young cliff divers who like to jump into the rushing water below.

A 17-year-old boy died last year after cliff jumping near the suspension bridge.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: Google Maps

A 50-year-old Vancouver Island woman is dead after her vehicle left the Island Highway, plunged down an embankment and into the Salmon River.

The crash occurred late Thursday evening near the community of Sayward.

According to police, the vehicle crossed the centre line, left the road, and fell about 45 metres into the river below.

People in the area were able to pull the woman from her vehicle, but attempts to perform CPR were not successful.

A witness had been following the vehicle and it just gradually veered off, left, and got launched over the embankment, said Sayward RCMP Cpl. Kim Graham.

Were just determine if there was a medical issue with the driver or not.

--Files from CTV Vancouver Island
Photo: The Canadian Press Ontario deputy NDP leader Jagmeet Singh launched his bid for the federal NDP leadership in Brampton, Ont., on May 15.

Many NDP supporters may be focused on putting their feet up for the rest of the summer but their party's leadership race is about to enter a critical phase as candidates eye the last leg of the campaign to replace Tom Mulcair.

From now until the finish line, four candidates  Quebec MP Guy Caron, Manitoba MP Niki Ashton, Ontario MP Charlie Angus and Ontario legislator Jagmeet Singh  will be focused on the final push to sign up new members, especially with a looming Aug. 17 cutoff to bring in fresh blood.

"At the end of the day, that's going to be a big factor in who can win this race," said former NDP national director Karl Belanger. "It is crunch time ... When you bring your own people in, it is much easier to know where they are going to end up and who they are going to end up supporting."

This week, fundraising figures from Elections Canada from the second quarter will also be released ahead of a debate in Victoria  a telling moment in the race, Belanger said, noting it is critical for campaigns to demonstrate momentum when party members are preparing to make up their minds about the next leader.

"If you are able to show your capacity as an individual to raise a significant amount of money, you are showing the potential you have once you become leader and use the organization and infrastructure that is in place to raise even more money," he said.

Veteran B.C. MP Nathan Cullen, a candidate in the last NDP leadership contest, said he is also watching to see how the campaigns demonstrate their strength from here on out, including fundraising prowess and social media savvy.

"If you are able to demonstrate and be the momentum candidate, that is worth its weight in gold," Cullen said. "This is a critical time."

In the first quarter, Angus led the fundraising pack with $110,765 followed by Ashton at $65,521 and Caron at $57,235. Singh was not included in this batch because he had yet to enter the race.

Ashton's campaign says it has raised more than $100,000 in the month of July alone  an indication of what's to come, says the MP.

"I will say that if our campaign is any sign, we have seen some incredible response in terms of ... fundraising," Ashton said. "Our campaign has seen that you are able to raise money and ... build support."

All party members are eligible to vote for a new leader, either online or by postal mail. The winner must not only get the most votes, but also must attain at least 50-plus-one per cent of the ballots. As a result, although voting begins in September the balloting could last several rounds, stretching well into October.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Former British Columbia premier Christy Clark will resign as leader of the provincial Liberal party and give up her seat in Kelowna West.

Clark made her intentions known in a brief statement on Friday.

She said she informed her caucus colleagues about her decision to leave as leader effective Aug. 4.

Read more
Photo: Contributed Kamloops RCMP would like to talk to the two people who helped an officer who was being assaulted.

Kamloops RCMP would like to speak to two citizens who helped an officer who was being attacked.

Staff Sgt. Edward Preto said on July 28, at approx 3:15 p.m., a Kamloops RCMP member responded to a call of an erratic male running into traffic and hitting car windows on the 400 block of Seymour St.

The male suspect was located at 340 Victoria St. and as the RCMP member approached him, the officer was attacked and punched in the head by the suspect. Two bystanders assisted the RCMP member in the arrest of the suspect, said Preto.

The 37-year-old suspect, who is well known to police, was taken to hospital and is being treated for a drug overdose.

The RCMP member received medical treatment as a result of his injuries.

The RCMP would like to speak with the two bystanders who assisted the RCMP member. Without their assistance, the RCMP member may have potentially received more significant injuries during this attack, he said.

Anyone who witnessed the assault is asked to call Kamloops RCMP at 250-828-3000 in reference to file number 2017-25351.
Photo: Contributed The Balmoral Hotel is located on East Hastings Street near Main Street.

The City of Vancouver says it has filed 60 charges against the owners of a decaying hotel for alleged violations of bylaws related to maintenance standards.

It says in a release that infractions at the Balmoral Hotel Ltd., which is controlled by one family, stem from two inspections of the Downtown Eastside building earlier this year.

The city says the breaches include failure to maintain walls, ceilings and floors to adequate standards as well as unacceptable plumbing facilities such as baths and toilets.

City engineers deemed the hotel structurally dangerous in June and about 143 low-income residents were helped to find other accommodation.

Kaye Krishna, the city's general manager of development, buildings and licensing, says landlords must be held accountable for keeping habitable standards in so-called single-room accommodation buildings.

The city says the charges were filed in provincial court and that each of the alleged 60 infractions carries a potential fine of $250 to $10,000.
Photo: The Canadian Press Kevin Kerfoot, 53, is seen in this U.S. wanted poster.

A British Columbia man convicted of leading a cocaine and ecstasy smuggling ring has been sentenced to 13 year in a U.S. prison.

U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes says Kevin Kerfoot, 53, of Surrey organized an operation smuggle 41 kilograms of cocaine to Canada from Washington state in 2005.

A news release says Kerfoot was indicted in July 2006, nine months after others involved in the operation were arrested in the Bellingham, Wash., area while attempting to get the cocaine on a boat to Canada.

The boat operator was also bringing more than seven kilograms of ecstasy into the U.S. for distribution through Kerfoot's drug network.

The release says Kerfoot fought extradition from Canada for more than a decade but eventually exhausted his options, leading him to plead guilty in U.S. court in April.

Other members of the smuggling ring, including the boat operator, were sentenced to prison terms ranging three years to more than six years, but have since been released for serving their time.
Photo: File photo

A bright object in the heavens above the North Okanagan got the attention of many people over night.

Social media has lit up with speculation as to what the object was.

Some jokingly speculated it was an alien invasion, but the most common theory - and the most likely - is it was a meteor.

Just something very large fell towards Vernon...bright light maybe really large meteor? Started high in the east sky and rapidly lowered behind the hills in the west, Liana Battye told Castanet.

Posted one witness on Facebook, It lasted maybe three-and-a-half seconds. It looked huge. Over by the Swan Lake area, we saw it from Middleton.

The light was so bright it was seen in Enderby and Kamloops.

Gave me goosebumps big time! Felt like a sign from above, posted one person.

But the spectacular light show could just be the beginning as meteor showers are expected to light up the heavens through the summer.

According to earthysky.org, The Delta Aquariid meteor shower in July favors the Southern Hemisphere and tropical latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. But these meteors can be seen from around the world. The maximum hourly rate can reach 15-20 meteors in a dark sky. The nominal peak is around July 27-30, but, unlike many meteor showers, the Delta Aquariids lack a very definite peak. Instead, these medium-speed meteors ramble along fairly steadily throughout late July and early August. An hour or two before dawn usually presents the most favorable view. Best seen in the wee hours before dawn in late July.

The Perseid meteor shower is perhaps the most beloved meteor shower of the year for the Northern Hemisphere and it is expected in the middle of August.
Photo: Val Palmer There has been a motorcycle accident on Highway 97 near Vernon.

UPDATED 2:41 p.m.

Traffic along Highway 97 near Bailey Road is back to normal following a motorcycle accident Saturday morning.

UPDATED 11:05 a.m.

Traffic is still being impacted by a motorcycle accident south of Vernon on Highway 97.

The north-bound lanes were closed for some time, backing up traffic for several kilometres. Police were re-routing people along Crystal Waters Road around the accident scene.

Castanet has received unconfirmed reports a black motorcycle rear ended a pick up truck that was braking to avoid hitting a deer.

Castanet is receiving reports of a motorcycle accident near Vernon.

According to witnesses the accident happened in the north-bound lane of Highway 97 near Bailey Road at around 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Details are sparse, but it appears at least one person has been injured.

The extent of those injuries are not known at this time.

Castanet will have more details as soon as they become available.
Photo: File photo The Cariboo Regional District and District of 100 Mile House have lifted multiple evacuation alerts.

Effective immediately, the Cariboo Regional District and District of 100 Mile House have lifted multiple evacuation alerts.

These South Cariboo communities are now open for regular business, residents can return and economic activity can fully resume now that the alerts have been lifted.

Evacuation alerts are rescinded for the following areas:

Forest Grove and 100 Mile Fringe North;

100 Mile Southwest Davis Rd Area;

southeast Canim Lake, South Mahood Lake, Electoral Area L and part of Electoral Area G;

north end of Lac La Hache to 100 Mile House Boundary;

northwest of 100 Mile House, and the District of 100 Mile House.

An evacuation alert or order may need to be re-issued as wildfire activity continues in the area, air quality remains poor and additional areas within the CRD remain on evacuation alert or order.

Since areas in the CRD remain on evacuation alert or order, residents must be prepared in the event that the area receives a future evacuation order on short notice. Local governments may not have time to go door-to-door should a new evacuation order be issued.

To ensure public safety, people are being told to stay out of fire-affected areas and obey all warning and hazard signs.
It's not the largest green space in the area, but it is a popular one.

Dozens of people came out Saturday morning to show support for saving the BX Creek Trail at the north end of town.

The wetland is threatened by a plan to extend 20th Street through the area to solve what is known as the Stickle Pickle.

Stickle Road intersects with Highway 97 and has long been a subject of debate as to how to make the intersection safer.

Several ideas were proposed, but the extension was the one approved by the Province when the Liberals were in power.

However, the plan was not well received.

Jackie Brinkman was among those who gave up their morning for the cause.

It's really important to save our wetlands. They are a part of our system that we need to preserve, said Brinkman before the rally.

Denyse Chambers carried a sign that said 'Save our wetlands. No road.'

This is our trail. This is our walking trail, we walk grandkids, we walk our dogs, it's shaded, it's beautiful, said Chambers. They take away so much our our green space, we want to keep the green space. And besides that it flooded (earlier this year) so how are you going to put a road in there?

The rally was organized by SENS, the Sustainable Environmental Network Society.

Keli Westgate, who ran for the BC Green Party in the last provincial election, led the rally.

We are taking the last stand to save the BX Creek wetlands, said Westgate. It's the last shaded walking area at this end of town. There are red listed and blue listed protected species that live here.

One of the ideas Westgate proposed was a highway roundabout. She also said simply lowering the speed limit through the area would also improve safety.

And now that the Liberals are out of power, all bets are off.

I think the NDP are a little more environmental than the Liberals seem to have been. I think they may be more receptive to the idea than the previous administration, she said. This is the community standing up to say we don't want this current plan. We have said we are against the plan from the beginning.

Earlier this week, Vernon-Monahsee Libera MLA Eric Foster said the plan was devised by experts in the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and he backs it 100 per cent.
iStock/Thinkstock(ORLANDO, Fla.) -- A Florida preschool teacher wants her kids to "excel" as they matriculate -- so she came up with an exercise to help them do just that.



In a video that recently went viral, with more than 200,000 views, the class of 3-year-olds at Saint Mark Children Enrichment Center in Orlando spells out their names aloud, confidently and excitedly.



Teacher Sharsma Holmes told ABC News she recorded her students back in April.



"[They were] coming from lunch. That's why they're in a line outside," she recalled.



"We go over each milestone -- colors, shapes, numbers, letters, sounds and counting. The last step for my class is learning how to say, spell and identify your name," the teacher continued.



Holmes, 24, said the exercise is important for her students as they often come to school "and they may only know their nicknames."



"I really want them to excel, and not just learn what they need to know for the next class," she added.



The school's director, Morocca Holmes, said in a statement to ABC News that she was "extremely proud of our students and teachers." The statement continued in part that the school works "to provide an outstanding education" to "ensure that our students are more advanced than their current grade."

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
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Wisconsin, a Rust Belt state known for its beer, Harley-Davidson motorcycles and the Green Bay Packers, is having its moment in the 21st century's manufacturing spotlight.

With Wednesday's announcement that Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn Technology Group will build its first U.S. plant in the southeast part of the state, creating 3,000 to 13,000 jobs, Wisconsin  a Republican-led swing state that voted for President Donald Trump  beat out Illinois and other contenders for the $10 billion investment.

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No specific site has been identified, and a fair amount of cynicism has been raised, related to both the $3 billion in taxpayer-funded incentives and Apple supplier Foxconn's history of not following through on ambitious U.S. factory announcements. But if the project moves forward as planned, it will create unprecedented challenges for Wisconsin's infrastructure, workforce, education, housing and culture in a relatively tranquil part of the state.

Illinois will face its own challenges, as companies here try to get their foot in the door of a potential customer across the border. Meanwhile, the state, which has scored victories with corporate relocations and thousands of warehouse jobs from high-fliers such as Amazon, currently has no major job incentive program it can use to woo a large employer like Foxconn.

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In Wisconsin, the seven-county region said to be the site of the future Foxconn plant  somewhere in the district of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan  is home to roughly 2 million people, with a healthy unemployment rate just over 4 percent. Layoffs at motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson and the shuttering of retailers such as Sears and Gander Mountain have meant the loss of hundreds of jobs since last year. But those losses are a blip compared with the ultimate impact of Foxconn, which "will be measured in billions," said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, an industry trade group.

The state's population growth trails that of some southern and western states, but the plant and suppliers it could attract would not only reel in out-of-state workers, but also help Wisconsin retain the technical and engineering talent it's been exporting, said Jim Paetsch, a vice president atMilwaukee 7, a regional economic development group.

"Our universities are graduating more people than our companies need ... and they go elsewhere," Paetsch said. "We will be able to draw people to Wisconsin on a scale that we haven't been able to in the past."

Still, there are challenges to what many expect to be the region's new population magnet. Economic development specialists label this "short-term pain."

The region is tackling a shortage of skilled workers. Some local firms already struggle to find workers with digital expertise, and there are concerns that Foxconn will generate greater competition for that talent. Wages could increase since the expected jobs will average salaries of over $53,000, indicating that the company is looking for skilled workers.

"It will be incumbent upon the state to vastly ramp up its ability to train thousands of skilled workers, quickly," said Ron Starner, executive vice president at Atlanta-based Conway, a corporate expansion and relocation consultancy that publishes Site Selection Magazine. "The reality is that any state would be challenged to provide that many skilled workers in a short period of time."

Starner thinks people from as far away as Minnesota could move to the region in search of jobs at or near Foxconn, including people who are currently unemployed or had given up on looking for work.

There's also the cultural assimilation that will have to occur, particularly for a company with a global reputation of setting up factories in low-wage locations in Asia and Mexico. "They have a certain way of doing things, a work ethic and workplace culture," Starner said. "This is a huge shift. They are really plowing new ground here.

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Southeastern Wisconsin also runs the risk of becoming a "company town." On one end, jobs and businesses that serve those workers pop up and flourish. On the other hand, if the company fueling the area leaves or shuts down, it runs the risk of disabling the economy.

Housing and schools to sustain that population will have to be developed. Traffic will increase, and public transportation will need to be equipped to handle commuters.

"We certainly don't think the workforce will only come from state of Wisconsin," said Mark Hogan, CEO, Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. "The fact of the matter is a company like this will draw nationally and internationally. We looked at the infrastructure and we think people will take advantage of that opportunity and we're ready."

The region's proximity to Illinois is a consolation prize for the state, which has succeeded in wooing large employers but nothing of such dramatic scale. By the end of the year, Amazon will employ 8,000 workers in Illinois; that compares with about 4,000 Amazon employees working in a 1.5-million-square-foot facility across the border in Kenosha, Wis. Illinois, and Chicago in particular, has notched wins with the recent headquarters relocations of corporate titans like Conagra and GE Healthcare.

Gov. Bruce Rauner and Intersect Illinois, the state's nonprofit economic development arm, earlier this year made a pitch to Foxconn through the University of Illinois. Foxconn has a presence in the university's research park, and Illinois alumni within the company.

In a February letter to Foxconn chairman Terry Gou, Rauner talked up the state's transportation network, engineering and manufacturing talent, cheap energy prices and roster of global companies, and outlined potential financial incentives, according to emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

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But Intersect Illinois' current president and CEO, Mark Peterson, noted one advantage Illinois couldn't tout. "I don't think it's lost on anybody it's in the Speaker of the House's district, and (the project is) supported by Trump and (Gov.) Scott Walker," Peterson said.

What else might have kept Illinois out of the winner's circle?

Illinois's financial woes have made headlines nationally for months. Companies don't like uncertainty, and "want to know there's not some time bomb down the road," Peterson said.

Also, Illinois isn't a "right to work" state and lacks the union-bypassing legislation that has been adopted by Wisconsin and other Midwest manufacturing states, noted John H. Boyd, principal of The Boyd Company, a Princeton, N.J.-based corporate site selection consultancy.

But even though Foxconn passed on Illinois, the state's selling points likely played a key role in the company's decision because of the area's proximity to Illinois' workforce and a Chicago-area transportation network that includes O'Hare International Airport, Boyd said.

South of the border in Lake and McHenry counties, where Illinois and Wisconsin license plates compete for spaces in parking lots, economic leaders are already preparing to leverage the opportunity and pitch their respective benefits to Foxconn and its suppliers.

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"There would absolutely be great spillover opportunities from that," said Kevin Considine, president and CEO of Lake County Partners, a nonprofit economic development organization. "A plant like that will have lots of multiplier effects. It will bring supply chain companies with it, so other companies will set up near it and around it, similar to what happens in automotive."

The question is which side of the border they'll choose.

"When companies compare, the costs are higher here and that makes it more difficult to succeed," said Mark Denzler, vice president and chief operating officer at the Illinois Manufacturers' Association.

Molex CEO Martin Slark said he considered Foxconn's decision to locate in Wisconsin a lost opportunity for Illinois, even if it could still create business opportunities and help grow the electronics industry in the Midwest. The Lisle-based electronics connectors maker is already a "significant" Foxconn supplier, he said in an email.

"The investment environment in this state needs to be improved if we are to attract new investment," Slark said.

Also, Illinois' main job incentive effort, the Economic Development for a Growing Economy Tax Credit Program, expired April 30 and is not currently taking applications. Illinois legislators are working on bringing back a revamped version of the program.

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Wisconsin, which gave Foxconn $3 billion in state economic incentives over 15 years if the company invests $10 billion in the state and ultimately adds 13,000 jobs, hasn't committed to offering incentives to Foxconn suppliers, but hasn't ruled it out. "Any supplier that comes, just like any company, will be considered," Hogan said.

The College of Lake County already offers programs in manufacturing, logistics, computer numerical control and other relevant fields and is "looking forward to learning how the college can support their workforce development needs," Anne O'Connell, a College of Lake County spokeswoman, said in a statement Thursday. "CLC recognizes our important role in preparing our students for employment opportunities throughout the region."

Even if Foxconn suppliers choose to set up shop in Wisconsin, "they're still going to buy printing services and trucking and logistics services, and they're going to buy stuff that no doubt will go to Lake County businesses,"said Lake County Partners' Considine.

"We're not competing with Wisconsin in the global economy in the long term," said Bob Weissbourd, president of Chicago-based economic development firm RW Ventures. "For the region to be known as a center for electronics is really great for us in the long term."

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 4 Tanvas CEO Greg Topel, center, meets with staff on July 28, 2017. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

For one Chicago startup, the prospect of one of the world's largest contract makers of electronics setting up shop a short drive away, rather than halfway around the world, verges on too good to be true.

"I'm feeling a little mixed, in the sense I hope it's not just for the press conference," said Tanvas CEO Greg Topel. "I hope it adds up, I hope it's real."

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Tanvas makes technology that gives touchscreens texture  imagine being able to feel a physical button on a smartphone screen rather than touching a flat image. But the overwhelming majority of those screens are manufactured in Asia.

"It never dawned on us that there would be a consideration that our product could have 'made in the USA' on it," Topel said.

Speculation on the ups and downs of Foxconn's arrival  including the plant's location  will continue.

"There is a lot of uncertainty," said John Heywood, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. "There are a lot of things we don't know. It could bring big benefits, but the devil is in the details."

Chicago Tribune's Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz contributed.

lzumbach@chicagotribune.com

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In March 2016, Jesus Iniguez hiked through the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico to meet the family he planned to source coffee from for a new venture in Chicago. In May, along with his business partner Mayra Hernandez, he began to sell that coffee in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, a low-income South Side community where gun violence is frequent. They said the coffeehouse is a place where people can feel pride in their Latinx heritage.

In March 2016, Jesus Iniguez hiked through the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico to meet the family he planned to source coffee from for a new venture in Chicago. In May, along with his business partner Mayra Hernandez, he began to sell that coffee in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, a low-income South Side community where gun violence is frequent.

CHICAGO  The two opened the Back of the Yards Coffeehouse and Roastery, located at 2059 W. 47th St., the first coffeehouse of its kind, aiming to change the negative images of the neighborhood often portrayed in the media, they said. Through environmental, economic, and social initiatives, the small business wants to inspire pride for the "'hood," they said.

"When we offer high-quality coffee and the residents know it's from Mexico, it's something very important not only to us, but to the community as well," Hernandez explained, since a majority of the neighborhood's Latino residents trace their roots back to Mexico.

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Iniguez and Hernandez developed their partnership through an undocumented Back of the Yards resident with family in Chiapas. The family had been planning to stop harvesting after generations of coffee farming, because they could no longer sustain the business, Iniguez said.

But the Coffeehouse formed a direct trade deal with the family, cutting out middlemen in their supply chain and helping them to receive a greater portion of the profits from their sales.

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That allowed the family to save their farm, and even increase wages for their workers, Iniguez said.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 15 The Back of the Yards Coffeehouse and Roastery is trying to combat the neighborhoods violent image by working with education and the environment. (Julia Esparza)

Proceeds from the coffee sold in the coffeehouse are then invested in a social impact investment fund to "promote peace and education" in the Back of the Yards. For each 12 oz. bag sold at $12, Iniguez and Hernandez donate $1 to a deserving local organization.

Three months after their grand opening, in mid May, the first $500 will be donated to Casa Romero, an organization that provides tutoring and food aid to kids from Back of the Yards, Iniguez said.

Its our turn to give back. Weve benefitted so much from being here and now we want to instill that same pride in the younger generations, he said.

To that end, the Coffeehouse focuses on hiring youth from the community, and currently has two youth interns. The goal, Iniguez said, is to foster entrepreneurship in the youth they work with, so they will feel empowered to make changes in the neighborhood.

Iniguez and Hernandez have also committed to using locally sourced ingredients, composting waste, and educating the community on ways to go green.

Both were born and raised in the Back of the Yards and have tried to reflect the communitys ide

ntity in the business.

Co-owner Mayra Hernandez interacts with a customer at the Back of the Yards Coffeehouse and Roastery. (Julia Esparza)

I think that people who come from this neighborhood have this certain grit that you just know we come from hard-working families...I really want to show that its okay to be proud of that, Iniguez said.

He hopes their efforts will show the rest of the city another side of Back of the Yards, and encourage residents to be proud of their neighborhood.

When you google Back of the yards, the first thing that comes up is gun violence and gang violence and many times when you hear it often, you start to internalize it and you start to believe it, Iniguez said. We want to change that perception not only for people from the outside, but for the people from the community to feel some pride and know that they have something beautiful here.

Hernandez added that the coffeehouse is a space where people can feel proud of being immigrants, with photos depicting Latinx culture adorning the cafes walls.
A man was found dead inside a St. Charles garage destroyed by fire Friday night, officials said.

Firefighters were dispatched at about 7:20 p.m. to 409 McKinley St., where they found a "fully involved" fire consuming a detached garage, the St. Charles Fire Department said in a news release.

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The fire took about 20 minutes to extinguish, at which time firefighters found the man's body, the release said. The Kane County Coroner's Office is working on identifying the victim and the St. Charles Police Department is conducting a death investigation, the release said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation as well. Damage to the garage and its contents is estimated at $100,000, the release said.

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St. Charles was assisted at the scene by the Geneva, Batavia, Elburn and South Elgin fire departments.
Two men died early Saturday after being pulled from the crashing waves of separate Chicago beaches. (Marwa Eltagouri/Chicago Tribune)

Two men died early Saturday after being pulled from the crashing waves of separate Chicago beaches, according to officials.

Just before 3:40 a.m., officials responded to the 1000 block of North Lake Shore Drive for a call of two people who were in the water near Oak Street Beach.

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By the time officials arrived, a woman had gotten out of the water on her own. Firefighters pulled a 28-year-old man out of the waves. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. According to the Cook County medical examiner's office, Christopher Charnow of Royal Oak, Mich., was pronounced dead at 4:24 a.m. Charnow's cause of death was not immediately determined following an autopsy Sunday, pending further studies.

Those waves were a constant 6 to 8 feet high, with some reaching as high as 9 or 10 feet, said Ron Dorneker, Chicago Fire Department deputy district chief of marine and dive operations.

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At a news conference Saturday morning at North Avenue Beach, waves still were crashing against the North Ledge in swells that appeared 3 to 5 feet in height. Occasional 8-foot waves struck the ledge.

"These are life-threatening waves, these aren't rip currents," Dorneker said. "These are dangerous waves to be in. These are gonna knock you off your feet. They're breaking at the shoreline, they're gonna make it difficult to stand up."

"This is water you might be able to get into," he said. "But it's most difficult to get out of."

Officials had fewer details about the other incident, which happened about an hour before the Oak Street Beach death.

About 2:30 a.m., divers rescued a 26-year-old man from the water near 59th Street Harbor. He stepped off a boat, lost his footing and fell into the water, police said. He could not swim, and witnesses said they weren't able to see him in the water, police said.

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He was transported to an area hospital in critical condition and later was pronounced dead, police and fire officials said. The medical examiner's office reported that Jeremy Kennedy, 26, of the 5300 block of South Indiana Avenue in Washington Park, was pronounced dead at 3:21 a.m. Kennedy's cause of death also was not immediately determined following an autopsy Sunday, pending further studies.

The National Weather Service issued a beach hazards warning through Saturday evening, as 3- to 6-foot waves are expected during the day. Waves are expected to decrease to 2 to 4 feet in the evening.

Sixteen Chicago beaches had swim bans Saturday afternoon, while beaches had swim advisories.

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Dorneker said he understands the temptation people have to enter dangerous waters, especially considering Chicago's limited number of warm-weather weekends.

"The problem is when the lifeguards leave, people go out and venture into the water on their own," he said. "If the area is closed when lifeguards are there, and they leave at the end of the day, it's probably still not safe to be in that water."

meltagouri@chicagotribune.com

@marwaeltagouri
Chicago police officers deployed their stun gun after encountering two men armed with knifes in the Near North neighborhood, according to police.

Just before 1:45 a.m. Saturday, officers responded to the first block of East Illinois Street for a call of a person armed with a knife. When officers arrived at the scene, two men were seen allegedly armed with knifes, according to police. The men appeared to have been cut.

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Officers deployed their stun gun after one of the men refused to drop the knife, according to police.

The men were treated and released from Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

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The men did not want to pursue charges. No one was in custody early Saturday.
A veteran state employee whose personal email address was a source of racist, sexist and anti-gay emails that circulated among bosses in the Chicago water department is retiring, state officials said.

Frank Capuzi's decision to retire effective Monday comes as the state began a review of his conduct following Tribune inquiries into offensive emails sent from his address to a high-ranking water department official and others. Among those emails was one describing a fake "Chicago Safari" adventure tour that made light of the shootings of children in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

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Capuzi, an investigator with the Workers' Compensation Commission, "gave notice of his retirement" on Thursday, said commission spokesman Ben Noble.

Noble indicated that the commission's investigation was not over and said that Capuzi left on his own. "Capuzi freely exercised his right to retire," Noble said. "The commission cannot comment on an ongoing investigation. It takes seriously these allegations."

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Diana Rickert, a spokeswoman for Gov. Bruce Rauner, confirmed that Capuzi is leaving his state job. "We take these allegations extremely seriously, and we're not going to tolerate any type of misbehavior that we are aware of," she said.

Capuzi, 62, has worked for the state for more than four decades and makes more than $114,000 per year. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

He was a longtime GOP committeeman on the West Side, having won the 26th Ward post as recently as 2008 and the 27th Ward at least as far back as the early 1980s, according to records from the Chicago Board of Elections. He is the son of a former Republican state lawmaker, Louis Capuzi of Chicago.

Earlier this month, the Tribune revealed that Capuzi's AOL address was a source of emails at the center of a widening scandal in the city's water department. The "Chicago Safari" email was among at least four of the most offensive ones that circulated among water department bosses that came from Capuzi's personal email address.

Even though Capuzi did not use his government email address, ethics experts told the Tribune that this type of matter should be looked into to determine whether any violations of state law, rules or policies have occurred, including conduct unbecoming a state employee.

The Rauner administration's code of personal conduct states, in part, that employees should conduct themselves "with integrity and in a manner that reflects favorably upon the state." That code, a union bargaining agreement and the state ethics law are all part of the review, the commission said.

City Inspector General Joseph Ferguson uncovered a string of racist, sexist, anti-gay and anti-Muslim emails while investigating another matter in the water department. His findings led to five water department bosses being ousted, including Commissioner Barrett Murphy; his deputy, William Bresnahan; and Paul Hansen, a district superintendent and the son of former Democratic Ald. Bernie Hansen.

The Tribune obtained nearly 1,300 water department emails from the water department via a public records request, including several emails forwarded from Capuzi's address to Hansen.

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The Chicago Safari email, sent in July 2013, states that if "you didn't book a Chicago safari adventure," for the Independence Day weekend, "you missed" the shootings of a 5-year-old boy and two others in West Pullman; the shooting of a 7-year-old boy in Chatham; and the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy in Humboldt Park.

"We guarantee that you will see at least one kill and five crime scenes per three day tour. You'll also see lots and lots of animals in their natural habitat. Call and book your Chicago Safari today," the email reads. An image depicts four white people in safari gear taking pictures of black people trying to break into a car.

Others included a July 2014 email titled "Watermelon Protection" that included an image of a scarecrow dressed in a white KKK robe amid a watermelon patch; an April 2017 email titled "Today is Heterosexual Male Pride Day;" and a March 2014 email about an essay contest that had to include elements of religion, royalty, racism, disability and homosexuality. The "winning" essay read: "My God," cried the Queen, "That one-legged n----- is a queer."

rlong@chicagotribune.com

tlighty@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @RayLong

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Twitter @TLighty
Reporting from Washington  When Chris Grayson pointed his Web browser in the direction of Georgia's elections system earlier this year, what he found there shocked him.

The Santa Monica cybersecurity researcher effortlessly downloaded the confidential voter file of every registered Georgian. He hit upon unprotected folders with passwords, apparently for accessing voting machines. He found the off-the-shelf software patches used to keep the system secure, several of which Grayson said could be easily infected by a savvy 15-year-old hacker.

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"It was like, holy smokes, this is all on the Internet with no authentication?" Grayson said in an interview. "There were so many things wrong with this."

American elections only recently seemed impenetrable: too many different systems, different jurisdictions and different machines  online and offline  to hack. But confidence in the system's invulnerability is eroding after national security officials revealed that during the 2016 presidential race Russian hackers attempted to infiltrate elections systems in 21 states. Officials won't identify which states, but say in some cases culprits got inside networks to look around.

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Federal law enforcement officials say they are confident the vote count was not disrupted in 2016. But they worry about upcoming cycles.

"The cyber threat to elections in 2016 was significantly more severe than in previous years," said Bob Kolasky, the acting deputy undersecretary for national protection at the Department of Homeland Security, which is trying to help states shore up their systems. "We anticipate going forward it will be a more significant threat than we've had in past."

Among the most alarmed have been pedigreed computer security scholars, who warn that a well-timed hack of a vendor that serves multiple states could be enough to cause chaos even in systems that were thought to be walled off from one another. And they say security lapses like those in Georgia reveal the ease with which hackers can slip in.

The most shocking part about Georgia's problems may have been that election officials were warned months before. A friend of Grayson's named Logan Lamb had discovered the vulnerabilities prior to the 2016 presidential election and alerted the keepers of the system. They assured Lamb the problem was fixed.

It wasn't. Soon after Grayson tapped in and alerted university officials that they still had a problem, the FBI was called to investigate. But its quick finding that the security lapses had not been exploited by malicious hackers was met skeptically by more than a dozen computer security scholars at institutions such as Yale, MIT, UC Berkeley, Brown, Princeton and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, who unsuccessfully urged Georgia to immediately sideline its voting machines and use paper ballots.

The vulnerabilities exposed have rattled Georgia. Rep. Hank Johnson, a long-serving Democrat in the Atlanta suburbs, says he now questions the results from an April congressional election in which Democrat Jon Ossoff fell just a few thousand votes short of winning the seat he would ultimately lose in a runoff. No evidence of tampering with vote tallies emerged in that election, but the computer scientists who wrote to Georgia officials, including the former White House deputy chief technology officer, had warned that the equipment was susceptible to stealth vote count corruption.

"It really makes me suspicious of the result that night," said Johnson, who is pushing legislation that would force officials nationwide to shore up their elections security. "I'm sorry to have such a lack of trust in the result. But it is due to what I learned since that time about the vulnerability of Georgia's system."

Such discord and uncertainty is exactly what intelligence officials say operatives from Russia and other hostile nations are seeking as they target U.S. elections systems.

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The possible scenarios for interference are unnerving. Worries range from cyber criminals changing vote counts  as they did successfully a few years ago in Ukraine  to a mass corruption of voter registration that could paralyze key precincts on election day.

Not all election officials are heeding the warnings. The Department of Homeland Security's simple step in the waning days of the Obama administration of designating elections systems as "critical infrastructure"  entitling state and local officials to department help securing their systems and responding to potential attacks as they emerge  drew rebukes across the country.

Conservative elections chiefs warned of federal intrusion, arguing the best defense against cyber tampering is leaving intact the existing, decentralized patchwork of locally controlled elections that they insist is too diffuse for hackers to overtake. Now progressives have their own worries about the Trump administration, especially as a White House task force attempts to validate the president's unfounded allegations that rampant voter fraud cost him the popular vote.

The National Assn. of Secretaries of State pilloried the federal help in an official resolution that declared DHS "has no authority to interfere with elections, even in the name of national security."

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a Republican, went further. He accused the Obama administration of trying to hack into the state's system in mid-November following the election in which he refused federal assistance shoring it up. An independent investigation by the department's inspector general found this month that no such hacking took place.

More than 40 states use voting systems that are over a decade old, dating back to the modernization push following the 2000 presidential election debacle, when disputes over ballots cast in Florida with ambiguous markings left a split Supreme Court determining the outcome of the race. The vulnerabilities of the dated equipment are chilling, according to J. Alex Halderman, director of the Center for Computer Security and Society at the University of Michigan.

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"As a technical matter, it is certainly possible votes could be changed and an election outcome in a close election could be flipped," he said, explaining that even voting equipment disconnected from the Internet can be corrupted by compromised software that is ultimately distributed to elections officials online. "The technical ability is there and we wouldn't be able to catch it. The state of technical defense is very primitive in our election system now."

Halderman said he accepts the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies that such tampering did not alter vote counts from the last presidential election. But he warned that during it, hackers planted a lot of seeds to make future disruptions.

Red flags are going up around the country, even as secretaries of state try to assure an increasingly concerned electorate that they have things under control. Particular concern is focused right now on voter registration. The databases appear to be the most vulnerable link in elections and erasing tens of thousands of voters from the rolls on election day would be a surefire way to create a chaos scenario.

Hackers are already aggressively probing ways in. Both Illinois and Arizona shut down their voter registration systems for a week last summer after they were penetrated. Just before the presidential election, hackers showed they could break into VR Systems, a Florida company that election officials in eight states, including California, rely on to keep track of who is eligible to cast a ballot on election day. The hackers used a "phishing" probe to trick at least one employee into revealing their login information to access the company system, according to a National Security Agency document leaked to the Intercept, a media outlet. Once inside, the hackers were able to present themselves online as employees of the firm and send unsuspecting local elections officials malware masquerading as legitimate company software.

Company officials said in a statement that no hacker emails targeting local officials were opened.

It was cold comfort to security experts.

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"Our elections systems are more connected than they seem," said Halderman, warning that hackers who find their way into the network of a poorly secured elections board through such phishing schemes could unleash malware with potential to corrupt not just registration files but even voting machines. "VR Systems had customers across a number of states that could be targeted or breached by them being breached. They send software updates, have contact info. The way a remote attacker operates is by following those chains of interconnections.  People are saying we have 50 different states, lots of local election officials in different offices running separate systems, so how could someone possibly do a widespread attack? This is exactly how."

In the aftermath of the VR Systems incident, elections officials in Kentucky have told vendors looking to bid on a big voter registration contract there that under no circumstances can the voter logs that poll workers use on election day be connected to the state's main voter registration database online.

Other states are taking precautions. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law requiring the state to alert voters when their registration has been changed after the Riverside County District Attorney's Office heard of about three dozen voters who said they were either removed from the voting rolls or had their party changed without consent, which Dist. Atty. Mike Hestrin attributes to hacking.

"This was a wake-up call," Hestrin said. Some California counties have also joined Colorado and New Mexico in conducting robust audits of paper backup ballots to ensure they match the digital vote results, which many computer security experts advocate as the best defense against election hacking.

Not everyone in Washington is as alarmed. The group many computer security experts say is best equipped to develop national protocols and help elections officials find and address their vulnerabilities, the bipartisan Elections Assistance Commission, is targeted for elimination by the White House and Republicans in Congress.

That confounds Dan Wallach, a computer security scholar at Rice University who recently testified in Congress about election system vulnerabilities and who says a strong EAC is vital to national security, particularly as vulnerabilities in voter registration systems emerge.

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"The systems we are using today to manage voter registration were never built with this kind of a threat in mind," Wallach said in an interview. "If I can destroy voting registration data, it does not matter how good the rest of your system is. You will have lines and a giant mess when people turn up to vote."

evan.halper@latimes.com

@evanhalper
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) leaves the Senate Chamber after a vote on a stripped-down, or 'Skinny Repeal,' version of Obamacare reform on July 28, 2017. (Zach Gibson / Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  To a smattering of gasps and applause from his rapt colleagues, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., cast the clinching vote to kill his party's seven-year bid to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Directly behind the spot where he cast that vote, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, watched McCain enter the chamber. Moments earlier, she too had cast a "no" vote, but to much less fanfare.

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But the senior senator from Alaska endured more intense pressure from the Trump administration in getting to that vote than McCain, who, at 80, is likely serving his last term in Congress. And Murkowski has far more to lose for her stand in her resource-rich state .

Leading up to the series of health-care votes this week, Murkowski was the target of an aggressive persuasion campaign from members of the Trump administration - and the president himself.

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President Donald Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning: "Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!" The president had called the day before to try and convince Murkowski to support starting debate on health care, said Murkowski's office. The senator told E&E News that "it was not a very pleasant call," but she wasn't swayed.

So on Wednesday, Trump dispatched Ryan Zinke, who as secretary of the Department of the Interior runs agencies that collectively control more than 55 percent of Alaska's land, to make separate phone calls to Murkowski and the state's other Senate Republican, Dan Sullivan. Zinke, the Alaska Dispatch News reported, implied that the interests of their state was at risk because of Murkowski's health-care stance.

"What the secretary shared with me was that the president was not pleased," Murkowski told reporters Thursday, according to The Hill. "I think it's very clear, based on my conversation with the secretary, that he was just sharing the concern that the president had expressed to him to pass on to me."

Despite the high-profile contacts, Murkowski not only opposed opening debate but was one of three Republicans who voted against a bare-bones package on Friday morning, dealing a final blow to the GOP health-care push.

"I pledged early on that I would work with the President to help advance Alaska's interests," she said in a statement Friday. "I will continue to do that."

But she seemed as if she had little patience for Trump's governing style, likening him to the kind of teacher at which her children chafed.

"I tell my kids that you do not get to pick the boss of your choice," she said during stops between town halls earlier this month in Homer, Alaska. "I've got to figure out how I can work with President Trump and this new administration."

The choice of messenger relayed just as much the message itself.

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For decades, the Murkowski family -- Frank Murkowski represented Alaska for more than two decades in the Senate before his daughter took over his seat in 2002 -- has sought, often unsuccessfully, to free up more federal land in Alaska for hunting and energy development.

For that, she needs the cooperation of Trump's Interior Department.

"When you talk about energy dominance," Sullivan told reporters, using a Trump administration buzzword for more oil, gas and coal development, "Alaska has to be a key part of that."

He continued,"So from my perspective, the sooner we can get back to that kind of cooperation between the administration and the chairman of the ENR Committee, the better for Alaska and the better for the country."

But Zinke may need Murkowski more than she needs him. As chair of both the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Interior Appropriations subcommittee, Murkowski has oversight over not only the department's activities but also its budget.

On Thursday, Murkowski postponed a vote on six Trump administration nominees, including three to Interior. Murkowski spokesperson Nicole Daigle said the meeting was delayed "due to uncertainty of the Senate schedule."

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So far, the Trump administration, along with GOP lawmakers, has obliged in addressing the provincial concerns of the Alaska congressional delegation.

Congress has lifted a ban on aerial shooting and other hunting practices on Alaska's wildlife refuges. Zinke signed a secretarial order beginning an oil and gas leasing plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, or NPR-A, and an assessment of reserves under both NPR-A and part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Last week, the House sent to the Senate a bill to approve construction of a 20-mile road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, which would connect the small village of King Cove to the larger town of Cold Bay. King Cove has no road out, so it relies on air and marine transport. Murkowski has introduced the Senate version.

And Murkowski and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., want to pass a comprehensive bipartisan energy bill updating a host of oil and gas leasing, electric grid and other policies.

Before the recent confrontation, Murkowski had advocated on Zinke's behalf within the White House, arguing to the president and his aides they needed to name more political appointees to Interior. Murkowski got to know Zinke when the two traveled to Alaska's North Slope over Memorial Day.

Legal experts say an administration can choose its priorities, though House Democrats have asked Interior's Office of Inspector General to investigate Zinke's calls.

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"I am unable to identify any ethical rule or legal obligation requiring a cabinet member to make a senator's priorities the same as the administration's priorities," said Jan W. Baran, an ethics and lobbying expert at Wiley Rein.

But David Hayes, a former Interior Department deputy secretary under both Presidents Obama and Clinton, said Zinke's words deserve "careful scrutiny" even if "cabinet officials have some leeway to lobby Congress."

"It appears that Zinke was lobbying for a health-care bill, not on an Alaska-related issue within Interior's area of responsibility," Hayes said. "Even more troubling ... he reportedly put the discharge of his statutory responsibilities in Alaska in play."

The Washington Post's Elise Viebeck and Kyle Hopkins contributed to this report.
The Russian government announced Friday that it would seize U.S. diplomatic properties and kick out a large number of U.S. diplomats, effectively ending hopes for the fresh start with Moscow that President Donald Trump came into office promising to seek.

The action, in response to a sanctions bill passed by Congress, signaled a loss of patience by Russian President Vladimir Putin with the Trump administration's ability to change the bilateral relationship, as the legislation handcuffs Trump's power to lift the punitive measures taken by the United States in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine.

Trump plans to sign the law, the White House announced late Friday.

"President Donald J. Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it," a statement said. "He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it."

It was not clear what influence the White House claimed Trump had exerted. The bill still includes mandatory congressional review of sanctions.

The legislation presented a difficult decision for trump.

He can veto the law as a signal to Moscow of his continuing interest in rapprochement, while knowing Congress will easily override his action. He can sign the bill, acknowledging that his goal of better relations with Moscow is on ice. Or he could do nothing and simply let the law take effect.

The Russian expulsion order could affect scores or even hundreds of diplomats and other embassy staff - and officials in Moscow had recently indicated that the measure was imminent.

Former president Barack Obama expelled Russian diplomats and ordered the seizure of Russian properties in the United States in the closing weeks of his tenure, in response to the conclusion by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election to damage the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and help Trump get elected.

Putin initially declined to respond with tit-for-tat expulsions of his own, a gesture to the president-elect and his pledge as a candidate to try to repair relations with the Kremlin.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday that Moscow had no choice but to respond now, according to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Lavrov cited "a number of hostile steps" taken by the United States but also told Tillerson that Moscow was "ready to normalize the bilateral relations with the U.S. and cooperate on important international issues," the Foreign Ministry said.

"We have expressed our strong disappointment and protest," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. The U.S. protests came during Tillerson's call with Lavrov and a meeting U.S. Ambassador John Tefft held in Moscow with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

The department did not provide an estimate of how many U.S. personnel would have to depart by the Sept. 1 deadline, but Russia's order to reduce the number of U.S. diplomatic staff to 455 would appear to affect as many as a few hundred people.

The Senate voted 98 to 2 for legislation that slaps new penalties on Russia and limits Trump's ability to lift sanctions already in place. The measure had previously passed the House.

Trump's aides had given mixed signals about whether the president will sign or veto the Russia legislation, which is packaged with additional sanctions on Iran and North Korea that he supports. Trump advisers had said the legislation imposes unacceptable limits on presidential prerogatives.

"This does hem in Trump's political moves," said Jane Harman, a former California Democratic congresswoman who is now president of the Wilson Center.

- - -

Russia has promised additional retaliatory measures against the new sanctions once they become law, possibly targeting U.S. commercial or trade interests.

"This is a landmark moment," said Andrei Kolesnikov, a journalist for the newspaper Kommersant who regularly travels with Putin and has interviewed him extensively over the past 17 years. "His patience has seriously run out, and everything that he's been putting off in this conflict, he's now going to do."

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok should reduce the number of their "diplomatic and technical employees" to 455, in apparent parity with the number of Russian diplomatic staff in the United States.

The Foreign Ministry also said it would seize, effective Aug. 1, a Moscow warehouse and dacha, or vacation house, used by the U.S. Embassy. The dacha, located in a posh suburb along the Moscow River, was often used by families of embassy workers for vacations or parties.

"The passing of the new bill on sanctions clearly showed that relations with Russia have become a hostage of the internal political struggle in the U.S.," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement laying out the measures. Putin and other officials have denied that Russia meddled in the 2016 election and dismissed the scandal as the creation of Russophobes in Washington.

James Collins, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia who is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Putin's grace period to test the possibility of better relations with the United States under Trump is over.

"This is certainly a negative development for any hope for near-term improvement in official relations," Collins said. "They see the action by Congress in passing this bill on sanctions and limiting the president's ability to act as a signal the Obama administration approach is not changed, and President Trump is not going to be able to change it."

Russia also said the new U.S. sanctions could harm cooperation in the fights against terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, illegal drug trafficking, illegal migration and cyber crime.

Among the areas that could be affected are a United Nations vote on new North Korea sanctions and cooperation in Syria.

"The U.S. needs our support on some issues at the U.N. Security Council; they are trying to mobilize the international community to toughen sanctions against North Korea," Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian Federation Council information policy commission, said in an interview with the Russian news agency Interfax.

In Syria, the administration is depending on Russia to restrain its allies - the government of President Bashar Assad and Iran - from interfering in the campaign against the Islamic State. Early this month, Tillerson hailed a new agreement between Moscow and Washington on a cease-fire in one corner of Syria's civil war as "our first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together" on what he described as the shared goal of Syrian stability.

U.S. officials have described cooperation on Syria as steadily improving, and Lavrov, in the Foreign Ministry statement, said Russia was "still willing to . . . cooperate on the most important items of the international agenda."

The statement said that Moscow "agreed to continue contacts on all aspects of Russian-American relations."

Tillerson traveled to Moscow this year on what he called an outreach mission. The United States, he said at the time, cannot afford to have such bad blood with its largest potential nuclear adversary.

- - -

Trump and Putin met for the first time on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit this month in Hamburg and appeared to strike up a good personal rapport.

But, ultimately, Putin wanted results from the relationship - in particular, sanctions relief.

A handful of spies in the United States and Russia have been expelled in recent years, including Ryan Fogle, a CIA officer who was paraded on Russian television wearing a shaggy blond wig in 2013. But the last sizable round of diplomatic expulsions was in 2001, when the U.S. government kicked out 51 Russian diplomats over the Robert Hanssen spy case.

Hanssen, an FBI agent caught trying to make a "dead drop" to a Russian handler in a park in Virginia, was accused of spying for Russia since 1986. Russia expelled 50 diplomats in retaliation. The United States under President Ronald Reagan ordered out 55 Soviet diplomats in 1986 in another case, after Russia expelled five U.S. diplomats.

But this time, the scale of the expulsions, if confirmed to be in the hundreds, appears unprecedented.

"The numbers game is important," said Andrew Weiss, a vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who previously served on the State Department's policy planning staff. "The Russians tend to be fastidious about this janitor for that janitor, this second secretary for that second secretary. Extremely into reciprocity."

A change in that pattern, he said, could indicate a serious deterioration in relations.

Roth reported from Moscow. Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report
Five years ago, Alice Collins Plebuch made a decision that would alter her future  or really, her past.

She sent away for a "just-for-fun DNA test." When the tube arrived, she spit and spit until she filled it up to the line, and then sent it off in the mail. She wanted to know what she was made of.

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Plebuch, now 69, already had a rough idea of what she would find. Her parents, both deceased, were Irish-American Catholics who raised her and her six siblings with church Sundays and ethnic pride. But Plebuch, who had a long-standing interest in science and DNA, wanted to know more about her dad's side of the family. The son of Irish immigrants, Jim Collins had been raised in an orphanage from a young age, and his extended family tree was murky.

After a few weeks during which her saliva was analyzed, she got an email in the summer of 2012 with a link to her results. The report was confounding.

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About half of Plebuch's DNA results presented the mixed British Isles bloodline she expected. The other half picked up an unexpected combination of European Jewish, Middle Eastern and Eastern European. Surely someone in the lab had messed up. It was the early days of direct-to-consumer DNA testing, and Ancestry.com's test was new. She wrote the company a nasty letter informing them they'd made a mistake.

But she talked to her sister, and they agreed she should test again. If the information Plebuch was seeing on her computer screen was correct, it posed a fundamental mystery about her very identity. It meant one of her parents wasn't who he or she was supposed to be  and, by extension, neither was she.

Eventually, Plebuch would write to Ancestry again. You guys were right, she'd say. I was wrong.

In a family photo, Alice Collins Plebuch's father, James "Jim" Collins, poses with his children. In the second row: Jim Collins, John Collins, Bill Collins, Brian Collins and Ed Collins. In the third row: Alice Collins Plebuch and her sister, Gerry Collins Wiggins. (Collins family photo )

We are only just beginning to grapple with what it means to cheaply and easily uncover our genetic heritage.

Over the past five years, as the price of DNA testing kits has dropped and their quality has improved, the phenomenon of "recreational genomics" has taken off. According to the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, nearly 8 million people worldwide, but mostly in the United States, have tested their DNA through kits, typically costing $99 or less, from such companies as 23andMe, Ancestry.com and Family Tree DNA.

The most popular DNA-deciphering approach, autosomal DNA testing, looks at genetic material inherited from both parents and can be used to connect customers to others in a database who share that material. The results can let you see exactly what stuff you're made from  as well as offer the opportunity to find previously unknown relatives.

For adoptees, many of whom can't access information about their birthparents because of closed adoption laws, DNA testing can let them bypass years, even decades, of conventional research to find "DNA cousins" who may very well lead them to their families.

But DNA testing can also yield uncomfortable surprises. Some testers, looking for a little more information about a grandparent's origins, or to confirm a family legend about Native American heritage, may not be prepared for results that disrupt their sense of identity. Often, that means finding out their dad is not actually their dad, or discovering a relative that they never knew existed  perhaps a baby conceived out of wedlock or given up for adoption.

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In 2014, 23andMe estimated that 7,000 users of its service had discovered unexpected paternity or previously unknown siblings  a relatively small fraction of overall users. The company no longer provides data on surprise results. However, its customer base has more than doubled since 2014, and now contains more than 2 million people  and as more people get involved with recreational genomics, bloodline surprises are certain to become a more common experience. The 2020s may turn out to be the decade that killed family secrets, for better and for worse.

"We see it every day," says CeCe Moore, a genetic genealogist and consultant for the PBS series "Finding Your Roots." She runs a 54,000-person Facebook group, DNA Detectives, that helps people unravel their genetic ancestries. "You find out that a lot of things are not as they seem, and a lot of families are much more complex than you assume."

Alice Plebuch found herself in this place in the summer of 2012. To solve the mystery of her identity, she needed more help than any DNA testing company could offer. After all, genetic testing gives you the what, but not the why.

Plebuch would turn out to be uniquely suited to the role of private eye in her own detective story. Now living in the suburbs of Vancouver, Washington, she worked as an IT manager for the University of California before her retirement. "I did data processing most of my life, and at a fairly sophisticated level," she says. Computers do not intimidate her, and neither do big questions that require the organization and analysis of complex information. She likes to find patterns hidden in the chaos.

Just the skills necessary to solve a very old puzzle.

Jim and Alice Nisbet Collins on their wedding day in the 1940s. (Alice Plebuch)

After the initial shock of her test results, Plebuch wondered if her mother might have had an affair. Or her grandmother, perhaps? So, she and her sister, Gerry Collins Wiggins, both ordered kits from DNA testing company 23andMe.

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The affair scenario seemed unlikely  certainly out of character for her mom, and besides, all seven Collins children had their father's hooded eyes. But she couldn't dismiss it. "My father, he was in the Army and he was all over the world, and it was just one of those fears that you have when you don't know," she says.

As they waited for their results, they wondered. If the Ancestry.com findings were right, it meant one of Plebuch's parents was at least partly Jewish. But which one?

They had a gut sense that it was unlikely to be their mother, who came from a large family, filled with cousins Plebuch and her siblings all knew well. Dad, who died in 1999, seemed the likelier candidate. Born in the Bronx, Jim Collins was a baby when his mother died. His longshoreman father, John Collins, was unable to care for his three children and sent them to live in orphanages. He died while Jim was still a child, and Jim had only limited contact with his extended family as an adult.

But still, the notion Jim could somehow be Jewish seemed far-fetched. His parents had come to the United States from Ireland, and that history was central to Jim's sense of himself. "He was raised in an orphanage; he didn't have anything else," Plebuch says. "He had his Irish identity."

She plunged into online genealogy forums, researching how other people had traced their DNA and educating herself about the science. She and her sister came up with a plan: They would persuade two of their first cousins to get tested  their mother's nephew and their father's nephew. If one of those cousins was partly Jewish, they'd know for sure which side of the family was contributing the mysterious heritage.

The men agreed. The sisters sent their kits and waited.

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Then Plebuch's own 23andMe results came back. They seemed consistent with her earlier Ancestry.com test, indicating lots of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry from areas such as Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Lithuania. She also discovered that her brother Bill had recently taken a 23andMe test. His results were a relief  sort of.

"No hanky-panky," as Plebuch puts it. They were full siblings, sharing about 50 percent of the relevant DNA, including the same mysterious Jewish ancestry. This knocked out another theory they had considered  that Plebuch might have been adopted.

Plebuch found a feature on 23andMe's website showing what segments along her chromosomes were associated with Ashkenazi Jews. Flipping back and forth, comparing her DNA to her brother's, she had a sudden insight.

There was a key difference between the images, lurking in the sex chromosomes. Along the X chromosome were blue segments indicating where she had Jewish ancestry, which could theoretically have come from either parent because females inherit one X from each. But males inherit only one X, from their mothers, along with a Y chromosome from their fathers, and when Plebuch looked at her brother's results, "darned if Bill's X chromosome wasn't lily white." Clearly, their mother had contributed no Jewish ancestry to her son.

"That was when I knew that my father was the one," Plebuch says.

The next day, her sister Gerry Wiggins's results came back: She, too, was a full sibling who also displayed significant Jewish ancestry. Then, Plebuch got an email from a retired professor known for his skill at interpreting ancestry tests, to whom she'd sent hers. "What you are is 50 percent Jewish," he wrote. "This is in fact as solid as DNA gets, which in this case is very solid indeed."

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But how could their father have been Jewish? Could Jim Collins's parents have been secret Irish Jews? Or maybe Jews from Eastern Europe who passed themselves off as Irish when they came to the country as immigrants?

Now they really needed the data from the cousin on their father's side. If he also had Jewish ancestry, Plebuch figured, that could point to a family secret buried in Europe.

They waited for months, through a series of setbacks  problems in the lab, problems with the mail. Meanwhile, the sisters emailed back and forth.

Plebuch asked her younger sister: Did this revelation about their father's ethnicity unnerve her? They'd been so certain of their family roots, and "now we know nothing," she wrote.

"It is the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning," Wiggins replied, "and the last thing I think about as I drift off to sleep."

At last, Plebuch was alerted that her cousins' results were ready. The data from their mom's nephew revealed that he was a full first cousin, as expected  sharing about 12.5 percent of his DNA with Plebuch.

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But the results from her dad's nephew, Pete Nolan, whose mother was Jim Collins' sister, revealed him to be a total stranger, genetically speaking. No overlap whatsoever with Plebuch  or, by extension, with her father.

In other words, Plebuch's cousin wasn't actually her cousin.

And her dad's sister wasn't actually his sister.

Jim Collins, his wife, Alice, and John Collins, the brother he was raised with, in a circa 1944 photo. John was nearly a head taller than Jim. (Alice Plebuch )

Plebuch was devastated. This finding knocked out the secret-Jews theory  but if it put Plebuch closer to the truth, she still felt unmoored. She was deeply fond of Nolan, with whom she shared a birthday. "I was afraid he was going to reject me because we were no longer biological cousins."

She called Nolan to share the results of his DNA test. "He was sad," Plebuch says, "but he also told me I was the best cousin he ever had."

Plebuch and Wiggins came to the stunned conclusion that their dad was somehow not related to his own parents. John and Katie Collins were Irish Catholics, and their son was Jewish.

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"I really lost all my identity," Plebuch says. "I felt adrift. I didn't know who I was  you know, who I really was."

For Wiggins, the revelation confirmed a long, lingering sense that something was amiss with her father's story. Studying the family photographs on her wall, she'd thought for years that their paternal grandfather looked like no one in her immediate family. Visiting Ireland in 1990, she had searched the faces for any resemblance to her 5-foot-4, dark-haired father. "There was nobody that looked like my dad," Wiggins says.

The sisters set about methodically pursuing several theories. With Jim Collins and his parents long dead, Plebuch knew she needed to unravel his story through the living. She signed up to take a class in Seattle on how to use DNA to find her father's relatives.

If the woman Jim called his sister was not his sister, was there evidence of an actual sibling out there somewhere? Might that sibling have children? Might Plebuch and her siblings have first cousins they'd never known about?

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The dystopian novelist Margaret Atwood is fond of saying that all new technologies have a good side, a bad side, and a "stupid side you hadn't considered." Doing DNA testing for fun can carry consequences few of us might anticipate. It requires little investment at the outset, but it has the potential to utterly change our lives.

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After researching her family history, Laurie Pratt decided five years ago to enhance her genealogical knowledge by testing herself and her parents. This was how she discovered that her dad was not related to her.

Pratt, 52, an airline ground operations supervisor in Orange County, California, went to her mother, who at first said the results were "impossible." But over time, her mother divulged hazy memories of a short-lived relationship during a period when she and her husband were briefly separated.

Her mother couldn't recall a name before she died. The man who raised Pratt also died; she never told him he was not, biologically speaking, her father.

She searched over several years, eventually identifying a potential candidate within the family tree of previously unknown cousins she found through DNA matching. She sent this man a letter  and days later, in February of this year, he suddenly popped up in the Ancestry.com database, identified by a saliva test as her biological father.

The man called her, and they spoke briefly on the phone. Though he was unmarried when Pratt was conceived, he fretted over the idea that he had abandoned a baby without knowing it. Pratt asked if they could meet, and the man agreed, but asked if he could take some time first to process the news and tell his wife and daughter.

Two days later, Pratt logged onto Ancestry.com and discovered that the man's test had been deleted.

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Reactions to DNA testing surprises vary dramatically. Moore, the genetic genealogist, says that, in her experience, even those who are initially dismayed end up glad that "they learned about the truth of themselves."

But seekers may be a self-selecting bunch, and those who find the truth thrust upon them by someone else's quest are not always happy about it. Gaye Sherman Tannenbaum, an adoptee who spent decades searching for her birthparents and now helps others on their quests, says in some instances, people are "outright hostile" when they learn of a newly discovered relative.

The reaction is understandable: DNA surprises often imply extramarital affairs, out-of-wedlock births and decades-old secrets.

Researchers from the University of Leuven in Belgium recently examined the English-language websites of 43 direct-to-consumer DNA testing companies and found that few companies warn consumers about the possibility of discovering "misattributed paternity."

23andMe is unusual in offering multiple warnings. ("Unexpected relationships may be identified that could affect you and your family.") "We are as transparent as possible," says Kate Black, the privacy officer for 23andMe, brought on in 2015 after the company was criticized for failing to prepare consumers for such surprises. "We try to educate and inform people in every tool."

Still, consumers may skim those warnings, or refuse to believe such surprises might lurk within their own families. Jennifer Utley, the director of research at Ancestry.com, says that even though she had seen many cases of surprise relatives in her work, she still found herself in "complete shock" when she tested her own DNA and discovered a first cousin she hadn't known existed.

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"I had no idea who this person was," says Utley, who has since learned that her cousin was the product of a teenage relationship, raised by an adoptive family. Of her family, she now concludes: "We're the best secret-keepers on the planet."

Pratt says she doesn't regret testing her DNA. She found herself both "devastated and curious" after the initial discovery about her genetic heritage. But, of course, that discovery was not hers alone, because her genes are not hers alone. Cases of unexpected paternity and secret adoptions implicate other people.

"I think this jars him," she says of her biological father. "He goes to bed the good guy  he's always been very religious, very Catholic. And he wakes up, he's Mick Jagger. He has a baby. It blew his mind a little bit."

In late April, Pratt sent the man another letter. She had "no desire to push myself into your family," she wrote, nor make a financial claim. What she sought were stories about him and his family, to help her build a sense of where she came from. Just one meeting, a few hours, was all she asked.

She still hasn't heard back.

The Collins children, from left, Kitty, Jim and John, with their longshoreman father, John Josef Collins, in 1914. Collins, a widower, was unable to care for his three children and sent them to live in orphanages. He died while Jim was still a child. (Alice Plebuch)

By early 2013, the Collins children were hot on the trail of a hundred-year-old mystery.

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They had their father's birth certificate, indicating that he'd been born on Sept. 23, 1913. They wrote to his orphanage and learned that their dad had been sent there by the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Plebuch wondered if Jim Collins, just a baby at the time, had somehow been confused with another child when he was taken from his father's home.

She found a forensic artist said to be skilled in understanding how faces change over time. She sent her a picture of her dad sitting on his father's lap when he was about 11 months, along with photos of him as an adult. Were these of the same person?

Probably, the forensic artist ruled. The ears hadn't changed, and the mouth, chin and facial proportions seemed the same.

If the mystery of their father didn't begin with his parents' life in Ireland, nor with his own time in the orphanage, Plebuch and her sister concluded it must have happened shortly after Jim was born. Unusually for the era, his mother gave birth not at home but at Fordham Hospital in the Bronx.

Could something have happened there?

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Fordham Hospital in the Bronx, where Jim Collins was born in 1913. (Wurts Bros./Museum of the City of New York)

By this time, the sisters were using techniques developed by Moore and others to help adoptees try to find relatives in a vast universe of strangers' spit. Every time a site like 23andMe informed them of what Plebuch calls a "DNA cousin" on their Jewish side  someone whose results suggested a likely cousin relationship  they would ask to see that person's genome. If the person agreed, the site would reveal any places where their chromosomes overlapped.

The idea, Plebuch explains, was to find patterns in the data. A group of people who share segments on the same chromosome probably share a common ancestor. If Plebuch could find a group of relatives who all shared the same segment, she might be able to use that  along with their family trees, family surnames, and ancestors' home towns in the old country  to trace a path into her father's biological family.

The work was slow and painstaking, complicated by the fact that Ashkenazi Jews frequently marry within the group and often are related in multiple ways. This can make distant relatives look like a closer match than they actually are. But the sisters forged on, sending at least 1,000 requests for genome-sharing to DNA cousins through 23andMe. It became Plebuch's full-time job.

Some ignored their overtures, while others were drawn in by the saga and devoted their own efforts to helping the sisters untangle it. It was as if the Collins sisters had plugged into a larger family, a web of strangers who wanted to help because generations before, their ancestors had shared soup, shared heartache, slept in the same bed.

One DNA cousin made a clever suggestion: Why not search for evidence of a baby born around the same time under a common Jewish surname, Cohen? He reasoned that the nurses, perhaps relying on an alphabetical system, might have confused a Collins baby with a Cohen baby. CeCe Moore was by now volunteering to advise Plebuch, and with additional help from Tannenbaum and the New York City Birth Index of 1913, Plebuch found a Seymour Cohen born in the Bronx on Sept. 23. DNA cousins fanned out on the Internet, tracking down a descendant of Seymour's sister.

Plebuch wrote to the woman, a professor in North Carolina, and offered to pay for her test kit if she'd contribute something completely free and absolutely priceless: her saliva. The woman agreed.

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Weeks later, the results came back. No relation.

After that red herring, Plebuch decided to dive deeper into the 1913 birth index, to find babies who were in the hospital at the same time as her father. It was no easy task: The list of children born in the Bronx in 1913 ran 159 pages, was not ordered by date, and didn't distinguish hospital births from home births. But she manage to isolate all the male children born on Sept. 23, as well as the day after and the day before. She further narrowed the list to names that sounded either Jewish or ethnically neutral  30 babies in all.

Her hope was that one of those babies would share a surname with one of the people that the DNA matching sites identified as a likely relative. So she searched methodically.

"Appel"  nothing. "Bain"  nothing. "Bamson"  nothing.

It was another dead end.

The sisters went back to the chromosome segment matching, both at 23andMe and Family Tree DNA, where they had also uploaded their genetic data. They bought at least 21 DNA test kits for themselves, relatives and strangers suspected of being relations. Plebuch found she and her siblings matched to 6,912 likely DNA relatives, with 311,467 "segment matches" among them  segments along the chromosomes that overlapped with those of the Collins children. Which is to say, 311,467 potential clues.

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The data they had kept on spreadsheets quickly became overwhelming, so their brother Jim, a retired software and systems engineer who had worked on NASA supercomputers, designed an iPad app called DNAMatch to help them and other seekers keep their data straight.

Plebuch was determined, and unusually well suited to the task of solving a puzzle hidden in big data. She and Wiggins searched this way for two and a half years. But she was having no luck finding someone closely related to her father's biological family  they simply weren't in the system.

Perhaps they didn't know about DNA testing, or couldn't afford it, or weren't interested.

All the sisters could do was keep working and waiting, hoping the DNA testing revolution would make its way to strangers who shared their blood.

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Ultimately, the crack in the case came not through Plebuch's squad of helpful DNA cousins, but through a stranger with no genetic connection.

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It was Jan. 18, 2015, a Sunday, and Plebuch was feeling down. She was writing an email to her cousin Pete Nolan  the beloved relative it turned out she wasn't really related to  to update him on her stalled search.

As administrator of his 23andMe account, she had permission to check the list of his DNA relatives yet rarely did so, since new relatives rarely showed up. But she decided to check it this day  and this time, there was a new person. A stranger had just had her saliva processed, and she showed up as a close relative of Nolan.

Plebuch emailed the woman and asked if she would compare genomes with Nolan. The woman agreed, and Plebuch could see the segments where her cousin and the stranger overlapped. Plebuch thanked her, and asked if her results were what she expected.

"I was actually expecting to be much more Ashkenazi than I am," the woman wrote. Her name was Jessica Benson, a North Carolina resident who had taken the test on a whim, hoping to learn more about her Jewish ethnicity. Instead, she wrote, she had discovered "that I am actually Irish, which I had not expected at all."

Plebuch felt chills. She wrote back that her father had been born at Fordham Hospital on Sept. 23, 1913. Had anyone in the Benson family been born on that date?

Jessica replied. Her grandfather, Phillip Benson, might have been born around that date, she wrote.

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Plebuch began to cry.

She started combing through her list of baby names from the 1913 Index. No "Benson" born that day in the Bronx. But then, well after midnight, she found it:

The New York City Birth Index had a "Philip Bamson," born Sept. 23  one of the names she had searched among her DNA cousins. This had to be Phillip Benson, his name misrecorded on his birth certificate.

Plebuch knew in her bones what had happened. This was no ancient family secret, buried by shame or forgotten by generations.

This was a mistake that no one had ever detected, a mistake that could only have been uncovered with DNA technology. Someone in the hospital back in 1913 had messed up. Somehow, a Jewish child had gone home with an Irish family, and an Irish child had gone home with a Jewish family.

And the child who was supposed to be Phillip Benson had instead become Jim Collins.

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Sitting, from left, are Phillip Benson's first wife, Esther Abolafia Benson, their son Kenny, and Phillip Benson. Behind them are Ida Cott Benson and Sam Benson, the parents Phillip Benson grew up with. (Benson family photo)

Pam Benson was stunned by what this stranger was telling her over the phone.

"I said, 'You've got to be kidding me,' " says Pam, who is Jessica's aunt and the daughter of the late Phillip Benson.

The Lawndale, California, woman sent off for her own DNA kit and discovered that, rather than being part Jewish as she'd long thought, she was part Irish, and first cousins with a man she'd never heard of  Plebuch's "Irish cousin," Pete Nolan.

The families compared the birth certificates for Jim Collins and Phillip Benson and found they were one number apart and signed by the same doctor, suggesting they were processed close together in time. Plebuch began to research the ways an earlier generation of hospitals kept track of their littlest charges. In the book "Brought to Bed: Childbearing in America, 1750-1950," she found an astonishing picture, taken at a Manhattan medical institution the year before her father was born. It shows at least a dozen newborns piled on a cart like so many cabbages.

A copy of Phillip Benson's birth certificate, in which his name is misrecorded as "Philip Bamson." Born the same day as Jim Collins, he was sent home with the Collins family in an accidental switch. (Alice Plebuch)

A copy of Jim Collins's birth certificate, one number apart from Phillip Benson's and signed by the same doctor, suggesting they were processed close together in time. (Alice Plebuch)

"Every time I show it, when I give lectures, the whole audience gasps," says author Judith Walzer Leavitt, a childbirth historian and a retired professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "You can understand how possible it was to switch babies inadvertently."

In 1913, hospital births were still unusual, and procedures to identify babies were inconsistent. Some hospitals kept babies sleeping in cots by their mothers' beds, while others kept them in nurseries, increasing the chances of a mix-up. While it's hard to know what practices were in place at Fordham Hospital, which was shuttered in 1976, Leavitt says it was not until the 1930s or '40s that it became standard for hospitals to give babies and their mothers identifying wristlets or anklets. In 1913, they more typically "just depended on mothers' recognition or nurses' remembrance."

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The families exchanged photographs. Pam Benson saw Plebuch's short, dark-haired dad Jim Collins, who looked far more like Benson's 5-foot-4 grandfather and 4-foot-9 grandmother than did her own blue-eyed, 6-foot father, Phillip.

"My grandfather came to my dad's shoulders," she says. She had once asked her dad how he could be so tall. "He said, 'recessive genes.' "

The Collins sisters had long had their own explanation for why their father didn't seem to resemble his siblings. Roger Wiggins, Gerry's husband, recalls meeting Jim's tall, lanky brother in the 1970s and asking Gerry about it. "She said, 'Well, my dad was in the orphanage, and when he was in the orphanage he was malnourished.' "

Plebuch and Pam Benson took to calling each other "swapcuz," though in fact they share no genetic relation. And now Plebuch discovered she had a real new first cousin: Phylis Pullman, the daughter of the biological sister Jim never knew. In late 2015, Plebuch flew to Florida to meet her. Sitting at opposite ends of a couch, the diminutive women were like mirror images; they could have been sisters.

Pullman told her the family story of how, when her tall Uncle Phillip was courting his first wife, her observant Jewish parents didn't believe he could possibly be a member of the tribe.

"He had to bring his birth certificate," says Pullman. "Little did we know it wasn't his birth certificate."

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Phylis Pullman, left, first cousin to Alice Collins Plebuch, and Alice chat with Alice's second cousins Dan Klein and Jerry Klein while looking over photo albums of their families. (Photo for The Washington Post by Yana Paskova)

In January, several members of the Collins family joined Pullman and Pam Benson on a cruise. It was oddly comfortable, Pullman says  no strangeness among strangers, as if blood recognized blood. Even Pam Benson, the daughter of an Irishman raised Jewish, who didn't share genes with any of them, felt at ease. "It was like we're all one big swap family," she says. She and Plebuch have been working together to try to get New York State to annotate their fathers' birth certificates, to reflect their true parentage.

But the revelations have also felt like a loss. Pam Benson's late father was a Jew, only he wasn't, and sometimes her daughter would come home and catch Pam crying over what he would have thought of this. How were she and Plebuch to reconcile that their fathers weren't what they thought they were? And, for that matter, what were they? Was Jim Collins a Jewish man because he was born that way, or an Irishman because he was raised one?

Plebuch has come to agree with her younger sister that if their dad were alive, it would be right to tell him the truth about his birth. But she considers it a mercy that Jim Collins didn't live through the era of recreational genomics. This was a man so proud of his heritage that his children gave him an Irish wake, with Wiggins singing his favorite song, "Danny Boy."

"My dad would have lost his identity," Plebuch says. "He's been kind of spared that."

She and her siblings also think about what would have happened if Jim Collins remained with his biological family, and had become Phillip Benson, as he was supposed to. As the two families exchanged old photos, Plebuch came across one of a young Phillip sitting on a horse and felt a pang of jealousy. She wouldn't begrudge Phillip for those happy childhood days  but it should have been her dad on that horse.

In looking over Benson family photos, Alice Collins Plebuch was struck by a childhood photo of Phillip Benson on a horse. She wondered what kind of life her father, Jim, would have lived had he been raised with his biological family, the Bensons. (Alice Plebuch )

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If not for the switch, Jim would have been raised in an intact home. He almost certainly would have completed high school and might have done something with his gift for mathematics. Instead, he served in the Army and later as a California prison guard  spending his career in institutions like the one that defined his childhood. He made a decent life for himself, but his kids still grieve for the losses of that little boy. "In the orphanage, my father got an orange for Christmas," Plebuch says.

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And yet, were it not for what happened in 1913, Alice Collins Plebuch would not exist. The Collins children owe their lives to an administrative oversight. A nurse's momentary lapse of attention, perhaps. It was a terrible thing, and yet, how can they resent that it happened?

It is astonishing what DNA testing can do. The same technology can cleave families apart or knit them together. It can prompt painful revelations, and it can bring distantly related members of the human family together on a quest, connecting first cousins who look like sisters, and solving a century-old mystery that could have been solved no other way. It can bring to light a split-second mistake committed by someone long dead, in a city across the country, in a building that no longer exists. It can change the future and it can change the past.

It can change our understanding of who we are.

Plebuch says she and her siblings decided as a family "we were not going to be bitter." It is a complex feat, made necessary by old-fashioned error and modern-day technology, to grasp that a terrible thing happened, and that you are grateful for it. Nor does Plebuch regret what she's learned. She does not regard DNA testing as a Pandora's box better left closed, though this thing she undertook casually turned out, she says, to be "the biggest deal in the world."

It is the truth, after all.

Alice Collins Plebuch poses for a portrait after meeting relatives in Seaford, New York, on June 24. Of her father, she says she is glad he did not live into the age of recreational genomics. "My dad would have lost his identity," Plebuch says. "He's been kind of spared that." (Photo for The Washington Post by Yana Paskova)

Copeland is a former Washington Post staff writer. She is collecting interesting stories about DNA testing. To share yours, contact her at DNAtestingstories@gmail.com.
Scouts and their leaders listen to President Donald Trump at the Boy Scouts National Jamboree in Glen Jean, W.Va., on July 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) ( Steve Helber/AP )

Where is first lady Melania Trump's anti-cyberbullying campaign when Jeff Sessions needs it?

That question came to mind as her husband used Twitter recently to beat his attorney general like a drum.

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I also wondered: If President Donald J. Trump focused as much on his party's health care policy as he has on Twitter, would the failed Senate health care overhaul have passed?

Since Democrats also want fixes to help Obamacare, officially the Affordable Care Act, work better, a knowledgeable and engaged president might have urged both parties to huddle together and come up with a workable compromise. Instead, Trump threw up his hands and advised "let it fail," as if Democrats might be bullied into compliance by holding health care for millions of people hostage.

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That's not the way things usually work in the nation's capital, but in Trump's Washington, he seems to think anything goes. The result has been a failure by the Republican-controlled Congress to send any major legislation to the White House for the president's signature.

Instead, the president has hit new lows in recent days as a king of chaos and bully in chief.

 He disparaged his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, with waves of tweets.

He attacked Sessions for not firing the acting FBI director (even though Trump has the power to do that himself) and called him VERY weak" for not pursuing criminal charges against Hillary Clinton (even though Sessions announced during his confirmation hearings that he would recuse himself from Clinton investigations).

How ironic that the man whose brand was built largely around the phrase "You're fired!" would rather drive Sessions into quitting. By week's end, Trump had dumped his chief of staff, Reince Priebus.

 He ad-libbed a speech to the Boy Scouts' National Jamboree that sounded like recycled applause lines from his campaign speeches  mockery of others, glorification of himself, political spin and just-a-little-raunchy yarns about high finance and high living in New York City. Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh later apologized to all who were offended.

But White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dutifully said she saw "nothing but roughly 40-45,000 Boy Scouts cheering the president on throughout his remarks."

 Without warning, the president tweeted a Wednesday declaration that transgender troops will no longer be allowed to serve openly in the military. Despite his claims to have spoken with "my Generals and military experts," Pentagon brass said they follow only official directives, not tweets.

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 On that same day, Trump tweeted that Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, "really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday" with her opposition to the latest Obamacare repeal bill. Hours later, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called Murkowski and fellow Alaskan Sen. Dan Sullivan, who voted the other way, to say Murkowski's vote "had put Alaska's future with the administration in jeopardy," according to the Alaska Dispatch News.

But bullying can't entirely make up for Trump's inexperience. Murkowski, for example, chairs two committees that make her the top appropriator for the Department of the Interior  and she doesn't have to run again until 2022. On Capitol Hill, she who controls the purse carries the clout.

That's how the balance of powers between the three branches of our government is supposed to work. The framers of the Constitution knew that concentration of too much power in the executive branch would invite despotism and dictatorship.

Yet, the bullying approach to governance is so baked into Trump's style that it reappeared quickly in the form of his newly appointed communications director, Anthony Scaramucci. In a phone call to The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza Scaramucci threatened to fire the entire White House communications staff if Lizza didn't reveal who had leaked a piece of inside gossip. Welcome aboard, Mooch. You'll fit right in.

In some ways, I am relieved when Trump's attempts to bully his way to autocracy are stymied by his own incompetence. But our government should function well because of its leaders, not in spite of them.

Clarence Page, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/pagespage.

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cpage@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @cptime
The city of Aurora may sue the owners of the old Copley Hospital in Aurora. (City of Aurora)

The city of Aurora has issued a notice of intent to sue the owners of the old Copley Hospital to get them to remove or mitigate asbestos in the old buildings on South Lincoln Avenue.

The city said it will sue under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act against Raghuveer P. Nayak, Anita R. Nayak and the companies they control. The notice states that the city will file suit in federal court in 90 days unless the Nayaks immediately secure the facility and mitigate the danger by removing the asbestos.

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"The old Copley Hospital site is a top priority for my administration," said Mayor Richard Irvin in an official press release Friday afternoon. "It has grown to be much more than an eyesore in the community. The site poses a threat to the health and safety of the residents of Aurora. This situation has gone on for far too long. The Nayaks created this problem, and they must be held accountable for correcting it."

The notice provides that, since they assumed ownership of the facility in February 2007, the Nayaks have allowed the buildings on the site to deteriorate significantly. The Nayaks bought the old Copley campus for $1.2 million.

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The asbestos in the buildings pose a risk to emergency responders and the community at large, city officials said. The notice is addressed to the Nayaks because they exercise authority and control over the buildings, which makes them liable under federal environmental laws.

Based on documents filed in a federal criminal action, Raghuveer Nayak is believed to have a net worth exceeding $27 million, city officials said.

"One of the major concerns of Ward 4 residents is the former hospital, and the growing risk it brings to the immediate neighborhood," said Ald. Bill Donnell, 4th Ward. "The community has waited for substantial action to be taken by the owners to no avail. The city's issuance of a notice to sue expresses the critical urgency to address the problem for the safety and health of the community."

The city already has a case in the 16th Circuit Court, filed in early 2015, against the Nayaks, seeking to have the old Copley Hospital building torn down.
Trans ban a fiscal decision

Fasten your seat belts. President Donald Trump, with the advice of his generals, has chosen to ban transgender persons from the military. Hollywood will become apoplectic. The PC crowd will all need a safe space  and our enemies now have another reason to fear and respect the United States military.

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According to the website Military.com, "The Pentagon expects to pay between $40,000 to $50,000 during the course of a service member's life to treat gender dysphoria."

The July 2017 Family Research Council Issue Brief stated that The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery suggests these surgeries would cost around $110,450 plus fees for pre- and post-procedural counseling services as well as lifelong hormone therapy. Current active service members alone could cost nearly $1 billion over the next nine years.

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And a RAND study estimates that there could be nearly 135 nondeployable days for gender reassignment surgery, which may raise expenses more than expected.

Ultimately, the 10-year cost estimate involving current transgender individuals and new recruits could cost nearly $4 billion. That is $4 billion that could be invested in protective body armor, weaponry and intelligence.

The military is not a social experiment and this has nothing to do with sexual orientation. This is a logical, fiscal decision and nothing more. To place more value on it is simply ludicrous and manipulative.

Mark Werthmann, Aurora

'Us' explains Trump victory

In a recent letter, Richard Kastner asks, "Will the faithful supporters of Trump please tell us doubters just how you can show him respect?" Glad to oblige, even though I'm not going to use my own words this time. Instead, here's something I got in an email, and while it doesn't directly answer your question, it does, in my opinion, clearly explain why he won the election. This piece was titled simply "Us" by Paul Genova. This is an abbreviated version.

I'm noticing that a lot of people aren't graciously accepting the fact that their candidate lost.

How did this happen you ask? Well here is how it happened.

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You created "us" when you attacked our freedom of speech.

You created "us" when you attacked our right to bear arms.

You created "us" when you attacked our Christian beliefs.

You created "us" when you constantly referred to us as racists.

You created "us" when you constantly called us xenophobic.

You created "us" when you attacked our flag

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You created "us" when you took God out of our schools.

You created "us" when you confused women's rights with feminism.

You created "us" when you began to emasculate men.

You created "us" when you attacked our way of life.

You created "us" when you decided to let our government get out of control.

You created "us" when you began murdering innocent law enforcement officers.

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You created "us" when you lied and said we could keep our insurance plans and our doctors.

You created "us" when you allowed our jobs to continue to leave our country.

You created "us" when you took a knee, or stayed seated or didn't remove your hat during our national anthem.

And we became fed up and we pushed back and spoke up. And we did it with ballots, not bullets.

"YOU" created "US."

And from my own perspective, I believe that President Trump respects "us" and agrees with "us." He made it clear during the campaign, and we voted accordingly.

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John Babush, Big Rock

New energy law explained

What is the Future Energy Jobs Act? Come to the Sierra Club Aurora Town Hall Meeting on Aug. 14 at 7 p.m. at the IBEW Hall at 591 Sullivan Road, Aurora, to learn about this groundbreaking piece of clean energy legislation. There are millions of dollars being generated by this new law, and we want Aurora to be ready to benefit from these new wind and solar energy programs.

The law brings energy efficiency, renewable energy, and job training programs to all of Illinois. The two pillars of the Future Energy Jobs Act are greater energy efficiency and a greater percentage of energy coming from renewables. These requirements will make our air cleaner, our children healthier, and help protect the earth from climate change.

The first pillar, energy efficiency, requires ComEd to reduce its energy usage by 21.5 percent by the year 2030. This means energy efficiency programs, such as rebates for Energy Star refrigerators, energy-efficient windows, and insulation, will be increased.

The second pillar, increased energy from renewable sources, requires ComEd to increase its percentage of energy from renewable sources to at least 25 percent by the year 2025. This includes the requirement that Illinois must build at least 4300 megawatts of new solar and wind power  enough to power millions of homes. Homegrown renewable energy mean jobs for Illinois.

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There are special programs to provide all of this renewable energy. One is rooftop solar with "net metering," which allows a credit on your electric bill when you put your extra electricity onto the grid. Another exciting program is community solar, where anyone can buy into a large solar installation, maybe on top of a school, church or polluted site. This is a way for everyone to have the economic advantages of solar, even if you rent or have a shady roof.

The Future Energy Jobs Act includes training for new energy jobs. A special program called Solar for All calls for every FEJA job site to include on-site job training and includes 2,000 jobs for people with records and alumni of the foster care system.

The Future Energy Jobs Act creates a new vision for Illinois. We want our community to be a part of that vision.

Mavis Bates, chairman, Sierra Club, Valley of the Fox Group

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Submit letters to the editor via email to suburbanletters@tribpub.com. Please include your name and town of residence for publication. Please include phone number and email address for confirmation. Letters should be no more than 250 words.
An Oak Lawn man accused of tossing two toy poodles from the roof of a five-story hospital parking garage pleaded guilty to aggravated animal cruelty and to violating his probation on an unrelated drug conviction, a Cook County state's attorney spokeswoman said.

As part of the plea deal, Edward Hanania, 23, received a five-year sentence for the animal cruelty plea and a six-year sentence for the probation violation, state's attorney spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said. The sentences, which Judge Colleen Hyland handed down Friday in Bridgeview, will run concurrently, she said.

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Hanania, who as a condition of his plea admitted to abusing the dogs, will remain under mandatory supervision for two years upon his release from prison, Simonton said.

"I would say that justice was served," Oak Lawn police Chief Randy Palmer said.

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Prosecutors allege Hanania obtained the dogs, which had escaped from their owner's home, by responding to a Facebook ad for the found dogs, posing as their rightful owner and paying the finder a reward.

He then allegedly drove the dogs to the top of the parking garage at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and flung them off, prosecutors said.

Hospital surveillance footage of the incident obtained by the Daily Southtown shows a man pull into a spot atop the parking deck, exit his car and peer over the ledge to the ground below. He then walks around to the passenger side, grabs a white object in each hand and dumps the objects off the roof before speeding away in his car.

The episode lasts less than a minute.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

One of the dogs, 14-month-old Angel, survived the drop with badly broken legs and underwent successful surgery. The other, 4-year-old Guero, died from his injuries en route to the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge, its president Linda Estrada said.

Local animal welfare advocates have followed the case closely, holding a rally in support of the poodles and attending each of Hanania's court dates en masse.

"I'm so excited," said Peggy O'Leary, of Oak Lawn, who was reached by phone Friday following Hanania's guilty plea.

O'Leary had attended Hanania's prior court appearances but could not make Friday's hearing due to another obligation. She said she heard about his guilty plea on Facebook.

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"I think our presence there played a part in it, I really do," she said of the presence of animal rights activists at every one of Hanania's court appearances. "The state's attorney came out last time and talked to us and said the judge was aware we were here keeping tabs on this guy."

zkoeske@tribpub.com

Twitter @ZakKoeske
Legislation co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, could bring more fresh fruits and vegetables to designated food deserts in the Chicago area and elsewhere in the state. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune )

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly's diverse district boasts some of the world's richest farmland, as well as Chicago neighborhoods and south suburbs where access to foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables is limited.

The Matteson Democrat, along with U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, are co-sponsors of legislation that would relax a crop insurance restriction that, in turn, would allow farmers to devote more acreage to fruits and vegetables.

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The aim of the Feeding America through Farm Flexibility Act is to improve access to fresh foods in areas that have been labeled food deserts, according to Kelly.

"There are people in my district who live 20 miles from farms but simply can't get fresh fruits and vegetables for their families," Kelly said in a news release.

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The legislation would allow farmers to grow fruits and vegetables on an additional 5 percent of their acreage without a crop insurance penalty, provided the food is sold or donated in food deserts, according to Kelly's office.

According to her office, an estimated 600,000 people in the Chicago metro area live in areas defined as food deserts. Many south suburbs that are in Kelly's 2nd District have seen supermarkets close their doors in recent years, and in some areas the neighborhood convenience store may be the only source of groceries such as produce.

The Illinois Farm Bureau is on board with the measure, according to Richard Guebert, the bureau's president. In Kelly's release, he said the legislation is a "win-win" for both farmers as well as consumers living in underserved urban and rural areas.

It would enable farmers "to diversify their operations at a time of low commodity prices," he said in the release.

Kelly's district stretches from the tip of Chicago's Hyde Park community south to Kankakee, and includes 1,200 farms, according to James Lewis, a spokesman for Kelly. Suburbs in the district include Calumet Park, Dolton, Harvey, Momence, Peotone, Phoenix and Riverdale.

"Having this diverse district leads her to come up with these sorts of ideas," Lewis said, referencing the new legislation.

"It links the urban problem, and the suburban problem (of food deserts)" with a source of fresh food, he said.

Being able to buy fresh food that is locally produced is appealing to consumers, and farmers like the idea of being able to devote more acreage to fruits and vegetables knowing there is demand for them and they can fetch a better price than for commodities such as corn, he said.

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"The carbon footprint is smaller because (produce) wasn't shipped" a long distance, he said.

The legislation was introduced Wednesday, but it could be the fall before any movement on the bill takes place, Lewis said.

"Everyone we have talked to about this bill has been super supportive," he said.

Having Bost, a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, as co-sponsor will be a plus, Lewis said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 23.5 million Americans currently live in food deserts, and, according to the department's Food Desert Locator, Illinois has many food deserts, Kelly's office said.

mnolan@tribpub.com

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A photo shows an empty office, cleared of records and equipment, at Oak Park Avenue Realtys Tinley Park offices. Inset is James K. Mack McClelland, who, along with other principals of Oak Park Avenue Realty, has been ordered by a federal judge to hand over business records and other property. (Handout)

The principals of bankrupt Tinley Park-based Oak Park Avenue Realty face possible fines and arrest if they don't comply with a federal judge's order to turn over business records of the real estate management company.

The order Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Carol Doyle comes after the court-appointed trustee in Oak Park Avenue's bankruptcy case reported in a court filing that business records, computers and other equipment had been removed from the company's Tinley Park offices.

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The trustee, Ronald Peterson, an attorney with Jenner & Block, said he went to Oak Park Avenue's offices, 6800 Centennial Drive, on July 14 and discovered "substantial" portions of records were gone, and cables to the company's computer servers had been severed. The trustee noted he saw no evidence of a break-in, and notified Tinley Park police and the Cook County state's attorney's office.

Doyle ordered the company's principals, including founder James K. "Mack" McClelland, to turn over the records by noon Wednesday or else "sanctions will be imposed which may include financial consequences and/or arrest by the U.S. Marshals."

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The company's principals also are barred from copying, editing, deleting "or otherwise altering or destroying" any of the records, Doyle wrote in her order.

An attorney representing Oak Park Avenue in the federal case said Friday he was not authorized to comment.

Along with serving as trustee for Oak Park, Peterson was appointed trustee to oversee Mack, and has gotten the court's OK to bring on experts to delve into that company's financial records. In a previous court filing, he described a "complex history of opaque financial and business dealings" among Mack, its numerous subsidiaries and its principals, including founder James K. McClelland.

In his earlier filing seeking a motion to compel the Oak Park principals to turn over documents, either paper or electronically stored, Peterson noted that the company's agents or principals had "stripped the executive offices in particular of any estate property," including any files or other records.

A photo shows cables leading to computer servers having been severed at Oak Park Avenue Realtys Tinley Park offices. (U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois)

"These actions, while the most blatant, are part of a pattern of behavior by the Debtors' agents and principals apparently designed to keep the Trustee from conducting a full investigation into the Debtors' affairs," Peterson wrote in that filing.

Both Oak Park Avenue and its parent, Mack Industries, were located in an office complex just off Oak Park Avenue, and Mack earlier this year filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, but that case was later converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation.

Some creditors of Oak Park Avenue  which at one time managed more than 1,200 properties on behalf of investors  had gone to court to force the company into bankruptcy after property owners stopped receiving proceeds from rent payments made by tenants of the properties. The Oak Park Avenue case has also been converted to Chapter 7.

Larger owners of properties managed by Oak Park took their properties out of Oak Park's hands, and management of about 350 single-family homes, all located in the south suburbs, was transferred to Renters Warehouse.

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The company manages more than 19,000 properties in 25 states on behalf of about 13,000 investors, according to Noel Christopher, the company's senior vice president for business development and a managing broker for Illinois.

He said Renters Warehouse had run into numerous problems since taking over management July 1, including issues with water bills having gone unpaid by the prior managers and tenants receiving shutoff notices. Maintenance issues were not tended to by Oak Park Avenue, and records show some tenants in arrears as far as rent payments, although renters insist they are up to date, Christopher said.

While the properties Renters Warehouse inherited are all in Oak Park Avenue's back yard, they're owned by investors from throughout the country, as well as from outside the U.S., he said. Some of them are out thousands of dollars in missed rent payments from Oak Park, he said.

Mack filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on March 24, listing assets in the range of $1 million to $10 million, and liabilities of $10 million to $50 million. In 2014, Crain's Chicago Business described Mack as Chicago's fastest-growing real estate company. Mack snapped up foreclosed homes, fixed them up then rented them in the wake of the collapse of the real estate market that produced a raft of foreclosures in the Chicago area, and particularly in the south suburbs.

In a filing seeking to convert Oak Park Avenue's case from Chapter 11 to a Chapter 7 liquidation, an attorney for the firm said that the real estate management company had ceased operations and would not reorganize under Chapter 11.

mnolan@tribpub.com

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Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza will speak at St. Linus Church in Oak Lawn on Aug. 8 and St. Mary Nativity Church in Joliet on Aug. 9. (Handout)

It almost defies human capability  that Immaculee Ilibagiza could survive three months hiding in a tiny bathroom with seven other women while genocide raged across her town and country; and that she could come to forgive the people who butchered her parents and brothers and searched in vain for her during the killing storm.

Ilibagiza's story of courage, faith and eventual forgiveness is the subject of the New York Times bestseller, "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust" (Hay House Inc.; 2006). She has written several other books, as well, and a motion picture about her story is expected to be released by early 2019.

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Today, a mother of two living in the United States, Ilibagiza has shared her story countless times around the world.

She will speak Aug. 8 at St. Linus Church in Oak Lawn. "A Story of Faith, Hope and Forgiveness" will be presented at 7 p.m. (5:30 p.m. doors) by the Vicariate V Ministry Commission.

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On Aug. 9, she will speak at St. Mary Nativity Church in Joliet. That presentation, hosted by the lay apostolate, begins at 6:30 p.m., a rosary of the seven sorrows prayer session begins at 5:30 p.m.

In the 23 years that have passed since Ilibagiza, weighing just 65 pounds, walked out of the 3-by-4-foot secret bathroom to learn her family and many of her friends had been killed, she has overcome the kind of psychological trauma that often derails individuals. Through truth and prayer, the devout Catholic says, she has been able to move forward from one of history's most horrifying chapters with a message of hope.

It was not an easy journey away from the hurt and anger of loss to eventually being able to turn her parents' home in the village of Mataba, Rwanda into a public place of healing and comfort, but Ilibagiza said she believes she is where God wants her to be.

"It is God's will," she said, via phone last week from her home in New York City.

"I have been sharing my story for 11 years," she said.

She has come to realize that people don't want to hear general overviews. "They want to hear how you did it, how you survived. They want to hear your story," she said.

Storytelling, she said, is a powerful medium that can touch people in ways dry narratives or cold statistics, even staggering ones, cannot.

"When I share my story, I see people unloading their own," she said. "They are looking at you but they are thinking about their own story. When you share the truth, another person understands. They feel that."

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Plus, she added, "I think God wants us to share our stories."

On April 6, 1994, the president of Rwanda's plane was shot down over the capital city of Kigali, igniting a tinder box of already escalating fears and emotions. This assassination of the Hutu president sparked months of massacres of Tutsi tribe members throughout the country.

Although the differences between Hutu and Tutsi were minimal, a history of favoritism instilled by European influences was enough to turn friends and neighbors against each other. Located in the southwest part of the country, Mataba was not spared the horror, as gangs of Hutus went house to house slaughtering men, women and children. By the time it was over, nearly a million people were dead.

At the time, Ilibagiza was home on Easter break from the National University of Rwanda, where she had been studying to become an engineer.

To protect his only daughter from the marauding gangs of mostly unemployed men hepped up on drugs, liquor and misinformation, Ilibagiza's father sent her to the home of a local pastor, a Hutu man whose Tutsi wife had passed away. He sheltered her and seven other women in a hidden 3-by-4 foot bathroom. For 91 days, the women huddled silently, taking turns sitting, eating only when it was safe for food to be delivered, and flushing the toilet only when the toilet in the house's other bathroom was flushed. All the while, genocide raged outside the home.

Though her Tutsi status prevented her from choosing her own college major, Ilibagiza had always had an interest in psychology. During her stay in the bathroom, she would learn first hand the mind's ability to overcome the seemingly impossible situations.

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"I truly felt I had a connection to God," she said. "I was able to bring that faith to the other women. I hate to make it sound like I did such amazing things yet it was true."

Often, she said, God would send her messages, such as the time he told her to have the pastor move a wardrobe in front of the secret bathroom's door. The pastor hesitated but conceded and the next time the killers came to search the house, they walked right past the wardrobe. Another time, the message was to learn English so she could work with the United Nations once the terror ended. She requested an English Bible and dictionary and read both while in captivity.

"What happened to me in that room had nothing to do with strength," she said. "It was almost like a peaceful obedience  a clarity of what I could do. That clarity allowed me to do whatever God wanted me to do."

After her release, she realized that what God wanted her to do then was forgive and tell the world why.

Though the undercurrents of evil often simmer for years, sometimes decades, Rwanda, she said, is proof of how quickly blind hate can spread. Genocide is a recurring dark chapter in human history that often begins with inexplicable prejudice. And there are parallels today, she said.

She said IS is one example of how hate has escalated to terror. There is hatred and divisiveness right here in the United States, too, she said.

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"That's why I hope the message people take away is to love one another, to be honest and to not do to another person in the slightest way what you would not like to have done to you," she said. "Don't put people in boxes. Don't pre-judge them if you don't know them.

"Because you don't know when anger and prejudice will take you by surprise and you can end up killing somebody," she said.

"Also, I hope people will do an examination of conscience. Ask yourself, 'How did I act today? Did I do good today or bad?' So we can keep growing. Don't let anger or lust become big. It destroys families," she said.

Lastly, she said, she would like people to find hope through her story.

"No matter what you go through, there's always hope. Hold onto God," she said.

Because her spiritual journey took her to a place of understanding and forgiveness, Ilibagiza said when she eventually came face-to-face with the man who macheted her mother and one of her brothers to death, she was able to say, "I forgive you."

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Her epiphany, she said, came from sincerely studying the words Jesus is said to have uttered while on the cross. "He said, 'Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing,'" she said. "And I realized this was true of the people in my country, too."

Vicariate V is one of six major geographical groupings of the Archdiocese of Chicago. It serves the southwest corridor from the Midway Airport area to the parishes in Lemont, and as far south as St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr Church in Tinley Park.

Caryn Talty, president of the St. Linus Ladies Guild, said Ilibagiza's message of overcoming hatred and embracing forgiveness is one that is very relevant today.

"A lot of people here at St. Linus thought it would be a great idea to bring Immaculee here, especially now," Talty said. In addition to having a compelling story to share, Talty said, Ilibagiza has a message that encourages people to come together and seek understanding.

Much of Ilibagiza's book is about her inner battle, Talty said. "For me, the message is in order to pull yourself out of the darkness, you've got to make an effort. And if you're honest and pray, God will help you to overcome whatever it is you're battling."

Joyce Traina, organizer of the St. Mary Nativity event, said, "We feel very blessed that she is coming here."

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Traina said Ilibagiza is "very dedicated" to Our Lady of Kibeho, also known as Our Lady of Sorrows.

In the 1980s, years before the killing began, Traina said, "Our blessed mother appeared to some youths in Rwanda, warning of the genocide."

That apparition, she said, is sanctioned by the Vatican.

Because St. Mary's has been hosting the sorrowful mother novena on Friday nights for more than 50 years, she said, "We feel the blessed mother is bringing Immaculee here."

Traina said seats are first come, first served. If the church fills to capacity, there will be a live video feed in the school gym.

Ilibagiza has received honorary doctoral degrees from several universities, including Notre Dame, Saint John's, Walsh and the Catholic University of America. She has been recognized and honored with humanitarian awards, including The Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace, the American Legacy's Women of Strength & Courage Award and the 2015 National Speaker's Association's Master of Influence Award.

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She was also featured in Michael Collopy's Architects of Peace project, which has honored legendary people such as Mother Teresa, Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama.

Despite all that she has witnessed, Ilibagiza said she is very optimistic about the future of mankind.

"Yes genocide did happen in my country," she said. Now, she added, it is up to future generations to learn the lesson that "this is what happens when we don't remember what we are created for  to love one another, to forgive one another."

dvickroy@tribpub.com

Twitter @dvickroy

Immaculee Ilibagiza

When: 7 p.m. (5:30 p.m. doors) Aug. 8

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Where: St. Linus Church, 10300 Lawler Ave., Oak Lawn

Cost: Free. Book and merchandise sales will take place before and after the event. Guests seeking an autograph need to arrive early. Only 500 autograph tickets will be available. Guests who preorder her book for $15 online will receive an autograph ticket for the line in the order it is received.

Information: 708-636-4373; www.stlinusoaklawn.org/ and www.immaculee.com

Immaculee Ilibagiza

When: 6:30 p.m. (rosary prayer at 5:30 p.m.) Aug. 9

Where: St. Mary Nativity Church, 706 N. Broadway, Joliet

Cost: Free, but donations welcomed

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Information: 815-726-4031; www.stmarynativity.com and www.immaculee.com
In the past month, the marquee outside School District U46's central office building has had three different messages.

The first: "Pass Illinois Budget," a plea to Gov. Bruce Rauner and the General Assembly to pass a state budget after two long years without one. After a budget became reality on July 6, the message changed to "Thank You IL Budget Passed," with a second line urging one more request, "Sign SB1."

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That second line still stands on the U46 marquee, as Senate Bill 1's fate remains uncertain. Along with it changing the K-12 funding formula for public school districts, it also contains the mechanism that allows the state to distribute sorely needed state dollars to schools.

"If (Senate Bill 1) starts to break apart, I may have to change it to something else," U46 CEO Tony Sanders said Friday.

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School districts in and around the Elgin area await the final outcome of Senate Bill 1, which may be decided this week. For school leaders, an answer cannot come soon enough, as the school year is only weeks away, and worst-case scenarios of trimmed budgets, borrowing or the ceasing of operations still permeate.

Few districts have been as public about the potential repercussions of inadequate state funding and no new funding formula than U46. Earlier this year, Sanders spoke over the potential of U46 schools closing after the holidays without a state budget. And earlier this summer, district officials presented early but painful operating budget scenarios that included cuts, reductions in services, the draining of high school swimming pools, among others.

Sanders said he thanks lawmakers for finally getting through a state budget that ensures there is K-12 support from the state. However, the progress made earlier this summer in Springfield will be for naught if Illinois schools don't have access to it.

Budget talks in U46 will continue in August as they must approve a 2017-18 budget, said Sanders. Iterations of a potential U46 budget will likely include scenarios with the return of state dollars, and others where Senate Bill 1 is still undecided.

As for the fate of U46 operations in 2017-18, Sanders said "we're still looking at some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, where we'd be having real serious conversations of either where do we cut or how much would we have to borrow?"

The CEO downplayed the scenario of closing schools during the holidays, suggesting rather to deplete reserves or discuss borrowing against future tax receipts. "I wouldn't close unless it's the only option," he said.

Sanders remains encouraged something will come through, especially with news Friday that Rauner has asked "key Republican lawmakers to reach out to their Democrat colleagues to negotiate in good faith so an alternative can be presented by July 31," according to a Friday news release.

Despite calls from Rauner that the current version of Senate Bill 1 includes a "Chicago bailout" for Chicago Public Schools' pension system, Sanders said he doesn't see it as one. Earlier K-12 funding bills included language taking away dollars from wealthier districts for poorer ones. Should Rauner pursue an amendatory veto to Senate Bill 1 removing the CPS pension piece, Sanders said the move would practically do something similar as those older bills: take away money from Chicago schools to give out to others.

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Under Senate Bill 1, U46 stands to gain an additional $15 million in revenue, money that U46 could use to unfreeze vacant positions, among other possibilities, said Sanders. The state still owes U46 $18 million in categorical payments for areas such as special education, bilingual education, and transportation. Approximately one-quarter of U46's revenue comes from the state.

In the smaller and neighboring Central School District 301, Senate Bill 1 in its entirety would allocate an additional $119,000 in revenue, said Superintendent Todd Stirn. Under an amendatory veto version of the bill, District 301 could see the additional revenue jump up to $187,000.

Stirn said with that money, District 301 could hire more teachers and purchase more equipment for classrooms.

Just like others, Stirn said he awaits Springfield action on the bill, as they ponder what to do next school year. The Burlington-based district of about 4,100 students can open in August without Senate Bill 1, thanks to local funding  81 percent comes from local property tax revenue, and about 16 percent comes from the state  and their reserves. However, they only have enough to operate another three to four months.

"My job is to educate the kids of these communities, I'm going to keep doors open and provide educational resources for as long as we can," he said.

When asked why lawmakers can no longer delay action on K-12 funding, Stirn said, "I think the consequences of their inaction is something they would not want to face."

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South of both District 301 and U46 is St. Charles School District 303. Much like District 301, it gets the vast majority of its funding from local property tax revenue.

While St. Charles didn't comment extensively on the matter of Senate Bill 1, district spokeswoman Carol Smith did issue a statement on behalf of the district, saying, "Like many school districts, we rely on funding from the State of Illinois to educate our students. Earlier (Thursday), Senate President (John) Cullerton stated that he plans to send Senate Bill 1 to Governor Rauner on Monday."

"District 303 officials will continue to monitor the situation surrounding this legislation, and assess the impact to our district when action has been finalized," according to the statement.

raguerrero@tribpub.com
A tax on soda and other sugary beverages in Cook County puts some Elgin businesses at a disadvantage, local officials and business representatives said Friday after a judge cleared the way for the new tax to take effect. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune )

A tax on soda and other sugary beverages in Cook County puts some Elgin businesses at a disadvantage, local officials and business representatives said Friday after a judge cleared the way for the new tax to take effect.

The new penny-an-ounce tax is set to kick in Wednesday after a judge dismissed a lawsuit that challenged the Cook County tax as unconstitutional.

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"The ruling certainly puts businesses selling soda in Cook County portions of Elgin at a competitive disadvantage to those selling similar products in Kane County," said Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain. "There is no question customers will drive a few miles to save the additional costs."

Carol Gieske, president of the Elgin Area Chamber, called the tax "a burden" for border towns like Elgin, which is split in two among Kane and Cook counties.

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"Now on the far east side of town we have businesses that will be significantly impacted by Cook County's action with much higher prices on these designated beverages than just a few blocks to the west for businesses in Kane County," she said. "The businesses will be impacted not only by the tax but by the record keeping necessary to implement and collect this new tax."

The Elgin Area Chamber represents approximately 600 businesses in and around Elgin.

David Bear, president of the Bear Family McDonald's franchise, called it "by far the most arduous, taxing and difficult (regulation) to interpret" over other broad-reaching regulations like the county's minimum wage hike.

When asked just what would get taxed and what would not, his answer said it all. The tax would apply to pop, unsurprisingly. But McDonald's Sweet Tea? No, he said. Dairy drinks like milk and shakes would not be taxed. But smoothies? Bear said he would have to look into it to make sure.

"It's so vague and inconsistent that we will be subject to our interpretation," said Bear. He and his brother Marc took over for their parents last year; their franchise, headquartered in South Elgin, has restaurants in 14 cities and villages, including Elgin, South Elgin, Streamwood, Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates.

While Bear said his restaurants will survive the tax and will comply with it, he said it will likely hurt smaller businesses and the soda industry.

"It's a very difficult law for us to try to oblige with," he said. "There's a lot of vague conditions with it that are difficult for us to interpret. It's a horrible anti-business piece of legislation."

In the immediate aftermath of Friday's ruling, retailers and beverage industry groups lamented the setback, while health groups and county officials cheered. Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel Kubasiak also dissolved the temporary restraining order that had halted implementation of the tax, which originally had been set to take effect July 1 and applies to both sugar- and artificially sweetened drinks.

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The tax is scheduled to go into effect Wednesday, according to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. .

"We applaud today's decision. ... We believed all along that our ordinance was carefully drafted and met pertinent constitutional tests," Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said in a emailed statement after the ruling. She said it is set to take effect Wednesday.

It's not yet known whether the Illinois Retail Merchants Association will appeal the decision.

Rob Karr, president and CEO of the group, said his organization would consider its legal options, which include filing an appeal or an amended complaint.

"We are disappointed by today's ruling. ... I can only imagine the outrage that is being felt by consumers throughout Cook County who may soon have to pay this tax," Karr said.

The tax was championed by Preckwinkle and approved by commissioners last fall  one of several so-called soda taxes popping up in municipalities across the country. But last month, the merchants group sued the county, alleging the tax violates a clause in the state constitution requiring uniform taxation of products within a designated taxable class.

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Reading a portion of his ruling, Kubasiak acknowledged he was aware of the county's "budgetary turmoil" as a result of the legal challenge, but said he wasn't "moved by its public airing of those matters." Ultimately, the judge determined that the tax was within the county's authority and did not violate the state constitution.

The county had been expecting the tax to bring in $67.5 million this year and $200.6 million in 2018. Earlier this month, Preckwinkle announced layoffs for 300 county workers in the absence of that revenue, though the layoffs have not begun.

It's unclear how many people will actually lose their jobs. In her statement, Preckwinkle said the county had lost at least $17 million in revenue because of the delay.

"Until we are able to fully implement and collect revenues from this tax, we will continue to review our financial position and make adjustments accordingly," she said.

Many retailers oppose the tax, which would apply to a wide variety of sugar- and artificially sweetened beverages. They've argued that, under the Illinois Constitution, similar objects should be taxed uniformly. Under the sweetened beverage tax, drinks in a bottle, or from a fountain machine, are taxable. But on-demand, custom-sweetened beverages, such as those mixed by a server or barista, or a hand-made Frappuccino, aren't subject to the tax.

Also exempt: purchases made with federal food stamp benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which are exempt from state and local sales taxes under federal law.

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More generally, many retailers have fought the tax because it required them to make changes to their point-of-sale systems  a potentially costly undertaking for small stores  and adapt to numerous changes to regulations in recent months.

The fight over Cook County's sweetened beverage tax in some ways mirrors what's happened in other states. The beverage industry has spent millions of dollars fighting similar taxes in cities like Philadelphia; Boulder, Colo.; and Berkeley, Calif. In Cook County, the American Beverage Association, the industry group representing companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, is funding the Can the Tax coalition that is seeking to repeal the tax.

Meanwhile, organizations such as the American Heart Association, World Health Organization, Center for Science in the Public Interest and Illinois Public Health Institute have advocated the public health benefit of taxing sugary drinks, which are linked to obesity and related health conditions. The science is less clear, though, on whether artificially sweetened beverages have negative health consequences.

Mariano's spokesman Jim Hyland said the chain is ready to roll out the new tax.

"We do not expect a run on soda this evening as this subject is likely not top of mind for our customers due to the length of the legal proceedings over the last few weeks," Hyland said in an email.

Chicago Tribune reporters Greg Trotter, Becky Yerak, Ally Marotti and Robert Channick contributed.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, called on Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner to discuss the changes the governor wants made to Senate Bill 1 during a news conference on the first day of a special session on education funding at the state Capitol on Wednesday. (Justin Fowler / AP )

The second special legislative session this month has been called by Gov. Bruce Rauner. This time the debate is over SB 1, a Democratic plan to repair Illinois' school funding formula. This plan would give more assistance to poor districts in an effort to lessen the inequality between what is spent on education in wealthy and poor school districts.

Rauner is still waiting for this piece of legislation to cross his desk. Both the House and Senate have passed SB 1, but the Senate has yet to forward it to the governor.

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According to Rauner, school superintendents are "petrified that Madigan will give them less or nothing. They got a gun to their head, that's why. They are so afraid of him."

Rauner also is quoted as saying, "This is tyranny. This is rule by fear."

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Senator Karen McConnaughay, R-St. Charles, wants her constituents to know that "the state budget that was recently enacted includes a provision tying an overwhelming majority of state school funding to what is known as an 'evidenced-based model.'"

With school bells scheduled to ring in mid-August for most school districts, is it fair to our local students to have to wait for the politicians in Springfield that are holding budgets hostage to come up with a fair way to fund state public schools?

"A procedural maneuver is being used by the majority party in the Senate to keep Senate Bill 1, an evidence-based funding model, from advancing to Governor Rauner so he can take action on the measure," said McConnaughay.

Rauner feels that SB 1 is another political ploy to bail out Chicago Public Schools pension funds. He plans an amendatory veto that takes money from CPS to other school districts.

"Support your local teachers and children. Put the children in your community first. Keep the money in the classroom in the local communities," said Rauner.

All Illinois students deserve to have equal opportunities for educational programming. The largest school district in the state should not be given preferential funding treatment based on its size.

School District U-46, based in Elgin, is the second largest school district in the state. Don't our local students deserve a fair piece of school funds to ensure that they receive the best education that they can?

Our local public school students should not have to suffer because of yet another political power struggle. Is it ever going to end?

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Linda McDaniel-Hale is a Fox Valley resident who offers opinion on local topics.
More than four decades have passed since Dave Stroud was a young boy growing up in Glencoe in the early 1970s, when he said his parents entrusted him and his two brothers to the care of a respected male teacher from their neighborhood school.



But Stroud, 55, who now lives in Colorado, still recalls the fear he felt when the teacher walked into his bedroom late one night and allegedly molested him as he feigned sleep. Stroud says it was the desire to gain some measure of justice that compelled him to come forward against the teacher, prompting Glencoe School District 35 officials to release a statement about the accusations levied by Stroud  and a recently uncovered second accuser.



"I want people to talk about it, and that's already starting to happen," Stroud said. "I also want people who might have been struggling and found it hard to say anything, to now be able to stand up to him. I'd also like to see him admit he did it and apologize."

The Tribune is not identifying the teacher, who has not been charged with a crime. But the former teacher, reached at his home in another state on Friday, denied ever abusing any children.

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"They are not true, and he's the only person who has ever accused me," said the retired teacher, adding that outside of his teaching career, he for years lead youth excursions across the U.S. and beyond. "I don't know why this is going on. This person for some reason is trying to ruin my life, but I don't have a single memory of him."



Stroud says that he made the decision about five years ago to talk to police about his experiences and recently undertook a campaign on Facebook to bring attention to the matter.

It was the Jerry Sandusky case that heightened my need to talk about what happened to me.  Dave Stroud

"It was the Jerry Sandusky case that heightened my need to talk about what happened to me," said Stroud, who said he flew out from Colorado in 2012 to file a police report in Glencoe against the teacher, who had since retired.



The school board announced at its Thursday meeting officials had been made aware of allegations from a student resurfaced from a 2012 report. District 35's attorney said the district heard from the same former student in 2014, and again recently. Stroud says he is that student. District officials also learned on Friday of a second former student levying similar charges, the attorney said.

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"The dilemmas we are running into include anonymity, statute of limitations and, so far, we do not have a single allegation of an incident on District 35 property or within the scope of (the teacher's) employment," said Michael Loizzi, District 35's longtime attorney.

In a statement also posted on the District 35 website, the school board administration and staff said officials were contacted by a former student on July 17 about abuse that reportedly took place in a "private residence" in the early 1970s.



"We are aware that this information is circulating through the community and we wanted to be sure you learned of this matter directly from the Glencoe schools," the statement reads.



The letter does not name the teacher, but includes the year the teacher retired and says the person no longer lives in Illinois. Loizzi said the school district learned on Friday morning that there was a second accuser.

The statement says the allegations against the teacher are "of a sexual nature" and that the school board reached out to Glencoe police after being informed of the accusations.



"We have been reviewing district records for evidence in support of these allegations," the letter reads. "As of this date of this statement, the district has not been able to verify the allegations."



Loizzi said he had conversations with previous District 35 Superintendent Cathy Crawford about the matter in 2012, when the allegations first surfaced. Loizzi said that at the time, the information was passed on to Glencoe police, who he said investigated the case but opted not to recommend charges be filed.

(The allegations) are not true, and hes the only person who has ever accused me.  Accused former teacher

Loizzi said the matter was referred once more to Glencoe police in 2014, when the former student again reached out. Loizzi said the school district referred the matter to police, but, again, no charges were filed.



On July 20, Glencoe Public Safety Director Cary Lewandowski said that the accusations had been reviewed by the police department in 2012 and no charges were filed against the teacher.



But on Friday, Lewandowski said he could not comment further on the case in any way. He did not return phone calls later Friday seeking to confirm whether a second police report had been filed accusing the teacher of abuse.



Loizzi said the statue of limitations in Illinois for sexual abuse of a minor is 20 years from the time the person turns 18 or when the victim realizes he or she was abused.



Loizzi has had experience in a similar case through his representation of Winnetka School District 36, where former teacher Bill Bricker faced charges of child molestation some 45 years after the accusations first surfaced. Bricker died in 2015, at the age of 94, before ever facing trial.



"It starts with one victim, in many cases," Loizzi said. "It either dies or gains momentum, and I don't where this is going yet except we are pursuing it."



At the July 27 school board meeting, District 35 President Gary Ruben said the district is still looking into the matter.



"We are trying to determine what the facts are in an open and honest and sincere way," Ruben said. "We are not pretending it didn't happen if it happened. But on the other hand, we don't know what happened so all we can do is look at our files and records and we are in the process of doing that."



The District 35 statement encourages anyone with more information to contact District 35 or the Glencoe Public Safety Department.



Stroud expressed relief on Friday that District 35 officials made the public announcement and have been reviewing district records of the teacher.



"A big reason why I stepped forward is there is a child molester out there enjoying hero status," Stroud said. "He knew he had done it all along the way, and he's possibly doing it still."



Karen Ann Cullotta is a Pioneer Press reporter. Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter.
The parents of an Oswego man shot to death outside a Naperville school in January are locked in a visitation battle with their son's ex-wife, whom they fear might try to return to Poland with their 5-year-old grandson, according to DuPage County court records.

A judge in early February signed an order prohibiting Julita A. Soliszko from moving out of Illinois or obtaining a passport for her son, whom she had with Matthew D. Lange, 37, in 2012.

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Lange's parents, David and Sandra Lange, of Aurora, claim in court records that Soliszko kept the boy from attending his father's funeral and denied four different requests the couple made in March to visit the child, records said.

Matthew Lange, an associate professor of psychology at Lewis University in Romeoville, was shot to death Jan. 27 while waiting in his car to pick up his son at Scullen Middle School. The boy was attending a Polish heritage class held there on Friday nights.

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Prior to their son's slaying, the couple said they saw and socialized with their grandson about 10 days a month, the visitation petition said.

Lange and Soliszko married on Sept. 5, 2009, in Yorkville, and divorced on Oct. 26, 2015, citing "irreconcilable differences," according to court records. The couple agreed to share joint custody of the boy, according to a parenting agreement included in the court file.

Prior to his death, Lange "had a very strained relationship (with Soliszko) for many reasons, including but not limited to the care of (their son)," the Langes' visitation petition said.

"At this juncture, we have no comment as to anything other than the pending grandparents' visitation case, which we're seeking to dismiss," said Darran M. Barhaugh, of Naperville, who is representing Soliszko.

Records indicate Soliszko has lived in Yorkville, Aurora and Lockport. She could not be reached for comment.

"Illinois allows grandparents to petition for visitation in certain circumstances, and one of the those circumstances is when one of the (grandchildren's) parents is dead," Michael K. Goldberg, the Chicago attorney representing the Langes, said Friday.

Naperville police Cmdr. Lou Cammiso said Matthew Lange's slaying remains under investigation, and police hope a recently announced $50,000 reward for information might induce witnesses to come forward.

wbird@tribpub.com
A Florida man was charged Friday with child molesting after officers were called to the Porter County Fairgrounds, according to the Porter County Sheriff's office.

Officers were called to the fairgrounds around 2 a.m. Friday for a sexual assault involving a carnival employee and a 13-year-old girl, who travels with her family and the carnival across the country, according to a release.

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While officers were speaking with the victim and her mother, who are not Porter County residents, they received another call for a physical disturbance at the fairgrounds, the release states.

"Some of the carnival workers had heard of the sexual assault and confronted the suspect," according to the sheriff's office.

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James Todd, 24, of Florida, was arrested and charged Friday with child molesting, a felony, according to Porter County court records. His first court appearance had not been scheduled as of Friday afternoon.

The Porter County Fair ends Saturday.

rejacobs@post-trib.com

Twitter @ruthyjacobs
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb listens to a question about healthcare during a press conference at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, Thursday, July 27, 2017. (Michael Conroy / AP)

INDIANAPOLIS  Democrats in the Indiana Legislature are criticizing Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, suggesting he should have been more forthcoming about the impact several GOP proposals to repeal the Affordable Care Act would have had on the state.

Republican efforts to repeal former President Barack Obama's signature law appear to be dead  at least for now. But numerous measures they recently pushed in Congress would have slashed Medicaid, which Indiana relies on to fund at least 90 percent of HIP 2.0, a program that insures more than 400,000 low-income people.

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Holcomb often praises HIP 2.0 as a model other states should adopt. However, as debate heated up over recent months, he repeatedly ducked questions about the potential impact of the Republican proposals. He also declined to release estimates of how much money the state stood to lose if those efforts succeeded.

"On this issue he has failed us," Democratic Rep. Ed DeLaney, of Indianapolis, said earlier this week. "The governor's concern should be with our health and our budget. Instead of focusing on those issues, he repeated the cliches of criticism about Obamacare."

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Holcomb justified his reluctance to discuss the amount of funding the state stood to lose, noting that many of the plans  including the most recent ones in the Senate  seemed to be in constant flux.

"The subject matter changes by the minute or every day. And so when folks are asking about financial price tags on this bill or that bill, it's somewhat moot," Holcomb said Thursday.

But Democrats disagreed, noting that other GOP governors in states that similarly expanded Medicaid were highly critical of plans to slash the additional money made available under Obama's law. That includes Ohio's Republican Gov. John Kasich and Nevada's Brian Sandoval.

"I would have preferred that he have been more declarative, but I also understand that (Vice President) Mike Pence is still playing a big role in this state," said House Democratic Minority Leader Scott Pelath, alluding to Pence's recent tenure as governor. "It's very difficult for Republicans to admit that HIP 2.0 is merely Obamacare."

The HIP 2.0 program established under Pence was one of his biggest achievements as governor. But since becoming vice president, he has pushed legislation to repeal Obama's law that also would unravel the program he once championed.

Holcomb was Pence's hand-picked successor, taking Pence's place on the ballot after Donald Trump selected him to be his vice presidential nominee last year.

Hours before the GOP repeal effort failed to advance in the Senate early Friday, Holcomb acknowledged that it could have a financial impact on the state. He also declined to rule out the possibility of raising taxes to help pay for the program, should those efforts eventually succeed.

But he still tried to steer clear of the issue, instead focusing on his frustration with Congress for a "lack of progress."

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Democratic Indianapolis Rep. Greg Porter said it was a disservice for Holcomb to be "tight-lipped" because the state stood to lose $5 billion or more a year under some GOP plans.

"I fear he feels the same frustration as many of us, but is playing the good soldier," Porter said.
The Hammond South Shore station is seen in this 2016 file photo. (Joe Puchek / Post-Tribune)

Local and state governments have pledged their financial backing for the South Shore Line's biggest projects in decades.

Soon the decisions  whether to build the 9-mile West Lake extension from Hammond to Dyer and the 25-mile double-track project from Gary into Michigan City - will be up to a federal agency.

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Michael Noland, the South Shore's president and general manager, sounded confident at Friday's Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District meeting.

Based on preliminary evaluations, Noland told the NICTD board, he expects "medium-high" ratings on both projects from the Federal Transit Administration. Last year, he said, every project with a "medium" rating and higher received FTA approval.

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West Lake would be the South Shore's first expansion in more than a century, and NICTD says adding a second set of tracks to Michigan City would improve the railroad's speed and reliability. FTA funding, if approved, would pay 50 percent of each project's cost.

NICTD will formally submit its projects for FTA ratings in September. The results could be announced in mid-October, Noland said.

And by late December or early January, he said, NICTD could begin acquiring properties for the projects, if the FTA grants favorable ratings and preliminary environmental approval.

Munster resident Julie O'Connor, of Concerned Families of the West Lake Corridor Project, asked why NICTD would begin buying homes before receiving the FTA's final funding approval.

"It's wrong to seize property through speculation," she said.

Noland said the FTA doesn't grant full funding approval until just before construction is to begin. Waiting until then to buy properties would create unacceptable delays, he said.

The NICTD board agreed, passing resolutions Friday that authorize real estate acquisitions for both projects.

The largest number of acquisitions will be in Hammond, for West Lake, and Michigan City, for the double-track project  about 60 properties in each city, Noland said. About 10 homes in Munster could be taken.

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Noland said NICTD has been working with local officials in each community affected by the projects.

The last local funding agreement for the $290 million double-track project came earlier this month, when the St. Joseph County Council agreed to finance its county's share.

And on Monday, the Hammond City Council voted to commit 15 percent of its share of county income tax money for the next 30 years toward the $605 million West Lake project. That's half the amount the Hammond council had approved previously, but Noland seemed unconcerned. "We've just got to sharpen our pencils" to cut costs, he said.

The Indiana legislature and most Lake County cities and towns, plus the county, have made financial commitments for West Lake.

Also Friday:

The NICTD board learned about a project to improve safety at South Shore crossings by installing flashing lights and gates at 20 crossings that now have just flashers.

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Victor Babin, NICTD's chief engineering officer, said the work is funded by an Indiana Department of Transportation grant.

The double-track project would further improve crossing safety in Michigan City, Babin said, by eliminating more than 30 crossings that have only crossbucks or flashers and installing 10 with flashers and gates.

Noland said re-routing the South Shore tracks to the South Bend airport would cut 10 minutes from the running time and eliminate 16 or more at-grade crossings. South Bend has offered to pay for the project, but NICTD also might seek a federal grant.

Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Christy Bartos, 21, of Hobart, is disappointed in her treatment as a transgender member of the U.S. Army National Guard. (Christy Bartos)

"Un-American."

This was Christy Bartos' initial reaction to President Donald Trump's tweeted ban against transgender Americans serving in the U.S. military. In a shocking policy reversal Wednesday, our president said transgender people will be prohibited from serving "in any capacity" in the armed forces.

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Trump's threat could mean a historic about-face in the Pentagon's pattern of lowering such obstacles to serve our country that could impact possibly thousands of transgender service personnel. This group includes Bartos, who was assigned male at birth and named Caleb Bartos.

The 21-year-old Army National Guard member from Hobart began her transgender journey less than a year ago after a lifetime of knowing she identified as a woman, not a man.

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"I came out publicly about seven months ago, and I've been on hormone replacement therapy for five months," said Bartos, who's in the third year of a six-year contract with the National Guard.

Bartos, who hopes to become an activist in our area's transgender community, called Trump's ban a form of gender-based discrimination. She said the military is not currently paying for her hormone therapy.

"In the simplest terms I can put it, this is one of the most un-American things that Trump can do," said Bartos, whose Army rank is specialist. "Transgender people are Americans, too, and with all due respect, Trump is denying them their rights as healthy, hard-working citizens.

"Being transgender has nothing to do with how capable someone is while serving," she said. "It's all based on the individual. If they can meet the standards, and if they're healthy, then they deserve to serve, if that's what they want."

Trump habitually shoots from the lip and then lets his staff scramble for details.

"The implementation policy is something the White House and the Defense Department have to work together to lawfully determine," said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

In other words, no one is quite sure how this new policy will take effect. Or when. Or why.

Pentagon officials said Thursday that no changes will be made to its policy on transgender individuals until Trump formalizes his plans

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"Our military  cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail," Trump said in his tweet.

That contrasts with his proclamation on July 21, 2016, at the Republican National Convention when he said, "As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology."

Maybe this is his way of protecting the transgender community  by not allowing them to fight for our freedoms?

Heck, even Caitlyn Jenner said she voted for Trump. And she supported him during his first few months in office until he messed with her beloved trans community.

"There are 15,000 patriotic transgender Americans in the U.S. military fighting for all of us. What happened to your promise to fight for them?" she said in a tweet.

Bartos had her eye on a life in the military since childhood, she said, eventually joining the National Guard in February 2014.

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"I joined to do it as a career," she said. "I was very patriotic, a great soldier, and motivated to get whatever needed to be done accomplished."

Bartos was climbing the ranks when "gender dysphoria" ambushed her long-term plans, she said.

"I struggled with it, and it really took a toll on me and my mental health," she said. "I have known my whole life, but in the past six years or so I have really felt it inside me.

"Treatment from fellow soldiers who did not agree, politically, was very bad," she said. "I heard remarks or what some might even consider sarcastic sexual remarks such as whistling."

Bartos changed her mind about pursuing a higher rank of military leadership. She hasn't been involved in any drills since coming out as transgender, she said.

"Mind you, there are other trans people who love and want to serve this great country, and they excel past even other soldiers," said Bartos, who has mixed feelings about her military service. "My experiences as a trans woman in the military were very discouraging. It's a bittersweet thing for me.

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"It is all kind of ironic because the military emphasizes resilience through basic training, and they teach you to be strong no matter what," Bartos said. "Yet here they are denying people that opportunity if Trump's recent remarks get passed.

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

"This is one of those things, like racism, which will eventually die down," she said. "But it is always floating around, making pokes at our culture and society, constantly raising questions on many matters."

Trump's action comes with a lot of unanswered questions despite his "consultation with generals and military experts," according to his tweet.

Is he showing his true colors regarding the trans community? Or is he bowing to political pressure from the conservative right? Is this another attempt to get mainstream media outlets off his Russian scandal in progress? Or merely one more Obama administration policy to get reversed by our new leader?

His action is not only unpatriotic and possibly unconstitutional, it's simply unkind.

I agree with Bartos' initial reaction. It's also "un-American." And certainly not the greatest version of America that we aspire to become.

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jdavich@post-trib.com

Twitter@jdavich
The 13-year-old boy doesn't like to be told no.

On May 19, his mother told him no more internet for that day. He attacked her and threatened to kill her and his younger brother by stabbing them in their neck with a screwdriver. The boy's father, who lives downstate, called 911 when he heard the news.

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The boy was arrested and charged with a level 6 felony of intimidation and a misdemeanor battery. He was taken to a juvenile detention center, where he is currently being held.

His dispositional hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, when the county probation department is expected to recommend placement in a residential facility that can deal with his multiple mental illness issues.

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The boy, who I'm not naming to protect his privacy, was born with a chromosomal disorder, his mother told me, and brings the risk of a list of mental health diagnoses, including bipolar disorder, ADHD, oppositional defiance disorder, intellectual development issues and most likely some form of autism.

"It doesn't have much science behind it, but many issues come with it," his mother said. "Doctors tell me I know more about it then they do. It's like his brain has a short circuit. He has no impulse control and he reacts before he thinks."

"My biggest fear is that one day he will kill his little brother, kill me, or kill himself," she said, handing me a stack of legal documents regarding his mental health history. "My hope is that somewhere, someone can help him."

This is the crux of the problem, for her and for society.

The boy has been in and out of acute mental health facilities since he was 3. He has had five stays at different residential facilities, and he's been released from all of them for various reasons. Either his insurance stops paying, or he can't complete a program, or his violent tendencies prove too much.

Standing 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 180 pounds, he's a force to be reckoned with when he turns violent.

"He obviously has mental issues and not delinquency issues," his mother said. "He doesn't belong at the juvenile detention center."

Everyone I spoke with regarding his case  a judge, his defense attorney, a prosecuting attorney and a mental health official  agree that the boy should be housed in a long-term residential facility that can treat him.

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On May 22, a mental health services agency in Porter County, wrote a letter to add to the boy's lengthy case history.

"It is my professional recommendation that the child should be placed in a long-term residential facility," the agency wrote. "Due to his chronic mental illness and developmental delay he has had severe violence that is only manageable at a residential level of care."

Finding such a place is a complex problem with no easy answers.

The county juvenile probation department is working feverishly to find an "appropriate" placement for the boy, according to Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper, who oversees the program.

More than two dozen facilities have been contacted for possible placement. Only one facility has agreed to accept the boy but it's not an appropriate fit for him, local officials agree.

"Because autism is one of his diagnoses, most facilities refuse to take him," explained his mother, who has traveled as far as Evansville for residential treatment. "That place didn't last either. He may have to go out of state. But I hope not.

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"He's losing hope," his mother told me after visiting him last Sunday.

Hope is about the only emotion that his mother has left that hasn't been attacked or exhausted. On the day she returned home with her younger son, the already troubled 3-year-old boy slammed the front door on her and her new baby.

"I knew back then that something was seriously wrong with him," she said. "But when you are a parent, you are a parent until one of you dies. I had loving parents and grandparents who were together until death and they never ever gave up on their kids. This has made me a better and more patient parent, having a child like (my son)."

A mother's patience is more difficult to find in a school setting.

A letter dated May 22 from the boy's special education teacher stated that he has "become defiant to teacher requests, insubordinate, and has been deemed a bully under the state of Indiana guidelines. The latest behaviors of threatening to kill himself, and outright bullying of a student, are the most disturbing."

The boy told teachers he does not need school because he will instead "rob a bank or possibly a gun shop."

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On Feb. 3, he announced in math class that he was going to build a time machine and save Adolf Hitler. On March 8, he repeatedly sang out loud, "All I want for Christmas is to die." The next day he told students he wants to buy rat poison. On April 6, he announced to the class that he does not have a soul.

On May 3, he announced he has no friends, no one likes him, and there's no point in living. He offered students $200 to help him kill himself.

"I've talked to him about suicide and how it would hurt so many people in his life," his mother said, noting his long list of current medications. "He doesn't understand."

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Due to the boy's involvement with the courts, he is no longer able to participate in a wraparound services program through a local mental health agency. The programs are mutually exclusive due to funding issues, I'm told.

An independent clinical assessment of the boy's condition states, "He has told the staff that he has heard voices telling him to hurt people. A highly structured environment is needed to keep others safe from (the boy)."

But where? And when? An answer may come this week. Or possibly not.

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"I get asked all the time, 'How do I do it?'" his mother told me. "My response is that he is my son, God gave him to me for a reason, and I honestly believe if he had other parents they would have killed him or beat him by now."

"My long-term hope is that he does not harm himself or anyone else before he gets the treatment he needs."

jdavich@post-trib.com

Twitter @jdavich
Nufer: Count your blessings

"While you are having that second piece of pie, reflect on the blessings of the past year and appreciate being with your loved ones on Thanksgiving Day"
Properly managing nitrogen is a challenge every year. Given the differences in rainfall amounts and timing, as well as soil temperatures and hybrids, what worked last year may well not work this year. This variability is the reasoning behind the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Project SENSE, which stands for Sensors for Efficient Nitrogen Use and Stewardship of the Environment. This is the third year of Project SENSE demonstration and research being conducted on fields in Butler, Colfax and Platte counties.

Those interested are invited to attend an update to learn more about the project. There are two local opportunities to attend a Project SENSE update, Monday, Aug. 7, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Baileys Ag Supply located at 548 Road 14 east of Schuyler, or Monday, Aug. 14, from 5-7 p.m. at the Jeremy Janssen farm located 3 miles south of Monroe on Monroe Road then 3.5 miles east. A free meal will be served at both locations, but please preregister two to three days in advance for meal planning purposes by calling 308-754-5422 or emailing tingram5@unl.edu.

During the sessions, growers will learn how to outfit and implement the projects nitrogen management strategy on their operations. Strategies that direct crop nitrogen status at early growth stages are a promising way to improve nitrogen fertilizer efficiency and improve groundwater nitrate levels. Growers will see a live demonstration of the projects high-clearance nitrogen applicator outfitted with active crop canopy sensors. Attendees will learn how producers are conducting research trials on their own fields in partnership with the Project SENSE team. There will also be a fixed-wing drone exhibition, weather permitting.

Also, be sure to get out and check your fields. I have been seeing some uneven pollination on cornfields that were pollinating last week during the heat. While there is nothing we can do about uneven pollination at this point, its better to know now than to find out at harvest. On the disease side, grey leaf spot is starting to develop and southern rust has been found in the area. Both of these diseases have the potential to cause significant yield loss, so scout fields and treat susceptible hybrids as needed.
China cannot be blamed for the United States' deficit in bilateral trade as complicated US trade structures are the real reason, Chinese officials said on Friday.

In this context, it is important to highlight that in certain sectors like high-tech products, agriculture and services, China is also bearing a heavy deficit in trade with the US, they said.

Their comments follow recent remarks by US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that imports from China have surged by 200 percent, creating a deficit of US$309 billion in the country's foreign trade in the past 15 years.

Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said the China-US trade balance has long been a complicated issue and needs to be studied systematically.

Many factors led to China's surplus in trade with the US, including differences in economic structures, focus on certain industries with advantages, international division of labor, the system of trade statistics and US restrictions on high-tech exports to China, Gao said.

"China has trade surplus in labor-intensive industries but has notable trade deficit in agriculture, technology and capital-intensive businesses with the US. It is the markets, producers and consumers in the two countries that decide the imports and exports."

Since April, China and the US have made steady progress in their meetings to address trade imbalance. For instance, China has lifted the ban on import of US beef last month.

"The US side needs to understand that trade in services is also part of the business. For China, the US is the biggest source of service trade deficit and it has been growing fast in recent years," said Xing Houyuan, a member of the expert committee of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Bilateral trade in services has tripled to US$110 billion in 2016 from around US$37 billion in 2006, but China's deficit in this segment continues to widen. Between January and May this year, China's deficit in bilateral trade in services reached US$23 billion, up 17 percent year-on-year.

"China does not aim for trade surplus, and is willing to further increase volume of imports from the US. We hope the US will do the same and take productive actions in easing restrictions on imports from China," said Liu Chao, deputy director-general of legal affairs at the CCPIT.

"We have also noticed that some countries such as the United States and Germany are appealing to their legislative bodies to tighten the policy on review and control foreign direct investment," said Liu.

"Healthy FDI activities have been enjoyed by both developed countries, which facilitated the rapid rise in the incomes of a number of developing economies."

Gao of the Ministry of Commerce said, "China has been constantly supporting free trade and trade globalization, as well as offering more favorable policies to attract FDI."

Agreed Sang Baichuan, director of the Institute of International Business at the University of International Business and Economics. "We hope these countries would take non-discriminatory and transparent steps while adjusting their policies, as well as protect Chinese investors' interest to maintain fair market environment."
Chinese Lunar New Year is likely to be less noisy in Beijing in the future, as local authorities are considering a ban on fireworks, a traditional part of the celebrations.

The city's legislative affairs office published a draft amendment Friday that prohibits fireworks within the fifth ring road. The draft will be open for public comment from Friday until Aug. 26.

Setting off firecrackers is a long-standing custom to celebrate the lunar new year, as Chinese believe the noise will drive away bad spirits and bring good luck. However, the tradition has caused fiery arguments in recent years, amid mounting air pollution complaints and safety concerns.

Although fireworks are allowed within the city during the lunar new year, or Spring Festival, the number of fireworks sold has declined year by year since the current regulations took effect in 2005, according to Zhang Changyu with the legislative affairs office.

In Beijing, the sales of fireworks and firecrackers during this year's Spring Festival dropped by around 30 percent year-on-year, and by nearly 74 percent compared with that 12 years ago, Zhang said.

Nevertheless, they have continued to take their toll on air quality. During the past five years in Beijing, from the lunar new year's eve to the fifth day of the holiday period, two to four days saw heavy air pollution, according to Sun Feng with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center.

From January to June, days with good air quality accounted for 55.3 percent, down 5.8 percentage points year-on-year, and the average density of hazardous fine particle matter PM2.5 was up 3.1 percent from the level in the first half of 2016.

In addition, fireworks and firecrackers caused more than 2,100 fires, killing five people and injuring eight others during the Spring Festival holiday periods from 2005 to 2017, inflicting direct losses worth 150 million yuan (US$22 million), Zhang said.

"In recent years, we've heard a stronger voice demanding stricter control of fireworks, and found that people care more about the environment and urban development," Zhang said, adding that the amendment aims to better "adapt to the capital's development" and "safeguard citizens' lives and property."

The proposed fireworks ban has split online opinion. Many support the idea, with some even suggesting a national ban, while opponents criticized it for killing off cultural traditions and questioned its effect on addressing the obstinate winter haze in Beijing.

Nationwide, 444 cities, including 10 provincial capitals, have banned fireworks.
Speakers: Liu Wei, vice minister of the Ministry of Finance; Wang Jianfan, director-general of Tax Policy Department, Ministry of Finance; Wang Kebing, vice director-general of Budget Department, Ministry of Finance Chairperson: Xi Yanchun, vice director-general of the Press Bureau, State Council Information Office Date: July 28, 2017

Xi Yanchun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to today's press conference. We are delighted to invite Mr. Liu Wei, vice minister of finance, to introduce China's fiscal and monetary policies and answer some of your questions. Also present are Mr. Wang Jianfan, director-general of the Tax Policy Department of the ministry, and Mr. Wang Kebing, vice director-general of the Budget Department of the ministry.

Now, let's welcome Mr. Liu Wei to provide his briefing.

Liu Wei

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

In the past six months, the Ministry of Finance has concentrated on supply-side structural reform, and launched a proactive fiscal policy, ensuring China's economic performance would remain stable and would move in a positive direction.

First, Stepped-up efforts to cut taxes and fees.

We continued to ease the corporate tax burden. Measures taken included: implementing and improving the program to replace business tax with VAT in all sectors of society; simplifying the structure of VAT rates; halving corporate income tax for an increasing number of small and micro businesses; providing tax credit policies to more enterprises investing in business start-ups; widening the scope of tax deductions for R&D expenses of high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises.

We also made more efforts to cut fees. Measures taken included: overhauling and exercising standard-based management of administrative fees and government-managed funds; releasing the lists of administrative charges of central and provincial governments on the website of the Ministry of Finance; launching short-term policies to lower premiums for unemployment, reduce logistics and energy consumption costs of enterprises, and reduce business and service fees and charges.

These policies and measures are expected to save enterprises 1 trillion yuan in taxes and fees this year.

Second, Improving management of budget implementation.

Regarding central government's transfer payments to local governments, by the end of June, we had carried out most of the appropriations to local governments, while the remaining funds are for special items, such as payments to those needing settlement by actual spending.

We deepened reforms to introduce a system for the treasury's centralized revenue collection and expenditure payments. Government funds, allocated and transferred in a timely way were also put to better use.

We speeded up the process of making budgetary funds available for fiscal expenditures. In the first half of this year, the growth rate of national fiscal expenditure was six percentage points higher than fiscal revenues. The proportion of budgetary expenditures implemented was 0.7 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

We improved performance-based budget management. Besides the general public budget, some government-managed funds and State capital operations were also placed under closer supervision.

Liu Wei:

Third, improved people's living standards.

Precise measures are being launched to alleviate or eliminate the prevailing impoverished conditions, with special attention being paid to the most affected areas. Funds for the agricultural sector have expanded from the pilot poverty-stricken counties to the entire impoverished area and local government attempts to alleviate poverty by asset incomes are being buttressed.We have unified policies whereby Chinese students receiving compulsory education are exempted from paying tuition and fees and paying for textbooks and a subsidy will be provided for the living expenses of students from families with financial difficulties, so that the exemptions can be deemed valid everywhere.

Funds for the needy group have been better integrated and the local governments are expected to better assist people with minimum incomes or those suffering severe poverty. Meanwhile, more efforts have gone into healthcare and great importance been placed on efforts to protect the air, water and soil from pollution through programs of ecological conservation.

The government has placed more importance on the most impoverished areas where the shortage of resources and energies leads to fiscal difficulties.

Fourth, tightened control of local government debt.

The fundraising programs by local governments have been further regulated. There are clear guidelines for the issuance of local government bonds. We have improved the system for local governments' special debt and a mechanism in response to risks and emergencies has been established. At the same time, a regular institution overseeing local governments' debts has also be established.

In the past few months, the joint efforts of macro-economic policies, such as fiscal policy, have ensured the sound and smooth development of the national economy and the execution of fiscal budgets has also performed well.

During the first half of this year, the National General Public Budget Revenue hit 9.4 trillion yuan, up 9.8 percent year on year--an increase of2.7 percentage points compared to the same period last year and 5.3 percentage points higher compared to the figure of last year's total. By slashing considerable amount of taxes and fees, revenue during the past six months surged above expectations, which demonstrates the sound and positive development of the national economy. The improved economic structure, the resurgence of the service industry, the positive balance sheet of enterprises and the growing imports and exports have laid a good foundation for increased revenue. At the same time, the growth also partly resulted from the rise of the producer price index (PPI) as well as the price hike of bulk commodities.

The structure of the revenue has changed positively. During the first half of this year, tax revenue growth constituting 92.9 percent of the entire increase, 13.3 percentage points higher compared to the figure of last year's total. The value-added taxes, including industrial and commercial VAT, enterprise and personal income taxes and taxes on imports, maintained double-digit growth. The secondary and tertiary sectors,accounting for 47.5 percent and 52.3 percent respectively, have contributed considerably to the growth of tax revenues.

Considering the tax growth of different sectors, the reduction of excessive capacities, supply-demand reform and the surging prices of products led to tax increases in the energy and raw material industries; the constant driving force of the improved industrial structure produced an increase of taxes from medium or high-end manufacturing industries and the shift of growth drivers and emergence of the new market demand brought about the rapid tax growth in cultural, sports, the internet and IT sectors. In regard to regional economies, the growth basically can be seen in balance, with 11.3 percent and 10.7 percent respectively in the middle and western areas and 9.3 percent in the east.

In the first half of this year, the National General Public Budget Expenditure hit 10 trillion, constituting 53.1 percent of the planned budget, and registering growth of 15.8 percent year-on-year. The growth rates of education, science and technology, social security and employment, healthcare and family planning and energy saving and environmental protection were respectively 17.2 percent, 22.7 percent, 24.6 percent, 18.2 percent and 39.8 percent.

The Ministry of Finance, in the following phase, will continue to comply with the strategic policy decisions made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, uphold the consistency and coherence of the policies, implement proactive and effective fiscal policies, fend off the risks of local government debts generally guided by the supply-side reform, curb the growth of hidden debts and ensure the sound and stable development of national economy.

I will conclude my report here and move onto the question-and-answer session with my colleagues. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank Mr. Liu Wei for his introduction. Now, the floor is open to questions.

Phoenix TV:

We have noticed that the recent National Conference on Financial Work demanded local government debts be strictly controlled. A lifelong accountability system and a system to retrospectively hold officials accountable for their erroneous acts were to be implemented. At a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a warning was issued about local government debts and improvements were sought in a mechanism for local governments to secure financing so as to contain hidden debt-related risks of local governments. From this point of view, what is your opinion, and how will you implement the central government's requirements?

Liu Wei:

The question you have raised is one that all sectors of society have been paying close attention to. At the meeting of the National Conference on Financial Work, President Xi Jinping laid down new and higher requirements. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have placed emphasis on preventing and reducing risks of local government debts. In recent years, the Ministry of Finance has strengthened top-level planning, promoted institutional set-up and formed a "closed cycle" system for local government debt management and supervision. Let me introduce the work in detail.

First, setting ceilings on local government debts. It is known that ceilings on local government debts should be examined and approved by the National People's Congress. And the ceilings on government debts are determined through certain procedure for each province, and it is not allowed to break through.

Second, bringing local government debt under budgetary management. It means that new debts must be included in budget and under the examination and supervision of the National People's Congress. Local governments cannot freely increase their debts at will.

Third, issuing new local government bonds. Local governments can issue bonds within the statutory limit in a legal and regulated way. The amount of bonds to be issued by local governments should be decided in accordance with their ability of debt repayment and their needs of financing.

Liu Wei:

Fourth, issue local government bonds in swaps with government debt. The previously mentioned newly-issued bond in the budget under central government guidance is the increment, which would be controlled in the new increased quota. But what should we do with the stock of local government debts already existing? Those debts were gradually replaced by issuing local government bonds, which will lower the entire cost of debt.

Fifth, improve local government's special debt management abilities. We are promoting special and particular bond management methods, strengthening the management of special debts related to local government's funded income and local assets (e.g. land assets).

Sixth, establish a risk pre-warning and emergency response mechanism. The Ministry of Finance has established approaches for achieving risk pre-warning and emergency response, asking local governments to evaluate the risks based on the total amount of debts and the debt structure. This involves very precise system design.

Seventh, we built a system of regular supervision of local government debt. Besides audit supervision, the Financial Supervision Commissioner's Office of the Ministry of Finance also exercises routine supervision on the debt of local governments according to law, which is also their major task. Somecity or county-level governments under theearly warning, and financing platforms with non-standard operation have also been placed under surveillance. We have taken a series of measures to strengthen daily supervision of local government debt.

Eighth, we will resolutely stop such action as financing guarantee in violation of the relevant law and regulations. Media friends may notice that, in regard to those illegal behaviors, local governments are not only required to take corrective steps, but also are held fully accountable for their actions.

With the gradual implementation of the measures, it can be said we have achieved remarkable success in controlling risks of local government debt, and we are fully capable of defending the bottom line, namely no outbreak of systemic risk. By the end of last year, local governments' outstanding debt stood at 15.32 trillion yuan, within the quota of 17.19 trillion yuan approved by the National People's Congress. If assessing the level of local government by measure of the debt ratio, it was 80.5 percent in 2016, which stayed below the international standard.

Adding in the outstanding central government debt of 12.01 trillion yuan included in budget management, the outstanding government debt nationwide stands at 27.33 trillion yuan. Calculated in accordance with GDP preliminary accounting of 74.41 trillion yuan released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the government debt ratio stood at 36.7 percent. This figure is lower than the European Union's warning line - 60 percent - and it is also lower than the level of major market-economy countries and emerging markets. In regard to government debt risk, we think it is generally controllable, which is our rational and confident answer.

As approved by the fifth session of the 12th National People's Congress this year, the debt limit for local governments in 2017 is 18.82 trillion yuan. At the end of June, with the issue of more bonds, the current debt balance of local governments is 15.86 trillion yuan, still under the limit of 18.82 trillion yuan. China's National Financial Work Conference and the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China have made special arrangements and specified requirements on controlling local debt levels and prevent risk, and the Ministry of Finance will carry out the implementation in a clear and resolute way. We will further implement the new concepts of development, and adhere to supply-side structural reform as the main effort, resolve accumulated local debtrisk in an active and prudent way, and regulate the debt financing of all local governments.

CCTV:

As for supply-side structural reform, the Central Economic Working Conference at the end of last year noted that the reform would be deepened this year. My question is, what measures hasthe Ministry of Finance taken to support the reform?

Liu Wei:

It's a good question. Supply-side structural reform involving a wide range of aspects is a key reform that will have profound influence; hence, all sides should coordinate and implement measures in a comprehensive way in order to accomplish reform tasks assigned by the Central Government. The Ministry of Finance and its subordinate departments have been followingthe spirit of the Central Economic Working Conference, deployment set in the Report on Government Work, and the new vision of development, so as to promote supply-side structural reform in the three following aspects:

First, carry out five tasks ofcutting overcapacity, reduce the excess urban real estate inventory,cutting costs,deleveraging and strengthening areas of weakness. We have appropriated specific incentive and subsidy funds of industrial enterprise restructuring in a timely way and supported personnel placement in the process of cutting overcapacity in the steel and coal sectors. We adjusted and completed subsidy policies on corn and soybean and cut policy-type inventories of cereal, cotton and oil. We improved the ratio of monetized compensation for personnel resettlement during shanty town renovation to cut real estate inventory. We implemented and completed policies related to enterprise merger, restructuring, and the assignment and writing-off of debts. We have carried out measures to lower taxes and administrative fees to relieve the burden on enterprises. We have also stepped up poverty alleviation in poor regions, promoted the pilot program of agriculture funds integration in all poverty-stricken counties, and supported local governments to explore ways of poverty alleviation through assets income.

Second, we have been pushing for supply-side structural reform in agriculture. Specifically, we have carried out green-oriented reform of agricultural subsidies, introduced a disaster insurance scheme on a pilot basis for farmers whose operations are suitably scaled-up in 200 major grain-producing counties from 13 major grain-producing provinces or provincial-level regions. Moreover, we will also work with related departments of the State Council to provide some preferential policies and subsidies for producing and processing high-quality grain and oil, as well as for brand promotion, in order to meet upgraded consumer demand.

Third, we have been pushing for the transformation and upgrading of the real economy through innovation. Specifically, we will continue to increase assistance for basic research, deepen the implementation of "Made in China 2025," support smart manufacturing and green manufacturing, strengthen industrial foundations, and carry out trials of the insurance compensation mechanism for newly-developed major technological equipment.

Under support of fiscal policy and other macro policies, supply-side structural reform is gradually producing a telling effect: the relationship between market supply and demand is improving, business performance and expectations have become stronger, and the economic structure continues to be upgraded. Next, under the direction of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, we will continue to focus on supply-side structural reform, gradually implementing the priority tasks of "cutting overcapacity, reducing excess inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs and strengthening areas of weakness," so as to ensure supply-side structural reform in agriculture, rejuvenate the real economy, and promote healthy and continuous economic growth.

Thanks.

Reuters:

The financial deleveraging carried out recently is likely to increase the financing costs of some businesses. In this context, will any fiscal policies be introduced to cushion the impact? In addition, how serious is the problem of hidden debt at local levels?

Liu Wei:

The first question you raised involves both fiscal and monetary policies. As to fiscal policies, we will intensify our efforts to reduce taxes and fees so as to ease the burden on businesses. Besides, budgetary spending will also play its role in this effort.

I think the relationship between deleveraging and financing cost increases you mentioned is not mathematical. As to what policies will be introduced, we will try to reduce the burdens on businesses by slashing taxes and fees. In addition, we will give more support tosmall and micro- businesses in key sectors and policy-backed financing guarantee institutions in the endeavor to promote more business start-ups andinnovation. Meanwhile, we will cooperate with other departments to improve the risk compensatory mechanism so as to lower the costs of financial institutions.

As to the second question, I have talked a lot about government debt, and I would like to invite Mr. Wang to give further information.

Wang Kebing:

Vice Minister Liu has elaborated on the management of local government debt from the perspectives of the measures undertaken by the Ministry of Finance, the achievements it has made and work in planning.I would like to add the following two points

First, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council require that the increase of local government debt should be strictly controlled. The Ministry of Finance will adhere to the guidelines set by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. We will stick to the approach of "close the back door, open the front door," improving mechanisms for local governments to secure financing in an appropriate way. In this regard, the following steps should be taken:

Impose appropriateceilings on government debt in accordance with the law. Local governments should coordinate the use of funds allocated to major public projects. More should be spent on strengthening areas of weakness.

Steadily promote the management and reform of special bonds, an important measure to "open the front door."We have issued two documents, namely,Local Government Land Reserve Special Bond Management Approach andLocal Government Toll Road Special Bond Management Approach. Analysis shows funds raised for these two areas account for much oflocal government debt. The measures, based on local realities, deliver Chinese "municipal bonds" to ensure local reasonable financing requirement. The work concerns constructing an important mechanism to ensure local reasonable financing requirement. So, we must do it well.

Accelerate the market-oriented transition of financing platform companies. We will delineate the boundaries of government and enterprise in accordance with the law, separate government's financing function from financing platform companies, and support the latter in their transition tobecoming independent and self-financed State-owned enterprises. Local governments undertake responsibility in regard to the financing range. The enterprises serve local economic development in accordance with laws and regulations. However,governments cannot take the responsibility of paying debt they have incurred.

Take resolute and legal measures to ensure that local governments raise funds in a regulated manner. Local governments can only issue bonds within the ceiling set; beyond that, there's no other way to borrow money.

Step up work in regard to investigating and dealing with illegal bond issuance and hold those responsible to account. The hidden debtmentioned by Reutersis, in fact, the debt raised by local governments in breach of laws and regulations. We must strengthen oversight over this kind of debt.Provincial governments should establish strict accountability mechanisms. The Ministry of Finance and other government departments will form a synergy to exercise joint oversight and supervision.

Second, six ministries and commissionsjointly issued a Notice on Regulating Local Governments Debt Financing in May this year. The Ministry of Finance then issued a Notice on Resolutely Stopping Illegal Financing in the Name of Government. These two notices clarified the time limits for local governments to undertake overhaul of their procedures. As far as we know, local governments are stepping up their actions. They are required to submit reports to us within the time limits set. I think great progress will be made in this aspect. Thanks.

China News Service:

In the opening speech, Mr. Liu said that, this year, enterprises may save 1 trillion yuan in taxes and fees. Does it mean that the policies on cutting taxes and fees have taken full effect? What specific policies have the Ministry of Finance taken in the recent years?

Wang Jianfan:

In recent years, the Ministry of Finance has worked with other departments to launch a series of policies and measures to cut taxes and fees. These measures have been conducive to implementing the innovation-driven development strategy, promoting supply-side structural reform, encouraging widespread entrepreneurship and innovation, reducing costs for enterprises in the real economy, improving the overall business environment, and so on.

Generally speaking, we have worked on two aspects: First, stepping up efforts to cut taxes and fees; second, overhauling and exercising standard-based management of administrative fees and government-managed funds.

Regarding tax cuts, we have implemented trials in replacing business tax with VAT in all sectors. Measures taken include: cutting the number of tax brackets from four to three by cancelling the bracket of 13 percent on July 1; providing tax credit policies to more small- and micro-businesses; widening the scope of tax deductions for enterprise R&D expenses; widening tax credit policies concerning the accelerated depreciation of fixed assets; introducing policies on equity-based incentives for innovation and on deferred payment of individual income tax for R&D personnel who have become shareholders through their technology and innovation; widening the scope of tax deductions for R&D expenses of high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises; providing tax credit policies covering more enterprises investing in business start-ups.

Other measures taken included: exempting the vehicle purchase tax for new-energy cars; reducing the vehicle purchase tax for cars with small engine displacement; introducing policies on personal income tax deduction for buyers of commercial health insurance; introducing policies on deferred payment of individual income tax to encourage development of annuity plans in enterprises and public institutions.

These are just some of the measures we have taken, and I won't take more of your time on giving examples.

In terms of administrative fees, there has been downsizing in fields in which the government provides public services in general or common administration such as administrative licensing, inspection and detection, registration and retrieval, and supervision and management. In terms of government-managed funds, environmental resources and electric power bonds, certain counteracting policies and regulation or those considered unadaptable to reform and development have been removed. With continuous efforts, administrative fees set by the central government have been reduced by over 70 percent from 185 items to 51, among which fees for enterprises have fallen by nearly 70 percent from 106 items to 33, and those for government-managed funds have dropped 30 percent from 30 items to 21. The items of administrative fees by local governments have also dropped dramatically.

Thank you.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun

China's fiscal deficit reached 917.8 billion yuan in the first six months of this year, an increase of 15.1 billion yuan over the same period of last year. What do you think is the main reason for the substantial increase in the base number? And, what do you expect will be the scale of the deficit in the second half of this year? Thank you.

Wang Kebing:

First, the deficit scale was approved by the National People's Congress at the beginning of the year, and the financial department itself has no options in determining it. Moreover, the deficit is calculated according to annual revenues and expenditures. As there is an imbalance between the monthly and quarterly revenues and expenditures, the deficit scale cannot be measured on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Second, even if calculated on an annual basis, the deficit is not simply the result of subtraction between revenues and expenditures, because, in addition to the general public budget revenue collected every year, the annual available revenues also include the central budget stabilization fund transfers according to law, the government-managed fund and the State-owned capital management budget fund allocated according to law, and any surplus fundsnot used up in the previous annual budget and carried forward to the next year.

In terms of spending, apart from general public budget expenditure, we also have expenditure to replenish the central budget stabilization fund. For example, the Budget Law stipulates that a surplus in the general public budget will be totally used to replenish the central budget stabilization fund. Moreover, the expenditure also includes surplus funds carried forward to the next year. Therefore, the fiscal deficit is the overall income from which overall expenditure is deducted.

China Daily:

Just now you mentioned something about disclosure of government-managed funds and the catalogue of administrative charge items. Can you tell us how you will implement this? And whether the catalogue will have space for future changes or adjustments? Thanks.

Wang Jianfan:

The Ministry of Finance published "a network" of government-managed funds and administrative charge items on its official website on June 29. When we say "a network," we mean it will either include central government-managed funds and administrative charge items, or those in various provinces, cities, and regions. It covers all charge items in various departments of the central government as well as provincial, regional and municipal governments. In fact, before the network was announced, according to the arrangement and deployment of the State Council, the Ministry of Finance and the various finance departments at provincial level had already been publishing lists of the government-managed funds and the administrative charge items from 2014. However, there were no requirements for formatting then, while there were differences in project arrangements. Besides, some places might also have problems with delayed updating and not properly maintaining the catalogues. When the network was published, we received positive feedback from all walks of society. The network is quite significant in reinforcing and expanding the reform achievements in terms of delegating power, streamlining administration and optimizing government services, speeding up the establishment of a modern fiscal system, and working hard to build fiscal transparency.

As the next step, the Ministry of Finance will continue to manage the Network with routinized and dynamic characteristics to clarify the subjects of duty, to strengthen the supervision and accountability mechanism so as to carry out the policies of slashing fees approved by the State Council and further improve economic development environment.

Firstly, we will take the Network as the carrier, in order to improve the mechanism system of charges. Through the Network, we will strengthen guidance and supervision of the central government on local governments' charge items. We are building and seeking to improve the dynamic adjustment mechanism. And the Ministry of Finance will check with the local governments regularly to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of the Network.

Secondly, we will take the Network as the model to push local governments to further review and regulate fees and charges. By exposing the lists of charge items in different provinces (cities, districts), local governments will be able to spot gaps by comparison, and learn from each other to absorb advanced experience and methods, in a bid to improve their management. The Ministry of Finance will analyze the charge items of these districts in the Network, leading local governments to deepen reforms in the process ofreviewing and regulating all fees and charges.

Thirdly, we will step up the effort to clean up arbitrary charges and focus on the "service network." On the basis of the "service network," the Ministry of Finance and other related departments will strengthen supervision and inspection of arbitrary charges and fees which are not on the lists, do our work in accordance with the lists, and establish an operational and supervisory mechanism.

Xi Yanchun:

We will invite more macro-economic departments to attend the SCIO briefings and answer your questions. Please stay tuned for more press conference notices published on the SCIO APP.

That's all for today's press conference. Thank you.

By Li Xiaohua, Chen Xia, Guo Xiaohong, Wu Jin, Gao Zhan, Zhang Rui, Liu Qiang, Cui Can, Li Jingrong, Zhang Jiaqi, Mi Xingang, Guo Yiming, Zhang Liying, Huang Shan, Xu Lin, Wang Qian, He Shan, Li Huiru
Afghanistan [File photo]

When the United States decided to invade Afghanistan, and topple the Taliban after the tragic 9/11 terrorist attack, its civilian and military leaders probably had little notion that the troops would still be battling remnants of the same regime more than a decade-and-a-half later.

Taliban forces were on the run after U.S.-led invasion; however, they have staged a comeback to pose a serious threat to the countrys stability, peace and progress.

In the latest ferocious attack, they killed at least 26 Afghan soldiers in a battle in the southern city of Kandahar, from where they first rose to prominence in the 1990s eventually capturing the capital, Kabul. It was one of the bloodiest attacks since they stormed a base in Mazar-e-Sharif in April and killed over 170 soldiers.

These attacks have disrupted all calculations about the future of the country, forcing the United States to carry out an extensive review of its Afghan policy, leading to a possible decision to increase the number of its troops there. Anyone who remembers the Vietnam War will find this very familiar.

President Donald Trump is visibly upset at the deterioration of Afghan situation and is seeking new ideas to break the deadlock and reverse the recent Taliban gains.

Its ironic that before becoming president he had pushed for a complete troop pullout.

After spending billions of dollars and suffering hundreds of deaths, the American leadership is not in a position to turn its back on Afghanistan and allow it to fall into the hands of militants, who have been fighting for all these years in the hope the U.S. will withdraw from the country as the Russians once did.

Afghanistan is a quagmire easier to get into it than emerge safely. The invading armies move leisurely into the interior of the country, but eventually find themselves at the mercy of Afghans. The British army suffered such a fate in its 19th century wars in Afghanistan. The plight of former Soviet Red Army is still fresh in minds of many people.

The current thorough review of the past mistakes and assessment of the present situation is the last chance for the Americans to close the Afghan war with an honorable exit.

Yet, one wonders what different kind of toolkit is being packaged to retrieve the present desperate situation.

There are reports that Mr. Trump has given green light to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to determine the nature and size of troop levels in Afghanistan, with the expectation of about 4,000 additional troops being sent to join more than 8,000 already deployed.

Would an additional few thousand men and women in uniform make a difference? Thats hard to predict with precision, but it seems unlikely proposition when we compare current troop levels with the 150,000 soldiers who failed to achieve a total victory at the peak of war.

The rules of engagement might also change and the troops would have more powers to take on the militants. Already, some Americans are helping Afghan army in Helmand in the south where the Taliban has a strong presence.

According to American media reports, the level of engagement and the intensity of U.S. air power is now almost at the same level as it was 2012. Coalition jets have recently carried out a total of 1,634 sorties, compared to 298 and 545 in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

Winning the Afghan war requires more than a limited increase in the number of soldiers. There are two ways to do it: Either the rebels have to be crushed completely by massive use of power or they should be deprived of resources and manpower leading to exhaustion over a long period of time.

The policy review might throw up some other and better ideas. However, American policymakers should move fast, otherwise this war may become a second Vietnam.

Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Commerce ministry says farming, high-tech and services are pain points

China cannot be blamed for the United States' deficit in bilateral trade as complicated US trade structures are the real reason, Chinese officials said on Friday.

In this context, it is important to highlight that in certain sectors like high-tech products, agriculture and services, China is also bearing a heavy deficit in trade with the US, they said.

Their comments follow recent remarks by US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that imports from China have surged by 200 percent, creating a deficit of $309 billion in the country's foreign trade in the past 15 years.

Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said the China-US trade balance has long been a complicated issue and needs to be studied systematically.

Many factors led to China's surplus in trade with the US, including differences in economic structures, focus on certain industries with advantages, international division of labor, the system of trade statistics and US restrictions on high-tech exports to China, Gao said.

"China has trade surplus in labor-intensive industries but has notable trade deficit in agriculture, technology and capital-intensive businesses with the US. It is the markets, producers and consumers in the two countries that decide the imports and exports."

Since April, China and the US have made steady progress in their meetings to address trade imbalance. For instance, China has lifted the ban on import of US beef last month.

"The US side needs to understand that trade in services is also part of the business. For China, the US is the biggest source of service trade deficit and it has been growing fast in recent years," said Xing Houyuan, a member of the expert committee of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Bilateral trade in services has tripled to $110 billion in 2016 from around $37 billion in 2006, but China's deficit in this segment continues to widen. Between January and May this year, China's deficit in bilateral trade in services reached $23 billion, up 17 percent year-on-year.

"China does not aim for trade surplus, and is willing to further increase volume of imports from the US. We hope the US will do the same and take productive actions in easing restrictions on imports from China," said Liu Chao, deputy director-general of legal affairs at the CCPIT.

"We have also noticed that some countries such as the United States and Germany are appealing to their legislative bodies to tighten the policy on review and control foreign direct investment," said Liu.

"Healthy FDI activities have been enjoyed by both developed countries, which facilitated the rapid rise in the incomes of a number of developing economies."

Gao of the Ministry of Commerce said, "China has been constantly supporting free trade and trade globalization, as well as offering more favorable policies to attract FDI."

Agreed Sang Baichuan, director of the Institute of International Business at the University of International Business and Economics. "We hope these countries would take non-discriminatory and transparent steps while adjusting their policies, as well as protect Chinese investors' interest to maintain fair market environment."
A worker operates a machine at a textile company in Baoji, Shannxi province. [Photo/ Xinhua ]

Country highlights deleveraging and capital structure optimization

BEIJINGLowering the leverage ratio of State-owned enterprises, which are responsible for more than half of corporate debt, will put China into the fast lane of preventing systemic financial risks.

SOEs will take the lead in controlling debt level and containing the leverage ratio, and further accelerate the clearing of "zombie enterprises," the Xinhua-run Economic Information Daily reported, citing a source with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

At the end of Q1, the leverage ratio of non-financial companies rose to 157.7 percent from 155.1 percent at the end of last year, according to the National Institution for Finance & Development. SOEs were responsible for about 60 percent of total corporate debt.

To defuse risks from fast corporate debt expansion, China has put deleveraging of SOEs high on its agenda, according to a national financial work conference earlier this month.

"The commission has attached great importance to risk control in central SOEs, and risk prevention provides a solid foundation for stabilizing growth," said Shen Ying, SASAC chief accountant.

To reduce the leverage ratio, SASAC has encouraged enterprises to optimize capital structure via public offerings on the stock market, and supported efforts in asset securitization, she added.

As an important means to reduce SOE leverage, debt-to-equity swaps have been accelerated, allowing companies with long-term potential to exchange their debt for stocks, SASAC said.

So far, 12 centrally administered SOEs, including China Baowu Steel Group and China First Heavy Industries, have signed such swap agreements, which will help them deal with bad assets and reduce their debt burden.

Local SOEs are also making full use of this approach. Two coal companies in North China's Shanxi province in March signed debt-to-equity swap agreements with the local State-asset regulator and China Construction Bank, worth a total of 20 billion yuan ($3 billion).

The deal will not only reduce their leverage ratio, but also facilitate their industrial transformation and upgrading.

Some companies have already received the funding from such swaps, including Huaibei Mining Group and Henan Energy and Chemical Industry Group.

China should also intensify efforts to clear out zombie enterprises, or weak businesses that are not viable, usually in industries with severe overcapacity and kept alive only with aid from the government and banks, according to the financial work conference.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans to set up an online healthcare platform to help patients source medicines.

The e-commerce giant announced this week that it would roll out a service under Ali Health to solve the problem of finding prescription drugs for numerous ailments.

"This non-profit platform, known as the Global Drug Seeking Union, aims to help patients from China to find rare medicines through transparent and reliable channels," said Liang Sujuan, manager of the project.

"This will be the first information project of its kind in the world."

The decision will help Alibaba take another tentative step into the healthcare sector, Liang pointed out.

Plans are underway for the online platform to work with welfare organizations, medical institutions, such as hospitals and healthcare clinics, pharmaceutical companies, internet information applications and the media.

"Information asymmetry has long existed in the healthcare sector here," said Xie Fangmin, CEO of Jianke.com, an e-commerce pharmaceutical retailer.

"For instance, there are many drugs that can only be obtained in first-tier cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai."

Patients in China can find it difficult to source certain drugs depending on where they live in the country. In addition, drugs for rare diseases are usually limited.

"But this will be different from online retailers," Liang said. "The Global Drug Seeking Union will provide information about medicines over the counter and prescription drugs, including where you can get them, how much they cost and dosage instructions."

Ali Health also expects to provide information for domestic and multinational pharmaceutical companies.

"There might be times when raloxifene tablets (taken to reduce the amount of calcium lost from bones) are sold out in China," Liang said.

"So, we would inform Merker & Co, which produces the drug overseas, and they would be able to accelerate production."

Sinopharm Online, the Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group and Bai Shop Pharmacy have shown interest in joining the project.

Last year, Ali Health set up a healthcare platform with Sinopharm Online.

This internet business was launched by the China National Pharmaceutical Group, the largest Chinese medical and healthcare company, in 2015.

Sinopharm Online has just finished its A-round of financing after receiving 120 million yuan ($17.7 million) capital from Yunfeng Capital and Shenglang Investment earlier this month.

"Although CNPG is the largest medicine retailer in China with about 50 percent market share, and Tmall Medicine (owned by Alibaba) is the largest e-commerce platform, we cannot meet the demand for certain medicines," said Liang.

Related institutions, including the National Health and Family Planning Commission, has just issued guidelines to help coordinate emergency production and imports of certain drugs.
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd said it maintained robust growth in the first half of the year, as the world's third biggest smartphone maker continued to expand its presence in the high-end segment.

The Shenzhen-based company said it shipped about 73 million smartphones in the first six months, up 20 percent year-on-year. The strong momentum helped its consumer business group record 105 billion yuan ($15.6 billion) in revenue, accounting for about 37 percent of its total revenue.

Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business group, said the company's products are becoming increasingly popular in Europe, Southeast Asia and other regions.

At the same time, Huawei's arch rival Apple Inc fell out of the list of China's top four smartphone sellers in the second quarter, as mounting competition from local players intensified, a report by consultancy Counterpoint Research said.

According to the report, Apple's market share by smartphone shipments in China declined to 8.2 percent in Q2, compared with a 10.1 percent share for the previous quarter.

Owing to the downward trajectory, the California-based company was replaced in the fourth slot by local brand Xiaomi Corp, which grabbed 13 percent of the market.

The report is the latest evidence that Apple is losing momentum in China, where local players are scrambling to experiment with new technologies and are adjusting deftly to local consumers' changing tastes and lifestyles.

Last year, Apple's flagship iPhone lost the title of bestselling smartphone in China, the first time it fell from its throne since 2012, the Counterpoint report showed.
Employees work on the assembly line at a Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.[Photo/BLOOMBERG]

Doubts have increased whether Asian tech giant Foxconn can fill the 13,000 new jobs it needs to start the $10 billion new plant it has pledged to build in the US state of Wisconsin.

"They're not going to get (the incentives) if they don't provide the jobs and don't provide the capital investment," Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said on Thursday.

He was talking about his state's commitment to provide up to $3 billion in tax credits and other incentives to Foxconn over 15 years.

"We tie it to performance," Walker added.

Foxconn, the Taiwan-based manufacturer that makes electronics for Apple Inc's iPhones and other tech companies, announced the new plant in Washington on Wednesday at the White House, along with President Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, who represents the state, and Walker.

On that same day, Amazon said it planned to hire 50,000 people at its US fulfillment centers, including a sprawling facility in Kenosha, not far from Foxconn's potential new sites.

Though the job growth and the byproducts of having Foxconn are "fabulous" for the state, Foxconn will "have its hands full" trying to find thousands of employees, Gus Ramirez, executive chairman of Husco International, a Waukesha manufacturer of automotive industry components, told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"Obviously, 13,000 jobs all at once in a short period is challenging," said Patrick O'Brien, executive director of the economic development organization Milwaukee 7.

"But we have a higher than national share of IT and manufacturing workers," he said, adding that local educational institutions ranging from public schools to technical colleges and universities would stand up to meet the hiring demands.

O'Brien said that beyond the 13,000 jobs directly created by the plant, it would bring at least 22,000 indirect positions at suppliers and other employers, along with 10,000 construction jobs over each of the next four years, and 6,000 indirect jobs from the construction.

Foxconn will pay the new workers an average of $53,875 a year, plus benefits.

"If you offer enough money, you can get people to fill these positions," said Jason Dedrick, a professor at the school of information studies at Syracuse University.

"People come out with engineering degrees. Especially physicists, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers; they have lots of opportunities and choices," he said.

"It's going to be very challenging, given that the job market is very tight nationally and in Wisconsin."

Steve Koenig, senior director of market research at the US Consumer Technology Association, was more upbeat.

"Wisconsin, in particular, has many great higher learning institutions that are capable of meeting the needs of such employers that locate in the area."

Zhang Ruinan in New York contributed to this story.
China Eastern Air Holding Co said late on Thursday it will pick up a 10 percent stake in Air France-KLM Group for about 375 million euros ($439.4 million).

This is the Shanghai-based carrier's largest strategic investment and is expected to speed up its global expansion.

A wholly owned overseas arm of China Eastern has inked a share purchase agreement with the Paris-based airline for the purpose.

China Eastern Airlines, the listed arm of China Eastern Air Holding Co, and Air France-KLM signed another agreement for market cooperation.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines also announced it will acquire a 10 percent stake in Air France-KLM.

Delta Air is China Eastern's US partner. Delta Air holds a 3.55 percent stake in China Eastern.

After the agreement, both China Eastern and Delta can nominate one representative each as director on the board of Air France-KLM.

China Eastern, Delta and Air France-KLM are members of SkyTeam, a global alliance of airlines that provides passengers access to more destinations, flight frequencies and connectivity.

The three carriers based in three continents hope to build closer commercial ties through equity deals and market cooperation agreements.

"The three of us are all renowned international airlines with a history of cooperation, which lays a solid foundation for this strategic investment," said Liu Shaoyong, chairman of China Eastern.

According to their market cooperation agreement, China Eastern and Air France-KLM will join forces to explore the markets in China and Europe, simplify transit processes and improve passenger and luggage services.

"We will also start cooperation in resource-sharing and e-commerce. The goal is to enhance our internationalization in terms of competitiveness and brand," said Dong Bo, chief marketing officer of China Eastern Airlines.

Thierry Beragnes, Thierry Beragnes, Alliances Air France-KLM's vice-president for Asia-Pacific region, called the cooperation agreement the beginning of a new journey. He believes the three airlines will grow stronger in the three markets.

Analysts said cooperation among China Eastern, Air France-KLM and Delta will broaden their growth potential in the fast-growing travel markets in China, Europe and the US.

China Eastern owns a fleet of more than 650 aircraft and serves more than 100 million passengers every year. It operates 67 flights per week to Europe.
China takes measures to boost private investment

Xinhua | Updated: 2017-07-29 10:20

BEIJING - China will take a string of measures to encourage private investment, the country's cabinet said Friday.



China will streamline investment project approvals for private investors, according to a statement released after the State Council's executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.



Private enterprises are encouraged to participate in major projects as part of "Made in China 2025", modern agriculture and enterprise technology updates.



The government will develop mechanisms to ensure private investment can enjoy reasonable returns in public-private partnership projects.



The credit rating mechanism for private enterprises will be improved to make it easier for them to get loans.



Local governments are encouraged to set up credit risk compensation funds to increase support for small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups.



China will also strengthen supervision on fee charging and punish governments which hurt enterprises' interests or refuse to honor policy commitments, the statement added.
WASHINGTON - International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday that the China's renminbi exchange rate is broadly consistent with fundamentals and desirable policies."The renminbi, despite moving closer to the level consistent with overall assessment, remained broadly in line with fundamentals and desirable policies," said the IMF in its latest External Sector Report released on Friday.According to the report, in 2016, the average real effective exchange rate (REER) depreciated by about 5.1 percent compared to 2015, reflecting in part the strengthening of the US dollar.China's policies that was put in place to stabilize the growth has led to recent appreciation of the RMB, and helped to ease capital outflows and foreign exchange reserve loss, Luis Cabeddu, IMF research department's division chief said at a press briefing on Friday.In regard to China's external sector, the IMF said that China's external imbalances have declined considerably since the global financial crisis.China's current account surplus declined to 1.7 percent of GDP in 2016, falling substantially from its peak of about 10 percent of GDP in 2007, according to the IMF.The IMF expected that China's current account surplus will continue to be narrowed if the country continues to implement reforms.Despite the declines in foreign exchange reserves in 2015 and 2016, the IMF estimated that China's current level of forex reserves to be adequate.The IMF warned that China may face potential risks of protectionist policies by its key trading partners in the future.In order to further reduce imbalances, the Washington-based institution suggested China to improve the social safety net, create a more market-based and robust financial system, and take measures to attract more foreign direct investment.
BEIJING - Premier Li Keqiang has called for steadfast efforts to push overcapacity cuts after government inspections found that a number of steel mills were trying to resume production of inferior-quality steel bars.

"We must stand firm in capacity-cutting efforts to prevent shutdowns in production from flaring up again," Li said in an instruction note on the findings of an inspection by the State Council.

Those breaking government rules will be strictly punished, and authorities with weak supervision will be held accountable, the premier said.

China's State Council requires all facilities producing inferior-quality steel bars to be dismantled across the country by the end of June, but the inspection found two mills in Tianjin were still in business while one company shutdown in Hunan province was seeking to restart production.

As excess capacity has weighed on China's overall economic performance, cutting overcapacity is high on the reform agenda. In 2016, China completed both its annual targets for coal and steel capacity reduction ahead of schedule.

The government work report this year stated that China would continue to cut overcapacity in bloated sectors, with targets to slash steel production capacity by around 50 million tonnes and coal by at least 150 million tonnes this year.
BEIJING -- Members of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force (CAPF) will be entitled to free entry to cultural facilities, according to an agreement signed by the CAPF and Ministry of Culture Friday.

CAPF members can use public cultural facilities, including libraries, cultural centers, and galleries, at all levels free of charge, according to the agreement, which aims to share cultural resources between the military and the public.

The CAPF and the ministry will also deepen cooperation in training cultural talent and facilitating exchanges between cultural personnel, the agreement said.
LONDON -- A delegation from the Southern University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTech) met with academics from a British university for a week-long visit to discuss collaborating on research projects into artificial intelligence, among others.

Senior academics from SUSTech, one of China's newest universities, also discussed extending an existing doctoral training program with the University of Birmingham.

Prof. Jon Frampton, director of the China Institute at Birmingham, is also the university's Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor (China) and professor of stem cell biology. He said: "SUSTech is an ambitious and forward-thinking institution that shares our pioneering attitude towards higher education and research. Our partnership is testament to the University of Birmingham's growing reputation in China - another exciting opportunity for our researchers to collaborate with peers from across the globe."

Up to 30 PhD students will be recruited each year and registered for a Birmingham degree, spending one year in Birmingham.

An agreement has already been signed between the two schools to develop the program.

SUSTech delegation leader Prof. Tang Tao said: "We aim to build SUSTech into a top-tier university that excels in research and innovation. The University of Birmingham is a world-class institution with a strong reputation in both aspects and collaboration between our universities will bring mutual benefits."

SUSTech is a new university founded by the Shenzhen municipal government and led by the Guangdong provincial government. In 2012, China's ministry of education approved the establishment of SUSTech as an innovative pilot for higher education reform in China.

SUSTech aims to build itself into an international university with advanced teaching and research capabilities in science and technology catering to market demands.
SHANGHAI -- Eleven people received jail terms in Shanghai Friday, after being convicted of producing and selling counterfeit baby formula imitating popular foreign and domestic brands.

The defendants were sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison, according to the verdicts given by Shanghai Third Intermediate People's Court.

Five people, including Chen Mingjiang and Gu Chuansheng, were found guilty of manufacturing milk powder cans that copied the designs and logos of Beingmate and Abbott, filling them with cheap and inferior formula from other brands, and selling them in 2014 and 2015. Four others helped manufacture the cans and another two helped with the sales.

The defendants' illegal gains ranged from 1.2 million yuan ($178,000) to 3.6 million yuan.

The Shanghai food safety watchdog, police, and procuratorate were alerted in September 2015 after Abbott reported the case.

The can-making company based in east China's Shandong Province was fined 4 million yuan by the court.
BEIJING -- Beijing released a draft regulation, which requires installation of plates on electric bicycles and tricycles, for public comment on Friday.

The draft also bans electric unicycles and scooters from the roads, a move to regulate the operation of the non-motorized vehicles, according to the Beijing municipal legal affairs office.

Electric bicycles and tricycles have become increasingly popular in recent years as an effective means of commuting due to increased traffic jams in Beijing.

As the vehicles have no plates or other means to track the driver's identity, electric bicycles or tricycles are often caught speeding and occupying motorized vehicle lanes. They have become one of major causes of road accidents.
Daowuran Duishanhan visits the Museum of Accordions in Tacheng of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, July 19, 2017. Daowuran is a teacher, a maintenance man and a collector of accordion who lives in Tacheng City. The 46-year-old man is known as an accordion fanatic. Dao started to learn accordion at 9 years old and spent 3 years on professional learning at a college in Tacheng and began his collection of accordion in 1987. He has collected nearly 400 accordions over the past 30 years and hosted a household museum of accordions in 2016. In the process of his collection, he has gradually learned how to repair accordions. [Photo/Xinhua]
BEIJING -- Ren Biao, one of China's most wanted fugitives, has returned to China and turned himself in to the police, the anti-corruption authority said Saturday.

Ren, 44, former "actual controlling shareholder" of Daluo energy supplies company in East China's Jiangsu province, fled to the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in January 2014 after being accused of fraudulently obtaining loans and fabricating financial bills, according to a statement released by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

In April 2015, Interpol issued a "red notice" of 100 corruption fugitives wanted by China. Many of the fugitives were former government staff or employees of state-owned enterprises.

Ren was ranked 92nd among them and the 42nd to be returned so far.

Ren's return, once again, is a warning for fugitives and proves there is no safe haven overseas, according to the statement.
BUENOS AIRES -- China's embassy in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires Friday marked the 90th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), underscoring the country's peaceful development.

"In the 90 years since the founding of our armed forces, and under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, they have achieved a series of successes," China's military attache Liu Chang said.

Among the contributions Liu listed "national independence, the liberation of the people, safeguarding the country's sovereignty and security, and promoting world peace and development."

"Starting in 2015, China's Armed Forces have undergone the most extensive reforms in their history, including the creation of the Command of the Ground Force, the Rocket Force and Strategic Support Force," said Liu.

"They completed the readjustment of each force's general headquarters and created two command levels, as well as the Central Military Commission and the military theater zones," Liu added.

"China's development is a peaceful development. China's Armed Forces form an important part of the world's peacekeeping forces. Whatever our level of development today or in the future, the defensive nature of China's national defense policy will always remain the same," said Liu.

China "supports and actively takes part in United Nations peacekeeping missions. Until now, China has dispatched more than 31,000 soldiers to 24 peacekeeping missions and trained more than 700 foreign military troops for the same purpose," Liu said.

Regarding ties between Buenos Aires and Beijing, Liu said "the relationship in the area of defense is an important part of the bilateral ties," and involves "reciprocal visits, exchanges of professional delegations, and military courses and seminars."

"I firmly believe that thanks to the collaboration of my Argentine colleagues, cooperation and exchange between Argentina and China in the field of defense will bear more fruit," said Liu.

China's ambassador to Argentina Yang Wanming, officials and representatives of Argentina's Armed Forces and security agencies, and military attaches from other embassies attended the ceremony.
Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed on Thursday that the ongoing Russia-China joint naval drill in the Baltic Sea is not meant to start a new military alliance.

The cooperation between China and Russia brings balance to the world, and it is not directed against anyone, said Putin. "We are not starting military blocs," he said. The drill started last weekend in the Baltic Sea

Putin spoke at a news conference in Punkaharju, a resort in Savonlinna, eastern Finland, which he was visiting for the centennial of Finnish independence.
Lanzhou Dance Troupe Dunhuang Dream

Date: Aug 4-5 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 60-500 yuan

Dunhuang Dream is a full-length Dunhuang-themed dance drama created and produced by Lanzhou Dance Troupe. It was performed for the first time in Beijing in April 2000 to mark the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Dunhuang Sutra Cave and the beginning of Dunhuang Studies. As of now, the dance drama has been performed for nearly 1200 times around the world and has won a number of awards in China. Lanzhou Dance Troupe was founded in 1970. It has performed over ten pieces of full-length dance dramas, dance poems and suite dances, and appeared at over 500 grand evening parties as well as many different styles of song and dance parties and concerts in China.

Awake Love Orchestra: Storytelling Music Journey by Awake Projects, Sweden

Date: Aug 4-6 - 2:30 pm/7:30 pm

Venue: Beijing Comedy Theater

Price: 60-300 yuan

Awake Projects team derives from different performing disciplines and arts all over Scandinavia, Europe, USA and even from Australia. The team is dedicated to their art and at the same time are willing to explore unknown territory and develop through learning from each other. As Robert Wilson said, "The Love Orchestra offers a unique experience combining folk, choral, gypsy, pop and classical music whilst performing with a powerful interconnectedness, offbeat humor and a rare sweetness that is mesmerizing, entrancing and transforming. They work with cello, guitars, keyboard and a range of percussion but it is their voices with their harmonies and an extraordinary vocal range that draws you in and never lets you go."

Classical Ballet Semifinal-Session 1

Date: Aug 5 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for Performing Arts

Price: 50/100 yuan

Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition is hosted by NCPA and organised by Beijing Xiaoxing Ballet Art Development Foundation with the support of Beijing Municipal Government. The Competition has been held for three times since 2011, and for this year, it will last from Aug 4 to 11. This competition is divided into two parts: classical ballet and choreography. The age limit for the classical ballet division ranges from 14 to 22, and that for the choreography division is between 18 and 40. Also, contestants must be a professional performer or choreographer.

The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass

Date: July 30 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 80-400 yuan

The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass is composed of some of America's top brass musicians dedicated to bringing the joyous experience of great music to a wide range of audiences. The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass is a family owned and operated business that had its beginning on the streets of New Orleans. On the advice of Ellis Marsalis, the group created a concert format that breaks the usual barriers between genres and strives to create connection between the audience and performers.

British Royal Opera House Ballet film Romeo and Juliet

Date: Aug 10 - 2:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 60 yuan

Romeo and Juliet fall passionately in love and secretly married, despite their families are sworn enemies. Hoever, Romeo kills Juliet's cousin Tybalt in a fight and gets exiled. Juliet's family expects to have her married to Paris. In order to escape from the marriage, Juliet takes a fake potion that makes her appear lifeless. Failing to receive Juliet's message explaining her plan, Romeo goes to her tomb and gets suicide upon hearing her death. As Juliet wakes up, se sees Romeo dead, so she stabs herself as well.

NCPA Opera Jinsha River

Date: July 29-Aug 02 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 100-880 yuan

NCPA opera commission Jinsha River is created at the 90th Anniversary of the Birth of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The opera is adapted from a novel of the same name, published in 1959. Chen Jing, the author of this novel, is a military writer focusing on themes of the Long March, which he personally experienced. Jinsha River tells the story happened between the Red Army trekking on the Long March and people living in Tibetan areas along the Jinsha River. This novel was once adapted into a Pingju Opera work (1959). In 1963, it also has a film adaptation of the same name.
SEOUL - Republic of Korea's military said Saturday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has fired a ballistic missile, which was believed to have been an intercontinental ballistic missile, into its east waters.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the unidentified missile was fired at 11:41 pm (1441 GMT) Friday from the area in Jagang province, the central northernmost part of the DPRK.

It was immediately reported to President Moon Jae-in who chaired the national security council (NSC) meeting of the presidential Blue House at about 1 am Saturday.

Defense Minister Song Young-moo said in a statement that the ICBM test is a "grave provocation" that jeopardizes the stability of the Korean Peninsula and world peace.

He said as a stern response, the US military will send "strategic assets" to Republic of Korea, alluding to stealth bombers and aircraft carriers.

"Republic of Korea and the US ... will have strategic assets deployed (on the peninsula)," Song said.

The DPRK missile flew about 1,000 km and was lofted as high as around 3,700 km, according to the JCS. It was estimated to have been an advanced Hwasong-14, which was test-launched by the DPRK on July 4.

The July 4 launch lofted the missile as high as 2,802 km and made it fly 933 km.

The DPRK's state-run KCNA news agency reported that the country conducted a successful "second" test-launch of the Hwasong-14, which it described as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

It was lofted as high as 3,724.9 km and traveled 998 km for 47 minutes and 12 seconds before landing in targeted international waters, according to the KCNA.
BEIJING -- China on Saturday strongly urged the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States to respect China's concerns and stop their deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.



Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks in response to reports that ROK President Moon Jae-in on Saturday ordered his aides to consult with US counterparts about the deployment of four more mobile launchers of the THAAD after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) test-launch of a ballistic missile.

"The Chinese side is deeply concerned about the situation," Geng said, noting that China's position on THAAD is clear and consistent.

The deployment of the missile system by the United States and the ROK will not address the security concerns of the ROK nor contribute to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Geng said.

The deployment will severely damage the regional strategic balance and harm the security interests of countries in the region, including China, Geng said.
SEOUL - The Republic of Korea's presidential Blue House said Saturday that the country would consult with the United States on the revision of the bilateral missile guideline to increase the payload of the indigenous ballistic missiles.

The ROK President Moon Jae-in ordered his top security advisor Chung Eui-yong to consult with the US side on the launch of negotiations about the amendment of the ROK-US missile guideline, senior presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan told a press briefing.

It followed the DPRK's announcement of its second test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which flew about 1,000 km and was lofted as high as over 3,700 km.

Chung held a telephone conversation with his US counterpart H.R. McMaster at about 3 am local time Saturday (1800 GMT on Friday) to propose the revised missile guideline.

McMaster sent the US agreement on the negotiation at around 10:30 am local time, according to the Blue House of The ROK.

Moon's press secretary said the negotiation would focus on an increased payload, rather than an extended range, adding that the two countries would launch the negotiation as early as possible.

The bilateral missile guideline was first adopted in 1979 to set ceilings on the range of the ROK's homegrown ballistic missiles at 180 km and the payload at 500 kg in return for the US transfer of missile technology to the ROK.

Under the revised guidelines, the maximum range and payload were extended in 2001 to 300 km and 500 kg, and in 2012 to 800 km and 500 kg respectively.

Local media speculations said the ROK would demand the maximum payload of its ballistic missiles be extended to 1 ton.
COLOMBO - China Merchants Port Holdings and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority signed an agreement here on Saturday to develop the Hambantota Port in southern Sri Lanka.

Under the deal, the Chinese side will hold a 70 percent stake in two joint ventures to be launched to take charge of the commercial and administrative management operations of the port respectively.

After 10 years, the Sri Lankan side will gradually purchase an additional 20 percent stake, resulting in the two sides owning an equal share of 50 percent each, according to the agreement, which is valid for 99 years.

At the signing ceremony, Sri Lanka's Minister of Ports and Shipping Mahinda Samarasinghe said, "This is a historic day for us today as Sri Lanka and China venture on a new journey to develop the Hambantota Port."

The Sri Lankan cabinet had on Tuesday approved the agreement, describing it as "a win-win situation for both countries."

Samarasinghe, at a media briefing on Tuesday, said, "We hope to strengthen the operations of the Hambantota Port which will be beneficial for Sri Lanka."

Hu Jianhua, executive vice-president of China Merchants Group, said the signing of the agreement is significant, expressing the hope that China and Sri Lanka can make continuous efforts to turn the port into an international shipping hub linking South Asia with Africa.
Is China the Answer? Nine Years On.

Sometimes, the answer will be yes, sometimes it will be no, and sometimes it will be something in between. For those for whom the answer is yes, the China they encounter (or continue to encounter) is one that is much changed from that of 2013. But many of the fundamentals remain the same. Keeping your nose clean is no guarantee of a smooth ride, but not keeping your nose clean is pretty much a guarantee of trouble.
Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The announcement on Friday that Reince Priebus is being replaced by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as White House chief of staff came after a particularly tumultuous few days for the Trump administration.



Senior White House officials with direct knowledge of the changes happening in the West Wing said President Donald Trump and Priebus spoke two weeks ago, and Trump reportedly said he wanted to make a change.



Here is a rundown of how the past two days played out.



Wednesday, July 26



Sometime that evening



Scaramucci called Ryan Lizza, a reporter for The New Yorker, Wednesday evening, after Lizza had tweeted that a senior White House official told him that Trump and the first lady were having dinner with former Fox News executive Bill Shine and Fox News host Sean Hannity.



Scaramucci called Lizza to try to determine who told him about that dinner, according to the article that Lizza published the following day in The New Yorker. Scaramucci ended the call by saying, Ive gotta start tweeting some s--- to make this guy crazy, according to The New Yorker article.



Shortly after, Scaramucci tweeted that his personal financial disclosure information had been illegally leaked, and that he was calling on the FBI and Department of Justice to investigate. He ending the tweet by tagging Priebus.



Lizza then posted a tweet, writing, In case there's any ambiguity in his tweet, I can confirm that Scaramucci wants the FBI to investigate Reince for leaking.



Scaramucci subsequently deleted that original tweet.



Thursday, July 27



12:47 a.m.



Scaramucci then wrote another tweet, which featured a screengrab of a news story with the headline, Scaramucci appears to want Priebus investigated by FBI.

Wrong! Tweet was public notice to leakers that all Sr Adm officials are helping to end illegal leaks. @Reince45 pic.twitter.com/AB0reseuX1  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) July 27, 2017

Around 7:20 a.m.

The following morning, Scaramucci called into CNN, saying that he and Trump have a "very good idea" about who the "senior leakers are in the White House."



"As you know from the Italian expression, the fish stinks from the head down. But I can tell you two fish that don't stink. That's me and the president," Scaramucci said on CNN.



He then directly referenced Priebus and said, "We have had odds. We have had differences."



"When I said we were brothers from the podium, that's because we're rough on each other -- some brothers are like Cain and Abel," he said, referencing a biblical passage that ends in Cain killing Abel. "Other brothers can fight with each other and then get along. I don't know if this is repairable or not. That will be up to the president."



Around 5:00 p.m.



The last blow of the day came when Lizza published an article on The New Yorker's website detailing his account of his conversation with Scaramucci the night before.



At one point during the call, Scaramucci called Priebus a f------ paranoid schizophrenic, according to the article.



At another point, Scaramucci used a vulgar phrase describing how he alleges Priebus prevented him from becoming a part of the administration in the first six months.



6:23 p.m.



Scaramucci turned to Twitter to comment on The New Yorker story, but he did not deny any part of the article or apologize for the comments that he made, only saying he would refrain from using such "colorful language."

I sometimes use colorful language. I will refrain in this arena but not give up the passionate fight for @realDonaldTrump's agenda. #MAGA  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) July 27, 2017

At 8:50 p.m. Scaramucci later appeared to blame Lizza for publishing the exchange: "I made a mistake in trusting in a reporter. It won't happen again."

I made a mistake in trusting in a reporter. It won't happen again.  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) July 28, 2017

Friday, July 28



12:24 p.m.



Both Priebus and Scaramucci were traveling with the president on Air Force One to Long Island in New York.



2:13 p.m.



During the speech to law enforcement officers, Trump made a point to give a shoutout to his then-secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Ret. Gen. John Kelly.



Trump said Kelly has done "an incredible job of secretary of homeland security. Incredible. One of our real stars. Truly one of our stars. John Kelly is one of our great stars."



4:42 p.m.



Air Force One arrives at Joint Base Andrews.



4:49 p.m. through 4:54 p.m.



Trump tweeted that Kelly is the new chief of staff.

I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017

...and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017

5:00 p.m.

Trump mentions Priebus in the third tweet.

I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017

Shortly after 5:00 p.m.



Trump walked off the plane by himself. Priebus was seen exiting after and into an awaiting car. Scaramucci reportedly stayed in New York and did not make the return trip on Air Force One.



Around 6:20 p.m.



Priebus issued a statement confirming his departure.



"It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve this president and our country. I want to thank the president for giving me this very special opportunity. I will continue to serve as a strong supporter of the president's agenda and policies. I can't think of a better person than Gen. John Kelly to succeed me, and I wish him God's blessings and great success," Priebus said.



Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Charges were dropped Friday evening against a 21-year-old black man who was confronted by a white deputy, hours after he demanded an independent investigation at a press conference.

Marlin Gipson was facing an evading arrest charge and failure to identify charge. A four-minute video has been viewed more than 5 million times showing Gipson being questioned by an officer from Harris County Constable Precinct 1 about what he's doing in the Willow Spring subdivision, an unincorporated area of North Harris County.

He was stopped by the officer on July 18 after going door to door in the neighborhood advertising his lawn-mowing business.

"The officer that violated my rights and my routine patrols the neighborhood," Gipson said during the press conference. "The officer has never once said hello, never once had a friendly word with me. Never once approached me until he decided me and my brothers were suspicious for doing our jobs, which is mowing lawns."

DASHCAM VIDEO: Texas man arrested while driving motorized Walmart scooter down the street

Gipson is asking for an independent investigation from the Department of Justice or the American Civil Liberties Union. During a press conference on Wednesday, Precinct 1 constable Alan Rosen offered to have the Texas Rangers investigate if the family wanted that.

"My family is requesting that Rosen turns the investigation over to an outside department and that he ends the character assassination immediately because it's just not right at all," Gipson said.

The family has also filed a complaint with his office, according to Rosen.

Gipson has said he was racially profiled by officers. However, Rosen said the majority of deputies involved in the case were black.

"Gipson has not been truthful about anything," Rosen said during the Wednesday press conference. "I think anytime you turn something you claim is racially motivated, that sensationalizes things."

The young man claims he was putting business cards in neighbors' doors for his lawn care business, even holding up the card to the camera numerous times.

The viral video shows the deputy asking for Gipson's ID, which he said he did not have. When the deputy asked for his birthday, he provided the wrong date, Rosen said.

As the deputy reached for his handcuffs and told Gipson to turn around and place his hands on his head, the 21-year-old began to walk away while asking the deputy for his business card.

The video cuts to show Gipson in a home yelling at the deputy to leave.

"You up to no good. Why you here?" Gipson said, while also demanding the name of the deputy.

"We need to talk to you," another deputy responded from outside.

The deputy and a K-9 unit enter the house and ask Gipson at least 10 times to turn himself over, Rosen said. Gipson didn't comply and the K-9 ended up attacking him, Rosen said. Gipson was also tasered.

During the press conference on Friday, Ashton P. Woods of Black Lives Matter acknowledged that he couldn't fault Gipson for walking away from the officer.

"There was no probable cause for arrest in the first case," Woods said. "I would have walked away too. I would have gone into my house and would've barricaded myself into a room too because I don't want to be touched by a police officer. I don't blame him for what he did."

The end of the Facebook video has photos showing Gipson's injuries. Those photos were shared on Facebook by Lee Merritt, an attorney in Philadelphia who has flown to Houston to meet with Gipson.

Woods called using a taser and sticking a dog on someone "a bit excessive."

Gipson was arrested and charged with evading arrest and failure to identify himself, Rosen said. He is also a fugitive in an October 2015 charge of assault threat to cause injury, Rosen added.

The man also has two pending cases in Washington County for resisting arrest and giving false information to police in April, Rosen said.

Gipson said the evading arrest charge is from an argument in high school. The other legal incident he's involved in concerns a college dormitory dispute and could not speak about based on advice from his lawyer, he said.

Since the incident, Gipson set up a youcaring.com page where he's raised more than $20,000 for his lawn-mowing business. He thanked the community during the press conference for the support he's received since the incident went public.

"They're supposed to be trained to protect and serve, and they can't even do that without racial profiling people who are just trying to do their job," Gipson said.
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A man was seriously injured Friday night after crashing into a road construction barricade on Highway 290, according to authorities.

Construction workers witnessed the crash around 10:30 p.m. and discovered the man also had a gunshot wound to the stomach, officials said. The workers called Houston police and the man was taken to Ben Taub Hospital.
A man was shot in the leg walking down the road in east Houston by a person fired several rounds from a car, according to the Houston Police Department.

The man was shot around 2 a.m. in the 400 block of Schweikhardt, said Capt. Megan Howard of HPD's night command.
A group of Florida A&M sorority sisters celebrated the beauty of the black body with a stunning photo shoot in Costa Rica, Yahoo! Style reports.

Earlier this week, members of the Beta Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma Theta took a three-day trip to the Central American country.
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The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is assisting the Walker County Sheriff's Office in the search for a 55-year-old woman who went missing in the Sam Houston National Forest Friday morning.

According to MCSO Capt. Bryan Carlisle, Walker County is leading the investigation and search while Montgomery County is proving man power along with equipment such as drones.

"They are going to lead the investigation until they let us know we need to do something different," Carlisle said.

The woman has been identified as Theresa Kirkpatrick.

Carlisle said Theresa was hiking in the forest with her husband Allen Kirkpatrick, 51, when the two were separated around 8:30 a.m. Allen continued to search for her until about 4 p.m. until he reported her missing to another person.

It was not clear who called 911 to report the woman missing. The woman is reported to have a medical condition but what it is was not released.

Carlisle said Texas Parks and Wildlife is also on scene to assist with the search.

"I expect we will devote a tremendous amount of resources to the situation," he said.

No other information was available.
Devastated family members remained on scene after the body of a 55-year old woman who went missing Friday morning on a hike with her husband in Sam Houston National Forest was found.

The family of Theresa Kirkpatrick found her body about 10:30 a.m. Saturday, according to Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Capt. Bryan Carlisle.

Michael Kiser, Theresa's brother, described his sister as a loving person always willing to help. However, he said his sister would not have "been out here in these woods" with her medical conditions.

"So don't go out in the woods, she don't go hiking, so don't go out of her yard," Kiser told media adding Theresa's husband Allen told him where they could find her body. "Somebody took my sister from me. There is no reason, she never hurt anybody.

"She was loved by many friends and her family. She didn't deserve what happened to her."

Kiser is hoping to learn what happened in the woods that lead to his sister's death.

The Walker County Sheriff's Office has taken over the investigation since Theresa was found in Walker County. MCSO and Texas Parks and Wildlife are continuing to assist with the search.

A cause of death has not been determined, but Carlisle said the woman suffered from diabetes.

Kirkpatrick was hiking in the forest with her 51-year-old husband Allen Kirkpatrick when the two were separated around 8:30 a.m. Her husband searched for her until about 4 p.m. when he reported her missing to another person, authorities said.

Allen remains hospitalized after suffering from heat exhaustion Friday.

No other details were available. The incident remains under investigation.
A raid on a Southwest Houston tattoo parlor on Wednesday lead to the arrest of five men accused of selling synthetic cannibanoids, also known as Kush.

According to Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva, police executed a warrant on Pro Tattoo Parlor in the 11300 block of Bissonnett around 9 p.m., searching for drugs.
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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Mumbai, July 28 : Actress Shenaz Treasury says nepotism exists in all professions in India and not just Bollywood, as the country has a"classist" society.Shenaz will next be seen in the film "Kaalakaandi" alongside Saif Ali Khan, who along with filmmaker Karan Johar and actor Varun Dhawan was criticised for his "Nepotism rocks" act at the IIFA Awards earlier this month.



The infamous debate started in Bollywood when actress Kangana Ranaut branded Karan as a "flagbearer of nepotism" on his chat show "Koffee With Karan" earlier this year."I am so impressed with Kangana sitting on that couch laying it into Karan Johar about being the flag bearer of nepotism with that big smile. I think she spoke not just for the film industry, but for all of India," Shenaz said in a statement.



"Nepotism exists. Not just in Bollywood but in every profession in India. We live in a very classist society and it's sad and depressing. People like Kangana have to work a million times harder than someone from a filmy family," she added.Talking about her struggle in showbiz, Shenaz said: "When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a screenplay writer or a photographer. First question people asked me, Who do you know? Any contacts?'. My family told me it was a stupid idea. I should be a teacher like my mom. Or try and get a job in a shipping company like my dad.



"But I had no interest in that. We know so many people who have gone into the family business even when they had no interest in it because that was the easiest choice. I feel this is a huge debate in India because it applies to every field and not just Bollywood," she added.
New Delhi, July 28 : Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt has been roped in to endorse an online jewellery platform with an aim to target young shoppers.Alia, the first celebrity to endorse the brand Bluestone.com, says she loves the concept of shopping for jewellery in the virtual world."The brand complements my personal style beautifully as it is contemporary, elegant and offers a fantastic range of eclectic designs for every occasion," Alia said in a statement.



The "Udta Punjab" actress added: "Today's modern shopper who is constantly on the move will love the thousands of design options and ease of shopping."Speaking on the association, Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, founder and CEO, BlueStone.com, said: "We are at an inflection point and a young icon like Alia can help connect with our core audience and enable exponential growth."She is the perfect embodiment of what we stand for - a distinctive style, confident and a sparkling personality."As part of the brand association, Alia will feature in the latest brand campaign to be aired in August, ahead of the festive season.
People who used e-cigarettes were more likely to kick the habit than those who didn't, a new study found.

Nicotine patches, gums and medications are known to aid smoking cessation, but there's no consensus on whether vaping devices can help anti-smoking efforts. The U.S. research is the largest look yet at electronic cigarette users and it found e-cigarettes played a role in helping people quit.

"It's absolutely clear that e-cigarettes help smokers replace cigarettes," said Peter Hajek, director of the health and lifestyle research unit at Queen Mary University in London, who wasn't part of the study.

Smoking rates have been generally declining for decades. Health experts have credited taxes on tobacco products and anti-smoking ads for the drop.

E-cigarettes have been sold in the U.S. since 2007. Most devices heat a liquid nicotine solution into vapor and were promoted to smokers as a less dangerous alternative since they don't contain all the chemicals, tar or odor of regular cigarettes.

Researchers analyzed and compared data collected by the U.S. Census from 2001 to 2015, including the number of adult e-cigarette users from the most recent survey.

About two-thirds of e-cigarette users tried to quit smoking compared to 40 percent of non-users, the study found. E-cigarette users were more likely to succeed in quitting for at least three months than non-users  8 percent versus 5 percent.

The research was published online Wednesday in the journal, BMJ. It was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The rate of people quitting smoking in the U.S. has remained steady at about 4.5 percent for years. It jumped to 5.6 percent in 2014-2015, representing about 350,000 fewer smokers. It was the first recorded rise in the smoking cessation rate in 15 years.

While national anti-smoking campaigns likely helped, the results show e-cigarette use also played an important role, said lead author Shu-Hong Zhu of the University of California, San Diego.

Hajek, who wasn't part of the research, said vaping devices shouldn't be strictly regulated, but instead be allowed to compete directly with cigarettes. "That way, smokers can get what they want without killing themselves," he said.

Earlier this month, a House panel renewed its efforts to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from requiring retroactive safety reviews of e-cigarettes already on the market.

Others warned that the long-term side effects of e-cigarettes are unknown.

"We just don't know if moving to e-cigarettes is good enough to reduce the harm," said Aruni Bhatnagar, director of the American Heart Association's Tobacco Research and Addiction Center.

Chris Bullen, who authored an accompanying editorial , said although the long-term safety of e-cigarettes is unclear, any ill effects are "likely to be rare compared with the harms of continuing to smoke."

The latest results strongly suggest that more lenient control of e-cigarettes could improve population health, said Bullen, a professor of public health at the University of Auckland.

"If every smoker was to change over to e-cigarettes completely, there would be a dramatic and almost immediate public health benefit," he said in an email.
AKRON, Ohio -- Three people were wounded early Friday in a shooting outside an Akron nightclub, police said.

Two men -- ages 22 and 23 -- and a 20-year-old woman were injured just after midnight outside Deja Vu Nightclub and Hookah Lounge on South Main Street, police said in a news release.

The 22-year-old man and the woman were taken to Akron General Hospital for treatment. The 23-year-old man was taken to Summa Akron City Hospital, police said.

No arrests have been made in the shooting, police said.

Several people were seen running away from the nightclub after the shots were fired, according to 911 calls released Friday.

One stray bullet hit a nearby home, but no one inside was injured, police said.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Friday's crime and courts comments section.
BROOKLYN, Ohio -- A Brooklyn man faces animal cruelty charges that accuse him of shooting and killing a cat with a bow and arrow, police said.

Carl Anthony Novak, 19, is being charged with one count of animal cruelty, a fifth-degree felony. The case remains under investigation and Novak could face more charges, police said in a news release.

Novak was arrested Friday after police investigated a complaint of illegally discharging a firearm. While police were investigating, Novak confessed to a number of incidents including shooting and killing a family cat on Winter Lane near Biddulph Road May 8, police said.

A man told police his cat was shot with a bow and arrow and then stolen, according to a police report.

Novak is being held in Brooklyn City Jail until his arraignment in Parma Municipal Court.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Friday's crime and courts comments section.
PEPPER PIKE, Ohio -- Theft, Shaker Boulevard: Police are wrapping up an investigation of summer break-ins to the women's locker room at a local country club that were going on at the same time men's lockers were being broken into.

The case against a Cleveland man, 56, a recent parolee accused of hitting various country clubs in the area, was still making its way to a Cuyahoga County grand jury last week.

In the meantime, police believe they also have the suspect who was stealing from her female co-workers -- including their credit cards -- by sneaking into their locker room.

She was the only one working at the time all of the various thefts were reported, and no other suspects were observed on surveillance footage going in and out of the women's locker room on those days.

The teen-aged former employee may qualify for a court diversion program offered to first-time offenders.

Forgery (checks), Gates Mills Boulevard: A resident reported to police on July 21 that someone had altered one of her checks and deposited it, with an investigation pending.

Damage to property, Pepper Ridge Road: On July 21 there was a report of a possible bullet that went through a window at a resident's house when no one was home. Police said it looked like a .22-caliber projectile.

Followup investigation (burglary), Fairmount Boulevard: A resident provided police with at least a partial list of jewelry that was stolen in a July 18 house burglary.

The loot included at set of 14-karat two-tone earrings with diamonds; a Cindy Crawford Omega watch; 14-carat diamond stud earrings and a women's Movado watch. No total value was listed and the investigation continues.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
Shots fired, Sycamore Road: At 7:20 p.m. July 21, police received calls about a male shooting a firearm out of a home's window.

Police found the man standing in the home's front yard. As an officer approached, the man began to walk up his driveway. He told the officer not to approach or touch him or he would shoot. The man went in the house as a SWAT unit was contacted.

About 15 minutes later, the man went out his home's back door, holding a 10-month-old baby. Police asked the suspect, who was agitated and yelled at officers, to release the baby. The man refused and held the child.

Police attempted to negotiate with the man, 35, who was not holding a weapon. Eventually, an officer snatched the baby from the suspect. The suspect was then handcuffed. People who were inside the home were not injured.

A witness said that, before police arrived, the man was yelling about a relationship problem with a woman and that he shot rounds into the ground in the front yard while walking in circles. Another said he fired the gun in the back yard, too.

The suspect threw the gun into bushes as police arrived.

The man was charged with discharging a firearm and domestic violence.

Grand theft, Caledonia Avenue: At 6:30 a.m. July 20, a woman reported that someone stole her 2007 car from her driveway during the previous morning hours.

The car was stolen without keys. No broken glass was found on the driveway.

Grand theft, Pomona Road: At 12:10 p.m. July 20, a woman reported that her car was stolen while parked at her boyfriend's home. The theft occurred between 7:30 a.m. and noon.

The woman told police the car was unlocked and that its ignition key was inside the auto.

The car was recovered at 3:20 a.m. July 21 at an East 52nd Street address in Newburgh Heights. A woman who lives at the address said she heard noises outside her house, looked out a window, and saw the car abandoned on a grass lot in front of her house.

The keys were no longer in the car. Police were able to get fingerprints from inside the car.

Burglary, Euclid Heights Boulevard: At 6:25 p.m. July 20, police responded to a home on a report of a burglary. A man told police he returned home that day after being out of town since June 30.

Someone broke a window on a front door and gained entry.

Stolen were four guitars, two TVs, three speakers, a microphone and recording gear. One of the guitar's had an estimated value of $2,000.

Disturbance, Lancashire Road: At 3:15 p.m. July 20, a woman, 25, reported that she had been involved in a physical altercation with her aunt, 37, while at the complainant's house. The aunt departed before police arrived.

The complainant said her aunt pushed her against a wall, where she hit her head. Police took the woman to the hospital as she appeared to be disoriented.

Police then spoke with the aunt, who confirmed that the altercation took place. Neither party wanted police to pursue the matter.

Disorderly conduct, Noble Road: At 1:40 p.m. July 21, police were dispatched to the area of Greyton and Noble roads on a report of a man lying face-down on the ground. An officer recognized the man, 46, from a past incident.

The man was unable to stand on his own, had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes, and could not speak in full sentences.

Police took the intoxicated man to the hospital for evaluation and cited him for disorderly conduct/public intoxication.

Disturbance, Cleveland Heights Boulevard: At 2:50 p.m. July 21, police were called to an apartment building where a woman said a male resident living in the building, pulled a gun on her during an argument.

The matter started the day before when the man, 30, told the woman her daughter spoke disrespectfully to him.

On July 21, the woman returned home to the building with her three daughters. She said the man opened his door and started another argument. She said the man, 30, then got a gun and pointed it at her.

The man told police he did not have a gun, but that he held mechanical clippers, as he cuts hair at his home and had a client in his apartment. None of the woman's witnesses confirmed that the man had a gun.

Police forwarded the matter to the city prosecutor's office.

Burglary, Whitby Road: At 12:15 a.m. July 22, police were dispatched to a home where a burglary had taken place.

The woman who lives at the house told officers that she had been gone from her home between 5:40 p.m. and 11:40 p.m. She returned home to find a damaged and open rear door, and her property scattered about the house.

Police noted that the house was cluttered and it was difficult to determine if anything was missing. Officers were able to obtain one fingerprint from a rear patio glass door.

Disorderly conduct, Quilliams Road: At 7 p.m. July 25, a woman called police stating that a teen girl came onto her property and wanted to fight her. The girl was located walking nearby with two friends and was arrested.

Charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct will be filed with juvenile court.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- An 81-year-old man with Alzheimers who went missing has been located, police say.

Willie Williamson left his home about 11:30 p.m. Friday on Thorne Road near Monticello Road and didn't return, according to an endangered missing adult alert from the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.
Eric Huck, co-founder of PA Lyme Resource Network and president of Harrisburg Area Lyme Disease Support Group, has been in a fight for nine years.

Thats how long hes been battling Lyme disease, but the effects of the disease itself are only part of the fight.

We are fighting the government. We are fighting the CDC. We are fighting the insurance companies, Huck said.

The root of the fight with insurance companies lies at the intersection of medicine and government.

The Infectious Disease Society of America is a key group. It is an organization of physicians, scientists and other health care professionals who specialize in infectious diseases with the purpose of improving health as it relates to infectious diseases.

It is the IDSA that sets the guidelines on what a disease is, what a disease is not, how you treat it, Huck said.

In 2006, a panel of 14 doctors set up the guidelines for the treatment of Lyme disease.

The guidelines basically say Lyme disease is difficult to get, easy to cure, Huck said.

The IDSA guidelines were adopted by the Centers for Disease Control, which gave doctors direction on how to treat the disease for the first time.

Doctors were in the dark on what to do. They had nowhere to go for a uniform body of rules, Huck said.

Guidelines

The guidelines, however, came under scrutiny. In 2008, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, then the attorney general of Connecticut, announced that an antitrust investigation found flaws in the process IDSA used in writing the guidelines.

A news release announcing the decision said the guidelines are commonly applied by insurance companies in restricting coverage for long-term antibiotic treatment or other medical care and also strongly influence physician treatment decisions.

Blumenthal also found that several IDSA panelists were found to have conflicts of interest, according to the press release.

The IDSA maintained throughout the investigation that the guidelines were developed after proper review of medical and scientific studies as well as evidence by experts in the prevention, diagnosis and prevention of Lyme disease.

The investigation ended with an agreement between the two parties to create a review panel to examine the guidelines and to update or revise them as needed.

Members of the Lyme disease community thought this reexamination would lead to changes in the guidelines, Huck said. Instead, they were shocked to see the panel hold its course and not offer revisions. When the IDSA refused to change its guidelines, the CDC followed suit and did not change its guidelines.

Now, insurance companies have the rationale they need to be able to authorize only 2-4 weeks of treatment. Many of those companies will not cover additional treatment, Huck said.

That works for most patients. Huck said some people will say they had Lyme disease and were fine after treatment, adding that about 70 percent are like that.

But for the other 30 percent, insurance wont cover antibiotics prescribed for longer terms so people are paying out of pocket in an attempt to get better.

According to the IDSA website, the guidelines are under revision in a process that began in 2015, and results are expected to be published in the summer of 2018. Draft guidelines will be available prior to publication, and will be open for a 45-day comment period.

A second organization, the International Lyme and Associated Disease Society, also created guidelines. The society is an international medical society that promotes understanding of Lyme and associated diseases through research, education and policy.

Guidelines from the two organizations have significant differences. For example, the IDSA recommends a single dose of an antibiotic if a tick bite meets certain criteria while ILADS recommends a minimum 20-day cycle of a different antibiotic for any tick bite in which there is evidence of tick feeding. The two sets of guidelines also differ on the type of antibiotics to prescribe, and the length of time for which they should be used.

One set of guidelines recommends against treating a patient a second time if the patient continues to show symptoms of Lyme disease after initial treatment, while the other recommends undertaking retreatment after discussion with a patient and proper assessment.

Its very controversial. Its very conflicted and peoples childrens lives are in the balance, Huck said.

Legislative solutions

Differences in opinion on treatment protocols caught the attention of the state Legislature as Lyme disease has continued its march across the state, with cases now being reported in all 67 counties.

Passed in 2014, the Lyme and Related Tick-Borne Disease Surveillance Education, Prevention and Treatment Act (Act 83) established a task force to address issues surrounding Lyme disease. The task force issued its report in September 2015, and made 14 recommendations in the areas of prevention, education, awareness and surveillance.

The report identified that health care practitioners today have limited testing options for Lyme disease that are covered by insurance.

More recently, Rep. Matthew Baker introduced House Bill 174 on Dec. 13, 2016. The bill provides for patient access to diagnostics and treatments for Lyme disease and related tick-borne illnesses, and would require insurers to cover treatment plans for Lyme as prescribed by health care practitioners regardless of the length of treatment.

Local Reps. Steve Bloom, Will Tallman and Greg Rothman voted in favor of the bill.

House Bill 174 was passed over to the Senates Banking and Insurance Committee on May 31. In that same committee is a similar bill that was introduced in the Senate. Senate Bill 100 was referred to the Banking and Insurance Committee in January.

No votes have been reported on either bill since their respective referrals to the committee.

For now, Lyme disease patients and their advocates work and wait.

Pennsylvania Lyme Resource Network has been using letters and email in a communication campaign to let the committee know the financial challenges people with Lyme disease face. Huck said he knows people who have lost their homes and spent all of their money dealing with the disease.

It shouldnt be like that in America, Huck said.
Vickie Holder was preparing to kill herself.

The intense, undiagnosed pain she endured for three years had taken its toll. She started to pay down credit cards and put her affairs in order, deciding that if the pain didnt stop on its own, she would stop it her own way.

I could not live with that pain. I just couldnt live with it. I would just go crying, Holder said.

Sitting at a table at Fays Country Kitchen, the Carlisle restaurant she runs with her husband, Jim, Holder shared the darkest chapter of her story, hoping that it would help someone  anyone  in a similar situation find an answer.

And, shes certain the answer is Lyme disease.

If you have something thats wrong with you and nobody can pinpoint it, you have Lyme disease, Holder said. If youve been to all kinds of doctors and nobody can find anything wrong with you, I guarantee its Lyme disease.

Finding a diagnosis

It all started three years ago with pain behind her eyes that felt like it was in the eye socket itself, Holder said.

She went to an ophthalmologist who diagnosed her with dry eye. Holder said she had dealt with dry eye in the past and knew this was something different. She sought a second opinion, and that person also rendered the diagnosis of dry eye. A third opinion from Johns Hopkins Hospital after numerous tests also cited dry eye as the cause of the pain.

Holder remained unconvinced.

It wasnt that dry that it should have caused me the problems I was describing to them, Holder said.

The pain persisted, and eventually she said it felt like something was eating away at the nerves in her face.

Holder started trying anything anyone suggested in search of relief. Looking at a list in a folder containing the paperwork chronicling her journey, she started checking off all the ways she tried to ease the pain: acupuncture, muscle testing, ionic cleanses, detox programs, visits to a salt cave, meditation, reiki, clean eating, chiropractic care, massages and essential oils. She even bought a pulsed electromagnetic field therapy mat.

I was doing all of this all along with going to my family doctor numerous times, and him giving me numerous medications and numerous diagnoses, Holder said.

Doctors, including a neurologist and an infectious disease specialist, tried CAT scans, brain scans and numerous blood tests over a three-year period to try to get to the root of the problem. Four of those blood tests included tests for Lyme disease that returned negative.

All four tests were negative. All at my expense, she said.

Doctors even told her that what she needed might be a psychologist.

Through it all, Holder had the nagging feeling that her condition could be Lyme disease.

Nobody even said Lyme disease. None of them. I was asking them, Could this be Lyme disease? Holder said.

Other symptoms that could have helped to pinpoint Lyme disease were easily explained away by other causes. Aches in her leg? Thats from putting in 12-15 hours a day at the restaurant. Feet hurting? Holder thought she needed new shoes. She had no energy, but she was taking care of her father in addition to working long hours.

I had a reason for everything except for my eyes, she said.

The pattern continued for nearly three years at the cost of around $20,000 until a friend made a suggestion that proved to be the turning point in Holders search for answers.

A friend of mine said, I want you to go see Dr. Noonan. I am telling you, you have Lyme disease, Holder said.

Confronting Lyme disease

Dr. Noonan is Dr. Frank Noonan, who practices family medicine at Central Pennsylvania Integrative Medicine in Myerstown in Lebanon County. Type his name into Google, and the words Lyme disease will come up along with his name as a suggested search. What doesnt come up in this age of connectivity is a website or an official Facebook page.

Holder contacted Noonan and spent a few hours filling out paperwork in preparation for her first visit. Based solely on that paperwork, Noonan was almost certain he knew the cause of Holders persistent pain.

Just by my paperwork, he was 99.9 percent sure I had Lyme disease, she said.

Noonan ordered yet another test for Lyme disease, but this one was different. These test results went to a lab in California that specializes in tick-borne illnesses, a lab that is reputed to perform one of the most accurate tests in the country for Lyme disease.

It took three weeks for the test results to come back, but Holder finally had her answer on March 6  she had Lyme disease.

All these four tests that I had? I just assumed I didnt have Lyme disease because they all came back negative, but theyre called false negatives, Holder said.

Dr. Timothy Stonesifer of Cumberland Valley Parochial Medical Clinic in Shippensburg said he sees patients like Holder often. Doctor after doctor will diagnose other causes for their symptoms until one doctor is willing to do different blood testing.

We really dont have an accurate test, he said. The sad part is its the FDA-approved test.

Stonesifer said better testing would help with early detection and treatment. It could also help to define how persistent the disease is or determine whether extended use of antibiotics or the use of multiple antibiotics would be effective for some patients.

More funding for research is essential to finding that better test. Funding for Lyme disease at both the state and federal levels lags far behind funding dedicated to other health concerns.

I believe theres more money for leprosy and swimmers ear in the United States, Stonesifer said.

The road ahead

Holder started treatment on March 30. Noonan prescribed three antibiotics that she takes twice a day. She also takes a probiotic as well as another medication that affects the gel surrounding bacteria to allow the antibiotics to do their work.

Noonan told her that it would take at least five weeks before she would start to see results.

It was exactly five weeks until I felt relief, Holder said.

Eight weeks after the treatments started, Holder returned to Noonans office for a change to her antibiotic routine and to undergo an IV treatment.

Every six weeks, Holder travels to Myerstown to receive one bag of vitamin C and B vitamins to boost her immune system and a second bag containing a detox agent that allows the dead Lyme bacteria to be eliminated from the body. The whole process takes about two hours.

This will be the routine for the next six to nine months. Each treatment will cost $460, which is not covered by insurance, Holder said.

Speaking now, with a diagnosis and with a treatment plan, Holder almost sounds incredulous when she thinks about where her undiagnosed Lyme disease almost took her.

To take your life over something thats been misdiagnosed over three years? she asked

She knows now that her condition is treatable, but not curable. Its likely she could experience a flare-up in the future.

I can live right now with whats going on with me, Holder said.
Over the course of the summer, many area churches hold Vacation Bible Schools for children to attend for several days of ministry and fun. One of those local churches also uses the opportunity to raise funds for mission programs, this year raising more than $3,600.

Harvest Christian Centres VBS theme this year was Maker Fun Factory, which focused on teaching kids what the Bible says they were created to be and do.

Childrens Pastors Joe and Rebecca Hughes said the money collected will be handed over to the Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge (BGMC), and then forwarded to Convoy of Hope, an organization based in Springfield which feeds and clothes kids around the world.

Joe said this years VBS had between 120 and 130 kids attending for the four nights. The kids were given small boxes to fill with change and return the following day to add toward the goal of $3,000.

We have a goal that we set every year, Joe said. Last year it was between $1,200 and $1,400 that the kids brought in. After I went to the bank and did the final deposit, the kids had raised over $3,600.

The money raised by the kids will go toward feeding hungry children around the world. Joe said hes not sure exactly how many children will receive meals because of the giving of the VBS kids from here in the Parkland, but its no small number.

I dont know the exact number of kids, Joe said, but I talked to the director of Convoy of Hope and he said if wed raised $2,000 it would have supplied 17 kids with three meals a day for an entire year.

Convoy of Hope works not only overseas to feed and clothe kids, but also works here at home as needed.

Theres probably not a continent that Convoy has not been to, Joe said. And not only other parts of the world; they have feeding programs here in the United States as well. So they feed kids within our area.

At the end of VBS, when the totals were announced, Joe and Becky descended a muddy homemade slip-n-slide with assistance from the Park Hills Fire Department.

Becky said it was great to see what could be achieved by a few kids donating spare change during VBS, and how it could be used to feed hungry kids while also spreading the good word.
Win McNamee/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Ivanka Trump headed to New York City Friday to have a private lunch meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.



The first daughter, who serves as an adviser to President Trump, posted photos of the visit on Instagram, writing that the UN chief invited her to follow up on her launch of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, a fund to help female entrepreneurs access capital.



In the post, she said, "I look forward to continuing this important dialogue about skills training in the modern economy and working together to economically empower women globally."



The 90-minute lunch took place in Guterres' private offices.



Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
A historic home in Ste. Genevieve will be restored over the next year after a local congregation succeeded in raising over $200,000 toward that goal.

The house was originally constructed by French Canadian silversmith Antoine Oneille around 1820, according to Chairman of the Oneille Task Committee for Restoration Becky Millinger.

It is an Anglo-American style home, which is different than some of the historic houses in Ste. Genevieve because it was moving away from the French style to a more American style, Millinger said.

She said Oneille is recognized as one of the top silversmiths of the early 1800s, with many of his pieces remaining today.

He was a silversmith who came down through the French corridor from Quebec to Detroit, then into Vincennes (Indiana) then here in Ste. Genevieve, she said. He died here and his buried in the Ste. Genevieve Memorial Cemetery.

After Oneilles death, the house was lived in by many others down through the years. The house weathered two floods and one fire in 1982, which resulted in the top floor being removed and replaced, giving the home the appearance of a more French Creole style.

The owner of the home sold it to Ste. Genevieve First Presbyterian Church in 2006. Millinger said the church has had plans since that time to renovate the building for church use, and were approached by an organization called the Jeffris Family Foundation about working together to restore the building.

Its an organization in Wisconsion that contacted us in 2013 and said, Can we help you restore that building? said Millinger. I dont know how they found out about us.

The foundation supports restoration projects across the Midwest, often with Capital Campaign Challenge Grants as was offered for the Oneille House.

They paid for half of the structures report, and then invited us to write a grant for the capital campaign, which we started June 30, 2014 Millinger said. It went until June 30 of this year, so we just finished. We were tasked with raising $200,000 to receive $100,000. We accomplished that, and its all been verified by the foundation. Now we are able to proceedright now were in the process of collecting bids from contractors for the restoration of the house.

Millinger said the past three years have seen many fundraising projects and initiatives, with support from local and national organizations.

We began with asking for contributions from people in the Presbyterian congregation, Millinger said. But weve also done fundraisers.

One of the sources of funds for the project is a book written by Millinger, compiling photos of all the known silverwork of Oneille. A local silversmith named Jill Kenik also designed and produced jewelry inspired by Oneilles work, which was sold for the benefit of the project.

We also had a sign a shingle campaign, where people could sign one of the cedar shake shingles that will be installed on the house during the restoration, Millinger said. So their names will be there for however long that lastsmaybe thirty or forty years.

The project has also been supported by contributions from the Foundation for Restoration of Ste. Genevieve, the French Heritage Society, as well as other organizational and private contributions.

Millinger hopes the restoration work will begin in September, with the project taking around a year if everything goes smoothly. Two major original portions of the house will remain after the restoration: the exterior chimney and some beaded beam joists.

The work on the buildings exterior will be overseen by the Heritage Commission of Ste. Genevieve. Millinger said the house is unique because it is the only historic structure in Ste. Genevieve constructed by an artist.

When the home is restored it will only be open to the public during certain event days throughout the year, though a gala will be held when the work is first completed.

For more information, or to keep up with the restoration projects progress, visit The Silversmith's House Restoration Project on Facebook.
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DEAR HARRIETTE: My friend "Beatrice" is very well-off and never wants for anything. She so rarely has a lack of something in her life that I have no idea what to take over when she entertains. I think that showing up empty-handed is in poor taste, yet I have no idea what I can take her that she doesn't already have 80 of! -- Got It All, Denver

DEAR GOT IT ALL: I bet your friend Beatrice is truly happy just having the pleasure of your company when she entertains. Make sure that when you attend her events, you are alert and ready to be of support should she need it.

In terms of a tangible gift, think of Beatrice and what interests her. Does she like to read? You can get her a copy of the latest book in her genre of choice. Does she like to cook? You could bring her a featured olive oil from your local farmers market. Think outside the box in terms of gift items that are small enough to not be a nuisance taking up space but that have meaning and a small story that could make the gift interesting. You can add a little note with the item telling her why this particular thing made you think of her.

DEAR HARRIETTE: English is my stepmother's second language. She says she is more comfortable in her native tongue, but she has also known English for over 20 years. I mention this because I hear her speaking Spanish with my stepsisters, and I think they're talking about me. Why would they speak a language they know I can't understand? -- Gossips, San Jose, California

DEAR GOSSIPS: When you believe that your stepmother and stepsisters are talking about you, what has just happened? Can you figure out triggers for the moments when you feel they are speaking Spanish and excluding you? Do you have solid reason to think they are talking about you rather than simply speaking in their own common tongue?

When they launch into Spanish, you should immediately ask them to speak English so that you can understand the conversation, too. Continue to ask, even if they comply only occasionally.

I would recommend going one step further. Take a Spanish class. Learn to speak this language that is now part of your family. You don't need to tell them that you are studying. Just learn and begin to pick up on what they are saying. When you become more fluent, start to speak to them in Spanish. If you find that they have been talking about you, ask them in Spanish to choose to be family with you instead of squabbling over anything. Then work hard to build a relationship with them. Talk to your father about this, too, so that he can help to be the glue. It takes time for families to blend, but it is possible, even when there are language barriers.

DEAR HARRIETTE: My boss, "Sara," isn't the most well-liked person at my company. Sara leaves her packages lying around, is very brash and rarely cleans up after herself. Other employees make snarky comments about her behind her back when she is not at work. There's no way to deny that she is all of the previously stated things (she has asked someone if they are pregnant or just "got fat").

Should I defend Sara when I hear these statements? I don't want to ostracize myself, but I feel like I should stick up for my boss no matter what. -- Employee of the Century, Wichita, Kansas

DEAR EMPLOYEE OF THE CENTURY: Watch what you say. You should not defend inappropriate behavior, no matter whose behavior it is. To protect your boss, it would be better for you to speak to her privately and express your concern that when she makes comments about people's body size and condition, it is hurtful and embarrassing, but more, it could put your boss in a compromised position. An employee could accuse her of being discriminatory or worse.

What you can say when people talk about your boss is that you think it's smart for everyone to focus on work. Griping about the boss on the job is not productive.

DEAR HARRIETTE: My teenage son has decided to lose his baby weight by exercising. I love this initiative; however, it makes my home smell foul. "Victor" has body odor, and I don't think wearing deodorant crosses his mind. I have hinted that he needs to start using deodorant and have even offered to buy it for him, but Vick just laughs me off. Normally I wouldn't mind, but I was mortified when a friend came over and said I "clearly have sons." How do I get Vick to start using antiperspirant or deodorant? I don't want to scare him away from exercising. -- No B.O., Seattle

DEAR NO B.O.: You need to talk to your son about hygiene and teach him how to care for his body. This is not to dissuade him from exercising. It is also important for him to know about cleanliness and body odor. Tell him directly about his odor and the need to bathe with appropriate soap and use deodorant. Don't give him an option on this. You can also relegate exercise to a certain part of the house that is well-ventilated or that you can make ventilated. You can use air fresheners to help combat the smell and vacuum often. Open the windows, too, to allow the pungent air to leave the house and clean air to flow in.

Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106
Top Laptops

At the CRN Test Center, two of the best laptops we've tested recently are tried-and-true names that have been updated for current business productivity needs. The latest editions of the Dell XPS 13 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon stood out in our tryouts, both for what they did and didn't change from past editions. Which of the laptops is the best fit for you? In the following slides, we compare the Dell XPS 13 vs. the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon on specs and price.
"You can fool too many of the people too much of the time."

-- James Thurber

Out here in flyover country, you can't hardly go by the feed store without running into a reporter doing one of those Wisdom of the Heartland stories. Seems like they could have saved themselves a bunch of trouble by listening to a Hank Williams Jr. album instead.

"I live back in the woods, you see /

My woman and the kids and the dogs, and me /

I got a shotgun, a rifle, and a 4-wheel drive /

And a country boy can survive ... "

Until a few months ago, that was pretty much my life, although I'd have had a hard time without some real country boys' help. You know, loading round bales into my truck; teaching me how to keep the transmission running. Making a skittish heifer stand still and teaching her newborn calf to suckle. Stuff like that.

On the terrible winter day my horse Rusty colicked and died, my neighbor showed up to bury him without being asked. Somebody down at the One Stop -- gasoline, hay, livestock feed, bait, groceries and sandwiches -- told him about it. A dead horse was news at the One Stop. He went straight home, put the backhoe on his tractor, and came right over. I can't tell you how grateful I was.

There wasn't a man on our road that couldn't do a dozen things I couldn't. I used to say you could give my neighbor Micky a chainsaw, a hammer and a box of nails and he'd build you a house from scratch. The plumbing and electrical work might require a trip to town, but he'd do that, too.

Me, I'm good at catching runaway horses and herding cows back where they belong. I tried to keep an eye out.

So I knew damn well the Russian trolls who sent me threatening emails last summer hadn't talked to anybody I knew. I'd have been warned before they got out of Perry County.

That said, except in a couple of cases, I have no idea who my friends voted for. In rural Arkansas, people just don't talk about politics. Especially if they suspect it might cause bad feelings. Some were aware of my public identity; most were not. My wife went around with a Hillary bumper strip, but nobody said a thing about it. They already knew she'd grown up in Little Rock.

Perry County voted 70-24 percent for Trump; Pulaski County, which includes Little Rock, 56-39 for Clinton.

Because here's the deal: the same urban/rural divide big city reporters are exploring exists within states and regions, too. Some Little Rock neighbors feared we'd be unsafe among the rednecks when we moved to our farm. Perry County neighbors expressed surprise we'd risk going back. What's more, it's as old as civilization: "What can I do in Rome?" wrote the poet Juvenal around 100 AD. "I never learned how to lie."

So I am unmoved by Gary Abernathy's hurt feelings. "The reality of life in rural flyover country is lost on those who mock us," writes the smalltown Ohio editor in The Washington Post. "These are the places where Donald Trump won the presidency, where people know they are ridiculed by East and West Coast elitists."

Where have I heard that song before? Oh, yeah, Hank Jr.:

"I had a good friend in New York City / He never called me by my name, just hillbilly."

Well, boo-hoo-hoo. An elitist, to Abernathy, seems to be anybody who objects that the president of the United States acts like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Kremlin.

Ultimately, such cultural paranoia -- GOP-style identity politics, if you will -- is self-defeating. I find myself more persuaded by New Yorker reporter Peter Hessler's conclusions. Even after being penned up and screamed at during Trump pro-wrestling style rallies last summer, he ended up thinking that "people have reasons for the things that they believe, and the intensity of their experiences can't be taken for granted ... Almost everybody I met in Grand Junction seemed more complex, more interesting, and more decent than the man who inspires them."

Amen. Yes, many Trump voters have undeniable fascist leanings, even if they don't like you calling them that. Millions of others simply got conned into giving their vote to somebody they saw as crude but honest -- a billionaire apostle of the working man.

But even here in Darkest Arkansas, buyer remorse is setting in. Last February, voters here gave Trump 60-35 positive over negative rating. By July's Talk Business & Politics-Hendrix College survey, he'd fallen to 50-47 positive, a sharp drop. A remarkable 40 percent of Arkansas voters "strongly disapprove" of the Trump presidency.

And that was last week, before the president's bullying and berating his own (Southern-accented) attorney general, possibly presaging a constitutional crisis.

If Trump starts that fight, I believe he'll lose it.
In a succinct statement, the managing director of Bupa Global, Sheldon Kenton, explains how Bupa Global recently discovered an employee had "inappropriately copied and removed some customer information from the company. Around 108,000 international health insurance policies are affected."

Bupa has approximately 1.4 million international health insurance policies (16.5 million total policies), so the employee only managed to visit the policiess of approximately 8 percent of Bupa's international health insurance policy holders. The 108,000 policies affected 547,000 individuals. The client data compromised included:

Names

Date of birth

Nationalities

Contact information

"Administrative materials"

Bupa customer numbers

Kenton continues that while the information was accessed and copied, none of the information was deleted from the system. Furthermore, Bupa believes the compromised information did not include client financial or medical data.

No accident: Trusted insider acted deliberately

To their credit, Bupa calls it like it is in their statement: This was a trusted insider who broke trust and acted in a deliberate manner:

This was not a cyber attack or external data breach, but a deliberate act by an employee. We have introduced additional security measures and increased our customer identity checks. A thorough investigation is underway and we have informed the FCA and Bupas other UK regulators. The employee responsible has been dismissed and we are taking appropriate legal action.

Backups are important

A salient point to Bupa's statement is the employee's attempt to remove the data from Bupa. While the employee may have been successful, Bupa is unequiviocal that no client data was deleted. Therefore, we may presume the existence of multiple iterations of backup copies to the data base being harvested.

Trust but verify

An additional indicator that Bupa understands the magnitude of what transpired, as they evolve their internal policies, is this statement, "We have introduced additional security measures and increased our customer identity checks."

As every CISO knows, trust those who have access to the data, but verify they access only that data to which they have a need.

Least privileged access

The doctrine of need to know or least privileged access serves to reduce the risk that data is being accessed as part of a farming exercise by a curious or malevolent employee. By assuring your employee has access to the information they need to do their job and the ability to audit it is being accessed for bona fide purposes, you project a secure environment.

Bupa customers should be hyper-alert

The 549,000 individuals whose information was compromised need to remain hyper-alert to criminals attempting to capitalize on the client information. The information can be used to create phishing emails to spoof not only Bupa, but any number of entities, which by including the identifying information taken from Bupa, might induce an individual to "click" a link within an email.
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They were stationed around the state Capitol complex like a couple dozen undercover agents.

The legion of lobbyists representing MGM Resorts International watched every step taken by Rodney Butler and Kevin Brown, chairmen of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan nations, on that early spring day during their rounds pushing for a third tribal casino in East Windsor.

One lobbyist thought it was like a scene from a 1970s vintage crime movie.

There was a lot at stake.

It was part of MGMs full-court press  lobbyists, national political figures, TV, digital media  aimed at opening up the bidding statewide, at best, or delaying a third tribal casino for as long as possible, so the companys billion-dollar gambling resort under construction in Springfield could open up in the fall of 2018 with as little competition as possible.

Tom Swan, executive director of the Connecticut Citizens Action Group, a public advocacy organization founded in 1970, likened MGMs big play to a high-stakes game of blackjack.

MGM gambled that hiring more and more lobbyists would work to their advantage  but they went over 21, Swan, a longtime Capitol observer, said last week.

More than $3.2 million has been spent this year lobbying for and against the third tribal casino, which won approval during the legislative session and again last week, when the House of Representatives quickly voted in favor of a revised memorandum of understanding with the Mohegans and Pequots.

More Information High-stakes spending MGM lobbied hard against a third tribal casino ... and lost. Here is a breakdown of what was spent by both sides. MGM Resorts International - 25 lobbyists, including the Gobal Strategy Group $1,477,668 Mashantucket Pequot Tribe/Foxwoods - Five lobbyists including the Hartford law firm of Robinson & Cole $27,450 Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority - Six lobbyists including Rome Smith & Lutz Government Relations of Hartford $89,350 MMCT Venture, (the joint tribal plan for East Windsor) - Sixteen lobbyists including Stu Loeser & Co, New York and Stamford $137,924 Schaghticoke Tribal Nation of Kent - Seven lobbyists including Sullivan & LeShane, Hartford $65,900 The Coalition Against Casino Expansion in Connecticut $53.16 Connecticut lobbyist '101' Registered lobbyists 810 Registered organizations 931 Expenditures $32.5M A dozen top spenders, 2017 While the casino battle was high profile, hundreds of other lobbyists spent millions in getting their messages to lawmakers. Here is the list of other top spenders. Connecticut Hospital Association $1,268,504 Dominion Energy $1,066,436 District 1199/SEIU Healthcare $599,364 Connecticut Association of Realtors, Inc. $559,506 Consumers for Sensible Energy (anti-natural gas pipelines) $526,992 Eversource $487,545 Connecticut Bankers Association $389,280 Families for Excellent Schools Advocacy/Fight for Fairness $332,385 Connecticut Education Association $304,493 Keep Connecticut Affordable $275,421 AT&T Services, Inc. $274,580 NRG Energy $226,657 See More Collapse

The issue will come to the state Senate on Monday for expected approval, then finally to the federal Interior Departments Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington for final action later this summer.

Consultants predict the tribes joint venture could siphon away between $18 million and $20 million a month from the MGM site.

Once bitter rivals

Connecticuts two tribes  historic bitter enemies and business rivals  won, for the time being.

MGM Resorts spent at least $2.1 million in this years losing effort to prevent the tribes planned East Windsor casino, according to filings in the Office of State Ethics. Twenty-five lobbyists registered with the OSE for MGM, with the task of persuading 151 members of the House and 36 senators.

An estimated $900,000 was spent on video ads and a TV campaign featuring an assured woman stressing the need for an open, competitive process. Connecticut cant afford bad deals, another video warned, while lawmakers remained on a two-year track to approve the tribes East Windsor location.

Eric H. Holder Jr., the U.S. attorney general under President Barack Obama, wrote a letter against the third tribal casino.

The MGM effort was led by the Global Strategy Group, which was paid $1,477,688, according to the OSE. Globals managing director in Hartford is Roy Occhiogrosso, longtime political adviser to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Occhiogrosso supervised both of Malloys successful gubernatorial campaigns.

MGM joined forces with the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation of Kent, represented by the high-powered Hartford lobbying firm of Sullivan & LeShane as well as by James A. Amann, of Milford, the former speaker of the state House of Representatives. The Schaghticokes have been represented in court by Joseph I. Lieberman, the former U.S. senator.

Together and separately, the Pequots and Mohegans spent a total of $875,400 this year. They enlisted former Malloy spokesman Andrew Doba, whose Stamford firm, Stu Loeser & Co. LLC, was paid $137,924 to shepherd the tribal leaders through the Capitol maze, and arrange public-relations events featuring employees of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun.

The Pequots and Mohegans also contracted with two former state lawmakers: David Cappiello, of Newtown, and Peter Smith, of Milford.

The tribes have a long-standing partnership with the state, and they understood the Springfield casino would have a significant impact on Connecticut, said Smith, a former member of the House of Representatives who is a partner in the Hartford lobbying firm of Rome Smith & Lutz.

To mitigate that impact, we brought some ideas forward to protect the Connecticut jobs and revenue, Smith said. Nothing precluded MGM from doing the same thing, picking a site in Bridgeport or Fairfield County and making a proposal. The more money they spent hiring lobbyists, bringing in high-profile names from Washington, TV ads and other things, it reinforced the fact that they were just protecting their investment in Springfield.

Cappiello, who represented Danbury in the state House and Senate and is now president of the Capitol Hill Group, said the simple message was protecting and creating Connecticut jobs.

Saving jobs is not a partisan issue, Cappiello said. Its a Connecticut issue and a human issue. Secondly, we wanted to keep revenue in Connecticut. That was our focus, and it took time to educate and to explain how MGM Springfield was going to impact our state and our jobs.

Friend against friend

On one level, the issue pitted two former top aides to Malloy, Occhiogrosso and Doba, whose Capitol offices adjoined each other during Malloys first term, against each other.

Andrew is a good friend and hes good at what he does, Occhiogrosso said. I enjoyed the time we worked together. Its just different when were on different sides.

Roy is one of the best operatives in Connecticut or anywhere else, for that matter, Doba said. Although we were on opposite sides in this fight, it would be great to work together again in the future.

Its just like any issue you lobby for a client, Amann said. Youre trying to do the right thing for your client. We tried to make our points.

Amann likened the lobbying effort to the last Super Bowl, when the New England Patriots made a big comeback to overtake the Atlanta Falcons.

We were winning until the last quarter, he said.

Then a combination of pieces fell in place, enabling the tribes to win overwhelming support in the House and Senate.

There were decades of accumulated good will for the tribes, whose slot machines have contributed $8 billion in state revenue over the last quarter century. Malloy announced late-breaking support for the East Windsor project. The General Assembly finally accepted that as many as 9,000 state jobs could be lost if MGM took away business from Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun.

Though we were outspent by a large margin, we knew that our message of saving Connecticut jobs was going to be effective because in the end, we were the home team, Doba said. All the other side could do was say there was a better deal. But that wasnt true, when you looked at the long history between the tribes and the state.

The fight is not over

The tribes are going ahead now with their $300 million East Windsor project along Interstate 91, about 17 miles south of Springfield. But the tribal leaders and lawmakers understand MGMs fight will go on in the courts and possibly the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

I believe going off the reservation makes this whole argument so much different that what has happened in the past, said Amann who wants the Schaghticokes to get a chance to bid on a southwestern Connecticut casino, possibly in Bridgeport. Its unconstitutional.

Uri Clinton, MGMs vice president and deputy general counsel, declined to say whether the company is lobbying the Bureau of Indian Affairs to reject the tribes expansion effort and the new memorandum.

Weve had a very strong position that legally there are constitutional issues were going to be pursuing, Clinton said. Litigation is part of the strategy. We really made a significant investment in trying to get a seat at the table, and we really value access to the New York market if that opportunity presents itself. Some people thought we were just trying to block, but last year we made a significant commitment to the state and were planning to engage next (legislative) session.

KDixon@ctpost.com; Twitter: @KenDixon
The Republican president has a job approval rating around 40 percent. The GOP has an unfavorability rating around 56 percent. And Republicans trail Democrats by nine points in an average of "generic ballot" polls.

All of which makes it notable that the Republican National Committee is trouncing the Democratic National Committee when it comes to raising money, especially from small donors.

The numbers are striking. In June, the RNC raised $13.5 million to the DNC's $5.5 million.

For 2017 so far, the RNC has raised $75.4 million to the DNC's $38.2 million.

The RNC started the year with $25.3 million in cash-on-hand. Now it has $44.7 million. The DNC started the year with $10.5 in cash-on-hand. Now, that has fallen to $7.5 million.

As of June 30, the RNC reported $0 in debt. The DNC reported $3.3 million in debt.

A look inside the numbers is even worse for the DNC. Looking at collections from small donors -- that is, those who contributed less than $200 -- the RNC raised $10.5 million in the months of May and June. The DNC raised $5.3 million from small donors in the same time period.

The RNC's money total is a record -- more than was raised in any previous non-presidential election year. That is true for June, and for all of 2017 as well. The $75.4 million raised this year compares to $55.4 million for the same period in 2015; to $51.2 for the same period in 2014; to $41.1 million for the same period in 2013, and so on going back.

"It's definitely a reflection of support for President Trump," said RNC spokesman Ryan Mahoney. "Our small-dollar donors are giving at a record pace because they believe the RNC is supporting President Trump, and they like that."

The obvious reason for the Democrats' troubles is that they lost the White House, the House and the Senate last year. Now, the party appears to have a particularly bad hangover. One data point: In 2013, after Republicans lost their second presidential election in a row and many believed the party faced years in the electoral wilderness, the RNC still raised more money in the January-June period, $41.1 million, than the $38.2 million the Democrats have raised so far this year.

There is much discussion about the intensity of Democratic opposition to President Trump, and indeed Democrats showed a lot of fundraising enthusiasm in the losing Georgia 06 congressional race that turned into a referendum on the president. But the fact is, the passions behind The Resistance have not, or have not yet, turned into support for the main vehicle of opposition to Trump, the Democratic Party.

Democrats have simply not gotten over the Hillary-Bernie split that plagued the party last year. And they have not decided what they will be in the future. Remember, this is a party that won the White House in 2008 and 2012 on the strength of the Obama coalition of minorities, young people, and the college educated -- the group political journalist Ron Brownstein calls the "coalition of the ascendant." It's not an exaggeration to say that many believed demographics favored them so heavily that they were virtually guaranteed Democratic victories in the years ahead. And then the Trump victory reminded them that there are still a lot of working-class voters in the country who aren't necessarily natural Democrats.

This week, Democrats led by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi rolled out a new agenda, which they call "A Better Deal," which is designed to appeal to those disaffected voters. And not a minute too soon. When a recent ABC-Washington Post poll asked, "Do you think the Democratic Party currently stands for something, or just stands against Trump?" -- just 37 percent said the party stands for something, while 52 percent said it just stands against Trump, and 11 percent had no opinion.

So now Democrats have a huge job in front of them. And it is unclear whether Tom Perez, the Hillary Clinton-backed candidate who won the DNC chairmanship in a divisive battle with Rep. Keith Ellison earlier this year, is the man to do it. Last month, in explaining another dismal fundraising period for the Democrats, Perez distanced himself from the problem. "I got here on March 1," Perez told MSNBC, "and I was the first to say it, we've got a lot of rebuilding to do."

The new fundraising numbers don't predict what will happen in 2018. But they do say what is happening now. And that is, in spite of his problems there is enough support for Trump in the Republican base to set new small-donor fundraising records, while Democrats have yet another measure of the work that lies ahead.
Contributed photo / Norwalk Police Department

NORWALK  A Trumbull man caused an alcohol-fueled, late-night commotion on Washington Street that culminated in him smashing the side-view mirror on a police cruiser, police said.

Police said the commotion began when 22-year-old Alexis Diaz was kicked out of Johnny Utahs around 1 a.m. Saturday morning for being too drunk.
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Great Allegheny Passage improvements coming

The bids were opened Nov. 1 and Adam Eidemiller's was the lower of two bids received. The project will take two weeks starting within the next week.
On the 40th anniversary of his death, Event presents a glorious pictorial tribute from the familys private Graceland archive

He was labelled Elvis the Pelvis for the onstage gyrations that drove his teenage fans to distraction. Others called him swivel hips. In the end, however, Elvis Presley was known simply as The King of Rock n Roll  a mantle that has stuck to this day.

Now, on the 40th anniversary of his death in 1977 at the age of 42, the Presley family has released Elvis, The Legend, with unique images from the family-owned archives, detailing every aspect of his life.

Not many stars, particularly in the Fifties, were known only by one name. But Elvis was always different. His musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. But he loved all music, and was a perfectionist who never stopped till the sound was perfect  he did 31 takes of Hound Dog before he was convinced hed got it right.

Elvis loved all music, and was a perfectionist who never stopped till the sound was perfect  he did 31 takes of Hound Dog before he was convinced hed got it right

The Presley family has released Elvis, The Legend, with unique images from the family-owned archives, detailing every aspect of his life

With his pegged trousers, leather jackets and jumpsuits  devised so he could more comfortably display the kung-fu kicks he had mastered after studying the martial art since his time in the army  he also developed his own iconic style including the slicked back hair which made him look like the truck driver he once was in his youth. Indeed he went on to define what it meant to be a rock star: he had his own custom-made jewellery and sunglasses, a lavish Southern mansion, planes, trains and a fleet of luxury cars.

He was devoted to his mother Gladys and was determined to rescue his family from the poverty they had known through most of his youth. At her graveside he sobbed: Oh God. Everything I have is gone.

Elvis poses in his army uniform at Graceland in 1959. While serving in Germany he was allowed to live off base with his father and grandmother. He also employed a secretary to answer fan mail and signed autographs every evening for the fans who gathered outside

Elvis's talent, good looks, sensuality and self-deprecating humour endeared him to millions  and that musical legacy lives on today

Elvis starred in 33 successful films and has sold over one billion records  more than any other artist. His talent, good looks, sensuality and self-deprecating humour endeared him to millions  and that musical legacy lives on today.

Over the following pages Event pays tribute to The King, with never-before-seen images, personal details and very private tributes for a man the world remembers simply as Elvis.

Elvis: The Legend by Gillian G Gaar is published on August 10 by Carlton Books, priced 25. Offer price 18.75 (25% discount with free p&p) until August 6. Pre-order at mailbookshop.co.uk or call 0844 571 0640

On the front lawn of Graceland in 1957, the year he bought it for $102,500. He loved the mansion for its privacy, adding gates with huge musical notes at the front entrance

Elvis plays touch football in 1956

A poverty-stricken childhood, his stillborn twin... and a rocky start to the career of the man who would be rock n rolls King

1930s /40s Born on January 8, 1935, in a two-room shotgun shack in Tupelo, Mississippi, the future King was a twin.

Elviss brother, Jesse, was stillborn, and pain over the sibling he never knew would tear up his head in later life. He grew up a mamas boy, devoted to his mother, Gladys, and close to his father, Vernon, who during Elviss early childhood served time in jail for cheque fraud.

Elvis aged two with his mother and father  the photograph was later used on the cover of Elvis Country

Elvis with parents Gladys and Vernon (his father had a cameo in Live A Little, Love A Little)

A tall, shy child, at the age of ten Presley gave his first public performance, singing Old Shep in front of several hundred people at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on October 3, 1945, dressed in a cowboy suit and standing on a chair to reach the microphone.

Soon after, he was gifted his first guitar on his 11th birthday. In 1948 the family moved 100 miles southeast to a small apartment in Poplar Avenue, Memphis.

Rumour had it that Vernon was involved in a moonshine racket and had to leave town fast. We were broke, man, Elvis later recalled. We just left overnight. Things had to be better.

From hillbilly to soldier, husband, father... and rock sensation

1950s

Elvis began the decade a poor hillbilly and ended it the most famous face on the planet. Working odd jobs, from cinema usher to truck driver, he began exploring the Memphis music scene on Beale Street, home to the R&B clubs.

Slicking back his long hair with Vaseline he cut an eccentric figure, often singled out for ridicule. In 1953, he recorded an acetate of My Happiness at Sam Phillips Sun Studios in downtown Memphis.

Elvis in the woods in an army exercise in 1958; the army frequently sent him on manoeuvres to keep him at arms length from fans

Elvis and singer Ann Margret on the set of Viva Las Vegas in 1963

Elvis relaxing backstage and reading fan mail in 1957

in 1956, learning that his music was to be banned in Canada. His response: A lot of people like it'

Who do you sound like? he was asked. I dont sound like nobody, he replied.

A year later, on July 5, 1954, Presley was back to record his version of Thats Alright Mama  and everything changed forever. The song was a sensation. A string of hysteria-fuelled local shows and regional hits followed.

Signing to RCA in 1956 was the final step. Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog unleashed international Elvismania, accelerated by his teen-corrupting gyrations on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The same year, Elvis made the first of 33 feature films, Love Me Tender, and in the next 24 months scored ten No 1 singles.

The momentum barely ceased when he was drafted for military service in March 1958. He spent two years stationed in Germany, but manager Colonel Tom Parker ensured there was enough product stockpiled to keep Elvis flying high.

1960s

John Lennons quote that Elvis died when he went into the army was typically barbed but not entirely baseless.

In the Sixties, Presley could no longer convince as a rebel. After completing his military service in 1960, his first TV appearance was with Frank Sinatra in a tuxedo, while the conveyor belt of formulaic movies rendered him tame and predictable compared to The Beatles and Bob Dylan.

Elvis during his 1968 Comeback Special on NBC

Above: Elvis marries Priscilla Beaulieu on May 1, 1967 at the Aladdin Hotel, Las Vegas followed by a lavish reception. Hed first met her in Germany when she was just 14

Elvis and Priscilla show off Lisa Marie in a family portrait

Yet there was no shortage of highlights. In 1967 he married Priscilla Beaulieu. A year later their daughter Lisa-Marie arrived.

There were many unforgettable songs, a handful of decent films and the legendary 1968 Comeback Special, in which the King reclaimed his throne.

From Elvis In Memphis, his best album, was released in June 1969, while his run of hits included If I Can Dream, In The Ghetto and Suspicious Minds, some of his greatest songs.

Gaudy rhinestone-studded jumpsuits. Bizarre karate poses. Junk food. Drug bloat

1970s

Elviss final decade is overshadowed by the weird stuff  being made an honorary narcotics agent by President Richard Nixon being perhaps the oddest escapade  yet it started with promise.

His concerts were wildly popular, he recorded The Wonder Of You, Burning Love and Always On My Mind, and his revved-up version of Chuck Berrys Promised Land proved he could still rock with a vengeance. And he was still thin.

Elvis sings in the 1970 documentary Thats The Way It Is, made by director Denis Sanders

Practising karate and performing in his signature rhinestone suit in 1976, just a year before he died

His concerts were wildly popular, he recorded The Wonder Of You, Burning Love and Always On My Mind, and his revved-up version of Chuck Berrys Promised Land proved he could still rock with a vengeance

In 1973 Elvis and Priscilla amicably divorced. This picture shows them leaving the courthouse hand in hand following a short hearing on October 9

Elvis with Sammy Davis Jr backstage in Elviss dressing room after his opening night at the International Hotel, Las Vegas in 1970

Elvis poses for the pictures needed for the honorary police badge he received from the Denver Police in 1970. He met many police officers on the road when he was touring and he loved adding a new badge to his collection

The last picture of Elvis, in his coffin, which ran on the front page of the National Enquirer on September 6, 1977.

The final years, however, were painful. His marriage ended in 1972, and he became addicted to a dizzying variety of prescription drugs. His weight ballooned and his live performances became erratic. Hed stumble, slur and ramble, and had difficulty breathing.

The final show took place in Indianapolis on June 26, 1977, after which Elvis retreated to Graceland, where he lived in seclusion, sleeping through the days. Debilitated by high blood pressure, liver damage, an enlarged colon, glaucoma, migraines and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Elvis died on the afternoon of August 16, 1977, aged 42, suffering heart failure in the bathroom.

The King was dead. Long live The King.
SEND HIM TO THE TOWER!

Tom Houghton, the comedian son of a general, lays bare his silver-spooned upbringing

Ive played nine Edinburghs with [improv act] The Noise Next Door and this is my first solo show. Ive done a Robbie Williams. After doing improv for so long Ive had to learn how to write. Id forgotten what my handwriting looked like.

Tom Houghton, the comedian son of a general, lays bare his silver-spooned upbringing

The shows about how my life has been lived in bubbles. I went to an all-boys boarding school at six years old. My dad [General Sir Nicholas Houghton] was head of the military, so when I wasnt at school I was in army barracks all over Europe. Now, after leaving the Noise down in Brighton, Im living in the Tower of London. When my dad retired he got made Constable of the Tower so I thought Id move in. Im in Queens House near East Gate. I have to pay a bit of rent and sign in and out with the Beefeaters. If youre out late and miss the Ceremony of the Keys at seven minutes to ten, you have to ring the bell and hope they have mercy on you.

In the show I also talk about living in Northern Ireland. It was during the Troubles so we had bodyguards.

Initially, my dad was sceptical about my career. In his circles the phrase my sons a comedian doesnt get uttered much...

Class Half Full, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Aug 2-28

COMEDY OF TERRORS

Essex comic Edd Hedges won a best new talent award at the 2013 Fringe at just 19.

This is my first full show at the Fringe and it tells the story of one night in 2015. I woke up in my parents house at 2am and saw someone at the end of my bed. It was my mum and she looked terrified. Before I could ask what was wrong, she said, Whatever you do, do not turn on the light.

Essex comic Edd Hedges won a best new talent award at the 2013 Fringe at just 19

Then I heard someone banging on the front door, trying to get into the house. I went into the hallway and thats when I saw Dad And the story progresses from there. Its about one night that affected my family and the village massively. Its dark and not easy to make funny. There are laughs, though!

Wonderland, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Aug 2-27

DEAD FUNNY

Danish comic Sofie Hagen on the psychopath in her family she wishes were dead

This is my third Edinburgh show and its the darkest one Ive done. I was raised by a psychopath. He was my stepgrandfather and he impacted on my way of being able to feel, my sense of obedience towards authority. So the shows about trying to break out of that and to allow myself to feel again and not be controlled.

Every time Ive done the show someone has come up to me afterwards and said, Oh I had an uncle or a father or a mother or a boyfriend or a husband who was exactly like that.

Danish comic Sofie Hagen has based a show around a pychopath in her family

Its a bigger problem than I thought. It was the way he spoke. He would never say I love you, it was always You love me. Almost his catchphrase was, After everything Ive done for you... As if love was a currency of some sort. There was a lot of trying to control feelings.

Dont cry, because if you cry youre going to make me sad and you dont want to make me sad because you love me.

The shows about how I want him to die. My grandmothers much older than him so she will die first, and I think shes looking forward to that. He doesnt have kids but his brother has a child my age so I messaged him saying Im going to do a show about how I want your uncle to die. He replied: Is there any way I can support you financially?

Dead Baby Frog, Bedlam Theatre, Aug 2-28

ON MY SIGNAL, UNLEASH COMEDY

Al Porter, Irelands campest comic, gave up the priesthood for showbiz. He made his Fringe debut in 2015 and last year was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award.

My mum is a parish secretary and my dads a flight sergeant in the air corps and theyve produced Irelands most outrageous gay man. Ive got a radio show and Im presenting the Irish Blind Date so theres some material about that in my show. Theres less sex this year, which is a reflection of my life.

Al Porter, Irelands campest comic, gave up the priesthood for showbiz

Ive called the show Campus Maximus because Im obsessed with people like Frankie Howerd, so its a reference to that style of Carry On humour. I grew up watching Cilla [Black] and Lily Savage and [Michael] Barrymore and thats what I thought comedy was. I didnt know about stand-up.

People ask if its a camp character Ive made up. Of course not. Nobody wakes up on a council estate and says, Do you know whats going to make my life hilarious ta-dah! Even at school I would dress up.

I studied English and philosophy at Trinity in Dublin so I could go into the priesthood. I wrote for a religious magazine, I read at mass, I was a minister, I sang in the choir. I wanted to be the youngest pope. I would have been a great priest, but I gave it up because I missed having an audience.

Campus Maximus, Underbelly, Aug 12-17
Event brings you the pick of summer reading to get you in the holiday mood.

If you love Gone Girl...

The Dry

Jane Harper

Abacus 7.99

Forget gloomy, damp Nordic Noir. This is Aussie Arid. The fact that it hasnt rained for two years has been driving people crazy in the remote farming town of Kiewarra, so when Luke Hadler murders his wife and son and then turns the gun on himself, no one is surprised. But Hadlers best friend is a policeman and he suspects theres more to it. This is a tense, twisting read that Gone Girl producer Reese Witherspoon has already optioned. Keep a cold beer on hand.

A good book is the essential ingredient of a relaxing holiday - plus it gets you through the stress of going from A to B

If you love Bridget Jones...

My Not So Perfect Life

Sophie Kinsella

Black Swan 7.99

The sparkling London life Katie Brenner depicts on Instagram doesnt much resemble her distinctly dingy real life or the apparently perfect one of her boss, Demeter. When Demeter sacks her, Katie returns to the family home in Somerset, where she is presented with the perfect opportunity for revenge. Kinsella has a lot to say about social media and lifestyle envy in this sharply observed and very funny satire.

The Dry by Jane Harper; My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella

If you love Beloved...

The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead

Fleet 7.99

This thrilling Pulitzer Prize-winner starts as a seemingly conventional historical novel about life as a slave on an American plantation in the 19th century but morphs into steam-punk alternative history when slave girl Cora escapes via the Underground Railroad. Here that isnt a metaphor for the chain of abolitionists and safe houses who helped smuggle slaves north, but an actual subterranean railway.

If you love On Chesil Beach...

Nutshell

Ian McEwan

Vintage 8.99

The latest from one of our most acclaimed novelists has an unusual narrator  a foetus. His mother, Trudy, has ditched his father, John, and taken up with Johns brother, Claude. Claude and Trudy are plotting to get rid of John. Can our narrator stop them? Rich in Shakespearean allusion, this is McEwan on dazzling form.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead; Nutshell by Ian McEwan

If you love A Brief History Of Time...

Homo Deus

Yuval Noah Harari

Vintage 9.99

Subtitled A brief history of tomorrow, Harari, a professor of history, looks at the challenges the future holds and argues that the human race is on the brink of extraordinary developments that will change the very nature of our species. An intoxicating brew of science, philosophy and futurism.

If you love The Hunger Games...

The Handmaids Tale

Margaret Atwood

Vintage Classics 8.99

Atwoods 1985 science-fiction classic has been propelled back on to the bestseller lists by the brilliant TV series starring the mesmerising Elisabeth Moss. The Canadian novelists vision of a dystopian near-future with its themes of female subjugation and religious fanaticism seems even more terrifying now than it did three decades ago.

Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari; The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

If you love The Time Travelers Wife

How To Stop Time

Matt Haig

Canongate 12.99

Tom Hazard looks 41 but, owing to an extremely rare genetic condition, hes been alive since 1581. His condition comes with rules  he has to change identity every eight years and he must never fall in love. Benedict Cumberbatch is to play Hazard in the big-screen version of this tear-jerking, time-hopping romance.

If you love One Day

Miss You

Kate Eberlen

Pan 7.99

Tess and Gus meet briefly on holiday in Florence in 1997 when both are about to become students. They dont know it but they are perfect for each other and belong together. Over the coming years, as they deal with lifes high points and heartbreaks, they repeatedly cross paths without actually connecting. Will it ever happen for them? Its a well-worn premise but feels fresh here.

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig; Miss You by Kate Eberlen

If you love Cold Comfort Farm...

The Lie Of The Land

Amanda Craig

Little, Brown 16.99

A middle-class London couple who have lost their jobs, and who would divorce if they could afford it, move to Devon to save money. Its far from a rural idyll and they encounter bullies and racists, Ukippers and zero- hours contracts. A recent study suggests were losing touch with the countryside so this clever novel, with its dollop of state-of-the-nation reflection, is timely.

If you love The Line Of Beauty

The Party

Elizabeth Day

Fourth Estate 12.99

Martin Gilmour, an unreliable narrator, is clever but poor. His friend Ben Fitzmaurice, to whom he has a puppyish attachment, is wealthy and well connected. They met at public school, where Martin was a scholarship boy. Martin is an outsider, Ben the exact opposite. This smart literary thriller opens with Martin being interviewed by police after an incident at Bens 40th birthday party
Ive always thought of Manzanilla as wines answer to a dirty dry martini, a faintly salty sip with huge intensity and a boozy boost that takes you straight to cruising altitude without needing to take off. Its the lightest, driest sherry style thats perfect chilled to sip throughout summer.

A crisp aperitif with intensity and bite thats unbeatable with nibbles, and for a fortified wine with centuries of history, this underrated trophy in the wine-worlds cabinet of glory is still bafflingly cheap.

Manzanilla is produced in the bodegas (wineries) of Sanlucar de Barrameda south of Seville, whose bars it fuels on the estuary of the Guadalquivir River. If youre a lover of sunshine and shellfish, Sanlucar is my favourite place to visit and revel in the gorgeousness of it all.

The famous Casa Balbino tapas bar (14 Plaza Cabildo) is a delight, and when in season serves the irresistible local galeras mantis shrimps, which look menacing but taste like Poseidons paradise.

Tapas was invented for Manzanilla but its also a revelation with sushi and sashimi and a decent shout with our fish and chips glimmering with salt and vinegar. The wine is made from the local Palomino grapes, fortified and aged in cathedral-like wineries where they are fractionally blended through multiple barrels in the solera system.

The maritime humidity of Sanlucar is spot on for flor yeast, which covers the booze in the barrel like a blanket, keeping flavours vibrant, bright and seaside fresh. And thats the miracle of this faintly salty drink with echoes of chamomile and green olives: its uniqueness is its prize.

And dont fear the own-label. Nick Rooms superb buying at Waitrose across the entire sherry category is genius and their Manzanilla is a gold medal winner. Drink the prize.
It is double trouble for Delhi-ites. While the Delhi and central governments were getting ready to tackle vector-borne diseases in the city during the monsoon, the deadly swine flu virus has been taking on alarming proportions, claiming five lives and infecting dozens.

A 25-year-old patient at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and another at the All Institute of Medical Sciences have become the latest victims of the H1N1 virus.

A doctor at RML said: 'Naveen, 25, was admitted last week to the swine flu ward for treatment. He died on July 21 last week. Earlier in April, we reported the death of 65-year-old Jairaj Singh from Shakarpur due to influenza virus.'

Indian health professionals tend to a patient at a swine flu ward (stock photo)

He added: 'So far, RML hospital has witnessed 33 positive cases of swine flu. While 22 patients are from Delhi, 11 are from other states such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh.'

Meanwhile, AIIMS also reported one death last week. AIIMS director Randeep Guleria said: 'One patient died at the respiratory ward while undergoing swine flu treatment.

'He was in a severe condition and we had put him on echmo [life support], but he had lung failure.'

An Indian health worker wearing a protective mask shows the Swine Flu preventive medicine (stock photo)

'We still have three patients in the intensive care unit on ventilator.'

Earlier this week, the Union health ministry released data which showed that Delhi has reported at least 320 swine flu cases, resulting in two deaths.

Those deaths were reported at Lok Nayak Hospital and a private hospital in April.

Women wearing protective masks (stock photo)

Suspected swine flu patients with masks queue to have check up at a government hospitalSwine Flu check up at a government hospital in Bhopal, India (stock photo)

According to doctors, this year H1N1 virus has been reported early in the city, at monsoon time, which is unusual.

Earlier this year, researchers at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, run by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), isolated a new strain called the Michigan strain as part of the on-going H1N1 surveillance in the country.

Health experts said at a time more than 100 cases of dengue, chikungunya and malaria are being reported by municipal corporations, a sudden surge in swine flu cases in Delhi is a worrying development.

Indian patients lie in the fever ward at the Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi.Every year, around the time of the monsoon, the capital New Delhi sees a spike in the number of patients suffering from viral infections like dengue and chikungunya

'In Delhi, the situation is normal. We have sufficient stocks for more than two months to deal with the swine flu crisis,' Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain said after Mail Today broke the story on swine flu.

SM Raheja, additional D-G, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said: 'We are ready to deal with the crisis.

'Surveillance has been increased and doctors at all major hospitals such as Lok Nayak, GTB, Ambedkar, and DDU have been alerted.

'Dedicated isolation wards of HINI patients have been set up. Public awareness campaigns and hoarding have also been put up. There is nothing to worry about at the present moment.'
Trash the city of Delhi, and you may just end up behind bars.

To deter litterbugs, Delhi's BJP-ruled civic bodies are planning to make discarding of waste in public places, and even allowing mosquito breeding in households, a criminal offence with appropriate jail terms under the Indian Penal Code.

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has already issued orders and the two other agencies will follow suit, officials have warned.

Heaps of garbage were left strewn along the roadside after sanitation workers went on strike in New Delhi, back in 2015 (stock photo)

Municipal magistrates will keep a check on violators and ensure they are prosecuted.

Those caught trashing the city will risk a maximum jail term of six months for such an offence.

The Narendra Modi government last year directed states to start levying fines for littering, open defecation and public urination as the Prime Minister's flagship Swachh Bharat Mission failed to have the desired effect in urban areas.

Street-side garbage in New Delhi

According to MCD officials, the existing penalty on violating sanitation bylaws is too weak to deter people and so it was decided to slap criminal charges on them.

The imprisonment would vary from one month to six months depending on the severity of the violation.

'To keep Delhi free of littering and insanitary conditions, various provisions of IPC and the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) Act may be invoked against the violators,' said an order issued by the chief law officer of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

There has been a bid to clean up the streets, which has so far proved ineffective

Public spaces in the capital are often eyesores, full of rotting piles of garbage along the streets, clogging up neighbourhoods, and fouling public parks and playgrounds, not to mention left outside fancy air-conditioned malls and five-star hotels.

The move from the corporations follows instructions of the Delhi High Court to maintain proper sanitation in the city.

The court had recently pulled up the three civic bodies and had said that even citizens should take the responsibility of keeping their surroundings clean.

Animals can be seen trying to walk through the litter dumped on the roadside

The HC directed that a time-bound garbage collection system be set up to prevent the piling of waste.

A senior MCD official said mosquito breeding in households was a key concern of the civic body as this could result in an outbreak of vectorborne diseases like dengue and chikungunya.

'Cases of dengue in recent years have been on the rise, claiming several lives.

'The occupants of a house where dengue larva is found may be booked for endangering public life and causing health hazards.

'The provision attracts a fine and imprisonment of up to six months,' he warned.

Similarly, negligence by people that is likely to result in the spread of fatal diseases would also be strictly dealt with.

Cleaning up the streets - but much more effort is needed (stock photo)

The civic body has identified 14 provisions under IPC to deal with sanitation woes.

Any pollution that may cause fouling of drinking water has also been put in the category of criminal offences.

Officials said repeated attempts by the MCDs to amend the sanitation bylaws for higher penalty have failed to yield results.

The draft of the amendment has been with the Delhi government for the past seven years. The modified rules would have provision for hefty penalties of up to `10,000 and five times higher for repeat offenders.

Apart from the fine, civic bodies have also proposed widening the ambit of the law.

Sanitation and water supply remains a major problem

Littering caused by distributing food material (langar), illegal burning of solid waste, improper storage of construction material and non-segregation of recyclable and non-recyclable waste will attract fines.

These activities were until now undefined and so exempted from prosecution.

The MCDs suggested fines for littering caused by langars to be increased to `5,000, while the penalty for dumping construction material on roadside was fixed at `10,000.

Street-side garbage piling up (stock photo)

The proposed amendment prescribed a fine of `500 for littering, spitting and urinating in public places.

It also empowers the municipal magistrates to order people to undertake community services, like road cleaning, garbage and graffiti removal, in circumstances where a person fails to pay the fine.

The amendment in 'Delhi Sanitation and Public Health Bylaws' was proposed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on June 23, 2010 and the civic body had adopted it through a resolution passed by the House.
A woman was injured Friday afternoon in a two-car crash on Highway 20 and Fairview Road east of Lebanon.

The incident was reported shortly after 2:20 p.m. and reduced travel to one lane in each direction for close to an hour.

According to a Lebanon Fire District news release, witnesses reported that a Ford sedan was attempting to turn left from Fairview onto Highway 20 and pulled in front of a Honda sedan bound toward Lebanon. The Honda attempted to stop, but struck the Ford's driver side at a high rate of a speed, trapping its occupant.

Firefighters removed the Ford's roof to extricate the driver, who was transported to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. Three of the Honda's passengers were evaluated at the scene and refused treatment. No names were available.

Oregon State Police and the Oregon Department of Transportation assisted Lebanon Fire District crews on scene.
India suffers from a huge gap in the demand and supply of vital organs, a problem that two wives are trying to solve, to save the lives of each other's husbands.

Forty-nine-year-old Saroj, a native of Bareilly, went to a private hospital in Meerut to donate her kidney to her husband Lal Karan, who is a junior engineer in the local electricity department.

Saira Bano (50), a native of Amroha district, went to the same hospital in a similar crisis.

The husbands of both these women had the same complications.

Donor Saroj with her husband

Both their kidneys had failed and their respective wives had offered to donate one each.

Experts say many people are unwilling to donate relatives' organs due to religious beliefs, because they do not understand how it works, or because it is too difficult to do so due to red tape.

But the two couples from Uttar Pradesh had another challenge ahead of them as after preliminary tests the hospital disqualified them for transplant.

'My blood group did not match with my husband's and Saira's also was different from her spouse's,' Saroj told Mail Today.

Haemodialysis machines with tubing, used on kidney patients

Saroj and Saira, who were regular visitors to the hospital for the past few months, became friends.

'We decided to exchange our kidneys for a noble cause,' Saira explained.

'We will go to Meerut tomorrow to get the doctor's advice,' said Shivangi, Saroj's daughter-in-law.

'The rest depends on the government machinery,' she added.

Legal donations meet about three to five per cent of the demand in India

According to government data, about 2 lakh people are on waiting lists for kidneys and 30,000 for a liver.

Legal donations meet about three to five per cent of the demand in India.

'We have sent a report (about the Bareilly case) to the state human organ transplant authority (SHOTA),' said area district magistrate Raghwendra Vikram Singh.

Once the state government gives it the go-ahead, both transplants would be carried out simultaneously at the same hospital.

Aslam, Saira's husband, said: 'I am a thekedar (contractor) by profession. I am thankful to Saroj ji that she agreed to this exchange and save my life.'
Break-and-make seems to be the new mantra of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win the 2019 general elections.

Evidence gives a peek into the strategy where weakened regional as well as national erstwhile behemoths such as Congress is crumbling under the incessant pressure of the saffron juggernaut.

After winning the Bihar assembly vote of confidence and having been set to enter Parliament's Upper House from Gujarat, BJP chief Amit Shah reached Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow on Saturday on a three-day visit.

But even before he landed in Lucknow, Samajwadi Party (SP) MLC (Member of Legislative Council) and Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder Bukkal Nawab tendered his resignation from the party, singing paeans for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

The Shia leader suggested that he was open to joining the BJP if called upon.

Many like him would follow suit, he added.

Lucknow: BJP National President Amit Shah escorted by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to greet party workers at Lucknow airport on Saturday

Nawab gave Yogi a five-star rating for his performance: 'Yogi is doing a good job ... there hasn't been any scam at least.'

This comes amid reports of SP member and MLC Yashwant Singh quitting the party to join the BJP.

In addition, three MLAs have also stepped down, sending shockwaves in the SP.

Mayawati's boat, too, was rocked by the impending arrival of the national president.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLC Jaiveer Singh stepped down on Saturday.

Referring to SP's family feud, Nawab said: 'When he (Akhilesh) is not with his father, how can he be with the people?'

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

UP BJP spokesperson Chandra Mohan told Mail Today: 'Amit Shah will interact with party office bearers from Awadh, Kashi, Gorakhpur and Kanpur regions.

'He will also interact with district presidents and district in-charges, apart from confabulating with ministers and the CM, and two deputy CMs.'

In what can be seen as signs of the days to come, Mohan added: 'So far the BJP has been fighting elections, 2014 and 2017, as the principal Opposition at the national and state level.

'But in 2019 we have to fight the Opposition as a whole. This requires fine-tuning our strategy as we are in power now, in UP and the Centre.'

Amit Shah

BJP sources said the party's chief strategy was to break the ranks of the Opposition.

'Congress, BSP and SP are slipping into their own contradictions. They are weak and fragile, and the way the BJP's presence across the nation is increasing by every poll, leaders are flocking to the BJP.

'We have to now decide who to induct and who to leave as we shall not compromise on quality,' said a BJP leader involved with the party affairs in UP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah (stock photo)

In Gujarat, the Congress is disintegrating like a house of cards.

The exit of veteran leader Shankarsinh Vaghela, the handiwork of Amit Shah, who tapped into Vaghela's disillusionment with the Congress, was followed by the resignation of several party MLAs.

Mail Today had earlier reported that senior Congress leaders were in talks with the JD(U) for switching sides.

The RJD, too, is finding it hard to keep its flock together, with many Yadav leaders coming out in public against Lalu Yadav.
A 67-year-old man who was left partially paralysed after clinical treatment has successfully sought redress against a hospital.

The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission came to the rescue of the man, whose wrist 'dropped' because of partial paralysis, right after he was administered two injections and some medicines by a government hospital, where he had gone for treatment of abdominal pain.

The state consumer forum upheld the compensation of `5 lakh awarded by the district forum.

Lalan Prasad Sharma's right hand is not working properly after medical treatment

The forum had also asked the chief medical officer to recover the amount from the salaries of the doctor and the nurse respectively for the paralysis caused to the patient, which was also upheld by the commission.

In January 2009, Lalan Prasad Sharma went to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital after suffering pain in his stomach.

He was examined in the emergency ward and given two injections based on information from the doctor.

Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital

The patient was also asked to rest for a day at the hospital.

But, right after the injection was given, Sharma felt that his right hand stopped working and was almost paralysed.

It was brought to the notice of doctors that he had suffered chemical injury to the nerves by the injecting of certain medicines.

In 2012, the district forum awarded compensation to Sharma, saying that the injury could have been avoided. The patient was referred to various hospitals and he claimed that he was 'told that it was on account of negligence of the doctors that he was suffering a wrist drop'.

People awaiting treatment at the hospital (stock photo)

Speaking to Mail Today, Sharma said: 'After the unfortunate incident, I had to leave my job where I was working as a peon.

'All the financial burden moved to my wife and daughter. We had to go through a lot of financial difficulties.

'Despite seeking medical opinion from a lot of government hospitals, I could only see my money going down the drain. After a point, I gave up on the dream of seeing my right hand functional again. I decided to live with what had happened.'

A ward in Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital (stock photo)

Then in October 2009, he had filed a case with the district consumer forum. The medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Amita Saxena, told the court that the inquiry committee that was set up ruled out the negligence on the part of the doctor or the nurse.

It said the nurse and the doctor could not escape the liability.

The order was challenged in the state consumer commission on the grounds that deviation from a normal professional practice was not necessarily a negligence.

NP Kaushik, judicial member, state commission, said: 'Giving injections in the nerve of the patient is not simply a deviation from a normal professional practice, but a doctor or a nurse giving injections must also be conscious of the area of the human body on which injection is being administers.

'A medico must be thoroughly familiar with the anatomy of the human body.'

Although Lalan Prasad Sharma won the case, he knows that he will have to live with the defunct hand for all his life.

He now stays at home and looks after his two grandchildren
Families preparing to jet abroad to villas booked online weeks  or even months  ago should triple-check their reservations are genuine before they leave for the airport.

Reassuring yourself costs nothing. But turning up at a villa already occupied or that does not exist can result in misery as well as prove a financial disaster.

Millions of pounds a year are lost by travellers as a result of making holiday bookings that turn out to be bogus. According to official police figures, more than 100 travel related scams a week are currently being carried out by conmen  a rise of 20 per cent on last year.

Alluring: The villa in Sicily that Jeremy Smith paid 1,300 a week to rent

But this is the tip of the iceberg as many victims are too embarrassed to admit they have been duped.

Holidaymakers looking for last-minute deals are being warned to be especially cautious because crooks are rolling up their sleeves to trap them as the peak tourist season takes off.

'This was the first time I had used Airbnb... I thought I was secure' Duped: Now Jeremy Smith advises calling the owner of any holiday property Jeremy Smith is finally relaxing on a beach in Greece with his wife Emma and two daughters  after being duped last month by a holiday fraudster. Jeremy, a company director from Bath, expected to be on a different holiday altogether. In June he booked a 21-day stay in the sun using rental website Airbnb. After trawling through hundreds of listings, the 46-year-old found the ideal property  a stunning four-bedroom villa with a pool in Sicily. He clicked through to the host Fabiola, read more details and  as requested  paid the 4,000 to bank account Airbnb-A Bruun  to secure the booking. But Fabiola  and the property  were nor as they seemed. A fraudster had hijacked the account of a legitimate Airbnb member and uploaded bogus property details. Jeremy says: It was only when I received an email from Airbnbs trust and safety team a few days later warning me that someone had tried to communicate with me by private email rather than through the website that I realised something fishy might be going on. He received an email shortly afterwards from the apparent property owner providing the full address of the supposed property  but radio silence followed. Suspecting the worst, he contacted his bank to retrieve the payment. It was too late. The receiving account  in a bank in Cyprus  had been drained of funds. Jeremy says: This was my first experience of using Airbnb. Through the whole process I thought I was booking and working with Airbnb and that I was secure. Worse news was to follow. Jeremy says: Airbnb washed its hands of me by pointing to its terms and conditions, which prohibit payments not made through its website. It passed me to its legal department. However, after The Mail on Sunday intervened, the holiday rental giant reviewed the Smiths case and gave Jeremy a full refund. Jeremy advises other bookers: If you are a first-time Airbnb user then take it slowly. Always try to call the owner just to give yourself a better chance of not being scammed. Thank heavens I did not book the flights to Sicily, as we would have lost that money as well. I will now always book with a credit card, which offers protection, and use a company that is a member of the Association of British Travel Agents.

Families who lost thousands in Airbnb frauds

Villa rental fraudsters steal your money by using one of three methods:

Putting up fake property listings on legitimate rental websites, such as Airbnb;

Intercepting booking emails for genuine accommodation before they reach the real owner;

Setting up sham rental websites, often paying search engines so they appear in reassuring adverts above search listings.

Over the past few months The Mail on Sunday has reported widely on victims being stung by these frauds. Among them were several who lost money through fake properties advertised on popular rental website Airbnb.

The San Francisco-based giant initially refused to refund these holidaymakers because all had paid owners directly rather than via the websites payment system.

Victims include the Gilmour family from South London who lost 5,000; the Joneses from Solihull (2,500); and the Reeds from Monmouthshire (850). The most recent to come forward is Jeremy Smith who lost 5,000.

Airbnb says it has now increased protection against such incidents, which it describes as rare. It has also moved to offer support to victims identified by The Mail on Sunday.

Standard travel insurance does not cover fraudulent bookings. Some rental websites, such as HomeAway, which includes brand Owners Direct, offer fraud guarantees that refund losses in full if payment was made through their payment platform  and up to 700 if made outside.

The Mail on Sunday has reported widely on victims being stung by these frauds

Now fraudsters are creating fake holiday rental sites

Bogus booking websites are the newest scourge tripping up holidaymakers. Travellers who use an online search engine to find their perfect property assume the property website listings thrown up are genuine. But on closer inspection some are fake.

As we reported in May, the High family from Lincolnshire were scammed out of 4,500 by sham website Canaries Holiday Villas.

Fortunately, when The Mail on Sunday contacted their bank, HSBC, staff managed to retrieve the cash from the receiving bank in Dublin before it was withdrawn. The phoney websites are convincing adaptations of genuine rental websites, often constructed by fraudsters from images and modified wording obtained from legitimate travel company web pages.

The pickings are so rich that crooks even pay to advertise through search engine companies pay-per-click schemes. This means their websites appear above the browsers natural search results and give bookers a false sense of security.

Nick Cooper, co-founder of long-standing villa rental firm Villa Plus, spends many hours a day tracking down and stamping out scammers. He reports them to national fraud reporting centre Action Fraud, as well as to search engine companies and web hosting firms.

Cooper has uncovered dozens of bogus operations in the past few months. Among those currently baiting customers is Mallorca-summer.com.

Cooper says: Just tapping in the term Mallorca villas in to Google last week resulted in this website appearing at the top of search listings. The scammer would have to pay Google about 1 every time someone clicked through to the website via the advert.

Duping a few victims into paying several thousand pounds each is enough to make the scammers investment worthwhile.

Google says it has stepped up its measures to see off these websites, but Cooper says more needs to be done.

SCAM WARNING SIGNS 1. Large luxury villas available at peak periods for bargain prices. Such irresistible offers are normally too good to be true  avoid. 2. Unknown rental website appearing at the top of search engine listings. Most will be genuine but a canny scammer will pay to obtain a top slot to help lure victims. It can take time to take down bogus websites once they have been rumbled. 3. A recently registered website. This is another red flag, especially if the company claims to have been established for years. Check the business address  there may be none or a made-up location. 4. Property particulars appearing elsewhere online with a different name. Scammers use content and images from legitimate websites but change certain details. Use the Google image search program to check photos of the villa, owners or agent to see if they have been copied. Also try FlipAPicture. This can help foil frauds where crooks have flipped photos to escape detection. Use Google Street View to check that a villa exists. 5. Not ABTA or ATOL registered. This does not always mean a website is dodgy, but a company which is a member of one of these trade bodies offers protection for holidaymakers if things go wrong. Check a company is a genuine member as scammers may simply reprint the associations logo. 6. Owners demanding to be paid direct. Fraudsters usually ask for payment by bank transfer to a personal account. Once paid, the money is likely to vanish. Occasionally, cash can be retrieved if you contact your bank quickly. But typically the culprits and your money will have long gone by the time you realise you have been scammed. Only pay using a websites payment system. 7. An offer of a money-back guarantee. This is worthless. Just like the images and the names a website uses, any such guarantee is a fabrication. Reassuring promises  such as stating the money will not be withdrawn until after you arrive at your destination  are designed to get you to transfer your cash quickly.
Focus: Guy Anderson buys into firms that favour change

Mercantile Investment Trust is a British success story  a fund that has triumphed through thick and thin by backing fledgling UK businesses.

For 133 years, it has invested in expanding British firms that it believes will be the commercial successes of the future.

It does this so well that it has 2billion of assets under its wing and forms part of the FTSE 250 Index  whose members it trawls for suitable investments. Only a handful of rival trusts are bigger.

Originally managed by merchant bank Robert Fleming, it is now run by JP Morgan, which jettisoned the Fleming name from the funds title in 2004.

Overseen by a trio of managers, it eschews buying FTSE 100 Index companies in favour of UK mid and small-cap shares, though it will continue to hold firms that get promoted into the UKs premier index provided their investment case remains robust  hence its holdings in the likes of builder Taylor Wimpey and pest control specialist Rentokil.

The strategy has proved a winner, both long and short term. Over the past five and ten years, the trust has comfortably beaten both the FTSE All-Share Index and the average performance of its immediate rivals.

Lead investment manager Guy Anderson is keen to keep the ball rolling. He and colleagues Martin Hudson and Anthony Lynch are constantly on the hunt for firms that fulfil three key criteria.

They must be attractively valued companies, he explains. They must also be fundamentally strong and ideally something is going on that will trigger positive change in terms of the share price.

Though the trust invests only in UK firms, its 108-stock portfolio is divided equally between those with a domestic focus and companies generating a big chunk of their revenues overseas

Stocks are typically held for two and a half years before being sold and profits banked.

Packaging giant DS Smith, the trusts biggest holding, encapsulates the managers approach. DS Smith is a well-established business that has delivered good organic growth, says Anderson. Yet what we like is the fact that it has been busy buying rivals across Europe. This is the change factor and it should help boost future earnings.

Though the trust invests only in UK firms, its 108-stock portfolio is divided equally between those with a domestic focus and companies generating a big chunk of their revenues overseas. The approach is designed to ensure any downturn in the UK economy does not impair its performance.

Anderson says: The trust has had a more international earnings flavour since late last year. Many of our holdings in domestically oriented firms are now where we see them benefiting from structural change rather than a strong economy  for example, online food delivery service Just Eat and internet car dealer Auto Trader.

The trust has holdings in the likes of builder Taylor Wimpey and pest control firm Rentokil

Like an increasing number of investment trusts, Mercantile is conscious of the drag on investor returns caused by high annual management charges.

Since 2007, its board, led by Angus Gordon Lennox, has gently reduced the annual charge JP Morgan takes for running the trust  from 0.55 per cent to 0.475 per cent. Early next year it will be cut again, to 0.45 per cent.

The result is an overall ongoing charge of 0.48 per cent  one of the most competitive among investment trusts.

The only slight blemish is an inconsistent dividend growth record, with the annual payout frozen from financial year 2009 to 2013. But payments have risen in the past four years and, bar a financial disaster, it looks like this year will give shareholders another income boost.
Lithium, a key ingredient in batteries for electric cars, is found in Chile, China, Australia  and Cornwall?

According to Cornish Lithium, which is looking to raise 5million to extract the metal, the answer is an emphatic yes.

The company says several historical records show lithium is present in underground hot springs in Cornwall.

'White petroleum': Lithium ore is believed to be in underground springs in Cornwall

A spokesman added: We believe the lithium is there and in quite commercial amounts.

We need to put down test bore holes to bring it to the surface.

The firm, founded by mining analyst Jeremy Wrathall, an engineering graduate from the Camborne School of Mines in Cornwall, has deals with three of the major holders of mineral rights in the county.

They are Tregothnan Estates, Strongbow Exploration and Mineral Exploration. Cornwall Lithium has the rights to all the lithium discovered on the 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of land they collectively own in return for a royalty.

Wrathall admits the project is in its infancy and said: This has a lot of risk like most early stage mining projects.

But if he is successful, it could result in a whole new industry for Britain as the price of lithium soars.

The Solactive Global Lithium Index, which charts the total returns of 26 of the worlds biggest lithium miners and lithium battery producers, has risen by 55 per cent since the start of 2016.
The Government could be forced to drop its plans for a crackdown on controversial whiplash insurance claims after last weeks Supreme Court ruling on industrial tribunals, according to a leading accident insurance lawyer.

The court ruled that imposing charges to bring claims before employment tribunals had denied workers access to justice. This forced the Government to scrap the rules and compensate some claimants.

Now the boss of one of Britains top law firms, which deals with both employment and personal injury cases, said the legal grounds used to force that U-turn could equally apply to the Governments proposed whiplash clampdown.

Whiplash clampdown: The number of whiplash claims made each year has doubled since 2001

The planned reforms are aimed at stamping out exaggerated or fraudulent personal claims  in particular those relating to whiplash allegedly sustained in car accidents.

The number of whiplash claims made each year has doubled since 2001 with about 1,500 claims lodged every day.

The Mail on Sunday has campaigned on the issue and has exposed organised gangs and unscrupulous legal firms encouraging bogus claims to win insurance payouts. A typical whiplash claimant receives 1,500 to 3,000.

Stephen Cavalier, the chief executive of trade union law firm Thompsons, said: The court made it clear people should not be denied access to justice to enforce their rights.

'The changes the Government has introduced and is proposing to introduce making it more difficult to bring personal injury claims are also vulnerable to challenge on those same grounds.

Any setback to reforms of whiplash claims will infuriate the insurance industry, which has faced a surge in payouts in recent years.

Car insurance: The clampdown will wipe 40 from the average annual motor insurance policy

Earlier this year the Ministry of Justice decided the victims of traffic accidents with claims of less than 5,000  along with those with workplace injury claims worth less than 2,000  will have to go through the small claims court and will be unable to recover their legal costs.

The clampdown will save the insurance industry 1billion a year and wipe 40 from the average annual motor insurance policy.

Cavalier said the new rules relating to road accident injuries could be unfair to legitimate claimants.

He said it was time for the Government to back away after its loss over industrial tribunals and added: Their attempts to increase the small claims limit for workplace claims and for traffic cases is a denial of access to justice.

However, Rob Cummings, of the Association of British Insurers said: Comparing tribunals to insurance is like comparing chalk and cheese.
A contact lens subscription service is being launched this week by 28-year-old entrepreneur Ashleigh Hinde.

Customers can upload their prescription at hiwaldo.com and will be sent boxes of 60 lenses for 24 by the firms six staff.

Hinde said: Were not trying to disrupt customers relationship with their optometrist or health professionals, but the profit and complex distribution channels of pharmaceutical firms.

Focused: Ashleigh Hinde has launched a postal contact lens service

Waldo will compete with Boots, Vision Direct and Specsavers. Hinde said: Weve partnered with a manufacturer in Taiwan and the water content, curve of the lens  all those characteristics are the same as Johnson & Johnsons Acuvue Moist. And thats the most widely worn lens globally.

The London-based company is funded by Nigel Wray, investor in Dominos Pizza, and Richard Goulding, founder of play.com.
Richmond Park has come under fire from animal rights activists for raking in tens of thousands of pounds by selling the carcasses of culled deer.

The royal park, where 630 deer have roamed freely since 1637, received 24,985 from buyers after the shoot in February 2017, and 15,157 in November last year.

Animal charities accused the park of making money out of the cull and criticised the 'highly disturbing' 10,000 leap in revenues.

Richmond Park, where 630 deer have roamed freely since 1637, received 24,985 from buyers after the shoot in February this year, and 15,157 in November last year

This year's culled 110 female deer, generating 186 in revenues per carcass, compared to 138 per male deer last year, a rise of 35%.

Rangers, who released the information to MailOnline under Freedom of Information laws, are keen to stress the culls are done for conservation reasons.

They say any profits from the culls, which are done by royal parks marksmen, go directly into creating the best natural environment for the remaining deer.

Activists called for oral contraceptives to be used to control the population instead, although the Royal Parks said this medication is not licensed for use in the UK.

The venison market is booming - up ten percent this year as a whole - as chefs including Marco Pierre White promote it as a leaner alternative to other red meats.

This means demand is outstripping supply, and venison is having to be imported from outside the UK despite diners preferring British meat.

This year's culled 110 female deer, generating 186 in revenues per carcass, compared to 138 per male deer last year, a rise of 35%

Dick Playfair, secretary of the Scottish Venison Society, said diners were attracted to the health benefits of venison and its taste, which is similar to a 'light fillet steak'.

He told MailOnline: 'People are waking up to the fact that it is one of the healthiest red meats that you can eat - it's low in fat and high in iron and other nutrients.

'It's also been given tremendous exposure by just about every programme on the television and available all year round.

'Venison comes in all sorts of different cuts and in processed foods as well. So at one end of the scale you'll get it in sausages and burgers, which is great for BBQs.'

The market for venison is currently booming - up ten percent this year as a whole - as chefs including Marco Pierre White promote it as a leaner alternative to other red meats

Waitrose said sales of venison are up 26 per cent this week compared to last year.

Venison Buyer Charlotte Craddock, said: 'Venison has a characteristic gamey flavour and a tender, succulent texture, similar to lean roast beef.

'It naturally contains just enough fat to keep the meat moist and juicy as it cooks.'

The Royal Parks authority ensures buyers do not use their logo on venison they sell, which they say is further evidence the process is not commercialised.

A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Deer culling in the Royal Parks is undertaken to ensure the health and viability of the herds.

'It must be stressed that we do not undertake commercial deer farming.

'Meat from the herd is sold to licensed game dealers and all the money is reinvested into caring for our herds.'

But animal charity rights charities claimed there were better ways of managing the deer population in Richmond Park.

Tod Bradbury, from Animal Aid said: 'It is highly disturbing to think that such large profits are being made from brutally robbing these animals of their lives.

'Instead of reaching for the gun, we should learn to live in harmony with wildlife, and the Park should use its resources to seek humane, non-lethal alternatives.'

The market for venison is currently booming - up ten percent this year - as chefs including Marco Pierre White promote it as a leaner alternative to other red meats

Campaigns manager Justin Kerswell, from Viva!, said: 'We call ourselves a nation of animal lovers.

'So why does every issue with wild animals seem to begin and end with a gun?

'If a problem with overpopulation can be proven then numbers can be managed in any number of non-violent ways, such as oral contraception.

'Sadly, it seems profit wins out over compassion in the Royal Parks.'
Fast cars, fresh suits, flashy parties and control over multi-million dollar hedge funds.

In his 20s, investment banker Chris Glebatsas was living the life of the rich and the famous.

Based in London, he worked for one of the world's banking giants, doing hedge fund valuations during from Monday to Friday before painting the town red on the weekend.

Somewhere along the line, as he enjoyed his success and played with his lavish boys' toys, Mr Glebatsas admits he became a 'banker wanker'.

Chris Glebatsas (pictured, left) was living the high life as a London investment banker, partying hard and driving fast cars

Mr Glebatsas (pictured) turned into what he calls a classic obnoxious high-end banker, a 'banker wanker'

But after beating a life threatening disease, Mr Glebatsas (pictured, left with partner Anthony McDonough) he decided to make major life changes

Mr Glebatsas (pictured) quit his job as soon as he was released from hospital and moved back to Australia

'I was your classic high-end banker... I suppose I was obnoxious,' Mr Glebatsas told Perth Now.

'I was definitely a different person, but it's hard not to be in that bravado-driven environment.'

His life of luxury and business success came to a sudden halt when he fell ill with what he thought was a cold - but that was actually life-threatening Meningococcal Meningitis.

He was hospitalised as he grew steadily worse. His organs began to fail, his brain swelled up to dangerous levels and doctors gave him less than 10 per cent of surviving.

One of the first things Mr Glebatsas (pictured) did after returning home tell his parents that he is gay

A week later Mr Glebatsas (pictured, left) met his partner, Anthony McDonough (pictured, right)

Mr Glebatsas (pictured, left with partner Anthony McDonough) then became a fitness model and started his own skincare brand

As he lay ill in hospital, his business world also collapsed.

In his absence, the hedge funds he controlled took a substantial dive - so much that the boss paid his star Australian employee a visit in hospital.

Mr Glebatsas, who was fighting for his life, realised the visit was for business when he had a phone put in his hand and was told to close some crucial deals.

'I was in a bed, not sure if I would survive, told if I did that I'd almost certainly lose a few limbs, and that happened,'

After starting his new life Mr Gelbatsas (pictured) became a model and won Mr Gay Australia 2014

The last straw came when Mr Glebatsas' (pictured) boss came to visit him in hospital, but only to ask him to make business phone calls

'I thought, something is wrong with this picture. If I survived, I decided I had to change my life.'

And so he did. After fighting off the illness, he quit his job as soon as he was released from hospital, and moving back to Australia.

At home, he came out to his family and told them he was gay. A week later he met the man who would become his partner Anthony McDonough.

But moving beyond his life as a banker, Mr Glebatsas was not only crowned Mr Gay Australia 2014 and became a fitness model, but also started a skin care brand.

The experience made him reconsider his life choices - 'I thought, something is wrong with this picture,' said Mr Glebatsas

The Melbourne based couple (pictured) then started 'Lqd' which is now stocked in Harrods and David Jones

'Lqd' has gone from the brainchild of the Melbourne-based couple to being stocked in Harrods, David Jones, Sephore and Bloomingdale's.

Its success - the brand already brings in $5 million annually - is due largely to its big following on social media, Mr Glebatsas told the Australian Financial Review.

'People are over the gimmicky ingredients and big claims in skincare,' he said.

But while Mr Glebatsas has well and truly left his banking days behind, he admitted the tough lessons he learnt have again proved a catalyst for success.

But while Mr Glebatsas (pictured) has left his banking days behind, he says the tough lessons he learnt have again proved a catalyst for success

Mr Glebatsas (pictured, left with partner Anthony McDonough) says surviving illness was a 'powerful motivator to chase my passions in life'

'On one side of my bed was my mother, on the other was my boss, saying we're losing millions on the desk, we need you to come back in and unwind some trades,' he told the AFR.

'Surviving all of that was a pretty powerful motivator to chase my passions in life.'
A judge has withdrawn an earlier opinion that appeared to jeopardize a lawsuit filed by Linn County and other governmental units over the management of state forest trust lands.

In an opinion issued in June, Linn County Circuit Court Daniel Murphy ruled that Linn County and the 140 other counties and taxing districts included in the class action lawsuit could not sue the state for monetary damages.

Murphy cited the doctrine known as "sovereign immunity," a centuries-old legal document that prevents government from being sued with its consent. The judge found that since the plaintiffs in the suit are part of the larger entity of the state as a whole, they cannot sue for damages.

That ruling potentially threw a major wrench in the lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Forestry.

The attorney for the county, John DiLorenzo of Davis Wright Tremaine in Portland, asked to meet with Murphy and the states attorneys to ask Murphy to reconsider his decision and a conference was held July 13.

DiLorenzo based his argument on a clause in state law, Oregon Revised Statute 30.320, which he said has been part of Oregon law since 1892 and has been upheld several times over the years, including 1929 and 1959 when the Legislative Assembly amended it to waive sovereign immunity on contracts entered into by all state agencies. The statute reads in part: "A suit or action may be maintained against any county and against the State of Oregon by and through and in the name of the appropriate state agency upon a contract made by the county and its corporate character, or made by such agency and within the scope of its authority.

Murphy agreed to withdraw his June 20 decision and noted that the next step in the case would involve motions for summary judgment. Those motions are due by Sept. 11. A pretrial conference has been set for 9 a.m. Sept. 14.

The lawsuit involves state forest trust land, more than 700,000 acres of mainly logged-over or fire-damaged properties that were acquired by counties through tax foreclosures in the 1930s and 1940s and then turned over to the state for management. A 1939 law says those lands must be managed for "the greatest permanent value to the state."

At that time, the phrase was generally interpreted to mean that the lands should be managed to maximize timber harvests. Money from those timber sales went back to the coffers of the counties and other taxing entities.

But over the years, the state has broadened the definition of "greatest permanent value" so that it includes other management goals, such as recreation and protection of habitat. As a result, timber harvests diminished on the state land  and so did the money from those harvests. The county's lawsuit argues that broadening the management goals, and the resulting financial hit, amount to a breach of contract.

Attorneys for the state did not immediately return calls from the Democrat-Herald seeking comment.

In a related legal matter, Linn County and the state have agreed to a settlement in a lawsuit filed by Linn County and other counties over the state's paid sick-leave law.

The sick leave law, passed by the 2015 Legislature, requires employers with 10 or more workers to give them at least 40 hours of paid sick leave each year. Employers with nine or fewer workers must provide 40 hours of unpaid sick time.

Linn County, along with other counties, argued that the law represented an unfunded mandate from the state and as such violated Oregon's constitution. The state constitution says that local governments aren't required to comply with state laws or administrative rules if the necessary funding isn't provided by the state and if the costs of the new program amount to more than a hundredth of 1 percent of the local government's budget.

In a ruling in the case, Murphy said that Linn, Douglas and Yamhill counties have met the financial threshold that allows them to not participate in the states paid sick leave law.

The state retains the right to appeal on the issue of whether paid sick leave is actually a new program or not; if a court determines that the sick-leave legislation does not legally create a "new program," the constitutional provision against an unfunded mandate would not apply.

On July 17, Morrow, Jefferson, Polk, Malheur, Sherman and Wallowa counties filed voluntary notices of dismissal and were dismissed from the proceedings.

Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist welcomed the recent court decisions.

The common denominator in these separate lawsuits is that the state over the years has made decisions that were not financially prudent for counties and taxpayers as a whole, Nyquist said. The most recent developments show progress in working through the financial situations that the state has put taxpayers and counties in.

Nyquist added that the lawsuits also sent a message to state legislators during their recent sessions.

They seem to have gotten the message and when they passed the measure to record grand jury deliberations, they included financial compensation to the counties for the costs associated with that, he said. And, legislators pursued paid family leave, but those efforts failed because they realized they had to find a way to fund it and were not successful in those attempts.
President Donald Trump will sign legislation that imposes sanctions on Russia, despite Moscow ordering the US to cut hundreds of diplomatic staff and possibly seizing two US diplomatic properties in retaliation for the bill.

White House officials made the announcement on Friday, a day after the US Senate voted almost unanimously to slap the new sanctions on Russia.

The sanctions force Trump to choose between a tough position on Moscow and dashing his stated hopes for warmer ties with the country or to veto the bill amid investigations in possible collusion between his campaign and Russia.

By signing the bill into law, Trump can not ease the sanctions against Russia unless he seeks congressional approval.

The press secretary office said in a statement that Trump 'read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it'.

'He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign.'

Moscow's retaliation was announced by the Foreign Ministry on Friday and had echoes of the Cold War. If confirmed that Russia's move would affect hundreds of staff at the US embassy, it would far outweigh the Obama administration's expulsion of 35 Russians in December.

President Donald Trump will sign legislation that imposes sanctions on Russia, the White House said on Friday, after Moscow ordered the US to cut hundreds of diplomatic staff and said it would seize two US diplomatic properties in retaliation for the bill

The legislation was in part a response to conclusions by US intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election, and to further punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Late on Friday, the White House issued a statement saying Trump would sign the bill after reviewing the final version. The statement made no reference to Russia's retaliatory measures.

Russia had been threatening retaliation for weeks. Its response suggests it has set aside initial hopes of better ties with Washington under Trump, something Trump, before he was elected, had said he wanted to achieve.

Relations were already languishing at a post-Cold War low because of the allegations that Russian cyber interference in the election was intended to boost Trump's chances, which Moscow flatly denies. Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russian officials.

The Russian Foreign Ministry complained of growing anti-Russian feeling in the US, accusing 'well-known circles' of seeking 'open confrontation'.

President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that Russia would have to retaliate against what he called boorish US behavior. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Friday that the Senate vote was the last straw.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by telephone that Russia was ready to normalize relations with the US and to cooperate on major global issues.

Lavrov and Tillerson 'agreed to maintain contact on a range of bilateral issues', the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Trump and Putin met for the first time at a G20 summit in Germany this month in what both sides described as a productive encounter, but Russian officials have become convinced that Congress and Trump's political opponents will not allow him to mend ties, even if he wants to

The ministry said the US had until September 1 to reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people, the number of Russian diplomats left in the US after Washington expelled 35 Russians in December.

It was not immediately clear how many US diplomats and other workers would be forced to leave either the country or their posts, but the Interfax news agency cited an informed source as saying 'hundreds' of people would be affected.

A diplomatic source told Reuters that it would be for the US to decide which posts to cut, whether occupied by US or Russian nationals.

An official at the US Embassy, who declined to be named because they were not allowed to speak to the media, said the Embassy employed around 1,100 diplomatic and support staff in Russia, including Russian and US citizens.

Russian state television channel Rossiya 24 said over 700 staff would be affected but that was not confirmed by the foreign ministry or the US embassy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry's statement said the passage of the bill confirmed 'the extreme aggression of the United States in international affairs'.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met outgoing US ambassador John Tefft on Friday to inform him of the counter measures, Russian news agencies reported. The US Embassy said Tefft had expressed his 'strong disappointment and protest'.

Most US diplomatic staff, including around 300 US citizens, work in the main embassy in Moscow, with others based in consulates in St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.

The legislation was in part a response to conclusions by US intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election, and to further punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea in 2014. The two leaders are pictured on July 7 at the G20 summit in Hamburg

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was also seizing a Moscow dacha compound used by US diplomats for recreation, from August 1, as well as a US diplomatic warehouse in Moscow.

In December, the outgoing Obama administration seized two Russian diplomatic compounds - one in New York and another in Maryland - at the same time as it expelled Russian diplomats.

Trump and Putin met for the first time at a G20 summit in Germany this month in what both sides described as a productive encounter, but Russian officials have become increasingly convinced that Congress and Trump's political opponents will not allow him to mend ties, even if he wants to.

The European Union has also threatened to retaliate against new US sanctions on Russia, saying they would harm the bloc's energy security by targeting projects including a planned new pipeline to bring Russian natural gas to northern Europe.

A European Commission spokesman in Brussels said the bloc would be following the sanctions process closely.
Ex-drug executive Martin Shkreli (pictured on Friday) was called a 'con man who stole millions' as his lawyers defended him saying he is a well-meaning 'prodigy'

Martin Shkreli, the disgraced former drug executive known as Pharma Bro, was portrayed both as a swindler by the government and as a well-meaning prodigy by his lawyers on the second day of closing arguments of his securities fraud trial.

The trial in federal court in Brooklyn 'has exposed Martin Shkreli for who he really is - a con man who stole millions,' Assistant US Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis told jurors on Friday.

Prosecutors allege that the 34-year-old Shkreli looted his drug company, Retrophin, of stock and cash so he could pay back disgruntled investors in a pair of failed hedge funds he ran.

Investors testified that the defendant repeatedly lied to them about what was going on with their money.

The defense has argued that no one was victimized because Shkreli used his 'genius' to make Retrophin a success and ensure investors doubled or even tripled their money.

'Who lost anything? Nobody,' defense attorney Ben Brafman said in his closing argument.

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Prosecutors allege that the 34-year-old Shkreli (pictured with a member from his legal counsel) looted his drug company, Retrophin, of stock and cash so he could pay back disgruntled investors in a pair of failed hedge funds he ran

Investors testified that Shkreli repeatedly lied to them about what was going on with their money

The defense has argued that no one was victimized because Shkreli used his 'genius' to make Retrophin a success and ensure investors doubled or even tripled their money. He's pictured leaving court on Friday with his lead attorney Benjamin Brafman (left)

Some investors were forced to admit on the witness stand that partnering with Shkreli was 'the greatest investment I've ever made,' he added.

The lawyer also argued that a drug company official who testified for the government was biased.

If Shkreli is found guilty of a felony, Brafman said, the company would have clear grounds for forcing him out as CEO in 2014 and would gain ammunition in its $65 million lawsuit against him.

Shkreli claims he was wrongfully terminated and is owed millions.

With a guilty verdict, 'Retrophin pops a Champagne cork,' he said.

Shkreli became notorious for using another drug company to raise the price of a life-saving drug 5,000 per cent and for trolling his critics on social media, where he's been dubbed 'Pharma Bro'.

On Thursday, Shkreli was seen leaving the federal court with a smirk on his face. Later that day he wrote on Facebook: 'My case is a silly witch hunt perpetrated by self-serving prosecutors'

The jury was expected to begin deliberating as soon as Friday afternoon

The defendant didn't testify. But he made his thoughts on the case known on Facebook, where he called it 'bogus'.

On Thursday, Shkreli wrote on Facebook: 'My case is a silly witch hunt perpetrated by self-serving prosecutors.

'Thankfully my amazing attorney sent them back to junior varsity where they belong. Drain the swamp. Drain the sewer that is the (U.S. Department of Justice). MAGA.'

'MAGA' is widely used as an acronym for 'Make America Great Again,' President Donald Trump's campaign slogan.

The jury was expected to begin deliberating as soon as Friday afternoon.
Britain ploughs almost 2billion of aid each year into countries with dire human rights records, it can be revealed.

The Foreign Office has put 30 countries on its human rights watch-list for overseeing rape, torture and extrajudicial killings.

But despite this, the Daily Mail can reveal the UK's aid department last year funnelled development cash into more than half of these countries.

It means hundreds of millions are being poured into 17 of the worst human rights offenders, such as Zimbabwe, Burma and the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

The Foreign Office has put 30 countries on its human rights watch-list for overseeing rape, torture and extrajudicial killings (file photo of Central African Republic)

It means hundreds of millions are being poured into 17 of the worst human rights offenders, such as Zimbabwe, Burma and the Palestinian Occupied Territories

Shockingly, the total amount spent in these countries increased by 7 per cent in one year to 1.87billion in 2016/17.

The findings will raise further questions about how effective the 13billion a year that goes on international aid really is  as well as the wisdom of keeping David Cameron's target of spending 0.7 per cent of GDP on foreign aid.

It comes after a recent report by the National Audit Office said aid cash was being dispatched overseas in a last-minute frenzy each year to meet spending targets

Last night, the Department for International Development pointed out that British money does not necessarily go to foreign governments themselves, and often goes to charities and other organisations.

But critics hit out at the farce of the Foreign Office warning about countries' human rights records while Dfid was pouring cash into them.

Tory MP Peter Bone said: 'It seems extraordinary that we would be giving money to countries whose regimes we regard as failing on human rights. I would have thought we would be concentrating our aid on countries where the government is trying to ... improve matters.'

Shockingly, the total amount spent in these countries increased by 7 per cent in one year to 1.87billion in 2016/17 (file photo of South Sudan)

A 2015 report by the Independent Commission on Aid Impact warned ministers risked bringing the aid budget 'into disrepute' by spending millions on training the police forces of regimes with poor human rights records. In 2015/16, Dfid sent 1.74billion to 17 nations on the Foreign Office's 'human rights priority' list  rising to 1.87billion a year later.

This included 417million to Pakistan, up from 328million the year before. This is despite the Foreign Office warning it was concerned about serious violations of women's rights.

The Foreign Office also warned that the lack of recognition of women's rights in Afghanistan had left girls 'susceptible to violence, poverty and exploitation'.

Nevertheless, DfID sent 168million to the war-torn country in 2016/17  up from 120million.

Last night a Government spokesman said: 'The UK speaks candidly and frankly to all countries in which we work, and firmly holds governments to account on issues of human rights. We will not hesitate to use UN resolutions and sanctions to focus international attention and action on any country where we have concerns.'

Dfid said it works closely with the Foreign Office to raise concerns with governments. A spokesman said: 'UK aid is spent where it is most needed and is subject to rigorous internal and external checks and scrutiny at all stages to ensure it helps those who need it and delivers value for money.' The Foreign Office said the 30 countries named were not necessarily the worst human rights abusers, but were ones where the UK felt it could have some influence on regimes' conduct.
A fatal three car crash in north Queensland that left one man dead and two infants in hospital may have been intentionally caused.

A 51-year-old man died after crashing his Mitsubishi Lancer into oncoming traffic on Kennedy Highway, south of Mareeba Friday morning.

A 63-year-old Cassowary Coast woman driving the second car had to be cut free from her campervan by firefighters and was airlifted to Cairns Base Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

51-year-old Mareeba man died crashing his Mitsubishi Lancer into oncoming traffic (pictured)

63-year-old Cassowary Coast woman was cut free from her campervan by firefighters (pictured) and was airlifted to hospital in a serious condition

A mother, 25, with two young children, aged one and three, received minor injures at the crash in Mareeba, north Queensland (pictured)

Police said the mother, 25, driving the third car, a four-wheel-drive, along with her two young children, aged one and three, received minor injures after travelling behind the campervan.

The end speed of both the cars was at least 250km/h which saw both the cars lift off the ground police told The Cairns Post.

'It appears (the man) has veered onto the incorrect side of the road and at this stage it appears that when that has occurred the vehicles coming from the other direction (collided),' Queensland Police Inspector Monique Ralph said in a press conference.

Forensic Crash investigations continue.


A pedestrian has had to leap out of the way to avoid a tearaway Sydney bus that struck 13 parked cars.

Police say the bus had already struck one vehicle on a road at Caringbah on Friday when the 58-year-old woman, who was crossing the street, was forced to jump from its path.

The out-of-control bus full of passengers during the peak hour commute hit the trolley she was pushing before crossing to the opposite side of the road and crashing into four parked cars.

A runaway bus crashed into 13 parked cars (pictured) on Cawarra Rd during peak hour

A 58-year-old woman was crossing the road and had to dive out of the way of bus (pictured)

The male bus driver, 60, struck four parked cars before continuing to hit more cars (pictured)

However police said the male driver, 60, continued on, striking eight more parked vehicles along Cawarra Rd before 4.30pm.

Linda Denny was a passenger on the bus at the time and told Sutherland Shire the bus driver had a medical episode while behind the wheel causing him to hit parked cars.

'Panic started as people were screaming. I screamed out to one of the men to grab the steering wheel. He did but couldn't stop or get to the brake,' Ms Denny said.

'I believe he hit at least 20 cars then hit two big four-wheel-drives and we stopped.

'Bus driver came to and he said he had fallen asleep and was okay.'

Other witnesses described the bus crash to be like a scene from the movies.

One witness described the scene to be like something from the movies after the bus ploughed into more than ten cars (pictured)

A witness said the bus driver hit 'at least 20' cars including several four-wheel-drives (pictured)

Witnesses posted to Facebook saying they were amazing no one was killed (pictured)

None of the passengers were injured and the 58-year-old pedestrian suffered minor injuries

'It was like bang bang bang bang. The bus looked like the acceleration was stuck ... It was unlike anything I have seen. Amazing no one was killed,' Carolyn Campbell posted to Facebook.

The 60-year-old was taken to hospital for assessment and mandatory blood and urine tests.

The 58-year-old pedestrian received minor injuries while the passengers on the bus weren't harmed.
A man who raped a woman he met on a tram just hours after being released from custody, told police he engaged in 'rough play' because 'he wanted her'.

Jamie Evan Macarthur admitted to sexually assaulting the woman near St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne, after she got off a tram in March this year.

The 49-year-old has pleaded guilty to 22 charges, including numerous assault offences from separate incidents, while prosecutors dropped 19 other charges.

Macarthur started a conversation with the woman, in her 20s, while waiting for a tram on Bourke Street about 5am on March 16, according to court documents.

A man who raped a woman he met on a Melbourne tram just hours after being released from custody, told police he engaged in 'rough play' because 'he wanted her' (Stock image)

Just seven hours earlier he had been released from police custody for being drunk in a public place.

'The complainant felt uneasy and thought speaking to him was the safest option,' police said.

Once on the tram, the woman tried to get away from Macarthur, who grabbed her by the neck and waist and pulled her towards him.

The woman was fearful and mouthed the word 'help' to a man sitting nearby, but the onlooker did not respond.

'He just stared at me, he probably thought I knew this guy on the tram and that we were just drunk,' she said in her police statement.

When she got off the tram near St Vincent's hospital, Macarthur said 'you're not leaving me' and followed her to the hospital's entrance.

Police say Macarthur became angry and told the woman 'we are going to f*** tonight' before dragging her away and throwing her onto the footpath outside the hospital.

The woman got up and tried to get inside the hospital, but the doors were closed.

Jamie Evan Macarthur admitted to sexually assaulting the woman near St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne (pictured), after she got off a tram in March this year

'I was fighting him, but I thought, this is it, I am going to be raped, no one is coming to the doors to help me,' the victim said in her statement.

Macarthur then 'aggressively held the complainant close' and sexually assaulted her, according to court documents.

He also assaulted her by grabbing her in a headlock.

The woman managed to make her way inside the hospital and staff contacted police.

Macarthur left the scene and was arrested later the same day.

Macarthur faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court (pictured) in March and will remain in custody until he faces a plea hearing at the Victorian County Court on December 7

In his police interview Macarthur said he was 'overly physical' because he wanted the woman close to him.

'I knew that at some point I had her and I was doing rough play with her,' he said.

'I wanted her and if I could go back and do it again I would go back and I might be just a touch gentler but not much 'cause I wanted her.'

Macarthur will remain in custody and face a plea hearing at the Victorian County Court on December 7.
The wife of a millionaire podiatrist has been granted a retrial after she was found guilty of the murder of her who was found stabbed to death in the Bahamas in 2015.

Donna Vasyli was charged with the murder of Philip Vasyli after he was found dead in a pool of blood.

Mr Vasyli, who lead a luxurious lifestyle which included private planes and idyllic holidays, was found dead on March 24 with numerous stab wounds, News.com.au reports.

Donna Vasyli, (pictured) the wife of a millionaire podiatrist, has been granted a retrial after she was found guilty of the murder of her husband who was found stabbed to death in 2015

Mr Vasyli (pictured) was found dead on March 24 with numerous stab wounds to his body

His wife, Donna Vasyli, was charged with his murder after police found red marks on her hands, which she claimed were a reaction to laser treatments.

Authorities claimed the 59-year-old had been dead for more than seven hours when he was found.

Mrs Vasyli said 'We had a fight last night' before she was remanded.

A kitchen knife was found by police where Mr Vasyli had been killed, which they allege was the murder weapon.

Behind the lush life however Mr Vasyli abused drugs and alcohol which led to abuse

Mrs Vasyli, was charged with murder after police found red marks on her hands, which she claimed were a reaction to laser treatments

Local police said the father-of-two had been dead for seven hours before a worker found him.

Mr Vasyli was the owner of multiple podiatry clinics around the world and later founded an orthodontic footwear company that sells products in the US, the UK and elsewhere.

The businessman set up his first practice in western Sydney and had lived in the Bahamas with his wife and two children for at least 15 years.

Behind the lavish lifestyle however Mr Vasyli abused drugs and alcohol which led to domestic violence.

Mrs Vasyli pleaded her innocence however a jury found her guilty of murdering her husband in October 2015.

Her appeal on July 26 was granted in the Court of Appeal in the Bahamas which dismissed her conviction and the case will now be retried.
As the jury foreman delivered the guilty verdicts, Gayle Newland shook her head and wailed: I cant go back to prison  I cant. Three weeks later, she returned to court for sentencing and was told she would be jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Newland once again failed to hold back her emotions, sobbing in the dock and stamping her feet. No! she cried out.

Such reactions are perhaps unsurprising, since Newland has already had a taste of what is to come. The 27-year-old was originally convicted and sentenced to eight years in jail in 2015, but was freed from prison on bail after a successful appeal following criticism of the judges summing up, forcing the recent retrial.

While at HMP Low Newton, a maximum security prison near Durham, she spent time on the same wing as mass murderer Rose West. Newland, a privately-educated university graduate, rubbing shoulders with Britains most notorious living female killer? How on earth did that happen?

While at HMP Low Newton, a maximum security prison near Durham, Gayle Newland (pictured) spent time on the same wing as mass murderer Rose West. Newland, a privately-educated university graduate, rubbing shoulders with Britains most notorious living female killer? How on earth did that happen?

The answer lies in one of the most extraordinary and controversial criminal cases of recent times.

In brief, Newland was jailed for pretending to be a man to trick a female friend into sleeping with her. Posing as a male called Kye Fortune, she went online to seduce a fellow student at the University of Chester.

When they finally met in person, she persuaded her victim to wear a blindfold at all times. Then, maintaining the deceit that she was a man by using a strap-on sex toy, Newland had multiple sex sessions with her.

The victim not only wore the blindfold during sex but also for at least 100 hours when the pair were together  going for drives, sunbathing and even watching films. When the student finally ripped off her blindfold, she was horrified to discover Gayle Newland, not Kye, standing in front of her.

Unlike Newland, she was not a lesbian, and had she known who it was, she said, would never have consented. And it is that which goes to the controversy at the heart of the case.

Newlands supporters rail both at her conviction and her sentence. How could an intelligent woman  as her victim undoubtedly is  have been duped for so long and in such a way? Doesnt Newlands explanation that both were in fact gay and that they were indulging in role-play make far more sense?

As for her sentence, that has been branded shameful, cruel and shocking by posters on a Facebook group set up in her name.

Similar sentiments have been expressed by members of the legal profession, who question how such a deception could merit a sentence that paedophiles and rapists do not always receive.

Her sentence has been branded shameful, cruel and shocking by posters on a Facebook group set up in her name. Pictured: Newland in cuffs

They say that a number of similar recent cases show that young men and women  often gay or transgender  are being unfairly treated by the criminal justice system purely because of confusion about their sexuality and gender.

I cant help thinking that it doesnt feel right to me to describe these cases in the same way as what you might think of classic sexual offending, says Matthew Graham, head of criminal law at law firm Mowbray Woodwards.

Because it isnt the same. You can do a hell of a lot and get a similar sentence: wearing a balaclava, you can walk up to someone on the street, drag them down an alleyway and sexually assault them. And to say that matches this case feels to me completely wrong.

The gravity of the offending is that Newland lied. She told a lie. And that seems to be the seriousness of it, rather than the heart of the sexual assault.

That Gayle Newland is a complex character there can be no doubt.

Raised in a 500,000 house in Willaston, on the Wirral, she attended 12,400-a-year Queens School in Chester paid for by her father Brian, who ran a construction company.

At school, she began developing her online alter ego, Kye. At first she used the false name to speak to girls on internet chatrooms, but soon it became part of a bizarre double life, Kye Fortunes character embellished with an American mans photographs and videos.

Asked to explain why she hid behind this fake profile, Newland said: I had gone from primary school where I was happy  a mixed primary school, where all my best friends were boys  to a completely different environment at an all-girls school. I knew I was attracted to girls, but I didnt know what that meant. That was one reason: I was more comfortable.

By the time Newland got to the University of Chester to study creative writing, she had used Kye to dupe unsuspecting girls on more than one occasion, but never before with such devastating effect.

Her victim this time was also at the university. An attractive but vulnerable young woman, she had been brought up in a Methodist family and had recently split from a boyfriend, with whom she had been in an abusive relationship.

She told Manchester Crown Court that Kye first contacted her on Facebook in 2011, claiming he was a fellow student. They spent hours talking, coming to regard each other as boyfriend and girlfriend, despite never having met.

For a year, Kye stalled  claiming to be self-conscious of injuries suffered in a car crash and to be seriously ill with cancer.

But at the same time Kye was eager to introduce her to a close friend, Gayle Newland. The pair got to know one another in person, going to concerts and watching films together.

Pictured left: Gayle Newland with her father and, right, her mother

After a year, Kye also agreed to meet, but with strict conditions. She would have to put on a blindfold before he entered her room and she could not touch him.

As a precaution, Newland wore a woolly hat, swimsuit and bandaged her chest to hide her breasts. The woman agreed. She was naive, she admitted, and also desperate to be loved.

In this way they would have sex more than ten times.

The victim even agreed to requests to cover her eyes while watching films, eating dinner or sunbathing.

Their relationship progressed in this bizarre way until the summer of 2013, when, during a sex session, she realised Kye actually had long hair. Pulling off her blindfold, she found Newland standing there, sex toy at the ready.

There was no point until the day I took the blindfold off that I thought for one second that a woman was the person behind this, she said.

Shocked, the victim ran out of her own house. Newland followed and CCTV footage showed them rowing in the street. That same evening Newland attempted suicide, jumping off a canal bridge.

I have done something I shouldnt and now my friend cant forgive me, she would subsequently tell police.

The deception, the victim said, had a devastating effect on her life. She suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety as a result.

I hated myself. I felt filthy, disgusting, she told the court. There were not enough showers in the world to clean me.

Newlands version of events was very different. She claimed they first met in a nightclub, that they were both lesbians and that they had entered a consensual, but secret, relationship. As part of this, she claimed, she communicated with her girlfriend as Kye  as part of an extended role-play.

She told the jury: One of the reasons was that neither of us was out as gay; neither of us comfortable with our sexualities.

Its fair to say both of us were genuinely struggling with it. It was like two stupid girls really, experimenting with our sexualities, if that makes sense. It felt a bit different; it was a bit of fun.

Gayle Newland, left and right,was jailed for six years and six months after being convicted of sexual assault for posing as a man to have sex with a blindfolded friend repeatedly

Newland said the relationship broke down a week after she told the victim she was coming out as gay to her parents  and that the victim suddenly began making accusations.

Her defence team also delved into the devastated victims private life, highlighting the fact that within weeks of going to police she was having sex with a man.

Part of it is because I felt stupid that I had slept with this fake penis, the victim said during cross-examination. Part of you wants to be reckless and sleep with men. Part of it is just being reckless. I slept with a lot of guys. I got drunk. I did a lot of things when the bottom of your life caved in.

So, two very different stories. But on each occasion that they were laid out in detail before a court, the jury sided not with Newland but with her victim. In the latest trial, she was convicted by a 11-1 majority verdict of three counts of sexual assault by penetration.

This was a deceit of such subtlety and cunning in its planning, and was a deceit from your point of view so successful in its execution, that an outsider to this case might find the facts difficult to comprehend, said Judge David Stockdale QC, sentencing her to six years in prison for the assaults. But in this case, the truth, the whole truth, is as surprising as it is disturbing.

She did not consent to these invasive acts of penetration because her willing compliance with your abusive behaviour was obtained by a deceit.

While the sentence may seem harsh, it is within guidelines for these sorts of offences. Newland perpetrated a deception that lasted for years, did not plead guilty, and had shown no remorse. The impact on the victim also had to be taken into account.

And yet some question whether cases such as this should be treated differently from other sexual assault cases  or indeed merit charges being brought at all.

Under section 74 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, a person consents to sexual activity if he agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice.

In the Newland case, the prosecution had to prove that the victim had not freely chosen to have sex; that the deception meant she had not made a free choice. She believed she was sleeping with a male, not a female, and had chosen to have sex on that basis.

But legal experts point out that when it comes to sex, deceptions are not uncommon. Some may exaggerate their wealth or social standing to improve their appeal, or claim to be single when in fact they are married. Others might choose to lie about their religion. But lies of this nature are not seen in law as sufficient to damage fatally the ability to consent freely.

Gender deception, it seems, is.

In recent years a number of cases similar to that of Newland have reached the courts. Yet none has resulted in such a lengthy sentence.

Normally, with the criminal law, you know that something is criminal; you dont need to be a lawyer to know something is criminal, that it is wrong, says lawyer Matthew Graham.

I should imagine with the Gayle Newland case you could ask 20 different people and get 20 different answers as to whether it is criminal or not, and what sentence it deserves.

He says that cases such as this that actually reach court are merely the tip of the iceberg, and that many more will have come to the attention of the police but have not resulted in prosecutions due to lack of evidence, or to an unwillingness to give evidence.

There are also concerns about the implications of the case on transgender people. For example, does someone transitioning who has undergone surgery but does not reveal this to a sexual partner become a sex offender?

These convictions send out a mixed message, says Samantha Pegg, senior lecturer in criminal law at Nottingham Trent University. People who are transitioning are not seeking to deceive others about their gender, they are living and presenting as the person they are. I do think this leaves them in a difficult position.

Newland herself was said to have had a complex psychological background. Shed been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, in which a person can experience distress because there is a mismatch between biological sex and gender identity. Shed also been diagnosed with Aspergers, a form of autism, as well as eating disorders, anxiety and depression.

But while accepting them as a mitigating factor, the judge said they were not an excuse for what she had done.

Because it also emerged during the trial that Newlands deception of the student was not her only one. Police gathered evidence that, as Kye, she had targeted three other women. The uncontested witness statement of one of them, who began speaking to Kye in 2009, showed a very similar pattern of behaviour.

The witness described falling in love with Kye online but being fobbed off with excuses, including about cancer treatment, whenever she pushed to meet.

Newland made no attempt to meet the woman, but allowed a relationship to develop even in 2014 while on police bail for offences against the original victim.

At the sentencing, it also emerged that Newland had pleaded guilty to an unrelated offence of fraud.

While on bail for the sexual offences, she had defrauded the marketing agency she was working for. Her company paid bloggers to endorse products in online postings, so she pretended to be ten fictional bloggers and invoiced the firm for 9,000.

For this offence she was jailed for an additional six months  meaning that she faces a total of six and a half years in prison.

Even when released, the stigma of what she did will remain with her. Newland was told that she must sign the sex offenders register, and remain on it for life.

Why sex offender? she tearfully asked from the dock when informed. A question some  but by no means all  will doubtless sympathise with.
Dunkirk is the biggest film of the summer, a gripping reconstruction of the evacuation of an entire army from France in 1940.

Starring Kenneth Branagh as a Navy officer, Tom Hardy as a Spitfire pilot and Mark Rylance as a skipper of one of the Little Ships, it reveals the gallantry and tragedy behind the rescue of 338,000 British and French soldiers.

But who were the real heroes whose courage helped save Britain? Here, Neil Tweedie tells their astonishing stories...

Medic who turned into a commando

Bill Towill did not fight the Germans at Dunkirk. Raised in the Plymouth Brethren evangelical Christian movement, he was a pacifist and had opted for a non-combat role as an orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps on the outbreak of war.

But he more than did his duty. As the noose tightened on the British Expeditionary Force in northern France, his unit set up a field hospital in the casino in De Panne, a Belgian resort just along the coast from Dunkirk.

Fearless: After Dunkirk, religious non-combatant Bill Towill vowed to 'hit back as hard as I could'

Dunkirk was appalling, he said later. There was shelling and strafing and bombing. Petrol tanks were on fire and there was a thick cloud of black, oily smoke covering the whole area. Dantes inferno was a picnic compared with it.

By day, the dreaded Stuka dive-bombers lashed the beaches, the sirens attached to their undercarriages emitting an ear-splitting, courage-sapping screech.

At night, the makeshift hospital was plunged into darkness. Orderlies worked on the wounded by the light of shellfire before wading chest-high into the surf, carrying stretchers to waiting boats.

The casino was also a makeshift mortuary. Although there was barely time to mark the passing of those who died, a major managed a few words from the Bible: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, nor sorrow nor crying.

The impact of this on the deeply religious 19-year-old Towill was immense: It has remained with me down the years.

With the end nearing, the medics drew lots to decide who would get a chance to leave and who would stay with the wounded and inevitably face capture by the Germans. Towill drew a blank  his ticket home.

He was lucky, though it cannot have seemed so as he lay for long, sleepless and terrifying hours in the Dunkirk sand dunes, waiting for rescue. More than once he was buried by the fallout from German bombs and had to be dug out. He finally got away on June 2.

His experiences at Dunkirk changed Bill Towill. Pacifism was put to one side. After what I had seen there  the Germans strafing civilians  I found my objection vanishing. I hit back and hit as hard as I could.

He joined the Gurkhas and served with the Chindits commando group in Burma. In India, he met his future wife, Pamela. He died in 2013 at the age of 93.

VC winner who held off the germans

Captain Marcus Ervine-Andrews

We were so short of ammunition that we had to search bodies for more, recalled Captain Marcus Ervine-Andrews, as he and a handful of men from B Company, 1st Battalion East Lancashire Regiment were pitched into the thick of the fighting just outside Dunkirk.

Their vital job in those desperate days was to slow the German advance as much as possible, to buy time so British soldiers massing on the beaches just a few miles away could escape. This rearguard managed to slow down superior German forces at the Escaut Canal and, as the rest of the company retreated to the sand dunes and the prospect of a ship home, he and eight of his men formed a last-ditch makeshift defence line on the Canal de Bergues, trying to fool the enemy into believing the position was still being held in strength.

From the roof of a barn, the 28-year-old picked off 17 advancing Germans with his Lee-Enfield rifle and Bren gun, pinning down scores more.

We had to stop them. It was as simple as that, he said later, his words hiding the raw courage that won him the Victoria Cross that day.

Inevitably, the fighting was taking its toll. Below him the barn was in flames and the wounded lay where they fell.

Those who remained could not hold out for ever. As ammunition ran low and the enemy began to outflank his position, he ordered his men to fall back. He and his scratch force of defenders made their getaway to the coast.

There he managed to scramble on to a destroyer, and was dining in a restaurant back in England when a BBC broadcast announced that he had been awarded the VC for his action at the barn.

It was a bolt out of the blue, he said. I was completely shaken and surprised. There was, however, regret that the heroics of his men were not recognised with awards for gallantry.

I had a wonderful crowd and without them I could have done nothing at Dunkirk, he said. They were splendid. They fought and fought and gave everything they had to give. Many gave their lives. I will never forget them.

Ervine-Andrews never returned to the scene of his heroism, dying in his adopted home county of Cornwall in 1995, at the age of 83.

I never wanted to go back, he told an interviewer. Too many sad memories of men killed and left behind.

Seaman who 'sweated blood' to save lives

Royal Navy seaman Vic Viner

As a leading seaman in the Royal Navy, Vic Viner, 23, spent six days and nights in the cauldron of Dunkirk, helping to organise the evacuees.

First, he crewed a ships rowing boat from the destroyer HMS Esk, hauling heavily laden soldiers from the sea. His hands bled copiously from pulling on the oars.

We literally sweated blood, he recalled.

Then he was posted to the beach itself to pick up men waiting there, with a revolver in his hand and under orders to use it if anyone tried to jump the queue for the boats.

He brandished the weapon on more than one occasion, but thankfully never had to fire it.

The exhausted men he rescued were filled with gratitude. You could hear them say, Thank God, we have reached the sea. Some were wading out, as if they were trying to walk to England.

Viners 25-year-old brother Albert was engaged on the same rescue mission and on board the destroyer HMS Grenade when she was sunk in Dunkirk harbour by German Stukas.

He was rescued by the paddle-steamer Crested Eagle, only to die when she, too, was bombed and sunk, with the loss of 300 lives.

Vic witnessed her demise, unaware that his brother was perishing before his eyes.

He himself survived, but only just: a bomb blast hurled him into the sea.

He was rescued and returned to England, though he was unconscious and had no memory of how he got home.

He died last year, aged 99, never forgetting what had happened and how vital the evacuation was.

It was a splendid operation, he said. Without getting the troops back, we would have had very little to build on.

The Titanic survivor who sailed to help

Charles Lightoller was 66 in 1940

Charles Lightoller was one of that brave band of Little Ship owners back in Britain who not only turned over their private pleasure craft to the Navy to assist with the emergency evacuation, but insisted on manning their vessels themselves, right across the Channel and into Dunkirk harbour. Lightoller had already had his fill of sea dramas, or so you would have thought  he was Second Officer on the ocean liner Titanic in April 1912 when she hit the iceberg.

He remained at his post and went down with the ship, only to be propelled to the surface by a blast of escaping air. He was the most senior member of the crew to survive. Then, during World War I, he was a destroyer commander and sank a U-boat.

He was 66 in 1940 and his boat, the Sundowner, was based on the Thames when, on the evening of May 31, he was ordered to sail his pride and joy to Ramsgate to rendezvous with a naval party. But he insisted on being allowed to remain with her on her dangerous mission, and did so with the help of his son Roger and a young Sea Scout whose name is now consigned to history. It was a crew which is echoed in the film by Mark Rylance and two young actors.

We pushed over to Dunkirk on our own, he later recalled. A couple of enemy bombers had a shot at us but a British destroyer, HMS Worcester, was passing us and drove them off.

Mooring in Dunkirk harbour under heavy fire, the tiny vessel took on 130 men, 75 of them crammed below decks. Counting them off back in Ramsgate, a chief petty officer scratched his head and said in amazement, My God mate, where did you put em?

Charles Lightoller died in 1952 at the age of 78.

Spitfire ace who crash landed

Alan 'Al' Deere was an RAF fighter pilot who was forced to ditch his Spitfire on the beach at Dunkirk  an episode re-enacted by Tom Hardy in the new film.

The 22-year-old, a pilot officer with 54 Squadron, shot down six Luftwaffe aircraft over the French coast while protecting the evacuation, before being downed on May 28 by the rear gunner of a Dornier bomber, which also crashed.

I crash-landed on the beach between Dunkirk and Ostend, wheels up, right on the edge of the water  and the tide was coming in, he recalled.

He was knocked unconscious. When he came round, he made his way to a cafe, where a woman dressed his head wound. He then hitched a lift to Dunkirk on an Army lorry.

Alan 'Al' Deere was forced to ditch his Spitfire on the beach at Dunkirk

From miles away you could tell where Dunkirk was, he said. It was completely overcast by black smoke.

He got back to Britain on the destroyer HMS Montrose, but not before troops on the ship offered their low opinion of the RAF, whose dogfights in the sky over the evacuation were often invisible from the beaches. The men thought they had been abandoned by the flyers when, in fact, they were sustaining bad losses against the Luftwaffe.

The troops I met were very anti, he recalled, asking Where the hell were you?

I had been flying non-stop for ten days until I was shot down, and I replied that we were there, but perhaps you didnt see us. It was a bit unpleasant because I was the only airman on board  but you couldnt blame them. They were pretty worn out.

Nineteen hours after taking off for Dunkirk on his last sortie, Deere was back in London. By the end of the evacuation, his squadron had been reduced from 17 pilots to eight, a loss rate worse than during the Battle of Britain.

Deere was presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross by King George VI. He went on to become one of the top-scoring RAF aces of the war and later served as an aide-de-camp to the Queen before being promoted to air commodore.

When he died in 1995, aged 77, his ashes were scattered from a Spitfire of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

. . . And the last man to reach home

Bill Lacey was one of 40,000 Allied troops left behind on the beaches

Bill Lacey was one of 40,000 Allied troops left behind on the beaches when the Germans finally took Dunkirk and Operation Dynamo came to an end. Hed had a chance to escape, but gave up his place for a wounded soldier.

I was stranded, he remembered. The gunfire was getting nearer and the Nazis were rounding up the stragglers.

But rather than surrender, the 20-year-old rifleman from 2nd Battalion, Gloucester Regiment, became a fugitive. He went into hiding for the next four months, foraging off the land and stealing food and clothing from farmhouses to survive. I had to learn to stay alive as an animal would, he later said. His weight fell to seven stone.

Eventually, he stole a fishing boat and sailed it solo to Britain  only for British Intelligence officers to conclude he must have been turned by the Germans and sent home as a spy. He was cleared when news reports from France confirmed the story of an Englishman on the run who had taken a boat.

Laceys resourcefulness earned him a post in Special Forces, and he took part in a number of commando operations. He retired from the Army as a sergeant in 1964 and settled in Portchester, Hampshire, working as a postman. He died in 2011, aged 91.
A man went to work dressed as Sarah Palin after he promised to impersonate the former Alaksa governor if John McCain voted against the Republican's healthcare repeal.

Jeffrey Lieber raided his wife's closet looking for a Palin-inspired outfit on Friday after making a vow to his 13,000 Twitter followers earlier that morning.

The California-based screenwriter promised he would dress as the Republican if McCain turned his back against his own party and voted against the 'skinny repeal'.

Lieber was forced to honor his word when the Arizona senator shocked his fellow lawmakers when he pointed his finger downwards and said 'nay' to the chamber.

Lieber, known for his work on the hit TV series Lost, walked into work wearing a peplum shirt and a pencil skirt, which he said showed off his gams.

Jeffrey Lieber went to work dressed as Sarah Palin on Friday after he promised to impersonate the former governor if John McCain voted against the Republican's healthcare repeal

The California-based screenwriter posed around his office wearing a peplum shirt and pencil skirt in an outfit that was meant to be inspired by the former governor of Alaska

Lieber made a vow to his 13,000 Twitter followers early on Friday morning while watching the Senate vote on the 'skinny repeal'

Lieber was tuned-in to live coverage of the Senate's healthcare voting early on Friday morning when he tweeted: 'If John McCain votes no I will show up tomorrow dressed as Sarah Palin.'

It quickly was liked and retweeted, amassing more than 1,400 likes by the end of the day on Friday.

As the country watched on, McCain lived up to his reputation as a political maverick as he dramatically voted 'no' to reject the repeal of Obamacare.

Lieber eagerly wrote, 'What did McCain say!!!?!?!' before following it up with, 'I am now searching through my wife's closet for a dress that will show off my gams...'.

He stood by his word and tweeted out a photo of a skirt and sleeveless blouse while he was getting dressed for work and said: 'When you open your mouth on Twitter...'

Lieber posted several photos throughout the day sporting his Palin-inspired look, posing with coworkers and props.

Lieber was forced to honor his word when the Arizona senator shocked his fellow lawmakers when he pointed his finger downwards and said 'nay' to the chamber

Lieber's followers applauded his bravery and added quips about Palin in the comments

The TV man's followers applauded his bravery and added quips about Palin.

Lieber was not the only one celebrating McCain's decision and other observers posted their glee on social media.

Cher said: 'God Bless John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Alaska Strong.

'Obamacare needs changing now the Democrats and the Great Old Party can work together to fix it.'

John Legend also backed McCain's decision but stopped short of calling his actions heroic.

He said: 'Thanks to the Senators who voted to kill that stupid, heartless bill. Let's stay vigilant. It's not over.

As the country watched on, McCain lived up to his reputation as a political maverick as he dramatically voted 'no' to reject the repeal of Obamacare

'Bill should have lost 95-5. I have a hard time calling the three republicans who voted "no" heroes. It was obviously stupid and awful.'

Bernie Sanders, who was pipped to the Democrat's candidate post last year by Hilary Clinton, also expressed his gratitude to those in power who decided to back Obamacare.

He said: 'Thank you to everyone across the country who stood up and fought back. Tonight was a victory for the American people. This is only the first step.

'We must now move forward to guarantee health care to all people as a right not a privilege.'

Billy Crystal, Jason Alexander and Kristen Bell were all among those in McCain's camp, but there are plenty opposing the Arizona senator.
Win McNamee/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Some senior White House aides are encouraging President Trump to move embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions from his post as attorney general to the now-vacant leadership spot at Department of Homeland Security, ABC News has learned.



While some Trump advisers are pushing for this, others aren't, meaning no decision has been reached and the president and his team are weighing all options.



Sessions has been under fire from the president. Trump has publicly called the attorney general "beleaguered" and said he wouldn't have named the former Alabama senator to head the Justice Department had he known that Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia investigation, a move that ultimately opened the door to the appointment of a special counsel to lead the probe.



The position of secretary of Homeland Security is now open, with Gen. John Kelly moving from that post to become the new White House chief of staff.



Moving Sessions to the Homeland Security role could potentially allow the president to bring in a new attorney general who could take over the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and possible ties to Trump associates.



But the prospect of possibly removing special counsel Robert Mueller, who heads the Russia probe, has drawn strong words of caution -- even from some Republicans.



"Any effort to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency," Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina said this week.



Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Lynn Hubert stayed up until the wee hours on Friday morning dusting chandeliers and other details in her downtown Albany house.

The 1925 Colonial Revival-style structure at 310 Seventh Ave. SW is on Saturdays Interior Tour of Historic Homes, and Hubert wants everything to look immaculate for visitors who wander through.

The best thing about the Callister/Rohrbough House is the unique touches, Hubert said. Open a closet door and a light inside automatically turns on. A window seat for a staircase landing is secretly a cedar chest. A hole was installed in the floor so a maid could sweep dust directly to a bin down into the basement.

There isnt another place like this next door, like with the cookie-cutter thing, she added.

The tour, which about 500 people usually attend, runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. This is the first time it has been held since 2014, said Rebecca Bond, historic resources coordinator for the Albany Visitors Association.

In the two previous years, there werent enough residents willing to open up their homes, Bond added. (An exterior tour was held in 2016.)

This summer, the 38th edition of the tour features five historic houses, some of them still under restoration, as well as three other landmark destinations.

Hubert said that she didnt mind the tours, as they forced her to reassess possessions and make repairs.

She and her husband Glenn Hubert bought their house about 19 years ago, when their children left for college. They had lived next door for 21 years.

The home was in disrepair, so they gutted the kitchen, refinished the hardwood floors and then went room-to-room fixing up the place.

Glenn Hubert took the unfinished attic and transformed it into a massive man cave.

Every house has upkeep, but the 5,000 square-foot structure, along with its lawn, requires a lot of care and maintenance, Lynn Hubert said. But for her and her husband, the historic structure is well worth the effort.

Her favorite spot is a kitchen table that looks out over a hydrangea plant in the front yard. The chairs and other items nearby match the purple, pink and blue hues of the pom-pom flowers.

This window opens so youre actually outside in the morning, Hubert said.

Tickets for the tour, which cost $15 each or $12 for seniors and groups of 10 or more, are available at the Albany Visitors Association, 110 Third Ave. S.E. starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Children 12 and under can attend for free with a paid adult.

A horse-drawn wagon and vintage trolley ride are included in the ticket price, or visitors can travel to the tour locations in their own vehicles.

Light refreshments will be provided.

Albanys annual Interior Tours were created by a group of friends and neighbors to share the past through the architecture of historic dwellings.

Albany also has an historic Christmas Parlour Tour held the second Sunday in December.

Other locations on the summer tour are: the Daisy Buckner House, a 1930 bungalow at 324 Fourth Ave. SE; an 1885 western farmhouse with gothic dormer at 427 Fifth Ave. SE; the Clarissa Blount House, an 1880 Italianate at 338 Sixth Ave. SE; the Rohrbough House, an 1875 classic revival at 820 Eighth Ave. SW; the Monteith House Museum, 518 Second Ave. SW; the Whitespires Church, 510 Washington St. SW; and the Albany Regional Museum, 136 Lyon Street. S.
McDonald's is reported to have hired bouncers to stop teenagers from entering some branches over fears of gang violence.

The fast food giant is said to have banned under 21s from entering at least two of its branches, in Chatham and Strood, Kent.

Two girls, aged 15 and 17, were grilled by store employees when the Sun asked them to visit the Chatham branch.

McDonald's is reported to have hired bouncers to stop teenagers from entering some branches over fears of gang violence (file photo of McDonald's in Strood, Kent)

A man in a high visibility jacket told the girls they could only order food if it was for takeaway, the Sun reported.

He said the ban was to do with gang violence in the area, where a young boy was allegedly attacked with a hammer.

'She was upset and I am angry,' said Lesley Mulhall whose daughter Abigail, 15, was kicked out of the eatery.

She added: 'McDonald's make so much money out of young people and treating them like this shows a complete lack of respect.

McDonald's confirmed to the Sun that the two restaurants had reported antisocial behaviour.

The company said: 'We have placed a temporary restriction on under-21s from eating inside in groups of more than two, unless they are accompanied by an adult.'
On a farm track outside the huge migrants camp hidden away among cornfields near Venice, a young Nigerian is telling me of his hopes for a new life.

With pink varnish on his nails and a paisley bandana on his head, he does a Michael Jackson-style shimmy under the searing July sun.

Osarume Ehiz, 16, has lived in the camp with 1,000 other male migrants, many of them fellow Nigerians, for 11 months.

Im a dancer, he says, eyes sparkling and his feet moving fast in his white plastic sandals. But I cant make a career in Italy. Im waiting for a special visa, so I can go anywhere in Europe. I hope the paperwork will come soon.

The special visa he refers to is at the centre of a furious row that is dividing EU governments and escalating border tensions as the continent struggles to cope with the biggest migration crisis since World War II.

Rescued: Migrants disembark from an Italian Coast Guard ship at the harbour of Augusta, Sicily

Earlier this month, Italy, which because of its geographical position is bearing the brunt of a huge influx of migrants from Africa, threatened to disperse them by providing EU temporary visas to up to 200,000.

The move would let thousands of migrants  many of whom have made the treacherous and illegal journey by sea on flimsy boats from Libya  spread across the rest of Europe.

It follows growing anger in Italy that other EU nations have reneged on promises to help with the migrant crisis engulfing the country. Up to 95,000 people have arrived on Italian shores so far this year.

Last weekend alone, several thousand were rescued and brought into port by naval vessels and charity boats.

Italian PM Paolo Gentilonis contentious plan would allow visa holders to travel freely into Austria  and beyond.

Austria has retaliated by threatening to close its key Alpine border with Italy, at the Brenner Pass, and enforce it with tanks and troops.

Its foreign minister, Sebastian Kurz, has said that being saved in the Mediterranean cannot be connected with a ticket to Central Europe. To say emotions are running high between the two countries is an understatement, but the stand-off reflects hardening public opinion across the EU about levels of migration and the pathetic response from politicians to what is, arguably, the greatest issue of our times.

'Last weekend alone, several thousand were rescued and brought into port by naval vessels and charity boats'

Under the EUs migrant quota scheme, all member countries are meant to accept a mandatory share of migrants whose landing point is Italy.

But the growing realisation, as confirmed by the UN, that most of the current influx of migrants are no longer Syrian refugees fleeing civil war or Islamic State horror, but economic desperados from countries including Bangladesh, Guinea as well as Nigeria, is having an impact.

Even the European Commission vice-president, Frans Timmermans, recently admitted that most migrants are not escaping persecution but simply searching for a better life.

Poland and Hungary are jibbing at taking in migrants (citing cultural difficulties in view of the fact that many are Muslim and both countries have strong Christian traditions), while the Czech Republic is dragging its feet, too.

So in this febrile atmosphere, Italys border with Austria has become a potential flashpoint.

And, as I witnessed this week, few migrants seem to be in need of special visas as they cross with apparent ease from one country desperate to be rid of them to another which is no more welcoming.

Italy is the major recipient of migrants and refugees on the Central Mediterranean Route from Libya. It now takes in far more than Greece, where the numbers arriving have fallen thanks to a deal negotiated with Turkey last year  at a cost of several billion euros to the EU.

'Italy is the major recipient of migrants and refugees on the Central Mediterranean Route from Libya'

(Turkey agreed to take back those migrants who had travelled from the Middle East and elsewhere, via Turkey, and then across the Aegean Sea to Greece, but who did not qualify for asylum in the EU.)

Increasingly, migrant holding camps, which have been set up all over Italy, are close to overflowing. The young Nigerian I met this week, Osarume Ehiz, who gets 75 a month from the Italian government if he stays in the camp, says conditions are dreadful.

I live in a room with ten others in bunk beds, he complains. There are mosquitos, the food is uneatable and we get no education. Italy is a bad country. The clothes they give us are unusable, so I buy mine from the market stalls.

Every day, like other migrants at his camp, a former military base in Bagnoli di Sopri, he uses a charity bike to cycle around the countryside, simply for something to do.

The Italians in the villages dont say hello to us. They are not rude, but avoid our eyes. I think it is because we are black, he adds.

Four miles away at another camp housing 2,000 migrants in the village of Conetta, it is much the same story. There, the 190 locals feel overwhelmed. Some have got fed up and, at one stage, put up protest messages scrawled on sheets in the village square. One said simply: Repatriate the migrants.

The local mayor Albero Panfilio said it was wrong to squash human beings together with no hope for the future. I call the camp a human warehouse. The migrants arrive, the authorities dont know where to put them, so they dump them here. They are treated like garbage.

'Increasingly, migrant holding camps, which have been set up all over Italy, are close to overflowing'

Certainly, the Italian public is losing patience. In an appalling but telling scenario in January, a migrant drowned in the Grand Canal in Venice as passers-by watched but did little to help.

There were even ugly shouts of Go home and Let him die. Patel Sabelly, a Gambian in his 20s, had jumped to his death from a bridge after reaching Italy by boat from Libya and being refused asylum.

Although the Mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, in a gesture of respect, paid for the mans funeral out of his own pocket, his statement at the time was in tune with public attitudes and officials frustration. We cant continue to nurture the hopes of half the world of coming to Italy, he said.

It is impossible for our country to continue managing such a large-scale phenomenon in the way it has done so far.

Meanwhile, Austria is still reeling from the impact of the 2015 migrant influx when Angela Merkel controversially opened Germanys borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants.

Of the million or so heading for Germany, 90,000 decided to stay in Austria as they passed through. In this fiercely nationalistic nation, politicians and the people were soon saying enough is enough.

The burka has been banned by Austria, compulsory German lessons introduced for migrants, and after a spate of attacks across the EU on women in public places, signs have gone up in Arabic at a market town near Vienna, telling male migrants not to touch female bathers or follow them into swimming pool changing rooms.

'Even the European Commission vice-president, Frans Timmermans, recently admitted that most migrants are not escaping persecution but simply searching for a better life'

This week, I observed migrants on their way from those camps in Bagnoli di Sopri and Conetta, near Venice, up to the town of Brenner marking the border with Austria. I followed them to Innsbruck, a major city and popular ski resort which hosted the 1976 Winter Olympics. It was clear this is a well-used route for migrants, many of whom refuse to stay in the Italian camps more than 24 hours, walking out after a meal and a shower. They are anxious to avoid being fingerprinted and escape being tangled up in the Italian asylum system, preferring to take their chances in northern Europe.

Their journey often begins in the pretty Italian town of Bolzano, about 50 miles south of Brenner, where trains go to Innsbruck.

Outside the railway station, I met Musa, 23, from Guinea, who arrived by boat from Libya seven months ago. I am sad and tired, he tells me. Europe is not what I hoped for. I sleep on the streets and now I am going to Austria.

No Italian official intervened as he bought a ticket for Innsbruck and boarded a train.

When trains arrive at Brenner, there appear to be no onboard checks. Indeed, on Wednesday and Thursday this week, the only visible security at the border was an Italian army truck. Its three occupants occasionally got out to stretch their legs and at one stage could be seen pointing the way to migrants who preferred to simply walk into Austria.

Other migrants sat on benches outside the station, waiting for trains, eating hot dogs and sending messages on their phones. One, a 23-year-old from the Ivory Coast, told me he expected to be in Innsbruck by nightfall.

It is easy, he said laughing. No one likes to stay in Italy when there are opportunities further north in Austria, Sweden, Germany and Britain. Inside Brenner station, another trio of Italian soldiers walked along the platform as an Innsbruck-bound train rolled in. Migrants boarded under their noses and were soon leaving Italy.

At Innsbrucks main station, I saw migrants newly arrived from Italy being greeted by a Somalian called Hussein, 30, who has lived in Austria for five years.

'Italian PM Paolo Gentilonis contentious plan would allow visa holders to travel freely into Austria  and beyond'

They come in all the time, every day and at all times of the day, he told me. I take them to the mosque across the road. They often need clothes, food and help.

The Italians turn a blind eye. They see the migrants on the platform back at the Brenner Pass and say go now when the train for Austria comes.

Its not only the trains, there are cars and trucks, too. If a migrant has money to give a trafficker, then it is easy as there are no regular road checks into Austria either.

If the Italian governments threat of special visas becomes a reality, then this constant stream of migrants towards the Austrian border may well become a deluge.

Adding to the sense of crisis, this week the European Court of Justice endorsed an important EU law that requires migrants to seek asylum in the first EU country they reach, overruling arguments that it is not equipped to deal with the huge numbers of migrants arriving in Italy.

So might this be the tipping point for the Italian government? Only time will tell, but Mattia Toaldo, senior analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, fears the worst.

He recently warned that Italys threat to assist the onward journey of migrants with temporary EU visas was a nuclear option.

Italians had lost all hope of getting help from the EU, he said, and might yet tell Brussels: If you wont make migration a common challenge [for all the member nations], then we will.

This week, looking at dispirited, overstretched Italy struggling to cope, its difficult not to have sympathy if that is the incendiary path this nation chooses to take  with awesome consequences for its neighbours and beyond.
Amanda Knox said the four years she spent in an Italian prison defined who she is today and spoke about the pain she went through.

In the rare appearance Thursday, Knox, 30, spoke in front of a panel of lawyers with the Westside Bar Association about her two convictions for the 2007 murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, before she was acquitted.

The two were studying in Perugia, Italy, when Knox found Kercher murdered in their shared apartment.

Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted for the murder. Knox, who was 20 at the time, spent four years in prison until she were released and acquitted in 2011.

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Amanda Knox, 30, spoke in Los Angeles in front of a panel of lawyers for the Westside Bar Association, Thursday. In her rare public appearance, Knox talked about the four years she spent in an Italian prison and the pain she experienced

Knox (pictured left during the trial in 2009) was convicted twice for the 2007 murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher (right). The two were studying in Perugia, Italy, when Knox found Kercher murdered in their shared apartment

Knox (left) and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito (right) were convicted for Kercher's murder. The two are pictured soon after Kercher was found

'I went into prison as not yet a woman and I came out an adult woman and that period defined me,' she told KTLA Thursday.

In her appearance Thursday, the Seattle native was also promoting her memoir and the Netflix documentary about her trials and convictions.

'I realized the courtroom was actually a battleground for storytelling. Where the most compelling story and not necessarily the most truthful wins,' she said, Fox 11 reported.

'The truth doesn't fit in a headline or a tweet or a fairytale format.'

She added, to KTLA: 'The unfortunate thing about this case is that the prosecution decided, before the evidence came in, that I had to be guilty.'

Even though the trial process and her time in prison were terrible, she said Thursday that the hardest part was the pain caused to her family.

'Everyone in my family suffered. And the worst thing of all - they didn't feel like they could share that with me. Because I was in trouble.'

Knox said the hardest part of going through the trial and serving four years in prison was the pain it caused her family. She said Thursday: 'Everyone in my family suffered. And the worst thing of all - they didn't feel like they could share that with me. Because I was in trouble.' Her father, Curt Knox, is pictured in 2009 during the trial

Knox has a new boyfriend, novelist Christopher Robinson (right). The two started dating last year and moved in together a few months later

Since her acquittal, Knox has moved back to Seattle, finished college and is working as a writer.

She has a new boyfriend, novelist Christopher Robinson. The two started dating last year and moved in together a few months later.

Knox has also dedicated her life to helping the wrongly convicted through work with organizations including the Innocence Project.

When she spoke at the panel on Thursday, Knox said she wants to use her experience to help others.

'I have to tell my story so that the echo of it can reach people.

'I just want to show that it's not this distant difficult to understand thing. It's a human thing that can happen to anyone at anytime. No one is safe, but we can understand it.'
More than a million British air passengers could be owed up to 360 each in compensation over severe delays to flights.

A study found almost 1.2million are entitled to a payout after their short or medium-haul flights were delayed by three hours or more last year.

This equates to about 3,300 people every day who experienced severe delays on flights to or from Britain that were supposed to be only a few hours long.

The investigation by consumer group Which? found the number of people on delayed flights with easyJet, British Airways and Ryanair has doubled in five years, and hold-ups at some of Britains busiest airports have risen sharply.

An investigation by consumer group Which? found the number of people on delayed flights with easyJet, British Airways and Ryanair has doubled in five years

EU rules state passengers flying from the EU, or with an EU airline, are entitled to between 220 and 360 compensation on short-haul flights, and up to 535 for longer flights, depending on the length of delay.

But many passengers do not bother to claim as they are put off by the bureaucracy. Airlines are also highly adept at wriggling out of paying compensation, regularly citing extraordinary circumstances.

This is legitimate in cases such as extreme weather or an air traffic control strike. But it has been used as an easy get-out clause by firms, which use a range of excuses such as unforeseen technical difficulties and lack of staff to avoid paying.

Last night, Which? said enough is enough. The consumer group called on ministers to force airlines to automatically pay compensation for severe delays.

The call was backed by Labour MP John Mann and Tory MP Huw Merriman.

Mr Mann said: This would soon force airlines to get their act together as these delays would start costing them. The current compensation system is unreliable, bureaucratic and slow. Airlines need to up their game.

Mr Merriman, a former member of the Commons transport committee, added: Airlines know which flight its passengers are on, their bank details and the length of any delay. If they do not make compensation an automatic transaction then the Government should force them to do so.

Many passengers do not bother to claim compensation as they are put off by the bureaucracy

The study for the Daily Mail covered 25 UK airports in the year 2016/17. It included short and medium-haul flights under 2,175 miles, covering much of Europe and as far east as Lebanon. There were just under 1.2million seriously delayed passengers, up almost 50 per cent from around 800,000 in 2011/12.

Using Civil Aviation Authority data excluding long-haul flights, Which? found 191,000 easyJet passengers were delayed by three hours or more in 2016/17, up 111 per cent from 2011/12, while the number of flights run by the airline rose by only 24 per cent.

For BA, the number of seriously delayed passengers nearly doubled to 131,000 over the same period. The number of flights it operated rose by just 21 per cent.

The number of Ryanair passengers who experienced severe delays doubled to 90,000. This dwarfed the 58 per cent rise in the number of flights it operates.

Looking at major airports during the same five years, the study found the number of passengers delayed by three hours or more increased by 60 per cent to 264,000 at Gatwick, rose to 240,000 at Heathrow, and jumped 212 per cent at London City airport.

Airlines are also highly adept at wriggling out of paying compensation, regularly citing extraordinary circumstances

The delays fell at Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow.

Alex Neill of Which?  which has released a guide showing passengers how to claim compensation, below  said: Passengers are fed up with airlines giving a poor service, then adding insult to injury by making them jump through hoops to get the money they are entitled to  they should compensate passengers automatically.

An easyJet spokesman said in 2017 less than 0.8 per cent of its flights would be delayed by more than three hours. A BA spokesman said the vast majority of its services run on time and it always meets obligations to pay EU compensation. Ryanairs Kenny Jacobs said its on-time performance  averages 90 per cent.

A spokesman for Gatwick said in recent years it had been disproportionately affected by issues beyond our control. A Heathrow spokesman said there is little scope in the system to cope with delays caused by bad weather.
The BBC has refused to reveal the cost of its Glastonbury festival coverage, claiming it would breach EU human rights law.

It comes after the broadcaster was accused of producing left-wing propaganda in its coverage of last months festival, which saw Jeremy Corbyn address tens of thousands of music fans from the main stage.

The corporation insists it is not obliged to disclose the cost to licence fee-payers of covering the five-day festival  arguing that it is protected by freedom of expression and the rights of the media under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Last night critics rounded on the public body, accusing it of acting without any accountability and hitting a new low after last weeks gender pay gap row.

The BBC has refused to reveal the cost of its Glastonbury festival coverage

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said the BBC showed it had something to hide.

The BBC are hiding behind human rights laws not to disclose how much theyve spent on Glastonbury to promote Jeremy Corbyns party political broadcast, he said.

The BBC have huge power and authority without any accountability. The reason they wont release the information is because the licence fee payer would be aghast at this indulgence.

This week, the BBC refused to reveal under freedom of information legislation how many staff it had sent to cover Glastonbury and the costs incurred.

It also refused to disclose the number of guests it hosted, including any MPs, and the cost of its hospitality at the festival.

The broadcaster insisted it was exempt from the legislation in this case because the information requested is held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature, a clause in the Freedom of Information Act supported by Article 10, it claimed.

Last months festival saw Mr Corbyn become the first opposition leader to speak on one of the events stages when he addressed tens of thousands from the Pyramid Stage on the Saturday of the festival.

The BBC was accused of hero-worshipping the Labour leader after BBC reporter Gemma Cairney told Radio 4s Today programme that Mr Corbyns performance would be brilliant and BBC Radio Ones Twitter account later posted that the Labour leader had aced his speech.

Last months festival saw Mr Corbyn (pictured right with Michael Eavis) become the first opposition leader to speak on one of the events stages

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell also used a speech at the festival to claim the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire were murdered by political decisions.

A few days later, Radio 2 DJ Zoe Ball told her audience: Other great things that happened at Glastonbury, had a lovely cuddle and a chat with Tom Watson MP. It was so lovely to see him.

She later added: Of course, probably my favourite thing of the whole weekend was everyone singing Oh Jeremy Corbyn everywhere you went. It was so brilliant.

Philip Hollobone, another Tory MP, said: The BBC is clearly hugely fearful of transparency and has now reached a new low in using the Human Rights Act to wriggle out of its responsibility to reveal how much public money was spent on this extravaganza.

For a supposedly publicly accountable organisation, this is an absurd and completely unacceptable situation.

It follows the self-inflicted wound of the gender pay gap row and shows the BBC is not being governed properly.

In 2009, the BBC revealed that it sent 415 staff to cover that years Glastonbury  just 22 fewer than the number flown out for the 2008 Beijing Olympics - at an estimated cost of 1.5million.

But it has refused to reveal costs relating to programming since winning a High Court battle in October 2009 to keep the salaries of its stars secret.

The case was brought after the BBC consistently refused to comply with freedom of information requests from newspapers and members of the public.

This week, the BBC refused to reveal under freedom of information legislation how many staff it had sent to cover Glastonbury and the costs incurred

However, the High Court ruled in the BBCs favour, concluding that the BBC had no obligation to disclose stars salaries under a clause in the Act stating that information related to its programming in journalism, arts or literature did not have to be disclosed.

Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said the clause has become too far-reaching and was never intended to shield information on the BBCs spending.

The provision was put into the Act to comply with Article 10, he said. In other words, it was feared that providing a right to access the information held by the BBC would interfere with the practice of journalism.

People believed they were talking about providing protection for BBC journalists, such as keeping the notes in their notebooks and their sources secret.

The courts later ruled that the costs of programming and the number of staff sent on assignments were journalistic discussions.

So that has meant that what is available from the BBC is non-programme expenses such as building costs. But spending decisions generally should be subject to FOI requests.

Last year, it was revealed that the BBC had refused to answer more than a third of Freedom of Information requests it receives by relying on the clause.

The corporation was finally made to reveal the salaries of its highest-paid stars last week under a government White Paper.
Speed limits on parts of the motorway network may be slashed to 60mph in a bid to cut air pollution.

Ministers are assessing the environmental impact of cutting speeds, with trials on the M1 expected as soon as this summer.

The Governments controversial air quality strategy this week identified two stretches of motorway needing urgent attention  the M4 in London and the M32 near Bristol.

Speed limits on parts of the motorway network may be slashed to 60mph in a bid to cut air pollution

However, the strategy admitted that reducing the limit from 70mph may have no impact on roads that are already congested.

And variable speed limits mean part of the M4 heading into the capital from near Heathrow already has a 60mph limit on average.

Previous work by Highways England suggests pollution limits are regularly breached on a number of motorways.

Data released by the agency in 2015 revealed that the entire M60 around Manchester and long stretches of the M25 around London regularly saw pollution levels breach legal limits.

A stretch of the M1 near Sheffield was also identified as a pollution hotspot, and is likely to be one of the first to test lower speed limits to control emissions.

Local MPs were warned that rush hour restrictions were likely after a report by engineering company Mouchel recommended a 60mph limit at peak times.

Tory MP Charlie Elphicke questioned whether cutting speed limits would make a significant difference on roads that are already heavily congested.

Mr Elphicke said: It seems bizarre to be considering cutting the speed limit to 60 on roads where it is practically impossible to drive that fast because of the level of congestion.

Anyone who drives regularly on the M25 for example, will know it is often hard to do more than 40mph. Air pollution is a serious matter and must be tackled. But it is important the Government doesnt allow it to be used as a smokescreen by the anti-car lobby to have another go at motorists.

The move comes just two years after then transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin suggested improvements in car safety meant the speed limit could be raised to 80mph on some motorways.

Previous work by Highways England suggests pollution limits are regularly breached on a number of motorways

But officials now believe evidence in other countries shows that cutting speed limits could make a significant difference to air pollution levels.

The Netherlands cut speed limits on some main roads more than a decade ago and studies found that the move led to a significant decrease of nitrogen oxide emissions.

The Energy Savings Trust estimates that a diesel car driving at 75mph uses an average 17.7 per cent more fuel than one at 60mph.

The new air quality strategy suggested that cutting the speed limit to 60mph on polluted motorways could make a significant difference to emission levels.

But it acknowledged that the science was uncertain, saying: It is possible that failing motorway links tend to be busier and more heavily congested, and that average speeds on them are lower.

In this case, a change in the speed limit may have little impact on air quality  because cars are already travelling at speeds below the limit.
When Anthony Scaramucci and Reince Priebus met six years ago in the run-up to the 2012 presidential elections, the two were friendly.

But their relationship soured during President Donald Trump's transition after his election in 2016 as the two jostled for power.

Priebus, who was appointed chief of staff, told Trump that Scaramucci stood to profit from his proximity to the president in selling off his stake of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, according to sources who spoke to the Huffington Post.

Scaramucci, who in turn dubbed his nemesis 'Reince Penis' and 'Rancid Penis', tried to claw his way back into Trump's good graces through Jared Kushner and Stephen Bannon before settling on the president's longtime bodyguard, sources said.

But in a stunning turn of events, it appears Scaramucci got the last laugh, having finally been appointed communications director days before Priebus was ousted.

But Scaramucci's hell-bent path into the White House may have cost him his marriage, as his wife Deidre filed for divorce with a source telling the New York Post she grew 'tired of his naked ambition'.

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Priebus (left), who was appointed chief of staff, told Trump that Scaramucci (right) stood to profit from his proximity to the president, according to sources who spoke to the HuffPo

Scaramucci (right), who in turn dubbed his nemesis 'Reince Penis' and 'Rancid Penis' (pictured left, Priebus), tried to claw his way back into Trump's good graces

In a stunning turn of events, it appears Scaramucci got the last laugh, having finally been appointed communications director days before Priebus was ousted (pictured, Trump)

Scaramucci was fundraising for Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential bid when he met Priebus, who was the Republican National Committee chair at the time.

The two were cordial throughout Trump's campaign, but things took a turn once Trump was elected and Priebus was appointed chief of staff.

Scaramucci, who anticipated a smoother ascent into the White House in January, was ready to sell his stake in SkyBridge Capital to Chinese conglomerate HNA Capital and American investment firm RON Transatlantics.

But Priebus reportedly scuttled his chances, telling Trump that he had been 'played' by Scaramucci, according to the Huffington Post.

Priebus suggested the deal was a shady one - and that HNA Capital offered more for Scaramucci's stake in the company with the suggestion that favors would be expected in return once the financier was inside the White House, the HuffPo reported.

Scaramucci, who was anticipating a job in the public liaison office, was ultimately left out in the cold.

Scaramucci tried to enlist the help of both Jared Kushner (left) and Stephen Bannon (right)

Scaramucci finally found a way in through Trump's longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller (above), who put him on the phone with the president

But he was intent on finding a way back, enlisting the help of Trump's son-in-law, who tried to reassure the president on Scaramucci's behalf.

The 53-year-old then tried to worm his way into Trump's good graces through Bannon, but two people who spoke to the Huffington Post said the chief strategist already had his hands full trying to save Stephen Miller's job.

Scaramucci finally found a way in through Trump's longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller, who put him on the phone with the president.

Trump was sympathetic to Priebus' grievances, and offered to place him in a position as soon as he could.

When it emerged earlier July that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer during his father's presidential campaign, Scaramucci reportedly told the president that Priebus was the leaker, arguing that of all the leaks, none had targeted the chief of staff.

And when Scaramucci was named the communications director, it was notable that the White House announcement included the line: 'He will report directly to the president.'

Scaramucci had finally landed the job, and he called the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza on Wednesday night, accusing Priebus of being a leaker and a 'f****** paranoid schizophrenic'.

By Friday afternoon, Trump announced General John Kelly would be taking over Priebus' role of chief of staff. Pictured, Priebus in his first interview since the announcement

And by Friday afternoon, Trump announced General John Kelly would be taking over Priebus' role of chief of staff.

Scaramucci, while victorious in the feud with Priebus, may have suffered a personal loss, with his wife Deidre filing for divorce, it was revealed Friday.

'She is tired of his naked ambition, which is so enormous that it left her at her wits end,' according to one source who spoke to the New York Post.

Another source said that Scaramucci's new boss was also causing problems in the couple's relationship.

'Deidre is not a fan of Trump, and she hasnt exactly been on board and supportive of Anthony and his push to get back into the White House,' said the second source.
An Australian man who underwent a routine operation in Bali has been left fighting for his life after his heart stopped during surgery.

Perth father of two- Steven Didmon, 39, was admitted to Siloam Hospital on July 12 for a hernia operation, but went into cardiac arrest when doctors gave him epidural anaesthetic.

Mr Didmon's sister Fiona Vojnovic told PerthNow doctors gave her brother CPR to stabilise him.

Father of two- Steven Didmon, 39, was admitted to Siloam Hospital on July 12 for a hernia operation, but went into cardiac arrest when doctors gave him epidural anaesthetic

Mr Didmon has a three-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter- He had been living in Bali with his Indonesian wife when he became ill

He was then placed on life support because his lungs and kidney stopped functioning.

Ventilator tubes have since been removed but he remains weak and confused, his sister said.

His family have started a Gofundme page to help pay for the medical bills, which they say have already reached over $50,000.

My son Steven Andrew Didmon went for a simple Hernia operation at the Siloam Hospital in Bali on the 12th of July 2017, Mr Didmons father Jeffrey wrote.

'Unfortunately things turned bad when they administered the epidural anaesthetic and my son Steven went into cardiac arrest.

'We have huge medical expenses in Bali as Steve did not have insurance and we have organised a medical evacuation Company Medical Air to bring him back to Perth as soon as possible the cost for this is 47,500 aud.

Mr Didmon (pictured with his wife) was then placed on life support because his lungs and kidney stopped functioning

His family have started a Gofundme page to help pay for the medical bills, which they say have already reached over $50,000 (Mr Didmon pictured with his father)

'My sons wife Lovia has negotiated with the hospital and we have received a discount of 30K aud leaving us with a 50K aud bill, the hospital wants full payment of the 50K bill before Steven can be released.'

Mr Didmon has a three-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter.

He had been living in Bali with his Indonesian wife when he became ill.
Atlanta Daniel (pictured) has revealed stories of sexual harrassment she has faced at work

'[The] investor told me I owed him a b**w job for his help.'

That's the startling admission from a top tech venture capitalist - but it's not the only one.

Atlanta Daniel, a director with Adelaide-based company Blue Sky, has in recent years worked in both the United States and Australia with an ever growing number of start ups.

And while the famed US technology capital of Silicon Valley has been rocked during the past year by claims of sexual harrassment in the workplace, Ms Daniel says it isn't a problem that's solely confined to overseas.

A prominent member of the Australian startup community, Ms Daniel has been at the forefront of a push for women to speak up about their stories of sexual harrassment.

One of hundreds to sign a statement on sexual abuse in Australian startups, she then took to social media to share her own encounters.

'Among many incidents, one investor told me I owed him a blow job for his help,' Ms Daniel tweeted earlier this month.

A prominent member of the Australian startup community, Ms Daniel took to Twitter recently to share stories of being told by investors she owed them a 'b**w job' in return for his help

'He moves in #startupaus circles. He's a normal dude. He invests in women and supports diversity campaigns. I could never understand it.

'He had quite a lot of power. For me in the end I chose avoidance, which wasn't necessarily the best thing for me.'

Ms Daniel also said the same investor told her he had a 'job for her under the table' and would be able to tell her age when he 'saw her naked'.

Her account followed a number of complaints by at least a dozen women in the US against some of the top tech directors in Silicon Valley.

Their move was applauded by Australia's community, who vowed to back anyone in the tech industry who has a similar story to share.

'We... will, to the very best of our ability take action against the kind of behaviour that makes women feel exploited, secondary or unwelcome,' they said in a statement.

Her account followed a number of complaints by at least a dozen women working at startups in the US against some of the top tech directors in Silicon Valley (Stock image)

'Weve got a long road ahead of us, and we will be stronger together.'

But although Ms Daniel's story and others like it gained a lot of attention online, she says not a lot has changed.

'I told a couple of people of influence what he was doing. They seem to still hang with him,' she wrote.

'This is why we don't speak up.'
A California imam who came under fire for a sermon that has been translated to condone the annihilation of Jews, has apologized.

Imam Ammar Shahin, of the Islamic Center of Davis, held a news conference Friday admitting his emotions clouded his judgement during the sermon on July 21.

Shahin's sermon focused on the al-Aqsa Mosque, a holy site for both Muslims and Jews alike.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), translated Shahin's remarks as calling for God to 'liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews' and to 'annihilate them down to the very last one.'

Imam Ammar Shahin, of the Islamic Center of Davis, apologized Friday for statements he made during his sermon on July 21 (pictured)

Hamza El-Nakhal a member of the Muslim community in Davis said Shahin 'spoke while angry. He should not have given this sermon while angry'

A recent turn of events at the highly contested site prompted Shahin to give the sermon after Israeli officials put metal detectors at the site for Muslims to pass through following a recent shooting of two Israeli guards there by Arab-Israeli gunmen.

During Friday's press conference, Shahin said: I am deeply sorry for the pain that I have caused. The last thing I would do is intentionally hurt anyone, Muslim, Jewish or otherwise. It is not in my heart, nor does my religion allow it.'

However the Islamic Center of Davis said in a statement to the Washington Post Wednesday that Sharin's statements were taken out of context by MEMRI.

'In the context of the full sermon, it becomes clear that the theme of the sermon was against oppression, and not against Jews or any religion,' the mosque statement said.

'If MEMRI and company sincerely followed Imam Ammar Shahin's work and did not just cut and paste what suits their cause, they would have come across the countless lectures and sermons he has given regarding treating all people, especially non-Muslims, with kindness and giving them their full rights, supporting them when they are oppressed.'

A recent event at the Al-Aqsa mosque's compound which lead to metal detectors being installed was the focal point of Shahin's admittedly emotional sermon. The mosque in a photo from June 27, clashes erupted between Israeli police and Palestinians at the sensitive Jerusalem holy site

During Friday's news conference, Shahin said 'Commitment to defending religious rights in Jerusalem should not cause division or fan the flames of anti-semitism.'

He added 'Today, I commit to working harder and will join efforts for mutual understanding and building bridges. As a young religious leader, this has humbled me.'

Shahin was flanked by Davis Rabbi Seth Castleman and other interfaith leaders to ease tensions over his comments that some feared could result in violence.

'I said things that were hurtful to Jews. This was unacceptable,' Shahin said. 'I hope to grow and develop as a more worthy leader in the community,' he added.

Rabbi Castleman thanked Shahin for his apologies and called for action. 'Apologies are only as worthy as the actions that follow, so I call upon you. I implore you to follow those words with actions,' Castleman said.

As soon as the hour long sermon hit the Internet the mosque put out statements including the one admonishing MEMRI for only taking it as a portion. A second appeared under the YouTube clip of the sermon.

In the posted YouTube clip the statement said: 'The ICD (Islamic Center of Davis) will always stand against anti-semitism similarly to how the Jewish community has always stood against Islamophobia in our close knit community. We have zero tolerance for anti-semitism or any other form of bigotry.'

Hamza El-Nakhal, a member of the Muslim community in Davis told The Enterprise 'Some people like Imam Ammar Shahin become angry for injustices. He spoke while angry. He should not have given this sermon while angry.'
Philomath High School Annual Old-Timer Reunion, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, Philomath City Park, 299 S. 23rd St. Lunch at noon; bring a dish to share, and lawn chairs. Information: Peggy Clark, 541-453-4444.

Crescent Valley High School/Corvallis High School Class of 1977 40-year reunion, Aug. 4 and 5. CVHS reunion, evening, Aug. 4, Squirrel's Tavern, 100 SW Second St. CHS reunion, evening, Aug. 4, House of Brews, 140 NW Third St., Suite B. CVHS/CHS catered picnic, afternoon, Aug. 5, Rotary Shelter, Willamette Park, 1350 SE Goodnight Ave. CVHS/CHS dinner, evening, Aug. 5, Clubhouse at Adair, 6097 NE Ebony Lane. Those reading this announcement are asked to share the information with siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents who may have graduated in 1977. Former teachers and school staff members are welcome to join in all events as guests of the classes of 1977. Cost: $55 per person. Registration: Crescent Valley High School Class of 1977 on Facebook.com, or Corvallis Spartans Indomitable Class of 1977, also on Facebook. Information: 541-752-1300 or cvhs77@gmail.com.

Albany Union High School Class of 1962 55-year reunion, Aug. 11 and 12. Aug. 11: No-host gathering, 5 p.m., Ciddici's Pizza, 133 SW Fifth Ave. Aug. 12: gathering with group photograph taken, 5:30 p.m., American Legion, 1215 Pacific Blvd. SE; dinner, following. Information: Pam Sparks Barrett, 541-926-5478 or pamspalette@yahoo.com.

Lebanon High School Class of 1972 45-year reunion, Aug. 11 and 12. Aug. 11: meet-and-greet, 4 p.m., 1847 Bar and Grill, Boulder Falls Inn, 505/605 Mullins Drive; no-host bar. Aug. 12: dinner, 6 p.m., Lebanon Boys & Girls Club, 305 S. Fifth St.; barbecued chicken and salads; nominal fee to be determined. Overnight reservations at the Boulder Falls Inn are available at a reduced rate; call 541-405-7024 and say you are with the 1972 Class Reunion. Everyone is invited to submit information to Melanie Hantze for the class book. Add a paragraph with biographical information; pictures can be added. Information and questions can be sent to mhantze@gmail.com.

Fifth annual Crabtree community reunion, 2 p.m. Aug. 20, the Knights' property, 37755 Third St., behind the Kingdom Hall. Bring lawn chairs or picnic blankets, a potluck dish, favorite beverages, and old pictures and memorabilia. A portable toilet, a covered area for picnic tables, a large play area for children, room to pitch tents, room to park cars and RVs, and even room for a ball game. RSVP: Verni Knight, verniknight123@gmail.com; Friends of Crabtree Facebook page; or Pam Sparks Barrett, pamspalette@yahoo.com (subject line: Crabtree Reunion). Spread the word to anyone who may be interested, or share contact information with organizers of anyone who ever attended the Crabtree School or lived in the area.

Jefferson High School Class of 1967 50-year reunion, Aug. 26, home of Marti (Goin) McManus, 13971 Jefferson Highway 99E SE. Casual outdoor event; bring a beverage and finger foods to share. Cake will be provided, along with plates and silverware. We do not have addresses for Mike Davis, Aleta Gee, Ron LeGrande, John Kimmel, Dan McGill, Hilda Chapman, Jerold Kreger or Jim Ellis. If you know where they are, please let them know about the reunion, or if you have a phone number or address, text or call Myrna Jordan Strunk at 503-881-5828 or email her at mjsdrs14@gmail.com. Those who have questions or wishing to RSVP can also contact Myrna.

Lebanon High School Class of 1977 40-year reunion, 6 p.m. Sept. 9 (rescheduled from Aug. 19, due to the solar eclipse), Pineway Restaurant and Lounge, 30949 Pineway Road. No-host event. Check out the class' Facebook page.
A Perth teenager is fighting for his life after falling from the fourth floor of an apartment building.

Western Australia police believe the 16-year-old was with a friend when they went to visit a friend who lived at the apartment building at Mounts Bay Road.

It is believed the teenager was denied entry into the apartment block before they decided to climb the building.

A teenager is fighting for life at Royal Perth Hospital (pictured) after falling off apartment

The teenager fell from the fourth floor of an apartment at Mounts Bay Rd (pictured) after being denied access to the building and deciding to climb his way instead

At about 1.30am Saturday the duo realised they were climbing the wrong side of the building and police said that was when the teenager fell from the fourth floor.

The friend ran for help to a nearby random breath testing set up for help.

The teenager was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital and is in a critical condition.
The men who dragged a shark behind a boat in a cruel video earlier this week have posted other pictures of abusing wildlife on their social media pages.

On Tuesday, a horrifying video emerged of the shark being brutally dragged behind four men's speedboat in Florida as they laughed at the helpless creature.

Though the Florida wildlife officials have confirmed the identities of the men involved, they declined to release their names.

Instead, several angry people posted their names on Facebook.

Some of the men allegedly involved have posted several other pictures of themselves mistreating wildlife, including holding various birds and holding up a mutilated shark.

Scroll down for video

The men who dragged a shark behind a boat in a cruel video earlier this week have posted other pictures of abusing wildlife on their social media pages

Though Florida officials have confirmed the identities of the men involved in the video, they have not released their names. Instead, angry people on Facebook have posted their names on Facebook. This picture of two of the men, Michael Wenzel and Robert Lee 'Bo' Benac, surfaced Thursday showing them pouring beer into the gaping mouth of a protected Goliath grouper

Residents in the area said two of the men, Michael Wenzel and Robert Lee 'Bo' Benac, whose mother, Betsy Benac, is the chairwoman of the Manatee County commission, are anglers they've repeatedly complained about, according to the Miami Herald.

A video of Wenzel shooting at a shark also surfaced on Instagram before he shut down his profile

The outrage grew on Thursday when another image surfaced of two of the men pouring beer into the gaping mouth of a protected Goliath grouper and over the gills of a hammerhead shark.

A video of Wenzel shooting at a shark also surfaced on Instagram before he shut down his profile.

On Tuesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission launched an investigation after the men were seen in the video, talking about how the shark is going to die as it helplessly flopped around in the water behind their boat.

Spokesperson Robert Klepper confirmed the FWC was 'alerted to the video circulating on multiple social media sites showing a group of individuals traveling at high speed on the water dragging a shark behind the vessel'.

'The FWC takes this very seriously and is currently investigating this incident. We are also attempting to identify the individuals in the video and where it took place.'

According to the Miami Herald, Wenzel was investigated by state and federal officials in 2015 after posting a series of disturbing pictures that showed him gripping pelicans.

Wildlife officials said the case was closed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in January, highlighting the difficulty in prosecuting incidents depicted in an online post.

Though the commission declined to release the names of the men involved, several angry people posted their names on Facebook. Residents in the area named, Michael Wenzel (right) and Robert Lee 'Bo' Benac (left) as two of the men in the video

It's unclear if those involved have done anything illegal. But social media are calling it animal cruelty.

A petition launched by outraged residents has garnered more than 3,000 signatures from people who are calling for the punishment of the men who dragged a shark behind their boat in the video.

Outrage over the video sparked an online petition on Change.org demanding 'community service and jail time' for the men.

As of Thursday night, 3,200 people signed the petition calling for Florida wildlife officials to revoke the men's fishing licenses and order them to '1,000 hours of community service'.

'These 1,000 community service hours will be held under the supervision of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission,' the petition read.

'They will use that time to teach these young men to treat our Florida wildlife with respect.'

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission launched an investigation after the video of the shark being dragged by the speeding boat

Benac (pictured) is the son of Betsy Benac, is the chairwoman of the Manatee County commission

It's unclear if the men involved in the shark video have done anything illegal. But social media are calling it animal cruelty. Benac is pictured

Fishing captain Mark Quartiano, who received the video from someone he believes was on the boat, shared the clip on Instagram, writing: 'FOR ONCE I MAY HAVE TO AGREE WITH @PETA.'

The brief, 11-second video, shows the shark hitting the surface of the water and flipping around before the cameraman turns the lens to show three others on the boat, laughing and pointing at the animal.

One man can be heard saying: 'Look, it's already almost dead.'

Quartiano, who said he received the video from Instagram users @bearjew428 AND @MICHAELWENZEL, wrote: 'CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WTF IS GOING ON HERE ???? JUST GOT THIS ON MY FEED!

'FOR ONCE I MAY HAVE TO AGREE WITH @PETA. #WHODOESTHISS*** #sowrong #notcool.'

Instagram user @tati.tvami.asi wrote: 'Yeah, they're pieces of s***. I wish some one could drag them behind their car like this.'

User @yeahjustg wrote: 'How sad for that poor shark. A beautiful creature tortured for some sick human's amusement. I hope they are identified and prosecuted. If anyone knows who they are, please report them.'

In Florida, shark fishing is legal, but regulated. Some species cannot be harvested at all; others must have reached a certain length before harvesting is allowed.
Comedian Kathy Griffin is no longer facing an investigation from the federal government for threatening President Donald Trump.

The news comes almost two months after the 56-year-old and her lawyer revealed that the Secret Service opened an investigation into her after a photo was blasted on the web showing the her holding the president's decapitated head in May.

'TODAY. The @AP has to clarify. I am no longer under federal investigation,' she said on Twitter adding a screenshot of a weekly Associated Press fake news round up clarifying that Griffin was not arrested last month.

Comedian Kathy Griffin is no longer facing an investigation from the federal government for threatening President Donald Trump

'TODAY. The @AP has to clarify. I am no longer under federal investigation,' she said on Twitter

'TODAY. The @AP has to clarify. I am no longer under federal investigation,' she said on Twitter

'The case is closed, I have been completely exonerated. Finally.'

On social media, people were split with the comedienne's news.

'You did nothing wrong. Its called humor and social commentary. You said what so many of us were thinking. Thank you for a good laugh,' said one user.

As a result of posing in the image, Griffin lost numerous endorsement deals and her CNN gig

On social media, people were split with the comedienne's news

Sheriann Baker cosigned and added: 'No need to apologize!!'

'You shouldn't have been in the first place,' added another user.

And an additional person said: 'They're hassling a comedian while we have a real criminal in the White House, makes sense?!?!?!...'

'You did nothing wrong. Its called humor and social commentary. You said what so many of us were thinking. Thank you for a good laugh,' said one user

Sheriann Baker cosigned and added: 'No need to apologize!!

'You shouldn't have been in the first place,' added another user

An additional person said: 'They're hassling a comedian while we have a real criminal in the White House, makes sense?!?!?!...'

But sentiment wasn't shared by all, as some people were still offended by the original image that Griffin took.

'Don't confuse the lack of any criminal charges to the moral disgust many people still harbor for you & your sickening behavior,' said one user.

Marcy S. said: 'So now that you've let everyone know - are you still "broke"? Whether you like the POTUS or not, it was not funny.'

As a result of posing in the image, Griffin lost numerous endorsement deals and her CNN gig.

She also claimed to be harassed by the Trump family who were irate that the photo had been taken.

'Don't confuse the lack of any criminal charges to the moral disgust many people still harbor for you & your sickening behavior,' said one user
A prisoner who escaped a Victorian jail with two other inmates wanted to see his family after his brother committed suicide.

Billy Sperling, 25, climbed through a kitchen window at Beechworth Correctional Centre and escaped the minimum security jail with Thomas Smith, 27, and Geoffrey Pennell, 34, Tuesday night.

Sperling, a father of seven-month-old twins, was on the run for two days before handing himself in on Thursday while Smith and Pennell remain on the run.

Billy Sperling, 25, (pictured in 2015) escaped prison by a window to grieve with his family

Sperling (pictured) escaped Beechworth Correction Centre after brother committed suicide

Sperling saw his twins (pictured) before handing himself into Geelong Police two days later

The 25-year-old told Geelong Magistrate's Court he walked 10km from prison before hitchhiking his way back to Ballarat to grieve with his family over his older brother's suicide according to The Geelong Advertiser.

The prison escapee then made his way to Geelong to see his partner and young twins before handing himself in.

Magistrate Clive Alsop acknowledged Sperling's family circumstances when he faced court on Friday and said by giving himself up, he save the state an 'enormous amount of money'.

Sperling is currently serving a 15-month jail sentence for driving offences, property, assault and drug-related offences and will now have two months added to his sentence.

Smith was serving time behind bars for traffic, property, drug and damage-related offences while Pennell is serving time for burglary, theft, drug, traffic and damage-related offences.

Geoffrey Pennell, 34, (left) and Thomas Smith, 27, (right) escaped Victorian jail Tuesday night

Police believe the men stole a 1988 blue Mercedes-Benz (similar to pictured) and are on run

Victoria Police continue to search for the other two prison escapees who are believed to have stolen a blue 1988 Mercedes-Benz.

Detective Senior Sergeant Gary Burton said they believed the men were not a danger to the public.
Australian diggers have allegedly lost of millions of dollars in life savings which they poured into property deals they were told would be a success, but eventually failed.

As many as 200 Australian Defence Force (ADF) members are out of pocket after all reportedly invested into the property company run by a former military officer.

So severe are the reported losses from the deals, that one officer claims to have lost up to $160,000 he had earned risking his life fighting for Australia in overseas wars.

But despite the claims being backed by high-profile politicians, Hugh Ochremienko - the man at the centre of the scandal - denies anyone has lost out from his deals, the Herald Sun reports.

Australian diggers have allegedly been dudded of millions of dollars in life savings which they poured into property deals run by Hugh Ochremienko (pictured) which eventually failed

As many as 200 Australian Defence Force (ADF) members are out of pocket - some as much as $160k - after all reportedly invested into the property company run by the former navy officer

A former Navy diver, after leaving the ADF Mr Ochremienko went on to found 'Hugh Element', an investment company 'focussing on three core elements of success'.

While his organisation was based in Canberra, the property deals Mr Ochremienko proposed to the hundreds of diggers were reportedly often based around Darwin.

He reportedly told some soldiers they would double their money in under five years by investing in cheap housing and apartment complexes for government-subsidised tenants.

But a plunge in property prices, delays in construction and an inability to fill houses with tenants has seen many investments go south.

It is not alleged that at any point Mr Ochremienko did anything illegal.

Speaking to the Herald Sun, he admitted his investments were 'perceived' to have caused soliders to lose money, but denied they actually had.

'But have they really? I'm saying no,' Mr Ochremienko said.

A former Navy diver, after leaving the ADF Mr Ochremienko (pictured) went on to found 'Hugh Element', an investment company 'focussing on three core elements of success'

While his organisation was based in Canberra, the property deals Mr Ochremienko proposed to the hundreds of diggers were reportedly often based in and around Darwin (pictured)

Among the properties was Zest Darwin, a high-rise apartment block in the centre of the city that one officer say he was told by Mr Ochremienko was 'top of the range'.

Online, the apartment is promoted as having 'harbour views and benefit from a close proximity to restaurants, shopping and the CBD'.

For one senior member of the ADF, who was introduced to Mr Ochremienko through a friend after returning from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, the offer sounded perfect.

After being wined and dined by the investor, he was told he should invest in the Zest property and to deal with a specific woman at NAB who was a mortgage expert.

'No matter that I had been with NAB for 20 years, I had to move to her, that was the only way he was going to get a commission, which I now know,' the officer told the Herald Sun.

Among the properties was Zest Darwin (pictured), a modern high-rise apartment block in the centre of the city that one officer was told by Mr Ochremienko was 'top of the range'

In total one officer paid $1 million for the two properties outside Darwin, a decision he instantly came to regret when things began to break or fall off inside his new Zest apartment (pictured)

In total he paid $1 million for two properties outside Darwin, a decision he instantly came to regret it when things began to break or fall off throughout the apartment.

Similar stories are reportedly widespread with some officers who spent their lives on the frontline overseas, now back home and battling to pay their mortgages.

'I am not doing it as tough as some of the other lads, they're leveraged to 110 per cent and their properties are vacant, poor lads,' the anonymous ex-soldier said.

'They have spent their careers in war zones. You don't mess with people who are spending half their uniformed lives overseas defending your country while you're sitting on the Gold Coast.'
Attorney John David Moore Jr. says jurors rushed out of the courthouse last week after finding his client guilty before anyone noticed the 71 oxycodone pills were missing

An Ohio defense attorney says at least one juror may have stolen oxycodone pills during a drug trial and that his client should get a new trial or have his charges thrown out.

Attorney John David Moore Jr. says jurors rushed out of the courthouse last week after finding his client guilty before anyone noticed the 71 opioid pills were missing.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said it's premature to blame jurors for the missing pills and their disappearance doesn't affect the facts of the case.

'Until the sheriff's office completes its review, there's no reason to believe anything went awry with the jury,' O'Brien said Thursday to the Columbus Dispatch.

'And no matter what happens, it shouldn't affect the fact that the evidence showed that (the defendant) possessed the drugs' at the time of his arrest by Whitehall police in January 2016.

O'Brien and the court's administrative judge added they've never heard of evidence going missing during jury deliberations. Heroin and methamphetamine used as evidence didn't turn up missing.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said it's premature to blame jurors for the missing pills and their disappearance doesn't affect the facts of the case

Oxycodone is a pain-killer commonly abused and illegal obtained by opioid addicts.

Moore alleges that the jury rushed to find his client guilty 'so they could get out of the Franklin County courthouse quickly before it was noticed that the oxycodone pills were missing.'

O'Brien added that the jury took two breaks which would have been a time that the courtroom would have been unattended.

Moore added he does not blame prosecution or the judge for the disappearance of the pills

The Franklin County Sheriff's Office is investigating and reviewing surveillance camera footage.

O'Brien and McIntosh added that the incident has opened conversations on how drug evidence should be handled during jury deliberations.

Drug evidence is used in exhibits supplied to juries during deliberations.

McIntosh added that photos of drug evidence could instead be given instead of actual drugs.

Phillip M. Edwards, 34, was convicted of possession of heroin, cocaine and other drugs along with failing to comply with a police officer.

At minimum Edwards will face a minimum of 11 years and nine months in prison but may face up to 43 years when he is sentenced on August 23 by Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt.

Prosecution's evidence, including the oxycodone pills, had been placed in the jury room with jurors during deliberations that wrapped after nearly three hours.

Oxycodone is a pain-killer commonly abused and illegal obtained by opioid addicts

Once the verdict was read, Assistant Prosecutor Dan Stanley locked the evidence in a courthouse office that can only be access by prosecutor's staff, according to O'Brien.

When Stanley checked for the box the next morning on July 21, he noticed that the manila envelope containing 30-milligram pills were missing.

Moore added he does not blame prosecution or the Judge for the disappearance of the pills.

Im not making them the bad guys for letting this happen, he said, but lets all be good guys and let this guy go and make sure this doesnt happen again.

Moore has yet filed a motion seeking a new trial.
There are fears for two young Victorian sisters who vanished 24 hours ago.

Jazmin and Tianna Stevens, aged 12 and 13, were last seen on Station St in Melton at about 6pm Friday night.

Victoria Police said they hold concerns for the girls' welfare because they are both young.

Two Victorian sisters, Tianna and Jazmin Stevens (pictured), aged 12 and 13, disappeared Friday night and haven't been seen since

Tianna was last seen wearing a navy blue jumper with a hood, dark leggings and black Nike runners.

Jazmin was last seen wearing a black and grey top, black leggings and white runners.

Investigators believe the two sisters could be making their way to the Ballarat region, 55km west of Melton, or Melbourne CBD, 49km east of Melton.

Anyone with information on the girls should call Melton Police Station on 9747 7999.
Charlie Gard's parents will set up a charity in the little boy's name to ensure he didn't 'die in vain'.

Connie Yates and Chris Gard said goodbye to their baby boy on Friday evening after a lengthy court battle to save his life and take him to America for treatment for his rare disease.

They raised 1.35million to pay for the treatment in the USA and an air ambulance to take him there, which they have already confirmed will be donated to other children in need.

Chris Gard and Connie Yates with their son Charlie Gard. They ended their legal fight for treatment for him after several months

But now the grief-stricken parents have hinted that they may go a step further, and set up a foundation to remember the 11-month-old.

A family friend told the Sun: 'Now Charlie has gone they are going to struggle to find some purpose in their lives. Everyone thinks that setting up the Charlie Gard Foundation will be fantastic for Connie.

'It will give her something to focus on and help to create a legacy for Charlie and mean that he didn't die in vain.

'Chris will help, but he is keen to get back to normal as much as possible and has talked about going back to work.'

Charlie died on Friday, July 28, a week before his first birthday.

Giving up on treatment, Ms Yates said: 'Had Charlie been given the treatment sooner he would have had the potential to be a normal, healthy little boy.'

Ms Yates with Charlie soon after he was born. The little boy didn't make his first birthday, as life support was withdrawn on July 28

Following the announcement of his death just after 6pm, tributes came in from around the world. Theresa May said she was deeply saddened and US vice-president Mike Pence expressed his regret. 'RIP Charlie Gard' was trending on social media.

Pope Francis, who had offered medical help at the Vatican hospital, tweeted: 'I entrust little Charlie to the Father and pray for his parents and all those who loved him.'

His final days were spent in a different battle as his parents fought to be able to take him home to spend precious hours, and then to a hospice, where his life support was eventually withdrawn last night.
Fresh details have emerged about the terrifying alleged terrorist plot to blow up a plane that triggered a series of dramatic police raids across Sydney.

About 40 heavily-armed police stormed a Surry Hills home at 4pm before raiding properties in Lakemba, Punchbowl and Wiley Park in Sydney's west.

An Islamist cell is accused of planning to bring down a domestic flight with an 'explosive device' discovered at the Cleveland Street home, reports Daily Telegraph.

AFP confirmed in a statement that four men were arrested as part of the investigation after they were alerted to the alleged terror plot.

An 'explosive device' was discovered at the Surry Hills property and deactivated by a bomb squad that was called to the scene, according to 7 News.

Counter terrorism police (pictured) stormed four Sydney properties and arrested four men including one man (pictured) at Surry Hills after being alerted to an alleged plot to bring down an airplane with a 'bomb'

One man draped in a bed sheet with a heavily-bandaged head was seen being led into an ambulance outside the Surry Hills property.

The bandaged man appeared to be distressed and bleeding from the head as he walked to a waiting ambulance.,Nine News reported.

He could be heard saying 'they bashed me.' When asked by who, he answered 'police.'

When asked why he was being arrested, the man mumbled 'I don't know nothing.'

Shocked neighbours have told AAP the family living in the property were 'perfectly nice and normal people.'

'We knew them to say hello to and they seemed nice,' said the woman, aged in her early 30s, who didn't want to be identified.

Police (pictured) found an 'explosive device' and part of Cleveland Street (pictured) in Surry Hills was cordoned off

The woman, who lives at the back of the property, said an elderly couple lived in the home and had adult children.

A law enforcement official told the Daily Telegraph they found material suspected to be used for an improvised explosive device.

'There was a threat of a device and an aircraft,' the official said, but said they were yet to verify the credibility of the material.

The counter-terror raid in Surry Hills (pictured) took place just metres from the Redfern Mosque (pictured)

Cleveland Street (pictured) is closed between Elizabeth St and Young St, and Goodlet Lane is also closed

Forensic teams (pictured) and the bomb squad attended the scene during the Surry Hills (pictured) raid

Residents living near the Surry Hills home were evacuated while the bomb squad worked to remove the 'explosive device' and forensics (pictured) examined the scene

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told the public not to panic and to inform police (pictured) of any suspicious activity

Police (pictured) said raids took place in the suburbs of Surry Hills, Lakemba, Punchbowl, and Wiley Park

Cleveland Street remains cordoned off and shouting and screaming were heard as a man was led away by police (pictured)

Residents living near the Surry Hills home, just metres from the Redfern Mosque, were evacuated while the bomb squad worked to remove the 'explosive device.'

A police spokesman stated: 'This activity relates to an ongoing investigation. The safety of the community and police members are the primary consideration during this activity.'

Neighbour Kate Harrison reported hearing shouting coming from a yard close by, begging for someone to call the police.

Goodlet Lane in Surry Hills (pictured) was closed while police examined the scene of the raid

Police (pictured) involved in the raid were acting to prevent an alleged plot to bring down an airplane with a 'bomb'

Relatives of two men arrested in the counter-terror operation have spoken out, saying they 'love Australia.'

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull released a statement on the raids, confirming the involvement of the Australian Federal Police, ASIO and NSW Police.

'These operations are designed to disrupt and prevent plans to undertake terrorist attacks in Australia,' the statement said.

'My number one priority, and that of my government, is the safety and security of all Australians. The public should be reassured that our security and intelligence agencies are working tirelessly to keep us safe.'

Mr Turnbull urged people to call the National Security Hotline on 1800 132 400 if they see or hear anything suspicious.

An 'explosive device' was discovered at the Surry Hills (pictured) property and deactivated by a bomb squad that was called to the scene, according to 7 News

About 40 heavily-armed police (pictured) raided a Surry Hills home on Cleveland Street just metres from Redfern Mosque
A man has filmed the toe-curling moment his stolen wheels came full circle - when he forced a thief to fit them back onto his ute.

The Toyota Hilux owner overheard the thief pinching the wheels in the dead of night outside his home in New Zealands Dunedin.

He launched a manhunt before forcing the thief to return the stolen wheels as he mocks him in cringeworthy footage.

Footage shows the man forcing the thief to return the stolen wheels as he mocks

Did you steal my wheels? the man can be heard calmly asking.

Yes, the thief replies sheepishly.

The man then asks the thief what car he wanted to use his wheels on, adding insult to injury.

You fucked up a Hilux for an Isuzu? That is the face of a f***ing muppet. An oxygen thief.

The man claims he tracked down the thief in just half an hour using his local networks.

It is understood the thief was charged by police after returning the wheels.

The man then asks the thief what car he wanted to use his wheels on, adding insult to injury
A group of Oregon mayors saw what services Western University's College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest provides during a tour of the school on Friday afternoon.

The tour was one of several events scheduled during the Oregon Mayors Conference Lebanon is hosting this weekend.

COMP-Northwest Vice Dean Paul Evans spoke a bit about the school and led the tour.

"This school is a very unique place," Evans said. "Most osteopathic medicine is focused on primary care."

One of COMP-Northwest's goals is to have more doctors practice in Oregon, he said.

"If you want to get doctors to stay in Oregon, you need to train doctors in Oregon," Evans said.

However, there are not enough residency programs in the state. So students travel over the country to attend residency training.

As of June 30, the first class of COMP-Northwest students who are going into primary care have finished their residency training. So the school is just starting to receive statistics on where their alumni are practicing.

On the tour John Mata, pharmacologist and director of COMP-Northwest's 5,000 square foot research laboratory, explained what they use the lab for. Mata said they use the lab to do research on neurodegenerative diseases, and have had students conduct health surveys.

While the tour did not include a walk through of the anatomy lab, Evans, second-year med student Angela Sales and Western University Public Affairs Specialist Michelle Steinhebel spoke about the lab and the school's willed body program.

The willed body program accepts local people to donate their bodies to COMP-Northwest for medical school training.

"One of the best ways to learn anatomy is to start dissecting donor patients," Evans said. "The course itself is very rigorous, and it is a fundamental med school process."

The lab is set up like a surgical department, and all donors recieve a full body scan before the students work on their first patient, Steinhebel said.

"Part of (the student's) job is to diagnose why they died," Steinhebel said.

Sales was asked if it was hard to find donor patients for the program. She responded that it wasn't and that the program has been so popular that it supplies cadavers for 13 locations.

Following the tour, Medford Mayor Ted Wheeler said he was impressed by the school, and citizens from Medford currently are attending med school there.

"It's really quite a nice facility," Wheeler said. "It just seems like it's a very patient-centered curriculum."

The mayors will tour Linn Benton Community College's Advanced Transportation Technology Center and Healthcare Occupations Center on Saturday afternoon.
This is the hilarious moment a tourist was caught on camera dancing with a watermelon on his head at a club on a popular holiday island.

The man seemed oblivious to everyone else as he danced by the side of a pool at the club on Zrce beach on the island of Pag, Croatia.

The tourist, whose name is not reported, was caught on camera by an eyewitness with a smartphone.

The fun loving party animal dances by the pool with a watermelon on his head

The man seemed oblivious to everyone else as he danced by the side of a pool

He is seen dancing with his arms outstretched, spinning in circles, while wearing only green beach shorts and the watermelon on his head.

More young men in shorts and women in bikinis can be seen enjoying themselves in front of the man at what looks like a foam party.

The other dancers appear to pay him no heed and eventually he throws the watermelon in the pool and carries on throwing shapes without it.

The footage was later posted on social media where the reaction from other users suggested it was his favourite party trick.

One social media user said: 'Oh, here is this guy again with the watermelon on his head.'

Another commented: 'Watermelon edition', and 'Sino' added: 'We should try this too... Looks refreshing!'

Zrce beach, on the Adriatic island of Pag, is a popular summer destination for partygoers, with several all-hours clubs and beach bars.

It regularly attracts internationally-known house and trance DJs to venues such as Papaya which has been voted one of the best clubs in the world.
A US Navy ship has fired flares at an Iranian patrol boat in the Persian Gulf on the day Tehran condemned new sanctions on its missile programme.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that the US Navy had approached their patrol vessels in the Gulf and fired flares in what it called a provocative move yesterday afternoon.

In a statement, the Guards said: 'The supercarrier USS Nimitz and its accompanying warship, while being monitored by the Guards' frigates, flew a helicopter near the Resalat oil and gas platform and approached the force's ships.

'The Americans in a provocative and unprofessional move, sent a warning message to the frigates and fired flares.'

An Iranian vessel making a close approach to a US coastal patrol ship USS Thunderbolt, right. The US Navy patrol boat fired warning shots near the Iranian vessel that American sailors said came dangerously close to them during a tense encounter in the Persian Gulf. Iran's Revolutionary Guard later blamed the American ship for provoking the situation

The nuclear-powered, Nimitz-class USS Ronald Reagan is seen docked at Yokosuka U.S. Naval Base at Yokosuka in southern of Tokyo in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, on October 02, 2015. Iran say this ship was among the fleet that fired the warning shots at one of its patrol boats

The Guards 'ignored the unconventional move by the US ships and continued their mission, after which the supercarrier and its warship left the area,' the statement added.

On Tuesday, a US Navy patrol ship fired warning shots at a Guards boat in the Gulf as it closed in on the American vessel, US officials said.

The Guards denied approaching the US ship on that occasion and said it was the American vessel that had been at fault.

There have been a string of close encounters between US ships and Iranian vessels in the Gulf in recent months.

In January, the USS Mahan destroyer fired warning shots at four Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels that approached at high speed in the Strait of Hormuz, which connects it to the Indian Ocean.

The Revolutionary Guards are a paramilitary force that answers directly to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The force's boats periodically approach US warships in international waters and the Strait of Hormuz, ignoring US radio messages and giving little indication of their intentions.

In January 2016, the Iranians briefly captured the crew of two small US patrol boats that strayed into Iranian waters.

The 10 US sailors were released 24 hours later.

The latest incident comes after the US Congress approved new sanctions against Iran.

Today, Iran condemned new sanctions passed by the US Congress against its missile programme, which President Donald Trump is set to sign into law, and vowed to continue it.

'We will continue with full power our missile programme,' foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told state broadcaster IRIB.

'We condemn the hostile and unacceptable action,' he said of the sanctions.
A former British soldier who spent five months battling ISIS with the Kurdish militia has been arrested in Turkey as part of an anti-terror operation.

Joe Robinson, 24, from Lancashire, was accused by Turkish police of posting pro-Kurdish propaganda on Facebook.

He was arrested along with his girlfriend, Mira Rojkan and her mother while on holiday in the seaside resort town of Didim, in the west of the country.

Robinson (pictured) had traveled to the Turkish town of Didim along with his girlfriend Mira Rojkan (pictured) and her mother

Authorities allegedly confiscated the group's mobile phones, computers and other digital devices.

Mira and her mother have since been released but Robinson remains in custody.

Mira told the Guardian: 'It was just awful. they said someone had sent them an email saying we were terrorists about to do something in Turkey. They wouldn't say who it was from.

'It is absolute nonsense. They arrested us on the beach while we were vacationing with my mother.'

Robinson had previously fought with YPG Kurdish militia against ISIS in Syria

Robinson had previously served as a soldier in the British Army, serving in the Duke of Lancaster's regime. He spent time in Afghanistan as well as three months training with Special Forces in Kenya.

In 2015 he traveled to Syria to serve alongside the Kurdish People's Protective Units (YPG) as a medic, during one of the war's bloodiest periods.

He said he was fed up with the lack of action from the West and he, 'decided to take matters into my own hands.'

He said: 'I wasn't really thinking of the consequences before I left. I couldn't sit around any more, I had to go.

He said at the time that he was fed up with the lack of action from the West and decide to 'take matters into my own hands'

'We had rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, we all had Kalashnikov rifles, and a ton of grenades.

'We fired at them [ISIS], we saw them drop, that's all I can tell you. It's a war - you don't hang around to check.'

When Robinson landed back at Manchester airport he was arrested on suspicion of terrorist offenses, but after spending 10 months on police bail before all charges were dropped.

Robinson had previously served with the Duke of Lancaster's regiment (pictured)

He now works as a security adviser in the Middle East.

Robinson's Facebook indicated that he recently traveled from Bulgaria, where his girlfriend is from, through Turkey, to Didim.

Mark Campbell from the Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign told the BBC: 'Unfortunately, Joe has gone on holiday to Turkey not realising the state it has now become.

A man waves a Kurdistan flag as a Turkish military truck. Turkey has had a log-running insurgency with the Kurds, who want an independent state in the south of the country

'Turkey continues to criminalise the Kurdish question and has jailed tens of thousands of Kurdish people, including elected MPs and mayors, simply for peacefully campaigning for Kurdish rights.'

Turkey has long seen the Kurdish YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in the south of the country.

The insurgency, which has been ongoing since 1978, has left tens of thousands dead.
A model who says she was forced to strip and expose herself in a Colombian police station in front of baying male prisoners is suing officers after they shared the X-rated footage online.

Katherine Martinez claims she was told by officers at the station in Cali, Colombia, that she had to lift up her dress and expose her private parts while she was chained to a window if she wanted them to remove her handcuffs and give her a chair to sit down on.

A video showing the 27-year-old woman, who claimed she consented to exposing herself because she was drunk and needed to sit down because of a sprained ankle, exposing herself has since gone viral as police chiefs admitted officers posted the footage online and said they 'deeply regretted' their actions.

The mother-of-one, a former physiotherapist who gave up a job in a hospital to start working as a model and DJ, said: 'All the police officers told me that if I wanted them to pass me a chair or take my handcuffs off, I had to take off my dress and show them my body.

'Then the male prisoners began to yell at me, "Yes, yes, lift your dress up."

'I remember some things but not everything. I remember them telling me they were filming me.'

Cali Police commander Hugo Casas appeared to back up her version of events by confessing his own officers were responsible for posting the footage online, although he stopped short of admitting they had blackmailed the model into exposing herself.

Katherine Martinez (pictured) claims she was told by officers at the station in Cali, Colombia, that she had to lift up her dress and expose her private parts while she was chained to a window

He told local media: 'She decided to take her clothes off and carry out obscene acts in the station but what we, as an institution, deeply regret is that what some police officers did was film what the woman was doing with their mobile phones instead of stopping her and protecting her integrity. Then the video was passed on via WhatsApp.

'Our police force condemns this behaviour and disciplinary and judicial investigations are underway.

'The officers have been fully identified. One is a patrol officer who drove the woman to the station, but another official is involved for failing to assist her.'

Police apprehended Ms Martinez after an altercation at a tejo game. Tejo is a traditional sport in Colombia often likened to an explosive form of the popular French game Petanque.

The mother-of-one (pictured) claimed she consented to exposing herself because she was drunk and needed to sit down because of a sprained ankle

Footage of the mother's strip showed her lifting up her middle finger at the person filming her while she was cuffed to a window before raising her dress around her breasts and exposing her private parts.

Male prisoners in a nearby cell can be heard shouting as the woman appears to lowers her red underwear.

Ms Martinez, who has already hired a lawyer to sue the police and has openly spoken to local media about the video being shared online, said: 'This disgusting and shameful act they made me do just so I could get a chair has left me with an injured foot. I can't walk very well. But emotionally I'm also very badly affected.'

Her lawyer Elmer Montana added: 'Cali police chiefs should offer a public apology to Katherine for this gender violence, perpetrated by the police against her.'

Her lawyer Elmer Montana added: 'Cali police chiefs should offer a public apology to Katherine for this gender violence, perpetrated by the police against her'

Legal experts have said it is quite clear that if police officer filmed the scenes, they are guilty of criminal behaviour and should face the sack because they were responsible for the model's 'physical and moral integrity' after her arrest.

The police action's were also criticised by Cali's mayor Maurice Armitage.

Fans offered their support last night, with one saying: 'God will guide you and you will come out of this okay.'

Another added on social media: 'As a woman, I'm sorry about what you went through. No-one has the right to judge you. Sadly we live in a patriarchal and terribly macho system where women are treated as objects and humiliated.'
A television host collapsed unconscious during a live broadcast to a round of applause as some audience members thought it was part of her act, a moment reminiscent of the tragic death of comic Tommy Cooper.

Zhang Han was presenting an awards show in front of a live audience in northern China when she suddenly passed out and fell backwards to the floor.

The 26-year-old was on stage with a contestant who was introducing himself when, as seen in a recording of the live broadcast, she adopted a glassy expression and fell flat on her back.

Zhang Han was presenting an awards show in front of a live audience when she fainted suddenly

Some audience members watching The Most Beautiful Handan People thought at first that she was clowning around and applauded but soon realised the situation was real.

There were even rumours that the 26-year-old had died.

But her condition was later reported as being hypoglycaemia, also known as low blood sugar, aggravated by a busy work schedule.

British comedian Tommy Cooper collapsed with a heart attack on live national television in April 1984 and the audience believed it was part of his act.

He died shortly after.

The contestant looks on as the host falls on the floor

Zhang Han was said to have returned to work soon after the episode.

The Most Beautiful Handan People rewards 20 winners in the city of Handan in Chinas Hebei province for their selfless contributions to society.

It was not clear whether the show went ahead with a substitute presenter or whether it was postponed.

Zhang was not believed to have been hospitalised by her ordeal.

Symptoms of hypoglycaemia typically come on quickly and can include confusion, shakiness, clumsiness, slurred speech, fainting and, in rare cases, death.
A married couple who pilot British Airways flights together have described how sharing a cockpit helps their relationship.

Hugo and Hannah Webb, who have two young children, say it is 'great fun' to fly side by side.

Speaking ahead of their latest joint flight, from London Heathrow to Milan on Friday, Mrs Webb, 34, said: 'It certainly helps that we can discuss and understand each other's jobs.

'We both appreciate the demands of the flying lifestyle.

Hugo and Hannah Webb say it is 'great fun' to fly side by side. 'Although I introduce Hannah at the beginning of the flight, I have never mentioned she is my wife,' said Mr Webb

'On an operational level, it's no different from flying with anyone else.'

Mr Webb, 32, said: 'We are both short-haul pilots and try to get home most nights of the month, although a few nights away can be a nice break from the daily commute.'

The couple, from Alresford, Hampshire, fly together around once every few months.

BA captain Mr Webb said he does not tell passengers he is married to the first officer when they are both in the cockpit.

'Although I introduce Hannah at the beginning of the flight, I have never mentioned she is my wife,' he explained. 'I suppose some customers may guess.'

'The shift patterns allow us to see our children both during the week and on the weekends', Mrs Webb added

Asked if she was hoping to marry a fellow pilot before meeting her now-husband at a flying school 12 years ago, Mrs Webb replied: 'Not at all!'

Being a short-haul pilot is 'a great profession to have as a working parent', she said.

'The shift patterns allow us to see our children both during the week and on the weekends.

'We have taken our children on a few work trips. Our son came to Milan and our daughter joined us in Lisbon for a couple of nights.'

They joined BA in 2011 and married the following year.

Mr Webb was inspired to become a pilot after his father, Nigel, founded a charity to support a network of air ambulances across the UK.

He said: 'One day I was relied upon to play the part of patient in a flying demonstration, and although I wish to never go in an air ambulance again, it gave me the first spark for flying.'

His wife revealed that she has had a 'burning desire' to go abroad since her childhood, and knew she wanted to travel for a living after saving up for three years to visit Australia as a 16-year-old.

Asked if she was hoping to marry a fellow pilot before meeting her now-husband at a flying school 12 years ago, Mrs Webb replied: 'Not at all!'

The couple operate Airbus A320 aircraft on routes across the UK and Europe.

Italian capital Rome is Mr Webb's favourite destination due to its 'endless art and architecture', while his wife 'loves flying to Amman, Jordan and visiting the Dead Sea and Petra'.

Mrs Webb added: 'It also never gets boring flying over central London on the way into Heathrow. Not many airports have an approach directly over such a great view of a city.'
The student head of Cambridge's equality group has claimed that 'all white people are racist' after praising rioters in Dalston who lit bonfires and hurled petrol bombs at police.

Jason Osamede Okundaye, who runs the Black and Minority Ethnic society at the elite institution, posted the shocking tweets amid violent protests in east London last night over the death of Rashan Charles.

He said that white people had 'colonised' Dalston and ordered them to 'go back' to areas such as Exeter and 'Solihurst' (sic).

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Jason Osamede Okundaye, pictured, who runs the Black and Minority Ethnic society at the elite institution, posted the shocking tweets amid violent protests in east London

Okundaye, 20, wrote to his thousands of Twitter followers: 'ALL white people are racist. White middle class, white working class, white men, white women, white gays, white children they can ALL geddit'

He said that white people had 'colonised' Dalston and ordered them to 'go back' to areas such as Exeter and 'Solihurst' (sic)

Okundaye, 20, wrote to his thousands of Twitter followers: 'ALL white people are racist. White middle class, white working class, white men, white women, white gays, white children they can ALL geddit.'

The student at Cambridge's Pembroke College - who previously attended a 36,000-a-year public school - also claimed it was 'absolutely delicious' to watch 'middle-class white people despair over black people protesting in their colonised Dalston'.

A spokesman for the University said: 'The College is looking into this matter and will respond appropriately.'

Critics accused Mr Okundaye of encouraging hatred. Tory MP Bob Blackman said the student should be 'prosecuted for inciting racial hatred'.

He added: 'That is stirring up racial hatred unnecessarily - and completely without justification.'

Mr Okundaye, who has been involved in a series of anti-racism initiatives, was born in South London and says he is a member of the Edo tribe in Nigeria. He was educated on an academic scholarship at the independent Whitgift School in Croydon, which was founded in 1596 and charges fees of up to 36,400 for full boarders.

Last year, the sociology and politics student was part of a Cambridge campaign calling for a bronze cockerel, which was the symbol of Jesus College, to be repatriated to Africa.

The newly-elected president of the Black and Minority Ethnic Campaign was among students demanding that the sculpture, which had pride of place in the colleges dining hall, be handed back in a ceremony to Nigeria, from which they claimed it had been looted.

The campaign, which was likened to one at Oxford University over a statue of Cecil Rhodes, forced the college to remove the cockerel.

Mr Okundaye, an outstanding student at Whitgift who won an Oxford theology prize and the Harvard Book prize in 2015, has since criticised public school colleagues for narrow mindedness and has claimed that white mens obsession with my skin meant I was made to feel naked.

He also posted an image praising the rioters as 'doing amazing'

Jason Osamede Okundaye, pictured, is the head of Cambridge's Black and Minority Ethnic society

Okundaye, pictured, also claimed it was 'absolutely delicious' to watch 'middle-class white people despair over black people protesting in their colonised Dalston'

On Friday, demonstrators barricaded part of the area's Kingsland Road - close to where Mr Charles died last week following a struggle with a police officer - with wheelie bins, mattresses and household debris.

The 20-year-old died after he was chased by an officer who attempted to remove an object from his throat, according to an initial probe by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Footage on social media appeared to show at least one police officer attempting to restrain the 20-year-old in a shop close to where the protest is being held.

Dramatic video taken last night showed more than a dozen officers retreating from protesters who launched objects at them.

Footage that sparked the riots: An officer appears to restrain Mr Charles on the floor of the shop, in Kingsland Road, east London, at 1.45am last Saturday

The violence has drawn parallels with the London riots in 2011, which were sparked by the police shooting of 29-year-old Mark Duggan in Tottenham.

And as night descended, worrying videos showed youths setting fire to mattresses in the middle of the road and pelting police vans with objects.

The windows of several shops in Kingsland High Street were smashed as the violence extended beyond Dalston Kingsland Station.
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A boy who joined the Mile-High club with his teacher on the flight home from a school trip told his friends about their relationship and showed them her sexts, MailOnline can reveal.

The 16-year-old pupil had a fling with his physics teacher Eleanor Wilson, who was ten years his senior, during a two-week charity and conservation trip to Swaziland in Africa.

He was not  as previously reported - on the schools trip earlier that month to Geneva, to visit the Large Hadron Collider in CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research.

A boy who joined the Mile-High club with his teacher Eleanor Wilson, pictured centre on the Swazliand trip, on the flight home from a school trip told his friends about their relationship and showed them her sexts

The pupil, then 16, was in a group of 15 to 18 year-olds who travelled to the southern African kingdom in July 2015 on a World Challenge Expedition, having fundraised 2,595 over the previous 18 months.

But charity was the last thing on the couples mind. The pupil told school friends he drank cheap whisky with his physics teacher Eleanor Wilson, now 28, and ended up in his room.

She kissed him multiple times throughout the two-week trip, they said, and had unprotected sex in the toilet on the plane on their way home, after drinking miniature bottles of wine.

The friend told MailOnline: He enjoyed telling me all about his time in Swaziland as you could go to a store and buy whisky for next to nothing. He said they had sex a lot on the trip to Africa and on the flight back.

The group, from a school in Bristol, was staying with the Ndinda community at a Neighbourhood Care Point, which supported orphans of parents who had died of HIV, helping to build a kitchen for them.

The expedition has given me a new start, a fresh beginning. Ive seen how a community can be so happy with so little and we were made to feel so welcome. Now I just want to get all the happiness and enjoyment out of everything I do, one pupil said afterwards.

Eleanor Wilson (left and right, in her Royal Navy reservist uniform), 28, has been banned from the classroom for life after having unprotected sex in a toilet with a pupil on a flight home from a school trip

According to his friend, the boy, now 18, had split with his girlfriend before the trip and was a Casanova. He claimed, he said, that he had already slept with about 15 girls before his teacher.

He said that the relationship continued after they got home  despite gossip at the school. He was pleased with himself that he was sleeping with the teacher that everyone fancied, he said, but he is confident and was already quite experienced with girls.

She would send him texts and he showed me the messages from her, he said. He would text her and she would reply, "Cant talk now, Im in a meeting" or "Im nervous about a presentation for assembly". She would sext him too and he showed me. I knew immediately they were genuine.'

Miss Wilson, from Keighley, West Yorkshire, pictured, who had a boyfriend at the time, was sacked in May 2016

Miss Wilson, from Keighley, West Yorkshire, was struck off this week after a tribunal hearing heard that she had been drinking miniature bottles of wine while flirting at the back of the plane home. She is then said to have entered the toilet, kissed, engaged in a sex act and had intercourse with the pupil without using any protection.

Giving evidence to a professional conduct panel, the sixth-former, known as Pupil A, said both were drunk on the flight in the summer of 2015.

Despite school gossip, the relationship continued as the pair texted and met for drinks. But in September that year, the headteacher heard rumours about the couple and quizzed Miss Wilson about them. After she denied improper behaviour, no further action was taken.

Giving evidence to a professional conduct panel, the sixth-former, known as Pupil A, said both were drunk on the flight in the summer of 2015

But seven months later, in March 2016, the relationship came to light, when another pupil tried to blackmail Miss Wilson, threatening to reveal the tryst unless she had sex with him.

The threats were reported to the school and police and a thorough investigation was conducted. Miss Wilson, who had a boyfriend at the time, was sacked in May 2016.

The friend added: Rumours of the fling were flying around the school, everyone was talking about it. Miss Wilson was an exceptional teacher and she just made a mistake with a pupil.

However, after the tribunal, Miss Wilsons brother Jethro strongly denied that she had ever had sex with the student, adding that she had previously been hassled by male students.

Speaking to MailOnline he defended his sister, claiming she was a victim of being 'good looking'.

'I know they made it up, because she was blackmailed,' he said. 'He made the story up and made it sound good. These teachers work hard all their life and go through years of courses and all it takes is one student to bring them down.

'Theres no doubt about it - he had a crush on her. They were away on an educational school trip and she didnt want anything to do with them, so they made stories up about her.

'She'd already had enough of students giving her hassle because she was good looking. Good looking teachers get picked out by students and they get hard done by.'

At the earlier hearing, the National College for Teaching and Leadership disciplinary panel found Pupil A to be a credible, reliable witness and agreed with his version of events.

Miss Wilson, pictured on a wild west themed photoshoot while on holiday in Canada, is said to have entered the toilet, kissed, engaged in a sex act and had intercourse with the pupil

Miss Wilson was not present but the panel heard she had previously denied the pair kissed or had sex, and claimed they simply 'hugged on occasion'.

She admitted during the school's investigation that the pair had met and exchanged text messages but denied that they had drunk any alcohol, even though Pupil A had shown his teachers a receipt for ciders.

But following the two-day hearing, she was found guilty of all but two of the allegations against her.

Polly O'Malley, chairman of the professional conduct panel, said: 'There was evidence that the teacher's actions were deliberate and continued for a significant length of time despite her understanding that her behaviour was inappropriate.

'There was no evidence to suggest that the teacher was acting under duress.'

Striking Miss Wilson off from the profession, she added: 'These behaviours include serious dishonesty and serious sexual misconduct. The panel has found that Miss Wilson engaged in sexual activity with Pupil A on one occasion, including oral sex and sexual intercourse.

Miss Wilsons brother Jethro strongly denied that she had ever had sex with the student, adding that she had previously been hassled by male students

'Additionally the panel has found that Miss Wilson encouraged Pupil A to hide their relationship and lied about it herself when an investigation into the allegations was undertaken by the school.'

The name of the school and the name and age of Pupil A were not revealed at the hearing to protect his identity.

Miss Wilson was reported to the police, however it is not known whether officers had taken any action against her.

An Avon and Somerset spokesman said she voluntarily attended a police station for interview in 2016 and 'enquiries are ongoing'.

A spokesman for The Royal Navy said: 'It would be inappropriate to comment.'

A spokesman for the school, which is not being identified, said: 'We unreservedly condemn Ms Wilsons actions. Her conduct represents a shocking abuse of her position of trust as a teacher,' according to The Sun.
A robe-clad woman has been caught on film getting into the wrong car after a dash to the shops.

The unidentified woman can be seen running in the rain to a parked white car sitting out front of the shops.

Its only when she flings the back door open and sticks her head inside that she realises she's got the wrong vehicle.

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An unidentified Kiwi woman can be seen making a quick dash to a waiting car outside a shop

The lady opens the back door of the car to get in, only to realise that it is the wrong ride

The moment when the lady realises that its the wrong ride and makes her way to the right car

The lady's confusion was recorded by her niece Alice Lolohea who was laughing hysterically

She quickly closes the car door, bursts out laughing and runs back to the right vehicle.

Her niece Alice Lolohea can be heard giggling in the background as she watched on.

Alice shared the clip on her Instagram account.

'So my aunty almost went home with another family last night,' Ms Lolohea said in caption explaining more about the mix-up.

'My Aunty thinks she's famous now,' she added.

Comments left by Ms Lolohea next to the video clip explaining the contents to her followers

'She's iconic!' said one of Ms Lolohea followers mistress_supreme.

The footage has been posted on several Facebook pages such as Niu FM and OMG Samoanan Jokes and has raked up close to 500,000 views.

The clip was taken on July 24 and filmed in Mangere, New Zealand.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Lolohea for comments.
A mass murderer who killed seven people in a shooting spree has tormented his victims by penning them an open letter.

Julian Knight published the note on a social media site for inmates from Victoria's Port Phillip Prison, where he is serving seven life sentences.

Knight's outraged victims say the letter has forced them to relive the atrocity and slammed the decision to grant him a voice behind bars.

It comes days before the 30th anniversary of the 1987 Hoddle Street massacre, in which the bespectacled killer gunned down seven people.

Hoddle Street mass killer Julian Knight (seen leaving the Supreme Court in Melbourne) has penned an open letter to his victims from behind bars

One of his victim's who survived the rampage, Steve Wight, said the letter has forced him to relieve the atrocity

One man who survived the rampage, Steve Wight, said the letter has reopened old wounds, reports 9News.

'It's just another injury to those victims and those families who lost childrens' lives, family lives, husband, wives all those sorts of things.'

'Every day I live with the trauma I suffered 30 years ago...I've got all sorts of battles.'

Mr Wight suffered gunshot wounds shot to the head and chest, but still raised alarm after Knight opened fire.

The four-page letter is in one sense an apology for the heinous crime, but in Knight's own words that 'doesn't amount to much.'

'I offer my sincerest apologies to my victims and to all Victorians but given the enormity of my crimes that doesn't amount to much,' the letter reads.

The letter comes days before the 30th anniversary of the 1987 Hoddle Street massacre

Knight, who is serving seven life sentences in Victoria's Port Phillip Prison

The handwritten letter appeared on a social media site for inmates.

Gina Papaioannou, who was one of seven people killed by Julian Knight

'The Hoddle Street shootings were despicable, cowardly and senseless. They were not, however, committed in anger as a 'war on society.'

'Thirty years have passed since the Hoddle St shootings and I am far from being the immature, disturbed, desperate teenager who committed them.

'If I had been granted parole in 2014 I would have very quickly faded into obscurity and I would have ended by days leading a quiet, simple life devoted to community service.

In 2015, Knight published a 21-page 'Petition for Mercy' to the Governor of Victoria on the controversial website.

He also published jail yard poetry, essays and photographs of himself on the site, which has been dubbed a 'Facebook for criminals'.
This is the dramatic CCTV footage of police wrestling a black father to the ground that sparked a night of rioting on the streets of London.

It shows officers chasing Rashan Jermaine Charles with a struggle ensuing amid claims that he was trying to 'swallow an object'.

Footage of the arrest when viral last weekend after a friend of the family shared it.

It shows the moments that followed after Mr Charles ran into the store, in Kingsland Road, east London at 1.45am after failing to stop for police.

In footage obtained by MailOnline an officer appears to restrain Mr Charles on the floor of the shop, in Kingsland Road, east London, at 1.45am on Saturday

Police and the IPCC said Rashan Charles, pictured, was pronounced dead at the Royal London Hospital but would not comment on whether he stopped breathing beforehand

At the beginning of the footage, Mr Charles can be seen walking into the shop before an officer attempts to arrest him.

He is wrestled to the floor as he appears to try to swallow an item. The policeman can be seen holding his hand briefly over the Mr Charles' mouth.

As the suspect struggles on the floor, a bystander in to help the policeman with the arrest. After they put the handcuffs on, it appears the man has stopped breathing and the officer removes his hat as he radios for help.

Moments later, two more officers arrive on the scene and the video is cut off.

Police and the IPCC said Mr Charles was pronounced dead at the Royal London Hospital but would not comment on whether he stopped breathing beforehand.

A furious mob has lit bonfires and hurled petrol bombs at officers in Dalston, east London, after a protest over the death of a black father 'who was wrestled to the ground by police' turned violent

Riot police at a protest in Kingsland Road in east London, where people gathered in response to the death of 20-year-old Rashan Charles

Riot police on horseback rush to where several youths protesting Mr Charles' death lit mattresses and wheelie bins in the middle of the road

A force spokesman said the Independent Police Complaint's Commission was now investigating.

Late last night, demonstrators barricaded part of Kingsland Road - close to where Rashan Charles died last week - with wheelie bins, mattresses and household debris.

Dramatic video taken last night showed more than a dozen officers retreating from protesters who launched objects at them.

They were also seen clinging to the front of a truck which pushed through bins that had been set up as a barricade.

Devastated: Friends and family gathered outside the shop in Hackney this afternoon following Mr Charles' death

A family friend said Mr Charles had been visiting his grandmother just hours before the the incident. Pictured above, grieving friends at the scene in east London

The violence has drawn parallels with the London riots in 2011, which were sparked by the police shooting of 29-year-old Mark Duggan in Tottenham.

And as night descended, worrying videos showed youths setting fire to mattresses in the middle of the road and pelting police vans with objects.

The windows of several shops in Kingsland High Street were smashed as the violence extended beyond Dalston Kingsland Station.

Tragic: A friend of Mr Charles lighting a candle outside the convenience shop on Kingsland Road

Tributes: A family friend posted a tribute to Rashan on Facebook following the tragic news

A furious mob has lit bonfires and hurled petrol bombs at officers in Dalston, east London, after a protest over the death of a black father 'who was wrestled to the ground by police' turned violent

Local businesses, bars and restaurants pulled down their shutters - locking customers inside - as youths rode through the flame-lit streets on bicycles.

Officers on horses and others in riot vans were deployed as the police tried to contain the disorder and break up groups of protesters.

Earlier in the day, youths were seen clinging on to a lorry which drove through a barricade of wheelie bins set up near Kingsland Road.

In the clip, the policeman appears to be locked in a struggle with the man when a bystander joins in to help. Shortly after they appear to realise he is no longer breathing

A force spokesman said the Independent Police Complaint's Commission was now investigating

Several of the bins were later set on fire before a mattress, thrown on top of the bonfire, sent plumes of black smoke spiraling into the dark sky above.

Helicopters could be heard circling above as protesters launched fireworks at riot officers and police dogs.

In a statement, the Met Police said they were aware of a protest, which was organised following the death of Mr Charles.
A group of 300 skiers and snowboarders held a moving memorial service for victims of the Thredbo landslide on Saturday night with a 'flare run' down the mountain.

Sunday marks the 20 year anniversary of the deadly disaster which took the lives of 18 people in Australia's Snowy Mountains.

The landslide - caused by heavy rain, snow melt and a leaky water main - destroyed the Bimbadeen and Carinya ski lodges.

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Stuart Diver joined 300 skiers and snowboarded for a flare run (pictured) to remember the victims of the 1997 Thredbo landslide

Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the disaster, and wreaths (pictured) were laid to remember the 18 people who died

Stuart Diver, who lost his wife in the tragedy and was found trapped underneath concrete two days after the landslide, attended the memorial.

He spent 65 hours under the rubble and after being rescued his famous first words were, 'That sky's fantastic!'

The first face he saw was that of rescuer Warwick Kidd, a station officer with NSW Fire and Rescue and one of the first responders.

'I did apologise to him for that,' Superintendent Kidd said.

Two decades later, and having since attended disasters around the world, Superintendent Kidd still remembers the moment rescuers were told there was a survivor.

He managed to drill a hole big enough to lower a torch down to Mr Diver, enabling him to help rescuers find a way to get him out.

'I told him that we would get him out,' Superintendent Kidd recalls.

'We sort of made a promise to him that he'd be out before the sun set and we did, we got him out before the sun set.'

Thredbo resort said the flare run memorial (pictured) was a fitting commemoration for a group of people who loved the mountains and Thredbo

Superintendent Kidd said rescuers had been hopeful they'd find more survivors within the crucial 100-hour period, but Mr Diver was the only one.

Thredbo resort said the flare run memorial was a fitting commemoration for a group of people who loved the mountains and Thredbo.

Friends and family of the victims will gather at Thredbo Chapel on Sunday for an ecumenical service followed by a wreath laying, ahead of a midnight vigil at the site of the landslide.
The knifeman who stormed into a supermarket in Germany and killed one person with a knife, was known to authorities as an 'Islamist'.

The attacker is reported to have screamed 'Allahu Akbar' before running into the Edeka shop in Hamburg yesterday where he stabbed one person and slashed at four others while trying to flee.

Hamburg's interior minister said he could not rule out Islamism as a motive, but added the man had psychological issues and may have been radicalised.

He took the blade - a 20cm kitchen knife - from the shelves of the supermarket, ripped off the packaging and slashed his victims.

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A knife-wielding man has killed one and injured several others after going on a stabbing rampage through a German supermarket this afternoon

Heavily armed police have locked the area down and an air ambulance helicopter was seen on the road outside

Police investigators work at the crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany

Security forces and ambulances descended on the scene after the a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg

Andy Grote, Hamburg's interior minister, said 'there are indications of radicalisation' and added: 'He was known as an Islamist but not a jihadist.

'It remains unclear which was the overriding element.'

Police are trying to piece together the exact timeline of events and spokeswoman Kathrin Hennings said: 'He ripped off the packaging and then suddenly brutally attacked the 50-year-old man who later died.'

He was pursued by passers-by who wrestled him to the ground and called the police, who later arrested him.

One officer said there was 'no valid information on the motive of the attacker' who has yet to be identified.

German daily Bild published a photo of the attacker in the back of a police car with a white, blood-soaked bag over his head.

A female witness claimed the assailant ran out of the shop with his hands in the air while yelling 'Allahu Akbar', though police have not confirmed this.

The woman, who was queuing for the till when the rampage began told NTV she was 'afraid of dying'.

'The man has suddenly struck out on customers, there was one dead and several injured,' another witness told Bild.

Hamburg police confirmed he was the only attacker, tweeting: 'The first reports about a possible motive of a robbery have not been confirmed.'

Police blocked off the lively and diverse high street in the north-east port city which hosted the G20 summit of world leaders in early July.

Anti-terror police were also deployed to the scene while homicide investigators scour the area for evidence and clues.

A police officer walks past crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany

A major manhunt was executed and 30 minutes later, photos emerged of a suspect in the back of a police car.

He is understood to have suffered minor injuries as he was being held by bystanders.

Germany has been on high alert about the threat of a jihadist attack, especially since last December's truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the carnage in which a Tunisian rejected asylum seeker and ex-convict, Anis Amri, 24, ploughed the stolen truck through a crowd.

It was Germany's deadliest attack by an Islamist militant, but not the first.

Heavily armed officers have locked the area down and police helicopters have been seen above the crime scene

A motive for the attack, which left one dead and four others injured, has not been established

Hamburg police (forensic team pictured) said on Twitter that there was only one attacker

Armed police have been pictured on the scene having cordoned off the area. A fire fighter was pictured accompanying an elderly woman from the scene

The attacker ran into an Edeka shop in the northern city of Hamburg before knifing customers and going on the run

Hamburg police said on Twitter that there was only one attacker and that the motive for the incident in Hamburg's Barmbek district wasn't immediately clear

Hamburg police said on Twitter that the motive for the incident in Hamburg's Barmbek district wasn't immediately clear

In 2016, the IS group also claimed a suicide bomb attack in the southern city of Ansbach which wounded 15 victims, and an Afghan man's axe rampage on a train in Bavaria that hurt five, before the perpetrator was shot dead by police.

Public fears about more extremist violence have grown amid Germany's mass influx of refugees and migrants, mostly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan as well as several African countries.

More than one million asylum seekers have arrived in Germany since Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country's borders in 2015.

Germany's domestic intelligence service estimates there are about 10,000 radical Islamists in the country, including 1,600 who are considered potentially violent.

In one case of a homegrown attacker, a German teenager identified as 16-year-old Safia S. was in January sentenced to six years of juvenile detention for stabbing a police officer in 2016 'to support the Islamic State group'.

Lockdown: Heavily armed police stand outside a Lidl supermarket in the shopping area

Police said that 'initial reports about robbery as a possible motive so far have not been confirmed'

Police swooped to arrest a suspect after witnesses followed the attacker and called raised the alarm

Authorities were also investigating an IS claim of the stabbing death of a teenage boy in Hamburg last October.

The 16-year-old boy was fatally wounded in the knife assault on the banks of the Alster river but a 15-year-old girl who was with him escaped unharmed after the attacker shoved her into the water.

Germany is a target for jihadist groups, particularly because of its reconnaissance and refuelling missions to support the coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, and because it has deployed troops in Afghanistan since 2001.
The woman whose mug shot photo earned her the nickname 'the poster girl' of methamphetamine addiction died, it was reported on Friday.

Penny Wood-Rusterholz passed away at the age of 55 due to cancer in her hometown of Pekin, Illinois, according to Peoria Journal Star.

'She looked relieved, relaxed, happy,' said Amy Mallery, the oldest of her five children.

'She looked like she was 30 years old again.'

While her name may be less familiar to the public, her face is quite recognizable.

In 1998, Wood-Rusterholz was a young mother who was struggling with alcoholism while also experimenting with some milder drugs.

The woman whose before-and-after mug shot photos (above) earned her the nickname 'the poster girl' of methamphetamine addiction died, it was reported on Friday. The first photo of Penny Wood-Rusterholz (left) was snapped in 1998. The second photo is from 2002

Wood-Rusterholz passed away at the age of 55 due to cancer in her hometown of Pekin, Illinois

At one point, however, she fell victim to the grip of meth addiction.

In 2002, she was arrested and prosecutors threatened to send her to prison for up to 30 years unless she cleaned up her act.

But Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz decided to offer an alternative.

He would put Wood-Rusterholz on probation on condition that she abstain from drugs and also allow the use of two mug shots.

Wood-Rusterholz leaves behind five children and 20 grandchildren

In 1998, Wood-Rusterholz was a young mother who was struggling with alcoholism while also experimenting with some milder drugs

The first mug shot was taken in 1998. It shows Wood-Rusterholz before her descent into meth addiction looking healthy and radiant as a 36-year-old woman.

The second mug shot was snapped in 2002, showing how the affects of her addiction ravaged her appearance.

Her hair looks frazzled, her teeth are decaying, her skin is pale and marked with spots.

The before-and-after photos were so striking in their contrast that they were used on billboards throughout North America and Europe as a way to warn people against falling prey to meth addiction.

The mug shots were also plastered on a poster that was used in probation offices, drug clinics, and schools.

'When I first saw the (mug shots), I thought we could use them to try to save lives, not to punish Penny,' Umholtz said.

Though her name was never revealed, Wood-Rusterholz was embarrassed by the attention.

To make matters worse, her grandchildren were teased at school and she had difficulty finding work.

'I am the butt of jokes,' she said two years after agreeing to the prosecutor's unique terms.

At one point, however, she fell victim to the grip of meth addiction. In 2002, she was arrested and prosecutors threatened to send her to prison for up to 30 years unless she cleaned up her act

But Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz decided to offer an alternative. He would put Wood-Rusterholz on probation on condition that she abstain from drugs and also allow the use of two mug shots

'At 42 I have to face up to the fact that being a poster girl has not improved my life at all,' she said.

'Some days I think prison would have been a lot easier.'

But it soon became apparent that the poster did have a positive effect after all.

Wood-Rusterholz's daughter, Mallery, told her mother: 'Mom, you're helping [your grandchildren], you're showing how terrible [meth] is.'

Even while on probation, Wood-Rusterholz used meth.

When she was at her boyfriend's house, police raided the area and sent her to jail for nearly three months.

She was then sent to an in-patient rehabilitation clinic. One more arrest likely meant a lengthy prison term.

The before-and-after photos were so striking in their contrast that they were used on billboards throughout North America and Europe as a way to warn people against falling prey to meth addiction

But she managed to pick herself up and get clean. She earned associate degrees in drug counselling and sociology.

She was also hired as a home health care provider.

A co-worker at Marigold Estates in Pekin said that the residents there 'loved her.'

'She cared deeply about them,' Barb Ragain said. 'She treated them like they were her kids.'

Eight years ago, Wood-Rusterholz visited the prosecutor who made her famous.

'I had no idea those photos would be displayed around the world,' Umholtz said.

'I thought [at the time] they would give her a great legacy in helping to save lives.'

Though initially she regretted agreeing to the probation, Wood-Rusterholz agreed with Umholtz.

'She said they were the best thing that ever happened to her, not only for her own life, but so she could enjoy the lives of her children and grandchildren,' he said.

Mallery and two of her siblings are also recovering meth addicts who remain sober to this day.

None of Wood-Rusterholz's 20 grandchildren use meth.
Male employees at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming are under investigation by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General after a series of sexual harassment claims surfaced last year.

The department began the probe after a woman working at the park issued a complaint to Congress and The Montana Pioneer regarding an alleged 'men's club' taking place on the grounds  placing female colleagues subject to unsolicited and perverse abuse.

At least ten men are on a disciplinary period after the investigation found as many as six women were exposed to verbal and/or physical abuse between the time period of 2010-2016.

Names of the victims have not been disclosed.

Misuse of government-issued charge cards under the maintenance division was found to be another source of misconduct, according to the department's report, released to park officials March 13.

Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk said the incidents that occurred inside the park were not brought to his attention prior to the public complaint last year.

National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis, right, and the head of the National Park Foundation Dan Wenk are shown. Wenk, Yellowstone National Park superintendent, says he's taking disciplinary action against as many as 10 people after an investigation found women in the park's maintenance division were subject to derogatory comments and actions

Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk said the incidents that took place inside the park were not brought to his attention prior to the public complaint last year

Wenk said all park employees will be mandated to undergo sexual harassment training as well as an audit of their charge cards.

'I'm concerned that people understand what acceptable behavior in the workplace is. We're setting out very clear expectations for how people comport themselves,' said Wenk.

Based on further review, employees may be ordered to further punishment, a suspension or termination. Each will have the option to appeal to their penalties come August.

Yellowstone is one of many historic parks in the nation that recently earned a poor reputation under the male-dominated work culture.

In a report obtained by the Associated Press, 13 former and current female employees at the historic Grand Canyon National Park filed a complain in the fall of 2014 claiming they were touched inappropriately against their will and verbally degraded in past instances.

The Grand Canyon's Intermountain Region director Sue Masica said alcohol is believed to have played a large part in the erratic events.

A new and stricter policy has since been instituted against alcohol consumption on the park premises.

Last year, 18 employees at Yosemite National Park said they suffered 'horrific working conditions' and were often bullied and sexually humiliated by the park's former superintendent, Don Neubacher.

Wenk said all employees will undergo sexual harassment training as well as an audit of their charge cards

Each employee will have the option to appeal to their penalties come August

Yellowstone is one of many historic parks in the nation that recently earned a poor reputation under the male-dominated work culture

Both superintendents of Grand Canyon and Yosemite have stepped down since claims surfaced of the 'toxic' work conditions.

'They really have to change the culture, it's not just hiring females and putting them into the work environment.' Mary Hinson, former ranger at Yosemite, said in a public statement.

'The cards are kind of stacked against you  You come into an environment that's male dominated, primarily white males, and that's been the culture since the beginning of the National Park Service.'

Another female employee, at De Soto National Memorial in Bradenton, Florida, alleged a male staff member grabbed her and made unwanted suggestive comments while at work, according to a report obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility by the inspector general February 6.

The inspector general affirmed the unidentified manager 'violated NPS policies, and misused his position and created potential conflicts of interest.'

Federal prosecutors declined to press charges.

Saudia Muwwakkil, assistant regional director for communications and legislative affairs, said officials are still trying to determine the appropriate actions to take in response to the OIG's report.

'We take these findings very seriously and are committed to holding employees accountable for misconduct,' she said.

'We are working aggressively to catch issues early and foster workplaces where sexual harassment and violations to the public's trust are not tolerated.'

A female employee at De Soto National Memorial in Bradenton, Florida, alleged a male staff member grabbed her and made unwanted suggestive comments while at work




A Texas woman has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of her ex-husband after a Facebook post in which she stated she was done with the 'legal way' of doing things before he went missing.

Kristen Anne Dean Jennings, 28, of San Angelo, was taken into custody after 41-year-old Eric Vincent Torrez went missing on July 21 in Abilene.

She was charged with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit another felony, reported the Abilene Reporter-News.

In a Facebook post on July 19, Jennings aired her complaints that police had not indicted Torrez on alleged abuse charges of her and their daughter, who Torrez had custody of.

Kristen Anne Dean Jennings, 28 (pictured), of San Angelo, was arrested in connection with the disappearance of her 41-year-old ex-husband, Eric Vincent Torrez, who went missing on July 21 in Abilene. She has since been released on a $50,000 bond

Torrez (pictured) was reported missing on July 21 after traveling from Abilene to Tom Green County for a job and not returning home

'He beats me and impeached my breathing and slap on the wrist, didn't even get arrested that night, try to get legal aid to help me fight for custody jerked around for months, and now I may have to re apply when I should have a answer are you kidding me, I don't have that time think of my child!!!!' Jennings wrote in part.

Two days after the social media post, Torrez disappeared.

Authorities say Jennings broke into the home of Torrez's mother and assaulted the woman on the same day he went missing.

She also allegedly took the four-year-old daughter she shares with him from the house. The child has since been placed in the care of Child Protective Services.

Torrez's mother reported him missing that night after he traveled for a job and never returned home.

The Abilene Police Department confirmed Torrez received text messages on July 21 from someone asking him to perform work on a residence in Tom Green County, according to a news release.

Police also determined his last known location to be on Duckworth Road near San Angelo a little after 1pm that day.

Torrez's pickup ruck, a 2007 Ford F-150 that he used to drive to Tom Green County to bid on a job, was located in a Walmart parking lot on Thursday in Ballinger, about 34 miles from San Angelo.

Two days prior to Torrez' disappearance, Jennings wrote a Facebook post (above) in which she said she was 'seriously done' with the 'legal way' of doing things on alleged abuse charges of her and their four-year-old daughter, who Torrez had custody of

Authorities say Jennings (left) broke into the home of Torrez's mother and assaulted the woman on the same day he went missing. Her current husband, Stephen Lynn Jennings, 34 (right), was also arrested and charged with suspicion of tampering or fabricating with physical evidence with intent to impair

The Tom Green County Sheriff's Office said Friday that it believes Torrez is dead.

'At this time, Eric Torrez has not been located,' the department said in a statement. 'Evidence collected at the residence of Jennings and information obtained through interviews and interrogations indicate Eric Torrez is the victim of a homicide.'

Jennings's current husband, Stephen Lynn Jennings, 34, was also arrested in connection to the case. He was charged with suspicion of tampering or fabricating with physical evidence with intent to impair.

Kristen Jennings has since been released on a $50,000 bond.
Police departments across the country are hitting back at President Donald Trump after a 'joke' he made about roughing up suspects.

During a speech he gave at Suffolk County Community College in New York, on Friday, the President made comments implying that he was in support of unnecessary police force.

'When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just seen them thrown in, rough. I said, "Please don't be too nice",' he said in his speech.

'Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over?' the president continued, mimicking the gesture. 'Like, don't hit their head and they've just killed somebody. Don't hit their head? I said, "You can take the hand away, OK?"'

The comment drew ire from several departments accusing Trump of normalizing police brutality.

President Donald Trump drew criticism from a 'joke' he made during a speech at Suffolk County Community College on Friday (pictured) in which he seemed to suggest it was acceptable to rough up suspects when arresting them

The Suffolk County Police Department in New York was the first to hit back at Trump's remarks

The comments were made during an address largely focusing on the transnational, violent gang MS-13. And although a group of police officers standing behind Trump applauded at the remark in his speech, the Suffolk County Police Department tweeted shortly after, condemning it.

'The SCPD has strict rules & procedures relating to the handling of prisoners. Violations of those rules are treated extremely seriously,' the Friday afternoon tweet read.

'As a department, we do not and will not tolerate roughing up prisoners.'

But it didn't stop in New York. Police officers in Gainesville, Florida, offered up their own rebuttal.

'The @POTUS made remarks today that endorsed and condoned police brutality. GPD rejects these remarks and continues to serve with respect,' read the department's tweet.

A statement was also released by the International Association of Chiefs of Police on Friday evening, although Trump was not mentioned by name.

Statements from the Gainesville Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police followed

This is not the first time the president (gesturing during speech on Friday) has condoned becoming physical with others, often suggesting his supporters do so with protesters

It read in part: 'Law enforcement officers are trained to treat individuals, whether they are a complainant, suspect, or defendant, with dignity and respect. This is the bedrock principle behind the concepts of procedural justice and police legitimacy.'

This is not the first time the commander-in-chief has condoned becoming physical with others.

On the day of the Iowa caucuses in February 2016, Trump told audience members he would cover their legal fees if they engaged in violence against protesters.

'If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you?' he said.

'Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell...I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise.'

And when a protester interrupted a Las Vegas rally, Trump said 'guys like that' used to be 'carried out in a stretcher,' adding: 'I'd like to punch him in the face, I tell ya.'
Jason Brown (above) faces preliminary murder charges in the death of Lt Aaron Allan

The suspect in the fatal shooting of a police officer who was killed while responding to a car crash has been identified.

Jason Brown, a 28-year-old tattoo artist with a three-year-old son and no major criminal history, faces preliminary murder charges in the shooting of Lt Aaron Allan in Southport, Indiana on Thursday.

Witnesses say shots rang out from an overturned vehicle in a single car crash, as 38-year-old Allan attempted to help the occupants trapped inside.

The car is believed to have flipped over after striking the center median at a high rate of speed near Madison Avenue and Maynard Drive.

Close family friends of Brown have spoken out, expressing their shock that the normally 'timid' man would be implicated in such a horrific crime.

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Allan (right) was responding to a single-car crash when shots rang out from inside the overturned car, where the occupants were still trapped inside, witnesses said

Allan (left) was a 20 year veteran of law enforcement with six years on the Southport force. Brown (right) faces charges in the police lieutenant's Thursday shooting death

The 38-year-old Allan was called to the traffic incident at around 2.30pm on Thursday

'He's shy, he's timid,' Traci Wagner, who has known Brown his whole life, told RTV6.

'He's just not - he's not - How would you say it? He's not the kind of person who goes out and creates trouble.'

'Jason lives for three things: tattoos, skateboarding and his son,' Wagner said.

Brown's social media accounts also show an apparent interest in handguns.

In one photo on Instagram, he poses with matching semi-auto pistols carrying extended magazines in each hand.

Another post on Facebook reads: 'Why do I carry a pistol? Because my AR15 doesn't fit in my pants,' referring to the popular semi-automatic rifle platform.

On July 24, three days before Allan was killed, Brown posted on Facebook that he was interested in bartering tattoo work for electronics, vehicles, or 'bang bangs'.

When someone replied publicly asking what a 'bang bang' was, Brown responded: 'A gun'.

Brown has no major criminal conviction history, with records showing four civil infractions and one misdemeanor, a 2013 bust for possession of marijuana or synthetic cannabinoid.

He was found guilty and spent 30 days in county jail for that charge.

Allan (center) had been called to the scene with a report of a car crash when shots rang out

A makeshift memorial is seen on Allan's police vehicle at Southport Police headquarters

'Something had to have happened. I don't know if the wreck triggered something in his mind. I don't know if they were being chased. I don't know. I don't know,' said Wagner.

Witnesses at the scene said shots flew from the overturned car while the occupants were still hanging upside down by their seat belts.

When an off-duty sheriff's deputy pulled over to assist, 'all you see is, like, a bullet go and look like it hit their car. It almost hit our car if we didn't back up,' Julian Dewbrew told WTHR.

All the while, other motorists were pulling over to help in what they thought was just a car crash scenario.

Allan, 38, is survived by his wife and children

'While the police were firing at the vehicle, they had to literally yell at people to get back,' Dewbrew said of the deputy and another officer from the Homecroft Police Department who responded in the minutes after Allan was shot.

Police returning fire struck one of the individuals in the overturned car, although it isn't clear if that was Brown or the other man in the car.

Both men are currently hospitalized, one with injuries from the crash, and the other with the gunshot wound.

The other occupant, who has not been named, has been interviewed as a witness and police say they are not pursing charges against him.

Brown faces preliminary charges of murder and marijuana possession.

Allan was a 20 year veteran of law enforcement, who had served the past six years on the Southport Police Department, in the enclave of Indianapolis.

He is survived by his wife and children.
Sydney is looking forward to its warmest winter day in 27 years on Sunday as the mercury looks set to hit 26 degrees.

The abnormally warm temperature could break a July record that has stood since 1990 and see punters swarm to the beach months before summer.

The uncharacteristic weather is thanks to a warmer air mass that moved in on Thursday, combined with westerly winds pushing across the coast.

Sunday's top temperature is set to smash a 27 year record in Sydney (pictured is a woman enjoying the warm weather at Wanda Beach on Saturday)

The unseasonal weather is delighting Sydney residents (woman pictured at Sydney Harbour on Saturday)

Iconic Sydney beaches such as Bondi and Manly (pictured on Saturday) are expecting large crowds if the temperature hits 26 as expected.

The Bureau of Meteorology rates the likelihood of above-average temperatures very high for the country's north and southeast next month, especially around Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Darwin.

'It could be the warmest weekend in 27 years,' Weatherzone Meteorologist Jacobus Cronje told 9 News.

'It looks like it will be not too windy, and wind will come off the coast, so it should be a pretty nice day for the beach,' Mr Cronje said.

It follows a notably cold and dry start to winter for many parts, except across the tropical north which has posted record warm temperatures.

Sydney is on track for its warmest July Sunday in almost three decades as a spring heatwave sweeps across the east coast of Australia (Bondi Icebergs pictured)

Australians on the east coast are in for a warm winter with some areas forecast to hit record July highs on Sunday (pictured)

Rainfall, meanwhile, is expected to be below average for the southern half of mainland Australia - particularly over southern NSW.

'But the potential for clear night skies means a greater risk of frost in many areas,' senior climatologist Andrew Watkins said in the bureau's latest climate outlook.

Australia had its second driest June in 118 years of records.

July has remained drier than average over much of the south, with widespread colder-than-average nights and early-morning frosts.

Temperatures in Sydney are forecast to reach 26 degrees on Sunday, and could break the July record set in 1990 (woman pictured at Sydney Beach)

People living in Sydney (pictured) have taken to the waterside to enjoy the warmer weather

Forecasters are predicting summery conditions on Sunday, with record-breaking temperatures (woman pictured on Bondi Beach)

THREE DAY WEATHER FORECAST SYDNEY

Sunday: Max 26 and cloudy Monday: Max 20 and rain Tuesday: Max 18 and mostly sunny BRISBANE Sunday: Max 25 and sunny Monday: Max 25 and mostly sunny Tuesday: Max 25 and mostly sunny CANBERRA Sunday: Max 17 and later shower Monday: Max 12 and rain Tuesday: Max 15 and frost then sunny DARWIN Sunday: Max 33 and sunny Monday: Max 32 and mostly sunny Tuesday: Max 32 and sunny MELBOURNE Sunday: Max 16 and possible showers Monday: Max 15 and possible showers Tuesday: Max 15 and mostly sunny ADELAIDE Sunday: Max 21 and showers Monday: Max 16 and showers Tuesday: Max 16 and possible shower PERTH Sunday: Max 17 and showers Monday: Max 18 and clearing shower Tuesday: Max 17 and windy HOBART Sunday: Max 12 and possible shower Monday: Max 12 and possible shower Tuesday: Max 12 and mostly sunny Source: Weatherzone Advertisement

Mr Cronje said there had not been a single day this month that the temperature had dipped below the July average of 16.4C.

'This year July temperatures have been averaging 18.7 degrees. We've had a run of pretty great weather, the last two days have been five degrees above average.'

Forecasters warn that the balmy weather won't stay for long, with temperatures tipped to plummet six degrees to beneath 20C on Monday.

Melbourne will get a slightly cooler, with possible showers on Sunday and Monday, and temperatures falling a single digit from 16 degrees on Sunday.

Brisbane looks set to continue its steady run of balmy weather, with 25 degrees and sunshine predicted for the three days ahead.

Some NSW towns are forecast to be hotter than ever in the year's coldest month on Sunday (pictured)

Spring-like weather continues a trend from last week where southeast Australia shook off a cold snap to rise to 22C in Sydney on Sunday.

Other capitals saw similar gradual increases over the course of last week with predictions of continued rises this week.

Balmier conditions follow the coldest week of winters for mountainous inland areas including ski fields where plenty of snow fell.

Thredbo, Perisher and Cooma all felt their coldest morning since the beginning of winter last Sunday.

The mercury fell to -12 degrees shortly after sunrise at Perisher Valley and -10.4 at Thredbo.

'The most startling was Cooma, which had its coldest July night in six years, dropping to -9.7 degrees,' Weatherzone meteorologist Rob Sharpe said.
James Packer has quietly severed business ties with the Church of Scientology, nearly a decade after withdrawing from the secretive religion.

Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis this week left Packer's CPH investment company after the billionaire abandoned US gambling expansion plans.

The casino king's former fiancee, Mariah Carey, last year accused Davis of being a key reason behind their split, reports Sydney Morning Herald.

James Packer (pictured at the 'Joy' New York premiere) has quietly severed business ties with the Church of Scientology

Miss Carey, 47, and Mr Packer, 49, parted ways after a blazing row on board the billionaire's yacht in Greece in September.

Sources close to Carey alleged Davis assumed control of Packer's investments, put him on a detox program and ordered he 'disconnect' from the pop star, according to New York Post.

The allegations were vehemently disputed by sources close to Packer, who said the split with Carey was due to her lavish spending and drama-prone ways.

In the early 2000s, Mr Packer underwent 'auditing' from top Scientology personnel and penthouse treatment with Tom Cruise at its LA celebrity base.

It was Cruise who first reached out to him after his marriage to model Jodhi Meares broke down to welcome him into the ranks of the secretive church.

A documentary on the religion released last year by Louis Theroux made explosive claims of systematic abuse, which were strongly denied by the church.

Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis this week left Packer's CPH investment company

Packer's former fiancee, Mariah Carey, last year accused Davis of being a key reason behind their split

Packer reportedly proposed to Carey with a 35-carat diamond ring in January, before the couple split months later
The chief constable for Cheshire police considered breaking the law in order to hire more officers from ethnic minorities.

Simon Byrne wants new legislation introduced to allow his police force to hire one black officer from every white one.

The chief constable's force was one of four criticised by Home Secretary Theresa May in 2015 for having no black officers.

Chief Constable Byrne wants to hire one black officer for every white one to help create a more diverse force

Three years and an outreach programme later, it now employs three.

Constable Byrne told the BBC that the law should be changed in England 'for a certain period of time' to allow the hiring of minority candidates to speed up.

This would ensure that 'for every white officer, we recruit one black officer.'

Byrne said: 'I've even taken legal advice about breaking the law, which might sound crazy as a senior police officer.

'But if we're put under pressure to change, then what are the consequences, other than reputational, from breaking the law?'

Under current equality rules employers cannot employ a job applicant because of characteristics like race, sexual orientation or gender, if other candidates are better qualified.

Byrne (pictured here during his time at the Metropolitan Police) said that he'd taken legal advice about breaking employment law

But Byrne said: 'We are not going to be lowering our standards. In Cheshire our officers have to go through a rigorous process to ensure they are fit to serve our community.

'It is the current employment law which is making it an almost impossible ambition for us to meet.'

The Chief Constable said Cheshire Police should emulate the reforms seen with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

In 2001 after decades of bloody sectarian conflict the overwhelmingly Protestant Royal Ulster Constabluary was reformed into the PSNI.

A positive discrimination programme was put in place to boost the number of Catholic officers.

Cheshire Police currently has three black officers, after having zero in 2015

The Home Office said that forces were making progress but dismissed the need for positive discrimination.

A spokesman said: 'To introduce such action would not only erode the credibility and confidence of individual officers. It would also undermine the public's expectation that progression in the police is based on merit alone

According to the UK Census approximately 3,264 'black or black British' people live in Cheshire, out of a total population of 1,027,709.
Amid reports that his wife wants out of their marriage because of his political ambitions, newly hired White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci tweeted on Saturday that he will have nothing to add on the issue.

'Family does not need to be drawn into this,' he tweeted early Saturday morning.

'Soon we will learn who in the media has class and who doesn't.

'No further comments on this.'

Multiple sources tell Page Six that Deidre Ball has decided to call it quits with the foul-mouthed Scaramucci after three years of marriage.

'She is tired of his naked ambition, which is so enormous that it left her at her wits end,' said one source.

Newly hired White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci tweeted on Saturday that he will have nothing to add about his wife's divorce filing

After news broke that Scaramucci's wife filed for divorce, he tweeted: 'I can take the hits but I would ask that you would put my family in your thoughts and prayers & nothing more'

Another source said that Scaramucci's new boss was also causing problems in the couple's relationship.

'Deidre is not a fan of Trump, and she hasnt exactly been on board and supportive of Anthony and his push to get back into the White House,' said the second source.

On Friday evening, Scaramucci tweeted: 'Leave civilians out of this. I can take the hits, but I would ask that you would put my family in your thoughts and prayers & nothing more.'

This will be the second divorce for the father-of-three, who has a daughter Amelia, 21, and two sons, 18-year-old Anthony Jr and Alexander, 24, who goes by AJ.

Naked ambition: Scaramucci's wife has filed for divorce, just one week after her husband was appointed White House Communications Director (couple above in October 2016)

Naked finger: Scaramucci was photographed on Friday at the White House without his wedding ring

Naked hatred: President Trump also drove a wedge between the couple according to one person who said Ball is 'not a fan' of her husband's new boss (Scaramucci and Ball with President Trump and the First Lady)

The Wall Street financier, 53, married Ball (pictured) in 2014, but it is unclear when the two began dating

The Wall Street financier, 53, married Ball in 2014, but it is unclear when the two began dating.

Ball, 38, left her job as a vice president in investor relations for SkyBridge Capital after Scaramucci sold the firm.

She has donated money to both Republican and Democratic politicians, including Rep. Kathleen Rice's (D-N.Y.) campaign, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's presidential bid, The Hill reported.

She and Scaramucci live in the Long Island town of Manhasset, which is also home to Bill O'Reilly and Jose Reyes.

He was photographed at the White House on Friday without his wedding ring, although the band was spotted on his finger when he appeared on the morning television shows from the front lawn of the White House on Wednesday.

Scaramucci was previously married to Lisa Miranda, who is the mother of Amelia.

Miranda appears to have far different political leanings than her ex-husband, having supported Hillary Clinton in the recent election.

She also proved to be very calm and collected in the wake of President Trump's surprise election win, writing on Facebook: 'Congratulations to those who chose to support Donald Trump; I sincerely hope that he proves to be all u hoped for.'

She then said to her fellow Clinton supporters: 'What seems like a set-back is just a set-up for a future of true equality.'

Pride and joys: Scaramucci has a daughter Amelia, 21, and two sons, 18-year-old Anthoiny Jr and Alexander, 24, who goes by AJ

Ex: Scaramucci's first wife Lisa Miranda is the mother of Amelia, his middle child (Lisa and Amelia above)

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny: It was not all bad news for Scaramucci on Friday, as it was revealed his newly acquired White House nemesis Reince Preibus was out as chief-of-staff (Priebus and Scaramucci on Tuesday in the Oval Office)

Ball has managed to keep a low profile throughout her husband's bombastic campaign to land a position at the White House on President Trump's staff.

She also seemed to be supportive of her husband's political ambitions as she appeared with him at events and even posed alongside him as he flaunted his 'Make America Great Again' cap.

Soon after he sold Skybridge, Scaramucci was named Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs and an assistant to President Trump.

'Anthony is focusing on his children, his work for the president and the American people. There is nothing more important to him,' said the second course, who is close to the moneyman.

'I dont know who Deidre thought she was marrying but anyone who knows Anthony knows hes an ambitious man.'

Happy days: Soon after he sold Skybridge, Scaramucci was named Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs

She eemed to be supportive of her husband's political ambitions as she appeared with him at events and even posed in his 'Make America Great Again' cap

Squad goals: Scaramucci's youngest son Anthony Jr lives with him in his Manhasset mansion

Work wife: Scaramucci chats with campaign manager Kellyanne Conway during the transition period

Scaramucci got his start in the world of finance at Goldman Sachs, working at the firm for 17 years after graduating from law school in 1989.

He then left in 1996 to start his own firm, Oscar Capital Management, which in 2001 sold to Neuberger Berman.

It was in 2005 that he created Sky Capital, which became his biggest success and pushed his fortune over the billion-dollar mark.

One of the myth-like stories told about Scaramucci is the one about how he was hired, fired and then rehired by Goldman in the span of just one year.

That polarizing characteristics that could make such a situation seem plausible were certainly on display this week, when Scaramucci delivered a foul-mouthed tirade of an interview to a reporter from the New Yorker after failing to state at any point that what he was saying was off the record.

While Scaramucci chalked up his comments in the interview as 'colorful language', he cancelled his appearances on a number of panels at Politicon this weekend

In the end, President Trump elected to part with Scaramucci's nemisis, the former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, rather than his new right-hand man.

Scaramucci has also hosted the Fox Business Network's Wall Street Week in 2015 after he pitched the idea of a revival to Roger Ailes.
Top Gear presenter Chris Harris has been injured in a freak accident on a race circuit in Belgium.

The BBC TV motoring journalist sustained a bloody gash to the back of his head which required stitches, and tweeted about it online.

But the accident did not happen while he was driving out on the circuit at Spa, in Belgium, but while he was waiting quietly in the paddock.

Harriss head was sliced open by the sharp edge of an aerodynamic wing of an F3 racing car being carried by a racing crew member.

Alongside a graphic photograph of the back of his head, Top Gear presenter Chris Harris tweeted: Solid race preparations: nearly getting brained by a delightful man carrying a poorly located F3 wing through the paddock!

Top Gear presenter Chris Harris (centre) posted light-hearted tweets about the incident for which he required stitches. He is pictured alongside co-presenters Rory Reid (left) and Matt LeBlanc (right)

Harriss head was sliced open by the sharp edge of an aerodynamic wing of an F3 racing car being carried by a racing crew member

Alongside a graphic photograph of the back of his head, he tweeted: Solid race preparations: nearly getting brained by a delightful man carrying a poorly located F3 wing through the paddock!

Later he tweeted a photograph of the medical team at Spa who gave him stitches noting: Few stitches from the very wonderful Spa medical staff!

Later Top Gear presenter Chris Harris posted another picture from the Spa circuit in Belgium, where a 24 hour GT supercar race is taking place this weekend.

Later Top Gear presenter Chris Harris (centre) posted another picture from the Spa circuit in Belgium, where a 24 hour GT supercar race is taking place this weekend

The accident did not happen while he was driving out on the circuit at Spa, in Belgium, but while he was waiting quietly in the paddock

He is listed as one of a four-man team taking part in the 24-hour race with the McLaren GT customer team called Garage 59.

He also tweeted the team's earlier qualifying performance.
Recruits: League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Madel or BDM) members at Nuremberg in 1936

Barbie Densk shivered under a blanket as she lay in a slit trench inside the barricaded German city of Aachen on the night of October 12, 1944.

She was a member of Hitler's Bund Deutscher Madel  or League of German Girls  and had volunteered to defend her home and family from the American infantry encircling the city.

The assault finally came at 9am. 'It was very sudden, loud and startling,' she said. 'There was a series of explosions, followed by rifle and machine-gun fire, shouts and screams. I blew my whistle to raise the alarm.

'Through my binoculars, I could see enemy soldiers. I clicked off the safety catch on my rifle, the other girls followed suit, and we began to fire at the Americans.'

The reality of warfare came as a shock. 'There was a flash and a loud bang,' she recalled. 'I fell to the floor and saw the blood-spattered bodies of my friends; some of them lay across my legs, convulsing violently with blood running from their mouths.

'Little funnels of smoke rose out of the holes in their bodies and steam from their torn stomachs.'

She was just 15.

I first came across the extraordinary role played by girls in the Third Reich after a chance encounter with Kirsten Eckerman, by then 74, in the German military cemetery at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire.

Idol: Hitler meets members of the League of German Girls, who would be asked to defend the Fatherland

She told me about belonging to the Bund Deutscher Madel and introduced me to friends who had similar, sometimes horrifying experiences. As I embarked upon countless interviews, I soon realised this was a rapidly disappearing generation of women whose compelling stories of fighting in their country's last stand against the Allies should be told before it was too late.

The Bund Deutscher Madel (BDM) had never been intended as an arm of the German war machine. Founded in the 1920s and compulsory for eligible  Aryan  girls from 1936, it was envisioned as a version of the Girl Guides, indoctrinating a new generation in the ideology of the Third Reich.

Teenage girls in Nazi Germany received only a very limited education built around five menial principles: physical exercise, cooking, washing, cleaning and babies  though sex was not on the curriculum. Emphasis was put on the physical exercise, including naked dancing.

The German maiden had to be beautiful, supple, radiant and strong.

After school, girls between ten and 14 were required to attend Jungmadel groups, while 14 to 18-year-olds went to BDM meetings  where important Nazis including Himmler and Goebbels often lectured.

A member of the League of German Girls (left). The league was never intended as an arm of the German war machine, but as the tide of war turned, Hitler decreed that girls as young as ten must be trained to defend their cities. Right, German girls help man anti-air defenses

The BDM and the Jungmadel performed at the Nazis' showpiece Nuremberg rallies, and another young recruit, Helga Bassler, shook hands with the Fuhrer there.

She recalled: 'My knees began to shake and I had butterflies in my stomach as I watched Hitler slowly make his way towards me. Girls cried and reached out to him and some had brought flowers especially for him.

'From that day on, I looked upon Hitler as a personal saviour  like how modern girls look up to their favourite pop stars. Many of us became infatuated after meeting him, and we were in a way in love with him.'

After the Allied landings of 1944, when even the most fervent Nazis had to admit the tide of war had turned against Germany, the domestic emphasis was jettisoned.

A young German girl meets Hitler during a 1936 Nazi Party rally. One former BDM member recalls how her 'knees began to shake' when she met the dictator - and compared it to a modern girl meeting her favourite pop star

Hitler issued a decree that girls as young as ten must be trained to fight to the death to defend their cities. Members of the BDM were taught to lay booby traps, become snipers, sabotage roads, railways and telephone lines and even operate Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons in all-female Werewolf guerrilla units  part of the Nazis' desperate Volkssturm rearguard action.

Barbie was a Werewolf volunteer in Aachen.

'Our defences had been prepared  trenches, barbed wire, upturned cars, lorries and trams,' she said. 'Our task was to cause as many enemy casualties as we could. We felt confident we might prevent the enemy from capturing the city.

'Just before the American attack, our group leader told us, 'German girls, you are like the grey slender wolves of our nation. As she-wolves in the great wilderness, the human female is also a natural predator, provider and protector. As wolves, you shall roam the shadows and leave no enemy safe. Our enemy shall drown in their own blood  and ours if necessary.'

'I have never forgotten, because when the fighting started that leader donned civilian clothing and surrendered  so much for being a leader of wolves!'

A German girls helps observe enemy troops. By 1944 BDM recruits were seeing a very different side to the war. As part of Germany's desperate defense many were asked to lay booby traps, become snipers, and even operate Panzefaust anti-tank weapons

Willi Anderson, a young private with the American 26th Infantry Regiment, said: 'It was a shock to see kids shooting at you. You had no choice but to return fire and kill them. One incident sticks in my mind. We were advancing up a side street, a shot rang out from a cellar and one of our guys was killed. We took the only course of action we could and fired a bazooka through the entrance. One of our guys crawled inside.

'He came out in a state of shock and said, 'Jesus Christ, there's a dead kid in there, a girl.' '

Corporal R. Marshall, also of the 26th Infantry Regiment, added: 'They fought very well, considering they were young ladies. They sniped at us, threw grenades, and generally did their best to kill us. Yet when we captured them they would drop their weapons and raise their hands shouting, 'Amerikaner! Amerikaner!'

'Then they asked us for sweets and chocolate bars. They were just kids who should never have been fighting.

'After Aachen, I prayed every day that we would experience nothing like it ever again; it was like a butcher's shop, with pieces of human meat lying everywhere, dead bodies of men, women and little children.'

Hitler meets a young admirer (pictured left). The Nazi propaganda effort (pictured right) helped convince thousands of young children that it was there sacred duty to kill, and if necessary, die for Hitler's warped vision of Germany

Barbie was captured by the Americans. 'I was asked how I came to get wounded and I told him the truth,' she said. 'He asked if the Nazis had encouraged and taught me to shoot and I told him that yes, they had.

'Then he wanted to know if I liked Hitler and if I wanted to continue fighting. I told him I only wanted to stop enemy soldiers from hurting my friends and that I had only seen Hitler in films and pictures.

'My war was over and in a way I was glad, but was also very fearful about what was going to happen to us now.'

If the situation in Aachen was terrible, conditions in Berlin were unspeakable. By April 1945, Berlin had been reduced to rubble, its citizens hiding in cellars and sewers.

Almost incessant propaganda boomed out across the city through loudspeakers, reminding civilians of what would happen to them if they were captured by the Bolsheviks.

Legions of adoring German girls wait for Hitler during one of his early rallies in the 1930s. The BDM was introduced as a way to indoctrinate young German women with the Nazi ideology

There was even a radio station, Radio Werewolf, continuously calling for the boys and girls of Berlin to fight, and die if necessary, for the Fatherland. 'Besser Tot Als Rot', they were told. Better Dead Than Red.

For the young Werewolf girls, the battle for Berlin would become a nightmare.

Heidi Koch recalled: 'I had never known fear like it. Loudspeakers were asking citizens not to run like cowards, saying relief would arrive soon. The bodies of traitors were hanging from trees and lampposts; it was like everyone had gone mad.

'We spent much of our time digging holes, making walls of rubble and upturning motor vehicles and trams. There were many members of our SS in the city. I kept asking questions until one turned and shouted at me, 'Do you know what will happen if the Russians get here? They will probably f*** you, then shoot you, understand?' I turned and ran.'

Dana Henschell, then 21, remembered: 'We were told we must not let the enemy take the aerodrome. As a Heckenschutze [sniper], I had to move to the far side of the airfield, and watched as the Volkssturm men began to surrender. Some were shot and bayoneted by the Russians.

Hiter meets with a young German. Under the Nazi vision once a girl reached 14 she was required to attend BDM meetings where she would be taught five menial principals: physical exercise, cooking, washing, cleaning and babies

'The next few seconds were the slowest of my life. I lay beneath an abandoned vehicle, cocked the rifle and with a pounding heart, looked into the telescope. I held the black cross steadily on a Russian soldier, held my breath and slowly squeezed the trigger. I saw the Russian thrown back by the impact.

'Another Russian ran to help the man I had just shot, so I killed him too. Then a mortar bomb fell very close. Another two bombs came in seconds later, so I quickly backed away from the vehicle. Moments later, there was a loud whoosh and a large chunk of the vehicle sailed into the air.

'I ran to a first-aid post where there were men who had arms or legs blown off. Blood was everywhere, like a butcher's shop. Some of our girls could not cope and some were outside vomiting and crying hysterically. I retched but nothing came out. I was given a metal cup of sugared water and told I was suffering from shock.'

Theresa Moelle fired her anti-aircraft gun at zero elevation at the advancing Russians until she ran out of ammunition. Then a Russian T-34 tank came. 'One of our girls, an 18-year-old named Anneliese, began to babble. 'Someone is going to have to stop it or it will kill us all,' she said.

Soviet troops during the Battle of Berlin. Many BDM girls were involved in the defense of the city, and countless were raped by Soviet soldiers as part of their brutal reprisals against Hitler's Germany

'I shouted at her to give me the Panzerfaust anti-tank weapon and fired. I watched the little rocket streak towards the tank. There was a flash, followed by a puff of smoke. Suddenly, the lid of the tank blew off, followed by a rush of bright red and yellow flame and sparks.'

By the time Berlin surrendered on May 2, its civilian casualty figures were put at an estimated 125,000 dead, the result of Hitler's obdurate refusal to surrender.

Considerably more had been wounded, raped or driven to insanity, Hitler's girls among them.

Theresa Moelle recalled being clubbed from behind by Russian soldiers. 'I came around and had been bound and gagged. Everything was a blur. I was surrounded by objects on the floor. As my vision began to clear, I could see they were the severed heads of German soldiers arranged in a circle.

'Five Russian-speaking figures stood a few yards away urinating over a poster of the Fuhrer.

Sudenten-Germans give the Hitler salute in 1938, when Germany annexed Austria. Seven years later the Nazi vision would turn their country into an unspeakable slaughter

'I wondered what they had done with Anneliese, and later learned they had raped and shot her. One of the bastards took great pleasure in telling me I would be next.'

Her colleague, Anita von Schoener, was brutally gang-raped by Russian soldiers.

'I could not stop them, as while one did the raping, the others held you down,' Anita said.

'I had to survive what these men were doing to me for the sake of my child, so I shut my eyes. They were like a pack of wild animals and when they had finished taking turns abusing me, I had teeth marks on my neck, breasts and my shoulders.

'The worst thing of all was that I later discovered I was pregnant again, this time with a rapist's child. I went ahead with the birth, as many German girls did.

'But it was utterly impossible for me to show any affection for the child, and I gave it up straight after the birth. I did not even want to know if it was a boy or girl.'
An ill-fated family from Farmington, Utah was horrified when they discovered their own dog was put up for adoption six months after they brought her to the vet to be euthanized.

In the fall of 2016, the Coates family noticed their boxer dog Zoey's health had taken a decline when she began having seizures and grew an enormous mass on the side of her body.

The family was under the impression the growth was cancerous and induced pain upon her, and believed it best to have Zoey put to rest.

In late November, the father of the dog's owner, Tawny Coates, took Zoey to the Bayview Animal Hospital for the final procedure as Tawny grew too emotional for the troubling task.

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The Coates family noticed their boxer dog Zoey's health had taken a decline when she began having seizures

Zoey grew an enormous mass on the side of her body, which the family believed could be deadly

In months prior to the dog's sickness, the Coates lost their home and Tawny's husband was sent to prison after he robbed a bank

The family had dealt with their fair share of disappointment in months prior to Zoey's misfortune.

The Coates' home went into foreclosure after Tawny's husband reportedly robbed a bank and was shipped off to prison.

After six months passed, the family decided they were ready to put warmth back in their home, and decided they wanted to adopt another boxer dog.

Tawny sought listings on the Boxer Town Rescue of Utah's Facebook page. When she scrolled through, she was shocked by what she saw before her eyes.

'I see the Boxer Town rescue page and I'm like, 'That looks like my dog.' Then I thought, 'I'm crazy,' but I click on it anyway and zoom in and say, 'No, that's my dog!'' Coates said in a tearful interview with KSL.

Zoey was listed under the new name 'Miss Frankie,' a 'sweet' pup who was seeking a new foster home.

The Coates family brought the dog back into their home, where she continued to thrive

Tawny was shocked to find her dog posted on an adoption page under the new name 'Miss Frankie'

The vet believed the dog had many more years to live

'This felt like a final stab.' Tawny said.

'It was just one too many things. I knew it was going to be what pushed my kids to their breaking point.'

According to Mr. Coates, who was the only person in the presence of veterinarian Dr. Mary Smart the day he took Zoey to be euthanized, he was given no indication that the hospital would not plan go through with the euthanization.

Veterinarian Dr. Mary Smart said Mr. Coates acted as though he didn't want the dog

Mr. Coates said he was even given 'a receipt for $215 for euthanasia and cremation' as well as a greeting card with regrets of the dog's passing from the hospital staff.

But Smart said things went down a bit differently that day.

'From my interaction with Mr. Coates, it seemed pretty obvious to me that they didn't want the dog,' she said.

Smart said she believed Zoey had more life to live and alternative medical options.

'In my professional opinion, this was a dog that had years to live and I didn't want to put the dog down ... I was trying to save its life.'

Smart claimed she explained the surgery and medication options to Mr. Coates, but he still insisted on letting the dog to rest.

Following the miscommunication, Smart decided to go ahead and send the pup to a rescue home, where she could be properly treated and cared for.

Smart failed to inform the family about her decision and what seemed to be good intent for the pup.

'I screwed up,' Smart said in the interview.

'I should have called the family. Had I any inkling that they might at all be interested in having the dog back, I would have for sure called. But after my conversation with Mr. Coates, it just seemed very obvious to me that they didn't want the dog.'

Dr. Drew Allen, of Utah's Veterinary Board, said the matter could have been a legal dispute.

'As much as we are in this profession for the love of the animals, we need to make sure we're not putting just what we think is best for the animal above the owners and the humans involved in the equation as well,' Allen said.

Despite the whirlwind of confusion, the Coates family was able to bring Zoey back home, where, beyond their knowledge, she would continue to live a fulfilling and healthy life.
A disgraced former Catholic priest, convicted of repeatedly raping a boy in the 1980s and released from prison on Friday, will be living across the street from a children's dance studio.

Paul Shanley, 86, moved to the town of Ware, Massachusetts, about 65 miles west of Boston, after being released from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater where he completed a 12-year sentence.

His new home in a multi-unit building is opposite a recently opened dance studio that teaches children as young as age two.

The studio's owner, Arielle Lask, said she plans to install 'state-of-the-art' security systems and to make sure every child leaves the studio accompanied by an adult.

Disgraced former Catholic priest Paul Shanley, 86 (pictured on Friday), convicted of repeatedly raping a boy in the 1980s, was released from prison on Friday and will be living across the street from a children's dance studio in Ware, Massachusetts

Robert Hoatson (left) and Ruth Moore (right) demonstrate outside the prison after the defrocked priest was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to prison for 12 years

According to the sex offender registry list, Shanley is the fifth Level 3 sex offender to have an address on the street where his new home is (pictured). The registry shows there are currently 21 Level 3 sex offenders living within three miles of the street

As a condition of Shanley's (pictured) 10-year probation, he has been ordered to have no contact with children under age 16

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented a number of men in their case against the Boston Archdioceses, said his clients are upset that Shanley (pictured, February 1974) is being released

'It's awful that he's even on the streets of Ware,' Lask told The Boston Globe. 'Whether it's across the street or down the road, there are children everywhere.'

According to the sex offender registry list, Shanley is the fifth Level 3 sex offender to have an address on the street where his new home is. The registry shows there are currently 21 Level 3 sex offenders living within three miles of the street.

As a condition of Shanley's 10-year probation, he has been ordered to have no contact with children under age 16.

Convicted in 2005, Shanley's crimes were finally brought to light after The Boston Globe's Spotlight team published an in-depth report in 2002 on pedophile priests the Catholic Church was helping to protect.

The report led to thousands of accusations from alleged victims, providing evidence that the abuse spanned over decades.

It was later discovered that senior church members helped cover-up the scandal and shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish.

Originally believed to be only a few isolated cases, the Spotlight investigation sparked an international crisis within the church, with victims coming forward from numerous countries across the world.

The church ultimately paid out billions in costs and settlements.

Bernard Law, who was the Archbishop of Boston and had extensive knowledge of the abusive taking place under his leadership, resigned from his post in December 2002.

Shanley's victim stepped forward following a report by The Boston Globe exposed pedophile priests within the Catholic Church (Pictured, The Boston Globe June 2017)

The movie Spotlight, which focused on The Boston Globe's groundbreaking effort, won the Academy Award in 2015 for Best Picture (Pictured, Cast of the film 'Spotlight')

The report by the Spotlight team led to thousands of accusations against priests within the church, providing evidence that the abuse spanned over decades (Pictured, Spotlight team)

Soon after, he was appointed by Pope John Paul II the Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, where he resides today.

Shanley's accuser, s then-27-year-old firefighter, said the now defrocked priest began abusing him when he was six years old.

The man said as the abuse scandal unfolded in the Archdiocese of Boston during the early 2000s, those painful memories returned, spurring him to come forward.

In 2015, a motion picture titled 'Spotlight' about the Boston Globe's efforts to expose the priests and the church's attempt to cover it up won the Academy Award.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented a number of men in their case against the Boston Archdioceses, said his clients are upset that Shanley is being released.

'Unfortunately, there is no mechanism in place which will prevent Paul Shanley from sexually abusing once again,' Garabedian said, according to USA Today.

'When it comes to a sexual abuser abusing an innocent child, the abuser can be 35 or 95 - there's no age limit.'

It was later learned that senior members of the church knew of the abuse and helped cover it up by shuffling abusers from parish to parish (Pictured, Bernard Law in December 2002)

Days before he was released, another alleged victim of the Shanely was interviewed by The New York Times, who described the priest as 'a sexual predator plus,' recalling how he took advantage a young man in need of help.

John Harris claims that in 1979, after struggling with depression and alcohol abuse, he reached out to Shanley for help.

'He raped me, under the pretense of helping me,' Harris, now 59, told the Times on Wednesday.

The Level 3 offender status Shanley received means likely to re-offend. State law prohibits people from using information in the registry to harass people.

Abuse victims say they're concerned Shanley, who isn't required to wear an electronic monitoring device, will not have enough supervision.

Shanley's lawyer says he's served his time and is not dangerous.

According to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, 911 new accusations against 463 priests emerged in 2016. Of those, at least 43 priests were defrocked from the Church and another 111 were suspended.
Deltra Henderson, 39, was locked up in 2001 on a 30 year sentence

Fresh details have emerged in the horrific prison escape that left the teen daughter of an assistant warden stabbed to death.

Officials on Friday revealed the timeline of events between Louisiana inmate Deltra Henderson's escape, his brutal murder of Amanda Leigh Carney, and his death in a shootout with police.

Henderson, 39, was locked up in 2001 on a 30 year sentence for distribution of cocaine, attempted armed robbery, and aggravated burglary, and had a good-behavior release date of 2025.

A prison 'trustee' granted extra rights for good behavior, Henderson was on a work detail near the David Wade Correctional Center when he walked away around 1pm on Thursday, authorities said.

His absence from the outdoor work detail was noticed around 1.40pm.

Amanda Leigh Carney graduated from Summerfield High School in May with a class of just 25

Amanda (right) was believed to be in her parents' home across the road from the prison when Henderson walked away from a nearby work detail and took her hostage

From there, Henderson is believed to have made his way to a small brick home across the road from the prison, where assistant warden James Arnold lived with his family. The girl's mother, Andrea Bell, also works at the prison.

Henderson kidnapped Amanda, who has been variously reported as 18 or 19 years old, and was either Arnold's daughter or step-daughter.

He stole a vehicle and drove north from the prison, but made it less than two miles before crashing on a dirt road just off Louisiana 520.

Amanda's body was found with stab wounds in the woods a short distance from the crashed vehicle. Investigators have not said whether she was sexually assaulted.

Henderson was locked up in 2001 on a 30 year sentence for distribution of cocaine, attempted armed robbery, and aggravated burglary, and had a good-behavior release date of 2025

Amanda had graduated from Summerfield High School in May and was due to attend Southern Arkansas University in the coming weeks to study nursing

Henderson stole a vehicle and drove north from the prison, but made it less than two miles before crashing on this dirt road just off Louisiana 520. Amanda's body was found nearby

From there, officials said Henderson 'made contact with' a local resident and stole a second vehicle, although they did not specify what kind of 'contact' they meant.

The fugitive inmate apparently doubled back on his tracks, driving back south and past the prison.

'The trusty subsequently made entry into a nearby residence and located an unsecured firearm,' the the Claiborne Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

That residence appears to be a mobile home on a firing range just west of the prison.

'As prison guards closed in on the residence, a gunfight ensued and the trusty barricaded himself in the residence,' the sheriff's statement said.

Officers found Henderson hiding in this trailer home (above) on prison property later in the afternoon and surrounded the building. The inmate was killed in a shootout with police

Inmate Deltra Henderson, 39, was shot dead by police on Thursday after he was reported missing from the David Wade Correctional Center in Louisiana at about 1.40pm

He is suspected of taking the assistant warden's teenage step-daughter hostage and stabbing her to death. Her body was found in a wooded area

Amanda Leigh Carney, 19, was killed near the David Wade Correctional Center in Homer, Louisiana on Thursday afternoon by escaped inmate Deltra Henderson

After firing on guards, Henderson was shot dead, about three or four hours after he first escaped.

Meanwhile, new details have also emerged about the teen who was brutally slain by the escaped inmate.

Amanda was a standout high school softball player who was just a few weeks from starting classes at Southern Arkansas University, where she planned to study nursing.

She had graduated from Summerfield High School in May with a class of just 25.

'There are no words to express, Shane Lee, Summerfield's principal, told the Shreveport Times.

'We lost a student, an athlete and a person. Please be in prayer for the school and family,' Lee said.

Amanda's high school is set to hold a vigil for her at some point next week.
Arizonans gave a warm welcome to Senator John McCain upon his return to the state for cancer treatment on Friday.

The senator's wife, Cindy McCain, posted photos on Instagram Saturday showing makeshift signs left on the side of roadways by residents saying: 'Thank you, senator.'

'We found these on our road this morning,' she wrote in the caption of her Instagram post.

'Thank you whoever made these.'

Arizonans gave a warm welcome to Senator John McCain upon his return to the state for cancer treatment on Friday

The senator's wife, Cindy McCain, posted photos on Instagram Saturday showing makeshift signs left on the side of roadways by residents saying: 'Thank you, senator'

The McCains are seen walking out of the Senate building in Washington on Tuesday. The senator is set to begin chemotherapy and radiation treatments at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix on Monday. He has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer

McCain's daughter, Fox News co-host Meghan McCain, tweeted on Saturday: 'Have decided to take a pause from all social media to focus on my father and family - thank you all for your kind words and prayers'

The senator is being hailed by supporters of Obamacare for his decisive vote early Friday morning which doomed the Republican healthcare bill and prevented a repeal.

After the dramatic vote, McCain, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, returned home to Arizona for medical treatment at the Mayo Clinic.

'On Monday, July 31, he will begin a standard post-surgical regimen of targeted radiation and chemotherapy,' according to a statement by the senator's office.

'During that time, Senator McCain will maintain a work schedule.'

The office said the 80-year-old Republican would return to Washington at the end of the August congressional recess.

High drama for the maverick: McCain leaves the the Senate chamber at the US Capitol after voting against his own party and defeating the GOP's bill to repeal Obamacare

McCain's daughter, Fox News co-host Meghan McCain, tweeted on Saturday: 'Have decided to take a pause from all social media to focus on my father and family - thank you all for your kind words and prayers.'

John McCain joined two other Republican senators - Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska - and 48 Democrats to narrowly defeat the 'skinny repeal' that would have undone much of the Affordable Care Act.

President Donald Trump is blaming the Senate rules for the GOP's inability to pass a promised Obamacare repeal  even though party leaders brought up the bill on a fast-track procedure and still fell short of a majority.

The president repeated his call for ending the legislative filibuster on Twitter Friday morning and again on Saturday.

'Right thing to do': McCain told reporters outside the Senate chamber that voting against the 'Skinny Repeal' was the only course of action he felt able to take

Republican leaders brought up Obamacare repeal legislation using special 'reconciliation' procedures, which would have allowed legislation to clear on a simple majority vote.

McCain, who lived up to his reputation as a political maverick as he dramatically voted 'no' to reject the repeal of Obamacare on a night of high suspense in the US Capitol, cited the closed process used to design the legislation.

In doing so, the 80-year old former POW dealt a dramatic blow to the GOP's seven-year long quest to strike down Obamacare.

On leaving the Capitol, McCain was asked by reporters why he decided to vote against the bill.

He replied, 'Because it was the right thing to do.'

He later issued a statement.

McCain joined two other Republican senators - Susan Collins of Maine (left) and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (right) - and 48 Democrats to narrowly defeat the 'skinny repeal' that would have undone much of the Affordable Care Act.

'From the beginning, I have believed that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with a solution that increases competition, lowers costs, and improves care for the American people,' said McCain.

'The so-called 'skinny repeal' amendment the Senate voted on today would not accomplish those goals.'

Trump responded on Twitter: '3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!'

The dramatic vote stunned observers, and sent the GOP's improvisational plans to cobble together an Obamacare repeal into a tailspin.

'This is clearly a disappointing moment,' said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Party leaders had finalized the bill over a Republican lunch, and only released the bill at 10pm Thursday night, casting aside GOP complaints about the need for regular order and a deliberative process from the Democratic push to enact Obamacare.

Even as the vote approached, numerous Republicans acknowledged that the 'skinny bill' was far from perfect, and were voting for it only as a way to move forward toward a conference with the House  which would have kicked off another negotiation.
The disturbing prospect of chlorine-washed chickens from the US going on sale in British shops in a post-Brexit trade deal last week sparked an explosive row at the heart of Government.

But beyond the politics lies the story of why American poultry needs such drastic chemical treatment  and of the horrendous conditions at the farms where they are bred and reared.

Packed in: Chickens at the North Carolina farm run by Craig Watts. He says their flesh would rot due to the conditions

Now whistleblower farmers have revealed the full horror of the suffering to The Mail on Sunday, including how:

Tens of thousands of super-sized 'Frankenstein' birds are crammed in vast warehouses.

The chickens, which weigh up to 9lb, often buckle under their weight and must live without natural sunlight.

Chickens frequently die before they reach maturity and many are left covered in their own faeces, turning warehouses into vile breeding grounds for disease.

Unlike in the UK and Europe, there are no minimum space requirements for breeding chickens in the US. America also does not have any rules governing lighting levels in the sheds and, crucially, its farms have no maximum allowed level of ammonia, which indicates how much urine and faecal matter is present. This means there is no limit on how much can fester inside the sheds.

There is no legal requirement to wash US chickens in chlorine or other disinfectants, but 97 per cent of its birds are cleaned in this way after slaughter.

The possibility of US chickens being sold in Britain after a post-Brexit trade deal sparked a huge Cabinet row, with Environment Secretary Michael Gove speaking out against the move while Trade Secretary Liam Fox insisted the chlorine-rinsed meat was safe.

Dr Fox, who met leading politicians and businessmen in the US last week, sparked fury from the public and other Ministers after he signalled he would be in favour of dropping the EU's ban on importing chicken from the US if it proved to be a barrier to securing a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

The furore exposed just how difficult it will be for Britain to quickly strike new deals with foreign powers once we leave the EU in 2019. Now whistleblowers have offered a disturbing insight into the 70 billion US poultry industry, which is controlled by the big agricultural firms lobbying to sell their meat to Britain.

North Carolina farmer Craig Watts, 51, told the MoS: 'The birds are too heavy to stand because they have been bred for breast meat and nothing else so they spend their lives squatting. It's like two toothpicks sticking out of a grape.

This image shows the chickens being doused in chlorine at a farm in the United States

'They spend 95 per cent of their time sitting on the litter, a mixture of pine shavings and faecal matter from that flock and prior flocks.'

He said 1,000 of the 30,000 chickens he raised every six weeks would die before they reached maturity. Many become infected on the underside of their chest because of contact with the litter.

He added: 'Their flesh would rot and, when you have them crammed in so tight, they will walk over other birds if they want to get to the food or scratch the others and cause a wound. It is awful.'

Mr Watts, a married father- of-three, quit the poultry business two years ago because he was disgusted by its practices.

Nearly all America's chicken farmers are under contract with big producers who supply them with chicks, feed and equipment. The firms dictate what the farmers can do and are paid according to a 'tournament system' that pits farmers against each other. The farmer who produces the most meat with the least feed comes top. A less efficient farmer will have money deducted from his base pay.

Critics say this system fosters unhygienic practices because it forces poultry farmers to cut corners on animal welfare to maximise their income per flock. Campaigners who work with farmers to improve standards say many are too scared to speak out for fear of having their contracts terminated.

One farmer, John  not his real name  is currently part of a class action lawsuit by chicken farmers against big US poultry companies.

He said farmers earn between 9,000 and 30,000 a year even though they work 16-hour days.

The chickens, which weigh up to 9lb, often buckle under their weight and must live without natural sunlight

This is a whole cooked canned chicken that is sold in US stores

'Last year [chicken firm] Pilgrim's Pride paid $2.2 billion (1.7 billion) in dividends and we're going on 20 years since we've had an increase in base pay. We get around five cents [4p] a pound of meat. Seventy per cent of poultry growers live below the poverty level.'

Campaigners who have infiltrated chicken farms in the past two years have secretly filmed shocking abuse and cruel conditions at farms across America.

Footage shot at a farm in Georgia last month by the Humane Society of the United States showed the owner of the farm bludgeoning chickens with a metal rod.

The chicken shed at the farm also appeared to be badly overcrowded. Many birds seemed to be suffering from severe leg problems and some were unable to walk to reach food and water. Yet in the US  as in Britain  consumer demand for chicken continues to grow. Nine billion chickens were slaughtered in the US last year.

US chickens have more than tripled in size since 1957, according to academic studies. The birds cost 20 per cent less than British chickens, which are typically one third smaller than US birds. Major poultry producers have cross-bred and interbred birds in recent decades to create 'mutant' chickens which grow larger in a shorter space of time and need less feed.

Peter Stevenson, chief policy adviser for British-based welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming, said: 'This genetic engineering has created unnatural chickens which give you larger breasts or bigger cuts of meat.

'These chickens grow far too large too quickly and they cannot move around. They end up sitting in their own waste.'

The animals bring more faecal matter to the slaughterhouse with them, posing the food safety risk which requires the birds to be washed in chlorine or similar chemicals. However, the US poultry industry maintains that its birds are healthier than ever.

Jim Sumner, president of the US Poultry & Egg Export Council, said US chickens are treated humanely and are only washed with chlorine to make them 'extra safe' for consumers because it guards against food poisoning bugs. He said the process was not harmful to consumers, adding: 'Sometimes these [animal welfare] organisations do not have a thorough understanding of the process or scientific facts.'

Another reason poultry in the US is chlorinated is that farmers are not required to vaccinate against diseases such as Salmonella. Britain and the EU have widespread vaccination programmes.

This image shows the chickens on the way to being slaughtered by electrocution

Supporters of chlorine-washed chicken point out both the US and European food safety authorities have declared the chemicals used to wash chickens in the States do not pose any risk to human health. Tom Super, spokesman for the US National Chicken Council, said: 'Its [chlorine's] use makes the chicken safer. It is not present in the final product, it poses zero health risk.'

But Jaydee Hanson, a senior policy analyst at the US Center for Food Safety, said: 'These chemicals are basically like the ones we put in our toilets to clean them. The question is why are chickens so contaminated in the first place. And the issue is that we are not doing a good job of raising chickens.'

Leah Garces, of the Global Animal Partnership, an animal welfare group, added: 'The fact we have to wash our food in chlorine to make it safe indicates that we are not doing farming right in the first place. It indicates how unhealthy we are raising our birds.'

While UK chicken farmers are not wholly free from criticism from animal welfare campaigners, there are strict regulations that must be followed. In the UK and Europe, poultry farmers must not keep more than 17 chickens per square metre in their sheds. There are also rules governing available natural light, temperature and the maximum levels of ammonia.

In the US there is not one single piece of federal law that governs how to raise chickens. There is not even a law which states that chickens must be stunned unconscious before they are slaughtered, although it is common practice.

There are concerns that if American chicken is allowed into the country, British farmers will be forced to dilute their welfare standards to compete with the cheaper meat.

Shraddha Kaul, of the British Poultry Council, said: 'We strongly reject any move to import chlorine-washed chickens as part of a makeweight in trade negotiations with the US.

'Chlorine is used as a catch-all. It is an approach which means it doesn't matter how badly you treat your chicken, you can just clean it away at the end of the process.'
Children as young as three are visiting doctors because they are confused about their gender, experts have said.

According to data released by the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), 1,986 people under 18 were referred and accepted for specialist treatment over the past year compared to 94 in 2009 to 2010.

Seven three-year-olds have been referred since 2009.

According to data released by the Gender Identity Development Service, 1,986 people under 18 were referred and accepted for specialist treatment over the past year

Experts say that the increase is due to more people accepting and understanding gender diversity in society.

The NHS has also spent a total of 4.8 million on GIDS this year - an increase of 2.8 million since last year.

Bernadette Wren, a consultant clinical psychologist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, told The Times: 'There has been significant progress towards the acceptance and recognition of transgender and gender-diverse people in our society.

'There is also greater knowledge about specialist gender clinics and the pathways into them, and an increased awareness of the possibilities around treatments.'

Celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox and model Valentina Sampaio have all received praise for being open about their gender identities.

Celebrities such as Laverne Cox (left) and Caitlyn Jenner (right) have all been open about being transgender

Ms Jenner, a former Olympic athlete and parent to supermodel Kendall and businesswoman Kylie Jenner, revealed she was transgender during an interview with Diane Sawyer in 2015.

Ms Cox, who is known for her role in Orange is the New Black where she plays a transgender character, described herself of 'gender-nonconforming' when she began her acting career, while Ms Sampaio recently was the first transgender model to be featured on the cover of Paris Vogue.

Earlier this week, Preisdent Donald Trump announced he was banning transgender people from joining the military after 'consulting with generals and experts'.

But according to a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos between July 26 and July 28, the majority of Americans believe that transgender individuals should be allowed to serve in the military.

When asked to weigh in on the debate, 58 percent of adults agreed with the statement: 'Transgender people should be allowed to serve in the military'.

Twenty-seven percent said they should not while the rest answered 'don't know'.

Democrats mostly supported military service by transgender Americans while Republicans were more evenly split.
Outgoing White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was seen on the premises of his old work place on Saturday.

It remains unknown what Spicer was doing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, but a picture taken on the property showed him holding a medium sized green bag with what appeared to be a number of items inside.

Spicer was apparently at the White House around the same time he leapt to President Donald Trump's defense after a congressional lawmaker issued a harsh rebuke of his new choice for chief of staff.

Outgoing Press Secretary Sean Spicer seen leaving the White House with a green bag on Saturday (Pictured July 29, 2017)

It remains unclear why Spicer was at the White House, but he was seen carrying a bag as he left the premises

Rumors of Spicer's next career move are swirling, with some saying that he may join reality show competition 'Dancing with the Stars'

Spicer found time on Saturday to rebuke a Democratic congresswoman who described President Trump's new chief of staff as an 'extremist'

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) posted to Twitter on Friday that the hiring of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to the position signals a 'militarizing of the White House,' adding that the president is putting an 'extremist' at the helm of the administration.

'By putting Gen John Kelly in charge, Pres Trump is militarizing the White House & putting our executive branch in the hands of an extremist,' Lee stated.

Spicer later shot back on the social media platform: 'Not only is this wrong, but it's offensive on multiple levels.'

Lee posted the message mere moments after Trump announced Kelly would be replacing Reince Priebus, who was ousted from the chief of staff position on Friday.

Kelly will officially begin his post at the beginning of the week.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) used the description in a tweet just moments after Trump announced John Kelly will replace Reince Preibus as chief of staff

Priebus's ouster came just days after new White House communications Anthony Scaramucci publicly blasted him in a number foul-mouthed statements (Pictured: Rep. Lee June 2017)

Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine C. Duke will most likely lead the department in the interim until Trump appoints a new nominee to take up the role.

That nominee will have to be confirmed with at least 51 votes in the Senate.

Trump abruptly announced late Friday that the tumultuous six-month tenure of Priebus had come to an end.

Trump wrote in a tweet: 'I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff.

'He is a Great American ... and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration.'

Spicer quit his post as Press Secretary on July 21 in protest of Scaramucci's hiring (Pictured: Reince Priebus July 29, 2017)

Priebus later went on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, claiming he had resigned from the post (Pictured: Anthony Scaramucci July 25, 217)

The move came just days after the President appointed a new White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, who made a remarkable and profane public rebuke of Priebus earlier in the week.

Priebus later went on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, claiming he had resigned from the post.

Scaramucci's appointment also led to Spicer's resignation, who vehemently protested the decision to the president. Spicer resigned on July 21.

Spicer's deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was quickly named the new White House Press Secretary.

Kelly (pictured right) headed the Homeland Security department before being named chief of staff on Friday (Pictured: Donald trump and John Kelly May 17, 2017)

Rumors of Spicer's next career move have been swirling, with reports that the hit reality show competition 'Dancing With the Stars' has been in contact with the departing Republican communicator, the Today Show reported.

Page Six also reported that Spicer has been taking meeting with a number of high profile TV executives, including CBS News President David Rhodes at CBS and President of NBC News Noah Oppenheim.

In fact, according to one TV insider who spoke to Page Six, 'Spicer has met with everyone except CNN  for obvious reasons.'

Spicer is reportedly meeting with major executives at almost all the major news outlets in America, except for CNN

Spicer later sent a tweet to the morning talk program, stating: 'Hey @TODAYshow @SheinelleJones @jeffrossenI might have called in if you had put me before (George) Clooney.'

Spicer has a reputation for being a bit audacious, with White House sources alleging that Spicer once stole a mini-fridge from junior staffers under the cover of darkness.
A California highway was finally cleared of snow, opening to the public in its latest date on record.

Cars were once more able to drive on Highway 89, which runs through Lassen Volcanic National Park, for the first time since last fall.

The 30-mile road, also known as Lassen National Park Highway, had crews clearing the snow for nearly four months ahead of Thursday's opening.

According to park logs, the latest opening in the last 40 years was in 1995 when the highway opened on July 21.

Lassen Volcanic National Park's Highway 89 (pictured) in California opened for the first time since last fall after finally being cleared of snow. The 30-mile road had crews clearing the snow for nearly four months before Thursday's opening

According to Lassen Superintendent Jim Richardson, the opening marked the latest ever date on record. Previously, the latest recorded was July 21, 1995 (Pictured, Highway 89)

'This year's opening of the highway will be the latest in park records dating back to 1931,' Lassen Superintendent Jim Richardson said.

Crews dealt with rock slides, fallen trees and equipment breakdowns.

Two of the park's heavy-equipment operators also left for new jobs, which contributed to the slowdown of work.

However, although the highway is open, the snow hasn't completely disappeared. Many park trails will continue to be covered in snow through mid-August.

'There's 10 feet of snow still on the perimeter of the parking area,' Lassen spokeswoman Karen Haner said.

Road-clearing work began on April 4 with help from the California Department of Transportation, reported the Redding Record Searchlight.

Haner said earlier this month that snowfall in the park was about average for the winter season but more than during the drought the previous four years.

A total of 28 feet of snow was reported over the winter at the summit of the park highway.

A total of 28 feet of snow was reported over the winter at the summit of the park highway Crews also dealt with rock slides, fallen trees and equipment breakdowns (Pictured, highway in winter)

Spokeswoman Karen Haner said earlier this month that snowfall in the park was about average for the winter season but more than during the drought the previous four years (pictured, crews clear snow from Highway 89)

Plowing the snow was completed just in time for Sunday's Reach the Peak, a 'hikathon' that raises funds for the Lassen Park Foundation (Pictured, a car drives through Highway 89)

Plowing the snow was completed just in time for Sunday's Reach the Peak, a 'hikathon' that raises funds for the Lassen Park Foundation. Hikers will start up Lassen Peak at 8am, leaving in groups every 30 minutes.

On Friday, the park's North Summit Lake, Butte Lake and Juniper Lake campgrounds opened although some Juniper Lake spots may be too muddy for campers, park officials said.

However, Lassen Highway is not the only traditionally late-opening park road.

Tioga Road, which enters Yosemite National Park in Lee Vining, California, opened on June 29, also its latest opening since 1995, according to the National Park Service.

Despite a peak of higher than 10,400 feet, the park is most famous numerous acidic hot springs.

Between 1914 and 1917, Lassen Peak experienced a series of volcanic eruptions. One in May 1915 rained ash as far as 200 miles away, the last to occur until Washington's Mount St Helens erupted in 1980.
The mayor of a commune in the South of France has said recent wildfires that devastated the area were caused partly by wolves.

He said a dramatic increase in the number of local canines had forced many sheep farmers to 'give up', resulting in tracts of land becoming untended and conducive to spreading flames.

'There are more and more wolves,' Gabriel Magne, the mayor of Artigues in Aude department, said.

'A lot of sheep farmers have given up. This year the forest was not maintained, brush was not cleared and the dry vegetation is conducive to fires that start and spread more quickly than before,' the Daily Telegraph reported.

The South of France has been devastated by recent wildfires. Pictured: A ferocious fire which spread from La Londe-Les-Maures to the picturesque hilltop town of Bormes-Les-Mimosas

More than 8,000 farm animals - mostly sheep - were killed by wolves in France last year, prompting the government to permit the slaughter of 40 wolves by July next year. Pictured: A raging wildfire as it engulfs a roadside house on the French island of Corsica

Wildfires have ripped through tourist hot spots in southern France, including Bormes-les-Mimosas (pictured)

Pictured: Tourist near Bornes-Les-Mimosas walk on the beach as a blaze rages in the distance earlier this week

Fires have caused mayhem in southern Europe, with more than 10,000 people  including celebrities and royalty  forced from homes, hotels and campsites in the middle of the night earlier this week.

They described pine trees 'lit up like matches' as the tinderbox forests at the back of the Riviera went up in flames.

Wolves were on the verge of dying out in France at the beginning of the 20th century but their population has tripled in recent years after many migrated from Italy.

More than 8,000 farm animals - mostly sheep - were killed by wolves in France last year, prompting the government to permit the slaughter of 40 wolves by July next year.

The mayor of Artigues in the South of France said a dramatic increase in the number of local wolves had forced many sheep farmers to 'give up', resulting in tracts of land becoming untended and conducive to the spreading of flames. Pictured: A file image of wolves

Wolves were on the verge of dying out in France at the beginning of the 20th century but their population has tripled in recent years after many migrated from Italy. Pictured: Artigues, France

That represents about 10 per cent of the wolf population in the country.

Unsurprisingly, Mayor Magne was given support by local farmers, one of whom - Gilbert Villa - said: 'We used to be paid for clearing brush with our sheep, but I gave up two years ago because of the wolves.'

Michel Meuret from the French Institute for Agricultural Research, meanwhile, said if the government gave farmers contracts to clear the brush then fires would spread much less quickly.

Yesterday two teenage boys appeared before a judge on suspicion of deliberately starting one of the wildfires that devastated parts of south-eastern France and Corsica last week.

This incredible image shows the devastation (in grey) wrought by wildfires near Bormes-les-Mimosas on the French Riviera

Vast stretches of scorched earth creeps up to the fences of homes in Biguglia, Corsica, as firefighters desperately battle to save buildings from wildfires in the region

Authorities warned that the danger is far from over even though they have tamed most of the blazes that scorched over 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of land, destroyed homes and forced the evacuation of thousands in the worst fires France has seen in more than a decade.

The boys, both aged 16, were stopped on Wednesday by police who believed that arson was the cause of the blaze in Carro, west of Marseille, where 150 hectares (370 acres) of land were burnt.

The man in charge of the Riviera-Provence-Alps council said the 'main problem' is that so many fires have been started on purpose.

He added: 'It's incredibly destructive and the criminals responsible should face severe penalties.'
Charlie Gard's uncle has paid tribute him with a touching poem in which he praised the toddler's parents for 'fighting for him'.

The 11-month-old suffered a rare genetic condition which saw him in hospital for the majority of his short life.

His parents, Connie Yates, 31, and Chris Gard, 33, fought a lengthy and emotional legal battle to take their severely ill baby son to the US for treatment, but he finally died yesterday.

It comes as a family friend revealed the heartbreaking text she received from Connie, announcing her baby boy's death.

Charlie Gard's uncle Andy (top and bottom left) has paid tribute him with a touching poem in which he praised the toddler's parents for 'fighting for him'

Charlie's parents, Connie Yates (pictured), 31, and Chris Gard, 33, fought a lengthy and emotional legal battle to take their severely ill baby son to the US for treatment

His uncle Andy has since posted a heartwarming poem online, saying: 'I know inside you'll always know how much they fought for you.

'But now they both need you from heaven to watch over them now too. For I'll never know in my own lifetime how life could be so cruel.'

Alongside a selection of beautiful photos of himself with Charlie, he went on: 'All I know for certain is that I'm the worlds proudest Uncle. While we stay in this ugly world your spirit now has freedom.

'Rest assured our beloved Charlie in this fight we will not be beaten. At the moment all we do is feel pain, feel sad we sob and cry.'

After Charlie's death, Connie Yates said: 'Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you.'

Now family spokeswoman Alison Smith-Squire has told of how she burst into tears after Connie told her Charlie had died on Friday.

'Connie, Chris and myself have gone through an extraordinary journey together,' she told the Sun, adding: 'When Connie WhatsApped me and said, "Hes gone", I wept.'

Little Charlie's face lights up with wonder as he stares up at Chris, who looks at his baby son with that mixture of pride and love all new parents know

Charlie is born on August 4 and is soon happily snuggling up to Dad  whose eyes are red from shedding tears of joy

Courts denied his parents the chance to bring their son home to die and he was taken from Great Ormond Street to a hospice.

A spokesman said: 'Everyone at Great Ormond Street Hospital sends their heartfelt condolences to Charlie's parents and loved-ones at this very sad time.'

Charlie's plight has seen hundreds of supporters - called Charlie's Army - lending their voices and money to see the child given treatment, with 1.35 million raised on an online fund-raising site.

Pope Francis and US president Donald Trump weighed into the debate, with the Vatican saying the pontiff prayed for 'their wish to accompany and treat their child until the end is not neglected'.

The protracted legal battle saw the couple take their case to the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court - all of which ruled life support treatment should end and Charlie should be allowed to die with dignity.

Judges at the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene in the case - and the couple said they had been denied their final wish to be able to take their son home to die and felt 'let down' following the lengthy legal battle.

The couple, of Bedfont, west London, ended their legal battle on July 24. Connie is pictured with Charlie in the intensive care at GOSH on March 10

The couple, of Bedfont, west London, ended their legal battle on July 24, in what they called the 'most painful of decisions' and their son was moved to a hospice on July 27 .

Mr Gard gave an emotional speech on the steps of the High Court when he said: 'Mummy and Daddy love you so much Charlie, we always have and we always will and we are so sorry that we couldn't save you.

'We had the chance but we weren't allowed to give you that chance. Sweet dreams baby. Sleep tight our beautiful little boy.'

Charlie, who was born on August 4 last year, has a form of mitochondrial disease, a condition that causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage.

Described as 'perfectly healthy' when he was born, Charlie was admitted to hospital at eight weeks and his condition has progressively deteriorated.

At the time Charlie's parents said they believed their son might have been saved if experimental therapy had been tried sooner.

Chris Gard kisses Connie Yates' bump in 2016 as the couple looked forward to the birth of their first child Charlie

ANDY GARD'S FULL POEM TO CHARLIE From ever since your daddy phoned me to say that you were here Right up until you were driven home and me and daddy had some beers I know inside you'll always know how much they fought for you But now they both need you from heaven to watch over them now too For I'll never know in my own lifetime how life could be so cruel All I know for certain is that I'm the worlds proudest Uncle While we stay in this ugly world your spirit now has freedom Rest assured our beloved Charlie in this fight we will not be beaten At the moment all we do is feel pain, feel sad we sob and cry But we always hold out the belief that there's no such thing as goodbye So I'll leave this poem here just for now, but just to clarify All my love, my hope the fight I need will be inspired by your eyes I love you Charlie Thank you for being you Uncle Andy Advertisement

Ms Yates said time was 'wasted', adding 'had Charlie been given the treatment sooner he would have had the potential to be a normal, healthy little boy.'

Doctors at GOSH did not agree, with lawyers representing the hospital saying the 'clinical picture' six months ago had shown irreversible damage to Charlie's brain.

They said the 'unstoppable effects' of Charlie's rare illness had become plainer as weeks passed.

Following news of Charlie's death, US Vice President Mike Pence tweeted: 'Saddened to hear of the passing of Charlie Gard. Karen & I offer our prayers & condolences to his loving parents during this difficult time.'

The couple said they wanted to take their son across the Atlantic for nucleoside bypass therapy, but specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, said the treatment was experimental and would not help.
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Deidre Scaramucci's lawyer disputed claims the White House communications director's political ambitions played a role in their ongoing divorce.

Lawyer Jill Stone, speaking on behalf of her client who filed for divorce while she was eight months pregnant, told the New York Daily News: 'Whoever decided to state that that was the cause, that has nothing to do with her filing for divorce.'

Another source said Deidre was furious with her husband and kept the rumor mill churning by telling Page Six: 'Theres beena lot of lies.'

Stone refused to divulge any more, saying Deidre was focusing on her children instead of turning the divorce into 'a circus'.

Deidre went into labor two weeks early and gave birth to son James on Monday while Anthony Scaramucci was in West Virginia accompanying President Donald Trump at the Boy Scouts Jamboree, Page Six reported.

Scaramucci reportedly texted her, 'Congratulations, I'll pray for our child,' and it wasn't until his first work week was over that he visited his son in the intensive care unit on Friday night, an associate told Page Six.

The couple has reportedly exchanged bitter words, with Deidre branding her husband a 'grifter'. Scaramucci, on the other hand, took shots at his wife's intelligence and said he's out of her league, sources said.

On Saturday, Scaramucci, 53, pulled into the garage of his Manhasset home while Deidre, dressed in a black tank top and skinny jeans, peered out from the doorway upon his arrival.

Anthony Scaramucci (pictured Saturday) has returned to his Long Island home amid sensational reports his wife filed for divorce three weeks ago while she was eight months pregnant

Deidre Scaramucci gave birth two weeks early on Monday to their son James while her husband was on the road with his new boss

Her lawyer disputed claims the White House communications director's political ambitions played a role in their ongoing divorce (pictured, Deidre at her Long Island home on Saturday)

Deidre was reportedly furious that her husband simply texted her: 'Congratulations, I'll pray for our child'

It wasn't until Scaramucci's first work week inside the White House was over that he met his son James, who is in the neonatal intensive care unit

Another source said Deidre was furious with her husband and kept the rumor mill churning by telling Page Six : 'Theres beena lot of lies'

The couple's relationship appears to have deteriorated after three years, with Deidre reportedly branding her husband a 'Trump sycophant' and a 'grifter' while he took shots at her intelligence and said he was out of her league, sources said

Deidre filed for divorce in the Nassau County Supreme Court on July 6 while she was eight months pregnant.

On Monday, she gave birth to her second son with Scaramucci. James, who was due on August 8, was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at 5 pounds, 13 ounces.

The 53-year-old was with his new boss on Monday while his wife was in labor, and Scaramucci waited until Friday to visit the newborn, an associate told Page Six.

Sources told Page Six it was Scaramucci's ambitions for a position in the Trump administration that cost him his marriage - although Stone shot down those reports and called it a 'private matter' instead.

Regardless, the couple's relationship appears to have deteriorated after three years, with Deidre reportedly branding her husband a 'Trump sycophant' and a 'grifter', according to one person close to Scaramucci.

Scaramucci had harsh words for his wife as well, with one source telling Page Six: 'The [pain] runs deep. [Anthony] tells her she's not that smart, that he's out of her league.'

Deidre was seen talking on her cellphone while running errands near her home in the Long Island hamlet of Manhasset earlier Saturday. She did not appear to be wearing a wedding ring

Deidre was reportedly furious that her husband simply texted her: 'Congratulations, I'll pray for our child'

The White House Communications Director tweeted on Saturday morning that his 'family does not need to be drawn into this'

Deidre was spotted without her wedding ring while she was running errands in Long Island on Saturday, hours before her husband pulled into the driveway of their home wearing his blue mirrored sunglasses.

The White House communications director tweeted on Saturday morning that his 'family does not need to be drawn into this'.

On Friday evening, Scaramucci tweeted: 'Leave civilians out of this. I can take the hits, but I would ask that you would put my family in your thoughts and prayers & nothing more.'

President Trump also drove a wedge between the couple according to one person who said Deidre is 'not a fan' of her husband's new boss (Scaramucci and Deidre with President Trump and the First Lady)

Scaramucci was in West Virginia accompanying President Donald Trump at the Boy Scouts Jamboree (pictured) while his wife went into labor

Scaramucci appeared carefree on board Air Force One while his newborn son was in the neonatal intensive care unit

TIMELINE OF SCARAMUCCI'S MARITAL BREAKDOWN After the bombshell dropped on Friday that Anthony Scaramucci's wife Deidre Scaramucci had filed for divorce, new reports reveal she was eight months pregnant at the time. Further shocking news came when Page Six reported the 38-year-old gave birth two weeks early on Monday and Scaramucci waited the entire work week before seeing his newborn son. Below is a timeline of events: 2011: Soon after Scaramucci's divorce from his first wife Lisa, Scaramucci and Deidre began dating after meeting at his hedge fund, SkyBridge Capital. July 11, 2014: The Wall Street financier married Deidre in 2014, after the birth of their first child together, Nicholas, in early 2014. January 2017: Scaramucci stepped down from his position at SkyBridge Capital after being named as a candidate for Trump's assistant and Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs. He ultimately failed to be appointed but kept in contact with Trump. Thursday, July 6: Deidre filed for divorce from Scaramucci at the Nassau County Supreme Court while she was eight months pregnant. Friday, July 21: Scaramucci was appointed as the new White House Communications Director, taking over Sean Spicer's role. Monday, July 24: Deidre went into labor two weeks before her due date and gave birth to a baby boy who she named James at a Lenox Hill hospital on the Upper East Side. The newborn was born two weeks before his due date of August 8. He weighed five pounds and 13 ounces. While Deidre was delivering her new child, Scaramucci was in West Virginia with Trump for the Boy Scouts Jamboree. He reportedly sent a text to Deidre that said: 'Congratulations, I'll pray for our child.' Wednesday, July 26: Late on Wednesday night, Scaramucci had his now infamous phone call with journalist Ryan Lizza. In the expletive-filled rant, the Italian New Yorker called the former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus a 'f****** paranoid schizophrenic'. He also slammed the chief strategist, saying: 'I'm not Steve Bannon, I'm not trying to suck my own c***' Thursday, July 27: The next day, the New Yorker published Scaramucci's foul-mouthed rant, creating a news storm around the new official. The same day, Deidre had her newborn son admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at North Shore Hospital in Manhasset, New York. Friday, July 28: Instead of flying straight to the hospital to be with his child, Scaramucci flew to New York with Trump on Air Force One for a speech. He was spotted boarding the aircraft not wearing his wedding ring. Scaramucci tweeted that afternoon: 'Leave civilians out of this. I can take the hits, but I would ask that you would put my family in your thoughts and prayers & nothing more.' As of Friday night, it was reported that Scaramucci still hadn't seen his son. However another source said late that night, he finally saw James for the first time at the hospital. Saturday, July 29: Deidre was seen out and about in Long Island just days after giving birth and wasn't wearing her wedding ring. Scaramucci tweeted on Saturday morning: 'Family does not need to be drawn into this. Soon we will learn who in the media has class and who doesn't. No further comments on this.' The White House communications director was seen pulling into his Manhasset home on Saturday as Deidre peered out of the doorway upon his arrival. Advertisement

Scaramucci was previously married to Lisa Miranda, whom he met while studying at Tufts University.

She supported Hillary Clinton in the recent election, although the two are said to maintain a cordial relationship.

Deidre, who graduated with an MA in communications from the University of Buffalo, started off as an assistant at Scaramucci's hedge fund SkyBridge Capital in 2007.

She was married to Anthony Portelli when both she and Scaramucci divorced their respective spouses in 2011.

The two started dating shortly after, and Deidre gave birth to son Nicholas in 2014 before the two married in July of that year.

In addition to Nicholas and James, Scaramucci is the father of Alexander, 24, who goes by AJ, Amelia, 21, and Anthony Jr., 18.

Scaramucci anticipated a job in the public liaisons office in January, but was passed over before he reportedly clawed his way back into the president's good graces

She seemed to be supportive of her husband's political ambitions as she appeared with him at events and even posed in his 'Make America Great Again' cap

Deidre appeared to be supportive of her husband's political ambitions as she appeared with him at events and even posed alongside him as he flaunted his 'Make America Great Again' cap.

And when Scaramucci sold his hedge fund to gear up for a position in the administration, Deidre left her job as a vice president in investor relations.

Scaramucci anticipated a job in the public liaisons office in January, but was passed over before he reportedly clawed his way back into the president's good graces.

His hell-bent ascent into the White House caused a strain in his marriage, according to sources who spoke to Page Six.

'Deidre is not a fan of Trump, and she hasn't exactly been on board and supportive of Anthony and his push to get back into the White House,' a source said.

Deidre has previously donated money to both Republican and Democratic politicians, including Rep. Kathleen Rice's (D-N.Y.) campaign, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's presidential bid,The Hill reported.

But other sources suggested a rift started growing long before Trump appeared in the picture.

One source said the things changed when Deidre became a mother, and the couple grew apart while Scaramucci continued living his flashy Wall Street life, Page Six reported.

'I don't know who Deidre thought she was marrying but anyone who knows Anthony knows he's an ambitious man,' another source said.

They are pictured together at Scaramucci's book launch party in New York in October

Scaramucci was photographed on Friday at the White House without his wedding ring

The Wall Street financier, 53, married Deidre (pictured) in 2014 after they both divorced from their previous spouses in 2011

She and Scaramucci live in the Long Island town of Manhasset, which is also home to Bill O'Reilly and Jose Reyes.

Deidre has managed to keep a low profile during her husband's brief and bombastic tenure as communications director.

Two days after his son's birth, Scaramucci, who is said to reflect the president's brash New York attitude, delivered a foul-mouthed tirade directed at his fellow White House staffers.

In a shocking phone conversation with the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, Scaramucci blasted the former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus as 'f****** paranoid schizophrenic'.

He also slammed the chief strategist, saying: 'I'm not Steve Bannon, I'm not trying to suck my own c***.'

While Scaramucci chalked up his comments in the interview as 'colorful language', he cancelled his appearances on a number of panels at Politicon this weekend

And it appears Scaramucci got the last laugh after President Trump announced Priebus' ouster on Friday.

Scaramucci has a daughter Amelia, 21, and two sons, 18-year-old Anthony Jr (left) and Alexander, 24, who goes by AJ (right)

Ex: Scaramucci's first wife Lisa Miranda is the mother of Amelia, his middle child (Lisa and Amelia above)

Squad goals: Scaramucci's son Anthony Jr lives with him in his Manhasset mansion

Scaramucci got his start in the world of finance at Goldman Sachs, working at the firm for 17 years after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1989.

He was apparently hired, fired and then rehired by Goldman in the span of just one year.

He eventually left in 1996 to start his own firm Oscar Capital Management before it was sold to Neuberger Berman in 2001.

It was in 2005 that he created Sky Capital, which became his biggest success.

Scaramucci has also hosted the Fox Business Network's Wall Street Week in 2015 after he pitched the idea of a revival to Roger Ailes.
Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, is charged in the knife-point rape of two women in Portland

An illegal immigrant with a long history of deportations to Mexico, and who was released by local jail officials in defiance of a federal immigration hold, is now accused of raping one woman and assaulting another in a sickening crime spree.

Sergio Jose Martinez, 31, is charged with 13 counts - including burglary, kidnapping, sodomy and sex abuse - in the knife-point attacks on two women in Portland on Monday.

Six months ago, on December 7, jail officials in Portland had Martinez in custody when they received a request from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, asking the jail to notify ICE before his release.

Yet the local officials released him the next day in defiance of the federal immigration detainer, an agency spokeswoman told the Oregonian.

Oregon has a state law forbidding local law enforcement from using any resources to enforce federal immigration law.

Martinez is seen at his Wednesday arraignment. Jail officials in Portland were forced to deny an ICE detainer against Martinez in December, because of Oregon's 'sanctuary state' law

Police say Martinez broke into a home on this quiet residential street, bound a 65-year-old woman, and raped her before stealing her car

The criminal spree on Monday began around 7pm, when a suspect broke through an open window into a 65-year-old womans home, on NE Halsey street in the Sullivan's Gulch neighborhood.

The suspect, who police say was Martinez, used scarves and socks from her closet to bind and gag the woman before sexually assaulting her, according to court documents reported by Fox12.

Martinez slammed the elderly woman's head into the wooden floor, punched her, and stole her phone, credit cars, and car, speeding away in it, according to police.

The woman was able to get to a neighbor's home and call 911.

Just hours later, police say Martinez had made his way to a parking garage, where he crouched in a dark corner until he spotted a woman.

He approached the woman saying he wanted to 'talk', but then produced a knife and forced the woman to walk towards her car, according to police.

Martinez is accused of assaulting a second woman in this parking garage, where he allegedly crouched in a dark corner and then forced her into her car with a knife

The woman offered him her money, phone and laptop to leave her alone, but when he persisted in the assault, she kicked him in the stomach, cops say.

'You shouldnt have done that,' Martinez said, as the woman hit the panic button on her car in a last ditch attempt to find help, according to a police affidavit.

As the assault unfolded, people nearby heard her screams and ran to her aid, and the suspect fled.

Police arrested Martinez nearby carrying a six-inch knife.

Prior to booking, he had to undergo treatment for meth psychosis, and admitted to using meth and heroin, police said.

Martinez is believed to be a transient who has been in Portland for the last three years, between deportations, and who picks up construction work for money.

Martinez (left) is seen in court wearing an anti-suicide jail garment that cannot be made into a noose. Prior to booking, he had to undergo treatment for meth psychosis

Earlier this year, he told jail staff that he drinks four to six 24 oz 'tall boy' beers every day day. In the past, he said he has consumed as many as 10 beers per day, according to KOIN.

His extensive criminal history includes convictions for burglary, battery, theft, parole violations, and illegal entry into the US.

He has been deported from the US more at least 20 times, most recently in November of 2016.

One month later, he was back in Portland - in Multnomah County Jail, where state laws forced his jailers to turn him loose without handing him over to ICE.

He is now charged with two counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, two counts of second-degree assault, one count of kidnapping, two counts of burglary, two counts of robbery, three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, and one count of first-degree sodomy.

Bail has been set at $2.36million in the case.
Gunmen have stormed a governmental building in Libya and taken a senior politician hostage hours after officials approved a new constitution, it has been reported.

They are said to have threatened to kill the chairman of Libya's Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA), responsible for new laws in the post Gaddafi-era, if officials do not abandon the final draft.

The attackers said they would also shoot dead an unknown number of captives in the eastern Libyan city of al-Bayda.

Gunmen have stormed a governmental building in Libya and taken a senior politician hostage (file photo of Libyan soldiers take positions during a training exercise)

The attackers are said to have threatened to kill the chairman of Libya's Constitution Drafting Assembly (file photo of the Fajr Libya militia)

The unnamed attackers are loyal to former Libyan army commander Khalifa Haftar, the Libyan Express reported.

The approved constitution is said to contain an article which bans him from running as Libya's president.

The CDA passed the final draft of the new constitution earlier this evening with a majority of 44 voting members from three Libyan regions.

It comes on the same day a fighter jet from Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army was shot down in Dahr Al-Hamer district, in Derna.

Haftar's LNA is one of the most powerful armed factions in Libya, where a UN-backed government in Tripoli is struggling to assert authority over an array of armed factions which have been competing for control since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi.

In May, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched airstrikes on militants in Derna in response to a deadly attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt.

Critics said the strikes were meant to help Haftar rather than punish militants responsible for the Egypt attacks.
Tough stance: Xavier Bettel says UK faces a big bill

A key EU leader has vowed to use Britains Brexit divorce bill to avenge Margaret Thatchers historic victory in her budget war with Brussels.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel told The Mail on Sunday: It is now time for the European Union to make an analogy with the famous quote of Mrs Thatcher, We want our money back.

Mrs Thatcher won a 4 billion yearly rebate in 1984 after a bruising four-year campaign to reduce the annual amount Britain paid into Brussels coffers. But Mr Bettel, who succeeded European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as Luxembourg PM in 2013, made it clear the boot is now on the other foot.

He criticised Boris Johnsons dismissive comment that the EU could go whistle in response to reports that Britain faced a massive divorce bill. He also accused the Foreign Secretary of bragging by claiming Britain can have its cake and eat it by leaving the EU. It is not possible to have your cake and eat it too  Boris Johnson knows that, he said.

Mr Bettel denied the EU was being vindictive and said Theresa Mays Government must face up to the fact that it could be forced to pay more than 50 billion to leave. Concerning the exit bill, it is important to underline that the British Government took this commitment in the past and needs to honour it. It is not a penalty. The sum ranges between 36 billion and 54 billion.

Britain might only begin to discover the harsh reality of life outside the EU after it had left, he warned. There was evidence some voters regretted the result of the referendum.

He added that Mrs Mays decision to call a snap Election, only to see her majority cut, had made her attempt to get a good Brexit deal harder.

British claims for a special and deep relationship with the EU even though it was quitting were confusing, said Mr Bettel. He endorsed EU chief negotiator Michel Barniers demand for Britain to spell out its Brexit terms. Everybody is aware how serious this is. We need clarity and a detailed blueprint of the UKs position, he said.

Triumph: Former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher won back 4 billion

Despite its tiny size, Luxembourg wields considerable influence in the EU as one of its six founding members. Earlier this year, Mr Bettel said UK voters could change their minds about leaving, say we love the EU and stay.

Meanwhile, the Brexit row took a new turn as TUC General Secretary Frances OGrady threw her weight behind the growing number of Labour figures who say the UK must not leave the single market.

Writing in todays Mail on Sunday, she says: If theres another way of getting a frictionless trade deal that protects jobs and rights at work, trade unions would love to know.

Her comments came after Jeremy Corbyn hinted he wanted to quit the EU, though he appeared to be contradicted by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott.
Princess Diana feared that palace officials were conspiring to undermine her and take her sons away, according to one of her oldest friends.

Dr James Colthurst said Royal aides could not accept the amount of attention she received compared to Charles and wanted to sideline her and separate her from her children.

The claims echo Dianas comments in the Channel 4 film, in which she says: Friends on my husbands side were indicating that I was unstable, sick, and should be put in a home of some sort in order to get better.

There is no better way to dismantle a personality than to isolate it.

Dr Colthurst, 60, who had known Diana since she was 17, says in the documentary: There was a great deal of jealousy from the grey men who sat behind Prince Charles, not wanting him to be living in her shadow.

Princess Diana feared that palace officials were conspiring to undermine her and take her sons away

Her character was being written down  as she saw it, a campaign to sideline her and remove her from the boys.

That was her worry, that she was going to lose the boys  overriding, above everything else, that was the concern  and that they were using a character run-down as a means of making that happen, an understandable next step.

But he insists that Dianas insecurity  and her long battle with bulimia  sprang from her husbands ongoing relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles.

Dr Colthurst disputes claims that Dianas mental state was responsible for pushing Charles back to his former lover.

I dont think the concerns about Camilla ever stopped, says Dr Colthurst, who acted as go-between when Diana collaborated with Andrew Morton on the sensational book, Diana: My True Story.

He says: She was aware of things that had been going on. The staff all knew. Everybody knew  everybody knew where he was going, so she didnt know who to trust.

I could see her fading, physically. It was clear the bulimia was a reaction to the circumstances she found herself in, he said, speaking in the Channel 4 documentary, Diana: In Her Own Words to be broadcast next Sunday.

Dr James Colthurst (pictured) said Royal aides could not accept the amount of attention she received compared to Charles and

Dr Colthurst disputes claims that Dianas mental state was responsible for pushing Charles back to his former lover

Similarly, Diana says in the film: Everyone knew about the bulimia in the family and they all blamed the failure of the marriage on the bulimia.

And thats taken some time to get them thinking differently.

Diana says she told the Family: I was rejected, I didnt think I was good enough for this family, so I took it out on myself.

I could have gone to alcohol  which would have been obvious. I could have gone anorexic  which would have been even more obvious. I tried to do it more discreetly. Which ultimately wasnt discreet.

Dr Colthurst insists that Dianas insecurity  and her long battle with bulimia  sprang from her husbands ongoing relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles

But I chose to hurt myself instead of hurting all of you.

Dr Colthurst says the marriage turmoil, which came to be known as the War of the Waleses, threatened to engulf not just the combatants themselves, but virtually anyone with any association to the Royal Family, forcing them to choose one side or the other.

In the film he recalls: It became a condition of your patriotism, that you must therefore support the Prince of Wales  the belief that if we were loyal monarchists, we had to be on his side.

Well Im sorry, as a loyal monarchist my loyalties were to the principles of the British crown. And I saw Royal virtues embodied in her more than in him.

The real damage was done by those who tried to marginalise Diana or in more recent years airbrush her out of Royal history.

They saw that their mans path to the crown would be a great deal easier if he were not competing for popularity with his ex-wife.

Princess Dianas former private secretary Patrick Jephson tells the documentary makers that her enemies did not reckon on her capacity to fight back in her own way.

He says: She was on the receiving end of a whispering campaign in which everything from her competence as a princess to her suitability as a mother and indeed her very sanity were being questioned.

She was faced with a choice  of either meekly turning a deaf ear on everything being said about her and falling in with the plans of people who wanted to see her excluded marginalised  or doing something about it.

MYSTERY OF FIVE MISSING TAPES Five tapes of Diana speaking in the Settelen sessions  in addition to the seven being used by Channel 4  have disappeared and their contents are a mystery. The programme-makers have used tapes featuring recordings made by voice coach Peter Settelen. But little is known of the content of the missing volumes. They may contain Diana practising speeches and working on her voice  or they could be packed with more explosive revelations to rock the Royal Family. Producer Charles Furneaux said: There were a lot of tapes  12  and I believe weve got seven. Out there, there are more, but who knows where they are and what is on them? Advertisement

She chose to fight back in some pretty unconventional ways.

She actually was an extraordinarily strong person. The people who criticised her always underestimated her  not least they underestimated her anger. She was a proud aristocratic woman who had been very badly treated.

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Mr Jephson added: She had a backbone of steel and if you pushed her into a corner, as she was, and if you made her feel that she was unjustly treated, there was a defiance in her and it was sometimes reckless, and as her private secretary it caused me a few problems

Inspector Ken Wharfe, Dianas police bodyguard for eight years, also appears in the programme. Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, he revealed how her attempts to become more involved with Charless interests were often rebuffed.

I remember one instance when we arrived back at Kensington Palace and the Prince of Wales went to visit his churches in the city. He was going alone. She felt rather sorry for him and asked, Do you want me to come with you?

He said, No  I dont want you, theyll only be interested in you.

So despite that, there was still that process of wanting to help, even with her husband where circumstances were difficult  this trying to make it work.

Additional reporting: Alice Craven
The ringleader of the London Bridge terrorist attack was a teacher at a primary school where he is feared to have radicalised children as young as four, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Khuram Butt, 27, taught Koran classes at Eton Community School in Ilford, East London, an independent Islamic school for children aged three to 11. It is suspected that he used the classes to expose pupils to his extremist beliefs.

Just two months before the terror attack, the school was inspected by Ofsted and given a glowing report, which even commended how teachers had fulfilled their obligation to spot and halt extremism in pupils.

Khuram Butt, 27, taught Koran classes at Eton Community School in Ilford, East London, an independent Islamic school for children aged three to 11

This was the very time when Butt was preaching his twisted version of Islam, justifying violence and hatred towards non-believers.

Butt taught in after-school classes as an unpaid volunteer.

The school had previously been known as Ad-Deen Primary School and was exposed by The Mail on Sunday in 2014 as having been set up by an extremist called Sajeel Shahid, 41, who trained the ringleader of the 7/7 attacks at a jihadi camp in Pakistan.

Shahid also set up Ilford's Ummah Fitness Centre  a stone's-throw from Eton  where Butt also worked as a trainer and is feared to have radicalised other young Muslims.

Butt, who lived in nearby Barking, taught at the school in the months leading up to the London Bridge atrocity in June, when he and two accomplices went on an eight-minute rampage, killing eight and injuring dozens.

Butt, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, drove a rented van along London Bridge, mowing down pedestrians, and then jumped out of the vehicle armed with knives and wearing fake suicide vests.

They stabbed as many victims as they could before being shot dead by armed police.

Community sources in East London have told The Mail on Sunday how Butt held Koran classes at the school as a volunteer teacher on most days of the week.

The after-school lessons were attended by most of the school's primary-age pupils, who number up to 30. There are 30 other children at the school of nursery age.

The MoS understands that social services at the local Redbridge Council have now been alerted, as well as the Met Police, who are trying to identify the pupils to see if they have been radicalised.

Community sources in East London have told The Mail on Sunday how Butt held Koran classes at the school (pictured) as a volunteer teacher on most days of the week

The school's proprietor and head teacher is Sophie Rahman, 41, the ex-wife of Shahid. It is believed she has handed to police the names of pupils she fears might have been radicalised by Butt.

After the London Bridge attacks, it quickly emerged that Butt met Redouane and Zaghba at the Ummah Fitness Centre, and CCTV videos of the three terrorists came to light which apparently showed them plotting their murderous attack on the gym's premises. But Butt's work at the school was unknown until now. Bashir Chaudhry, chairman of the Ilford Community Centre, said: 'I heard he used to teach the Koran at the school. He used to teach five pupils at a time.'

Another community figure, who did not want to be named, said Eton School should never have hired Butt as he was known locally as an extremist. In 2016, Butt had featured in the Channel 4 documentary The Jihadis Next Door, about Islamic extremists connected to the banned group Al-Muhajiroun.

The source said: 'This school is known as an Al-Muhajiroun school, because Shahid was from that group and so was Butt. But he should not have been teaching at that school as so many kids could have been groomed by him.'

The school, which charges 2,400 per year per pupil, was inspected by Ofsted in February 2016, and again in September last year. On both occasions, it failed to meet required standards for an independent school.

The inspections said pupils were being taught in 'unsafe' environments, and the school failed to take measures to prevent pupils from going missing from education.

However, in April 2017, two months before the London Bridge attack, Ofsted inspectors said they found the school had improved its standards and fulfilled all its requirements, including 'Prevent duty', which means teachers were trained to spot radicalisation in pupils and act on it.

Armed police (pictured) close in on the London Bridge attackers. Butt, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, drove a rented van along London Bridge, mowing down pedestrians, and then jumped out of the vehicle armed with knives and wearing fake suicide vests

The report said: 'Leaders have undertaken enhanced safeguarding training, including in relation to the 'Prevent' duty they have trained all the school's staff accordingly.'

But astonishingly, Butt was running the school's Koran lessons at a time that he is now suspected of grooming pupils with extremism.

Although it is not known what level of extremism Butt subjected the pupils to, an idea of his hateful nature was witnessed by a former Muslim who encountered Butt at Speaker's Corner in London's Hyde Park in August last year.

He said Butt threatened him and his friend with murder because they had left their faith.

Aftab, who does not want to give his full name, added: 'He said I ought to be killed because I am an apostate. We became so concerned that my friend started to film Butt with his mobile phone. Neither of us have been to Speaker's Corner since, because we are so scared.'

After the London Bridge attack, Aftab handed over to police the six-minute footage of Butt wearing a Superman vest and preaching extremist Islam.

Last night, Ofsted said in a statement: 'Ofsted does not have the necessary legislative powers to inspect madrassas or after-school centres. We work closely with the Department for Education.

'Eton Community School received a full inspection in February 2016 when it was found to be inadequate. Since then it has had two follow up inspections. In February 2017 we found the school was able to demonstrate it was meeting all the necessary standards.'

The Met said: 'Police are aware of Khuram Butt's connection to the Eton Community School and we are working with local partners to address any safeguarding issues.'

Despite repeated attempts, the MoS was unable to get a response from Eton or Sophie Rahman.

A Department for Education spokesman said: 'It is extremely concerning that an individual like this was allowed to be involved with any school. We will not hesitate to take appropriate action to safeguard children, which can include the closure of schools.'
The grieving parents of Charlie Gard were said to be distraught last night at the speed with which his life finally ended.

Connie Yates and Chris Gard desperately hoped for a few more days to say goodbye to their son before switching off his life-support machine, The Mail on Sunday understands.

But a friend of the family last night said they felt unable to say a proper goodbye because the hospice Charlie was transferred to had been unable to supply the equipment and team of medics Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) insisted was necessary to prolong his life.

In a race against time to assemble the equipment and staff, Connie issued an emotional plea for experts to come forward on Facebook, writing: PLEASE HELP US!! We need some peaceful time with our baby boy.

Connie Yates and Chris Gard desperately hoped for a few more days to say goodbye to their son before switching off his life-support machine, The Mail on Sunday understands. Pictured: Charlie Gard with mum Connie Yates

Doctors at Great Ormond Street had long argued that Charlie had suffered irreversible brain damage as a result of seizures linked to his condition, mitochondrial deletion syndrome. Pictured: Charlie Gard

However, the couple fell agonisingly short of meeting GOSHs demands  and the hospice was forced to ask them to end Charlies life on Friday.

Charlie died just a week short of his first birthday from a rare condition which had gradually robbed him of the ability to see, hear, breathe or move.

Neither the family nor their spokesperson were commenting yesterday as Charlies parents asked for space to grieve.

But its believed that Connie and Chris considered GOSHs stringent requirements to prolong Charlies life to have been unnecessarily demanding.

Their final wish for Charlie was that he should be allowed back to their home in Bedfont, West London, for his final hours. But this was denied, and experts said there was simply no way Charlie could spend time outside intensive care, despite nurses offering to work 12-hour shifts on their days off to make it possible.

Charlie's parents' final wish for Charlie was that he should be allowed back to their home in Bedfont, West London, for his final hours. Pictured: Chris Gard and Connie Yates

As a compromise, he was transferred to a hospice where High Court judge Mr Justice Francis ruled doctors could stop providing treatment shortly after his arrival.

The claims are the latest front in an emotional and bitter battle between Charlies parents and the leading childrens hospital, which has treated Charlie since October 2016.

Charlies death marked the end of months of legal wrangling and public campaigning as Chris and Connie fought to transfer their son for experimental treatment in the US.

Doctors at Great Ormond Street had long argued that Charlie had suffered irreversible brain damage as a result of seizures linked to his condition, mitochondrial deletion syndrome, which causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage and has only been diagnosed in 16 children across the world.

But the couple wanted to try a pioneering therapy being developed by Harvard-educated neurologist Dr Michio Hirano, a professor at Columbia University in New York. The treatment, nucleoside bypass therapy, had caused improvements in some patients. But none was as ill as Charlie, and GOSH opposed his move to the US, saying it was unlikely to help him.

The hospitals position prompted a lengthy court case and inspired a worldwide campaign to save Charlie and death threats against medical staff.

But it ended after an MRI scan this month made for very sad reading, and experts agreed there was no way to help the little boy.
A group of hackers have built a robot that can crack a safe.

A team from SparkFun Electronics in Colorado took their robot to the underground hacking convention, Def Con in Las Vegas.

They bought a SentrySafe safe the day before the demonstration and opened it onstage Friday.

The robot took about 30 minutes to crack the safe, discovering the combination was 51.36.93. The audience clapped and cheered when the safe was opened.

It works by reducing the number of possible combinations from one million to 1,000. Then it tries the remaining possibilities to break in.

A team of hackers from SparkFun Electronics in Colorado built a robot (pictured) that can crack combination safes with no human interaction

The team brought the robot to Def Con, a convention of underground hackers, in Las Vegas, where they demonstrated the robot's abilities on Friday

SparkFun, an electronics hardware supplier, is owned and founded by Nathan Seidle.

He told BBC: 'That was one of the scariest things we've done. Lots of things can go wrong and this was a very big audience.

HOW THE ROBOT REDUCES THE NUMBER OF POSSIBLE COMBOS The mechanism inside the safe has three dials that allow the safe to be opened when they are aligned. Because each dial can be any two digit number, there are one million possible combinations. Instead of trying each of those combinations, the robot is able to determine the number of one of the dials within 20 seconds based on the indents on the dial. Because Seidle discovered one dial has a slightly larger indent on the 'solution' than the others, the robot can figure the final number first, more quickly than the others. Seidle also discovered that safes are designed to offset human error. The numbers before and after the actual number for the combination work as well, so the robot only has to check every third number, which it can do much faster than a person. Using these methods, the robot only has to work through 1,000 combinations as opposed to one million. Advertisement

'We're really happy it opened up.'

According to the outlet, several hundred people came out to watch the robot crack the safe at Def Con, the largest gathering of underground hackers in the world.

The robot costs about $200 to build and uses 3D-printed pieces, which can be replaced for different types of combination safes - though it cannot crack digital safes.

'We designed it for a particular type of safe, but it doesnt really matter - you can actually 3D-print a coupler that can match any safe that you may have,' Seidle said.

Seidle brought together some of his colleagues at SparkFun to make the safe-cracking robot after his wife bought him a second hand locked safe for Christmas.

The previous owner had forgotten the combination, so Seidle's wife bought it for cheap and challenged him to crack it.

He decided to build a machine that would crack it for him, so he wouldn't have to.

Seidle and his SparkFun colleagues built the robot in four months.

The robot was supposed to take a maximum of 73 minutes, or half that time on average.

Once it gets started, it requires no human interaction to crack the safe.

It only took 15 minutes for the robot to crack the model Seidle's wife bought for him off Craigslist during one demonstration, Wired reported.

The team bought a new safe when they arrived in Las Vegas and their robot took 30 minutes to crack it onstage

It works by reducing the number of possible combinations from one million to 1,000. Then it tries the remaining possibilities to break in

The original safe was also a SentrySafe, and though the company did not comment on the Def Con demonstration, a spokesperson did tell WIRED that the safe 'accomplished what it was designed to do.

'[It] would be realistically very difficult, if not impossible, for the average person to replicate in the field.'

Though some SentrySafe models also use a lock and key, Seidle and his team unlocked one by using a pen, BBC reported.

'No matter how much money you spend on a safe, nothing is impervious,' Seidle said.
Noel Grullon, 32, in a mug shot provided by Hialeah Police

A manhunt is underway in Florida for a man who police say doused his pregnant girlfriend with gasoline and set her on fire, while her two young children looked on.

Cops say Noel Grullon, 32, was arguing with his 27-year-old girlfriend, who is pregnant with his child, over a pack of cigarettes at their home in Hialeah.

She went outside to cool off after the argument, and was attacked when she returned to the home.

'They start arguing over silly matters. I think over a pack of cigarettes,' said Hialeah Police Sgt. Carl Zogby told WSVN.

'She runs to the bathroom quickly, takes her shirt off and jumps into the shower, is able to extinguish this fire, but still, she got second degree burns all over her chest and her neck,' says Sgt. Zogby.

The woman's two children, a one-year-old and a four-year-old, from another relationship, watched the whole thing, according to cops.

The incident happened around 5am Thursday. Grullon fled the scene in his pickup truck.

Police say Grullon is on probation after serving 12 years for armed robbery and was released eight months ago.

Grullon and the woman had been dating six months.

House of horrors. Police say Grullon set his pregnant girlfriend on fire and fled the scene

Grullon's rap sheet is extensive, police say, with arrests for armed robbery, armed carjacking, kidnapping, aggravated battery, grand theft, burglary and criminal mischief.

Police say they're looking for Grullon who fled in a 2007 Ford pickup truck with plates 'HVD-E62.'

Anyone with information is urged to call Hialeah Police at (305) 687-2525.
Security is heightened in airports across the country following the alleged Islamic-inspired terror plot that was thwarted on Saturday.

Heavily-armed police stormed a Surry Hills home in the inner east of Sydney at 4pm before officers raided properties in Lakemba, Punchbowl and Wiley Park resulting in the arrests of four men.

Commissioner Andrew Colvin addressed the media at a press conference on Sunday morning and said details about the alleged terror plot are still developing.

'We don't have a great deal of information on the specific attack, the location, date or time, however, we're investigating information indicating the aviation industry was potentially a target of that attack,' AFP Commissioner Colvin said.

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Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin (pictured) said details of the alleged terror plot are still emerging

Counter terrorism police (pictured) stormed four Sydney properties and arrested four men including one man (pictured) at Surry Hills after being alerted to an alleged plot to bring down an airplane with a 'bomb'

Australian Federal Police on Sundya following the aftermath of the Sydney terror raids

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reiterated the raids were aimed at stopping an alleged terror plot to 'bring down' a plane and said security screening will take longer over the coming days.

'Some of the measures will be obvious to the public, some will not be  those travelling should go about their business with confidence,' Mr Turnbull said in a press conference on Sunday morning.

'The office of transport security has advised security screening will take longer, and travellers should arrive at terminals at least two hours before flights to allow ample time for screening.

'They should limit the amount of carry-on and checked baggage, as this will help to ensure that security screening is efficient.'

Virgin Australia released a statement on the extra security.

'Passengers should arrive at least 2 hours before domestic flights and 3 hours before international flights to allow time for security screening,' the statement read.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured) said for those travelling on planes to allow extra time for heightened security measures on Sunday

Australian Federal Police in the aftermath of the Sydney terror raids

Australian Federal Police on Sunday leaving a scene after the terror raids

'Passengers should limit the amount of carry-on and checked baggage they travel with as this will help to ensure security screening is efficient.'

New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller confirmed that the four men in custody were yet to be charged.

Australia's terror threat remains at probable.

Details are emerging of the terrifying alleged terrorist plot to blow up a plane that triggered a series of dramatic police raids across Sydney.

About 40 heavily-armed police stormed a Surry Hills home at 4pm before raiding properties in Lakemba, Punchbowl and Wiley Park in Sydney's west.

An Islamist cell is accused of planning to bring down a domestic flight with an 'explosive device' discovered at the Cleveland Street home, reports Daily Telegraph.

AFP confirmed in a statement that four men were arrested as part of the investigation after they were alerted to the alleged terror plot.

An 'explosive device' was discovered at the Surry Hills property and deactivated by a bomb squad that was called to the scene, according to 7 News.

One man draped in a bed sheet with a heavily-bandaged head was seen being led into an ambulance outside the Surry Hills property.

The bandaged man appeared to be distressed and bleeding from the head as he walked to a waiting ambulance, Nine News reported.

Police (pictured) found an 'explosive device' and part of Cleveland Street (pictured) in Surry Hills was cordoned off

Cleveland Street (pictured) is closed between Elizabeth St and Young St, and Goodlet Lane is also closed

The counter-terror raid in Surry Hills (pictured) took place just metres from the Redfern Mosque (pictured)

He could be heard saying 'they bashed me.' When asked by who, he answered 'police.'

When asked why he was being arrested, the man mumbled 'I don't know nothing.'

Shocked neighbours have told AAP the family living in the property were 'perfectly nice and normal people.'

'We knew them to say hello to and they seemed nice,' said the woman, aged in her early 30s, who didn't want to be identified.

The woman, who lives at the back of the property, said an elderly couple lived in the home and had adult children.

A law enforcement official told the Daily Telegraph they found material suspected to be used for an improvised explosive device.

'There was a threat of a device and an aircraft,' the official said, but said they were yet to verify the credibility of the material.

Forensic teams (pictured) and the bomb squad attended the scene during the Surry Hills (pictured) raid

Residents living near the Surry Hills home were evacuated while the bomb squad worked to remove the 'explosive device' and forensics (pictured) examined the scene

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told the public not to panic and to inform police (pictured) of any suspicious activity

Police (pictured) said raids took place in the suburbs of Surry Hills, Lakemba, Punchbowl, and Wiley Park

Cleveland Street remains cordoned off and shouting and screaming were heard as a man was led away by police (pictured)

Residents living near the Surry Hills home, just metres from the Redfern Mosque, were evacuated while the bomb squad worked to remove the 'explosive device.'

A police spokesman stated: 'This activity relates to an ongoing investigation. The safety of the community and police members are the primary consideration during this activity.'

Neighbour Kate Harrison reported hearing shouting coming from a yard close by, begging for someone to call the police.

Goodlet Lane in Surry Hills (pictured) was closed while police examined the scene of the raid

Police (pictured) involved in the raid were acting to prevent an alleged plot to bring down an airplane with a 'bomb'

Relatives of two men arrested in the counter-terror operation have spoken out, saying they 'love Australia.'

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull released a statement on the raids, confirming the involvement of the Australian Federal Police, ASIO and NSW Police.

'These operations are designed to disrupt and prevent plans to undertake terrorist attacks in Australia,' the statement said.

'My number one priority, and that of my government, is the safety and security of all Australians. The public should be reassured that our security and intelligence agencies are working tirelessly to keep us safe.'

Mr Turnbull urged people to call the National Security Hotline on 1800 132 400 if they see or hear anything suspicious.

An 'explosive device' was discovered at the Surry Hills (pictured) property and deactivated by a bomb squad that was called to the scene, according to 7 News

About 40 heavily-armed police (pictured) raided a Surry Hills home on Cleveland Street just metres from Redfern Mosque
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned Australians that the threat of terrorism is 'very real' after counter-terrorism agencies foiled a plot to 'bring down' a plane.

Four men were arrested on Saturday night when heavily armed counter-terrorism officers raided four Sydney properties over an alleged Islamic-inspired terrorist plot to blow up an aircraft.

A 'considerable amount of material' was seized from the property.

'The threat of terrorism is very real,' Prime Minister Turnbull said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned Australians that the threat of terrorism is 'very real' after counter-terrorism agencies foiled a plot to 'bring down' a plane

Counter terrorism police (pictured) stormed four Sydney properties and arrested four men including one man (pictured) at Surry Hills after being alerted to an alleged plot to bring down an airplane with a 'bomb'

Police (pictured) found an 'explosive device' and part of Cleveland Street (pictured) in Surry Hills was cordoned off

Mr Turnbull said increased security measures have been placed on all Australian airports.

'Additional security measures were put in Sydney Airport on Thursday. These and further measures have been extended to airports at international and domestic airports around the country overnight,' Turnbull said.

People travelling on planes are recommended to allow extra time to get through security at airports for the following weeks with increased scrutiny nation-wide.

'Some of the measures will be obvious to the public, some will not be,' Turnbull said.

'Every day we are working tirelessly to keep you safe. Last night's disruptions are another very good example of the way our agencies are delivering our commitment to keep Australians safe from terror.'

The terrorist threat in Australia remains at 'probable' according to ASIO.

'Every day we are working tirelessly to keep you safe. Last night's disruptions are another very good example of the way our agencies are delivering our commitment to keep Australians safe from terror,' the Prime Minister said

The counter-terror raid in Surry Hills (pictured) took place just metres from the Redfern Mosque (pictured)

Forensic teams (pictured) and the bomb squad attended the scene during the Surry Hills (pictured) raid

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said officers became aware people in Sydney were planning to commit a terrorist attack using an 'improvised device'.

Commissioner Colvin said the four men in custody had not been charged by police.

'This is the start of a very long and protracted investigation,' he said.

Police believed the attack would target the Australian aviation industry at a major airport.

About 40 heavily-armed police stormed a Surry Hills home at 4pm before raiding properties in Lakemba, Punchbowl and Wiley Park in Sydney's west.

An Islamist cell is accused of planning to bring down a domestic flight with an 'explosive device' discovered at the Cleveland Street home.

AFP confirmed in a statement that four men were arrested as part of the investigation after they were alerted to the alleged terror plot.

Cleveland Street (pictured) is closed between Elizabeth St and Young St, and Goodlet Lane is also closed

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull released a statement on the raids, confirming the involvement of the Australian Federal Police, ASIO and NSW Police

An 'explosive device' was discovered at the Surry Hills property and deactivated by a bomb squad that was called to the scene.

One man draped in a bed sheet with a heavily-bandaged head was seen being led into an ambulance outside the Surry Hills property.

The bandaged man appeared to be distressed and bleeding from the head as he walked to a waiting ambulance.

He could be heard saying 'they bashed me.' When asked by who, he answered 'police.'
IDYLLIC: Seyfried and Streep in the original film

Fans of the smash-hit Abba film musical Mamma Mia!  filmed on the idyllic Greek island of Skopelos  will be delighted a follow-up is on its way.

But instead of Skopelos, film-makers are shooting in Croatia, in a bid to save some money, money, money.

The 2008 film was a worldwide hit, making 460 million, and triggered a tourism boom on the Aegean island.

Now Skopelos islanders are devastated the new movie is being shot elsewhere. Instead, original cast members Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth and Dominic Cooper are heading to the beautiful Dalmatian island of Vis, which will be transformed into the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi.

Christos Vailoudis, mayor of Skopelos, said: The islanders are upset. The film was very important to us and for tourism.

On Vis, however, there is much excitement, with production teams scouring for locations and hotels and villas booked to cater for 700 people.

Universal Pictures, which is making the film, declined to comment but a senior production source revealed that the decision was made on the grounds of cost and bureaucracy.

Now islanders on Skopelos (pictured) are devastated the new movie is being shot elsewhere

Unlike Greece, Croatia offers subsidies to film-makers and permits are not required before filming.

The new film, directed by Ol Parker, will be released in July next year to mark the originals tenth anniversary.

British actress Lily James will play a young Streep in a prequel that forms part of the new movie.
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New Zealand's spectacular, exotic beauty was forged by earthquakes and volcanoes over millions of years

Arriving at our Thames B&B, were told by the landlady that in the event of an earthquake, we should assemble at the cattle grid.

Were not in Englands Thames Valley  this is the historic town of Thames, 90 minutes drive south-east of Auckland on New Zealands North Island.

This countrys spectacular, exotic beauty was forged by earthquakes and volcanoes over millions of years.

The South Island looks and even sounds like the Scottish Highlands, with an alpine zing to purge the midges and mizzle. Parts of the North Island resemble Jurassic Park  think 1950s Guildford transplanted to Papua New Guinea.

Its no surprise that Kiwi film-maker Peter Jackson used his native country as the backdrop for The Lord Of The Rings. Its a wonder he didnt need CGI techno-trickery to tone DOWN the landscape.

About a third of New Zealands four-and-a-half million people live in Auckland, with the rest  roughly the population of Birmingham  spread over a country slightly bigger than the UK.

Simply being in NZ is an exhilarating breath of fresh air to anyone from the choked M25 zone. Our trip was part holiday and partly an opportunity to follow the British Lions rugby tour.

Air New Zealand has won an Airline of the Year award for the past four years. Its stylish Business Class and Premium Economy menus were drawn up by Samoan-born and New Zealand-raised Michael Meredith, and Peter Gordon, who is part-Maori, part-Scot.

My favourites were prawns with spring pea puree and Bloody Mary jelly, followed by chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella, pine nuts and honey. The airline even conducts blind tastings to ensure that its New Zealand wines are just as good at altitude.

The fact that it was NZs autumn was our excuse to take up Air New Zealands unique offer of a free Los Angeles stopover to enjoy some southern California sunshine.

A two-hour drive from LA took us to Santa Barbara, a picturesque resort whose magnificent, red-tiled courthouse evokes its Spanish roots, and whose wooden pier with lobster bars put rusting, kiss-me-quick English equivalents to shame.

We stayed at Santa Barbaras elegant Cheshire Cat Inn in the beautiful, split-level White Rabbit room, with a sun-drenched balcony overlooking the Santa Ynez mountains.

North Island's Coromandel Peninsula boasts long stretches of idyllic beaches including this one, Cathedral Cove

The inns quirky theme honours Alice In Wonderland author Lewis Carroll, who came from Cheshire  home county of Christine Dunstan, who runs the Cheshire Cat with her laid-back southern Californian partner Jack Greenwald.

After a few days, it was on to New Zealand, arriving in Christchurch, still scarred by the 2011 earthquake that killed 185. There had been an earthquake hours before we landed  thankfully, tiny by comparison, but a reminder of the ever-present peril in this postcard paradise.

Driving south to Dunedin  so Scottish that we had haggis and whisky for breakfast  we spent a glorious day exploring the craggy Otago Peninsula. We saw rare royal albatrosses with wings like wind turbines crash-land on a cliff to feed fluffy chicks too fat to move; we watched baby-blue penguins waddle up the beach at dusk for a cuddle, honking amorously; and we nearly tripped over a snoozing sea lion on windswept Allans Beach.

New Zealands endless miles of neat wooden bungalows, with pretty Victorian ornamentation, white picket fences and soporific verandas, filled me with nostalgia for my childhood in a wooden bungalow by the River Thames near Windsor.

Sadly, many of those bungalows have been replaced by caravans or carbuncles.

Woolshed Vineyard (pictured) produces Mud House wines - the fifth-biggest-selling NZ label in Britain- in the Marlborough region at the top of the South Island

There are two sets of initials a visitor to New Zealand should know: the All Blacks rugby team are the ABs  and SBs are sauvignon blanc wines.

The New Zealand SB boom is exemplified by the Woolshed Vineyard, which produces Mud House wines in the Marlborough region at the top of the South Island. Outwardly, the Woolshed ranch has hardly changed since it was a sheep farm, but the sound of shearing has been replaced by that of Mud House SBs being swirled round the palate by brilliant young winemaker Cleighton Cornelius.

Despite its NZ roots, Mud House was sporting enough to sponsor the British Lions  another reason to buy its excellent wines, including sauvignon blanc and pinot noir, which have made it the fifth-biggest-selling NZ label in Britain. After sipping several, and without, ahem, depositing all in the spittoon, we took a ferry to the North Island, passing many hidden sandy coves glinting in the moonlight.

From there, we headed north to Rotorua, New Zealands unofficial Maori capital. The Maoris came to New Zealand some 500 years before Captain Cook landed here in 1769, but no one is sure where from. Guesses range from Hawaii to Indonesia. They arrived on fast, ocean-going multi-hulled canoes  paddled prototypes of the flying catamaran that won the Americas Cup for NZ while we were there.

Mail on Sunday's Political Editor Simon Walters pictured (left) with his wife Jenni, and (right) a geyser at Rotoruas Kuirau Park thermal springs

Maori chiefs handed sovereignty of New Zealand to Britain in the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. But for all the claims of trickery by perfidious Albion, and inevitable ongoing tensions, some say that NZ has made a greater success of integrating two ethnic groups with starkly contrasting cultures than any other country.

The early Maori are said to have been drawn to Rotorua because the thermal springs were good for cooking and healing. Rotoruas Kuirau Park is speckled with geysers spouting mud and puffs of pongy sulphur gas.

A more fun way to experience New Zealands primeval underfloor heating is at Hot Water Beach, on the Coromandel Peninsula tourist trail further north. Dig a hole in the beach, let the cold waves dilute the boiling sand and you have your own bubble bath. But beware: get the mix wrong and youll be scalded where it hurts.

We ended our tour in Auckland, where we joined thousands of British rugby fans who swapped beer, banter and ballads with the locals in harbourside bars and restaurants.

The epic Lions games with the All Blacks were brutal. But we were touched by New Zealanders deep concern about tragic recent events in Britain, and for the chaotic current state of UK politics, which they regard as more unstable than any of their volcanoes.

Simon wrapped up his tour of New Zealand with a visit to Auckland to watch the epic Lions games with the All Blacks (pictured)

We stayed in Aucklands Ponsonby district, a kind of mini-Notting Hill with yet more quaint bungalows. They make for a novel skyline, with skyscrapers and the ocean right behind them.

We twice bumped into ex-Irish and Lions rugby pin-up Brian ODriscoll in Ponsonby and were a mere rugby hand-off from AB star Beauden Barrett  though a friend laughed off our celebrity sightings, saying: There are so few people in New Zealand, you soon get to meet them all!

As we marvelled at the countrys visual majesty, we wondered whether, after a while, the effect dulls.

Beneath a stunning crimson sunset, I found myself chatting to an English chap admiring the same view, a one-time union official who emigrated to New Zealand a decade ago.

We worked out that, bizarrely, in the 1990s we were at the same Labour Party conferences  the same bars, even.

Had the magic faded?

Not a bit. I gaze at it in wonder every day, he said.
From the sunny shore of the beautiful fjord, the sheer rock face of Mount Hoven rose more than 3,300ft into the clouds above me. Yet just five minutes later, I was at the summit, peering down at the blue water far below.

I was one of the first journalists to try the spectacular new Skylift attraction at the village of Leon (pronounced learn) in the heart of Norways famous fjord district.

The 25 million new project is billed as the worlds steepest cable car  but is actually more like a giant lift rising up the daunting vertical mountainside.

The new Skylift whisks passengers 3,300ft up Mount Hoven and offers breathtaking views over Jostedal Glacier National Park

Powerful electric motors pull the minibus-size cabin up cables dangling from the mountain. Some people gasped and children looked alarmed as we soared upwards through the clouds to emerge into clear skies at the snowy top of the mountain.

First I walked on to a smart glass and steel balcony protruding above the eye-watering drop over Nordfjord. Then I relaxed in the swanky mountaintop restaurant staring at the peaks of the Jostedal Glacier National Park. I guarantee the panorama will distract you from your creamy hot chocolate.

The Skylift also deposits passengers at the start of a series of newly built hiking trails around the high points above the fjord. Like most things in Norway, however, its expensive: 33 for a one-way ticket. The good side of this is that it encourages you to walk back down rather than pay for a return.

Hiking around the fjords is certainly a great way to see them. The old image of a fjord holiday was sipping cocktails on a cruise ship as the chocolate-box landscapes drifted past  but like many of todays visitors, I wanted a more active way to enjoy the scenery.

And if you are looking for an active holiday, youve come to the right place. Norwegians are known for their love of the outdoors. More than two-thirds of them regularly go hiking. I bumped into families, teens, kids and old folk out hiking in the fjord-side mountains.

Hiking is so popular that when I bought a Kvikk bar, Norways equivalent of a Kit Kat, I found that every wrapper has a walking map and directions printed inside.

Other highlights of his Norweigan tour included a boat trip down the steep-sided Geirangerfjord, a World Heritage Site (pictured)

My visit to Leon was part of a new hiking tour of the fjord region from Headwater Holidays, a Cheshire-based activity holiday specialist. The nine-day trip involves touring the area with a local guide who also drives you between a well chosen sequence of hotels and walks.

The hotels included the charming old Victorian Union Hotel in the waterside village of Oye, with creaking wooden walls and staff who take turns to play the grand piano during breakfast. I stayed in the Kaiser Wilhelm room, which still features the ancient iron bath encrusted with his coat of arms that the fussy Kaiser brought with him when he came to stay. It was perfect for soaking my tired legs after another walking adventure.

Daunting mountains rise on both sides of the Union Hotel and my guide, a New Zealander called Gordon Smith, took me on an amazing walk into the foothills here.

It was like climbing a steep staircase through the woods for a couple of hours, but the work was rewarded by a mesmerising panorama from the top. Sparkling fjords branched off in all directions with white-topped mountains between them. The view was all around me and I didnt know which way to look.

At the top of the cable car route lies a smart glass and steel balcony protruding above the eye-watering drop over Nordfjord

On another day Gordon drove up a winding helter-skelter track high into the mountains before leading a trek alongside a furious white river.

It cut through a deep valley full of birch trees to the snout of a giant glacier, carving its way down into the valley amid fields of boulders and scree. It was like walking through a fabulous geography lesson.

Norwegians are used to walking in mountains  after all, 90 per cent of the country is mountainous. I discovered that many villages place a visitors book in a weatherproof box at the top of the nearest mountain.

Most award prizes to the villagers who have signed this turboka the most times in a year. I wont be getting a prize, but I did manage to walk through lingering snowfields to the summit of Mount Haugsvarden at 2,828ft and sign the turboka. Gordon handed round chocolate bars as we slumped on rocks taking selfies.

Usually we made picnic lunches from the hotel breakfast buffet. In the past, I confess Ive done that surreptitiously. In Norway, however, it seems to be the norm. Hotels even supply bags for you to put your picnic lunches in.

Id never tire of the fjord scenery but there was plenty of variety on this tour. Highlights included a boat trip down the steep-sided Geirangerfjord, a World Heritage Site. Lonely wooden farmhouses dot the precipitous slopes here. Its so steep that farmers traditionally tethered children with ropes so they wouldnt fall into the fjord while playing.

In contrast we enjoyed a taste of modern Scandinavian style too. We strolled the elegant Art Nouveau streets of the island city of Alesund at the mouth of the fjords and ate fine seafood among the hefty exposed beams of a boutique restaurant in a converted warehouse.

As you wander around Alesund, dont be surprised to see people slumped on public benches with broad smiles. Yes, the views are good  but what really makes them grin is discovering that the tubular metal benches have hot water constantly piped through them.
Survivor Australia is just two days from making its much-awaited return.

But fans have already been treated to a glimpse of what to expect this season, with insiders at The Daily Telegraph revealing several explosive details ahead of the show's Sunday debut.

According to the publication, the contestants will face a decidedly brutal challenge before they even make it to their island lodgings during the first episode.

Two tribes, a tsunami warning and a VERY mysterious 'Super idol': Insiders have revealed explosive details about Survivor Australia ahead of this week's debut

'The first challenge sees the 24 contestants on a barge, and then thrown into the elements straight away,' the publication reported on Friday.

The Daily Telegraph also revealed that this season would differ from the last thanks to the inclusion of a mysterious game-changing 'Super idol'.

While it's unclear as to the purpose of a Super idol, fans may speculate that it relates in some way to the immunity idols featured last season.

Another major change this season will be the fact that the competition will feature two teams rather than three.

'Straight away': 'The first challenge sees the 24 contestants on a barge, and then thrown into the elements straight away,' it was revealed Friday

The publication also noted that the contestants would be ruffled by a shock tsunami warning during filming, that there will be a potential romance among the contestants and that one of the jury villa members will be sent home.

These on-screen moments were reportedly included in upcoming show in the hopes achieving ratings success after the series failed to challenge Channel Nine's The Block in the ratings.

Speaking to OK! Magazine this week, show host host Jonathan LaPaglia revealed more details.

'Nothing will be certain': In addition, it's claimed: '(There's) many more blindsides compared to last year, nothing will be certain'

'Strategies and game plays started day one and there's going to be some fun twists that will come up throughout the series to keep contestants on their toes,' he said.

Among those twists, the publication reports, could be a on-set romance, or potentially even bromance, to rival last-years Lee and El.

But it may not be all smiles, as the magazine also quotes a source who insists a member of the jury villa will be expelled from the show.

In another challenge, it's teased, two contestants are said to shed their clothes in pursuit of immunity.

Channel 10 network executives are hoping for repeat success when Survivor's second season kicks off on Sunday.

Twists and turns! Among the other twists reported, include a jury member facing expulsion, two contestants stripping nude for a challenge, and an on-set romance
When Ben Ungermann was charged for drink-driving' on July 4, he reportedly 'blamed MasterChef pressure.'

In a letter penned to Brisbane Magistrates court, he insisted the show's strict rules affected his mental state before the incident, which also involved a minor crash.

'Since being back from the competition, I suffered from waves of depression and felt very lost in the real world,' the father-of-three wrote, according to The Courier Mail.

'I felt lost in the real world': Masterchef contestant Ben Ungermann has reportedly 'blamed Masterchef pressure' for the mental state that saw him charged for drink-driving on July 4

'After being told when I could eat, go to the bathroom, sleep and awake every day and not be allowed to venture out without permission, I have found moving home to be difficult.'

In the letter, the Masterchef runner-up said his desire to avoid attention after the show wrapped effectively turned him into a 'hermit.'

It's reported that he also slammed the pressure and intensity of the show's environment, which allegedly only allowed two 10-minute phone calls each week.

Reflection: In a letter penned to Brisbane Magistrates court, he insisted the show's strict rules affected his mental state before the incident, which also involved a minor crash

'I have found moving home to be difficult': He wrote that he found moving home to be difficult 'After being told when I could eat, go to the bathroom, sleep and awake every day'

The runner-up informed Magistrates he had consumed four glasses of wine without food when his girlfriend, Alicia Miller, called asking him to pick her up on May 26.

The Courier Mail claimed the contestant revealed he hadn't consumed alcohol for seven months prior to the incident, but did not feel impaired.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, a representative for Queensland police confirmed reports that Ben's vehicle collided with traffic at an intersection in Kangaroo point.

'Hermit': The 33-year-old said producers wouldn't let contestants go out without 'permission' and that after the show, his desire to avoid attention effectively turned him into a 'hermit'

Slammed: It's reported that he also slammed the pressure and intensity of the show's environment, which allegedly only allowed two 10-minute phone calls each week

The contestant said he was distracted by the flashing lights of a police van, and the police representative confirmed Ben's car rolled into another vehicle at low-speeds.

'I in no way condone drink driving, but (it should be noted) that the report indicated a very low-reading,' the representative said.

The representative said the 0.087 reading was consistent with readings that can be blown after having a 'couple of beers.'

The incident: The runner-up informed Magistrates he had consumed four glasses of wine without food when his girlfriend, Alicia Miller, called asking him to pick her up on May 26

Not impaired: The Courier Mail claimed the father-of-three revealed he hadn't consumed alcohol for seven months prior to the incident, but did not feel impaired

Collision: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, a representative for Queensland police confirmed reports that Ben's vehicle collided with stopped traffic at very low speeds in Kangaroo point

'I feel sorry for the young man, it was very minor to be honest,' the representative said.

The father-of-three was given a two-month disqualification from driving and $400 fine as a result, according to the publication.

According to the paper, he was pulled over by the partner of Constable Leah Stevenson, who is the sister of fellow Season nine contestant Nicole.

Very low-range: His blood alcohol level delivered a reading of 0.087, with the police rep saying: 'I in now way condone drink driving... but 'I feel sorry for the young man, it was very minor to be honest'

A representative for Endemol Shine, who produce the Channel Ten program, provided comment to Daily Mail Australia.

'We take our responsibilities and duty of care to contestants very seriously. We understand some contestants find it more challenging than others to adjust to pressures of the competition whilst living away from home.'

'Extensive support from a psychologist is provided throughout production and, where required, after production and broadcast have finished.'

If you are experiencing emotional distress, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
She's set to star in Foxtel's haunting Picnic At Hanging Rock remake later this year.

And actress Madeleine Madden says the six-part series explores 'feminist' themes of 'inequality and women's rights'.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the 20-year-old actress said: 'I realised recently that the majority of my favourite shows are seen through the feminist gaze and Picnic is so much a part of this movement.'

Remake: She's set to star in Foxtel's haunting Picnic At Hanging Rock remake later this year. And actress Madeleine Madden says the six-part series explores 'feminist' themes of 'inequality and women's rights'

She added: 'Because it is something that we still are talking about  inequality and women's rights  and we really explore that in Picnic.'

Madeleine, who is the granddaughter of late indigenous activist Charlie Perkins, went on to say that: 'people are really anticipating Picnic because it is a show that the world really needs right now'.

Meanwhile, Madeleine's co-star Lily Sullivan, 23, revealed the wardrobe challenges she faced while filming the Picnic At Hanging Rock remake.

'It was amazing and incredible, minus the corsets,' the Queensland-native told The Daily Telegraph this week.

Remake: Speaking to The Daily Telegraph , the 20-year-old actress said, 'I realised recently that the majority of my favourite shows are seen through the feminist gaze and Picnic is so much a part of this movement'

Original: Madeleine, who is the granddaughter of late indigenous activist Charlie Perkins, went on to say that, 'people are really anticipating Picnic because it is a show that the world really needs right now'

She added: 'My mum showed me the film as a kid and we read the book at school.

'So it is amazing being a part of a production where we jump into the psyche of all the girls and they actually say lines and have voices and it's not just a moving poem'.

Former Mental star Lily plays Miranda Reid and stars alongside Samara Weaving, Natalie Dormer and Madeleine Madden in the remake.

Candid: Lily Sullivan, 23, has opened up about wardrobe challenges she faced while playing Miranda Reid in the upcoming Picnic At hanging Rock

Joining the cast in will be French actress Lola Hess, Orange is the New Black's Yael Stone, Brisbane-born Anna McGahan and up-and-coming actor Harrison Gilbertson.

The original Picnic at Hanging Rock, produced in 1975, was helmed by acclaimed director Peter Weir and was based on Joan Lindsey's novel of the same name.

The new project is also based on Joan Lindsay's 1967 novel and is set to follow a similar plot to the the 1975 film, about several schoolgirls who mysteriously disappeared while visiting the title landmark on Valentines Day.
Her run treading the boards in the critically acclaimed Cat On A Hot Tin Roof has won her plaudits throughout the industry.

And Sienna Miller, 35, was spotted before the curtains were raised on Thursday, dressed in a typically chic ensemble.

Donning a Burberry Balmoral trench coat, the star clutched a shoulder bag as she exited her cab for the Apollo Theatre in London's West End.

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Pre-show: Sienna Miller, 35, was spotted making her way into the Apollo Theatre in London's West End on Thursday, for another performance of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

Sienna's trademark dark blonde tresses flowed beyond her shoulders as she quickly made her way backstage.

The mum-of-one's blonde hair looked lustrous glossy and her natural makeup perfectly complemented her stunning complexion.

Fashionista Sienna finished off her ensemble with a pair of brown slip-on brogues, opting for a relaxed look pre-show.

On trend: Donning a Burberry Balmoral trench coat, the star clutched a shoulder bag as she exited her cab into the Apollo Theatre

Blonde bombshell! Sienna's trademark dark blonde tresses flowed beyond her shoulders as she quickly made her way backstage

Starring alongside Jack O'Connell, the star portrays the sexually frustrated Maggie in the Tennessee Williams play set in Mississippi Delta during the 1950's.

Sienna is heavily praised for her portrayal of sexually frustrated Maggie in the Tennessee Williams play, which has been reinvented for The Apollo Theatre this summer, but the mention of her naked scenes takes prominence in the reviews.

Skins actor Jack also appears on stage naked in the production and has garnered equal acclaim for his role.

Natural beauty: The mum-of-one's blonde hair looked lustrous glossy and her natural makeup perfectly complemented her stunning complexion

The Benedict Andrews' directed play centres around the sexual tension between Maggie and her alcoholic husband Brick, who some believe is denial about his homosexuality.

Jack's enigma, The Hollywood Reporter's Demetrios Matheou writes, is underplayed thanks to his lack of lines in the first act, but Sienna gets her time to shine.

The Burnt actress in particular has been applauded for her portrayal of embattled Maggie, and credited as 'more than just a pretty face'.

The run has proved so successful so far it has attracted the attention of numerous A-Listers including Kate Moss who turned up with beau Count Nikolai von Bismarck for the evening.
Big Brother evictee Simone Reed has claimed she was 'removed' from the crowd at the show's live final, after spitting on her former housemate Andrew Cruickshanks.

The reality star took to Twitter to vent her frustration and insisted she 'wasn't bothered' after being told she wouldn't be allowed into the show's wrap party following her actions.

Fans, meanwhile, have rushed to the social media site to slam Simone for her actions, branding her behaviour as 'disgusting'.

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Trouble: Former Big Brother housemate Simone Reed claimed she had been removed from Friday night's live final after 'spitting' on her co-star Andrew Cruickshanks

Simone had been a late addition to this year's series of Big Brother, as she entered the house along at the end of June.

She had been among four contestants hoping to win a place in the house at the beginning of the series, but she had lost out to Tom Barber who was voted in as 'the People's Housemate'.

Her addition to the show had been controversial, however, given her past history that saw her serve time in prison for six months after being found guilty of affray back in 2009.

Simone had left the Big Brother house in a shock double eviction, alongside Sue Evans, two weeks ago and had been reunited with her co-stars during Friday night's live final.

'Security jumped on me': She revealed that she had been banned from the show's wrap party following her behaviour that targeted Andrew (pictured above)

Venting her fury: Simone had taken to Twitter to recall the incident and claimed she 'wasn't a security risk'

However, she later took to Twitter to reveal the drama that had taken place in the crowd, following an altercation she'd had with Andrew that led to security removing her from the scene.

The mother-of-one tweeted: 'OmG spat at Andrew an security jumped on me told me I can't go 2 the wrap party I am not bothered there all kicking off at each other anyway.

'can't take a risk with me because I am a security risk ? no I am not I have turned my life around watch out for the other house mates ! (sic)'

MailOnline have contacted a representative for Big Brother.

The mother-of-one tweeted: 'OmG spat at Andrew an security jumped on me told me I can't go 2 the wrap party I am not bothered there all kicking off at each other anyway'

Freedom: Andrew had been in the Big Brother house up until the final, but was ineligible to win after entering late as a Second Chance housemate

Simone had been present during the final that aired on Channel 5 and saw fellow Big Brother latecomer Isabelle Warburton crowned the winner of the reality series.

Fans, however, noticed that Simone had been absent from Big Brother's spin-off show Bit On The Side following the live final, with many taking the opportunity to criticise the glamour model for her actions.

They penned: 'Is it true Simone got removed from the #BBUKfinal because she spat at Andrew when she left the #bbuk house? Vile beast of a woman.

'What an absolute disgrace Simone is! Spitting on somebody is disgusting and to then brag about it, she should be ashamed.

'Disgusting': Simone's behaviour towards her former housemate when he joined the crowd has been criticised by Big Brother fans

'What a disgusting thing to do': Viewers commented on Simone's actions, after learning she hadn't been on Big Brother's spin-off show Bit On The Side that followed the live final

'Reading that Simone spat on someone has knocked me six who does that!! She is a grown woman and a mother.

'Simone is actually disgusting - proudly announced she spat on Andrew and shocked to be kicked out? Rank.

'As if Simone has been kicked out of the #bbuk wrap party! What a disgusting thing to do, No matter how much you hate someone! #bbukfinal'

Another fan claimed that she had witnessed the incident, adding: 'She is disgusting. I was at the final and saw it, everybody boo'd her.'

'I saw it': One fan claimed they had been there during the altercation between Simone and Andrew and penned on Twitter: 'Everyone boo'd her'

Meanwhile, fans had seen blonde beauty Isabelle crowned the winner of Big Brother's eighteenth series.

She had beaten Raph Korine to the title, taking home the 65,000 cash prize. While Raph finished in second place, Deborah Agboola came in third, with Tom Barber being the first of the final four to be given the boot during the final.

Speaking about her win, Isabelle claimed it felt 'unreal' and thanked viewers of the show for giving her a confidence boost.

She said: 'Thank you genuinely so much, it's such a confidence boost. My family are going to be so proud.'

Latecomer: Simone had entered the house as a late arrival at the end of June, she was evicted in shock double eviction a few weeks later

Winner: Blonde beauty Isabelle Warburton, meanwhile, was crowned the winner of this year's Big Brother series

In shock: She was seen squealing with delight before breaking down in tears at news she had won the show

Andrew, meanwhile, had been in the Big Brother house until the very end, but was ineligible to win the show.

He had entered the Elstree compound as a Second Chance housemate and was given the challenge to out-stay his fellow latecomers on the show.

During his time in the house, Andrew stole 33,900 from the cash prize fund and after taking the money, he was forced to evict another housemate - choosing Sam Chaloner, as he was the only Second Chance housemate left on the show alongside Andrew.

Speaking about how he is planning to spend his winnings, Andrew remarked that his cash would be going to family and charity, along with some going to Sam as he feels 'guilty' at cutting short his time on Big Brother.

In the money: Andrew had left the Big Brother house pocketing 33,900 after stealing money from the winner's prize fund during his time on the show

Childhood dream: Raph Korine finished in second place on the show and claimed he has always wanted to star on Big Brother ever since he was little

Pipped at the post: Deborah Agboola (L) had finished in third place, while Tom Barber (R) was the first of the final four housemates to be evicted
Ariel Winter had her hair color dyed back to black at a West Hollywood, California salon on Friday.

The 19-year-old actress was snapped leaving the salon Nine Zero One, showing off long dark locks after having reddish, crimson locks for much of the summer.

The 5ft1 actress was a fashionista on her trip to the salon, wearing a backless black bodysuit, tight denim blue jeans and heeled black boots, while toting a red designer purse with long red fingernails.

New look: Ariel Winter, 19, left a West Hollywood, California salon on Friday with her hair dyed black after sporting reddish hair this summer

The SAG award-winning actress, who plays Alex Dunphy on ABC's Modern Family, was in the news earlier Friday as her castmate, Sarah Hyland, opened up to People about the way she and the show's Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen have reinforced their younger co-star's self-esteem over the years.

'I like to think we ... helped her be confident with her body and herself,' Hyland, 26, told the publication. 'I mean, she was 11-years-old when I met her. I was 18.

'I tried to be a good role model for her, and a true older sister for her because shes such a sweet little girl.'

Busy time: Ariel is gearing up to begin school at UCLA this fall

Stylish: The fashionista donned tight blue jeans with a black bodysuit on her trip to the salon

Winter, who's been dating boyfriend Levi Meaden since late last year, shared kind words about her co-stars in an interview for the summer issue of the fashion publication Imagista earlier this month.

'I am so lucky to be part of the best cast ever,' Winter said. 'Everyone I work with is so lovely and talented and kind. We have the best writers and creators and producers and crew, we really are super lucky.'

On Friday, Winter shared a ritzy shot from the feature on her Instagram page, as she was clad in a sheer get-up with a dark fur shoulder throw.

It's a transitional time for Ariel, who'll begin attending the University of California at Los Angeles this autumn. She told the outlet that if she wasn't busy in her show business career, she'd be 'a full time college student.

'I think I would be working towards becoming a prosecutor,' she said. 'I can relate to my character on Modern Family and I love that she is super studious I think it is something important for us to be promoting nowadays.'

Getting a feel for things: The young actress ran her fingers through her newly-colored mane after leaving the Southern California salon

Supportive: Ariel's Modern Family co-star Sarah Hyland told People that she, Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen helped reinforce the young star's self-esteem over the years

Morale booster: Hyland said she and her castmates strive to help Ariel 'be confident with her body and herself'
Last month, Channel Ten announced it had entered voluntary administration after its shareholders refused to guarantee bank loans.

But the embattled network is hoping that a contingent of canines can help bring about ratings success.

Veteran actor Gyton Grantley has been enlisted to host Pooches At Play, a new program documenting dogs and their owners.

Adding some bite to the ratings! Veteran actor Gyton Grantley is hosting Channel Ten's new show Pooches at Play, which co-stars his very own dog, George Fagioli (pictured)

On the show, which airs on Saturday afternoons, 37-year-old Gyton travels across the country with dog-trainer Lara Shannon.

The role marks a change for the star, who has appeared on ratings juggernauts, including Underbelly and House Husbands.

'It is the first time Ive done anything hosting-wise,' Gyton told The Daily Telegraph of his new gig.

Barking mad! Gyton travels across the country as part of his hosting duties on the show

He added: 'With acting, youve already got the lines written down for you whereas this is a lot more free flowing. It teaches you simple things like listening and to be present'.

Gyton's own Labrador Keplie cross, George Fagioli, also has a starring role on the series.

'Hes not the best behaved dog at home but when he is on set, he is really well behaved,' the actor revealed.

Paw performance! Gyton's Labrador Kelpie cross is now a TV star in his own right (pictured as a guest on Studio 10)

Gyton, who is married to brunette beauty Alex Ortuso, is father to 11-month-old son Rocky.

However, he hit headlines earlier in the month after stating that training a dog can be harder than raising a child.

'There are some cases where I think having a puppy is more work than having a baby,' he told Confidential.
She's the Australian designer known for her brand Ellery.

And on Saturday, Kym Ellery defended her use of fur in her garments.

After declaring she would stop using the animal products from June this year, the Paris-based 34-year-old said she had only ever used the 'sustainable, ethical saga fur' in her clothing line.

Is she fur real? On Saturday, Kym Ellery defended her use of fur in her garments

Speaking to Confidential, the designer revealed that saga fur came from an ethical fur farm in Finland and was monitored by the United Nations.

'Their fur is actually much more humane than leather,' she said.

After criticism from animal lovers on her social media pages, Kym declared last November that by the end of June 2017 she would stop using fur.

Defence: Speaking to Confidential , the designer revealed she only used the 'ethical' and 'sustainable' saga fur

'I don't want to upset people and I'm respectful of people's beliefs,' she said.

'We are a global brand and we want to embrace everyone and do what we do best, which is to make beautiful garments and eye wear for people to have in their life and make them feel special and empowered.'

However, she was called out again last month by PETA for last minute promotion of her fur products one-week out from her self-imposed deadline.

Goal: 'We are a global brand and we want to embrace everyone and do what we do best, which is to make beautiful garments and eye wear for people to have in their life and make them feel special and empowered'

Too much? However, she was called out again last month by PETA for last minute promotion of her fur products one-week out from her self-imposed deadline

New man: Earlier in the week, Kym spoke to Stellar magazine about her 'intelligent' new French boyfriend

Earlier in the week, Kym spoke to Stellar magazine about her 'intelligent' new French boyfriend.

'Its a different experience dating a French man,' mused the designer.

'He loves having deep conversations. I got in trouble the other day because I wasnt "present" when he was trying to tell me something.'
Kate Upton and Kendra Wilkinson put their cleavage on show when they attended JBL Fest in Las Vegas on Friday.

The blonde bombshells each opted for breast baring ensembles, which showed off their famous assets.

Kate looked chic in a navy blue cropped top, which featured a sweetheart neckline.

Breast dressed: Kate Upton (center) and Kendra Wilkinson (left) put their cleavage on show when they attended JBL Fest in Las Vegas on Friday, seen here with Morgan Stewart (right)

The 25-year-old model teamed it with a pair of matching navy blue shorts with a tie waist.

The leggy stunner looked sweet in a pair of red and white polka dot slides.

Rounding out her retro-inspired look, Kate accessorized with a pair of white cat-eye sunglasses.

She also carried a red clutch purse.

Girls day out... Kate looked chic in a navy blue cropped top, which featured a sweetheart neckline

Vegas or bust... The blonde bombshells each opted for breast baring ensembles, which showed off their famous assets

Her blonde hair was pulled back in a messy low ponytail, with just a few face-framing layers left loose.

Meanwhile, Kendra opted for low-cut black halterneck top, which featured draping and gold buckles on the straps.

The 32-year-old former Playboy star also wore a pair of oversize white and black striped pants with a fabric overlay.

In short: The 25-year-old model teamed her top with a pair of matching navy blue shorts with a tie waist

Blast from the past... Rounding out her retro-inspired look, Kate accessorized with a pair of white cat-eye sunglasses

Her long blonde hair was worn loose and swept to one side, and she wore gold sandals.

The sexy stars were seen posing for photos alongside Morgan Stewart.

The 29-year-old Rich Kids Of Beverly Hills star wore white for the pool party, hosted by the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Hamming it up: Kendra opted for low-cut black halterneck top, which featured draping and gold buckles on the straps

Wearing the pants... The 32-year-old former Playboy star also wore a pair of oversize white and black striped pants with a fabric overlay

Both Kate and Kendra also took to their respective Instagram accounts to share photos from the three-day music festival.

Kate shared a stylish photo of herself standing on a balcony looking down over the pool party.

She also uploaded a Boomerang video of herself playing a ball toss game.

Party people: Kate shared a stylish photo of herself standing on a balcony looking down over the pool party

Getting her game on... The stunning star also uploaded a Boomerang video of herself playing a ball toss game

'Game on,' she wrote.

Meanwhile, Kendra shared a photo of herself with Kate and Morgan.

'Had so much fun today at the #JBLfest with @kateupton @morganstewart @karina_smirnoff,' she captioned it.
Kaitlen Dodd wants to change the face of Australian modelling, and perhaps take over the world in the process.

In October, the 19-year-old will represent Australia at World Indigenous Fashion Week in the Seychelles, East Africa.

And she tells The Daily Telegraph: 'I would love to be Australia's first indigenous supermodel'.

Aspirations: Kaitlen Dodd wants to change the face of Australian modelling, and perhaps take over the world in the process

The brunette added that she would love to be an inspiration to other young models.

'There's a lot of other young indigenous people who would love to pursue a career in this industry but it is hard when there are so few to look up to,' she told the publication.

The Dubbo, NSW born beauty first made headlines when she was drenched by an errant wave during a photo shoot.

Sporting a pineapple printed bikini and beach-tousled hair, the young model posed seductively for the camera until she was promptly soaked by an oncoming wave.

Big time: In October, the 19-year-old will represent Australia at World Indigenous Fashion Week in the Seychelles, East Africa

Dreams: She tells The Daily Telegraph: 'I would love to be Australia's first indigenous supermodel'

While she tried to move away from the splash, unfortunately Kaitlen wasn't able to get away from being entirely drenched.

The clip, shared on National Indigenous Television, explained: 'The fashion industry is not always as glamorous as it seems'.

The photo shoot in which Kaitlen was soaked took place in a beachside, waterfront location.

Wet and wild: The Dubbo, NSW born beauty first made headlines when she was drenched by an errant wave during a photo shoot

The clip, shared on National Indigenous Television , explained: 'The fashion industry is not always as glamorous as it seems'

When a video of it was shared on NITV's Facebook page, it racked up close to 30,000 views.

Kaitlen was recently one of the winners of the Aboriginal Model Search contest.
He's the Australian hunk set to light up screens in Thor: Ragnorak later in the year.

And Chris Hemworth has been getting up close and personal with one of his very famous co-stars.

On Saturday, the 33-year-old was seen planting a kiss on the cheek of Hollywood legend Anthony Hopkins in a snap posted to Instagram.

Sealed with a kiss: In a photo shared on Saturday, Chris Hemsworth andTaika Waititi kissed the cheeks of their Thor: Ragnorak co-star Anthony Hopkins

The photo also featured Kiwi actor Taika Waititi, who too has a starring role in the film and shared the picture on social media.

'It's Mr NZ and Mr Aus sharing an Anzac kiss through a sweaty Anthony Hopkins filter,' Taika hilariously captioned the snap.

The star-studded film is also features Cate Blanchett, Tom Hiddleston, Jeff Goldblum and Mark Ruffalo, and is slated for release in November.

Now that's an all-star line-up! The upcoming installment in the Thor blockbuster co-stars Tom Hiddleston, Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo and Cate Blanchett

Hollywood heavyweights: Chris will appear with Tom and Mark in the film, due for release in November

Earlier in the week, the A-list ensemble appeared together at San Diego Comic Con.

Chris made sure to arrive in style, charting a private jet with a group of male friends for a boys weekend.

'Coming in hot "comic_con !! #thorragnarok,' he captioned a photo he uploaded at the time.

Flying in style! Chris travelled to San Diego's Comic Con festival via private jet

The Australian-based star left wife Elsa Pataky Down Under, with the blonde beauty seen at Splendour In The Grass festival at Byron Bay.

Meanwhile, Chris will yet again reprise his role of Thor in another Avengers film, due for release next year.

Robert Downey Jr. Chris Pine and Chris Pratt will join the hunky Australian for the blockbuster.
She has embraced a new-age lifestyle with a group of Hollywood housemates in Topanga Canyon.

And Paris Jackson chanelled a particularly bohemian look as she was spotted with friends in the mountains of Ojai, California, on Friday.

The daughter of pop superstar Michael, 19, looked relaxed in a pair of brightly coloured tie dye flares as she filled up her car at a petrol station.

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Hippy chic: Paris Jackson chanelled a particularly bohemian look as she was spotted with friends in the mountains of Ojai, California, on Friday

Paris walked through grass in her eye-catching flares, which she paired with open-toed sandals.

The star, who recently signed a modelling contract, smiled as she strolled in an oversized crochet cardigan, which fell to her calves.

The comfortable knitwear featured tassels around the bottom hem and the arms reached past Paris's elbows as the actress walked back to her car.

She paired her colourful ensemble with a graphic vest top and accessorised with three crystal necklaces.

Soul searching: Paris paired her colourful ensemble with a graphic vest top and accessorised with three crystal necklaces

Paris pushed her silver locks back with a pair of sunglasses and smiled contentedly as she went to fill up petrol.

She accessorised with a pair of drop earrings as she made her way back to her car, which was decorated with a dream catcher sticker and a sign reading: 'Good vibes.'

The star was spotted out as she forges a new life for herself in the bohemian enclave of the Topanga Canyon in California.

Nature's call: Paris posted topless snaps of herself on a nature retreat inside a giant Tepee

The area, which is just 11 miles from Santa Monica, has been a hippie haven since the 1960s and has counted musicians such as Neil Young, Alice Cooper and Joni Mitchell as residents.

Celebrities also come to Topanga for short breaks and the Inn of the Seventh Ray is said to have welcomed stars such as Channing Tatum and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Paris is currently living in a wooden house with seven other people, including the granddaughter of Marlon Brando, Prudence.

The back story: The star was spotted out as she forges a new life for herself in the bohemian enclave of the Topanga Canyon in California

She is also said to live with writer Alexis Salazar, movie runner Trey Adams, production assistant Baylee Wallace and model Ashley Danielle Craig.

On Friday, Paris shared a topless snap of her relaxing in a tepee.

The actress and model was wearing the same pair of flared trousers as she stretched and relaxed in the tent.

Praise be: Paris was also pictured kneeling in front of a statue of Buddha, placing her hands on the edge of the altar

She posed for pictures in front of a stone fire pit and made the shape of a love heart in stones.

The young star was also pictured praying in front of a statue of Buddha.

She knelt by the statue with her back to the camera, placing her hands on the edge of the altar.

While Paris is taking a break from the spotlight, her reported relationship with 90210 star Trevor Donovan is said to be hotting up.

The pair set tongues wagging when they were spotted holding hands in Malibu earlier in July.

Jackson looked deep in thought as she enjoyed a lazy Sunday with the actor who at 38 is twice her age.

New home: Paris's bohemian retreat is festooned with fairy lights, plants and brightly coloured furniture

Rumoured flame: Paris is believed to be dating 90210 star Trevor Donovan as the two was spotted holding hands earlier in July

'Y'all need to chill': The young star responded to the hullabaloo surrounding her recent outing with Trevor Donovan by posting this on Twitter on Monday evening

After social media was buzzing about their hand holding exhibition Paris took to her Twitter to respond by posting three photos with the caption: 'y'all need to chill lol hand holding is a very common thing.'

A source told DailyMail.com on Monday that Paris and Trevor are just friends.

Previously, Paris dated drummer Michael Snoddy, who she dumped in February.

New age: Paris posted a photo to Twitter showing the star with a third eye as she embraces her new bohemian lifestyle

Healing powers: The star posted a picture of a large Amethyst, bell and candle, which sat in the middle of a circle of seats

Before that, she enjoyed a relationship with American football player Chester Castellaw.

The teen appears to be doing well four years after attempting suicide.

She was treated at UCLA hospital after taking an overdose and slitting her wrists.

Wise words: Her new home is also filled with signs with mantras written on them

A lawyer for Katherine Jackson, Paris grandmother, alluded to how Paris is still coming to terms with the loss of her father Michael Jackson, four years after his death.

'Being a sensitive 15-year-old is difficult no matter who you are.' Perry Sanders said in a statement to MailOnline.

'It is especially difficult when you lose the person closest to you. Paris is physically fine and is getting appropriate medical attention,' Mr Sanders added, as he made an appeal to the media for privacy.

But Paris looks like she is enjoying success in her career as she just landed her first movie role and a modeling contract.

Her first movie role will be in 'dark comedy' Gringo, where she will slip into the shoes of 'edgy' 20-year-old Nelly.

Paris has also been busy making her mark in the modelling industry as she secured her first major seven-figure fashion campaign for Calvin Klein in May.

The beauty managed to score two nominations, including Choice Female Hottie, at the fan-voted Teen Choice Awards which will air live August 13 on FOX.

Paris will compete for the Choice Model trophy against Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Winnie Harlow, Ashley Graham and Hailey Baldwin.
ELKO  Jurors took less than two hours to find a Spring Creek mother guilty of actions that endangered her newborn daughter shortly after her birth.

Nikki Shelley, 23, heard the verdict in Elko District Judge Al Kacins courtroom Friday. She was found guilty of one count of willful abuse, neglect or endangerment of a child by placing a child in a situation wherein the child may suffer physical pain or mental suffering, a category B felony, and faces up to six years in prison.

Jurors were also given the option to find Shelley guilty of attempted willful abuse, neglect or endangerment of a child.

The trial comes more than a year after Shelley gave birth to a baby girl in her home unattended, telling no one she was pregnant except her friend Whitney Ellingson.

Testimony during the trial revealed Ellingson responded to calls and text messages the afternoon of May 18, 2016, and arrived at Shelleys home after the birth. Shelley told Ellingson the baby was in the trunk of the car and instructed Ellingson not to call 911.

Ellingson drove Shelley to Northeastern Nevada Regional for treatment, and told nurses she had miscarried and delivered some gooey stuff.

Shelleys grandmother, Marcella Duran, discovered the baby in the trunk about an hour after Shelley arrived at the hospital, according to hospital records.

District Attorney Mark Mills told the jury during closing arguments that there was no dispute about the fact the defendant wrapped the baby in towels, placed her in a white kitchen trash bag, and put the bag in the trunk of her car, or the fact that she did not reveal those details to medical staff for about an hour after she arrived.

Whats going to be argued is that she thought the baby was dead and she did not willfully place the baby in a position where the baby would suffer physical harm because she thought the baby was deceased, Mills said.

Mills asked the jury to consider the word willful in the charge when deliberating.

So how do we know this was willful on her part? Mills said. All we have to do is look at her conduct after that baby was born.

Mills described how Shelley took effort to conceal the birth from her family by cleaning the bathroom before going to the hospital and by telling nurses she was unsure how far along she was before having the miscarriage.

It went as far as not letting medical staff know there was a baby in the car, Mills said.

Addressing Shelleys belief that the baby seemed dead, why did she not call 911? Mills asked.

Even if the baby appeared to be deceased or not breathing, why did she not try to find out for sure, make efforts to take care of that baby? asked Mills.

Mills cited testimony from Dr. Brooks Keeshin, who works for the Division of Pediatric Safe and Healthy Families at Primary Childrens Hospital. He testified that brain scans revealed the brain stem was functioning and that there was no prolonged sign of deprivation of oxygen.

Deputy Public Defender Benjamin Gaumond told jurors during closing arguments that the incident was an accident  it was not a crime.

Gaumond challenged Mills statements about Shelleys choice to not call 911 and reminded the jury that Ellingson said she did not hear the baby cry from the trunk area on the way to the hospital.

Ellingson also did not want to call 911 because she thought Shelley could have gotten to the hospital quicker  driving at a high rate of speed to get to the hospital, Gaumond said, noting Ellingson said she drove 70 to 80 mph.

What would calling 911 have done? Gaumond asked. Lets say Ms. Shelley calls 911, ambulance comes, picks up Nikki Shelley, [and] takes her to NNRH.

Think about what that does to the theory of the states case. If Ms. Shelley really, really wanted to dispose of her baby, why does Nikki Shelley, with baby inside, go to the hospital? Wouldnt she be better able to conceal the baby from medical staff with the car staying at the residence than the ambulance from picking her up?

Gaumond also quoted Dr. John Glavinovichs testimony that up to 10 percent of births need some form of resuscitation.

He concluded that there was a good likelihood the baby was unresponsive, said Gaumond.

Gaumond disputed the findings of Keeshin, noting his certification in neonatal resuscitation lapsed nine years ago, compared with Glavinovichs recertification, and he did not review the NNRH medical records of Shelley and the baby.

Gaumond summed up the case as an unfortunate accident.

This case comes down to if my client committed the crimes shes charged with, Gaumond said. She mistakenly believed the baby was deceased when she was alive. Thats not a crime here.

A sentencing date has not been set.
The hit show UnREAL was renewed by Lifetime for a fourth season on Friday.

The network made the announcement on TCA's summer press tour, months ahead of the program's third season hitting the air early next year.

The program, which was created by Emmy-nominated writers Marti Noxon and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, is based on the backstage wheelings-and-dealings of a reality TV dating show called Everlasting, which is akin to The Bachelor.

Returning: Shiri Appleby (L) and Constance Zimmer star in the Lifetime hit UnREAL, which was renewed for a fourth season on Friday

Starring Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer, the show's regulars also include Craig Bierko, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Genevieve Buechner, Josh Kelly and Brennan Elliott.

Stacy Rukeyser will be the showrunner for the third season, which transitions from airing during the summer to earlier in the year, beginning in 2018.

'I know we have gotten used to it being a summer show,' Zimmer told The Hollywood Reporter last month, 'but I think in the long run it's actually much better for our show.'

In the chat, Zimmer said that Rukeyser 'did an incredible job' in ensuring the program's authenticity in her first stint as showrunner.

Lauded: Appleby was nominated for a Critics' Choice TV award last year for her work on the show

Rosy: (L to R) Kim Matula, Meagan Tandy, and Monica Barbaro are seen in this shot from the scripted show, which is based on the backstage wheelings-and-dealings of a reality series akin to The Bachelor

'We all know what we want the show to be and it's about who can step up and protect it, and Stacy is there to protect it,' Zimmer told the publication.

Zimmer told the magazine that a new character emerging in season in the show's third season will change up 'the narrative within a formula that everybody loves.'

'We have a female "suitress,"' she said, referring to a character named Serena played by actress Caitlin FitzGerald. 'Its all these hot men, and now, not only do you have two strong women, but you have three, and it is a crazy trifecta of women wanting to help other women, but not knowing the best path.'
She's entered her third trimester of pregnancy.

And on Saturday, Megan Gale assured fans things were bumping along nicely.

Taking to Instagram, the 41-year-old showed off her growing belly before heading out for a well deserved meal.

Taking bump to brunch! On Saturday, Megan Gale took to Instagram to show off her growing belly before heading out for a well deserved meal

'Took my bump to brunch,' she captioned the image.

Keeping warm, the mum-to-be wore a grey sweater with a long maroon coat over the top.

Teaming a pair of Jeanswest jeans with her top, Megan kept her ensemble casual.

The Myer Ambassador wore her hair in a top knot and accessorised with a bag and Quay sunglasses.

Stunner: The Myer Ambassador kept her hair in a top knot and accessorised with a bag and Quay sunglasses

The mum to two-year-old River ensured her new engagement ring was also on display.

Taking to Instagram Stories, Megan also showcased her bump from the top, revealing that soon she won't be able to see her feet.

Earlier in the month, Megan announced she was engaged to long term partner Shaun Hampson, 29.

Getting so big! Taking to Instagram Stories, Megan also showcased her bump from the top, revealing that soon she won't be able to see her feet

Together forever: Earlier in the month, Megan announced she was engaged to long term AFL partner Shaun Hampson, 29

Taking to the social media to thank her fans, she also revealed River was part of the planned proposal and Shaun had had the ring designed especially for her.

'The proposal itself was the biggest and most important gesture you could've ever made and to involve our son was the most special part of all.'

'And our little bump was there too which just made it all perfect, I am one lucky, lucky lady.'
She's the only daughter of famous PR maven Roxy Jacenko.

And pint-sized Pixie Curtis is quickly following in her mogul mother's footsteps, having already launched her own range of hair accessories.

On Saturday, the five-year-old looked every inch the budding tycoon, pictured on a photo shoot for her Pixie's Bows label.

Pint-sized powerhouse! Roxy Jacenko's daughter was pictured on the set of a photo shoot for her eponymous line of hair accessories on Saturday

Doting mum Roxy uploaded two adorable photos as she joined her daughter for the shoot at B2 Studios in Sydney.

Precious Pixie, who has just started at primary school, appeared to be enjoying her time in the spotlight.

She watched-on with intrigue while hairdresser styled her flame-coloured locks.

Roxy's fans instantly inundated the photos with gushing comments, with follower writing: 'Her hair!!!! OMG. Gorgeous!!'.

Rising star! The flame-haired five-year-old looked in her element as a hair dresser styled her locks

Another fawned: 'Looks like a little mermaid. Adorable'.

The shoot comes just days after Roxy hit headlines for hinting that Pixie may not attend university, whilst her three-year-old son, Hunter, would.

The controversy began on Tuesday, when the 37-year-old took a photo of herself wearing a Stanford University jacket.

Aspirations: Roxy Jacenko shared an Instagram post on Tuesday which implied her son would be the first 'Jacenko' to attend university

The businesswoman captioned the photo: '@huntercurtis14 will be the first Jacenko to go to uni I'm certain so it's only right I start wearing the official merchandise @stanford'.

Fans were quick to wonder why Roxy had named Hunter, and not Pixie, as the first prospective university attendee in her family.

One Instagram user wrote: 'Why not Pixie? Not very impressed by this post when you're otherwise generally inspiring.'

Roxy captioned the photo: '@huntercurtis14 will be the first Jacenko to go to uni I'm certain so it's only right I start wearing the official merchandise @stanford'

Boss baby: A fan quickly chimed in to explain that perhaps Pixie, like her mum, might want to take a different path than the one Roxy appears to have planned for Hunter

A fan quickly chimed in to explain that perhaps Pixie, like her mum, might want to take a different path.

They wrote: 'Maybe pixie isn't the type and would be happy and successful without uni. Why do we all have to go to uni/ Whatever works for each child is the best outcome'.

'Correct!!!!' replied Roxy, who was educated at the prestigious Ascham School in Sydney, but did not complete a tertiary degree.
She's the curvy bikini model who is paid to travel the world, enjoying an endless summer.

But while Natasha Oakley's Instagram feed may seem like one idyllic beach after the next, the Australian beauty clearly has her favourites.

On Saturday, the 26-year-old was clearly missing Positano, Italy, sharing a snap that saw her putting on a very busty display as she frolicked through open water.

'I miss Italy': On Saturday, Natasha Oakley was clearly missing Positano, Italy, sharing a snap that saw her putting on a very busty display as she frolicked through open water

'Hi. I miss Italy. Bye,' she wrote, getting straight to the point in the caption.

The Bikini A Day Blogger's stunning frame was accentuated in a skimpy nude bikini.

Her hair was styled in a messy, bed-head fashion, and didn't appear to have been submerged in the knee-high water yet.

Fresh off her ambassador campaign for tanning brand St. Tropez, the beauty looked especially bronzed.

Bronzed beauty! Fresh off her ambassador campaign for tanning brand St. Tropez, the 26-year-old Australian beauty looked especially bronzed

Earlier this week she attributed her success to the positive body standards she believes her scantily-clad snaps set for others.

'I am a curvaceous woman,' she told Stellar, claiming that her decision to proudly flaunt her frame has helped fans with their own self-confidence.

The busty beauty runs the popular blog A Bikini A Day, alongside her equally genetically blessed best friend Devin Brugman.

'I am a curvaceous woman': Earlier this week she attributed her success to the positive body standards she believes her scantily-clad snaps set for others

'I think a lot of people have had new-found confidence within themselves from seeing what we do,' Natasha told the publication, who corroborated her claim.

'One of the reasons they have struck a chord with their audience is that they avoid showcasing rail-thin models in their work,' Stellar explained.

To cap-off an amazing-yet-busy year, she was announced as the new face of Bonds underwear this month.

Not 'rail-thin': 'One of the reasons they have struck a chord with their audience is that they avoid showcasing rail-thin models in their work,' a report added
Couples who dress together, impress together.

Lindsey Vonn and her boyfriend Kenan Smith put on a color coordinated display for their romantic date on Friday night.

The couple matched in black and white as they headed for dinner in Los Angeles hotspot eatery Craig's.

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Got the memo! Lindsey Vonn and her boyfriend Kenan Smith put on a color coordinated display for their romantic date on Friday night

The 32-year-old ski champ put her fabulous legs on display in a sexy pair of tight leather hot pants and black strappy heels.

Up top she flashed a black lacy bra beneath a half unbuttoned white blouse.

Her luxuriant blonde hair was left free for the night, while she carried a tidy black clutch.

Snap: The couple matched in black and white as they headed for dinner in Los Angeles hotspot eatery Craig's

Gorgeous: The 32-year-old ski champ put her fabulous legs on display in a sexy pair of tight leather hot pants and black strappy heels

Her beau meanwhile got the memo, matching her perfectly in black boots, black jeans and a white polo.

Earlier this month the Olympic gold medalist sent well wished to her troubled ex Tiger Woods.

Speaking at the ESPY awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, she told Extra: 'I reached out and I hope he's doing well,'

Flaunt it: Up top she flashed a black lacy bra beneath a half unbuttoned white blouse

The former couple split in 2015 after three years together,but have remained friends ever since according to the Olympian.

Tiger was found asleep in his damaged $220,000 Mercedes with the engine still running on May 29 near his mansion on Jupiter Island, Florida.

He was charged with driving under the influence and was found to have taken a cocktail of prescription drugs.

Have more fun: Her luxuriant blonde hair was left free for the night, while she carried a tidy black clutch
She's been keeping a low profile while filming The Bachelorette these past few weeks.

But Sophie Monk couldn't hide her contentment as she arrived at Sydney airport on Saturday.

The 37-year-old was positively glowing as she arrived from a mystery destination as her search for love continues to narrow down.

Where have you been? Sophie Monk spotted arriving at Sydney airport from mystery destination as filming of The Bachelorette continues

The blonde bombshell wore skinny jeans and platform white sneakers which showcased off her slim pins.

Bracing for the winter cold Sophie also wore a black puffer jacket, a Louis Vuitton tote slung over one shoulder.

Wearing her golden locks back from her face, the former Bardot member showcased her natural beauty with minimal makeup.

You beauty! The blonde bombshell wore skinny jeans and platform white sneakers which showed off her slim pins

While filming on The Bachelorette is still underway it's unclear if Sophie's flight related to the show.

The series began shooting at The Bachelor mansion in mid-June and typically lasts for 12 weeks.

Sophie signed on to The Bachelorette after her mum Sandi convinced her it was the only way to find an authentic man away from the industry.

'I would love them to not want fame, just someone down to earth and sweet ... Someone that works because I don't want to have to pay for everything,' she told News Corp in April.

Looking for love: Sophie signed on to The Bachelorette after her mum Sandi convinced her it was the only way to find an authentic man away from the industry

Previous romances: Sophie is not stranger to romances in front of the camera, having dating a string of high-profile men during her time in the spotlight

'Someone who is not competitive. Just a man who has got a good self-esteem. I don't really want a boyfriend that is obsessed with how he looks because I don't care.

She added; 'I definitely want a family and I want someone that wants children too. I want to have a normal life like everyone else.'

Sophie is not stranger to romances in front of the camera, having dating a string of high-profile men during her time in the spotlight.

She has previously been engaged to Good Charlotte's Benji Madden and businessman Jimmy Esebag.

The blonde beauty has also been linked to Sam Worthington, Jason Statham, Ryan Seacrest and NRL player Eric Grothe Jr.
Brandon Mychal Smith has reportedly been arrested for DUI.

The former child star, 28, who rose to fame in Hannah Montana and Sonny With A Chance, before more recently appearing in Dirty Grandpa, is said to have been twice over the limit when he was pulled over by police in LA last weekend.

According to TMZ , the actor was spotted by police 'overshooting' as he stopped at a red light in Burbank.

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Under the influence? Brandon Mychal Smith was reportedly been arrested for DUI in LA last weekend

The former Skating With The Stars contestant reportedly reversed his Rolls Royce, but was pulled over by cops.

A source claimed the star, who at one point was tipped to replace Nick Cannon on America's Got Talent, tested at twice over the legal limit, at 7:10am.

The reports state the actor was 'jailed for several hours' before he was released.

Pictured in Hannah Montana: The former child star, 28, who recently appeared in Dirty Grandpa, is said to have been twice over the limit when he was pulled over last weekend

MailOnline has contacted him for comment.

Brandon started his acting career aged just eight, and has a string of Disney series under his belt, including Sonny With a Chance alongside Demi Lovato.

He is currently starring in romantic comedy series You're The Worst.

(Pictured in Sonny With A Chance): A source claimed the star, who at one point was tipped to replace Nick Cannon on America's Got Talent, tested at twice over the legal limit, at 7:10am
They hinted their Love Island romance would continue outside of the Mallorcan villa.

And Georgia Harrison arrived at the ITV2 show's reunion party hand-in-hand with her beau Sam Gowland.

The former TOWIE star, 22, showed off her cleavage in a form-fitting strapless frock as she arrived at Sugar Hut in Brentwood, Essex, on Friday night.

Summer romance: Georgie Harrison walked hand-in-hand with her Love Island beau Sam Gowland as the pair attended the reunion party for the ITV2 show

Georgia's midnight blue dress featured a plunging neckline and jacquard floral detailling.

The tight-fitting number nipped in the reality star's tiny waist, accentuating her toned physique.

Georgia's frock hugged her figure to her knees, flaring into a frilled edge at the bottom of the dress.

She strutted her stuff down the Essex street in a pair of peep toe slingback boots, with a small stiletto heel.

Chic: Georgia's midnight blue dress featured a plunging neckline and jacquard floral detailling

On fine form: The tight-fitting number nipped in the reality star's tiny waist, accentuating her toned physique

Georgia added a touch of sparkle to proceedings with a glittering choker necklace.

The Love Island star accessorised with a delicate bracelet and carried a snakeskin clutch bag to the party.

She arrived at the bash hand-in-hand with her villa beau Sam Gowland, who looked smart in an olive green shirt and checked trousers.

Reuniting: Georgia linked arms with Sam and Jonny Mitchell as the group strutted down the street

Having fun: Georgia's frock hugged her figure to her knees, flaring into a frilled edge at the bottom of the dress

Dapper gents: Georgia's beau Sam, 21, looked smart in an olive green shirt and checked trousers

The oil rig worker, 21, walked to the party in a pair of sand espadrilles and slicked his dark hair out of his eyes.

The couple, who left the villa almost two weeks ago, looked like they were having a whale of a time as they caught up with their Love Island friends.

Georgia linked arms with Sam and Jonny Mitchell, who was dumped from the island almost three weeks ago.

Having a laugh: The couple, who left the villa almost two weeks ago, looked like they were having a whale of a time as they caught up with their Love Island friends

Late arrivals: The couple were booted off the show after encountering a few hiccups during the lie detector test

The couple were booted off the show after encountering a few hiccups during the lie detector test.

But as they left, the pair hinted romance could be on the cards with Georgia gushing: 'I didn't expect to come out with someone I like.'

It appears the fun-loving couple were a hit with the islanders too - with all singing their praises as they made a sad departure.
She's the former glamour model and Bachelor contestant who earned a reputation as one of Sydney's sauciest socialites thanks to her scantily-clad public displays.

But after relocating to the Gold Coast and dyeing her bombshell blonde locks an elegant chocolate brown, Zilda Williams is leading a whole new life.

On Saturday, the Gold Coast Bulletin named the 34-year-old as the city's most eligible single.

Move over, Sam Frost! Former Bachelor babe Zilda Williams has been crowned the most bachelorette on the Gold Coast

Speaking to the publication, the busty brunette said: 'I've given up on looks. I truly think it's all in the personality.'

She continued: 'If you have all the right qualities, but you're rocking a dad bod, that's okay.'

Since moving to the Gold Coast earlier this year, Zilda has launched a whole new career as a sales and event manager for popular hotspot Love Nightlife.

So, blondes don't have more fun? The 34-year-old recently dyed her blonde locks a classy chocolate brown as part of an elegant makeunder to find a man

Looking for love? These are the most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes on the GC  Read about it in today's Gold Coast Eye magazine /  @saldawgz @jeradwilliams A post shared by Gold Coast Bulletin (@gcbulletin) on Jul 28, 2017 at 5:44pm PDT

The former Maxim centerfold has also made a splash on the Queensland social scene and been spotted out at various celebrity events.

Just last week, she was spotted rubbing shoulders with fellow reality TV A-listers like Cheryl Maitland from Married At First Sight and Survivor's Felicity 'Flick' Egginton.

She was also seen flirting with former MAFS star Michael, who, like Zilda, is also a New Zealander.

Working girl: Since moving to the Gold Coast earlier this year, Zilda has launched a whole new career as a sales and event manager for popular hotspot Love Nightlife

Is he the one for her? At one of her recent events, Zilda was spotted flirting with Married At First Sight's Michael

Earlier this year, the blonde beauty told the Daily Mail Australia about her plans to relocate to the Gold Coast for a new life.

'I really miss the Gold Coast, it's really relaxed. I live a bit more of a healthier lifestyle up there,' she said at the time.

'That's another reason why I want to move - I just can't seem to find nice guys. I don't know if it's Sydney or it's a big city vibe.'

Flashback! Back in 2015, Zilda famously reduced her FF breast implants (pictured) down to a more demure set of DDs

She added: 'Queensland boys are a little bit more down-to-earth.'

Back in 2015, Zilda famously reduced her FF breast implants down to a more manageable set of DDs.

She later said that the reduction was partly so she could attract 'the right men,' rather than those who were interested in her for the wrong reasons.
They are one of Hollywood's most unbreakable couples, having been married for the past 21 years.

And Hugh Jackman, 48, and Deborra-Lee Furness, 61, looked loved up as ever this week as they enjoyed a romantic outing to Sydney's iconic Bondi beach.

Taking to Instagram on Friday, Hugh shared a selfie of the pair cuddling up on the sand against a picturesque beach-side backdrop.

In love: Taking to Instagram on Friday, Hugh Jackman shared a photo that showed the Logan star and his bride Deborra-Lee Furness cuddling close against a picturesque beachside backdrop

The cute duo smiled widely as they posed for the selfie, each donning a dark pair of sunglasses.

Taking to Instagram on Friday, Hugh shared a photo that showed the Logan star and his bride cuddling close against a picturesque beachside backdrop.

'Me & my beach babe,' Hugh captioned the adorable selfie.

Couple goals! Hugh who celebrated 21 years of wedded bliss in April recently revealed on the UK talk show Lorraine that the secret to the marriage was the fact the pair 'shared everything' and that they never spend more than two weeks apart

'It's wonderful how openly [you] show the world you love your wife.Your best friend and partner,' one fan gushed while another offered: 'Oh stop it!! you two are gorgeous.'

While the comments section was flooded with positive sentiments, there were some crestfallen fans who aired their disappointment at the fact that Hugh is a taken man.

'Mr. Hugh Jackman is..married? My dream has just been shattered,' one devastated follower said.

Cute! 'We always said we'd never spend more than 2 weeks apart. Sometimes life and work does get crazy,' he said

Hugh who celebrated 21 years of wedded bliss in April recently revealed on the UK talk show Lorraine that the secret to the marriage was the fact the pair 'shared everything' and that they never spend more than two weeks apart.

'We always said we'd never spend more than 2 weeks apart. Sometimes life and work does get crazy,' he said.

'But we met on my first job when she was already a big star, I was a nobody. So we have shared everything, all the ups and downs, and always will.'

Hugh and Deborra-Lee also share two children together Ava Eliot, 12 and Oscar Maximilian, 17.
Statement by the Spokesperson on the conflict resolution and reconciliation efforts

Foreign Minister of Armenia to participate in the Fifth Paris Peace Forum

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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

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Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments
She's been on cloud nine since husband Oliver Curtis proposed to her for the second time a fortnight ago.

And Roxy Jacenko wore her new $450,000 engagement ring proudly as she headed out with her man on Saturday night.

The 37-year-old PR maven wore racy lingerie and $565,000 worth of diamonds, posing for an elevator selfie with Oliver as the couple left their North Bondi residence.

Still celebrating their engagement? Roxy Jacenko wears racy lingerie with $565,000 worth of diamonds for date night with husband Oliver Curtis

In the photo shared to Instagram, Roxy wears a Louis Vuitton blazer over a sheer bodysuit from lingerie brand Bluebella.

The Sweaty Betty founder accessorised with a Hermes handbag and $565,000 worth of diamonds from her favourite jeweller, Nicholas Haywood.

Joining Roxy for her signature elevator selfie was Oliver, who looked suave in a matching black ensemble.

Will they marry again? The couple's date night comes after the spin queen continues to fuel speculation she will walk down the aisle again

'Black black black c u soon @francescapacker @hollyasser @gracegarrick,' Roxy captioned the photo, indicating they were meeting up with her friends.

The couple's date night comes after the spin queen continues to fuel speculation she will walk down the aisle again.

Taking to Instagram, the publicist shared a snap of herself wearing two diamond necklaces from jeweller Nicholas Haywood on Thursday- the designer behind her second engagement ring.

New bling to match her '$450,000' engagement ring? On Thursday Roxy Jacenko took to Instagram to share a photo of herself trying on diamond necklaces

Shopping for a bridal gown? The 37-year-old PR maven sent fans into a frenzy on Wednesday after she shared photos of herself at a bridal shop looking over dress fabric samples

On Wednesday, Roxy tagged an Instagram photo from Velani, a Sydney-based bridal, evening and christening wear designer.

The social media snap sent fans wild with speculation that Roxy was shopping for wedding dresses, however, she later clarified she was looking at materials for a custom tutu for Pixie's forthcoming sixth birthday party.

Earlier this month Roxy's husband Oliver proposed to her for the second time, amid rumours the pair had undergone a period of estrangement.

Going down the aisle again? In an interview with Popsugar this week, Roxy told fans to 'watch this space' for news of a second wedding between the couple. Pictured at their 2012 wedding

In April, pictures were published showing the PR queen passionately kissing her ex-boyfriend Nabil Gazal. At the time, Oliver was in prison.

In June, Oliver was released from Cooma Correctional Centre in southern NSW after serving a 12-month jail sentence for insider trading.

The couple - who share children Pixie, five, and Hunter, three - are believed to have reunited during a family getaway to Bali earlier this month.

In an interview with Popsugar this week, Roxy told fans to 'watch this space' for news of a second wedding between the couple.
Most young children love a good story like The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham.

But on Saturday, Bed Judd's daughter Billie was more preoccupied with her mother's real estate column for Domain than anything by Dr. Seuss.

The three-year-old flipped through the magazine at a cafe with Bec, and looked quite upset when she saw her old bedroom featured in one of the photos.

Bookworm: Bec Judd's daughter Billie, 3, read her mother's real estate column on Saturday

'Darling, we sold this house,' Bec informed her daughter.

The mother-daughter duo's cafe date comes just days after Bec revealed that Billie is suffering from body image issues.

On Wednesday, the 34-year-old told Today Extra she believes the cause of Billie's self-consciousness could be a fictional character - Elsa from the Disney movie Frozen.

'Darling, we sold this house': The three-year-old was upset when she saw her old bedroom featured in the magazine

The AFL WAG, who signed up the youngster to be the face of Mattel's Barbie campaign earlier this year, at first said she had 'no idea' why Billie has insecurities before blaming the fictional character.

'I have no idea ... Do you know what, it might be Elsa from Frozen,' Bec said.

'... Because [Elsa] has this long pony in a plait and Billie's got this curly hair. She's brushing it trying to make it straight like Elsa and every time she brushes it she looks in the mirror and says 'urgh when am I going to have Elsa hair?'

Won't let it go? On Wednesday, the-34-year told Today Extra she believes the cause of Billie's self-consciousness could be a fictional character - Elsa from the Disney movie Frozen

She continued: 'At home we talk about how important it is to be brave, strong and kind and intelligent and we don't make appearance important. It is going to be tricky moving forward, raising girls. Yeah, it is just something to be aware of.'

Her comments come one day after she revealed, during her radio show, KIIS network's The 3PM Pick Up, that Billie 'screams at the mirror' because she hates her hair.

The Postcards presenter said: 'Billie all of a sudden has started caring about her appearance so much. It's actually scary, and I don't know where it's come from.
They came fourth place during Love Island's nail-biting season finale on Monday, after famously abstaining from having sex during their time together on the show.

And now that Marcel Somerville, 31, and Gabby Allen, 25, have consummated their new romance, they appear eager to sing the praises of each other's sexual prowess.

In a new interview with the Daily Star, Gabby has revealed that their first tryst took place after the ITV2 show's wrap party, as she gushed: 'It was X-rated and explosive  we just got a bit excited... Ive had good sex in my life, but Marcel has stamina.'

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Loving their new love life: Marcel Somerville and Gabby Allen have gushed about their new sex life in an interview with the Daily Star

Blazin' Squad star Marcel was also impressed with his own staying power  given the long wait he was made to endure as Gabby stuck to her vow of no sex on TV.

He told the newspaper of their fight night of passion: 'Youd expect me to be really fast because Ive been waiting so long but no. Ive got skills and technique.

'Im quite a strong person and shes very light so there was a lot of throwing around. The bed was small and squeaky so I had to pull the mattress off onto the floor.'

Staying well-behaved: The lovebirds refrained from consummating their relationship during their time on Love Island

Absence makes the heart grow fonder: The photogenic pair were left pining for each other on Thursday, as they returned to their homes to spend their first night apart since the show's end

While they held off embarking on a sex life together during their run on the show, Gabby has now conceded that it was 'worth the wait'.

On Thursday, the lovebirds were left pining for each other as they returned to their respective homes to spend their first night apart since the show's end.

Marcel joked that he was suffering 'withdrawal symptoms' from the stunning blonde as he posted a sweet selfie on his Instagram account.

Alongside the snap, he wrote: 'Not sharing a bed with this one tonight is gonna be weird!!! #withdrawsymptoms. But I'm looking forward to seeing my house!!! #Imcominghome #hometime' (sic)

Amorous display: The pair put on an amorous display earlier this week, when they return to London Stansted Airport from Mallorca, Spain

Strong bond: The couple recently spent the day in Gabby's hometown of Liverpool, with Marcel posting another social media shot of their pair posing in the city centre

The couple had spent the day in Gabby's hometown of Liverpool, with Marcel posting another social media shot of their pair posing in the city centre.

The hunk looked like he didn't want to let his stunning girlfriend go as he wrapped his arm firmly around her waist.

Marcel kept it casual in a striped tee and chinos, while Gabby stood out from the crowd in a vibrant blouse and knee-high boots.

The Crossroads hitmaker had proved to be the perfect gentleman as he escorted his belle home, before making the journey back down to London see his own family.

'Not happy about spending a night without my baby': The lovebirds were gearing themselves up to spend their first night alone following their time in the villa

'Reunited tomorrow though': The personal trainer couldn't contain her excitement at the prospect of being reunited with her lover on Saturday ahead of the Love Island bash on Sunday

Marcel wrote on Instagram: 'Back in her home town! So much support in the pool!' (sic)

Personal trainer Gabby seemed to be missing her man as soon as Marcel left Liverpool, sharing a cosy picture of the couple as she expressed her sadness at them being apart.

She captioned the image: 'Not happy to spending a night without my baby.'

But the golden-haired beauty couldn't contain her excitement they would be together once again on the following day ahead of the cast reunion on Sunday.

What a man! The Crossroads hitmaker proved himself to be the perfect gentleman when he escorted his lover home to Liverpool before making the journey back to London

'Back with my babe, felt like I'd lost an arm': Gabby and Marcel looked delighted to be back in each other's arms

Gabby added: 'So weird being back in my own bed without my love. Reunited tomorrow though.' (sic)

Fans rejoiced when the couple, who had abstained from doing the deed in the villa, enjoyed a night of passion earlier in the week.

And Gabby seemed equally delighted to have finally bedded her man.

She said: 'We had sex! It lived up to expectations. It was really good. We had dutch courage as well, we had a few drinks which always makes things easier.'

The doctor will see you now: The Love Island star is writing a book to hand out dating advice to his fans, titled Dr Marcel's Little Book of Big Love

Love expert: The Blazin' Squad member met partner Gabby on the show and they were fan favourites until the end of the competition

On why she waited to do the deed, she said: 'I dont feel like I should be shamed for NOT having sex on TV. I've been out I' ve seen theres been lots of talk about me not doing it, and me not fancying Marcel.

'But I made a promise to my brother and my mum that I wasnt going to do it. People dont realise that theres literally a thousand cameras looking at you all the time. Its really hard to get sexy. I didnt feel any pressure. It just didnt sit well with me.'

Marcel - who won the moniker of Doctor Marcel in the Love Island villa thanks to his stellar romantic advice - has plenty of reasons to celebrate after landing a book deal

The musician announced on Thursday he will release Dr Marcel's Little Book of Big Love in August.

Spreading the wisdom: Dr Marcel's Little Book of Big Love will be released in August

'Paging Dr Marcel': Marcel's announcement was retweeted more than 4,300 times with fans clamouring to congratulate him

He tweeted: 'News!! I'm excited to announce I am releasing my own book in August with @BlinkPublishing Dr. Marcel's Little Book of Big Love #loveisland.'

Marcel's fellow contestants were quick to congratulate him, with Chloe Crowhurst writing: 'Amazing news!!!! Well done Marc x' and Tyne-Lexy Clarson saying: 'Proud of you, fully deserve it.'

In the villa Marcel was widely seen as a shoulder to cry on and a reliable source of advice, often breaking up disputes and dissolving tension.

Amber Davies and Kem Centinay were crowned winners of Love Island 2017 on Monday night.

Camilla Thurlow and Jamie Jewitt landed in second place, followed by Chris Hughes and Olivia Attwood, with Marcel and Gabby finishing fourth.
She's gearing up to enter the Celebrity Big Brother when Borehamwood compound opens its doors next week.

And Jemma Lucy, 29, has declared she's ready to spice up the show by bedding one of her fellow contestants.

Insisting she has a 'high sex drive', the bisexual Ex On The Beach star explained she will strike up a passionate liaison with both genders in the CBB house.

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'No one is going to stop me': Jemma Lucy, 29, has boldly declared she will have sex on Celebrity Big Brother and no one is going to be able to stop her

Jemma told The Sun: 'If I want to have sex on TV, I will. If Im drunk and feel like stripping down and having sex, no-one is going to stop me.'

She added: 'I have a very high sex drive. I have dated girls and boys. For me, its all about sex when Im with a girl.

'Im very open about being bisexual. And Im open to finding someone.'

Sealed with a kiss! The EOTB star - who is open about her sexuality - explained she will strike up a passionate liaison with both genders in the BB house

It is claimed the MTV bad girl could cause a stir in the house if she is loose tongued about dishing the dirt on her celebrity exes.

Jemma's high-profile romances include Stephen Bear, Gaz Beadle and Chantelle Connelly.

The full list of celebrities has been leaked to The Sun ahead of the show starting next week.

Sunny break: Jemma is enjoying a relaxed holiday in Portugal with her pal Zaralena Jackson (pictured together), who also shot to fame on the set of EOTB

Some of the stars include Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville, Girls Aloud's Sarah Harding and EastEnders legend Shaun Williamson.

Jemma is enjoying a relaxed holiday in Portugal with her pal Zaralena Jackson, who also shot to fame on the set of EOTB.

Rumours are swirling the girls are an item after a string of nights out together in recent months.

Prepared: She's gearing up to enter the Celebrity Big Brother when Borehamwood bungalow re-opens its doors next week

Earlier this summer, the reality star squeezed in a trip to Turkey to go under the knife for a Brazilian butt lift.

Speaking before the operation, she explained in a Snapchat video: 'I am going to Turkey next week and I'm getting all the fat sucked out of my stomach and injected in my a**.

'Anyway, I'm excited because I'm going to have a big bum and I'm going to shake it all the time, and it's going to be a bubble butt.'
She is a busy single mother-of-two.

And Charlize Theron looked to be enjoying time out of her busy schedule, as she was spotted arriving at the airport of Los Cabos, Mexico on Friday.

The 41-year-old Mad Max: Fury Road actress was accompanied by her children, Jackson, six, and two-year-old August.

Fun in the sun: Charlize Theron looked to be enjoying time out of her busy schedule, as she was spotted arriving at the airport of Los Cabos, Mexico on Friday

Charlize put on a relaxed display in a loose black sweater, teaming it with geometric-print trousers.

Completing the ensemble with sandals and an elegant sunhat, she was accompanied by a helper as she made her way to the car park.

Covering her pretty face with sunglasses, the academy award-winning Monster actress looked in good spirits.

Family trip: The 41-year-old Mad Max: Fury Road actress was accompanied by her children, Jackson, six, and two-year-old August

The South African star adopted Jackson from her home country in 2012, before welcoming American-born August to the family in 2015.

Speaking about motherhood, Charlize told The Ellen Show in April she has a lot of help.

'I'm a single mom and I have an incredible village that helps me raise these two beautiful kids,' she told the 59-year-old TV host, as reported by ET Online.

'In the mornings I have them alone, and they kind of work against each other sometimes. One kind of decides to freak out, and then both decide to freak out.'

'I don't know why they decide to do that? You think they'd stand there and be considerate like: "Well, that one is freaking out right now, I'm not gonna freak out." They don't do that.'

And last week the actress made a rare confession about her usually private love life.

Appearing on Howard Stern on Wednesday, she admitted that she recently went on a date with a 'cool dude' and had an 'incredible' time.

This came a year after she suddenly split from beau of 18 months, Sean Penn, who she was reportedly engaged to.

Proud mum: The South African star adopted Jackson from her home country in 2012, before welcoming American-born August to the family in 2015

'I went on a date maybe, like, a month ago,' she said. 'I had a great date, Ive got to tell you. I had an incredible date.'

'This guy really impressed me. We went for a nine-mile hike in the middle of the night. It was a full moon. But I was really impressed. It was fun.'

The Devil's Advocate actress added: 'I'm not going to say where we met, but we ended up going for a walk  It was just really fun. He was super funny.'

'I think hes just a really cool dude. It was super private  thats what made it so much fun, too.'

The Tully star would not say the man's name. And when Howard asked if he was famous she would not say no.

In May she was linked to Halle Berry's ex Gabriel Aubry. Her son Jackson, six, and his daughter Nahla, nine, go to the same school.

Last year the beauty told WSJ of her relationship with Penn: 'We were in a relationship and then it didnt work anymore. And we both decided to separate. Thats it.'
She faced a social media backlash after saying a rival contestant looked like a 'Jewish banana'.

And The Bachelor's Florence Alexandra Sophia took to Instagram on Saturday to defend her controversial comment about Jen Hawke's group date outfit.

Responding to a fan's comment, the 27-year-old denied she was anti-semitic, explaining that one of her best friends was Jewish.

'I never meant it in a bad way or negative way': The Bachelor's Florence Alexandra Sophia defends calling Jen Hawke a 'Jewish banana' after fans slammed the Dutch model online

On Thursday night's episode the Dutch model mocked Jen's surf lifesaver costume during their group date, saying: 'I'm not worried about Jennifer. Dude, you look horrible! I mean, she looks like a Jewish banana.'

After being slammed online Florence took to her Instagram to respond to a fan's question about whether the comment was anti-semitic.

'It was purely that Jen's yellow suit reminded me of a banana peel and her little hat of a kippah,' she wrote.

'It was purely that Jen's yellow suit reminded me of a banana peel and her little hat of a kippah': Florence took to her Instagram to respond to a fan's question about whether the comment was anti-semitic

She said what? Florence Alexandra Sophia (pictured) may have pushed the envelope a too far on Thursday when she said Jen Hawke looked like a 'Jewish banana' during their group date

'Never meant it in a bad way or negative way so I have to disagree on the antisemitic part, especially because I have a Jewish best friend and I am very open to and respectful of any religion and ethnicities.'

Meanwhile on Thursday fans took to Twitter to slam Florence's comments, with one remarking: 'Not a fan, but what was with the comment from Flo about her looking like a Yellow Jewish Banana. Unacceptable & inappropriate comment.'

'"She looks like a Jewish banana" when did using someone's religion become an acceptable insult to broadcast on TV? Shocked', tweeted a viewer.

Another Twitter user echoed the sentiment, writing: 'In what way is it okay that Florence said Jen looked like "a Jewish banana"?'

Anger: Fans immediately took to Twitter to slam Florence's comments about Jen (pictured)

'In what way is it okay?' Many viewers were furious at Florence's comment, with one tweeting it was 'unacceptable and inappropriate'

Meanwhile, some fans were baffled by Florence's statement, with one tweeting: 'Did anyone find out what a Jewish Banana is supposed to mean?'

It's not the first time the popular Network Ten dating show has faced criticism.

Earlier this week, fans slammed the program for its lack of diversity among this season's 22 contestants.

Please explain? Meanwhile, some fans were baffled by Florence's statement, with one tweeting: 'Did anyone find out what a Jewish Banana is supposed to mean?'
He first shaved his head in 2016 to play psychic mutant Charles Xavier.

And James McAvoy revealed he hates his bald look as eagle-eyed X-Men fans have started to recognise him on the street.

The actor, 38, who is currently filming his fourth outing as Professor X, admitted it makes his morning routine easier.

Not a fan of the do: James McAvoy revealed he hates his bald look as eagle-eyed X-Men fans have started to recognise him on the street

He told People: 'I used to like the fact that it afforded me a certain amount of anonymity but it no longer does that.

'Since I did two movies that everybody saw where I had a bald head, now its like a f****** beacon.

'I do like the fact that I dont have to do anything in the morning.'

James first appeared as the psychic mutant in 2011's X-Men: First Class, taking on the famous role from Patrick Stewart.

Different look: The actor, 38, who is currently filming his fourth outing as Professor X, admitted it makes his morning routine easier (pictured last month)

The origins franchise follows the stories of Charles Xavier and Max Eisenhardt before they become arch rivals Professor X and Magneto.

James had a full head of hair for the first two films, but his character went bald in 2016 flick Apocalypse when antagonist En Sabah Nur hijacked his psychic abilities to find mutants.

When he first shaved his head for the role in 2016, he revealed his son, Brendan, seven, likes the extreme haircut.

Younger version: James first appeared as the psychic mutant in 2011's X-Men: First Class, taking on the famous role from Patrick Stewart

Maintaining the look: The star kept up his skinhead look to play a man with 23 different personalities in 2016 film Split

He told the Radio Times: 'My kid likes it when he sits on my shoulders and rubs my head. He goes, "Ooh, its all prickly."'

This was not the first time the X-Men star had shaved off his brown locks for a film role.

He planned to star in the 2011 flick 50/50, which told the story of a man with cancer, but the actor had to pull out days into filming due to a family emergency.

Difference: James had a full head of hair for the first two X-Men films, but his character went bald in 2016 flick Apocalypse

The star kept up his skinhead look to play a man with 23 different personalities in 2016 film Split.

Scot James shot to fame in 2004 for his role as Steve McBride in Shameless.

The actor has since gone on to enjoy a glittering Hollywood career and was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in Atonement.
Their mutual affection was more than evident as Georgia Harrison and boyfriend Sam Gowland showed off their new relationship in Essex on Friday evening.

The Love Island stars - who left the villa two weeks ago together - couldn't keep their hands off each other as they shared a steamy smooch at Faces Nightclub.

With one tattooed arm wrapped around Georgia's shoulder, Sam ensured Georgia was centre of attention while partying with her former TOWIE co-stars, Pete Wicks and Megan McKenna.

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Love (Island) is in the air! Sam Gowland and Georgia Harrison showed Pete Wicks and Megan McKenna they weren't the only couple crazy about each other on the Essex dancefloor

The reality TV stars looked equally cosy when they joined Georgia, Sam and a string of Love Island regulars on their wild night.

Megan, 24, secured the eyes of Pete, 26, while flashing a glimpse of some serious skin in a lacy teddy.

For the ultimate chic look, she teamed her evening ensemble with a pair of black slim-fit trousers which showcased her svelte figure.

The Essex beauty courted the attention of the room in her sky-scraper high pointed stilettos which added to her height.

Must be love! Megan flashed a glimpse of some serious skin in her lace teddy as she cosied up her beau Pete at Faces nightclub in Essex on Friday

From Essex to Mallorca: The TOWIE pair fitted in with the Love Islanders as if they had known them for years (Pete, Megan, Georgia Harrison and Tyla Carr)

Tucking her poker straight brunette tresses behind her ears, The TOWIE star let her hair down on the night and wore heavy touches of make-up.

Known for her feisty persona, Megan wasn't shy about making her affections for Pete known as she playfully touched his cheeks.

The heavily tattooed hunk couldn't stop blushing and beaming when he cosied up to the brunette beauty.

Social butterfly: Megan later joined Love Island hunk Sam Gowland at the bash as they soaked up the buzzing atmosphere of the club

On trend as ever, Pete styled an olive shirt worn open over a white tee which he teamed with ripped jeans.

Partying up a storm, Megan and Pete mingled with the Love Islanders as if they had known each other for years.



The couple enjoyed a stormy on/off relationship during TOWIE's last series but they were said to have split for good.

But the pair struggled to stay away from each other and embarked on a trip to Las Vegas for a 'make or break' holiday together.

Feeling hot, hot, hot: They shared a steamy smooch as they flaunted their new relationship

Fellow dumped Love Islander Tyla Carr also made a noteworthy appearance in a cherry cutaway dress.

Tyla's former flame Jonny Mitchell attended the bash but his new girlfriend Chyna Ellis was no where in sight.

The group were celebrating after returning from the Mallorca set of Love Island, which ended with contestants Amber Davies and Kem Cetinay named winners.

Not EX-pecting to see you: Former flames Jony Mitchell and Tyla Carr had an awkward run-in as they met each other outside the villa for the first time since their split

Party up a storm! But the pair showed that there was no resentment between them as they cosied up for a photograph with their pal Sam

Party time! The Love Islanders were in high spirits

Hitting it off! Sam and Tyla proved to be great pals when they enjoyed catching up on the reunion night out
She faced backlash for coupling up with Jonny Mitchell before moving on to 'Muggy' Mike Thalassitis, despite a hysterical show of tears after Jonny's departure.

So it's perhaps not surprising that Tyla Carr, 24, was not met with open arms from her fellow islanders when she attended a party at Faces nightclub in Essex on Friday night.

Despite the table being booked for Love Island cast members, Tyla uploaded several Instagram stories from the evening showing that she was partying without them - although a worse-for-wear Jonny can be seen next to her.

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Snubbed: Tyla Carr partied without fellow Love Island cast members in Instagram story videos she uploaded at Faces nightclub in Essex on Friday night

Reunited: In spite of saying that he wanted nothing to do with Tyla after she snubbed him when he left the villa, a worse-for-wear Jonny was seen to be in close proximity to the Surrey-born model

In spite of saying that he wanted nothing to do with Tyla after she snubbed him when he left the villa, Jonny was seen to be in close proximity to the Surrey-born model.

Jonny repeated that he would 'wait for' Tyla several times upon his departure from the villa, to which she responded 'you f****** better'.

However, mere hours after he left, she bedded 'Muggy' Mike in the villa.

Muggy: Jonny repeated that he would 'wait for' Tyla several times upon his departure from the villa, to which she responded 'you f****** better'. However, mere hours after he left, she bedded 'Muggy' Mike

Former flame: Despite the table being booked for Love Island cast members, Tyla uploaded several Instagram stories from the evening showing that she was partying without them - although a worse-for-wear Jonny can be seen next to her

In an attempt to show that he had little care for his rebuffal, Jonny was then seen to kiss Chyna Ellis in a nightclub before whisking her to Budapest on a romantic weekend away, seemingly cementing the start of a new relationship.

But Jonny was noticeably present in Tyla's story, and even posed for a selfie with her - albeit pulling a rather peculiar face with one eye closed, seemingly having a fun night on the town.

Jonny then appeared to take a quick nap on one of Tyla's friends, with the excitement of the evening clearly making him a little weary.

Strike a pose: Jonny even posed for a selfie with Tyla - albeit pulling a rather peculiar face with one eye closed, seemingly having a fun night on the town

All too much: Jonny then appeared to take a quick nap on one of Tyla's friends, with the excitement of the evening clearly making him a little weary

In the videos, Tyla, who wore a salmon cropped top and matching mini skirt, can be seen dancing with her pals.

However, Georgia Harrison and Sam Gowland were noticeably absent from Tyla's Instagram stories, as well as TOWIE stars Pete Wicks and Megan Mckenna who also attended the evening.

Tyla appeared to put her latest drama behind her, as Mike went on to Love Island: Aftersun to apologise for his speaking 's***' in an explosive audio clip obtained by the Sun.

Party girls: In the videos, Tyla, who wore a salmon cropped top and matching mini skirt, can be seen dancing with her pals

Absent: However, Georgia Harrison and Sam Gowland were noticeably absent from Tyla's Instagram stories, as well as TOWIE stars Pete Wicks and Megan Mckenna who also attended the evening

Leaving the past behind: Tyla appeared to put her latest drama behind her, as Mike went on to Love Island: Aftersun to apologise for his speaking 's***' in an explosive audio clip obtained by the Sun

Mike admitted that he was being 'muggy' towards his love interest before apologising profusely to her while sitting down with show host Caroline Flack.

He began: 'First of all that conversation, was a guy talking to another guy so you do talk s**t in those chats. I do regret saying that because it was a bit muggy to Tyla.'

'Our relationship is basically the same as it was when we left the villa. We havent seen each other since we got back to England because shes been in Norwich.'

Truth: Love Island's Mike Thalassitis, 24, has broken his silence on the recording - which was obtained by the Sun - insisting that he was speaking 's**t' in the explosive audio clip

Responding to his unsavory claims, the brunette beauty - who had been previously coupled up with Jonny before his dramatic exit - admitted she has been left hurt by the comments but is willing to give him a chance.

Tyla weighed in: 'To be honest, my head has been all over the place. I want to get to know you [Mike] more and weve said we still want to go out on a date.

'He has explained himself and he has apologised profusely.'

His confession comes after he confessed to sneaking Viagra into the Hidden Hills villa for his night of passion with Tyla.
It's the hit reality show that will be making an anticipated return to Australian screens on Sunday.

And while Australian Survivor will pit an eclectic group of castaways against each other in a series of endurance and physical challenges, for cash and glory spare a thought for the show's host and crew.

Jonathan LaPaglia who will return to hosting duties for the upcoming season revealed that he thought he had contracted the Zika virus while filming on the Samoan island of Upolu.

Mystery illness: Jonathan LaPaglia who will return to hosting duties for the upcoming season of Australian survivor revealed that he thought he had contracted the Zika virus while filming on the Samoan island of Upolu

The Love Child actor told the Daily Telegraph that he and several crew members fell quite ill during the show's production.

'Last year, I didn't get tested, but there was a bunch of us, we got some sort of mosquito borne illness, maybe Zika, and we were so sick,' he revealed.

In a case of 'the show must go on,' Jonathan admitted that, despite being struck down with the mystery illness, production continued regardless.

Epidemic? 'Last year, I didn't get tested, but there was a bunch of us, we got some sort of mosquito borne illness, maybe Zika, and we were so sick,' he told the Daily Telegraph

'It is really intense because it never stops,' he told the publication. 'There is no such thing as a day off. Once it starts, it keeps going, even if you are sick.'

Zika is a mosquito-transmitted virus that is related to yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis.

A widespread epidemic of Zika fever spread throughout South and North America in 2015. The World Health Organisation announced the end of the epidemic in November last year.

No rest: In a case of 'the show must go on,' Jonathan admitted that, despite being struck down with the mystery illness, production continued regardless

Jonathan also revealed that during the two months of filming, the cast and crew also had to endure soaring tropical temperatures, torrential downpours and a cyclone.

Speaking to OK Magazine this week, Jonathan dished on some of the show's details.

'Strategies and game plays started day one and there's going to be some fun twists that will come up throughout the series to keep contestants on their toes,' he said.
iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Republicans on Capitol Hill continued to grapple Friday with the collapse of their latest effort to repeal and replace Obamacare in the Senate.



The mood was glum in the House GOP conference meeting Friday morning after the early-morning vote. Members munched on breakfast, continued to digest the setback in the Senate and reassessed their agenda, after GOP leaders began the meeting by playing Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald."



Leaders kicked off the meeting with the song -- about the sinking of a ship on Lake Superior in 1975 -- in light of the failed Senate health care vote.



"I thought at least they would get a bill to get us to get to conference. I was hoping for that," Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told ABC News. "I know Sen. [Mitch] McConnell worked hard. Im a Kentuckian, hes my home state senator, he really put a big effort into it. I know he was disappointed, and were disappointed, but hopefully we can move forward."



Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, in an effort to motivate his colleagues, showed clips of the Patriots' Super Bowl win last winter, according to a source in the room.



One member of leadership also told the often-fractious group of House Republicans they were now "the most functional part of the U.S. government."



Arch-conservative Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Alabama, interjected. "That's a low bar! Low bar!"



While Brooks charged McConnell's with last night's failure, others lay the blame with the White House. Few commented on Arizona Sen. John McCain's deciding vote.



"This president never really laid out core principles and didnt sell them to the American people," Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, told ABC News after the meeting.



President Donald Trump expressed frustration with the Senate Friday morning in a tweet, calling for a change to Senate rules to lower the threshold to pass major legislation. (The change wouldn't have helped with health care early this morning, which failed to attract 51 votes after defections from Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and McCain.)



Speaking to law enforcement officials on Long Island Friday, Trump suggested letting Obamacare "implode."



"You can't have everything," he said of the vote.



In a statement Friday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he was "disappointed and frustrated, but we should not give up."



"I encourage the Senate to continue working toward a real solution that keeps our promise," he said.



Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the leader of the influential House Freedom Caucus, told reporters he is continuing discussions with senators, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on a way forward on health care that can attract broad GOP support in the Senate and House.



"Obviously, last night was a disappointment in the effort to repeal and replace. But its not a death knell," he said. "Im optimistic that well have another motion to proceed and ultimately have something to put on the presidents desk."



He said Republicans are waiting for the Congressional Budget Office to review several additional Senate proposals.



Moderate GOP Sen. Collins met earlier week with a group of senators, including Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., on a bipartisan approach to health care.



"On health care, I hope we can work together to make the system better in a bipartisan way," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said Friday, suggesting Congress take up renewing key payments to insurers to stabilize the insurance system.



"I think at the very beginning we should stabilize the system. We should make permanent the cost-sharing which keeps people's premiums down and keeps the counties that are covered up."



Schumer, who said he spoke to Ryan about health care Friday, said relevant committee leaders have begun discussing the possibility of hearings on potential bipartisan health care reforms.



For House Republicans, the focus has also turned to tax reform. Earlier this week, Ryan, congressional leaders and the White House released a statement sketching out the broad contours of a reform deal. On the way out of conference on Friday, Republicans were each handed small booklets. The title? "31 Reasons for Tax Reform."



Congress will also have to address must-pass items this fall. Lawmakers will have to raise the debt ceiling and approve government funding.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Her loose lips have created some scandalous headlines over the year.

And nobody is more aware of this than Sonia Kruger herself, who has admitted that she's surprised Today Extra is still on air following because of her unfiltered antics.

Speaking to Stellar, the 51-year-old said: 'There are some days I am so loose, I am amazed we are still on air.'

'I am amazed we are still on air!' Sonia Kruger has confessed that she surprised Today Extra hasn't been canceled due to her loose lips

She added: 'But the viewers seem to be enjoying it.'

The beauty also admitted that her co-host David Campbell is well aware of her looseness.

'There are some days where he probably thinks, You need to get some more sleep, you are loose today,'' she said.

'You are loose today!' The blonde beauty admits that co-star David Campbell is well aware that she's not the most tight-lipped star around

Earlier this month, Sonia had jaws dropping when she accidentally made a crude comment about riding a vibrator on-air.

The X-rated incident was so saucy it left co-host Richard Wilkins speechless.

The awkward moment occurred when Today Extra broadcast a viral video of two babies giggling as they sat on a vibrating treadmill.

'I wouldn't mind being able to sit on a vibrator like that!' One of Sonia's infamous on-air gaffes included a reference to a vibrator

'I wouldn't mind being able to sit on a vibrator like that and have a laugh,' Sonia told Richard.

Sonia's accidental naughty comment left her veteran co-host speechless and raising his eyebrows by way of reply.

In the past, she's also made headlines for comments about Muslims back in 2016.
She failed to find love on Married At First Sight with Andrew 'Jonesy' Jones.

But glamazon Cheryl Maitland isn't spending any time reflecting on past romantic missteps, looking very loved up with new flame Dean Gibbs on Saturday night.

The hairdresser-turned-Instagram model cut a demure figure as she attended a charity gala in Brisbane with her felon boyfriend.

Jonesy who? Busty MAFS star Cheryl Maitland looks loved up as she attends Brisbane charity gala with her beau Dean Gibbs

Taking to Instagram, Cheryl shared a photo of her and Dean as they headed to the Variety Queensland gala in Brisbane.

The busty brunette channeled old Hollywood glamour in a figure-hugging black gown.

The dress featured a daring side split which showed off Cheryl's slim legs and offered a generous glimpse of cleavage.

Her handsome beau looked dapper in a pinstripe suit and purple tie.

Entrepreneur: Since failing to find love with Andrew 'Jonsey' Jones on Married At First Sight, Cheryl has been promoting everything from protein powder to body oil

Since failing to find love with Andrew 'Jonsey' Jones on Married At First Sight, Cheryl has been promoting everything from protein powder to body oil in revealing Instagram posts.

But she has appeared to get serious with her new boyfriend, former policeman and convicted drug trafficker Dean Gibbs, 31.

The couple recently told NW magazine how Dean fell in love with Cheryl after watching her on Married At First Sight.

Another wedding? Cheryl revealed the couple 'see a future together', hinting marriage could be on the cards soon

'He'd seen me on the show and just sent me a really long message, not really expecting anything. Then it just kind ofOne thing led to another, I guess,' Cheryl said.

'We're in love! I'm just, like, this is too good to be true!'

Cheryl also revealed the couple 'see a future together', hinting marriage could be on the cards soon.
She is never one to shy away from flaunting her gym-honed figure.

And after teasing fans with a topless photo just days ago, Millie Mackintosh has done one better and stripped down to pose completely NUDE while enjoying a spa trip during her break in Mykonos.

Taking to Instagram on Saturday, the former Made In Chelsea star, 28, set pulses racing with her sultry snap that left very little to the imagination.

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Risque! Millie Mackintosh, 28, stripped completely NUDE while enjoying a spa day during her break to Mykonos with beau Hugo Taylor, sharing the titillating snap on Instagram on Saturday

Making the most of her idyllic spa trip at luxury boutique hotel Kensho on the Greek island, Millie chose to ditch her bikini as she indulged in a spot of R&R.

The starlet took a break from topping up her tan to kick back in one of the spa pools, but couldn't resist ridding herself of her swimwear to do so.

She let her naked frame take centre stage, as she stood side on to protect her modesty and strategically placed her hands over her assets.

Millie threw her head back while baring all and appeared to be sporting dampened tresses that fell down past her shoulders.

She is currently holidaying overseas with boyfriend Hugo Taylor to celebrate her birthday and proved exactly what her former MIC co-star sees in her - with him undoubtedly acting as photographer.

Celebrating something? Millie's overtly revealing display comes while she and her boyfriend Hugo Taylor have found themselves at the centre of engagement speculation

Daring to bare: Millie had previously posed topless on a yacht in Mykonos on Thursday after flaunting a huge diamond ring on her finger

Choosing to playfully ignore her overtly revealing display, Millie simply captioned her photo: 'Spa time.'

It didn't go unnoticed by her legions of fans, however, and the brunette beauty found herself garnering nearly 6000 likes just an hour after uploading her saucy shot.

It's not the first time she has chosen to bare her naked frame on social media, as Millie was seen posing topless on board a plush yacht on Thursday.

She showcased her golden Grecian tan and peachy posterior in red and white star-printed bikini bottom.

What a dazzler! The fashion designer inadvertently offered fans a glimpse at her glittering new band when she was pictured applying sun cream during her yacht day

The couple had been enjoying a lavish day out with L'O Yachting Mykonos and posted snaps of a sumptuous spread on board their private vessel, looking as though they were making the most of their sun-soaked day at sea.

Millie's racy Instagram upload ensured all eyes were on her after finding herself at the centre of rumours she and beau Hugo are now engaged, as she was seen flaunting a huge diamond ring on her wedding finger.

But, continuing to play coy on social media, Millie had hid her ring finger at any given opportunity after being spotted with the dazzling sparkle and teasingly declared she'd had the 'best birthday ever'.

Sealed with a kiss: The couple certainly seemed to be celebrating as they enjoyed a lavish day out with L'O Yachting Mykonos

Tasty treats: Posting snaps of a sumptuous spread on board their private vessel, the pair looked as though they were making the most of their sun-soaked day at sea

Plenty to smile about: Sunglasses entrepreneur Hugo, 31, looked like the cat that got the cream as he enjoyed a Grecian break to celebrate Millie's 28th birthday

However, on board the yacht, Millie appeared to go make-up free and wore her light brunette locks scraped back from her face, ensuring her brand new prize possession was on full display as she applied sun cream.

Millie accessorised her new bling with gold hoop earrings and gold body jewellery with star detail to match her bikini.

Representatives for both Millie and Hugo declined to comment on engagement speculation when approached by MailOnline.

The couple went public with their rekindled romance in May 2016 when they travelled to the Monaco Grand Prix for Hugo's 30th birthday celebrations - the same week that Millie's divorce from rapper ex Professor Green, 33, was finalised.

Sea-ze the day! The former Made In Chelsea star showcased her golden Grecian tan in a red and white star-print bikini as boyfriend Hugo snapped away on his camera phone.

Hiding something? Millie continued to play coy on social media, hiding her ring finger at any given opportunity after being spotted wearing a dazzling sparkler

They previously dated back in 2011 when they met on E4 reality show, Made In Chelsea.

But the union was not to last and ended rather dramatically when Millie discovered Hugo had cheated on her with her friend, Rosie Fortescue.

At the time, Millie claimed she would always love Hugo, saying in an interview: 'I loved him - those feelings dont disappear  but I just always have to remind myself why were not together.'

'I do think that, for the rest of my life, every time I see him, Ill get that feeling in my stomach. I dont think I could ever not get that butterfly feeling

Millie and Professor Green, real name Stephen Manderson, announced their split in February 2016 after just over four years together.

Fun in the sun: The former reality star showcased her gym-honed figure in a barely-there white bikini as she kicked off her birthday week by posted a swimsuit snap

Bikini babe: The brunette looked happy and relaxed as she took some time out from her busy work schedule to enjoy a week of fun in the sun with her man

In a statement released at the time, they said: 'It is a mutual decision, we still care deeply about each other and would like it to be known that it is on amicable terms and we wish each other well.'

Their two-and-a-half-year marriage was dissolved in just 30 seconds in May 2016.

They were granted a decree nisi at Central London Family Court, with Millie citing 'unreasonable behaviour' as the reason for their split.

Millie and Stephen started dating in November 2011 after the rapper saw her on the cover of men's magazine FHM.

The rapper contacted Millie through her agent and they had their first date at the Groucho Club in Soho.

Coy: Millie noticeably disguised her ring finger as she tucked into a delicious dinner on Wednesday night, telling her followers she'd had the 'best birthday ever' on social media

Loved up: The couple went public in May 2016 when they travelled to the Monaco Grand Prix for Hugo's 30th birthday celebrations (pictured) - the same week Millie's divorce was finalised

They went public at the BRIT Awards in February 2012, with Stephen proposing on holiday in Paris just over a year later in 2013.

The couple tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at Babington House in Frome, Somerset, in September 2013.

Earlier this year, Pro Green lashed out at Millie in his new track Eye On The Door, rapping about their lack of sex life, drug use and hinting that cheating was to blame for their split.

But in spite of his very public bashing of his ex-wife, the musician admitted that splitting from Millie felt like experiencing a death.

He told the i newspaper earlier this month: 'Of course whether youre happy somethings finished or not, it doesnt change the fact that it does still feel like theres been a death.

The ex factor: Millie tied the knot with rapper ex-husband Professor Green, 33, in a lavish ceremony at Babington House in Frome, Somerset, in September 2013

'An energy thats always been in your presence is suddenly no longer there and youre an idiot if you think thats not going to affect you.'

The rapper has since moved on with model Fae Williams.

Millie discussed her divorce with Pro Green in the August issue of Red magazine, insisting it was completely amicable, despite the fact she ripped up her wedding dress and wore it as a blood-stained Halloween outfit last year.

She said: 'We just agreed to separate with kindness and as friends. You see so many people tear each other apart and if you support each other through it, remain dignified, that's really the way to do it.

'I'm a positive person and if it's not working then you move on. Everyone deserves to be happy.'

Red hot: Millie showcased her toned and tanned abs in a frilly scarlet two-piece as she sipped a green juice poolside at Kensho Boutique Hotel & Suites on Friday

The socialite also admitted her relationship with Hugo is completely different to when they dated during their Made In Chelsea years.

She told Red : 'I'm really happy and we have fun. Our relationship is a totally different thing now.

'We've known each other for ten years and dated when we were much younger [but] it was a different thing, a whirlwind.

'It was definitely weird dating someone when there was a camera there, but only there for half of what was going on.'

And Millie even hinted that she is eyeing a family with Hugo in the future, adding: 'I'd definitely like two kids, but I'm happy to be the baby-sitter for now.

'I'm a godmother and have three pregnant friends. I'm enjoying seeing them go through it.'
He cancelled 14 dates of his Purpose World Tour amid reports he was 'over it' and 'dedicating his life to Christ.'

The news caused many to believe that Justin Bieber was done with music for good after a series of unenthusiastic performances prior to the announcement.

But now, TMZ reports that Justin has had several conversations this week about how he will return to the recording studio at some point, but has not since cancelling the tour last week.

First love: Justin Bieber is not quitting music despite cancelling his Purpose tour, TMZ reports (pictured June 2017)

Sources told the website that Justin's 'faith won't stop him from being an artist.'

The 23-year-old superstar has a constant companion in his pastor Carl Lentz of the Hillsong Church, who many fans pointed the finger at over the cancellation and subsequent reports that Justin is seeking to open his own church.

The Hillsong Church has denied the claims he cancelled the remainder of his world tour so that he could forge a deeper connection with the Christian denomination.

Tough week: The singer is pictured here on Wednesday before hitting a photographer with his car

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia this Friday, a spokesperson for the Hillsong Church confirmed that that they had no involvement with Justin's decision to cancel the remaining 14 dates.

'The recent announcement by Justin Bieber about his tour does not involve Hillsong Church,' the spokesperson said.

Bieber had been on the worldwide trek since March of 2016 in support of his 2015 album Purpose.

Cancellation: Bieber had been on the worldwide trek since March of 2016 in support of his 2015 album Purpose (pictured June 2017)

In addition to his own music and tour, Justin also featured on tracks by DJ Snake, DJ Khalid, Post Malone and Luis Fonsi.

A source previously told TMZ that Justin was 'just over' the grind of the tour.

In an official statement Justin's representatives said: 'Justin loves his fans and hates to disappoint them. He thanks his fans for the incredible experience of the Purpose World Tour over last 18 months'
She recently had her breast implants removed, after deciding that it was 'time to grow up'.

And Lauren Pope, 34, flaunted the incredible results of her surgery - and natural bust - while on holiday in Ibiza on Saturday.

Wearing a tiny pink bikini, the TOWIE star looked incredible as she displayed her killer abs and tiny waist.

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Sizzling: Lauren Pope, 34, flaunted the incredible results of her surgery - and natural bust - while on holiday in Ibiza on Saturday

Lauren slipped a pair of sheer pink trousers over the top of her bikini bottoms, but still ensured that she gave a generous glimpse of her long, lean pins through the see-through material.

She paired her trousers with some comfortable gold flip flops, and shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of large cat eye shades.

She added a final flourish with a black leather handbag and a silver coin necklace.

Leggy lady: Lauren slipped a pair of sheer pink trousers over the top of her bikini bottoms, but still ensured that she gave a generous glimpse of her long, lean pins through the see-through material

Insta-glam: The beauty posted a shot to her Instagram account showing off her sensational figure

Keeping it casual: She paired her trousers with some comfortable gold flip flops, and shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of large cat eye shades

In a shot posted to her Instagram account on Saturday, Lauren wore her bikini bottoms pulled high on her hips, and emphasised the curve of her hip and her slim legs.

Wearing her dark blonde tresses in loose waves, she stared wistfully into the distance while bending one leg at the knee.

In another shot, the beauty donned a stylish yellow bikini top trimmed with multi coloured thread, and paired it with patterned leopard print trousers.

Ab-tastic: Lauren is famed for her toned stomach, which is clearly defined as a result of hours spent at the gym

Girls' day: The starlet appeared to embark on a fun girls' day out in the hedonistic hot spot

Looking ahead: The star recently enjoyed a return to TOWIE, appearing in the explosive last episode of the latest season as Dan Edgar's love interest

Stylish: In another shot, the beauty donned a stylish yellow bikini top trimmed with multi coloured thread, and paired it with patterned leopard print trousers

Lauren first went under the knife at 23 years old, boosting her bust from its initial A Cup before finding fame as a glamour model.

But she has revealed she's now removed her breast implants as she was sick of looking 'trashy' and is ready to begin the next phase of her life.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, the businesswoman explained that she had her E Cup implants - the result of a second boob job - removed last week and has been recovering in secret.

'It's time to grow up': Lauren revealed she's now removed her breast implants as she was sick of looking 'trashy' and is ready to begin the next phase of her life

'I'm back to small boobies!' she admitted. 'I've thought about it for a long time. It's really hard to explain but it's not a big dramatic decision. It's just I feel like I am taken seriously now in the world of business.'

Lauren - who is the founder of hair extension company Hair Rehab London - has enjoyed several career ventures in her time.

The blonde bombshell first burst onto the scene as a glamour model, before starring in TOWIE - which she left in 2015. She has since been working on her DJ career and continuing to grow her beauty business into an empire.

Chest a glimpse: first went under the knife at 23 years old, boosting her bust from it's initial A Cup before finding fame as a glamour model (pictured left in 2006 and right in 2003)

And it's this transition that inspired Lauren to go back under the knife. She revealed: 'It's taken a long time but I feel like my old big boobs are my old life.

'It's time to grow up. This is like a new realm and it's a nod to that. It's not like I'm anti-surgery at all, I was quite happy with them but i just decided to do it.

'The clothes I like will look chicer with smaller boobs. The past few years I'd go for outfits that made them look smaller and there were certain clothes I couldn't wear because it would look trashy.'

Talented: The blonde bombshell first burst onto the scene as a glamour model, before starring in TOWIE - which she left in 2015. She has since been working on her DJ career and continuing to grow her beauty business into an empire

Moving on: 'It's this transition that inspired Lauren to go back under the knife. She revealed: 'It's taken a long time but I feel like my old big boobs are my old life'

Whilst she explained she wasn't sure of the exact cup size she'll be now, she revealed: 'I'm excited to see how they look. I'm still sore and I'm still swollen but I think it'll probably be a big B or small C [cup].'

Lauren - who recently announced her plans to return to TOWIE- documented her second boob job in an episode of the ITVBe series in 2012.

She was one of 40,000 women affected by the faulty French Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) when she initially had her breast size boosted, and during the process of removing the implants, she replaced the items with larger ones.

Under the knife: Lauren - who recently announced her plans to return to TOWIE- documented her second boob job in an episode of the ITVBe series in 2012 after receiving PIP implants

Throwback: Lauren - founder of extension company Hair Rehab London - has enjoyed several career ventures in her time after beginning her career as a glamour model (pictured in 2005)

Lauren has always spoken candidly about her plastic surgery and explained to MailOnline that she didn't want her fans to have unrealistic expectations when it came to body image.

Explaining that she didn't agree with photoshopping her figure in selfies, she revealed: 'Instagram is a bit like your creative space - just know your angles.

'To get one decent selfie I've probably taken about 50 - I know I need to pop one hip out, pull my belly in! And I spend about 10 minutes putting filters on myself - I enjoy doing it! It's just a but of fun.'

Adding that she still gets trolled for some of her posts, the beauty guru added: 'If I do bikini stuff I'll do videos as well just to shut people up as you can't edit a video - it's just angles.'

Honest: Lauren also explained that she didn't agree with photoshopping her figure in selfies, she revealed: 'Instagram is a bit like your creative space - just know your angles'

The entrepreneur is no stranger to being slated online, explaining: 'I've heard everything about my looks - I look like a horse, like an alien.

'I've heard it all I don't give a s**t anymore but when someone annihilates you as a person I'm like hold on a minute... Especially if you've been edited in a way that wasn't how you were trying to be.

'The editing on TOWIE can sometimes show you in a great light or a terrible light so I find this really frustrating.'

Hurtful: The beauty guru is no stranger to being slated online, explaining: 'I've heard everything about my looks - I look like a horse, like an alien'

Whilst Lauren revealed she never responds to trolls, she admitted she had one truly harrowing experience.

'One troll was relentless for over a year', she revealed. 'I had to go to the police because they were posting pictures from outside my parents house, posting my parents address, putting all the name of my family. Just really weird creepy stuff.

'Maria Fowler and me thought we had the same troll because the grammar was the same, the wording, and she told me who she thought it was. So the only time I've ever replied was to say this guy's name... and I never heard from him again!'

Business savvy: Lauren is currently being kept busy with Hair Rehab London - and the launch of their new weft hair extensions to celebrate their 10th anniversary

Kept working at it: Now a recognised businesswoman, Lauren admitted that making the transition from a glamour model wasn't a simple one but she refused to give up

Lauren is currently being kept busy with her hair extension company Hair Rehab London - and the launch of their new weft hair extensions to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

Now a recognised businesswoman, Lauren admitted that making the transition from a glamour model wasn't a simple one.

'I think as long as you just keep doing what you're doing and making sure it's of the best quality, eventually people will take you seriously,' she reasoned. 'It's only the past couple of years things have clicked into place. Now amazingly people invite me to give business talks. It's taken a long time but I feel like finally it's happened.'
She and the Duke of York are frequently seen together despite their divorce over two decades ago.

And enjoying another amicable outing, Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew had attended the King George VI meeting at Ascot on Saturday.

The duo were forced to battle with the wet weather as they enjoyed the day's festivities, but Fergie didn't appear to let the rain dampen her spirits as she put on a highly animated display while spectating the races that took place.

It won't dampen her spirits! Despite the rain, the Duchess of York, 57, appeared animated as she spectated while attending Ascot's King George VI meeting on Saturday

The Duchess, 57, was clad in a sophisticated blue dress that nipped in at the waist and featured a dipped hemline, as well as navy coloured panels around its capped sleeves and middle.

Adhering to Ascot's strict dress code, Fergie teamed her frock, that had been unfortunately splattered by the rain, with an elegant black fascinator that sat atop of her fiery red locks and featured netting that hung across her face.

She was clutching onto a huge umbrella to ensure she stayed relatively dry while taking on the grey skies as she stepped out into the grounds as the horse racing got underway.

And seeming to be engrossed in the spectacle in front of her, Fergie was seen willing on the horses, before taking a seat in the Royal box alongside her ex-husband Prince Andrew.

Staying dry: She was clutching onto a large umbrella to keep the wet weather at bay, as she stepped out sporting a sophisticated blue frock and elegant fascinator

He had later presented Italian jockey Frankie Dettori with his trophy, after his victory during the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

The meet takes place annually every July and is considered Britain's most prestigious open-age (horses that are three years or older) flat race that often draws in the most highly acclaimed horses.

Dettori had won the meet with his horse Enable, with the Duke and Duchess of York witnessing his triumph.

They are known to share a less than traditional relationship for a divorced couple, as they have maintained a cordial relationship despite announcing their separation back in 1992 - finalising their divorce four years later.

Best seat! Fergie joined her ex-husband Prince Andrew, Duke of York, 57, in the Royal Box - who she has maintained a cordial relationship with following their divorce over two decades ago

Success: The Duke was seen congratulating Italian jockey Frankie Dettori following his victory with horse Enable at the annual King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes

The pair share two daughters; Princess Beatrice, 28, and Princess Eugenie, 27, and still share Andrew's home at Royal Lodge in Windsor, along with a 13million ski chalet in Verbier, Switzerland.

In June, Fergie had represented her former spouse, and the Royal Family, at the memorial service for Ronnie Corbett at Westminster Abbey.

She had spoken publicly about her relationship with the Duke in October last year, during an appearance on Australian radio show The Kyle and Jackie O Show, and insisted that the duo were 'still together' despite their split.

The couple have previously described themselves as 'best friends' and Sarah explained: 'We're divorced to each other right now... we've never really left each other.'

Asked if that meant she and Prince Andrew were 'still together', she responded: 'Yes.'
He plays a professor in his latest film Richard Says Goodbye, which recently began shooting in Vancouver.

And on Friday night, he was joined by Zoey Deutch, 22, who likely plays one of his students in the upcoming flick.

The two were seen shooting an outdoor scene for the project, likely due out in 2018.

Hello, Goodbye: Johnny Depp and Zoey Deutch filmed scenes for Richard Says Goodbye in Vancouver on Friday night

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Depp will play 'a world-weary college professor who is given a life-changing diagnosis.'

The diagnosis causes his character to live a life without limits which encourages a wild streak within him.

He was seen shooting a scene last week that involved him getting into a lake with a white swan.

Chatty: Deutch likely plays one of Depp's students in the film, where he stars as a college professor who is given a life-changing diagnosis

THR adds that Danny Huston, Rosemarie DeWitt, Devon Terrell and Odessa Young are also part of the cast.

Richard Says Goodbye is written and directed by Wayne Roberts, who directed 2016's similarly titled Katie Says Goodbye.

The movie is described as a period piece but it has yet to be revealed in what era it will take place.

Staying dry: The latest scene comes after Depp was spotted climbing into a lake with a white swan for another part of the same film

Deutch is the daughter of actress Lea Thompson and director Howard Deutch.

She has starred in movies such as 2016's Why Him? and 2013's Beautiful Creatures.

Johnny is back on the big screen after a turbulent year including his divorce from Amber Heard and money woes.
Tragic: Eva Rausing who died in Belgravia

A searingly powerful account of the tragedy of Eva Rausing, the American wife of Tetra Pak heir Hans, who died from cocaine abuse before being left to decompose for four months in her Belgravia mansion, is about to be published by his sister.

Five years after the death, philanthropist Sigrid Rausing, publisher of Granta magazine, has written the shocking memoir revealing the ripple effects of Hans and Evas addiction on all of their family.

The book is being claimed as a literary masterpiece in its candid but restrained account of the most infamous society drugs overdose.

The couple had struggled with drug addiction for years Sigrid tries to make sense of what happened to her brother and his wife, says the publishers blurb about the book, titled Mayhem: A Memoir, that will be published in September.

It is the first time a member of the Rausing family has given a full account of the downfall of one of Britains richest couples, which shocked the nation. The story of how Hans failed to alert the authorities, allowing Evas body to decompose for weeks at their 70 million house made headlines for weeks.

Professor Andrew Solomon has praised Mayhem as mesmerising. Rausing explores questions about what it is like to choose or refuse a moral life, what tragedy looks like when it is woven into privilege and how we control or surrender to our perceived destinies. According to Solomon, the book attempts to find a redeeming vitality from an agonising chaos.

After Evas death Hans sought help for his addiction and, happily, I can reveal he is now completely drug-free.

He has also found love again, with Christies art expert Julia Delves Broughton.

Hans Rausing and Eva Rausing in 2006 (left) and Julia Delves-Broughton and Hans Rausing in 2016 (right)

They married in 2014, have new homes in London and the country and give tens of millions of pounds to charity, including organisations for drug rehabilitation.

Last month Prince Charles singled them out in a speech for their generosity to his causes.

Sigrid Rausing is founder of one of the UKs largest philanthropic foundations and her trust has given away around 230 million to human rights causes.

She was brought up in Sweden and is the granddaughter of Ruben Rausing, who founded the food packaging company Tetra Pak.

Her interest in human rights was sparked as a child by a love of animals and hearing her parents talk about the Holocaust.

The terraced street containing the London home (center) of Hans Rausing and his wife Eva
They went through thick and thin for seven weeks on the Love Island villa.

And things seem to keep getting better and better for Kem Cetinay, 21, and Amber Davies, 20, as the pair have reportedly landed presenting roles on Good Morning Britain.

In fact things are going so well for the loved up pair that Amber took to Instagram to declare her love for Kem's mother Figen on Saturday, despite having only met her for the first time last week in the villa.

Scroll down for video

'Second momma': Things are going so well for loved up pair Amber Davies and Kem Cetinay that Amber took to Instagram to declare her love for Kem's mother Figen on Saturday

Taking to social media to share her joy, Amber posted: 'Couldn't ask for a better second momma,' as the pair posed for a sweet selfie.

The snap came as doting couple, who scooped the 50,000 prize money together, are set to have presenting gigs on Good Morning Britain together later this summer.

A source told The Sun: 'Since Amber and Kem won, they've been inundated with offers.

'They're both very keen to go down that route, and ITV and Channel 4 have shown interest. But they couldn't pass up the chance to host Good Morning Britain.'

MailOnline have contacted representatives for Kem and Amber and ITV for comment.

Moving onwards and upwards: The sweet snap was posted amid claims the pair have landed presenting roles on ITV's morning news show, Good Morning Britain

New co-hosts: Kem and Amber could be sitting alongside Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on the breakfast news show - Susanna has admitted to being a fan of the show

A GMB spokesperson confirmed: 'Kem and Amber will cover for Richard Arnold on showbiz for a week in August while he is on leave.'

Kem and Amber certainly seem to be going from strength to strength by the ease Amber displayed around her beau's mother.

Dropping subtle hints that the pair could soon hear the sound of wedding bells, by referring to Figen as her 'second momma', Amber looked overjoyed to be with Kem's doting Turkish family.

The two first met when Figen arrived in the sun-soaked villa during an episode which saw contestants reunited with their family and friends.

Love Island: The doting couple, who scooped the 50,000 prize money together, are reportedly set to present the show together later this summer

Whilst the couple are going strong, Kem revealed that he won't be able to forgive himself for betraying Amber during the Casa Amor twist on the show - which saw him share a smooch then choose to recouple with Chyna Ellis.

The Love Island winner admitted that thinking about the moment made him 'feel sick', but he refuses to let it ruin his relationship with his girlfriend.

And despite previously referring to Amber as his 'future wife' and insisting he was in it for the long haul, Kem revealed there's no rush to get married just yet.

Taking to Snapchat, the star posted a claim that the couple wanted to get married, which he quickly captioned 'not before 30'.
This photo taken on July 9, 2017 shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City

An Iraqi army division trained by American forces summarily executed prisoners in west Mosul, Human Rights Watch charged Thursday, calling for US assistance to the unit to be suspended.

The latest report of executions comes after the release of videos allegedly filmed in the Mosul area that appeared to show Iraqi forces executing one detainee and brutally beating others.

Iraq declared victory in Mosul on July 11, but abuses by security forces and the anger they stoke could pose a potentially major threat to long-term stability in an area that was only just recaptured from the Islamic State group of Sunni extremists.

"An Iraqi army division trained by the United States government allegedly executed several dozen prisoners in Mosul's Old City," HRW said in a statement, referring to an area on its western side.

"Two international observers detailed the summary killings of four people by the Iraqi army's 16th Division in mid-July 2017, and saw evidence that the unit had executed many more people, including a boy," the watchdog said.

The international US-led coalition against IS has provided training, advice and other assistance to various Iraqi units.

"The US government should make sure it is no longer providing assistance to the Iraqi unit responsible for this spate of executions," Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director, said in the statement.

The coalition said it could not confirm the allegations, but that they should be investigated.

"While we cannot verify the authenticity of reports, any violation of the law of armed conflict would be unacceptable and should be investigated in a transparent manner and those deemed responsible held accountable in accordance with due process and Iraqi law," it said in an emailed response to questions from AFP.

The coalition confirmed that it had trained, advised and equipped the 16th Division, and said: "In certain circumstances, if a supported units fails to remain compliant with vetting guidelines, support may be withdrawn."

Earlier in July, HRW found a series of videos posted online that appeared to show other abuses by Iraqi forces in the Mosul area.

In one clip, men in Iraqi army uniforms beat a bearded detainee, dragged him to the edge of a cliff, threw him off and shot him and another body at the bottom.

Three other videos show men in army and police uniforms beating detainees.

Earlier in the Mosul operation, an Iraqi journalist embedded with the Rapid Response Division reported that members of the special forces unit carried out torture, rapes and killings.

The journalist, who has since left Iraq, documented some of the abuses on film.

IS overran Mosul and swathes of other territory in the summer of 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since regained much of the territory they lost.

Widespread anger among Iraqi Sunni Arabs -- over issues including abuses by security forces of the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad -- helped aid the jihadist resurgence which culminated in the 2014 offensive.

Abuses by security forces now are likewise a boon to IS, which is thought likely to increasingly revert to bombings and hit-and-run attacks as its statehood project straddling Iraq and Syria continues to fall apart.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Abul-Gheit (L) said of Israel "Handling holy sites lightly and with this level of arrogance seriously threatens to ignite a religious war" around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound issue

The head of the Arab League warned Thursday that Israeli attempts to control highly sensitive religious sites in Jerusalem by force risk igniting a "religious war".

Israel's actions are "playing with fire, and will only ignite a religious war and shift the core of the conflict from politics to religion", Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit said.

He was speaking at an urgent meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on the latest violence in Jerusalem.

"I invite the occupying state (Israel) to carefully learn the lessons from this crisis and the message it holds," Abul Gheit said in a televised speech.

"Handling holy sites lightly and with this level of arrogance seriously threatens to ignite a religious war, since not one single Muslim in the world would accept the desecration of (Jerusalem's) Al-Aqsa mosque," he said.

Protests and deadly unrest have erupted in the days since Israel installed new metal detectors on July 16 outside the entrance to the Haram al-Sharif compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

The Arab League "condemns in the strongest terms Israel's plans and policies that aim to Judaise the occupied city of Jerusalem and distort its Arab and Muslim character," the foreign ministers said in their closing statement.

"East Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state," the organisation said, "expressing its rejection and condemnation of all measures by the occupying force to diminish Palestinian rights of sovereignty over it."

Palestinians view the move as an attempt by Israel to assert further control over the site, which houses the revered Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Israeli police and Palestinians clashed Thursday as thousands of Muslim worshippers entered the compound, ending a boycott after Israel removed the new security measures installed after a July 14 attack killed two policemen.
Sharif has already made two seemingly unthinkable political comebacks

Pakistan's three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, whose power base earned him the moniker "Lion of Punjab", is a political survivor who has repeatedly roared back to the country's top office.

Sharif scored a hat trick Friday after being ousted from office yet again -- this time after being disqualified by the Supreme Court.

But the 67-year-old -- who hails from Pakistan's richest and most populous province Punjab -- has already made two seemingly unthinkable comebacks, underscoring the unpredictable nature of Pakistani politics.

A hugely wealthy steel tycoon considered strong on the economy and infrastructure, he inherited enormous problems of sagging finances and a stifling energy crisis.

He comes across as soft-spoken and shy with international media but earned a reputation for combativeness during his two previous terms as prime minister, from 1990 to 1993, and from 1997 to 1999.

He has been seen as a pragmatist in the West but raised eyebrows by calling for peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban, blamed for killing thousands of Pakistanis since 2002.

Born on December 25, 1949 into a wealthy family of industrialists in Lahore, the capital of Punjab and the political nerve centre of Pakistan, Sharif earned a law degree before joining his father's steel company.

He entered politics and under the patronage of military dictator Zia-ul Haq became first finance minister and then chief minister of Punjab -- a post he held for five years from 1985 until he was elected prime minister in 1990.

He beat arch-rival Benazir Bhutto in the polls and served a three-year term until he was sacked on corruption charges and replaced by Bhutto, before returning to power in a landslide in 1997.

With a huge majority behind him, he set about cementing his liberal economic policies and in 1998 won huge popularity when he made Pakistan a nuclear power.

But his government buckled under tensions with the army, which seized power in 1999.

Sharif was sentenced in a military court to life imprisonment for hijacking and terrorism, but was allowed to go into exile in Saudi Arabia in 2000. He returned in 2007.

"The Tiger Roars Again" screamed headlines when he won the 2013 election and became prime minister for a third time, his most remarkable comeback yet.

- Clashes with military -

Sharif faced a host of challenges from rolling power blackouts to the crumbling economy, a bloody homegrown insurgency and perennially fractious relations with Afghanistan and fellow nuclear power India.

His government launched a massive operation in the northwestern tribal badlands bordering Afghanistan and a crackdown against targeted killings in the southern port city of Karachi, presiding over a dramatic improvement in security.

Sharif inaugurated motorways and metro buses, and signed an historic $50 billion deal with China known as China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), touted as a "gamechanger" for the economy.

After four years some areas of the country are starting to see relief from power cuts, with electricity generation increased through a series of coal, gas-fired and solar power plants.

But Sharif has also clashed with the powerful military once more, this time over relations with arch-rival India.

He and Indian counterpart Narendra Modi raised hopes of a new era when Sharif hosted Modi for a surprise Christmas Day visit in 2015.

But the visit was swiftly followed up by an attack on an Indian airbase by Pakistani militants, and the civilian government's overtures unravelled as relations plunged once more.

The corruption controversy erupted with the publication last year of 11.5 million secret documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca documenting the offshore dealings of many of the world's rich and powerful.

Three of Sharif's four children -- Maryam, his presumptive political heir, and his sons Hasan and Hussein -- were implicated in the papers.

The Sharif family has consistently denied the allegations against them.

Pakistan is due to hold a general election next year. But with no clear succession in place, Sharif and the party which bears his name, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), faces an uncertain future for now.
British telecoms and television broadcasting firm BT Group's pre-tax profits tumbled to 418 million ($550 million, 470 million euros) in the three months to the end of June

British telecoms and television broadcasting firm BT Group on Friday posted a 42-percent slump in profits during its first quarter, rocked by fresh fallout from an Italian accounting scandal.

The news sent BT shares sliding four percent, with the company heading the fallers' board in morning deals on London's FTSE 100 index.

Pre-tax profits tumbled to 418 million ($550 million, 470 million euros) in the three months to the end of June, BT said in a results statement.

Revenues rose one percent from the same period last year to 5.84 billion.

BT took a new 225-million charge to settle a warranty claim with two key investors -- Germany's Deutsche Telekom and France's Orange -- arising from the Italy scandal.

The British company purchased mobile operator EE from Deutsche Telekom and Orange last year, in a 12.5-billion deal under which the pair also became BT shareholders.

BT had first revealed in October that an independent review had uncovered improper accounting practices and transactions at its troubled Italian division.

In January, the group warned that the scandal -- which lead to an overstatement of profits over a number of years -- would cost it 530 million.

In a fresh blow in March, BT was slapped with a bill of around 340 million in fines and compensation following delays to high-speed cable installations by its broadband unit Openreach.

In Friday morning deals, BT shares sank 4.4 percent to 302.25 pence on the FTSE 100 index, which stood 0.54-percent lower at 7,402.98 points.

"BT Group is... lower as the company looks to get to grips with the problems in its Italian business," noted CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

"The underlying business saw revenues in line with forecasts, but due to a 225-million charge in respect of the problems relating to its Italian business, profits in the first quarter fell."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticised what he called "anti-Russian hysteria" in Washington

Russia's foreign ministry on Friday announced counter measures in response to tough new sanctions proposed by the United States, ordering Washington to reduce its diplomatic staff.

Moscow ordered the US to reduce its diplomatic presence in Russia to 455 diplomats and staff and also barred it from using a Moscow summer house and storage facility.

The ministry said that this was in response to the passing of a new bill on sanctions by the Senate late Thursday. US President Donald Trump will now have to decide whether to accept or veto the measures.

US Ambassador John Tefft "expressed his strong disappointment and protest" at the development, the US embassy spokesperson told AFP, adding that "we have passed the notification back to Washington for review."

The embassy spokesperson declined to comment on the current number of US diplomats and staff in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday slammed what he called "anti-Russian hysteria" in Washington and said that Russia could not "endlessly tolerate this kind of insolence."

Moscow complained that the "new sanctions bill showed with all clarity that relations with Russia have fallen hostage to the domestic political struggle in the US."

It warned that it "reserves the right to carry out other measures that could affect the interests of the US" while acting in a reciprocal fashion.

The move comes after Russia has repeatedly expressed anger at Washington barring its diplomats access to two compounds in the US in December last year, under Barack Obama, in response to suspected Russian meddling in the US election.

Obama at the same time expelled 35 Russian diplomats for spying.

President Vladimir Putin initially held off from retaliating, saying he would wait to see how Trump reacted after he came into the White House.

Trump and Putin discussed this diplomatic spat at their first meeting at the G20 in Hamburg this month.

Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov had said after subsequent talks in Washington that the matter was "almost" resolved.

The Russian foreign ministry on Friday slammed what it called "extreme aggressiveness of the US in international affairs" and said Washington was using the "absolutely far-fetched pretext of Russia's interference in its internal affairs" to carry out "flagrantly anti-Russian actions."

The ministry said "We propose to the US side to bring the number of diplomatic and technical staff" working in Russia "in exact accordance" with the number of Russian diplomats and support staff in the United States by September 1.

It said that this would reduce the number of US diplomats and staff to 455.

The ministry also said it would bar access to a summer house and storage facilities in Moscow used by the US embassy from August 1.
Islamist militants holed up in Marawi have surprised the military with their resilience and their continued supply of manpower, weapons and ammunition despite supposedly being surrounded

Philippine troops have seized 59 suspected militants trying to reinforce Islamist gunmen holed up in the southern city of Marawai who have been battling government forces for more than two months, military officials said Friday.

The capture of the "suspicious persons" in the troubled Mindanao region has raised questions about how the Islamic State-inspired fighters have been able to hold out in Marawi for almost 70 days.

Thirty-two suspected militants were arrested at a military checkpoint in Ipil town while 27 others were taken at a house in Zamboanga City on Tuesday, regional military spokeswoman Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay said.

A total 59 police and military uniforms were also seized from the suspects, a military statement added.

The group is suspected of planning to sneak into Marawi to help militants who have been on a rampage since May 23, battling government troops, holding numerous hostages and burning buildings while flying the black IS flag.

"They (the troops) have just prevented these individuals from potentially compounding the operational challenges in Marawi should they (have) succeeded in sneaking into the city," a military statement quoted Lieutenant General Carlito Galvez, commander of the troops in Marawi, as saying.

He credited local governments and residents for reporting the suspects.

Although the government initially said there were only a few hundred militants in Marawi, the gunmen have held off the armed forces for weeks, resisting air strikes and artillery barrages.

The militants have surprised the military with their resilience and their continued supply of manpower, weapons and ammunition despite supposedly being surrounded.

Petinglay said those arrested were all Filipinos but their backgrounds were still being checked.

The fighting has so far claimed 630 lives, including 471 militants, 45 civilians and 114 government troops, military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said in Manila on Friday.

He told reporters that there were only about 60 militants left, confined to less than one square kilometre (0.4 square miles) of the city.

However Padilla did not say how much longer the fighting would last.

Galvez said efforts to secure the warzone were boosted by President Rodrigo Duterte's controversial declaration of martial law over the entire southern third of the country when the fighting broke out.

By law, martial law should have lasted only 60 days but last week Congress extended it till the end of the year.

"With martial law in force in entire Mindanao, we can validly restrict and effect arrests of suspicious persons and unscrupulous groups whose actions bear with the rebellion," Galvez was quoted as saying.
India has a grim record of sexual assaults on minors with 20,000 cases of rape or sexual assaults reported in 2015, according to government data

India's Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea by a 10-year-old rape victim to have an abortion because doctors said it was a threat to her life.

The girl is eight months pregnant and her lawyers said her family had accepted the verdict.

"The court ruling is based on the opinion received from the qualified medical panel and we are content with the ruling," Alakh Alok Srivatav, a lawyer for the victim's family, told AFP.

The Supreme Court judges said they cannot allow a termination because the medical report suggested it was "neither good for the mother nor the foetus".

The girl, who has not been named, was allegedly raped several times by an uncle. He has been arrested for multiple rape.

The pregnancy was only discovered recently after her parents took her to hospital complaining of stomach pain. The parents then approached the courts to allow an abortion.

Their initial plea at a local court was declined over similar safety fears. The family challenged the ruling at the Supreme Court.

Indian law does not allow medical terminations after 20 weeks unless there is a threat to the mother's life.

Indian courts have considered many pleas from rape victims seeking permission to terminate pregnancies following abuse.

In May the top court allowed a 10-year-old rape victim from the northern state of Haryana to abort her nearly 21-week foetus.

India has a grim record of sexual assaults on minors with 20,000 cases of rape or sexual assaults reported in 2015, according to government data. A UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2014 said one in three rape victims was a minor.
US President Donald Trump is flanked by US Senators Susan Collins (left) of Maine, Lisa Murkowski (second right) of Alaska and Orrin Hatch (right) of Utah

The stunning collapse of President Donald Trump's health reforms was due in large part to the defiance of two Republican women who resisted relentless White House pressure to toe the party line.

While Senator John McCain's revolt grabbed the headlines, the votes of the lesser-known Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski proved decisive in sinking Trump's goal of repealing Obamacare.

During his presidential run against Hillary Clinton, Trump faced flak over his behavior and comments towards women.

And after Friday's health debacle, critics again questioned Trump's attempts to intimidate Collins and Murkowski, either via his top lieutenants or the bully pulpit of Twitter.

While several male Republican colleagues who voiced concerns about the direction of the repeal effort ultimately caved to Trump's demands, it was Collins and Murkowski who stood firm.

A wavering McCain's dramatic last-minute kibosh of the latest effort to repeal Obamacare would not have been possible without the persistence of the female senators from Maine and Alaska.

Each has faced aggressive arm-twisting and callouts by Trump, scare tactics from his cabinet, even threats of violence from a Republican congressman, Blake Farenthold, who said he would challenge "some female senators" to a duel if they were men rather than women, because they were blocking health care reform.

The mounting pressure against Collins and Murkowski served as a reminder of some of Trump's controversies from his presidential campaign.

He smeared a female reporter who moderated his first debate, attacked Clinton as an "enabler" for her husband's marital infidelities, used crude banter at campaign events, and of course there was the "Access Hollywood" tape, where he was heard using graphic language to boast of assaulting women.

Now in power, he can't shake the fact that women have blocked his singular legislative initiative.

Among the Senate's 52 Republicans, five are women. Collins and Murkowski have been the most consistent opponents to the Obamacare repeal plans.

They both also voted against his nominee for education secretary, arguing she was not qualified for the post.

When Trump made nasty and denigrating remarks about a female MSNBC news host in June, Murkowski, age 60, and Collins, 64, led the condemnation.

"Stop it!" Murkowski blasted to him on Twitter. Collins's reprimand was similar.

On health care, the pair argued that the various plans offered threatened to adversely impact millions of American families on Medicaid.

They also cast votes against earlier Senate plans that would have left tens of millions more Americans uninsured.

- 'Standing strong' -

Collins's opposition goes back to 2015, when she was the only current Republican senator who voted against a similar partial repeal bill.

She and Murkowski were the only Republicans to oppose a motion to proceed to the health care bill debate that collapsed this week, prompting an angry tweet from Trump.

Murkowski "really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!" he said in an ominous tweet.

The intimidation ratcheted up dramatically when Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called Murkowski, reportedly to warn her that the administration was prepared to withdraw its support for expanded oil drilling in Alaska and some of her other priorities.

He threatened the wrong lawmaker.

Murkowski chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and she immediately delayed several administration nominations up for the panel's consideration.

She is no political pushover either. During Murkowski's 2010 re-election bid, she lost her Republican primary to a Tea Party-backed challenger. Undeterred, she mounted a write-in campaign and retained her seat.

Murkowski's and Collins's passionate positions against their own party earned respect from across the aisle.

"Thanks for standing strong throughout," tweeted Democratic Senator Michael Bennet.

Another Senate Democrat, Mazie Hirono, told CNN that she recently spoke with Murkowski, who offered advice about dealing with bullies: "fight back."
An Iran Defence Ministry image of a Simorgh (Phoenix) satellite rocket launch at an undisclosed location on July 27, 2017

The United States and European allies sharpened their tone Friday on Iran, demanding Tehran immediately cease its ballistic missile tests, a day after it tested a rocket carrying a satellite.

Amid already tense US-Iran relations, the US Treasury imposed fresh sanctions, singling out six companies owned or controlled by Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), which it said was central to the Islamic republic's missile program, freezing their US assets and barring US citizens from dealing with them.

Foreign financial institutions could face punitive measures if they deal with the sanctioned entities, it added.

SHIG was already under UN, US and European Union sanctions.

In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany and the US condemned Tehran's "provocative" and "destabilizing" action, saying the test was in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231.

"We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities," they added.

Resolution 2231 was voted at the UN two years ago to endorse the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

It lifted economic sanctions in exchange for curbs to Tehran's nuclear program.

The resolution called on Iran not to test ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and an arms embargo remained in place.

Map and factfile on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal

All four Western countries have written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres about their "concerns," according to the joint statement.

It said the British, French and German governments are discussing the issues in bilateral talks with Iran.

The United States has had no diplomatic ties with the Islamic republic since 1980, and President Donald Trump has halted the direct contacts with Tehran initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.

- 'Widespread support for terrorists' -

At UN headquarters in New York, US envoy Nikki Haley spoke of deep "mistrust" with Iran.

"Iran's widespread support for terrorists tells us we can't trust them. Iran's breaking its obligation on missile testing tells us we can't trust them. Yesterday's launch proves that yet again," she said in a statement.

Despite his electoral promise to tear apart what he once called "the worst deal ever," Trump has so far respected the tenets of the accord, a diplomatic success of his Democratic predecessor that advanced multilateralism and non-proliferation.

It is, however, unclear that the US administration will continue to certify every three months that Iran is respecting the deal, or keep off economic sanctions linked to the Islamic republic's nuclear program.

European countries, however, say the nuclear and ballistic issues should be treated separately.

Yet the joint statement noted that Iran's latest test features technology related to "ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons."

- Fresh US sanctions -

In unveiling the new US sanctions, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said they "underscore the United States' deep concerns with Iran's continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behavior."

He warned that Washington would "continue to aggressively counter Iran's ballistic missile-related activity, whether it be a provocative space launch, its development of threatening ballistic missile systems, or likely support to Yemeni Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia such as occurred this past weekend."

According to the Treasury, "space launch vehicles use technologies that are closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile and this launch represents a threatening step by Iran."

Iranian state television broadcast footage of the takeoff from the Imam Khomeini space center, named after the late founder of the Islamic republic, in Semnan province in the east of the country.

The report said the launch vehicle, named Simorgh after a bird in Iranian mythology, was capable of propelling a satellite weighing 550 pounds (250 kilograms) to an altitude of 300 miles (500 kilometers) above earth.

Western states suspect Iran of developing the technology capable of launching long-range ballistic missiles with conventional or nuclear payloads, a charge denied by Tehran, which insists its space program has purely peaceful aims.

Tensions have mounted between Washington and Tehran since US President Donald Trump took office six months ago.
Timeline of nuclear and major missile tests in North Korea

China and Russia bear "unique and special reponsibility" for the growing threat posed by North Korea, the US Secretary of State said Saturday following Pyongyang's latest intercontinental ballistic missile test.

Leader Kim Jong-Un said the test confirmed all the US mainland was within striking range after the North's second ICBM this month on Friday.

"As the principal economic enablers of North Koreas nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development program, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability," Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

The launch was a "blatant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that reflect the will of the international community," he added.

China is the regime's last remaining major ally, while Russia's Vladimir Putin has warned the international community should not "lose its cool" over the nuclear-armed regime.

US President Donald Trump denounced the latest ICBM launch as a "reckless and dangerous" action and rejected Pyongyang's claims that such tests helped ensure its security.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people," he said in a statement.

Friday's test came just hours after the US Senate passed bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang.

North Korea's accelerated drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability poses a thorny policy challenge for Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim Jong-Un's regime.

In all, six sets of UN sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but two resolutions adopted last year significantly toughened the sanctions regime.
Nawaz Sharif's disqualification Friday by the Supreme Court over corruption allegations denies him the chance of becoming the country's first prime minister to complete a full five-year term

The ousting of Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has left a power vacuum at the top of the nuclear-armed country, yet experts say that in the long run it is unlikely to be destabilising.

Sharif's disqualification Friday by the Supreme Court over corruption allegations denies him the chance of becoming the country's first prime minister to complete a full five-year term.

Yet despite the country's history of military rule, power will likely remain within the hands of a civilian government -- and probably that of Sharif's eponymous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Party, analysts say.

"In a country as volatile as Pakistan, there's good reason to be concerned whenever a prime minister is dismissed," said Michael Kugelman of the DC-based Wilson Centre.

"But my sense is that everything will eventually fall into place -- a successor will be chosen and the current government will serve out its term."

Pakistan has been roiled by military coups and instability for much of its 70-year history.

But recently there has been a surge of optimism in the militancy-plagued developing country, which has seen a dramatic improvement in security and positive economic growth in recent years.

While the 2013 election that brought Sharif to power for a third time was also a powerful symbol of stability, representing Pakistan's first democratic transition from one elected government to another.

- Supreme Court judged most harshly -

Sharif was disqualified from the prime minister's office but remains the head of the PML-N party which holds a majority in parliament, meaning the next prime minister will likely emerge from its ranks.

Political analyst Hasan Askari said that Pakistan's parliamentary system of government remains unshaken despite the Supreme Court's ousting of a democratically-elected premier.

"Sharif will bring forward some person from the party. Obviously his personality will not carry as much weight (as Sharif)... But at the moment we can say, the first impact of the judgement has not proved to be destabilising," he said.

With Pakistan just a year away from general elections, the question is whether the country's opposition parties can capitalise on Sharif's removal.

Opposition leader Imran Khan has breathlessly pounded his party's anti-graft slogans and called for Sharif's removal as his slow downfall has played out on Pakistan's TV news channels over the last year.

But his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which governs one of Pakistan's four provinces, has so far failed to turn itself into a national party.

"(It is PTI) that initiated the case against the prime minister (Sharif), therefore they are going to be the major beneficiary in terms of reputation and credibility," said Askari.

But, he cautioned, the party would benefit most from early elections, while popular opinion is still on its side -- a remote prospect, with the PML-N-dominated National Assembly more likely push for elections to be held as scheduled in June 2018.

"This is a party (PML-N) that has the luxury of not facing a formidable opponent with national clout," said Kugelman.

"This decision is not a game-changer for PTI," agreed senior political analyst Rasul Bakhsh Rais. "The only change is that Mr Nawaz Sharif is no longer a prime minister."

The immediate reaction to Sharif's ouster from Pakistanis was muted, analysts agreed, with passionate statements made on both sides but only sporadic demonstrations in the streets, suggesting citizens believe the PML-N is still in control.

While Sharif now has to face down allegations that his family has illegally amassed huge wealth, some observers say that it is the Supreme Court who will ultimately be judged the most harshly.

"When history is written this is going to go down as one of a series of decisions that the Pakistani judiciary has given against popularly elected governments," said constitutional lawyer Yasser Hamdani.
Western governments are warning their citizens against travelling to nearly all of the southern third of the Philippines, citing the rising threats of terror attacks and kidnappings by Islamist militants

Indonesia and Australia on Saturday called for stronger cooperation in counter-terrorism as the region braces for the return of foreign militants fighting in the Middle East.

In a one-day gathering in North Sulawesi of six nations including Malaysia, the Philippines, New Zealand and Brunei, ministers discussed terrorism in Southeast Asia and fears over IS unrest in the Philippines, where government forces are pitted against Islamist gunmen holed up in a southern city.

"Global terrorism is that lethal threat to all of our societies and with the collapse of the caliphate in the Middle East, the return of foreign terrorist fighters to our region and the increasing prevalence of cross border terorism... (the threat) is becoming more severe, not less," Australian Attorney-General George Brandis told a post-meeting press conference.

Indonesian chief security minister Wiranto said the delegations had agreed to hold regular meetings to allow information to be shared and to establish a database of miliants to keep track of their movements.

"We will also push for a cooperation with companies that provide social media services as well as video sharing and messaging service," Wiranto said.

Indonesia recently announced restrictions on the popular messaging app Telegram after claiming the platform had been used frequently by radicals to spread information and propaganda.

Parts of Southeast Asia have long struggled with Islamic militancy, with hundreds of radicals from the region flocking to join IS in Iraq and Syria.
Aircraft carrier the USS Nimitz takes part in an exercise in the Bay of Bengal in July 2017 in this US Navy handout photograph

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that the US Navy had approached their patrol vessels in the Gulf and fired flares in what it called a provocative move.

"At 4 pm (1130 GMT) on Friday, the supercarrier USS Nimitz and its accompanying warship, while being monitored by the Guards' frigates, flew a helicopter near the Resalat oil and gas platform and approached the force's ships," the Guards said.

"The Americans in a provocative and unprofessional move, sent a warning message to the frigates and fired flares."

The Guards "ignored the unconventional move by the US ships and continued their mission, after which the supercarrier and its warship left the area," the statement added.

On Tuesday, a US Navy patrol ship fired warning shots at a Guards boat in the Gulf as it closed in on the American vessel, US officials said.

The Guards denied approaching the US ship on that occasion and said it was the American vessel that had been at fault.

There have been a string of close encounters between US ships and Iranian vessels in the Gulf in recent months.

In January, the USS Mahan destroyer fired warning shots at four Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels that approached at high speed in the Strait of Hormuz, which connects it to the Indian Ocean.

This video grab still image obtained on July 25, 2017, courtesy of the US Navy, shows an Iranian Revolutionary Guards boat heading towards the USS Thunderbolt in the Gulf

The Revolutionary Guards are a paramilitary force that answers directly to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The force's boats periodically approach US warships in international waters and the Strait of Hormuz, ignoring US radio messages and giving little indication of their intentions.

In January 2016, the Iranians briefly captured the crew of two small US patrol boats that strayed into Iranian waters.

The 10 US sailors were released 24 hours later.

The latest incident comes after the US Congress approved new sanctions against Iran.
Supporters of opposition leader Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) celebrate after the Supreme Court decison against Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif near Khan's residence in Karachi

Pakistan's ruling party was to meet with parliamentarians Saturday to begin nominations for an interim prime minister after the Supreme Court ousted premier Nawaz Sharif, a polarising move which plunged the country into political uncertainty.

Sharif became the 15th prime minister in Pakistan's 70-year history, which it has been under military rule for roughly half of, to be ousted before completing a full term when he was disqualified from office by the Supreme Court Friday.

The decision brought an abrupt end to his third tenure as a democratically elected premier and sent his political opposition into the streets handing out sweets and beating drums in celebration.

But Pakistanis were divided on whether it set the country's democratic progress back, with supporters, commentators and some corners of the country's press slamming the ruling as a "judicial coup".

The decision removed Sharif from the leadership as well as his parliamentary seat with no clear successor in place.

A PML-N source who requested anonymity told AFP the party would meet with parliamentarians later Saturday to "chart out a future plan and nominate an interim prime minister".

He said the party leadership was already holding informal meetings at the prime minister's official residence, which Sharif has not yet vacated.

Meanwhile the Election Commission of Pakistan confirmed fresh elections would be held in Sharif's former constituency.

Friday's judgement saw the court disqualify Sharif for failing to disclose his monthly salary of 10,000 dirhams ($2,700) from a company owned by his son in the United Arab Emirates.

Sharif did not withdraw the salary, court documents show, but the five-member bench ruled his failure to disclose its existence meant he was not "honest" -- a requirement for Pakistani politicians under the country's Constitution.

Opposition leader Imran Khan, who has spearheadead the push against Sharif, hailed the verdict as ushering in a new dawn for Pakistan.

But some observers slammed it as "political" and a "technicality", with rights campaigner and lawyer Asma Jahangir telling private Geo television late Friday that the powerful military was using the courts to destabilise democracy.

The military had an antagonistic relationship with Sharif, who had made several overtures to improve relations with nuclear arch-rival India.

Sharif's link to the UAE company was exposed as part of an investigation into corruption allegations against his family that erupted as a result of the Panama Papers leak last year.

The publication of 11.5 million secret documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca documenting the offshore dealings of many of the world's rich and powerful implicated three of Sharif's four children -- daughter Maryam and sons Hasan and Hussein.

Claims about the lavish lifestyles and luxury London property portfolio of the Sharif dynasty played out for months in endless loops in the country's raucous news media.

Bribery and other forms of graft are endemic in Pakistan. But the PML-N has consistently and noisily denied the accusations, insisting that the dynasty's wealth was acquired legally through Sharif family businesses in Pakistan and the Gulf.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas speaks during a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah on July 25, 2017

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was discharged from hospital in the Israel-occupied West Bank on Saturday after a brief "routine checkup", the official Wafa news agency reported.

The 82-year-old president "was admitted to hospital in Ramallah for a routine checkup to last only a few hours", his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement.

Wafa later reported: "The president left the Istishari hospital in Ramallah after routine health tests."

A doctor at the hospital told Palestine TV all test results were "reassuring".

"The president is in very good health," Yasser Abu Safiya said.

Abbas was hospitalised in October last year for a heart test and later discharged, with his health reported to be normal.

There has been no Palestinian presidential election since 2005, and Abbas has remained in office despite the expiry of his term.
Lesotho's Prime Minister Thomas Thabane fled the country in 2014 claiming there was an army plot to kill him

Lesotho authorities are investigating a security breach after wire-tapping gadgets were discovered in the office of the new prime minister earlier this week, an official said Saturday.

Recording equipment was found planted under Thomas Thabane's desk and near his office landline, just six weeks after he took office following his party's victory in snap elections last month.

"It is true that there were bugging devices found in the prime minister's office and as we speak investigations to establish who is behind this are ongoing," the premier's spokesman Thabo Thakalekoala told AFP.

It also emerged that a biometric access control scanner at the entrance of Thabane's office was malfunctioning.

"This is a serious breach of the prime minister's security," said the spokesman.

But the prime minister "remains unshaken" said Thakalekoala, adding Thabane has appealed for "calm because the situation remains under control".

Thabane took power for a second time last month after his All Basotho Convention (ABC) secured electoral victory just four months after his return from South Africa.

Prime minister from 2012, he had fled in August 2014 claiming there was an army plot to kill him.

He only returned to Lesotho after the removal of army chief Tlali Kamoli who allegedly led the putsch.

His inauguration on June 16 was marred by the murder of his estranged wife at a village near the capital on the eve of his the ceremony.

Local media reported this week that car-tracking devices were also discovered in the official vehicles used by Thabane's current wife.

Thabane's party failed to get an outright majority, leading it to form a coalition with three other parties.

The government is hoping to end the political uncertainty of party splits and fragile coalitions that have long dogged the mountain kingdom.

The tiny poverty-stricken country, completely surrounded by South Africa, has been plugged with political and security instabilities since the 2014 attempted coup.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (right) meets US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Moscow in April 2017

Washington vowed Saturday it would it "work closely with our friends and Allies" after US lawmakers passed sanctions on Russia that upset some European nations fearful that it could hit their businesses.

Congress passed a bipartisan package targeting Russia, Iran and North Korea on Thursday, with President Donald Trump later agreeing to sign the bill into law.

The measure is aimed at penalizing the Kremlin for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and its annexation of Crimea.

But it has caused some consternation in European capitals, which are accustomed to coordinating anti-Russia measures on both sides of the Atlantic in a common Western front reminiscent of the Cold War.

The EU has expressed worry that the sweeping measures would unfairly penalize European firms that contribute to the development of Russia's energy sector, and its diplomats had heavily lobbied Washington to water down the measures.

Paris had previously termed the US bill "illegal" in international law, while Berlin had warned its businesses, particularly a controversial pipeline project between Russia and Germany, must not be targeted.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sought to assuage those concerns in a statement Saturday.

"The near unanimous votes for the sanctions legislation in Congress represent the strong will of the American people to see Russia take steps to improve relations with the United States," Tillerson said. "We will work closely with our friends and Allies to ensure our messages to Russia, Iran, and North Korea are clearly understood."

The EU and US previously worked together to impose sanctions in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014, overcoming division on how far to go in punishing Moscow.

In addition, the EU broadened sanctions against Russia after the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in July 2014, blamed by the EU on Russian-backed rebels.
(FILES) -- A general view dated July 13, 2006 of the famed ruins of Baalbek home to the annual international festival

French classical group Trio Wanderer cancelled its Sunday evening concert in Lebanon's Baalbek International Festival, a day after activists lambasted it for playing in Israel last year.

A source at the festival confirmed to AFP on Saturday that Trio Wanderer would no longer be playing, but denied that it was because of political pressure.

"The concert was cancelled because of personal reasons pertaining to Vincent Coq," the group's pianist, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Trio Wanderer was not immediately available for comment.

The celebrated festival is one of the most popular cultural events and is held in Baalbek's spectacular Roman ruins, drawing large crowds.

Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, an avid enemy of Israel, has a strong presence in the modern city by the same name.

On Saturday, the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon (CBSIL) published a letter addressed to the French trio on its website.

It said Trio Wanderer's 2016 concert in the southern Israeli port city of Eilat "insulted the martyrs of Lebanon and of Baalbek".

"We demand that you follow the example of hundreds of musicians and international artists that have declared their support for the cultural boycott of the apartheid state," the letter read.

A boycott campaign over Israel's five-decade occupation of Palestinian territory has been under way for years, spearheaded by the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement.

Earlier this year, Lebanon banned the screening of Hollywood blockbuster "Wonder Woman" because lead actress Gal Gadot had served in the Israeli military.

Lebanon and Israel are still technically in a state of war, and the Arab League maintains a Damascus-based office responsible for coordinating a regional boycott of the Jewish state.

Other performers at Baalbek this year include Franco-Lebanese star trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf and American rock band Toto.
Tuareg fighters of the Coordination of Movements of the Azawad stand on a pick up truck with a machine gun near Kidal, northern Mali in 2016

Former Tuareg rebels operating in northern Mali took control of the key town of Menaka on Saturday, two days after clashes elsewhere in the region with pro-government forces, sources said.

"They entered Menaka very early this morning and they are there now," an official in the governorate of the town, one of five regional capitals in north, told AFP.

"They didn't fire a single shot."

On Thursday, the ex-rebels -- gathered in a group called the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) -- clashed with pro-government forces in the town of Kidal further north, inflicting heavy losses.

The two sides signed a 2015 peace deal on curbing violence in northern Mali and limiting the reach of jihadists, but the United Nations says fighting between them has escalated in recent weeks.

A source in the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, or MINUSMA, said: "The situation is calm in Menaka. Elements presenting themselves as CMA fighters are in the town and in the surrounding dunes. They say they want to make the town secure."

Alghabass Ag Intalla, a CMA commander, added: "Our troops are in control of Menaka. We didn't fire a single shot."

"The GATIA fled," he said, referring to the French acronym for a pro-government force named the Imghad and Allies Touareg Self-Defence Group.

He said the move was not a violation of the ceasefire because the GATIA "had no business being in Menaka."

Menaka had since March been run by interim authorities in line with the peace accord.

Northern Mali is the site of frequent clashes between rival armed groups, as well as a haven for jihadist activity.

In 2012, key cities in the region fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda, who exploited an ethnic Tuareg-led rebel uprising.

While the Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation, attacks have continued on UN and French forces, civilians and the Malian army.

Militias like the GATIA operate in areas where Mali's army is absent or has a very limited presence.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen greets guests during a ceremony at the Olympic national stadium in Phnom Penh on July 17, 2017

Cambodia's strongman premier Hun Sen has set July 29 as the date for a highly anticipated 2018 general election, according to a document seen by AFP Saturday.

The poll will be a major test for the authoritarian premier, whose government has spent the past few years cracking down on an opposition movement trying to break his 32-year grip on power.

"Sunday July 29, 2018 is set as the date of the election of members of parliament for the sixth mandate," said the government statement signed by Hun Sen on July 28.

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) made significant strides in local polls last month that were seen as a barometer for the upcoming general election, which will be Cambodia's first since 2013.

The gains came despite Hun Sen's protracted efforts to sideline opposition politicians and activists, who have been targeted by a series of court cases.

Some 27 political prisoners have been thrown in jail since 2013 with dozens of ongoing prosecutions against others, according to a tally by Amnesty International.

On Friday Hun Sen's government finalised a law that bans political parties from working with convicts -- an apparent stab at the self-exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has a string of convictions which he argues are politically-motivated.

Hun Sen, one of the world's longest serving leaders, portrays himself as a premier who has brought growth and stability to an impoverished country ravaged by decades of war.

But critics say corruption, inequality and rights abuses have flourished under his watch.

The often blunt premier has dramatically ramped up his rhetoric in recent months, warning that civil war could break out if his ruling party is defeated in the 2018 poll.

Last month he called on critics to "prepare coffins" and warned he would eliminate "100 or 200 people" if stability was threatened.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe,93, says he is 'not dying' and that his 'heart and liver are very firm'

Zimbabwe's 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe, declaring "I am not dying," sought Saturday to brush aside growing concerns about his health after his wife urged him to name a successor.

Mugabe's medical trips to Singapore have become frequent in recent years, fuelling questions about his health. His last visit was early this month for what was described as a "routine medical check-up".

"There is the issue that the president is going. I am not going. That the president is dying. I am not dying," Mugabe told thousands of supporters at a rally in his home town of Chinhoyi.

His remarks came after his wife Grace urged him to name a successor in a bid to end the factionalism threatening to tear apart his ruling ZANU-PF party.

"I thank God for having lived to this day. I thank God for the good life. I have an ailment here and there (but) my organs... my heart and liver are very firm. Recently, doctors were actually surprised by the strength of my bones," Mugabe said.

He said he had followed a strict exercise routine from the years he was imprisoned during the fight against colonial rule in the 1970s.

Mugabe, who spoke for more than an hour at the rally, now walks with difficulty and sometimes dozes off during meetings.

In 2011 and 2014 he had eye surgery in a hospital in Singapore.

His health has been the subject of increased speculation and authorities in March arrested two journalists over a report alleging that he was "in bad shape".

In 2016, the government had to deny that he had died abroad during his annual vacation.

Mugabe has declined to name a successor and his party has been riven by divisions for years.

On his succession, Africa's oldest leader said: "I want to see whether the situation is ripe."

"Are those who are my subordinates united? I see some are divided tribally. Some denigrate each other."

Despite Mugabe's age, the party last year endorsed him as its candidate for the 2018 general elections.

On Thursday, Mugabe's wife Grace called for an end to uncertainty over his successor.

"President, don't be afraid. Tell us who is your choice, which horse we should back," she told a meeting of the women's league of the ZANU-PF.

"If you tell us the horse to back, we will rise in our numbers and openly support that horse. Why should our horse be concealed?"

The succession race is seen as between Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and a group called "Generation 40" or "G40" because its members are generally younger, which reportedly has Grace's backing.
Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto (L) is President Uhuru Kenyatta's (R) running mate in the August 8 election

At least one assailant stormed into the home of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto on Saturday and injured a policeman, less than two weeks before the country votes in high-stakes polls, the police and security sources said.

Ruto was not present during the attack, the details of which remain unclear. Police say it was carried out by one man armed with a machete, but several security sources told AFP the assault was staged by multiple people using guns.

"There are armed people who staged the attack and have shot the GSU officer and stolen his gun," one security official said, referring to the elite police General Security Unit deployed to guard Ruto's house.

A second source, a senior police officer, said security forces are trying to establish if there are still attackers in the deputy president's "expansive" home near the town of Eldoret, some 312 kilometres (200 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi.

"More security personnel have been deployed and a security operation is ongoing," the officer said, and witnesses reported hearing several gunshots from the compound shortly after reinforcements arrived.

Their accounts differed from a statement issued by Kenya's police hours after the assault, which said someone carrying a machete attacked a police officer guarding the entrance to the residence and then fled into the compound.

"Other officers were quickly mobilised and the intruder was forced to hide at a building that is still under construction next to the gate," Kenya's police chief Joseph Boinnet said in a statement.

The attack occurred despite the round-the-clock presence of guards from the GSU's top-notch reconnaissance unit.

A spokesman for Ruto declined to comment but the security official said the deputy president had left the house shortly before the attack to attend rallies alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta, his running mate who faces a tight re-election contest on August 8 against longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga.

- Tensions mounting ahead of vote -

Ruto's home sits in Kenya's western Rift Valley area, the flashpoint for an outbreak of election violence after the disputed 2007 polls that killed 1,100 people and tarnished Kenya's image as a regional beacon of safety and stability.

According to opinion polls, this year's election will be close and tensions have been rising.

Odinga has repeatedly claimed the government is scheming to steal the election, while Kenyatta has accused Odinga of trying to delay the polls.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said it had received reports of threats and voter intimidation in Naivasha, a flashpoint town in 2007 and one of the potential hotspots in this year's election.

In the Rift Valley, hate speech flyers have been circulating and some local residents have already left their homes.

Gideon Moi, son of former president Daniel arap Moi and an influential senator from the Rift Valley, released a statement calling Saturday's assault "shocking and worrying."

"Kenyans at this moment want to peacefully participate democratically in electing their leaders and no criminal element or group should be allowed to jeopardise peace at this critical time," Moi said.

The 2007 bloodshed haunted both Ruto and Kenyatta long after it ended, when the International Criminal Court put both on trial for orchestrating the violence.

Those charges were later dropped, with ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda blaming a relentless campaign of victim intimidation for making a trial impossible.
Leader of the South African radical-left opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema delivers a speech during a mass rally marking the party's fourth anniversary on July 29, 2017 at the Curries Fountain Stadium in Durban

South Africa's firebrand opposition leader Julius Malema on Saturday accused Zambia's president of apartheid style repression for detaining a leading opposition politician on treason charges.

Hakainde Hichilema, leader of Zambia's United Party for National Development (UPND), has been in detention since April and Zambian President Edgar Lungu this month imposed a state of emergency, a move critics see as an effort to tighten his grip on power.

"There is something going terribly wrong in Zambia. The opposition is suppressed," Malema said in an address to his supporters at a stadium in the coastal city of Durban.

"Lungu, you are a coward. Allow the opposition to oppose you. If you are a true leader, you will defeat them properly not through arrest," he said.

Malema compared Lungu to South Africa's apartheid leaders including the architect of the white minority rule, Hendrik Verwoerd, and F.W. de Klerk, the last apartheid president.

"You are not different from de Klerk, ...you are not different from Verwoerd. When people oppose you, you arrest them, you declare (a) state of emergency," said Malema.

Lungu has denied accusations that he is creating a dictatorship in Zambia and has accused rivals of trying to overturn last year's election results.

Hichilema narrowly lost the 2016 election to Lungu's Patriotic Front (PF) party, and has alleged that the result was rigged.
Morocco's King Mohammed VI delivers a speech to mark the 16th anniversary of his accession to the throne, beside his brother Prince Moulay Rachid (R) and son Hassan III (L) in Tetouan

King Mohammed VI of Morocco on Saturday pardoned more than a thousand detainees, some of whom were under arrest for taking part in protests in the troubled northern Rif region, the justice ministry announced.

The monarch pardoned a total of 1,178 people, including a number who had joined demonstrations in the northern port city of Al-Hoceima and surrounding area, the ministry said in a statement, issued shortly before King Mohammed made a televised speech to mark 18 years on the throne.

The justice ministry said pardons were granted to those "who have not committed crimes and who are not implicated in serious acts... bearing in mind their family and humanitarian conditions."

The Rif, a predominantly Berber region where Al-Hoceima is located, has been gripped by months of unrest.

Protests erupted last October after a fishmonger was crushed to death in a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve a swordfish confiscated for being caught out of season.

Demands for justice later snowballed into a wider social movement named Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, calling for jobs, development and an end to corruption.

Abdessadek Al-Bouchtaoui, a lawyer for detained protesters, described the mass pardon as "a positive step but it does not go far enough, because we are calling for the release of everyone held."

According to the latest official figures, 176 were being held, including the movement's leader, Nasser Zefzafi.

The government has promised to make major investment in the region, sent ministers to the area and withdrawn police from prominent sites in a bid to defuse the situation.

A brief lull ended on July 21 with clashes over a banned demonstration which also drew in supporters from among the large Moroccan diaspora.

Seventy-two police officers were wounded by stones and 11 protesters were injured by tear gas used to break up the rally, the official news agency MAP reported, citing authorities in Al-Hoceima.
Around 150 people turned out for Windhoek's first ever Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual (LGBT) community pride parade on Saturday.

Scores of people waving rainbow flags peacefully paraded through the streets of Namibia's capital Windhoek on Saturday, calling for better legal protection of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in the largely conservative country.

Around 150 people, decked out in the gay pride colours, danced and marched their way down Windhoek's main thoroughfare, Independence Avenue, chanting "we are one" in what was the first gay pride march in the Namibian capital.

They were cheered on by most onlookers who applauded as the marchers made their way through the city centre.

However some passersby yelled derogatory comments at the gay pride marchers. No incidents were reported during the parade, which was escorted by police.

While homosexuality is technically not illegal in Namibia, sodomy is criminalised and punishable by a jail term, though this law is rarely enforced.

Same sex couples complain of discrimination and lack of legal protection in the event of domestic violence.

"The request is not for marriage. The request is for some legal protection to couples that live together," said Friedel Dausab, director of Out-Right Namibia an LGBTI organisation.

While the march was the first such to be held in the capital, protests over discrimination against gays and lesbians have taken place previously in other Namibian towns.

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US President Donald Trump is taunting and threatening Republican lawmakers as he seeks a new effort to repeal and replace Obamacare

President Donald Trump lashed out at fellow Republicans in Congress on Saturday after suffering a major setback when the Senate failed to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Two Republican women -- Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski -- along with John McCain joined Democrats in a dramatic thumbs-down vote that triggered the stunning collapse of Trump's health reforms.

But the president demanded that lawmakers revisit the hot-button issue, taunting them by saying that otherwise they are no more than "total quitters."

"Unless the Republican Senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead! Demand another vote before voting on any other bill!" he wrote in a series of angry tweets over the space of several hours.

However, some lawmakers are also seeking a new path on health reform.

Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy and Dean Heller met with Trump on Friday on a plan that would task states -- rather than the federal government -- with crafting health care plans.

In an ominous warning, Trump appeared to threaten lawmakers that he would cut their health care benefits if they don't "quickly" approve a new bill.

"If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!" he wrote.

In an early morning tweet, he urged senators to end the legislative filibuster. Senate rules set a 60-vote minimum threshold to pass most legislation.

Yet the Republicans' Obamacare repeal measures only required a 51-vote majority in the Senate due to the process the chamber's leaders chose to push it through.

Republicans currently have 52 seats and Vice President Mike Pence casts a vote when there is a tie.

But the 60-vote requirement makes senators "look like fools," Trump said, adding that "8 Dems totally control the U.S. Senate."

"Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don't go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time," he wrote.

There are growing signs, however, that Trump's threats against skeptical Republicans are losing potency.

Republicans not only killed efforts to dismantle Obamacare, but also joined Democrats in supporting a new sanctions regime against Russia.

The party rebellion is a deeply ominous sign for Trump, whose political brand is defined by his dealmaking acumen and a take-no-prisoners approach to politics.
John Isner reacts after defeating Gilles Muller of Luxembourg on July 29, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia

Second-seeded John Isner powered past Wimbledon quarter-finalist Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday to reach the final of the ATP's BB&T Open in Atlanta, Georgia.

Isner needed just 75 minutes to reach his seventh Atlanta final in eight years, where he'll be gunning for a fourth Atlanta crown.

The big-serving American saved all four break points he faced, and has now won seven straight ATP matches and held for 69 straight service games dating back to his title run last week in Newport.

"Absolutely nothing to complain about today. On and off the court in pretty quick fashion and I certainly will be ready to go tomorrow," said Isner, who will face fourth-seeded compatriot Ryan Harrison for the title.

Harrison beat fifth-seeded Briton Kyle Edmund 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 to advance.

Luxembourg's Muller, who toppled Rafael Nadal in reaching the Wimbledon quarters, had also been dominant on serve in Atlanta.

Going into his clash with Isner the third-seeded left-hander had won all 24 of his service games.

But Isner broke him in the third game to take a 2-1, and broke him twice in the second set to gain the advantage.

Isner then saved three break points while serving for the match at 5-2.

"He made it very tough for me today. I don't feel like I played a bad match. I maybe didn't serve well enough today but it's also because of him, he put a lot of pressure on me," Muller said.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The mayor of Pennsylvania's third-largest city has pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski appeared in court Thursday to deny accusations he accepted more than $150,000 in campaign contributions in exchange for city business.

Prosecutors likened the scheme to putting a for-sale signs on his office.

Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski arrives at the federal building in Philadelphia, Thursday, July 27, 2017. Indictments made public Wednesday accuse Pawlowski and former Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer of shaking down businesses and individuals for campaign contributions in alleged pay-to-play schemes. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pawlowski's attorney says he's ready to fight the charges and will continue to seek a fourth term. No court date has been set for the bribery and fraud trial.

Pawlowski will remain free but cannot travel outside the area without consent.

The former mayor of Reading also was indicted this week, accused of shaking down businesses for campaign contributions in return for city work. Vaughn Spencer is due in court Tuesday. His lawyer says he plans to fight the charges.

Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski, center, arrives at the federal building in Philadelphia, Thursday, July 27, 2017. Indictments made public Wednesday accuse Pawlowski and former Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer of shaking down businesses and individuals for campaign contributions in alleged pay-to-play schemes. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski speaks with members of the media outside of his home in Allentown, Pa., Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Pawlowski and the former mayor of Reading have been indicted on federal corruption charges for engaging in a series of pay-to-play schemes where the politicians shook down businesses and individuals for campaign contributions in exchange for political favors, according to court papers released Wednesday. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski reads a statement outside of his home in Allentown, Pa., Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Pawlowski and former Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer have been charged with multiple counts of bribery and fraud, according to indictments that detail how the two Democrats handed lucrative city contracts to donors who showered them with cash and gifts. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
LONDON (AP) - A British judge ordered Thursday that critically ill baby Charlie Gard should be moved from a hospital to a hospice, where he will "inevitably" die within a short time.

As the medical and legal story that has sparked compassion and controversy around the world entered its final stage, the baby's dismayed mother accused courts and a hospital of denying Charlie's parents "our final wish" - to let their son die at home.

"We just want some peace with our son. No hospital, no lawyers, no courts, no media. Just quality time with Charlie away from everything to say goodbye to him in the most loving way," said Connie Yates. "I'm shocked that after all we've been through they won't allow us this extra time."

Connie Yates, mother of critically ill baby Charlie Gard arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Wednesday, July 26, 2017. A British judge is set to rule on where Charlie Gard, a baby with a rare genetic disease, will spend the last days of his life. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Eleven-month-old Charlie has brain damage and is unable to breathe or move his limbs unaided.

Judge Nicholas Francis made the hospice order after Charlie's parents and the hospital treating him failed to meet a deadline to agree on an end-of-life care plan that could have seen the baby kept alive for several more days.

The judge said that meant Charlie, who has a rare genetic disease called mitochondrial depletion syndrome, should now be transferred to a hospice and have the ventilator that keeps him alive removed.

The judge said that "will inevitably result in Charlie's death within a short period of time."

He barred identification of the hospice or of any of the medical staff treating Charlie, and ordered that there should be no media reports of when Charlie is moved.

His parents, Yates and Chris Gard, spent months trying to persuade London's Great Ormond Street Hospital to let Charlie go to the United States for an experimental treatment that they believed could help him. Charlie's doctors opposed the idea, saying it would not help and could cause Charlie more suffering.

British courts and the European Court of Human Rights all sided with the hospital in its bid to remove life support and allow Charlie to die naturally.

Earlier this week Charlie's parents gave up their legal fight, saying the baby's condition had deteriorated so far that the window of opportunity to help him had closed.

They then sought to take their son home to die, but Great Ormond Street Hospital said Charlie's complex needs made that impractical. At an emotional hearing on Wednesday, the judge said Charlie would, inevitably, end his days in a hospice. Yates left the hearing in tears, as the hospital and Charlie's parents continued to disagree on how long he should be kept on life support once he was taken to the hospice.

The heart-breaking case attracted international attention after U.S. President Donald Trump and Pope Francis expressed support for Charlie's parents. U.S.-based religious and anti-abortion activists flew to London to support the family's battle.

Charlie's case has become the catalyst for often-emotional debates about health care funding, medical intervention, the role of the state and the rights of the child.

The judge this week condemned social media commentators who discuss the case without knowing the facts.

Great Ormond Street, one of the world's leading children's hospitals, said the case had been "a uniquely painful and distressing process for all concerned," and it was sorry it had been played out in public.

"As the judge has now ruled, we will arrange for Charlie to be transferred to a specialist children's hospice whose remarkable and compassionate staff will support his family at this impossible time," the hospital said.

It said it was acting in the baby's best interests, because "the risk of an unplanned and chaotic end to Charlie's life is an unthinkable outcome for all concerned and would rob his parents of precious last moments with him."

"Every single one of us wishes there could have been a less tragic outcome," the hospital said. "Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to Chris and Connie, and we hope that their privacy is respected at this devastating time for their family."
BUXTON, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on a power outage on the North Carolina coast (all times local):

7:15 p.m.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation's Ferry Division is helping to evacuate thousands of visitors from Ocracoke Island because of a power outage.

In a statement, the department says priority boarding is suspended for all vehicles leaving Ocracoke. Tolls will be waived for ferry trips between Ocracoke and Cedar Island or Swan Quarter.

Officials in Hyde County issued a mandatory evacuation order for the island's estimated 10,000 visitors beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday. Visitors are asked to be off the island by noon Friday.

Evacuation procedures will remain in effect for all Ocracoke ferries until county emergency officials lift the order.

A construction company acknowledged damaging an electric transmission cable while working on a new bridge, causing a power outage affecting Ocracoke and Hatteras islands on the Outer Banks.

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6:05 p.m.

Ten thousand tourists have been ordered to evacuate a North Carolina island following a power outage.

The evacuation order issued for visitors to Ocracoke Island in Hyde County went into effect at 5 p.m. Thursday. Officials say no one will be allowed onto the island unless they can prove residency.

Hyde County public information officer Donnie Shumate says there are some 10,000 visitors on the island. He said the main concern was for their safety, adding that officials want to get visitors off the island by noon on Friday.

A construction company says it drove a steel casing into an electric transmission cable early Thursday while working on a new bridge on the North Carolina coast, causing a power outage affecting Ocracoke and Hatteras islands.

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4 p.m.

A construction company says it drove a steel casing into an electric transmission cable while working on a new bridge on the North Carolina coast, causing a power outage affecting two islands on the state's Outer Banks.

The Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative says PCL Construction, the company constructing the new Bonner Bridge, informed the utility of the accident on Thursday, hours after power was disrupted to Ocracoke and Hatteras islands.

CHEC says it is working to assess the extent of the damage and plan for the repair. It says that if the materials are on hand, repairs could take several days. If materials are not available locally, repairs could take weeks.

CHEC also said it is currently providing temporary power to Buxton, Frisco and part of Hatteras Village through a diesel generating plant.

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11:20 a.m.

All of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands along North Carolina's Outer Banks are without power, and authorities are advising residents and visitors to prepare for an extended outage.

Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative officials say the breaker at Oregon Inlet was tripped about 4:30 a.m. Thursday, causing the outage. Several hours later, crews found a fault on the transmission cable attached to the Bonner Bridge.

Officials say about 9,000 customers are without power on the two islands - about 7,700 on Hatteras and another 1,300 on Ocracoke.

They hope to bring diesel generators online, but they'll likely only be able to supply Buxton with power and only if people turn off air conditioning and reduce other electrical use.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A new trial date of Dec. 11 is set for Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to face felony securities fraud charges.

It's the third time a trial date has been set. Paxton's case was previously scheduled to begin in April, then September. The Houston Chronicle reports that jury selection is now expected to start Dec. 1.

The case previously was moved from the conservative Dallas suburb of McKinney, where Paxton lives, to Houston after special prosecutors argued Paxton's allies had spent years tainting the original jury pool. Paxton's lawyers then successfully had the original judge replaced.

The attorney general was indicted in 2015 over allegations he duped investors in a tech startup before taking office. He's pleaded not guilty.

Paxton faces 5 to 99 years in prison, if convicted.

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Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com
SAN DIEGO (AP) - The first meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Border Mayors Association since Donald Trump became president of the United States was marked Thursday by worries that more limits on trade could stifle economic growth in a region of 12 million people stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

The 17 city leaders paid little attention to Trump's plans to build a "big, beautiful wall" separating the two countries and to add 5,000 Border Patrol agents, focusing instead on how the U.S., Mexico and Canada are preparing to overhaul the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, one of Trump's favorite punching bags. They worked toward a joint resolution to underscore the benefits of trade under NAFTA.

"As the discussions occur in Washington, D.C., surrounding NAFTA, it's incredibly important for us to tell our story, a story of success, because if were not telling it, nobody else is going to tell it for us," said San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. "Free trade works."

As with other border gatherings of mayors and governors, one challenge was getting enough elected officials to attend. This year's hosts, Faulconer and Juan Manuel Gastelum of Tijuana, Mexico, ensured that two of the region's largest cities were represented, though Gastelum missed the opening sessions due to illness. Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, registered, as did McAllen, Texas.

El Paso Mayor Dee Margo couldn't attend because he will be in the state capital for meetings with the governor and legislators, said spokeswoman Olivia Zepeda. Pete Saenz, mayor of Laredo, Texas, needed to tend to city affairs after two weeks of business travel, said spokeswoman Blasita Lopez. Absent mayors from Mexico include the leaders of Mexicali, Nogales and Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros.

Border mayors generally advocate for robust trade between the two countries and expanded, well-staffed international crossings to ease the flow of goods and people. They have given a cold shoulder to Trump's wall.

Panels at the two-day gathering - the group's sixth since 2011 - included Nafta, infrastructure, the state of U.S.-Mexico relations, public health and urban development.

"Border mayors and governors have struggled over the years to create and sustain forums in which they can get to know each other and work together on a common agenda," said Christopher Wilson, deputy director of the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute in Washington.

The group's rotating venues may prove more challenging for small-city hosts who have more limited budgets and resources.

"Right now the border mayors association is a great idea with enough energy to get a meeting off the ground but without a structure," Wilson said. "They need some glue to the organization."

The Border Governors Conference, which dates back to the 1980s, has been moribund for several years. In 2010, then-Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer canceled a Phoenix event after Mexico's border governors boycotted because she signed a tough law against illegal immigration. The New Mexico governor at the time, Bill Richardson, convened a meeting in Santa Fe, but he was the only one of four U.S. border governors to show. New Mexico was also the only U.S. presence the following year.

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This story has been corrected to show it is the group's sixth, not fifth, meeting since 2011.
WASHINGTON (AP) - White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus may have little left of his job but his title.

In the swirl of Shakespearean intrigue that surrounds Donald Trump's White House, Priebus' fortunes have long been a source of speculation, given his limited role, colorful band of rivals and the president's public slights. Those questions sharply escalated this week with the arrival of Trump's new communications director, who was hired over Priebus' objections and reports directly to the president.

Priebus' already tense relationship with Anthony Scaramucci took a darker turn over the past 24 hours when the communications chief suggested in a late-night tweet that Priebus was one of the "leakers" that President Donald Trump has railed against. The New Yorker published a profanity-laced interview Thursday in which Scaramucci called Priebus a "paranoid schizophrenic."

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus walks to boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Friday, July 28, 2017, to travel with President Donald Trump to Brentwood, N.Y. for a speech to law enforcement officials on the gang MS-13. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Tuesday that no staff shake-up was imminent. But he has privately floated potential replacements for Priebus, including Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, deputy national security adviser Dina Powell, chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and former campaign adviser David Urban, according to three people who've been in conversation with the president and senior staffers recently. They weren't authorized to discuss private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The president often throws out names casually in conversation that end up going nowhere, and there is no indication that anyone has been approached about the job.

But Priebus' power - which has been limited compared with past people with that title - has dwindled. Scaramucci is the latest top aide to be granted a direct line to Trump, and it has become increasingly unclear who actually reports to Priebus. The White House did not respond to requests for an organizational chart.

After Trump boarded Air Force One on Friday for a trip to Long Island, New York, reporters saw Priebus and Scaramucci, who was on the telephone and carrying a bag, boarding the aircraft using the rear staircase.

Priebus has grown increasingly isolated in the White House, as past Republican National Committee colleagues and other allies have left or been pushed out of the West Wing. Those who have departed include former deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, outgoing press secretary Sean Spicer and press aide Michael Short.

The chief of staff made an appearance Thursday at an East Room event where Trump honored first responders, acting as if nothing was amiss.

Asked if Trump had confidence in his chief of staff, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not answer directly, saying: "I think I've addressed this question when it comes to staffing and personnel many times, that if the president doesn't, then he'll make that decision. We all serve at the pleasure of the president and if he gets to a place where that isn't the case, he'll let you know."

Priebus did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

On-the-job humiliation is often part of the deal in Trump's White House, as Priebus well knows. At a meeting of auto company CEOs in Michigan in March, Trump praised the executives and then said, "And then I look at Reince," drawing scattered laughs with a tone that suggested Priebus was a less impressive presence. Trump quickly added that Priebus has "done a great job."

Trump structured the White House in a way that undermined Priebus' authority from Day One. In a highly unusual arrangement, he said Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon would serve as "equal partners" in implementing his agenda.

In a typical White House, most staffers, including the communications director, report to the chief of staff. But in Trump's White House, a long list of top advisers bypasses the middle man. Scaramucci, social media director Dan Scavino and counselor Kellyanne Conway all report directly to Trump, as do the president's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, both senior advisers.

"I plan on continuing to serve and report directly to President @realDonaldTrump at the @WhiteHouse, as I've done since 1/20/2017," Scavino tweeted over the weekend.

Trump has also maintained a near open-door policy, with top aides casually poking their heads in constantly to speak with the boss.

"They've got all these chiefs running about with or without the title of chief," said William Daley, the second chief of staff for President Barack Obama. He said that under Obama, there were high-ranking players with direct access to the president, but he was clued in on any policy or governing conversations, noting: "There was a sense that people were working together."

Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary under George W. Bush, said there are multiple ways to effectively run the White House. George H.W. Bush ran a hierarchical West Wing with a powerful chief of staff who controlled access to the Oval Office. When his son came to office, he chose a different model, creating a system under which numerous senior aides were able to walk into the Oval Office and speak to the president, even if, on paper, they technically reported to someone else.

The difference now, he said, is that Trump has created a faction-driven White House, noting: "I just think he has too many independent power centers and not enough team players."

The lone voice coming to Priebus' defense Thursday was House Speaker Paul Ryan, who called the fellow Wisconsinite a "close friend" and said, "I think he's doing a great job as chief of staff."

But from within the White House there was less vocal support. Asked on Fox Business Network whether Priebus is in trouble, Conway replied: "You'd have to ask the president that."

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Follow Lucey and Colvin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/catherine_lucey and https://twitter.com/colvinj
BERLIN (AP) - German prosecutors said Friday that they have filed terrorism and murder charges against a suspected member of Afghanistan's Taliban whom they accuse of participating in an attack in which an American soldier was killed.

Federal prosecutors said they filed the indictment against the 20-year-old Afghan national, identified only as Abdol Moghadas S. in line with German privacy rules, at the Munich state court. He is charged with membership in a terrorist organization, murder and attempted murder, as well as violating weapons laws.

The suspect joined the Taliban in 2013 and underwent weapons training, and participated in two attacks on U.S. soldiers and Afghan government troops, prosecutors said.

They said that in the second attack in early 2014, a convoy of eight or nine U.S. military vehicles was hit, with at least one American soldier killed and two more wounded.

The suspect, who was arrested in Germany in February, also is accused of transporting to Kabul on several occasions in 2014 and 2015 bombs made by the commander of his local Taliban unit that could be detonated by remote control.

In a separate case, prosecutors said Friday that a judge ordered the release of a 30-year-old Afghan national, identified as Abdullah P., who had been held on suspicion of involvement in two attacks on American and Afghan soldiers between 2004 and 2008. In one of those cases, at least 16 soldiers are believed to have been killed.

He was arrested in March on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, but prosecutors said Friday that they hadn't found enough evidence to continue holding him in custody.
BORMES-LES-MIMOSAS, France (AP) - Two teenagers suspected of a role in a wildfire west of Marseille were freed without charge Friday, while vacationers returned to beaches to the east on the Cote d'Azur after raging fires there were tamed.

Firefighters kept up the battle against a ferocious blaze in dense forests behind the Cote d'Azur, where blackened hills testified to four days of fires in an area packed with summer sun-seekers.

The blazes scorched over 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres), destroyed homes and forced the evacuation of more than 12,000 people in the worst fires that France has seen in over a decade.

This satellite imagery, provided Friday, July 28, 2017 by Airbus Defence and Space, shows the devastation (in grey) wrought by wildfires near Bormes-les-Mimosas, French Riviera. Firefighters have contained one of the largest fires in southern France and authorities have cleared thousands of evacuees to return to their homes and campsites. (Cnes 2017 - Distribution Airbus DS via AP)

Soaring temperatures and capricious winds meant the danger was not over, authorities warned. Other southern European regions have also had to cope with wildfires, which erupt each summer.

The two 16-year-old boys appeared before an investigating magistrate in Aix-en-Provence suspected of a role in a fire Wednesday in Carro, west of Marseille, where 150 hectares (370 acres) burned.

They had been seen near the blaze. But the judge concluded there were no "grave and concordant" indications they had a direct role in the fire, Deputy Prosecutor Remy Avon said by telephone.

Instead, the judge gave the boys the status of "assisting witness." Under French law, that means they could later be charged in the case, but can have access to court files as the probe continues.

Carro is west of the Cote d'Azur region, where blazes have laid waste to forests overlooking the Mediterranean. Some 230 firefighters this week battled the Carro fires, which damaged houses, injured an emergency worker and forced residents to flee.

A judge in Aix-en-Provence issued preliminary charges against a 41-year-old man for involuntarily starting a fire that he admitted accidentally triggering while using a metal-cutting device in the town of Peynier, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Marseille. It took 300 firefighters to extinguish the blaze that burned 72 hectares (178 acres) of vegetation.

There have been suspicions that arson accounted for some of the dozens of fires to the east in the Cote d'Azur's Var region, and investigators are searching for any evidence of that.

Francois Arizzi, mayor of Bormes-Les-Mimosas, a French tourist town in the Var that saw one of the most dramatic wildfires, was among several officials to speculate a human hand was the origin of some of the five days of wildfires.

"We have to stop closing our eyes to the facts. We need to find the persons responsible and punish them so that they don't do it again," the mayor told reporters.

Between Monday and Thursday, firefighters were deployed to fight 177 blazes in the vast Var region.

French President Emmanuel Macron, meeting in Paris with Portugal's prime minister, said the two discussed the possibility of sharing equipment and manpower in fire crises.

A wildfire last month in central Portugal killed 64 people in one night, and Portuguese firefighters are currently battling a string of blazes.

The fiercest fires have been tamed in French towns such as Bormes-Les-Mimosas, where more than 12,000 evacuated residents and tourists were allowed to return Thursday to their homes and holiday places.

"Everything is back to normal. The vacation has restarted and it's really a great feeling," said Katherine Mercier, an American tourist from Atlanta, Georgia.

It was not a return to normality for others. Burned-out landscapes have already hurt tourism in the Riviera town, some said, though it was too early to measure the overall impact of the blazes.

The picturesque hilltop town of Bormes escaped the wildfires, but large swaths of the surrounding wooded region were devastated.

Senior officials warned Friday that the situation remained perilous in parts of France.

"In Corsica, the fires are starting up in a sporadic way," Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told reporters in Paris.

He said one of the fiercest fires, deep in the back country in Artigues, remained out of control, with hundreds of firefighters working to stabilize it.

Collomb said an Italian firefighting plane used against Riviera blazes had returned to Italy as that country faces its own fires caused by drought and heat.

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This story has been corrected to show that the French town of Carro is not in the Cote d'Azur.

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Associated Press writer Thomas Adamson reported this story from Paris and AP writer Nadine Achoui-Lesage reported from Bormes-Les-Mimosas.

People enjoy sunbathing on the beach in Lavandou, French Riviera, as plumes of smoke rise in the air from burning wildfires, Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Authorities ordered the evacuation of 10,000 people as fires hopscotched around the Riviera for a third day Wednesday, tearing through the forest of La Londe-les-Maures. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)
BEIJING (AP) - A court in southwest China said Friday it has sentenced to death a man who killed 19 people, including his parents and several other relatives, in a bloody rampage with a pickaxe.

The Qujing City Intermediate People's Court in Yunnan province said Yang Qingpei, a 27-year-old laborer from Yema village, pleaded guilty and would not appeal the sentence.

The court found that Yang killed his parents with a pickaxe last September after they scolded him for racking up gambling debts in the provincial capital. It said he knifed 17 other people to death, including relatives and neighbors, in an attempt to cover his tracks.

Chinese media have widely covered the case, one of the bloodiest mass killings in recent years in a country where access to guns is extremely limited.

In announcing the death sentence, the court said Yang had confessed and showed a "good attitude" during the criminal proceedings, but that did not outweigh the "vile circumstances and particularly cruel method of killing."

Yang offered an apology to the relatives of the dead during his trial on July 19. The youngest victim was 3 and the oldest 72.

Aside from the gruesome nature of the killings, Yang's case attracted national attention in part because villagers who discovered the crime scene initially suspected a terrorist attack, and videos that circulated on social media at the time showed armed police patrolling the village before they were censored.

Police quickly refuted any terror link and apprehended Yang within a day.
BRUSSELS (AP) - The Latest on the flow of migrants into Europe (all times local):

1:45 p.m.

The Italian government has approved sending Italian naval units to help Libya's coast guard combat migrant trafficking.

Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni, right, welcomes Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj in the courtyard of Chigi Palace in Rome, Wednesday, July 26, 2017. (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP)

Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Friday that the measure, requested by the Libyan government, represents "a significant contribution to reinforcing Libyan sovereignty. It is not an operation that we take against Libya sovereignty."

Details of the operation, including rules of engagement, were not disclosed following the Cabinet's approval, but Gentiloni said Italy would not "be sending a huge fleet or air squadrons."

The operation will be considered by parliamentary commissions next week, and Gentiloni said he hoped it would receive broad parliamentary approval.

The measure is part of efforts to combat migrant trafficking, which is sending hundreds of thousands of migrants toward Italy.

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1:35 p.m.

The European Union has announced 46 million euros ($53 million) in funding to help boost Libya's border and coast guards, as part of moves to stem the flow of migrants leaving the country's shores heading for Europe.

The EU announced the program Friday, saying it will be implemented by Italy, the country where most migrants leaving Libya arrive. The program will provide equipment and training to Libyan coast and border guards.

EU Foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini says that while the EU works to help end Libya's political crisis, the bloc will continue assisting Libyan authorities "in their capacity to address the migration flows, rescue migrants, making sure that human rights are respected, and fight against the smuggling networks."

Sub saharan migrants sit on the deck of the vessel of Proactiva Open Arms after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, about 15 miles north of Sabratha, Libya on Tuesday, July 25, 2017. More than 120 migrants were rescued Tuesday from the Mediterranean Sea while 13 more -including pregnant women and children- died in a crammed rubber raft, according to a Spanish rescue group. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)

Sub saharan migrants wait to be rescued by aid workers of Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms in the Mediterranean Sea, about 15 miles north of Sabratha, Libya on Tuesday, July 25, 2017. More than 120 migrants were rescued Tuesday from the Mediterranean Sea while 13 more -including pregnant women and children- died in a crammed rubber raft, according to a Spanish rescue group. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)
BEIRUT (AP) - A Syrian opposition monitor and a news agency linked to the Islamic State group say the extremists have carried out a deadly attack against U.S.-backed forces near the northern city of Raqqa.

The Aamaq news agency said Friday that the attack a day earlier killed 53 members of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the village of Karama.

Nisreen Abdullah, a spokeswoman with the U.S.-backed SDF, said IS is carrying out attacks against the SDF but strongly denied the high number of casualties given by Aamaq.

A U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighter, runs in front of a damaged building as he crosses a street on the front line, in Raqqa city, northeast Syria, Thursday, July 27, 2017. U.S.-backed Syrian fighters have captured almost half of the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa, but the push into the city in northern Syria has slowed due to stiff resistance and large amounts of explosives planted by the extremists, a spokeswoman for the fighters and monitors said Thursday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said IS fighters used motorcycles in their attack. He says they were able to kill and kidnap dozens of SDF fighters and civilians.

SDF has been on the offensive in Raqqa since June 6.

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters, prepare to fire a mortar shell, at one of the front lines, in Raqqa city, northeast Syria, Thursday, July 27, 2017. U.S.-backed Syrian fighters have captured almost half of the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa, but the push into the city in northern Syria has slowed due to stiff resistance and large amounts of explosives planted by the extremists, a spokeswoman for the fighters and monitors said Thursday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - An 86-year-old retired priest has turned himself in to face a charge in Virginia of inappropriately touching a teenage girl 14 years ago.

Fairfax County police announced Thursday that the Rev. Gervase Cain of Loretto, Pennsylvania, is charged with taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a custodial or supervisory relationship.

Police say Cain touched the 15-year-old girl at her home in Fairfax in 2003. A complaint filed in 2004 was withdrawn, then reopened this May. A warrant was issued last week. Officer Reem Awad, a police spokeswoman, said she couldn't reveal why the case was reopened because the original complaint involved a juvenile.

In this photo provided by Fairfax County Police Department shows Rev. Gervase Cain of Loretto, Pa. Fairfax County police announced Thursday, July 27, 2017, that Cain is charged with taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a custodial or supervisory relationship. Police say Cain touched the 15-year-old girl at her home in Fairfax in 2003. A complaint filed in 2004 was withdrawn, then reopened this May. A warrant was issued last week. (Fairfax County Police Department via AP)

The Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular says Cain taught at St. Francis University's faculty and served as executive vice president from 1976 to 1983. He served at Virginia parishes from 1992 to 1999 and was living at a Virginia retirement home in 2003.
George Clooney says photographers who captured images of him and his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, cradling their newborn twins will be "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

The pictures published by French magazine Voici were taken at the Clooneys' residence in the Lombardy region of Italy. The magazine claims the photos are the first to be made public of twins Ella and Alexander, who were born June 6.

The actor says the photographers "scaled our fence, climbed our tree and illegally took pictures of our infants inside our home."

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2017, file photo actor George Clooney and Amal Clooney arrive at the 42nd Cesar Film Awards ceremony at Salle Pleyel in Paris. George Clooney said in a statement on July 28, 2017, that photographers who captured images of him and his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, cradling their newborn twins will be "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

He adds that the photographers, the photo agency and the magazine will face prosecution because the safety of the couple's children "demands it."
PARIS (AP) - France has officially closed its only state-run prevention center against radicalization, opened less than a year ago and empty since February.

The center in Pontourny was designed to take in up to 25 people who were radicalized and becoming marginalized - and who volunteered.

The Interior Ministry said Friday that the "experimental" live-in center "showed its limits." Located in a town near Tours, the center never had more than nine volunteer residents since opening last September and none completed the program. Had it been a success, other volunteer centers were to follow.

France has searched for ways to dissuade youth from radicalizing. As of last December, some 700 French citizens were in Syria or Iraq. Homegrown extremists have taken part in deadly terror attacks in France.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House has overwhelmingly backed legislation supporting critical national security programs, including those addressing counterterrorism and cyberattacks.

The vote was 380-35.

The bill sets spending levels for national intelligence programs slightly below the amount sought by President Donald Trump.

The bill reflects tensions over Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election and the disclosure of classified information.

It requires the intelligence community to provide reports to Congress regarding future threats to federal elections and Russia's effort to influence foreign elections. It also requires reports on investigations stemming from the leak of classified information.

Democrats had previously blocked passage of the bill under a process that did not allow for an extended debate. Still, the bill was considered non-controversial and committee leaders from both parties encouraged colleagues to support it.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The Austin Police Department on Friday pulled nearly 400 Ford Explorer SUVs from its patrol fleet over worries about exhaust fumes inside the vehicles.

The move comes as U.S. auto safety regulators investigate complaints of exhaust fume problems in more than 1.3 million Explorers from the 2011 through 2017 model years. In Austin, more than 60 officers have reported health problems since February and more than 20 were found to have measurable carbon monoxide in their systems, city officials said Friday.

"We need to remove these vehicles immediately," interim City Manager Elaine Hart said "We need to keep (officers) safe as well as our community."

In this Tuesday, July 11, 2017 photo, Austin police Ford utility vehicles are parked on East Eighth Street outside police headquarters in Austin, Texas. The Austin Police Department on Friday, July 28, 2017 pulled nearly 400 Ford Explorer SUVs from its patrol fleet over worries about exhaust fumes inside the vehicles. The move comes as U.S. auto safety regulators investigate complaints of exhaust fume problems in more than 1.3 million Explorers from the 2011 through 2017 model years.(Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found more than 2,700 complaints of exhaust odors in the passenger compartment and fears of carbon monoxide in an investigation started a year ago. Among the complaints were three crashes and 41 injuries, mostly loss of consciousness, nausea and headaches. Many of the complaints came from police departments, which use the Police Interceptor version of the Explorer in patrol fleets. Police complaints included two crashes with injuries and one injury allegation due to carbon monoxide exposure.

While several large police departments have been aware of the issue and installed carbon monoxide detectors in their vehicles, Austin appears to be first major city to pull large numbers of police Explorers off the road.

Ford spokeswoman Elizabeth Weigandt said the company is working with police, customers and NHTSA to investigate the reports and solve problems.

"Safety is our top priority," Weigandt said.

The decision by Austin police left the city scrambling to find replacement cars for more than half of its patrol fleet.

The Police Department said it will move equipment from the Explorers to about 200 Ford Taurus and Crown Victoria models, many of which will be unmarked, and have them ready for patrol ready by Monday. Interim Police Chief Brian Manley said Austin will have just as many officers on patrol, but that they will ride in pairs. The city will closely track response time to emergency calls.

"There will a concern there will be a spike in crime," Manley said. "But for those criminals who think they can take advantage of the circumstances, remember we now have a whole fleet of unmarked vehicles on patrol."

The city installed carbon monoxide alarms after officers began reporting getting sick while in the vehicles, and parked 60 of them when the alarms activated. Of the 20 officers found to have elevated levels of carbon monoxide, three have not been able to return to work.

The NHTSA has said nearly 800 people have complained to the government about fumes, while Ford has received more than 2,000 complaints and warranty claims. The agency tested multiple vehicles at its Ohio research center, and made field inspections of police vehicles involved in crashes. As of Thursday, the agency had found no evidence or data to support claims that injuries or crash allegations were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. The agency said it had early tests that suggest carbon monoxide levels may be higher in certain driving conditions, but the significance and effect of those levels remain under investigation.

The NHTSA also said that the Police Interceptor version of the Explorer is experiencing exhaust manifold cracks that are hard to detect and may explain exhaust odors. Investigators will evaluate the cause, frequency and safety consequences of the cracks, and whether Explorers used by civilians are experiencing cracked manifolds, the agency said.

"There have been a number of police departments that have looked at this problem. Most have not had (Austin's) experience and those that have had issues have been able to resolve them," said Darrel Stephens, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association. "I have not heard of any other department having the number of problems that Austin is experiencing."

Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies Inc., a Massachusetts firm that does auto testing for plaintiffs' lawyers and other clients, said he expects other law enforcement agencies will now check their patrol fleets and may face the same dilemma as Austin about how to maintain patrols.

"It's not an easy decision whether you're a large city or small town," he said.

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AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.

Austin Police chief Brian Manley speaks about removing Police Ford Explorers off the streets Friday, July 28, 2017 in Austin Texas. The Austin Police Department on Friday pulled nearly 400 Ford Explorer SUVs from its patrol fleet over worries about exhaust fumes inside the vehicles. The move comes as U.S. auto safety regulators investigate complaints of exhaust fume problems in more than 1.3 million Explorers from the 2011 through 2017 model years.(Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump insists he's said all along that Congress should let the Affordable Care Act "implode," then replace it.

Not true.

He campaigned on repealing and replacing "Obamacare" at the very beginning of his presidency.

President Donald Trump pumps his fist after speaking to law enforcement officials on the street gang MS-13, Friday, July 28, 2017, in Brentwood, N.Y. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Dial back to a Trump tweet from the campaign, Feb. 9, 2016: "We will immediately repeal and replace ObamaCare - and nobody can do that like me. We will save $'s and have much better healthcare!" He said repeatedly through the campaign that it would be "so easy."

He didn't get Congress to repeal it and replace it immediately, or at all as of yet. On Thursday night, as the Republican plan to rewrite the law cruised toward doom in the Senate, Trump tweeted:

"Go Republican Senators, Go! Get there after waiting for 7 years. Give America great healthcare!"

But with three Republicans voting against the measure - Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and John McCain of Arizona - the bill went down in suspenseful defeat.

Groused Trump on Twitter in the early hours of Friday:

"3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!"

Later in the day, he stuck with that line in a speech in Brentwood, New York, "I said from the beginning: Let Obamacare implode and then do it."

He didn't say it from the beginning, whenever that was.

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Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd
WASHINGTON (AP) - Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly has been toughened by war and tragedy.

The veteran of three tours in Iraq has a new mission: to steady the roiling Trump administration - and quiet the friendly fire - as White House chief of staff.

President Donald Trump tweeted that Kelly is "a true star" of the administration. He has been serving as the secretary of homeland security.

FILE - In this June 6, 2017, file photo, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Donald Trump named Kelly as his new Chief of Staff on July 28, ousting Reince Priebus. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

The battle-hardened commander is expected to bring a background of military discipline and order to his new duties.

Kelly retired in 2016 as head of U.S. Southern Command before joining the Trump Cabinet. His son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed in November 2010 in Afghanistan.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri man is accused of critically injuring a woman by purposely dropping an old television set onto her from a third-floor balcony.

Jackson County prosecutors charged 36-year-old Otishus Kirkwood of Kansas City, Missouri, with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

Authorities say the victim, who was not identified, sustained life-threatening injuries.

This undated photo provided by the Jackson County (Missouri) Detention Center, shows Otishus Kirkwood. Kirkwood is accused of critically injuring a woman by purposely dropping an old television set onto her from a third-floor balcony. Jackson County prosecutors charged Kirkwood, of Kansas City, Missouri, with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Authorities say the victim, who was not identified, sustained life-threatening injuries. (Jackson County Detention Center via AP)

Investigators allege in court filings that officers on Thursday found the victim unconscious in front of the apartment building, near a broken tube television set.

Police say a witness reported that Kirkwood threw the large television from an apartment's third-floor balcony, striking the victim on the head. The apartment's occupant said the victim and Kirkwood were homeless, and that he allowed them to occasionally sleep in his apartment.

Online court records don't show whether Kirkwood has an attorney.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump's speech on Long Island (all times local):

8:20 p.m.

The police department in the New York county where President Donald Trump appeared to advocate rougher treatment of suspects is condemning the practice.

President Donald Trump points to the crowd after speaking to law enforcement officials on the street gang MS-13, Friday, July 28, 2017, in Brentwood, N.Y. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Suffolk County Police Department says it has strict rules and procedures for how prisoners should be handled. It says violations of those rules and procedures are treated "extremely seriously."

The police department added: "We do not and will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners."

It released the statement after Trump spoke at Suffolk County Community College about efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and violent crime, including by the MS-13 street gang.

During the speech, Trump spoke dismissively of the police practice of protecting suspects' heads while putting them in patrol cars.

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3 p.m.

President Donald Trump appeared to advocate rougher treatment of people in police custody during a speech in New York.

Trump spoke dismissively of arresting officers who protect suspects' heads while putting them in police cars in a speech in front of law enforcement on Long Island.

He said: "You can take the hand off," drawing cheers from his audience.

Trump also claimed that laws are written to "protect the criminal" and "not the officers."

He told the law enforcement officials that the "laws are stacked against you" and need to be changed.

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2:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump is pledging to "destroy" the violent MS-13 street gang and other similar organizations.

He says he's more focused on MS-13 because it is "particularly violent." Trump says MS-13's members don't like to shoot their victims because death comes too fast. He says MS-13 members prefer to knife and cut their victims, so they die slowly and more painfully.

Trump says of MS-13: "These are animals."

The president is addressing law enforcement officials and relatives of crime victims in Brentwood, in Suffolk County, New York, where MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, has committed a string of gruesome murders, including the April killing of four young men.

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2 p.m.

President Donald Trump has arrived in New York to speak about the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration and violent crime.

Trump was speaking Friday at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood on Long Island. The venue is close to where the ultra-violent street gang MS-13 has committed a string of gruesome murders, including April's massacre of four young men.

The president is expected to continue his tough talk on immigration and urge Congress to dedicate more funding to border enforcement and faster deportations.

Law enforcement officials and family members of crime victims are expected to be in the audience.

Critics of Trump's desire for stepped-up border enforcement and swifter deportations say the money could be better spent on other programs.

President Donald Trump pumps his fist after speaking to law enforcement officials on the street gang MS-13, Friday, July 28, 2017, in Brentwood, N.Y. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
North Korea says 2nd ICBM test puts much of US in range

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Saturday the second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile demonstrated his country can hit the U.S. mainland, hours after the launch left analysts concluding that a wide swath of the United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now in range of North Korean weapons.

The Korean Central News Agency said that Kim expressed "great satisfaction" after the Hwasong-14 missile reached a maximum height of 3,725 kilometers (2,314 miles) and traveled 998 kilometers (620 miles) before accurately landing in waters off Japan. The agency said that the test was aimed at confirming the maximum range and other technical aspects of the missile it says was capable of delivering a "large-sized, heavy nuclear warhead."

Analysts had estimated that the North's first ICBM on July 4 could have reached Alaska, and said that the latest missile appeared to extend that range significantly.

Immediately after the launch, U.S. and South Korean forces conducted live-fire exercises. South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo called for the deployment of strategic U.S. military assets - which usually means stealth bombers and aircraft carriers - as well as additional launchers of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the missile, launched late Friday night, flew for about 45 minutes - about five minutes longer than the first. The missile was launched on very high trajectory, which limited the distance it traveled, and landed west of Japan's island of Hokkaido.

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Trump pushes out Priebus, names Kelly WH chief of staff

WASHINGTON (AP) - His White House in turmoil, President Donald Trump abruptly announced late Friday he was appointing Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to be his chief of staff, ending the tumultuous six-month tenure of Reince Priebus.

After months of speculation about Priebus' fate, Trump tweeted his decision as he landed in Washington after a speech in New York in which he lavishly praised Kelly's performance at Homeland Security.

Priebus, the former Republican National Committee head, had been a frequent target of rumors about his job security amid infighting and confusion within the White House and a long whisper campaign by Trump allies. Then, on Thursday, he was assailed in a remarkable and profane public rebuke by Trump's newly appointed White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.

Priebus said he had offered his resignation on Thursday and the president accepted though those close to the president said the ouster had been in the works for weeks.

"I think the president wanted to go a different direction," Priebus told CNN just hours after his exit was announced. He added that he agreed the White House might well benefit from "a reset," and he said, "I'm always going to be a Trump fan. I'm on Team Trump."

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GOP blame-a-thon over health bill crash, but no clear path

WASHINGTON (AP) - The resounding Senate crash of the seven-year Republican drive to scrap the Obama health care law incited GOP finger-pointing Friday but left the party with wounded leaders and no evident pathway forward on an issue that won't go away.

In an astonishing cliff-hanger, the GOP-run Senate voted 51-49 to reject Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's last ditch attempt to sustain their drive to dismantle President Barack Obama's health care overhaul with a starkly trimmed-down bill. The vote, which concluded shortly before 2 a.m. EDT, was a blistering defeat for President Donald Trump and McConnell, R-Ky., who've made uprooting the statute a top priority.

"They should have approved health care last night," Trump said Friday during a speech in Brentwood, New York. "But you can't have everything," he added, seemingly shrugging off one of his biggest legislative setbacks.

Trump reiterated his threat to "let Obamacare implode," an outcome he could hasten by steps like halting federal payments to help insurers reduce out-of-pocket costs for lower-earning consumers.

Senate Democrats were joined in opposition by three Republicans - Maine's Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Arizona's John McCain. The 80-year-old McCain, just diagnosed with brain cancer, had returned to the Capitol three days earlier to provide a vote that temporarily kept the measure alive, only to deliver the coup de grace Friday.

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Trump ready to sign Russia sanctions bill, Moscow retaliates

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump will sign a package of stiff financial sanctions against Russia that passed Congress with overwhelming support, the White House said Friday. Moscow has already responded, ordering a reduction in the number of U.S. diplomats in Russia and closing the U.S. Embassy's recreation retreat.

Trump's willingness to support the measure is a remarkable acknowledgement that he has yet to sell his party on his hopes for forging a warmer relationship with Moscow. His vow to extend a hand of cooperation to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been met with resistance as skeptical lawmakers look to limit the president's leeway to go easy on Moscow over its meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The Senate passed the bill, 98-2, two days after the House pushed the measure through by an overwhelming margin, 419-3. Both were veto-proof numbers.

The White House initially wavered on whether the president would sign the measure into law. But in a statement late Friday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had "reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it."

Never in doubt was a cornerstone of the legislation that bars Trump from easing or waiving the additional penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees. The provisions were included to assuage concerns among lawmakers that the president's push for better relations with Moscow might lead him to relax the penalties without first securing concessions from the Kremlin.

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Trump appears to advocate rough police treatment of suspects

BRENTWOOD, N.Y. (AP) - Talking tough on illegal immigration and violent crime, President Donald Trump appeared Friday to advocate rougher treatment of people in police custody, speaking dismissively of the police practice of shielding the heads of handcuffed suspects as they are being placed in patrol cars.

"Don't be too nice," Trump told law enforcement officers in Suffolk County, New York, during a visit to highlight his administration's efforts to crack down on the street gang known as MS-13. The violent international group has terrorized communities on Long Island and in other parts of the country.

The president urged Congress to find money to pay for 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers "so that we can eliminate MS-13."

Trump said his administration is removing these gang members from the United States but said, "We'd like to get them out a lot faster and when you see ... these thugs being thrown into the back of the paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, I said, 'Please don't be too nice.'"

Trump then spoke dismissively of the practice by which arresting officers shield the heads of handcuffed suspects as they are placed in police cars.

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A wild week highlights White House, Congress divide

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House sits two miles from the U.S. Capitol, but this week, it might as well have been a world away.

In Congress, Republicans labored around the clock in an ultimately futile bid to overhaul the nation's health care system. At the White House, officials labored to keep their jobs amid a highly public - and at times, shockingly vulgar - feud between President Donald Trump's senior advisers that culminated with Friday's firing of chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Rarely has the gap between the priorities of a president and lawmakers in his own party been so stark. By week's end, Trump had become largely irrelevant as Republicans' tried to fulfill a seven-year promise to voters on health care. Trump's involvement was mainly limited to the occasional tweet. At a closed-door meeting of the House Republican caucus Friday, at least one lawmaker bemoaned the impact of the White House's internal drama.

"That which is weird is getting weirder at the White House," Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., said after the meeting. "Let's break through this stuff, let's produce results. The internal White House warfare is in fact an impediment to doing so."

The Pennsylvania Avenue divide stretched beyond the health care debacle this week. When the president issued a surprise edict-by-tweet banning transgender people from the military, several high-profile GOP senators rejected the decision. When Trump mused about firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Republican lawmakers quickly took Sessions' side.

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British baby Charlie Gard at center of legal battle dies

LONDON (AP) - Charlie Gard, the terminally ill British baby at the center of a legal and ethical battle that attracted the attention of Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump, died Friday. He was one week shy of his first birthday.

Charlie's parents fought for the right to take him to the United States for an experimental medical treatment for his rare genetic disease, mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which left him brain damaged and unable to breathe unaided. His case ended up in the courts when doctors opposed the plan, saying the untested therapy wouldn't help Charlie and might cause him to suffer.

A family spokeswoman, Alison Smith-Squire, confirmed Charlie's death on Friday, a day after a judge ordered that he be taken off a ventilator at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and moved to an undisclosed hospice for his final hours.

"Our beautiful little boy has gone, we're so proud of him," his mother, Connie Yates, said in a statement.

Charlie was seemingly healthy at birth but soon began to weaken. He was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital, Britain's premier children's hospital, when he was two months old and remained there until almost the end of his life.

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Western nations decry Iran space launch; US levies sanctions

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States punished Iran on Friday for launching a satellite-carrying rocket into space by hitting six Iranian entities with sanctions targeting the country's ballistic missiles program.

Three European nations that helped broker the landmark Iran nuclear deal in 2015 joined the U.S. in condemning the launch, and said it was too close for comfort to the type of intercontinental ballistic missiles used to deliver a nuclear payload. At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Iran was "breaking its obligation" and added, "We can't trust them."

"Under this administration, the United States will not let Iran off the hook for behavior that threatens our interests and our allies," Haley said. "We will continue to impose consequences until Iran stops its provocations and complies fully with Security Council resolutions."

The U.S. sanctions hit six Iranian subsidiaries of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, described by the Treasury Department as "central" to Iran's ballistic missiles program. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin cast the sanctions as part of an ongoing U.S. effort to aggressively oppose Iran's ballistic missile activity, including what he called a "provocative space launch" carried out by the Islamic Republic on Thursday.

In another allegation against the U.S. adversary, Mnuchin said that missile attacks on U.S. partner Saudi Arabia over the weekend by Houthi rebels in Yemen had likely come with the support of Iran. The U.S. has long accused Tehran of shipping weapons to the Houthis, a Shiite group that controls part of Yemen and is being fought by a Saudi-led coalition.

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FDA to target addictive levels of nicotine in cigarettes

For the first time, the federal government is proposing cutting the nicotine level in cigarettes so they aren't so addictive.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb on Friday directed the agency's staff to develop new regulations on nicotine. The FDA has had the power since 2009 to regulate nicotine levels but hasn't done so. Stocks of cigarette makers plunged after the announcement.

As part of the new strategy, the FDA is giving e-cigarette makers four more years to comply with a review of products already on the market, Gottlieb said. The agency intends to write rules that balance safety with e-cigarettes' role in helping smokers quit, he said.

"A renewed focus on nicotine can help us to achieve a world where cigarettes no longer addict future generations of our kids," Gottlieb said in a speech to staff in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Tar and other substances inhaled through smoking make cigarettes deadly, but the nicotine in tobacco is what makes them addictive.

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Obamacare: The social program with 9 lives

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate's surprise vote early Friday was only the latest narrow escape for "Obamacare" - the social program with nine lives that has survived dozens of congressional attempts to kill it, and two Supreme Court challenges.

Not to mention the massive computer crash when HealthCare.gov was launched.

The saga of the Affordable Care Act illustrates how difficult it is to do away with a government program once millions are benefiting. In the latest episode, three Republican lawmakers broke with their president and leadership to join Democrats and deliver a dramatic defeat to repeal efforts.

Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were backed by GOP governors worried about constituents losing coverage, hospitals that didn't want to go back to being stuck with bills for the uninsured, doctors trying to keep patients healthier, and people with pre-existing conditions fearful they might be exposed to coverage denials because they let their policy lapse for a few months.

"It came down to people who didn't like 'Obamacare' realizing this was going to take away their chances for coverage," said former Rep. Henry Waxman, a Los Angeles Democrat who helped write much of the 2010 overhaul under former President Barack Obama.
A "steady stream" of tourists left a North Carolina island Saturday under evacuation orders prompted by a widespread power outage, wiping out a significant chunk of the lucrative summer months for local businesses.

It could take days or weeks to repair an underground transmission line damaged early Thursday by construction crews working on a new bridge between islands. The construction company drove a steel casing into an underground transmission line, causing blackouts on Ocracoke and Hatteras islands.

Cars lined up Friday to get on ferries, the only way off Ocracoke Island, after about 10,000 tourists were ordered Thursday evening to evacuate. A second order for visitors to Hatteras Island, south of Oregon Inlet, meant up to 60,000 additional people had to evacuate starting Saturday, primarily north over the inlet bridge.

Aaron Howe cooks in the dark kitchen at the Island Convenience Store in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island, N.C., on Friday, July 28, 2017. An estimated 10,000 tourists face a noon deadline Friday for evacuating the island on North Carolina's Outer Banks after a construction company caused a power outage, leaving people searching for a place to eat, stay cool or to resume interrupted vacations. Howe says it is the only place in town to get a meal. (Steve Earley /The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

As of 2 p.m. Saturday, North Carolina ferries had evacuated about 3,800 people and 1,500 cars from both islands, according to Gov. Roy Cooper's office.

Cooper said he called local officials to pledge state help.

"We'll do all we can to get repairs moving," he said in a release.

Excavation at the site revealed Saturday that one of three underground transmission cables that supply the islands' power is missing a 2-foot section. A timetable for repairs won't be known until crews determine whether either of the other cables, still buried as of Saturday afternoon, was damaged, according to Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative.

Dare County spokeswoman Dorothy Hester had no estimate for how many people still needed to leave Hatteras Island.

"We realize people are disappointed. They brought a lot of stuff here. They're packing up and moving out," she said. "While disappointed, they're going to make their way home."

Roughly 80 percent of the islands' tourism stems from vacation rentals, and the order coincides with the customary Saturday turnover for weekly home rentals, so those people would be leaving anyway. The big question is when visitors can get to homes already rented for upcoming weeks in the height of tourism season, said Lee Nettles, director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau.

While villages north of the bridge may benefit from some displaced tourists, others "got the message and are staying home," he said.

The order barring inbound tourists did not apply to Hatteras Island's roughly 6,000 year-round residents or to other property owners.

"Residents are fine. We all know how to pull together," said Angela Conner Tawes, manager of Conner's Supermarket, a third-generation grocery store in Buxton, which delivered about 90 barbeque sandwiches to utility workers for lunch. "But financially for us, losing time in August is a big deal. This is when we make our money for the year. We're just holding our breath and waiting."

As of Saturday afternoon, tourists were still shopping at the store, which has kept regular hours thanks to its two large generators. One unknown is whether the store will get its Tuesday scheduled delivery, Tawes said.

"Until we know something, we're trying not to fret too much," she said.

The island's regular summer fish fry went on Saturday evening since organizers ordered the fish before the evacuation call was made Friday. Now they're just hoping to recoup their costs. They had foregone the normal plate fees, feeding whoever showed up with whatever they want to pay, if anything.

"It's better for it to be eaten than go to waste," said Mary Ellon Ballance, president of the Ladies' Auxiliary of Hatteras Village Volunteer Fire Department, one of four groups that hold the weekly fundraiser. "This is like a dry hurricane for us - the aftermath of a hurricane without the destruction."

Balance said Saturday that they had a great turnout for the event.

The utility is supplying temporary power to residents, businesses and emergency services with diesel and portable generators.

But conservation measures were still mandatory, which include barring the running of air conditioners and hot tubs, Hester said.

Business owners were upset that the disaster was caused by human error, not Mother Nature.

"It's a hard pill to swallow that someone forgot where the power cable was," said Jason Wells, owner of Jason's Restaurant on Ocracoke Island. "How do you forget where the power cable is?"

Wells said his restaurant, closed by the outage, is missing out on at least $5,000 a day in sales. He said many seasonal businesses close for one-third of the year, making the summer months essential to their bottom lines. His 25 workers typically make between $75 and $250 a day.

"So when you take this hit in July and factor in that you're only open eight months out of the year, it's big," he said. "It's a lot more than people even realize."

He estimated that total losses for shops, hotels and restaurants on the island could easily top $100,000 per day.

Vacationers head north on NC 12 on Hatteras Island, N.C., on Friday, July 28, 2017. An estimated 10,000 tourists face a noon deadline Friday for evacuating the island on North Carolina's Outer Banks after a construction company caused a power outage, leaving people searching for a place to eat, stay cool or to resume interrupted vacations. (Steve Earley/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

Customers enter the darkened Island Convenience Store in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island, N.C., on Friday, July 28, 2017. An estimated 10,000 tourists face a noon deadline Friday for evacuating the island on North Carolina's Outer Banks after a construction company caused a power outage, leaving people searching for a place to eat, stay cool or to resume interrupted vacations. (Steve Earley /The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

Passengers ride the ferry back from Ocracoke to Hatteras, N.C. Friday July, 28, 2017. A man-made power outage, not an approaching hurricane, forced 10,000 tourists to flee two North Carolina islands and turned summer vacation into a messy nightmare for many. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

The ferry back from Ocracoke to Hatteras is full Friday July, 28, 2017. in Hatteras, N.C. A man-made power outage, not an approaching hurricane, forced 10,000 tourists to flee two North Carolina islands and turned summer vacation into a messy nightmare for many. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Vicki Harrison walks through Harbor House Seafood in Hatteras, N.C. Friday July, 28, 2017. Even though the power was out, Harbor House was open, keeping the fish cool using ice and a portable generator. A man-made power outage, not an approaching hurricane, forced 10,000 tourists to flee two North Carolina islands and turned summer vacation into a messy nightmare for many. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Shoppers, including Tara Clark, shop at Ocracoke Outfitters in Hatteras, N.C. Friday July, 28, 2017. Even though the power was out, Clark and her kids, who are from Indianapolis, were able to shop and buy souvenirs. The store stayed open without power but only accepted cash for purchases. A man-made power outage, not an approaching hurricane, forced 10,000 tourists to flee two North Carolina islands and turned summer vacation into a messy nightmare for many. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Tara Clark and her children, Eli, 9, and Lucy, 11, shop at Ocracoke Outfitters in Hatteras, N.C. Friday July, 28, 2017. Even though the power was out the three, who are from Indianapolis, were able to shop and buy souvenirs. The store stayed open without power but only accepted cash for purchases. A man-made power outage, not an approaching hurricane, forced 10,000 tourists to flee two North Carolina islands and turned summer vacation into a messy nightmare for many. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Vicki Harrison checks the temperature of the fish display at Harbor House Seafood in Hatteras, N.C. Friday July, 28, 2017. Even though the power was out, Harbor House was open, keeping the fish cool using ice and a portable generator. A man-made power outage, not an approaching hurricane, forced 10,000 tourists to flee two North Carolina islands and turned summer vacation into a messy nightmare for many. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Vicki Harrison adds ice to the fish display at Harbor House Seafood in Hatteras, N.C. Friday July, 28, 2017. Even though the power was out, Harbor House was open, keeping the fish cool using ice and a portable generator. A man-made power outage, not an approaching hurricane, forced 10,000 tourists to flee two North Carolina islands and turned summer vacation into a messy nightmare for many. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Vicki Harrison adds ice to the fish display at Harbor House Seafood in Hatteras, N.C. Friday July, 28, 2017. Even though the power was out, Harbor House was open, keeping the fish cool using ice and a portable generator. A man-made power outage, not an approaching hurricane, forced 10,000 tourists to flee two North Carolina islands and turned summer vacation into a messy nightmare for many. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The family of the Utah woman who was killed aboard a cruise ship off Alaska says it is "devastated" by their loss.

A statement from loved ones of Kristy Manzanares said she was "a devoted mother, daughter, sister and friend."

The FBI said the 39-year-old real estate agent was found dead Tuesday night in a blood-spattered cabin on the Princess Cruises ship. Her husband, Kenneth Manzanares, was arrested and charged with murder. The couple was celebrating their wedding anniversary by taking an Alaska cruise aboard the Emerald Princess.

The family statement also said, "Kristy led by example with her giving heart and we are inspired by the legacy of kindness and optimism she has instilled in her children."
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Wildlife officials are boosting a program to vaccinate raccoons in the wild in an effort prevent the spread of rabies in Maine and northward into Canada.

About 351,000 oral rabies vaccination baits are going to be distributed over a 2,400-square-mile area in northeastern Maine between Aug. 3 and 7, said Emily Spencer, of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That compares to 125,000 doses over a 900-square mile area last year.

One of the reasons for the program's expansion is to prevent the northern spread of raccoon-variant rabies that has been found north of the border in parts of Canada where rabies has been absent for a couple of decades, said Dr. Michele Walsh, Maine state veterinarian.

But the program also benefits Maine, where there already have been 30 cases this year of animal rabies in 15 of Maine's 16 counties, she said.

Those rabies cases include several that made the news including a woman bitten by a rabid fox on her porch in Monmouth and man who battled a crazed fox in Topsham. In another case, a jogger was attacked by a rabid raccoon that she killed with her bare hands in Hope.

The Wildlife Services program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service began the vaccination program in 2003. The program is part of an effort from the Canadian border to Alabama to prevent raccoon rabies from moving into new areas.

There has been an overall decrease in rabies in places like New England, where the oral vaccinations have been distributed to wildlife, said R. Andre Bell, a USDA spokesman.

"For example, through the use of (vaccinations), raccoon rabies has essentially been eliminated from peninsular Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in recent years," he said.

The bait is coated in fishmeal to lure raccoons and is distributed on the ground in populated areas and by air in rural forested areas. The vaccine is harmless to humans and has been tested on more than 60 species of animals including dogs and cats, officials say.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - A fire broke out at a small cake factory in Vietnam's capital on Saturday, killing eight workers and seriously injuring two others.

The fire ripped through the factory in a suburban district of Hanoi on Saturday morning, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. It took firefighters more than an hour to put out the blaze.

An initial investigation showed that the fire started when the ceiling caught fire from welding sparks, the paper said.

Debris litters the interior following a deadly fire in a small cake factory in the suburbs of Hanoi, Vietnam, Saturday, July 29, 2017. The fire killed 8 workers and seriously injured others, according to the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper which reports part of the ceiling collapsed in the fire trapping workers inside. (AP Photo via Vietnam News Agency)

Parts of the ceiling collapsed in the fire, blocking the factory's only exit and trapping the workers inside, according to the paper.

Officials were not available for comment.

Fires are relatively common in Vietnam. Thirteen people were killed in a fire at a karaoke bar in Hanoi in November.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Six people have been killed in a mining accident in northern Colombia.

Authorities said Saturday rescuers had recovered the remains of all those killed at the Los Morochos mine in Buritica, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Medellin.

No details on the cause of the incident have been released.

The director of the area department agency told local media one person was able to escape on his own and remains under observation.

Mining accidents are common in Colombia, where illegal mining generates millions of dollars.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A lone man armed with a machete attacked and wounded a guard at the home of Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto then entered the compound, Kenya's police chief said Saturday.

Specialist forces were deployed to find the intruder, who hid in an unfinished building, police chief Joseph Boinnet said in a statement. It was not clear what happened to the man. Calls to Boinnet's spokesman went unanswered.

According to Capital FM Radio, unknown gunmen struck the home around noon Saturday, moments after Ruto left to campaign with the president for re-election in the Aug. 8 vote. The residence was near Eldoret, a town 194 miles (312 kilometers) northwest of Nairobi.

Analysts have been worried about violence around the election and the Islamist extremist group Al-Shabab recently threatened to disrupt the vote.

Al-Shabab has carried out more than 100 attacks in Kenya since 2011 in retribution for the country sending troops in to Somalia, where the extremists are based.
BEIRUT (AP) - A small number of U.S.-backed rebels have defected and joined government forces south of the country days after the U.S. announced an end to a CIA program that backed opposition fighters, Syrian opposition activists said Saturday.

The defection of at least four rebels came after The Washington Post reported that the White House has decided to halt the CIA supply-and-equip program for Syrian rebels.

U.S. President Donald Trump essentially confirmed the existence of the program and its cancellation Monday night when he lashed out at The Washington Post. The president tweeted that the newspaper "fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting (Syrian President Bashar) Assad."

The defection also came as Col. Ryan Dillon, the spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, told CNN this week that "the coalition supports only those forces committed to fighting" the Islamic State group.

The U.S. has been mainly backing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that have been among the most effective in fighting IS in Syria. SDF fighters are currently trying to capture the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremists, under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.

The chief of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said four members of the Revolution Commando Army defected Thursday.

Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist based in southern Syria, and another activist with wide knowledge about U.S.-backed rebels confirmed the defections on Saturday.

"Some rebel groups were not active and did not go into battle but they were still getting assistance," al-Masalmeh said. He added that the four defected with their weapons and joined government forces.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities or U.S. officials about the reported defection.

Last month, Syrian troops and their Iran-backed allies circled around U.S.-backed rebels and reached the border with Iraq. The move dealt a blow to the declared U.S. mission to defeat IS in the desert region.

Abdurrahman said four others defected and joined the Islamic State group but no other activists confirmed the claim.
ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's newly-elected prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, is a veteran lawmaker and close ally of Nawaz Sharif, who nominated him for the country's top political post after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif on allegations of corruption.

Abbasi, 58, has been elected six times to Pakistan's National Assembly or powerful Lower House of Parliament.

He was first elected to Parliament in 1988 from the mountain resort area of Murree in Pakistan's largest province of Punjab, where 60 percent of Pakistan's 200 million people live.

In this Monday, July 31, 2017 photo, Pakistan's premier-designate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi the Parliament house in Islamabad, Pakistan. Pakistan's lower house of parliament on Tuesday elected Abbasi as the country's new prime minister, less than a week after the Supreme Court disqualified thrice-elected Nawaz Sharif for concealing assets. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

He has served in a variety of Cabinet positions. Most recently he was Petroleum Minister in Sharif's Cabinet until Friday's Supreme Court decision disqualified Sharif and forced the selection of a replacement.
BEIRUT (AP) - The lawyer of a Lebanese man held in Iran since 2015 says his client has ended a 33-day hunger strike.

Majed Dimashkiyeh sent The Associated Press a letter from Nizar Zakka announcing an end to his hunger strike following a request from his children.

Zakka, who has permanent U.S. residency, went missing in 2015, during his fifth trip to Iran. Two weeks later, Iranian state TV reported that he was in custody and suspected of having "deep links" to U.S. intelligence services.

Last September, Zakka was sentenced to 10 years in prison and handed a $4.2 million fine after a security court convicted him of espionage.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives issued a resolution this week calling for Zakka's release.
Detectives investigating the Grenfell Tower fire have reasonable grounds to suspect that corporate manslaughter offences may have been committed, Scotland Yard has said.

In a letter to residents, the force said that senior figures from Kensington and Chelsea Council and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation faced being interviewed by police.

The letter said: We have seized a huge amount of material and taken a large number of witness statements.

After an initial assessment of that information, the officer leading the investigation has today notified Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that each organisation may have committed the offence of corporate manslaughter under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

At least 80 people were killed when the blaze ripped through the 24-storey block of flats in west London on June 14.

It added: In due course, a senior representative of each corporation will be formally interviewed by police in relation to the potential offence.

Here is the letter Grenfell Tower residents received telling them about the developing investigation concerning RBKC and KCTMO pic.twitter.com/krWbKR7nxO  Jack Hardy (@JackHardy9) July 27, 2017

This interview will not take place immediately, since it is important that all relevant facts and information have been gathered before any such interview is conducted.

The force added that the facts were simply an update on the investigation so far, adding: The content of this note should not be taken to conclude that the identified offences and organisations are the only offences, organisations or individuals that are being investigated.

The Metropolitan Police said it was committed to keeping those affected by the fire updated on the investigation.

Grenfell Tower victims: where they were found

It said in a statement: The Met started an investigation into the cause and spread of the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June.

Since then we have stated that it is a criminal investigation, considering the full range of offences from corporate manslaughter to regulatory breaches.

This is a complex and far reaching investigation that by its very nature will take a considerable time to complete.

The Met has made a commitment to the families who lost loved ones in the fire and survivors that they will be kept updated, as far as we possibly can, as the investigation continues. As is routine, we will not give a running commentary on this investigation.

Grenfell Tower

Kensington and Chelsea Council leader Nicholas Paget-Brown and his deputy Rock Feilding-Mellen resigned amid fierce criticism of the councils response to the disaster.

Robert Black, chief executive of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which manages Grenfell Tower, also stepped down so he could concentrate on assisting with the investigation and inquiry.

Responding to the letter to residents, newly elected council leader Elizabeth Campbell said: Our residents deserve answers about the Grenfell Tower fire and the police investigation will provide these.

Elizabeth Campbell

We fully support the Metropolitan Police investigation and we will co-operate in every way we can.

It would not be appropriate to comment further on matters subject to the police investigation.

Joe Delany, who lives in a block adjoining the tower and has worked with the Grenfell Action Group, told the Press Association: I think everyone has more cautious scepticism than cautious optimism, its one thing to announce this investigation is going on  which is totally different from a prosecution being brought, which is completely different to a conviction being achieved.

Also, one thing we have never seen in this country are individuals prosecuted under corporate manslaughter because it is always hard to find the controlling mind.

I do hope that this case would prove to be the exception, rather than the rule.
A total of 54 people have been injured after a morning commuter train crashed into the buffers in a station in north-eastern Barcelona, Catalan officials said.

Regional health chief Antoni Comi said 51 people were taken to hospital after the incident in Francia station, one of whom was in a serious condition.

He said there were no immediate details on the cause of the accident, which happened at 7.15am local time (6.15am BST).

In the immediate aftermath of the accident, emergency services gave several different figures for the number of passengers injured.

Passenger Said Saharaui said: When the train arrived at Francia station it applied the brakes, but at the same time it made a noisy crash.

(Adrian Quiroga/AP)

The passengers were thrown to the floor.

Even though the train did brake, it wasnt until the crash when it reached a full stop.

The trains nose and the area between its first and second car suffered damage.

An injured passenger is taken away on a stretcher

RENFE rail company spokesman Antonio Carmona said there were no immediate details on the cause of the accident. The train had began its journey at the coastal town of Sant Vicenc de Calders, south of Barcelona.

Mr Comi said some 18 emergency service units were deployed.

We were able to attend to the injured very quickly, he said.

An injured passenger is taken away on a stretcher

The accident came as RENFE rail workers staged a one-day strike. The affected train was running as part of minimum services ordered by the public works ministry.

Friday saw many people beginning their summer holidays, with Barcelona and its surrounding towns perennially popular destinations.

Francia is Barcelonas second main train station after Sants, which handles the bullet train and most inter-city services.
Moscow has ordered a reduction in the number of US diplomats in Russia and will close down an American recreation retreat in response to fresh sanctions from Washington.

This comes after the US senate approved a new package of stiff financial sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, before sending it to President Donald Trump to sign.

The legislation bars Mr Trump from easing or waiving the penalties on Russia unless congress agrees.

The USA must send a strong message to Putin & any other aggressor that we will not tolerate attacks on our democracy #RussiaSanctions pic.twitter.com/g3v5IP8CDY  John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) July 27, 2017

The Russian foreign ministry said that in response it has ordered the US embassy in Russia to reduce the number of its diplomats by September 1.

Russia will also close down the embassys recreational retreat on the outskirts of Moscow as well as warehouse facilities.

The US legislation is aimed at punishing Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria, where the Kremlin has backed President Bashar Assad.

The Senate just sent a clear & decisive message: Don't meddle in our elections. We stand united against Putin.  Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 27, 2017

The Russian foreign ministry said the number of US diplomats was being cut to 455.

Relations between Russia and the United States dropped to a post-Cold War low following Russias annexation of Crimea and interference in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Reports of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election have dampened hopes for better ties which the Kremlin had pinned on Mr Trumps presidency.

The new package of sanctions aims to hit President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle by targeting alleged corrupt officials, human rights abusers and crucial sectors of the Russian economy, including weapons sales and energy exports.

Im very pleased that the Senate has overwhelmingly passed the Russia, Iran, and North Korea Sanctions Act.  Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 27, 2017

This sends a powerful statement to the strongman thug in Russia, the religious Nazis in Iran, and the crazy dictator in North Korea.  Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 27, 2017

It was a good day for freedom and a bad day for oppression. I look forward to this legislation soon becoming law  Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 27, 2017

The bill underwent revisions to address concerns voiced by American oil and natural gas companies that sanctions specific to Russias energy sector could backfire on them to Moscows benefit.

Adjustments were made so that the sanctions on Russias energy sector did not undercut the ability of US allies in Europe to get access to oil and gas resources outside of Russia.

Russias foreign ministry dismissed the new sanctions as creating unfair competitive advantages for the US economy.

This kind of blackmail aimed at restricting the cooperation between Russia and other nations is a threat for many countries and global businesses, the statement said.

Vladimir Putin (Alexei Nikolsky/AP)

Russias response mirrors moves by outgoing US president Barack Obama last December to expel 35 Russian diplomats and shut down two Russian estates in the US.

Moscow said it would cut the US diplomatic corps even further if the US decides to expel more Russian diplomats.

The Kremlin had previously said that it would not impose any sanctions on the US until Mr Trump signs the bill.
US attorney general Jeff Sessions has said he intends to stay in the job and fight for President Donald Trumps agenda.

Mr Sessions said he and Mr Trump have a harmony of values and beliefs.

Jeff Sessions (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

His remarks come after a week of being branded weak and ineffective in public by Mr Trump.

Mr Sessions spoke about his job during a trip to El Salvador to increase international cooperation against the MS-13 gang.

Jeff Sessions stops to look at cell conditions during a tour of local police station and detention centre in San Salvador, El Salvador (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

The former Alabama senator said he serves at the pleasure of the president and will remain at the head of the justice department until Mr Trump decides otherwise.

Mr Trump remains upset that Mr Sessions recused himself months ago from the investigation into interactions between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.
Prince Harry buoyed the spirits of volunteers helping with the Grenfell Tower relief effort with a visit to the sorting hub for mountains of donations.

Harry was seen smiling and chatting to British Red Cross workers who have taken over a Royal Mail site in Greenford, north-west London.

During a 50-minute private visit on Thursday, Harry also talked to the Royal Mail staff who have facilitated the operation with the charity.

Prince Harry speaks to volunteers.

According to the British Red Cross, volunteers have so far sifted through around 62 tonnes of donations, with 10 tonnes having gone back to those affected in the west London neighbourhood.

They include clothes, bedding and toiletries, it said.

Hundreds were left destitute when a fire ripped through the 24-storey building on June 14, killing at least 80 people.

Adele Hampton, 51, has been volunteering between shifts as an auxiliary nurse, travelling from her home in Kent to help.

Thank you His Royal Highness Prince Harry for meeting Red Cross & community volunteers who are helping those affected by the #Grenfell fire. pic.twitter.com/hnYvZ2Vzc8  British Red Cross  (@BritishRedCross) July 28, 2017

She said after meeting Harry: His visit is a boost and recognition  not that we want recognition, we dont, but for someone in such a position to care enough to take time out to come and see us means a lot.

I wouldnt say it makes it worthwhile, what makes it worthwhile is making sure the victims get support. But when someone like Prince Harry comes down here, its lovely and genuine. He wanted to talk to everybody.

The charity said on its website excess donations were being sold in its high-street shops, with the money raised going to its London Fire Relief Fund, which so far has raised more than 3.2 million.

It reported that some 850 volunteers had contributed 5,100 hours of their time sorting donations since the end of June.

A Kensington Palace spokeswoman said on Thursday: Prince Harry wanted to visit the volunteers who have given many hours of their time to help sort through the huge number of donations made to the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.

His Royal Highness was moved to hear how generous the public and businesses have been in donating all kinds of items to those affected; he thanked the teams from the British Red Cross and the Royal Mail who have worked tirelessly to sort through the donations.
A married couple who pilot British Airways flights together have described how sharing a cockpit helps their relationship.

Hugo and Hannah Webb, who have two young children, say it is great fun to fly side by side.

Speaking ahead of their latest joint flight, from London Heathrow to Milan on Friday, Mrs Webb, 34, told the Press Association: It certainly helps that we can discuss and understand each others jobs.

Hugo and Hannah Webb fly together around once every few months (Stuart Bailey/British Airways/PA)

We both appreciate the demands of the flying lifestyle. On an operational level, its no different from flying with anyone else.

Mr Webb, 32, said: We are both short-haul pilots and try to get home most nights of the month, although a few nights away can be a nice break from the daily commute.

The couple, from Alresford, Hampshire, fly together around once every few months.

BA captain Mr Webb said he does not tell passengers he is married to the first officer when they are both in the cockpit.

Although I introduce Hannah at the beginning of the flight, I have never mentioned she is my wife, he explained. I suppose some customers may guess.

Hugo and Hannah Webb

Asked if she was hoping to marry a fellow pilot before meeting her now-husband at a flying school 12 years ago, Mrs Webb replied: Not at all!

Being a short-haul pilot is a great profession to have as a working parent, she said. The shift patterns allow us to see our children both during the week and on the weekends.

We have taken our children on a few work trips. Our son came to Milan and our daughter joined us in Lisbon for a couple of nights.

They joined BA in 2011 and married the following year.

Mr Webb was inspired to become a pilot after his father, Nigel, founded a charity to support a network of air ambulances across the UK.

He said: One day I was relied upon to play the part of patient in a flying demonstration, and although I wish to never go in an air ambulance again, it gave me the first spark for flying.

His wife revealed that she has had a burning desire to go abroad since her childhood, and knew she wanted to travel for a living after saving up for three years to visit Australia as a 16-year-old.

The couple operate Airbus A320 aircraft on routes across the UK and Europe.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has told Donald Trump we are not schoolchildren, in the wake of attacks on him by the US president.

Mr Khan said he did not know what Mr Trumps beef was with him after the president launched a Twitter tirade against him in the aftermath of the London Bridge terror attack.

The mayor told the Guardian: Im a reluctant participant in this dialogue with Donald Trump, because Im trying to be a full-time mayor doing my job, and Im not sure what he and his son have against me, and why they are tweeting about me.

Donald Trump and Sadiq Khan

Were not schoolchildren. Hes the president of the United States, so Im unclear what his beef is with me."

President Trump's ban on refugees and immigrants from certain countries is shameful and cruel. The USA has a proud... Posted by Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan on Sunday, January 29, 2017

In the wake of the deadly June attacks, Mr Khan said Londoners should not be alarmed by visibly increased security on the streets of the capital.

In response, Mr Trump tweeted: At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is `no reason to be alarmed!"
A man has appeared in court accused of an acid attack which inflicted life-changing injuries on two men.

Rahad Hussain, 23, allegedly doused the pair  aged 23 and 24  with corrosive liquid while they sat in a car in Bethnal Green, east London, on Tuesday July 25.

The victims, Mohammed Afzal Hushain Ahmed and Mohammad Shakwat Hussain, were taken to hospital after flagging down police in Roman Road at around 7pm.

Two men are treated at the side of the road in Bethnal Green, east London, after a suspected acid attack (Chris Lennon/@lennon8t2/PA)

Hussain appeared at Thames Magistrates Court on Saturday, charged with two counts of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and one count of possessing an offensive weapon, namely a bottle of acid.

He wore a loose-fitting grey T-shirt, and gave his address as Colebert House, Colebert Avenue, Tower Hamlets.

He was remanded in custody to appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Tuesday August 29. He gave no indication of a plea.
The family of a black man who died after a police chase have made a fresh plea for peace on the streets following violent clashes in east London.

Demonstrators blocked Kingsland Road in Hackney with wheelie bins, mattresses and debris on Friday afternoon  with bottles and fireworks later being thrown at officers as the growing anger bubbled over into the night.

Rashan Charles, 20, died in hospital last Saturday.

Unverified footage on social media appeared to show at least one police officer attempting to restrain him on the floor of a shop at 1.45am, close to where the protest was being held.

Outside Stoke Newington police station on Saturday, his father Esa gathered with the family of Edson Da Costa  who died last month, six days after being detained by police  for a vigil organised by Stand Up To Racism.

Stafford Scott, who stood next to Mr Charles and spoke on behalf of the family, directly addressed the young people who protested the night before, and said that they understand their anger and frustration.

Makeshift road blocks on fire at a protest in Kingsland Road (Lauren Hurley/PA)

The Metropolitan Police said a 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily over the disorder, while an officer, who suffered an eye injury, remains fit for duty.

Detective Superintendent Claire Crawley said: The disorder of last night was separate from the peaceful protest at Stoke Newington police station that was held earlier that day.

Police dealt with an outbreak of disorder following a planned peaceful protest in #Hackney https://t.co/pfBj1OLc6U pic.twitter.com/yymQzJWmRQ  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) July 29, 2017

Dont feel that the family dont feel that anger and that frustration too. But what the family knows is that taking it to the streets doesnt give you justice, he said.

Mr Scott said the family have found the best legal support they can and are now asking the community to support them in their struggle but with peace on the streets.

No justice, no peace doesnt mean violence  it means we will not watch this in silence, he added on their behalf.

A lorry attempts to drive through makeshift road blocks (Lauren Hurley/PA)

Shadow home secretary and Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott told the crowd she felt it was important to attend the vigil to show her support for the families and parents of Mr Da Costa and Mr Charles.

That is the call that every parent dreads. The call that tells you that your young child has died in those sorts of circumstances, she said.

Ms Abbott said she agreed with what was said about the importance of peace on the streets, and added: Violence is not the answer.

Mattresses and wheelie bins have been set alight at the barricade as night falls pic.twitter.com/nzqFgbgr8M  Sally Wardle (@sally_wardle) July 28, 2017

But I am here to assure the parents and assure the community that I will stand by the parents in their fight for the truth.

Most of us will have seen the video and there are questions to be answered, and I will not rest until those questions are answered.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) watchdog is investigating the events leading to the death of Mr Charles.

Anyone following #justiceforrash/ #justiceforrashan - please see and share our update on the progress of our independent investigation https://t.co/cKDhEpYALf  Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) (@policeconduct) July 28, 2017

Those in the crowd at the vigil could be heard chanting no justice, no peace as they called for the police officer who arrested Mr Charles to be suspended.

Ginario Da Costa, the father of Edson, also spoke to the crowd of more than 50, and told the Charles family they know what they are going through.

My son also suffered at the hands of the police and, like Rashan, is no longer with us today, he said.

We will continue to fight for justice, not only for justice for Edson and Rashan  for all those young black people, many who are being killed in police custody.

Placards at a protest at Stoke Newington police station. (Lauren Hurley/PA)

Mr Da Costa died on June 21, six days after he was detained by police during a traffic stop.

Campaigners claim Mr Da Costas neck was broken and that he was brutally beaten after the car, containing three people, was halted in Woodcocks, Beckton.

His death is also being investigated by the IPCC, which has revealed an early pathology report shows he had a number of packages in his throat when he died.
A Jet2 plane has made two emergency landings in as many weeks.

The aircraft was flying from Ibiza to Leeds when it was diverted to Barcelona on July 16.

On Friday, it was diverted to Frankfurt during a flight from Newcastle to Prague.

(Owen Humphreys/PA)

A spokesman for the airline insisted passenger safety had not been compromised and said the plane had been grounded while engineers investigate a technical fault.

We would like to emphasise that at no point was the safety of passengers compromised, a Jet2 spokesman said.

On landing, our crew liaised with everyone on board to ensure their welfare. Over the next few days our most senior engineers will be investigating the aircraft fully.

At this stage it is too early in the process to comment on the cause of the technical fault. We would like to apologise to our customers, as safety is always our highest priority.
Englands Jordan Smith could not hide his excitement ahead of taking a two-shot lead into the final round of the Porsche European Open.

The 2014 Walker Cup player from Bath shot a third round 67 in Hamburg to boost his chances of a first European Tour victory.

Im over the moon, I played lovely from tee to green and putted really nicely, Smith said.

Jordan Smith shoots a 67 at the Porsche European Open

70 - 67 - 67 for Jordan Smith, who leads by two into the final round.#PEO17 pic.twitter.com/FTG3zFJjkw  DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 29, 2017

Obviously its long and thankfully theyve put the tees forward because its playing soft, so its just planning your route around the course and taking advantage of the par fives where you can.

Im very excited. Its been a while since Ive been in the final group so Im looking forward to it.

Smiths five birdies took him to 12 under par and two clear of defending champion Alex Levy and Swede Jens Fahrbring.

Overnight leader Ashley Chesters led for much of the day, but missed several key putts on the back nine to finish with a one-over 72.

Jordan Smith's World Ranking rise 



2015, Week 30 - 1,619th

2016, Week 30 - 231st

2017, Week 30 - 121st



(With a  here could move to 82nd) pic.twitter.com/9fGTWm8BtH  DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 29, 2017

Chesters held a one-shot lead when the weather-affected second round was completed on Saturday morning and converted from inside five feet on the first hole of his third round to get to double figures.

The 27-year-old two-time European Amateur champion dropped his first shot of the week at the next when he left a chip from off the green eight feet short.

But he got the shot back at the third and back-to-back gains at the seventh and eighth - the latter after hitting his tee shot to within a foot - briefly sent him three clear.

However, bogeys at the ninth, 16th and 18th checked his progress, and Smith took full advantage.

We have a new leader... 



Step forward @Jsmithgolf. pic.twitter.com/bX7TqpvnxM  DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 29, 2017

Smith took the lead for the first time on the 15th and a superb iron to the final green set up a simple two-putt birdie.

Home favourite Marcel Siem marked his his 400th European Tour appearance with an ace on the 17th to win one of the tournament sponsors models.

The German holed his seven-iron to the 170-yard penultimate hole, the ball flying straight into the cup off the flagstick.

As well as the boost to his scorecard - Siem shot a 73 to lie three-under par - the 37 year-old also won a Porsche Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo worth 158,604 euros (141,927).
North Koreas testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile has been condemned by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

The Foreign Secretary warned Pyongyang that Britain and its allies would confront the growing threat posed by the country.

Mr Johnson said: The UK strongly condemns North Koreas second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile and calls on the regime to immediately stop all activity that breaches UN Security Council resolutions.

(Rick Rycroft/AP/PA)

We strongly condemn intercontinental ballistic missile test by #NorthKorea. It is a serious breach of UNSC resolutions  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 29, 2017

The UK will stand alongside our allies and partners as we confront the growing threat North Korea poses to regional and international security. Once again North Korea shows no regard for its international obligations.

We urge the DPRK regime to put the well-being of its own people ahead of the illegal pursuit of nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

The intervention came after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said the second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile demonstrated his country can now hit the US mainland.
ANKARA, July 28 (Reuters) - Turkey will hold a reverse auction on the energy ministry's wind power project tender next week, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak said on Friday.

Eight consortia, including German giant Siemens, Enercon and Denmark's Vestas, participated in the project's tender on Thursday, an official from the energy ministry told Reuters.

The project will involve the construction of a 1,000 MW power plant and wind turbines, which will increase Turkey's wind energy production by 17 percent. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by David Dolan)
By Mark Weinraub

CHICAGO, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat futures rose on Friday, buoyed by signs of poor yields in drought-hit U.S. spring wheat belts, but the benchmark Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat contract was still headed for a third straight weekly loss as U.S. crop troubles were set against ample global supplies.

Corn and soybeans firmed on concerns about a dry weather forecast in some growing areas of the U.S. Midwest.

"The six to 10-day weather forecast shows average temperatures across the Corn Belt and above-average temperatures in the northern Plains," Derek Hullett at CHS Hedging said in a research note. "Precipitation is unlikely as we head into the month of August."

CBOT September soft red winter wheat futures ended up 1-1/4 cents at $4.81 a bushel. MGEX spring wheat was 4 cents higher at $7.40-1/2 a bushel.

Hot and dry weather during the growing season slashed yield prospects for U.S. hard red spring wheat to the lowest in nearly a decade, according to results from the Wheat Quality Councils' annual tour of North Dakota, the top production state for the crop.

The findings of the tour have helped wheat prices gain footing after falling this week to their lowest since late June. But signs of large harvests in other major exporters like Russia have served as a reminder of ample global supplies.

"Dry conditions in spring wheat areas will provoke a significant drop in harvest potential in the U.S.," consultancy Agritel said, adding, however: "The competition between all players of the Black Sea (region) should be fierce ... considering the size of the volumes collected."

CBOT November soybean futures were up 5-1/2 cents at $10.13 a bushel and CBOT December corn settled 1/4 cent higher at $3.88 a bushel.

Soybeans generated additional strength from a rally in the soyoil market. Soyoil hit its highest in more than six months after a court ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency erred when setting standards for how much renewable fuel must be included in fuel sold in the United States.

Gains in corn were kept in check after hitting technical resistance at the 10-day moving average.

For the week, corn futures dropped 1.1 percent and soybean futures fell 1.0 percent. CBOT soft red winter wheat was down 3.6 percent this week while MGEX spring wheat was down 3.1 percent. (Additional reporting by Colin Packham in Sydney and Gus Trompiz in Paris; Editing by Dan Grebler and Grant McCool)
BOGOTA, July 28 (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Friday the Andean country will not recognize the result of an "illegitimate" assembly vote in neighboring Venezuela, amid opposition concerns that the election will lead to dictatorship.

"This constituent assembly has an illegitimate origin, and because of that, we cannot recognize its result," said Santos, speaking at an education event and repeating a call for a peaceful solution to unrest in Venezuela.

Relations between the South American neighbors have been tense for years. Venezuela has closed the border several times in a crackdown on smugglers and it deported hundreds of Colombians it accused of criminal activities in 2015.

Some families were leaving Venezuela ahead of the Sunday vote for a controversial legislative superbody, which will have the power to rewrite the constitution and dissolve state institutions.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said the election for a 545-member assembly will bring peace to the country after four months of opposition protests and clashes with security forces, in which at least 111 people have been killed. Opposition parties are boycotting the vote.

Colombia also said on Friday it would give special visa extensions to more than 150,000 Venezuelans who have over-stayed their permits.

The visa measure, effective immediately, will apply to Venezuelans with expired temporary visas as well as those with tourist visas who wish to remain, the foreign ministry and migration authority said in a joint statement. The extension lasts for 90 days and can be renewed for up to two years.

The measure may also be an effort by Colombia to get a handle on just how many Venezuelans are living in the country with expired or tourist permits.

Venezuelans fleeing acute food shortages, high crime and political unrest have flooded across the border to Colombia in recent years. Some visit to buy groceries, while others begin lives from scratch, often working informally and without residency visas.

Venezuelans will have 90 days to apply for the visa extension. Those without entry stamps in their passports and people with criminal records or already in the process of being deported will not be eligible.

"This measure is meant to help Venezuelan citizens who have complied with migration rules but due to different factors currently find themselves in an irregular situation or have permissions that are about to expire," the statement said.

The extensions "should be understood by migrants as Colombia's vote of confidence in them," Christian Kruger, the head of Colombia's migration authority said in the statement. (Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Tom Brown)
By Alan Baldwin

BUDAPEST, July 29 (Reuters) - Williams handed Paul di Resta a surprise Formula One comeback on Saturday, nearly four years after his last start, after Brazilian Felipe Massa felt too dizzy to compete in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The 31-year-old Scot started 58 races for Force India between 2011 and November 2013, with a best result of fourth place.

He was in Hungary anyway as a reserve driver and also as a replacement in the Sky Sports television commentary box for former racer Martin Brundle, who fell ill at Silverstone two weeks ago.

Massa had gone to hospital for tests on Friday after feeling unwell in practice but reported for duty on Saturday morning and was passed fit.

The team said he then decided to cut the final practice session short after 12 laps.

"He...has made the decision to withdraw from the weekend," Williams said in a statement.

"Williams supports Felipes decision and the team will work with him to ensure he makes a full recovery, with a view to return to the race track for the Belgian Grand Prix."

Di Resta has not driven the 2017 car before, other than in the simulator, but has driven a 2014 Williams. He faces a monumental task in being pitched straight into qualifying with no practice.

"You go straight in the deep end. It's a tricky little track. You have to be very committed and confident," he had said before the confirmation that he would be in the cockpit.

Di Resta will still be the more experienced man alongside 18-year-old Canadian rookie Lance Stroll.

"Paul is a very experienced, seasoned racing driver," said deputy team principal Claire Williams. "He competes in DTM (the German Touring Car championship), he's very close with the team and comes to every race with us.

"He takes part in every engineering briefing session and he was aware of this situation last night," she told reporters in the paddock.

"He's in debrief with the engineers now and is with Felipe. We're going to do everything we can to make sure in 60 minutes he's ready to take part this afternoon."

Massa had been due to leave Formula One at the end of last season but returned after Valtteri Bottas moved to Mercedes as replacement for retired 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg.

Hungary has been a race of special significance for the Brazilian since he suffered near-fatal head injuries after being hit on the helmet by a bouncing spring during qualifying in 2009.

The then-Ferrari driver spent several days in hospital in an induced coma after that incident. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Nick Mulvenney and Pritha Sarkar)
I remember in the wonderful era of childhood before TV, our parents used to deluge with questions, riddles, songs which were composite questions. One hovered around the community solving it with other children. I wish I could transfer that sense of play and excitement to the problem-solving approaches we employ as adults turning every problem mode of understanding to a dismal science.

Opportunity

To me, the most dismal and illiterate of such sciences is international relations and security studies. They seem like Victorian disciplines corseted by ideas of aggression and war, where peace appears like a form of unemployment. In fact, security experts project their insecurities onto the subject, turning war into a perpetually iatrogenic exercise, where the expert is often the source of the disease.

When I look at the way India and China think of their relationships, I am astonished at their belligerence and the continuity of rhetorical chorus. Let us turn the problem into an opportunity. The danger is, can India become more securitarian, more like China as we face the issues of peace and war. Should we imitate China or in facing China can we add to the survival and imagination of Indian democracy?

Secondly, can we add something to the Chinese imaginations in this process? One thing is common today as nation states pursuing development and security; both China and India have been indifferent to the cost of human life. The question is, are we still civilisations or have we been reduced to nation states with little or no value frameworks.

To put it bluntly, can we outthink China? Or are two countries as nation states growing to be the great polluters, seed beds of new authoritarian styles rooted in current megalomania of nation states.

As one sees it now, China plans to be an authoritarian America open to consumption and literacy. As a mentality, it is the last remaining empire in the world. Its ambitions make Britain, USA look modest. The question is, do we want to be like China, a threat to the idea of freedom or can we become an alternative paradigm for the future.

Right now, neither country seems equipped for the future. They have different models of change. China moves from one paradigm to another, regardless of cost or democracy. It is a totalitarian regime that can be brutal about change. My question is how do we battle this gargantuan China of the future?

The responses are not easy because we have to think about the authoritarianism within ourselves. China is an opportunity for rethinking the way we have constructed the frontier, the way we have treated the tribes and our unquestioning acceptance of violence in the name of security. The removal of AFSPA is the first step. Thinking of it incrementally only increases the China in us. By opening out to new versions of democracy, India, in fact, makes the challenge sharper, not in a confrontational sense but in terms of plural visions of decent societies.

Relevance

As we introspect about our societies, our civilisations and our democracy, we need to be more open to China. China, I suggest, should be part of the general education of every Indian. I think today a cosmopolitan India must know about China, Africa and Latin America and celebrate them. We have to recreate a new UNESCO between our three continents, understand and celebrate China as a relevant other. In an anthropological and ontological sense, we have to recognise that we are not complete without China. As neighbours, we are trustees to Chinese civilisation.

While being open to China, we have to look at it for future hypothesis, examine what a dialogue of civilisations between us would mean today. We also have to be open to the varieties of China beyond China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the huge NRI Chinese population across the world. China can be a mirror to the way both our societies imitate the West. Can understanding China help us stop being a mimic edition to the West?

Perspective

Third, a debate between India and China has to be a debate about how we construct our cities, how each of us has been creative or obtuse about our informal economies. Years ago, during the enquiries of the Indian Industrial Commission, Alfred Chatterton, the great engineer, complained that by heart was an Indian word and that Indians had by hearted the British. We by hearted the English language, adopted Shakespeare, the Bill of Rights, the Magna Carta. I think we should by heart China to understand what an Indian other would be like.

This project should be cast as the classic opening of the Indian mind to other possibilities. The Chinese so far have shown a better sense of the long run, the capacity of a society to think in terms of 100 or 1000 years. It changes the way you think of everything from roads to livelihoods. While China is committed to development, India must insist on a pluralistic path which keeps nomad, tribal, pastoral and other marginal ways alive.

Both societies face the major challenge around education. Is the massified Chinese model with its obsession for ranking the way or can India create a more playful, plural system which suits our genius. China and India in that sense become a comparative study in choices of how large societies look at larger issues. It is only within this wider context of perspective can security sustain a sense of literacy. Our reports on the border are too predictable, our imagination too barricaded with barbed wires. Rather than play Punch and Judy of a new genocidal system, it is time India/China think of more creative ways to live in peace.
Suleiman Khan was super-excited. He phoned his close friend Anwar Shaikh. Im in Qatar, he exclaimed.

Anwar was taken aback. Qatar? I thought Saudi Arabia had closed its land border and air space to Qatar.

No, no, Anwarbhai, said Suleiman. I flew from Riyadh to Islamabad to meet my brother-in-laws sister-in-law and from there came to Qatar. Now Im planning to fly from Doha to Delhi to meet you and catch up with all this talk of nepotism thats creating such a stir in India.

Ah, you mean all that buzz about Sonia Gandhis son Rahul Gandhi still supporting Lalu Yadavs son Tejashwi Yadav - 

Suleiman cut Anwar off mid-sentence. No, Anwarbhai, I meant the open letters by Saif Ali Khan and Kangana Ranaut over nepotism in Bollywood.

Anwar laughed. Oh, that. Look, Saif, Karan Johar and Varun Dhawan were right about it being a storm in a tea cup. It was just a joke at a film awards function. Dont make an issue of it. Anyway, Saif and Kareena are now on holiday in Gstaad in Switzerland. Let them be.

Suleiman rolled his eyes as he replied: Anwarbhai, I thought Kanganas open letter to Saifbhai was quite an eye-opener. She made some pretty strong points. I especially liked the bit about being the flagbearers of hope rather than the flagbearers of nepotism.

Come now, Suleiman, Anwar said, Youre over-reacting. Just like Kangana was. Karan, Saif and Varun were just poking fun at themselves when they said nepotism rocks. It wasnt aimed at Kangana who we know has come up the hard way.

Suleiman waited till his friend had finished before saying softly, She really has come up the hard way, Anwarbhai. She arrived in Mumbai from a small pahadi town in Himachal. People in Bollywood mocked her accent, made fun of her behind her back, not unlike Saif, Karan and Varun did in New York - behind her back.

Suleiman, Anwar said tersely, Saif and Karan are great guys  

"These dynasts always stick together. Just like all of Bollywoods dynasts are speaking up for Saif and Karan and boycotting Kangana."

Suleiman again cut him off. Yes Anwarbhai, Im sure they are and that they know how Kangana looked after her sister Rangoli after an acid attack on her by a stalker that disfigured her. She had to go through 57 surgeries and it was Kangana who stood by her throughout  

It was Anwars turn to interrupt Suleiman. My, my Suleiman, you know more about Bollywood than I could have ever imagined.

Suleiman smiled. He tucked his mobile phone closer to his ear as he replied, looking over his shoulder at the stream of cars passing by beneath his hotel room on Dohas scrubbed streets: You know, Anwarbhai, Ive become used to nepotism here in the Gulf. In Saudi, there are 500 princes who think their power is a god-given right. See how theyre bullying little Qatar which too is ruled by fellow-dynasts. So Ive seen how nepotism works first hand. The lashings, the lack of freedoms, the arrogance. Thats why I thought Karan, Saif and Varun were so out of line.

Anwar was silent for a moment. Sure, Suleiman, nepotism and dynasty have their downside but see how well it works in Indian politics. Where would we be without the Gandhis, the Yadavs, the Pawars, the Hoodas, the Scindias, the Abdullahs, the Patnaiks  

Suleiman again cut him short. There was an unusual edge to his voice: Wed have been a developed country without them by now, Anwarbhai, 70 years after Independence, not one of the poorest nations on earth after seven decades of being ruled by political dynasties.

Anwar tried to calm his agitated friend. Now, now, Suleiman, dynastys not all that bad. Why, even the BJP has its dynasts. Look at Vasundhara Raje, Rajnath Singhs son Pankaj, and a few others.

Those are exceptions, not the rule, said Suleiman. But Anwarbhai, this isnt about politics. Im no fan of the BJP and the illiberal social ideas of the Sangh Parivar. But what Kangana meant is that we must oppose this overbearing sense of entitlement, whether its in Bollywood or politics - anywhere.

Just then the news anchor on the TV set in Suleimans hotel room announced breaking news from India.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had met the JD(U)s Sharad Yadav who was unhappy about Nitish Kumars return to the NDA fold and had wanted but failed to wean away Muslim and Yadav MLAs from the JD(U). Rahul was in constant touch with Lalus son Tejaswi.

See Anwarbhai, said Suleiman, as he told his friend about the news. These dynasts always stick together. Just like all of Bollywoods dynasts are speaking up for Saif and Karan and boycotting Kangana.

Anwar said wearily, Suleiman, the news about Rahul and Tejashwi and the Gandhi-Yadav family bond is old news, theyre just recycling it for Indians living in Qatar.

As the phone fell silent at the other end, Anwar added solicitously, When you fly into Delhi, Ill introduce you to my new friend just to cheer you up.

And whos that, asked Suleiman suspiciously.
Last year, journalists from The Indian Express, after going through millions of documents relating to the Panama Papers leak, released a list of Indians whose names had stood out.

These included well-known personalities such as Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, DLF owner KP Singh and Vinod Adani.

The Panama Papers were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source, claiming he was tired of the unjust income inequality that exists in the world. The leaks had millions of documents detailing the involvement of high profile political and wealthy figures from all over the world, with the firm Mossack Fonseca based in Panama.

The firm allegedly provides services to establish off-shore companies in tax haven countries, at a high cost to people who want to evade taxes and hide large earnings.

The Indian Express also disclosed the involvement of the family members of Pakistan's third-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This leak led to furious scathing investigations and trial against him and his family.

After a series of investigations and failure of the Sharif family to come up with a sound defence, a five-member Supreme Court bench on Friday announced that Sharif was not honest and that he therefore was disqualified to be a member of the Parliament. The court also ordered the opening of criminal investigations against the Sharif family.

This judgment fell like an irony against the state of the Panama Papers investigation in India, where in 2014 PM Narendra Modi had ascended to power with the promise of doing away with the culture of corruption that had plagued the last government.

Instead, the high profile personalities who were castigated for their names in the leaks are often seen socialising with those in power.

In contrast to Pakistan, one of the most prominent people whose name surfaced among the tax evaders in India was Amitabh Bachchan, and he has been hired by the Modi government to promote GST - a new taxation regime that is touted to create a uniform tax system in the country.

The Panama Papers leak resulted in worldwide uproar, leading to media investigations, arrests and legal actions. In France, former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac had to resign from his cabinet post when he was declared to be allegedly possessing undeclared assets in tax havens.

While Nawaz Sharif has been disqualified in Pakistan, sadly, in India, not a single person has been charged till date. Photo: AP

Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson, Spains minister for industry, energy and tourism, the head of a state-owned bank in Austria and numerous others had to leave their posts after being named in the scandal.

Sadly, in India, not a single person has been charged till date. After a parliamentary uproar, the government was forced to officially start an investigation, and is currently probing 415 Indians whose names it has refused to disclose.

Since then, not much development has taken place. India, it seems, is following the example of China and Russia where the state has sanctioned the mention of the Panama Papers in the media, resulting in its dilution from public memory.

By not paying much heed to the ongoing investigation, the government is providing a safety net to the alleged culprits, some of whom are even associated with it.
After taking over as the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has strived to better ties with China. However, Beijing has been unrelenting on quite a few issues including Masood Azhar and Indias NSG bid.

A closer look at the current Sino-India standoff reveals the Chinese leaderships belief that the current geopolitical scenario against the backdrop of ambivalent US posture and loss of heft owing to policy inertia vis-a-vis Asia-Pacific is an historic, strategic opportunity to seize geopolitical space by hardwiring and expanding its periphery through economic, political and military inducements.

Its all about Asian power play

India and China have been locked in a standoff on the Doklam plateau along the disputed Bhutan-China boundary. This eyeball to eyeball confrontation is the direct result of Chinas unilateral encroachment in a recognised disputed border area, in a blatant attempt to change the status quo with a small neighbour as also to wrest military advantage vis-a-vis India.

Chinas actions violate past commitments that any issue regarding border alignments at the tri-junction will be decided through consultations among the three parties, as well as its long-standing agreement with Bhutan to maintain the status quo on the boundary pending final settlement.

In terms of scale, duration and belligerence, this standoff is unlike any other in the past, when the two countries have walked back from periodic Chinese incursions and physical posturing in areas where there are differences on the Line of Actual Control.

China this time appears to have taken premeditated step to stoke tensions and create a military face-off with India and more importantly to test the strength of India-Bhutan relations. It is also no coincidence that the incident was orchestrated close to Prime Minister Narendra Modis summit meeting with US President Donald Trump on June 26.

The manner in which Beijing has since raised the stakes and used all elements of the state apparatus, including official spokespersons backed by social media, points towards a coordinated campaign of coercion and intimidation to undermine Indias relations with Bhutan and its primacy in South Asia.

Chinas actions fit into the familiar pattern of Chinas expansionist territorial assertions, grey zone incursions and salami slicing tactics that we have witnessed, from the East China Sea to the South China Sea and now extending into the Indo-Pacific, since it began its overt pursuit of establishing hegemonic power nearly a decade ago. Chinas current bellicose campaign is part of three-pronged strategy against India.

First, China is attempting to create proxies and foster instability along Indias strategic periphery through military posturing and economic inducement as also by questioning the validity of existing agreements. Second, leveraging its military asymmetry to brow beat India by highlighting the costs of military confrontation. Third, incursions in Ladakh and even settled or undisputed areas like Sikkim constitute tactics of subterranean coercion to keep bilateral tensions alive till New Delhi succumbs to Chinas demands.

What are broader Chinese strategic aims in raising tensions with India? A closer look at the Asian power play will highlight that Chinese leadership believes that the current geopolitical scenario against the backdrop of ambivalent US posture and loss of heft owing to policy inertia vis-a-vis Asia  Pacific is an historic strategic opportunity to seize geopolitical space by hardwiring and expanding its periphery through economic, political, and military inducements.

Seen in the above context, attempts by concert of maritime democracies signified by India  Japan and the US as later attempts to regain initiative in the maritime domain is seen by China as contesting its revitalization dreams.

An economically and militarily resurgent India fits into this puzzle as a lone strategic partner outside US-led alliance system, which can be subjected to coercion.

By militarily embarrassing India, China not only establishes its credentials as a prima donna in South Asia but its power potential in South-East Asia. The ASEAN countries, as evidenced by the remarks of analysts and diplomats at the Delhi Dialogue, are already in thrall of Chinese power and psychological dominance.

They are far too dependent on Chinas largesse in terms of investments and trade and thus tend to overlook Chinas creeping maritime dominance of the South China Sea. A compromised India thus is the first and important step in seizing the strategic opportunity. For India, the standoff constitutes a fundamental shift in Indias security calculus as related to its strategic neighbourhood.

Bhutan is part of the overall Chinese strategy aimed at making inroads into Indias strategic periphery to undermine Indias influence. Thus India-China relations are entering a period of heightened contention and confrontation where the stakes are indeed very high.

Two most important elements for India in the current scenario is the posture of Bhutan and standing firm on its principled stand despite growing Chinese coercion. Both constitute major security challenges.

India needs to reach out to Bhutanese leadership to ensure that they do not fall prey to Chinese overtures. The impact of shift in Bhutanese neutrality will be severe for India in terms of political and security ramifications more importantly strategic costs vis-a-vis boundary issue.

Second, having taken a decision to stand firm, India has no option but to brazen it out, and ensure a settlement on mutually acceptable terms without succumbing to Chinese brow-beating.

Capitulation or weakness will not only undermine Indias regional stature as an emerging power but make Chinas behaviour even more aggressive across Asia and firmly sow the seeds of a China-led neo-tributary system in the Asia-Pacific. The stakes are indeed high in this India-China confrontation, for India as a regional power and a security stakeholder in Asia, but equally for a rules- based regional order that can effectively check Chinas strategy of region-wide intimidation.

The outcome of the present impasse will have a bearing on whether Asia can evolve a stable and balanced security architecture that accommodates the interests of major and rising powers as well as smaller states, or we are headed towards a century of domination by an authoritarian hegemon.

The Doklam dispute

The military standoff between India and China began on June 16 when Chinese troops attempted to lay a road in the Dokalam area

Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region

India has been pitching for diplomatic solution to resolve the standoff but sought simultaneous withdrawal of troops of both the sides from the tri-junction

However, the Chinese media has been carrying a blistering campaign accusing India of trespassing into the Chinese territory

The South China Sea dispute

China claims most of the strategically important and mineral-rich South China sea, including waters close to the shores of the Philippines and other neighbours

While China claims most of the sea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei claim parts of the sea that commands strategic sealanes and has rich fishing grounds along with oil and gas deposits

First overseas Military base

China has hinted that it was planning more global bases following the setting up of its logistics center in Djibouti, what the Horn of African countrys government calls a military facility that will be Chinas first overseas

China, the worlds second-largest economy, is seeking to expand its capacity to respond to growing threats to its interests abroad

(The writer is a senior fellow of Delhi Policy Group)
Mumbai: The panel headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may take up a proposal that seeks participation of foreign airlines in Air India's stake sale. At present, the government is eying a lucrative deal to resuscitate the ailing Air India. The Union Cabinet has also given in-principle approval to privatisation of national carrier.

A report carried by The Economic Times website cited a senior government official who said that allowing foreign airlines to take part in Air India stake sale was not ruled out. This (sale to foreign airlines) was one of the options suggested in the presentation made to the ministerial panel by the aviation secretary, ET quoted the official as saying.

It may be noted that the group of ministers set up to oversee and implement Air India divestment did not nod in negative when the proposal was brought on its table. It also did not object to the idea of a foreign bidder for Air India, the report added.

While a foreign investor can own up to 100 per cent in an Indian airline, an overseas carrier can own only up to 49 per cent in an Indian carrier, according to FDI in aviation rules.

The proposal cropped up first on July 21 when the group of ministers held its first meeting and discussed possible options for Air India's privatisation. Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu were part of the talks.

Air India has been flying in rough weather since it merged into itself another state-owned carrier Indian Airlines a decade ago. Since then AI has not registered a quarterly profit and has run into huge losses.

The national carrier has a loss of Rs 50,000 crore and a debt of Rs 52,000 crore. Besides, the airline has a working capital of loan of Rs 30,000 crore. In 2012, the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had extended a Rs 30,000 crore bailout package to keep the airline afloat.

As of now, domestic no-frills carrier IndiGO has shown its interest in buying AI's international business. The panel led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to finalise modalities of Air India stake sale in six months.
Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday attached assets worth Rs 293 crore, including 6 hotels and a 17-acre amusement park in Tripura, in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam case where thousands of people were allegedly cheated in West Bengal and Odisha, officials said.

The central probe agency's office here issued a provisional attachment order under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The attached assets include six hotels in Assam, Bihar and West Bengal, a 17-acre amusement park in Tripura, a prime commercial space in Kolkata, some other land properties in other states and three flats in another posh area of the West Bengal capital.

With this fresh action, the total attachment by the Enforcement Directorate in this case stands at Rs 1,950 crore (market value). "The latest attachment order is on assets worth Rs 293 crore (market value)," a senior official in the agency said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a criminal FIR against the firm, its chairman Gautam Kundu and others in 2014 under the PMLA.

Kundu was arrested by the agency from here in March, 2015, and he is currently in judicial custody.

Multiple charge sheets have been filed in the courts in Kolkata and Bhubaneswar by the ED in this case. Few more attachment orders and charge sheets are expected to be filed by the ED in the next few months. The group had allegedly floated 27 companies for running the alleged chit fund operations out of which only half-a-dozen were active.

It is alleged that the firm had floated the scheme by promising inflated returns between 8 and 27 per cent on investments to gullible investors in various states.

The company had allegedly promised astronomical returns to depositors on land properties and assets and bookings done in the real estate sector.

It is alleged the company had made "cross investments" in its various sister firms to suppress its liabilities towards investors. The SEBI had probed the company before the ED, and the CBI registered cases against the group. The ED has pegged the total volume of the alleged irregularities at Rs 8,600 crore.

An attachment order under the PMLA is aimed at depriving the accused from getting benefits of their ill-gotten wealth and it gets confirmed after an order is passed by the Adjudicating Authority of the said Act.
Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Saturday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss effective implementation of Skill India Mission in the state.

Mumbai: Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Saturday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here to discuss various aspects related to effective implementation of Skill India Mission in the state.

"We are confident that with the support of the state government in Maharashtra, we will be able to ensure quality through regular grading, inspections and quality checks of the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and other centres," Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Rudy said.

"By grading of ITIs, we shall identify well performing institutes and those which need improvements. It will also help us identify top 500 ITIs that can become world-class training institutes and act as model institutes while providing strategic direction to industrial training," an official statement quoted Rudy as saying.

During the meeting, Rudy and Fadnavis also discussed the need to train the trainers. The trainers are required to ensure quality in the training modules imparted and expedite the process of skilling candidates to fill the skill gaps faster.

Moreover, it was decided that to achieve the Skill India Mission, Maharashtra will have at least one Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) is each district.

"The state would also promote increase in engagement with apprentices so that candidates get more hands-on training," the statement added.

According to the data for various programmes managed by National Skill Development Corporation, as on June 30, Maharashtra has trained over 10 lakh people across 40 sectors since 2011.

The state plans to train 4.5 crore people in employable skills by 2022 as a part of larger plan of the Government of India. In the last one year, nearly 3 lakh people have been trained out of which 45 per cent have received employment.
San Francisco: Amazon chief Jeff Bezos short reign as the richest person in the world came to an end within hours as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates piped Bezos to regain his tag by the end of the trading day. Meanwhile Amazon, in its statement, reported that its profit shrank in the recently ended quarter despite surging sales as it poured money into growth, said that net sales increased 25 per cent to $38 billion when compared to the same period last year, but that profit plunged 77 per cent from a year ago to $197 million.

Investments, depreciation of equipment, share buys and other expenses ate into revenue in a familiar pattern of Amazon putting long-term growth ahead of short-term profit.

Our teams remain heads-down and focused on customers, Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said in a release. It's energizing to invent on behalf of customers, and we continue to see many high-quality opportunities to invest.Amazon has been expanding from its original mission as an online retailer to a diversified tech firm in cloud computing, online video, computer hardware and artificial intelligence. The company also recently announced plans to acquire Whole Foods, which could help Amazon expand in that sector.
Bhopal/Indore/Mumbai: Congress and BJP workers on Friday clashed in front of a cinema hall in Indore which was screening Madhur Bhandarkar's film 'Indu Sarkar', based on the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975.

Police used canes to disperse the BJP and Congress workers who came to blows near Indore's Sapna-Sangeeta cinema hall, where the movie was being shown.

An official from Indore's Bhanwarkua police station said BJP and Congress workers shouted slogans and made advances against each other, forcing the police to use canes to disperse them.

Congress activists alleged that Bhandarkar distorted facts and the film seeks to tarnish the image of the party among the people of the country.

On the other hand, the BJP workers claimed the Congress was trying to suppress the freedom of expression.

Meanwhile in Bhopal, the BJP urged its workers and the public to watch the film, which released on Friday.

"The country passed through a bad phase during the Emergency. The BJP workers as well as common citizens should watch the film to know what happened during the Emergency," state BJP media in-charge Lokendra Parashar told PTI.

The democratic system had collapsed during that 21-month-long period in 1975-77 and BJP workers should know about it so that such a thing does not happen again, he said.

However, state Congress spokesman K K Mishra claimed the film is "fully sponsored" and seeks to tarnish the image of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, in a tweet, said he is going to watch the political thriller with his family members in Indore.

He also urged his supporters to watch the movie, which stars Kirti Kulhari, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Anupam Kher, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Supriya Vinod.

Congress workers also on Friday disrupted shows of Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Indu Sarkar', the film based on the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975, at several cinema halls in the state.

As the film released on Friday, party workers stalled its screening at some theatres and multiplexes in Thane, Nanded, Nashik and Jalgaon districts. However, the shows resumed later amid tight police security, police officials said.

"Police have kept a strict vigil outside the theatres and no untoward incident has been reported so far," they said.

At Kolshewdi in neighbouring Thane district, Congress workers gathered outside a shopping mall, which houses a multiplex, and held protests around 9 am, a police official added.

"The party activists pulled out placards and shouted slogans and disrupted the show. At least 10 party workers have been detained in this connection," he said.

In Thane city, around 15 Congress workers were taken into custody after they held protests outside a multiplex.

"Two separate offences were registered against Congress workers at Kolshewadi and Vartaknagar police stations accordingly," he added.

In Nanded city, at least 15 party men gathered outside a theatre, where 'Indu Sarkar' was scheduled to be screened.

However, the theatre had been kept shut by the owner since midnight, the official said.

The Congress has condemned the alleged "false depiction" in 'Indu Sarkar' based on the Emergency, claiming the film is "fully sponsored".
Mumbai: Converting to another religion in India is usually a topic raised by political parties more than anyone else, and is still perhaps seen as a taboo by the society.

While several popular celebrities like Muhammad Ali have converted to other religions, in the Indian film industry, it has mostly got to do with inter-caste marriages or second marriages.

Thats perhaps why the news of Kamal Haasans daughter Akshara 'converting' to Buddhism was surprising, to say the least.

So much so that Kamal himself chose to ask his daughter about it on Twitter, instead of a call or a text. He said he still loves her even if she has, stressing on the fact that love unlike religion is unconditional.

Hi. Akshu. Have you changed your religeon? Love you, even if you have. Love unlike religeon is unconditional. Enjoy life . Love- Your Bapu  Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) July 28, 2017

Akshara responded by saying that she is still an atheist and that she just agrees with Buddhism as it is a way of life.

Hi bapuji. No, still an atheist. Although i agree with budhism as it is a way of life and in an individuals way of life.  Kutty Haasan (@aksharahaasan1) July 28, 2017

On the professional front, Akshara will next be seen in Ajith-starrer 'Vivegam' while Kamal Haasan is reportedly working on 'Sabaash Naidu' and 'Vishwaroopam 2.'
CHENNAI: India ranks low in providing mental healthcare as per a study titled Mental Health and Integration done by The Economist Intelligence Unit. The study highlights the need of community based provisions for those suffering from mental illness. With the rise in the number of suicides every day, medicos say that mental illnesses need to be addressed as priority diseases.

India ranks 11th in a list of 15 countries of the Asia-Pacific region, in a study done to evaluate various indicators of mental health care and around 60 million people in our country suffer from some sort of mental health disorder. Yet the mental health expenditure of the country is just 0.06 per cent of the total health budget of the country. While the countrys mental health policy gave a ray of hope, it survives with a stand-alone law for mental health that was formulated in 1987.

Suicide rates in the country are 21.1 with 2,443 disability adjusted life years per lakh. Around nine percent of the population of our country suffers from mental illnesses and this is supposed to reach 20 percent by 2020, says the study. Rising rates of suicide and mental health cases indicate that we need to stop ignoring mental illnesses and demand a system which provides a proper system of its diagnosis and treatment. We neither have functioning mental health promotion and prevention programme nor a suicide prevention strategy. Integrated services and resources should be directed to provide community mental health facilities, says Dr Jessie Raju, a renowned psychologist.

As per the World Health Organizations (WHOs) mental health atlas, India did not have an officially approved mental health policy until 2014. According to WHO statistics on mental health, India has only 0.6 mental health workers in the country and since the last five years, doctors in primary health centers have not received in-service training on mental health. There are only around 43 mental hospitals in the country for such a large population, said Dr Vivian Kapil, a senior psychiatrist at Meenakshi Medical College Hospital. Apart from lack of awareness, inadequate number of mental hospitals, less mental health workforce and undefined treatment facilities, we do not have funds allocation for care of mental disorders in the country.

An individual does not have the right to sound mental health though mental health care is as significant as physical health care, says Dr R Shanthi, member of the Doctors Association for Social Equality.
We all aspire to give our 100% to everything we do. We urge our children to give their 100% in their efforts in life. We motivate our staff to give their 100%. When we add all of this up, it seems that we are seekers of a 100% future. This is what scientists are seeking too - a world which is 100% better than what it is now. And in the space of sustainability, a world that is powered with 100% renewable energy.

Back in 2005 when I was building Our Native Village, my 100% eco resort located just outside Bangalore, we used sustainable processes, practices and technologies in the five pillars of sustainability. Then we were called fools, as it was deemed impossible and a waste of time. All it took was for international prices of oil to hit US$100 a barrel around 2008/2009 and suddenly I was declared a visionary! A similar syndrome is happening on a larger scale in the world, where many believed that relying on 100% renewable energy is foolhardy, and all of them are slowly but surely being proved wrong. The propagators of a 100% renewable energy world are being hailed as heroes.

One of them is a scientist called Mark Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. He has been working on models since 2009, and now he along with more than 85 co-authors have written a series of articles evaluating the scientific, engineering, and economic potential of transitioning the world's energy infrastructures to 100% renewable energy - wind, water, and solar (WWS) for all purposes by 2050.

At one time we never believed that it is technically possible to shift to 100% renewables. But the papers that these scientists have written is shifting the conversation globally, and opening up the possibility of a truly de carbonised world. Burning fossil fuels for generating electricity releases huge amounts of carbon di oxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, which is the primary cause for global warming leading to extreme climate events and resulting in damage to the planet and loss of lives. The models built by these scientists says that we can now truly move away from burning fossil fuels completely.

This has helped to motivate a wave of 100% renewable energy commitments by over 100 cities and subnational governments, including 35 cities in North America, 100 large international companies, and 48 countries. California, the world's 6th largest economy, announced its 100% by 2045 renewable target and proposed U.S. House & Senate resolutions and a U.S. Senate Bill calling for the United States to go to 100% clean, renewable energy by 2050!

The Solutions Project, as part of its 100% campaign, used data from the Stanford University and has projected the impact of countries going 100% WWS by 2050. The projections for India are quite compelling. While the mix of energy sources is predictably dominated by solar and wind, the model projects close to 5 million new jobs will be created. Overall energy consumption will decrease by up to 42% and avoided health care costs, mainly from pollution from burning fossil fuels, will be 12% of GDP!

Many NGOs like The Solutions Project, The RE 100 organisation, the Sierrra Club, the Go 100 percent, Environmet America, etc., are engaging communities, companies, and governments to increase the speed of the transition to 100% WWS. And so are investors. According to REN21's Global Status Report on renewable energy, renewable power generating capacity saw its largest annual increase ever in 2016, and investments in renewables are steadily growing. In 2015, an estimated $312 billion were in investments, more than double the investment in coal and gas-fired power plants.

I believe that we need to reach for the stars. Aspiring to go 100% renewable is reaching for the stars. May the stars shine and send their blessings to all those who are working towards a 100% renewable energy world!
KOZHIKODE/GUNTUR: A visually challenged student of NIT Calicut, hailing from Andhra Pradesh, was found dead in the hostel room on Saturday morning. Golla Ramakrishna Prasad, 17, first-year BTech student, had joined the institution only on Wednesday. The body was found partially hanging from the cross bars of the window. He is the son of Golla Peddaramayya of Athmaguru under Durgy police station limits in Guntur district. The police ruled out any foul play and suspected that he must have committed suicide due to depression.

He hails from a poor farming family. The room was found closed in the morning. As he failed to respond to the calls of other students, they and the warden broke open the room around 11.30 a.m. The boy had not turned up for food on Friday night, according to hostel staff. His father told DC at Guntur that he had tried to contact his son on Friday night. The hostel staff told him that he had slept. The news of his death reached the family only by Saturday noon. Peddaramayya had returned home after leaving the son at the NITC hostel on Wednesday.

The NITC authorities failed to contact the family in the morning as there were no contact numbers. The Kunnamangalam police informed the Durgy police station in Guntur district about his death. Chevayoor circle inspector K.K. Biju told DC that the police had completed the inquest and the body was kept at the Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode. We are awaiting the kith and kin for further procedures, he added. He ruled out ragging as the cause saying on primary inquiry there is no evidence of that so far. Depression must have forced him to end his life, he said.
Hyderabad: Police arrested some of the students who were protesting against Osmania University officials cutting off water and power supply to hostels.

OU officials had ordered non boarders to leave the hostels by July 23, but it was not complied with. Following this, the university cut off civic amenities to the hostels.

OU station house officer V. Ashok Reddy said six students were detained. We did not interrupt the protest but these students had blocked the admission office and were disrupted the counselling process. It was a preventative arrest and the students were released soon after.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist was hacked to death by a gang at Sreekariyam in the capital city, on Saturday. (Photo: File)

Thiruvananthapuram: A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist was hacked to death by a gang at Sreekariyam in the capital city, on Saturday.

The incident took place despite prohibitory orders and heightened vigil.

The police said RSS Basti Karyavah Rajesh of Edavacode was killed after he was attacked at his home around 9 PM by a 10-member gang led by one Manikandan.

"His left hand was severed and flung into fields and right leg was cut. Though he was admitted in a private hospital in serious condition, he died around 10:40 PM," police said.

The officials also added that the attack was not politically motivated. All members of the gang are absconding.

The police said some of them had earlier been booked under anti-goonda Act.

Meanwhile the Cantonment police is yet to arrest the attackers who hurled crude bombs on September 7, 2016, at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state committee office at Kunnukuzhy, which again came under attack overnight Friday.

Immediately after the attack, the BJP district leadership had blamed Kunnukuzhy councillor IP Binu for it.

However, police could not link him or anyone else. CCTVs at the office were reportedly out of order leading to allegations from Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) that BJP plotted the attack on its own office.
Nitish Kumar, 66, was sworn in as Chief Minister of Bihar on Friday, returning to the National Democratic Alliance after four years. (Photo: PTI)

Patna: The political crisis in Bihar finally came to an end on Friday after the newly-formed Nitish Kumar-led NDA government won the floor test by 131 votes.

Nitish needed just 122 votes in the 243-member assembly to win the trust vote on Friday. As claimed by Kumar earlier, the new government won the floor test easily with their 131 votes intact.

The RJD, which had earlier claimed it has the magic number to form the government, got only 108 votes.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, while giving a speech before the trust vote, had said, I am in power to serve the people and not to earn wealth and those who have come into politics to earn wealth I cant be of any service to them.

The Grand Secular Alliance collapsed only due to RJDs false ego, Kumar said.

Nitishs fresh stint as the chief minister came 48 hours after he left the Grand Secular Alliance and returned back to the NDA fold. Kumar was sworn in as the chief minister for the sixth time on Thursday.

Four legislators in the 243-member house couldnt vote, which reduced the strength of the house during the floor test to 239. With the effective strength of 239, Nitish needed only 120 votes to win the floor test on Friday.

Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi also did not take part in the voting as both are members of the legislative council.

The 131 votes in favour of Nitish-led NDA government included 70 from the JD (U) besides 53 of BJP, 2 M LAS each from RLSP and LJP, 1 from Jitan Ram Manjhis party HAM and 3 independents.

With Nitish returning to NDA and BJP leader Sushil Modi back as deputy chief minister hopes are high that the Centre would release pending funds for Bihar, JD(U) leaders said after the trust vote.

My only interest lies in serving people of Bihar. It is after a long time that Bihar and the Centre have the same government and I will do everything for the development of the state, Nitish said during the debate.

The RJD and Congress party had created a ruckus and even blocked the entry gate of the state assembly before the floor test.

The RJD and Congress had earlier demanded secret ballot, which was turned down by Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, who instead he opted for the method of lobby division.

RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, who took over as leader of opposition in the state Assembly, blamed Nitish for betraying the mandate given by voters during 2015 assembly elections.

Aren't you ashamed, Voters gave the mandate to the grand secular alliance and not to the NDA. It is a murder of democracy and people of the state will never forget the way you (Nitish Kumar) betrayed them. Tejaswi said while speaking during the debate on Nitishs trust vote in the state Assembly.

Yadav, while talking to reporters outside the Assembly, said that the party is gearing up to fight a long battle against the communal forces and since Nitish Kumar has broken Gathbandhan dharma (alliance rules) we will take the matter to the peoples court.

He raised questions on Nitishs sudden decision to quit the alliance. He said that the whole resignation drama was scripted by the BJP.

Meanwhile, the Patna High Court on Friday admitted two petitions, challenging the formation of a new government by Nitish and the BJP. RJD sources said one petition was filed by party legislators Saroj Yadav and Chandan Kumar Verma.

They contended that the Fridays floor test was unconstitutional as the mandate in 2015 was given to the Grand Secular Alliance against the BJP.
As many as 44 of Congress MLAs left for Bengaluru on late Friday night to ensure they do not succumb to police and political pressure to join BJP. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Ahmedabad: In the backdrop of Gujarat Congress MLAs quitting and joining Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as many as 44 of the grand old party MLAs left for Bengaluru on late Friday night to ensure they do not succumb to police and political pressure to join the saffron party.

Speaking to the reporters, Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar said, "To ensure that BJP is not successful in its mission, 44 of us Congress MLAs are leaving from Gujarat for Bengaluru. To hide their failure, the saffron party is trying to make sure our MLAs resign by offering money and through police pressure."

Congress MLAs, who reached Bengaluru late on Friday night, said that there is no pressure and that they are not scared of the saffron party.

One of the MLAs said they will be visiting Tirupati.

Earlier on Friday, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused BJP in the state of horse-trading ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for August 8.

He said, "Crores of rupees have been spent in horse-trading in Gujarat by BJP. One Congress Gujarat MLA Punabhai Gamit has said he was offered Rs 10 crore by BJP to join hands with them."

Following this, Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad laughed off the accusation and said the Congress has become a sinking ship and is not able to hold their own house together.

"Congress has become a sinking ship and the senior leaders, who did not get respect, are now openly saying that they don't want to continue with them. This is the hard fact. The sinking ship is not able to hold itself together," Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

He said Congress has been making baseless allegation against BJP and further called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi to come up and clarify why their party is crumbling down like a deck of cards.

"They have to explain this. The allegations are laughable. They are making it in utter desperation," he said.

The developments come after at least six Congress MLAs in Gujarat resigned from the party to join the BJP.
Hyderabad: Family welfare committees must not lack tooth, say lawyers and counsellors following the Supreme Court judgement of Thursday, which requires all cases reported under Section 498A of the dowry prohibition Act to be referred to welfare committees which would look into the merit of each case before arrests are made.

The decision has left women worried. Section 498A is a strong law with provisions to arrest not only the husband but even family members who were allegedly party to the cruelty meted out to the wife for dowry. It has been widely misused, something that the courts have acknowledged.

Womens groups condemned the ruling, calling it states non cooperation on womens safety. They say, the law had turned useless after the 2014 Supreme Court ruling that police must use discretion before making arrests as reports of infants and aged being in custody have come to the fore.

After that judgement, police donned a welfare organisation's role that would counsel the battered women and send them back to the homes where they would abused in the name of saving the family, says Ms Jameela of Shaheen Womens Collective.

Most affected by this judgement will be women from poor, marginalised backgrounds, said activists. Prior to this judgement, the polices action was the best deterrent.

The latest case the group is dealing with, involves a 20-year-old whose family paid Rs 50,000 as dowry. After the marriage, the husband demanded more money and abandoned her even when she was pregnant.

We now wonder whom do we file the case against? Will counselling help this case? asks Ms Jameela.

Others though have a brighter outlook. 498A had become useless after 2014 ruling where the police couldnt do much. If the SC gives more power and not just reduces the committee to acting as counselors alone, then the women will get justice and the families will not disintegrate, said advocate Afsar Jahan.
Chennai: Chief Minister K Palanisamy on Saturday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his efforts to secure the release of 75 Tamil Nadu fishermen languishing in Sri Lankan jails.

In a letter to Modi, Palanisamy said he was happy to learn that "the Sri Lankan government had ordered the release of 42 fishing boats and 75 fishermen languishing in Sri Lankan jails."

"On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu, I thank you for your personal intervention and sincere efforts which have enabled the release of the fishermen and the boats", he said.

Palanisamy said on the day when Modi visited Rameswaram to inaugurate the memorial of late President APJ Abdul Kalam, the government received a communication from the External Affairs Ministry about the decision taken by Colombo.

"It is now widely reported in a section of media that the Sri Lankan courts have ordered the release of all 75 fishermen from Sri Lankan custody. I thank you for this prompt action", he said.

Palaniswamy requested Modi to instruct the External Affairs Ministry to secure the release of the remaining 107 fishing boats, which continue to languish in Sri Lankan

custody, to ensure there is "adequate reciprocity" to the measures taken by the Centre and Government of Tamil Nadu to resolve the "vexatious" issue.

He recalled the letters written to Modi by late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and himself previously in this regard.
Vijayawada: TS Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Raos analysis that more voters favour the YSR Congress in AP at present has kicked off a storm.

Mr Rao had said in New Delhi on Thursday that the YSRC would get 45 per cent and TD get 43 per cent vote share if elections were to be held at present has not gone down well with the TD cadre in AP.

The TS Chief Minister had also predicted that the BJP has 2.6 per cent of the vote share while the Jana Sena, with a paltry 1 to 1.2 per cent vote share, wont be able to make any impact in AP.

While Mr Raos analysis has left some of the top TD leaders in AP in a piquant position since they have to calm down worried party cadre, others feel that the comments were nothing but a well thought of plan to set the cat among the pigeons.

The analysis is nothing but mind-games, they feel and say that there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

However, the one thing they worry about is Mr Raos comment that the note-for-vote case is not closed, and his allegation that there was a conspiracy to destabilise Telangana administration.

Senior TD leaders are of the view that Mr Rao is playing mind games to disturb the administration in AP by providing information to the Delhi media. It is nothing but an attempt to humiliate the TD cadres and to create confusion, a Cabinet minister said.

TD leader and Krishna district urban TD president Buddha Venkanna demanded the TRS chief to disclose the source of his analysis. It is not fair on the part of KCR to comment on the TD government, in the name of surveys, Mr Venkanna said, alleging that Mr Rao and YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy have reached some hidden understanding.
Two criminals were killed and seven policemen were injured in an encounter in Bhura village within Kairana Police Station limits. (Photo: File | Representation)

Kairana (Uttar Pradesh): Two criminals were killed and seven policemen were injured on Saturday in an encounter in Bhura village within Kairana Police Station limits.

The police had earlier offered cash reward of Rs 60,000 on the two slain criminals.

Meanwhile, two other criminals managed to flee from the incident.

Police are investigating the matter.
Chennai: Five persons, including four staffers of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) were arrested by the police on Saturday for indulging in forgery that caused losses worth several lakhs of rupees every month to the organisation.

The accused had been making big bucks far exceeding their paychecks by preparing duplicates of the Travel As You Please Ticket (TAYPT) worth Rs 1,000 that the MTC issues and selling them to unassuming passengers for the past one and half years. The loss to MTC may have been close to Rs 2 crores in that period.

The forgery wing of the Central Crime Branch, after sustained investigations, unearthed the racket, masterminded by an accountant with the MTC and an Electricity board staff. The main accused, S. Krishna Kumar works as an accountant at the Adambakkam bus depot. He had bought a Xerox machine worth `2.5 lakh and made colour copies of the TAYPT tickets from a rented place in Adambakkam. Every month, he gave 200 such copies to a ticket issuing staff member in Velachery, M. Jagadish, who sold it for him, an investigating official said.

Krishna Kumar came in contact with S. Ramesh Babu, a contract staff with the Electricity Board who too printed fake passes from his hideout in Tiruttani in Thiruvallur district. These tickets were then handed over to ticket issuing staff T. Prakash of Anna Nagar depot and D. Suresh Kumar, the depot's accountant who sold it from there, the official added. Every month, more than 200 duplicate passes were printed and issued to the customers, police said. All five have been arrested.
Hyderabad: A botnet attack has affected the information built into modems used for BSNLs broadband services across the country. BSNL broadband services have been affected for three days.

The malware attacked internal modems in the National Internet Backbone of the BSNL and recently-installed modems manufactured by two Indian companies at the customer end. The BSNL has rectified the problem at NIB but it has to individually reset modems given to customers. Officials from Hyderabad Telecom believed about 45 per cent of broadband connections were affected.

HTD Dy GM M. Alivelu said the corporation had established a control room to attend calls of customers on the issue. Customers who have lost broadband connections can lodge complaints at 040-23231504 between 8 am and 8 pm, or can visit the nearest customer service centre along with their modems between 10 am and 5 pm for quick resolution of the issue, Ms Alivelu said.

The symptom of botnet attack is non-functioning of internet and the red LED light switching on on modems. She said the department would deploy additional staff from Sunday to visit customers to rectify the problem as early as possible.

Broadband Services Dy GM P. Murali said that the modems were made in India and not products from China.

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Chennai: The state of Tamil Nadu seems to be warming up further to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the wake of the PM's visit to Rameswaram last Thursday, the chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswamy thanked him for his intervention enabling the release of 42 TN fishermen languishing in Lankan jails.

We are happy to learn that the Sri Lankan Government has ordered the release of 42 fishing boats and 75 Tamil Nadu fishermen who were languishing in Sri Lankan Jails. On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu, I thank you for your personal intervention and sincere efforts which have enabled the release of the fishermen and the boats, the chief minister said in his letter to Prime Miniter Narendra Modi.

Palaniswami also urged the Centre to instruct the Ministry of External Affairs to secure the release of the remaining 107 fishing boats, which continue to be in Sri Lankan custody to ensure that there is adequate reciprocity to the various measures taken by the Government of India and Government of Tamil Nadu to resolve the vexatious issue, the letter added.

In addition to the letters that our revered leader Puratchi Thalaivi Amma and I had written to you, during our meeting in Rameswaram on 27.7.2017, I had specifically requested to take all possible efforts to release our fishermen and boats from the Sri Lankan custody. Even before your departure from Tamil Nadu on 27.7.2017, the Government of Tamil Nadu received a communication from Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India regarding the decision of Government of Sri Lanka to release 42 fishing boats belonging to the fisherman of Tamil Nadu. It is now widely reported in a section of the media that the Sri Lankan courts have ordered the release of all 75 Tamil Nadu fishermen from Sri Lankan custody, the letter said.
Hyderabad: The state government will stay away from inter-ministerial meetings being convened by Governor ESL Narasimhan to resolve contentious bifurcation-related issues with AP.

The Telangana state government is upset that Andhra Pradesh has not honoured decisions taken in three previous meetings, especially on handing over buildings housing the AP Assembly and Secretariat in Hyderabad even after shifting the offices to AP.

The Governor had taken the initiative to get both the government to talk at Raj Bhavan to resolve disputes. The first meeting was held in February and the last one on March 27. In all the three meetings, the major demand was that AP should hand over AP Assembly and Secretariat buildings in Hyderabad to the TS government on the ground that the buildings were getting damaged.

The TS government had formed a delegation comprising ministers T. Harish Rao and G. Jagadish Reddy and government adviser on inter-state affairs G. Vivek to hold talks with the AP delegation comprising ministers Yanamala Ramakrishnudu,K. Atchannaidu and Kalva Srinivasulu. The AP delegations reaction was that it would refer the issue to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

At every meeting, the response is that it would refer the issue to their CM and convey his decision in the next round and convey his decision in the next round. But this has not happened.

TS Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was not happy with the outcome of the three meetings. He has asked Chief Secretary S.P. Singh to hold meetings with his AP counterpart next week.

Bone of contention

1. TS wants AP to hand over vacant AP Assembly and Secretariat buildings in Hyderabad.

2. Bifurcation of common institutions listed under Schedule IX and X of AP Reorganisa-tion Act, 2014 as per Centres directions on APSCHE.

3. Bifurcation of teachers and police besides employees in power department.

4. Take back 24 Section Officers from AP working in the Secretariat.
Hyderabad: Youth Congress leader Vikram Goud who is undergoing treatment refused to divulge any information other than what his wife gave to the police earlier citing pain. Though Vikram claimed that he had received threat calls from some people he could not give any details about the suspects.

After analysing CCTV footages police concluded that there was no intrusion into his home. If the charges are not proven police would remove the attempt to murder section from the FIR. The firearm used was not found.

On Saturday when police arrived at the hospital to talk to him, Vikram told the police that he was shot at by unidentified assailants who entered his residence in the early hours of Friday.

Vikram said that he shouted and screamed out of confusion when he was shot by the men. Immediately, wife Shipali rushed to his rescue and called the 108 emergency service. She somehow ferried him across to hospital in her vehicle.

The driver and watchman also helped Shipali to take him to hospital, Vikram told the police. But police thinks that Vikram has not spoken the truth yet.

When police officials asked him questions about his statements he told them that he could no longer speak because of pain. He requested them to talk to him after a day and that he would give them details.

He has not spoken the truth yet. He just repeated what his wife had said earlier. We need to get more details from him about the incidents to understand what actually happened, said police commissioner M. Mahender Reddy.

Vikram, son of former Andhra Pradesh minister M. Mukesh Goud, was mysteriously shot at his residence in the wee hours of Friday at Banjara Hills.

Vikram suffered two bullet injuries on his right shoulder and stomach. But the police could not find any evidence of anyone breaking into the house.

All evidence found so far by West Zone police and CLUES team pointed towards self inflicted bullet injuries.
KOZHIKODE: Greater understanding of our sociological and cultural problems, more enlightened and harmonious acceptance of a fusion of values, an enviable measure of tolerance and spirit of co-existence must be also the visible contribution of the new University, apart from academic excellence. This was how C.H. Mohammed Koya, then education minister who is credited with the formation of Calicut University, laid out his vision before its syndicate which met for the first time on November 2, 1968. It would be a question in the minds of many whether the university has lived up to the vision when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan officially launches its golden jubilee celebrations at Thenjippalam on Saturday. Especially that the university had the fortune of being guided in its early years by such people as C. Achutha Menon and K.P. Kesava Menon, who were instrumental in establishing this higher education institution in Malabar.

Calicut University was established bifurcating Kerala University (founded in 1937 as University of Travancore in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore) through an ordinance on July 23, 1968. Calicut is the largest state varsity now with over 3.5 lakh students enrolling every year and has over 430 affiliated colleges with the jurisdiction over five districts. Over the last 49 years, the varsity awarded 11.82 lakh bachelors, 1.6 lakh masters, 2,236 Phds and over 5,000 other certificates. One of the major contributions of the University in the last five decades has been that it has helped the backward communities in the region to understand the importance of higher education and made them realise that higher education is something which is needed in their life, opined M.N Karassery, social activist and thinker who was a student, research scholar and a teacher of the university who retired as head of the Malayalam department. Its impact was felt especially in the Muslim community as it made them wake up to the reality of a modern world with a new outlook.

Students on the campus. (file pic)

The university came into being at a time when the Muslim community had turned its back on womens education and learning English. The university inspired them to come forward and claim their own space as hoped by C.H Muhammed Koya, Prof. Karassery said. One of the best things that have ever happened to the university is said to be the selection of its first vice-chancellor. Prof M.M. Gani steered the university though its initial years and this period (1969-1975) is often considered the golden period of the varsity. The initial glory of the varsity, however, did not last, said Prof. Karassery. While Prof. Gani was an academician above all politics and was accepted by all, many of his successors were picked up merely because of their political affiliations which in turn brought the standard of the varsity downwards.

I joined here as a student in a glorious varsity, but when I retired from here, there was not so much glory left in it, he said. Dr M.G.S. Narayanan, who was part of history department (then Kerala University) even before the creation of the varsity, opined that the university never reached the level of a varsity that is expected to do as far as academics are concerned. It has been marred by the political parties who wanted to show their influence in almost all matters, he said. C.H. Mohammed Koya was a very honest man who wanted to bring real changes with the varsity. On the advice of former Kerala University P.V.C. Dr N.A. Kareem, he brought Prof Gani to the varsity. Prof Gani never applied for the job nor went behind ministers with biodata for the post unlike many others. During his period, the university got really good academicians based on their merit.

Dr Narayanan said there must be a serious restructuring on the university acts as at present the varsity, like similar other varsities in India, has no nature of the real university concept. No serious research is happening here like those in western countries, he said. Even the concept of examination here is against the principles of higher education. Thats why better researchers are leaving to other countries for their research. Over the years, the varsity has also witnessed a lot of protests, mostly conducted by the employees. It is the employees who are ruling the varsity at their will, MGS opined. Prof. Ganis concept was that a university is for the students first, then teachers and later other employees, said Prof. Karassery. However now it is the other way round now. A senior faculty member concurred with the veteran academicians. I dont have a great opinion about the academics of the university, he said. I dont want to comment further because that would hurt others. Most academicians hope the golden jubilee offers the university an opportunity for introspection and device means to live up to the vision with which it was established.
Cane furniture was once a bustling industry, with a thriving cluster of shops around Shivajinagar. Today, however, the going is rough for cane craftsmen who are simply unable to keep up with the rapid pace of a consumer-driven economy. 40-year-old G. Venkatesh, who has been in the business for two decades, talks to Joyeeta Chakravorty about his journey, reminiscing over the days when crowds thronged their stores, to todays dwindling demand, the lack of government support and how crafstmen like himself struggle to make ends meet.

Tucked away in busy Thippasandra, it is barely noticeable in all the hustle, bustle of the locality. On entering Sri Vijayalakshmi Cane Furniture, a modest shop, that first opened 25 years ago, it seems like just another home decor store in the city, but to the ecologically sensitive or those with an eye for interior design, it holds great promise as it is visibly trying to stand apart in a heavily consumerist environment, shrouded in profit -making.



For 40-year-old G. Venkatesh, who has been running the shop for the past two decades and more, it is more than a business. "I started this shop as a cane craftsman and I myself made all the furniture. Even today it is not merely a business for me. If you look around there is nothing fancy here and no big boards," he says. He is right. The glass top cane desk has some really beautiful furniture and home decor designs on it and the walls are adorned with posters of various gods. But there is little by way of pomp or ostentation. The simplicity is stark.

The journey, despite being tough has been enriching for the entrepreneur, who has made many loyal customers along the way. But the days are hard and the seven craftsmen that once served his shop have now fallen to merely two.

"People from North India, Kerala and foreigners really like our products. In the West there is a demand for handmade products. But sadly, there is not much appreciation for handmade craftsmanship in the city," he regrets, pointing to a chair, which a Taiwanese customer had sent for repolishing and various touch- ups.

In fact, many of his customers have walked in with complaints of some chair or piece of furniture they had bought being damaged in a few days. "This happens because everyone is into profit- making and the sensitivity towards craftsmanship and products is lacking nowadays. But people like big names and stores in fancy malls ,and it is hard to break this chain of thought," he sighs.

But doesnt he sell some of his stuff to these big shops and stores? "No! I don't think on these lines. I do everything in my shop from manufacturing to sales," he responds, adding, Sadly, the industry is not big anymore. Remember the times when there was a multitude of cane shops in Shivajinagar market? But now you only see one or two of them."

"My journey started with the sole idea of making cane furniture with the best craftsmanship available and back then it used to be a profitable industry. But now it is more like creating a livelihood for my fellow craftsman and myself," he confesses, while attending to a customer.

Week-days are mostly slow and he makes most of his sales on the weekends. "Ninety per cent of those who come to me are chain customers and so luckily I dont need to rely on advertising like other big stores in the city, he adds.

Reflecting on the challenges facing a cane craftsman he says, "There is minimal support from the government, be it in reduction of taxes or availability of raw material. Why can't our state help us?" he asks, explaining, "It is difficult to procure cane, although it is readily available in the forests. The authorities can help us with this as it would help this local industry flourish. But no one is listening. Also, after all this hard work we are taxed immensely. Post the Goods and Services Tax (GST) it has become more difficult as the customer does not understand the work that we put in anyway.

In the absence of bulk manufacturing, the GST is hard to deal with for stores like his. At least the tax burden for small shops like ours should be reduced or we can be helped with the supply of cane and other raw material. It would be an incentive," he says. Besides being good for the environment, cane is also good for health as it does not generate heat like other material used in making furniture, he points out.People should value this, but sadly, it is more about pomp and show now," he sums up sadly.
Hyderabad: Advertising in the city goes for a spin. The Hyderabad traffic police has become the first in South India to give approval for four-wheel advertising on the city roads.

The Black Stallion, has LED screen displays on three sides with P5 resolution for the day and night visuals. This vehicle with GPS tracking system can display audio-video advertisements. The distraction it will pose to commuters is a matter of concern.

The traffic police issued certain guidelines and restrictions regarding how and were Black Stallion can be used. The vehicle will be allowed to travel in certain specified areas. The company has been told not to operate the vehicle on main roads or at traffic junctions, as it is likely to distract drivers and pedestrians.

The vehicle is permitted to operate in areas where there are private firms, institutions as well as residential areas.

The traffic police has also advised the advertisers to use the vehicle for public campaigns within Hyderabad limits.

Advertisement is about visibility. After months of research, we zeroed in on a three-sided advertisement design with aesthetic appeal. Priority was maximum display space and visibility, said Mr D. Sharath, associated with the project.

The LED screens are placed in three positions. One side will be a video wall and two will have -backlit LED (illuminated from behind) which will be static. From Flex to LED display is a huge change.
On Friday, three Congress MLAs, Balvantsinh Rajput, Tejashree Patel and P.I. Patel, left the party and the Assembly in a setback which comes within a week of party heavyweight and former Chief Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela parting ways amid acrimony. (Photo: ANI)

NEW DELHI: There seems to be no end to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhis troubles. A day after the grand alliance in Bihar crumbled despite his best efforts to save it, a rebellion has hit the Gujarat state unit with three Congress MLAs quitting the party and joining the BJP ahead of the crucial voting for Rajya Sabha seats next month.

On Friday, three Congress MLAs, Balvantsinh Rajput, Tejashree Patel and P.I. Patel, left the party and the Assembly in a setback which comes within a week of party heavyweight and former Chief Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela parting ways amid acrimony.

All three MLAs submitted their resignation letters to Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora in Gandhinagar.

The trio cant vote in the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls as they are no longer members of the House. They joined the BJP in Ahmedabad in the evening in the presence of BJP national president Amit Shah.

The BJP, which is going all out to strengthen its position in Rajya Sabha, fielded Mr Rajput as its third candidate for the Upper House from Gujarat. Earlier, the party had named Mr Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani for the Rajya Sabha from the state.
Bengaluru: Senior BJP leader, K.S.Eshwarappa on Friday accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of trying to create divisions among the people by raising the issue of separate religious status for Lingayats in the state.

Speaking to reporters here, he said it was not a government's job to give or deny a religious status to any community as this was best decided by the pontiffs and religious associations. Mr Siddaramaiah had recently announced his support for moves to secure separate religion status for the dominant Lingayat community in Karnataka.

"Mr Siddaramaiah is merely trying to cover up his failures of the last four years by diverting the people's attention to such issues," he charged, demanding that the government depute five ministers from the Veerashaiva community to collect peopole's opinion about a separate religious status for Lingayats.

Also demanding that the Chief Minister release the caste census done by the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission, he recalled that he had in formed the legislature it would be released in December 2016. "But even seven months later he has taken no action to release the report," he regretted.

Mr. Eshwarappa noted that it was the first time after Independence that the BJP -led NDA government at the Centre had decided to give the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) Constitutional powers and was strongly critical of the Congress and other parties that were trying to block the NCBC bill in the Rajya Sabha.

"It is wrong to assume that if the NCBC is more empowered, the states' backward classes commissions will lose their identity," the Kuruba leader added, revealing that a one day seminar had been organized in the city on Saturday to explain the powers and benefits of the NCBC to the backward classes .

Religion status: Lingayats close ranks, Belagavi rally on Aug 22

While differences continue among Lingayat mutts, seers and leaders on the demand for a separate religious status, several top seers of the community's mutts and leaders have decided to hold another massive rally in Belagavi on August 22 in support of it , close on the heels of the one held in Bidar a few days ago.

At a joint press conference in Belagavi, Siddarama Swamy of Naganoor Mutt, Nijagunananda Swamy of Bailur Mutt, Gurusidda Swamy of Karanji Mutt and several other seers and leaders on Thursday said the second rally was intended to keep up the pressure on both the state government and the Centre for granting the community a separate religious status.

Pointing out that Lingayats were one of the most dominant communities in Karnataka and in parts of the country, Siddarama Swamy said the organisers of the rally were giving a call to Veerashaivas and other sects who followed Basavanna's principles to attend it. "We are attempting to unite all Lingayats as one community as the political parties have divided us into many different sub-castes and sects over the years for their gain," he explained.

The organisers intend to contact leaders from all districts in the state, besides heads of various mutts over the following weeks to urge them to join the campaign.

Recalling that the demand for a separate religious status for Lingayats was first made during pre-Independence, but did not gain momentum as the situation was then not conducive to such a movement, he said the time had now come to muster support for it to bring the many sub-sects they had been split into over the last many years under one umbrella.

Claiming that the rally was apolitical, the seers said all leaders irrespective of their parties were free to join it.
Chennai: With just a week to go for AIADMK (Amma) deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakarans re-launch into party activities, the family of party general secretary V.K. Sasikala appears to be closing ranks.

Sasikalas younger brother Dhivakaran, who attended her sister-in-law Santhanalakshmis funeral, along with Dhinakaran, openly acknowledged the latters party position. The two key members of the family were said to be at loggerheads with each other and Dhivakaran was said to be behind the cancellation of Dhinakarans meeting at Mannargudi, the native town of Sasikala.

While addressing reporters, Dhivakaran described Dhinakaran as the partys deputy general secretary, which is in contrast to his earlier position that no one from the family should occupy any party position. He also denied any kind of rift between the two and added that they had always been together.

So far, Dhivakaran was against giving trouble to the Chief Minister and his supporters had affirmed their support to the state government. But, the family seems to have some re-thinking after it seems to be losing relevance in the party and government. If Dhivakaran got behind his niece, the challenge for Palaniswami could be strong and real. Dhinakaran had not revealed his plans after August 5, but he seems to be planning state-wide tour and mobilisation of support for him.

Only a few MLAs and MPs attended the funeral on Friday and most of the ministers including the Chief Minister, besides most of the MLAs and MPs kept away from the function, showing that the familys support base is shrinking.

However, Dhinakaran said This is only a funeral and much political significance should not be attached to this. Dhivakaran, who was beside Dhinakaran, said Most of the party cadre had turned up for the function and are supporting the family. Party is different from MLAs and ministers. AIADMK is like Abhimanyu of Mahabharatha and the party is caught in a chakra viyuga now.

While Dhinakaran wants to exercise his powers as the partys deputy general secretary, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and his ministers had not acknowledged the formers role in the party. After the declaration of ministers that they would keep away Dhinakaran from party activities, he himself declared that he would keep away from AIADMK (Amma) activities.

However, after getting bail in a case filed by Delhi police that he bribed an Election Commission of India official to get back the AIADMKs two leaves symbol, Dhinakaran issued an ultimatum for the party to merge the two factions.

He declared that he had stayed away from party activities only to pave way for the merger of the two factions and announced that he would return to political activity after August 5.
Bihar governor Keshri Nath Tripathi with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi during swearing-in ceremony of Ministers in Bihar cabinet at Raj Bhawan in Patna on Saturday. (Photo: PTI)

Patna: A day after winning the trust vote, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expanded his Cabinet with the induction of 27 ministers who took oath on Saturday.

Of the 27 ministers, 14 are from Mr Kumars JD(U), 12 are from the BJP and one is from Union minister Ram Vilas Paswans Lok Janshakti Party.

Mr Kumar inducted Mr Paswans younger brother Pashupati Nath Paras, who is not a member of the Assembly. Sources said he is likely to be nominated to the Legislative Council soon.

In the 243-member House, a maximum of 37 ministers are allowed. The Chief Minister kept the portfolios of home affairs, general administration and vigilance.

Sources said the Chief Minister is likely to hand over portfolios like finance, commercial taxes, forest and IT to deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP.

One member of the new Cabinet, Mangal Pandey, former state BJP president and the organisational in-charge for Himachal Pradesh, couldnt turn up for the oath ceremony as his flight was delayed.

The Chief Minister refused to offer a Cabinet berth to NDA allies Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) of Jitan Ram Manji.

Mr Modi earlier handed over a list to the Mr Nitish of 12 members from the BJP to be inducted into the Cabinet and also discussed the distribution of portfolios, sources said.
In the context of the tectonic changes that have taken place in Bihar over the last few days, Nitish Kumar has been accused of betrayal and treachery by the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and some other political parties. It has been said that he betrayed the mandate for the Mahagathbandhan received in 2015, and by joining hands with the BJP, he has displayed opportunism in the pursuit of power. The time has come to set the record straight with regard to such allegations. I recall the function on February 10, 2017, at the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library for the launch of P. Chidambarams book where Nitish was among the speakers. From the podium he made a direct appeal for Opposition unity in an organised and cohesive manner. He said that the question of who would lead the Opposition coalition should not be the obstacle. Rahul Gandhi  along with Manmohan Singh  was sitting in the front row, and Nitish pointed to him and said that he could take the lead. The offer was made publicly and in good faith, but when the function ended, without waiting to even exchange a word with Nitish, Rahul had walked out with his entourage in tow.

Subsequently, on more than one occasion, Nitish stressed that to build Opposition unity it was necessary to craft a credible narrative with an alternative vision of India, and that this project could not be reduced to a slogan, or invoked only on sporadic contingent issues, without the requisite investment of effort and application of mind. His repeated pleas fell on deaf ears, and certainly there was no initiative of any worth from the Congress. It is important to remember that in pursuit of such a goal, Nitish dispensed with personal ego. In 2015, when there was a move to unite the erstwhile Samajwadi parivar, he gave a carte blanche to Mulayam Singh Yadav, to lead such a formation, and was even willing to accept the party symbol of the Samajwadi Party. But the very party, which would have been the benefactor of his generosity, subverted even this project. In fact, in the 2015 Bihar elections, the SP put up candidates against the JD(U). While the Mahagathbandhan won decisively in 2015, an avalanche of information began to come out in the public realm in the last few months with regard to the benami properties of Lalu Prasad Yadav and family, acquired through obvious misuse of office. It is well known that Nitish has always had a policy of zero tolerance to corruption and has placed great emphasis on the need for probity in public life. Even so, he did not, contrary to the manner in which he acted against delinquent member of his own party, ask for Tejashwi Yadav to resign.

All he asked was that Tejashwi should provide a public rebuttal on a point-by-point and factual basis to the allegations listed in the FIR against him. This was essential for the image of the Mahagathbandhan. This plea too fell on deaf ears. Instead of heeding what the chief minister was saying, the RJD launched an aggressive personalised attack on him. Secularism was invoked as a counter to the charges of corruption, as though secularism is a cloak you can wear whenever there is a need to hide personal misdeeds. In his speech in the Bihar Assembly on July 28, when he proved his claim to legislative majority, Nitish made the telling comment that no one needs to teach him a lesson about secularism. It is instructive to remember that  in stark contrast to those who use Muslims only as an expedient vote bank  Nitish, as CM of an NDA government, did far more for the welfare of Muslims in Bihar than in 15 years of Lalus government. There was reason, therefore, for Nitish to be both angered  and hurt  by the baseless allegations of the RJD. Even so, he did not give up his efforts to save the coalition.

He met with Lalu and with Tejashwi. He also appealed to the Congress  the third constituent of the grand coalition  to intervene. Only a few days ago, he had a meeting with Rahul in Delhi in this regard. Unfortunately, there was not a single statement by the Congress in support of Nitishs reasoned stand against corruption. It is in this background that Nitish has joined hands with the BJP. It must be remembered that the JD(U) and the BJP were partners in the NDA for 17 years in the past. In fact, Nitish became the Chief Minister for the first time in Bihar in 2005 in partnership with the BJP. In the eight years that he ran Bihar with the BJP, with Sushil Modi as his deputy CM, the state saw a revolutionary transformation. That team is back again, and for the first time after 1990 Bihar will see the same party at the Centre as in the state. This will no doubt be in the interest of the people of Bihar. After submitting his resignation on July 26, Nitish said that he had taken this decision squarely keeping in mind the good of Bihar. Frankly, given the obduracy of the RJD, governance had come to a near standstill in Bihar. For a man like Nitish, who is known as Sushasan Babu, this was an unacceptable situation.

All his schemes for inclusive growth, specially to benefit the extremely backward and the mahadalits, were being delayed, and corruption unleashed by the RJD, had reached unacceptable proportions. One final point needs to be made. The Congress and the RJD maintain that by joining the BJP, Nitish has betrayed the mandate of the 2015 elections. To this there can be only one answer: the mandate of 2015 was for good governance and the development of Bihar, not for the brazen condoning of corruption for the benefit of one family. And, if joining the BJP now is a betrayal of that mandate, why did the Congress and the RJD provide support to the JD(U) in 2013  after Nitish broke with the BJP  when he had won the 2010 elections with a massive mandate with the BJP as his partner? The RJD, the Congress and other critics need to bear these facts in mind, and look at themselves closely in the mirror. They will then see an entirely different picture emerging.
While the media in Bihar had been predicting that Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar was set to part company with the Rashtriya Janata Dal any day, his colleague in Delhi, Sharad Yadav, was apparently taken aback when the Grand Alliance collapsed last week. It is well known that he does not have a cordial relationship with Mr Kumar, which probably explains why Mr Yadav was kept in the dark about his decision to resign and tie-up with the BJP again. On the other hand, Mr Kumar is learnt to have assured Mr Yadav that the alliance was intact. Mr Yadav, in fact, conveyed as much to a senior Congress leader on the day Mr Kumar had met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi when he came to Delhi for former President Pranab Mukherjees farewell. Mr Yadav told the Congress leader that he had a chat with Mr Kumar after his meeting with Mr Gandhi, and the chief minister, though crestfallen, had told him that the ongoing impasse would be resolved soon.

JD(U) president Nitish Kumars ghar wapsi to the BJP was painstakingly planned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The strategy was obvious: discredit RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family so that it becomes impossible for Mr Kumar to continue his partnership with the RJD. Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi was initially not involved in this exercise as the Modi-Shah duo were not sure about his loyalties because of his old association with L.K. Advani. In fact, it was for this reason that he was denied a Rajya Sabha seat. It was finance minister Arun Jaitley who managed to persuade the PM and the BJP president that Sushil be entrusted with the task of running the campaign against the RJD chief as he had the necessary skills. Although they were initially reluctant, the BJP bosses are pleased with the campaign run by Sushil. As a reward, Sushil got his old job back as deputy CM of Bihar.

Media persons covering the external affairs ministry are normally informed in advance about briefings. The routine message, sent to all on the mailing list, usually says: All media cordially invited, which meant that journalists holding a PIB card could attend. But of late, there is change. The message now reads: The recipients of this message are invited. This may have gone unnoticed except for the fact that the security personnel at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan, the ministrys official headquarters, have been checking the mobile phones of mediapersons to see if they had received the invitation. The move to limit entry to official briefings is being seen as yet another example of the efforts being made to deny access to mediapersons. Although he is the minister of information technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad realised the power of social media onlyrecently. When his daughter got married to an Iyer, the minister tweeted about it. Mr Prasad was amazed by the response. He was inundated with thousands of congratulatory messages from Tamil Nadu.

While one tweet remarked that the people of Tamil Nadu were happy to welcome his daughter as their daughter-in-law, another one congratulated him for following in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari, who are the grandparents of Gopal Gandhi, the Oppositions vice-presidential candidate. In an unusual move, the Congress expressed its unhappiness over President Ram Nath Kovinds inaugural speech as it failed to mention Jawaharlal Nehru. The party reacted strongly at its official media briefing. While the Congress was quick to complain about Mr Kovind, it was constrained from doing so about former President Pranab Mukherjee whose farewell speech did not refer to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Though he did make amends by referring to her while delivering his speech, the Congress is furious. What enraged the party further is that Mr Mukherjee devoted a full para to praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress is seething but is unable to say anything.
From the sketchy news reports of the recent trip of national security adviser Ajit Doval to Beijing to attend the meeting of NSAs of Brics countries to prepare for the summit of the grouping in September, it appears that the belligerence of the Chinese side in the context of the six-week long Doklam military standoff with India has been put away. The intemperate paper of the Chinese Communist Party, Global Times, whose war-mongering tone in dealing with Indias strategic concerns regarding road-building by the Chinese Army in Bhutans territory prepared Indians to be ready for the imminence of possible conflict, held back on its inflammatory ways.

Mr Doval did interact with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, though details are not yet out. Chinese President Xi Jinping also interacted with the assembled NSAs and spoke of their contribution in enhancing mutual trust and cooperation. The Indian NSA later said some vital issues were discussed in this interaction. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the Brics summit. These appear to be positive signs while resolution of the military standoff is awaited. Since media outfits like Global Times were allowed a free run to go at India, some concern appears to be surfacing in China that unrestrained ultra-nationalistic coverage of the Doklam standoff is becoming a domestic issue in China months before the 19th Congress of the Communist Party. Beijing may seek to neutralise the hawkish stance by highlighting economic cooperation amongst the Brics bloc.
As the BJP swiftly picks up state after state, the Congress response has been fear and panic. Bihar slipped away despite the Congress having, according to Rahul Gandhi, prior knowledge of Nitish Kumars defection. If they knew, why were they helpless? It is difficult to understand. Goa went similarly and though the Congress was better placed there, having won more seats, it waited. And waiting while faced with a party of the talent and energy and hunger of the BJP was a fatal error. In Gujarat, the exit of Shankarsinh Vaghela has triggered another round of chaos and six Congress MLAs have quit, jeopardising Ahmed Patels Rajya Sabha election. The partys response has been to suspect all its remaining MLAs and send them to Karnataka, one of the few states it controls. The strange thing is that Gujarat is a state where the BJP has performed really poorly, according to Gujaratis themselves. It is the BJP that should be concerned about losing its popularity.

In the last couple of years Gujarat has seen the following major agitations under which lakhs of people have been mobilised. The Patidar agitation for reservations led by Hardik Patel, the counter-agitation of OBC Kshatriyas led by Alpesh Thakor, the dalit revolt after the Una episode led by Jignesh Mewani, the anguish of diamond merchants and textile workers after demonetisation and rallies by lakhs of traders in Surat after the imposition of GST. Though these issues have been the direct result of BJP policies, all these agitations have happened without Congress leadership. They have thrown up new leaders like the three young men named above, or they have been leaderless. This shows that the Congress has forgotten how to mobilise people on political issues. This is strange because some of Gandhis most successful agitations, like the Bardoli satyagraha, were in Gujarat. The Congress Party in Gujarat has consistently got over 30 per cent of the vote. However, it cannot get that extra three or four percentage points that are the difference between defeat and victory. And that can happen if it is able to capitalise on one of the issues by mobilising people around it. Its inability to mobilise despite all the agitations is the reason the Gujarat BJP remains comfortable.

The BJP is thought to be invincible but no party can be in democratic politics. In Karnataka, the BJP is actually on the defensive. The wily Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah has used Indian style political tactics to keep the Hindutva party busy. He is using an anti-Hindi agitation in Bengaluru, a subject on which the BJP is vulnerable because of RSS preference of Hindi. The local BJP must stay silent or suffer damage. The other issue is that of the Lingayat communitys internal demand that it be treated as a separate religion outside Hinduism. Mr Siddaramaiah has offered to send a recommendation of separation of the faith to the Centre, if the Lingayats want him to. This seemingly innocent offer has set the cat among the pigeons. The problem of the BJP is that the community strongly backs the BJP (party leader B.S. Yeddyurappa is a Lingayat), but the BJP-RSS will not give Lingayat separatism legitimacy. Again, it must remain silent or suffer damage. Mr Siddaramaiah has also disarmed the BJPs nationalism by turning the focus to subnationalism issues like a flag for Karnataka. All of this tells us that it is possible for the Congress, and other parties, to offer a political challenge.

How can political parties in India mobilise their supporters in a time of trouble? The Congress might be about to get a lesson in that from one of Indias sharpest politicians. Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati has resigned from the Rajya Sabha after claiming she was not allowed to speak. Whether her anger is real or not, the action is deliberate. It will mean she will go to the ground and try to build back support she has lost. According to those who follow local politics, the BJP succeeded in breaking up of the unified dalit identity into jatis and sub-castes and going after the dalit groups. Ms Mayawati had ignored. Her party has been getting about 20 to 25 per cent of the vote in Uttar Pradesh. In a multiple cornered fight so long as all parties were in that zone she had a reasonable chance of victory. But Amit Shahs superb ability to build caste alliances has given the BJP overwhelming numbers that neither the Samajwadi Party (which is stuck at 29 per cent of the vote) nor the BSP can match. The only way to change that is to mobilise people. Ms Mayawati knows that. The Congress, after this moment of panic has passed, should take a deep breath and think about how to do it.
Karachi: The inglorious exit of Nawaz Sharif may have come as a serious blow to the countrys most powerful political dynasty. The devastating ruling by the five-member Supreme Court bench has not only seen the former Prime Minister disqualified for life but has also indicted almost all the Sharifs who have dominated the countrys political scene for more than three decades, whether in or out of power. But one is not sure if it marks the end of the familys political legacy. It is evident that the baton of leadership will now be passed on to Shahbaz Sharif, thus maintaining the dynastic hold over power at least for now. Indeed, the unprecedented judicial action against a sitting Prime Minister is a watershed moment for the countrys democratic evaluation and has been described as a step forward in efforts towards establishing the rule of law. Notwithstanding the scepticism over the judgment perceived as radical, the action came from within the system and not outside the constitutional framework. It also signifies a milestone in the development of an independent judiciary not subservient to the executive, though the perceived harshness of the ruling can rightly be disputed.

For sure, the ruling appears to have generated an upheaval and a period of political uncertainty  that is bound to happen when any entrenched political dynastic order is shaken. It also appears that the ruling has further deepened political polarisation in the country. But it certainly does not threaten the democratic political process as speculated by Sharifs supporters. In fact, it is a serious blow to dynastic politics that has been the biggest impediment to the development of democratic institutions and values in the country. The Panama ruling has also broken the widespread perception that Sharif being a Punjabi leader was untouchable while leaders from Sindh and the other smaller provinces could easily be dispensed with. So this hue and cry over the fall from grace of Sharif and describing the events as a setback to democracy is beyond comprehension. The case against Sharif went through a whole legal process and cannot be described as part of a conspiracy or a judicial coup.

It became quite apparent that the Prime Minister was in deep trouble after the JIT report came out with a damning indictment of him and his family. It went beyond the familys failure to provide a money trail for the London properties and included charges of perjury and non-disclosure of some foreign financial assets. But such extreme action against the entire family and a consensus ruling came as a shock not only to the government but also to those outside. Indeed, indictment of other family members and sending corruption cases against them to NAB has disrupted the dynastys succession plan. While the court ruling against Maryam Sharif was expected after the allegation of forged documents, the inclusion of Shahbaz Sharif in the list was unexpected. That has exacerbated the PML(N)s leadership predicament. But many in the party appear confident that the junior Sharif can still lead them despite facing charges in NAB. There is a move by the PML(N) to play the victimhood card and project the ousted Prime Minister as a political martyr. But one is not sure that will work in the present situation. Sharifs influence over the party has become limited with his moral and political position weakened.

A child of the establishment Nawaz Sharif was politically baptised by Gen. Zias military government in the early 1980s as part of the plan to prop up an alternative leader to challenge Benazir Bhutto. His trajectory from Punjab chief minister to Prime Minister in the 1990s owed to the backing of the military and the powerful civil establishment of Punjab. That political power also saw a massive rise in the familys business fortunes. That financial scandal continued to dog him throughout his political career particularly after his ascent to the countrys top position. It finally caught up with him after the Panama Papers named his family, and caused his downfall. With his rise to the pinnacle of political power, Nawaz Sharif tried to break away from the influence of the military establishment that also brought him down in his previous terms. The former protege turned into the nemesis of the military establishment. It is not surprising that he remained locked in perpetual conflict with the military leadership throughout his third term in office.

Although the Muslim League has historically remained close to the military establishment, Nawaz Sharif tried to transform it into a mass populist party, though he may not have been fully successful in his endeavour. Still, over the years, despite ups and downs, Sharif developed a popular mass base that elected him to a record third term in office. The backing of the powerful Punjabi civil establishment, including the bureaucracy and sections of the judiciary, also appeared to have helped his familys stranglehold over Punjab. A big question is whether a disgraced Nawaz Sharif will be able to keep the party united. More importantly, will the Punjab establishment continue to back the PML(N) under the younger Sharifs leadership after the damning indictment of the family? Previously, cracks showed up in adverse situations. The biggest example was the formation of the PML(Q) after Musharrafs coup. Interestingly, many defectors returned to the ranks with a sizeable number on the treasury benches, even in the Cabinet. That will be the most serious challenge to the Sharif family. Party unity will also depend on the ability of the PPP and PTI to make inroads in the PML(N) stronghold in Punjab that remains the main political battlefield. The other provinces are not affected by Nawaz Sharifs downfall. There doesnt seem much chance of his return to power, but one is not sure if the family rule is over.

By arrangement with Dawn
Balan went ahead to even warn that there could be more than 120,000 cameras out there that could be vulnerable and someone could also create a 20,000 botnet with it.

Internet-connected security cameras are basically IoT cameras that are being used for security purposes. While conventional security cameras are usually used in closed networks and are physically connected, internet-connected cameras use a live IP address and can be connected across the world and monitored from around the globe. They rely on the internet to relay the video feed using data that is routed through the World Wide Web. These cameras need to be connected to an active and high-speed internet connection to provide the video feeds back to the monitoring servers or recorders. However, are these cameras safe to be used on the internet?

Probably not, since these are the eyes around the world, be it on the streets, in offices or probably in your home or garage too. Internet-connected cameras have a firmware, that can be easily hacked into and your video feed could be tapped into by hackers from around the world. Since the firmware is not as secure, and most cameras or IoT devices in general, out there are not properly secured by the user, it becomes easy for a hacker to enter in and tap the feed. Most common home users dont secure their cameras with a strong password, and many of them even leave their passwords to the default factory settings since they either dont know how to change them or are now even aware that they need to do this for their own privacy.

What comes in as a shocker is that a security researcher, on July 28, revealed at a Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas that there are more than 120,000 internet-connected cameras which are vulnerable to easy hacks.

Alexandru Balan, Chief Security Researcher with security firm Bitdefender, found a flaw with two Chinese cameras from Shenzhen Neo Electronic, which allows hackers to remotely access the video feed, take complete control of the camera, and even lock the original user out of his camera for good. The findings open up a can of worms, revealing that there could be almost 150,000 IoT devices that could be vulnerable to such easy attacks.

The researcher who found the flaw told Motherboard that he did try to warn the Chinese company about the flaw, but they did not reply back or even fixed the issues. He is also worried that the problem may never be fixed in future. "It's unpatched and unpatchable," Balan told Motherboard in an interview after the conference.

Balan said that when he analysed two cameras from the Chinese brand, he found that the first camera had a default username and password, which allows any user to get into the firmware settings.

What Balan meant is that manufacturers should always place unique combinations of usernames and passwords, which should not be common to any of the cameras that the brand manufactures. This could make the device almost easily unhackable, since every camera would have a different password and not a common one.

As of now, the usernames on most IoT devices are as common as user, guest, admin, and administrator, while the passwords could be password, admin, and even blank at times.

Balan went ahead to even warn that there could be more than 120,000 cameras out there that could be vulnerable and someone could also create a 20,000 botnet with it.

Balan demoed his hack at the conference, hoping to create awareness amongst users and brands.

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Washington: The US Senate on Thursday passed bipartisan sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, sending the package to President Donald Trump, who must decide whether to accept the tough approach to Moscow or veto the measure.

The sanctions, which were approved on a 98-2 Senate vote and overwhelmingly passed the House on Tuesday, are sure to antagonize the Kremlin as well as European nations fearing their companies will be penalized.

The measure, which notably constrains Trump's ability to waive the penalties, is aimed at penalizing the Kremlin for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill would address the failure so far to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for what he described as stunning breach of a sovereign nations elections. "That all changes today," he said.

Senator John McCain, who chairs the Armed Services Committee and is a long-time harsh critic of Moscow, applauded the measure that "finally holds Russia accountable for its brazen attack" on US elections.

"The Senate's overwhelming vote today sends an important message that America will not tolerate attacks on our democracy or national security interests," he said.

But the bill could end up penalizing European firms that contribute to the development of Russia's energy sector.

New sanctions against Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which stands accused of supporting terrorism, and North Korea, for its missile tests, are also included in the bill.

Key among the provisions is one that handcuffs the US president by complicating any of the leader's unilateral efforts to ease penalties against Moscow in the future -- effectively placing him under Congress's watch.

Trump has faced accusations that his administration had sought to reassure Moscow that sanctions imposed near the end of the Obama administration could be lifted under a new presidency.

Initially, Trump resisted the sanctions legislation. But faced with near-total consensus among Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the White House blinked, saying this week that Trump was "reviewing" the bill.

US lawmakers, including Republican leaders, have remained wary of the intentions of the billionaire businessman-turned-president -- who has called for better relations with Moscow -- regarding a relaxation of pressure on Putin.

But even if Trump were to veto the legislation, Congress would likely be able to overcome such a blockage with a two-thirds majority in each chamber.

Putin himself lashed out at the US sanctions effort on Thursday, warning that Russia would ultimately have to retaliate.

"We are behaving in a very restrained and patient way, but at some moment we will need to respond," Putin said at a news conference after talks with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto.

"It's impossible to endlessly tolerate this kind of insolence towards our country," he added.

Several European nations, including Germany, are livid because the new law would allow punishing companies working on pipelines from Russia, for example by limiting their access to US banks.
Washington: The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says the US President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community.

North Korea on Friday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.

"North Koreas test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missile the second such test in less than a month is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action.

The United States condemns this test and rejects the regimes claim that these tests and these weapons ensure North Korea's security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region," Trump said.

Following Pyongyang's latest intercontinental ballistic missile test, US Secretary of State on Saturday said China and Russia bear "unique and special reponsibility" for the growing threat posed by North Korea.

"As the principal economic enablers of North Korea's nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development program, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability," Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

The launch was a "blatant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that reflect the will of the international community," he added.

The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 AM EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said.

This was North Korea's 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month.

The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call," Joint Chief of Staff Chairmans spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said.

Meanwhile the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Korea's missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said today.

This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on July 5.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

"The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range," Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, said in a tweet.
After months of speculation about Priebus' fate, Trump tweeted his decision as he landed in Washington after a speech in New York. (Photo: File)

Washington: His White House in turmoil, President Donald Trump abruptly announced late Friday he was appointing Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to be his chief of staff, ending the tumultuous six-month tenure of Reince Priebus.

After months of speculation about Priebus' fate, Trump tweeted his decision as he landed in Washington after a speech in New York in which he lavishly praised Kelly's performance at Homeland Security.

Priebus, the former Republican National Committee head, had been a frequent target of rumors about his job security amid infighting and confusion within the White House and a long whisper campaign by Trump allies. Then, on Thursday, he was assailed in a remarkable and profane public rebuke by Trump's newly appointed White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.

Priebus said he had offered his resignation on Thursday and the president accepted. "I think the president wanted to go a different direction," Priebus told CNN just hours after his exit was announced. He added that he agreed the White House might well benefit from "a reset," and he said, "I'm always going to be a Trump fan. I'm on Team Trump."

Trump's announcement on Twitter said, "I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration." He also saluted Priebus, the chief of staff he had just pushed out. "I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!"

I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017

...and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017

I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017

Kelly is a retired Marine four-star general. Trump had focused on him in recent days, telling those close to him that he loved the general's star power and that he believed military discipline was what his administration needed.

Priebus never could bring a semblance of order to the team of in-fighting rivals that populate Trump's West Wing, and questions about his future have long swirled around the office.

Those questions sharply escalated this week with the arrival of Scaramucci, the hard-charging communications director who was hired over Priebus' objections.

Priebus' already tense relationship with Scaramucci took a darker turn over the past two days when the communications chief suggested in a late-night tweet that Priebus was one of the "leakers" that Trump has railed against.

The New Yorker magazine published an interview Thursday in which Scaramucci called Priebus, amid an avalanche of vulgarity, a "paranoid schizophrenic."

Priebus, who hails from Wisconsin and has deep ties to House Speaker Paul Ryan, had grown increasingly isolated in the White House, as past Republican National Committee colleagues and other allies have left or been pushed out.

Those who have departed include former deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, former communications chief Mike Dubke, press secretary Sean Spicer and press aide Michael Short.

Another early departure from the Trump White House was National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and Trump ousted FBI Director James Comey early on. He has lobbed Twitter insults at Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently though Sessions is still in place.

Ryan, in a statement, said Priebus "has left it all out on the field, for our party and our country." Ryan added that he looked forward to working with Kelly.

Both Scaramucci and Priebus traveled to New York's Long Island with Trump on Friday for a speech in which the president highlighted efforts to crack down on the gang MS-13.

The chief of staff took the return flight to Washington, his fate sealed in the tweets that were sent by the president just as Priebus stepped off the plane.

Shortly before the president deplaned, Priebus' black SUV pulled away, leaving the rest of the motorcade, including the president's vehicle, in the distance.

The president eventually emerged, umbrella in hand, and delivered a brief statement on the runway as driving rain poured.

Rep. Peter King of New York sat across from the outgoing chief of staff on Air Force One's return flight to Washington and said Priebus "kept a poker face."

Priebus' term ends in fewer than 200 days, the shortest tenure for any president's first White House chief of staff since the post was formally established in 1946.

From day one, his power has been limited compared with past officials with his title. In a highly unusual arrangement, Trump said at the outset that Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon would serve as "equal partners" in implementing his agenda.

Scaramucci was the latest top aide to be granted a direct line to Trump, and it became increasingly unclear who actually reported to Priebus.

Though Priebus forged an uneasy truce with his former foe Bannon, powerful White House aides Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, were both supportive of Kelly's hire.

Priebus, who told CNN he frequently addressed his job status with Trump, also was blamed by some within the White House for the failure of the Republican health care plan, with some Trump allies believing that Priebus' longtime relationships with Republicans on Capitol Hill should have ensured the bill's passage. His exit had quietly been in the works for weeks.

The final go-ahead came during a meeting Thursday night in which Trump finalized that Kelly was his pick to replace Priebus, according to two people familiar with the discussion.

The president had considered others, including political operatives David Urban and Wayne Berman, for the job. But he decided on Kelly because he was impressed by the job he had done leading DHS and trusted him not to leak.

Priebus, a political operative and attorney, is expected to look for a corporate job or possibly write a book about his experience in the center of the Trump storm. One of the final establishment Republicans in the White House, he was a frequent target of barbs from Trump over not being an early backer of the celebrity businessman's candidacy.

As Homeland Security secretary, Kelly has taken the lead on some of Trump's most controversial policies, including his executive orders suspending the admission of refugees and temporarily barring visitors from several Muslim-majority nations. Those orders have been stripped down by courts pending a Supreme Court review this fall.

People who know Kelly told The Associated Press that he was not aware of the details of those initial orders until around the time that Trump signed them.

Yet, just days after taking office, Kelly had to lead the agency as it dealt with the chaos and confusion that ensued at airports in the US and around the world.

He defended the orders to reporters and lawmakers and insisted that he indeed had been part of the decision-making process.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a frequent Trump critic, welcomed Kelly as "one of the strongest and most natural leaders I've ever known."
Blockades went up across a few roads in Caracas and in a border town with Colombia, San Cristobal, but nothing on the massive scale seen earlier this week before the ban took effect. (Photo: File)

Caracas: Small numbers of protesters on Friday defied a ban on demonstrations in Venezuela, ahead of a controversial weekend election called by President Nicolas Maduro that has already provoked deadly violence and international criticism.

Blockades went up across a few roads in Caracas and in a border town with Colombia, San Cristobal, but nothing on the massive scale seen earlier this week before the ban took effect.

"It's normal that there's fear, but people are still coming out into the streets despite it all," a lawmaker in the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Freddy Guevara, said at one of the Caracas protests.

Maduro on Thursday warned that those taking part in any new protests against his holding of the vote on Sunday to choose a "Constituent Assembly" to rewrite Venezuela's constitution risked up to 10 years in prison.

The threat appeared to dampen public anti-government demonstrations of the sort that, in the past four months, have led to 113 deaths eight of them during a two-day general strike that ended Thursday. But international censure of Maduro's stance remained fierce.

US Vice President Mike Pence spoke by telephone to a detained prominent Venezuelan opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, who early this month was moved from prison to house arrest.

In implicit support for the opposition, Pence praised Lopez's "courage." He also called for the "unconditional release of all political prisoners in Venezuela, free and fair elections, restoration of the National Assembly, and respect for human rights in Venezuela," a statement from his office said.

The United States this week imposed sanctions on 13 current and former Venezuelan officials, including police and army chiefs, over Maduro's plan.

Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, also said his country would not recognize the results of Sunday's election in Venezuela, calling the basis of the Constituent Assembly "spurious."

Maduro has remained determined to see through his plan, however, with backing from a loyal military. "We have a card to play: a card that will win this game. And that card is the National Constituent Assembly," he said. He urged the opposition to stop its "insurrection" and hold talks instead. The leftist president has repeatedly accused the US of fomenting the unrest against him.

The new assembly would comprise 545 citizens chosen from across the country, and from societal sectors over which Maduro's government holds influence meaning opposition voices would be diluted or excluded.

The opposition, which calls the election of the body a ploy by an unpopular "dictator" to cling to power, has called for a boycott of the vote. Some 70 percent of Venezuelans oppose plans for the constituent assembly, and 80 percent reject Maduro's leadership, according to the polling firm Datanalisis.

An electoral expert, Eugenio Martinez, noted that most of Venezuela's 20 million voters would be able to vote twice, raising questions about the validity of final turnout and balloting figures, especially with no credible election observers present.

Fears of open civil conflict have prompted thousands of Venezuelans to join an exodus into Colombia. The neighboring country said it would give 150,000 Venezuelans who had overstayed permission to visit another three months before they had to leave.

On Thursday, the United States ordered families of its embassy staff in Venezuela to leave. Washington and Ottawa also warned against their citizens making non-essential travel to the country.

The United Nations human rights office said it was "deeply concerned" about the "very tense and very difficult situation" in Venezuela. Some in Maduro's administration have broken ranks, most prominently his attorney general. Some diplomats resigned this week, including one at the UN and one at the embassy in Panama.
Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said Pyongyang's latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile confirmed all the US mainland was within striking range, state media reported Saturday.

Kim said Friday's test demonstrated the North's ability to launch "at any place and time," the Korean Central News Agency reported, adding "the leader said proudly the test also confirmed all the US mainland is within our striking range."

"Dear Leader Kim Jong-Un expressed great satisfaction with the perfectly successful test and praised its developers," KCNA said.

The report said the test confirmed the missile's nuclear detonation control mechanism operated normally and that the warhead could endure the intense heat of re-entering the atmosphere.

With its second ICBM test this month, North Korea is doubling down on its threat to develop nuclear-strike capability against the US mainland in the face of severe warnings from President Donald Trump.

The US leader denounced the launch as a "reckless and dangerous" action and rejected Pyongyang's claims that such tests helped ensure its security.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people," Trump said in a statement.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region."

South Korean, US and Japanese monitors all detected the unusual late-night test Friday, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the missile may have landed within Japan's maritime exclusive economic zone.

"We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said, adding that the projectile travelled about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) before splashing down in the Sea of Japan.

However, the Russian military said it appeared to be a "medium-range" ballistic missile.

The launch came a day after North Korea celebrated what it calls "Victory Day" -- the anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang regularly times its missile tests to coincide with symbolic dates.

In Seoul and Tokyo, the governments convened meetings of their national security councils.

And the US and South Korean militaries began conducting a live-fire exercise using surface-to-surface missiles in response to the latest test, the US army said.

- 'Time for Trump to focus' -

Joel Wit, a senior fellow at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on the North's nuclear weapons programme, said Friday's launch confirmed time was running out for Washington to find a way out of a pressing security crisis.

"Another North Korean test of what appears to be a missile that can reach the United States further emphasises the need for the Trump administration to focus like a laser on this increasingly dangerous situation," Wit said on the institute's 38 North website.

US military and South Korean intelligence officials had in recent days warned that North Korea appeared to be prepping another missile test -- likely of an ICBM.

The ICBM test on July 4 had triggered global alarm, with experts saying the missile had a theoretical range to reach Alaska.

Kim Jong-Un, who also personally oversaw that launch on America's Independence Day, described it as a gift to the "American bastards."

It sent tensions soaring in the region, pitting Washington, Tokyo and Seoul against China, Pyongyang's last remaining major ally.

The United States instigated a push at the United Nations for tougher measures against Pyongyang, with Trump saying he was considering a "pretty severe" response.

Friday's launch came just hours after the US Senate passed bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang.

North Korea's accelerated drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability poses a thorny policy challenge for Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim Jong-Un's regime.

"It's clear Kim Jong-Un remains undeterred by the threat of tightened sanctions, and is not listening to its one major ally, China. The longer the world waits to deal with North Korea, the more advanced Pyongyang's arsenal will become," said Jean Lee at the Wilson Center thinktank.

Trump has repeatedly urged Beijing to rein in its recalcitrant neighbour, but Beijing insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.

There remain doubts whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for the projectile to survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

But since Kim came to power there has been a series of technical advances, including three nuclear tests and a string of missile launches.

France on Friday called on fellow members of the UN Security Council to swiftly adopt "strong and additional sanctions" against Pyongyang.

- 'Frustrating' -

Reacting to the launch, UN spokesman Farhad Haq said it was "frustrating" that the secretary general's calls for all sides to de-escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula had gone unheeded.

In an apparent reference to China, Haq said it was important for all parties to "use their particular influence to help resolve this."

In all, six sets of UN sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but two resolutions adopted last year significantly toughened the sanctions regime.

Meanwhile, the US military is preparing to conduct another test of a missile-intercept system in Alaska, perhaps as soon as Saturday.
New Delhi/Islamabad: Outgoing Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Saturday said that the Pakistan military court would take a decision regarding alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has filed a mercy petition against his death sentence in the court.

"Kulbhushan Jadhav is convicted. There is a mercy petition filed and the Army court will take a decision," Basit, who had earlier maintained silence over the issue, said.

The Pakistan government had earlier accepted the request of Abdul Basit to resign from the foreign service after he was passed over for the post of foreign secretary earlier in 2017.

Basit was to retire in April 2018, but he opted for an early retirement and sent his resignation letter to former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The India-Pakistan relations have been strained ever since a death sentence was awarded to former Indian Naval officer Jadhav. India even moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek justice for Jadhav that stayed the death sentence till its final decision.

When asked about the future of the downhill relations, the outgoing envoy said, "Never give up. Keep trying; things will get better."

Jadhav was sentenced to death on April 10, 2017 after being accused of espionage and working for the India's external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). He was arrested from Balochistan on March 3, 2016.

Meanwhile, Sohail Mahmood, currently Pakistan's envoy to Turkey, has been named the next High Commissioner to India.

Mahmood, a 55-year-old career diplomat, is expected to take up his responsibilities in New Delhi, in August.
A little earlier, the US military announced that the latest rocket launch was an intercontinental ballistic. (Photo: Representational/File)

Moscow: A missile fired by North Korea on Friday appeared to be a "medium-range" weapon, the Russian military said, as the US asserted Pyongyang had launched a second ICBM.

In a statement cited by Russian agencies the defence ministry in Moscow said that according to flight parameters detected by its warning systems the "characteristics were those of a medium-range ballistic missile".

It reached an altitude of 681 kilometres and flew for 732 kilometres before crashing down into the Sea of Japan without posing any threat to Russia, the statement said.

A little earlier, the US military announced that the latest rocket launch was an intercontinental ballistic, which would make it the second time that Pyongyang has fired an ICBM.

A first ICBM test on July 4 triggered global alarm, with experts saying the missile had a theoretical range that could reach Alaska. Russia which has warm diplomatic ties with North Korea also claimed that missile was "medium-range", despite assertions by both Pyongyang and Washington.

Russia has teamed up with North Korea's main backer China to push an initiative that would see North Korea halt missile tests in return for the US ending military drills in the region.
Islamabad: Pakistans ruling PML-N party on Saturday named former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the interim Prime Minister until ousted premier Nawaz Sharifs younger brother and Punjab chief minister Shehbaz is elected as a member of Parliament to be his eventual successor till the 2018 polls.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Nawaz Sharif and attended by the partys top leaders who rallied behind the Sharifs, the countrys most powerful political family.

Nawaz Sharif proposed the two names for partys formal approval. The parliamentary board approved the nomination by Sharif as mark of trust in him, a party leader told PTI.

But Shehbaz, the 65-year-old chief minister of Punjab, cannot immediately replace his brother as he is not an MP.

Abbasi, the 58-year-old loyalist of Nawaz Sharif, is expected to serve for 45 days and will resign to let Shehbaz succeed as permanent premier, party sources said.

Shehbaz will contest the election from NA-120, a constituency in Lahore which has fallen vacant due to the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif.

The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified 67-year-old Nawaz Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.

The courts ruling abruptly ended Nawaz Sharifs third tenure as Prime Minister and forced the partys top leadership to find his successor.

The five-judge bench also ruled to send references against Nawaz Sharif, his children Maryam Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz and Hasan Nawaz, son-in-law Mohammed Safdar and former finance minister Ishaq Dar to an accountability court.

At the Saturday meeting, PML-N also decided to challenge Nawaz Sharifs disqualification through a review petition in the apex court.

Nawaz Sharif was accorded a tremendous welcome when he arrived to chair the meeting. The participants chanted the partys slogan: Dekho dekho kaun aaya, sher aaya sher aaya. (Look who has come, lion has come.) Lion is PML-Ns election symbol.
Britains ban came after the US barred laptops in cabins on flights from 10 Mideast airports over concerns about explosives on planes. (Photo: AP)

London: Britain has eased a ban on laptops and tablets in airline cabins, lifting the prohibition on some flights from Turkey.

In March, Britain banned electronic devices larger than smartphones on direct flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

The Department for Transport said on Friday that the rule no longer applies to flights from Istanbuls Sabiha Gokcen airport. The ban still holds at Istanbuls other international airport, Ataturk.

The department said restrictions at other airports will be lifted on a case-by-case basis once the UK government has verified that airlines have put in place alternative security measures.

Britains ban came after the US barred laptops in cabins on flights from 10 Mideast airports over concerns about explosives on planes. The ban has since been lifted for several airlines.
Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif will chair a crucial meeting to decide his successor, a day after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court yesterday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.



Senior Pakistan Muslim League leader and former railway minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the party meeting later today. The meeting is likely to include discussion on candidates for the post of the prime minister, party's new president and members of the Cabinet. "Different options were discussed in a similar meeting yesterday but no decision was taken," he said.



Meanwhile, party sources said that Sharif proposed name of his younger brother Shehbaz in yesterday's meeting and none of the participants raised any objection to the proposal. But Shehbaz, 65, cannot immediately replace his brother as he is not a member of parliament. In order to become the prime minister, he would have to be elected first.



Hence, an interim prime minister would have to be chosen from among Sharif's confidants who will resign once Shehbaz is elected. Pakistan has seen such arrangements in the past too. During former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharrafs time, politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was appointed as an interim prime minister until Shaukat Aziz, who was nominated by Musharraf, got elected by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ).



According to party sources, Sharif was conscious that bringing Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz to Islamabad may create political vacuum in the crucial state, which PML-N cannot afford ahead of next year elections. Hence, there is possibility that a permanent prime minister might be elected from the senior party leader for the remaining tenure of the government, which would end in first week of June, 2018.



In case, Shehbaz is elected is premier, then his son Hamza could be a choice for the post of chief minister of Punjab. But the problem is that Hamza is member of national assembly and would have to be elected as member of provincial assembly first in order to succeed his father.



The party would have to decide a prime minister for interim period in case Shehbaz emerges as the final consensus candidate for top job. Different names so far considered to become interim prime minister include former defence minister Khawaja Asif, former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former planning minister Ahsan Iqbal and speak national assembly Ayaz Sadiq.
A special court today dismissed the bail plea of an alleged middleman who was arrested in the Election Commission bribery case involving AIADMK (Amma) faction leader TTV Dhinakaran.





Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry denied bail to Sukesh Chandrashekar, who was arrested on April 16 and chargesheeted by the Delhi Police on July 14. "Bail application dismissed. Detailed order to follow later in the day," the court said.





Chandrashekar had sought bail on the ground that his custody was not required as the investigation regarding him was complete. The prosecutor had opposed the bail plea saying that the investigation in the case was still going on.





He has been denied bail twice by a sessions court and then by the Delhi High Court.





The court has already fixed August three to consider the issue of taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed in the case.





The Delhi Police Crime Branch has chargesheeted Chandrashekar for alleged offences under the IPC including forgery of valuable security, forgery for purpose of cheating, using forged document as genuine, possessing a forged document, intending to use it as genuine and criminal conspiracy.





He was also charged with the alleged offence of taking gratification by illegal means to influence public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act. If convicted, the offences carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.





The police have alleged in the charge sheet that Dhinakaran and Chandrashekar had conspired to bribe Election Commission (EC) officials to get the 'two leaves' symbol for their party.





They have told the court that a supplementary final report would be filed later against accused Dhinakaran, his close aide T P Mallikarjuna, suspected hawala operators Nathu Singh and Lalit Kumar, who are out on bail, after completing the probe against them.





The police has claimed that the money allegedly recovered from Chandrashekar was sent by Dhinakaran through unaccounted channels with the help of other accused persons.





Chandrashekar was arrested for allegedly taking money from Dhinakaran to bribe ECI officials to get the AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol for the Sasikala faction.





According to the police, Rs 1.3 crore in cash was allegedly recovered from him at the time of the raid at a hotel in Chanakyapuri area of south Delhi.





Dhinakaran was arrested here on the night of April 25 after four days of questioning for allegedly attempting to bribe ECI officials for the symbol. Mallikarjuna was also arrested the same day.





His faction had hoped to obtain the symbol for the bypoll to the R K Nagar Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu which was later cancelled by the ECI after the alleged irregularities surfaced, according to the police.





The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa who represented the constituency.





The ECI had frozen the AIADMK's symbol after the two factions of the party -- one led by Dhinakaran's aunt Sasikala and the other by former chief minister O Panneerselvam -- staked a claim to it.





Mallikarjuna was arrested for allegedly facilitating a Rs 50 crore deal between Dhinakaran and Chandrashekar.





Dhinakaran has been accused of arranging the money from undisclosed sources and getting it transferred from Chennai to Delhi through illegal channels.
After weeks of relative peace in the Darjeeling hills, pro-Gorkhaland supporters clashed with police on the 45th day of the shutdown today, during which, the GJM claimed, one of its supporters suffered a bullet injury.



The GJM claimed that Ajay Chhetri was injured in police firing, a charge denied by the ADG who termed it as "completely baseless".



The present shutdown, which began on June 15, is the longest till date on the statehood issue. The picturesque hill station had witnessed a 40-day bandh in 1988 by the Gorkha National Liberation Front and a 44-day shutdown in 2013 by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM).



According to Darjeeling district administration, pro- Gorkhaland supporters armed with knives, swords and traditional kukri (Gorkha knife) tried to forcibly enter Siliguri, demanding that it be included in the Gorkhaland state being demanded by them.



Police which had put up roadblocks near Sukna road crossing asked them to return but the agitators broke the first two barricades and threw stones at them.



Police used water cannons and mild baton charge to disperse the crowd. At this the protesters turned violent and set afire some vehicles parked nearby.



Few police personnel and GJM activists were injured in the clashes. The GJM supporters were admitted to hospitals for treatment.



The pro-Gorkhaland supporters then launched a sit-in on Sukna-Siliguri road and a huge contingent of police and security forces moved to the area to control the situation.



The GJM leadership claimed that the police resorted to firing.



"One of our supporters named Ajay Chhetri was injured in to police firing. Is this a democracy where no one is allowed to carry out a democratic rally?" Giri said speaking to PTI.



ADG (Law and Order) Anuj Sharma said the claim was "completely baseless".



"Not a single round was fired," he said.



GJM supporters took out rallies at Chowkbazar area during the day amid patrolling by police and security forces.



Normal life remained crippled in the Darjeeling hills due to the ongoing indefinite strike to press for a separate Gorkhaland state.



Barring medicine shops, business establishments, restaurants, hotels, schools and colleges remained closed.


The BJP in Uttar Pradesh is working overtime to find a place for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the state Legislative Council.



The six-month deadline for the chief minister to become a member of the state legislature to retain his post ends on August 19, and a section of the party feels that he should be accommodated in the Upper House that would allow him to focus on the government.



The BJP has already persuaded two MLCs of the Samajwadi Party and one BSP member to resign to accommodate Adityanath and four of his ministerial colleagues (without a place in the Assembly).



The party is also busy poaching non-NDA MLCs to ensure the process is smooth.



BJP sources said its leadership is in talks to rope in independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya after his close aide from SP Yashwant Singh quits the Legislative Council to join the NDA. Bhaiya and Singh were ministers in the Akhilesh Yadav government.



If Bhaiya agrees to be part of the NDA, the controversial MLA representing Kunda constituency will be made a minister in the Yogi government. Bhaiya is no stranger to the BJP, having been a minister in the erstwhile governments of Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh.



Besides Singh, another SP MLC Bukkal Nawab has also quit the Upper House to align with the BJP.



The party is also trying to woo expelled BSP MLC Naseemudin Siddiqui, after its own Vidhan Parishad member Thakur Jaiveer Singh sent in his resignation to the Upper House chairman.



The party seems unsure if it should let Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya continue in UP government or recall him for central duties. Maurya currently represents Phulpur Lok Sabha seat.



The party has been busy clearing up seats in Vidhan Parishad for the other Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma and ministers Swatantra Deo Singh and Mohsin Raza, who are not members of the Assembly or the Council.




NDA's vice presidential candidate Venkaiah Naidu today rubbished "talk" that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah named him for the top post as they feared that he would be a contender for the PM's post in 2019.



Dubbing these claims as mere "trash", Naidu heaped praise on Modi, saying he was "God's boon to the country" and that decisions were always taken collectively.



"This is trash. Modi, Shah and we all take decisions collectively. In fact they both used to consult me on all important matters," Naidu said at a 'meet-and-greet' programme here today.



"Since the President of India is from the north, prime minister from the west, Lok Sabha speaker from central India, Modi wanted the vice president from the south," he said.



"He also wanted one from an agricultural family for the vice president's post. And, one who could run the Rajya Sabha effectively. Modi's thinking was rational," Naidu said.



The prime minister had clearly said there was no alternative (for the vice president's post) and so he was chosen, the former Union minister said.



"Either out of their liking for me or disliking of others, some people started all this talk that I'm set to be a competitor (for Modi) in 2019 and hence they (Modi and Shah) tactfully removed me (from active politics) and nominated me for the vice president's post," he said.



"Some say Amit Shah conspired against me. Why should he do that? Shah, Modi and we all take decisions collectively," he added.



"Modi is God's boon to the country. He has character, calibre and capacity and he has been tirelessly and dedicatedly working for the development of India. He is a leader par excellence," Naidu said.



Naidu, a former BJP chief, also praised Shah saying that with his political acumen and determination, he has been toiling to strengthen the BJP in all parts of the country.



"The BJP once used to be known as a north Indian party but now almost the entire north east is under its fold. Even in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the BJP has an MP, Zilla Parishad chairman and municipal chairman," he said.



State ministers, MPs and former MPs were among those who attended the event and felicitated Naidu for being chosen as the candidate for the high post.



Naidu is pitted against Gopalkrishna Gandhi who is the opposition's vice presidential candidate. Poll to the post will be held on August 5.
An Islamic community radio station in the UK has lost its licence for broadcasting 25 hours of lectures by Al Qaeda recruiter Alman al-Awlaki.



Sheffield-based Iman FM was found in breach of broadcast norms by the UK's Office of Communications (Ofcom) for airing the lectures titled 'The Life of Mohammed' by the America-born radical cleric during the holy month of Ramazan between May 26 and June 16.



The station claimed that it was unaware of the background of the preacher, who was killed by a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011.



"Ofcom has decided that it is necessary in the public interest to revoke the licensee's Broadcasting Act licence, and that the licensee is unfit to hold a broadcast licence. The service has been off-air since July 4 and will not be reinstated," said an Ofcom spokesperson.



The media regulator's investigation found that Al Awlaki's lectures included "a direct call to action to members of the Muslim community to prepare for and carry out violent action against non-Muslim people" and "statements clearly condoning and encouraging acts of crime, terrorism or violent behaviour".



The watchdog said the content, including calls for "virtuous jihad" and anti-Semitic statements, was in "serious breach" of the broadcasting code amounting to hate speech, justifying terrorism, inciting violence and encouraging crime.



The station, run by Iman Media UK which has been on air since October 2014, was suspended following complaints on July 4 and has had its licence revoked this week after representations from the owners failed to save keep it on air.



Iman FM said it "fully accepted" that breaches had taken place but insisted to Ofcom they were due to "recklessness, but not deliberate intent".



Iman FM stands for the Institute of Media Arts and Naats and its chief executive is listed as Mohammed Shabbir Mughal, who has set up other radio stations for the Muslim community in the Sheffield area since 2000, including RadioHajj.



It told Ofcom's investigation that it had broadcast the lectures because the regular presenter for its breakfast show was not available during the month of Ramazan.



The radio station, which apologised to listeners in June for the broadcast, admitted that its compliance procedures had failed.



The management of Iman FM said: "We are disappointed with Ofcom's decision to revoke our licence. We are currently working with our legal team in looking at any further legal options. We will not be making any further comment at this stage."
Two Samajwadi Party (SP) and a BSP member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative council on Saturday resigned from the house to what the sources said ''pave'' the way for the BJP ministers, who were not member of either of the houses, to get elected to the council.



While the SP and BSP accused the BJP of ''luring'' their MLCs with ''money power'', the latter rubbished the charges and said it had nothing to do with the resignations.



SP MLCs Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh, who was a close confidante of controversial independent legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, and BSP MLC Thakur Jaiveer Singh resigned from the house amid speculations that they might soon join the saffron party.



While the term of both Nawab and Yashwant Singh would have expired in July 2022, Thakur Jaiveer Singh's term was until March 2018.



SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav termed the resignations as an example of ''political corruption''. ''After Bihar, the BJP intends to resort to political corruption in UP also,'' he said.



BSP supremo Mayawati lashed out against the BJP and said that the latter could go to any extent for power. ''BJP is a danger to democracy,'' she said.



According to the sources, the resignations could ultimately pave the way for some BJP ministers, who were not members of either of the houses, to get elected to council within the stipulated period.



Currently, five BJP ministers, including UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the two deputy chief ministers Dinesh Sharma and Keshav Prasad Maurya, were neither member of the Vidhan Sabha nor the council.



Sources said that Sharma and two other ministers, including Mohsin Raza and Swatantra Dev Singh, were likely to opt for council rather than contesting assembly by-polls. It was not yet clear if Adityanath and Maurya would also take the council route or contest the assembly polls.



Bukkal Nawab, who is considered close to SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, claimed that some more SP MLCs could resign in the next few days. He, however, did not elaborate.


Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said singing 'Vande Mataram' was a "matter of choice" and those refusing to sing it could not be dubbed as anti- nationals.



"Singing Vande Mataram is absolutely an individual's choice. Those who want to sing can sing it, those who don't, may not. Not singing it does not make one anti-national," said the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs, who was in the city for an event, speaking to PTI.



He added that however, if someone deliberately opposed the singing of the national song, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, it was "in bad taste" and "not in the interest of the country".



Sparks flew in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly yesterday as the ruling BJP MLAs slammed Samajwadi Party's Abu Asim Azmi, who opposed a demand for making the singing of 'Vande Mataram' mandatory in the schools and colleges of the state.



Citing a recent Madras High Court order, which made singing of 'Vande Mataram' mandatory in the Tamil Nadu schools, BJP MLA Raj Purohit said it should be followed by the schools and colleges in Maharashtra as well.



Azmi said he would not sing 'Vande Mataram' even if he was "thrown out of the country", while AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan said he would not sing it "even if a revolver is put to my head".



Speaking at Shirdi, state PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil today said no one should have a problem saying 'Vande Mataram' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.



Meanwhile, commenting on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's return to the NDA-fold, Naqvi described the JD(U) chief as "a natural ally of the BJP".



"It does not matter whom he (Kumar) had criticised (when he had parted ways with the NDA). The BJP will support anybody who is against corruption and interested in good governance," the Union minister said.


Widespread public protests had forced the government to withdraw the controversial Rs 1,800-crore Basaveshwara Circle steel flyover project. Months later, a similar but much smaller project has sparked a protest by the local residents, echoing a recurring lacuna: Lack of public consultation, a process that ought to have preceded every infrastructure proposed in the peoples name.



Local residents and traders in the vicinity of the proposed flyover at Sivananda Circle are not convinced that the structure will decongest the place. They question the problem itself. Barring 30 minutes during the morning and evening peak, the traffic is perfectly manageable, they contend. Spending Rs 50 crore on a 330-metre steel flyover, they say, is simply not justified.



Srinivas Alavilli from Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) insists that the protest is not an irrational anti-development stance. It is about being kept in the dark about a project that directly affects the residents. Nothing is in public domain. Only when they started soil testing did we know that something is on. Even now, the information trickling in is conflicting, he points out.



A public consultation meet would have cleared the air. There are very active, buzzing Residents Welfare Associations in the area. The government should have invited them and presented its case. If there are traffic studies to justify such a structure, all stakeholders should have been shown. Their suggestions should have been sought, says Alavilli.



Larger issue



But a larger issue has come to the fore with the protest: That, residents, increasingly aware of projects that incentivise only motorised transport, will not stay silent anymore. Infrastructure projects that are drawn up unilaterally, without much basis, will not go unopposed. Steamrolling public opposition will just not do.

Urban mobility experts see the project as another instance of the governments low priority for pressing issues such as last-mile connectivity gaps, pedestrianisation on roads beyond the TenderSURE network and consensus building.



Most Metro stations, for instance, suffer from poor connectivity with remote areas in their vicinity. The skeletal commuter rail system is not properly linked to bus stands and the Metro. Most roads in the city score poorly on walkability.



Big flaws



If residents had been consulted, they would have drawn attention to one big flaw in the proposed flyover plan: Taking off as a four-lane elevated stretch near Desai Nursing Home at Sivananda Circle, the flyover would land just before the railway bridge, where the road narrows down to just two lanes. This is a sure-shot recipe for traffic chaos, say the residents, traffic police and experts. The whole point of the flyover would then be defeated.



Currently, the signalled junction at Sivananda Circle, where vehicles halt for a minute or two, prevents congestion at the railway underbridge. However, as citizen activist Suraj Chhabria points out, vehicles on the flyover will descend at high speed just before the bridge, triggering severe congestion.



But why are such projects foisted on people in the first place? Financial spin-offs for vested interests within and outside the government from such big ticket projects are often talked about, although documentary evidence rarely shows up.



Disturbing trend



Concerned citizens, civic activists and seasoned road engineers find the trend disturbing, particularly when government agencies such as the Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT) have emerged to push for sustainable, multi-modal transport solutions for Bengaluru. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) too is involved in shaping a pedestrian-friendly approach to road-building through the TenderSURE project. The new flyover project goes entirely against this emerging trend. Inter-agency coordination is clearly missing.

Unnerved by the governments move to go ahead with the project, those campaigning against the flyover have now approached the court. The matter is likely to come up for discussion in the BBMP Council on Monday. Land acquisition and other processes involved are bound to delay the project. With the campaing gaining momentum, it is now clear that the project may not be formally launched in a hurry.



The National Urban Transport Policy, formulated in 2014 had clearly indicated that the priority should be in moving people, not moving vehicles. The policys stated objective was this: Bringing about a more equitable allocation of road space with people, rather than vehicles, as its main focus. Flyovers of dubious utility do not fit this agenda.


The state governments steely approach to go ahead with steel flyovers in the city has again come to the fore in the form of a go-ahead being granted to the project at Sivananda Circle. Even as the government had to buckle under pressure to withdraw its ambitious project for the flyover between Chalukya Circle and Hebbal flyover, this time round the powers-that-be have accelerated the pace for the project at Sivananda Circle. DH spoke to some citizen activists and residents who opposed the project tooth and nail as public consultation has again been overlooked before granting sanctions.



RTI activist Mahesh Sivananda, of Sivananda Stores in Kumara Park East, berated the project as being a misconception. It is an ill-conceived project meant to mislead the public. The project claims to be a steel flyover but in reality, only 106-110 metres will comprise steel while the remaining will be concretised, Sivananda said.



Sivananda believes that the road is not wide enough and proportionate to construct the flyover. He explained, The road cannot be widened as the stretch has business complexes located on private properties on either side of the road, which may lead to litigation. It will also be impossible to make it a signal-free corridor as envisaged by the authorities.



He is of the opinion that the project is being executed at breakneck speed to cater to vested interests as elections are round the corner.



Senior advocate and a resident of Kumara Park V, Tarakram questioned the viability of the project and sought to know if the authorities even prepared a feasibility report for the same. The authorities seem to have not done their homework as the road is disproportionate to even be considered for a flyover. The railway underbridge should have been widened and a few properties acquired to align the road and then make it one-way to decongest traffic, he said.



Tarakram is also doubtful whether the structure would be able to withstand the weight of heavy vehicles. He hopes that the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, which has its building on the stretch, will use its powerful lobby to ensure that the project gets stalled. The senior advocate also expressed concerns over lack of transparency in the proposed project as the opinion of local residents in the area was not taken before giving it the green signal. Social activist Kumar Jahgirdar, who recently held a protest against the proposed flyover, had this to say: The downward movement of vehicles towards the narrow road leading to the underbridge will result in severe congestion due to the restricted width of the underbridge and the structural limitations to widen it.



Residents are wary that their protests would go unregistered because the government may muffle their dissenting voices and still go ahead with its plans to construct the flyover at Sivananda Circle. But they have resolved to relentlessly oppose its implementation.



Jahgirdar said he would team up with the residents and other activists to get a signed memo to submit to the government to withdraw the project. He said they were also considering filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).



Lecturer and social activist, Arun Prasad commutes frequently to Sivananda Circle as he enjoys the salubrious environs of the stretch lined with trees. He feels, The ecological balance of the area would be disturbed as the project would warrant felling of 30 rain trees. In the process of decongesting roads, the government will congest our lungs.



Residents hope that better sense prevails on the government and it realises that short pass-overs are necessary only where arterial roads intersect feeder roads and not on a stretch like Sivananda Circle.



Also, many argued that Hare Krishna Road becomes narrower and bends as it touches Race Course Road, leaving little scope for a service road for the traffic below. They feel the proposed project would only create more bottlenecks than decongest traffic, thereby defeating the very purpose of constructing the flyover.


A majority of police stations in the city that have adopted the re-introduced beat system proposed by the state police chief based on the award-winning model in Belagavi have scripted a success story.



After the reorganisation of a few police stations on the citys outskirts, beats were revamped with beat policemen selecting members for each beat depending on its size. Beat members range from school/college students to senior citizens, resident welfare association presidents, members of youth wings, software engineers and womens association members etc. Beat policemen are in constant touch with these members over phone, WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms like Facebook. Meetings are organised with beat members at least once a month to review their plans on prevention and detection of crimes. The re-introduced beat system was further enhanced by the arrival of the new fleet of 272 Ertiga Hoysalas, including the Pink Hoysalas.



For example, the Jnanabharathi police station serves a population of around three lakh. The police station has 35 beats with 35 beat policemen who have each selected 30 members for their individual beats. Beat members at Jnanabharathi range from Bangalore University students to senior citizens who are in loop with the police. Jnanabharathi was a hub of chain-snatchers before, but with the new beat system, we have curbed it to a major extent. In 2014, there were 30 chain snatching cases. In 2015, 20 were registered. When the beat system was gradually pushed in with vigour in 2016, chain-snatching cases reduced to nine in 2016. In 2017, after the revamp of our beat system, we have only one chain-snatching case which also has been detected, said Krishna K L, police inspector, Jnanabharathi police station.



With this beat system, the police not only feel their work has becomemore effective and easy, but they have also developed a bond with the citizens, building the police image with three Cs  Care, Compassion, and Courage, said DCP West division, M N Anucheth.



Some laggards



The new beat system is yet to catch up at a few police stations in commercial hubs. The Halasuru Gate police station has 18 beats where the beat policemen are unable to function according to requirements as they are deployed for security duty most of the time. There are at least two protests a day in our jurisdiction where most of our men are deployed, said a policeman requesting anonymity.



Citizens made aware



C Gangadhar, a senior citizen and a beat member, told DH, My job is to interact with my fellow senior citizens and ask them to report any suspicious activity to me or the police. The beat system helps in local intelligence gathering and eases the police job of detection and deterring crimes. This system has made citizens aware of crimes and the need to be alert and report suspicious activities, he said.




Members of Citizens For Bengaluru and other residents welfare associations on Saturday submitted their objections regarding the new zoning regulations to the joint director of Town and Country Planning at MS Building.



The residents took the copies of the petitions signed by more than 6,000 people and handed them over to M S Shanthala, joint director of Town and Country Planning.



The delegation asked Shanthala when the final draft will be out but got no answer. Later, Sneha Nandihal, a member of the delegation told reporters that if the draft rule is implemented, it will ruin the tranquillity of residential areas as it permits commercial activities on 30-foot-wide roads.



She said it is against the existing rules as well as the high court directions to ensure that no commercial activities take place in residential areas with a road width of 40 feet or less.








In the first half of the year, the figures reached USD19.6 billion, up 9.5 percent annually but lower than the 12.8 percent growth last year, partly due to the USs slower economic growth.

Statistics from the USs International Trade Commission showed that in January-May, Vietnam ranked second among countries in terms of export growth to the US, accounting for 8.9 percent, behind Ireland (up 22 percent) and India (up 9 percent) and above China (up 7.1 percent).

Among Vietnams top foreign currency earners in the five months, garments rose 6.9 percent, wood and wooden furniture jumped 16.8 percent while footwear rose 13.2 percent.

Earnings from computers, electronics and spare parts were valued at USD1.05 billion in January-May, down 1.5 percent. Cell phone shipments surged 46.7 percent during the period, with a double increase in ASEAN and China and 121 percent and 104 percent rises in India and Mexico, respectively.

Fisheries exports to the US fell by 6.7 percent to USD483.4 million. However, the total exports of the products rose 13.8 percent due to increased shipments to the European Union and China.

Machinery, computers and spare parts exported to the US are mostly made by foreign firms.

Vietnamese exporters to the US face obstacles via technical barriers and thorough food quality and safety requirements.

The MoIT recommended that they devise plans to improve competitiveness and food quality to expand their market share./.
Members of Lanchamukta Karnataka Nirmana Vedike on Saturday protested against the delay in opening of shops in the newly built Jayanagar Shopping Complex.



Built at a cost of Rs 50 crore, the complex was inaugurated in October 2015, but the shops are yet to be put to use. Speaking to journalists, Ravikrishna Reddy, the president of the Vedike, wondered why the authorities were not looking into the issue.



He claimed BBMP is losing Rs 2 lakh per day owing to the delay in opening the shops. We will continue to protest till the authorities come and open the shops, he said and warned that traders would set up their own shops if the government does not take any action.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take the lead in resolving the water disputes involving Karnataka and other states.



Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, the chief minister said, The state is reeling under drought. The state government has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi several times, seeking his intervention in resolving the river water-sharing disputes between the riparian states. But the prime minister has not responded.



The prime minister is the head of the government in a federal set-up and he should safeguard the interests of the states. Then prime minister Indira Gandhi had resolved many issues that had cropped up between the states. The BJP MPs should pressure the prime minister to intervene and resolve the disputes, he said.



He slammed the Goa Water Resources Minister Dayanand Mandrekar for accusing the Karnataka government of playing dirty politics over the Mahadayi water dispute and said its the Goa government that is playing dirty politics.



On JD(S) state president



H D Kumaraswamys proposed protest against the state government over the release of water from Krishnaraja Sagar to Tamil Nadu, Siddaramaiah said, Kumaraswamy was a chief minister and he should not do politics on such issues. Even I am a farmer and I understand their problems, the chief minister added.



None of the four reservoirs in the Cauvery River basin has a storage of 50% due to below par monsoon. The KRS dam has only 7 to 8 tmcft of water. The water will be utilised for drinking, agriculture and filling up of lakes in that order. We have to release some volume of water to Tamil Nadu as per the tribunals order, Siddaramaiah said.

NDRF norms unfair



Siddaramaiah opposed the new National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) norms. Not even 20 taluks in the state will fit the new norms to be declared as drought-hit. As per the new norms, a taluk can be declared drought-hit, only if the crop loss is more than 50%. I have written to the PM, chief ministers of other states and also to Union ministers, demanding continuation of the old norms.



When the reporters asked if Dakshina Kannada in-charge and Forest Minister Ramanath Rai would be the next Home Minister, the chief minister said, nothing has been decided yet.



Three ministerial berths, which are lying vacant in the state Cabinet, will be filled soon, he said.



Siddaramaiah said, he is unaware of Gujarat Congress MLAs being shifted to Bengaluru to prevent them from quitting or poaching by BJP.


For Jyothi, who lived in a shanty in Ejipura, the horror of the slum eviction drive in 2013 is still fresh in her memory.



She was pregnant and was due to deliver in three days when the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike bulldozers razed her shanty. There was no one to salvage my belongings and I was not in a position to lift even a glass of water. Yet, I had to ignore my pain and shift all my belongings with my neighbours help, recalled Jyothi.



Three days later, Jyothi delivered the baby. When she returned from the hospital, the newborn had the open sky as her roof. We still sleep on the footpath, Jyothi narrated.



Her neighbour Nusrath delivered her baby on the footpath amid the ruins.



These facts came out at the launch of Bengalurus Continuing Inequity, an eviction impact assessment report of Ejipura four years after its demolition.



The report was prepared by the Housing and Land Rights Network, Fields of View and Forum Against EWS Land Grab.



Second eviction



The Palike had built the quarters for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in 1993-94. The substandard construction did not last for 10 years and in 2003, it came crashing down. Palike officials sensed danger and ordered the eviction of dwellers. But a few people stayed there illegally.



The dwellers, who were evicted, had no option but to build shanties nearby and live there. Thus, the flat owners became slum dwellers overnight.



For 10 years, they stayed there till the Palike signed an MoU with Maverick Holdings. The plan was to build a shopping complex on a portion land belonging to the EWS and build quarters for the slum dwellers.



Thus followed another round of forcible eviction as the dwellers were not ready to leave the place. The Palike is building quarters for the dwellers at Sulikunte, which is almost ready while the remaining has to be built at Ejipura.



Impact of eviction



Dr Silvia Karpagam, who too was part of the study, said the destruction has led to malnutrition, dehydration, jaundice, rise in addiction and many vector borne and water borne diseases.



When the eviction happened in 2013, the toilets were the first to be demolished. People who stayed back on the footpath had to walk a long way to answer natures call. In their absence, thieves would steal their belongings. Thus, footpath dwellers started drinking less water, which caused them dehydration and diarrhoea, Dr Silvia said.



Under the sky



She said there were instances when rowdies and even policemen would approach girls and women seeking sexual favours. The study reveals that two children died a week after the eviction as they were running fever but had to spend the night under the sky. At least 22 children dropped out of school while many boys and girls could not pursue their higher studies.



Spending on health decreased drastically as the evicted people had no money to pay for their medical bills. There are still 32 families on the footpath at Ejipura. The caste-based study shows that 80% of the dwellers are Dalits, 10% are minorities and the rest are Vokkaligas and Thigalas.




R Indresh, a wheelchair-bound champion of the disabled, has called for building ramps everywhere and making most buildings disabled friendly in the next five years.



Speaking at a seminar on Empowering and Enabling Differently Abled People, he said people with disabilities should be given equal opportunities and not discriminated against. There is a need to change the mindset and perception of the people. The disabled are also human beings and should not be discriminated against, he said.



The seminar was organised by the Indian Institute of Public Administration, Karnataka regional branch, along with the Centre for Leadership and Management in Public Services, to discuss the problems and solutions the government can bring to make the lives of the disabled better.



The Central government has replaced the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, with the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act, 2106.



S V Ranganath, vice chairman, IIPA, brought up the issues of the disabled and how the government could work to improve their lives and ensure they get the rights they deserve. He said around 15% of the global population had some type of disability or the other and cited the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda which states that no human should be denied the basic human rights.



India is not growing as fast as it should be in this field. We are still not as handicapped friendly as we should be. It is not only about accessibility but also about education, the disabled are entitled to free education till the age of 18 but how many people make use of this, Ranganath said.



Under the 2016 Act, the number of disabilities has been increased from the present seven to 21. It also provides for a two-year jail term and fine up to Rs 5 lakh for any act of discrimination against the disabled.



Dr Siddaraju, Director, Department for the Empowerment of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens, went over the salient features of the law. He said there were 13,24,205 disabled people in Karnataka as per the 2011 census. The state government has allocated Rs 1,074.21 crore to the department, Rs 10 crore more than last year.



We have started giving scholarships to students right from class 1 till postgraduate studies. Talking laptops have been distributed to visually challenged students. There is also an initiative whereby Rs 50,000 is given to someone who marries a disabled person, Siddaraju said.


A number of organisations have demanded that a fair investigation be conducted into the mysterious death of class X student Kavya at the hostel of Alvas school in Moodbidri.



Briefing mediapersons here on Saturday, Friends Ballalbagh Biruver Kudla member Sanketh Poojary said such incidents have been reported in different parts of Dakshina Kannada district and were given a silent burial after a few days.



Poojary said the police statement that Kavya may have ended her life, having scored poorly in Hindi examination, cannot be accepted. It was just a class test and not a public examination. Moreover, she was a badminton player and had a sportive spirit. She had not even showed any sign of depression while speaking to her parents on the previous day (July 19), he said.



Answers to a few questions like why the body of Kavya was lowered even before the parents reached the hostel, whose saree she used for hanging herself and why the physical education teacher called for her for practice at 4.30 am are yet to be answered by the school authorities.



Poojary said the CCTV footage only shows her going out of the hostel and not entering it. He said the family of Kavya had accused the school authorities of harassing her and said it was not a suicide. Another member Sahana said the body was shifted to the mortuary in a hurry.



In a memo to additional deputy commissioner Kumar, the Dakshina Kannada district unit of Sri Ram Sene has demanded a high-level probe into the death of Kavya. The memo said, The case should be handed over to the CID. The government should sanction a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the family of the deceased.



Members of the ABVP staged a protest in front of the DCs office on Saturday. The protesters urged the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the issue. A delegation of NSUI members met City Police Commissioner T R Suresh and demanded an impartial probe into the death of Kavya. SFI-DYFI activists too staged a protest demanding justice, in front of the DCs office.



MP Nalin Kumar Kateel visited the house of Kavya and consoled the family members. Buntara Yaane Naadavara Matr Sangha president Ajit Kumar Rai Malady said there is a possibility of conspiracy in the death of Kavya.
Members of the Kuruba community, on Saturday, ransacked the office of the deputy commissioner (DC) during a protest demanding that they be granted reservation.



The protesters had brought hundreds of sheep along with them. They barged into the chambers of the DC and broke the windowpanes. Police resorted to mild caning to disperse the mob. The Kuruba community had earlier come in a procession that began at the Kalidas ground in Navanagar.



The protesters were aghast that Deputy Commissioner P A Meghannavar was not present in his office when they came there to present a memorandum to him, despite informing him beforehand. Revanasiddeshwara Swami of Manasuru Mutt, Dharwad, climbed on to the DCs table and addressed the gathering. The staff at the office and the policemen on duty looked on helplessly.



Police reinforcements were brought in and the protesters were sent out and caned. Meghannavar, for his part, said he did not know about the protest plan and that he would have waited for them if he had information. Former MP A H Vishwanath, actor Yogesh (Loose Mada) and others were present. Vishwanath later apologised to the deputy commissioner for the ransacking of his office. He took the protesters to task over the incident.




The Chairman of the Admission Overseeing Committee has issued an order to the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (ComedK), instructing it to allow candidates who accepted allotted seats in the second round to take part in the second extended round.



ComedK had agreed to conduct a second extended round after a previous order from the committee. However, their condition was that only those candidates who had not been allotted any seats in the previous rounds would be allowed to take part in the new round.



When they saw the notification on the ComedK website on Friday, parents of candidates who had already accepted seats were upset.



In the second round, we were given only two options  to accept or reject the allotted seat. At that time, it was the final round so we accepted it. Now, they have introduced a new round but only those who rejected their seats and those who cleared the supplementary PU exams are allowed. This is unfair to meritorious students who could get better courses and colleges, one parent said.



Many parents have already paid the fee and have taken admission in the allotted colleges. But they want a chance to take part in the extended round as they believe they would get a better college. My daughter had been allotted the Computer Science course in RV College as one of her options but she did not get it. In the matrix of seats available for the extended round, there are 15 seats for this course in the college. If we are not allowed to participate, students with lower ranks will get these seats. What is the value of a students rank then? another parent asked.



Addressing the parents, chairman of the committee, retired Justice Anand Byrareddy said that when they ordered the extended round, they had not anticipated this issue. There is reason in the request the parents are making. I have issued an order and it is up to the ComedK to facilitate this. If the order is not followed, parents have the option to go to court, Justice Byrareddy told DH. He added that since admissions were completed and it was just a matter of a few adjustments, it would not be in contravention of the Supreme Court order that the process should be completed by July 31.



An official of ComedK said that they were consulting their technical partners about the feasibility of opening the new round to those who have already accepted seats. Meanwhile, an update on their website says that the process has been suspended for now. A new notification about the process would be uploaded by 6 pm on Sunday.



First round seats announced



The allotment of seats in the first round of the medical and dental counselling was published on Saturday on the website of the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA).

Of the total 3,594 MBBS seats which were identified for allotment in the first round, 3,510 seats were allotted.



In the persons with disabilities quota, 84 seats remain vacant, officials of the KEA said. Of the 913 dental seats in the first round, 887 seats have been allotted and 26 persons with disabilities quota seats have remained vacant.



Allotment has been done based on the merit in NEET. Candidates have been advised to understand the choices before exercising them.


The Law Commission has recommended strict confidentiality in dealing with records of DNA profiling and said such profiling should be done exclusively for identification of a person.



Violators of a proposed law would be punished with a maximum jail term of three years and fine of up to Rs 2 lakh, it said.



With a view to frame a legislation for the use and regulation of DNA-based technology in civil and criminal cases, and identification of missing persons and human remains, the Department of Biotechnology proposed a draft Bill titled The Use and Regulation of DNA-based Technology in Civil and Criminal Proceedings, Identification of Missing Persons and Human Remains Bill, 2016.



Right to privacy



The panel, headed by Justice B S Chauhan, examined the draft Bill, which was forwarded to it in September 2016 for guidance. It noted that the bill, despite criticism, intended to protect the right to privacy. The privacy issue is also being examined by the Supreme Courts nine-judge bench to decide if it can be declared a fundamental right.



Under the proposed law, a DNA profiling board would be constituted to undertake functions such as laying down procedures and standards to establish DNA laboratories and granting accreditation. The board would also advise on ethical and human rights issues connected with it in accordance with international guidelines, the panel said in its 271st report.



There shall be a national DNA Data Bank, and regional DNA Data Banks for the states, to be established by the centre. The data banks will be responsible for storing DNA profiles received from the accredited laboratories and maintaining certain indices for various categories of data, like crime scene index, suspects index, offenders index, missing persons index and unknown deceased persons index, the panel said.



Appropriate regulations may be notified by the Board for entry, retention and expunction of DNA profiles, it added. DNA fingerprinting has been useful for law enforcement, as it has been used to exonerate the innocent. Unlike blood found at a crime scene, DNA material remains usable for an endless period of time.




Sen. Lieut. Gen. Vinh and his guest shared the view that to realise the two countries memorandum of understanding on bilateral defence cooperation, signed in 2011, both sides need to set up a defence policy dialogue mechanism at the deputy ministerial level while enhancing ties in training, defence industry and military medicine.

They should increase coordination in humanitarian aid, war consequences settlement and United Nations peacekeeping operations. It is also necessary to boost the sharing of experience in border management and crime prevention and control, they said.

The officials added Vietnam and Myanmar need to further consultation and mutual support at multilateral forums, especially within the framework of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting and the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus./.
The Tibetan Government-in-Exile (TGIE), based in India, said the incursion of Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) at Doklam Plateau in Bhutan was a sign of the expansionist foreign policy of China.



The statement was made by Lobsang Sangay, the Sikyong (President) of the TGIE. He also extended full support to India, which had sent its troops to Doklam Plateau to stop PLA personnel from building a road.



Sangay made the remarks while speaking at an event at Hansraj College in Delhi earlier this week.



According to a report, on the official website of the TGIE  officially Central Tibetan Administration  Sangay decried Chinas nationalistic design, which was increasingly becoming apparent in its stands on South China Sea, East China Sea and Scarborough Island, as well as in the increasing border incursions across the MacMohan Line, and now at Doklam.



In early 1950s, the then chairman of Peoples Republic of China termed Tibet Chinas right hand palm and added that Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh are its five fingers. Therefore, Chinas flexing of its military muscle is a manifestation of its decades old strategy to encircle and weaken India, said Sangay, who was elected the head of TGIE in both 2011 and 2016.



Sangay, according to a report on the TGIEs official website, also cautioned India to stay alert on the Doklam Plateau face-off.



I always tell India and the world to take heed of the Tibet narrative. We have been telling India for the last 50 years that what happened to us (Tibet) could happen to you, he said.
India is keeping watch on Chinas bid to expand its influence in Bhutan ahead of the elections in the Himalayan Kingdom next year.



Even as the face-off between the Indian Army and Chinas Peoples Liberation Army in western Bhutan continues, New Delhi is aware of the increasing effort made by Beijing to spread its influence in the country, which had transformed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy just nine years ago.



With the third elections to the National Assembly of Bhutan scheduled to take place next year, Beijing has been trying to reach out to politicians and other influential sections of the society in Thimphu, sources in New Delhi told DH.



King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his father Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who abdicated in 2006 to make way for his son, continue to hold sway in the politics of Bhutan. The royal family has traditionally championed Bhutans special and unique relationship with India and continues to be in favour of it.



They, however, could not ensure the ratification of the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement by Bhutans parliament. New Delhis connectivity initiative, which sought to isolate Pakistan and was seen as Indias response to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, was blocked by the apolitical National Council of Bhutan earlier this year.



India has learnt that even as its soldiers are engaged in a face-off with PLA personnel at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan, Beijing has been reaching out to Thimphu through the Embassy of China in New Delhi. Thimphu, however, continues to firmly support New Delhis position on the face-off on Doklam Plateau and so far remains firm on its stand that the road the Chinese PLA wanted to build in Doklam Plateau would have unilaterally changed the status quo on the boundary, sources said.



But what New Delhi is worried about is the possibility of Beijing seeking to influence next years elections to the National Assembly of Bhutan in favour of the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT).



The DPT had won the first election to the National Assembly of Bhutan in 2008. The DPT government, headed by then prime minister Jigme Thinley, had expanded Bhutans relations with other countries, with the number of foreign missions in Thimphu going up from 25 in 2011 to 53 in 2013.
Many thousands duped in real estate and investment scams have not approached the police, the CID has found.

Between 2006 and 2016, companies with dubious intent have defrauded 17.93 lakh people, swindling them of Rs 3,273 crore. The numbers are mind-boggling.



Director General of Police H C Kishore Chandra said the economic offences wing of the Crime Investigation Department had confiscated properties worth Rs 594 crore in connection with the scams.



The sleuths are recovering more properties, but of the 100 accused arrested in 422 cases, most are out on bail.



A team of 40 CID officials is working exclusively on the cases, Kishore Chandra said.



The money can be returned to victims after the government auctions the confiscated properties, he said.



Of about 6,500 investors cheated by real-estate firm Dreamz Infra, only 2,382 have approached the CID and submitted documents.



Similarly, of the 5,315 investors swindled by TGS Constructions, only 2,750 have turned up with documents. In housing project Gruha Kalyan, only 814 of 2,220 investors have approached the CID.

How they operate



Such companies are launched with pomp and fanfare with the participation of film stars and celebrities.



They advertise widely, promising good returns on investments, and flats and villas with extravagant features. For a few months, they keep their word, Kishore Chandra said.



But once the investments become a flood, they grab the money and run, he told DH.



The owners and their benamis then get busy investing in sites, houses and stocks for themselves.



They also produce films and splurge on gold, silver and swanky cars, he said.



CIDs advice



The Criminal Investigaton Department is advising investors and buyers to verify the credentials of firms with the Reserve Bank of India, the Security Exchange Bureau of India, Registrar of Companies, and the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.



People are increasingly losing their hard-earned money because they dont check the credentials of companies they hand their money to, he said.



Under the Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act of 2004, the CID can confiscate movable and immovable properties of those accused in investment scams.
By Mikaela Weisse, Elizabeth Dow Goldman, Nancy Harris, Matt Hansen, Peter Potapov, and Svetlana Turubanova

17 July 2017

(World Resources Institute)  Global Forest Watch released new satellite-based data showing how forests around the world changed in the year 2015. The data, produced through the analysis of roughly a million satellite images by the University of Maryland and Google, measures the death or removal of trees at least 5 meters tall within 3030 meter areas. This can capture any number of sustainable or unsustainable activities, from the clearing of natural forests to the harvest of tree plantations, but when analyzed appropriately with other contextual data and information can serve as a proxy for deforestation (typically defined as the permanent conversion of forest land for another use).For 2015, the data reveal both positive storiessuch as a possible slowing of tree cover loss in Colombiaand more worrisome trends, including rising rates of tree cover loss in Papua New Guinea, West Africa, and the Mekong Region. We explore those stories below, as well as what the data can tell us about global state of forests. Oil Palm Implicated in New Tree Cover Loss in Papua New Guinea and West Africa

Analysis of emerging hot spotsareas with statistically significant concentrations of tree cover lossreveals clusters of new loss in intact forest landscapes (forests with minimal human footprint), indicating that these pristine areas are under heightened threat. Some of those hot spots also appear to overlap with fire alerts, suggesting that the 2015 outbreak of fires in Indonesia also consumed Papua New Guinea, which shares a border with Indonesia on the island of New Guinea. (Read our separate analysis of 2015 tree cover loss in Indonesia here.)Oil palm expansion also likely contributed to the dramatic increase in tree cover loss in West Africa. In 2015, Liberia and Sierra Leone respectively experienced a 6- and 12-fold increase in tree cover loss rates compared to 2001. According to reports, West Africa is at high risk for deforestation from palm oil, with Liberia set to become a new frontier for development of the crop.Some of the rise in tree cover loss in this region could be due to changes in the algorithm that detects clearing. An update to the tree cover loss methodology in 2013 improved the way the algorithm detects clearing of tall shrubs resulting in more detection of tree cover loss in dry forests in particular. Future data updates should confirm whether this is a true uptick in loss, or due to these methodological changes.

Colombias Tree Cover Loss Slows, At Least for Now Colombias tree cover loss rate has dropped nearly 50 percent since its peak in 2007. National government statistics confirm this trend, indicating that the deforestation rate from 2010 to 2015 was nearly half that of 2000 to 2010. There is no consensus on why loss has slowed, though the Colombian governments commitment to zero net deforestation in the Amazon by 2020 could be a factor.Hot spot analysis shows a significant drop in tree cover loss in the mountainous areas in Medellin and the departments (states) of Caqueta and Guaviare between the Andes and the Amazon. Major climate financing and international funds granted to Caqueta and Guaviare may be playing a role in the decline.However, recent shifts in political dynamics could make this decline short-lived. FARC, Colombias largest rebel group, has indirectly reduced deforestation in the Colombian Amazon over decades by warding off outsiders with their presence. Under a new peace deal, FARC units are set to withdraw from their posts within the forest, which could make those areas more vulnerable to agricultural expansion, illegal logging and illegal mining. Mekong Countries Losing Forests To Development Mekong Basin countries are experiencing rising tree cover loss rates, especially Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. Clearing for plantations, agriculture, logging and infrastructure development are to blame for much of the loss. Only 6 percent of the 2015 tree cover loss in Cambodia occurred in existing plantations, meaning the other 94 percent (124,518 hectares or 307,690 acres) is likely loss of natural forest and not harvesting of planted trees. Hot spots analysis in the Mekong Basin shows new hot spots in northern Laos that could be associated deforestation from recent dam infrastructure development along the Mekong River, while hot spots south of the basin suggest plantation development is the main driver.

Emerging Patterns Over Time Global tree cover loss remained high in 2015. That year, the world lost nearly 20 million hectares (49 million acres) of tree cover, an area the size of Uganda. Though the current estimate for 2015 tree cover loss is lower than that of 2014, the overall trend of global tree cover loss (defined as a three-year moving average indicated by the red line in the chart below) reached the second-highest point on record in 2015. The world also lost 47 percent more tree cover in 2015 than in 2001.As part of the ongoing effort to refine and improve the accuracy of the data, the update also recalculated previous years tree cover loss using newly available satellite images and picked up an additional 5 million hectares of loss (12 million acres) in 2014 (read this post to understand why and how data can be revised from year-to-year).While the new data paint a clear picture of tree cover loss hot spots across the tropics, the status of boreal and temperate forests is less definitive. The 2015 data show Canada, Russia, and the United States as the top three contributors to global tree cover loss (they are also the countries with the greatest amount of forest). However, without information on timber harvesting and tree cover gain (caused by reforestation or natural regeneration), it is difficult to say how much forest is actually lost in these countries. We anticipate annual tree cover gain data will be available in 2018, which will allow us to more accurately monitor forest change in these countries.Although one year does not make a trend, annual updates provide insight into patterns of tree cover loss over time. Additionally, near real-time data like GLAD alerts and active fire alerts as well as analysis tools like emerging hot spots can help us gather more information about when, where and why losses occur while theres still time to stop further damage.

Global Tree Cover Loss Remains High. Emerging Patterns Reveal Shifting Contributors.
By Jeffery Gettleman

29 July 2017

LAIKIPIA, Kenya (The New York Times)  The two elders, wearing weather-beaten cowboy hats with the strings cinched under their chins, stood at the edge of an empty farm, covering their mouths in disbelief.

Their homes  neat wooden cabins  had been smashed open. All their cattle had been stolen. So had their chickens. House after house stood vacant, without another soul around. It was as if some huge force had barreled into the village and swept away all the life.

Sioyia Lesinko Lekisio, one of the elders, had no doubts who did this. Swarms of herders from another county had invaded, attacking any farm or cattle ranch in their path, big or small, stealing livestock, ransacking homes, and shooting people with high-powered assault rifles.

Theres nothing we can do about it, he said. They want our land.

Kenya has a land problem. Africa itself has a land problem. The continent seems so vast and the land so open. The awesome sense of space is an inextricable part of the beauty here  the unadulterated vistas, the endless land. But in a way, that is an illusion.Population swells, climate change, soil degradation, erosion, poaching, global food prices, and even the benefits of affluence are exerting incredible pressure on African land. They are fueling conflicts across the continent, from Nigeria in the west to Kenya in the east  including here in Laikipia, a wildlife haven and one of Kenyas most beautiful areas.

Large groups of people are on the move, desperate for usable land. Data from NASA satellites reveals an overwhelming degradation of agricultural land throughout Africa, with one recent study showing that more than 40 million Africans are trying to survive off land whose agricultural potential is declining.

At the same time, high birthrates and lengthening life spans mean that by the end of this century, there could be as many as four billion people on the continent, about 10 times the population 40 years ago.

It is a two-headed problem, scientists and activists say, and it could be one of the gravest challenges Africa faces: The quality of farmland in many areas is getting worse, and the number of people squeezed onto that land is rising fast.

Its a looming crisis, said Odenda Lumumba, head of the Kenya Land Alliance, a group that works on land reform. We are basically reaching the end of the road. [more]
By Darryl Fears

28 July 2017

TAMPA BAY, Florida (The Washington Post)  Mark Luthers dream home has a window that looks out to a world of water. He can slip out the back door and watch dolphins swim by his private dock. Shore birds squawk from nearby nests in giant mangroves.

He said its hard to imagine ever leaving this slice of paradise on St. Petersburgs Bayou Grande, even though the water he adores is starting to get a little creepy.

Over the 24 years since he moved into the house, the bayou has inched up a protective sea wall and crept toward his front door. As sea level rises, a result of global warming, it contributes to flooding in his Venetian Isle neighborhood and Shore Acres, a neighboring community of homes worth as much as $2.5 million, about 70 times per year.

Why stay? asked Luther, an oceanographer who knows perfectly well a hurricane could one day shove 15 feet of water into his living room. Its just so nice.

Tampa Bay is mesmerizing, with 700 miles of shoreline and some of the finest white sand beaches in the nation. But analysts say the metropolitan area is the most vulnerable in the United States to flooding and damage if a major hurricane ever scores a direct hit.

A Boston firm that analyzes potential catastrophic damage reported that the region would lose $175 billion in a storm the size of Hurricane Katrina. A World Bank study called Tampa Bay one of the 10 most at-risk areas on the globe.
Tran Chi Thanh, Director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute (VAEI) said the event aims to promote research and application activities of the atomic energy sector.

Da Lat nuclear reactor in Lam Dong province

It also presents an opportunity for domestic and international experts to discuss and exchange the outcomes of their studies and new applications in nuclear science and technology.

The event expects to gather experts from Russia, Japan, the US, the UK, France, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, India, Singapore, Laos, and Cambodia, as well as specialists from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).

VAEI and IAEA will jointly host a workshop on application of nuclear technology in industry, agriculture and health.

The biennial event helps promote Vietnams scientific research and the use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes.

An exhibition featuring the studies, applications, equipment and services of nuclear technology in socio-economic development will be part of the event./.
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PCL told a North Carolina utility it drove a steel casing into an transmission cable while working on a bridge, cutting off power to coastal islands.



BUXTON, N.C. (AP)  An estimated 10,000 tourists were ordered Thursday to evacuate an island on North Carolina's Outer Banks after a construction company caused a power outage, leaving people stranded without air conditioning or places to eat.

The Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative said in a news release that PCL Construction told the utility it had driven a steel casing into an electric transmission cable while working on the new Bonner Bridge on the state's coast, inadvertently cutting off power to Ocracoke and Hatteras islands.





. . .
At the Movies: In Atomic Blonde,' Theron heats up the Cold War

By JAKE COYLE

AP Film Writer

Charlize Theron stars as the MI6 spy Lorraine Broughton.

People don't usually move very fast in Cold War thrillers. Mostly, the only time anyone runs is right before they get shot in the back. Most of the action happens in a film cabinet, down a back alley or with a silencer. The classic Cold War tale  which is to say a John le Carre one  is characterized by a deathly stillness: grave faces meeting under gray clouds.

This is not quite so in Atomic Blonde, a post-war thriller set in the final moments of the Cold War (1989 Berlin) starring Charlize Theron as the MI6 spy Lorraine Broughton. She's not your traditional European operator. Let's just say that if Theron's Broughton turned up in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the old boys would've soiled their trench coats.

Broughton is black and blue at the opening of David Leitch's Atomic Blonde, and the first thought is that Theron must be licking her wounds from playing Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. If that film didn't prove that Theron is today's most badass action star, Atomic Blonde  while not anywhere near the kinetic explosion of Fury Road  will certainly make it official.

The bruises turn out to be from the story she soon relates. Broughton spends the movie in a testy interrogation with her MI6 boss (Toby Jones) and a CIA chief (John Goodman). The mission she recounts is her dispatching to West Berlin to assist the station chief there, David Percival (a zany James McAvoy), in recovering a missing list with the names of every British asset  something the Russians are rather keen to obtain.

So far, that might sound somewhat le Carre-like. But it's not minutes after being picked up from the airport that Lorraine finds herself jabbing an assailant with her heel, pushing him out of a moving car, and forcing the driver into flipping the car over.

Leitch is a veteran stuntman who co-directed the action hit John Wick, in which Keanu Reeves wrecks endless vengeance on those who killed his dog. The backdrop is more lavish in Atomic Blonde, but the hand-to-hand combat is no less primary. Whereas another spy thriller might gradually go deeper into its complex networks of allegiances, Atomic Blonde, based on Antony Johnston's graphic novel The Coldest City, stays on the surface, keeps the body count increasing and the 80s score blaring.

And, man, does it blare. The soundtrack, especially early in the film, is bludgeoningly prominent. The combination of violence with 80s pop hits is, to Leitch, an inexhaustible cleverness. So if you want to see someone fatally beaten with a skateboard to the tune of Nena's 99 Luftballons or a stabbing set to Til Tuesday's Voices Carry, you have finally found your film.

ATOMIC BLONDE

Director: David Leitch



Cast: Charlize Theron, Toby Jones, John Goodman



Rating: R



Running time: 14 minutes

Atomic Blonde is largely a vacant, hyper-stylistic romp that trades on the thick Cold War atmosphere of far better films (not to mention The Americans). It's all dagger, no cloak. But it has two things going for it.

One is Leitch's facility with an action scene. The film, technically speaking, gets off to a rough start when a body is sent flying by a ramming car in the kind of blatantly unrealistic CGI fling that ruins movies. But he later goes for a much more bravura scene in a seemingly uncut sequence in which Broughton takes on a number of assailants on a stairwell in a fight that eventually spills out into the streets.

It's easy to see that Leitch is aiming for a more acrobatic version of the famous corridor scene from Park Chan-wook's Oldboy. And there's no doubt it will have some fans cheering for its audacious seamlessness. But the virtuosity on display is spoiled by its own showoff-y self-awareness. The sequence, a hermetic burst of filmmaking finesse, has nothing to do with the rest of film; it's just a calling card for a filmmakers' highlight reel.

But the other asset of Atomic Blonde is altogether more formidable. Theron doesn't so much as dominate Atomic Blonde as steadily subjugate every other soul in the film  and those in the audience  into her complete command. Like her more timid le Carre forebearers, there's no pleasure in her victories. There's only ruthless survival in a grim game.

She is most definitely atomic, but I'd try to do better than calling her a blonde.









Previous columns:
A new malware, and reported to be the most advanced Android information-stealer, allows hackers to open a backdoor in order to monitor data, steal information, record audio and video, and even infect the phone with ransomware.

The malware, GhostCtrl, as it is called, can stealthily control many of the infected device's functions.

According to researchers this was only the beginning as the malware could evolve and pose a bigger threat.

According to experts, the new malware appeared to be based on OmniRAT, a form of spying software that can allow hackers full remote control of devices running Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. But unlike its apparent predecessor, GhostCtrl is purely Android-focused.

Mobile devices are attracting greater attention of cybercriminals and those conducting espionage, not only due the information that can be gained on every aspect of a target's life but also because the device will almost always be with them.

The malware was discovered by researchers at Trend Micro, and is part of a wider campaign targeting Israeli hospitals with the information-stealing Windows RETADUP worm.

According to experts, the mobile arm of the attack represented an even more dangerous threat to victims.

In total, three versions of GhostCtrl are on the prowl, one version steals information and controls some of the device's functions, version two adds more features to hijack, and the third version combines the most advanced capabilities of previous incarnations while adding further malicious capabilities.

Meanwhile, Android devices have become vulnerable to Lipizzan a new spyware family, that allows hackers to record through a victim's device microphone, snap photos with their camera, take screenshots, exfiltrate SMS messages, and steal data from a long list of apps.

The spyware was first discovered by security researchers at Google, who detailed their findings in a Wednesday blog post.

The researchers came to know about Lipizzan while they were investigating another spyware called Chrysaor.
Nawaz Sharif's brother likely to be new Pakistan PM

The Pakistan Supreme Court judgement disqualifying Nawaz Sharif from holding office of prime minister or remaining as an elected representative in Parliament has only helped to create a bigger void in Pakistan's governance and push the country into a deeper mess.

While leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) proposed to bring in Nawaz Sharif's brother Shehbaz Sharif as the new prime minister, a Geo News report quoting lawmakers belonging to PML-N party said they saw no connection between the Panama Papers case and Sharif's ouster and that they planned to challenge the verdict.

They said it is likely that a review petition will be filed. "This decision is not acceptable and we will file a review petition in court," said Saad Rafique.

While there are reports that Khawaja Asif could be made interim prime minister, Geo News said a name has not been announced yet to fill the 45 day vacuum until Shehbaz Sharif is elected to a National Assembly seat.

Chief minister of Pakistan's most populous province, Shehbaz is not a member of the National Assembly and will have to contest elections before he can be made prime minister.

An astute businessman and a powerful administrator, Shehbaz had held the position of Punjab CM earlier from 1997 to 1999 as well and had taken various initiatives with emphasis on health, education and environment.

Born on 23 September, 1951, Shehbaz began his political career as member of the Punjab Assembly in 1988. He became the opposition leader of Punjab Assembly in 1993.

Nawaz Sharif, known as the 'Lion of Punjab', became the prime minister of the politically unstable Pakistan for a record third time in 2013, after being forced to quit twice in the middle of his term - first by the presidency and then the military - and now by the judiciary.

This time, however, the Supreme Court ruling against him in the Panamagate case is a heavier blow to his career as the court has barred him from holding office or contesting elections for five years.

Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam, however, is optimistic, who on Friday asserted that her father's disqualification by the Supreme Court would not deter him from staging a comeback.

"Today will pave the way for Nawaz Sharif's resounding victory in 2018. He will be unstoppable. Insha'Allah. Rok sakte ho to rok lo (Stop him, if you can)!", she tweeted.

Reports say Nawaz Sharif's friendly overtures to India and India's prime minister made him a ''bad boy'' in Pakistan. Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf told CNN News18 that India's interference is not what the people of Pakistan wanted.

It is a historic day for Pakistan and he congratulated the Supreme Court for the verdict. He gave the credit to the chief justice of Pakistan, the five-judge bench and also to Imran Khan's movement.

''Today marks the end of Nawaz Sharif's career,'' he told News18. According to him, PML-N got only 13 per cent of the votes, which means that either 87 per cent didn't vote at all or voted for someone else.

Nawaz Sharif was disqualified because he failed to disclose income from Capital FZE in his nomination papers submitted for election in 2013.

Sharif, however, will remain the head of PML-N for all practical purposes and a puppet prime minister will be installed in Islamabad, unless the military intervenes to alter the status quo.

Nawaz Sharif will oversee the nomination of his successor who will then be rubber stamped in a parliamentary vote, where his party and coalition partners command a 209-seat majority in the 342-seat house

Nawaz Sharif's second term as prime minister from 1997 ended in 1999 when then powerful Army chief Pervez Musharraf staged a bloodless coup. He was jailed and then exiled. But, when Sharif himself ended up in jail, Sharif returned from exile in Saudi Arabia in 2007, when he teamed up with the PPP to force Musharraf from office.

It is said that it was Microsoft's Calibri fond that turned Nawaz Sharif's fortunes this time.

Nawaz Sharif's daughter, Maryam Nawaz is accused of document forgery in a corruption probe against the Sharif family. It was the Calibri fond that helped prove the forgery.

While Microsoft's Calibri font was used to type certified papers naming Maryam Nawaz as a trustee of several high-end flats in central London, the papers were dated a year before Calibri was in widespread commercial use, according to Al Jazeera.

"The properties, bought using offshore companies, are at the centre of a case against the Sharif family, with authorities and the opposition questioning the legitimacy of funds used to buy the apartments," the report said.

The Joint Investigation Team, looking into the case, found that the documents were dated February 2006.

The Supreme Court ordered that the cases against Nawaz Sharif and his family members be registered within six weeks and trial be completed within six months. The scandal is about alleged money laundering by Sharif in 1990s, when he twice served as prime minister, to purchase assets in London. The assets surfaced when Panama Papers leak last year revealed that they were managed through offshore companies owned by Sharif's children.

The assets include four expensive flats in London.

Finance minister Ishaq Dar and Captain Safdar, who is a member of the national assembly (MNA), also stood disqualified from office.

Pakistan Supreme Court's decision to remove Nawaz Sharif from office is likely to tighten the army's grip over the country which has been ruled by the all-powerful military for almost the half of its 69 years of existence as a sovereign nation.
UPDATE, October 19, 2020: "For two years, the company, aided by the vocal support of the Wisconsin GOP, worked to maintain an illusion of progress in front of a business venture that never made economic sense," writes The Verge in its examination of the failed Foxxcon deal. Now, Wisconsin officials say Foxconn's scaled-back factory won't get tax credits.

Wisconsin workers soon could be working at new Foxconn plant if state lawmakers approve huge tax benefits for the Taiwanese electronics company.

Are you worried that your next iPhone will cost more than you planned now that Foxconn is opening a plant in Wisconsin? The Taiwanese electronics supplier will be paying U.S. employees much more  an average of almost $54,000 a year plus benefits annually  than workers who put together Apple products in China.

Don't be. Foxconn's American operation won't be making smartphone components. Instead, it will produce liquid-crystal display panels for televisions and computer screens.

But Wisconsin taxpayers, regardless of whether they buy any of the products with Foxconn made in the USA parts, could end up paying anyway.

Badger State officials have promised Foxconn $3 billion in state tax credits.

It remains to be seen, however, if the company will get the money. Folks across the political spectrum say the tax subsidies are simply too large.

ROI questions on big tax break: Based on preliminary estimates of the plant's capacity, tax experts say the tax breaks would amount to $15,000 to $19,000 per job annually.

That compares with $2,457 per year in the usual incentive arrangement, Timothy J. Bartik, a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Michigan, told the New York Times.

And that differential could be a problem.

The announcement of the Foxconn facility has drawn the praise of Gov. Scott Walker and other state officials, as well as the White House. They and other advocates of the deal say the arrival of the high-tech manufacturer is key to recapturing the economic gains Wisconsin lost with the closures of so many factories.

Others are not convinced the state and its residents will get a good return on such a large tax investment.

If Foxconn does get the full $3 billion, which is predicated on it living up to its hiring and investment parts of the deal, the outlay will be the fourth-largest tax incentive deal in U.S. history, according to Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C., based nonprofit research group that tracks economic development subsidies.

"We can only describe this as a gift from Wisconsin taxpayers to Foxconn shareholders," LeRoy said. "This is a guaranteed loser for the state."

Money out, money backmaybe: Supporters of the move say it's worth the tax cost. In a fact sheet detailing the advantages of the Foxconn package, the $3 billion will be parceled out as:

$1.5 billion in state income tax credits for job creation,

$1.35 billion in state income tax breaks for capital investment and

up to $150 million for a sales tax exemption.

An exact location has not been determined. Foxconn is looking at sites in Racine and Kenosha counties.

Whichever location gets the nod, once the 20 million square foot facility  large enough, Green Bay Packers fans, to hold 11 Lambeau Fields  will be one of the largest manufacturing campuses in the world, besting the Tesla Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, and the Boeing facility in Everett, Washington. (Both of those operations, by the way, also got tax breaks from their respective states.)

Around 13,000 workers will be based at the complex, which will pay an average salary of $53,875 plus benefits.

Other workers also will benefit, according to state officials. Around 10,000 construction jobs will be created over each of the next four years, as well as another 6,000 indirect jobs from the construction. The capital investment during construction is expected to generate $348 million in state and local tax revenues.

As for ongoing economic impact, fans of the Foxconn project say:

The new plant will create at least 22,000 other jobs throughout the state.

Foxconn will purchase $4.26 billion in supplies each year, about a third of which will be sourced within Wisconsin.

State and local governments will receive an estimated $181 million in tax revenues annually, including $60 million in local property taxes.

Not everyone's sold: But first, Wisconsin lawmakers must meet in special session and OK the $3 billion outlay for Foxconn. Those billions are this week's By the Numbers figure.

It could be a hard sale, since similar economic development benefits promised by Foxconn, both in the United States and internationally, have not materialized.

Plus, say opponents, Walker's eagerness to hand out tax dollars doesn't jibe with his prior fiscal conservatism.

"It doesn't fit with a governor that said we can't spend much money," Martin Baily, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of President Bill Clintons Council of Economic Advisers, told the New York Times. "This is a guy who decimated the University of Wisconsin by budget cuts. On the one hand, he's saying we can spend billions to pay Foxconn, but what about our own prized educational institution?"

Jared Walczak, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, also notes that by giving Foxconn such a big tax deal, the state is "forgoing the opportunity to make a more competitive landscape for other businesses."

Carl Davis, research director at the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C., agrees: "This is not a comprehensive strategy for economic development. If Wisconsin were going to offer this kind of subsidy for every employer within its borders, the state would be bankrupt."

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Bevis Funeral Home & Crematory 2710 N. Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL Joyner Sims, 74, passed away Wednesday, July 26, 2017 in Tallahassee, Florida from unexpected complications following a heart surgery. Joyner was a native of Jackson County Florida. He completed a Master of Science degree at Florida State University in 1966 and began an academic career as a college professor of Organic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, and Engineering Physics. He completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemistry at Louisiana State University while on sabbatical in 1973 and returned to Florida college work with successive assignments at Chipola College as a professor, Management Information System Coordinator, Department Chairman, Registrar and Admissions Officer, and Dean. He later transitioned to a career in public health where his roles included: Director of the Jackson County Health Department, the first Bureau Chief of the Florida Public Health HIV/AIDS Program, Director of the Hillsborough County Health Department, Assistant (Commissioner of Health) Health Officer, and Research Associate Professor at the University of South Florida College of Public Health. Joyner also served as State Public Health Service liaison with military units and personnel in South Dade County following Hurricane Andrew. In 1993 Joyner provided leadership to establish a statewide Tobacco-Free Florida Coalition. In 1997, Joyner began a private-sector career as Associate Director of Public Policy at DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company and Associate Director of Virology Policy at Bristol Myers-Squibb. Joyner's final career was 10 years of service at The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where he served as an Education Program Specialist, a Sex Risk Behaviors Specialist, an Acting Branch Chief for Program Development and Services, an Acting Goal Team Leader for Healthy Schools, as a Public Health Advisor, and a Scientific Program Official. Joyner was passionate about education, chemistry, public health, and his children and grandchildren. Joyner is survived by his children and grandchildren: Myla Wahlquist and her husband Todd and their three children Evan, Elyse, and Preston Wahlquist; Jinger Deason and her husband Jim and their two children, Karley and Madison Deason; and Joshua and his wife Sara. He is also survived by his sister, Margaret Bell and brother, Robert Alvin "Bobby" Sims. A graveside service will be held Friday, July 28, 2017, 11:00 AM, EST (10:00 AM CST) at Sims Cemetery in Marianna, Florida. He is preceded in death by his parents, Alvin E. Sims and Elma Brock Sims as well as his sister Jean Sims Carroll, and his twin brother Rayburn Sims. In lieu of flowers, contributions in his name may be made to the Public Health Foundation (www.phf.org or 202-218-4401). Todd Wahlquist with Bevis Funeral Home, (850-385-2193, www.bevisfh.com) is assisting the Sims family with their arrangements.
We had to do oral book reports when I was in the seventh grade. I'm pretty sure the student who went in front of me gave his report on Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary.

My book report was on The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey, an attempt at a prophetic stab at the nations future based on Scripture interpretation.

Im not sure my report was very good, but my teacher gave me an A, with a little note.

Interesting choice for a seventh grader.

Ive loved to read since I plopped into the lap of Mrs. Williams in the first grade and completed my first book, The Firefly.

All 12 pages of it. Illustrations included.

I cant call this list the five best books Ive read, so Ill just refer to it as five books worth reading (by the way, I gravitate to non-fiction):

Leave it to a newspaper person to recommend a book written by a newspaper person. Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon gathered information for this book, written in 1991, by spending a year with detectives from the Baltimore Police Department Homicide Unit. Often chilling in its delivery, Simon gives readers a glimpse into the daily grind of homicide detectives who have little time to begin one murder investigation before another killing occurs. It later became an NBC television show and ran for six years.

Bowden is also a former newspaper person. His breathtaking account of BlackHawk Down in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper later became a successful movie. Bowdens book details the hunt for drug kingpin Pablo Escobar as good as any around. The book also vividly describes the culture of his country, which caused him to become a hero to many. Ive read several books by Mark Bowden and theyre all good.

Whether you are a longtime Christian, just curious about faith in general or even a completely disinterested party, Mere Christianity is an excellent treatise on the faith by a former skeptic. Lewis describes in detail the turning point in his faith journey and tackles head-on some of the tough questions surrounding Christianity without getting too esoteric.

As is typical, the movie only skims the surface of what is explored in the book. The circumstances surrounding the 2008 housing/bank collapse have always fascinated me, and Lewis does a great job explaining the often-complex factors by following 3-4 people who saw it coming before anyone else did. As an aside, Lewis also wrote Moneyball.

Quite possibly the best book I have read. An incredibly told personal story about Braggs fathers demons, a devoted saint of a mother and the struggles of growing up dirt-poor in rural eastern Alabama. Bragg paints a picture with words as good as any. He allows those he writes about to maintain their dignity without shying away from their warts.
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If all the countries are to reach at least 90 per cent coverage for routine life-saving vaccinations, 9.9 million additional children would need to be vaccinated in 64 countries. Three in four of these children live in fragile countries, including those which are affected by conflict; 4 out of 10 live in the three countries that are yet to prevent polio transmissionNigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.



Did you know? Out of the 8 countries that had DTP3 coverage of less than 50 per cent in 2016, six are in Africa





How Many Children Didn't Receive The DTP Vaccine?



Since 2010, the percentage of children who received their full course of routine immunisation has stalled at 86 per cent

 Data source: Analysis of WHO vaccination data and United Nations population estimates, 2016





Immunization averts an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths every year from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), and measles; however, an additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided if global vaccination coverage improves. Global vaccination coverage  the proportion of the worlds children who receive recommended vaccines  has stalled over the past few years.



A summary of global vaccination coverage in 2016 follows.





Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)

72 per cent

Global coverage



Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) causes meningitis and pneumonia. Hib vaccine had been introduced in 191 countries by the end of 2016. Global coverage with 3 doses of Hib vaccine is estimated at 70 per cent. There is great variation between regions. In the WHO Region of the Americas, coverage is estimated at 90 per cent, while it is only 28 per cent in the WHO Western Pacific Region. The WHO South-East Asia Region raised coverage from 56 per cent in 2015 to 80 per cent in 2016.



 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF





Hepatitis B





 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF



39 per cent

Global coverage



Hepatitis B is a viral infection that attacks the liver. Hepatitis B vaccine for infants had been introduced nationwide in 186 countries by the end of 2016. Global coverage with 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine is estimated at 84 per cent and is as high as 92 per cent in the Western Pacific. In addition, 101 countries introduced one dose of hepatitis B vaccine to newborns within the first 24 hours of life

Human papillomavirus

vaccine was introduced in

74 Nations



Human papillomavirus is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract, and can cause cervical cancer, other types of cancer, and genital warts in both men and women. Human papillomavirus vaccine was introduced in 74 countries by the end of 2016, including four countries with introduction in some parts of the country.



 Data source: Global estimates of human papillomavirus vaccinationome level: a pooled analysis, Lancet, July 2016

Measles

Did you know? South-east Asia, reported cases of measles jumped from 30,101 in 2013 to 82,006 in 2016





 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF



64 per cent

Global coverage



Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, which usually results in a high fever and rash, and can lead to blindness, encephalitis or death. By the end of 2016, 85 per cent of children had received one dose of measles vaccine by their second birthday, and 164 countries had included a second dose as part of routine immunisation and 64 per cent of children received two doses of measles vaccine according to national immunisation schedules.

Meningitis A

260 million

people affected in Africa



Meningitis A is an infection that can cause severe brain damage and is often deadly. By the end of 2016  6 years after its introduction  more than 260 million people in African countries affected by the disease had been vaccinated with MenAfriVac, a vaccine developed by WHO and PATH. Ghana and Sudan were the first two countries to include the MenAfriVac in their routine immunisation schedule in 2016.



 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF





Mumps

Did you know? As opposed to 38,713 reported cases of mumps in 2000, Africa saw more than 250 per cent rise in 2016 with 100,576





 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF



vaccine was introduced in

121 Nations



Mumps is a highly contagious virus that causes painful swelling at the side of the face under the ears (the parotid glands), fever, headache and muscle aches. It can lead to viral meningitis. Mumps vaccine had been introduced nationwide in 121 countries by the end of 2016.

Pneumococcal diseases

vaccine was introduced in

134 Nations

Pneumococcal diseases include pneumonia, meningitis and febrile bacteraemia, as well as otitis media, sinusitis and bronchitis. Pneumococcal vaccine had been introduced in 134 countries by the end of 2016, including three in some parts of the country,



 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF





Polio





 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF



85 per cent

Global coverage



Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that can cause irreversible paralysis. In 2016, 85 per cent of infants around the world received three doses of polio vaccine. Targeted for global eradication, polio has been stopped in all countries except for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Polio-free countries have been infected by imported virus, and all countries  especially those experiencing conflict and instability  remain at risk until polio is fully eradicated.

Rotaviruses

25 per cent

Global coverage



Rotaviruses are the most common cause of severe diarrhoeal disease in young children throughout the world. Rotavirus vaccine was introduced in 90 countries by the end of 2016, including six in some parts of the country



 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF





Rubella





 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF



47 per cent

Global coverage



Rubella is a viral disease which is usually mild in children, but infection during early pregnancy may cause fetal death or congenital rubella syndrome, which can lead to defects of the brain, heart, eyes, and ears. Rubella vaccine was introduced nationwide in 152 countries by the end of 2016

Tetanus

84 per cent

Global coverage



Tetanus is caused by a bacterium which grows in the absence of oxygen, for example in dirty wounds or in the umbilical cord if it is not kept clean. The spores of C. tetani are present in the environment irrespective of geographical location. It produces a toxin which can cause serious complications or death. The vaccine to prevent maternal and neonatal tetanus had been introduced in 106 countries by the end of 2016. An estimated 84 per cent of newborns were protected through immunisation. Maternal and neonatal tetanus persist as public health problems in 18 countries, mainly in Africa and Asia.



 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF





Yellow fever





 Data source: Immunization coverage Fact sheet, July 2017, WHO & UNICEF



45 per cent

Global coverage



Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. As of 2016, yellow fever vaccine had been introduced in routine infant immunisation programmes in 35 of the 42 countries and territories at risk for yellow fever in Africa and the Americas. In these 42 countries and territories





In India





Immunisation coverage continues to be low despite decades of publicly financed universal immunisation programme. Between 2005-06 and 2015-16, immunisation coverage increased from 44 to 62 per cent, but much of the progress comes from rural areas (from 39 to 61 per cent). Strangely, urban areas witness very low improvements (from 58 to 64 per cent).



If India has to meet the SDG commitment of universal immunisation coverage by 2030, it has to bridge the gap of 38 per cent. It means, every year it has to ensure full immunisation of about 27 million new born.

The coloured dots in this punchcard show WHO and UNICEF Estimates of National immunisation Coverage, (data as of July 15, 2016) for all universally recommended vaccines for which these estimates are available.



 Data source: World Health Organisation, July 2017 The coloured dots in this punchcard show WHO and UNICEF Estimates of National immunisation Coverage, (data as of July 15, 2016) for all universally recommended vaccines for which these estimates are available.

Putting vaccination back on the agenda



Middle-income countries are lagging behind in the introduction of more recently recommended vaccines such as rotavirus and pneumococcal conjugated vaccine as they may not receive external support and their health budgets are currently insufficient to cover the costs of these vaccines.



These vaccines have the potential significantly to reduce pneumonia and diarrhoeathe top two causes of death in children under 5 in the world. Before that, the health ministers in developing countries have to put DTP vaccine back on their agenda.

Data source:



 World Health Organisation (WHO)

 United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

 World Bank

 The Lancet







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A bypass for the town of Ardee may finally be on the way, with the news that long awaited funding has been made available for its construction.

The town which has suffered from traffic problems for some years now, would greatly benefit from a bypass, many believe.

Reacting to media reports that the funding has been made available, Sinn Fein TD Imelda Munster had this to say:

'I am happy to hear that Transport Minister Shane Ross has allocated funding for the Ardee bypass.

'The project was excluded from the capital investment programme originally, and so it is certainly good news for the people of Ardee that funding has been secured.'

Deputy Munster revealed she had raised the need for the bypass on several occasions with the Minister for Transport, as well as with officials from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).

She went on to say:

'I have written to the Minister seeking further information regarding how much funding is to be made available and seeking a start date and a timeline for the project.

'The local community has been campaigning for the construction of the bypass for many years, with many disappointments and delays along the way.

'The area has been neglected in terms of investment for too long, and so it is to be welcomed that this project is finally progressing.'
The Irish Writers Centre is set to showcase the work of 18 emerging writers for XBorders, an innovative cross-border project bringing writers together to explore and write about borders through fiction and non-fiction.

The emerging writers are due to read an excerpt of the work they have produced for the new XBorders project at a public reading event at The Irish Writers Centre in Dublin on September 7.

The 18 participants chosen from across Ireland have been working on the project with cultural theorist Dr Declan Long, security experts Mark Maguire and Eileen Murphy, Blackstaff Press Managing Editor, Patsy Horton, and Belfast-based writer Maria McManus over the past three months.

Tamara O'Connell, a journalist living in Castlebellingham, is one of the 18 emerging writers chosen for the exciting project. She's written a short story called The Sound of a Second Chance for XBorders.

Set near the Israeli-Egyptian border in 1999, it's a suspense/thriller about an expectant couple who are hijacked by an armed gang.

"The story follows Dinah and Ari Coen, an Israeli couple who are driving home after a short holiday in the Sinai peninsula," said Tamara

"Dinah and Ari are hijacked close to the Taba border crossing and they both have very different reactions to the dangerous situation."

She added: "In that kind of life or death situation, the wrong choice can lead to terrible consequences. What do you do? Run or fight?

"It's a work of fiction, however, I've drawn on my experience of travelling in the region for the short story."

Participants had to attend three seminars in Belfast, Derry and Dublin for the project. Art critic, lecturer and former Turner Prize judge Dr Declan Long spoke to the group about contemporary art practice of the Post-Troubles period.

Anthropologist and border security expert Dr Mark Maguire whose research focuses on international migration, biometric security, counter-terrorism and border control, explored international borders.

Eileen Murphy, a researcher with the Centre for Innovation Human Systems, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, examined the future of biometric border technologies and policies.

The emerging writers took part in an editing session with Blackstaff Press Managing Editor, Patsy Horton, at the Irish Writers Centre on Saturday, July 22.

For more information about Tamara O'Connell and her work check out her new website www.tamaraoconnell.com.
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A 30-year-old man who admitted driving without insurance in a dangerous driving prosecution, was sentenced to five months at Dundalk district court last week.

Angelo O'Riordan with an address at Point Road, Bellurgan appeared before the court charged with dangerous driving at a series of locations, including Sportsmanshall, Balriggan, Killin, Ballinfuil, Rathduff and Falmore on January 26th last.

Judge John Coughlan was told the defendant - who had 24 previous convictions, is in a relationship for 15 years and had left school at the age of 16.

The court heard he is doing a course at the docks in Dublin and he is guaranteed a job at the end of it.

The Defence solicitor urged the court to deal with the matter by way of a suspended sentence.

Judge Coughlan imposed five months in custody and a 10 year driving ban for driving without insurance but said Angelo O'Riordan could appeal by lodging 200 in cash.

However the judge warned him "Come before me again.

I'm throwing away the key.

The party's over."
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv), the largest airline in the country, has denied a UAH 400 million debt to the national budget earlier mentioned by Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan.

An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that UIA President Yuriy Miroshnykov gave the information at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.

"As for UAH 400 million announced by the minister I do not know how he calculated these figures, but there is no such a debt. I can suppose that this is the disputable sum. One hour is not enough to name the number of court claims regarding the fee to the special fund, which from the certain moment, according to the earnest conviction of UIA backed not only by opinions of independent law examinations, but also court rulings, stopped being lawful, and UIA stopped paying it," he said.

Earlier Omelyan said that UIA owes UAH 400 million to the national budget and he advised the airline's top managers to focus on the issue.

"I would sincerely advise the UIA owners and management to focus on the issue of paying UAH 400 million to the national budget, the development of Dnipro airport, Dniproavia and many other issues," Omelyan said.

In the middle of May 2016, amendments to the rules for assigning airlines to flights took effect in Ukraine. The document introduced the condition of paying government levies described in the Air Code of Ukraine in the full amount.

UIA challenged the amendments in the district administrative court of Kyiv. At the end of May 2016 the court banned the State Aviation Service from taking into account the debt of the airline to the special fund when the airline is assigned for flights.

The State Aviation Service said that the authority will challenge the decision of the district administrative court of Kyiv, as it creates preferences for one airline on the market.
Former Georgian president and Odesa regional state administration ex-head Mikheil Saakashvili said he intends to appeal with an administrative court against the revocation of his Ukrainian citizenship.

"We will go to an administrative court. If it doesn't work out with the administrative court, then we will go to Strasbourg," Saakashvili told the Ukrayinska Pravda online media, replying to a question in what court he will appeal against the decision to revoke his citizenship.

On July 26, 2017, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued a decree depriving Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship, the Ukrainian State Migration Service said. The Ukrainian presidential administration explained that Saakashvili's citizenship was revoked due to his providing false information while applying for Ukrainian citizenship.
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir has expressed deep concern about the continued detention of Ukrainian journalist Stanyslav Aseyev in the Ukrainian government uncontrolled areas of Donbas.

"I call on all those responsible to immediately release Stanislav Aseyev," the press service of OSCE reported, citing Desir as saying.

"Journalists and other media actors must be free to express their views and carry out their work unhindered," he said.

OSCE reminded that Aseyev is a contributor to the Ukrainian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and a well-known blogger. He disappeared at the beginning of June 2017 in Donetsk. Reportedly detained by so-called DPR forces, his whereabouts were, until recently, unknown.
Recent ransomware threats have escalated into a global crisis, and cybersecurity experts and government authorities have redoubled their investigative efforts. Of grave concern is the possibility that the recent Petya attack had more sinister motives than typical ransomware operations, and that state actors were involved behind the scenes.

The Petya attack  which disrupted major government agencies, infrastructure sites, multinational companies and other organizations  actually used the cover of a ransomware attack to deploy a more malicious exploit, called a wiper, that paralyzed thousands of computers and destroyed data in dozens of countries around the world, some leading cybersecurity experts have concluded.

The National Cyber Security Centre, which operates within the UKs GCHQ intellligence agency, late last month raised questions about the motives behind the attack, saying it had found evidence that questioned initial judgments that collecting ransoms was Petyas chief goal.

The financial motivation was questionable early on, based on critical evidence seen during the intial outbreak of the attack, noted Vikram Thakur, technical director at Symantec.

Ukraine Connection

The large number of victims located in Ukraine and the fact that the infection vector was software primarily used there raised suspicions, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Further, the single bitcoin wallet payment method, use of a single email for decryption communications, absence of a C&C (command & control server), encryption of files with extensions primarily used by businesses, the wiping of the MBR, along with the randomly generated key displayed to the victim, all contributed to the belief that the attacker did not expect to receive ransom in exchange for decryption keys, Thakur said.

The single email was a key concern of researchers. German provider Posteo shut down the email used by the hackers as the sole means of contact, which professional hackers would have expected to happen. They would have established more than one potential means of collecting ransom and then releasing data back to victims.

Kaspersky Lab, one of the first cybersecurity firms to publicize the true nature of the attack, posting on June 28 that the Petya malware attack was a wiper disguised as ransomware.

Our analysis indicates that ExPetr/NotPetya (additional names of the Petya exploit) has been designed with data destruction in mind, the firm said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Jessica Bettencourt.

To launch this attack, its authors have carefully created a destructive malware disguised as ransomware, Kaspersky noted. While some parts of this destructive malware still operate as original building blocks, meaning they might be mistaken for ransomware, their true purpose is destruction  not financial gain.

Ransomwares and hackers are becoming the scapegoats of nation state attackers, tweeted Matthew Suiche of Comae Technologies, who separately came to the same conclusion as Kaspersky.

State Sponsorship?

The suspicion of nation-state involvement goes beyond idle speculation. The NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence made a similar assessment and raised the specter of invoking Article 5, possibly designating the cyberoperation as similar to an armed attack that would invoke a military response.

In the case of NotPetya, significant improvements have been made to create a new breed of ultimate threat, said Bernhards Blumbergs, a researcher at the CCD COE.

For the latest attack, the malware was developed more professionally than the sloppy WannaCry, he noted. Instead of searching the entire Internet, the malware searches for new hosts to infect, going deeper into local computer networks.

The attackers used the stolen EternalBlue exploit that the Shadow Brokers stole from the National Security Agency, the CCD COE confirmed.

The attack was too sophisticated for unaffiliated hackers to put together as a practice run, its researchers concluded.

Further, it was unlikely that cybercriminals were behind the attack, as the method for collecting ransom was so poorly designed that they would not have been able to collect enough to cover the cost of the operation, they pointed out.

While the think tank is accredited by NATO and financed by member nations, it does not speak on behalf of the alliance, a spokesperson for the CCD COE told the E-Commerce Times.

Neither WannaCry nor Petya utilized sophisticated revenue-collection methods, which suggests the campaigns may have been designed for geopolitical deception or information operations designed to sow chaos in a rival political information space, Kenneth Geers, a NATO CCD COE ambassador, told the E-Commerce Times.

Russia was behind the Petya attack, according to the Ukrainian security agency SBU. The malware impacted numerous Ukranianan business and infrastructure targets, including the international airport and Chernobyl nuclear plant, before spreading worldwide.

Petya exhibited similarities to the 2016 Black Energy attacks that hit the Ukranian power grid, the SBU pointed out.

Extensions used in the recent attack were very similar to those of BlackEnergys KillDisk wiper in 2015 and 2016, Kaspersky researchers noted.

In collaboration with Palo Alto Networks, Kaspersky found certain similarities in code design, but the firms could not say for certain whether there was an exact link.

As in the case of WannaCry, attribution is very difficult, and finding links with previously known malware is challenging, said Costin Raiu, director of Kasperskys global research and analysis team.

We are sending an open invitation to the larger security community to help nail down  or disprove  the link between Black Energy and Ex Petr/Petya, he told the E-Commerce Times.

The Petya outbreak displayed similarities with the 2016 Ukraine attack, said Anton Cherepanov, ESET malware researcher.

There were links to the TeleBots used against Ukrainian financial institutions, he told the E-Commerce Times, as well as a Linux version of the KillDisk malware the attackers deployed.

North Korea is the likely culprit behind the WannaCry attack, in the view of a number of cybersecurity experts who noted code similarities to the 2014 Sony hack.

North Korea is isolated and already under tight international sanctions, so cyberattacks offer Pyongyang the opportunity from time to time to sucker punch the west, said Kasperskys Raiu.

However, nailing down the attribution for the Petya attack has been more difficult than tracing the Sony attacks origins, he suggested.

No Way to Collect Ransom, No Way to Restore Data

U.S. officials have not attributed the attack publicly to any particular organization or state, but the Department of Homeland Securitys U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team earlier this month put out an alert with a technical analysis on the Petya malware attack, which DHS still referred to as ransomware.

The Petya variant encrypts victims files with a dynamically generated 128-bit key and creates a unique ID for the victim, the report states.

There is no apparent relationship between the victims assigned ID and the encryption key, which means there may be no way to decrypt files even if a ransom were paid, it notes.

The Petya variant uses the SMB exploit, as described in the Microsoft MS17-010 security update issued in March, along with a modified version of the Mimikatz tool, which can be used to obtain a users credentials, according to DHS.

The damage Petya caused to public infrastructure and private businesses was extensive. Global shipping company A.P. Moeller-Maersk issued an update at the end of June saying it expected to return to an almost-normal operational environment by July 3, but warned it would take longer to restore all applications and workstations.

Maersk IT chose to shut down all systems during the attack to contain the issue, Signe Wagner a spokesperson for the company, confirmed to the E-Commerce Times.

She did not have access to her own email for several days, she said.

Merck & Co. confirmed that it was hit by the malware despite having installed updated patches, but noted that it had implemented business continuity plans.
KYIV. July 29 (Interfax-Ukraine)  Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has presented the For Courage medal to Ukrainian pilot Oleksandr Akopov, who earlier performed an emergency landing of a damaged passenger liner at the Istanbul airport Ataturk.

The press service of the Ukrainian president reported that according to the decree of the head of state, Akopov was awarded a high state award for courage and selflessness shown in the line of his duty and high professionalism.

Akopov, who works as a pilot on the flights of the Turkish company Atlasglobal, saved the lives of 121 passengers and 6 crew members in extremely difficult weather conditions on July 27, flawlessly completing the landing of an emergency passenger liner at Istanbul Ataturk Airport.
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Police issue advice to reduce bicycle thefts

Police are asking Manx residents not to leave bicycles unlocked as part of a campaign to reduce theft.

The Isle of Man Constabulary warns bikes are easy target for thieves and vandals.

Officers say simple steps like using a bicycle lock and ensuring bikes aren't left somewhere they can be seen will deter thieves.

Having a security mark on the frame of the bicycle and keeping a clear colour photo of the bike could help recover the bike if it is taken.
Kyiv's appeal court has decided to not satisfy a petition of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to arrest property seized in the case against YouControl company, the company has said in a press release.

"The company is waiting for the urgent return of its property and prevent violation of the constitutional right to ownership," the company said.

The company said that during the raids valuable items were seized from YouControl employees and their relatives, including money. The company said that the necessary documents were not presented when they were seized and a status of temporarily seized property was assigned to them.

Earlier YouControl denied accusations of the SBU of unlawful interference in the operation of automated systems and computer networks of the Justice Ministry, the State Fiscal Service and the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine and the illegal sale of the collected data.

YouControl describes itself as the information and analytical platform for business analytics, competition reconnaissance and verification of contractors. The head office is located in Kyiv.
Woman cut from car after Ramsey crash

A woman needed to be cut from her car following a crash in the north of the Island.

The fire service was called to the scene on Albert Street in Ramsey.

The driver was complaining of back and neck pain, resulting in crews using hydraulic cutters to free her from the vehicle.

The incident was a low speed collision between two vehicles on Thursday afternoon.
It is a disease that is a silent killer. An estimated 3 to 10 million workers in India are affected by it. Yet, it is not treated with the kind of attention it deserves. The recent decision of a labour court in Odisha to award compensation to 16 families who had lost their main bread earner to silicosis, a silent and much underestimated killer disease, has exposed the dark underside of unregulated and hazardous mining and industries. The 16 men, from Madarangajodi village in Keonjhar district, who died had worked in a unit that ground pyrophyllite into powder. In the process, they were inhaling silica dust without being aware of the consequences. Over time, their lungs collapsed and the men died, as silicosis is incurable. They left behind what was called, a village of widows. Only when a local organisation moved the National Human Rights Commission was the matter investigated. It was established that these men had died of silicosis. They need not have died if the outfit where they worked had taken simple precautionary measures such as giving them safety gear and using processes that minimised generation of silica dust. The court has ordered the Odisha government to pay the families46 lakh as compensation.

The ruling was made possible because of an important Supreme Court judgment in 2016 in a case involving 238 workers who died of silicosis after working for more than 10 years in quartz-crushing factories in Godhra and Balasinor in Gujarat. These men were from tribal villages in Alirajpur, Jhabua and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh. Like the men in Odisha, they too became ill as initially, silicosis is asymptomatic. The dust particles are odourless. So you are not aware that you are inhaling something that will eventually kill you. Once again, it took a non-governmental organisation to intervene on their behalf and take the matter up to the highest court. The apex courts ruling was strong and unambiguous. Not only did it order the Gujarat government to pay7.14 crore as compensation to the next of kin of the 238 workers who had died but also ordered the Madhya Pradesh government to rehabilitate 304 workers who survived but were ailing.
Although floods are an annual natural occurrence, there is nothing natural about the official response to flooding of the Brahmaputra River in Assam. This year, the official death toll has risen to 77 and around 12 lakh people have been displaced. The 10 July report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority reported that 20 districts, over 2,053 villages and around one lakh hectares of agricultural land have been inundated. Given the extent of the devastation caused by a natural disaster that is exacerbated by human interventions, it is time we accept that the focus must shift from flood protection to flood governance.

The floods in Assam, or for that matter Bihar, are distinct from those currently underway in Gujarat and Rajasthan whereextreme weather events caused the flooding. While the latter need prompt rescue and relief, the former must be tackled by a combination of structural interventions, institutional reforms, and comprehensive initiatives to build resilience in the riverine population. The vast stretch of alluvial plains from Maharajganj in eastern Uttar Pradesh to Karimganj in Assams Barak Valley has been frequently affected by multiple water hazards. This is a densely populated area stretching across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam. These four states account for 17% of Indias geographical area, but disproportionately account for 43%52% of all flood-prone areas of the country.
In his article Ethics in Ambedkars Critique of Gandhi (EPW, 15 April 2017), Gopal Guru questions the hitherto unexamined and largely accepted antagonism between Ambedkar and Gandhi on the problem of untouchability. Those who take rigid positions, for or against the two leaders, fail to locate the space in which the inclusive discourse of emancipation is possible. For this reason, the tone of Gurus article is reconciliatory as he finds Gandhi involved in the emancipatory struggle of Dalits, just as Ambedkar makes efforts to involve Gandhi and the caste Hindus in the interlocutory framework of conversation.

The question of untouchability can be properly understood and resolved if the approaches of the two leaders are taken together. Gandhi mainly looked at the problem of untouchability from a moral standpoint, whereas Ambedkar looked at it from a rational, intellectual and political point of view.
Noel Sheth S J journeyed through life with purpose. His Jesuit identity always before him, he applied himself meticulously to every task with the hope that it would benefit others. The eldest of four brothers, he lost his father when he and his siblings were still young. He felt responsible for the family. His mother hailed from Kandivali in Mumbai, and with faith and fortitude looked after her sons and provided for their education through her earnings.

Noel completed his schooling at St Xaviers High School, Dhobitalao and then decided to join the Jesuits of the Bombay Province; he did so on 20 June 1960. His flair for languages showed in his knowledge of Gujaratihis father was a baptised GujaratiMarathi, Hindi and English. After philosophy, Noel was asked to prepare himself in Sanskrit and Indian Culture to be part of the staff of St Xaviers College, Mumbai. He performed brilliantly in his masters in Sanskrit from Pune University and was offered a full scholarship to Harvard to complete his doctorate in Sanskrit. At Harvard, he impressed both staff and students and, on occasion, was invited by the professor to teach his confreres. His name is included in the Whos Who of Sanskrit Scholars of India. Back in India, his superiors in the Jesuit Assistancy, considering the wider needs of the order, decided to assign him to Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV), Pontifical Institute of Philosophy and Religion, Pune. He resided in the Papal Seminary and functioned as dean of the Inchoate Department of Indian Studies and Social Sciences in the Faculty of Philosophy.
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anthonymoore said: Hi, I have a drivers license in my own country, but how do I get a permeant drivers license one for the Philippines. Where do I go, costs, do I need to do test etc., any advice please. Click to expand...

Anthony you'd go to the LTO for your drivers license if you have family bring someone to do the run around make copies, also bring your plane ticket and passport and make sure you do this within 90 days of landing, I never took a test but there again each LTO runs differently.Like some have mentioned not all LTO offices are standardized or some seem to function as an autonomous agency But basically they are looking for permanent residents or those on a SRRV type visa, as a tourist your gonna have some troubles getting a drivers license.I just got my drivers license renewed it was more like 800 pesos and only good for 4 years but some claim it's 5 years NOPE... not at my LTO and I'm still waiting for my license plate that I paid for it's going on 5 years now, so I have a paper for my license plate and also they didn't have plastic cards so I have a paper copy for my drivers license.
Hi. I'm a filipino. I came to the UAE in an employment visa. I'm working as a housekeeper in a hotel. I'm working towards my 2nd month now and the work is hard and what makes it even harder is the environment and the administration you are working in. If I resign, they will make me pay more than 3500 AED plus I have to work for like 3 months (notice period). My question is: will I get stopped at the immigration in Dubai airport if I try to run away? Provided I have a valid passport and plane ticket back to the Philippines? My passport is currently in the HR but I'm planning on widthdrawing it from them. I hope you can answer my question as I have already spend countless nights thinking of this. Thank you!
Hi expats & Thai locals. I am planning a visit sometime end of the year for a holiday with my wife and her parents. Maybe a 4D3N stay in Bangkok.I read with some alarm that the govt expects each visitor to carry a minimum of 20,000 THB per person for tourists or 40,000 THB per family or you might get detained and deported. First off, that is ALOT of cash to be carrying around. We won't need so much cash other than for local expenses. The major expenses of flight and accommodation would have been paid for by credit card already. Who wants to carry so much cash and risk of losing it in a foreign place?Second, even if we brought it, it is unlikely that we can / want to finish using up what is essentially USD1,200 in Thai currency for a short 4D3N holiday. If we converted it to THB and converted it back, we would be paying for the conversion twice! This costs money we wouldn't need to spend.I would like to ask, is this ruling still in force? And is there any way around it?My wife and I would very much like to visit Bangkok. But if there is no way around it, we may could end up visiting other similar range places instead like Penang / KL / JB /Ipoh in Malaysia or Bandung in Indonesia. (That is not preferable as I have worked/visited in Malaysia / Bandung before. But this is with wifey's parents so it will be good for them but bad for me).Thanks in advance.
As a biology major in college with a doctorate in civil engineering, Taylor Eighmy thinks about San Antonio as a living laboratory.

I created a little term in my head the other day, I call it urbanomics. Though I did find out on Google someone else has created that, I want to borrow that term because I think thats what the future of urban research institutions is going to be, Eighmy said in an interview this week.

The future president of the University of Texas at San Antonio explained that similar to genomics or proteomics  a new science studying human genes  urbanomics is about understanding what makes San Antonio thrive, how its wired and how it operates, and how UTSA can best fit into the growing city of San Antonio.

Eighmy, who starts his job on Sept. 1, has high hopes for the university, saying he wants to make it the best possible Hispanic-serving discovery enterprise in the nation.

I think the way we go about that is going to be both a challenge and a wonderful opportunity, he said.

Eighmy stressed UTSAs role as an urban-serving institution, one that develops a deep and intricate partnership within the city.

His focus on growth and development, plus his broad research experience, was one of the reasons why he was picked, said Steve Leslie, the UT System vice chancellor of academic affairs and head of the president search committee, last month.

Eighmy has been vice-chancellor of research and engagement, and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville since 2012.

Before that, he was a vice-president for research at Texas Tech University, where he was personally hired by then-president Guy Bailey, who is now UT-Rio Grande Valleys president.

He will get stuff done, and get it done in a hurry, Bailey said.

He credited Eighmy for making Texas Tech eligible for the states National Research University Fund and for setting up research partnerships with top-tier labs across the nation.

Regarding UTSAs goals to becoming Tier One, he said, If anybody can get them there, Taylor can. I have no doubt hell do it.

He called him smart, gregarious and dynamic. He fly fishes, Bailey said, and he connects well with students.

When I was at Texas Tech, I had him in the presidents box and he always interacted with students and he got along really well with them, theyll find him appealing and sympathetic, Bailey said.

But Eighmys appointment as sole finalist was not without backlash. State Sen. Jose Menendez issued a scathing public statement that criticized the small number of Latino search committee members (there were three Latinos among the 16-member committee, according to UTSA officials).

Currently, there are no Latino presidents at a UT institution and only two women presidents across the systems 14 campus.

Menendez stressed the importance of presidents serving as role models for their students  at UTSA, most of the 28,959 students are Hispanic, and many of them are from San Antonio. Eighmy succeeds Ricardo Romo, who was largely lauded for being a role model. He was UTSAs first Hispanic president and grew up on the West Side.

Eighmy said he would like to meet Menendez in person, because he thinks theyll find they share similar beliefs on diversity and other social issues.

Im hoping that the community here, the Hispanic community, the entire city, will get to know me soon and will understand the whole reason Im coming here, and wanting to work here at this institution in this city, is probably for the exact same reason that the senator has for his aspirations, Eighmy said.

During his time at Texas Tech, Bailey said the Hispanic student population was the fastest growing. He said Eighmy worked well with those students.

Taylor did a wonderful job working with underrepresented students and faculty, so he will fit in with the culture. He will learn about it, embrace it, and I think people will embrace him, too, Bailey said.

In response to Eighmys interest in meeting with him in person, Menendez agreed that it would be a good idea. He stressed that his issue was mostly with the UT System, and less with the man himself.

I am hopeful, Menendez said. I continue to be disappointed with the lack of diversity because the UT system obviously has not made a strong enough effort, that continues to be an issue, but Dr. Eighmy has been selected, so now its up to him to show us what hes going to do.

Eighmy grew up near New Haven, Connecticut. He got his bachelors from Tufts University and masters and doctorate from the University of New Hampshire, where he later worked. Hes secured millions of dollars in grants for those universities and serves as a board member or fellow on several national organizations.

Hell be moving to San Antonio with his wife Peggy Eighmy, and their three dogs  two of which are Texas born.

The opportunity to be here and to do this with everybody and this community, in this city, is something Ive been wishing for for quite a while now, Eighmy said. When the opportunity arose, I was so delighted to throw my hat in the ring to be considered. And so I find myself back in the great state of Texas.

sfosterfrau@express-news.net
AUSTIN - A proposal to limit local property tax increases gained momentum Friday with a favorable House committee vote, boosting an issue thats championed by Gov. Greg Abbott but bitterly opposed by cities and counties.

The move was greeted with dismay by San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who said the state is killing us when it comes to the citys ability to provide and maintain good infrastructure.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dennis Bonnen told the San Antonio Express-News that he believes there is enough support on the House floor to pass the tax revamp, which is among priorities put on the special session agenda by Abbott.

Its a fair deal, said Bonnen, R-Angleton. It doesnt make it where a city or a county cant continue to manage their communities and meet the needs of their communities, but it does provide an absolute protection for the taxpayer if for some reason those budgets get a little out of control.

Bonnens committee voted 8-1 for House Bill 4. That allows it to proceed to the full House for consideration, if it clears the Calendars Committee that sets bills for debate.

The movement is a contrast to the regular session, when Bonnen said there wasnt enough support on the House floor to pass a similar bill and it never got a committee vote.

Bonnens bill would require an automatic rollback election if cities, counties and special districts raise property tax revenues by more than 6 percent. That differs from the bill that was approved Thursday by the Senate, which sets an automatic rollback if tax revenues increase by more than 4 percent.

Current law allows voters to petition for an election if property taxes increase more than 8 percent.

In another departure from the Senate bill, Bonnens measure would exempt community colleges and, for up to three years, areas declared disaster areas by the governor. It also would exempt entities that raise less than $25 million in property tax revenue.

Cities and counties have fought changing the current structure, saying proposed changes would hurt their ability to deliver needed services. Nirenberg emphasized that point Friday.

To retain good credit, we have to have good infrastructure and the ability to keep it that way. The state is killing us on both, Nirenberg said in a statement. There are those in the Legislature who maintain their own political comfort by putting pain on our children and grandchildren. They are limiting future generations ability to raise the revenue required to keep cities healthy.

Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League, had similar concerns.

It is disappointing that committee members voted to impose additional restrictions on the ability of Texans in some large cities to decide at the local level what's best for their community, Sandlin said.

Paul Sugg, legislative director of the Texas Association of Counties, expressed particular concern over what will happen when the bill hits the House floor. If tea-party House members offer amendments to lower the rollback rate, they could be difficult for the majority of Republicans to vote against.

Once that bill gets on the floor, it is red meat in front of ravenous wolves, Sugg said.

Bonnen said he intends to stay at the 6 percent level.

Those who oppose the measure say lawmakers should focus on reforming public education finance if they want to lower property taxes, because schools make up the biggest share of property tax bills statewide.

House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, has made the same argument, saying school finance reform is a priority for his chamber. But he also told the Express-News on Friday that the Ways and Means vote is a very positive signal for the rollback election bills chances in the full House.

Bonnen similarly said Friday that lawmakers cant lower property taxes without increasing the states share of school funding. He nevertheless believes his bill is an important way to give Texans a bigger voice when it comes to tax increases.

The Senate passed an automatic rollback bill in the regular session and already has done so in the special session.

The issue has been pushed relentlessly by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate and forced the special session when it became clear that a property tax revamp as well as a so-called bathroom bill wouldnt pass in the form he wanted in the regular session.

The Senate-approved tax revamp by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, includes an exemption for entities that take in less than $20 million in property and sales taxes, but they could opt into the lower rollback rate with an election under the bill.

Bettencourt, asked whether he would be willing to negotiate on the rate, said hes hopeful matters can get to the point of negotiations since that didnt happen in the regular session.

Mathematically, the lower the number, the more tax relief, he said.

Straus told the Express-News that he hadnt seen the exact legislation approved by the Ways and Means Committee, but he said House members have listened to the concerns of cities and counties and will continue to.

I have a lot of confidence in the Ways and Means Committee and Chairman Bonnen, so well continue to work through the process and hopefully have something that we can pass on the floor, Straus said.

Abbotts office congratulated Bonnen on Twitter for advancing the legislation. The property tax revamp was among bills for which the governors office released lists of supportive lawmakers Friday, with his thanks.

The governor thanks these members of the Legislature for their commitment to limit skyrocketing property taxes in the Lone Star State, said the release on the Bettencourt and Bonnen bills, and their roster of backers.

Abbott had earlier said he also would release a list of lawmakers who oppose his bills, but at this point in the process, he hasnt. Instead, he released lists of legislators he said support the bills he wants passed in the special session.

pfikac@express-news.net

Twitter: @pfikac
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On the morning of July 30, 2016, Patricia Morgan was enjoying a stream of text messages from her daughter and granddaughter, Lorilee and Paige Brabson, who were gleefully taking photos of a giant hot air balloon that was about to ferry them across the Texas sky.

Their balloon ride with pilot Alfred Skip Nichols was a bucket-list adventure the family had always dreamed of. I wish I could be there, Morgan told them.

But within hours, Morgans pleasant day became a nightmare of panicked phone calls about a balloon crash in Texas, a growing sense of dread as she tried to find out what happened, and the devastating realization that her precious daughter and granddaughter were killed with fourteen others when their balloon struck power lines near Lockhart.

An arc of 345,000 volts of electricity had severed the balloons metal cables. The wicker gondola plummeted to the ground and burned in a rural field.

Sixteen people. Gone. It was the deadliest balloon crash in U.S. history.

A year later, relatives of the victims are still grappling with the horrific tragedy as they deal with grief, raise orphaned children who will never see their parents again, and try to make sure no one else suffers the same fate on a balloon ride.

Something has to be done so that other families do not have to endure the pain that we have had to, Morgan said.

Family members of the victims have become harsh critics of the hot air balloon industry and the Federal Aviation Administration. Morgan is among the most outspoken.

A retired purchasing manager and supervisor with Colorado Springs Utilities, Morgan, 68, launched a White House petition calling for greater federal oversight of balloon pilots and sought help from Texas lawmakers. She praised Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for responding to her concerns and filing a bill that would require medical exams for commercial balloon pilots.

Unlike other pilots, balloon pilots dont have to undergo medical exams, take drug tests or carry accident insurance. Yet balloons arent any safer than other aircraft.

An investigation of the hot air balloon industry published earlier this year by the San Antonio Express-News found that hot air balloons suffer similar fatality rates compared to privately owned planes and helicopters.

And the overall crash rate was twice as high for balloons  15 crashes per 100,000 flight hours compared to seven crashes per 100,000 flight hours for other types of general aviation aircraft.

In the past year, Morgan and other family members have been shocked by revelations about Nichols, and they blame the FAA for failing to stop him from flying.

At a Dec. 9 federal hearing in Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash and plans to present its findings in October, released documents that show Nichols suffered from a long list of ailments such as depression and chronic pain that should have raised red flags at the FAA  but the agency didnt know about his illnesses.

On the day of the crash, the pilot had a cocktail of prescription medications in his system that included Prozac, Valium and the painkiller oxycodone. Warning labels on several of the drugs warn users not to operate heavy machinery.

Nichols had moved to Texas after being arrested for a string of DWI and drug offenses. Legally, he couldnt drive a car because his drivers license was revoked. Yet the FAA allowed him to keep a commercial pilots certificate.

I was beyond flabbergasted, said Sue Rowan, whose son, Matt, and his wife, Sunday, were killed in the crash. The newlyweds from San Antonio had married five months earlier. Matt Rowan was a professor at Trinity University and chief of clinical trials at Brooke Army Medical Center overseeing burns and trauma research.

They were aware of this man and his problems, and they just turned their back on it, Rowan said of Nichols and the FAA. I think 15 people lost their lives because the FAA turned their back on it.

Rejected recommendations

The FAA resisted years of efforts to strengthen oversight of commercial balloon operations, saying their risk to the public is minimal. Officials havent budged from that position after the crash near Lockhart.

The responsibility for aviation safety does not rest entirely with the FAA, the agency wrote in an April 19 letter to the NTSB that offered lessons learned from the crash. No regulations can completely ensure the safety of balloon passengers, the FAA says. Safety also depends on honest, diligent pilots.

Pilots who consistently demonstrate willful noncompliance with federal aviation regulations pose a safety risk that cannot be controlled through additional regulations, the agency told the NTSB.

More than three years before the crash, Wayne Phillips, an FAA inspector in Detroit, had proposed greater oversight for commercial balloon operators. Balloons were getting larger and larger, he said, which meant more passengers were at risk.

The balloon Nichols piloted was more than nine stories tall and featured a gondola that could fit 16 passengers and the pilot  enough to fill a small commuter plane.

It may be of some surprise that the largest balloons carry more passengers than a Beech 1900 airliner, Phillips wrote in his proposal, which was circulated internally at the FAA but wasnt made public until after the crash near Lockhart.

Meanwhile, the NTSB began to grow concerned about commercial balloons as well. Officials at the agency learned of Phillips and compared notes with him. In 2014, the NTSB recommended to the FAA that it should require letters of authorization for commercial balloon operations.

The letters trigger the possibility of more FAA inspections and they mandate random drug tests for pilots and crew members. Known as LOAs, such measures are required of helicopter and aircraft tours  but not balloons.

The NTSBs recommendations are nonbinding. The FAA rejected it.

Orphaned children

At 5:45 a.m. on July 30, 2016, Nichols and his ground crew met the 15 passengers in a Walmart parking lot and drove to Fentress Airpark in Caldwell County where they were scheduled to take off.

Six passengers were from the San Antonio area: The Brabsons, the Rowans and Brian and Tressie Neill, of Helotes.

They all had children back at home. The youngest was Paige Brabsons baby girl, Marylee, who was nearing her first birthday. Lorilee Brabson had two children in addition to Paige: a teen-aged daughter, Grace, and an adult son, Andrew.

Sunday Rowan had a 5-year-old son, Jett. Matt Rowan adored his stepson. The balloon ride was a present Sunday had bought her husband to celebrate their new life together.

The Neills had two daughters: Sarah, 16, and Shelby, 20. The couple doted on the girls and enjoyed taking family vacations with them.

Brian Neill wasnt a big risk-taker  he didnt ride motorcycles or speed in traffic. But he worked up the courage to take Tressie on the balloon ride because he knew it would make her happy.

Up early heading out for the anniversary surprise Brian's had planned for months! Tressie Neill wrote on Facebook that morning. I'm super excited!

16 People Killed in July 2016 Balloon Crash Matt and Sunday Rowan of San Antonio Ross and Sandra Chalk of Wimberly Lorilee and Paige Brabson of San Antonio Scott and Laura Douglas of Victoria John and Stacee Gore of Mineral Wells Alfred Nichols Tressie and Brian Neill of Helotes Joe and Tresa Owens of Brookshire Holly Huckabee of Houston From top left, Matt and Sunday Rowan of San Antonio, Ross and Sandra Chalk of Wimberly, Lorilee and Paige Brabson of San Antonio, Scott and Laura Douglas of Victoria, John and Stacee Gore of Mineral Wells, Alfred Nichols, Tressie and Brian Neill of Helotes, Joe and Tresa Owens of Brookshire and Holly Huckabee of Katy. All died in a July 30, 2016 hot-air balloon crash. Nichols, the pilot, was on a "witches' brew" of prescription medications, investigators found.

That morning, Nichols had called Lockheed Martin Flight Service for the weather forecast, which called for low-level clouds and the possibility of fog.

Those clouds may be a problem for you, the weather briefer said. I dont know how low you want to stay but 

Well, we just fly in between them, Nichols replied. We find a hole and we go.

Not one balloon expert who testified at the Dec. 9 safety hearing held by the NTSB said they would fly under such conditions.

Other local balloon companies opted to stay put that day. But Nichols took off with the 15 passengers at 6:59 a.m.

As predicted, fog started to roll in. One member of the ground crew later told NTSB investigators that he could see the gondola hanging under the low clouds  but couldnt see the balloon itself.

The ground crew lost sight of the balloon and started panicking. They tried calling Nichols and other passengers.

No one answered.

Faulty data

The balloon traveled eight miles, drifting north with the wind. Passengers took photos of the stunning view.

You see our shadow, one of them wrote in a text message with a photo of the balloons shadow falling on a cloud.

Through a hole in the clouds, a tall, metal tower with power lines could be seen on the ground.

At 7:42 a.m., for reasons that still arent clear, the balloon struck the power lines. Based on global positioning system data obtained from Nichols iPad, the balloon had been descending at 7:41 a.m., then began to climb just before impacting the power lines.

A March 7 NTSB report about the balloons flight path noted there were inaccuracies in the GPS data  some altitude readings on the balloons journey showed it was traveling below ground level.

A conclusion cannot be made as to whether the balloon was in a climb or decent trend just prior to the accident, the report notes.

But the Balloon Federation of America, the leading trade group for balloon pilots that opposes stricter federal regulations, used the flight data to conclude that Nichols was trying to climb over the power lines  a dangerous maneuver.

What Nichols should have done was follow the industry-standard practice of ripping out, or opening the deflation system to come to a hard landing and avoid the power lines at all costs, the federations president, Dean Carlton, wrote in a letter to the NTSB.

This pilot was a free spirit who shunned advice and offers of support, Carlton told the NTSB. There is no record of him participating in safety seminars, joining industry organizations, or otherwise seeking additional knowledge, training, mentoring, or consultation with peers.

The balloon had three propane burners, all of which were operable after the crash when NTSB investigators tested them.

NTSB officials havent offered a definitive explanation as to why the crash happened. But the boards acting chairman, Robert Sumwalt, has repeatedly said its clear Nichols shouldnt have been allowed to fly.

It really is alarming that this pilot was able to hang out a shingle and fly people for hire, Sumwalt told Senator Cruz at a senate hearing in June.

On the morning of the crash, Margaret Wylie, who lives about a quarter mile way from the power lines, said she heard loud popping sounds and went outside to see why her dog was barking. She saw a column of flames in a nearby field and called 911. The Maxwell Volunteer Fire Department and Caldwell County sheriffs deputies were dispatched to what they thought was a vehicle on fire.

It was a horrific scene, said Martin Ritchey, chief emergency management coordinator for Caldwell County. Once firefighters extinguished the flames, they initially counted 14 bodies but couldnt make sense of what happened  the debris was unrecognizable at first. They finally realized it was an aviation crash when a sheriffs deputy spotted the remaining section of the balloon in another field.

This was the single largest loss of life in Caldwell Countys history, Ritchey said.

A nightmare

That morning, Morgan was in Colorado, enjoying life as a retiree with her husband. She had seen the texts from her daughter and granddaughter that morning showing the giant balloon decorated with a smiley face with sunglasses. She wished she could have been there.

But hours later, Morgan received a troubling phone call from Lorilees daughter, Grace. She was worried. No one had heard from Paige or Lorilee, and Paige was scheduled to work that day.

They tried texting. They tried calling. No response.

Then Grace called again, upset. There had been a balloon crash in Texas. But no one could tell them who was on board. There was no information  just a growing sense of panic.

Im really afraid, please dont hang up, Grace told her grandmother. I think its them.

Morgan never got a knock on the door with official word that her loved ones had died. She finally pieced it together when she saw a CNN story with images of the downed balloon  and the smiley face symbol with shades.

Morgan checked her text messages to make sure. She saw the smiley face in the pictures Paige and Lorilee Brabson had texted her hours earlier.

It was the same balloon.

Over the past year, Morgan has mourned the loss of her daughter and granddaughter and worried about the children they left behind. And shes worried about the possibility of other balloon pilots like Nichols who might be flying passengers with little scrutiny from the FAA.

He did everything that he shouldnt have been doing because he wasnt being monitored, Morgan said. How many pilots are out there like that?

jtedesco@express-news.net
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Under a pavilion outside the Good Samaritan Center of San Antonio, several teens greeted youngsters seeking back-to-school supplies Thursday.

Bianca Perez-Hernandez, 17, knelt to talk to the little ones on their level at the West Side center at 1600 Saltillo St., where graffiti coated a nearby wall, except for a painting of Jesus with outstretched arms, beckoning to passers-by.

The kids beamed as Perez-Hernandez and other teens brought them paper bags stuffed with school supplies for the school year that begins in August. The teens had spent Wednesday filling up 300 bags with rulers, folders, crayons, glue and more in an assembly line that staff called poetry in motion.

The free school supplies drive is one of several initiatives that Perez-Hernandez and more than 90 other teen volunteers conduct as members of the centers Youth Advisory Committee, which helps develop young leaders and encourages them to give back to the community. The members, ages 13 to 17, are registered for the centers after-school program and live within the 78207 ZIP code.

Perez-Hernandez credited the program, now in its 13th year, for building her self-esteem and caring for others, like the kids who visited the center with their parents Thursday. As a youth adviser, she helps those youngsters see possibilities for their future that they might not even have thought about. Its the same message she heard from two center staff members; a message that resonated with her during a time when she was bullied and times were rough at home.

They told me I had a future, said Perez-Hernandez, a senior at Lanier High School. A lot of kids in my community didnt have the opportunity that I have.

The committee is carrying on the centers 65-year tradition of reaching out to help future generations. Nicknamed Good Sam, the nonprofit center was founded by the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas.

For the past several years, the Ghost Town Survivors, former gang members and military veterans who grew up in the area in the 1960s, have furthered the thread of caring with scholarship drives and Christmas gifts for children.

Good Samaritan CEO Simon Salas grew up on El Paso Street, several blocks from the center he also attended. As a teen, he sold fruit door to door with his uncle in the same neighborhood that the children at his center call home.

Being here was part of everyday life, he said. It was a safe place to be.

Anna Sanchez, director of advancement, also grew up near the center, which she visited when she was a child and performed Folklorico dance performances with the Girl Scouts.

They are surrounded by a culture of giving back, Sanchez said. Theyre super-passionate about changing their community and being part of the conversation.

For many of the teens, YAC coordinator Marcus Jordan is a father figure. Perez-Hernandez said Jordan sponsored her sweet 16 party and has motivated her to stay focused on her goals. He said the teens are like family, bonding over trouble they see in their neighborhood, including drug use, gang violence and shootings.

These kids deal with this every day and they still rise and want to be better and become leaders, Jordan, 33, said. This is their time to use their voice to say what they want to do and how they want to give back to the community.

The teens vote for candidates to fulfill leadership roles, serving four-year terms as president, vice president, treasurer and secretary. Advisers have also volunteered to clean up beaches and help at pet shelters, said YAC President Albert Perez, 16, who won an outstanding youth award last year. Perez, a junior at Travis Early College High School, said the work around the center has helped him and his family.

School supply drives are great, he said. Its pretty beneficial, you get that great feeling that youre making a change, not only in your life, but other peoples lives.

This summer, Perez-Hernandez, a five-year member, worked with girls in second and third grade. She told them about the college essays, a summer trip to Colorado and reading clubs that the center made possible for her and one day, possibly for them.

The girls have loving hearts, she said. I tell them, You got it, girl, I believe in you.

vtdavis@express-news.net
Now Playing: Mayor Ron Nirenberg took the stage at UTSA's downtown campus Thursday evening to discuss his upcoming plans for San Antonio. Video: JW Player

Mayor Ron Nirenberg took to the stage at UTSA's downtown campus Thursday evening to talk about the recent city elections, his new office and upcoming plans for the city.

Nirenberg touched on several hot topics including San Antonio's growing transportation needs, the Vista Ridge Pipeline and the contentious election battle with former Mayor Ivy Taylor.
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In the nearly 400 years that it took for Texas to take its current shape, the space changed from an extensive, unexplored and sparsely settled frontier under the Spanish Crown to its iconic and easily recognizable outline.

Mapping Texas: From Frontier to the Lone Star State traces the cartographic history of Texas from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Over 50 rare maps from the collections of the Texas General Land Office and the personal collection of Frank and Carol Holcomb, of Houston, are on display. Additional maps are on loan from The Bryan Museum in Galveston and the Witte Museum in San Antonio.

This exhibit runs at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through Oct. 8. (The exhibit first opened at the Witte, running from April 29 through Sept. 5, 2015.)

This large, colorful map of Texas appeared in Richard Hunt and Jesse Randels essential Guide to the Republic of Texas. Remarks from Hunt and Randels Guide say the map is necessarily imperfect in some details, but is remarkably accurate as it is based from the coast to the San Antonio Road on existing surveys and accurately follows the principal rivers for more than 100 miles above the road. Early claims said this map is the only one which makes any pretentions to being based on accurate surveys.

The map essentially utilizes the same view as the 1829 Stephen F. Austin Mapa Original de Texas  showing only the eastern two-thirds of the republic. The counties of the republic are laid out in contrasting colors for easy identification, with many of the early empresario colonies subtly labeled in lighter text. A network of roads spans Southeast Texas, with many coming together in places like San Antonio, San Felipe, Houston and Nacogdoches. The recently established city of Austin, then in Bastrop County, is relatively isolated on the Colorado River.

Additional details are noted on the map. In Robertson County, Caddo villages burned by Gen. Rusk in Jany, 1839, are referenced, as well as a Great body of excellent land. In the northwest portion of the map, Herds of Buffaloes roam over Level Prairies. In San Patricio County, there is a note that Of this section of country very little is known. It is inferred that it is mostly a dry elevated prairie.

An inset on the lower-right portion of the sheet details the vast amount of Mexican territory from the Rio Grande and the Country west to the Pacific, including Upper California, Lower California, Sonora and Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Santa Fe, Coahuila and Tamaulipas. Numerous towns, forts and rivers are identified. A route stretches northwest from San Antonio into the Rocky Mountains, then breaks eastward with the designation Traders route to St. Louis.

The map was signed by James Webb, secretary of state; John Woodward, consul general of Texas; Francis Moore Jr., editor of the Telegraph Newspaper from Houston; and John P. Borden, the first commissioner of the General Land Office. All the signatories testified that this map was made from the best and most recent sources and compiled from the records of the General Land Office, the seal of which was affixed near the signatures. This map replaced Austins as being the most accurate of the republic.

You can view the majority of the maps in this exhibit in high definition on the GLOs website, where you can also purchase reproductions and support the Save Texas History program. Go to the GLO Archive Map Store.

James Harkins is the director of public services for archives and records at the Texas General Land Office, and Patrick Walsh is a researcher at the GLO.

COMING SUNDAY: Friedrich still cooling San Antonio and beyond.
Canada and the United States (U.S.) benefit from a long-standing history of bilateral cooperation, especially in agricultural trade. The Government of Canada is working closely with the U.S. Administration, as well as state and local officials, to strengthen the robust Canada-U.S. partnership and to ensure continued support for millions of trade-dependent middle-class jobs on both sides of the border.

As part of these efforts, Minister MacAulay travelled this week to Oregon and Idaho to promote the benefits of agricultural trade. The Minister's first stop was in Portland, where he took part in the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) Summit, an annual event that brings together state and provincial representatives, as well as industry stakeholders, to discuss opportunities for growth and cooperation within the region. At PNWER, Minister MacAulay delivered a keynote address where he highlighted the almost $12 billion in Canada-U.S. agriculture and agri-food trade generated by PNWER member states and provinces in 2016.

The Minister also participated in the summit's feature agricultural session, where he emphasized that nearly nine million U.S. jobs depend on trade and investment with Canada. While in Portland, the Minister also got a first-hand look at the value of the Canada-U.S. integrated supply chain, touring the Canpotex facility at the Port of Portland, and visiting a local brewery that uses Canadian ingredients in several of its beers.

Minister MacAulay's next stop was Sun Valley, Idaho, where he gave a keynote address and met with state officials and industry representatives at the annual meeting for the Western Association of State Departments of Agriculture (WASDA). His final stop was in Boise, where he discussed bilateral agricultural trade opportunities with key members of the Idaho business and agriculture community.

Source: CISION
(Xinhua) 09:57, July 29, 2017

WASHINGTON, July 28 -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday that the China's Renminbi exchange rate is broadly consistent with fundamentals and desirable policies.

"The renminbi, despite moving closer to the level consistent with overall assessment, remained broadly in line with fundamentals and desirable policies," said the IMF in its latest External Sector Report released on Friday.

According to the report, in 2016, the average real effective exchange rate (REER) depreciated by about 5.1 percent compared to 2015, reflecting in part the strengthening of the U.S. dollar.

China's policies that was put in place to stabilize the growth has led to recent appreciation of the RMB, and helped to ease capital outflows and foreign exchange reserve loss, Luis Cabeddu, IMF research department's division chief said at a press briefing on Friday.

In regard to China's external sector, the IMF said that China' s external imbalances have declined considerably since the global financial crisis.

China's current account surplus declined to 1.7 percent of GDPin 2016, falling substantially from its peak of about 10 percent of GDP in 2007, according to the IMF.

The IMF expected that China's current account surplus will continue to be narrowed if the country continues to implement reforms.

Despite the declines in foreign exchange reserves in 2015 and 2016, the IMF estimated that China's current level of forex reserves to be adequate.

The IMF warned that China may face potential risks of protectionist policies by its key trading partners in the future.

In order to further reduce imbalances, the Washington-based institution suggested China to improve the social safety net, create a more market-based and robust financial system, and take measures to attract more foreign direct investment.
See the award-winning, internationally touring band, Charles McPherson Quintet and KGB Trio.

Charles McPherson was born in Joplin, Missouri and moved to New York in 1959, performing with Charles Mingus from 1960 to 1972. While performing with Mingus, he collaborated frequently with Harris, Lonnie Hillyer, and George Coleman. Mr. McPherson has performed at concerts and festivals with his own groups and was recently featured at Lincoln Center showcasing his original compositions and arrangements with a seven-piece ensemble. He has toured internationally and recorded with his own group as well as with jazz greats such as Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, Nat Adderly, Jay McShann, Phil Woods, Wynton Marsalis, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Art Farmer, and many others. McPherson remains a strong, viable force on the jazz scene today. Throughout his five decades of being an integral performer of the music, Charles has not merely remained true to his Be Bop origins, but has expanded on them. Stanley Crouch says in his New York Times article on Charles, He is a singular voice who has never sacrificed the fluidity of his melody making and is held in high esteem by musicians both long seasoned and young. Joining McPherson for his show Under the Stars are Trumpeter and Grammy award winner Brian Lynch, two-time Grammy award-winning bassist Todd Coolman, pianist Randy Porter, and drummer Chuck McPherson.

Kadish, Gagan, & Bartlit was officially formed in January 2016 and immediately began work on their debut album, Still Here, which has been nominated for three different categories at this year's New Mexico Music Awards: Best Jazz Song, Best Jazz CD, and Best Instrumental Performance. The three friends have known each other and worked together in various musical combinations going all the way back to 1980. Their individual careers have led them all on globe-trotting lives filled with wondrous musical experiences which they are now delighted to combine into the dynamic, irrepressible, and fun-loving trio affectionately known to some simply as KGB. They have been performing regularly in Santa Fe and Albuquerque and are very excited to be a part of this year's Jazz Under The Stars series!
By QI XIN (China Daily) 10:05, July 29, 2017

A kung fu practitioner smashes bricks using one hand in Luoyang, Henan province, early this Month. XU JUNWEN/CHINA DAILY

The first "Great Meeting Open to All" will be held at the Shaolin Temple from July 29 to Aug 4 in Dengfeng, Henan province.

The 1,500-year-old temple will welcome kung fu masters and enthusiasts from home and abroad to share their skills and views on kung fu.

Shi Yongxin, the abbot of Shaolin Temple, came up with the idea of holding the "Great Meeting Open to All" in August 2016, said Zou Xiang, website manager for Shaolin Temple.

The meeting welcomes people of any social status and identity who will be treated equally through diverse forms of cultural exchanges, including Chan (Zen Buddhism), martial arts and medicine, Zou said.

The events date back to the late 4th century, according to historical records.

"Besides the martial arts, Chan and medicinal culture are regarded as the essence of Shaolin culture, and the contests involving the traditional 72 Shaolin kung fu arts can also be seen during the seven-day event," Zou said.

In addition, many foreign disciples are welcome to join in events such as the lamp transmission ceremony, and take part in the "Shaolin Temple and the Northern Buddhist" academic seminar.
The people's militia marches in 1940. [Photo by Sha Fei/For China Daily]

A photo exhibition will be held at the China Millennium Monument in Beijing on July 30, showcasing scenes of Chinese armed forces during wartime and peacetime. The exhibition will be sponsored by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, along with the China Photographers Association, and hosted by Chinese Photography magazine.
A Chinese man who was listed as China's most-wanted overseas fugitive returned to Beijing early Saturday morning, over three years ago he fled to a Caribbean island country.

44-year-old Ren Biao, a former manager of an energy resourcing company returns to Beijing on July 29,2017. [Photo: CGTN]

Ren Biao, a former manager of an energy resourcing company in the eastern province of Jiangsu who fled China in January 2014, turned himself in and was immediately arrested by police at the airport.

Police said 44-year-old Ren is suspected of "huge amount" of loan fraud. But the number of money has yet to be disclosed.

Ren's destination was the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, also known as the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, a two-island country in the Caribbean Sean, which does not have formal diplomatic ties with China.

Ren is the 42th fugitive among the 100 most-wanted overseas fugitives who has returned to China. The country has stepped up anti-graft campaign ahead of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC (CCDI) said Ren's case shows the determination of President Xi Jinping in eliminating corruption in the country.

There is no overseas "heaven" to avoid criminal charges, and all fugitives should turn themselves in as soon as possible, the CCDI said in a statement on its website on Saturday.

On Friday, a former Chinese official topped the list went on a trial in Hangzhou, eastern China's Zhejiang Province eight months after she turned herself in.

Yang Xiuzhu, former deputy mayor of Wenzhou, who was on the run for 13 years, confessed in court to corruption and bribery charges.

Prosecutors told the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court that Yang abused her position to embezzle public funds and receive bribes totaling 26.4 million yuan (3.92 million US dollars). She fled China in 2003.

Yang admitted her guilt and expressed remorse, the report said. Her sentence would be handed down at an unspecified later date, the news agency said.
(Xinhua) 10:37, July 29, 2017

SEOUL, July 29 -- South Koreaand the United Statesconducted joint ballistic missile drills in response to the latest missile launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), South Korea's military said early Saturday.

The live-fire exercise was held along the east coast, mobilizing the South Korean military's Hyunmoo-II ballistic missiles and the eighth U.S. Army's ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles, local media quoted the Joint Chiefs of Staff as saying.

South Korea and the United States claimed that the DPRK launched an intercontinental ballistic missile Friday, which flew some 1000 kilometers before splashing down into the sea.

The South Korean government condemned DPRK's missile launch in a statement, warning that Pyongyang will only face deepening diplomatic isolation and economic pressure if it continues provocations, local media reported.
Court says confession, remorse not enough for lenient sentence

A man who killed 19 people, including his parents and a 3-year-old, was sentenced to death on Friday, according to a local court in Yunnan province.

The Qujing Intermediate People's Court found Yang Qingpei guilty of murdering his parents at home in Yema village on Sept 28 after they refused his request for money to pay back his debt and blamed him for his situation.

The 28-year-old then killed 17 of his neighbors from six families, including three children, with a pickax fearing they would discover his crime, according to the court.

Ages of the victims range from 3 to 72. Eight of them were female.

The man fled to Yunnan's provincial capital Kunming and was arrested by local police the following day.

The Ministry of Public Security sent a team led by a senior officer to guide the investigation into the case.

Yang confessed and showed repentance, but that wasn't enough for the court to hand down a lenient sentence considering the severe consequences of his brutal crime, the court said.

According to media reports, Yang, who was married, worked in Kunming for years and fell into debt as a result of gambling.

Two seniors were found dead first, and local police were investigating the case when they found the bodies of the other 17, China News Service reported.

Yang accepted the sentence and said he will not appeal.

He pleaded guilty to all charges, expressed remorse and apologized to the relatives of the deceased when he stood trial on July 19, which was witnessed by 200 spectators including relatives, lawmakers, media and members of the public.

Relatives of the victims have withdrawn their appeals for civil compensation as the local government has "properly" dealt with the aftermath of the incident, China Central Television reported on Friday.
(Xinhua) 12:49, July 29, 2017

BUENOS AIRES, July 28 -- China's embassy in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires Friday marked the 90th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), underscoring the country's peaceful development.

"In the 90 years since the founding of our armed forces, and under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, they have achieved a series of successes," China's military attache Liu Chang said.

Among the contributions Liu listed "national independence, the liberation of the people, safeguarding the country's sovereignty and security, and promoting world peace and development."

"Starting in 2015, China's Armed Forces have undergone the most extensive reforms in their history, including the creation of the Command of the Ground Force, the Rocket Force and Strategic Support Force," said Liu.

"They completed the readjustment of each force's general headquarters and created two command levels, as well as the Central Military Commission and the military theater zones," Liu added.

"China's development is a peaceful development. China's Armed Forces form an important part of the world's peacekeeping forces. Whatever our level of development today or in the future, the defensive nature of China's national defense policy will always remain the same," said Liu.

China "supports and actively takes part in United Nations peacekeeping missions. Until now, China has dispatched more than 31,000 soldiers to 24 peacekeeping missions and trained more than 700 foreign military troops for the same purpose," Liu said.

Regarding ties between Buenos Aires and Beijing, Liu said "the relationship in the area of defense is an important part of the bilateral ties," and involves "reciprocal visits, exchanges of professional delegations, and military courses and seminars."

"I firmly believe that thanks to the collaboration of my Argentine colleagues, cooperation and exchange between Argentina and China in the field of defense will bear more fruit," said Liu.

China's ambassador to Argentina Yang Wanming, officials and representatives of Argentina's Armed Forces and security agencies, and military attaches from other embassies attended the ceremony.
Sara Schaefers stand up show Little White Box will be at the Pleasance Courtyard  That for the month of August so we caught up with her to talk more about her debut.

Sara Schaefer

Please tell us about your brand of comedy.

My comedy has evolved over the years, but right now Im very interested in challenging myself to connect my personal stories to the bigger picture of whats happening in our world. My first album Chrysalis, was a collage of personal stories, with some cultural observations mixed in. With my new show at the Fest, Im tackling some larger themes like the current state of American politics and religion, but coming from a personal place. Im comfortable with awkward silence and tension, and I enjoy turning dark moments into silliness.

What can audiences expect from your new show?

Little White Box will be a mixture of personal stories from my life and commentary on what its like to be living in Trumps America as a former devout Christian. Im absolutely fascinated (and disturbed) by the current breakdown in public discourse, the wild media cycle, the death of truth, and the struggle to remain ideologically pure in an increasingly, impossibly complex world. This all sounds quite serious, but the show goes in directions you wont expect. Theres a lot of silliness and one poop joke.

Which comedians have been your biggest influence since you decided this was your path?

I would say my real influences are personal friends and co-workers of mine that Ive spent hours talking to about life and comedy. People like Adira Amram, Erik Marcisak, Jon Friedman, Michelle Collins, Nikki Glaser, Emmy Blotnick, Scott Moran, Rory Scovel, Moshe Kasher (there are too many to list, I hate these types of questions because you always have to leave people out).

But in terms of the masters who have inspired me and shown me what is possible: Tig Notaro, Louis CK, Dave Chapelle, Wendy Liebman, Laurie Kilmartin, Rosie ODonnell, Ellen Degeneres, Monty Python, Saturday Night Live, The State, Conan OBrien, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock - all huge influences on me.

What random things make you laugh in everyday life?

I usually love whatever meme or viral video is making the rounds, especially ones involving animals. Sly duck was a recent funny one. Also one that really gets me time and time again is this thing: comedian Nate Fernald made two entire albums mashing up popular songs with Barenaked Ladies One Week, and its hard to describe how funny it is. http://natefernald.tumblr.com/tagged/weekmusic/

Please tell us about your best and worst moment on stage so far.

I dont have a definitive best or worst moment. More like a collection of great and terrible moments. One great moment was a show I did a couple years ago at Largo, Tig & Friends. Tig Notaro invited me to do it after seeing me perform at a festival. I really admire her, and Largo is on the bigger side of stages in Los Angeles. On top of that, an important Hollywood person was hanging around backstage. So I was super nervous. I went out there, and of course that audience was already naturally going to be good, but Ill just say it: I killed. And I could hear Tig laughing, hard, from the sidelines. When I got off stage, I realized the big Hollywood type didnt even watch me perform, but I didnt care. Tig laughing was way more significant to me and I still think about that show regularly.

An example of a terrible moment happened when I performed at a club that is inside the biggest shopping mall in America, on Halloween weekend. I think that ones self-explanatory.

Do you still get nervous when you do a gig?

I still get nervous before most gigs, but it really varies in terms of the duration of my nervousness. For instance, before a big, important show, Ill be nervous the entire day, if not week leading up to it. But before a small, low-stakes show, it wont hit until Im literally walking up to the stage.

Why is Edinburgh Fringe Festival such a great platform for comedians?

Ive never been to the festival before, but everything Ive ever heard about it excites me greatly. Just the idea that so many different performers come together from around the world in one city is incredible. I cant wait to see it with my own eyes.

Who are you looking forward to seeing at the Fringe?

Im excited to see Desiree Burch and Mindy Raf, both of whom I know from coming up together in New York City. And definitely Sara Pascoe and Mae Martin. I got to see and hang with them at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2016.

What is your advice to aspiring comedians?

Perform as much as you can, wherever you can and do everything you possibly can to cultivate patience. Oh, and treasure failure.

What is the oddest heckle you've ever received?

The oddest heckle - which turned out not to be a heckle at all - was when an audience member kept meowing like a cat. It turned out the young woman had Tourrettes Syndrome, and was very sweet, but it was VERY awkward at first, when I demanded to know why someone was meowing at me, and then she told me...in front of the entire audience. I felt so bad. Thankfully she was gracious and I was able to get the show back on track.

What is next for you?

Im hoping to shoot an hour special later this year and have some other projects in development that hopefully youll hear about soon!

Sara Schaefers debut stand up show Little White Box will be at the Pleasance Courtyard  That for the month of August for tickets go to www.edfringe.com
The Narendra Modi government's failure, to adequately assess state-run banks' bad loan problem and act early to avert a crisis situation, mirrors in the Comptroller and auditor general (CAG) report that was made public on Friday (read an Indian Express report here).

The government auditor has expressed doubts on the ability of Indias 21 public-sector banks to raise sufficient amount of money from the markets. These banks have managed to raise just about Rs 7,726 crore from the market after the government asked them to fend for themselves. This signals a big problem since these lenders need to mop up at least Rs 1.8 lakh crore by 2019 to meet Basel III norms.

Of this, Rs 70,000 crore includes government infusion, while the remaining Rs 1.1 lakh crore needs to be raised from the market. That, these banks can do so, was a dangerous assumption by the Modi government in its first full budget since from the very beginning it was clear that except the big ones, bad loan-ridden, poorly managed public sector banks wouldn't be in a position to attract investors.

This is what the CAG report too indicates. It strengthens the view that the Basel-III deadline of Indian state-run banks could be missed. Possibly, the government will put pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to extend the deadline to meet Basel III capital requirements for state-run banks'. But, even if the RBI agrees to any such demand, that will be only a short-term solution. Even with the new bankruptcy code and governments emphasis on faster bad loan recovery, it is only a wishful thinking that bad loan-related problems of state-run banks will vanish by 2019.

The reason is simple. Much of the recovery process depends on economic recovery and multiple sector-specific factors. Also, the clean-up process wont be over unless government infuses enough capital to fill the holes in the balance sheets of these banks. What the government has been infusing in these banks is too little considering the depth of the problems they are in. It will take many more years for the clean-up process to get over. Consider this recent estimate by India Ratings and Research which says Indian banks will need to provide a bare minimum of Rs 18,000 crore additionally towards the 12 accounts identified by the RBI for reference to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

The additional provisioning, the agency estimates, will eat into banks profits by around 25 percent in FY18. Out of the total Rs 18,000 crore required for provisioning, the iron and steel sector contributes around Rs 10,500 crore and the infrastructure sector Rs 4,100 crore, the agency said. In a banking system dominated by state-run banks (70 percent by assets), what this means is that the Narendra Modi government will have to face a substantial capital burden.

It is no rocket science to understand that sooner or later the government will have to privatise these banks. It doesnt make any sense for a government to directly control 70 percent of the banking system (by assets) of a country. At least a dozen banks are there where the government owns more than 70 percent. The Modi-government has shown some promise by kicking off the privatisation process in a slew of ailing PSUs but so far doesnt have a strong roadmap for the banking sector. The CAG report should act as an eye-opener for the government.

The government cannot indefinitely make a clutch of zombie banks queue up before it with a begging bowl for capital every year. Let private money and professionalism come in. The government, as Prime Minister Modi once said, has no business to be in business.
First They Killed My Father is reportedly Angelina Jolie's most personal film till date. Donning the director's hat for this movie, First They Killed My Father is based on the 2000 memoir by Loung Ung of the Khmer Rouge genocide that rocked Cambodia, killing two of Ung's siblings and her parents.

The movie tells the story of what life was like when the Cambodian dictator Pol Pot was in power. Approximately two million Cambodians apart from Ung's family members also perished in this period which left a dark mark on Cambodian history. Cambodia is a place that has proven to be deeply cathartic for Jolie, as it is where she adopted her first child, son Maddox, and restarted her life.

First They Killed My Father is a Netflix original movie, and is the largest production that Cambodia has seen since it was hit with war, having been shot entirely in the country.

It is reported that a strange method was used during the shooting of this movie, in order to draw the deepest, realest and most raw emotions from the actors of the movie. The technique involved giving money to an impoverished Cambodian child and subsequently taking it away as the child was "overwhelmed with emotion", which is how the girl Srey Moch who was finally selected for the lead role in the movie  was awarded the part, according to an interview Jolie gave to Vanity Fair.

"Srey Moch was the only child that stared at the money for a very, very long time.When she was forced to give it back, she became overwhelmed with emotion. All these different things came flooding back. When she was asked later what the money was for, she said her grandfather had died, and they didnt have enough money for a nice funeral," Jolie further added.

Jolie reportedly looked at children from "orphanages, circuses and slum schools"  and place where the young ones would have "experienced hardship"  to audition for Loung Ung's role, she said in the same Vanity Fair interview.

This particular section of the Vanity Fair interview earned Jolie the criticism of many on Twitter, with users calling the casting technique cruel and comparing it to the Hunger Games.

Angelina Jolie tells @VanityFair how she found her Khmer Rouge film lead by tempting deprived kids with cash and then snatching it away... pic.twitter.com/ufNKS4GOjb  Kay Burley (@KayBurley) July 27, 2017

N this crazy news week u prob missed the f'd up story of how Angelina Jolie played orphan hunger games 2 cast a film https://t.co/4dYOSTY1W6 pic.twitter.com/HFeoA9lU9F  Sam Sanders (@samsanders) July 28, 2017

Why would Angelina Jolie subject impoverished children to this cruel scheme? https://t.co/BTAOugEPST pic.twitter.com/oDmNS07CYC  Yashar Ali (@yashar) July 26, 2017

Angelina Jolie is crazy. What a cruel psychological game to play with impoverished children. pic.twitter.com/iAEUhINBui  Denizcan Targaryen (@MrFilmkritik) July 26, 2017
Los Angeles: Actor George Clooney is planning to sue paparazzi for taking illegal photographs of his newborn twins - Ella and Alexander - during their vacation in Italy.

A French magazine published the images of George and his wife Amal holding their children at their estate in Lake Como, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"The very first pictures of the twins in the arms of their parents. Do not miss all our exclusive photos," the cover of the magazine read.

"Over the last week, photographers from Voici magazine scaled our fence, climbed our tree and illegally took pictures of our infants inside our home. Make no mistake - the photographers, the agency and the magazine will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," George said in a statement. The statement added, "The safety of our children demands it."

In response to George's statement, a representative for the French magazine said, "George and Amal Clooney have been very public personalities for the last few years. Their wedding in Venice, in September 2014, was a very mediatic event; the pictures of them smiling to the public were seen all around the world. The birth of their twins, Ella and Alexander, had also been commented a lot, by themselves and their families."

The representative added, "The images published in Voici this Friday are a response to a public demand. People love George Clooney and have been following his life story for years now. Those pictures do not put in danger Mr Clooney, his wife or their kids."
By Shruti Sunderraman

Of all the things wrong about Madhur Bhandarkars vapid movie Indu Sarkar, two things stand out the most  the unbearably forced writing and the intolerable rigidity of its characters.

We're told there is good and there is bad  the sarkar (government) is bad and those fighting against it are good. It can't be ignored that the Congress government in 1975 did many gruesome things, the best known of which is, 42 years later, the Emergency and Sanjay Gandhis forced mass-sterilisation campaign.

But Indu Sarkars almost definitive portrayal of everyone in the government as evil and the rest of the world as innocuous makes you feel like you are watching a cartoon: Despicable Me: The Emergency Edition. (With apologies to Despicable Me which is rather great at exploring villainy) Political nuances be damned. Acuity in narrative be damned even more. Because, it isn't about getting a nuance right as much as it is about having any nuance at all. (Bhandarkar fails to highlight why Emergency came about or the economic crisis in India during Emergency, thanks to the 1971 war with Pakistan. Everything is equally sketchy. Bhandarkar fleetingly mentions Jayaprakash Narayan with no context whatsoever.)

All this to say that in Indu Sarkar, Bhandarkar relapses in his addiction for black and white characters. Plus a sepia filter.

The protagonist Indu (played by Kirti Kulhari), is a woman who only wants to be an acchi biwi (good wife). Except, the acchi biwi goes on to become an acchi krantikari (good activist) during the Emergency of 1975. Indu fights the Emergency against another Indu  Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (played by Supriya Vinod). While one daughter of the nation is destroying it, another one can redeem it is the central idea. Its good Indu v/s bad Indu. Good Indu empowered, and no cookies for bad Indu.

Good Indu protects children who lost their homes and stands up to her government-employed husband, Naveen Sarkar. Bad Indu is razing down homes and stifling voices. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, makes a short but significant appearance. Even in the limited screen time provided to her, she is forced into the bad-girl stereotype by providing shots of her looking haughty and throwing in a sinister smile. Bhandarkar even tries to portray the 90s TV serial antagonist metaphor of only villainous women wear sunglasses in a scene where Gandhi puts on her sunglasses while driving away to a rally.

I am the flag-bearer of women-centric empowerment, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar has said. But his movies usually focus on one type of woman  the seemingly strong innocent waiting to be misled and led astray. In Indu Sarkar too, his protagonist goes through a struggle of being misled by her husband before she finds her voice.

Bhandarkars female antagonists who actually do have power are also cruel and heartless. Like Kitu Gidwanis character Anisha Roy, who runs a large modelling firm, in his largely successful if much giggled about film Fashion (2008). He failed to highlight any of Roys struggles or achievements, but what he did highlight was her outright selfishness and cruelty. Not that powerful women cant be selfish or cruel. But are they only those? The only trope Bhandarkar uses to present his female antagonists (oh, and theyre almost always female) is evil with a side-dose of eyerolling and manic laughter.

This can be observed in Page 3 (2005) as well. Konkana Sen Sharmas journalist character is the epitome of morality in a dark world, while the women she mingles with at parties are terrible. They walk through the disco-dimmed world of celebrities with shadeless morals (to quote Atul Kulkarni in Page 3) and no colour, but that of well, evil. A la Cruel Intentions but with less sexual frisson.

I really hoped hed abandon this unrealistic masala in his realistic films with Heroine (2012). Just for a change, you know. Just for fashion. Because Heroine did have a protagonist with a little bit grey. Mahi (played by Kareena Kapoor) was headstrong, fierce and above all, ambitious to the point of madness. She would do anything to achieve her dreams and had no damns to give about the damage she caused on the way.

But what does Bhandarkar make her do in the end? Abandon her ambitions. Because even driven, headstrong and ambitious women at the end of the day, are still women  which means they can't be trusted because they'll do anything to win. If a woman seeks power, it comes across as disgusting and contemptuous. It's Hillary Clinton all over again.

Bhandarkar seems to have a formula-generator for most of his films: Put a good-lead-woman and a bad-antagonist-woman, add some misconstrued representation and a sprinkling of chemical sex.

Although hes skipped the misrepresented gay man out of Indu Sarkar (unlike his other movies  the male sex worker in Traffic Signal, the gay fashion designer in Fashion, or Konkona Sen Sharma's friend, a make-up artist, in Page 3), he has plenty of other stereotypes to reinforce in this movie.

Theres the power-hungry government officer, Naveen, who overlooks ethics in pursuit of his dreams, and commits suicide when he realises his folly (perhaps for the first time, Bhandarkar shows that bad, ambitious men give up too). Another staple ingredient of the Bhandarkar stereotype is the constant and unnatural use of the term activist log to describe activists fighting the Emergency. The usage is so forced, it almost incites a collective groan from the audience.

Theres also Farhana, a bitchy political confidante of Chief AKA Sanjay Gandhi, played by Neil Nitin Mukesh. Of course, in the Bhandarkar world, any woman who is a political aspirant has to be portrayed with shades of cruelty? Not that shes spared from some mockery herself. Chief remarks how she knows his governments policies better than a Member of Parliament, in spite of being a woman. Eh?

Indu Sarkar, like many movies in Bhandarkars past, is trying to empower ladies log, using the 'Madhur Bhandarkar Beti Bachao' formula.

Except, only the goody-two-shoes protagonist qualifies for empowerment, the antagonists and secondary characters be damned. If his idea of realistic is restrictive to an inflexible portrayal of womens characters, then he is in need of a reality check.

As Bhandarkar abandons hopes for ladies log (again!) Ive abandoned hope for him. Again.

The Ladies Finger (TLF) is a leading online womens magazine
(Xinhua) 13:48, July 29, 2017

PYONGYANG, July 29 -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Saturday confirmed the successful test-firing of a second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) simulating its maximum range, which it said can cover all the territories of the United States.

"The second test-fire of the ICBM Hwasong-14 was successfully carried out at night of July 28, 2017, under the supervision of (DPRK top leader) Kim Jong Un, who guided the test-fire on the spot," the Korean Central News Agency said in a report.

The report said the test-firing aimed to "finally confirm the overall technological specifications of the weapon system of Hwasong-14 capable of carrying large-sized heavy nuclear warhead, including its maximum range."

"The rocket (missile) that blasted off from the northwestern part of the DPRK reached an altitude of 3,724.9 km and flew 998 km for 47 minutes and 12 seconds before landing in the target waters in the open sea," it said.

The test-firing was carried out at the maximum angle launch system mocking maximum range, and had no adverse effect on the security of the neighboring countries, said the report.

Kim Jong Un congratulated the scientists and technicians in the field of rocket research and said the DPRK will develop "much more the most powerful strategic weapons," according to the report.

"The test-fire confirmed the reliability of ICBM system, demonstrated the capability of making surprise launch of ICBM in any region and place any time, and clearly proved that the whole U.S. mainland is in the firing range of the DPRK missiles," the report quoted Kim Jong Un as saying.

"The maximum range simulation test-fire of ICBM conducted by the DPRK today is meant to send a grave warning to the U.S. making senseless remarks, being lost to reason, that it would not go scot-free if it dares provoke the DPRK," Kim said.

This is the second time for the DPRK to have successfully launched its ICBMs, the first being launched on July 4.

South Korea's military said Saturday that the DPRK has fired a ballistic missile, which was believed to have been an intercontinental ballistic missile.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the unidentified missile was fired at 11:41 p.m. (1441 GMT) Friday from the area in Jagang province, the central northernmost part of the DPRK.

Defense Minister Song Young-moo said in a statement that the ICBM test is a "grave provocation" that jeopardizes the stability of the Korean Peninsula and world peace.

The DPRK missile flew about 1,000 km and was lofted as high as around 3,700 km, according to the JCS. It was estimated to have been an advanced Hwasong-14, which was test-launched by the DPRK on July 4.

The July 4 launch lofted the missile as high as 2,802 km and made it fly 933 km.

The Pentagon said on Friday that an initial assessment showed the missile launched by the DPRK earlier on the day was an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The missile traveled about 1,000 km before splashing down into the sea, said Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis in a statement.

The United States and South Korea have conducted a live-fire exercise after the launch of ICBM by the on Friday, said the U.S. Army.

United NationsSecretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday condemned the DPRK's launch of another "ballistic missile of possible intercontinental range," saying "this is again a manifest violation of Security Council resolutions."

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq urged the DPRK leadership to "comply fully with its international obligations and work together with the international community to resolve the outstanding issues on the Korean Peninsula."

China on Saturday urged the DPRK to abide by UN Security Council resolutions and stop any moves that could escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks in response to reports that the DPRK had fired a second "Hwasong-14" intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday.

"The Chinese side is concerned about the current situation," Geng said, noting that relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council had explicit stipulations on launches conducted by the DPRK using ballistic technology.

He said the Chinese side opposed DPRK launches in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and the will of the international community.

China hopes that relevant parties can act prudently, avoid taking actions that could escalate tensions, and maintain regional peace and stability, Geng said.
What's more fun than passing off stalking celebrities on social media as work?

Very little, right?

And so, we scanned the Instagram and Twitter accounts of celebs from India and abroad, to bring to you weekly updates from the interwebz. Who tweeted to whom? Who reposted last night's party pics? Who went on a rant about what. Whatever it is, don't worry, we've got you covered.

We stalk, you read. Deal?

Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma are off to Dubai

Photo in a photo ... Harry & Sejal off to Dubai !!  #JabHarryMetSejal A post shared by AnushkaSharma1588 (@anushkasharma) on Jul 28, 2017 at 3:56pm PDT

Anushka Sharma shared a picture within a picture as her and her Jab Harry Met Sejal co-star Shah Rukh Khan posed for a selfie from his phone. The two actors are off to Dubai to promote their upcoming movie which is slated for release on 4 August. Both the actors have been heavily invested in the promotional activities of their Imtiaz Ali directed venture.

Varun Dhawan finishes shooting for Judwaa 2

Last sched for #judwaa2. The original was also shot in Mauritius so we just had to make a trip to the island for this one. The film has been shot in multiple locations but this trip was the most special everyone was there at the same time shooting for the last time. It's a wrap for #premmalhotra. A post shared by Varun Dhawan (@varundvn) on Jul 28, 2017 at 10:17am PDT

Varun Dhawan took to Instagram to share a photograph of himself and the cast and crew of his upcoming movie Judwaa 2 which is a sequel to the Salman Khan-Karishma Kapoor starrer Judwaa. Dhawan mentioned how the first Judwaa was also shot in Mauritius and this particular shooting schedule held more value and importance than all the others. Judwaa 2 sees Dhawan in a double role for the first time. It also stars Jacqueline Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu and is directed by David Dhawan.

Akshay Kumar is the proud owner of Bengal Warriors

Proud owner of the @bengal.warriors Wishing these champs a great @prokabaddi season ahead. Opening ceremony today at 7.30pm on #StarSports A post shared by Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) on Jul 28, 2017 at 5:13am PDT

Akshay Kumar shared a picture with the Pro-Kabbadi team Bengal Warriors, of whom he is the proud new owner. Kumar is seen grinning from ear to ear as he poses with the team members. The opening ceremony of the Pro-Kabbadi League will be screened on television today, a fact that Kumar makes known through his photograph's caption.

Sonakshi Sinha jams to 'Uptown Funk'

When your bestie decides to film you while you trippin to your favorite song cruising across #Malibu! (Made for a good video tho) #designateddriver #fordmustang #sonastravels #losangeles #thegoodlife #uptownfunk A post shared by Sonakshi Sinha (@aslisona) on Jul 28, 2017 at 7:49pm PDT

Sonakshi Sinha took to Instagram and shared a fun video of herself as she drives a car while jamming to her favourite song 'Uptown Funk' by Bruno Mars. Sinha shares that she is driving down the streets of Malibu in the video. Sinha has been in the USA to shoot for her upcoming IIFA based movie Crazy Hum and seems to have extended her stay to make the most of her time overseas.

Bipasha Basu's New York Minute

Soho Loving ... #monkeylove #newyorkdiaries A post shared by bipashabasusinghgrover (@bipashabasu) on Jul 28, 2017 at 3:09pm PDT

Bipasha Basu has been enjoying New York and how. Seen with her husband Karan Singh Grover, the actor seems to be having a fun filled vacation with her better half as they take New York city by storm. Basu shared a series of photographs on Instagram, showing her followers the crazy antics that her and Grover have been upto.
New Delhi: Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh Saturday visited Gujarat to take stock of the situation in flood-hit areas and relief work.

He was in the flood-affected areas of Bangaskantha and Patan districts and spoke to district officials, a ministry statement said.

The state government is engaged in round-the-clock rescue and relief operations as 18 districts and 800 villages have been affected by floods and heavy rains, the minister said.

He added that 22 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 11 State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams are involved in relief and rescue operation.

Besides, nine teams of army personnel and 15 air force helicopters are deployed in the state.

Even BSF teams are engaged in the rescue operations. So far, 80,000 people have been rescued from the flood affected areas.

As many as 60,446 people took shelter in 90 relief camps set up by in the state and 15.50 lakh food packages have been distributed in the camps, the statement added.
New Delhi: A special court on Saturday dismissed the bail plea of an alleged middleman who was arrested in the Election Commission bribery case involving AIADMK (Amma) faction leader TTV Dinakaran.

Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry denied bail to Sukesh Chandrashekar, who was arrested on 16 April and charge-sheeted by the Delhi Police on 14 July.

"Bail application dismissed. Detailed order to follow later in the day," the court said.

Chandrashekar had sought bail on the ground that his custody was not required as the investigation regarding him was complete.

The prosecutor had opposed the bail plea saying that the investigation in the case was still going on.

He has been denied bail twice by a sessions court and then by the Delhi High Court.

The court has already fixed August three to consider the issue of taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed in the case.

The Delhi Police crime branch has charge-sheeted Chandrashekar for alleged offences under the IPC including forgery of valuable security, forgery for purpose of cheating, using forged document as genuine, possessing a forged document, intending to use it as a genuine and criminal conspiracy.

He was also charged with the alleged offence of taking gratification by illegal means to influence public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

If convicted, the offences carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The police have alleged in the charge sheet that Dinakaran and Chandrashekar had conspired to bribe Election Commission (EC) officials to get the 'two leaves' symbol for their party.

They have told the court that a supplementary final report would be filed later against accused Dinakaran, his close aide TP Mallikarjuna, suspected hawala operators Nathu Singh and Lalit Kumar, who are out on bail, after completing the probe against them.

The police have claimed that the money allegedly recovered from Chandrashekar was sent by Dinakaran through unaccounted channels with the help of other accused persons.

Chandrashekar was arrested for allegedly taking money from Dinakaran to bribe ECI officials to get the AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol for the Sasikala faction.

According to the police, Rs 1.3 crore in cash was allegedly recovered from him at the time of the raid at a hotel in Chanakyapuri area of south Delhi.

Dinakaran was arrested here on the night of 25 April after four days of questioning for allegedly attempting to bribe ECI officials for the symbol. Mallikarjuna was also arrested the same day.

His faction had hoped to obtain the symbol for the bypoll to the RK Nagar Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu which was later cancelled by the ECI after the alleged irregularities surfaced, according to the police.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa who represented the constituency.

The ECI had frozen the AIADMK's symbol after the two factions of the party one led by Dinakaran's aunt Sasikala and the other by former chief minister O Panneerselvam staked a claim to it.

Mallikarjuna was arrested for allegedly facilitating a Rs 50 crore deal between Dinakaran and Chandrashekar.

Dinakaran has been accused of arranging the money from undisclosed sources and getting it transferred from Chennai to Delhi through illegal channels.
Srinagar: The announcement by Al-Qaeda to make former Hizbul Mujahedeen commander Zakir Musa as head of its cell in Kashmir is seen as a major security challenge, as the global jihadi organisation could pull a number of youths into its ranks. Within three months of breaking away from the Hizbul Mujahedeen, Musa has managed to head a group of at least 12 other militants including former Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Abu Dujana. But given the Islamic appeal Musa has delivered in his earlier videos, security agencies are worried that the outfit could be a formidable challenge and draw more young people towards its ranks.

Since its formation in 1988, Al-Qaeda has never operated in Kashmir before; none of its earlier attempts to garner support in the area worked. In 2014, Al-Qaeda had warned of attacks on the government forces in Kashmir, but the threat had not raised alarm as it did not have any militant operations in Kashmir. A similar warning was also issued earlier in 2000, but that had no impact on the security situation either. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri had warned of operations in Kashmir in 2014, through a video.

Director General of Police SP Vaid said that they are investigating the veracity of the announcement by Al-Qaeda to open a cell in Kashmir, which has been named Ansar Ghazwat-ul- Hind. He said Zakir Musa has at least nine other militants associated with him, adding that they are trying to track him down.

After he broke up from Hizbul Mujahedeen, Musa became the first militant commander in Kashmir to defy his own outfit publicly and be critical against it. But despite his differences, he had invoked an Islamic appeal, which has always remained the founding principle of the militant outfits operating in Kashmir after the 'freedom struggle' started in 1989. A senior security official said that the rallying cry for the militants in Kashmir in early 1990s was that "the Kashmir war is a holy war and they are fighting for martyrdom." He said that the situation changed after the 9/11 attacks in the United States; the militants operating in Kashmir distanced themselves from global jihadi organisations.

Musa, in his last video which was released on 15 May, had reminded the Hurriyat and the other militants of the call for Islam, which had been a rallying cry for drawing youth towards militancy in the state. He said that he was not fighting for nationalism and only for the creation of an Islamic state.

However, the announcement of the opening of Al-Qaeda cells has drawn the severest criticism from both militant outfits and separatists. Hizbul Mujahedeen, LeT and Hurriyat have all stated that Al-Qaeda has no role in Kashmir. The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), comprising of separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, has said the movement in Kashmir has no global agenda. Referring to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, the leadership said that such organisations were "extremely dangerous for the Kashmir movement".

"The struggle in Jammu and Kashmir is purely a local movement. All peace-loving countries in the world are well aware of the disputed nature of Kashmir. We want this issue to be resolved peacefully. Al-Qaeda and Islamic State have carried out the massacre of Muslims on the pretext of jehad and sharia. They never acted against the occupational forces," they said.

Before being announced as the head of Al-Qaeda in Kashmir, Musa had been emulating the global militant outfit to spread his message by releasing videos to connect with people. His praise for Al-Qaeda had come after the six-month-long protests in Kashmir following the killing of former Hizbul Mujahedeen commander Burhan Muzafar Wani, in July 2016. Following the protests, posters of Hizbul Mujahedeen and LeT remained pasted in different areas of south Kashmir through which militants asked the people to observe Islamic laws and to ensure that the strike against Wanis killing was successful. Those posters laid thrust on the Islamic appeal for continuing the unrest and stressed on creation of an Islamic Caliphate.

During the 2016 unrest, defiance and anger had escalated so much among the people, especially the youth, that they had been ensuring a much harder schedule of strikes and didnt allow vehicles to pass on roads even during relaxation of the shutdown that was announced by the Hurriyat Conference. A security official said, "Musa may be hoping to cash in on the growing support among the local people for militancy."

However, the fact that Musa has talked against Pakistan is seen as a "reprieve" by the security agencies in Kashmir. A top police official said that Musa was unlikely to depend on the usual infiltration route for "arms and ammunition", and would depend on training the local youth in the forest ranges in south Kashmir. He said that Musa didnt carry out any militant activity after he broke away from Hizbul Mujahedeen.

A senior police official said that he had been trying to establish his own group during the time, rather than indulge in militant activities. "His strategy could be to draw in more men into militant ranks before launching any attacks," he said. Another official said that "given the support that Musa may raise through his video messages, the death of militants could only trigger a fresh unrest."

"The focus will shift towards the runing of anti-militancy operations and it will make any calls for dialogue less relevant, said a police official. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has already warned that the intervention of China and United States in Kashmir would make things as bad in Kashmir as in Syria and Afghanistan.

State Congress vice-president GN Monga, however, said that the PDP-BJP government was to be held responsible for deterioration in security scenario and the increasing number of youth drawing towards militancy.
The statement from Al-Qaeda naming Zakir Musa, the former militant commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, as the head of its wing in Kashmir has generated mixed reactions within and outside the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Al-Qaeda announcement has divided the militant ranks in the Valley with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba rejecting any role for the international terror organisation in the Valley. Many in the Valley are taken aback, worrying about its impact on the ongoing struggle in Kashmir.

However, there has been no statement from Musa regarding the Al-Qaeda announcement. Musa was earlier accused of threatening to behead Hurriyat leaders in Lal Chowk, the commercial hub of Srinagar. He was expelled by the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen after his threat to the separatists.

Many believe that, India will intensify its policy towards Kashmiris after the Al-Qaeda announcement.

"Musas exit from Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and subsequent developments in the Valleys political scenario have created ambiguity here. Musa is being hailed both as an Indian agent and a true Islamist, but I think the Kashmir issue is now becoming more complex, moving beyond the Hurriyat paradigm," Javid Wani, a political scientist told Firstpost. "I believe, it will be easier for the security agencies to control the situation and suppress the dissent," he added.

Militant groups too are reflecting on the new development, assessing its repercussions on Kashmir's struggle.

Syed Salahuddin, head of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and chairman of the United Jehad Council released a video statement in which he said, "There is no space for any international organisation like Daesh (Islamic State) and Al-Qaeda in the state."

Salahuddin also cautioned the people to remain vigilant. "I appeal (to) the people of my nation, especially the youth that they should remain vigilant of the conspiracies of India and keep their relations intact with (the) organisation fighting against the Indian Army. (They should) not become part of any global agenda," he said.

However, many in the Valley believe that the situation is going to change if Musa, indeed, happens to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

Suhail Bhat, a journalist based in Srinagar told Firstpost, "Over the years Al-Qaeda has changed a lot. Many of its affiliates have detached themselves from the main wing and become completely indigenous like those in Syria and Somalia. Kashmir will be no exception. The newly nominated group is likely to work indigenously. It will increase the popularity of Musa and more youths will likely join his group than the others in the near future, but we are yet to hear anything from Musa."

Al-Qaedas announcement also indicates that after years of talking about the travails of Palestine, Myanmar and Kashmir, it has finally mustered courage to come forward for Kashmirs struggle. But, the separatist leaders in the Valley and militant tanzeems have already denied any involvement of international groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Kashmir.

However, there are others who also disagree on Musa's involvement.

"Musa is the youngest but first militant from Kashmir who has been linked with a global outfit. He has not pledged his support to the Al-Qaeda yet. But if such a thing happens then it will be bad for both Kashmir as well India. It will add to the woes of Kashmiris," Ishaq Beigh from south Kashmir told Firstpost.

While taking about its impact on Kashmir's struggle, Beigh said, "The movement in Kashmir is totally indigenous and no other element can highjack it. Zakirs al-Qaeda link will not harm this movement but external elements will definitely use it to defame Kashmiris."

The Jammu and Kashmir Police, meanwhile, has more questions on this development than any definite inferences.

A senior police officer deployed in South Kashmir while speaking with Firstpost on the condition of anonymity, said, "There are many things to be stressed upon. Firstly, if Al-Qaeda has given the statement about Musas affiliation, why is he silent? Why is he yet to deny or corroborate the statement? There is also the question of Al-Qaedas ideology. Are Kashmiris going away from Kashmiriyat and engaging in this kind of extremist ideology? There is a lot of confusion until Musa responds to the statement."

But the officer emphasised that if the Al-Qaeda gets involved, it will strengthen the hands of the militants.

That assessment differs from the assertion of SP Vaid, Director General, Jammu and Kashmir Police, who said, "Militant is a militant (for police). We will investigate the arrival of the Al-Qaeda in Kashmir.

"This kind of development would definitely lead to confusion as well as ideological clashes," Arshid Ahmad, a researcher told Firstpost. "Externally, it would lead to distortions like linking our struggle with Islamic fundamentalism. It would also cause defection from other sections of the Kashmiri society which have so far supported us, such as the Sikhs," he added.

The reactions from Kashmir are mixed, but what everyone agrees upon is that Al-Qaedas announcement is an interesting development and opens a new chapter in Kashmirs post-1989 armed local insurgency.
Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Assam on 1 August to review the flood situation in the state. The floods in Assam this year have claimed 79 lives so far.

During the visit, the prime minister would discuss all the aspects related to the floods with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and senior officials, an official release said here today.

Matters related to flood management and the damages caused by the floods are also likely to feature in the discussions.

The Centre has announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each under the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured in the floods.

A seven-member inter-ministerial central team was on a four-day visit to Assam from 25 July to carry out an on-the-spot assessment of the damages caused by the floods and would soon submit its report with recommendations to the Centre for early release of funds.

Meanwhile, Assam Governor Banwarilal Purohit has contributed a month's salary to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund for the flood-hit people, said a Raj Bhawan spokesman.

Two waves of floods have affected over 25 lakh people in 29 districts of Assam this year, with the administration setting up 1,098 relief camps and distribution centres.

Though the current wave of floods has receded, six districts are still reeling under floods and over 2,000 people have taken shelter in the relief camps.
Lucknow: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, who arrived in Lucknow on Saturday on a three-day visit, is expected to tackle several issues dogging the party in the state, including reports of growing disenchantment among party workers with the Yogi Adityanath government.

Soon after his arrival at the Chowdhary Charan Singh International Airport where he was received by Chief Minister Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and many other ministers. Shah was mobbed by party workers, garlanded and showered with rose petals.

Shah is to meet office bearers of various frontal organisations, ministers and other leaders at the 18 meetings he is scheduled to preside over. He will also interact with the functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh (RSS).

BJP sources say there has been growing disenchantment within the party workers about the state government. Accusations that the bureaucrats were riding roughshod over party workers was also worrying the central leadership.

Reports of growing tension between Deputy Chief Minister Maurya, also the state BJP chief, and Chief Minister Adityanath is also likely to come up. Shah is likely to counsel them on the issue that threatens to wreck the huge mandate the party won in the 2017 state Assembly elections.

Shah is accompanied by BJP national vice-president and in-charge of the state, Om Prakash Mathur, and national General Secretary Arun Singh. Shah is also to meet office bearers of the Kashi, Gorakhpur, Avadh and Kanpur regions amid reports that the organization is feeling "let down" by the state government.

BJP MPs had met Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and voiced their disenchantment with the state government last week in New Delhi.

"Shah's fire-fighting skills are to be put to use in the balance of power between the organization and the government in UP, which is very crucial for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," a party leader told IANS.

Coincidentally, three senior legislators of the Samajwadi Party quit the party on Saturday, spurring rumours that they are likely to join the BJP.

The BJP president is also likely to deliberate on the vacancies that would arise after resignations of Adityanath as Gorakhpur MP and Keshav Prasad Maurya as Phoolpur MP and their subsequent election to either House of the state Assembly before 19 September.
Jammu: Expressing shock and surprise over its ally and Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's flag remarks, the BJP on Saturday asserted that Article 35A of the Constitution which grants special status to the state is "not a sacred cow that cannot be touched".

The state unit of the BJP said that while the party stands by the agenda of alliance with the PDP and won't seek alteration of existing constitutional position, "it is equally true that Article 35A has done more harm to the state than any other provision of law."

The biggest challenge before the state is to save the Sufi ethos of Kashmir's culture which is facing an assault from separatism and Islamic fundamentalism in the Valley, it said.

The party said all efforts of the state government and the Kashmiri people should be towards the protection of these human values and identity, instead of raking issues of Article 35A and Article 370 which have led to inequalities and have retarded the state's growth due to "self-isolation".

"We are greatly shocked and surprised by the statement of Mehbooba that by challenging Article 35A, the nationalist forces in the Valley get weakened and that...India will not get a shoulder to carry its national flag in the state", BJP state spokesperson Virender Gupta told reporters.

"Article 370 was incorporated in Indian Constitution as a temporary provision. It (Article 35A and Article 370) is not a sacred cow that cannot be touched," he said.

Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said at a function in New Delhi "Who is doing it? Why are they doing it? (challenging the Article 35A). Let me tell you that my party and other parties who carry the national flag there (in Jammu and Kashmir) despite all risks...I have no doubt in saying that there will be no one to hold it (national flag) (if it is tinkered)."

Referring to militancy and fundamentalism, the BJP on Saturday said "these challenges are extremely great than what these leaders, in particular, the separatists, perceive, i.e. the removal of Article 35 or Article 370", Gupta said.

Sunil Sethi, chief spokesperson of state BJP, said the CM's remarks on Article 35A do not depict the true picture and are politically incorrect.

"Article 35A has in fact led to disparity and inequalities in the state," Sethi said.

It has created a situation where there is no gender parity for female state subjects and their children, he claimed.

"Though the party stands by the agenda of alliance and won't seek alteration of existing Constitutional position it is equally true that Article 35A has done more harm to the state than any other provision of law," he said.

He also blamed the provision for slow growth and progress of the state.

"Despite having natural resources, the state is in a financial mess because of self-isolation," Sethi said.

He said that bearing the national flag in the state is an honour for all citizens and the party firmly believes that every person of the state is first an Indian and then a state subject.

"Nationalism of the people of the state can't be understated by linking it with the continuation of Art 35A," he said.

Gupta said terrorists and separatists are causing disturbances in the Valley, at the behest of Pakistan, its spy agency ISI and Islamic State.

"The majority of the population in Jammu and Kashmir is nationalist and committed to upholding the integrity of the country and believes that their interests and aspirations are safe as Indians," Gupta said.

He said that Kashmir is facing a serious danger from the spread of Islamic fundamentalism and referred to the "unimaginable disaster" unleashed by these forces in Syria, Iraq and some of the other countries.
Indore: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh Saturday said Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has betrayed the people of the state by joining hands with the BJP.

Singh also took potshots at Nitish Kumar saying he has not won the "confidence vote" but "betrayal confidence vote" to remain in power.

"This person (Nitish) used to say that Mitti Me Mil Jaunga, par Bajpa se hath nahi milaunga (I will prefer to be reduced to dust, rather than joining hands with BJP)," Rajya Sabha member and Congress general secretary Singh told reporters in Indore.

"Now this man has betrayed the people of Bihar by joining hands with the BJP. But, the people of that state are going to teach a lesson to Nitish," he added. "Nitish hasn't won 'confidence vote' but 'betrayal confidence vote'. The development in Bihar unfolds the true character of BJP," he added.

To a query, Singh said Nitish's alliance with BJP won't hit the opposition unity in the 2019 general elections.

"Democracy and public in the country are mature enough and it is not wise to draw any conclusion about the forthcoming 2019 general elections," he added.

Singh said that the BJP's ideology has sown the seeds of hatred, which is being manifested nowadays in the form of violence in the name of beef. "Never in the past, any Muslim young man in India had joined Al Qaeda. But why now, the youth are joining ISIS ... because after 2014 they are harbouring a thought in their mind that they are not getting justice," the Congress leader said.

He alleged that the root cause behind the acts of terror in Jammu and Kashmir was the uncanny tie up between BJP and PDP. The violence in Jammu and Kashmir has directly impacted the country, he added.
Srinagar: Opposition NC president Farooq Abdullah Saturday criticised chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's pitch for GST exemption to Jammu and Kashmir's handicraft, dry fruits, and tourism industries.

Abdullah said Mehbooba's meeting with Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley was an attempt to hoodwink the Kashmiri people.

"Either Mehbooba Mufti had not even bothered to look at GST Bill before giving it a go-ahead in the state Cabinet or she is clearly trying to befool Kashmiris. Asking for GST exemption now after passing the bill is mere drama," Abdullah, Lok Sabha member from Srinagar constituency, said at a workers' meeting at Ganderbal.

The former chief minister said it was beyond comprehension that a bill just passed by her government needs her to engage in parleys now.

When the whole state particularly the trading fraternity was worried that GST would not augur well with small and medium scale industries in the state, Mufti was the biggest proponent of the law, Abdullah said.

He expressed dismay over what he called a "deaf and blind government" ignorant to the needs and aspirations of the trader community in particular and people in general. "Which chief minister will bat for GST one day and the next day come out and say 'We are at loss because of GST?'" he asked.

He said the conduct of the PDP-BJP alliance has always been incoherent and confusing. "They run around like headless chickens and the state is suffering because of Mehbooba Mufti's inept handling of the CM's office and her Cabinet," he said.

Reiterating his stance on resumption of the dialogue process between India and Pakistan, Abdullah said, until and unless Kashmir issue is resolved, there would be no peace in the state.

"I appeal to both the countries to understand the gravity of the situation and initiate dialogue process immediately. And in that process all the stakeholders in the state must be taken on board," he said. He said the central government must follow the policies of ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was a strong votary of dialogue. "It was he who said that friends can be changed but not your neighbors, in direct reference to Pakistan," Abdullah said.
China will strive to make itself more inviting to foreign direct investment and foreign talent by widening market access and improving the business environment, according to a decision made on Friday at a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.

The negative-list based market access regime for foreign capital, already being tried in the country's 11 free-trade zones, will be rolled out nationwide as soon as possible, and more sectors will be further opened for FDI, the meeting decided. Profits of foreign-invested companies will be guaranteed free flow out of China.

To make China more appealing to foreign talent, the government will put in place an improved work permit system for foreigners working in China. Detailed guidelines for visa application and evaluation benchmarks for widened access to foreign talent will be developed in the second half of the year. Five- to 10-year multiple-entry visas will be issued to qualified expatriates.

"The inflow of foreign capital has been pivotal for China to maintain a relatively quick growth rate," Li said. "Our industries are in general at the lower end of the global value chain. We must send a strong message of welcome to foreign investment."

Inbound FDI fell by 0.1 percent year-on-year to 441.54 billion yuan ($65.5 billion) in the first half of this year, but the number of newly launched foreign enterprises in China was up by 12.3 percent, according to the Ministry of Commerce. In a sign of stabilizing FDI, the inflow rose by 2.3 percent year-on-year in June to 100.45 billion yuan.

Tax deferral will be extended to foreign investors if their local profits are invested in preferential fields. The flow of FDI to the country's western and northeastern regions will receive extra support.

"We must make sure the policies cutting fees and taxes are fully implemented," Li said.

The government will also improve the legal system in relation to foreign investment. Foreign capital will be encouraged in the restructuring of domestic enterprises, and intellectual property rights of foreign enterprises will be better protected.

"Related government departments should develop action plans as soon as possible and put these into action quickly, continuing to take China to new heights of opening-up and investment," Li said.
Kolkata: A fire broke out at the maternity ward of the state-run Calcutta National Medical College & Hospital on Saturday.

Nobody was injured in the fire, a senior officer of the fire department said.

The fire was reported from the fifth floor of the hospital around 12.05 pm, the officer said.

All the patients of the ward were shifted to other parts of the hospital immediately.

Fire fighters doused the fire within 45 minutes, the officer said.

The cause of fire was yet to be ascertained till last reports came in.

The evacuated patients were taken back to their respective wards, a hospital spokesman said. The cause of fire was being invested.
Darjeeling: After weeks of relative peace, violence erupted in the Darjeeling hills as pro-Gorkhaland supporters clashed with police near Sukna area on Saturday while their indefinite strike entered the 45th day.

According to Darjeeling district administration sources, pro-Gorkhaland supporters armed with knives, swords and traditional khukri, forcibly tried to enter Siliguri with the demand that Siliguri be included in the proposed Gorkhaland.

The police put up road blocks near the Sukna road crossing and asked them to go back. But the agitators broke the first two barricades and pelted stones at the police. Police used water cannons and mild baton charge to disperse the crowd.

The protesters turned violent and set afire some vehicles parked nearby.

The pro-Gorkhaland supporters are presently organising a sit-in demonstration on the Sukna-Siliguri road.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leadership has claimed that the police have resorted to firing which was denied by the district administration.

A huge contingent of police and security forces has moved to the area to control the situation.

Normal life remained crippled in the Darjeeling hills due to the ongoing indefinite strike to press for separate Gorkhaland state. Barring medicine shops, business establishments, restaurants, hotels, schools and colleges remained closed.
Darjeeling: Normal life remained crippled in the Darjeeling hills due to the indefinite shutdown, called by pro-Gorkhaland activists, which on Friday entered its 44th day, equalling the duration of a similar stir in 2013.

The situation in the picturesque north Bengal town, which had witnessed violence at the onset of the agitation, remained peaceful on Friday, according to police sources.

Except for medicine shops, business establishments, restaurants, hotels, schools and colleges remained closed.

The ban on internet services, which was imposed on 18 June, has already been extended by the district administration till 4 August.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) had on 15 June launched the agitation for a separate Gorkhaland state to be carved out of West Bengal.

GJM supporters took out rallies at Chowkbazar area during the day amid patrolling by police and security forces.

Police and security forces patrolled the streets of the hills and kept a tight vigil at all entry and exit routes.

GJM workers and various NGOs of the hills were also seen distributing food items among the people as food supply has been severely hit due to the indefinite shutdown.

The agitation this year equalised the 44-day shutdown in 2013 by GJM over the statehood issue.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has been unable to utilise central funds for development of the state due to corruption in lower ranks of administration, PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beig said on Saturday.

In a scathing attack on the functioning of some of his party ministers in the state government, Beig said, "The Centre had sanctioned Rs 19,000 crore for the state this year, but we are not able to spend this amount. Our officers are weak." The PDP leader, who represents Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency, said he did not know about the state of affairs at higher levels of the administration, but corruption was prevalent in lower levels.

He urged Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to ensure that the officers were held accountable. Beig was speaking at a rally held to celebrate the 18th foundation day of the party.

He addressed the chief minister, who was also present at the rally, as 'prime minister' in his speech.

"I had discussed with Mufti (Mehbooba's father Mohammad Sayeed) Sahib several times that Mehbooba should become the first woman prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir, but he was helpless as she refused to hold any office during his lifetime," he said.

The PDP leader also criticised the arrest of Hurriyat leaders by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with its probe into terror funding in Kashmir. "Somebody from the seven persons (arrested) may be innocent and should be set free. Proceedings should be initiated against only those who had indulged in killing of people and burning of schools," he added.

Seven people including Altaf Ahmed Shah, son-in-law of hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, were recently arrested by the NIA in connection with its probe into funding of terror and subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley.
Mumbai: Maharashtra's women commission will ink an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for rescue and rehabilitation of women who are victims of sex trafficking, acid attack and domestic violence, its chief has said.

"We have had serious talks with the UNDP wing working in Maharashtra to work for rescue and rehabilitation of the women trafficked for sexual exploitation, victims of acid attack or domestic violence.

"We are going to sign an MoU with the UNDP in the next 15 days," said Vijaya Rahatkar, chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW).

Under the pact, one of the key areas would be to impart skills to the affected women so as to help them sustain themselves financially, she said.

"In a bid to curb the menace of women trafficking overseas, we approached the Ministry of External Affairs, which has agreed to hold joint meetings with the Airports Authority of India, immigration department, the state government and the MSCW," she said.

Rahatkar was speaking yesterday at an international conference on women trafficking organised by the commission in partnership with the International Justice Mission, India.

On Thursday, the Maharashtra government and the Hotel Industry of India signed an agreement, under which they will cooperate in curbing women trafficking.

The commission believes hotels are a breeding ground for trafficking of women, said Rahatkar, a former Aurangabad mayor.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti Saturday said the PDP would not allow the closure of cross-LoC trade and continue to work towards opening more routes across the Line of Control with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Trade routes with Pakistan shouldn't be blocked, instead there should be crackdown on drugs & Cannabis which are smuggled from there: J&K CM pic.twitter.com/6oyMTpA9Jm  ANI (@ANI_news) July 29, 2017

Addressing a large rally on the 18th foundation day of the People's Democratic Party in Srinagar, Mehbooba also pitched for nominating members to the legislative assembly from the other side of LoC so that joint meetings could be held once in a year.

"There are many difficulties through the Wagah border, charas and ganja comes from there but no one talks about closing it. Just because a mistake happens on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, we should not talk about closing it. We will not allow that to happen," the chief minister said.

On 21 July, police seized 66.5 kg of heroin and brown sugar worth Rs 300 crore from a truck coming from PoK.

There have also been reports that the NIA, which is probing terror funding in Kashmir, may recommend closure of trade along cross-LoC routes.

"We are in favour of opening more routes. There should be facilities like banking there (at crossing points). There should be (full) body scanners (for trucks) so that we know what is coming in and what is going out from here," she said. "What we in PDP have achieved since 2002 needs to be taken forward," Mehbooba added.

Discussing the idea of a joint legislature for undivided Jammu and Kashmir, she said, "There are seats reserved in our assembly for that Kashmir. We should decide together to make nominations for those seats. We should decide that this assembly meets once in this Kashmir and once in that Kashmir every year so that we can talk about tourism, travel and opening of Sharda Peeth."

The PDP president also spoke about student exchanges. "I appeal to people on the other side of Kashmir. Come and send your children on a 15-day tour here and we will send our children there. They will see how we live here and our children will see how they live there."

The chief minister appealed to all mainstream parties, including coalition parter BJP and the Opposition National Conference and Congress, to put their heads together and find a way to end bloodshed in Kashmir.

"I appeal to all parties  be it National Conference, Congress, BJP, Communists or any other party  let us sit together and find a solution to the problems of Jammu and Kashmir. We are one, we are the same. (When) anyone is killed, it is a Kashmiri, be it a policeman or an innocent pedestrian."

She said she appealed to Farooq Abdullah (NC), Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress) and the leadership of the BJP to help "heal the pain of Kashmiris".

The state was facing an ideological challenge, she said. "You cannot imprison an idea, you cannot kill an idea." Referring to her father and PDP chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, she said he would often say Kashmir is besieged and should be should be set free by the opening of roads like Kargil-Skardu, Jammu-Sialkot and Leh-Xinjiang.

The chief minister sought the support of the people and her party workers in helping the state out of its present state of uncertainty.

The PDP was founded on 28 July, 1999, but the party decided to defer the foundation day celebrations by a day in deference to the Friday prayers.
Srinagar: Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti said on Saturday that trade with Pakistan should not be stopped and reviving the "Lahore Declaration" engineered by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the way forward for peace between the two countries.

The chief minister said trade with Pakistan needs to be strengthened and not stopped to bridge distances between the two neighbouring countries.

She said peace between the two countries as envisaged in the Lahore declaration during the prime ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was still the best way forward to move in India-Pakistan relationship.

On the 18th foundation day of her party  the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  Mufti said Kashmir was the crown of India and the country was incomplete without it.

She said legislators from Pakistani side of Kashmir should be allowed to come here and interact with the lawmakers on the Indian side to know each other's viewpoint.

Mehbooba Mufti said it was the time to take steps to save the people in Kashmir and not to compound the problems already faced by them.

Party vice-president and parliament member Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said 50 percent of state's area which was presently under Pakistan administration has virtually passed into China's control.

"The position now is that even if Pakistan wants to talk to India it cannot do so without China's permission", Beigh said.
Mumbai: Workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Friday protested against a jewellery shop in Dadar and a hotel in Mahim here, asking them to remove the signboards in Gujarati, police said.

Following the protests, the two establishments removed the Gujarati signboards, they said.

According to police, while the owners of the establishment did not lodge any complaint against the cadres of the Raj Thackeray-led party, seven of them were arrested by police for "illegal gathering" in Mahim.

"In the first case, MNS workers gathered outside P N Gadgil Jewellers in Dadar around 12.30 pm, where the jewellery shop management had put up the signboard in Gujarati," Sunil Deshmukh, assistant Commissioner of police told PTI.

After the protest, the management of the removed the signboard, he said.

After Dadar, the MNS workers headed to Mahim junction. There they targeted Hotel Shoba over the same thing, he added.

"There, they requested the hotel owner to remove the Gujarati signboard. The hotel manager then asked his staff to take the board down," Deshmukh said.

There was no complaint against MNS workers from the owners of these establishments. However, as they breached the orders issued by Mumbai Police Commissioner, which prohibited gathering without permission, offences were registered against them and action has been taken, he said.

"Two separate offences of illegal gathering under section 135 of Maharashtra Police Act have been lodged against the MNS workers at Dadar and Mahim police stations accordingly," the officer said.

"Police have arrested at least seven MNS activists in connection of illegal gathering at Mahim," he said.
Mumbai: Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said singing 'Vande Mataram' was a "matter of choice" and those refusing to sing it could not be dubbed as anti-nationals.

"Singing Vande Mataram is absolutely an individual's choice. Those who want to sing can sing it, those who don't, may not. Not singing it does not make one anti-national," said the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs, who was in the city for an event, speaking to PTI.

He added that however, if someone deliberately opposed the singing of the national song, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, it was "in bad taste" and "not in the interest of the country".

Sparks flew in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Friday as the ruling BJP MLAs slammed Samajwadi Party's Abu Asim Azmi, who opposed a demand for making the singing of 'Vande Mataram' mandatory in the schools and colleges of the state.

Citing a recent Madras High Court order, which made singing of 'Vande Mataram' mandatory in the Tamil Nadu schools, BJP MLA Raj Purohit said it should be followed by the schools and colleges in Maharashtra as well.

Azmi said he would not sing 'Vande Mataram' even if he was "thrown out of the country", while AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan said he would not sing it "even if a revolver is put to my head".

Speaking at Shirdi, state PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil on Saturday said no one should have a problem saying 'Vande Mataram' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

Meanwhile, commenting on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's return to the NDA-fold, Naqvi described the JD(U) chief as "a natural ally of the BJP".

"It does not matter whom he (Kumar) had criticised (when he had parted ways with the NDA). The BJP will support anybody who is against corruption and interested in good governance," the Union minister said.
S. Korea to consult with U.S. on revised guideline to increase payload of indigenous missile

(Xinhua) 15:18, July 29, 2017

SEOUL, July 29 -- South Korea's presidential Blue House said Saturday that the country would consult with the United Stateson the revision of the bilateral missile guideline to increase the payload of the indigenous ballistic missiles.

President Moon Jae-in ordered his top security advisor Chung Eui-yong to consult with the U.S. side on the launch of negotiations about the amendment of the South Korea-U.S. missile guideline, senior presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan told a press briefing.

It followed the DPRK's announcement of its second test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which flew about 1,000 km and was lofted as high as over 3,700 km.

Chung held a telephone conversation with his U.S. counterpart H.R. McMaster at about 3 a.m. local time Saturday (1800 GMT on Friday) to propose the revised missile guideline.

McMaster sent the U.S. agreement on the negotiation at around 10:30 a.m. local time, according to the Blue House of South Korea.

Moon's press secretary said the negotiation would focus on an increased payload, rather than an extended range, adding that the two countries would launch the negotiation as early as possible.

The bilateral missile guideline was first adopted in 1979 to set ceilings on the range of South Korea's homegrown ballistic missiles at 180 km and the payload at 500 kg in return for the U.S. transfer of missile technology to South Korea.

Under the revised guidelines, the maximum range and payload were extended in 2001 to 300 km and 500 kg, and in 2012 to 800 km and 500 kg respectively.

Local media speculations said South Korea would demand the maximum payload of its ballistic missiles be extended to 1 ton.
Voting has began amidst tight security for the by-election to the Northern Angami-I Assembly constituency in Kohima district from where former Nagaland chief minister president Shurhozelie Liezietsu is contesting on a NPF ticket.

Voting started at 7 am and will end at 4 pm, official sources said.

A total of 16,235 voters, which include 7697 male and 8538 female will exercise their franchise in 25 polling stations. The contest in the Northern Angami seat is straight between Liezietsu and and his only rival Independent candidate Kekhrie Yhome.

The by-election was necessitated following the resignation of sitting MLA Khriehu Liezietsu on May 24 last, so that his father Shurhezelie Liezietsu could get elected as regular member of the state assembly.

The Pakke Kessang constituency became vacant after the Supreme Court declared its election held in March 2014 void and Congress MLA Kameng Dolo had to resign in May 2017. The Northern Angami-I constituency was vacated by MLA Khriehu Liezietsu to make way for his father Shurhozelie Liezietsu, the chief minister of Nagaland in May this year.

Shurhozelie Liezietsu, the president of the ruling Naga Peoples Front (NPF), was elected as the chief minister in February 2017 by the party MLAs after TR Zeliang had to step down following statewide protests against his decision to reserve 33 percent of the seats for women in urban local bodies.

The Election Commission of India announced 29 July as the by-election date to fill up two vacant Assembly constituencies in 12 Pakke Kessang in Arunachal Pradesh and Northern Angami I in Nagaland.

Long ques of voters are seen in polling booths.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to expand his cabinet on Saturday, an official said.

"Nitish Kumar would induct 16 to 18 ministers in his cabinet," the official in the chief minister's office said here.

A day after Nitish Kumar won the trust vote in the Bihar assembly, preparations are underway at the Raj Bhawan here for swearing-in of new ministers.

According to informed sources, new ministers would be inducted from the ruling Janata Dal-United-Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies combine.

Meanwhile, BJP ally Hindustani Awam Morcha's (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, the only legislator from his party, announced that he will not join the cabinet.

Manjhi, a former Chief Minister, left for Delhi on Saturday morning.

Nitish Kumar on Wednesday resigned as the Chief Minister, dumping Grand Alliance partners Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress.

He again took oath as the Chief Minister with the support of the National Democratic Alliance on Thursday. Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi also took oath as Deputy Chief Minister.
New Delhi: Those seeking a debate on the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir are "playing with fire" as the issue is linked to the state's accession to India, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Saturday.

His remarks came after Attorney General KK Venugopal recently told the Supreme Court that the NDA government wanted a "larger debate" on Article 35A which provides special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"How can you debate the special status of Jammu and Kashmir without debating accession? You can't. They are two sides of the same coin. Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India on the special status that was granted to it," Omar said.

He said the BJP needs to understand that the outfits which are bringing this up are "playing with fire".

"It's these sort of steps that glamorise Azaadi," he said at the event 'Understanding Kashmir', hosted by the social group 'BRIEF'.

"We have been consistent in the fact that the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India has been finalised. We have been consistent that whatever solutions we want to find, we want to find them within the four walls of the Constitution," he said.

Referring to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statement that one can change friends but not neighbours, he said a "positive and constructive" engagement with Pakistan is a necessity to find a solution to the Kashmir problem.

Blaming the Centre for the "shrinking" of political space for mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar said it has become popular to blame Pakistan for everything that is happening in the state.

"It's not just mainstream players in Jammu and Kashmir who are responsible for what is happening. The Union of India is responsible, whether it was the UPA or the NDA government. It's popular to blame our neighbour for everything that is happening in the state but it is not true," he said.

The former chief minister said while the country knows that Pakistan fishes in troubled waters, "we also know that they are not the creators of the agitations we have seen in 2008, 2010 or 2016".

There is a fair amount of blame to be shared across the board, he said. "Who you want to blame and how much for, depends on which side you are sitting on."

Omar said the erosion of political space this time has been far more rapid than it has been in recent years and cited the state government's failure to conduct an election in south Kashmir.

"This is the first election in Jammu Kashmir that the Hurriyat conference has won because since 1996 they have been saying that elections should not take place. There should be a boycott. Elections should be disrupted. On the back of the protests, you cancelled that election and handed victory to them," he said.

Omar said it was not just the political space of the regional parties that has shrunk, "even the ability of the government of India and the Election Commission has shrunk to the point that you put your hands up and walked away".

He also said he was shocked at the logic being offered for the Armed Forces Tribunal's decision to grant bail to five army personnel convicted in the 2010 Macchil fake encounter case.

"I'm shocked at the logic that's being given. That they were wearing Pathan suits and that they cannot be treated as civilians, I'm sorry, I'm wearing one. Am I not a civilian?" he asked.

The Armed Forces Tribunal had suspended the life sentence awarded to the Army personnel, including two officers, for allegedly staging the killing of three Kashmiri men in Macchil and granted them bail.

Omar also spoke on the reports that Zakir Musa was heading Al-Qaeda in the Kashmir Valley, saying that there was nothing new about it.

"The largest militant group operating in the Valley today(Saturday) is still the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and it's predominantly made of Kashmiri youngsters and their aim is political. Their aim is to remove J&K as a part of India. Their aim is not Musa's Al-Qaeda-driven aim," he said.

Musa is not a new phenomenon, Omar said.

"You have given him the name of Al-Qaeda. But people coming and fighting in the name of religion have been doing it since the mid-90s when Pakistan found that their ability to galvanise support from local Kashmiris on a political slogan wasn't working.

"They tried to give the slogan of jihad to attract other nationalities. What were Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and others? They were religious-driven organisations. So today Zakir Musa is an extension of that," he said.
New Delhi: Outgoing Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit Saturday said a dialogue between India and Pakistan was a "pre-requisite" and a "necessity" to mend relations between the neighbours, which might require "give and take" from both sides.

Engagement is the key. Dialogues are a necessity: Abdul Basit, High Commissioner of Pakistan to India on Jammu & Kashmir issue pic.twitter.com/YGThP1mXK0  ANI (@ANI_news) July 29, 2017

Basit punctuated his pitch for dialogue with his advocacy for "self-determination" of the Kashmiri populace. The Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be resolved for any real progress, he said.

We need to see how we can work out a solution which is in sync with aspirations of ppl of Jammu & Kashmir: Abdul Basit, Pakistan envoy(1/2) pic.twitter.com/9KH3yrgMP2  ANI (@ANI_news) July 29, 2017

"Both the countries need to decide that they need to be engaged ... as was decided at Sharm El Sheikh, where we took a considered decision to separate talks from terrorism. We should not be hostage to forces that do not want progress," he said.

Basit made the remarks at an event, likely to be his last public engagement in New Delhi before demiting office, organised by the 'South Asia Forum for Art and Creative Heritage'.

Pakistan maintains that a joint statement issued after talks between former prime minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani in the Egyptian city in 2009 had delinked dialogue from action against terrorism.

"Engagement is the key. Dialogue is a pre-requisite and a necessity to resolve our problems. Talks may not produce immediate results," he said, adding "compromises always involve give and take", when asked if Pakistan was ready to make certain concessions.

The Indo-Pak peace process came to an abrupt halt after the Pathankot terror attack in 2016. Since then, bilateral ties have worsened, entering a period of fresh uncertainty with the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif as Pakistan's prime minister by the country's top court.

"Pathankot or no Pathankot, we need to decide that we will not disrupt the dialogue process. While we were cooperating on the Pathankot issue, we could have carried on the dialogue process. That would have helped," he said.

Basit was appointed as the High Commissioner to India in 2014. He will replaced by Sohail Mahmood, who is expected to take up his responsibilities next month.

Basit, who was twice overlooked for the post of Pakistan's Foreign Secretary, said it was important "to get real" on the question of mending ties.

"If we muster the political will, we can find a solution to our problems. Whenever we engage, we manage to get good results. We need to commence a dialogue process and ensure that the CBMs (Confidence Building Measures) are adhered to in letter and spirit. We must not allow artificial barriers between the two countries," he said.
Hyderabad: The Palestine's Ambassador to India on Saturday expressed hope that New Delhi would use its growing ties with Israel to find a lasting solution to the Palestinian problem.

Adnan Abu Alhaija said he was looking at India for political backing to the cause of the Palestinian people rather than social or humanitarian support.

He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting organised by the Hyderabad chapter of the India-Arab League.

"India supports two schools (in Palestine). This is not the real thing we are looking for. We are always looking for political support," Alhaija said.

The envoy was replying to a query on the Indian government's support in social and medical fields.

He said India should follow the principle of "justice" while forging relationships with other countries.

The Palestinian envoy said they were not upset over prime minister Narendra Modi's recent high-profile visit to Israel, a first by an Indian premier to the Jewish state.

"We see it as a matter of bilateral relations of India with other countries," Alhaija said.

"As long as that (deepening of the ties with Israel) is not affecting India's support to the Palestinian cause, the attitude of India towards the Palestinian cause, we could say its bilateral relation. As I said, we hope India will use this relation to find a solution to the Palestinian cause."

The envoy said he will soon approach the Indian government to seek support on the issue of Al Aqsa mosque.

Violence recently erupted at the mosque in East Jerusalem after Israeli authorities installed metal detectors outside the shrine as part of enhanced security measures.

Security was stepped up at the holy site after two Israeli police officers were shot dead on 14 July. The move sparked protests from the Palestinians.

Asked about bilateral trade relations, Alhaija said a Palestinian business delegation is expected to visit India shortly to explore the possibility to further expand economic ties.

The envoy said he has requested trade bodies, such as FICCI and CII to organise a meeting with Indian businessmen for the delegation members to encourage investment in Palestine.
As the Pakistan Supreme Court in a landmark decision disqualified Nawaz Sharif from holding public office on Friday in the Panama Papers case, front pages of national newspapers in the country were filled with the headlines of Sharif having to step down as prime minister. He quit office after the top court asked to file corruption charges against him and his family.

Here are the front pages of a few of Pakistan's national English dailies:

The Express Tribune

With a picture of Nawaz Sharif walking away and a headline saying PM sent packing, The Express Tribune dedicated the entire front page to multiple stories around the prime minister's indictment.

Dawn

Pakistan's oldest newspaper Dawn Nawaz Sharif with Jamiat Ulema-e Islam and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders Raja Zafarul Haq and Rafiq Rajwana, with the headline 'Yet another prime minister comes to grief'. Like other newspapers, Dawn also carried the Opposition parties' views on the story on the front page.

The Nation

The Nation ran with the headline Third forced exit to cover the biggest story of the day, but printed the words "Knocked down on a technicality" over the lead headline. The paper also ran a column on front page suggesting that the Sharif family is expected to survive in Pakistani politics despite Friday's verdict.
It may appear churlish to claim that Nawaz Sharif took a leaf out Narendra Modi's book and wanted to establish the primacy of civilian leadership. It won't be an outrageous claim, however. With Sharif's ouster, India now stares at another limited period of intense, subversive adventurism. This isn't to say that Sharif in his third stint as Pakistan prime minister was working hard to curb terrorism, solve Kashmir problem and turn India into an ally from eternal foe. He wasn't.

But he did try for better trade relations, if only for the narrow motive of letting his own business empire tap India's powerful market. He did try to improve bilateral ties, if only out of an existentialist threat to his political career. Sharif, whom the Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday ousted in a blatant act of judicial activism, understood that only a stronger economy and semblance of peace at the border will give him the political legitimacy needed to stay in power for five years  a feat no other Pakistani prime minister has achieved.

Under him, the economy was showing promising signs. He improved fiscal discipline, reduced poverty, put money in middle class's hands, and the stock market responded with enthusiasm. On 15 May, 2017, index provider MSCI announced that it was reclassifying Pakistan's status from lowly 'frontier' to more prestigious 'emerging market'.

One may assume that these positive changes would have strengthened Sharif's political hold and gave greater legitimacy to the civilian government. Surely the electorate would welcome these developments? They did, and that's the problem. Nawaz's Pakistan Muslim League (N) remain hugely popular in the influential Punjab province and the prime minister had total control over his party. Imran Khan was sniping at his heels but he wasn't a political heavyweight.

Historically, Pakistan's army and the Deep State have felt insecure during even brief interludes of civilian authority. They see Banquo's apparition in a popular prime minister. This arises out of their necessity to keep rent-seeking opportunities intact. For the army and Pakistan's intelligence establishment, animus against India and Afghanistan translate into massive pecuniary and political benefits.

Democracy is an idea existent more in its abuse in Pakistan and it is the bulwark of the army that keeps the failing state from collapsing under its own weight. With Islam as the governing principle and macho military generals protecting borders, Pakistan doesnt need a civilian government. Sharif, who wanted to normalise democracy and solidify grip over power, made two cardinal errors. He responded to Modi's outreaches (swearing-in ceremony, Lahore stopover) and sought to limit the influence wielded by the security-intelligence network.

In particular, he told Pakistan's military and ISI that Pakistan faces "international isolation" if it carries on using jihadist violence as a foreign policy tool. In an extraordinary meeting which took place on 3 October, 2016, the civilian administration delivered two messages to generals: "military-led intelligence agencies are not to interfere if law enforcement acts against militant groups" and "fresh attempts be made to conclude the Pathankot investigation and restart the stalled Mumbai attacks-related trials". Needless to say, Dawn journalist Cyril Almeida's report shook up Pakistan.

It is inconceivable that the 'Dawn Leaks' happened without Sharif's knowledge. He was playing a high-stakes game of poker with the all-powerful army and Friday's Supreme Court verdict is the price he paid for his adventurism.

It is delusory to think that Panama Papers verdict is an open and shut case of probity versus corruption. In Pakistan  as in most of south Asia  corruption is a way of life and it touches all aspects of polity  civilian, judicial, military. The verdict simply proves the axiomatic truth that only members of the civilian government are vulnerable to judicial action. Pakistan's highest court has been repeatedly guilty of dismissing elected governments.

As Harris Khalique writes in New York Times, "The Supreme Court of Pakistan has legally sanctioned every military coup in the country. The few judges who objected to such interventions were made to retire. It has endorsed the removal of elected governments and has sentenced one elected prime minister to death and disqualified another. Every democratically elected government has been removed on charges of corruption and incompetence."

That this was an army-engineered coup fronted by the judiciary became clear when the joint investigative team (JIT) to probe the case against Sharif included members of military-intelligence network. In the latter half of his latest stint as premier, the PML-N chief understood that he was fighting a losing battle. Just as Sharif was once used by the military to ambush Benazir Bhutto in 1990s, Khan was being employed by the Rawalpindi GHQ to cut the premier to size. Khan raised a whirlwind of street-level protest despite little political legitimacy and it is mainly due to his obstinacy that the case against Sharif and his family went to courts.

A desperate Sharif tried to mend fences with the army  lionising Burhan Wani and vowing to "snatch Kashmir away from India" but the powerful army generals could never really trust him. Sharif sacked his aides for 'leaking' news of the meeting to media but the army said it wasn't enough.

With Sharif gone, the space for democracy will further shrink in Pakistan. For India, it may not mean a drastic change in approach but will surely entail a greater application of defensive steps and counterterrorism. Sharif was deeply unpopular in Pakistan among the jihadist network, many of whom were starved of funds. It doesn't surprise that his ouster was wildly cheered. Banned outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Abdul Rehman Makki, brother-in-law of 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, was quoted by TV channels, as saying that "Sharif was punished for not supporting jihad."

Makki had on an earlier occasion castigated Sharif for playing Holi with Pakistani Indians. He told reporters in Lahore that Sharif was trying to "please the Indian government. The rulers must realise that Muslims and Hindus are two separate nations. Their culture and civilisation are different. They cannot live together." Another cleric had said that by playing Holi, a Hindu festival, Sharif has blasphemed against Islam.

Syed Ata Hasnain, strategic thinker and former GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, writes in Swarajyamag that "Punjab based anti-India jihadi groups may receive an impetus due to competing power centres within the Pakistan Muslim League (PML). There is no guarantee that the Sharif familys hold will remain uninterrupted. The more its power dilutes greater will be the power of elements such as JuD and Jaish e Mohammad (JeM)."

In the medium to short term, India may see a rise in jihadist violence but eventually that will dissipate into the current state of hostile pacifism. This is chiefly because Pakistan is now less of a sovereign nation and more of China's vassal state. The Chinese wouldn't like a surge in terrorist incidents to unsettle and jeopardise their larger goal in Pakistan, of furthering their economic colonialism.

According to Pakistani scholar and economist S Akbar Zaidi, China Pakistan Economic Corridor "is indeed a game changer, but not in the way our ruling classes have projected it to be. It will enslave Pakistan and undermine its sovereignty."

It stands to reason that China wouldn't like its newest colony to go up in flames when it can be used better as a strategic weapon to contain India. The most damaging aspect of the Panama verdict lies in its impact on democracy as a governing principle in Pakistan.
The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) has declared the Class 10 supplementary exam results on Saturday, as reported by NDTV. Students who are eligible can check their results at punjab.indiaresults.com

The following steps can be followed while checking results:

Step 1: Go to official website of the board, Pseb.ac.in or else at indiaresults.com

Step 2: Click on results

Step 3: Enter your registration details in the next page

Step 4: See your results after entering the details

According to Hindustan Times, the results for Class 10 were declared on 22 May. The report further mentioned that as many as 4.12 lakh students appeared for the Class 10 board exams in Punjab. The board exams were announced by PSEB chairman Balbir Singh Dhol.

The Times of India reported that more than 57% students of Class 10 cleared the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) exams.

Students are expected to note that PSEB has released the result at the aforementioned websites on Saturday at 4.00 pm. It is suggested that students visit the website prior than the mentioned time, according to NDTV.
Jaipur: Heavy rainfall and water released from the Jawai Dam have flooded parts of Jalore and neighbouring areas in Rajasthan, officials said on Saturday.

More than 70,000 cusecs of water were released from the dam  the largest in western Rajasthan  on Friday evening.

Heavy downpour also affected normal life in the adjoining Pali and Sirohi districts, where many villages are on high alert and relief and rescue operations are carrying on.

Three gates of the dam were opened on Thursday and eight more were opened on Friday night, after the level of water rose above 60 feet.

"Of the total 13 gates, 11 were opened last night (Friday) to discharge water. Seven gates were closed in the morning and four are still open," said Vinod Kumar Malhotra, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Sumerpur town in Pali district.

The water level in the dam was 59 feet at present.

"Many villages in Jalore are flooded, and some roads have been washed away. Relief work is underway," LN Soni, the Collector of Jalore, said.

Soni said the district administrations in Pali and Jalore had alerted villagers before the gates were opened.

"People in several hundred villages in Pali, Sirohi and Jalore had been affected by the flood-like situation," the district collector said.

In many villages, people were being rescued from their rooftops by the army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), he added.

"Rescue operations are being carried out," Hemant Gera, Secretary of state Disaster Management and Relief department said.

Various parts of Rajasthan have been experiencing heavy rainfall.

Chittoragarh recorded a maximum of 129 millimetres till Saturday morning, followed by Rawatbhata, which received 104.9 millimetres of rain, followed by Mount Abu, which recorded 101 millimetres of rain. Bhilwara, Ajmer, Dabok, Kota and Bundi received 65.2, 54.6, 49, 21 and 20 millimetres of rain respectively, while many other areas recorded below 20 millimetres rains during this period.
Assandh: Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Saturday lashed out at the BJP-ruled Centre and the Haryana government, alleging they have failed on all fronts and no section of the society is happy with their performance.

"The BJP has failed the people of Haryana and the country. The people are so annoyed and angry with the BJP that they are desperately waiting for the elections to oust the party from power," he said while addressing a traders' meeting.

"BJP governments at the Centre and Haryana have completed three years of governance but no section of society is satisfied with their performance," Surjewala, the media in-charge of the Congress, said.

He said sections including students, farmers and traders are waiting for the elections to out BJP from power.

"Before elections, big promises were made but none of them has been fulfilled," he claimed.

Addressing the traders, Surjewala alleged that the present Goods and Services Tax system has been brought to serve the "interests of multi-national companies(MNC)".

"Common traders are harried lot as they cannot keep the army of accountants on the pattern of MNCs," he added.

The GST proposed by the previous UPA at the Centre was entirely different than the present one.

"UPA's GST was simple and pro-people in which the maximum tax slab was 18 percent whereas the present GST of BJP is complicated and anti-people," Surjewala said.
The statement by the president came shortly after a meeting of the National Defence Council, which was attended by the defence minister, the army chief of staff, and the heads of the navy and air force.

Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi hailed on Saturday the armed forces for their efforts in foiling several terrorist attacks targeting military locations.

El-Sisi stressed in a statement the necessity of continued measures to preserve the security of Egypt, as well as the importance of maintaining a high level of training and readiness.

The statement by the president came shortly after a meeting of the National Defence Council, which was attended by the defence minister, the army chief of staff, and the heads of the navy and air force.

The meeting included a presentation of security measures undertaken by the military, especially in North Sinai, where El-Sisi was briefed on steps taken by the armed forces to purge Sinai of terrorist elements.

Over the past week, Egypts army thwarted two major attacks by militants targeting forces in North Sinai and Alexandria.

On Monday, an attack that could have killed 50-60 soldiers, according to the army spokesman, was foiled after a car laden with explosives was run over by an army tank before it could reach its target; an army checkpoint south of El-Arish in North Sinai.

The car exploded shortly after being run over, killing seven civilians.

On Thursday, army forces opened fire on a 4x4 vehicle loaded with over 1.5 tonnes of "highly explosive material" that was attempting to attack a military unit in the Northern Military Zone, located in Alexandria governorate.

The car's driver, who was wearing an explosive belt, was killed.

Egypt is battling an Islamist insurgency based in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, though militants have carried out attack in other parts of the country.

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New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached Rs 300 crore assets of Rose Valley group in its ongoing probe against the chit fund company for money laundering, an official said on Saturday.

The attached properties include six hotels in West Bengal, Assam and Bihar, 17 acres of an amusement park in Tripura, office space of 146,364 square feet in Kolkata, 11,445 square feet land in Bhubaneswar, 13 pieces of land, three flats along-with garage space acquired by the company in one of the best residential society of Kolkata.

"The attached properties of Rose Valley group of companies and its chairman Gautam Kundu worth book value of Rs 113.76 crore and having market value of around Rs 300 crore," an ED statement said.

The chit fund company is now under the scanner of the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation, and its sole proprietor and chairman Gautam Kundu was arrested in Kolkata in March 2015 and is still in judicial custody.

The ED investigation revealed that Rose Valley group of companies collected more than Rs 17,000 crore from the public at large throughout India by luring depositors with false promise of high return or interest on their deposits.

"Around Rs 8,600 crore remain outstanding to the public by the company which diverted and siphoned the amount through cheating and has no real business to repay this amount," an ED official said.

The official said the ED had earlier attached Rose Valley's property having market value of around Rs 1,650 crore which includes several hotels, vehicles, land and cash amounting to around Rs 350 crore.

"With this attachment, the total market value of properties attached in Rose Valley group of company cases has reached around Rs 1,950 crore," he added.
Xi Jinping has a Zhongguo meng a "Chinese dream".

Usurping Doka La or extending Chinas border further south into Bhutan is but a tiny part of that dream. Before realising this dream in its awesome totality, Xi needs to get re-elected for his second term at the Communist Party Congress that will be held anytime after September this year, probably in November.

So the Doka La faceoff can stay the way it is for at least three or four months. Xi dada, as he is known in China dada in his native Shaanxi province means father or uncle  will come to grips with Doka La later.

First, about the Chinese dream, and why it gets Xi dada's adrenalin rushing.

It isnt a new dream that came to the Chinese president just the other night when he slept in his secret bedroom in Zhongnanhai, Beijings equivalent of Rashtrapati Bhavan  almost everything is a state secret in China. Xi first spoke about this dream on 29 November 2012, two weeks after he was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China. There has been endless debate on who had first made up that phrase or from whom Xi had filched it. But the horrifying fact is that Xi had, and still has, that dream.

And after he took over as the President of China on 14 March 2013, the Chinese dream became Xis singular obsession and his signature slogan. Neither Xi nor any of his Communist factotum has ever deigned to define precisely what this dream is all about, except saying that it means working for a grand "renaissance" of the Chinese people.

But by 2016, the world was convinced that Xi is, in fact, daydreaming of Pax Sinica. (Latin for Chinese peace, the phrase refers to a point in history some 1,000 to 1,500 years ago when unchallenged Chinese hegemony enforced peace in East Asia.) In other words, Xi was struck by the fixation of resuscitating Chinas past glory long before Donald Trump came up with the unconvincing shibboleth of Make America Great Again last year.

A Chinese dream, a global nightmare

What worries the world is that the Chinese dream has come to mean, among other things domestically, that Xi will turn China into a muscle-flexing monster across continents to browbeat countries that refuse to toe the Chinese line. He has already tried to do that to a degree.

But Xi found to his surprise that, to Make China Great Again, he needs more than the five years of his first term. So he is getting a second one of another five years in a few months when the 19th Party Congress meets. After whipping up nationalism bordering on jingoism with his talk of this dream, fashioning himself as an evangelist of globalisation nonpareil, unleashing the One-Brick-One-Road charade apparently to help the world but to boost Chinese industry, talking tough to countries like Japan and India and almost colonising Pakistan in the process, Xi has made himself a darling of his peopleor so his media mouthpieces want us to believe.

No doubt, Xi will find it a cakewalk to get himself a second term, and that will give him ten years in power in all. There lies another problem. Will ten years be enough to turn a humongous dream into a reality? Xi doubts it. So he is angling for a third term when the second ends in 2022.

But that wont be easy, if not impossible. By 2022, Xi will be 69, and he must leave the job if Chinas informal retirement age of 68 for top leaders is implemented. Deng Xiaoping had brought in this rule to stop any leader from turning into a life-long dictator like Mao Zedong. But Xis supporters are already thumbing their noses at this rule, saying its not something that is set in stone. But Xi may have the option of staying on as a Paramount Leader, even after 2022, by appointing a yes-man as the president.

But all this comes later. For now, its this years party Congress that matters most to Xi. He may use it to test the waters for violating the age-ceiling rules.

While getting his second term, he is expected to extend the tenure of 68-year-old Wang Qishan, the Politburo Standing Committee member and head of the partys Discipline Commission. Wang has not only led Xis anti-corruption drive but is a bouncer and troubleshooter of sorts for the president. By extending Wangs term in 2017, Xi will set a precedent for himself to stay on at the helm beyond 2022.

Why immediate escalation at Doka La is unlikely

As all this goes on, Xi is most likely to push Doka La to the back burner. Writing for the Australian Think Tank Lowy Institute, Shashank Joshi presents four possible scenarios in the Doka La stalemate.

1. Either China or India will make a unilateral withdrawal from the disputed territory.

2. China will use force to expel Indian forces to teach India a lesson.

3. A protracted standoff.

4. A diplomatic settlement.

Joshi considers the first scenario unlikely because of the rigid posturing of China and India, China on its sovereignty and India on its national security. He is sceptical about the second possibility as well, because the regions geography gives India a distinct military advantage, and China, instead of risking defeat, may think of striking India elsewhere to use it for a bargain in Doka La. He suspects that since the circumstances might not be ripe for the fourth possibility of a diplomatic truce, the third scenario is the most probable one.

A continued deadlock indeed seems most likely, if you consider how crucial the lead-up to the party Congress is for Xi to consolidate his power. Towards that end, Xi has been fixing his rivals in the guise of his otherwise well-meaning anti-corruption drive.

Earlier this week, Sun Zhengcai, a man tipped as a possible contender for the presidents post, was ousted, ostensibly for being corrupt. According to some reports, Suns downfall is a pointer to turbulent times in Beijing.

While the state-controlled media has unleashed an unprecedented publicity blitz to sing Xis praise, a communist party mouthpiece has unashamedly declared that China needs a Mao-like strongman like Xi, oblivious to the fact that Deng Xiaoping and many Chinese intellectuals didnt want another Mao. Under Xi, China has also been experiencing media and freedom curbs, horrendous even by its own standards.

Xi is too busy with all his secret manoeuvres inside China to do anything rash in Doka La for the time being. In the meantime, the soldiers of China and India can stay on in the disputed area at kissing distance and go on fuming at each other.
New Delhi: A 10-year-old rape survivor has lost her legal battle with the Supreme Court which has refused to allow termination of her 32-week-old pregnancy, relying on a medical report that it would not be good for her or the foetus.

A bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud on Friday also asked Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar to convey its suggestion to the Centre that a permanent medical board be set up in each state to take prompt decisions in cases where women and girls seek nod for abortion.

The bench perused the report of the medical board set up by the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI), Chandigarh to examine the child and the consequences if the termination of pregnancy was allowed.

"In view of the recommendations made in by the medical board in its report, it would neither be in the interest of the girl child nor the alive foetus, which is approximately 32-weeks-old, to order abortion," it said.

The court expressed satisfaction on the care being provided to the girl at a government hospital in Chandigarh and said that it was a "fully equipped" to provide the best medical help.

The court, while disposing of the plea, rapped the counsel for the petitioner for approaching the apex court directly without availing the remedy at the high court level.

"The matter was before the district court and you should have gone to the high court, but you directly came to the Supreme Court," the bench said, adding as the girl was running against the time, it did not pass any order on this issue.

The court then asked the solicitor general, present in the courtroom, to ask the Centre to consider asking states to set up a permanent medical board to take up such cases.

It said that such matters were coming more to the Supreme Court and precious time was being lost in setting up of a medical board for examination.

The solicitor general said that he would convey the court's suggestion to the Centre and get back to it.

The apex court had issued notice on 24 July to the Centre on the plea seeking its nod for the abortion and had ordered the child's examination by a medical board consented to by her parent.

The PIL was filed after a Chandigarh district court on 18 July refused to let the girl undergo the abortion after it was confirmed that she was almost 28 weeks pregnant.

Courts allow medical termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and can make an exception if the foetus is genetically abnormal.
Hyderabad: Vikram Goud, a Telangana Youth Congress leader and the son of a former Andhra Pradesh minister, was allegedly shot at in his residence, the police said.

His family members said an "intruder" fired at him on Friday morning.

Vikram, in his mid 30s, is the son of former Andhra Pradesh minister M Mukesh Goud.

He was found with bullet wounds in his body at his house in Film Nagar, an upmarket area of the city, under suspicious circumstances, the police said, adding that he was out of danger now.

"The incident occurred between 3 am and 3.30 am on Friday," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone) A Venkateshwar Rao.

Following a complaint from Vikram's wife, the police registered a case of attempt to murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and added the relevant arms act sections to it.

Ten police teams have been formed to crack the case.

According to Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahendar Reddy, in her complaint, Vikram's wife Shipali M alleged that an "intruder" fired at her husband, following which she rushed him to a private hospital in their car.

Reddy said as per the sequence of events narrated by Shipali, the couple was getting ready to visit a place of worship and Vikram was waiting for her on the ground floor of their house.

"Suddenly, his wife heard gunshots and subsequently, found Vikram lying in a pool of blood on the ground," he added.

The DCP said that according to the doctors at the hospital, Vikram was out of danger now.

According to the hospital authorities, Vikram suffered bullet injuries on his arms, chest and spinal cord. One bullet had been removed, they added.

"He is in the ICU and his condition is stable," a source in the hospital said.

"The case is being investigated. We are scanning the CCTV footage obtained from the locality. We are reconstructing the crime scene. The victim is yet to reveal his version," said the police commissioner.

Mukesh Goud, a Congress leader, was a minister in the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government in the united Andhra Pradesh.
Lucknow: In a jolt to the Samajwadi Party, three of its legislators quit the party on Saturday, alleging suffocation within the party, even as BJP president Amit Shah arrived in Lucknow on a three-day visit.

The three lawmakers  Bukkal Nawaab, Yashwant Singh and Madhukar Jaitley  all are members of the Upper House of the state Assembly.

Buqqal Nawaab was very close to former party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and owed his prominence to him until he decided to side with then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in the turf war within the party earlier this year.

Yashwant Singh is a close aide of independent legislator from Kunda, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias 'Raja Bhaiyya'. There is speculation that he may switch to the BJP.

Madhukar Jaitley, also a close aide of Mulayam Yadav, was a state minister level functionary in the Samajwadi Party government and was advisor to Akhilesh Yadav on externally aided projects, including Lucknow Metro.

Jaitley threw his weight behind Mulayam Yadav after his son overthrew him and took over as national president of the party. Jaitley was one of the few who openly rebuked and challenged Akhilesh Yadav in his hey days as chief minister and slammed him for the "shoddy treatment" meted out to the senior Yadav.

Buqqal Nawaab is facing many probes currently, specially of land grabbing. On Saturday, he praised the Yogi Adityanath government and said that a lot of good work was being done by the ruling BJP. He also said that his mentor Mulayam Yadav was being humiliated in the party. He announced that many more SP members would be resigning from the party soon.

Nawaab had created waves some time ago by saying he would be happy to carry the first brick to Ayodhya for the construction of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya and that he would also financially contribute to it.

The resignations from the SP coincided with the arrival of Amit Shah in the state capital on a three-day visit to interact with party leaders.
In an exclusive conversation with Firstpost, former vice-president of the JNU Students' Union Shehla Rashid Shora said that if a battle tank has been planted on the JNU campus to inculcate respect towards the army, then a tractor needs to be placed in the Parliament to inspire empathy in its esteemed members towards farmers' issues. Shehla went on to say that a copy of the Constitution must be handed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in order to sensitise him towards students' issues. She blamed the central government for its inability to manage the country's affairs in a just and effective manner.

Shehla confessed that she is appalled at how rapidly lynchings and killings linked to cow slaughter are becoming commonplace and feels that the disruption of unity due to religious differences time and again is a dangerous sign for our democracy. She feels India needs a social revolution to identify and prevent sporadic violent acts of lynching. Indians, she feels, must take an oath that they won't let violence prosper around them. "What India needs is that Hindus and Muslims unite and raise key issues like the price of cooking gas, the dearth of food in their homes, and the lack of education. Only then will a strong social revolution take shape." She told Firstpost that her idea of India is one where each Indian feels safe, finds employment and food. "Till the time we don't unite on the real worries like poverty and education, communal and caste-based issues will continue to plague our system"

Shehla, who has recently submitted her Master of Philosophy (M Phil) to JNU's Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, bashed the practice of triple talaq and called it insensitive and radical. In 2013, the woman leader came out against Islamic conservatives for posing death threats to Pragaash, an all-girls' band composed of young Muslim women. She was the first Kashmiri girl to have won a student union election and became the highest polled candidate of that year (2015). In her interview with Firstpost, she spoke about the need for yet another social movement for improving women's participation in governance. Through her student activism, Shehla might have entered the political battlefield but hasn't zeroed in on the political party she will join. In Kashmir, she said that the issue of participation in governance is a different one because democracy has failed in the state. "People have lost their faith in Mehbooba Mufti's government and there is no solution in sight."

Another issue Shehla touched upon was that of the Dalits. She felt that the problem of Dalit students not securing admission in big universities cannot be taken lightly.
Close to the rumble and soot laden walls of a 14th century building at Varanasis sacred Manikarnika Ghat, where pyres burn all through the year, Yamuna Devi reads the epic Ramayana to her three grandchildren.

Devi, 69, ignores the pungent smoke that fills the air, reading aloud the sacrifice of Sita, wife of Lord Rama. Devi explains in detail why Sita is the epitome of a Hindu woman and wants her grandchildren to behave like the mythical character, popular for her sacrifices.

For Devis grandchildren, there are no careers promising growth in Varanasi, Indias oldest city; they are members of a century-old untouchable caste that handles cremation. They can only handle one job: Cremate bodies at Rs 3,000 per corpse. At times, they accompany their grandmother to the crematorium, watch her at work.

The cacophonous grandchildren scamper all over Devi, play a game of I-Spy in the courtyard, pose for photographs and want prints of the photographs to be couriered to them. They say this is the first time they have been clicked with their grandmother, they all love looking at photographs.

For them, and others in Varanasi, Devi is important.

Devi is Varanasis only female gatekeeper of heaven, a 'Dom' who splits her time between Manikarnika and Raja Harishchandra ghats near the sacred Ganga River, overseeing the earthly end of a Hindus spiritual journey.

We will have to live here, conduct the rituals and remain in this business for generations to come. We grow here to work and die, my grandchildren do not go to schools, says Devi. She wanted her two sons to become doctors or engineers, but they were uncomfortable at the school and eventually came back to Manikarnika to help their mother.

Devi, who is also called Maalkin, has total rights over a sacred, earthen oven lighted for centuries. It contains what she claims is Gods eternal flame, without which the funeral pyres cannot be lighted. It is imperative for those who bring their dead to cremate in Manikarnika and Raja Harishchandra ghats to take a flaming bunch of hay from the oven Devi oversees.

She inherited the flame from her husband who died three-and-a-half decades ago. She also runs as many as three stores which sell logs for the pyres. In the strictest traditions of the Dom clan, when a Dom dies another male family member inherits the business but Devi took on her husbands work to support her two young sons.

Devi sells wood, coconuts, bananas, flowers, ghee, milk, incense sticks and expensive sandalwood. That is the standard fare; there are other packages which include a sandalwood sawdust bath for the corpse, chants by Brahmins for peace. Devi provides the first set of five logs of wood required for the pyre, the rest of the wood is purchased by relatives of the deceased from adjacent stores.

Every day, an estimated 100-150 corpses are brought to these two ghats, considered the holiest of crematoriums for Hindus, who believe cremation at the Manikarnika or Raja Harishchandra ghats prevents rebirth, ensuring a direct entry into heaven. Manikarnika gets the lions share. A pyre burns 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at Manikarnika. Across Varanasi, nearly 200 bodies are burned every day.

Manikarnika, which in regional Sanskrit language means "earrings", is an important place of worship for the Shaktism sect of Hinduism. Hindus believe the ghat was formed when the earring of Lord Shiva fell to the earth while he was dancing angrily, the act described as Tandava Nitya in ancient scriptures.

The belief of attaining Moksha after death in Varanasi will remain forever, so will the urge to get cremated at Manikarnika. And between these two beliefs will remain, probably forever, the Doms, says BHU historian Premanka Chakravarty.

He says several attempts were made to rehabilitate the Doms  all of whom call themselves ancestors of the legendary Kalu Dom, considered the father of the Dom community in the city  who were employed at the Raja Harishchandra crematorium, but nothing worked. Some ancestors of his family, who made loads of cash, went abroad but the rest of the Doms remained at Varanasi. Cremation is big business in this city, adds Chakravarty.

Chakravarty feels the Doms, normally found near Manikarnika and Raja Harishchandra Ghat, can never be replaced even if the government tries to push gas-fired crematoriums. It's the touch and feel factor that works in Varanasi; cremations must take place next to the holy river so that the belief of complete moksha stays.

At Manikarnika, Devi handles her clients, the list ranging from the grandfather of a troubled family where everyone is fighting for the heirloom silver, to a luckless farmer who had to borrow the cash needed to bring his mothers body on a lorry for cremation here. And there are bodies coming from Varanasi, Mughal Sarai, Lucknow, even Allahabad which has the venerated Sangam, the confluence of three rivers, Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati.

Ashok, who runs what he calls 'a trendy lassi shop' near the Manikarnika Ghat (because it is the only one with WiFi and is very popular with foreigners), says the Doms may be outcasts in the Hindu hierarchy system but are not looked down upon in this ancient city. Those news reports of people making way for the Dom Raja and his family are pure fiction, available in plenty in Western bestsellers, he says.

Devi agrees. I am the last person in ones lifespan, I open the door to the heaven [sic], says Devi.

Standing close by is Prabodh, who has just lit the pyre of his ailing father, the fire spitting orange embers into an inky night. Devi made sure he walked around the fire five times to honour the five elements  fire, water, earth, air and ether  as per Hindu custom.

Why Varanasi when the Ganga flows through Bihar too?

Everyone wants to go to heaven, Prabodh murmured. No one disputes him, definitely not in Varanasi, or elsewhere in India.
I never got to meet her. Now I never will. For at least a decade I have read poetry, like an outsider, not through syllabi or prescribed courses, but simply by looking at who had written what and gobbling whatever the free Internet or friends cared to share. Reputations meant little. To me, a boy living in the hills, there was no distinguishing the city poets from those who wrote from farther away. These were homogenised voices, and within them I looked for what inspired, or touched me the most. In a way, it was thoroughly organic. I did not find Eunice de Souza, she found me. A decade on, last year, I happened to have the privilege of reading and writing about her latest, and now last, book. It has been quite a journey, and she has been there all along.

At least five years into reading her scattered poems (her books were not available in my hometown Shimla) I identified de Souzas work as detached from her academic pedigree. This was poetry that was both urgent and ahead of its time. There was lightness in the language, and an unsparing light cast on the otherness in people and in life, that de Souza always seemed to focus on. To someone like me, reading these poems during the breaks of a backbreaking IT job and the monotony of making-a-life echoed a question most people I knew wanted the answer to: Why does one read poetry? Or why does one write poetry?

When I arrived in Pune, a few hours journey from where De Souza lived, I began learning about the people behind the voices. The socio-cultural histories and whatever politics shaped poetry in our country. She taught. I had never learned. At times I felt it was unfair. At other times, it felt like she was right there, in her poems. In Otherness/Wise she wrote:

Youre poems are no longer

messages for me

and mine have become

an epitaph

When you learn, as I did about her through countless articles, essays and reviews, usually a piece of work dramatically changes in the next reading. You are sort of asked to walk the rope of gratitude, of humble admiration, before your aesthetic even arrives at what the poet is trying to say and the way they do it. In the case of de Souza, though, that never happened. Her poetry has always had this elegiac quality, as if she always writes pre-prestige but post-event. She has always retained the urgency of utterance, of unforgiving, blithe observations. And while her ability to draw ironies will remain unmatched, her greatest accomplishment, at least for me personally, lay in the way she dealt with feminism. In One Mans Poetry she writes:

Chances are

my father himself

didn't wish to die.

My mother watched by his bedside

and never forgave herself

for being asleep

the night he died.

He left a desk, a chair,

a typewriter, and a notebook.

At family gatherings

my mother smiled

in her best faded chiffon

and travelled third with her in-laws travelling first

in the same train.

The break after gatherings is where my heart has sunk several times. Eunice de Souza  seamless yet jarring. It is a bit discomforting to dissect her poetry on the day of her passing. She was, of course, a friend to many, a guardian to some, a hope to others and an inspiration to someone like me. More than inspiration, her poems helped me feel at home and simplify my own diction. Whether I did justice to those lessons, I may never know. But when a poet passes away, where else does one look to find what they have left behind? In a review of her last book Learn from the Almond Leaf, I said that poetry was perhaps literature written in the wrong season. de Souza thrived through them all. Along the way she was brave, direct and crucially self-critical. In Dont Look For My Life in these Poems she wrote:

Poems can have order, sanity,

aesthetic distance from debris.

Along the stretch of that distance the world now exists, but barely distinguishable from debris. Poetry, perhaps, still assigns it its humanity, its design, its capacity to be home, to someone  anyone. Poetry perhaps is the only thing that is not debris. Everything else now moves at shutter-speeds and crumbles even faster. So why shouldnt one read poetry?

During my years in Pune, I somehow kept writing and reading. I told myself Id write to her someday, maybe tell her how, for some inexplicable reason I found myself in her verse. But Id have to worthy. Id have to be good enough for Eunice to consider me a student she had unknowingly taught all along. Maybe she could help me understand why we did what we did. But de Souzas poems rarely addressed fabled meetings. Anyway, we met last October, in her last book, on some random page that I will keep open in memory. Because her poetry was about and for others; someone like you, someone like me. Who writes poetry, you ask? Eunice De Souza, does. She did. She really did. But sadly, wont anymore.
Lucknow: After Bihar and Gujarat, convulsions were witnessed in the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh where four MLCs quit their parties on Saturday, with a BSP MLC even joining the BJP.

Former Chief Minister and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of being behind the resignations of his party MLCs.

The three SP lawmakers are Bukkal Nawab, Yashwant Singh and Madhukar Jaitley, while the BSP legislator is Thakur Jaiveer Singh, who was a minister in the Mayawati government during her 2007-2012 reign.

Singh's nephew Upendra Singh 'Neetu', the district panchayat chief of Aligarh, also joined the BJP.

Bukkal Nawab was very close to former party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and owed his prominence to him until he decided to side with Akhilesh Yadav in the turf war within the party earlier this year. Yashwant Singh is a close aide of independent legislator from Kunda, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias 'Raja Bhaiyya'. There is speculation that he may switch to the BJP.

Madhukar Jaitley, also a close aide of Mulayam Yadav, was a state minister level functionary in the Samajwadi Party government and was advisor to Akhilesh Yadav on externally aided projects, including Lucknow Metro.

Jaitley threw his weight behind Mulayam Yadav after his son overthrew him and took over as national president of the party. Jaitley was one of the few who openly rebuked and challenged Akhilesh Yadav in his hey days as chief minister and slammed him for the "shoddy treatment" meted out to the senior Yadav.

Bukkal Nawab is facing many probes currently, specially of land grabbing.

Nawab had created waves some time ago by saying he would be happy to carry the first brick to Ayodhya for the construction of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya and that he would also financially contribute to it.

The resignations from the SP coincided with the arrival of Amit Shah in the state capital on a three-day visit to interact with party leaders.

Alleging a conspiracy, Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of indulging in political corruption from "Bihar to UP". "People are watching everything," he said.

"The BJP is behind the resignations of SP MLCs. Bukkal Nawaab is an old member of our party. I had also gone to meet him on Eid. What is the reason that he has changed... They (BJP) lure some MLCs to their side," he said.

Nawab said the SP has become a "Samajwadi akhada (wrestling ground)". He attacked Akhilesh Yadav and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"If they call us, then I might go to the BJP," he said, adding that many more SP members will join the BJP.

While in Bihar, the BJP effected a switch-over by the JD (U), led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, to form a coalition government, in Gujarat, six Congress MLAs have resigned, threatening the chances of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel in the 8 August Rajya Sabha election.
Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday alleged that the BJP was behaving in an undemocratic manner, by virtually keeping morality at bay.

"The BJP is exercising pressure on public representatives in the states of Bihar, Gujarat, Goa, Manipur and Uttar Pradesh to change their political parties. In UP, some ministers, including the chief minister, are yet to become MLAs.

"They should become MLAs after contesting the elections, and not by trying to make the sitting MLCs (Members of Legislative Council) resign. This is political corruption," he said.

The Samajwadi Party president also accused the BJP of having an "anti-people" and "anti-development" agenda, while also being against "socialism and secularism".

Invoking party ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia, Akhilesh said he equated speaking lies and breaking promises with corruption.

"The BJP is encouraging political corruption in a big way. The BJP is trying to break the opposition legislators by alluring and pressuring them. This amounts to insult of the mandate of the people. The BJP is against socialism and secularism. We have to remain alert of the BJP's casteist and communal politics," he was quoted as saying in party statement.

He also hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government for "insulting" shikshamitras (ad-hoc teachers).

The ad-hoc teachers had launched an agitation across the state on Thursday after the Supreme Court had upheld the Allahabad High Court verdict of September 2015 which had quashed their appointment as full-time teachers by the Akhilesh Yadav regime.

"Injustice has been done to the Shikshamitras. Some lives have been lost. The state government must give Rs 50 lakh financial assistance to the kin of the deceased," Akhilesh said, according to the statement.
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
Negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over technical concerns on Ethiopias Grand Renaissance Dam are still ongoing, Egypts irrigation minister told Al-Ahram Daily in press statements.

In an interview published on Saturday, minister Mohamed Abdel-Ati told Al-Ahram that talks have not been abandoned, adding that Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are also discussing when an upcoming technical and political round of talks between the three countries would be held.

We hope they take place soon, because not reaching a resolution at the right time would be a problem for all. Reaching consensus between all parties is in everyone's interest, he said.

The statements by the minister come as the three countries try to agree on a fixed date to hold a postponed trilateral committee meeting in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.

Abdel-Ati said that the three countries have reached consensus over a partial report presented by the two consultancy firms conducting impact studies on the dam. However, another part of the report has provoked disagreement between the three countries over its methodology.

Were working on reaching a consensus. As negotiators, we do not surrender, Abdel-Ati said.

The studies by the French firms Artelia and BRL, expected to take 11 months from their start date in late 2016, include the managing of water and hydroelectric resources as well as an assessment of the cross-border environmental, social and economic impact of the mega project.

It is not in any partys interest to have disharmony in the region. Only through dialogue can obstacles be overcome," Abdel-Al said.

Abdel-Ati also dismissed rumours that Ethiopia has started filling the dam's reservoir, though he said that 60 percent of construction on the dam has been completed, and that the filling process is expected to start in October.

The minister stressed that Egypt does not object to the dam construction as a development strategy, but that the countries affected should reach an agreement in order to avoid crisis.

Egypt will be the most affected [by the dam], and that is why we are seeking trilateral cooperation to reduce any [negative] effect, he elaborated.

Cairo has expressed concerns that the construction of the dam, which is more than half-way complete, could negatively impact Egypt's share of Nile water.

Addis Ababa, however, has maintained that the dam project, which Ethiopia says is vital for generating electricity, will not harm downstream countries, with Ethiopian FM Workneh Gebeyehu assuring Egyptians in April during a first-time Cairo visit that Ethiopia would never harm the Egyptian people and their interests.

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Mumbai: The Mumbai Congress on Friday threatened to 'gherao' the Mumbai University (MU) campus if the varsity does not declare results of all examinations by 31 July.

Talking to reporters, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee chief Sanjay Nirupam said Education Minister Vinod Tawde and Minister of State for Education Ravindra Waikar should resign for the "inordinate delay" in declaration of results.

The Congress workers will 'gherao' the MU campus if the university does not declare results of all examinations by 31 July, he said.

Nirupam's remarks came a day after the university extended the non-instructional (lecture-free) days by four more days to concentrate on exam paper evaluation.

In a circular issued on Thursday evening, officiating director of examination Deepak Wasave extended the non-instructional days till 31 July, for the arts, law and commerce faculties.

The university has taken the decision in a bid to meet the 31 July deadline for result declaration set by Chancellor and Governor Vidyasagar Rao.

Earlier this week, firing a fresh salvo against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Maharashtra, bickering ally Shiv Sena sought resignation of Tawde and MU vice-chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh over the 'mess' in the university's online assessment process.

Aaditya, Yuva Sena chief and the son of Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, met the governor at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Monday and sought action against Tawde, a senior BJP minister, and Deshmukh.
Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will get 55 percent vote share in 2019 general elections to retain power, party's national spokesman GVL Narasimha Rao claimed on Saturday.

He said with 73 percent Indians supporting Narendra Modi's government, as showed by a recent survey, and the BJP coming to power in one state after the other, the NDA's vote share would go up to 55 per cent from the 42 per cent it polled in 2014.

Rao said this would be only the second time in the independent India that a government would be formed with over 50 percent vote share.

The BJP leader also forecast that for the first time, the Congress would get less than 10 per cent votes.

He also cited the survey by global polling giant Gallup, which revealed that with the support of 73 percent, Modi is the most popular leader and his government is among the most trusted in the world.

Rao said that the BJP was expanding across the country and coming to power in states, where nobody gave it a chance. "What opposition has seen is just a trickle. BJP electoral tsunami will take states like Telangana, Karnataka, Odisha and West Bengal," he said.

The BJP spokesman claimed that Karnataka was already in the BJP fold as the party was sure to win with a two-thirds majority.

He attributed the massive expansion of BJP across the county to its positive politics and positive governance and the leadership of Modi and party president Amit Shah.

"On the other hand Congress has become symbol of all negative values in politics. It's contraction is due to corruption, its support to Pakistani elements and Kashmiri separatists and its vote bank politics," he said.

Rao said Congress would be completely wiped out under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. "Rahul Gandhi will be the last dynast in the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty," he added.

Pointing out that the NDA had 33 parties, he said the partners were benefiting because of their alliance with the BJP.

He blamed the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for losing their government in Bihar, saying they did not learn lessons from their mistakes and supported corruption.

Defending the BJP move to join hands with Janata Dal (United), he said the people of Bihar had given a mandate for good governance but Nitish Kumar realised that he couldn't deliver this in alliance with the RJD.

Rao said it was a master stroke by the BJP as it not only got a state back in its governance but also weakened the opposition Grand Alliance.
With the exception of Navjot Singh Sidhu, many other politicians seem to be siding with the dominant political tide in the country. Since 2014, a number of leaders have decided to join the BJP and leave their own parties, which are at the losing side of the political battle.

The 'Modi wave' which was thought to have captured most Indians since the 2014 general election, has also arrested the attention of other parties' MLAs. They seem to want to share a slice of the winning pie by associating with the saffron party's mega plan of coming to power across the country.

However, not all defectors have helped the BJP in bringing an electoral windfall. Nevertheless, they have all added to the demoralisation in their respective parties. It is seen as a symbolic defeat of others and a major (again, symbolic) victory by the BJP.

The recent incident in a spree of defections to the BJP were three Congress MLAs in Gujarat. On Thursday, Congress chief whip and MLA from Siddhpur Balwantsinh Rajput, Tejashree Patel from Viramgam, and Vijapur legislator PI Patel submitted their resignations.

Within minutes of their joining the BJP, Rajput was named the saffron party's third Rajya Sabha candidate. BJP chief Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani are the other two candidates fielded by the party.

While it is yet to be seen if Rajput wins the Rajya Sabha seat for the BJP, the switch has certainly sent Congress into flutters. The petrified Congress has flown over 40 of its MLAs to Bengaluru to prevent them from being "poached" by the BJP.

Just days before this, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar abandoned the Grand Alliance, which he had formed to defeat the "communal" BJP, to join the saffron party yet again.

It could have been because of a fear of being left out with the rising popularity of the BJP or differences with alliance partner and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, or both. However, with Nitish embracing the NDA again, the BJP has another state in its kitty and Nitish got to keep his post of the chief minister of Bihar.

The other high-profile defection, which warranted a press conference, was that of former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

Months before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, Joshi, who after unsuccessfully contesting parliamentary elections twice managed to win only an MLA seat from Lucknow cantonment, announced her decision to join the BJP in a press conference with BJP chief Amit Shah.

While her exit from the Congress wasnt thought to have either gained the BJP significantly or hurt the already low prospects of the Congress, it was only a disadvantage to the Grand Old Party on a psychological level, according to The Wire.

However by siding with the BJP, Joshi outdid herself in the 2017 Assembly election and defeated Samajwadi Party's Aparna Yadav. She is now a minister in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths cabinet.

Before Joshi, former Bahujan Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya had also joined the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Maurya, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly before he quit the BSP, joined the BJP in the presence of party president Amit Shah at the BJP headquarters. He even won the Padrauna seat with 93,649 votes. After him, Brajesh Pathak, a senior BSP leader and a prominent Brahmin face in the party also decided to join the BJP.

After winning Uttar Pradesh, the BJP started looking south, where its presence is still scant. In preparation for Karnataka polls, the BJP inducted former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna in March 2017.

Of all the southern states, the BJP is closest to power in Karnataka. It is now trying to improve its strength with the induction of leaders from other parties, according to NDTV.

The departure of a leader as experienced as Krishna would have also wreaked damage on the Congress, but in a subtle psychological way rather than in direct electoral terms. The BJP is expected to benefit from Krishna's knowledge of the Congress.

After Krishna, former MP M Shivanna also decided to quit Congress and join the BJP. Shivanna decided to join the BJP, along with his supporters, citing unhappiness with the Congress leadership.

While, BJPs model of poaching leaders of other parties has worked well for Uttar Pradesh, it possibly started with Assam.

Former health and education minister and a close confidant of former chief minister Tarun gogoi, Himanta Biswa Sarma joined the BJP in 2015. Sarmas joining the BJP sent shivers through the rank and file of the ruling Congress party.

Sarma became the convener of BJPs Election Management Committee for the 2016 Assembly elections in Assam. He is the face of the party for the entire North East and the convener of the North East Democratic Alliance, the BJP-led alliance of non-Congress parties of the North East. He is also known as the party's chief Machiavelli there.

Another prominent entrant has been V Srinivasa Prasad, a Dalit leader from Mysuru, who was dumped by Siddaramaiah from his ministry. This move was also seen as a jolt to the ruling Congress in the state.

Prasad was BJPs candidate for the Nanjangud by polls. However, after losing the election, he announced his retirement from electoral politics.

The BJP also came to power earlier this year without contesting any election after chief minister Pema Khandu decided to switch loyalties. He shifted to the BJP with 33 legislators. It was an easy win for the BJP, who had supported Khandu after the Peoples Party of Arunachal temporarily suspended him, his deputy Chowna Mein, and five MLAs for alleged anti-party activities.

Apart from these legislators, who have benefitted the saffron party in one way or the other, there are reports of others joining the BJP soon.

There are speculations that Congressman Narayan Rane may cross over to the BJP after he met Maharashtra Tourism Minister and BJP MLA Jaykumar Rawal.

While Shankersinh Vaghela announced his decision to quit the Congress, he also announced that he doesnt plan on joining any other political party. However, there are speculations that Amit Shah was the mastermind behind his grand exit.
New Delhi: Congress leader Manish Tewari on Saturday said that the BJP was threatening Congress MLAs and their families ahead of Rajya Sabha elections and pressurising them to "vote in a particular manner" in Gujarat.

Accompanied by party leader Anand Sharma, Tewari gave a memorandum to the Election Commission saying: "Earlier they were threatening our MLAs and now they are threatening their families that if you (MLAs) did not vote in a particular manner (as the BJP tells them to vote) on 8 August, they should be ready to bear the consequences."

"You misuse the police and the government machinery. What kind of democracy is this?" Tewari asked.

He said that when the MLAs were taken to a "safe place", the Bharatiya Janata Party started threatening their families. "Such harassment and murder of democracy has never happened."

Since Thursday, six legislators of the Congress have resigned from the party and joined the BJP. To avoid poaching of its MLAs, the Congress has shifted its 44 MLAs from Gujarat to a private resort in Bengaluru.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumars decision to switch from the Grand Alliance to the NDA has come to signify to many the primacy of anti-corruption over secularism in Indian polity. It has inspired them to conclude that in the India of 2017, secularism is seen to have lesser importance, even to the point of becoming irrelevant, than what it was, say, even three decades ago. This stream of thought is evident in the responses of readers to my article.

Against the backdrop of Bihar, it is pertinent to ask:

What kind of political consciousness demands we choose between clean governance and secularism or, for that matter, between communalism and corruption? Is this a justifiable choice? If yes, who are the people who assign infinitely greater importance to one over the other, and why?

The Indian version of secularism, unlike the European one, demands the Indian state must pay equal respect to all religions. It has triggered competition among groups to pressure the Indian state to accord greater respect to their religion.

However, this competition has certainly degenerated over the last three years, evident in a series of mob lynchings over the cow and consumption of beef. People sporting markers of religious identity are targeted. Inter-faith courtship is looked askance at, even inviting intimidation. In fact, the issue is now more about humanism than secularism.

Otherwise too, the pathology of communalism is reflected in the spree of rewriting textbooks, often taken by earlier regimes too, to promote their own ideologies. Nevertheless, it does not behove India to discard the principles of rationality and evidence in the endeavour of tailoring the production of knowledge.

Our credulity is indeed tested when it is claimed that Maharana Pratap vanquished Akbar in the battle of Haldighati. It is certainly a one-dimensional approach to history that ignores Aurangzeb supporting temples through land grants even as he destroyed some. It is undeniably ahistorical to claim that the discriminatory caste system emerged under Muslim rule, as so many Sangh ideologues insist.

Corruption in India has as long a history as the sharp contestation over secularism. Corruption mars governance, reduces state resources to waste, harasses people, thwarts competition for jobs, and impedes delivery of goods and services to the people. It skews, even subverts, anti-poverty programmes.

The menace of corruption makes us Indians praise any politician perceived to be clean or who takes a high moral ground on the issue of corruption, which has also become the symbol of degeneration of Indian polity.

But India can be cleansed through systemic changes, not through the intervention of an occasional politician who is billed as a paragon of moral rectitude.

This is because democracy in India has become a prohibitively expensive business. The sheer magnitude of finance required to fight, let alone win elections in India, has the political class taking recourse to black money. You have to be politically naive or duplicitous to believe that the treasure-chest of any of the political parties is completely legit. This includes the national parties  the BJP and the Congress  and all state-based outfits, including the JD(U).

Given the erosion of our public life because of communalism and corruption, what makes people categorise one of the two as a bigger evil? The answer will vary from individual to individual, depending on the threat corruption and communalism pose to each personally.

For sure, the majoritarian violence, as seen in the spate of mob lynching, worries innumerable Hindus. But it is not hard to imagine why it should pose a greater existential threat to the religious minorities, particularly Muslims.

In India, there is no escaping your name. You may shave off your beard or stop wearing the skull cap or the scarf over your head, but a Muslim name is a giveaway to the persons religious identity.

No wonder, the mushrooming of vigilante groups has fanned the anxieties and fears of the religious minorities.

By contrast, the majoritarian violence has not yet grown to render Hindus vulnerable. Their names and religious markers are their protection, although a few Hindus holding an opinion or acting in contradiction to Hindutva have been lampooned, trolled and attacked. For a good many Hindus, therefore, corruption poses a greater problem than communalism, in the firing line of which they are largely not present.

No doubt, corruption affects Muslims as well, at times in combination with communalism. But corruption does not pose as acute an existential problem as communalism does. This is why a substantial percentage of Muslims will rally behind those who appear tainted as long as they are thought to be their saviour.

Having to pay bribe under a corrupt regime is preferable to feeling anxious whether you might be beaten by fellow passengers in a train only because you happen to be Muslim.

Likewise, a large segment of Hindus will tend to support a leader who appears clean or has no documented evidence of corruption against him or her. For them, Hindu communalism has little salience, but Muslim communalism does. It is seen as a threat to Hindus, to the nation. Beginning the Gujarat Assembly elections of 2002, a concerted attempt has been made to turn democratic battles into one between Hindus and Muslims. Of this, the most recent example is the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Muslims bear the brunt of Hindu communalism, but they also bear the burden of Muslim communalism, at times exaggerated, at times very true.

Obviously, both clean governance and secularism become slogans for consolidating vote-banks, as instruments of mobilisation. Many write-ups have pointed out that if Lalu is corrupt, then what about the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh? This week, the 44th accused in the scam committed suicide. Others have died in what is called 'mysterious circumstances'. What about the land that BJP-ruled states gave to Baba Ramdev on hefty discounts that run into crores and crores of rupees, as Reuters pointed out recently?

These do not become headlines because the voters of the BJP, in an example of myopia, do not see it as threatening to their lives. They did not find it objectionable that Adityanath should become chief minister despite having made virulent, menacing remarks against Muslims, who, by contrast, take it as a dire symbol of the future awaiting them.

This is precisely why Nitish Kumar could so easily subvert the principle of secularism to his slogan of combating corruption. He knows that Hindus who support the BJP and even those who support the RJD and the Congress will not take to the streets against him for betraying the 2015 mandate. There will be protests here and there, but it will peter out. But the same Hindu supporters of the RJD  and perhaps in the changed circumstances, those of the Congress too  will vent fury should Kumar, say, seek to roll back reservations.

Sadly then, secularism and clean governance are political conveniences and tactics to win majorities  it all depends on which of the two is more politically advantageous at a given point in time.

This is the calculation that Kumar, rather cynically, made before switching from the Grand Alliance to the BJP.

(Ajaz Ashraf is a journalist in Delhi. His novel, The Hour Before Dawn, has as its backdrop the demolition of the Babri Masjid.)
Ali Anwars revolt against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumars recent somersault has raised fresh questions about the direction Pasmanda (backward) Muslim politics will take in Bihar. Anwar, the second-term Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament on the JD(U) ticket, is the most visible face of the backward Muslim movement not only in Bihar but in the entire country.

Anwar struck the first signs of dissent within the JD(U) against Nitish Kumars decision to jettison RJD and embrace the BJP to form a government in Bihar. Just hours before Nitish Kumar was sworn-in as chief minister with BJP's support, he said: Nitish Kumar has joined hands with the BJP after listening to his conscience. However, my conscience does not allow me to endorse his decision.

The mild-mannered Anwar did not elaborate on his plans. He merely said that he would put his viewpoint in the appropriate party forum.

But the very fact that he went public with his discordant note suggests that he was under immediate pressure from his constituents to distance himself from Nitish Kumars opportunistic move.

Anwar was a journalist with Hindi and Urdu newspapers in Patna (many of his writings were translated and published by the English newspapers as well) before he pioneered the Pasmanda Muslim movement in the late 1990s. That was a period  in the aftermath of the Mandal agitation  when backward castes had moved from being a larger social community into the reigning political force in major Hindi heartland states. Backward caste leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav had then captured political power, dethroning the upper caste leaders who ruled for decades after independence.

However, this backward caste upsurge was confined to the Hindus; there were no signs of similar upheaval in the Muslim community. Of course, the traditional Muslim leaders had tried to perpetuate the myth that Islam did not brook any caste division. But the myth of a casteless Muslim community had been busted by Professor Imtiaz Ahmad of the JNU, whose seminal work Caste and Social Stratification among the Muslims had been internationally acclaimed as a scholarly work way back in the 1970s. But the Muslim leadership patronised by the likes of Lalu Yadav belonged to the traditional upper caste among the Muslims and relentlessly opposed any special considerations for the backward Muslims.

The Muslims in Bihar constitute almost 17 percent of the population; and the Pasmanda documents tell us that more than 80 percent of the Muslims are the descendents of middle and lower caste Hindus who had converted to Islam in different phases of history. However, most of the prize positions given to the Muslim community had been appropriated by the upper caste Muslims.

This had been the practice when the upper caste Hindus held the reins of power during the Congress regime; but the practice continued even after the backward caste Hindus came to power in a state like Bihar. Lalu Yadav became the chief minister in 1990 in the aftermath of the implementation of the Mandal legislation by the VP Singh government. In the next five years, he shook up the social and political establishment by reinforcing the dominance of the backward castes in every sphere of the society.

But the Muslims were largely left out of this process of churning. Take the case of 1995 Bihar assembly election: There were 23 elected Muslim MLAs out of which 17 (almost 75 percent) belonged to the upper castes. The Bihar Assembly in the year 2000 did not see much of a difference: The count of the backward Muslims, in fact, came down further, to barely 22 percent.

That was the time when the Backward Muslim Movement began. There were two pioneers of this movement in Bihar: one was Ajaz Ali who founded All India Backward Muslim Morcha (AIBMM). He stridently advocated that Dalit descendents of the Hindu community who had converted to Islam must be recognised as Scheduled Castes and given all the benefits of reservation. But because of a variety of reasons, including lack of political patronage, the Morcha could not carry forward the movement beyond a point.

However, Ali Anwars Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (PMM) made rapid progress in mobilising the backward Muslims and providing them a political platform to assert their rights and make use of the existing provisions for their benefit.

It may be noted that the so-called backward Muslims had been incorporated by the Bihar government in the OBC list first in 1951 and later in 1978 and they were eligible for certain statutory benefits, but most of them were unable to do so because of lack of awareness as well as education. As a result, the special benefits largely accrued to the upper caste Muslims.

The new political platform posed a fundamental challenge to the upper caste domination within the Muslim community. This challenge was reflected in that famous slogan of the movement directed at the upper caste Muslims that said: Vote hamara fatwa, tumhara nahi chalega (your command for our vote will not work anymore)". Another slogan of the PMM was directed at the political leaders and parties: Jo Pasmanda ki baat karega, wahi Bihar pe raaj karega (whoever recognises the Pasmanda demand would rule over Bihar)."

Lalu Yadav did not  or, could not  heed this call as he was completely under the grip of the upper caste Muslims who, incidentally, managed to deliver the votes of lower caste Muslims to the RJD. Conceding ground to Pasmandas would have alienated the powerful upper caste Muslims from Lalu Yadav.

Nitish Kumar, who had broken away from Lalu Yadavs RJD to form a separate party in 1994, was seeking to mobilise the extreme backward castes as a counter to Yadav-dominated outfit. He found in Ali Anwars PMM a vehicle to break the stranglehold of Lalu Yadav on the Muslim vote bank. That is why he made common cause with Anwar who, in turn, extended political support to Nitish Kumars JD(U).

Nitish Kumars spectacular success in the October 2005 Assembly election had much to do with snatching away a sizeable section of the Muslim vote, thanks to the support of the PMM. A gratified Nitish Kumar acknowledged as much by sending Ali Anwar to the Rajya Sabha in 2006. Anwars support again proved crucial for Nitish Kumars party in the 2010 election. That ensured his re-election to the Rajya Sabha in 2012.

There is now a question mark over PMMs  and Ali Anwars  support to Nitish Kumar. It is difficult to believe that Nitish Kumar would be able to persuade Ali Anwar to remain in the JD(U) after this weeks developments. Had there been any scope of continued loyalty to the party and leader, the usually non-controversial Anwar would not have gone public with his differences. It is clear that the strong feelings of his constituents made him take that public stand.

Of course, questions will be raised as to why he had associated himself with Nitish Kumar when he had an alliance with the BJP for several years, if he finds it unacceptable now. Ali Anwar was asked that question in 2005 itself. His answer then was: "There is no BJP government at the Centre. So the BJP or its associates cannot do in Bihar what they did in Gujarat.

That explains Anwars revolt earlier this week.
Jagdalpur: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded the resignation of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh over the Panama Papers issue, citing the case of Nawaz Sharif who quit as Pakistani prime minister.

Gandhi alleged, "Sharif resigned after his and his family's name figured in the Panama Papers scandal but chief minister Raman Singh's family is also facing allegations in the Panama Papers issue and he has not yet resigned."

"It is because he belongs to the RSS and the BJP and they can indulge in corruption," he said wryly.

Last year, the Congress had alleged Singh's son Abhishek held offshore assets as per the Panama Papers leak.

The Panama Papers are leaked documents of about 1.15 crore files containing details of about 2.15 lakh bank accounts.

Both the chief minister and his son, the Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon, had rubbished the allegations. The chief minister had described the charges as "baseless and unfounded".

Gandhi, on a two-day tour to the state, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of overlooking the corruption of the BJP chief ministers.

"Modiji talks about fighting corruption, but he can't see the corruption of the Chhattisgarh chief minister. The Rajasthan chief minister, too, has been linked to corruption, but Modiji is not speaking about it," the Congress leader alleged.

He was addressing a rally in Markel, a tribal village near here in Bastar district. The rally was organised to oppose the proposed disinvestment of the NMDC's steel plant in Nagarnar area. The plant in Markel is under construction.

"For the first time in the country, I have seen that a steel plant, which is still being set up, is being privatised. People from the RSS and the BJP don't want development of tribals," he alleged.

"They want you to become slaves of rich people in big cities," claimed the 47-year-old Amethi MP, addressing the gathering which mostly comprised adivasis.

Gandhi alleged that land and forests belonging to tribals are being snatched and given to industrialists.

In 2004, Tata Steel proposed to set up a plant in Bastar for which people gave their land but later the company scrapped its plan. The acquired land was not given back to owners, the Congress leader alleged.
New Delhi: Rattled by the resignation of half a dozen of its legislators in Gujarat ahead of the 8 August Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress on Saturday approached the Election Commission in Delhi on Saturday and demanded a high-level probe into alleged horse-trading by the BJP.

A delegation of senior Congress leaders  Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Manish Tiwari, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Vivek Tankha met the EC and submitted a memorandum.

The delegation asked the EC to "forthwith constitute a high power committee of independent persons/officers to enquire into charges of money power, muscle power and blatant abuse of government machinery for purpose of engineering defections and resignations of Congress MLAs".

Jolted by the exit of six of its lawmakers since Thursday, the Congress on Saturday herded 44 of its remaining 51 MLAs in the 182-seat Gujarat Assembly to Bengaluru.

The Congress alleged that at least three of its MLAs  Punabhai Gamit (Vyara), Mangalbhai Gamit (Dang) and Ishwarbhai Patel (Dharampur)  have been approached by the "BJP and its agents to defect in consideration of monetary allurements".

"The state government, administration and police are being used (for influencing MLAs). It is sad that it is all being done in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Azad, who led the delegation, told mediapersons after meeting the EC.

"We also asked the EC to transfer or suspend all such officials involved in this shameful activity...who abducted, kidnapped our MLAs," he added.

Sharma said that the stories of Congress MLAs not being happy with the party and therefore defecting are "not true".

"How come a party that does not have enough MLAs to field a third candidate for Rajya Sabha, steals an opposition MLA and puts that person up as a candidate...Such a thing has never happened...It's an assault on democracy," Sharma said.

The Congress party had raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha on Friday and asked the Chairman to direct the Election Commission to take notice of the matter. Its members forced repeated adjournments in the House on the issue.

The Chair asked the Congress MPs to approach the EC with their grievances.

Congress veteran leader and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's Political Secretary Ahmed Patel is contesting the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat.
Kolkata West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday extended its support to Congress candidate Pradip Bhattacharya for the coming Rajya Sabha polls, opening up possibilities of a new political alignment in the state.

While the Trinamool has nominated five candidates, Bhattacharya and Left Front(LF) nominee Bikash Bhattacharya entered the contest on Friday, making it a seven horse race for the six seats.

"All five of our candidates will win. And we will support Congress' Pradip Bhattacharya for the sixth seat", Banerjee told media persons in the state Assembly after parleys with the Congress aspirant and the leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan.

Emerging from the discussions, Bhattacharya took potshots at the Left for fielding Bikash Bhattacharya.

"Those with whom we were in discussions, who had given their word, we had expected their backing and help", he said.

However, LF chairman Biman Bose told the media earlier on Friday that the coalition had to take a last-minute decision to field Bikash Bhattacharya after the Congress renominated sitting member Pradip Bhattacharya.

A few months back, there were talks of the Congress supporting CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, if nominated by the party. However, Yechury's candidature was shot down by his own party's central committee.

"We were trying to zero in on an outstanding personality outside the periphery of party politics as a common candidate acceptable to all quarters (read Congress and LF). We lost two days looking for such a candidate", Bose said.

"We had no idea that Pradip Bhattacharya is contesting. That was announced unilaterally by them (Congress). So, we had to hold an emergency meeting and decide our candidate", he added.

But the chief minister snapped at the LF.

"Why are they saying he (Bikash) is apolitical? He is not an apolitical person. He functioned as Kolkata mayor when the LF ran the Kolkata Corporation."

But on the other hand, state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, known for his antipathy to the Trinamool, downplayed the significance of the RS poll tie-up between the two.

"We have given our candidate. Who is supporting or not is their problem? If Trinamool has the guts, they can put up a candidate. They are supporting us, because they know their sixth candidate will not win", he said.

As per the West Bengal assembly arithmetic, the five Trinamool candidates  Derek O'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Dola Sen, Manas Bhunia and Santa Chettri  are expected to sail through on the strength of the party's numbers.
Rajya Sabha witnessed a blatant case of irreverence to constitutional morality by senior Congressmen Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma on Friday when they along with other Congress MPs disrupted the proceedings of the House several times on a ground as flimsy as losing of Congress MLAs to the BJP in Gujarat.

The episode wiped out an entire days proceeding of the House by keeping Rajya Sabha embroiled in a rather needless, misplaced and hysteric ruckus that cost the nation dearly in terms of both time and money.

It is to be noted that the episode took place at a time when two of the states of the nation  Gujarat and Assam  are being ravaged by devastating floods rendering lakhs of people food and shelter less. In such an hour of crisis, the nation expects its public representatives to ensure that the attention, time and resources of Parliament are directed towards mitigating the immediate sufferings of the people.

As per a government estimate, which the NDTV reported, the Parliament conducts its session only for 80 days in a year. Each minute of these sessions cost the exchequer a hefty sum of Rs 2.5 lakh.

The pandemonium on Friday resulted in a huge waste of these resources of the Upper House which is nothing but open display of brutal power politics. This is certainly a case of ruthless moral offence through the eyes of lakhs of hapless flood victims spread across Assam and Gujarat.

Prior to the Friday episode, Congress MP from Assam, Ripun Bora showed the zest to speak on the issue of devastating floods in the state. But Rajya Sabha was so pressed with time, that he could hardly be allowed to speak for 10 minutes by the Speaker. In his brief speech, he mentioned that more than 26 lakh people were marooned in the floods and more than 80 people lost their lives.

A Times of India report said that more than 1 lakh people had to be evacuated in Gujarat during the unprecedented flood witnessed by the state.

In the face of such grave situations prevailing in both the states and the Parliament being so pressed with time, was it not a moral responsibility of the MPs to be judicious in spending the time of the House to facilitate more questions on the sufferings and miseries of the hapless flood-affected people? Doesn't deviating from this responsibility tantamount to denying them justice which is also a moral principle held so dear by the Constitution of India?

In a country like India where the citizens Right to recall is not provided for in the Constitution, the moral principles of the Constitution remain the guiding light for one and all.

Ashok Agarwal, an advocate of Delhi High Court, who fought numerous Public Interest Litigations related to the constitutional and fundamental rights of the citizens, told Firstpost that indeed there are some grey areas in the Indian Constitution. But in such areas, the moral principles hailed by the Constitution provides the direction.

"There is no provision for any legal remedy to the citizen in the Constitution if the public representative wastes time and resources of the House or fails to fulfil his responsibilities as a representative," says the lawyer and activist.

"But it does not mean that the Constitution allows the public representatives to throw away their duties and responsibilities. Rather, the moral principles of justice and equality prohibit them from doing so," he said.

Agarwal also said that the Constitution expects the public representatives to fulfil their responsibilities under the light of the moral principles of justice and equality or the constitutional morality.

Friday's episode in the Rajya Sabha proved the Congress MPs utter irreverence to these axioms.

The ruckus in the House began after Sharma raised the issue of his party losing MLAs to the saffron party. Azad taking the cue of the issue accused the BJP of kidnapping and hijacking MLAs to win the Rajya Sabha election. He also alleged involvement of Gujarat Police officials in abduction of the MLAs.

The plain submission of the Deputy Speaker PJ Kurien who was in the Chair at that time was that the House has cannot do anything about such matters as these are the issues to be addressed by the Election Commission of India and the police. However, the Congress MPs did not pay any heed to Kurien's words and instead sought a ridiculous directive to the poll panel as a precondition to allowing the House to function smoothly.

Upon refusal by the Chair to entertain such a request, the Congress MPs created such an uproar ultimately resulting in a washout.

The chaos in the Rajya Sabha also left many of the private members bill including the one to declare Pakistan a terror sponsor state, raised by MP Rajiv Chandrashekhar undiscussed.

In absence of any sound rationality, the chaos initiated by the Congress MPs seemed to have been intended to appease the party high command, which is perturbed at this moment with the apprehension of failing to get Ahmed Patel re-elected from Gujarat Assembly after losing MLAs to BJP. Patel, the third most powerful person after Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Congress, is in a precarious position as a candidate for the Rajya Sabha election to be held in August after the Congress lost six of its MLAs to the BJP due to defection.
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued a decree on 26 July officially establishing the National Council for Combating Terrorism and Extremism (NCCTE) as part of a long-term plan to combat radical Islamism.

El-Sisi's decree comes just one day after the Fourth National Youth Conference, which was held in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on 24 and 25 July, focused on fighting terrorism and reinforcing the country's national security.

The idea of the council was first introduced in the aftermath of the 9 April suicide bomb attacks on churches in the two cities of Tanta and Alexandria, which left 45 dead and more than 100 injured.

In an interview with the editors-in-chief of three national newspapers, El-Sisi said that the "new council will be created to take charge of reforming religious discourse and fighting extremist ideas in a systematic way, as well as drying up the sources of the terrorists' funding."

El-Sisi said the war against terrorism must include an intellectual and cultural dimension to help correct distorted interpretations of Islam.

Presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef also told reporters last May that El-Sisi's decision to form the new council was motivated by more than just the 9 April bomb attacks.

"Since he came to office three years ago, President El-Sisi has been calling on the leading moderate Sunni Islam institution of Al-Azhar to play a cardinal role in reforming religious discourse," said Youssef.

However, political analysts have suggested that El-Sisi's decision to form the NCCTE came after he lost hope that Al-Azhar alone would be able to lead the necessary reforms of religious discourse.

Independent MP Mohamed Abu Hamed told Ahram Online that "when President El-Sisi called for a religious and cultural revolution two years ago, he thought Al-Azhar would be able to take the lead. Two years later, it is clear Al-Azhar alone cannot shoulder this responsibility."

Nabil Abdel-Fattah, a political and religious analyst at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS), wrote in an article in Al-Ahram last May that he agrees that al-Azhar has not done enough to reform religious discourse.

Abdel-Fattah argued that "the deep-seated religious conservatism of Azharite clerics leaves them unable to reform religious discourse."

Abdel-Fattah also believes a major task facing the National Council for Combating Terrorism and Extremism should be to overhaul the religious curricula of Al-Azhar University, its associated institutes and schools.

"The existing curricula explain why the institution became prey to domination by the Muslim Brotherhood for a long time, not to mention that most of the violent attacks that have hit Egypt since 30 June 2013  when the Muslim Brotherhood regime was removed from power  have been perpetrated by graduates of Al-Azhar University," said Abdel-Fattah.

Abu Hamed said he finished drafting a law to reform Al-Azhar earlier this year, but he has so far not been able to gain wide support among MPs for this legislation.

Kamal Amer, head of parliament's National Security and Defence Committee, told Ahram Online that the new council should primarily target political Islam movements  particularly the Muslim Brotherhood.

"Political Islam movements are no different from radical or militant Islamist movements, and all should be ferociously fought," said Amer, arguing that "the Muslim Brotherhood is the movement that re-invented radical jihadist ideology and is responsible for the spread of this venomous ideology around the world."

Amer added that there had been hope that the council would be established by legislation in parliament rather than by presidential decree.

"But parliament still can translate this council's measures into binding legislation," said Amer.

Osama El-Azhari, the president's advisor on religious affairs and deputy head of parliament's religious affairs committee, told Al-Ahram newspaper on 28 July that "not only should the council develop an effective strategy against political Islam movements, but also lead a campaign in the West to warn against the spread of such movements."

"All should know that political Islam movements represent the first step towards radical and militant Islam," said Al-Azhari.

Abu Hamed said that "most of the leaders of terrorist organisations like Al-Qaeda, the Islamic Jihad, Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, and Daesh were leading members of the world's leading political Islam movement; the Muslim Brotherhood."

Hafez Abu Saeda, head of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), told Al-Ahram that the formation of the council comes at a very crucial moment.

"Some in the West believe that political Islam is a moderate force that does not have armed militias and which aims to challenge the autocracy of rulers in the Middle East," said Abu Saeda.

"The council should correct this belief, especially after Muslim Brotherhood regimes that reached power in Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey proved that they are highly autocratic and that this movement has underground armed militias such as Hasm in Egypt," Abu Saeda added.

Informed sources say the new council will be composed of different sub-committees, each entrusted with implementing a specific task.

"There will be a sub-committee charged with analysing political and radical Islamist ideology, another to gather information on Islamist terrorist organisations, one to protect minorities, and a fourth to develop security and cultural strategies to combat extremist ideas," a source said.

According to the presidential decree, issued on 26 July, the council will be chaired by the president and will include the parliament speaker, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the Coptic Orthodox pope, as well as a number of ministers, including the ministers of defence, military production, religious endowments, justice, interior, youth, social solidarity, telecommunications, education and higher education.

The council will also include the head of the general intelligence and the head of the administrative watchdog agency.

As many as 13 public figures will also be on the council, including former grand mufti Ali Gomaa, poet and writer Farouq Guweida, political analyst Abdel-Moneim Said, security expert Khaled Okasha, head of the State Information Service and Al-Ahram political analyst Diaa Rashwan, and actor Mohamed Sobhi.

The decree gives El-Sisi the right to name additional figures as members of the council.

El-Sisi said last May that the council will work in coordination with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and Al-Azhar.

"The three will coordinate together to defeat radicalism on all fronts, especially on the cultural level," said El-Sisi.

The council also seeks to coordinate Arab positions on terrorism-related issues, and to establish a regional inter-Arab entity to this end.

"[The council] will also take necessary legal measures against nations that support terrorism against the Egyptian state," the decree says.

The council will also suggest security plans and legal strategies and follow up on their implementation, and will hold a meeting every two months or whenever necessary, according to the decree.

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Jodhpur: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Saturday termed the Gujarat Congress legislators, who have been sent to a resort to fend off 'poaching' attempts by the saffron party ahead of Rajya Sabha polls, as "cattle in need of fodder".

"They (Congress legislators) are cattle...they are being taken to a cage. Only BJP can give them the fodder," he told reporters at the Jodhpur Civil Airport when asked about the recent developments in BJP-ruled Gujarat.

The Congress has sent 44 of its legislators to the resort outside Bengaluru. Of the 57 Congress MLAs in the state, six resigned from the party in the last two days with three of them joining the BJP on Friday.

Talking about the India-China military stand-off in the Sikkim section, the BJP leader, who was in the city to attend an event by Rajasthan Patrika, said India needed to harmonise its relations with Beijing.

On being asked about the stepping down of Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif over graft charges, Swamy said the bilateral relation between India and Pakistan will now worsen.

"Sharif was a henpecked prime minister and was nothing but a tool for the army and jehadis," he said.

The parliamentarian added that Pakistan should be split into four parts - Balochistan, Pakhtunistan, Sindh and West Panjab.

"Pakistan will never rectify. It is better to split it into four parts. This is the only solution to the problem with Pakistan," he said.
Brasilia: Brazilian President Michel Temer has signed an executive order authorising the deployment of 10,240 soldiers and federal law-enforcement officers in Rio de Janeiro state, where violent crime is on the rise.

The federal forces will be used primarily for specific operations targeting organised crime, Defence Minister Raul Jungmann told the media on Friday.

Even so, the federal contingent will also be available to provide support to the state police in carrying out their ordinary duties, Efe news quoted Jungmann as saying.

"The military will not take part in occupations of 'favelas' (shanties), as on previous occasions. They will be used as a last resort when necessary. But we don't rule out their also helping patrol the streets," Jungmann said.

The announcement of the federal deployment coincided with the appearance of armoured vehicles as the army established checkpoints on several highways leading into the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Published in a special edition of the official gazette, Temer's order authorizes the federal forces to remain in Rio state until 31 December.

Jungmann, however, said that the President is prepared to extend the employment as long as necessary.

Most of the federal troops and police will be concentrated in the Rio city metropolitan area, he said.

The federal contingent comprises 8,500 military personnel, 620 members of the elite National Security Force and 380 officers of the federal highway police.
In 2001, Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill coined an acronym which became so popular and gained prominence that five nations actually organised themselves as a group and held their first summit in 2009.

The acronym was BRIC. O'Neill had argued that that since the four BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) were developing rapidly, by 2050 their combined economies could eclipse all the economies of the richest countries in the world. His paper titled, 'Building Better Global Economic BRICs' tried to show that the world cannot be run properly without getting these countries involved.

South Africa joined the bloc later and it became BRICS from BRIC.

About two years later, he tried to explain that the combined GDP of BRIC could become bigger than the G7 around 2037. He expected the countries to grow faster than the developed countries and to play an increasingly important role in the world.

Despite the group surpassing O'Neill's expectations, mainly because of China's expansion, it seems that BRICS has failed to get its act together, according to The Global and Mail. The optimism that emerged soon after the group's first meeting has dulled to a low degree and the hope that BRICS will shape global economies and politics has turned to doubt.

It has been fading as an investment story and fails to represent a united political voice. They have also failed to speak in one voice about important economic and financial challenges.

While in 2009, O'Neill was vehemently opposed to the idea of dropping any of the countries from the bloc, he suggested in 2015 that recession-ravaged Brazil and Russia no longer belong to the club with India and China. In the same year, Goldman Sachs closed its BRIC investment fund after assets reportedly declined in value by 88 percent from 2010.

The economic turmoil in all of these nations is damaging the reputation and trust for success of the bloc, according to Business Day.

While the problems plaguing the countries is very different, they collectively affect the relevance of the group. Russia and Brazil have both fallen into a recession while China has seen a sharp decline in economic activity, The Guardian stated.

Here's a look at how the economies of the BRICS nations are faring:

Brazil

Brazil is mired in economic problems, which have been exacerbated by political scandals. In the first three months of 2017, the GDP of the country grew by one percent after two consecutive years of negative growth, reported BBC.

A record 14 million people are unemployed according to official figures. The corruption scandal surrounding President Michel Temer has thwarted whatever economic reforms he planned to initiate.

Russia

Russia is another country which has significantly brought down the relevance of the bloc. It has slipped into recession following the collapse in oil prices and the sanctions that have been imposed on it. The United States government is mulling even harsher sanctions on the country.

President Vladimir Putin's alleged involvement in the 2016 US elections is also denting his image. The GDP in 2015 was negative 2.8 percent, according to Focus Economics. The 2014 US sanctions on Russia coupled with a crash in global oil prices has cut deeply into the country's revenue. This drop in revenue led to a collapse of the Russian economy.

South Africa

South Africa isn't faring any better. Domestic growth prospects have deteriorated following the GDP contraction in 2017. The economy has recorded two quarters of negative growth, CNBC reported.

Apart from this, President Jacob Zuma is himself embroiled in corruption allegations. The GDP in 2015 was slightly better than Russia and stood at 1.3 percent.

India

India is doing way better than most of its BRICS counterparts. While the collapse in global oil prices sounded the death knell for Russia, Paul Cashin, head of IMF mission for India said, "It is a large windfall gain for India."

Capital Economics pegs India's real growth rate at 6 percent in 2016 and at 6.5% in 2017. However, according to Business Day, ratings agencies have ruled out the possibility for an upgrade in the foreseeable future, citing vulnerabilities stemming from the countrys low per-capita income, high debt-to-GDP ratio and bad assets of its banks.

China

The latest GDP reading pegged Chinas first-quarter growth at 6.7 percent on an annual basis. The problem that analysts warn against is that the figure may not bear much resemblance to reality. According to them, the country is growing at no more than 4 or 4.5 percent.

China's crackdown on public debates, lawyers, dissidents among others bespeak regimes nervous that corruption and economic slowdowns could turn their populations restive, according to Foreign Policy.

With all these nations recording low economic growth, the hope that the bloc will challenge the Western world and lead the global economy seems to be in disarray. After years of trying to gain significance and materialise the concept ideated by O'Neill, the purpose behind the formation of the group seems lost.
Beijing: At least 10 people were killed after a flood hit China's northwestern Shaanxi province, local authorities said on Saturday.

Heavy rains hit Yulin City in northern Shaanxi from Tuesday night and caused floods in a number of areas.

More than 71,300 people were forced to evacuate, the provincial flood control headquarters said.

Power supplies and telecommunications were also disrupted.

By Saturday, the provincial government has allocated 50 million yuan (about $7.3 million) to carry out rescue operations.

Yulin flood control headquarters has distributed 5,000 shovels, 30,000 plastic bags and 15 power generators.

On Thursday, China's second-longest river, the Yellow River, saw its first flood peak of the year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The Yellow River Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters have warned the provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan and Shandong to be alert.
Washington: The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says the US President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community.

North Korea on Friday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.

"North Korea's test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missilethe second such test in less than a monthis only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action.

The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these testsand these weaponsensure North Korea's security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region," Trump said.

The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 am EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said.

This was North Korea's 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month.

The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call," Joint Chief of Staff Chairman's spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said.

Meanwhile the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Korea's missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said on Saturday.

This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on 5 July.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

"The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range," Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the foreign affairs asia and the pacific subcommittee, said in a tweet.

"Now is the time to ramp up sanctions. China cannot have it both ways; it cannot do business as usual with the US and subsidising North Korea," he said.

"But we need to be ready to talk too, and ready to accept a freeze, something far less than denuclearisation for the foreseeable future," Sherman added.
Brussels: The European Union lashed North Korea for posing "a serious threat to international peace and security" after Pyongyang carried out another missile launch on Friday.

The launch "is in outright violation of (North Korea's) international obligations as set out in several United Nations Security Council resolutions," the European Union's foreign service said in a statement.

It urged Pyongyang "to refrain from any further provocative action that could increase regional and global tensions".

European Union foreign ministers, at a meeting in July, had condemned North Korea's missile launches in similar terms.

European Union diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini will take up the issue in the coming days with the foreign ministers of South Korea "and other international partners," the statement said.

Mogherini is to attend a ministerial meeting of ASEAN Regional Forum in Manila on 6 and 7 August.

Friday's launch entailed the firing of what appeared to be another intercontinental ballistic missile, according to the Pentagon.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said the missile may have landed within Japan's maritime exclusive economic zone.

The launch came a day after North Korea celebrated what it calls "Victory Day"  the anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang regularly times its missile tests to coincide with symbolic dates.
Manado: Indonesia and Australia co- hosted a counter-terrorism meeting on Friday to address the rising threat of foreign fighters, as the Philippines battles pro- Islamic State militants.

The one-day gathering in North Sulawesi brings together six countries including Malaysia, Philippines and New Zealand.

Ministers are due to discuss the challenges posed by growing terrorism in Southeast Asia as well as concerns that Islamic State is trying establish a regional caliphate in the Philippines, where government forces are pitted against Islamist gunmen holed up in a southern city.

"I am hopeful that this meeting will produce a valuable outcome so together we could fight terrorism, especially in Marawi, Southern Phillipines," Indonesia's chief security minister Wiranto told journalists late Friday ahead of the event.

Parts of Southeast Asia have long struggled with Islamic militancy, with hundreds of radicals from the region flocking to join Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Tehran: Iran on Saturday condemned new sanctions passed by the United States Congress against its missile programme, which President Donald Trump is set to sign into law, and vowed to continue it.

"We will continue with full power our missile programme," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told state broadcaster IRIB.

"We consider the action by the United States as hostile, reprehensible and unacceptable, and it's ultimately an effort to weaken the nuclear deal," Ghasemi added, referring to a 2015 agreement with the United States and other world powers that lifted some sanctions on Tehran.

"The military and missile fields... are our domestic policies and others have no right to intervene or comment on them.

"We reserve the right to reciprocate and make an adequate response to the United States actions," he said.

The sanctions bill, which also targets Russia and North Korea, was passed by the United States Senate on Thursday, two days after being approved by the House of Representatives.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Friday that President Donald Trump will sign the bill into law.

Separately on Friday, Washington imposed new sanctions targeting Iran's missile programme a day after Tehran tested a satellite-launch rocket.

The United States Treasury singled out six companies owned or controlled by Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which it said was central to the programme, freezing their American assets and barring US citizens from dealing with them.
Washington: US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose gradual diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent the war-torn country from being a launch pad for terrorist attacks against the United states.

McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress.

The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA- 2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies, and its core interests.

The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan Government and reduce the Taliban's control of the Afghan population.

As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives including India under this move.

The legislative amendment calls for "imposing graduated diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network".

"It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan."

Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying America's regional diplomatic efforts working through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The move is also aimed towards advance regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation, and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states.

The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of American economic, and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anti-corruption, financial transparency, and the rule of law.

Calling for increasing the number of US counter terrorism forces in Afghanistan; the amendment calls for providing the United States military with "status-based targeting authorities" against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and other terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and its core interests.

In his amendment, McCain calls for pursuing a joint agreement to secure a long-term, open-ended counter terrorism partnership between the US and Afghanistan, which he said would include an enduring United States counter terrorism presence in Afghanistan.

The US Senate is yet to vote on NDAA-2018.

On Friday, in a statement, McCain rued on the delay in its passage.

"It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now, the National Defense Authorization Act," he said.

"For 55 years in a row, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides our men and women in uniform with the resources, capabilities, and pay and benefits that they need to perform their missions on behalf of the American people and keep our country safe. This legislation is more vital than ever," McCain said.

"Global terrorist networks, increasing great power competition with Russia and China, malign Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East, a North Korean dictator racing to acquire missiles that can hit the United States with nuclear weapons  the threats to our national security have not been more complex or daunting than at any time in the past seven decades," he said.
Pyongyang: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Saturday that the second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile demonstrated his country can hit the US mainland, hours after the launch left analysts concluding that a wide swath of the United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now in range of North Korean weapons.

The Korean Central News Agency said that Kim expressed "great satisfaction" after the Hwasong-14 missile reached a maximum height of 3,725 kilometers and traveled 998 kilometers before accurately landing in waters off Japan.

The agency said that the test was aimed at confirming the maximum range and other technical aspects of the missile it says was capable of delivering a "large-sized, heavy nuclear warhead."

Analysts had estimated that the North's first ICBM on 4 July could have reached Alaska, and said that the latest missile appeared to extend that range significantly.

Immediately after the launch, US and South Korean forces conducted live-fire exercises. South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo called for the deployment of strategic US military assets which usually means stealth bombers and aircraft carriers as well as additional launchers of an advanced US anti-missile system.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the missile, launched late Friday night, flew for about 45 minutes about five minutes longer than the first. The missile was launched on very high trajectory, which limited the distance it traveled, and landed west of Japan's island of Hokkaido.

The KCNA quoted Kim as saying that the launch reaffirmed the reliability of the country's ICBM system and an ability to fire at "random regions and locations at random times" with the "entire" US mainland now within range. The agency said that the test confirmed important features of the missile system, such as the proper separation of the warhead and controlling its movement and detonation after atmospheric re-entry.

Kim said the launch sent a "serious warning" to the United States, which has been "meaninglessly blowing its trumpet" with threats of war and stronger sanctions, the KCNA said.

The North Korean flight data was similar to assessments by the United States, South Korea and Japan.

David Wright, a physicist and co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that if reports of the missile's maximum altitude and flight time are correct, it would have a theoretical range of at least 10,400 kilometers.

That means it could have reached Los Angeles, Denver or Chicago, depending on variables such as the size and weight of the warhead that would be carried atop such a missile in an actual attack.
A defiant Iran vowed on Saturday to press ahead with its missile programme and condemned new US sanctions, as tensions rise after the West hardened its tone against the Islamic republic.

In the latest incident on the ground, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the US Navy had approached their patrol vessels in the Gulf and fired flares.

"At 4 pm (1130 GMT) on Friday, the supercarrier USS Nimitz and its accompanying warship, while being monitored by the Guards' frigates, flew a helicopter near the Resalat oil and gas platform and approached the force's ships," the paramilitary force said.

"The Americans in a provocative and unprofessional move, sent a warning message to the frigates and fired flares," it said. The Guards "ignored the unconventional move by the US ships and continued their mission."

Three days earlier, a US Navy patrol ship fired warning shots at a Guards boat in the Gulf as it closed in on the American vessel, according to US officials.

The Guards denied approaching the US ship in Tuesday's incident and said it was the American vessel that had been at fault.

There have been a string of close encounters between US ships and Iranian vessels in the Gulf in recent months.

On the political battlefield, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told state broadcaster IRIB that Tehran condemned new US sanctions against its missile programme, which President Donald Trump is set to sign into law, and vowed to press on.

"We will continue with full power our missile programme," he said. "We consider the action by the US as hostile, reprehensible and unacceptable, and it's ultimately an effort to weaken the nuclear deal."

Ghasemi was referring to a 2015 agreement between Iran and US-led world powers that lifted some sanctions on Tehran in return for curbs on the country's nuclear programme.

"The military and missile fields... are our domestic policies and others have no right to intervene or comment on them," the spokesman said.

The sanctions bill, which also targets Russia and North Korea, was passed by the US Senate on Thursday, two days after being approved by the House of Representatives.

Separately on Friday, Washington imposed new sanctions targeting Iran's missile programme, one day after Tehran tested a satellite-launch rocket.

Iranian state television broadcast footage of the takeoff from the Imam Khomeini space centre in Semnan province in the east of the country.

The launch vehicle was capable of propelling a satellite weighing 550 pounds (250 kilogrammes) into orbit at an altitude of 300 miles (500 kilometres), it said.

Western governments suspect Iran of trying to develop the technology for longer-range missiles with conventional or nuclear payloads, a charge denied by Tehran, which insists its space programme has purely peaceful aims.

In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany and the US condemned Tehran's "provocative" and "destabilising" action, saying the test was in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the nuclear deal.

"We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities," they said.

Resolution 2231 called on Iran not to test ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and an arms embargo has remained in place.

The United States has had no diplomatic ties with the Iran since 1980, and Trump has halted the direct contacts initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Tensions have mounted between Washington and Tehran since Trump took office six months ago vowing to be the best friend of Israel.

At UN headquarters in New York on Friday, US envoy Nikki Haley expressed mistrust of Iran.

"Iran's widespread support for terrorists tells us we can't trust them. Iran's breaking its obligation on missile testing tells us we can't trust them. Yesterday's launch proves that yet again," she said.

Despite his electoral promise to tear apart what he once called "the worst deal ever", Trump has so far respected the nuclear agreement.

The joint US-European statement said that Iran's latest test features technology related to "ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons".

Iran insists it has "proven its compliance with the nuclear deal" as repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"Iran does not recognise any limits to its scientific and technological progress and will not wait for the approval or permission of any country regarding the activities of its scientists and experts," the foreign ministry spokesman said.

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Chandigarh: A British member of parliament (MP) on Saturday pitched for an independent inquiry into the role of the UK government in Operation Bluestar, an Indian Army action in 1984 to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple.

The UK's first turban-wearing MP Tanmanjit Singh Dhesi is in Chandigarh on a private visit to India.

"As far as 1984 Operation Bluestar is concerned, you know that all felt pain. But we never know that there was any role of the UK government in it. We always thought it was an action taken by the Indian government," Dhesi said addressing media in Chandigarh.

He claimed that some journalists in the UK while analysing secret documents found "involvement of the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher."

"Whether the role was in advisory capacity or something more but when we learnt about it, we were sad because we never thought our government would have any role in it," the British MP said.

"That is why we are demanding that independent inquiry should be held to establish the extent of then Thatcher government's involvement in 1984 Operation Bluestar," the Labour Party MP said.

Dhesi said the Conservative Party-led government had earlier ordered an inquiry in this regard. But it was "an eyewash".

"Neither anything came out of that inquiry nor any document was released. That is why the demand for an independent inquiry is growing to put pressure on the UK government," he said.

The onus for ordering inquiry is entirely on the present UK government, Dhesi said, adding "If the UK government makes any delay in ordering independent inquiry then it will be called as justice delayed, justice denied."

Dhesi, known as Tan, won his Slough seat to become the UK's first turban-wearing MP last month.

On the issue of 'Kirpan' and Sikhs not being allowed to wear turbans in some counties, the British MP said that he would continue to raise such issues at appropriate platforms.

"It is a matter of great sadness that people cannot practice their faith as they cannot freely wear 'kirpan' or turban. In France, more than 80,000 turbaned Sikh soldiers laid down their lives in order to liberate that very country. And now that very county do not allow turbans. Sikh students cannot go to schools with a turban," he rued.

On being asked about students from Punjab now preferring other countries over the UK, Dhesi criticised the Conservative party led-UK government for being "too harsh" as far as immigration rules were concerned and said immigration rules should be "balanced".

"We are in favour of having immigration rules which benefit Britain and which are fair. At the moment, Conservative party is being too harsh as we are actually losing out the potential of so many intelligent students (who want to come to the UK). ... Conservative party has harmed our economy," he said.

Asked about 'Khalistan' sympathisers in the UK, Dhesi said "It is not a question of supporting any particular ideology."

He said like in India, people get a chance to express their views and follow any ideology in the UK also, "there is freedom of expression and freedom of speech."

"Each party, like Congress, SAD, AAP has support base in the UK. It is not correct that people living in UK follow only one ideology," he stressed.
Karachi: A roadside bomb on Saturday struck a vehicle in a town in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province near the Iran border, killing at least four persons and injuring five others, a media report said.

The explosion took place in Chedgi, an area situated at a distance of 70 kilometres from Panjgur. Chedgi is a sensitive area, situated near the Pakistan-Iran border.

It is unclear who planted the bomb and officers were still investigating. The administration has deployed a technical team to determine the nature of the blast, security officials were quoted as saying by the Geo News.

Four persons were killed and five others were injured in an explosion in Balochistan's Panjgur district, they said. Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade.

The largest province of the country by area, it is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

Earlier this month, Health Minister of Balochistan province Rehmat Saleh Baloch survived a rocket attack when unidentified assailants targeted his convoy. In May, 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Balochistans Mastung area.
Islamabad: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is set to become Pakistan's interim prime minister, is the former federal minister for petroleum and natural resources, and a businessman who launched the country's most successful private airline.

Considered highly intelligent and a long-time loyalist of Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister who was ousted by the Supreme Court on Friday, the 58-year-old Abbasi will act as a placeholder for the Sharif dynasty.

He is due to be rubber stamped in a parliamentary vote as prime minister until Sharif's younger brother Shehbaz, a provincial minister, can be elected to the national assembly and take over the leadership.

Abbasi was appointed oil minister when Nawaz Sharif won his third election in 2013.

Educated in the US at George Washington University, he was born in Karachi but is a member of the National Assembly from Murree - a hill station that is a favourite holiday destination for Sharif.

Abbasi worked in the US and Saudi Arabia as an electrical engineer before joining politics after his father, a minister in General Zia ul-Haq's government, was killed when an ammunition dump belonging to Pakistan's powerful Inter-Service Intelligence Agency (ISI) exploded in Rawalpindi in 1988.

Abbasi has been elected six times as a member of the National Assembly since then, and has previously served as minister for commerce and defence production.

He was the chairman of national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from 1997 to 1999, until General Pervez Musharraf overthrew Sharif's second government.

Abbasi was arrested after the coup and imprisoned for two years before being released.

In 2003, he setup a private airline Air Blue, the country's most successful private airline and challenger to PIA.
Islamabad: Ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said he was proud that his disqualification from office was not due to allegations of corruption brought against him.

"I am proud that my disqualification was not because of allegations of corruption," Sharif told a meeting attended by his party's top parliamentarians, a day after the Supreme Court disqualified him due to "dishonesty" in the Panama Papers case.

The former prime minister said that not a single charge of corruption was proven against him and expressed his disbelief at the grounds for his dismissal.

"I still do not understand the grounds for my dismissal," said Sharif.

He said that he had a clear conscience as he had not taken anything from the country which was not his. "I would have felt guilty if I had done something wrong."

Questioning his disqualification, Sharif stated he had nothing to declare as he had not taken any salary from the company which was setup by his son during the years they were in exile.

"You are in trouble if you take something and in trouble if you do not."

Sharif also emphasised that there should be accountability for everyone, not just one family or political party.

"Should only my family be held accountable?"

Sharif resolved that he would continue the struggle for the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law in the country.

He also said that if the history was any indication, the previous assemblies were dissolved and prime ministers were ousted one way or another.

He urged that he needs support in order to put the country on the right track.

"The first sit-in, the second sit-in and then the Panama scandal wasted a significant amount of time of the country," he said.

The country was now in a much better state, he said, and added that the backbone of terrorism has been broken and the isolated incidents of terrorism will eventually cease.

Lauding the country's economy, he said, it had improved during his tenure and the growth rate was at 5.3 percent, but the stock market suffered due to the instability caused by the Panama Papers case.

Sharif asked the members to support his brother, Shahbaz Sharif as the next prime minister.

"If you support anyone after me, I ask you to support Shahbaz Sharif."

"It will take Shahbaz Sharif around 50-55 days to take over as Prime Minister. He will have to contest elections," he said.

Sharif also announced that former Petroleum minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, will be made interim prime minister.

"For the interim period, I am recommending Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for the position of Prime Minister," said Sharif
Islamabad: Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif will chair a crucial meeting to decide his successor, a day after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.

Senior Pakistan Muslim League leader and former railway minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the party meeting later today. The meeting is likely to include discussion on candidates for the post of the prime minister, party's new president and members of the Cabinet.

"Different options were discussed in a similar meeting on Friday but no decision was taken," he said.

Meanwhile, party sources said that Sharif proposed name of his younger brother Shehbaz in Friday's meeting and none of the participants raised any objection to the proposal.

But Shehbaz, 65, cannot immediately replace his brother as he is not a member of Parliament.

In order to become the prime minister, he would have to be elected first.

Hence, an interim prime minister would have to be chosen from among Sharif's confidants who will resign once Shehbaz is elected.

Pakistan has seen such arrangements in the past too. During former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharrafs time, politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was appointed as an interim prime minister until Shaukat Aziz, who was nominated by Musharraf, got elected by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ).

According to party sources, Sharif was conscious that bringing Punjab chief minister Shehbaz to Islamabad may create political vacuum in the crucial state, which PML-N cannot afford ahead of next year elections.

Hence, there is possibility that a permanent prime minister might be elected from the senior party leaders for the remaining tenure of the government, which would end in first week of June, 2018.

In case, Shehbaz is elected is premier, then his son Hamza could be a choice for the post of chief minister of Punjab.

But the problem is that Hamza is a member of National Assembly and would have to be elected as member of provincial Assembly first in order to succeed his father.

The party would have to decide a prime minister for interim period in case Shehbaz emerges as the final consensus candidate for top job.

Different names so far considered to become interim prime minister include former defence minister Khawaja Asif, former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former planning minister Ahsan Iqbal and speak national assembly Ayaz Sadiq.
Islamabad: Former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Zafar Hijazi was on Saturday sent on a 14-day judicial remand by a court for allegedly altering official records presented for a probe in the Panama Papers case.

Hijazi was arrested by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) earlier in July after a report released by the joint investigation team, probing Nawaz Sharif and his family's wealth, alleged that the former SECP chairman had altered records related to Chaudhry Sugar Mills.

Hijazi was presented before the Senior Civil Judge Muhammad Shabbir after his three-day physical remand with the FIA ended.

The FIA requested the court for a further three-day physical remand which was contested by Hijazi's counsel, Azid Nafees, who argued that his counsel had already been in FIA custody for seven days.

Rejecting FIA's request, the court sent Hijazi to Adiala Jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

A case was registered against Hijazi on the orders of the Supreme Court after the three-member Panama Papers case implementation bench acted on the JIT report.

The court also ordered FIA to present the charge sheet against Hijazi after two-week.

The ex-chief of SECP troubled started when it emerged during investigation of Panama case against Sharif that Hijazi was responsible for altering the details of record presented for the probe.

The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.
Islamabad: A day after the Pakistan Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif for being "dishonest" in its decision on the Panamagate case, the global media on Saturday came out with mixed reactions about the political turmoil in the South Asian nation.

Ever since the joint investigation team (JIT) submitted its report to the Supreme Court on 10 July, both national and international media had speculated about the fate of Nawaz Sharif and his family.

Following are a few reactions published in the media around the world.

The Guardian in an editorial said that though the court verdict "leaves Pakistan's politics in turmoil, it (Panama Papers) is a very international affair.. Efforts must not stop there. The public register for beneficial owners of UK companies must be extended to British tax havens; it must include trusts; and a proper means of checking it must be introduced. Accountability should not depend on leaks, however effective they have proved this time."

The New York Times, in an op-ed article titled "Pakistan's Court Sets a Dangerous Precedent", said the "verdict came as no surprise. Even though Sharif was not named in the Panama leaks, and there is no evidence that he abused public office for private gain, the judges disqualified him for hiding assets, and therefore, not being "honest", (...) Pakistan's politicians are not paragons of probity, but corruption is not the main reason for Sharif's predicament (...) The judges have clearly undermined the perception of justice by deposing Sharif without due process or trial to prove his innocence."

The Hindustan Times in an editorial titled "Nawaz Sharif's conviction leaves a political vacuum in Pakistan. This is not good news for India", said Sharif's "departure from the political scene is almost certain to herald a period of volatility within Pakistan and, therefore, greater risk in relations between India and Pakistan".

Bloomberg in an op-ed titled "Pakistan's Politics Fail Again", said: "Nobody should be above the law, but the circumstances surrounding the judgement are troubling Pakistan's courts shouldn't do the work of voters. Its anti-graft bodies could use more resources and greater independence, but politicians should resolve their political differences in Parliament and through the ballot box. Removing Sharif may have been the right thing to do, but it's no remedy for what ails Pakistan."

The Times of India in an op-ed titled "India keeps close watch as verdict on Nawaz Sharif puts Pakistan in a flux", said: "The (Indian) government has stayed silent, refraining from even categorising this as an "internal matter", which is a stock response by the foreign ministry, but the unseating of the Pakistani leader is not a surprise to South Block.

"The possibility of political instability deepening in Pakistan cannot be ruled out and, if that happens, India will take on a more defensive posture."

The Gulf News in an editorial, "Nawaz Sharif's ouster will strengthen democratic norms in Pakistan", noted: "It is very unfortunate for the people of Pakistan that none of their country's prime ministers has ever completed a five-year term. But this verdict will go a long way to strengthen democratic norms in the country and pave the way for honest politicians and officials to run the state. Sharif has also responded wisely by announcing to step down even before the Election Commission issued a notification to remove him from his post, following the court verdict."
Islamabad: Is Nawaz Sharif disqualified for life, or is there a possibility of him staging a comeback?

A day after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from holding public office, legal experts and political observers appear equally confused, as are ordinary Pakistani citizens.

When the question about the duration of the 67-year-old veteran politician's ouster from Pakistan's active politics was put to seasoned lawyers, most seemed confused.

Some said the question needed to be addressed since it has remained unanswered for far too long, Dawn reported.

A five-member bench disqualified Sharif under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, which state that a member of the Parliament should be "truthful" and "righteous".

Tariq Mehmood, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, told the newspaper that a larger bench of the Supreme Court was seized with a number of cases, including those of Samina Khawar Hayat and Mohammad Haneef, in which the moot point was to determine whether disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution was perpetual or not.

Former chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, hearing one of such cases, had wondered how anyone could be disqualified from participating in elections forever on the basis of articles 62 and 63, saying people could reform themselves to be qualified under the provisions at some point of time.

Senior lawyer Raheel Kamran Sheikh recalled that former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was disqualified on 19 June, 2012, from Parliament for committing contempt of court under Article 63, which specified disqualification for five years.

Unfortunately, under Article 62(1)(f) no period of disqualification has been specified, he said, but endorsed what Mehmood observed.

Sheikh said some cases were pending to determine should the application of Article 62(1)(f) be restricted to the current election or to all times to come.

He said the Supreme Court was in a "catch-22 situation" since by citing the reasons for disqualification of Sharif, it lowered the threshold for ineligibility of elected members to such an extent that too many heads might roll in future.

Through the Panama Papers judgment, he feared, the balance of power had been tilted in favour of the Supreme Court and the qualification of lawmakers had been threatened.

He said if the judgment was implemented across the board, the parliamentarians, feeling threatened, might react by getting together for a constitutional amendment aimed at curtailing or restricting the scope of powers under Article 62 of the Constitution.

On the other hand, vice chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council Ahsan Bhoon said the disqualification of Sharif was forever.

To support his observation, he cited the 2013 Abdul Ghafoor Lehri case in which former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had held that under Article 63, there were certain disqualifications which were of temporary nature and a person disqualified under Article 63 could become qualified after the lapse of a certain period, whereas the disqualification under Article 62 was permanent.

Thus, Article 62 did not provide any period after which a person, who had been disqualified under the provision, could be eligible to contest elections of Parliament, he said.

Former additional attorney general Tariq Khokhar also said that Sharif had been disqualified for life since ineligibility for not being Sadiq and Ameen was forever.

But a senior lawyer, who did not want to be named, said that Article 62 was a qualifying provision and, when originally enacted in 1973, it had qualifications which were all objectively determinable.

Later General Zia-ul Haq brought in nebulous qualifications in Article 62, which was open-ended and highly subjective.

No one has articulated its limitations better than Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who observed in one of the cases that no one should be disqualified on that basis.

The provision was largely dormant till it was dusted and brought out by Iftikhar Chaudhry and used to knock out parliamentarians, Khokhar said, adding that even Justice Chaudhry did not disqualify anyone directly, except in the dual nationality cases and that too on the basis of admissions.

But when people were disqualified in almost every such case, it was later observed that the disqualification was for life, he said, adding that was the law for the moment.

The lawyer also recalled that petitions were pending in the apex court to determine whether disqualification under Article 62(1) (f) was for the remaining term or perpetual.
Washington: Condemning North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Russia and China bear "unique and special responsibility" for Pyongyang's "relentless" pursuit of nuclear weapons.

He blamed Russia and China for being the "principal economic enablers" of the reclusive regime's nuclear weapons programme, despite it violating multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

Tillerson urged all nations to "take a strong public stance" against North Korea. He asked them to strengthen UN sanctions to ensure North Korea faces "consequences for its relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them".

North Korea on Friday launched its second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) within in a month. The missile travelled about 1,000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, reports said.

Hours after the launch, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said it demonstrated his country can hit the US mainland.

The launch came a day after the US Congress voted to impose tougher sanctions against Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Condemning the ICBM launch, Tillerson said that this was in "blatant violation" of UNSC resolutions that reflect the "will of the international community".

"As the principal economic enablers of North Korea's nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development programme, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability," he said.

He said the US seeks a peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the end to North Korea's "belligerent actions".

"As we and others have made clear, we will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea nor abandon our commitment to our allies and partners in the region," he said.

Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asked the US to pursue a "comprehensive approach" to force Pyongyang to back down.

He suggested rigorous enforcement of sanctions, strengthening regional alliances, and expanded deployment of missile defence systems to confront the North Korean threat.

Congressman Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said another advance for the North's missile programme amplifies the danger to the US homeland and accelerates the need for steps to protect Americans and its allies.

"We need a stronger approach on a faster timeline now," he said.

Senator Joe Donnelly, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, said: "The administration can and must step up sanctions against China and anyone else who contributes to propping up this dangerous regime".
Senior PML-N leader and former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will run the PML-N government as interim prime minister of Pakistan until Nawaz Sharif's brother Shehbaz is elected as member of parliament, according to Pakistan media reports.

Abbasi got elected after getting 221 votes in the House of 342. Naveed Qamar of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) got 47 votes, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf got 33 while Jamaat-e-Islami's Sahibzada Tariqullah managed just four votes.

After announcing the results amid sloganeering, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq asked Abbasi to take the seat of the prime minister and address the House.

The voting was done with four corners being designated for four candidates where supporters of each candidate recorded their vote.

After the voting and counting process, many of the PML-N National Assembly members entered the House with posters of Sharif. The National Assembly Speaker objected to this and asked them to put away the placards and posters.

Abbasi will be sworn-in in later at a special ceremony at the President's House, where President Mamnoon Hussain will administer the oath to him.

The Supreme Court Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.

Geo TV reported that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to appoint Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister in an informal meeting which went on for three hours.

Former petroleum minister Abbasi will be appointed as interim prime minister to run the country until Shehbaz is elected as member of parliament, it added.

The final announcement will be made by Nawaz Sharif in the formal parliamentary party meeting of PML-N which is taking place in Islamabad a day after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court.

Party sources had earlier said that Sharif proposed the name of his younger brother Shehbaz in a meeting on Friday and none of the participants raised any objection to the proposal.

But Shehbaz, 65, cannot immediately replace his brother as he is not an MP. In order to become the prime minister, he would have to be elected first.

Hence, Abbasi has been named as interim prime minister who will resign once Shehbaz is elected.

Pakistan has seen such arrangements in the past too. During former military dictator General Pervez Musharrafs time, politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was appointed as an interim prime minister until Shaukat Aziz, who was nominated by Musharraf, got elected by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ).

Shehbaz Sharif is the son of late Mian Muhammad Sharif and brother of Nawaz Sharif. Currently, Shehbaz is the chief minister of Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab, as mentioned in a previous Firstpost article.

He began his political career as a member of the Punjab Assembly in 1988. Thereafter, Shehbaz became the opposition leader of Punjab Assembly in 1993. Pakistan Herald describes him as a reformer who "has changed the shape of Punjab and developed it according to modern standards".

Earlier, from 1997 to 1999, Shehbaz had held the position of Punjab chief minister, according to a report in Dawn. However, he spent years of self-exile in Saudi Arabia, before returning to Pakistan in 2007, as per the article.

Along with Shehbaz Sharif, Khawaja Asif, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Ahsan Iqbal, and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were also in contention to replace Nawaz Sharif. Nawaz Sharif's decision to step down brought an unceremonious end to his term in power, roughly a year before the scheduled General Election.

Had Nawaz Sharif stayed in power till the scheduled elections, he would have become the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to complete a full five-year term.

According to IANS, Opposition party politicians were elated as the Pakistan Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a landmark decision on Friday in the Panama Papers case.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while addressing the press soon after the judgement, said: "It's a historic day, let's strengthen Pakistan, let's get rid of terrorism from the country."

With inputs from PTI
The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's government said Shia Houthi rebels on Saturday used a remote-controlled boat packed with explosives to attack the Red Sea port of Mokha, but without causing casualties.

"On Saturday at dawn, Houthi militiamen targeted the port of Mokha with a remotely guided vessel full of explosives," a statement from the coalition said.

The statement, published by the official Saudi news agency SPA, said the boat exploded by the quayside, without causing any injuries or damage.

"In carrying out such criminal acts, the rebels are disrupting the flow of humanitarian aid to Yemen, in particular medicines used to fight the rampant cholera epidemic," the statement said.

The coalition intervened in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country in March 2015 to support President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who says the rebels are supported by its regional arch-rival Iran.

The war has killed more than 8,000 people and wounded 44,500 since Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the conflict.

Mokha, held by pro-government forces since being retaken in February, is north of the Bab al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, a key waterway for international trade.

The United Nations said on Wednesday that a vicious combination of war, cholera and hunger has left 80 percent of Yemeni children in desperate need of aid.

The cholera outbreak has already claimed more than 1,800 lives since April, with 400,000 suspected cases across the country, according to the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

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Colombo: Sri Lanka on Saturday signed a $1.1 billion deal to sell a 70 percent stake of the strategic Hambantota port to China, amid concerns over the massive debt the island nation incurred in building the port.

The deal had been delayed by several months over concerns that the deep-sea port could be used by the Chinese navy.

Cash-rich China has invested millions of dollars in Sri Lanka's infrastructure since the end of a brutal civil war in 2009.

As part of the deal, the stake in the loss-making port has been sold to China's state-run conglomerate China Merchant Port Holdings (CMPort).

Sri Lanka's minister of ports and shipping Mahinda Samarasinghe and China's envoy to Colombo Yi Xianliang were present when the Concession Agreement was signed.

Under the 99-year lease agreement, CMPort is to invest up to $1.1 billion in the port and marine-related activities.

"This is a very favourable agreement compared with the plan in 2014," Samarasinghe said, referring to the original plan laid out during former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's tenure.

The agreement was open for further amendments, he said.

The deal may raise security concerns in India.

According to the new deal, only Sri Lankan Navy will be responsible for security of the deep-sea port, and the port will not be allowed to become a base for any foreign navy.

The new provision is seen as an attempt to allay India's concerns over Chinese navy's possible presence in Sri Lanka.

The port, overlooking the Indian Ocean, is expected to play a key role in China's Belt and Road initiative, which will link ports and roads between China and Europe.

The Sri Lankan government had to face huge opposition to the deal from trade unions, who called it a sellout of the country's national assets to China.

Last week, petroleum workers brought the country to a standstill for two days by stopping fuel distribution.

But Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday said: "We are giving the country a better deal without any debt."

The accumulated loss from the port was more than $300 million and the money realised from deal will set off the debts owed to China, he said.

Sri Lanka's Cabinet had on 25 July approved the transfer of stake in the port to the Chinese firm, tweaking the deal after the initial agreement sparked protests in the country.

The initial 80:20 share distribution has been revised to 69.55 percent to CMPort and 30.45 percent to Sri Lanka Port Authority.
Washington: President Donald Trump has planned to sign a bill approved by Congress which will impose new sanctions on Russia, the White House announced.

"President Donald Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement late Friday.

"He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it," The Hill magazine quoted Sanders as saying.

The new legislation will effectively tie the president's hands when it comes to lifting sanctions.

The House passed their version of the legislation on Tuesday, while senators voted 98-2 on Thursday night to send the legislation to Trump's desk, The Hill reported.

The bill gives Congress the ability to block Trump from lifting the Russia sanctions and also includes new penalties against Iran and North Korea.

The new sanctions come as the White House grapples with several ongoing probes into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, which the president has blasted as unnecessary.

In response to the bill, Russia announced that it was expelling American diplomats and seizing property, reports CNN.

Moscow said on Friday that the US must reduce the staff at its embassy and consulates to 450, the same number Russia is allowed to have in the US.

Russia is also barring Americans from using two diplomatic facilities.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that while Moscow has been doing "everything possible" to improve the relationship, "recent events showed that US policy was in the hands of Russophobic forces, pushing Washington to the path of confrontation."
London: A British community radio station has been shut down after broadcasting 25 hours of lectures by an Al-Qaeda recruiter.

Sheffield-based Iman FM claimed on Friday that its staff were "not aware of the background" of American hate preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011, the Independent reported.

The station broadcast a series of his lectures entitled "The Life of Mohammed" throughout the holy month of Ramadan in June, sparking complaints to broadcast regulator Ofcom.

Awlaki's lectures included "a direct call to action to members of the Muslim community to prepare for and carry out violent action against non-Muslim people" and "statements clearly condoning and encouraging acts of crime, terrorism or violent behaviour".

The regulator said the content, including calls for "virtuous jihad" and anti-Semitic statements, was in "serious breach" of the broadcasting code amounting to hate speech.

"Ofcom has decided that it is necessary in the public interest to revoke the licensee's Broadcasting Act licence, and that the licensee is unfit to hold a broadcast licence," a spokesperson said.

"The service has been off-air since 4 July and will not be reinstated," the Independent quoted the spokesperson as saying on Friday.

Iman FM also broadcast parts of Awlaki's tirades that took aim at the mainstream media and Western society, which Ofcom said "aimed to undermine social cohesion".
Sydney: Britain plans to send a warship to the disputed South China Sea next year to conduct freedom of navigation exercises, Defence Minister Michael Fallon said on Thursday, a move likely to anger Beijing.

Britain would increase its presence in the waters after it sent four British fighter planes for joint exercises with Japan in the region last year, he said.

China claims most of the energy-rich sea where neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

"We hope to send a warship to region next year. We have not finalised exactly where that deployment will take place but we won't be constrained by China from sailing through the South China Sea," Fallon told Reuters.

"We have the right of freedom of navigation and we will exercise it."

The presence of a British vessel threatens to stoke tensions, escalated by China's naval build-up and its increasingly assertive stance.

The comments by Fallon came after Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the country's two new aircraft carriers would be sent to the region.

Johnson did not specify where exactly the vessels would be sent once operational in 2020, though the presence of such firepower will likely heighten tensions in the region.

Speaking in Beijing on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said none of the recent comments "playing up" tension in the South China Sea were made by regional countries.

"Countries in the region are working together to safeguard and promote regional peace and prosperity, yet we see other countries who insist on stirring up trouble while the situation is trending towards calm in the South China Sea," he told a daily news briefing.

China's construction of islands and military facilities in the South China Sea has stoked international condemnation, amid concern Beijing is seeking to restrict free movement and extend its strategic reach.

Britain's move could also upset ties between London and Beijing, undermining efforts to shore up what the two governments have called a "golden era" in their relationship as Britain heads towards a divorce with the European Union.

"We flew RAF Typhoons through the South China Sea last October and we will exercise that right whenever we next have the opportunity to do so, whenever we have ships or planes in the region," Fallon said.

The United States estimates Beijing has added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment.

To counter the perceived Chinese aggression, the United States has conducted regular freedom of navigation exercises that have angered Beijing.

Earlier this month, the United States sent two bombers over the region, coming just a few months after it sent a warship to carry out a manoeuvring drill within 12 nautical miles of one of China's artificial islands.

China has repeatedly denounced efforts by countries from outside the region to get involved in the South China Sea dispute.

The South China Sea is expected to dominate a regional security meeting in Manila next week, where Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.

Meeting ASEAN diplomats in Beijing on Wednesday, Wang told them both sides must "exclude disturbances on the South China Sea issue, and maintain positive momentum", China's Foreign Ministry said.
United Nations: The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday condemned the launch of another "ballistic missile of possible intercontinental range" by North Korea.

The UN chief said that "this is again a manifest violation of Security Council resolutions," Xinhua quoted UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq as saying.

"The North Korean leadership must comply fully with its international obligations and work together with the international community to resolve the outstanding issues on the Korean Peninsula," said Haq.

The Secretary-General reiterated his call on Pyongyang to respond to the South Korea's proposals to reopen communication channels, particularly military-to-military, to lower the risk of miscalculation or misunderstanding and reduce tensions, he said.

The Pentagon said that an initial assessment showed the missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The missile travelled about 1,000 kilometres before splashing down into the sea, said Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis in a statement.

Earlier in May, the UN Security Council also strongly condemned North Korea's missile test and vowed to push all countries to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang. The council had instructed its sanctions committee to redouble efforts to implement a raft of tough measures adopted last year.
Washington: A bipartisan group of American senators have sought enhanced cooperation with India in Afghanistan, including increasing New Delhi's role in helping the Afghan security forces, a move that could annoy Pakistan.

The lawmakers have introduced a legislative amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2018 in the Senate to support their demand.

India is one of the biggest providers of developmental assistance to war-torn Afghanistan.

The amendment seeks increasing India's role in assisting the Afghan security forces through logistics support, threat analysis, intelligence, materiel, and maintenance support.

The amendment  if passed by the Senate and implemented by the US and India  could irk Pakistan as it opposes any Indian role in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The amendment was moved on Thursday by senators Dan Sullivan, Gary Peters, John Cornyn and Mark Warner.

Warner is the vice chair of the powerful Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, while Cornyn is the Senate Majority Whip for the Republican Party.

They are also the co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus.

The amendment asks Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to identify ways in which India can take "security and development related steps" in Afghanistan.

It asks the Pentagon and the State Department to find ways in which India can support "targeted infrastructure development" and economic investment in Afghanistan.

"Improve the provision by India of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance to Afghanistan, including through the provision of logistics support by India, joint training between Afghanistan and India, and combined military planning by Afghanistan and India for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions in Afghanistan," the amendment says.

Calling for a tri-lateral security and civilian co-operation between India, Afghanistan and the US, it seeks establishment of priorities for investments to promote security and stability in Afghanistan that align with the "mutual interests" of Afghanistan, India, and the US.

It also calls for identifying gaps in the capabilities of Afghanistan security forces, and determine means of addressing such gaps; and identifying economic and infrastructure development opportunities in Afghanistan related to improving security and stability in Afghanistan.

The Senate is yet to vote on the NDAA-2018.
Washington: The US and South Korean militaries conducted a live-fire exercise using surface-to-surface missiles in response to North Korea's test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, the US army says.

The joint exercise, which occurred this morning South Korea time, came shortly after officials said that the heads of the US and South Korean militaries had discussed "military response options" after North Korea's launch.

In a statement, the Army said the exercise involved the surface-to-surface Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and South Korea's Hyunmoo Missile II.

The systems "fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast July 5," the Army said.

"The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the ROK-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions."

The US and South Korean militaries conducted similar exercises after North Korea's first test of an ICBM on 4 July.

Immediately after Friday's ICBM test, general Joe Dunford, who is chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the US military's Pacific Command, spoke with South Korea's joint chief of staff chairman, general Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance," Dunford spokesman Captain Greg Hicks said in a statement.

"The three leaders also discussed military response options."

While the Pentagon has long planned for the possibility of conflict with North Korea, the blunt language in the statement marked a departure from previous public reactions to missile tests.

Those earlier reactions typically decried the tests but did not emphasise military options.

It was the first time Dunford, who has been in his position for two years, had issued a statement raising military options, though he has discussed the topic in public conversations.

Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, who is currently on vacation, slammed North Korea's first test launch of an ICBM on 4 July as a "provocation," but stressed then that the United States seeks a diplomatic solution to the standoff.

"We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies from any attack or provocation," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said.
Seven staff from the Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet were provisionally freed on Saturday after nine months in jail, as calls intensified for the release of four journalists still behind bars.

An Istanbul court Friday ordered that the seven be released under judicial control, meaning they remain charged and will have to report to the authorities, although it is rare in Turkey for defendants in such cases to be sent back to jail.

A total of 17 staff from the newspaper -- one of the few voices in the media in Turkey to oppose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- had been on trial for aiding "terror" groups, accusations denounced as absurd by supporters.

But despite growing pressure from abroad but also within Turkey for the release of all the defendants, the most prominent journalists from the newspaper were ordered by the court Friday to remain in jail.

The seven freed -- including respected cartoonist Musa Kart, books supplement editor Turhan Gunay and the paper's legal executives -- left Silviri jail on the outskirts of Istanbul to cheers and embraces from supporters.

They had been held for 271 days.

"We were taken away from the people we love, our relatives, our work," said Kart after his release.

But he added: "Believe me, during this period in jail we have felt no hatred, no rancour, we could not live with such thoughts."

The staff are charged with supporting in their coverage three entities that Turkey considers terror groups -- the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the ultra-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), and the movement of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based preacher who Ankara accuses of ordering last year's coup attempt.

The four remaining in custody include some of the biggest names in Turkish journalism: the commentator Kadri Gursel, investigative journalist Ahmet Sik, the paper's editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and chief executive Akin Atalay.

Eight other suspects are also charged but not in jail.

Kart said: "The image of journalists in jail is not flattering for our country and I hope our four friends will come out as soon as possible."

The Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI), which has pushed for Kart's release, said the news was "better than could have been expected" but added there was "little comfort" for the families of those returning to jail.

"Deficient justice," headlined Cumhuriyet, saying the trial had proved to the world that the accusations were "baseless".

There has been intense international alarm over the case, seen as a test for press freedom under Erdogan's rule amid the crackdown that followed the failed coup.

The US State Department on Thursday called for the release of all the suspects, saying they were being held "arbitrarily".

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described the release of the seven as a "small step in the right direction" but said they should never have been jailed.

"Authorities should put an end to this farcical trial by immediately dropping the transparently retaliatory charges," said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova.

There have also been signs of growing unease even among supporters of Erdogan's ruling party over the lengthy detention of the journalists, who have yet to be convicted of any crime.

In a rare public intervention, former president Abdullah Gul, who Erdogan succeeded as head of state in 2014, said Friday that the journalists should be set free.

Meanwhile influential conservative journalist Abdulkadir Selvi -- a staunch supporter of Erdogan -- said all those on trial should be released "as these are people who are doing journalism".

He told CNN-Turk there was "no need to invent" ties between Cumhuriyet and Gulen, calling on the authorities to focus on trying genuine members of the movement.

The next hearing is set for September 11. If convicted, they face varying terms of up to 43 years in jail.

Prosecutors meanwhile said they would file new accusations against Sik over an incendiary defence statement he made on Wednesday where he slammed the ruling party's past cooperation with Gulen.

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This week Nokia reported net sales of 5.6 billion in Q2 2017. Even though it was flat year-on-year, Nokia Technologies sales were up 90% versus the same period last year, which was largely driven by its recently-announced agreement with Apple.

Apple paid Nokia an upfront cash payment of 1.7 billion ($2 billion approx.) as a part of its patent settlement that was announced in May, as it had confirmed earlier. Nokia said that it will provide more details on the intended use of cash in conjunction with its Q3 earnings.

Earlier this month the company signed a deal with Xiaomi to cross license cellular standard essential patents, and Xiaomi also acquired patents from Nokia. In addition, the two companies expanded their business collaboration, including sales of network infrastructure equipment by Nokia to Xiaomi. Nokia said that it expects to start recording licensing income from Xiaomi beginning from Q4.

Regarding the Apple deal, Kristian Pullola, CFO of Nokia, during the conference call said:

Instead of a simple patent licensing agreement, we have agreed on a more extensive business collaboration with Apple, providing potential for a meaningful uplift in our IP Routing, Optical Networks and Digital Health business units over time. Hence, the value of the agreement will be reflected partly as patent licensing net sales in Nokia Technologies, and partly as net sales in other Nokia business groups.

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Though not everyone falls clearly into one of two distinct categories, in work and in life, there are introverts and extroverts. Introverts, by nature, typically recharge their emotional batteries by spending time alone. In fact, their energy can seem entirely drained when they're around other people for extended periods of time. Extroverts, by contrast, thrive on mingling with other people. They don't mind large crowds, and they generally prefer the company of others to solo downtime.

Not surprisingly, the business world tends to favor extroverts, because they're generally better at speaking their minds, owning the room, and grabbing folks' attention. As such, we introverts risk getting lost in the corporate shuffle.

As a manager, you may not understand what makes introverts tick or how to support us in a workplace environment, so we'd like to clear the air and shed some light on our personalities, which are not so complicated after all. Here are a few things we'd really like you to be aware of.

1. We may prefer to work remotely

Introverts tend to get overwhelmed during periods of constant conversation and interaction. It's not that we don't like people; it's that we occasionally need a little alone time to restore our mental energy. Therefore, many of us might prefer a work situation where we get to telecommute at least part of the time. If you allow us to work from home, say, one day a week, you may be surprised at how much we accomplish. But more so than that, we'll come back to the office feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world.

2. We don't brag about our accomplishments, but we still like to get credit

Introverts don't tend to crave attention -- but that doesn't mean we don't want our contributions acknowledged. Furthermore, it might seem like we're not pulling our weight at times because we don't go out of our way to tout our achievements, but in reality, we're a hard-working bunch just like our extroverted counterparts.

3. We can be strong team players

Because introverts tend to feel more content spending time alone, you might assume that we'd rather be tucked away in our corner cubicles, where we can plug away solo at whatever it is we're working on. But actually, many of us function quite well in team environments. We may need the occasional break from our colleagues -- particularly the louder or more outgoing ones -- but we're happy to collaborate and learn from those around us.

4. We still have social skills

Despite our preference for alone time, the majority of introverts know how to carry on conversations with colleagues and associates, diffuse tense work situations, and make persuasive arguments. Furthermore, we're not necessarily shy or awkward conversationalists, so don't stick us on the sidelines when a big client comes in for a meeting. Rather, give us a chance to present, or mingle, or do whatever it is the rest of our team members are doing to land that account or drum up new business. We can hack it -- promise.

5. We can also be leaders

Introverts are surprisingly good at separating their work lives from their personal lives. As such, we're capable of hosting meetings, speaking in front of crowds, and fostering team spirit -- we may just opt to skip the company happy hour afterward in favor of a relaxed night at home. You might think that as introverts, we're destined to spend our days as low- to mid-level employees, but actually, a lot of us would make terrific leaders. So the next time a promotion opens up, don't automatically pass over our names. After all, introverts count such legendary leaders as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett among their ranks.

One final thing: We introverts tend to be really good listeners, and that's not something you see every day. So rather than bemoan our presence on your team, use us to your advantage. Trust us -- you won't be sorry.

The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.

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When it comes to the fastest-growing industries in the U.S., few, if any, can top legal marijuana. According to Marijuana Business Daily's newest report, "Marijuana Business Factbook 2017," legal sales of the drug -- including medical and recreational weed -- are expected to grow by approximately 300% between 2016 and 2021 to perhaps north of $17 billion. Depending on your source, legal pot sales are set to grow by around 25% annually in the U.S. and/or North America over the next five-to-10 years.

A big reason why legal-marijuana sales are soaring has to do with changing public perception. Back in 1995, the year prior to California becoming the first state to legalize medical cannabis for compassionate use, just 25% of respondents favored the idea of legalizing marijuana across the country. In 2016, that same Gallup poll showed that 60% of Americans now favor legalizing pot nationally.

This substantial shift in opinion is a big reason why so many states have been able to push legalization efforts forward over the past 21 years. Today, 29 states have legalized medical cannabis, and eight have given the green light to recreational weed.

Five states where a recreational marijuana initiative or bill went up in smoke

However, a pretty steady improvement in favorability toward marijuana for two decades doesn't mean cannabis initiatives or marijuana legislation has passed in every instance. Since 2010, five states have seen their efforts to legalize recreational marijuana go up in smoke. Of course, a few of these failures turned into a passed recreational-marijuana initiative a few years later. Let's have a look at five states where voters, or legislators, struggled to get the green light for adult-use pot.

California (2010), but it's now legal

Though 2012 is often viewed as the defining moment for the recreational-marijuana industry, with residents in both Colorado and Washington state voting to legalize recreational cannabis, California attempted to do the same thing two years prior. California's Proposition 19 wound up falling short of the needed majority, with 46.5% of voters in favor of the measure. The Los Angeles Times pegged weaker-than-expected young adult voter turnout and the inability to sway more moderate voters for the measure's defeat. Mind you, if it had passed, California would have become the first state to have legalized adult-use pot.

However, California's pot proponents got their reason to cheer in the Nov. 2016 elections, with Proposition 64 overwhelmingly passing with 57.1% of the vote -- a nearly 2 million vote margin. Pundits have suggested that legalizing recreational weed could generate an additional $1 billion in tax revenue a year for the state. Considering the state's history of having a cash-strapped budget, that dollar figure proved too alluring to ignore last November.

Oregon (2012), but it's now legal

Oregon, which is often viewed as a progressive haven for the cannabis industry, had a chance to join Colorado and Washington in legalizing recreational pot in 2012, but it was the lone state where voting came up short. Ballot Measure 80, officially known as the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, garnered just 46.6% of the vote in favor of its passage.

How on Earth did a marijuana initiative fail in Oregon? Aside from having fewer big donors in support of Measure 80, the bigger issue is how the initiative was written. Rather than following in the path of Colorado and Washington, which issued grow licenses and collected tax revenue from businesses, Oregon's measure would have issued licenses, allowed the state to purchase marijuana from growers, and then let the state sell that product to consumers for a profit.

In effect, the state would have been the dispensary. Oregonians didn't seem to care much for that idea, and it was shelved. And it's a good thing, too, because Oregon overwhelmingly passed Measure 91 in 2014, which followed the recreational-marijuana licensing model implemented by Colorado and Washington.

Ohio (2015)

In 2015, Ohio attempted to do something that no other state had ever tried: legalizing medical and recreational marijuana at the same time. Usually, states pass and establish a medical cannabis presence to "learn the ropes" of how to regulate the industry. Not Ohio. It went for the gusto, and it came up laughably short. The final tally showed the measure, known as Issue 3, losing in a landslide, with only 36.4% support.

Considering how popular marijuana has become with the public, the magnitude of the defeat shocked proponents. But the issue wasn't with the drug itself, so much as the way the law was written. Had Issue 3 passed, just 10 growers would have been apportioned licenses, and these growers would have barriers put in place to keep competition out for at least a couple of years. In effect, it would have set up a veritable cannabis oligopoly within the state, which could have had a negative impact on pricing. Voters recognized this and clearly pushed back.

Since this vote, Ohio's legislature has passed a medical cannabis law, but recreational marijuana is, for now, off the table.

Arizona (2016)

If not for Arizona, the 2016 elections would have been a "green sweep" for the cannabis industry. All four medical-cannabis measures wound up being approved last November, and four-out-of-five recreational initiatives got the green light. The exception was Proposition 205 in Arizona, which narrowly missed the mark by 67,000 votes, or a little more than 1.3%.

Why no love for cannabis in Arizona? It likely had nothing to do with the way the law was written, which was the issue in Ohio and Oregon. Instead, demographics look like the easy answer. Arizona has a relatively high percentage of seniors over the age of 65 compared to other states. It also has tended to lean toward the Republican vote in recent elections. As Gallup's data has shown, just two groups, as of 2016, oppose the expansion of marijuana: senior citizens and Republicans. The state's demographics appears to be to blame for Prop 205's defeat.

However, given how narrowly the measure was defeated, I'd venture a guess that a new proposal with focused support from proponents could have a decent chance at passing in an upcoming election.

Vermont (2017)

Last but not least, Vermont has joined the list of failed attempts to legalize recreational marijuana. Unlike the aforementioned four states, which offer the initiative and referendum (I&R) process that allows residents to vote in favor or against measures, Vermont is not an I&R state. Essentially, this means all bills are introduced and voted on at the legislative level.

Just a few months ago, Vermont's House voted 79-66 in favor of a measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana, and the state's Senate followed with a 20-9 vote in favor. Since Vermont's neighboring states of Maine and Massachusetts legalized recreational weed, its legislators thought it best to move forward with a legalization of its own to avoid possibly losing tax revenue.

Unfortunately, Gov. Phil Scott (R-Vt.) didn't see it that way, and he vetoed the bill. Specifically, Scott was concerned about underage access to marijuana, and that the bill didn't go far enough to punish those who drive under the influence of cannabis. As long as Scott remains governor, it looks unlikely that recreational cannabis will be legalized in Vermont.

Though expansion is likely within the U.S. in the near term, these states also remind proponents and marijuana-stock investors that it's not a guarantee.

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Two men believed to be loggers attacked a television crew filming in a Polish forest on Saturday and injured a cameraman, smashing his camera and seizing his memory cards, police and the TV station said.

Polsat News, the private broadcaster, said the suspects also tried twice to run over the cameraman.

The Bialowieza Forest, one of Europe's last primeval woodlands and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is at the center of a heated political dispute over large-scale logging ordered by the country's conservative government. Environmentalists and the European Union vehemently oppose the logging.

On Friday, the European Court of Justice ordered an immediate suspension of the logging in Bialowieza, which is also protected under EU law.

Police said they detained two male suspects, aged 22 and 47, hours after the attack Saturday. Police said their preliminary investigation indicates that the suspects work for a company involved in the logging.
The migrant who killed one person and injured six others in a knife attack in a Hamburg supermarket on Friday was an Islamist known to German security forces, who say they believed he posed no immediate threat, the city-state's interior minister said on Saturday.

A possible security lapse in a second deadly militant attack in less than a year, and two months before the general election, would be highly embarrassing for German intelligence, especially since security is a main theme in the Sept. 24 vote.

A Tunisian failed asylum seeker killed 12 people by driving a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin in December, slipping through the net after intelligence officers who had monitored him reached the conclusion he was no threat.

Hamburg Interior Minister Andy Grote told a news conference on Saturday that Friday's 26-year-old attacker was registered in intelligence systems as an Islamist but not as a jihadist, as there was no evidence to link him to an imminent attack.

He also said the attacker, a Palestinian asylum seeker who could not be deported as he lacked identification documents, was psychologically unstable.

The Palestinian mission in Berlin had agreed to issue him with documents and he had agreed to leave Germany once these were ready, a process that takes a few months.

"What we can say of the motive of the attacker at the moment is that on the one side there are indications that he acted based on religious Islamist motives, and on the other hand there are indications of psychological instability," Grote said.

"The attacker was known to security forces. There was information that he had been radicalised," he said.

"As far as we know ... there were no grounds to assess him as an immediate danger. He was a suspected Islamist and was recorded as such in the appropriate systems, not as a jihadist but as an Islamist."

Prosecutors said the attacker pulled a 20-centimetre knife from a shelf at the supermarket and stabbed three people inside and four outside before passers-by threw chairs and other objects at him, allowing police to arrest him.

A 50-year-old man died of his injuries. None of the other six people injured in the attack is in a life-threatening condition.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking a fourth term in office in September. Her decision in 2015 to open Germany's doors to more than one million migrants has sparked a debate about the need to spend more on policing and security.

Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri, who could not be deported because he lacked identification documents, carried out his attack at a Christmas market in Berlin in December after security agencies stopped monitoring him because they could not prove suspicions that he was planning to purchase weapons.



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The U.S. government's auto safety agency has expanded an investigation into complaints of exhaust fumes inside Ford Explorer SUVs, adding two model years and nearly 400,000 vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday night that the probe now covers more than 1.3 million Explorers from the 2011 through 2017 model years. The agency made the move after finding more than 2,700 complaints of exhaust odors in the passenger compartment and fears of carbon monoxide in an investigation that it started a year ago. Among the complaints were three crashes and 41 injuries, mostly loss of consciousness, nausea and headaches.

Many of the complaints came from police departments, which use the Police Interceptor version of the Explorer in patrol fleets. Police complaints included two crashes with injuries and another injury allegation due to carbon monoxide exposure.

On Thursday night, the agency said it had upgraded the probe from an investigation to an engineering analysis, a step closer to a recall. That could mean high costs for Ford down the road if it has to do a recall.

Company spokeswoman Elizabeth Weigandt said Thursday night that Ford has a team working with police, customers and NHTSA to investigate the reports and solve problems. Customers with concerns can call a dedicated hotline at (888) 260-5575 or visit their local dealer.

NHTSA also said it will examine Explorer Police Interceptors used by the Austin, Texas, Police Department. The Austin American-Statesman reported this week that the city installed carbon monoxide alarms in its 400 Explorers and parked 60 of them when the alarms activated. The alarms were installed after officers reported becoming sick while in the vehicles. The city could end up parking its entire fleet.

A total of 791 people have complained to the government about the fumes, while Ford has received more than 2,000 complaints and warranty claims.

In the documents, NHTSA said it tested multiple vehicles at its Ohio research center, and it has made field inspections of police vehicles involved in crashes. As of Thursday, the agency has found no evidence or data to support claims that injuries or crash allegations were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. But the agency said it has early tests that suggest carbon monoxide levels may be higher in certain driving conditions "although the significance and effect of those levels remains under evaluation."

The agency also said that through cooperation with police departments, it has learned that the Police Interceptor version of the Explorer is experiencing exhaust manifold cracks that are hard to detect and may explain exhaust odors. Investigators will evaluate the cause, frequency and safety consequences of the cracks, and whether Explorers used by civilians are experiencing cracked manifolds, the agency said.
An ex-cheerleader and a county prosecutor in Florida are calling it quits -- partly because she's a fan of President Trump, and he isn't.

Dave Aronberg, 46, a Palm Beach County State Attorney, and his wife, Lynn, said in a press release Thursday that she is amicably divorcing her husband due to her feeling increasingly isolated in the marriage.

Thats due, in part, to the fact that Lynn is a staunch Republican and supporter of President Trump, unlike her husband.

FEMALE STUDENT: THE LEFT MADE ME A TRUMP SUPPORTER

Adding to their opposing political positions, children were a concern in the marriage, according to the release, the Palm Beach Post reported.

The 37-year-old former Miami Dolphins cheerleader and public relations consultant said she's getting a $100,000 settlement, including a new BMW and $40,000 in cash.

Dave Aronberg is a former state senator who was elected to his current office in 2012. His spokesman said Aronberg had no comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Despite being replaced as White House chief of staff on Friday, Reince Priebus said he is still a fan of President Donald Trump.

"Im going to be on Team Trump all the time," Priebus said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. "Ill always be out there trying to help the president, advance his goals, support him, as a friend too, and thats the other part of the job that people dont realize, you actually become friends. When you go through thick and thin together you get to know people really well, and hes a good man and I was honored to be able to serve him."

Earlier Friday the president tweeted that he would be replacing Priebus with Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

"I can't think of anyone better than a four-star general, John Kelly," Priebus said of his replacement.

JOHN KELLY REPLACES REINCE PRIEBUS AS WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF

Earlier Friday on CNN, Priebus said bringing fresh people to the White House is a good thing.

(Trump) has the best political instincts, said Priebus, the former head of the Republican National Committee He knows, I think, intuitively, when things need to change. He intuitively determined that it was time to do something differently and I think it was right.

He suggested he still had a good relationship with the president, saying it was not a situation where theres a bunch of ill-will feelings.

He also insisted that he was not fired, explaining that he tendered his resignation on Thursday.

I resigned and he accepted it, Priebus said. Ive been talking to the president for a few days about thisI think the president wanted to go in a different direction. I support him on that. The president has a right to hit a reset button.

FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS, FROM PRIEBUS TO COMEY

Amid reports of recent tensions between Priebus and White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, Priebus declined to get into details.

"I'm not going to get into that subject," Priebus told Hannity. "It's just getting in the mud, and I think the palace intrigue stuff is annoying and I think it's a distraction and it takes away from the President's agenda."

On Twitter, Trump thanked Priebus for his service.

We accomplished a lot together, Trump tweeted, and I am proud of him!

Priebus said he was proud to serve the administration.

It was a privilege, he said, it was an honor and I look forward to continuing to help.
President Donald Trump said he would sign a series of bills that will impose stiff financial sanctions on Russia.

The announcement comes after Congress this week overwhelmingly approved packages to punish Moscow for allegedly meddling in U.S. elections.

After Congress approved the sanctions, Moscow said it was reducing the number of U.S. diplomats in Russia in retaliation.

In a statement late Friday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had "reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it."

The legislation is aimed at punishing Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria, where the Kremlin has backed President Bashar Assad. It also imposes financial sanctions against Iran and North Korea.

Before Trump's decision to sign the bill into law, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the bill's passage was long overdue, a jab at Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress. McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has called Putin a murderer and a thug.

"Over the last eight months what price has Russia paid for attacking our elections?" McCain asked. "Very little."

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday said it is ordering the U.S. Embassy in Russia to reduce the number of its diplomats by Sept. 1. Russia will also close down the embassy's recreational retreat on the outskirts of Moscow as well as warehouse facilities.

Meanwhile, some European countries expressed concerns that the measures targeting Russia's energy sector would harm its businesses involved in piping Russian natural gas. Germany's foreign minister said his country wouldn't accept the U.S. sanctions against Russia being applied to European companies.

A spokesman for the European Commission said Friday that European officials will be watching the U.S. effort closely, vowing to "remain vigilant."

The North Korea sanctions are intended to thwart Pyongyang's ambition for nuclear weapons by cutting off access to the cash the reclusive nation needs to follow through with its plans. The bill prohibits ships owned by North Korea or by countries that refuse to comply with U.N. resolutions against it from operating in American waters or docking at U.S. ports.

Goods produced by North Korea's forced labor would be prohibited from entering the United States, according to the bill.

The sanctions package imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. The measure would apply terrorism sanctions to the country's Revolutionary Guards and enforce an arms embargo.

Includes reporting by The Associated Press.
Top White House adviser Kellyanne Conway and other President Trump supporters on Saturday backed the presidents decision to make retired Gen. Mike Kelly his new chief of staff.

I think General Secretary Kelly will bring some strength and discipline, and put out, without even saying to others, that loose lips sink ships, Conway, counselor to the president, told Fox News' Fox & Friends.

She spoke one day after Trump replaced White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus with Kelly, amid widespread leaks from inside the West Wing and apparently across the administration that have slowed the presidents agenda.

I think people will think thrice before they try to hurt each other  by using the press, said Conway, Trumps campaign manager in the final stretch of his successful 2016 White House bid.

Kelly, a retired Marine general, was the Homeland Security secretary before the announced change Friday.

I think what the president wants to do is to make a fresh start, Corey Lewandowski, Trumps first campaign manager, also said Saturday on Fox & Friends.

And I think he and General Kelly are going to make a great combination. It's time -- and I think the general is going to do this -- to make sure that everybody whos working in the administration is working for the presidents agenda.

Lewandowski didnt accuse Priebus of leaking damaging information but suggested there was no recourse against those who did under his watch.

Priebus departure follows the ousting last week of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who helped Priebus lead the Republican National Committee before they joined the Trump White House.

As part of the larger White House shakeup, Trump has hired fellow New Yorker Antony Scaramucci as his communications director and has publicly suggested Attorney General Jeff Session also could be fired.

Kelly is considered a battle-hardened commander who would bring a background of military discipline and order to the unsettled White House.

Kelly's experience as Homeland Security secretary and a veteran of three tours in Iraq -- along with a sobering family tragedy -- suggests he'll be a loyal manager for Trump when he officially starts the job Monday.

"He has been a true star of my administration," tweeted Trump in announcing the move. The president also called Kelly a "great leader" and "great American." He called Priebus, ousted after a tumultuous six months, a "good man."

As Homeland Security secretary, Kelly has taken the lead on some of Trump's most controversial policies, including his executive orders suspending the admission of refugees and temporarily barring visitors from several Muslim-majority nations. Those orders have been stripped down by courts pending a Supreme Court review this fall.

And he has stood up to Congress.

In April, Kelly bluntly challenged members of Congress critical of the Trump administration's aggressive approach to immigration enforcement to either change the laws or "shut up."

But Kelly has won bipartisan respect from lawmakers as a result of his distinguished military career. He joined the Marine Corps in 1970, carving out a reputation as a highly respected but often outspoken commander who could roil debate and issue unpopular directives on issues ranging from women in combat to the treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center.

Kelly also holds a somber distinction. He was the highest-ranking officer to lose a child in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan. Kelly's son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed in November 2010 in Afghanistan.

The general retired from the military last year, wrapping up a three-year post as head of U.S. Southern Command, which spanned some of the more fractious debate over the Obama administration's ultimately failed attempt to close the detainee facility at Guantanamo.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Could Attorney General Jeff Sessions end up at the Department of Homeland Security?

Its an idea some political observers have been debating after President Trump announced Friday that John Kelly, who leads the department, would replace Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff.

Heres how the theory goes: The president has been lashing out at Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia meddling investigation. Sessions would be able to continue his work against illegal immigration as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. And then the president would appoint someone else to the Department of Justice who would then fire Robert Mueller as special counsel in the Russia probe.

Dana Perino, the former White House press secretary under George W. Bush, argued such an arrangement could placate conservatives who would be outraged if Sessions was ousted from the administration.

Conservatives that came to Jeff Sessions defense this week all said, But hes doing the best on the issue we care about most and that is immigration. Well, where can Jeff Sessions do even more on immigration? As the secretary of Homeland Security, Perino said Friday on Fox News The Five.

She added, And then how can the conservatives complain? And then you have a new AG, [the president] thinks, who can fire Mueller.

But one Republican senator is already opposing the idea.

DHS Secretary Jeff Sessions doesn't sound right, doesn't feel right, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted Saturday. Bad idea.

Graham also said, AG Jeff Sessions has a good ring to it. Highly qualified, committed to the rule of law, tough on crime, and fiercely independent.

KELLY, NEW WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF, HAILED AS 'STAR OF THE ADMINISTRATION'

Such a move would not be popular with liberals either.

To be clear: appointing Jeff Sessions to replace John Kelly at DHS to disrupt the Russia investigation would be met with MASS RESISTANCE, Zac Petkanas, a Democratic strategist who previously worked for Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid, tweeted Saturday.

Politico cited two sources saying the idea of Sessions being moved to DHS has been talked about among department staffers. But the outlet also said a Trump administration source called the possibility unlikely.

A spokesman for DHS said Friday that Kelly remains secretary of the department until Monday when Elaine Duke, the deputy secretary, will become acting secretary. The president will then nominate a new leader for the department.

A White House spokesman referred questions about Sessions to the Department of Justice. A DOJ spokesman declined to comment.
President Trump argued Saturday that the effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare is not yet dead, as he pressured senators not to give up on overhauling former President Obamas 2010 law.

Unless the Republican Senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead! Trump tweeted Saturday afternoon. Demand another vote before voting on any other bill!

Throughout the day on Saturday, the president expressed frustration on Twitter with Senate Republicans, who have repeatedly failed in recent weeks to pass legislation that eliminates or overhauls ObamaCare.

The latest setback came early Friday morning when three Republicans joined with Democrats in opposing the latest effort to pass what was called skinny repeal.

Earlier Saturday, Trump threatened to end health care bailouts for insurers and lawmakers.

If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon! Trump tweeted.

TRUMP THREATENS TO END HEALTH CARE 'BAILOUTS' FOR INSURERS, LAWMAKERS

He also dinged Republicans for protesting the health care law during Obamas presidency while being unable to send a bill repealing it to Trumps desk.

After seven years of talking Repeal & Replace, the people of our great country are still being forced to live with imploding ObamaCare! Trump said.

The president also called for the Senate to change its rules and do away with the legislative filibuster, something he said would make it easier to get his legislative agenda passed.

Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don't go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time...... he said.


President Trump, in another move to discredit and end accusations his White House campaign colluded with Russia, on Saturday called attention to recent Senate testimony linking the Kremlin to a dossier compiled to discredit him.

Firm behind anti-Trump dossier also worked for Russia, Senate witness says, Trump said in one of two tweets referring to a Fox News story discussed Saturday on Fox & Friends.

In other words, Russia was against Trump in the 2016 Election - and why not, I want strong military & low oil prices. Witch Hunt!, Trump said in the second tweet.

Rumors about the so-called Trump dossier emerged during the 2016 campaign. The content of the dossier was made public days before Trumps Jan. 20 inauguration but quickly and widely dismissed as nonfactual and a smear effort.

Trumps presidency has been mired in the Russia controversy and the numerous related investigations.

On Thursday, Bill Browder, chief executive and co-founder of Hermitage Capital, told a Senate panel that the company behind the infamous dossier also worked "on behalf of the Russian government" to fight U.S. sanctions that had enraged Moscow's elite.

And he shed new light on the dealings of the controversial company, Fusion GPS.

According to Browder, the company also conducted a "smear campaign" against Trump in a bid to fight Russia sanctions.

Browder also testified that the smear campaign was orchestrated by Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian attorney who sought the highly scrutinized Trump Tower meeting last June with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Browder's testimony skewered Fusion and co-founder Glenn Simpson.

He said the Russian lawyer, working through an intermediary, hired Simpson to "conduct a smear campaign against me and Sergei Magnitsky in advance of a congressional hearing on the Global Magnitsky Act."

Browder had hired the late Sergei Magnitsky to uncover details of massive financial fraud in Russia involving corrupt Russian government officials.

Magnitsky was imprisoned and ultimately beaten to death by Russian officers in Moscow. In the wake of his death, the U.S. passed a law in his name that brought sanctions against Russian oligarchs suspected of money laundering.

Browder described the tactics Simpson allegedly used to discredit him and Magnitsky.

Glenn Simpson was pitching a story to journalists that Magnitsky had not been murdered, but died of natural causes; that he wasnt a whistleblower, but a criminal, and that the story I told Congress was incorrect, Browder said Thursday, adding they were unsuccessful for the most part in getting that story written.

Left unclear in Thursday's hearing was what connection there might have been between the Russians and the anti-Trump dossier commissioned by Fusion GPS.

Browder was questioned by multiple senators Thursday on that issue but said he was a bystander in regard to the dossier and its crude allegations against Trump, as he had only read reports in the press.
President Trump on Saturday threatened to end health care bailouts for insurers and lawmakers in Washington as he continues to push Congress to pass legislation repealing ObamaCare.

If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon! Trump tweeted Saturday afternoon.

He also tweeted, After seven years of talking Repeal & Replace, the people of our great country are still being forced to live with imploding ObamaCare!

Trump appears to be talking about cost-sharing subsidies for insurers. Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, recently told insurers such subsidies could end.

We are looking at the cost-sharing payments on a month-to-month basis. We made them today. We'll make them tomorrow, Mulvaney said, according to the Independent Journal Review. But I don't think we'll see a long-term commitment from this administration.

Some conservatives have also been pushing the White House to end subsidies to lawmakers and their employees made possible by an Office of Personnel Management exemption.

Its also troubling that the Trump administration used executive powers to bail out insurers but will not use his lawful executive power to end Obamas order exempting members of Congress from paying the full Obamacare freight, Daniel Horowitz recently wrote at ConservativeReview.com.

Senate Republicans have repeatedly tried, but failed, to pass legislation that eliminates or overhauls former President Barack Obamas 2010 health care law.

TRUMP CALLS ON CHANGES FROM SENATE REPUBLICANS

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had hoped to pass a skinny repeal measure late Thursday. But when the vote finally took place early Friday morning, three Republicans -- John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska -- joined with Democrats in opposition, killing the plan.
In the aftermath of the Senates failed ObamaCare votes, President Trump on Saturday urged leaders of the GOP-controlled chamber to change the rules to a simple 51-vote majority to pass legislation, saying they are looking like fools and calling the 60-vote requirement a joke.

The Senate this week tried and failed on several measures to pass legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare, dealing Trump a major loss in his efforts to end the 2010 health care law.

Republican Senate must get rid of 60 vote NOW!, Trump said in one of his five tweets Saturday morning on the issue. It is killing the R Party, allows 8 Dems to control country. 200 Bills sit in Senate. A JOKE!

The Senate has 52 Republican senators and 48 Democrats and independents who vote, or caucus, together.

Several of the measures this week -- including the one Tuesday to begin debate on bills and amendments -- required just 51 votes. However, others, including an amendment from Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz that would have garnered support from the Senate Republican conferences conservative wing, needed 60 votes and failed.

Trump also tweeted Friday on the topic, after the failed votes.

On Saturday, he tweeted: Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don't go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time......

And he tweeted directly at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.: The very outdated filibuster rule must go. Budget reconciliation is killing R's in Senate. Mitch M, go to 51 Votes NOW and WIN. IT'S TIME!
Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif named his brother Shahbaz, the chief minister of Punjab province, as his successor and nominated ex-oil minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as an interim premier in a defiant speech Saturday.

The announcement charts a way forward for Pakistan after the Supreme Court deposed Sharif Friday following an investigation into corruption allegations against him and his family.

The ruling brought to an unceremonious end his historic third term in power and briefly plunged the country into political uncertainty.

"I support Shahbaz Sharif after me but he will take time to contest elections so for the time being I nominate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi," Sharif said in a televised speech to his party.

The younger Sharif -- who has so far been unscathed by the corruption allegations engulfing his brother's family -- holds only a provincial seat, so must be elected to the national assembly before becoming the new prime minister.

But observers viewed the decision as a continuation of dynastic politics of Pakistan.

"The nomination of Shahbaz Sharif as the next prime minister won't bring political stability, it will strengthen the culture of dynastic politics," political analyst Abid Hassan told AFP.

"How can they not find one single individual in the whole party for the post of prime minister," he said.

Earlier Saturday the Election Commission of Pakistan confirmed fresh elections would be held in Nawaz Sharif's former constituency, in the family's power base of Punjab province, in a process which could take up to 45 days.

Considered more intelligent but less charismatic than his older brother, Shahbaz Sharif has controlled Punjab -- Pakistan's most populous and prosperous province -- for much of the last decade, presiding over a series of big ticket infrastructure projects.

Abbasi is set to be rubber-stamped as placeholder in a parliamentary vote, with Sharif's ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) commanding a majority in the 342-seat house. There was no immediate confirmation of when the vote would take place.

An electrical engineer and the businessman who launched Pakistan's most successful private airline, Air Blue, Abbasi is considered a highly-intelligent Sharif loyalist who has been elected to the national assembly six times since 1988.

The opposition could also field a candidate for the premiership, though the nominee has little chance of getting sufficient votes.

Nawaz Sharif became the 15th prime minister in Pakistan's 70-year history -- roughly half of which was under military rule -- to be ousted before completing a full term.

In his televised speech to PML-N parliamentary members Saturday, he angrily denounced the ruling and warned the country was "descending into chaos".

"I have no regrets... I will continue to fight for my vision of Pakistan," he said.

The Supreme Court said in its judgement Friday that it was disqualifying Sharif for failing to disclose his monthly salary of 10,000 dirhams ($2,700) from a company owned by his son in the United Arab Emirates.

Sharif did not withdraw the salary, court documents show, but the five-member bench ruled his failure to disclose its existence meant he was not "honest" -- a requirement for Pakistani politicians under the country's Constitution.

The decision sent his political opponents into the streets handing out sweets and beating drums in celebration. Opposition leader Imran Khan, who has spearheaded the push against Sharif, hailed the verdict as ushering in a new dawn for Pakistan.

But Pakistanis were divided on whether it set the country's democratic progress back, with supporters and commentators and lamenting the ousting of a democratically elected premier on a "technicality" in what some termed a "judicial coup".

Sharif's link to the UAE company was exposed as part of an investigation into corruption allegations against his family that erupted as a result of the Panama Papers leak last year.

The publication of 11.5 million secret documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca documenting the offshore dealings of many of the world's rich and powerful implicated three of Sharif's four children -- daughter Maryam and sons Hasan and Hussein.

Claims about the lavish lifestyles and luxury London property portfolio of the Sharif dynasty played out for months in endless loops in the country's raucous news media.

Bribery and other forms of graft are endemic in Pakistan. The PML-N has consistently and noisily denied the accusations, insisting that the dynasty's wealth was acquired legally through Sharif family businesses in Pakistan and the Gulf.

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An imam in Northern California who gave a widely criticized sermon last week about tensions over a holy site in Jerusalem apologized Friday for his remarks.

Imam Ammar Shahin apologized during a news conference Friday in Davis, California, saying he let his emotions cloud his judgment, the Los Angeles Times reported .

In a July 21 sermon, Shahin condoned the annihilation of Jews and those restricting access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli officials installed metal detectors at the mosque's entrances after Arab gunmen on July 14 shot and killed two police officers in the site that is holy to both Muslims and Jews. The move outraged Muslims and sparked some of the worst street clashes in years. Five Palestinians died in the past week and scores were wounded in violent clashes with Israeli security forces over the holy site.

Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque attended by tens of thousands ended peacefully.

Shahin's sermon to worshippers at the Islamic Center of Davis set off a firestorm of criticism after a videotaped excerpt was translated and distributed.

"I said things that were hurtful to Jews. This was unacceptable," Shahin said, flanked by religious and community leaders during a news conference in that was part of an effort to ease tensions.

"I hope to grow and develop as a more worthy leader in the community," he added.

Rabbi Seth Castleman of Davis thanked Shahin for his words and asked him to follow through with actions. "Apologies are only as worthy as the actions that follow, so I call upon you. I implore you to follow those words with actions," Castleman said.
A huge mako shark got himself into a sticky situation earlier this month after the razor-toothed fish hopped onto a boat off the coast of Long Island, N.Y., and got caught in the boat's guard rail.

The massive shark was filmed by Don Law from Outlaw Fishing Charters and his team after the fish got caught on July 6, according to the International Business Times.

The video of the shark showed it wailing and wiggling to get itself free. The shark thrashed and chewed the pole while trying to release itself, eventually starting to bleed from its mouth.

Oh my God! He jumped onto the boat, a person is heard yelling in the video. Other voices in the background were heard discussing how to help the shark, while others admired the fishs size.

FLORIDA POLICE OFFICER WRANGLES ALLIGATOR NEAR FRONT DOOR OF HOUSE

Later in the video, the fishermen used a fishing line to grab the head of the shark while another person used a rope and tied its tail. The shark is lowered into the water before it swam off.

The fishermen estimated the shark weighed somewhere between 132-298 pounds and was 10-feet long.
Four people were killed when a plane plummeted on a highway near Salt Lake City, Utah, shortly after takeoff, bursting into flames.

The Utah Department of Public Safety identified the two couples that were aboard the aircraft as Layne and Diana Clarke, and Perry and Sarah Huffaker. Officials said the couples were traveling to Idaho for vacation. Fox 13 reports that the victims are members of the Mormon faith. The Huffakers have four children, and two currently are serving missions overseas.

The airplanes pilot, Layne Clarke, also tragically lost a brother in an aviation accident 15 years ago.

The debris from the Beechcraft Bonanza A36 littered I-15 near Riverdale, Utah, closing most lanes for about 8 hours after the wreckage caught fire and left a black and smoldering sight for witnesses. There were no reports of injuries on the ground.

The NTSB and the FAA are heading up an investigation into the cause of the crash. The wreckage has been moved to a secure location for examination by investigators to determine if there was any mechanical malfunction.

Driver April Demetropolis was on her way to work when the plane crashed so close to her car that she felt the reverberation and heat from the explosion, the Deseret News reported. "Out of nowhere from the east side, a plane came swooping in and just nose-dived into the middle of the freeway," Demetropolis said.
A California photographer created a magical photo shoot featuring six newborn babies dressed as Disney princesses.

Photographer Karen Marie captured the six enchanting newborn girls dressed as specific Disney princesses. Maries studio, Belly Beautiful Portraits in Roseville, Calif., was the scene of the stunning creation.

NO BAIL REDUCTION IN CALIFORNIA RECORDED ON INSTAGRAM

The studio chose beforehand which princess each baby would be. The two-week old newborns were dressed as Ariel, Belle, Snow White, Cinderella, Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty.

(Disneys) amazing tales of love and heroism have always been an inspiration to me, Marie told ABC News.

The publicity the photos has garnered have shocked not only Marie but the princess babies parents as well.

I hope its because I captured a small portion of the Disney story in each image and that people see the beauty in what I was trying to create, Marie said.

NOW HES SORRY! CALIFORNIA IMAM PREACHES SOUND BITES OF HATE

I love seeing the parents doting over their babies dresses as princesses and their reactions to my finished work.

The mini-princess gowns were created by Sew Trendy Accessories. Marie said the dresses can be purchased just in case other parents want to create their own baby Disney-themed photo shoot.

Marie began photographing infants after she followed her dream. She was previously a labor-and-delivery nurse, according to Babble.

The photographer said photographing six babies all together is very difficult but credited her team for helping her out.

Marie told Fox News she is planning on another photo shoot in the next two weeks that will feature Tiana, Moana, Mulan, Pocahontas, Elena and Rapunzel.
A video at a Florida resort shows a customer, who said he is a former police officer, punching a valet and knocking him to the ground during an apparent dispute over a parking charge.

The Tuesday night incident was captured, which resulted in the valet being hospitalized, on surveillance at the Fort Lauderdale resort.

According to NBC 6 in Miami, hotel guest John Kiernan is seen going up to valet Rudolph Rodriguez outside the Ocean Sky Hotel & Resort where the two speak briefly.

The video shows Kiernan suddenly punching Rodriguez in the face, knocking him to the ground. Kiernan bends over Rodriguez and puts one of the valet's arms behind his back.

"He punched my face and I don't remember nothing," Rodriguez told NBC 6. "He punched me for no reason."

Eventually, Kiernan walks away and a woman helps Rodriguez into a sitting position before the video ends.

Kiernan was upset over an $18 valet charge, Rodriguez said.

Kiernan told WTVJ that they argued over the parking charge for someone he was hosting at the hotel. He said Rodriguez was very disrespectful to him and his wife.

"I guess he finally got irritated and looked at me, and said, 'You are going to fight me,'" Kiernan said.

Fort Lauderdale police responded but did not arrest Kiernan, who said he is a former cop. Kiernan has not been charged.

The hotel's manager said Rodriguezs injuries were serious enough that he had to be hospitalized.
Convinced there were monsters in her new home, one 4-year-old in Colorado took charge, seeking help from local police to roust them out.

Sidney Fahrenbruch was sure the Denver area house she and her family had recently moved into was just full of them. She worried that they would come out at night and hurt her family.

Well, cause I heard sounds when people werent up, she explained to KDVR.

So, at a community event, Sydney asked Longmont police officer David Bonday for help.

She met officer Bonday and asked him if he would come search for monsters in our house, Sidneys mom, Megan Fahrenbruch, told the station.

SCIENTISTS FIND POSSIBLE CLUE TO ANCIENT 'GHOST SPECIES' OF HUMANS

Bonday, who has no experience monster hunting, still agreed to help. He went to the Fahrenbruch home Sunday and helped Sidney investigate.

"She just checked under the couch, but he wanted to make sure there werent any under the couch cushions, Megan Fahrenbruch said. And then they ended up going in the front yard to make sure there was no monster activity in the front yard.

Good news: KDVR reported that the investigation did not turn up any monsters, and Sidney now calls Bonday her best friend.

Its just amazing the confidence hes given her, Megan Fahrenbruch said.

EVIL GHOST HAUNTING THAI TOWN, VILLAGERS CLAIM

An aspiring police officer, Sidney often visits the Longmont Police Department, bringing candy at Halloween, pies at Thanksgiving, cookies at Christmastime, her mother said.

She wants to grow up and be a cop and help other people find monsters as well, Megan Fahrenbruch said.
A federal judge has blocked the state of Arkansas from enforcing four new abortion restrictions.

U.S. District Court Judge Kristine Baker issued a preliminary injunction late Friday against the new abortion restrictions, three of which were set to take effect Tuesday.

The laws include a ban on a common procedure known as dilation and evacuation. Abortion-rights supporters contend its the safest and most common procedure used in second-trimester abortions. Abortion activists also argued that doing away with the procedure would make it impossible for women to get an abortion in their second trimester.

Pro-life groups criticized the procedure, which is surgical, as barbaric.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Reproductive Rights sued Arkansas over the restrictions, which lawmakers approved earlier this year. The two groups sued on behalf of Dr. Frederick Hopkins, a Little Rock abortion provider. The groups say the laws would make it nearly impossible for many women in the state to get an abortion.

(The law) would essentially end access to second-trimester abortions in Arkansas, Brigitte Amiri, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told NBC News.

POLICE FATALLY SHOOT TEEN OUTSIDE ARKANSAS YOUTH CENTER

Similar bans are in effect in Mississippi and West Virginia and have been blocked by court rulings in Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. A ban approved in Texas will take effect in September and is also being challenged in court. The groups said the ban would have a devastating impact, while the state argued that alternative procedures are available.

"The threatened harm to Dr. Hopkins and the fraction of women for whom the Mandate is relevant clearly outweighs whatever damage or harm a proposed injunction may cause the State of Arkansas," Baker wrote in her ruling.

Baker's ruling also halted a law that would have imposed new restrictions on the disposal of fetal remains from abortions. The plaintiffs argued that it could also block access by requiring notification of a third party, such as the woman's sexual partner or her parents, to determine what happens to the fetal remains. The state has said the law does not require permission or notice from those third parties before an abortion and includes several provisions that ensure notice or consent is not required to dispose of the fetal remains.

Baker said the law would dissuade doctors from performing abortions and create significant delays for women seeking the procedure.

Baker also blocked part of a law set to take effect in January that would ban abortions based solely on the fetus' sex. The groups are challenging the law's requirement that a doctor performing the abortion first request records related to the entire pregnancy history of the woman. The plaintiffs say the requirement would violate a patient's privacy and indefinitely delay a woman's access to abortion.

SCULPTURE COMMEMORATES 1957 DESEGREGATION AT ARKANSAS SCHOOL

The judge also blocked a law that would expand a requirement that physicians performing abortions for patients under 14 take certain steps to preserve embryonic or fetal tissue and notify police where the minor resides. The new measure, which was also set to take effect Tuesday, would have raised the age requirement to less than 17 years of age.

The block came hours after a federal court panel cleared the way for Arkansas to enforce a law that will limit how the abortion pill can be administered. Baker blocked the 2015 law that required doctors who provide such pills to maintain a contract with another physician who has admitting privileges at a hospital and who agrees to handle any complications.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An Ohio woman called 911 Thursday after a 5-foot-6-inch boa constrictor she had rescued wrapped itself around her face and began biting her nose.

The victim, a 45-year-old woman of Sheffield Lake, which is about 10 miles west of Cleveland, called authorities after one of the two boa constrictors she rescued the previous day had attacked her. The recording of her 911 call was released.

I have a boa constrictor stuck to my face, the woman yelled.

Maam you have what? the 911 dispatcher asked.

Boa constrictor, the woman repeated. Please hurry. Hes biting my nose.

FREAK GOLF ACCIDENT KILLS FLORIDA WOMAN WHO FAMOUSLY SOUGHT WEDDING CRASHERS

Ive never heard of this before, the dispatcher was heard saying.

Rescuers arrived within minutes and found the woman lying in the bloodied driveway of her home, the snake holding tight just as she described. A firefighter had to cut the snakes head with a pocket knife in order to release the woman from its grasp. The woman, who was not identified, was transported to the hospital for treatment. She suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Dennis Bring, Sheffield Lakes mayor, said he was pleased with how authorities handled the incident, according to WAFB.

Im just really pleased with the paramedics response and you know the thought, to think that quick to take out a pocket knife, Bring told WAFB.

Obviously he had to destroy the snake, but he had no other choice, Bring said.

BODY PARTS FOUND IN ALPS MAY BE LINKED TO LONG-AGO AIR INDIA CRASHES

The woman told the dispatcher during the call that she had rescued boa constrictors on Wednesday and that she owned nine ball pythons.

I would imagine the bite was very painful so shes going to have to put up with that awhile, too. And now shes going to have to make a decision on whether she continues to do this, Bring said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Pennsylvania man who was convicted of attempted rape in 2013 had written journal entries describing the crime in explicit detail, police said.

Frank Yeager, 33, of Bucks County, received 20 years in prison in 2013 after he attempted to persuade a female realtor to go into a model home with him.

Yeager pleaded guilty to the attempted rape charge. The Superior Court in Lehigh County, which is north of Philadelphia, upheld his sentence this week.

Yeager kept a journal where he wrote his rape plans and described his perfect victims, according to NBC4i. He also drew his rape fantasies in the entries.

FORT LAUDERDALE HOTEL VALET PUNCHED BY EX-COP IN CAR CHARGE DISPUTE

I truly enjoy the hunt and cannot wait for my prize, Yeager wrote. If you are reading this I found a realtor woman and raped her. I have been planning and have wanted this my whole life.

Yeager also wrote out a list of 200 real estate agents he was interested in raping. The list included their names, addresses, where they lived and their places of employment. Yeager wanted women who looked like model and celebrity personality Paris Hilton.

The woman Yeager attempted to rape said she felt uneasy at first when she showed Yeager the home. She attempted to get the man to look at the house by himself. Yeager showed up at the womans office less than an hour later claiming the home had a water leak and she needed to see it.

The woman did not trust Yeager and declined to go to the residence with him, police said. Yeager left when a male co-worker appeared in her office.

NO BAIL REDUCTION IN CALIFORNIA CRASH RECORDED ON INSTAGRAM

When police investigated, they said they found a rape kit, two handguns, four knives, a metal chain and rope in Yeagers car, according to the New York Daily News.

Police said the man planned the attempted rape for five months. Yeager confessed that he formulated the homes water leak to take advantage of the real estate agent.
A rare, solid gold replica of the 1969 Lunar Excursion Module that landed on the moon has been stolen from the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

The Wapakoneta police received a burglary alarm call shortly before midnight on Friday, July 28. When they arrived, the piece was found to be missing.

The module is 5 inches high and about 4.5 inches square. It was given to Armstrong in Paris shortly after the moon landing. Cartier made three of the replicas, one for each of the astronauts on the mission.

Police say that the "value of such an item cannot be determined."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation are assisting local police in the investigation.

Please contact the Wapakoneta Police Department at (419) 738-8802 with any information.

Click for more from Fox8.com.
A foundation headed by philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, has purchased a controlling interest in the Atlantic magazine, according to reports.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

The new majority owner will be the Emerson Collective, an organization that focuses on education, immigration reform and environmental causes. The group also is involved in other media ventures and awards grants in TV and film production as well as journalism.

Jobs, 53, a native of New Jersey, was married to Steve Jobs from 1991 until his death in 2011.

The deal makes Jobs the latest Silicon Valley figure to enter the journalism world, the Atlantic reported. Previous tech-related people owning news organizations have included Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, who bought a stake in the New Republic, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who bought the Washington Post.

David G. Bradley, 64, chairman and owner of Atlantic Media, announced the sale Friday, saying he would retain a minority stake in the magazine and continue as chairman and operating partner for three to five years.

Against the odds, The Atlantic is prospering, Bradley wrote in a memo. While I will stay at the helm some years, the most consequential decision of my career now is behind me: Who next will take stewardship of this 160-year-old national treasure? To me, the answer, in the form of Laurene, feels incomparably right.

The Atlantic was founded in Boston in 1857. Bradley bought it 1999 from New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman for $10 million, the Atlantic reported, and moved the magazines headquarters to Washington in 2005.

This story includes reporting from the Associated Press.
Police in Wyoming never expected a Facebook post about giving money to panhandlers to go viral.

But when the Cheyenne Police Department's Sunday post was shared more 46,000 times, it sparked about 8,000 comments from across the country -- some supportive of the post and others critical.

The post shows a stack of money and a sign that says Broke  Need Help  God Bless. The message from police with the image says the cash belongs to a transient man who was arrested for public intoxication. He had collected about nearly $235 in a few hours.

Those who donated should have given the money to a charity, rather than feeding someones alcohol addiction, it said.

The comments ranged from support to concerns that officers shamed the man and took his money.

Kevin Malatesta, the spokesperson for the department, told WTSP that in retrospect more detail should have been included in the post. Two days later, the department followed up with more information.

For example, he said that the man would get his money back and that it would not be confiscated by police.

Police assumed the money would feed the mans addiction because they are familiar with him.

In addition to public intoxication, the man also had been arrested for public urination, refusing to obey commands and having an open container.

We see this particular individual quite a bit, Malatesta told KUSA. Its somebody we deal with on, Id say, almost a daily basis. Almost every contact we make, hes intoxicated. So thats where thats coming from.

The point of the initial post was to inform the public about issues related to the city's transient population and police efforts to help.

If people are enabling it just by giving them money and we see them being arrested for public intoxication or similar offenses, repeating that cycle, thats exactly what it is.

The huge response was surprising.

What we were anticipating was really just wanting to get the message out about local charities and donating to local charities.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that the countrys second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile shows that the country is capable of hitting the mainland U.S.

The communist leader said he reacted to the launch with great satisfaction.

The Hwasong-14 missile reached a maximum height of 2,314 miles and traveled 620 miles from the launch point before landing in waters near Japan on Friday.

BUNKER BOOM: NORTH KOREA THREAT HAS AMERICANS PREPARING TO GO UNDERGOUND

Analysts say the data suggests that a wide swath of the U.S., including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now within range of Pyongyang's weapons.

President Donald Trump said that the tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy and deprive its people. Trump says the U.S. will take all "necessary steps" to protect the homeland as well as U.S. allies in the region, including Japan and South Korea.

North Korea first test-launched the Hwasong-14 on July 4.

Kim said the launch sent a "serious warning" to the United States, which has been "meaninglessly blowing its trumpet" with threats of war and stronger sanctions, the KCNA said.

The North Korean flight data was similar to assessments by the United States, South Korea and Japan.

David Wright, a physicist and co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that if reports of the missile's maximum altitude and flight time are correct, it would have a theoretical range of about 6,500 miles. That means it could have reached Los Angeles, Denver or Chicago, depending on variables such as the size and weight of the warhead that would be carried atop such a missile in an actual attack.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry denounced the launch as a "grave threat" to regional and international security. But the ministry also said South Korea will continue to try to reach out to the North and called for Pyongyang to accept Seoul's recent offer for talks to reduce animosities along their tense border and resume temporary reunions of relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Police disrupted a terrorist plot to bring down an airplane and arrested four men on Saturday in raids on homes in several Sydney suburbs, the prime minister said on Sunday.



Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said security had been increased at Sydney Airport since Thursday because of the plot. The increased security measures had been extended to all major international and domestic terminals around Australia overnight.



"I can report last night that there has been a major joint counterterrorism operation to disrupt a terrorist plot to bring down an airplane," Turnbull told reporters. "The operation is continuing."



Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colivn said details were scant on the specifics of the attack, the location and timing.



"In recent days, law enforcement has been become aware of information that suggested some people in Sydney were planning to commit a terrorist attack using an improvised devise," Colvin said.



"We are investigating information indicating the aviation industry was potentially a target of that attack," he added.



Turnbull advised travelers in Australia to arrive at Australian airports earlier than usual -- two hours before departure -- to allow for extra security screening and to minimize carry-on baggage.



Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the plot was the 13th significant threat disrupted by police since Australia's terrorist threat level was elevated in 2014. Five plots have been executed.



"The primary threat to Australia still remains lone actors, but the events overnight remind us that there is still the ability for people to have sophisticated plots and sophisticated attacks still remain a real threat," Keenan said." In light of this information, it's very important that everyone in Australia remains vigilant."



The operation was carried out by the Australian Federal Police, the New South Wales state police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the country's main domestic spy agency. The investigation could continue for days, Colvin said.



Seven Network television reported that 40 riot squad officers wearing gas masks stormed an inner-Sydney house before an explosives team found a suspicious device.



A woman led from a raid by police with her head covered told Nine Network Television: "I love Australia."



None of the four suspects arrested in five raids had been charged, police said.


British police say two men have been arrested in connection with the rape of a 15-year-old girl  who was raped again by a driver she flagged down for help.

The first attack occurred late Tuesday or early Wednesday at a railway station in Birmingham, the U.K.'s second-most populous city. Investigators say the girl left the station at around 2 a.m. Wednesday and flagged down a passing vehicle.

When the girl got into the car, the driver raped her.

Detective Chief Inspector Tony Fitzpatrick of British Transport Police told Sky News that both arrests were related to the initial assault at the railway station and the search for the driver accused in the second attack was ongoing.

"I am still looking to hear from anyone who lives locally ... and saw a young girl walking by herself during the early hours of Wednesday morning," Fitzpatrick said. "If you saw any vehicle or any person acting suspiciously then please get in touch as soon as possible."

The Sun identified the arrested men as a 35-year-old and a 27-year-old, both of whom were being held on suspicion of rape. The driver of the car where the second attack took place is described as an Asian man in his early 20s.

Click for more from SkyNews.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson lashed out at Russia and China early Saturday, following North Koreas second test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile  and reports that Kim Jong Uns regime was now capable of striking cities on the U.S. mainland.

Tillerson labeled the two U.S. rivals the principal economic enablers of North Koreas weapons programs, and called on them to ramp up efforts to curb the growing nuclear threat from Pyongyang.

All nations should take a strong public stance against North Korea by maintaining and strengthening U.N. sanctions to ensure North Korea will face consequences for its relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, Tillerson said.

China has reportedly pressed North Korea to abide by all relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and cease any actions that could escalate tensions.

Meanwhile, President Trump condemned North Koreas action as reckless and dangerous, and said the U.S. will take all necessary steps to protect itself and its allies.

Kim expressed great satisfaction following the ICBM test. The missile traveled 620 miles until landing in waters near Japan, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.

Analysts now believe Pyongyangs weapons can hit U.S. cities such as Los Angeles or Chicago.

Tillerson said the U.S. wants a peaceful resolution to denuclearize North Korea, adding that Washington will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea.

The United States "will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea."  Rex Tillerson, U.S. secretary of state

The secretary of state was in contact with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida. They planned to work closely with South Korea on a U.N. Security Council resolution to crack down on the rogue North, Japans Kyodo News Service reported Saturday.

Following North Koreas ICBM launch, forces from the U.S. and its ally South Korea conducted joint military exercises in the region that included the launch of a barrage of missiles of their own.

South Korea has stepped up its military presence along the Korean Peninsula in recent weeks, and was considering deploying additional anti-missile systems. The recent ICBM test has also prompted South Korea to discuss with the U.S. increasing the warhead limit of their missiles from 1,100 pounds, to a ton.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A U.S. Navy vessel fired a warning shot in an unprofessional encounter with ships from Irans elite Revolutionary Guard, Irans state news agency reported Saturday.

The USS Nimitz, accompanied by another U.S. ship, fired the shot Friday as a helicopter hovered over the Iranian ships near an Iranian offshore oil-drilling platform in the Persian Gulf, the report said.

The U.S. ships then left the area, according to the report.

The confrontation occurred just three days after a similar face-off involving the USS Thunderbolt. An Iranian vessel had ignored repeated radio calls as it sped toward the U.S. ship, prompting the American vessel to fire warning shots, Fox News reported.

U.S. military vessels have had approximately 60 unsafe interactions with Iranian ships in the Gulf since 2015, according to U.S. military records.

On Friday, the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran, targeting six Iranian subsidiaries of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group.

The sanctions were prompted by the Muslim countrys failed missile launch Thursday, which was believed to be part of a Tehran government plan to create an intercontinental missile capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

Fox News Lucas Tomlinson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
The militaries of the U.S. and South Korea fired missiles into the territorial waters off South Koreas east coast early Saturday, apparently in response to North Koreas launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile a short time earlier.

What the U.S. Army described as a combined training event also followed North Koreas claim that its weapons were now capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, as Fox News reported.

According to Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military usually refrains from disclosing details about its exercises, but a statement by the Eighth Army linked Saturdays drill directly with North Koreas ICBM launch. (The Eighth Army is the U.S. force based in South Korea.)

The North Korean missile was launched around midnight Saturday local time in the countrys northwest, landing in the Sea of Japan about 620 miles east of the launch site, the Stars and Stripes report said, citing a Pentagon statement.

The Eighth Army claimed the exercise involved the use of a surface-to-surface Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and South Koreas Huynmoo Missile II.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the [U.S. and South Korea] to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions, the Pentagon statement said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military tracked the North Korean missile throughout its flight and determined it posed no threat to North America, Stars and Stripes reported.

We assess that this missile was an [ICBM], as had been expected, the Pentagon statement said, adding that the U.S. remained committed to defending South Korea and Japan, two key allies in the Asia-Pacific region, from any attack or provocation.
A Louisa County woman faces up to 230 years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of indecent liberties with a minor while in a custodial relationship and 14 counts of computer solicitation of a minor.

Amanda Nasser, 31, of Bumpass pleaded guilty to all of the 18 charges against her in Louisa Circuit Court on Wednesday, according to a statement from the commonwealths attorneys office. She will serve at least the seven-year mandatory minimum sentence, but she could be sentenced to up to 230 years.

Nasser became acquainted with several children while working as an interpreter for a student at a local high school, according to the statement. She began exchanging sexually explicit text messages with one of those children  then a freshman at the school  and even befriended the students mother in order to gain access to him outside of a school setting, the statement says.

She later admitted to having sex with the student on four occasions.

Nassers sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 2.
Every day that Rep. Rob Wittman (R-1st) supports Trump is another day that he is complicit in the Russian destabilization of our country. The evidence is abundant and clearthe Trump campaign colluded with Russian agents to neuter the democratic election process. Team Trump conspired with a foreign nation to undermine the validity of our elections and put a puppet into the presidency.

Under this puppet regime, our State Department has been dismantled. Funding and staffing of almost every governmental agency has been attacked. This is advantageous to the Russians and disadvantageous to the United States. America's geopolitical agenda is in shambles.

The White House and the complicit Republican Party attack the common good in kicking millions of people off the current health care system, reducing access to the internet, and defunding EPA and other major departments of government.

While our security agencies investigate Russian hacking of our elections, Trump wants to form a joint task force on cyber security with the Russians and collect every states voter information. Is the fox in charge of the hen house? Assuredly, yes.

Wittman is not alone in his support of the traitorous Trump clan. He is joined by most of the Republican Party. That makes them complicit in the weakening of our government and sacking of our national safety net.

Rob Wittman deserves, at the very least, to be defeated in 2018. I would prefer that he be removed from office more quickly.

Shelley PineoJensen

Fredericksburg
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At the Royal Welsh Show this week, NFU Cymru representatives explained to Defra secretary Michael Gove the outstanding contribution that Welsh farmers make to society as producers of Wales food, environment and landscapes.

NFU Cymru president Stephen James tells Farmers Weekly reporter Philip Case that while he shares Mr Goves ambition for enhancing the environment and food production, Wales overall contribution to food security must not be undermined in the Brexit deal.

See also: Read more news from the Royal Welsh Show

Q Over 12 months after the Brexit vote, how would you assess the current situation in Welsh agriculture?

A At the moment, were on a high. Commodity prices are really good. We have had a TB announcement from Welsh government, which helps. Its not fantastic, but its a step in the right direction.

The biggest uncertainty hanging over Welsh agriculture is what happens post Brexit. We are pushing hard for a transitional arrangement. We feel the customs union would best deliver that until we get a free-trade deal. Thats our message.

Within a UK framework, we expect agricultural policy to be delivered by Welsh government.

Q Do you share cabinet secretary Lesley Griffiths concerns about a Westminster power grab of farm policy after Brexit?

A Whatever is agreed on policy has to be fair to Welsh farmers. We have had 18 years of the Welsh government delivering devolved policy on agriculture. We have got used to this and thats what we expect going forward.

We are between a rock and a hard place. Welsh government sees the Great Repeal Bill as being a land grab, yet we are told by Westminster it will be retained law for the moment.

Our message would be these two bodies need to discuss it and hammer it out. We, as an industry, are unclear on how that will progress and we need clarification because farmer confidence and investment in businesses is essential.

Q Can Defra deliver for Welsh farmers on Brexit?

A Like everything, there will be winners and losers. Wales had a 15% pillar transfer, for example. That was something we lost on. We have still got individual compensation in Wales. You would guess pluses and minuses would happen going forward.

We dont want large differences between England and Wales because that imbalances the industry as well. Its not going to be exactly the same because Wales, by its landscape, is a lot different to the east of England.

Q What did you tell Defra Michael Gove?

A That having driven through the Welsh landscape, farming by definition, is very different in Wales to parts of England and Europe. We feel we are green by definition. Wales shows farming and environment really works together. We have got hedges and trees, yet we have sheep and livestock right across the country.

Q What is your view on Michael Goves vision for a green Brexit for farmers?

A I think farmers want to hear they will be encouraged to produce food in an environmentally friendly way. Were up for that. We have had lots of agri-environment schemes over the years to prove it.

The Tir Gofal pan-Wales scheme was oversubscribed. It was an excellent scheme. It was one of the flagship schemes in Europe at the time.

It came to an end five years ago and Glastir was brought in. Glastir has not been so popular, but having said that, whether its on peat bogs or delivering various environmental goods, farmers are supporting it because it is an extra string to their bow.

We know the market place fluctuates. At the moment, prices are good. But the reality is that they will go up and down, so you need that other sources of income. And we need to encourage farmers to diversify as well. Tax breaks can help, whether its holiday cottages or renewables, there are opportunities out there.

Hopefully, carbon trading  planting trees to offset carbon  is going to be an opportunity for the industry going forward. Farmers can deliver on climate change. But this is a discussion to be had going forward.

Q Are you concerned about what might happen to hill farmers if their subsidies are cut?

A We need to address this. Im a dairy farmer and the single farm payment isnt the most important thing [compared with sheep farmers]. But we have to deal with volatility and we would want support for volatile times.

The red-meat sector, particularly on the uplands, needs a different sort of support. We can be innovative. We have got a blank sheet of paper this time to create things that work for us.

When you come to the Royal Welsh Show and take a look at all the trade stands, you realise how important agriculture is because all these businesses thrive or survive because of a strong agricultural industry.

It is important to stress when we get those payments, nine times out of 10 that money goes straight on paying bills. Thats the reality; most businesses will tell you that. I think thats an important message to tell government. Farm payments subsidise food prices as well.

Q What would happen to Welsh sheep farming if the UK government abolished subsidies and tariffs were applied to produce?

A The Welsh sheep industry would disappear. That would impact then on the wider rural economy. There would be fewer people living in the countryside. There would be land abandoned. It would be a doomsday scenario. Thats what we dont want.

Q Should we incentivise young people to start careers in farming?

A Yes. We need incentives to attract more young people into farming. Sometimes, its just a first step. You dont want to make it too easy for people. But there are a lot of enthusiastic young people out there and they just need help into different routes of the market because many cannot afford to buy land.

It isnt all about buying land and tractors. There are other ways to get there through management roles. We need to be innovative here and use examples from other parts of the world, such as share farming in New Zealand.
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There currently are 93 Fisher Houses in the United States and in Europe with plans for more.
The First Alternative Natural Foods Co-op is partnering with one of its vendors to send used bikes to West Africa for students to ride to school.

The co-op collected used adult bikes and bike parts Saturday at the Corvallis Farmers' Market. The co-op will continue accepting donated bikes Sunday and Monday at both of its Corvallis locations and also is collecting bike seats, spare tires, helmets and donations for shipping costs.

Joel Gustafson, brand manager for the co-op, said the bike drive is a local event that has global impact.

Alaffia, a Washington-based fair trade body care company that uses indigenous African resources, will send the bikes to students in Togo. According to UNICEF, 90 percent of girls and 80 percent of boys in Togo drop out of school before secondary education.

According to Alaffia, Togolese students must walk up to 10 miles a day to attend school. With no buses, the journey to school becomes time-consuming and students often drop out to help their families.

The graduation rate for recipients of bikes from Alaffia is 95 percent, said Anne Gamab, communications liaison for Alaffia, who was collecting bikes at the farmers market.

Gamab said students apply for the bikes through their schools and Alaffia assesses the students needs to determine who needs a bike the most. Alaffia has been holding bike drives in Washington and Oregon since 2004 and has sent more than 7,000 bicycles.

When students receive bikes, local Alaffia employees offer them lessons on taking care of their bicycles, Gamab said. Alaffia mechanics also visit villages to repair bikes.

Students who receive bikes are asked to sign a contract that says they will use the bike to go to school and that they will graduate from school, Gamab said. Girls must also promise not to become pregnant; the company says that pledge has contributed to a decrease in teen-pregnancy rates in rural villages in Togo. When students graduate from school, they are asked to pass along the bike to a younger student or sibling, Gamab said.

The First Alternative Co-op sells Alaffias products and has been partnering with the company to hold bike drives since 2013. The co-op has collected about 300 bikes for Togolese students, said Jen Luck, a sales planner at Alaffia.

Gustafson said he likes what Alaffia stands for in both the creation of its products and its philanthropic efforts. Collecting bikes and parts is a tangible way to help, he said.

You know its going somewhere and will have results, Gustafson said.
As usual on a sunny summer morning, the parking lot at Lewisburg Saddle on Friday was filled to overflowing, with cars strung out along the shoulder on both sides of Sulphur Springs Road just north of Corvallis.

The saddle is one of the more popular entry points to the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest, an 11,000-acre complex of wooded ridges and valleys owned by the Oregon State University College of Forestry and managed for education and research  and, increasingly, for recreation, with an estimated 145,000 or more visits per year.

Cindy Lederer and Jon Sears of Corvallis come here about three times a week, and on Friday they hiked the Vineyard Mountain Trail, a 1.8-mile route that starts from the saddle and winds through shady groves of 100-foot Douglas firs, fields of bracken ferns and stands of gnarly oak and big-toothed maple to emerge at the summit of 1,453-foot Vineyard Mountain, with sweeping views across the Willamette Valley to the east.

I just love it, Lederer raved. This is one of my favorites.

The path, one of the newest on the McDonald-Dunn Forest, is part of an ambitious program of recreational improvements thats been underway for about two years now  but before it can go any further, OSU will need approval from Benton County. In the process of applying for grants to fund the new amenities, College of Forestry officials discovered they would need a conditional use permit to comply with county zoning rules. A hearing on the permit application is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday before the Benton County Planning Commission (see box for details).

All nine of the colleges research forests across the state are dedicated first to education and research, from training the next generation of silviculturists to studying the effects of climate change. Logging operations are routine on these lands, with revenue from timber harvests going to fund College of Forestry operations.

At the same time, the college has long recognized that Mac-Dunn occupies a unique place in the Corvallis community and has worked for many years to accommodate a wide range of recreational users, from hikers and horseback riders to mountain bikers, trail runners, hunters, dog walkers and others.

Its something that really matters to the College of Forestry, said Ryan Brown, recreation program manager for OSU Research Forests. While recreation may not have been the original intent, we totally embrace it now.

Starting in 2013, the college began reaching out to stakeholders and user groups to gauge interest in potential trail improvements. Faculty and staff members also got involved, and a plan emerged to guide recreational development on the forest, including a combination of new trail construction and upgrading or rerouting of unauthorized user-created trails to meet the colleges standards for safety and sustainability.

In 2015 and 2016, funded with a $25,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation, the college completed several trail-building projects in the Lewisburg Saddle area, including the Vineyard Mountain Trail, the quarter-mile Sidesaddle Trail connector to the equestrian parking lot, and the first phase of Daves Trail, a planned link between the Vineyard Mountain and Peavy Arboretum trail systems.

The college has also tapped into the energy and enthusiasm of several user groups to provide volunteer labor for some of these projects, most notably Oregon Equestrian Trails, Corvallis Trail Runners, the Marys Peak chapter of the Sierra Club and Team Dirt, the local chapter of the International Mountain Biking Association.

Team Dirt has taken a lead role in the construction of the No Secret Trail, a 1.4-mile route on McCullough Peak that will be the first trail in the Mac-Dunn network designated primarily for mountain bike use.

Theyve gotten all the volunteer effort together for that, Brown said. Its really their project.

Volunteers are also doing the heavy lifting to upgrade or reroute multiple sections of the 1.1-mile Beautiful Trail, one of several unauthorized routes on the forest, and bring it into the official trail system.

OSU has a $76,000 grant from Oregon Parks and Rec for the next phase of the plan, which outlines a number of improvements to take place between 2017 and 2109. Phase 2 will include the completion of Daves Trail and work on a number of others, including trails connecting Lewisburg Saddle and Dimple Hill, and accessibility upgrades to trails at Peavy Arboretum and Cronemiller Lake.

The plan also calls for significant improvements to the parking area at Lewisburg Saddle, including 15 additional parking spaces, expansion of the pullout for horse trailers and construction of a vault toilet. Also included is design work for both short- and long-term improvements to the parking area and restroom facilities at the Oak Creek Trailhead, another heavily used entry point into the research forest.
The service is a time where people can intentionally join together for peace, quiet, meditation or prayer, a centering of the soul without distractions. Soulful Silence takes place each Sunday.

5-Day Clubs: Child Evangelism Fellowship will offer free 5-Day Clubs Monday through Friday.

The theme is "Around the World," offering games, Bible stories, missionary stories, songs and prizes for ages 4 to 13.

Clubs meeting that week will take place as follows: 10:30 a.m. to noon, private home, 25 N. Sixth St., Lebanon, 541-619-4880; 1 to 2:30 p.m., Providence Vineyard Church, 35787 Richardson Gap Road, Lebanon, 541-258-8635; and 3:30 to 5 p.m., private home, 36162 Cold Springs Road, Crabtree, 541-928-4231.

Fundraiser: Healing Hearts Ministry will hold its annual celebration auction and fundraiser at 5:15 p.m. Friday at Suburban Christian Church, 2760 SW 53rd St. in Corvallis.

The event includes a silent auction, a meal, refreshments, live music by The Deck, testimony and a dessert dash. Proceeds from the auction will go toward the continuance of the ministry, including workshops, seminars and support resources. RSVP: 541-752-1646.

Picnic and program: Lebanon After 5 Connection will hold a picnic and program at 6 p.m. Aug. 8 at River Park, 1235 E. Grant St.

Ed Andersen, president of the Rollin' Oldies Car Club, will share the history of the club, and information on car technology, maintenance and other useful ideas. Jim Desmond will present "Good Ol' Days," discussing his early years of working in the National Park Service.

The event is open to all women, and their guests. Cost is $8.50 inclusive; no credit cards. Reservations: 541-258-6414 or d.neve@comcast.net.
Earthy sounds and crocodile steaks with plantains : African-Oriental cultural festival is underway in Bonn

Bonn The African-Oriental festival with presentations, workshops, concerts and a bazaar is taking place in Bonn city centre for the fourth time. This year the festival will also be located on the Munsterplatz.

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Visitors to the African-Oriental festivalin Bonn can hear it from far away. Drum beats reverberate across Bottlerplatz and Friedensplatz. Saliou Mbaye is kneeling beside a drum and demonstrating the different drumming techniques. Some tones sound light, others are duller. Two women are watching with their children.

Mbaye beckons them over to try out the drum for themselves. At his stall on Bottlerplatz, Mbaye is selling instruments from Senegal and the Ivory Coast. We also have drums from Ghana, they sound earthier, he explains and presents a small drum. To demonstrate the difference, he beats a rhythm on both instruments.

Mbaye is one of around 50 exhibitors at the African-Oriental bazaar, offering handicrafts, clothing and culinary delights from Africa as part of the festival. There are a total of 35 African countries represented at the market, which stretches from Friedensplatz over Bottlerplatz and up to Munsterplatz. The festival is taking place for the fourth time and this year the motto is Intercultural encounters open up worlds. There is also something new this year - Munsterplatz is providing an additional location for the popular festival.

The centrepiece is a cultural tent located here, in which presentations, workshops and discussions will be held on topics such as migration and integration, racism and de-radicalisation. We are trying to use the festival to build bridges and to provide an explanation of Middle Eastern and African cultures, says the organisor Fouad El Hasnaoui from the association Vielfalt verbindet (diversity joins). Cooperating partners are this year the NRW Stiftung Umwelt und Entwicklung (Foundation for Environment and Development), AfroPort, Souk du Maroc, the German/Maghreb Association and Bonn City.

El Hasnaoui has been living in Bonn for seven years. He came to Germany from Morocco to study law. I feel like a Bonner he says. He organised the festival together with his wife, Souad El Hasnaoui. It is a real highlight to be able to hold such a festival on the Munsterplatz she says. As a trainer for international competence, she is presenting the contributions and running two workshops during the festival. The seminars have been taken up surprisingly well. Many people have registered so far, also from municipal integration associations in other towns.

The programme is rounded off with a programme of music and comedy acts on the stage at Bottlerplatz. Shortly after the opening on Friday afternoon the first guests were already sitting on the benches in front of the Beethoven statue and trying samosa, East African savoury pastries. For the brave hearted, there are crocodile steaks with plantains (cooking bananas) from Cameroon. A few metres away Driss Himoud is selling products from her home country Morocco. The pottery decorated with fish patterns come from the coastal town of Safi, the brightly colourful leather shoes are from Marrakesh. In Morocco things are coloured using traditional methods, without additives like chromium, explains his wife Anja Schmidt.

In past years the festival enjoyed around 35,000 visitors. This year the organisers expect up to 50,000 people over the three days. For El Hasnaoui there are also new things to discover, I have never eaten anything from Afghanistan, he says and points to the yellow and red pavilion: I really want to try something.

Programme

This Saturday the African-Oriental Bazaar is open from 10am until 11pm and on Sunday from 10am until 10pm.

Saturday

Cultural tent Munsterplatz

12pm midday: Intercultural Awareness Workshop with Souad El Hasnaoui (Registration required, costs 5 Euro).

2pm: Reading & Discussion: Every day racism  the hidden messages in well-meaning communication with Sami Omar.

4pm: Lecture & Discussion: What role does anti-Muslim racism play in society? with Maryam Khola Hubsch.

6pm: Guided tour of the exhibitions

Bottlerplatz stage

1pm: Reading performance with childrens author Michael Tonfeld

2pm: Concert Dakka Marakkschia (Moroccan Folklore).

2.15pm: official opening

3.30pm: drum workshop

5pm: Concert Dakka Marakkschia

6.30pm: Stand up-Comedy with Khalid Bounouar (RebellComedy), Amjad and Moaad.

8pm: Concert Vitamin X

Sunday

Cultural tent Munsterplatz

12pm: Intercultural Awareness Workshop with Souad El Hasnaoui (Registration required, costs 5 Euro).

2pm: Lecture & discussion: De-radicalisation and prevention measures in the context of immigration with El Hakam Sukhni.

4pm: Closing discussion: Added value and opportunities of intercultural opening processes regarding the refugee crisis and immigration.

Bottlerplatz stage

12pm: Reading performance with childrens author Michael Tonfeld

1pm: African and oriental stories

6pm: Concert AllOne.

8pm: Concert Sahara-Ban
War crimes fugitive surrenders to UN peacekeepers in DR Congo; UN advocate urges justice for victims

27 July 2017  The United Nations advocate for ending sexual violence in conflict has welcomed the surrender of fugitive rebel leader Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka to the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as MONUSCO.

Mr. Sheka, who the Security Council added to its UN sanctions list after a national warrant was issued for his arrest in 2011, is wanted for crimes related to mass rapes of at least 387 civilians in the eastern DRC during July and August 2010.

He turned himself in yesterday to MONUSCO forces in Mutungo in the North Kivu, after years on the run.

The surrender "signals that the persistent advocacy and engagement of the United Nations and international community, in support of the national authorities, can yield results," said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten.

Despite the surrender, Under-Secretary-General Patten noted that the militia Mr. Sheka created and leads, the Nduma defense of Congo (NDC), continues to commit violations including rape, killing and forced recruitment.

"Thousands of women and girls, men and boys in eastern Congo continue to be terrorized by those under Cheka's command, with many still fearing the next attack," Ms. Patten said.

She called for him and his affiliates to stand trial swiftly and in accordance with due process standards, and that anyone supporting the NDC be sanctioned.

The senior UN official also urged that "overdue" reparations be paid to victims.

The fugitive turned himself in to MONUSCO "in full awareness of the fact that he is wanted by the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to stand trial for alleged crimes," the UN Mission said in a statement.

The mission said that it is committed to supporting the relevant judicial authorities in pursuing criminal prosecutions for all human rights violations, in accordance with the rule of law, and that it has a standing agreement with the DRC government to ensure that all persons in MONUSCO's care who are handed over to the national authorities are treated in accordance with all relevant human rights standards.

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Officials Release Latest Details of Strikes Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, July 28, 2017  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 21 strikes consisting of 25 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

U.S. Central Command continues to work with partner nations to conduct targeted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as part of the comprehensive strategy to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 17 strikes consisting of 20 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, three strikes destroyed two ISIS oil storage tanks, two oil trailers, an oil refinement still and a wellhead.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, five strikes destroyed 18 ISIS oil refinement stills and three wellheads and suppressed a supply route.

-- Near Raqqa, eight strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and destroyed six fighting positions, a supply cache, an ISIS communication headquarters and an anti-air artillery system.

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike destroyed an ISIS tunnel.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted four strikes consisting of five engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Baghdad, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.

-- Near Rawah, a strike destroyed an ISIS chemical storage site.

- Near Tal Afar, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units and destroyed four fighting positions and a supply cache.

July 26 Strikes

Additionally, 14 strikes were conducted in Syria and Iraq on July 26 that closed within the last 24 hours.

-- Near Qaim, Iraq, two strikes destroyed two ISIS vehicle-borne-bomb factories and a front-end loader and damaged a crane and a front-end loader.

-- Near Raqqa, Syria, 18 strikes engaged 12 ISIS tactical units; destroyed eight fighting positions, two command-and-control nodes, an improvised explosive device facility, a supply cache and a logistics node; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.

-- Near Tal Afar, Iraq, four strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed an ISIS-held building, a vehicle, a front-end loader and a supply cache; and suppressed a mortar team.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect.

For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

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U.S., NATO Forces Train to Deter and Defend in Saber Guardian 2017

By Rick Docksai DoD News, Defense Media Activity

CONSTANTA, Romania, July 28, 2017  The Danube River shore was shrouded in mist from smoke grenades as shells fired from naval guns burst in midair and legions of Romanian infantrymen, paratroopers and armored vehicles amassed on the beach. From behind them, a small contingent of U.S. Army Stryker vehicles cleared the way for the troops by raining gunfire down on the beach sands.

The event, a river crossing exercise that took place July 16 outside Bordusani, Romania, was one of dozens of combined combat-training exercises that U.S. Army Europe and the armed forces of 21 European partner nations conducted together as part of Saber Guardian 2017. The annual multinational combat-training exercise took place July 11-20 in locations across Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria and involved 25,000 troops -- 14,000 from the United States and 11,000 from Europe.

The exercise was the military's largest land-force exercise in Europe this year, said Marine Corps Col. Mark Van Skike, the chief of joint training and exercises for U.S. European Command. Saber Guardian is one of 18 exercises in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea that fall under the Eucom Joint Exercise Program.

Led by Bulgaria and the U.S., Saber Guardian was hosted by Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. 'Other participants include: Armenia, Croatia, Czech, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Realistic Training

The U.S. and European units work and train together in realistic combat scenarios that prepare them to respond in unison to any new security crisis that emerges on the continent. They practice coordinating air, land, and sea forces to launch multidomain assaults or defense operations. And they cooperate to mobilize and transport multinational forces to an area at short notice.

"This is a tremendous experience. We're getting better in interoperability and in establishing secure communications, secure fires and a common operational picture," said Army Col. Jeff Shoemaker, chief of training, readiness and exercises for U.S. Army Europe.

Deterrence is also a core component of the mission. Brig. Gen. Timothy Daugherty, deputy chief of staff for operations for USAREUR, said the United States demonstrates through these exercises that it will stand with its European partners, and that all the participating nations together show that they can be a powerful unified fighting force -- and that adversaries who see this may be much less likely to launch an attack in the first place.

"That is absolutely a viable deterrent. When an adversary sees that we can consolidate  troops very quickly and relatively effectively, that is a deterrent. We're deterring them, because they know that it would be costly to attack," Daugherty said.

U.S. Army Europe and its partners conducted the first Saber Guardian exercise in 2013. It took on added importance in its organizers' eyes a year later with Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, said Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the commander of U.S. Army Europe. European military leaders needed assurance that they and the United States could act together to prevent warfare from erupting further west into Europe's heartland, he said.

Hodges noted that NATO nations held a summit in July 2016 in Warsaw, Poland, in which they called for building a stronger "forward defense force" in Central and Eastern Europe to counteract new regional threats.

"With its illegal annexation of Crimea, Russia changed the security environment in Europe. That's why the alliance made the decision that we had to reassure our allies and deter further aggression," Hodges said.

In the meantime, the exercises can better prepare the militaries of NATO member nations if new crises emerge, Shoemaker said. But he, too, foresees Saber Guardian offering NATO some pathways forward.

"The goal is to synchronize the NATO exercise program with the USAREUR exercise program so that they complement one another," he said. "We have a number of countries that will leave Saber Guardian at a much better level of training, and certainly NATO will benefit from that. It builds the entire multinational military capability."

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Special Operators Hone Skills During Exercise Black Swan 17

By Army Staff Sgt. Aaron Duncan, U.S. Special Operations Command Europe

SZOLNOK, Hungary, July 28, 2017  The men patrolled their compound surrounded by the thick, green bush common throughout the area, alert for any signs of trouble. Carrying AK-47 rifles and joking quietly, they stood as dangerous warnings to any would-be intruders.

The quiet of the morning broke however, as special operations forces rapidly swarmed their posts. They came from all directions, wearing the uniforms of their respective nations, working through the compound's defenses efficiently and effectively.

Unbeknownst to the guards, those forces had arrived the night before. They spent the previous day observing, refining their plan and waiting to strike.

Special Operations Forces Exercise

The assault was just one part of Exercise Black Swan 2017. Black Swan was a Hungarian-led special operations forces exercise held June 26 to July 22 in locations across Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. Designed to enable participants to rehearse and demonstrate integration between special operations and conventional forces to prepare for real-world contingencies, it included participants from over eight countries.

"20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) worked with SOF from Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; establishing a Hungarian-led Special Operations Component Command conducting an exercise across Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria," said Army Col. Derek Lipson, the commander of 20th SFG(A). "More than 600 soldiers participated in this exercise, reinforcing allied relationships, conventional and special operations interoperability, interdependence and integration."

Black Swan was one of a series of U.S. and European-led exercises under the umbrella of U.S. European Command's Saber Guardian exercise. The U.S. Army Europe-led annual exercise is designed to enhance joint operational capability with allied and partner nations across a variety of mission sets, and involved more than 25,000 service members from over 20 ally and partner nations.

U.S. special operations personnel partnered with their Hungarian counterparts to assist in the planning of the exercise, as well as the execution. U.S. special operators worked alongside their hosts at multiples levels of the exercise command structure.

Working Together

"The working relationship we've established with our partner nations will enable us to further train as a SOCC -- especially as we build on our mutual understanding of NATO SOF doctrine," Lipson said. "We'll work together for the next two years to better execute Black Swan 19, as part of Saber Guardian 19."

The experience of working alongside different nations in the planning of such a large operation was not lost either on Col. Tamas Sandor, commander of the Hungarian Defense Force special operations forces.

"Working with U.S. forces was smooth and easy," Sandor said. "The U.S. team was professional and really willing to share their experience and mentor our staff. Although language is always a challenge, the similar doctrine and experience from Afghanistan and Iraq made cooperation easier. I would like to underline the professionalism and all the great efforts which made real teamwork through the exercise."

The event allowed special operations staffs to develop their planning expertise. For the U.S., it is imperative to be able to plan alongside allies.

"It was a great exercise and great opportunity for application of special operations from the tactical to the strategic level, and in a part of the world where partnership is crucial," Lipson said.

Additionally, while special operations forces perform specialized missions, they work towards and alongside conventional forces operational objectives. This makes the ability for SOF and conventional soldiers to coordinate and operate like a well-oiled machine a must.

In addition to Hungarian conventional units, U.S. Army paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade and aviators from 10th Combat Aviation Brigade also participated in the exercise.

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Diversifying formations and increasing lethality with the airborne National Guard

By Sgt. David Vermilyea July 28, 2017

CINCU, Romania -- In the classic "The Art of War," author Sun Tzu said, "The skillful tactician may be likened to  a snake  Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its middle, and you will be attacked by both head and tail."

Every military strives to be like the formidable adversary described by Sun Tzu. Recently, the United States Army employed a program tailored to train troops to strike multiple places at once.

In August 2016, the 173rd Airborne Brigade established formal ties with 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment of the Texas Army National Guard through the Associated Unit Pilot Program, also known as AUP, which pairs active and reserve units together to enhance readiness, cohesion and overall effectiveness.

"We supplement the brigade," said Sgt. 1st Class Justin Aguilar, a full-time Texas State Trooper and platoon sergeant in Alpha Company 1 Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment who served on Active Duty in 3rd Ranger Battalion for the first six years of his enlistment. "They are in need of an infantry Battalion and we are bringing them an infantry Battalion that looks very similar to their 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion [503rd Infantry Regiment], and we are be able to integrate easily."

Sgt. Philip Tizzano is an infantry team leader in Charlie Company 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment from Rhode Island who is also as an aspiring lawyer in Suffolk Law School in Boston, Massachusetts.

"I joined right at the time it switched over to become an Airborne infantry unit in 2010," said Tizzano. "Seeing the unit evolve and change into something bigger was a great moment to be a part of."

The 173rd Airborne Brigade and the Guard unit share some striking similarities. For one, they both operate in a fragmented capacity. The 173rd Airborne Brigade has elements stationed in Vicenza, Italy and Grafenwoehr, Germany, while 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment consists of paratroopers in Texas, as well as a company in Rhode Island. The Guard unit makes up for the distance between themselves by synchronizing their training schedule and sustaining a continuous line of communication.

"We have to find alternate ways to communicate and get the same things done as an active Soldier would, just right down the hallway," said Aguilar. "When we're performing weapons qualification and zero, that's what they're doing in Rhode Island. When we're conducting squad live fires, they're doing that on their own terrain."

Adding to the parallels, both units are Airborne with motivated Paratroopers that volunteer to carry out more than what is asked of the typical soldier.

"We don't have a selection, like (Ranger) Regiment, but in the same sense you cut a lot of people out - guys that don't want to go to Airborne School, guys that don't make it out of Airborne School, and guys that get to the unit that don't perform well or can't jump out of the aircraft," said Aguilar. "So, you start to get the cream to rise to the top."

The 173rd Airborne Brigade prides itself on being a forward stationed high-readiness unit, available to deploy to U.S. African, European and Central Commands within 18 hours of notification. It sharpens the edge of America and NATO's lethal blade by conducting training ubiquitously throughout Europe. The unremitting code that the 173rd Airborne Brigade lives by now includes 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment through their participation in the largest annual exercise in Europe, Saber Guardian 17.

"It doesn't take a general to appreciate the gravity of this situation," said Tizzano. "The world's changing constantly and I'm on the forefront of it. We're here in Romania working with Romanians and other NATO allies."

The Battalion's mission in the exercise was to conduct a Joint Forcible Entry (JFE) operation by seizing an airfield in Turzii, Romania in conjunction with the Italian Folgore Brigade. Smooth coordination between foreign militaries served as a paramount component to the mission's success.

"My platoon was actually attached to the Folgore's Leone Company, so we got to conduct the team assault with the decisive operation of the objective," said Aguilar. "Once we took contact on the objective, we knew exactly what needed to happen. They still conduct fire and maneuver just like we do, so we were able to minimize the language barrier."

Overall, 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment's convergence into the 173rd Airborne Brigade is a forward step in the direction toward becoming the lethal adversary described by Sun Tzu. Combining different components creates the counterpoint necessary to increase lethality, and in the grand scheme of things, that is what matters.

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Acting Army Secretary: Army needs additional, predictable funding

By C. Todd Lopez July 28, 2017

WASHINGTON -- After several years of budget cuts, the Army needs additional and predictable funding, said Acting Secretary of the Army Robert M. Speer. "To be able to meet mission requirements, we need the resources to be able to do that," Speer said during a fireside chat Wednesday with AUSA President and CEO, retired Gen. Carter Ham, at AUSA headquarters. "We are finding emerging near-peer adversaries that potentially out-gun us and out-range us."

Speer highlighted that resources are necessary to ensure that the Army can continue to fulfill its mission of protecting the American people. "I would like to convey to the public that the freedoms we enjoy and what we enjoy regarding economic success is much due to the national security provided by our Soldiers and is assured through our Constitution," Speer said.

The U.S. military is "highly respected" in the United States, Speer said, even among the many citizens that are unfamiliar with exactly what it is the Army does.

"So what you try to convey (to the public) is the operational tempo and the things Soldiers are doing for you," Speer said. "You convey our role in deterrence for Europe and that the Army is ready to go when you see a nuclear threat in places like Korea. You have to be ready to go, and it takes resources to do it. Your Army is extremely busy. It's providing close to 50 percent of the current global force required by commanders."

Speer testified to Congress and has repeatedly spoken about the need for stable and predictable funding.

For the U.S. Army to match emerging threats, it'll take the commitment of the entire nation, he said, "to ensure the freedoms and the security we have."

To get the money it needs to continue to operate, of course, the Army must ask the Congress for funds. And that's a problem, Speer said, because even in the face of declining budgets that dramatically affect readiness, the Army has always been reticent to suggest that it's anything less than fully capable of performing its mission.

"We don't convey the negative impact of it," Speer said of the lack of resources. "It's hard for us to convey to both stakeholders and the American public the negative impact of continuing resolutions and the negative impact of underfunding."

But Speer said he thinks that recently the Army has been getting better at portraying the real damage to readiness caused by continuing resolutions.

"We've done a good job laying out what the Army needs to be able to fill some of the gaps that we've got in readiness," he said.

OPERATIONAL TEMPO SURPRISE

Speer came on board as the acting secretary in January. Since then, he said, he's had ample opportunity to meet with Soldiers around the globe. He stated that on those trips he'd been surprised to learn just how much the Army does, and the breadth for which the Army is responsible.

"The operational tempo surprised me," Speer said. "It's not quite the same to look at a patch chart on paper and seeing the Army going off to individual requirements around the world. A lot is going on to get ready for the deployment.

"Whether it is getting ready for rotation, or you are filling in gaps as an observer controller at one of the national training centers, such as NTC, JMTC or JRTC. Or, you are getting into where you go on the next rotation and the impact it has on families. I was amazed at that overall fast pace of the operational tempo," he said.

Also, he said, he's been impressed at the breadth of things the Army does, from the role of the Corps of Engineers to the efforts at Arlington National Cemetery, to the heel-to-toe rotations in Europe to deter aggression in that region.

"It is amazing what we are asking our Army to do," he said. "We are a relatively small Army. We are about the smallest we've been since World War II, and yet the amount of involvement and impact we make for the security of our nation, and what the Soldiers and civilians do, is remarkable."

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Release

No. NR-278-17 July 28, 2017

Navy to Commission New Guided-Missile Destroyer Rafael Peralta

The Navy will commission its newest guided-missile destroyer, the future USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), during a 10 a.m. PDT ceremony Saturday, July 29, at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.

The future USS Rafael Peralta honors Marine Corps Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for actions during combat operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Peralta is credited with saving the lives of fellow Marines during the second battle of Fallujah in 2004.

Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Ms. Rosa Maria Peralta, Sgt. Peralta's mother, serves as the ship's sponsor.

"This commissioning memorializes the life of Sgt. Rafael Peralta and marks the beginning of what will be decades of exceptional service for this ship," said the Honorable Sean Stackley, acting Secretary of the Navy. "During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Sgt. Peralta acted heroically and sacrificed himself for his fellow Marines. He was proud to be an American, proud to be a Marine, and we are proud to welcome USS Rafael Peralta to the Fleet. I have no doubt the men and women who serve aboard Peralta will continue his legacy of service."

Rafael Peralta, the 64th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, will be able to conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection. Rafael Peralta will be capable of engaging in air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and will contain a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime warfare, including Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) capabilities.

The ceremony can be viewed on the Navy Live blog at http://navylive.dodlive.mil.

Media may direct queries to the Navy Office of Information at 703-697-5342. Additional information on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers is available online at http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=900&ct=4.

Additional information about Rafael Peralta can be found online at https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/r/rafael-peralta--ddg-115-.html.

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1260827/

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USS Ashland Visits Cairns

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170728-08

Release Date: 7/28/2017 11:35:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Clay USS Ashland Public Affairs

CAIRNS, Australia (NNS) -- Sailors and Marines assigned to the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) pulled into Cairns, Australia for a routine port visit, July 28.

The visit to Cairns comes after Ashland's crew and the embarked Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit completed exercise Talisman Saber 2017. Talisman Saber is a biennial combined Australian and United States training exercise, designed to train Australian and U.S. military forces in planning and conducting operations to improve combat readiness and interoperability.

The port visit will be a break from the ship's underway operations where Sailors and Marines can explore city of Cairns and have the opportunity to volunteer in command-coordinated projects with local organizations.

"Community Relations (COMREL) projects provide an important interface between the U.S. military and Australian civilians," said Lt. Merlin E. Stephan, command chaplain. "These types of large-scale interactions are difficult to perform by other means."

Twenty-seven Sailors and 22 Marines will participate in four COMREL projects during the visit. The time and support Ashland's crew provides is a way of showing the Navy and Marine Corps' commitment to Australia.

"COMRELS provide reassurance to the citizens of Australia that America is a great nation to partner with for both national defense and humanitarian crisis," said Stephan.

After the port visit in Cairns, Ashland will be conducting amphibious integration training (AIT) and certification exercises (CERTEX) with the 31st MEU.

The purpose of AIT and CERTEX is to provide a comprehensive, complex training environment that combines the Navy and Marine Corps maritime and sea-to-shore capabilities.

Ashland, part of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group and forward deployed out of Sasebo, Japan, is operating in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region to enhance partnerships and be a ready-response force for any type of contingency.



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Afghan forces retake district in Ghor Province from Taliban

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 8:24AM

Afghan ground forces backed by the air force have driven out Taliban militants from a district in Afghanistan's western Ghor Province after fierce fighting.

Abdul Hai Khateby, the provincial governor spokesman, said fighting raged for two days before Afghan soldiers drove the militants from the Taywara District center on Friday.

Khateby said 13 Taliban militants had been killed in the clashes. There had been no casualties on the side of the Afghan forces.

The residents who had fled their homes also began returning to the district capital, Khateby added.

Taliban took control of the center of Taywara  the main town of the rural area  on Sunday as part of a broad push that saw heavy fighting across much of the country.

Since then, government forces had been fighting to push the militants back.

Provincial Police Chief Mohammad Mustafa Moseni said the Taliban militants left behind mines, which demining teams had already begun to clear.

Ghor Province is located in a remote mountainous region, where the Taliban have long had a strong presence, and more recently, Afghan security officials say, militants loyal to Daesh Takfiri group, have established themselves in the province.

Taliban militants have stepped up their attacks over the past week.

Earlier this week, around 30 Afghan soldiers were killed when the militants attacked an outpost in the southern province of Kandahar.

There has also been heavy fighting in the province of Helmand as well as the northern areas of Faryab, Baghlan, and Badakshan, among other places.

Fighting and insecurity prevails in Afghanistan despite the presence of thousands of foreign forces in the country, who have been there since a US-led invasion in 2001.

An additional 4,000 US troops are expected to be sent to Afghanistan to reinforce the US-led foreign troops in the country.

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Boko Haram attack on oil exploration team in Nigeria kills over 50: Sources

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 4:59AM

An ambush attack by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria against an oil exploration team has killed more than 50 people, according to sources, who said the death toll could rise further.

The terrorists attacked a convoy of specialists from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the Magumeri area of northeastern state of Borno on Tuesday, sources said on Friday.

Initial reports from the army, which suggested that the ambush had been an abduction attempt, put the number of casualties at a mere ten. Reports later claimed that the abducted geologists and surveyors, who worked at the University of Maiduguri, had been rescued.

But details gradually emerged showing that the attack had been an ambush that killed many more people than originally reported.

"The death toll keeps mounting," one source involved in dealing with the aftermath of the attack told AFP. "Now we have more than 50 and more bodies are coming in."

"It's clear that the attack wasn't for abduction. They (Boko Haram) attacked just to kill," he added.

Several others still remain missing, the sources said.

Meanwhile, an aid agency worker in the area said some of the many victims killed in the attack had been burned to death.

"Eleven of them were badly burned in the attack. They were burned alive in their vehicle, which was stuck in a trench," he added. "We buried them here because they couldn't be taken to Maiduguri."

"Many more could be recovered because search and rescue teams are all over the place," the worker said.

Eight years of militancy by Boko Haram has so far killed more than 20,000 people.

Following the Tuesdays attack, the Federal Government said on Thursday that it would once again halt oil exploration in the Lake Chad Basin in the northeast, where Nigeria has common borders with Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.

Both Chad and Niger are exploiting reserves on their side of the freshwater lake, but activities on the Nigerian side had to stop exploration on their side in November 2014 due to Boko Haram violence. In November last year, the Nigerian military permitted the resumption of exploration, according to Nigeria's junior oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu.

He described the recent attack as "unfortunate."

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Yemeni missile hits Saudi airbase in Ta'if

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 2:30AM

Yemeni forces have launched a new missile into Saudi Arabia, successfully targeting an airbase in the southwestern city of Ta'if.

The "Borkan (Volcano) 1" missile fired by Yemeni army soldiers landed in King Fahad Air Base and set parts of it on fire, the Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported on Thursday night.

The report came after Saudi sources claimed that the country's military forces had successfully intercepted an incoming ballistic missile from Yemen.

Ta'if is located more than 700 kilometers (434 miles) southeast of the capital Riyadh. No further details were available at the time of this writing.

The solid propellant and Scud-type Borkan-1 missile reportedly has a range of more than 800 kilometers (497 miles).

Earlier on Thursday, Yemeni army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, fired a Qaher 1 missile at positions held by Saudi mercenaries in Mawza district of Ta'izz, in the southwestern parts of the country.

The Yemeni forces have recently stepped up their retaliatory assaults against the Riyadh regime's deadly war on the impoverished country, which was launched in March 2015.

For more than two years, Saudis have been desperately seeking to eliminate the Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstall Riyadh-backed Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The Houthi movement, with support from army and popular forces, has been defending the conflict-ridden country against the protracted Saudi war. It has also been running state affairs since 2014, when Hadi resigned and fled to Riyadh at a time the country was grappling with threats from al-Qaeda terrorists.

The Saudi aggression has failed to achieve its goals and killed more than 12,000 Yemenis, most of them civilians.

In response to the brutal aggression, Yemen has developed a robust collection of ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets deep inside Saudi Arabia.

On Wednesday, CNN cited two unknown US officials in as saying that a Yemeni missile had traveled around 930 kilometers before landing near the western coast of Saudi Arabia.

In late June, Yemeni forces conducted another missile attack, this time hitting a military base in Saudi Arabia's southern Najran region, killing six soldiers.

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U.S. Attorney General Says He's Not Quitting, Despite Trump Criticism

RFE/RL July 28, 2017

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on July 27 told news media that he won't quit his post despite President Donald Trump's sharp criticism of his handling of the investigation into Russia's alleged election meddling.

Trump has repeatedly complained recently about Sessions' decision shortly after he took office to recuse himself from the Justice Department's Russia investigation and his failure so far to prosecute people in the government who leaked details of the investigation to the news media.

Despite these criticisms, which prompted speculation that Sessions might soon be fired or resign, Sessions said in an interview with AP that he has no intention of quitting and will stay "as long as [Trump] sees that as appropriate."

"If he wants to make a change, he has every right," Sessions told AP as he visited El Salvador. "I serve at the pleasure of the president. I've understood that from the day I took the job."

"I believe we are running a great Department of Justice," he said. "I believe with great confidence that I understand what is needed in the Department of Justice and what President Trump wants. I share his agenda."

Sessions told Fox News on July 27 that the barrage of criticism from Trump was "hurtful" but would not prompt him to resign.

"It is kind of hurtful, but the president of the United States is a strong leader," said Sessions, adding that Trump's overwhelming desire was for "all of us to do our jobs. That's what I intend to do."

Trump's attacks on Sessions have galvanized support for the former Alabama senator in Congress, where many legislators this week spoke out in his defense.

On July 27, one of Trump's rivals for the Republican Party nomination to run for president in 2016, Senator Lindsey Graham, warned of "holy hell" if Trumps sacks Sessions.

"This effort to basically marginalize and humiliate the attorney general is not going over well in the Senate," Graham said in remarks broadcast on CNN. "If Jeff Sessions is fired, there will be holy hell to pay."

Graham added that it would be "the beginning of the end" of Trump's presidency if he tries to fire the special prosecutor, Robert Mueller, who was appointed by the Justice Department to carry out the Russia investigation.

Trump would cross a "red line" with members of Congress if he tries to fire Mueller, Graham said. Trump frequently rails against Mueller and has openly ruminated on whether he should dismiss him.

"Any effort to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency, unless Mueller did something wrong," Graham said.

With reporting by AP and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-attorney- general-sessions-says-not-quitting-despite-trump-criticism- russia-investigation-mueller-graham/28644332.html

Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Romania Blocks Russian Deputy PM From EU Airspace

RFE/RL's Moldovan Service July 28, 2017

CHISINAU -- Romania has confirmed that it blocked a commercial flight from its airspace that was transporting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on an official trip to Moldova.

Rogozin said his trip was cancelled after Romanian authorities did not allow the plane he was aboard to proceed to Moldova on July 28.

Rogozin had been expected to arrive to Chisinau to hold talks with Moldova's pro-Russia president, Igor Dodon.

He also had been scheduled to take part -- together with Dodon and Transdniester's separatist leader Vadim Krasnoselsky -- in controversial July 29 celebrations initiated by Moscow to mark the 25th anniversary of Russia's so-called peacekeeping operation in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester.

Rogozin said on July 28 in a tweet that his commercial flight had to change course and land in Minsk after aviation authorities in European Union member Romania refused to permit the aircraft to fly through Romanian airspace.

Rogozin tweeted: "The Romanian authorities have endangered the lives of passengers of an S7 airliner, women and children. There was enough fuel to get to Minsk. Wait for our response, vermin!"

Rogozin has been targeted by U.S., EU, and Canadian sanctions over his public support for Russia's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. Under those sanctions, he is banned from entering EU countries.

Dodon criticized Romania's move as an "unprecedented Russophobic show" aimed at undermining Moldova's "good relations with our strategic partner Russia."

"This script is written not in Chisinau but in the West," Dodon said.

Ahead of Rogozin's scheduled arrival at Chisinau airport on July 28, dozens of pro-EU activists protested his plans to visit Moldova.

On July 26, Russia's ambassador to Chisinau, Farit Mukhametshin, was summoned to Moldova's Foreign Ministry and informed that the celebrations in Transdniester could damage relations between Moldova and Russia.

On July 27, Moldova officials refused to allow a group of Russian entertainers who were on their way to Transdniester to perform in the celebrations to enter Chisinau.

Those developments came after Moldova's parliament on July 21 called for the removal of Russian troops, weapons, and other military equipment from Transdniester.

The parliamentary declaration said the presence of Russian forces in the breakaway region "violates the constitutional provisions on independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity" of Moldova.

Russia maintains a 1,200-strong military force in Transdniester despite Moldova's repeated calls for it to be replaced with international peacekeepers.

Transdniester, which borders Ukraine's Odesa region, declared independence from Moldova in 1990.

Moldovan government forces and the separatists fought a brief war in 1992 that ended with Russian military intervention on the side of Transdniester.

The declaration of independence by Transdneister separatists has not been recognized by any country -- despite Moscow's unofficial backing of the separatists.

Chisinau itself is split between a pro-Western government and Dodon, who supports closer ties with Moscow.

The government has expressed a desire to join the EU and NATO. Dodon has opposed membership and is looking to move closer to Moscow.

With reporting by AP, AFP, TASS, and Interfax

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/rogozins-plane- unable-to-land-moldova/28645440.html

Copyright (c) 2017. 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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China-Vietnam Oil Dispute in South China Sea Intensifies

Sputnik News

22:00 28.07.2017(updated 22:08 28.07.2017)

Hanoi has struck back following calls from Beijing to stop oil exploration in Block 136-03 of the South China Sea. China claims a huge section of the sea and has been ramping up construction of defensive installations in some sections, despite competing claims by Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and other nations.

"Vietnam's petroleum-related activities take place in the sea entirely under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of Vietnam established in accordance with international law," Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

However, Beijing reportedly threatened to attack Vietnamese positions in the Spratly Islands of the sea if an oil discovery operation led by Respol was not called off on July 15.

Following media reports, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that "China urges the relevant parties to cease the relevant unilateral infringing activities," adding that "practical action" had been taken to ensure the maintenance of "the hard-earned positive situation in the South China Sea."

Repsol has rights to explore the oil field at stake through a lease with Hanoi. The Spanish oil firm has poured $300 million into developing Block 136-03. Hanoi "proposes all concerned parties to respect the legitimate rights and interest of Vietnam," its Foreign Ministry added on Friday.

While the BBC had reported that the oil expedition was called off in response to China's ultimatum, "Thomson Reuters data showed the drilling ship Deepsea Metro I was in the same position on Friday as it had been since drilling began on the block in the middle of June," Business Insider reported Friday.

 Sputnik

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Despite State Department Turbulence, Tillerson Will Stay On

By Cindy Saine July 28, 2017

As the U.S. State Department marks its 228th birthday this month, the agency in charge of American diplomacy finds itself at a turning point, facing the threat of deep budget cuts and with many high-profile positions vacant.

The Department of State was the first government agency created under the new U.S. Constitution in July 1789. Today, however, turmoil at the White House and rumors of a possible Cabinet shake-up have spilled over to State, as it is popularly known, and prompted speculation that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson might be contemplating leaving his post. The department has repeatedly denied the reports about Tillerson.

The former ExxonMobil CEO spoke for himself in a joint appearance with his Qatari counterpart, telling a reporter Wednesday: "I'm not going anywhere."

Asked how long he would stay, Tillerson, who is 65, responded: "As long as the president lets me."

A job of great prestige and authority

Some analysts say he faces unique challenges, but getting to be the top U.S. diplomat is the chance of a lifetime.

Aaron David Miller of the Wilson Center told VOA it would be a hard opportunity to pass up.

"It is a job that carries tremendous prestige and authority. I mean, defending the United States abroad is an extraordinary sense of mission and excitement," Miller said. "And I suppose and, clearly as you know, Tillerson was not Mr. Trump's first choice."

In the end, Miller said he believes Tillerson was Trump's best choice, because he has decades of experience running one of the world's largest corporations. He worked continuously for ExxonMobil from the time he completed engineering studies until Trump tapped him for the Cabinet.

Some former diplomats and foreign policy experts have expressed concerns about the many problems  potentially painful budget cuts, open differences between Tillerson and President Donald Trump, and numerous unfilled high-level positions  and their effect on the State Department's 36,000 employees.

Employees 'as dedicated as ever'

Spokesperson Heather Nauert told VOA Thursday those employees still see their work as a calling.

"Two-hundred and twenty-eight years later, the department remains strong and relevant, and as dedicated to U.S. national security, economic prosperity and the safety and security of our citizens as it has ever been," Nauert said.

Talk about the possible closure of State's Office of Global Criminal Justice has worried many analysts. The office advises the secretary of State on issues related to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Jonathan Katz, a fellow at The German Marshall Fund, said such a move would send the wrong message to the world.

"It sends the wrong signal that the U.S. is withdrawing from key issues, whether it's climate change or atrocity prevention. ... From the perspective of previous administrations and others, both Republican and Democrat, we both see that this is going to have an impact on U.S. interests globally in the wrong way, in the wrong direction," Katz said.

Key office will remain intact

But Nauert broke news on that point Thursday, telling VOA the functions of the Office of Global Criminal Justice will remain at the State Department and its work will continue, although the assignment of its current special coordinator, Todd Buchwald, will come to an end.

Katz told VOA the office has done critical work for decades, such as addressing human-rights violations in Sudan and in navigating sensitive issues at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The office "has been part of an effort to ramp up overall U.S. engagement ... [in] preventing atrocities from occurring," he said.

State describes the mission of the Office of Global Criminal Justice as coordinating the U.S. government's positions relating to international and hybrid courts currently prosecuting persons responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Venezuela's Opposition Escalates Protest Calls

By Carolina Alcalde July 28, 2017

Despite a new government ban on national protests, leaders of Venezuela's political opposition are urging people to take to the streets in mass demonstrations against an election Sunday that many fear could tip their country from democracy to dictatorship.

President Nicolas Maduro ordered the controversial vote for a constituent assembly whose 545 members will be charged with rewriting the country's constitution. Critics charge that only Maduro supporters are candidates and that they could revise the charter to keep him in office indefinitely.

"Prepare to deepen the conflict, a conflict that will be hard. But we will win because they cannot crush us all," legislator Freddy Guevara, first vice president of the opposition-led parliament, said Thursday night.

The call for mass demonstrations, scheduled to start at noon local time Friday, follows two days of mass strikes  and almost four months of often-violent demonstrations. At least 102 people have died in clashes among Maduro's opponents, his backers and security forces.

Guevaro prodded Venezuelans to do more than just set up makeshift barriers using everything from lawn chairs to tree limbs and garbage. He wants to see crowds: "We have to be in the streets."

The lawmaker said opposition leaders soon would present "a whole agenda of mobilization and pressure" to delegitimize what he called a "farce" of an election.

On Thursday, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol announced the ban on "public meetings and demonstrations, rallies of people and any similar act that could disrupt the normal development of the electoral process." The ban runs from Friday through Tuesday.

Reverol, in a speech carried on state TV, warned that violators face punishment of five to 10 years behind bars.

At least two people were fatally shot during the 48-hour strike that began Wednesday, Venezuela's Public Ministry confirmed.

Leonardo Gonzalez, 49, died of gunshot wounds during a protest Thursday in Carabobo state, about 200 kilometers west of Caracas. Also, a 16-year-old boy died Thursday after being fatally shot in the head the previous day in El Paraiso, in the western part of the Venezuelan capital.

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Aging Zimbabwe President Challenged to Pick Successor -- By His Wife

By Anita Powell July 28, 2017

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is already the world's oldest living head of state. The 93-year-old says he is fit enough to run for re-election next year, and has batted away whispers about who he will choose to follow him when he inevitably succumbs.

But as the increasingly frail leader shuttles back and forth to Singapore for medical treatment, the call for him to name a replacement has grown louder. The most recent -- and loudest -- voice to call for a successor is also the most unexpected: his own wife.

Grace Mugabe, 52, raised the delicate issue at this week's gathering of the women's league of the ruling ZANU-PF party, to applause and cheering from the crowd.

"I know president says 'no no no, I don't want to impose any candidate,'" she said. "But I've always argued with him, that 'you have the role, you have the right to be part of that process. Because we respect you.' His word will be final. Mark my words, his word will be final!"

Madame Mrs. President?

Mrs. Mugabe is on the shortlist of Zimbabwean public figures rumored to be trying to succeed him, alongside Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Professor Shadrack Gutto of the University of South Africa says the president's wife is clearly making a play to be his pick. But, he says, she's wrong about one thing: President Mugabe's word is only final as long as he lives.

"She wants the position," he said. "But I'm saying it will occur, as soon as he goes -- in other words, he passes away -- Grace doesn't have political power in Zimbabwe, at all. And therefore a lot of struggles will start to take place within."

Pro-opposition analyst Jacob Mafume said he thinks Mugabe has already handed the reins to his wife. Zimbabwe's struggling economy has been blamed on President Mugabe's decisions during his 36 years in power, and the couple have been repeatedly accused of corruption and mismanagement.

Mugabe's plan? Only he knows

"He actually believes that he is running the country when he is not, that is how bad it is," he told VOA. "His wife is running the country. The other half of the country is being run by Vice President Mnangagwa. The other half is being run by Grace Mugabe grabbing farms, dams and whatever she wants to do at that particular time. So basically we are on auto-pilot as a country, and it is a shame that we are failing to retire an old man to an old people's home."

And what does the president think? When asked, his response far from clear.

"Other countries have more than two, why can't we have three deputies," he said, his voice soft, slow and halting. "Two, two choices: The one, to revert to our position of two vice presidents and one being a lady but another of adding another position of vice president, we have three vice presidents and one a woman."

Zimbabwe votes in 2018, with President Mugabe leading the ruling party's ticket.

Sebastian Mhofu contributed to this report from Harare.

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Islamic State Threatens Iran in New Video

By Mehdi Jedinia July 27, 2017

The Islamic State group has issued a short new video in which it threatens the Islamic Republic of Iran and vows to destabilize the country with terrorist attacks.

The video, released Tuesday, depicts a teenage boy in military uniform who directly looks at the camera and speaks Persian with a bold voice, threatening the regime.

The teenager is introduced as the "Persian Qattadah" in the video, which is the name of a close disciple of Prophet Muhammad.

"We will destroy your land and your home, we will disrupt your security and we will shed your blood into rivers," the teenager is heard saying in the video.

Iran has not yet reacted to the video. It was produced in similar fashion to other videos released by the terror group in the past.

In late March, IS released a 36-minute, Persian-language video aimed at Iran's Sunni Muslim minority in which several adults spoke in Persian, but with heavy Baloch and Arabic accents.

The new video portrays a child soldier who speaks fluent Persian with no accent at all, which suggests that the terror group may have made inroads in parts of the country to recruit.

Mixed reaction

Analysts' views on the content and purpose of the video were mixed.

Some said IS wanted to exploit Iranian Sunnis, who have long been deprived of their rights.

"Islamic State's propaganda is falling on fertile ground as Sunnis in Iran are deeply underprivileged and deprived of many of their rights," Ali Alfoneh, a nonresident senior fellow at Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at The Atlantic Council, told VOA.

"It is hardly surprising that the Islamic State is trying to target Iran's Sunni minority," Alfoneh added.

Others downplayed the video and viewed it as a desperate move by IS to show that it remains relevant. The terror group has faced numerous defeats on the battlefield in recent months in Iraq and Syria.

"This is an isolated case and depicts a desperate effort by IS to show it is still capable of conducting new attacks," said Alex Vatanka, a senior analyst at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

"With less territory under control and shrinking sources of revenue, recruiting new members from Iran, where people, even dissident Sunnis, see less common ground with IS, seems to be shooting in the dark and bears no fruit at all," Vatanka added.

Marginalization of Sunnis

Alfoneh of the Atlantic Council said he thought that some of Iran's policies were purposefully marginalizing the country's Sunni minority from the mainstream, which could drive them closer to extremist groups like IS.

"Iran's Sunnis are being oppressed, and the Iranian government policy of relating Sunnis to IS and Saudis has not given the desired fruit expected," he said. "Twin attacks on June 7 committed by Iranian members of IS prove that fact."

IS militants carried out twin terrorist attacks in early June targeting Iran's parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.

The attacks, which IS claimed responsibility for, killed at least 17 people and injured dozens more.

Iran's mainly Baloch and Kurd Sunni minorities have long accused Tehran of discriminating against them because of their religious views.

Human rights organizations also have talked of mass executions of Sunnis and have urged Iran to lift restrictions on Sunnis, who make up about 9 percent of the country's population.

Tehran has acknowledged it executed at least 977 people in 2015, which it says was mainly for drug-related crimes.

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Al-Qaida Announces Establishment of Group in Indian Kashmir

By Anjana Pasricha July 28, 2017

Indian police say they are investigating a claim by al-Qaida that it has established a new group in Indian Kashmir.

It is the first time a global terror outfit has claimed a presence in Kashmir, where local Islamic militant groups have led a violent, separatist insurgency.

Al-Qaida announced the establishment of the Ansar Ghawzat-Ul-Hind, to be led by a local commander, Zakir Musa, on its online information network, the Global Islamic Media Front.

Musa represents a new generation of young militants who Indian experts say are radicalizing young Kashmiris to revitalize an insurgency that had become dormant, but has flared in the past year.

'Militant is a militant'

Kashmir's police chief, S.P. Vaid, said Friday that they would monitor the impact of the announcement, but that anyone who picks up the gun to fight the state is a terrorist.

"A militant is a militant, to whichever tanzeem (outfit) he belongs," he said.

Questioning whether al-Qaida would make any impact in Kashmir, counterinsurgency experts pointed out that a previous announcement by the group in 2014 to set up an Indian wing made no mark among India's Muslim population, the third largest in the world.

Insurgency dismissive

The decades-long separatist insurgency in Indian Kashmir is led by groups like the Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which say they are waging a freedom struggle, but whom New Delhi labels as terror groups and proxies of Pakistan. Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority region, is divided between India and Pakistan and these groups have bases in Pakistani Kashmir.

Both groups have been quick to dismiss any role for the global terror outfit.

Following the al-Qaida announcement, the leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, Syed Salahuddin, said in a statement that, "there is no scope or room for any international organizations like Daesh (Islamic State) and al-Qaida, we don't need them nor is there any necessity for their presence."

The Lashkar-e-Taiba called al-Qaida's bid for a presence in Kashmir an Indian ploy to label their "legitimate freedom struggle" as "terrorism."

No threat escalation

Ajai Sahni, head of the Institute of Conflict Management in New Delhi, says the latest announcement does not represent a significant escalation in threat in Kashmir.

"The operational capacities don't change," he said. "What is happening both with the al-Qaida and earlier with the Islamic State, there has been an effort to rebrand local groupings operational in the area and project them as part of this local jihad."

Musa was close to Burhan Wani, a charismatic local militant whose killing by armed forces last year triggered a fresh spiral of violence in Kashmir and revived militancy.

Musa, who is believed to have turned to militancy sometime in 2013, initially joined the Hizbul Mujahideen. But he split with the group after voicing an ideology more aligned to that of global terror groups like al-Qaida. He said last year the fight in the region should not be for the sake of Kashmir, but should be exclusively for Islam so that sharia is established here." He has also spoken up against local separatist leaders.

Sahni said radicalization of young Kashmiris is the real threat that India needs to watch out for.

"Radicalization has gone unchecked in the valley for 50 years now and it has become a very, very, very serious problem," Sahni said.

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House Republicans Give Trump $1.6B in Wall Funding Before Break

By Katherine Gypson, Aline Barros July 28, 2017

The U.S. House of Representatives closed its summer session with a key legislative accomplishment Friday that included a gift for President Donald Trump.

House Republicans included a $1.6 billion request to build part of Trumps promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in a "mini-bus" package of bills.

"We must be vigilant in protecting our homeland. That's our priority. This legislation funds the most critical functions of government. It secures our borders by providing funding for a wall on our southern border," House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement Thursday hailing the passage of border wall funding.

"There's some frustration on the part of some Republicans that they haven't been getting things done this year," Molly Reynolds, a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, told VOA. "So they see this security mini-bus as a way to show they have gotten something done on things that are broadly popular  funding the military and veteran's programs."

Uphill battle in Senate

But the border wall request faces a tough road ahead in the U.S. Senate as the political atmosphere in Washington grows even more charged following the last minute failure of Republican attempts to pass a health care bill.

The wall money, added to a spending measure for the U.S. Defense Department, faces opposition by all Democrats in the Senate and some Republicans.

Democratic Senators are expected to object to the border wall funding, possibly triggering a government shutdown by rejecting the spending bill in its current form

Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer called the vote "a legislative gimmick" Tuesday because the mini-bus packaging prevented separate debate on funding for the border wall.

Though the defense appropriations bill includes numerous security spending measures, Democrats said Republicans saw it as an opportunity to add Trump's demands to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Representative Pete Aguilar, a California Democrat, said the $1.6 billion should be used to "take care of our veterans and to honor our commitment for necessary defense programs."

Representative Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, said the money was "snuck into the appropriation bill so they can make people happy, but not make them any safer."

"What you need is modern solutions to modern problems," he said. "We need a modern, functioning, immigration system. Not a wall."

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Additional THAAD Missile Launchers to Be Deployed at US Base in South Korea

Sputnik News

21:51 28.07.2017(updated 22:30 28.07.2017)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has announced that a new set of missile interception launch platforms will be deployed at a US military base in South Korea, according to public news outlet Yonhap.

The interceptor is part of the US' Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile interception system. President Moon delayed the deployment of the THAAD shortly after assuming office in May, citing environmental concerns. When he did so, two of six planned THAAD platforms had already been rolled out.

Moon has also called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after North Korea test-fired what was seemingly a medium-range intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday. President Moon has called for new and stronger sanctions against Pyongyang.

The US has agreed to pay for the installation and maintenance of the THAAD, which is meant to protect South Korea from a DPRK missile strike. It is made to intercept short and medium-range missiles, including ballistics.

President Moon's official reason for delaying the THAAD deployment (which was already signed into law) was to perform an environmental impact analysis  but the administration of disgraced president Park Geun-Hye had already performed such an analysis in December 2016. This led to speculation that Moon was instead stalling the deployment to improve his country's relationship with the North, as well as China and Russia who all protested the THAAD.

 Sputnik

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'Stop Immediately': China Reiterates Protest to US THAAD System in South Korea

Sputnik News

16:24 28.07.2017(updated 16:27 28.07.2017)

China reaffirms its strong objections to US plans on deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea, as it may threaten China's national security, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  In July 2016, the United States and South Korea announced their intention to deploy a THAAD system 300 kilometers (some 185 miles) away from Seoul as a deterrence measure against a possible missile attack from North Korea.

"China's position on the THAAD issue is clear and consistent and is subject to no change. We strongly urge relevant countries to immediately stop and revoke the deployment of the THAAD system," Lu said at a regular press conference as quoted by the ministry.

Lu added that Beijing is worried that the missile defense system's radars may affect China's military installations, impairing the country's defense capabilities.

THAAD is designed for high-altitude extra-atmospheric interception of short and medium-range missiles and can, if needed, be used against North Korean ballistic missiles.

Moscow and Beijing have repeatedly voiced concern over the THAAD deployment in South Korea.

According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, the range of THAAD does not exceed 200 kilometers (around 120 miles). The US-South Korea agreement stipulates that Seoul provides a total of 690,000 square meters (170.5 acres) of land for the system in two stages, while Washington pays for the installation and maintenance of it.

 Sputnik

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Aiming High: India Looks at More Satellite Launches With New Facility From 2018

Sputnik News

12:39 28.07.2017

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will get a major capacity boost from early 2018 as an additional launch pad is fast nearing completion. With the new launch pad, ISRO can achieve its target of sending 12 rockets into space in a year from the seven at present.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  Currently, Indian space scientists use two launch pads of the Indian satellite launching station located at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. "In addition to enabling a significant increase in the launch frequency from the existing two launch pads, the SVAB can also cater to the requirements of a third launch pad at Sriharikota in future," Jitendra Singh added.

"A second vehicle assembly building (SVAB) is being established at the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota to overcome the limitation in the number of vehicles that can be assembled and integrated in a year, which is expected to be ready by the beginning of next year," Jitendra Singh, India's Minister of State for Space, said in the Rajya Sabha.

As the country needs more communication satellites, ISRO had asked the government for additional launch pad. In 2013, the government approved funds for a second vehicle assembly building. With the increased frequency, ISRO can make more money from launching a service business which is expected to grow to at least $14.5 billion in the next decade. According to Euroconsult's latest report, over 6,200 small satellites are expected to be launched over the next 10 years.

"The total market value of these small satellites could reach $30.1 billion in the next 10 years, up from $8.9 billion over the previous decade," said Maxime Puteaux, Senior Consultant at Euroconsult and editor of the report.

ISRO has set a target to reduce the cost of a satellite launch manifold with the reusable rocket whose next phase of tests will begin in the next year.

 Sputnik

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China opposes unilateral sanctions imposed by Japan against Chinese companies

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 19:16, July 28, 2017

China opposes any unilateral sanctions imposed by any country outside the framework of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

Lu Kang told a daily news briefing that China especially opposes sanctions against Chinese entities and people.

Media outlets reported Friday that Japan imposed unilateral sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and expanded its blacklists of entities and individuals with ties to the country, including two Chinese enterprises.

Lu said China is committed to denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, and has fully implemented the UNSC resolutions against the DPRK.

"Japan's new sanctions could be shooting itself in the foot," he said, adding that China would never accept Japan's wrong move.

China urges Japan to withdraw the wrong decision, Lu said.

"If Japan still acts arbitrarily, it will bring major political obstacles to China-Japan relations and bilateral cooperation on the Korean Peninsula issues. Japan should pay the consequences," Lu said.

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China 'to continue flights over high seas'

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:27AM

The Chinese air force says its combat drills over high seas have become a "routine" practice and will continue.

"The air force's distant sea training has become routine, systematic, and practical," China Central Television quoted air force spokesman Shen Jinke as saying late on Thursday.

Shen, who was addressing reporters at a news briefing on "Army Games 2017" in Wuhan, the capital city of central China's Hubei Province, said that China's high-sea drills have increased in frequency over the past years.

China's long-range flight drills at sea, which started three years ago, were not targeted at any specific country or region, Shen said.

He said the recent flight of various warplanes over the Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait had tested the air force's actual combat capabilities on the high seas.

The air force said on its microblog earlier this month that its planes had recently flown through both the Miyako Strait  which lies between two southern Japanese islands  and the Bashi Channel, which separates Taiwan and the Philippines.

The spokesperson said such drills accorded with international law. They were legitimate, reasonable and justified, he said.

The drills were not meant to target any countries or regions but were the requirement of China's military and national defense building, Shen said.

The air force aims to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the interests of the country's air safety through carrying out actual combat drills, he said.

China is in a territorial dispute with some of its neighbors in the East and South China Sea.

In the South China Sea, China has rival claims to territory with the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Vietnam.

China and Japan have been involved in a territorial dispute in the East China Sea over the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyus in China.

The United States, which has military presence in the regions, has backed up China's rival claimants in the territorial disputes.

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Critics: Hong Kong Sets Bad Precedent With Mainland Police in Rail Station

By Joyce Huang July 28, 2017

The joint checkpoint plan introduced by the city government of Hong Kong earlier this week that would allow mainland Chinese police at the terminus of a new high-speed rail line is expected to meet strong opposition when it next goes through a legislative review.

Many of the city's pan-democrats and legal experts said the administration of newly inaugurated chief executive Carrie Lam may have set off a political time bomb.

They accuse Lam's administration of taking advantage of a loophole in the city's mini-constitution to draft the controversial co-location arrangement, which, if implemented, could set a harmful precedent and put Hong Kong residents' rights and freedom at risk, even though business travelers using the rail may prefer convenience over autonomy.

No guts

Pan-democrat lawmaker Claudia Mo, formerly with the Civic Party, put the blame on Lam, who she said has failed in her first test to strike a balance between the interests of Beijing and Hong Kong's citizens.

"She simply has not [got] the guts to stand up against Beijing.  She is a career bureaucrat. She will do what she's been told. That's rather saddening" for Hong Kong people, Mo said.

Lam's administration this week announced a joint immigration checkpoint would be set up at the West Kowloon terminus of the cross-border rail link that connects Hong Kong to Guangzhou, with mainland officers enjoying full jurisdiction in the quarter of the complex leased to the mainland, as well as inside the train, even as it travels the city's 26-kilometer-long section.

In other words, mainland laws, which lag far behind Hong Kong when it comes to the protection of human rights and freedom of expression, will be fully enforced at the designated mainland checkpoint and inside the trains of the $11 billion project, which is scheduled to begin operation in the third quarter of next year.

City officials insisted that the co-location arrangements would not breach the Basic Law, because the leased zone would be seen as outside the city's boundary and the leasing could be carried out through the law's Article 20, which stipulates Beijing can grant Hong Kong powers that it doesn't have, including those to approve the leasing.

Rule of law intact

Lam pledged that the proposal will neither compromise the city's rule of law or its high degree of autonomy, nor erode its "one country, two systems" policy.

"This is not a question of choice between convenience to passengers using the high-speed rail and the rule of law in Hong Kong," Lam said.

But legal experts disagreed.

A constitutional challenge

Kevin Yam of the Progressive Lawyers Group said the city government would potentially create an act of state, which Hong Kong courts are unable to scrutinize.

"What they are doing is not to uphold the constitutionality of that [co-location] proposal, but really to try to shield it from the constitutional scrutiny," Yam said, adding that the enforcement of mainland laws even in a small part of Hong Kong is in direct contravention of explicit requirements under the Basic Law.

James To, a lawyer and a lawmaker with the Democratic Party, also argued the city government has abused the fundamental design of Article 20, which is intended to grant the city a higher degree of autonomy.

"The current exercise is to authorize Hong Kong government or Hong Kong legislature to [willingly] surrender our autonomy back to Beijing. I think it's a total disregard of the original spirit of the Article 20," To said.

In addition, Jeremy Tam, a pilot-turned-lawmaker, argued the city government has misled the general public by saying that similar checkpoints arrangements can be found overseas, including those between France and Britain with the Eurostar rail service.

"When they're giving the examples between the U.S. and Canada, and also UK and France, they used a wrong example because they [including the Eurostar rail] only have the agreement on the immigration part of it. And all these jurisdictions, particularly the criminal or the power of arrest, etc.  still belong to the relevant [home] countries," Tam said.

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US, S Korea discuss 'military' response to N Korea: Pentagon

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 7:39PM

The United States and South Korea have discussed "military" options in response to North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Pentagon says.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis confirmed Friday that North Korea had launched an ICBM which flew for approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and crashed into Japan's maritime exclusive economic zone.

"We assess that this was an ICBM; this is a launch that had been expected," Davis said.

Following the test, General Joe Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the US military's Pacific Command, held a phone conversation with South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance," Dunford's office said in a statement.

"The three leaders also discussed military response options."

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement, saying that the missile's "characteristics were those of a medium-range ballistic missile."

According to the statement, the missile reached an altitude of 681 kilometers (420 miles) and flew for 732 kilometers before landing in the Sea of Japan, the statement said.

The missile launch was lamented by the European Union, which said the country posed "a serious threat to international peace and security."

Also, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe criticized Pyongyang for launching another missile and called a meeting of the National Security Council.

North Korea is under mounting international pressure over its missile and nuclear development programs, but it says it needs to continue and develop its missile force as a deterrent to defend the nation in the face of the US and its regional allies' hegemony.

On the 4th of July, the US Independence Day, Pyongyang test-fired an ICBM capable of delivering a "large, heavy nuclear warhead" to the US continent.

The test was conducted just hours after US President Donald Trump and Abe agreed to exert further pressure on Pyongyang over its weapons programs.

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Tokyo says North Korea may have fired missile toward Japan

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:12PM

Japan's prime minister has called for an emergency meeting after North Korea fired what is reported to be a missile, which may have landed in the sea off Japan.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters on Friday that the reported missile launch was being analyzed and that he had called a meeting of the National Security Council.

Abe said the international community must raise the heat on North Korea over its latest missile launch.

The launch, the Japanese premier said, showed that "the threat to Japan's security has become grave and real."

"As long as North Korea continues such provocative actions, there is no avoiding maintaining close contact with the international community, starting with the United States, South Korea, China and Russia, and further strengthening the pressure," Abe stated.

Shortly after Abe's comments, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced in the early hours of Saturday that a North Korean missile had flown about 45 minutes and appeared to have landed in the waters of Japan's exclusive economic zone, but that there were no immediate reports of damage.

Suga added that the missile launch was unacceptable and in clear violation of the United Nations resolutions, and said Japan had protested in the strongest possible terms.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, confirmed that a launch of a ballistic missile from North Korea had been detected.

He said, "We are assessing and will have more information soon."

The Pentagon said the missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which flew a distance of about 1,000 kilometers.

Pyongyang is under mounting international pressure over its missile and nuclear development programs.

However, it says it needs to continue and develop its missile force as a deterrent to defend the nation in the face of the United States and its regional allies' hegemony.

On the 4th of July, the US Independence Day, Pyongyang test-fired an ICBM capable of delivering a "large, heavy nuclear warhead" to the US continent.

The move met with international outcry and the Pentagon said it would defend Americans and US allies against the threat posed by Pyongyang.

The missile test was carried out just hours after US President Donald Trump and Abe agreed to exert added pressure on North Korea over its weapons programs.

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U.S., Japan Confirm North Korean Ballistic Missile Launch

RFE/RL July 28, 2017

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was convening an emergency meeting of officials after the launch.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the North Koreans fired a projectile shortly before midnight Japan time (5 p.m. Prague time) on July 28.

It said the projectile may have landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone.

Even before the latest launch, tensions were high on the Korean Peninsula, with the United States, Japan, and South Korea repeatedly expressing condemnation of previous test launches by Pyongyang.

North Korea's nuclear and ballistic-missile programs are banned by United Nations resolutions, but Pyongyang has continued the tests, saying they are necessary to prevent aggression by the United States.

On July 27, U.S. General Mark Miller, the Army chief of staff, warned that North Korea's ability to launch a missile capable of reaching the United States was advancing significantly and faster than expected.

Miller said "time is running out" for a diplomatic solution to the crisis over Pyongyang's weapons program.

The U.S. Senate on July 27 nearly unanimously approved tough sanctions on Russia, Iran, and North Korea and has sent the legislation to the White House pending President Donald Trump's signature.

On July 4, North Korea conducted its first-ever successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that Washington said can likely carry a nuclear warhead and threaten the United States.

That launch came after Trump assailed North Korea's "reckless and brutal regime" and said there was a "strong, solid plan" to deal with Pyongyang's illicit nuclear and ballistic-missile programs.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on July 11 that it conducted a successful test from Kodiak, Alaska, of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, part of the United States' ballistic-missile defense system.

The agency said a THAAD weapon system detected, tracked, and intercepted a test target, which was similar to missiles recently tested by North Korea.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and NHK

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-and-japan-confirm- nkorean-missile-launch/28645507.html

Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Pentagon Believes Newly-Launched North Korea Missile Was ICBM, Traveled 1,000 KM

Sputnik News

20:49 28.07.2017(updated 21:17 28.07.2017)

The US Department of Defense assessed that North Korea's missile launch on Friday was an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that traveled 1,000 kilometers, the Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said in a press release.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, Japanese NHK reported that North Korea appears to have fired a missile which may have landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone. Later in the day, South Korean military confirmed the launch. The Pentagon said that it has detected what it considers to be a ballistic missile launch by the DPRK.

"We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile, as had been expected," Davis said. "The missile was launched from Mupyong-ni and traveled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan."

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), Davis added, determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America.

The US military initially detected and tracked the missile at 10:40 a.m. EST (2:40 p.m. GMT), Davis said, and is working with international partners for a more detailed assessment.

Moreover, South Korean military also believes the North Korean missile was an ICBM, which flew about 1,000 kilometers, according to Yonhap. According to the report, South Korean military believes Pyongyang has fired an ICBM-class missile, which is more advanced than the one that was test-launched on July 4.

The Kyodo news agency reported, citing a Japanese government source, that the missile the DPRK launched earlier on Friday was an intercontinental ballistic missile.

DPRK's move appears to be the first missile launch carried out by Pyongyang after its first successful ICBM test as North Korea and the US describe it.

On July 4, North Korea announced it had successfully launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, saying it traveled 580 miles and reached an altitude of 1,740 miles during its 39-minute flight before accurately hitting a targeted area in the Sea of Japan. The test immediately prompted sharp criticism from the international community.

Following the launch, the Russian Defense Ministry disputed Pyongyang's claim, saying the missile's flight parameters indicated it reached an altitude of 535 kilometers (332 miles) and traveled 510 kilometers before falling in central Sea of Japan. However, US officials believe that Pyongyang had successfully launched an ICBM for the first time.

 Sputnik

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Japan Believes N Korea Launched ICBM in Violation of UNSC Resolutions - Reports

Sputnik News

19:51 28.07.2017(updated 20:41 28.07.2017)

The Kyodo news agency reported, citing a government source, that the missile the DPRK launched earlier on Friday was an intercontinental ballistic missile.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Japanese government considers Friday's North Korean missile test a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

"This is a clear violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. Continued provocative actions are unacceptable. We declare a strong protest to North Korea, condemn [the launch] in the most severe term," Suga told the NHK broadcaster.

Japan is calling on Russia and China to play an additional role in increasing pressure on North Korea over its latest missile test, the Japanese official said.

"We intend to continue increasing pressure on North Korea, insisting on extra role not only from us, the United States and South Korea, but also Russia and China," Suga told reporters.

He added that the missile fell in the Japanese exclusive economic zone after a 45-minute flight, longer than during the test launch earlier in July.

The Pentagon also said that the DPRK launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday, which traveled some 1,000 kilometers before flying down, media reported.

Moreover, South Korean military also believes the North Korean missile was an ICBM, according to Yonhap.

Earlier in the day, Japanese NHK reported that North Korea appears to have fired a missile which may have landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone. However, the broadcaster said that it could be just a projectile. The Kyodo news agency reported that the Japanese government was convening a national security council meeting in response to North Korea's launch.

Later in the day, South Korean military confirmed the launch.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said that it has detected what it considers to be a ballistic missile launch by the DPRK.

DPRK's move appears to be the first missile launch carried out by Pyongyang after its first successful ICBM test as North Korea and the US describe it.

On July 4, North Korea announced it had successfully launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, saying it traveled 580 miles and reached an altitude of 1,740 miles during its 39-minute flight before accurately hitting a targeted area in the Sea of Japan. The test immediately prompted sharp criticism from the international community.

Following the launch, the Russian Defense Ministry disputed Pyongyang's claim, saying the missile's flight parameters indicated it reached an altitude of 535 kilometers (332 miles) and traveled 510 kilometers before falling in central Sea of Japan. However, US officials believe that Pyongyang had successfully launched an ICBM for the first time.

 Sputnik

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Pentagon Says It Detected Ballistic Missile Launch From North Korea

Sputnik News

18:35 28.07.2017(updated 19:30 28.07.2017)

The Pentagon said on Friday it had detected a North Korean ballistic missile launch and was carrying out assessments to gather further information.

According to Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis, the launch occurred at about 10:45 ET (14:45 GMT).

"I can confirm that we detected a launch of a ballistic missile from North Korea," Capt. Jeff Davis confirmed. "We are assessing and will have more information soon."

Earlier today, Japanese media reported that North Korea "appeared to have fired a missile."

Soon after the initial report, the South Korean military confirmed DPRK's missile launch. South Korean President Moon Jae-in convened an emergency meeting of his national security team in the early hours of Saturday.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also confirmed that North Korea had fired what is believed to be a missile and it may have landed in the sea off Japan and that officials are analyzing the apparent launch. Abe announced he had called a meeting of the National Security Council.

According to Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the North Korean missile flew for about 45 minutes.

On July 4, North Korea announced it had successfully launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, saying it traveled 580 miles and reached an altitude of 1,740 miles during its 39-minute flight before accurately hitting a targeted area in the Sea of Japan. The test immediately prompted sharp criticism from the international community.

Following the launch, the Russian Defense Ministry disputed Pyongyang's claim, saying the missile's flight parameters indicated it reached an altitude of 535 kilometers (332 miles) and traveled 510 kilometers before falling in the central Sea of Japan. However, US officials believe that Pyongyang had successfully launched an ICBM for the first time.

 Sputnik

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South Korean Military Confirms North Korea's New Missile Launch

Sputnik News

18:29 28.07.2017(updated 18:58 28.07.2017)

South Korean military has confirmed the DPRK's missile launch on Friday.

According to the Yonhap news agency, the missile was launched from Jagang Province, northern North Korea, late Friday evening. South Korean President Moon Jae-in convened an emergency meeting of his national security team in the early hours of Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Japanese NHK reported that North Korea appears to have fired a missile which may have landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone. However, the broadcaster said that it could be just a projectile. The Kyodo news agency reported that the Japanese government was convening a national security council meeting in response to North Korea's launch.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said that it has detected what it considers to be a ballistic missile launch by the DPRK.

According to Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the missile flew for about 45 minutes.

If confirmed, it would be the first missile launch carried out by Pyongyang after its first successful ICBM test as North Korea and the US describe it.

On July 4, North Korea announced it had successfully launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, saying it traveled 580 miles and reached an altitude of 1,740 miles during its 39-minute flight before accurately hitting a targeted area in the Sea of Japan. The test immediately prompted sharp criticism from the international community.

Following the launch, the Russian Defense Ministry disputed Pyongyang's claim, saying the missile's flight parameters indicated it reached an altitude of 535 kilometers (332 miles) and traveled 510 kilometers before falling in central Sea of Japan. However, US officials believe that Pyongyang had successfully launched an ICBM for the first time.

 Sputnik

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North Korea Launches Another Ballistic Missile

By Carla Babb July 28, 2017

North Korea launched another intercontinental ballistic missile ((ICBM)) Friday, the second such launch in just a few weeks, the Pentagon said.

"We detected and tracked a single North Korea missile launch," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis told reporters. "We assess that this was an ICBM; this was a launch that had been expected."

Davis said North Korea launched the missile from Mupyong-ni arms plant in the country's north. He said it flew "in excess of 40 minutes" and traveled about 1,000 kilometers laterally before splashing down into the Sea of Japan, about 163 kilometers from Hokkaido, Japan's second-largest island.

Possible landing site

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the missile may have landed in that country's exclusive economic zone, and he convened an emergency meeting with Japanese officials to respond to the launch.

Davis said the United States remains "as committed as ever to the defense of our allies, especially the Republic of Korea and Japan, in the face of these threats." He added the missile did not pose a threat to North America.

North Korea has carried out several ballistic missile tests over the past two years. Earlier this month, Pyongyang launched an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time. The missile flew for 39 minutes and landed in the Sea of Japan. Experts said the ICBM may have had a range capable of reaching the U.S. state of Alaska.

"North Korea is slowly morphing into a nuclear and missile power right before our very eyes," said Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies from the Center for the National Interest.

After Friday's launch, the top U.S. general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, and the head of U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, called the Republic of Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin. The U.S. Chairman's office said the military leaders discussed military response options and reaffirmed their "ironclad commitment" to the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance.

Susan Thornton, the acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, testified on Capitol Hill Thursday that North Korea is "the most urgent and dangerous threat."

"We are working to isolate and increase pressure on North Korea with the goal of convincing the regime to return to serious talks aimed at denuclearization. This has been and remains this Administration's top diplomatic priority," said Thorton.

VOA's State Department correspondent Nike Ching contributed to this report

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US Urges Nuclear Suppliers Group Members to Back India Membership

Sputnik News

22:00 28.07.2017

The administration of US President Donald Trump has urged the 48 members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group to support New Delhi's long-pending application, but the move is really a reiteration of the country's old stand, not a real turnaround in India's chances of getting into the 48-member elite club that controls the nuclear trade.

New Delhi (Sputnik)-Experts question whether Washington has the wherewithal to pull its weight and bring China on board to favorably settle the issue of India's membership, and are less than hopeful. India's road to the NSG goes via Moscow, say experts, as it is Russia that is better placed to take New Delhi's case up with Beijing.

The US Defense and State Departments in a joint report submitted to Congress as required under the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2017 reaffirmed their support for India's membership in the Wassenaar Arrangement, Australia Group, and the Missile Technology Control Regime, in addition the NSG. India is already a member of the MTCR and subscribed to the Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation in June 2016.

"Since 2010, the US has supported India's membership in the four multilateral export control regimes as India prepared to take the steps required for membership in each one," the report said.

Experts reckon the limits to Washington's ability to make China reconsider its stance opposing India's membership.

"The US in 2017 under President Donald Trump is not the country it was in 2008, before the global economic recession kicked in, when it got the NSG waiver for India. Likewise, China has grown in stature and thinks of itself as a superpower arrived. India's case in the NSG can be better served with Russian President Vladimir Putin taking it up with the Chinese and explaining how our entry benefits the regime and global nuclear trade," Dr Swaran Singh, professor at the School of International Studies at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University and noted expert on India-China relations, told Sputnik.

In addition to the US, India has received the support of major countries in the group, including Russia and major European powers, but China continues to insist on a two-step approach on the membership bids of countries like India and Pakistan, which have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Singh also thinks "India and China can work out a deal on their entry into the NSG and the MTCR respectively."

 Sputnik

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One Third of India's Indigenous Akash Missiles Duds, Says Auditor

Sputnik News

19:14 28.07.2017(updated 20:26 28.07.2017)

In a startling revelation, India's top auditor has said more than a third of the home-made Akash missile systems meant for aerial defense along the Pakistan border have failed basic tests.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  The Akash and its newer variant, the Akash Mk-2, are a medium-range surface-to-air missile system having range of 18-25 km. These missiles are meant to intercept enemy aircraft and missiles. These missiles were deployed by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the region where there are "large scale military infrastructure build-ups by the adversary".

Though six squadrons of Akash missile were to deploy at six air stations in the backdrop of serious threat from adversaries, which was recognized as early as 2009, the system was not yet inducted at any of the six locations as of March 2017. BEL, which is responsible for creating infrastructure for the missile system, was not able to create suitable infrastructure for the missile and caused deterioration of 71 of total 80 missiles stored at alternate facilities.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found that the strategic missile system delivered by BEL was deficient in quality as well. "30 per cent of the missile delivered by BEL failed the test. Preliminary failure analysis report revealed that the missiles fell short of the target, had lower than the required velocity, and also there was malfunctioning of critical units like servo control unit and connector. Two missiles had failed to take off because the booster nozzle had failed. These deficiencies posed an operational risk during hostilities," the CAG report tabled in Parliament found.

In March this year, the IAF informed the CAG that action for replacement of the failed missiles was being undertaken. The IAF also stated that BEL had replaced the three failed missiles in January 2016 and the remaining three missiles were yet to be replaced.

"Even after four years this urgently needed capability has not been created and the strategic objective remains unachieved," CAG report said. About $750 million has already been spent for the purpose.

Indian defense ministry had approved two regiments of 25-km range Akash missiles for the Army in April this year.

 Sputnik

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US Treasury slaps sanctions on Iranian companies after rocket test

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:19PM

The US Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on Iran over what it called Tehran's "continued provocative actions," including Thursday's successful test of a satellite-launch rocket.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control slapped the sanctions on Friday on six Iranian companies owned or controlled by Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, the Treasury said in a statement.

The Treasury Department called Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group "central" to Iran's ballistic missiles program, which Tehran says is defensive.

On Thursday, Iran launched its domestically-manufactured Simorgh carrier, whose mission is to put Iranian satellites into the orbit.

According to Tasnim News Agency, the launch was carried out from the Imam Khomeini Space Center. Simorgh, named after a bird in Iranian mythology, is capable of placing a satellite weighing up to 250 kilograms in an orbit of 500 kilometers.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday the sanctions are aimed at Iran's ballistic missile activity, including what he called a "provocative space launch."

"These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program, and underscore the United States' deep concerns with Iran's continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behavior," Mnuchin said.

On Thursday, the State Department criticized the test, saying it appeared to be a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

"We consider that to be continued ballistic missile development," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters. "We consider this to be provocative action."

The State Department spokeswoman suggested that the launch could be a "violation of UN Security Council resolutions."

The United States claims that Iran's missile tests and rocket launches violate UN Resolution 2231, which was adopted in July 2015 to endorse the nuclear agreement.

Resolution 2231 calls on Iran "not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology."

Tehran insists its missile tests and rocket launches do not breach any UN resolution because they are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Islamic Republic has completely kept to the commitments it made under the landmark nuclear agreement signed between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015.

"Iran  unlike the US  has complied in good faith with the letter and spirit of the JCPOA (nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action)," Zarif tweeted, adding that the US rhetoric and actions, however, show its "bad faith."

Since his inauguration on January 20, US President Donald Trump has adopted a hostile policy towards Iran.

He has repeatedly vowed to cancel the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, including the US, and his administration has imposed new sanctions on multiple Iranian individuals and entities.

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Iran complying with JCPOA letter, spirit in good faith: Zarif

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 5:0PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the Islamic Republic has completely kept to the commitments it made under the landmark nuclear agreement signed between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015.

"Iran  unlike the US  has complied in good faith with the letter and spirit of the JCPOA (nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action)," Zarif said on his official Twitter account on Friday.

He added that the US rhetoric and actions, however, show its "bad faith."

He noted that "every word" of the deal has been carefully negotiated, adding, "Iran does not develop missiles that are designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons."

The top Iranian diplomat emphasized that Iran has never been and would not be developing nuclear weapons, saying, "So, by definition cannot develop anything designed to be capable of delivering them."

Iran's Imam Khomeini Space Center on Thursday successfully launched its domestically-manufactured Simorgh carrier, whose mission is to put Iranian satellites into the orbit.

Simorgh satellite carrier is able to put satellites weighing as much as 250 kilograms at an orbit about 500 kilometers above the Earth's surface.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert claimed on Thursday that the rocket launch violated United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231.

She called Iran's rocket launch a "provocative action" that violated the "spirit" of the JCPOA.

Iran has repeatedly announced that its missile launches are not against the Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the JCPOA.

Under the agreement, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related bans imposed against Tehran.

Resolution 2231 (2015) provides for the termination of the provisions of previous Security Council resolutions on the Iranian nuclear program, and calls on Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.

Space launch in conformity with JCPOA: Qassemi

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi also on Friday condemned the US State Department's "meddlesome" remarks as an example of Washington's opposition to the scientific and technological progress of independent countries.

He added that it was an "absolute right" of the Islamic Republic to launch the satellite-carrying rocket into space, saying the move was in full conformity with the country's international commitments.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers no boundaries to its scientific and technological progress and does not wait for the permission and approval of any country for the endeavors and activities of its scientists and experts in various fields," Qassemi pointed out.

He once again criticized the measures and ratifications of the US Congress and administration against Iran, particularly since the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January, and said as repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Tehran has lived up to its commitments under the JCPOA.

It is the US administration that must stop the continuation of its hostile approaches to Iran and its unilateral policies in violation of the JCPOA, the Iranian spokesperson added.

He said US officials' claims about Iran's breach of the nuclear deal were in keeping with the White House's "baseless and illogical" efforts to justify its spiteful policies and measures against Tehran.

"Instead of seeking pretexts and leveling unfounded accusations against Iran, the US statesmen had better stop repeating measures which are against international regulations," Qassemi said.

He also urged the US officials to prevent unlimited arms sale and deadly weaponry for wars "which have targeted security, stability and peace in the region."

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Iran to Never Allow US Inspection of Military Sites

Sputnik News

21:48 28.07.2017(updated 21:57 28.07.2017)

Iran will never let the United States inspect its military headquarters or missile sites, local media reported on Friday citing Qasem Jasemi, a member of the Parliament (Majlis) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

MOSCOW, (Sputnik)  On Thursday, media reported that US President Donald Trump was calling for inspections of Iran's military sites. The objective of these check is reportedly either to prove that Iran was violating the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or to force Tehran to ban the inspections, which would lead to the nuclear deal's collapse.

According to Jasemi, as cited by the IRNA news agency, such inspections would be a red line and would have no justification, as Iran has repeatedly stressed it had no plans to gain access to nuclear weapons.

Trump was looking for a reason to violate the deal, Jasemi explained, stressing that according to a bill approved by the Iranian parliament, Western countries were not allowed to inspect Iranian military sites and headquarters.

"Monitoring the implementation of the JCPOA is not more than an excuse for the US president and Trump has proposed the idea of visiting Iran military centers while the country has for many occasions breached the spirit of the international deal," Jasemi said.

In July 2015, the P5+1 countries, namely China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany, as well as the European Union and Iran, agreed on a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which lifts nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran in exchange for assurances that Tehran's nuclear program will remain peaceful.

Both during his election campaign and after becoming president, Trump repeatedly promised to review the 2015 nuclear deal, condemning the administration of former US President Barack Obama for signing the agreement in the first place.

 Sputnik

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Japan Defense Minister Resigns Amid Sudan Peacekeeping Mission Scandal

Sputnik News

05:13 28.07.2017(updated 06:01 28.07.2017)

Tomomi Inada said she had tendered her resignation after South Sudan peacekeeping mission scandal.

TOKYO (Sputnik)  Japan's Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said Friday she had tendered her resignation after a scandal broke out over a cover-up of reports on the Japanese peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

Inada said an investigation into the hush-up of mission logs found that the Defense Ministry had acted in violation of legal provisions regarding transparency.

"I bear responsibility as the minister of defense and I have decided to stand down. I tendered my resignation to Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today. It was accepted," she said at a press conference.

Inada denied having any knowledge of the documents or ordering their cover-up. Prime Minister Abe apologized for her resignation. He said Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida would be filling in on her job.

The concealed logs reportedly described the activities of the Japan Self-Defense Forces as part of the UN peacekeeping mission to South Sudan in July 2016 when the situation there worsened.

Their disclosure could have affected Tokyo's decision to continue the mission and give the forces an even bigger and riskier role in the operations. The data was allegedly deleted, and the troops were authorized to use weapons under the latest reinterpretation of the Japanese Constitution. They withdrew from the African country in May 2017.

Inada has come under a barrage of criticism by media and opposition parties in the past months. In late June, opposition parties demanded her resignation over her appeal on behalf of the Defense Ministry and Self-Defense Forces to vote for a candidate of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party at the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.

 Sputnik

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UN Security Council urges all Libyans to support calls for national reconciliation

27 July 2017  The United Nations Security Council today welcomed the Joint Declaration issued after a meeting between two Libyan political figures and urged all Libyans to support its calls for a negotiated political solution, national reconciliation, and an immediate ceasefire.

The Joint Declaration was issued after a meeting on 25 July between Fayez Al Sarraj, President of the Presidency Council of Libya, and General Khalifa Haftar, Commander of the LNA, hosted in Paris by President Emmanuel Macron.

In its statement, the 15-member Council praised "recent efforts to strengthen an inclusive political dialogue among all Libyans, supported by Libya's neighbours, international partners and regional organizations."

The efforts are done within the framework of the Libyan Political Agreement endorsed by UN Security Council resolution 2259 (2015), which endorsed the Rome Communique to support the Government of National Accord as the sole legitimate Government of Libya.

The statement also stressed the "importance of the United Nations' central role in facilitating Libyan-led political dialogue," and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's "personal involvement" in helping to build stability, security, and national unity in the country.

The Council also welcomed the appointment of Ghassan Salame as the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General, succeeding Martin Kobler.

Mr. Salame will head the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), which was established in 2011 by the UN Security Council at the request of the Libyan authorities following six months of armed conflict to support the country's new transitional authorities in their post-conflict efforts.

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Libyan Dialogue and Joint Declaration

Press Statement

Heather Nauert

Department Spokesperson

Washington, DC

July 28, 2017

The United States remains committed to working with Libya and our international partners to help resolve the political conflict and advance peace and long-term stability in Libya.

While the Libyan people must lead the process of achieving political reconciliation in their country, the international community plays an important role in supporting those efforts.

In this regard, we welcome the Joint Declaration from the July 25, meeting between Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and General Khalifa Haftar, hosted outside of Paris by French President Emmanuel Macron. We call on all Libyans to support political dialogue and adhere to a cease-fire, as stated in the Joint Declaration.

The United States also welcomes new UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Ghassan Salame as the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, UNSMIL, which plays a critical role in advancing lasting peace and stability. We look forward to working with him to help Libyans reach a political solution.

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Pakistan's Sharif resigns after disqualification by Supreme Court

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 7:12AM

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan has resigned following a Supreme Court ruling that disqualified him from office over corruption charges.

Sharif's office said on Friday that he was resigning shortly after the Supreme Court issued a verdict disqualifying him earlier in the day

"He is disqualified as a member of the parliament so he has ceased to be holding the office of Prime Minister," Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan told a packed courtroom.

Sharif's ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Party, which has a majority in parliament, is expected to name a new prime minister to hold office until elections due next year.

The court also dismissed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, one of Sharif's closest allies.

It was the second time in Pakistan's 70-year history that the Supreme Court has disqualified a sitting prime minister.

Sharif had been ousted as leader before completing his term twice before. In 1993, he was sacked by the then-president over graft allegations, while in 1999 he was ousted in a military coup.

The court also asked the national anti-corruption bureau to launch a further probe into the allegations against Sharif.

The Pakistani prime minister and his family had faced allegation of financial corruption, and Ejaz Afzal Khan, who heads the Supreme Court panel in the case, had declared the end of the hearings last week.

The Supreme Court had ordered an investigation team in April to review evidence and a disqualification verdict was expected.

The allegations stemmed from revelation in the so-called Panama Papers that purported the Sharif family had been involved in offshore money laundering.

A Supreme Court-appointed investigatory panel had said previously that the family wealth was way beyond their means. It had further accused Sharif's children, including presumed heir Maryam, of signing forged documents to hide ownership of posh London flats.

Sharif had denied any wrongdoing and slammed an earlier 254-page report by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) as biased and slanderous.

The ruling will be welcomed by the opposition, which had long argued for Prime Minister Sharif's disqualification over the corruption allegations.

Opposition leader Imran Khan had previously said Sharif had to be imprisoned.

"The prime minister's final destination is Adiala jail. Now I am not demanding his resignation, but imprisonment," Imran Khan said earlier.

The allegations

The Sharif family's finances came under the spotlight last year after the so-called Panama Papers revealed the offshore dealings of many of the world's rich and powerful people.

The names of three of Sharif's four children, daughter Maryam and sons Hasan and Hussein, were there.

In April, Pakistan's Supreme Court announced it had not received enough proof to disqualify Sharif from office and ordered an investigatory panel to gather and review the evidence.

The investigators earlier this month concluded that there had been "significant disparity" between the Sharif family's declared wealth and their known sources of income.

The damning report was submitted to the Supreme Court.

The Sharif family has consistently denied the allegations against them and rejected the JIT report, dismissed by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Party as "trash."

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Pakistan's Sharif Resigns After Supreme Court Orders His Removal

RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal July 28, 2017

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on July 28, ordering his removal from office in connection with corruption charges stemming from the Panama Papers leak in 2016.

Sharif resigned shortly after the court order was issued amid tight security in the capital, Islamabad.

The ruling ordering Sharif out immediately came after an investigative panel alleged that Sharif's family could not account for what it said was vast wealth in offshore companies.

"He is no longer eligible to be an honest member of the parliament, and he ceases to be holding the office of prime minister," Ejaz Afzal Khan, one of the judges, said in court.

In a brief statement, Sharif's office said Sharif "relinquished his charge" as prime minister after learning of the Supreme Court's decision.

The statement suggested that the decision was unjust and said Sharif had "serious reservations about the judicial process," but that he stepped down to show his respect for the judiciary and rule of law.

Crowds were assembled outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad, where more than 3,000 security personnel were deployed ahead of the ruling.

Opponents of Sharif celebrated the decision.

"Pakistan's courts have made a prime minister accountable," opposition Tehrik-e Insaf party member Fawad Chaudhry said, adding: "Today is a day of victory for Pakistan."

Pakistani media reported that a criminal investigation would also be launched against Sharif, who was serving as prime minister for the third time, and his family.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the case while calling the inquiry into his family's finances a conspiracy.

"This is not accountability, it is revenge," Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq tweeted before the verdict. "In an effort to dislodge us, the democratic system has been made a target."

The Supreme Court also ordered a criminal investigation into the assets of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, an ally of Sharif who has been credited with helping Pakistan's economy reach its fastest pace of growth in a decade.

Sharif's ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, which has a majority in parliament, is expected to name a new prime minister to hold office until elections due next year.

Sharif, 67, is among the major political casualties of the Panama Papers leaks that brought offshore finance under the spotlight.

Documents from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm that were made public in April 2016 revealed that three of Sharif's four children owned offshore companies and assets not shown on his family's wealth statement.

Sharif's son Hussain Nawaz at the time acknowledged owning offshore companies but insisted they used legal money to set up businesses abroad.

In 2016, Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped down amid public outrage that his family had sheltered money offshore.

One of Sharif's two previous stints as prime minister was cut short by a military coup in 1999.

He returned from exile to win a convincing victory in parliamentary elections in 2013.

No prime minister has completed a full term in power in Pakistan since the country gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

It is not immediately clear who will succeed Sharif.

His brother Shehbaz, who is chief minister of Punjab Province, is a possible contender for the job.

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the speaker of the national assembly; Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the minister of petroleum; Khurram Dastgir Khan, the commerce minister; and Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif have also been named as possible contenders.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-sharif-supreme- court-removal-from-office/28644541.html

Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Pakistan Defiant as US Ponders South Asia Strategy

By Natalie Liu July 28, 2017

Days after the Pentagon announced it is withholding $50 million intended for Pakistan as part of its Coalition Support Fund, the South Asian country's ambassador hinted at potential retaliation, possibly coaxing Washington to renegotiate access to the country's air corridors, which Islamabad suggests have been taken for granted.

Pakistan is ready to cooperate with the United States, Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said, though Washington may now end up having to negotiate with Islamabad on the corridors and other tangible assets, he added.

"All that Pakistan has done in the fight against terrorism has not been sufficiently factored" into the U.S. decision to reduce its support funds, Chaudhry lamented during a discussion this week at the Washington office of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Air rights up for negotiation?

Pakistan has facilitated air and ground logistical support for U.S. troops in Afghanistan "like no one else," Chaudhry said, adding that "since 2001, all air corridors from Pakistan have been available to the United States free of cost."

The reason Pakistan did so "was because we believed this was a common war," the ambassador said, but there have been occasions when U.S. actions have left his country's leaders thinking "that perhaps we are not partners."

Questions concerning Pakistan's commitment to bilateral partnership have also been raised by the U.S. A prime example was the discovery in 2011 that al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden had been living undisturbed near a key Pakistani military facility.

The Pakistani envoy's remarks came at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has been reviewing its overall strategy toward South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. And his relatively defiant tone may reflect Pakistan's decreasing dependence on the United States amid an influx of Chinese capital investments and a strengthening political relationship between Islamabad and Beijing.

US-Pakistan vs. China-Pakistan

Washington's decision on the funding issue dismayed leaders in Islamabad, Chaudhry said. "These and all other issues are always negotiated, because that's in the nature of the business" between allies, he said. By contrast, he pointed to Pakistan's "unique" relationship with China, the top strategic rival to the U.S. in Asia.

Islamabad sees Beijing as its closest ally, he added, and the two countries find themselves completely attuned. There is "so much of a meeting of minds," he noted  with no "policy differences at all" dividing them.

Chaudhry told VOA "the clearest example and manifestation" of Sino-Pakistan ties has come in the form of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, stretching 3,000 kilometers from Kashgar in western China's Xinjiang region to the port city of Gwadar, at the southwestern end of Pakistan on the edge of the Arabian Sea.

Pakistan's strategic value to China

Due to the strategic importance China attaches to Gwadar and its financial resources, Beijing agreed to build the port for free. China has publicly justified its investment in Gwadar as an alternate route for oil and other commodities headed for the Chinese mainland, but the port's potential for military uses has even more significance for strategic thinkers.

Earlier this year, Pakistan announced it has leased operation rights for Gwadar to a Chinese company for 40 years.

Details of the lease are not fully public. Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), said the formal terms are understood to be purely economic in nature. However, "that doesn't preclude its being developed for military purposes further down the line, and both sides certainly have that in mind," he added.

Small is author of The China-Pakistan Axis: Asia's New Geopolitics.

Pakistan's role in China's goals

What appears to be China's determination to make the Sino-Pakistan partnership a success story, analysts say, may have to do with Beijing's global ambitions.

"As its need grows for friends who can facilitate the extension of its reach as a global military power," China is now trying to turn its relationship with Pakistan into a model for other potential security partnerships, Small said.

The question before the United States as it debates its future approach toward Pakistan, in the context of its overall South Asian strategy review, Small said, "is still whether a coherent long-term framework for the relationship can be established, rather than continuing to be dependent on cycles of near-term goals."

"For various reasons, Pakistan still values a good relationship with Washington," the analyst said. Among reasons may be what Islamabad perceives as a measure of international prestige gained from its association with Washington.

Rising above the past

The challenge for Pakistan today, analysts said, is whether the country can seize its current opportunities and rise above a past laden with border disputes and domestic instability, so it potentially can be seen as "an emerging market, even a future rising power," in Small's words.

"Over time, Pakistan would be better off charting its own course toward better relations with its neighbors, and lessening its dependence on both the United States and China," said Ambassador Robin Raphel, a former assistant secretary of state for South Asia.

For now, however, Pakistan's Ambassador Chaudhry told VOA: "Both the United States and China have a global role to play, and Pakistan is a friend of both."

In his view, the ultimate consideration for Pakistan's cooperation with China on Gwadar and CPEC, their economic corridor, comes down to the question of "economic empowerment of the people living in Balochistan and the rest of Pakistan." The southwestern province of Balochistan, which the economic corridor traverses, also is known as a center of Taliban activity in Pakistan.

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U.S. Senate Sends Russia Sanctions Bill To White House In Rebuff To Trump

RFE/RL July 27, 2017

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate on July 27 nearly unanimously approved tough sanctions on Russia and sent the legislation to the White House, presenting President Donald Trump with a dilemma as he seeks to improve relations with Moscow.

The bill approved by 98-2 cements into law existing sanctions on Russia over its alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election and aggression in Ukraine and adds new measures penalizing Russia's military intervention in Syria while requiring Trump to secure Congress's approval to ease or waive those sanctions.

While the White House has said it welcomes the tough sanctions against Russia as well as Iran and North Korea included in the bill, it has objected to tying the president's hands as he seeks to make good on campaign promises to cooperate with Russia in areas like defeating the Islamic State extremist group.

The White House said late on July 27 that Trump still has made no decision whether to sign or veto the bill. The strong bipartisan support for the bill in Congress, where it passed the House of Representatives by 419-3, means any veto almost certainly would be overridden.

The bill's rebuff to Trump's priorities on Russia comes as investigations into Russian's alleged efforts to help him get elected heat up in Congress and at the Justice Department.

Most immediately, if signed into law the measure would prevent Trump from returning diplomatic property seized by his predecessor Barack Obama last December in retaliation for what U.S. intelligence agencies said was Russia's bid to undermine the U.S. democratic process.

Russia, which has repeatedly denied interfering in the campaign, has sought the return of the property in high-level talks with the U.S. State Department this year and has promised retaliation if it is not returned.

On July 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Congress's action increases already high tensions between Washington and Moscow and is "sad." He promised a response in kind.

"It's impossible to endlessly tolerate this boorishness toward our country," Putin told reporters as he visited Finland.

"This goes beyond all reasonable bounds," Putin said. "And now these sanctions -- they are also absolutely unlawful from the point of view of international law."

"It's very sad that U.S.-Russian relations are being sacrificed to resolve internal policy issues in the U.S.," he said.

"It's a pity, because acting together we could be solving jointly the most acute problems that worry the peoples of Russia and the United States much more efficiently," he added.

But members of Congress said the legislation was necessary in light of evidence of Russian meddling that has come to light.

"The United States of America needs to send a strong message to Vladimir Putin and any other aggressor that we will not tolerate attacks on our democracy," said Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain (Republican-Arizona).

Leaders from Trump's own Republican party urged him to sign the bill.

"I cannot imagine anybody is seriously thinking about vetoing this bill," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (Republican-Tennessee).

"It's not good for any president -- and most governors don't like to veto things that are going to be overridden. It shows a diminishment of their authority. I just don't think that's a good way to start off as president," Corker said.

The lengthy bill targets Putin and oligarchs close to him with sanctions over Russian corruption and human rights abuses. Also hit hard are critical sectors of the Russian economy, including weapons sales and energy exports.

The bill was revised to address concerns voiced by U.S. oil companies that sanctions on Russia's energy sector could backfire and hit them as well, to Moscow's benefit. The bill raised the threshold for when U.S. firms would be prohibited from being part of energy projects that also include Russian businesses.

Lawmakers said they also made adjustments so the sanctions on Russia's energy sector don't undercut the ability of U.S. allies in Europe to get access to oil and gas resources outside of Russia.

European leaders have indicated these changes may not be enough to allay their opposition to the bill.

The North Korea sanctions are intended to thwart Pyongyang's ambition for nuclear weapons by cutting off access to the cash it needs for development.

The bill prohibits ships owned by North Korea or by countries that refuse to comply with UN resolutions against it from operating in American waters or docking at U.S. ports. Goods produced by North Korea's forced labor would be prohibited from entering the United States under the bill.

The sanctions package imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Iran's ballistic-missile program and anyone who does business with them. The measure would apply terrorism sanctions to the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

With reporting by AP, New York Times, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-senate- clears-russian-sanctions-bill-sends- white-house/28643753.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia tells US to cut number of diplomats in retaliation

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 10:0AM

Russia has told the United States to cut the number of its diplomats in the country and stop using embassy storage facilities in the capital, Moscow, following the approval by the US Congress of a sanctions bill against Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the US had to reduce the number of its diplomats on Russian soil to 455  matching the number of Russian diplomats in America  by September 1.

"The Russian side is suspending the use of all storage facilities on Dorozhnaya Street in Moscow, and a cottage in Serebryaniy Bor by the US Embassy in Russia as of August 1," the ministry further said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had approved the move, according to his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

An American election and a diplomatic war with Russia

The former US administration, headed by Democratic Barack Obama, had expelled 35 Russian diplomats over "spying" and seized two diplomatic premises used by Russia late last year amid allegations that Moscow interfered in the US presidential election in November 2016, in which Republican Donald Trump won the presidency.

Russia complained about the move but had withheld retaliation until now, hoping that relations would improve with the US under its new president  Trump.

But while Trump himself has been perceived as open toward warmer relations with Russia, the US Congress took action to punish Moscow for the alleged interference in the 2016 election.

There have been claims that Russia attempted to sway the election in favor of Trump by hacking computers belonging to his rival's campaign and dumping potentially compromising information online.

Russia has consistently denied the accusations of meddling, and had in the meantime been warning that the US had to return the diplomatic premises. Moscow recently engaged in negotiation with the US to have the premises returned but to no avail. On July 14, Russia said it was running out of patience as a stalemate lingered over the issue.

Handcuffing Trump at the Congress

But the US Congress' approval of new anti-Russia sanctions on Thursday seemed to be the boiling point for Moscow.

The sanctions bill was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate on Thursday. It had been approved also overwhelmingly by the US House of Representatives earlier on Tuesday.

President Trump will now have to decide whether to sign it into law or veto it.

The bill puts Trump in a bind over the potential lifting of any sanctions on Russia  a traditionally presidential decision  by stipulating that the Congress would have to approve any such lifting before it can take place.

An independent investigation is meanwhile underway in the US to probe potential links between Trump and Russia.

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Putin signs deal allowing air forces to stay in Syria for 49 years

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 6:20AM

Russia's president signs a law enabling the country's air forces to remain in Syria for 49 years as part of a protocol to a 2015 agreement with the Damascus government.

The protocol was signed by Moscow and Damascus in January 2017, regulating issues related to the Air Forces' deployment to the Syrian territory.

It was adopted by the Russian State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, on July 14, and approved by the Senate five days later.

Vladimir Putin signed it on Thursday, RT cited a Kremlin statement as saying.

Enshrined in the protocol is an option enabling automatic extension of the arrangement for another 25 years.

The protocol also features Damascus' agreement to provide the Russian air force with free land in its northwestern Latakia Province.

Russia has been using the Khmeimim Air Base there to carry out anti-terror operations since September 2015.

The Russian military has also been offering advisory support to Syria, helping the Arab nation make numerous gains in its battles on terrorists.

In March 2016, Moscow withdrew many of its forces from Syria, with Putin saying the goals of the anti-terrorist mission there had been "generally accomplished."

Russia, however, said it would keep a military presence at the port of Tartus and at the Khmeimim airbase to monitor the situation and the implementation of truce deals.

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Russia Orders U.S. To Cut Diplomatic Staff In Response To Sanctions Bill

RFE/RL July 28, 2017

Russia has told the United States to reduce the size of its diplomatic staff in the country and said it will seize a U.S. Embassy dacha and storage warehouses in Moscow, hitting back after the U.S. Congress passed a bill that would strengthen sanctions against Moscow.

In an angrily worded statement on July 28, the Russian Foreign Ministry outlined retaliatory steps a day after the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved the new sanctions legislation and sent it to President Donald Trump for his signature.

The Russian response adds to severe strains in the relationship between Washington and Moscow, which has been badly damaged by Russia's aggression in Ukraine, its role in the war in Syria, and its alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election in 2016.

"The passage of the new law on sanctions shows with all obviousness that relations with Russia have become hostage to the domestic political battle within the United States," the Foreign Ministry said, adding that "the latest events show that in well-known circles in the United States, Russophobia and a course toward open confrontation with our country have taken hold."

The statement said that the United States must reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people by September 1, saying that is the number of diplomats and other personnel at embassies and consulates in the United States after former President Barack Obama's administration expelled 35 Russian diplomats in December -- a response to alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. vote and ill-treatment of U.S. diplomats in Russia.

The current number of U.S. personnel in Russia was not immediately clear. Russian news agency Interfax cited a source it did not identify as saying the United States would have to cut "hundreds of diplomatic and technical staff," while state-run RIA cited a source it did not identify as saying the number was 200-300.

The Russian statement also said that as of August 1, the United States would be barred from using warehouses that it has used in Moscow and from a modest property in the capital's leafy Serebryanny Bor district that is used by the U.S. Embassy mainly for events such as parties and barbecues.

It warned that Russia "reserves the right" to respond in kind if the United States expels any more Russian diplomats.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Maria Olson, told RFE/RL that the embassy had received the notification and that Ambassador John Tefft "expressed his strong disappointment and protest."

"We passed it to Washington to review," Olson said.

Russian media reported that Tefft was summoned to the Foreign Ministry.

If Trump signs the sanctions bill into law, he would be unable -- without approval from Congress -- to restore Russian access to two diplomatic compounds, one in Maryland and one in New York State, that the Obama administration seized when it expelled the 35 diplomats in December.

At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised many people in both countries by declining to retaliate -- a gesture to Trump, who was due to take office in weeks and repeatedly indicated during the presidential campaign he would seek to improve ties with Moscow.

But relations remained tense after Trump's January 20 inauguration, amid multiple investigations into what the U.S. intelligence community says was an "influence campaign" ordered by Putin in an attempt to undermine faith in U.S. democracy and denigrate Trump's Democratic rival on the November 8 ballot, Hillary Clinton. The Justice Department and lawmakers are also examining whether there was any collusion between Russia and associates of Trump.

Before the July 28 announcement, Russian officials had stepped up their calls for the unconditional restoration of access to the diplomatic compounds in recent weeks, saying Moscow's patience was running out.

The Foreign Ministry statement called the measures Obama took in December a "violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and generally accepted diplomatic practices."

It said that the sanctions legislation confirmed what it called the "extreme aggressiveness" of the United States in international affairs, asserting that the United States is "persistently taking coarse anti-Russia actions" on the basis of "absolutely contrived allegations of Russian meddling into its internal affairs."

The Foreign Ministry statement came a day after Putin, speaking before the U.S. Senate passed the sanctions bill but after the House of Representatives endorsed it, said that the sanctions would be "absolutely unlawful" and that Russia would eventually retaliate for what he called U.S. "insolence toward our country."

U.S. lawmakers said the legislation was necessary in light of Russia's actions, including evidence of meddling in the election.

"The United States of America needs to send a strong message to Vladimir Putin and any other aggressor that we will not tolerate attacks on our democracy," Senator John McCain, an influential Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Service Committee, said on July 27.

The White House said late on July 27 that Trump had not decided whether to sign the bill, which would also impose new sanctions on Iran and North Korea, or veto it. Strong bipartisan support in Congress means a veto almost certainly would be overridden.

In addition to hitting Russia with new sanctions, it would prevent Trump from easing or lifting most of the sanctions on Moscow without approval from Congress.

With reporting by Christopher Miller in Moscow, AP, The New York Times, Reuters, and Bloomberg

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-orders- united-states-cut-diplomatic-staff- sanctions-bill/28644815.html

Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Russian Reaction to Follow if US Adopts Sanctions Bill

Sputnik News

22:37 28.07.2017(updated 22:42 28.07.2017)

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that if the United States tries to adopt any additional unilateral measures against Russia as part of its "anti-Russian frenzy," Moscow's reaction will follow.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  If the United States tries to adopt any additional unilateral measures against Russia as part of its "anti-Russian frenzy," Moscow's reaction will follow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Wednesday.

"If the United States tries to adopt something else to hurt us as part of its anti-Russian frenzy, which characterizes many politicians and responsible persons there, a mirror reaction will follow," Ryabkov said while aired by Rossiya 1.

According to Ryabkov, this is a "negative spiral."

"We call on the US side to refrain from such destructive actions," the deputy foreign minister said, adding that this issue was discussed during his meeting with US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft earlier in the day.

On Friday the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russia was suspending on August 1 the use of all warehouses in Moscow and a compound in the Serebryany Bor park by the US embassy. The ministry also called on the United States to cut down the number of its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people.

The move came after the US Senate's approval of a bill imposing sweeping sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea and limiting US President Donald Trump's ability to lift the restrictions on Moscow.

 Sputnik

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US Police Say No Evidence to Suggest Ex-Russian Minister Lesin Was Murdered

Sputnik News

22:22 28.07.2017

Washington, DC police have no evidence to suggest former Russian Press Minister Mikhail Lesin was murdered, police spokesperson Rachel Reid told Sputnik on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  BuzzFeed reported earlier in the day that Lesin's death was not accidental, contrary to the ruling of the US Attorney's Office announced in October. The publication cited three FBI agents and a US intelligence officer who were not directly involved in the probe, but received the information from their colleagues.

"After following up with our homicide team, we have no evidence to suggest this death involved foul play," Reid said. "However, we will certainly reinvestigate should additional evidence be brought to light."

She added that police do not have any additional evidence to release at this time.

An FBI agent told BuzzFeed Lesin was beaten to death. The report added citing unnamed agents that the former minister died on the eve of a scheduled meeting with US Justice Department officials. One of the FBI agents, who was not involved in the probe, claimed that "everyone" thinks Russia was behind the incident, without specifying the basis for the claim.

The FBI declined to comment on the allegations made in the media report.

"We refer you to the Metropolitan Police Department which handled the investigation," an FBI spokesperson told Sputnik.

After gathering evidence and reviewing video footage from the hotel, the official investigation determined that Lesin died after sustaining blunt force injuries to his head, along with blunt force injuries to his neck, torso, upper and lower extremities, which contributed to his condition. The attorney's office specified that all the injuries were "induced by falls."

 Sputnik

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Russian Pacific Fleet to Get First 2 Varshavyanka-Class Subs in 2019  MoD

Sputnik News

20:49 28.07.2017

The Russian Pacific Fleet will get first two Varshavyanka-class diesel-electric submarines (Project 636.3, NATO reporting name Improved Kilo) in 2019, Deputy Defense Minister Yuriy Borisov said on Friday.

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik)  Two Varshavyanka-class submarines Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Volkhov were laid down on Friday at the Admiralteiskie Verfi (Admiralty Shipyards) plant in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.

"The [production] cycle of a submarine is decreasing, becomes less than three years. That is why we will look forward to the new submarines and we will run up a flag of the Russian Navy when in 2019 you hand over first two submarines to us," Borisov said.

He said that the new submarines would protect the eastern borders of Russia.

The Varshavyanka-class (Project 636.3) is an improved version of Kilo-class submarines that features elements of advanced stealth technology, extended combat range and the ability to strike land, surface and underwater targets. A total of six such submarines have already been constructed for the country's Black Sea Fleet. The Pacific Fleet will get the same number of such submarines.

 Sputnik

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Russia Orders US to Reduce Diplomatic Staff

By VOA News July 28, 2017

Russia's foreign ministry said Friday it is imposing counter measures on the U.S. in response to new sanctions approved Thursday by Congress. The ministry said the sanctions confirm the "extreme aggression of U.S. in international affairs."

"We propose to the U.S. side," the ministry said in a statement posted to its website, "to bring the number of diplomatic and technical staff working in the U.S. embassy in Moscow and the consulates general . . . in exact accordance with the number of Russian diplomats and technical staff in the U.S."

Russia said the reduction in force would bring the number of U.S. diplomats and staff to 455, and would need to be completed by the end of August.

In addition to the reduction in U.S. diplomatic personnel, Russia also said it would block the U.S. embassy in Russia from accessing its warehouses in Moscow and a vacation compound in Serebryany Bor.

"We also reserve the right to take other measures according to the principle of reciprocity, which may affect the interests of the United States," the ministry said.

A State Department official said on background Friday, "We have received the Russian government notification. Ambassador (John F.) Tefft expressed his strong disappointment and protest."

Russian diplomats expelled in 2016

The Russian response comes a day after President Vladimir Putin warned that a Russian response was imminent, but suggested he would wait until seeing the final language of the sanctions bill before taking retaliatory measures.

Yet Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, assured that the Russian leader had personally approved today's Foreign Ministry decision.

"The form in which the sanctions bill emerged from the Senate had greater significance," said Peskov, in describing the Russian leader's thinking.

The Russian retaliation was celebrated in Moscow as a long overdue response to actions from the previous U.S. administration.

Back in December of 2016, former President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats and seized Russian embassy compounds in Maryland and New York as punishment for alleged Russian meddling in the US presidential elections.

Putin waited to make move

At the time, Russian President Putin chose not to respond a move many saw as a gesture of goodwill to the incoming Trump White House, which had expressed a desire for improved relations with Moscow.

Yet today's move reflected growing Russian frustration that the Trump White House besieged by multiple investigations into its ties to Russia during the campaign had not delivered on its campaign promises.

"We did everything in our power to save relations from disaster, but the Americans did just the opposite," wrote Russian politician Konstantin Kosachev in a post to Facebook. Kosachev went on to call today's retaliation "long overdue."

Sergey Markov, a political analyst close to the Kremlin, also cheered the Kremlin's decision as inevitable, writing on Facebook that "hope that the President of the United States could change relations with Russia for the better are over."

U.S. lawmakers approved a bill Thursday imposing new sanctions on not only Russia, but also Iran and North Korea.

Senators overwhelmingly approved the bill with a vote of 98-2, a day after the House and Senate agreed on the terms.

Deal announced late Wednesday

Republican Sen. Bob Corker announced the deal in a statement late Wednesday, saying it came after discussions with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

The House had already passed the bill with a vote of 419-3.

Corker had earlier objected to including the North Korean sanctions, initially favoring to address that issue in a separate bill. But he dropped those objections and said the House of Representatives would work on enhancing the North Korea language. Lawmakers pushed for more Russia sanctions in response to Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Putin denies the charges and objects to the passage of new sanctions against his country.

The bill is designed to affect a wide range of Russian industries, hitting the country squarely in the pocketbook.

Presidential objections

Trump objects to the sanctions, but the bill has enough support in both houses to override a presidential veto. He particularly objects to a passage barring presidential interference aimed at easing the sanctions. The White House has been lobbying for weeks for a bill with a lighter impact.

The European Union has also expressed concern about the new sanctions, saying they could have an impact on the European energy sector.

During weeks of negotiations, the Trump administration pushed back at what it saw as attempt to limit the executive branch's ability to unilaterally ease sanctions, making the case that it limits U.S. leverage in attempts to impact Russian behavior and build a better relationship with Putin. The White House has now expressed support.

"The president very much supports sanctions on those countries and wants to make sure that those remain. But at the same time, (he) wants to make sure that we get good deals. Those two things are both very important for the president," White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Monday.

Daniel Fried, an Obama-era official who coordinated the administration's sanctions policy, told VOA he didn't think the move by Congress to block Trump from altering sanctions would affect a bilateral settlement, but rather was meant to stop Trump from lifting the sanctions "for no good reason."

"I think if there were a settlement and if this were generally acceptable to all the parties, including Ukraine, I think that Congress would not stand in the way of the administration lifting the Ukraine-related sanctions," he said.

According to state-run Russian media, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned Wednesday the new sanctions will scuttle any chance of improved relations between Moscow and Washington. He also stated that Russia had previously warned the Trump administration it would mount a response if U.S. lawmakers passed the bill.

Praise for team effort

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are already praising the group effort to pass the bill quickly. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said in a statement: "I am pleased the Senate has acted overwhelmingly to give the administration much-needed economic and political leverage to address threats from Iran, Russia, and North Korea. This bipartisan bill is about keeping America safe, and I urge the president to sign it into law."

Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Senate Banking Committee said, "This bill passed with overwhelming majorities in both the Senate and the House, sending a strong message to Vladimir Putin that attacks on our democracy will not be tolerated. President Trump should sign this bill as soon as it hits his desk. Otherwise, he risks encouraging Russia's interference in future elections."

VOA's Michael Bowman and Katherine Gypson contributed to this report.

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US Cuts Ties With Local Syrian Group Trained to Fight IS

By Carla Babb July 27, 2017

The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State is cutting ties with a local Syrian partner force who "engaged in activities not focused on fighting ISIS," a coalition spokesman said Thursday.

Army Colonel Ryan Dillon told reporters that American forces were "in the process of ceasing our support and receiving the equipment" provided to the group Shohada al-Qartyan (ShQ) to fight Islamic State militants in southern Syria.

"We have made it very clear time and again that our goal in Syria and in Iraq is to fight ISIS and to fight ISIS only," Dillon said, using the common acronym for Islamic State. "Our partner forces, we've asked them to be committed to that same mission."

Two U.S. officials confirmed to VOA that the group targeted pro-Syrian regime forces located outside southern Syria's so-called deconfliction zone, which for months has been established as the area within a 55-kilometer radius of the al-Tanf garrison, where coalition forces are training counter-IS fighters.

One official confirmed that this was not the first time Shohada al-Qartyan had carried out these types of attacks.

"They wanted to go back on their oath to fight only Islamic State," another official told VOA.

Still talking

Other local allies remain at the garrison and continue to cooperate with coalition advisers, officials said, with Dillon adding that discussions with ShQ leaders were ongoing.

The Pentagon refers to its local allies in southern Syria as the "Vetted Syrian Opposition" (VSO), and many of these Arab fighters initially organized against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The VSO differs from the Syrian Democratic Forces, a large fighting force of both Kurdish and Arab fighters who are fighting Islamic State in northern Syria.

Some of the VSO forces are indigenous to areas along the middle Euphrates River Valley, a region overrun by IS. Dillon estimated Thursday that 5,000 to 10,000 IS fighters had gathered in that area.

However, Syrian government troops have recently positioned themselves between the al-Tanf garrison and the middle Euphrates River Valley.

"Can we leave on trucks and go straight across to Abu Kamal and Mayadin and Deir ez-Zor without running into the regime? Likely not," Dillon said. "But as far as any future plans on getting them into the fight, we will address that, and we believe that there will be an opportunity to use them in the fight against ISIS in the middle Euphrates River Valley when needed."

The story was first reported by CNN.

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Syrian army advances against Daesh in Raqqah: Report

Iran Press TV

Fri Jul 28, 2017 7:5AM

Syrian government forces and their allies have advanced against Daesh Takfiri terrorists in the countryside east of Raqqah City, a monitoring group says.

On Thursday, the Syrian forces advanced four kilometers (2.5 miles) within the town of Maadan and crossed the provincial boundary between Raqqah Province, the de facto capital of the Daesh terrorist group in Syria, and Dayr al-Zawr Province, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Syrian forces are now getting closer to the territory controlled by US-backed forces fighting against Daesh in Raqqa City, the report said.

On Thursday, the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed group of mostly Kurdish forces, announced that it has wrested control over half of the Syrian city of Raqqah. The SDF launched its assault on Raqqah on June 6.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying Daesh.

The city of Raqqah, which lies on the northern bank of the Euphrates River, was overrun by Daesh terrorists in March 2013, and proclaimed the center for most of the Takfiris' administrative and control tasks the next year.

Over the past few months, Syrian forces have made sweeping gains against Takfiri elements, which have lately increased their acts of violence across the country following a series of defeats on the ground.

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President Tsai lauds military for response to Chinese maneuvers

ROC Central News Agency

2017/07/28 19:46:39

Taipei, July 28 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen () praised the military's efforts to safeguard the country's national security on Friday, days after China sent military aircraft close to Taiwan on what the Chinese described as training missions.

During an appearance at an Air Force base in Tainan, Tsai said the purpose of the visit was to support the 443rd Tactical Fighter Wing, which is stationed at the base, and witness the Air Force's resolve to protect the country.

The military not only carefully monitored China's recent military activities close to Taiwan but also took proper response measures, she said, adding that the 443rd Tactical Fighter Wing played a significant role.

On three different days over the past two weeks, several Xian H-6K bombers from the People's Liberation Army of China flew over the Miyako Strait, passing east of Taiwan.

The Miyako Strait, which lies between the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa, is part of Japan's exclusive economic zone but includes a narrow band of international waters and airspace.

Last week, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense released photographs showing two Chinese H-6K bombers, one of which was being tailed by a Taiwanese IDF jet fighter in Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone.

The IDF is part of the 443rd Tactical Fighter Wing's fleet, Tsai said, adding that each serviceman in Taiwan's military is like members of the 443rd wing, making every effort to ensure national security every day.

It is the military's responsibility to "fight for the survival of the Republic of China and fight for the welfare of the people in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu," to safeguard the country and protect the values of freedom and democracy, Tsai said, expressing gratitude for the military's efforts.

During the visit, Tsai also witnessed a drill by the 443rd wing to perform an emergency takeoff after receiving a deployment order.

She noted that "We are the best" is the 443rd wing's motto and told members of the 443rd wing that, "yes, you are the best."

Meanwhile, asked about the Chinese military movements, Mainland Affairs Council chief Chang Hsiao-yueh () said Friday that any military threats are unhelpful for the development of cross-Taiwan Strait relations.

"What we hope for is peace, not conflict," Chang said, calling for cross-strait cooperation.

(By Lu Hsin-hui, Miu Chung-han and Elaine Hou)

Enditem/ls

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You and Whose Army? UK Forced to Rely on NATO Air Support Due to Budget Cuts

Sputnik News

15:03 28.07.2017

It has been revealed the UK relies on air support from NATO allies to patrol and guard its own territorial waters, as a result of scrapping the country's fleet of Nimrod Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft in 2010, in just the latest demonstration of the country's waning military capabilities.

Official figures show around 40 planes from NATO Member States have been flown in to police UK seas, with the US dispatching aircraft to RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland 20 times, while Canada sent planes on eight occasions. A further five were sent from Germany and France apiece, while Norway lent one.

Some support was used in missions, other for training.

Until 2010, the UK's own Nimrod spy planes would've been used, but in 2010 David Cameron's government axed the US$5.4 billion (4.1 billion) fleet following a defense spending review, in order to save US$2.6 billion (2 billion) over 10 years. Then-Defense Minister Gerard Howarth has since said the move was a "folly" and left the UK "exposed" to threats from other countries.

A Ministry of Defense spokesperson said the number of flights carried out by NATO allies on the RAF's behalf in 2017 was down on 2015, and the operations were part of the UK's commitment to working closely with its NATO allies in the North Atlantic.

The UK may not be without spy plane capabilities of its own for very long. In 2016, it was announced the Royal Air Force would add nine Boeing P-8 Poseidons to its arsenal. The planes have the capacity to deliver GCHQ-style intelligence gathering, with the ability to hack terrorists' communications and track their movements.

While the news will no doubt many shock UK citizens, in truth the UK has ever-increasingly relied on military and intelligence support from other nations since World War II due to budgetary cuts. Most commonly, the US has been relied upon, both generally and in specific circumstances. For prominently, the UK's constantly declining navy (as of July 2017, it possesses its fleet runs to a mere 89 ships) has managed to retain its "blue water" capabilities thanks to US air cover  and its total lack of jet fighter support (its last Harriers were decommissioned in 2010), meant that in 2011, the country was compelled to borrow planes from the US to protect Royal Navy warships fighting in Libya.

In the Falklands War, despite contemporaneous official denials, the US provided satellite and signals intelligence, Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and Stinger hand-held missiles and fueled to the British Task Force and aircraft at the mid-Atlantic staging post of the Ascension Island military base, which is leased to the US by the UK.

Moreover, that the UK's "independent" nuclear deterrent, Trident, is in fact not independent is one of the worst kept secrets in international politics. A 2014 cross-party parliamentary investigation starkly underlined this uncomfortable fact, noting the weapon was a "hostage to American goodwill" (the report said it was "difficult to conceive of any situation in which a Prime Minister would fire Trident without prior US approval") and was retained by the UK largely in order to "maintain the facade" of being a global military power.

It's not merely in military equipment that the UK is lacking. UK army personnel statistics published in July showed the number of fully trained soldiers in its ranks has dropped below a previous "trained strength" target of 82,000 to 78,010  a shortfall of 3,990 fully trained troops, and the lowest total since the 18th century. Critics say the country's military faces a "potentially very, very dangerous crisis" as a result.

Despite these gaping deficits, the UK remains a top 10 defense spender, largely due to its ongoing investment in high tech equipment and associated capabilities. Nonetheless, earlier that month, the Royal United Services Institute published a report that found UK defense tech was vulnerable to low-cost, technology-rich weapons employed by other states.

As a result, RUSI concluded the UK government should commit to research, innovation and adaptive technologies for genuine defense, rather than force projection. In short, the UK must ditch its pretense of being a major military player in the international sphere, and stop pumping money into potentially useless weapons.

 Sputnik

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Ukrainian Marines to Take Part in NATO Noble Partner 2017 Drills in Georgia

Sputnik News

15:51 28.07.2017

Ukrainian marines, along with servicemen from 10 other countries, will participate in NATO multinational military exercise Noble Partner 2017 in Georgia, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry press service said in a statement Friday.

KIEV (Sputnik)  This will be the third Noble Partner military exercise in Georgia. Apart from Georgian and Ukrainian soldiers, servicemen from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Spain, Romania, Slovenia, Armenia and Azerbaijan will be engaged in the drills.

"About 30 Ukrainian marines left for Georgia to participate in multinational exercise Noble Partner  2017. The Ukrainian military will gain skills of joint operations within multinational unit under the NATO standards," the statement said.

The last US-Georgian military exercise Noble Partner 2016 took place at Georgia's Vaziani Air Base near the capital city of Tbilisi on May 11-24, 2016.

A total of 1,300 servicemen, including 600 soldiers from the United States, 500 soldiers from Georgia and 150 from Great Britain, participated. US M1A2 Abrams tanks and M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles were involved in the drills.

 Sputnik

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Job portal Saramin polled 500 jobseekers last week, and 51 percent said they spend more than W200,000 a month to boost their skills and stand out in the job market. Some spend W500,000 to W1 million and a handful more than W1 million.

For many young jobseekers, who have no stable income, that is very expensive.

More than half of young jobseekers spend at least W200,000 a month to pad out their resumes and improve their chances in an increasingly competitive employment market (US$1=W1,122).

The respondents estimated that they have spent an average of W3.56 million to prepare to land a job -- mostly to learn skills at private crammers, get certificates and to improve their appearance for job interviews.

As competition grows red-hot, spending is soaring.

Some 79.8 percent said their expenditure on padding out their resumes is a burden, and 84.1 percent of those who have been looking for jobs for more than a year said the amount is taking a serious toll on their finances.

They turn to various sources to come up with the money. Some 52.2 percent said they use their own funds, 41.2 percent ask their parents, 35.6 percent work part-time jobs, and 10 percent said borrow money from banks or friends.

But 59.8 percent feel they are wasting their money. Some 42.8 percent said the money they spend learning new skills has no direct correlation to their careers, and 39.1 percent that the new skills are not helping them land jobs.

Some 52.5 percent regretted spending money on TOEIC or other English proficiency tests. But 51.8 percent also said they have no choice but to spend the money because not doing so made them feel too anxious.
Republicans have knocked off one of three Democratic congresswomen in Virginia who faced tough reelection bids in a midterm election season where the GOP sought to regain control of the House of Representatives. Republican challenger Jen Kiggans, a state senator, defeated Democratic incumbent Elaine Luria Tuesday in a district centered in Virginia Beach that was tweaked in redistricting to make it more favorable to the GOP. But Abigail Spanberger won reelection over Republican Yesli Vega in a 7th District seat that the GOP had made one of its top national targets. And another Democratic incumbent, Jennifer Wexton, fended off Republican Hung Cao in Virginias 10th District, which is centered in the outer suburbs of the nations capital.
Britain has eased a ban on laptops and tablets in airline cabins, lifting the prohibition on some flights from Turkey.

In March, Britain banned electronic devices larger than smartphones on direct flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.

The Department for Transport said Friday that the rule no longer applies to flights from Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport. The ban still holds at Istanbul's other international airport, Ataturk.


(TNS) -- Amazon's virtual assistant can already order a pizza or an Uber for you. Now, Alexa can also answer common questions about city services, tell you about road closures and even pay your water bill.Dallas marketing agency Imaginuity has launched a new platform, Community Connect, that allows a city to create its own skill, Alexa's version of an app. The voice-activated assistant can share upcoming events and read a city's newsletter aloud. It can answer questions about city services, such as library hours or bulk trash days and give emergency alerts.University Park has already launched its Alexa skill. Imaginuity's chief marketing officer Gary Hooker said he'd like to win the business of 15 to 20 other municipalities, police and fire departments or economic development corporations in Texas this year and then roll out nationwide in 2018."This is a way for municipalities to extend the conversations they're having into the living rooms, the bedrooms and the kitchens of their residents," he said.Voice-activated personal assistants have gained popularity across the U.S. About 12 percent of U.S. households with broadband had a voice assistant by late 2016, according to market research firm Parks Associates. That was up from 5 percent a year earlier.By 2018, about 30 percent of interactions with technology will be through conversations with smart machines, according to a report by consulting firm Gartner.Community Connect works with all Amazon Echo products, which have been dominant in the virtual assistant category. Imaginuity plans to add Google Home and Apple's soon-to-debut HomePod in early 2018, Hooker said.In the first half of 2018, Imaginuity will add features that allow people to monitor their water use and pay their utility bill. More options, such as paying library dues or parking tickets, could come later, Hooker said.Imaginuity typically designs custom products, such as websites, for its clients. But after getting an Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Dot for Christmas, Hooker said he thought it could fit cities' needs."We do work with a handful of municipalities, and they tell us the same thing over and over again: They want better interaction with their citizens," he said.A few other cities are also looking to Alexa as a way to reach citizens. Los Angeles launched a skill in December that answers questions about events around town . The city of Las Vegas launched a skill that provides information about city parks, council meetings and planning commission meetings and fun facts about the city.Community Connect makes it possible for a city to create and update its own Alexa skill by pulling information from its website. When the city updates its website with current events or important notifications, for example, Alexa's answers are updated, too. A city can also program the skill to announce an emergency alert when a user asks a question.Imaginuity charges a one-time $6,900 licensing fee and $140 per hour rate for configuration and setup. Cities pay a monthly fee that's based on its population, Hooker said.In University Park, city officials see Alexa as a new way to reach residents, especially since the city is home to many young families and college students. The city's median age is about 32 years old, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.City spokesman Steve Mace said he imagines parents asking a virtual assistant questions while packing school lunches or older residents with vision trouble using it to read the city's newsletter.To use Community Connect, University Park residents must add the free skill to their Alexa app  similar to adding an app to a device  and start each question with "Alexa, Ask my University Park..."
(TNS) -- STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- While drivers adjust to the new cashless tolling system on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the MTA has begun studying the effects of two-way tolling on the span, and is expected to complete its research sometime next year.The transit agency is collecting data to see how the change in tolling would affect toll enforcement, its new cashless system, the money generated from tolls and traffic flow. Rep. Daniel Donovan had requested the agency study the effects of collecting half the toll going into Brooklyn and the other half traveling onto Staten Island as Rep. Jerrold Nadler has pushed to reinstate it.Drivers have paid the full toll traveling onto Staten Island since 1986, when then-Congressman Guy Molinari got an amendment into a federal transportation bill to end two-way tolling because cars waiting to pay the Brooklyn-bound toll caused backups on Staten Island.Donovan (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) has said he won't support the return of two-way tolling even as Nadler (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan) has called for its reinstatement for years, arguing the one-way toll encourages Brooklyn-bound drivers to use the bridge and bring traffic into his district, especially trucks.While there's no toll for cars and trucks taking the bridge to Brooklyn, there is a toll on New Jersey bridges to Staten Island, where many trucks begin their travels to the boroughs.Donovan said he won't support a return to a two-way toll until he's convinced it won't negatively affect traffic and tolls.A vote by Congress would be required to change the toll back to both directions, and Nadler would need Donovan's support to get it passed.When Donovan asked the MTA to study the effects of a two-way toll, he wanted to know whether it would discourage New Jersey drivers from entering New York City through Staten Island and whether it would encourage Long Island and Brooklyn drivers to travel to New Jersey through Staten Island instead of through the Manhattan tunnels.The congressman also wants to know what net traffic impact the toll would have on Staten Island and South Brooklyn and whether the new tolling structure would impact MTA revenue.The MTA collected preliminary data this summer, and will collect more once the toll plaza where the cash booths once stood is reconfigured, with the study being completed in 2018."I'm glad the MTA is being responsive to my request ," Donovan said. "I look forward to continuing to work with [MTA] Chairman Lhota and his team to determine the impacts of a two-way toll to Staten Island and South Brooklyn drivers."
(TNS) -- The Suffolk County health commissioner is urging the state Department of Health to review air monitoring data and other studies of Frank P. Long Intermediate School in Bellport amid pressure from parents and teachers to close the school, located about a mile from the Brookhaven Town landfill.Dr. James L. Tomarken, the county health commissioner, urged state officials in a letter dated Tuesday to review air monitoring data and disease occurrence information including updates on uterine and bladder cancer rates in the community.He also asked the state to review findings and recommendations of past studies from the state Health Department to see if follow-up evaluation is warranted.Grace Kelly-McGovern, spokeswoman for the Suffolk County health department, said Tomarken sent various documents to the state, including correspondence from the districts consultant to the South Country school district; a community survey; and maps of the school with labels corresponding to symptoms.Erin Silk, a state Health Department spokeswoman, said the agency had received the letter from Suffolk County Department of Health Services regarding the results of air-quality monitoring performed by a consultant for the school. We are reviewing the data and, as always, are available to provide guidance and technical assistance to address community concerns.Parents, teachers and residents have complained of sickening odors on the intermediate schools grounds. More than 200 people attended a school board meeting Wednesday night, with many pressing for the schools closure. Some parents said that come September, they would not enroll their children in the school, which serves about 700 fourth- and fifth-graders.At the meeting, Glenn Neuschwender, president of Enviroscience Consultants of Ronkonkoma, described preliminary testing results and said that further testing is under way. Those results are expected to be revealed at an Aug. 16 board meeting devoted solely to the environmental review of the school.School board president Cheryl Felice, at the close of the meeting, said, We have lost countless nights of sleep over the issue. In an interview Thursday, she said the consultant has not expressed any findings that are cause for alarm at this point; however, there are still more tests to come in, and were waiting for those results as well.She added, Although some people disagree with the interpretation of our consultant, we have other evidence that were still combing through that well be able to present at our meeting on the 16th and finally have everything together to make that educated decision.The district is considering a number of options for the fall, ranging from sending students to other buildings in the district; leasing portable outside classrooms; or sending students to a building in the Sachem system.Neuschwender said Friday that he has been in contact with officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.We are in close and constant contact with them regarding all development related to our investigation, he said.Legis. Kate Browning (WF-Shirley), in an interview Thursday, said she has concerns about the cause of some of the sickening odors. She said the option of relocating students to a building in the Sachem district is worth considering.Browning added that it would be important to get a definitive answer whether its the landfill or its the school itself causing environmental harm.Brookhaven Town officials say the 192-acre landfill is to be 70 percent capped this year and is expected to close in about eight years.
(TNS) -- The Manitou Springs City Council will be buying its own air quality monitor to detect pollutants it believes are drifting northwest from the Martin Drake Power Plant in downtown Colorado Springs.The $5,000 monitor is not approved by the Environmental Protection Agency as adequate for air quality data collection under the Clean Air Act. Monitors approved by the EPA usually cost between $50,000 and $80,000, and the cost to operate the devices and analyze the data is about $25,000.The decision comes after city leaders argued that the monitor operated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment near Highway 24 and South 8th Street isn't located where it can track the effects of the coal-fired plant's emissions on residential areas such as Manitou Springs."With this purchase, our City Council is being as environmentally conscious and as responsive to citizen requests as possible," Manitou Springs City Councilwoman Coreen Toll said.The state Health Department is required to use an EPA-approved monitor for its data collection."We're required to use monitors that have been approved by the EPA as reference for our air quality studies," Gordan Pierce, technical services manager for the state Health Department's Air Pollution Control Division. "We do look at data from other types of monitors, though, and can use those in consideration."According to Toll, the Manitou Springs City Council could not foot the bill for an EPA-approved monitor.Despite the cheaper monitor not being EPA approved, local activists lauded the council's decision."It's important for the Manitou Springs City Council to show its citizens that they care about a serious city health problem," Jacquie Ostrom, a local clean air activist said.The state Health Department and Colorado Springs Utilities are currently collecting data for a modeling study to classify the plant's sulfur dioxide levels in the surrounding area. The model is expected to be completed later this summer, according to Utilities."We look forward to sharing the results with our customers," said the spokeswoman for Utilities, Amy Trinidad. "As far as Manitou Springs purchasing a monitor, we assume they are working with the appropriate state health agency in its efforts,"According to Pierce's response to the City Council's public comment on the study, the current monitor location meets the criteria of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.Toll explained that she consulted with Manitou Springs' computer systems engineer, Francois Robb, to find an affordable monitor with accurate data collection capabilities.The monitor selected by Robb, made by Oregon-based air quality monitor manufacturer Apis, monitors sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and other harmful emissions.Apis president and CEO Robert Beckius said that the monitor was previously installed next to an EPA-approved monitor for one to three months and the results were comparable."Air quality sensors are getting better and are more accurate," Beckius said. "For a fraction of the cost of a regulation monitor, we can install multiple monitors and get a gist of air quality in a high-density area like Manitou Springs."Manitou Springs City Council plans to purchase the monitor in the next few weeks and has not selected a location site yet.
(TNS) - Mark Nichols, a retired occupational safety expert, almost couldnt believe what he was hearing, though he trusted his confidential source. In late June, a car from a Union Pacific railroad train had partially derailed overnight near the Mississippi River in St. Paul, and it was supposedly carrying tanks of chlorine.Chlorine, it is one of the most potent air toxics, said Nichols, a vocal member of Citizens Acting for Rail Safety Twin Cities. In some cases, firefighters have been killed, and many others have been sickened.  Its a pretty nasty material if it gets out of the bottle.Nichols contacted St. Paul Emergency Management, eventually corresponding with director Rick Larkin. They said they had no information about a derailment over or near the river. Nichols called Ramsey County Emergency Management and its director, Judd Freed. They hadnt heard either. Days of inquiry led nowhere, though Larkin promised in a July 12 email to Nichols that he would make inquiries of his own.The results of his calls were eye-opening. On a bridge over the Mississippi as the train passes downtown, the wheels of several rail cars had indeed left the track three weeks earlier. And another car with the same train was carrying chlorine when it also became partially derailed later that morning. Nichols even obtained pictures of obvious damage to the Robert Street lift bridges railroad planks.That revelation  finding out from a concerned citizens group  is certainly not the way I would want to be informed of that situation, said Larkin, who also serves as president of the Association of Minnesota Emergency Managers. I sure would want to hear it from the railroads before anybody else.Larkin said his working relationship with the railroads, which has not always been open and trusting, had improved over the past 18 months, and they sent representatives to a multi-agency emergency preparedness workshop in April. He said not being notified of the June 22 incident was a frustration and disappointment.So this time everything worked out OK. There was no product release, no train cars in the river, he said. But what are we doing to make sure it doesnt happen again? None of us want a rail car on its side, whether were representatives of the community or CEO of the railroad.A spokeswoman for Union Pacific confirmed details of the two-part incident to the Pioneer Press, including the presence of chlorine.At 2:45 a.m. on June 22, a Thursday, three empty rail cars partially derailed near Union Pacifics South St. Paul rail yard. The derailed cars were part of a 166-car train traveling from Altoona, Wis., to St. Paul. A single rail cars wheels had gone off the tracks over the river on the Robert Street railroad bridge, causing a logjam down the line. The cars came to a stop by Barge Channel Road.All rail cars remained upright but were considered derailed because at least one wheel from each rail car left the track, said Calli Hite, an Omaha, Neb.-based communications director for Union Pacific. None of the derailed cars were related to chlorine.The site was cleared in six hours. But more problems followed, and a train car carrying chlorine indeed became involved. While in the process of re-railing the three empty derailed cars, wheels from two more rail cars came off the track while the train was being cleared from Barge Channel Road, Hite said. One of these two cars was a chlorine car. There was no product release.Union Pacific attributed the first derailment to a customer loading error that caused the wheels to lift and declined to describe how much chlorine was aboard in the second derailment. There were no injuries reported.As a result of the incidents, the Robert Street railroad bridge was out of service for inspection and repair for roughly 24 hours. During that time, Union Pacific, which owns the 10-mile-per-hour bridge, replaced 68 railroad ties and determined the bridge to be structurally sound, according to the company.The multi-part incident is an unusual circumstance, Hite said. We are conducting a thorough incident review to assess processes and ensure appropriate entities are alerted in these situations. She said a complete description of the incidents, including the second derailment, will be included in a standard report to the Federal Railroad Administration.Larkin, St. Pauls emergency management director, said that from his discussions with Upper River Services, which operates barge towing and fleet cleaning services, there was no disruption to barge or river traffic. It didnt generate a public safety response, he said. We are following up more administratively.Those findings leave Nichols unsatisfied. Why werent St. Paul or Ramsey County officials notified of the emergency? Why wasnt the Coast Guard alerted? And if the initial incident began with wheels lifting off the tracks on the Robert Street lift bridge, why did the train continue another mile to Barge Channel Road? And how much chlorine was on board?They dont ship small amounts, said Nichols, who noted a single train car typically carries 90 tons of chlorine to manufacturing plants, where it is used as a major ingredient in bleach and swimming pool cleaners, among other applications. They either ship them empty or ship them full.Despite denials from Union Pacific, Nichols believes the conductor continued rolling over the river with a train car partially off its own track because his radio was down and he was unable to receive communications from the bridge operator, who is also a Union Pacific employee.Union Pacific says otherwise. No, communication was not severed at any time, Hite said.Once the train came to a stop, only certain authorities were roped in. Hite said that because the front of the train was in Dakota County, the Dakota County Communications Center was notified of the three-car derailment instead of St. Paul or Ramsey County.After further inspection, UP determined the derailed portion of the train was in Ramsey County, she said.A Dakota Communications Center manager confirmed that his department received a call at 3:24 a.m. on June 22 indicating a partial derailment at 1450 Concord St., but that the caller stated no police or fire services were needed. The given address is near the St. Paul Police Impound Lot.Meanwhile, the second incident involving the chlorine car was not part of the initial derailment, so it was not included in the initial incident report to Dakota County, according to the Union Pacific spokeswoman. The onsite team was focused on safely opening the public roadway and did not report the two-car, incidental derailment until after Dakota County authorities were notified, Hite said.Citing security and safety precautions, the company has declined to identify how many of the 166 train cars were carrying chlorine and how much chlorine they contained. Hite said all the commodities and rail cars were appropriately labeled.A serious river accident might require contacting the National Response Center, an organization operated by the U.S. Coast Guard, but Union Pacific chose not to. Hite noted the train did not come to a stop on the bridge itself, and no chemicals were spilled in the waterway. Because the incidents severity level did not merit notification, UP did not alert the National Response Center, she said.U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Sean Haley of Sector Upper Mississippi River in St. Louis said even a chemical leak would not necessarily warrant notification if it were small enough. Each chemical has its reportable quantities, and for chlorine, specifically, its 10 pounds, Haley said. If they spill more than 10 pounds, then the Coast Guard has to be notified.Larkin said he was nevertheless disappointed to not have received a courtesy call, given that he hosted an April 18 and 19 emergency preparedness workshop where senior officials from 38 local, regional, state, federal and railroad authorities gathered to discuss safety concerns.Absolutely Im concerned about it, he said. I operate in the bad day business. If everything goes well, generally folks dont think about us. Our job is to plan for contingencies, if and when things dont go well.Nichols, of Maplewood, became active in rail safety matters in 2015 after a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad derailed near his mothers home in Fridley. Hes slept uneasily ever since, and the St. Paul incident doesnt inspire his confidence. Its clear that if this happened once, it could happen again, Nichols said. And the outcome may be far, far worse.2017 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)Visit the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) at www.twincities.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) -- The latest vehicles topped by camera equipment and sensors to cruise around the Pittsburgh region are helping to build up Apple's competitor to Google Maps and may also have a role in future autonomous cars.White vans branded with Apple Maps, carrying camera equipment on all four sides of the roof, have been spotted around Pittsburgh, with a webpage for the Cupertino-based tech giant saying that the vans are gathering data around the United States, England, France, Italy and Spain which will be used to improve Apple Maps.Some of the images and data they gather  with faces and license plates blurred for privacy before publication  may be used in future updates to the Apple Maps app, the company said. The vans will be in parts of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties at least through Aug. 13, according to the website.While the data could be used to help Apple build something analogous to Google's Street View feature, which has been available in the United States since 2007, Mashable.com's Lance Ulanoff reported that the vans also have LIDAR sensors, similar to what help autonomous vehicles detect distance between them and other objects. Those sensors, Ulanoff wrote, could help Apple build three-dimensional maps into its apps, either to make a more immersive street-level experience or even create virtual reality applications.Apple CEO Tim Cook also told Bloomberg Television in June that the company was working on self-driving car software as well.Google's own fleet of vehicles collecting imagery for Street View, which is occasionally updated to refresh views and expand coverage, are also listed as coming to parts of Allegheny, Butler and Westmoreland counties between July and October.
Caught by surprise

(TNS) -- WILLMAR  A project to bring broadband internet to north-central Kandiyohi County is in trouble.County Administrator Larry Kleindl received notice late Thursday afternoon from Consolidated Telecommunications Co. CEO Kevin Larson that the Brainerd company intends to pull out of the project.In a signed letter sent via email, Larson said the "lack of sufficient future broadband subscribers financially committed to the project" led the company's board of directors to decide not to accept a $4.9 million state grant that was a key piece of the $10 million project, which would also have included $5 million in county-backed tax abatement bonds."Proceeding with the project would not be financially responsible for our Cooperative," Larson wrote.Kleindl said he was caught off-guard by the company's decision."We're very disappointed. We've worked very hard to make broadband in rural Kandiyohi County and rural Minnesota happen," Kleindl said. "We've operated in good faith from the beginning to the end. We are very disappointed with this letter."The county's broadband task force has spent about three years working to bring high-speed internet to the county, including securing one of the largest border-to-border broadband grants from the state, holding numerous meetings, making phone calls and going door-to-door to sign up customers.Members of this committee are "exhausted and heartbroken after today's news," said state Rep. Dave Baker of Willmar.Despite the bleak announcement from Consolidated Telecommunications Co., Kleindl and Baker said they are not ready to give up and will pursue negotiations in hopes of still reaching a positive resolution."I'm trying to keep something on life support alive," Kleindl said, adding that he hoped a meeting to talk with CTC could happen Friday.Baker also said he is "not willing to give up" and would be calling state officials to "see what options we might have yet."Baker said the local committee has worked too hard to give up."It's distressing news but we're not giving up," Baker said. "We've come too far."There was no doubt news of the Consolidated Telecommunications Co. decision to end the partnership and the project caught the county by surprise.Just a couple hours earlier at a meeting of the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission's Joint Powers Board, officials had expressed optimism the project would soon have the final go-ahead.The EDC's Connie Schmoll had been scheduled to meet with the company Monday to talk about the next step in the process.During an update to the EDC board, Schmoll said Consolidated Telecommunications Co. had been pleased that a big push to sign up 810 customers by the end of a two-week extension period was successful.There was concern that 125 of those customers had not sent the $25 deposit by the deadline, but checks were still coming in."CTC was extremely excited and pleased about the response in the two-week deadline that we gave to our community," Schmoll said during comments around 2 p.m. Thursday. "They didn't expect that. They're pleased about it and they're excited. That's all I'm hearing from CTC right now."But a couple hours later, Kleindl learned of the CTC board's decision."It was a shock," Kleindl said. "We weren't prepared for this."Possible problems with the project included the state's decision to allow existing companies the right of first refusal for extending services to a region, which left low-populated, difficult-to-reach areas open to new contracts, Kleindl said.There was also confusion about the refundable $25 deposit required of customers signing up for the project. Sign-up was already underway before the need for a deposit was made clear. The inability to make those payments online also created delays.In the letter, Larson said Consolidated Telecommunications Co. and Kandiyohi County "jointly tried to secure the necessary commitment for nearly seven months" and that the company had invested $70,000 to secure customer commitments.CTC thanked the county for its efforts to try to make the project a success.Kleindl said the local broadband committee, the County Board and volunteers "worked tirelessly" to make the project happen."I want to extend our appreciation for all they have done," Kleindl said.He said the county will keep trying to fill the county's unmet broadband internet needs to help agriculture, education, business and healthcare have a future in rural Kandiyohi County."We've worked too darn hard," he said. "We've put so much into this."If the project does not advance, the $4.9 million state grant will stay with the state and likely go to another entity eager for state broadband funds.People who sent in $25 deposits will have their money returned.
(TNS) -- Call it The Cross and Text Law.Pedestrians on Oahu can still talk on their cellphone while crossing the street, but texting or using other electronic devices in a crosswalk is no longer allowed under a bill signed into law Thursday by Mayor Kirk Caldwell.Honolulu may be the first major city to make it illegal for pedestrians to text at will in whats also being dubbed the Distracted Walking Law. (The Distracted Driving Law bans motorists from fiddling with their electronic devices.)A small county in New Jersey has a similar pedestrian texting law, and several other jurisdictions  including state legislatures  have considered but not passed similar bans.The new law allows for speaking on a cellphone while crossing a city street or highway, but nothing requiring a pedestrian to look at a device  including laptop computers, tablets, video gaming devices and pagers.The Honolulu Police Department, which supports the new law, will begin issuing citations beginning Oct. 25, after a roughly three-month education and warning period. Those found guilty of a first offense would pay $15-$35; a second offense within the same year, $35-$75; and a third offense within 12 months, $75 to $99.HPD Capt. Thomas Taflinger said that like other infractions, a police officer will actually have to witness the violation in order to issue a citation.City Councilman Brandon Elefante said he introduced Bill 6 on behalf of community members and students belonging to Youth for Safety clubs at Aiea and Waipahu high schools who said they wanted to send a message to their peers.As technology has advanced, we sometimes forget about the real issue, and thats about safety, Elefante said.Kel Hirohata, a Waipahu High teacher who advises the schools Youth for Safety program, said his students found eye-popping statistics about incidents caused by crossing and texting. One of his students said her peers at the school said that if it wasnt law, they would ignore warnings not to walk and text, Hirohata said.Now that it is the law, I think were going to have more people  students  listening to whats going on, he said.Caldwell signed the bill at downtowns Tamarind Park, where many of the pedestrians behind him on Bishop and King streets were texting while crossing.You would think you wouldnt have to tell people to not text in a crosswalk because you may be walking against a light and get hit, Caldwell said.Roads are too often designed with vehicles in mind when all modes of transportation should be accommodated, Caldwell said. Its car-centric.  We want to protect pedestrians both as they walk on our sidewalks but also our crosswalks, he said.The City Council approved the measure July 12 by a 7-2 vote, with members Ann Kobayashi and Ernie Martin voting no.Both contended the bill represented over-regulation by the government.
Nigeria is adamant that the sailors should be tried in court. The charges against them will be slapped once they reach the country.
Fernando Alonso is not ruling out a switch to America's top open wheeler category Indycar for 2018.

Amid his frustration in the third year of McLaren-Honda's hapless collaboration, the Spaniard said in Hungary that "the Indy 500" was his only positive moment of 2017.

Earlier, he said moving full-time to Indycar was not likely for 2018, but since then Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have made clear they are not in the market to sign Alonso.

So Indycar is now "one possibility" for 2018, Alonso - who turns 36 on Saturday - said.

"Let's see in a month or so," he continued.

"I've always said I'm very open to what may come in the future. I want to win next year and to win we need some good changes here (at McLaren). Many changes," Alonso insisted.

"If those happen, it is possible I stay but it's something I will consider in September."

(GMM)
Felipe Massa was taken to hospital following Friday's practice sessions in Hungary.

Eight years ago, the Brazilian was left fighting for his life after being hit by a spring during qualifying at the same circuit near Budapest.

But this time, now as a Williams driver, Massa simply felt unwell after Friday's action.

"He was taken to the circuit medical centre and later transferred to hospital in the capital for checks," Brazil's Globo reported from Budapest.

The report said Massa felt dizzy and had a high temperature, "However it is not a serious situation and everything is fine with Felipe".

Globo said there is "no information" about Massa's further participation in the rest of the weekend in Hungary.

(GMM)
Sauber is not ready to think about its 2018 driver lineup.

That is the view of the Swiss team's brand new boss Frederic Vasseur, as he attends his first grand prix in Sauber colours in Hungary.

Vasseur's first act as boss was to axe the new Sauber-Honda deal, instead signing a new arrangement with Ferrari for fully up-to-date engines in 2018.

However, the Honda-linked driver Nobuharu Matsushita will still test for Sauber next week.

"We made this commitment to Honda a couple of months ago," said Vasseur, "so we will keep our promise to them and to Matsushita."

As for the race drivers, Vasseur is more coy.

Currently, Sauber's drivers are Marcus Ericsson - who is linked with the Sauber owner - and the Mercedes-backed Pascal Wehrlein.

But it is now rumoured that upgrading Sauber's current year-old engine deal to fully 2018-spec units next year might be an ideal opportunity for Ferrari to get Antonio Giovinazzi or Charles Leclerc into a race seat.

"It's too early to discuss the drivers," Vasseur insisted.

"We only signed the (Ferrari) agreement on Thursday, and the drivers are not part of the contract.

"We will talk about the drivers in the next weeks," he added.

(GMM)
JULY 29, 2017

Reserve driver Paul di Resta to replace Massa for Hungary
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BJP Has No Option But To Ally With TRS!

Bharatiya Janata Party does not have the strength or the support from the people of Telangana or for that matter in the entire south, barring may be Karnataka and it has no option to join hands with the regional forces if it wants to sustain.

This is the view of Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

He reportedly told the same to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and conveyed to him the message that the BJP would be able to retain its identity in Telangana only if it joins hands with the TRS.

He made it clear to the Prime Minister that if the BJP is willing, the TRS has no objection to join the NDA and strengthen it across the country.

In an informal chat with media persons whom he had invited for lunch in New Delhi, KCR asserted that the chances were grim for the saffron party to strengthen its base Telangana, AP, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

In Andhra Pradesh, the BJP wont able to get more than 2 per cent of votes, if it contests independently.

So, the best way for the BJP to survive in the Telugu states is to continue the alliance with the TDP in Andhra and TRS in Telangna. It should stop dreaming of coming to power in Telangana independently, he observed.
Barcelona Metropolitan Transport (Transportes Metropolitanos de Barcelona - TMB) is acquiring four 18.73-meter electric articulated buses. With this purchase, the Barcelona-based company is tackling the first phase of transforming the H16 line to a 100% electric, zero emissions route.

Irizar has been awarded the contract for Madrids first 15 electric buses and Barcelonas first four electric articulated buses. With the capture of these 22 new units for the mainland market, Irizar e-mobility has become the market leader for electric buses in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao and San Sebastian.

These buses, Irizars first 18-meter articulated buses in Spain, will enter into service in June 2018 and will join the two 12-meter buses which have been operating in the city since 18 August 2014 and which are part of the European Commissions ZeEus project.

Prior to this, Irizar and Donostibus will spend 6 months testing an articulated bus on the citys 28 line, Hospitals. Irizar will install an opportunity charging station (made for the group by Jema) to charge this bus throughout the day.

The Municipal Transport Company (Empresa Municipal de Transportes - EMT) and Madrid City Council have purchased 15 buses which will be the first 100% electric buses to join the municipal companys fleet. In addition to the 12-meter bus units, 15 chargers will be supplied for night charging in depots. The onboard energy in the buses is 376 kWh and the power of the charging station is 100 kW.

These buses are scheduled to be delivered in December of this year and will operate on several lines in the city of Madrid.

Valencia has purchased its first unit while Bilbao has purchased two more 12-meter long buses, all of which must be delivered before the end of this year.

These buses are being manufactured at the new premises of Irizar e-mobility (an Irizar Group company) located in the town of Aduna, Gipuzkoa. This marks the beginning of serial production and the creation of the first 100 jobs in this company.

Irizar e-mobility is the most recently created company within the Irizar Group and offers comprehensive turnkey electromobility solutions.

It combines the knowledge and experience of all the Groups companies to create comprehensive urban mobility solutions: 100% electric buses and their major infrastructure systems required for charging, drive and energy storage, all of which are designed and manufactured with the Groups 100% European technology and with Irizars warranty and service quality.

The product range includes 10.8m and 12m city buses, articulated or bi-articulated buses and other electric vehicles to serve cities. Irizar e-mobilitys first 100% electric, 18m BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) unit is completing durability and reliability testing prior to its distribution to customers, and it will be launched onto the market at the end of this year.

Irizar electric buses have been operating in various European countries since 2014. In 2014, Irizar became the first European manufacturer in the sector to deliver two 100% electric vehicles to Barcelona and delivered the first unit to San Sebastian.

In 2015, the first units were delivered to London, Marseille and the Barcelona metropolitan area (Mohn, SA) and tests were carried out in various European cities.

In 2016, 6 units were delivered to Marseille for Frances first fully electric line along with other units to San Sebastian and Bilbao. In the same year, the first articulated bus unit was manufactured after spending 6 months undergoing durability testing at Idiada (Tarragona).

In 2017, 26 new 12-meter long buses will be delivered. At the end of this year, work will begin to manufacture 22 articulated buses; the four units recently purchased by Barcelona (TMB) and the 18 units purchased by the Basque Coast-Adour Agglomeration.
WINSTON-SALEM  A Rural Hall-based company was issued two serious violations after a wall collapsed at a downtown construction site, pinning a man under a pile of bricks.

M.B.H. Enterprises, a demolition contractor, was cited for the May 2 incident in which a brick wall collapsed on top of worker Rodriguez Williams, according to the North Carolina Department of Labor.

Williams  a Greensboro resident and employee of temp company Trojan Labor  was the only person on the five-person demolition crew who was working in the pit at the time.

He was admitted to a local hospital with serious injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

We have closed the investigation into M.B.H. Enterprises and we issued two penalties, said Jason Tyson, a spokesperson with the department. Both of those are serious penalties.

According to the notification, the company failed to properly brace the two walls at the demolition site at 212 W. Fourth St. and failed to have the site surveyed prior to demolition.

Wall sections, which were more than one story in height and were not designed and constructed to stand without lateral support, were permitted to stand alone without lateral bracing, according to the report, which was released July 19.

The eastern exterior brick wall, which collapsed, was only partially braced along its upper edge laterally, the states Occupational Safety and Health Division reported after a nearly three-month investigation. The western wall was not braced laterally.

The first violation resulted in a $2,800 fine. The second violation, a failure to have the site surveyed prior to demolition, did not warrant a monetary penalty, Tyson said.

Mitchell Harrell, CEO of M.B.H. Enterprises, said they are reviewing the notification and plan to file an appeal.

This notification is standard process, and we will be filing an appeal, Harrell said. We value the safety of our employees and the safety of the community.

Demolition workers had been taking down the building, which was constructed in the 1906-08 period, for a couple weeks prior to the wall collapse.

The area in question is now fenced off and it was unclear whether work on the site had continued.

Trojan Labor could not be reached for comment.
July 29, 1958

Congress passes legislation, signed by President Dwight Eisenhower, establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian agency to oversee Americas space exploration. This action was taken after the Soviet Union on Oct. 4, 1957, launched its first satellite, Sputnik I, sparking fears the Soviets might also be capable of sending missiles with nuclear weapons from Europe to America. The United States on Jan. 31 had launched Explorer I, its first satellite to orbit the earth. In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy said that America should put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, which happened on July 20, 1969.
GREENSBORO  Water-supply managers here are battling a chemical contaminant from the same family of man-made compounds as the GenX substance that made headlines recently by infiltrating the drinking water in North Carolinas southeastern region.

During the past three years, scientists have found water from Greensboros Mitchell Water Treatment Plant with relatively high levels of an industrial chemical known as PFOS  short for perfluorooctane sulfonate  which is suspected of causing human health problems and damage to developing fetuses when consumed over time in large enough doses.

PFOS is on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys watch list for unregulated contaminants, so called because they may be harmful but there are no nationwide safety standards governing their release into the environment.

The compound belongs to a family of similar chemicals, including GenX, with commercial uses that go back decades and range from waterproofing to protecting carpet from stains and lining bags of microwave popcorn to prevent hot butter or oil from soaking through the paper.

Sister chemical GenX has been in the news recently after researchers linked very high levels of that substance in Wilmingtons water supply to releases from a chemical plant in Fayetteville into the Cape Fear River.

Greensboro Water Resources Director Steve Drew said city officials and two private consultants have been looking for the local source of PFOS without success.

Were basically doing a CSI-type investigation in the upper reaches of the watershed upstream of Lake Higgins and Lake Brandt, Drew said.

Environmental regulators persuaded chemical manufacturers to voluntarily phase out production of PFOS starting about 15 years ago, but it is still in use in some products and it is a resilient compound that persists in the environment indefinitely once it has been set loose.

The city first tested its drinking water for PFOS during 2014 in line with a nationwide EPA directive, finding traces at concerning levels only in treated water produced by the Mitchell plant at Battleground Avenue and Benjamin Parkway that is supplied by lakes Brandt and Higgins to the north of town, Drew said.

Water from the Townsend treatment plant, to the northeast and near the lake its named after, contained much lower levels of PFOS that were not concerning, Drew said.

Levels fluctuate

Continued testing at the Mitchell plant has shown fluctuating PFOS levels that seem to increase after periods of rain, suggesting that the contaminant is being carried off the landscape by storm water that runs into a lake or feeder streams at one or more sites, Drew said.

But he added that since PFOS was detected at the relatively high level of 90 parts per trillion in Mitchell plant water during the October quarter of 2014, continued testing there has consistently found PFOS below the 40 parts-per-trillion threshold at which water departments are supposed to report the finding to federal and state authorities.

Last year, the EPA established a health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion for PFOS in drinking water. The agency believes PFOs below that level wont harm people over a lifetime, based on the rate of water consumed by women who are breastfeeding. Lactating women were chosen as the standard because they tend to drink more water and because they can pass along contaminants to nursing infants.

Three other rounds of Mitchell plant testing during 2014 detected no PFOS in the January quarter, 44 parts per trillion in the April quarter and 64 parts per trillion in the July quarter, Drew said.

By contrast, the last time Greensboro tested its drinking water for PFOS two months ago, samples from the Mitchell and Townsend plants registered at similar levels  30 and 28 parts per trillion, respectively.

Treated water from the Mitchell plant was never unsafe to drink, Drew said.

But Drew said he is still troubled by the continuing presence of PFOS because the man-made compound does not belong there and city officials cannot figure out exactly where it is coming from.

We remain concerned and aim to remove it at the source in the watershed once there is enough data to analyze and evidence to draw some conclusions so as to narrow down and identify a site or sites with a high level of certainty, he said in a Friday email.

But its not an easy task, he said.

We have no industrial dischargers upstream like there is for the good folks in Wilmington, he said, referring to the Cape Fear chemical plant behind the GenX releases. They were able to go right to a discharger and that was where it was coming from.

EPA directly involved

Among North Carolina communities, EPA flagged only two cities for elevated PFOS levels in nationwide testing from 2013 through 2015  Greensboro and Pinehurst, said Sarah Young, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Quality.

DEQ communicated with both systems. Pinehurst took the well with perfluorinated compounds offline permanently, Young said, referring to the chemical class that includes PFOS and its siblings.

Greensboro knew it had a problem before DEQ contacted it and acted well before the release of EPAs health advisory, Young said of the water departments sleuthing efforts.

EPA is directly involved in tracking Greensboros efforts to reduce levels, Young said of PFOS. The city has proactively provided periodic updates to the department and EPA.

Young and Drew both noted that the city also has hired consultants to examine alternative treatment methods to remove the offensive chemical if the citys detective efforts fail to identify where the PFOS is coming from and eliminate the source.

High Point water administrators also checked for PFOS in drinking water from that communitys Oak Hollow and City lakes as part of EPAs recent testing initiative and came through unblemished, said Terry Houk, that citys public services director.

It was non-detect for us, Houk said, meaning either that the chemical was not there at all or it was present in amounts too small for testing equipment to identify.

Drew said Greensboro officials also tested drinking water they distribute locally from Randleman Reservoir and that the incoming stream from the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority also had low quantities of PFOS  10 parts per trillion.

The waters of Greensboro, High Point and the regional water authority also were tested for PFOA  another potentially harmful sibling of PFOS and GenX. That compound was present in drinking water from both Greensboro and Randleman Reservoir, but not in worrisome amounts.

Greensboros water has not been tested yet for GenX, Drew said.

Foam to parking lots

The culprits behind Greensboros PFOS problem could be anything from one or more locations that use flame-retardant foam containing the chemical  such as a fire station or airport  to some long forgotten and abandoned industrial landfill, to people dumping waste illegally in watershed areas, to parking lots where workers wash down the pavement with cleansers that include PFOS as an ingredient, Drew said.

PFOS numbers at Mitchell vary depending on weather patterns, so its water has peaks and valleys of concern, Drew said.

Readings go up for a while after significant rainfall, then you go for a spell and dont see it at all, he said.

The detective work required to sort through the possibilities and narrow them down to a probable cause is tedious and time-consuming, said Pete DAdamo, a Raleigh-based consultant who is helping the city.

Were still months away from seeing if we can pinpoint it and be able to say whether this is something current or something that happened a long time ago, said DAdamo, national water treatment director for HDR.

Greensboro also has hired N.C. State University professor and water expert Detlef Knappe to help track down the source, Drew said. Knappe was part of the research team that recently uncovered the Lower Cape Fears problem with GenX.

Efforts to reach Knappe for comment about Greensboros PFOS situation were unsuccessful last week.

Water safety

The EPAs 70 parts-per-trillion advisory protects the health of a person who drinks water with that concentration of PFOS every day, year after year. But agency literature also raises caution flags about shorter-term exposure for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding because of PFOSs potential to cause developmental lapses in children exposed to it in the womb or in mothers milk.

Large-scale population studies implicate PFOS as a possible trigger for adult health problems that include high cholesterol, thyroid disease, immune suppression and such reproductive problems as reduced fertility, the EPA said in a report last year. The agency added that evidence is weaker linking it to bladder, colon and prostate cancer.

But the developing fetus is particularly sensitive to PFOS-induced toxicity, the EPA said in its 2016 report, citing such possible outcomes as lower birth weight, decreased survival rates, learning deficiencies and susceptibility to cancers of the thyroid or liver.

Meanwhile, GenX readings in Wilmingtons drinking water dwarfed even the highest PFOS levels locally  samples from the New Hanover County communitys Cape Fear Public Utility system averaged 631 parts per trillion.

GenX is a newer chemical composition so EPA does not have a health advisory for it to put such high readings in context. But state health officials noted in a statement after the Wilmington crisis erupted that European researchers recently completed a lab-based cancer study that suggested it was safe at concentrations 100 times greater than found in the coastal citys drinking water.

The situation involving PFOS, GenX and their close relative PFOA illustrates the topsy-turvy nature of environmental pollutants and the rules created to govern them under the nations Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974.

PFOS and PFOA are longstanding industrial chemicals that fall into the unregulated category because they were not known to be problems when the act was put into effect or for years afterward.

But they are under federal review now because it has become generally accepted that they are harmful at certain levels of exposure. So they are on a list of such chemicals that the EPA directed public water systems to test for several years ago, with an eye to possibly setting strict limits on their presence in drinking water.

GenX is not on the EPAs radar yet in that regard because of its more recent development specifically as a better alternative in such applications as Teflon manufacture.

Nonstick surfaces

PFOS and its sister chemical PFOA were popular for much of the 20th century because they are resistant to both water and fatty acids, making them useful in altering the surface properties of everything from frying pans to raincoats.

But PFOS does not readily break down biologically so it remains intact for an eternity, resisting a variety of chemical and other forces that would destroy less stable compounds in days, months or years.

People encounter it not only in their water, but in food as well as the air they breathe.

Water sources contaminated by PFOS have been associated with releases from manufacturing sites, industrial fire/crash training areas, and industrial or municipal waste sites where products are disposed of or applied, the EPA said in its health advisory last year.

PFOS is not the first chemical on the watch list of federal regulators that Greensboro water officials have tangled with in recent times.

Last year, they confronted hexavalent chromium, another occupant of EPAs unregulated contaminant file that was turning up in drinking water treated at both city plants.

They spent weeks last summer studying the problem before tracing it to a lime slurry used at both plants to control the drinking waters acidity and alkalinity.

The fix was just a matter of changing to another additive that didnt include that chemical.

Drew and his colleagues can only hope the PFOS cure should turn out to be so simple, inexpensive and effective.
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GREENWICH  How should the Greenwich school board be elected?

The question has been at the heart of a long, contentious effort to change the Town Charter, provoking heated debate across the community.

Now, it is shaping the 2017 Board of Education race  with some ironic outcomes.

Republicans and other charter change supporters want to alter election rules so all top vote-getters in each election win seats, regardless of party, doing away with current rules that prevent a party from holding a majority of seats on the board. In Greenwich registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 3,350 people.

Supporters say the change would guarantee competitive school board races that give voters a choice.

But given the chance to offer voters a choice under current rules, the Republican Town Committee chose this week not to.

Democrats and other opponents of charter change argue it would politicize a non-political body. They point to past elections in which parties were able to provide voter choice under current rules by nominating additional candidates. Parties currently can win a maximum of two seats in each school board election, but they can nominate up to four candidates.

The Democratic Town Committee hoped to supply choice this year in particular to bolster its argument against change  but was unable to. Despite leadership efforts, the party could not find extra candidates to run.

The DTC nominated Meghan Olsson and Kathleen Stowe, both new, as its school board candidates. Current Democratic school board members Laura Erickson and Debbie Appelbaum will not seek re-election in November.

A time for choice?

The Republican Town Committee also chose two candidates, but in its case three had come forward to seek nomination. Both of the favored choices are charter change supporters: incumbent Peter Sherr, current BOE chair, and Jason Auerbach, a member of Representative Town Meetings Education Committee.

But the race could be competitive yet. Current Republican school board member Peter Bernstein, who was not nominated, and who opposes charter change, will attempt to petition his way onto the ballot.

It was after 11 p.m. Tuesday when the 57-member Republican Town Committee turned its attention to choosing the 2017 Republican school board candidates. Auerbach, Bernstein and Sherr, all vying for the partys endorsement, sat or stood in the packed Town Hall Meeting Room, where they had been waiting for three hours.

Due to the late hour, one RTC member from the middle of the room made a motion for the committee to endorse all three candidates, contrary to the RTC Executive Committees recommendation from the week prior to endorse two candidates, Sherr and Auerbach.

The idea was immediately divisive. RTC member John Raben jumped to the floor.

It would be masochistic for this party to nominate more people than we can elect, because that ultimately means significant crossover votes from Democrats to elect the candidate that they think represents their party, he said. This body wants to provide choice to the voters. The way to do that is to support charter change.

Randall Smith, another member, was even more emphatic, arguing endorsing more candidates would be failing to vet candidates properly and failing to ensure choice for Republican voters.

If we put up three Republican candidates, every fuzzy-earred liberal in town will choose which Republicans get to represent our party, our party, and we will have absolutely no say in which Democrats or unaffiliated candidates are elected, he said. Allowing Democrats to pick our Board of Education gives the appearance of choice without the substance.

Many members who spoke supported their comments on the basis of voter choice, but they differed in how and when choice should be offered.

The charter change is a different voter choice than what we are discussing tonight, said RTC Vice Chair Rich DiPreta, addressing the committee.

Eventually, the membership voted 36 to 21 not to endorse three candidates. They would post two Republican candidates for two Republican seats on the ballot.

After a string of nomination speeches, the committee voted to endorse Sherr and Auerbach. Sherr received the most votes with 50, followed by Auerbach with 43 and Bernstein with 15.

Charter change influenced not just the number of Republicans endorsed, but who.

The recent Board of Ed votes in which Peter (Bernstein) voted against (charter change in) that sense of the meeting (vote), I think struck a chord with a majority of the RTC and therefore support was pulled away from him for that reason, said RTC Chair Stephen Walko.

In a school board meeting on May 25, Bernstein was one of two Republican BOE members, along with all four Democrats, to stand against charter change in a vote to indicate the boards opinion to the Board of Selectmen. Sherr voted for charter change.

Only two

In June, the DTC overwhelmingly voted to nominate three or four candidates if it could field them. But the Democrats could not find individuals willing to make a school board run.

Jeff Ramer, chair of the RTC, said he was disappointed by the outcome.

The party had a third candidate considering a run who decided on the morning of the July 19 nominating convention that she could not, Ramer said, because she would have been required to give up a position as a Greenwich Public Schools substitute teacher and she could not afford to do so.

The school boards significant time commitment and the personal strife that has characterized the board over the recent few years dissuaded some Democrats from seeking a BOE seat, Ramer said.

The current Democratic ticket offers two candidates for two Democratic BOE seats. Born and raised in Greenwich, Olsson is a French teacher in Mamaroneck, N.Y. Stowe works for a finance technology company and has lived in Greenwich for about 10 years.

(We) have two different town committees, each of which fielded two but under drastically different circumstances, Ramer said.

Power of the party

All three Republican candidates spoke against the parties influence over the school board.

I think the RTC is doing what you should expect the RTC to do, which is optimize for their goals, Sherr said. Theyre playing the system with the rules they have ... That is why control of the Board of Education needs to be moved from the parties and back to the voters.

One of the original proponents of charter change on the RTM, Auerbach also voiced frustration with the current election system.

I expected the race to be much more competitive but clearly the RTC members had significant concerns with one of the other candidates, he said. The parties have hijacked this initiative and made it about fake choices for their own political purposes.

Like Sherr and Auerbach, Bernstein expressed dismay with the lack of voter choice in the 2017 school board election.

The Greenwich Republican Town Committee (RTC) refused to endorsed more than two candidates, depriving voters of a choice, he wrote in an campaign email Thursday.

Quite simply, the RTC has chosen not to endorse me based my opposition to charter change, which would give one party a permanent majority on the board and remove the need for consensus, collaboration, compromise and cooperation, he wrote. I am independent minded and willing to challenge the status quo. This does not fit with the current RTC majority view that members should toe the line.

Bernstein has until August 9 at 4 p.m. to collect at least 637 signatures from registered Republicans  5 percent of the total number of Greenwich registered Republicans  in order to petition onto the ballot as a party member, according to Republican Registrar of Voters Fred DeCaro III.

If Bernstein can get enough signatures, Greenwich voters will have a competitive election. Either way, the issue of charter change will remain a source of disagreement among candidates, and between parties.

Charter change is a purely political issue that undermines our towns history of bipartisanship on the Board of Education, said Olsson, Democratic BOE candidate. While charter change is one issue in this race, it is not a defining issue and our focus should be on addressing issues affecting our students, teachers and parents.

Her party mate Stowe agreed. There is a lot more we should be focused on like improving Greenwich schools, she said.

Sherr contends that one way to improve education is to make board members more accountable to voters.

Political parties control public education in Greenwich, he said. Its wrong and it needs to change.

emunson@greenwichtime.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
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Carol Cardillo is going to trial.

The owner of an unlicensed Fairfield day care home accused of killing a 4-month-old Shelton boy with an overdose of Benadryl rejected a plea bargain on Friday that could have sent her to prison for five years.

Cardillo, standing beside her lawyer, Eugene Riccio, smiled as she told Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin she was rejecting the plea deal.

The merits of the case will be decided in court, Riccio said later as he and Cardillo left the Fairfield County courthouse.

The babys parents, Matthew and Michelle Seagull, who had sat in the back of the courtroom during the brief hearing, declined comment.

Under the plea deal, Cardillo would have pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and risk of injury to a child and could have received a sentence of 15 years, suspended after she served five years and followed by probation. Riccio would have the right to argue for a lesser term.

The judge told Cardillo her case would now be continued for trial sometime after Nov. 1.

Fairfield police said the baby died March 22, 2016, at Cardillos unlicensed home day care after getting an overdose of Benadryl.

Cardillo ran the day care out of her Edgewood Road home for 11 years.

Drugs like Benadryl are not supposed to be given to children under the age of 2.

The babys parents later told police their son had not been given any medications during his short life, and they definitely did not give Cardillo any permission to do so.

The baby had 41,000 nanograms per milliliter of Benadryl in his system, according to the autopsy report. The report states 5,000 nanograms per milliliter and above is a reportable limit.

Police said Cardillo repeatedly denied giving the baby Benadryl and said she did not have any in her home.

However, police said that records they obtained from the CVS pharmacy showed that between Jan. 1, 2013, and May 24, 2016, Cardillo purchased 90 bottles of Benadryl, the last one purchased a week before the baby died.
Samsung has said that its upcoming Galaxy Note8 smartphone will offer "more advanced" multimedia capabilities, effectively making it the best phone for multimedia consumption.

"The Galaxy Note series, first launched in 2011, come with a range of multimedia features, including the large-size display, and S Pen, only available with the smartphone models," the company said during a recent conference call. "The Galaxy Note 8 will feature more advanced, richer multimedia functionalities."

However, no details were provided about these advanced features. The Galaxy Note8 is set to be made official on August 23 and is expected to go on sale in the month of September.

Source | Via
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Haiti - Army : More than 2,000 candidates soldier enrolled





Tuesday at the military base of Gressier, the recruitment of the first class of soldiers of the new force of Haiti ended, after 4 days of extension https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21566-haiti-notice-military-recruitment-extended-registrations.html . Herve Denis, the Minister of Defense, accompanied by Captain Dieudonne Louicin in charge of the recruitment process, closed the registration period, where more than 2,200 applicants, including 200 girls, enrolled.



Applicants will now have to complete all the other stages: medical and paraclinical examinations, psychological, physical and intellectual tests, followed by an interview until the final selection. In addition, an investigation will be carried out on the selected candidates to prevent certain elements from integrating the new armed forces with a criminal record.



Applicants who successfully complete all stages, depending on the number of the effective which will be retained by the Ministry (fewer than 500 recruits due to reduced budget https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21420-haiti-flash-recruitment-for-the-new-army-is-approaching.html can hope to begin their training of several months probably in October.



However, in addition to this process, there are still many unknowns at the level of the Ministry, including the next budget that has not yet been voted. Meanwhile, Minister Denis reminded parliamentarians of the responsibility to vote the funds necessary for his ministry to operate this new armed force.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20734-haiti-flash-towards-the-recruitment-of-first-soldiers.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21420-haiti-flash-recruitment-for-the-new-army-is-approaching.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Politics : Career Profile in the Health Sector





The document on the career profile in the health sector in Haiti is being finalized. This was revealed by a Technical Group of the Ministry of Health (MSSP) during a presentation this week, for about twenty executives of the Office of Management and Human Resources (OMRH).



The development of this document, the result of a series of approaches and consultations with all stakeholders, aims in particular to contribute to the improvement of the public sector for health jobs in Haiti. Given the scarcity of qualified human resources and the lack of material and financial resources in the field of health, it has been foreseen to provide professionals in the sector with a reference document capable of taking into account all the organizational aspects of the Haitian health system. In addition, the document to be finalized shortly will be developed in order to be able to integrate the new job classification system that will soon be implemented by OMRH.



In his speech, Josue Pierre-Louis, OMRH's General Coordinator, invited the technical group of the Ministry to participate in similar meetings, convinced that the model could be used by all government ministries.



For his part, Antoine Verdier, Deputy General Coordinator of OMRH, said that the document could be integrated into the job classification system after defining the job descriptions.



Sie Azaria Coulibaly, Management Expert, explained to the participants the rationale and content of the document and the recommendations made, the creation of a training institute of middle managers of Health (Health auxiliaries, health officers, health technicians).



It should be noted that the preparation of this document is made possible thanks to the support of the OMRH through the provision of the normative frameworks of the management of the human resources and also by the technical and financial support of the American Agency for the International Development (USAID) through its Financing and Health Governance Project (HFG) of "ABT Associates".



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - DR : The Haitian Embassy handed some documents to the Haitians





The Embassy of Haiti in the Dominican Republic informs that it has handed over 500 official documents to Haitians living in irregular migratory situations, coming from different parts of the Dominican territory. A small number of documents, while nearly 150,000 Haitians enrolled in the National Plan for the Regularization of Foreigners (PNRE) are still awaiting documents from Haiti in an attempt to regularize their situation.



Many Haitians, after making their request, complain of waiting for several years for the delivery of their passport or their Haitian identity card, while in Haiti, President Moise and his Government are promising delivery in 5 days on the Haitian territory and boasts capacity of production in Haiti of 4,000 passports per day https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21590-haiti-politics-issuance-of-identity-documents-the-minister-satisfied.html



Many compatriots accuse the Haitian authorities of preventing them from applying to the PNRE because of the delay in the delivery of the documents indispensable by the Haitian Government...



Note that almost all the many Haitians who fill the waiting area at the Consulate of Haiti in the Dominican Republic, claim a passport and/or a National Identity Card...



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20752-haiti-flash-distribution-of-passports-and-other-documents-in-dr.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20521-haiti-politics-deliveries-of-passports-numbers-game.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19860-haiti-politics-jovenel-moise-promises-documents-to-illegal-haitians-in-dr.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19107-haiti-dr-the-caneros-sent-4-608-copies-of-document-requests-to-privert.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18265-haiti-politic-the-chancellor-promised-passports-to-haitians-in-the-dr.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18188-haiti-social-the-anh-unable-to-meet-the-demands-of-haitians-living-in-the-dr.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17989-haiti-dominican-republic-the-haitian-government-says-anything.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-17919-icihaiti-politic-the-passport-application-increased-200-over-one-year.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14432-haiti-politic-failure-of-pidih-a-fiasco-of-$2-million.html



SL / HaitiLibre


















Published on 2017/07/29 | Source

Added episode 18 captures for the Korean drama "Queen for 7 Days" (2017)

Advertisement

Directed by Lee Jung-seob

Written by Choi Jin-yeong

Network : KBS

With Park Min-young, Yeon Woo-jin, Lee Dong-gun, Jang Hyun-sung, Kang Shin-il, Son Eun-seo,...

20 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00

Synopsis

A period drama about Queen Dangyeong who was on the throne for 7 days before she was disposed.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2017/05/31

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Making the planet a healthier place  and, by extension, more secure and economically vibrant  requires the attention not only of world leaders and organizations, but the dedication of a whole community of health care professionals on the ground tackling the issues day in and day out.

Do you imagine a hospital or physician delivering care? Do you think of medicines or machines or even the scientists who develop both? Or perhaps its none of the above.

You can see how this causes a conundrum for the community of health professionals focused on these issues. Both the beauty and blessing of global health is that it means a myriad of things to many people. Probably more important is our ultimate collective goal: to improve health and wellness for people worldwide.

Whether focused on community education and risk prevention, health care services and patient support or data and innovation, global health encompasses a wide range of programs and practitioners. And there are countless issues and ailments that influence health. People often think of infectious diseases ranging from the flu to Ebola.

Others might consider more chronic conditions, such as cancer or heart disease, that affect populations worldwide. However, risk factors, such as tobacco use, are a critical global health concern as are systemic challenges, such as vaccine shortages and resistance to antibiotics  a disturbing reality of today. Furthermore, there are clear links between health and other global issues, including climate change and infrastructure. Weather patterns affect the population of animals and insects that carry diseases and, at a basic level, crops that provide nutritious foods to children and adults. Poor sanitation makes communities and families vulnerable to a number of other infections.

As broad as the global health sector and its stakeholders can be, there are clear trends that apply across the board. First of all, the burden is shifting in interesting and important ways. We are on the cusp of eradicating polio, after years of strong efforts and investments. We also are within sight of an AIDS-free generation and the end of preventable maternal and child deaths. These are milestones of which we should be proud as a health care community. At the same time, we are continuously faced with regular pandemic outbreaks and other threats that could affect the progress weve made to date in other areas. And there are a number of priorities that still dont get nearly the attention they should. A prime example is tuberculosis. It has become clear the global health community must be ready not only for whats now but what is next.

In addition to the shifting global health burden, we are faced with a change in political appetites for and understanding of global health investments or needs. The United States  a leader in this field for decades  is debating what its role should be in financing and otherwise driving global health progress. Other traditional donor countries are increasing their investments, particularly in the area of family planning and reproductive health. In March, the governments of Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden co-organized a She Decides conference to raise funds in support of sexual and reproductive health and family planning worldwide.

There were also a number of commitments made at this years Family Planning Summit, co-hosted by Britains Department of International Development, the United Nations Population Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Nearly 40 governments, 16 companies, and 11 partner organizations pledged US $2.5 billion by 2020, with a majority of funding coming from countries in Africa and Asia. This demonstrates an especially relevant trend, which is how much domestic versus international funding has come to play a role in global health activities. Private-sector initiatives have become increasingly-important, as well. Last year, about 20 companies came together to form the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Private Sector Roundtable. This coalition, with members across various industries, serves to coordinate private-sector activities that support countries in reaching their GHSA goals. Clearly, as we think about how to tackle the worlds health problems, such examples help us consider the range of resources required to be successful and how to stimulate diverse sources of funding.

A critical resource is global health leadership. Leaders can range from Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the new director-general of World Health Organization, to a community health worker who provides education on disease risk and local treatment services. Ultimately, global health is about the people that benefit or suffer from its progress or setbacks. So it makes sense that they drive its future. People on the ground tackling these issues daily can tell us what they see and hear, what they know is working, and how to ensure we continue to make positive gains. They share their stories, providing honest perspectives and helpful reference points for praiseworthy outcomes and lessons learned. And, perhaps most importantly, they broaden the ownership of global health so that, no matter the definition we use, everyone understands his or her role in advancing its mission. In reality, we all have an opportunity to support global health and, given its connection to everything from the global economy to national security, we should step up and do so.

Loyce Pace is the President and Executive Director of the Global Health Council, a US-based membership organization representing the collective voice of the global health community worldwide. Loyce has previously held leadership positions in global policy and strategic partnerships at the Livestrong Foundation and the American Cancer Society. While Director of Regional Programs for the American Cancer Society's Department of Global Health, she was responsible for developing their first capacity-building and advocacy initiatives in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Internationally renowned sculptor Paul Ferriter was yesterday awarded 88,000 compensation for having to move his studio out of a Temple Bar building that is due to be demolished as part of a redevelopment.

It is just under a quarter of the 360,000 he had asked Judge James O'Donohoe to award him in a Circuit Civil Court application. The 88,000 award was reduced by 10,000 that Mr Ferriter conceded he owed his landlord in rent.

Mr Ferriter had sought the compensation from landlord Rockyvale for having to quit his studio and find somewhere else to continue moulding his acclaimed works.

The sculptor, of Clonsilla Road, Blanchardstown, Dublin, has completed sculptures of many famous sporting figures, including Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and both Christy O'Connor Snr and Christy Jnr, as well as jockey AP McCoy.

He had rented the top floor of Fashion House in Upper Exchange Street and Copper Alley, Dublin, and had been told this week by Judge O'Donohoe that he was entitled to a new five-year lease, but Mr Ferriter asked the court to assess compensation, asking for the six-figure sum.

Rossa Fanning, counsel for Rockyvale, of Northwood Park, Santry, Dublin, told the court that Fashion House was to be demolished and redeveloped in a multi-million-euro extension to the existing Parliament Hotel almost opposite Dublin City Hall in Lord Edward Street.

Adequate

Mr Fanning said planning permission had already been obtained from Dublin City Council and contractors had been hired and ready to start work next month.

Rockyvale's valuer, Peter Stapleton, had estimated adequate compensation at 50,000.

Mr Ferriter told his barrister John Donnelly that he was currently working on new sculptures for Cheltenham Racecourse, and had sculpted famous horses owned by Ryanair's Michael O'Leary.

Judge O'Donohoe heard that Mr Ferriter (49) had been paying 800 a month but was 10,000 in arrears.

Mr Ferriter said he had withheld rent after having been locked out of the building, but had lodged 10,000 with his solicitors Ivor Fitzpatrick to cover the backlog.

The High Court had allowed him back in last year.

Mr Fanning told the court planning permission had been obtained for a five-to-seven-storey development over basement extension, which would include 77 additional bedrooms.

In total, the hotel would have 128 bedrooms, with access from both Exchange Street Upper and Lord Edward Street.

Judge O'Donohoe awarded Mr Ferriter 88,000 compensation, reduced to 78,000 to cover rent arrears, and directed that Rockyvale make a 7,500 contribution towards his costs.

Mr Ferriter was granted six weeks to leave the building.
Mohamed Okda was found guilty of two counts of rape and one of sexual assault

A mother who was raped by a twisted thug who pretended to come to her aid after she got lost on a night out in Dublin says she is now a "broken person".

In a heartbreaking victim impact statement read out in the Central Criminal Court, the married woman described how she suffers from panic attacks and depression since she was raped by Mohamed Okda while in the city centre in 2014.

"My trusting nature and heart has been broken," she said. "I am now a broken person.

"My belief that people are essentially good and my belief in people around me has been damaged."

Okda (30), an Egyptian national formerly of Coolfin, Rathdowney, Co Laois, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of raping the woman and one count of sexually assaulting her at a flat in Dublin in February, 2014.

The jury took just under three hours to return unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts following the seven-day trial earlier this month. One of the jurors returned to court yesterday for the sentence hearing. The matter will return to court on October 9.

Garda Mark Mahon told Sean Guerin SC, prosecuting, that the woman had travelled to Dublin to enjoy her first night out since the birth of her child.

Around 4am she got separated from her friends after she went to an ATM to get money out for a homeless person.

She did not know the exact address of where she was staying and could not get through to her friends, the court heard.

Asleep

She was upset and crying when she was approached by Okda, who suggested she came back to his apartment where she could continue to try and contact her friends.

The court heard the woman was drunk and tired. She fell asleep or blacked out on a sofa bed in the apartment and woke up to find Okda touching her.

The woman repeatedly said "no" and told Okda she had a husband and children, but he kept pushing her back down, telling her: "You stay. It's OK."

Gda Mahon said the woman was in fear for her life by that stage, and that although Okda did not make any verbal threats, she was very frightened by the expression on his face.

The woman begged Okda not to kill her before he raped her.

When it was over, he told her she could go. The woman ran outside and tried to flag down a number of cars before a taxi stopped and took her to a garda station.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said she tried to seek counselling, but even picking up the phone to arrange appointments brought on a panic attack.

Supportive

She said she was lucky to have a supportive husband and that they were working to repair their relationship, adding: "My husband has to deal with the trauma of what happened to his wife."

She said: "I often feel like I can't go on. For the sake of my husband and kids I get up every day and do my best to get on with life. I was once a happy person who loved to talk.

"Not a day goes by without feeling the weight of that night and what was done to me and what can never be undone."

Mr Justice Michael Moriarty told the woman she was an "admirable lady".

Okda has 16 previous convictions in Ireland, none of which is for a sexual offence. He has been in custody since he was found guilty.

Ciaran O'Loughlin SC, defending, requested that the matter be adjourned until October, when a plea of mitigation and cross-examination of Gda Mahon will take place.
Gardai are seeking to extradite a teenage girl who fled Ireland after the sickening assault and robbery of a young autistic man at a Dart station.

The Herald can reveal that detectives are trying to find the 19-year-old over her involvement in the attack, which took place at Bray Dart station in April last year.

During the violent assault the victim, who is in his 20s, suffered a broken nose and two black eyes and had his phone stolen.

Exclusive CCTV footage obtained by the Herald shows three women and a man - Jason O'Sullivan - launching an unprovoked attack on the vulnerable young man.

The teenager who gardai want to speak to had a key role in the incident.

Seen in these images wearing pink runners, the girl aggressively confronted the man and later could be seen holding on to him as her male accomplice attacked him.

O'Sullivan (30) last week admitted the serious assault and robbery when he appeared before Wicklow Circuit Court.

Gardai believe the young woman they want to question over the attack has fled Ireland and is currently in another European country.

A source told the Herald that gardai are liaising with Interpol in an attempt to track her down and return her to Ireland.

"Gardai are in the process of applying for a European Arrest Warrant for this woman," the source said.

"Her exact location is not known, but detectives want to question her about her role in what can only be described as a sickening attack on a vulnerable young man."

Investigating officers at Bray Garda Station believe the women played a prominent role in the robbery and assault of the young man.

Last week, it emerged that O'Sullivan faces anything up to life in prison for the horrific attack.

He admitted assault only minutes before he was due to stand trial at Wicklow Circuit Court for robbing the young man.

The incident happened as the victim left Bray Dart station at 6pm on April 4 last year.

It was captured on CCTV cameras, and the images show O'Sullivan repeatedly striking his victim in the face.

As the young man fell to the ground and begged not to be hit any more, O'Sullivan launched a full-force kick to his face.

Speaking in the days after the attack, the victim's father said his son normally left the station with everyone else, but on this occasion he stopped to help a man in a wheelchair.

Jury

O'Sullivan, of Connolly Square, Bray, is originally from Dublin's Ballybrack.

He admitted seriously assaulting the young man but denied robbery.

The robbery trial was due to start last week, but minutes before a jury was empanelled his lawyer told the court it would not be required.

O'Sullivan was arraigned and admitted stealing a mobile phone by the use of force from a young man at Bray Dart station in April last year.

When the robbery charge was put to him, O'Sullivan, who was wearing jeans and a long-sleeve grey shirt, replied "guilty".

Defence barrister Seoirse O Dunlaing said it would become clear when the evidence was given that someone else took the phone.

However, Mr O Dunlaing said O'Sullivan now accepted his guilt as it was part of a joint enterprise.
After Parrott's lead disappears, Trone takes 6th District race

Republican state Del. Neil Parrott conceded on Friday after close race. Trone to return as congressman for 6th District.
NEWTON  A Hickory man will spend 10 to 17 years in prison after Superior Court Judge Don Bridges sentenced him Thursday after he pleaded guilty to sex-related offenses involving a minor, according to a 25th District Attorneys Office press release.

David Mason Bangs, 42, pleaded guilty to attempted statutory sex offense with a 15-year-old victim and solicitation of a minor by computer.

On Jan. 23, 2016, Hickory Police Department officers responded to a residence for a welfare check regarding a 15-year-old male, who had reported some inappropriate touching performed on him by Bangs and a co-defendant, according to the release.

During a forensic interview with the Child Advocacy Protection Center of Catawba County, the victim revealed more information about the incident, including that he met Bangs through a social media side and had agreed to meet with him and the co-defendant, according to the release.

While with Bangs and the co-defendant, the victim said Bangs touched him in an inappropriate manner and tried to perform acts of sexual gratification on him, according to the release.

The co-defendant still has pending cases.
#football Injured star Son Heung-min named to S. Korean World Cup squad The injured South Korean football star Son Heung-min was named to the country's World Cup squad Saturday, as the football-crazed nation waits with bated breath to see if the belove...
The global tiger day was created to think of the needs of a wild tiger. Sadly we have forgotten this primary objective. What I am going to do is to spell out the Indian tigers wishlist in the hope that those that engage with tigers will rethink and review their strategies.

The most important item on the wishlist is to see a mindset change in the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) where this specially created institution starts to imbibe field wisdom about wild tigers through innovative strategies on both protection and tourism. Tigers love well-managed visitors. They keep the forest staff on alert and can provide vital information on illegal grazing, wood felling and poaching. After all, there are hundreds of more eyes and ears looking and hearing. In places where tourism is low, tigers have suffered hugely. The NTCA must learn to respect site-specific initiatives of state governments that can through tourism revenue make our tiger reserves self sufficient. This in turn provides field directors to undertake vital protection work without bureaucratic delays. The NTCA in the last decade has discouraged tourism and endlessly interfered with state government policy seriously impacting the health of tigers. Managing tigers is a state subject and the NTCA must be in the role of facilitator and not policeman.

The chief wildlife wardens of the states are vital to the tigers wishlist. They need to take bold and innovative decisions that inspire the field staff. They need to engage with local communities in the effort to protect tigers. They need to ensure that all vacant positions are filled and chief ministers engaged with all the issues that confront wild tigers. State-of-the-art training is an essential element in the quality of governance that is needed to protect tigers. Retired army officers can instruct on field craft, retired intelligence officials on gathering intelligence on poachers and their syndicates. Our country can offer the best talent to secure the future of wild tigers.

Inter-state cooperation is vital to good governance and even more important than linking up with the central government. Rajasthan has held such a meeting with Maharashtra so that both can imbibe best practices from each other. Choose forest staff with care. Good decisions are made by those who spend time understanding tigers. Ignorant decisions damage the future of tigers. The four or five big NGOs must revitalise their thinking and prevent duplication. Focus on specific trouble spots and solve problems with tactical help to the forest staff. Do not beat your own drum. Partner with local communities. The future of tigers will lie in how communities engage in protection. The time for sweet talking them is over. Gather the young and train them into tiger protectors.

All this requires strong political will. Tigers need chief ministers at their side. Their instructions are vital to innovative initiatives and this is where strong partnerships between the government and non-governmental sector can trigger the necessary political will. Frequent meetings of the state board of wildlife that chief ministers chair are vital to resolving the tigers problems.

The Prime Minister of the country must play his role for the sake of our national animal. The Prime Minister chairs the national board for wildlife and frequent meetings are a must. The full board has not met for four years. This is the moment to meet and the best experts must apprise the Prime Minister of the tigers needs.

These are the five points on the wish list of Indias wild tigers. And who says it is not possible? Rajasthan has shown the way. Under the supervision of the chief minister, the Ranthambhore tiger reserve has shown the highest amount of tigers ever now touching 65 with the highest tourist revenue now touching 4 million dollars just on entry ticket revenue. It has some of the best local community monitoring and protection and a genuine partnership with field forest staff. It has the best tourism practices and regular monthly meetings of an empowered committee that reports back to the chief minister. For the first time ever, extra tourism revenue is going to new tiger habitats that suffered tremendously due to limited funds.

Where there is a will there is a way. It is up to all of us to make it the day of the tiger.

Valmik Thapar has worked for 42 years with wild tigers. He has also written 30 books on Indias tigers and wildlife
Laws relating to social justice often express the pious hope, in the form of non-mandatory timelines for completion of trails. For example, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, lays down a timeline of three months for the completion of the case. Any lawyer will tell you that it is difficult to see conclusion in three years leave alone three months. These delays are sometimes beyond the control of the courts, but sometimes courts consciously delay these matters, giving them low priority as family matters. Hence, delays in court are a function of the ideology of the judge and also the availability of time and infrastructure.

Sometimes the language of the statute uses the expression as far as possible, in recognition of the fact that a statute cannot really lay down a timeline but only a guideline.

In the case of a trial for rape, Section 309 states that the trial shall be conducted as far as possible within 2 months of the filing of the charge sheet. When the legislature passes a law of this kind, it is difficult to understand the purpose behind such a direction to the Court, as we all know that the supply of judicial time falls far short of the demands for time. How does one resolve this conflict? On the one hand, it is difficult to lay down a mandatory timeline given the number to players involved with any given case. On the other hand, there are complaints that judges are very liberal with adjournments, and often they remain absent without the case being assigned to some other judge.

In the case of rape, for example, medical evidence (where it is collected) is critical to the outcome of the case. Yet the results of any medical examination can be provided only by a forensic laboratory. It is a notorious fact that this country lacks adequate numbers of forensic labs to provide the results for timely disposal of a case. This results in adjournments without number, making it impossible to deliver judgment within two months of filing the charge sheet. The law will then end up being only a pious hope that the case will be decided expeditiously.

In such a case, the obvious solution lies in increasing the number of forensic labs. However, since that is not likely to happen overnight, forensic experts have suggested that every hospital should have a forensic expert attached to it; and if that is done, in the case of rape the expert can give his or her opinion simultaneously with the taking of the sample. These are simple solutions which can be implemented forthwith, but we see no movement on the suggestion. It is time for us to recognize that not by law alone can justice be delivered expeditiously. Governments have to learn to put their money where their mouth is and fund the administration of justice better, by appointing more judges, providing competent public prosecutors, set up one-stop crisis centres and provide witness protection to women facing sexual abuse.

In the aftermath of the 2012 Delhi gang rape, the then Union government announced the Nirbhaya fund in its Union budget 2013 with an initial corpus of Rs 100 crore for implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the security and safety for women in the country. It is non-lapsable corpus fund. There have been subsequent budgetary allocations to the fund as follows: in 2014-15, it was 1000 crore, in 2016-17, it was 550 crore, and in 2-17-18, it was another 550 crore.

These funds are maintained by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). The schemes are implemented/administered by the respective ministries. The Ministry of Finance, DEA issues guidelines from time to time for the administration and operationalisation of the fund. As per guidelines issued on 25.03.2015, the Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal Ministry to appraise and recommend the proposed schemes only under Nirbhaya Fund, it also reviews and monitors the progress of sanctioned schemes in conjunction with the line ministries/departments. The total expected expenditure as of 31st March 2017 would be to the tune of Rs. 332.76 Crores.

The unspent amounts are huge. No amount has been spent on the administration of justice. One-stop crisis centres have not been set up in every hospital and in every court in the country as they should be. As I said in the Supreme Court while arguing an amicus brief on laws relating to sexual abuse, money is never a problem in this country, what is a problem is where you put it!

There is, however, one contributory factor to delay which the courts can take care of and that is repeated adjournments requested by lawyers. There is no reason why these should be granted, except when the lawyers themselves are busy in other courts. Lawyers have come to see adjournments as a right, excuses range from the believable to the unbelievable, such as the sudden demise of a cousin where everyone is a cousin, to marriage in the family. Passing a law to conclude a trial in two months is not the only solution to the problem, the issue requires more sensitive handling if we want to see expeditious disposal of rape trials. Judges have to learn to say no to adjournments.

We have a long way to go for expeditious access to justice for women facing sexual violence.


Actor Sanjay Dutt aka Sanju Baba is known for his on screen persona. Whether hes playing the role of a deadly gangster, a ferocious drug lord or a funny man, Dutt has carried out all his roles with ease. And, his looks for each of the characters he portrayed on screen have been as convincing as they could get.

As the actor turns 58 today, we bring you the best of his on-screen looks that eventually became style statements. Check them out.

Saajan (1991)

Actors Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Dutt in a still from Saajan.

Playing the role of a physically disabled poet Aman, Dutt rocked long tresses, creating a trend among young men at the time. Playing the role of an introvert, the actor mostly flaunted shirts in solid colours and effortlessly charmed the audience.

Khalnayak (1993)

Actor Sanjay Dutt in a still from Khalnayak.

Possibly one of the sexiest bad guys on screen, Ballu remains Dutts most remembered role till date. While playing a fearsome terrorist, he exuded the intensity that his character demanded. Despite unkempt mane, rough beard and shabby demeanor, Dutt looked every bit attractive.

Vaastav (1999)

Actor Sanjay Dutt in a still from the movie Vaastav.

Raghunath Namdev Shivalkar  the gangster role won Dutt a National Award for his on-screen portrayal. Donning mostly a white kurta pyajama teamed with gold ornaments, with slickly gelled hair and a red tilak, Dutts character was loosely based on the life of Chhota Rajan.

Munnabhai MBBS (2003)

Actor Sanjay Dutt in a comic role in Munnabhai MBBS.

Only Dutt could make the tapori look so stylish. He played the role of a local goon, Murli Prasad Sharma, who becomes a doctor by attaining a fake medical degree. He carried the casual look in the film  printed shirts, summer jackets teamed up with denims  with so much ease.

Zinda (2006)

Actors Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham in a still from Zinda.

For the role of Balajeet Bala Roy, Dutt underwent a complete makeover for his part in the film. With rugged beard and unkempt fringes, the actor convincingly played his part where his character is imprisoned for 14 years without any clue, and is suddenly released.

Son of Sardar (2012)

Sanjay Dutt opted for a turban look for Son or Sardaar.

Dutts father, Sunil Dutts bandit king avatar from dacoit drama Mujhe Jeene Do (1963), inspired his look for the role of Balwinder Sandhu. From his clothes, wavy long hair and makeup, Dutts character bears so much resemblance to his fathers role in the film.

Agneepath (2012)

Actor Sajay Dutts ferocious look in Agneepath.

Dutt won many hearts with his ferocious looks as Kancha Cheena. Dangerous, ruthless and menacing, Dutt pulled off the role of a drug lord with his deadly bald look. The ear piercing made his look all the more fierce  not to forget, the massive tattoos on his arms.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Sheryl Sandberg remembers clearly that night at the end of Sheloshim, the 30-day mourning period for loved ones in the Jewish tradition. She had just written the post that would go on to

Speaking to us from Facebooks global headquarters in Menlo Park, Sandberg, the companys COO, said she had composed that post to say what she would if she were being super honest about her feelings at the time.

I had returned to work after Daves death and found myself completely isolated, she recalls. There was, for instance, none of the chit-chat I was used to in office. After she completed the post, Sandberg says, she looked at it and said, Thats too open, too raw, theres no way Im sharing this. The next morning she reread it and realised that what she was going through was simply too horrible. And I hit post, she says.

Sharing for caring

The post went viral and stories of loss and grief began to pour in from everywhere. The people in her circle shed felt isolated from also began to reach out to her. Perhaps it didnt ease the grief, but it certainly tackled the isolation, Sheryl remembers. Her act of sharing, which must have taken a lot of courage, had made a palpable impact.

In her post, she wrote: I was talking to one of these friends about a father-child activity that Dave is not here to do. We came up with a plan to fill in for Dave. I cried to him, But I want Dave. I want option A. He put his arm around me and said, Option A is not available. So lets just kick the shit out of option B. Thats one place where Sandbergs new book, Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy, emerged from.



Sandbergs new book Option B has contributions from across the globe

The other inspiration came from a letter she received two weeks after Goldberg died. It was from a widow, and said, Try as I might, I cant come up with a single thing that I know will help you. Devastated that there was to be no light at the end of the tunnel she was trapped in, she called Adam Grant, psychologist and Wharton professor, who was also a family friend. He flew down to tell Sandberg that while grief was unavoidable,

there were things she could do to lessen the anguish for herself and her two children. He backed his assurances with data. Sandbergs journey from feeling she was in an abyss with no bottom to be able to love again is what has gone into Option B, which she has co-written with Grant.

Let it out



Snapshots of Sandbergs life with her late husband Dave Goldberg, who died in 2015 when they were on vacation in Punta Mita, Mexico. This incident initiated her to write the book Plan B, which contains stories from all over the world  including India  of women whove built resilience in the face of tragedy.

In the months that followed her husbands death, Sandberg began to keep a journal. I had never journalled before, she says, And I found it helped me immensely to cope with everything I was going through at the time. Option B combines the personal insights Sandberg gathered during this time with Grants eye-opening research. Into the book are woven stories of people whove built resilience in the face of tragedy, many of who reached out to Sandberg in the wake of her own loss. The messages came from all over the world, including India. Yes, there were notes I received from India, some of them too personal to share here, Sandberg says.

She has, as she pointed out, spent a lot of time in India. Straight out of Harvard, she worked for the World Banks India health team on leprosy education. She writes in Option B, I visited treatment centres and hospitals all over India and met hundreds of patients, many of whom had been kicked out of their villages and were living in abject poverty and isolationI got through each day trying to be professional and then cried myself to sleep each night. It put all of my problems into perspective.

Her most recent visit to has been in her capacity as Facebook COO. What has changed in in the intervening years? There is a lot of work to be done in the realm of gender equality and there are very real challenges for women in , she says, adding that it is no different elsewhere in the world. It is with the mission to empower women to achieve their ambitions that LeanIn.org, which grew out of Sandbergs first book, 2013s Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, was established by the Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation. There are now over 33,000 Lean In Circles  small groups who meet regularly to learn and grow together  across the globe, including in , set up to achieve this end.

Company of friends

In Option B, Sandberg describes how trauma can lead to a loss of confidence and self-belief (Getty Images)

Sandberg says with candour that had she known what she knows now after her loss, she would have written a different book. I was telling women to bring their whole selves to work. After Daves death I took myself to work, but it wasnt my whole self, she says. In Option B, Sandberg describes how trauma can lead to a loss of confidence and self-belief. She speaks also of the support and understanding she received from her boss, Mark Zuckerberg.

Marks compassion started me down the path of learning to have compassion for myself. I felt deep gratitude for having such a supportive boss, and I know not everyone does, she writes.

Sandberg says that as a leader, her experience of dealing with grief and learning to build resilience has led to a whole different level of understanding. Known for her commitment to empowering people to achieve their best, she says she realised after her own loss what companies can do for their people when they face crisis.

We need to understand how devastating it can be for someone who loses a spouse and is left with children or, worse, with nothing. I learned also that we cant ignore whats going on in peoples lives, she says. She doesnt advocate overdoing it, but believes we ignore too much. People didnt want to talk about my loss because they thought it reminded me of Daves death, she says. But when we dont say anything we add to the pain and the isolation.

People didnt want to talk to me about my loss because they thought it reminded me of Daves death. But when we dont say anything, we add to the pain and isolation.



In Option B, Sandberg emphasises repeatedly the role family and friends have in helping people deal with devastating losses. But in a world, where both joy and sorrow are frequently communicated via texts, comments and likes, could social media be causing that very social fabric to fray? Sandberg doesnt think so.

Your close ties are with the people you are constantly in touch with, she says, And nothing alters that. How social media helps is by keeping you connected with your wider circle and to strengthen ties within that. For me, it has been a wonderful way to preserve memories. Soon after Dave died people whose lives he had touched were walking up to me and telling me stories about him. At that time I was in no condition to take in, leave alone remember those stories. I asked then that those memories be posted on Daves Facebook page. Thats where they are now and I get to go back and read those stories about Dave. I find comfort in that. Comfort and strength is what shes hoping the readers of Option B will find on its pages.

Priya Bala is a senior writer based in Bengaluru who specialises in food, travel and lifestyle writing and has edited several major mainstream publications in the past.

Follow@HTBrunch on TwitterFrom HT Brunch, July 30, 2017

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Most recently, youve seen him as Arjun Kapoors best friend in Half Girlfriend (2017) and in Dil Dhadkne Do (2015) as the rich kid whose good looks gave Ranveer Singh some serious competition. Noveau film lovers will remember him from the brilliant Death in the Gunj (2017) as the leading man with complexities that each of us have faced. Yet, it is his role in Lootera (2013) that people remember Vikrant Massey for. He played Ranveer Singhs best friend and assistant, and thats how Vikrant became Bollywoods favourite best friend.

In all honesty, I didnt even know the script of the film or what I was going to be doing. All I knew was that I was going to be Ranveers friend, says Vikrant. But back then or even now, that did not bother me. I needed the platform to showcase what I could do and thats all that mattered. That and the fact that it was being directed by Vikramaditya Motwane. Those were the two reasons I signed the film.

Small to big

Playing the best friend was never a problem for Vikrant, who came from almost 10 years of television experience. (He debuted as a school boy in Disney Channels Dhoom Machaao Dhoom in 2007.) Like any other aspirational actor, I wanted to be a part of films, says Vikrant. So, auditioning for the heros best friend was not a deal breaker. Despite my television years, I knew nobody was going to invest any amount of money for me to showcase my skills. I was just happy with getting hired. In all pomposity and humility, I just wanted to show what I could do as an actor and I jumped when Lootera came my way.

Getting noticed in Lootera seemed easy, especially when compared to his next project, Bollywoods biggest ensemble blockbuster of recent times, Dil Dhadakne Do (2015). But even there, Vikrant managed a comfortable spot in a frame that boasted Anil Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Farhan Akhtar and more. For that, Vikrant credits director Zoya Akhtar.

She stuck by me and wanted me to be a part of the film. Its very important for actors to feel like a part of the puzzle and not the puzzle itself. If they go amiss, the puzzle will never be complete, but they are still not the entire puzzle itself. And thats something I learnt from Dil Dhadakne Do, he says.

Just three films old, Vikrant landed his first protagonist role with Konkona Sen Sharmas A Death in the Gunj. Konkona first noticed Vikrant in Lootera, and wrote the critically-acclaimed character of Shutu with him in mind. The movie, which has recently been acquired by Amazon Prime, has already done great things for Vikrants career and confidence both

Auditioning for the heros best friend was never a deal-breaker. In all pomposity and humility, I wanted to show what I could do as an actor

Ive really been fortunate in terms of the love and recognition Ive got, says Vikrant. At the end of the day, everyone appreciates appreciation. Even within the industry, people have been very kind and appreciative. Whatever I have is because of the people who are watching me. I dont have a PR agency, I dont have a manager, and I dont even have a professional portfolio. People who hire me are people who, just like the audience, have just seen me in a small role here or in an ad there.

Character analysis

Vikrant debuted as a school boy in Disney Channels Dhoom Machao Dhoom in 2007. (Vikrant wears a shirt from Zara) (Shivangi Kulkarni)

Vikrant was Arjun Kapoors best friend in Half Girlfriend (2017) a week before playing Shutu in A Death in the Gunj. In the former, hes a Bihari student among a sea of judgemental Delhi University kids, who eventually becomes a corporate hotshot. Basically, this character was Shutuss opposite in every way.

People acknowledge what I bring to a character and theyve been impressed with my ability to do that with every film, says Vikrant. That is more important to me than, say, doing one great film followed by five bad ones. Theres very limited room for failure for anyone like me and I understand that. Having said that, Im very happy with how things have shaped up. I really dont know what the future has in store for me. I dont know if I will go back to playing the best friend roles as theyre called, or whether I will get to play the protagonist more. If I get offered another such role, Ill do it as long as its a good role.

He adds, Ive always admired people like Irrfan (Khan), Anupam Kher or Om Puri who dont care about screen time. To these people and to me, the length of the part never matters. I want the part to challenge and excite me as an actor, whether as the actors best friend or his brother. I understand its a slow process. Yes, I want filmmakers to know that Im ready to shoulder the responsibility of a protagonist. Im also ready for smaller yet important parts but theres more I can do.

An optimist, Vikrants looking forward to his recently released and controversial film Lipstick Under My Burkha. Its another important film and I hope that it gets the love it deserves, he says. Hes not the hero in this heroine-oriented movie but then again, thats never a problem. I have always believed that no matter what the medium, no matter how big or small your role is, if you work diligently, there is no way that youll skip peoples observations.

His career graph, which Vikrant is not analysing currently, seems proof of that statement.

From HT Brunch, July 30, 2017

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There is no hotter sauce in the world these days than Sriracha. And it is hot in two different ways. Its hot because it is flying off the shelves and is the one Asian chilli sauce that famous Western chefs seem to love. The New York Times tells us that the three-Michelin star New York chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten uses it on tuna and to spice up a Hollandaise. In London, Yotam Ottolenghi has made it famous. Most trendy food truck chefs find some use for it. Food chains offer it along with ketchup. Even Walmart sells it to Middle America.

And it is hot in a second sense because, well, it is a hot sauce. At a time when the West is going crazy over the hotness of chillies, Sriracha has become the hot sauce of choice for Western foodies who brag about how much chilli they can endure.

The process of making Sriracha sauce involves red chillies, the same ones that we use for cooking in India. (Shutterstock)

Nearly a decade ago, I was first introduced to Sriracha in San Francisco. I liked it  to the extent that Indians, who have grown up on fresh chillies, can like any bottled chilli sauce. But I was not sure where it came from. The bottle said it was manufactured by the Huy Fong company, which sounds like the name of a mass-manufacturer of fortune cookies.

I was told that it was actually a Korean sauce because everyone in California bought it at Korean grocery stores and supermarkets.

This sounded reasonable enough to me. Then, a few years later, the Sriracha boom began. Thats when all the fancy chefs started using it and it became the trendy hot sauce for the American mainstream, edging out Tabasco.

I was intrigued by the passion that Sriracha evoked, especially among young people. So I tried it again. It was nice. But no, I couldnt see what the fuss was about. Besides, I thought to myself, why didnt I come across it in Korea?

Turns out, Sriracha is not Korean at all. And there is no Mr. Huy Fong. The company was created by a Vietnamese entrepreneur called David Tran in (where else?) California. Tran grew up in Vietnam, emigrated to the US, coming over on a freighter called Huy Fong (so thats where he got the name from!) and setting up a sauce factory.

(Left) David Tran, founder of the Huy Fong company in California; Khun Keiengsak and his sister Khun Russamee run the last surviving Sriracha sauce factory in the town of Sriracha, Thailand. (Getty images)

In the many glorious profiles I have read of Tran, he is always portrayed as embodying the American dream. The story goes like this:

Tran came with nothing. He remembered the chilli sauce that his family ate in Vietnam. And he resolved to recreate that sauce in America. When he first bottled it, he was told it was too hot for America. Why didnt he add some tomato? But the courageous Tran defied the sceptics and bottled an authentic sauce.

And now that Tran is rich and successful, he is very low-profile. We know this because nearly every interview he gives contains at least one reference to his low-profile nature and his reluctance to give interviews.

So I had it completely wrong. It is not a Korean sauce at all. It is a Vietnamese sauce, right?

Ah well, not exactly...

The more I read about Tran, the more something kept nagging at the edges of my brain. Hang on! I said to myself. Isnt there a town called Sriracha in Thailand near Pattaya?

There is, indeed. And that, in fact, is where the sauce originated, not in Trans genius imagination.

I discovered that I was not the first to make this point. Thais feel very strongly about the appropriation of their Sriracha by a Vietnamese American. They have said so with increasing levels of outrage.

The story seemed too good to resist. So last week, I took a plane to Bangkok and drove for two hours till I got to Sriracha (or Si Racha, both spellings are used).

A friend had arranged for me to meet Khun Keiengsak (Khun is a gender-neutral Thai honorific), who ran the last surviving Sriracha sauce factory in the town. There must have been a time when Sriracha was pretty but now, it is just another overdeveloped small Thai town with a population of 30,000.

Khun Keiengsak turned out to be a 70-year-old man of great dignity and, it must be said, great contempt for the claims made by the Huy Fong company. This Vietnamese man, he snorted, came once to Pattaya (the resort is near Sriracha), tried the sauce and decided to make it. He always intended to make our sauce. Why else would he call it Sriracha?

I said that as the plucky Tran of legend was an impoverished immigrant before he made his sauce, I did not think he could have come to Pattaya for a beach holiday at that stage of his life.

But Khun Keiengsak would not be diverted. He says that it is a Vietnamese sauce from his childhood! They do not even have this sauce in Vietnam. If it is Vietnamese, why is it named after my town?

Khun Keiengsak says his great grandmother set up the business. I do not say that we were the first or that she invented the sauce but it has been in our family for four generations, he explained. According to him, this is a popular sauce in the town and has always been made by several artisans, cooks and manufacturers.

Artisanal maker Khun Keiengsaks Siracha sauce brand called Floating Island.

Now, he runs the family business with the aid of his sister, Khun Russamee. They took me to their factory, which was more like a small artisanal workshop, located in one of the few unspoilt bits of Sriracha, with palm trees and a Chinese temple in the courtyard.

Khun Russamee explained the process. They buy red chillies (the same ones we use for cooking in India), cut off the stalks, and then boil and salt them. Next, the salted chillies go into a grinder, where they are pulverised till a smooth paste forms. This salt and chilli paste is then left to develop in large jars for between one to two months. When they judge that it is ready, it is mixed with sugar, garlic, salt and vinegar and ground again. Eventually, they add water and bottle the sauce.

I asked Khun Keiengsak if he had tried the Huy Fong sauce. He said yes, and it was clearly the same Sriracha sauce, made by the same method to the traditional recipe, but with extra chilli. Khun Russamee said she did not like it at all because too hot, too hot!

The town of Sriracha must have been pretty at some time but now, its just another overdeveloped town. (Shutterstock)

How had the ingenious Tran got hold of the recipe? I asked.

Oh, it is not like building an atom bomb, Khun Keiengsak laughed. It is a traditional sauce of the region. Lots of people know how to make it.

What did he object to in the Huy Fong version?

He had two objections. The first was that a good Sriracha is a balanced sauce. The Huy Fong sauce loses that balance in its eagerness to appeal to American chilli-heads. And the second objection was entirely predictable: Why does he say it is Vietnamese? It is a well known local sauce. Just say that you are making a traditional Thai sauce. Why do you need to take it away from Thailand and say it is from somewhere else?

Fair point. But how Thai is the Huy Fong version of the sauce? Its a complex question, because there is no one Sriracha in Thailand, just as there is no one definitive brand of mango pickle in India. Each brand has its own flavour. There are mass manufacturers (though none of them still make the sauce in Sriracha) and there are artisanal makers like Khun Keiengsak and his sister. All of them make the same product but their sauces are not identical. So what do you compare the Huy Fong sauce to?

The editors of the Lucky Peach magazine, who know their sauces, say that Thai Sriracha sauces tend to be a little more balanced while the Huy Fong sauce is just straight heat and salt.

That is my view too  using Khun Keiengsaks sauce as a representative of Thai Sriracha. But mass market Thai Sriracha could well be different. Khun Keiengsaks is a small production (the brand is Floating Island) and it is hard to find outside of Sriracha, even in Bangkok.

The New York Times used its own description of the Huy Fong Sriracha: The truth is that Sriracha, as manufactured by Huy Fong, may be best understood as an America sauce, a polyglot puree with roots in different places.

In other words, a Thai sauce as re-interpreted for Americans that denies its Thai provenance.

Dont knock it: the re-interpretation has paid off.

The chilli-heads have turned the enterprising David Tran into a millionaire.

And nobody cares that Sriracha is a real place, or that the sauce originated there.

From HT Brunch, July 30, 2017

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FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) today said the new tax regime of goods and services tax (GST) has not impacted the consumer offtake and expects the price cuts undertaken by it to drive sales.

I dont think GST has impacted the consumer offtake. In fact, with us taking the lead in reducing the consumer price, it should give a fillip to consumer demand and consequently to the volume, HUL Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Sanjiv Mehta said here.

The company had reduced the prices of some of its detergents and soaps, extending the tax benefits it got under the GST regime to consumers.

Mehta said most of the trade channels are returning to normalcy, barring a few wholesale traders in the central part of the country.

There are some channels like modern trade which have gone back to their normal rhythm, canteen store department, which had stopped buying a few weeks before the transition, they have started buying and they are slowly getting into the rhythm. There are sections of general trade in some parts of the country, which are limping back to normalcy, he said.

The companys topline and volume growth were impacted by 200 basis points with the canteen store department not buying from it.

I think the most affected still remains the wholesale in the territory of central India like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, those are the cases where the traders are still sitting on the fence, waiting to understand what they need to do and how they need to react to the new era of GST, he said.

I would believe that sooner or later, the trade channel should start unclogging and there would be some element of channel reset but the large number of wholesalers who are engaged in trade, would have to find ways and means of engaging with the trade, accepting GST is a reality and they will have to live with that, he added.
Chaddhaji went to the Golu restaurant to celebrate his wedding anniversary. The choice of venue had nothing to do with Mrs Chaddhas shape, he said. She anyway got the hint, and spilled the beans about how he frantically sprinted towards the door when the sizzler arrived. They fought for a while, and the discussion then got diverted to a big pain point. Not only for the Chaddhas, but for a lot of us. Whether or not the restaurant should have levied the service charge! The whole service charge debate, which was sparked off by the Consumer Affairs Minister saying that it isnt compulsory, had just begun to settle when the Ghor Sankat Tax dropped on us like a hot patato. Lo, the jhagda has started again in restaurants, with staff saying service charge do, and customer saying no, no, no. That rhymed. Do you think I have a future as a poet? Anyway, lets get some fact and reality check right before we dive stomach-on into the service charge debate.

THE FACTS

Hazaar baar suna hoga, but will still say it. Service Charge is different from Service Tax. There is no service tax anymore, it has changed to GST of 18% (9% central, 9% state), in case of restaurants. Service Charge is what we informally call the tip, and is normally added in your bill as 10-20% of the total amount. No, it is not mandatory to pay the service charge. The Food and Consumer Affairs Minister clarified in April that diners can voluntarily choose to pay the service charge, if they wish to. If a restaurant forces you to pay the service charge, you can sue them in the consumer court.

THE REALITY

Most restaurants have put up notices on the door, or printed on the menu that they levy a service charge, thereby implying that if you are not okay with paying the charge, you should not eat there. Legally they cant enforce it, but if you enter and order at a place despite the notice, it is largely understood that youre okay with paying the service charge.

If you are unhappy with the service, you can refuse to pay the charge and ask for it to be removed from the bill. But such a refusal mostly results in verbal spats with the staff. Hence, truckloads of stress for everyone.

THE TROUBLE

I have a lot of friends who keep cribbing about the service charge. I also have a lot of restaurateur friends who justify the service charge citing high costs and the need for staff motivation. Theres partial merit in both arguments, Id say. If the dishes came cold and the waiter even colder, why would you want to pay 10% extra as tip? And the whole point of going to a restaurant and paying an obscene price to eat out is to avail of the service and the ambience. If even that is to be charged, what justifies the high cost of the food bill, anyway? However, if you look at the same argument from the side of the restaurants, theyd quote international examples and tell you that in America, even though there is no service charge added on the bill, paying close to 20% tip is usual. And how Indians make such an issue of not paying tip  something thats a valid perk for the waiting staff, considering their low salaries and tough working hours.

THE SOLUTION

Ghar mein khana khaa lo. Ha! Okay heres the thing  while there are countries like China and Japan where tips are refused as they are considered rude, in India they are like a parallel salary for restaurant staff thats not well paid. Also, while in countries like Cambodia, where diners voluntarily put a fixed amount in a tip-box regardless of the cost of the meal, here in apna Bharat  whether we like it or not  we do not have the mindset to dole out money wherever theres the slightest option available of not doing so. We also, however, dont want to be paying for service that wasnt up to the mark.

What perhaps should be done is for the government to have a clear, unambiguous rule about the service charge. Marzi hai toh do, marzi nahi toh mat do kind of a stance puts everyone concerned in a confused, and eventually combative mode.

A lot of unnecessary arguments and stress can be avoided if the government works out a solution, which is fair to restaurants and customers and fixes it, once and for all. Bas tension khatam karo ab.

Sonal Kalra decided to tell Mrs Chaddha to make Chaddhaji pay her service charge for feeding him every day. She says she takes it out of his wallet every day, anyway. Mail your thoughts at sonal.kalra@hindustantimes.com, facebook.com/sonalkalraofficial. Follow on Twitter @sonalkalra

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This article is full of questions. Be alarmed, please.

What are the chances of punishment for the rapist of the 10-year-old girl in Chandigarh whose case has shocked the country? Has the shock come about only because she is pregnant, and hence there is imminent risk to her life since abortion has been ruled out?

Or, lets look at this another way: what are the chances of any such rape victim getting justice in India? Last year, 15,000 cases were registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and only 1% of the accused were punished, according to data shared by Nobel laureate and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi.

In Chandigarh, 10 rape cases of minors have already been reported since January. In 75% of these cases, the accused were known to the victims, say police. In the 10-year-olds case, the perpetrator was her maternal uncle.

I am sure, if you are even remotely interested in news or crime or justice or even voyeurism, you have read about her case. After all, its one of those where the media comes out in full force, gives several headlines, and forces you to react. In that reaction, some loaded, rhetorical questions are gaining currency: why does the media handpick some cases and not others? Is the media being intrusive, insensitive to the victim and her family by reporting the tiniest details?

Lets come to those later. I want to present some questions that are not being asked with the same degree of interest.

How many such cases see counselling or even help for the victims and families so that they do not turn hostile under pressure? In a similar case of a girl in Moga who was allegedly sexually abused and thrown off a bus resulting in her death, the accused were acquitted because her mother turned hostile.

Lets be blunter. How many cases see police and prosecution not taking the matter through to its logical end by weakening the evidence?

You can grapple with these questions later. I will go back to the ones being asked of the media.

First, know that the media is not one large lump that moves and acts together. But lets ignore that to be obtuse, and try to answer the main question in the same tone in which it is being asked.

Look, in a country the size of India, and by the very nature of the publishing methods, it is impossible to put every one of the 15,000 cases of child rape in a year on the front page or cover them with the same level of intensity. The media ends up picking some cases to highlight a larger scenario. I am sure you know that.

As for the insensitivity in dealing with the victim and her family, there are no easy answers. This is where the tone of this article changes.

Overtly and simply, the target of media outlets  run in most parts as profit-driven companies  is to grab more attention than the competitor. Given the huge number of such outlets now, the count of reporters approaching the girls house  servant quarters in a kothi  and her parents, both of whom are low-income workers, to get an exclusive is enormous. From newspapers headquartered in Chandigarh to the local editions of national papers, to websites that need a constant supply of content to populate your Facebook feed, theyve all been there. So much so that the father has approached the UT authorities to plead that the family be saved from the media.

But this media circus is not the outcome of a loss of compassion. That is simplistic. Many journalists have written sensitive stories highlighting the ordeal that such a victim goes through. Many have come back teary-eyed from the house, not because they could not get an exclusive, but because they felt something. It must be understood that the fathers anger towards the intrusion is rooted in a sense of shame forced upon him by society, not by the media as such. It must also be understood that the primary purpose behind the medias amplifying the case is a quest for justice, whether as an idealistic pursuit or for TRP, but justice nevertheless.

That justice is to come from those who sit in positions of governance and power. Let me end with a question. Should justice come only in those cases that grab headlines? This holds many answers.

Email: aarish.chhabra@htlive.com | Twitter: @aarishc

(Views expressed are personal)

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Im trying figure out which one of the two is more outrageous: that a university should be considered an appropriate location for an Army tank, or that the suggestion should have come from its own vice chancellor.

If Jawaharlal Nehru Universitys vice chancellor, M Jagadesh Kumar gets his wish, we might soon have a weapon of war on its grounds. This presumably will remind thousands of students about the great sacrifices and valour of our Indian army as they goose-step their way to class.

Why an army tank and not a plough? Farmers who feed us dont make a lesser sacrifice. And what symbol represents those who die keeping our sewage lines clean?

The VCs suggestion comes straight from the rightwing playbook of JNU as the site of anti-national behaviour (not to mention excessive condom use). After all, its only anti-nationals who need a dose of patriotism.

Nobody will dispute the idea that college campuses should breed productive citizens. The question is: how best do you do it? Certainly not by being lectured to by a minister who laments that since we are a democracy, people dare to question the army. Im sure minister Dharmendra Pradhan is not implying that we junk democracy and become a military dictatorship but his lament does sound dangerously close.

Any mother will tell you that enforced disciplining is doomed to backfire. Compulsory singing of the national anthem or Vande Mataram, as the Madras High Court recently ruled, will raise a generation of parrots not patriots.

How do campuses raise good citizens? First, teach students to question. Go against the grain of rote learning and blind respect for authority. Question everything  professors, received learning, assumptions and the fake news received daily on phones. You cannot have national progress without inquiring minds.

Next, teach them to hold power to accountability. Citizens who question elected representatives keep democracy alive. No institution is above critique, not even the judiciary and especially not the media.

Armies are and must be questioned. How does a military court justify suspending the life sentences of five army personnel that was handed down by a court martial for the crime of staging the killing of innocent citizens? It is incumbent on us as vigilant citizens to ask these questions.

A country without engaged and informed citizens is just territory. Colleges must be incubators for such citizens.

My love for my country might lead me to question its caste system or its treatment of minorities and women. This does not deplete my love for India but in fact makes me a citizen who is vested in my countrys future and in preserving its identity as a multi-cultural democracy.

Meanwhile, my suggestion to JNUs patriotic VC: Ditch the tank. Read the Constitution instead.

Namita Bhandare writes on social issues and gender. The views expressed are personal.

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DEHRADUN: The next general elections may still be about two years away but the Uttarakhand BJP chalked out its elaborate strategy for the big poll battle in advance at its state executive meeting on Saturday.

The Trivendra Singh Rawat-led BJP governments performance in the past four months came under a close scrutiny at the meeting. It is still time for the next parliamentary polls but our preparations are already on countrywide. In that connection, an elaborate strategy was chalked out at our state executive meeting,

BJP national secretary Tirath Singh Rawat said, referring to all the five Lok Sabha seats the party swept in Uttarakhand.

Tirath Singh said organisational leaders also evaluated achievements of the Rawat government at the executive meeting which was presided over by BJP national general secretary (organisation) Ramlal. BJP national vice president and its in-charge for Uttarakhand Shaym Jaju, all state BJP office bearers, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and his nine Cabinet ministers were present at the meeting.

The achievements of our governments both at the Centre and the state were included in the political resolution adopted at the meeting, BJP state general secretary (organisation) Sanjay Kumar said. The document also comprises development plans and schemes the state government has chalked out for the future.

A strategy was also chalked out to ensure that party leaders and workers publicise the achievements of the BJP governments across the state. All these achievements will be publicised in areas falling in more than 10,500 polling booths in the state, Tirath Singh said, adding that the a drive would be carried out as part of the partys countrywide preparations for the next Lok Sabha polls. This entire campaign is being helmed by our party chief Amit Shah. He is currently on a countrywide tour to publicise the policies and pro-people schemes of the Modi government.

Tirath Singh told HT that a similar statewide campaign would be carried out under the BJPs Vistarak Yojna. As part of that strategy, all our party leaders and workers will spare six months or a full year exclusively for the party, he said adding that they would undertake statewide tours to publicise the policies of both the governments.

In that connection, we plan to set up a dedicated party office each in all districts to publicise the government policies, Kumar said.

Organisationally, the BJP had divided Uttarakhand into 22 districts unlike the 13 administrative districts. All these district offices will be equipped with state-of- the-art IT facility, which will also include video conferencing, Kumar said. It will help us publicise among the people all the policies and schemes being initiated by our governments, just at the click of a button. All our partys 22 IT-enabled district offices will speed up online poll campaign right up to the areas falling in over 10,500 polling booths in all the coming elections and, most importantly ,during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

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DEHRADUN: The BJP government has been gradually trying to rein in private schools and universities ever since it came to power in March.

As the erstwhile Congress government made similar attempts but failed to make headway, the Trivendra Singh Rawat-led BJP government is slowly unfolding its reform plans. School education minister Arvind Pandey has declared to introduce an act for regulating private schools. A regulatory authority is on the cards to monitor work of private universities.

With over 200 private schools such as Doon School and Welhams School, Dehradun is known for primary and secondary education. A common complaint against these schools is high fees. Despite a committee headed by district magistrate in each district, complaints ranging from buying stationery from selective bookstores to charging miscellaneous fee are yet to come down.

Parents are harassed in the name of revision of school fee and readmission. Its an issue that comes up every year. Having no say in their management, we feel helpless. Therefore, we have decided to come up with an act that will help monitor them, school education minister Arvind Pandey said.

But private schools maintain that the high fee is necessary. Kids of politicians and bureaucrats are studying in private schools, which explains the quality of education that we deliver, said Jennifer Kumar, who heads the association of CICSE schools in capital. As far as fee hike is concerned, we know government teachers get handsome salary and perks. If we want similar facilities for our teachers, what is wrong? The only source of income for private schools is fee. No school charges exorbitant fee. We need to keep on revising fee so that teachers and other staff get the best.

The association, she said, is ready to support the government in improving education system for benefiting the poor students.

Ironically, most parents dont wish to switch their children from private to government schools. The quality of education in government schools is poor. I would never like to put my child in those schools where teachers dont even know to speak in English, Radhika Sahu, a parent, said.

Parents Teachers Association president Neeraj Singhal agreed that the standard of private schools cannot be matched. We receive complains of fee hike and readmission charges, but parents are unwilling to admit children in government schools.

Singhal said a 1995 government order having details of the minimum standards, revision of fee and other details based on which non-objection certificate should be given, is not being followed by the administration.

For higher education, the government plans to form a regulatory authority for monitoring admissions, staff recruitment, fee among others in private universities. Eleven private universities - each notified by a separate ordinance - are present in Uttarakhand. Four more universities are on the cards for which a draft proposal was cleared by the Cabinet.

Higher education minister Dhan Singh Rawat and additional chief secretary Ranbir Singh were not available for statements despite several attempts to contact them.

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The residents of south Delhi may soon get a direct access to Greater Noida, with Delhi government proposing an elevated corridor to connect the Mehrauli-Badarpur road with the Noida expressway.

The Public Works Department (PWD) has completed the feasibility study and proposed an elevated corridor over Yamuna River. The proposal will now be sent to the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (planning & engineering) Centre for their approval, after which construction will start.

The PWD had proposed four different alignments for the project, but will prefer the one that starts from the junction of Aali village road and National Highway 2 and ends at Noida-Greater Noida express crossing Yamuna.

As per the proposed alignment, the new corridor will start from Aali village. Because of space constraints due to presence of a residential complex in the first 300 meter of the corridor, its width will be nine meters. After this, the alignment is proposed on open land available, which belongs to Uttar Pradeshs irrigation department, said a PWD official.

The corridor then will move parallel to the railway track before crossing Agra canal in the form of a bridge. From thwew the width of one carriageway would be 12.5 meter.

The corridor will then run along the left side of the Jaitpur pushta road within the catchment area of the drain. There is enough space available for the construction of elevated corridor within the catchment of drain. The major portion of the corridor would be 8-lane with provision of cycle track and footpath, the official added.

The total length of the corridor is 7km and its construction is likely to take 30 months. But since the project is still in feasibility stage, the corridor will be completed only after 2020.

The only disadvantage of the project is its first 300 meter and lack of space there due to residential settlements and encroachment. Once complete, it will be the shortest route from south Delhi to Greater Noida, the official added.

The second option for the project is the corridor starting from Jaitpur road intersection below the Delhi-Faridabad flyway. The project length then will be 9km and it will cut through a lot of encroachment, which will need to be removed.

The other two options proposed by the PWD is the corridor starting from the existing Delhi-Faridabad flyway and then moving to Faridabad bypass and Agra canal. This would make the corridor 11km long. The final option is the corridor running via Faridabad, which would make it 15km long.

For us the shortest option is the best. Once one option is approved, we will start the construction, the official added.

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The CISF has ordered an enquiry after a JNU students Facebook post alleging harassment went viral.

Aman Sinha, 22, alleged that he was beaten up at Rajiv Chowk metro station by a few CISF personnel and told that he would be sent to Pakistan, even as the paramilitary force rejected the charges and ordered a probe.

Sinha, who is pursuing a masters degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, alleged that the incident occurred on Thursday evening.

The Facebook post said that the CISF personnel got enraged when Sinha, who was sporting a beard, defied their instructions to take off his earphones, a laid down protocol that passengers are expected to follow.

What ensued was a heated argument, according to Sinha. A CISF person came and said you are spoiling the name of the nation, Pakistan bhejenge tum mussalay ko aaj.(You Muslim, we will banish you to Pakistan). They dragged me to the security office through the very long passage where there was no CCTV and no public.

They started abusing my mother and sister, thrashing and beating me very badly, saying that public k samne humara naam kharab kar diya. I tried to record it which they later made me delete and threw away my phone, Sinha wrote on Facebook.

When contacted, the CISF said the student was only asked to write an apology letter for his behaviour with the security personnel, and was neither manhandled nor thrashed. He started yelling and arguing with constables Shoeb and PC Bisht who were on duty after he was asked to remove the earphones, which is a normal security drill in the Delhi Metro. He was unwilling and used abusive language after which he was taken to the metro control room, a senior CISF officer said.

Sinha was taken to the control room of the station where he tendered an apology in writing, the CISF officer said.

As per CCTV records, the officer said, the entire episode lasted about 30 minutes and the student was then allowed to go.

A few social media users expressed disapproval about Sinha not complying with the security check:

To which Sinha replied:

Several users expressed solidarity with Sinha. Sample some reactions:

(With inputs from PTI)
Three men chased a 20-year-old youngster for several hundred metres before beating him to death on the main platform of the busy Adarsh Nagar railway station in north Delhi even as no one came to his rescue.

At least 50 passengers and vendors stood and watched as the three men rained punches and kicks on Rahuls head, chest and private parts. The three could have easily gotten away after the murder but for a head constable who decided to take on the killers and nab them.

While Rahul could never live to tell his story, the killers have claimed in police interrogation that they were chasing Rahul as he had allegedly snatched Rs 20,000 from one of their hands. No cash, however, was found on Rahuls body or pockets after his murder.

A resident of Jahangirpuri in north Delhi, Rahul worked as a loader at the wholesale vegetable market in Azadpur. His job bringing in very little money, he was in desperate need of money recently. On Thursday afternoon, he met a trucker friend in the vegetable market.

The trucker was carrying Rs 20,000 with him and Rahul saw that. He requested that the money be lent to him for a few days, but the truck driver refused. Suddenly, Rahul snatched the money and ran, said an investigator quoting the killers.

The trucker allegedly called on his two friends, who too work as loaders, as they began chasing Rahul. What really led to the chase and the murder is entirely based on the claims of the suspects.

In any case, Rahul sprinted from the market with the three men close on his heels. He ran for several hundred metres before scaling a wall to land at the premises of the Adarsh Nagar railway station. He must have thought he was safe amidst a large gathering of train passengers, but he was not spared, said an investigator.

Rahul found himself surrounded by the men on platform number 1, barely a few metres from the stations main entrance. The men did not have any weapons on them. They thrashed him. Rahul initially tried to fight back, but collapsed after receiving a few blows, said a railway staffer, who was at the platform at that time.

Not a single passenger dared to take on the killers. But one of them managed to alert a policeman who was deployed at the station. He and a home guard chased the killers and caught them from the station premises itself. They have been arrested and identified as Ravi, Lalit and Rajender.

Police have said they are awaiting the autopsy report to confirm blow to which body part led to Rahuls death. The police continue to investigate if Rahul had actually snatched the money or there was some other motive behind the murder.
In his first speech after being sworn in as our new President, Ram Nath Kovind praised Patel, Ambedkar, Gandhi, and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, but did not take the name of Jawaharlal Nehru. This provoked outrage in Congress circles, with the senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad terming it unfortunate and partisan that the President did not mention Nehru who was the first prime minister of India and the architect of modern India. He was not just one of the PMs but the first PM of India who was known around the world for his vision.

The main reason the President (or his speechwriter) did not mention Indias first Prime Minister was that the Sangh Parivar which sent him to this high office is ideologically opposed to Nehru. They wanted (and still want) a Hindu Rashtra; Nehru insisted that if India was anything at all, it was not a Hindu Pakistan. They glorify our past and ancient scriptures; Nehru instead sought to build a modern society by means of reason and science. The Sangh Parivar even opposed democracy, the RSS journal Organiser writing in 1952 that Nehru would live to regret the failure of universal adult franchise in India. They think that men are womens guardians; whereas Nehru believed that women were in all respects fully equal to men.

As is well known, the Sangh Parivar played virtually no part in our freedom struggle, and indeed (as during the Quit India movement of 1942) sometimes worked to subvert it. Moreover, during Ambedkars lifetime the RSS bitterly attacked him as well as the Constitution whose drafting he oversaw. The worst [thing] about the new Constitution of Bharat, wrote Organiser, is that there is  no trace of ancient Bharatiya constitutional laws, institutions, nomenclature and phraseology in it (and we may be glad of that too). However, the BJP and the RSS have since sought to opportunistically appropriate both the freedom-fighter Patel and the social reformer Ambedkar. But they draw the line at Nehru. Their hatred of him is everlasting.

That said, another reason the President (or his speechwriter) did not mention Nehru could be that, apart from the confined circle of Congress chamchas, not many Indians would notice or be put out by this omission. Nehru contributed enormously to the making of modern India, by promoting universal adult franchise, linguistic and religious pluralism, and modern science. However, the actions of his descendants have deeply damaged his reputation. Nehrus democratic credentials were vitiated by his daughters imposition of the Emergency; his commitment to gender justice by his grandsons capitulation to Islamic fundamentalists in the Shah Bano case; his secularist ideas by the same persons banning of The Satanic Verses and his opening of the locks in Ayodhya.

Unlike Indira and Rajiv, Sonia Gandhi did not occupy the office of Prime Minister. However, as the most powerful person in a Congress-led Government, she erected a cult of the Nehru-Gandhi family, naming dozens of schemes and projects after them. This disgusted many Indians, who knew that the history of the Congress partystill less that of the wider freedom strugglecould never be identified with a single family.

Indira, Rajiv, and Sonia were all thrust into political prominence by accident. The first two became Prime Minister after the incumbent unexpectedly died; the third was asked by senior Congressmen to take over the party after a series of humiliating electoral defeats. By contrast, Rahul Gandhi is where he is only because his mother promoted him. And from what he has done (or not done) in thirteen years in politics, it seems quite evident that he is not a natural or effective leader. And the particular attribute that the Congress President may think is positivehis family namehas, in fact, decidedly negative connotations.

For India has changed massively in recent decades. Especially when it comes to politicians, Indians no longer ask what your father or grandmother didthey ask what you have done yourself. The answer, in Rahul Gandhis case, is more or less nothing. His lack of achievement hurts the Congress, which is why some BJP leaders have gone so far as to publicly thank him for what he is doing to ensure their partys continuing success. And it further damages the reputation of Jawaharlal Nehru. For if it is Rahul Gandhi who claims to uphold, incorporate and embody Nehrus legacy (a claim endorsed by President Kovinds critic Ghulam Nabi Azad), can that legacy, ask an increasing number of Indian citizens, be worth defending at all?

Whether one admires or dislikes him, or indeed has ambivalent feelings about him, it is indisputable that Jawaharlal Nehru had a colossal impact on independent India. I have spoken earlier of his contributions to nurturing democracy, pluralism, and science. Set against these major achievements are some notable failures, such as his indifference to private enterprise and to military preparedness, and his lack of emphasis on primary education.

In an essay in my book Patriots and Partisans I have provided an interim assessment of Nehrus place in our history, juxtaposing his successes against his failures. I hope that a younger scholarborn, unlike me, well after Nehrus deathwill one day write a far more substantial assessment of the man, his times, and his legacy, based on solid work in the archives. But for such a book to merit the objective, dispassionate, reception it deserves, the Nehru-Gandhi family must retire from politics. It is overwhelmingly likely that the familysingly or collectivelycannot resurrect or revive the Congress Party. And it is absolutely certain that so long as his descendants remain in public life, nothing can resurrect or revive the reputation of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Ramachandra Guhas books include Gandhi Before India

The views expressed are personal

Follow the author on Twitter @Ram_Guha

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Lucknow: Indias biggest MBA entrance test, the Common Admission Test 2017 (CAT 2017), will be held on November 26 (Sunday) this year in two sessions. The registration for CAT 2017 will open on August 9 and will close on September 20.

The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L), which is conducting the test, will release the notification in newspapers across the country on July 30, 2017 (Sunday).

The duration of the test will be 180 minutes, said Prof Neeraj Dwivedi, convener, CAT 2017, highlighting some of the salient features of CAT.

CAT scores are accepted by the 20 IIMs and more than a 100 B-schools across the country. Around 4,000 seats are offered through IIMs.

Three sections

The test has three sections. Section I will have verbal ability and reading comprehension; section II will have data interpretation and logical reasoning and section III will deal with quantitative ability, he said.

Some questions in each section may not be of multiple choice type. Instead, direct answers will have to be typed online. The tutorials will clearly explain this.

Also, we will allow use of basic onscreen calculator for computation. Candidates will be allotted exactly 60 minutes for answering questions in each section and they cannot switch from one section to another while answering questions in a section, he said.

CAT 2017 will be conducted in test centres spread across approximately 140 test cities. Candidates will be given the option to select four test cities in order of preference.

Test cities and centres will be assigned to the candidates only after the last date for CAT 2017 registration and hence candidates do not have to rush to block slots and cities in the initial days of registration.

We will try our best to assign candidates to their first preferred city. In case it is not possible, they will be assigned a city following their given order of preference. In the rare case that a candidate is not allotted any of the preferred cities, he/she will be allotted to an alternate city, Prof Dwivedi added.

However, candidates will not be able to select the session because it will be assigned randomly. They will also have to pay the registration fee through online payment modes only with credit cards, debit cards and through net banking.

After submission of application, candidates will be permitted to download their admit card from October 18, 2017 onwards, till the test date.

A tutorial to understand the format of the test will be available on the CAT website from October 18, 2017. Candidates are advised to work on the tutorials, available on the website, well in advance.

Check the FAQs

The website contains a section on frequently asked questions (FAQ), which addresses candidates queries regarding CAT 2017. Candidates can also contact the CAT help desk over email or phone.

IIM-L is conducting the test after a gap of nearly seven years.

This year Professor Neeraj Dwivedi of IIM-L is the convener for CAT.

More than two lakh candidates are expected to appear in the examination. Experts sense that the CAT convener may bring in certain changes in rules to ensure more girl students and candidates from non-engineering backgrounds develop an interest in management studies.

Registrations for CAT shot up to a seven-year high in 2016, with 2,32,434 candidates applying for the entrance test to IIMs and other prominent B-schools. From CAT 2010 to CAT 2016, this was the highest number of applicants. Men comprised a majority of the candidates (67%), the percentage of female candidates marginally increased by 1% compared to 2015.

Important dates to remember

August 9: Registrations for CAT 2017 open

September 20: Registrations close .

October 18: Candidates will be permitted to download their admit card till the date of test.

November 26: Common Admission Test 2017 (CAT 2017) will be held in two sessions.

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Puducherry The Medical Council of India (MCI) has rescinded admission of 95 students in PG courses at seven private medical colleges here for the 2017-2018 session as they were enrolled by violating rules and regulations, lieutenant governor Kiran Bedi has said.

She said in a release on Friday night that the MCI had issued directions to seven private medical colleges and deemed universities to discharge the 95 students admitted to PG courses otherwise through a common counselling by the CENTAC or Centralised Admission Committee, an official panel constituted by Puducherry government for counselling of students for professional courses.

Bedi said the step taken by the MCI to annul the admission of the students was a breakthrough.

The managements had admitted the students even though they had not undergone counselling by the CENTAC which has been made compulsory by the Supreme Court, she said.

The MCI had acted tough by cancelling admissions.

We have received a letter from the MCI on the cancellation of irregular admission, she added.

Bedi said many of the students who were given provisional allotment by CENTAC in the PG stream recently were refused admission in the colleges.

The aggrieved students had met her and submitted oral and written complaints.

The student alleged that private medical colleges allegedly denied them admission even after they paid the fee fixed by the fee committee.

Deemed universities had also refused them admission and allegedly demanded an exorbitant fee of Rs 40 to Rs 50 lakh per year.

The Director of Health and Family Services in Puducherry, who is the nodal officer of the Union territory, was asked to furnish the list of students admitted in each of the seven private medical colleges here to the MCI.

The MCI was also apprised through a separate list of the discrepancies made by medical colleges in admitting students to the PG courses, the statement said.

Bedi stated that she had also written to the MCI chief forwarding the list of discrepancies detected in the admission by the colleges. The Monitoring Committee of the MCI carefully examined the list of students admitted by private colleges with that of students who were allotted seats through CENTAC under common counselling.

The students who did not find a place in the list of those allotted seats through CENTAC have been directed to be discharged by the concerned colleges.

The Council has also directed the colleges to send a compliance report within two weeks.

It has also sent copies of the directions to Pondicherry University, the affiliating university for private medical colleges, for appropriate action.

It is the... duty and responsibility of Puducherry government to ensure that the meritorious students who were allotted the PG seats through CENTAC are admitted against the vacant seats now arising out of cancellation of admission of 95 students by MCI in the private colleges, Bedi said in the release.
New Delhi College teachers will no longer be mandated to conduct research to be eligible for promotions.They, however, have to be engaged more in community activities with students.

This announcement was made by Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday at a two-day national conference on higher education perspective in India.

We are going to do away with the mandatory clause of research for college teachers to get their promotions. An official announcement in this regard will follow soon.

Instead of that, I want teachers to be engaged in student activity. We will make one community activity or student activity mandatory and teachers will be given their scores on basis of that, Javadekar said.

Making changes in the Academic Performance Index (API), a criterion on which teachers get their promotions, the HRD ministry is working on a plan to make research optional for college teachers.

Currently college teachers are also required to do research activity to get their promotions, just like university professors. But we must understand that both of them belong to completely different category of teachers.

A college teacher should be mainly engaged in teaching. When we made research compulsory, research stopped completely. Conducting research just for the sake (of it) is taking down the quality of research, Javadekar said.

University teachers who are supposed to teach the post graduate students or guide M Phil and PhD scholars will be required to engage in research, he said.
Lucknow: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked officials and faculty members of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) to desist from any act of discrimination against scheduled caste (SC) nd scheduled tribe (ST) students on grounds of their social origin.

BBAU authorities were also asked to develop a page on the university website for such complaints of caste discrimination against SC/ST students and also make available a complaint register at the registrars office.

BBAU has 50% seats reserved for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students.

UGC under secretary Madhu Verma in her order said if any such incident came to the notice of the authorities, action should be taken against the erring officials/faculty members promptly.

The order said the university should ensure that no official, faculty members indulge in any kind of discrimination against any community or category of students.

The university may constitute a committee to look into the discriminating complaints received from SC/ST students, teachers and non teaching staff, the UGC order reads.

The university was asked to advise the official/faculty members that they should be more sensitive while dealing with such incidents of caste discrimination and send an action taken report to UGC within 30 days.

There have been a number of number occasions when students have made allegations of caste discrimination and lodged complaints.

Last year in September, a Dalit student studying forensic science, Sumit Kumar, who was suffering from liver cirrhosis, was allegedly forced to vacate his room by officials on charges of beating up a professor.

The university officials threw out all my medicines, ultrasound reports and other belongings without showing any mercy. They were so heartless that they did not even bother to inform me. They simply uploaded the order of my rustication (with seven others) and threw away all my belongings from the room in my absence, Kumar told Hindustan Times.

The university administration, however, has denied the charge.

BBAU was in the news on January 2016 when a few Dalit students raised slogans against PM Modi during its convocation ceremony over his silence on Hyderabad University PhD student Rohith Vemulas suicide.

It was here at BBAU that Modi spoke about Vemulas death for the first time saying his death pained him and that Mother India has lost one of her sons.

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Mumbai: Despite Maharashtra not having the highest tiger population in the country, the state has recorded the maximum tiger deaths plus body parts seizures this year so far.

On World Tiger Day, data from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), revealed that Maharashtra recorded 16 tiger deaths in 2017 so far - 12 natural deaths and four cases of body parts seizures. Last year, the state recorded 16 natural deaths and only one case of body parts seizure.

Between June 27 and July 3, six persons were arrested for poaching two tigers at the Pench Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra. Forest officials said this was one of the largest poaching rackets in the state in the past five years. Another tiger is believed to have been killed close to the reserve by the accused as the forest department continues to investigate the matter.

As compared, Madhya Pradesh with 308 tigers, recorded 14 tiger deaths in 2017 so far - 13 owing natural causes and one case of body part seizure. Last year, however Madhya Pradesh recorded the maximum tiger deaths with 30 cases.

Karnataka, home to 406 tigers, recorded the third highest mortalities at 13 - 12 natural deaths and one body part seized.

Tigers are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1986. According to the state forest department, there are 202 tigers currently across the state.

NTCA officials said that the increase in tiger deaths in Maharashtra indicated increased vigilance and more detection by the forest department. As compared to the total number of tigers in all three states, the deaths recorded are a very small number. It also indicates that the detection level has increased in core forest areas, said a senior NTCA official from its central wing. Recent poaching cases are being investigated in Maharashtra and we working along with the local forest department to control such instances.

In almost 50% (7 of 16) the tiger deaths in Maharashtra, tigers less than a year old died this year, indicating either cubs or sub-adult tiger mortalities. Sub adult tigers have a tendency of dominating a particular territory and so they move closer to fringes of the forest. In such situations, they are either killed due to infighting, rail or road accidents, and electrocution close to human habitation, the NTCA official said.

On April 27, more than a year after Jai the tiger went missing, his son, Srinivas, who was radio-collared last year, was found electrocuted in the Naghbid forest range that falls under the Brahmapuri forest division of Chandrapur district and his body was dug out from the ground by forest officials. On April 20, forest officials found the sub-adults damaged radio collar with missing bolts and nuts near a nullah between Kothulna and Maushi villages in the forest range. His father Jai is still continues to be missing and the forest department does not have any leads as to where he could be.

Meanwhile, New Delhi based NGO Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) released their statistics on tiger mortality in 2017 on World Tiger Day that showed the maximum tiger deaths in Karnataka at 15, followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh at 14 each. Uttarakhand recorded 11 deaths so far.

WPSI data also showed that 5 poaching incidents took place in Maharashtra this year, the highest since 2010. A recent seizure included - skin pieces, 12 kg bones, two canines and 14 claws from three poached tigers.

Poaching of tigers has become a major concern, especially in Karnataka and Maharashtra, over the past five years, said Tito Joseph, programme coordinator, WPSI. We need to use better intelligence to be one step ahead of poachers. The forest department needs to keep track of repeated offenders once they are out of jail.

Between 2010 and 2017, 95 tigers died in Maharashtra, of which 31 were poached, found another study by WPSI. The study was collated by the NGO through annual forest department reports both from the centre and state.

Officials from the Maharashtra state forest department said that well trained units called Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) had been deployed at various forest areas. Wherever possible poaching incidents are being identified, our teams have already been sent there. However, there are some areas where these teams are yet to be stationed. This should be done by this year end, said a senior forest official. We are working closely with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) to ensure poaching cases reduce.

WCCB officials said apart from small poaching dens in Maharashtra, traps set up by local villagers were killing these animals. Near fringes of protected forest, tribals are setting up snares to trap animals like wild boars, deer and rabbits for bush meat. However, big cats are being caught in these traps. We are also investigating these villages for possible poachers using them for these activities, said M Maranko, regional director, western region, WCCB.

He added that there was need for more awareness for locals residing near forest areas. We have already tied up with the state forest department to have weekly workshops in different villages so that locals can be made aware about their actions, said Maranko.

States with maximum tiger mortality in 2017

Maharashtra - 16 deaths - 12 dead due to natural causes, 4 poached

Madhya Pradesh - 14 deaths - 13 natural deaths, 1 case of body parts seizure

Karnataka - 13 deaths - 12 natural deaths, 1 case of body parts seizure

Uttarakhand - 11 deaths, all due to natural causes

(Source: NTCA)

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India today has almost twice the number of tigers than it did a decade ago, however, the threats to Indias big cats remain as potent as ever. Indias reported tiger deaths related to poaching peaked in 2016, according to World Wildlife Fund-India.

There were 50 poaching-related deaths in 2016, according to the Wildlife Protection Society of India, the highest in 15 years.

Speaking at the world tiger day celebrations on Saturday environment minister, Harsh Vardhan, chose to focus on the larger task at hand. We used to have almost a lakh tigers in India about 100 years ago, and today we are congratulating ourselves for having a few thousand, he said.

Indias tiger populations registered a steady rise from 1706 tigers in 2011 to 2226 in 2014. We are expecting the tiger population to cross 2,500, Debabrata Swain, head of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, said of the ongoing All-India Tiger Estimation.

There is no place for complacency. Tiger habitatsincluding prime reserves and corridors--continue to be under threat, Prerna Singh Bindra, a veteran wildlife conservationist and author of The Vanishing, warned.

Though India launched Project Tiger in 1973, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory authority, was set up only in 2006. It came as a response to the drastic fall in tiger numbers as highlighted by the local extinction of tigers in Sariska and Panna Tiger reserves.

In the decade since, population in the reserves has rebounded, however, the threats to tiger habitats persisted in different forms. The Ken Betwa river linking project that was cleared by the Environment ministry this year threatens to submerge about 30% of the Panna, a proposed national highway will sear through the core area of Corbett tiger reserve in Uttarakhand, and a stretch of the National Highway 7 dissecting the vital Kanha-Pench corridor is coming up with inadequate measures to accommodate wildlife movement.

Tiger is a conservation dependent species, there are issues of poaching, conflict, habitat degradation, Tito Joseph, at the Wildlife Protection Society of India, said.

In 2017, already 22 cases of poaching-related deaths have come to light. Data from the NTCA revealed that Maharashtra recorded 16 tiger deaths in 2017 so far - 12 natural deaths and four cases of body parts seizures. As compared, Madhya Pradesh with 308 tigers, recorded 14 tiger deaths in 2017 so far - 13 owing natural causes and one case of body part seizure.

Tigers as protectors

Indias national animal the carnivorous big cat serves to protect other vulnerable species as well. In the name of protecting the majestic big cats, the country has managed to hold onto wildlife habitats that would otherwise be lost to human intrusions in an extremely land-scarce country.

When the Centre for Ecological Services Management (CESM), Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal carried out an economic evaluation of 6 tiger reserves in 2015 they took into account the ecosystem services provided by the reserves and concluded that they were worth almost R 1.5 lakh crore.

The number of tiger reserves has risen from 9 in 1973 when Project Tiger was launched to 50 today and at least 4 more are under consideration. Having more areas also means more work and more challenges. These new reserves face the same challenges as old ones, an NTCA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.

If we do not designate them as tiger reserves, these critical forests and habitats will be lost, Swain explained.

The protection offered to big cats needs to move beyond tiger reserves, according to activists, which would help boost populations further.

Countries that host tigers have set a target of doubling wild tiger populations by 2022, from their 2010 numbers, under the TX2 campaign The minister also described the target of doubling global wild tiger populations by 2022 a modest one.

The need of the hour is to secure their habitats and corridors, to enhance protective cover of those outside of Protected Areas, Bindra said.Tigers are big cats, if they are protected, they will bounce back especially in areas where tiger population is below optimum.

Tiger Deaths in India 2017: NTCA

76 tiger deaths

Natural causes : 62

Body parts seized: 14

(Source: NTCA)

Tiger Deaths in India 2017: WPSI

Total: 73

Poaching and seizures: 22

Found dead: 19

Killed in road or rail accidents: 1

Died during rescue or treatment: 7

Infighting: 20

Fight with other animals: 4

(Source: Wildlife Protection Society of India)
Who knew alcohol consumption could also have a positive impact on our health? Its not every day that medical studies say alcohol could be good for you, but according to a recent study, drinking alcohol can significantly protect against diabetes. Frequent alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk of diabetes in both men and women, according to the study, with alcohol consumption over three-four days a week gives the lowest risk of diabetes.

Previous studies have consistently suggested that light to moderate alcohol consumption  in terms of amount consumed  is associated with a lower risk of diabetes compared with abstention in men and women. Heavy consumption is associated with a risk greater than or equal to that of abstainers. However, previous studies examining the role of drinking patterns (number of days drinking per week rather than volume) in relation to diabetes risk have given inconsistent findings, and studies on the effects of particular types of beverage are likewise inconclusive. Alcohol was also associated with an increased risk of breast cancer and ageing.

The present study, by Professor Janne Tolstrup and colleagues from the National Institute of Public Health of the University of Southern Denmark, examined the effects of drinking frequency on diabetes risk, and also considered association with specific beverage types.

Women consuming 9 drinks per week had a 58% lower risk of diabetes compared with women who did not drink at all. (Shutterstock)

The study used data from the Danish Health Examination Survey (DAHNES) from 2007-2008, in which Danish citizens aged 18 and above completed a self-reporting questionnaire, including items on lifestyle and health. Those who already had diagnosed diabetes were excluded, as were women who were pregnant or had recently given birth (likely to result in a change in drinking habits). The study comprised 70,551 DAHNES participants who had given details of alcohol consumption. Follow-up information, continued until 2012 with a median follow-up of 4.9 years, was gathered via linking to Danish nationwide registries.

During follow-up, 859 men and 887 women developed diabetes. In terms of weekly alcohol amount, the current findings mirrored those of previous studies  the lowest risk of developing diabetes being found in individuals consuming moderate amounts of alcohol. Men consuming 14 drinks per week were found to have a 43% lower risk of diabetes relative to no alcohol intake, and women consuming 9 drinks per week had a 58% lower risk compared with women who did not drink at all.

In terms of frequency, the data revealed that consumption of alcohol three to four days a week gave the lowest risk of diabetes  a 27% lower risk in men and a 32% lower risk in women  when compared to individuals drinking less than one day per week. The study found no clear evidence of an association between binge drinking and diabetes risk, which the authors suggest may be due to low statistical power since few participants reported binge drinking.

Regarding beverage type, moderate to high intake of wine was associated with a lower risk of diabetes, in line with previous studies. The authors suggest that this might be due to a beneficial effect that polyphenols in wine have on management of blood sugar, giving red wine in particular a potential protective impact. Men and women who consumed seven or more drinks of wine per week had a 25 to 30% lower risk of diabetes compared with those having less than 1 drink of wine per week.

Consuming between one and six beers per week gave a 21% lower risk of diabetes in men compared with men drinking less than one beer per week, while beer was not associated with diabetes risk in women. The authors found no statistically significant association between average weekly alcohol amount of spirits and diabetes in men. In women, however, having seven or more drinks of spirits per week was associated with an 83% increased risk of diabetes when compared with women consuming less than one drink of spirits per week.

The authors conclude: Our findings suggest that alcohol drinking frequency is associated with the risk of diabetes. Consumption of alcohol over three to four weekdays is associated with the lowest risks of diabetes, even after taking average weekly alcohol consumption into account. The findings have been published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes).

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Four teams have been formed by the Gurgaon police to nab the killers of Surender Singh Rana, who was shot dead in broad daylight at Jharsa Road in front of revenue office. A number of raids have been conducted by these teams and sources in the police department said that they were very close to nabbing the accused.

Sources, in fact, said that a person who is closely connected to the accused, have been detained by the police. The post mortem examination of the victim by a medical board was conducted on Saturday and it revealed that Rana had sustained four gun shots that proved fatal. Rana was declared brought dead by doctors at civil hospital, Gurgaon.

The police, after questioning several persons in connection with the murder suspects, said that Rana was shot by Satpal Pahalwan, who has several cases registered against him in Gurgaon and Jhajjar. Rana (45) was shot on Friday afternoon after a tiff with four persons including Bala Devi, Naveen, Sanjay and Satpal Pahalwan over a financial dispute.

Read I Gurgaon: TV channel staffer shot dead in broad day light on Jharsa road

The forensic team visited the spot again and scanned the area for more evidence. None of the CCTV cameras has given us any lead, but we do have some clues to work on, said Sumit Kuhar, DCP, Crime.

Satpal Pahalwan is wanted in connection with multiple cases of murder, attempt to murder and extortion. Sources in the police said that it was still not clear whether Rana was shot by his own pistol or the accused had come with weapons. The police has not found the victims pistol and it is suspected that it was also snatched by the accused, ACP, Mohinder Sethi, said.

The police are also scrutinising the documents, pictures and cameras recovered from the victims silver Tata Safari. It had also called the owner of a photo shop on Khandsa Road for questioning about some freshly developed pictures recovered from the car. Sources said Rana worked for a television news channel and was also associated with a political party.

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Surender Singh Rana (45), who was shot dead on Friday afternoon on a busy stretch of Jharsa Road in front of the revenue (Patwar) office, was a political activist and since last month, the state co-ordinator of a Hindi television news channel based in Jammu and Kashmir. He also had a contract for vending tea at a major BPO companys office in CyberHub. His social media posts show an active interest in the Rajput community.

Rana was allegedly shot dead around 1.30pm on Friday by three to four assailants who came in a Santro and later escaped towards Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway via Jharsa Chowk, eyewitnesses said.

Later in the evening, police said the murder could be a fallout of a financial dispute as both sides have fought over money earlier too. The assailants seem to have come prepared to commit the murder, said an official.

A case of murder was registered against four persons, including a woman, on the complaint of Ranas wife at Civil Lines police station, police said.

A case under sections 302 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Arms Act has been registered against four persons named by the mans wife, said Ravinder Kumar, Gurgaon police spokesperson.

The four have been identified as Bala Devi, a resident of Sukhrali village, her son Naveen and two others Sanjay and Satpal Pahalwan.

Rana was a resident of Shanti Nagar near Gurgaon and was living in the city for over a decade. His profile on the social media networking site Facebook identifies him as the president of an organisation called Bhartiya Akhand Manch. He has made several posts in support of the Rajput community, which had recently demanded from the Rajasthan government an inquiry into the murder of Anandpal, a strongman from the community. There are also a number of posts against reservations in state and Central government jobs and education institutions.

On July 17, he also uploaded a picture with a BJP leader from Noida.

A month earlier, he joined a television channel, which has its office in Okhla in New Delhi, sources said. He had also produced an authorisation letter from the news channel and handed it over to the district administration. It is not known whether he had any previous experience in electronic journalism, but he had shown interest in hiring reporters, sources said.

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Two boys, both aged 16, drowned in the Chandu Budhera canal while out swimming with two-three friends on Saturday afternoon. The victims were identified as Sandeep and Shivam.

While Sandeep was a class 10 student, Shivam studied in class 11 at a government school in Garhi Harsaru village. Both were residents of the same village, police said.

Ajayveer Bhadana, station house officer (SHO), Rajender Park police station, said that the victims, along with their friends, arrived at the canal at around 11.30pm to take a swim. The Chandu Budhera canal has a depth of over 20 feet.

At around 12.30 pm, we received a call that two boys had drowned while swimming. We rushed to the spot and pulled them of the canal, Bhadana said.

He said both were rushed to the civil hospital, but were declared brought dead. Two fine engines were also rushed to the scene before the police arrived.

The bodies were sent for post mortem examination in the afternoon and were handed over to their families on Saturday evening.

An eyewitness who refused to be named, said that the boys were swimming in the canal and went into deep waters. As one of them started drowning, the other tried to rescue him. Both drowned, the eyewitness said.

Assistant sub inspector Ravinder, the investigating officer in the case, said that the boys drowned somewhere near the area where they had removed their clothes and shoes.

Read I Gurgaon: 20-year-old woman drowns in water tank at Badshahpur construction site

No case has been registered as yet.

The SHO said that cases of drowning were common in the canal and even though people are advised not take a swim in it, they dont listen.

On June 8 evening, a 20-year-old resident of Delhi also had gone for a swim in the canal with his friends and went missing. A search operation was launched midnight and his body was found the next day.

After the incident, Gurgaon sub-divisional magistrate, Bharat Bhushan Gogia, visited the canal on June 9 and asked the canal authority to increase the vigilance in the area. To curb such incidents, he also asked them to put up a board displaying the depth of the canal and lock the main door at night, as that will stop people from entering the canal.

The police said they increased night patrolling in the area after the incident and do not allow people to swim during the night. He, however, said that the canal remains crowded during the summer and a lot of people go there for a swim.

On May 25, the police recovered the bodies of two men who allegedly drowned in Chandu Budhera canal.

In another incident, two boys drowned in the Gurgaon water channel near Dhankot on Saturday. The police confirmed the incident and said that rescue teams have been searching for them since 5.30 pm.

The drowning incident happened around 5pm and the rescue teams are looking for them, Ravinder Kumar, Gurgaon police spokesperson, said.
For 16-year-old Sujata Chauhan, a class 11 student in a government school in Gothra in Rewari, scoring 60% marks in class 10 was no easy task. She had to fight years of ingrained misogyny in her village and within her family to keep going to school so that she could achieve her dream of becoming a doctor.

Reality, however, checkmated her. Her school has no teachers in the science stream and Sujata now keeps her herself busy doing household chores.

I was forced to take arts. My dream of becoming a doctor will remain a dream, said Sujata.

My friends now ask me if one becomes a doctor by washing clothes and staying at home, she said.

The Gothra village in Rewari was last in the news in May, when the girl students there had held numerous protests demanding that their school be upgraded to senior secondary. Although the government heeded their demand and upgraded the school, there are not enough teachers for classes 11 and 12.

The government school has eight teachers for 17 students. Four of these teachers are in the arts stream while the students want science and commerce stream teachers.

The students and parents are demanding that the government appoint teachers to their school at the earliest as half of the academic session is already over. Due to the shortage of teachers, many students have dropped out and are compelled to stay at home, helping their parents in household work.

Pooja Chauhan, who also scored 60% in the class 10 exam, wanted to opt for science. (Leena Dhankhar)

I had encouraged other girls in my village to take up studies. But now it seems I too will have to drop out or study arts, said Sujata, whose older sister will soon join the Delhi Police and another is studying in Jaipur.

Sarita, a student of class 12, who studied in village Kanwali got herself enrolled in Gothra school after news spread that the school was upgraded.

I was happy to know that I could study in my own village. I am a student of science and so I was hoping to to set an example for others. But after I joined the school, I realised there are no science teachers there. My dreams have been shattered, said Sarita.

Read I Rewari girls who sat on strike for studies lose battle to poor faculty, 28 drop out

Pooja Chauhan, who also scored 60% in the class 10 exam, wanted to opt for science. Not even a single day goes by when I dont cry to sleep. I have to do all the work which girls who stay at home do.My fate is no different from them, she said.

The authorities, on the other hand, are blaming lack of students in the science and commerce streams for the shortage of teachers.

Dharamvir Baldodia, district education officer, Rewari, said, Even when the school was not upgraded, it had four high school teachers. The vacancies have been uploaded on the portal and will soon be filled but there are no students who have taken admission in the science stream, he said.

Sujata Chauhan, a class 11 student in a government school in Gothra in Rewari, who scored 60% marks in class 10. (Leena Dhankhar)

He said the district administration has already directed that more teachers be appointed in the school.

Baldodia said Rewari districts students had topped in Haryana boards class 10 and 12 exams.

It is not that we do not support students or do not want to provide them education, but everything has to be systematic. The teachers will be transferred but they should have students to teach. Else, what will they do? said Baldodia.

Two other schools, in Rajgarh and Maheshwari villages, were also upgraded after the girl students protested in May.

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The case of the ten-year-old child who is pregnant because of rape is a tragedy. Still recovering from the expenses incurred for an open heart surgery for this little girl, the family is now confronted with the challenges of encountering courts and panels of doctors at tertiary hospitals while coping with the fact that their daughter was raped in their own house and is now pregnant in late third trimester at this young age. We understand that the Government at the national level and from the Union Territory is providing the required legal, financial and medical support to her and her family, which is helpful. However, the personal tragedy for this family cannot be compensated by any external support.

The law currently permits termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks of gestation. However, the provision of length of pregnancy does not apply in case continuation of pregnancy is immediately necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman. The denial for termination of pregnancy by the court in this case is based on medical opinion by senior doctors at a premier teaching hospital, which opined that carrying the pregnancy to term is safer than termination at this stage.

International research evidence on comparative safety of induced abortion and childbirth by trained providers indicates that abortion is safer than childbirth for women in general and adolescents in particular. Complications from abortion are either the same or lower in adolescents compared to older women. (Renner 2014, systematic review of 25 studies encompassing 346,000 women). Evidence seems to suggest that the risk of allowing the child to go to term and delivering is much higher even for the delivery process than it is now.

It is unfortunate that in the present case all the attention is focused on the delivery of the fetus and not on the consequences of the child of 10 years carrying a pregnancy for so many more weeks. From studies of teenagers versus adults undergoing childbirth, we know that teens are at higher risk for many problems during pregnancy, including eclampsia, infection, preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, and maternal death (Shah 2011; Valenti 2015; WHO 2014).

However, this is research evidence based on normal adolescents. The girl in question is a pre-teen, only ten years old with a history of cardiac surgery. The complications she faces by continuing the pregnancy, range from life threatening physical conditions to severe mental trauma and scarring of her psyche for life.

This young childs pregnancy is beyond 30 weeks of gestation and it is such a rare and complex situation that there are hardly any parallels to draw. The medical board examining the ten year old, who got pregnant as a result of sexual abuse at the hands of her own uncle, had scant research evidence to guide their opinion and probably had to rely on their clinical judgement.

This however is unfortunately not an isolated case. Two weeks ago, a 12-year-old sought permission from the Kerala High Court to terminate her pregnancy because of rape and was denied the same at 30 weeks. A day after this case from Chandigarh, there was a similar case of a ten year old seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy post rape in New Delhi.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act came into effect over four decades ago in 1972 to ensure safety in termination of pregnancy and strengthen access to the same for women. This is the time for the system to step back and reflect how the outcomes could have been different for these young girls if changes to the law had been affected by now. The Government had proposed comprehensive amendments to the MTP Act in 2014. These amendments were drafted after detailed discussions with technical experts to ensure adequate access to safe abortion services and provide services to girls and women in such extreme conditions too. Passing of the amendments will help vulnerable women and girls seeking termination of pregnancy in compelling contexts. It is also important for our health system to be trained and equipped to provide sensitive, compassionate, non-judgmental and timely safe abortion services so that women and girls can easily access abortion as early as possible and as late as necessary.

Dr. Jaydeep Tank is the Deputy Secretary General of FOGSI and Mr. Vinoj Manning is the Executive Director of Ipas Development Foundation.
Expressing shock and surprise over its ally and Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Muftis remarks on the Tricolour, the BJP on Saturday asserted that Article 35(A) of the Constitution, which empowers the state legislature to grant special rights to its permanent residents, was not a sacred cow that cannot be touched.

We are greatly shocked and surprised by (Mehboobas) statement that by challenging Article 35(A), the nationalist forces in the Valley get weakened and that... India will not get a shoulder to carry its national flag in the state, BJP state spokesperson Virender Gupta said.

He said while BJP stands with the agenda of alliance, its equally true that Article 35(A) has done more harm to the state than any other provision.
The court of additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Narinder Kaur in Rohtak has stayed the proceedings against yoga guru Ramdev in the beheading remark case going on in the lower court of additional civil judicial magistrate (ACJM) Harish Goyal.

The court of ACJM had issued non-bailable warrants against Ramdev for August 3 after he failed to comply with the courts summons under Sections 504 and 506 of Indian Penal Code.

During a hearing on the revision petition filed by Ramdev on Thursday, senior advocate Satya Pal Jain argued that the lower court had hurriedly issued summons and warrants against Ramdev, wrongly perceiving that his statement was particularly meant for the Muslim community. Based on the arguments, the court of ADSJ stayed the proceedings against Ramdev in the lower court and announced September 12 as the next date for hearing.

Ramdev, who has been made the brand ambassador of Haryana by the BJP government, had courted controversy in April 2016, by saying he could behead lakhs of people refusing to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai if he were not bound by law. He was addressing a Sadbhawna Sammelan in Rohtak that was organised to promote peace in Haryana, which had witnessed unprecedented violence during the Jat stir in February 2016.

The yoga guru in his address was allegedly responding to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaddudin Owaisis statement, who had said that he would not chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai even if a knife was put to his throat. A day after his statement, Congress leader Subhash Batra had lodged a complaint against Ramdev with the police. However, when the police did not act, Batra approached the court to take action against Ramdev.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chhattisgarh of killing Dalits and tribals for the sake of power.

Chhattisgarh sarkar ne ek-k-baad-ek ghotale kiye , chhote vyapariyon ko khatam kar diya , adivasiyon ko aur daliton ko maara . Kyun ? Satta ke liye. Satta ke liye sab ho raha hai (Chhattisgarh government has been involved in scam after scam; it has annihilated small traders and killed Dalits and tribals for power. All these are done just to attain power), Rahul said, addressing party workers.

Gandhi arrived on a two-day visit to tribal-dominated Bastar district of Chhattisgarh to rejuvenate the party in this Maoist hotbed ahead of 2018 assembly polls.

The Congress, which is in out of power in the state since 2003, is still a formidable force in the Bastar region.

Tribals and Dalits are often at the receiving end of the counter-Maoist operations in the region, alienating them from the Raman Singh-led BJP government.

He asked the workers to strengthen the party and also gave some tips on how to effectively use social media to mobilise support.

 He( Rahul) emphasised on the importance of social media and gave us some useful and effective tips, said a party worker present in the session.

Addressing the closed door session, Gandhi termed the BJP as a party of lies, and egged on his party functionaries to defeat the saffron party with their power of truth.

They (the BJP) tell the same lie again and again to make it appear true just for their vested interest to secure power, he said.

On Saturday, Gandhi will address a rally to protest the proposed disinvestment of state-owned NMDCs steel plant coming up in Nagarnar area of Bastar.

The NDMC employees, their unions and local people are against the Centres plan for a strategic disinvestment of the plant.

The Congress is trying to cash in on their grievances ahead of the assembly polls.

Even chief minister Raman Singh had warned the Centre that the disinvestment plan could trigger unrest in the Bastar region.

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Outgoing Pakistani high commissioner Abdul Basit on Saturday said a dialogue between India and Pakistan was a pre-requisite and a necessity to mend relations between the neighbours, which might require give and take from both sides.

Basit punctuated his pitch for dialogue with his advocacy for self-determination of the Kashmiri populace. The Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be resolved for any real progress, he said.

Both the countries need to decide that they need to be engaged...as was decided at Sharm El Sheikh, where we took a considered decision to separate talks from terrorism. We should not be hostage to forces that do not want progress, he said.

Basit made the remarks at an event, likely to be his last public engagement in New Delhi before demitting office, organised by the South Asia Forum for Art and Creative Heritage.

Pakistan maintains that a joint statement issued after talks between former prime minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani in the Egyptian city in 2009 had delinked dialogue from action against terrorism.

Engagement is the key. Dialogue is a pre-requisite and a necessity to resolve our problems. Talks may not produce immediate results, he said, adding compromises always involve give and take, when asked if Pakistan was ready to make certain concessions.

The Indo-Pak peace process came to an abrupt halt after the Pathankot terror attack in 2016. Since then, bilateral ties have worsened, entering a period of fresh uncertainty with the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif as Pakistans Prime Minister by the countrys top court.

Pathankot or no Pathankot, we need to decide that we will not disrupt the dialogue process. While we were cooperating on the Pathankot issue, we could have carried on the dialogue process. That would have helped, he said.

Basit was appointed as the High Commissioner to India in 2014. He will replaced by Sohail Mahmood, who is expected to take up his responsibilities next month.

Basit, who was twice overlooked for the post of Pakistans Foreign Secretary, said it was important to get real on the question of meding ties.

If we muster the political will, we can find a solution to our problems. Whenever we engage, we manage to get good results. We need to commence a dialogue process and ensure that the CBMs (Confidence Building Measures) are adhered to in letter and spirit. We must not allow artificial barriers between the two countries, he said. PTI SBR BSA
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi raised questions on silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on rapes, killings and atrocities in Bastar and also targeted Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh on the Panama Papers revelations, on Saturday.

Slamming the PM and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he said, Jahan jaate hain ek Hindustani ko doosre Hindustani se ladaate hain... Jammu Kashmir mein aag laga di... Northeast mein aag laga di... Haryana mein aag laga di... Chhattisgarh mein mahilaaon ko maar rahe hain, lekin pradhanmantri ji ne ek shabd nahi bola (Wherever they do they initiate fights between Indians... triggered fires in Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast, Haryana... Women are being beaten up in Chhattisgarh, but the prime minister has not uttered a word).

Rahul was addressing a rally at Nagarnar in Maoist-affected Bastar region.

Attacking Singh, he said Nawaz Sharif resigned as Pakistan prime minister after his familys name figured in the Panama Papers, but the Chhattisgarh CM had not resigned yet despite his family also facing allegations in the scandal. Last year, the Congress alleged Singhs son Abhishek held offshore assets as per the Panama Papers, which are leaked documents of about 1.15 crore files containing details of nearly 2.15 lakh bank accounts.

Singh and his son, the Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon, have rubbished the allegations. Singh has described the charges as baseless and unfounded.

Rahul said Singh was not resigning because he is a leader of RSS and BJP. Modi ji talks about corruption. Why he cant see the corruption of Raman Singh and Rajasthan CM (Vasundhara Raje).

The Congress leader was addressing the rally organised against the proposed disinvestment of the state-owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) steel plant coming up at Nagarnar.

Congress party opposes this disinvestment and will fight for the people of Bastar. I have never seen an incomplete public sector plant being sold like this, he said. Rahul added he would always be available and fight for the indigenous people of Bastar. Bastar is a symbol and if Bastar is weak, the whole country is weak, he added.

Earlier, interacting with tribal students during a programme Amcho Bastar (Our Bastar), he said strife started in several states after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came in power in May 2014.

He said unrest in various parts of the country will benefit the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), China and Pakistan. You all have seen how the people of Jammu and Kashmir were living peacefully when the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) was in power, but the situation worsened after the BJP came to power there in coalition with the PDP, he added.

Responding to a question, Rahul said the RSS, considered the ideological fountainhead of the BJP, wanted Dalits , tribals and backward classes to remain oppressed so that they could always rule over them.
A group of Dalits from Andhra Pradeshs Garagaparru village is in the national capital to seek help against the communitys social boycott allegedly by an upper caste group over the installation of a statue of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar .

The group comprising four villagers said on Saturday the boycott by upper caste landlords was continuing and posing livelihood and safety issues for the families in the West Godavari district village.

They are trying to meet central ministers, MPs and the National Human Rights Commission over the issue.

There has been unrest in the village for about three months between the upper caste Kshatriyas and members of the Mala community (a Scheduled Caste group).

It started when the Kshatriyas allegedly objected to the SC communitys move to install a statue of Ambedkar on the village tank bund.

On July 25, social welfare minister Nakka Anand Babu, labour minister Pithani Satyanarayana and SC Corporation chairman Jupudi Prabhakar visited the village and brokered peace between the warring factions. They also handed over cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to the Dalit families.

We demand that the Centre and the government of Andhra Pradesh take immediate steps to end the social boycott otherwise it could spread to other parts of the state, said V Srinivas Rao, national coordinator of Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch, in a press conference.

The Dalits in Garagaparru who used to work in the fields of the landlords have been rendered jobless, Rao said.

A Dalit leader was killed recently in an accident but there are doubts over it, he claimed.

An atmosphere of insecurity and helplessness is prevailing as there are no jobs. Dalit families are getting food from a community kitchen set up by social organisations, he said.

In May, the social boycott had begun with the Dalits being stopped from working in the fields and doing other jobs of maids and drivers, Rao claimed.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday asked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to explain if his family had deliberately attacked the Golden Temple in 1984 with the aim of destroying the symbol of Sikh faith and taken advice and help from the United Kingdom government to make this conspiracy successful.

In a statement here, former minister and SAD general secretary Bikram Majithia talked about the recent disclosures by British Sikh MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi about the help extended by the UK government to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to plan and execute Operation Bluestar on the Golden Temple complex, which houses the holiest of Sikh shrines - the Harmandir Sahib.

It has become clear that the aim was not to flush out militants as claimed. This could be done in many ways. But the manner in which the attack was carried out with foreign help using helicopter gunships and tanks indicate it was carried out deliberately to destroy the symbol of the Sikh faith, Majithia said.

Dhesi, UKs first turban-wearing MP who is on a private visit to Punjab, had told the media that he would pitch for an independent inquiry into the role of the UK government in Operation Bluestar.

The Indian Army carried out Operation Bluestar in June 1984 to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple complex.

Majithia said this was the reason why the Gandhi family had never offered an unqualified apology for the attack on the Sikh race.

Rahul Gandhi has never expressed remorse, forget seeking forgiveness from the community for attacking their supreme religious places and butchering its members en masse in massacres engineered by his family members, he added.

Even now the Gandhi family was keeping a studied silence on the issue of seeking help from the UK government to attack the Golden Temple. After disclosures that a security adviser from the UK visited India and that those storming into the Darbar Sahib complex were given training by the UKs elite SAS (special forces), the Gandhi family has not thought it fit to explain its actions.

The family should apologise for seeking help to suppress Sikhs from the British who suppressed the country and butchered its freedom fighters. This amounts to disrespecting the freedom fighters also, he added.

Saying, it was never too late to express remorse and beg forgiveness from the Sikh community, Majitha asked Rahul Gandhi to come clean and lay bare the entire conspiracy hatched by his grand-mother to strike against the Sikh race besides seeking forgiveness for the same.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday mocked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar switching alligience to the BJP, reminding the JD (U) leader about a war of words over his DNA with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Yadavs taunt came a few days after Kumar dumped his allies, RJD and Congress, to renew his old friendship with the BJP and formed a new JD(U)-led NDA government.

DNA ki baat karne waale aaj NDA mein chale gaye (the one who spoke about DNA, has joined the NDA), Yadav told ANI in Lucknow.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister was apparently referring to Modi questioning Kumars DNA in an 2015 attack on the JD(U) leaders frequent change of political allegiences. Modis barb came soon after Kumar led the so-called grand alliance to victory over the BJP in the Bihar assembly polls.

Though Modi later said he was referring to DNA of democracy, an angry Kumar had said the comment was an insult to the state and also gives credence to the feeling that perhaps you and your party hold a prejudice against the people of Bihar.

Earlier on Thursday, Yadav had referred to a popular Bollywood song to take on Nitish.

Na-na karte pyar tumhi se kar baithe, karna tha inkar magar ikrar tumhi se kar baithe. Bihar today, Akhilesh said in a tweet.

The song from the 1965 Bollywood film Jab Jab Phool Khile, loosely refers to someone saying yes after repeatedly rebuffing overtures professing love.

The Yadav-led SP was ousted from power by the BJP early this year in a bitterly-contested assembly elections.

With three members of the legislative council (MLCs)  the upper house of the state assembly  quitting on Saturday, Yadav accused the BJP of indulging in political corruption from Bihar to UP.

People are watching everything, he added.
The video shows two Muslim women being slapped, kicked and abused for nearly half an hour by a mob of cow vigilantes, as police stand by. Gau mata ki jai! (hail mother cow), the attackers scream, as onlookersone of whom filmed the videowatch but do not intervene.

After the attack, reported by NDTV on July 27, 2017, the two women were arrested on suspicion of carrying beef, which is banned. The police later said it was buffalo meat, carrying which is not banned. The women were charged for trading meat without a permit. No action was taken against the attackers, the report said.

The attack on the two women in the town of Mandsaur in western Madhya Pradesh was the 26th in 118 days since 55-year-old Pehlu Khan died after a mob attack on April 1, 2017, bringing the count to 26 cases of cow-related violence in seven months this year, the most in eight years, according to an IndiaSpend database that records such violence in India. We have now recorded as many as 70 cases of cow-related violence over eight years.

Created through a collection and content analysis of reports in the English mediawhich tend to have the greatest spread of national newsthe database shows that 97% (68 of 70) of such incidents were reported after the National Democratic Alliance government came to power in May 2014. More than half or 54% of the cow-related violence38 of 70 caseswere from states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), when the attacks were reported, revealed our analysis of violence recorded until July 27, 2017.

The data show that Muslims were the target of 51% (36 of 70) cases of violence centred on bovine issues over nearly eight years (2010 to 2017) and comprised 86% (24 of 28) killed in 70 incidents.

As least 136 people were also injured in these attacks, and more than half (54%) of these attacks were based on rumours, our analysis of the IndiaSpend database revealed.

Despite the increase in violence related to bovine issues, particularly over the last three years, the ministry of home affairs does not collect data on lynchings, said this government statement to the Lok Sabha (parliaments lower house) on July 25, 2017.

National or state crime data do not distinguish general violence from cow-related attacks and lynchings, so the IndiaSpend database is the first such statistical perspective to a growing national debate over such violence.

In nearly half the attacks (49%), police register cases against victims

Of 70 attacks over eight years, 68 (97%) occurred, as we said, since 2014, with most of those taking place within the first seven months of 2017. The year 2016 reported the second-most cases of cow-related violence at 25 incidents, as IndiaSpend reported in June, 2017.

In nearly half or 49% (34 attacks) of cases reported, police registered cases against victims/survivorsas they did in Mandsauran analysis of our cow-related-violence database revealed.

The police response to the mob in Mandsaur is contrary to the Prime Ministers recent rhetoric against violence perpetrated in the name of cow protection.

On June 29, 2017, a day after protests in Indian cities, London and New York against the governments slow response and silence after nationwide attacks against mostly Muslims and Dalits, Modi, speaking at the centenary celebrations of Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, said:

Killing people in the name of gau bhakti (cow worship) is unacceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve of.

No one has the right to take law into his/her hands. We belong to a land of non-violence. Violence is not the solution to any problem.

No one spoke about protecting cows more than Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinobha Bhave. Yes it should be done, the prime minister said. He ended the statement saying, Lets all work together. Lets create an India our freedom fighters would be proud of.

No one spoke about protecting cows more than Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Yes. It should be done: PM @narendramodi  PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 29, 2017

No person in this nation has the right to take the law in his or her own hands in this country: PM @narendramodi  PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 29, 2017

Let's all work together. Let's create the India of Mahatma Gandhi's dreams. Let's create an India our freedom fighters would be proud of: PM  PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 29, 2017

A day before the start of the monsoon session in Parliament on July 15, 2017, the prime minister, at an all-India meeting of the BJP, once again criticised cow vigilantes and put the onus on state governments to stringently act against them. He said :

      ,                       Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 16, 2017

We believe cow is our mother, she is tied to peoples emotions. But it must be understood that there are laws to protect cows and there is no option to break it, the prime minister tweeted on July 16, 2017.

                           Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 16, 2017

In the name of cow-protection, some anti-social elements are trying to spread chaos. People are taking advantage of this to spoil the fraternal spirit of this country.

                      Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 16, 2017

This is impacting the countrys image. State governments should take strict action against such anti-social elements.

Offences promoting enmity between different groups up 41% over last 3 years

As many as 1,235 cases related to offences promoting enmity between different groupsunder section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, etc.) and 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Indian Penal Codewere reported during 2014-16, according to a July 25, 2017 Lok Sabha reply to a question on lynchings.

[Under sections 153A and 153B of the Indian Penal Code] the National Crime Records Bureau [NCRB] maintains data on offences promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth etc However, it does not maintain data on cases relating to cow vigilantes, cow trade and trafficking, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, minister of state for the home ministry, told the Lok Sabha in his reply.

Offences promoting enmity between different groups increased 41% over three years to 2016, rising from 336 to 475. Uttar Pradesh (UP), Indias most-populous state, reported the most (202) cases, registering a 346% increase, from 26 in 2014 to 116 in 2016. UP was followed by Kerala (151), Karnataka (114), Telangana (104) and Maharashtra (103), among the top five states, over three years.

Cases in Uttarakhand increased at the greatest rate nationwide, 450%, from four in 2014 to 22 in 2016.

The government also said that there is no proposal to promulgate a law against lynching.

With mob violence in the name of cow protection rising, the National Campaign Against Mob Lynching, a committee of civil society members, has proposed a new law. The Manav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA) suggests no bail for those accused of mob lynching, life imprisonment for those convicted and immediate suspension of the concerned station house officer. An online petition demanding MASUKA has received over 34,000 signatures.
Gorkhaland agitators sprung a surprise on authorities when they clashed with police, not in Darjeeling hills, but down at Sukna, close to Siliguri town on Saturday after days of lull.

One GJM supporter and three policemen were injured near Rongtong Bridge, about 12 km from Siliguri, after police stopped GJM supporters from holding a rally with khukris, the traditional Gorkha knife, on Saturday.

Nitin Chettri, a GJM leader, claimed that Ajay Chettri (30), who had come from Garidhura, about 20 km to the north of Siliguri, sustained severe injury when a teargas shell hit him on the head and that he was taken to the hospital.

Angry GJM supporters pelted stones at the police and damaged several vehicles as police resorted to lathicharge and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the mob.

A supporter of separate Gorkhaland state throws a projectile at police during an indefinite strike at Sukna village on the outskirts of Siliguri on Saturday. (AFP)

Two GJM supporters were arrested for attacking the police. The arrests triggered more violence from the mob which blocked the road and set tyres on fire.

In the evening, district magistrate Joyoshi Dasgupta said tension is still prevailing. The injured GJM supporter is undergoing treatment.

Senior IPS officers were camping at the site although the GJM supporters dispersed after 6 pm.

Meanwhile, the bandh called by 15 political parties and organisations based in the hills entered its 45th day on Saturday, making it the longest strike observed in support of the demand for a separate Gorkhaland.

The longest stir before this, held by the Gorkha National Liberation Front in 1988, lasted 40 days. Though GJM observed bandh for 44 days in 2013, it was not continuous and was suspended a few times in between.

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The Congress will find it tough to re-elect senior leader Ahmed Patel to the Rajya Sabha after a string of defections by party lawmakers in the state, a senior Congress leader has said, indicating he too could resign and join the BJP.

Congress MLA Raghavjee Patel, considered close to former party strongman Shankersinh Vaghela, said more opposition lawmakers in Gujarat are likely to resign in the coming days.

The Congress has been jolted in Gujarat after at least six MLAs switched over to the saffron party, barely months before crucial assembly polls in the state, where it is out of to power for the past 22 years.

The state party leadership, along with Congress high command, is responsible for whatever is happening right now. In the coming days, around 20 Congress MLAs would sever ties with the party. Thus, it will be impossible for Ahmed Patel to win the Rajya Sabha polls, Raghavjee told reporters.

When I met Ahmed bhai recently, I cautioned him about this situation and urged him not to contest polls, as I already saw this coming. I firmly believe the Congress cannot win the Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat, said the MLA from Jamnagar (rural) seat.

Patel, a Rajya Sabha member since 1993, is also the political secretary of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He filed his nominations for the August 8 polls this week.

Patels opponent, Balwantsinh Rajput, is also a former Congress MLA who joined the BJP recently.

Since there are only two main parties in Gujarat, the BJP is the only option for me if I leave the Congress. I have already had a word with BJP national president Amit Shah and state president Jitubhai Vaghani and conveyed my wish to join the party, Raghavjee added.

Another Congress MLA from Jamnagar, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, also indicated he would leave the party.

A large number of Congress workers are unhappy with the way the party is functioning. Though I and Raghavjee had made numerous representations about it in the past, the party high command has not given any satisfactory answer. I will take appropriate decision in coming days, he said.

In the 182-member assembly, the strength of Congress has gone down to 51.

Of the total 11 RS members from the state, the term of three of them -- Smriti Irani and Dilipbhai Pandya (both BJP) and Ahmed Patel  will end on August 18.

The Congress has accused the BJP of using money and muscle power to engineer the defections.

The party on Friday flew 44 of its MLAs to Bengaluru to stop more of them from switching over to the BJP.
The Income Tax department seized cash and jewellery worth Rs 1,469.42 crore in 2016-17, which is almost double the value of assets it confiscated the previous year, official data revealed.

In 2015-16, it had seized cash and jewellery worth Rs 712.68 crore.

The department, which has intensified its drive against black money hoarders, carried out 1,152 searches the previous year. More than 900 of these raids were conducted during November-March, the period that coincided with the Narendra Modi governments demonetisation exercise.

About Rs 1,000 crore were seized during the same five month period. From April to June this year, illegal cash worth Rs 103.02 crore has been seized by the I-T department.

In 2016-17, taxmen filed as many as 1,252 prosecution complaints as compared to 552 in 2015-16.

The tax department intensified its searches after the closure of the four-month window of the Income Disclosure Scheme, which allowed people to come clean with their illegal money in September, a senior finance ministry official told Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity.

Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman Sushil Chandra has maintained that his department has zero tolerance towards tax cheats and would work towards expanding the tax base.

The I-T department is also mining data gathered by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to identify big-spenders who are still outside the tax net.

The government has also made the linking of all permanent account numbers with the 12-digit unique Aadhaar a pre-requisite for filing income tax returns from this year.

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In a first, Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq used the live video facility of social networking platforms on Saturday to address the media which was barred from his residence despite a scheduled press conference.

In two separate live videos  first in English and then in Urdu  the Valleys head cleric delivered around 10-minute-long messages, clarifying that he does not own any illegal wealth as claimed by certain national television channels.

The Mirwaiz had called a press conference at his house in in Nageen area of Srinagar at 3pm, but journalists who reached the venue found restrictions on pedestrian and vehicular movement around the house.

Although there has been no official statement by the police disallowing the presser, it is common practice in Kashmir for the administration to bar them when called by separatist leaders.

But never before has any leader taken the help of live video facilities on Facebook and Twitter to reach out to the media.

Media & press has been barred from entering my house. All lanes, by-lanes blocked by police. Will talk live via Twitter &Facebook at 4.30, the Mirwaiz tweeted.

However, at around 4.30pm, he tweeted, My home internet has been snapped by authorities!! Will find a way out to be online! Soon he was live on both Facebook and Twitter.

In his video message, he accused the Indian government and sections of media of playing intricate mind games with all those who believed that the Kashmir conflict needed a resolution.

To tarnish my image, false, malicious and virulent propaganda imputing dishonest and underhand dealings to me is being deliberately spread, he said and refuted all defamatory allegations made against him by a certain channel.

The Mirwaiz went on to provide details of his income sources and clarified his financial position.

The media should realise that atrocious lies will only lead to denigration of the Indian media. I have full faith in my own probity and in the trust of my people in me, as I am only accountable to them, and I consider it beneath my dignity to even issue a defamatory notice to the channel, he said.

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Famed sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik tweeted a picture of a tiger-shaped sand sculpture on a beach in Odishas Puri to mark International Tiger Day. Observed every year on July 29, this day is worth observing, as only a few thousand tigers remain in the wild as a result of animal poaching and trafficking, according to a United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report.

The picture, that is a plea to protect the national animal and has been liked over 1.5K times, has garnered praise on social media. Sample some reactions:

Today is #InternationalTigerDay. Let us pledge to protect the national animal of India. One of my SandArts. #SaveTiger pic.twitter.com/utsGlVqgMe  Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) July 29, 2017

Great art  amazing it's very realistic God bless you dear we are very proud for your innovative & magical talents  Satya Rath (@SatyaRath2) July 29, 2017

I don't have words for these, looks real  Sachin Arya (@Sachinarya9031) July 29, 2017

Amazing work. Salute your talent and inherent humility  slow claps for a sandy rockstar  knoll king (@tazknollking) July 29, 2017

India is home to nearly 70% of the worlds tiger population and has 2,226 tigers according to the last national census in 2014. The country now has 50 functioning tiger reserves as opposed to nine when Project Tiger was launched in 1983.

Threats to the species owing to increasing habitat loss and demand for their skins, bones and other derivatives in China and other parts of Asia for ornamental and traditional medicine purposes puts the tiger at extreme risk of extinction.

According to a report released by the forest department on Wednesday, Uttarakhand has recorded a massive jump in tiger numbers with the Corbett Tiger Reserve becoming home to 215 tigers in 2016 from 163 tigers in 2015. The hill state has the countrys second highest tiger population after Karnataka.

On the other hand, tiger deaths too have steadily gone up in recent years. In 2015, officials reported 80 tiger deaths, and 78 in the previous year, according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

Tigers are now on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of endangered animals.

Heres a look at how India is leading the world in conserving the big cats:
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singhs IT cell has reportedly come under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that is probing the Kotkhai rape and murder case and the death of a Nepalese national in police custody.

Sources in the CBI said that the CMs IT cell is under the scanner as it uploaded the photographs of four innocent youths on his Facebook page and projected them as suspects who were called for interrogation by the police in the Kotkhai rape and murder case. The chief ministers office is tight lipped on the entire goof up.

On July 12, photographs of the four youth were uploaded on the CMs Facebook page in a post that claimed that the police has nabbed the suspects. The photographs were uploaded at 10: 37 pm but pulled down within an hour. The uploading and downloading time has been recorded in Facebook analyser.

Meanwhile, CMs IT advisor Gokul Butail denied having any information on the case. All I can say is that it was not downloaded or uploaded by me, he said.

However, the Facebook post acted a catalyst to the widespread public anger against the alleged mishandling of the case by the police. The pictures of the four youth had gone viral which further strengthened doubts about the shoddy police investigation.

In his post dated July 12, the Virbhadra wrote: I would like to inform the people of Himachal Pradesh that four suspects have been taken into police custody and further investigations are being conducted. The post went on to congratulate the investigating team lead by IGP Zahur Zaidi for cracking the case.

The chief minister's Facebook page is run by a group of administrators, including some volunteers. Sources say, the chief minister has ordered an internal inquiry to ascertain the veracity of the goof up and also sought legal opinion on the matter. One of his social networking manager has reportedly been removed.

The four youths whose photographs were widely shared on the social media wherein they were labelled as the culprits in the Kothkai rape and murder case, later filed a police complaint as they feared for their life. They had also submitted a complaint with the cyber cell and sought its help in getting their photographs removed from the social medias.

The cyber cell is also tight lipped about the entire episode. It neither accepts nor denies having received any complaint.

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Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said trade with Pakistan should not be stopped and reviving the Lahore Declaration engineered by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the way forward for peace between the two countries.

The chief minister said trade with Pakistan needed to be strengthened and not stopped to bridge distances between the two neighbouring countries.

She said peace between the two countries as envisaged in the Lahore declaration during the prime ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was still the best way forward to move in India-Pakistan relationship.

On the 18th foundation day of her party - the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) - Mufti said Kashmir was the crown of India and the country was incomplete without it.

She said legislators from Pakistani side of Kashmir should be allowed to come here and interact with the lawmakers on the Indian side to know each others viewpoint.

Mehbooba Mufti said it was the time to take steps to save the people in Kashmir and not to compound the problems already faced by them.

Party vice-president and parliament member Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said 50% of states area which was presently under Pakistan administration has virtually passed into Chinas control.

The position today is that even if Pakistan wants to talk to India it cannot do so without Chinas permission, Beigh said.
In what it called exemplary punishment, a militant outfit in Manipur shot a 43-year-old man accused of raping his 11-year-old niece, police said on Saturday.

Police in Imphal West district said three armed men shot the man identified as Irom Bobo after bringing him blindfolded in a car to Tera Pukhrambam Leirak area of Imphal. The trio fled soon after putting two bullets in Bobos head on Friday night.

Alerted by the gunshots, people in the locality came out of their homes and found Bobo lying in a pool of blood. He succumbed to injuries at a local hospital.

The incident took place a day before Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh sought withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from the state in view of improvement in the law and order scenario. The law, said to give the armed forces the license to kill, was lifted in 2004 from seven assembly constituencies straddling state capital Imphal.

The United National Liberation Front (UNLF), a banned outfit, later owned up to killing Bobo. He confessed to raping a minor and so we gave him exemplary punishment, it said in a statement.

Bobo was charge-sheeted in 2013 for allegedly raping his 11-year-old niece. He had also spent some time in jail and he could have been out on bail, officials said.

His trial was on for some time. But I am not aware of the outcome of the case, said Imphal West senior superintendent of police (SSP) Themthing Ngashanva.

We are examining various angles to the shooting, including the possibility that he was killed in connection with the rape, he added.

The UNLF, Ngashanva said, had in March claimed responsibility for killing an alleged pimp.

Militants in Manipur and elsewhere in the northeast have been known to take moral policing to an extreme level. Meghalayas Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council used to punish rapists and molesters with less severe punishment, but its former chief Julius K Dorphang was in December last year accused of raping a minor twice. Dorphang, an independent legislator, is in jail.

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The Manipur government is facing a unique problem -- of militants killing persons accused of rape and other heinous crimes against women. A suspected rapist was on Friday night brought blindfolded to Imphal and shot dead with two bullets to the head, police said.

Themheng Ngashangba, Imphal West district Police Superintendent, said, Suspected militants brought a blindfolded man on Friday night at Tera in Imphal and shot him dead. The deceased was identified as Irom Bobo, 43. There were two gunshot injuries in the head.

A massive manhunt had been launched to nab the accused, but no arrests have been made. The outlawed underground organisation, United National Liberation Front, has claimed responsibility for shooting Bobo. The outfit says that he had confessed to his crime.

He was given the exemplary punishment, a spokesperson of the outfit said.

Eye witness accounts said that three persons brought the blindfolded man in car around 8 p.m. and left immediately after shooting him in the head.

Sources said that Bobo was arrested in 2003 in connection with the rape and murder of a minor girl. He had been remanded to judicial custody for one year.

Insurgents of all hues have been killing those who have raped women.

Chief minister N Biren Singh, who is in charge of the home department, said, The government takes a strong view of crimes against women. For the first time we have set up a fast-track court to exclusively try crimes against women. It will go a long way in protecting the women in the state.

Police fear there could be more killings since there have been instances of rape and other sexual crimes against women.

In another incident, police had a difficult time in controlling agitating women who tried to mob Indira Moirangthem, her paramour and an accomplice when they were produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Monalisa Maibam in Bishnupur district on Friday.

It is alleged that Indira, with the help of these two persons, shot dead her husband, Herachandra Moirangthem, a serviceman. Womenfolk have been agitating, saying the wife had killed the husband. The accused persons have been remanded to judicial custody for 15 days.
Ahead of the upcoming three-day visit of BJP national president Amit Shah to Haryana, the Khattar government in Haryana has gone into an overdrive in collecting data pertaining to social, political and electoral demography as well as the media in the state.

Though Shah has been to Haryana for some rallies in the past too, it will be for the first time that he would spend three days in the state, precisely Rohtak, from August 2 to 4 to hold meetings with state leaders.

Sources in the party told HT that several leaders have been tasked to gather a variety of information in a seven-page format given to them to be submitted to Shah. They will gather details pertaining to the social, geographic and electoral (from booth-level to Lok Sabha constituency-level profiles) demography, membership mapping and organisational scenario.

Interestingly, the information to be submitted to Shah also includes the details of BJP activists, if any, working in the fields of Right to Information (RTI) and public interest litigation (PIL). Profiles of the mainstream, digital and social media have been sought with their names, language, reach and circulation.

Another specific information has also been sought  about the sentiments of these media  whether these are positive, neutral or negative. Also, details have been sought about the partys Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp group network and as to how many people the party was thus reaching out to.

The party sources said that Shah had sought these details in a set format from all states he would be visiting in the days to come for making a strategy for 2019 general elections.

However, there is also speculation in party circles that Haryana might go for assembly elections along with the Lok Sabha polls. The forthcoming visit of Shah was also discussed in detail at the two-day meeting of the BJP at Jind earlier this week, which was attended by three Union ministers from state  namely Birender Singh, Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar  all state leaders, members of the state executive and leaders of all party wings.

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PATNA After the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) starting investigations into the assets of Lalu Prasad and his close relations, the Economic Offences Unit (EoU) of the state is set to probe the assets of his two former minister sons, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav.

The two are alleged to have amassed wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.

Sources told HT, the state government had directed the EOU to investigate the financial dealings and properties amassed by former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and his elder brother, erstwhile health minister Tej Pratap Yadav,.

The investigations are expected to start within the next few days, sources told HT.

If the charges are proved, the properties of the sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad may be confiscated under the provisions of the Bihar Special Courts Act, 2009, as the two brothers are covered by the act as public servants.

Former forest secretary S S Verma was a senior IAS officer when his properties were seized under the act. Former director general of police Narayan Mishra and officers of health, commercial taxes and forest departments have also been book under this law, brought by CM Nitish Kumar to fight corruption by public servants.

The EOUs investigation against family members of the RJD chief would be a further blow to Lalu, who is also facing reopened charges in fodder scam cases. It may also trigger another round of political spat between the RJD and JD (U).

The two parties, parners in the grand alliance government for the past 20 months, broke apart early last week when Nitish Kumar resigned as its chief minister, after RJDs Tejashwi Prasad Yadav failed to clear the air or resign as deputy CM, after being named in a CBI FIR as a beneficiary in the land for railways hotels lease case.

Apart from Tejashwi, his father Lalu Prasad and mother Rabri Devi have been named in the CBI FIR in the case, which took place during RJD chiefs stint as railway minister.(2004-09).

The former deputy CMs name came up after the state BJP leader Sushil Modi released papers to show how he was a major shareholder in the company promoting a mall in Patna described as Bihars biggest mall worth a few hundred crores.

The former deputy CM has, however, rubbished the charges as politically motivated and taken up at the behest of the BJP led NDA government at the Centre.

The ED has already questioned Yadavs elder sister Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar for running shell companies and money laundering.

Bihars principal secretary, home, Amir Subhani said he would not comment on the report that the EOU had started investigations against the former deputy CM and his brother.

BLURB

If charges are proved properties of the deposed deputy CM and others could be confiscated under the Bihar Special Courts Act, 2009 as they come under the act as public servants

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A 36-year-old woman and her teenage daughter fell ill after they accidentally cooked and ate a baby snake along with cabbage in Indore.

Afzaan Imam and her daughter Aamna (15) said soon after consuming the vegetable on Thursday night, they felt queasy and started vomiting.

I had cooked cabbage for dinner. After consuming some, I suddenly bit into something bitter and immediately felt unwell. My daughter also felt the same. When I checked the cabbage, I found a piece of snake inside, Afzaan said.

They were rushed to the MY hospital by family members where their situation is said to be stable now, according to doctors.

They just vomited a lot after being admitted, an attending doctor said.

A snakes poison becomes dangerous when it mixes in blood and gets circulated. We will monitor the condition of both the patients for the next couple of days, Dr Dharmendra Jhanwar of the medicine department at the hospital said.

He said Afzaan and Aamna are being subjected to various check-ups to ascertain if the consumption of the reptile has caused any damage to their body tissues.

(With agency inputs)
More than 77% of the 16,235 electorate voted in the bypoll to the Northern Angami-1 seat in Nagaland where Shurhozelie Liezietsu, who lost the chief ministers chair 10 days ago to TR Zeliang after a fortnight-long power struggle, is seeking election.

Shurhozelies lone rival is independent candidate Kekhrie Yhome.

The election was necessitated after Shurhozelies son Khriehu Liezietsu resigned last month to enable his father be an elected member of the Nagaland assembly in order to retain the CMs chair. However, the result is virtually inconsequential for Shurhozelie after having been ousted as CM.

Shurhozelie heads a virtual faction of the ruling Naga Peoples Front (NPF) that is opposed to that of Zeliang. The pro-Shurhozelie NPF suspected Zeliang and his loyalists backed Yhome in a bid to end the former chief ministers political career.

The result is scheduled on Monday. But the Supreme Court, acting on a petition by Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), issued a notice to the Election Commission on Friday, saying the result of bye-election shall be subject to the outcome of the matter.

We had filed the petition since the bye-election is against electoral provisions that deem a bye-election unnecessary if the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is less than one, NPCC president K Therie told HT.

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Neck-deep in legal trouble, a mining baron from Bellary from Karnataka has finally decided to knock on the doors of the Judge Uncle in neighbouring Keralas Kottayam district.

The judge in this case is the presiding deity of a small shrine located at the corner of the Cheruvally Sree Devi temple of Kottayam with an ever growing reputation of helping people wriggle out of legal mess.

The belief is Judge Ammavan (Uncle) does not disappoint and the mining baron mired in legal cases has made the trip to the temple to make a special offering.

Those who throng the temple are controversial figures and to give them anonymity, the shrine opens just for 15 minutes and that too only in the night, after the main Cheruvally temple closes after evening prayers.

Visitors at the temple are the veritable whos who of south India: Malayalam actor Dileep is in jail for his alleged involvement in the abduction and sexual assault of a top actress and his brother Anoop was at the temple to offer special prayers on his behalf.

P Gopalakrishnan, the president of the Travancore Dewasom Board that administers the famous hill shrine at Sabarimala was also here last November when a petition challenging its age-old tradition of not allowing women into the temple was being heard at the Supreme Court.

The top court is yet to give its ruling on whether to allow women into Sabarimala, but devotees of Judge Uncle believe his blessings are a sure shot way to salvation. The Bellary baron is facing a myriad of court cases including some relating to mine lease violations.

One of my cases will come up before the court soon and my astrologer advised me to visit the Judge Uncle, he said on the condition of anonymity.

According to folklore, the temple has its roots in 18th century when the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore had a judge named Govinda Pillai who was known for his impartial judgments. Once, his nephew was involved in a criminal case and Pillai ordered his execution. Later, evidence surfaced about the nephews innocence.

Pillai was filled with remorse and he approached the king, requesting that he be punished for his erroneous judgment. The king said the judge must decide his own punishment, following which Pillai ordered his own execution. He also ruled that his body be exhibited at a public place for three days.

Pillais commitment to justice moved many and the people later built a temple to give eternal peace to his soul. The case diary with Pillais own observations on Palmira leaves ordering his execution serves as the deity of the temple.

People from faraway places come here. And many believers request the temple to keep their identity confidential, said temple manager Gopinathan Nair.

People involved in minor disputes to major crimes come here with lot of hope, said Deva Narayanan, a retired government employee. The Bellary mining baron currently doing the rounds of the temple happens to be just one of them.

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The NIA seized a secret list drawn up by police of most wanted militants in Jammu and Kashmir from the house of Kashmiri separatist leader Shahid-ul-Islam arrested recently in a case of terror funding, sources have said.

The recovery of the document that has 158 names on it has raised concerns if Islam, a close aide of moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has a mole in the police force.

We were in for huge surprise when we checked the lists veracity with the Jammu and Kashmir Police. We were told it was the copy of a list prepared by their criminal investigation department, a National Investigation Agency official told Hindustan Times on Friday. We are curious to know whether the list travelled to Pakistan as well.

The NIA on July 24 arrested Islam and six other separatist leaders in an investigation to ascertain if funds from Pakistan were used to fuel last years unrest in the Valley that left 100 people, most of them civilians, dead.

Before the arrests, the anti-terrorism investigating agency raided places across Kashmir, Delhi and Haryana, looking for evidence of separatist leaders and businessmen receiving funds from Hafiz Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa group, and other Pakistan-based militant outfits.

The list, which was prepared by the intelligence wing of the police around three months ago, was seized during one such raid in June, sources in NIA said.

Yes, its a secret list for internal consumption of the police, a J&K police official told Hindustan Times. In Kashmir there were many families in which a brother was a militant and another a policeman, so sometimes things get leaked and we are trying our best to stop it, the officer said.

Along with names of the militants, the list has the details of the outfits they belong to, their addresses and how dangerous they are.

The state police grades militants in five categories: A++, A+, A, B and C  depending on their activities.

The NIA was trying to find out how the list reached Islam, who and six others are in its custody.

Senior Hurriyat leaders, including Mirwaiz who is the head priest of the Valley, have slammed the arrests as vendetta and an attempt to mislead the people.

Kashmir was rocked by violent street protests after Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight with security forces on July 8, 2016. Stone-throwing mobs of young people often clashed with the troops, leading to deaths in firing by security forces.

Security agencies say habitual stone throwers are paid money, which comes from Pakistan, to stoke unrest in the Valley.

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Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar inducted 27 ministers on Saturday, giving the Bharatiya Janata Party the highest-ever representation in his government as well as the plum portfolios the saffron party held before he broke his partys alliance with it four years ago.

Of those who took oath of office, 14 are from Kumars party, the JD(U), 12 from the BJP and one from the Lok Janshakti Party, an NDA constituent.

The government in Bihar changed dramatically on Wednesday after Kumar decided to dump his previous allies, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, and partner with the BJP over an alleged corruption case that embroiled his then deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav. A day later, he took oath as chief minister and BJPs Sushil Kumar Modi as his deputy to form the new NDA government.

The last time the BJP had a coalition government with Kumars party  in 2010  it had 11 ministers. BJP then had 91 lawmakers, compared to 53 now. In the first JD(U)-BJP coalition government  from 2005 to 2010-- the saffron party had seven ministers from among its 55 legislators.

The increased heft of the BJP reflected the changed political equations in Bihar, with Kumar depending more on the NDA-led central government to deliver on his promises of development. The allocation of portfolios also gave a glimpse of the coalition partners priorities.

Kumar will hold home, general administration and vigilance departments, among others, while his deputy from the BJP will be in charge of finance, forest, commercial taxes and IT. Bijendra Yadav of the JD(U) was given the portfolios of energy, excise and prohibition. Law & order and prohibition have been the two planks of Kumar in his endeavour to expand his mass base.

The other portfolios given to the BJP ministers  agriculture, road construction, health, urban development & housing, art & culture, and backward and extremely backward classes, among others  will help the party expand its social and political base in a state that sends 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha. Kumars Cabinet has one woman and one minority community member both from the JD (U).

In caste-ridden Bihar, the BJP maintained a careful configuration to represent all communities important to its base, giving the maximum of four berths to EBC categories and one each to Kushwaha, Yadav and SC communities.

There were two ministers from the Brahmin community and one each from Bhumihar and Rajput groups.

According to the formula worked out between the two coalition partners, the JD(U) will have  when the council of ministers is expanded  a total of 19 ministers, BJP 13 and one each from the other NDA partners: Ram Vilas Paswans LJP, Jitan Ram Manjhis Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), and Upendra Kushwahas RLSP.

Union minister Upendra Prasad Kushwaha-led RLSP, which got one berth, was asked to suggest someone for a ministerial position that is yet to be allotted. From LJP, Pasupati Paras  brother of Paswan  was accommodated, though he is not a member of either house.

Jitan Ram Manjhi, the lone representative of his party, turned down a post, but recommended a member from outside the house over which no decision has yet been taken.

According to BJP sources, Sushil Modi and Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai shortlisted the names, which were vetted by the partys central leadership in New Delhi. BJP president Amit Shah, Union minister Arun Jaitley and senior party leader Bhupendra Yadav were involved in the selection, they said.

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Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumars decision earlier this week to jettison the grand alliance and rejoin forces with the BJP-led NDA is in keeping with his image as a sharp politician not afraid to take risks to set his own political agenda.

His critics have seen him as opportunistic, including his current partner Sushil Kumar Modi and his ex-partner Lalu Prasad. He approached me to form a grand alliance against the BJP in 2015, when the chips were down for him. Now, he has pointed a finger at us on the issue of corruption as an excuse to break the alliance, Prasad, the leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal, said.

Prasad became the chief minister in 1990, when Kumar hit Bihars political mainstream.

The two were great friends at the time. At a Janata Dal legislature party meeting at Braj Kishore memorial hall in western Patna in early March 1990, Lalu outwitted his more experienced rivals, former CM Ram Sunder Das and Raghunath Jha, to be elected leader of the JDLP.

Nitish had played a crucial role in Lalus victory, so much so that just as the outcome of the JDLP meeting was announced, he was hoisted in the arms of their supporters. Lalu-Nitish zindabad was the slogan that rent the air at the time, recalled a veteran socialist leader.

But, within months of Lalu becoming the CM, on March 10, 1990, the brothers fell out. The main reason for the estrangement was that Nitish started feeling left out from the decision-making process, as Lalu came more and more into his own.

In 1994, Nitish broke away from the Janata Dal to form the Samata Party, along with veteran socialist leader George Fernandes. It was a risk that proved disastrous for Kumar.

Samata party went into the 1995 Bihar assembly poll hoping to win a full majority but ended up with a mere seven seats out of the 315 it contested for the then 324-member Bihar legislative assembly.

Nitish won the Harnaut assembly seat in his native Nalanda district of south central Bihar. But so dejected was he with the outcome of the poll, won by Lalus JD, that he preferred to return to pursue politics in the national capital.

Although given to socialistic persuasion, Nitish, his critics say, found no compunction in establishing contact with the BJP leadership in 1995, despite the saffron party carrying the communal tag.

But the move revived his career and the Samata Party won eight seats in 1996 Lok Sabha poll and 12 seats in the 1998 election in alliance with the BJP.

Nitish won successive LS polls from Barh Lok Sabha constituency in 1996, 1998 and 1999, even as Lalu his maintained his hold on Bihar, installing wife Rabri Devi as CM when the CBI arrested him in a fodder scam case in July 1997.

Between 1998 and 2000, Nitish served as minister in charge of surface transport, agriculture and railways in the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In August 1999, he resigned after the Gaisal train disaster.

He returned as railways minister from 2001 to 2004. In between, in 2003, he merged his Samata party with Sharad Yadav-led JD, to form the JD (U).

In November 2005, he led the NDA to a big victory in the Bihar assembly poll, bringing to an end 15 years of Lalu-Rabri rule. His commitment to good governance, rule of law and development saw the NDA repeat its assembly poll success in 2010.

Through these years, Nitish cemented his position by vote-winning measures such as providing reservation to extremely backward classes (EBCs) and women in panchayati raj institutions and the bicycle for girls scheme that drew poor girls to school.

While building new constituencies of his own, Nitish carefully distanced himself from ally BJPs communal agenda, pushing special schemes for welfare of Muslims. It was his paranoia to safeguard his Muslim support that laid the seeds of his break from the BJP.

In June 2012, Nitish cancelled a party he had hosted for top BJP leaders assembled in Patna for the partys national executive, after posters appeared showing him holding hands with Narendra Modi, the then CM of Gujarat, whose name was an anathema to Muslims.

So, when Modi was declared leader of the BJPs campaign committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, in June 2013, Nitish broke his JD(U) away from the NDA.

Nitishji had no compunction in working with us for almost eight years (2005-13). Now, for him the BJP has suddenly become communal, said BJP leader Sushil Modi, soon after the break. The same Modi is now back as deputy CM under Nitish.

His party, the JD(U) was decimated at the hands of the Modi-powered NDA in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, winning just two out of 40 seats in Bihar to the NDAs 31 seats. Nitish resigned as CM in May 2014, handing over reins to Dalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi.

In June 2014, Nitish had to plead with Lalu for the support of his 22 RJD MLAs for the two JD (U) Rajya Sabha candidates, who were facing defeat at the hands of rebels. Lalu obliged, paving way for a reconciliation between the two.

It was a big mistake to oblige him, said an angry Rabri Devi, former CM, earlier this week.

But such was Nitishs sway over the JD(U) and its MLAs, he returned as chief minister in February 2015, despite stiff resistance by Manjhi.

In the following months, he stitched the grand alliance with Lalu and Congress, to defeat the BJP in the November 2015 assembly poll.

After 20 months as head of the GA government, Nitish called it quits as CM when his deputy, RJD chief Lalus son Tejashwi, neither cleared the air on corruption charges that caused the CBI to name him in an FIR in the land for railways hotels lease case, nor did he resign.

Didnt Nitish Kumar know my father. Laluji, was facing corruption charges when he went to him for help and formed the grand alliance. Corruption becomes corruption only when this suits him, said Tejashwi, after the GA split.

JD(U) sources, on the other hand, said thanks to the overbearing shadow of Lalu, which was inhibiting governance and development, a split in the GA had become imminent.

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A British member of parliament (MP) on Saturday pitched for an independent inquiry into the role of the UK government in Operation Bluestar, an Indian army action in 1984 to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple.

The UKs first turban-wearing MP Tanmanjit Singh Dhesi is in Chandigarh on a private visit to India.

As far as 1984 Operation Bluestar is concerned, you know that all felt pain. But we never know that there was any role of the UK government in it. We always thought it was an action taken by the Indian government, Dhesi said addressing the media here.

He claimed that some journalists in the UK while analysing secret documents found involvement of the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Whether the role was in advisory capacity or something more but when we learnt about it, we were sad because we never thought our government would have any role in it, the British MP said.

That is why we are demanding that independent inquiry should be held to establish the extent of then Thatcher governments involvement in 1984 operation Bluestar, the Labour Party MP said.

Dhesi said the Conservative Party-led government had earlier ordered an inquiry in this regard. But it was an eyewash.

Neither anything came out of that inquiry nor any document was released. That is why the demand for independent inquiry is growing to put pressure on the UK government, he said.

The onus for ordering inquiry is entirely on the present UK government, Dhesi said, adding If the UK government makes any delay in ordering independent inquiry then it will be called as justice delayed, justice denied.

Dhesi, known as Tan, won his Slough seat to become the UKs first turban-wearing MP last month.

On the issue of Kirpan and Sikhs not being allowed to wear turbans in some counties, the British MP said that he would continue to raise such issues at appropriate platforms.

It is a matter of great sadness that people cannot practice their faith as they cannot freely wear kirpan or turban. In France, more than 80,000 turbaned Sikh soldiers laid down their lives in order to liberate that very country. And now that very county do not allow turbans. Sikh students cannot go to schools with turban, he rued.

On being asked about students from Punjab now preferring other countries over the UK, Dhesi criticised the Conservative party led-UK government for being too harsh as far as immigration rules were concerned and said immigration rules should be balanced.

We are in favour of having immigration rules which benefit Britain and which are fair. At the moment, Conservative party is being too harsh as we are actually losing out the potential of so many intelligent students (who want to come to the UK). ... Conservative party has harmed our economy, he said.

Asked about Khalistan sympathisers in the UK, Dhesi said It is not a question of supporting any particular ideology.

He said like in India, people get a chance to express their views and follow any ideology in the UK also, there is freedom of expression and freedom of speech.

Each party, like Congress, SAD, AAP has support base in the UK. It is not correct that people living in UK follow only one ideology, he stressed.
Nawaz Sharif resigns after court disqualifies him, younger brother Shehbaz could be next Pak PM

Pakistans Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday over undeclared assets and ordered the filing of criminal charges against him and his family, plunging the country into turmoil ahead of elections due next year. Sharif, 67, resigned soon after the five-judge bench said in a unanimous decision he was disqualified as a member of the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament for not remaining truthful and honest. Pakistani news channels reported Sharif had recommended to leaders of his PML-N party during a meeting that his younger brother, Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, should be made the prime minister. Another party leader is expected to serve as interim premier till Shehbaz is elected to Parliament. Read the story here.

Congress flies its Gujarat MLAs to Bengaluru as party grapples with exodus

Congress flew most of its Gujarat MLAs out of the state in a midnight flight to Bengaluru on Friday, an apparent attempt to keep the flock together after a string of resignations rocked the party. Six MLAs have resigned from the party in the last two days, reducing the partys strength in the Gujarat assembly to 51 and spelling trouble for Ahmed Patel, Congress president Sonia Gandhis political secretary, who has filed papers seeking a fifth term in the Rajya Sabha from the state. The Congress MLAs have been threatened, coerced and bribed by the BJP in Gujarat. They are no longer feeling safe here. So they have decided to go out of the state, said senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia. Read the story here.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar breaks ranks again, to back UPA nominee Gopal Gandhi as vice president

Though Nitish Kumar has switched partners to head a JD (U)-led NDA government in the state, he is set to stand by his promise to support UPAs vice presidential nominee Gopal Krishna Gandhi. The question has been doing rounds over JD (U)s stand, since Wednesdays political upheaval, in the changed circumstances. Confirming the development, a senior party leader said Kumar has cleared his stand on the issue, saying the tie-up with BJP has been done in the interest of the state, but the decision to support Gandhi was taken keeping his ability and identity in mind. Read the story here.

Congress seethes over graft slur on Rajiv Gandhi in Maharashtra textbook

The Congress demanded on Friday action against Maharashtras state-owned school textbook publishers and immediate withdrawal of a revised Class IX political science book that defames former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by calling him corrupt. Publishers Bal Bharti came out with a reprint of the textbook in which portions of contemporary history were rewritten. Rajiv Gandhi faced a lot of criticism in the context of corruption that took place during a defence equipment deal, especially the purchase of long-range canons from a foreign company called Bofors, says an extract from a chapter. Read the story here.

SC dismisses 10-yr-old rape survivors abortion plea after doctors say its unsafe

The Supreme Court noted on Friday a sharp rise in pleas from women seeking to abort pregnancies beyond the legally permissible time limit while rejecting a 10-year-old rape survivors request to terminate her 32-week pregnancy. Medical opinion placed before the court said the abortion would not be in the interest of either the girl or the foetus. A bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar asked the central government to consider setting up a permanent medical board in every state to quickly decide on pleas from pregnant women asking for terminations beyond the permissible 20-week period. Read the story here.

Hindi to be dropped from metro signboards: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah tells govt

Signage in Hindi will be dropped from the newly built metro railway network in Karnataka, chief minister Siddaramaiah said in a letter to the central government on Friday amid mounting pressure from pro-Kannada groups. Signboards at Bengaluru metro stations that use three languages  Kannada, English and Hindi  are viewed as another instance of central government trying to foist their language on the southern state. Kannada outfits had defaced the Hindi words on metro signboards twice this July. Read the story here.

CAG raises questions over Akash missiles reliability

The Comptroller and Auditor General has raised questions over the reliability of an indigenously developed surface to air missile inducted by the Indian Air Force, revealing that a third of the missiles tested failed. In its latest report tabled in the Parliament on Friday, the national auditor also revealed that the missiles were to be deployed in the S sector (reference to northeast) during 2013-15 for deterrence but the target has still not been achieved. Though the report has identified the weapon as Z missile, sources identified it as the Akash missile. Read the story here.

Unicef slams rote learning, teaching methods in preschools

Given a choice between private preschools and anganwadi centres and government schools, there is a growing preference for private preschools and schools even in Indian villages, found a Unicef study. Also, reading, writing and arithmetic defined as 3Rs in the study dont have much benefit in preschool education, as is commonly believed. The overall picture emerging from the observation of classrooms is not very promising, as the curriculum followed by the government and the private schools focuses on the formal teaching of the 3Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic), with limited emphasis on developmentally appropriate classroom practices. Formal learning and teaching of the 3Rs in preschool was found to have a negative relationship with developmentally appropriate activities, the study points out. Read the story here.

Reince Priebus gives way to Gen. John Kelly as Trumps chief of staff

President Donald Trump replaced his beleaguered White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, after only six months on the job on Friday, installing retired General John Kelly in his place in a major shake-up of his top team. Trump announced the move in a tweet a day after his new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, accused Priebus of leaking information to reporters in a profanity-laced tirade. Kelly, 67, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, was most recently secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. Read the story here.

US, Japan detect missile launch from North Korea, Pentagon claims 1000-km range

North Korea fired a ballistic missile Friday night which flew longer than any of its previous missiles and landed in the ocean off Japan, according to officials from Japan, South Korea and the United States. We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile, as had been expected, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said. The missile was launched from Mupyong-ni and traveled about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, he said Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the missile flew for about 45 minutes  about five minutes longer than the ICBM on July 4  and landed west of Japans island of Hokkaido. Read the story here.

Virat Kohli-Abhinav Mukund stand a statistical delight for India vs Sri Lanka

Virat Kohli and Abhinav Mukund fired quick runs off dispirited Sri Lankan bowlers on Friday to power India to a hefty second-innings lead of nearly 500 in the first Test. Skipper Kohli hit an unbeaten 76 and Mukund was out for 81 on what turned out to be the final ball of the third days play in Galle. It was a crushing day for the home side. After smashing 600 in the first innings and then bowling out Sri Lanka for 291 earlier in the day, India reached 189-3 and a lead of 498. The 133-run stand between Virat Kohli and Abhinav Mukund on Day 3 of the Galle Test against Sri Lanka is the fifth time when over 100 runs were added for the third wicket for India in Sri Lanka. Read the story here.
Pakistan fishes in the troubled waters of Jammu and Kashmir but they are not the creators of violent unrest in the Kashmir Valley, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Saturday.

Speaking at a Kashmir conclave in New Delhi, the opposition National Conference leader said he was aware that it was popular to blame Pakistan for everything that is happening in the troubled state.

We know that Pakistan fishes in troubled waters, but we also know that they are not the creators of the sort of agitation that we have seen in 2008, 2010 and 2016, Abdullah said.

The former Union minister of state for external affairs was referring to the three deadliest street protests the Kashmir Valley has witnessed in the nearly three-decades of separatist war.

New Delhi has been blaming Islamabad for inciting and sponsoring trouble in Jammu and Kashmir -- a charge Pakistan has been denying.

Abdullah said the blame for shrinking space for mainstream polity in Jammu and Kashmir needed to be shared by all, including the central government.

He said the ruling Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP) inability to deliver on promises like making peace between India and Pakistan and initiating talks between the central government and separatists has cost the mainstream politicians their credibility in the state.

Abdullah said the case in point was the agenda of alliance between the PDP and the BJP.

I think what is important is that we as regional political players understand our limitations. The problem arises when in our desire to attract votes in elections, we sell promises far beyond our ability to deliver.

It is not within the scope of the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir to decide whether India and Pakistan are going to engage with each other. When we fight election on the promise that we will make peace between India and Pakistan you are setting yourself up for defeat.

Similarly with the best of intentions, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir cannot arm-twist the Union of India to engage with the Hurriyat Conference.

He said the PDP fought the 2014 assembly elections promising they would facilitate a dialogue without a precondition between the central government and the Hurriyat.

But the PDP-BJP has not delivered the promise despite it forming the cornerstone of the agenda of alliance.

When you enter into agreements like the agenda of alliance and find that it is gradually being dismembered and you see the developments as they have taken place over the last six to eight months, then obviously question marks arise against mainstream polity.

He said the mainstream politicians needed to focus on the things that they could deliver.

And here in lies my major grievance with (chief minister) Mehbooba Mufti. The fact is that set aside the things that she has not been able to do that are not within her control. Focus on the things that you can do, Abdullah said.

Abdullah said the blame for the shrinking space of mainstream political parties had to be shared by the central government as institutions like the Election Commission were also not in a position to show how much their writ run in the state.

It is not just mainstream political players that are responsible for what is happening, the Union of India is also responsible. Whether it was the UPA government or the NDA government, he said.

Abdullah cited an example of the cancellation of the parliamentary election in Anantnag following violent protests in the Kashmir Valley and said it was for the first time that the separatist Hurriyat Conference had been handed over an electoral victory.

This is the first election in Jammu and Kashmir which the Hurriyat Conference have won, because since 1996 whenever elections were called the Hurriyat Conference had a single point agenda that some how this election should not take place. This is the first time on the back of protests you cancelled an election and handed victory to them.

He said the cancellation of the south Kashmir election proved the inability of the Indian government and the Election Commission to make their writ run in Jammu and Kashmir.
Palestines Ambassador to India Adnan Abu Alhaija on Saturday hoped India will follow principles and not just interests while strengthening ties with Israel.

I hope this country will follow principles not only interests. I do understand their interests but hope they follow the principles at the same time, he said while hinting that Indias attitude on Palestine has undergone some change since the times of Mahatma Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhi used to say this openly and it was quoted by former President Pranab Mukherjee during his visit to Palestine. Palestine is to Palestinians like Britain is to British.

The ambassador was talking to reporters on the sidelines of an all-party meeting organised by Indo-Arab League to express solidarity with Palestinians and to condemn the Israeli atrocities.

Alhaija hoped there will never be any change in Indias stand on Palestine.

Replying to a query, he felt India should have reacted to last weeks developments in the wake of Israels act of provocation at Al-Alqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

He noted that India historically supported the Palestinian cause but in 1992, New Delhi started diplomatic relations and built them in subsequent years.

This time there is good relations between the two prime ministers, he remarked referring to the recent visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel.

The Palestinian ambassador, however, said they were not upset over Modis visit.

It is matter of a country having bilateral relations with another country. Its okay as long as it is not affecting Indias support to the Palestinian cause.

He hoped that India will use its relations with Israel to find a solution the Palestinian problem, saying it was central to the peace in the region and the world.

He also did not agree that Modi not visiting Palestine indicated change in Indias stand on Palestine.

I discussed with the Indian officials who told me that we deal with Palestine as an independent country and not as a tail to Israel. (Indias Minister of State for External Affairs) M.J. Akbar visited Palestine but he did not go to Israel.

I know they have some interest. They are looking for some technology. Let them do it but India had been supporting the Palestinian cause for decades and we hope this will continue, he added.

He believed India could play a positive role in solving the problem as Indian politicians and people know its origin and always supported the rights of Palestinians.

He said Palestine accepted a two-state solution even though Palestine will get only 22 per cent of its historical land.

We hope India will give more support to the Palestinian cause. We appeal to India and all other countries to be with justice, otherwise without peace the region will have an uncertain future.

Alhaija termed as sad Indias move to abstain at UNESCO when it declared Al-Aqsa mosque compound to be uniquely Muslim.

On India-Palestine trade, the ambassador said it was discussed during President Mahmoud Abbas visit to India and they were working to promote it.

He pointed out that the items imported by Palestine from India constitute a small portion as majority of the products were registered with Israeli companies and go to Israel. Palestine and India were working to find a solution.

He said a group specialized in investment will soon visit India. We are working with CII and FICCI to organise a meeting with Indian businessmen to encourage investment in Palestine. We will also encourage Palestinian businessmen to invest in India, he added.

He also slammed the blatant attempt by Israel for Judaisation of the Al-Aqsa mosque.

He said the world community should keep an eye on Israels actions, which has the potential to embroil the entire region into a mess.

Stating that Israel must rein in Jewish settlers, Alhaijaa said Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, can never allow their holy sites to be desecrated and destroyed.

Earlier, an all-party meeting organized by Indo-Arab League condemned Israeli atrocities on Palestinians.

Chairman of the League, an NGO, and chief editor of Urdu daily Rehnuma-e-Deccan Syed Vicaruddin said for the last 50 years the organization had been working to mobilize support of the Indian government and people for the Palestinian cause.

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mehmood Ali appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to continue Indias support to Palestine. He said India as a key player at the international level should play its role to solve the problem.

Communist Party of India (CPI) secretary K. Narayana said there should be no deviation in Indias traditional stand on Palestine.

Former MP and CPI leader Azeez Pasha said everybody should support the just cause of Palestinians.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a youth leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in north Bihars Siwan district in the wee hours of Saturday, three days after a JD(U)-BJP government assumed charge in the state.

Police said Minhaj Khan was asleep at his house at Sheikhpura village in Basantpur police station area, 158 km north of Patna, when gunmen opened fire at him around 3am.

Khan was district general secretary of the RJD Yuva Morcha and was a close aide of controversial former MP Mohammad Shahabudin, a Siwan strongman who is convicted in many criminal cases.

Khans family members accused criminal Raju Khan and his accomplices of plotting the murder.

The killing sparked tension in the area with a large number of villagers gathering at the victims house.

Maharajganj sub-divisional police officer Sanjit Kumar is camping at the village with a police team from Basantpur.

The situation was tense, but under control, the police added.

Basantpur police station SHO Dharmendra Kushwaha told HT over phone that a country-made carbine and five live bombs were recovered near the house of the victim.

Prima facie, it appeared that the incident could be the result of personal enmity, the station house officer (SHO) said.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the RJD to form government with BJPs support on Thursday, promising good governance.

His earlier grand alliance government, of which the RJD was a part, was often accused of failing to curb growing crimes in the state.

Welcoming Kumar to the NDA fold, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan earlier urged the chief minister to make law and order, among others, top of his agenda for governance.

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Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath need not contest an election to become a member of the legislative assembly following the resignations of two members of the Samajwadi Party.

Legislative council members (MLCs) Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh quit their memberships on Saturday. Sources say more resignations from the council are expected.

Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and two ministers Swatantra Dev Singh and Mohsin Raza are required to get elected to either house of the UP legislature.

They now have only two months left to become a member if either of the two houses of the bicameral legislature. But with the resignations from the upper house, they need not contest elections to become MLAs. They can instead become MLCs. It is a route that previous chief ministers Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati had also opted for.

Read more: Bihar break-up to spice up UP bypolls amid fresh GA talks

Adityanath is an MP from Gorakhpur.

Its almost certain that these Mulayam-Shivpal loyalists might join BJP even as Bukkal categorically said: The BJP government is doing good job. If BJP calls me, I will join it.

The resignations also are a major blow to Akhilesh Yadav camp and the feuding Yadav family.

The resignations coincided with BJP chief Amit Shahs arrival in Lucknow. Shah will be in Lucknow for three days.
Wearing a Pathan suit in Kashmir can be dangerous, so much so that one can be taken for a terrorist and killed by security forces.

A military tribunal, which granted bail this week to five army soldiers convicted of killing three people in a staged shooting in 2010, said it believed the dead were terrorists because they wore Pathan suits.

In its bail order, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), said, The fact that the accused persons were terrorists cannot be ruled out because they were wearing Pathan suits which are worn by terrorists. The flowing Pathan or Pathani suit is a common mens clothing across Kashmir.

HT has a copy of the order.

The extra-judicial shooting came to be known as the Machil fake encounter in which three civilians were killed in cold blood by soldiers looking to collect a bounty on militants. Subsequently, an army court sentenced six soldiers, including a colonel, to life in jail but five of them went into appeal before the AFT in New Delhi.

The AFT also said they believed the three young men killed were not civilians because they had ventured too close to the de facto border between India and Pakistan, which is often used by militants to travel between the two countries.

There was absolutely no justification for a civilian to be present at such a forward formation near LoC, that too during the night when infiltration from across the border was high, the AFT bench said, referring to the heavily militarised de facto boundary or the Line of Control (LoC).

The tribunal is being presided over by Justice V K Shaili and Lt General SK Singh.

In granting bail to the five soldiers, the court also imputed motive behind a delay in filing of a police complaint by the parents of the dead men.

The bench said, Complaint was belatedly filed only to garner some sympathy or getting material monetary compensation on account of the alleged killing of their child.

The so-called Machil encounter saw three men - Shazad Khan (27), Shafi Lone (19) and Riyaz Lone (20) killed in a staged shooting in the early hours of April 30, 2010 at Sona Pindi in Machil sector of the LoC.

Later, investigations found the three were lured with the promise of jobs to an army camp in Kupwara where they were shot dead by soldiers looking to claim a reward for killing militants.

The bodies were buried in a local graveyard. The staged gun battle was later exposed by the state police after the families of the victims filed a missing report.

A subsequent army inquiry also upheld the police findings and court-martialed the soldiers.

The Machil killings triggered a cycle of violent street protests in Kashmir that left more than 100 people dead that year. It was also the first time in Kashmir that army personnel, including a colonel, were given life terms for extra-judicial killings.

The bench also questioned why three civilians would be in combat Pathan fatigue with ammunition belts around their waists and carry firearms.

If a person is a civilian, he would certainly not be in combat uniform, much less he would carry fire arms and ammunition with him, the bench concluded in its bail order.
The special operations group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police has begun its investigation into the Barmer crude oil theft case.

Considering seriousness of the case, the state government on Thursday handed over the probe to the SOG.

Dinesh MN, inspector general (IG), SOG, said: Local police has done good work so far and have arrested several people. Further investigation will be carried on by us.

A team comprising of one additional SP and two inspectors reached Barmer on Friday and have began the investigation, he said.

A theft of nearly 15,000-20,000 litres of crude oil worth 3 lakh was taking place from the Cairn Indias oilfield in Barmer everyday for the past six years, police had said.

Police have so far arrested 35 people, along with four employees of a Cairns subsidiary company.

Umesh Mishra, additional director general of SOG, said the charter of the specialised wing of police says economic crimes of magnitude were to be investigated by the SOG.

The crude oil theft case falls under that category so the probe was handed over to us. In addition, crude oil is a strategic asset for the country and the fact that the incident happened in a border area only add to the gravity of the case, said Mishra.

Local police have only arrested lower-level staff so far. Leaders of both the Congress and BJP have raised questions about involvement of Cairn officials as well as rival political leadership.
The state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Saturday questioned BJP Rajya Sabha member Roopa Ganguly for two hours in connection with the child trafficking case that came to light in north Bengal in February.

A Three-member CID team went to Gangulys south Kolkata residence and asked questions about her association with Juhi Chowdhury, a former Mahila Morcha secretary of the Bengal BJP and a prime accused in the case. Chowdhury was allegedly connected with an NGO that sold babies and it is alleged that she met senior government officials in Delhi. Ganguly was state president of Mahila Morcha at that time. The CID team asked the BJP Rajya Sabha member whether she helped Chowdhury meet BJP leaders and ministers in Delhi.

Read: Bengal CID summons Kailash Vijayvargiya and Roopa Ganguly in child trafficking case

People planning this probe are not applying their brains. They are not questioning state government officials who helped NGOs that ran the racket for years. Instead, they are wasting my time by asking irrelevant questions. Till she is proved guilty in court Juhi is innocent. I meet a lot of people and meeting people is not a crime, said Ganguly after the CID team left.

Ganguly claimed she was questioned as a witness in the case and not as an accused. It is not easy to frame me. When someone comes to me for help I ask for a request in writing. I keep records, she said.

Juhi Chowdhury, a Mahila Morcha secretary till March this year, was removed from all position by the Bengal BJP after CID arrested her. (HT File Photo)

On July 20, the CID summoned BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and Ganguly to appear for questioning. The notice from CID came close on the heels of the central investigating agencies, CBI and ED, summoning several Trinamool Congress MPs, ministers and MLAs in connection with the Narada scam investigation.

Read: One phone call nailed baby racket kingpin

In February this year, CID unearthed a racket that sold babies in the name of adoption. Juhi Chowdhury was arrested and BJP promptly removed her from all party positions. CID officers claimed that the names of Ganguly and Vijayvargiya surfaced during interrogation of the key accused Chandana Chakraborty who ran a childcare home in Jalpaiguri.

Chakraborty, who too was arrested in February, told CID officers that Chowdhury had got in touch with Ganguly, then Mahila Morcha chief in Bengal, and Vijayvargiya, who supervises the BJPs organisation in the state, to get the childcare home out of trouble.
Two days after CPI-M hardliners blocked general secretary Sitaram Yechurys chances of returning to the Rajya Sabha for the third time, the Bengal unit of the party on Friday fielded former Kolkata mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya for the same seat although he had little chance of winning.

Bhattacharyas journey however ran into rough weather. The Election Commission of India rejected his nomination on technical ground, saying he filed his papers beyond the deadline. CPI-M leaders argued that Bhattacharya filed his nomination in the morning and submitted the affidavit on personal assets two minutes before 3 pm, the deadline. Jayanta Kolay, secretary of the Bengal assembly and returning officer for the election, however said he received the affidavit after 3 pm. Friday was the last day for filing nomination. The nomination papers will be scrutinised again on Saturday.

Read: Yechury denied third term in Rajya Sabha by CPI(M)s Kerala lobby

The day- long drama over a possible contest between the Congress and CPI-M - allies in Bengal till now - for the states sixth Rajya Sabha seat appeared fruitless although CPI-M leaders continued to argue with Kolay till late evening. The retuning officer did not change his decision. It became apparent that the remaining six candidates - five from Trinamool and one from Congress - would go to the Upper House of the Parliament unopposed.

With 31 MLAs in the assembly, the Left Front partners didnt have the strength to ensure victory for Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya. On the other hand, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee announced her support for the Congress candidate, former PCC president Pradip Bhattacharya. As a leading lawyer, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya played a key role in public interest litigations that sought CBI inquiry into the recent chit fund scams.

Pradip Bhattacharya, former Bengal Congress president, has been supported by Mamata Banerjee as the sixth Rajya Sabha candidate from the state. (HT File Photo)

CPI-M leaders said the decision to contest was taken because Trinamool Congress announced its support for the Congress nominee. Political observers felt that the development not only indicated a growing distance between the Left and Congress but also pointed at a possible alliance between Trinamool and Congress.

The Congress had earlier offered to back Yechury. Congress president Sonia Gandhi cleared Bhattacharyas candidature on Thursday only after hardliners in the CPI-M central committee met in Delhi and argued that the party should not take help from Congress. Their decision irritated a large section of leaders in the CPI-M, especially those from Bengal, who were keen to see Yechury serving a third term.

Interestingly, the CPI-M, other Left parties, Congress and Trinamool supported Meira Kumar and Gopal Krishna Gandhi as their presidential and vice presidential nominees. The equations however changed this week.

We will have six extra votes after getting our five candidates elected. These votes will go to Pradip Bhattacharya. The decision has been taken by chief minister Mamata Banerjee, said Tapas Roy, veteran Trinamool leader and MLA.

Pradip Bhattacharya refused to comment on the controversy. As a candidate I will seek support from MLAs of all parties, including Trinamool and Left. The only party I will not approach is the BJP, he said.

Bikas Bhattacharya told HT that in Bengal CPI-M and Congress will continue to fight together as opposition parties, especially on issues such as Saradha and Narada.
In a warning to Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, his uncle Shivpal asked him to transfer the partys reins to father Mulayam Singh Yadav and hinted at more dissension in the party, after its two leaders quit the Uttar Pradesh legislative council.

The resignations of MLCs Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh are seen as a move to pave the way for chief minister Yogi Adityanath to enter the state legislature, a condition necessary for holding his post in the government. BJPs Adityanath will not have to get elected to the state assembly, and instead, can now win a seat to the legislative council.

He (Akhilesh) still has the opportunity. He should hand over partys leadership to Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and move on. Or else, dissension will rise in the party, warned Shivpal.

Everything is now in the hands of Akhilesh. If he wishes, everything can be fine and come into a proper order. Netaji should be given control of the party, said Shivpal.

SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who lost the post of party president to son Akhilesh in an internal feud before the state polls this year, is said to be aligning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. Mulayams brother Shivpal stayed by his side, while cousin Ramgopal Yadav and a host of leaders went with Akhilesh.

Shivpal also told newspersons in Lucknow that he had talked to independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, aka Raja Bhaiya, an SP ally, about dissatisfied legislators in the party.

He also said that he had a talk with another SP MLC Madhukar Jaitley, who was also likely to quit along with Nawab and Yashwant Singh. Jaitley has not confirmed his plans yet.

Jaiveer Singh, a BSP MLC, too resigned from the membership of the legislative council. While he joined the BJP, the SP leaders have not joined it.

All the three resignations happened shortly after the BJP president Amit Shah landed in Lucknow for a three-day visit.

Before what unfolded in Lucknow on Saturday, Shivpal had issued similar warnings to Akhilesh in Azamgarh on Friday where he held his first rally since the partys debacle in state elections.

Everything is now in the hands of Akhilesh. If he wishes, everything can be fine and come into a proper order. Netaji should be given control of the party, the senior SP leader said, adding, Hope, he thinks in this direction.

There is a deep disappointment among the youths in the party. As soon as Netaji is given proper respect and leadership of the party, the disappointment will dissolve. The youths will start working with a fresh zeal. By passing on the leadership to Netaji, Akhilesh can save the party, the former UP minister said.

He, however, added that if Akhilesh didnt do so, the party might split.

Shivpal is in Azamagh as part of his month-long statewide tour to seek opinion of his supporters and party youths on various issues.

He said he would make any decision on his political future after the tour. As of now, I am busy uniting people associated with the socialist ideology, said the party veteran who met a number of socialist leaders and his supporters there.

Azamgarh is stronghold of the Samajwadi Party and is represented by Mulayam in Lok Sabha.

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah could engage in some straight talk with ministers of the Yogi Adityanath government during his three-day visit to Uttar Pradesh beginning Saturday.

The meeting assumes added significance in the backdrop of reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received serious complaints against three Yogi ministers.

The complaints, say sources, were made by party MPs from UP during their recent meeting with the partys top leadership.

Shah is expected to meet all the various BJP wings and interact with party cadre as well during his three-day stay.

The BJP had built a campaign against corruption, nepotism and underdevelopment of UP under the previous Akhilesh Yadav government. The partys promise of clean governance will be up for test in the imminent by-polls to two Lok Sabha seats, the local bodies elections to follow in November before the big test, the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Several UP ministers are yet to file a declaration of their assets with the UP assembly secretariat despite repeated warnings by chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

The ministers have been barred from accepting any gift costing more than Rs 5,000. They have also been restrained from staying in luxurious property and attending parties and dinners. Both during personal visits and official tours, the ministers have been instructed to stay in government circuit houses and not to accept any favours from anyone.

Recently Yogesh Verma, a BJP lawmaker from Lakhimpur Kheri, embarrassed the government by staging a sit-in after accusing the police of connivance with the mining mafia.

Then, an OBC minister angered the upper castes by his insensitive and hugely unpopular remarks on the killings of five upper caste people in Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

There are some other ministers too who are under watch, a source said.

Ahead of Mission 2019, a lot of emphasis is being laid on probity in public life, a BJP strategist said pointing the recent political developments in Bihar where BJP openly stood by Nitish Kumar against Lalu Yadav who despite his caste appeal was believed to be losing ground because of a bad image arising out of increasing corruption charges.

That perhaps explains how after his recent meeting with Modi and Shah in Delhi, Yogi on his return had promptly warned ministers against patronising or giving plum postings to corrupt officers. In March, during a breakfast meeting with party MPs from the state, both Modi and Shah had instructed the cadre against seeking favours or pressuring officials.

Shahs message will be direct. Avoid corruption, needless publicity, concentrate on ground level planning and addressing public complaints, a source said. After Yogis meeting, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, too had met Shah separately and later denied all reports of his shifting to Delhi.

Party insiders say there are reports of power tussle beginning to surface in the over 100-day old Yogi government along with the party and the government not being on the same page on several issues. While the party cadre has regularly complained that its demands were not being heard in the government, a few ministers have hogged limelight for wrong reasons, a BJP leader said.

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The Special Task Force (STF) on Friday traced Firozabad trader Sanjiv Gupta, who was allegedly abducted in Tundla area of the district on July 22.

The kidnappers had demanded Rs 100 crore ransom from his family for his safe release.

Talking to HT, a STF officer said, Gupta surrendered before the STF team in Panipat (Haryana) that had launched a manhunt in UP and neighbouring states to trace him.

Prima facie kidnapping of Gupta looks suspicious. He seems to have scripted the kidnapping drama and when pressure of STF increased, he surrendered, the officer said.

SSP, STF Manoj Tiwari said a STF team is interrogating Gupta to find out the truth about his kidnapping.

A partner in the popular food chain Sagar Ratna, located on National Highway-2 near Raja Ka Taal village in Firozabad, Gupta was allegedly kidnapped while he was returing home in a car after attending a meeting.

When he did not reach home, which is just 2 km from his food chain outlet, his family members tried to phone him but both his mobile phones were found switched off.

His wife Sarika Gupta and her nephew Vikalp Gupta then lodged a missing complaint.

Later, the car of Gupta was found parked near a workshop on Firozabad-Aligarh border.

A ransom message was sent from Guptas mobile phone to Sarika and other family members through WhatsApp on July 23 night.

On Sarikas complaint, police lodged FIR against Neeta Pandey, Pardeep Pandey and Amit Gupta, who are partners of Gupta in the business.

A senior police officer had then said that there was a dispute between the partners over transaction of money.

Four police teams were constituted to trace Gupta. The STF too was roped in to get him freed. Raids were conducted on hideouts of the suspected kidnappers in West UP. Through electronic surveillance, STF traced the location of his mobile in Delhi, Chandigarh and Srinagar.
In a last ditch effort to check Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) shift from Lucknow, its employees have decided to meet chief minister Yogi Adityanath in his Janata Darbar on Saturday . They will gather near the chief ministers residence to participate in the Janata Darbar and directly interact with him.

The employees feel the state government has not done enough and want it to speak clearly on the issue. They say the state government has not given them the kind of response which was required to hold back the company in Lucknow.

Read more: Will write to Tata group, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav assures TCS staff

An employee even went to the extent of accusing the state government of siding with the company.

Meanwhile, the company has become strict after the employees meeting with former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. On Friday, it decided to move its ION wing (which conducts the exams of teachers in the state ) to Noida. This step has badly impacted around 150 associates who are on contract and receive salaries between Rs 15,000-20,000 per month. An employee said these 150 people would have to face hardships in another centre in meeting their day to day expenses.

The company is also expediting transfer of employees and targeting to move most of the associates by the end of August, a move, which the employees say, is related to the upcoming meeting planned between the chief minister and TCS CEO.

They say that the CEOs meeting with the chief minister will be of no use if half of the staff is served marching orders and moved to different locations.

Read more: Dont talk to media or organise protest, TCS staff told

The employees tried to contact principal secretary, IT on Friday too but in vain.

However, they said that they would fight and keep on trying to persuade the government to compel the company to not shift from Lucknow.
With no let-up in the CNG crisis, the district administration on Friday directed oil companies to improve CNG supply in the city at the earliest.

Increase dispensers to reduce waiting time There had been reports of a clash between CNG pump employees and drivers waiting in queue at a fuel station in Vrindavan colony. To prevent occurrence of such incidents, the district administration has told oil companies and GGL to increase the number of CNG dispensers to reduce waiting time for gas. Green Gas Limited officials said the solution lies in the hands of Indian Oil Corporation management as they have to decide the number of CNG dispensers in the city.

Many van drivers were not able to pick up school children for the second consecutive day as they didnt get CNG despite standing in long queues.

The school drivers said they felt like beggars when they went to fetch the gas. The staff of the pump misbehaves with us, they know that its our compulsion to get the gas, so we will have to bear it for our work.

Students had to opt for other means of transport. (HT Photo)

There had been reports of a clash between CNG pump employees and drivers waiting in queue at a fuel station in Vrindavan colony. To prevent occurrence of such incidents, the district administration has told oil companies and GGL to increase the number of CNG dispensers to reduce waiting time for gas.

Green Gas Limited officials said the solution lies in the hands of Indian Oil Corporation management as they have to decide the number of CNG dispensers in the city.

Read more| Lucknow: CNG crisis spells ordeal for van drivers, parents

For two days, we had to tell parents that we cannot pick and drop their kids because of CNG problem, said Abdul Karim, a van driver in Gomti Nagar.

However, people blamed GGL and Indian Oil for the crisis. How can the officials sit quietly when people are suffering. Why dont they increase the number of dispensers immediately. Why the delay? Are they waiting for riots to take place, asked Naved who was waiting for two hours at a station with his cab.

The writing was on the wall when the RTO started giving permission for converting vehicles into CNG. Then why didnt they bother to increase dispensers, he asked.

The sale of CNG vehicles went up by 20% each year, but Green Gas Limited never cared to meet the demand in such a way that vehicles dont have to form queues for getting gas, he added.
If Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has its way, UP police personnel could soon be wearing Khadi uniform at least one day a week.

A letter from KVIC, urging cops to dress in khadi uniform once a week, has been sent to the police bosses.

Adarsh Singh, special secretary in the chief minister office, has urged DGP Sulkhan Singh to reply to the KVIC request. The DGP, in turn, sent the letter to additional directors general (ADGs) and inspectors general of police (IGPs) zones, seeking their views over use of khadi uniform while on duty.

When asked, a senior police officer said, We are mulling over the issue and would inform the DGP about our decision soon. Since policemen have office as well as field duties, the uniform generally gets wrinkled. We prefer uniform of cotton blend, poly cotton or woollen mix fabric. Khadi is hand-spun cotton and gives a stiffer feeling. Policemen will not feel comfortable in khadi uniform.

Another officer said: Policemen are posted in tough terrain. We have to move from one spot to another while tracking criminals even as we carry weapons and gadgets. In cotton and poly mix fabric uniform we are at ease. Khadi dress can be used during Republic Day or Independence Day celebrations.

KVIC officials said that with around 1.5 lakh personnel, the state police could give a boost to khadi and village industry. To compete in the textile market, khadi units across the country are also using fabrics that are in fashion and preferred by buyers, they said.

A symbol of swadeshi movement during the freedom struggle, the use of khadi products will increase the earning of weavers, who are fighting for survival, they added.
A day after promising legislators he would convey their demand to dismiss University of Mumbai (MU) vice-chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh to the governor, state education minister Vinod Tawde met Ch Vidyasagar Rao  governor and chancellor of all universities in the state  to discuss the inordinate delay in declaring results of 427 examinations.

The results that should have been announced within 45 days of the exams, held from March to May, have been delayed by almost three months. On July 4, Rao summoned Deshmukh and ordered him to ensure all results were declared by July 31. An independent officer was also appointed to monitor the assessment and report to the governor and state daily. Now, with two days left and the university yet to check 3.35 lakh papers, Deshmukh is likely to go after the results are declared.

According to a source, the governor reviewed the assessment of papers and also enquired about the probe initiated by the state.

Tawde said the tenders for online assessment of answer papers were issued only after the exams were over. We will investigate the manner in which the online system was put in place, Tawde said. The government is also facing flak as colleges had to be shut for days to let teachers assess papers.

Meanwhile, the Oppostion stepped up pressure on the government to sack Deshmukh. Demanding the governors resignation on moral grounds, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the government is ignoring experience and efficiency over ideology while making crucial appointments. Those who believe in the ideology of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are preferred and this is the real reason for all the mess , Sawant alleged.

Sanjay Nirupam, Mumbai chief alleged a scam in appointing a private agency for the digital assessment of answer papers. Some senior BJP leaders are having financial interests in the company and thus it was chosen for the job, Nirupam said.

In another significant development on Saturday, Rao terminated the services of Dr Raviprakash Dani, vice- chancellor of Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Agriculture University, Akola , over complaints about his nationality.

Dr Dani is not an Indian national and is having a US citizenship. After receiving complaints over his nationality, the governor ordered a probe. He sought the opinions of the advocate general and ministry of external affairs, said a senior Raj Bhavan official.

Read

Absence of evaluator list caused Mumbai university result delay, says firm hired for online process
More than 100 municipal doctors who defied rules that require them to be transferred every three years, will be given new postings. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations (BMC) health department, doctors at 16 hospitals have worked in the same place for more than two decades.

The BMC has asked all peripheral, tertiary hospitals to make a list of medical officers who avoided transfers. In March, HT had reported that 114 senior medical officers and medical officers from the Rajawadi, Ghatkopar, K B Bhabha, V N Desai and other hospitals have been working in the same establishment beyond the three-year period. According to the employee transfer policy laws of the BMC, doctors are supposed to be transferred to a different medical facility every three years. The rules also state that a civic-run establishment should transfer 25% of their working staff every three years. This is to reduce chances of corruption.

Idez Kundan, assistant municipal commissioner (health), said that the civic body wants to know the exact issue which caused lapses in policy. We want to analyse the data to see who are these doctors and for how long have they stayed at one place. There are doctors who do not want to be transferred and after getting the entire details we will be able to check where the problem lies and what corrective measures can be taken, said Kundan.

RTI activist Chetan Kotharisaid the delay in transfers is against patients welfare because doctors working in the same place for a long time form a nexus with pharmacies and diagnostic laboratories that offer kickbacks for referrals. Despite the fact the Medical Council of India has asked doctors from civic facilities to prescribe generic drugs, many doctors usually prescribe branded drugs available at pharmacies outside the hospital. Even for diagnostic tests, they ask patients to go to certain laboratories. The transfer policy can break this nexus, said Kothari.

Read

Civic doctors in Mumbai avoid mandatory transfers to different medical facilities: RTI
To promote Swachh Bharat among the people, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) organised a walk and a cycle rally at the campus of the 5th Reserve Battalion in Indirapuram area of Ghaziabad on Saturday.

Around 800 cyclists and 200 runners participated in the event. The rally was flagged off by OP Singh, director general of CISF at 7.15 am. Cyclists created awareness on cleanliness and urged people to dispose of garbage properly.

The cyclists comprised 500 school students, their parents, CISF personnel and their families. They cycled up to the Swarna Jayanti Park, a distance of seven kilometres.

At the park, a nukkad naatak on the theme of Swachh Bharat was also held. During the rally, banners, pamphlets, goodie bags, badges and other articles to support the campaign were displayed and distributed.

Singh said, The combined effort of students and CISF personnel will leave an impression in the memory of residents of the township for a long period and motivate them to uphold the values of Swachh Bharat.

He also said that in the mission to keep India clean, CISF has already planted one million trees through its units. Similar drives to promote Swachh Bharat and Healthy Bharat are being carried out by CISF across the India, he said.

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Over a hundred residents from societies of Sector 137 protested against the Noida authority on Saturday for failing to shift a dumping yard in Sector 138, which they alleged is turning into a landfill site.

Residents, holding placards and banners, assembled near Logix Groups Blossom County and marched to the site, which is around ten acres of vacant land. Residents raised slogans against Noida authority for not cleaning the site.

They said that for the last two years, they have been facing several problems because of the stench emanating from the area. Though the site falls in Sector 138, it is located adjacent to the residential complexes of Sector 137.

Residents alleged that during monsoon, the site turns into a breeding ground for flies and mosquitoes. The protesters demanded that the site be cleaned and said that it will take the shape of the Ghazipur landfill site in Delhi.

In September 2016, we held a meeting with then deputy chief executive officer Saumya Srivastava and he had assured that there will be no dumping of garbage. However, no action was ever taken on the ground. We recently met the chief executive officer of Noida authority, Amit Mohan Prasad, but he clearly refused to stop the practice, said Sandeep Ohri, a resident of Purvanchal Royal Park.

During the march to the site, residents formed a human chain and protested for one hour. They threatened to go on a hunger strike if their demands are not met.

They claimed more than a hundred trolleys unload garbage collected from various corners of Noida in the site during the night.

The chief executive officer Noida authority, Amit Mohan Prasad said, The garbage is being dumped (on the plot) for years. This has not been created overnight. It will not be shifted as we do not have any other site in Noida. Garbage will continue to be dumped here.

Residents, however, said that there was no mention of the site in the master plan when they booked their flats. They said that dumping of garbage at the site is affecting the health of around 20,000 residents in the area.

The site is illegal and is in violation of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) guidelines. Accumulation of waste is contaminating the groundwater. Last year, nine people suffered from dengue and malaria. Four of them died but no cognizance of the issue has been taken and the authority continues to be tight-lipped, Gourav Gupta, a resident of Paras Tierea, said.

The protesters included children, women and elderly residents of Purvanchal Royal Park, Gulshan Vivante, Exotica Fresco, Ajnara Daffodil, Blossom County, Paras Tierea, Supertech Ecociti and Paramount Floraville, among others.

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Nawaz Sharifs disqualification on corruption charges might weaken his ruling Pakistan Muslim League at a time when no other party seems strong enough to win a majority on its own.

The scenario has many Indian parallels: Bilawal Bhuttos PPP thats the principal Opposition in shambles like the Congress; Imran Khans clean-polity, anti-graft Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf robbed of moral sheen, a la the Aam Aadmi Party.

A closer look at the popular-but-tainted Sharif family could also make it resemble the Lalu Yadav clan: patriarch benched out of electoral politics, corruption charges against heirs. In Nawazs case: daughter Maryam. In Lalus: son Tejasvi.

Political stability currently not an issue in India, the comparison ends here. Theres broad consensus on Project Democracy in Pakistan. But if historys allowed to repeat, the PMLN could split or one of its rivals cosmetically hyped to manipulate the countrys return to minority regimes more subservient to Rawalpindi.

The Benazir Bhutto phase witnessed it all. Nawaz too had a taste of it in 1992. Ousted by then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, he was reinstalled by the Court in a verdict that made history.

The period marked his transformation to a rebel from being a child of the civil military establishment of the Zia-ul-Haq vintage. The wheel obviously has moved a full circle. The judiciary that reinstalled him as Premier a quarter century ago has cut short his political career.

The post-Nawaz political landscape will emerge closer to polls due in the first half of next year. But if elections are fair, the PPP and PTI will fight for a distant second slot  not for replacing the PML.

Why? Like our Uttar Pradesh, the Punjab province has the lions share in the National Assembly. The Sharif familys clout there makes them tower over their rivals.

But that was also a liability in Nawazs dealings with the Army. He became PM thrice but could never complete his tenure. His judicial ouster might encourage extra-political forces that detest strong leaders, to fish again in troubled waters.

In the face of such eventualities, hed have to think twice before shifting to Islamabad his younger brother and Punjab CM, Shahbaaz Sharif.

A Lahore-based analyst said the Sharif family has to guard both ends, more importantly Lahore. They cannot trust an outsider in power in Punjab.

If the choice is from within the family, Shahbaaz is best suited for the Premiers job. Though not as popular as his elder brother, hes a doer and, more importantly, viewed benignly by the Army brass.

The elder Sharif for his part has had run-ins with all army chiefs starting from Asif Nawaz Janjua in the early 1990s. While Janjua and Jahangir Karamat didnt force any crisis, Abdul Waheed Kakar made him go for early polls after the Court restored him as PM.

Nawazs second tenure was curtailed by a showdown leading to a coup by Pervez Mushrraf  who later sent him on exile as part of a deal brokered by Saudi Arabia. It was his popularity with mid-rung officers that unsettled the army brass known to patronize conformists among civilians.
A 20-year- old youth from Mohali who had moved to the US about two years ago was shot dead at a gas station at Sacramento in California late on Tuesday night, local time.

Simranjit Singh was staying with his elder sister, Harpinder Kaur, and her husband, Hartejpreet Chauhan, who had settled there several years ago. He had moved there in October 2015 to study engineering and was working part-time as a clerk at a gas station, barely 10 minutes from their house.

Victims father, Ranjit Singh Bhangoo, a retired employee of the Punjab School Education Board, stays with his wife in Sector 70 here. The couple is on their way to the US.

Talking to HT over phone, Hartejpreet Chauhan said the entire family was shaken after Simranjits sudden death.

However, he claimed it was not a hate crime.

Beware in foreign land Simranjits brother-in-law Hartejpreet Chauhan, who also owns a gas station in California, said his advice to Indians working in the US is not to indulge in unnecessary arguments in a foreign country. The sad part is that Simranjit knew this well, but fell victim to such a crime without any fault of his, he said.

Only brother to three sisters Simranjit was the only brother to three sisters. While he stayed with his eldest sister Harpinder Kaur in the US, another sister Rajwinder Kaur lives in New Zealand. The youngest is married in Mohali, but could not be contacted. Ranbir Dhillon, a relative staying at Phase 11 here, said the 20-year-old was a cheerful person and very bright. This is the worst that could happed to the family," he said.

Giving details, Chauhan said Simranjit was present at the gas station along with a co-worker, who is a Pakistani national.

The co-worker reportedly entered into an altercation with three men who were drinking liquor in the gas stations parking lot.

One of them allegedly assaulted the Pakistani worker, following which he went inside the building to call the police.

Meanwhile, Simranjit, who was not even aware of the incident, came out to clear the garbage. The drunk men approached him and one of them shot him several times, leading to his death, said Chauhan. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

One of the suspects, Alexander Lopez, 40, has been arrested, said Chauhan, adding that the police will hand over the body to the family in next few hours.

Want help to speed up transfer of body: Kin

While Simranjits parents will reach the US in a day, Chauhan sought intervention of the Indian consulate based in San Francisco as well as the Indian authorities to expedite the transportation of the body to Mohali for the last rites.

Although I have been assured a consulate official will approach us soon, I have been told the normal procedure to transport the body takes up to 10 days. If possible, we want the formalities to get over sooner, said the brother-in-law. My wife is so disturbed and not in a position to speak, he said.

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Despite the failure of the Punjab Police in cracking various high-profile murder cases, director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora on Saturday exuded confidence of solving the Ludhiana pastor murder case, saying there is no need to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Police are capable of reaching the culprits in the (pastor killing) case soon. I have some good officers and we have sound leads, said Arora, who was in the city to have an interaction with the local youth.

He also pointed out that the CBI is yet to make any headway in four high-profile cases, involving killings of senior RSS leader Brigadier Jagdish Gagneja (retd), Namdhari sect heads mother Chand Kaur, two Dera Sacha Sauda followers in Khanna and Shiv Sena leader Durga Prasad Gupta, which were handed over to the central agency after the police failed to solve the cases.

Regarding leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khairas demand for probing the role of RSS or BJP leaders into the murder of pastor Sultan Masih, the DGP said that till now, there is no proof of their involvement.

Reacting on posters supporting Khalistan coming up in Phagwara recently, Arora said Sikh hardliners based in foreign countries and Pakistani agencies are sponsoring such propaganda to spoil the peace in the state.

Earlier interacting with local youngsters, the DGP said he is meeting the youth of Punjab to know their problems and to improve the functioning of the police
There are number of places in the world that receive an immense amount of rain. As a matter of fact, these rainy cities and towns are spread across the globe giving us ample opportunities to explore and experience. Travel aggregator ixigo and digital marketplace Paytm Travel brings you a list of top rainy destinations around the globe that are enticing during their wet season with lush green surroundings and a picture perfect sky.

* Mawsynram, India: Located in Meghalaya, India, the beautiful city of Mawsynram receives an annual rainfall of 11,871 millimeters making it the wettest place in the world. Mawsynram is situated within a subtropical highland climate zone which is one of the reasons for its lengthy and powerful monsoon season. For instance, this place received rainfall for two years with no reported break.

Average annual rainfall: 11,871 mm

* Big Bog, Maui, Hawaii: One of the biggest tourist areas in the Hawaiian Islands, Big Bog is an extremely rainy part of Maui. It also boasts of incredible rainforest sceneries. This place, on the edge of the Haleakala National Park, receives approximately 10,262 millimeters of rainfall each year.

Average annual rainfall: 10,272mm

The morning fog at Emei Shan Lake in China. (Shutterstock)

* Costa Rica, Central America: One of the wettest destinations in Central America, Costa Rica exhibits a delightful panoramic view, all thanks to the constant rainfall in this area. Along with white-sand beaches, the country boasts of lush rainforests, national parks and a copious variety of flora and fauna. Visit this place towards the end of spring to experience Costa Ricas rainiest season with less crowd, uber-lush surroundings and sunny mornings.

* Emei Shan, Sichuan Province, China: Mount Emei, the highest of the Four Holy Mountains of Buddhism in China, receives an annual rainfall of 8,153 millimeters. This place experiences the phenomenon of clouds sea wherein the area attracts a double layer of clouds resulting in a good amount of rainfall. In 1996, Mount Emei was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Average annual rainfall: 8,169 mm

* Tutunendo, Colombia: This place is blessed with two rainy seasons in a year, so getting drenched is an inescapable fact if you are visiting this part of Colombia. This place receives approximately 11,760 millimeters of rain per year and still remains a popular tourist destination. You might encounter rainfall almost every day along with thunderstorms and if lucky, the sun might just come up for a few hours.

Average annual rainfall: 11,770 mm

Costa Rica is one of the wettest destinations in South America. (Shutterstock)

* San Antonio De Ureca, Equatorial Guinea, Africa: Receiving an average annual rainfall of 10,440 millimeters, San Antonio de Ureca is the wettest place in the African continent. This place gets a brief dry season from November to March giving tourists a chance to watch turtles come ashore to lay eggs.

* Cropp River, New Zealand: Almost 9 kilometers in length, the Cropp River in New Zealand receives an annual rainfall of 11,516 millimeters. New Zealand is characterised by arid atmospheric conditions but the climate of Cropp River is an evident contrast to that and garners abundant showers. In 1995, Crop River recorded 1,049 millimeters of rainfall within 48 hours.

Average annual rainfall: 11,516 mm

* Debundscha, Cameroon, Africa: Located in the foothills of Mount Cameroon  the highest peak in Africa, Debundscha is among the wettest places on earth. Mount Cameroon has an annual precipitation level of more than 400 inches  a rarely attained figure elsewhere in the world. The region receives the most rainfall during the months of May to October.

Average rainfall: 10,299mm

* Kukui Maui, Hawaii, Oceania: Located in Hawaii, Puu Kukui is the highest peak of Mauna Kahalawa. The peak was formed by a volcano that eroded into what is now called the Iao Valley. Travellers vouch for Kukui being one of the best choices to experience majestic rains.

Average annual rainfall: 9,293 mm

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Filmmaker Anurag Basu, director of Jagga Jasoos, has been quiet about the tirade directed at him by Rishi Kapoor, father of the films lead actor and producer Ranbir Kapoor, following its box-office failure.

However, thats not because the filmmaker shies away from speaking his mind. While he didnt respond to Rishi out of respect for an industry veteran, Anurag has plenty to say about another hotly debated subject: whether TV talent contests ruin childhood or not. He speaks to Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview on this.

With so many Bollywood personalities closely associated with these shows, there is plenty of strong opinion on both sides of the fence. The recent debate was triggered by filmmaker Shoojit Sircars tweet bashing childrens reality shows. Honestly, what Shoojit is thinking from an outside perspective is exactly how I used to think as well, four years ago, says Anurag, who has judged two such shows, Super Dancer and Sabse Bada Dramebaaz. But then I was convinced by the producers and I had a provision to walk out if I felt kids were being exploited, he adds.

The filmmaker, who has two daughters, believes that even show judges are conscious parents. He says, As long as kids are not working overtime, Im fine. There have been instances when the shooting went on [for more than] eight hours, and I and my co-judges walked out. We [judges] really become emotional and attached to that stage and talent while judging these kids. 

A post shared by Anurag Basu (@anuragsbasu) on Feb 6, 2015 at 1:18pm PST

Rather than diminishing the experience of childhood, these shows help children learn about different cultures, says Anurag. Theres actually a very healthy and homely atmosphere, where kids stay together for two-three months, become friends, dance, get exposure, and feel happy about it all without any stress.

Whatever pressure there is on the children is created by their parents, says Anurag, calling pushy parents the main problem. He says, Even during auditions, youd see its the parents who are actually pressuring kids and telling them to win [the show]. Ive personally spoken to them many times, and told them to let the kids enjoy the process. I even tell kids that your dream should not be to win or bag a role in a film. Your primary goal should be to become a better person, which means go and study. [Also] you will never see girls do filmi numbers [on these shows]. We make that conscious effort that there [should be] art in the performance, asserts the filmmaker. He says that though he judged two shows, he didnt allow his daughters to watch the first few episodes, until he was sure of the content.

Asked if these reality shows had a negative effect on the childrens psyche after losing  and most will lose, since there can be only one winner  the filmmaker says that only parents can ensure such negativity doesnt happen. Kids dont take it very seriously, he says. They just come and enjoy. Even if they lose, it hurts them for a day or two, and then theyre okay.

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2017 started with the power of the collective, with the Womens March to the rise of female mentorship programs. Cinema should follow pursuit to reflect the cultural changes. Yet television still portrays women by and large as consumed with dating, looking good or bringing down the frenemy.

However, this doesnt take away from the shows that did work towards the goal. These shows gave an honest portrayal of more nuanced female relationships and changed that stereotype by curating the content we crave, and the stories content that we can connect with.

Netflix, Hulu and HBO have given us a few women-centric shows recently that were both critically and commercially applauded. We think its critically important that women are depicted and celebrated in every single way and in every dimension. We want to reflect the entirety of human experience across our programming, and strong female characters and strong, real, supportive relationships play a large role within that, says Cindy Holland, vice president for original content at Netflix.

Breaking the traditional mould that women centric roles dont do well, herere five shows from 2017 that set new precedents on how to treat female relationships on screen.

1. Orange Is The New Black

As well as giving us fearless, complicated and flawed characters like Piper, Poussey and Sophia, the show unlocked another truth: the fact that women want to see real and relatable groups of women supporting each other on screen.

Groups of women who, despite their differences, show that power and influence can be achieved through coming together and having each others backs.

In the four years since Orange is the New Black first aired, the women of Litchfield Penitentiary have learned through trial and error that theyre better working together, even when it concerns starting a riot in a prison.

2. The Handmaids Tale

Hulus brilliant show on Margaret Atwoods harrowing speculative fiction novel is one of the most disturbing series to come out this year. It tells the tale of women trapped in a dystopian world where there bodies are no more than farms to grow babies in. They have lost the right to their bodies, their lives and their freedom. But even through all the trauma and the pain, they fight together, against each other and for each other.

3. GLOW

GLOW pulses with all sorts of potential talking points about gender, friendships between women and public perception of stereotypes. It addresses these issues at a brisk pace and with a more comedic tone. Ruth and Debbies fight at the start of GLOW plays on the tried and tested stereotypes, but we soon discover a deeper, more meaningful connection between the two women as the begin to explore their capabilities and personas beyond their relationships with men.

4. Big Little Lies

HBOs thrilling drama with the stellar star cast of Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern and Zoe Kravitz still somehow managed to exceed expectation. The complex, extremely well fleshed female characters, their stories and the way they come together at the end, creating a family of women that shelters a secret in its heart, all make the show a treat to watch.

5. Girls

With its final season Girls, wraps up the complicated lives of Hannah, Shoshanna, Marnie and Jessa. The girls were fan favourites at times and , fan-hated at times. The complicated characters, Hannah being the biggest of them, are one of the most difficult to decode on TV.

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A series of raids were carried out across Sydney on Saturday, which the prime minister said were to disrupt and prevent plans to undertake terrorist attacks in Australia.

Reports said armed police moved in on homes in at least three neighbourhoods, including in the inner city.

This activity relates to an ongoing investigation, a police spokesman said, without giving further details.

National broadcaster ABC said at least one man was in custody while the Seven Network reported 40 riot squad officers stormed a home before an explosives team found a suspicious device.

TV footage showed a man with a bandage on his head and draped in a blanket being led away by authorities.

Statement from the Prime Minister on a counter terrorism operation in Sydney. Read more here: https://t.co/JfJi6UpQP0  The PMO (@thepmo) July 29, 2017

These operations are designed to disrupt and prevent plans to undertake terrorist attacks in Australia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a statement.

I have been kept closely briefed on the progress of the operations by the heads of our relevant security agencies.

However, as the operations are ongoing, it is inappropriate to provide further detail at this stage.

Australian officials have grown increasingly concerned about the threat of extremist attacks and have prevented 12 on home soil since September 2014.

But five have taken place, mostly with guns, including a fatal shootout in Melbourne in June claimed by the Islamic State group.
China on Saturday condemned North Koreas launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and urged restraint by all sides after the US and South Korea held a military exercise in response to the test.

China opposes North Koreas violations of UN Security Council resolutions and (its actions) contrary to the general aspirations of the international community, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

Beijing urged North Korea to abide by UN resolutions and stop taking actions that could worsen the situation, Geng said in a brief statement on the ministrys website.

At the same time, (China) hopes that all parties concerned will exercise caution and avoid aggravating tensions and act together to preserve peace and stability on the peninsula, he said.

Washington, Tokyo, Seoul and the European Union all swiftly condemned Fridays missile test, which North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said brought the whole of the US mainland within striking range.

Timeline of nuclear and major missile tests in North Korea since January 2016. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump vowed to take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region.

The US and South Korea conducted a live-fire exercise using surface-to-surface missiles after the launch, the US army said.

The heads of the US and South Korean militaries discussed military response options after North Koreas launch, the Pentagon said.

China, Pyongyangs main economic and diplomatic ally, opposes any military intervention and calls for a resolution through dialogue.
The ousting of Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has left a power vacuum at the top of the nuclear-armed country, yet experts say that in the long run it is unlikely to be destabilising.

Sharifs disqualification on Friday by the Supreme Court over corruption allegations denies him the chance of becoming the countrys first prime minister to complete a full five-year term.

Yet despite the countrys history of military rule, power will likely remain within the hands of a civilian government -- and probably that of Sharifs eponymous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Party, analysts say.

In a country as volatile as Pakistan, theres good reason to be concerned whenever a prime minister is dismissed, said Michael Kugelman of the DC-based Wilson Centre.

But my sense is that everything will eventually fall into place -- a successor will be chosen and the current government will serve out its term.

Pakistan has been roiled by military coups and instability for much of its 70-year history.

But recently there has been a surge of optimism in the militancy-plagued developing country, which has seen a dramatic improvement in security and positive economic growth in recent years.

While the 2013 election that brought Sharif to power for a third time was also a powerful symbol of stability, representing Pakistans first democratic transition from one elected government to another.

Supreme Court judged most harshly

Sharif was disqualified from the prime ministers office but remains the head of the PML-N party which holds a majority in parliament, meaning the next prime minister will likely emerge from its ranks.

Political analyst Hasan Askari said that Pakistans parliamentary system of government remains unshaken despite the Supreme Courts ousting of a democratically-elected premier.

Sharif will bring forward some person from the party. Obviously his personality will not carry as much weight (as Sharif)... But at the moment we can say, the first impact of the judgement has not proved to be destabilising, he said.

With Pakistan just a year away from general elections, the question is whether the countrys opposition parties can capitalise on Sharifs removal.

Opposition leader Imran Khan has breathlessly pounded his partys anti-graft slogans and called for Sharifs removal as his slow downfall has played out on Pakistans TV news channels over the last year.

But his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which governs one of Pakistans four provinces, has so far failed to turn itself into a national party.

(It is PTI) that initiated the case against the prime minister (Sharif), therefore they are going to be the major beneficiary in terms of reputation and credibility, said Askari.

But, he cautioned, the party would benefit most from early elections, while popular opinion is still on its side -- a remote prospect, with the PML-N-dominated National Assembly more likely push for elections to be held as scheduled in June 2018.

This is a party (PML-N) that has the luxury of not facing a formidable opponent with national clout, said Kugelman.

This decision is not a game-changer for PTI, agreed senior political analyst Rasul Bakhsh Rais. The only change is that Mr Nawaz Sharif is no longer a prime minister.

The immediate reaction to Sharifs ouster from Pakistanis was muted, analysts agreed, with passionate statements made on both sides but only sporadic demonstrations in the streets, suggesting citizens believe the PML-N is still in control.

While Sharif now has to face down allegations that his family has illegally amassed huge wealth, some observers say that it is the Supreme Court who will ultimately be judged the most harshly.

When history is written this is going to go down as one of a series of decisions that the Pakistani judiciary has given against popularly elected governments, said constitutional lawyer Yasser Hamdani.
US president Donald Trump announced his chief of staff Reince Priebuss exit on Friday, a development that had long been anticipated, and named retired general John Kelly, currently serving as secretary of the department of homeland security, to replace him.

I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American and a Great Leader, Trump wrote in posts on Twitter. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration.

He added, I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!

Priebus told CNN he decided to leave because the president had wanted to go in a different direction, reset his presidency. He put in his papers on Thursday  and, no, he was not asked to resign  and the president accepted.

Priebuss departure comes just days after Press Secretary Sean Spice, a close ally, put in his papers following the presidents decision to hire Anthony Scaramucci, a New York financier, as his communications director, in effect the head of the White House media strategy and press shop.

Kelly is a retired Marin Corps general and Indian officials came to know him somewhat during his tenure at the department of homeland security. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and foreign secretary S Jaishankar met him separately during their respective visits to DC. And Kelly was a part of the US delegation for Prime Minister Narendra Modis White House meetings with President Trump late June.

Priebus, an establishment Republican figure who rose through the ranks to head the Republican National Convention for years, had never assimilated himself into the Trump team that came to DC as outsiders to politics and flaunted it as an accomplishment. It didnt help that as chairman of the Republican National Committee, Priebus had been slow to warm up to Trump, as most establishment Republican leaders at the time.

Though he did throw himself in completely with Trump eventually, he remained somewhat wary of his chances. And in the aftermath of the outrage triggered by the Hollywood Access tapes  on which Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women  Priebus was among those who counselled the candidate to quit the race. Trump never let him forget that.

Priebus was also never able to assume control of the White House as required of a chief of staff, often called the gatekeeper to the Oval Office and the president. In fact, he had to contend with a rival from Day One, and before, chief strategist Steve Bannon.

The president had announced their appointments at the same time  on the same stationery  creating, many observers had warned then, two rival centres of power. Reports of their squabbling began surfacing soon after the new administration took charge and persisted despite a very public show of solidarity they staged at a convention of conservatives outside DC.

Reports about Priebuss precarious hold on his job started in February, and continued. The last red flag came in the profanity-laden interview the newly appointed communications director Scaramucci gave to The New Yorker on Thursday. Reince Priebusif you want to leak somethinghell be asked to resign very shortly, he had said.

And just the day after, President Trump made it official.

Priebus joins a lengthening queue of people exiting Trumps White House in just six months of his presidency  NSA Michael Flynn, deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, communications director Michael Dubke and, just the last week, press secretary Sean Spicer.

Thats a high turnover rate by any account and indicate at the minimum a White House and administration in a constant of flux and churn. Speculation and rumors of other exits abound  such as Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whom Trump is clearly trying to force out by publicly criticizing and mocking him.

The state department, then, denied reports that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was considering leaving office due continuing differences with the White House over policy and personnel issues. And there are some reports suggesting National Security Adviser General (a serving general) H R McMaster is being isolated and could be on the chopping block too.
Russian President Vladimir Putin tossed President-elect Donald Trump a bouquet in December when he chose not to retaliate for the US expulsion of Russian diplomats and seizure of Russian diplomatic compounds.

The honeymoon is over.

Russias tit-for-tat decision to expel hundreds of US diplomats and seize two US compounds may be an acknowledgment in Moscow that Trumps ability to bring better ties is limited, at best, and the start of a new downward spiral in relations.

Russia took the step after the US Senate on Thursday sent a breath-taking signal that it does not trust Trump on Russia by passing a bill that imposes new sanctions on Moscow and ties the presidents hands if he seeks to ease them.

The White House issued a statement on Friday night saying Trump had negotiated changes to the legislation and now intends to sign it.

(The Russians) have taken Trumps measure and while they are willing to exploit his goofy fixation on Putin and naive sense you can do deals with someone like Putin ... they realize his clownish performance as president makes it really hard for him to deliver on any of the big things that Russia wants, said Andrew Weiss, a former national security council Russia expert.

At the top of Russias wish list is an easing of US sanctions imposed for its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and its destabilization of eastern Ukraine, something the Senate action would all but rule out. Another, all but inconceivable, item would be formal US recognition Russias claim to Crimea.

Trumps performance surely has left nobody in Moscow with the impression he is a guy who can deliver, said Weiss, now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank.

Trumps desire, often expressed during the 2016 presidential campaign, to improve relations has been hamstrung by findings from US intelligence agencies that Russia interfered to help the Republican against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

A federal law enforcement investigation and multiple US congressional probes looking into the possibility that Trumps campaign colluded with Russia, have made it harder for Trump to open a new chapter with Putin.

Russia denies it interfered in the election and Trump has said there was no collusion.

The Senates 98-2 passage of the sanctions bill, which followed a 419-3 vote in the House of Representatives, forces Trump to take a hard line on Moscow or veto the legislation and infuriate his fellow Republicans.

The huge margins mean Congress could easily override a veto.

Weiss suggested that Trumps low approval ratings at home, his tendency to alienate NATO allies such as Germany and his inability to pass domestic legislation all contribute to a Russian perception that he is weakening the United States.

(That) is going to pay dividends for Moscow, so there is no need to turn him away from the course he is already on which is self-destructive and bad for Americas standing internationally. All of that is a huge win for the Kremlin, Weiss said.

Russia gave the United States until September 1 to cut its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people, the number of Russian diplomats left in the United States after Washington expelled 35 Russians in December because of the alleged election hacking.

It also said it would seize a Moscow compound used by US diplomats as well as a US diplomatic warehouse.

Some former officials said Russia could take other steps, such as seeking to help Russian-backed forces seize more ground in eastern Ukraine or to try to limit US air operations in Syria, while others said any reaction might be more muted.

Russia could look at imposing economic counter-sanctions against the United States, the former official said, saying he thought that retaliation in Ukraine or Syria was less likely because it was more likely to lead to a U.S. counter response.

Michael McFaul, the US ambassador to Russia from 2012-2014, said he does not think that Russia will escalate tensions with the United States just yet because Trumps assertions that he wants better relations with Moscow are encouraging Putin to continue seeking some kind of accommodation with the US president.

I dont think they are going to walk away from that just yet, said McFaul. I believe that Putin still believes there might be something he can do with Trump.
A Pakistani photographer has highlighted the dark side of forced marriages in a new photo series aimed at educating people to eradicate the social evil.

Rida Shah, a self-taught concept based photo-manipulation artist from Islamabad, focuses on unveiling the darker truths of the society through her work.

In this so called Islamic society of ours, its surprising how so many false and unfair practices are followed even by our most educated families. One of those is forcing your child to marry someone absolutely without their consent, she wrote in a Facebook post.

She outlined some of the things parents say to convince their children into marriage. Abhi nahi pasand toh kya hua? Ek baar nikkah kardo. Sab theek hojayega (So what if you dont like them now? Everything will be alright once you get married). Bacha hai toh kya hua? Parhai likhayi shadi ke baad karlega (So what if he is a child? He can study after getting married).

I completely respect the fact that parents have the right to suggest their children who they should marry and who they shouldnt, but Islam does NOT give them the right to take this decision all by themselves, especially when their child isnt willing to, she added.

Incidents of forced marriages are high in Pakistan, where an estimated 21% of girls are married off before the age of 18, according to NGO Girls Not Brides.

Shah hoped that her work will raise awareness among families and start a conversation around the issues.

I know it wont end this practice, but at least it may convey the darker side of it and educate someone to take a step, she said.

Herere some of the photos .

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A key question doing the rounds in Pakistani political circles since the Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday is whether the verdict amounts to a lifelong ban on contesting for public office.

The answer: The jury seems to be out on that one.

The top court resorted to Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution  which were inserted by military dictator Zia-ul-Haq and state that a lawmaker can be disqualified if he is not sadiq (truthful) and ameen (honest)  to unseat Sharif.

The order issued by the Supreme Court stated that since Sharif had not declared his purported income from UAE-based firm Capital FZE in his nomination papers for the 2013 election, he is disqualified to be a Member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) under Article 62. The order did not specify the duration of the disqualification.

If one were to go solely by precedent  the dismissal of prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in June 2012 by the Supreme Court under Article 63 following his conviction of contempt of court  the period of disqualification lasted five years. Last month, Pakistans state-run APP news agency reported Gilani had again become eligible to contest polls.

But the open-ended nature of the courts order in Sharifs case led some to assume the disqualification amounted to a lifelong ban on his political career.

Even seasoned lawyers appeared to be confused but some said the issue needed determination since the question had long been pending before a larger bench of the Supreme Court, the Dawn newspaper reported on Saturday.

Tariq Mehmood, a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said the larger bench was dealing with a number of cases in which the moot point was to determine whether disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution was perpetual or not.

Former chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, while hearing one such case, had wondered how anyone could be disqualified from participating in elections forever on the basis of Articles 62 and 63 and said people could reform themselves to be qualified under the provisions after being disqualified at some point of time, the report said.

Senior lawyer Raheel Kamran Sheikh indicated the confusion originated from ambiguous nature of Articles 62 and 63.

While Article 63 states the disqualification is for five years, Article 62 does not specify the period of disqualification. He too noted some cases were pending to determine whether disqualification under Article 62 should be restricted to the current election or to should be forever.

Sheikh said the Supreme Court was in a Catch-22 situation since, by citing the reasons for disqualifying Sharif, it had lowered the threshold for ineligibility of elected members to such an extent that too many heads might start rolling in future.

Through the verdict, the balance of power had been tilted in favour of the Supreme Court and the qualification of parliamentarians had been threatened, he added.

The vice chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, Ahsan Bhoon, however, contended Sharifs disqualification was forever. To substantiate his view, he cited a 2013 case in which former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had said that under Article 63, there were certain disqualifications which were temporary whereas disqualification under Article 62 was permanent.

Former additional attorney general Tariq Khokhar too said Sharif had been disqualified for life since ineligibility for not being sadiq and ameen was forever.
Pakistans ruling PML-N party is set to name leading businessman-politician Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the interim premier following Nawaz Sharifs disqualification as the prime minister by the Supreme Court for dishonesty in declaring his assets.

Abbasi, the US-educated founder of the private airline airblue, is expected to serve as premier for 45 days till Sharifs younger brother, Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, is elected to the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament.

Here are some essential facts about the two leaders of the PML-N:

Pakistans former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. (Reuters File)

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

 The son of a former Pakistan Air Force officer, he was born on December 27, 1958.

 He was educated at Lawrence College, Murree and University of California, Los Angeles, where he obtained a bachelors degree in electrical engineering. He also has a masters in the same subject from George Washington University, Washington.

 He worked as an engineer in the US and the Middle East in the 1980s.

 He held the petroleum and natural resources portfolio in Nawaz Sharifs cabinet and earlier served as commerce minister in 2008.

 He is the founder and CEO of airblue, one of Pakistans few private airlines. In 2010, Abbasi was involved in a controversy over the payment of compensation to families of more than 150 people who died when an airblue flight crashed in Islamabad.

File photo of Shahbaz Sharif. (Reuters)

Shehbaz Sharif

 Born on September 23, 1951, he is the son of late Mian Muhammad Sharif, a pioneer in business in Pakistan, and the younger brother of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif.

 He is currently in his third term as chief minister of Punjab  Pakistans most populous and prosperous province.

 Widely described as a workoholic, he is seen as a better administrator and a doer, but is less charismatic and less popular than his elder brother.

 He has a bachelors degree in arts from the Government College University, Lahore.

 He has a better relationship with the army and has sometimes acted as an intermediary between the army and the PML-N. He was removed from office along with his brother during the 1999 coup by then army chief Pervez Musharraf, arrested and then forced into exile in Saudi Arabia.

 He has struggled with health concerns in recent years, including backbone cancer, and travels abroad several times a year for treatment.

 He is married to author Tehmina Durrani. His first wife is his cousin Nusrat Shehbaz and their son, Hamza, is widely tipped to replace Shehbaz as chief minister if Shehbaz becomes the premier.

 In 2010, he created a controversy by saying in a speech that the Taliban should not target Punjab province as the group and the PML-N had opposed military dictator Pervez Musharraf and rejected dictation from abroad.

 Unlike his elder brother, Shehbaz is an active user of social media and frequently posts on Twitter and Facebook, using both platforms to engage with the public.
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday named his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif as his successor following his disqualification by the Supreme Court, ensuring the power centre of the ruling PML-N party remained within the family.

Shehbaz, currently chief minister of the most populous and prosperous province of Punjab, will have to be elected to the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament to take over as the premier. Sharif said senior PML-N leader and leading businessman Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would serve as the interim prime minister.

I have given up my position and someone has to take it up. After much thought and discussionafter me, if you support it, I choose Shehbaz Sharif sahab, Sharif told a meeting of the PML-N parliamentary party that was beamed live on television.

Shehbaz sahab will need some time, 50 to 55 days, and he will have to contest electionsFor the interim period of one-and-half to two months, I name Khaqan Abbasi (for the post of prime minister), he said in Urdu to loud cheers and applause from the lawmakers.

The decision came a day after the Supreme Court disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty in declaring his assets in his nomination papers for the 2013 election. The verdict raised fears of fresh uncertainty in Pakistan ahead of next years general election amid continued meddling in politics by the powerful military.

Shehbaz, 65, is currently in his third term as chief minister of Punjab. Widely described as a workoholic, he is seen as a better administrator and a doer, but is less charismatic and less popular than Sharif. He also has had a better relationship with the army and sometimes acted as an intermediary between the army and the PML-N.

However, he has struggled with health concerns in recent years, including backbone cancer, and travels abroad several times a year for treatment.

Abbasi, 58, has a masters degree in electrical engineering from the US and worked as an engineer in America and the Middle East in the 1980s. He is the founder and CEO of airblue, one of Pakistans few private airlines, and held the petroleum and natural resources portfolio in Sharifs cabinet.

A low-key politician, he is considered to be part of Sharifs inner circle and was apparently chosen as he is unlikely to rock the boat.

Sharif has been grooming his daughter Maryam Nawaz as his heir but the Supreme Court also ordered the main anti-corruption watchdog to register a case against the PLM-N chief, his daughter and two sons over the familys offshore assets.

In his speech to the parliamentary party, Sharif lamented that no elected Pakistani prime minister had been able to complete a full term. He added that not everyone in the military favoured martial law.

Sharif, who did not complete any of his three terms as premier, also questioned the Supreme Courts verdict. The courts order stated he was disqualified because he had not declared the salary he was eligible to receive from a UAE-based firm set up by his son, but Sharif said he had not taken any salary from the company.

See what the worlds media is writing about yesterdays verdictIf anyone understands why I was removed, they should explain it to me, he said. He added he was unafraid like a soldier on the frontline and would defend the law, Constitution and rule of law.

Sharif said his conscience is clear and he felt proud he was not removed for corruption. You should be proud that your leader doesnt have the stain of corruption on him, he said.

Sharif has moved out of the sprawling Prime Minister Houses in the heart of Islamabad and into the nearby Punjab House. All members of his cabinet have been denotified and their protocol has been removed.

At many public places such as airports and train stations, Sharifs picture has been removed. There were no reports of major disturbances in any city following the Supreme Courts verdict except for some minor skirmishes between workers of different parties in Islamabad.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said Pyongyangs latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile confirmed all the US mainland was within striking range, state media reported Saturday.

Kim said Fridays test demonstrated the Norths ability to launch at any place and time, the Korean Central News Agency reported, adding the leader said proudly the test also confirmed all the US mainland is within our striking range.

Dear Leader Kim Jong-Un expressed great satisfaction with the perfectly successful test and praised its developers, KCNA said.

The report said the test confirmed the missiles nuclear detonation control mechanism operated normally and that the warhead could endure the intense heat of re-entering the atmosphere.

With its second ICBM test this month, North Korea is doubling down on its threat to develop nuclear-strike capability against the US mainland in the face of severe warnings from President Donald Trump.

The US leader denounced the launch as a reckless and dangerous action and rejected Pyongyangs claims that such tests helped ensure its security.

By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people, Trump said in a statement.

The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region.

South Korean, US and Japanese monitors all detected the unusual late-night test Friday, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the missile may have landed within Japans maritime exclusive economic zone.

We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said, adding that the projectile travelled about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) before splashing down in the Sea of Japan.

However, the Russian military said it appeared to be a medium-range ballistic missile.

The launch came a day after North Korea celebrated what it calls Victory Day -- the anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang regularly times its missile tests to coincide with symbolic dates.

In Seoul and Tokyo, the governments convened meetings of their national security councils.

And the US and South Korean militaries began conducting a live-fire exercise using surface-to-surface missiles in response to the latest test, the US army said.

Time for Trump to focus

Joel Wit, a senior fellow at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on the Norths nuclear weapons programme, said Fridays launch confirmed time was running out for Washington to find a way out of a pressing security crisis.

Another North Korean test of what appears to be a missile that can reach the United States further emphasises the need for the Trump administration to focus like a laser on this increasingly dangerous situation, Wit said on the institutes 38 North website.

US military and South Korean intelligence officials had in recent days warned that North Korea appeared to be prepping another missile test -- likely of an ICBM.

The ICBM test on July 4 had triggered global alarm, with experts saying the missile had a theoretical range to reach Alaska.

Kim Jong-Un, who also personally oversaw that launch on Americas Independence Day, described it as a gift to the American bastards.

It sent tensions soaring in the region, pitting Washington, Tokyo and Seoul against China, Pyongyangs last remaining major ally.

The United States instigated a push at the United Nations for tougher measures against Pyongyang, with Trump saying he was considering a pretty severe response.

Fridays launch came just hours after the US Senate passed bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang.

North Koreas accelerated drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability poses a thorny policy challenge for Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim Jong-Uns regime.

Its clear Kim Jong-Un remains undeterred by the threat of tightened sanctions, and is not listening to its one major ally, China. The longer the world waits to deal with North Korea, the more advanced Pyongyangs arsenal will become, said Jean Lee at the Wilson Center thinktank.

Trump has repeatedly urged Beijing to rein in its recalcitrant neighbour, but Beijing insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.

There remain doubts whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for the projectile to survive re-entry into the Earths atmosphere.

But since Kim came to power there has been a series of technical advances, including three nuclear tests and a string of missile launches.

France on Friday called on fellow members of the UN Security Council to swiftly adopt strong and additional sanctions against Pyongyang.

Frustrating

Reacting to the launch, UN spokesman Farhad Haq said it was frustrating that the secretary generals calls for all sides to de-escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula had gone unheeded.

In an apparent reference to China, Haq said it was important for all parties to use their particular influence to help resolve this.

In all, six sets of UN sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but two resolutions adopted last year significantly toughened the sanctions regime.

Meanwhile, the US military is preparing to conduct another test of a missile-intercept system in Alaska, perhaps as soon as Saturday.
The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says the US President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community.

North Korea on Friday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.

North Koreas test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missile -- the second such test in less than a month-- is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime, Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action.

The United States condemns this test and rejects the regimes claim that these testsand these weaponsensure North Koreas security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect.

By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region, Trump said.

The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 AM EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said.

This was North Koreas 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month.

The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call, Joint Chief of Staff Chairmans spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said.

Meanwhile the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Koreas missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said today.

This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on July 5.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range, Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, said in a tweet.

Now is the time to ramp up sanctions. China cannot have it both ways; it cannot do business as usual with the US and subsidising North Korea, he said.

But we need to be ready to talk too, and ready to accept a freeze, something far less than denuclearisation for the foreseeable future, Sherman added.
Pakistans ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif will chair a crucial meeting to decide his successor, a day after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.

Senior Pakistan Muslim League leader and former railway minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the party meeting later on Saturday. The meeting is likely to include discussion on candidates for the post of the prime minister, partys new president and members of the Cabinet.

Different options were discussed in a similar meeting yesterday but no decision was taken, he said.

Meanwhile, party sources said that Sharif proposed name of his younger brother Shehbaz in Fridays meeting and none of the participants raised any objection to the proposal.

But Shehbaz, 65, cannot immediately replace his brother as he is not a member of parliament.

In order to become the prime minister, he would have to be elected first.

Hence, an interim prime minister would have to be chosen from among Sharifs confidants who will resign once Shehbaz is elected.

Pakistan has seen such arrangements in the past too.

During former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharrafs time, politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was appointed as an interim prime minister until Shaukat Aziz, who was nominated by Musharraf, got elected by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ).

According to party sources, Sharif was conscious that bringing Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz to Islamabad may create political vacuum in the crucial state, which PML-N cannot afford ahead of next year elections.

Hence, there is possibility that a permanent prime minister might be elected from the senior party leader for the remaining tenure of the government, which would end in first week of June, 2018.

In case, Shehbaz is elected is premier, then his son Hamza could be a choice for the post of chief minister of Punjab.

But the problem is that Hamza is member of national assembly and would have to be elected as member of provincial assembly first in order to succeed his father.

The party would have to decide a prime minister for interim period in case Shehbaz emerges as the final consensus candidate for top job.

Different names so far considered to become interim prime minister include former defence minister Khawaja Asif, former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former planning minister Ahsan Iqbal and speak national assembly Ayaz Sadiq.
Pakistans ruling PML-N party is expected to formally name Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif as former prime minister Nawaz Sharifs successor following his disqualification, and former minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the interim premier.

Hours after he was ousted on Friday by the Supreme Court for dishonesty in declaring his assets, Pakistani media reported that Sharif had told a meeting of top PML-N leaders he wanted his younger brother Shehbaz to succeed him.

An informal meeting chaired by Sharif on Saturday decided to rally behind Shehbaz after discussions that spanned four hours, the media reported. The meeting also zeroed in on Abbasi, a leading businessman and leader of the PLM-N, as the person who would hold the post of PM till Shebaz, a member of the provincial assembly of Punjab, is elected to Parliament.

Reports suggested the PML-N would nominate another MP to serve as interim prime minister for the 45-day period during which the ruling party can prove its majority in Parliament and elect a new leader of the House.

There were also reports the PML-N had mulled the option of nominating an MP who would serve as premier for the remaining tenure of the government but this appears to have been dropped. Elections are expected to be held by May 2018.

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif with leaders of his PML-N party and its allies during a meeting in Islamabad on July 28, 2017. (Twitter)

Earlier, among the names doing the rounds for interim prime minister were former federal ministers Rana Tanveer, Khwaja Asif and Khurram Dastagir Khan and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. Some circles also named Sharifs wife Kulsoom Nawaz as a possible candidate.

Sharif has moved out of the sprawling Prime Minister Houses in the heart of Islamabad and into the nearby Punjab House. All members of his cabinet have been denotified and their protocol has been removed.

At many public places such as airports and train stations, Sharifs picture has been removed. There were no reports of major disturbances in any city following the Supreme Courts verdict except for some minor skirmishes between workers of different parties in Islamabad.

The top court also directed the National Accountability Bureau, the main anti-corruption watchdog, to file a case against Sharif, his children Maryam, Hussain and Hassan and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar for owning offshore assets. It also ordered a criminal investigation against finance minister Ishaq Dar, who is related to Sharif.
The disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the resultant political uncertainty in Pakistan has further diminished the possibility of the normalisation of the fragile India-Pakistan ties in the near future.

There was no formal statement from the Indian government, but the officials who spoke on conditions of anonymity and experts have said the immediate political crisis in Pakistan and the way it would possibly pan out will require India to be cautious.

First of all, we need to see who succeeds Nawaz Sharif and what is immediately in store for Pakistans polity. Any change of guard in Islamabad is also set to bring change in the countrys Indian policy, a subject where the Pakistan Army has the foremost say, an official said.

India-Pakistan ties under Sharif have swung from one end to another. He enjoyed a personal rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended Modis swearing-in in New Delhi. He also hosted the Indian leader at his Lahore residence on an unannounced visit.

The two sides also made efforts to re-launch the dialogue process, but a series of terror strikes from across the border brought the ties to the nadir and mutual distrust to the fore.

Prime Minister Modi was very clear that India would engage with civilian leadership with Pakistan and nothing should undermine the centrality of the civilian leadership, another official said.

Opponents of Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif on July 28, 2017. (Reuters)

With Sharif stepping down and possibly curtains on his political career, whatever the rapport Sharif and Modi developed  which could have used for resetting the ties sometime later  is gone, said strategic affairs expert C Uday Bhaskar.

Now that the Pakistan administration will be busy sorting the domestic mess, it needs to be seen how soon they would be able to devote time to repair India-Pakistan ties. So India should be cautious to the developments in Pakistan, he said.

There is an overweening concern over the role the Pakistan Army would play in the next government as well as on India-Pakistan ties.

This judicial coup is a big win for the army-ISI combine. Such are the Pakistani deep states tentacles that the Supreme Court-established Joint Investigation Team, whose report led to Sharifs ouster, included members of two military intelligence agencies (ISI and Military Intelligence), argued strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney.

He said the resignation of Sharif and subsequent developments only underscores Indias quandary in dealing with a country in which there is no real central authority.

There is a central authority in name, but behind that central authority is a powerful authority that operates covertly. This split authority is at the root of many of Pakistans ills, he said.

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Sri Lankas government on Saturday signed a long-delayed agreement to sell a 70% stake in a $1.5-billion port to China in a bid to recover from the heavy burden of repaying a Chinese loan obtained to build the facility.

The agreement comes after a nearly six-month delay since the signing of the framework deal, which immediately drew public criticism and protests.

The document was signed between the government-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority and the state-run China Merchants Port Holding Co. in the capital, Colombo, in the presence of senior government officials from Sri Lanka and China. According to the agreement, the Chinese company will invest $1.12 billion in the port, which sits close to busy east-west shipping lanes. Under the original framework agreement, an 80% stake would have been sold to China.

Two local companies whose shares will be split between the Chinese enterprise and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority will be set up to handle the ports operations, security and services. The Chinese company will be responsible for commercial operations while the Sri Lanka Ports Authority will handle security. The lease period is 99 years.

The port, built with a Chinese loan during the administration of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is seen as a white elephant because it has failed to become financially viable since it began operations in 2011.

Before they were elected in 2015, opposition parties had criticised the project, but the government later sought help from China to make the port viable because of its severe underperformance and the heavy burden of loan repayment.

The ports annual loan repayment commitment stands at $59 million, and by the end of 2016 the port had suffered a loss of $304 million, according to the government.

The port is part of Beijings so-called string-of-pearls plan for a line of ports stretching from its waters to the Persian Gulf. Rajapaksa relied heavily on China for infrastructure projects. During his administration, China provided loans for an airport, sea port, highways and power plants, and became the largest investor in Sri Lanka.

Chinas influence in Sri Lanka makes neighbouring India anxious because it considers the Indian Ocean region to be its strategic backyard. President Maithripala Sirisena has been trying to balance both Asian giants.

Sri Lankan officials have repeatedly reiterated that the ports security will be handled by Colombo in an attempt to allay the fears that the port could be used by Chinese as a military hub.

The agreement has ignited protests inside the country too and in January, hundreds of farmers and opposition supporters protested the plan to lease the port, saying the proposed partnership was akin to a sellout of the country.
The stunning collapse of President Donald Trumps health reforms was due in large part to the defiance of two Republican women who resisted relentless White House pressure to toe the party line.

While Senator John McCains revolt grabbed the headlines, the votes of the lesser-known Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski proved decisive in sinking Trumps goal of repealing Obamacare.

During his presidential run against Hillary Clinton, Trump faced flak over his behaviour and comments towards women.

And after Fridays health debacle, critics again questioned Trumps attempts to intimidate Collins and Murkowski, either via his top lieutenants or the bully pulpit of Twitter.

While several male Republican colleagues who voiced concerns about the direction of the repeal effort ultimately caved to Trumps demands, it was Collins and Murkowski who stood firm.

A wavering McCains dramatic last-minute kibosh of the latest effort to repeal Obamacare would not have been possible without the persistence of the female senators from Maine and Alaska.

Each has faced aggressive arm-twisting and callouts by Trump, scare tactics from his cabinet, even threats of violence from a Republican congressman, Blake Farenthold, who said he would challenge some female senators to a duel if they were men rather than women, because they were blocking health care reform.

The mounting pressure against Collins and Murkowski served as a reminder of some of Trumps controversies from his presidential campaign.

He smeared a female reporter who moderated his first debate, attacked Clinton as an enabler for her husbands marital infidelities, used crude banter at campaign events, and of course there was the Access Hollywood tape, where he was heard using graphic language to boast of assaulting women.

Now in power, he cant shake the fact that women have blocked his singular legislative initiative.

Among the Senates 52 Republicans, five are women. Collins and Murkowski have been the most consistent opponents to the Obamacare repeal plans.

They both also voted against his nominee for education secretary, arguing she was not qualified for the post.

When Trump made nasty and denigrating remarks about a female MSNBC news host in June, Murkowski, age 60, and Collins, 64, led the condemnation.

Stop it! Murkowski blasted to him on Twitter. Collinss reprimand was similar.

On health care, the pair argued that the various plans offered threatened to adversely impact millions of American families on Medicaid.

They also cast votes against earlier Senate plans that would have left tens of millions more Americans uninsured.

Standing strong

Collinss opposition goes back to 2015, when she was the only current Republican senator who voted against a similar partial repeal bill.

She and Murkowski were the only Republicans to oppose a motion to proceed to the health care bill debate that collapsed this week, prompting an angry tweet from Trump.

Murkowski really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad! he said in an ominous tweet.

The intimidation ratcheted up dramatically when Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called Murkowski, reportedly to warn her that the administration was prepared to withdraw its support for expanded oil drilling in Alaska and some of her other priorities.

He threatened the wrong lawmaker.

Murkowski chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and she immediately delayed several administration nominations up for the panels consideration.

She is no political pushover either. During Murkowskis 2010 re-election bid, she lost her Republican primary to a Tea Party-backed challenger. Undeterred, she mounted a write-in campaign and retained her seat.

Murkowskis and Collinss passionate positions against their own party earned respect from across the aisle.

Thanks for standing strong throughout, tweeted Democratic Senator Michael Bennet.

Another Senate Democrat, Mazie Hirono, told CNN that she recently spoke with Murkowski, who offered advice about dealing with bullies: fight back.
Donald Trumps advice to police to act tough against illegal immigration and violent crime drew criticism from Twitterati and many police departments did not appear enthusiastic about the presidents call.

On Friday, Trump appeared to advocate rougher treatment of people in police custody. Dont be too nice, Trump told law enforcement officers during a visit to the Suffolk County police headquarters, New York, to highlight his administrations efforts to crack down on the street gang known as MS-13 which has been accused of a string of heinous gang murders on Long Island.

The president urged Congress to find money to pay for 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers so that we can eliminate MS-13.

Trump pushed for faster expulsion of these gang members from the US. Wed like to get them out a lot faster and when you see ... these thugs being thrown into the back of the paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, I said, Please dont be too nice.

The President then spoke dismissively of the practice by which arresting officers shield the heads of handcuffed suspects as they are placed in police cars.

I said, You could take the hand away, OK, he said, drawing applause from many in the audience, which included federal and law enforcement personnel from the New York-New Jersey area.

But the Suffolk County Police Department did not seem to subscribe to Trumps advice.

Violations of those rules and procedures are treated extremely seriously. As a department, we do not and will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners, the department tweeted later.

As a department, we do not and will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners.  Suffolk County PD (@SCPDHq) July 28, 2017

But the applause of some of its officers at Trumps comments drew fire from Twitter users.

You were all clapping, smiling/laughing & cheering on the orange buffoon when he asked you to violate the human rights of people in custody pic.twitter.com/uI3Ul3lT1d  Leyla Martinez  (@LaLey_01) July 29, 2017

Are you sure? The blatant disrespect for the law was clear in the roaring laughter that came after the comment. You should be ashamed  Phoenix Goddess (@JennieBRUTAL) July 29, 2017

Suffolk County Police Dept should have known Trump would give a Hate speech. They weren't prepared & now another mess.  Pink Freud (@alaskarebel) July 29, 2017

Seriously, I felt like I was watching a Hitler rally.  Cora  (@Cor_Adore) July 28, 2017

Despite its damage control exercise, many Twitter users were not willing to buy the Suffolk polices statement.

You may want to tell that to your officers. The way they hooted and hollared, and clapped and cheered was absolutely disgusting.  Tina Covfefe (@teetoatee) July 29, 2017

Your tweet means nothing, stop trying to save face and prove it. Prove to the actual people on Suffolk you mean it  Taylor Gonzalez (@tay_gonzo) July 28, 2017

Other law enforcement departments as well as officials did not buy Trumps argument.

The @POTUS made remarks today that endorsed and condoned police brutality.



GPD rejects these remarks and continues to serve with respect.  Gainesville Police (@GainesvillePD) July 29, 2017

I'm a cop.



I do not agree with or condone @POTUS remarks today on police brutality.



Those that applauded and cheered should be ashamed.  Ben Tobias (@GPDBenTobias) July 28, 2017

Chief Jim Bueermann (Ret.), the police foundation president, said in a statement: While the Presidents support for law enforcement is appreciated by many who have and continue to serve our communities, we cannot support any commentary  in sincerity or jest  that undermines the trust that our communities place in us to protect and serve.

Suffolk police in focus

Suffolk police had been rapped on the knuckles earlier when its former chief James Burke, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison last November for beating a handcuffed man in an interrogation room.

Since the beginning of 2017, the Department of Homeland Securitys investigative unit has arrested 3,311 gang members nationwide during targeted operations, said Tom Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Trumps comments about the treatment of people in police custody resurrected memories of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Baltimore man who was shackled but alive when he was put into a Baltimore police van in April 2015. Gray left the vehicle with severe neck injuries, and his subsequent death triggered rioting. Six officers were charged initially, but prosecutors in July 2016 dropped all remaining charges after acquittals and a hung jury.

Grays family agreed in September 2015 to a $6.4 million settlement with Baltimore.

(With AP inputs)
Two Sikh Americans have been killed in separate incidents in California, according to community organisations and media reports.

Subag Singh, 68, was found dead in a canal after he went missing in the morning of June 23. His body had injuries.

California law enforcement officials from Fresno county have said that they were trying to find out who was responsible for the killing of the elderly Sikh American.

Deputies found his body with visible trauma in a canal on McCall and Jensen. Investigators are trying to piece together what led up to the body being found in a canal, Fox26 news said in a report.

Deputies are not saying if this was a hate crime or not, but members of the Sikh community say this would not be the first, it said.

Honestly, we are very hurt, it just hurts us. And it just we then, think what else do we need to do, Gurdeep Shergill, a local community leader, was quoted as saying.

In a separate incident, Simranjit Singh, 20, of Elk Grove was shot dead on July 25 outside a gas station where he worked.

According to Sacramento Bee news, he was shot dead by men who had earlier assaulted his co-worker.

At this point in both investigations, it is unclear if either of these crimes were racially motivated but we are working with both local and federal laws enforcement authorities to ensure these murders are thoroughly investigated and that the local jurisdictions are treating the cases with the utmost importance, said Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF).

These attacks are inexcusable and we offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of Subag Singh and Simranjit Singh.

We call upon local and federal law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate these heinous crimes and classify them as hate incidents if hate is show to be a motive, SALDEF executive director Baldev Singh said.

There have been a number of attacks targeting Indian- Americans and Sikhs in the recent months in the US.

In March, a 39-year-old Sikh man was shot in the arm outside his home in Kent, Washington, by a partially-masked gunman who shouted go back to your own country.

In February, 32-year-old Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed when a US Navy veteran opened fire at him and his friend Alok Madasani, yelling get out of my country.
A bipartisan group of American senators have sought enhanced cooperation with India in Afghanistan, including increasing New Delhis role in helping the Afghan security forces, a move that could annoy Pakistan.

The lawmakers have introduced a legislative amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) - 2018 in the Senate to support their demand.

India is one of the biggest providers of developmental assistance to war-torn Afghanistan.

The amendment seeks increasing Indias role in assisting the Afghan security forces through logistics support, threat analysis, intelligence, materiel, and maintenance support.

The amendment - if passed by the Senate and implemented by the US and India - could irk Pakistan as it opposes any Indian role in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The amendment was moved on Thursday by senators Dan Sullivan, Gary Peters, John Cornyn and Mark Warner.

Warner is the vice chair of the powerful Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, while Cornyn is the Senate Majority Whip for the Republican Party.

They are also the co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus.

The amendment asks Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to identify ways in which India can take security and development related steps in Afghanistan.

It asks the Pentagon and the State Department to find ways in which India can support targeted infrastructure development and economic investment in Afghanistan.

Improve the provision by India of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance to Afghanistan, including through the provision of logistics support by India, joint training between Afghanistan and India, and combined military planning by Afghanistan and India for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions in Afghanistan, the amendment says.

Calling for a tri-lateral security and civilian co- operation between India, Afghanistan and the US, it seeks establishment of priorities for investments to promote security and stability in Afghanistan that align with the mutual interests of Afghanistan, India, and the US.

It also calls for identifying gaps in the capabilities of Afghanistan security forces, and determine means of addressing such gaps; and identifying economic and infrastructure development opportunities in Afghanistan related to improving security and stability in Afghanistan.

The Senate is yet to vote on the NDAA-2018.
US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose gradual diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent this war-torn country from being a launch pad for terrorist attacks against the United States.

McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress.

The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA- 2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies, and its core interests.

The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan Government and reduce the Talibans control of the Afghan population.

As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives including India under this move.

The legislative amendment calls for imposing graduated diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying Americas regional diplomatic efforts working through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The move is also aimed towards advance regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation, and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states.

The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of American economic, and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anti- corruption, financial transparency, and the rule of law.

Calling for increasing the number of US counter terrorism forces in Afghanistan; the amendment calls for providing the United States military with status-based targeting authorities against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al- Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and other terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and its core interests.

In his amendment, McCain calls for pursuing a joint agreement to secure a long-term, open-ended counter terrorism partnership between the US and Afghanistan, which he said would include an enduring United States counter terrorism presence in Afghanistan.

The US Senate is yet to vote on NDAA-2018.

Yesterday, in a statement, McCain rued on the delay in its passage.

It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now, the National Defense Authorization Act, he said.

For 55 years in a row, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides our men and women in uniform with the resources, capabilities, and pay and benefits that they need to perform their missions on behalf of the American people and keep our country safe. This legislation is more vital than ever, McCain said.

Global terrorist networks, increasing great power competition with Russia and China, malign Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East, a North Korean dictator racing to acquire missiles that can hit the United States with nuclear weaponsthe threats to our national security have not been more complex or daunting than at any time in the past seven decades, he said.
It was an incredible moment for crew members and passengers of Lufthansa flight LH543, which took off from Colombian capital Bogota on July 25 with 191 passengers. Headed for Germanys Frankfurt, it landed unscheduled in Manchester with an extra passenger on board!

Desislava K, a 38-year-old Bulgaria-based woman, gave birth to a baby boy 39,000 feet above the North Atlantic.

As the mom-to-be started experiencing labour pain, the 13 crew members on board prepared to deliver the baby. And soon they found out that there were three doctors among the passengers.

The crew moved several passengers to seats in the front, and the rear part of the plane became an impromptu delivery room. The entire area was closed off with a privacy screen, Lufthansa said in a statement, issued on Friday.

This week, baby Nikolai was born at 49 N, 21 W, flight level 390. Interested in more infos? Here you go. https://t.co/G2p3GhyiOy #LH543 pic.twitter.com/yHXAe3QnCB  Lufthansa News (@lufthansaNews) July 28, 2017

The baby was named Nikolai --- the same name as one of the doctors, the statement said.

In a video posted by Lufthansa on its Twitter account, crew member Carolin van Osch said it was a very very emotional moment, adding we hugged each other and shed tears of joy.

This was the 11th birth on a Lufthansa flight since 1965.

At first, I could not believe it because a birth on board is something very special...after we calmed down a bit, we started our work according to the procedures we have learned, flight captain Kurt Mayer said in the video.

The airlines received praises --- and invited a flurry of questions --- on Twitter after announcing the news through its handle.

Amazing!! Congratulations to the professionalism of the crew! And to the mother and baby!   Simone (@sisuperstar) July 28, 2017

@lufthansa should give something nice eventhough no free flight for lifetime policy. Congrats to the mother & LH crews. #Nikolai  Shastitaren (@Shastitaren4) July 28, 2017

Awesome what you folks have achieved up there. Really proud of #Lufthansa. You folks really rock.  Max Aitch (@sigint23) July 28, 2017

When one of the users asked if the baby will get free Lufthansa tickets for a lifetime, the airline clarified that it was not their policy.

We dont have this rule, well definitely think of something nice for him. And hell always have a special place in our <3 (heart), Lufthansa tweeted.

In June, a baby was born on India-based Jet Airways flight travelling from Dammam in Saudi Arabia to Kochi. Unlike Lufthansa, Jet Airways gifted the baby free plane tickets for life.

When another user asked how the airlines could allow a heavily pregnant woman to fly, Lufthansa replied: Pregnant women with an uncomplicated pregnancy may fly with Lufthansa until the end of the 36th week of pregnancy.

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H ouse prices in Britains most sought-after seaside towns are catching up with, or in some cases outstripping, the pace of growth in some central London areas.

Sandbanks in Dorset retains its position as Britains most expensive seaside town for the second year running, with average house prices of 664,000. It knocked the former record holder, Salcombe in North Devon, into second place with its average price of 618,000, according to the latest figures from Halifax.

The average London house price is 584,000.

With an average price of 527,000, the third most expensive seaside town was Aldeburgh in Suffolk, a popular cultural destination where many Londoners buy second homes.

There is also a strong London commuter contingent in the most expensive seaside spots, all of which are in the South West, South East and East Anglia, many within a few hours of London.

Halifax housing economist Martin Ellis said: Over the past decade, house prices in the South East, especially coastal towns within commutable distance to London, have shown strong growth and have become Britains most expensive seaside towns.

Many of the top 10 most expensive towns were places that have longstanding popularity with London leavers, retirees and commuters.

But Mr Ellis pointed out that the largest 10-year price growth has been seen in seaside towns in Scotland, thanks to Aberdeen's oil boom.

Property prices on the Aberdeenshire coastline have been helped by the oil industry more than the sunshine, he said.

Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire, home to the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, saw house prices soar 95 per cent from 70,300 in 2006 to 137,000 in 2016. Lerwick in the Shetlands saw the second highest increase of 77 percent, from 91,000 to 161,000.

This is compared to an average 10-year house price increase of 25 per in British seaside towns, from 181,000 in 2007 to 227,000.

Nine of the 10 cheapest seaside towns are also in Scotland, with the lowest average house prices in Port Bannatyne at 72,000.
All roads lead to Monaghan in August!

The Carrickmacross Arts Festival has announced the stellar line-up of talent thats Monaghan-bound from August 10-13.

The musical attractions include Mercury-nominated pop-rockers The Magic Numbers, funk soul legends Booka Brass, Otherkin who gave Guns N Roses a serious run for their money recently at Slane, and that other holy triumvirate of Irish acts, Turn, We Cut Corners and Heroes In Hiding.

The quality tunes dont end there with Zoe Conway & John McIntyre, Darling, Video Blue, Ana Gog, Kern, Pine The Pilcrow, Anna Jordan, Buffalo Sunn, Hvmmingbird, Ines Khai and Grace Wilde all doing their respective things.

David McSavage, Lisa Casey, Michael Downey, Barry Mack and MC Lorcan McGrane are the Comedy Night attractions, with Italian street theatre troupe Theatro Due Mondi, photorealist Barry Jazz Finnegan, live drama, open air cinema, poetry recitals, childrens activities, workshops, seminars, artisan trade stalls, dance showcases, and storytelling all adding to the summer fun.

Day tickets priced 50 are available from www.carrickmacrossartsfestival.com
I started thinking about the War on Cash recently over a giant plate of hot buttery pancakes with syrup.

You see, I spent part of my summer vacation in Gatlinburg, Tenn., which some think of as the jumping-off point to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but I prefer to think of it as the Pancake House capital of the world.

Anyway, my family and I enjoyed a meal at the oldest pancake house in Gatlinburg, and lo and behold, when I went to pay, only cash was accepted.

One of the great benefits of visiting a cash-only pancake restaurant with your children is they might ask why only cash? And that, my friends, is what you call an opportune teachable moment to explain tax evasion and money laundering to your 7- and 12-year-olds:

"Sometimes, dear, a nice pancake restaurant likes to underreport its sales, which allows them to underreport profits, which allows them to pay less in federal income tax."

Or, "sweet child, sometimes bad men with profits from illegal businesses like to launder their money by teaming up with a restaurant, which traditionally has a lot of cash transactions."

"You see, sweet pea, credit cards create a reportable electronic record and therefore less wiggle room to make up however much in legitimate profit a restaurant owner might want. More all-cash transactions means more room to cheat The Man. Pass the syrup when you're done, love."

I should point out that even as I explained money laundering and tax evasion to my preteen children, I have no specific reason to think anything untoward happens at the specific restaurant we visited, only that they provided a nice learning opportunity to go with the meal, because of their unusual cash-only policy. And the pancakes were simply delicious.

Of course, the pendulum between a cash-only and cashless society is swinging steadily toward cashless. Despite the benefits for a restaurant in an all-cash world, we're more likely these days to pay with credit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Google Wallet, Chase QuickPay, Square or anyone of a dozen online and mobile payment forms.

I remember just a decade ago one of my smart-alec friends used to ask store clerks, "Do you accept cash?" - just to get a rise out of the checkout clerk. With the swift evolution of technology and ubiquity of plastic and electronic transfers, however, that question becomes less goofy every year.

Airlines first began refusing cash in favor of plastic in 2009, for both convenience and safety. Flight attendants presumably save time and hassle by not fishing around for exact change for our snack boxes and in-flight headphones.

Credit card companies have a clear vested interest in the payments war between cash and credit. Card companies like Visa, MasterCard and American Express charge venders hefty fees on transactions while charging consumers high rates of interest if we carry a monthly balance.

Earlier this month, Visa launched a direct assault on the use of cash, offering some restaurants a $10,000 incentive to go cashless. The restaurants in this trial only qualify for the $10,000 payment if they refuse to accept cash from customers.

A business accepting credit cards pays an average of 2 percent in fees for credit card payments - an expensive proposition - in addition to losing the flexibility of avoiding the tax man by reporting lower sales. Maybe $10,000 will be enough of an incentive from Visa to overcome these hurdles? Somehow I doubt that would be enough to entice my favorite pancake place in Gatlinburg.

While credit card companies have a clear stake in the move toward a cash-less society, so do governments. The government of India last November instituted a sudden assault on cash transactions, specifically trying to combat tax evasion and money laundering, by banning the use of high-denomination bills, which included the 500 rupee and 1,000 rupee bills.

People and businesses who trafficked in bills with a face value at and above 500 rupees, or $7.70 U.S., most probably are doing it to underreport income or to engage in illegal business, according to the government's theory.

The war on cash quickly hurt the Indian economy, and by June 2017 the government began to reissue and authorize larger cash denominations.

In the U.S., the government phased out high-denomination bills of $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 back in 1969, as they realized these bills were rarely used, except by tax evaders and criminals. Last year prominent Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff urged banishing the $100 bill in his book "The Curse of Cash," saying it was most useful to criminals.

Despite Rogoff's encouragements, cash seems unlikely to go away anytime soon. It's still just too darn convenient. I'm sympathetic to the idea that where you fall on the cash vs. cashless spectrum of preference might have something to do with how much you want to hide from the government.

On the other hand, a certain type of skeptic believes the move to cashless transactions foretells a more authoritarian society, one less free from the prying eyes of big government in league with big banks. The War on Cash, in that alternative view, is really a War on Privacy. They have a point as well.

As for myself, of course I use electronic transfer services, credit and debit cards, and have happily experimented with money-transfer mobile payment apps. For small in-person payments, I tend to pay for everything with $2 bills, $1 coins and Kennedy half-dollars, just to mess with merchants.
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Exxon Mobil and Chevron said Friday that they plan to bring more drilling rigs to the increasingly crowded Permian Basin, heaping praise on the 75,000 square miles teeming with oil across West Texas and New Mexico, where drillers can pump more crude at lower costs than most places.

But the focus on the Permian by the two largest U.S. oil companies, which reported strong profits in the second quarter, underscored that the energy industry's recovery after the long, costly oil bust remains uneven, and narrowly focused in West Texas. Other shale plays have fallen far behind, including the Eagle Ford in South Texas and Bakken in North Dakota, two oil patches once coveted by Wall Street investors and Middle East oil ministers alike.

Offshore prospects are more gloomy. Drillers have struggled to gin up any interest in big, risky projects that can only really get going again after crude prices make a break toward $60. Companies with substantial offshore businesses are laying off workers.

"You're going to put your money where the best returns are, and that's the Permian," said Brian Youngberg, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis.

Good signs: Texas job growth picks up the pace

Almost half the drilling activity in the United States is concentrated in the Permian. In May of last year, the U.S. rig count bottomed at about 400, less than one-fourth its 1,900-rig peak in 2014. Since then, the country has added more than 550 rigs, with 240 going to the Permian. In contrast, the Eagle Ford has added just 45 over the year; the Cana Woodford, in Oklahoma, 34.

Offshore services suffer

But even as the Permian booms, and some oil field service companies show strong results there, it's not enough to sustain the sector. Offshore equipment makers, for instance, which employ thousands of workers in Houston, are suffering.

TechnipFMC cut more than 1,000 workers from its global workforce this year and National Oilwell Varco has cut about 1,500 jobs. National Oilwell Varco CEO Clay Williams warned that demand from its onshore customers is cooling off with oil prices below $50 a barrel. Several exploration and production companies, including ConocoPhillips of Houston and Anadarko Petroleum, said they are cutting planned spending by $200 million and $300 million respectively because oil prices have stayed lower than expected.

Crude settled Friday at $49.71 a barrel in New York, up 67 cents.

Is the bust over?: Small Permian producers flashing warnings as oil remains cheap

Prices have stayed low in part because of booming production in the Permian, which has slowed the process of draining the global oil glut that sent prices tumbling nearly three years ago, said Jim Wicklund, an energy analyst at the financial services company Credit Suisse in Dallas. If prices stay low, he said, the industry could be heading for a mild downturn that could mean new rounds of layoffs.

"We're responsible for the glut," Wicklund said. "It's too much, too soon."

Exxon and Chevron, meanwhile, show no sign of slowing in the Permian. Both companies said drilling in the region ranks among their most important projects around the world.

Exxon plans to dispatch three more rigs there to its fleet of 16 by the end of August, and has raised its oil and gas production by about 20 percent over the past year, to 165,000 barrels a day. In the Delaware Basin, a part of the Permian that Exxon paid $5.6 billion to enter this year, it recently drilled its first well, with a 2.4 mile-long horizontal section, much longer than the typical well. And as it learns more, it plans to extend those wells further, said Jeff Woodbury, a spokesman for the Irving-based oil company.

"As activity continues to ramp up, we will continue capturing efficiencies," he said.

The company's profits doubled in the second quarter on higher energy prices and refining margins compared to last year. It said Friday it collected $3.4 billion, or 78 cents a share, in profits from the beginning of April to the end of June, compared to $1.7 billion, or 41 cents a share, in the same period last year. Its revenue climbed from $57.7 billion to $72.9 billion.

Chevron expects to put seven more rigs in the Permian by the end of next year, which would bring its rig count on its 2 million acres there to 20. Chevron's Permian project production has climbed by almost one-third to about 180,000 barrels a day.

"The wells we're drilling today are more efficient than the wells we drilled last year and the year before," said Jay Johnson, executive vice president of upstream for Chevron.

Supply & demand: Higher demand is needed to end oil glut - but will it come?

Chevron reported a second-quarter profit of $1.5 billion, or 77 cents a share, from April to June, compared with a loss of $1.5 billion over the same period last year. Revenues rose from $29 billion to $35 billion, and oil and gas production jumped 10 percent.

Thin line for profits

For the companies that supply Exxon and Chevron with equipment and personnel to drill and frack wells, the Permian has played a key role in their recovery after the brutal downturn led to billions of dollars in losses and tens of thousands of layoffs. The biggest onshore oil field services players, Halliburton and Schlumberger, saw their North American revenues surge by 24 percent and 18 percent, respectively, from the first quarter of the year.

Still, they are barely profiting or losing money because drilling activity beyond the Permian is flat or sinking. And how long it continues will depend on when global demand and natural production declines in other parts of the world offset growing U.S. output.

Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard said rapid increases in U.S. production have "spooked the oil market investors into believing the fast barrels from U.S. land will flood the market" and kept prices from rising. Halliburton Executive Chairman Dave Lesar warned that the steady increase of active drilling rigs in the U.S. is reaching a plateau as prices stay low and oil producers are "tapping the brakes."
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Monday

Bass Pro settles bias case

Bass Pro Outdoor World agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle a nationwide class-action case brought in Houston by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which accused the outdoor outfitter of rejecting qualified black and Hispanic job applicants and retaliating against employees who objected to the alleged practice.

Revenue up for Halliburton

Houston energy services company Halliburton said its revenue jumped in the second quarter as its North American hydraulic fracturing business boomed, but the company expects the pace of growth to slow as oil prices languish.

Gasoline price turnaround

The average gasoline price in the Houston area rose for the first time in three months as crude prices recovered from a recent sell-off, according to GasBuddy.com.

IPO for Huntsman spinoff

Huntsman said it launched the initial public offering to spin off Venator Materials as a new company.

Arrests in pipeline damage

Two women with civil disobedience arrest records are claiming they damaged valves and set fire to construction equipment along an oil pipeline that crosses Iowa and three other states. Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya were arrested for criminal mischief at the Iowa Utilities Board office after damaging a sign outside the agency's building.

Tuesday

Milestone for chamber

The Greater Houston Black Chamber held its kickoff meeting for its Missouri City branch, its first outside the Houston city limits. It won't have a physical location, but the chamber will host meetings and events in Missouri City tailored to local businesses' needs. The branch will also serve as the model for future openings across the region.

Wednesday

Wisconsin snares factory

President Donald Trump said electronics giant Foxconn will build a $10 billion factory in Wisconsin that's expected to initially create 3,000 jobs, the largest economic development project in state history.

United sued over rabbit

A group of Iowa businessmen filed a lawsuit against United Airlines over the death of Simon, a giant rabbit whose lifeless body was discovered in a kennel after a flight from London to Chicago.

Charge in corruption case

A former Fiat Chrysler executive was charged with looting a training center for blue-collar workers by giving $1.2 million through a variety of ways to a UAW leader, his wife and other senior union officials.

Retooling for Coke Zero

Coke Zero is getting revamped as Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Coca-Cola Co. announced, with the new name intended to make clearer that the drink has no sugar, and a new recipe intended to make the drink taste more like regular Coke.

End of the road in UK

Britain announced Wednesday that sales of new diesel and gasoline cars would reach the end of the road by 2040, the latest step in Europe's battle against the damaging environmental impact of the internal combustion engine.

Thursday

Record quarter for bank

BBVA Compass Bancshares on Thursday reported record second-quarter earnings of $157 million, up 29 percent from the same period last year, prompting experts to say, cautiously, that the bank has weathered the oil price slump.

Auto sales stay weak

Group 1 Automotive reported lower second-quarter earnings Thursday, again citing steep declines in Houston and other energy-centric markets despite the region's stop-and-go recovery from the oil bust.

Richest in world, briefly

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos briefly became the world's richest man in Forbes magazine's tracking of wealth, as stock in his e-commerce company hit an all-time high. Microsoft founder Bill Gates reclaimed the lead by afternoon, as Amazon's stock fell nearly 1 percent for the day.

Friday

A focus on the Permian

Exxon Mobil and Chevron said they plan to put more drilling rigs to the Permian Basin, praising the 75,000 square miles teeming with oil across West Texas and New Mexico, where drillers can pump more crude for at lower costs than most places. But the focus on the Permian by the two largest U.S. oil companies, which both reported strong second-quarter profits, underscored that the energy industry's recovery remains uneven and narrowly focused on West Texas.

Solid growth rate for U.S.

The U.S. economy rebounded this spring after a weak winter, expanding at a solid 2.6 percent annual rate as consumers picked up their spending pace, the Commerce Department said. "After the winter blues, the economy has rebounded," says an economist.

A middle-class Tesla?

For Tesla, everything is riding on its $35,000 Model 3. The company delivered the first 30 Model 3s to customers as it starts high-volume production.

From staff and wire reports

MONDAY

The National Association of Realtors releases home sales for June.

TUESDAY

The Commerce Department releases personal income and spending for June.

The Commerce Department releases June construction spending.

BP reports its second-quarter earnings.

Apple reports its quarterly financial results.

WEDNESDAY

Tesla reports its quarterly financial results.

THURSDAY

Yum Brands reports its quarterly financial results.

Friday

The Labor Department releases employment data for July.

Berkshire Hathaway reports its quarterly financial results.

Toyota reports its earnings.
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Washington with the promise that the same steady calm and political acumen that allowed him to rise to the top of Exxon Mobil would translate into leading the country's diplomatic ranks.

But six months in, Tillerson is the latest official whose future in the Trump administration has come into question, as he tries to counsel a president prone to upending U.S. foreign policy on a dime while struggling to negotiate Washington's notoriously complex corridors of power.

Tensions came into public view last month when Tillerson's efforts to negotiate a truce between Qatar and other Gulf States was undercut by a tweet from President Donald Trump. Weeks later, officials within the White House leaked to the press that Tillerson blew up at a top aide over the slow pace of staff appointments to his department.

It all came to the forefront last week when CNN reported Tillerson was considering leaving the State Department, citing sources close to the secretary. A State Department spokesman was forced to explain that Tillerson had no plans to leave.

"It would have been tough enough for anyone without Washington experience to come and be secretary of state and combine that with a White House new to Washington and a president with his personality, the combination of these things is pretty lethal," said Gary Schmitt, a former top foreign intelligence official in the Reagan administration and now a scholar with the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "I'm not surprised he's had a rough a go as he's had."

Tillerson declined an interview request.

'He's a steady hand'

Speculation over Tillerson's future comes after more upheaval in the Trump administration, which, over the course of just more than a week, saw the departures of Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who resigned Friday.

In between, Attorney General Sessions has been sharply criticized by Trump in interviews and Twitter posts in connection with a special prosecutor's investigation into connections between Russia and the Trump campaign.

People who know Tillerson express skepticism about reports that he would leave the State Department before the year is out - playfully labelled a "Rexit" by the media. Richard Fisher, a friend and former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said Tillerson tended to be "tight-lipped." It would be out of character, he said, for Tillerson to express discomfort with Trump to anyone - with the exception of his wife, Rhenda.

"I cannot imagine him saying anything of a complaining nature," Fisher said. "He's a steady hand. Always has been, always will."

Tillerson has at times struggled to win over the president to his way of thinking. In a much-watched speech in Europe in May, Trump did not reaffirm the principle of the NATO alliance that an attack on one member was an attack on all - forcing U.S. officials to reassure their foreign counterparts that support for that central tenet was implicit in his appearance. In June, despite objections from Tillerson and other top officials, Trump said he would withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement on climate change.

Then, as Tillerson was trying to broker an end to a blockade enacted against Qatar by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, Trump tweeted in support of the Saudis and lambasted Qatar for "funding extremism." Qatar, which is home to the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, has been accused by its neighbors of supporting terrorists and is refusing to meet demands that include the shuttering of the Arab news broadcaster al-Jazeera.

Tillerson "clearly cannot speak with confidence on behalf of the administration," said Jon Alterman, who served in the State Department under former President George W. Bush and is now a senior vice president at the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"He has tens of thousands of people (at the State Department) who would leap to do what he wants them to do if they only understood what he wants."

An Eagle Scout

Speculation among Washington observers of tension between Tillerson and the president only grew last week after Trump's attack on the "fake news media" and criticism of former president Barack Obama in a speech at the Boy Scouts of America's annual jamboree in West Virginia, which prompted the scouts' president to apologize Thursday to "those in our scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree."

Tillerson, who achieved scouting's highest rank, Eagle, served as president of the organization. In a speech to the jamboree days before Trump's arrival, he credited scouting with teaching him, "everything about living a principled, values-based life." Tillerson has made no public statement on Trumps speech.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Within the nation's foreign policy establishment - Democrat and Republican alike - Tillerson was supposed to be a stabilizing force in the Trump administration. Along with Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, he was viewed as keeping U.S. foreign policy from veering into the isolationist and nationalist agenda Trump promoted on the campaign trail.

In speeches and interviews on topics such as Russia and China, Tillerson has expressed views in line with U.S. foreign policy going back decades, said Joe Barnes, a former diplomat with the State Department and now a fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute.

"We tend to believe in strengthening international institutions, because by strengthening them we strengthen ourselves. And in maintaining close alliances allows us to leverage our power. And security policy requires the maintenance of large military establishment," he said. "There's nothing I've seen or heard him say to suggest he would make a substantial break from mainstream U.S. foreign policy."

For all the palace intrigue around the White House and the leaks about which cabinet members have found themselves on the wrong side of the president, Tillerson has managed to stay remarkably clear of Trump's Twitter feed.

Lacks seasoned help

He is a regular presence in the Oval Office and was at Trump's side earlier this month when the president met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin for what was his Trump's most high profile meeting with a foreign leader since taking office. "He's established a level of trust with the president," said Alterman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

But at the same time, former state department officials say, Tillerson has struggled to navigate the tradition-bound bureaucracy of State Department headquarters - known as Foggy Bottom.

Populated with career officers who run the day-to-day business of foreign affairs from one administration to the next, its rhythms and culture are not learned on the fly. And with the majority of the 22 assistant secretary appointments requiring Senate confirmation still unfilled, Tillerson is lacking in seasoned help.

The former Exxon CEO tried to hire Elliot Abrams, who served in the State Department under Ronald Reagan and as a foreign policy adviser to George W. Bush, to be his second in command. But the White House has chafed at attempts to bring in the established foreign policy hands that usually find places in a Republican administration, many of whom, like Abrams, criticized Trump on the campaign trail.

After the White House rejected Abrams, Tillerson selected John J. Sullivan, who had worked in Defense and Commerce departments during the George W. Bush administration, as deputy secretary of state. Sullivan was confirmed by the Senate in May.

"If you look at his resume, he doesn't jump off the page as deputy," Schmitt said. "It's hard to know if Tillerson could be a good secretary of state because the administration is running things in such a ham-handed way."
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The trucking company linked to the recent deadly human smuggling case in Texas had promoted itself as an American success: a family firm whose hard-working drivers helped keep the U.S. economy running.

But behind that image was a cutthroat business that flouted federal laws for years, yet managed to stay afloat despite financial troubles and tangles with prosecutors, regulators and tax collectors, according to public records and interviews with former drivers.

Now, Pyle Transportation faces the biggest threat to its survival yet after one of its contract drivers was charged this past week in the deaths of 10 immigrants found in a sweltering Pyle trailer in San Antonio's 100-degree heat. Investigators are scrutinizing Pyle's claim that it knew nothing about an operation that federal authorities have described as sophisticated and possibly linked to a Mexican cartel. Federal regulators have launched an investigation into the company's safety record.

The driver, 60-year-old James "Bear" Bradley Jr., has told investigators that he was unaware any immigrants were in the trailer, saying he heard their pleas after stopping Sunday at a Walmart to urinate. Investigators say dozens of immigrants were packed into the dark trailer after being smuggled across the border.

Company owner Brian Pyle has denied any knowledge of human smuggling but declined to comment last week on the company's operations. On its website, which has since been taken down, Pyle Transportation advertised its fleet of high-end rigs and boasted of delivering refrigerated shipments of meat and produce on time to customers from its rural Iowa base. Playing upbeat music and flashing photos of smiling truckers, the site touted love of country, faith in God and the company's slogan: "Keepin' it Cool Since 1950."

Pressures cited

Yet former drivers told the Associated Press that the company routinely pushed them to violate federal safety rules. They say they were pressured to drive too many hours without rest, to falsify their logs to conceal those violations and to transport overweight loads on unrealistic deadlines. They said they faced retaliation if they complained and that Pyle refused to pay wages they were owed when they quit.

Two of Bradley's former Pyle colleagues were struggling to understand what happened.

"Knowing Bear, the pieces don't fit," said Paul Terry, 68, of Denver. "I believe Bear was set up. He is a country boy, and he don't know that much. No way in the world could he orchestrate something like that. I will say that on my kids' grave."

Former driver Tim Moffitt said that he believed the company had to have some knowledge of the operation, calling it a good place to work only "if you don't like rules."

"They are always looking for ways to save money and make money," said Moffitt, who has known Bradley for 30 years.

The company's relationship with Bradley was reflected on its now-defunct website, where he was pictured smiling with Pyle in its "Hall of Fame" of workers.

Pyle Transportation has long been an influential company in Schaller, a northwest Iowa town of 750 that doesn't have a police officer. Residents say it was run by the late Don Pyle before facing troubles in the 1990s after it was passed to his son, Michael.

The son and his Pyle Truck Lines pleaded guilty in 2001 to falsifying Department of Transportation records and were put on probation. Michael Pyle's children took control of the business a few years later when Pyle Transportation formed, but he remained involved. Michael Pyle declined comment, hanging up on a reporter.

IRS allegations

The IRS alleged in 2015 that Pyle Transportation refused to pay employment and highway use taxes for years, racking up $150,000 in liabilities.

The company has also been ordered to pay penalties for falsifying records on drivers' hours and has been operating with a "conditional" safety rating, meaning it had been out of compliance with regulations.

Bradley went to work for the company in 2010 in response to an internet ad, and later recruited Terry and Moffitt to join him, they recalled. Terry said at first they made good money delivering pork from Iowa slaughterhouses to Texas and returning with loads of produce and steel. But Terry and Moffitt left after employment disputes.

"They will run you to death, and you have to falsify your logs to make it work," said Terry, who according to court records has been unable to collect a $2,000 judgment for unpaid wages that he obtained after quitting in 2014.

Cody Winters, 29, of Charles City, Iowa, said he would be stunned if Pyle was complicit in smuggling even if the company was "crooked' in other ways. He sued the company to collect $3,300 in unpaid wages after he was fired and left stranded at a truck stop in 2015.

"They appeal to drivers by keeping big Peterbilts to drive. But then you get there, and it's not good at all. It's just a show," he said. "I thought, 'How is this place even staying in business?' "
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This is a slightly tweaked version of a write-up I did in 2009. The company that originally hosted these audio clips went under, so I had to reupload the files. With Saturday being the 10th anniversary of the passing of Marvin Zindler, I figured this would be a good time to repost this article.

You're about to hear the gritty side of Houston history, recorded by Marvin Zindler.

Many of you will remember him as KTRK's consumer and restaurant reporter, and champion of the indigent and sick. Some longtime Houstonians might even remember him for his work with the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

But few may remember Zindler as host of "The Roving Mike," a 30-minute program that aired Sunday nights on long-defunct radio station KATL.

Combine "Dragnet" and "Cops" and you'll have The Roving Mike. For more than a year beginning in March 1951, Zindler prowled the back streets of Houston chasing crime scenes. Suspects, victims, witnesses and police officers all make up the cast of characters in this drama, though there's nothing scripted about it.

Some of what you'll hear can be tough to listen to, on two fronts:

First, these recordings are more than 60 years old and the sound quality on some of them isn't the best. The recordings came from old audio reels, graciously provided by the Zindler family, that have been converted to a digital format. You might have to listen to these segments a few times to understand what's going on.

Also, sometimes the content can be a little graphic. Some victims Zindler interviewed are in obvious pain. Other segments  very few  contain racial terms we would consider objectionable. Such was life in 1950s Houston.

With that in mind, sit back, set aside some time and let's go back to early 1950s Houston, the not-so-good-old-days in this case. As Zindler put it, and as you'll hear in these recordings, this is "news that doesn't always make the front pages of the newspapers but does make the front page of life."
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela prepared Friday for a possible showdown between opposition protesters and government forces ahead of a vote that critics decry as a final step toward authoritarian rule in the South American nation.

Residents here in the sprawling capital poured into supermarkets, already struggling with food shortages, to stockpile what they could amid fears of violence. Flash points emerged in parts of the city, with clusters of protesters clashing with security forces who fired tear gas. Many streets were calm, though, some even eerily quiet.

"I'm going to stay home all weekend, because I feel there will be violence," said Rosa Aponte, 45, who was shopping in a packed grocery store in wealthier eastern Caracas, buying bread, plantains, juice, yogurt and sardines. "I do not want to take the risk."

Ahead of Sunday's vote, the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro - the anointed successor of leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013 - issued a ban on public gatherings and protests through Tuesday. The opposition answered with a vow to pour into the streets nationwide, although exactly how many would heed that call remained unclear.

In Caracas, a downpour dampened the early turnout, although clusters of demonstrators had begun to set up roadblocks. Rising tensions led the U.S. State Department late Wednesday to order family members of American staff at its embassy in Caracas to leave the country and authorize voluntary departures of personnel. Images on social media showed massive lines at Caracas's Maiquetia International Airport.

Opponents are boycotting Sunday's vote, which would create a super-congress that could prolong Maduro's rule. A whopping 6,120 candidates are running in the election, including Maduro's son and wife, former officials and rank-and-file government supporters. The new institution would possess great powers, including the right to change the constitution and supplant the National Assembly.

Although robbed of its power by the government-controlled supreme court, the assembly is dominated by the opposition, which won it in a landslide in 2015.

Roads were blocked Friday in eastern Caracas, but the city center appeared relatively normal, as did western parts of the capital.

Demonstrators said fear was apparently keeping some people away.

"I feel a bit sad [there aren't more people here], but I am here for Venezuela," said a 29-year-old protester who declined to give her name. She was stuffing fuses inside molotov cocktails at a spot in eastern Caracas where a small group of demonstrators was battling police.

"Nothing is going to stop us. We need to stop this country from becoming a second Cuba," she said.

One remote hope to prevent the vote had rested on secret, indirect talks mediated by former Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. In an interview, Julio Borges, president of the National Assembly, acknowledged that Zapatero had delivered messages between the opposition and government.

But he described that process as now being effectively dead and said there was "zero" hope of a deal that would forestall the vote.

"There are absolutely no negotiations happening now," Borges said. "No agreements have been reached. I see zero chance that the government will back down before Sunday. Zero."

The crisis is mounting amid food and medicine shortages and a 16 percent drop in the already-rock-bottom black-market value of the bolivar, the local currency, in just the past week. The United States this week sanctioned 13 more Venezuelan officials. The Trump administration is weighing far tougher steps, including a deeply painful embargo on Venezuelan oil, if Maduro does not call off the vote.

Other nations in Europe and beyond have pledged to follow suit. Mexican officials said this week that they would impose sanctions on Venezuelan officials. "Mexico once again expresses its preoccupation with the grave crisis that Venezuela is going through," the Mexican Foreign Ministry said in a statement, calling on Maduro "to fully restore democracy and the rule of law in a peaceful way."

Maduro argues that the new assembly will bring peace and stability as well as empower citizens in poor neighborhoods. His critics call the effort a ploy to replace the National Assembly and consolidate power after four months of protests that have left at least 112 people dead.

- - -

The Washington Post's Rachelle Krygier in Caracas and Josh Partlow in Mexico City contributed to this report.
Charlie Gard, the terminally ill British boy whose heartbreaking case elicited sympathy and support from Pope Francis and President Donald Trump, and inflamed an international debate over end-of-life rights, died Friday.

Charlie's parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, announced the 11-month-old's death a day after a British court ruled that the infant should be moved to hospice care and disconnected from a ventilator, a spokesman for the family told BBC News, the Guardian and the Associated Press.

Yates said in a statement to the Guardian, "Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you Charlie."

The news of Charlie's death reverberated across the globe Friday evening.

Francis wrote in a heartfelt message on social media, "I entrust little Charlie to the Father and pray for his parents and all those who loved him."

Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "deeply saddened" and extended thoughts and prayers to Charlie's parents, according to BBC News. And Vice President Pence said on Twitter that he was "saddened to hear of the passing of Charlie Gard."

For several months, Charlie's parents had been fighting in court to keep him alive. His case became the personification of a passionate debate over the right to live or die, his parents' right to choose for their child and whether his doctors had an obligation to intervene in his care.

The bitter legal battle came to an exhausting and emotional end Thursday when High Court Judge Nicholas Francis made the decision to move Charlie to hospice care and let him die after Charlie's parents and doctors could not agree on how much time the child should have to live. The judge said Charlie should be removed from the ventilator, which "will inevitably result in Charlie's death within a short period of time thereafter."

London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, which had been treating Charlie, said it had been "a uniquely painful and distressing process" for everyone.

Charlie, who was born with a rare genetic condition called mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, had sustained brain damage that had taken away his ability to see, hear or breathe on his own.

His parents had raised money to take him to the United States for an experimental treatment they had not yet tried, but doctors at Great Ormond Street asserted that the child had no chance of survival. The case trickled through the British court system and ended up in the European Court of Human Rights, which declined to hear it, upholding previous court rulings that it was in Charlie's best interest to let him die.

It was that decision that thrust Charlie's case into the international spotlight.

In June, the Vatican's children's hospital said it would admit the boy, with the pope saying on social media that "to defend human life, above all when it is wounded by illness, is a duty of love that God entrusts to all."

Trump said on Twitter that the United States "would be delighted to" help.

Charlie's parents said the support had given them renewed hope. Hospitals in Rome and New York opened their doors to the boy, and the High Court gave his parents the opportunity to present fresh evidence in the case. Great Ormond Street said its doctors and nurses had been getting death threats over the case.

Michio Hirano, a neurology expert at Columbia Medical Center in New York, and doctors from the Vatican's Bambino Gesu Children's Hospital initially said the medical treatment, nucleoside therapy, might help Charlie, according to the Associated Press. But Great Ormond Street said the idea had done nothing more than give Charlie's parents false hope that their son could recover.

It was decided earlier this week that Charlie's parents should let him go, when it became clear that the experimental treatment they wanted for their son was not possible.

After further medical tests, Chris Gard told reporters, "we've decided it is no longer in Charlie's best interest to pursue treatment, and we will let our son go and be with the angels."

"Had Charlie been given the treatment sooner, he would have had the potential to be a normal, healthy little boy," Gard added. "We will have to live with the what-ifs that will haunt us for the rest of our lives."

A spokesman for Great Ormond Street said in a statement Friday, "Everyone at Great Ormond Street Hospital sends their heartfelt condolences to Charlie's parents and loved-ones at this very sad time."

---

Griff Witte and Cleve Wootson contributed to this report.

---

The lengthy legal battle over Charlie Gard

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The baby holder in the red vest peers through the slats of the stainless steel crib. Inside, an infant swaddled in a pastel-striped blanket is stirring.

His little fists clench inside miniature mittens. His legs wriggle. His eyes pop open.

"Well, hello. I see you. I see you," Nancy Baycroft coos in a sing-song rhythm. "Yes I do. What's your name?"

Baby Boy Real, as one sign identifies him, stares up at Baycroft. She rubs his back, her hands encased in cyan-colored hospital gloves, her touch light and soothing.

"My name is Omi," says a laminated card taped to a cabinet. "Please help me grow BIG and STRONG."

The strains of "Brahms' Lullaby" drift from a dangling Sesame Street mobile, mingling with the soundtrack of NICU 2 on the fourth floor of Texas Children's Hospital. Beeping monitors. Burbling machines. Buzzing alarms.

Baycroft dons a pale blue hospital gown and settles into a recliner in a dimly lit corner. A nurse lifts the squirming Omi out of bed H147, gingerly disentangling the wires attached to his small body, and slips him into Baycroft's waiting arms.

A digital clock behind her head reads 13:12 - about an hour into Baycroft's shift as a volunteer who cuddles hospitalized infants.

Time to close off the world, shut out the noise of H pod and focus on the child nestling against her.

"Hey bud, what's there?" Baycroft whispers, tracing Omi's line of vision. "Oh, you're just watching your pretty nurse. You're just looking around."

*****

Baycroft began this three-hour shift as she always does - by requesting permission.

"May I go in?" Baycroft asked the duty nurse, before entering the neonatal intensive care unit where, on any given day, up to 140 tiny patients are being treated.

She scrubbed up to the elbow, then began to patrol the floor. From NICU 2, where "growers and feeders" with less serious medical needs stay, to NICU 4, where babies are hooked to ventilators and feeding tubes. Then back again.

Past signs taped to headboards: "Handle me gently, my bones are fragile." "Please be quiet, I'm sensitive to noise." Past the pneumatic whoosh of newborns swaying gently in high-tech baby bouncers called mamaRoos. Past infants flanked by medical equipment with flashing numbers and preemies bathed in blue light in covered Isolettes.

She veered away from screened-off areas, knowing that is a signal for privacy. She skirted around huddles of parents and doctors, speaking in hushed voices of procedures and prognoses, discharge instructions and surgery prep.

She walked round and round through the warrens of cribs and crash carts, monitors and machines.

Waiting, watching, listening.

Ready to dart when a nurse called out "I have a baby here."

Ready to dash at the faint sound of a infant bleating like a just-born lamb.

Ready to be drawn, as if by radar, to the side of a crib to calm a fussy patient.

"Is that better?" Baycroft asked, as she gave a pacifier to a squirming, squealing baby girl in a pink onesie. "You're OK. You're OK."

A pink stuffed lamb sat on a nearby counter. A prayer card with the image of a guardian angel was pinned to the crib.

Baycroft stroked the top of the infant's head with four fingers and murmured "Shhhh, shhhh."

It took only four minutes to quiet the 38-day-old girl - but the contact will likely provide much greater benefits.

Babies who are cuddled regularly while in the NICU have shorter hospital stays, spend fewer days on oxygen, show decreased incidence of neurological complications and require less sedation, said Shana Thomas, Child Life Activity Coordinators for the Texas Children's NICU & Pavilion For Women.

The hospital's 90 volunteer baby holders step in when parents cannot be at the hospital because they are working, caring for other children or live too far away.

The volunteers never ask about a baby's medical condition or outlook, often don't know their names, beyond the posted signs, and rarely meet the families. They know some of their charges will grow strong and healthy. Others will not.

Still, Baycroft says she forms a bond with every child infants she cradles - no matter how long they are in her arms.

In quiet moments, she likes to wander to a hallway lined with photographs of former NICU patients, children born months early and weighing under 2 pounds, toddlers who battled serious illness. Now healthy and smiling.

The success stories fortify Baycroft, who wears a gold star pinned to her red volunteer vest, signifying more than 600 hours of service. As do the words surrounding the images.

Resilience. Mighty. Survivor.

*****

In the quiet corner of H pod, time seems to fade away, the noise of the NICU to recede.

Baycroft has settled into the recliner with Omi, whose full name is Walter Omar Pineda-Real Jr. She pats his bottom and keeps up a soft, steady patter.

"You're checking everything out. You want to know what's going on."

Omi's eyes are wide and curious, absorbing the world around him. Baycroft's face looking down at him. The nurse checking monitors and securing his oxygen line. The rotating mobile where Elmo and brightly colored rings jangle and dance.

"You're so busy watching it go round and round," Baycroft says, as she gazes at Omi, who gazes at Elmo. "You're very happy right now. You like your pretty song."

The tinkling melody from the mobile drifts over the placid scene.

"Lullaby, and good night

You're your mother's delight

Shining angels beside

My darling abide."

In the neighboring crib, a newborn with a green knit cap is napping. Her tired mother wears a T-shirt that says "And so the adventure begins."

Omi's adventure began on April 6, the day he was born. His parents already knew that he would have heart problems. But shortly after birth, doctors also realized that his esophagus was not attached to his stomach.

The newborn was whisked away from his mother, who had delivered by C-section, for emergency surgery, then spent four weeks in NICU 4.

Vivian Real spent every day of her 60-day maternity leave by her son's side, sleeping at the nearby Ronald McDonald House, before she had to return to work as a customer service representative for FedEx.

Now, she and her husband rush to Texas Children's after work to be with the boy they call their little "guerrero" - or warrior. Their mothers visit during the day. And the baby holders are there when the family members can't be.

"They are the big angels to my little angel," Real says.

Baycroft doesn't know any of Omi's history as she rocks him. Instead, she envisions his future. She imagines him healed and hearty. She wonders what path his life will take.

"What you going to do?" she asks the 3-month-old. "How are you going to change the world?"

*****

Even before becoming a baby holder, Baycroft had been no stranger to hospitals.

Twenty-seven years ago, her son was born seven weeks early and spent a month in the NICU. Like Omi's mother, Baycroft, a former marketing director with Estee Lauder, also had to shuttle back and forth between her job and the hospital.

"When you have a baby in the hospital," Baycroft said, recalling that time, "your mind is not on anything else."

Eight years ago, her 80-year-old father, Bruce Madera, was diagnosed with cancer shortly after moving to Houston. Baycroft, who had just retired to spend more time with him, instead ended up helping him navigate doctor's visits and medical treatment.

When he spent 100 straight days in the hospital, she never left his side.

When he died a year and a half after his diagnosis, she was devastated.

When she needed something to wrench her out of grief, her daughter suggested volunteering at Texas Children's.

It would be a way of giving back, something her father had always done. It could be a way to find peace and comfort, something Baycroft desperately sought.

At first, it was hard. Going back to the corridors of a hospital evoked the pain of seeing her father suffer. It sharpened the loss she was trying to dull.

Then Baycroft began to hold the babies. As she comforted them, she found the comfort she needed.

*****

Omi's eyelids are just starting to grow heavy when his grandmothers appear by his crib.

"Look who's here," Baycroft exclaims.

"Donde esta mi nino precioso?" bubbles his maternal grandmother, Matilde Real. Where is my precious boy?

"Isn't he precious?" Baycroft agrees. "Absolutely precious."

The baby holder stands, carefully adjusting Omi's tubes and cords, and tucks him into his abuela's waiting arms.

"Sweet baby," Baycroft says, as Real kisses the crown of her grandson's head.

The mobile is still spinning, still playing "Brahms' Lullaby."

"Guardian angels are near

So sleep on, with no fear"

Baycroft already has hurried on, a muffled wail tugging her to the next crib.
Dozens of criminal prosecutions could be in jeopardy after errors by a Houston crime-scene investigator raised questions about key evidence in cases that include 26 homicides, five officer-involved shootings and six child deaths since 2015.

The revelations Wednesday in a crime lab audit sent prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorney's Office scrambling to untangle the possible problems, first with a blanket notification to criminal defense attorneys and then a public statement.

"Any deficiencies in the collection of evidence at a crime scene are extremely disturbing and important," said David Mitcham, the trial bureau chief of the DA's office. "It's not minor. It can create problems of proof later in a court of law."

It is the latest in a string of unrelated evidence problems that have left prosecutors reviewing hundreds of cases in the past year.

The crime scene investigator made errors in 65 cases since 2015 by failing to gather possible blood evidence, collect weapons or shell casings or take photos at crime scenes, among other shortcomings, according to an audit by the Houston Forensic Science Center.

More Information Evidence troubles aren't new Harris County has been beset in the past year with a series of problems involving forensic evidence. In July, 298 wrongful convictions were identified as part of an ongoing audit of Harris County convictions that had been based only on roadside tests or circumstantial evidence that later was found to be incorrect. The same month, the Houston Forensic Science Center identified problems uncovered in an audit of crime scene unit investigations that might have effected officer-involved shooting cases. In September, the Harris County District Attorney's Office announced the office was reviewing hundreds of cases after revelations that officials at the Precinct 4 Constable's Office had improperly destroyed evidence. Also in September, questions were raised about testing in DWI cases after a toxicology expert resigned amid scrutiny that she had misrepresented her academic qualifications. In October, more than 4,200 criminal cases involving 15,000 pieces of evidence were under review after a sprinkler malfunctioned in the Houston Police Department's evidence room. See More Collapse

The independent crime lab replaced the beleaguered Houston Police Department lab that had gained national notoriety for mismanagement and other problems.

The alert Wednesday sent defense attorneys likewise digging through case files.

"Everybody knows the HPD crime lab, now called HFSC, has had their issue over the past years," said Tyler Flood, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. "It just seems like new issues keeping popping up and this is the newest one in the saga of that laboratory."

Houston Police Officers Union President Ray Hunt sharply criticized the crime lab and the DA's office for their handling of the situation, saying police officers are being used as scapegoats. He said the officers were not trained properly for the jobs they were doing.

"I'm tired of every time they have a problem, they want to put the blame on a police officer," Hunt said Wednesday. "So let's let it lie where it belongs - on the management of the Houston Forensic Science Center."

Police Chief Art Acevedo said Wednesday that the department will conduct an "administrative inquiry" into the problems.

"At this time, we have no indication of misconduct by any HPD employees but have been made aware that corrections to reports were needed," he said in a written statement.

The lab notified the Texas Forensic Science Commission of the problems, and the state agency will consider the audit at its next meeting in May, officials said.

The full commission could decide to investigate, table or take no further action, said Kathryn Adams, the state commission's coordinator.

Evidence left at the scene

Auditors reviewed 88 cases handled by the officer, and found that 65 had incomplete documentation, including 32 with administrative errors. In eight cases, evidence had been misplaced.

The investigator repeatedly failed to collect DNA swabs or test for latent fingerprints, and left sometimes-bloody evidence - a towel or belt used to strike a homicide victim - sitting at the scene.

In at least two cases, the investigator failed to take measurements of bloody footprints, and once reported he did not take photos because he "did not want to contaminate his camera equipment," according to the audit.

The crime-scene investigator, Justin McGee, an HPD officer assigned to the lab, has been sent back to patrol. His supervisor, Sgt. Jeff Cruser, who was cited in the audit for failing to catch McGee's mistakes during routine checks, has been removed temporarily from service, officials said.

Efforts to reach the officers Wednesday were unsuccessful and HPD public information officers declined to make them available for comment.

After years of reform, the crime lab - still located in HPD's downtown headquarters - became independent in 2014 and is now overseen by a civilian board. New standards were adopted while new technicians and supervisors were brought in.

More than a dozen crime scene investigators, however, are HPD officers, a source of continued friction.

Peter Stout, the lab's president and chief executive, said officials called for an audit after spotting possible problems during a review of records.

"We - the laboratory - (found) performance that we were not happy with and that caused us to go look through all of the records of this particular investigator to see what may be the extent of the problem," Stout said. "This is part of the challenge of getting a unit that we have known from the start had issues and this is part of fixing those issues."

According to Stout, the forensic center has been working to hire civilians in the crime scene unit, which now employs about 30 people, including 13 Houston police officers, he said.

The district attorney's office learned about the problems on April 3 from the Houston Forensic Science Center and began notifying defense attorneys late Tuesday, Mitcham said.

"We appreciated the prompt notice," Flood said. "We need to know as fast as possible because there are cases happening in court every day and we just want to make sure that none of those are handled improperly."

Cases under review

Among the cases with evidence problems are five officer-involved shootings between the fall of 2015 and spring 2016.

The most recent came in March of last year, when officers responded to a call for a shooting in progress in the 200 block of South 70th. They found 28-year-old Johnathon Sanchez armed with a pistol, and opened fire when he pointed the gun at officers, according to police.

Sanchez was charged with aggravated assault of a public servant, but seven months later prosecutors added a murder charge, accusing him of fatally shooting a woman the day of his arrest.

Among the evidence that the audit says was mishandled in the case was a spent cartridge case left at the scene that the investigator concluded "appeared to be unrelated."

Allen Isbell, Sanchez's attorney, said the revelation will factor into the defense strategy, especially when it comes to putting together two alleged crime scenes.

"The big thing is if they say the casings found at the shooting with police officers matched the casings or bullets found where the woman was murdered," Isbell said. "It's two different scenes."

He said he was shocked to hear about yet another evidence debacle at the crime lab.

"I'm surprised, quite frankly," he said. "Since we went through all of this before I thought we'd be doubly careful this time, and it appears that somebody was not careful. It's troubling to think, since scientific evidence is so important to a jury, that we don't make sure to cross every t and dot every i before we give out a report."

In another shooting, Geno Salinas is accused of murder in a case he said was self-defense.

His attorney, Deborah Summers, said the crime scene investigator's inaccurate measurements or recording of those measurements may make a difference in the case.

"We really need a very accurate picture of what was happening," Summers said. "There's certainly some questions about how some of the evidence was collected and what was not collected."

Other cases of officer-involved shootings - including the death of a driver after a fatal car crash in November 2015 and the accidental shooting of a 16-year-old suspect during a foot chase - were described as having "minor" errors.

The cases involving six child deaths and several instances of child abuse cited problems including findings that possible evidence had been left behind or not reported - including a towel that may have contained blood and a BB gun.

Crime scene photos revealed the evidence but it was not collected or included in the report, the audit said.

Child Protective Services officials were not aware of any investigations that may have been affected, but they contacted the Houston Forensic Science Center for more information, according to a CPS representative.

Lise Olsen and St. John Barned-Smith contributed to this report.
It's the last thing anyone wants: to release the sole suspect in the slaying of an 11-year-old stabbed to death on his way home from school.

And yet, it is what some of us have wanted for a long time.

For prosecutors to follow the evidence where it leads, to trust the law over hunches and tunnel vision, to do the right thing even if it is the hardest thing.

And what is harder than looking into the eyes of Josue Flores' parents and telling them that the man jailed for more than a year in their child's murder must be set free because DNA and blood evidence showed no connection to the crime?

That's what prosecutors in Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg's office did earlier this month, standing on the front porch of the Flores family's home in near Northside.

"It was quite a blow," Tom Berg, first assistant district attorney, said in describing the family's response. "It was a visceral blow. You could see it. The word we use is golpe in Spanish."

But it was the only choice after long-awaited forensic results failed to link Andre Jackson to the May 2016 murder. Not so long ago, lacking forensics might not have been a deal-breaker. Prosecutors might have still cobbled together a case from circumstantial threads and conjured motives.

At least then someone would be behind bars. At least the victim's family and the public could sleep at night believing that justice had been done. At least.

Now, police are back where they began - hunting for a suspect, although Police Chief Art Acevedo was still insisting Thursday that Jackson is "more than likely" the right guy. Prosecutors don't seem to share that opinion, although the possibility, no matter how slight, weighs on their minds.

"We're governed by law and not speculation," Berg told me in a phone interview. "We can't deprive people of liberty based on fear alone."

The DA's office couldn't ignore problems in the case, Berg said. Josue was stabbed around 20 times, requiring the killer to be close to the victim, but not a trace of the boy's DNA was found on Jackson. Even with surveillance video, other evidence against Jackson was lacking, Berg said.

It's a hard case to make, and it was the second suspect police arrested who didn't pan out.

"We've lost a year," Berg said, revealing frustration that was only exacerbated by the delays in getting the DNA results from a lab run by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Police, he added, "need to shake all the trees and get people to start talking."

Demanding answers

That's exactly what the police chief says his department is doing. Acevedo faced a skeptical crowd Thursday night in near Northside as residents packed a meeting to demand answers on Josue's case and other public safety matters in an area plagued by vagrancy and drugs.

Acevedo, who was Austin's police chief at the time of Josue's slaying, fielded questions alongside Ogg, also relatively new to her post, state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, and representatives of other agencies, including the Harris County Sheriff's Department, Metro and Houston ISD.

People wanted to know how they could feel safe now that anyone can be a suspect. They wanted details on the case, and about the DNA collected.

They wanted to know Jackson's whereabouts and whether he was given a lie detector test, and what police were doing to gather more information on him.

One asked why police still consider Jackson a suspect. The chief wouldn't say, refusing to answer specific questions he said could jeopardize the investigation.

Afterward, I pressed Acevedo about whether continuing to focus on Jackson might blind investigators to other possibilities.

"Just because we think he's a good suspect doesn't mean that we're not dusting everything off and making sure we're not missing anything," he said. "That crime occurred in a very public space, and I'm convinced there are people out there who still haven't come forward. I told my team let's not just focus on this person. Let's focus on the crime."

Residents thanked officials for showing up and seemed touched by Acevedo's invitations to e-mail or call him directly with concerns, but disappointment remained, along with uncertainty that the crime would ever be solved.

"I feel like they dropped the ball. I feel like they took too long," said Stella Mireles, who started a Safe Walk Home neighborhood watch program after Josue's death.

Carmen Nuncio, a longtime Houston ISD volunteer, still had so many questions.

"Why did they arrest the first one? Why did they arrest the second one? I don't get it," she told me. "You either did it or you didn't. I do want them to get the right person, but this family needs closure."

Not easy but honorable

John-Paul Cortez, an assistant principal at Northside High School, seemed more patient with the process. He said he has tried in recent days to explain Jackson's release to young people upset by the DA's decision.

"I said, 'think about it. They knew that everybody would hate them if they let him go, but they knew he wasn't the right one,' " he said. "This is what we teach them in class. Sometimes, the legal system is not perfect. Sometimes, it's not great, but you have to have trust and faith that it's going to work out."

That's what the district attorney asked the worried crowd to do Thursday night.

"Just know," Ogg said, "the job of seeking justice is not easy, but it is honorable."

We all know this. This case is proof.
Another body was recovered from the Rio Grande Thursday just as authorities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border stepped up their efforts to prevent more drownings after four people died trying to cross the dangerous waterways this week.

U.S. Border Patrol agents were conducting a "mirror patrol" with Mexican law enforcement officials around 10 a.m. Thursday when they found the body of a man believed to be in his 30s in the Rio Grande near Midway Drive, officials said.

Under the initiative to patrol the river known as Operation Lifeguard, Border Patrol agents drive along the U.S. side of the Rio Grande as Mexican officials drive parallel to them on the other side of the border.

"We were working with (Mexican) government officials on Operation Lifeguard, a bi-national event done to show support and to work with our Mexican counterparts, when they found a body in the Rio Grande on the U.S. side," U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Oscar Cervantes said. "We then called in the (El Paso) fire department to help recover the body."

No information on the man's identity or whether he was attempting to enter the U.S. illegally was available late Thursday.

He is the fifth person who has died this week attempting to cross the Rio Grande, officials said.

The bodies of the other three other people were recovered from the river on Monday and Tuesday, and a woman who was rescued from the river later died after being transported to University Medical Center of El Paso. At least 10 people attempted to cross the Rio Grande in that 48-hour time period, officials said.

U.S. Border Patrol and El Paso Fire Department officials rescued six people, while Mexican officials rescued a 15-year-old Guatemalan boy from the river, earlier this week.

An El Paso Fire Department spokesman talks about the recent river drownings. Ruben R. Ramirez / El Paso Times

Juarez authorities on Wednesday prevented a group of five Guatemalans from crossing the river as they sought to enter the United States illegally in search of work, officials said.

Border Patrol officials said that they and Mexican officials conduct Operation Lifeguard at random times, but have increased the patrolng in recent days due to the surge of drownings in the river and nearby canals.

"We do Operation Lifeguard randomly throughout the year, especially during monsoon season, but in light of the recent deaths we have seen with people being killed attempting to cross the Rio Grande, we decided to conduct the operation today," Cervantes said. "Unfortunately, as we conducted the operation, we found a body."

The Rio Grande flows as water has filled its banksBuy Photo

Officials said that while the Rio Grande current may not appear to be flowing fast, the undercurrents can be traveling at speeds of more than 25 miles per hour.

"We want to inform the public that it is not worth risking your life," Cervantes said. "The ones that end up suffering the most are their families. The danger is tremendous, especially since it is monsoon season and we have an unusual amount of rain since last year. The water is a lot deeper in the Rio Grande and the canals It has an undertow of more than 20 miles per hour. Right now, the water is deeper and it will take you. It is danger and it is sad to see this."

A vigil, march and Mass will be held Friday for the five people killed this week after being swept away by currents in the Rio Grande.

The Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee, an advocacy group composed of religious leaders, refugees and other migrant advocacy groups, will hold the march at 8:30 p.m. at the San Jacinto Plaze in Downtown El Paso, officials said.

The march will then go to the Paso del Norte International Bridge on Santa Fe Street where the vigil will be held, officials said. The vigil will begin at 9 p.m.

The Catholic Diocese of El Paso will also host a Memorial Mass for the drowning victims at 2 p.m. Friday at Sacred Heart Church, 602 S. Oregon, officials said.
HILLSBORO  Under a metallic-gray sky on a winter afternoon in the early 1930s, a young man with a double-barreled shotgun in the crook of his right arm trudged through a post-oak thicket. He was a mile or so from the small farmhouse where he and his wife and two children lived. A little boy, scuffing through fallen leaves, trailed a couple of steps behind his dad. The youngster, his cheeks red from the cold, wore a corduroy cap, the flaps covering his ears.

The two were hungry, as were the wife and little girl back at the house. Twice the man scared up a squirrel; twice he fired. And missed. With no more shells, he and his son turned toward home.

Late that night, the young husband and father, desperate to feed his family, went out hunting again, on a neighboring farm. This time he was more successful, although success came at a price. As court records show, he was found guilty "of the offense of the theft of one chicken." The court decreed punishment "by confinement in the jail for a term of one hundred [100] days."

The young man who served time in the Hill County Jail was my uncle; I'm his namesake. I read the court documents during my visit to this pleasant Central Texas town a couple of weeks ago.

One of Joe's cell mates was a young punk from West Dallas named Raymond Hamilton. Already a hardened criminal at age 20, Hamilton and his older brother Floyd were drivers for Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. One writer has remarked that the Hamilton boys could drive like hell and were afraid of nothing.

The younger Hamilton was behind bars for the 1932 murder of a Hillsboro jeweler and optician named John N. Bucher during a burglary attempt gone awry. Even though Hamilton had been in Michigan at the time of the murder, a Hill County jury found him guilty but couldn't agree on his sentence, so the judge declared a mistrial. He was in jail awaiting a new trial.

On March 21, Hamilton and two other men escaped. Family lore has it that a deputy sheriff brought a group of students upstairs to the second-floor cells on a tour of the jail. Hamilton got the jump on the deputy, grabbed his gun and asked Joe if he wanted to come along. "Thanks, but no thanks," he said, or something to that effect.

Hamilton, 5-feet-3-inches tall and not yet 21, led the students back down the stairs as if he were conducting the tour. He and his cohorts ran across the street to a gas station, stole a car and headed out of town. Or so the story goes.

Dick McMahan, a resident of nearby Whitney and author of a 2007 book called "Bucher Murder Was the Turning Point," tells what is probably the more accurate story. He writes that Hamilton and two other inmates slipped in behind two deputies who were bringing another prisoner to his cell, took their weapons and keys and clattered down the stairs to freedom.

Armed with a .30-30 Winchester and a .12-gauge shotgun, the trio hurried across the street to a gas station and stole a car belonging to Mrs. Beatrice Hare. About 12 miles west of Hillsboro, Mrs. Hare's car blew a tire, the law caught up with the escapees and they surrendered. They were unaware that Mrs. Hare had brought her car in to have the tire looked at.

Hamilton and friends were free for about an hour and a half. "No harm was done to anyone and we were just having some fun," the so-called Depression Desperado told the Hillsboro Mirror.

On June 2, 1933, Raymond Hamilton was found guilty of the Bucher murder and sentenced to life in prison. In January 1934, he and four other inmates fled the notorious Eastham Prison Farm in a daring scheme engineered by Clyde, Bonnie and brother Floyd, who were waiting in a nearby car. One of the escapees shot and killed a prison guard.

Recaptured in Lewisville five months later, Raymond Hamilton was tried and sentenced to death. In January 1934, he escaped again, this time from Death Row. He was on the lam for nine months before being recaptured in Dallas County. By then, Bonnie and Clyde were dead, shot to pieces in a law-enforcement ambush in rural Louisiana.

Raymond Hamilton went to the electric chair on May 10, 1935. His last words were "Well, goodbye all." He was 22.

Joe, my uncle, served his 100 days, left the farm for other lines of work and in 1934 received a pardon from Gov. Miriam "Ma" Ferguson. His pardon was one of several thousand she granted to Texans convicted of such minor Depression-era crimes as smalltime bootlegging and chicken-thieving. The old yellow-brick jail where he served his hundred days still exists. It's now the Hill County Cell Block Museum.

Not long after Raymond Hamilton's execution, Floyd went on a bank-robbing spree in the Midwest and was declared public enemy No. 1. He spent time in Leavenworth and in Alcatraz, where he lived in a cell next to the legendary "Bird Man." In 1943, he escaped. Wet and cold, he holed up in a shoreline cave for two days before surrendering. He then spent nine years in solitary confinement.

Released from prison in 1958, he returned to Dallas, caught on as a night watchman for a Dallas car dealer - former Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker vouched for him - and lived a quiet life in the West Dallas neighborhood where he and Raymond had grown up. (West Dallas, a tough neighborhood then and now, also was known as the Devil's Back Porch.)

One afternoon in the late 1970s, I knocked on the front door of a small frame house in West Dallas. An elderly man with a fringe of white hair peered through the screen door. When I told him I was a reporter, he invited me in.

We sat in the dimly lit living room, and I asked Floyd Hamilton if he'd consent to an interview. "Well, maybe," he said. "Why don't you call me back in about a week, and I'll let you know."

When I called, Hamilton was not happy. Since we had talked, he had consented to an interview with a young reporter from one of the Dallas papers. He was telling her about hard times in solitary and how he developed pyorrhea, dental disease. She heard another word, one that rhymes with pyorrhea, and that's what she went with in her story.

"I'll never talk to another reporter again," he told me over the phone.

Floyd Hamilton died in 1984. Whether he kept his word about reporters, I cannot say. I know he didn't talk to me.
AMMAN, Jordan - The latest crisis over one of the most combustible spots in the Middle East has been defused, but has pushed the leaders of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians into tougher positions that could trigger confrontations.

The standoff over a Jerusalem shrine holy to Muslims and Jews also signaled the festering Israeli-Palestinian conflict is shifting further from what was once seen as a territorial dispute toward a religious one.

What started it?

On July 14, three Arab assailants opened fire from the walled compound at Israeli police guards, killing two. The shooting left Israeli police scrambling for ways to screen worshippers for weapons as they enter the Muslim-run site through eight gates.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a police recommendation to install metal detectors - reportedly over objections from Israel's military.

The new measures stoked Muslim fears that Israel is trying to expand control over the site under the guise of security - a charge Israel denies. Palestinians in Jerusalem, led by senior Muslim clerics, began staging mass street prayers in protest, four Palestinians were killed in street clashes with Israeli troops and a Palestinian killed three members of an Israeli family in a West Bank settlement.

Tensions ebbed after Israel removed the metal detectors and other devices.

Abbas sidlined

Mahmoud Abbas, who runs autonomous enclaves in the West Bank, was in China and his return home a week into the crisis reinforced perceptions among many Palestinians that he is out of touch. Trying to assert a leadership role, Abbas announced a suspension of security coordination with Israel until the situation at the shrine is restored to what it was before July 14.

For years, Abbas' forces worked with Israel to foil attacks by militants in the West Bank, often acting against a shared foe, the Islamic militant Hamas. Such mutually beneficial cooperation, though unpopular among Palestinians, survived many crises and failed efforts to negotiate the terms of Palestinian statehood in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in 1967.

Abbas threatened in the past to end security coordination, but never followed through. If he restores such ties, he risks further harm to his domestic standing. If he doesn't, Israel's right-wing government could retaliate and threaten the survival of his Palestinian Authority.

The crisis highlighted Abbas' fading influence in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. He also risks being cut off from Gaza, the territory he lost to Hamas in 2007. In recent weeks, Hamas and a former Abbas-aide-turned rival, Mohammed Dahlan, forged a Gaza power-sharing deal that would open the blockaded territory to Egypt.

Netanyahu under fire

Netanyahu was lambasted by all sides in Israel.

The center-left accused him of making hasty decisions at a volatile site - the third-holiest in Islam and the most sacred in Judaism - that has triggered major rounds of Israeli-Palestinian violence, including one involving Netanyahu in the mid-1990s.

Netanyahu's ultra-nationalist rivals, key to the survival of his coalition, said he capitulated to Arab pressure and effectively encouraged Palestinians to push for more concessions.

Netanyahu responded with a flurry of tough statements.

He ordered the resumption of plans to build a West Bank settlement and reportedly gave the green light to draft legislation to bring several West Bank settlements under Jerusalem's jurisdiction.
Karun Sreerama stepped down as Houston's Public Works director Friday following revelations that he made a second round of payments to a Houston Community College trustee who has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes.

Mayor Sylvester Turner's office announced the move in a late afternoon news release, hours after Sreerama's attorney said the FBI - having confronted Sreerama about earlier payments to HCC trustee Christopher Oliver - directed the longtime public contractor to pay Oliver an additional $12,000.

Turner placed Sreerama on paid leave two weeks ago, after Oliver's indictment revealed that Sreerama paid him more than $77,000 between late 2010 and mid-2013. For much of that time, Sreerama owned a private engineering firm that did business with the community college system.

The mayor initially said he continued to have confidence in Sreerama and looked forward to his return, but that perspective appeared to change abruptly Friday afternoon.

"Karun Sreerama has accomplished much in Houston as a businessman and involved citizen. I am sure he will continue to be an asset to our community," Turner said in a statement. "However, he and I have agreed that it would be best for the city for him to step down as director of the city Public Works and Engineering Department."

Sreerama, at a later news conference in front of the federal courthouse, lamented having his name "dragged in the mud" after cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and signing a confidentiality agreement.

"Because I could not disclose anything before today, stories began to take their own life, and I have been unfairly, inaccurately and unjustly labeled as somebody who gave bribes. This is total nonsense," Sreerama said. "I did not do anything wrong."

Oliver's March indictment, unsealed in May, hangs on two sets of payments from Sreerama. The U.S. attorney's office charged Oliver with "extortion under color of official right" for the first, meaning the trustee allegedly used his position as a public official to obtain unlawful payments, and bribery for the second.

The payments in question began in late 2010, when Sreerama, identified as "K.S." in Oliver's indictment, began writing checks to Oliver in response to the trustee's solicitations, Sreerama's attorney Chip Lewis said.

As Lewis described the three payments totaling $77,143, Sreerama made the first two because Oliver claimed he was going through a costly divorce, and then claimed he needed funds to complete the process of adopting a child. Both payments were presented as loans and were not repaid. The third payment took the form of an exorbitant fee Oliver charged after his company cleaned the parking lot at Sreerama's business.

"By the time we get to the third payment and he hadn't been repaid the loans, Karun became worried that saying, 'No, no I've got somebody who already does the cleaning, etc.' could adversely affect his position down the road," Lewis said.

Envelope of cash

Federal authorities confronted Sreerama in March 2015, a year and a half after he made that final payment, and asked for his cooperation in their investigation, Lewis said.

Two months later, at the FBI's behest, Lewis said, Sreerama began a series of meetings with Oliver that lasted through May 2016.

Oliver repeatedly asked if Sreerama was working for law enforcement in their initial May 2015 meeting, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Leuchtmann said during Oliver's May rearraignment, but took the first envelope of $2,500 cash from Sreerama just days later. By their July 2015 meeting, he had passed Sreerama a list of all HCC contracts.

Sreerama decided by November 2015 to bid on a pest control project, Leuchtmann said. Oliver later said he continued to delay votes to convince the board to vote on the basis of value, not price, to give Sreerama's company a shot at the work.

Lewis said Sreerama's payments to Oliver during this period totaling $12,000 in cash and Visa gift cards "were authorized, provided and directed to be delivered by the federal government."

"I'm paying the price for doing a good deed," Sreerama said.

Shauna Dunlap, spokeswoman for the FBI's Houston office, declined to comment, as did Oliver's attorney, Philip Gallagher.

Oliver pleaded guilty in May to accepting roughly $12,000 in bribes from Sreerama, and in exchange the acting U.S. attorney agreed to dismiss the extortion charge, court records show.

Asked why he did not report Oliver's initial solicitations to federal authorities, Sreerama said he expected to be repaid.

"I made a loan to Chris Oliver," Sreerama said. "Why would I go to a federal authority when I made a loan, expecting him to pay it back to me?"

The former public works director also said he never sought any favors from Oliver, noting he made the last of his initial three payments totaling $77,143 after selling his engineering firm ESPA Corp Inc. in 2012.

HCC records show the college system paid ESPA Corp. about $9.1 million between 2004 and late 2013, with much of that work occurring between 2010 and 2013, the same time frame during which Sreerama made the first round of payments to Oliver. Sreerama acquired ESPA in 2005.

The bulk of HCC's payments to ESPA stemmed from two projects. One, for which the firm was paid $5.7 million, involved project management for the renovation of the college's San Jacinto building. The other, valued at $3 million, was an effort to provide planning and construction consulting services for projects across the HCC system.

Sreerama said Friday that he last got a contract from HCC in 2010, but HCC records show that he signed at least one contract in 2011. That agreement was for construction, maintenance and renovation on an as-needed basis.

Sreerama regularly attended HCC board meetings from 2010 through 2012, according to minutes. At one 2011 presentation, he proposed several system-wide projects that were projected to cost $288.5 million.

'A distraction'

Sreerama, a prolific political donor whose family contributed a combined $21,500 to Turner's 2015 mayoral campaign, began last year to be openly discussed at City Hall as the likely next Public Works director.

Turner finally tapped Sreerama to lead the city's largest department in March, tasking him with managing all city streets, drainage, water and sewer systems on a $2.1 billion annual budget.

Sreerama did not tell the mayor or other city officials during the vetting process about his involvement in the federal case, Lewis said.

"The FBI had asked him not to reveal it to anybody," Lewis said, adding that Sreerama called Turner about the case three weeks ago, after he learned it was set to be unsealed the next day.

Turner placed Sreerama on paid administrative leave within a week.

Councilman Michael Kubosh lauded the mayor's decision to part ways with Sreerama, saying the situation had become a "distraction."

"People were calling me daily about it," Kubosh said, "concerned about, 'How does it look for our city and the other contracts that are going to be coming forward?'"

The Houston Community College system's board of trustees, reprimanded Oliver earlier this month, but he remains on the board.

Eight trustees stripped Oliver, elected in 1995, of his vice chair role, froze his spending account, took him off all committees and formally censured him.

The college system has retained former Harris County Commissioner Gene Locke and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Vidal Martinez to examine Houston Community College's procurement processes and policies after Oliver's conviction.

Oliver's sentencing was delayed until Nov. 13.

Mike Morris contributed to this report.
It's a bit of a cliche to quote "Casablanca" when it comes to Washington's gift for manufactured outrage, but the classics are classics for a reason. When Captain Louis Renault orders Rick's saloon shut down, Rick (played by Humphrey Bogart) protests: "How can you close me up? On what grounds?"

Renault (played by Claude Rains) replies, "I am shocked - shocked - to find that gambling is going on in here!"

Then, a croupier walks up to Renault and hands him some money: "Your winnings, sir."

"Oh, thank you very much," Renault says. "Everybody out at once!"

The scene came immediately to mind amidst the instant outrage over reports that the Trump administration was threatening Alaska's senators. On Tuesday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted not to move to debate on the Senate health care bill. That angered the president. She "really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!" the president complained on Twitter Wednesday morning.

That afternoon, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke called both Murkowski and Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, according to a story first reported by the Alaska Dispatch News. "I'm not going to go into the details," Sullivan told the paper, "but I fear that the strong economic growth, pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-jobs (policies) and personnel from Alaska who are part of those policies are going to stop."

The story sent "shocked-shocked!" shockwaves across Washington. How dare the Trump administration threaten the state of Alaska!

Come now.

Let me say up front that what Zinke did may be politically unwise. It may be unethical. It may be crude.

But it's not illegal. It's normal.

Every administration in American history, and every regime since the first city-states formed in Mesopotamia, has played some version of this game, not merely from time to time, but every single day. Rewarding your friends and punishing your enemies isn't some breach of the established rules of politics; those are the established rules of politics.

Every White House has a political operation that reminds policymakers that this state should get better treatment than that state for one political reason or another. It's the job of the policymakers to know when to listen to that guidance and when to ignore it.

The proper symbol of FDR's imperial presidency wouldn't be a ball and scepter but a carrot and a stick. Roosevelt held his coalition together by awarding massive defense contracts to Southern states whose senators were the barons of the defense and appropriations committees. His freshly minted Social Security Board threatened to withhold funds from states that resisted compliance with the Aid to Families with Dependent Children welfare program. LBJ's Health, Education and Welfare Department threatened to terminate funds for states that didn't enforce civil rights.

Congress is no better. It has used the Highway Trust Fund time and again to force states to comply with its will. In 1974, Congress declared that any state that didn't set its speed limit to 55 mph would see the money spigot turn off. In 1975, Congress did the same to force motorcyclists to wear helmets. In 1984, the same technique was used to raise the legal drinking age.

And now let's discuss the great state of Alaska, a place I love and have spent much time in. (My wife is from Fairbanks, and much of her family is still there.) Alaska fancies itself a land of rugged individualists. Its nickname, emblazoned on its license plates, is "The Last Frontier." A more accurate nickname might be "The New West Virginia" for its addiction to pork. At the height of the earmark era in Congress, Alaska ranked No. 1 on the list of recipients, thanks largely to former Rep. Ted Stevens, the self-styled "Emperor of Earmarks."

No one runs for federal office in Alaska without promising to bring home the bacon from Washington. In fairness to Alaskans, one reason that's seen as necessary is the federal government controls so much of the state (about 60 percent of its land is controlled by Washington).

Murkowski herself lobbied for months for a special Alaska-only carve-out under the Better Care Reconciliation Act - the nearly $2 billion "Kodiak Kickback." It proved to be not enough, but the "for sale" sign had gone up.

Zinke's heavy-handedness will probably backfire because standing up to threats is one of the only things that plays better in Alaska than accepting porcine bribes.

But the outrage is all part of the show. As Hyman Roth says in "The Godfather Part II, "This is the business we've chosen."

Goldberg is an editor-at-large of National Review Online and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Tragedy struck early Sunday when dozens of immigrants were trapped in a semi-trailer truck parked in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio. The men, women, and children put on the rig in Laredo had been promised that their trip would include air conditioning. Not only did they not have air conditioning, but no air to breathe or water to drink as well. It was certainly a horrifying and gruesome end to the lives of 10 people who have died thus far and a horrendous experience to survivors who no doubt contemplated their death over several hours that felt like an eternity.

This is a doleful reminder about the human element that is routinely cloaked in our discussions and debates regarding immigration policy. Policy decisions affect real, breathing human beings, many who risk their lives as they try to overcome the increasingly insurmountable and unforgiving impediments making passage into the United States difficult.

Opportunistic voices and twisted logic have reared their ugly heads to illuminate how this tragedy could have been prevented if proposed anti-immigrant laws were in place. Conservative political commentator Ann Coulter tweeted shortly after the catastrophe that the immigrants who died in the Walmart parking lot would still be alive if Trump's wall was in place. The Trump wall will not stop unauthorized people from crossing into the United States and most who are in this country without documents entered legally with visas and overstayed. Certainly saving immigrant lives was not what motivated Trump to call for the building of the wall.

In Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made similar arguments pointing out that he made the passage of SB4 - the Texas draconian bill against sanctuary cities that is scheduled to go into effect on Sept. 1 - a priority to prevent such tragedies. Patrick blames sanctuary cities and what he calls Democrat "open-border policies" for the dreadful deaths. Patrick reasons that unauthorized immigrants keep coming to the United States because they feel that they are protected and safe in sanctuary cities, where they can "live outside of the law." I am pretty sure that saving immigrant lives was not what motivated Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott to make the passage of SB4 a top priority.

What exact Democrat open-border policy that Patrick talks about is not clear. Indeed, President Obama was not soft on immigrants, as he was commonly called the "Deporter in Chief" for the massive numbers of immigrants that he deported, many more than George W. Bush. Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive order did not involve opening up the borders, but providing some security for young adults who came to the United States as young children - in effect, keeping them safe from Obama, himself, the great deporter of immigrants.

Unfortunately, the tragedy that struck in our San Antonio community is not an isolated incident. The bodies of poor, unfortunate immigrants litter the terrains of Mexico and the United States. The building of U.S. operations to block common immigrant passage areas have over the last three decades rerouted immigrants to more perilous and inhospitable routes where too many immigrants lose their lives.

Speak as they will using twisted logic, the likes of Coulter and Patrick and the policies of Donald Trump and Abbott have clear intentions - to halt immigration into the United States and deport immigrants using any means possible - not to prevent tragic deaths like those occurring on a sweltering summer day in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio. If they truly want to prevent such catastrophes, they should promote humane immigration policies.

Saenz is dean of the College of Public Policy and holds the Mark G. Yudof Endowed Chair at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Efforts are underway at Texas County Memorial Hospital to improve the process of referring patients to specialists in other healthcare systems, board members heard at last weeks monthly meeting.

Wes Murray, TCMH chief executive officer, said the two biggest issues are a lack of beds at referring hospitals and seamless referral of patients to specialists when needed. The referral issues stem primarily from patients being referred from the emergency department at TCMH.

We are at the mercy of the physicians were referring our patients to, Murray said.

Springfield is the primary referral route for most patients requiring a transfer or specialist care. Hospital physicians and staff try to work with the patients hospital preference whenever possible.

In the case of psychiatric patients, we may have a patient waiting 24 hours at our hospital while we try to find a bed for the patient anywhere in the state, Murray said.

A patient referred from the TCMH emergency department may also have to wait to follow up with a specialist.

Our ER physician may make contact with the specialist on call at the referring hospital, and the specialist will tell our staff to have the patient come to his or her office the following day, Murray said.

He described issues with patients from TCMH showing up to be seen by the specialist only to be turned away at the office because the information from the referring physician and hospital was never passed on to the specialists office.

Our privacy laws have also superseded the benefits of hospital electronic medical records, Murray said.

Murray recounted frustration experienced by patients who have a radiologic procedure at TCMH that a physician from another medical facility refuses to view because it requires opening a disc from TCMH. Although the patients data is stored electronically, there is not an easy way for the patients data to be accessed from one hospital to another, computer to computer.

As these issues have grown more common, we are seeking ways to help our patients get the specialized care they need, Murray said.

Information systems personnel at TCMH and CoxHealth have worked together to create a portal between the TCMH and Cox-Health systems that would give a specialist access to electronic medical records for one specific patient referred to them. Murray said the portal requires someone from CoxHealth to manually download the information. CoxHealth has staff available 24/7 to download the information when needed.

We greatly appreciate CoxHealth working with us to set up this portal system, Murray said.

Murray said the single use patient portal will be extremely beneficial to patients that need care after traditional business hours and to critical care patients that require trauma or stroke care.

We have made progress in correcting a frustrating situation for our physicians, our patients and the family members of TCMH patients, Murray said.

Murray said frustrations had increased with the growing volume and higher acuity of patients in the emergency department.

Dr. Jonathan Beers, TCMH chief of staff, agreed that a portal providing patient information access to specialists at other hospitals would be helpful in many different cases.

Beers also cited instances of specialists at outside facilities agreeing to take a TCMH patient, only to find that the physician goes on vacation or doesnt speak with his or her office about the patient.

Earlier in the year, TCMH began working with working Saint Lukes Hospital in Chesterfield to transfer some patients for specialty care that is not available at TCMH. Officials at Saint Lukes welcomed transfers for specialized care, and beds were readily available at the hospital, too.

Beers said that he has not had any issues working with specialists at Saint Lukes.

They are ready and eager to take our patients when we cant find a bed or a specialist that will treat our patients, Murray said.

Murray said Chesterfield  located in St. Louis County  is not too far off I-44 and about five minutes closer by car than Columbia.

Beers said occasionally his patients dont want to get specialized care through Saint Lukes due to the distance from TCMH, but those patients that have used Saint Lukes have had good experiences.

We are working to train all of our ER staff and physicians that Saint Lukes is another resource for patients when a hospital bed or a specialist isnt easily accessible in southwest Missouri, Murray said.

SURGERY DEPARTMENT PROJECT

Murray shared a letter from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services approving the engineering plans for the new surgery department infill. The plans were submitted a couple of years ago, but needed to be re-submitted since the construction had not begun shortly after the original approval.

Our maintenance department has already started working on the surgery department project, Murray said.

Completion of the surgery department interior is expected to take 12-18 months. The plans include two new operating rooms and an endoscopy suite as well as private recovery rooms.

PHYSICIAN RECRUITING

Joleen Senter Durham, director of physician recruiting at TCMH, told board members that the recruiting of Dr. Doug Crase for the TCMH Family Clinic in Licking fills all of the current primary care needs at TCMH.

Crase is a family medicine and obstetrics trained physician. He is in his final year of residency and start work at TCMH next summer.

Also joining TCMH next summer are Dr. Jason Loden, a general surgeon, and Dr. Teresa Loden, a pediatrician. Teresa Loden is practicing full-time in Omaha, Neb., while Jason Loden completes his residency.

We have been incredibly fortunate in the past few years, being able to recruit physicians and mid-level providers without the use of any outside recruiting agencies, Durham said.

She said recruiting could potentially cost $15,000 for a mid-level provider and $22,000 for a physician.

Durham tallied that currently TCMH has 12 healthcare providers working at the hospital that were recruited without any outside agencys assistance.

With our current physicians and mid-level providers and the physicians planning to join us next summer, we have saved a minimum of $281,000 in outside agency fees to recruiting companies, Durham said.

Durham complimented the staff at TCMH on taking advantage of every opportunity to identify and work to recruit healthcare providers.

That is a lot of money for our hospital to save over the past few years, and Im very proud of our efforts, Durham said.

REVENUE REPORT

Due to higher contractual adjustments and decreased inpatient volumes in June, TCMH revenues did not meet budgeted expectations, according to the June financial report from Linda Pamperien, TCMH chief financial officer.

TCMH ended June with a negative bottom line of $171,502 and a negative year-to-date bottom line of $118,885.

Present at the meeting were Murray; Beers; Durham; Pamperien; Amanda Turpin, quality management director; and board members Dr. Jim Perry, OD; Jay Loveland, Janet Wiseman and Omanez Fockler. Board member Mark Hampton was not present.
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On Wednesday 26 July 2017, at the Supreme Court, Unison won a historic victory for employment rights and access to justice. The significance of the Supreme Court's Judgment that the Employment Tribunal Fees created by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition back in 2013 are unlawful and impede access to justice cannot be overstated.

It means that the Ministry of Justice has been operating unlawfully for 4 years. Junior Conservative Justice Minister Dominic Raab was dispatched by Theresa May, Secretary of State for Justice David Lidington and Co. to publicly and humiliatingly concede that the Government will have to "take immediate steps to stop charging fees in employment tribunals and put in place arrangements to refund those who have paid".

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As well as writing to Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis to congratulate him and Unison on this victory for working people everywhere, I also wrote a to David Lidington - who was recently drafted in to replace the widely discredited Liz Truss as Secretary of State for Justice. In my letter, I asked David Lidington six important questions:

1.How much money from the public purse has the Government spent defending its unlawful and unjust policy?

2.When will the Government be issuing a full and unequivocal apology to working people and their families for deliberately and unlawfully blocking their access to justice?

3.When will the Government be issuing a full and unequivocal apology to people and families who had to undertake disclosure of their personal financial circumstances in an intrusive and even humiliating level of detail as part of the Government's failed 'Fee Remission' Scheme for Employment Tribunals? From my time as a trade union lawyer I remember someone I represented who had been sacked and who had no earnings being asked to explain why a relative had given them 10 in the run up to Christmas.

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4.By what date will the Government have fully reimbursed all those who were unlawfully required to pay Employment Tribunal Issue Fees and Employment Tribunal Hearing Fees?

5.Whether or not the Government will be setting up a scheme, system or arrangements to ensure that all those who were unlawfully treated by their employers but didn't issue an Employment Tribunal case because of the applicable Issue Fee, or didn't proceed to the Employment Tribunal Hearing because of the applicable Hearing Fee, are restored to the position in which they would have been had it not been for the Government's unlawful policy?

6.Given that the Supreme Court's Judgment states that "In order for the fees to be lawful, they have to be set at a level that everyone can afford, taking into account the availability of full or partial remission", will the Government now commission an independent review of the effects on access to justice of the fees in other Courts and Tribunals? Given the Government's record of denial in relation to their unlawful Employment Tribunal Fees, it is clear that the Government cannot be trusted to carry out this review itself.

I - and many others - await David Lidington's responses to my questions with interest.

But if we want to know why the Conservatives really loved their unlawful Employment Tribunal Fees so much, then they have already spoken from the heart on that. In Parliament, back on the 20th of March, I was speaking about the iniquitous effects of Employment Tribunal Fees when Conservative MP Jonathan Djanogly stood up and declared that without Employment Tribunal Fees, Employment Tribunals amount to "something for nothing". He indignantly asked "Is it not the case that if someone can get something for nothing, they are likely to take it up? That was the core problem with Employment Tribunals when people had to pay nothing to get access". As I pointed out in response, this was a very useful intervention because it made the Conservative view of access to justice abundantly clear. It is shameful for a Government to regard citizens who are attempting to assert their legal rights such as the right to be paid the National Minimum Wage or the right not to be discriminated against at work or the right not to be unfairly sacked as consumers chasing "something for nothing". They are citizens with rights that need to be protected and be able to be asserted. Jonathan Djanogly spoke from the beating heart of the Conservative Party on this issue. He is no maverick, fringe Tory. He has held a number of senior positions - including as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry for Justice in the Coalition Government.

As an Employment Tribunal lawyer who spent years representing workers who had been unfairly sacked, not had their wages paid, been punished for being trade unionists or discriminated against for their religion, for being a woman, for being pregnant, or for being from a black or minority ethnic background, I couldn't have been happier to see the Employment Tribunal Fees cooked up by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats consigned to the dustbin of history where they belong.

I was proud that Labour's Manifesto, For The Many, Not The Few, contained a clear commitment that a Labour Government would abolish Employment Tribunal Fees. The Conservative Government would never have voluntarily given up their immoral system of Employment Tribunal Fees. They were attached to them precisely because they did what they were intended to do - put up a barrier to justice for working people and give a green-light to unscrupulous employers.

Congratulations to Unison for their historic victory at the Supreme Court. It is just a shame that the Government did not listen to the trade unions, the legal community or to the Labour Party. If the Government had done so, it would not have found itself in the shameful position it now does - having been brought bang to rights for unlawfully restricting access to justice for its own citizens.
Prime Minister Juri Ratas met with his Croatian colleague Andrej Plenkovic in Zagreb on Tuesday. According to Ratas, Croatia is greatly interested in e-health solutions, and would like to see digital prescriptions introduced across the EU.

Ratas said that the Croatian visit summed up all the others he made before to introduce Estonias priorities for its EU council presidency, especially with the countrys lively interest in the digital development of Europe.

One of the aims of our Presidency is to proceed forcefully with e-health, or the digitalisation of health data in Europe. Cooperation between Croatia and Estonia in launching an exchange of health data has progressed excellently this year. In addition, Croatia is very interested in introducing digital prescriptions in the European Union, Ratas said.



Ratas invited Plenkovic to the Digital Summit in Tallinn on Sept. 29. The summit will focus on e-government services, the digital development of the economy and society, and the security and confidentiality of cyber space.

I have heard the opinions, proposals and concerns about issues from the migration crisis to Brexit of 27 member states, Ratas said. All these issues are relevant, and it is understandable that they require the common efforts of the EU countries to be resolved. However, people are also looking for inspiration and visions. And this is what we would like to offer in Tallinn at the end of September  we will cast a glance into the future and discuss how to preserve the leading role of Europe globally in the digital economy, industry, and e-government services, Ratas said.

Apart from digital issues, Ratas and Plenkovic discussed the security and defense policy of the EU, the prospects of the further enlargement of the Union, the situation in the West Balkans, energy and climate problems, and possibilities to tackle the migration crisis.

Estonia and Croatia had similar interests in the European Union: Competitiveness, a digital single market, and a secure and protected Europe, Ratas said after the meeting.

Ratas also met with the president of the Croatian parliament, Gordan Jandrokovic, to discuss the key topics of the Estonian EU presidency as well as bilateral relations.

People in Estonia mostly knew about the beautiful sunny coast and historical and cultural heritage of Croatia, Ratas said. Statistics showed this very nicely, with the number of tourists travelling from Estonia to Croatia increasing by 20 to 25 percent every year. But there was more potential. After the Estonian state visit to Croatia last year, business connections have also become closer, he added. Plenty of business opportunities were still waiting to be discovered.
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A man gets into an elevator on the 20th floor. It has to be elevator because this is the Chrysler Building in Manhattan. He is smartly turned out, in a suit and tie. His name is Alex. His loyal but overworked PA, Janice, comes running up and passes him his briefcase (Alex is a forgetful fellow) just before the doors close. He puts his hat on. You, meanwhile, are waiting for the elevator on the ground floor. You watch the numbers tumbling smoothly and rapidly downwards. From 20 down to 1 (this is America, remember), with no pauses or punctuation. Therefore the elevator did not stop at any point on its descent. Less than half a minute after the doors close on the 20th floor, the doors open again on the ground floor. What do you see?

No one gets out. As you go to get in you realise there is a body in the elevator. With blood on the floor. You scream, perhaps. Because Alex, our smartly dressed gent, has a knife planted squarely in his back. His hat lies marooned alongside him. Is he dead? A doctor comes rushing up and tests for a pulse and shakes his head. The question is whodunnit? To which I will try and give an answer, at the end, if you would all care to assemble in the dining room, shall we say, with cocktails in hand, at around 6 oclock.

Its a classic Agatha Christie-style mystery, transposed to New York. A closed room. It could hardly be any more closed. With a finite group of characters. It could hardly be more finite. A puzzle to be solved. All we need is a shrewd detective of the calibre of Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple to figure it out.

Agatha Christie with her second husband, Max Mallowan. She vanished for 11 days when she discovered her first husband Archie was having an affair. She turned up in Harrogate (AFP/Getty)

Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, which took place in Harrogate over several days last week, was also host to a new Agatha Christie exhibition, celebrating the life of the novelist but also her close association with Harper Collins  or at least the Collins part of it, which was founded 200 years ago.

Billy Collins published the novel that remains her masterpiece, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in 1926, and for the next 50 years (she died in 1976) Christie and Collins formed a durable partnership and the letters she wrote to her publisher testify to what a tough and pugnacious individual she was. She was the first millionaire woman author of the 20th century; she didnt suffer fools gladly; and occasionally felt she was being treated disgracefully  dash it all! 

But one reason for hosting this relatively thrill-free exhibition in lovely Harrogate at the classy Old Swan hotel was because this is where she popped up after doing a runner. The lady vanished for a period of 11 days, back in December of 1926, after her mother died and her First World War fighter pilot husband, Archie, cheated on her in close succession. She had a meltdown, fled the family home at Styles in Berkshire, and was hunted by police, the media, a medium, and Dorothy L Sayers (author of the Lord Peter Wimsey series) until she finally appeared again in Harrogate.

A minor mystery in itself. But not half as ingenious as her own twisted plots. Now Kenneth Branagh is directing and starring in a new film of Murder on the Orient Express. His abundantly bewhiskered Poirot looks nothing like the David Suchet of the mincing steps and the pencil-thin moustache, more like a Russian monk or Mexican bandit. And the finite cast of characters includes Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench and Willem Dafoe. The train is another star vehicle. There have been countless film, stage, and television adaptations of Agatha Christie novels. She has sold around a billion books in English alone. But does anyone still read Christie?

One writer I spoke to (Id better leave him mysterious) at Harrogate said: Ive never read a single Christie and Im not planning to either. Im trying to get away from Christie. Its like were surrounded by Christie. We breathe Christie. You dont need to read any of the books. Another mystery man snorted furiously at the very idea of reading Christie. Her work is completely pointless. There is nothing real in it. Her books are just silly.  He added: You have to respect the sales figures though. 

Even Tammy Cohen, writing under the pen name Rachel Rhys, who confesses to using Christie-style tropes in her novel Dangerous Crossing (a glamorous cast of characters taking ship to Australia in 1939, exotic locations, cocktails and dinner suits, and a mini-world war afloat), says that, Of course her plots are preposterous. Even ridiculous. But the aim is not to be realistic. 

Poirot's Early Cases: Sophie Hannah has opened a poirot franchise (Poirot's Early Cases)

Sophie Hannah is the new Agatha Christie. She was appearing on a panel in Harrogate called Carrying the Torch. She has opened a Poirot franchise, with the blessing of the Christie estate and Harper Collins. Its not pastiche,  she said. I wasnt trying to write an Agatha Christie novel, only a Hercule Poirot novel. Ive taken over the character, thats all.

In the first of her novels, The Monogram Murders, she gives Poirot a new sidekick, Inspector Edward Catchpole, who is the narrator, just as Dr Watson is in the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Hannah fell in love with Christie as a12-year old girl, starting with The Body in the Library, then obsessively seeking out all her other books (there are 66 full-length murder mysteries) and still re-reads them every few years: I forget enough to make it worthwhile.

She remembers classic scenes such as Miss Marple stabbing someone (who surely deserves stabbing) with one of her knitting needles. But the other thing that she insists on is baffling ingenuity: the puzzle has to be fairly far-fetched, extreme, and the solution always surprising. I could finally come out of the closet, she said: Id internalised all these things from Christie.  She says she has become an Agatha Christie missionary, travelling to as many countries as languages her books are translated into (51). One woman came up to me and said, I had never thought of reading Christie before. But now I will'. I like that. I am reminding the world how good she is.

But why would anyone bother to read Christie now? That is the real mystery. Gilbert Adair passionately espoused Christie and wrote a series of celebration-cum-critique-cum-parody novels for Faber & Faber, notably The Act of Roger Murgatroyd and A Mysterious Affair of Style, around a protagonist called Evadne Mount, a crime novelist who was herself always getting caught up in murder mysteries. Adair also translated the wonderful French writer, Georges Perec, notably his novel-without-an-e, La Disparition (A Void) in Adairs genius-level rendering.

He loved Christie and Perec for the same reason: he saw them both as a kind of game, a purely formal exercise, highly constrained, rule-bound, like a sonnet, or a haiku, tight, economical, resonant, with occasional dead bodies. But I think Adair is the exception. Not many readers are too bothered about literary architecture. Adair died writing quasi-Miss Marple, so you could say Christie killed him.

The Body in the Library: translated into 51 languages, she wrote 66 full-length murder mysteries (The Body in the Library)

I think there is something else going on here, another explanation for the spell Christie has cast over us. I know this is going to sound like a weird digression, but just consider for a moment the rise of impressionist painting in the 19th century. All those wonderful evocations of orchards and cornfields and poppies, in short a more dreamlike pastoral, appeared at the very time when, thanks to industrialisation, they were disappearing, or at least becoming endangered species. So the paintings were a form of protest, or an elegy, or like a zoo for containing and preserving what might otherwise be lost. Cave paintings are like that too, lots of mammoths and antelopes just when most of them have already been hunted down and devoured.

Christie similarly, but with the middle class. What is the most striking thing about the mystery as opposed to hard-boiled American pulp fiction or even the works of Raymond Chandler? Answer: in Christie no one ever gets paid. Unless youre one of the plodding policemen types. Neither Poirot nor Marple ever asks for a penny. The pleasure of finally pointing the finger is enough. This is the sole point of the book, to correctly name the malefactor. The Christie sleuth is an amateur, s/hes not in it for the money.

Not only are they not into filthy lucre, theyre not into sex either. They never fall in love and are fully satisfied and kept on the straight and narrow perhaps by the pure pursuit of the perpetrator. The Christie novels are a bewitching exercise in highly disciplined sublimation. No sex please, were busy hunting for clues. The other surprising thing about them is how few people are criminals. This is the essence of the middle-class, not sex, not money, but rather crimelessness, a zero degree of crime which is disrupted by murder and must be restored. As Poirot says in Cards on the Table, I have a bourgeois attitude to murder, I disapprove of it.

The middle class consists by definition of law-abiding citizens. But what has become of them? They are now as rare as radium. Christie was writing at a time when the contradictions (as Marx and Engels would say) of capitalism were becoming more intense. Society  as reflected in contemporary crime novels  has now become highly polarised between, roughly speaking, the criminals of wealth and the criminals of poverty. High-end and low-end bad guys. There are petty criminals and then there are not-so-petty ones, who generally dont end up in jail.

Behind every great fortune there is a great crime, as Balzac pointed out. And the same applies, on a less grandiose scale, to the lack of a fortune. The squeezed middle is getting more squeezed than ever before. While bumping off a few harmless eccentrics and retirees, Agatha Christie nevertheless provides a nostalgic trip down a middle-class memory lane, back to a utopian Golden Age (as the practitioners themselves call it) of orthodoxy and conformism and shockability. I know that the doctor behaves badly in, for example No, Id better not name the novel, just in case theres someone out there who still hasnt read it. But the point is, he shouldnt. And is duly sanctioned, with Poirot allowing him to take a dose of veronal.

I know there is that one where nearly everyone dun it, but that is the exception that proves the rule. And then there are the multiple killings (consider, for example, The ABC Murders or A Pocket Full of Rye and, of course, And Then There Were None), but it always turns out to be a singular serial killer, who may have only one real target but wants to throw more murderous smoke in your eyes. As per TVs Midsomer Murders, Christies alluring paradox is the perfect compatibility of quaint, genteel villages in middle England, and homicidal maniacs on the rampage.

Another question: how comes The Mousetrap hasnt been made into a film? In terms of actual number of performances its probably the most successful play in the history of mankind. Surely that would make a decent movie too? True, but the fact is that built into the original contract is a clause that says that no one is allowed to make a film out of this play until it has finished its run. That was back in 1952 and still there is no end in sight.

So who killed poor old Alex, the smartly dressed gent in the elevator? One person I put this to thought it was Janice, the faithful PA. She stabs the guy  out of jealousy or maybe she is not being paid enough  as he is getting into the lift and forgets to mention this in her own eye-witness account. Another surmised that the murderer was some kind of action hero, perched on top of the elevator when the doors open, then coming through the hatch in the roof, stabbing our man, then hopping up again before it reaches the ground floor.

Personally, I reckon it was the doctor. Remember, you cant always trust a doctor. This is how it would have worked. Alex and his best friend, the doctor, both aficionados of classic mysteries, cook up a practical joke between them in which Alex only pretends to stab himself, glueing a fake theatrical knife to his back on the way down and sprinkling the contents of a phial of blood around the elevator. His doctor friend  who presumably is in love with Alexs wife or resents some past insult  applies some knock-out drug and then makes sure a real knife takes the place of the fake one. Other solutions on a postcard please. Or in a novel.

Andy Martin is the author of Reacher Said Nothing: Lee Child and the Making of Make Me and teaches at the University of Cambridge
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A recurring rumble of explosions echoes off the barren, boulder-strewn slopes of the Spin Ghar mountains, each ordnance aimed wishfully at redoubts where Islamic State militants are suspected of hiding. Afghan and US special forces listen in on enemy chatter, intercepting dozens of their radio channels. American AC-130 gunships and F-16 fighter jets whir in circles overhead, at low altitude, waiting for strike orders. Soldiers on the ground man the mortars.

The operation against the Islamic State in Khorasan  or Isis-K, as the Syria-based groups Afghan contingent is known  is now into its fourth month of unremitting warfare. The US military has pledged to annihilate the group by years end, and the redoubled assault has contributed to a spike in US air strikes to levels not seen in Afghanistan since President Barack Obamas troop surge in 2012. One in five of those strikes is against Isis-K, despite it controlling only slivers of mountainous territory.

The battle is lopsided, but each day the frontline here in Achin district moves back only slightly. Both local intelligence officials and the US military believe that Isis-K is replenishing its stock of fighters almost as quickly as it loses them. A sense that this may be an indefinite mission has set in.

Soon after its founding in 2014, Isis-K descended into this district and established it as its stronghold. Entire villages emptied as word of the group's mercilessness spread. Fighters infamously strapped defiant local clerics to explosives and filmed their detonations. For nearly three years, Isis-K held firm not just in the Spin Ghars but in the vacated villages in the fertile valley beneath them.

Children make their way home through a violent storm in Afghanistans Nangahar Province (Washington Post)

In April, the US military dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb, a MOAB - nicknamed the mother of all bombs  on a cave complex in one of Achins valleys, known as the Momand. It is unclear how many fighters, if any, were killed. The MOAB  which felt so forceful that every ant in the valley mustve died, said one villager  was followed by weeks of air strikes on compounds that ISIS-K fighters had held for two years.

On a recent trip up the valley, the bodies of at least four were still there, lying in abandoned fields overgrown with wild cannabis. The corpses were mostly just bones after months in the sun.

Over the past three years, Isis-K has succeeded in carrying out ghastly attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. But as Islamic State territory in Iraq and Syria is whittled away, coalition forces here are worried that Afghanistan's notoriously ungovernable eastern provinces could become a safe haven for fleeing fighters and a new staging ground for attacks on the West.

We believe that Isis-K is not currently able to launch attacks because they are essentially being hunted, said Capt William Salvin, spokesman for the US military here. But he did not refute the assessment of a local Afghan intelligence officer in Achin, who spoke on a condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media: In terms of numbers, Isis-K has not been severely reduced. The battle is looking more like one of attrition.

While the Pentagon maintains that Isis-K is down to about 1,000 fighters across Afghanistan, from a high of 2,500 in 2015, the Afghan intelligence officer surmised that there were more than 1,000 in Achin district alone.

The fierce conflict also is scattering fighters across a wider swath of the mountainous east, ensuring a longer, more dispersed mission. Last week, the Pentagon announced that a US drone strike killed Abu Sayed, Isis-Ks leader, or emir. That took place in neighbouring Konar province, indicating that the fighting has spread at least that far.

Inside the former Isis-K building in the Momand Valley that is now a government checkpoint, an Afghan commando holds a bayonet he says belonged to a rebel fighter (Washington Post)

Most of Isis-K's fighters are thought to be Pashtuns, with few, if any, coming from Iraq and Syria. According to Salvin, the United States sees Isis-K as more of an authorised franchise of Isis-main than the Islamic States operation in Libya, which is more closely tied to the fighting in the Middle East. Instead, Afghan analysts say, Isis-K derives much of its support from Pakistans military establishment.

In Nangahar, it is Pakistans game, said Davood Moradian, director of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies, referring to the province in which Achin is located. Pakistan has launched its own military operation against Islamist militants on its side of the Spin Ghar range, but Moradian was sceptical that they shared the goal of the group's elimination.

Pakistans military operation against Daesh  an alternate name for the Islamic State  is more of a disciplinary mission: Stop your internal disagreements and concentrate on the target weve agreed upon, namely, the Afghan state, he said.

Pakistan has always denied playing a destabilising role in Afghanistan, but its neighbours ongoing instability has proved hugely lucrative for Pakistans military, which has ruled the country for almost half its 70-year existence. George W Bushs and Barack Obamas administrations gave the Pakistanis a combined $33.4bn (25.5bn) in aid, and there is little evidence their support for Afghan militants has stopped.

Shaguftars children play with neighbours  also from families displaced by conflict  in the yard of their simple house in Surkh Rod district of Nangahar Province (Washington Post)

Members of the US Congress have been calling for years for a drastic reduction or elimination of security assistance to Pakistan, as well as ending its status as a major non-Nato ally  or even designating it as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said that the Trump administrations new Afghanistan strategy, expected this month, will have a regional component, but it is unclear if that means a curtailment of US aid to Pakistan. In fact, a hostile Pakistan might well pose a greater threat to the US mission here.

Even so, exasperation toward Pakistan runs high here.

That people are even asking the question Should the US stop giving money to Pakistan? shows the silliness of the discourse in Washington, said Moradian. It is like asking if we should stop giving heroin to an addict. Of course. It is the very first thing you must do. Otherwise, you will keep fighting permutations of the same adversary here for eternity.

During a recent meeting of his full national security team, President Donald Trump reportedly focused on Pakistans role in harbouring Islamist militants, and national security adviser HR McMaster pressed for a more punitive approach.

Among the Momand Valleys former residents, the belief that Pakistan wants to destroy Afghanistan is near universal. People eagerly share conspiratorial evidence of Pakistans hand in their calamity. Daesh leaders all speak Punjabi, one of Pakistans main languages; their long hair and beards are just wigs supplied by the Pakistani government; one man said that he had seen fighters swimming in the Momand River, and one had a big Pakistani flag tattooed on his biceps.

Mir Jamar and his family are living in an abandoned hotel since fleeing their village in Afghanistans Achin district (Washington Post)

Many of these people's homes were destroyed by US air strikes because they were suspected of being used by Isis-K as hideouts. Most shops in Shadal Bazaar, the valley's main market, were reduced to rubble, too, although the fighting is now far enough into the mountains that some butchers and barbers have dared to rebuild.

Yet the Momand Valley possesses a mesmerising beauty that makes those who fled yearn to return. If they do, they will find the evidence of Isis-K's presence not just in their ruined homes but in the few that were left standing. Isis-K converted Kitab Gul's home into a prison, for instance, and the disturbingly small cages in which they locked those accused of petty crimes such as smoking cigarettes are still lying about. The Afghan army has requisitioned Gul's home as a lookout post.

Despite the US bombing of their homes, and despite US support for Pakistan, locals were largely positive about the campaign to annihilate Isis-K.

They are not Muslim. Their only religion is cruelty, and there is nothing crueller than what they have done to us, said Mir Jamal, a proud but exhausted father of nine who has spent two years loading trucks for meagre sums since escaping his village with nothing but the clothes on his back. When fighters swept into the valley, Jamals brother and elderly father stayed behind to protect their home. They were caught. His brother's forearm was burned with embers from a fire, and he was waterboarded. His father was pitilessly beaten and now barely speaks.

My father had red cheeks. He prayed five times a day. He had a big chest, and he farmed late into his life, said Jamal, fighting back emotion. How can we ever accept Daesh?

 Washington Post
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A manhunt has been launched for a five-year-old girl who is believed to be with her father who is wanted by police.

Molly Owens is thought to be with Brian George Owens, 26, who has a warrant out for his arrest after he failed to turn up for sentencing at Caernarfon Magistrates' Court in North Wales on Friday.

Mr Owens was due in court to be sentenced for three counts of assault by beating of the same woman on three different occasions.

Molly, who lives in Anglesey, is described as having collar-length blonde hair and blue eyes.

It is not known what she is wearing at the time she disappeared but she sometimes wears pink glasses.

Mr Owens, of Maes Cyttir, Holyhead, is described as being 5ft 9in and of slim build with short brown hair and blue eyes.

North Wales Police said they are working with colleagues at British Transport Police and neighbouring forces to find the father and daughter.

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Chief Inspector Sharon McCairn, of North Wales Police, said: We are concerned for Molly's whereabouts and are appealing to anybody who may have information to contact us.

Equally, I am issuing a direct appeal for Brian Owens to make contact with us to let us know that both he and Molly are safe and well.

Anybody with information is asked to contact North Wales Police.
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A takeaway owner has told how he feared for his life when he chased down a gang of men rampaging through Liverpool and attacking anyone who said they were Christian.

Edris Nosrati was on his way home from a night out with friends when he saw the trio attacking a white man walking with his girlfriend.

I wanted to defend him so I went up and asked why are you doing this? the 35-year-old told The Independent.

Then they asked if I was a Muslim. I said it doesnt matter but the man said just give me an answer.

When I said I was a Muslim, he told me to say a Muslim word.

Mr Nosrati replied with the Shahada, an Arabic phrase affirming belief in the oneness of God and the Prophet Mohammed as his messenger.

Terrorists have previously demanded the declaration from hostages before mass executions and attacks, and the demand made Mr Nosrati fear he was dealing with Isis supporters.

They were asking people are you a Muslim or a Christian? and if they said they were a Christian they started punching them straight away, he said.

Ive never seen anything like that before.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 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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. 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The gang told Mr Nosrati, who moved to the UK from Iran eight years ago, that their attacks were none of your business and continued their rampage.

Alarmed, he followed behind the trio and called the police as they targeted another man, punching him in the face and filming the attack on a phone.

Mr Nosrati called the police at 3.30am and narrated the unfolding rampage while following from a distance.

After watching helpless as they targeted about six people, the police arrived but one of the attackers who had been filming the assaults on his phone attempted to evade officers.

Mr Nosrati said the man, since identified as 19-year-old Faruq Patel, appeared really relaxed playing with his mobile but appeared to be deleting incriminating videos.

I decided to go in and do something by myself, Mr Nosrati said, describing how he launched himself at Faruq in an attempt to grab the phone.

He punched me in the face but eventually I got him in a headlock and down on the floor.

Finally I got the mobile and gave it to the police.

The evidence and Mr Nosratis testimony was instrumental in prosecuting the attackers, who were jailed for religiously and racially aggravated assault and affray at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday.

Amin Mohmed, 24, of Perendale Rise in Bolton, was sentenced to 42 weeks imprisonment and Mohammed Patel, 20, of Eastbank Street in Bolton was handed the same term in a young offenders institution.

 George the Poet releases powerful video on hate crime on anniversary of Jo Cox murder

Faruq, of Crumpsall Street in Bolton, was sentenced to 18 weeks in a young offenders institution.

The judge, Recorder Louise Brandon, said the question about Mohammed confirmed those targeted that night were targeted because they were white and non-Muslim, the Liverpool Echo reported.

She described the rampage on 20 March 2016 as a disgraceful and sustained campaign of violence carried out on the streets of this city".

Merseyside Police said only two of their victims had come forward - Paul Lynch, a local councillor whose terrified girlfriend attempted to protect him, and Gary Bohanna.

Detective Inspector Mark Drew said the horrendous and unprovoked assaults targeted people who were simply going about their business in the busy Renshaw Street area of Liverpool.

I am sure the local community would agree that this type of behaviour has no place in Merseyside and I believe the sentences imposed by the court reflect how serious this matter has been treated, he added.

Any offences targeting people because of their race, disability, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity will not be tolerated.

Edris Nosrati, a 35-year-old takeaway owner, intervened as a trio of men launched random attacks on passers-by in Liverpool (Facebook)

Mr Nosrati said he was happy with the sentences and to have risked my life to ensure the men were brought to justice.

They were absolutely wrong absolute idiots, he added.

It doesnt matter if youre Muslim, Jewish, Christian or whatever  horrible people are horrible people.

Members of the public have been visiting and phoning the takeaway he runs, King Taco, to thank him for his intervention.

While most calls have been positive, praising Mr Nosrati as a hero, other well-wishers have expressed concern that he could be targeted with retaliatory attacks  but he says he has no regrets.

I felt I was responsible as a human to look after other humans, he said.

The victims live in my community and if someone is going something nasty like that Ill do what I can.

I think I did the right thing - and the attackers learned a good lesson.
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The Pope has led tributes to Charlie Gard, and prayed for the deceased babys parents and loved ones.

The 11-month-old, who suffered a rare brain disorder, died yesterday.

Writing on Twitter, Pope Francis said: I entrust little Charlie to the Father and pray for his parents and all those who loved him.

The childs plight captured hearts around the world, and his parents unsuccessful court battle to take him abroad for experimental treatment gained international media attention.

Pope Francis took a personal interest in the case and drew the attention of Catholics to Charlie earlier this month, when he announced he was following the familys struggle.

The Vatican press office said the pontiff prayed that "their wish to accompany and treat their child until the end is not neglected".

 Tributes flow in for Charlie Gard

President Donald Trump also tweeted about the case, saying the United States would be "delighted" to help if it could.

The intervention of the two high profile international figures sparked an international campaign to try and gain further treatment for the youngster.

Recommended Charlie Gard dies days before his first birthday

Following news of Charlie's death, Vice President Mike Pence tweeted: "Saddened to hear of the passing of Charlie Gard. Karen and I offer our prayers and condolences to his loving parents during this difficult time."

Prime Minister Theresa May also paid tribute to Charlies family.

"I am deeply saddened by the death of Charlie Gard, she said. My thoughts and prayers are with Charlie's parents Chris and Connie at this difficult time.

On Thursday, mother Connie Yates claimed she and Charlie's father, were "denied" their "final wish" when a High Court judge approved a plan to see Charlie moved to a hospice.

His parents had pleaded to be allowed more time with him, after their earlier request to take him home to die also failed.

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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

Charlie, who was born on 4 August last year, had a form of mitochondrial disease, a condition that causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage.

Described as "perfectly healthy" when he was born, Charlie was admitted to hospital at eight weeks and his condition progressively deteriorated.

The couple said they wanted to take their son across the Atlantic for nucleoside bypass therapy, but specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where Charlie was being cared for, said the treatment was experimental and would not help.
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Fire safety in prisons has been labelled a catastrophe waiting to happen after it was revealed every prison inspection in England and Wales in 2016 resulted in a non-compliance order.

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, which claimed at least 80 lives, Mark Leech, the editor of the Prisons Handbook, carried out Freedom of Information (FOI) requests asking for the fire safety inspection reports of prisons last year.

All of the 19 inspections resulted in a red-flag, known as a non-compliance notice, and in some cases Statutory Enforcement Notices were then then given to prison governors who failed to take action within 28 days.

There were 2,580 fires in prisons in England and Wales in 2016  almost 50 a week  according to a Parliamentary written answer given in March this year.

None of the documents  the non-compliance notices, the 28-day warning letters or the Statutory Enforcement Notices  had previously been made public, Mr Leech claimed.

In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Show all 51 1 /51 In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementis Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire

Mr Leech told The Independent the results of the investigation were truly shocking, not only for the UK's 85,000 prisoners and 28,000 prison staff, but for the hundreds of thousands of people who visit prisons each year who could be caught up in a fire.

Mr Leech, who published his findings on prisons.org.uk, said he decided to investigate because Grenfell changed everything.

He said: I actually hadnt thought much about fire safety in prisons until Grenfell, even though I have been involved in prison campaigns for years.

When I got the results and every single [inspection] was a failure, it was a real shock, even to a campaigner like me who is used to failings in the system. Its a catalogue of decay and collapse and of course, we urge the Government to take action urgently.

Recommended Government announces review of building regulations after Grenfell

He added: It is a catastrophe waiting to happen, but what I want is for that catastrophe to be averted. The last thing I want is to be the person saying, I told you so. It can be prevented and thats what I want.

A catastrophe was predicted at Grenfell Tower by residents who warned repeatedly on the Grenfell Action Blog that they believed it would take a major fire for the authorities to take notice of their concerns.

Recommended 181 cladding samples have failed fire safety tests after Grenfell

Mr Leech said his contacts in the prison service have warned him of their fears over cladding on prisons following Grenfell, where it is believed flammable panels caused the fire to engulf the building.

The majority of prisons are clad, one way or another, often to help stop people escaping from drainpipes and staging rooftop protests, so of course its a real concern.

Mr Leech added: Of those two and a half thousand fires a year, the majority are minor  but the fridge fire that is suspected to have started the fire on the 4th floor of Grenfell was also minor to begin with.

In the wake of the West London inferno at Grenfell  the UKs deadliest blaze for more than a century  authorities including Kensington and Chelsea Council and the tenants' management organisation were accused of treating poorer people with contempt.

But Mr Leech stressed he does not think the fire safety failings in prisons are a deliberate way of failing to respect the human rights of prisoners.

Its not about the Government or prison staff treating prisoners with contempt  in my view, it is about not having enough staff to make sure health and safety is a priority.

While the prison population has increased, 900m has been cut from the prison budget since 2010 and there have been four Justice Secretaries in the last two years, which Mr Leech believes has led to a disorientated prison service.

He added that fires were an inevitability of prison life.

Youve got criminals including arsonists, but also many people with mental health problems.

In that atmosphere, governors have to prioritise staff and bluntly, when it comes to unlocking prisoners for medication, food or visits, or conducting fire safety checks, the latter doesnt even come near the top of the list."

He said he believed such failings would not be tolerated in any other place than in prisons.

HM Prisons Inspectorate has statutory responsibility for inspecting prisons but not fire safety.

The responsibility for inspecting fire safety in prisons rests with the Crown Properties Fire Inspection Group (CPFIG) which is a part of the Home Office.

Mr Leech said: It is obvious from the shocking reports that I have uncovered that the theory and practice are light-years apart.

Continuing Crown Immunity from prosecution for failures in places which have 50 fires a week and which, by necessity detain those with mental health problems and convictions for arson, must now surely end  it is simply inexplicable in this day and age.

A Prison Services spokesperson said: We take fire safety extremely seriously. All nineteen prisons have undertaken immediate action to address the recommendations made by the inspection group.

Every single prison across the estate has a mandatory annual fire risk assessment, carried out by a fire safety specialist, and individual fire strategies in place which are closely monitored.

The Ministry of Justice added that none of its prisons have the type of cladding believed to have been used at Grenfell Tower.
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A British man who allegedly hacked into US government computer systems, including those of the FBI, Army and Department of Defence, has said he would rather kill himself than spend decades locked up in an American prison.

I wont go to America," Lauri Love told The Telegraph. But I might die  thats my alternative.

The 32-year-old from Suffolk added: "Its a bit morbid to count the number of times youve had suicidal thoughts, but it was getting to be six to 12 times a day at a peak last winter."

Mr Love who has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, said he suffers from severe depression and antibiotic-resistant eczema. His mental health has suffered greatly since being charged.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge has planned in great detail how he could commit suicide without being detected.

Mr Love faces charges that he carried out a series of cyber attacks against the websites and computer systems of Nasa, the Federal Reserve, Department of Defence, the US Army and the FBI. He is also accused of stealing large amounts of data and defacing official websites.

If found guilty, he could spend up to 99 years in prison and faces fines of 7m.

In April, the High Court granted Mr Love permission to appeal against his extradition to the United States.

Karen Todner, his solicitor, said: The reason permission has been granted is that the High Court acknowledge that the grounds raised some issues of great importance.

A hearing date has not yet been scheduled and Ms Todner said she was prepared to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.

So far, Mr Love has faced three extradition requests from separate US court districts for his alleged involvement in hacking the US government as part of a protest following the death of internet activist Aaron Swartz.

Hackers turned gatekeepers: Digital vigilantes with a moral code Show all 2 1 /2 Hackers turned gatekeepers: Digital vigilantes with a moral code Hackers turned gatekeepers: Digital vigilantes with a moral code 428222.bin Nate Grigg Hackers turned gatekeepers: Digital vigilantes with a moral code 428223.bin

At the time of his suicide, 26-year-old Mr Swartz was facing up to 35 years jail time and $1m (761,000) in fines.

In a separate interview Mr Love told the BBC he was prepared to work with the US authorities in actionable intelligence on vulnerabilities".

On his Twitter feed, he also remains unrepentant.

Observe my complete lack of willingness to be abducted by the USA, he said in a statement.

He also continued to plead his innocence: "I am not accused to any sort of criminal gain or of attempting to make money or cause damage, I am accused of using the internet in only 'non-naughty ways'."
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The family of a young black man who died after a police chase in London have appealed for calm amid fears of fresh disorder in the capital.

Violence broke out in Dalston following a peaceful protest over Rashan Charles death on Friday, with masked young men setting up barricades, starting fires and launching fireworks and bottles at police.

The disorder came after a peaceful protest outside Stoke Newington Police station, where relatives of Mr Charles and Edson Da Costa, another black man who died following contact with police weeks before, returned on Saturday.

Stafford Scott, who stood next to Mr Charles at the vigil and spoke on behalf of the family, directly addressed the young people who protested the night before.

Don't feel that the family don't feel that anger and that frustration too. But what the family knows is that taking it to the streets doesn't give you justice, he said.

Mr Scott said the family have found the best legal support they can and are now asking the community to support them in their struggle but with peace on the streets.

No justice, no peace doesn't mean violence - it means we will not watch this in silence, he added on their behalf.

Mr Charles family have said that they were determined to get answers over the 20-year-olds death, after a police officer was caught on CCTV restraining him on a shop floor.

We will achieve this by acting within the law, and ensure there is individual and organisational accountability, a statement said.

We appreciate all support but any hostile actions or other events, at this stage, that may risk detracting from our current cooperative engagement with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and Metropolitan Police is unwelcome.

Riot police at a protest in Kingsland Road in east London, where people gathered in response to the death of Rashan Charles. (PA)

Following Friday nights disorder, Hackney police tweeted that officers being subjected to abuse and violence is patently not what the family of Mr Charles wanted.

Diane Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP, said: The anger and upset at the death of Rashan Charles is understandable.

"But Rashan's family have explicitly spoken out against hostile actions. We must respect their wishes and any protests must be peaceful.''

Shocked residents filmed the disorder from their homes in Kingsland Road, as a group stopped traffic and cyclists, at one point jumping on to a lorry that drove through their barricades.

Activists, some wearing masks, clung to the vehicles wing mirrors and tried to vandalise the cab as it ploughed through the bins lined up in its path.

The lorry eventually came to a stop, with its window and windscreen smashed, but left the scene after speaking to police.

Senior community members have called for calm after protests yesterday over the death of Rashan Charles (PA)

The barricades had been set up shortly before 4pm, using wheelie bins, mattresses and debris that was set on fire as night fell.

Angry clashes broke out at around 10pm, as scores of missiles were launched at police as they attempted to disperse the group.

Restaurants and bars pulled down their shutters, locking customers inside, as the mob was pushed down Kingsland High Street and beyond Dalston Kingsland Station.

Recommended CCTV shows police throw Rashan Charles to ground in shop before death

The Metropolitan Police said one officer suffered an injury to his eye and a member of the public was knocked from his bicycle and assaulted, as riot police and mounted officers were deployed.

The disorder continued until 11.40pm and one suspect, a 17-year-old boy, has been arrested on suspicion of causing grevious bodily harm.

Detective Superintendent Claire Crawley, from Hackney Borough, said: The disorder of last night was separate from the peaceful protest at Stoke Newington Police Station that was held earlier that day.

"Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured, but there was inconvenience to local residents and road users and damage caused to vehicles, a cash machine and a number of windows.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters 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 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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

"We will always support the right to lawful protest but behaviour such as that seen last night cannot be tolerated.

The IPCC said it understand the concerns raised following Mr Charles death and was engaging with community members and representatives, including young people to explain its work.

We will independently examine the circumstances of this incident, we will follow the evidence, we will consider whether there is an indication there may have been misconduct or criminality, and we will seek to answer the questions that Rashans family and the community of Hackney understandably have, a spokesperson said.

The investigation is at an early stagewe will continue to provide updates to Rashans family, the community, and the wider public, as we learn more and verify and confirm information

Mr Charles died in hospital shortly after the altercation with a police officer on 22 July, while Mr Da Costa died on 21 June, six days after he was detained by police who stopped the car he was travelling in with friends in Beckton.

Campaigners claim he that he was brutally beaten but the IPCC, which is also investigating his death, said an early pathology report showed no sign of serious injury and that he had a number of packages in his throat.
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Theresa May faces another potential obstacle in the Brexit negotiations as the European Parliaments chief negotiator warns the voices of MEPs will be heard before any trade negotiations begin.

Speaking to The Independent, Guy Verhofstadt said that while the European Council and Michel Barnier, the EUs top negotiator, will ultimately decide when to kick-start trade talks with Britain, MEPs will also provide an assessment to Mr Barnier in the autumn through a resolution.

It is clear that to satisfy the interests of the European Parliament, British negotiators will have to make major progress on the paramount issue of citizens rights during the summer months. If they fail to do so, then Mr Verhofstadt will recommend to the council that talks should not enter phase two  Britains future relationship with the EU and the Prime Ministers priority.

Mr Verhofstadt told The Independent: EU Governments will ultimately assess and decide whether sufficient progress has been made on the divorce issues, in order to start discussing what a future EU-UK relationship might look like, in addition to any request by the British Government for transitional arrangements.

I am adamant that the European Parliament, as the directly elected body representing European citizens, will also provide its assessment to the council, via the adoption of a parliamentary resolution, about whether or not we can go into phase two.

Our voice will be heard, he added.

His comments are significant as it was previously thought that just Mr Barnier would present a report card to the 27 EU leaders in the autumn on whether he was satisfied sufficient progress had been made in the Brexit talks to proceed to trade negotiations. But it is now clear that British negotiators will also have to satisfy the interests of the European Parliament on the complex issue of citizens rights as the institution will provide a separate assessment on progress, creating another potential hurdle for Ms May.

Mr Verhofstadt continued: We cannot negotiate with ourselves. It would be wrong for the UK Government to take the citizens rights issue hostage - the leave campaign promised EU citizens in the UK would be treated no less favourably than they are at present  it's time for responsible politicians to deliver on this promise, so EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU can continue to live their lives as they do now.

The former Belgian Prime Minister also warned Ms May that the clock is ticking and that valuable negotiating time has already been wasted  a reference to the Prime Ministers unsuccessful snap election gamble that put the Brexit talks aside for three months.

His intervention follows reports that Michael Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, had warned talks on a future trade deal could be stalled by two months due to lack of progress on the highly contentious issue of a financial settlement with the UK  often referred to as the so-called divorce bill.

While there has been no official figure provided by Mr Barniers team, speculation has placed the financial settlement as high as 100bn (89bn).

In a House of Lords committee earlier this month Mr Verhofstaft also told peers: We have decided to make a resolution in October-November indicating whether sufficient progress has been made, he said.

In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions European commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations with Britain, French Michel Barnier listens at the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Getty Images In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, delivers his speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg EPA In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, President of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), addresses the European Parliament during a debate on Brexit priorities and the upcomming talks on the UK's withdrawal from the EU Reuters In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Michel Barnier, European Chief Negotiator for Brexit reacts during a meeting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg EPA In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Member of the European Parliament and former leader of the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage wears socks with Union Jack flag at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Getty Images In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Nigel Farage, United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) member and MEP, addresses the European Parliament during a debate on Brexit priorities and the upcoming talks on the UK's withdrawal from the EU Reuters In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions European commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations with Britain, French Michel Barnier gestures during speeches at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Getty In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker (L) speaks with European commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations with Britain, French Michel Barnier at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Getty In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, President of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), addresses the European Parliament during a debate on Brexit priorities and the upcomming talks on the UK's withdrawal from the EU Reuters In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Getty In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier delivers a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Getty In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions The European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France Getty Images

The council will decide on this, but the parliament will give its assessment on it, he added. I do not think it impossible that if we say there has been sufficient progress, the council will say no  or we say there is not sufficient progress but the council says there is. It will be very important when, at the end of October and the beginning of November, we assess whether we can go into phase two.

Earlier this week Mr Verhofstadt, alongside other MEPs from the Brexit steering group in the European Parliament, met with Mr Barnier to discuss the progress of the talks. In a statement issued shortly after the session, Mr Verhoftstadt added: The European Parliament cannot be clear enough that sufficient progress means progress across the board, and not just in one or two areas. The European Parliament will formally and in due time indicate when the point of sufficient progress has been reached.

During the second round of Brexit talks last week David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, held a joint press conference with Mr Barnier. But as the talks concluded  before the parliamentary recess  negotiators failed to produce any substantial breakthrough on key disputes, including the financial settlement, the future rights of citizens and the Irish border.
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The Government ignored expert advice and made changes in 2015 that made it easier to buy dangerous acids that have been used in a spate of attacks in recent weeks, The Independent can reveal.

Changes made in the Deregulation Act 2015 scrapped an obligation on sellers of dangerous substances, including acids, to be registered with their local council. The move was opposed by medical experts, who warned that it could make it easier for criminals to get their hands on highly toxic substances, and by the Governments own advisory board on the regulation of hazardous chemicals.

Ministers boasted at the time about cutting red tape but are now under mounting pressure from MPs and campaigners to re-tighten laws to make it harder for people to get their hands on highly concentrated acids. It comes after dozens of people were injured in a spate of acid attacks, with London being particularly affected by the incidents.

Under previous legislation, namely the 1972 Poisons Act, any business selling dangerous substances was required to register annually with their local council, ensuring there was a record of companies selling hazardous chemicals. Those selling the most lethal chemicals also needed a licence from the Home Office.

However, the 2015 changes scrapped this requirement and now mean there is no longer any registration or licence needed to sell many dangerous chemicals. Only the most potent toxins, including those used to make explosives, are deemed regulated substances and require a licence to sell. Sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid are included on a separate list of reportable substances that do not require a licence.

Instead of having to register with their local council, sellers of reportable substances are merely required to tell authorities about anyone buying a substance if the supplier has reasonable grounds for believing the transaction to be suspicious, such as if there is a suspicion the chemical is intended for the illicit manufacture of explosives or any illicit use.

The law says reasons for such suspicions could be if the customer is vague or uncertain about how they will use the substance, wants to buy large quantities, is unwilling to provide proof of ID or insists on unusual methods of payment.

If none of these take place, people are free to buy and sell powerful acids without any regulation, licensing or registration.

The changes made in 2015 were against the recommendations of the Poisons Board, a panel of experts established to advise ministers on regulating the trade in dangerous substances, who favoured tightening, rather than weakening, regulations so that high concentrations of acid could be sold only by licensed pharmacists.

However, ministers ignored the advice and used the Deregulation Act to completely abolish the Poisons Board.

Doctors were also opposed to relaxing regulations on the sale of poisons. In its response to the Home Office consultation on the proposals, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh wrote: The college disagrees with the proposals... Experts consulted by the college would prefer for at least the status quo to be maintained or more rigorous controls put in place.

If the intention is to restrict the access [to highly toxic chemicals], then [the proposed change] does not work since they appear to be no longer controlled.

The indicators of a suspicious transaction are subjective in some cases and require skill and experience to perform effectively. Pharmacists are well placed to do this as they are used to dealing with people attempting to obtain drugs inappropriately. It is not clear if other retailers could take on this responsibility effectively.

 Hundreds of mopeds block road outside Parliament in protest over acid attacks

At the time, Conservative ministers boasted about cutting red tape for business and claimed the change would save retailers 20,000 a year.

Oliver Letwin, the then Tory minister responsible for taking the changes through Parliament, claimed the system of making sellers of dangerous chemicals register with local councils was an entirely purposeless exercise, which has gone on for years and years. The changes to laws on dangerous substances were considerable advances, he said during a speech to MPs.

Campaigners told The Independent the deregulation could have made it easier for perpetrators to get their hands on the acids used in recent attacks.

Jaf Shah, executive director of Acid Survivors Trust International, said it was already clear that acid attacks were on the rise at the time the Government decided to relax laws on the sale of acids.

"I was becoming aware of an increase in acid attacks as early as 2013/14", he said.

"If tighter controls and legislation and stricter regulation had been introduced then there's a real possibility that some of the attacks may have been prevented. It may have acted as a sufficient deterrent for a number of would-be perpetrators.

"In light of the new, horrendous number of attacks being reported, the Government clearly needs to act pretty swiftly."

Mr Shah said that, if the Government had followed the Poisons Board's advice and tightened regulations rather than relaxing them, "it could have averted a number of attacks".

He called for immediate changes to re-introduce a licencing system, prevent cash purchases of acid because debit or credit card transactions are more traceable, and introduce an age restriction for purchasing acid.

Manufacturers should also make products less corrosive and thicker so they cannot be thrown or sprayed as easily, he said.

"Where there's a licencing system, it does seem to work. It will act as a deterrent to a number of young would-be perpetrators. If it was the case that the licencing system didn't work then you could argue there shouldn't be a licencing system for guns and knives.

"We need to see concentrated acids as a lethal weapon as we do guns and knives. A lot of the damage that's done in acid attacks carries lifelong repercussions because most survivors are targeted on their face, which leaves lifelong scarring and sometimes permanent disability in the form of blindness. The trauma lives with the survivor for many, many years. Most survivors say they can't shake it off because they have to face it every morning in the mirror."

The number of acid attacks in the UK has soared in recent months. Assaults involving the substance have more than doubled since 2012 and increased by 74 per cent in the past year alone, with the vast majority of incidents taking place in London.

Last year, there were 504 reports of acid attacks in the UK  up from 183 in 2012.

One suspect, named as Rahad Hussain, appeared in court yesterday over an acid attack in East London on Tuesday that left two men, aged 23 and 24, with "life-changing" injuries. The 23-year-old, who is from Tower Hamlets, has been charged with two counts of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and one count of possession of an offensive weapon, namely acid. He was remanded in custody.

Earlier in July, five attacks were carried out in the space of 90 minutes in east London. One of the victims was left with life changing injuries.

Police say gang members are increasingly carrying substances such as acid instead of knives because the law is less strict on this type of weapon. It is illegal to carry a knife without a good reason, whereas carrying acid is not an offence unless it can be proved that it is to be used to commit a crime.

While it is impossible to link the rise in attacks to the change in law, ministers are likely to face questions as to why they removed the registration of sellers.

 Five acid attacks carried out across London

They are now urgently looking at tightening the laws around acids to make it more difficult to sell, buy and carry the substances.

We are working with the police to see what more we could do, the Prime Ministers spokesman said last week. A Home Office spokesperson also confirmed the department is working on it.

In the wake of the attacks, politicians including London Mayor Sadiq Khan called on the Government to tighten regulations and re-introduce a system similar in nature to the one that was in place before the 2015 reforms.

Labour MPs such as Stephen Timms and Lyn Brown have called for legal reforms to make carrying acid an offence on a par with carrying a knife.

When Parliament returns in the autumn, Ms Brown is to table legislation that is likely to seek to restrict the sale of acids and increase penalties on those found carrying the substance.

Ms Brown said there needed to be questions asked as to whether the Governments deregulatory reforms made it easier for criminals to get their hands on dangerous acids.

The changes that the Tory and Liberal Democrat Coalition Government introduced in their 2015 Deregulation Act removed any requirement for sellers of corrosive substances including concentrated forms of sulphuric acid to be registered with local councils, she told The Independent.

We need to understand if the changes have allowed criminals to buy these dangerous chemicals for very low prices and with no realistic safeguards in place. The experts who sat on the former Poisons Board, who had responsibility for advising the Government on this, voiced concerns about these changes, but the Tories and their allies went ahead regardless.

I will be pushing for changes to these laws over the coming months. I am continuing to consult with independent experts and campaigners, and with the police and other emergency service workers, to find better ways to keep these chemicals out of the hands of criminals. The Government needs to act quickly so that our communities are made safe from this threat.

In addition to dangerous chemicals being sold in shops, high-strength acids are now widely available online. Amazon, for example, has numerous listings for 500ml bottles of laboratory grade sulphuric acid. A litre of the potentially lethal substance can be purchased for just 14.99.

The Home Office declined to comment on the 2015 changes but said it was now looking at how to restrict the sale of acids. A spokesperson said: Acid attacks are horrific crimes which have a devastating effect on victims.

Last week we announced a new strategy to reduce the number and impact of these vile crimes.

This will include a review of the Poisons Act and further work with retailers to restrict the sale of acids and other corrosive substances.
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The number of young people targeted by criminals to be "money mules" - people who let their bank accounts be used to launder money - has doubled, according to a fraud prevention service.

Cifas, which aims at reducing financial crime in the UK, said that the number of misuse of facility frauds involving those under 21 years of age, has risen sharply.

There were 4,222 cases in the first half of 2017, compared with 2,143 in the first part of 2916, the fraud prevention service said.

It also reported that 65 per cent of the 17,040 incidents in the UK in the first six months of 2017 were committed by those under 30.

This type of fraud normally sees an individual allowing their bank account to be used in transferring money, according to Cifas, making it more difficult for authorities to monitor.

The organisation has also called for children to receive fraud education in the national curriculum.

We are trying to prevent young people from getting involved in something that could end up being quite damaging," said Sandra Peaston, Cifas, assistant director. "Not just the repercussions of laundering money but getting involved in organised crime can get very nasty.

Ms Peaston added that criminals were advertising on social media, offering cash if youngsters allow them to use their bank accounts.

The Metropolitan Police has sent out warnings to parents through London schools after worries that school children are being approached outside school gates. There have been several cases recorded outside of London according to The Times.

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Youngsters have been approached with violent threats if they did not consent, say police.

Parents were warned to talk to their children so they are on alert concerning these money laundering schemes, as they may not be aware that this is a criminal offence and could damage their credit status in the future.

Operation Falcon, the Met polices fraud department sent out a letter explaining how youngsters are lured in. This is either done by force or for a financial incentive. We need your support to help educate young people around this issue.

Bank accounts are private and must only be used by the account holder. Any misuse could not only be criminal but could cause serious credit issues for the account holder.

Children as young as 13 now have bank accounts, said Detective Chief Inspector Gay Miles, and they now have access to money that they didnt have before.

To report money mule fraud, members of the public can contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.
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Donald Trump is to sign a bill in the coming days that imposes fresh sanctions on Russia, the White House said.

The US Senate voted almost unanimously for the crackdown earlier this week for the legislation which forces Mr Trump to seek approval from Congress if he wishes to ease the sanctions.

As a result the US leader will have to take a hard line with Moscow after US intelligence agencies concluded that the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 presidential election to help Mr Trump pull off his shock victory.

It dashes his pledge for better ties with the Moscow as the agencies investigate whether his campaign colluded with Russian hackers to dig up dirt on his then White House rival Hillary Clinton.

Russia hit back after the sanctions were approved overwhelmingly in the Senate, accusing Washington of extreme aggression in international affairs.

Its Foreign Ministry also ordered the US to cut back its diplomatic staff in Moscow by 1 September and to shut down its embassy recreational retreat on the outskirts of the capital.

The White House last night issued a statement saying Mr Trump would sign the bill after reviewing the final version.

President Donald J. Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it, the White House statement said. He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it.

Analysts said the US president was under pressure to sign the bill or face anger from Republicans. His new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci told CNN that the U.S president may veto the legislation.

The fresh package of sanctions targets Russia's aggression in Ukraine and Syria, citing corruption, human rights abuses and weapons sales.

The bill also aims to hit Vladimir Putin and his inner circle by targeting alleged corrupt officials, and crucial sectors of Russias fragile economy, including its energy sector.

Russia's Foreign Ministry dismissed the new sanctions as "creating unfair competitive advantages for the US economy.

"This kind of blackmail aimed at restricting the cooperation between Russia and other nations is a threat for many countries and global businesses," the statement said.

Russian policemen stand guard in front of the US Embassy in Moscow (AFP/Getty Images)

Russia's response to order the US to cut its number of diplomats in Moscow mirrors moves by outgoing President Barack Obama last December to expel 35 Russian diplomats and shut down two Russian estates in the US.

The Kremlin had previously said that it would not impose any sanctions on the US until Mr Trump signs the bill - which he is expected to do in the coming days.

The Senate backed the sanctions bill by a margin of 98-2 with strong support from Mr Trump's fellow Republicans as well as Democrats.
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War between the US and North Korea is not unimaginable, Americas most senior military officer has said.

Marine General Joseph Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not rule out the possibility of a horrific conflict.

Although admitting that such a war would involve massive loss of life, General Dunford said it was his duty to prepare military options in order to protect US citizens.

Recommended Hawaii prepares for possible nuclear attack from North Korea

"Many people have talked about military options with words like 'unimaginable,'" he said. "I would probably shift that slightly and say it would be horrific, and it would be a loss of life unlike any we have experienced in our lifetimes, and I mean anyone who's been alive since the Second World War has never seen the loss of life that could occur if there's a conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

"But as I've told my counterparts, both friend and foe, it is not unimaginable to have military options to respond to North Korean nuclear capability. What's unimaginable to me is allowing a capability that would allow a nuclear weapon to land in Denver, Colorado. That's unimaginable to me. So my job will be to develop military options to make sure that doesn't happen."

General Dunford was speaking at the Aspen Security Forum of intelligence and national security officials.

North Korea has continued to test long-range ballistic missiles in recent weeks and is believed to be have developed several nuclear warheads, despite threats of severe consequences from the US and its Western allies.

It is thought Pyongyang does not currently have the technology required to launch a nuclear weapon at the US but Donald Trump has vowed to take strong action against the communist state.

North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone Show all 13 1 /13 North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP North Korea trading despite nuclear sanctions - Inside the country's special economic zone AP

On Tuesday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman threatening to launch a nuclear attack to the heart of the US should the Trump administration attempt to remove President Kim Jong-un from power.

Should the US dare to show even the slightest sign of attempt to remove our supreme leadership, we will strike a merciless blow at the heart of the US with our powerful nuclear hammer, honed and hardened over time, the spokesman is reported to have said.

The threat was a response to Mike Pompeo, the CIA Director, hinting that US intelligence agencies were considering trying to overthrow the dictator.

Mr Pompeo told the Aspen conference that the US wanted to separate North Koreas nuclear weapons from the character who holds control over them today.

"The North Korea people  I'm sure are lovely people  and would love to see him go as well, he added.

It comes as US defence officials warned that North Korea is planning another inter-continental missile test to coincide with the 27 July anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

Donald Trump has promised to deal very strongly with North Korea and said the US is considering severe things in response to the missile tests.
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Donald Trump has called for a change in Senate rules to remove key checks and balances - the second time in less than 24 hours that he has made the demand.

The US President called for an end to a longstanding rule that requires at least 60 of the 100 senators to vote down attempts to block legislation being passed, saying only a simple majority should be needed.

He claimed the current checks and balances are making the Republicans look like fools and called on the partys Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, to scrap the outdated rule.

He wrote on Twitter: Republican Senate must get rid of 60 vote NOW! It is killing the R Party, allows 8 Dems to control country. 200 Bills sit in Senate. A JOKE!

The very outdated filibuster rule must go. Budget reconciliation is killing R's in Senate. Mitch M, go to 51 Votes NOW and WIN. IT'S TIME!

Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don't go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time.

8 Dems totally control the U.S. Senate. Many great Republican bills will never pass, like Kate's Law and complete Healthcare. Get smart!

If the Senate Democrats ever got the chance, they would switch to a 51 majority vote in first minute. They are laughing at R's. MAKE CHANGE!

The latest series of tweets came less than a day after Mr Trump said the Senate must immediately go to a 51 vote majority, not senseless 60.

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images

Even though parts of healthcare could pass at 51, some really good things need 60. So many great future bills & budgets need 60 votes, he tweeted.

Mr Trumps demands come after the Senate voted against his plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act  widely known as Obamacare.

Republican attempts to repeal the policy, which expanded health insurance to millions more Americans, have repeatedly been blocked.

Recommended First candidate declares bid to challenge Donald Trump in 2020

Senators rejected the latest repeal bill by 51 to 49 in the early hours of Friday morning after three Republicans, including former presidential candidate John McCain, voted against the proposals.

The Republican leadership had been trying to pass the bill by using the budget reconciliation process, which allows legislation to pass with a simple majority if it meets certain requirements, including reducing the budget deficit.

Most other bills can be filibustered - when debate is extended with the aim of blocking legislation - and, since 1975, 60 votes have been needed to end a filibuster, leaving the current Republican leadership short of the numbers it needs to pass key legislation.

Mr Trump has previously called the Senates system of checks and balances archaic and a really bad thing for the country.
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Iranian and US forces have reportedly engaged in another spat in the Persian Gulf as tensions between the two countries heat up following the US Congresss approval of new sanctions against Iran.

A US Navy aircraft carrier fired a warning shot in an unprofessional confrontation with Iranian vessels, Irans elite Revolutionary Guard told a state news agency in the country.

The USS Nimitz and an accompanying ship came near an Iranian offshore oil platform in the Persian Gulf, and a helicopter from the ship hovered near vessels manned by Irans elite Revolutionary Guard, the Islamic Republic News Agency said.

Recommended US announces new Iran sanctions over use of ballistic missiles

The confrontation occurred on Friday afternoon, according to the report. US Navy ships left the area following the encounter.

The US Navys Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet had no immediate comment.

The incident comes after a US Navy patrol boat fired warning shots on Tuesday near an Iranian vessel that American sailors said came dangerously close to them during a tense encounter.

Iran and the US frequently have run-ins in the Persian Gulf, nearly all involving the Revolutionary Guard, a separate force from Irans military that answers only to the countrys supreme leader. In January, near the end of then-President Barack Obamas term, the USS Mahan fired shots toward Iranian fast-attack boats as they neared the destroyer in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian forces view the American presence in the Gulf as a provocation. They have accused the US Navy of unprofessional behaviour, especially in the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil trade passes by sea.

Also Saturday, Irans parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy held an urgent meeting to review its response to a package of sanctions approved by the US Senate and sent to Donald Trump to be signed into law.

Iran's 'Trumpism' contest Show all 10 1 /10 Iran's 'Trumpism' contest Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images

Deputy foreign minister and senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araghchi told state TV that the sanctions package is a hostile breach of the Iran deal, which was signed in 2015 during the Obama administration and sharply limited Irans ability to produce nuclear material in exchange for the countrys reintegration into the world economy.

Mr Trump in the past has blasted the Iran nuclear accord as the stupidest deal of all time, but has certified to Congress that Iran is still complying with the terms of the agreement.

Mr Araghchi said the new sanctions are a breach of the deal in articles 26, 28 and 29.

A strong answer will be given to the action by the US, he said.

The articles say the US Administration, acting consistently with the respective roles of the President and Congress, will refrain from reimposing the sanctions or any policy specifically intended to directly and adversely affect the normalisation of trade and economic relations with Iran.

The US legislation imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Irans ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. The measure would also apply terrorism sanctions to Irans elite Revolutionary Guard and enforce an arms embargo. Democrats said the new sanctions would not conflict with the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

On Friday, the United States, France, Germany and Britain  who brokered the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran along with China, Russia and the EU  said theyre raising concerns with the United Nations over Irans Thursday launch of a satellite-carrying rocket into space.

In a joint statement, they said that Irans launch was inconsistent with a UN Security Council resolution that enshrined the nuclear deal.

On Saturday Irans foreign ministry said the missile program is part of domestic policy of the country, deterrent and at service of regional peace and security.

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since 1979 when Iranian militant students stormed the US embassy and took 52 American hostages for 444 days.

Agencies contributed to this report
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The race to replace Donald Trump has begun after the first candidate declared his intention to run in the 2020 US presidential election.

John Delaney, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, has announced he will seek his partys presidential nomination in a bid to defeat Mr Trump.

Mr Delaney, 54, tweeted: Im running for President.

In an article for The Washington Post, he set out a policy programme emphasising his socially liberal and pro-business views.

Mr Delaney said his politics was based on simultaneously celebrating the power of our free-market economy while insisting that there is a role for government to set goals and rules of the road and take care of those who are left behind.

In a message focused on preparing our country for the future, the congressman highlighted technological innovation, automation and globalisation as issues that needed political attention.

We need to encourage a more just and inclusive form of capitalism and reduce barriers to small-business formation, start-ups, job creation, investment and growth, he added. We need to strengthen our safety-net programs and create a new social contract.

Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Show all 22 1 /22 Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump talk as they leave the Army Museum at Les Invalides in Paris AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump arrive for the group photo at the G7 Taormina summit on the island of Sicily in May 2017 Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Mr Trump was pressed on the subject at the G7 summit in Italy Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump gives a speeech at the Warsaw Uprising Monument on Krasinski Square Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May during a ceremony at the NATO headquarters before the start of a summit in Brussels, Belgium Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Montenegro's Prime Minister Dusko Markovic is seen to the right of Donald Trump at a Nato summit in Brussels REUTERS Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis meeting with US President Donald J. Trump EPA Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis poses with US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump arrives at Palazzo del Quirinale ahead of the meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella Ufficio Stampa Presidenza della via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is seen during a joint press conference with the Palestinian leader at the presidential palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas meets US President Donald Trump PPO via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with US President Donald Trump prior to the President's departure GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering a speech at the Israel Museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump lay a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance as White House senior advisor Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump watch on during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem accompanied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump takes his seat before his speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump look at a display of Saudi modern art at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud take part in a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips King Salman presents Donald Trump with The Collar of Abdulaziz al-Saud Medal at the Royal Court Palace on 20 May AP Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is welcomed by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud upon arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn prior to their first foreign trip Getty Images

Mr Delaney said he would not be seeking re-election to Congress in order to focus on his presidential bid.

To do this work with the commitment it deserves, I will not be running for re-election to the House of Representatives, he said. No games, no cat-and-mouse, no backup plan at the 11th hour if a focus group goes badly.

Mr Delaney has represented Maryland in the House of Representatives since 2013. He grew up in a blue-collar family but made his fortune by co-founding a pair of healthcare and financial companies that went on to be floated on the New York Stock Exchange.

He is the first candidate to announce his 2020 presidential bid. Others Democrats tipped to run include senators Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts and Kamala Harris from California.

Veteran Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has also not ruled out a second challenge after losing out to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 contest.
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One by one, the markers of Venezuelas democracy have been pushed aside.

First, the Supreme Court was packed with loyalists of the President, and several opposition politicians were blocked from taking their seats. Then, judges overturned laws that the President opposed, and elections for governors around the country were suddenly suspended.

Next, the court ruled in favour of dissolving the legislature entirely, a move that provoked such an outcry in Venezuela and abroad that the decision was soon reversed.

Now, President Nicolas Maduro is pushing a radical plan to consolidate his leftist movements grip over the nation: he is creating a political body with the power to rewrite the countrys constitution and reshuffle  or dismantle  any branch of government seen as disloyal.

The new body, called a constituent assembly, is expected to grant virtually unlimited authority to the countrys leftists.

Venezuelans are going to the polls tomorrow to weigh in on the plan. But they will not have the option of rejecting it, even though some polls show that large majorities oppose the assemblys creation. Instead, voters will be asked only to pick the assemblys delegates, choosing from a list of stalwarts of Mr Maduros political movement.

The new assembly will rule above all other governmental powers  technically even the President  with the kind of unchecked authority not seen since the juntas that haunted Latin American countries in decades past.

This is an existential threat to Venezuelan democracy, said David Smilde, an analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights advocacy group.

The list of delegates includes powerful members of the Presidents political movement, including Diosdado Cabello, a top politician in the ruling Socialist Party who was involved in a failed coup attempt in the 1990s, and Cilia Flores, the Presidents wife.

But the push to consolidate power also puts the country at a crossroads, one laden with risk.

As Maduro effectively steers his country toward one-party rule, he sets it on a collision course with the United States, which buys nearly half of Venezuelas oil. On Wednesday, President Donald Trumps administration froze the assets of, and forbade Americans to do business with, 13 Venezuelans close to Maduro, including his interior minister and heads of the army, police and national guard.

In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Show all 22 1 /22 In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela A girl scavanges for food in the streets of Caracas Getty Images In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela A man scavenges for food next to girls in the streets of Caracas. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is resisting opposition efforts to hold a vote on removing him from office. The opposition blames him for an economic crisis that has caused food shortages Getty Images In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Venezuelans line up to get the 'Fatherland's Card' at Bolivar Square in Caracas Getty Images In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela The mother of Venezuelan Rebecca Leon, who scavenges for food in the streets of Caracas, feeds her grandson at their house in Petare shantytown. Getty Images In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Venezuelan Rebecca Leon, who scavenges for food in the streets of Caracas, with her two-year-old son at her house in Petare shantytown Getty Images In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Members of a pro-government community organisation work in an expropriated bakery in Caracas. Supported by popular militiamen, Venezuelan government inspectors oversee bakeries as bread comes out of the oven, to undermine an alleged plot to induce scarcity of this staple food Getty Images In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Forensic police stand next to the body of a man outside a supermarket, where he died of a heart attack after waiting in a long line to buy food, in Caracas Getty Images In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Venezuelan opposition activists take part in a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro at the Francisco Fajardo highway in Caracas Getty Images In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela National guard throws a tear gas canister during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Opposition supporter shouts at a police officer during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas Reuters In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Opposition supporters clash with national guards during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas Reuters In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela A boy wearing a t-shirt with the colours of the Venezuelan national flag, during a demonstration against President Nicolas Maduro's government at Foreign Affairs Ministery, in Buenos Aires, Argentina AP In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Protesters cover themselves from tear gas fired by the Venezuelan National Guard officers during a protest in Caracas AP In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Opposition supporters clash with national guards during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas Reuters In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Venezuelan opposition activists take part in a protest -blocked by the National Guard- against the government of President Nicolas Maduro at the Francisco Fajardo highway in Caracas Getty Images In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela A Venezuelan national guard reacts to the effect of pepper spray during a protest of opposition supporters against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas Reuters In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Opposition supporters holding a Venezuelan flag protest against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government during a rally in Caracas Reuters In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Opposition supporters clash with riot police during a protest against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Opposition supporters protest against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government during a rally in Caracas Reuters In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Venezuela's Supreme Court abandoned measures to seize power from the opposition-controlled legislature after the moves drew international condemnation and raised pressure on President Nicolas Maduro. The president of Venezuela's National Assembly Julio Borges dismissed the court's gesture and told reporters that nothing had changed and the coup continued Getty Images In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Venezuelans living in Peru and other protesters take part in a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government, outside the Venezuela embassy in Lima, Peru Reuters In pictures: The crisis in Venezuela Venezuelans living in Peru and other protesters take part in a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government, outside the Venezuela embassy in Lima, Peru Reuters

The administration is warning that harsher measures could follow, with strong and swift economic actions if the vote happens tomorrow, according to Trump. In a statement, he called Maduro a bad leader who dreams of becoming a dictator.

There is also the potential powder keg on Venezuelas streets. Infuriated by Mr Maduros government, the opposition has mobilised more than three months of street protests that have crippled cities with general strikes, rallies and looting. More than 110 people have been killed, many in clashes between the state and armed protesters. Few know how protesters will react to newly imposed leaders.

Even the members of the new assembly themselves are a wild card. Their power will be so vast that they could possibly remove Mr Maduro from office, some analysts note, ending a presidency that has been deeply unpopular, even among many leftists.

Its a crapshoot, a Pandoras box, said Alejandro Velasco, a Venezuelan historian at New York University who studies the countrys leftist movements. You do this and you have so little control over how it plays out.

Mr Maduro contends that the government restructuring is necessary to prevent more bloodshed on the streets and save Venezuelas failing economy, which is dogged by shortages of food and medicine.

The President has refused to negotiate with street protesters, calling some of them terrorists and asserting that they are financed by outside governments trying to overthrow him. A new governing charter would give him wide-ranging tools to construct peace, he and leftists have said.

We need order, justice, Mr Maduro said during an interview with state television this month. We have only one option, a national constituent assembly.

The turmoil gripping Venezuela illustrates the sweeping declines in popularity for the Venezuelan left since the death of its standard-bearer, former president Hugo Chavez, in 2013.

It was Chavez who oversaw the last rewrite of the constitution, in 1999, which was widely backed by the voters who had propelled him to office in the belief that the countrys rule book favoured the rich.

That new constitution  and rising oil prices  fuelled a socialist-inspired transformation in Venezuela. It helped enable Chavez to redistribute state wealth to the poor, nationalise foreign assets and make him popular with his supporters. The constitution also left open the possibility of another constituent assembly in the future.

Now Mr Maduro has taken that option at a time when the leftists are dogged by their deepest crisis in decades. This time, Venezuelans are seeing it less as a stab at reform than as an attempt by a struggling ruling class to maintain power.

Its a last-ditch effort to secure his base, Mr Velasco said. Hes doing it at a moment of weakness.

Under the rules of the vote, the constituent assembly would take the reins of the country within 72 hours of being officially certified, though it is unclear to most people what would happen after that.

Some politicians have suggested that governorships and mayors be replaced with communal councils. Top members of Mr Maduros party have identified Luisa Ortega, the attorney general, who has criticised Mr Maduros crackdown on protesters, as someone to be immediately dismissed.

But many fear that a likely first step will be the abolition of the countrys legislature, a tactic first used by Chavez when rewriting the constitution in 1999.

Leftists did not control the legislature then, and the same is true today. For more than a year, courts close to Mr Maduro have chipped away at the powers of opposition lawmakers there, overturning laws  like a measure to release political prisoners  and stripping them of budgetary oversight.

Organisers of a symbolic vote against the measure this month said more than 7 million ballots had been cast, with 98 percent backing the opposition.

Juan Guaido, an opposition politician, fears that the constituent assembly will dismantle his chamber, effectively liquidating any political power held by Mr Maduros rivals.

If there was anything left of Venezuelas battered democracy, it was the powers that were legitimately elected by the people, like the National Assembly, he said. The vote would create a totalitarian and repressive dictatorship.

Still, some say the opposition has failed to offer clear alternatives to Mr Maduro. Eva Golinger, an American lawyer who was a confidante of Chavezs, said rivals of the leftists had focused too heavily on wresting power from the President, something that could risk a wider civil conflict.

They only rally around regime change, said Ms Golinger, who opposes how Mr Maduro has gone about the constitutional rewrite.

The constituent assembly would also be able to take on one piece of work left unfinished by Chavez: creating a more socialist constitution.

Chavez later tried to amend his 1999 document with changes that he argued would speed the course of his populist revolution. But the additional measures were narrowly defeated when they were taken to voters in 2007.

 Man suffers violent beating from police in Venezuela

Mr Maduro has indicated that he intends to pick up where Chavez left off. He has suggested a nine-point outline that includes increasing public spending for education and health care, giving socialist organisations increased governing abilities and taking unspecified measures to prevent foreign meddling in Venezuela.

Analysts also expect that the new constitution could dig deeper into the economic policy favoured by the President, which many economists blame for exacerbating the countrys economic crisis.

With much of the opposition expected to boycott the vote, it was mainly Venezuelans loyal to Maduros party who were eager to head to the polls tomorrow.

Maria Elena Perez, 54, a leftist activist in Caracas, the capital, said it was time for a new rule book.

The current constitution is weak, and theres a lot that needs to be fixed, she said.

In the week before the vote, potential delegates were making their pitches on Venezuelan airwaves.

In one video, Ysmael Modoy, a candidate from the western state of Portuguesa, urged voters to defend Chavezs legacy and promised a new constitution that better battled corruption.

Some sought a lighthearted tone. Antonio Leon, a candidate who goes by the nickname the Mask, entered his commercial dancing and singing while crossing an empty street. He didnt address any changes to the constitution, but promised voters that he would make it easier to get government rations.

Remember: you are love, you are life, he said before returning to his dance.

 New York Times
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A father was shot and killed by police in a case of mistaken identity, his familys lawyer has claimed.

The attorney is pressing for officers to face criminal charges, calling the victims death an execution.

Car mechanic Ismael Lopez, 41, was shot dead at his Mississippi home on Sunday.

Officers were hunting a man suspected of assault, according to an incident report. But they arrived at the wrong address in Southaven, stopping at a house number across the road from the location shown on their warrant.

At this point, accounts of the incident diverge.

According to the states DeSoto County District Attorney John Champion, two officers knocked on the door. The Lopez family did not hear the knock, but their pitbull did and started barking. Mr Lopez then opened the door to investigate, and his dog charged out at officers.

Mr Lopez held a gun at the officers and did not lower it when asked, so officers shot him.

However the familys lawyer, Murray Wells, says an independent investigation into the death revealed a different version of events.

Mr Lopez died from a single bullet to the back of the head, he said. There are bullet holes in the door of the home, which Mr Lopez never opened, suggesting police shot the victim through a closed door.

Mr Lopez was unarmed when he died, he said.

This man died running away from people who were trespassing on his premises after he was in bed lawfully", he told reporters at a news conference on Friday.

"We think it was an execution."

"When you're firing through a door, we think it complicates things. Physical evidence says their story isn't true."

The coroners report has not been released yet. Southaven police have also not released their police incident report.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is examining the case. It will inform the District Attorney on whether to pursue charging the police officers.

The familys lawyer said he will request a federal investigation from the Department of Justice.

"There is no reasonable explanation about why or how this happened to our Ismael, but we believe his memory demands answers, accountability and justice," Mr Lopezs family said in a statement.

Mr Lopez was "a loving husband, guiding father, mentor to the youth in this community and a hard worker".

Additional reporting by Associated Press
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Donald Trump has appeared to endorse police brutality.

During a speech to law enforcement officials on Long Island, New York, the President suggested that officers shouldn't protect suspects' heads when they're pushing them into police vehicles.

And when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon  you just see them thrown in, rough  I said, Please dont be too nice, Mr Trump said.

Like when you guys put somebody in the car and youre protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Like, dont hit their head and theyve just killed somebody  dont hit their head. I said, You can take the hand away, okay? he added.

His remarks were greeted with loud applause and laughter.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Mr Trump also asserted that laws were horrendously stacked against police officers, saying that that will change.

For years and years, [laws have] been made to protect the criminal, Trump said. Totally protect the criminal, not the officers. You do something wrong, youre in more jeopardy than they are. These laws are stacked against you. Were changing those laws.

In response to the President's address, the Suffolk County Police Department said it does not and will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners.

The SCPD has strict rules & procedures relating to the handling of prisoners. Violations of those rules are treated extremely seriously, the department tweeted.
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White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is expected to resign in the coming daysthe latest shakeup to an administration in which frequent resignations and firings appear to be turning into the new normal. President Donald Trump is reportedly looking for Mr Kelly's replacement, according to CNN. A potential successor is Nick Ayers. He is currently serving as Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff.

Mr Kelly, who is reportedly no longer in speaking terms with the president, is the second chief of staff to serve Mr Trump since his inauguration. Prior to Mr Kelly, former Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus served the role.

Who is John Kelly?

A retired four-star Marine general, Mr Kelly served in the military for nearly five decades. He ran the militarys operations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean and has worked as a senior assistant to the Secretary of Defence. He also served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Recommended Donald Trump replaces Reince Priebus as chief of staff

Mr Kelly will be the first current or former general to serve as White House Chief of Staff since Alexander Haig in the final stage of Richard Nixons administration in the 1970s.

Mr Kelly had been retired from the military for less than a year when Mr Trump asked him to run his Department of Homeland Security. In an 88-11 vote, the Senate confirmed Mr Kelly as Homeland Security Secretary in January, putting him in charge of the administrations policies on issues including immigration, cyber-security, countering domestic terrorism and aviation security.

Where is he from?

Mr Kelly was born and raised in Boston and graduated from the University of Massachusetts. His son, Robert Michael Kelly, was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010.

What does Congress think of him?

Mr Kelly cruised through his Senate confirmation hearing in January, receiving praise from both Democrats and Republicans. During the proceeding, he also voiced opinions that appeared to differ from those expressed by Mr Trump, and demonstrated a notable degree of empathy for those who seek refuge in the US.

Iran's 'Trumpism' contest Show all 10 1 /10 Iran's 'Trumpism' contest Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images Iran's 'Trumpism' contest AFP/Getty Images

They, for the most part, dont want to come up and leave their homes, their families, Mr Kelly said. But there isnt an awful lot of economic opportunity for them there.

He has since taken a hard line against illegal immigration and vigorously backed the President on the need for a travel ban on refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim countries. The ban, which was allowed to go into limited effect by the Supreme Court in June, was later reduced to six countries.

The President and then Homeland Security Secretary listen to the national anthem in May (AP)

What do other people think of him?

Initially, several of Mr Trumps advisers reportedly opposed the Presidents choice to appoint Mr Kelly as his new chief of staff, suggesting the former general does not have the political savvy or background needed for the job.

Before becoming Homeland Secretary, Mr Kelly got some insight into how the government works when he served as a liaison to former Defence Secretary Leon Panetta. He also worked as a legislative assistant for the marine corps commandant in the mid 2000s.

Mr Kelly told CNN in June that what I never saw on the military side was the level of the toxic kind of politics that are associated with what I do now, repeating what he frequently tells members of Congress who criticise his actions: if you dont like the laws, try to change them.

John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security, Mr Trump wrote on Twitter, calling Mr Kelly a great American and saying he had been a true star of my Administration.

However, Mr Kelly has not always appeared to be on the same page as Mr Trump, publicly questioning the need for a full border wall with Mexico and calling Russia a threat to the US as the President has tried to develop friendlier relations with Moscow.

Mr Kelly has also belittled the President's intelligence in past meetings, according to CNN. At one point, he was quoted calling Mr Trump an idiot and lamented about his job as chief of staff.

"He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in crazytown," Kelly reportedly said. "I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had."

Throughout his term as chief of staff, Mr Kelly has reportedly clashed with first lady Melania Trump over "staffing issues and travel requests" on several occasions. "There have been instances where the East Wing staff were not treated as equals to the male-dominated decision makers in Chief Kellys office," a White House official told NBC in November. "Promotions were denied then finally granted after months of requests."
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John McCain dramatically helped to defeat Donald Trump's healthcare bill three days after the President hailed him as a "brave American hero" for returning to the US Senate to vote.

The Arizona senator, who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer, told reporters as he left Capitol Hill: "I thought it was the right thing to do."

His vote was decisive in killing off the Republican "skinny repeal" bill, which had sought to roll back Barack Obama's legislation.

It came after Mr McCain twice voted earlier this week to push forward the controversial bill, which critics had warned could lead to the deaths of 20,000 more people, as up to 22 million people lose health insurance coverage.

The veteran senator remained tight-lipped about his intentions before he reached the Senate floor early on Friday morning on a night of high suspense. He told reporters to "watch the show" as he entered the room.

His vote to reject the bill drew gasps in the chamber and applause from Democratic senators.

His defiance was a hammer blow to a key election promise of a US President who has long been an adversary of Mr McCain.

In 2015, Mr Trump said the Vietnam veteran - who spent five-and-a-half years in a notorious Hanoi prison - was "not a war hero".

"He was a war hero because he was captured? I like people who werent captured," said the billionaire businessman.

Conversely, Mr McCain has been a thorn in the President's side since he entered the White House, describing his administration as "in disarray" in February and later likening Mr Trump's attacks on the press to the behaviour of a dictator.

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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. 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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. 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On Wednesday, he described Mr Trump's declaration that transgender people would barred from the military as "yet another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter".

The President adopted a more conciliatory tone ahead of Friday's crucial vote, tweeting: "So great that John McCain is coming back to vote."

But after seeing his bill defeated, he said Mr McCain and two other Republican senators had "let the American people down" by joining 48 Democrats in rejecting his proposals.

Mr McCain said he voted against repealing Obamacare because the bill "offered no replacement to actually reform our health care system and deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens".

The Republication amendment, which was defeated 51 votes to 49, would have repealed a mandate that most individuals get health insurance and suspended a requirement that large companies provide coverage to their employees.

Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine also voted against it.
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The ongoing Shakespearean drama that is Donald Trumps White House has taken another twist, after the President announced he was replacing his chief of staff Reince Priebus.

As has become his habit, Mr Trump announced the news on Twitter, saying that the position was to be filled by former general John Kelly, the man who is currently the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. It emerged that Mr Priebus, 45, had offered his resignation the day before, following a public spat with Mr Trump's new Director of Communications, Anthony Scaramucci.

I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration, Mr Trump said on Twitter.

Recommended Scaramucci has signally failed to restore order at the White House

I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him.

After Mr Trump had broken the news on social media - apparently as he was flying back from an appearance on New York's Long Island where he was accompanied by Mr Priebus - he spoke briefing with travelling reporters. Reince is a good man. John Kelly will do a fantastic job, he said. General Kelly has been a star, done an incredible job thus far, respected by everybody. He's a great great American. Reince is a good man.

In truth, Mr Trump had long been suspicious and disappointed with Mr Priebus, and there had been speculation about him being ousted almost since he took the job earlier this year - having moved over from the Republican National Committee where he was chairman.

The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

There are turf wars in every White House, with different factions seeking leverage and advantage. Yet Mr Trump appears to have actively encouraged such chaos and competitiveness within his administration - believing that such a system had worked for him in business. Indeed, in the six months that Mr Trump has occupied the Oval Office, various figures have seen their fortunes rise and fall, among them advisor Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, and Mr Priebus himself.

But while many were expecting that Mr Sessions would resign as Mr Trump continued to criticise his decision to recuse himself from the investigation into Russia, in the last 24 hours it emerged that Mr Priebus had become very vulnerable.

 Scaramucci: Trump sinks 3-foot putts. Official transcript: Trump sinks 30-foot putts

On Thursday night, in a bizarre interview with New Yorker reporter Ryan Lizza, Anthony Scaramucci, Mr Trumps new Director of Communications, said that Mr Priebus would not last much longer.

At one point during the call, Mr Scaramucci called Mr Priebus a f***ing paranoid schizophrenic. He also accused Mr Priebus of being behind the flow of damaging leaks about the White House and said he was going to ask the FBI to investigate him.

That interview was not published until Thursday. In the intervening hours, Mr Scaramucci sought to suggest he and Mr Priebus were like brothers.

When I said we were brothers from the podium, thats because we're rough on each other - some brothers are like Cain and Abel, he said to CNN, referencing a biblical passage that ends in Cain killing Abel. Other brothers can fight with each other and then get along. I dont know if this is repairable or not. That will be up to the president.

The enmity between Mr Scaramucci and Mr goes back some time. Mr Scaramucci was to to have taken up a senior White House role in January but he was blocked by the chief-of-staff.

When he did arrive in the West Wing last week - against the advice given to Mr Trump by Mr Priebus and spokesman Sean Spicer, who subsequently quit - it was noted that the brash New Yorker was to report directly to Mr Trump and not Mr Priebus, as would normally have been the case for a communications director.

On Thursday, Mr Spicer's replacement in the White House briefing room, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, would not say whether Mr Priebus still have the confidence of the President. As it is, Mr Kelly will start in his new job on Monday morning. There was no immediate news on who would replace Mr Kelly.

Before the news was announced, Mr Trump had praised Mr Kelly, a former four star general who served three tours in Iraq, during a speech in New Yorks Long Island where he was talking about the fight against gang crime.

I want to congratulate John Kelly, who has done an incredible job of Secretary of Homeland Security, he said. Incredible. One of our real stars. Truly, one of our stars. John Kelly is one of our great stars.

Mr Priebus insisted he had resigned, and had not been fired.

The President wanted to go in a different direction, Priebus told CNN.

I think General Kelly is a brilliant pick. We'll be working on a transition here for a couple weeks together with General Kelly starting on Monday morning.

So this is not like a situation where there are a bunch of ill will feelings. I'm always going to be a Trump fan, Mr Priebus added.
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Donald Trumps top Middle East official has been fired by national security adviser HR McMaster.

Derek Harvey, a former analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, had been a key player in the Trump administrations Iran policy review and had been helping to develop the US's approach toward foreign policy in Syria, Iraq and other regional hotspots. He had been viewed as one of Mr Trumps more hawkish foreign policy advisers  particularly on Iran.

In an emailed statement to The Atlantic, Mr Harvey confirmed he was leaving and praised Mr McMaster: I have known LTG H.R. McMaster for many years, and H.R. and I have worked closely together to tackle some of our nation's most difficult challenges. I value our friendship and deeply respect his visionary leadership. I look forward to working with H.R. in my future capacity.

Mr Harvey had a relationship with Mr McMaster that dated back to their service as advisers to General David Petraeus in Iraq during the 2000s, according to Politico.

General McMaster greatly appreciates Derek Harveys service to his country as a career Army officer, where he served his country bravely in the field and played a crucial role in the successful surge in Iraq, and also for his service on Capitol Hill and in the Trump administration, said NSC spokesman Michael Anton. The administration is working with Colonel Harvey to identify positions in which his background and expertise can be best utilized.

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images

Mr Harvey had been brought into the Trump administration by ousted National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who resigned in February after it was revealed that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with a Russian official.

Since taking on the role of national security adviser, Mr McMaster has removed several staffers hired by his predecessor, including former deputy national security adviser KT McFarland.

Mr McMaster has also reportedly tried to push out Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence coordination, but the President is said to have personally saved Mr Cohen-Watnick's job.

The dismissal of Mr Harvey comes in the same week as Mr Trumps reported refusal to sign off on Mr McMaster's plan to send more US troops to Afghanistan, with members of the Presidents cabinet apparently split on how to approach the longstanding war in the country.
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Behind Donald Trumps surprise replacement of his chief of staff lay months of White House infighting and power struggles.

In the six months since Inauguration Day, Reince Priebus, the President's embattled chief of staff, had never managed to make it into Mr Trumps good graces.

The President held a grudge against the former Republican National Committee chairman for encouraging him to drop out of the presidential race, according the The New York Times. He also kept a mental catalogue of those who disavowed him after the Access Hollywood tape leaked, and Mr Priebus was top of that list.

Recommended Donald Trump replaces Reince Priebus as chief of staff

Mr Trump had reportedly been discussing finding someone stronger for Mr Priebus' position in recent days, claiming he needed a general to lead the White House team. Mr Priebus's replacement, John Kelly, is a four-star Marine Corps general who served three tours in Iraq.

In a speech on Friday, hours before he announced Mr Priebuss ouster, the President heaped praise on his then-Secretary of Homeland Security.

I want to congratulate John Kelly, who has done an incredible job of Secretary of Homeland Security. Incredible, he said in an address to police officers. John Kelly is one of our great stars.

An official told the Daily Beast Mr Trump had taken a liking to Mr Kelly in cabinet meetings, where he relied on him to bring discipline to the conversation.

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

Meanwhile, the Presidents relationship with Mr Priebus was growing increasingly sour. Mr Trump had recently hired former Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci as his director of communications  against the advice of Mr Priebus and then-press secretary Sean Spicer.

Mr Spicer ultimately resigned over the appointment, but Mr Priebus held on. In the days following, Mr Scaramucci waged a war of words on the chief of staff, who he blamed for c**k-blocking him out of a previous White House position.

In his new position, Mr Scaramucci accused Mr Priebus of leaking his financial disclosure form, and suggested he would have the FBI investigate.

He then pointedly compared their relationship to that of Biblical brothers Cain and Abel. In the book of Genesis, Cain murders Abel after God favours his brother's sacrifice.

On Wednesday night, Mr Scaramucci called the New Yorkers Ryan Lizza and unloaded on the chief of staff.

Reince is a f*****g paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac, he said, insisting that Mr Priebus would resign very soon.

Even Kellyanne Conway, a top White House adviser, had privately told people that Mr Priebus was gone, according to BuzzFeed News.

"If I was Reince, I would be like, 'F*** you guys, I'm out, one administration source told the outlet on Thursday.

Mr Priebus offered his resignation to Mr Trump that day, according to CNN.

I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff, Mr Trump tweeted on Friday evening, by way of announcement.

He added: I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!

Mr Priebuss ousting marked a victory for the Trump loyalist camp in the White House, which boasts campaign stalwarts like Stephen Bannon and Ms Conway.

Mr Bannon  who represents the grassroots, nationalist beginnings of Mr Trumps campaign  had frequently clashed with Mr Priebus, who emblemises the traditional conservative camp who eventually camp to accept him. The two men reportedly warred over everything from tax reform to the travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries.

On Friday, however, it appeared the Bannon camp had temporarily won.

Mr Priebus said in a statement: It has been one of the greatest honours of my life to serve this President and our country.

I want to thank the President for giving me this very special opportunity. I will continue to serve as a strong supporter of the President's agenda and policies.

I can't think of a better person than General John Kelly to succeed me and I wish him God's blessings and great success.
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The Republican Party under Donald Trump has become a right-wing extremist party, Bernie Sanders has said.

The veteran US senator was speaking as the Republican leadership attempted to convince senators to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, which extended health insurance coverage to millions of Americans.

Some Republican senators said they would only vote for the plans if they were assured they would never become law. In the end the Senate voted narrowly against repeal.

Mr Sanders told MSNBCs Chris Hayes the attempt to scrap the Act is a sign the Republicans are now following the ideology of the Koch brothers  two billionaire US businessmen who have funded a range of conservative and libertarian causes.

The Republican Party is now, in fact, a right-wing extremist party", Mr Sanders said.

He added: "As you know, the Koch brothers do not want to see cuts to see social security or Medicare or Medicaid  they want to eliminate those programmes. They want to eliminate every federal programme passed in the last 80 years that was designed to protect working families or children or the elderly or the sick of the poor. That is their agenda and this is the beginning of their agenda.

The Koch brothers have made the repeal of Barack Obamas signature healthcare legislation a fixture of their political agenda.

They have previously criticised Republican efforts to dismantle Obamacare as not going far enough, especially when it comes to cutting Medicaid.

They also donated to more than 350 Republican lawmakers in 2016, and helped earn Vice President Mike Pence a place on the ticket with Mr Trump.

Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Show all 22 1 /22 Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump talk as they leave the Army Museum at Les Invalides in Paris AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump arrive for the group photo at the G7 Taormina summit on the island of Sicily in May 2017 Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Mr Trump was pressed on the subject at the G7 summit in Italy Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump gives a speeech at the Warsaw Uprising Monument on Krasinski Square Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May during a ceremony at the NATO headquarters before the start of a summit in Brussels, Belgium Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Montenegro's Prime Minister Dusko Markovic is seen to the right of Donald Trump at a Nato summit in Brussels REUTERS Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis meeting with US President Donald J. Trump EPA Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis poses with US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump arrives at Palazzo del Quirinale ahead of the meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella Ufficio Stampa Presidenza della via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is seen during a joint press conference with the Palestinian leader at the presidential palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas meets US President Donald Trump PPO via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with US President Donald Trump prior to the President's departure GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering a speech at the Israel Museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump lay a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance as White House senior advisor Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump watch on during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem accompanied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump takes his seat before his speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump look at a display of Saudi modern art at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud take part in a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips King Salman presents Donald Trump with The Collar of Abdulaziz al-Saud Medal at the Royal Court Palace on 20 May AP Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is welcomed by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud upon arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn prior to their first foreign trip Getty Images

Mr Sanders warned that if Republican plans to repeal and replace Obamacare were successful, it would empower the brothers to further their agenda.

If they are successful in whatever this thing turns out to be ... mark my words, they will be back to privatise Medicare within a few months, and then they will go after Social Security and the Veterans Administration, he said.

The veteran senator, who ran against Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, described the Republican healthcare plans as an abomination.

What we have here, which is not a laughing matter, is a disastrous piece of legislation that would raise premiums 20 per cent this year, 20 per cent on top of that and 20 per cent on top of that, he said.

Premiums will soar in this country, 16 million people will lose their health insurance, Planned Parenthood will be de-funded. This really is not a laughing matter.
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The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has said that Argentina's government should release jailed social activist Milagro Sala.

The commission said in a statement that there are many risk factors surrounding her detention, including alleged harassment, aggressions and a death threat.

It granted a precautionary measure in favour of Ms Sala stating that Argentina is obligated to fulfill a UN panel's panel resolution last year saying she was arbitrarily detained and asked the government for her immediate release.

Ms Sala heads Argentina's Tupac Amaru social movement and won a seat in 2015 in the regional parliament of the Mercosur group of South American nations.

She was arrested on 16 January 2016, and accused of "inciting criminal acts" linked to a protest she led against authorities. The Jujuy provincial government in northern Argentina then broadened the charges, saying her movement "embezzled public funds" meant for the construction of housing for low-income people.

Ms Sala has denied any wrongdoing.

The government's Secretariat of Human Rights said in a statement that it would relay the recommendations to Jujuy's judicial and administrative authorities and that it respected the rights commission.

Members of the commission, which is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States, visited Jujuy and met with representatives of all parties. The commission said Ms Sala is under constant harassment, including the initiation of legal cases without the guarantee of the right to defense, constant transfers and extreme surveillance.

The commission acted in response to a complaint filed by the Argentine human rights group Center for Legal and Social Studies and other human rights organizations.

"The commission makes it clear that Milagro Sala cannot remain in jail," said Horacio Verbitsky, the group's president. "The constant transfers are using a perverse methodology. It's as if instead of a social leader, this was (Mexican drug lord) 'El Chapo' Guzman."

Ms Sala, a close ally of former President Cristina Fernandez, is accused of irregularly managing money that she received during Fernandez's administration for the construction of lower income housing in Jujuy province.

Her supporters say she only looks to benefit the poor. They call her arrest a political move by provincial Governor Gerardo Morales and other political allies of current President Mauricio Macri.
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North Korea has the capability to hit everything from LA to DC, a leading missile and non-proliferation expert has claimed, and the US now must now accept its vulnerability.

Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said the US had to adapt to a new reality and focus on reducing tensions with North Korea, also known as the DPRK, rather than using coercion against it.

An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, was fired from Mupyong-ni, in the north of the DPRK on Friday evening, and landed within 200 nautical miles of the Japanese coast.

Weapons experts said that while the missile had a range of just around 1,000km, its apogee  the highest point it reached during flight  was up to 3,700km. It was in flight for 47 minutes.

The missile was fired more vertically than laterally, meaning its range was substantially reduced.

North Koreas latest test demonstrated it can hit targets throughout the United States, Mr Lewis told The Independent. If you straighten out the apogee, that can basically hit everything from LA almost to [Washington] DC.

Kim Jong-un made the same claim early on Saturday morning, AFP reported.

David Wright, co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists Global Security Program, published estimates of the missiles range soon after its launch.

He said that if the figures regarding the missiles range and apogee were correct, it would have a range of 10,400 km (6,500 miles), not taking into account the rotation of the Earth.

This would easily put it within range of Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago and just within range of Boston and New York, Dr Wright said. He also conceded Washington DC may be just out of range.

While previous US concerns over the range of North Korean missiles were mainly preoccupied with the prospect of places such as Alaska and Hawaii being targeted, the latest test means the US now has to accept vulnerability, Mr Lewis said.

Its about accepting that North Korea has nuclear weapons, that we cant take them away from them, we have to deal with them like they have nuclear weapons, he added.

And honestly, what it means in some cases, is we will be deterred.

 North Korea celebrates rocket launch with massive concert

Mr Lewis said the prospect of a change in the DPRK government  as some hawkish politicians and defence officials have advocated for  was no longer an option.

He said: Regime change in North Korea means kiss Trump Tower goodbye.

Dr John Nilsson-Wright, Senior Research Fellow on Chatham Houses Asia Programme, said the launch was further evidence that Donald Trumps efforts to deter North Korea  arent working and that the US president was on the back foot.

This is not the first ICBM test North Korea has carried out. That came last month, when Hwasong-14 was fired 2,802km into the air, travelling across 933km for 43 minutes. North Korea watchers and non-proliferation experts have been expecting another test, particularly around the time of Victory Day  the DPRK name for anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

The early July test meant many experts had already accepted North Korea had a weapon capable of hitting the US.

When we say its a provocation, it really means weve refused to accept the evidence thats been in front of our face for a long time, said Mr Lewis.

He stressed todays test was not an escalation of North Koreas weapons programme, but simply a continuation of the test earlier in the month.

They were clearly demonstrating this capability and we didnt believe it, Mr Lewis said.

In pictures: North Korea military drill Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: North Korea military drill In pictures: North Korea military drill North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un watches a military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) is seen in this handout photo by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) is seen in this handout photo by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill This image made from video of still images broadcast in a news bulletin by North Korea's KRT, shows what was said to be a 'Combined Fire Demonstration' held to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army, in Wonsan, North Korea. KRT via AP Video In pictures: North Korea military drill This image made from video of still images broadcast in a news bulletin by North Korea's KRT, shows what was said to be a 'Combined Fire Demonstration' held to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army, in Wonsan, North Korea. KRT via AP Video In pictures: North Korea military drill This image made from video of still images broadcast in a news bulletin by North Korea's KRT, shows what was said to be a 'Combined Fire Demonstration' held to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army, in Wonsan, North Korea. KRT via AP Video

Dr Nilsson-Wright concurred. It confirms North Korea will continue along the path it set itself on, he said. The country has wanted to develop nuclear weapons since the 1960s, he added, just a decade after it broke away from the South after a brutal civil war.

Mr Trump has vowed to take care of the issue of the North Korean weapons programme and his officials have said no options are off the table. But so far, no strategy has been forthcoming.

Dr John Nilsson-Wright said the test showed the failures of both the international community and successive US administrations, who failed to apply measures which successfully deterred, punished North Korea, or incentivised it to halt its programme.

The country has always shown its willingness to fly in the face of the international community, Dr Nilsson-Wright added.

Most analysts believe North Koreas current objective is not to hit the US, but acquire the capability to.

According to Dr Nilsson-Wright, this is for a number of reasons, including strengthening its deterrent, securing the regime, and showing the DPRK remains strong.

So how does the international community move forward from Fridays events? According to Mr Lewis, the chance of North Korea ending its weapons programme through diplomacy has passed.

Theres nothing we can do, he said. You dont fix this. You accept it, you deal with it. You move forward with the new reality.
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Tensions have mounted over North Koreas attempts to develop a viable nuclear weapon after it carried out a successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Experts said the test suggested the communist state now has a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead within reach of major US cities.

In response, the US and South Korea carried out a live-fire missile training exercise in a defiant show of firepower.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who was present at the latest launch, said the test was a stern warning to the US, which he claimed his country was now able to strike at any place and time.

In response, Donald Trump re-iterated his promise that the US would take all necessary steps to combat the threat from North Korea.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people, he said.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region."

In pictures: North Korea military drill Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: North Korea military drill In pictures: North Korea military drill North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un watches a military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) is seen in this handout photo by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) is seen in this handout photo by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill This image made from video of still images broadcast in a news bulletin by North Korea's KRT, shows what was said to be a 'Combined Fire Demonstration' held to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army, in Wonsan, North Korea. KRT via AP Video In pictures: North Korea military drill This image made from video of still images broadcast in a news bulletin by North Korea's KRT, shows what was said to be a 'Combined Fire Demonstration' held to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army, in Wonsan, North Korea. KRT via AP Video In pictures: North Korea military drill This image made from video of still images broadcast in a news bulletin by North Korea's KRT, shows what was said to be a 'Combined Fire Demonstration' held to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army, in Wonsan, North Korea. KRT via AP Video

US officials have refused to dismiss the possibility of a military response to North Korea. Earlier in the week, Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was actively preparing options for military action.

Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State, said China and Russia were partly to blame for North Korea's activities.

"As the principal economic enablers of North Koreas nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development program, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability, he said.

Following the latest missile test, Song Young-moo, the South Korean Defence Minister, said his country would speed up the deployment of THAAD anti-missile units given to it by the US.

 North Korea - Is the world a step closer to war?

"This ballistic missile launch by North Korea is a serious provocation that not only clearly violates the UN Security Councils numerous resolutions but also threatens the safety of the Korean peninsula and world peace," Mr Song said.

"The joint governments of South Korea and the United States will firmly punish North Korea for its missile provocation.

After chairing a meeting of his country's National Security Council, South Korean President Moon Jae-in calls on the United Nations (UN) Security Council to impose stronger actions on North Korea.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the launch of a "ballistic missile of possible intercontinental range".

The latest missile test took place shortly before midnight on Friday night. Fired from Jangang province in northern North Korea, it flew for more than 620 miles and reached an altitude of 2,300 miles before landing in the sea in Japans exclusive economic area, South Korean officials said.

The Pentagon confirmed it believed the missile was an ICBM. US officials believe North Korea will be able to fire a reliable, nuclear-capable ICBM by next year.

In contrast to other reports, a Russian Defence Ministry official said Moscow's data suggested the launch was only of a medium-range ballistic missile, according to Russian news agency Tass, China and Russia are reported to only see a long-range missile test or nuclear weapon test as reasons for further UN sanctions.

While some experts said the missile used in the latest test would have been able to hit cities on the west coast of the US, such as Los Angeles, others said it could have travelled as far as Denver or Chicago.

The US has a complex system of defences against ICBM missiles, including anti-missile units based in California and Alaska. In May the system, successfully shot down an incoming ICBM during a test.

Additional reporting by agencies.
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The attacker who killed one man and injured six others in a stabbing rampage in Hamburg is a known Islamist, police say.

Investigators told a press conference the 26-year-old man, named locally as Ahmad A, was known to security services but also appears to have psychological problems.

Hamburgs state interior minister, Andy Grote, said the man was a rejected Palestinian asylum seeker born in the United Arab Emirates.

He said the unnamed attacker was known to have been radicalised but had not been considered dangerous and his motive remained unclear.

Forenics officers at the scene of the attack in on 28 July (Reuters)

Torsten Voss, head of the Hamburg branch of the domestic intelligence agency, said officials interviewed the man and came away with the impression that he was a destabilised personality but not someone who posed an immediate threat.

We evaluated him rather as someone who was psychologically unstable than had clear Islamic extremist motivations, he added.

Recommended One dead and four injured after stabbing in Hamburg supermarket

Ralf Martin Meyer, the chief of the citys police force, said that while initial findings showed the attacker had acted alone it could not be completely ruled out that he had accomplices.

Witnesses said the man repeatedly shouted Allahu Akbar as he indiscriminately attacked shoppers with a large kitchen knife at a supermarket on Friday afternoon.

Kathrin Hennings, from the state police office, said the perpetrator bought bread from the supermarket before leaving and boarding a bus, but quickly returned, took a knife from a shelf, unwrapped it and launched the attack without warning.

He killed a 50-year-old man and injured six other victims, before attempting to flee as passers-by threw chairs and other objects to prevent him escaping.

A 50-year-old woman and four men aged between 19 and 64 were wounded in the attack, all of whom were German, while a 35-year-old Turkish man was also injured while trying to stop the attacker.

Dramatic footage from passing cars showed a group of men beating the knife-wielding killer with chairs from nearby cafes, chasing him and launching missiles, eventually backing him against a wall before police arrived.

Police said the heroic actions enabled plain-clothes officers to arrest the attacker nearby.

Officers have since searched a migrant accommodation centre where the attacker lived.

Olaf Scholz, the mayor of Hamburg, said the attacker was a foreigner who was supposed to leave the country, but could not be deported because he did not have the necessary identification papers.

It is infuriating that this perpetrator is someone who asked for protection in Germany and then turned his hate against us, he added.

Officials said the man travelled to Germany from Norway and initially lived in Dortmund in 2015, before being relocated to Hamburg.

Dortmund is one of several known centres of jihadi networks in Germany and was the home of Boban Simeonovic, a leading figure in an Isis-linked group found to be radicalising young men and sending them to fight in Syria.

Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Show all 18 1 /18 Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Several people have been killed after a lorry drove into crowds at a Christmas market in Berlin REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch Berlin Christmas market lorry attack 'At least nine' people have been killed and more than 50 injured. AP Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Emergency Services rush a Berlin market victim to an ambulance Associated Press Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Police cordoned off the square at Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church following the incident REUTERS Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Rescue workers inspect the lorry that crashed into a Christmas market close to the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church in Berlin EPA Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Emergency crews inspect the lorry that ploughed into a Berlin Christmas market, killing at least nine people AFP Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Fire crews attend the scene of the attack AFP/Getty Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Armed police secure the site of a lorry attack at a Christmas market in Berlin REUTERS Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Crushed debris is visible beneath the wheels of the vehicle REUTERS Berlin Christmas market lorry attack An injured man is pushed to an ambulance REUTERS Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Medics attend an injured person after the lorry attack which killed at least nine and injured more than 50 people AFP/Getty Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Firefighters examine the lorry which was rammed into a Berlin Christmas market REUTERS Berlin Christmas market lorry attack A person is carried into an ambulance REUTERS Berlin Christmas market lorry attack View of the lorry that crashed into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing at least nine and injuring at least 50 people AFP/Getty Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Rescue workers push a person on a stretcher to an ambulance Getty Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Firefighters assess the damage after the lorry rammed the Christmas market, killing 'at least nine', and injuring more than 50 people AP Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Firefighters stand beside a toppled Christmas tree at the site of the suspected terrorist attack in a Berlin Christmas market AP Berlin Christmas market lorry attack Damaged stalls at the scene of the incident at a Berlin Christmas market where at least nine people have been killed EPA

Anis Amri, the Isis supporter who killed 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market, spent time in Dortmund and was mentored by Simeonovic before his arrest in November.

Amri attended classes at Simeonovics Madrasa Dortmund, which taught radical ideology and trained jihadis for combat in Syria.

A police informant within the network told officials the would-be attacker wanted to do something here in November 2015  eight months after the Hamburg attacker arrived in Dortmund.

Simeonovic is one of five alleged members of the network currently in custody for terror offences carried out as part of a network headed by an Iraqi preacher known as Abu Walaa, who was classified as a representative of the Islamic State in Germany and travelled to mosques across the country.

The Hamburg attackers suspected radicalisation was first reported to authorities in August 2016, by a friend who was concerned about a sudden change to his personality that saw him stop drinking and start talking about the Quran, while deportation was delayed by a lack of identification papers.

Amri had also been the subject of failed deportation attempts and was known for radicalisation and serious crime.

His massacre sparked fresh pledges from Angela Merkels government to speed up deportations of failed asylum seekers, as well as monitoring of anyone presenting a security threat.

Police outside the supermarket where the attack was carried out (EPA)

Germany is less than two months away from parliamentary elections where the Chancellor is attempting to win a fourth term, despite continued tensions over terror, security and her decision to open the countrys borders to more than a million asylum seekers at the height of the refugee crisis.

Germany has suffered three Isis-linked terror attacks in little over a year, leaving 12 victims dead and more than 70 injured.

All three perpetrators were migrants, with a suicide bomber in Ansbach being recognised as a Syrian refugee, the Wurzburg train attacker identified as an Afghan asylum seeker and Tunisian Amri having been denied protection.

The German interior minister, Thomas de Maiziere, stopped short of calling the last rampage a terror attack, but described it as a deplorable attack on our society.

Our painful experience tells us that we must recognise that jihadi ideology can be used as grounds or justification for attacks that actually might be committed for very different motives, he added.

The real motives can also be found in the perpetrators personality.

That is what the Hamburg authorities will now determine, and they have our full support.

It is important to analyse the background of his attack as quickly as possible, to understand how this attack could happen.
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Aid workers have accused the EU of wilfully letting people drown in the Mediterranean as they face being forced to suspend rescue missions for refugees attempting the worlds deadliest sea crossing.

Italy is attempting to impose a code of conduct on NGOs operating ships in the search and rescue zone off the coast of Libya, which is now the main launching point for migrants trying to reach Europe on smugglers boats.

Humanitarian groups have argued the code will impede their work by banning the transfer of refugees to larger ships, which allows vessels to continue rescues, and forcing them to allow police officers on board.

A revised code of conduct is expected to be presented by the Italian interior ministry on Monday, following meetings between officials and NGOs.

The 11-point plan, which has been approved by the European Commission and border agency Frontex, could see any groups refusing to sign up denied access to Italian ports or forbidden from carrying out rescues.

They are currently deployed by officials at Romes Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre (MRCC) and charities fear any move to restrict their operations, leaving just Italian coastguard and naval ships, will dramatically reduce rescue capacity during peak season.

 Libyan Coast Guard puts refugees and rescuers in danger during rescue operation at sea

German charity Sea-Watch announced the deployment of a second rescue vessel in response to the plans, which it called a desperate reaction by a country abandoned on the frontline of the refuge crisis by its European allies.

The EU is wilfully letting people drown in the Mediterranean by refusing to create a legal means of safe passage and failing to even provide adequate resources for maritime rescue, said CEO Axel Grafmanns.

The NGOs are currently bearing the brunt of the humanitarian crisis and they are being left alone.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which has staff on two rescue ships, said it was engaging with Italian authorities in an open and constructive way over the proposed code but had serious concerns over several clauses.

MSF employees are humanitarian workers, not police officers, and that for reasons of independence they will do what is strictly requested by the law but nothing more so as to protect our independence and neutrality, a spokesperson said.

MSFs search and rescue operations have always been conducted in respect of national and international laws and under coordination of the MRCC in Rome.

The charity opposed a commitment compelling vessels to notify multiple states if they leave designated search and rescue zones, which it said could cause deaths by delaying rescues, and said the ability to transfer migrants to larger ships and continue operations was crucial to saving lives.

The inefficient back and forth of all rescue ships to disembarkation points will consequently lead to a decrease in the presence of rescue vessels, a MSF spokesperson said.

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 group is also seeking assurances on the scope of the requirement to allow police on board, which it said could prevent victims of torture, human trafficking and sexual violence coming forward.

Amnesty International characterised the code of conduct as part of a concerted smear campaign against NGO rescue ships, which has culminated in a far-right group calling itself Defend Europe sending its own vessel to monitor operations in the Mediterranean Sea.

Right-wing politicians have made persistent claims that aid agencies are aiding or even directly colluding with Libyan smugglers without citing evidence, despite inquiries and academic studies finding no evidence of misconduct.

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The debate came as smugglers continued to launch boats into the Central Mediterranean, where almost 2,400 men, women and children have lost their lives so far this year, including 13 people found dead at the bottom of an overcrowded dinghy this week.

The EU announced 46m (41m) extra funding for Italy on Friday, to help it protect Libya's northern and southern borders and stop the flow of sub-Sahran African migrants through the country.

Rome plans to send navy vessels to Libyan waters next month to combat human smuggling, despite warnings that moves to force refugees from international waters back to a warzone is a flagrant violation of international law.

Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the initiative will reinforce Libyan sovereignty, adding that Italy would not be sending a huge fleet or air squadrons.

It is already furnishing Libya's coastguard, which stands accused of beating and killing migrants and attacking NGO ships, with boats and training aimed at strengthening its patrols.

The crew of Jugend Rettet's Iuventa rescue ship photographed what appeared to be a Libyan coastguard officer pointing a weapon at refugees (far right) (Jugend Rettet)

The EU has also donated 90m (80m) to improving living conditions for migrants stranded in squalid Libyan camps, although thousands more are being held by armed gangs who control swathes of the country still engulfed in the bloody chaos that followed its civil war.

A House of Lords report branded the EUs Operation Sophia anti-smuggling mission a failure on all counts, saying it has not in any meaningful way deterred the flow of migrants, disrupted the smugglers networks, or impeded the business of people smuggling.

The committee concluded that the mission was driving refugee deaths by destroying smugglers boats and forcing them to switch to unseaworthy dinghies, and raised concern over reports of serious abuses of the human rights of migrants by the Libyan coastguard, which is being trained by the UK and equipped by the EU as it seeks to gradually unburden itself of responsibility for rescues.

The UN has warned of widespread torture, kidnap, ransom, arbitrary detention, rape, forced labour and slave auctions in Libya, where people smugglers have set up a lucrative business in the continuing conflict.

Refugees interviewed by The Independent have told of horrific abuses at the hands of both state security forces and Libyan gangs, including seeing other migrants being beaten to death and raped, and being sold between owners until they can escape over the Mediterranean.

A study commissioned by Unicef found that most children making the crossing did not intend to travel to Europe when they left home, with the journey taking up to two years.

Children interviewed in Italy said they fled their home countries for reasons including conflict, poverty and child marriage, frequently being drawn to Libya by the promise of work but finding systematic trauma and abuse.

Almost half of children said they were kidnapped for ransom in Libya, and a quarter held in prison without charges.

Sol Oyuela, director of public affairs at Unicef UK, said: These devastating journeys must end and the UK Government has an opportunity to change this, by ensuring our immigration rules allow children to reunite with siblings, grandparents and other loved ones.

More than 113,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year, with most of the 95,000 reaching Italy coming from countries including Bangladesh, Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African nations.
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A New York couple who were unable to pay back thousands of dollars in tax leapt to their deaths from the ninth floor of a Madison Avenue building where they worked.

Chiropractor Glenn Scarpelli and his wife Patricia left notes saying that they could not live with their financial reality, police sources told The New York Post.

Before they jumped they left rubbish bags with their belongings in.

Javier Guzman, a shoe repairman told the Mail Online that he saw the couple lying in the road. I didnt recognise them but they looked young, in their forties, he said.

Their notes wrapped in plastic bags were found in each of their pockets. Entitled We had a wonderful life, Scarpelli wrote about his financial spiral.

Public records show that Mr Scarpelli, 53, owed around $213,000 (162,000) to the federal government and almost $42,000 (32,000) to the state in unpaid taxes dating back to 2003.

In 2013, the federal government had pursued legal action against Mr Scarpelli for not paying back a $60,000 loan taken out in 2000. He was studying at the Logan College of Chiropractic in St Louis, Missouri. In 2008 he was a vice-president of its alumni association.

I just dont understand why this would happen, why they would do this to their kids, Adam Lamb, a fellow chiropractor and long-time friend told the Post.

Even with all that debt, it still doesnt make sense, he added.

The couple lived with their children, Isabella, 20, and Joseph, 19, in the financial district, close to Wall Street.

Default fears grow as talks on US debt ceiling go to wire Show all 2 1 /2 Default fears grow as talks on US debt ceiling go to wire Default fears grow as talks on US debt ceiling go to wire congress-getty.jpg Getty Images Default fears grow as talks on US debt ceiling go to wire white-house.jpg Getty Images

Ms Colants note instructed that their children be informed about their deaths, according to a law-enforcement spokesperson.

A friend of their daughter, Isabella said: Their kids didnt know anything about their financial problems. None of us did. He seemed like he loved his job.

Robert Boyce, NYPD chief of detectives said the cause of their money worries was not clear. Dont know right now, he said. We still have to go further.

The top cause of financial stress for New Yorkers is paying debt, according to a GOBankingRates study in 2016. Saving money is a struggle, with 69 per cent of Americans having less than $1,000 dollars put by for emergencies.

For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 116 123, visit a local Samaritans branch or visit their website. The US number is 1-800-273-8225
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Days after Donald Trump announced he would ban transgender people from serving in the military "in any capacity, a sheriff in Washington state has invited them to apply to work on his force.

"If any transgender former or active duty members of our armed forces want a supportive boss, apply here, John Urquhart tweeted.

In a separate interview with NBC News, he added: "I respect anyone who steps up to serve our country and community, whether theyre a member of the armed forces or a first responder."

"Im proud to have transgender individuals serving within our ranks, and they do an excellent job protecting our community day in and day out Any transgender person forced out of the military is invited to apply!

Urquhart serves as chief law enforcement officer for 1.9 million people and oversees over 1,000 employees at the King County Sheriffs Office.

Many supported his offer with one person tweeting: I applaud your desire to assist the transgender community. President Trump's disparaging remarks are callous and cold hearted.

However, some criticised his comments.

One tweet said: How about sticking to law enforcement rather than political hack? Disappointing to see sheriff using office to attack the president. Shame."

Urquhart responded: I'm using my office to support those who serve in our armed forces, as the President should be doing.

President Trump's decision reversed his predecessor Barack Obama's move to allow active-duty troops to come out as transgender people.

However, there have been no moves to make his comments official.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, als insisted there would be no modification to the military's transgender policy after President Donald Trump's announcement.

"There will be no modifications to the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidance," he wrote in a message to military leaders.

Lonely road: Why school is hell for transgender pupils Show all 2 1 /2 Lonely road: Why school is hell for transgender pupils Lonely road: Why school is hell for transgender pupils 25255.bin Lonely road: Why school is hell for transgender pupils 25256.bin

He added: "In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has also ruled that transgender individuals are covered under the federal civil rights law.

Around 250 service members have applied to change their gender in the military since the ban was repealed a year ago, according to the Associated Press.
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In 2008, Gunnar Garfors had visited 85 countries.

It was then that he decided to make it his mission to travel to every single country in the world  198, to be exact.

He accomplished his goal on May 8, 2013, earning him the title of the youngest person to travel to every country. He was 37 years old.

He has since written a book called "198: How I Ran Out Of Countries," and created a website dedicated to his travels.

Garfors  who works at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK)  managed to keep his job throughout his travels; he never wanted to quit.

Instead he wanted to combine a job he has always enjoyed with travel, his greatest passion in life.

Garfor sent us the best photos from his journey around the world.

This picture of an old man was taken in Herat, Afghanistan.

(Marius Arnesen)

According to Garfors, "penguins in their real environment are a must-see. They are incredible swimmers and posers."

(Gunnar Garfors)

While in Benin, a French-speaking country on Africa's west coast, Garfors tried several types of Obama beer  none of which he liked and sampled some delicious street food.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Archery competitions are common among locals in Bhutan. Garfors says the archers shoot at targets over 100 meters away.

(Gunnar Garfors)

While in Peru, Garfors visited the ruins of Machu Picchu.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Here Garfors enjoys a beer with a local police officers and cassette-tape salesman in N'Djamena, the capital and largest city in Chad.

(Gunnars Garfors)

Garfors received a warm welcome in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

While in Congo, Garfors was able to capture this photo of a mother with her seven children.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors had one thing to say about the Faroe Islands, an archipelago that lies between Norway and Iceland: "What are you waiting for? Just visit Faroe Islands."

(Gunnar Garfors)

In the words of Garfors, "Who needs a flashy car when you can travel?" This was taken on the way to one of Norway's best surfing spots.

(Gunnar Garfors)

This picture shows a scene that's common in Greece: men playing chess in a coffee shop.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors says this onlooker in Kerala, India, was anything but impressed by his boating skills.

(Gunnar Garfors)

In Jordan, Garfors made it to Petra, a breathtaking archaeological city in the south of the country.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Neda, a girl Garfors met in Iran, wanted to marry him. He declined but agreed to have their photo taken dressed up as a royal couple.

(Gunnar Garfors)

It's not unusual for children in Yemen to start smoking hookah and chewing khat  a flowering plant native to the Horn of Africa and Arabian Peninsula  at a very early age.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors referred to Kiribati, an island republic in the central Pacific, as a "proper Pacific paradise."

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors set a Guinness World Record after visiting five continents in one day in 2012 with travel companion Adrian Butterworth.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors broke another world record when he visited 19 countries in Europe in under 24 hours. Here he poses with his travel companions.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors enjoyed a typical seafood meal while in Zambia.

(Gunnar Garfors)

While in Bhutan, Garfors enjoyed great views of the Paro Taktsang, a cliffside Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors visited a small school when he was in Somalia. Most children attending the school hadn't seen foreigners before, so they all wanted to touch Garfors to make sure he was real.

(Gunnar Garfors)

While in Artush, a tiny mountain village in Tajikistan, located in Central Asia, Garfors stayed at the home of a local teacher.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors was lucky enough to be able to see the blowholes in Tonga. He says the waves push water through small tunnels, creating geyser effects on land.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors says that he had most of the beaches he visited in Tonga to himself.

(Gunnar Garfors)

The burning fire makes for beautiful lighting.

(Marius Arnesen)

This was Garfors' stash of cash and credit cards he used during his travels through Uzbekistan.

(Gunnar Garfors)

He made friends with a few animals while in Uzbekistan.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Here, he tries out some local transportation in the country: a donkey.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors visited Chile with his girlfriend at the time, who is originally from the country. Here he is in Vina del Mar after receiving a royal welcome from his girlfriend's family.

(Gunnar Garfors)

A butcher in Vietnam patiently waited as Garfors snapped this photo.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Garfors ended his trip around the world in Cape Verde, a country that sits on an archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Reaching the final, 198th country on his list called for celebration.

(Gunnar Garfors)

Read more:

 This chart is easy to interpret: It says we're screwed

 How Uber became the world's most valuable startup

 These 4 things could trigger the next crisis in Europe

Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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One of the busiest holiday weekends of the year has got off to a sclerotic start. A combination of traffic on the approaches to Dover, delays in the port itself, atrocious weather and mechanical problems are extending what should be a 90-minute crossing to many hours.

Highways England warns of queuing vehicles on the A2 and A20, the main approaches to the Kent port, tweeting: Heading to Dover this afternoon? delay for ferry crossings, Long delays and queues #A2 + #A20.

Britains busiest port is handling tens of thousands of vehicles today. A buffer zone has been put into effect while drivers wait for border checks. P&O Ferries warns: Long queues in and around the port, please allow 3hrs to clear all checks.

The Met Office issued a warning for severe Force 9 gales in the Strait of Dover, which is delaying sailings. In addition, P&O Ferries is suffering technical issues on its ships to Calais and back.

Departures are three hours behind schedule. Motorists are being told that they will be placed on the next available sailing, with free tea or coffee on board by way of an apology. P&O is advising passengers to delay non-essential trips to a later date.

The main problem for travellers booked on the rival firm, DFDS, is traffic on the approaches. The line says: Customers arriving late due to delays on the motorway will be accommodated on the first available sailing free of charge. DFDS is delaying sailings by around 30 minutes to help delayed customers at port

Once across the Channel, British motorists problems are only just beginning.

In France, the final Saturday of July is known as le grand chasse-croise des vacances  the big holiday crossover, when families who holiday in July tangle with those who prefer August vacations. A government warning of extremely difficult traffic nationwide applies all day on the official calendar of congestion.

The biggest traffic jams are expected on the main autoroutes to the south of France, but the roads along the coast are also experiencing very heavy traffic.

The wildfires which have ravaged parts of the littoral, extending almost the sea, have added to travellers problems. The Foreign Office is telling UK holidaymakers to monitor local media and follow the advice of the local authorities.
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We report today the damning words of Axel Grafmanns of the German charity Sea-Watch: The EU is wilfully letting people drown in the Mediterranean by refusing to create a legal means of safe passage and failing to even provide adequate resources for maritime rescue.

So far this year, 2,400 men, women and children have lost their lives in the central Mediterranean, including 13 people found dead at the bottom of an overcrowded dinghy this week.

This ought to be intolerable, and yet the governments of Europe tolerate it, because they appear to lack the political will to deal with it. Mr Grafmanns was speaking about a disagreement over new rules to be presented by the Italian government on Monday that charities say will restrict their capacity to rescue refugees during the peak crossing season.

But this is only the latest instance of a policy of reaction, containment and buck-passing that characterises the approach of all European Union nations including the UK. Mr Grafmanns makes explicit what many suspect, that the EU believes that, if the rescue effort in the Mediterranean is too effective, it would encourage even more people to attempt the crossing.

Of course, there is an element of truth in this, but nothing could justify a policy of allowing people to drown to discourage the others. The death toll in the central Mediterranean ought, instead, to act as a spur to a bigger and more effective effort at all levels to deal with the refugee crisis.

 Italian coastguard rescues refugee boat from Libya in the Mediterranean

That ought to mean a policy focused on aid and education at source, to try to discourage people in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African nations from heading towards Libya in the first place. Then there is our collective responsibility to the people of Libya themselves: having helped turn Libya into a failed state by the Nato intervention in 2011, we ought to do more to help fix it.

The UKs assistance to the Libyan coastguard must be part of this, but so far it has not done enough to stop human rights abuses, as a House of Lords report found this month.

Ultimately, the objective of policy ought to be something similar to the deal that the EU has with Turkey: in effect a large amount of money for Turkey to deal with Syrian refugees close to source. It may seem crude and even cynical, but it is better than a policy that countenances thousands of people drowning each year.

The refugee crisis on Europes southern borders is one of the great humanitarian challenges of the age, and The Independent believes that the UK shares a moral responsibility to help solve it. Whether we are a member of the EU or not, we are members of the human race and part of the wider community of nations. We cannot be part of wilfully letting people drown.
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Weve been gorging on the travails of Donald Trump and the Republicans. When a president and his own governing party step in so many cowpats in so brief a period of time, its hard to avert your gaze. Whats next? Mitch McConnell drops his trousers on the steps of Congress?

That happened already, of course. The humiliation that was the Senate rebuke in the wee hours of Friday to McConnells last-gasp effort to kill the Affordable Care Act  or Obamacare  cant be overstated. A majority leader just doesnt ask for a floor vote unless he knows how it will turn out. Not at 1.30am. Not when half the land has stayed awake to watch. Not when the thing youre trying to do has been the sole obsession of your party for nigh on eight years.

But lets give some due to the Democrats, who have almost been forgotten in all of this. Its been a long, long road. I suggest we turn the page, Chuck Schumer, the Minority leader, offered minutes after McConnells so-called Skinny Bill at least to unwind parts of Obamacare fell to defeat. If the senator from New York was looking smug, you could hardly blame him.

Hillary Clinton wins! That was the headline we thought we were going to be reading last November. But maybe now she does. The one thing that most terrified her supporters about the unthinkable occurring  complete Republican control of Washington  was that the only really big thing Democrats had done in eight years with Barack Obama at the top would be destroyed.

Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Show all 22 1 /22 Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump talk as they leave the Army Museum at Les Invalides in Paris AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump arrive for the group photo at the G7 Taormina summit on the island of Sicily in May 2017 Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Mr Trump was pressed on the subject at the G7 summit in Italy Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump gives a speeech at the Warsaw Uprising Monument on Krasinski Square Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May during a ceremony at the NATO headquarters before the start of a summit in Brussels, Belgium Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Montenegro's Prime Minister Dusko Markovic is seen to the right of Donald Trump at a Nato summit in Brussels REUTERS Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis meeting with US President Donald J. Trump EPA Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Pope Francis poses with US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump arrives at Palazzo del Quirinale ahead of the meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella Ufficio Stampa Presidenza della via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is seen during a joint press conference with the Palestinian leader at the presidential palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas meets US President Donald Trump PPO via Getty Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with US President Donald Trump prior to the President's departure GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering a speech at the Israel Museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump lay a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance as White House senior advisor Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump watch on during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem accompanied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu GPO via Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump takes his seat before his speech to the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia Reuters Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump look at a display of Saudi modern art at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud take part in a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips King Salman presents Donald Trump with The Collar of Abdulaziz al-Saud Medal at the Royal Court Palace on 20 May AP Donald Trump's international Presidential trips US President Donald Trump is welcomed by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud upon arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump's international Presidential trips U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn prior to their first foreign trip Getty Images

Obamacare, an attempt at last to bring a kind of universal health coverage to the last country in the developed world not to have it, was, Clinton declared, one of the great accomplishments not only of this president, but of the Democratic Party going back to Harry Truman.

Call it a vicarious victory for Clinton, at least. It comes thanks to Schumer who warned colleagues in January that Republicans would try to pick them off one by one in their quest to kill the health law. Only by sticking together would they thwart them. This wasnt going to be easy. The Democrats are no more ideologically homogeneous than the Republicans are, ranging from Bernie Sanders on the left to Joe Manchin of West Virginia to the centre. But they did it.

They also coordinated with a fearsome army of grass-roots resisters, including groups like MoveOn.org, Indivisible and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Relations were sometimes tense, the anti-Trump factions not always convinced the Senate Democrats would stay strong. Indeed, Schumer was not always as obstructive on the Hill as they wanted. But his strategy of more constructive resistance  he allowed members to talk to Republicans about improving Obamacare but never, ever about repealing it outright  worked. Instead of Republicans exploiting Democrat disunity, it was Democrats who exploited theirs.

All the while, a group of former Obama aides who had been at ground zero of passing the Affordable Care Act and then shielding it from various assaults had come quietly come out of retirement to form a third front. Called Protect Our Care, the group included Kathleen Sebelius, Obamas Secretary of Health and Human Services, who was plotting a month-long, nationwide bus tour to pressure Republicans not to dump Obamacare. That wont be necessary now. As the New York Times reported this week, Leslie Dach, one of Obamas top health care officials, meanwhile ran a war room in Washington also helping to coordinate the grass-roots resistance.

What they did was win the propaganda war. The White House and congressional Republicans continued to peddle the notion that Obamacare was a catastrophe. Americans couldnt use the doctors they wanted, faced stiff fines if they ignored the laws requirement that every America buy insurance and sometimes lost coverage anyway because of soaring premiums. Elements of the message were true - premiums are rising fast. But the momentum was shifting to the Democrats. The greatest of ironies is this: Obamacare was never as popular when Obama was president as it is now, with more than 50 per cent of Americans now saying theyd like to keep it. It didnt hurt that with every new Republican proposal so came a new forecast from the Congressional Budget Office of how many Americans would lose coverage as a result. 26 million. 23 million. 16 million.

Republicans sometimes have the easier job of getting their message across just because it is so simple: government intrusion is bad. Taxes are bad. Freedom to choose is good, and so forth. But all that is only so much ideological guff when policy decisions actually impact directly on peoples lives. Even Trump voters started to see through it. If you are poor and live in one of the 33 states that accepted a massive expansion of Medicaid benefits that was allowable under Obamacare, they were always going to ask what will happen to them if those benefits are erased.

Republicans should have grasped that once new benefits are given, there is no taking them away. The watered-down Skinny Bill was a nonsense, because it sought to leave the good bits of Obamacare intact while taking away the bad bits like the mandate that said you must have health insurance just as you must have car insurance. You cant have one without the other; the system would simply collapse. Its why Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina publicly called it a fraud and why, in the most dramatic moment of his career, the ailing Senator John McCain killed it by voting "no" alongside Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.

Clinton is putting the final touches to a book about her failed 2016 run due out in September called What Happened. She might indulge now in writing an epilogue. Maybe We Won After All.
2016 brought home to us the importance of remembrance and commemoration. Reflecting on the past is not just an exercise in history - it also shines a light on lessons that are relevant for today.

This year the ESB is 90 years old and the hydro-electric power station at Ardnacrusha in Co Clare was key to its foundation. The entire project started in 1925 and was completed in 1934.

The development of the station with the Shannon Scheme was the brainchild of Dr Thomas McLaughlin, an engineer with Siemens. He convinced the fledgling Irish State to invest in the project and to invite the German company to partner in the building and fitting out of the plant. He became the first Managing Director of the ESB when it was founded on August 1927.

The Shannon Scheme was a huge undertaking for the young country when it agreed to take it on in 1924.

Expand Close Two of the greatest achievements of the Ireland that emerged after 1916 were in energy - ie, building the Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power station (which produced 80pc of Ireland's electricity in the 1930s) and rural electrification / Facebook

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Whatsapp Two of the greatest achievements of the Ireland that emerged after 1916 were in energy - ie, building the Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power station (which produced 80pc of Ireland's electricity in the 1930s) and rural electrification

Two years after Independence and a few months after the end of the Civil War, the government showed great bravery and vision in undertaking the project.

It would become the biggest building and civil engineering project in Europe, involving the diversion of the longest river in these islands and the construction of a generating station to provide electricity for a people who had little knowledge of the technology or its uses.

A workforce of 5,000 was engaged in the project. Some of the facts and figures are astounding. The project cost 5.2m or 20pc of the State's revenue in 1925. Water was diverted downstream from Killaloe through a 12km canal dug out with bucket excavators.

Two rivers were diverted to flow under the canal, a 2km tailrace canal was blasted through rock to redirect water back into the river, a double navigation lock was built to ensure the river remained navigable and four new bridges were built across the canal.

Thirty-three people lost their lives during the project's construction. They included a German payroll clerk who was murdered (his killer was tried and executed). Nine Germans working with Siemens were lost at sea when the boat they were travelling in foundered on its way to Ireland.

There are many significant aspects to the development of the Shannon Scheme. Foremost among them was the decision of a fiscally conservative government to move outside its preoccupation with balancing the books to invest in a public good.

Expand Close Students touring Ardnacrusha. Photo: ESB / Facebook

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The new Irish government was obsessed with proving to the British and the world that a free Ireland could govern itself and could manage its financial affairs better than most.

Prudence was the order of the day. So it went against the grain of that government to build Ardnacrusha and then create the ESB, a State body with responsibility for this vital element of national infrastructure.

The Shannon Scheme had a transformative effect on the country and led to an equally transformative initiative two decades later with the roll-out of rural electrification.

Today this country is well off by any international standard.

In the 1920s we were one of the poorest nations in Europe, but our leaders had sufficient courage and foresight to do something that would bring about real change.

Is there similar courage among today's political class to tackle any one of the chronic crises we are facing? Housing, health and balanced development are three problem areas with infrastructure such as broadband at the heart of the latter.

Just as the Cosgrave Government was obsessed with balancing the books, this government and many current politicians are obsessed with the market and the autonomy of the market.

There is an aversion to State involvement and investment in almost anything.

From transport to communications to health, and even education, the elusive entrepreneur is regarded as the fair-haired one who will deliver 'efficiencies' whatever about service.

The people trust the State and, for all their failings, our public service and our public institutions have stood us in good stead.

Visiting Ardnacrusha last week the visual impact of the plant is amazing - there is a real sense of the awesome achievement involved in harnessing the power of nature and one can't but admire the aesthetics of the finished product.

However, one of the most remarkable aspects of the visit was the palpable pride the ESB staff have in the place and in what was achieved there.

To mark this year's 90th anniversary, Ardnacrusha is welcoming visitors and staff are giving guided tours of this fascinating place.

Perhaps the Dail could organise a few day trips to the plant so that ministers and deputies of all shades and none could come and see what can be achieved when the full power of the State is harnessed for the greater good.
The court was told by Jim O'Callaghan SC the case could be adjourned generally, with liberty for both sides to re-enter should the need arise. Stock photo: Depositphotos

A legal action by a minority shareholder in a gold mining company over concerns he had about corporate governance issues has been adjourned at the High Court following discussions between the parties.

Patrick O'Sullivan, of Howth Road, Dublin, initiated proceedings under the Companies Act against Conroy Gold and Natural Resources plc alleging oppression of him as a shareholder.

The company was established in 1995 by Professor Richard Conroy to find gold deposits in Northern Ireland and northern Finland and has a nine-member board chaired by Professor Conroy.

Mr O'Sullivan acquired shares in the company in autumn 2009 and now holds a 28pc stake but is not a director.

On Thursday, his lawyers applied for interim orders against the company over fears the board was contemplating measures to dilute the current members' shareholdings before an EGM on August 4 with a view to defeating his resolutions.

When the matter returned before Mr Justice Tony O'Connor on Friday, the court was told by Jim O'Callaghan SC the case could be adjourned generally, with liberty for both sides to re-enter should the need arise.

Brian O'Moore SC, for the defendant, said the parties had agreed that no further shares in the company would be issued between now and the proposed EGM. There would be no dilution of the plaintiff's shares before that meeting, he said.

Counsel for the bank, who described Mr O'Sullivan proceedings as misconceived, said his side also wanted to put a number of things in the public domain following media coverage.

He said the claim that directors paid themselves 4m over a seven-year period was "misleading". Over that period they were paid a total of 900,000. He said the directors had also taken steps to keep the company afloat, including not cashing in share options which they were entitled to do.

The directors had further supported the company by way of unsecured loans totalling 3.1m.

Mr O'Callaghan disputed that the action was misconceived but in light of the agreement between the parties there was no need to argue such points. Mr Justice O'Connor adjourned the case generally.

Previously, the court heard that Mr O Sullivan had brought proceedings over concerns he had about corporate governance standards and excessive remuneration.
A house for sale in Cabinteely in the capital, where prices have rocketed

Similar properties on the same road in a south Dublin community have soared in value by 150,000 since late 2014.

Prices have risen from 475,000 in October 2014 to 540,000 in July 2016, and then to an asking price of 625,000 today.

One such property, a four-bedroom semi-detached family home on Vale View Lawn, in Cabinteely, now has an asking price of 625,000.

The estate agent for the property, Paul Aherne, with Hunters Estate Agent, said the final price for similar houses in the area could be far higher "in a lot of cases" and that a bidding war could occur between four or five bidders.

"In one case recently, we sold a property for 545,000 and the asking price was initially 485,000 with five bidders," Mr Aherne told the Irish Independent.

He said that while local property tax contributed, "a lack of supply" was the main reason for the sudden hike since 2014.

In most cases it would take about three or four weeks from the launch of a property to it being sold.

This particular property was a family home for a number of years, and it hasn't gone under any extensive renovation, he added.

"This type of house is in extremely short supply for families looking in the area.

"It is a very good area to live in, with great facilities like schools and shops close by," Mr Aherne said.
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven admitted that his country and its citizens had been exposed to risks by potential leaks of sensitive information. Pic: AP

Sweden's political establishment was left reeling this week as the fallout from a 2015 data leak left the country's government on the brink of collapse.

The case highlights the extraordinarily high potential of data privacy failures to damage political leaders and institutions.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven replaced two ministers in a bid to contain the damage and stave off an early election as he grappled with a scandal over the leaking of sensitive personal data from state databases.

His own administration remains in the balance. Faced with a political crisis over a botched IT outsourcing deal, Lofven sacrificed his interior and infrastructure ministers rather than step down or call a snap vote more than a year ahead of schedule.

But he retained Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist, defying opposition parties who had pressed for the removal of all three ministers.

The scandal involves the handling of data under a 2015 outsourcing deal between the Swedish Transport Agency and IBM Sweden.

Lofven admitted on Monday that his country and its citizens had been exposed to risks by potential leaks of sensitive information.

Among some of the details that could have been accessible outside Sweden were the registration numbers of most vehicles on land, air and sea.

Prime Minister Lofven started last week with a pledge to investigate the Swedish Transport Agency's decision to outsource its IT operations to IBM in 2015.

The agency ignored warnings from the Swedish Security Service, and sidestepped rules on outsourcing.

Romania and the Czech Republic were among countries handling the contract, with foreign personnel who didn't have Swedish security clearance gaining access to classified information.

This included data on military vehicles, protected identities and Sweden's register of drivers' licences.

Whistleblowers have raised concerns that information about vehicles used by the armed forces and the police may have ended up in the wrong hands.

The identities of some security and military personnel could also have been at risk, according to reports, although no evidence has emerged that actual harm was caused.

Hultqvist has acknowledged knowing about the affair since early 2016. But his position is bolstered by the fact he is not responsible for the Transport Agency, and the army has said it took appropriate measures early on and that the scandal has not impacted its operations.

IBM Sweden says it never discusses its dealings with clients.

The opposition parties said in a statement they would press ahead with a motion of no confidence in Hultqvist. If they win that vote, Lofven will have to remove him, which would leave the premier seriously weakened.

Although he insisted that he would not step down, Lofven finds himself struggling to preserve his minority left-green government in a fragmented political landscape where the far-right, anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats hold the balance of power.

However, he won some breathing space when the four-party opposition Alliance bloc said it would seek the confidence vote only after the summer break. Parliament is due to resume official business in September.

Referring to the threatened vote, Lofven told daily newspaper 'Dagens Nyheter': "We will handle that situation as well. I'm the country's prime minister and will handle that too."

Opposition Moderate Party leader Anna Kinberg Batra said on Twitter: "Welcome decision from Stefan Lofven that two ministers leave after the security crisis. But the reason for suspicion against Peter Hultqvist remains."

Lofven and his allies control 159 seats in parliament, while the Alliance holds 140 and the Sweden Democrats 47.

Other parties refuse to work with them, but no one is capable of forming a majority without them.

In currency markets the Swedish crown was unperturbed, trading largely unchanged against the euro after initially strengthening somewhat.

"Financial markets have taken this in stride, and I think that will continue also going forward," said Robert Bergqvist, SEB chief economist.

"The combination of a strong Swedish economy, a strong balance sheet, and the economic-political framework gives us protection against these political events. But there could possibly be somewhat more nervousness in the financial markets if problems around the state budget arise, so we need to keep an eye on that."

Sweden has enjoyed an economic boom most countries in Europe would envy. Gross domestic product grew by 3.2pc last year and is predicted to grow by 2.4pc this year. (Reuters)
A former Christian Brother teacher has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for committing "barbaric" sexual assaults on boys in his class.

Sentencing James Treacy (75) at Limerick Circuit Court, presiding judge Tom O'Donnell said the victims were "unable to do or say anything" as they were "terrified and confused given their tender age".

"The victims all recall being happy in school, until they entered the hell that fifth class turned out to be," the judge said.

"Their innocence was stolen and their future distorted, their relationships damaged. They have had a sense of fear and loathing at every turn.

"Their families have been destroyed and it has ruined their ability to trust anybody. They are emotionally wrecked."

Treacy - who had 30 previous convictions for indecent assault on six more boys at the same school - "left a deep trail of destruction". Addressing the victims at yesterday's sentencing hearing, the judge told them: "You did nothing wrong. You should not be ashamed for the actions of (Treacy)."

The defendant, with an address at Ashford Close, Swords, Dublin, continues to plead his innocence.

"He shows a complete lack of remorse," judge O'Donnell said.

Treacy had denied all 17 counts of indecent assault on his victims, whom he had taught fifth class in the 1970s.

Earlier this year he was found guilty on all counts by two juries, after being tried on two separate indictments.

One victim gave evidence Treacy gagged him with a bar of soap and raped him in the school toilet. Judge O'Donnell said Treacy had "isolated and brutally assaulted" the boy.

Another victim told how Treacy ran a "military"-style classroom. On some occasions, if pupils failed to wash their ears before attending class, Treacy would "lick" them clean.

Treacy, it was heard, would position himself close to his victims, and put his hands under their clothes and down their pants, and fondle their nipples and genitals.

Judge O'Donnell described Treacy's behaviour as "barbaric" and the evidence as "harrowing". "The aggravating factors must include the very young age of the victims. They were all 10 years at the time."

He also noted that Treacy, who was 25-years-old at the time, carried on the "random assaults unchallenged".

The judge added: "I find it hard to fathom that no (other) adult was not aware of (the abuse)".
Sculptor has completed works of many famous sporting figures including Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and both Christy O'Connor Snr and Christy Jnr, as well as jockey AP McCoy

Internationally renowned sculptor Paul Ferriter was yesterday awarded 88,000 compensation for having to move his studio out of a Temple Bar building that is due to be demolished as part of a redevelopment.

It is just under a quarter of the 360,000 he had asked Judge James O'Donohoe to award him in a Circuit Civil Court application. The 88,000 award was reduced by 10,000 that Mr Ferriter conceded he owed his landlord in rent.

Mr Ferriter had sought the compensation from landlord Rockyvale for having to quit his studio and find somewhere else to continue moulding his acclaimed works.

The sculptor, of Clonsilla Road, Blanchardstown, Dublin, has completed sculptures of many famous sporting figures, including Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and both Christy O'Connor Snr and Christy Jnr, as well as jockey AP McCoy.

He had rented the top floor of Fashion House in Upper Exchange Street and Copper Alley, Dublin, and had been told this week by Judge O'Donohoe that he was entitled to a new five-year lease, but Mr Ferriter asked the court to assess compensation, asking for the six-figure sum.

Rossa Fanning, counsel for Rockyvale, of Northwood Park, Santry, Dublin, told the court that Fashion House was to be demolished and redeveloped in a multi-million-euro extension to the existing Parliament Hotel almost opposite Dublin City Hall in Lord Edward Street.

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Mr Fanning said planning permission had already been obtained from Dublin City Council and contractors had been hired and ready to start work next month.

Rockyvale's valuer, Peter Stapleton, had estimated adequate compensation at 50,000.

Mr Ferriter told his barrister John Donnelly that he was currently working on new sculptures for Cheltenham Racecourse, and had sculpted famous horses owned by Ryanair's Michael O'Leary.

Judge O'Donohoe heard that Mr Ferriter (49) had been paying 800 a month but was 10,000 in arrears.

Mr Ferriter said he had withheld rent after having been locked out of the building, but had lodged 10,000 with his solicitors Ivor Fitzpatrick to cover the backlog.

The High Court had allowed him back in last year.

Mr Fanning told the court planning permission had been obtained for a five-to-seven-storey development over basement extension, which would include 77 additional bedrooms.

In total, the hotel would have 128 bedrooms, with access from both Exchange Street Upper and Lord Edward Street.

Judge O'Donohoe awarded Mr Ferriter 88,000 compensation, reduced to 78,000 to cover rent arrears, and directed that Rockyvale make a 7,500 contribution towards his costs.

Mr Ferriter was granted six weeks to leave the building.
A woman who was raped by a man who purported to come to her aid after she got lost on a night out in Dublin says she is now a broken person.

In a victim impact statement read out in the Central Criminal Court today the married mother described how she suffers from panic attacks and depression since she was raped by Mohamed Okda while on a night out in Dublin city in 2014.

My trusting nature and heart has been broken, she said. I am now a broken person...My belief that people are essentially good and my belief in people around me has been damaged.

Okda (30), an Egyptian nation formerly of Coolfin, Rathdowney, Co Laois, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of raping the woman and one count of sexually assaulting her at a flat in Dublin city centre on a date in February, 2014.

The jury took just under three hours to return unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts following a seven-day trial at the Central Criminal Court earlier this month. One of the jurors returned to court today for the sentence hearing. The matter will return to court on October 9.

Garda Mark Mahon told Sean Guerin SC, prosecuting, that the woman travelled to Dublin to enjoy her first night out since the birth of her child. Around 4am she got separated from her friends after she went to an ATM to get money out for a homeless person.

She didn't know the exact address of where she was staying that night and couldn't get through to her friends, the court heard. She was upset and crying when she was approached by Okda, who suggested she come back to his apartment where she could continue to try and contact her friends.

The court heard the woman was drunk and tired at that point. She fell asleep or blacked out on a sofa bed in the apartment and woke up to find Okda touching her.

The woman repeatedly said No and told Okda she had a husband and children, but he kept pushing her back down, telling her: You stay. It's OK.

Gda Mahon said the woman was in fear for her life at this stage, and that although Okda did not make any verbal threats, she was very frightened by the expression on his face.

The woman begged Okda not to kill her before he raped her. When it was over, he told her she could go. The woman ran outside and tried to flag down a number of cars before a taxi stopped and took her to a garda station.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said she tried to seek counselling, but even picking up the phone to arrange appointments brought on a panic attack. She said she now feels like she has no control over her body and she hates looking at herself in the mirror.

She said she was lucky to have a supportive husband and that they were working to repair their relationship in the wake of what happened to her.

My husband has to deal with the trauma of what happened to his wife, she said. She said she had lost friends in the wake of that night as she couldn't bring herself to tell them what happened to her.

I often feel like I can't go on. For the sake of my husband and kids I get up every day and do my best to get on with life.

I didn't walk away unharmed. I was once a happy person who loved to talk to people...Not a day goes by without feeling the weight of that night and what was done to me and what can never be undone.

After she had finished speaking, Mr Justice Michael Moriarty told the woman she was an admirable lady. You can hold your head high, he told her.

Mr Guerin said Okda has 16 previous convictions in Ireland dating back to 2006, none of which are for a sexual offence. They mostly involve driving offences, public order offences and theft.

He was married to an Irish woman and applied for Irish residency on the basis of that marriage, but the Immigration Service was not satisfied the relationship was still functioning and denied the application.

A deportation order was issued and he then claimed asylum. He has been in custody since he was found guilty.

Ciaran O'Loughlin SC, defending, requested that the matter be adjourned until October, when a plea of mitigation and cross-examination of Gda Mahon will take place.
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A jury found Okda guilty of two counts of raping the woman and one count of sexual assault in the flat. Stock photo

A man has been found guilty of raping a woman he met after she became lost on a night out in Dublin's city centre.

Mohamed Okda (30), who is an Egyptian national with an address at Coolfin, Rathdowney, Co Laois, was staying at a friend's flat in the city on February 9, 2014, when he met the woman in an upset state.

A jury found Okda guilty of two counts of raping the woman and one count of sexual assault in the flat.

Mr Justice Michael Moriarty thanked the jurors for their care and diligence and told them it was a verdict he agreed with.

He remanded the man into custody for sentence on July 28.

Gardai had objected to a defence application to allow Okda remain on bail.

Sean Guerin SC, prosecuting, told the court that there was an issue regarding his residency here and gardai considered him a flight risk.

In her evidence, the victim - a married mother - said that she lived outside Dublin and was visiting the city with two female friends for a night out. At the end of the night she said she was drunk and tired.

She lost her friends and became upset because they weren't responding to texts or phone calls.

The accused man approached her and offered to help her find her friends, she said.

He suggested she come back to the flat where she could continue to try to contact her friends on her phone. He then attacked her when she got to the flat.

She said she was disoriented and as soon she left the flat she ran across the road and started trying to stop cars. Four cars passed her before a taxi stopped and she told him she had been raped, she testified. The driver took her to the local station.
A Tidy Towns volunteer sustained life-changing injuries when a man came up behind him and broke a bottle of vodka on his head, Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard yesterday.

Estonian national Jannus Poldme, from Castletownbere, Co Cork, who has lived in Ireland for nearly 15 years, could offer no explanation for the vicious, unprovoked assault on 30-year-old Kieran Murphy.

He pleaded guilty to the assault.

Mr Murphy undertook a clean-up operation in Castletownbere on April 2 last. He went to the pub with a few people, left after one drink and was walking down the road when Poldme smashed a bottle of vodka on his head.

Mr Murphy was rendered unconscious and was taken to Cork University Hospital where he was treated for a fractured skull. He also suffered a dislocated jaw and damaged teeth.

Poldme was arrested and was unable to give an explanation. While he knew the injured party, there was never any animosity between them. Det Garda Martin Hegarty told Judge Sean O Donnabhain the assault had changed Mr Murphy's personality. His short-term memory has also been compromised.

Poldme (27) is unemployed and on disability allowance. He has 11 previous convictions and a history of mental health problems. Judge O Donnabhain said the assault had been "life changing" for the victim.

He jailed the Estonian man for four years, with the last year suspended. Poldme also had to give an undertaking to stay away from Castletownbere on his release from prison.
CONVERSATION: RTEs political correspondent Martina Fitzgerald is keen to see the evidence of pay discrepancies between male and female workers. Photo: Tony Gavin

High-profile staff at Montrose have held face-to-face talks with RTE management as the fallout over the gender pay gap at the broadcaster continues.

Morale at RTE is damaged amid the row over the pay gap between men and women at the station, sources warned.

It is understood the crisis surrounding RTE has deepened so far that some of the station's most senior female staff even considered leaving over the gender pay controversy.

Senior RTE staff were last night trying to put a lid on the controversy that has engulfed the taxpayer-funded body in recent days.

But the Irish Independent has learned that some of RTE's most senior stars have met their superiors to discuss their response to the pay gap.

The gender pay row first erupted after it emerged broadcaster Sharon Ni Bheolain earns up to 80,000 less than her co-anchor Bryan Dobson.

Key figures such as Ms Ni Bheolain, Martina Fitzgerald and Emma O'Kelly have all spoken out over the pay issue as the row ignited during the past week.

A well-placed source last night stressed that the decision by Ms Ni Bheolain to speak was in no way a reflection on her colleague. "The pair are best of friends," the source said.

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"They will discuss the issue when Bryan is back at work next week."

Political Correspondent Martina Fitzgerald and education correspondent Emma O'Kelly were commended at a private chapel meeting in Donnybrook this week after they called for transparency on gender pay.

Ms Fitzgerald and Ms O'Kelly received a round of applause from those present. Ingrid Miley, RTE industry correspondent, also addressed the issue of the gender pay gap at the meeting.

RTE has categorically denied that there was disquiet in the station - despite claims to the contrary by a number of senior sources who spoke to the Irish Independent on the basis of confidentially.

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One RTE figure, among the station's biggest stars, told the Irish Independent that the pay gap between men and women is damaging morale.

"There has been text messages and a lot of phone calls. After the BBC story, we feel we have to speak out."

Another very senior female correspondent said the station has been given a "wake up call".

"Equal pay for equal work applies in so many places, why not RTE."
A young boy with cerebral palsy was forced to travel to Belfast for vital treatment, after he was excluded from a HSE waiting list due to an "admin error."

Jake Hannon (9) suffered severe muscle pain, decreased mobility and uncomfortable blisters throughout 2016, as he waited for a tendon-lengthening operation in Crumlin Childrens Hospital.

Cerebral Palsy is a condition that decreases motor function, affecting Jake on his right side and causing extreme muscle tightness. When the muscles in his right leg grew tight, Jake, from Leixlip, Co Kildare, was forced to walk on his toes, causing him to fall frequently and making simple tasks, such as walking down stairs, a hazard, his mother said.

Jake received several rounds of Botox injections after his diagnosis, but was becoming less receptive to their effects as time wore on. His mother, Rachel Hannon, began to research alternative treatment and found that a tendon-lengthening operation was the only long term solution.

In September 2016, Ms Hannon was told by Jakes consultant that he had been put on a waiting list for treatment, which would likely take place before Christmas. When she rang the consultants office in November, however, she was met with confusion.

"The consultants secretary nearly laughed down the phone to me. She said the consultant was booked up for the next 8 weeks and Jake was not listed," she told Independent.ie.

I rang every week. Eventually they were saying to me, theres no way hes going to be done before Christmas, this is probably early January, February before youre going to hear about the situation. So we were facing into another year of delays and Jake being in pain."

Following a discussion about the Cross Borders Directive on Claire Byrne Live, Ms Hannon began to research alternative ways of accessing treatment.

Enforceable through an EU directive, the cross border scheme "allows for patients that are normally resident in Ireland and availing of public health services to be referred to and avail of healthcare in another EU member state."

Ms Hannon was put in touch with a consultant in Belfast, who provided her with an appointment two weeks later.

"When he saw him he was shocked. He said I cant believe theyve let this child get this bad," she said.

"He said there was no way possible they could just do one muscle. I came out of there being told that he needs four muscles in his foot done and that he would also need further surgery down the line to stunt the growth of his good leg.

"There had always been a discrepancy in the leg length but the health service here hadnt done anything about it."

"He basically said that he could take us in the following week, only that they needed our paperwork."

Ms Hannon compiled the necessary documents and by early January had been given a choice of two possible dates for surgery.

"Now we were less than two months into the process and we had two dates, whereas Id been in the process nearly a year with Crumlin hospital and hadnt been offered any dates," she said.

"They told us that part of the conditions of going with the Cross Borders Directive is that you have to be on a waiting list for that operation here, so I had been contacting Crumlin to ask if they could send me a letter to say that he was on a waiting list. All I kept being told was yeah, Ill send that now and a week would go by and I wouldnt get the letter."

"Eventually the Cross Borders directive said to me that it would be ok to get our GP to write a letter to state that he is on the list. So we got our GP to do up the letter, but in the meantime I was still ringing Crumlin about this."

Jake was offered a surgery date in early February and plans were made to travel to Belfast. Just a week before the operation, the HSE finally contacted Ms Hannon.

"All of a sudden I get the letter, a week before we went up to the North, to say that Jake was only on the list in Crumlin for botox, that he had never been put on the list for tendon lengthening surgery.

"I said surely at some stage throughout this, when I was ringing asking if there was any sign of his surgery, somebody should have realised, but nobody did," she said.

"As well as that, the report from Belfast from the December 16 had actually been sent to Crumlin hospital so that they had copy of what was going to be done and needed to be done in the future. And still nobody copped on to it."

Ms Hannon continued; "Then that left us in a predicament because I was sitting there with a letter in front of me, saying that my child is not on a list for this operation and the Cross Border Directive will only refund you if your child is on the list.

"I wanted to highlight it, but I couldnt because we wouldnt get the money back. We were handing over 4,000 and we wouldnt get it back.

"So we had to just go ahead and get the operation done."

Ms Hannon described the standard of care in Belfast as "second to none."

She recounted receiving frequent phone calls and visits from Jakes consultant, having extended post-op care and being able to stay in on-site accommodation provided by the hospital.

Having expressed worry about the financial side of things, Jakes consultant told Ms Hannon that his consultancy fee "could wait" until the family could afford it.

To date, Ms Hannon has received no follow-up communication from the HSE or Crumlin Childrens Hospital.

"I just felt it couldnt be let go, I had to highlight that nobody flagged this and still to this day, nobody had even acknowledged that Jake has had his operation done. Nobody has called me," she said.

"It just makes me angry to think that he was never going to get the operation. If we had waited, we would have been waiting for something that was never going to happen. Wed still be waiting and hed still be in pain."

At his worst, Jake was unable to keep his right shoe on, fell frequently in school, could not walk for long periods and suffered significant pain.

"He was back to as bad as he was when he was first diagnosed. Thats how bad it got because nothing had been done."

Independent.ie contacted Crumlin Childrens Hospital for comment, but they said they "do not comment on individual cases."

"All patients are assessed and prioritised according to clinical need by their consultant at Our Ladys Childrens Hospital, Crumlin. The hospital discusses clinical information directly with a patient and their parents/guardians," they said.

"If a parent/guardian is concerned about the long waiting times for their childs appointment or surgery they can contact the Patient Waiting List office directly at the hospital."

The HSE website lists information about the Cross Border Directive. They detail that the scheme cannot be used to access drug therapies that are currently not provided for in the public healthcare system in Ireland or to access clinical trials abroad.

It does allow for people entitled to public patient healthcare in Ireland who want to avail of that healthcare in another EU/EEA member state, except for Switzerland. Switzerland have yet to complete the process to have the Directive apply to them.

It is free to apply for the HSE Cross Border Healthcare Directive and the HSE warns that anyone asking for money is not connected to the HSE.
The Irish Defence Forces has sent out a positive message regarding transgender troops.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump announced that he would impose a ban on transgender people entering the US military.

In a series of tweets he argued, "Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."

His decision reverses the decision of the Obama administration when the US Department of Defence announced last year that it would openly serve transgender troops.

The Irish Defence Forces has now sent out a different message and insists that transgender people are welcome to serve.

"[We] welcome applications from all members of Irish society, irrespective of sexual orientation or gender," a spokesperson for the Defence Forces told Independent.ie.

"The Government believes that the Defence Forces should reflect the richness and diversity of the community it serves. To that end, the Defence Forces are committed to the principle of equal opportunity in all of its employment policies, procedures, instructions and regulations."

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also responded to the U.S. President's comments during the week.

"It is a domestic policy issue for the United States," he said at a press conference on Friday. "They run their defence forces, we run ours."

He added; "It is not something I would ever consider introducing to Ireland."

On Thursday, US Joint Chiefs of Staff reportedly told the military to wait until it receives official guidance from Trump before before changing its policy.

It is unclear how many members of the US military will be affected by the ban.

A 2014 UCLA study estimated that there are 150,000 trans troops but there is no concrete data. The study details that approximately 15,500 of these people are on active duty.

The Irish Defence Forces doesn't have any official numbers of how many troops are transgender, if any, as it does not record statistical data relating to sensitive private information.

Last October it launched its LGBTI network, Defend With Pride. The network aims to promote sexual diversity in the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps.

"The provision and fostering of a diverse and inclusive workplace environment, reflective of Irish society is our moral duty and, for the Defence Forces, it means better decision-making, better agility, better resilience," Vice Admiral Mark Mellett said.
The mother of Irish Hollywood actor Jack Reynor has been thrown out of the Sinn Fein party over a bizarre internal feud.

Tara Reynor-O'Grady, a respected human rights activist, got a letter last week with a 5 note attached, detailing how her membership had been rescinded.

The letter was sent just days after Ms Reynor-O'Grady represented three local councillors in a dispute with party bosses.

The three councillors from Wicklow are now being told they must give up their seats, after a fallout with local TD John Brady. The councillors are John Snell, Oliver O'Brien and Gerry O'Neill. Mr O'Neill last night called on Mr Brady to resign.

The dispute is the most serious Sinn Fein has dealt with in a long time. There are a number of elements. Firstly, the three councillors are angry that Nicola Lawless, a Greystones councillor, was appointed without their consultation.

Secondly, Michael O'Brien from Bray was co-opted onto the council without consultation with the three councillors.

Above all, the councillors feel they have been sidelined as a result of raising concerns.

"Human-rights defenders represent everybody - from the mother and baby homes to local politics. My job is to ensure transparency. Sinn Fein has a lot to answer," Ms Reynor-O'Grady said.

The row centres on a move by the party to install a close associate of the local TD John Brady as the group's chairperson.

The decision to appoint Bray-based councillor Michael O'Connor to the post infuriated the three councillors at the centre of the row.

The three councillors last night confirmed they would not be giving up their seats - against the will of the party.

On a number of occasions in recent months, some or all of the councillors voted against party line or abstained.

All three have objected strongly to the party's handling of the issue and have attended a number of meetings with senior party figures keen to resolve the row in recent weeks.

Sinn Fein did not respond to comment.

One of the councillors, Gerry O'Neill, last night released a statement, saying: "I joined Sinn Fein in 1971 in the old Kevin Street office and have worked hard on behalf of the people of Wicklow and my party for those 46 years, but am bitterly disappointed at the level of control we have to adhere to of late and it's getting to the point where the so-called leadership in the county should maybe consider putting robots in the council chamber instead of human beings," he said.
It appears Leo Varadkar has been bingeing on his 'Love Actually' DVD again. Towards the end of the 14-year-old movie there's a scene where the British prime minister (Hugh Grant) and the US president (Billy Bob Thornton) hold a joint press conference to convince people that relations between the two countries are top notch.

A smarmy Thornton confidently tells reporters "our special relationship is still very special", but Grant stuns the room by interjecting that he fears "this has become a bad relationship".

"A relationship based on the president taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to Britain.

"We may be a small country but we're a great one too," he says.

Grant adds that "a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend" and promises to take a harder line against America.

The parallels to the new Taoiseach's performance yesterday are striking.

There was no joint press briefing but Mr Varadkar played the role of Grant with aplomb. His message was that Ireland might be a small country but we won't bend to Brexiteer bullies.

He invited political correspondents to Government Buildings for an hour-long briefing on his plans for the months ahead.

Standing at a podium he breezed through questions on the Garda Commissioner, the Budget, Brian Cowen's speech, water shortages and even gave Michael D Higgins an ego boost.

But when it came to Brexit there was a noticeable change of tone. For some reason the British media yesterday picked up on comments made by Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney last month in which he indicated that a 'smart Border' based on technology would not be a runner for the Irish Government.

As the story grew legs, Mr Coveney conferred with the Taoiseach to ensure they were on the same page. Mr Varadkar assured him they were and that he would be setting out the position in no uncertain terms.

While Enda Kenny had played along with Theresa May's friendly photocalls, the time had come to lay Ireland's cards on the table.

Sources say there has been a sense in Government for some time that Britain doesn't have a workable plan for Anglo-Irish relations in the post-Brexit era. The lack of an Assembly in Northern Ireland is exacerbating the problem with a "crunch point" coming.

Shortly after taking over as Taoiseach, Mr Varadkar held phone conversations with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones.

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He told them both that he would advocate on their behalf at the highest level in Europe "to keep the door open for the UK to allow them stay in the customs union and single market if they want to".

In return the SNP and Labour politicians promised "to try to push the UK towards a soft Brexit".

By contrast, when it came to Northern Ireland, Mr Varadkar had "nobody to ring".

He will travel north for two days next week to meet whichever political leaders aren't on summer holidays - and in light of his latest Brexit comments it's likely they will have plenty to discuss. For better or worse Mr Varadkar turned up the rhetoric in the full knowledge that he was bound to upset unionists and Downing Street. He didn't care.

"It is the British and the Brexiteers who are leaving, so if anyone should be angry it's us quite frankly," he said serenely, enjoying his Hugh Grant moment.

The move stunned senior politicians in Britain as the message clearly translated into 'get over yourselves and start facing up to the hard realities of Brexit'.

In a surprisingly frank fashion, Mr Varadkar answered a question about what the 'borders of the future' might look like.

Gone were soundbites like 'seamless', 'frictionless', 'creative' and 'smart'.

"We don't want one," Mr Varadkar said. "They are the ones who want a border, it is up to them to say what it is, to say how it would work and to first of all convince their own people, their own voters, that this is actually a good idea," he said.

"So let them put forward their proposals as to how they think a border should operate and then we'll ask them if they really think this is such a good idea because I think it will have a very severe impact on their economy if they decide to go down that route."

The reaction was brisk. Former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble said the Taoiseach needed to "calm down" or he would do "enormous damage" to the relationship between Belfast and Dublin. He told 'Sky News' that Ireland joined the EU at the same time as the UK and "should seriously consider following us out".

That's a question that was put to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern earlier in the day. "We're mad but we're not that mad," he said, firmly shunting Ireland on to the moral high-ground.

Of course, Mr Trimble is partly right. Mr Varadkar can't sit back and wait for the British government to come up with solutions. The process to date suggests it doesn't have any.

Placing a border in the Irish Sea will never work for unionists. The prospect of DUP leader Arlene Foster having to show her passport at the airport before flying to the 'mainland' is a bridge too far - even if it would protect cross-border trade.

At the same time the notion of having Theresa May's invisible border points at 400 road crossings is ambitious at best.

The stakes are high and Mr Varadkar issued a wake-up call to everybody involved.

Mrs May must be looking on from her holiday in Italy and wondering where to next. Ireland was supposed to be its closest ally in the Brexit talks, albeit while on the side of the EU.

But since taking office, Mr Varadkar has obviously decided the prime minister is trying to take exactly what she wants from Brexit and casually ignoring Irish needs.

The relationship is at risk of turning sour but unusually the Taoiseach will win the backing of Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein for his stance.

The only problem is that this particular drama has years to run and is unlikely to have a happy ending for anybody.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has launched an unprecedented attack on "Brexiteers", warning that Ireland will not help create a border we don't want.

In a dramatic shift of policy, Mr Varadkar said Irish people have the right "to be angry" at the UK for risking our economic prosperity and the Good Friday Agreement.

He said the Government did not believe there should be any form of economic Border between the Republic and Northern Ireland and therefore "we're not going to be helping them to design some sort of Border that we don't believe should exist in the first place".

"So let them put forward their proposals as to how they think a border should operate and then we'll ask them if they really think this is such a good idea because I think it will have a very severe impact on their economy if they decide to go down that route," he said.

The statement was met with shock among unionists in Northern Ireland, with former first minister David Trimble saying the Taoiseach needs to "calm down".

The British government said finding a solution to the border question was a "top priority".

"As we have always been clear, our guiding principle will be to ensure that - as we leave the EU - no new barriers to living and doing business within the UK are created," a spokesperson said. "We aim to have as frictionless a border as possible between Northern Ireland and the Republic Ireland and we welcome the European Council's recognition that flexible and creative solutions will be required."

Suggestions that the UK/EU frontier could be in the Irish Sea have been rubbished by the Democratic Unionist Party who are propping up Theresa May's government in Westminster.

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The party's leader in Westminster, Nigel Dodds, said: "This apparent hardening of attitudes within the Irish Government is untimely and unhelpful.

"The DUP will not tolerate a border on the Irish Sea after Brexit that makes it more difficult to live, work and travel between different parts of the UK. The prime minister already reiterated this."

Mr Varadkar was asked whether he was concerned that by ratcheting up the rhetoric he could upset Downing Street, but bluntly replied: "I hope there won't be any angry response from anyone. Anger isn't a policy and anger doesn't lead to solutions. But if anyone is angry it should be us."

The EU will reveal its thinking this autumn on how to preserve the Good Friday Agreement and Common Travel Area after Brexit. EU ambassadors were told this week that Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier's team will come forward with a position paper, most likely in September.

However, amid growing uncertainty over Anglo-Irish relations, the text will not deal with solutions for the border.

The EU paper will focus on the six cross-border implementation bodies set up under the Good Friday Agreement - including the Special EU Programmes Body, which manages EU peace funds - and all-island co-operation on energy, healthcare, education and other areas.

Talks on the border are not planned until a second phase of exit talks, which are likely to be delayed due to differences over Britain's financial obligations.

Both sides had hoped there would be enough progress on money and other phase-one issues by October so talks could move on to trade, but EU diplomats are increasingly pessimistic. "Autumn will be turbulent," said one source close to the talks. "The UK cannot continue the same tactics."

EU sources were more upbeat on citizens' rights, where some progress was made at a round of Brexit talks earlier in July.
Consumers will no longer have to pay surcharges for using credit cards from the start of next year. Stock Image

Property tax could more than triple for homeowners in areas where prices have soared - unless the Government steps in to prevent the latest looming chapter in the housing crisis.

The Government's adviser on property tax Dr Don Thornhill told the Irish Independent that new measures must be put in place before the property tax freeze ends in 2019.

Dr Thornhill who spearheaded the Government's renewed property tax proposals, warned that households must not be hit with sudden shocks in taxation.

"We cannot have a situation whereby households are hit with 40pc, 50pc, or even 60pc increases," Dr Thornhill told the Irish Independent. "Those sort of shocks need to be avoided."

Property prices were frozen until 2019 under a measure introduced by the previous administration, which was done on the advice of Dr Thornhill.

However, the looming increases will have a greater impact in the many areas where house prices have soared to a larger degree than others.

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An analysis of average house prices from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows where in the country homeowners will be hit with the steepest rises. Those in Cavan, Athy in Kildare and Arklow in Wicklow are among eight areas where hikes of 250pc are expected.

That means their property tax bills would more than triple after the freeze ends in 2019.

Conversely, some areas will gain. Nine areas will see a reduction in their bills, with homeowners in Loughrea, Co Galway, Ballina in Mayo, and Cahir in Tipperary likely to see a fall of up to 60pc.

But Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Irish Independent that he was conscious of the pressures facing households in relation to property tax.

Dramatic

He warned that whatever changes were necessary had not been ironed out.

"In the absence of policy change there'll be a revaluation in 2019 and then some people, particularly in the cities, will see a very dramatic increase in their property tax.

"I don't think that should happen. I don't think people should be facing 40, 50, 60pc increases all of a sudden.

"The most obvious way to alleviate that and make sure it doesn't happen is to give local authorities more flexibility to vary property tax.

"At the moment they can vary it up or down by 15pc. You could allow them much more power to vary property tax and not to take the windfall.

"The other option is to put off the revaluation for another couple of years, but I think all that does is put off the problem.

"I think one of the big problems businesses are facing at the moment is revaluation of commercial rates.

"They get put off for decades and then all of a sudden people get this massive reduction or increase. I think it would make more sense to have a solution in place for 2019 that would allow local authorities to not take the windfall.

"You do see in large parts of the country where property prices are high and therefore revenues coming into the council are high, like in the Dublin area, local authorities have used their maximum power to reduce the LPT by 15pc.

"That still means people in those areas are paying more LPT than they would in a rural area. So why not give the local authorities more flexibility to reduce it further if they wish?

"But also give them the freedom and responsibility to deal with the consequences of those decisions.

"There's lots of good local authority spending that could happen."
Two men have been killed in separate motorcycle accidents in Co Limerick.

At around 7.30pm on Saturday evening in Limerick City a man in his 50s sustained serious injuries when his motorcycle struck a roundabout at Quinns Cross, Mungret.

He was treated at the scene by emergency services personnel and taken by Ambulance to University Hospital Limerick where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Meanwhile, a man in his 20s was seriously injured after his bike left the road at O'Malley Park at around 7.40pm.

He was rushed to University Hospital Limerick where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Both scenes are closed for technical examination and gardai at Roxboro Road are investigating both incidents.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Roxboro Road Garda Station 061 214340 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111.
The whistleblower who first raised concerns about financial and governance issues at Ataxia Ireland said it gives him no pleasure to see the publication of a damning investigation of the charity.

Albert Young (54), who suffers from the brain condition Friedreich's Ataxia, said he has no regrets and his decision to make a complaint "had to be done".

The Wexford native said: "I could not stay silent and allow funds being donated to the support of members not going to them. There were pensioners giving 50 out of their pension to support the charity."

An investigation carried out by the Charities Regulator discovered two founding trustees at the charity, Clare and Tim Creedon, were wrongly paid 84,009.

Their daughter Barbara Flynn, the charity's chief executive, had full knowledge the payments broke Revenue Commissioner rules, which state charity trustees cannot be paid.

It was learned yesterday that its generous funding from the HSE quadrupled over the years.

Ataxia Ireland was given 102,383 by the HSE last year - up from 27,934 in 1999.

Ataxia is a brain condition which affects co-ordination, balance and speech. In severe cases, ataxia can be fatal in childhood or early adulthood.

The charity had weak internal financial controls and Ms Flynn's pension contribution of 38,500 was paid from funds rather than from her salary.

In addition to the annual HSE funding, Ataxia Ireland also received yearly lottery payments through the Department of Justice - reaching a high of 109,212 in 2011.

The HSE confirmed yesterday it paid the charity 9,038 this year - despite receiving a complaint from Mr Young in May 2016.

A spokeswoman said a preliminary investigation indicated an in-depth probe was required and it notified the Charities Regulator, who said he would conduct the probe.

Mr Young has experience in marketing and along with his wife they ran a number of fundraisers for the charity.

However, he became concerned when he noticed that a large number of committee members were leaving the organisation without explanation.

Later he became concerned about finance issues and moved to distance himself from the Leopardstown-based charity.

However, he later decided to speak out.

"I could not walk away for the sake of members who had no idea and raising funds for the charity.

"I said 'if there is nothing there to find then it will be all fine'. I never knew Ms Flynn's parents were paid, I never knew about her pension."

Mr Young said he has severed all ties with Ataxia Ireland and he believes the charity's name has been "irrevocably tarnished".

Along with three other people suffering with Friedreich's Ataxia, Mr Young has gone on to set up Ataxia Foundation Ireland.

Charities Regulator John Farrelly has written to the Ataxia Ireland trustees requiring a series of corrective actions and wants the overpayments to be recovered.

They have been given 21 days to respond to him.

The HSE said it will meet with the charity early next month when "future actions" will be discussed.

The charity has refused to publicly respond to the revelations in the report or the call by the regulator to look at the return of the funding.

It comes as Benefacts, which publishes data on charities, said more than a quarter of non-profit organisations published just abridged accounts in 2015.

Despite the call for transparency these provide no information on organisations' current income and expenditure.
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What will it take to unite Ireland? Opinions are divided

There are those for whom Northern Ireland is a geographical fragment of the UK holding true to empire on its western flanks, and those for whom partition is a century-old wrong that must be overturned. Somewhere in the middle are the persuadables  people willing to accept either unity or union, so long as the justification is logical. One way or another, the unity conversation is in the air.
'We have reached the beginning of the end when it comes to being patient about what the UK plans to do next.' (Stock photo)

In an ideal world, you might reconcile disputes with soft words and tact; unfortunately, in relations between Britain and Ireland, there is always a moment when someone spits on their hands, hoists a flag, and babies and bathwater fly. We have arrived at just such a moment on Brexit. We probably arrived at it five minutes after Theresa May agreed her deal with the DUP to stay in power. But there was fog in the communications channel.

Irish ministers and diplomats appealed for clarity on the issue of the Border. They were stonewalled with woolly assurances that there would be no return to a hard Border.

It would be: seamless, fluid, agreed. Yesterday, the Taoiseach and Foreign Minister called a halt to the phoney war. We have reached the beginning of the end when it comes to being patient about what the UK plans to do next.

Leo Varadkar made it plain that the Border is not a "technical matter" that can be settled with a new piece of hi-tech kit. These are troubling times.

The peace process was hard won. It was an all-Ireland solution with oversight from the US, and the agreement of the UK, with firm backing from the EU. That is why Mr Varadkar appeared on edge. If British politicians detected a change of tone in Dublin, it was a note of anxiety, based on concerns that Mrs May's government, backed by the DUP, could be turning back the clock.

Mr Varadkar and Simon Coveney have rightly insisted that securing a Border with more than 400 crossing points must have a political dimension.

Yesterday, Jeffrey Donaldson was dismissive of the notion of a sea Border and seemed to suggest that the whole business could be sorted out with the right kind of microchip. As so often in the past, Unionists are saying 'no', but offering no alternatives.

As Mr Varadkar said, the British voted to leave, so the onus must be on them to manage the exit. This is not about speaking ever so gently, or carrying ever bigger sticks. It is about making one's case without making enemies.

Diplomacy requires give and take; sometimes it requires stepping on toes in order to be noticed. It should not require a bending down and polishing of the shoes of those who would walk all over you.

Water and property mean taxing times for Varadkar

Now that the economic tide is beginning to turn, issues that by necessity had to be set aside after the crash are screaming for attention.

In the excitement that greeted the first signs of recovery, resistance to water charges somehow became the most important issue in the land. We are still no closer to resolving the urgent need to fund Irish Water. But troubles seldom come in singles. Another question with the potential to convulse and exercise whole communities is property tax.

We are aware of the shortage of houses, spiralling prices, and soaring rents. What to do about it is the issue.

The revelation that the tax on homes could rise by as much as 300pc in some areas will drive many battling to maintain a roof over their familys heads to despair. The Governments adviser on property tax, Dr Don Thornhill, has sounded a warning that we must act before the property tax freeze ends in 2019. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar favours giving local authorities more scope to set rates. But being fair and just, as we reveal today, will be quite a task. With the rise and rise in property values, the only way is up for property owners and this tax.

But if the Government is to meet its targets, and build the desperately needed new homes, something must give.

No way we wont pay wont really cut it.
In his outrage at Louis Shawcross pointing out the West has been guilty of self-interest in its political machinations over the last, at least, 60 years or so, Grzegorz Kolodziej (Irish Independent, July 27) falls into the trap of one-sided argument.

He tells us that the USA ended World War One and World War Two, while Russia invaded Poland in 1920. What he doesn't tell us is that the beleaguered new Soviet state ceased hostilities in 1917 in the Brest-Litovsk Treaty in which it lost considerable territory. Why should any self-respecting nation continue to shed the blood of its citizens for imperialist domination that suppresses the rights of the oppressed, both without and within its borders?

Let us also consider the Western Front in 1917. The USA joined us, three years in and after countless millions of European lives were lost after the start of World War One. How courageous of it. On to World War Two. It was not the USA that ended that war. It was the Soviet Union's defeat of Germany on the Eastern Front that crippled Germany to the extent that its defeat was imminent. A Soviet Union that suffered 25 million dead in its fight against Germany.

This is not just history. The suffering should not be forgotten, as should not the suffering of six million Jewish people, and countless gays, the mentally impaired and gypsies among others.

The West has been guilty of crimes against humanity in countless actions. To name just a few: Persia against a democratic government, that led to the current insidious religious government of Iran. What a disaster of US political strategy. Chile in 1974, ironically also September 11, when the CIA sponsored-coup led to the death of democracy in that country and to thousands of its people. This list is endless; Cyprus, Iraq.

The list on the other side is also endless. Stalin's invasion/control of Eastern Europe, and his extermination of millions of Soviet citizens to ensure his totalitarian grip of everyone and everything. Putin's Russian invasion of the Crimea and Ukraine and his cynical incursion in Syria and his Turkish connections.

Time and space does not allow for analysis of Chinese infractions of political immoralities, but the point of this letter is that we must understand that West or East, those that can, we must continue to criticise our governments for what we consider to be their wrongdoings. If we do not, we will be as guilty as they for their crimes.

Harry Spillane

Mount Merrion, Co Dublin

Council beach lapse shameful

I'd like to respond to the story about pollution at Kilkee, Co Clare.

My family and I are currently on holiday from London, and I thought an afternoon at Kilkee beach would be beneficial for my son, who is recovering from the effects of post-operative surgery for a brain tumour.

Thankfully the expertise of Great Ormond Street Hospital has meant we are still able to enjoy holidays together and as you can imagine, my son's health is of the utmost concern to us.

So hearing that Kilkee's bacteria-laden beach was off-limits was news to us, as we had just spent the afternoon there and at no point was the beach closed or any public notices on display at access points. There was a red flag raised at the beach guard's hut, indicating unsafe swimming conditions, but not - as I understand - defining raw sewage spills. We were not alone in using the beach either.

In summary, the council should be held to account for such a serious disregard of public safety.

It is utterly shameful.

Mr Daire Moffat

London

RTE's great rural pay divide

There is a glaring pay gap that is evidenced in the recent release of RTE salaries and I do not refer to that between men and women.

Who is RTE's best paid correspondent? Is it a political or economics correspondent who tops the news bulletins most nights? No.

Is it perhaps the business editor who is very high profile, or indeed the Europe or Washington correspondents who are also household names by now? No.

The highest paid correspondent in RTE is the agriculture correspondent - one former TD George Lee.

Important though his brief may be, it is hardly in the top tier and he appears on screen maybe a couple of times a week and invariably well down the running order.

How can it be justified that he is the highest paid correspondent in the newsroom? It seems the urban-rural divide is the biggest and most egregious pay gap of them all.

James MacCarthy-Morrogh

Shankill, Co Dublin

Riding roughshod over small states

Brian Cowen and the Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo are right - the EU has scant regard for the sovereignty of small states as it applies at all times the Franco-Germanic rules of its controllers. Brexit will be entirely due to their failure to realise that all states should be equal, but sadly the big two are more equal than the rest.

William Shortland B.A.

Blessington, Co Wicklow

Mixing in higher circles

There must be a great sense of achievement among the minimum wage recipients, and the zero-hour employees of this fair land, now that the opportunity to label themselves "middle class" has been bestowed by our great leader, Leo Varadkar.

Up and down the places of employment where pride has been restored but not the wages, by yet another tag, chests are swelling with satisfaction that someone acknowledges they are up there with the likes of rich politicians.

Robert Sullivan

Bantry, Co Cork

Cypriot solution to the Border

Re Simon Coveney's proposition that the Irish Sea effectively becomes the Border with the UK, and Jeffrey Donaldson's rejection of same as being both absurd and unconstitutional, perhaps both public representatives should look at Cyprus for a possible solution.

Cyprus, like Ireland, is a divided island. When the island of Cyprus joined the EU the whole island became EU territory.

Turkish Cypriots are EU citizens because they are citizens of an EU country. Since Cyprus joined the EU in 2003, there is no hindrance on border crossings between the south and the north of Cyprus.

Under the Good Friday Agreement, a resident in Northern Ireland can choose to become a citizen of Ireland (an EU country) or a citizen of the UK.

With Northern Ireland voting to remain in the EU, is it time to consider a Cypriot solution to a Brexit problem?

Martin Carey

Athlone, Co Westmeath
On Saturday night I headed for the Rum House where a special emigration party was being held for Alan and Elaine Cooling from Lis Na Dara who are moving to Richmond Virginia in the coming week. Alan, who is CFO with Anord Controls Systems here in Ireland will take over as Group Financial Director in the USA.

They have recently returned home from a visit to their new home where they will share with kids Shannon and Matthew and were getting together with their family, workmates and friends for one last party before they start their new lives in the USA.

I wasn't too long in the door when I met up with Alan who told me his parents Pat and Bridie were there, along with sisters Jacqueline and Eliza and he wanted to say a big thank you to his sister Sonya who couldn't make it because she was at home minding the kids.

I then headed over for a chat with aunt-in-law Betty Fox from Longford who was there with daughter Aoife and Elaine's brother Alan Fox from Carrick Road who told me it was going to be a lovely night and were going to give them the send-off they truly deserved.

Next I caught up with Alan Wilson from Blackrock who was having a laugh with Eliza's husband Kevin Martin from Seafield Lawns whom I was told, hadn't been out in a while, so the night was going to be "interesting".

Making my way through the crowds I met up with uncle Anthony and Mandy Ryan from Dublin who were in great form and up for a good night with aunts Rosaleen Duffy from Headford, Florence Rowan from Knockbridge, Ross, Caroline and Eddie Carolan who were having a good laugh together and wanted to wish Alan and Elaine all the best in their future adventure.

Seated close by were Evelyn Conlon from Mount Avenue and Julie Conlon from Dromiskin who are long-time friends of Elaine's and were there to send them off in style.

Next I got a word with Elaine's bestie, none other than Caroline Neary from Redbarns Road who was with husband Brian but was sitting having a time of with her friends Maria Neary from Carrick Road, Sabrina McArdle from Newry Road Siobhan Higgins from Ard Easmuinn and Sonia Hoey from Newry Road who told me they are schoolmates of Elaine's back in the day when they used to cycle to school together.

I then caught up with Ronan and Maire McCartney from Marlmount who is a work colleague of Alan's and joked he'd be glad to see the back of him, but before that, they were going to give him a major send off party.

Not too far away I got talking to Suzanne Lafferty from Kill in Kildare who was with husband Ronan who told me they are friends of the couple and said they'd would be missed by all their friends.

After this I headed for the bar where I met up with brothers-in-law Eddie Carolan from Haggardstown and Ross Rowan from Knockbridge who told me it was going to be a great night's celebrations for sure.

Finally, before I departed I had the pleasure of meeting up with Elaine's mum Grainne Fox from Ard Easmuinn who was with husband Tom and daughter Jennifer as well as Elaine's old workmate Angie Gibbons from Malahide and they assured me it was going to be a lovely evening and wanted to wish them all the best in Virginia.
There's nothing like a pre-holiday panic attack to bate the nationalism out of ya. At least, that's according to a very good friend of mine who found herself in a 'desperate' situation last week when she realised that her beloved Irish passport had run out four months ago - and she needed it for her holidays in five days time.

The friend, who lives in the North of Ireland, has oscillated between Irish and British all her life. She's Irish when the rugby team is playing, a sport she likes very much and has even attended some games. But not before she had cheered on Andy Murray at Wimbledon and spent the day of the last Windsor wedding gawking at the TV and commenting on the clothes.

She reads Hello magazine, but knows her Irish history. She is Irish, she says, but a very particular type of Irish. Not for her singing the back catalogue of the Wolfe Tones but she's not out waving the Union Jack on July 12th either. And who's to say what Irish is anyway? It has been the subject of heated discussions in more elevated forums than this one here.

Anyway, it's Tuesday and the friend and her fiance had, months ago, booked to go to England on holidays the following Saturday. The much more organised fiance says that online check-in had opened and he needed her passport to input the required details. She handed over her Irish passport, which, the fiance noticed, was out of date since April.

Cue an ensuing panic. They went online to the Irish passport office in Dublin to see if an emergency passport service was available. There may have been, but here's the snag - only people who were travelling within the next three days were able to see if an appointment was available.

She had a choice, she said - she could wait until the following day to see if she could get an appointment at the office in Dublin. Or, she could bend her nationality and get a British one instead. And being unorganised, for once, played to her benefit as she was able to dig out a Brit passport that expired in 2007 and which she had kept because it had a sentimental visa stamp from a long-ago trip abroad.

The following day, my friend told me what happened. She told me, in justification for what she thought I would think were treacherous actions, that she was able to get an appointment for 'Her Majesty's Passport Office' in Belfast on Thursday and she would have the document in her hand before she left. She wasn't willing to take the risk of going to Dublin and not getting the Irish one in time.

Ah, sure, it was 24 carat slagging gold for me, who likes to pride herself on her stubborn nationalism. I told her she would have to pledge her allegiance to Elizabeth Windsor and that she would have to undergo a test about what Katherine Middleton's childer were called and sing the first two verses of God Save the Queen.

She narrowed her eyes at me and told me to, well, it ended in 'off'. She had to have her passport in time for take off at Dublin Airport on Saturday and my 'auld carrying on' was not going to stop her. Her local post office, in the North, nearly did though. She ran in to the post office to get the British passport form, only to find none on display.

She asked the teller for one, only to be gleefully told that they didn't have them. She ended up having to go to an rural post office to get one. That was something, I suppose.

She was up at the scrake of dawn to make it to Belfast for her 8.30am appointment and had the passport in her paw that afternoon. To her credit, there was a pang of shame and she told me she wasn't shouting it from the rooftops but she did what she had to do to ensure she made it to her holiday.

She'll know all about panic when Brexit comes around, but until then, I will continue to hum The Sash when I see her.
Carlingford-based blogger Nicole Malone is putting the finishing touches to a top class event for the August Bank Holiday Monday where some of the North-East's best and award-winning fashion and beauty companies will come together to host a pop up shopping centre at the Carrickdale Hotel to offer women of all ages a unique shopping experience.

Nicole, originally from Cooley, and who blogs at 'Nicole Who?' on Facebook with more than 3,700 followers, prides herself on being an 'over 40s Irish blogger' who has worked in the beauty industry for the past 18 years, teaching at the Southern Regional College in Newry. She also has a huge interest in interior design and fashion and formerly owned the 'Good Room' shop in Carlingford.

Blogging aimed at women often focuses on those in their late teens and twenties and Nicole has carved out a popular niche for herself in the space where there is a demand for older, real women talking about their real lives.

After her blog started to become successful, she was working with a large number of award-winning companies on both sides of the border and it was from this that the idea for the pop up shopping centre germinated to bring them together in one 'real' place.

Nicole says she is delighted with the response from companies so far. 'I'm really excited that already 20 have been confirmed and there will probably be around 30 on the night at the Carrickdale Hotel on August 7.

'There will be a large range of some of the top beauty, health, well-being and fashion firms in the area here and they will be offering free consultancy, special offers and discounts for the people who come along. It's going to be a really good night'.

Among the companies already signed up are the natural, organic skin and make-up range, Tropic; FBI, run by Sarah McEvoy and Ally McParland, and Karen Daly's The Academy weight loss and health firm. Karen will be giving a talk at the event too.

Award-winning hairdressers Marie Owens McDonald and Kay Byrne will also attend along with cape designer Stitch Diva and milliner Bespoke by Roslyn from Crossmaglen. Dundalk fashion store, Luzzious, are confirmed along with Zen Day Spa, who were recently voted the best spa in Northern Ireland.

Fashion destination, Berlingo, in Newry will have all the latest trends on show and advanced cosmetic expert Linda Quinn O'Connor will attend the event. Pharmacies Bradley's in Carlingford and McGuinness' in Park Street will be on hand, with Sarah McElwaine crafts on show, Admire Handbags, and McArdle's Boutique in Carlingford.

Included on the night will be a 'Gok Wan' style make-over where teams of stylists working on a woman in her twenties and one in her forties will battle it out for the top accolade.

And four lucky ladies, who enter a competition on Nicole Who will be given VIP tickets to the event and will be given a make-over along with a personalised goodie bag as part of their wonderful prize. In addition, there is a 300 cash prize for the best dressed woman on the night.

Doors open at 7pm for what promises to be a superb night.

Tickets, priced at 20, are available now from McGuinness' Pharmacy, Park Street; Bradley's Pharmacy, Carlingford; Berlingo, Newry and Barry's in Cooley.
A 20-year-old man accused of stealing bikes worth hundreds of euro had his bail revoked at the district court last week after Judge John Coughlan heard evidence about how the defendant had no adhered to some of his bail conditions.

Gardai brought an application against Darren Kearney, whose address was given as 17 Clann Chullainn Park, who has been charged with robbery at Ice House Hill Park on July 18.

Gardai allege a Voodoo Bizango mountain bike, worth 800 and a second mountain bike, worth 200, a mobile phone worth 100 and a bluetooth speaker, worth 40, were taken during the alleged incident.

Judge Coughlan was told that Kearney had been brought before a sitting of Dublin District Court the previous Saturday and had been remanded in custody until last Thursday to Cloverhill District Court on these charges after bail was refused.

Solicitor Conor MacGuill said he had received no instructions from his client to apply for High Court bail in this matter and added 'it is anticipated that he will remain in custody until the start of the new legal term, at the least'.

The solicitor also asked for an order to be made directing that Kearney receive appropriate treatment for addiction while in custody. Mr MacGuill said the defendant can surrender his bail on the district court charges.

Garda Richard Browne said Kearney's bail conditions, on unrelated district court matters, had been set on June 26.

The conditions included that he sign on daily at Dundalk station and Gda. Browne said Gardai allege he has breached that condition by not signing on from June 27 to July 5.

In addition, Kearney was to observe a curfew from 10pm to 8am and Gardai alleged the defendant was captured on CCTV at 12.30am.

Gda. Brown also pointed out that Gardai had no proper address for Kearney and therefore it was difficult to check whether he was observing the curfew or not.

Mr MacGuill said he had not viewed the CCTV and it remained to be seen what's on it.

Judge Coughlan said he would revoke bail and the case was adjourned to Cloverhill District Court on July 26.
The vast majority of the population still declare themselves as Irish born and Catholic, according to the latest Census 2016 figures

Traditions remain firm in Louth, where the vast majority of the population still declare themselves as Irish born and Catholic, according to the latest Census 2016 figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO)

The CSO have been publishing gradual results over the last year from the census carried out in April '16.

But the latest profile, the Small Area Population statistics (SAP) released on Thursday last gave perhaps the greatest insight so far as to how people across Louth described themselves, their family, the home they live in, their employment status, religion and ethnicity, among other things.

We even learned that a sizeable amount of the population (17%) don't have broadband in their homes. A majority though (62.4%) do.

That aside, some of the most interesting results were found in the way people responded about their own lives and family 'set -up'.

A total of 60,173 people, out of Louth's population of 128,884, stated that they lived in a traditional household of father, mother and children.

In other words, a total of 14,586 households, or (28.6%) of the total number of households in Louth shared this family dynamic.

Despite the growing number of couples co-habiting, with or without children, this still remained a minority family arrangement.

The number of unmarried parent and children households in Louth was 2,302 or 4.5% of the total.

The number of mother only and children households was higher at 4,764 or 9.2% of the total.

The type of house in which people live has also remained similar, with a house or bungalow stated as the most common type for 119,821 of Louth people.

Flat or apartment living hasn't become as popular as seen perhaps in cities, with just 5,723 living in this type of accommodation.

Over half of the population also live in a house which is owner occupied with a mortgage. A total of 14.% rent their homes from a private landlord, whereas 9.6& rent from the local authority.

In terms of relationships status, the largest number of people 69,546, were stated to be single. But as this includes children, it doesn't give an accurate reflection of the single status.

A total of 47,443 (36.8%) of people responded that they were married (including same sex civil partnerships).

Ethnicity and religion were other major features of Census '16, which showed some marginal changes.

The vast majority of people (81.6%) or 105,186 classed themselves as Catholic. A further 10,775 people said they belonged to 'other religions' whereas 9,747 or 7.5 of the total population in Louth said they had 'no religion.'

When it came to revealing their ethnic or cultural background, a majority (82.2%) or 106,031 described themselves as 'White Irish'. And a similar number (103,235) said they were born in Ireland.

Louth has, in line with the rest of the country, become a more diverse county over the last few decades.

There are now 10,006 (7.7%) people who describe their ethnicity as 'other white', a reflection perhaps of the influx of people from other countries across Europe in recent years.

These represents the largest category of Louth residents outside the traditional 'White Irish'.

In terms of other cultural backgrounds, the number of 'Black or Black Irish' people stood at 2.75% or 3,570.

The Asian or 'Asian Irish' population was just 1.8% of the total number of people living in Louth.

The origins of families and individuals living in Louth was also covered, with as was stated the majority saying they were born in Ireland.

Outside of this, however, the largest category were people declaring they had been born in the UK or Northern Ireland.

Almost 11,000 people out of Louth's total 128,884 population share this status.

A total of 1,943 people said they were born in Poland, 1797 in Lithuania, and 3,573 saying they were born in other EU countries.

After this there were 6,261 people who fitted the 'Rest of World' category, which is anywhere outside the EU.

Just 771 people defined themselves as 'Irish Traveller.'

Around a third of Louth's population said they could speak Irish. And around a third of these say they do so only within the education system.'

The majority of Louth's population - 77,770 - said they could not speak Irish.

The census also looked at the employment status of people across Louth.

A total of 39% or 50,317 confirmed they were currently employed.

8,913 people or 6.9% said they were unemployed at that stage, having lost or given up their most recent job.

The results revealed that there was a sizeable retired population, with 13,989 or 10.8% of Louth people saying they were in retirement.

Students represented 11,145 or 8.6% of those who completed census forms, although this does not represent students from Louth who were at college elsewhere in the country or abroad.

How people travel to work, school or college in the morning also featured, providing an interesting picture about local lifestyles.

The majority of people (24%) drive to work , with the second largest group (13.1%) being a passenger in a car.

Just under 10% of people walked to work, school or college, with 6.6% going by bus, and 8% by train.

Just 1.1% of Louth's population cycle in the morning.

But, it seems that Louth people don't travel far in the mornings, with the majority of people (15.6%) leaving for work, school or college between 8.30am and 9am.

Louth people aren't the earliest of risers, with just 4.1% of commuters leave home before 6.30a.m.

The full details of the latest census 2016 figures and an interactive map are available to view now at www.cso.ie under the 'SAPMAP' title
Posters, seeking the Irish American community's help in catching the killer of Dundalk detective Adrian Donohoe, have appeared in parts of New York in the past three weeks, the Argus can reveal.

Our exclusive pictures show the posters in a number of stores at Katonah Avenue, the main road that runs through the heart of the Irish-American neighbourhood of Woodlawn.

'Investigators believe people living in the Woodlawn/Yonkers/The Bronx area of New York may have information that could assist this investigation. A substantial reward is on offer for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the persons involved', the poster says.

'Detective Donohoe was protecting his community on the night he was murdered' it states, and direct numbers are listed for the Dundalk and New York investigation teams as well as the Crime Stoppers number in Ireland.

It is believed the chief suspect in the 2013 murder had been living in the Woodlawn area until recently. Detective Inspector Pat Marry from Dundalk station has taken over the case and said the posters have already yielded a number of calls.

He said: 'There has been a response from the Irish community through the article in the Irish Voice and from the posters and some people have come forward. We believe there are other people in these areas who have information that would be of use to us and I would again urge them to come forward. They can contact me directly and I would ask them not to let their status in the US preclude them from helping us'.

The suspect, it is believed, did not keep a low profile during his time in Woodlawn and Yonkers. He used his name, was employed in the construction industry, made friends and was on social media. The reward for information leading to a conviction is 100,000, or around $112,000.
Students at Dundalk's Top Notch Stage Academy recently completed exams for the Victoria Academy of Music and Drama, London, in musical theatre and all of them received distinctions thanks to their outstanding talents in drama, music and dancing and their stunning and creative costumes which caught the judges' eye.

Director, producer and choreographer at Top Notch, Rosemary Ormond, is assisted by Johnny Duffy (hip hop), Jodie Morris (dance), Kwasie Boyce (drama) and Sinead McGill (singing).

Among those to receive distinctions were nine-year-old twins Cayla and Dearbhla McCrave from Redeemer Girls' NS. Cayla has been a student since 2014 and Dearbhla joined in 2015 and their sister Roisin (3) joined TopNotch this year.

Kate McAvinney (10), Redeemer GNS has also been a student for three years and she performed For the First Time in Forever from Frozen as her examination piece.

Tegan Keenan (12), from Faughart NS and her sister Ceola both attend TopNotch and will be part of the group of children who will be performing in Disneyland in the October school holidays. Tegan sang Maybe from Annie for the examiner.

Talented siblings Leo (13), Rhys (9), Troy (8) and Faith (6) Ormond sang songs from Mary Poppins, The Lion King, Annie and Frozen as their examination pieces. Faith will sing her first solo in the next show.

Rose Clarke, (11) St. Francis NS Blackrock sang a Spoonful of Sugar from Mary Poppins, while Kimberley Gogarty,(9) from St. Francis NS Blackrock sang the same song in the examination.

Doireann McNally (6), Kilsaran NS was the academy's smallest examination student this year and she sang When Will my Life Begin from Tangled. Classes take place every Friday from 5pm to 7pm in Blackrock Community Centre. Call 0872654434 for more.
Dundalk's iconic railway station is one of four Irish rail stations featured on the new series of 1 stamps issued by An Post.

The station first opened on February 15 1849 as Dundalk Junction (being located at the Junction of the Dublin-Belfast line and the Dundalk and Enniskillen line), becoming Dundalk Station in June 1894.

It was named after the executed 1916 leader Tom Clarke as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations in April 1966 i

The station is regarded as one of the finest on the Dublin-Belfast line,

It features a Victorian covered walkway, and is noted for its fine iron, glass, and polychromic brickwork.

The stamp shows the distinctive signal box as well as a section of the station itself.

The four stamps in this issue were designed by Dublin firm WorkGroup and showcase the stunning work of multi award winning photographer Janice O'Connell from f22 Photography.
Cork North West TD, Michael Moynihan has said businesses and other local organisations are being pressed by rocketing insurance premiums and that unless the Government speeds up its proposed changes, many will go be forced to close.

Deputy Moynihan was commenting after a number of businesses and local charities contacted him in the past number of weeks complaining about their most recent renewal quotes for their business insurance.

"It's clear that despite a lot of rhetoric from Fine Gael in government over the past year, very little progress has been made with regard to stemming the spiralling cost of insurance for businesses and people.

"With spiralling costs, it's proving harder and harder for businesses owners to meet their costs, and it's forcing many to reconsider the viability of their businesses.

"This is an issue that will severely hamper local voluntary organisations who, with limited ability to increase their income, face the real possibility of having to reduce the services they provide.

"The implementation of the recent Working Group on the Cost of Insurance recommendations must be sped up. This will help to ease the rising cost of insurance for businesses and motorists," said Deputy Moynihan.
Farms must be treated as a workplace and not as a playground.

That was the view of Oireachtas Agriculture Committee member, Senator Tim Lombard (FG) who has urged all farmers to use the opportunities provided during Farm Safety Week to improve awareness and safety on their farms.

Senator Lombard said: "We do not allow people to run amok on construction sites because it is too dangerous, and the same must apply for farms, they are a workplace with many potential hazards and should not be treated as a playground."

He said: "It is careless and foolish to allow farms to be treated as such and farmers and visitors alike must take responsibility for personal safety when on a farm. He pointed out that farms have the poorest safety record of any occupation in Ireland.

"Last year 21 people lost their lives in farm accidents, which was an increase of three from 2015. "This increase is especially distressing given that workplace fatalities fell by 21% across all sectors last year. These bleak statistics don't even paint the full picture of the devastation a farm accident or fatality has for families, communities and businesses," he said.

"To reduce these accidents there needs to be a greater focus on personnel safety in the farming sector; we must increase awareness of the dangers that exist and take time to minimise those risks, only then will we improve the safety of people working on or even visiting a farm," he said.

The annual Farm Safety Week programme which aims to reduce the number of farming accidents and fatalities through a number of initiatives. Many farm safety events are being held this week. He said it would be a very good idea for all farmers to perform a risk assessment of their own farms and to avail of the discounts available on safety equipment from retailers nationwide.

"Safety must be a fundamental component of the farming ethos. Even though there are many risks involved within the sector farming does not have to be a dangerous occupation, many accidents that occur are sadly preventable.

"This week isn't just about raising safety awareness of people working on farms either. Anyone visiting a farm also needs to be made aware of the dangers associated with working farms," said Senator Lombard.
Fianna Fail TD for Cork North-West Aindrias Moynihan has said that a permanent location for a new Gaelscoil in Ballincollig needs to be acquired "as quickly as possible".

Deputy Moynihan's comments come after he was informed by the Department of Education and Skills that the new school will open this September at a temporary location at Ballincollig Rugby Club.

"We must ensure that children do not stay in temporary accommodation for longer than is necessary," Deputy Moynihan stated.

"The Minister also informed me that Departmental officials have also engaged with Cork County Council with a view to identifying and acquiring a suitable permanent site to accommodate the school.

"This cannot happen quickly enough. The recent Local Area Plan identified a number of sites locally that should be zoned for education purposes," he added.

Deputy Moynihan went on to call for negotiations with landowners to progress matters as quickly as possible, saying that the school community will grow and prosper at a faster pace once it takes up a permanent location.

"It's imperative to ensure that the amount of time spent in temporary accommodation is as low as it can be," he said.

"We need to reduce the amount of disruption in the school lives of the children, and the sooner a permanent location is secured, the better for everyone concerned.

"I will continue to raise this issue with Minister Bruton to ensure that the process is concluded as quickly as possible," the Fianna Fail TD said.
It is regarded as a major bottleneck but now contractors have fenced off almost half the entire route of the planned N22 Macroom to Ballyvourney bypass.

The works are being undertaken as part of a 13 million project in anticipation of future funding being ring-fenced for the construction of the planned 160 million bypass.

The proposed bypass will run from Coolcower roundabout on the Cork side of Macroom, taking traffic north of the town and continuing westwards towards the county bounds. It will include about 22km of dual carriageway and over 20 bridges.

Now, the boundary fencing is almost half way there and it's expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Archaeologists have also begun digging several trial trenches to identify any items of interest along the route. This work will continue after the fencing has been completed.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed said: "The acceleration of the progress of the N22 Macroom bypass scheme is now clear for all to see. This project has always been a clear priority of mine and I am personally heartened to see the project move from a line on a map, to an actual development site during my time in government."
Councillor Paul Bell has called on Louth County Council and Irish Water to formally explain to the citizens of Drogheda and South Louth the cause of one of the most serious and prolonged water supply interruptions seen in many years.

"As the citizens of Drogheda and South Louth began to experience water outage on Friday evening little did they know that works to restore supply would go on so long,' he stated.

'Such is the information which I have gleaned over the period of the supply crisis that I now actually fear for our towns water supply security. I say this as it obvious that the water supply pipe needs to be replaced and you don't need an engineering degree to express these genuine concerns.

"I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Council staff to ensure that water supply was maintained to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and businesses depending on water supply. '

It is believed members of the Civil Defence will be visiting various areas this week with supplies of water, targeting vulnerable people.

Meanwhile, Temporary water stations have been established at 21 locations across the network and these will continue to be replenished from early morning.

Further locations will added as demand dictates and the public will be advised of this as it happens.

In east Meath there are 16 locations:

1/2 Duleek at the church x 2

3 Lagavoreen at entrance to the estate

4 Donore village at the church

5/6 Ashbourne at Race hill x 2

7 Stamullen on the Bellewstown road outside the housing estate

8 Kenstown outside the Londis in the car park

9 Ardcath at the church

10 Ratoath one at St Paul's School and

11 Ratoath National School Fairyhouse Road

12 Knockcommon (school)

13 Garristown (Snailbox carpark)

14 Curragha (church)

15 Kilbride Church (from Monday am)

16 Rossnaree Church (from Monday am)

Temporary water stations have been established at 6 locations across the network in Louth:

1 Stameen on the Dublin Road

2 Termonabbey

3 Marleys Lane

4 Bothar Brugha or Hardmans Gardens

5 Ballsgrove shops

6 Shop St North Quay

Customers must bring their own containers to avail of the water and are advised that water must be boiled before consumption as a precaution.

Customers can contact Irish Water customer care helpline 24/7 on 1850 278 278 or visit www.water.ie for further updates.
The Drogheda City Status Group has welcomed recent developments which add momentum to Drogheda becoming Irelands next city.

Now that the 2016 Census results have been released, everyone can see what we predicted  the continued, rapid growth of the Greater Drogheda area, which makes the move to attaining city status unstoppable, said Vincent Hoey, Chairman of the Group.

Vincent also commended the outcome of the Constituency Commission Review which endorses the current Louth-East Meath constituency.

The Commission firmly rejected any other option, such as using the River Boyne as a constituency boundary, he said, adding the Review looked at those areas of East Meath which are naturally suburbs of Drogheda and concluded that having regard to the general proximity of those electoral divisions to Drogheda, the Commission decided to recommend no change to the Louth constituency.

This sensible and logical outcome considers the Greater Drogheda area as a single entity  unlike the illogical decision of the Drogheda Boundary Review which suggests the area should be managed by not one, but two Local Authorities, who often have conflicting policies.

The Drogheda City Status Group state that the release of both the 2016 Census data and the report of the Constituency Commission appear to have helped focus local politicians of all backgrounds on Droghedas future potential as Irelands next city, which they welcome.

We have come a long way since the Drogheda City Status Group was established in 2009 and the Drogheda Borough Council adopted a motion That the members of Drogheda Borough Council from this day forward give their consent and approval to the people of Drogheda referring to Drogheda as the City of Drogheda. as advocated by our Group.

Our new Mayor, Pio Smith hosted a very well attended meeting to advocate the extension of the Living Cities Initiative (LCI) to Drogheda and Deputy Fergus ODowd brought Minister John Paul Phelan to Drogheda for a meeting at which the objectives of the City Status Group  including the need for Drogheda to qualify for the LCI - were outlined by a representative of the Group who requested a full meeting with Minister John Paul Phelan to discuss City Status for Drogheda. The City Status Group have also contacted Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister Eoghan Murphy.

At National level, all parties seem to be in agreement that Phil Hogans decision to scrap Town Councils was a disaster, so the restoration of Drogheda Borough Council would be a further, necessary step towards attaining city status, concluded Vincent.
Louth County Council is facing major issues in relation to the closure of Laurence's Gate this week, after it was revealed that the nearby Chord Road is to be closed to traffic for various periods for over four months due to water pipe works.

The Gate was to close within weeks, but it would spell chaos in the area around the ancient structure if it closed while the Chord works take place. The street is scheduled to be shut off from August 8th until December 1.

It is planned that once the Gate is closed, traffic will be reversed on the Chord Road to allow access onto the quays.

If the council push ahead with the closure it will drive a lot of traffic into Greenhills and the already dangerous Baltray Road junction at Donor's Green as well as Peter Street. There are no plans to upgrade the Baltray road junction as part of the Gate closure.

The council had sought to close the Gate during the summer when the school holidays are on.

An announcement of the planned works is on page 8 of this week's paper and states that the closures will be on four separate sections of the Chord Road, from Constitution Hill to the Greenhills Villas junction.

'No vehicular access or parking will be permitted along the proposed closure route for the period of closure,' they state. The closure will be in sections to facilitate local access. Diversions will be in place.
A young Lusk author is hoping to pass on what she has learned about writing to teenagers in Fingal, helping them to find the magic in the ordinary and tell stories in an engaging way.

Maeve Devoy published her first collection of short stories at the age of just 23 and says that in her teenage years, writing helped her find her way in life.

She explained her approach to writing, saying: 'All of the stories I write are about ordinary people and about seeing the beauty in the ordinary.

'I think a lot of time when people write they are looking for these huge big signs to happen and it's not about that, it's about being able to walk outside and notice the small intimacies between people, the friendships and little arguments.

'It's just about sitting and watching. Maeve Binchy used to sit and watch people for hours and many writers do.'

Laying out her vision for creative writing classes for teens she is setting up in Fingal, Maeve said: 'I want to set up a writing class that is very practical and give them the tools of writing.

'A lot of the classes I have been to, you just sit there criticising other people's work and I'm not sure how useful a lot of that is.

'You don't find out how to deal with writer's block for example or how to properly develop a character and where to find stories. I want people to come in and then take them back out the door to find stories.'

The Lusk writer said: 'I struggled with writers' block for so long as we all do until I finally realised that all you need to do is just step out of it. Instead of sitting there and staring at the page and thinking about the problem, just get out and forget about it. Sometimes you just have to leg go and get some air.'

Explaining why she is targeting the classes at teenagers, Maeve said: 'I would really like to work with teenagers because that's when writing helped me the most. It really helped me define my own character and find my own way.

'So many of the tools of the trade, you can use in other parts of your life. Even within school they would be able to use these skills.'

With the pressure of schooling and exams, a lot of the joy of reading and writing can disappear in our teens and Maeve said she wants to tackle that by 'making writing fun again'.

The local author is currently scouting for venues for the classes and gauging the interest out there. She is hoping to reach out to local libraries and schools to facilitate the classes while working on her own further education as a writer, taking on Masters in Literary Journalism.

Meanwhile, Maeve is also bringing a creative writing class to the homeless in Dubln City Centre with the Simon Community and has previously run a book club for homeless people in the city.

'The Tell Tale Collection' was the first book from the then 23-year-old, Lusk woman, who developed an idea for her college thesis into a book that looks at the Ireland we live in through the eyes of the people it made.

While studying journalism at Dublin City University, Maeve wanted to prove with her thesis that everyone has a story to tell and that those stories can tell us more about the country we live in than anything that happens in the corridors of power.

A chance meeting with experienced newspaper man PJ Cunningham while doing work experience at this very newspaper put the wheels in motion for Maeve's first book, published by Ballpoint Press.

Explaining the motivation for the book, Maeve said: 'There is such an emphasis in the news on famous people and tragedies and I just kind of wanted to remind people, if they took another minute or two to talk to someone, they might find that we all have a really interesting story.'

The Lusk author drew up a list of some Irish archetypes she wanted to seek out and then began her quest for the regular folk that would be the basis for this extraordinary collection of tales.

The book has attracted some impressive fans and was launched in Listowel Writer's Week by noted author, Billy Keane who said Maeve's debut book would 'send you to sleep with satisfaction'.
Just under 8,000 people are on social housing list in Fingal, according to the council's head of housing who addressed an Oireachtas housing committee last week.

However, the figure came under fire from Dublin West TD and former Fingal County Council who asked how long it would take to house the 7,865 people on the housing list.

In her presentation, Margaret Geragthy, director of housing at the local authority, said that according to Census 2016, Fingal was the fastest growing county with the youngest population, while Balbriggan was the youngest town in the country.

She said there was now a population of just under 300,000, an increase of 22,000 on the last Census. This represented an eight per cent increase which was the highest in the country and twice the average national rate of increase, she explained.

The provision of housing, she said, was a strategic high priority and a big challenge, particularly in light of the rising population.

She said there was 7.865 eligible applications for social housing support, adding that Fingal was 'pro active in the delivery of social housing'.

She said that some 1,408 families had been accommodated through a range of delivery mechanisms under the social housing strategy, which had set a target of 1,376 units.

She said that 81m had been allocated by central government under the housing strategy. Fingal, she said, has already spent 85m and expected to spend a further 66m before the end of the year.

This represents a spend of 150m versus the initial allocation of 81m. It is projected that a further 120, will be required in 2018, which will bring total expenditure to 270m between 2015 and 2018.

Ms Geraghty told the Oireachtas committee that the construction programme was a major element of its strategy. 'We are bringing forward plans to elected members on a regular basis for building social housing on land in our ownership. We have more proposals in the last 18 months that in the previous six years. There is a continuous pipeline of planned units across the county and it is heartening to see the council back building social housing.'

She she there was a 'significant construction pipeline underway'. There are 23 active social housing sites which will deliver over 630 houses over the next two years. Construction is underway on 160, a further 219 are at the tender stage, and 222 are at pre-planning level.

Ms Geraghty said it was envisaged that the council would deliver 3,200 units over the medium term on its on landbanks at various locations including Donabate, Hackettstown and Castleands.

She said the council was in the process of delivering land management plans.

The council, she added, was also undertaking an ambitious programme of acquiring properties on the open market. Some 286 had already being purchased by the Housing Agency on its behalf, with a further 92 acquisitions expected.

She said there was also the potential to acquire 2,000 social housing units under the Part V arrangements in the coming years. The council is also working with a number of developers to bring forward a plan for leasing units.

In conclusion, she said there tended to be a lot of criticism that we have been too slow to react to the housing crisis. In terms of Fingal we have stepped up to the mark, she added.

'Fingal County Council has embarked on an ambitious programme of social housing delivery which has potential to deliver over 10,000 housing units of mixed tenure in the medium term.

In relation to private sector housing, there is significant provision in our Development Plan to meet the needs of an ever expanding county.'
Increased patrols are to be put in place along the Northern rail line

Irish Rail are to employ a second patrolling security team to monitor the growing problem of antisocial behaviour at Fingal train stations on the northern line, it has been revealed.

The issue of antisocial and sometimes violent behaviour has become particularly concerning at Donabate Train Station, prompting local representatives to contact the rail company and An Garda Siochana with their concerns.

One of those concerned local representatives is Cllr Adrian Henchy (FF) who told the Fingal Independent: 'In recent months I have been regularly meeting and talking to both Irish Rail and An Garda Siochana with a view to addressing the rising episodes of antisocial behaviour both in Donabate village and around Donabate train station.'

The Fianna Fail councillor recently received a response to his concerns from Irish Rail which states: 'Irish Rail have employed another security team to patrol the Northern stations from Balbriggan to Donabate which means there are now two security teams along the line.'

The statement added: 'Irish Rail have also held discussions with An Garda Siochana in relation to the problems of youths carrying out anti-social behaviour on the trains and at the stations along the northern line.'
A new Bill from Senator James Reilly to improve supports for people and families affected by autism, has passed all stages of the Seanad.

The Bill would see over 60,000 families benefit from greater supports for children with autism.

The Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Bill calls for a Government strategy to be published on how to address the needs of people with ASD throughout their lives.

Senator Reilly whose own family has been affected by autism said: 'One in 68 children is now on the autism spectrum, meaning over 60,000 families in Ireland are struggling for greater supports for a loved one with the condition.

'I hope to see this Bill become law by Christmas, giving new hope and encouragement to those who face the challenge of autism.'

Senator Reilly added: 'While some progress has been made in our understanding of ASD, no consensus exists on how to screen and diagnose for it or provide clinical care or educate people with ASD. That is not just the case in this country but right across Europe.

'However, England, France, Canada, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have strategies and we need one too.

The Fingal senator explained: 'We need a concise plan in order to address what is becoming an increasing epidemic that will be a huge burden on the finances of this State.

'We need to intervene at the appropriate time, diagnose early and put in place the supports that can allow people with this condition to live a much more independent life.

'In short, what we need is a strategy that cuts across all Departments and acknowledges that every Department has a role to play and needs to be informed.'

Senator Reilly added: 'The Bill passing through the Seanad brings us another step forward to helping those with the disorder to reach their full potential.

'It will next go before the Dail and hopefully be signed into law before Christmas.'

Senator Reilly appealed for the public's support in lobbying for the passage of the Bill and set up an online petition.

The response was huge with more than 20,000 signing petition and the local senator said he is very grateful for the support and asked that support continues online as the Bill reaches the Dail.

He said: 'I'd like to thank the over 20,000 people who signed an online petition calling for this proposed legislation to become law, and I would encourage people to keep signing to support this very worthy Bill at http://bit.ly/2tDMiJq.'

Senator Reilly also thanked his colleagues for their votes in making sure the Bill passed all stages of the Seanad, saying: 'I would also like to thank my Seanad colleagues and the Minister for Health Simon Harris for their help and support.'
Deputy officer in charge Peter Donegan making the presentation to Jim Murphy. Back: Dublin divisional controller Ger Hegarty, sector manager Niall Ferns and assistant officer in charge Peter Ivory. Front: Peter Donegan, Jim Murphy, Jim's wife Rose and officer in charge David Swinbune

One man who knows the true extent of the erosion along the North Wexford coastline over the last decades is Jim Murphy who recently retired after 36 years of service with Courtown Coast Guard, the most recent thirteen of which were as officer in charge.

A large crowd gathered in the Tara Vie Hotel, Courtown, to pay tribute to Jim for his decades of service to the local community. The obligatory retirement age from the Coast Guard service is 65, but when Jim's father, also Jim, was the 'number one man', as the role was then called, there was no such requirement, and he served until 75 years of age.

Jim's family has a long history of association with the Coast Guard. Jim's father's uncle Pat Fortune was in charge before him. Peter Sinnott took over from Jim's father until thirteen years ago when Jim was appointed officer in charge, and now Jim's nephew David Swinburne is officer in charge, the fourth generation of his family to serve in the role.

These days, the Coast Guard service is very different to the one Jim joined in 1981.

'Years ago, we were very seldom called out,' he explained. 'We practised every three months. Now we train twice a month. We started with an old rocket launcher. Now we have three four-wheel drive vehicles including two in Courtown and one in Arklow. We have the best of modern equipment and search equipment and the very best heavy weather gear.'

Part of that training is becoming very familiar with the coastline in the area covered by the unit - from Mizen Head, north of Arklow, down to Old Bawn. And it's a coastline that is constantly in flux. 'Parts of the coastline have changed so much,' reflected Jim. 'Even Courtown beach has changed.'

At one time, there was a coastal path all the way from Poulshone to Courtown. There were also continuous stretches of beaches north of Courtown, which are now broken up.

'There are parts of it we can't even search now, and we have to call in the helicopter,' said Jim. 'It's a changing environment that the team has to adapt to.'

Of course, the Coast Guard's area of operation isn't confined to just coastal areas. The unit is sometimes called to provide ground support to helicopters further inland.

Jim already misses the ever-present feeling of the pager on his belt. The call for help could come any time, day or night. It might be a call to help search for a missing person. These have lasted up to fourteen days in some instances.

When his pager went off, Jim would also get a phone call, and he would then decide how many crew were needed for the particular operation. They also work closely with other emergency organisations including the RNLI lifeboats in Courtown and Arklow, Cahore Inshore Rescue Service, the gardai, ambulance and fire services.

The local Coast Guard unit includes six members in Arklow and fifteen in Courtown. If the officer in charge is away from the area, responsibility is handed over to the deputy.

As well as responding to emergency calls, the Coast Guard team also do school visits to talk about water safety, and they help at maritime events such as Courtown Sea Sunday and the regatta in Cahore. 'They're a great team. They're very close,' said Jim. 'They're also great people to socialise with.'

Their family members are also part of the Coast Guard family and might sit up waiting on them to return from a night shout. Jim paid tribute to his wife Rose for all her support. She has also spent 27 years fundraising for Courtown RNLI Lifeboat.

Jim recalled some good times over the years with Courtown Coast Guard, but also some hard times. In those difficult times when a major search was underway, the local community always rallied around to help.

There were also some unusual calls. They once rescued a dog in difficulty in the Ounavarra River. They helped rescue of seals from isolated beaches, and even attended the rescue of a horse from a river near a camp ground in Arklow.

One unsolved case that has stuck with Jim was the recovery of human remains at Courtown beach in 1999. The body was that of a man, and he has never been identified. He now lies in St Michael's cemetery in Gorey. Peter Sinnott was officer in charge at the time.

'We've always wondered who he was,' said Jim. 'Peter retired without knowing, and now I've retired, and we still don't know.'

He still lives in Courtown, so won't be far away if his experience is ever needed. But for now, he's happy that he leaves a well experienced team in very good hands, and is looking forward to taking life that little bit easier.
The budding film makers worked with Terence White on the community film making project which explored the life of the legendary Hunter Gowan.

Kilanerin Ballyfad Community Development Association presents the premiere of 'Hunter', a short film about John Hunter Gowan II, in Shamrock Hall, Kilanerin on Thursday, August 3, at 8 pm.

'Hunter' is the culmination of a community film making project, which was funded and supported by Wexford County Council's Artist in the Community Scheme. Facilitated by local film maker Terence White, a group of twelve adults learned about the key aspects of film making during the project and developed the short film over June and July.

The film was then shot over a weekend in locations around Hollyfort and in Mount St. Benedict, formerly Mount Nebo, which is the estate where Hunter Gowan lived. It focuses on some of the numerous ghost stories about the infamous yeoman and how the actions of Hunter Gowan have crossed over into myth and legend through the generations, since the 1798 rebellion.

Shamrock Hall will be transformed into a pop-up cinema for this event, which will feature the main film, a behind the scenes film and a short reception.

'Hunter' will also be screened at the Gap Arts Festival in Ballythomas on Friday and Saturday, August 11 and 12.

Peter O'Connor from Kilanerin Balyfad Community Development Association said that locals are really looking forward to the premiere of 'Hunter.'

'Terence and the project participants put a lot of work and effort into making the film and I'm sure the audience will enjoy seeing the fruits of their labour on the silver screen,' he said. 'I'd like to thank the Arts Department in Wexford County Council for funding our film making project.'

'Thanks also to the people of Hollyfort for being so accommodating and special thanks to the D'Arcy family for their contribution to the production,' he added.

There is no charge to attend this event. For more information on the screening, contact Kilanerin Ballyfad Community Development Association on 089 4456184 or email admin@kilanerin.com
His is a shop that I have passed twice a day, every day for the past year and a half and so, when my editor asked me who I had in mind for this weeks interview, my mind drifted to that snug and welcoming premises about 20 feet down the street, to the gallery of one of Tralee's most recognisable painters, one John Hurley.

John, who is a Dublin man originally, but whose father hails from Kenmare and mother-in-law from Fenit has been living and working in Kerry for nigh on 20 years now; two decades on from deciding to give up his permanent and pensionable job in the AIB in Dublin and take a chance on his passion for painting, John says that he still feels incredibly lucky to be doing what he's doing.

""I studied art in secondary school in Synge Street and I swear that the only A that I ever got in my life was in Art in the Leaving Certificate. I've just been painting ever since on a part-time basis and even while I was still working in the bank, I started to sell a few pieces through various groups and exhibitions, that type of thing," he said, talking to The Kerryman on Wednesday.

"I'm a graduate of the National College of Art from way back in 1985 and so I just decided to put this degree into practice. All of this, getting the qualification in art from college, just fuelled my interest in it all even more. I started selling my paintings in the 80's, not to any great degree mind you, but even selling one or two pieces back then, it gave me the encouragement to keep going."

Keep on going he did and after deciding to walk away from the bank towards the late 90's, John began to exhibit more and more in different galleries around the country, with one such exhibition here in Kerry providing that final spark needed to take the plunge into full-time painting.

"I had a successful show here in Tralee in what is now the defunct Wellspring Gallery on Denny Street and on the strength of that, in about 2004, I think it was, I decided to take on a premises."

"My wife, Patricia and I, we opened up the art gallery in January 2005 at 4 Denny Street and we've been going 12 strong years now, not withstanding the pressures of the recession of course, that bit us in the behind big time but thankfully in the last few years, things have picked up - we're still here and surviving!"

Handing me a brochure for his shop, he points out that wriiten on it, he is described as something called a 'coastal landscaper' and more importantly, he sees himself as something of an 'abstract' artist - a point which, by the enthusiasm in his voice, he takes delight in describing.

"My style is one that is rooted in nature and the sea largely. I would call myself a landscape painter but it would very abstract landscape painting that I would mainly work on," he continued.

"I work with mixed media, which means I would use more than just your standard oils or acrylic paint. I'd use different things like fabric to create a texture quality to my work and I've definitely had some success with that you know?"

"Everything that I do, all of my work, it's to do with the coast, the beaches, the tide, the waves, everything, it's what I love. Tralee Bay is where I would get a large part of my inspiration for paintings from, I had an exhibition there in the shop about five to six years ago and I literally just called it 'Tralee Bay', It stretches from Brandon Bay right through to Kerry Head and everything in between, The Maharees, Fenit, the harbour."

"I've sold a lot of work to do with The Skelligs, the Atlantic Ocean and The Wild Atlantic Way. Basically, my inspiration comes from the coastal landscapes and the coastal environment in and around Tralee Bay. I live in Ballyroe so I'm always in and out to Banna. Banna is a place that I name check in a lot of my work."

After interviewing another local artist in Jane Hilliard a few weeks ago and learning about her process of painting, I was curious to hear how John went about the process of creating a painting. When asked, he jokingly admits that even he's not sure how it all works.

"The coast is a starting point for me, I would start a painting and I wouldn't really be too sure about where it's leading but I'd let the it take its own route and a life of its own and this will lead me to a point where I'm either happy or unhappy with the finished piece."

"I do most of my work in studio and I would, on occasion, take reference photos of the places I'd paint, for examples the lighthouse on Fenit Island but largely for most of my work, I work mainly from my head."

"I like the journey involved in it all, I start off with the kernel of an idea. I know that it's going to be a seascape of some description but like I was saying, I'm never sure of where I'm going to go, what its going to be or how I'll get there. Sometimes, I am suprised at how I got to the point where I have a nice fresh piece framed in front of me," he chuckled.

"A lot of people of my work tends to be contemplative, in the sense that people tend to just get lost in it. I like to think that it suggests things rather than tell people exactly what it is and it allows them room to get in under the skin of the work in a way."

Talk turns back to the 12 successful years that John has had in his premises at 4 Denny Street (3A, if you're being precise, he says) and to say that he is emphatic in his love for the locality would be an understatement.

Simply put, John loves Tralee and he is hugely grateful for the support that it has given his town and business over the years.

"It's the people locally that have supported me most of all and allowed me to make a sustainable career out of it. I'm still open, I'm still surviving, all with the invaluable support of my wife Patricia who's helped me to run the business all these years."

"My proudest commission would have been for the Manor West Hotel where they kitted out virtually the whole hotel with my work, that was during the good old years, back in 2007/2007 I think it was."

"Kerry and Tralee has been very good to me from a financial point of view and from a landscape point of view aswell and sure I've been down here so long that I'm half a Kerry man by now anyway, a naturalised Kerryman."

"To get a local commission of that stature and to get such recognition from local established businesses, this was hugely important to me, it made me feel very proud," he continued.

As a side note, to his delight, I tell him of the pride of place that my own mother has in his paintings, displaying one of his works proudly above the mantlepiece at home.

""Well, isn't that nice to hear! Thanks for that, it's those kind of things that keep us going and energise us."

"This a passion of mine, it's just something I need to do. It's therapeutic and frustrating in equal measures but when a piece works out to satisfactory end, there's a great reward in it, separate to selling the piece and I'm so delighted that I could make a career out of it."

"I think when Jane described it as an 'obsession', she was dead right - keeping the energy levels and passions up for so long can be difficult at times but it something that I'd be lost without if I couldn't do it."

"The nature of the abstract work that I do is let piece have a life of its own - intuition plays a large part in how I paint and I take risks all the time with my work, some which don't always turn out well but when they do turn out well, it can be very satisfying."

John's gallery is located at 4 Denny Street and he says that you can't miss it.

"Come in and have a browse - I'm always happy to talk about the work and it's just great to see people enjoying it," he finished.
Kelly's Allcare Pharmacy, Tralee, along with their customers, are raising funds for Recovery Haven Tralee.

As part of the 'Give for Good' campaign, customers are being asked to donate 1 along with their purchases. To help raise additional funds, the team in Kelly's Allcare also recently held a coffee morning in the pharmacy

"With thanks to the generosity of the customers and the Kelly's Allcare team, to date the store has raised 300," said Emma Casey of Allcare pharmacies.

To raise additional funds, customers are being asked to donate 1 along with their purchases in store until August 8.

Allcare Pharmacy is an Irish owned network of over 80 community pharmacies.
Members of the Irish Rambling House Dancers' troupe doing their thing to the music of their backers. From left: Proinnsias O'Cathasaigh from Lispole; Sarah and Maurice O'Keeffe from Brosna and Conor Harnett from Horse and Jockey, County Tipperary

The Crown Hotel on Castleisland's Main Street has been granted planning permission for a 16 bedroom redevelopment project

Castleisland is set to enjoy a major employment and tourism boost as the Crown Hotel is to undergo a huge extension and bedroom redevelopment project.

Planning permission has just been granted, on Friday, for a 16 bedroom extension at the long established hotel.

The development is being heralded as one which will bring this historically significant, town centre building back to its former glory.

The hotel's prominent balcony has been used for many stand-out political events in Ireland's history with visits from Daniel O'Connell, Eamon de Valera and Charles Stewart Parnell.

In 1914 the Castleisland Branch of the Irish Volunteers was formed after a huge crowd was addressed from the balcony.

Building on the Kerry Tourism Strategy 2016-2020 by Kerry County Council, which strongly promotes such developments, the re-development of 'The Crown' is a huge vote of confidence in the town.

Reacting to the news this evening the proprietors, Denis Cronin and Pat Foley said they're delighted at the development.

"We're delighted the building has been approved for the addition of the bedrooms. This will be a great boost to the town and it will attract a lot more visitors to the area and create much needed extra employment in the town.

"On completion, the hotel will employ 30 staff," they added.

Murder of Sgt James Woods in Scartaglin features in new book on fallen gardai

Galway author, Colm Wallace has written a book entitled The Fallen and it tells the story of 21 Gardai killed in the line of duty during the lifetime of the Irish Free State.

One of the stories included in the book is that of Sergeant James Woods, who was shot dead in Scartaglin in 1923. His killer was never discovered.

Mr Wallace sent an extract from the book concerning the murder of Sgt. Woods - an event which was commemorated with a plaque unveiling by Garda Commissioner Patrick Culligan at Castleisland Garda Station in September 1995. The event was attended by many of the relatives of the tragic Sgt. Woods and they travelled down from County Clare for the occasion.

Colm Wallace's extract is as follows:

"Of all Irish counties, Kerry was the hardest to bring under the government's control in the early days of the state, the authorities being unpopular amongst vast sections of the population. This unpopularity extended to the Gardai, who struggled to gain support in the county. One newspaper remarked on 18 November 1922:

"With the possible exception of Kerry, the Civic Guard are today in every county of the twenty-six administered by the provisional government."

By the beginning of December the government would deem it safe enough to send a contingent to the county and the Gardai largely managed to stay out of the IRA's line of fire, apart from a few isolated incidents. This run of good luck would come to tragic end in Scartaglen in December 1923.

James Woods, a native of Doolin, Co Clare, was just 22 years old in 1922 when he was appointed sergeant in Scartaglen.

The sergeant and his three colleagues had no headquarters to speak of, and found themselves forced to use the house of local man Jerimiah Lyons as their temporary Garda Station.

The owner still occupied the house, and it was clearly ill-equipped to serve as a police station as his family and the Gardai living in the house were forced to share a kitchen.

Desperate times called for desperate measures however, and as the dwelling was reasonably comfortable and situated in the middle of the village the Gardai chose it as their short-term headquarters under the stewardship of Sergeant Woods.

At around 8:30pm. on Monday 3 December, six armed and masked men arrived at the barracks under the cover of darkness. They were brandishing weapons and three of the raiders entered the kitchen while the others stayed on the porch.

The crowded room contained Garda Patrick Spillane, as well as a number of locals and children. The sergeant was in the guardroom while two other Gardai from the station were out on patrol.

One of the masked men announced his arrival by immediately hitting a local man named James Kearney into the face with the butt of his weapon, breaking his nose on impact.

They next went straight for Guard Spillane, dragging him to the ladder and ordering him to climb it, following on behind.

When they reached the top floor they demanded that Spillane strip off his clothing. He refused, saying that he was prepared to die in defence of his Garda uniform.

One of the men loaded a bullet in his rifle and threatened "if you do not strip it will be worse for yourself." Spillane bravely stood his ground. Instead of shooting him, one of the raiders forced him onto the bed and ripped his uniform off him while a second man covered him with a rifle.

Spillane was stripped down to his shirt, which the raider ordered him to take off. The raiders eventually succeeded in taking the shirt and Spillane was then left completely naked. They also took his watch and chain, as well as 30 shillings which they discovered in the pocket of his tunic.

The armed men next burst open the Gardai's wooden chests, removing many of their belongings. The boots and clothing were thrown down the ladder, where they were collected by other comrades who had by this point entered the house.

One of the men started asking loudly for Sergeant Woods as the other men spread throughout the house ransacking various rooms.

Woods had been in an adjoining room situated just off the kitchen and had heard the commotion by this stage. He arrived into the kitchen.

One of the raiders quickly instructed him "Put them up and get up the stairs." The masked man followed him, all the while pointing his rifle in the sergeant's direction. As Woods was ascending the ladder, Spillane could see him from the room upstairs.

Suddenly the raider butted the sergeant with the rifle between the shoulder blades, in what appeared to be an attempt to force him to hurry his progress.

At that point a blast of a rifle was heard. A bullet struck the sergeant in the back of the head and he fell forward on his knees on the ladder.

The raider behind him then gave him a sharp prod with the muzzle of the rifle as if to make him get up. He did not do so. Sergeant Woods was dead.

The gunman immediately shouted to his comrades to get down the stairs and leave the house. The rest of the men had already heard the shot and widespread panic was evident throughout the station. The party immediately left the building, the man who came downstairs having to jump over the sergeant's body as he made his hasty exit.

The other raiders had managed to steal other items from the house, including uniforms and money. A number of these items were discarded on the way out but a portion of the stolen goods could not be traced and appeared to have remained in the raiders' possession.

A doctor quickly arrived on the scene. He announced that Sergeant Woods had died instantly, the bullet having entered the back of his head. The sergeant's Mass was celebrated in the local church in Scartaglen, before he was conveyed on his final journey to Killelagh Cemetery in Doolin, Co Clare, for burial. The funeral was said to have attracted an enormous congregation.

It was widely believed that the shot that night in Scartaglen had been discharged accidentally and that the sergeant's death had not been planned by the marauders.

This did not deter the Gardai and the National Army however, who were determined to catch the perpetrators.

As the days went on with no apprehension of the culprits, larger numbers of troops converged on Scartaglen. Lieutenant Jerimiah Gaffney was placed in charge of one group of soldiers. He had previous experience of the village, having been stationed there during the civil war where he was involved in a number of skirmishes with republicans.

He also held a long-standing grudge against a family named the Brosnans. The feud concerned remarks the family had made about an affair he had been having with a local woman.

On 6 December Gaffney spent the day drinking with his men before ordering them into Brosnan's pub.

Eighteen year old Thomas Brosnan was brought outside and shot dead by the lieutenant and his fellow soldier, Denis Leen.

Gaffney later claimed that this had been done because Brosnan had been one of the raiding party involved in Sergeant Woods' death, an accusation which was later found to be baseless.

The brutal murder caused uproar and disgust throughout the country as Brosnan had little involvement in politics and was well liked locally.

Free State soldier Gaffney was found guilty of the murder and hanged on 13 March 1924. His colleague Denis Leen was also sentenced to death but reprieved after Gaffney confessed at the last minute to having ordered the shooting.

The aftermath of the death of Sergeant Woods left the local population living in terror, it being reported that "some people in Scartaglen have been afraid to sleep at home since the recent happenings there."

Two murders in three days in the tiny village must have shaken the local population to its core. With Tom Brosnan's killer found and punished, the hunt for those who had shot Sergeant Woods would continue for many months.

Government Minister Kevin O'Higgins fumed that the perpetrators of the crime were "well known to be hiding and to the knowledge of very many of the inhabitants."

A breakthrough did not come until June 1924 when several arrests were made locally. Amongst the men detained was Michael Healy, a native of Knocknagree and anti-Treaty IRA volunteer.

When asked if he had anything to say to the charge, Healy replied "No, sir, but that I am innocent."

Surprisingly Michael Healy was not charged with the murder of Sergeant Woods, instead facing an accusation of armed robbery.

His trial began in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on 22 January 1925. Guard Spillane was the main witness against him, maintaining that he was able to recognise Healy from that night, despite the raiders wearing masks at the time.

Healy's defence was that he had not been in Scartaglen on that evening at all. He had instead been at the house of Mrs Culloty, several miles away, where he had been playing cards. He added that he had numerous witnesses who could vouch for it and he had only been informed of Sergeant Woods' death the evening after the incident.

With the tenuous testimony of Spillane as the only evidence against him, it was little surprise when Healy was found not guilty of the crime. The state kept him in custody in anticipation of other charges but Healy was eventually freed "with reluctance" on 6 February 1925.

Sgt James Woods was the first sergeant killed in the history of An Garda Siochana.

The Fallen is available in all good book shops and is also available on amazon.com

For more information see the author's Facebook page www.facebook.com/colmwallaceauthor.

Dan Paddy Andy Festival time again in Lyreacrompane

This year's Dan Paddy Andy Festival in Lyreacrompane, over the August Bank Holiday weekend, has all the usual ingredients of an entertaining and fun-filled five days.

However, the big news is that Declan Nerney and his mighty band are back in The Marquee on Sunday night, August 6.

The Hooley in the Hills has been extended to five days with some new events for this, the 20th Dan Paddy Andy Festival.

Everyone, especially the children, will enjoy Ger's Mobile Animal Farm. Also, for the young folk, Sylvano is back - as if by magic!

Some will remember the popular TV series 'One Man and his Dog'. For the first time in this part of Kerry there will be a Sheepdog Trials demo thanks to Brendan Ferris from Killorglin and it's something children and adults will enjoy.

Thursday is opening night this year with the first ever performance at the festival by the Irish Rambling House - a show that has been traveling to England to entertain exiles with music, song, dance , storytelling  and the craic, for many years.

The show will be in Manchester, Birmingham, Harrow and Luton in October and this is a great chance to catch the popular event.

If laughter is the best medicine then the Irish Rambling House Show is the prescription. After the show there will be a roving microphone for a song or a story from the audience.

There will be over 18 hours of marquee dancing to great bands, a Ceili, a dog show and a bog walk for those left standing after all that!

The other new event is the 5/10K Run/Walk with all proceeds to the Kerry/Cork Cancer Link Bus. The route is set out and the volunteers to steward the event are getting ready.

This is a worthy cause and a lovely route. For information on this or any of the festival events the number is 087 28 53 570 or the Dan Paddy Andy Facebook page.

Classic car and Honda run waiting for break in the weather

Friday evening's scheduled Kingdom Veteran Vintage & Classic Car Club's eighth annual charity run from O Riada's Bar and Restaurant in Ballymacelligott had to be postponed because of the weather.

The run, in aid of Downs Syndrome Kerry, was scheduled to get underway at 7pm.

A decision on the rescheduled date and time will be made with an eye on the weather.

The run, when it gets the all-clear, will leave O Riada's and head for Farranfore, then to Currow Village, on to Dromulton by Davy Roche's Cross down to Castleisland, back by Garvey's SuperValu and onto the bypass and return to Ballymacelligott.

For further information, you're invited to contact George Glover on 087 28 14 545 or Lucy Breen on 087 41 41 158.
On Friday the 16th of June, Catherine (Kitty) Lenihan (Nee Trant) of Leith, Abbeydorney, went to her eternal reward peacefully at the home of her daughter Bridie McHale. Kitty was predeceased by her husband Ned in 1981, her son Paudeen in 1946, her grandchildren Cathy and Mark Anthony and her sons-in-law Pat and Arthur.

She was born on the 1st of December 1913 and lived to the remarkable age of 103 years and six months and had received three presidential medals from Michael D. Higgins.

She was the oldest woman in Kerry on the date of her death. She had three siblings - sisters BB & Maisie and a brother Johnnie.

Born in Rathscannell, Kitty went to school in Ardrahan owing to Abbeydorney village school being closed because of the activities of the Black and Tans at the time. She did her Primary Certificate in 1928, the first year this exam was held and then went on to the Convent School in Lixnaw.

She went on to train as a radio operator in St Catherine's College in Limerick where she stayed for some time. At a 'Fair of The Cross Dance' in Abbeydorney she met Ned Lenihan and they later married and went on to have eight children - Maura, Jimmy, Anne, Paudeen, Tom, Dan, Gerard, and Bridie. Her children and in turn her grandchildren and great grandchildren became the main source of her joy.

Kitty had a wide circle of friends with whom she kept in touch. She was a renowned letter writer, always sending a few lines whether it was to congratulate or to sympathise.

Her telephone was also a great communication friend. Her great faith, daily Rosary and daily Mass whenever possible sustained her. There was always an open door in her home to friends, neighbours and visitors. Her home was a house of music, song and dance and she often recited and sang and even performed on Radio Kerry and Siamsa Tire on a number of occasions. She loved her days out with the St Patrick's Day Care Centre and the Kilflynn / Abbeydorney Care Group and all the activities and social occasions that they organised.

She was gentle, kind, loving and respected by all who knew her. She had a great sense of humour and an innate concern for those less well off than herself.

She was an inspirational and brave woman who found and fulfilled her purpose in life with enthusiasm. She loved her style and always dressed for the occasion. She had radiance about her and a grasp of what was truly important in life and also had an awareness of what mattered.

She had time and a kind word for everyone she came into contact with and her legacy is defined by her family and the great memories she has left behind. She will be remembered as a priceless friend who was always ready to help, to listen and to understand.

After the death of her husband, Kitty became an inveterate traveller, visiting the USA many times, also Rome, San Giovanni, The Holy Land, Lourdes, Medjugorje and Fatima. She was a regular visitor to Knock and had been there only a few weeks before her death.

This remarkable woman lived through the 1916 rising, two World Wars, the Civil War, the Wall Street Crash, the Economic War of the thirties and the massive emigration of the fifties and early sixties but she got on with life and never complained.

Her funeral Mass in St John's Church, Tralee was a celebration of her life and of giving thanks for her longevity. Fr Tadhg Fitzgerald, Fr Maurice Brick & Fr Willie Stack, Br Maurice and the lovely choir all helped to make it a respectful and joyous occasion to remember.

She was laid to rest beside her husband in Old Rath Cemetery. She is sadly missed by her sons, daughters, her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nephew, nieces, son-in-law, daughters-in-law, relatives, neighbours and many friends.

Kitty's month's mind mass took place in St John's Church on Monday, July 24.
A Kerry man on a "drunken spree" who barged into the home of a vulnerable woman in the early hours of the morning and sexually assaulted her has been jailed for five years.

Shane Fitzgerald (26) of Tullorum, Spa, Killarney, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to burglary and sexual assault at the woman's home in a Kerry town in September 2015.

He has 56 previous convictions for offences including assault, criminal damage, public order and road traffic offences.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said it was "an exceptionally squalid crime" and that the victim was "a lady of great vulnerability." He said Fitzgerald appeared to have been on a "drunken spree".

Mr Justice McCarthy imposed a sentence of five years imprisonment and ordered Fitzgerald undergo three years post release supervision.

A local detective garda told Patrick McGrath SC, prosecuting, that Fitzgerald was socialising in the town that evening and could be traced through various pubs on CCTV. He and two other men ended up at a house that gardai believe was previously a brothel.

They kicked at the door and threw cans at the windows but failed in their attempts to get in.

He said they moved on and later found an open door at a completely unrelated building containing a number of flats. The victim, described as a vulnerable woman in her fifties, lived in one of the flats and was awoken at 3.30am by two men banging on her door claiming to be gardai.

The court heard Fitzgerald barged into the flat and the second man, who did not like how things were developing, ran away. No charges have been brought against anyone else in relation to the case.

Fitzgerald pulled down his pants, took out his penis and told the woman to perform an oral sex act which the petrified woman did.

Fitzgerald took a sum of money before fleeing. The woman ran "screaming and roaring" in terror from her flat and was assisted by a neighbour.

Gardai were alerted and a number of days later arrested Fitzgerald. He was described as emotional, aggressive and angry at stages during interviews and made partial admissions.

The court heard the victim suffered psychological effects as a result of the offence and became visibly upset when speaking about it. She is in counselling and did not complete a victim impact statement as it was feared it may set her back. She has never returned to her flat.

The detective garda agreed that Fitzgerald had been pretty intoxicated as a result of a combination of substances on the night. He agreed that Fitzgerald had expressed remorse at the end of the garda interview and a guilty plea had been indicated at an early stage in the case.

He agreed that Fitzgerald and the others had gone to a certain location believing there might be a brothel there but that the victim had no association with that whatsoever.

Brendan Grehan SC, defending said his client accepted responsibility and was deeply ashamed of his actions. He said Fitzgerald had an extraordinarily unhappy, violent childhood.

Counsel said his client was willing to address his issues. Fitzgerald had started an anger management course and had been referred for psychological counselling.

Fitzgerald wrote a letter to the court in which he said he was sorry for what he had done and said he was "not that kind of person". He said he had struggled all his life with drink and drugs but was ready to change his life and address his issues.
There are fears that the long stalled plan to build a gas terminal on the Ballylongford Landbank could be completely derailed by a competing project in Cork harbour.

The 500m Shannon liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility planned for Ballylongford in north Kerry has had planning permission since 2006.

However the project ran aground two years ago when the original owner, US investor Hesse, pulled out in part because regulators here insisted they'd have to contribute as much as 50m a year to support infrastructure linking the Irish gas network to the UK.

That was despite the fact that gas landed at Ballylongford would bypass UK pipes.

Fears over Brexit had revived interest in the Shannon LNG plan but recent developments in Cork now threaten to put an end to the whole project.

Last week it was announced that Texan energy firm NextDecade have entered a partnership with the Port of Cork and are planning to build a major LNG import terminal at Whitegate in Cork harbour.

The US firm and the Cork port company - who say the terminal could be up and running by 2019 - are due to meet with representatives from The Department of Marine and Energy; Bord Gais and Cork industry representatives on August 2 to outline the proposal.

The news from Cork has caused dismay in north Kerry where it is feared that after 11 fruitless years the Shannon LNG project - which has received massive cross party political support - could now collapse entirely.

John Fox of the Tarbert Development Association said his group are very concerned by the news coming from Cork.

"We're very fearful that in this country there isn't sufficient demand for two LNG terminals," said Mr Fox.

"We've been promised a whole heap of things on that landbank over the last 60 years but nothing has happened. LNG looked like a real prospect given that the company spent millions on it and has spent years jumping though hoops to try and get it over the line," said Mr Fox.

"Now we're 11 years down the road and there still a hasn't been a sod turned," he said.

Mr Fox said area badly needs the jobs the plant would create.

"There's hardly a family around here without a child that has emigrated, some of for good. People follow work."

"This project was shovel ready seven years ago. It could be up and running by now."
Two rowers have spent the last few days recovering at University Hospital Kerry after their world record attempt to row across the Atlantic was dramatically cut short when their boat overturned about 350km off the Kerry coast on Friday morning.

Brian Conville from Dublin, and French Canadian Joseph Gagnon were on schedule to become the first pair to row the Atlantic - from west to east - until their ocean rowing boat overturned sometime between 5am and 7am on Friday.

They duo had set off from St John's Port in Newfoundland, Canada, on June 13 and planned to row across the Atlantic in 40 days, without a stopover and without assistance.

Rescue services were contacted after an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) device on board the pair's specially designed boat activated and the Coast Guard station based at Valentia co-ordinated a rescue operation.

Valentia tasked the Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 117 and the Air Corps Casa plane to go to the scene.

They arrived on the scene shortly after 2pm on Friday and found the two men lying on the hull of their upturned boat.

The Coast Guard said the men were rescued following a difficult operation in a three-metre sea swell. The operation was made more difficult as the white hull of the men's boat made it difficult to see among the waves.

The pair were taken to University Hospital Kerry for treatment where they were met by family members.

Although suffering with mild hypothermia, the men were in good spirits as they recuperated.

Gerard O'Flynn, of the Irish Coast Guard praised the team at Valentia. "I want to compliment the helicopter crew and Valentia [station] on a very successful operation and thank the Air Corps for their support."
When I hear the likes of Deputy Danny Healy-Rae coming out with myths that new drink driving legislation would put the local parish priest over the limit after simply saying Mass, I really have to despair.

And this wasn't his only classic - he has also said that he would have no problem flying in an aircraft where the pilot has had a few drinks. Rather you than me, Deputy.

And let's not forget his most ridiculous statement to date - that eating a big meal before driving is as dangerous as drink driving!

In fact, Deputy Healy-Rae's outbursts on new road safety legislation to come before the Dail in the Autumn would be hilarious if the issue wasn't so serious.

Let's get one thing clear from the outset, this Government is NOT changing the drink driving limits. All we are changing is the penalty for those convicted and this change - an automatic three month driving ban - befits the seriousness of the offence.

When Deputy Healy-Rae says that 'eating a big meal before driving is as dangerous as drink driving', at least he is acknowledging that drink driving is dangerous.

But his downright refusal to support this new legislation, which could save the lives of many Kerry people over the coming years, is simply baffling.

It is almost as if he is saying drinking and driving is not a crime, or at least a crime not befitting of a disqualification.

Deputy Healy-Rae is a fine public representative for the people of Kerry but I believe he is on the wrong side of the argument and the wrong side of common sense on this issue.

He believes I am on a crusade to isolate people further in rural Ireland. How wrong he is. What I am on a crusade for is to save lives that are needlessly lost every year because people are getting behind the wheel with too much alcohol in their system.

We have a drink driving limit in Ireland of 50mg - anything over that and you are over the limit. There is no argument about that. It is accepted and rigidly adhered to by many.

Up to now, if a driver was caught over the limit between 50mg and 80mg and it was their first offence, they could simply pay their way out of trouble by stumping up for the fine and taking the three penalty points on the chin.

But research has shown that between 2008 and 2012, 35 people were killed in collisions where drivers/motorcyclists had a recorded blood alcohol level of between 21 and 80mgs and were deemed culpable due to alcohol being a contributory factor.

This means between seven and eight people, on average, were killed per year over this period at lower alcohol limits. Put that on your dinner plate, Deputy Healy-Rae, and let it stew.

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, though also opposing my bill, has at least expressed his arguments within the realms of the rational.

Attitudes against drink driving have hardened in Ireland in the past two years. The number of people who say that there is no acceptable amount of alcohol that a driver can consume and be safe has increased from 61% (2015) to 73% (2017).

Far from shutting down rural Ireland, making drink driving offences an automatic disqualification will protect the lives and wellbeing of our families, neighbours, friends and work colleagues in our communities.

It is important to understand the range of issues facing rural Ireland, including rural transport, social inclusion and sustainable communities. In fact, I am aware of one fine example in Deputy Healy-Rae's constituency where one pub actually provides lifts home for their patrons at weekends.

Promoting the safe use of roads in rural Ireland is an integral policy measure to protect and sustain such rural communities.

The issues are important but the solution is not to be found by allowing people to drink and drive.
Big birthdays don't come along often and when they do involve your mother or father, the importance of making them cannot be overstated.

My mother's 70th birthday party had been in the making since January, with endless WhatsApp debates with my brothers and sisters about what food should be cooked and what venue would be fitting.

It was all set up that I would arrive in Syracuse, New York, where my family live, without the Little Fella and the Whirlwind Princess - the day before the party and surprise my mother by jumping out of a large box at a lake house we rented for a few days. The problem with organising any surprise is keeping a lid on it so the closer the day come to the party the more concerned I became that my Mam would find out. The day before - in a panicked and excited state, I accidentally WhatsApped a message to the family group and not to a special birthday party group double-checking that my brother was still on for picking me up in the airport, but luckily I caught the mistake in time and she didn't see it. Before shutting my eyes that night I thought of all the people I had told and wondered if they could be trusted with the secret.

I arrived in JFK complete with suitcase full of Barry's tea bags, real Irish chocolate bars, gifts and a sensible mix of long and short sleeve clothes. That evening, after my brother gave me a lift five hours north in a rented red Ford Mustang convertible, we arrived in darkness at the lake house. Playing a mandolin guitar I emerged from the box, which was marked fragile, singing a song and the emotional fireworks went off - spectacular!

The few days at the lake house were great, despite the best efforts of the Biblical swarm of bugs. Fitbit-less and smartphone-less, I got to totally switch off, enjoying swimming, eating rubbish, joking around with family and shopping in a mall the size of Enniscorthy. I missed the children badly every day, but was so busy I got on with my rare holiday without them. There was a TV but its main use was for the Wii, dancing along to the Just Dance game's Rasputin and Hey Ya songs with my 10-year-old niece. When we got back to my Mam's house in Syracuse it was Trump, Trump, Trump on the telly. Then OJ. Then an Australian woman who was gunned down by a cop. Turned it off, feeling queasy.

Syracuse is my home away from home, a place I have been going to since I arrived in heavy snow in the winter of 1978, one-year-old, courtesy of two flights, a bus and a helicopter put on for some passengers due to the severity of the weather. An Irish city, with numerous pubs bearing Irish names over their doors, Syracuse struggled for years as companies pulled out for low wage Mexico, but green shoots have been emerging and it was great to see whole blocks revived and new businesses open. Similar things are finally happening here also which is great.

The weather was in the 70s and 80s every day, (love the way the ultra positive Americans deal in big fahrenheit numbers to avoid minus in their weather forecasts). On the way home I stopped off in New York for four hours and had a typical mind blowing time, barely making it to my flight on time and then, frazzled I forgot where my car was in the long stay. A memorable week!
A key political advisor will be one of the keynote speakers at this year's Kennedy Summer School.

Bob Shrum who has been central to many US presidential campaigns will reflect on his involvement in Edward Kennedy's 1980 presidential election campaign and his life as a senior Democratic political strategist over five decades.

Shrum is now the Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics and the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics at the University of Southern California, where he is a Professor of the Practice of Political Science in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

He is a former political strategist and consultant who served as senior advisor to the Kerry-Edwards 2004 campaign and to the Gore-Lieberman 2000 campaign. 'The Atlantic Monthly' described him as 'the most sought-after consultant in the Democratic Party'.

Shrum served as speechwriter to New York Mayor John V. Lindsay from 1970 to 1971, speechwriter to Sen. George McGovern's 1972 Presidential campaign and speechwriter and press secretary to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy from 1980 to 1984 and as a political consultant until 2009.

Internationally, Bob was a senior adviser to the campaign of Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and to the British Labour Party in the 2001 Parliamentary campaign. His book, 'No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner', was published in June 2007 by Simon and Schuster.

At noon on Saturday, September 9 Bob Shrum will take to the podium in New Ross for a talk titled, 'The Causes That Endure'. In this audio-visually illustrated public interview with Dr. Brian Murphy, Robert M Shrum will discuss the Edward Kennedy's 1980 Presidential election campaign and offer insights to his life as a veteran campaign strategist.

The 2017 Summer School will discuss topical issues in Irish and U.S. politics with expert speakers from both sides of the Atlantic. More than 35 guest speakers have been lined up to participate on a wide range of different subjects and organisers say that Brexit and Ireland's relationship with the U.S. will feature prominently. The summer school have also gathered a panel of leading historians to assess the legacy of President John F. Kennedy, 100 years on from his birth.

There will be a series of public interviews including an audience with RTE U.S. correspondent, Caitriona Perry, a keynote by the speech writer for Barack Obama Cody Kennan along with a host of panelists. Ian Paisley Jnr MP, RTE Europe Editor Tony Connelly, Regina Doherty TD (Fine Gael), Mary Lou McDonald TD (Sinn Fein), Joan Burton TD (Labour) and Lisa Chambers TD (Fianna Fail), Niall Breslin, Celebrity Chef Kevin Dundon, Judge of The Great Irish Bake Off and Chef Paul Kelly, Ryan Tubridy and many more will all partake in the 2017 Kennedy Summer School.

The Kennedy Summer School takes place from Friday, September 7 to Sunday, September 9. Tickets are now on sale from kennedysummerschool.ie and St Michael's Theatre in New Ross on 051 421255.
Members of New Ross Pigeon Club - John is second from left in the bottom row - in the Tholsel around 1954

A tattoo inked on New Ross man John Kelly's arm shows in vivid detail how much racing pigeons mean to him.

The dates 1974, 1975 and 1976 on his arm denote years in which his beloved birds achieved greatness when they flew several hundred miles, including over the Scottish sea, winning major competitions.

In the early 1970s John's pigeons made him famous when they were used to deliver messages from Dublin to major employer Driver Harris during a phone strike.

Headlines including 'Pigeon post resues boss in a flap' and 'Pigeon Post Beats Phone Chaos' appeared in a national newspaper and the RTE camera crew arrived at John's door and recorded the story for the evening news.

John (76), of 9 Maiden Lane, recalls: 'I remember there was a phone strike and the snow was very heavy on the ground. Jim Merrigan from Driver Harris asked for three pigeons to fly them from Dublin with messages. All the pigeons had been lying there for three months and were unfit. I picked out three of my best pigeons and they left the next morning for Dublin with orders from Driver Harris, a journey of 87 miles.'

John didn't think he would see the birds again.

'The next thing I saw a bird coming in - in the snow into the loft. A half an hour later the next pigeon arrived and an hour later, the third. I took the messages out of the rings and brought them to Driver Harris.'

The late Mr Merrigan's high-flying answer to the crisis had worked.

His company had used the racing pigeons to speed orders from their sales office in Dublin to their manufacturing plant in New Ross.

A company spokesperson at the time said: 'It was a lifesaver. We could not make contact with any certainty and it was important that the orders got through on time. We reckoned that the pigeons would do the trick in less than two hours and we have now heard that they did.'

Mr Merrigan later told John that jobs would have been lost if the pigeons hadn't been deployed.

John worked on the docks for 30 years and on a coal boat before seriously injuring his back, forcing him to retire.

'The night the RTE van pulled up I was arriving home from work black with coal. I got a bath and the camera followed me into the loft and all the way down to Driver Harris they had a camera on me. I was like a film star and out came Jim and he took the messages off of me.'

News spread across the UK and into Europe of John's speedy pigeons.

'They made me famous,' he laughs.

John started flying pigeons when he was ten.

Christened in Horeswood Church, his mother hailing from the locality, John spent his life in New Ross, mainly at 9 Maiden Lane, where he has 150 pigeons - 50 young babies and 100 older specimens.

One of the county's great pigeon fanciers, John started out with snow white fantail pigeons, with his friend John Fleming. 'His father worked in Smithwick's and he used to bring me down pigeons from Dublin.'

John's love of pigeons is in his blood and his son Stephen is competing at a very high level with his birds.

In the late 1960s, John and some friends started a pigeon club in Chapel Lane in an old house they bought off the Tottenham estate. 'We did up the clubhouse, which we bought for 700 through money from a silver circle.' The club grew to around 35 members, but lately numbers have fallen to the mid twenties.

Every morning he catches his pigeons and puts them in his van and travels to Mooncoin, 20 miles south west where he releases them in ones and twos to give them a better chance of surviving aerial attacks from birds of prey. They return to his loft later in the morning.

Microchips in the pigeons' legs are synced with a clock which calculates velocity and times them.

'You could be beaten by a decibel point,' John says.

He has been training his younger pigeons for around ten weeks for competitions and they can travel 2,000 yards in a minute. 'It takes two hours for them to return from Barleycove in Cork, 138 miles away as the pigeon flies, so to speak.'

John was one of the founders of the 'Pigeon House' in Irishtown, New Ross.

Pigeons are loaded into trucks at night and brought to ferries to be flown from Scotland and other UK countries back to the town.

'You would lose a lot of them with the birds of prey, which have been introduced and bred in the country.'

John won the Thurso pigeon flying competition. Pigeons fly 448 miles back to New Ross and other pigeon coops in the country.

'They are liberated there to come home to my home.'

There is even a competition whereby the birds have to fly from the Shetland Islands, some 650 miles back to Ireland. 'They used to call it the graveyard of champions as there is 100 miles of sea to fly over and they had to avoid oil rigs.'

In 1974 John won the old bird national competition in New Ross. With crystal clear clarity he recalls winning a hattrick of titles at Thurso, including one day when the sea fog was so bad, pigeons took all night to make it home. 'That record stands and was never beaten.'

One the other two attempts his pigeons took 12 hours to complete the 448 mile journey.

John believes the secret to training pigeons is to take it slowly. 'Lads laugh at me, but I always say if you have a baby you have to teach it how to walk, or it will only crawl. You have to put the time into them and dose them for everything. I have a 14-year-old, so if you look after them they'll thrive.'

He brings his pigeons to nearby areas, building up the distances slowly.

His methods work as he, at 76, is still winning races, including several this year.

John has no plans to stop pigeon fancying.

John's wife Helen helped him keep the pigeons while he was sick recently. 'I couldn't go into the loft. I got depressed but I can train them now again.'

He said pigeons are unfairly compared to rats, adding that thanks to them thousands of Allied soldier lives were saved during World War II.

'If one were sick I would do everything in my power to save them. My pigeons got a bad dose two years ago. I got them cured but it took the heart out of me.'

Over the years John has suffered many health scares but his faith has always been a source of solace for him, along with family and his pigeons.

He still gets a great feeling of excitement when his pigeons win.

'When they are flying to Thurso or Fraserbergh in Aberdeenshire and you're waiting for them to come in you would.'

He spends around 30 a week on the birds between high velocity corn and light feed.

He loves his hobby, admitting that there is a lot of effort put into it.

'It's a dying sport, moreso now with the birds of prey. I had five great pigeons. They had won competitions for me and they were killed.

'I will go to my grave a pigeon man.'
The winner of the recent Educate to Innovate competition paid a visit to the Hatch Lab in Gorey recently to be presented with her prize.

Leigh Ludgate, creator of 'Mmmm Magic Microwave Mug,' from Colaiste Bhride Carnew. Leigh revealed that she has already had firm offers from the US to invest in her company.

Delighted with her prize, she said she plans to carry on expanding her company, but at the same time ensuring she finds a balance between her entrepreneurial aspirations and her studies.

She is planning to divide her 1,000 winnings between re-investment in her company and a well-earned summer holiday.

The Educate to Innovate programme encourages entrepreneurial activity among secondary school students and is sponsored by Innovate in Gorey.

Leigh was presented with her winner's cheque by Jim Hughes, CEO of Innovate, at the Hatch Lab, Gorey. 'Hopefully, one day we will see some of these students in business creating employment and developing a brighter future for North Wexford,' he commented.

Diarmuid Devereux, CEO of Gorey Chamber, said that it's massively encouraging to see a successful company actively encouraging entrepreneurship in the up and coming generations.
Some 140,000 people flocked to Bray at the weekend to take in the spectacular Bray Air Show.

On Saturday, 50,000 people lined Bray Promenade marvelling at the spectacular aerobatic performances during the first of the two-day Bray Air Display which supported by the Irish Aviation Authority.

Amid glorious sunshine, spectators were treated to a dazzling display of precision perfect manoeuvres from some of the world's most accomplished aerobatic display teams as they looped, twirled and zipped across a picture perfect blue sky.

Headlining Saturday's display were the Royal Jordanian Falcons - one of the world's most experienced and accomplished aerobatic groups. A professional national aerobatic team formed in 1976 at the request of His Majesty the Late King Hussein Bin Talal, the Royal Jordanian Falcons have an international reputation for precision, professionalism and spectacular performance. Flying Extra-300 L aerobatic aircraft the highly skilled team set Bray skies alight with their award-winning performance.

Other display highlights included a very special 74-year-old Catalina Flying Boat and the 'Swedish Air Force Historic Flight' team flying Viggen jets.

Vintage glamour was on display with a British Spitfire and a Seafire as well as a beautiful vintage Aer Lingus aircraft, the DC-3, popular in the 1940s and 50s. Patrouille Tranchant, a Celtic jet team from Brittany in France put four Fouga jets through their paces while Norway was represented by a MiG aircraft as well as a pair of 'Vampires'. Irish aviation was celebrated at the event by the Irish Air Corps and Eddie Goggins aka 'The Flying Dentist'. The Irish Coast Guard also demonstrated a safe water rescue.

A total of 13 acts performed on Saturday while 18 took to the skies on Sunday, when the number of spectators surged to 90,000.

The sun also shone on Sunday which ensured a very festive atmosphere throughout the day.

Headlining Sunday's performances was an F-18 jet from the Spanish air force demonstrating the very best of aerobatic skill and performance. The Royal Jordanian Falcons also wowed the crowd flying Extra-300 L aerobatic aircraft. A little more sedate but equally special were displays of a 74 year old Catalina Flying Boat and a beautiful vintage Aer Lingus DC-3 aircraft resplendent in 1940s livery.

The Irish talent on display again included Eddie Goggins as well as the Irish Air Corps and the Irish Historic Flight Foundation flying Stearman and Chipmunk aircraft. The Irish Coast Guard also demonstrated a safe water rescue and a tribute was paid to the crew of R116 who tragically lost their lives earlier this year.

Performances by international acts included the 'Swedish Air Force Historic Flight' team flying Viggen jets, a British Spitfire and a Seafire and a MiG aircraft as well as a pair of 'Vampires' representing Norway.

A Celtic jet team from Brittany in France, 'Patrouille Tranchant', flying four Fouga jets were one of the highlights following their magnificent fly-over above Croke Park and U2's homecoming gig on Saturday night.

As well as spectacular scenes in the air there was plenty of fun to be had on 'terra firma' where family-fun activity included a food and craft village, a fun fair and live music.

Se Pardy, Bray Air Display Director said: 'Bray Air Display 2017 has been a great success with fantastic public support. Thank you to everyone who came out over the weekend to enjoy the spectacle. Once again we were blessed with glorious sunshine which made the two days even more special. We were delighted to be part of the IAA's 'Aviation Ireland' weekend and look forward to another wonderful display next year.'

Eamonn Brennan, Chief Executive of the Irish Aviation Authority said: 'The Bray Display has been a phenomenal success over the last couple of years. Aviation is a hugely important economic driver for our country and this year under the IAA's 'Aviation Ireland' campaign we supported not just one but two spectacular air shows over the same weekend at Foynes and at Bray, making this year an extra special one for fans of aviation across Ireland. We see this as a great avenue to raise the profile of aviation and to generate an interest in our industry.'

Supported by main sponsors the Irish Aviation Authority, as well as Wicklow County Council and Bray.ie, the award winning Bray Air Display is renowned as one of Europe's best air displays.
A Greystones jeweller has collected a top prize as she graduates from the Design and Craft Council of Ireland's Jewellery and Goldsmithing Skills and Design Course.

Cassie McCann was presented with the Course Manager's Award by Eimear Conyard, Jewellery and Goldsmithing Skills and Design Course Manager.

The Wicklow woman was chosen for the award in recognition of 'her overall contribution to the course and the student body, and in particular for the outstanding craftsmanship in her Faberge-style egg which features a hand-carved mermaid and enamelled outer surface'.

Cassie's work is currently on show at the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny as part of Lustre, and exhibition of work by the graduates of the course.

Cassie comes from a graphic design background. In 2009, she decided to explore a love of jewellery by attending some short courses and working part-time for AMOC Jewellery in Wicklow.

During the DCCoI programme she completed the GemA Diamond Grading Practical exam as well as a work placement with Liam Costigan Goldsmith and teaching experience at The Jewellery School, Birmingham. Cassie will now continue her training within the trade.
Ontario seats, or Saudi lives? In Ottawa, theres no contest.

About a week before the 2015 federal election, Justin Trudeau waltzed onto the dais of, Quebecs weekly talk show. About 1.2 million sets of eyeballs take in TLMEP every week, making an appearance a necessity for most (though certainly not all) federal politicians. Suitably, Trudeau was at his Trudeaupian best, interspersing well-meaning Liberal boilerplate with soupcons of his now-familiar smarm.At one point, host Guy A. Lepage asked Trudeau about the federal governments decision to allow the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, a country harshly criticized for its disrespect of human rights.Trudeau quickly corrected the host. First of all, they arent weapons, theyre Jeeps, he tut-tutted.His ensuing explanation of why the Liberals were OK with the Conservative governments approval of the sale  contortions of logic that would turn your average human being into a pretzel  was predicated on this very conceit: those arent, silly. Theyre little trucks. Canada  or at least a Canadian company  was basically selling the Saudis a bunch of Wranglers.Always flimsy, this conceit collapsed entirely over the last week when images of Canadian-made armoured vehicles involved a military campaign against the countrys Shia minority showed up on social media (and in the Globe and Mails excellent reporting) . Five civilians died at the hands of the Saudi National Guard over the course of two days, according to Reuters  the latest eruption of sectarian bloodshed in one of the most violent and repressive countries on earth.There is a caveat, of course. The vehicles in question arent part of the export deal approved by the former Conservative government in 2014 and rubber-stamped by Trudeaus Liberals a year later.deal, worth an estimated $15 billion, was for LAV-25s, manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems. The armoured vehicles being used by the Saudis against civilians in their Eastern Province, according to the, appear to be Gurkha RPVs, built by Terradyne Armored Vehicles of Newmarket, Ont.Yet the facts remain stubbornly hard to evade: The Canadian government, regardless of stripe, has been willing to permit arms sales to a country with an altogether dodgy human rights record, as well as an documented propensity to attack, murder and otherwise snuff out the democratic expressions of its Shia minority. And to understand exactly why the government would do such business with a psychopathic world actor, one need look only as far as London, Ontario, the key political district where General Dynamics builds the LAV-25.Politically, London is catnip to politicians. A vote-rich region long beset by social ailments and higher-than-average unemployment rates, it is an ideal place for a politician to park his or her promises. And Londons four federal ridings are also the stuff of horse races  traditionally Liberal bastions that have gone overwhelmingly Conservative blue over the last decade or so.In the General Dynamics plant, the Conservatives saw a military manufacturing behemoth aching for a lifeline as it struggled with post-Afghanistan doldrums, located in the sole London riding held by the NDP. What followed was a rather textbook case in how electoral brinkmanship blinded this countrys three major political parties.Harper lobbied hard for the project with Saudi Arabia, and defended it to the hilt once General Dynamics won it. The NDP, Canadas traditional home for peaceniks, itself caved to a more important constituency: the union movement, which bellowed loudly for the deal if only because the 3,000-strong General Dynamics workforce is by and large unionized. Thomas Mulcair criticized the deal when it was signed, only to become conspicuously silent when it became an election issue. Ditto Gerald Butts, Trudeaus main political adviser.The Liberals, meanwhile, didnt just provide political cover for the deal during the campaign. Once ensconced in office, the party finalized its approval by way of then-Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion.Squaring the Liberals Real Change and Sunny Ways with a deal that delivers rolling, Canadian-made weapons to the streets of Riyadh is a difficult endeavour. One need only a Wikipedia-level knowledge of foreign affairs to get a sense of Saudis resolutely bloody history. Its why the deep concern professed by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland over the Saudi crackdown sounds feigned and superficial  as though she reached out to a rabid dog and wanted us to believe she was genuinely surprised when it bit her.It would be easy and tempting to place this whole debacle on the shoulders of the Liberal government. In a proper world, Justin Trudeaus they arent weapons, theyre Jeeps excuse would be the hook for the mother of all campaign attack ads. In a proper world, the government would suffer for its hypocrisy.But it wont. The Saudi deal is gross both in content and by dint of the all-party support it secured. This isnt just the governments fault. Everyones hands are dirty. And perhaps bloody as well.
The annual Kilmacanogue Horse Show was an outstanding success at the weekend.

PRO Mary Flynn said despite the fact that the organisers were competing with the Bray Air Display there was a great turnout at the 44th annual show.

'The whole day went off brilliantly for us despite the fact that the Bray Air Display was on. We were lucky too in that we had super weather so that worked in our favour too.

'While we seemed to have less spectators through the gate the number of entries was up on other years. We usually only have one jumping ring but this year we decided to have two and they were both exceptionally busy throughout the day. We had a fantastic course builder called Gerry Traynor come on board and he did an outstanding job complete with artificial trees and mannequins.

'Some of the children who took part was incredibly talented and showed great promise.'

Some of the categories on the day were: hunters and cobs; Connemara working hunter; novice ridden Connemara registered ponies; carriage driving; small riding horse; large riding horse; coloured horse; racehorse to riding horse; pleasure horse; miniature horse classes; brood mare; monkey; Kerry Bog hand; Dressage, performance hunter; dog times; draft working horse; children's classes; photography and art competition and sheep classes.

One of the highlights of the day was the fancy dress competition which was won by a group dressed as The Smurfs. Shepard Donie Anderson delighted the crowds with his sheepdog Jess who herded a drake in expert like fashion.

All the money raised on the day will be used to support a number of charities including Wicklow Hospice, Enniskerry Tidy Towns, Kilmacanogue Senior Citizens, Charabanc, Spinal Injuries Ireland, Cancer Support, DSPCA, Open Door amongst others.

'Last year we raised 8,000', said Mary 'and we hope to top that this year.'
The late Valerie Nugent Hayes was a remarkable woman who will be so sadly missed by her heartbroken husband Frank, with whom she shared more than 50 years.

Her absence will also be deeply felt by her children Samantha, Victoria, Byron and Lydia, her grandchildren Sophie and Leila, her brothers, sisters, sister-in-law, her extended family and a wide circle of friends, political comrades and associates.

In an oration to those who gathered recently to celebrate Valerie's life, Frank said that his wife had a 'wonderfully wicked sense of humour'.

'The best jokes, she always held, contained the truth,' he said.

The Humanist ceremony at Collier's in Bray included a personal programme of poems, songs and readings, all significant in some way to Valerie and her memory.

She had asked her beloved family not to grieve for her, but to celebrate the happy life which they had shared, and 'to continue the work she cherished most, scattering love, truth, honesty, integrity, which she did so effortlessly, every day of her life, every step of her journey.'

Frank said that Valerie's greatest gift of all was her ability to create a warm sense of joy in human truth.

'She worked that quiet magic, not just for me, or for our four children and two grandchildren - all of whom made her so proud - but for everyone and anyone who had the sense to listen and learn from her, to follow her example. She had grasped early on that the self-infatuated ego was the biggest barrier to human happiness, and she applied that understanding, that Humanist principle, in every aspect of her life.'

She made a happy home in Greystones, she carried out advanced work with Scientific Philosophy to which she made significant contributions. She worked with disadvantaged children, took up and had a gift for story telling. These were just a handful of the many things that made Valerie such a special person.

She learned to play the violin at the age of 60. The instrument was a gift from Frank, a musician. Valerie's father had played the fiddle, and she had always had a desire to play. She found a wonderful teacher and practiced fastidiously, becoming a beautiful player and putting paid to the idea that it is ever too late to learn to play an instrument.

When Frank and Valerie met, he lived in Ballsbridge and she in Parnell Square. They both went to Blackrock Academy.

'I thought, and still do think, that she was the most beautiful thing I ever saw,' said Frank.

He and a friend were both trying to pluck up the courage to ask her out. The friend got the flu one week and, in his absence, Frank found the courage to do it.

'When I met her that first night, I knew we were going to be soulmates and that was it,' he said. Frank, a piano player, invited Valerie to come and see his band, and they danced at the interval.

'We met as children really,' said Frank. 'We grew together, and we kind of modified each other. We become what she used to call "a pair of binary opposites". That came from her particular ethical disposition, her whole conceptual framework of the world.'

The couple lived together in Dublin before they married. 'It wasn't controversial for us, but for the day it was. We were a little bit alternative. We thought we knew it all of course, as everybody does at that age.'

They both had an interest in philosophy and politics, and they studied community development. She was a scientific philosopher without much time for the mystical philosophy side of things. She was very much a materialist who based her understanding of the world on scientifically verifiable evidence.

She was a member of an international group called the International Friends of Ilyenkov, made up of scholars, researchers and activists reading and exploring the work of oppositional Soviet philosopher E V Ilyenkov to help shed light on today's cultural, philosophical, educational and political challenges.

Their household was very interesting. 'Breakfast time was amazing,' said Valerie's daughter Samantha, who described a lively and ongoing discourse in a happy and open household.

The children's friends were always welcome, and had a friendly ear in Valerie. They had love in their house and they all talked to one another. There were rows, of course, but they would be resolved very quickly. As a mum she was just superb.

Always busy, one of Valerie's roles was as a leader of the Irish Girl Guides. Her daughters were members and they enjoyed a great number of activities and trips together.

Valerie worked in financial control throughout the 1960s, '70s and '80s, then as her family grew she worked part-time doing the same sort of thing.

She worked from the start in administration with the Living Life Counselling Centre when it was founded, and also worked in Greystones Travel.

After that she went back to community work at Little Bray Family Resource centre, first as her profession and after she retired, as a volunteer.

The Hayes family received a package from the Little Bray Family Resource Centre. All of the children she worked with had made cards, writing in them the thing they remember most about her.

Valerie enriched the lives of everyone she met, and played such a huge part in so many people's lives.

'I have been so lucky as a human to find a soul-mate who loved what I loved,' said Frank.
Wicklow County Council is in discussions with two Government Departments over the recent High Court ruling relating to Whitestown.

Speaking at Monday's special meeting, Council Chief Executive Bryan Doyle said he was 'very concerned about the nature and possible impact of the cost' of complete clean-up of the site.

'This is a significant judgement with big ramifications for Wicklow County Council,' acknowledged Mr Doyle.

A likely appeal by Brownfield Restoration Ireland Ltd meant Mr Doyle had been legally advised not to discuss any 'specifics' of the case, though he supported fully the request for a special meeting.

'I do have concerns over possible costs. I have no estimates. I have started talks with two Government Departments. In effect, I contacted them. They are aware of the judgements but I have also passed them on to them,' said Mr Doyle.

The Department of the Environment paid for all Wicklow County Council's costs involving Whitestown, apart from the current case.

The council still has a letter from the Department dating back to 2011 committing to paying for any remediation works.

However, changes in Government and in Department Ministers, means the local authority are unsure if that commitment still applies. Mr Doyle appealed for the full backing of the elected members.

'It would be hugely helpful if you supported the Council Executive in asking various Departments to continue with their support for us.' He also said he would try to formulate answers to any questions Councillors wanted to submit to him.
The 32-year-old man accused of murdering Dublin grandmother Patricia O'Connor, whose remains were found scattered across the Wicklow mountains, has been remanded in custody.

Kieran Green, with an address at Mountain View Park in Rathfarnham, Dublin, appeared before Judge Victor Blake at Cloverhill District Court on Thursday. It was his third court appearance in respect of the charge.

Judge Blake remanded Green in continuing custody to appear again at Cloverhill on August 17.

He is charged with the murder of Patricia O'Connor. The killing allegedly took place at Mountain View Park between May 29 and May 30 last. Directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions have been sought.

The remains of Patricia O'Connor were recovered over several days.

On June 15, Green's first court appearance, Det Gda Connolly had said Green was arrested at Bray Garda station at 11.28 a.m. that morning.

He replied 'it was self-defence' to the charge after caution.

He must apply to the High Court for bail on a murder charge and at his first hearing in June he had been remanded in custody to appear with an order for him to get medical attention.

He was also granted legal aid after the district court was told he was on social welfare and has an adult and four children as dependants.

Ms O'Connor (61) was first reported missing on June 2 last.

Later, her remains were discovered scattered in a 30km area across the Wicklow mountains.
Nine horses perished in a serious fire which destroyed a large barn near Blessington last Tuesday, July 18.

The blaze is reported to have broken out shortly after 6 p.m. and calls from concerned neighbours flooded in to Wicklow Fire Service.

Such was the extent of the fire, it could be seen for miles around.

A fire crew from Blessington was dispatched at 6.25 p.m. to Ballynascullogue Lower, Oldcourt, and when officers reached the scene, the barn was covered in flames and smoke.

Officers quickly realised that the premises was used as stables and concern for the animals grew when no sounds could heard coming from inside the building.

Within minutes of the crew starting to fight the fire, the roof collapsed and, given the nature of the incident, a decision was made to request the water tanker from Naas Fire Station, which was mobilised with an additional fire crew.

'Fire crews remained on scene for the following three hours extinguishing the fire and assisting gardai by removing metal sheeting and collapsed sections of the building from the bodies of the horses inside. Fire crews noted nine dead horses at the scene before handing over to gardai,' said a spokesperson for Wicklow Fire Service.

Gardai are currently investigating how the blaze started.
A claim that 'lives have been destroyed because of government inaction' was made by Fianna Fail European Election candidate Kieran Hartley at the anti-windfarm public meeting in Aughrim.

Mr Hartley said that 'absolutely nothing has changed' in the past two years since the previous Ballymanus Wind Farm application and he called on local councillors to propose a motion to amend the County Development Plan.

Cllr Sylvester Bourke took issue with this and what he felt was an implication that the members of Wicklow County Council are incompetent. He reminded Mr Hartley that Cllr Shay Cullen previously proposed an amendment to extend the set-back distance which was later over-ruled by the then Minister for Environment Simon Coveney.

'The councillors are very much on the ball and are supporting the local community,' he said.

Cllr Shay Cullen reminded those present of the value of 'people power' and said that it is essential in this battle.

Cllr Pat Kennedy called on his fellow councillors to agree to a meeting to come up with a new variation and said that legal precedent has been set following a High Court appeal by Donegal County Council.

'The High Court has overruled the Minister and Donegal has set the precedent so there is every opportunity for us to be able to overcome this obstacle. This windfarm would be dead if we can get this over the line,' he said.

He called for cross-party support and all councillors present, including Joe Behan, Mary McDonald, Sylvester Bourke, Tommy Annesley, Shay Cullen and Brendan Thornhill, pledged their support.

Two TDs were also present at the meeting - Sinn Fein's John Brady and Pat Casey of Fianna Fail.

Deputy Brady criticised the 'corporate greed' shown by ABO Wind Ireland Ltd in seeking to build this windfarm in an area where residents have overwhelmingly rejected it. He said that it is essential that every resident makes an objection and said that people need to buy into the action plan put forward by SWWAG.

He expressed concern than any amendments made to the County Development Plan would benefit this particular wind farm proposal but said that an application from the councillors is warranted nonetheless.

Deputy Casey said that the case has been made at national level to show that on-shore windfarms are no longer viable in Ireland.

'The councillors have a great precedent now following the Donegal judgement and the court must follow the precedent set. As a person involved in tourism, I know how important the Wicklow landscape is. It is the county's gem and it is what tourists come here for,' he said.
Saturday is Global Tiger Day and to mark the occasion WWF has released rare video and photo evidence of wild tigers in Bhutan, of which there are only about 100 left.

The remarkable footage was captured by photojournalist and film-maker Emmanuel Rondeau, who undertook a three-month expedition in Bhutan for it. He faced torrential downpours, snowfall, high altitudes and extreme terrain to capture images of a tiger in a wildlife corridor.

At the beginning of the 20th century there were 100,000 wild tigers, but now there are only around 3,900. The troubling statistics show just how quickly the population is decreasing, and how urgently the tigers need help.

WWF has been posting more remarkable pictures of tigers on social media to celebrate Global Tiger Day, and also to draw attention to their plight.

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WWF hopes that sharing this footage of wild tigers in Bhutan will help conservation efforts.
Trainy McTrainface: New train in Sweden named as 'revenge for Boaty McBoatface'

"We like this name as we think that Boaty McBoatface from UK kind of got his revenge now by his cousin Trainy McTrainface winning this poll," a spokesperson told the ABC.

Updated 20 Jul 2017ABC News.An express train running between two major Swedish cities will be named Trainy McTrainface, after the railway company opened up the name to a public vote.MTR Express, with Swedish newspaper Metro, opened up a poll to name four new trains running between the capital Stockholm and Gothenburg on the country's west coast.Trainy McTrainface, which received 49 per cent of the vote, was the most popular name.Two other trains will be called Estelle  named after the 5-year-old princess of Sweden, and Glenn  a popular name in Gothenburg. The fourth will be named by a staff member, the company said.The unsuccessful names were Hakan, Miriam and Poseidon.The name was inspired by Boaty McBoatface  the moniker chosen by the public to a British research vessel which was eventually shafted in favour of RRS Sir David Attenborough.The name Boaty McBoatface was instead given to a remotely operated submarine aboard the polar research ship.While the United Kingdom's Natural Environment Research Council may have regretted opening their naming poll to the public, MTR Express said they would be sticking with the people's choice.Trainy McTrainface will be named at official celebrations in Gothenburg and Stockholm in upcoming months, along with the other trains.The naming will be "received with joy by many, not only with Sweden", MTR Express said.
Violence erupted in east London last night as protesters clashed with police over the death of Rashan Charles.

Heres everything you need to know.

What were the protests all about?

Last Saturday, 20-year-old black man Rashan Charles died after a chase with the police.

Unverified footage on social media appeared to show at least one police officer attempting to restrain Charles on the floor of a shop at 1.45am on the Kingsland Road. He later died in hospital.

The IPCC said in a statement on Friday: We understand the concerns raised following Rashans death.

We will independently examine the circumstances of this incident, we will follow the evidence, we will consider whether there is an indication there may have been misconduct or criminality, and we will seek to answer the questions that Rashans family and the community of Hackney understandably have.

How did the protests go down?

The group blocked part of Kingsland Road  near the shop where Charles was restrained by police  with wheelie bins, mattresses and debris at around 3.40pm.

Officers retreated as items including bottles were thrown towards them, but the group remained at the barricade, stopping cyclists and motorists from passing.

As night fell, mattresses and bins forming part of the barricade were set on fire and riot police moved in.

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Angry clashes broke out at around 10pm, as scores of missiles were launched at police as they attempted to disperse the group.

Restaurants and bars pulled down their shutters, locking customers inside, as the protesters were pushed down Kingsland High Street and beyond Dalston Kingsland Station.

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The violence appeared to have ended shortly after 11pm, but shattered glass littered the streets of Dalston and a helicopter continued to circle above.

What happens next?

Charles father Esa will give a joint statement with Ginario Da Costa, the father of Edson Da Costa, outside Stoke Newington Police station today.

Da Costa died on June 21, six days after he was detained by police during a traffic stop in east London.

Campaigners claim Da Costas neck was broken and that he was brutally beaten after a car, containing three people, was halted in Woodcocks, Beckton.

His death is also being investigated by the IPCC, which has revealed an early pathology report shows he had a number of packages in his throat when he died.
These malnourished animals were among those left behind in Aleppos ruins following a battle for the Syrian city.

Three lions, two tigers, two hyenas and two Asian black bears were being kept at the Magic World amusement park near Aleppo.

But after the attraction was abandoned last year, the animals were neglected and many died from malnutrition or severe bombings.

The remaining nine were being cared for by locals who took on the responsibility to feed them, until vets from animal welfare group Four Paws intervened to rescue them. They began the mission to chip and transport them to an animal protection centre in Karacabey, Turkey, last week.

The ongoing war has taken its toll on the animals. The lack of water, food and veterinary care has left the animals physically and psychologically traumatised. Several animals were also killed by severe bombings, said Dr Amir Khalil, vet and head of the Four Paws mission.

He added in a statement: The ever-deteriorating situation of the animals worried us. Also, wild animals such as bears and big cats, trapped in desolate enclosures, can quickly pose a threat to humans.

The animals will be re-homed once their health is restored, and could be moved to Jordan, South Africa or the Netherlands in the future.

The Syrian city of Aleppo was caught in a raging war between the Syrian opposition and government forces from 2012 to 2016, which left thousands dead and parts of the city in ruins.
On Friday Donald Trump gave a controversial speech in which he seemed to advocate rougher treatment of people in police custody, and it isnt exactly winning over some police departments.

Dont be too nice, Trump told police officers in Suffolk County, New York, during a visit to highlight his administrations efforts to crack down on the street gang known as MS-13.

Trump said his administration is removing these gang members from the US, but added: Wed like to get them out a lot faster and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of the paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, I said, Please dont be too nice.'

Trump also spoke dismissively of the practice by which arresting officers shield the heads of handcuffed suspects as they are placed in police cars. His comments were met with cheers.

However, this attitude isnt exactly shared by police officers around the country, and Gainesville Police Departments rejection of Trumps speech has gone viral.

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Gainesville policeman Ben Tobias echoed this sentiment in a separate tweet.

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Trumps speech proved so controversial that Suffolk County PD felt the need to send out this tweet clarifying its stance soon after.

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Suffolk County Police Department came under fire last November when its former chief James Burke was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for beating a handcuffed man in an interrogation room.
Kim Jong-un watches a military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the Korean Peoples Army earlier this year. Photo: Reuters

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said the second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile has demonstrated his country can hit the US mainland.

His comments came hours after the launch left analysts concluding that a wide swathe of the United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now in range of North Korean weapons.

The Korean Central News Agency said Kim expressed "great satisfaction" after the Hwasong-14 missile reached a maximum height of 2,314 miles and travelled 620 miles before accurately landing in waters off Japan.

The agency said the test was aimed at confirming the maximum range and other technical aspects of the missile it says was capable of delivering a "large-sized, heavy nuclear warhead".

Analysts estimated that the North's first ICBM on July 4 could have reached Alaska, and said that the latest missile appeared to extend that range significantly.

Immediately after the launch, US and South Korean forces conducted live-fire exercises.

South Korean defence Minister Song Young-moo called for the deployment of strategic US military assets - which usually means stealth bombers and aircraft carriers - as well as additional launchers of an advanced US anti-missile system.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the missile flew for about 45 minutes - about five minutes longer than the first. The missile was launched on a very high trajectory, which limited the distance it travelled, and landed west of Japan's island of Hokkaido.

Expand Close Kim Jong-un watches a military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the Korean Peoples Army earlier this year. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

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The KCNA quoted Kim as saying that the launch reaffirmed the reliability of the country's ICBM system and an ability to fire at "random regions and locations at random times" with the "entire" US mainland now within range.

The agency said that the test confirmed important features of the missile system, such as the proper separation of the warhead and controlling its movement and detonation after atmospheric re-entry.

Kim said the launch sent a "serious warning" to the United States, which has been "meaninglessly blowing its trumpet" with threats of war and stronger sanctions, the KCNA said.

The North Korean flight data was similar to assessments by the United States, South Korea and Japan.

David Wright, a physicist and co-director of the global security programme at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said if reports of the missile's maximum altitude and flight time were correct, it would have a theoretical range of at least 6,500 miles.

That means it could have reached Los Angeles, Denver or Chicago, depending on variables such as the size and weight of the warhead that would be carried atop such a missile in an actual attack.

US president Donald Trump issued a statement condemning the missile test as a threat to the world, and rejecting North Korea's claim that nuclear weapons ensure its security.

"In reality, they have the opposite effect," he said.

Mr Trump said the weapons and tests "further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people" and vowed to "take all necessary steps" to ensure the security of the US and its allies.

Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida said he told US secretary of state Rex Tillerson in a phone call that the second missile test greatly increased the threat from Pyongyang.

He said two sides agreed to consider all means necessary to exert the utmost pressure on North Korea.

They reiterated calls for new sanctions and to work closely together with South Korea along with efforts by China and Russia.

China, meanwhile, urged its ally North Korea to abide by United Nations Security Council resolutions and halt any moves that could escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Washington and its allies have watched with growing concern as Pyongyang has made significant progress towards its goal of having all of the US within range of its missiles to counter what it labels as American aggression.

There are other hurdles, including building nuclear warheads to fit on those missiles and ensuring reliability.

But many analysts have been surprised by how quickly Kim has developed North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes despite several rounds of UN sanctions that have squeezed the impoverished country's economy.

Mr Trump has said he will not allow North Korea to obtain an ICBM that can deliver a nuclear warhead, but this week, the Defence Intelligence Agency reportedly concluded that the North will have a reliable ICBM capable of carrying a nuclear weapon as early as next year, in an assessment that trimmed two years from the agency's earlier estimate.

The French Foreign Ministry condemned the launch and called for "strong and additional sanctions" by the UN and European Union.

"This is a 4G threat: global, grave, given and growing," France's UN ambassador Francois Delattre said.

"That's why we call for a firm and quick reaction including the adoption of strong additional sanctions by the Security Council."
Palestinian women flash victory signs after prayers which were held outside the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, just outside Jerusalems Old City. Photo: Reuters

A contested site in a divided city, the walled compound in Jerusalem's eastern quarter, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, is no stranger to violence.

For Muslims across the world, it is home to the glittering Dome of the Rock - one of Jerusalem's most recognisable landmarks - and al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam. For Jews, it stands on what is believed to be the same site as two ancient Jewish temples - one constructed by Herod the Great and later destroyed by the Romans, the other an earlier edifice built by Solomon.

Located on land annexed by Israel in 1967, the Unesco-recognised site has nevertheless been administered since then by a Jordanian-appointed Islamic institution known as the Waqf which oversees visitation rights. Under a compromise agreed by the Israelis, Jews are allowed to visit the site under certain conditions but they are not permitted to pray there. Instead they worship at the Western (or wailing) Wall which is located beneath the elevated compound. What is known as the "status quo" agreement has more or less worked for the last five decades but Palestinian suspicions that Israel seeks to eventually commandeer the site remain, and Israeli right-wingers make no secret of their wish to do so.

During the Israeli occupation of the last 50 years, the complex has taken on a significance far beyond the religious, acting as a potent symbol for Palestinians whether they are Muslim, Christian or secular. The modern history of the site has been marked by standoffs and clashes. In 1990, 20 Palestinians were killed following riots. The blood-stained clothing of the victims can be seen in a small museum there today. Six years later, some 63 people died during protests over the opening of a new tunnel by the Israelis under the Western Wall.

And in the year 2000, what became known as the second intifada was sparked after Israel's then prime minister Ariel Sharon made a provocative visit to the site.

Given the long-standing tensions, violent protests over the past two weeks had raised fears that a third intifada was closer to happening than at any time since the last one wound down 12 years ago. The latest episode was prompted by Israel's installation of metal detectors at the site, which it said was in response to the shooting dead of two Israeli police officers by gunmen who had hidden weapons inside the hallowed compound.

The move - viewed by Palestinians as a further humiliation - was met with violent protests and a boycott by Muslims. A number of killings on both sides were linked to the rising tensions. The head of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, warned Israel was "playing with fire", claiming "no Muslim in the world would accept tarnishing the Al-Aqsa mosque", arguing it would "shift the core of the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict from politics to religion".

After much diplomatic pressure, Israel agreed to remove the metal detectors on Thursday, but more than 100 people were injured as worshippers streamed back in and security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to control the crowd.

Fears of further violence remain, but Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque yesterday passed off more smoothly than expected - apart from some brief clashes with some protesters - after Israel restricted entry to the compound to men over the age of 50 and women of all ages.

One striking feature of the two-week episode, however, was how - Arab League statements aside - relatively muted regional and international reactions were. Time was when the twists and turns of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were felt far beyond the lands under dispute. What was known as "the Middle East peace process" was a mainstay of news from the region until the series of uprisings and revolutions that some collectively dubbed 'The Arab Spring' erupted in 2011.

Since then, the Israeli-Palestinian dispute has not only slipped down the international news agenda, but shifting alliances and changed dynamics in several regional states have also had an impact. While it may no longer make the headlines it used to, events of the past weeks act as a reminder that grievances underpinning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remain, and with them the potential for violence to erupt again.
The families of two men who have died following police chases told protesters "burning down homes will not give justice" as they urged for calm following a night of rioting.Wheelie bins, mattresses and debris blocked part of Kingsland Road in east London, on Friday where crowds gathered in response to the death of Rashan Charles.Police made several arrests after masked protesters began rioting and hurling fireworks at police amid rising tensions in the area.spokesman for Mr Charles's family called for "dignified" protests."Burning down homes will not give justice," he added.Mr Charles' father Esa will give a joint statement with Ginario Da Costa, the father of Edson Da Costa, outside Stoke Newington Police station on Saturday.Mr Da Costa died on June 21, six days after he was detained by police during a traffic stop.Videos posted on social media on Friday show a line of officers walking back in retreat as bottles and fireworks are launched towardsthem.The riots were sparked after unverified footage on social media appeared to show at least one police officer attempting to restrain Mr Charles on the floor of a shop at 1.45am last Saturday, close to where the protest was being held.People are also protesting over the death of Mr Da Costa.Campaigners claim his neck was broken and that he was "brutally beaten" after a car, containing three people, was halted in Woodcocks, Beckton.His death is also being investigated by the IPCC, which has revealed an early pathology report shows he had "a number of packages in his throat" when he died.On Saturday, Shadow home secretary and Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott said: "The anger and upset at the death of Rashan Charles is understandable."But Rashan's family have explicitly spoken out against hostile actions. We must respect their wishes and any protests must be peaceful."
Federal officials should investigate alleged threats made by the White House against Alaska after one of its senators voted against repealing Obamacare, a leading Democrat has claimed.

Lisa Murkowski crossed the floor and voted against her own Republican Party's attempt to reform the Affordable Health Care Act, effectively killing the so-called "skinny" repeal, which would have scaled back some of its more controversial provisions.

It was subsequently alleged that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called her and fellow Republican senator for Alaska Dan Sullivan. He was said to have told them that if Ms Murkowski voted against the motion, it could mean proposed energy projects destined for the state would have to be scrapped.

Mr Sullivan, who voted in favour of the bill, told the Alaska Dispatch News: "I'm not going to go into the details, but I fear that the strong economic growth, pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-jobs and personnel from Alaska who are part of those policies are going to stop.

"I tried to push back on behalf of all Alaskans. We're facing some difficult times, but the message was pretty clear.

Alaska is currently seeking federal permission to expand oil drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve but there are fears that this may now be blocked by White House.

Arizona congressman Raul Grijalva said an investigation should be launched into the allegations.

After the bill was eventually voted down by 51 votes to 49 in the Republican-dominated Senate, Donald Trump accused Ms Murkowski and the other Republican Senator's who voted against the reforms, Susan Collins and John McCain of letting down their party and their country on Twitter.

Mr Grijalva, the senior Democrat on the House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, said he would nonetheless ask the Government Accountability Office, the Interior Departments inspector general or both to investigate the allegations against Mr Zinke.

He said: "Threatening to punish your rivals as political blackmail is something wed see from the Kremlin. Secretary Zinkes willingness to deliver these threats speaks volumes about his ethical standards and demonstrates that Interiors policy positions are up for political grabs, rather than based on science or the public interest.

Mr Zinke's office did not respond to requests for comment.

His Interior Department oversees more than 20 percent of federal land, including national parks such as Yosemite, and deals with energy development on public land and offshore areas.

The department deals with policies crucial to Alaska's economy such as oil drilling and control of wildlife areas.

Ms Murkowski, as chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, oversees appropriations and appointee confirmations for the Interior Department.

Separately, Interior Department watchdog group the Western Values Project filed a records request related to Mr Zinke's calls to Ms Murkowski and Mr Sullivan.

Additional reporting by Reuters
Russia's foreign ministry yesterday announced counter measures in response to tough new sanctions that have been proposed by the United States, ordering Washington to reduce its diplomatic staff.

Moscow ordered the US to reduce its diplomatic presence in Russia to 455 diplomats and staff, and also barred it from using a Moscow summer house and storage facility.

It has not yet been confirmed how many embassy staff the US has in Russia.

However, Interfax news agency quoted a source saying that "hundreds" would have to be cut.

The ministry said that the move was in response to the passing of a new bill on sanctions by the Senate, which took place late on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump will now have to decide whether to accept or veto the measures.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had on Thursday criticised what he called "anti-Russian hysteria" in Washington.

He said that Russia could not "endlessly tolerate this kind of insolence".

Moscow had complained that the "new sanctions bill showed with all clarity that relations with Russia have now fallen hostage to the domestic political struggle in the US".

It also warned that it "reserves the right to carry out other measures that could affect the interests of the US", while acting in a reciprocal fashion.

The move comes after Russia has repeatedly expressed anger at Washington for barring its diplomats access to two compounds in the US in December last year, under former US president Barack Obama, in response to suspected Russian meddling in the US election.

Mr Obama, at the same time, expelled 35 Russian diplomats for spying.

Mr Putin initially held off from retaliating. He said that he would wait to see how Mr Trump reacted after he came into the White House.

Mr Trump and Mr Putin discussed this diplomatic spat when they staged their first meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg this month.

Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov had said after subsequent talks in Washington that the matter was "almost" resolved.

But the Russian foreign ministry yesterday attacked what it called the "extreme aggressiveness of the US in international affairs".

It also said that Washington was using the "absolutely far-fetched pretext of Russia's interference in its internal affairs" to carry out "flagrantly anti-Russian actions".

The ministry said that "we propose to the US side to bring the number of diplomatic and technical staff working in Russia in exact accordance" with the number of Russian diplomats and support staff in the United States, by September 1.

It said that this would reduce the number of US diplomats and staff in Russia to 455.

The ministry also said that it would bar access to a summer house and storage facilities in Moscow that have been used by the US embassy from August 1.
Supporters of Pakistan's ruling Muslim League party rally in support of their leader Nawaz Sharif after the Supreme Court ruling (AP Photo/KM Chaudary)

Pakistan's ruling party has named senior politician Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as successor to the deposed prime minister, a day after the Supreme Court removed Nawaz Sharif from office for concealing assets.

Mr Sharif proposed Mr Abbasi as interim prime minister at the meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League party in Islamabad.

His request was endorsed by politicians from his party.

Because Mr Sharif's party enjoys a comfortable majority in the parliament, his longtime loyalist Mr Abbasi is expected to easily win the required vote when the National Assembly meets next week.

In a televised speech on Saturday, Mr Sharif said that his younger brother, Shahbaz, who is currently chief minister in Punjab province, would contest the election to the National Assembly in the seat which fell vacant with his removal.

In an emotional appeal, Mr Sharif sought support for Shahbaz as a future full-time premier.

Mr Sharif said he tried his best to put Pakistan on the path of progress but was unfairly penalised with his disqualification.

"I was not expecting what happened to me yesterday," he said.

Mr Sharif said he was removed by the Supreme Court on "baseless allegations".

He said the opposition had campaigned against him in recent years, accusing him and his family of indulging in alleged corruption.

"My hands are clean and none of my family members misused government funds," he said.

It was his first public response to Friday's court ruling.

Mr Sharif said he felt saddened by his removal as he believed he had worked sincerely for the nation like "a soldier".

He said history would now decide whether the court's decision was good for Pakistan.

Mr Sharif defended his record, saying he always paid his taxes.

His daughter Maryam Nawaz said in a tweet that her father would "return with greater force", and asked her party to "stay strong".

Mr Abbasi vowed to "continue the mission" of Mr Sharif.

He said he was grateful to Mr Sharif for naming him premier, even though it will only be for a brief period.

Saturday's developments came amid a serious political crisis that gripped Pakistan because of Mr Sharif's removal, with politicians and legal experts wondering who was running the government.

Earlier, Raja Zafarul Haq, a senior leader from Mr Sharif's party, said Pakistan would continue without a prime minister until the National Assembly elects a new one.

"We are without a prime minister even now," he said.

Mr Haq said that although the court in Friday's ruling asked figurehead President Mamnoon Hussain to "ensure continuation of the democratic process", the reality was that the country was still facing a political crisis.

He said there was no provision in the constitution about the appointment of an acting prime minister.

He said Mr Sharif might have stayed in power until the appointment of a new prime minister if judges had not sacked him effective immediately.

Mr Sharif resigned on Friday, saying he had reservations about the court ruling.

He has been banned from participating in politics for not being "truthful and honest".

His party's leaders have noted, however, that their party still enjoys a majority and will stay in power until general elections are held in June 2018.

Earlier, hundreds of supporters of Mr Sharif rallied in Islamabad against his disqualification.

The demonstrators marched on a key road, chanting slogans before peacefully dispersing.

Opposition leader Imran Khan asked his supporters to travel to Islamabad on Sunday to celebrate Mr Sharif's removal.

Mr Sharif, 67, who has served three separate stints as prime minister, has a history of rocky relations with Pakistan's powerful military.

He was first dismissed from power by the army's hand-picked president in 1993 about midway through his five-year term.

In 1999, military dictator General Pervez Musharraf overthrew Mr Sharif in a bloodless coup and exiled him to Saudi Arabia.

The military has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 70-year history and has been unwilling to see its influence challenged.

AP
Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard said a US navy aircraft carrier fired a warning shot in an "unprofessional" confrontation with Iranian vessels, the official IRNA news agency has reported.

IRNA quoted a statement as saying that the USS Nimitz and an accompanying ship came near an Iranian oil offshore platform in the Persian Gulf and a helicopter from the ship hovered near vessels manned by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.

The report said the confrontation took place on Friday afternoon and the US navy ships left the area following the encounter.

The incident comes after a US navy patrol boat fired warning shots on Tuesday near an Iranian vessel that American sailors said came dangerously close to them during a tense encounter.

Iran and the US frequently have run-ins in the Persian Gulf, nearly all involving the Revolutionary Guard, a separate force from Iran's military which answers only to the country's supreme leader.

In January, near the end of then-president Barack Obama's term, the USS Mahan fired shots toward Iranian fast-attack boats as they neared the destroyer in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian forces view the American presence in the Gulf as a provocation. They have accused the US navy of unprofessional behaviour, especially in the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil trade passes by sea.

AP
Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh said women who "refuse" to have sex with their husbands were abusive Star TV

A Malaysian MP has claimed women who "refuse" to have sex with their husbands are guilty of emotional and psychological abuse".

In a parliamentary debate about domestic violence laws, Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh also suggested men with wives who "nag" were also victims.

His remarks provoked anger among women's rights campaigners, who accused him of sexism and trivialising abuse.

Malaysian politicians are in the process of reviewing the country's domestic violence laws, which activists hope will offer better protection to women.

Mr Zulkifly, an MP for the ruling right-wing Barisan Nasional party, said men "suffered emotional rather than physical abuse".

"Even though men are said to be physically stronger than women, there are cases where wives hurt or abuse their husbands in an extreme manner," he told parliament.

"Usually, it involves wives cursing their husbands. This is emotional abuse. They insult their husbands and refuse his sexual needs. All these are types of psychological and emotional abuse."

The politician, 58, also linked the debate to Malaysias controversial polygamy laws, which allow Muslim men to marry up to four wives.

Some want to marry more than one but need to get permission from their wives, who disagree and begin nagging," he said.

Marina Mahathir, a Malaysian political campaigner and women's rights activists, said she was "astounded" by the MP's comments.

"A man does not own a womans body when he marries her any more than she owns his," she told Free Malaysia Today.

"To accuse a woman, who is usually the victim of abuse, of abusing her husband by denying him sex is a bit rich. She did not give up her agency or her bodily integrity when she married him."

She added: "With this kind of mindset among our so-called leaders, I fear for our entire country."

Womens Aid Organisation executive director Sumitra Visvanathan said Mr Zulkifly's remarks appeared to be justifying marital rape.

We must continue to call out and challenge these sexist perceptions to uphold decency, equality and respect for womens rights in public discourse, she said.

A spokesperson for Sisters in Islam said she was appalled by the chauvinistic statement.

The injury and harm experienced by domestic violence survivors should never be trivialised in this manner, she added.
A day heavy in green Indian equity markets saw a day, heavy in green, today. Nifty 50 ended, up by 321.5 points. Sensex ended, up by 1181.34 points. Top Gainers today were HDFC, HDFC Bank, Infosys. Top Losers ... November 11, 2022 | 11-11-2022 3:43 pm

In early trade, Rupee rises 71 paise to 80.69 / $ Early on Friday, the rupee strengthened 71 paise to 80.69 against the dollar as investors' attitudes were bolstered by easing US CPI data and a decline in the dollar index. Forex traders claime... November 11, 2022 | 11-11-2022 2:24 pm

Sensex zooms over 1,100 pts; Nifty above 18,300; IT index top contributor Domestic benchmark indices in the fast lane today led by IT and Metal stocks outperforming. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks were nearly 2% higher amid positive global cues. On the se... November 11, 2022 | 11-11-2022 2:00 pm

NIBE receives order of Rs11.88 crore from Goa Shipyard; Stock slips 1% Nibe Limited stocks in focus as the company announced the receipt of purchase orders. As per the regulatory filing, it has received two purchase orders dated November 08, 2022 from G... November 11, 2022 | 11-11-2022 12:53 pm

Ashoka Buildcon receives provisional certificate for NHAI road project; Stock up 2% Ashoka Buildcon Limited has informed the declaration of October 26, 2021 as the Commercial Operation Date (CoD) for its Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) Project of National Highways Authority of ... November 11, 2022 | 11-11-2022 12:26 pm
B00Mer said: So what is it that you don't believe that the Climate is Changing, or that man kind is responsible for it?



You do belive the earth went through an ice age, right.. so up to present day, what has the climate done to get where we are today? Click to expand...

Yep, you'd sure know about getting paid to troll. Although I firmly believe you do it for free simply because that's how mental midgets roll.And none of that has anything to do with humans. To answer your question is simple. It's called the end of the Little Ice Age. Here's an apparently very little known aspect of physics and chemistry. It turns out than when things are no longer cold, they begin to warm up. I mean it's funny listening to morons freaking out about the Greenland Ice Sheet when it didn't even exist less than 1000 years ago.And since we know that ice can advance relatively quickly as evidenced by how quickly the ice sheet did eventually cover the Greenland interior, why would we think it should take longer for it to melt as the climate changes?Here's the only inconvenient truth about all of this. The climate is changing and there is suh-weet f*ck all we can do about it. No amount of wind and solar power, carbon taxes, carbon pricing etc etc it going to prevent it. It's like suggesting that if we all fork over enough dough, we can prevent the inevitable "big one" from hitting the West Coast. It don't work that way. Mother Nature doesn't give a furry rat's ass about how much money you have.The hilarious part of all of this is the same morons who whine about the 1% are busy lapping this shit up, so willing and anxious to give their money to, you guessed it, the 1%.
They say that its not the looks that count but the acting skills. For long, people believed that to act in a movie in a lead role, all you need is a perfect physique and hero-like face, which apparently nobody so far has been able to define.

But there are several actors popular for playing unconventional roles, which left the people in the nation stunned because of the powerful portrayal by these actors. And one among them is Manoj Bajpayee who making all of us proud will be bestowed with the highest honour at the Festival Of Globe to be held in California.

magzter.com

When Akshay Kumar had received the National Award for his works in Rustom and Airlift, many argued that Manoj Bajpayee was more deserving for he played the role of Professor Ramchandra Siras brilliantly in Hansal Mehtas Aligarh.

Twitter

Nevertheless, the actor will soon be bestowed with the highest honour at the Festival of Globe in California, according to a report on Bollywoodlife.com. Not only that, he will also lead the India Day Parade as the chief guest and grand marshal marking the 70th independence of India.

magnamags.com

Festival Of Globe is an International film festivals that blends the world cinema with the Silicon Valley. The award functions culminates with Fair Mela and a Grand Parade.

It is a moment of pride for us to have this great actor of Indian cinema as our prestigious guest for this year. Our journey with the festival began 25 years ago, right about the time Manoj ji made his foray into Indian cinema. We are grateful for having him and welcoming him to The Bay Area and pay a fine tribute and introduce him to our golden city and his thousands of fans, founder Dr. Romesh Japra said in the statement.

Congratulations, Manoj Bajpayee!
As kids while we looked for reasons to skip school, there are many children who are doing everything they can to get an education. They have to take some of the most difficult routes to their schools. And these pictures are proof that the journey to success is often difficult.

1. Primary school boys carry their benches after their school was flooded due to heavy rains at Bassi Kalan village in the outskirts of Jammu.

Reuters

2. Students travel in a vehicle after attending school at Ibsheway el-Malaq village in Gharbia governorate, northeast of Cairo.

Reuters

3. A man pushes a tub carrying children as he gets them back home after school at a flooded area in Duchang, China.

Reuters

4. Schoolchildren ride on a makeshift raft to attend the opening of classes at Manila.

Reuters

5. Students use a wooden boat to cross the Bengawan Solo river to attend school in Bojonegoro in Java, Indonesia.

Reuters

6. Students wearing rubber boots use chairs as a make-shift bridge to get to a classroom at Sitio Tapayan, Philippines.

Reuters

7. School girls walk across a plank on the walls of the 16th century Galle fort, Sri Lanka.

Reuters

8. Students cycle through the haze-blanketed town of Sampit, in Indonesia.

Reuters

9. A woman accompanies some students as they wade in the shallow part of a rocky beach to their school to attend the first day.

Reuters

10. Students stand on the roof of a wooden boat as haze blankets the Musi River while they travel to school in Palembang, in Indonesia.

Reuters

11. A student climbs newly-constructed steel ladders after school to go home for holidays in China.

Reuters

Reuters





13. An Afghan schoolboy cycles past a soldier from the U.S. Army's during a joint patrol with Afghan soldiers.

Reuters

14. Elementary schoolchildren wear protective headgear as they walk to school in Tokyo.

Reuters

15. Primary school students walk through the ruins of a demolished area in China.

Reuters

16. Students hold on to the side steel bars of a collapsed bridge as they cross a river to get to school in Indonesia.

Reuters

17. Students walk on a cliff path as they make their way to school in China.

Reuters

18. Children of al-Fefi family walk up the stairs as they make their way to their schools south of Saudi Arabia

Reuters
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the plea of a 10-year-old rape victim to terminate her 32 weeks old pregnancy and asked the government to set up panels to evaluate requests for termination of problematic pregnancies beyond the legally permissible 20 weeks, ensuring that crucial time was not lost in approaching courts.

Reuters

The court suggested the Centre could discuss with all concerned and said in the absence of a legal framework to deal with abortion requests of an emergency nature, the court of late was witnessing a spurt in petitions from women and rape survivors seeking permission to terminate unwanted pregnancies.

Solictor general Ranjit Kumar assured the court that he would convey the suggestion to the Centre without delay. In some cases, the SC was unable to grant relief to women as by the time they approached the court, it was too late and risky for them to undergo abortion.

Representational Image

In May, the court turned down the plea of a 35-year-old destitute HIV-positive rape survivor from Patna to abort her 26-week pregnancy as doctors felt the risks were unacceptable.

The SC dealt with two cases on Friday, the other one being from Mumbai where it gave the go-ahead for termination of pregnancy.

In the last one year, the court has been forced to deal with seven such requests from distressed women on grounds such as the fetus being terminally ill or deformed or in some cases, pregnancy was caused by sexual assault.

Finding the solicitor general present in the courtroom, Justice Khehar said, "Time is of essence in these cases. The health of the pregnant woman and fetus needs prompt medical examination.

Representational Image

A lot of time is wasted in the aggrieved persons moving the court, which in turn directs the concerned administration to set up a medical board to examine the mother to determine the risk and feasibility of the medical termination of pregnancy." In many cases, the women first moved high courts.

"Why not set up permanent medical boards which can promptly deal with such requests without pregnant women being forced to rush to courts. You can place our suggestion before the competent authority to incorporate it in the proposed bill," the bench said. The SG said that he would convey the suggestion to the government promptly.
An 18-year-old youth was thrashed by the public and handed over to police for attempting to murder a boy, who questioned him for riding two-wheeler in a rash and negligent manner, at Ponkaliamman Nagar near Sulur on Thursday evening.

Representational Image

According to police, V Muthu, 18, of Mathiyazhagan Nagar at Sulur, was riding a motorcycle in a rash and negligent manner at Ponkaliamman Nagar when S Nagaraj, 17, of the same locality, waylaid him and advised him to drive slowly in the residential area to avoid accident. An irked Muthu, however, picked up a quarrel with Nagaraj and seeing this, local residents intervened and pacified him. Muthu subsequently left the place.

Representational Image

On Thursday evening, Muthu waited for Nagaraj in Ponkaliamman Nagar and stabbed him using a small knife. Nagaraj raised an alarm and the local people immediately gathered at the spot, caught Muthu and beat him up severely. The local residents later handed him over to the Sulur police, who registered a case and arrested Muthu. Nagaraj was, meanwhile, taken to the CMCH. The police said his condition was stable.
Confusion reigned in Parliament on Monday when Union culture minister Mahesh Sharma, while responding to a question on India's 'missing monuments', said a gun belonging to Emperor Sher Shah Suri was among the 22 monuments that were reported to have disappeared. The missing gun of the emperor who took control of the Mughal Empire in 1540, was found in 2014 in a circuit house in Chapakhowa in the sleepy subdivision of Sadiya in upper Assam. The mystery of the missing gun had ended in 2014 until Sharma raked it up again on Monday.

thefamouspeople

When the Union minister was asked if the Centre had conducted any survey to ascertain the number of India's missing monuments, he said the gun and the ruins of a copper temple in Arunachal Pradesh were among the missing monuments from the northeast.

The copper temple or Tamresvari Mandir was believed to have sunk in the Brahmaputra. Shah's gun and two other swivel guns of the Mughal Nawwara (flotilla) were thought to be missing for decades until Lakshmanan S, the then Sadiya subdivisional officer (SDO), took a great deal of personal interest in the search conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India.

TOI

After the discovery, he also conducted a research on the guns. The Guwahati Circle of the ASI had confirmed that the guns on the verandah of the circuit house and the other two in the storeroom of the house were indeed the 'missing monuments'.

"The guns should have been treated as antiques rather than as monuments. This adds to the confusion. We can sort out the matter in a scientific and technical way," said K Amarnath Ramakrishna, superintending archaeologist, Guwahati Circle, ASI. TOI on Thursday spoke to Milan Chauley, former superintending archaeologist, Guwahati Circle, ASI, and under whose tenure it was confirmed that the guns belonged to the Mughal Nawwara.
Not a single days goes by without news of barbaric incidents of sexual assaults against women across the world. While there's no sure shot solution to the increasing number of crimes, technology can help mitigate the problem to a certain extent.

dw.com

MIT researcher Manisha Mohan created such a device called Intrepid. Its a smart sticker thats intended to detect, communicate, and prevent sexual assault.

The wearable sticker can stop an assault by creating a loud noise to scare off the assailant and also send a quick alert to the family of the victim

The device connected to your phone via Bluetooth and it can attach to any piece of clothing. The wearer's phone and needs to be registered by downloading an accompanying app.

As Mohan explains at MIT's site, the sensor operates in two modes: An active mode, where the victim is unconscious. The sensor can detect if the attacker is trying to remove clothing off a victims body.

The sensor sends a message to the victims phone to check if it's done with consent. If the victim doesnt respond in 30 seconds, the app creates a loud noise to alert the people nearby.

In the passive mode, the victim self-activates the safety mechanism on their clothing.

Mohans experience as an engineering student in Chennai inspired her to create the device. Female students on campus were not allowed to work beyond certain hours. You were expected to be back in your dorm by 6:30 pm."

Mohan said. Instead of asking them to remain indoors I think we should provide more safety for them, she said.

Youtube Screenshot

The technology can seamlessly integrate with existing clothing to respond to initial signs of assault such as forced disrobing, researchers said.

The proposed solutions aim to combat child sexual abuse, college campus assault and abuse of elderly and disabled, they said. We dont need body guards, I think we should have the ability to protect ourselves, said Mohan.
What is coolsculpting? How to get desired results? If you are confused about the treatment,
North Korea fired a missile on Friday that experts said was capable of striking Los Angeles and other US cities and the United States and South Korea responded by staging a joint missile exercise, the South Korean news agency Yonhap said.

The unusual late-night launch added to exasperation in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo over Pyongyang's continuing development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Friday's test prompted US and South Korean military officials to discuss military response options.

AFP

North Korean President Kim Jong Un's military had already raised alarms early this month with its first ICBM launch.

"As a result of their launches of ICBM-level missiles, this clearly shows the threat to our nation's safety is severe and real," said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who planned to call a meeting of his National Security Council.

The top US military official, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, and Admiral Harry Harris, commander of US Pacific Command, spoke by phone with the top South Korean military official, General Lee Sun-jin, to discuss military response options to the launch.

The Trump administration has said that all options are on the table, including military ones, however it has also made clear that diplomacy and sanctions are its preferred course.

Following a meeting of South Korea's National Security Council, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he wanted the U.N. Security Council to discuss new and stronger sanctions against the North, the presidential Blue House said.

Reuters

Later the United States and South Korea conducted a live-fire ballistic missile exercise in a display of firepower that South Korea's joint chiefs said showed their capabilities for a "precise strike on the enemy's leadership," Yonhap reported.

The two allies had staged a similar exercise after the North Korean test earlier in the month.

The launch from North Korea's northern Jangang province took place at 11:41 p.m. (1441 GMT), an official at South Korea's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missile flew for about 45 minutes before apparently landing in the waters of Japan's exclusive economic zone. Japanese broadcaster NHK, citing a military official, said the missile reached an altitude of more than 3,000 km (1,860 miles).

US Cities In Range

The South Korean military said the missile was believed to be an ICBM-class, flying more than 1,000 km (620 miles) and reaching an altitude of 3,700 km (2,300 miles). In Washington, the Pentagon also said it had assessed that the missile was an ICBM.

US officials said the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon spy agency, has determined that North Korea will be able to field a reliable nuclear-capable ICBM by next year, earlier than previously thought.

AFP

Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies said the launch showed Los Angeles was within range of a North Korean missile, with Chicago, New York and Washington, just out of reach.

"They may not have demonstrated the full range. The computer models suggest it can hit all of those targets," he said.

The US-based Union of Concerned Scientists said its calculations showed the missile could have been capable of going as far into the United States as Denver and Chicago.

Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said the window for a diplomatic solution with North Korea "is closing rapidly."

"The key here is that North Korea has a second successful test in less than one month," he said. "If this trend holds, they could establish an acceptably reliable ICBM before year's end."

Los Angeles would be protected by the US missile defense network, which includes four ground-based interceptors at Vandenberg Air Force base, 150 miles north of the city, and a second battery of 32 missiles in Alaska.

During a test on May 31 the missile defense system shot down an incoming ICBM missile aimed at the US mainland and a Pentagon spokesman said the military had "confidence in our ability to defend against the limited threat."

Other authorities say the United States may not be able to seal itself off entirely from a North Korean ICBM attack.

White House Response

US President Donald Trump spoke with Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping about North Korea's nuclear arsenal this month and has become frustrated that China has not reined in its ally Pyongyang. A statement from the White House on Friday condemned the launch as reckless and dangerous and said such actions "further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people."

AFP

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said Friday's launch had been expected and took place from Mupyong-ni, an arms plant in northern North Korea. It came a day after the US Senate approved a package of sanctions on North Korea, Russia and Iran.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned on Friday North Korea's launch of a "ballistic missile of possible intercontinental range," his spokesman said.

A Russian Defence Ministry official said Moscow's data indicated Friday's missile was only a medium-range ballistic missile, Russian news agency Tass reported. Diplomats say China and Russia only view a long-range missile test or nuclear weapon test as a trigger for further possible UN sanctions.

The European Union called it "an outright violation" of international obligations and a serious threat to international peace and security, and urged North Korea to engage in dialogue to pursue de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini would discuss the matter with the foreign ministers of South Korea and other partners at the ASEAN ministerial meeting in Manila on Aug. 6-7.

AFP

The data on the trajectory indicate the missile was fired at a sharply lofted angle but packed more power than the missile launched on July 4 that US and South Korean officials said was an ICBM, potentially capable of hitting the US mainland.

US intelligence officials say that even if North Korea develops a reliable, nuclear-capable ICBM, which some say it remains several steps short of doing, the weapon would be almost useless except to deter the conventional attacks that Kim fears.

"Kim is determined to secure international recognition of the North as a nuclear armed state, for the purposes of security, prestige, and political legitimacy," the National Intelligence Council's January Global Trends report said.
The sources who gave the government confidence of not abandoning the search for 39 Indians abducted in Iraq include a "head of state and a foreign minister of another country," external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

She, however, refused to disclose the identity of the sources, citing "diplomatic confidentiality".

AFP

Making a statement in response to Zero Hour mention on the issue raised by Pratap Singh Bajwa (Cong) on 19 July, Swaraj vehemently denied that she ever misled Parliament or the country on the fate of the people abducted three years back.

She said she has all through maintained that there is no proof of the abducted Indians being alive or dead.

And in absence of "solid proof", it is a "sin" at personal level and irresponsible act on the part of the government to declare them dead, the minister said. She asked, "Why should I apologise? That I did not declare them dead?"

Opposition Congress, however, tried to corner her by saying the government has been changing goal posts all through and she has to give "one proof" for believing they are alive.

"I have said in Parliament and outside that I have no evidence of their being alive or dead," Swaraj said, adding in absence of any solid evidence or proof she cannot presume them dead.

ALSO READ: Sushma Swaraj To Meet Her Iraqi Counterpart To Discuss Abduction Of 39 Indians In Mosul

AP

"We are not sitting idle. All countries which can help have been asked for help," she said and added, "Why will I mislead? What will I gain? What will I gain, what will my government gain by misleading?"

Bajwa countered Swaraj's assertion, asking what would Harjit Masih, one of the abducted Indians who had escaped, gain by claiming that he had witnessed the 39 being shot dead.

Responding to this, the minister said she was first to speak to Masih after he called up but did not provide convincing reply how he was able to escape from the IS captivity.

Also, family of one of the abducted persons had received a call from the captors, saying the captive was alive, she said.

The minister threw a challenge to the Congress leader, saying if he was convinced that the Indians are dead, he can call up the families and tell them that.

Swaraj said she had never stated that the 39 Indians are alive and that she will ensure they come back home safe.

ALSO READ: Iraqi Foreign Minister Says That He Doesn't Know If Missing 39 Indians Dead Or Alive





ET

She said she had in the past told the Parliament that in absence of a proof, the option before the government was to abandon search or continue its efforts to locate them.

"I had asked for permission of House (to continue efforts to locate them) and had not just taken it in confidence," she said, claiming the members had given their consent by thumping of desk or nodding.

The minister said her deputy VK Singh had travelled to Iraq on the very next day Islamic State (IS) was overthrown from Mosul on 9 July this year.

Senior Iraqi officials told him that they had information of the Indians being picked up from Mosul airfield three years back and after holding them in captivity for some time, they were made to work in a hospital and then in agriculture field.

ALSO READ: Sushma Swaraj Refuses To Declare 39 Indians Missing In Iraq As Dead, Calls It A Sin

AFP

Thereafter they were in early 2016 shifted to the prison at Badush, some 30-km away of Mosul town, she said.

"That is the last known location," she said, adding she had informed the families of the victims about the same.

Countering the Congress charge, she said this government knows how to protect its people. "Relief for stranded person abroad is one tweet away," she said, adding 80,000 people have been helped by her ministry in last three years.

These are those for whom the government paid air-tickets and does not include the numbers who were helped but had paid for their own ticket, she said.

"This government's credibility cannot be questioned relating to protection of its citizens," she said. Swaraj said the day evidence is available, she will inform Parliament without delay and if Parliament is not in session, she would take to the twitter in 10 minutes to make the news public.

"Without evidence I will not declare them dead," she asserted. Bajwa asked why the government was not believing the version of Harjit Masih and sought to know the 5-6 sources she keeps quoting for her statement.

AFP

He said upon the fall of Mosul, it was said that the Indians are in the prison at Badush but that jail was demolished three months back. "They have misled the Parliament. They have misled the country," he said. "Give one proof how do you say they are alive."

He said an all-party delegation should be sent to Iraq to get the first hand account.

Swaraj said he asked Masih how did he survive but he did not give a convincing answer. "He wants to mislead how he came out (of IS captivity)."

She said the Congress was using the issue as a political agenda. "There is a difference between information and proof. There is no proof," she said. I have said there is no solid proof of their being alive or dead."
The body parts of passengers of two Air India planes that crashed more than 50 years ago have apparently been found in the French Alps, on Mont Blanc, sources said on Friday.

Daniel Roche, fascinated by air plane accidents has spent years combing the Bossons Glacier looking for remains. He made this significant the discovery on Thursday. "I had never found any significant human remains before," he told AFP. This time, he had found a hand and the upper part of a leg.

Human remains were found on mont blanc by david roche. afp

In January 1966, an Air India Boeing 707 from Bombay to New York crashed near Mont Blanc's summit, killing all 117 people on board. Another Air India flight crashed on the mountain in 1950, which had killed 48 people.

remains found by david roche in french alps. afp

Roche told that the remains he had found could be of a female passenger from the 1966 Boeing 707 flight, as he also discovered one of the plane's four jet engines. Roche then contacted local emergency services in the Chamonix valley who took the remains down the mountain by helicopter and they were due to be examined by experts. "These remains are probably not from the same person," said Stephane Bozon of the local gendarmerie, the civil law enforcement.

About only 10 days ago, two bodies were found lying near each other, preserved in a receding glacier in the Diablerets massif in the Swiss Alps. In a DNA search identified the couple as Marcelin Dumoulin, a 40-year-old shoemaker at the time, and his wife Francine, a schoolteacher aged 37, who was reported to have disappeared in the Alps 75 years earlier.
In the first official meeting between top Indian and Chinese officials since the Doklam stand-off became public, national security adviser Ajit Doval met state councillor Yang Jiechi, offering the possibility of serious diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the confrontation.

Yang, who as China's state councillor overseeing foreign affairs occupies a powerful position in the state council, is the Chinese nominee in the India-China special representative level dialogue with Doval. An influential post, the state councillor is a member of the state council.

Reuters

Indications of how the bilateral meeting went could be gleaned by the commentary released by the official Xinhua news agency which sent out a conciliatory signal before Doval is expected to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping on Friday. It spoke of the need to enhance mutual trust as the two countries are "not born rivals".

The comments released by the official Xinhua news agency made a strong plea to avoid the possibility of a war.

"Most economies, including those in the West, will find themselves negatively affected by an India-China war in a globalised and intertwined world today," it said. In Delhi, the Indian government reminded China of the agreements on peace and tranquillity that go back to 1993.

Yang also held separate meetings with security officials of three other countries on the sidelines of a security dialogue of BRICS nations comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

He discussed issues concerning bilateral relations, international and regional issues and multilateral affairs with the visiting security officials, the official Xinhua news agency said.

ALSO READ: Chinese Media Divided About How To Settle Current Standoff When Doval Arrives For Talks

AP

The remarks are a contrast to the hectoring tone in the comments published in publications like Global Times that are seen to reflect the views of the government.

China's official spokespersons have accused India of trespassing into Chinese territory, ignoring India's protests that the face-off near the Sikkim-Tibet-Bhutan tri-junction has been caused by unilateral attempts by China to alter the ground position.

There are signs that the two neighbours might be able to scale down tensions that have spiked due to the military muscle flexing over China's bid to build a road through a plateau in Bhutanese territory.

This is the first time in weeks that the official media ran a commentary without demanding withdrawal of Indian troops from the disputed Doklam region. China has so far been insisting that troop withdrawal is a pre-condition to a "meaningful dialogue".

Doval reached Beijing on Thursday ahead of his planned meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and state counsellor Yang Jiechi on Friday.

ALSO READ: Nosy Neighbour Pakistan Now Wants To Meddle In The India-China Stand-Off In Doklam

AFP

"The recent border issue between the two countries shows a lack of strategic trust on the Indian side," Xinhua said.

It is not China but a set of problems common to all developing countries like corruption, a lack of quality education and healthcare that is holding back India.

"India must understand that China wishes what's good for the Indian people and would love to see a strong India standing shoulder by shoulder with China," Xinhua, which reflects the government's thinking said, giving an emotional touch to the vexed relationship.

Doval's formal purpose of visiting Beijing is to attend a security dialogue of BRICS nations. He is expected to discuss the border standoff with Chinese leaders in separate meetings.

Chinese foreign ministry has said that bilateral meetings are usually held during BRICS meetings and indirectly confirmed meetings on the border issue with Doval.

ALSO READ: India Preparing To Take On China With All Its Modern Nukes Whenever Needed

AP

"Instead of being rivals, India and China have much more common ground, common interests and common aspirations. Both as developing countries, the two need to work together on important issues like fighting climate change, protectionism and the financial privileges of Washington," Xinhua said.

t further said, "Hopefully, wisdom will guide the two countries to common prosperity. There is more than enough room for them to co-exist and thrive in Asia and in the world".

"Both China and India need to enhance communication and nurture trust between them, first by recognizing that the two are not born rivals and that harbouring ill will against each other is dangerous," Xinhua added.

ALSO READ: Amid Standoff, Govt Planning Two Tunnels Through Arunachal's Sela Pass Up To China Border
Last night, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos toppled Microsofts own Bill Gates to become the worlds richest man. Unfortunately for him, he didnt retain the title for very long.

Gates has held the throne for four years now, until Bezos was finally able to surpass him when Amazons stock price rose 1.8 percent in the late hours of Thursday, making him $1.5 billion richer overnight.

Bezos had a net worth of $90.9 billion yesterday, just over Gates $90.7 billion. Now, a few hours after his feat, Amazons stock has settled down once again, putting Bezos firmly in the number 2 spot behind Gates.

Financial analysts yesterday attributed Amazons gradual rise in stock prices over the past year to Amazon Prime. Not only has the service been attracting newer customer thanks to its free Prime Video subscription, but they also claimed that users were then less likely to shop in retail stores. However, Forbes had another clarification on the matter.

Gates pointing to his position on the world's richest person list (Reuters)

According to the publication, the only reason Bezos even had a shot at the number one spot is because of Gates charity donations. Bezos would be nowhere close to being the world's wealthiest person had Gates not given so much of his fortune to philanthropy. Gates, who created the Giving Pledge with Buffett to encourage billionaires to give at least half of their wealth to charitable causes, had given away $31.1 billion over the course of his lifetime through end of 2016. Forbes estimates that Bezos, who has not signed the pledge, had given approximately $100 million to charity through the end of 2015."

And yet, Bezoss climb has been a pretty remarkable journey. No one thought Amazon would be the resounding success it is today when he started the online retailer in his garage in 1995. Today, its taken its founder from the fourth-richest man in the world all the way up to the number one spot, if only for a few hours. And if we know anything about Bezos, the way hes probably going to top that is by hopping aboard one of his Blue Origin space company rockets and shuttling off to visit new horizons.
Should AIPAC Register as a Foreign Agent?





Pro-Israel organization should not get a pass.



By Philip Giraldi

July 29, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a meeting ostensibly convened to discuss the failure to enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA). Originally rescheduled for this week, the postponed meeting would have featured Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort testifying about their controversial Trump Tower meeting , but their subpoenas were canceled at the last minute after they arranged to turn over documents. The June 2016 meeting under investigation included Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, publicist Rob Goldstone, businessman Ike Kaveladze, and translator Anatoli Samochornov. Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner was also in attendance, apparently only briefly.

The Judiciary Committee hearing was originally set up to look at the possible Russian links of former journalist and head of the research firm Fusion GPS Glenn Simpson, who was behind the infamous Trump dossier that appeared in January. Yet in reality it is part of the broader effort to determine whether Moscow interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of the Donald Trump campaign.

FARA was created in the lead up to World War II to help monitor the activity of Italian, German and Japanese agent-lobbyists who were believed to be working hard in the U.S. to influence opinion as well as congressional votes in favor of their respective sponsoring nations. The intention was to force the foreign agents to register with the Department of the Treasury so they would have to identify their government sponsors and be required to reveal their sources of income.

FARA is not very rigorously enforced, which was one of the points that the Judiciary Committee was prepared to address in regards to Russia, but there can be consequences for those who ignore it. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was recently compelled to register as an agent of Turkey after he received $530,000 in payments to support Ankaras view regarding those it believed to be behind last years coup.

Ironically, the most powerful and effective foreign-government lobby in Washington is so dominant that it has been able to avoid registering for the past 55 years. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was last confronted by FARA when its predecessor organization the American Zionist Council was pressured by John F. Kennedys Justice Department in 1962 and 1963. Kennedys death stopped that effortand ended White House attempts to hold Israel accountable for the development of its secret nuclear weapons program (which depended on nuclear material removed illegally from the United States with the connivance of a company located in Pennsylvania called NUMEC).

AIPACs website declares that it is Americas Pro-Israel Lobby, so by its own admission it functions pretty clearly as Israels proxy. It spent $102 million in 2015, had 396 employees in 2013, and claims to have 100,000 members, many of whom are organized into state and city chapters. It also benefits from being a tax exempt 501(c)4 organization classified as promoting international understanding. Its annual Summit in Washington attracts more than 15,000 participants, including scores of congressmen and other senior government officials. It blankets Capitol Hill with its lobbyists and is a prolific source of position papers explaining Israels perception of what is taking place in the Middle East. Its easy access to the media and also to politicians in Washington is so widely accepted on Capitol Hill that it reportedly frequently drafts bills that Congress then goes on to propose.

No Washington lobby is benign. Lobbies exist to subvert the public interest. They promote particular agendas and are not intended to enhance the general well-being of the American public. Lobbyists would argue that they are in the information business, that they make lawmakers aware of facts that impact on pending legislation, but the reality is that every lobby is nevertheless driven by self-interest.

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The power of the Israel Lobby and of AIPAC is not cost free for the American public. The current $3 billion plus that Israel, with a thriving first world economy, receives in military assistance is on top of the $130 billion that it has received since 1949. Protecting Israel in international organizations like the United Nations has sometimes marginalized the U.S. in such bodies and the lobbys influence over American foreign policy has often been noted. In 2010 General David Petraeus stated that Israeli policies were putting American military personnel in the Middle East in danger. He quickly recanted, however.

Once upon a time AIPACs Steven Rosen boasted to an interviewer, You see this napkin? In twenty-four hours, we could have the signatures of seventy senators on this napkin. He meant that congressmen would sign on to anything if they thought it would please Israel. Recently the U.S. Congress has been working on bills that would criminalize individuals or groups that support a boycott of Israel. It would not be the first such legislation. The 2015 omnibus trade agreement with Europe included an amendment mandating that nations engaging in anti-Israel boycotts, to include Israeli controlled territories, should be subject to retaliatory action by the U.S.

There are currently two bills constituting the Israel Anti-Boycott Act of 2017 (S.720 and H.R. 1697) being considered by the Senate and House that outdo any previous deference to Israeli interests. The Senate bill was introduced by Senator Ben Cardin, who also had a hand in the trade-legislation amendments protecting Israel. According to the Jewish Telegraph Agency, the bill was drafted with the assistance of AIPAC. The legislation, which would almost certainly be overturned as unconstitutional if it ever does in fact become law, is particularly dangerous, and goes well beyond any previous pro-Israeli legislation, essentially denying free speech when the subject is Israel.

The two versions of the bill that are moving through Congress have 238 sponsors and cosponsors in the House and 46 in the Senate. If you do your math, you will realize that those numbers already constitute a majority in the House and are only five short of one in the Senate, so passage of the bills is virtually assured. The bills sponsors include many congressmen who have in the past frequently spoken out in defense of free speech, with Senator Ted Cruz having said in 2014, for example, that The First Amendment was enacted to protect unreasonable speech. I, for one, certainly dont want our speech limited to speech that elected politicians in Washington think is reasonable.

The movement that is particularly targeted by the bills is referred to as BDS, or Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. It is a non-violen t reaction to the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land on the West Bank and the continued building of Jewish-only settlements. BDS has been targeted both by the Israeli government and by AIPAC. The AIPAC website, which describes the groups lobbying agenda , includes the promotion of the Israel Anti-Boycott Act as a top priority.

The Israeli government and its American supporters particularly fear BDS because it has become quite popular, particularly on university campuses, where administrative steps have frequently been taken to suppress it. The denial of free speech on campus when it relates to Israel has sometimes been referred to as the Palestinian exception. Nevertheless, the message continues to resonate, due both to its non-violence its and human rights appeal. It challenges Israels arbitrary military rule over 3 million Palestinians on the West Bank who have onerous restrictions placed on nearly every aspect of their daily lives. And its underlying message is that Israel is a rogue state engaging in actions that are widely considered to be both illegal and immoral, which the Israeli government rightly sees as potentially delegitimizing.

Twenty-one state legislatures have already passed various laws confronting BDS, in many cases initiating economic penalties on organizations that boycott Israel or denying state funds to colleges and universities that allow BDS advocates to operate freely on campus. The pending federal legislation would go one step further by criminalizing any U.S. citizen engaged in interstate or foreign commerce who supports a boycott of Israel or who even goes about requesting the furnishing of information regarding it, with penalties enforced through amendments of two existing laws, the Export Administration Act of 1979 and the Export-Import Act of 1945, that include potential fines of between $250,000 and $1 million and up to 20 years in prison.

Interestingly, a number of churches, to include the Presbyterians, Mennonites, and United Church of Christ, have divested from companies participating in the occupation of the West Bank and could be subject to the punitive steps authorized by the legislation. And it also is interesting to note that the bills would not punish anyone who does not have a business relationship with Israel for reasons other than politics. The punishment comes solely when one states that he or she is not engaging in business with Israel due to objections regarding what Israel is doing to the Palestinians.

Daniel Larison has observed that even if one assumes that the legislation will face judicial hurdles and will never be enacted, it is nevertheless discouraging to consider that a clear majority of congressmen thinks it is perfectly acceptable to deny all Americans the right to free political expression in order to defend an internationally-acknowledged illegal occupation being carried out by a foreign country. That the occupation is illegal has even been acknowledged repeatedly by Washington, which contradicts its own policy with this legislation.

Those co-sponsoring the bills include Democrats, Republicans, progressives, and conservatives. Deference to Israeli interests is bipartisan and crosses ideological lines. Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Grim, writing at The Intercept, observe that the very mention of the word Israel causes most members of both parties to quickly snap into line in a show of unanimity that would make the regime of North Korea blush with envy.

Finally, the seemingly unrelenting pressure to make criticism of Israel illegal is particularly dangerous as it is international. Indeed, it is a global phenomenon. Wherever one goesWestern Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Statesthere is a well-organized and funded lobby ready, willing, and able to go to war to protect Israel. In France it is illegal to wear a t-shirt supporting BDS or to demonstrate in favor of it. Britain has introduced laws that include defining criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism. In Canada, support of BDS has been regarded as a hate crime.

Will FARA registration of AIPAC as a foreign lobby fix all that? Of course not, but it would be a good first step. AIPAC would have to publicly acknowledge that it is acting on behalf of a foreign government and its sources of income would be subject to review. While the Congress is busy searching for Russian agents under FARA it just might spend some time also examining the pernicious influence of the unregistered and unrestrained Israel Lobby.
July 29, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - So the American bully wants to slap more sanctions on Russia over alleged misdeeds. This is blatant temper tantrums by a frustrated US trying to get its way or no way.

Its so absurd. The biggest rogue nation on Earth, illegally bombing and killing civilians in several countries simultaneously, covertly arming terrorist proxies in the Middle East, and a rampant subversive interferer in foreign elections around the world, has the audacity to lecture others about probity, resorting to financial arm twisting that makes a mockery of international laws and trade rules.

Well, after all, the Americans do always declare themselves to be  exceptional . Never a truer word was spoken, albeit inadvertently.

This week, the US House of Representatives voted overwhelming to approve tougher new sanctions on Russia. The Senate is expected to rubber-stamp the bill and then President Trump will most probably sign into law. He is becoming a lame duck president due to the rampant Russophobia in the US.

Russias deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov deplored the latest move to tighten punitive measures on the countrys energy, banking and defense sectors, among others. He said it was a calculated step to destroy any prospect of normalizing ties between the US and Russia. It is beyond common sense, said Ryabkov, adding that American legislators know no restraint in their anti-Russia zeal and that they are out of control. In short, collectively insane.

Few sane people  apart from US politicians and media pundits  would welcome a further deterioration in relations between the worlds two nuclear superpowers. And truth be told, Moscow has up to now shown great patience and amenability to try to improve bilateral ties. But the US political class has shown no interest whatsoever in pursuing any reconciliation. Its like it has a death-wish.

American lawmakers endorsing the latest sanctions were almost foaming at the mouth, labelling Russia an enemy and citing unhinged accusations against Moscow for meddling in last years presidential elections, also for destabilizing Ukraine and, wait for it, propping up the Assad regime in Syria  the country where the American CIA has been propping up head-chopping jihadist terrorists for the past six years.

However, lets step back a moment. Another way of looking at this geopolitical impasse fomented by the US is that it is actually a good thing. US politicians and large sections of the media are so deranged with anti-Russia hysteria and irrational views on international matters, there is simply no chance of engaging them with normal dialogue.

Better to let the American political class consume itself with its own toxic paranoia and delusions about the world, and toward Russia in particular. Let them destroy themselves politically in their isolated paranoid state and endless duplicity.

A sign of the impending American political self-destruction is the furious reaction from Europe over the latest sanctions. The Europeans are at last waking up to the fact  long overdue  that Washington is acting brazenly for its own selfish interests and is prepared to inflict pain on Europe, if needs be.

The European Commission, which oversees EU trade policy, as well as Germany and Austria have expressed outrage over Washingtons hidden agenda which is disguised in the self-righteous and disingenuous rhetoric of sanctioning Russia.

Germanys foreign ministry sharply criticized America of undermining European energy security and using sanctions as a tool to advance US industrial interests.

Its not Russia being sanctioned so much as America sanctioning its own allies .

Of course, this is what the whole American brouhaha over sanctions on Russia is all about. Its got nothing to do with disciplining Russia over alleged misdeeds. How could such pious rhetoric be taken seriously from the planets biggest rogue state?

No, its all about foisting American energy gas supplies on to a new European market by displacing Russian exports. When Donald Trump was visiting Poland last month, he made an unvarnished sales pitch to the Poles and other Central European countries to buy American gas. Even though the US supply would be much more expensive than Russias.

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Thats why Trump will likely sign off on the new anti-Russia sanctions. While the president has at times expressed an interest in normalizing ties with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Trumps top priority is to promote American trade interests. He wants to reduce the yawning US trade deficit with Europe by forcing the latter to buy American gas, instead of Russian.

So much for American capitalism obeying the rules of supply and demand. And so much for the Americans declaring to be an ally of Europe acting always to protect it from Russian aggression.

The delusional, paranoid Americans would be happy to see Europe freeze to death, being cut off from affordable Russia gas. Washington in its short-sighted stupidity would plunge Europe into economic recession, industrial failure and rising unemployment just to sell the continent more of its own expensive gas.

Americas sanctions policy against Russia is a thermometer of grave political ill-health among its politicians and media. If the Americans want to conduct their government business and foreign policy based on delusional hysteria, then let it be. Sooner or later, a nation driven by such crazed thinking will destroy itself and its supposed allies.

The outbreak of anger among European nations toward American self-entitlement to damage European interests is also a temperature reading indicating fever pitch out of control. It is an astounding display of arrogance when Washington is, in effect, attempting to overhaul European energy and trade policy for the naked benefit of US interests.

American sanctions against Russia are more a cry of desperation by the US political class whose economy is tanking and whose standing in the world is sliding to unprecedented low levels. Scrabbling to offset the historical demise, the idiotic American leaders are lashing out with anti-Russia hysteria and damaging blows to even their own supposed allies in Europe.

The much-vaunted transatlantic bond between the US and Europe was always an over-rated cover for the Americans to lord it over what they considered to be their European vassals. Russia, unfortunately, has been vilified to provide an excuse for this hegemony. But so arrogant, so desperate are the American rulers today that the charade of US-European partnership is in danger of unraveling.

If such sanctions help cast a light on the decay of Americas once formidable global empire then bring them on.

Theres a big multi-polar world out there. Russia, Iran, China and the Europeans, if the latter get their act together, must learn to walk away from the American sulking bully and let it fester in its own decadence.
The Mask Is Off: Trump Is Seeking War with Iran

By Trita Parsi

July 29, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Something extraordinary has happened in Washington. President Donald Trump has made it clear, in no uncertain terms and with no effort to disguise his duplicity, that he will claim that Tehran is cheating on the nuclear deal by Octoberthe facts be damned. In short, the fix is in. Trump will refuse to accept that Iran is in compliance and thereby set the stage for a military confrontation. His advisors have even been kind enough to explain how they will go about this. Rarely has a sinister plan to destroy an arms control agreement and pave the way for war been so openly telegraphed.

The unmasking of Trumps plans to sabotage the nuclear deal began two weeks ago when he reluctantly had to certify that Iran indeed was in compliance. Both the US intelligence as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency had confirmed Tehrans fair play. But Trump threw a tantrum in the Oval Office and berated his national security team for not having found a way to claim Iran was cheating. According to Foreign Policy , the adults in the roomSecretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, and National Security Advisor H. R. McMastereventually calmed Trump down but only on the condition that they double down on finding a way for the president to blow up the deal by October.

Prior to the revelation of Trumps Iran certification meltdown, most analysts and diplomats believed that Trumps rhetoric on Iran was just thatempty talk. His bark was worse than his bite, as demonstrated when he certified Irans compliance back in April and when he renewed sanctions waivers in May. The distance between his rhetoric and actual policy was tangible. Rhetorically, Trump officials described Iran as the root of all problems in the Middle East and as the greatest state sponsor of terror. Trump even suggested he might quit the deal.

In action, however, President Trump continued to waive sanctions and admitted that Iran was adhering to the deal. As a result, many concluded that Trump would continue to fulfill the obligations of the deal while sticking to his harsh rhetoric in order to appease domestic opponents of the nuclear dealas well as Trumps allies in Saudi Arabia and Israel.

But now, assessments are changing. The tangible danger of Trumps malice on the Iran dealas well as the danger of the advice of the adults in the roombecame further clarified this week as tidbits of the reality TV stars plans began to leak.

How to Wreck a Deal

Recognizing that refusing to certify Iran would isolate the United States, Trumps advisors gave him another plan. Use the spot-inspections mechanism of the nuclear deal, they suggested, to demand access to a whole set of military sites in Iran. Once Iran balkswhich it will since the mechanism is only supposed to be used if tangible evidence exists that those sites are being used for illicit nuclear activitiesTrump can claim that Iran is in violation, blowing up the nuclear deal while shifting the blame to Tehran.

Thus, the advice of the adults in the roomthose who we are supposed to restrain Trumpwas not to keep the highly successful nuclear deal that has taken both an Iranian bomb and war with Iran off the table. Rather, they recommended killing it in a manner that would conceal Trumps malice and shift the cost to Iran.

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According to The New York Times , the groundwork for this strategy has already been laid. Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Corker (R-TN) calls this strategy radical enforcement of the deal. If they dont let us in, Corker told The Washington Post, boom. Then he added: You want the breakup of this deal to be about Iran. You dont want it to be about the U.S., because we want our allies with us.

This is a charade, a rerun of the machinations that resulted in the Iraq war. It doesnt matter what Iran does or doesnt do. If it were up to Trump, hed never have accepted that Iran was in compliance in the first place. He admitted as much to the Wall Street Journal . If it was up to me, I would have had them [the Iranians] non-compliant 180 days ago.

Sounding supremely confident of the radical implementation strategy, Trump added that I think theyll be noncompliant [in October]. In so doing, he further confirmed doubts that the process is about determining whether Iran is in compliance or not. The administration is committed to finding a way to claim Iran has violated the accord, regardless of the factsjust as George W. Bush did with Iraq.

Potential for Backfire

But Trumps confidence may be misplaced on two levels. First, abusing the inspection mechanisms of the deal may prove harder than Trump has been led to believe. The inspections are the cornerstone of the deal, and Irans ability to cheat on the deal is essentially non-existent as long as the integrity and efficiency of the inspections remain in tact. But if Trump begins to abuse the mechanism to fabricate a conflict, he will end up undermining the inspections regime and actually enhance the ability of those in Iran who would like to pursue a covert nuclear program. Precisely because of the commitment of Europe and others to non-proliferation, they are likely to resist Trumps efforts to tinker with the inspections.

Second, by revealing his hand, Trump has displayed his duplicity for all to see. That includes the American public, whose anti-war sentiments remain strong and are a key reason they supported the nuclear deal in the first place.

The American public knows the Iraq playbook quite well. Trumps own supporters remain enraged by the disastrous war with Iraq. They know how they got played. Its difficult to imagine why they would allow themselves to get played again by a president who has left little doubt about his intent to deceive.

Trita Parsi is the president of the National Iranian American Council and author of Losing an Enemy  Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy.
When In Doubt, Nuke China





A situation in which the US military feels 'unhampered' has precedent  and, as General MacArthur's endeavors in Korea prove, it's something to be afraid of



By Pepe Escobar

July 29, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - The current collapse of the unipolar world, with the inexorable emergence of a multipolar framework, has enabled a terrifying subplot to run amok  the normalization of the idea of nuclear war.

The latest exhibit comes in the form of a US admiral assuring everyone hes ready to follow President Trumps orders to launch a nuclear missile against China.

Forget about the fact that a 21st century nuclear war involving great powers will be The Last War. Our admiral  admirably named Swift  is simply preoccupied by democratic minutiae, as in every member of the US military has sworn an oath to defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and to obey the officers and the president of the United States as commander and chief appointed over us.

So its all about loyalty to the President, and civilian control over the military  irrespective of the risk of incinerating untold masses of said civilians, Americans included (as there would be an inevitable Chinese response).

Swift, once again, to the rescue: This is core to the American democracy and any time you have a military that is moving away from a focus and an allegiance to civilian control, then we really have a significant problem.

It doesnt matter that the proverbial spokesman on behalf of the US Pacific Fleet  in this case, Charlie Brown (an apt name?)  swiftly engaged in damage control, deriding the premise of the (nuclear) question as ridiculous. Both the question and the answer are in fact quite revealing.

MacArthurs park is melting in the dark

To shed extra nuances on civilian control of the military, a flashback to September 1950 and the Korean War, with some help from Bruce Cumings and John Hallidays Korea: The Unknown War, may be far from ridiculous. Especially now that factions of the War Party in Washington have been pressing the case for nuking not China but North Korea itself.

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Its key to remember that by 1950 President Truman had already issued a civilian control of the military order to drop two atomic bombs over Japan in 1945  a historical first.

Truman had become Vice-President in January 1945. FDR treated him with the utmost disdain. He was clueless about the Manhattan Project. When FDR died he had been Vice-President for only 82 days, and became POTUS knowing absolutely nothing about foreign policy or the new military/nuclear equation.

Truman had five years after bombing Japan to learn all about it, on the job. Now the action was on the Korean front. Even before an amphibious landing in Inchon, led by General MacArthur  the greatest since D-Day in Normandy, in 1944  Truman had authorized MacArthur to advance beyond the 38th parallel. Theres substantial historical debate that MacArthur was not told exactly what to do in detail  as long as he was winning. Fine for a man who was fond of quoting Montgomery: Generals are never given adequate directives.

Still, MacArthur did receive a top secret memorandum from Truman stressing that any operations north of the 38th parallel were authorized only if there was no entry into North Korea by major Soviet or Chinese Communist forces, no announcements of intended entry, nor a threat to counter our operations militarily.

And then, MacArthur received an eyes-only message from Pentagon head George Marshall: We want you to feel unhampered tactically and strategically to proceed north of the 38th parallel.

MacArthur kept going. He was sure China would not intervene in Korea: If the Chinese tried to get down to Pyongyang there would be the greatest slaughter. Well, he was wrong. US forces captured Pyongyang on October 19, 1950. Exactly the same day, no fewer than 250,000 soldiers of the 13th Army Group of the Chinese Peoples Volunteer Army crossed the Yalu river and entered Korean territory. US intel was clueless about what military historian S.L.A. Marshall described as a phantom which cast no shadow.

MacArthur progressively ran amok, including calling for nukes to be used on North Korea. He had to go. The question was how. The civilians  Dean Acheson, Averell Harriman  were for it. The Generals  Marshall, Bradly  were against it. But they were also worried that if MacArthur were not relieved, a large segment of our people would charge that civil authorities no longer controlled the military.

Truman had already made up his mind. MacArthur was replaced by Lt. Gen. Ridgway. But the war folly still raged, hostage to the Sino-Soviet threat of communist world domination. Over two million North Korean civilians were killed. And what General Curtis LeMay  a real- life Dr. Strangelove  later said about bombing Vietnam back to the stone age actually was inflicted by the US on North Korea.

The Norths industry and infrastructure was totally destroyed. Its impossible to understand the actions of the leadership in Pyongyang over these past decades without considering how this human and physical destruction is still very much alive in their minds.

So what Admiral Swift actually said, in code, is, if a civilian order comes, the US military will start WWIII (or WWIV, if one counts the Cold War), duly applying the Pentagons first-strike doctrine. What Swift did not say is that President Trump also has the power to pull a Truman and fire any run-amok, aspiring MacArthur clone.

Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst.

This article was first published by Asia Times -
The New Russian Sanctions Bill Is Washingtons Monument To Its Criminality

By Paul Craig Roberts

July 29, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - The Congress of the United States by almost unanimous votes in both House and Senate has made it clear that Congress had rather destroy the President of the United States and to increase the risk of nuclear war than to avoid conflict with Russia by normalizing relations. The vote on the new sanctions makes it pointless for President Trump to veto the bill, because it passed both houses by far more than the two-thirds vote required to over-ride the presidents veto. The only thing Trump can achieve with a veto is to prove the false charge that he is in league with Vladimir Putin

The new sanctions bill forecloses the possibility of reducing the rising tensions between the two major nuclear powers. It also shows that whatever interest Congress has, if any, in reducing the threat of war and in avoiding a break with Europe over the sanctions, Congress has a much greater interest in continuing to collect campaign contributions from the powerful and rich military/security complex and in playing to the growing hatred of Russia that is encouraged by the US media.

This reckless and irresponsible action by the US Congress makes completely clear that Washington has intentionally chosen conflict with Russia as the main element of US foreign policy. Perhaps now the Russian government will abandon its cherished illusion that an accommodation with Washington can be reached. As I have written on many occasions, the only way Russia can achieve accommodation with Washington is to surrender and accept American hegemony. Any further resistance of the Russian government to this obvious fact would indicate dangerous delusion on the part of the Russian leadership.

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The fig leaf Congress chose for its violation of diplomatic protocols and international law is the disproven allegation of Russian interference in behalf of Trump in the US presidential election. An organization of former US intelligence officers recently announced that forensic investigation has been made of the alleged Russian computer hacking, and the conclusion is that there was no hack; there was an internal leak, and the leak was copied onto a device and Russian fingerprints were added. There is no forensic evidence whatsoever that shows any indication of Russian hacking. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/07/24/conspiracy-remove-trump-presidency-paul-craig-roberts/

It is all made up, and everyone alleging Russian hacking knows it. There is no difference between the allegation of Russian hacking and Hitlers allegation in 1939 that last night Polish forces crossed our frontier, Hitlers fig leaf for his invasion of Poland.

That Congress uses a blatantly transparent lie to justify its violation of international law and intentionally worsens US relations with both Russia and the EU proves how determined Washington is to intensify conflict with Russia. Expect more false allegations, more demonization, more threats.

War is in the cards.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West , How America Was Lost , and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order .
Biological Annihilation on Earth Accelerating

By Robert J. Burrowes

July 29, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Human beings are now waging war against life itself as we continue to destroy not just individual lives, local populations and entire species in vast numbers but also destroy the ecological systems that make life on Earth possible.

By doing this we are now accelerating the sixth mass extinction event in Earths history and virtually eliminating any prospect of human survival.

In a recently published scientific study Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines the authors Gerardo Ceballos, Paul R. Ehrlich and Rodolfo Dirzo document the accelerating nature of this problem.

Earths sixth mass extinction is more severe than perceived when looking exclusively at species extinctions. That conclusion is based on analyses of the numbers and degrees of range contraction  using a sample of 27,600 vertebrate species, and on a more detailed analysis documenting the population extinctions between 1900 and 2015 in 177 mammal species. Their research found that the rate of population loss in terrestrial vertebrates is extremely high  even in species of low concern.

In their sample, comprising nearly half of known vertebrate species, 32% (8,851 out of 27,600) are decreasing; that is, they have decreased in population size and range. In the 177 mammals for which they had detailed data, all had lost 30% or more of their geographic ranges and more than 40% of the species had experienced severe population declines. Their data revealed that beyond global species extinctions Earth is experiencing a huge episode of population declines and extirpations, which will have negative cascading consequences on ecosystem functioning and services vital to sustaining civilization. We describe this as a biological annihilation to highlight the current magnitude of Earths ongoing sixth major extinction event.

Illustrating the damage done by dramatically reducing the historic geographic range of a species, consider the lion. Panthera leo was historically distributed over most of Africa, southern Europe, and the Middle East, all the way to northwestern India. It is now confined to scattered populations in sub-Saharan Africa and a remnant population in the Gir forest of India. The vast majority of lion populations are gone.

Why is this happening? Ceballos, Ehrlich and Dirzo tell us: In the last few decades, habitat loss, overexploitation, invasive organisms, pollution, toxification, and more recently climate disruption, as well as the interactions among these factors, have led to the catastrophic declines in both the numbers and sizes of populations of both common and rare vertebrate species.

Further, however, the authors warn But the true extent of this mass extinction has been underestimated, because of the emphasis on species extinction. This underestimate can be traced to overlooking the accelerating extinction of local populations of a species.

Population extinctions today are orders of magnitude more frequent than species extinctions. Population extinctions, however, are a prelude to species extinctions, so Earths sixth mass extinction episode has proceeded further than most assume. Moreover, and importantly from a narrow human perspective, the massive loss of local populations is already damaging the services ecosystems provide to civilization (which, of course, are given no value by government and corporate economists).

As Ceballos, Ehrlich and Dirzo remind us: When considering this frightening assault on the foundations of human civilization, one must never forget that Earths capacity to support life, including human life, has been shaped by life itself. When public mention is made of the extinction crisis, it usually focuses on a few (probably iconic) animal species known to have gone extinct, while projecting many more in future. However, a glance at their maps presents a much more realistic picture: as much as 50% of the number of animal individuals that once shared Earth with us are already gone, as are billions of populations.

Furthermore, they claim that their analysis is conservative given the increasing trajectories of those factors that drive extinction together with their synergistic impacts. Future losses easily may amount to a further rapid defaunation of the globe and comparable losses in the diversity of plants, including the local (and eventually global) defaunation-driven coextinction of plants.

They conclude with the chilling observation: Thus, we emphasize that the sixth mass extinction is already here and the window for effective action is very short.

Of course, it is too late for those species of plants, birds, animals, fish, amphibians, insects and reptiles that humans have already driven to extinction or will yet drive to extinction in the future. 200 species yesterday. 200 species today. 200 species tomorrow. 200 species the day after. And, as Ceballos, Ehrlich and Dirzo emphasize, the ongoing daily extinctions of a myriad local populations.

If you think that the above information is bad enough in assessing the prospects for human survival, you will not be encouraged by awareness or deeper consideration of even some of the many variables adversely impacting our prospects that were beyond the scope of the above study.

While Ceballos, Ehrlich and Dirzo, in addition to the problems they noted which are cited above, also identified the problems of human overpopulation and continued population growth, as well as overconsumption (based on the fiction that perpetual growth can occur on a finite planet) and even the risks posed by nuclear war, there were many variables that were beyond the scope of their research.

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For example, in a recent discussion of that branch of ecological science known as Planetary Boundary Science, Dr Glen Barry identified at least ten global ecological catastrophes which threaten to destroy the global ecological system and portend an end to human beings, and perhaps all life. Ranging from nitrogen deposition to ocean acidification, and including such basics as soil, water, and air; virtually every ecological system upon which life depends is failing. See The End of Being: Abrupt Climate Change One of Many Ecological Crises Threatening to Collapse the Biosphere .

Moreover, apart from the ongoing human death tolls caused by the endless wars and other military violence being conducted across the planet  see, for example, Yemen cholera worst on record & numbers still rising  there is catastrophic environmental damage caused too. For some insight, see The Toxic Remnants of War Project .

In addition, the out-of-control methane releases into the atmosphere that are now occurring  see 7,000 underground gas bubbles poised to explode in Arctic and Release of Arctic Methane May Be Apocalyptic, Study Warns  and the release, each and every day, of 300 tons of radioactive waste from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean  see Fukushima Radiation Has Contaminated The Entire Pacific Ocean - And Its Going To Get Worse  are having disastrous consequences that will negatively impact life on Earth indefinitely. And they cannot be reversed in any timeframe that is meaningful for human prospects.

Apart from the above, there is a host of other critical issues  such as destruction of the Earths rainforests, destruction of waterways and the ocean habitat and the devastating impact of animal agriculture for meat consumption  that international governmental organizations such as the UN, national governments and multinational corporations will continue to refuse to decisively act upon because they are controlled by the insane global elite. See The Global Elite is Insane with more fully elaborated explanations in Why Violence? and  Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice .

So time may be short, the number of issues utterly daunting and the prospects for life grim. But if, like me, you are inclined to fight to the last breath, I invite you to consider making a deliberate choice to take powerful personal action in the fight for our survival.

If you do nothing else, consider participating in the fifteen-year strategy of The Flame Tree Project to Save Life on Earth . You can do this as an individual, with family and friends or as a neighborhood.

If you are involved in (or considering becoming involved in) a local campaign to address a climate issue, end some manifestation of war (or even all war), or to halt any other threat to our environment, I encourage you to consider doing this on a strategic basis. See Nonviolent Campaign Strategy .

And if you would like to join the worldwide movement to end violence in all of its forms, environmental and otherwise, you are also welcome to consider signing the online pledge of The Peoples Charter to Create a Nonviolent World .

We might be annihilating life on Earth but this is not something about which we have no choice.

In fact, each and every one of us has a choice: we can choose to do nothing, we can wait for (or even lobby) others to act, or we can take powerful action ourselves. But unless you search your heart and make a conscious and deliberate choice to commit yourself to act powerfully, your unconscious choice will effectively be the first one (including that you might take some token measures and delude yourself that these make a difference). And the annihilation of life on Earth will continue, with your complicity.

Extinction beckons. Will you choose powerfully?

Biodata: Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of Why Violence? His email address is flametree@riseup.net and his website is here .
PBS Anti-Russia Propaganda Series





PBS has joined the anti-Russia propaganda stampede with a five-part documentary series that recycles the false and deceptive claims that have become Official Washingtons dangerous new groupthink, reports Rick Sterling.



By Rick Sterling

July 29, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - The U.S.-government-supported Public Broadcasting System (PBS) recently ran a five-part series dubbed Inside Putins Russia . With a different theme each night, it purports to give a realistic look at Russia today. The image conveyed is of a Russia that is undemocratic with widespread state repression, violence and propaganda. Following are significant distortions and falsehoods in the five-part documentary.

Episode 1: How Putin Redefined what it means to be Russian

In this episode, the documentary:

Claims that Russian identity is based on projection of power. In reality, projection of power characterizes the U.S. much more than Russia. For the past two centuries the United States has expanded across the continent and globe. The last century is documented in the book Overthrow: Americans Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. The U.S. currently has nearly 800 foreign military bases in over 70 countries. In contrast, Russia has military bases in only two countries beyond the former Soviet Union: Syria and Vietnam.

Ignores crucial information about events in Ukraine. Russian involvement in eastern Ukraine and Crimea are presented as examples of projection of power. But basic facts are omitted from the documentary. There is no mention of the violent February 2014 coup in Kiev nor the involvement of neoconservatives such as Sen. John McCain and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland in supporting and encouraging the overthrow of Ukraines elected government. In a December 2013 speech , Nuland outlined her intense involvement in Ukraine including U.S. insistence that Ukraine choose a European future since the U.S. had invested $5 billion to assist. Days before the coup in February 2014, Nuland was captured on audio planning the composition of the coup leadership.

Ignores Crimeas historic connections with Russia and the Ukrainian violence. The documentary says, In 2014 in Crimea, Russia helped install separatist leaders who rushed through a referendum that led to Crimeas annexation. This gives the misleading impression the decision was Russian, not Crimean.

Even the New York Times report on March 16, 2014, acknowledged that, The outcome, in a region that shares a language and centuries of history with Russia, was a foregone conclusion even before exit polls showed more than 93 percent of voters favoring secession.

The documentary fails to mention the fear of violence after Crimean travelers to Kiev were beaten and killed by Ukrainian hyper-nationalists. One of the first decisions of the Kiev coup government was to declare that Russian would no longer be an official language. A good overview including video interviews with Crimeans is in this video , contrasting sharply with the implications of the PBS documentary.

Trivializes Russian opposition to NATO expansion. The documentary suggests Russians feel humiliated by NATO expanding to their borders. This distorts a serious military concern into a subjective, emotional issue. In 2002, the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and started construction of missile defense systems which could be used in tandem with a nuclear first strike. In recent years, NATO troops and missiles have been installed at Russias borders. Imagine the response if Russian troops and missiles were placed at the U.S. border in Canada and Mexico.

Falsely claims that coup violence in Odessa was exaggerated.

The documentary says that Russians who went to help defend civilians in eastern Ukraine were convinced by Russian propaganda where dozens of pro-Russian separatists died in Odessa, Ukraine but Russian media exaggerated the attack. In reality, the Odessa attack killed at least 42 people and injured 100. This video shows the sequence of events with the initial attack on peaceful protesters followed by fire-bomb attacks in the building. Fire trucks were prevented from reaching the building to put out the fire and rescue citizens inside.

Episode 2: Inside Russias Propaganda Machine.

In this episode, the documentary:

Suggests Russians are aggressive and threatening. The documentary highlights a Russian TV broadcaster who is translated to say, Russia is the only country in the world that is realistically capable of turning the United States into radioactive ash. And later, If you can persuade a person, you dont need to kill him  if you arent able to persuade, then you will have to kill. We do not know the context or accuracy of these translated statements. However on the basis of my own travels in Russia and the experience of many other Americans, these statements are strange and uncharacteristic.

At the popular and government level, Russians are typically at pains to call the U.S. a partner and to wish for peace and better relations. With 27 million killed in World War 2, most Russians are very conscious of the consequences of war and deeply want peace. Russians vividly recall the Russia-U.S. alliance during WW2 and seek a return to friendly collaboration. The film producers must have heard this message and desire for peace expressed by many Russians many times. But the documentary only presents this uncharacteristic aggressive message.

Inaccurately suggests that producers of a private TV network received angry public messages because they were exposing corruption. In reality, the angry public response was because the TV station ran a poll asking viewers if the Soviet Union should have surrendered to Nazi Germany to save lives during the siege of Leningrad.

Falsely suggests that RT (Russia Today TV) typically features Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis. This is a grotesque distortion Anyone who watches RT will know that American personalities such as Chris Hedges, Larry King and Ed Schultz are regulars on RT. Interviewees on international affairs generally come from the left side of the political spectrum  the opposite of what is suggested.

Uncritically repeats the conspiracy theory that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton emails. The findings have been disputed by the publisher of the emails, Julian Assange of Wikileaks , as well as Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity . A recent forensic examination confirms that this was a leak not a hack (inside job done by local data transfer NOT a hack over the internet) and points to  Guccifer 2.0 , the presumptive hacker, being a hoax intentionally created to implicate Russia.

Falsely suggests that anti-Clinton social media messaging during 2016 was significantly caused by Russian government trolls. Hillary Clinton was strongly opposed by significant portions of both the left and right. There were probably hundreds of thousands of Americans who shared anti-Clinton social media messages.

Claims that research showing a Google search engine bias in favor of Hillary Clinton was quickly debunked. The documentary ignores the original article describing the potential effect of search-engine bias, which was published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The author is Dr. Robert Epstein, former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today magazine. Contradicting the claim that this research was debunked, this academic article estimates the effect of the Google bias and how the bias went away AFTER the election. The response from Google and very shallow Snopes fact check are effectively rebutted by the lead author here . In neo-McCarthyist style, the documentary smears the findings and claims they were laundered after being published by the Russian Sputnik media.

Suggests the idea that President Kennedy was killed by the CIA was planted by the Soviet intelligence agency KGB. Many impressive American books have been written supporting this contention, from New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrisons book to David Talbots 2015 book Devils Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA and Deep State. Claiming that this accusation is based on KGB disinformation is another grotesque distortion. It is not revealing disinformation; this is an example of disinformation.

Episode 3: Why are so many from this Russian republic fighting for Isis?

In this episode, the documentary:

Rationalizes and almost justifies Russian Muslims traveling to join ISIS. The documentary suggests that religious repression and discrimination is a cause of ISIS recruitment and that Dagestanis who fought for ISIS continue a decades-old legacy here of radicalism and militancy.

Ignores the role of the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in promoting Islamist fundamentalism in Dagestan. As described by Robert Dreyfus in the book Devils Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam: the Casey-ISI (CIA and Pakistan Secret Service) actions aided the growth of a significant network of right-wing, Islamist extremists who, to this day, plague the governments of the former Soviet republics  In particular, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Islamic Liberation Party, the powerful Islamist groups in Chechnya and Dagestan.

Ignores the role of the US and allies in facilitating ISIS. As journalist Patrick Cockburn has written, In the 20 years between 1996 and 2016, the CIA and British security and foreign policy agencies have consistently given priority to maintaining their partnership with powerful Sunni states over the elimination of terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and Isis.

Journalist Nafeez Ahmed exposed the role of Turkey here , A former senior counter-terrorism official in Turkey has blown the whistle on President Recep Tayyip Erdogans deliberate sponsorship of the Islamic State (ISIS) as a geopolitical tool to expand Turkeys regional influence and sideline his political opponents at home.

Elements of the U.S. military/intelligence suggested the establishment of ISIS to isolate the Syrian regime. This was revealed in the classified 2012 report of the Defense Intelligence Agency that THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME

In short, ISIS recruitment from Muslim communities in Russia and worldwide has been spurred by the policies and actions of the U.S. and allies such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey. This is what Dreyfus calls The Devils Game, but is ignored in the documentary.

Episode 4: The Deadly Risk of Standing up to Putin

In this episode, the documentary:

Suggests that critics of Putin and the Russian government face consequences including death. These accusations are widespread in the West but largely based on the claims of different U.S.-supported activists. One of the most famous cases, and the one on which U.S. congressional sanctions against Russia are based, is that of Sergei Magnitsky. Magnitskys death was the subject of a documentary, which has been effectively banned in the U.S. In the course of researching what happened, the filmmaker learned that the truth was very different than has been told in the West and promoted by hedge-fund executive William Browder. Gilbert Doctorow outlines what happens in his review of the film here:

Magnitsky Act: Behind the Scenes is an amazing film which takes us through the thought processes, the evidence sorting of the well-known independent film maker Andrei Nekrasov as he approached an assignment that was at the outset meant to be one more public confirmation of the narrative Browder has sold to the US Congress and to the American and European political elites. That story was all about a 36 year old whistle-blower attorney (actually a bookkeeper) named Sergei Magnitsky who denounced on Browders behalf the theft of Russian taxes to his bosss companies amounting to $230 million and who was rewarded for his efforts by arrest, torture and murder in detainment by the officials who perpetrated the theft. This shocking tale drove legislation that was a major landmark in the descent of US-Russian relations under President Barack Obama to a level rivaling the worst days of the Cold War.

 At the end of the film we understand that this story was concocted by William Browder to cover up his own criminal theft of the money in question, that Magnitsky was not a whistleblower, but on the contrary was likely an assistant and abettor to the fraud and theft that Browder organized, that he was not murdered by corrupt Russian police but died in prison from banal neglect of his medical condition.

The PBS documentary quotes an opposition leader, Vladimir Kara-Murza, saying We have no free and fair elections. We have censorship in the media. We have political prisoners, more than 100 political prisoners now in Russia, today. Kara-Murza now lives in Washington for his safety but returns to Russia periodically. He claims to have been poisoned several times.

Opponents of the Russian government are quick to accuse but the evidence is largely hearsay and speculation. Public polls of citizens in Russia repeatedly indicate that Putin and the government have widespread popularity, in contrast with the accusations in this documentary that they rule by intimidation and violence.

Episode 5: What Russians think about Trump and the U.S.

Based on the content, the final episode should be titled What the U.S. establishment and media thinks of Putin and Russia. In this episode, the documentary:

Features accusations by CIA Director Mike Pompeo that Russian President Putin,  is a man for whom veracity doesnt translate into English. An objective documentary would take CIA claims about veracity with a healthy dose of skepticism. Just a few years ago, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was confirmed to have lied under oath to Congress. Former CIA chief of counterintelligence James Angleton said in his dying days, Fundamentally, the founding fathers of U.S. intelligence were liars. The better you lied and the more you betrayed, the more likely you got promoted. So it is curious to see the PBS documentary uncritically presenting the new CIA director as a judge of veracity.

Implies that President Trump is out of line to question the U.S. intelligence communitys unanimous assessment that Russia hacked the 2016 election. It has been recently exposed that the unanimous assessment was, in reality, by hand-picked analysts at three agencies, under DNI Clappers oversight, not all 17 agencies and that the National Security Agency did NOT have high confidence in a key finding. The assessment, which the Jan. 6 report acknowledged was NOT an establishment of fact, was based on the forensics of a private company, Crowdstrike, with a checkered record in this field, and the dubious Christopher Steele dossier, a collection of opposition research reports against Donald Trump, paid for unidentified allies of Hillary Clinton and compiled by Steele, an ex-British intelligence agent.

In March 2017, Crowdstrike was found to have made false claims in another investigation of an alleged Russian hack. Yet, neither the CIA nor FBI examined the Democratic National Committees computers. If the issue was as important as it supposedly has now become, the FBI should have issued a subpoena to do its own examination. Why the DNC rejected the FBI request, and why the FBI did not insist, raises serious questions given the enormous publicity and accusations that have followed.

Uncritically features two US politicians making loose accusations and effectively criminalizing contacts with Russians. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, says President Trump is pushing out some messages that are consistent with the Kremlin policies  theres no question that the Russians were trying to hack into our elections. Yet, former U.S. intelligence officers with experience in these areas recently presented evidence raising significant questions about this conventional wisdom.

On the Democratic side, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia indicates the Senate investigation reached its conclusion before it began. He said, The goal of this investigation is not only to reconfirm Russian intervention and explain that to the American public, but to also see if there were any contacts between Trump and the Russians.

In the current environment, to have contacts with Russians has been criminalized. Instead of questioning the validity or wisdom of this position, the documentary presents it with seeming approval.

Uncritically promotes false statements and reckless threats. Sen. Lankford says We believe strongly that what Russia continues to do to be able to threaten Ukraine, threaten its neighbors, threaten NATO, to continue to pry into not only our elections, but other elections, is destabilizing, and it demands a response. They have yet to have a consequence to what they did in the election time. And they should.

Lankfords assertions are presented as facts but are debatable or false. For example, security services in Germany , France and the U.K . all found that  despite the international accusations  there was NO evidence of Russian interference in their recent elections.

Justifies and promotes punishment of Russia. The belligerent approach of Lankford and Warner is continued by PBS host Judy Woodruff and narrator Nick Schifrin. The U.S. is portrayed as a vulnerable victim with a future that is foreboding. Russia is portrayed as threatening and needing some punishment soon: The Russian government doesnt feel like the United States government really penalized them for what happened last year. a lot of officials here in Washington agree with that Russia should have paid for what they did last year.

This threatening talk is then followed by the following assessment from the narrator: There are analysts in Moscow who think the only thing we can hope is that we avoid war.

In 2002-2003, American mainstream media failed to question or challenge the assertions of the CIA and politicians pushing for the invasion of Iraq. At that time, the false pretense was that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and posed a threat to the U.S.

Much of the media and many of the same politicians are now claiming Russia is an adversary that has attacked us. This claim is being widely made without serious question or challenge. Liberal media seems to be in alliance with hawkish neoconservatives on this issue. Virtually any accusation against Russia and its leader can be made with impunity and without serious evidence.

The PBS documentary Inside Putins Russia aims to expose Russian repression, aggression and disinformation. As shown in the many examples above, the five-part documentary is highly biased and inaccurate. While it shows some features of Russia, it also demonstrates American propaganda in the current tumultuous times.

Rick Sterling is an investigative journalist based in northern California. He can be contacted at rsterling1@gmail.com

This article was first published by Consortium News -

Inside Putin's Russia

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Urgent Warning: Time to Hit the Reset Button on US-Korean Policy





By Medea Benjamin

July 29, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Touching down in Washington DC Friday night after a peace delegation to South Korea organized by the Task Force to Stop THAAD in Korea ( STIK ), I saw the devastating news. No, it was not that Reince Priebus had been booted from the dysfunctional White House. It was that North Korea had conducted another intercontinental ballistic missile test, and that the United States and South Korea had responded by further ratcheting up this volatile conflict.

The response was not just the usual tit-for-tat, which did happen. Just hours after the North Korean test, the US and South Korean militaries launched their own ballistic missiles as a show of force. Even more incendiary, however, is that South Korean President Moon Jae-in also responded by reversing his decision to halt deployment of the US weapon system known as THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense). President Moon gave his military the green light to add four more launchers to complete the system.

South Koreas new, liberal president came into office on May 10 on the wave of a remarkable people power uprising that had led to the impeachment and jailing of the corrupt President Park Geun-hye. Part of the legacy that Moon inherited was an agreement with the US to provide land and support for THAAD, a missile defense system designed to target and intercept short and medium-range missiles fired by North Korea.

THAAD is controversial on many fronts: military experts say it doesnt work; environmentalists say it emits dangerous radiation; national assembly members say it was never submitted for a vote; China says the radar is aimed at them and has responded with economic sanctions; and the local residents of Seongju, where the system is placed, are furious that their tranquil lives have been pierced by a billion dollar Lockheed-Martin weapon system they were never consulted about.

Our delegationcomposed of former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, Reece Chenault of US Labor Against the War, Will Griffin of Veterans for Peace and myselfhad the opportunity to visit Seongju, a farming town 135 miles southeast of the capital, and the neighboring town of Gimcheon. The feisty residents, including women farmers in their eighties, have been protesting every single day for the past year. We attended a rally with thousands, which concluded with a symbolic smashing of a cardboard version of THAAD, and a candlelight vigil that takes place in both towns every night, rain or shine. The villagers have blockaded the roads to prevent entry of the launchers, fought with police, publicly shaved their heads in opposition, and set up a 24/7 protest camp. They are joined by the local Won Buddhists, who consider the THAAD site their sacred ground.

It was the resilience of Seongju and neighboring Gimcheon residents that pushed the Moon administration to pause the deployment process until a thorough environmental impact assessment had been completed, which would have taken about a year. This gave the villagers hope that they would have time to convince President Moon to rethink and reverse the THAAD agreement altogether. The presidents recent decision will only spark more local outrage.

The North Korean nuclear program is certainly alarming, as are the myriad human rights violations of that repressive regime. But the question is how best to de-escalate the conflict so that it doesnt explode into an all-out nuclear war. Adding another weapon system into the mix is not the answer.

The North Korean regime feels encircled. It knows that the most powerful nation in the world, the United States, wants to overthrow it. Theres Trumps belligerent rhetoric : If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will." Theres the ever-tightening screws of sanctions. Just a few hours before the latest North Korean missile test, Congress approved yet another round of sanctions to squeeze the North.

There are 83 US military bases on South Korean soil and US warships often patrolling the coast. US-South Korean military exercises have been getting larger and more provocative, including dropping mock nuclear bombs on North Korea.The US military also announced that it would permanently station an armed drone called Gray Eagle on the Korean Peninsula and it has been practicing long-range strikes with strategic bombers, sending them to the region for exercises and deploying them in Guam and on the peninsula.

The United States has also long held a pre-emptive first strike policy towards North Korea. This frightening threat of an unprovoked US nuclear attack gives North Korea good reason to want its own nuclear arsenal.

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North Koreas leadership also looks at the fate of Iraqs Saddam Hussein and Libyas Muammar Gaddafi, leaders who gave up their nuclear programs, and conclude that nuclear weapons are their key to survival.

So the North Korean leadership is not acting irrationally; on the contrary. On July 29, the day after the test, North Korean President Kim Jong-un asserted that the threat of sanctions or military action only strengthens our resolve and further justifies our possession of nuclear weapons.

Given the proximity of North Korea to the Souths capital Seoul, a city of 25 million people, any outbreak of hostilities would be devastating. It is estimated that a North Korean attack with just conventional weapons would kill 64,000 South Koreans in the first three hours.

A war on the Korean Peninsula would likely draw in other nuclear armed states and major powers, including China, Russia and Japan. This region also has the largest militaries and economies in the world, the worlds busiest commercial ports, and half the worlds population.

Trump has few options. His Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has warned that a pre-emptive strike on the Norths nuclear and missile capabilities could reignite the Korean War. Trump had hoped that Chinese President Xi Jinping could successfully rein in Kim Jong-un, but the Chinese are more concerned about the collapse of North Koreas government and the chaos that would ensue. They are also furious about the deployment of THAAD in South Korea, convinced that its radar can penetrate deep into Chinese territory.

But the Chinese do have another proposal : a freeze for a freeze. This means a freeze on North Korean missile and nuclear tests in exchange for a halt on US-South Korean war games.

The massive war games have been taking place every year in March, with smaller ones scheduled for August. A halt would alleviate tensions and pave the way for negotiations. So would halting the deployment of the destabilizing THAAD system so disliked by South Korean villagers, North Koreans and the Chinese.
It was a great re-union for a 62-year old woman who recently got married to her 75-year old lover as her children gave her out to the man for marriage.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that the woman simply known as Geraldine from Isoko got married to Mr. Joshua from Urhobo in Delta State after their children consented to the marriage.

The marriage reception took place at Agbara where the woman lived with one of her children, while she moved to her new husbands place after the marriage at Omiyale in Ejigbo, Lagos.

It was gathered that Geraldine separated from her husband after they had five grown up children while Mr Joshua lost his wife seven years ago.

It was learnt that they were lovers in their youth days and Jehovah Witness teachers before they separately married.

The marriage between Geraldine and Joshua started after the former love birds met at Agbara, expressed their emotions and resolved to convince their children to consent to their marriage.

P.M.EXPRESS gathered that after their discussion, Geraldine first called her children and told them that she was lonely and needed a man that will take care of her emotional needs since she has separated from her husband.

She also reportedly told them that she had a lover before she married their father and the lover lost his wife some years ago and was also lonely.

She said since both of them were lonely, it was better for her to marry the man so that they will take care of each other.

It was gathered that the children were initially against the decision but when their mother threatened to kill herself if they did not support her, they soft pedalled. Thereafter they consented and gave her to Joshua as wife.

On the side of the man, it was the same thing because the children saw it as adding extra burden to the family but had no choice than to consent to make the man happy again.

When P.M.EXPRESS visited the new couple and asked to know how they were coping with the marriage, they said it was easy for them to settle down because they have known each other over the years.

On their sex life, the man said they were slowly active and declined to make further comments.
According to the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, banks are responsible for the looting of funds in the country because they create a friendly atmosphere for looters to operate.

He added that some banks were currently behind the moves to separate the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit and the EFCC.

Magu further alleged that when the NFIU is established as a separate agency, a former bank managing director would be named as the head of the agency.

In a Facebook post on Friday, the EFCC quoted Magu as saying this while receiving a delegation of the International Monetary Fund, which visited the commissions head office, Abuja on Thursday.

The Senate had on Thursday passed a bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Agency barely a week after it was sponsored in the chamber.

The powers and funding of the EFCC will be greatly reduced should the NFIU be separated from the commission.

Magu said, I dont trust the financial institutions. They create an enabling environment for thieves to loot our money. That is why they are fighting to remove the NFIU from us. They want to use a former managing director of a bank to head the NFIU.

Magu had last week inaugurated a committee to reposition the NFIU, which was recently suspended by the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.

The Egmont Group is an informal international gathering of over 132 financial intelligence units which provide the backbone for monitoring international money laundering activities

However, the NFIU, which is under the EFCC, was suspended by the Egmont Group for its lack of autonomy and absence of a proper operational framework.

Magu had set up a committee comprising former officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria and other financial institutions to help reposition the unit.

The EFCC, in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said, The committee which has members drawn from law enforcement, financial and regulatory agencies is chaired by Dr. Abdullahi Shehu, a former Director-General of the Inter-Governmental Action Against Money Laundering in West Africa.

Other members of the committee are Mr. Chidi Chukwuka from the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation; Mr. Bamanga Bello, Head of the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering; Hajia Jamila Yusuf of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Mr. Udofia Obot, a former Deputy Director, CBN; while Mrs Joke Liman of the EFCC is to serve as secretary.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
A Nigerian man, a banker, blessed with three adorable kids has shared his testimony on how he was told by doctors that his wife wont be able to bear a child.

Identified as Ifeanyi Okeke, he revealed that rather than worry over his wifes medical condition, he believed in God that something positive will eventually happen and it did.

Read his story below;

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR BECAUSE GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS  What was my Prayer Point: God please takeaway these wealth and give me children, even a child give me whether male or female. Dated March 2008. In March 2008 I had been married to my wife (my Blessing) for eight years without a child. Eight years is not eight days or eight weeks or eight months. I mean eight years, enough to graduate and bag a PhD and be called a Professor. I was blessed with a flourishing banking career. About the most popular banker in town already an Assistant General Manager (in-waiting). Nothing was more frustrating to me as going home to my wife with the news of a new promotion, a new car for her or a new house I intend building because of the response which will give me: what is all these worth without a child together. It was in this frustration that I went into my room on that fateful but equally blessed day, went naked, knelt down, raised my hands up to heaven and made the radical prayer request. To put things in perspective, in October 1999 we were both serving (NYSC) (having been dating since 1997) when I proposed to her. March 2000 just one month out of NYSC we got married (paid her bride price). Yes we got married, TW and Church wedding were ceremonies that followed later. I got a job April 2000. On June 26, 2000 we got into a night bus together at Ido park, Lagos on a journey to Kano as I had completed three months training and was posted to Kano Main branch of the elsewhere Universal Trust Bank (UTB) as a Credit and Marketing Staff. We arrived Kano early morning June 27 2000 and moved into a one room she lived in as a CORPER which shared toilet, bathroom and kitchen with with another CORPER (Helen MO, tagged)
After spending lavishly, we sometimes go bankrupt. So, we have no choice than to use metaphysical powers to hypnotise our victims online. The act of using voodoo is what people nicknamed Yahoo Plus.

I use it so that the victim, otherwise known as a client will fall deeply in love with me and obey my every command. At least, I have been into dating scam for a while now and I can boast of two cars and a house.

The above is the confession of 26-year-old Hakeem aka H Funds. He dropped out of university when he was in 100 Level. After dropping out of school, he embraced cyber fraud. Interestingly, he has been able to buy cars and build house through the scam.

Hakeem is toeing the path of many Nigerian young men and women who are embracing cybercrime. Many of them have left the traditional method of attempting to sweet talk victims into parting with money. Today, they now use voodoo, otherwise known as Yahoo Plus or Science to collect money from unsuspecting victims.

Many of the young men, who spoke with our correspondent spoke, said the cost of a particular voodoo, depended on how challenging a certain internet fraud might prove to be. They also confessed that aside from the fact that Yahoo Plus makes them richer, it also is a stress-free way of making money. They revealed that native doctors, Islamic and Christian clerics usually prepare the charms for them.

Hakeem insisted that Yahoo Plus was the best gimmick to apply in online dating scam.

He added: I use voodoo for dating scam. I use it to spellbind my online victim and make him or her easier to control. There are different kinds of voodoos; one is to use the image of the white client, another one is to make incisions on our hands, place our legs on a tortoise or take the clients name to a cleric or native doctor.

Sometimes, we take our phones and computer to the shrine. The type of Yahoo Plus I do is to take clients name to the shrine.

Another operator, Lanre, 25, said that he and his younger brother wouldnt have succeeded in internet fraud, if not for the help of his mother. He disclosed that it was their mother who introduced them to the new level of cyber fraud.

Lanre said his mother didnt believe in them at first until he carried out a scam and bought a car from the proceeds. The car got his mother so tickled that she decided to take them to a herbalist for charms.

He said: Although my father is late, we have been successful in this cyber fraud business because my mother supports my brother and I. My mother took my younger brother and I to a womans place. The woman took us to a river and bathed us. Asides that, I do other sorts of rituals like Oshole. Once you have done Oshole, you will succeed in every kind of internet scams.

I must confess that I have achieved a lot by Gods grace. I havent seen any repercussion because I do go back to the herbalists place to renew my voodoo.

Another internet fraudster, who gave his name simply as T Money, said that he had been using black magic for his cybercrime for long.

T Money, a 200 Level dropout, disclosed that after he abandoned his university programme, he had tried his hands on several menial jobs, but failed to succeed in any. He finally went into cyber fraud.

The 27-year-old T Money explained why he abandoned the traditional Yahoo Yahoo to delve into the occult world of Yahoo Plus.

He said: When I started the internet fraud, I couldnt earn much. I only earned enough to buy clothes, some pair of shoes and an IPhone.

According to him, while his friends were hitting big money and living lavish lifestyles, he was counting pennies.

He said: I became intrigued on how my friends were making good money. I asked questions and got answers. It was the answers that led me into Yahoo Plus. It is what most of my friends do. I went to meet an Islamic cleric.

I was into dating scam when I first started. The dating scam was not really fetching huge amount of money. I began using Yahoo Plus because my friends were making it big and buying cars. Once they make big money, they will go and lodge in hotels. I desperately wanted to belong. I wanted to know what it feels like to be rich. I had no choice than to meet the cleric whom I paid money for the ritual. Look at me today, Im doing fine.

A cyber fraudster, who introduced himself as Sir Cash, 28, said there were different categories of Yahoo Plus  Oshole and Irapada. According to him, the two are used to enhance internet scam operations.

He added: There is another Yahoo Plus. It is very bad and dangerous. It entails using the glory of innocent girls. You rub something like oil into the private part of a girl before having sexual intercourse with her. She either becomes sick or will never amount to much in life. We also use prostitutes. Most of these rituals have repercussions. One must be very careful.

Most of us do a voodoo called Oshole. Oshole has little or no repercussion and most of us use it. The way Oshole works is that it compels the victim to pay money.

According to Sir Cash, there are various repercussions to the use of voodoos on girls. One of the repercussions is insanity.

He said: There are some of our guys, who after using the voodoo get richer, but also forget to return to the shrines or clerics to renew their voodoo. Thats when problems start.
The Senate President , Bukola Saraki, on Friday, disassociated himself from stopping anyone from talking freely and the use of social media.

This was released in a statement by the Media Office of the President of the Senate on Friday quoted Saraki as responding to reports that a civil servant, Mr. Biodun Baba, was being allegedly vilified for criticising him on social media.

In a series of tweets on his personal account @BukolaSaraki, the President of the Senate, said, I use social media, so I am a firm believer in freedom of speech and using social media to air out ones views. This will never change.

As governor, senator and now as @SPNigeria (Senate President), I have never attempted to stifle anyones freedom to speak his [or] her mind. This will not change.

As a public servant who has subjected himself in the service of my country, I face criticisms everyday from many quarters. Criticism does not deter me from serving my country. I learn from constructive criticism. It inspires me to continue working.

My colleagues and I will continue to work to pass legislations that will make life better for all Nigerians.

Thirty seven-year-old Baba was on Thursday arraigned in a magistrates court in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. The court is presided over by Mr. Ahmad Dasuki.

Baba, who is said to be a primary school teacher and a member of the All Progressives Congress, was accused of making uncomplimentary and inciting post on his Facebook page against Saraki.

The offences, according to the Judicial Form 2 issued by the court, were contrary to Sections 113, 114, 393, 394 of the Penal Code of Northern Nigeria and Sections 883 and 204 of the Criminal Code Act.

The complainant, Alhaji Jimoh Adesina, who is the APC Chairman for Kwara Central Senatorial District, Ilorin, accused Baba, who is of Ile Kolawole Gambari Ward 1, Ilorin East Local Government Area, of engaging in acts capable of inciting disturbance of public peace, injurious falsehood, printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory and insult to a religion.

He said, Since July, 2017, the accused, through his walls on Facebook, has been inciting the public against the Kwara-Central Senatorial District representative at the upper chambers, Dr Olubukola Saraki, the incumbent Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Baba has been exerting undue influence on innocent persons which is a threat to public peace by spreading falsehood which has caused and still causing disaffection, pandemonium among the citizens of Kwara State and beyond by disparaging the person of the Senate President, the good people of Kwara-Central Senatorial District, which he represents.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Suspected Fulani men chopped up the fingers of a man identified as Hassan, during an arguement with some men on Friday, in Matane, Niger State, Rariya reports.

According to an eyewitness, Nura Alhassan, the problem started when the Fulanis came into the town to buy cigarettes and drinks. Hassan was said to told them he doesnt like the smell of cigarettes, and an argument ensued.

It later degenerated into a fight and a weapon was used to chop off his fingers. The incident almost led to an unrest in the community, but for the timely intervention of security operatives.

Source: ( Instablog9ja )
Earlier today, in an interview with PUNCH, Nigerian comedian, Seyi Law, says he holds no grudge against Kemi Olunloyo, who has been insulting his daughter over her weight, in fact he says he actually sees the brilliance in Olunloyo.

Seyi Law said;

She claims to be a citizen of the US and my child is a US citizen. I could decide to sue her in the US and she would pay out of her nose.

Kemi Olunloyo just replied him, insinuating he MUST apologize to her mum! The self-acclaimed investigative journalist took to her Twitter account and wrote;

1.Comedian #SeyiLaw has been seeking attention from me this week doing a Punch interview trying to trend so he can revive his DEAD career

2. #SeyiLaw is using a popular Nigerian celebrity tactic to step on Kemis toes, she gets mad, replies me and revives my dead career lol.

3. #SeyiLaw told Punch that Im BRILLIANT! No doubt, 3 1st CLASS US degrees put to use in a country where lawyers are comedians and rappers.

4. The truth is that #SeyiLaw fans are illiterates. I have noticed most brainwashed by the medical word #OBESE. His daughter is OVERWEIGHT!

5. #SeyiLaw told Punch he can SUE me in the US for calling his child fat. This is what happens when u have anchor babies. Clueless parents

6. #SeyiLaw & wife anchors their baby to America to get a US passport but dont know the laws. America has a FIRST AMENDMENT #FreedomOfPress

7. #SeyiLaw cant even sue me in the US even if I called his baby a TOAD. Even saying his lawsuit cash will pay for his kids education

8. #SeyiLaw fans, pls STOP telling me to leave his child alone. He needs to stop insulting me in the MSM. Im still the one that TRENDS!!

9. #SeyiLaws kid and I also carry Nigerian passports. Why not sue me here? He told cops a blogger called Tiwa #KungfuPanda. They laughed!

10. #SeyiLaw needs to apologize for telling my mom she should have KEPT HER PLACENTA and THROWN ME AWAY! Those words hurt my mother GREATLY!

11. Even #SeyiLaw fans are sick of him @instablog9ja a popular Instagram platform telling him to STOP showcasing his child on #socialmedia
A 10-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped by her uncle, will not get her to wish to abort the pregnancy,the ruling was given by a judge at the Indias Supreme Court on the grounds that she is too far into her pregnancy.

A doctors panel told the court that, at 32 weeks, termination of the pregnancy would be too risky. Her pregnancy was discovered two weeks ago when she complained of stomach ache and her parents took her to hospital.

A lower court had earlier turned down her plea on similar grounds. Without disclosing the details of the medical report, the judges on Friday ruled that termination was not good for the girl.

They have asked the government-run Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research hospital in the northern city of Chandigarh to ensure that proper medical care is provided to her.

On Monday, the Supreme Court had ordered doctors to evaluate whether the girl could undergo abortion safely.

The court order came after lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava filed a public interest petition saying doctors who had already examined the girl found her pelvic bones had not fully developed because of her age and the life of both mother and baby were at very serious risk.

Medical experts have categorically opined that if the 10-year-old is forced to give birth, either through normal delivery or even through caesarean-section, it may be fatal to the life of the rape survivor as well as to her child, the petition said.

The girl belongs to an extremely poor family, her father is a government employee and mother works as a domestic helper. The girl alleges she was raped several times in the past seven months by her uncle, who has been arrested.

Her pregnancy was only recently discovered because she herself was unaware of her condition. Indian law does not allow terminations after 20 weeks unless doctors confirm the mothers life is in danger.
Following the huge social media war between Seyi Law and a former governors daughter, the comedian reveals he holds no grudge against Kemi Olunloyo.

In a new chat with Punch, Seyi Law, who says he could file a lawsuit against her in the United States and have her pay through her nose, thinks she is brilliant but uses that brilliance stupidly.

Seyi Law said;

I dont have any grudge against Kemi Olunloyo. The truth is that I see a lot of brilliance in her but it is just that her way of doing things without having ethical values is what makes people get pissed at her.

If she had initially written something like I saw Seyi Laws daughters picture and I think he should watch the weight of his baby so that she doesnt become obese, that would have been better because it is a piece of advice.

It is a better approach and not calling my baby obese without having the necessary precautions like taking the babys weight, height, eating routine and other things. If she had done all these things before coming to the conclusion that my baby is obese, that would have been medically fine.

If we were in the US or UK; providing a babys medical report on social media without the approval of the parents, I know what it entails and the amounts she would pay as fine. The cyberspace is not limited to a country, it is worldwide. She claims to be a citizen of the US and my child is a US citizen.

I could decide to sue her in the US and she would pay out of her nose. She could even be the one to pay the money that would send my child to school. Some people are brilliant but they take their stupidity to an extent that they ruin themselves along the line. Brilliance without caution would make you become foolish.

This woman can be very good sometimes with some of her reports and she could be blunt at other times with her write-up and we appreciate that but when you operate as a person, you need to be careful with your choice of words.

If you want to be blunt, it has to be with evidence. You dont just say you are blunt by writing falsehood and that is where she has a problem.
A suspected female suicide bomber was apprehended by men of the military operatives in Konduga local government, Borno State.

The suspect was been fed by the Soldiers after she was apprehended.
The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has assured students and officials of the University that despite the recent attacks by Boko Haram terrorists on the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, and workers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Federal Government would not shut down the institution.

The minister said this during a condolence visit to UNIMAID, while commiserating with the schools Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ibrahim Njodi, and other top officials over the brutal killings of some workers of the institution by the Boko Haram insurgents in an ambush.

About 30 civilians and 18 soldiers reportedly died in the ambush.

Adamu said the government was not willing to truncate academic activities in the institution despite the security situation in the state.

He said, You demonstrate great courage and resilience to stay here to do your work despite the security challenges.

We commend you and the government appreciates what you are doing; even to work in Maiduguri requires courage. Before I came here, I had thought of closing down the university, but after listening to the Vice-Chancellor and seeing what you are doing, I felt proud of you.

The Federal Government will not shut down the university and we will provide you with all the necessary support.

Speaking earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Njodi, said four workers of the university were still missing following the tragic incident.

We are seriously concerned about their safety; we have contacted the security to know their whereabouts, Njodi said.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
The Wicked has never gone unpunished. A woman was attacked by a two-man armed robbery gang, after making a withdrawal at a Zenith Bank branch located at Faith Bustop along Egbeda-Ikotun road, Thursday around 8:30am .

Reports say the robbers, who specialize in motorbike robbery, snatched her handbag containing the money she withdrew, but met their waterloo when a mobile policeman attached to another bank around the area shot one dead, while the other tried to escape by trying to blend in with innocent passersby.

He was, however fished out by angry mobs who witnessed the incident and beaten to pulp before he was handed over to a team of policemen who took away the suspects, including the remains of the one shot.
Copper Nears Important Area Taurus Trading LLC - 1 hour ago Watch price action between 3.9615 and 4.1167.

Elections, inflation and crop reports bring volatility Sidwell Strategies - 1 hour ago Black Sea Corridor Renewal ahead

Americans Are Saving Less. Heres How to Save More. Young & The Invested - Sat Nov 12, 6:00AM CST Several recent data studies show that Americans, after saving heavily during the pandemic, are starting to pull money from those savings. We discuss how to maintain healthy savings habits.

Hog Prices Closed Mixed Barchart - Fri Nov 11, 4:21PM CST Lean hog prices were mixed on Friday with 12 to 52 cent losses through the April contract. The deferred contracts closed 10 to 15 cents in the black with May UNCH. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price... HEZ22 : 84.350s (-0.62%) HEJ23 : 94.100s (-0.13%) KMZ22 : 94.900s (-0.63%)

Friday Cotton Closes Triple Digits Higher Barchart - Fri Nov 11, 4:21PM CST Cotton added 116 to 182 points to the upside on Friday after a brief pause for the WASDE numbers. That kept the board under the high on Tuesday, but ended as a weekly gain of 253 points. USDAs FAS... CTZ22 : 88.20s (+2.11%) CTH23 : 86.33s (+2.09%) CTK23 : 85.56s (+1.89%)

Wheats Close in Black on Friday Barchart - Fri Nov 11, 4:21PM CST Wheat futures ended with +1% gains on Friday. KC HRW closed the strongest on Friday with 1.8% to 2% gains, leaving the Dec contract 10 1/4 cents in the red. CBT SRW closed between 1% and 1.3% higher across... ZWZ22 : 813-6s (+1.28%) ZWH23 : 835-2s (+1.15%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.4644 (+1.39%) KEZ22 : 943-4s (+1.97%) KEPAWS.CM : 9.0182 (+2.07%) MWZ22 : 945-6s (+1.53%)

Triple Digit Losses in Friday Cattle Barchart - Fri Nov 11, 4:21PM CST The cattle complex faded on Friday on a recovery in the grain complex. Front month fat cattle futures ended the day $0.72 to $1.77 lower. December contracts were 13 cents weaker for the week. Feeder cattle... LEZ22 : 151.525s (-1.01%) LEG23 : 153.250s (-1.14%) LEJ23 : 157.050s (-0.91%) GFX22 : 176.950s (-0.94%) GFF23 : 178.575s (-1.72%)
The lack of uptake in business interruption cover should concern both the insurance industry and its clients, an expert has said.With the recent Vero SME Index highlighting that the level of uptake on business interruption cover leaves a lot to be desired, businesses both small and large need to take a closer look at the cover and the potential damage underinsurance could cause.Speaking after the launch of Arthur J. Gallagher s Q2 edition of their Market Overview Report, Mark Oatway, head of corporate broking at Arthur J. Gallagher, said that the lack of business interruption cover should be taken very seriously as reports suggest that around 80% of businesses that suffer a major loss enter administration within 12 months.Increased rates of insolvency and restructuring in recent months point towards a broader challenge where insurance plays a critical role in safeguarding the ability of a business to continue operating should the unexpected happen, Oatway said. While we cannot mandate insurance to customers, we do ensure that business owners are aware of the broader consequences of it not being in place.SME clients remain a key target for the cover as Oatway noted that while the cover is more commonplace in the corporate arena, smaller businesses still lack awareness.While many corporate businesses would consider the impact of being unable to operate if something unexpected occurs, in the small-to-medium-business community the inclusion of business interruption cover is often an afterthought which becomes a harsh reality when they are faced with mounting costs and a business that is out of action for a period of time, Oatway said.Oatway noted that when AJG is discussing business interruption, the firm advises a review of a clients level of cover and factors in any material aspects of a businesss operations that could involve new risks and exposures.In 2016, the South Australia power blackouts, which caused widespread disruption and financial challenges for many businesses, showed how a lack for business interruption cover can prove damaging for business, Oatway said.
While ransomware attacks may have taken the headlines over recent months thanks to global events WannaCry and Petya, an expert has said that a good broker looks at cyber risk from a more holistic view.As the threat of ransomware does increase, other avenues of cyber risk also open up whether they occur from human error or a malicious employee. Karen Kukoda, a strategic alliance director at cyber security firm FireEye, said brokers need to look at the entire risk landscape.People are afraid of ransomware and things like that but they dont understand what would happen if their IP was found on a Chinese server somewhere, Kukoda told Insurance Business. How do you translate that to a dollar amount? I think really good cyber brokers can help you quantify the aspects of those risks. They will also take the time to describe the differences in policies that fit your business needs, which underwriters provide the best policy for retail or healthcare, etc.Kukoda noted that brokers also need to understand the current coverage the client enjoys before they delve into policy options linked to cyber as other policies can cover aspects of the risk.The recent WannaCry and Petya attacks have helped raise awareness around cyber risk and insurance but Kukoda said more still needs to be done to help protect clients. For organisations looking to improve their own cyber security and transfer risk through insurance, Kukoda said that traditional business silos need to be removed.We have got to combine the teams, Kukoda continued. Risk management is clearly going to be involved but so is IT, and so should the board of executives because all of these people have different aspects of this risk and different concerns that have to be managed and then obviously transferred.
US underwriter Starr Companies is setting up an insurance subsidiary in Malta, if it is granted a license by the Malta Financial Services Authority.



The Insurance Insider reported the firm has chosen Malta as its European Union base for when the UK leaves the bloc. Weve submitted a plan, said Steve Blakey, chief executive of Starr Underwriting Agents Limited and Starr Managing Agents Limited in London, as quoted by the report.



According to the report, Blakey had met with the regulatory body in Malta. He said the application is currently going through.



Earlier this year the European Commission published its recommendations for Malta, including: Ensure the effective supervision of internationally oriented business by financial institutions licensed in Malta in cooperation with the host supervisors in the countries where they operate.



The Commission cited Maltas favourable tax environment as among the factors that make it attractive to a significant number of foreign institutions. However, it described the supervision of the internationally-oriented business as challenging.



The financial sector carries out most of its activities outside Malta. The ability of a relatively small supervisory authority to oversee a large system, in particular in the insurance sector but also in banking, is under pressure, said the Commission.










Un ottobre da sogno per Antonio Conte: lex ct della Nazionale italiana, attualmente alla guida del Chelsea, nelle ultime quattro gare di Premier League ha collezionato solo successi, conditi da 11 reti segnate e addirittura nessuna incassata. Numeri da record che non sono certo passati inosservati alla Federazione inglese, la quale ha conferito al tecnico leccese lambito premio di Manager del mese.

Unavventura oltremanica iniziata in sordina, quella di Conte, pur a fronte di tre vittorie nelle prime tre gare di campionato. A far vacillare, anche se solo per un momento, le certezze del patron del club londinese, Roman Abramovich, i risultati conseguiti tra la 4a e la 6a giornata, coincisi con un pareggio sul campo dello Swansea City e, soprattutto, con le due pesanti sconfitte subite dal Liverpool, sul terreno casalingo di Stamford Bridge, e dallArsenal. In particolare, la debacle interna coi Reds, aveva irritato non poco il numero uno russo, poiche occorsa proprio nel giorno della sua 250esima partita da presidente della societa.

Come detto, solo un momento. Dopo lincontro dellEmirates, il tecnico salentino cambia modulo, adottando un piu equilibrato 3-4-3 e inserendo elementi di corsa come lo spagnolo Pedro. Una svolta totale perche, di li in poi, il Chelsea inanellera solo e soltanto vittorie: 2 gol allHull City e al Southampton in trasferta, 3 ai campioni dInghilterra del Leicester e 4 allo United in casa, con un meraviglioso numero zero nella casella delle reti subite. Un fantastico poker, ottenuto tra l1 e il 29 ottobre. Un cambio di marcia sbalorditivo, confermato dal 5 a 0 rifilato ai toffees dellEverton nel primo match di novembre, e una scalata che, man mano, ha portato i blues al secondo posto in classifica, a soli 2 punti dal Liverpool capolista.

E allora, non poteva mancare il riconoscimento di migliore allenatore del mese, ottenuto surclassando tecnici del calibro di Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) e Mark Hughes (Southampton). Tanta, ovviamente, la soddisfazione: E un grande onore e voglio condividerlo con i giocatori e con la societa  ha dichiarato Conte sul sito ufficiale della Premier League -. E la prima volta che lavoro in un altro Paese, con una cultura diversa, e portare la propria filosofia non e facile, ma ora sono contento di questa scelta.

A completare la festa, la premiazione del fantasista belga, Eden Hazard, come miglior giocatore di ottobre. Due risultati importanti per il club, ottimo incentivo per la rincorsa al trono dei campioni, occupato dal Leicester di Ranieri. Il prossimo appuntamento per l11 di Conte sara al Riverside Stadium, tana del Middlesborough neopromosso. Il tempo di festeggiare e gia finito.
Regardless of how you feel about the Costco/Lincoln Premium Poultry operation coming to Fremont, please recognize that for the instant financial gratification of a few, the City of Fremont, with the blessing of the State of Nebraska is leading the charge for one entity to have control over our food supply.

Costco will own the hatchery, truck baby chickens to growers under contract to only grow and sell to Costco. Costco will own the processing plant and the chickens will only be sold in Costco stores. If you think this type of control will stop with Costco and chickens, you are wearing blinders to the precedent setting rung on the ladder to "control of the food supply = control of the people".

Even Satan knew in his effort to get Jesus to worship him, to offer Jesus food and water first after Jesus had been in the wilderness without food and water for 40 days. (Luke 4:1-4)

I want to commend Councilman Matt Bechtel because at the City Council meeting on Tues., July 24th, he had the honesty to say after all the complaints that were thrown at the City Council concerning their lack of openness with the people, it all came down like Obamacare and Nancy Pelosi's statement, "we will pass it and then you'll find out what's in it." We all know how that has turned out.

I also want to commend Councilwoman Susan Jacobus as even she looked appalled that the City of Fremont was closing a "gravel street" by the chicken plant location without contacting any landowner that uses that road to inform them of the planned closure. She also made a statement that in the future, notification of some actions need to be made before the people of Fremont are, shall we say (my words) blindsided with an action of the City Council.

Brenda Ray

Fremont
The Great Firewall, as its known, is implemented by the Chinese government to crackdown on user access by its citizens. Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, have been a means to bypass that restriction for years.

Now it seems that Apple has decided to remove that accessibility option for Chinese citizens. According to several different developers who previously had their own VPN apps available in the Chinese App Store, their apps have been removed. As TechCrunch reports, it was first noted by ExpressVPN, which is a provider based outside of China. The developer confirmed that all major VPN apps have been removed from the Chinese App Store at this point.

According to a response from Apple directly, the reason ExpressVPNs app was removed was because it includes content that is illegal in China.

ExpressVPN is still technically available in other countries all over the world  just not in China. Another VPN provider, Star VPN, has since tweeted out that its own option has also been removed from the Chinese App Store.

On its blog, ExpressVPN outlined its response to Apples move, saying that it condemns these measures.

Were disappointed in this development, as it represents the most drastic measure the Chinese government has taken to block the use of VPNs to date, and we are troubled to see Apple aiding Chinas censorship efforts. ExpressVPN strongly condemns these measures, which threaten free speech and civil liberties.

The developers did say that the ExpressVPN app is still available on Mac, and its also available on other platforms like Windows, Android, and others.

Apple isnt a stranger to removing apps or changing things in general to navigate in China, in light of the governments restrictions. In January of this year, Apple removed the New York Times app from the iOS App Store, due to local regulations. It is not a secret that Apple sees China as its next big step in business, as its a huge focus for the company, and these moves are seen as direct responses to that.

For Chinese citizens that use iOS, who also require a VPN to access the open internet, this is a huge step backwards. The Chinese government in January of this year effectively illegalized virtual private networks, making them require government approval before they can be launched. While Apple sees working with the government as a requirement to make any headway there, this is a huge step in the wrong direction for an open, free internet in China, and deals a blow to avoiding censorship.

[via TechCrunch
Estonian-developed ride-hailing app Taxify launched its platform in Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday, with hundreds of drivers already signed up and ready to accept rides.



Taxify Iraq country manager Moammar Hasan described the service as an app connecting riders seeking a quick and comfortable ride with verified drivers, according to a company press release.



"We would like to take part in the reforming process of the economic scene in Iraq and believe that the market lacks a modern and safe way of moving around the city," aid Hasan. Taxify will contribute to Baghdad's market space by providing a centralized, fraud-free platform as well as fares based on actual mileage and time driven. "Taxify allows users to request a ride via the app, see the drivver approaching on the map and even share their ride details with loved ones, who can track the ride from their smartphone," he described.



According to Hasan, the company only accepts drivers with no criminal background, those who have not had any serious traffic incidents, have at least two years of driving eperience, a clean car and a good, service-oriented attitude.



As it continues to expand to the Middle East and Africa, Taxify, which is available for both iOS and Android, has grown to become one of Europe and Africa' largest ride-hailing apps, operating and providing work for thousands of drivers and a team of over 180 employees in 18 countries around the world.

| Soruce: News ERR |
Wildfires raging through the French Riviera have forced holidaymakers to flee as parts of the region including campsites were evacuated.

Thousands caught up in the safety operation as local authorities said flames had engulfed some 4,000 hectares (9,880 acres) of land in southern France.

La Londe-les-Maures, nearby Bormes-les-Mimosas and La Lavandou in the Var area of Provence saw some 10,000 people evacuated, including 3,000 campers, a statement from the prefecture said.

Four tracker planes and a firefighting aircraft had formed part of the emergency response after fires became ferocious at around 11pm last night.

10,000 people leave campsites and houses in south of France to escape wildfires #Francefires pic.twitter.com/gbdqeyFdBR  Sky News (@SkyNews) July 26, 2017

Hundreds of firefighters are battling to bring several blazes under control since they broke out on Monday, including the one which has scorched 800 hectares in Var and another in northern Corsica.

The picturesque corner of southern France has long been a popular holiday destination and is at the start of the summer season.

Planes were seen contributing to the emergency response, after French authorities asked the European Union for help.

Lisa Minot, a British journalist who had been visiting a campsite at Bormes-les-Mimosas in Var, claimed thousands of people were asked to leave in the middle of the night.

She told BBC News this morning: "The fires have been going all night, our campsite has its own beach and at two o'clock this morning they evacuated everybody.

"There are about 1,000 pitches in the campsite, they evacuated everyone down to the beach and we have been here ever since.

"There are very strong winds ... and this is what is hampering the efforts to fight the fire, because they really cannot predict where the flames are going to go next."

She said around 3,000 people had been moved to the beach and asked not to move by authorities, adding: "The sun has come up and it is going to be 31 degrees today, but because of the pool smoke that is over the entire sky, the sun is not as hot as it probably could be."
Farmers have been urged to get training to use quad bikes after two deaths from accidents with the all-terrain vehicles in Ireland so far this year.

A senior inspector at the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) described the vehicles as the most dangerous machines on farms, second only to tractors, and called for the wearing of helmets to be made mandatory.

There have been 10 fatalities involving the vehicles over the past decade but four of those deaths have occurred in the last 18 months, according to HSA figures.

Pat Griffin, senior inspector with the HSA, has urged quad bike drivers to get training and wear a helmet for protection on the vehicles, which are used mainly on farms.

Poor practice has built up around them and with two deaths this year it is certainly something that needs attention. There should be some system brought in to make sure the training is compulsory, he said.

Helmets should be made mandatory. A lot of people say the typical motorbike helmet is impractical but there are specific helmets more suitable for quads.

The HSA says most accidents are caused by excessive speed, overturning on sleep slopes and rough terrain, carrying passengers, and the driver lacking experience or training.

Although there are no figures available relating to injuries from quad bikes in Ireland, Mr Griffin said the injuries from riding the vehicle, generally without a helmet, can be very serious.

The worst type of injury is generally from the quad overturning and landing on top of the driver and it is a crush injury to the chest or head. It is more often than not fatal.

The most common injury is a head injury when the bike impacts the head and there is no helmet or if the quad drives into a pillar or a pole.

There are no injury statistics. I would say they are one of the most dangerous machines on a farm, probably after the tractor. There is no protection at all, said Mr Griffin.

It is a trend worldwide in places like Australia and New Zealand.

Young holidaymaker Ciara Twomey was injured in a quad bike accident during a trip to Thailand.

The nursing student from Bantry, Co Cork, who is recovering back in Ireland, had to have eye surgery after her glasses smashed inside her helmet while quad-biking earlier in the month.

Mr Griffin said training is necessary as there is a special method of riding quads, especially over rough terrain where they are more likely to overturn and cause injury or death.

Its called active riding where you move your body to make sure your weight is moved to keep stability on the vehicle, he explained.

An Australian study published this summer revealed that riders aged 70 years or older had double the risk of injury compared with young adult riders.

Unfortunately, a lot of elderly people are using quads and they dont have the flexibility and mobility to do active riding, said Mr Griffin.

I would say if elderly people are going to use quads they should make sure they travel very slowly and stay off steep ground.
Ataxia Ireland has been in receipt of HSE funding since 1999, when it received 27,934. The figure rose over the years, peaking at 112,558 in 2011. In 2016, before the HSE became aware of concerns at the charity, it received 84,832. The figure dropped to less than 4,000 this year after the Charities Regulator sent in inspectors last November to investigate its financial affairs.

Among their findings were that the parents of CEO Barbara Flynn, Clare and Tim Creedon, who were the founding trustees of the charity, received more than 84,000 between January 2008 and April 2016, even though Revenue had explicitly stated that trustees should carry out their duties without payment, other than reasonable out-of-pocket expenses.
Responding to queries from committee members yesterday, head of the IPS Michael Donnellan said they had held meetings with the Departments of Justice and Health to examine how this might happen against the backdrop of an independent review.

The IPS strategic plan 2016-18 states it will seek cross-departmental endorsement of the [Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture] recommendation that prison healthcare services be brought under the responsibility of the Department of Health and operated by the HSE.

UNCAT chairman Jens Modvig asked about a timetable for the review and if it prompts structural changes, when will they start?.

Mr Donnellan said meetings had already taken place with government officials but that they would first need to identify the resources involved in considering whether it should be transferred or not.

The transfer of responsibility was recommended in a report by the late Inspector of Prisons, Judge Michael OReilly, published in February, in which he said resources cannot be used as an excuse for delaying such transfer of responsibility.

More than 20 Irish civil servants and diplomats appeared before the UNCAT in Geneva over a two-day period where they underwent a comprehensive grilling on various human rights issues, ranging from treatment of prisoners to how the State compensated women who had worked in Magdalene laundries or resided in mother and baby homes.

It also looked at domestic violence and queried why there had never been a follow-up to the 2002 SAVI report, the only national report to look at sexual abuse and violence in Ireland.

The excuse given by an Irish official  that expenditure on another SAVI report (circa 1m) might not be best use of taxpayers money but that it was being considered  was not accepted.

The Irish delegation was also quizzed about Caranua, set up in 2012, which uses funds from religious congregations to cater for the needs of survivors of abuse in religious-run residential institutions. The committee heard that when 110m in funding had been expended, Caranua would be dissolved.

Asked if the State would consider putting more money so the project can continue, the Irish response was that other services, such as counselling, would continue to be available.

At the end of the grilling, minister of state for justice David Stanton told UNCAT: We still view you as a critical friend, an essential critical friend.

As a follow-up to the review, the second in six years, Ireland will be required to submit a reply within a year.
The plan, which would have altered the levels of grant funding available for post- mastectomy products and wigs/hairpieces, sparked an outcry among retailers who provide the products to patients.

It was initially planned to introduce the changes a month ago, but the proposal had sparked an angry response from Health Minister Simon Harris, who had been unaware of the move.
The victim, understood to be from the Mitchelstown area, was fatally injured when his Yamaha motorbike was in collision with a Hyundai van near Rathcormac, on the old Cork to Fermoy road, at around 7.45am.

The accident occurred at an area known locally as Dr Barrys Bridge.
Judge David Riordan said the criticism of sentencing is a paradigm that may sell newspapers but does not make society safer  and may in fact create a less safe society.

Judge Riordan chose the occasion of his retirement from the bench to highlight difficulties associated with the reintroduction of prisoners to society after sentences. He said little attention was paid to the valuable work done by people supporting ex-prisoners trying to get back into society.

The judge said the prison system is the least visible part of the judicial process. He said sentences ending sooner than envisaged because of circumstances such as overcrowding may result in a prisoner not being rehabilitated from a drug addiction, not facilitated in getting accommodation, and without social welfare being immediately available.

Judge Riordan praised those groups working with prisoners on their release.

Tributes were paid to the judge from colleagues, legal practitioners, court staff, and those associated with the courts.

Donal McCarthy, a barrister and father of the Cork Bar, said Judge Riordan was ideally suited to being a Circuit Court judge having trained as a barrister, practised as a solicitor, and served first as a judge of the district court.

Terrence OSullivan, president of the Southern Law Association, said most importantly, Judge Riordan understood the concern of those appearing before him and showed kindness in the discharge of his duties.

Noel Doherty, a family law solicitor, said Judge Riordan always showed respect and patience and brought a wealth of experience to family law.

Chief Superintendent Barry McPolin spoke of the great service Judge Riordan had provided for the people of Cork ever since his appointment to the district court in 1995.

Pat Dawson of the Irish Prison Service, Sinead Carroll of the Probation Service, and Elisha DArcy, Mary Crowley, and Martin ODonovan of the Courts Service all joined in congratulating the judge and wishing him a happy retirement.

Judge Riordan thanked his wife Patricia, court staff, judicial assistants Andrea Gilligan and Rebecca Moynihan, and Garda Denis Ring, who is in charge of court security.
Her recently-delivered TED Talk, on why design should include everyone, has now amassed more than 750,000 views as the Trinity academic aims to break down all sorts of barriers.

I am incredibly proud to be a little person, to have inherited the condition of achondroplasia, she said.

But I am most proud to be Sinead.

Achondroplasia is the most common form of dwarfism. Achondroplasia translates as without cartilage formation, said the PhD student in her talk.

I have short limbs and achondroplastic facial features  my forehead and my nose.

My arms do not straighten fully, but I can lick my elbow.

Sinead delivered her talk in March but it has just recently been made available online, with views already heading for the 1m mark.

In it she talks about the practicalities of living and moving around in a world that is not designed for her.

She talks about having to use upturned bins to access locks, or approach complete strangers for help.

I often forget that Im a little person. Its the physical environment and society that remind me, she said.

Using a public bath- room is an excruciating experience. I walk into the cubicle but I cant reach the lock on the door. Im creative and resilient.

I look around and see if theres a bin that I can turn upside down.

Is it safe? Not really. Is it hygienic and sanitary? Definitely not. But the alternative is much worse.

If that doesnt work, I use my phone. It gives me an additional four to six-inch reach, and I try to jam the lock closed with my iPhone.

Now, I imagine thats not what Jony Ive had in mind when he designed the iPhone, but it works. The alternative is that I approach a stranger. I apologise profusely and I ask them to stand guard outside my cubicle door.

They do, and I emerge grateful but absolutely mortified, and hope that they didnt notice that I left the bathroom without washing my hands.

I carry hand sanitiser with me every single day because the sink, soap dispenser, hand dryer, and mirror are all out of my reach.

Sineads TED Talk won why design should include everyone has been viewed more than 750,000 times.

The academic also spoke of how her dignity is impinged upon by casual everyday things most people take for granted, such as ordering a coffee.

Queuing, Im standing beside the pastry cabinet and the barista calls for the next order. Next, please, they shout. They cant see me.

The person next to me in the queue points to my existence and everyone is embarrassed.

I order as quick as I can and I move along to collect my coffee.

Now, think just for a second. Where do they put it? Up high and without a lid. Reaching up to collect a coffee that I have paid for is an incredibly dangerous experience, she explained.

Sinead also talked about having to buy clothes from childrenswear and being unable to move from standing to sitting on a chair with grace, instead having to crawl on her hands and knees.

The activist said she wanted to use the platform to offer her perspective and insight into how the world is designed.

Design is an enormous privilege, but it is a bigger responsibility. I want you to open your eyes, she said.

Sinead, who has a large social media following as Minnie Melange, also travels the world, sharing stages with the likes of Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell and former US vice-president Joe Biden.

She recently had a meeting with the fashion editor of the New York Times, Vanessa Friedman, who she described as one of the most analytic critics in the industry and consistently articulates the economic and social value of fashion.

Sinead said they met at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) this year, when Ms Friedman noticed the Irish academic was unable to see from where she was sitting.

We met at #NYFW in February as we were both attending a fashion show in a swish NYC hotel, said Sinead.

I was seated in the second row and honestly, just delighted to be there.

But Vanessa realised that I wasnt able to see and she spoke with the brands team and asked them to change my seating arrangement so that I could view the show unobstructed  in the front row, said Sinead.

It was an incredible gesture and the definition of being an ally.

She mobilised her privilege and power to ensure that the show was accessible to my individual needs, she added.

Sinead has also recently written for Teen Vogue about the challenges of living in a world that is not designed for you.
Det Garda Richard White told Cork Circuit Criminal Court the main evidence against the accused man was contained on the video recording.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain imposed a total sentence of one years jail on Mehdi Achouri, a Tunisian national working at an advanced level in industrial robotics. He had an address at Hollyhill, Cork. Two years of a three-year sentence were suspended.

Defence barrister Ray Boland said jealousy was at the heart of the crime. Achouris relationship had ended with Sonia Marshall, but her friend, a former boyfriend James OToole, was visiting from Canada and Achouri went into a jealous rage. He trespassed at the house and threatened to kill them.

Det Garda White said that at 7am on September 24 last year he took a knife from the kitchen and went upstairs. He took out his mobile phone and began recording. He began shouting and roaring threatening the pair. In relation to Mr OToole, Achouri threatened to cut off his head.

Ms Marshall managed to calm him down, but Achouri struck her in the face causing her to fall. She managed to get him to the front door and the gardai were called.

It was quite a horrific event, said Det Garda White.

Mr Boland said the assault on Ms Marshall was a slap to her face. The knife was never used.

Judge O Donnabhain said it was fortunate she responded in such a manner as to calm the situation.

The defendant pleaded guilty to assaulting Ms Marshall, trespassing, and threatening to kill Mr OToole.
It was the mid-1980s and Ireland was in the economic doldrums.

The Tribune had lived on the edge financially and had, by this stage, come to the attention of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, which was seeking to wind up the company.

Unlike on previous occasions, the Revenue was refusing to meet Browne, the then-editor, and his finance director.

Panicked, Browne reached out to Mr FitzGerald, whom he had known and supported during his days in Young Fine Gael, to see if he could at least urge the Revenue to meet.

A meeting was duly convened, at the behest of the taoiseach, but Browne was met with a major shock.

The Revenue officials told him the company was to be wound up, with notices already placed with national newspapers for the following day.

Fiery and determined, Browne pleaded for a reprieve and said he had a plan which would see the debt repaid.

He asked, if he could get the adverts pulled in the other papers, would Revenue grant leave for the Tribune to continue.

Reluctantly, the Revenue officials agreed, but went away thinking the die was already cast.

But, Browne, tenacious, rang the advertising managers in the newspapers all over town and told them the story.

Importantly, he insisted the advertisers did not tell their news desks what was going on, because if it got out, the Tribune would be sunk.

Incredibly, they all did, and the Tribune got out of jail and Browne remained on as editor until he was sacked by the board, which had now become dominated by Independent Newspapers.

Founder Vincent Browne with former taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald at the relaunch of Magill magazine in 1997. Picture: RollingNews.ie

Having worked as a columnist at the Irish Times and the Sunday Times since his sacking, Browne began to work in RTE, hosting a late-night radio show.

That show is now remembered for its ground-breaking coverage of the tribunals which had gripped the political system and the country.

Browne and his team had originally sought to broadcast recordings his team had made of the McCracken tribunal hearings in a bid to humanise the testimony, which remained beyond the reach of the TV cameras.

RTE bosses were deeply reluctant to allow the tapes be broadcast, but Browne, as a lawyer, questioned whether there was any legal barrier to them being aired.

In the end, he telephoned Judge Brian McCracken, who said that while he was not sure the tapes could not be broadcast, he requested Browne not do so, saying it would lead to a stampede from interested parties to the Four Courts.

But the something amazing happened. Apparently, it was the judge himself who suggested to Browne that he use actors to reproduce the hearings, as had previously been done to allow broadcasters to run interviews with Sinn Feins Gerry Adams, who was still under the Section 31 ban.

What a wonderful idea, Browne said, and he enlisted the help of Joe Taylor and Malcolm Douglas.

Broadcasting history was made.

Limerick native Browne, at age 73, has an incredible legacy in journalism behind him, reaching far beyond his 10-year stint as the anchor of the Tonight Show on TV3, which finished this week.

The subject of many plaudits, Browne has been a unique presence in Irish journalism for more than 50 years. Bolshy, difficult, and prone to bouts of outrage, according to many who worked for him, he has been an unorthodox, fearsome, and tenacious advocate for journalism and has on more than one occasion put his own money where his mouth is. He was crucial in the establishment of the College Tribune newspaper in UCD, which continues to thrive to this day and is the current student newspaper of the year.

But his ventures were not always successful.

His Village Magazine was personally and journalistically fulfilling, but was a financial disaster and he was ultimately forced to sell his home to help fund his folly.

However, it was also part of the reason he ended up in TV3. In 2007, Brownes time in RTE was coming to an end as it was made known to him that his contract was not going to be renewed.

He put out feelers to TV3 and to Newstalk, the independent radio station which was part of the Denis OBrien stable of stations.

A deal was quickly done with then-boss David McRedmond and Browne became a most unusual addition to the TV3 roster.

The financial crash was the making of the show and, in its golden period of 2010 and 2011, the programme was required watching.

Largely helped by the willingness of top-tier politicians to appear, Browne became the public prosecutor in chief, eviscerating guests with sometimes cruel determination.

Guests would often leave the show seething as former minister Mary ORourke has said, only to reappear a couple of weeks later once their fury had died down.

However, as the crash turned to recovery, the standard of guest began to decline, as many Fine Gael ministers and TDs began refusing to appear, for fear of being kicked around.

Many different format ideas were used in order to revive the show, but it would ultimately revert back to the default position.

Suggestions that his leaving the station was brought about because of moves by management to assert more control on the veteran broadcaster have been dismissed as utter bollocks.

Throughout his career, Browne also sought to stand up to the powerful, from taoisigh Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen to the ECB overlords who forced us to socialise our banking debt.

Vincent Browne asks Taoiseach Bertie Ahern about his personal finances at the launch of the 2007 Fianna Fail manifesto. Picture: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie

But none more so than Denis OBrien.

The pair had been friendly from the time OBrien was company secretary at the Sunday Tribune. But their relationship became acrimonious in the wake of the Moriarty Tribunal report, which was damming of OBriens winning of the second mobile network licence.

Browne accused OBrien of seeking to use his personal considerable wealth to stifle criticism from journalists.

Browne said threats by OBrien to personally sue him over comments made on his show, and in Brownes Irish Times column, are an abuse of the wealth and the attendant power you have acquired.

I will do what I can to resist that, Browne said as he published the correspondence sent to him by OBrien.

So now, as the curtain comes down on his TV3 show, whats next for Vincent Browne?

He has been working on a book on one of his major journalistic targets, former taoiseach Charles J Haughey.

It is likely to be at least another year before it hits the stands, but is already highly anticipated.

Notwithstanding their public animosity, Browne and Haughey reconciled before the ex-taoiseach died in 2006, with Browne regularly making his way to Kinsealy for an audience.

Such paradoxes are central to who Vincent Browne is and have been central to his successes throughout his long career.

Some of #VinBs best bits

By Joe Leogue
Someone else whose mordant sense of humour we will miss is Prince Philip who will fulfill his last solo public engagement when he attends a Marines charity event in London. This will be the end of a career which has included 637 overseas trips under his own steam and 5,493 speeches. He became the longest-serving consort ever in 2009, and, at 96, is the oldest-ever member of the British royal family.

The prince will still undertake some events with Queen Elizabeth but this may give him less scope for the gaffes which have made him famous. Such as the occasion he asked a person in a wheelchair whether they were aware that they now have eating dogs for the anorexic? Or describing Beijing as ghastly during a goodwill tour of China (an insult he also applied closer to home to Stoke-on-Trent). Then there was his observation to a student newly returned from Papua New Guinea that you managed not to get eaten then.
We, the members of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, have 75 years of combined experience in publicly elected leadership.

Weve governed the University, weve led cities and schools, weve created and run businesses, weve served in Congress, and weve been on countless community boards.

Our years of service have taught us this: When your elected representatives dont focus on the big picture, Nebraska loses.

Its been suggested recently that the University is not sufficiently transparent with regard to how it spends taxpayer money.

The leaders of this state could certainly debate whether taxpayers should be able to see exactly how many of their dollars paid for paper clips at the University, or whether students should be able to know exactly how much of their professors salary was supported by their tuition dollars.

We could argue about whether the University should report the granular details of its spending, even if that knowledge would do little to inform public policy. This would require major new investments in infrastructure and people, but it could be done, if it were the will of the Legislature.

Or, we could join together and ask the questions that we think the people of Nebraska elected us to ask.

What activities should be funded by the state and what shouldnt the state support?

What are the best opportunities to use valuable taxpayer dollars to grow Nebraskas economy and quality of life?

What do we want the future of our state to look like?

The University of Nebraska must be a key part of that conversation. Your University, which provides affordable and outstanding education to 52,500 students each year, is one of the states most important engines for growth. NUs annual economic impact exceeds $3.9 billion. We produce the next generation of teachers, farmers, doctors and entrepreneurs. We are a premier destination for cancer care and research, agricultural innovation and advancements in national security. We are a model for expanding access for young people and leveraging partnerships with the private sector that allow us to do more together than would be possible alone.

We hope the Legislature agrees. The state and its University have been close partners for almost 150 years and Nebraskans have benefited enormously from the affordable excellence our partnership allows. Were grateful that state leaders have long recognized the indisputable value of a vibrant University system.

In return for the states investment, its up to the elected Board of Regents to fulfill its constitutional responsibility to hold the University to rigorous standards for accountability and transparency. We owe the very best due diligence in accounting for every dollar we receive to the students, parents, legislators and taxpayers who entrust us with their precious resources.

Nebraskans have every right to decide whether our bar is high enough. That thousands of pages of budget and salary documents are widely available for public inspection may not be enough for some. That we go well beyond minimum state and federal reporting requirements may not matter to those who want to hold the University to a different standard of accounting. That the Boards Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee carefully monitors the Universitys financial statements and internal audit function may not be compelling.

Our hope is that we can have the conversations Nebraskans expect us to have.

The challenges were up against  hunger, poverty, disease, security  are as pressing as they have ever been. The global marketplace has never been more competitive. The workforce demands more college graduates than were supplying today. The citizens of the state deserve our most innovative, collaborative, forward thinking.

In our view, theres no question Nebraska needs the creativity and talents of its University to grow for the future. The fiscal challenges facing our state only add to the urgency of moving forward together.

Its time to get focused on where we want to go. Were ready to get to work. We hope all Nebraskans will join us.

The writers are the members of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
Saturday, July 29th, 2017 (12:01 am) - Score 1,431

Grant Shappss (MP) cross-party British Infrastructure Group, which is supported by 57 MPs, has published its latest Broadbad 2.0 report, which among other things calls for consumers in the United Kingdom to be compensated for sub-10Mbps broadband speeds. Sadly it also makes some mistakes.

The original Broadbad 1.0 report, which was published in January 2016, grabbed headlines after it warned that millions of citizens and businesses [were] experiencing slow or non-existent connections. The blame for this was largely pinned on systemic underinvestment stemming from the natural monopoly of BT and Openreach, which it accused of stifling competition, hurting our constituents and in the process limiting Britains business and economic potential.

The report, which relied upon a fair bit of old data, was far from perfect and failed to deliver a comprehensive assessment of the market or propose detailed solutions. Instead Shapps supported calls for the full separation of Openreach from BT, although the telecoms operator described his report and its recommendations as being misleading and ill-judged (here).

Nevertheless many people agreed with Shapps assessment and the report succeeded in showing that there was some political weight behind proposals for a more radical change. Since then Ofcom and BT have reached a voluntary agreement over Openreachs legal separation (here, here and here), which includes new quality standards, as well as measures to open up more of their network to rivals and various changes to improve fairness

By contrast the new Broadbad 2.0 report appears to have switched tactics and instead focuses on broadband performance. In keeping with that it claims to have found that as many as 6.7 million UK broadband connections may not receive speeds above [10Mbps] and it makes some recommendations to help address this.

Broadband 2.0s Recommendations UK Government: * Progress secondary legislation setting out the terms of a broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO): Since broadband is increasingly considered to be as essential as utilities such as water or gas, minimum standards must be introduced to improve accessibility and connectivity across the country. The Digital Economy Act 2017 sets out provisions for a USO that defines a minimum broadband download speed of 10 Mb/s. In order to set the terms and scope of this USO, secondary legislation to the Digital Economy Act must be progressed by the government. * Provide statutory footing to the Voluntary Codes of Practice for broadband speeds: Some of the largest UK broadband providers operate according to Voluntary Codes of Practice regulated by Ofcom. The codes of practice entail an agreement on the part of providers to share clear information about their broadband speeds, and provide redress for customers when speeds are poor. However, the voluntary nature of these codes is insufficient in a rapidly developing telecoms sector. BIG therefore calls on the government to provide Ofcom with the mandate to legalise these codes of practice, in order to make broadband providers accountable to the law. Ofcom: * Lead on the improvement of data collection: Broadband download speed data recorded by Ofcom fails to differentiate between superfast connections that do not reach speeds above the proposed minimum standard of 10 Mb/s, and those connections whereby customers have actively chosen not to purchase superfast broadband. It is therefore almost impossible to determine the exact number of UK broadband customers that do not receive the speeds that they pay for. BIG calls on Ofcom to lead on the improvement of collecting broadband speed data that distinguishes between the take-up and availability of superfast broadband speeds. This is essential for developing a clear picture of how many broadband customers fail to receive the service they pay for. * Consider fixed broadband speeds in a new automatic compensation scheme: It is unacceptable that Ofcom has not considered whether broadband customers should be automatically compensated for consistently failing to receive the speeds that they pay for. Broadband speeds are a key indicator for whether customers are receiving a satisfactory service. Broadband Providers: * Take responsibility for making customers aware of their complaints and compensation procedures: An automatic compensation scheme will only be as effective as the number of customers that know about it. Therefore, BIG calls on broadband providers to take responsibility for communicating future changes to their customer services in a clear and concise manner, in order to improve accountability and transparency in the sector.

Most of the recommendations reflect ideas that are already being debated (e.g. a mandatory code of practice for broadband speeds and better data collection from ISPs), while few could disagree with the generalised notion of asking ISPs to make customers more aware of their complaints procedures.

However there are a few problems with the report, not least of which is the fact that it makes the mistake of confusing data gathered from consumer speedtests with that of actual network availability (i.e. the claim that up to 6.7 million users may fail to receive speeds of 10Mbps). This is crucial because it results in a misrepresentation by overlooking the existing availability of faster services.

Today its estimated that around 93% of premises are within reach of a fixed line superfast broadband (NGA) service and were ahead of most EU countries (example). However theres still plenty of work left to do in order to reach the next target of 97% by 2020 and the final 3% are expected to be catered for via a legally-binding 10Mbps+ Universal Service Obligation. The USO may very well end up being funded by BT and KCOM (here).

In reality around a million properties (not 6.7 million) would currently be unable to receive a 10Mbps+ speed and that figure will fall over the next few years as coverage improves. Put another way, the reports 6.7m figure is bogged down by the fact that around half of home broadband lines are still connected via slower ADSL, even though faster networks are often available (i.e. a lot of people havent upgraded due to various reasons such as a lack of awareness, higher prices, fear of switching, satisfaction with their existing connection etc.).

Strangely the report also criticises the data collected by industry regulator Ofcom, which it says needs to clearly distinguish between the take-up and actual availability of superfast broadband. However the regulator has been doing precisely this for quite awhile, such as via last years Connection Nations 2016 report and various related studies.

Andrew Glover, Chair of ISPA Council, said: ISPA members are actively rolling out super and ultrafast connections throughout the UK, increasing the availability of broadband of at least 10Mbps to over 95% of UK premises as speeds have increased to an average 51Mbps. As well as competing on the quality of broadband, ISPs compete on customer service, and new and existing consumer protection measures provide a strong basis for maintaining good service levels. ISPA welcomes parliamentary interest in broadband and we have helped support MPs local broadband campaigns, but it is important that research and reports that inform policy are robust. By failing to acknowledge the work that is already underway and selective use of data, this latest report falls short of this standard.

Ofcom has already proposed a system of automatic compensation for a protracted losses of broadband connectivity and missed engineer appointments (here), which is expected to cost ISPs up to 185m per year. The above reports idea of expanding on this to compensate for slow broadband will no doubt also appeal to a lot of people, but it could cost a lot more and be very difficult to implement.

The Causes of Slow Speed

The causes of slow speed are significantly more complicated to pin down than connection loss. Certainly some issues can stem from controllable aspects, such as regional network capacity or traffic management, but on the other hand ISPs cannot magically overcome any of the inherent physical limitations with existing infrastructure (particularly on ADSL / FTTC services provided via Openreachs (BT) network); these cause most of the issues.

On top of that poor speeds can also be caused by problems that exist inside your home, such as poor wiring, weak / congested WiFi signals, home network congestion (i.e. lots of people / apps using your connection at the same time), hardware faults, restrictions on performance imposed by remote internet content services (websites and servers etc.) and so forth.

Lest we forget that affordable consumer broadband connections are often only possible because capacity is shared between many users, which is partly why the performance at peak (busy) times often suffers a fall (experiences vary). Even the best Gigabit capable full fibre (FTTP/H) ISPs may not always be able to deliver their top speeds because of factors like some of those mentioned above.

Suffice to say that it would be tricky to correctly judge when to apply compensation and such a system is likely to be hugely expensive. Extra costs like that will of course end up being passed on to end-users. Its almost as if the goal of Broadband 2.0 is to give everybody a dedicated and uncontended connection, which is all well and good but that is a business connection and they can cost several times more than a residential service. Likewise ADSL and FTTC / VDSL2 users would still be hindered by the physical limitations of their line.

Mass market affordability requires commercial compromise, unless the Government is willing to build a national full fibre network at huge cost and then give it to every one of us on the cheap (as some other countries have done). However that opens up a whole new can of worms (anti-competitive practices, public spending etc.) and is unlikely to happen in the UKs diverse market. As above, it also wouldnt fix all the issues with speed.

So while we welcome the pro-consumer positions of Broadbad 2.0 and agree that some aspects need improvement, we are sadly frustrated by the fact that the report appears to adopt the headless chicken approach to policy making by proposing changes without fully understanding the challenges involved or offering any detail on how to implement and measure them.

SIDE NOTE 1: Weve had one copy of the press release saying the report is supported by 57 MPs and another saying 56 MPs, so dont be surprised if you see a few variations in the headlines today.

SIDE NOTE 2: If the rumours are true then right now the battle has already shifted and theres a very real risk that the Government may downgrade its legally-binding USO proposal to a non-binding USC (Commitment). We should know soon enough.
Whenever I write about immigration, I prepare to please absolutely no one, least of all myself. My personal curse is that I am a conservative who understands the feelings of people who are fed up with the broken immigration system and who do not want to see our borders become irrelevant. This has always been a keystone of the conservative platform: sovereignty, order, states rights. I get it.

But I am an immigration lawyer, as you know, if youve ever read anything Ive written, and I also understand the feelings of immigrants who have paid in blood, sweat, tears and sometimes even actual currency to become legal in this country. Many of them have already contributed mightily to this society, albeit through back channels and from the depths of restaurant kitchens, sweltering construction sites or dingy offices.

So I see both sides, and I try to be fair when I look at the competing interests of pro- and anti-immigration constituencies. I also dont like the people who separate out the legal from the illegal, because its a bit too simplistic to tell someone to get in line and do it the right way when there are no lines. The person here illegally today will, under our current system, likely have to wait over a decade before becoming the legal resident of tomorrow.

And the conservatives really dont care about that, just as the progressive immigration advocates think anyone who has a problem with loosening the restrictions on our laws and regulations (and de facto quotas) is a bigot.

So as I was saying, its a recipe for disaster and really spicy comments at the end of the column when I choose to write about immigration.

But I couldnt avoid the topic this week. The deaths of 12 people in Texas, victims of a botched human trafficking expedition, force me to confront the screwed-up way we deal with foreigners who want to come to this country and live, work and flourish. Anyone who thinks that men and women will cram themselves into an airless truck, along with their babies, for hundreds of sweltering miles, only to end up dead or dying because they want to bring mayhem to this country should probably stop reading now. Youre on an entirely different, cruel wavelength. Go read the comics section.

Those people came here the way that they did because there were few other options. There are no laws that allow people who are starving or fleeing persecution from the other side of the border to come here freely, honestly and with dignity. You have to take your chances, and, believe me, if your child is starving or your brother was just killed by gang members from Mara Salvatrucha, you dont care about dignity. You just come.

We need to fix our system, so that the tragedies that occurred last week dont repeat themselves. Unfortunately, instead of fixing the problem, our legislators put their heads in the sand and our executive decides to go after the low-hanging fruit.

Worse, we have people who think these people who came in illegally deserve what happened to them. I call it the Elians Mama syndrome. You remember her, dont you? She was the mother of that little Cuban boy who risked her life so he could have a better life. At the time, even in the wake of her death by drowning, people blamed her for putting that child in danger. I was at the beginning of my immigration career, almost 20 years ago, and all I could think was, How desperate must you be to put your child on a raft and send him into dark waters with the slim chance of survival?

Its the same thing that motivated those poor people to undertake a journey that ended in death in a Walmart parking lot. Blaming them bespeaks a horrific lack of humanity.

But we do it anyway. We do it when we call them illegals; we do it when we point the finger at them instead of at a system that doesnt allow for a more humane process to vet them at the border; we do it when we dont hold our legislators accountable for closing their eyes to the war at the border or, worse, for providing facile slogans about walls.

We cant have open borders. And we need to tighten our policies to make sure the drug runners and human traffickers keep their poison out of our country. And, no, we shouldnt make policy based on tragedies such as this one.

But instead of worrying about stupid tweets from President Trump and trying to figure out which thin-skinned journalist hes offended this week, instead of jockeying for moral superiority (Democrats) and pie-in-the-sky repeals of laws youll never erase (GOP) we should demand that our legislators do their job and fix the immigration system.

Now, dammit. We cant afford more bodies in parking lots.
Samsung has finally started releasing the July Security Patch update for several flagship smartphones. The OEM has started rolling out an update that is having all of the patches included in this month's security release, as well as a couple of additional bug fixes and stability improvements, for the Galaxy S6 Edge and S6 Edge+ devices in Europe.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and S6 Edge+ have already reached the end of their two-year support period, so it's great to see that Samsung is still releasing regular maintenance updates for them. However, it is still unknown on how long the tech giant is planning to keep pushing out the update.

The update for the Galaxy S6 Edge is currently rolling out to unlocked units in the Netherlands as build G925FXXS5EQG1. The update is also said to make its way to other European countries soon.

On the other hand, for the Galaxy S6 Edge+ only the Vodafone-branded model is receiving the new update at the moment. The update for this flagship is coming with the new build number being G928FXXS3CQG8, as reported by GSM Arena.

The latest July security update from Samsung includes 65 separate fixes from Google and 16 patches from Samsung for its own software additions on top of Android. As always, it's strongly recommended to apply such updates as soon as possible to your Galaxy S6 Edge and S6 Edge+ devices, Android Hits reported.

To check to see if the upgrade is ready for your Galaxy S6 Edge and S6 Edge+, open up Settings; tap Software Update, then press Download Updates Manually. Otherwise, the user can wait until he/she receive an alert prompting to download and install the OTA. The Galaxy S7, which comes in between the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S8, has already been upgraded with the July Security Patch level to July couple of days ago.
The best way to better families while reducing the number of people who need public assistance is by helping the workers in those households get higher-paying, better-quality jobs  and Nebraska is wisely taking steps to do just that.

Last week, Nebraska unveiled an initiative it had piloted in Grand Island that would do just that by providing employment assistance to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants. And, citing its early success, state leaders announced plans to expand it Hastings, Columbus and Norfolk before launching it statewide.

While its early, Nebraskas plan appears to meet that aim. Of the 27 families in Grand Island who took part in a pilot, state officials report 14 breadwinners have changed jobs and seen annual wages increase by an average of $6,900  enough for eight to reduce their SNAP benefits and for six to transition completely off the program.

Although most states have seen a decline in food stamps, Nebraska has recently experienced an increase, even while its participation rate is still below average. An average of 174,000 Nebraskans per month  about 9 percent of the states population  received SNAP benefits totaling $241 million in FY2015, according to a January report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The vast majority of Nebraska households that received food stamps were working families. Of the 42,339 families who used SNAP in that time period, 85.5 percent of them had at least one worker in the home, the USDA reported. Nearly a third claimed two or more workers.

But, because of the way SNAP and other benefit programs are structured, these well-intentioned programs can dissuade recipients from working. With such a steep falloff in benefits that come with more gross income, some on the higher end of the eligibility scale are faced with a no-win choice: Work more and struggle to feed family members, or stay in a lower wage bracket to keep assistance.

That perverse incentive can only be replaced with massive reform of the SNAP program or helping recipients work their way off the program by earning wages high enough to absorb the loss of benefits for households that average one-third the median annual income of the state, according to the USDA.

The latter is far more attainable. Doing so allows people to gain control of their situations to reduce or end their reliance on SNAP benefits, improving their ability to provide for their families while growing local economies.

If economic self-sufficiency is the end goal for all Nebraskans, improving SNAP recipients job prospects and wages to the point of ushering them off public assistance is the most beneficial way to do so. Though its early, Nebraska appears to be on track with this new initiative.
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Turkeys flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, announced that after the electronics ban lifted on flights to United States, the same ban was lifted on its UK bound flights.

Britain joined the United States in imposing restrictions on carry-on electronic devices on planes coming from certain countries in the Middle East and Africa in March, in response to unspecified security threats.

Passengers now can carry all their concerned devices at cabin during their flight.

The electronic ban concerning electronic devices that was implemented on UK arrival flights since March has ended on Friday. While the United States ended its ban earlier in July, Britain has kept the restrictions in place until now.

Passengers will now be allowed to carry laptops and tablets on Turkish Airlines flights from Istanbul's Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen airports, and Pegasus Airline flights from Sabiha Gokcen and Izmir, Britain's Department for Transport said in a statement.
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The Post reports:

President Trump on Friday ousted his White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and named his homeland security secretary, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, to replace him in a major shake-up for a West Wing beset by chaos and infighting. . . .

Priebus became consumed by internal battles, clashing not only with [Anthony] Scaramucci but finding himself under siege by Trump advisers inside and outside of the White House who complained that he was ineffectual and more concerned with his own public image than the presidents.

Given that Priebus was the weakest chief of staff since Bill Clintons friend from kindergarten Mack McLarty, that the White House was a den of infighting and backbiting, that Trumps agenda had stalled, that the president on a daily basis disrupted his own message and the executive branch more generally, the shift from mousy Priebus to no-nonsense general may give Americans hope that the chaos will subside. I wouldnt be sure there are grounds for optimism.

One wonders what understandings were hammered out before Kelly took the job. Did he get full control of all White House staff? Did he have reassurance that the president would not try to fire the special prosecutor without giving Kelly the chance to weigh in? We dont know, but Kelly, along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, has the gravitas and leverage to threaten to resign if Trump really goes off the rails. Because Kelly reportedly has a good relationship with Steve Bannon and the Trump children, perhaps he can clamp down on the internal staff wars.

A number of questions remain.

 Will Kelly, who lacks political experience and has clashed sharply with congressional oversight committees, have the ability to navigate a functional relationship with Republican House and Senate leaders?

 Will Kelly insist on a standard of forthrightness and honesty heretofore absent in the White House, or will the nonstop lies, a-factual spin and stonewalling continue?

 Will Kelly exercise control over and be able to muzzle Scaramucci, whose New Yorker interview marked a new low in decorum for White House staff?

 Will Kelly, who has obediently carried out Trumps aggressive, inhumane and constitutionally suspect orders be able to tell Trump when he is wrong  and get the president to follow his advice?

The overarching problem  discussed publicly by conservative activists and pundits and in hallway conversations between GOP lawmakers  is the degree to which the president has lost his emotional stability (or what remained of it) and become entirely divorced from reality. Weve seen the president in essence meltdown repeatedly over the past couple of weeks (e.g., impulsively tweeting a ban on transgender military personnel, ranting endlessly about his attorney general). To be blunt, Kellys hardest task is to steady the president and prevent his emotional and political self-destruction. Its not clear anyone can do this.

Finally, Kellys departure opens up the secretary of homeland security spot. The Senate has an obligation to carefully vet Kellys successor, determine his intentions with regard to the partially halted Muslim ban (and the supposed review of vetting procedures that were the rationale for the ban), his position on dreamers and more. Its long past the point at which the GOP should cease rubberstamping nominees.

In sum, Kelly brings personal discipline to the White House, but it is far from clear he can impose discipline on Trump. This has been the worst week of the Trump presidency (with Trumpcares failure, the tantrums about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the transgender ban). At least under Kelly the opportunity for vast improvement  even just some semblance of normalcy  is possible. Kellys selection is a vivid admission that this presidency is failing. We will have to see whether the damage is reversible.
The top legal officers in 18 states and the District of Columbia are asking Congress to pass legislation prohibiting discrimination against transgender service members.

Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin sent the letter dated Thursday. It asks the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees to include transgender protections in the National Defense Authorization Act. Eighteen other attorneys general also signed the document.

The letter said President Donald Trump's policy banning transgender service members from the military "violates fundamental constitutional and American values."

Attorneys general from the following joined Hawaii in signing the letter: California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
SUMNER  Two people who allegedly led law enforcement on a high-speed chase Thursday were apprehended Friday morning.

According to a Nebraska State Patrol press release, Michael Medina, 24, of Colorado, and Patricia Pacheco, 26, of South Dakota were spotted at about 10:40 a.m. after hiding for hours in a cornfield. They were taken into custody by the State Patrol and the Dawson County Sheriffs Office and were transported to Lexington to be medically cleared before being taken to Dawson County Jail.

Medina and Pacheco are suspects in a high-speed chase on rural Dawson County roads.

According to Nebraska State Patrol communications, a state trooper spotted a vehicle allegedly stolen in Colorado at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Lexington Interstate 80 Interchange. Law enforcement attempted to stop the vehicle at the Overton exit, the press release says, but the vehicle fled, leading troopers on a pursuit across several county roads. The pursuit reached 90 mph, according to a State Patrol press release.

About 36 minutes into the high-speed pursuit, law enforcement spiked the vehicles tires, the press release says. When the tires deflated, a man and woman ran into a cornfield at Roads 444 and 764, southwest of Sumner, a spokesperson said Friday morning. The State Patrol searched for the suspects in the field on foot and by airplane, but it ended the search through the corn sometime between 6-7 p.m., according to the spokesperson.

Jean Eberle, who lives across the road from the cornfield, said she heard a light knock on her back door of her home at about 7:30 p.m. Because she and her husband Dean had been warned, Dean called 911. He looked out the back window and spotted a woman on their deck and man just beyond the deck, Jean said.

The man and woman then walked away from the Eberles home to one of the Eberles parked vehicles, Jean said. At about that time, a deputy pulled into the Eberles driveway and spotted the suspects. They then ran into some trees.

According to the press release, Medina and Pacheco were spotted at about 9 p.m., But a second search yielded nothing and was suspended four hours later.

Law enforcement used the Police Service Dog Unit and Aviation Support Division in the search.

@erikadpritchard
GIBBON  A prisoner of war finally received a welcome home to Nebraska, 67 years after he began service in the U.S. Army in South Korea.

The mood was somber as a procession of emergency vehicles flashed by. Quiet and peaceful, roughly 50 children and adults stand in the grass watching motorcycles, fire trucks, an ambulance and other vehicles drive by. The procession lasted about 10 minutes, and all people stood completely still paying their last respects.

According to a Rock County Leader report, in 1999-2000 Cpl. Richard John Seadores skeletal remains were recovered from Suan County, North Korea, where Seadore had been held captive and died at the age of 22. On April 25, a positive DNA match was made between Seadore and his brother Albert Seadore of Callaway.

Richard Seadores remains were flown from Honolulu, Hawaii, and landed in Omaha Friday afternoon where a military police-only service was to take place on the tarmac, American Legion Riders State Liaison Casey Walton of Gordon said.

Reynolds-Love Funeral Home of Lexington then carried Seadores remains in a hearse from Eppley Airfield in Omaha to Central Nebraska Cremation Services in Gibbon. Along the way, Legion Riders rode motorcycles by Seadores side, making stops in Lincoln and Grand Island before ending in Gibbon.

And since the family requested the American Legion Riders, it was just our duty and our privilege, Gibbon American Legion Rider Secretary Denise Fenster said. She rode along Seadores remains.

Walton said the American Legion Riders supports the Legion Club 100 percent, Especially in this case, because the military has the slogan, No man left behind.

Nick Reynolds of Reynolds-Love Funeral Home said the home will transport Seadores ashes Monday from Gibbon to Callaway where Albert Seadore lives.

Richard Seadores full-military service funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Grandview Cemetery in Long Pine, according to the Rock County Leader.

Walton said the American Legion Riders will again escort Seadore on his journey home on Friday. From Callaway the remains will travel to Broken Bow, Sargent, Taylor, Bassett and then to Long Pine.

The Legion Riders frequently travel with fallen soldiers, Walton said, But this is kind of a new one on us to have somebody that was a prisoner of war that has been discovered after so many years.

@erikadpritchard
LINCOLN  A Montana man suspected of being the AK-47 Bandit now faces federal charges.

Richard Gathercole is charged with interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle and interstate transportation of a stolen firearm in U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska, according to court records.

Gathercole, 39, of Roundup, Mont., is suspected of several bank robberies in five states from 2012-2015, including an armed robbery in Nebraska in 2014, according to a previous Federal Bureau of Investigation Omaha press release.

Gathercole was arrested by the Dawson County Sheriffs Office at a Lexington truck stop at about 12:40 a.m. June 20 when a sheriffs deputy identified a reportedly stolen Kansas truck. Several hours earlier, Gathercole allegedly fled a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper in a high-speed chase, court records say.

Lexington law enforcement searched the vehicle and found three fully loaded handguns, including two reportedly stolen Ruger pistols.

Gathercole was charged in Dawson County District Court with two counts of felony possession of stolen firearms and felony theft or receiving stolen property over $5,000. Those charges were dropped when federal charges were filed, according to court records.

"Theyre essentially the same type of charges, only in federal court. And given that there are several jurisdictions looking at Mr. Gathercole, we thought it would just be best to let him move on to the federal level where different jurisdictions are looking at charges with him," Dawson County Deputy Attorney Kurt McBride said.

New details leading to the charges are outlined in a federal affidavit:

On June 19 at about 5:48 p.m. a the Kansas state trooper spotted a black Toyota Camry traveling east on Interstate 70 near Goodland, Kan., with a covered license plate. The trooper attempted a traffic stop of the vehicle for obstructed registration.

When the trooper turned on his lights, the driver was alleged to have quickly slammed on his brakes. Then he allegedly quickly sped off, and the trooper accelerated to catch up with the vehicle.

"(The) trooper ... then saw the driver lifting what appeared to be a rifle, moved the rifle across his body and pointed it out the window at him (the trooper)," the affidavit alleges.

Based on the troopers training, he alleged the rifle to be an AK-47.

"(The) trooper ... then heard the distinct sound of gunfire and saw debris from the roadway bouncing next to his patrol vehicle, which he perceived to be bullets ricocheting," the affidavit alleges. "(The) trooper ... quickly moved the patrol vehicle to the south ditch to avoid being shot."

The Camry then allegedly "come to a slow roll" at the interstate exit near mile marker 27. The trooper stopped his vehicle and allegedly took cover with his rifle behind his vehicle, as he allegedly heard gunfire.

The driver of the Camry then turned south on County Road 29 and allegedly continued to fire shots. The trooper followed the vehicle until he came upon a large tractor that he had to pass in the ditch.

At about 7:30 p.m., a resident of McDonald, Kan., saw a man walking on a road near his home and offered the man a ride.

"Almost immediately, the white male pointed a gun at the resident and told him that he was wanted by the government and the cops," the affidavit alleges.

The resident then allegedly turned over his F-150 truck and two Ruger pistols.

Following the carjacking, Kansas law enforcement discovered the Toyota Camry crashed in a ditch nearby.

The F-150 truck and pistols allegedly were confiscated in Lexington where Gathercole was apprehended.

According to a previous Omaha World-Herald report, Gathercole was connected to the AK-47 robberies after he made a phone call to his mother in Montana. He asked her to clear his Montana home of guns.

A search warrant of his home was then obtained by authorities. According to the FBI Omaha press release, on June 24, investigators located several pieces of evidence they believe were used in the commission of the bank robberies known as the AK-47 series. Additionally, Gathercole is known to have access to vehicles that match the description of the vehicles used to flee some of the robberies.

The robberies are:

- Feb. 29, 2012, Bank & Trust in Chino, Calif.

- March 12, 2012, Bank of the West in Vacaville, Calif.

- July 6, 2012, Chase Bank in North Bend, Wash.

- Nov. 7, 2012, East Idaho Credit Union in Rexburg, Idaho.

- Aug. 22, 2014, First Nebraska Bank in Nebraska City.

- July 28, 2015, Heartland Community Credit Union in Mason City, Iowa.

There was also an attempted robbery on March 9, 2012, at the Tri-Cities Bank in Sacramento, Calif.
KEARNEY  Daniel J. Hirschfeld, chairman of the board of The Buckle Inc., announced that the Board of Directors, acting on the recommendation of the Companys Audit Committee, has elected Thomas B. Heacock as the companys vice president of finance, treasurer and chief financial officer. Heacock previously served as the companys vice president of finance, treasurer and corporate controller. He has been employed by the company since October 2003. Prior to joining the company, he was employed by Ernst & Young, LLP. Heacock replaces Karen B. Rhoads as the companys chief financial officer, who in May announced her intention to retire from the company.
LINCOLN  Nebraska feedlots with capacities of 1,000 or more head contained 2.23 million cattle on feed on July 1, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The inventory was up 2 percent from last year.

June placements of 425,000 head were up 16 percent from June 2016 and fed cattle marketings of 530,000 head were up 4 percent.
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With Lake Michigan shimmering in the background as they stood inside the Milwaukee Art Museum, Gov. Scott Walker and Foxconn founder Terry Gou sealed a historic deal for Wisconsins economy Thursday.

The reasons why a mid-sized, Midwest state won the competition to land North Americas first liquid crystal display plant  and the 13,000 direct jobs that will come with it  have much less to do with Wisconsins offer of financial incentives than with its other tangible and intangible assets.

Since the Foxconn talks began to surface in public talks in June, speculation centered on how Wisconsin might attract the Taiwanese electronics giant if it came down to a bidding war with much larger states such as Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

It may turn out that one or more of those states bid far above the $3 billion in staged financial incentives put on the table by Wisconsin. That means Wisconsin emerged on top for other reasons:

Location, location, location. The old real-estate axiom applies in layers, with Foxconn wanting to open at least one U.S. factory for market and geopolitical reasons; preferring the Midwest to the East and West coasts for its first high-tech facility; and centering on Wisconsins southeast corridor due to its proximity to Milwaukee and Chicago. Ample land is available. Transportation options include the interstate system, major airports and rail lines.

Energy and water. The southeast corner of Wisconsin is a hub for interstate electric transmission lines and Wisconsin utilities are part of a Midwest consortium to ensure reliability as well as renewable sources. Water is used in the production of glass LCD panels, which are built under clean room conditions, and the Lake Michigan watershed provides an ample supply that can be used and recycled.

Higher education. There are 75,000 graduates produced each year by the University of Wisconsin System, the Wisconsin Technical College System and the states private colleges and universities. Thats a likely source for some of the workers who will eventually fill Foxconns Wisconsin labor force. Wisconsin colleges and universities are also home to a research and development structure that rivals what can be found in most states  although its time to reinvest in that asset before quality wanes.

A manufacturing tradition. Wisconsin has a history of making things that extends to the late 19th century. Its manufacturers are, by and large, innovators who have embraced technology and new ways of producing goods and services. Electrical equipment and medical equipment are already two staples of the tech-based manufacturing landscape in Wisconsin. As Foxconn builds out a supply chain that may include hundreds of companies, it will find that Wisconsin is among the nations leaders in original equipment manufacturers.

A vibrant technology foundation. While many people think first of Wisconsin for its agriculture, tourism and manufacturing, its tech sectors have grown steadily over time and provide support for the big three in a variety of ways. According to the latest Cyberstates report by CompTIA, the nations largest technology association, there are at least 101,000 tech workers in Wisconsin, largely in information technology, tech products and engineering fields. Another 25,000 or so people work in life science fields. Collectively, thats about 6 percent of the Wisconsin workforce and growing. For emerging tech companies in Wisconsin, Foxconns interests in electronics, artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, medical imaging, regenerative medicine, virtual reality and more provide potential opportunities for growth.

Teamwork. While its not always apparent in the day-to-day debates in the state Capitol, the Walker administration and legislative leaders from both parties pulled together when it counted. Gou praised Walkers leadership and the governor relied on two Cabinet leaders, Administration Secretary Scott Neitzel and Mark Hogan of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., to drive home the deal. In southeast Wisconsin, officials in Racine and Kenosha counties were integral, and a mix of business groups weighed in to help.

The $3 billion, pay-as-you-grow incentive package must still be approved by the Legislature, most likely in a special session next month. Its a vital part of the deal, of course, but Wisconsin lured Foxconn for a mix of reasons that far exceeded dollars alone. Those same assets can help draw others.

Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council.
(Adds shares, details from WSJ report, background)

July 28 (Reuters) - Sprint Corp has proposed a merger with Charter Communications Inc in a deal that would create a new publicly traded media and communications company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp , which controls Sprint, will control the new entity, as per the "complex" proposal, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter. Sprint shares rose 5.8 percent in after-market trading while Charter shares were marginally up.

Sprint, Charter and SoftBank did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment after regular U.S. business hours.

Sprint had been in exclusive talks with Charter and Comcast Corp about a partnership to boost the two U.S. cable companies' wireless offerings, sources told Reuters in June. Though the exclusivity window ended this week, Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son continues to pursue a much larger deal with Charter to create a media and communications giant, WSJ said.

It is far from guaranteed that Charter would ultimately agree to such a deal, the newspaper added.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Gaurika Juneja in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Cynthia Osterman)
(Adds background on agreement with Comcast)

By Anjali Athavaley and Liana B. Baker

July 28 (Reuters) - Sprint Corp has proposed a merger with Charter Communications Inc as the wireless carrier seeks an alternative to a deal with T-Mobile US Inc that has so far not come to fruition, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp , which controls Sprint, proposed a complex transaction that would create a new company and be controlled by SoftBank, the sources said, asking not to be named because the talks are private. The Wall Street Journal first reported the discussions on Friday. ( )

There is no guarantee Charter would be interested in a tie-up with Sprint, the sources said. Bloomberg reported Friday Charter had rebuffed Sprint's merger proposal.

Charter's market capitalization, at $94.6 billion, is much larger than Sprint, which closed trading valued at $32.8 billion on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc also expressed interest in a takeover of Charter earlier this year, sources have said. If Charter were to agree to a merger with Sprint, it would need the blessing of No. 1 U.S. cable provider Comcast Corp . Charter and Comcast announced an agreement in May that bars either company from entering into a material transaction in wireless for a year without the other's consent.

Sprint and Comcast declined to comment while Charter, SoftBank and T-Mobile did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sprint shares rose 5.8 percent in after-market trading while Charter shares were marginally up.

Sprint has been looking at solutions to further its turnaround, strengthen its financial health and better compete in the fierce U.S. wireless industry.

It held talks this month about receiving billions in funding from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc and John Malone's Liberty Media Corp , Reuters previously reported, but they have not resulted in a deal. Sprint had been in a two-month period of exclusive negotiations with Charter and Comcast over a potential wireless partnership that had put Sprint's merger talks with T-Mobile US on hold. That exclusivity period has ended but talks with the cable companies continue, according to the sources.

Despite regulatory hurdles, investors have long expected a deal between T-Mobile and Sprint, the third- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless service providers, anticipating cost cuts and other synergies.

T-Mobile appears to be in no rush to pursue a merger although it has acknowledged interest in speaking to Sprint. T-Mobile has been gaining share from larger competitors AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc in a saturated U.S. wireless market through network improvements and lower prices.

(additional reporting by Ismail Shakil and Gaurika Juneja in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Bill Trott)
HANOI, July 29 (Reuters) - Vietnam, the world's largest robusta producer, will export an estimated 941,000 tonnes of coffee in the first seven months of 2017, down 16 percent from the same period a year ago, the government said on Saturday.

Rice exports are expected to rise 18.6 percent to 3.4 million tonnes over the same period.

Crude oil exports are expected to increase 12.3 percent to 4.6 million tonnes.

(Reporting by My Pham; Editing by Kim Coghill)
North Korea launched an improved ballistic missile with intercontinental range late Friday night, South Korea's military said, a provocation seen as Pyongyang's answer to Seoul's recent dialogue offer and the international community's move to toughen sanctions.

"North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the East Sea from the vicinity of Mupyong-ri, Jagang Province, at around 11:41 p.m yesterday," the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Saturday.

It flew more than 1,000 kilometers at the maximum altitude of around 3,700 km before landing in the waters between Korea and Japan, added the JCS.

It characterized the projectile as an "advanced type" of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), citing its range.

If flown on a standard trajectory, it could reach a target about 10,000 km away, missile experts said. That means Chicago is within range should it be fired from the North's eastern city of Wonsan.

The North's ICBM launch, the second in less than a month, prompted South Korean President Moon Jae-in to ask U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to deploy four additional THAAD interceptor launchers at its new base in Seongju, some 300 kilometers south of Seoul.

Presiding over a National Security Council (NSC) meeting, Moon also suggested a joint ballistic missile exercise with the United States and a U.N. Security Council session to discuss tougher sanctions on Pyongyang, according to his office, Cheong Wa Dae.

The allies soon conducted a joint ballistic missile exercise, involving the South's Hyunmoo-2 and the USFK's ATACMS, along the South's east coast.

In a separate statement, the government emphasized that the North will never be recognized as a nuclear state.

"If North Korea thinks it can get the nuclear power status by repeating nuclear and missile provocations, it's no more than an anachronistic delusion," it said.

It said Pyongyang will only face deepening diplomatic isolation and economic pressure if it continues provocations.

The Pentagon also said it detected the missile launch and was carrying out assessments to determine the details.

Gen. Lee Sun-jin, chairman of the JCS, had a 15-minute phone conversation with his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Joseph Dunford. They reaffirmed a robust combined defense posture and agreed to deal sternly with the North's provocation, said the JCS.

The talks were joined by Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.

"The three leaders also discussed military response options," Dunford's spokesman, Navy Capt. Greg Hicks, said.
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U.S. President Donald Trump condemned North Korea's latest missile launch Friday, warning such a "reckless and dangerous" action will deepen its isolation.

"The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these tests -- and these weapons -- ensure North Korea's security," he said in a statement. "In reality, they have the opposite effect. By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people."

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan at around 11:41 p.m. Friday (Seoul time), according to the allies.

If flown on a standard trajectory, the missile could have reached a target about 10,000 km away, putting Chicago within reach, experts said.

South Korea's military characterized the projectile as an "advanced type" of an ICBM that flew more than 1,000 kilometers at a maximum altitude of some 3,700 km.












South Korea and the United States conducted another round of combined ballistic missile drills Saturday in a show of firepower against North Korea, Seoul's military said.

The live-fire exercise held along the east coast involved the South's Hyunmoo-2 and the U.S. 8th Army's ATACMS, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The Hyunmoo-2 is a ballistic missile with a range of 300 kilometers, and the ATACMS, or the Army Tactical Missile System, is a surface-to-surface missile with a similar range.

The allies reaffirmed their capabilities for "precise strike on the enemy's leadership," the JCS said in a statement.












North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile into eastern waters on Friday. The following is a chronology of the North's major missile provocations.

-- Aug. 31, 1998: North Korea fires off its first ballistic missile, the Unha-1, also known as the Taepodong-1, from the launch site of Musudan-ri in North Hamgyong Province.

-- July 4, 2006: North Korea test-fires an advanced version of the Taepodong-2 missile at the Musudan-ri launch site.

-- April 5, 2009: North Korea launches the Unha-2 rocket at the Musudan-ri launch site with the attendance of leader Kim Jong-il and his son, Kim Jong-un.

-- April 13, 2012: North Korea fires off a long-range rocket, the Unha-3, from the Dongchang-ri launch site in North Pyongan Province. But the rocket crashes in pieces into the sea shortly after takeoff.

-- Dec. 1, 2012: North Korea says it will launch a working satellite, the Kwangmyongsong-3, on the carrier rocket Unha-3, between Dec. 10 and 22.

-- Dec. 10, 2012: North Korea extends the rocket launch window until Dec. 29, citing technical problems in the first-stage control engine module.

-- Dec. 12, 2012: North Korea launches a long-range rocket from the Dongchang-ri launch site in North Pyongan Province.

-- May 8, 2015: North Korea for the first time tests a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), dubbed KN-11. Seoul said that it was more of a test for the ejection rather than firing.

-- Nov. 28, 2015: North Korea fires off an SLBM in the East Sea, but Seoul views the test as a failure.

-- Dec. 21, 2015: South Korea's military says North Korea conducted another SLBM test in December, but the test ended in failure. The Washington Free Beacon reported that North Korea succeeded in the underwater test of a KN-11 missile near the eastern port of Sinpo on Dec. 21, citing unidentified U.S. defense officials.

-- Feb. 2, 2016: North Korea notifies U.N. agencies of its plan to launch a satellite between Feb. 8 and 25.

-- Feb. 6, 2016: North Korea informs the International Maritime Organization of its plan to move up the launch date to Feb. 7-14.

-- Feb. 7, 2016: North Korea fires a long-range rocket from the Dongchang-ri launch site at around 9:30 a.m. The North claims it has successfully placed a satellite, named Kwangmyongsong-4, into orbit.

-- March 18, 2016: North Korea launches what appears to be two mid-range Rodong ballistic missiles from its western province.

-- April 15, 2016: North Korea conducts its first test-launch of an intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missile, also known as the BM-25, but the launch ends in failure.

-- April 23, 2016: North Korea test-fires an SLBM in the East Sea, which flies only about 30 kilometers

-- April 28, 2016: North Korea launches two intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missiles, but the launches end in failure.












South Korea and the United States have agreed to open negotiations to revise a bilateral ballistic missile guideline to allow the former to develop a more powerful missile amid North Korea's continued provocations, Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Saturday.



President Moon Jae-in instructed his government to begin bilateral consultations to rewrite the guideline that bans Seoul from developing ballistic missiles with a range of over 800 kilometers and a payload exceeding 500 kilograms, said Yoon Young-chan, his chief press secretary.



In a phone call, Chung Eui-young, top presidential security adviser, made an official proposal to his U.S. counterpart H.R. McMaster to open negotiations over the revision, and McMaster agreed, Yoon said.



The agreement came hours after the North fired off what it claims to have been an intercontinental ballistic missile in a stinging blow to Moon's pursuit of dialogue and rapprochement with the wayward regime.



The focus of the negotiations is expected to be on doubling the payload weight limit to 1 ton, a source said, declining to be named.



"During the summit between the allies' leaders, there was a discussion regarding the payload part (in the guideline), and (the negotiations) will be in line with that," Yoon said.



"It is fair to say that more weight will be given to the payload part rather than the missile range issue," he added, noting the negotiations would open "at the earliest date."



A senior presidential official said that there has yet to be any concrete consultations with Washington over how much the payload weight limit needs to be increased.



"Given the U.S. shares (the need) for increasing the warhead weight, the heavier the better," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.



Asked whether there were prior consultations with Beijing and Tokyo over the issue, he said, "There is no need for us to definitely inform them of it in advance ... We will do if need be."



The revision has been a source of controversy as opponents here argue that it could provoke neighboring countries, including China and Russia. But Seoul asserted the need for it based on national security grounds.



The guideline was first signed in 1979 and revised in 2001 and then 2012. (Yonhap)




A test-fire of the Hwasong-14 missile was disclosed by Pyongyang's Korean Central Television, July 28. / Yonhap



North Korea's state-run television on Saturday disclosed an edited footage of its test-fire of an intercontinental range ballistic missile conducted the previous night.

According to the video footage running 2 1/2 minutes, the Hwasong-14 missile was moved on a transport erector launcher, known as a TEL, before being fired from a ground-based launch pad.

The method of launch was similar to one disclosed in a separate TV footage released on July 5 following North Korea's first intercontinental range ballistic missile launch.

Earlier, Pyongyang's official KCNA claimed that the North successfully launched another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Friday night following its first test in early July, noting that the missile flew 998 kilometers for about 47 minutes into the East Sea after reaching a maximum altitude of 3,724.9 km.

In the footage unveiled by the Korean Central Television, a TEL with eight wheels on each side slowly arrived at dusk at the launch pad in Mupyong-ri in the country's northern province of Jagang, carrying the Hwasong-14 missile aboard.

The missile was then placed upon the ground-based launcher and erected to an upright position.

Like in the previous ICBM test-fire, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was seen overseeing the launch preparations at the scene and chatting with his aides with a somewhat nervous face.

North Korea again used the ground-based launcher for the test-fire of the Hwasong-14. In its test-fire of an intermediate-range ballistic missile on May 14 and an ICBM missile on July 4, the North also adopted the same method.

Experts speculate that the use of a ground-based launcher may be intended to protect the high-priced TEL. In addition, the North may be able to carry out additional missile launches by use of the TEL, they noted.

North Korea is believed to possess about 200 TELs.

After the countdown was over, the Hwasong-14 missile flashed in all directions and lifted off vertically toward the night sky, according to the TV footage. Under the first-stage propulsion, large and small gusts of flames were observed from main engine and four auxiliary engines, it showed.

The footage showed a stable liftoff of the missile but didn't include the separation of the first and second propulsions. (Yonhap)
"The reign of the tiger in Korea" 1909, Le Petit Journal / Courtesy of Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

In the early 1890s, Arnold Henry Savage Landor, an English explorer and writer, visited Korea and described the country as being full of enormous tigers that were "fond of human flesh" and terrorized the Korean population _ despite their "almost religious veneration" of these great felines.

He went on to add:

"Even the walls of the town are no protection against them. Not unfrequently they make a nocturnal excursion through the streets, leaving again early in the morning with a farewell bound from the rampart, but carrying off inside their carcasses some unlucky individual in a state of pulp."

Seoul was no exception. An especially notorious site for tiger attacks was the pass near the Independence Gate. Once heavily forested, the tigers' predation in this area was so severe that soldiers had to escort travelers through it.

Tigers were also fond of prowling near the royal graves. In the 1880s, King Gojong sent large numbers of tiger hunters (40 to 50 armed men) to kill these menaces lurking near his ancestors' tombs, but, judging from the records, the tigers were too smart and easily avoided their pursuers.

Tigers also roamed the palaces. One legend claims that Gyeonghui Palace (also known as the Mulberry Palace and where the Seoul Museum of History now stands) was abandoned because "a certain geomantic tiger had his lair there, and, being displeased with the royal intrusion, had let loose a plague of man-eating tigers on the country that destroyed many lives, and to appease his tigership the King removed to the more beautiful grounds of the East Palace (Changdeok Palace)."

But Gyeonghui was not the only palace to be haunted by tigers. In the early 1890s, George W. Gilmore, an American teaching in a government school, claimed a tigress and her cubs had taken up abode in the ruins of one of the palaces. Even the palace in which the king dwelt was not safe from nocturnal visits. In early January 1894, a large number of hunters searched the grounds of Gyeongbok Palace for five days and while they found evidence of at least one tiger they were unsuccessful in tracking it down and killing it. However, one hunter, Yun In-chol, did manage to kill a fox (another feared animal) and was rewarded for his efforts.

One very memorable hunt in Seoul took place in the late 1880s when Alfred Burt Stripling, an Englishman working for the Korean government, and his Korean assistant tracked a big cat into the city's sewers near the palace. After a long wait, the Korean assistant thought he saw the tiger slink out of another exit but didn't tell Stripling. Wanting to impress his boss, he volunteered to crawl into the sewers and drive the tiger out. Unfortunately for him, he was mistaken: the tiger was a leopard and it was still in the sewer. Fortunately, Stripling's aim was true and the big cat was killed _ the assistant receiving several claw marks for his "act" of bravery.

Mt. Nam was also a popular mountain for tigers. In early 1886, hunters killed a medium-sized tiger near the fire beacons and tracked a small tiger from the mountain to the Han River where they eventually shot it. One of the last reported encounters of tigers on Mt. Nam took place in December 1913, when the Seoul Press published "an alarming, though scarcely believable" account of the "unmistakably footprints of a tiger" in Namsan Park. But it was not the last encounter in Seoul.

The following summer a police sergeant on night patrol near the Northwest Gate (Changuimun) claimed to have encountered "a tiger as big as a cow." It escaped into the mountains before it could be caught but, as the editor noted, if it had been caught it would have probably confessed to being a cow.

Robert Neff is a historian and columnist for The Korea Times. He can be reached at robertneff103@gmail.com
MASON CITY | The sweet taste of Mexico has arrived in Mason City.

Thats thanks to Southbridge Malls newest tenant, Mr. Churro.

Mr. Churro, which opened in early July across from Mr. Taco, offers a variety of authentic Mexican fried and frozen desserts: churros, sopapillas and cheesecake burritos. There are also fair favorites like funnel cakes and mini doughnuts. Both are owned by Luis Garcia of Northwood.

Its like another dream here, Garcia said.

His first dream was relocating Mr. Taco, which started as a food truck and opened as an authentic Mexican restaurant in Northwood, to the malls food court in 2016. A vacancy across from the business provided him the opportunity to achieve another with his brother, Juan, who is Mr. Churros manager.

Ive always wanted to own an ice cream place, he said.

The idea for Mr. Churro, Garcias daughter Rosita Cansino said, was sparked when her father decided to experiment with the family's churro maker. The inspiration came from a fair where a friend made and sold mini doughnuts last summer.

Four months prior to the shops July 5 opening, Garcia and his family perfected recipes, finalized the menu and prepared the location for customers.

My dad thought, 'Sometimes you want funnel cakes, but where can you find them in mid-December? she said. With this being year-round, you can get mini doughnuts and funnel cakes whenever you want.

Mr. Taco adds spice to Southbridge Mall MASON CITY  After nearly three months mostly off the North Iowa eating scene, Mr. Taco has 

In addition to its fair food offerings, which also includes jalapeno poppers, chicken wings and onion rings, Cansino said the family wanted to incorporate traditional Mexican dessert recipes to fill an untapped niche in the city.

We want things that bring up memories from Mexican childhood, she said, sharing a story about customers who came into the shop and had Mexican fruit popsicles.

Some of the menu items like the banana burrito, which is a tortilla-wrapped banana deep fried and smothered in ice cream, syrups and whipped cream are influenced by Mr. Churros connection to Mr. Taco.

Mr. Churro, which is also a menu item, is a plate featuring mini doughnuts and churros covered in ice cream, fruit, whipped cream and syrup.

Its so good, Cansino said.

Churros, however, have been the most popular, she said, adding the shop has made two batches  or 40 churros  each day and have sold out. The hope is to expand to offering filled churros, which are popular in Mexico, and skinny ones.

I have been so lucky, Garcia said. We have a lot of customers now [at Mr. Taco], and they made me survive.

Mr. Churro is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday through Saturday in the Southbridge Mall at 100 S. Federal Ave. in Mason City.
OSAGE | The Wes Carter Memorial Dog Park opened July 20 on land once owned by a man known for riding around town with his dog beside him.

The park, which is next to the Harry Cook Nature Trail, has been a collaborate effort, now providing a secure, fenced in place for dogs to run.

Lorie Tesch, daughter of the late Wes Carter, was the guest of honor, along with her daughter, Taryn.

What was once a section of land filled with trees and shrubs has now been transformed, through the efforts of many, to be a spot with picnic tables, a sand pit and other obstacles for canines to enjoy. The park also contains running water and toys for the dogs to use.

Many hands make light work, but so do backhoes and chainsaws, said Bruce Gast, whose wife, Cheryl, has been very passionate about the planning and design of the park.

Ocean's Oasis owner Daniel Anderson said he was proud to be asked to help.

Our first day opening, Cheryl was in asking if we wanted to be involved and help design the park," Anderson said. "We were honored. Its good for the dogs for socialization and good for the community."

Through fundraising, committee work and planning, the dog park went from a dream to a reality.

Its been great; a dream come true, Cheryl Gast said. Ive waited 20 years for this to actually take place. To have somewhere to take a dog where they can run and play is a win for the community.

Prior to the grand opening, the park was already in use, occupied at most hours of the day.

For some animals, the dog park is the first opportunity for them to be social with other dogs, if they live in a single dog home, like Cheryl Adams dog, Izzy.

I thought she had a great time, Adams said. Though I did think she would be afraid of the big dogs, because she usually backs away from them when Im walking her, but she did good this time.

Dogs of all sizes played together in the park during the ceremony, without any growling, fussing, yipping or barking. The animals chased and sniffed one another while exploring the park.

The park is shaded, with some hills, and has a tall chain-link fence and a double entrance to prevent escapes. It has attracted visitors from neighboring towns as well as local residents.

Its another piece of the puzzle that makes Osage a good place to live. Mayor Steve Cooper said. I gotta get a dog.
MASON CITY | St. John's Episcopal Church will host "Revival 2017" from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5. It is a worship experience taking place at Episcopal churches in Iowa throughout the year.

The service will be led by the Rev. Alan Scarfe, bishop of Iowa, along with local and diocesan leaders. The service will include music, personal testimony and several prayer stations. It is free and open to the public.
Much of the relationship between the people and their governments is built on trust.

But that relationship is fragile - especially when government goes out of its way to keep the public in the dark.

Thats occurring too often in Iowa with video recordings made by law enforcement agencies, especially when an officer takes someones life or when an officers actions are questioned.

The lack of public access to these videos was back in the news last week during a meeting of the Iowa Public Information Board. The Legislature needs to end these unwise secrecy practices.

The headlines dealt with a Burlington woman who was accidentally killed by a police officer when he tried to shoot her dog as it lunged toward him. The officers two shots missed the dog, but one bullet struck Autumn Steele, 34.

Not surprisingly, her family wants to see police body camera and squad car dash camera videos of the incident, which occurred on Jan. 6, 2015. But two and a half years later, Burlington police, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Attorney General Tom Millers office still refuse to let the family or public see the recordings.

The Steele case is not an aberration, unfortunately.

On April 29, Matthew Rodrigues, 27, was arrested outside a West Des Moines motel after a woman reported being sexually assaulted in her room there. The victim said her attacker was a Hispanic man known as Junior and was wearing a shirt with Houston written on it. The attacker also was a guest at the motel, the victim said, and they met in the lobby.

Rodrigues told police he had been visiting a friend at the motel when officers approached him. He denied being involved.

Rodrigues spent 11 days in jail. He was released when a judge dismissed the sexual assault charge.

The same day that Rodrigues was freed, a man from Houston, Texas, was charged with the crime. That mans middle name is Junior, and he had been staying at the motel.

Rodrigues believes police ended their investigation too hastily after officers saw him, a brown-skinned man, outside the motel. Surveillance video from the motel lobby would corroborate that he never met the victim, he said.

But police have refused to make available to journalists that video or any police videos public because they are part of an ongoing investigation.

In another case, a woman was fatally shot by a Des Moines police officer on July 5. Tiffany Potter, 29, was being followed for reasons police have declined to make public. She was wounded after trying to flee on foot from her car. Police said Potter first fired her gun.

Put yourself in the shoes of Potters mother: Her daughter is dead; she knows her daughter had drug problems; now she just wants to see what occurred that tragic night.

Officers initially told the mother she could watch the videos then. But when she said a lawyer would accompany her, police changed their minds and said she would have to wait until the investigation ends in four to six weeks.

Police declined requests from journalists to make public the body camera and dash camera videos, although Des Moines officers typically release those videos after a case is closed.

Here we have three cases that all involve police videos, but there is no consistent public access to these recordings.

Autumn Steeles family has waited two and a half years with no guarantee they will ever get to see the recordings. Tiffany Potters family has been told they will have to wait four to six weeks to see them, but the public has no assurance it will ever get to view the videos. And the public has no inkling whether they will get to see recordings of the West Des Moines incident as Matthew Rodrigues tries to remove the stain on his name brought on by his arrest for a sex crime he did not commit.

The public is grateful for the important service Iowas law officers provide every day. But that gratitude should not prevent people from occasionally asking questions about officers actions.

Next year, the Legislature needs to revise Iowas public records law to provide for consistent access statewide to police videos in controversial cases such as these.

Government will never build and maintain public confidence in our police by allowing this secrecy to remain. Transparency should be mandatory - not optional - in cases like these.
PRESS RELEASE

Europe Resists New Sanctions Imposed by United States Congress

July 28, 2017 (EIRNS)The new Russian sanctions voted by Congress which imposes penalties on European companies which do business with Russian oil and gas companies offer an opportunity for real leaders to rally their populations around the national interests.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schafer said July 26,

"It would be unacceptable for the United States to use possible sanctions as an instrument to serve the interests of U.S. industry policies. Germany strongly backs the Nordstream-2 pipeline deal it has signed with Russia."

European Council President Jean-Claude Juncker, after pronouncing on July 26 that "The European Union is fully committed to the sanctions regime" mantra, continued,

"G7 unity on sanctions and close coordination among allies are at the heart of ensuring the full implementation of the Minsk Accord. This is a core objective that the EU and the United States share. The U.S. bill could have unintended [sic] unilateral effects that impact the EUs energy security interests. This is why the Commission concluded today that if our concerns are not taken into account sufficiently, we stand ready to act appropriately within a matter of days. "If the U.S. fails to take the EUs interests into account, and declare that the discretionary powers would not be used against European companies, the Commission is likely to either seek arbitration at the WTO or rule the U.S. laws unenforceable on EU territory."

France called the U.S. bill "unlawful," due to its "extraterritorial reach," on July 28, and added that it could impact Europeans if enacted, CNN reported. "We have challenged similar texts in the past," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"To protect ourselves against the extraterritorial effects of U.S. legislation, we will have to work on adjusting our French and European laws."

Already on June 15, AP reported that Germany and Austria voiced sharp criticism and threatened retaliation, if the latest U.S. sanctions against Moscow affected European businesses involved in piping in Russian natural gas. In a joint statement, Austrias Chancellor Christian Kern and Germanys Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that while it was important for Europe and the United States to form a united front on the issue of Ukraine, "We cant accept the threat of illegal and extraterritorial sanctions against European companies," citing a section of the bill that calls for the United States to continue to oppose the Nord Stream-2 pipeline that would pump Russian gas to Germany beneath the Baltic Sea.
PRESS RELEASE

Iran Sanctions Bill Puts U.S. on Path of Confrontation with Iran

July 28, 2017 (EIRNS)H.R. 3364, the Iran-Russia-North Korea-Sanctions bill passed by the U.S. Senate, yesterday, began life as an Iran sanctions bill, one that clearly is intended to increase the level of confrontation between the U.S. and Iran while technically avoiding renewing the sanctions that were lifted as part of the 2015 nuclear agreementthe Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)between Iran on the one side, and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on the other.

Right at the outset the bill requires the administration to develop

"a strategy for deterring conventional and asymmetric Iranian activities and threats that directly threaten the United States and key allies in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond..."

That strategy must include, among other things, a summary of U.S. objectives, plans and means for

"countering Irans destabilizing activities, including identification of countries that share the objective of countering Irans destabilizing activities."

It must include

"An assessment of Irans conventional force capabilities and an assessment of Irans plans to upgrade its conventional force capabilities, including its acquisition, development, and deployment of ballistic and cruise missile capabilities, unmanned aerial vehicles,

and maritime offensive and anti-access or area denial capabilities." This is the kind of stuff you want to know if youre developing war plans. It also requires an assessment of Irans "asymmetric activities," including of the IRGC (Revolutionary Guard) and Irans support to Hezbollah, Hamas, the Assad government in Syria and the Houthis in Yemen.

The bills sanctions target Irans ballistic missile program and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The bill allows the president no discretion whatsoever on sanctioning the IRGC as if it were a terrorist group.

"[T]he President shall impose the sanctions described in subsection (c) with respect to the IRGC and foreign persons that are officials, agents, or affiliates of the IRGC,"

it says. The sanctions to be imposed are those authorized under Executive Order 13224 relating to the blocking of property and the prohibiting of transactions with persons who commit, threaten to commit or support terrorism. The bill also imposes sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on persons (allegedly) responsible for human rights abuses and it imposes an arms embargo.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi today rejected the claims made in the bill that Iran is the destabilizing factor in the Middle east, noting that it was the U.S. actions in the Middle East that eventually created Daesh and destabilized the region, reported the Tasnim News Agency. He added that the growing insecurity and extremism in the region were the results of "unwise and irresponsible" policies of the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East.

"The Islamic Republic of Irans missile program is in accordance with Resolution 2231 and nothing can prevent Iran from pursuing and implementing its principled policy to boost defense capabilities,"

Qassemi said. He said that if approved and implemented, the bill would undermine the successful implementation of the nuclear agreement which, he noted, is not a U.S.-Iran bilateral agreement but a multilateral agreement involving five other countries.

"Since the Islamic Republic of Iran has been fully committed to and fulfilled its obligations, as verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency and admitted by the Group 5+1, it expects other parties to the JCPOA, including the U.S. government, to follow suit,"

he said.
PRESS RELEASE

Paul Craig Roberts Warns Trump To Break with Neo-cons on Russia

July 28, 2017 (EIRNS)Former advisor to President Reagan and Glass-Steagall supporter Paul Craig Roberts penned two columns July 26 warning President Trump to avoid the anti-Russia trap.

The first, titled, "Trump is Being Moved Aside so that Conflict with Russia Can Proceed," raises the question:

"What is Congress up to, with their stupid bill that imposes more sanctions against Russia and removes the power of President Trump to rescind the sanctions President Obama imposed? To put the President in a box,"

he replies.

"As far as I can tell, there is no one in Trumps government who is loyal to Trump, or willing to back Trumps effort to stop provoking the Russians... As far as I can tell, not only the Democratic Party but also the Republican Party "supports the left wings view that Trumps election was illegitimate, because he was elected by the votes of illegitimate peoplethe deplorables, to use Hillarys term. Who are the deplorables? They are the "remnants of Americas working class."

Roberts raises the possibility that the Russians may be holding to the "unrealistic hope they can reach a deal with Washington," or "perhaps the Russian emphasis on diplomacy is just a way of gaining time to be prepared for the war Washington intends to bring them."

In a second column, "A Ray of Hope," Roberts points to the neocon takeover of policy under Bill Clinton, and how "the outlook darkened under Obama." Under normal circumstances, Europe would have insisted that the U.S. stop the gratuitous provocations of Russia, "but normal circumstances have not existed since the end of World War II... European countries have become vassals," says Roberts, who host military bases that threaten Russia.

Roberts concludes,

"Now it seems Washingtons extraordinary arrogance and hubris has resulted in overreach. With new sanctions against Russia, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, told the United States: thats over."

Juncker said that if Europes "concerns are not taken into account sufficiently, we stand ready to act appropriately in a matter of days."

The French Foreign Ministry, says Roberts, said the sanctions "contradict international law" due to their "extraterritorial reach."

Roberts concludes, "Lets hope ... that Europe will give Washington the finger and disengage from the American Empire."
PRESS RELEASE

Russia Sanctions Bill Based on Numerous Frauds

July 28, 2017 (EIRNS)The Russian sanctions section of the Iran-Russia-North Korea sanctions bill, H.R. 3364, which the U.S. Senate gave its final approval to by a vote of 98-2 yesterday and sent to the White House, is a full-scale assault on Trump, openly putting nearly the entire Congress on the record as backers of the of the fake Russia-gate (proven false by the VIPS report), and willing to back the ongoing coup by the British assets in the press, the intelligence community, and Wall Street.

The bill is based on numerous frauds, among them, the assertion that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. It cites in the findings section the Jan. 6, 2017 intelligence "assessment"the one that was presented as a consensus of the intelligence community as a whole but turned out to have been composed by a hand picked group of analysts from only three of the 17 intelligence agenciesthat claimed that "Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the United States presidential election." The assessment warned, the findings in the sanction bill say, that

"Moscow will apply lessons learned from its Putin-ordered campaign aimed at the U.S. Presidential election to future influence efforts worldwide, including against U.S. allies and their election processes."

With respect to congressional review, the bill provides that if the president wishes to lift sanctionsin the language of the bill, actions that either significantly alter or dont alter U.S. foreign policyhe must submit a report to the Congress which will then be the subject of hearings in the relevant committees, and then a resolution of disapproval or approval "may" be originated in either house, subject to limited debate and then presidential approval or veto. It appears that theres no requirement on the part of the Congress to even respond with a resolution, if it chooses not to, and therefore, if the Congress doesnt act, the president cant do anything.

With respect to Russia, the bill codifies all of the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia by executive order since March of 2014, including the final sanctions order that President Obama issuedrelated to Russias alleged interference in the U.S. electionjust before he left office. Section 224 of the bill requires the imposition of sanctions on any person who the President determines

"knowingly engages in significant activities undermining cybersecurity against any person, including a democratic institution, or government on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation."

The 2014 Ukraine Freedom Support Act said the president "may" impose sanctions on Russian and other foreign financial institutions in certain situations. Section 226 of the sanctions bill changes this from "may" to "shall." The same is done with existing sanctions on Russian crude oil projects.

The pipeline issue which has so angered the European Union is addressed in section 257. Under the heading, "Ukrainian energy security," it states, among other things, that it is U.S. policy

"to continue to oppose the NordStream 2 pipeline given its detrimental impacts on the European Unions energy security, gas market development in Central and Eastern Europe, and energy reforms in Ukraine; and that the United States Government should prioritize the export of United States energy resources in order to create American jobs, help United States allies and partners, and strengthen United States foreign policy."

One of the likely intended beneficiaries of this provision is Virginias Dominion Energy company, which is nearly finished building a $3.8 billion LNG export facility in southern Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay where an import terminal already exists.

Earlier, in section 232, it states that sanctions may be imposed

"with respect to a person if the President determines that the person knowingly, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, makes an investment described in subsection (b) or sells, leases, or provides to the Russian Federation, for the construction of Russian energy export pipelines, goods, services, technology, information, or support..."

Subsection (b) defines such investments as:

"an investment that directly and significantly contributes to the enhancement of the ability of the Russian Federation to construct energy export pipelines."

This could even be imposed against repair and maintenance of the several existing Russian pipelines to Europe.

The sanctions bill also incorporates something called the "Countering Russian influence in Europe and Eurasia" Act. Among the findings is something that sounds more like a description of the activities of the National Endowment For Democracy than anything that the Russian Federation, under the presidency of Valdimir Putin, actually does: "The Government of the Russian Federation," it says,

"has sought to exert influence throughout Europe and Eurasia, including in the former states of the Soviet Union, by providing resources to political parties, think tanks, and civil society groups that sow distrust in democratic institutions and actors, promote xenophobic and illiberal views, and otherwise undermine European unity."

It also finds that it is Moscow thats not complying with the Minsk agreements and is in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Congress has decided that Russia is solely responsible for the violence in Ukraine, thus giving the neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine a free pass, and that the President should call on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. It authorizes $250 million per year for the next two years to provide aid and assistance across Eastern Europe and NATO to fight back against this insidious Russian influence.
Lights go dim. A rocket-launch-style countdown begins. Upbeat music pounds out some bass-heavy drama. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, lift off.

Headlights shine onto the stage, and a red Tesla Model 3 rolls up a ramp.

The car brakes to a halt. A dramatic pause, and there he is! Chief Executive Elon Musk  the man making electric cars cool  steps out, walking to the edge of the stage to introduce the new mid-market vehicle.

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A crowd of thousands  mostly Tesla employees  goes wild.

Its supposed to be party time in Fremont, outside the renegade car companys assembly plant. Tesla fans have been waiting for months for the companys first truly mass-production car to hit the road.

But Musk talks for about 15 minutes, says the first 30 cars will be handed over to their new owners  all Tesla employees  and then thats it. The much-anticipated show is over.

Now comes the hard part. Musk claimed Friday Tesla has at least 500,000 advance deposits on the car.

Whether the company can turn them out by the hundreds of thousands, and keep the investment capital flowing to pay for it, is a question that many Tesla stock investors ask themselves every day.

Before the show, in a meeting with the media, Musk warned of six months of manufacturing hell ahead. On stage, Musk extended that period to a possible nine months.

Model 3 production is expected to start slow: 100 cars in August, 150 in September, followed by what Musk calls an exponential jump to 20,000 a month by New Years Day. On stage, Musk extended that period to a possible nine months. Regular customers  that is, people who dont work at Tesla  will have to wait until September or October to start getting their cars, the company said.

A Tesla news release on Friday offered some previously unreleased details. The base price of the car, $35,000 before incentives, was well known. The price of add-ons was not. It turns out that options ranging from fancy wheels to self-driving capability could lift the price to $60,000.

Some other specifics emerged: The Model 3s range is 220 miles. For an extra $9,000, a bigger battery can boost range to 310 miles. Zero-to-60 time is 5.6 seconds.

The company aims to sell 500,000 cars, including the Models S and X. Last year, it sold about 76,000 cars total.

Quality will be a key issue as production ramps up. The Wall Street Journal test drove a Model 3 on Friday, and wrote that the ride wasnt free of glitches, underscoring why Tesla is delivering the first Model 3 batches to employees. The test sedan wouldnt slip into drive from park and needed to be reset, similar to rebooting a computer.

russ.mitchell@latimes.com

Twitter: @russ1mitchell

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UPDATES:

July 29 9:20 a.m.: This story was updated with additional details.

July 29, 6:15 p.m.: Photo of automobile updated.
Architecture geeks rejoice. Indie director Kogonadas new movie, Columbus, is a celebration of Midcentury modernist design with a gently unfolding story of family and themes of responsibility thrown in for good measure.

A master class in architectural style with an emphasis on brutalism and international Modernist design, the film headlines actors John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson, but it is the work of Midcentury architectural rock stars that steals the show.

Moody, emotional cinematography casts a long, loving lens on the small Midwestern town where the film is set  Columbus, Indiana, which is ranked sixth in the nation for architectural innovation and design by the American Institute of Architects, coming right behind Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C.

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A surprising distinction owing to visionary businessman and community leader J. Irwin Miller, who ushered in a passion for architectural excellence in the 1960s by underwriting building projects that met his design-conscious criteria.

Look for cameos by Henry Moores Large Arch sculpture, architect Eero Saarinens geometrically elegant Miller House, the 192-foot spire of his North Christian Church and the radical, open concept floor plan of the Irwin Union Bank he also designed.

The Cleo Rogers Memorial Library by I.M. Pei and Eliel Saarinens asymmetrical First Christian Church also take star turns, as does the more recently built (2006) floating light box of the Irwin Union Bank building by Deborah Berke.

Columbus will open in theaters Aug. 4.

home@latimes.com

Bonnie McCarthy contributes to the Los Angeles Times as a home and lifestyle design writer. She enjoys scouting for directional trends and reporting on whats new and next. Follow her on Twitter @ThsAmericanHome

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With his neck cranked back, Joshua Chavarria, 7, struggled to balance a 10-foot fruit picker about twice his size. Moments later, he broke into a smile.

I got one! I got one! he shouted, showing off the orange in the pickers net as his mother cheered.

Chavarria was one of about 130 volunteers who spent Saturday morning yanking Valencia oranges off trees at Cal State Northridges grove, which were then shipped to food charities throughout the county. Since 2010, the Universitys Institute for Sustainability has partnered with Food Forward, a food recovery nonprofit, to make use of the unpicked fruit from the more than 7-acre grove.

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On Saturday, volunteers collected 5,000 pounds of oranges, a smaller harvest than previous years due to a fruit fly quarantine that had been in place in the spring. According to Food Forward Executive Director Rick Nahmias, volunteers once collected over 22,000 pounds of oranges from the grove.

Before we had this partnership with Food Forward, the fruit was being unutilized, said Sarah Johnson, the Institutes coordinator. Now we found this great use of it where the campus benefits because were providing this service to the community and the community benefits.

When the University was built in the late 1950s, it inherited the grove, which is considered a relic of the 15,000 acres of citrus that once covered the San Fernando Valley. From the early 1920s to the late 1950s, citrus farms thrived until urbanization took over.

[It] pushed citrus out until there was no citrus at all, said Richard Barker, founder of Citrus Roots, an organization that educates about Californias citrus industry.

Today, most of the states approximately 30,000 acres of Valencia orange groves are in the Central Valley, according to Bob Blakely, the vice president of California Citrus Mutual, an industry advocacy group.

A lot of the growers who are farming in Kern, Tulare [counties], their parents came from L.A. County and started farming up here, said Blakely.

At one point, the university had considered building over its grove. Robert Gohstand, a retired CSUN geography professor and self-described daddy of the grove, fought to save it in the early 1990s when the university proposed constructing a parking structure in its place. Resolutions were passed to preserve the grove, and over the years, the university has replaced its dying trees with new ones.

Today, the grove contains a pond and two solar observatories. A new campus hotel will be built nearby.

My objective was, make compromises and save the bulk of the grove, said Gohstand. I think we preserved a bit of the agricultural past in the Valley.

Parents at the picking event used the outing to teach their children about volunteering. CSUN accounting student Stephanie Gonzalez, 25, teamed up with her 5-year-old daughter, Emily. Gonzalez handed the oranges off to Emily, who picked off stems and leaves before placing them in a box.

I thought it was a really good way to help out, Gonzalez said.

Over 50 boxes of oranges will go to MEND food bank in Pacoima, which will place the fruit in care packages to give to homeless next week.

We struggle to give our homeless clients something great and think that fresh oranges picked from the tree are as good as we can get, said its food bank director Richard Weinroth.

leila.miller@latimes.com

Twitter: @leilamillersays
Justine Damond "didn't have to die."

Those words by Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau on Thursday  her first since returning to work five days after one of her officers shot and killed an unarmed woman  were outrageous. During her years as chief, Harteau frequently had a tin ear for how her words and actions were perceived, but her decision not to return immediately while the killing of Damond became an international incident apparently says it all.

Harteau resigned late Friday after Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges demanded it  the chief made no reference to that in her resignation letter, instead referring to a moment of "deep reflection"  but her departure won't soon undo the damage done to the community's trust and confidence that the Minneapolis police are truly there to protect and serve.

The chief made her statement five days after Damond, a 40-year-old Australia native who was to be married in about a month, was shot and killed by police on July 15. The shooting made news around the world, for many reasons, and by the time the chief returned from vaguely explained personal time off to address the crisis, the world already knew that "this should not have happened," as Harteau went on to say.

What we don't know are the basic facts about this latest officer-involved shooting. It took two days for authorities to release an incomplete account of what happened, and it was only when one of the officers who responded was interviewed by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that a somewhat fuller picture emerged.

It goes without saying that every officer-involved shooting is different. The setting, circumstances, people involved, media attention, the public reaction  there's no comparing the killings of Jamar Clark, Philando Castile and Justine Damond in any meaningful way, other than to say all are tragedies, all could have been averted and that justice must be done for the victims.

Damond was simply being a good citizen. She called 911 late that night to have police check out what sounded like a possible assault in the alley behind her home, in a quiet, well-kept Minneapolis neighborhood. A half-hour later, she was dead, shot by a relatively inexperienced police officer for reasons unknown.

The officer, Mohamed Noor, hasn't made a public statement and has declined to be interviewed by the BCA. That's baffling to many people, and one reason we know so little about what happened, but there are others. The officer who was driving the squad car, Matthew Harrity, was interviewed and his account has been made public, but neither officer had their body cams activated, nor was the dashboard cam. Those were critical errors of judgment and reason for the city and state, as Gov. Mark Dayton has said, to review implementation of camera policies.

Ten days after the killing, we know only that Noor fired the shot that killed Damond, but not how or why. Did he panic? Was he startled by the "loud noise" that Harrity, also an inexperienced officer, said was heard just before they encountered Damond in the alley? Was it an accident?

We don't know and perhaps won't know for weeks or months. Noor can be fired if he doesn't talk to police investigators, but otherwise it's up to the Hennepin County attorney and perhaps a civil court to find out why he fired the gun.

That's unacceptable. The officer has constitutional rights not to incriminate himself, and the police and prosecutors clearly don't want to compromise any criminal case that may be brought. But the public has a right to know in a more timely way what happened in that alley on July 15. This incident goes to the heart of the public's trust in police, and it's not enough for the police chief to say, five days after the fact, that "this should not have happened."

The chief, in her statement Thursday, claimed to know enough about the incident to say it wasn't the result of a failure of training or of hiring. "This is about an individual officer's actions. It is not about race or ethnicity," she said. "We have a very robust training and hiring process. This officer completed that training very well, just like every officer. He was very suited to be on the street."

It's impossible to know whether any of that is true. Hopefully we'll know eventually, but the police, prosecutors and BCA deserve all the criticism they're getting for the limited and lagging public information that's been released.

There are reasons why this incident became an international story, chief among them how bizarre and unexplained it is. There were no other weapons, no violence or chaos at the scene, one officer apparently could have shot the other  and the victim had a powerful, compelling personal story, with made-for-TV hooks.

This much is clear, from what authorities have said: Damond was killed by police for no reason. She's not the first nor the last victim of whom that could be said. It's our job, in the news media and as citizens, to say this has to stop.

More cops, more equipment, more body cams and fail-safe policies, better hiring and training, more community outreach, more aggressive management and discipline  whatever it takes, the public should demand it.

Police officers have incredibly difficult and dangerous jobs, and in potentially lethal situations an officer has to decide whether it's better to be judged by 12 people or carried by six. It's a tough job, but there's no margin for error when people's lives are at stake.

The public is right to be outraged and intolerant of errors that kill.

This editorial appeared in the July 24 edition of the Post Bulletin of Rochester, Minnesota.
She became a fixture in Pacific Palisades, strolling aimlessly through the village for hours each day, a visible yet distant presence in the affluent seaside community.

No one could talk to her. She made snorting sounds at anyone who tried. She punched at the air, contorted her body and remained sealed in her cocoon, eyes hidden behind dark shades.

Some locals referred to her as Pretty Blonde.

When you think of homelessness in Los Angeles, skid row comes to mind along with Venice and Santa Monica, among other places. But the Palisades has its own issue.At one point not long ago, 200 homeless people lived in and around town. Nearly all of them have had some degree of mental illness, says LAPD officer Rusty Redican, who works the homeless beat in the Palisades area. At one time, 15-20 of them camped in dense brush on the bluffs overlooking the beach  million-dollar views for people with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

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A couple of years ago, local residents formed the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness. The goal, said Doug McCormick, one of the founders, was not to push people into neighboring communities. It was to link up with professional outreach workers and the police, and offer treatment and shelter to those in need.

People gather at a collection of tents along Will Rogers State Beach in 2015 (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

The Pretty Blonde of Pacific Palisades

Nancy Klopper, a Hollywood casting director whose dozens of credits include Ray, Fantastic Four and Devils Advocate, joined the cause early on, and she became particularly concerned about the woman who took daily walks through the village.

She was so clearly ill, says Klopper, who, with a trained eye, noticed that the womans facial bone structure made her look foreign, and possibly northern European. Every day I would look at her and I would think, Shes somebodys daughter. Somewhere theres a mother looking for her. 

Not that the woman was the only homeless person withering away in the Palisades.

When you can see and watch their physical decline, and you see them getting worse and its out of your control because theyre so resistant to help, its painful to watch, said Klopper.

And yet Klopper and others have proved that helping people, even if theyre resistant at first, is not impossible.

When the village visitor known as Pretty Blonde was not wandering the streets, she was seen on the bluff between the village and the beach, living in one of two campsites. The slope is steep, and you have to be something of a trailblazer to carve your way through thick, thorny brush to make it to those sites. Officer Redican, who led me to those sites, said coyotes, snakes, and human predators make the area particularly dangerous, as does the high fire risk.

The woman was more obviously ill than others, said Redican, and he wanted to try to convince her to get help. But when he spotted her from the top of the bluff, she squirted out of her campsite and down to the PCH. When he approached from the bottom of the bluff, she scampered up the slope and out of sight.

Can I go now?

The times he and his LAPD partner Jimmy Solimon did track her down, she flailed, panicked and resisted help. But Redican found an approach that sometimes worked.

If I talked real low, shed listen, he said. Still, she routinely resisted offers of housing or treatment and would insist, Can I go now?

Redican didnt give up on her. Through her illness, he said, There was a part of her that was lucid enough to know we were trying to help. But she would not voluntarily accept that help, and forced hospitalization requires a mental health evaluation team to determine that a person is gravely disabled, or unable to provide for basic needs such as food, clothing or shelter.

Its a tough standard to meet, and people are literally dying because of it. As Ive written before, thanks to a number of advocates, a movement is under way in Los Angeles to reinterpret the definition and help those who are obviously distressed, even if they refuse assistance.

In the case of this woman, months of hard work and tracking  by the LAPD, members of the Palisades task force and a social worker from The People Concern, a full-service nonprofit mental health agency  led to her hospitalization last fall. But to the dismay of everyone involved, she was soon released, without explanation, and returned to her old haunts.

Id say she was back out in about a day and a half, said Redican.

A collection of tents along Will Rogers State Beach in 2015 (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

The mystery womans identity, and a plan

Klopper, at that point, had learned Pretty Blondes real name. She began scouring the internet, piecing together the womans story.

Shed been an artist. She appeared to have a daughter. She had become estranged from family members.

Kloppers amateur sleuthing led her to possible relatives in Scandinavia, so she sent a message that began, By any chance ...

When she awoke the next morning, Klopper checked her computer and found this response:

This is the best day of our history. We have been looking for our daughter for two years, and assumed she was dead.

Klopper learned the woman was in her 30s, had suffered with mental health issues since childhood, and had once been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She had fled her country for Los Angeles, where she got married, had a daughter and was divorced as her illness grew worse. Klopper reached out to the ex-husband and to the woman he currently lives with, both of whom care for the daughter of Pretty Blonde.

The young girl knew little about her mothers illness or whereabouts, and refers to her fathers partner  a family therapist and doctoral candidate in psychology  as her stepmother. Ive withheld names and some details at the request of the family, which insists on privacy for the sake of the child.

Back in Scandinavia, getting help

In March, Redican, Klopper and others worked together again and managed to line things up for another psychiatric hospitalization. The parents flew from Scandinavia this past spring to be with their daughter during part of a five-week hospitalization. Their daughters condition was much improved, and the parents insisted on taking Klopper, Redican and others to a thank-you lunch, where they presented gifts to them. The parents then took their daughter home to Scandinavia, where she has been in treatment.

On Thursday, I went with Klopper and officers Redican and Solimon to one of the campsites where the woman lived, and some of her belongings were still there. Blankets, a towel, sneakers, packets of herbal peppermint tea.

Its hard to accept that in a state with such riches, there are so many tens of thousands of homeless people, and so many barriers to helping obviously afflicted people. But over the past 18 months in the Palisades, the efforts by volunteers, public and non-profit employees have led to a 40% decline in the homeless population, and few if any people are still living on the bluff, according to Redican.

Dozens have been steered to treatment, housing or both, and McCormick, one of the task force pioneers, hopes the Palisades project can become a model for other communities.

Klopper, Redican and others on the task force have moved on, meanwhile, reaching out to more of the lost souls who live in their midst.

Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez

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Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar spoke out Friday against the vandalism and race-based tactics being used against art galleries and a coffee shop in Boyle Heights amid gentrification concerns, saying the actions were unacceptable and would not be tolerated.

Huizar said he shared concerns about displacement and rising costs of housing in Boyle Heights, which activists say has been occurring because of gentrification in the heavily Latino Eastside neighborhood. But he said he but did not like the tactics some activists have been using to voice those concerns.

Huizars statement comes after Weird Wave Coffee was vandalized a second time. The coffee shop has been at the center of multiple anti-gentrification protests, similar to the ones held against art galleries in the neighborhood.

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We all have the right to express our 1st Amendment-protected opinions  that is not in dispute, Huizar wrote in a statement released Friday afternoon. But when that turns into destroying property or violence of any kind, or targeting people solely based on race, that goes against everything Boyle Heights stands for.

Jose Huizar represents Boyle Heights in Los Angeles Council District 14. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Boyle Heights history as a diverse community has taught us valuable lessons: Violence is never the answer, and racism begets racism. We must reject it today, tomorrow and always, he added.

The Los Angeles Police Department is looking into both acts of vandalism.

Anti-gentrification groups  Defend Boyle Heights, Union de Vecinos and the Boyle Heights Alliance Against Artwashing and Displacement  have long been fighting businesses in the neighborhood that they believe will draw new ventures, increase rents and push out local business owners and working families.

As part of that battle, they have relentlessly targeted art galleries that began cropping up in the neighborhoods industrial region over the last three years.

Early on in the battle against the galleries, protesters stormed into shows and threw detergent on patrons as well as the food they were being served, according to witnesses and news reports. The LAPD investigated the vandalism of one gallery that included graffiti with an expletive directed toward white art.

Leonardo Vilchis, left, hands out fliers against Weird Wave Coffee in Boyle Heights in June. There is a trend of people being pushed out, Vilchis said. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

When the owners of Weird Wave Coffee opened their shop last month, they were aware of the movement against gentrification. But they did not think they would be targeted like the art galleries. They were selling coffee, not pricey paintings.

Activists, however, spent weeks trolling the coffeehouse on Instagram before and after it opened. They held protest rallies outside, holding posters  including one with an expletive directed toward white coffee and another that read, AmeriKKKano to go. They passed out fliers with a parody logo that read White Wave.

Some Latino residents who defended Weird Wave Coffee said they were called coconuts by activists: Brown on the outside, white on the inside.

The Eastside has long been a center of Los Angeles protest movements, whether it was residents marching against the Vietnam War in the 1970s or more recently demonstrating for immigrant rights.

In his statement to the community, Huizar reminded residents that in its early years, Boyle Heights was one of the citys first diverse communities by, in part, rejecting racist covenants prevalent in other Los Angeles neighborhoods that literally outlawed people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds from living together.

Instead of targeting business owners, particularly small business owners, we should instead focus our attention on tangible solutions to address the gentrification issues we face in Boyle Heights, and indeed throughout the entire city, said Huizar, whose district includes the Eastside.

There are real concerns about housing affordability in Boyle Heights and the city of Los Angeles. Even though more of the housing in Boyle Heights has protections under rent control than in other parts of the city, too many of our neighbors are still getting displaced due to rising rents and a shortage of affordable housing.

Huizar said he is working with community organizations on several housing initiatives, including a door-to-door campaign to inform the more than 88% of renters in Boyle Heights who live in rent-controlled properties that they are protected from illegal rent increases and evictions.

These are just a few things we can do together. Whether were expressing our free speech or working to create better policy, lets not lose sight of who we are and what Boyle Heights is all about, Huizar said. Our history offers us another valuable lesson: When Boyle Heights works together toward one goal, we can do anything.

ruben.vives@latimes.com

For more Southern California news, follow @latvives on Twitter.

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A young man said to be the godson of Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, on the run amid a bloody power struggle over the powerful Sinaloa cartel, has turned himself in to U.S. authorities at the border in Calexico in Imperial County, Mexican news outlets reported Friday.

Damaso Lopez Serrano, known as Mini Lic, presented himself to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the U.S.-Mexico crossing on Wednesday and was then handed over to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, an unnamed Mexican government official told the Mexican news wire service EFE.

Mexican authorities had been hunting for Lopez Serrano in neighboring Mexicali, EFE reported.

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U.S. authorities did not release any information Friday. There did not appear to be any federal charges filed against him in San Diego, at least that were publicly available.

Lopez Serrano got his nickname from his father, Damaso Lopez Nunez, known as El Licenciado, or the Graduate. The father was reputed to be part of Guzmans top tier in the Sinaloa cartel. He was arrested by Mexican authorities in May at a high-rise tower in Mexico City.

Lopez Serrano, previously known for his playboy image on social media, used to share a friendly relationship with Guzmans sons, but that has apparently changed as Lopez Serranos father has led an effort to wrest control of the cartel from them, according to news reports. The Sinaloa group has also come under fire from the competing Jalisco New Generation cartel.

Guzman, after a daring prison escape, was arrested in Sinaloa in January 2016 and extradited to the U.S. a year later to face drug trafficking charges in federal court in Brooklyn.

Other high-level targets close to Guzmans empire have been nabbed along this stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Last month, Guzmans alleged mistress and a former Mexican legislator, Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, was caught as she tried to enter San Diego at the Cross Border Xpress airport terminal. She has been indicted on a conspiracy charge of helping the cartel launder money and will be tried in Washington, D.C.

Davis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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One of the Los Angeles Police Departments top investigators sharply criticized a plea deal given to an off-duty city firefighter who choked a man unconscious, and he asked a judge to view video of the violence before sparing the defendant jail time, according to court records.

Det. Tim Marcia, a longtime member of the LAPDs elite Robbery-Homicide Division, told the judge he had never seen a case with the evidence and the physical injuries like those inflicted on 24-year-old Samuel Chang result in a misdemeanor plea, according to a transcript of the May sentencing of Eric Carpenter, an off-duty firefighter charged with assault in the case.

Marcia spoke after reading aloud a statement from the victim, who called the misdemeanor conviction and lack of jail time a light sentence that amounted to an insult to me, my family and to our community.

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The assault occurred after Chang had been handing out candy to children in Chatsworth on Halloween night in 2015. Video footage and court records show that Eric Carpenter, a 40-year-old member of the Los Angeles Fire Department, placed Chang in a chokehold for more than six minutes. Chang had to be revived with CPR and suffered kidney failure, a hemorrhage and other serious injuries as a result of the attack, according to court records.

The Los Angeles Police Department, my commanding officers and my investigator and my partner, we dont feel that this penalty is just, Marcia said, according to the transcript. We also think that the video  speaks a thousand words, your honor. Ive never seen anything like it.

Changs attorney has accused the district attorneys office of giving the firefighter preferential treatment  a charge denied by prosecutors and the firefighters attorney, Michael Goldstein. Goldstein served as Dist. Atty. Jackie Laceys campaign finance director when she was elected in 2012 and has donated thousands of dollars to her political accounts over the years.

Neither Superior Court Judge Michael Kellogg nor the judge who accepted Carpenters plea to misdemeanor assault this year watched the videos, according to the transcript, though Marcias comments did cause Kellogg to question the lead prosecutor about the plea. Carpenter, who had faced up to seven years in prison, was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to serve 135 days of community service and attend 52 weeks of anger management, court records show.

A few months after the Oct. 31, 2015, altercation, a probation report had recommended at least a year in jail for Carpenter. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Chung, who prosecuted the case, offered Carpenter a plea to felony assault that could be knocked down to a misdemeanor upon completion of community service, according to Goldstein.

Carpenter refused because a felony conviction would have cost him his job as a firefighter. Goldstein said he then arranged a meeting with high-ranking prosecutors in order to plead his clients case. The more lenient plea was offered by Chung at a later date, he said.

The May 30 sentencing transcript also provides new details about why prosecutors approved the plea deal. Chung told the judge he believed jurors could conclude that Carpenter was acting in self-defense to protect the children at his home.

Some witnesses, Chung told the court, said the victim had been handing out candy to children when some of the mothers asked him to stop, but he refused. In addition, some of the witnesses who had been at Carpenters house that night claimed that Changs zipper had been down, something a jury might view as suspicious, the prosecutor said. And Chung said prosecutors did not believe that Carpenter intentionally tried to choke out the victim.

Chung, however, also said prosecutors believed the victim had no intention to harm the children. Goldstein has repeatedly argued that Changs behavior justified his clients actions.

The violent clash took place after Chang visited his grandmother in Chatsworth and decided to go outside to take pictures of some Halloween decorations, according to a victim impact statement written by his mother and read by Marcia at the sentencing. She asked him to take some candy to give to trick-or-treaters.

At some point, Chang began giving candy to children at Carpenters home. Carpenter, a neighbor and another off-duty firefighter, Michael Anthony Vitar, confronted him. Several people at the scene asked Chang to leave and insisted he had crossed onto Carpenters property, according to Goldstein.

Chang walked away but returned a second time and approached the children, according to the district attorneys office. He was again asked to leave the property and, when he did not comply, was chased by the defendants down the block, the office said in a statement earlier this week.

At some point, Chang began filming the encounter.

Footage from Changs iPhone shows the men, led by Carpenter in a He-Man costume, following Chang and repeatedly accusing him of trying to give drug-laced candy to children.

Chang was taken to the ground, where Carpenter wrapped his arm around Changs throat as the others pinned him to the asphalt, according to video shot by a bystander and taken as evidence by police. Chang eventually went limp, and the firefighters started lifesaving measures, according to the video.

Chang spent three days in intensive care. In his statement read aloud by the detective at the sentencing hearing, Chang said doctors told him that his heart had stopped and that he was lucky to be alive. The probation report also said Chang would have died if his assailants had not been firefighters trained in CPR.

The men told police they believed Chang had been under the influence of drugs, but blood tests showed he had no drugs or alcohol in his system, according to court documents. The LAPD tested the candy and found no drugs, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

All three men were charged with felony assault but pleaded to lesser charges. Carpenter and Vitar were suspended for six months without pay by the LAFD but have since returned to work full time, according to a department spokesman.

Marcia declined to comment for this story.

The sentencing hearing transcript shows the detective brought the video footage to the sentencing hearing and urged Kellogg to view it.

I stand by the Chang family and request that your honor view the video before  sentencing Mr. Carpenter, he said, according to the transcript.

Goldstein has repeatedly criticized the work of the Robbery-Homicide Division, saying detectives failed to interview witnesses who refuted Changs claim of being chased and harassed by Carpenter and the other men before he was restrained. Several people, including some of the defendants wives and a pair of registered nurses, bolstered Carpenters version of events  that Chang was bothering children and refused to leave the area, Goldstein said.

He spent more time at the sentencing than he did on the entire case, the attorney said of Marcia.

The prosecutor, however, defended the investigation during the sentencing hearing, saying all the detectives went above and beyond in this case. In a statement to The Times this week, an LAPD spokesman described Marcias investigation as thorough but declined to criticize the plea deal.

David Ring, who is representing Chang in a civil suit against Carpenter and the other men present that night, has denied allegations that his client was harassing children or had his zipper down.

Eugene ODonnell, a criminologist at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and former New York City prosecutor, referred to the plea arrangement as a sweetheart deal after a Times reporter described the facts of the case to him.

When making a determination between felony or misdemeanor assault charges, ODonnell said he would weigh whether or not self-defense was a factor in the case. The fact that the men chose to physically confront Chang before calling police would be worth significant consideration, he said.

Thats a case for 911, not for a neighborhood witch hunt, he said. Youre not entitled to go on a witch hunt unless you can articulate some grounds for emergency or necessity.

Goldsteins ties to Lacey and the fact that he was able to go over the line prosecutors head are concerning, according to ODonnell.

It appears improper, he said. Theres a concept of the well-connected lawyer, and the well-connected lawyer advertises the fact that hes a well-connected lawyer to his clients.

On his law firms website, Goldstein previously mentioned his past work for Laceys campaign, in close proximity to a paragraph detailing his knack for winning acquittals and favorable pleas. The reference was removed sometime after The Times reported on Carpenters case late Wednesday night.

In its statement earlier this week, the district attorneys office said prosecutors followed its policy in allowing Goldstein to meet with high-ranking officials to discuss the case. Goldstein, the statement said, received the same treatment available to any other defense attorney. His relationship with the district attorney had absolutely nothing to do with the resolution of this case.

Goldstein said in an email Friday that the case was decided on its merits. There was no undue influence, he said.

james.queally@latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT & @LACrimes for crime and police news in California.

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The Los Angeles Police Department remained on a citywide tactical alert Saturday after a power outage the day before knocked out its downtown dispatch center, officials said.

The outage began about 11:30 a.m. Friday, said Sgt. Mike Lopez. All 911 calls are being rerouted through the LAPDs San Fernando Valley dispatch center.

Response times have not been affected by the outage, he said.

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It was not known what caused the outage or when service would be restored, Lopez said.

The glitch meant dispatchers couldnt send calls directly to the computers that are in police cars, said Officer Tony Im, an LAPD spokesman. Those computers typically provide officers with key details about calls, such as the nature of the crime, where it occurred and descriptions of possible suspects.

The tactical alert, which allows the department to have more officers and resources at the ready, is just a precaution, officials said.

carlos.lozano@latimes.com

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The Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act suffered a major blow this week, but supporters of the law forged ahead Saturday with rallies nationwide  including one in Los Angeles  protesting any further attempts to undermine the existing healthcare system.

The Our Lives on the Line day of action has been planned since June, touted as a show of force against repeal efforts. Our Lives on the Line is a coalition of progressive and healthcare organizations.

Early Friday, three Republican senators defied their party leaders in voting to defeat the so-called skinny repeal of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the skinny bill would have left 16 million more Americans uninsured, and caused insurance premiums to soar.

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On Saturday, around 100 people gathered near City Hall in downtown L.A., holding signs that read, Healthcare is a human right and Keep your tiny hands away! ACA is here to stay!, sometimes using the signs to shield themselves from an unforgiving sun.

Mike Stutz, who joined three others in dressing up as a zombie, held a sign that read: GOP Healthcare Horror! Their bad ideas just wont die!

As these zombies warn us, we cannot rest, said L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin. Like the evil, knife-wielding slasher in a horror movie, they are coming back. They are coming back for your healthcare, they are coming back for my healthcare  they are coming back because they have a deadly determination to strip millions of people of what keeps them healthy and what keeps them alive.

On Saturday morning, President Trump tweeted this warning: If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!

The resounding message throughout the rally was that the battle isnt over, with speakers encouraging attendees to keep up the fight.

In the crowd was Rachel Rosen and her 7-year-old daughter Orly, dressed in a doctors costume. Mother and daughter listened as elected officials, activists, patients and medical professionals took the stage.

Donald Trump is playing with our healthcare, Orly said, not looking up from the toys in her hand. We want him to stop.

I dont think theyre going to give up too easily because the Republicans have been committed for years to ending Obamacare, Rosen said.

Speakers offered praise for the three GOP senators  Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and John McCain of Arizona  who voted no on repeal, as well as ordinary voters who pressured their elected officials.

No matter how much credit we give them, this victory belongs to all of you. For everyone who made calls, marched, told their stories or were just plain loud, thank you so much, said new Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles). This defeat is a major victory for working-class families in this country.

The rally kicked off a Drive for Our Lives national bus tour, which will run through Congress August recess. The tour will travel to more than 18 states and spread the stories of Americans whose healthcare coverage would have been threatened under the repeal bill.

Thank you for everything youre going to continue to do tomorrow and the day after and in the weeks and months to come to make sure they do not take away our healthcare and to make sure we get universal healthcare for everyone, Bonin told attendees. Lets stay engaged, lets stay part of the fight.

In San Diego, the rally was focused on womens healthcare. The proposed repeal bill included cutting federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

About 75 people rallied at Balboa Park wearing pink T-shirts reading, I stand with Planned Parenthood.

They held signs that read Together we fight for all and Resist, eliciting honks from several drivers who passed.

Today we are celebrating, at least for now, said Darrah Johnson, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest. She called the failed repeal bill the most dangerous legislation for women ever.

Moving forward, she said, shed like to see a bipartisan effort to have a thoughtful conversation about what the American people need as far as healthcare.

Planned Parenthood provides healthcare services to 2.5 million women nationwide, including 150,000 patients a year in San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties, Johnson said.

Jacqueline Serafin, 33, of University Heights said she became an advocate for Planned Parenthood because the organization was there for her as a teen and college student when she needed its services.

Healthcare should be accessible to anyone and everyone who needs it. The impact of not having an organization like Planned Parenthood would be detrimental to our collective health, Serafin said.

Kristina Davis of the San Diego Union-Tribune contributed to this report.

brittny.mejia@latimes.com

Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia

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UPDATES:

3:20 p.m.: This article was updated with details of a similar rally in San Diego.

2:25 p.m.: This article was updated with details from the rally.

This article was originally published at 11:05 a.m.
John Morris, a celebrated American photo editor who helped bring some of the most iconic photographs of World War II and the Vietnam War to the words eyes, has died at 100.

His longtime friend, Robert Pledge, president and editorial director of the Contact Press Images photo agency, told the Associated Press that Morris died Friday at a hospital in Paris, where he had been living for decades.

1 / 3 D-Day, Omaha Beach, Robert Capas photo of the 1944 Normandy invasion, survived darkroom mishaps to convey with its grainy look much of the urgent drama of the occasion. (Robert Capa / Associated Press) 2 / 3 South Vietnamese National Police Chief Brig. Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan executes a Viet Cong officer with a single pistol shot to the head in Saigon, Vietnam, on Feb. 1, 1968. The photo, by photojournalist Eddie Adams, became one of the Vietnams Wars most indelible images, winning a Pultizer Prize in 1969. (Eddie Adams / Associated Press) 3 / 3 In this June 8, 1972, photo taken by Huynh Cong Nick Ut, South Vietnamese forces follow terrified children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, as they run down Route 1 near Trang Bang after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places. (Nick Ut / Associated Press)

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Morris edited the historic pictures of the D-Day invasion in Normandy taken by the famous photographer Robert Capa in 1944 for Life magazine. In addition, as picture editor for the New York Times, he helped grant front-page display to two of the most striking pictures of the Vietnam War by Associated Press photographers Nick Ut and Eddie Adams.

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The woman strained against the crime tape, just feet from a body slumped on the sidewalk, and pleaded with police: I need to touch my son.

For the next hour, officers gently kept her away as investigators talked to her and relatives comforted her.

As the sun rose Friday, she walked down the street and disappeared into one of the homes of West Iowa Street on the Near North Side of Chicago. Minutes later, she rushed out the back door, ran down the steps and collapsed on the body of her son.

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My baby, she cried as she struggled to hold him close to her. My baby.

Police say her son, Kennatay Leavell, 31, was shot several times in the face around 2:55 a.m. Friday outside the last of the row houses of the notorious Cabrini-Green public housing project. Another man, 34, was shot several times in the abdomen and was in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Leavells death came as Chicago passed a grim milestone: 400 homicides so far this year. The city reached that mark two days earlier than last year, when gun violence reached levels not seen in two decades. And thats four months earlier than four years ago, when Chicago hit the mark shortly before Thanksgiving, according to data collected by the Chicago Tribune.

Though fewer people have been shot this year than by this time last year, more people are dying from their wounds, the statistics show. The percentage of fatal shootings is running about 1.3% higher than last year.

Police couldnt say what led to the shooting of Leavell, one of at least 2,150 people shot in Chicago this year. His family said he had relatives and friends who lived in the area.

All this is family around here, his father, Willie Ross, said at the scene.

Leavell was convicted of second-degree murder in 2008, but his father said he was raising two children, a 12-year-old and a 1-year-old.

He was a good son, Ross said. He loved people. He did everything he could for people.

As he talked, about a dozen security guards along with Chicago police officers guarded the crime scene, in the middle of what was once a vast housing complex. Neighbors paced the street while others watched from their front steps.

A woman came out of one of homes, looked around and kissed the baby in her arms before going back inside.

Evidence technicians were already working the scene when Leavells mother arrived. His body lay uncovered.

Where my son at? Where my son? she asked as two women came up and held her. I want to see my son, please, I got to see my son.

Officers led her away but she stayed close by, at times sitting on the curb and crying. When are they going to let me go over there to see my son? she asked. I need to touch my son, let me over there.

She finally found a way through one of the homes just before a van arrived to take her sons body, now covered with a white sheet. After a few minutes with her son, she was steered back to the steps by an officer. She was still sitting there when the van pulled up.

Leavells father walked around the van and knelt next to his son and silently held him as workers unloaded a gurney. There were gasps in the crowd as they turned his body over and placed him on it.

As the van pulled away, Leavells mother got a bowl of water and poured it on the sidewalk, then used a broom to sweep away her sons blood. An officer came to help, pouring a bucket of water on the sidewalk.

A relative took the broom from the mother and finished the job.

Malagon writes for the Chicago Tribune.

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Before the no votes and the Trump tweet and the bare-knuckle threats from her Washington colleagues, there was a time when Sen. Lisa Murkowski struck many Alaskans as overly cautious.

Her first term [in the U.S. Senate], I think she tended to migrate closer toward the Republican leadership, said Andrew Halcro, an old friend who served with Murkowski in the Alaska Legislature. That did frustrate a lot of us more moderate Republicans that were used to seeing her take a more middle ground.

That was then. After an unlikely path to the Senate and surviving her own partys attempt to defeat her in a general election, Murkow-ski has grown bolder.

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The chairman of the Alaska Republican Party says phones at the state GOP office have been ringing off the hook with Republicans angry or confused by Murkowskis votes. To some moderates, independents and Democrats, she is a folk hero. Supporters planned a Stay Strong Lisa rally on Saturday in Anchorage.

But longtime friends and colleagues say they arent surprised by Murkowskis pivotal role in opposing the GOP push to roll back the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. This new Murkowski making headlines and drawing fire from President Trump? This is the old Lisa they knew in Alaska government.

Lisa is like this element that when she knows shes doing something right, and political people around her try to pressure her to do the opposite, her resolve gets so much stronger. She just turns into a piece of metal, Halcro said.

Obamacare vote isnt the only sign of GOP resistance to Trump 

He met Murkowski in 1998 when the two were campaigning for state House seats in Anchorage. Then  like now  Alaska was grappling with rock-bottom oil prices and facing a budget deficit.

Murkowski, Halcro and other lawmakers worked in a bipartisan Fiscal Policy Caucus that considered reducing the size of the annual Permanent Fund dividend check that every eligible Alaskan receives for living in the oil-rich state, and reinstating an income tax. It was blasphemy to many Alaska Republicans, who considered the dividend checks, in particular, politically untouchable.

Foreshadowing her support of Planned Parenthood in the U.S. Senate, Murkow-ski voted in the state House in 2002 against a proposal to restrict Medicaid-funded abortions considered medically necessary.

I may have a very short-lived political future here, Murkowski said on the House floor. But you know, Ive got great kids, and a great husband, and Im going to have a good heart, and Im going to stand up for the Constitution, and Im going to stand up for the women of the state of Alaska.

In 2002, a GOP challenger came within 56 votes of defeating Murkowski in the state primary.

She had the same kind of problems that she has now, said Charles Wohlforth, a former Anchorage assemblyman who has praised Murkowskis healthcare votes as a columnist for Alaska Dispatch News. She was a moderate and the party was moving to the right.

In the big state/small town of Alaska politics, Wohlforth attended the same PTA meetings as Murkowski. Her husband, a former chef, catered Wohlforths wedding.

Wohlforth remembers thinking Murkowski  a Georgetown graduate and attorney  didnt strike him as someone who would want to be a politician. Her father, Frank Murkowski, was a 22-year U.S. senator, so name recognition wasnt a problem. But Lisa Murkowski seemed quiet, even shy, Wohlforth said.

Yet when the elder Murkowski was elected governor of Alaska in 2002 and had to appoint his replacement to represent the state in the U.S. Senate, he turned to his daughter.

Despite complaints of nepotism, in 2004 Lisa Murkowski defeated former Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, to retain the seat for a full six-year term.

As her power and influence with GOP leadership grew, her tendency to be thoughtful and analytical sometimes made her appear wishy-washy to liberals and moderates who wanted her to vote independently of her party, Wohlforth said.

Halcro recalls a meeting with Murkowskis friends and supporters in early 2010 as Murkowski prepared to run for reelection. Friends told Murkowski that they were worried she was becoming less Lisa and more D.C., Halcro said. He remembers her nodding as she listened.

Later that year, tea party challenger Joe Miller shocked Murkowski with a primary election defeat to become the chosen GOP candidate. After being told she wasnt moderate enough, she had been knocked off the ballot by a far-right conservative.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski with a supporter at a rally in Juneau in 2010, when she had to mount a write-in campaign to keep her seat. (Chris Miller / Associated Press)

Murkowski regrouped to run an implausible write-in campaign. In many ways, it was the middle ground that saved her. Even as former Gov. Sarah Palin backed Miller, Murkowski surged to a comeback win with the help of rural Alaska Native voters and Millers own campaign missteps.

Her write-in victory was the first for a Senate candidate since 1954.

Thats when she started to distance herself from leadership, Halcro said.

Murkowski sailed to reelection in 2016 and does not have to run again until 2022. With that peace of mind, she entered the healthcare debate this year.

In her annual speech to the state Legislature in February, Murkowski said she would vote against legislation to repeal Obamacare if the proposals sought to defund Planned Parenthood or roll back Medicaid expansion, provided the Legislature wanted to keep the expansion.

About 1 in 4 Alaskans is covered by Medicaid, according to a June report prepared for the state health department. Under the House-passed healthcare bill, Alaska was expected to lose $2.8 billion in federal Medicaid funds between 2020 and 2026.

When the Senate on Tuesday advanced the Republican leaderships plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, Murkowski voted no. Along with Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine, Murkowski also voted against a GOP skinny repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Trump fired off a tweet: Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!

Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017

Murkowski and Sen. Daniel Sullivan (R-Alaska) each received a call from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke warning that Murkowskis vote had put Alaska projects and priorities in danger, Alaska Dispatch News reported.

On the same day Zinke reached out to Alaskas senators, a committee led by Murkowski postponed votes on six Trump administration nominees.

Asked about the potential electoral threat from Trump, Murkowski told NBC on Wednesday that her next election was a long way off. Every day shouldnt be about winning elections, she said. How about just doing a little governing around here? Thats what Im here for.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski at a news conference in Anchorage on May 31, 2017. (Mark Thiessen / Associated Press)

Alaska state GOP Chairman Tuckerman Babcock said Republicans were unanimous in their displeasure with Murkowskis votes. Repeal of Obamacare was a core GOP agenda item, and Murkowski did not signal that she would break with the party on the issue during her most recent campaign, he said.

I dont know what shes going to do next to repair the relationship with Republican voters in Alaska, Babcock said.

Murkowski has won without the partys backing before. As for threats from Trump and Washington colleagues, they were sure to backfire, Murkowskis supporters said.

We dont stand for being bossed by Washington, Wohlforth said. Thats part of the whole Alaska ethos. Lisa Murkowski was raised on that.

Hopkins is a special correspondent.

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McCains surprise vote doomed GOP healthcare bill, but did it open the door for Senate bipartisanship?
Its the last weekend of July somehow, and our summer of excellent Italian food continues. In his new review, Jonathan Gold considers another of the high-profile Italian restaurants that have opened in L.A. recently, this time Felix Trattoria in Venice, chef Evan Funkes new temple of pasta. While youre waiting for your Felix reservations, you could do worse than make a Negroni and catch up on our restaurant critics recent Italian catalog: Cosa Buona, Rossoblu, Pizzana, the Ponte.

If not pasta, then tacos  always tacos. So this week we check in on Lyfts plans to help you with your Taco Bell addiction and also give details on a local taqueros latest project, bringing Mexican food to Hong Kong. We have our weekly market report (green beans!), recipes for great bloody Marys, a market-driven cocktail, crab cakes and cornbread (which actually sounds like a pretty good brunch lineup), and a story about beer for rose lovers. We also check in on Michael Voltaggios restaurant shuffle, get a food scientists take on the flavored oils trend, and highlight three upcoming food events worth noting  including a gyoza-eating contest. Or if youd rather eat dumplings yourself, maybe just head to Daikokuya on your way to Dodger Stadium.

 Amy Scattergood

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A pasta palace

Rigatoni allamatriciana at Felix Trattoria in Venice. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

This week, Jonathan heads to Abbot Kinney and Felix Trattoria, Evan Funkes new Italian joint. Here our restaurant critic finds the chef rolling out sheets of pasta in the glassed-in temperature-controlled room, plates of orecchiette, trofie and pappardelle, not to say grilled octopus and a pretty impressive bistecca alla fiorentina. You could probably watch this noodle ballet all night.

Whats in your cruet?

Food and science writer Arielle Johnson considers flavored oils  not the pedestrian stuff of some supermarket shelves or Italian-ish restaurants, but the house-made concoctions that chefs have been playing with lately, made with burnt pine needles, seaweed, onion ash. And its not hard to make your own, using coriander seeds or even burnt coconut, something that might ordinarily go to waste.

Translating tacos from L.A. to Hong Hong

Chef Esdras Ochoa has come a long way since he first started making tacos in a downtown L.A. parking lot. His Mexicali-style tacos first moved to a brick-and-mortar restaurant, Mexicali Taco & Co.; then he opened Salazar in Frogtown. Now hes moving farther afield  to Hong Kong, reports food writer Natalie Compton, where hes opening a restaurant in August.

Inking out one restaurant for another

Chef Michael Voltaggio at his soon-to-close restaurant Ink. (Christina House / For The Times)

Fans of Michael Voltaggios modernist cooking will want to get to his flagship restaurant Ink this weekend, as the chef is closing his doors after dinner service on Sunday. But we wont have long to wait for his next project: Voltaggio means to open his next restaurant, Ink.well (named in part for the expanded bar program hes long wanted), in only a few weeks time.

Ride-sharing fast food

Pit-stopping at your favorite drive-thru is a time-honored activity for many of us  in our own cars. And soon, as Deputy Food Editor Jenn Harris tells us, you will be able to have your Lyft driver stop at Taco Bell too. Its called Taco Mode, and if youre getting a Lyft in Newport Beach in early August, you can be among the first to test it out.

Strawberries and rye

Because sometimes its fun to drink your market produce, Jenn checks in with bartender Brian Byrnes, of the new San Fernando bar in Glendale, and gets his recipe for what he calls a Strawberry W.C. Fields cocktail. Named for the late comedian, or rather his nose, the drink combines heady strawberry puree with Templeton rye and a few other things from the market, for when you need a little seasonal inspiration for your happy hour.

The Taste, our annual Labor Day food festival (this one is three days, not a whole month!) is returning to Paramount Studios. Check out the lineup, the demos and panels, the chefs and bartenders, and of course all the food. Tickets are on sale.

Goldbot: you can now talk to Jonathan Gold any time you want  or at least the robot version of him that now lives on Facebook Messenger. You can ask Goldbot for a personal restaurant recommendation based on location, type of food or price. The bot will also deliver Jonathan Golds latest reviews straight to your device.

The Daily Meal, the food and drink website under the editorial direction of Colman Andrews, is now one of our partners. Check out their 101 best pizzas in America and other stories, recipes and videos.

Jonathan Golds 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers and now features his 2016 Best Restaurants. If you didnt get a copy of the booklet, you can order one online here.

Check us out on Instagram @latimesfood

Check out the thousands of recipes in our Recipe Database.

Feedback? Wed love to hear from you. Email us at food@latimes.com.
NEW ORLEANS, July 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC (KSF), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG).



On April 25, 2017, the Company revealed a data breach affecting its payment processing systems potentially affecting its customers and advised that customers should closely monitor their payment card statements for unauthorized charges and notify their bank if that occurred. The breach resulted in a class action lawsuit being filed against the Company by more than 100 financial institutions based on lost accounts, repayments and other expenses cause by Chipotles negligence in the breach, highlighting a 2015 decision by the Company to not upgrade its terminals to EMV [chip card] technology, claiming that it would slow down customer lines despite a prior breach that had cost the company approximately $4.3 million between 2004 and 2006.

On July 19, 2017, it was announced that the Company received a federal subpoena relating to a reported norovirus outbreak at one of its Virginia locations that left hundreds sickened, which follows a string of similar incidents involving the company dating back to 2015 and has resulted in the filing of a securities class action lawsuit against the Company.

KSFs investigation is focusing on whether Chipotles officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to its shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws.

If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of Chipotle shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com).

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.
Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It is Saturday, July 29. Heres what you dont want to miss this weekend:

TOP STORIES

The gold rush returns

The rains of this year and the post-drought snowmelt have launched a new gold rush. On the banks of Eagle Creek, amateur 49ers are looking for the metal that first sent people packing to California. Everything begins and ends with a pan, says Robert Guardiola. He helped organize a monthly foray for a prospecting association known as the Delta Gold Diggers. Los Angeles Times

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Plus: Watch this great video of prospectors sifting through the river, looking for gold. Los Angeles Times

Offers rescinded: UC Irvine is under fire for rescinding 500 admission offers two months before the fall term begins. I felt I was going to pass out. I couldnt stop crying, 18-year-old Ashley Gonzalez said in tears as she recounted her story. Los Angeles Times

Corruption case: Former Compton Mayor Omar Bradley was found guilty Friday of two counts of misappropriating public funds, the latest chapter in a high-profile corruption case that has spanned more than a decade. Los Angeles Times

More Wells Fargo trouble: The bank says that it charged hundreds of thousands of auto loan customers for insurance they did not ask for or need  in some cases causing those customers cars to be repossessed  and that its taking steps now to try to make things right. Los Angeles Times

Inspections urged: The state agency tasked with managing the safety of 1,250 dams in California has identified 93 that require a comprehensive assessment to be sure they can last through next years flood season, officials said. Los Angeles Times

Trojan talk: USCs Clay Helton is at ease on the eve of his second season  even when the subject is O.J. Simpson. Los Angeles Times

A school fight: Community colleges want to offer more bachelors degrees. The California State University system has mounted serious opposition to this move. The Mercury News

Cop arrested: A Kern County sheriffs deputy was arrested Friday after a months-long investigation into allegations that he stole money from the public while performing his duties, authorities said. Los Angeles Times

What we produce: Californias 77,500 farms produce more than 400 commodities, and two-thirds of the nations fruits and nuts. About one-quarter of what California produces is exported around the world. The Mercury News

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

Jay L. Clendenin at rest in his studio at Comic-Con. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Jay Clendenin has been a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times for a decade. Through the years, hes captured some pretty incredible portraits of celebrities and everyday people alike. Last week, he was at Comic-Con in San Diego. He explains how his portrait booth there came together:

When meetings started for our 2017 San Diego Comic-Con coverage, Hero Complex editor Meredith Woerner and I agreed we wanted to try something new. We decided to use some modern technology and have fun with an iPhone 7 Plus and Instagrams Boomerang app.

I played with the app leading up to Comic-Con and knew I wanted to have props that moved, helping accentuate the effects of the program  recording an action and then playing it in reverse. Bags of confetti, both the paper and metallic variety, were a must-have; followed by horns with tinsel and a variety of party blowers. I also went with some novelty glasses, which were a safe route for people not wanting to be covered in sparkling confetti.

The bar was set high by Twin Peaks stars Kyle MacLachlan, Naomi Watts and Tim Roth knowing exactly how to make a David Lynch-esque recording, implementing a party blower, confetti and wild movement. By the end of our final day, my head (and the floor) was covered with sparkling confetti and people knew which studio was having the most fun. A selection of the Boomerangs is posted on my Instagram @jlcvisuals.

More of Jays photos can be seen here.

This weeks most popular stories in Essential California:

1. USC received more than a year of questions about a former medical school deans conduct before a scandal broke. Los Angeles Times

2. Glide past Randys Donuts, Westfield Century City, the Mormon Temple and more in this mesmerizing drone video. LAist

3. These Bay Area homes were built by Joseph Eichler to be affordable and now cost millions. The Mercury News

4. The Pasadena police officer who investigated an overdose was skeptical of a USC med school deans story, a recording shows. Los Angeles Times

5. A veteran ICE agent, disillusioned with the Trump era, speaks out. The New Yorker

ICYMI, here are this weeks Great Reads

New housing needed: A Bay Area developer wants to build 4,400 homes where they may be sorely needed. The development would overlook a railway that drops riders into the heart of San Francisco in 15 minutes, reducing the need for cars and cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that come from them. Heres why it wont happen. Los Angeles Times

Would a drug test have helped? The revelations about Dr. Carmen Puliafito are an academic hospitals worst nightmare  methamphetamine use, partying in the deans office, the doctors presence at the scene of a 21-year-olds overdose. But the case of the University of Southern California eye surgeon and former medical school dean, as reported recently by the Los Angeles Times, raises a bigger question: Could it all have been prevented by random drug testing? STAT

More questions: One of the Los Angeles Police Departments top investigators was stunned by the decision to downgrade an assault charge against an off-duty city firefighter who choked a man unconscious, and asked a judge to view a video of the violent melee before sparing the defendant from jail time, according to court records. Los Angeles Times

Development update: A new Baldwin Hills Crenshaw plaza project offers a window into the history of redevelopment and the legacy of white flight. The new complex would be a far cry from the open-air mall first built there in 1947. But its not the first major intervention the site has seen, either. Nor is it the first time the city is looking to the mall as having the potential to give the area an economic boost. Streetsblog LA

Movie talk: Hollywood is aggressively adapting material that doesnt have a narrative or even any characters. But not all intellectual property is created equal. New York Times Magazine

Looking ahead

Sunday: The Los Angeles Chargers begin training in Huntington Beach.

Sunday: The U.S. Open of Surfing begins.

Monday: The Long Beach city budget is released.

Wednesday: The L.A. County district attorneys Courageous Citizen Awards ceremony is held.

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad.
President Trump is frustrated about the lack of progress in Afghanistan and seems to be skeptical about his military advisors proposal for the deployment of up to another 4,000 U.S. trainers, advisors and counter-terrorism forces to join the 8,500 now stationed there.

Weve been there for now close to 17 years, and I want to find out why weve been there for 17 years, how its going, and what we should do in terms of additional ideas, he told reporters recently.

We understand the presidents exasperation. Despite the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars and the loss of 2,400 American lives, the political and security situation in that country remains precarious, civilian casualties are increasing and corruption remains rife. In recent months the Taliban has gained ground.

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So Trump is right to insist on a searching review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan, one that considers diplomatic as well as military options. But he should say no to one proposal being floated, reportedly with the encouragement of some of his advisors: the replacement of U.S. forces by private security contractors.

A president with a business background might be easily beguiled by the idea of contracting out a war. But it is a terrible idea.

According to the New York Times, White House advisors Stephen Bannon and Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law, asked two businessmen who profited from military contracting to come up with alternatives to sending additional troops to Afghanistan. The newspaper said that Erik D. Prince, a founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, and Stephen A. Feinberg, the owner of the military contractor DynCorp International, recommended that the government rely on private contractors instead of U.S. troops.

Thats an awful proposal. Can Bannon and Kushner have already forgotten the history of Blackwater? The company became notorious after a group of its employees were convicted of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in 2007 in Baghdad.

Undaunted, Prince (who is the brother of Trumps Education secretary, Betsy DeVos) has now written a column in the Wall Street Journal offering several ideas for changes in U.S. policy in Afghanistan. Some of them, such as the consolidation of all authority in one official, might be worth consideration, although it is disturbing that Prince sees such a person as a viceroy in the mold of Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the occupation of Japan after World War II. Even more disturbingly, Prince also suggested that the U.S. rely on private military units modeled after the armies used by the East India Company  the for-profit enterprise that with its own private army effectively ruled India during British colonial era. These units, he explained, were locally recruited and trained, supported and led by contracted European professional soldiers.

If Prince is suggesting that duties now performed by U.S. military officers should be entrusted to contractors  mercenaries, in effect  its a horrible idea. Although private contractors have played a role in every war, military functions  even if they dont technically qualify as combat duty  should be handled by military personnel who are accountable in the chain of command.

Apparently Secretary of Defense James Mattis agrees. According to the New York Times, Mattis refused to include the private-contractor idea in the Afghanistan policy review he is leading along with National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster. Unfortunately, that doesnt mean the idea wont come to Trumps attention via Bannon, Kushner or other close advisors. A president with a business background might be easily beguiled by the idea of contracting out a war. But it is a terrible idea.

What ideas should the president consider?

Trump and his advisors should certainly cross-examine the consensus that a continued modest U.S. military presence is vital to the success of the Afghan governments campaign against the Taliban. (No one is suggesting that the U.S. return to the troop levels it maintained at the height of its combat role in Afghanistan, when 100,000 Americans were deployed.) Even if thats the case, some experts have argued for better integration of U.S. advisors with Afghan military units and changes in the military command structure.

And the administrations review should extend beyond military strategy. Diplomacy also must be part of the equation. That includes efforts to pressure Pakistan to do more to combat terrorist groups that use its territory to launch attacks on U.S. and allied troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. It also means being open to the possibility of negotiations between the government of Afghanistan and elements of the Taliban that would be willing to accept a constitution that secured basic rights. Indeed, one argument for military intervention in Afghanistan always has been that it places pressure on the Taliban to come to the negotiating table.

These are the issues Trump needs to consider in taking a new look at our involvement in Afghanistan. But he should forget about private armies.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
Kamala Harris works to forge relationship with Central Valley

Sen @kamalaharris talking grapes with Fowler Packing Co president Dennis Parnagian in the fields outside metro Fresno pic.twitter.com/smVuRfbSpQ  Cathleen Decker (@cathleendecker) July 5, 2017

The drought may be over in the minds of urban Californians, quite literally washed away by huge accumulations of rain last year that filled reservoirs and left the states mountains covered with snow even now.

But the farmers and others in the Central Valley, veterans of multiple drought-and-flood cycles, know the reprieve is only temporary. On Wednesday they pressed new U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris to work to ensure a more reliable source of water for the nations most bountiful farming region.

This area is drying on the vine, Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, told Harris during a roundtable with Central Valley officials.

A long-term solution can only come through federal and state action to protect the areas water supply, he said.

Jason Phillips, chief executive of the Friant Water Authority, said recent rainfall had done little to stem problems caused by nearly a decade of drought.

A canal that runs from Fresno to north of Bakersfield sunk in some places as much as 2 feet in two years, he said, wreaking havoc on a system that operates on the force of gravity.

We cannot get all the water to our growers, he said.

The meeting between Harris and nearly two dozen agriculture and water officials was meant to ease what is typically a fraught relationship between the states Democratic leaders  all of whose power bases are in metropolitan areas  and the mostly Republican Central Valley powers that traditionally look at them with skepticism.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has worked for two decades to aid the agricultural industry  at the roundtable, several nodded as Harris referred to the senior senator as an incredible warrior for the area.

But Harris predecessor, former Sen. Barbara Boxer, was allied more with environmental groups that have fought dams and other water systems. As a result, she was viewed negatively by many here.

Harris was intent Wednesday on persuading the Central Valley representatives of her interest in places beyond her base in Alameda and San Francisco counties.

They, on the other hand, worked to convince her to be more in the Feinstein mold on issues important to the area  from reliable water to immigration programs to environmental protections that take into consideration the areas needs.

President Trump was highly popular in much of the Central Valley, apart from Fresno County, which leans Democratic because of its metropolitan shadings. But some issues important to the valley cut in politically unorthodox ways.

Republicans here are more concerned than those elsewhere with passing a plan that would give legal status to immigrants, on whom agriculture depends. With undocumented workers worried about deportation, and the border tightening to those not yet here, the labor supply has already shrunk, farmers said.

Theyre out there working, being productive people, said farmer Joe Del Bosque. They work hard for us, and we have nowhere to reach.

Del Bosque said he recently held a training session for new workers. Of the 200 people who showed up, only a handful were born in the United States, he said.

Environmental regulations prized by Democrats elsewhere are often frowned on by some party members here and blamed for the areas water difficulties.

Several of the participants lobbied Harris for her support of dams that have long been under consideration by federal and state officials, particularly the Temperance Flat Dam, which would be constructed on the San Joaquin River.

Harris offered no assurances on the topic to the group on Wednesday. Afterward, speaking to reporters, she also did not take a position.

One of the things that were going to have to figure out ... is what is the right solution for that, she said of a plan to construct the Temperance Flat Dam and several others. Is it going to be about the building of dams? Is it also going to be about looking at  also looking at  other sources of renewable and sustainable reliable sources?

Both sides signaled they did not expect an alliance on all fronts. But Harris said she would serve as an advocate for farmers during the crafting of a new farm bill and other measures before the Senate.

William Bourdeau, executive vice president of the politically influential Harris Farms, told the senator he wished the majority of her supporters who reside in urban areas would have a better understanding of the risks and challenges of farming.

We need somebody to explain the symbiotic relationship we have, he said.

I agree with you completely, she replied.
In the year since Donald Trump won the Republican presidential nomination, party leaders have been reluctant to challenge a man who has formed a tight bond with conservative voters, even when he upset party orthodoxies and norms of presidential behavior.

But that reticence is breaking down. A convergence of contentious issues, as well as embarrassing infighting and shake-ups at the White House, have a number of Republicans suddenly in open resistance to President Trump on a number of fronts.

The most dramatic moment came in the early-morning hours Friday, when Sen. John McCain, an ailing war hero and onetime Republican presidential standard-bearer, joined two other GOP dissidents, Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, to cast the deciding vote to kill a scaled-back plan to dismantle tenets of the Affordable Care Act  and with it, perhaps, Trumps promise to repeal Obamacare.

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But the signs of resistance went further.

Nearly every Republican in Congress voted with Democrats this week to approve legislation tying the presidents hands on a major foreign policy issue, making it harder for him to ease sanctions against Russia amid lawmakers concerns about Trumps friendly posture toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. Late Friday, the White House put out a statement saying Trump would sign the legislation; his veto would have been easily overridden.

Since Wednesday, some of the most conservative Republicans in Congress, as well as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have pushed back at Trumps surprise announcement on Twitter of a ban on transgender people in the military. The critics, including McCain, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and an array of conservative senators, objected both to the substance of the ban  which threatened the status of thousands of active-duty service members  and to the way in which it was unveiled.

Perhaps the most broad opposition came in response to Trumps continued public humiliation of his attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Conservatives from Congress whod served with Sessions when he was in the Senate, delivered clear messages to Trump in Sessions defense in the media and throughout the country.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Trump would have holy hell to pay if he fired Sessions, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned that he would refuse to hold hearings this year to confirm a new attorney general.

Graham went further, saying that should Trump try to dismiss Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating potential Trump campaign collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice, it could spell the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.

What hes interjecting is turning democracy upside down, Graham told reporters, adding that he was considering legislation to prevent Trump from dismissing Mueller and shutting down the Russia investigation.

Political veterans and Republican critics say Trumps seeming inability to focus on his policy agenda, amid the distractions of investigations, media baiting and staff dysfunction, leave him little leverage with Congress. Beyond that, his threats against some Republicans and shows of disloyalty toward allies like Sessions give lawmakers little faith that Trump will back them if they need political cover for tough votes.

Trumps approval rating is in the 30s, he uses his bully pulpit to beat up on staff and hes got no policy agenda, said Rory Cooper, a former Republican leadership aide and George W. Bush administration official who has been a Trump critic.

President Trumps closing argument on healthcare was that his staff and attorney general are not trusted, Cooper added. Its clear that members of Congress have no support or leadership from the White House.

Many conservatives had been willing to put up with Trumps erratic governance in the hopes he could at least deliver on longstanding conservative priorities. But Fridays defeat on the healthcare measure, after Republicans seven years of promises to repeal Obamacare, left many despairing that other promises, especially on a tax overhaul, could be imperiled.

The president told everyone that only he could do the job and he would drain the swamp, wrote Erick Erickson, an influential conservative radio host and blogger. Instead, hes dammed up the swamp, put a party boat on it, and has turned his attention to Twitter.

Trumps approval rating is in the 30s, he uses his bully pulpit to beat up on staff and hes got no policy agenda.  Rory Cooper, former Republican leadership aide

Trump, as he often does, blamed Democrats. But he upbraided Republicans as well on Friday, both on Twitter and during a Long Island speech that was supposed to be about cracking down on criminal gangs.

They should have approved healthcare last night, but you cant have everything, Trump said in New York. Theyve been working on that for seven years. Can you believe that? But well get it done. I said from the beginning, let Obamacare implode and then do it.

Individual Republican lawmakers have walked a careful line with Trump throughout his first six months  siding with him on many issues and withholding criticism on others, while disagreeing at times to show their independence, especially in opposition to Trumps proposed deep cuts in domestic and international aid programs.

But the healthcare bill proved more complicated to navigate. Polls showed that Republican efforts at repeal were widely unpopular, including among some conservatives, and prominent Republican governors were strongly opposed. Yet the party had promised repeal and replace since 2010.

John Weaver, a former longtime political consultant to McCain, said of the senators break with Trump on the healthcare bill, after two earlier votes in support, I dont think he took any joy in it.

But, Weaver said, I think he wanted to send a clear signal that whats happening in the White House is not normal and whats happening in the Congress is not normal.

Republican critics accuse Trump and his administration officials of combining arrogance with ineptitude, especially in how they carried out threats to wavering senators such as Murkowski and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller. Murkowski suggested to reporters that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke threatened federal funding to her state, which is heavily dependent on it.

The Murkowski threat was particularly striking, because she is chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which oversees Zinkes department. Murkowski held fast.

Who ever heard of a Cabinet secretary threatening the chairman of the oversight committee of his department? Weaver said. Its like Dumb and Dumber merged with The Godfather here.

Still, Trump has hardly lost his ability to work with his party. Many in Congress continue to fear his ability to stir their most passionate partisans  who continue to back him strongly  and to encourage primary challenges for their seats.

Also, Trumps allies in outside groups already have shown a willingness to spend money on political advertising against wayward Republicans. A pro-Trump group ran ads against Heller in June, during an earlier stage of the healthcare effort, though it pulled them after objections from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But a Republican strategist with close ties to the White House, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions, said that weapon would be back on the table for the 2018 congressional election campaigns.

At the least, Trumps hold on the GOPs base could protect him against threats posed by the Russia investigations by Mueller and the congressional committees. But Trump is seeing that it would not be easy to thwart Muellers investigation by firing Sessions and getting his replacement to eliminate Mueller.

Republican senators have their guard up generally against presidential recess appointments, which allow presidents to fill jobs temporarily without Senate confirmation. If both parties agree, a senator will stay in town on a rotating basis to technically avoid having the Senate in recess.

Republicans did that to prevent President Obama from avoiding Senate confirmations and filling vacancies with recess appointments. But now they have signaled they are not willing to let Trump undercut their authority either.

Times staff writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

noah.bierman@latimes.com brian.bennett@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByBrianBennett, @noahbierman

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More than half of Californias 14 House Republicans face potentially tough battles in next years midterm election, and while some of them wavered until the last minute, all of them voted for the House healthcare plan in May.

But in the wee hours of Friday morning, the Senate failed in its apparent last-ditch effort to pass any kind of replacement for Obamacare.

For now, it looks as if congressional leaders are moving on from their healthcare reform efforts, but the Californians vote for a plan that would have taken health insurance from as many as 1 in 3 Californians is sure to be kept alive by the dozens of challengers who have signed up to run against them.

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Democrats are plotting to use the healthcare vote as a cudgel against vulnerable Republicans in the same way votes for Obamacare were used to sweep Democrats out of the majority in 2010. And winning at least some of Californias GOP seats is crucial to Democratic efforts to win back the House.

The party blasted out news releases Friday saying the representatives cant turn back time and undo the damaging vote they took to kick 23 million Americans off their health insurance and jack up premiums for millions more. ... [They] own the Republican health care disaster and it will haunt them in 2018.

At the time of the House vote, several of Californias Republican representatives said they were keeping their years-long promise to repeal President Obamas signature law. Others said they were trying to move the process forward with the expectation the Senate would make the bill better.

Now they say theyre disappointed the Senate couldnt agree on a way to repeal Obamacare, but none is too concerned about the political effects of voting for the House version, which polls have shown was very unpopular.

Rep. Jeff Denham of Turlock initially said he couldnt back the House bill, but voted for it after getting a commitment from GOP leaders to work on access to healthcare, especially in rural areas. He said Friday he was frustrated the Senate couldnt pass anything.

I expect to see this place work, Denham said. Im certainly disappointed that they werent able to move the ball forward.

 Video shows how Californias Republicans votes on Obamacare repeal

Hours before the Senates failed vote, Denham held a campaign fundraiser in Washington for his 50th birthday with top House leaders. Denham has drawn at least eight opponents in a district where hes frequently challenged, but said he wasnt worried about being attacked for his healthcare vote.

Yes, [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi will always target me and we will continue to focus on our district issues, and I think when I do that weve been very successful by a wide margin, Denham said. I certainly dont vote because Nancy Pelosi sends people into my district; I focus on my district.

Denham said he expects to meet with doctors, hospitals and patients during the August recess to talk about other potential healthcare legislation.

He and fellow vulnerable Central Valley Republican Rep. David Valadao of Hanford introduced legislation this week to increase the number of doctor training positions available in areas with high Medicaid populations, something that fits the description of their rural districts, where residents saw some of the biggest benefits from the Medi-Cal expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

Valadao said he was disappointed by the Senates failure, and believes Republicans still have an obligation to do something about Obamacare.

We do have to have some legislation move forward, he said. Hopefully well get an opportunity to get something done soon.

Prior to the House vote, Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista had said the bill could be improved and he was on the fence about how to vote. Hed barely scraped out a win last year by fewer than 2,000 votes, and more opponents were lining up to challenge him again.

He said he ultimately voted for it because he had faith the Senate would send back a better bill. Issa even nudged Senate leadership twice to consider his idea to offer federal employees healthcare plans to more or all Americans. He said in a statement Friday that hell keep pushing colleagues on that idea.

Its disappointing, but we cant give up now. Obamacare is still failing and we must bring young adults, families, small business and all Americans relief. We need to keep up the fight, he said.

Rep. Steve Knight of Palmdale, the last Republican congressman in Los Angeles County, said the House had done its part and its still up to the Senate to decide what happens next. Asked about the political ramifications of his vote, he laughed.

Democrats targeted my district way before any vote I made, said Knight, who was among the members expected to be greeted by planned healthcare protests in their hometowns as the House embarked on a monthlong recess Friday. This was a very difficult vote, everybody knows that, but were going to move forward.

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale), whose Northern California seat is not considered to be at risk, said members should confidently explain their positions to voters.

Were here to make hard votes, [we]re here to make votes of conscience. Some guys and gals will complain, Oh, now were out on record with a hard vote  you know the guys in the tougher districts  but at the end of it, you have a reason that you are supposed to be here, LaMalfa said. If you cant justify your position outside the politics, then why are you here?

sarah.wire@latimes.com

Follow @sarahdwire on Twitter

Read more about the 55 members of Californias delegation at latimes.com/politics

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Trump called him my African-American. But he has few kind words for the president. By Mark Z. Barabak (Mark Z. Barabak/Los Angeles Times) On the day that changed his life, Gregory Cheadle almost stayed in bed. He was tired  he traveled a lot in his long-shot bid for Congress  but asked himself: How often does a candidate for president come to the far reaches of Northern California? And why pass up a crowd and the chance to hand out more fliers? So Cheadle roused himself that June 2016 morning and secured a spot up close when Donald Trump swooped in for a rally at Reddings municipal airport. It was hot, the atmosphere was loose and Trumps patter seeming more stand-up comedy than campaign spiel. He went into one of those sidelong digressions, about protesters and an African American  great fan, great guy  and, by the way, whatever happened to him? It was then, Cheadle said, he raised his hand and jokingly shouted, Im here. Trump looked and pointed, his voice a throaty rumble. Look at my African-American over here! he exclaimed. Are you the greatest? In the days and weeks that followed Cheadle was attacked on social media and harassed by people who dug up his phone number and email address. For a time he stayed home, too nervous to venture outside. All, he said, because the media portrayed him as something he was not and never has been: a Trump sycophant. Read More Facebook

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Trump quietly signs Russia sanctions bill By Noah Bierman President Trump quietly signed legislation Wednesday that imposes new sanctions on Russia and limits his ability to remove them, according to two White House aides. Trump signed the bill without cameras or an immediate press release. He had opposed imposing new sanctions on Moscow but had little choice after a nearly unanimous Congress approved the bill, guaranteeing they would override a veto. The bill, which also imposes new sanctions on Iran and North Korea, prevents American companies from investing in many energy projects that are funded by Russian government interests. It also prevents Trump from unilaterally lifting the sanctions. It thus marked an unusual move by Congress to tie the presidents hands on foreign policy. Trump did not want to give up that leverage. But the vote in Congress was a strong sign that lawmakers do not trust Trump to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump has repeatedly praised, and the widening federal investigation into possible coordination last year between his presidential campaign and Moscow. Passage of the sanctions bill already has sparked a harsh reaction in Moscow. Putin announced last week that the United States would need to shed 755 personnel, including U.S. diplomats, from its embassy and consulates in Russia. President Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats, said to be spies, from the United States last December. A White House aide said a statement would be issued later Wednesday. Facebook

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Senior GOP senators serve notice: No action on healthcare at this point By David Lauter Trump administration officials continue to push the Senate to take another run at healthcare legislation, but on Monday senior Republican senators pushed back, making clear that theyre done with the topic for now. Theres just too much animosity and were too divided on healthcare, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), the head of the Senate Finance Committee, said in an interview with Reuters. I think we ought to acknowledge that we can come back to healthcare afterward, but we need to move ahead on tax reform, Hatch said. His remarks were quickly followed by others in GOP leadership positions. I think its time to move on to something else, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri told CNN. If the question is do I think we should stay on healthcare until we get it done, I think its time to move on to something else. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota also chimed in. Until someone shows us how to get that elusive 50th vote, I think its over, he told reporters. The remarks seemed a coordinated effort to respond to administration officials, including budget director Mick Mulvaney and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who said over the weekend that they wanted the Senate to keep working on healthcare. Last week, the Senate defeated several different Republican plans to repeal all or part of the Affordable Care Act. The votes made it clear that with unified Democratic opposition to repeal, and divisions among Republicans, the campaign to overturn the law has stalled out, at least for now. Congress faces several other pressing issues that will be demanding lawmakers attention, including deadlines at the end of September to raise the federal debt ceiling and fund government agencies for the coming fiscal year. And the administration is eager to move on tax proposals, with officials rather optimistically saying they hope to see votes by November on a tax package that is not yet written. Facebook

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Good news for Atty. Gen. Sessions: Trump has 100% confidence in Cabinet By Noah Bierman To Q re Sessions, spox Sanders says Trump has 100% confidence in Cabinet. Last wk she wouldn't say if he had it in Sessions. Kelly effect?  Jackie Calmes (@jackiekcalmes) July 31, 2017 President Trump has called Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions beleaguered and even VERY weak, but Sessions seemed to get good news from the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, on Monday. Trump has 100% confidence in all of his Cabinet secretaries, Sanders said in response to a question about Sessions job status during the daily White House briefing. Last week, when speculation about Sessions was rife, Sanders repeatedly declined opportunities to provide assurances that the attorney general enjoyed the presidents full confidence. Trump himself said time will tell when he was asked last week about Sessions. The willingness to tamp down speculation about Sessions may reflect the arrival Monday of retired Gen. John F. Kelly as the new White House chief of staff. He is tasked with restoring order to the administration. Sanders also batted down reports that the White House was discussing moving Sessions to another post, as secretary of Homeland Security. That job became vacant Monday after Kelly was sworn in as Trumps new chief of staff. Sanders said the White House has had no conversations about any Cabinet members switching jobs. Republican senators have publicly opposed firing Sessions, and a couple have objected to shifting him to another post as well, given that it could appear that Trump is trying to affect the investigations of himself and his campaign in the context of Russias election interference. Trump has said publicly that his frustration with Sessions, once among his closest allies, stems from Sessions decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, an act that led to the appointment of a special counsel. Facebook

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Can Trump really cut health insurance payments for members of Congress and their staff? It would be easy By Lisa Mascaro Reeling from the failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Trump now threatens to block federal funding that lawmakers and their staff rely on to help buy health insurance. Trumps threats are not empty. The administration could simply stop the payments -- which are provided to Capitol Hill lawmakers and staff much the way many employers help pay employees monthly insurance premiums -- by dashing off new federal regulation. But the easy attack on lawmakers skims over what many say was a complicated, but fair-minded, compromise made during the Obamacare debates several years ago. Under Obamacare, if lawmakers want insurance through their employer - the federal government - they are required to buy policies through the ACA exchanges. There had been great criticism at the time, largely from opponents of the healthcare bill, that lawmakers and congressional staff should not be exempt from the law. The argument was they should have to live under it. So they did. Usually those buying individual insurance on the exchanges can apply to see if their income and geographic area allow them to qualify for a federal subsidy. For lawmakers, though, that was prohibited. Instead, they get the regular employer contribution they did before, much in the same way other workers do when their companies buy insurance. For federal workers, the government covers about 70% of the costs, about the same paid by employers in the private sector, according to Kaiser Family Foundation. The administration affirmed that federal support for lawmakers and their staffs in an Office of Personnel Management regulation issued in 2013. To cut those funds off, Trump administration could simply reverse course, and issue another regulation changing the rules. Trump appeared ready to do so in a series of weekend tweets. Why should Congress not be paying what public pays, Trump tweeted over the weekend. If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon. But such a move would likely cause an uproar in Congress. Its not just members of Congress, but also their staffs, who would have to pay full price for their insurance. Stopping Trumps action, though, seems tough. It would require Congress to pass legislation ensuring the federal payments would continue to be made. Few lawmakers would likely take up that cause. And even if Congress were able to pass a bill protecting the payments, it seems doubtful Trump at this point would sign it into law. Facebook

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U.S. hits Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with sanctions By Associated Press Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro celebrates the results of Sundays election in Caracas. (Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP/Getty Images) The Trump administration has hit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with financial sanctions. The move comes after Venezuela held a weekend election that will give Maduros ruling party virtually unlimited power in the South American country. The Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control announced the sanctions against Maduro in a brief statement on Monday, a day after the Venezuelan vote to elect a constituent assembly that will rewrite the constitution. A longer explanation from the White House was also expected. The administration imposed sanctions on more than a dozen senior current and former Venezuelan officials last week, warning the socialist government that new penalties would come if Maduro went ahead with Sundays election for the assembly. Facebook

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Anthony Scaramucci is out as White House communications director By Brian Bennett Anthony Scaramucci, the brash New Yorker who was announced little more than a week ago as President Trumps White House communications director, was ousted Monday before he had even officially taken the job. John F. Kelly, the newly sworn-in White House chief of staff, told Scaramucci around 9:30 a.m. EDT that he was going to be replaced, according to a person close to White House. In a statement officially announcing the move, the White House said Scaramucci felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. While Scaramuccis time at the center of the presidents circle was short, it was consequential, prompting the resignations of first Sean Spicer as White House press secretary and then Reince Priebus as chief of staff. The most notable firings and resignations in the Trump administration >> A former hedge fund executive on Wall Street, Scaramucci, who enjoyed media attention, also had come on strong stylistically, highlighted by a profane tirade against colleagues Priebus and Trump strategist Steve Bannon in an exchange last week with a New Yorker reporter. The abrupt shift in Scaramuccis status seemed to reflect Kellys mission to bring order to the chain of command within the chaotic administration. In getting Scaramucci to leave, Kelly was undoing Trumps own hiring decision. Scaramucci had told reporters when he was hired that he would be reporting directly to the president at Trumps request, bypassing the normal chain that would have the communications director -- like all staff -- report to the chief of staff. Scaramuccis unusually short tenure reflects a moment of extreme turbulence in the White House, which has been embroiled in infighting as it confronts low poll numbers for the president, a floundering legislative agenda and the investigations involving Russian meddling in last years presidential election. After word spread of Scaramuccis ouster, Spicer, who resigned when Scaramucci took over but was still working in the White House, walked out of his office to a throng of reporters. Is this a surprise party? he asked. UPDATE 12:15 p.m.: This story has been updated throughout with additional details and background. This article was originally published at 11:49 a.m. Facebook

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Trump swears in John Kelly, says ex-secretary of Homeland Security will do an even better job as chief of staff By Noah Bierman President Trump swore in his new chief of staff, John F. Kelly, on Monday morning, formalizing a shake-up in his top ranks that was announced Friday evening with word of the resignation of Reince Priebus. We look forward to - if its possible - an even better job as chief of staff, Trump said to Kelly, formerly the secretary of homeland security. Ill try, sir, Kelly replied. JOHN KELLY is now chief of staff. Sworn in during ceremony in Oval Office minutes ago. pic.twitter.com/dMEQ4rhpFA  Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 31, 2017 Trump is hoping that Kelly, a retired general, will retool and bring order to a White House that has struggled with low poll numbers, staff infighting, a faltering legislative agenda and an investigation into Russian election meddling and potential collusion and obstruction of justice. Yet Trump said the administration has done very well after a reporter asked what would be different under Kelly. He cited the unemployment rate, the thriving stock market and unnamed polls that, he said, show high business confidence. Were doing very well. We have a tremendous base, he said.The country is optimistic. And I think the general will just add to it. Trump praised Kellys performance at the Department of Homeland Security, where Kelly focused on immigration issues at the southern border, as record-shattering, with very little controversy. There was no word on whom the president might name to replace Kelly at the department. Trump reportedly has considered moving Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions there from the Justice Department, reflecting his unhappiness with the attorney general, but Republican senators preemptively have signaled their opposition to such a move. Facebook

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Risky investigation, stalled agenda  Trumps in trouble, so heres his strategy By Noah Bierman (Spencer Platt / Getty Images) Hosts of Southern Californias Morning Answer radio show were wrapping up a two-hour live broadcast from a white tent just outside the West Wing last week and marveling at their access to Cabinet secretaries and prominent administration figures. If youre a Trumpkin, host Brian Whitman told his listeners on AM 870, this is like fantasy camp. The White Houses daylong hospitality for Salem Radio Network, a nationwide chain of Christian and conservative stations, underscored President Trumps continued courtship of  and increased dependence on  core supporters as he confronts a stalled agenda and increasingly perilous investigations into whether his campaign colluded with Russia and he subsequently sought to obstruct the inquiries. Read More Facebook

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Obamacare vote isnt the only sign of GOP resistance to Trump By Noah Bierman In the year since Donald Trump won the Republican presidential nomination, party leaders have been reluctant to challenge a man who has formed a tight bond with conservative voters, even when he upset party orthodoxies and norms of presidential behavior. But that reticence is breaking down. A convergence of contentious issues, as well as embarrassing infighting and shake-ups at the White House, have a number of Republicans suddenly in open resistance to Trump on a number of fronts. Read More Facebook

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Trump ousts Reince Priebus as chief of staff in latest White House shake-up By Noah Bierman John Kelly (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump ousted his beleaguered chief of staff, Reince Priebus, naming Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly to replace him Friday in the latest White House shake-up as the administration struggles to emerge from bitter staff infighting and a stalled legislative agenda. Trump announced the abrupt reshuffle in three posts on Twitter hours after the Senate killed his latest plans to rewrite President Obamas signature healthcare law, dealing another harsh blow to the White House. The tweets, sent as Trump was returning on Air Force One with Priebus after a speech on gang violence in New York, caught Capitol Hill and others off guard even though Priebus stature in Trumps inner circle has been in sharp decline for some time. Read More Facebook

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Putins spokesman accuses U.S. of political schizophrenia By Associated Press Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting in Moscow on June 21. (Sergei Karpukhin / EPA) Russia urged the United States on Monday to show political will to mend ties even as it ordered sweeping cuts of U.S. embassy personnel unseen since Cold War times. President Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said it will take time for the U.S. to recover from what he called political schizophrenia, but added that Russia remains interested in constructive cooperation with the U.S. We are interested in a steady development of our ties and are sorry to note that we are still far from that, he said. Peskovs statement followed Sundays televised comments by Putin, who said the U.S. would have to cut 755 of its embassy and consulate staff in Russia, a massive reduction he described as a response to new U.S. sanctions. The Russian Foreign Ministry had previously said that the U.S. should cut its embassy and consular employees to 455, the number that Russia has in the United States. Along with the caps on embassy personnel announced Friday, it also declared the closure of a U.S. recreational retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and warehouse facilities. Moscows action is the long-expected tit-for-tat response to former President Obamas move to expel 35 Russian diplomats and shut down two Russian recreational retreats in the U.S. over reports of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Facebook

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White House urged to refrain from Obamacare sabotage as Trump mulls subsidy cutoff By Laura King A pair of prominent lawmakers urged President Trump on Sunday not to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, in the wake of failed Republican efforts to scrap his predecessors signature legislative achievement. But Trump urged GOP senators to try again to push through some version of repealing and replacing the law, even though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said last week it was time to move on to other matters. Trump senior advisor Kellyanne Conway said the president would decide in coming days whether to block subsidies that are a crucial component of the existing healthcare law. Hes going to make that decision this week, and thats a decision that only he can make, Conway said on Fox News Sunday. Two of the lawmakers who blocked the Senate GOP repeal plan last week, however, criticized the administrations continued efforts to overturn the law. Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who steadfastly rejected a series of GOP healthcare measures last week, blamed the Trump administration for encouraging instability in the insurance markets by continuing the uncertainty over whether the subsidies  cost-sharing payments that reduce out-of-pocket healthcare costs for poorer Americans  would continue. Im troubled by the uncertainty that has been created by the administration, Collins said on NBCs Meet the Press. She contested Trumps characterization of the payments as an insurance company bailout. Thats not what it is, she said, calling the reduction payments vital assistance to low-income Americans. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said further action on healthcare should be done in a bipartisan manner and not rushed. You cannot do major entitlement reform singlehandedly, and you wouldnt do major legislative initiatives singlehandedly, she told reporters in Alaska. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) echoed Collins criticism of Trumps threat to stop making the cost-sharing payments. You know, I really think its incomprehensible that we have a president of the United States who wants to sabotage healthcare in America, make life more difficult for millions of people who are struggling now to get the health insurance they need and to pay for that health insurance, he said on CNNs State of the Union. Prior to heading out for a day at his Virginia golf property, Trump tweeted that Republican senators should press ahead with efforts to scrap Obamacare -- a day after he tauntingly exhorted them not to be quitters in the quest for a legislative victory for him. Don't give up Republican Senators, the World is watching: Repeal & Replace...and go to 51 votes (nuke option), get Cross State Lines & more.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2017 The White House budget director, Mick Mulvaney, on CNNs State of the Union, said it was official Trump administration policy that the Senate should keep working to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, eschewing an August recess if necessary. Senators, he said, need to stay, they need to work -- they need to pass something. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, while acknowledging a responsibility to follow the law -- Obamacare -- also signaled that Trump was not accepting defeat in efforts to get rid of the measure. Our goalas well as the presidents goal, is to put in place a law, a system, that actually works for patients, he said on Meet the Press, adding, You cant do that under the current structure. Facebook

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Frustrated in defeat, Trump threatens healthcare of voters  and lawmakers By Joseph Tanfani Frustrated by the failure of the Obamacare repeal in the Senate, President Trump on Saturday threatened to end federal subsidies for healthcare insurance  for Congress as well as the rest of the country. After seven years of "talking" Repeal & Replace, the people of our great country are still being forced to live with imploding ObamaCare!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017 If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017 If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon! Trump tweeted, fuming about Congress failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which he said was imploding. Such a move could cause havoc and much higher premiums in insurance markets, since many low- and moderate-income people depend on those subsidies to help cover the cost of their policies. Through a series of administrative maneuvers by Congress and the Obama administration, members and their staffs also benefit from those subsidies. Targeting congressional healthcare might score Trump some populist points with his base, but it would likely come at a cost of poisoning his relationship with Congress. Just making the threat on Saturday highlights how far things have eroded between Trump and top GOP lawmakers. And it comes a day after Trump pushed out former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, an establishment Republican who was the GOP congressional leaderships trusted liaison in the White House. Trump actually has a jarring amount of leverage over thousands of congressional staff who depend on employer health care contribution. https://t.co/lRPmrmDIJs  Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 29, 2017 Trumps longstanding threat to let the health insurance plans fail would come with its own political price. The federal government sends about $600 million a month to insurance companies to help cover the cost, and Trump is threatening to cut that off to allow Obamacare markets to collapse. His goal is to pressure Congress to send him a repeal bill, but so far the strategy has failed. The confidence Trump has expressed that if he followed through with the threat the fallout would land not on him but on Democrats, because they created Obamacare, is not widely shared in Washington. If health care collapses, voters will blame Trump and the GOP.



That's what happens when you control the White House and Congress. pic.twitter.com/iEjEGyapAL  Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 29, 2017 Facebook

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Iran condemns new U.S. sanctions, vows to pursue missile program By Ramin Mostaghim Iran defied Washington and condemned new U.S. sanctions over its development of missiles capable of being armed with nuclear warheads. We will continue with full power our missile program, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told state television IRIB on Saturday, dismissing new sanctions passed by Congress last week as, hostile, reprehensible and unacceptable. Its ultimately an effort to weaken the nuclear deal, Ghasemi said, adding, The military and missile fields  are our domestic policies and others have no right to intervene or comment on them. Iran had agreed to limit its nuclear activities under the 2015 agreement with the U.S. and other world powers in exchange for sanctions relief. Ghasemi argued Saturday that the U.S. had violated that agreement by linking the missile program to the nuclear deal and restricting Iranian banking activities in the U.S. He argued that Irans latest missile tests dont break the agreement because the weapons are defensive. The new wave of pressure on missile projects in Iran will push the Islamic theocracy into a corner, predicted Iran analyst Hojjat Kalashi in Tehran, noting that the government of President Hassan Rouhani, who was reelected in May, is coping with an economic downturn and may step back from the compromise nuclear deal. The new Iran sanctions bill, which also targets Russia and North Korea, was passed by the House and Senate this week. It would penalize those involved in Irans ballistic missile program as well as those who do business with them, impose an arms embargo on Iran and label its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist group. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said President Trump will sign the bill. On Friday, the U.S. was joined by Britain, France and Germany in condemning Irans recent launch of a satellite-carrying rocket and warned that it violated a United Nations resolution implementing the 2015 nuclear deal. In a joint statement, they urged Iran to stop developing missiles and rockets capable of carrying nuclear warheads that have a destabilizing impact on the region. In response to a rocket launch Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on subsidiaries of an Iranian company involved in Tehrans ballistic missile program. But Nader Karimi Juni, an analyst close to Rouhanis government, said Iranian leaders dont believe the U.N. and European powers will ultimately back the U.S., and so Iran will not compromise on missile projects and will remain defiant. Facebook

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Trump jabs U.S. mayors, who push back, calling president out of touch with cities By Kurtis Lee (Spencer Platt / Getty Images) President Trump wants police to know that he  not mayors  has their back. Ive met police that are great police that arent allowed to do their job because they have a pathetic mayor or a mayor that doesnt know whats going on, Trump said Friday in a speech before police officers in Brentwood, N.Y. The comments from Trump, who in his address highlighted crime in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, drew applause from some in attendance. In a statement following Trumps remarks, the United States Conference of Mayors, a bipartisan group, released a statement pushing back against the president. The presidents comments today prove how out of touch he is with the realities of life in American cities. Mayors number one priority is  and always will be  the safety and protection of their residents, said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the groups president. There is no daylight between the mayors of our cities and the uniformed officers who work tirelessly to keep us safe every single day. During the speech Trump called on police and immigration officials to be rough with suspected gang members in cities nationwide. In a recent interview with The Times, former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who recently launched a $200-million initiative to empower city governments and mayors, stressed the key to good governing is experience as a manager  something, he said, Trump was not. Bloomberg added that the mayors are much more in tune with the needs of residents than the federal government. You got to remember a mayor and the local city council are much closer to the public than the governor and the state legislature, or the president and the federal legislature. So if the public is in favor of something, the local officials know it and they get held responsible, he said. Facebook

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The growing parade of exits under Trump administration By Len de Groot A lot of people have left President Trumps early administration  Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was replaced Friday. The White House communications department has been the scene of many of the recent turnovers as it wrestles to craft a message sometimes at odds with Trumps frequent tweeting. At the National Security Council, there has been a leadership struggle since Michael Flynn resigned in the face of pressure over undisclosed contacts with Russia. One appointee was fired over comments he made at a private function. Others have been removed as Flynns successor, H.R. McMaster, has moved to add loyalists to the council. Here are the most noteworthy departures: Read More Facebook

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Trump urges officers and immigration officials to be rough on animals terrorizing U.S. neighborhoods By Barbara Demick ( (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)) President Trump on Friday called for police and immigration officials to be rough with suspected gang members in order to rid the country of animals he said are terrorizing communities. Please dont be too nice, Trump told police recruits at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, a heavily Latino suburb of New York City. Like when you guys put somebody in the car and youre protecting their head, you know the way you put the hand  like, dont hit their head, and theyve just killed somebody?  You can take the hand away. He implied that he was satisfied with rough handling of suspects by the police. When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon  you just see them thrown in, rough, he said. Scoffing at calls for what he describes as political correctness, Trump also renewed his pledges to build a wall along the Mexican border. He accused the Obama administration of admitting criminals into the United States. Read More Facebook

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Analysis: In a Washington run by men, two overshadowed Republican women make their point on healthcare By Cathleen Decker In a Washington that has grown demonstrably more testosterone-fueled since President Trumps inauguration, it took two Republican women to secure the end of a long effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. They were the same two women  Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski  who had been excluded from the 13-member working group drafting the Republican bills. Nobodys being excluded based upon gender. Everybodys at the table, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had said of his all-white-males group. In the early hours of Friday, the duo was overshadowed by the more dramatic and unexpected no vote from Sen. John McCain of Arizona. There was reason for the attention lavished on McCain  a war hero and veteran senator returns to the Capitol days after a dire cancer diagnosis. But without both Collins and Murkowskis steadfast opposition, his vote would have been meaningless. Also largely overlooked: Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Democrat who like McCain made an arduous trip to Washington despite her recent diagnosis of late-stage kidney cancer. Social media buzzed Friday with praise for the women senators from many fronts, including from men. But from many women, there was also a sense of familiarity at being ignored or taken for granted. Read More Facebook

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Clinton Foundation donor who was denied a visa settles leak case against the U.S. By Joseph Tanfani A billionaire Nigerian businessman and major Clinton Foundation donor banned from entering the U.S. two years ago on terrorism grounds has settled a lawsuit against the U.S. government. Gilbert Chagoury last year sued the FBI and other government agencies in U.S. District Court in Washington, saying he had been damaged by what he described as improper government leaks to the Los Angeles Times. The Times reported last year that Chagoury had been denied a visa to travel to the U.S. in 2015 on suspicion that he had provided aid to terrorist groups. One document, citing unverified information from an unnamed source, said that Chagoury  who is of Lebanese heritage  had funneled funds to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia and political group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. Chagoury, an ardent Lakers fan who for decades lived part of the year in Los Angeles, angrily denied that he ever provided funds for terrorism. He said the publicity forced him to sell his Beverly Hills mansion at a loss and caused a bank to close his account. A philanthropist, Vatican ambassador and longtime friend of Bill Clinton, Chagoury once was invited to the White House after contributing to a Democratic get-out-the-vote campaign. He donated at least $1 million to the Clinton Foundation. Emails released last year showed that a Bill Clinton aide pushed Hillary Clintons aides at the State Department to get Chagoury access to top U.S. diplomats. In the settlement filed in court on Friday, the Justice Department said Chagoury has never appeared on the list of Specially Designated Nationals, figures such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers who are generally barred from doing business in the U.S. The government did not grant Chagourys request for a court hearing to dispute the reports that led to his exclusion from the U.S. As I have often said, I have loved America my whole life because it was the land of freedom and justice, he said in a statement, adding that he hopes the agreement will help repair his reputation. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chagoury, who lives most of the time in Paris, has not applied for another visa, said his spokesman, Mark Corallo. Facebook

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Trump ousts Priebus, announces John Kelly as new chief of staff President Trump announced via Twitter on Friday that he had named retired Gen. John Kelly, head of the Department of Homeland Security, as White House chief of staff, replacing Reince Priebus. I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017 ...and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017 I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017 Read More Facebook

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Rep. John Delaney of Maryland to run for president By Associated Press Rep. John Delaney of Maryland says hes running for president, instead of governor or reelection, in 2018. Delaney, a Democrat, announced his plans in a statement Friday. The politically moderate banking entrepreneur is in his third term in Marylands 6th Congressional District, which includes western Maryland and a large section of Montgomery County, the states largest county. The 54-year-old is worth roughly $90 million and is one of the Houses wealthiest members. He spent about $2 million to help finance his first House race in 2012. His consideration of a possible Maryland gubernatorial bid months ago quickly drew interest in his House seat. Several candidates already have expressed interest in running for the seat. Facebook

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McCain set to head back to Arizona to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments By Kurtis Lee (Shawn Thew / EPA) Sen. John McCain is headed home. Hours after McCain spurned his party and voted in opposition to a GOP measure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the senators office announced Friday he will return to Arizona to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments for his recent diagnosis of brain cancer. McCain, 80, was found this month to have a brain tumor known as a glioblastoma. He is scheduled to return to Washington in September after his initial treatments. The glioblastoma  an aggressive type of cancer  was discovered when McCain had a blood clot removed from above his left eye. According to the Mayo Clinic, which is overseeing McCains treatment, glioblastoma is difficult to treat. After returning to Washington this week and voting in favor of opening Senate debate on repeal, McCain was among three Republicans early Friday morning to vote in opposition to a so-called skinny bill that would repeal the ACA, known as Obamacare. The move by McCain, who has served in the Senate since 1987, has drawn the ire of members in his own party and some in the right-wing media. Facebook

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McCains surprise vote doomed GOP healthcare bill, but did it open the door for Senate bipartisanship? By Lisa Mascaro Sen. John McCain is usually happy to spar with reporters, but he ducked into an elevator ahead of the Senate healthcare vote late Thursday without saying a word about how he would vote. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, though, already knew the answer. The Democratic leader had been talking with the Arizona Republican all week  four, five times a day  ever since McCain returned to work after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Earlier in the week, McCain had dramatically salvaged the stalled GOP bill by voting to begin debate, only to go on to deliver a blistering speech against his own party leaders partisan, closed-door process in crafting it. Weve been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle, he told them. Were getting nothing done. Schumer and McCain have been longtime colleagues, a kind of frenemies who seem like throwbacks to an earlier era of Congress. They worked together on big legislation, including the 2013 immigration overhaul  grand ideas that seem all but impossible in todays Congress. They had plenty to discuss. About the Senate, about it working again, about working together, and about how this bill was so poor for the American people, Schumer said. And he knew that, so did half his colleagues, but he had the courage to vote no. The moment stunned the Senate when McCain stepped up to cast his vote  a single down-turned finger  dooming the healthcare bill. Audible gasps filled the galleries, which were packed with onlookers. But his vote  along with no votes from Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska  did more than shelve the long campaign to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It cracked open a new divide in the Senate, which seems to be split not so much between Republicans and Democrats, but by those senators who want to work together versus those stuck in hardened partisan tribes. Read More Facebook

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U.S. hits Iran with more sanctions in response to satellite launch By Associated Press The United States is slapping Iran with new sanctions in response to its launch of a satellite-carrying rocket into space this week. The sanctions target six Iranian subsidiaries of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group. The Treasury Department says that group is central to Irans ballistic missile program. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the sanctions illustrate deep U.S. concerns about Irans missile testing and other actions. He says the U.S. will continue countering Irans ballistic missile program, including Thursdays provocative space launch. The U.S. has said that launch flouted a U.N. Security Council resolution because the technology is inherently designed to be able to carry a nuclear payload. The sanctions come as the Trump administration continues debating its Iran policy and whether to scrap the 2015 multilateral deal that limits the development of Irans nuclear capabilities. Facebook

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Political betrayal. McCain vote against Obamacare repeal draws ire from conservative writers By Kurtis Lee (Cliff Owen / AP) Though John McCain was one of three Republicans who helped Democrats squash the legislation to repeal Obamacare, conservative media is homing in on the Arizona senator for spurning his party in the healthcare vote. Here are some of todays headlines: John McCain: Traitor to the conservative cause (Washington Times) McCain, who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer, has been a staunch opponent of Obamacare, but in the end he could not support the so-called skinny repeal measure put forward by his colleagues in the Senate. In this piece, Cheryl K. Chumley, jabs McCain for his vote. For American voters expecting their Republican-dominated House, Senate and White House to honor their years of repeal promises and actually, well, repeal Obamacare, McCains thumbs-down was a face-slap moment that will be remembered in history as a textbook classic case of political betrayal, she writes. McCains odd definition of leading the fight to stop Obamacare (National Review) This article is simple  its a quick compare-and-contrast of McCains recent comments versus his vote on Friday. Last year, during a tough reelection, McCains campaign ran a television ad that boasted the senator is leading the fight to stop Obamacare. But last night his office put out a statement noting the GOP Senate bill did not offer a replacement to actually reform our health care system and deliver affordable, quality health care to our citizens. The author of this piece, Jim Geraghty, concludes: Its very difficult to characterize McCains decision as leading the fight to stop Obamacare. Thats more like leading the fight to keep Obamacare in place while you continue to look for a replacement that you like better. John McCain burns Mitch McConnell sides with Democrats (American Spectator) When McConnell, the majority leader, stood on the Senate floor Friday after the bills failure, he was clearly annoyed. McCains no vote had led to applause moments earlier from Democrats. In a move thats no surprise to anyone, John McCain voted against the embarrassingly named Skinny Repeal, voted against his party (or is it his party?) and voted to keep Obamacare going as is, writes Melissa Mackenzie. Facebook

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Meet the two female GOP senators who opposed the healthcare bill from the start By Kelcey Caulder Sen. John McCain shocked Republicans and Democrats alike with his vote early Friday morning to kill the latest Republican effort to repeal Obamacare. But McCain was not the only Republican to play a role in blocking the final version of the overhaul bill. Two female Republican lawmakers, Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, also voted against the bill. Collins has opposed repeal and replace efforts from the beginning, and Murkowski has also been critical of much of what the Senate Republican leadership has proposed. Collins said it would be a big mistake for Republicans to pass legislation without trying seriously to work with Democrats to reach bipartisan solutions. Instead, she called for both parties to work together to improve the healthcare system. Murkowski and Collins were the first from their party to come out against repealing the ACA without having new, replacement legislation on the table. In statements posted on Twitter, Collins, who voted against the same proposal in 2015, said she did not think it was constructive to repeal the law without a replacement, while Murkowski encouraged senators from both sides of the aisle to work together to address healthcare issues. I will vote no on the motion to proceed to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. I voted against this same proposal in 2015. pic.twitter.com/Szuke5zYNL  Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) July 18, 2017 My recent statement on the Senate Healthcare Process: pic.twitter.com/j19Ok1KwWw  Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) July 18, 2017 The two senators were also the only Republicans to vote against opening debate on repeal of Obamacare earlier this week. Their opposition to Republican healthcare efforts has drawn a lot of criticism within the party, some of it expressed in vulgar, even violent terms. Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter said in an interview Wednesday with MSNBC: Somebody needs to go over there to that Senate and snatch a knot in their ass. A Texas congressman said the female senators narrowly avoided an Aaron Burr-style showdown with him. President Trump publicly rebuked Murkowski on Twitter for her vote. Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017 Trump has not criticized Collins by name for her vote, but warned Tuesday at a rally in Ohio that any senator who votes against repeal and replace is telling America that they are fine with the Obamacare nightmare, and I predict theyll have a lot of problems. Facebook

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The current Senate GOP effort to repeal Obamacare is dead. Now what? By Noam N. Levey (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) The sudden collapse of the GOPs Senate campaign to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act does not mean the issue disappears. Significant problems and challenges remain, particularly for Obamacare insurance marketplaces. The defeat increases the odds that Congress will begin to look at a more limited approach to shore up the current law and stabilize markets. The GOPs repeal effort may return, but in the meantime heres a look at what a temporary fix might look like: Read More Facebook

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Paul Ryan responds to the failure of the GOP healthcare bill By Associated Press House Speaker Paul Ryan said Friday that hes disappointed and frustrated by the failure of Republican healthcare legislation in the Senate. But Ryan said in a statement that we should not give up after promising for years to repeal and replace Obamacare. We were sent to Washington to fulfill the pledges we made to our constituents, the statement said. While the House delivered a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, unfortunately the Senate was unable to reach a consensus. At the same time, the speaker said that overhauling the tax code is at the top of the Houses list of priorities. He pledged to pursue historic tax reform in the fall. He issued his statement as the House prepared to leave Washington for its annual August recess. The House passed legislation repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act in May. But after a failed vote early Friday in the Senate, its not clear if GOP leaders will be able to resuscitate the efforts. Facebook

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Economic growth rebounded to 2.6% annual rate in second quarter By Jim Puzzanghera The Port of Los Angeles (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) The U.S. economy rebounded this spring after a weak winter, expanding at a solid 2.6% annual rate as consumers picked up their spending pace, the Commerce Department said Friday. Total economic output, also known as gross domestic product, for the April-through-June period was in line with analyst expectations for a bounce-back based in part on pent-up demand. The economic growth rate was more than double the 1.2% pace in the first quarter. That figure was revised down Friday from an earlier estimate of 1.4%. After the winter blues, the economy has rebounded, said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at Cal State Channel Islands. Read More Facebook

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Never mind healthcare. President Trump has made slogans great again By Mark Z. Barabak ( (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)) His promise to repeal and replace Obamacare has crashed and burned. Tax reform hasnt gotten far. The White House is in disarray, and big plans to rebuild the nations infrastructure have hit a brick wall. But there is one unimpeachable triumph President Trump can point to: Hes made great again great again. The Make America Great Again 2016 campaign slogan  limned in block letters and emblazoned on countless cherry-red ball caps  has been reimagined, repurposed and cheekily appropriated for countless pitches and commercial products. Apart from the now-familiar caps, mercantile options include aprons, beanies, beer cozys, coffee mugs, hoodies, leggings, swimsuits, T-shirts, water bottles and, for the special someone, Donald Trump Make America Great Again Womens Booty Shorts. But MAGA, as the president short-hands the phrase in Twitter posts, is also popping up in places having little or nothing to do with politics: on a catwalk at New Yorks Fashion Week, high in the sky promoting classical music in Phoenix, on the menu at an Italian restaurant in Atlanta. Read More Facebook

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If Adam Schiff is Californias next U.S. senator, he might want to thank President Trump By Mark Z. Barabak (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) The road to elected office can be long and winding and is not always paved with the best of intentions. Some politicians  think of the Kennedys or the Bush family  are born to the trade. Others are borne by tragedy. Former Santa Barbara Rep. Lois Capps succeeded her husband when he died of a heart attack. Former New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy was spurred to run when her husband was killed and her son gravely wounded in a mass shooting on the Long Island Rail Road. Typically, though, the ascension is more methodical, one rung after the next, often with a pinch of right-place, right-time fortune thrown in for good measure. Lately that bit of luck has visited itself on Adam B. Schiff, in the form of Russian meddling and a president who hurls tweets like poison thunderbolts. Read More Facebook

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Kris Kobach says Trumps voter fraud panel will keep voter data secure. Some states arent buying it By Kurtis Lee (Jessica McGowan / Getty Images) After weeks of legal battles and bipartisan pushback from top election officials nationwide, President Trumps voter fraud commission has renewed a message for the states: Its safe to pass along your data about voters. Individuals voter registration records will be kept confidential and secure throughout the duration of the commissions existence, Kris Kobach, vice chairman of the commission, wrote in a letter sent late Wednesday to all 50 secretaries of state. Even so, by Thursday, much of the criticism that greeted an earlier request from the commission was repeated by election officials and activists, who have expressed concerns about privacy and have called the panel both a sham created by an insecure president and a tool to suppress votes. Trump  without evidence  has repeatedly alleged that 3 million to 5 million illegal votes were cast in last years presidential election. (Trump prevailed in the electoral college, while Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by about 3 million votes.) Read More Facebook

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President Trump said our guys are rougher than the violent gang MS-13. What did he mean? By Brian Bennett (SAUL LOEB / AFP ) When President Trump said this week his administration is going after bloodthirsty criminal gangs like the notoriously violent MS-13, he added a menacing flourish: Our guys are rougher than their guys. The comment raised concerns that Trump was instructing immigration agents to use excessive force when going after suspected gang members. Not so, Trumps top spokeswoman said on Thursday. I think the president means that our guys are going to do whatever it takes to protect Americans, protect American lives, protect our borders, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in response to a question about what Trump meant by rougher. Trump wants people to do their jobs, not go beyond the scope of what they should do, Sanders said. Trumps comment came during a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Tuesday night. We are throwing MS-13 the hell out of here so fast, he said, boasting that his administration is liberating towns and cities from gangs. And, well, I will just tell you this, were not doing it in a politically correct fashion, Trump added. Were doing it rough. Our guys are rougher than their guys. Trumps comment was meant to boost morale among immigration officers looking to arrest and deport gang members, said one senior administration official, who would speak only without being identified to discuss the presidents thinking. As part of Trumps crackdown on immigrants in the country illegally, he has instructed the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to target a suspected gang member for deportation before that person has been convicted of a crime, said ICE director Thomas Homan. Homan joined Sanders at her daily briefing at the White House. The two spoke to preview the presidents Friday trip to Long Island, N.Y., where he will tout his administrations efforts against MS-13 and other gangs. For Trump, who grew up in Queens, recent headlines about MS-13 violence in central Long Island have hit close to home. In April, four young men were found hacked to death in a park in Central Islip, N.Y., a senior administration official told reporters Thursday night. He is a New Yorker and he knows New York, the administration official said. It is absolutely a personal issue. And he knows whats happening in New York -- and its not just Long Island -- is a tragedy and there are communities like that all across America. Facebook

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Boy Scouts chief apologizes for presidents political rhetoric at national Jamboree. Trump wont By Brian Bennett President Trump wont apologize for a surprisingly political speech this week to Boy Scouts that provoked a backlash for his attacks on his predecessor, his election rival, dissident Republicans and the news media. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered that word on Thursday, just after a top executive of the Boy Scouts of America issued an apology on behalf of the organization for allowing the political rhetoric to occur during Trumps address Monday evening at the National Scout Jamboree held in West Virginia. Michael Surbaugh, the organizations chief executive, in a statement extended his sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree. He noted that the groups invitation to the president to speak was in keeping with a long-standing tradition since 1937; eight of 11 incumbent presidents have attended. But, Surbaugh wrote, we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters. We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program. At the White House, however, Sanders indicated that neither she nor Trump saw any reason to apologize, or considered his remarks in any way out of line. I was at that event and I saw nothing but roughly 40,000 to 45,000 Boy Scouts cheering the president on throughout his remarks, Sanders said. I think they were pretty excited that he was there and happy to hear him speak to them, she added. Sanders said she had not seen the statement from the Boy Scouts chief. During his rambling 38-minute speech to the Scouts in Glen Jean, W.Va., Trump criticized Hillary Clinton and President Obama and singled out congressional Republicans who were not in lockstep with him on healthcare. He got much applause and supportive chants from his audience, and even credited the Scouts -- who are too young to vote -- for being among the millions who elected him. But almost immediately, the Boy Scouts organization was inundated with protests from former Scouts, parents and others angered by the presidents partisan words. Facebook

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Trumps words kind of hurtful, Sessions says, but he has no plans to resign By Joseph Tanfani President Trumps scathing criticisms have been kind of hurtful, Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions said Thursday, even as he again signaled that he wants to stay on the job. He wants all of us to do our job, and thats what I intend to do, Sessions said in an interview with Tucker Carlson of Fox News. Separately, Sessions told the Associated Press that it hasnt been my best week  for my relationship with the president. He made the comment in El Salvador, during a visit to highlight joint efforts to take on the MS-13 gang. The attorney general said he hadnt met with Trump but looked forward to talking to him about it. If he wants to make a change, he has every right, Sessions said. I serve at the pleasure of the president. Ive understood that from the day I took the job. But, he said, I believe with great confidence that I understand what is needed in the Department of Justice and what President Trump wants. I share his agenda. The comments were the first this week on the subject from Sessions, who has been subjected to harshly critical tweets from Trump for three days. The president has called him weak and said he wasnt aggressive enough in going after leakers. Last week, after Trump criticized Sessions in a New York Times interview, Sessions told reporters he planned to stay on as long as it was appropriate. Sessions has seemed to redouble his attempts this week to win back the presidents favor. He announced another crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities that dont cooperate with immigration enforcement and on Friday traveled to El Salvador to highlight arrests of MS-13 gang members, both favorite topics of the president. The Justice Department also plans to address leaks next week. Sessions said his department was stepping up leak investigations. Some people need to go to jail, he said. The president has every right to ask the DOJ to be more aggressive on that, and we intend to. On Wednesday evening, after Anthony Scaramucci , Trumps incoming communications director, falsely claimed in a tweet that hed been the victim of a leak, Sessions chief spokeswoman released a statement agreeing that leaks are undermining the government and promising to aggressively pursue leak cases wherever they may lead. Trump has made it clear that he is most angry with Sessions for recusing himself from supervising the ongoing investigation into his administrations ties with Russia. But Sessions defended that decision. I understand his feeling about it because this has been a big distraction for him, he said on Fox. Im confident I made the right decision, the decision thats consistent with the rule of law, and an attorney general who doesnt follow the law is not very effective at leading the Department of Justice, he said. In the interview, Sessions reached back to Trumps campaign slogan to praise the president as a strong leader. He is determined to move this country in the direction that he believes it needs to go to make it great again, he said. Sessions has received considerable support in recent days from conservative Republicans, including many of his former Senate colleagues. On Thursday, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) went to the Senate floor to discourage Trump from moving against Sessions, saying that the Senate would not allow the president to make a recess appointment that would bypass the normal confirmation process. A recess appointment would allow Trump to appoint a person who could serve without confirmation until the start of 2019. Such appointments can only be made if the Senate formally takes a break, which senators of both parties have said they will avoid in order to prevent Trump from avoiding confirmations. If youre thinking of making a recess appointment to push out the attorney general, forget about it, Sasse said. The presidency isnt a bull, and this country isnt a china shop. 1:55 p.m.: This post was updated with additional remarks by Sessions and remarks by Sen. Ben Sasse. 5:50: This post was updated with additional quotes from Sessions interview. Facebook

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For Trump White House, cable television becomes the venue for intramural sniping By Noah Bierman President Trump and his aides love to complain about leaks from within the White House. But on Thursday, the infighting was out in the open. The incoming communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, in a morning phone call broadcast on CNN, compared the West Wing to a fish that stinks from the head down, implying that White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus is responsible for at least some of the leaks. Later, Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to come to Priebuss defense and say whether Trump has full confidence in his chief of staff. Another Trump advisor, Kellyanne Conway, used a prison analogy for the broader backstabbing among aides, telling Fox News that her West Wing colleagues were using the press to shiv each other. While the knifings might suggest a new level of chaos in a White House known for it, the style is all Trump. As a businessman, he has a history of fostering rivalries among his employees. He always did sort of like competition, backstabbing, infighting kind of stuff, said Barbara Res, who spent nearly two decades as a top executive in Trumps real estate business. He set people up to do that. Trump led the charge this week, using his Twitter account and an interview with the Wall Street Journal to ridicule his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, one of Trumps first and most prominent campaign supporters. By Thursday, both Priebus and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were seeing their fates publicly debated, less than a week after Sean Spicer was forced out as press secretary after months of speculation and presidential slights. The Priebus intrigue was amplified by Scaramucci on Twitter and in the CNN interview. He blamed Priebus for leaking Scaramuccis personal financial disclosure forms -- which are publicly available -- and suggested that Trump encouraged Scaramuccis offensive in a phone conversation the two men had just before the aide dialed into CNN. When Sanders was asked about the Scaramucci-Priebus dustup, she said that the president likes healthy competition on his staff. The president likes that kind of competition and encourages it, Sanders said. The result is a White House that increasingly suggests the presidents former way of life. As the star of a reality TV show, he fomented internal competition and firings among apprentices; their cable television appearances, meanwhile, recall the confessionals familiar to reality show fans, in which characters confide directly to the camera their anger or enmity toward others on the show. The primary attribute for a successful tenure in the Trump White House is masochism, tweeted Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican operative and Trump critic. The repeated evidence of dysfunction and the high level of insecurity among Trumps core aides help explain the White Houses inability to focus on its agenda. Trumps critics voiced suspicions on Twitter that the public staff blow-up was a deliberate distraction from the struggle in Congress to pass a healthcare bill, as well as from the ongoing investigations into potential collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia and the backlash to Trumps surprise Twitter announcement on Wednesday that transgender people will be barred from military service. But those issues also were being heavily covered on cable news. The stories that were overshadowed were those Trump was trying to promote: a deal his administration helped strike with Foxconn to build a production facility in Wisconsin, possibly creating thousands of new jobs, and nascent efforts to craft a tax overhaul plan. Facebook

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Democrats criticize financial industry backgrounds of two Trump bank regulator nominees By Jim Puzzanghera Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Senate Democrats on Thursday criticized the financial industry backgrounds of President Trumps nominees for two key banking regulatory positions, arguing they would not protect the interests of average Americans. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and others sharply questioned Joseph Otting, the former chief executive of Pasadenas OneWest Bank, and investment fund manager Randal Quarles during a confirmation hearing by the Senate Banking Committee. Trump nominated Otting to be the comptroller of the currency, a powerful regulator of national banks. Quarles has been tapped to be the Federal Reserves vice chairman for supervision, who is in charge of the Feds oversight of the nations largest bank holding companies and other regulatory efforts. The two are expected to be friendlier to the banking industry than recent Democratic appointees. Read More Facebook

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Senator warns Trump there will be holy hell to pay if he fires Sessions By Joseph Tanfani A prominent Republican Senator issued a blunt warning to President Trump not to interfere with the Russia investigation, saying any effort to get rid of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters Thursday that there will be holy hell to pay if Trump fires Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, a favorite of conservatives who represented Alabama in the Senate for 20 years. Grahams warning was the sternest yet from Senate Republicans to Trump about the potential consequences of firing either Sessions or Mueller. The chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, Sen. Charles Grassley, (R-Iowa), issued his own warning in a tweet Wednesday night, saying his committee would not take up a nomination of a replacement attorney general this year, which is required before the Senate can vote to confirm. Everybody in D.C. Shld b warned that the agenda for the judiciary Comm is set for rest of 2017. Judges first subcabinet 2nd / AG no way  ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) July 27, 2017 Starting with an interview in the New York Times last week and continuing with a three-day barrage of critical tweets, Trump has raged at Sessions for his decision to recuse himself from supervising the investigation into the Russian attempts to influence the election, and into whether anybody involved in Trumps campaign participated in the scheme. Trump also has bitterly complained about Mueller, whom he has accused of leading a witch hunt, and Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod J. Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller and who is now supervising the probe. Justice Department regulations say that only the attorney general, or in this case Rosenstein acting in his place, can fire the special counsel. If Sessions were gone, Trump could try to appoint a replacement willing to carry out the firing. Graham said he will introduce a bill next week that would require court review if anyone tried to fire a special counsel who was investigating the president. I think Ill get all the Democrats and I hope to get a good number of Republicans, he said, adding that the enacting such a law is not just for Trump but for any future president. We need a check and balance here. Graham said Trumps campaign to marginalize and humiliate the attorney general is not going over well in the Senate or among conservatives. He also said Trump, who has called on Sessions to investigate his former rival Hillary Clinton, has gone way beyond what is acceptable in a rule of law nation. This is not draining the swamp, he said. What hes interjecting is turning democracy upside down..taking 200-year-old concepts that were a nation of laws and not men and trying to turn it upside down. Sen. Graham: "Any effort to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency." https://t.co/6Pd60LrGRU pic.twitter.com/EXBOwBC35C  ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 27, 2017 Facebook

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Watch live: White House news briefing with Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Facebook

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Trump administration threatens to retaliate against Alaska for GOP senators Obamacare repeal vote, news site reports By Noam N. Levey The Trump administration threatened to block federal aid to Alaska in an effort to bully one of the Republican senators opposed to the current Senate GOP push to roll back the Affordable Care Act, according to a report by the Alaska Dispatch News. The news site reports that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Wednesday called Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan with a warning that Murkowskis vote had put Alaskas future with the administration in jeopardy. According to the report: Sullivan said the call from Zinke heralded a troubling message. Im not going to go into the details, but I fear that the strong economic growth, pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-jobs and personnel from Alaska who are part of those policies are going to stop, Sullivan said. I tried to push back on behalf of all Alaskans.  Were facing some difficult times and theres a lot of enthusiasm for the policies that Secretary Zinke and the president have been talking about with regard to our economy. But the message was pretty clear, Sullivan said. The threat followed disparaging comments made by the president about Murkowski, including a Twitter attack Wednesday morning Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad! Trump wrote. Murkowski dismissed the presidents attacks in an interview with MSNBC. Were here to govern. Were here to legislate, she said. Were here to represent the people who sent us here. And so every day shouldnt be about campaigning. Every day shouldnt be about winning elections. How about just doing a little bit of governing around here? Thats what Im here for. Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins were the only Republicans who voted against a procedural motion Tuesday to begin debating legislation rolling back the 2010 healthcare law, often called Obamacare. Sullivan, also a Republican, voted in favor of advancing the bill. Murkowski has urged a more open process to develop the legislation, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) has put together behind closed doors without committee hearings or input from Democrats. A spokeswoman for Zinke did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Facebook

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Iran angered by report that Trump wants additional nuclear inspections By Shashank Bengali Iran responded angrily Thursday to reports that the Trump administration would push for inspections of military facilities to ensure Tehran is complying with the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran will not succumb to further pressure, Hamid Reza Taraghi, a hard-line analyst who is close to Irans leadership, told The Times. Taraghi did not say whether Iran would refuse inspectors access to military facilities but insisted the Islamic Republic was complying with the agreement, which required Iran to shelve its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. President Trump has said he wants to tear up the deal and doesnt believe Iran is complying, although his administration certified it was in a report to Congress this month. The Associated Press reported Thursday that Trump was pushing for inspections of suspicious Iranian military sites, either to prove that Iran was violating the deal or force it to refuse, which could cause the agreement to collapse. Iranian officials have argued in the past that inspections of military sites would be off-limits. But under the agreement it signed with the United States and five other world powers, Iran agreed to the so-called Additional Protocol, which allows U.N. inspectors limited access to any site where illicit nuclear activity is suspected. Taraghi, a former lawmaker, said the Additional Protocol allowed for snap inspections and that international inspectors had installed closed-circuit cameras in all nuclear-related facilities. They have access to everything going on here on the ground, Taraghi said. What else do they want to know? It was not immediately clear what military sites the Trump administration was seeking to have inspected, or whether it had evidence that Iran was breaching the terms of the deal. U.N. inspectors monitoring Irans compliance had not requested access to military facilities as of July 25, according to a paper published Thursday by Mark Fitzpatrick, executive director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington. If US has good evidence of #Iran violations, then an inspection request is warranted, Fitzpatrick tweeted. A request designed to trap Iran into saying no isnt. Facebook

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Top U.S. general says Pentagon will not change policy on transgender troops until White House acts By W.J. Hennigan The nations senior military officer said Thursday that there will be no modifications to Pentagon policies for now despite President Trump social media posts declaring a ban on transgender troops in uniform. Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a memo to commanders and senior enlisted leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines that the military will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect. Dunford said Pentagon policy on transgender troops would not change until the White House has issued Trumps directive to Secretary of Defense James Mattis through formal channels  not on Twitter  and the secretarys office issues guidance on implementation to the service chiefs. Its unclear when that might happen. The unusual memo appeared intended to calm widespread confusion and concern at the Pentagon, which was blindsided when Trump wrote Wednesday that Pentagon would not accept or allow transgender troops to serve in any capacity. The presidents posts appeared to reverse a year-old Pentagon policy that allowed transgender soldiers to openly serve for the first time, and to seek sex reassignment surgery, hormone therapy and other treatments at military hospitals. Trumps surprise announcement not only marked a retreat for the Pentagon push to bar gender-based discrimination. It also was an about-face for Trump, who had repeatedly vowed his support for the LGBT community during the campaign last year. The posts raised questions about the fate of thousands of transgender service members, including some deployed overseas, and whether they would be kicked out of the military under Trumps directive. Dunfords memo appeared to address those fears, at least for the short term. There will be no modifications to the current policy until the Presidents direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidance, he wrote. In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect, he added. As importantly, given the current fight and the challenges we face, we will all remain focused on accomplishing our assigned missions. In his tweets, Trump said he had decided to bar transgender troops because the military cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Experts said neither justification was accurate or fair since the expected medical costs were negligible and transgender troops have been openly serving for the past year without disruption. The sweeping declaration drew rebuke from war veterans and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy groups, who vowed to challenge Trump in federal court if self-identified transgender service members are forced out of the military. VoteVets, a liberal military veterans advocacy group, said Thursday it had collected more than 20,000 signatures from veterans, military families and other supporters to oppose the ban. Facebook

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Analysis: Trumps war against elites and expertise By Cathleen Decker (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images) When President Trump campaigned this spring at the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson, one part of his predecessors approach got a special endorsement. It was during the Revolution that Jackson first confronted and defied an arrogant elite. Does that sound familiar? Trump asked to laughs from his audience. When Trump ally and National Rifle Assn. President Wayne LaPierre teed off six weeks later on Americas greatest domestic threats, he cited not homegrown terrorists but what he termed the three most dangerous voices in America: academic elites, political elites, and media elites. The rhetoric against elites came from two men who would seem to be card-carrying members of the club: LaPierre made more than $5 million in 2015, the most recent year for which his compensation was publicly released. Trump lived before his inauguration in a gold-plated home in the sky above New Yorks Fifth Avenue, a billionaires luxurious domain. Yet for Trump and his allies, a war on elites has been central to the campaign which put him in the presidency and has maintained the loyalty of his core voters. Trump has taken particular aim at entities that could counter his power, which has helped stoke the ardor of his political backers. Read More Facebook

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Top Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway says colleagues using the press to shiv each other By Noah Bierman White House staffers continued their angry campaign against leaks -- and each other -- as top advisor Kellyanne Conway used vivid language in a Fox interview Thursday to denounce colleagues who are using the press to shiv each other in the ribs. The comments came shortly after Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House communications director, delivered his own attack on leakers -- all but blaming Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff -- in an interview on CNN. If the Trump White House at times resembles a reality show, cable television has become the confessional booth where the players vent their anger at each other. That dynamic was on vivid display Thursday morning. Kellyanne Conway: "Now, there are leaks, and then there are people using the press to shiv each other in the ribs. Thats different." (Fox)  David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) July 27, 2017 Conway largely backed Scaramucci without explicitly taking sides in his public war against Priebus, whom he publicly suggested leaked Scaramuccis financial disclosure forms to the press. The forms are public and available through a request. We just have to cut down on people thinking its cute and its popular and it somehow enhances their resume and their portfolio for later on to curry favor with folks who are more interested in covering the style and not the substance here, Conway said of those who leak to he press. Asked specifically whether she agrees with Scaramucci that Priebus leaked the financial forms, Conway passed on the opportunity to defend Priebus. Leakers are easier to figure out than many think, she said, perhaps ominously given Scaramuccis threats to fire suspects. This West Wing is a very small place. Facebook

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Warfare in the West Wing breaks into the open as Scaramucci takes aim at Priebus By Brian Bennett A knife fight for control of the West Wing broke into the open Thursday morning as President Trumps new communications director Anthony Scaramucci lashed out at White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus in a televised interview, accusing Priebus of leaking and standing in the way of Trumps agenda. The fish stinks from the head down, I can tell you two fish that dont stink, OK, and thats me and the president, Scaramucci said, calling in to CNNs morning show New Day. I dont like the activity thats going in the White House, he said. Scaramucci, who had said the day he was named to the White House job that he and Priebus were like brothers, drastically amended that in the interview, comparing the two of them to the brothers who, in the Bible, were the characters in the first murder. Some brothers are like Cain and Abel, other brothers can fight with each other and get along. I dont know if this is reparable or not  that will be up to the president, he said. Scaramucci on his relationship with Reince: "Some brothers are like Cain and Abel." Uh, Cain killed Abel. https://t.co/UQ8F9HiXLx  Dan Merica (@merica) July 27, 2017 President Trump has a track record of encouraging rivalries among people who work for him. Scaramucci said he had spoken with Trump for 15 minutes to go over what he was going to say before he called CNN, implying his warning to Priebus carried Trumps backing. Trump, Scaramucci said, has given me his full support and his full blessing. When Scaramucci was hired, Trump told him he would report directly to the president, bypassing the chief of staff, and setting up the clash that played out Thursday on national television. If you want to talk about the chief of staff, we have had odds, we have had differences. When I said we were brothers from the podium, thats because were rough on each other, Scaramucci said. The tension between Scaramucci and Priebus flared after Politico published a story Wednesday about Scaramuccis publicly available financial disclosure form showing he still stands to profit from his stake in an investment firm he founded. The disclosure form was available to the public because Scaramucci had been nominated earlier this year for a job at the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., and the forms become public 30 days after they are filed. But Scaramucci, in a tweet Wednesday night, seemed to imply Priebus had leaked the form to make him look bad, or knew who did, and called for an FBI investigation. He later deleted the tweet, apparently after being informed that the form was not leaked. Over the last five days, Scaramucci said to CNN, he has done a major amount of work interviewing assistants to the president and communications staff. He also had dinner with Trump on Wednesday night in addition to his phone conversation with the president Thursday morning. The two of them want everyone to know we have a very, very good idea of who the leakers are, who the senior leakers are, in the White House, he said. Scaramucci took aim specifically at Priebus for leaking details about internal White House discussions and maneuvers. If Reince wants to explain that hes not a leaker, let him do that, Scaramucci said. Scaramucci appears to be giving voice to Trumps frustration with people in the White House the president believes are slowing down policy efforts, even though Trump has shown a pattern of repeatedly stepping on his own efforts on healthcare, job creation and other initiatives with unplanned tweets on topics such as Russia, transgender troops and unfounded allegations of voter fraud. There are people inside this administration who think its their job to save America from this president, Scaramucci said. Its not their jobs ... to rein him in or do things to him that slow down his agenda. People in the Washington are back-stabbers, Scaramucci said. Im more of a front-stabbing person. Facebook

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Scaramucci tweets, then deletes, confusing statement that referred to information in Politico report as a leak By Colleen Shalby In a now deleted tweet, incoming White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci sent out a confusing statement Wednesday night, addressing information reported earlier by Politico as a leak. The article reported on Scaramuccis financial disclosures. According to Politico, those details had been filed with the Office of Government Ethics, so its unclear what  if anything  was leaked information. Scaramuccis tweet further confused as it ended with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus Twitter handle. Just before those characters, he noted that he intended to contact the FBI and the Justice Department. Some speculated that Scaramucci was implying that Priebus was behind the leak. But in a new tweet roughly two hours after the original, he tweeted what appeared to be a clarification, correcting a headline of news site Axios. Wrong! Tweet was public notice to leakers that all Sr Adm officials are helping to end illegal leaks, he tweeted, ending it  once again  with Priebus handle. Wrong! Tweet was public notice to leakers that all Sr Adm officials are helping to end illegal leaks. @Reince45 pic.twitter.com/AB0reseuX1  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) July 27, 2017 Five days ago, Scaramucci, responding to a question about reported tensions between him and the chief of staff, said he and Priebus are a little bit like brothers, where we rough each other up a little, which is totally normal for brothers. 10:15 p.m. PT: This post was originally published at 8:52 p.m. It was updated with information from Scaramuccis new tweet. Facebook

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Senate Judiciary chair fires off warning to Trump about Sessions By David Lauter Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, fired off an unmistakable warning to President Trump on Wednesday evening: Dont even think about trying to get a new attorney general confirmed this year. Trump has been publicly tormenting Jeff Sessions, appearing to want to push the attorney general into stepping down from his job. But in a tweet, Grassley made it clear that if Trump pushed Sessions out, he would have to live with an acting attorney general for a long time. Everybody in D.C. Shld b warned that the agenda for the judiciary Comm is set for rest of 2017. Judges first subcabinet 2nd / AG no way  ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) July 27, 2017 Any nominee for attorney general would have to pass through the Judiciary Committee before getting a confirmation vote, so Grassleys no way would be a formidable barrier. Grassley has been an administration loyalist on nearly all issues so far, but as a veteran senator, he has a strong independent streak and, as previous administrations have found, he can be implacable if angered. His message comes as conservative allies rally support for Sessions. Several other Republican senators have spoken out in favor of the attorney general, a former colleague who was well liked during his years as senator from Alabama. Senate Democrats already have said they would use procedural motions to prevent the Senate from formally going on a recess this summer, blocking Trump from making a recess appointment that would bypass the Senate. Republicans used similar maneuvers to block recess appointments by President Obama. If Sessions were to step down and not be replaced, Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein would become acting attorney general. Trump has been critical of Rosenstein as well as Sessions, so that option presumably would not appeal to him. Facebook

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Under fire from Trump, Sessions should stay focused on his job, White House says By Joseph Tanfani (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) In spite of a daily barrage of Twitter attacks from President Trump, the White House press secretary said Wednesday that Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions should stay focused on performing his duties as the nations top law enforcement officer. You can be disappointed in someone and still want someone to continue to do their job, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday, hours after Trump criticized Sessions for the third straight day  this time for not replacing acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. Sessions was one of Trumps earliest and most loyal supporters, but the relationship has turned icy as Trump continues to seethe about Sessions decision to step aside from supervising the investigation into alleged Russian interference with last years election. Sessions was at the White House for meetings Wednesday, the second time this week hes visited the West Wing, but once again did not see Trump, Sanders said. Sanders did not clear up the main question surrounding Trumps strategy of publicly battering the attorney general: If the president is so unhappy, why doesnt he simply fire Sessions? Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Wednesday that Trumps apparent attempt to humiliate Sessions into quitting was a sign of weakness. To me, weakness is when you play around the edges, and you dont use the power you have, Graham said in an interview on CNN. Sanders said that Trump wants Sessions to continue to lead the Department of Justice. He wants him to focus on things like immigration, leaks and a number of other issues, she said. One of Trumps public complaints has been that Sessions hasnt been aggressive enough in pursuing leakers of classified information. In fact, the Justice Department is expected to announce next week some leak prosecutions. On Tuesday, Sessions also announced new measures to cut off some federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities that dont cooperate with immigration enforcement, another favorite issue for the president. But Sanders added that, at this point, a leak investigation would not salvage Sessions standing with Trump. I dont think thats the nature of the relationship, she said. In two tweets Wednesday morning, Trump criticized Sessions for not replacing McCabe, whose wife ran for office as a Democrat in Virginia in 2015. He suggested that McCabe had a conflict of interest in his duties as deputy director of the FBI during the investigation of Hillary Clintons handling of classified emails as secretary of State, although McCabe did not move into that job until months after his wifes campaign was over. McCabe took over the bureau as acting director when Trump fired James B. Comey in May. Sanders also declined to answer a question on why Trump did not fire McCabe himself, saying only that Trump looked forward to seeing his nominee as FBI director, Christopher Wray, be confirmed by the Senate soon. Facebook

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Trump, on Twitter, announced a ban on transgender service members. Now the military has to figure out what he means By Brian Bennett (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump surprised even the Pentagon on Wednesday morning by his unexpected announcement, via Twitter, of a ban on transgender service members. The military has not had a chance to decide how to put such a ban into effect, acknowledged Trumps top spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as she fielded numerous questions on the topic later from White House reporters. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who was on vacation, wasnt informed until Tuesday that Trump had decided to bar transgender service members from serving in any way. Sometimes you have to make a decision and once he made a decision, he didnt feel it was necessary to hold that decision, Sanders said. The president concluded, based on consultations with his national security team, that allowing transgender individuals to serve erodes military readiness and unit cohesion, she said. White House and Pentagon officials had been discussing details of medical coverage for transgender service members on active duty. But Trump went far beyond that with his series of tweets that the military will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the military. It will be up to the Defense Department to determine the specifics of the policy, including whether active-duty transgender service members will be kicked out of the military, Sanders said. Estimates of the number of current service members who are transgender range from 1,300 to about 16,000. The implementation policy is going to be something that the White House and Department of Defense will have to work together to lawfully determine, Sanders said. I would imagine the Department of Defense will be the lead on that, she added. Trumps tweets overshadowed other announcements he had planned to make Wednesday about adding manufacturing jobs to the economy and donating $100,000 of his second-quarter paycheck to the Department of Education to support science and math education. The president has expressed concerns since this Obama policy came into effect, Sanders said. She added that the president considered allowing transgender people in the ranks is a very expensive and disruptive policy. At one point, an exasp
A Pasadena-based mental health agency will provide more direct on-site educational support services for special-needs students enrolled at Magnolia Park School for the upcoming school year.

The Burbank Unified School District contracted with Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services during a board meeting last week to provide services at Magnolia Park, which offers enrollment for elementary through high school students with significant behavioral and emotional challenges.

Hathaway-Sycamores will also provide assistance in students homes, if needed, according to a staff report.

According to the agencys website, services offered include outpatient and school-based mental health services, wraparound/in-home services, psychiatric services, psychological testing, after-school tutoring and grief counseling.

Hathaway-Sycamores services will not exceed $196,900 annually, according the staff report. Costs will be shared among the Burbank, Glendale and La Canada unified school districts.

The three districts, which all send students to Magnolia Park, are part of a regional group known as the Foothill Special Education Local Plan Area, or Selpa. The group helps provide services for special-needs students within its boundaries.

Last year, Magnolia Park School served 18 students, according to the California Department of Education.

Burbank Unified previously contracted with Hathaway-Sycamores on an individual basis, and the district expects it will better serve students as its primary provider.

priscella.vega@latimes.com

Twitter: @vegapriscella
LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lundin Law PC, a shareholder rights firm, announces a class action lawsuit against Tahoe Resources Inc. (Tahoe or the Company) (NYSE:TAHO) for possible violations of federal securities laws between March 12, 2015 and July 5, 2017 inclusive (the Class Period). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Tahoe shares during the Class Period should contact the firm prior to the September 5, 2017 lead plaintiff motion deadline.



To participate in this class action lawsuit, click here.

You can also call Brian Lundin, Esq., of Lundin Law PC, at 888-713-1033, or e-mail him at brian@lundinlawpc.com.

No class has been certified in the above action yet. Until a class is certified, you are not considered represented by an attorney. You may also choose to do nothing and be an absent class member.

According to the Complaint, throughout the Class Period, Tahoe made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that consultation obligations relating to the permitting of the Escobal mining license were not met; that the Escobal mining license is subject to suspension; and that as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On July 5, 2017, Tahoe revealed that the Supreme Court of Guatemala issued a provisional decision suspending the Escobal mining license of its subsidiary Minera San Rafael, in connection with an action brought by CALAS against Guatemalas Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM). CALAS alleges that MEM violated the Xinca Indigenous peoples right of consultation in advance of granting the Escobal mining license. Following this news, shares of Tahoe decreased in value materially, which caused investors harm according to the Complaint.

Lundin Law PC was established by Brian Lundin, Esq., a securities litigator based in Los Angeles dedicated to upholding the rights of shareholders.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethics rules.
An 18-acre brush fire that broke out Wednesday afternoon in Burbanks Wildwood Canyon was contained by Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

Battalion Chief Kenet Robertson, with the Burbank Fire Department, said full containment occurred sometime around 5 p.m. in the hillside above Country Club Drive.

By Friday afternoon, Robertson said only a single fire engine company remained in the area to deal with any potential flare-ups.

They hiked the perimeter of the fire [Friday] morning and extinguished a small area inside the burned area, he said in an email. The police helicopter has flown the fire and reported that all areas are cool.

The fire began on Wednesday around 3:50 p.m. near the Burbank Police Departments outdoor firing range at 2244 Wildwood Canyon Road before spreading northward to an uninhabited portion of the hillside.

Sgt. Derek Green, a spokesman with the police department, said officers were training at the time of the fire.

About 150 firefighters from local agencies across the Southland were called in to battle the blaze, with helicopters from the Los Angeles city and county fire departments providing frequent water drops.

The fire prompted a call for hikers to leave the immediate area and for residents along Country Club Drive to evacuate.

An hour later, the evacuation order was lifted because the flames did not spread toward any buildings.

Burbank Fire Battalion Chief Ron Barone said no structures were ever threatened by the fire.

Its unknown what caused the fire, and the incident is under investigation.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc
Harry Potter, Junie B. Jones, the three little pigs and other literary characters from more than 400 books were in search of new homes this month as the FirstBook Tesoro club led its first book drive at Tesoro High School in Rancho Santa Margarita to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Southern California.

Tesoro student Sara Kurd-Misto co-founded the club with her school friends after seeing television advertisements for First Book, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that provides books and educational materials to children in need.

Through the Ronald McDonald House, hundreds of picture books, novels and works of nonfiction the club collected this month will be relayed to children at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo and to Syrian burn victims set to arrive at Shriners Hospital in Pasadena, Sara and her mother, Susan Baaj, said.

Its a cycle  you help someone and then they help others, said Baaj, chairwoman for the Foothill Ranch-based Syrian Institute for Progress, which arranges treatments for Syrian children who have fallen victim to chemical bombs and barrels.

The one-day book drive held this month gathered materials from neighbors, friends, classmates and club members who parted with pieces of their literary collections.

I donated my One Direction books, Sara told her mother as she unloaded some boxes at the drive.

Wow, that is big, Baaj said.

I knew youd be proud, Sara said.

Among the heaps of books were titles like John Greens Paper Towns, C.S. Lewis The Magicians Nephew, and works by Dr. Seuss.

Tesoro student Oksana Aldendeshe dropped off a copy of Jostein Gaarders Sophies World, a philosophy book that reminded the club of when they read it for the Advanced Placement European History class.

The girls giggled and reminisced over a young Justin Bieber after Tesoro student Breeana Warren plucked a paperback copy of Ronny Blooms 2010 book Justin Bieber (Get the Scoop) out of the pile.

Tesoro student Sydney Kim sifted through titles like Junie B. Jones and turned to her twin sister, Taylor Kim, asking, Remember when we were obsessed [by] these?

We were really interested in starting this club because we all have a love for reading and we want to spread our love for that, Sydney said.

Student members in FirstBook Tesoro, which formed this past school year, planned the book drive at the start of summer by deciding who would receive the books and by distributing fliers for the drive on mailboxes and in parks.

During the school year, the club also raised funds for First Book.

What stuck out to me is that some kids dont have books and dont read, Sara said. After doing some research, I found that California has some of the most illiterate cities in the whole United States.

Within the next year, the club plans to host additional book drives and find ways to personally deliver books to children in local areas, including Title I schools.

Alexandra.Chan@latimes.com

Twitter: @AlexandraChan10
Irans elite Revolutionary Guard said Saturday that a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier fired a warning shot in an unprofessional confrontation with Iranian vessels, the official IRNA news agency reported.

IRNA quoted a statement from the guard as saying that the U.S. carrier Nimitz and an accompanying ship came near an Iranian offshore oil platform in the Persian Gulf and a helicopter from the ship hovered near vessels manned by the Revolutionary Guard.

The report said the confrontation took place Friday afternoon and the U.S. ships left the area following the encounter.

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The Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet had no immediate comment.

The incident comes after a Navy patrol boat fired warning shots Tuesday near an Iranian vessel that American sailors said came dangerously close to them during a tense encounter.

Iran and the U.S. frequently have run-ins in the Persian Gulf, nearly all involving the Revolutionary Guard, a separate force from Irans military that answers only to the countrys supreme leader. In January, near the end of President Obamas term, the U.S. destroyer Mahan fired shots toward Iranian fast-attack boats as they neared the warship in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Iranians view the American presence in the gulf as a provocation. They have accused the U.S. Navy of unprofessional behavior, especially in the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil trade passes by sea.

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Pakistans ruling party named senior lawmaker Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as successor to the deposed prime minister on Saturday, a day after the Supreme Court removed Nawaz Sharif from office for concealing assets.

Sharif proposed Abbasi as interim prime minister at the meeting of Pakistan Muslim League party in Islamabad. His request was endorsed by lawmakers from his party.

Because Sharifs party enjoys a comfortable majority in the parliament, his longtime loyalist Abbasi is expected to easily win the required vote when National Assembly meets next week.

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In a televised speech Saturday, Sharif said that his younger brother, Shahbaz, who currently is chief minister in Punjab province, would contest election to the National Assembly, in the seat which fell vacant with his removal.

In an emotional appeal, Sharif sought support for Shahbaz as a future full-time premier. Sharif said he tried his best to put Pakistan on the path of progress but was unfairly penalized with his disqualification.

I was not expecting what happened to me yesterday, he said.

Sharif said he was removed by the Supreme Court on baseless allegations.

He said the opposition had campaigned against him in recent years, accusing him and his family of indulging in alleged corruption. My hands are clean and none of my family members misused government funds, he said.

It was his first public response to Fridays court ruling.

Sharif said he felt saddened by his removal as he believed he had worked sincerely for the nation like a soldier. He said history would now decide whether the courts decision was good for Pakistan.

Sharif defended his record, saying he always paid his taxes.

Sharifs daughter Maryam Nawaz in a tweet said her father would return with greater force, and asked her party to stay strong

Also Saturday, Abbasi vowed to continue the mission of Sharif. He said he was grateful to Sharif for naming him premier, even though it will only be for a brief period.

Saturdays developments came amid a serious political crisis that gripped Pakistan because of Sharifs removal, with lawmakers and legal experts wondering who was running the government.

Earlier, Raja Zafarul Haq, a senior leader from Sharifs party, said Pakistan would continue without a prime minister until the National Assembly elects a new one. We are without a prime minister even now, he told The Associated Press.

Haq said that although the court in Fridays ruling asked figurehead President Mamnoon Hussain to ensure continuation of the democratic process, the reality was that the country was still facing a political crisis.

He said there was no provision in the constitution about the appointment of an acting prime minister. He said Sharif might have stayed in power until the appointment of a new prime minister if judges had not sacked him effective immediately.

Sharif resigned Friday, saying he had reservations about the court ruling.

Sharif has been banned from participating in politics for not being truthful and honest. His partys leaders have noted, however, that their party still enjoys a majority and will stay in power until general elections are held in June 2018.

Earlier, hundreds of supporters of Sharif rallied in Islamabad against his disqualification. The demonstrators marched on a key road, chanting slogans before peacefully dispersing.

Opposition leader Imran Khan asked his supporters to travel to Islamabad Sunday to celebrate Sharifs removal.

The 67-year-old Sharif, who has served three separate stints as prime minister, has a history of rocky relations with Pakistans powerful military.

He was first dismissed from power by the armys hand-picked president in 1993 about midway through his five-year term. In 1999, military dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf overthrew Sharif in a bloodless coup and exiled him to Saudi Arabia.

The military has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 70-year history and has been unwilling to see its influence challenged.

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UPDATES:

10:54 a.m.: This article was updated with quotes from Sharif and Abbasi.
With tensions rising ahead of Sundays controversial vote to elect a body to write a new constitution, Venezuelan authorities on Friday arrested the mayor of the countrys fourth largest city for allegedly failing to clear antigovernment barricades from city streets.

Officials also raised the death toll from four months of nationwide protests against President Nicolas Maduros government by two, to 108. More than 3,000 people have been injured in clashes and more than 4,500 arrested in street protests that have grown increasingly violent.

The dead were identified as Eduardo Gil Rodriguez, 53, who was killed by a gunshot Thursday night in western Tachira state, and police officer Oneiver Quinones, who was fatally shot in central Merida state. His age was not disclosed.

Barquisimeto Mayor Alfredo Ramos, a vocal opponent of Maduro and the vote to elect delegates to a constitutional assembly, was arrested in his office Friday afternoon by officers of the SEBIN police intelligence agency. Earlier, the Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 months in prison and disqualified him from running again for mayor for failing to keep his citys streets barricade-free.

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A protester runs through tear gas during a in Barquisimeto, a frequent site of anti-government unrest in Venezuela. (Pasquale Giorgio / EPA)

Barquisimeto, population 2 million, has been the scene of intense street fighting between protesters and Venezuelan police and national guard members. Ramos and other opposition leaders say a new constitution proposed by Maduro is an illegal maneuver to sideline the opposition-controlled National Assembly and perpetuate chavismo  the political philosophy of Maduros mentor, the late President Hugo Chavez.

A new poll released Friday by the Datanalisis firm found 72% of all Venezuelans oppose a new constitution.

The Maduro government banned all street protests through Sunday, threatening violators with prison sentences of up to 10 years, but protesters still blocked a dozen major thoroughfares in the capital, Caracas.

Protests have been constant since the Supreme Court in late March transferred legislative powers from the National Assembly to Maduro. Although the ruling was partially rescinded, street protests have continued over food scarcities, rising crime and Maduros autocratic actions, including what some describe as an illegal effort to rewrite the constitution.

In Caracas on Friday, Maduro opponents in several neighborhoods, from affluent Altamira to working-class Petare, used bricks and trash to erect dozens of barricades, which have become symbols of resistance.

The Democratic Unity coalition of opposition parties called on protesters to occupy several main streets on Sunday to obstruct the vote, despite the governments warning of harsh penalties.

They are mistaken, the people have no fear and will not stop struggling in the streets of Venezuela, said opposition legislator Freddy Guevara.

Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda state whom the Supreme Court in April disqualified from running for future elective office for alleged mismanagement of the state budget, called on protesters to flood the streets to protest the vote.

All democratic people who want change, come out this Sunday, Capriles said.

Special correspondents Mogollon and Kraul reported from Caracas and Bogota, Colombia, respectively.

ALSO

Venezuela tragedy: 15 images capture a nations sorry and turmoil

Another victim of Venezuelas unrest: Caracas once-renowned zoo

As Venezuelan death toll rises, President Nicolas Maduro bans protests before vote to rewrite the constitution
IRVINE, Calif., July 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Khang & Khang LLP (the Firm) announces the filing of a securities class action lawsuit against Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (Chipotle or the Company) (NYSE:CMG). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between February 5, 2016 and July 19, 2017, inclusive (the Class Period), are encouraged to contact the Firm in advance of the September 18, 2017 lead plaintiff motion deadline.



If you purchased Chipotle shares during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esq., of Khang & Khang LLP, 4000 Barranca Parkway, Suite 250, Irvine, CA 92604, by telephone at (949) 419-3834, or by 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 as well.

According to the Complaint, throughout the Class Period, Chipotle made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that the Companys purported improvements in its restaurants food safety policies were inadequate; that Chipotles quality controls were not in compliance with applicable consumer and workplace safety regulations; that the quality controls remained inadequate to safeguard consumer and employee health; and that as a result, Chipotles public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When this information reached the public, shares of Chipotle declined in value materially, which caused investors harm according to the Complaint.

If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have any questions regarding this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esq., a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone at (949) 419-3834, or via e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions.
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.
An accounting supervisor at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem is accused of embezzling almost $5,000 through forged refunds.

Anne James, 30, of Whitehall, put $4,812 on her personal credit card and tried to conceal her actions, Pennsylvania State Police said in a news release Saturday. She had allegedly been doing so since January.

The theft was discovered by other accounting personnel, police said.

James is charged with theft by deception, forgery, tampering records and device fraud. She was arraigned before District Judge James Narlesky in Bethlehem. Court records indicate she has posted $15,000 unsecured bail.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
With the Lehigh Valley being one of the main suppliers for the entire country at one point, the cement industry is one of the largest pieces of Easton history.

It's a piece that many don't know about, or forget about, or don't care about. But not Easton-native Dave Drinkhouse.

Drinkhouse, 88, grew up on College Hill and has had a passion for history his entire life. After he retired from his engineering company, Drinkhouse Engineering, in 1995, he kept himself busy with various projects, one of which is the book he is currently working on.

The book traces the history of the Alpha Portland Cement Company, which was founded in 1895. Drinkhouse worked for the company for four years in the 1950s and refuses to let it be forgotten.

He has collected everything he could find about the company -- news articles, photographs of workers and the various plants, biographies of the presidents, maps and more -- and compiled them into a book that details the rise, personnel and demise of Alpha.

The company's headquarters were originally across the Delaware River in Alpha when it was founded on April 8, 1895. But when there was an abundance of the rock needed to make cement found in the Lehigh Valley, headquarters were moved to the Drake Building in Easton in 1901.

"The Lehigh Valley (is) recognized as the starting point of the American Cement Industry," read a page from Drinkhouse's book.

It wasn't always smooth sailing for the company, however. One year after Alpha purchased the cement plant in the Martins Creek section of Lower Mount Bethel Township in 1902, the plant barely survived the Delaware River's worst flood in reported history. This flood was the catalyst of the plant's bankruptcy.

The plant simultaneously expanded, as a nearby competitor plant could not withstand the flood's damage, ultimately selling to Alpha in 1904. Alpha completed their plant in 1908 and contributed to the cement used for the construction of the first concrete highway in New Jersey, built in 1912.

In 1918, Alpha ceased production in Jersey altogether, with Pennsylvania being its main source of revenue. Around the same time, Lehigh Portland Cement Company was on the rise, which ultimately ended up surpassing Alpha in size.

In 1946, Alpha bought the First National Bank Building and renamed it The Alpha Building. The company was forced to sell the building in 1971.

The building is touted as the largest in Downtown Easton and went on the house city hall until 2015. Currently, lehighvalleylive.com and Lafayette College lease parts of the building.

In 1955, Hurricane Diane sent 600 million gallons of water into the Martins Creek plant, and in 1964 the plant closed.

The demise of the company followed. In 1982, Alpha discontinued its cement and aggregates division. The Stabler Development Company purchased Martins Creek and Portland lands from Alpha in 1983 and, in 1985, Alpha became Slattery Group, Inc.

Drinkhouse said that the cement companies are all owned by foreign businesses today.

Drinkhouse visited 170 cement plants during his lifetime. Even after all he's seen, Alpha still impresses him. The company thrived for 90 years, even with five other competitors.

All that the book needs is finishing touches, and Drinkhouse is hopeful about its completion.

"It's a big part of Easton's history. They were the biggest company around for a long time. They deserve a book," Drinkhouse said.

Alyssa Mursch may be reached at amursch@lehighvalleylive.com. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The 1-year-old girl rushed for treatment after being found unresponsive Thursday night in Easton has died, investigators confirmed Friday afternoon.

Authorities were not identifying the girl, who was pronounced dead at St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill.

An autopsy will likely be conducted Saturday, in addition to toxicological testing in an effort to determine how she died, Northampton County First Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck said.

Court records identify the girl's sole guardian as 34-year-old Crystal M. Cwiklik.

Cwiklik has not been charged with any crime.

"We'll decide if a crime was committed," Houck said as the investigation was continuing.

Authorities responded about 6:40 p.m. Thursday to Cwiklik's home in the 100 block of East Nesquehoning Street on South Side.

She told police the girl "went underwater in the bath" and was not breathing as police and the Easton Emergency Squad arrived. City firefighters also assisted on the call.

The mother of two children under age 2 had difficulty keeping her eyes open, slurred her words and had a "heavy odor" of alcohol on her breath, police said. She could not maintain her balance and "had vomit all over the front of her," police said. While speaking to a police sergeant, she "appeared to nod off" often before suddenly waking back up, police said.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A 66-year-old woman has died days after reportedly lit a lighter while she was on oxygen in a Pennsylvania hospital, sparking a fire.

Val. E. Cooper, of Williamsport, was burned when her hospital gown caught fire in her sixth-floor room at the UPMC Susquehanna Williamsport Regional Medical Center about 3:40 p.m. Tuesday, the Williamsport Sun-Gazette reported.

Cooper was being treated for medical and mental health issues, and staff were unaware she had a lighter, according to the report. The Associated Press, citing fire officials, said Cooper smoked, but that's prohibited in the hospital -- her cigarettes and another lighter were stored in a lockbox.

Two nurses tried to douse the flames with a sheet, and a third put it out with an extinguisher, the Sun-Gazette said.

Cooper was eventually flown to a burn center in the Lehigh Valley, where she died Thursday afternoon, the Lehigh County Coroner's Office said in a news release Friday. Her death was due to complications from her injuries and ruled an accident.

Two of the nurses in Williamsport were treated for burns to their hands and discharged, the Sun-Gazette reported.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A 25-year-old Czech national has been given community service in lieu of prison for disregarding a court order by driving while disqualified.

Before last week's sitting of Portlaoise District Court was Jiri Cervenak (25), with an address at Market Mews, Portlaoise.

Inspector Eamonn Curley gave evidence that the accused was stopped at a garda checkpoint on the Mountmellick Road in Portlaoise on July 12 this year, where he was discovered to be disqualified from driving.

The accused had 15 previous convictions, all for road traffic matters.

The offences dated from November 2009 up to 2015, said Insp Curley.

The accused was previously convicted of driving while disqualified, and drink driving.

Judge Catherine Staines noted that the accused had been disqualified from driving for six years in January, 2015, and was driving again this year.

She said the accused had absolutely no regard for court orders.

Defence, Mr Philip Meagher said that on the face of it, it did seem that his client had no regard for the court orders.

He said the accused was working part-time, earning around 220 to 240 a week, and had one child.

The vehicle that was driven belonged to his uncle and was parked outside as the accuseds partner was taking driving lessons, and was insured to do so.

In relation to the offence, just after midnight on the date the accuseds child became ill and the accused drove to the filling station to get Calpol, recklessly taking the car keys.

Knowing he was disqualified, remarked Judge Staines.

His behaviour flies in the face of the court order, admitted Mr Meagher, going on to say that the accused was asking for whatever leniency the court could give him.

The accused was extremely nervous, concluded Mr Meagher.

Judge Staines imposed 240 hours community service in lieu of one month in prison.

The judge told the accused that this was absolutely his last chance and if he drove again he could go to prison.

The matter was put back to October 19 for a community service report.
A group of Kildare wrestlers are putting on a fun family afternoon in the CMWS Hall today, Saturday July 29 at 4pm in Kildare town in memory of the former wrestler Paul Behan from Dunmurray.

The group, who are all pros from Kildare town, are also fundraising for The Irish Cancer Society at the request of the Behan family.

According to Danger Dawn, aka Dawn ODonoghue from The Plains, 'Behanomania' is a wrestling show with local talent who compete all over the country.

Paul was one of the founding members of wrestling in Kildare and was involved in the local wrestling scene until he passed away as a result of an accident.

According to Dawn, all the wrestlers are pros from Kildare town and all friends of Paul.

The local wrestlers beside Danger Dawn, are Danny The Beast Butler , Justin Shape aka Peter Farrell, and Barry B-Cool Malone. Dawn added that there will be a great raffle on the day with local businesses donating prizes as well as WWE wrestling merchandise up for grabs. She also thanked the huge support received from the Behan family Catherine, Ned, Orla, Keith and Rory.

All proceeds will go to the Irish Cancer Society at the request of the Behan family.

The doors open at 3.30pm and the show starts at 4pm.

All welcome to attend and support this worthy cause.
350,000 in funding has been announced for Ireland's Social Farming Network at the launch of the project in Co Leitrim.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, launched the project at Loch Aedin Social Farm in Gortletteragh this week.

The concept of social farming  giving people, who are availing of a range of health service supports, the opportunity to participate in farming or horticulture activities in their local area - fosters inclusion, noted Minister Creed.

It helps participants to build self-esteem, confidence and improve their health and well-being. For participating farm families and local communities, social farming has proved a very worthwhile and satisfying activity which contributes to community development. For these reasons, I want to ensure that this concept is developed and encouraged through the Social Farming Network.

The Minister continued: The ambition is to grow a network for social farming for Ireland, with its national support office based in Drumshanbo co-ordinating four regional hubs, which will assist with the promotion and delivery of social farming in Ireland in support of both participants and farmers.

Colm ORourke, GAA analyst, pictured at the Social Farming Network launch in Gortletteragh with well-known Mohill man Seamus Browne.

The Department of Agriculture provided initial funding of 400,000 last year for the establishment of the social farming network across Ireland and has recently extended the contract for a further 12-month period.

The Department will provide funding totalling 720,000 in 2017 for a range of social farming initiatives. The Minister also announced funding of 130,000 under the Rural Innovation and Development Fund for pilot projects aimed at reducing food waste generated by food businesses in rural areas.
Look out for a new noodle soup slurping spot opening in August in the West Village. Douglas Kim, a chef with an impressive resume that includes Per Se, Morimoto NYC, Bouley and Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare, will open JeJu Noodle Bar in the former Nighthawks space on Greenwich Street serving ramyun, Korea's equivalent of Japanese ramen, with an eye towards recreating this brand on a larger scale.

"In our country, we had ramyun. The funny thing is that it's a very, very popular instant noodle, and we are one of the top few countries in the world that consume ramyun," Kim explains. "But nobody's tried to make a refined version, so I was very curious how I could do it in our way. So that's why I call it a Korean ramyun, because it's very, very similar to Japanese ramen, however the flavor profile is very different."

A preview by Eater goes into greater detail about the signature jeju-ramyun, reporting it will be a pork broth-based bowl with pork belly, scallion, white kimchi, and other accouterments. Besides the small ramyun menu, there are other dishes like hwe dup bapwhat Kim describes as a crossover between poke and Japanese chirashiwith sashimi grade fish, hearty vegetables and flavorful sushi rice. "Almost like a one wonder dish," he offers.

Kim is quick to define his restaurant as a noodle bar, not a ramyun bar. "I didn't want to call it a ramyun bar, then I'll have to focus on just ramyun itself. Since it's my first restaurant and first child of the brand, I want this restaurant to be more flexible," he says. "If I call it noodle bar, in that case I can bring a lot more different dishes to the table."

"I want to introduce Korean ramyun and at the same time I want to introduce more authentic Korean dishes, but with my own twist," Kim says. "The funny thing is the majority of the ingredients I'm using in the restaurant...only a few of them are Korean ingredients, however all the outcome is Korean food. That's very, very different from other Korean restaurants. I don't need to use Korean chili flakes if I can get better chili flakes from where else. As long as the outcome is better, I don't mind that."

"I'm trying to break the ice between the American palate and the Korean palate," he concludes.

679 Greenwich Street; jejunoodlebar.com
This week Vince Cable marked the 50th Anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality with an article in Pink News. He remembers the social context in which the changes happened.

The period that saw the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 left a powerful impression on me. It was around this time that I returned to the UK from Kenya with my now late wife, Olympia. She was Indian, and we arrived in a Britain snarling with the racism of Enoch Powells notorious rivers of blood speech. Intolerance was not merely tolerated by the state, but enforced by it, with immigrants, women and of course members of the LGBT+ community discriminated against in a way that is hard now to fully understand. But it was also a time of social change, even ferment. My colleague David Steel piloted an act that legalised abortion that same year. And gay people could finally have sex without fear of prosecution (provided they were both 21 or over, and it was in private). Looking back, the sheer level of bigotry is shocking. Even many supporters of the reform referred to homosexuality as a disability. By 1974, the number of arrests for gay offences had actually increased. It was not until 2001, after a defeat in the European Court of Human Rights, that the Labour government was forced to repeal the criminalisation of homosexual acts.

He then looks at the Liberal Democrat record.

We were the first party to commit to equalising the age of consent, to have LGBT people serving in the military and to legalise same-sex marriage. Plus, you could throw in gender recognition, PrEP on the NHS, ending the spousal veto, as well as inclusive, appropriate sex and relationship education, the offering of asylum to vulnerable LGBT+ people, and the ending of deportation to countries where minorities face persecution. I was particularly proud recently when the Liberal Democrats forced on the government a pardon for Alan Turing  The Lib Dem hope is that by gaining a pardon for such a great British figure, the government will now feel pressured to pardon the 75,000 others prosecuted for homosexual acts (49,000 of whom died having been branded criminals). That campaign continues.

He concludes:

But as those campaigners for gay rights reminded us, there are battles to be fought on sexuality, gender and race, as the recent shocking increase in hate crime reminds us. And I am increasingly troubled by problems around generational unfairness. We live in a Britain that is fairer, kinder and more accepting than the one I returned to half a century ago  but be under no illusions, there is much more work to do.

You can read the full article here.
TWO leading gardai in County Limerick have separately appealed for more resources as crime rises.

Newcastle West Superintendent Tom O'Connor said: I am shouting for manpower.

Bruff Superintendent William Duane remarked he could do with another 40 after Cllr Noel Gleeson raised the lack of gardai in a district the size of County Louth.

Supt OConnor and Supt Duane were speaking at Adare-Rathkeale and Cappamore-Kilmallock municipal district meetings respectively.

Compared to the first six months in 2016, property crime has risen by 23% in Bruff this year, said Supt Duane.

They include quad bikes, trailers, farming equipment and tools. Burglaries are the most threatening for individuals and especially the elderly. They are up 4% from 47 to 49. Over the last two weeks there has been a crime spree in Bruff. One individual has been charged in relation to a number of burglaries, he said.

Supt Duane said there has been a big increase in thefts from vehicles including recently outside Glenroe church. Massgoers came out to find four cars had been broken into with laptops and iPhones stolen.

Assaults were up but this was down to HIQAs new policy on dealing with vulnerable people living in care facilities, he said.

There has been a noticeable increase in criminal damage  up 67% from 24 to 40. This is linked to cars and property being broken into. There is a slight increase in public order but for the size of the area it is relatively quiet, said Supt Duane.

Policing figures for the Newcastle West district show an increase in burglaries year on year from 35 to 49, said Supt OConnor. Theft from cars at 31, was almost double the 2016 figure and criminal damage cases increased by almost 50% from 33 to 47.

But there had been a fall in the number of stolen cars, in thefts from shops and other thefts, the superintendent said.

In shouting for more resources, Supt OConnor acknowledged there were issues of manpower, logistics and response time.

Supt Duane said gardai make every effort to get there as soon as possible.

I am apologising for the response times. The area is so big and until we have proper resources I know there is a plan in place to increase numbers and hopefully the Bruff district will get some.

It takes 45 minutes to drive from Doon to Bruree. If we had more gardai the area would be more secure and safe, said Supt Duane, who added they did get two extra gardai but then lost one. He said the current trials in Limerick city and Dublin have also been a drain on resources as gardai are tied up in court cases.

The latest figures show that the Bruff district has 43 members; Newcastle West 76; Roxboro Road 129 and Henry Street 310.

Cllr Adam Teskey, Ardagh, revealed that he has been the victim of crime and has had up to 500 worth of farm diesel stolen in the past three to four months. He said there is a lot of siphoning off of farm diesel taking place and farmers feel they are being targeted.

Then, last Sunday, while he and his father were driving tractors and farm equipment in convoy through Askeaton, a group of youngsters began pelting him with stones from behind a low wall on Church Street.

I jammed on the brakes and the language was very colourful I assure you. If you break a back window in a tractor it is 1,000, said Cllr Teskey. He phoned gardai and was told a car would be deployed from Henry Street.
THE MINISTER for Education has been urged to secure a site as soon as possible to accommodate Limericks first ever Educate Together secondary school, which opens its doors in September 2018.

This follows a parliamentary question recently raised by Labour TD Jan OSullivan, in relation to the Governments purchase of a site for the school, which will be located in the Castletroy-Monaleen area.

Educate Together schools are unique in that children are accepted regardless of religious belief.

These things are always price-sensitive, so they will never tell you what sites they are looking at until they have actually purchased them. Because, otherwise, the price can go up if it becomes public if the State is looking to buy land for a school, she told the Leader.

Minister for Education Richard Bruton told the Limerick city Deputy that his Department was working closely with Limerick City and County Council in acquiring a new site for the school. He added that a number of potential site options have been identified and these are currently under consideration.

The former Minister for Education said that the school will enroll around 90 first year students, and it is likely that they will be located at a temporary site until the full school complex is constructed.

There is absolutely no doubt that the school will open in 2018 because that is the commitment I gave at the time. I would certainly call on the council and the Department of Education to acquire the site as soon as they possibly can.
LIMERICKS biennial exhibition of contemporary art, Eva, hasnt always curried favour with the public.

And now, councillors have complained that the most well-funded festival in Limerick has received an extra tranche of funding, which could prove more beneficial to smaller festivals.

The renowned exhibition has received some 222,000 annually for the last three years from the Arts Council to support its running costs.

An additional 10,000 has now been allocated from Council funds for the exhibition, which will run from next April to July.

Inti Guerrero from Columbia on being appointed curator of the 38th Eva International, hailed it as a groundbreaking exhibition.

Fianna Fail councillor James Collins said that the amount thats in the pot [of funding for arts] is relatively small and theres a lot of small festivals that could do a lot with this sum, as Eva is already attracting huge funding.

Independent councillor John Loftus also took issue with the food truck festival receiving funding of 10,000, saying it was a commercial venture with American food and more American food.

Why are we giving Eva more money? They already get a fortune, said Cllr Loftus. However, Fine Gael councillor Daniel Butler defended the food truck festival in the Peoples Park, saying it was one of the best festivals weve had in Limerick this year.

Councillor Cian Prendiville raised concerns about festivals being sponsored by alcohol companies. Councillor and publican Jerry ODea said the tag rugby festival at Old Crescent is sponsored by Heineken Lite, which offers a low alcohol alternative. Its the biggest tag rugby festival in the world. Rugby is part of who we are; culture isnt just about the visual arts, he said.

Labour councillor Joe Leddin said that Limerick is just not at the races for festival organisation.
ACTOR Jared Harris, the son of the Limerick giant of the silver screen Richard Harris, will be starring in a new high end drama on Sky Atlantic.

Chernobyl will dramatise the true story of one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, and those who made incredible sacrifices to save Europe from unimaginable disaster.

The five-part mini-series, starring Harris of The Crown and Mad Men fame, will be shown on Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland.

It is the first Sky/HBO project to be greenlit through an international partnership to develop big-scale drama, under a $250m multi-year co-production investment deal.

The mini-series focuses on the heart-breaking scale of the nuclear plant disaster that occurred in Ukraine in April 1986, revealing how and why it happened, and telling the shocking, remarkable stories of the heroes who risked their lives to save others.

Harris will play Valery Legasov, the Soviet scientist chosen by the Kremlin to investigate the accident.

Harris, who received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a drama series for Mad Men, will begin filming next Spring.

Meanwhile, Limerick raised actress and Oscar nominee Ruth Negga has been signed for a new animated film based on author Frank McCourts final work.

McCourt, the Pulitzer Prize winning author whose ashes were scattered in Limerick last week, published his only childrens book, Angela and the Baby Jesus, in 2007, and a half-hour film is now in production in Ireland.

Loving star Negga, who grew up in Dooradoyle, has lent her voice as McCourts grandmother.

McCourts wife Ellen, who is serving as an executive producer, that the film is due to be released this coming Christmas, under the title Angelas Christmas.
A COUNTY Limerick man accused of 13 indecent and sexual assault offences against two different women has been sent forward for trial.

The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Judge Marian OLeary at Kilmallock Court.

The male is aged in sixties and the offences are alleged to have occurred over 20 years ago.

He faces 10 indecent assault charges in relation to one of the women.

They are alleged to have occurred in a location in County Limerick on dates on or between April 22, 1989 and January 17, 1991.

In relation to the second female, he is accused of one indecent assault on dates on or between September 1, 1990 and January 1, 1991, and two sexual assault charges, contrary to section two of the Criminal Law (Rape) Amendment Act 1990.

They are alleged to have occurred on dates on or between January 18, 1991 and September 1, 1992, and September 1, 1995 and September 1, 1997.

It is a different location to the first alleged victim.

Judge OLeary said the Director of Public Prosecutions consents for the defendant to be sent forward for trial on indictment to the present sitting of Limerick Circuit Court.

The judge gave him the alibi warning before remanding him on bail on his own bond.

Judge OLeary reiterated to the media present that there was reporting restrictions on naming the accused and the alleged injured parties.
MORE THAN 22,500 homes in Limerick are without a computer, while nearly 16,000 households have no access to the internet, according to Census figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

While 46,590 households have access to broadband services, 15,897 homes are without an internet connection, the CSO figures show.

A total of 6,623 households stated that had access to the internet through other means, while 2,272 homes did not state if they had a connection or not.

This means that, of the 71,022 households surveyed, 22% of Limerick homes are without an internet connection.

According to the CSO figures, 22,587 homes do not have a personal computer  31.8% of Limerick households.

Fine Gael councillor Daniel Butler said that the low levels of computer ownership is down to the advent of handheld devices, internet access, and socioeconomic factors.

The most significant information in the CSO figures is the lack of internet access for a large amount of our population. Access figures are hugely skewed towards those living in the metropolitan area where access levels are high. Geographically, the city is located at one end of the county bordering Clare, giving us a large sprawling county leaving a large distance from central services.

Cllr Butler added: Broadband services are targeted based on business priorities by the various suppliers and so supplying the county is not economically viable leaving those in the county dependent on a slow moving government strategy. Once you leave where the population mass is even to areas like Mungret or Patrickswell your witnessing little or no service. Even where we see a service we have snail pace service.

He added that there is a strong correlation between high levels of social deprivation and limited internet access.

Meanwhile, less than 2% of Limericks working population cycles to work.

The statistics show that of Limericks 76,098-strong labour force, just 1,159  or 1.5%  people cycle to work. The figures show that 7,100 people walk to work, while 1,917 travel via bus, and 140 commute to work by train.

In Limerick city, 2.4% of people cycle to work, less than half of Galway and Corks bike user levels, and a quarter of Dublins. The rate of Limerick city bus users, at 3.95%, is also considerably lower than other Irish cities.

Solidarity councillor Cian Prendiville said that Limerick is lagging behind other cities in this area.
BUILDERS will return to complete a housing scheme in Limerick as fast as possible, the boss of Genesis Homes has said.

Former McInerney Homes CEO Barry OConnor who controls the company in charge of Sli Na Manach in Mungret, has confirmed Genesis Homes (Mungret) has risen again, with a new backer in the form of Lotus.

There were fears that the estate would lie unfinished after Cardinal Capital pulled its financial support to Genesis in April, plunging it into receivership.

But speaking to the Leader this Wednesday, Mr OConnor said the company was out of receivership, and has met all its obligations to Cardinal.

Definitely, we will have builders on site as fast as possible, he said when asked whether the estate would be completed.

Measuring 9.35 acres, full planning permission remains in place at Sli Na Manach for 82 residential units and a creche. At present, the scheme is only half-complete.

Claire Keating, the chairperson of the local residents association and one of the first residents on site, welcomed the news.

I hope its a case of third time lucky, in relation to the fact the sites first developer McInerney Homes went into examinership, and the current developers plans were initially halted following the receivership.

Its good news though  nobody wants to live in a ghost estate, she added.

Mr OConnor said: Residents have done well from this estate. One house sold recently for 310,000. We would have sold that buyer the house for 250,000 two years ago. So obviously we are delighted with this.

Cllr Daniel Butler has given a cautious welcome.

Previously the same organisation were progressing very slowly on site and when they left the site, a lot of people were left in sudden limbo.

I hope they can now progress quickly to complete the development and allow the current residents to live in a community as opposed to a building site as they have now for nearly ten years, he said.

The remaining tranches of land were listed for 300,000 at auction last month  but following Genesis emergence from receivership, it didn't go ahead for sale.
Emergency services are at the scene of a serious road accident on the outskirts of Limerick city.

The collision involving a motorbike happened at Quinn's Cross Roundabout, Mungret shortly after 8pm this Saturday.

Gardai and ambulance personnel attended the scene of the collision and the road has been closed to traffic with the AA warning that diversions are in place.

LIMERICK: Quinn's Cross R/A is closed on all approaches due to a crash, diversions will be in place.https://t.co/C56x2eWL7G  AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) July 29, 2017

It is understood at least one person has been seriously injured in the collision and that the road could be closed for some time.

An investigation is underway into the cause of the crash and motorists are being advised to avoid the area.

Separately, a young man was hospitalised following a road accident in Southill earlier on Saturday evening.

The man, who aged in his mid 20s, was driving a motorbike which collided with bollards at O'Malley Park.

He was initially treated by crews from Limerick Fire and Rescue Service before being taken to University Hospital Limerick for further treatment.

His condition is unknown.
When our problems become sacred Today there is something triumphant about having a problem, but the modern tendency to glorify problems has some obvious consequences /news/talking-point/when-our-problems-become-sacred-111646986610504.html 111646986610504 story

He is the new underclass among writers; the guy has no wounds. He is male and heterosexual; he is not a Dalit; he has never been beaten by the spouse; nor abandoned by parents as a child. He is never depressed, not even in the mountains, not even when there is a power cut and a dog howls. He has never been evicted from his place of birth, so he does not go there. And for the same reason, he is unable to write with sentimental anger about the exact green of the backwaters", how heavenly the smell of the egg roast is, and how beautiful the healthy women on the morning streets who never dry their hair properly before leaving home are. He does not live in the West under the supervision of a dominant, foreign and affluent race, so he has no reason to seek refuge in his identity. He is not a wealthy feudal lord in decline, or a middle-aged humanities intellectual who wishes to get laid through empathy"; as a result, he is incapable of proxy-feminism, Marxism, and the theft of wounds from the truly wounded. He is not even fat.

He is a writer who does not find an opportunity to be angry; when the months outrage begins, he does not have a side, he does not belong to any group of people with dissimilar noses. The guy is doomed.

How everyone became a victim is the same story as how everyone became a narcissist. The most naive of them all was Narcissus, who only fell in love with his own reflection; many after him saw, and see, their own image in the reflections of others. This is at the heart of the most powerful, and probably corrupt, aspect of storytellingthe moment when the reader relates" to a character. For centuries, storytellers who could create familiar characters succeeded more than those who were more interested in the abstract fringe. But now the storyteller is not required. People seek a reminder of themselves not merely in stories, but in almost everything. A fierce democracy is taking over the idea of celebrityeveryone is photographed, everyone is called beautiful and a genius. And, as they do in the star signs, they see a special tribute about themselves in the hysteria of a collective wound.

Today there is something triumphant about having a problem. There were a few reminders in July. An American woman mailed her team: Im taking today and tomorrow to focus on my mental health. Hopefully Ill be back next week refreshed and back to 100%." This could have been a joke many of us have sent to our colleagues, but her boss knew it was not because she had sent similar mails before. He mailed her with compliments for using sick days for mental health. He was not joking either. I cant believe this is not standard practice at all organizations," he said. The exchange received one of the highest rewards of our modern timesit went viral. It caught the attention of Facebooks chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, who, in a post, praised the boss for his compassion". She herself is attempting to create an organization where people are not penalized for emotional upheavals.

The new age is trying to eradicate notions of weaknesses, of flaws, and to persuade the world to expand the idea of human normality.

But some among the clinically depressed may have been irritated, as they were when actor Deepika Padukone suddenly became their ambassador. A few I spoke to then refused to believe that she was one of them, that she was truly depressed. It was as though they owned a turf of serious dejection and a person with vulgar joys was encroaching. Their discomfort lies in people confusing transient sorrow with depression.

If everyone begins to claim they are depressed, without fully understanding what it means, what becomes of those who are to a severe degree? There is a line, they seem to suggest, between personality and mental health. Some people should be asked to go seek meaning or swim or run; some people should be prescribed drugs. But all of them claim to be depressed today. All of them will, as capitalism tries to save itself from an unhappy workforce, ask for days off to focus" on their mental health. And bosses will be expected to compliment them for being forthright.

When people claim they have a problem, it is not acceptable any more to tell them that millions face such issues without a whimper, or to ask them to work hard to overcome it, or to face it with greater fortitude. The remarkable quality of the modern problem is not any more that it is a stigma, but that it has become sacred.

This month there was an online campaign which demanded that the first day of the menstrual cycle qualify for leave. It swiftly became popular. Any woman who refused to accept that periods were that serious a matter was condemned.

Men are an enthusiastic part of public laments, but issues that are male-specific are rare. They do keep getting requests from delicate new-age men to cry more. There must be something great about crying that some savants know, it is their chief solution for improving men. If all men were suddenly ok with crying, 70% of our problems would disappear," tweeted the comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani. It is not clear if he meant men should cry privately or on the shoulders of their women (greatly annoying them, surely, if done too often), or should they cry in the malls?

The modern tendency to glorify problems has some obvious consequences. The rich will always be louder than the rest, and the finite empathy of a society is then wasted in self-absorbed privileged lament rather than being spent in concern for the truly unfortunate.

The festive communal commotion of we-have-problems" reminds me of the Chennai of my childhood when there would be this funeral procession and all the onlookers, including the town alcoholics, would crash the concourse, dancing and whistling, and the actual grim mourners would disappear in the mobs.

Manu Joseph is a journalist and a novelist, most recently of The Illicit Happiness Of Other People.

The writer tweets at @manujosephsan
Chethams Library: Standing the test of time Chetham's Library in Manchester, the oldest surviving public library in Britain, has seen it all, from terrorist attacks to historical meetings /news/talking-point/chethams-library-standing-the-test-of-time-111646987207816.html 111646987207816 story

There is something charmed and indestructible about Chethams Library, the oldest surviving public library in Britain. Founded in 1653, it sits in the shadow of the Manchester Arena on one side and Manchester Cathedral on the other.

In May, a 22-year-old British Muslim terrorist blew himself up with a home-made bomb at the Arena, killing 22. In 1940, the Luftwaffe had pounded the cathedral in the week before Christmas. In 1996, Irish Republican Army terrorists exploded a bomb in a truck next to a Marks & Spencer store nearby.

Chethams Library remained unscathed through it all. If Mr (Donald) Trump has any special ideas about starting the next big war, this library may be the safest place," said the friendly guide showing us around.

The library used to be attached to a school for poor boys, both built by Humphrey Chetham, a land-owning cloth merchant. Today that school is renowned for teaching music.

Chetham wanted the library to be kept free in perpetuity. Its collection includes medieval manuscripts and Middle English poetry, old Latin works and scientific texts, and first editions of Isaac Newtons Principia Mathematica and John Miltons Paradise Lost. The collection now focuses on works from and about Manchester and the surrounding region.

The school was a response to the dire conditions for children during Victorian times. Some of Britains poorest people lived in slums along the banks of the Irwell, near the library. Few children lived till 5, and those who did were taken to work in coal mines where hardly any lived beyond 20. Over the decades, conditions only got worse.

An alcove on the first floor of the library has a table with benches on three sides. Two German men met here in the 1850s and talked about the appalling poverty they saw all around. The two menFriedrich Engels and Karl Marxenvisioned a different future.

Engels was the son of a wealthy businessman in Wuppertal who was frustrated by his socialist leanings. He sent Engels to Manchester in 1842 to work at one of his subsidiariesan experience he hoped would make Engels act responsibly. Instead, Engels saw the tragic lives of the poor in Manchester, and in 1845 published a harrowing account of their destitution, The Conditions Of The Working Class In England.

Jonathan Schofield, who writes about Manchesters history, told the Financial Times recently that of the places where Engels and Marx met, only Chethams Library remains. When he takes Chinese visitors to see the table where the books they used are still kept, some of them cry", he said.

Engels writing shocked Britains elite. For in the 1840s, the country was booming: New colonies were being set up and linked by rail, and China had been defeated in the first Opium War. The sun, it seemed then, would never set on the British empire. But this wealth was built on colonial exploitation and the toil of hundreds of thousands of people who lived in half or wholly ruined buildings rarely a wooden or stone floor to be seen in the houses, almost uniformly broken, ill-fitting windows and doors, and a state of filth", as Engels described it.

In 1845, Benjamin Disraeli, who would go on to become prime minister, published a novel called Sybil, in which he raised the taboo question of two nations", or the coexistence of the rich and the poor. A few years later, Charles Dickens wrote Hard Times. Engels, on his part, was documenting reality.

In Britain today, there is renewed interest in communist ideas among the young, as the unexpected success of Thomas Pikettys critique of the global economy, Capital In The Twenty-First Century (2013), or the rise of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, which political pundits did not see coming, show. While the misery of 21st century Britain cannot be compared with Victorian squalor, homelessness has become more visible in recent years. The financial crisis of 2008 has shattered many comfortable assumptions, like the next generation being better off than the current one. The Grenfell Tower fire, in which dozens of poor perished, has reminded Britain of the inequality within.

Manchester has seen a resurgence in civic pride, with new infrastructure. Its quays have a beautiful arts complex. Now the city is welcoming Engels back. Phil Collins, a Mancunian artist, scoured former Soviet-era towns and brought an abandoned sculpture of Engels to Manchester, where it now stands restored. A man from Europe, rejected by a European state tossing aside socialism, has returned home to the city where industrial capitalism was born, but which now feels the angst of its consequences.

The table where Marx and Engels met at Chethams Library would have been mute witness to their conversations. The warm, sunny afternoon is quiet. You no longer inhale the stench along the river; the slums that dotted it are long gone. But inequities persist. We have learnt more, and have peaceful means to change the world. Challenges remain, but the answers are there, in those books.

Salil Tripathi writes the column Here, There, Everywhere for Mint.

He tweets at @saliltripathi
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Liberty County officials made one arrest and began the process of removing about 10,000 tires from a Dayton property on Friday, ending an 8-month nightmare for neighbors in the West Woodland Hills subdivision.

Deputies with the Liberty County Sheriff's Office and officials from various other local and environmental agencies executed an environmental arrest warrant for Robert Alan Piver on July 28 at his residence at 112 CR 6477, sheriff's office spokesman Capt. Ken DeFoor said.

Piver is charged with illegal dumping over 100 pounds, a state jail felony. In addition, he was also charged with violation of order of a fire marshal, a Class B misdemeanor offense.

Officials estimated between 8,000 to 10,000 tires had been stored on the small property, accumulating water and disease potentials. Piver was taking the tires from area merchants for a nominal fee and was supposed to be disposing of them, except he was in most cases storing them on his property illegally, officials said.

The charges stemmed from months of investigation and desperate attempts to work with Piver to get the property cleaned up.

DeFoor said there were no charges filed against his wife who was also in the home at the time of entry.

Sheriff Bobby Rader, Pct. 4 County Commissioner Leon Wilson, and County Fire Marshal Bill Hergermueller's offices have received numerous citizen complaints about thousands of old vehicle tires stacked up and stored around the residence in the otherwise well-kept community of the west Woodland Hills subdivision.

Lead Investigator LCSO Deputy Linda Bloomingdale and Hergemueller had worked with Piver and he had even made arrangements with the judge on one citation to take care of the issue and pay his fine with a payment plan. But when he failed to follow through, even with an extension, county officials' patience ended.

County Judge Jay Knight was on the scene early Friday morning to observe the cleanup.

"We've known about this property for quite a while," he said.

"The investigation with the cooperation of the sheriff's department and Precinct 4 have led us to the point now where we have enough evidence to get this cleaned up and help the residents of Woodland Hills," the judge said.

"I thank them for their efforts and teamwork they put into this. It is an environmental problem. You just think of the mosquitoes, wasps, and snakes they are finding in there," Knight said.

Wilson said they had exhausted all other possibilities of compliance.

"He's been warned repeatedly. He's been served with a notice to cease and desist. He's been served with a notice to cleanup and he has, to this day, not responded nor made any effort," Wilson said.

Wilson said they began watching Piver closely as far back as March as he brought tires onto his property.

County Attorney Matthew Poston and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality were also involved in the investigation.

Neighbors said there were people coming in and out of Piven's property all day and night long.

"When they first started, they were burning them by the road at night," one neighbor who didn't want to be identified said.

Other neighbors said the biggest nuisance was the mosquitoes that were taking over the neighborhood.

"We have fans on our porch on full blast to help keep the mosquitoes away," one neighbor said. "That's the biggest problem-the mosquitoes that are breeding over there."

Officials said the suspect had been using a U-Haul truck for the last few weeks to load up the tires, but Wilson said it was repossessed two days ago.

It was no secret, however, that they were being stored, despite a decrepit, leaning sheet metal fence propped up by boards. The tires were visible throughout the property and deputies said it went into the woods behind the trailer.

After Piver and the location had been secured, Precinct 4 crews descended on the property to begin the massive, expensive cleanup.

"I have every dump truck, haul truck, I have backhoes, skidsteer, and front-end loaders. It's the most we can use in loading equipment without getting into each other's way," he said.

The process was so extensive, Wilson called on his colleagues Commissioners Greg Arthur and Bruce Karbowski who both lent two each dump trucks to assist. The city of Dayton also pitched in two dump trucks in the rotation to load and get rid of the tires.

Wilson's crew back at the barnyard were receiving the tires and counting each tire, one by one, as they came off the trucks.

"We have to do that to provide the court an amount and then to seek restitution for the county," Wilson said.

Entergy was on the property to disconnect a drooping power line that was in the way of the Precinct 4 crews removing the mountain of tires.

"The tires and the records of the business are being kept until the outcome of the case or a hearing," Poston said.

The seizure presented a logistical nightmare for storing the evidence.

"Very few folks in the county have the resources to seize and store that many tires until the end of the case and I applaud Commissioner Wilson and his crew for their expedience," Poston said.

Piver's business was operating under the name of Robert & Sons Tire Company, but Poston said they did not have a permit for the tires.

"Disposed tires are considered by definition as solid waste. Then they must be disposed of at a permitted disposal site," he said.
Rodrigo Maia keeps denying that he's plotting to replace Brazil's embattled president. His own mother doesn't quite believe him.

As speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Maia is, in fact, first in line to replace Michel Temer, should Temer go the way of his ousted predecessor, Dilma Rousseff. Next week, Maia will preside over a vote on whether Temer will be tried on corruption charges. Maia also has the power to approve requests -- of which there are several -- to initiate impeachment proceedings.

That he has refused to do so hasn't squelched speculation in the National Congress and the media that he wants to dethrone Temer. Neither have his own declarations, nor the fact that his wife's stepfather, Wellington Moreira Franco, is of one of Temer's closest aides. The speaker remains the unlikely center of political attention in Latin America's largest country.

"It's a question of being in the right place at the right time," said Ivan Valente, a lawmaker from the Socialism and Liberty Party. Circumstances can give you star power, "even if you are someone without much presence, charisma or support" among the electorate.

Indeed, Maia, 47, might not at first glance seem to be presidential material. Soft-spoken -- to the point of coming off as shy to some -- he occasionally displays a nervous tick. He's known for flashes of bad temper, such as when he cursed at one deputy and shoved another during a protest against a labor-reform bill. Asked to name his son's big challenge, Cesar Maia, a former mayor of Rio de Janeiro, had a swift answer: "Controlling his emotions."

Some wonder if the speaker has the staying power of a veteran like Temer, 76, who is still hanging on despite mounting opposition among lawmakers and single-digit rankings in national opinion polls. "Maia doesn't have the chutzpah or the negotiating skills of Temer," said Jason Vieira, chief economist of Infinity Asset Management. "I'm not sure another politician would be able to survive a situation like this."

For all that, Maia has fans in the lower house, where he was first elected to his post by a wide margin a year ago. While his habit of repeatedly changing his mind about voting schedules has infuriated some, allowing business to pile up can be shrewd, said Miro Teixeira, a longtime lawmaker from Rede. "Delay keeps the interested parties uneasy, and they start to seek him out. That way, he offers favors to people."

In a polarized political environment, with around 26 parties in the lower house, Maia's accessibility to legislators from across the ideological spectrum is a powerful asset. That's taken a toll, though, Maia said in a GloboNews interview: Eating two or three breakfasts, lunches and dinners each day with different deputies has expanded his waistline.

Maia has been transformed in other ways in his time as speaker, said Julio Delgado, a lawmaker from the Brazilian Socialist Party. "Rodrigo used to be very introverted when it came to dealing with deputies, but his style has really changed." Now, "he's seeing the possibility of becoming president."

Well, maybe one day. "I can see myself as a candidate in two or three elections' time," he told GloboNews. "But in the short-term, being speaker gives me the chance of fulfilling dreams that I never thought I would realize." Maia declined to be interviewed for this story.

Socially conservative, a commited free-marketeer and member of the right-wing Democratas party, Maia is an enthusiastic supporter of the policies put forth by Temer, though perhaps not clearly enough of Temer himself. In a recent Twitter outburst, the speaker went on about the importance of the president's agenda without mentioning the president, which didn't go unnoticed by those questioning his loyalty.

That includes his mom, who frequently sends him text messages telling him "not to conspire" against Temer, Maia told GloboNews.

"On my part there has been no attempt to jeopardize President Michel Temer," Maia said. But he also said that considering the political realities, it's more important to be seen an objective house leader than a Temer ally.

For what it's worth, some opposition legislators interested in taking Temer down said they don't see Maia actively angling to move into the presidential palace. "If he'd been maneuvering, he'd already be in the president's place," said Carlos Zarattini of the Workers' Party.

Born in Santiago, Chile, where his father was living in self-imposed exile during Brazil's military dictatorship, Maia attended college in Rio. After a brief career in banking, he followed his father into politics and is in his fifth term as a deputy representing the state of Rio. The younger Maia hasn't proved quite as popular as his dad. Cesar Maia was elected mayor of Rio de Janeiro three times; the son's run for the position in 2012 ended badly when he garnered just under 3 percent of the vote.

Temer's fate will be decided by the lower house, which has the power to decide whether he should be tried on charges filed by the country's chief prosecutor that center on what's called passive corruption, including taking a bribe via an intermediary. He has denied wrongdoing.

The charge was leveled in connection with the Operation Carwash probe that has taken down many members of the business and political elite. Maia has been caught up in Carwash too. He is one of dozens of high-ranking government officials and senior politicians now under investigation for allegedly taking bribes and illegal campaign contributions after Supreme Court Judge Edson Fachin authorized new probes in May. Maia has said he will easily prove his innocence.
After nearly 30 years in the airport business, the director of Conroe's airport is heading into retirement.

Scott Smith, who has worked as the director of the Conroe-North Houston Regional Airport for nearly 10 years walked out of his spacious office with expansive views of the airport and its runways and taxiways for the last time Friday evening.

Instead of overseeing airport operations that include thousands of planes taking off and landing at the airport on an annual basis, the 69-year-old Smith says instead he will be working with horses on the family horse ranch, reading and playing music.

"It's bittersweet," Smith said, as he spoke of retirement during the last few hours on the job. "As a profession, airport management, if you like aviation, is a great profession. It's challenging, so I will miss that."

During the nine years and eight months at the airport, Smith has overseen work and expansion of the facility as it continues its evolution from what was once a sleepy, little airport to a regional facility now nationally recognized for helping relieve some of the pressures at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The recognition comes as more small planes land and take off in Conroe, instead of Houston's busy airport.

In 2016, Conroe-North was named General Aviation Reliever Airport of the Year by the Texas Department of Transportation. A reliever airport is a Federal Aviation and Administration designation for an airport that helps to reduce the congestion at major airports by having more general aviation aircraft, that is private or small planes, take off and land at their airports.

"That's a real honor," said Smith, noting that the airport was competing with hundreds of other airports for the distinction.

Indeed, his efforts also gained the notice of U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, whose district includes the airport.

"Scott Smith has been a tremendous leader for our airport," Brady said. "Scott's expertise and value to our community can't be overstated. The recent runway extension and addition of the customs facility that happened under his leadership continue to grow the airport as a vital economic engine for our area."

During Smith's tenure as airport director, traffic at the airport has expanded in what Smith describes as a "steady climb." An average of about 180 planes a day take off and land at the airport now, bringing the total landings and takeoffs to about 63,000 a year.

Previously, in quieter times at the airport, there was no tower, so a traffic control tower needed to be built. The 118-foot-high tower, erected at a cost of $2.4 million, was completed in 2009. Taxiways have been expanded and the airport has undergone a runway expansion as well. And more recently, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Federal Inspection Station opened at the airport last fall.

"This is the trifecta," County Judge Craig Doyal said when the inspection facility opened in September. "We were out here for the tower opening, the runway extension and now our customs facility. I can't wait to see what you do next year, Scott. This airport is an economic tool for Montgomery County."

Smith is quick to note that some of the airport's expansion work was already underway, or in the planning stages when he started at the airport. He also credits local officials, community members and his staff will helping his efforts.

"It's been a real honor to serve at this airport because it's supported politically and supported by its community," Smith said. "And it's been a fantastic staff, including some key county departments that have really helped us."

At 5:01 p.m. Friday, with his work at the airport done, Smith walked out the door of the airport office for the last time. Assistant Director James Brown took over as the new director.

"I've got big shoes to fill," Brown acknowledged.

Brown will be tasked with overseeing the latest project at the airport, a $6 million taxiway expansion project that's expected to be completed sometime late next summer or during the fall.
WASHINGTON - The bookend to a tumultuous week on Capitol Hill is scheduled to unfold Saturday evening on Freedom Plaza, where hundreds of people are expected to protest attempts to overturn the Affordable Care Act.

Several left-leaning groups organized the "Our Lives on the Line" protests in dozens of cities across the country, with the flagship protest in District of Columbia actor Justin Long will host the rally, which will be followed by a march to the White House.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is scheduled to speak, along with others who say they would have been harmed by Republican-proposed health-care legislation.

"The message of this protest is that constituents are furious about Trumpcare everywhere," said Ben Wikler, Washington director of MoveOn.org, a progressive group that helped to plan the rally. "There is nowhere to hide from a public that thinks this bill is a disgrace."

Planned Parenthood, Moms Rising, Women's March, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Indivisible are among the organizing groups.

The Saturday marches have been in the works for more than a month and were scheduled to coincide with the first day of Congress's August recess. When it was scheduled, the fate of health-care legislation was up in the air, and it was unclear what precisely protesters would be protesting.

But early Friday, liberal groups that had been flooding Capitol Hill in recent weeks scored a victory as the Senate narrowly defeated a bill that would have advanced a scaled-back plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act.

Organizers say Saturday's protest will show politicians that if they try to dismantle the nation's health-care system, the public will continue to fight.

Planned Parenthood has been organizing protests in hopes of stopping changes to the Affordable Care Act. All iterations of the proposed health-care overhaul have included slashing federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

"The momentum has been building, and after [Friday morning's] historic takedown of this bill, we know that it is extraordinarily important for us to stand in our power and demonstrate that when Congress tries to take care away from millions of people who rely on Planned Parenthood, we are not backing down," said Graeme Joeck, federal campaign director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. "This has been a long road of eight months of hard organizing."

According to protest permits from the National Park Service - the federal agency that oversees much of the District's federal land - 1,000 people are expected to attend the Washington protest.

It will conclude with a candlelight vigil in front of the White House to "uplift the voices of those directly impacted by health-care policy," according to a description of the event in the NPS permits.

The "Our Lives on the Line" protests are scheduled for other cities, including Pittsburgh, Denver, Omaha, Chicago and Boise, Idaho. The Washington protest is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

"Every region of the country, not only are people against it, but people will be in the street and sending the message that voting to take away health care is a vote that will haunt Republicans for the rest of their political lives," Wikler said.
Mayor Wendell Dunlap, during the quarterly board meeting of the Plainview/Hale County Economic Development Corp. on Friday, said a bond issue may go before city voters in November to finance a slate of capital improvement projects being development by the Citizens Advisory Committee.

The 30-member committee has met five times in recent months to develop and prioritize a list of major capital projects. The panel is evaluating local streets, park improvements and public facility needs.

They are now just about ready to bring their recommendations to the City Council, Dunlap told the EDC board at Fridays luncheon meeting in the Plainview Convention Center.

The City Council gets its first look at the capital projects list at its work session Thursday, Aug. 3. Dunlap said one of the projects likely will be reconstruction of 24th Street, which will cost $7 million to $8 million. Another is a new fire station in northwest Plainview. Theres some things we would like to do with our parks. Actually, there are many important needs that the city that wont be able to do if we have to rely on our general budget. It runs about $10 million a year and two-thirds is dedicated to police and fire protection. Whats left in the regular budget for major improvements is pretty slim.

After viewing the Citizens Advisory Committees recommendations at its work session, the City Council during the Aug. 8 regular meeting will discuss the proposed projects along with bond financing options with Specialized Public Finance, an advisory firm in Austin and Dallas.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, a listening session will be held at the Chamber of Commerce building for comments from citizens, the business community and other interested parties.

A town hall meeting on the proposed projects will follow at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, at the PISD Education Complex, 2411 Yonkers.

A presentation will be made to the Chamber of Commerce Board on Tuesday, Aug. 15, with a listening session later that morning at the Quarterly Coffee for Main Street and Downtown Association members.

On Thursday, Aug. 17, during its work session, the City Council will review the proposed capital improvements, consider proposed ballot propositions, and hold a public hearing on the propositions.

We are facing a fairly short deadline for putting together a bond election for November, and will be working hard to get the word out, Dunlap said.

During community reports, Dunlap said the City Council and staff continue to work on next years budget, which will be finalized in September. He said work to transform the Hilton Hotel into the Conrad Lofts is under way with crews working on asbestos abatement for several weeks. He said the duck pond project is moving slower than anticipated, and is still in the engineering phase. Construction on the business park should begin next spring. We are waiting until winter to let it out for bids because we anticipate getting better bids then, Dunlap explained. Most companies interested in the project are busy, but might need something to do next spring.

PHCEDC Executive Director Mike Fox, in his quarterly report, notes that sales tax collections have improved in recent months along with the unemployment rate.

Sales taxes were distorted in 2015 and early 2016 because of a major hail storm and resulting roofing activity, along with the wind distribution center being extremely active, which caused an influx of pilot cars and truck drivers, Fox said. That activity dropped off significantly during the last half of 2016 and early 2017. If you look at the trends over the past 10 years, you realize we are in a good place.

Fox said are eight businesses are now in his pipeline, including three local firms looking to expand or relocate.

On the business park, Fox said it is in the design phase with Parkhill Smith and Cooper finalizing details. We have completed our major land acquisitions, but there is additional property needed for future development. The project is on track for construction to begin in March or April 2018.

County Judge Bill Coleman applauded the work of Plainview, Hale Center, Petersburg and Abernathy in returning tax foreclosed trust properties to private ownership and getting them back on tax rolls. Its good for our taxpayers, and anything we get out of the sales is almost like found money.

He reported that upgrades to the RV park at the Ollie Liner Center are nearly complete. Xcel Energy was re-establishing electrical service Friday. We should be ready to go once final testing is complete, he said.

The RV park upgrades are included in $500,000 in upgrades at the Ollie Liner Center. The sewer line has been replaced along with improved draining, and bids have been accepted for a concrete apron around the center. After that is completed, the parking lot will be repaired and resurfaced.

Coleman asked those attending Friday to contact State Rep. Ken King to work against legislation approved by the Senate in the Special Session adding new unfunded mandates while limiting local governments ability to raise funds to pay those added expenses.

Linda Morris, Chamber of Commerce executive director, said that group participated in six ribbon cuttings during the last quarter and have three more during in the next month. The Chamber recently hosted a groundbreaking for the new Plains Land Bank office at Seventh and Ennis.

Two Business After Hours mixers were held with another set for Thursday at the Holiday Inn Express. Two Raymond Aiken Memorial Scholarships were awarded and 15 have signed up for the next Leadership Plainview class with three slots still open. Due to inclement weather July 4, the annual fireworks show will be held New Years Eve. Three upcoming ribbon cuttings have been set, at Express Employment on Aug. 15, Beehive Memory Care Center on Aug. 18 and Artisan Jewelers on Aug. 28.

Don Thurman of the local Workforce office said unemployment rose in June due to seasonal factors, but is lower than a year ago.

Hale Center City Manager Dennis Burton said his city was awarded a Texas Parks and Wildlife grant to construct a nature trail around Caudle Lake in 2018. Hale Center is working with a local family on the donation of a tract downtown for a new city hall and animal shelter.
North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into Japan's exclusive economic zone off Hokkaido on Friday night has put the Defense Ministry into a tense state, as it came with the ministry in disarray due to the resignation of Defense Minister Tomomi Inada over Ground Self-Defense Force daily activity reports.

Ministry executives wore strained expressions as they gathered at the ministry early Saturday to decide how to properly deal with Pyongyang's missile launch.

"We're making efforts to deal with the issue and not create a [political] vacuum," Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who is concurrently serving as defense minister, emphatically told reporters at the entrance of the ministry building in Ichigaya, Tokyo, around 3 a.m. on Saturday as he was leaving the ministry after his first emergency meeting of top ministry personnel.

North Korea fired the missile at around 11:42 p.m. on Friday, about half a day after Kishida succeeded Inada, who resigned from the post to take responsibility for a scandal over daily activity reports of GSDF units engaged in U.N. peacekeeping operations in South Sudan.

The Defense Ministry plays an important role in the event of a missile launch, such as issuing strong protests through diplomatic channels.

When asked by a reporter, "Isn't it difficult [for you] to concurrently serve [as the defense minister]," Kishida raised his voice as he said, "The Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry are putting all their efforts into the issue."

In regard to the daily activity reports, Inada and the administrative vice minister resigned from their posts, resulting in a series of personnel reshuffles to replace nine director general-level officials. In the GSDF, four out of five army commanding generals, who are vital for homeland defense, will be immediately replaced following the resignation of Toshiya Okabe, GSDF chief of staff, on Aug. 8.

"[The defense authorities] are in serious confusion. There is a possibility that North Korea is watching to see the extent to which Japan can deal with the issue under such circumstances," a senior ministry official said.

According to government sources, Pyongyang possibly used a mobile facility to launch the missile at Mupyong-ri in Chagang Province in northern North Korea. Mupyong-ri has not yet been confirmed as the launch site.

A senior Self-Defense Forces official sternly said, "We must take every possible measure as early as possible with new personnel."

Meanwhile, the government did not activate the J-Alert nationwide instant warning system as it believed there was no possibility the missile would reach Japan's land or territorial waters.

Fishermen angry

People in the fishing industry are angry over Pyongyang's late-night missile launch.

Tomoya Kashiwazaki, head of the general affairs division of the Shimomae fisheries cooperative in Nakadomari, Aomori Prefecture, said, "As we often fish squid late at night in the Sea of Japan, it is not known if we will suffer damage."

With the squid fishing season at its peak, fishing boats belonging to the cooperative are operating in waters near Hokkaido, according to the cooperative. "Fishermen have concerns as they work," Kashiwazaki said.

Fourteen squid fishing vessels belonging to the Yamagata prefectural fisheries cooperative based in Sakata were operating in the Sea of Japan off Hokkaido when the missile was fired. The cooperative was busy confirming their safety until early Saturday. They all were found safe, the cooperative said.
Phil Saviano, an advocate for sexual assault victims, had a list of Boston-area clergymen alleged to have raped young boys. And it was growing.

He created a New England chapter of a support group for people who said they had been abused by priests and drew up the list of alleged offenders, along with other data points, beginning in 1997.

One of the names kept coming up in discussions: Paul Shanley.

Shanley was a well-respected clergyman nicknamed the "Street Priest" for his habit of roaming dangerous neighborhoods to help troubled youths. But he also secretly used the anonymity of vulnerable, wayward boys as a weapon and a shield.

Shanley, 86, was released from state prison Friday after serving a 12-year sentence for the rape and indecent assault of a boy in a Massachusetts church in the 1980s. He was defrocked by the Vatican in 2004 and convicted the following year.

"The fact he was sent away for 12 years was a triumph for the survivor community," Saviano told The Washington Post.

Shanley's outing and eventual conviction were partly attributable to the Boston Globe's landmark 2002 investigation that raised questions about widespread abuse among Boston clergymen and whether officials with the Archdiocese of Bostonhad looked the other way.

The Pulitzer-winning reporting and related suits persuaded victims to come forward across the world, resulting in at least five convictions in the Boston area, including Shanley's, and the resignation of the then-archbishop of Boston, Bernard Law.

The probe led to the 2015 Oscar-winning film "Spotlight." Saviano, whose list was instrumental to the launch of the full investigation, was portrayed in the movie by actor Neal Huff.

Saviano said his Facebook page has been inundated with comments about Shanley's release, which has exposed the problem of post-traumatic stress among survivors.

"It can be very difficult and nerve-racking, and it sends people to therapists when this is back in the news," he said. "It brings up a lot of memories and a lot of raw feelings. One memory will lead to another memory."

The graying Shanley, hobbling on a cane to his new residence across the street from a dance studio with clients as young as 2, is registered as a level 3 sex offender, considered the most likely to reoffend. The designation has triggered publication of his name, his convictions and his address in Ware, about 80 miles west of Boston, the Globe reported.

Shanley was imprisoned at Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, and his 10-year probation carries the condition he has no contact with children 16 years old and younger, the Globe reported.

"A guy rapes a little kid, and that little kid is ruined for the rest of his life and he gets, on average, I think it was eight years before. This guy ends up doing 12 or 15, but everybody that he hurt has to deal with it the rest of their lives," one of Shanley's victims, Paul Busa, told a local CBS affiliate.

Robert Shaw Jr., the lawyer who represented Shanley in a criminal appeal case, told the Associated Press he understands the community's emotional reaction.

"I'm sure that law enforcement will ensure that the community feels safe, and I have every expectation that they are going to fulfill their obligation and be certain that Paul Shanley also remains safe," Shaw said, according to the AP. Shanley declined to answer questions from reporters, according to the Globe.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan's office opposed Shanley's release, but two forensic psychologists said he did not qualify as a sexually dangerous person despite his level 3 status, the Globe said.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented dozens of men who say they were abused by Shanley, told the AP the evaluation was incomplete because it did not involve direct interviews with Shanley.

A 2002 civil suit brought allegations against the Archdiocese of Boston, which triggered a cascade of documents and disclosures from top officials. The disclosures contained names of priests the church had allegedly reassigned to quell allegations and suspicions of abuse, Shanley among them.

The early accusations against Shanley began a domino effect of more alleged victims coming forward, said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of Bishop Accountability, a watchdog group that collects data and documents on sexually abusive clerics.

Doyle told The Post the Archdiocese of Boston should be held responsible for closely tracking Shanley.

"They created Paul Shanley. He should continue to be their problem," Doyle said. Her organization maintains a database of names of about 4,000 clergymen and other religious figures accused of sexual assault, she said.

The Archdiocese of Boston released a statement July 25 calling Shanley's crimes "reprehensible," adding "no young person should ever have to experience such violations of their safety and dignity." In 2003, the Archdiocese of Boston settled a lawsuit of $85 million for 552 alleged victims of abuse.

Shanley's release is possibly one of the last for men sent to prison as a result of the Globe's investigations and related suits. Few priests were convicted due to statutes of limitations for alleged crimes committed many years in the past. Shanley moved to California in 1989, which stopped the clock on the statute, the Globe reported.

Ronald H. Paquin was released in 2015, 12 years after he pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old altar boy. Jesuit priest James Talbot was freed in 2011 after serving six years in prison for molesting two boys. Robert V. Gale was released in 2009 after five years following his guilty plea in the sexual assault of a boy.

John Geoghan was stomped and strangled to death in prison in 2003, one year into a nine-to-10-year-sentence for child molestation.

Saviano, who reached a settlement with his alleged abuser and Massachsusetts' Worcester Diocese in 1995, has kept a watchful eye out for threats against Shanley, he said, and he is deleting threats of violence on his Facebook page. He said he is concerned that intense public scrutiny may back abusers into a corner where they might commit crimes in order to reach prison again.

"He's out now. It's too bad. He lived to be 86 and lived long enough to get out," Saviano said. "The concern now is where he is and the degree of people keeping an eye on him."

Saviano chooses to focus more on the survivors. His friend Joe Crowley brought accusations against Shanley and struggled with smoking and alcohol as a way to cope with his trauma, he told The Globe.

But Crowley was sober for more than 20 years, Saviano said, attributing his recovery to Shanley's conviction and to helping other survivors. Crowley was found dead on Easter Sunday this year, at age 58.

"Were Joe alive to see Shanley get out of prison, I don't think it would have taken away his sense of accomplishment," Saviano said.
State-funded attorneys representing nearly 27,000 low-income Californians have helped many of them avoid eviction and settle disputes over housing and child custody far more often than those facing similar disputes without lawyers, the state Judicial Council reports.

The project provides legal assistance to people in seven counties, including San Francisco, facing certain types of high-stakes civil suits in which the other side has a lawyer. While low-income people charged with crimes have a constitutional right to a lawyer at government expense, there is no such right in civil cases.

A review of cases resolved between 2011 and 2016 found that lawyers provided by the project were able to reach settlements about twice as often as people in similar cases without lawyers. In addition, feuding family members found ways to collaborate, the number of evictions declined, and tenants who left their homes usually found replacement housing, the Judicial Council, the policymaking body for the state courts, said in a report released Friday.

Another finding was that, with legal representation, far fewer low-income people gave up defending their cases and defaulted.

Attorneys are able to successfully negotiate settlements and reduce emotional tensions between the parties, the report said. They can also help people resolve their own issues, armed with a clearer understanding of their options.

The council provided funds, starting in 2011, to legal service agencies and local courts to pay for lawyers and court services in cases involving housing, child custody, domestic violence, and impaired or disabled people who require guardians or conservators.

Aid was offered to those making no more than twice the federal poverty level, or $48,000 for a family of four. A majority of the clients were female and nonwhite, the report said.

In San Francisco, the funding was directed at child custody disputes. Over nearly four years, the report said, lawyers from a nonprofit operated by the Bar Association of San Francisco represented low-income litigants in 227 cases and provided advice and assistance to an additional 1,742 people representing themselves.

When the cases were concluded, the report said, the number of clients with sole legal custody of their children had increased from 5 to 10 percent, and the number with joint legal custody had risen from 37 to 58 percent.

The housing cases in other counties involved tenants who had received eviction notices. With legal representation, the report said, only 6 percent were actually evicted. And while 78 percent of the tenants wound up leaving their homes, a large majority reached settlements that helped them find new homes, the report said.

It recommended seeking state funding to expand the program, noting that federal legal aid for the poor is in peril. President Trumps budget would eliminate federal funding for the Legal Services Corp., the nonprofit that is the largest source of support for low-income Americans in civil cases.

Federal funding cuts are threatening to increase the justice gap, rather than move closer to the goal of equal access, the Judicial Council report said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
MOSCOW - Your geopolitical nemesis is suffering a political meltdown and says you're partly to blame. Angry legislators have slapped you with new sanctions, which their president says he will sign. What's a resurgent autocracy to do?

In Moscow, it's time for some game theory.

Regardless of whether the Kremlin believes its own denials of interfering in the 2016 elections, there is one undeniable truth: Russia is now Washington's greatest political foe. Understanding that President Donald Trump is "tied hand and foot," as one foreign policy hawk here put it, Moscow is weighing options for retaliation.

After a dalliance on the Trump train, Russia is once again channeling the ruthless realism that drives its political id, and embracing its role as antihero.

"OK, you think we're bad guys, we're going to be bad guys, and we'll see whether you like it or not," said Konstantin Eggert, a television political commentator, describing the Kremlin thinking.

Russia's decision on Friday to expel dozens, perhaps hundreds, of American diplomats and other embassy staff marks the first salvo in retaliation to American sanctions that promises to be unpredictable and fraught with emotion. It is built on the frustrations of a Russian leader who perhaps thought that a Trump presidency could change everything, and then watched those hopes dissolve in scandal and recriminations.

The Russian establishment has been angry with the West before but rarely so filled with contempt. It is far worse than several years ago, when tensions rose to fever pitch over a pro-Western revolution in neighboring Ukraine, sold on Russian television as a nationalist uprising with echoes of fascism.

"No one was scared by the first [2014] sanctions, it was almost fun," said Andrei Kolesnikov, a veteran member of Vladimir Putin's press pool, who co-wrote a 2000 book of interviews with the Russian president and traveled with him to Finland recently. "Now there's a sense among Russian officials that everything is very serious. And they're all looking at Vladimir Putin to see what to do."

A common adage about Putin is that he is a canny tactician but a poor strategist. He has taken the upper hand in conflicts with neighbors such as Ukraine and Georgia, and in so doing, surrounded himself with enemies. With Trump's growing political impotence, Russia's cyber-intervention in the 2016 elections now seems similarly pyrrhic. "I don't think he knows how this ends," Kolesnikov said. "The rules are now being made up on the fly."

Predictions for autumn are frank: economic war. "If the bill is approved and most probably it will be adopted, then we will inevitably enter the stage of what we call the Cold War," said Andrei Sidorov, an expert on international politics at Moscow State University and one of several hawkish Russian analysts who sat down for a roundtable discussion at a state news agency recently. "And the Cold War means various responses."

Putin has said they will depend on the version of the bill signed by Trump. Kommersant, a Moscow daily plugged into Kremlin and foreign policy circles, suggested some options: cutting titanium or enriched uranium exports to the United States,which could harm the American airline and uranium industries; blocking U.S. diplomatic initiatives such as a U.N. vote on new North Korea sanctions and cooperation in Syria; and seizing corporate property or even kicking out U.S. companies such as Google or Microsoft.

Moscow knows it's outgunned in a trade war. It generally fights back by using its own market as a weapon, whether by imposing sanctions on European food imports in 2014 or, in a more cynical moment in 2013, by banning Americans from adopting Russian children (Trump discussed the adoption ban, and probably the associated sanctions, with Putin during an after-dinner meeting at the G-20 summit in Hamburg this month).

"Of course it's very difficult for Russia to do anything to harm the U.S. interests unless Russia is ready to take steps which will harm ourselves," said Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policies, an influential group of Russian foreign policy experts.

Hawks poring over the U.S. sanctions say Moscow needs to break the rules. "It says that by no means shall sanctions apply to NASA projects," said Nikolay Platoshkin, a former Russian diplomat and professor at the Moscow University of the Humanities, referring to the bill passed by the Senate. "Here we go, a perfect tip, let them apply [to NASA], let American astronauts ride horses to the International Space Station."

One idea voiced by the Kremlin is to expand cooperation with Europe, and possibly with China, to counterbalance U.S. power. European leaders have expressed anger over the planned U.S. sanctions, saying they could backfire, dealing a blow to transatlantic efforts to curb Russian aggression against Ukraine and sparking a trade war between Europe and the United States.

"Of course for our entire lives we've held onto the hope that Europe is close to us and will align in its interest with us against the Americans," said Sidorov. But he was doubtful that the current crisis would bring about this schism.

Meanwhile, dialogue between the countries is minimal. American diplomats can't get their Russian diplomats to agree on facts about Moscow's participation in the election hack, and expect Russians to accept the testimonials given by American intelligence chiefs as evidence of Russia's complicity. The Russians have demanded evidence, which the Americans say would compromise sources and methods of intelligence gathering. The impasse is total. Conflict is assured.
HOUSTON  A mechanical malfunction sparked a blaze early Friday on Interstate 10 on a charter bus operated by a carrier that is not meeting federal standards for vehicle maintenance.

The Laredo-based carrier, Turimex LLC, maintains its fleet of passenger buses better than only 23 percent of comparable companies, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

In addition to Laredo and Houston, Turimex also operates in San Antonio. According to its website, it has one stop in San Antonio, at 518 N. Alamo St. Passengers can buy tickets at that site and two other locations in San Antonio.

Once a carrier reaches the bottom 35 percent in one of seven safety areas, the ranking can trigger intervention or roadside preventions, according to the administrations website.

About 7:15 a.m. Friday, one of Turimexs buses burst into flames because of a mechanical malnfunction in the left rear section of the bus, said Capt. Terry Thurman with the Harris County Precinct 5 Constables Office.

The bus, which was en route to Monterrey, Mexico, temporarily stranded its several dozen passengers on I-10 and snarled rush hour traffic as it burned in the highways HOV lane.

None of the passengers were injured during the fire. But, the same bus has had half a dozen maintenance violations since March 2016, according to a search of the bus license plate on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrations website. Those include three power steering violations  in March 2017 and August and November 2016  and an issue in March 2016 with the vehicles emergency exits.

It was not clear if the past violations were connected with Fridays blaze.

Turimex  which has a fleet of 96 passengers vehicles and 245 drivers  was on par with its peers in five of the six remaining safety categories, including hours-of-service compliance and use of controlled substances and alcohol.

In addition to vehicle maintenance, the company fell outside federal standards again when it came to driver fitness  ranking in the bottom 25th percentile relative to its peers. Most of those violations were related to drivers operating the buses without proper licenses or documents, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrations website.

By comparison, competitor El Expreso, which has a slightly smaller fleet of 51 vehicles but also runs bus trips to Mexico, was in the top 17 percent when it came to its vehicle maintenance compared to that of its competitors.

Only about 23 percent of inspections of El Expreso buses had violations, compared to 45 percent of Turimexs.

A Turimex spokesperson was not immediately available for comment Friday afternoon.

The carrier purchased new buses in 2013, in part to increase safety on board, according to Turimexs website.

The burned bus was towed by 9 a.m. off of I-10. And after the delay, its passengers continued on their route, boarding another Turimex bus, again headed to Monterrey.

Dug Begley contributed to this report.
In our democracy, the sanctity of the voting booth is one of our most treasured achievements. The right of every citizen to cast a secret ballot without fear of intimidation or reprisal reflects the basic values of a truly free society.

When a panel created by our president recently called upon every state to turn over voter rolls with detailed information about our citizens  from their party affiliation to their military service to part of their Social Security numbers, that action must be called out for what it is: a grave assault on our core principles as a nation.

It is also a grave threat to the privacy and security we are constantly fighting to protect in this digital age.

After securing an electoral victory in the 2016 election but losing the popular vote, President Donald Trump claimed that millions of votes were cast illegally. That claim was never backed by evidence and has been widely debunked. Still, the president convened a Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity or voter-fraud panel to investigate his allegation.

The panel took the outrageous and unnecessary step of requesting voter information from all 50 states.

If you vote in the state of Texas, your critical voter information will be turned over to a database that experts say would be susceptible to hackers.

If you served in the military or have a criminal history, the panel would collect that information too.

What exactly the panel would do with that information is not entirely known.

Why is this request for data such a terrible idea? Ill give you three reasons:

It is utterly unprecedented and unwarranted. No one has unearthed any proof that massive voting fraud took place in the election. The commission is being used to falsify opinions with cooked up facts.

No one can guarantee the security of this database against cyber criminals or foreign enemies.

If the voting data is breached and identities are stolen, the losses could be catastrophic to our citizens. The commission has not specified who will compensate you if someone steals your identity and empties your bank account.

As last reported on NBC news on July 6, 45 states and the District of Columbia have all either declined to release any of the requested data or have agreed to provide only a limited amount of voters information. Nineteen states have simply refused to surrender personal data or give any merit to the 15-member voter-fraud panel. Twenty-six states say that the commission is asking for too much information and will only release what their respective state law already deems as public information. The remaining five states are either still reviewing the request or have reportedly not yet received their letter from the commission.

Both Democrat and Republican officials have criticized the commissions request.

State officials across this country are rightfully refusing to hand over their voting data to protect their citizens. Some states may agree to submit their data, but you can be sure that as one of your state senators, I will fight any effort to hand over voters information irresponsibly to anyones administration.

The advancement that voting has made throughout our history is the framework of our system of government and our security. This is why I am filing Senate Bill 101 which will protect all Texas voters from having their privacy violated simply for exercising their basic right to vote without fear of reprisal or reckless data sharing.

We cannot and will not expose our citizens to unnecessary scrutiny or any type of exploitation. We are a country that prides itself on the basic freedom to choose leaders who we feel represent our best interests, and as elected officials, it is our duty to protect the freedom and the privacy of their vote unequivocally.

State Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, represents state Senate District 26.
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More than 17 years ago, I stood atop a mountain in Israel and looked across a valley to another mountain. I was with 30 other people from my church and at this time we were about a week into our travels through the Holy Land. We had already visited many so many sites -- places I had read about in the Bible -- Jericho, Mount Tabor, Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation, Bethlehem, the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum. Beautiful, sacred places all.

And as profound as it was to see the places with my own eyes that I had been reading about, day by day there was a sense of growing anticipation. We were drawing closer to Jerusalem.

Finally, that day had come. We visited Bethany, the place where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Leaving there, we took a short two-mile drive. We crested a hill, and then there it was. Across the Kidron Valley, aglow in the afternoon sunshine, was the old city of Jerusalem. The place where the three monotheistic faiths converged. We could see the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which contains both the site where Jesus was crucified and his empty tomb, and the Temple Mount, which holds both the Western (Wailing) Wall and the Dome of the Rock. It was such a tremendous moment that we stood there in silence, in awe of what lay before us. One of our group broke the silence:

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;

the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The LORD will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

More perfect words could not have been spoken in that moment. Psalm 121 is one of 15 psalms (Psalms 120-134) titled Songs of Ascents. These psalms were used by pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem from various parts of the land. The requirement to appear before the LORD on three festive occasions -- the Festival of Passover, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. Appearing before the LORD meant going to Jerusalem. The Temple was in Jerusalem, and the LORD dwelled in the Temple, so it is there that they encountered the LORD. The Temple was on a hill -- so in a very real and physical sense, the pilgrims were ascending, physically and spiritually.

Three times a year, large gatherings of families and communities set out for Jerusalem. The trip was tough-going. The terrain was treacherous. The weather was unpredictable. The sun merciless. In that age, even moonlight was considered physically and mentally harmful. If all of that wasn't enough, the hills often hid thieves who were waiting to rob the pilgrims.

With these imminent threats to their health, safety, and well-being, the pilgrims nonetheless journeyed faithfully, year after year. As they walked, Psalm 121 was one of their songs. It is a psalm of trust. It is a psalm of protection. The Hebrew word shamar, which means to safeguard, to protect, is repeated six times over the course of eight verses.

Psalm 121 begins with the Psalmist lifting his eyes to the hills -- the hills

Kim Pepper is chaplain at St. Peter's Hospital and St. Peter's Hospice.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Doklam Standoff: Beyond Border Dispute

by Ramakrushna Pradhan

The recent border standoff between arch rival China and India has been further escalated with Beijing holding live fire drills in the Tibet-Qinghai plateau at a height of 5000 feet. The telecast of the drill by the Chinese Central Television suggesting China is well prepared for a war in the high altitude Himalayan region adds further fuel to the already tense situation. Training with the T-96 tanks suggests an all-out war in the entire disputed border between the two neighbours and indicates Chinese pressure-exerting tactic on India to withdraw from Doklam. Although the situation is more than regular border skirmishes, India must not back down; rather it should harden its stand against the dragon as the standoff is beyond the border dispute.

To understand the gravity of the issue and the reason why India shouldnt withdraw from Doklam needs further elaboration of the case in hand. Lets try to understand the genesis of the Doklam standoff and why it holds importance for Indias territorial sovereignty. This article further focuses on the psychological and strategic implication of the Doklam crisis for New Delhi in any loosening of the stand in the trilateral junction.

What is the Doklam Standoff?

Doklam, known as Zhoglam in standard Tibetan language, is a narrow plateau lying in the tri-junction region of Bhutan, India and China. Geopolitically located close to the Yadong region of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Ha valley of Bhutan, it is a disputed territory claimed both by Bhutan and China. It is critically linked to Indias territorial sovereignty as well.

Doklam is situated roughly 15 kilometers southeast of the Nathu La pass that separates India and China in the Sikkim border. On the western edge of the Doklam plateau lies the Dok La pass connecting the Indian State of Sikkim with either Tibet in China or western Bhutan. The tri-junction, where the border standoof is taking place, between India and China is not even a line or an area; rather it is a point which is 2000 metres away from Mount Gipmochi marking the terminus at the Indian border of what New Delhi regards as a strategic red line: the Jhamperi ridge, the starting point of descent into the foothills of southern Bhutan leading on to Indias strategically vital Siliguri Corridor. Therefore it holds geostrategic importance for Indias territorial sovereignty.

Genesis of the Doklam Crisis

A series of talks were held and agreements were signed between Bhutan and China over the border dispute since 1984. Almost 24 boundary talks were held leading to agreements signed by both the sides in 1988 and 1998 with an agreement to maintain the status-quo in the disputed area. It was also agreed by both the parties to prohibit the use of force and to strictly adhere to the use of peaceful means for negotiation.

The present position of China, according to Bhutan, is a violation of the 1988 and 1998 border agreements and unilateral change of the disputed boundary in the Doklam area where China is constructing a road as part of its One Belt One Road Initiative. Therefore, the issue is not just limited to a border confrontation; rather it has implications far beyond this. It is in fact a hidden intent of the Chinese grand imperial design of making the Chinese Dream a success in creating vassal states and to implement the colonial project of the One Belt One Road without any hindrance leading to the present state of affairs in the India-China border. This will be discussed later in detail.

How is India linked to the Issue?

Dok La became the site of a standoff between India and China since June 2017 following an attempt by Beijing to construct a road from Yadong on the Doklam plateau to which Bhutan has objected. Unlike China and Bhutan, India doesnt have any claim over the region in crisis. However, India supports the claim of Bhutan over the territory. As per the 1949 Treaty between India and Bhutan, Thimpu agreed to let New Delhi guide its foreign policy with border sovereignty. Furthering this agreement both Bhutan and India signed a Freindship Treaty in 2007 stating to abide close friendship and cooperation with each other on issues relating to their national interests.

Since India holds Bhutans sovereignty as sacred and inviolable on June 18 Indian troops crossed into the disputed territory between Bhutan and China in an attempt to prevent the illegal construction of the road leading to the longest standoff between New Delhi and Beijing since 1962.

The Chinese Design

The present border crisis shouldnt be seen merely as a border skirmish; rather it is the product of an all-out Chinese strategy to dominate over Asia by creating vassal states through its policy of Chinese Dream and Belt and Road Initiative launched recently in May 2017 by Xi Jinping, the President of China. The highly ambitious Chinese Dream is a pet project of President Jinping and this he cannot allow to fail. Hence China cannot back off from Doklam.

Lets know about this Chinese Dream Project. This project unequivocally states that China should return to its imperial glory led by the son of heaven in Beijing. (Roy 2017) The implicit message is Chinese expansionism and creation of vassal states along its border. Until the arrival of the British, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan had been vassal states of the Qing Empire from 1644-1911. (San 2017) The Britishers then took over the control of these countries to expand its influence in Tibet and India wanted to inherit these assets. (Global Times, 2017) As part of its grand strategy, China is using the past to serve the present and trying to reconstruct the history by creating vassal states around its border. Like the way it cowed down its South China Sea neighbours, China attempted the same strategy in Bhutan as well without even imagining that India will jump in to protect the territorial sovereignty of Bhutan.

Hence after the trespassing of the Indian soldiers into the disputed area on June 19 China has renewed its call for India to withdraw its troops from Doklam and issued veiled threats through its state-controlled media by warning of repetition of the consequences of 1962. It has further followed with fire drills, high altitude training programmes, tank rolling and gathering arms and ammunitions in Tibet and addressing the diplomats of different countries located in Beijing about the Chinese position literally threatening India by media warfare, psychological and legal warfare as well. While border skirmishes are a regular affair, why is this time China so enraged and adamant over the Doklam issue? The answer lies in Beijings pet One Belt, One Road project.

One Belt One Road (OBOR), also known as Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is another pet project close to Jinpings heart. In May 2017 Beijing had hosted countries across the world to showcase the Chinese vision of Belt and Road which is also called as the New Silk Road project. (Pantucci 2017) The Belt and Road initiative, officially announced in 2013, is an attempt to revive the historic Eurasian Silk Road that is approximately 2000 years old with a vigour to reconnect Europe with Asia and Africa with the use of modern transportation, in order to boost trade, investments, and economic development, as well as to improve diplomatic relations, scientific progress and cultural exchange for all countries and regions across the Eurasian continent. (Magiri 2017)

India was also invited to this summit. In spite of persistent Chinese requests, New Delhi had prefered not to join the project apprehending Chinese hegemony in the region. The doubt came true when the flagship project, the China-Pakistan-Economic Corridor, (CPEC) was initiated through Pakistan Occupied Kashmira disputed territory which India claims as her own. The suspicion was further heightened when China transgressed in Doklam unilaterally defying the agreements it had inked with Bhutan over border disputes. With the protest in Balochistan and PoK over the CPEC and scathing criticism from the media and people of Pakistan, the way for China in BRI doesnt look as smooth as Beijing had expected. After the slow start of the CPEC, China is in no mood to afford another stumbling block in its way of OBOR. Hence, Beijing is hardening its stand in Doklam and trying to make its way anyhow. However, after Indias firm stand on the Doklam issue China is surprised and planning a face-saving formula by waging war through the state-controlled media. It is trying to create a psychological fear in the minds of the Indian soldiers by telecasting the Army drills and training in high altitudes. It is also holding talks with the envoys of different countries placed in Beijing and advancing historical texts to argue the Chinese claims legally.

Reasons of Hardening its Stand

Although, the rhetoric of armed conflict and media gimmick of putting two Asian neighbours on the brink of war is recent, the disagreement and distrust between the two giant neighbours is age-old. Since 1962 both New Delhi and Beijing didnt have a normal relationship even though the relationship was slightly moderated under globalisation on economic terms. Nevertheless, the low political interaction between the two was unable able to solve the intricate political disputes. The recent standoff between New Delhi and Beijing is the result of Chinas use of Pakistan as a proxy against India; New Delhis boycott of the BRI International Forum Summit; Chinas objection to Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh; Beijings opposition to New Delhis aspirations for full membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG); and Chinese open support to a Pakistan-backed terrorist, Masood Azhar, against the backdrop of UN blacklisting.

What does this mean for Neighbours?

The intention of China and the hidden agenda of the Belt and Road Initiative are not unknown to countries around China now. The doctrine of Chinese dream is the logic behind Chinas BRI project to create vassal states like Nepal, Bhutan and client states like Pakistan around its border. For countries like Myanmar, Sri Lanka and importantly Nepal, now the Belt and Road casts a shadow over its realisation. However, many of them are debt-trapped by China and may not be able to come out of the shackle. After the Doklam incident, one country which must be worried most is Nepal. Given the Himalayan states geopolitical location between India and China and its feeble military might, Nepal is at the crossroads.

Indias Position

While China is hyperactive in trying to appease Bhutan and hence engaged the Pakistani envoy to India, Abdul Basit, to negotiate with Thimpu with an agenda to dump New Delhi, India, in spite of the veiled threats by the Chinese media of irreparable consequences like 1962, increasing ceasefire violation on the India-Pakistan border by Islamabad at the instance of Beijing and the issuance of warnings from China of an armed conflict of massive scale, India has decided not to exacerbate the situation in Doklam. New Delhi is not wiiling to engage with China in a war. India has made it amply clear that diplomacy is the prefered choice. National Security Adviser Ajit Dovals visit to attend the BRICS summit in Beijing may help in breaking the ice. But the Chinses adamancy over troop withdrawal by India first and New Delhis stand on Doklam may further complicate the issue.

Dr Ramakrushna Pradhan is an Assistant Professor in Political Science, Department of Social Science, Fakir Mohan University, Balasore. A Ph.D from the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, the author can be contacted at: rkpradhanjnu[at]gmail.com
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Hindu nationalism risks pushing India into war with China

by Yu Ning

The following article appeared in Chinas official publication Global Times on July 19, 2017. It brings out the Chinese stand on the Sino-Indian confrontation at Doklam.

Since Indian troops illegally crossed into the Doklam area, China and India have been locked in a stand-off for over a month. Regardless of Chinas call urging India to withdraw its troops that have crossed the border, New Delhi has continued its provocation. At the same time, anti-China sentiments are rising in India with an upsurge of nationalism.

India harbours deep strategic suspicion toward China. It considers China as a rival and a potential enemy. For a long time, it has hyped that China is pursuing what is called the "String of Pearls" to encircle India. Despite Chinas goodwill in inviting India to join the Belt and Road initiative, India insists on interpreting the project as a part of Chinas strategic containment and encirclement of it.

Since Indias defeat in the Sino-Indian War of 1962, some Indians have been stuck in a zero-sum mentality in dealing with China. The war inflicted lingering pain on India and it became a hard knot to untie, leading to an ingrained suspicion of Chinese strategy. Chinas development is seen as a misfortune to India. The faster China grows, the more fearful they are.

Nationalist fervour that demands revenge against China has taken root in India since the border war. The election of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fuelled the countrys nationalist sentiments. Modi took advantage of rising Hindu nationalism to come to power. This, on the one hand, has enhanced his prestige and ability to control the country, but, on the other, has made India more subject to the influence of conservatives, thus hampering reform. In diplomacy, New Delhi is demanded to act tougher in foreign relations, especially toward countries like Pakistan and China. The border row this time is an action targeted at China that caters to the demand of Indias religious nationalists.

The Modi Government can do nothing if religious nationalism becomes extreme, as shown in its failure to curb violent incidents against Muslims since he came to power in 2014.

Where the China-India competition goes, it hinges on each sides strength and wisdom. India is weaker than China in terms of national strength, but its strategists and politicians have shown no wisdom in preventing Indias China policy from being kidnapped by rising nationalism. This will put Indias own interests in jeopardy. India should be careful and not let religious nationalism push the two countries into war.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > An individualist President

It is not difficult to assess the regime of Pranab Mukherjee who retires from the office of President after completing his tenure of five years. He was a wrong choice and should not have adorned the gaddi at the first instance.

Pranab Mukherjee was the man Friday of Sanjay Gandhi, an extra-constitutional authority who ruled the country during the Emergency. It was a dictatorial rule by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, who had suspended even the fundamental rights. Pranab Mukherjee was then the Commerce Minister, who granted or stopped licences at the bidding of Sanjay Gandhi. A regime does not acquire validity because no mishap took place during the period. The very rule was an insult to the democratic nation. Pranab Mukherjee, who had violated the Constitution by occupying the position, cannot but be condemned for the days he ruled.

When Mrs. Sonia Gandhi elevated Mukherjee to the office, she was criticised. But hers was a gift to a loyal person who even said that the day was the night. He should himself assess the achievements and find out whether he came up to the expectations he had aroused.

I have gone over the period when he was at Rashtrapati Bhavan and I find, to my horror, that it was a rule which had a negative impact. If he had been a sensitive person he would have felt the wrongs done during the 17 months of the Emergency. If nothing else he could have least regretted the imposition of the Emergency when one lakh people were detained without trial, the press was disciplined and the civil servants lost the distinction between right and wrong. BJP leader L.K. Advani was correct to chide the press: You were asked to bend but you began to crawl. Mrs Sonia Gandhi appointed him because he had served the dynasty faithfully. People rightly defeated him and Indira Gandhi when the elections were held. Not only was she defeated in the polls held after the relaxation of the Emergency but the Congress party was ousted lock, stock and barrel. Thus people took the revenge.

Pranab Mukherjees appointment was a slap on the face of the nation. Never have people supported a dictator nor have they honoured any person who has violated the ethos of independence: democracy and secularism. In this case, even the Constitution was flouted. I expect that after some years, Pranab Mukherjee would himself recall the period when he was the President. And he would feel that he could have done better. He should be able to spot out at least one instance when he upheld democracy and pluralism. This would have been fair to the people, who ousted the British to have their own rule through the ballot box.

I am sure that if and when Pranab Mukherjee writes his memoirs, he would be frank enough to list his failings. Seldom have people felt so let down as they did during Pranab Mukherejees presidency.

Had there been a Lok Pal (Ombudsman) he would have pointed out where Pranab Mukherjee had failed. Alas, there is no such institution. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which talks about values at the drop of a hat, should assemble an institution, that is above politics, to say what is right and what is wrong, moral or immoral.

Pranab Mukherjee, even though late, should say from Rashtrapati Bhavan that he and his Congress party were repentant for the Emer-gency they had imposed. This is a taint on the face of the nation and needs to be wiped out. That he has left the office does not matter. What is important is that the democratic nation should get back its ethos debated in the Constituent Assembly and incorporated in the Constitution.

Heads of institutions are not generally assailed. The idea behind such thinking is that the criticism may harm the institutions, which are essential for the sustenance of the democratic polity. Germane to this idea is the presidency. Therefore, the President is spared even when he or she crosses the line that the office delineates. Because of this consideration, President Pranab Mukherjee has escaped censure even when a person at an equally high office has been crucified. This does not, however, give him any licence. He should not be exploiting the prerogative as he does.

It was a Swedish radio station which broke the story first. The source was a deep throat whose name has not been revealed till today. He passed on the information to Chitra Subramaniam, a journalist who was then working for The Indian Express. The deep throat was an insider and felt horrified over the bribery, which was first placed at Rs 64 crores but turned out to be in the neighbourhood of Rs 3000 crores.

Mukherjee had taken it for granted that in view of the key role he had played as a firefighter during the Congress partys troubled times he could not be ignored for having served the dynasty relentlessly. But Sonias determination to make her son, Rahul Gandhi, the Prime Minister came in the way of Mukherjees political ambitions. Though he was exasperated, Mukherjee soon realised the mood and announced that he would not contest the 2014 elections. Sonia readily agreed to the position because he had himself cleared the deck for Rahul Gandhi.

Mukherjee should have done something to explain because the Congress party he has represented has this blame pending against him. The Congress should itself think about the ways to come clean and explain to the nation why and how scams like Bofors and Commonwealth Games had come to take place.

The author is a veteran journalist renowned not only in this country but also in our neighbouring states of Pakistan and Bangladesh where his columns are widely read. His website is www.kuldipnayar.com
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the Man and his Personality

MUSINGS

I heaved a sigh of relief when the Opposition came up with the name of Gopalkrishna Gandhi as their vice-presidential candidate. As Id mentioned in one of my earlier columns, this grandson of Mahatma Gandhi has been a former civil servant-turned-diplomat and now an academic-commentator-writer.

I had interviewed him soon after his book Dara Shukoh: A Play (Tranquebar Press)was launched.

Im putting excerpts from that interview with Gopalkrishna Gandhi; enough to relay details of the man and his personality

After you took voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service in 1992, you were appointed as the Director of the Nehru Centre in London and later posted as Indias envoy to South Africa, Sri Lanka and Norway. And then, posted as the Secretary to the President of India and later made the Governor of West Bengal. Now settled in Chennai, you are a well-known columnist and author. Looking back, which one of these postings and which phase has been of the greatest significance to you?

Each one of my positions in Indias diplomatic missions has been defining and, in a way, different from the other. London was a huge education in cross-currents, Pretoria an unparalleled experience in the witnessing of living history, Colombo a training in faith and fortitude, and Oslo a much-needed embrace of oxygen. But serving former President K.R. Narayanan and then working in West Bengal were invaluable to me in that they showed that fair-dealing, not size, is meant to be our or any democracys true signature. If it is not, it will be a flawed and guilt-burdened democracy. Certain offices and functionaries more than others are meant to ensure that such a debasement does not take place or does not remain un-rectified.

All these years, was there always an urge to write on a regular basis?

I did not then and do not now feel I have anything particularly important to say. My experience of my slice of lifes sweet, bitter and tastelessness has been far less memorable than that of most people.

But, yes, some things I have chanced upon as a wayfarer have seemed worth putting down, in the impression that some hamsafar might find them to be of passing interest. ...Occasions for public speaking (except when I was the Secretary to the President) gave me opportunities for sharing such evolving thoughts, in a way that substituted the need to write regularly.

Your columns seem to concentrate on the uncomplicated and lesser-known aspects to everyday life. Comment.

Lesser known, perhaps. But uncomplicated? I am not sure...

In your opinion, why is it that today we have no Munshi Premchandin terms of the basic simplicity which that legendary writer was equipped with? This when there seems to be no dearth of writers.

Writers are not outside of society. What is simple now? But I think we should not despair. A new simplicity, quite different from Munshijis, will arise in all our language and writing traditions, which will be direct if not rustic, frank if not plain and honest in an altogether new register of experiences that will hold up an old mirror to our newly changed faces.

Your book Dara Shukoh: A Play was released sometime back. What drew you to focus on this bygone Mughal prince? Are there other characters from history whose lives move you?

It was his story which was, in fact, history. Where do you find failure trouncing success, defeat making victory counterfeit, as in the life of Shahjahans eldest-born?

Some bureaucrats have taken voluntary retirement to take to full-time writing. Does creativity get choked in the midst of those workplaces?

Bureaucrats are not a different species of humanity, any more than any other class of people. We are all types and persons in varying alternation.

You have served in various capacities and been at the helm of affairs. Which particular situation or phase or people have left a deep impression on you as a writer, so much so that maybe youd write a book on it?

I have not been really at the helm of affairs, luckily for the helms! If I write in the future beyond columns and occasional pieces, I will be impelled to do so in ways that cannot and should not be pre-meditated.

Being Mahatma Gandhis grandson, do you carry memories/faint recollections of him?

Alas, no. But that is my loss, not that of anyone else.

In your opinion, why is it that none of Mahatma Gandhis grandchildren have taken to active politics?

That is factually incorrect. My cousin, Sumitra Kulkarni, the eldest of Gandhijis grandchildren now living, was a member of the Rajya Sabha from the Indian National Congress for several years. And my esteemed elder brother, Rajmohan Gandhi, was also in the same House, from the Janata Dal. Neither of them is in active politics now, but their interest in public affairs remains strong and contemporary, from different political vantages.

As a writer, do you feel upset and dismayed at seeing and sensing the decay and deterioration around.

I do not regard myself as a writer. In fact, I do not really see myself being in any typecast category. Being but a drop in the ocean of the people-hood of India, I despair and I celebrate, I agonise and I go down on my knees in thanksgiving, I grieve and I rejoice.

And in this mind-tearing bi-polarity ever so often, I ask the Maker why it is that He has chosen to make this part of the Creation His or perhaps Herstage of endless experimen-tation, with the most extreme and mutually incompatible of raw materials. And, of course, I get no answer, for the Creator has better things to do.
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Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Raisina Hills New Tenant / Presidents Moral Standing

Raisina Hills New Tenant

Since President Pranab Mukherjee is laying down office this week, we carry here two pieces by Nikhil Chakravartty, written twenty years ago in July and November 1997, that bring out the importance of one of Mukherjees most illustrious predecessors as the countrys head of state, K.R. Narayanan, in our polity and the significant role he played as the President.

By the time these lines reach the reader, India will be having a new President who, according to the Constitution, is due to hold office for five years, that is, beyond the present milennium. That the choice has been widely welcomed is borne out by the fact that all the major national parties supported Narayanans candidature, while the rumbustious person who contested him lost his deposit. One has to thank God for that because most of what Seshan has handled so far has ended up in inane controversy, and the country can ill afford to have a Head of State at the moment who specialises in creating controversies rather than smoothening them.

One of the Election Commissioners, perhaps absentmindedly, had suggested free votingthat is, without any party whipin the presidential election. The question could have been discussed had it been raised in advance. However, the actual results of the election have clearly shown that Narayanan was way ahead of his rival in the fray, and that a ban on party whips in this particular election would have made no difference whatsoever in the ultimate results of the ballot box counting.

If there were good reasons why Seshan scored so poorly, there were equally good reasons why so many of the parliamentarians voted so enthusiastically for Narayanan, irrespective of the badge he was wearing or the colour of his political complexion. In a word, it can be said without any fear of contradiction that Narayanan has been the nations choice for the august post cutting across party barriers. This by itself is an important political feature of the present presidential election. At a time when most of the national political parties have been passing through acute strain in retaining their integritysome even faced with the prospect of losing their identityit is significant that in choosing the Head of State, the Members of Parliamentwho constitute the electoral college for such a pollhave cut across party barriers to choose one who has been widely known for his outlook and views and yet has kept himself out of petty political positions which divide more than unite the country at todays critical juncture.

From this point of view, Narayanans victory is invested with an importance which can hardly be ignored. It means that despite the frightening fragmentation in political parties and the dwindling attachment to principles and values in politics today, there is an over-whelmingly large number of people in the public life of this country who cherish moral values that are emphatically proclaimed by the election of K.R. Narayanan as the President of India. His election is a repudiation of petty politics and seeks out a wider national vista.

By our Constitution, the President does not lead the government, but he does have the right in his personal capacity to express his views to the Prime Minister and hold on to them irres-pective of the stand of the government. This is made clear by the record of the last five decades. Our first President held strong views on social and economic issues which hardly tallied with those of the government of the day. There were frank, and sometimes tense, exchanges on these issues between the President and the Prime Minister. There were items of personal difference between the two in the subsequent years, but as the Constitution enjoined it, the Prime Ministers views prevailed as those of the government. However, despite this disability, there is no doubt that the Presidents personal views on occasions did carry weight. Indira Gandhi, as the leader of the Congress, was found to be short-sighted in choosing yes-men for the office of the President. It is yet to be assessed if she did the right thing in choosing a copycat President in the critical time of the Emergency, or by selecting a thoroughly partisan one which led to the disastrous policy of the Bluestar and ultimately to the tragedy of her own assassination. There were good reasons to speculate that had there been other personalities then occupying the seat of the Head of State, perhaps the Prime Minister at the time might have been personally persuaded to desist from the disasters in which she landed herself and the country at those crucial moments.

It is not that the office of the President does not think or is divested of any authority. An alert and sagacious President can certainly leave an impact on the government of the day. Had there been a different way of thinking in the Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1975, it is doubtful if the Emergency had been imposed at all. The total disarray in government thinking in 1984 led to the Bluestar, a catastrophe from which it would take long to recover. One of the reasons why such speculations are warranted today was that the government over which the Prime Minister presided in 1975 and 1984 could not really be called genuinely Cabinet, but that of an individual ensconced in a ring of unscrupulous coteries. That was precisely why a presidential advice, even if personally conveyed, might have had a really chastening effect.

Leaving aside speculation, one has to take into account the fact that the constitutional vagaries might create a situation when the President has to take his own decision without the benefit of any prime ministerial advice. This happend under President Venkataraman when he had to decide on his own that in the absence of any party getting the majority in the Lok Sabha, the one with the largest strength in the House should be called to form the government and try to prove his majority in the Lok Sabha. President Venkataraman, in fact, added a valuable precedent which his successor, President Shankar Dayal Sharma, could follow without question.

K.R. Narayanan becomes the Rashtrapati at a very critical time for Indian democracy as structured by the Constitution of India. Not only is there the question of any party lacking majority in the Lok Sabha, the prospect of new forms of tension between the Centre and the States, the dissonance over Article 356, the inability to sort out the river water disputesthese and many other issues may find the government of the day in a confused state and the President through his understanding and integrity may help to bring a solution. Even a case as created by Laloo Prasad Yadav could ensure a constitutional crisis in which the President would have to play his part with wisdom and sagacity that may help to bring about a solution which will enrich the very Constitution itself.

As the imposing red-sandstone building on the Raisina Hill welcomes a new occupant, fortified by the Constitution of India, distant drums of discord shall call for all the wisdom and strength to help the elected representatives do their part. In a country as vast and diverse, in which corruption has come like a canker in public life, a country which has to combat poverty for the millions that inhabit its earthfor such a country there should never be a person at the helm who could be just a bystander. The crisis itself demands a new form of moral activism. That is the mandate with which K.R. Narayanan assumes the new office, the most momentous in his active public life.

(Mainstream, July 26, 1997)

Presidents Moral Standing

The stature of the President of India in the public eye has undoubtedly gone up with his thoughtful counsel to the Union Cabinet to desist from its adventurist line of dismissing the UP Ministry and to bring the State under Presidents Rule. He has questioned the decision of the Cabinet and advised them to think over, which they have done and acceded to desist from defying the Presidents wise advice.

Overnight there has been a definite wave of support for President Narayanans wisdom. Not that the President was partial to the party assailed in UP but he went strictly by law and the Constitution to decide on advising the Cabinet to reconsider its decisionthe first ever that has come from the head of the state to the Council of Ministers at the Centre. The historic importance which lies in President K.R. Nara-yanans advice touched most of the members of the Cabinet and hence their decision to yield to the wisdom that has come from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Almost in a flash a new situation could be discernible. For long, there was a slump in the public morale as political leaders were being regarded as mostly unworthy to lead this great nation. They might have been endowed with all the trappings of high office, but they have failed to command confidence of the public that they would on their own be able to lift the system.

It is precisely at that very crucial moment has come President Narayanans call which at once has lifted up a sordid situation into something noble and dispassionate. Not that he has given vent to his emotions alone, but has demonstrated from the past archives the shortcomings in the stand of the Union Cabinet. It is precisely on this point that he has echoed the mood and sentiments of the common people that constitutional decisions of the past need not be flouted but honoured. By this, he has not only demonstrated his personal fidelity to uprightness but could advise with moral authority the Ministers at the Centre and persuade them from taking a wrong decision on a very crucial issue.

The touch of moral authority in public life that the President of India has shown has earned him the encomium of millions. Thereby shall be silenced the cacophony of those who have taken politics as the battle-ground for settling scores without bothering about its moral repercussions in the wider national field. What President K.R. Narayanan has demonstrated is that even one voice in defence of morality can overcome the mean calculations of those many who may be entrenched today in the circle of power. His unostentatious apearance while at the same time upholding moral strength has won the respect and admiration of millions.

Here lies the hope for tomorrow. This may show the way for a unifying presence to solve the problems that beset this nation. What President K.R. Narayanan has done is to rekindle the hope that everything is not lost with the ugly cesspool all around.

(Mainstream, November 1, 1997)
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Amarnath and After: Misplaced Euphoria

Shri Raj Nath Singh, our hard-working Minister for Home Affairs, is a good secular man, one who has a felt recognition and understanding of the unquantifiably rich and diverse Muslim contribution to the making of Indias economic and cultural life through the centuriesa nationalist who does not think Muslims are not proper enough Indians because their chief holy land, Mecca, lies outside the territory of Bharat. It is accepted that his tenure as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was largely free of the sort of sectarian violence and bigotry so much in evidence now. Much like Shri Atal Behari Vajpeyees tenure as the Prime Minster. Perhaps the fact that both come from that most pluralist of cities, Lucknow, has had something to do with their evaluation of the invaluable content of Indias cheek-by-jowl multi-culturalism.

Raj Nathjis lauding of the spontaneity of Kashmiri denunciation, across the board, of the killing of Amarnath Yatris was thus as much in tune with his character as it might have been astutely tactical. And yet, it would be an error of political judgement to conclude that any watershed endorsement of the Indian state has been inaugurated by that popular Kashmiri denunciation of the kiiling of Hindu Yatris. It is instructive to note that Syed Ali Shah Geelanis condemnation of the tragic event was as forth-right and unambiguous as of any nationalist Indian. For that reason, there are ironies and iron-hard facts that do not escape the popular Kashmiri perception: the fact, for example, that on the very day, or thereabouts, when one Salim was heroically engaged in driving a bus full of Hindu pilgrims to safety in the Valley, another Salim was being brutally bashed on the mainland for allegedly carrying beef. Or that a Maulvi at the threshold of a mosque in Hissar was being brazenly roughed up by a gang of Hindu vigilantes, and sought to be coerced into saying: Bharat Mata Ki Jai. More importantly, the proforma rebuke that such lynchings draw from an occasional ruling party satrap fools no Kashmiri since such acts of hate-filled high-handedness are understood by them, as by millions of mainland Indian citizens, to carry the unspoken endorsement of those that truly matter.

Notice, for example, that at the recent observance in the Valley of the Martyrs Day on July 13observance in memory of the death of a score of Kashmiri protesters against Dogra rule in 1931 during the Quit Kashmir move-mentno one from the Bharatiya Janata Party, a partner in the coalition State Govern-ment, attended. Nothing underscores as strikingly the fault-lines in the politics of the State and of the State with the Centre as this sort of divergence on the facts of the States modern history.

Raj Nathjis admirable appreciation of the Kashmiriyat of those who came out to condemn the cowarfdly attack on the Yatris, an appre-ciation, you might have noticed, stood rather by itself without encore from the top brass of the Sangh, therefore begs some crucial questions: will, for exsample, the nationalist euphoria surrounding the demonstration of Kashmiriyat lead to any consequential rethink in the Sangh about the current militarist approach to the problems in the Valley? Will a move be considered to withdraw the obnoxious AFSPA, at least from such areas where even the establishment is agreed it may not be needed? Will thousands of young, even nubile, Kashmiri youth be released from prisons to inaugurate a new trust and future with the young Kashmiris? Will covert and overt initiatives be undertakien to renew a process of dialogue with all stake-holders in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, not-withstanding the divergence of political positions? Will the Sangh bring itself to owning the people of Kashmir as much as it is wedded to the integral territories of the State?

Equally significantly, will the Sangh and its plethora of scions and organisations answer the non-sectarian nobility of Kashmiriyat by recasting their view and treatment of Muslims on the mainland, and by a new, loving embrace of Kashmiri youth who study or work in different cities and towns of Bharat? Will, for example, atrocities against the minorities come to be seen to be prosecuted with non-discriminatory resolve and dispatch, whoever be the accused or culprits involved, in the sort of undeterred crimes that took the life of Junaid on an Indian train, and saw the bashing with iron rods of a Muslim family of more than a dozen human beings on yet another train? Will the attitudes of the Parivar to such goings-on so transform the Zeitgeist that Kashmiri youth screaming azadi in the Valley may come to believe that India remains their best option? That henceforth they can travel, commune, interact, live, eat, and wear fearlessly as freely embraced citizens of the Republic, without fearing the next lurking vigilante reprimand?

You can be quite sure that the Kashmiris who came out to denounce the Yatri killings are all bright people with long memories, and suffused with the deepest scepticism about the real intentions of the government that now runs the Indian state. Kalhan Pandit was perhaps the first to instruct the rest of the world that Kashmiris can never be won over by force, only by love. In our day, this business of love requires further gloss: it cannot comprise mere verbal sweetness, but, crucially, must be embedded in a light that imbues all the procedures of the state towards Kashmiri citizens with realised equality and justice on the ground.

I once asked a rather energisedand are they ever less than energised?member of t he Parivar as to who had killed the Jews in the Germany of the thirtiesGermans or Nazis? He was prompt in saying Nazis had done the job, not the Germans. I then asked him if every Sikh in the eighties of Punjab was a Khalistani terrorist, and he promptlyand rather with umbrage said that Sikhs have been known to be staunchly Indian, and only some of them had become terrorists. And then I asked him who had killed and driven out the Pandits in the Kashmir of 1990Kashmiri Muslims or Jehadis; and this once, he was equally prompt in replying that all Kashmiri Muslims were culprits in that act. Now, this is where the tale hangs, if only the Sangh and its vociferous supporters would seek to acknowledge. After all, why was a whole chapter in Golwalkers Bunch of Thoughts been titled Enemy Number One, meaning all Muslims? It is foolish to think such facts of our modern history do not resonate with Ksahmiri Muslims, or explain their stern resolve not to lose their character as a demographic majority. If until 1987 the sources of Kashmiri disaffection were rooted in the gross Indian failure to install genuine democracy in the State, after 1992 that disaffection took on a reinforced second dimension as it dawned on them, as on many Indian citizens elsewhere, that new forces were on the ascendant that sought to undermine the principles on which the Indian Constitution and the Indian state had been established. Wretchedly, things have only gone worse since then, although there was an interregnum when parties to the Kashmir issue had very nearly come to a solution that bore the promise of meeting most first principles on all sides. Alas, then as now, majoritarian hegemony ensured that no such thing happened.

Imagine that the current Chief Minister of the State still holds on to the belief that the powerful Numero Uno of India both means to and has the clout to sort out the problem without hurting Kashmiri sentiments, or without excluding the Pakistan factor. What better could Shri Narendra Modi do than answer that call and write his name immortally in the history books. Were he to set his mind to so doing, he might recall that Special Status was accorded to the State of Jammu and Kashmir by the will of the entire Indian Parliamenta fact that ought to be as binding as that other resolution, of Parliament denominating the State as an integral part of India, is held to be. Thus Article 370 is, after all, only as unique as Article 371 that grants similar rights to some other Indian States, such as, for example, Himachal Pradesh and the North-Eastern States. The crux of the problem has been that such facts about Kashmir have tended to be seen through sectarian eyes, whereas in the case of other States, beginning with the Tamil Nadu of Annadurai, they have been regarded plainly as Centre-State disputes amenable to negotiated settlements.

With each day that passes, the Republic loses any legitimate hold on the people of the Valley. The more nationalist one be, the more one ought to worry about that reality.

The author, who taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is now retired, is a prominent writer and poet. A well-known commentator on politics, culture and society, he wrote the much acclaimed Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth. His book, The Underside of ThingsIndia and the World: A Citizens Miscellany, 2006-2011, came out in August 2012. Thereafter he wrote two more books, Idea of India Hard to Beat: Republic Resilient and Kashmir: A Noble Tryst in Tatters.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2017 > Rank Opportunism Scales New Heights

EDITORIAL

Whatever has happened since last evening in Patnathat is, after the Bihar CM tendered his resignation as the head of the JD(U)-RJD-Congress mahagathbandhan government there following a meeting of the JD(U) MLAshas stunned the secular democratic forces of the nation. And this also includes progressive secular-democrats in the JD(U). One of them, Ali Anwar, did not mince words to say that the development was indeed a national catastrophe because only the BJP would benefit from it and that too the BJP, led by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, thereby adding more strength and vigour to the extremist groups within the party and the Parivar leading to increasing violence by the Hindu communalists on the rampage of late.

The script of Nitish Kumars political rhetoric has undergone a sea-change overnight. He is now speaking of Bihars development as his sole agenda based on the uncompromising fight against corruption. Gone are his eloquent diatribes against the BJP leaders headed by Narendra Modi on the issue of communalism they have been spearheading since 2014 when they came to power at the Centre.

How can this be interpreted?

Since he joined hands with the BJP to meet the State Governor for forming a new government last night, it was a clear case of rank political opportunism. Wasnt it Nitish who had said in 2015: I would rather turn into dust than join hands with the BJP? As a matter of fact, such opportunism is indeed rare and almost unprecedented even in our much-tainted polity. At least this was not expected of Nitish who has always sought to protect his clean image before the public at large. What use is such a clean image when he has once again returned to the BJP now led by elements whose hands are still soiled by the blood of those members of the minority community who had perished in the communal carnage in Gujarat fifteen years ago, that is, in February-March 2002.

Even if one concedes that corruption was a major issue in Bihar and Nitish was upset over the charges against Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav, there was no justification for the CM to suddenly do a somersault to forge unity with the BJP thus forsaking his well-known anti-communal stand. However, at the same time, it must also be pointed out that the RJD too should not have given a handle to the BJP and Tejaswi should have himself voluntarily stepped down from the government in view of the charges against him.

Nevertheless, it needs to be underlined that Nitish revived his alliance with the BJP even while the mahagathbandhan was in place. And he kept his dialogue with the Modi-Shah-led BJP (to change the electoral dynamics and political configuration in Bihar) close to his chest without even consulting his mahagathbandhan allies. But he had the gumption of charging those allies, notably Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, with not having any positive agenda to fight the BJP which had, he felt, come out with its own blue- print of development.

What Nitish has done is that in order to fight large scale financial corruption he has resorted to nothing but massive political corruption.

For him the struggle against majoritarian fascism now holds no meaning whatsoever. That is why he had no hesitation to overturn the 2015 mandate of the people of Bihara mandate against divisive politics, communalism and sectarian approach of the BJP and its allies. (If he was so much concerned about preserving his clean image he should have gone to the people for seeking a fresh mandate from them instead of going for a new government with the BJP.) Now all secular-democrats would unambiguously identify him with such a narrow outlook that militates against the idea of India comprehensively spelt out in our Constitution.

Nitish may be blind to the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP leaders association with Lalit Modi and the mining scam in Karnataka under Yeddyurappa. Here one may also add the manner in which Vijay Mallya fled the country with full knowledge of the powers that be. However, the vigilant public have not forgotten these shining examples of the BJPs corruption.

All this only helps to reinforce Laloo Yadavs allegation: Tejaswi to ek bahana tha, asli ichha BJP ki gode mein baithna tha. (the issue of Tejaswis corruption was only a pretext, the real intention was to sit on the BJPs lap).

The net gainers in this nefarious game are undoubtedly the BJP-RSS and those actually running the Centre: Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

A frightening and dangerous scenario for the country as a whole.

July 27 S.C.
The body of a convicted triple killer has reportedly been removed from a veteran's cemetery in Connecticut.

State officials confirmed this week that the body of Guillermo Aillon had been removed from the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown, but did not tell the New Haven Register what was done with it.

The news comes a year and a half after the Register reported that Aillon had been buried in the veterans cemetery in violation of a federal law. When the newspaper contacted the state Department of Veterans Affairs in January 2016, the headstone was quickly removed, and officials said his body would be exhumed.

Aillon in 1984 was found guilty of murdering of his estranged wife and their parents. The three victims were found stabbed to death in their North Haven home in 1972.

Aillon's first conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court, and his second trial ended with a hung jury. He was convicted after a third trial, and was serving a 75-year sentence when he died in 2014.

His family members provided veterans officials with his discharge papers from the U.S. Army, but did not mention his criminal record.

The burial issue was championed by East Haven resident Kevin Dacey, who conducted research and got in touch with the New Haven newspaper.

The Connecticut Department of Veterans' Affairs now requires cemetery applicants to affirm that a deceased person "was never convicted of a federal or state capital crime for which a sentence of imprisonment for life or the death penalty may be imposed."
CHICOPEE - Police have issued an arrest warrant for a 57-year-old man who is a suspect in a shooting that happened Friday afternoon on Grattan Street.

No one was injured in the shooting, which happened at about 12:25 p.m.

Police are seeking Jose Rivera, of 89 Commonwealth Ave., Springfield, as a suspect in the crime. The warrant charges him with assault by means of a firearm and assault with the intent to murder, Michael Wilk, Chicopee Police public information officer, said.

Rivera was last seen operating a 2007 red Mazda CX7 with a Massachusetts license plate of 5AG394, Wilk said.

He is considered armed and dangerous. People are warned not to confront or attempt to stop Rivera if they see him. Instead they should call 911 as soon as possible. Anyone with information about his location is asked to call detectives at 413-594-1730 or Text a Tip by typing Solve CHICOPEE to CRIMES and then write the message.

The crime began with an altercation between Rivera and two other people in the Pride Gas Station store on Meadow Street, Wilk said.

The two victims then got into their vehicle and drove away. When they turned onto Grattan Street, a short distance away, the suspect pulled alongside the victims' car, he said.

"He then aimed a handgun out his driver's window and shot one round at the victims," Wilk said.
WARE -- With the arrival of a defrocked ex-priest convicted of child rape, a quarter-mile, one-way street in town is now home to another sex offender -- angering residents who question why their neighborhood has become a magnet for criminals released from prison.

Paul Shanley, convicted in 2005 for the 1980s rape of a boy inside a Newton parish, saw the end of his prison sentence this week and moved into an apartment at 31 Pulaski St. According to the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board, 24 sex offenders reside in Ware, including five on Pulaski Street alone.

"I would like to have known a rapist is moving in next to me,"said, Jessica Welch, 25, in an interview outside her Pulaski Street home. "I would like to have known before it happened; it angers me -- I don't want to live next door to that."

Sara Wall, 28, was standing on the sidewalk near the multi-family home of her new neighbor, holding her 19-month-old girl. "As long as he keeps to himself, I'm OK with it," she said. "But this whole building, the landlord is constantly renting to sex offenders."

The state registry includes Joel Pentlarge among the sex offenders residing in Ware, and it lists his work address as "31-33 Pulaski St." Pentlarge, who used to maintain a law office on Prospect St. in town, was convicted in 2000 of "rape and abuse of a child," according to the registry.

Asked about resident concerns during an interview at his town hall office, Ware Town Manager Stuart Beckley provided a written statement.

"The town of Ware is aware of Mr. Shanley's release and relocation to the town. The Town, through the police department, will properly notify the public of any resident sex offender. The Town will continue to keep all residents informed and safe, while protecting everyone's rights."

Even though his sentence was up, prosecutors objected to the release of Shanley, 86, who is designated a level 3 offender -- considered by the state to be the most likely to reoffend.

The Roman Catholic Church hierarchy in Rome defrocked Shanley thirteen years ago. He was released from prison Friday morning after serving 12 years in jail. He will now serve 10 years probation, was ordered to stay away from children under 16, according to the Middlesex District Attorney.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented numerous men who alleged Shanley had abused them, objected to the ex-priest's release into the community.

"Paul Shanley should be in a hospital being treated and not in the outside world where he can easily gain access to innocent children," Garabedian said during a press conference Friday, the Associated Press reported.
GRANBY - Red Fire Farm celebrated Somali Bantu culture on Saturday in recognition of its workers, some of whom are refugees from the east African nation.

The event served as an open house for the Somali Bantu Community Organization of Springfield. The farm's owner, Sarah Voiland, said refugees should be able to feel welcome in the country, and in their own communities.

"We need to show our support as much as possible," said Voiland, "and make an opportunity for people to come meet the (refugees)."

Rumbila Abdullahi, 19, of Springfield, works with the Somali organization and said the event pushes back against negative stereotypes. When President Donald Trump announced in January a suspension of refugee resettlement in the U.S., Abdullahi said refugees in Springfield were "pretty hurt."

"A lot of us, our families are still back there in the refugee camps," she said. "We're more than what you're told about."

Her own family came to the U.S. from Kenya, which borders Somalia.

The event featured traditional Somali music (Abdullahi said it was "what our parents listen to"), food such as chicken and sambusa, henna tattoos and a Somali game that's similar to Jacks.

The Somali Bantu Community Organization of Springfield supports local refugees, teaching English to non-native speakers, offering citizenship classes and providing other assistance with a goal of self-sufficiency.

Adan Abdi came to Springfield with his family as a Somali refugee in 2005. He said that before the Somali workers arrived at Red Fire Farm, "they didn't have workers who were so committed."

"That's why we are trying to organize an annual event here," said Abdi. "Today is just a start."

Red Fire Farm grows certified organic vegetables, fruits, flowers, and bedding plants, and runs farm stands in Granby and Montague. Voiland said they're known for icebox watermelons and growing more than 100 varieties of tomatoes.
GRANBY - A celebration of Somali Bantu culture and traditions is scheduled to be held in Granby Saturday.

The event has been organized by the Somali Bantu Community Organization of Springfield, a newly formed non-profit dedicated to providing opportunities to the Springfield area refugee community.

The event will be held at the Red Fire Farm in Granby--a local farm where a number of local Somali refugees are currently employed.

Sarah Voiland, the owner of Red Fire Farm, said that in the wake of the Trump administration's travel ban announced in January, farm staff decided to organize an event celebrating refugees as "an enriching part of a diverse society."

"While there is a lack of government support for refugees, we think it is very important to support our local community of Somali refugees in Springfield," Voiland said. "We would love for people to get to know the Somali folks the way we know them from working together on the farm," she said.

The celebration will feature live Somali music, and dances in traditional dress, said Voiland.

Additionally, Saturday's event promises to engage visitors with a variety of activities, including:

* Samples of various traditional Somali foods

* A henna station to get impermanent henna tattoos

* Traditional clothing, modern clothing, and Somali home decor for sale

* Somali games to play and learn

The Somali Bantu Community Organization will be collecting donations during Saturday's event, the contributions of which will go towards funding their various initiatives.

The Red Fire Farm is located at 7 Carver Street in Granby, Massachusetts. The event is scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 29.
Central Intelligence Agency seal,CIA seal

This April 13, 2016, file photo shows the seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. A hearing in a lawsuit stemming from the agency's harsh interrogation techniques is scheduled for Friday, July 28, 2017 in Spokane, Wash. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two U.S. psychologists who helped

failed to persuade a judge to derail a trial over claims they're responsible for the alleged torture of three terrorism suspects.

But the federal judge in Spokane, Wash., refused Friday to give the former detainees an early victory on their request that he find the

. Instead, all claims will be heard by a jury at a trial set for September. The judge urged both sides to try to reach a settlement.

The case is over alleged abuses in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks at secret "black-site" facilities that operated during the administration of President George W. Bush. The lawsuit followed the 2014 release of a congressional report on Central Intelligence Agency interrogation techniques that for the first time published the names of the three prisoners and described what they had been through.

(c)2017 Bloomberg News. Written by Pamela MacLean.
GUILDHALL, Vermont - A Vermont man was killed Thursday when the dump bed of the truck he was repairing dropped and crushed him between the bed and the frame of the truck.

Vermont State Police told the Times Argus that Richard Martin, 73, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police believe the bed of the ruck Martin was working on at his Guildhall farm was up as he worked. At one point, the bed dropped killing him.

A farm worker found Martin and called 911 for help, then used an excavator to lift the bed from Martin. However, he was dead when authorities arrived at the scene.

Police have determined Martin's death was accidental.
DANVERS -- A 35-year-old Woburn man was killed Saturday when his motorcycle struck a guardrail on Route 128 in Danvers, Massachusetts State Police have reported.

The man, who was not identified, was reportedly traveling southbound on the highway when his 2013 Harley Davidson struck a guardrail just before Exit 21 near the Danvers and Beverly town line, according to state police.

Troopers from the State Police Barracks in Danvers, who responded to the 1:30 a.m. incident, pronounced the victim dead on scene.

No other vehicles appear to have been involved in the fatal crash, a preliminary investigation suggested.

State police closed all lanes on Route 128 Northbound and detoured traffic at Exit 20B with the assistance of Beverly Police following the crash. All lanes were re-opened just after 6:30 a.m., police reported.

The crash remains under investigation by state police assigned to the Danvers Barracks.

The Troop A Headquarters, State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section, State Police Crime Scene Services Section, Danvers Police, Beverly Police, Danvers Fire Department, Office of the State Medical Examiner and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation also assisted on scene.
Brayan Flores and his brother have been arrested as the investigation into the death of David Carlson, the man found dead and burned after a Worcester house fire, continues.

Police had responded to previous domestic incidents between Flores, 28, and Carlson, 53.

Around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, Worcester police and firefighters responded to a fire at 12 Halmstad St. After quickly putting out the fire, officials found Carlson dead.

Carlson, who owned the home, had a head injury and was badly burned on the lower part of his body, police said.

Initially, Flores was arrested on an unrelated shoplifting charge.

But now he is facing charges in connection with Carlson's death.

Worcester police detectives went to 197 Vernon St. at 11 p.m. Friday and arrested Flores "as a result of an extensive investigation."

He is being charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and was arrested without incident, police said Saturday. Additional charges may be added once Carlson's autopsy is complete.

Police have said that Flores and Carlson knew each other, but have not elaborated on the extent of their relationship.

Flores' brother, Sergio Flores, 26, of 197 Vernon St., has also been arrested.

Police said Sergio Flores was arrested on an outstanding warrant for failure to appear to a grand jury summons, and that "the summons was part of the ongoing investigation."

The investigation is ongoing.

The night of the fire, Brayan Flores was found nearby. He was frisked and an officer found a bag of cheese puffs in his waist, and a small "torch" style lighter on the ground near him.

Police said a clerk from a nearby 7-Eleven identified Flores as the man who had stolen a box of lighters and other merchandise from the store earlier Tuesday night.

The alleged theft is the basis for the shoplifting charge. The convenience store, located on Greenwood Street, is just a short walk from the fire scene.

Flores, who lives at 197 Vernon St., Apt. 1, was released on personal recognizance after being arraigned on that charge Wednesday arraignment in Worcester Central District Court.

Carlson's sister said, "I loved my brother," when she answered the door to her family's home earlier this week.
CEOs should be helping HR to adopt a strategic role that focuses on becoming a business partner, using people analytics to identify talent and making HR operations more efficient, write Frank Bafaro, Diana Ellsworth and Neel Gandhi. "Companies that take these steps will move toward a next generation of HR thats data driven, not experience driven; systematic, not ad hoc; and consistent, not hit and miss," they write.

By Frank Bafaro, Diana Ellsworth, and Neel Gandhi

Full Story: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-ceos-guide-to-competing-through-hr
A one-year old program http://www.bigskycodeacademy.org/programs/mtcubed/ designed to boost the number of tech teachers in Montana turned out its first crop of educations this year, moving the state closer to offering computer skills in a greater number of classrooms.

And that, according to program director Lander Bachert, will help give students a better shot at landing the jobs offered by a growing number of businesses.

Since its launch last April, the Big Sky Code Academy http://www.bigskycodeacademy.org/ (which is under the America Campaign) has led several coding boot camps geared toward adults. It also has expanded programs offered through Montana Code Girls http://www.mtcodegirls.org/  an after-school course designed to encourage young women to pursue a career in technology.

More recently, and in a move precipitated by a request from the Missoula County Public Schools, Big Sky Code Academy applied for and was selected to serve as a Professional Learning Partner with http://www.Code.org last fall.

Martin Kidston

Full Story: http://www.missoulacurrent.com/business/2017/07/montana-tech-teachers-class/
The Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM) has kick-started a $2.2 million project to provide fertilizer suppliers in Nigeria with financial support to improve supply for 200,000 smallholder farmers.

The trade credit guarantee project is AFFMs first in the West African nation and will involve 10 fertilizer suppliers, 12 hub agro-dealers and 120 retail agro-dealers. The project will also train farmers in proper fertilizer use and other agricultural best practices.

A project launch held on 3 March in the capital Abuja, was attended by senior director of African Development Banks (www.AfDB.org) Nigeria Regional Office, Ebrima Faal and government and industry partners.

Participants discussed the project and its implementation with AFFMs local partner, the Africa Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership, or AFAP.

We will leverage on existing networks and look for creative solutions to increase the availability of fertilizer in the country, said Nana-Aisha Mohammed, AFAPs representative at the ceremony.

Umar Musa, Assistant Director of FMARDs Farm Inputs Support Services Department who represented the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) said AFAP should work with the Nigerian government and other actors in the fertilizer value chain to ensure that the project complies with Nigerias policies and sector strategies.

We expect this project to support smallholder farmers and improve their productivity in order to help the country increase its local production and consumption of fertilizer, he said.

We are confident that the project will increase access to quality and affordable fertilizer by smallholder farmers and hence contribute to the transformation of the agriculture sector in Nigeria, said Marie Claire Kalihangabo, AFFM Coordinator.

Kalihangabo expressed her gratitude to the Government of Nigeria for their financial support to the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism.

The Banks Nigeria Regional Office Faal said the National Fertilizer Quality Control Act 2019 further serves to reinforce the governments commitment to the sector.

This program is timely because the government has placed measures to encourage local production of fertilizer, he said.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C.  Shes a shy Jewish woman from Charlotte. Hes a little boy, apparently African and Muslim, who was screaming aboard a transatlantic flight.

Their July 14 encounter between Brussels and New York made the eight-hour flight go easier for their fellow passengers. The virtually wordless connection  neither spoke the others language  also offered a lesson in compassion that has circulated widely online.

By her account, Rochel Groner, 33, is among the least likely people to make a public display. Im the type of person who would let somebody step on my foot for like a half- hour before I would say something, she says.

But about an hour into the flight, a return home after Groner and her husband Bentzion chaperoned teens to Israel, Groner heard sounds of distress behind them. Not cries from a baby. Not a bored teen.

It was just kind of a shrieking without any words, Groner says. I recognized it right away as a child with special needs.

Groner knew this not through training, although she used to teach elementary school, but from experience. She and her husband run Friendship Circle, which pairs teen volunteers with children with special needs such as autism. They also run ZABS Place, a Matthews thrift boutique that employs 28 young adults with special talents.

Social connections work a special magic, Bentzion Groner says. As a 16-year-old diagnosed with leukemia, he says, visits and gifts from friends literally changed everything. Im a big believer in that. Its something that we as adults forget, that friendship could be a life changer.

And so it was over the Atlantic aboard Brussels Airlines Flight 501.

As the wailing continued, tension mounted. Sleeping passengers woke up, startled by the noise. Others stirred, restless and increasingly irritated. The phone between the attendants station and flight deck kept beeping.

After 15 minutes, Rochel Groner could sit still no longer.

I kind of felt this responsibility, like, I know what this is, but Im not sure if anybody else knows what this is, she says. You cannot fly for eight hours with someone crying, you just cant.

Autistic people, in particular, dislike enclosed spaces, Bentzion Groner said. They need to be in control of whats around them. The boys identity and condition are unknown. The airline didnt respond to an Observer email.

Groner got out of her seat. She asked for a pen from a flight attendant, grabbed a nausea bag and threaded her way down the aisle.

The boy looked to be about 8 and wore an African tunic and pants. He stood at his seat and sobbed, tears streaming down his face. His mother, who wore Muslim clothing, sat beside him.

Groner put her hand out. The boy looked at her, stopped his wailing, and took it. They walked into the aisle and plopped down together on the floor near an emergency exit.

I put him in my lap and gave him a firm hug and I just started to rock him, she says. His body had been tensed. Soon, you could feel his muscles start to relax.

Groner doodled on the nausea bag, tracing the outline of her hand as the boy watched, absorbed. Groner talked and smiled at him, and grabbed more nausea bags. At one point, the boy traced his own hand.

So it went for another hour or two. A travel pillow, some orange juice and cookies helped calm the child. The boy spun a fidget spinner and held it to his cheek, soothed by its rhythm. He even smiled and laughed.

The rest of the trip went smoothly, Groner said, although one crew member suggested to her husband that she didnt need to intervene. Another attendant thanked her after the flight, and so did several passengers.

The boys mother, in a few words of English, also thanked Groner. She did not get their names.

Groner believes God put her on the flight.

Everybodys been on a flight with a screaming child, and this is another way to defuse the situation, she says. Just ask: is there something I can do? Smile, dont scowl.
WHERE: 210 W. Fourth St., Pana

ABOUT THE CHURCH

Celebration Community Church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention both traditional and contemporary services. The minister, Terry Walters, has been the church's only pastor since it was established in August 2001. Membership includes approximately 40 members with another 40 regular attenders.

Service days and times

Sundays: 9 a.m. Bible Fellowship Classes for all ages; 10 a.m. Worship , 6 p.m. Straight Street Children's Ministry

Wednesdays: 7 p.m. Bible Studies for all ages

OUTREACH

Celebration Community Church offers Vacation Bible School every summer. They also participate in a yearly community Back to School Bash providing school supplies to local schools. Members of the church participate in the local ministerial alliance and support of the local mission to provide help to those in need. They also provided support for Pana High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Other activities include a Halloween Trunk or Treat event for the community. The children's ministry, called Straight Street, is open to all children and is similar to a weekly VBS. The church provides regular worship services at a local nursing home. Pastor Terry serves on volunteer chaplaincy rotation at Pana Community Hospital. Members of the church have also been directly involved in a Disaster Relief Program following hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms and other disasters.

HISTORY

Celebration Community Church was founded by Walters and his wife Cheryl in their home on the first Sunday of August of 2001. They began with simple worship and fellowship times, then quickly added Bible classes and other ministries as the needs and resources arose.

They rented facilities for over 14 years and finally purchased property in 2016, remodeling and adding on to a building that once housed another church of a different denomination. The building is still a work in progress with the congregation providing most of the work without a mortgage. The church is expecting new opportunities for ministry and growth.

WELCOME VISITOR

"Come on! Come worship with us and let God do His thing! Come expecting God to move in your heart and He will." Pastor Terry Walters.
A Nebo teen charged with stabbing his girlfriend and her parents in 2015 was given at least 16 years in prison in McDowell County Superior Court.

Jordan Flores DeJesus, 19, of Isaac Drive in Nebo, was found guilty of three counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to 192 to 243 months in prison. He was given credit for 746 days time served. He must not have contact with the victims.

In addition, he was found guilty of three counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. For each count, he received a 25- to 42-month suspended sentence and 36 months of supervised probation to run intermediate to his active judgment. He must pay a court-appointed attorney $4,970. He was fined $100. He must pay court costs.

On June 24, 2015 at approximately 8:49 p.m., McDowell County Sheriffs deputies responded to a residence on Isaac Drive after receiving calls of a reported stabbing. At the time of the incident, DeJesus was living with his girlfriend, 18-year-old Brooke Martin; her mother April Martin; her father Derrek Martin and Aprils two other children, ages 10 and 6.

According to initial reports, authorities said that DeJesus had gotten into an argument with Brooke, went to his bedroom, returned with a pocket knife and began stabbing his girlfriend and her parents. After the attack, the suspect fled into the woods, where he was apprehended a short time later by deputies and the N.C. Highway Patrol.

Brooke, April, Derrek and DeJesus all sustained various injuries during the attack. They were transported to Mission and McDowell Hospitals and released shortly after. The two younger children were not injured.
When the public demands hard-hitting monkey news, the Monkey Action News Team swings into action, never afraid to fling handfuls of truth at our faithful readers who yearn for all things monkey.

Until one day, when it doesnt.

Recently, I was inundated with requests (there were two, if my math is correct) to dig deeper into a couple of monkey-related stories reported by the mainstream media.

As the theoretical cigar-chomping, hooch-swilling, skirt-chasing, cholesterol-lowering-medication-taking, underpaid and overworked bureau chief of the fictional yet highly respected Monkey Action News Team, I ignored those requests until I had no other column topic and then decided it was time to address them.

One of those involved an on-going lawsuit over the copyright of a monkey selfie.

Scott, this may be of interest to the Monkey News Network, a reader said in an email passing along a helpful link but incorrectly referencing a rival monkey-news gathering organization, the more conservative MNN, instead of the most trusted name in monkey news, MANT.

Another email came from Jennifer, who some readers may remember as the couch-loving consumer of monkey news referenced in previous columns, but probably not.

 There's been a dry stretch of monkey news in your column lately, Jennifer wrote, presumably from her couch. I enjoyed your outrage over the Florida schools curriculum & the eclipse-viewing tips, but it's time for some MANT news.

Jennifer sent a link to an AP story featured in The News & Advance of Lynchburg (one of the nations best newspapers for monkey coverage, by the way) headlined Wild primates in Florida park: Monkey shenanigans on the rise.

It was time to gather my team.

Johnny! Rico! Lulu! Jaafar! Kichiro! Toots! Get in here and pronto! I exclaimed from my office. In the past, I bellowed or roared from my office, but a recent HR webinar I was forced to take discourages both, saying they contribute to a hostile work environment.

Whats up, chief? said Johnny.

I got a couple of emails we need talk about, I said.

Look, chief, weve told you over and over no Nigerian prince is going to give you one million US dollars for your assistance in this urgent matter, said Lulu. Theyre scams.

Its not that, knucklehead. Readers are demanding the kind of hard-hitting monkey news only we can deliver.

Jennifer again?

Yes, Jennifer again, but another reader, too. Its time to get to work.

Kichiro spoke up.

Chief, I need the rest of the afternoon off. I have a job interview with the Monkey News Network.

Why you son of a ---! Our rivals? I bellowed and roared at the same time. Why, I oughta -- ! Clean out your desk, traitor, youre fired!

You cant fire Kichiro just for listening to an offer from MNN, Toots said. And if I am not mistaken, you just bellowed and roared, which is a clear violation of current company policy.

Youre fired, too! I exclaimed and bellowed and roared. Ive dedicated my career to the single-minded pursuit of monkey news and this is thanks I get from my team? Ive neglected my family. Ive sacrificed my health. Ive read emails from Jennifer. All to satisfy the publics insatiable hunger for stories about monkeys. If thats the way you feel, then all of you get out. Scram. Hit the bricks. Ill find a new team, see, journalists with the same burning desire to cover monkey news that I have.

And with that, they left, the Monkey Action News Team in shambles.

I got HR on the horn.

Yeah, Linda? Ive got a little problem

Scott Hollifield is editor/GM of The McDowell News in Marion, N.C. and a humor columnist. Contact him at rhollifield@mcdowellnews.com .
PANA  A detachment of slender young trees was planted recently in downtown Pana, the advance guard of a bridgehead to a brighter future.

At least, that's the hope.

The $8,000 tree project saw more than 50 trees with names like Bradford Pear, Cherry Snow Goose and Maple Red Rocket set in place in a static march along Locust Street. The trees will eventually reach heights of 25 to 30 feet and dazzle passers-by with their foliage and blossoms, a pretty sight for a town that could sure use a shot of something uplifting.

If towns, like people, can hit a run of bad luck, Pana has certainly had to suffer more than its fair share. A persistent economic decline dating back decades has left the town and downtown dotted with zombie homes and stores: buildings that are still standing but are empty and dead, their facades in various stages of crumbling.

And then there have been the tragedies: a 2-year-old girl and her 3-month-old brother died in a house fire April 2, followed barely a week later by the death in another house fire of a man aged 43. A spate of seven arson fires since January torched both abandoned homes and former businesses.

All that was followed on June 14 with a horrific accident in which two married couples and third woman, all aged between 77 and 89, died after their van was hit by a train in a collision at a railroad crossing.

Pana residents say they have learned to lean on each other and their faith in times of tribulation, and that's how they are getting through it. Pure tragedy isn't easily explained, and must simply be borne. Grief takes time, said the Rev. Amanda Richards of First United Methodist Church, where four of the train accident victims were members of the congregation.

However, I think here in church and in the broader Pana community there is a deep steadiness, a will to move forward. The weight of tragedy hasn't stopped us from living and wanting to improve our community, to make it a better place.

For Pana, the issue now is how this community of 5,700 is getting over its challenges, binding its wounds and moving forward.

'City of Roses'

Drop in at the Pana Area Senior Center if you want a Memory Lane snapshot of Pana's glory days. Viola Armstrong, 87, talks of acres of greenhouses growing roses and other plants back when the 20th century was young. The greenhouses were fueled by coal from local mines. Back in 1950, the roses they hung on the winning horse in the Kentucky Derby were Pana roses, she said.

But the mines died as the world turned away from Illinois high-sulphur coal and the greenhouses faded away until they were gone completely by the early 1990s. Pana is still known as the City of Roses but the roses grow now only in the rich beds of memory.

They get a lot roses from South America these days, said Richard Nohren, 65, one of a group playing cards with Armstrong. They can grow them cheaper down there, even with flying them up here, that would be my guess.

Factory jobs in surrounding towns like Decatur were the next to wither and that hurt Pana, too. The whipsaw winds of economic decline ate into Pana's once vibrant downtown area leaving it, as in so many Central Illinois small towns, a pale shadow of what it once was.

Yet many of those who have settled their lives here don't want to move away. Pana's sense of cozy camaraderie exerts a powerful appeal. I love Pana, said Armstrong, who socializes at the Senior Center and plays spoons in a kitchen band. I've got lots of friends here.

And those friends like to help out people of all ages. The Senior Center members talk of fundraisers to help the family of the children who died in the house fire and generally leaving no worthy cause unsupported. Just for instance we made noodles for about a week to sell to help send our high school band to Washington D.C., said Rosie Jones, 85. The Senior Center matched what we raised.

Shirley Jones, the Senior Center president, says a traditional sense of generosity inside the center's walls is being matched by a new spirit outside aimed at making Pana a better place to live.

They've got people cleaning up their yards now and they are focusing on particular streets and giving out plaques if someone has done some nice landscaping and things like that, she explained.

Improvements from the ground up

Persuading people to pretty-up their yards is one of the pet projects of a new force for good in town, the Pana Pride organization. A volunteer group, it was formed in 2014 and is a community-funded not-for-profit. In 2016 it worked with experts from Western Illinois University to execute a MAPPING project to identify and target areas of Pana life that need improvement.

"Action teams" meet regularly to work on goals that range from streetscape upgrades to beautifying downtown, growing the economy and enhancing family activities and events. The new trees downtown are a partnership between Pana Pride and the city council.

We were able to hire a city planner who works for Pana Pride and we loan him to the city, said Jack Nollman, Pride vice-president. He spear-headed the tree planting project.

They've found a more-than-willing ally in Pana's new mayor, Donald Kroski. He's got a direct way of talking and doesn't care to mince words. I've survived cancer, my wife as survived acute leukemia, said Kroski, 77, a former educator. We just keep battling, we don't give up.

Which sums up his attitude to saving Pana. He said he ran for mayor because he was sick of watching his town slide downhill. Kroski believes more should have been done in the past to head off the problems Pana's got now, but won't waste breath lamenting the failings of others.

I know that maybe this and that should have been done 50 years ago but they didn't do it, he said, cataloging infrastructure problems that include an ancient, leaky city water system. So, they didn't do those things back then and the question is: what are we going to do now? It's time for us to step up to the plate.

He said the city is getting ready to borrow $10 million to enhance the water system, a new assault in an improvement war being waged simultaneously on multiple fronts. The city is going after those zombie buildings, too. The mayor said several dilapidated properties have been razed and the city is crafting new ordinances, with a new ordinance officer to enforce them, to target structures that either need to be fixed or be gone.

Nollman from Pana Pride says it's about time, lamenting how many derelict buildings are part of elaborate real estate investment schemes tied into complex tax arrangements. The absentee landlords have no interest in doing anything with the buildings themselves, which are left to rot and decay.

Up until now the city hasn't had the ordinances or the power to do anything about that, but that is going to change, Nollman said.

The city and Pana Pride have facade grants available to help interested building owners enhance their property, making them offers it would be best they didn't refuse if they wish to avoid being at the wrong end of code enforcement action.

It's going to be a long road, given the fact the Pana fire chief identified 70 empty and decaying homes in a survey that didn't count vacant business properties. But Pana's city engineer, Greg Holthaus, believes the important thing is to make a start. He says good news feeds off itself, just like bad news.

Pana residents drive through downtown and they don 't see anything, because it's always been the same thing, it's just slowly falling apart, he said. But you fix up a couple of those buildings, they will see that. Those new trees we've planted, they notice them. It's a positive, and it's attitudinal: your action motivates others to do something.

And people are noticing, including some of the younger ones who have decided to make a home in Pana. Eric Hutchinson, 26, reads city water meters for a living and is well-acquainted with worn out equipment and infrastructure. But he's also seen some of the changes, too, and is encouraged by the new sense of purpose he feels flowing through the town: We've got a good group of people here trying to help the city and we've got some good stuff going on, said Hutchinson.

I think this town is going to hold its own just fine.

Trees and sympathy

Pana Fire Chief Rod Bland likes to go above and beyond in his duties. So it was no surprise to find him taking a fire truck on a sweltering day and watering the newly-planted downtown trees.

Bland loves his community and it's clear his community loves him and his volunteer fire department right back. Pana residents recently provided a meal for the 34-strong department in the city's Kitchell Park as part of an elaborate public thank you for all they've endured recently, like handing the fire deaths of the two children.

It was very nice of them to do that for us, recalled Bland, 60, a department member for 41 years who has served as chief for the last 10. We do this job because we want to, but you do see some terrible things that stay with you, they don't leave you.

Bland says in some ways, though, his town is at its best in crisis situations, when people pull together for the common good. Whether it's rallying around the fire department or finally bulldozing the fire hazard of derelict buildings or planting attractive trees to counter a backdrop of decay, he senses a resilient will to win a brighter future.

I can see a kind of attitude change where people are thinking 'Yes, maybe we can make some positive change happen in Pana,' added Bland, smiling.

And we could always use some good luck, too; that wouldn't hurt at all.

The fire chief was also full of praise for the work of the Pana Police Department, where his nephew, Police Chief Daniel Bland, has come up with some innovative ways of tackling major crime problems, like drug use.

One of those ways has four legs and a tail and is a Belgian Malinois police dog called Brahm. A grant from the Decatur-based Howard G. Buffett Foundation paid the more than $80,000 cost of the dog, its training package and specialist canine vehicle, which the nine-strong police department could never have afforded on its own. Bland says Brahm and K-9 officer Jeremy Cox soon got busy taking a bite out of crime.

The chief explains that intercepting drug dealers bringing trouble to your town is a lot easier when you have a trained police dog and therefore probable cause to search their vehicles. It's a huge resource for a small town as far as intercepting, interdicting and locating drugs and drug dealers, explained Bland.

When he took over as chief in 2013, Bland said Pana was in the grip of a major drug problem that metastasized into more calls for everything from domestic violence to overdoses. He says a more proactive drug policing approach, with the dog in the lead, has done much to intercept illegal narcotics and get pushers off the street.

He has also joined wider law enforcement efforts to urge Illinois legislators to keep up with the latest drug trends, like synthetic marijuana, and give police the legal tools to arrest criminals selling this poison. But perhaps surprisingly, Bland is up front about the limits of law enforcement.

You can't just incarcerate your way out of a drug problem, said the chief.

He believes prison is the answer for dealers who seek to profit from others' misery but, for many addicts, treatment and recovery is the best long-term solution. Bland supports a group of law enforcement agencies seeking to create a program where addicts can turn in their drugs at a police station and then be taken to a treatment center.

Bland points to several church-based addict recovery programs doing good work in Pana and highlights his own church, Christ Tabernacle in nearby Herrick, which is running one such program. Probably half of the 100 people involved down there are from our area in Pana, he said.

No program is perfect, but when you see people successful in recovery and staying sober, families being restored and able to bring their kids back to the family structure, that's a positive direction that affects this whole community.

School and work

From the police chief to the mayor and people you bump into on the street, Pana residents talk of two main things that will shape Pana's future: the quality of its education system and the availability of decent jobs.

Schools superintendent Jason Bauer has just taken over and has only been on the job barely 30 days. He doesn't have to dig too far, however, to come up with the biggest challenge facing his school district: money. Illinois' dysfunctional school funding system, constantly coming up short or threatening through political gridlock to deliver no funding at all, doesn't make classroom planning easy.

On top of that, Pana is far from a rich area. Bauer says roughly 60 percent of the school's 1,300 students in K-12 qualify for free and reduced lunch, for example. If we have the resources in place, the funding in place, then we have a lot more to offer kids who need additional help, said Bauer, 39.

The superintendent says he also knows that a strong school district delivering solid results is a major factor that plays into the location decisions of everyone from companies to families when considering a move. The schools will work closely with the community to make sure we are providing the best service, he added.

We're going to do everything we can to be part of the solution for a better Pana community.

The schools' performance so far gets a steady round of applause from parents like Reggie Ademi, who runs one of Pana's most recognized eating spots, the Rosebud Cafe just outside town.

Every town like Pana has got its ups and downs, but I think Pana is holding its own and I've been very impressed with the quality of the school system, said Ademi, 57. I've got three kids in the schools here and they are doing well; the teachers are impressive.

Lisa Mooney, 56, manages the Rosebud kitchen and while she says she has been shocked at some of the deterioration she has seen in Pana, she serves up nothing but praise for the school district. I have grandchildren in the Pana schools and, yes, those schools are really good, she added.

Mooney says Pana could sure use more job opportunities for those students when they leave school and college, but points out the prairie business horizon isn't all storm clouds.

Pana Community Hospital, for example, has announced a more than $20 million expansion plan to both modernize the facility and increase its space. And smaller businesses, seen by the mayor and Pana Pride as the most viable source of future economic expansion, have also been willing to give Pana a shot.

The Locked & Loaded full service gun store on Illinois 16, located not far from the Rosebud, represents, with inventory, an investment of around $1 million. The log cabin-like store was built in 2014 and has already undergone two expansions to add a shooting range and more sales space. The light and airy interior, complete with comfy chairs and a faux fireplace under a big screen television, is antiseptically clean and blows away the traditional vision of dusty and oily mom and pop gun stores.

Jarred Agney is one of the owners and also the Locked & Loaded gunsmith. He's from Shelbyville and feared at first that sinking this kind of investment in Pana might prove to be a misfire. He's been happy to be proved wrong.

We had a revenue goal for the first year and far surpassed it, said Agney, 28, a former Marine whose wife, Regina, is now president of the Pana Chamber of Commerce. And every year since has been better than the year before.

Agney has come to believe that the right store targeted in the right place has a good chance of making it in Pana. I think it's easy to underestimate the city, he added. But there is opportunity here.

Back in the downtown area, Mayor Kroski is walking around looking at more zombie retail buildings he wants to take care of and gazing with affection at the new trees, that expeditionary force from a hopeful tomorrow. Like I said before, I don't give up, he said.

And I hope when I'm gone that people will say 'Well, he helped Pana turn the corner and we're on our way.' What a wonderful statement that would be. That is all I want.
South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics is all set to break records when it comes to earning and will rival Apple's quarterly profits. Samsung has been under fire for various scandals in the past year but it seems like the company's profits are unscathed despite all the troubles. Samsung has been trying to move past a bribery scandal and of course the most infamous, Note 7 debacle.

The company said they have enjoyed huge sales of its Galaxy S8 and the demand for its memory chips has taken a huge jump which has caused the company's blockbuster quarter.

(c) MensXP

Samsung's operating profit soared from the previous year by 72.9% (up by $12.6 billion) which is higher than the predicted profits for Apple which is expected to be $10.6 billion. However, analysts believe that this may be temporary and Greg Roh, an analyst at HMC Investment Securities, said, "Samsung has surpassed its rivals for now but Apple usually sees a little fluctuation in its profits whereas Samsung's profits fluctuate largely on memory chip prices." Apple is expected to outstrip Samsung in full-year results.

(c) MensXP

Samsung is the world's leading smartphone maker. However, the demand for memory chips has been the primary reason for the company's high earnings this quarter. The chips posted 8 trillion ($7.2 billion) in operating profit, which is almost half the company's total.

The South Korean company is also expected to have an increase in revenue, thanks to the supply of display panels to a major smartphone customer within the next three months.

Source: The Telegraph
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A 35-year-old man who was arrested as part of a 2013 drug investigation into local heroin distribution has filed a lawsuit claiming his civil rights were violated by Huron County and four police officers.

Anthony Spencer is the plaintiff in the lawsuit, which was filed June 17 in U.S. District Court against Huron County, and officers Ryan Swartz, Ryan Neumann, Adam Csanyi and Daryl Ford.

Spencer was one of four individuals who were arrested following a series of controlled buys conducted by a confidential informant in the Caseville and Pigeon area in 2013. The charges against Spencer eventually were dismissed.

The lawsuit was filed by attorneys from the Law Offices of Christopher Trainor and Associates of White Lake.

In the lawsuit, Spencer claims he was falsely arrested and detained, and his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures was violated.

The lawsuit states that sometime around May 1, a confidential informant (CI) who was an inmate in the Huron County Jail approached Swartz to conduct some controlled buys for police in effort to work off some court-ordered community service hours.

... the CIs motivation in performing these controlled buys was to get time served for his/her court-ordered community service, get back on work release, and obtain custody of his/her son, the lawsuit states.  ... The CI was not a credible informant because his/her motivations in performing these controlled buys were solely to benefit himself/herself. ... Swartz knew that the CI was not a credible confidential informant.

The lawsuit goes on to state the CI performed a controlled buy May 28, a day after the CI claimed to have spoken with Spencer by phone to buy drugs. The CI then claimed to have purchased heroin from Spencer in a hand-to-hand transaction done in a red Monte Carlo owned by Rollie Smith of Caseville. The suit claims police did not verify the CIs May 27 phone conversation, nor did they

witness Spencer selling the heroin or driving the red Monte Carlo.

The CI then claimed to have another phone conversation with Spencer on May 29 to buy drugs, and Smith met the CI in his Monte Carlo and sold the CI the heroin.

The CI claimed another buy took place May 30, started by a phone conversation with Spencer and then the purchase of heroin from Spencer, who was in the back of Smiths Monte Carlo.

Throughout the three buys, the lawsuit alleges, police did not verify the phone calls or witness Spencer or Smith selling heroin to the CI.

Weeks later, on June 27, Neumann was informed by Swartz, Ford and Csanyi of Spencers location, and that there was a warrant out for his arrest, according to the lawsuit. It states Neumann went to Spencers residence and arrested him for having a small bag of marijuana on his person.

There was no warrant for (Spencers) arrest, the lawsuit states.  ... Neumann did not have probable cause to arrest (Spencer) on June 27.

On June 28, Smith called Swartz to turn himself in for the controlled buys involving the CI. However, the lawsuit alleges Swartz drafted an arrest warrant for Spencer, and he was arrested by Ford and Swartz for the May 30 controlled buy. A few months later, Swartz drafted arrest warrants for Spencer for the May 28 and 29 controlled buys.

The lawsuit notes Spencer maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Then, on Oct. 7, 2013, Smith pleaded guilty to the charges relating to the May 30 controlled buy, and testified that he received the controlled substance from Jeffrey Hatch of Caseville  not Spencer.

The lawsuit claims the charges against Spencer werent dismissed until two months later.

The suit alleges that because of the actions of the police and county, Spencer suffered injuries and damages that included the potential loss of earnings and earning capacity; loss of career opportunities; loss of reputation and esteem in the community; mental and emotional distress; and loss of the ordinary pleasures in life.

(Spencer) was illegally arrested and incarcerated for crimes that defendants Swartz, Ford, Csanyi and Neumann knew he did not commit, states the lawsuit, which also adds the officers failed to properly and thoroughly conduct an investigation ... manufactured probable cause, (and) lied. ...

The suit accuses the police of refusing to dismiss the charges against Spencer even though they had an abundance of exculpatory evidence in their possession which clearly showed (Spencers) non-involvement in the alleged crimes.

 ... Defendants Swartz, Ford, Csanyi and Neumanns acts were the direct and proximate result cause of (Spencers) malicious prosecution, which is in violation of (Spencers) Fourth Amendment rights, the lawsuit adds.

Lastly, the suit alleges Huron County acted recklessly and with deliberate indifference when it practiced and/or permitted customs and policies or practices that resulted in constitutional violations.

The suit is asking the court to award Spencer in excess of $75,000, plus interests, costs and attorney fees.

Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson told the Tribune he cant comment on any of the specifics of the lawsuit. He said he was not served with a copy of the lawsuit  but his officers were served on Monday. Huron County Corporate Counsel Stephen J. Allen said the lawsuit was served to the Huron County Clerks Office, also on Monday. Because the lawsuit is demanding monetary compensation, the county is referring it to the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, which will assign it to a law firm to defend the county, Allen explained.

Hanson noted the countys liability carrier could provide his officers with legal counsel, and he believes they also have access to legal counsel through their union.

None of the officers have been placed on leave.

Looking at it from the administrative point of view, obviously, its a concern, and we will be looking at it (the lawsuit) ... (But) I dont see any need for any type of suspension at this time, Hanson said.

He noted its important to not lose sight of the fact that Spencers case was bound over to circuit court from district court.

When the preliminary hearing was done in district court, the district court judge believed that the elements were there to bind it over up to circuit court, Hanson said. ... The district court obviously felt that probable cause existed when he was bound over to circuit court.

Also, Hanson noted, these allegations are coming from an individual who has been processed in the Huron County Jail more than 20 times.

Hes certainly no stranger to this facility, he said.

And, Hanson added, Spencer was on parole for a drug-related crime when the incident in question occurred.

The sheriff said this is the third or fourth lawsuit of this kind thats been filed against the county since he first took office on Jan. 1, 2009.

Its by no way common, but it does occur, he said.

While the lawsuit identifies Adam Csanyi as a detective employed by the Huron County Sheriffs Office, Hanson stated he actually is an officer with the Elkton Police Department.

Swartz, Neuman and Ford all work for the Huron County Sheriffs Office.

Swartz, who was named the 2012 Officer of the Year for his role in the areas war on drugs, has been with the department for 13 years. Neumann and Ford have been with the department for 14 and 10 years, respectively.

As for the three others who were arrested in connection to the investigation involving the May 2013 controlled buys:

 Rollie Smith was sentenced to a year in jail (with credit for 148 days already served) in December 2013 for four counts of delivery of heroin and 24 months probation for two counts of delivery of an imitation controlled substance.

 Jeffrey Hatch was arrested after a June 26, 2013, raid on his Caseville Township home uncovered 22 grams of heroin hidden in a VCR in Hatchs bedroom. He was found guilty of four counts of dealing heroin and maintaining a drug house in March 2014. In a second trial that took place two months later, Hatch was found guilty of another four counts of delivery of heroin (those charges also pertained to May 2013 controlled buys). He was sentenced to three to 40 years in prison following the first trial, and then three and a half to 40 years following the second trial.

 Brandon M. Fabyan, 33, of Pigeon, was arrested June 26, 2013, and charged with two counts of delivery/manufacture of an imitation controlled substance. Those charges were dismissed after the prosecutors office charged him with possession of heroin from a Sept. 10, 2013, incident in Bad Axe. He ended up being sentenced to 60 days in jail, with credit for 99 days served, and 12 months probation.
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BAD AXE -- A local brother-and-sister duo are just months away from bringing a very personal family story -- which has been in the works for quite some time -- to the big screen.

Earlier this month, David Siev, 24, and Jaclyn Siev, 28, wrapped up a two-day shoot in the Bad Axe area on their latest movie, Year Zero. The siblings coproduced the 12-minute short film, and this will be David's directorial debut on a project.

"It's one small story of survival about my father, Chun, and his experience of surviving the genocide of Cambodia from 1975 through 1979," David said. "The movie revolves around how my dad and his brother, Chhay, risked their lives one night to steal one cup of rice."

"It's a movie that puts you in the shoes of someone who has been at the brink of death," Jaclyn added. "To bring it to life and see it on the screen  it means a lot to be able to share this story with the rest of the world."

The Cambodia genocide was carried out by the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979, and an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people died.

"It's a very, very personal story for us," Jaclyn said. "Anyone who knows him (Chun) has heard stories about Cambodia from him."

Although the siblings are originally from the Bad Axe area, David now lives in Los Angeles, California, and Jaclyn is based out of Ann Arbor. Thankfully, with advancements in technology, coordinating and working on the film was handled with some ease.

On July 13, crewmembers started traveling to Bad Axe from Los Angeles, Texas, Grand Rapids, Detroit and Ann Arbor to begin shooting July 14-15.

"It was a pretty quick, two-day shoot of actual filming," he said. "I've been flying back and forth from L.A. to Bad Axe just about every week for the past eight weeks."

A majority of the film is made up of night scenes, so crewmembers didn't begin working until 10 p.m. and wrapped up around 5 in the morning.

"You'd be amazed at how many small tweaks you make to the script up until the day of shooting," David said.

One of Jaclyn's biggest roles in the film was securing a budget, which was about $15,000. Another big factor the Sievs wanted to accomplish was to bring the scenery of Cambodia to Bad Axe. The movie also called for a military-looking truck too. Jaclyn said she was in Port Austin one weekend near Bird Creek Farms when she spotted the perfect piece to their puzzle -- a replica military truck.

"I went and talked to the owners and they were very gracious and willing to let us borrow the truck," she said.

"It was a very specific location we were looking for," David added, noting some of the scenes were shot near Thumb Glass in Bad Axe.

The filming process is considered the shortest process in making a movie. David and Jaclyn hope to be done with post-production by mid-October.

"The reason why filmmakers make short films is for festivals," David said. "The next step after we complete the picture is to start submitting to festivals. What you do is you take that short film and go to these festivals with the hope of getting a deal made to make it into a full-length feature film."

"It's a short film hoping to get investors excited with taking the project to the next level," he added.

When it comes to the future, the Sievs have high hopes.

"We're shooting for the stars," David said, adding they'd like to submit the film to festivals like Sundance, Toronto Film Festival, the Cannes International Film Festival and the Cambodia International Film Festival.

With a final product expected to be finished in October, David and Jaclyn are hoping to do some local screenings in Bad Axe and Ann Arbor around November and December -- just before the 2018 film festival season begins.

"I hope it opens the public's eyes to a glimpse of the struggles that not just our family, but much of the Cambodian population went through at that time," Jaclyn said. "Anyone who knows him can see the courage and perseverance  even in the light of evil, there's still hope. My dad's will to live and struggle to survive can move them to look at other people's stories of survival."

"The inspiration is pretty simple being that it is a story very close to my family and I," David added. "This film would not have been done without the support of my family, without the support of the community, without the support of the people who care about making great work."
BAD AXE -- Anytime a business opens up in the area, there is a reason to feel good.

When that business's vision expands far beyond simply making a profit, even better.

Such is the case for In Better Hands Fair Trade Shop, located at 102 E. Huron Ave.

"Our goal is to raise awareness of trafficking, to advocate for our ministry and then to generate funds for the ministry," said owner Seth VanTifflin.

VanTifflin is the executive director for In Better Hands, a Christian non-profit organization dedicated to combatting child trafficking in Asia. Through the organization's efforts, those rescued are provided a loving, secure family environment in safe homes in Myanmar and Cambodia.

VanTifflin opened his Fair Trade Shop on July 5. He will host a grand opening event on Tuesday, where there will be cookies, juice and popcorn available, a tent for kids to paint rocks, and prize drawings for both kids and adults.

"It's going very well," VanTifflin said. "We've had a lot of foot traffic and quite a bit of business. The community has really responded well and been very supportive."

The shop specializes in fair trade, slave-free products, with a mix of local handmade goods as well as national and international products. Products offered include baked goods, coffee, baby items, candles, pillows, paintings, birdhouses, art, jewelry and clothing.

VanTifflin came up with the idea for the shop as a way to help fund his greater mission, where his nonprofit organization currently has six safe homes in the Myanmar and five more in Cambodia.

He said his long-term goal for the store is to develop training centers in Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand, where rescued victims of trafficking will be trained and produce different products. They will be given a fair wage for their work and time, and those products will be brought back to the store for sale.

"Trafficking in Cambodia is just unbelievable," VanTifflin said. "There's a big need for more safe homes and children to be rescued and for this training center to be put in place someday, so that older children and young adults can be trained to do certain things and be paid a fair wage for their time and effort."

The In Better Hands Fair Trade Shop is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

For more information about VanTifflin's mission, visit www.inbetterhands.org.
The Tribune will publish Self-Help, information in the Upper Thumb area on a space-available basis. Each notice should be limited to 30 words. Please mail or bring information, clearly marked, to the Huron Daily Tribune, 211 N. Heisterman St., Bad Axe, 48413, call 989-269-6461 or email hdt_news@hearstnp.com.

Bariatric

 Bariatric Support Group meets the third Wednesday of each month at 4:30 p.m. in the Birch Room at Scheurer Hospital. Call Jean Phillips at 989-872-2772.

Grief

 GriefShare features nationally recognized experts on grief recovery topics. Seminar sessions include "The Journey of Grief," "The Effects of Grief," "Your Family and Grief," "Why?" and "Stuck in Grief." For more information, call Chaplain Londa at 989-545-8357.

 Spousal loss grief group meets from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. every fourth Thursday of the month at the Holiday Inn Express in Bad Axe. For more information contact Pam Christe or Sue Gentle at Heartland Hospice 989-667-3440 or 800-275-4517.

 Grief Support meets second Thursday of each month at 4 p.m. at Caro Community Library. Please call Sue or Pam at 800-275-4517 for more details.

 Grief Support meets last Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. for dinner at Franklin Inn in Bad Axe. Call 1-800-635-7490 ext. 4134.

 Grief Support meets at noon on the first Tuesday of the month at Eddie G's in Marlette. Call United Hospice Service for more information at 800-635-7490.

Multiple Sclerosis

 Multiple Sclerosis support group meets at 11 a.m. on the second Monday of each month at Huron Medical Center in Bad Axe, third floor classroom. Call Marilyn at 989-428-3499 for more information.

 Multiple Sclerosis support group meets bi-annually at Scheurer Hospital, and focuses on education and support. Contact 989-453-5222.

Substance abuse

 To find Narcotics Anonymous meetings in the area call 800-230-4085.

 Family member or friend addicted? Call Families Anonymous. Familes Anonymous is a 12 step program to aid families with substance abuse or behavioral problems. Meetings are every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at 206 Scheurmann St. in Essexville. For inquiries, call 989-553-4962.

 Thumb Area Narcotics Anonymous meets Mondays from 7 to 8:15 p.m. at the Caseville United Methodist Church. For inquiries call 800-230-4085.

 Thumb Area Narcotics Anonymous meets from 7 to 8:15 at the Port Austin Bible Campus on Thursdays.

Suicide support

A support group for those affected by suicide will be provided from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at the Huron County Senior Center at 150 Nugent Road in Bad Axe. If you are interested in attending, or for more information, please call Lisa Schoettle, MA, LPC, NCC at 989-975-0190.

Women's

support group

 Huron County SafePlace will be offering free support groups to women on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Transportation via Thumb Area Transit and child care for these support groups will be available by calling SafePlace. These meetings take place in Bad Axe, please call for additional information or to make your reservations 989-269-5300.

 For information on meetings of the Woman's Christian Temperance (self-control) Union, call Marie at 989-975-2465. It is a support group for people with addictions.

Cancer support

As an affiliate of the American Cancer Society, "I Can Cope" meets the first Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in the Wilson Education Center at Scheurer Hospital. The group focuses on education, camaraderie and compassion. For more information, call 989-453-5222.

Caregiver Support

 Harbor Beach Community Hospital and Human Development Commission caregiver and support group meets from 9 to 11 a.m. the third Tuesday of every month. Susan Arthur, LLBSW from Human Development Commission is the facilitator. This is held at the Administration Building Conference Center at the Harbor Beach Community Hospital at 147 South First Street in Harbor Beach. To register please call 1-989-673-4121 or just stop in.

 Caregiver Connection provides support for those caring for loved ones. Meetings are the second Thursday of each month from 12 to 1:30 p.m. at Wilson Education Room at Scheurer Hospital. Lunch provided.

 Huron County Family Caregiver Support Group meets from 10 to noon the second Tuesday of the month at Human Development Commission, 150 Nugent Road in Bad Axe. For more information, contact Merry at (989) 673-4121.

Alzheimer's support

Tuscola County Alzheimer's and Family Caregiver Support Group meets from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month at the Human Development Commission Intergenerational Building, 430 Montague Avenue in Caro.

For more information, contact Merry at 989-673-4121.

Parkinson's

support

Living with Parkinson's Support Group meets from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. the third Tuesday of the month at the Holiday Inn Express in Bad Axe, 55 Rapson Lane West.

For more information, call 989-864-3779.

Community

supports

Community Support 101 will meet at 6:30 p.m. the second and fourth Thursday of every month at The United Protestant Church in Port Austin. The group is open to anyone in recovery or struggling with relationships and who hopes to increase communication skills, compassion, forgiveness and freedom. For more information, call 989-738-5322.

Weight Loss

support group

TOPS Chapter meets every Wednesday evening at the Huron County Senior Center in Bad Axe. Weigh-in is at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting is at 6:15 p.m. Take off pounds sensibly. Call Rose at 989-551-2711 for more information.
BAD AXE -- As Huron County wraps up its master plan, officials are getting closer to forming policy on commercial solar energy.

The Huron County Planning Commission discussed the role of large-scale solar development and renewable energy in the county's future this week at a master plan workshop.

A Huron County survey by the Spicer Group last fall showed that 73 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with solar energy development.

But officials wondered if the people were in support of small-scale, private development, rather than large-scale commercial development, as the survey did not distinguish between the two.

"This is a general question, just to get a sense of what's going on," said Alan Bean, of the Spicer Group in Saginaw.

More information on the issue will be obtained at a Michigan Townships Association workshop on solar energy development that Huron planners will attend Aug. 9.

After that, Bean will meet again with planners to determine solar policy for the Huron County Master Plan at the next workshop to be scheduled at the commission's Aug. 2 meeting.

For now, moratoriums are in effect on solar and wind energy development.

The solar moratorium is contingent on completion of the master plan, as well production of an ordinance governing commercial solar development.

The wind energy moratorium is in effect until Jan. 18, 2018, or until all issues pertaining to various wind energy-related referendums are resolved. This could be soon.

On Aug. 8, voters in Sherman Township will determine whether to become self-zoned -- a proposal voters on May 2 defeated various wind development issues in Huron County, some with a margin of 2 to 1.

ITC Loop

The ITC Michigan Thumb Loop that goes through Huron County is used to export electricity from the Thumb area.

It's carrying 27 percent of its capacity, according to a conversation among planners at the Bylaws Committee meeting preceding the workshop.

Jeff Smith, county building and zoning director, said the renewable portion is at 18 percent.

This comes from wind turbines -- hundreds of which are located throughout Huron County. It is expected that a state record of 473 turbines will be standing by year's end.

But it's not only wind turbines that are supplying electricity to the grid.

"The power plants tie in to it," Smith said. "It's not just wind, it's all sources of energy production."

Some officials believe that one day, the state could mandate more wind development in Huron County because the loop.

"They're not going to let that (the ITC Loop) sit here at one-third capacity," said Planning Commission Chair Bernie Creguer.

Officials at the master plan workshop also discussed how far away from the loop a solar farm can be constructed, but Bean was not sure what the distance was.

If it's close, Planner Robert Oakes said that the only land that's available for solar development near the loop would be prime farmland.

Farmland preservation

Although wind development is compatible with farmland preservation (PA 116), large-scale solar farms are not an acceptable use of PA 116 farmland. Farmers gain tax credits by enrolling their farms, and the status bans any development on the property.

Rich Harlow, program manager for the Farmland Preservation Program of the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development, has previously told the Tribune that in order to develop commercial solar farms, the property would have to be rezoned to commercial or industrial; seven years worth of tax credits would have to be paid back; and more land would have to be set aside for preservation.

Of Huron County's 452,486 acres of farmland, 75 percent of it is enrolled in PA 116 -- or 340,917 acres.

Bean provided a map showing how much land each township has enrolled in the program.

He said at the next meeting, he would look into providing data on the quality of the farmland throughout the county, so that it can be determined whether lower-quality farmland may be considered for solar development.

Cypress Creek Renewables would like to build as many as 15 to 20-acre solar farms in Huron County, according to a Cypress Creek official who recently updated the Huron County Board of Commissioners on the company's plans for Huron County.

The company has also offered to cover the cost of paying back tax credits.

But Smith said at a later board meeting that to be released from the state farmland preservation program is not an easy task.

Landowners had previously indicated to Smith that they are being offered up to $800 an acre to develop solar farms -- more than they can earn farming.

"Wind came in with a lot of promises of money," Oakes said.

However, the county now finds itself in a situation where wind companies are disputing how turbines are taxed.

The county and townships that have collected wind tax revenue are now on guard as to possibly having to return some money to wind developers, depending on how the Michigan Tax Tribunal rules on the issue.

Master Plan

The Huron County Master Plan is required under the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act.

It includes general policy that will permit various kinds of development, as well as a future land use map that shows where uses such as agricultural, residential, commercial and industrial will be allowed.

"I think we do need to address solar on the future land use map," Bean said.

Although he made it clear that he was not advocating for or against solar energy.

"I don't think there's much of an appetite for it," Oakes said, considering what the county has been through with wind energy controversy.

Bean noted that it's important to have clear policy, goals and objectives.

"I think the master plan does need to guide what happens next," he said

Other areas officials have indicated that could be used for solar development include abandoned industrial sites.
Fabu, Madisons former poet laureate, is a consultant in African-American culture and arts. She writes a monthly column for The Capital Times. fabu@artistfabu.com
A Marine recruit who fell from a one-story building at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, on Wednesday is recovering and in stable condition, officials said Friday.

The recruit had arrived at the depot the day before and had been going through the initial processing procedures prior to beginning boot camp training.

A Parris Island spokesman, Capt. Adam Flores, told Military.com on Thursday that the recruit fell from the roof of a one-story building and was subsequently transported to an off-site medical facility.

Officials refused to say where the recruit was taken or to provide any additional information. It's also unclear whether the recruit's injuries were caused by an accidental fall or an intentional jump from the building.

A source told Military.com that the recruit was airlifted to a medical facility in Savannah, Georgia.

It's the third time since 2016 that a recruit has been injured in a fall from a building at Parris Island.

Last October, 19-year-old Kristian Gashaj, a recruit from Michigan, was hospitalized after reportedly jumping from a second-story building at the depot, just four days after his arrival. As of June, he remains in a coma.

And in March 2016, 20-year-old Raheel Siddiqui, also from Michigan, jumped to his death from the third floor of a barracks structure during training with 3rd Recruit Training Battalion.

Siddiqui's death opened a massive inquiry into accounts of hazing within the battalion. An investigation published last year found that Siddiqui's mistreatment at the hands of a senior drill instructor likely provided the impetus for the recruit's suicide.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
President Donald Trump has named retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, who has been serving as the head of the Homeland Security Department, as his new White House chief of staff to replace Reince Priebus.

The president announced his decision Friday evening on Twitter.

"I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American ... and a Great Leader," he tweeted. "John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration."

The news came a day after The New Yorker reported the new White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, criticized Priebus and threatened to fire him in an explicit interview with Ryan Lizza, a writer for the magazine.

"I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country," the president tweeted. "We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!"

Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general who commanded troops in Iraq and who lost a son in Afghanistan, is among a group of high-profile military leaders, either currently serving or retired, working in the Trump administration.

Another retired Marine general, Jim Mattis, is serving as secretary of defense; Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as national security adviser.

Kelly and Dunford are close friends. Both men hail from Boston. Dunford gave Kelly the news that his son was killed.

Kelly, who commanded U.S. Southern Command prior to his retirement, has a reputation for being plainspoken and direct, even when his views conflict with those above him.

As part of his SouthCom role, he oversaw the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from 2012 to 2016 -- a period in which the Obama administration was working hard to shut the facility down. Nonetheless, he maintained his support for Guantanamo in public statements, telling Military Times in fall 2016 that there were "no innocent men" being held there.

Kelly commanded a task force in Baghdad and other cities in Iraq shortly after the invasion of U.S. forces into the country in 2003.

He also is the most senior officer from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to lose a child in the conflict. His son, 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed in 2010 while leading Marines in Sangin, Afghanistan. In a much-cited speech given just days after his son's death in combat, Kelly waxed eloquent about the sacrifices made by the military.

"If anyone thinks you can somehow thank them for their service and not support the cause for which they fight -- our country -- these people are lying to themselves," he said. "More important, they are slighting our warriors and mocking their commitment to this nation."

-- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
Camp Lejeune Town Halls Aim to Help Those Exposed to Toxic Water. Heres How You Can Go.

Retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger made it his mission to tell the world that if they lived or served on Camp Lejeune...
Amid ongoing threats from an increasingly capable North Korea and power-hungry China, the Pacific is contending with a new growing menace: the presence of ISIS affiliates and other Islamic extremist groups looking to claim new territory.

In an address to the Japan-U.S. Military Statesmen Forum in Washington, D.C., the head of U.S. Pacific Command, Navy Adm. Harry Harris, said recent events -- including the violent takeover of the Filipino city of Marawi by the ISIS-linked Maute Islamist group -- illustrate the capability and reach of the ideology.

"These terrorists are using combat tactics that we've seen in the Middle East ... it's the first time ISIS-inspired forces have banded together to fight on this kind of scale in this region," he said.

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"So it's clear that foreign fighters are passing their ideology, resources and methods to local home-grown next-generation radicals," Harris said. "So Marawi should be a wake-up call and a rallying cry for every nation in the Indo-Asia Pacific region."

The emergence of ISIS-linked terror groups in the Pacific, he said, comes as coalition efforts under Operation Inherent Resolve continue to deny militants territory in the Middle East and North Africa, where many such groups originate.

"Radicalized, weaponized and displaced terrorists will inspire new fighters in the Indo-Asia Pacific," Harris said.

The terror takeover in Marawi happened just months after Isnilon Hapilon, a former leader of the Abu Sayyaf Islamist group, was named "Emir to all Islamic State Forces in the Philippines" by ISIS, he said. That was in April 2016. In May 2017, the Maute group launched its attack on Marawi.

"We were all reminded that ISIS is a truly global threat," Harris said.

Stopping the threat in the Pacific, he said, will require the actions of a coalition of nations. He noted that the United States this week delivered two Cessna 208B aircraft with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to assist in flushing out militants on the island of Mindanao and other islands within the Sulu Archipelago.

"The delivery of these brand-new aircraft is just the latest donation from the U.S. government which, over the last five years, has allocated nearly $300 million of grant money to provide the AFP with up-to-date equipment and training," Harris said.

He advocated continued regional cooperation and collaborative training between Japan, Australia, the United States and India to "keep the peace" and stop the spread of extremist ideology.

"Only through multilateral and multinational cooperation can we eradicate ISIS and other violent extremist organizations before they spread," Harris said.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

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UPDATE: The Michigan Department of Transportation reports the incident was cleared at 5:58 p.m.

ANN ARBOR, MI -- All lanes of southbound US-23 at east M-14 are blocked following a crash, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

The crash occurred around 4:58 p.m. Friday, July 28. The freeway was shut down just after 5 p.m.

The Washtenaw County Sheriff's office issued an alert via Nixle said it is unknown when the crash will be cleared and the road will be reopened.
YPSILANTI, MI - Police are urging caution after reports of a phone scam that cost a business thousands of dollars.

A business on the 10 block of Michigan Avenue in Ypsilanti told police that around 1 p.m. Thursday, July 27, someone called claiming to be a representative of DTE Energy.

The fraudulent call claimed the business owed money on overdue utility bills.

The phony amount was paid through pre-paid debit cards, according to police.

Ypsilanti Police Department Lt. Deric Gress said he's "astounded people are still falling for this," type of scam.

"Understand that no legitimate utility (service) or the IRS is going to ask for money to be paid using gift cards," he said.

"Use the common sense of 'do I really owe this money,' and use some critical thinking of asking yourself 'does this make sense'."

Gress said people should "go with their instinct" and get ahold of a manager in the company to see if the alleged bills are legitimate. He also said the department has not had many calls lately regarding phone scams.
BAY CITY, MI -- An undocumented Mexican immigrant is facing deportation, but not incarceration, after pleading guilty to a federal charge.

Raul Resendez-Ledezma, 42, on Wednesday, July 19, appeared before U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington in the federal courthouse in downtown Bay City and pleaded guilty to one count of illegal reentry of a previously removed alien. The charge is a two-year felony.

Ludington proceeded to sentencing and gave Resendez-Ledezma credit for time served. He fined him $100.

The plea agreement stipulates Resendez-Ledezma is subject to deportation.

Resendez-Ledezma has been deported at least two times previously.

Court records state U.S. Border Patrol first arrested Resendez-Ledezma in Mobile, Alabama, in October 1999. In the summer of 2008, Resendez-Ledezma was again arrested, this time in James Island, South Carolina, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during an operation designed to target gang members.

"Resendez-Ledezma was identified as wearing gang-affiliated colors/clothing, showing 'gang signs,' and having gang paraphernalia," court records state. Resendez-Ledezma was thereafter deported to Mexico on July 31, 2008.

Resendez-Ledezma was arrested a third time in Ajo, Arizona, in October 2009 and deported the next day.

On April 29 of this year, Michigan State Police troopers notified U.S. Border Patrol that undocumented immigrants were reportedly working at hotels in the Mount Pleasant area. Agents on May 4 visited the Hampton Inn at 5205 E. Pickard Road in Mount Pleasant, then under construction. They found three vehicles with out-of-state license plates with sketchy documentation.

One of the vehicles was registered to someone not documented to be in the U.S.

The evening of May 8, the agents observed six individuals leaving the hotel in the three vehicles. The agents stopped one of vehicles, in which Resendez-Ledezma was a passenger.

"Resendez-Ledezma freely and readily admitted to being a citizen and national of Mexico who was not in possession of immigration documents that would allow him to be in or to remain in the United States legally," court documents state.
LANSING - The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Judicial Tenure Commission was too harsh in its recommendation of an unpaid, 30-day suspension for a judge who jailed three children during a heated divorce case.

The high court found that while Oakland County Circuit Judge Lisa Gorcyca displayed poor judgement, the action did not rise to judicial misconduct and didn't warrant suspension.

"Because the judicial misconduct in this case only relates to respondent's demeanor and temperament, a lesser range of sanctions applies than would apply had this Court agreed with all the conclusions of misconduct found by the Commission," wrote Supreme Court Justice Brian Zahra in the majority opinion.

"In this case, we have a judge with no prior record of misconduct who in an isolated instance exercised poor judgment and displayed a lack of appropriate judicial temperament and demeanor during a highly acrimonious and protracted divorce and custody proceeding."

While the court threw out the the 30-day suspension, Zahra wrote that "under the circumstances, a public censure is appropriate."

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The case centered around Gorcyca's decision to send three children, ages 15, 10 and 9, to a juvenile detention facility after they refused to speak with or eat lunch with their father, which the judge ordered them to do on June 23, 2015.

The children were sent to Oakland County Children's Village after the judge found them in contempt of court.

The 15-year-old said at the time that he didn't want to speak to his father because he believed he hit his mother.

"I didn't do anything wrong," the 15-year-old told the judge.

"No, you did," Gorcyca replied. " ... I ordered you to talk to your father. You chose not to talk to your father. You defied a direct court order. It's direct contempt ... "

A complaint was filed alleging that Gorcyca abused her power out of frustration over being unable to persuade the children to see their father by using "insulting, demeaning and humiliating language" toward the children during court proceedings.

As a result, the Judicial Tenure Commission recommended that Gorcyca be forced to pay $12,553.73, in addition to the suspension and censure.

But the Supreme Court found that only the censure was appropriate.

In a dissenting opinion, Supreme Court Judge Richard Bernstein found that Gorcyca's "conduct and its consequences were severe."

"She allowed her frustration to result in the verbal abuse and confinement of three young children for seventeen days," Bernstein wrote.

"(Gorcyca) has continuously refused to recognize that this conduct could be seen as improper, and instead she has shifted responsibility to the children -- individuals who were not parties to the case before her -- and their attorneys for failing to object to her contempt holdings.

"(Her) extreme misconduct and her inability to recognize its problematic nature warrant a severe sanction, even in the absence of other allegations of misconduct.

"I would impose the Commission's recommended public censure and 30-day suspension."
FLINT, MI -- Engines roared on Saginaw Street on Saturday morning as vintage tractors were on display for the first Tractors on the Bricks event.

Hundreds of people visited downtown Flint on Saturday, July 29, for the event, sponsored by Uptown Reinvestment Corporation in cooperation with the Flint Downtown Development Authority.

Greg Smith, Uptown CFO and event organizer, said the event was inspired from childhood memories on his grandparent's farm in West Branch.

At about 10 a.m. Saturday, about 100 tractors departed from Flint City Hall toward the DDA Flat Lot between First and Kearsley streets. While candy wasn't tossed, children and families enjoyed various types of tractors, including John Deere and McCormick-Deering Farmall brands.

After the nearly 30-minute parade, the tractors parked in the DDA Flat Lot, where spectators gathered to mingle with the drivers about their vehicles and some children posting up in the tractor seats for photos.

Some of the tractors came from out-of-state. Lyle and Sharon Bertram, of Southington, Ohio, celebrated their 22nd anniversary at the event. They brought with them a 1948 John Deere H and a 1961 Farmall Cub original.

Sharon Bertram, 71, said she and her husband are part of the Antique Tractor Club of Trumbull County, Ohio. Lyle Bertram, an Ohio branch driver for Wheeler Trucking in Flushing, heard about the event through the business.

The couple departed from Ohio on Friday evening and arrived in Flint at about midnight Saturday. Ten hours later, they lined their tractors on Saginaw Street to be featured in the first-ever Tractors on the Bricks.

"We always participate in things like this," Sharon Bertram said.

Lyle Bertram, 64, said Flint is the farthest he and his wife have traveled for a tractor show -- with a nearly five-and-a-half-hour drive from Ohio. Having grown up on a dairy farm, he said events like these help people appreciate the machinery that harvests the items they see in their local grocery stores.

"A lot of people today don't know where their food comes from," Bertram said. "It takes antique tractor clubs and events like this to get out to the people and give them some idea."

Bertram said he and his wife would consider coming back to Flint for an event year.

"I'm impressed with how many tractors came out," he said. "It's a matter of getting the word out for next year."

The tractors dated back to before 1980, with many coming from the 1940s and 1950s. The Genesee Valley Tractor Collectors Club was a local group on hand.

Families could also enjoy a petting zoo that featured a cow, birds, llamas, goats and rabbits.

Betty Walton of Grand Blanc brought her 2-year-old grandson JD Aleman to the parking lot. JD jumped into the tractor seat of some vehicles and visited the petting zoo.

Walton, 51, said the best part about the event was that it allowed children to interact with vehicles and animals.

"It's nice to see all these tractors out here," she said.

The event lasts until 4 p.m. Saturday.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- After shuttering his popular Ada restaurant Saburba, Peter Davidson has moved to Vander Mill where he is the executive chef at the hard cider mill's Grand Rapids restaurant.

Davidson's impressive resume includes a hand in launching high-profile Grand Rapids restaurants The Winchester, Grove and The Green Well.

Last month, he and partner Sarah Andro decided not to renew the lease on their 5-year-old take-out restaurant. They blamed declining sales on disruptive construction caused by the $13 million redevelopment of the Ada village project.

Ada's loss is Vander Mill's gain.

"Chef Davidson's leadership at some of the most respected restaurants in the country, unparalleled knowledge of the local food scene, and local-first approach are among the top reasons we're excited to welcome him to the Vander Mill team," said Paul Vander Heide, Vander Mill's owner, in a statement.

The Lowell native started his culinary career in Wyoming and Colorado, working across a variety of southwestern kitchens. Before returning to West Michigan, Davidson moved to Philadelphia to study at The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College, and worked under two-time James Beard-Awarded Chef Guillermo Pernot at !Pasion!

Davidson plans to tweak the Vander Mill menu with new dishes infusing bold flavors from Latin and Spanish cuisine.

"Chef Davidson's talents will be a welcome addition to our menu," said Vander Heide. "We look forward to the additions of more seafood and entrees that highlight local ingredients, which will perfectly complement our customer favorites."

The arrival of Davidson comes as Vander Mill appears to be going through a reboot two years after the business opened its $4 million restaurant and production facility at 505 Ball Ave. NE, north of Michigan Street.

The restaurant, which takes up about 4,500 square feet of the 40,000 square-foot facility, can seat up to 200 people and another 60 on the outside patio.

When the Grand Rapids locations opened in 2015, Vander Heide tapped Justin Large to lead the mill's culinary team. The initial menu was described as French country cuisine.

Large also had notable credentials with 15 years working as a chef and culinary director in several of Chicago's James Beard award-winning restaurants. He left Vander Mill in October, according to his LinkedIn resume, and now runs his own consulting firm, Chef Large.

After closing in November, Vander Mill reopened its longtime Spring Lake location this summer with a revamped small menu featuring its trademarked cider donuts, live music and a rotating partnership with local food trucks.

The company recently brought in new general managers Rebecca Radovich at the Grand Rapids location and Andrew Buikema in Spring Lake.
WINDSOR  Jeff Davidson Jr. admits his right arm is likely stronger than his left.

And its easy to see why.

Each afternoon, Davidson, 34, a triathlete who finished the Ironman Wisconsin competition in just over 12 hours last September, stands at a table in his 8,000-square-foot bakery and uses a rounded cutting tool to chop and mix cinnamon and apple into blobs of dough that ultimately become 50 dozen apple fritters.

But Davidsons sweet daily workout is about to take a major hit. The married father of two young children is drawing on his Ironman mentality to overcome what could be a more than 30 percent loss of business for his JDs Bakery & Donut Shop just north of DeForest.

When Kwik Trip announced July 19 that it was purchasing the Middleton-based chain of PDQ convenience stores, Davidson immediately knew he would have to find a way to make up for the loss of the 200 dozen donuts and apple fritters he sells to PDQ each day. Kwik Trip has its own production bakery and wont need a wholesaler like JDs.

Wednesday (July 19) was a bad day. It was out of the blue and like being punched in the stomach, Davidson said. This is my life. This is all I know, all I want to know.

Davidson is scrambling to add new accounts for his wholesale business, which serves up 5,000 bakery items a day to convenience stores, hotels, churches and other companies in Columbia, Dane, Jefferson and Rock counties. In addition to 23 PDQ stores, his customers include Stop & Go, Kelleys Market and CP Mart.

A regional giant

Kwik Trip has 337 stores in Wisconsin, 147 in Minnesota and 82 Kwik Stars in Iowa. The company does about $5 billion in gross sales annually, employs about 19,000 workers and has a massive food production and bakery operation in La Crosse, home to its 360,000-square-foot distribution center, which serves all of the companys stores. The vertical integration is what has helped Kwik Trip keep its prices low and draw thousands of customers to its stores each day.

We have the dairy, the kitchens, our bakery, our own ice cream, our own ice plant, our own beverage plant, Brad Clarkin, a warehouse superintendent at the center, told the La Crosse Tribune in 2013. We have products produced today that will be on store shelves tonight.

Kwik Trip hopes to finalize the purchase of PDQ in October and spend $30 million to $35 million to re-image all of the 34 Wisconsin PDQ stores into Kwik Trip stores. The majority will get an interior facelift that includes new shelving, while the smaller ones will be remodeled. It hasnt been determined if some of the smaller stores will be converted to Tobacco Outlet Plus Grocery stores, formerly known as Kwik Trip Express, a combination of a Tobacco Outlet and small Kwik Trip store but without the hot food offerings.

Its also unclear what if any vendors serving PDQ will be retained, if some stores will be expanded and if the stores will allow customers to pay for gas in the store, not only at the pump as is the practice at PDQ.

We just started the process of examining what work will be done with the properties, what vendors are currently supplying those stores and what store formats we will use, said John McHugh, Kwik Trips director of corporate communications. It will take several months for that process before we know the answers.

The Madison strategy

The move by Kwik Trip to purchase PDQ solves a long lingering problem for a company that has struggled to maintain stores inside Madisons city limits. For a time, Kwik Trip had a store near Verona Road and the Beltline, but it was sold years ago.

In 2014, Kwik Trip opened a 6,500-square-foot convenience store without gas pumps in the ground level of Varsity Quarters, a six-story, 129-bed apartment building at 1423 Monroe St. In December 2015, the company opened a $3.8 million, 7,160-square-foot convenience store at 4825 American Parkway in the American Center business park, but was thwarted in its attempt to build a store on the site of a former Sentry grocery store on Cottage Grove Road.

While the PDQ purchase will let Kwik Trip blanket Madison, Fitchburg and Middleton, Kwik Trip has for years been a mainstay in Dane County suburbs farther from Madison. For example, there are three in Oregon and two each in Stoughton, Sun Prairie and Verona that have added to the challenges of independent operators who rely on businesses like JDs to supply products.

Its a hit

When John and Nancy Davidson, Davidsons grandparents, purchased the bakery in 1985, it was producing about 27 dozen doughnuts a day. Their son Jeff Davidson Sr. purchased the business in 1996 and in short order added the PDQ store on Highway Q near Highway M in Middleton and the PDQ store on Northport Drive to the bakerys delivery list.

Ultimately, he added every PDQ store in the Madison area.

I was one cent cheaper per dozen (compared to the competitor) and I had a good product, Jeff Davidson Sr. said.

Its a hit, he said of the pending loss of business because of the Kwik Trip purchase. The PDQs put out a lot of volume. A fresh doughnut from us is something you just cant duplicate.

The bakery, now operated by Jeff Jr., is producing more than 400 dozen pieces of bakery a day. It includes 600 apple fritters, 1,000 cinnamon rolls, 800 long johns and 800 bismarcks. Baking starts around noon each day and wraps up at around 8 p.m. Among the 10 employees are high school students who help package goods, while two drivers make the deliveries, each with routes over 100 miles.

Jeff Jr. has been working at the business since before he went to Lakeside Lutheran High School in Lake Mills. He began working full time while studying business management at Madison Area Technical College and has no plans on letting Kwik Trip get in his way of growing the family business he has been running for the past five years.

He plans to buy the company from his father, promote the name of the company more and is looking into packaging baked goods to sell at grocery stores, which would further diversify the business plan.

Youve got to go head-on, Jeff Davidson Jr. said. I really enjoy working in my bakery. There have been very few times in my life when I didnt want to do this.
CEDAR SPRINGS, MI - About two years ago, the leader of a homeless shelter based in downtown Grand Rapids realized the issue of homelessness reaches far beyond the city, right into the rural town he calls home.

Dennis Van Kampen, the executive director and CEO of Mel Trotter Ministries, recalls when he was questioned by someone from Cedar Springs Public Schools about what services Mel Trotter provided to the rural homeless community in West Michigan.

"The question I was asked was 'Mel Trotter does such a great job in the city, have you thought about those of us up here and even the town that you live in?'" Van Kampen said. "To be honest, at that point I knew there were some homeless in the rural communities, but I didn't know the extent of it. We were very focused on what we do here in the city."

The mission has since been invited to form partnerships with organizations in Cedar Springs - where Van Kampen lives - which includes Cedar Springs Public Schools and North Kent Connect. Mel Trotter laid the foundation for a pilot program that kicked off this summer to address rural homelessness by hiring an outreach advocate who works at least once a week out of the administrative office of the school district as well as North Kent Connect.

The job of the new employee, Steve Tigchelaar, is to help those facing the possibility of homelessness or who are homeless. This will usually be through referrals, he said, and could include helping people overcome barriers such as lack of housing, finances, transportation and domestic violence.

Even though he is mainly based out of Cedar Springs, Tigchelaar is also focused on helping people in the Sparta, Kent City and Rockford areas.

To establish if there was a need for the program, mission employees contacted Kent Intermediate School District, law enforcement and church leaders to get an idea of the prevalence of rural homelessness. They learned that 2,098 students this past school year in the Kent Intermediate School District from kindergarten through fifth grade experienced homelessness, Van Kampen said.

"One of the ways we try to do things at Mel Trotter is to find out if there is a need, and make sure existing services aren't already in place," Van Kampen said. "Then we try to see if there is someone to partner with, then build a small pilot of the program."

Cedar Springs Public Schools was the natural place to establish a pilot program for working with the rural homeless community, Van Kampen said. There are many great resources already in place at the school district that will compliment what Tigchelaar can accomplish there, he said.

"We definitely have a homeless population and need to provide resources for families and kids," said Cedar Springs Public Schools Superintendent Laura VanDuyn.

VanDuyn has worked to establish a holistic approach for learning at Cedar Springs, she said. Three years ago, the district opened a medical, dental and mental health clinic to alleviate stress from families and students in need, VanDuyn said.

"What they don't have (at Cedar Springs), which is the gap we're filling, is case management for people experiencing homelessness to help them stay out of homelessness or move out of it," Van Kampen said.

Van Kampen and Vanduyn said the duties of the case manager from Mel Trotter Ministries won't duplicate what the Cedar Springs homelessness liaison is already doing at the schools.

Supplementing existing resources

The job of the liaison is mainly to focus on the academic success of a student in a homeless family, Vanduyn said. They also are focused on setting up methods of transportation so the student can stay at the same school, regardless of changes in their housing situation.

A student's academics are almost guaranteed to be negatively impacted if are facing the possibility of homelessness or are homeless, Vanduyn said.

What the Mel Trotter partnership will bring to the schools is an expertise in stepping in before a student becomes homeless to try and coordinate temporary shelter as well as a sustainable solution, Vanduyn said.

The new service Mel Trotter will now provide was "out of the scope of the district" before the collaboration, she said.

Working to identify rural homelessness

Rural homelessness is less visible, Van Kampen said, because smaller communities tend to "take care of their own," which doesn't mean they don't need additional resources, he said.

Another reason is because people aren't keeping track of the number of homeless people in rural areas, which stems from the fact that there is a disparity of homeless shelters in those places, he said.

When a homeless person walks into Mel Trotter Ministries or any shelter in downtown Grand Rapids to receive housing or other services, they are entered into a Homeless Management Information System. This information is used to better inform homeless policy and funding provided at the federal, state and local levels.

"The more people we put into HMIS, the more the state will recognize the rural homelessness issue and more dollars will be allocated to that," Van Kampen said.

Now that more rural homeless people will utilize Mel Trotter's services, Van Kampen predicts that over time HMIS data will prove there are more homeless people living in rural areas rather than cities.

What's next?

If the pilot program proves to be successful, Van Kampen hopes to extend Mel Trotter's services across rural Kent County and the surrounding areas.

"Wherever there's a need and we're invited, we're going to work," Van Kampen said.

Van Kampen and Vanduyn both said there is a need for an emergency shelter to be installed near Cedar Springs to get homeless families losing shelter with at least a temporary roof over their head.

"Emergency shelter is a very important thing," Vanduyn said. "We'd like to see if we could maybe provide an emergency area."
HOLLAND, MI - Jane Clark, president of the Michigan West Coast Chamber of Commerce, is taking on a leadership role in her industry.

She was recently named to the board of directors of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.

Clark began her one-year term at the organization's annual convention early this month in Nashville, Tenn.

"I am incredibly humbled and look forward to learning from chamber professionals from all over world and providing support for chamber professionals that keep businesses thriving in their communities," said Clark, of the volunteer position, in a statement.

Founded in 1914, ACCE offers professional development opportunities and best practices through its publications, online education, conferences and networking. The organization represents 7,000 leaders from 1,300 chambers of commerce, including 93 of the top 100 U.S. metro areas.

Clark began her chamber career with the Holland Area Chamber of Commerce in 1990, and went on to become president in 2004.

That role evolved to president of the West Coast Chamber in 2012, when the Zeeland and Holland Area chambers merged. The chamber is accredited with Five Stars by the U.S. Chamber, a distinction earned by very few chambers across the country.

Clark is responsible for developing and implementing the chamber's multi-year strategic plan and yearly business plan. The chamber has more than 1,300 members representing 70,000 employees in the greater Holland and Zeeland area.

She is a former member of the board of directors of the Michigan Association of Chamber Professionals and was named the Chamber Executive of the Year. She served as board chair of the National Association of Membership Development and served on the American Chamber of Commerce Executives board of directors.

Clark is a 1985 graduate of Indiana University and a graduate of the U.S. Chamber's Institute for Organization Management. Before joining the Holland Chamber, she was in fundraising for both Indiana University and the Grand Rapids Symphony. Clark and her husband, Robert, have two boys.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it will soon release a stalled draft plan to stop Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes by strengthening a choke point in the Chicago waterway system.

The so-called Brandon Road study will finally be made public after about six months under the thumb of the White House, which blocked the report at the last minute on Feb. 28 after downriver barge operators and shipping interests expressed concern structural changes to the river might inhibit shipping navigation.

According to an email by corps congressional liaison Mari Fournier shared with MLive, the report will be posted to the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study website on Monday, August 7.

Public comment on the plan will last until Sept. 21.

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, posted the news on Twitter this evening. The two lawmakers helped introduce bipartisan companion legislation in Congress to force the Brandon Road study's release and have worked to add similar riders to must-pass bills this summer.

NEWS: @USACEHQ will release Brandon Rd. Study on 8/7. Pleased Trump Admin. heeded our call to help #StopAsianCarpNow https://t.co/ylHg8GdyYA  Marcy Kaptur (@RepMarcyKaptur) July 28, 2017

Great news! The Army Corps just announced it will release critical study in fight against Asian carp. Trump admin had been holding this up!  Sen. Debbie Stabenow (@SenStabenow) July 28, 2017

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Michigan, said the Brandon Road plan "will provide critical information on how to best prevent Asian Carp from entering the Great Lakes ecosystem."

"Republicans and Democrats have worked in a bipartisan manner to get the administration to release this document. While the scheduled release of the Brandon Road study is an important and positive step, it is my hope that we can continue to build upon this bipartisan foundation to enact policies that will protect the Great Lakes," Huizenga said.

U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Michigan, said the report is "long overdue."

"The taxpayers paid for this report and it will help us understand the best way to stop Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. This is a critical step in protecting the thousands of Michigan jobs supported by tourism, boating and fishing, and in preserving the Great Lakes for future generations," he said.

Alliance for the Great Lakes, a Chicago nonprofit, praised the "work of many Congressional Great Lakes champions and thousands of citizens from around the Great Lakes region who have pushed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the White House to release this study."

Pressure to release the study has been mounting since a live silver carp was discovered 9 miles from Lake Michigan in June, well upstream of a series of electric barriers designed to keep two varieties of the invasive fish from reaching the Great Lakes, where it's expected they would overwhelm nearshore fisheries and could injure boaters when leaping from the water, as silver carp do when startled.

A two-week multi-agency search up and downstream of the T.J. O'Brien Lock and Dam on the Little Calumet River found no other silver or bighead carp. Autopsy results on the fish have not been released.

The Army Corps started the $8.2 million redesign study of the Brandon Road Lock & Dam on the Des Plaines River in 2015. Plan opponents worry it could harm commercial traffic flowing between the Mississippi River and the Chicago waterway system.

The corps calls Brandon Road a single control point for all five potential pathways carp could use to move from the Mississippi basin into the Great Lakes.

Dozens of Congress members from Great Lakes states have been calling for the plan's release, including the entire Michigan delegation. But some Great Lakes delegates have pushed the other way. Sixteen Republicans, mostly from Indiana and Illinois, said in a letter to the Trump administration that the study should remain on ice until a new Secretary of the Army is confirmed.

According to Illinois Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti, the Brandon Road redesign would involve a newly engineered channel, another electric barrier, water jets and noise cannons, and the first-of-its-kind flushing lock system that could cost up to $270 million to build and another $10 million to operate and maintain annually.

Illinois has fought efforts to hydrologically separate the Mississippi River and Great Lakes drainage basins, arguing the link is vital to commercial shipping and movement of agricultural commodities and other goods.

"Any plan that disrupts commercial navigation with a big-barge bottleneck at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam will face opposition from the state of Illinois," Sanguinetti wrote in a Chicago Tribune op-ed.

Earlier this year, a U.S. Geological Survey study determined Lake Michigan has sufficient food to sustain the invasive carp, which would likely congregate in protected waters like Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Macatawa and Green Bay.

Last year, a study in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society concluded that if bighead and silver carp became established in Lake Erie, prized sportfish like walleye and rainbow trout would decline and the carp could eventually account for 34 percent of the total fish weight in the lake.
Twenty-four teachers from across Michigan have been selected to serve on a new panel designed to provide guidance on the implementation of the state's new federal school accountability plan.

The two-dozen educators were chosen from more than 300 applicants who applied for a spot on the Michigan Teacher Leadership Advisory Council, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

Together, they'll offer feedback on state Superintendent Brian Whiston's plan to make Michigan a top-performing education state and the implementation of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

ESSA is the new federal education law, replacing the No Child Left Behind Act. It seeks to return significant power to the states to determine how to hold low-performing schools accountable and boost student performance.

Whiston said the teachers' "collective talents and experience will be an asset" as state officials work to boost student outcomes in Michigan.

"Based on the leadership these educators have demonstrated in our schools and communities, we know that Michigan's students are in great hands," Whiston said in a statement.

The advisory council was created through a $10,000 grant from the national Council of Chief State School Officers. The council has one mandatory in-person meeting on Aug. 9. The rest of the teachers' input will be delivered through online meetings.

The 24 teachers selected for the council are:

Chris Woods: Calumet Gina Pepin Escanaba

Jane Porath: Traverse City

Nikky Willison: Petoskey

Kymberli Wregglesworth: Onaway

Katie Lee: Alpena

Heather Gauck: Grand Rapids

Amber Kasic: Holland

Andrew Neumann: Bay-Arenac

John Barnes: Saginaw

Michael Whalen: Kearsley

Aimee Torok: Grand Blanc

Jeff Croley: DeWitt

Kevin Tobe: Haslett

Robyne Muray: Lansing

Laura Chang: Vicksburg

Jonathan Starkey: Sturgis

Gina Wilson: Early College Alliance, Eastern Michigan University

Rez Kayto: Ann Arbor

Becky Godin: Holly

Beth Gonzales: Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency

Matthew Homrich-Knieling: Cesar Chavez Public School Academy

Ciera Searcy: Detroit Public Schools Community District

Jasmine Bates: Van Buren
U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, who voted on the House version of a bill to repeal Obamacare after offering an $8 billion amendment to address his concerns about preexisting conditions, has joined a bipartisan group of House members to look at ways to stabilize the existing health care system.

Upton, R-St. Joseph, said in a Friday statement that he looks forward to "being a constructive, bipartisan partner" in efforts to stabilize insurance markets, lowering premiums, protecting those with pre-existing conditions and safeguarding states with Medicaid expansion.

"The path forward to fixing the healthcare mess is seeking bipartisan, common-sense common-ground," he said. "I have joined with nearly 50 members of both parties as part of the bipartisan "Problem Solvers" caucus to purse these goals."

In May, Upton ultimately joined the majority of his Republican colleagues in voting for the American Health Care Act, the House's plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

The former chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee initially expressed concerns the House plan did not give enough protections to those with pre-existing conditions, but changed his mind after House members adopted an $8 billion amendment for those with pre-existing conditions in states that sought waivers under the Republican health care plan.

Upton's comments come after the dramatic downfall of the U.S. Senate's failed effort to do a "skinny repeal" of the Affordable Care Act early Friday morning. U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, were the three Republicans who voted no on the legislation, joining the entire Democratic caucus.

Senators previously rejected Senate Republicans' initial repeal and replace plan, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, and a plan to repeal Obamacare and delay decision on a replace plan for two years.

Other Republican members of Michigan's Congressional delegation were frustrated with the Senate's lack of action.

"We did our job in the House. It wasn't easy, but we took necessary measures to stand by the promises we made to the American people," U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell, R-Dryden, said in a statement. "The Senate's inability to pass legislation to fix our broken health care system is disappointing to me, and it should be to all Americans."

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, accused Michigan's two U.S. Senators, Democrats Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, of contributing to the lack of inaction on fixing a broken health care system.

"Due to the Senate's inability to pass any type of reform, the status quo will continue to deteriorate forcing Michigan families to face even higher premiums, larger deductibles, and fewer choices to purchase the health insurance that best meets their needs," he said in a statement. "Michiganders should remember that both Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters created the status quo and are now refusing to fix it. That isn't leadership and frankly it's unacceptable."
KALAMAZOO, MI - U.S. Rep. Fred Upton said Friday that efforts to fix the nation's healthcare "mess" require a bipartisan common-sense approach.

The St. Joseph Republican offered some words Friday on his support for new health care legislation.

Upton has come under fire over the last several weeks for his support of the American Health Care Act (the GOP health care legislation intended to replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare).

The bill was narrowly approved in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 4. Republicans have been working to rally enough votes to pass the legislation in the Senate.

In a release issued Friday afternoon, Upton stated:

"The path forward to fixing the healthcare mess is seeking bipartisan, common-sense common-ground. At the top of our list is stabilizing insurance markets and ensuring lower premiums for patients. Our other goals are simple and what I've fought for all along: Protect those with pre-existing conditions and ensure states that expanded Medicaid, like Michigan, are secure. This will safeguard the most vulnerable amongst us so they do not have the rug ripped out from under them. I look forward to being a constructive, bipartisan partner in these efforts. To that effect, I have joined with nearly 50 members of both parties as part of the bipartisan "Problem Solvers" caucus to purse these goals."

Problem Solvers is a bipartisan group of House members that has reportedly been meeting in recent weeks to discuss ways to stabilize the Affordable Care Act.

Upton had previously come out against the GOP health care legislation, saying he would not support the legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. But he and other members of the House met with President Donald Trump on May 3 to discuss the legislation. On May 4, Upton said he would support the legislation with an $8 billion amendment added over five years.

Upton said he supported the bill after House leadership agreed to his amendment to make $8 billion available to assist those with pre-existing conditions in states that seek waivers under the Republican health care plan.

Since then, he has faced multiple protests at his Kalamazoo and St. Joseph offices.

Read 12 ways the Senate GOP health-care plan could impact Michigan.
ALMER TWP, MI -- An elderly Tuscola County woman lost $4,000 to scammers on the belief that she was helping bail her grandson out of jail in Switzerland, police say.

While her grandson actually was in Switzerland at the time, he was not jailed, said Tuscola County Sheriff Glen Skrent. Further, the scammers were not Swiss officials, as they had pretended.

The woman bought $4,000 worth of gift cards at Walmart and provided their account numbers to the scammers in hopes of freeing her grandson, Skrent said.

Deputies were alerted of the scheme Friday, July 28.

The woman, who is a widow, told them she received a call that her grandson was in Swiss jail and that the caller had briefly put a younger man on the phone who sounded like her grandson, the sheriff said.

The woman felt they were legitimate because they were able to answer all of her questions and told her that her kin was "extremely nervous and shaken," Skrent said.

Further, the caller indicated attorneys were involved.

At first, the caller told the woman to withdraw $3,000 in bail money, purchase gift cards with it and then transmit it to them via the card's identification number, Skrent said. She complied.

Two days later, she received a call again asking to do the same, but this time with $1,000, Skrent said. She again did so.

The sheriff did not disclose the phony charges the woman's grandson was allegedly being held on, nor how the woman eventually came to realize the fraud.

The woman told deputies she did not know how someone would know she had a grandson in Switzerland.

The fraud complaint remains under investigation, and Walmart is attempting to track the cards via history of purchases made with them, Skrent said.

Information about where the scammers are based is not immediately available.
SAGINAW, MI -- An 81-year-old Ithaca man faces life in prison on accusations he sexually assaulted two boys ages 5 and 9 last month.

Gerald David Campbell was arraigned Friday, July 28, on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Prosecutors allege Campbell engaged in oral sex and sexual contact with the boys over a three-day period in mid-June in Saginaw Township, according to court documents.

At arraignment, Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Jolina O'Berry argued a high bond for Campbell, saying it appears the man was preparing to flee before he was arrested.

When Campbell was arrested, detectives executed a search warrant on his home and found a bag packed with a checkbook, fresh clothes and a passport.

"It is definitely textbook of what a flight risk is," O'Berry said.

District Judge David Hoffman concurred, labeling the man a "substantial flight risk" and giving him a $200,000 bond.

Before that judgment, Campbell's attorney, William Montgomery, attempted to argue a bond of less than $100,000. Montgomery said Campbell does not have a criminal record, is a Ford Motor Company retiree and has family in the area.

If bonded out of jail, Campbell must forfeit his passport and must not have contact with the alleged victims nor anyone under the age of 13, Hoffman ordered.

Campbell's upcoming court dates were adjourned and must be rescheduled at a later date, as Montgomery said he must do considerable looking into the case "to do an adequate job."

Campbell remains lodged in the Saginaw County Jail.
BRIDGEPORT TOWNSHIP, MI -- A 38-year-old man has died from injuries he suffered when a van turned in front of the motorcycle he was driving on Washington Road in Bridgeport Township about 1:50 p.m. on Friday, July 28.

Jeremy James Leonard was westbound on Washington on a 2003 Harley Davidson when a 2004 Ford Freestar van that was eastbound on Washington attempted to make a left turn onto Sheridan and turned directly into Leonard's path, according to Michigan State Police Lt. David Kaiser.

Kaiser said Leonard was transported to the hospital where he later died. Leonard was not wearing a helmet, Kaiser said.

The 20-year-old female driver of the van was not injured, according to Kaiser.

The case will be turned over to the Saginaw County Prosecutor's Office for review, Kaiser said.
The shutdown of Madisons Oscar Mayer plant is nearly complete.

The final group of union-represented Oscar Mayer employees and nearly all of the remaining salaried staff walked out of the factory Friday afternoon, their jobs over.

Three maintenance supervisors are the only ones left to keep an eye on the now-stilled, hulking meat processing plant, said Doug Leikness, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 538.

Meanwhile, negotiations continue with a possible buyer for the property, said Michael Mullen, spokesman for Oscar Mayers parent company, Kraft Heinz.

The process with a potential buyer remains ongoing and nothing is final, Mullen said.

Reich Brothers, a company known for buying closed factories and selling their assets, has been looking over the site. Co-CEO Adam Reich couldnt be reached for comment on Friday.

Leikness said representatives of a firm interested in the 72-acre property, at 910 Mayer Ave., visited the Oscar Mayer plant several times this week. He said two men and a woman parked in the unions portion of the parking lot, and the woman said they represented a potential buyer but did not identify the company.

Leikness also said three workers in the plants power house were asked to submit resumes to the prospective but unnamed buyer  in two cases, in messages delivered by Kraft Heinz, and in the other, by someone who claimed to represent the possible buyer.

The power house runs the facilitys electricity, water and refrigeration, and handles fire protection.

Oscar Mayer had its headquarters in Madison from 1919 to 2016 and was a huge, East Side employer with 4,000 workers at its peak in the 1970s, producing hot dogs and a wide variety of lunch meats. Production ended one month ago.

The plant is one of seven Kraft Heinz factories ordered closed in a corporate restructuring announced in November 2015.

One, a Lunchables factory in Fullerton, California, will stay open. Of the others, at least two have been purchased and will see new life. A crouton plant in Federalsburg, Maryland, bought by Eastern Shore Forest Products will make animal bedding, while a cheese factory in Campbell, New York, being purchased by Upstate Niagara Cooperative will continue making dairy products.
ANN ARBOR -- With the recent departure of long-snapper Scott Sypniewski, Michigan's back the market for some future help in that always important department.

One of those candidates should be a bit familiar.

Zach Drevno, son of Michigan offensive coordinator Tim Drevno, announced via Twitter late Friday that he'll have an opportunity to be a preferred walk-on long snapper at Michigan in 2018.

Drevno is currently prepping at Saline High School, a school he's been at since his father joined Jim Harbaugh at Michigan in 2015.

Excited to have received a PWO from The University of Michigan #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/SjVDqsIgAY  Zach Drevno (@Zdrevno) July 29, 2017

He would come with some accolades, too.

Zach Drevno was rated as the No. 8 long snapper in America for the class of 2018 per Brandon Kornblue's national kicker/punter/snapper rating service.

Sypniewski, Michigan's main long snapper, was on scholarship with the Wolverines but opted to take a graduate transfer to Vanderbilt for his fifth season.

Michigan should also return walk-on snapper Andrew Robinson, who saw some action in 2016 for the Wolverines.
Bajaj Chetak | A worthy mention and an icon among scooter riders, the Chetak has been immortalised as the first scooter with manual gearing. With a name to justify its loyalty, early Chetak owners had no idea that their beloved scooter will live to serve multiple generations of their family. With such a time-tested track record, it wouldnt be wrong to expect the Chetak to hit the Indian roads once again. This was a list of iconic Indian motorcycles which should make a return to the Indian market. Whether our wishes come true, only time can tell. (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Rajiv Bajaj is known to be candid. And he stayed true to form while addressing shareholders at Bajaj Autos tenth AGM last week. I know at least two people who think that Bajaj should re-enter the scooter market, the companys managing director said. One of them is the Vice Chairman, and the second one I dont need to mention.

Rajiv was referring to his father, Rahul Bajaj, the Chairman of the Bajaj Group. The last time Bajaj Auto made a scooter was in 2009. Thats probably a hard fact to digest for a man who ruled the scooter market for several years.

And it was one particular model that made him king.

First launched in 1972, the Bajaj Chetak was at one point the largest selling scooter in India. However, the Permit Raj of that period meant its production was capped. As a result, demand continued to shoot through the roof year after year. At one point, the two-wheeler had a 10-year waiting period. Even second-hand Chetaks were hard to come by and those that were available cost a bomb.

M Gabriel, a retired university professor from Chennai, fondly recalls his Bajaj Chetak. Bought in the 1980s, it was first his vehicle. One of my daughters would sit in the front and the other would sit at the back, he says.

That seating arrangement was the enduring image of Indian middle class families of the 70s and 80s.

The scooter became a status symbol. There were tales about marriages being delayed to coincide with the arrival of a Chetak, which was part of the dowry.

So 45 years on, what lies behind the enduring legacy of this two-wheeler?

For starters, the Chetak turned out to be the perfect fit for a family mans needs and aspirations. Its generous uni-body design gave ample leg space to the driver and riding pillion was also a comfortable affair. The sizeable trunk space ensured that market supplies could be tucked underneath the seat or in between the drivers legs on those rare spendthrift days.

Then there was the mileage. Gabriel says the last time he regularly used his Chetak in 2013, it gave 30-40 kilometres per litre on average as he dutifully serviced it twice a year. Like several other Chetak owners, he also accepted its little quirks, like how it occasionally needed to be tipped to one side for the petrol to reach the spark plug before starting and how the clutch wire and handle needed to be adjusted. The Chetak also needed to be jump started by pushing it before kickstarting the scooter as it rolled along.

In those days, the scooter was the gentlemans ride, recalls Gabriel. With its loud engine, the Enfield was seen as the choice of a rasher driver.

Hakeem K from Mallapuram in Kerala owns three vintage scooters, one of which is a prized 2005 model of the Chetak. This was the first scooter I bought. I had my eyes on it since the 11th grade, he said. My friend sold it to me for Rs 15,000 and I havent looked back since.

Hakeem even took a 700-kilometre trip on his Chetak to Thanjavur in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. "There was no problem with the engine at any point," he said.

But the allure faded over time. The next generation, many of whom learnt to ride a two-wheeler on the Chetak, went on to choose motorbikes that were edgier, sturdier, faster and economical.

Bajaj finally exited the scooter segment because it failed to develop their models effectively, which led to their market share being eroded.

In the end, the iconic scooter was killed off in 2005 as Bajaj Auto felt the motorcycle market would be a better bet.

Today, the Chetak is a firm favourite among vintage scooter fans. On Facebook pages such as Bajaj Chetak Rocks, there is trading of both old models and modification ideas.Several American and European Chetak owners also proudly post videos and images of their famous rides

In 2015, Bajaj Auto re-registered the Chetak brand name, hinting that the window of returning to scooters is still open despite the company having invested all its energy in making motorcycles. However, it was evident at last weeks AGM that Rajiv Bajaj faces a dilemma.

His father, Rahul Bajaj, turned 79 last month. Some of my colleagues told me that maybe he will retire if I make a scooter, Rajiv said. It is such a special occasion that we cant make just another stupid 100cc scooter. I think we should make a Rolls-Royce on two wheels, an outstanding scooter which does not exist anywhere in the world.

He then asked the shareholders two questions.

Rajiv: Should we make such an outstanding scooter?

Shareholders: Yes

Rajiv: And if we make such a scooter, should my father retire?

Shareholders: No

Rajiv: I knew that.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) looks on during a press conference about his resistance to the so-called "Skinny Repeal" of the Affordable Care Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 27, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein - RTX3D7T1

US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose gradual diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent this war-torn country from being a launch pad for terrorist attacks against the United states.

McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress.

The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA- 2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies, and its core interests.

The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan Government and reduce the Taliban's control of the Afghan population.

As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives including India under this move.

The legislative amendment calls for "imposing graduated diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

"It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan."

Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying America's regional diplomatic efforts working through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The move is also aimed towards advance regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation, and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states.

The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of American economic, and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anti- corruption, financial transparency, and the rule of law.

Calling for increasing the number of US counter terrorism forces in Afghanistan; the amendment calls for providing the United States military with "status-based targeting authorities" against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al- Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and other terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and its core interests.

In his amendment, McCain calls for pursuing a joint agreement to secure a long-term, open-ended counter terrorism partnership between the US and Afghanistan, which he said would include an enduring United States counter terrorism presence in Afghanistan.

The US Senate is yet to vote on NDAA-2018.

Yesterday, in a statement, McCain rued on the delay in its passage.

"It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now, the National Defense Authorization Act," he said.

"For 55 years in a row, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides our men and women in uniform with the resources, capabilities, and pay and benefits that they need to perform their missions on behalf of the American people and keep our country safe. This legislation is more vital than ever," McCain said.

"Global terrorist networks, increasing great power competition with Russia and China, malign Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East, a North Korean dictator racing to acquire missiles that can hit the United States with nuclear weaponsthe threats to our national security have not been more complex or daunting than at any time in the past seven decades," he said.
Army chief General Bipin Rawat today visited LoC posts in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir and directed the troops to remain prepared to counter the nefarious designs of the "adversary".

Rawat, who arrived on a two-day visit to the Jammu region this morning, reviewed the operational preparedness of the forces posted along the Line of Control (LoC), where there have several instances of ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces in the recent past.

He complimented the troops for their efforts and reiterated the need to remain ever prepared to counter the nefarious designs of the adversary, an official said.

The chief of Army staff, accompanied by northern Army Commander Lt Gen D Anbu visited the White Knight Corps to review the operational preparedness and the prevailing security situation, a defence spokesman said.

The Army chief was briefed by Lt Gen A K Sharma, GOC, about the preparedness of White Knight Corps in dealing with the emerging and dynamically changing security situation and the measures taken to thwart any misadventure by inimical forces, he said.

"The COAS also visited Rajouri wherein he was briefed on the operational readiness by the GOC Ace of Spades division," the spokesman said.

The Army chief visited forward posts along the LoC where he was briefed on the actions being undertaken to ensure a robust counter infiltration grid, he added.

The Army chief arrived around 10 AM and flew to forward areas along LoC in Rajouri-Poonch belt, where he reviewed the security situation along the LoC in the wake of the recent heavy shelling by Pakistan army.

Nine soldiers were among 11 people killed while 16 others were injured in cross border firing month along the LoC in J&K.

The month also saw over 110 livestock falling prey to shelling and firing by Pakistani army in which nearly 35 structures, including over two dozen houses, were damaged along the LoC in Rajouri district alone.

Over 4,000 villagers have been moved to government camps at safer places in the district.

There has been an increase in the ceasefire violations in the past few months. Pakistan troops violated ceasefire 83 times in June and 79 times in the month of May.
The deadline to file Income Tax Return (ITR) for the financial year 2016-17 is just around the corner  July 31. The government had announced in Budget 2017 that it would impose fine of up to Rs 10,000 for those who do not file their ITRs on time.

However, the imposition of fine for delayed filing will be effective from April 1, 2018, i.e., for the fiscal year 2018 or assessment year 2018-19.

For online filing of income tax return, one can fill the form here: http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/eFiling/.

But here's a list of documents you need before filing your returns:

> PAN card and Aadhaar details. Linking PAN to Aadhaar card has been made mandatory this year

> Bank details and activities such as interest earned on bank deposits, fixed deposits, interest paid on loans, etc.

> Filling the correct ITR form

> Declaring TDS (tax deduction at source) certificates by filling form 26AS

> All pending tax dues need to be paid off for claiming TDS

> Proof of deductions as per sections 80U and 80C

> All sources of income. For instance, if one is earning via rent, interest earnings or investments

> Salaried employees should keep their payslips ready

Apart from the basic documents, one is required to file relevant forms according to their source of income and income brackets.

Here's the list of the forms one is supposed to fill before July 31 -

> If one is employed by an employer, he or she will be known as salaried employee. The employers will ask their employees to file Form 16. If the employers do not provide them with form 16, there is another alternative to file ITRs.

> Other sources of income like for those who earn income through a salary or pension or from a property or from other sources, has to file ITR-1 (Sahaj) form. If the individual is earning an income from more than one property, they are not eligible to file this form. Other eligibility norms are mentioned below 

(Source: http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/ )

> For people who are partners in a firm, they will be required to file for ITR-2.

> If an individual is carrying out a proprietary business or a profession, he has to fill ITR-3.

> If one runs a business or is a part of a partnership firm, they are required to file for ITR- 4 (Sugam). Other specifications include 

(Source: http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/ )

> The above mentioned ITRs have to be filed not only by individuals or partners running businesses, but also if the income is earned by Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs). HUFs are joint families who own properties, businesses under the family name.

> The firm, representative of the firm, Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), Association of Persons (AOPs), Body of Individuals (BOIs), has to file for ITR-5.

> Companies have to file form ITR-6, except for the companies which are exempted from section 11.

> Companies and persons who fall under this spectrum  trusts, political parties, institutions, colleges, investment fund, etc.  will have to file for ITR-7. In legal terms, if companies or persons fall under sections 139(4A), 139(4B), 139(4C), 139(4D), 139(4E) or 139(4F), they will have to file for this return.

If the correct ITR is not filed for, one can get a notice from the department, asking to file the ITR again within the stipulated time.
A Jawaharlal National University (JNU) student has alleged he was beaten up at the Rajiv Chowk metro station here by a few CISF personnel and told he would be "sent to Pakistan", prompting the paramilitary force to order a probe even as it rejected the charges.

In a Facebook post, Aman Sinha, 22, who is pursuing a Master's degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the incident occurred on Thursday evening and alleged the involvement of CISF personnel posted at the security check point of the busy station.

Sinha, who was sporting a beard, claimed that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel got enraged when he "defied" their instructions to take off his earphones, which is a laid down protocol that passengers are expected to follow.

It was followed by a heated argument, he said.

"Then another CISF person came and said you are spoiling the name of the nation, 'Pakistan bhejenge tum mussalay ko aaj.'(You Muslim, we will banish you to Pakistan today). They dragged me to the security office through the very long passage where there was no CCTV and no public.

"They started abusing my mother and sister, thrashing and beating me very badly, saying that 'public k samne humara naam kharab kar diya'. I tried to record it which they later made me delete and threw away my phone," he alleged.

When contacted, the CISF said the student was only asked to write an apology letter for his behaviour with the security personnel, and was neither "manhandled" nor "thrashed."

"He started yelling and arguing with constables Shoeb and PC Bisht who were on duty after he was asked to remove the earphones, which is a normal security drill in the Delhi Metro.

He was unwilling and used abusive language after which he was taken to the metro control room," a senior CISF officer said.

He added that Sinha was taken to the control room of the station where he tendered an apology in writing.

As per CCTV records, the officer said, the entire episode lasted about 30 minutes and the student was then allowed to go.

A senior CISF official later said an inquiry has been ordered into the entire episode.
Invenra, a Madison startup involved in the race to find drugs that will beat cancer, says it is teaming with Merck, one of the worlds leading pharmaceutical companies.

Invenra said it is collaborating with Merck to find the best antibodies for treating an unnamed target of interest to Merck. The two sides are not saying what that disease target is or how much money Invenra will receive from the global health care giant.

We are excited to be working with this first-rate team in Merck, said Roland Green, Invenra co-founder and CEO.

Invenra has developed a portfolio of antibodies, or proteins produced by the immune system to fight diseases. We have replicated the human immune system antibody repertoire in a tube, Green said.

The company also has technology to rapidly analyze a large number of antibodies and zero in on the ones that will be most effective in fighting a particular disease.

What we offer is the ability to do high-throughput testing and screening, Green said. They think our technology is a good fit to solve their problem.

Antibodies are commonly used to attack viruses and bacteria. Recently, they have become an increasingly popular tool in cancer drugs. Antibodies can activate T cells, a type of white blood cell that can go after cancerous tumors. The type of treatment, called immunotherapy or immuno-oncology, gets the patients own immune system to fight cancer instead of treating the disease by poisoning the cancer cells via chemotherapy.

Invenra specializes in an extra-strength type of antibody that can target two locations on a cancer cell simultaneously instead of just one, Green said.

When the antibodies are screened for their capability to fight a particular disease, the T cells being activated give off a green glow, Green said.

In addition to helping other companies with drug development, Invenra is working on its own series of drugs. Invenra is collaborating with Dr. Paul Sondel, a UW Health pediatric oncologist in Madison, in early tests of drugs to treat skin and brain cancers.

Also on the drawing board are potential drugs against lung cancer, triple-negative breast cancer and multiple myeloma, Green said.

Founded in 2012, Invenra has raised $11.2 million so far  all from Wisconsin angel (individual) investors, he said. The company, at 505 S. Rosa Road in University Research Park, has 20 employees and plans to expand.

Green said he expects to hire 10 more employees over the next six to 12 months but will have to find larger quarters for the company first.

Invenra is not Greens first company. He was a co-founder of NimbleGen, a company spun off of UW-Madison research that developed a quick, inexpensive way to make gene chips. NimbleGen was bought by Roche in 2007 for $272.5 million.

Green said Invenras partnership with Merck has meant a lot to the small Madison business. Its validation  one of the leading companies in the world values our capabilities, he said.

Its also drawn the attention of other drug developers. Weve had pharmaceutical companies approach us out of the blue, which hasnt happened to us (before), Green said.

He said if the collaboration works out well, he hopes it will lead to additional business from Merck, as well.
Vikram Goud, a Telangana Youth Congress leader and the son of a former Andhra Pradesh minister, was allegedly shot at in his residence, the police said.

His family members said an "intruder" fired at him yesterday early morning.

Vikram, in his mid-30s, is the son of former Andhra Pradesh minister M Mukesh Goud.

He was found with bullet wounds in his body at his house in Film Nagar, an upmarket area of the city, under suspicious circumstances, the police said, adding that he was out of danger now.

"The incident occurred between 3 am and 3.30 am yesterday," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone) A Venkateshwar Rao.

Following a complaint from Vikram's wife, the police registered a case of attempt to murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and added the relevant Arms Act sections to it.

Ten police teams have been formed to crack the case.

According to Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahendar Reddy, in her complaint, Vikram's wife Shipali M alleged that an "intruder" fired at her husband, following which she rushed him to a private hospital in their car.

Reddy said as per the sequence of events narrated by Shipali, the couple was getting ready to visit a place of worship and Vikram was waiting for her on the ground floor of their house.

"Suddenly, his wife heard gunshots and subsequently, found Vikram lying in a pool of blood on the ground," he added.

The DCP said that according to the doctors at the hospital, Vikram was out of danger now.

According to the hospital authorities, Vikram suffered bullet injuries on his arms, chest and spinal cord. One bullet had been removed, they added.

"He is in the ICU and his condition is stable," a source in the hospital said.

"The case is being investigated. We are scanning the CCTV footage obtained from the locality. We are reconstructing the crime scene. The victim is yet to reveal his version," said the police commissioner.

Mukesh Goud, a Congress leader, was a minister in the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government in the united Andhra Pradesh.
Amid the exit of six Congress Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) ahead of Rajya Sabha polls, a senior party legislator today said Ahmed Patel will find it difficult to win the elections as more opposition lawmakers are likely to resign in the days to come.

Congress MLA Raghavjee Patel, considered close to former party strongman Shankersinh Vaghela, indicated he would also resign and join the BJP.

Ahmed Patel has been fielded by the Congress for the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls.

"The state party leadership, along with Congress high command, is responsible for whatever is happening right now. In the coming days, around 20 Congress MLAs would severe ties with the party. Thus, it will be impossible for Ahmed Patel to win the Rajya Sabha polls," Raghavjee told media persons.

"When I met Ahmed bhai recently, I cautioned him about this situation and urged him not to contest polls, as I already saw this coming. I firmly believe the Congress cannot win the Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat," said the MLA from Jamnagar (Rural) seat.

"Since there are only two main parties in Gujarat, the BJP is the only option for me if I leave the Congress. I have already had a word with BJP national president Amit Shah and state president Jitubhai Vaghani and conveyed my wish to join the party," said Raghavjee.

Another Congress MLA from Jamnagar, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, also indicated he would leave the party.

"A large number of Congress workers are unhappy with the way the party is functioning. Though I and Raghavjee had made numerous representations about it in the past, the party high command has not given any satisfactory answer. I will take appropriate decision in coming days," said the MLA from Jamnagar (North) seat.

During last two days, six Congress MLAs have tendered their resignation. Three of them, including Balwantsinh Rajput, joined the BJP yesterday.

Rajput is now pitted against Ahmed Patel.

In the 182-member Assembly, the strength of Congress has gone down to 51.

Of the total 11 RS members from the state, the term of three of them -- Smriti Irani and Dilipbhai Pandya (both BJP) and Ahmed Patel -- is ending on August 18.
Nagpur: Congress Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi addressing at a public meeting to mark culmination of 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, at Kasturchand Park in Nagpur on Monday. PTI Photo (PTI4_11_2016_000433B)

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today demanded the resignation of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh over the Panama Papers issue, citing the case of Nawaz Sharif who quit as Pakistani prime minister.

Gandhi alleged, "Sharif resigned after his and his family's name figured in the Panama Papers scandal but Chief Minister Raman Singh's family is also facing allegations in the Panama Papers issue and he has not yet resigned."

"It is because he belongs to the RSS and the BJP and they can indulge in corruption," he said wryly.

Last year, the Congress had alleged Singh's son Abhishek held offshore assets as per the Panama Papers leak.

Panama Papers are leaked documents of about 1.15 crore files containing details of about 2.15 lakh bank accounts.

Both the chief minister and his son, the Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon, had rubbished the allegations. The chief minister had described the charges as "baseless and unfounded".

Gandhi, on a two-day tour to the state, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of overlooking the corruption of the BJP chief ministers.

"Modiji talks about fighting corruption, but he can't see the corruption of the Chhattisgarh chief minister. The Rajasthan chief minister, too, has been linked to corruption, but Modiji is not speaking about it," the Congress leader alleged.

He was addressing a rally in Markel, a tribal village near here in Bastar district. The rally was organised to oppose the proposed disinvestment of the NMDC's steel plant in Nagarnar area. The plant in Markel is under construction.

"For the first time in the country, I have seen that a steel plant, which is still being set up, is being privatised. People from the RSS and the BJP don't want development of tribals," he alleged.

"They want you to become slaves of rich people in big cities," claimed the 47-year-old Amethi MP, addressing the gathering which mostly comprised adivasis.

Gandhi alleged that land and forests belonging to tribals are being snatched and given to industrialists.

In 2004, Tata Steel proposed to set up a plant in Bastar for which people gave their land but later the company scrapped its plan. The acquired land was not given back to owners, the Congress leader alleged.
Yogi Adityanath

Some people are "allergic" to the name of Lord Ram and they should take a lesson from Indonesia, an Islamic nation "proud of the traditions" of the deity, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said today.

Adityanath was speaking during the budget discussion at the Legislative Council, where alleged that Ayodhya, believed to be the birthplace of Ram, had been discriminated against.

"Our government has started the renovation of the ghats there. We are going to make a Ram Museum there. We have also decided to connect Ayodhya with Sitamadhi with a four-lane road under Ramayan circuit," he said.

In our present times, Uttar Pradesh does not need socialism (samajwadi), but nationalism (rashtrawad), he asserted. "Equality is sign of rashtrawad."

The chief minister said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is working towards development without discrimination on the basis of religion or caste.

"Some persons have allergy with the name of Lord Ram despite the fact that after death 'Ram naam satya' is chanted. But then also they say why take the name of Ayodhya.

"You go to the Muslim country, Indonesia, and see that they are proud of the traditions of Ram. Those who have allergy with the name of Ram should take a lesson from them," the chief minister said.

Adityanath said the Samajwadi Party claims to follow the ideology of Ram Manohar Lohia. "His name also has Ram. But instead of feeling proud of the traditions of Ram, they feel ashamed."

During the chief minister's speech, the entire opposition including SP, Congress and BSP were not present in the House.

In their absence, Appropriation and other Bills were unanimously passed in the House.
The US today imposed new sanctions on six Iran-based entities, targeting the country's ballistic missile programme, a day after Tehran launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space.

The sanctions have been slapped against Shahid Karimi Industries, Shahid Rastegar Industries, Shahid Cheraghi Industries, Shahid Varamini Industries, Shahid Kalhor Industries and Amir Al Mo'Menin Industries -- the subordinates of Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), an entity which the US says is central to Iran's ballistic missile programme.

Such a move by the Department of Treasury comes a day after Iran carried out a launch of the Simorgh space launch vehicle. The test, however, was not successful.

The Treasury said that space launch vehicles use technologies that are closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile and this launch represents a threatening step by Iran.

"The US government will continue to aggressively counter Iran's ballistic missile-related activity, whether it be a provocative space launch, its development of threatening ballistic missile systems, or likely support to Yemeni Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia such as occurred this past weekend.

"These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program, and underscore the US' deep concerns with Iran's continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behaviour," said Treasury Secretary Steven T Mnuchin.

As a result of this action, all property and interests in property of those designated today subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

In addition, foreign financial institutions that facilitate significant transactions for, or persons that provide material or certain other support to, the entities designated today risk exposure to sanctions that could sever their access to the US financial system or block their property and interests in property under the US jurisdiction.
Heres how members of Wisconsins congressional delegation voted on major issues in the week ending July 29.

Note: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, did not vote. By custom, the speaker does not vote except in rare circumstances.

HOUSE

Class Action Lawsuits, Arbitration Clauses: Voting 231-190, the House on July 25 nullified a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that would enable individuals to band together to file class action lawsuits against credit card issuers, banks, payday lenders and other retail financial firms regulated by the bureau. The rule scheduled to take effect in mid-September prohibits the use of arbitration clauses to bar customers from participating in class-action suits. A yes vote was to send the measure (HJ Res 111) to the Senate.

Voting yes: James Sensenbrenner, R-5, Glenn Grothman, R-6, Sean Duffy, R-7, Mike Gallagher, R-8

Voting no: Mark Pocan, D-2, Ron Kind, D-3, Gwen Moore, D-4

Economic Sanctions on Russia: Voting 419-3, the House passed a bill on July 25 that would enable Congress to prohibit any U.S. president from easing or removing U.S. economic sanctions on Russia. The bill also would expand American sanctions on the Russian government and Russian entities and industrial sectors in response to provocations such as the Kremlins interference in the 2016 presidential election and its aggression in Ukraine. In addition, the bill would expand U.S. economic sanctions on Iran and North Korea. A yes vote was to send HR 3364 to the Senate.

Voting yes: Pocan, Kind, Moore, Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, Gallagher

$800 Billion in 2018 Spending: The House on July 27 passed, 235-192, a cluster of four fiscal 2018 appropriations bills totaling nearly $800 billion, including $658.1 billion for basic military operations and actions in war zones and $88.8 billion for veterans programs and military construction. A yes vote backed HR 3219 over objections to its providing $1.6 billion for a wall on the Mexican border that President Trump said Mexico would pay for.

Voting yes: Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, Gallagher

Voting no: Pocan, Kind, Moore

Proposed Cuts for Budget Office: The House on July 26 rejected, 107-314, an amendment to HR 3219 (above) that sought to cut the Congressional Budget Offices 2018 budget by half, or $25.4 million, as a penalty for what critics said were grossly inaccurate forecasts years ago of the eventual number of Americans covered by the Affordable Care Act. A yes vote was to slash the CBOs operating budget.

Voting yes: Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, Gallagher

Voting no: Pocan, Kind, Moore

SENATE

Defeat of Healthcare Repeal: Voting 49-51, the Senate defeated on July 28 a GOP-sponsored measure to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, ending the latest attempt by congressional Republicans to take down the 2010 law. This amendment to HR 1628 sought to eliminate the laws individual and employer mandates; scale back Medicaid; delay an excise tax on medical devices; expand Health Savings Accounts; weaken minimal coverage standards and put a one-year hold on patients using Medicaid for Planned Parenthood care, among other provisions. A yes vote was to repeal the core of the 2010 health law.

Voting yes: Ron Johnson, R

Voting no: Tammy Baldwin, D

Make-or-Break Healthcare Vote: By a tally of 51-50, with Vice President Mike Pence casting the deciding vote, the Senate started debate July 25 on a House-passed bill (HR 1628, above) that was the vehicle for later votes to repeal, replace or overhaul the Affordable Care Act. Had Republicans lost this crucial vote, they would have faced a choice of either pausing their seven-year fight against the ACA or inviting Democrats to work with them to draft a bipartisan replacement. A yes vote was to start another round of healthcare debate.

Voting yes: Johnson

Voting no: Baldwin

Preserving Medicaid Expansion: Voting 48-52, the Senate rejected on July 26 a Democratic amendment that sought to strip HR 1628 (above) of provisions that would curtail Medicaid benefits for those currently eligible, prevent or discourage additional states from expanding Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act or shift additional Medicaid costs to state governments. A yes vote was to preserve the 2010 health laws Medicaid expansion in 31 states.

Voting yes: Baldwin

Voting no: Johnson

Rand Pauls Obamacare Repeal: Voting 45-55, the Senate rejected on July 26 an amendment by Rand Paul, R-Ky., to HR 1628 (above) that sought to repeal key parts of the Affordable Care Act, including its individual and employer mandates and Medicaid expansion in 31 states. A yes vote was to repeal but not replace core provisions of Obamacare.

Voting yes: Johnson

Voting no: Baldwin

Ted Cruzs Healthcare Plan: The Senate on July 25 defeated, 43-57, an amendment by Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to HR 1628 (above) that sought to allow insurers to offer deregulated bare-bones health plans in a state if they also sell ones that meet Affordable Care Act coverage requirements. A yes vote backed a measure that would create a $100 billion fund to defray out-of-pocket costs for persons moving from Medicaid to private insurance.

Voting yes: Johnson

Voting no: Baldwin

Economic Sanctions on Russia: Voting 98-2, the Senate on July 27 joined the House in passing a bill (HR 3364, above) that would broaden U.S. economic sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea while prohibiting any U.S. president from easing or lifting sanctions on Russia without the approval of Congress. A yes vote was to send the bill to President Trump for either his signature or veto.

Voting yes: Baldwin, Johnson

Key votes ahead

The Senate will debate the fiscal 2018 military budget in the week of July 30, while the House will be in recess.

 Thomas Voting Reports
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An 19-year-old Texas woman has been indicted on numerous felony counts after she lied about being sexually assaulted, according to police.

Breana Rachelle Harmon, of Pottsboro, was indicted Wednesday on two counts of third degree tampering with physical evidence, a third degree felony, as it relates a sexual assault hoax she perpetrated, Grayson County district attorney Joe Brown told Chron.com. Harmon could face 10 years in jail for each of these counts, Brown added.

Harmon was also charged with two counts of tampering with a government record. These counts relate specifically to the false statements she gave authorities, which caused reports to be falsified, Brown said.

READ MORE: Horse riding instructor accused of sexually assaulting child

"Ms. Harmon was originally arrested for the misdemeanor offense of False Report to a Peace Officer," Brown said in a news release Wednesday. "That charge was a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. However, the more we have looked at what happened in this case, and considered the harm it caused, and certainly could have caused, we believe what she did fits the elements of these higher charges. What she did was very serious, and we believe it was felony conduct."

Harmon's alleged ruse began on the afternoon of March 8 when she walked into a church at 3400 S. Eisenhower Parkway wearing a shirt, bra and underwear, Denison Police Chief Jay Burch said in a March 22 news release.

Harmon had scratches and cuts on her body. She told parishioners she had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted behind the church by three black men, Burch added. She said the men were wearing ski masks.

Harmon was taken to Texoma Medical Center for examination while patrol officers, detectives and the K-9 team scoured the area where she said she was taken and assaulted. Several pieces of evidence were gathered and more of Harmon's clothing and other personal effects were recovered, Burch said.

READ MORE: Baylor University under investigation by NCAA after sexual assault scandal

Harmon's story began to fall apart roughly two days into the Denison Police Department's investigation. Nearly every aspect of Harmon's story was staged, Burch said.

"Our team of detectives, led by John Watt, did an outstanding job in the case," Burch said. "Almost from the beginning, we had doubts in Harmon's story as the puzzle pieces just weren't coming together. We were unable to corroborate any of Harmon's allegations that she had been abducted or sexually assaulted."

READ MORE: Former Harris County deputy constable charged with sexual assault

Harmon's lies has a negative affect on the community, Burch said.

"This alleged crime as reported by Harmon made many in the community fearful there were individuals abducting women," Burch added. "Even though we know the story to be a hoax, there is still potential damage to the reputation of the City of Denison and the Texoma region as many may remember the reported crime but not the outcome. That is unfortunate."
A jury recently awarded $7 million to the family of Ashley DiPiazza after finding that two Madison police officers violated her constitutional rights when they fatally shot her while she was threatening to kill herself (and no one else).

The verdict comes in the wake of two other high-profile settlements in which Madison police officers shot young Madisonians. In the last two years, the city paid $2.3 million for the fatal shooting of Paul Heenan, and $3.35 million for the fatal shooting of Tony Robinson.

The progressive city I grew up in has paid the two highest shooting settlements in Wisconsin history, and now adds a $7 million jury verdict to that record.

All of the shootings above have one thing in common: the Madison Police Departments internal investigation process swiftly exonerated its officers. I represented the family of Tony Robinson, and through his case we studied the police departments internal investigation process.

I believe that process needs reform.

Lets start with the assumption that the departments internal investigation is thorough and objective. If true, the department has gathered and analyzed all of the facts and determined that its officer did nothing wrong. Yet in the DiPiazza case, for example, a jury consisting of a cross-section of the community looked at the same facts and determined the officers violated the most fundamental constitutional rights of a fellow citizen. The jury also gave punitive damages, which are awarded only in egregious cases.

Apparently, the community and the police department have very different views about what is acceptable officer conduct.

Thats the rosy picture. In reality, Robinsons case taught us that the Madison Police Departments internal investigation process is biased and superficial. The department never conducted a meaningful analysis of the evidence, including audio, video and forensic evidence that clearly contradicted the officers story. Instead, well before the investigation was complete, the police departments lead investigator commissioned a report justifying the shooting.

Likewise, in the Heenan case, the police departments internal investigators, as depicted in a video, worked to shape the key eyewitness story to favor the involved officers story.

And now in DiPiazza, the familys lawyers again showed that the officers version of events was contradicted by the forensic evidence. It cannot be that police investigators  people who process and rely on crime scene evidence for a living  are missing obvious problems with an officers story. Instead, internal investigators are deliberately blinding themselves to the truth.

The problem lies, in part, with a perverse police response to a landmark 2014 law in Wisconsin that requires outside investigators to review all officer-involved shootings, rather than the officers own department. Under the law, outside investigators gather the facts, and then a local district attorney decides if the officer had committed a crime. The law was intended to ensure the integrity of criminal investigations by removing bias. It was not supposed to be a substitute for a rigorous departmental internal investigation to determine if the officers acted in accordance with policies and training.

And for good reason. It is not the case that a shooting officer has committed murder or otherwise acted perfectly. Officers, like all of us, can make mistakes. An officers actions during a dynamic event like a shooting may not be worthy of criminal prosecution. Yet they still may warrant discipline, retraining or reassignment because the officers conduct does not comport with departmental or community expectations.

The problem is that when a district attorney has decided she cannot prove the officer committed homicide beyond a reasonable doubt  an enormously high burden  police departments trumpet that as a stamp of approval for its officers conduct. Thats exactly what the Madison Police Department has done after recent shootings, and Police Chief Mike Koval did it again after the recent DiPiazza jury verdict.

So where does that leave us? After three highly questionable shootings resulting in over $10 million in verdicts and settlements, Madison police meted out zero discipline. The departments internal investigation process fails to get at the truth, fails to reflect the expectations of the community it serves, or both.

Trust lies in the truth. I believe the city should take seriously calls for more community oversight of internal investigations. This is not unheard of. It is done in Minneapolis, San Francisco, Portland and other cities. If we can trust the community  as jurors  to make ultimate determinations of guilt and innocence, the diversity of perspective they bring can be beneficial at earlier stages.

My law firm litigates police misconduct cases around the country, including Chicago and other cities with long-plagued police departments. The Madison Police Department is better in nearly every way. But it shares one troubling trait: It reflexively defends its officers at all costs.

Madison is too special of a place for such unbefitting behavior.
MCFARLAND  Dane County has committed to using 100 percent renewable electricity by 2035.

It didnt make front-page news, but the Dane County Board just passed a resolution to join hundreds of other cities, counties and states committed to immediate climate action.

This resolution, which I was proud to sponsor, followed President Donald Trumps ill-conceived announcement to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord.

Despite claims from Trump and others, the scientific consensus is clear: human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels such as coal to generate electricity, are primarily responsible for accelerating global climate change.

And these changes are already being felt right here in southern Wisconsin with more frequent extreme weather events, including flooding, warmer temperatures and shorter winters. Were also seeing an increase of invasive species and a loss of native fish and wildlife habitat.

Thats why the County Board wants to do its part in addressing the risks of climate change and go beyond the modest goals of the Paris Accord. Were committed that by 2035 all electricity for county government operations will come from renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro and solar.

Climate change solutions will help protect the countys important industries such as agriculture and tourism. Addressing climate change also will create jobs and improve the economy while protecting the health and quality of life for Dane County residents.

Weve already acted by establishing a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program to promote the use of renewable energy in commercial development and building renovations.

The County Board also has supported the states largest municipal-owned solar installation at the Dane County Regional Airport, supplying 50 percent of electricity for the airports maintenance facility.

In addition, weve backed energy upgrades at other county facilities including geothermal technologies at the new Badger Prairie Health Care Center and the Childrens Zoo Barn at Vilas Park. And we continue to convert county landfill gas to electricity, generating $3.75 million annually for local taxpayers.

But while county government can lead by example, we certainly cant go it alone. The challenge of addressing global climate will take a commitment from individuals, businesses and our forward-looking electric utility partners.

Please join us in this important commitment  one that can both protect the planet and help grow a new, greener economy right here in Dane County.
'The big truck is still on ...
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Covenant Health Plainview is pleased to welcome new resident physicians Blake Cross, D.O. and Rolando Rodriguez, M.D. to our community hospital. Both are entering their second year with the Texas Tech University Health Science Centers Family Medicine Residency Program.

Born and raised in Amarillo, Cross graduated from Tascosa High School before heading to Baylor University in Waco. Wanting to eventually operate his own practice, Cross earned his Bachelors Degree in Business Administration.

From there, Cross earned his Masters Degree in Bio-Medical Science in Fort Worth at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. In 2016, Cross became a physician in Osteopathic Medicine after attending the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.

This isnt Crosss first visit to Plainview. Back in medical school, Cross said he completed a few rotations at Covenant Health Plainview.

I loved it so much I knew I wanted to come back, said Cross. I just enjoyed the people and this place so much.

Cross says he wants learn the broad spectrum of Family Medicine from delivering babies to performing procedures, and Covenant Health Plainview is the perfect place to do that. Cross is married to Alyssa, a speech pathologist in Lubbock, and the couple has a 2-month-old daughter named Ellis.

Also born and raised in West Texas, Rodriguez comes to Plainview from Stanton.

I like to say if the dirt aint blowing, then it aint home, stated Rodriguez.

Rodriguez completed his undergraduate degree in Biology at UT Permian basin in Odessa. From there he attended medical school at Texas A&M Universitys College of Medicine.

Rodriquez says he enjoys running, reading and spending time with my wife and son.

I look forward to furthering my understanding of rural medicine while here in Plainview, said Rodriguez.

Completing their third and final year of their residency in Plainview in 2017-2018 will be returning residents Atlas Trieu, M.D. and Chief Resident Lauren Swartz, M.D.
Azteca Millings Administrative Manager Lupita Torres and Human Resources Manager Lana Box were caught by surprise at Wednesdays Workforce Solutions South Plains Award Presentations when they were called forward a second time.

They knew they had been nominated for the Industry Sector Outreach Award, explains Danny Soliz of Lubbock, director of business development for Workforce Solutions South Plains. But after reading their write-up, we also made the decision to nominate and award them the local Employer of the Year in the workforce development area. Soliz says both awards are richly deserved.

As a result of receiving the local Employer of the Year award, we have submitted their nomination to the state level, Soliz said. With 28 local Workforce Solutions boards across the state, Aztecas nomination with go against 27 others for consideration for the state Employer of the Year honor. We wont know the results of the state-level award until late November or early December, when it is announced at the awards banquet in Dallas. But we feel that Azteca is a strong nominee.

On Wednesday, Workforce Solutions South Plains recognized outstanding employers from throughout its 15-county service area. Martin Aguirre, CEO explains the awards ceremony allows his agency a chance to thank its partners. Businesses were nominated for recognition by Workforce Solutions account representatives who work with employers on a daily basis.

During 2015-2016, Workforce Solutions South Plains in partnership with South Plains College brokered a Skills Development Fund training grant for Azteca, Soliz explains. This grant was for $69,380 to train 54 incumbent workers to enhance their skills to help them advance their careers and become more productive in the workplace.

A subsidiary of Gruma, Azteca Milling has been in business in the United States for more than 30 years. The Plainview plant has been in production since December 1990.

Azteca manufactures more than 50 types of corn masa flour that is utilized in traditional and non-traditional applications, including usage in the tortilla, snack and baking industries.

As the industry leader in the corn masa flour market, Azteca Milling is committed to manufacturing the highest quality products, delivering superior customer service, and investing in new product research and development. They manufacture, distribute, and market MASECA corn masa flour. Azteca Millings extensive client list includes companies in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Middle East.

Their vision is to help customers achieve their strategic objectives with state-of-the-art technology and highly qualified, motivated and professional staff.

Azteca Milling, Plainview considers their employees their most valuable asset, according to the award nomination. Every effort is made to select only the best candidates so that both staff and company achieve shared goals working as an efficient, professional team. Azteca Milling offers career opportunities in most major areas -- including sales, operations and administration. Azteca Milling continues to partnered with Workforce Solutions using WorkinTexas to staff their plant. Since January 2015, Azteca Milling has hired a total of 51 new employees. The Plainview plant has a total of 246 employees and with an annual payroll of $5 million is considered a major employer in Hale County. Azteca Milling continues to be an industry leader in salary and benefits. They employ over 507 workers in Texas.

Wednesdays regional award recepients, as reported by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, include:

--Texas Rising Star Providers: Westminster Presbyterian Preschool, Texas Tech Early Headstart

--Exemplary Child Chair Provider: Childrens World

--Exemplary Youth: Laura Cueto

--Service to Business: Builders Environmental Services

--Service to Community: City of Levelland

--Service to Workers: WesTech Plumbing LLC

--Industry Sector Outreach: Azteca Milling L.P.

--Employer of Excellence: Red River Commodities

--Employer of the Year: Azteca Milling L.P.
The Plainview/Hale County Crime Stoppers Committee will pay a reward of up to $750 to anyone with information that will lead to the arrest and indictment of the person or persons responsible for the following crime:

--At about 1:40 a.m. Thursday, two young men entered the Allsup's at 608 S. Broadway and robbed the clerk, by displaying what she believed to be shotguns. The suspects fled in an unknown direction.

The Plainview/Hale County Crime Stoppers Committee will pay a reward of up to $250 to anyone with information that will lead to the arrest and indictment of the person or persons responsible for the following crime:

--On July 4, two adult males opened a cash register and took an undisclosed amount of money from the Wal-Mart store.

The Plainview/Hale County Crime Stoppers Committee will pay a reward of up to $350 to anyone with information that will lead to the arrest and indictment of the person or persons responsible for the following crimes:

--On July 20, someone entered Bill Wells Chevrolet located at Fifth and Quincy. Suspects took several cans of spray paint and wrote gang symbols on the hike and bike trail.

--On July 17, someone entered Plainview Nutrition at 1903 Quincy and took miscellaneous items.

Fugitives: Crime Stoppers will pay a reward of up to $250 for information that leads to the arrest of the following persons. Warrants have been issued for their arrest. Callers can contact the Hale County Sheriffs Office Warrants Division at 296-2724 or contact the Crime Stoppers Hotline.

--Joel Ramirez Jr, 30, Hispanic male is wanted for tampering with physical evidence.

--Randall Keith Alexander, 26, black male is wanted for sexual assault.

--Erin Thompson, 34, white female is wanted possession of controlled substance.

--Robert Berlin Santiago, 20, Hispanic male is wanted for possession of controlled substance.

--Lucy Nicole Cortez, 28, Hispanic female is wanted for credit card abuse.

--Luis Gerardo Reyes Fuentes, 26, Hispanic male is wanted for sex abuse of a child continuous under 14.

--Ramon Esqueda Gonzales, 44, Hispanic male is wanted for indecency with a child sexual contact.

--Lorenzo Pineda Alvarez, 62, Hispanic male is wanted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

--Manuel David Cervantes, 33, Hispanic male is wanted for motion to revoke probation possession controlled substance.

--Pierre Chico Hawkins, 41, black male is wanted for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

--Arthur Larry Lewis Jr., 51, white male is wanted for aggravated sexual assault.

Anyone having information on the above crimes or any other crimes occurring in Plainview or Hale County can contact the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 293-8477 (293-TIPS). All calls will be confidential.
Foreign-language interpreters walked off their jobs at courtrooms in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties Friday in a dispute over pay and benefits.

The interpreters contract with courts in 12 Northern California counties expired Sept. 30. Since then, there have been sporadic, unsuccessful negotiations between the union, which says its members are paid far less than federal court interpreters and state contractors, and officials of courts that are struggling with shortages in state funding.

Interpreters walked out at midmorning Friday for a noon rally outside the state Judicial Council office in San Francisco, then returned to work at midafternoon as contract negotiations resumed. The two sides made some progress in nearly three hours of talks but failed to reach an agreement, said Mary Lou Aranguren, lead negotiator for the California Federation of Interpreters union.

Interpreters translate for witnesses and other court participants who speak little or no English. The employees, mostly women and minorities, are paid about $36 an hour, compared with $52 an hour for those who do the same work in federal court, Aranguren said.

She said court officials are offering pay increases of 20 percent over four years, while the union is seeking an additional 4 percent raise this year. Aranguren said the employees have suffered a 4 to 6 percent loss in take-home pay this year because of mandatory increases in their pension contributions to pay for future improvements in retirement benefits. She said the courts have raised pay for other workers affected by the pension payments but have refused to do so for interpreters.

Aranguren said the courts are also proposing lower pay for part-timers, who make up almost one-third of the interpreters, and different pay levels among the 12 counties in the region. We say we have a right to uniform compensation under the law, she said.

The interpreters gained support in April from six Bay Area legislators, all Democrats, who said in a letter to court officials that the pay issue was more critical than ever ... at a time when immigrant communities are vulnerable.

San Francisco Superior Court officials declined to comment, citing the negotiations. In April, when interpreters held a one-day walkout, Michael Yuen, the courts chief executive officer and chairman of court administrators for the region, described the contract offer as generous.

Aranguren said participation in Fridays walkout was unanimous, or nearly so, for union-affiliated interpreters employed by the four counties: 19 in San Francisco, 41 in Alameda County, 14 in Contra Costa County and four in Marin County.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
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An incident on the Berkeley waterfront in the early hours of Saturday, July 29, resulted in one man being sent to the hospital with gunshot wounds and a vehicle partially in the water, according to Berkeley Police.

Police responded to a report of gunshots in the Berkeley Marina area, at the foot of University Avenue near the Berkeley Pier, at about 3:40 a.m. Saturday, according to BPD's Lt. Andrew Rateaver.
Craving barbacoa on a Wednesday? Your craving just got easier to fulfill. At the new Tellez Tamales & Barbacoa production facility on Bandera Road, barbacoa and tamales will be available Wednesday through Sunday.

The new spot opens Aug. 5 and will focus exclusively on the sale of tamales by the dozen, barbacoa by the pound and menudo by the pint  Saturday and Sunday favorites often unavailable during the work week.
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A suspected member of the brutal MS-13 gang wanted in connection with two area murders was apprehended early Saturday more than 1,400 miles from Houston, local law enforcement officials confirmed.

Douglas Alexander Herrera-Hernandez, 20, also known as "Terror," was taken into custody near Alexandria, Virginia, by law enforcement authorities executing a search warrant, Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva said.

"I think we can all sleep better," Harris County Assistant District Attorney Lisa Collins said of the arrest.

NATIONAL ATTENTION: Trump targets MS-13, "worst of the worst" says Houston top cop

Herrera-Hernandez is a member of the brutal MS-13 gang out of El Salvador that Houston Police Chief has called "the worst of the worst."

Now Playing: It may be that President Trumps crackdown on immigration has made of of Americas deadliest gangs even stronger. Josh King has the story (@abridgetoland). Video: Buzz 60



Officials in both Harris and Fort Bend counties are looking to extradite Herrerra-Hernandez to face two murder charges.

Herrera-Hernandez is accused of killing a 16-year-old boy who is believed to have witnessed several MS-13-related murders, according to a news release from the Houston Police Department.

The teen, Estuar Quinones, was found dead in June 2016 at Buffalo Run Park in Missouri City.

Herrera-Hernandez is also accused of killing another documented MS-13 gang member, Kevin Alvarez, 26, on July 9 outside a southeast Houston apartment complex, according to sworn statements from Houston police officers. Alvarez was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds about 10 p.m. in the walkway between several units of an apartment complex at 265 El Dorado.

The apprehension of Herrerra-Hernandez represents a win for local law enforcement authorities who are focusing increased attention on gang violence.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo announced in June he planned to form a specialized unit to combat violent crime. He has called MS-13 "the worst of the worst."

MS-13, or "La Mara Salvatrucha," was formed in California in the 1980s. The gang spread throughout Central America and the U.S. and is infamous for the grisly murders.

In Houston, the gang is responsible racking for some of the area's most gruesome murders.

For example, MS-13 gang members were convicted for murdering a 14-year-old boy here in 2014 who wanted to go to church instead of associating with the gang.

They were also charged with killing a girl earlier this year in a Satanic sacrifice.

This week, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions flew to El Salvador to meet with law enforcement officials there to discuss ways to combat MS-13, which has become the face of President Donald Trump's war on illegal immigration.

Herrera-Hernandez is from El Salvador and has been in the U.S. without documentation, local police have said.

This week, he landed on the Texas Department of Public Safety's list of most wanted fugitives, along with Carlos Alberto Gonzalez-Barahona, 26, also believed to be an MS-13 gang member.

Gonzalez-Barahona is wanted on a murder charge in connection with the June 18 shooting death of his estranged girlfriend in northwest Houston, according to authorities. They said he is also wanted on an aggravated kidnapping charge after he kidnapped the driver of a pickup at gunpoint in Brazoria County.

Staff writer Cindy George contributed to this report.
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When most of us tackle a home makeover, we might start at Home Depot and end up at IKEA. Not Erin Lobosco.

A DIY decorator with an uncanny capacity for creative visualization, a sharp eye for a quality bargain and the impish charm of a good haggler, she hits everything from flea markets and estate sales to charity resale stores and even shopper extravaganzas such as the Round Top Antiques Fair. Very near and dear to her heart is the Habitat for Humanity Home Center.

The people that work at there know me by name, said Lobosco, 56, whose ice-blue eyes are offset by a neat auburn pageboy. Its a fun house. But more than that, its very ... I dont know ... validating. People think that if youre buying used, youre somehow not getting quality. I think used means quality. And it has a history to go with it. Youre buying local history to have a house you can be proud of, that youve put your own blood, sweat and tears into  thats very satisfying.

After selling her Marmon Mok Architecture-designed Colonial Hills home of 26 years in 2015, Lobosco and her husband Gerard, a retired lawyer, wanted something that didnt come with a half acre to mow.

But she did want some green space, said Ellen Hagan, Loboscos realtor. They wanted a garage, outdoor space, a community where everybody knows each other, and that can be hard to find in a condo.

Last year, they discovered a 2,200-square-foot, two-story condominium in the Medical Center area. The downside: It was like a trip back to my childhood in the 70s, Hagan said. It was very dark.

It was brown, Lobosco said. But the rooms were all big, and it had high ceilings. It was well built, constructed by H.B. Zachry in 1972. Not a crack in it anywhere. It had good bones.

The condo, which has three bedrooms and three baths, including upstairs and downstairs master suites, was built on a good foundation of timeless terra cotta tile floors. Otherwise, it was a time warp of spindled arches and carpeted stairs.

It had miles and miles of popcorn ceilings, and the fireplace was white, with niches for art, I guess, very Southwestern, Lobosco said.

For around $45,000, including furniture, Lobosco has completely transformed a shadowy space oddity into a bright, classically modern, retro-funky home that is both comfortable and conversation-worthy.

Original art on her walls includes paintings by Franco Mondini-Ruiz and Robert Tatum, two maverick San Antonio artists who see very little light between lowbrow and highbrow.

Its unbelievable, Gerard said. Im very happy. My wife did just an incredible job.

Its a miracle that Erin Lobosco was around to make her mark on the condo.

I suffered a massive stroke when I was 43, said Lobosco, who was a paralegal for 27 years. I lost all my speech, and my left side was paralyzed. I did months and months of therapy, and still do some therapy because I still have a lot of cognitive difficulties that I struggle through all the time. I cant do math, for example, like a tip in a restaurant. I can type, but I cant write. So, doing this house was just exhausting. It was a real test of will. But, if I dont have a creative outlet, I go a little bit nuts.

Almost everything in the condo has an origin story, which Lobosco is proud to share.

The industrial kitchen countertops, for example, were once galvanized metal doors in a commercial warehouse, found at the Habitat for Humanity Home Center, as was the wood-grained ceramic tile used in a fireplace facelift and a headboard in the downstairs master suite.

An anti-gravity Contour chair in the den was the result of a prolonged negotiation with a seller at a flea market in Arkansas (He didnt know what he had, and I got a really good deal, Erin said), and a turquoise vinyl armchair, as well as all the living room furniture, came from the Childrens Shelter Thrift Boutique on South St. Marys Street.

A barn door sliding on a black metal trolley system in the dining room is another Habitat find. It was $75, Lobosco explained. But I didnt like the handle that was on it, so I bought another door for $10 just for the handle.

Loboscos vision is unique, said Bianca Peralta, a marketing associate for Habitat for Humanity.

To see someone transform something and use it for a totally different purpose is incredible, she said. Erin has a vision that not everybody has.

Through material procured by liquidators and its own Wrecking Crew, Habitat Home Centers sell new and used building supplies, furniture, cabinets, appliances and housewares at discounted prices to the public. Proceeds pay administrative costs so that monetary donations go directly to the organizations home-building program.

It comes full circle, said Sarah Inez Arredondo, a Home Center marketing associate. We keep things out of the landfill and offer them to the public at discounted prices. And the thing about our stores is that our inventory is always turning over, so its new stuff.

A Corpus Christi native, Lobosco champions the sustainability factor of repurposing and reusing items and building materials in her home, like her vintage kitchen appliances, all bought at a Habitat Home Center, including an oven/stove/microwave combo ($45), a dishwasher ($10), a refrigerator with icemaker in the door ($215) and a garbage disposal ($15). Theyre dated, but feel right at home.

I even bought the kitchen sink there  its a Koehler, she said. Ten bucks!

Her mom would be proud.

My mom was the original recycler, Lobosco said. With five kids, we lived very frugally. Instead of buying new furniture, my mom would take an upholstery class at the local college. Until middle school, she sewed every stitch of clothing I wore. She even made my dads clothes. I guess I get a lot of it from her.

Realtor Hagan is amazed at the dramatic transfiguration of the condo.

Ive seen so many homes in San Antonio, which cost millions and were professionally decorated, and theyre beautiful, she said. But the quality of this home equals them. And theres so much more because there are so many stories here.

sbennett@express-news.net
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STAMFORD  On their first day, the interns who arrive at Thomas Maddens office receive a schedule outlining what he calls their deliverables for the next five weeks.

Deliverables is not a word in the vocabularies of most college freshmen, except when they work for Madden in city halls Office of Economic Development.

Maddens eight summer interns, and the other young adults in the Mayors Youth Employment Program, do the work of paid contractors who would cost the city more than the $11 to $15 an hour Maddens interns receive.

In return, students leave with a portfolio of work to show future employers and skills that will serve them in college. The interns are assigned many tasks, but none involve fetching coffee or filing.

I enjoy how real it is, said Toussaint Williams, a 21-year-old studying international affairs and economics at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass. You know that the work youre doing is in the process of doing really cool things for Stamford.

The Stamford program is a standout in a state where cutbacks have sometimes meant the end of similar efforts to provide young people with jobs. With a biennial budget not yet passed, the state canceled its Summer Youth Employment Program, which last year spent $5 million to provide nearly 3,000 teens and young adults from needy families with public- and private-sector jobs.

Meanwhile in Stamford, the Mayors Youth Employment Program, started in 2011 by Mayor Michael Pavia, is growing. Thats in part because Stamfords program, unlike the state one, is funded by local tax dollars, grants and contributions from private corporations.

Williams, an AITE graduate, is one of several interns who returned for a second year to Maddens department. This summer, hes doing research and looking up census data that will be packaged into reports for companies Madden hopes will be drawn to the city.

I take most interns for two years, then I kick them out of the nest, said Madden, whose charges shyly alternate between calling him Thomas and Mr. Madden.

The atmosphere in the economic development office is jovial and laid-back  but deliverables are still expected.

Were driving them really hard to make them better, Madden said.

With 100 interns, the Mayors Youth Employment Program, the pipeline for Maddens summer workers, is in its biggest year yet. Besides city hall departments, participants are matched with corporations such as Stamford Hospital, Affinion Group and Deliotte, and nonprofit organizations such as the Stamford Museum & Nature Center and Soundwaters.

Matching the applicants according to their interests and skills is done by program coordinator Michelle Lappas, who works in the citys Youth Services Bureau. This year, Lappas had to turn away more than 30 students because she could not find them placements.

Besides 120 paid hours, Lappas requires interns to complete 30 hours of unpaid training that covers topics like interviewing, personal branding and social media etiquette. Theyre required to reflect on their work in a weekly journal entry and are offered feedback by their advisers.

This is the safest place for them to make mistakes, Lappas said. Theyre not going to get this opportunity in other places, and Im more forgiving than they would be in a corporate environment.

Lappas has the difficult task of recruiting companies to hire interns on their own dime and providing workers who can deliver in those environments while learning on the job.

I always feel like I have two clients  the businesses and the kids, Lappas said.

Another hurdle is funding. The program pays just above minimum wage and winds up costing $1,800 per intern, so Lappas needs to secure more than $100,000 in contributions and comittments to hire students. Bank of America and Fairfield County Community Foundation are among her largest donors, as well as the city, which kicks in $25,000.

Madden, who takes on more interns than any other department, is a believer in the value of paid internships that prepare students for the real world  even if, like two-thirds of the Stamford program participants, those interns are high school students or college freshmen.

A lot of companies think high-schoolers are too young to be able to do meaningful work, but Thomas shows thats not true, said John Varamo, the departments economic development analyst. Varamo, 23, started as an intern, but has since earned a masters degree from Columbia University, and Madden hopes to be able to hire him full time.

Abby Bushell, 18, is spending the summer before starting classes at the University of Southern California in Maddens office creating a database of Stamford businesses. She is one of the interns going door-to-door collecting data.

When we go to some buildings, theyre sometimes not the warmest, she said. They dont want to let us in or tell us whos there. You need to figure out what works and doesnt work.

eskalka@stamfordadvocate.com
President Donald Trump's relationship with Bob Vander Plaats was rocky when the Iowa evangelical and political activist decided to endorse Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for president.

Although Vander Plaats ultimately supported Trump in the November election, things heated up between the two again in the past week, this time prompted by a vulgar, profanity-filled tirade from White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.

In an interview with the New Yorker, Scaramucci called the now former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus a "f-- paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac" and said that Priebus would be asked to resign very shortly amid a White House shake-up.

Vander Plaats, whom the New York Times called "an influential leader of Iowa's Christian right," heads the Family Leader, an evangelical group that advocates for political candidates and policy issues. Vander Plaats took issue with Scaramucci's harsh language and on went on Twitter on Friday to tell Trump that the new White House communications chief was the one who needed to go.

Vander Plaats tweeted that the president "must model and demand a higher standard."

He also posted a letter to the president on the Family Leader website, titled "A time for confronting."

- - -

Mr. President, it is time to look in the mirror, accept responsibility, apologize to the American people, and declare an end to this behavior immediately.

I suggest you lead by first washing out Mr. Scaramucci's mouth with a bar of soap. After a thorough rinsing, strip his credentials and escort him personally off the White House grounds.

- - -

In the letter, Vander Plaats also called on other faith leaders to "fulfill your calling to be the prophetic voice to the king."

There's no guarantee President Trump will repent and change his ways. This said, it is still our duty to privately and publicly confront, so our testimony is not compromised to a culture that hungers for true hope.

He was not immediately available for comment Saturday.

Vander Plaats isn't the only high-profile religious leader this month to call for others to confront Trump. After photos surfaced showing evangelical pastors laying hands on and praying over Trump, North Carolina-based pastor Williams Barber said those pastors were practicing "theological malpractice bordering on heresy."

Barber, the leader of several protest movements that have targeted Trump and his policies, said in an interview with MSNBC's Joy Reid, "When you can p-r-a-y for a president and others while they are p-r-e-y, preying on the most vulnerable, you're violating the most sacred principles of religion."
An Indiana man shot and killed himself shortly after gunning down a doctor who refused to prescribe opioid medication to his wife, authorities said this week.

The alleged murder and the suicide unfolded within just hours of each other Wednesday in Mishawaka in northern Indiana, a state that's been gripped by problems with opioid addiction over the past several years. St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter told reporters that Michael Jarvis confronted physician Todd Graham for not prescribing an opioid for his wife's chronic pain, but he cautioned that investigators are still determining whether drug addiction played a role in the killing.

Cotter said during a news conference Thursday that Jarvis and his wife showed up at Graham's office for an appointment Wednesday morning. Jarvis became upset after Graham told them that he doesn't believe chronic pain requires opioid medication. The couple left, but Jarvis - armed with a gun - drove back to the doctor's office about two hours later, Cotter said.

At that point, Graham was on his way to the St. Joseph Rehabilitation Institute a few miles from his office. Jarvis followed him to the institute's parking lot where the two argued, Cotter said.

"There were two witnesses who were outside and in close proximity," Cotter told reporters. "Jarvis went to those two witnesses and told them to leave. They saw a gun."

Jarvis shot Graham, then drove to a friend's home, where he "gave indication that he was no longer going to be around," Cotter said. The friend, concerned for Jarvis's safety, called 911, but Jarvis killed himself before police arrived.

Cotter said Jarvis' wife did not know that he had driven back to the doctor's office and killed Graham. It also remains unclear whether both the husband and wife were addicted to opioid medications or whether Jarvis wanted the drugs for himself.

"There's some indication that Jarvis may have also had his own issues. We're still investigating that," Cotter said. "We're talking about a man who made a choice to kill another person. We're not talking about the opioid problem. . . . Was that a contributing factor in his decision? We don't know that yet."

Cotter said Jarvis was not a patient of Graham's and that investigators are looking at medical records to determine what drugs, if any, he and his wife had been prescribed previously. He did not say what type of opioid medication Jarvis and his wife were seeking when they went to Graham's office.

The South Bend Tribune reported that both Jarvis and Graham were employed in some capacity by the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, just west of Mishawaka.

Jarvis, 48, was a part-time parking attendant and groundskeeper, a university spokesman said in statement, according to the newspaper.

Graham was a consulting physician at the university.

"His brutal death is shocking to us all, we extend our condolences to his family and friends. Our prayers are with them," the statement said of Graham.

Graham, 56, was also a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at South Bend Orthopaedics, where patients gave him a 4.3 out of 5 rating.

Patients who wrote reviews on the clinic's website described Graham as a trustworthy doctor who took the time to answer their questions and explain their problems. One said he's the best doctor the clinic has. Another called him a "miracle worker."

"Dr Graham is more than my dr to me. He has treated me like a friend and I owe him my life. I can never thank him enough for his kindness and caring through my journey of a tough diagnosis of cancer. He is a great and caring dr," one patient wrote in July 2016.

Another patient wrote the same month: "Dr. Graham was awesome. He looked at my MRI results and immediately had a plan in place. I really appreciated the time and concern he put into getting me some relief for the pain that I've been in. Hopefully this works!"

Graham studied at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago and did his residency at the university's rehabilitation institute.

"He dedicated his life to taking care of people and that's the sad, sad part of this whole thing . . . His personality was electric. He lit up a room anytime he walked into the room," physician A.J. Mencias, Graham's friend and business partner, told NBC affiliate WNDU.

Mencias said Graham had three children.

Cotter, the prosecutor, echoed those tributes at the news conference.

"He did what we ask our doctors to do: Don't overprescribe opioid and, unfortunately, for whatever reason, Jarvis made that choice to take his life," he told reporters, adding later: "Every homicide is tragic, but this one in particular, I think, hits home to everyone. It hits home to all of our medical professionals. Their job is to try to help people, and that certainly what Dr. Graham was doing."
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Taxi drivers in Conroe are pleading for regulatory relief as they lose more and more business to so-called ride-hailing companies, such as Uber and Lyft.

Although the streets of Conroe never have been lined with yellow cabs, the woes blamed on the ride-hailing companies by the handful of local taxi companies and their drivers are the same troubles taxi companies in big cities, such as Houston and Dallas, blame on Uber and Lyft. But locally, the taxi drivers appear to have an ally in Conroe officials, with the city considering loosening its regulations on cabs.

A BIT OF ODD FUN: Deadpool could be your next Houston-area Uber driver

Typically when Uber, the San Francisco-based company which boasts of being the largest ride-hailing company, and Lyft, also San Francisco-based, move into a city, their drivers scoop up passengers traditionally carried by taxis.

Not only do the Uber and Lyft drivers, considered independent drivers, take a big bite out of a taxi driver's income as they steal their customers, the taxi companies complain the Uber and Lyft drivers don't have to abide by the same rules and regulations that the taxi drivers have to follow.

"I do not like Uber," Daniel Pruett, owner of Conroe's Taxi 24, told members of the Conroe City Council earlier this month as he asked for relief from the rules that taxi drivers have to follow, but that Uber and Lyft drivers don't have to.

"They've cost me 50 percent or more of my business."

At another Conroe-based cab company, the owner says he's lost even more business at night.

"During the night shift, they're taking about 80 percent," Mario Diaz, owner of On Time Cab, told the Courier. "Now we're averaging about $100 because everybody calls Uber," he said.

Diaz, like Pruett, complains that the taxi companies have to pay fees to the city, pay for commercial insurance and are even regulated on what they can charge. And according to Diaz, the taxi companies are required to operate 24 hours a day. All fees, costs and rules the independent ride-hailing drivers don't have to pay, follow or abide by.

"We don't think that's fair," Diaz said.

And, neither do some Conroe officials, including Conroe Police Chief Philip Dupuis.

"We regulate how much they charge, we regulate what they drive, we regulate the drivers," Dupuis told the City Council during the council's July 12 workshop.

"I'm of the personal opinion we shouldn't regulate them anymore," he said.

Besides being required to register with the city, while the ride-hailing drivers are not, taxi companies must pay $150 a year to operate and then an additional fee per cab -- fees no Uber driver has to pay.

"I'm asking the restraints be totally lifted off of my business," Pruett pleaded with the City Council during the workshop.

"There's no reason to pay any more fees. I understand the security issue. As an owner-operator, I'm not going to put some idiot behind the wheel of my taxi cab, because, number one, it's going to come back and haunt me if something ever happens."

In addition to Dupuis, the taxi drivers seem to have the support, or at least the sympathy, of council members and of Mayor Toby Powell.

"The state had given Uber and Lift a free ride on permitting, which does not require any background checks on the operators," said Powell, referring to a bill signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in May that lifts restrictions that had been placed on the ride-hailing companies.

"This I disagree with, but in light of the state ruling, it would not be fair for the city to put any undue burdens on our local taxi cab companies," Powell said.

The matter of loosening Conroe's rules regulating taxi companies is expected to be considered by the City Council again, but Powell couldn't say when, only that he hoped it would be "very soon."
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WASHINGTON - Congressional Republicans on Friday glumly confronted the wreckage of their seven-year quest to abolish the Affordable Care Act, blaming each other and President Donald Trump for the dramatic early-morning collapse of the effort but finding no consensus on a way forward.

Some GOP lawmakers clung to long-shot hopes that some version of the legislation might be revived and that a deal might yet be struck before the fall. But the Senate's rejection early Friday of a last-ditch, bare-bones proposal to roll back just a few key planks of the law left GOP leaders with few options for uniting their sharply polarized ranks.

Hours later, House Republicans gathered in the Capitol to take stock of the situation. Some raised the prospect of abandoning their long-standing pledge to "repeal and replace" the ACA and instead working with Democrats to shore up weak spots in the law known as Obamacare. But Trump signaled little interest in that approach, leaving many lawmakers baffled about how to proceed.

"I'm not a prophet," said Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., who helped push an earlier version of the repeal bill through the House. "I don't know what comes next."

Politically, the collapse of the repeal effort is potentially devastating for Republicans. It leaves Trump without a significant policy achievement in the critical first six months of his presidency; it casts a pall over the party's coming drives to pass a budget and overhaul the tax code; and it exposes GOP lawmakers to rising anger from their conservative base.

Substantively, it leaves much work undone. While the ACA has made health insurance accessible to millions of Americans, it has failed to contain rising costs, especially in the individual insurance market, where people without access to employer- provided coverage buy policies. Without federal action - and additional cash - those marketplaces could become unstable.

Lawmakers in both parties have called for stabilizing the marketplaces. But many Republicans have little appetite for entering negotiations on the issue with Democrats.

"I don't think the Democrats have any interest in doing anything productive," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a vehement critic of the ACA. He added: "Republican senators are going to go home. They're going to hear from their constituents, and I don't expect the response to be muted."

At the meeting of House Republicans, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., summed up the mood by citing an old Gordon Lightfoot tune called "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," about sailors drowning on a sinking ship.

Entering and exiting the meeting, lawmakers offered a variety of ideas for addressing their predicament, and excuses for how they got here.

"We just ran out of time. It was an artificial deadline," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the hard-right Freedom Caucus. He predicted that Republicans would still get a bill to Trump's desk in September.

RELATED: Analysis: What's ahead for the Affordable Care Act now that repeal has failed?

Other Republicans called on their colleague to start over and work with Democrats through the regular committee process to craft an ACA overhaul that could win bipartisan support.

A key leader of the GOP repeal effort, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said he is willing to take that approach. And Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the man credited with driving a stake through the heart of the latest GOP health measure, issued a rousing call to bipartisanship.

"The vote last night presents the Senate with an opportunity to start fresh," McCain said in a statement. "It is now time to return to regular order with input from all of our members - Republicans and Democrats - and bring a bill to the floor of the Senate for amendment and debate."

Democrats, too, expressed interest in working across the aisle, especially on a plan to make federal cost-sharing subsidies permanent. The subsidies - which will total about $7 billion this year and $10 billion in 2018 - reimburse insurers for reducing co-payments and deductibles for certain low-income customers, reducing their out-of-pocket costs.

Trump administration officials have yet to say whether they will continue financing the subsidies past the end of this month.

On Friday, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he spoke with Ryan about potential areas of cooperation.

"The insurance industry, hardly our allies, have said the number one thing to stabilize the system and bring premiums down is to make the cost-sharing permanent," Schumer said. "That would have a lot of support."

Schumer expressed hope that Friday's health-care vote would prove to be a "magic moment" that sparked a wave of bipartisanship. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sent early signals that he is skeptical of requests for more federal money to shore up the ACA. After Friday's vote failed, McConnell stood red-faced and dejected on the Senate floor.

"Now I think it's appropriate to ask, what are their ideas?" McConnell challenged Democrats. "It'll be interesting to see what they suggest as the way forward. For myself I can say - and I bet I'm pretty safe in saying for most on this side of the aisle - that bailing out insurance companies with no thought of any kind of reform is not something I want to be part of."

RELATED: Liberal groups plan protests around the country Saturday to save Obamacare

Trump, meanwhile, continued to express mainly hostility toward the ACA. On Friday, he unleashed a series of tweets blaming "3 Republicans and 48 Democrats" in the Senate who "let the American people down" by rejecting the latest overhaul proposal.

"As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!" Trump wrote. He also called for Senate Republicans to abolish the filibuster - a venerable Senate procedure designed to protect the minority party that requires contentious matters to receive the votes of at least 60 senators.

As Republicans weighed working with Democrats, they were also struggling to resolve hard feelings toward one another.

Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., who is running for Senate, placed "primary responsibility for the failure"of Friday's vote on McConnell. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., blamed Trump, saying the president "never really laid out core principles and didn't sell them to the American people."

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, issued a combative statement criticizing McCain and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who also voted "no" Friday.

King accused Murkowski of waging a successful write-in reelection campaign in 2010 that "was essentially a revolt against GOP primary voters." And he said McCain "recently told the Senate he would return and 'give all of you cause to regret the nice things you said about me.' He kept his word."

Earlier this week, McCain, who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, flew to Washington and cast a vote that helped his colleagues begin debate on the latest GOP proposal to overhaul Obamacare. On Tuesday, he delivered a stirring address calling for a bipartisan approach to overhauling the 2010 health-care law and criticizing the highly secretive and partisan process that had produced the pending legislation.

The speech set the stage for what was to come.

In the wee hours after midnight Friday, McCain - scarred from recent surgery to remove a blood clot that unearthed his cancer - rebuffed a last-minute appeal from Vice President Pence on the Senate floor. He emerged from his talks with Pence at 1:29 a.m., approached the Senate clerk and gave a thumbs down - joining Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine as the only Republicans to vote against the legislation.

The measure failed, 51 to 49, with all 48 members of the Democratic caucus voting no.

RELATED: Connelly: Health care vote proves Senate women do heavy lifting

Stunned gasps and some applause echoed through the chamber. McConnell and his leadership aides stood nearby, grim-faced and despondent.

"Maybe this had to happen to actually begin to have a conversation," said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who had tried and failed to broker a bipartisan compromise. "The president challenged us to replace, not just repeal. And so once you decide that you want to replace, not just repeal, it becomes more difficult."

On Friday, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said he and Collins were working on a new bipartisan health plan. Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., a centrist facing reelection, said he met Wednesday night with 10 other senators and "we're going to keep talking."

Meanwhile, McCain's office announced Friday afternoon that he would fly back to Arizona for radiation and chemotherapy on Monday, but that he would be back in Washington in the fall.

But while talk of bipartisanship was ascendant in the Senate, many House members were angry with their Senate colleagues for letting the repeal effort fail.

Outside Friday's House GOP meeting, Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., told an old joke shared around the Capitol to illustrate the tensions.

"You're a brand-new member and the guys all pop down next to you and say, 'See across the hall, that's your opposition. The other side of the Capitol, that's the enemy,' " Schweikert said. "Turns out it could be true."

- - -

The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin, Paul Kane and David Weigel contributed to this report.
Sprint, the nation's fourth-largest wireless network, is pursuing a merger with the cable company Charter Communications, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The potential tie-up could create a new firm that would be controlled by Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son and his Japanese megacompany, SoftBank, the Journal said. At a time when the cable and wireless industries are undergoing enormous changes, a deal between the companies could mean even more disruption - as well as a more complicated relationship involving Comcast.

Charter and Comcast had jointly agreed this spring not to start merger or acquisition talks with another wireless company for at least a year without each other's participation or go-ahead. The cable industry has been seeking a way to enter the wireless business for years; as Americans increasingly shift their Internet consumption to mobile devices and take their data usage to go, traditional cellular carriers such as AT&T and Verizon have stood to benefit massively at the expense of home Internet providers such as Comcast and Charter.

The cable industry has fought back with public WiFi hotspots that allow, for example, Comcast's Xfinity customers to access mobile broadband without being physically at home. But a truly widespread and robust wireless solution that can compete with cellphone carriers has been elusive, prompting analyst speculation about when and how companies such as Charter would launch a true cellular service.

The agreement between Comcast and Charter helped dampen analyst expectations that either company was imminently planning a major leap into wireless.

Both companies are tinkering with it in a limited manner; Comcast, for example, has begun offering wireless service through a program known as Xfinity Mobile, which uses Verizon's cellular network when Comcast's own WiFi is out of range.

But on an earnings call this week, Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts said the company is still content with its current strategy, hinting that no major deals were about to drop.

"I don't see something happening in that we envy a position we don't have today," he told investors.

With a Sprint-Charter deal looming, Comcast could play kingmaker by exercising its contractual ability to bless or bury any such merger - even before any regulators get involved.

Sprint this year had also reportedly been courting T-Mobile about an acquisition, and Son could try to pursue both deals simultaneously, according to the Journal.

For the SoftBank-owned carrier, the deal with Charter suggests Son is increasingly desperate to find a deal that could rescue the flagging company, which has suffered deep subscriber losses and poor financial performance. Analysts have blamed a weak network and the company's seeming inability to upgrade it.

News of the potential deal appeared to lift investors' hopes; shares of Sprint surged by nearly 6 percent in after-hours trading Friday.
There's a pool of top talent vying for entry-level jobs at the State Department, but the department no longer wants them. Nor have they bothered to tell them that.

A State Department spokesman told Foreign Policy the department is temporarily withdrawing itself from participation in the Presidential Management Fellowship program, an esteemed program that recruits cream-of-the-crop graduates into the federal government. The spokesman cited an ongoing reorganization of the State Department, but did not say when the temporary suspension would end.

"We have temporarily suspended hiring new Presidential Management Fellows (PMFs) pending the Department's re-design," R.C. Hammond, a communications advisor for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, wrote in an email to FP. "We still have an active PMF community of over 70 PMFs in the Department and look forward to future Fellows."

This was news to both State Department officials and PMF finalists gunning for jobs at Foggy Bottom, who said they have gotten no guidance from State Department management on their status.

The confusion offers a glimpse into the turmoil prevailing in the State Department bureaucracy as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson presses ahead with controversial plans to reorganize Foggy Bottom and the Trump administration pursues draconian budget cuts for the diplomatic corps.

The State Department's communication with PMF finalists who were approached for jobs "has been non-existent" said one finalist, who was in talks with a State Department office for a position but hasn't heard back since April.

Four PMF finalists said that the State Department never formally notified them of the decision, nor the other PMF finalists they keep in regular contact with. Instead, word has spread informally among the fellows.

When contacted by FP, several State Department officials familiar with the program also were not aware of the decision. Department offices have also quietly admitted to some finalists that they had no guidance from management on the issue and only hear developments themselves through the news. "No one tells them anything, either," one finalist said. "It's just really disappointing and frustrating."

Some fellows hoping for a job with State will go to other federal government agencies, while others are simply left in the lurch - as are the understaffed offices that desperately want to employ them. Those who were already offered jobs and are in the security clearance process are now in limbo.

"At the end of the day, we have a tentative offer, an office that wants us, and a top secret security clearance. And yet, it sounds like we won't get the job," said one PMF finalist who already received an offer from State.

"We just feel very hopeless and really dejected," said another fellow in the same circumstance.

The State Department's decision to cut itself off from a relatively inexpensive program offering access to top pools of talent has also vexed veteran diplomats. Critics say the decision will starve State of some potentially top diplomats of the next generation. It remains unclear whether other federal agencies are following suit.

The PMF program is a prestigious, highly-competitive fellowship offered to graduates looking to serve in government as civil servants. The program is a two-year training and development program, after which PMFs, as they're called, can transition into full-time federal employment.

Only a small pool of candidates - roughly 5 percent - are chosen as finalists after a stringent application process. This year, 417 made the cut out of some 6,370 applicants. State is a top choice for many - though there are only a few dozen slots available there. If PMF finalists can't secure a job within a year, their status as a finalist is revoked and they have to start the whole process over again.

This isn't the first time the department has cut itself off from fresh talent, as Tillerson ended another fellowship that fast tracks new hires. He also tried to end fellowship programs that target women and minority recruits, but reversed that decision after a political backlash.

The decisions come amid the Trump administration's steep proposed budget cuts to the State Department and Tillerson's ongoing effort to "redesign" the department. The administration's approach has unnerved veteran diplomats, who worry the department will be less effective and the diplomatic corps weakened.

- - -

Gramer is a staff writer at Foreign Policy.
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Editor's note: This article was originally published in 2017.

Jeffrey Dahmer's first victim had been dead exactly a year when the "Milwaukee Cannibal" completed military training in San Antonio.

Students who graduated from Fort Sam Houston's U.S. Army Medical Specialist Basic Course in June 1979 didn't realize it at the time, but they had spent weeks learning and living beside one of the most notorious serial killers and cannibals in American history.

Dahmer brutally murdered a total of 17 men in a spree spanning more than 13 years. And he spent a few months within that time frame in San Antonio when the then-19-year-old was enrolled in the course from May 14 to June 22 in 1979, base officials confirmed to mySA.com.

Nearly 40 years after his first murder and 26 years after his arrest, "My Friend Dahmer" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April and is expected to be released later this year, according to Rolling Stone.

RELATED: The true story behind the San Antonio kidnapping & murder of 'The Most Hated Woman in America'

The trailer was released earlier this week, giving a preview into Dahmer's high school years, which is when he said the homicidal thoughts began.

By the time Dahmer celebrated his 20th birthday in the Alamo City he had both specialty training and at least one murder under his belt. It happened soon after graduating from Revere High School in Richfield, Ohio.

In 1978 Dahmer picked up Steven Hicks from the side of the road and took him back to his parents house, where he bludgeoned him to death with a barbell. Hicks, an 18 year-old trying to hitchhike to a concert, was dismembered beneath the Dahmer home. His body parts were separated and stored in garbage bag, his bones were buried then excavated, crushed and scattered in a nearby ravine, according to The New York Times.

A missing-person investigation ensued, but the case was considered "active but dormant" after months without clues.

While Hicks' family searched for their son, Dahmer went on to attend Ohio State University for a semester before dropping out and enlisting in the Army.

After completing basic training, Dahmer moved onto the next step in his Army career: Advanced Individual Training at Fort Sam Houston, where he trained in the medical field. He stayed on post, in the barrack for about six weeks, Fort Sam Houston Public Affairs Officer Jose Rodriguez told mySA.com.

RELATED: Women, children shown in eerie photos taken by serial killer from San Antonio

Rodriguez told mySA.com that information on Dahmer's Military Occupation Specialty is not available, but he did "successfully graduate from the course."

No documented murders at the hands of Dahmer happened during his stint in San Antonio, and there are no cold cases in the city from that time, though he did mention in a jailhouse interview with Stone Phillips in the early 1990s that his thirst to kill had "been building up gradually" since his first murder.

"Once it happened the first time, it just seemed like it had control of my life from there on," Dahmer told Phillips.

With his training complete, Dahmer was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, and was sent to Baumholder, Germany, according to the New York Times.

Dahmer met bunkmate Billy J. Capshaw while overseas. Capshaw revealed what living with the serial killer was like in an August 1991 interview with The New York Times.

He said Dahmer liked jokes and spending "hours pouring" over children's books. When he was sober he was easy-going, but when he drank he morphed into a "stony-faced," "menacing" person, Capshaw said.

"When he'd drink, he'd get real violent with me," Capshaw said in the report.

Dahmer was honorably discharged in March 1981, a year short of completing his three-year enlistment, according to The New York Times.

READ ALSO: Murder case of 'Phantom Killer' in Texas remains unsolved 70 years later

Rumors for his dismissal pointed to Dahmer's drinking, but Army officials would not discuss the reason with The New York Times. Dahmer told the publication he was discharged under Chapter 9 of the Code of Military Justice, which covers drug or alcohol use.

No known killings happened during his time in the Army. He told The New York Times that his disturbing fantasies of rape, murder, dismemberment, cannibalism and necrophilia recurred when he moved to Milwaukee and moved in with his grandmother.

Dahmer told Phillips his second murder happened "roughly" around 1984, but he didn't plan on, or remember, killing Steve Tuomi. After meeting him at a Milwaukee bar, Dahmer invited Tuomi back to his hotel where he spiked his drink with sleeping pills.

In the conversation with Phillips, Dahmer said he awoke to find bruises on his and Tuomi's body, adding that he "must have" beat the man to death.

Tuomi's remains were never found  Dahmer told The New York Times that he put his body in a suitcase and rode with the luggage in a taxi to his grandmother's home. Upon arrival, he dismembered and disposed of the carcass.

"That's when it all started again," Dahmer told Phillips. "That's when the obsession went into full swing. After the second time, it seemed like the compulsion to do it was too strong and I didn't even try to stop it after that."

Dahmer's grisly murders continued until July 22, 1991, when he was arrested in Milwaukee. Investigators found barrels of bodies, torsos in freezers, skeletons and Polaroid photos detailing his dismemberment processes, according to multiple reports.

He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms, but was killed in 1994 by another inmate at a Wisconsin prison.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
Filmmaker George A. Romero recently died at the age of 77 after a brief battle with lung cancer. He will not be coming back from the dead.

But his zombie thrillers, with their sharp social commentary, live on in startling relevance. Even as the zombie genre has become Hollywood zombified  booming in popularity but often lacking in the social commentary that makes zombie flicks tick.

The zombies themselves, mindless and utterly devoid of character and motivation, are boring. Its the metaphor about the dangers of mindless groupthink that is terrifying and heart stopping.

Its been nearly 50 years since the release of the Night of the Living Dead, and the movie will still make your skin crawl. I recently re-watched it after Romeros death  and found myself reaching for the light switch. The horror!

Not because of the gore, the purposefully shaky camera work or the chocolate sauce used as fake blood. But because the hero, Ben, played by the fabulous Duane Jones, works feverishly to survive the night and save others with him in a boarded up farmhouse  only to be shot dead in the morning by a mindless group of vigilantes.

Ben is black. The vigilantes are white. They lumber across fields much like the zombies they are hunting. The year was 1968 and the racial message is in your face  even if slightly unintentional.

Romero often said the character of Ben wasnt intended to be black, but rather a simple and goodhearted white man. But Jones, a highly educated actor who later served in artistic director roles, rocked the audition and changed the arc of the story. He also changed Ben into a complex and dynamic character, elevating the dialogue.

I think the reason it got noticed was the fact that we used an African American actor in a role that didnt need to be played by an African American actor, and then he gets gunned down by this posse, Romero once told The Los Angeles Times.

Joe Kane, author of Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever, reported in The Wrap in 2010 that Romero toyed with changing the ending and keeping Ben alive. But Jones insisted on sticking with the script. Partly because heroes never die in Hollywood movies. And partly because of the social impact.

I convinced George that the black community would rather see me dead than saved, after all that had gone on, in a corny and symbolically confusing way, Jones said.

Romero often recounted how he was driving to New York City to meet with potential distributors the night Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Audiences couldnt help but see the parallels.

What does it say about us that so much of this is still relevant? That outside Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington and Will Smith (and a handful of others), black men are rarely in leading Hollywood roles? Or that black men are disproportionately victims of police violence and racial profiling?

It says progress is hard to come by. Indeed, watching Night of the Living Dead again, I was struck by the parallels with todays world.

One small example: Toward the middle of the Night of the Living Dead, there is an exchange between Ben and the character of Harry, who has been hiding in the cellar of the boarded up farmhouse where the main characters have taken refuge.

Ben chastises Harry about not helping to secure the house.

We luck into a safe place, and you are telling us we gotta risk our lives just because somebody might need help, Harry says.

Yeah, something like that, Ben responds.

Isnt this exactly the debate we are having over Americas role in helping refugees?

This was the genius of Romero. The zombies were a metaphor for interpretation. Somehow thats been lost in the Hollywood zombie boom he helped spawn.

I always used the zombie as a character for satire or a political criticism, and I find that missing in whats happening now, he lamented in 2013.

Should the zombies come knocking at your door, remember the real horror is how quickly we can lose our humanity for one another.

Correction: In last weeks column about our Confederate Monument, I incorrectly characterized an opinion in The Daily Light about the monuments construction. It was a reader opinion from 1899. Not a newspaper editorial. My apologies.

JBrodesky@express-news.net
As Americans watch the Trump-Russia collusion unfold amid new revealing details, about 73 percent of Republicans think the president has done nothing wrong in his dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The majority of Democrats and independents, however, believe that Donald Trumps actions are either illegal or unethical.

In reality, Putins interference in our election is a bipartisan matter  something that all Americans should be concerned about regardless of how they feel about Trump.

Putins Russia does not perceive our country as its friend, and it does not differentiate between Republicans and Democrats. From 2013 to 2017, Americans were listed as the most hostile nation toward Russia, according to Russian polls. For Putin and his propaganda machine, the Cold War never ended, even after the Soviet Union ceased to exist. In fact, the collapse of the communist regime became, in his own words, the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.

The Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 was the first serious sign that Putin intended to challenge the status quo. Five years later, he interfered in Ukraines domestic politics, annexed a large chunk of its territory, and left the rest of the divided nation to deal with a devastating civil war. And as Putin choked democracies and encouraged autocracies in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, the U.S. government  outside of sanctions  failed to identify efficient strategies to contain him.

Then we closed our eyes when Putin openly backed Irans nuclear program, when he blocked international attempts to stabilize the political situation in Syria and when he sent his troops to bolster the regime of Bashar Assad.

While a good number of Americans were chanting Build the wall! in an attempt to revive medieval methods of border protection in a modern age, Putins online army violated our cyber frontiers and attacked our most trusted, sacred political institution  the electoral system.

When the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, an independent agency that effectively integrates foreign, military and domestic intelligence in the U.S., concluded that Putin personally ordered an influence campaign to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, Americans did not take it seriously.

As U.S. sanctions continued to undermine Putins political future, he saw an incredible opportunity to derail the course of American history by helping to install Trump into power.

He also understood the growing influence of social media in the U.S. As studies show, 38 percent of adult Americans get their news online. In many authoritarian states social media websites (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) are either banned or closely monitored by government agencies to persecute free speech. In the U.S., social media is uncensored  as it should be in any truly democratic state. Lack of online policing, however, comes with a toll: Anyone with a large online clout can dominate and win the political discourse.

As Trump started his political campaign with almost no one taking him seriously, Russia hired internet trolls to pose as Trump supporters on the internet. These fake accounts were boosting Trumps outreach and harassing his most outspoken online critics. It was a type of information warfare that Putin, a former KGB agent, knew well: innuendos, rumors and conspiracy theories repeated over and over again  and shared  eventually become truth.

Thus, Putin weaponized the internet against Americans by sowing discord, feeding our worst fears, and betting on Trumps political inexperience and naivete.

At the same time, Putin decided to enlist the assistance of hackers from Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear  two powerful Russian hacking teams with links to Russian intelligence services. Their target: Hillary Clinton and corruption that soaked Washington.

On Oct. 7, the U.S. intelligence community reported that Russian intelligence services stole emails from the Democratic National Committee and forwarded the contents to Wikileaks. It was the same organization that Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican leader, named high-tech terrorists back in 2010. Now these terrorists were serving his party.

Finally, Putin made his best move when his operatives reached out to Trumps campaign via the candidates son and offered compromising information against Clinton. The email  the accuracy of which was confirmed by Trump Jr.  states that this is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its governments support for Mr. Trump.

Nevertheless, there is a catch in this story. If Putins agents wanted to contact Trumps team without leaving a trail, they would have done so without any problems; Russians  who inherited the KGBs legacy  are not novices in the intelligence tradecraft. On the contrary, it seems as if just enough evidence was left to compromise Trumps presidency, undermine its legitimacy and provoke political chaos in the U.S.

The more politically corrupt we look, the more credible Putins description of America becomes.

As a result of these systematic and coordinated efforts to subvert our democracy and demoralize our citizens, we have a country where a record-high 77 percent of Americans perceive their nation as divided, where integrity is a fluid concept, and where truth has nothing to do with facts because everybody lies, including our elected officials.

For Trump and Republicans, this is a Pyrrhic victory  considerable damage from Putins interference in our democracy outweighs any political gains. Collectively, we are all at a loss here.

Putin thinks he is smarter than we are. To an extent, he is right: He takes calculated political risks and creates situations that are detrimental to his opponents regardless of outcomes. He is also far more dangerous than most Americans think. Revivalism of Russias glory is the quintessence of Putins politics; he has cast himself as the political messiah who promises to make Russia great again. Although, thus far, he has only made himself great and rich.

Putin is not and will not be our friend. We need to unite our ranks as a nation, overcome our political fault lines, learn from our mistakes, drain the political swamp, and reform our electoral system. If we fail to guard our democracy, there will be no protection from Putin and his dark, authoritarian vision for the future of the world.

Geysar Gurbanov is a Rotary International Peace Fellow and graduated with a masters degree in East European and Russian Studies from the University of North Carolina. Follow him on Twitter @geysar.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, is paid not to tell the truth about school choice, and she deserves a raise.

In a speech recently, she purported to uncover the racist roots of the school-choice movement in massive resistance to school desegregation in the 1960s. She noted that segregationist politicians in Prince Edward County, Virginia, notoriously shut down the public schools rather than integrate, and set up a private school system that white kids could use tuition grants and tax credits to attend.

Make no mistake, Weingarten said, by way of prefacing not just a mistake, but a historically perverse smear, this use of privatization coupled with disinvestment are only slightly more polite cousins of segregation. Therefore pro school choice Education Secretary Betsy DeVos bears an ideological relation to George Wallace.

Weingarten must know that no one in the school-choice movement looks for inspiration to Prince Edward County, even if she doesnt let that stop her.

The intellectual seed of school choice was first planted in 1955 by Milton Friedman, the late Nobel Prize-winning libertarian economist never mistaken for a bigot. Friedman believed widely available vouchers would create a new dynamism in a state-dominated sector characterized by stasis.

The real-world political impetus for choice has been developing alternatives to rotten public schools for poor minority kids without other options.

The first notable law came in the late 1980s in Minnesota, championed by its Democratic governor, Rudy Perpich, and passed by its impeccably progressive legislature. It permitted parents to send their kids to school districts where they didnt live with public money. The liberal American Prospect reported at the time that supporters of the reform included 1960s-era open school progressives.

Then came an experiment in Milwaukee to provide poor parents assistance to send their kids to private schools. Polly Williams, an African-American state assemblywoman from Milwaukee, became a high-profile advocate of choice. A Black Panther and the state chairman of Jesse Jacksons presidential campaign, Williams was open about her pro-black views and even said in private that she didnt much like white people. Harry Byrd, the Virginia champion of massive resistance, she was emphatically not.

From these beginnings, choice has burgeoned into the educational mainstream. Half of states have private school choice programs, and more than 40 charter school laws. They dont aim to take white kids out of integrated schools, but to take minority kids out of underperforming de facto segregated schools.

Weingarten used to head the teachers union in New York, where her nemesis was Eva Moskowitz, the founder of the Success Academy Charter Schools. Moskowitz is a Democrat who happens to believe poor kids deserve better than what they get in the traditional public school system. According to the New York Post, her 41 schools enroll about 14,000 kids, almost all of them minorities. The demand is vast, with annual waiting lists exceeding 10,000 families.

The analogue for todays choice programs arent the segregationist academies of Prince Edward County, but the efforts by black leaders to bypass a system long designed to deny their children a proper education.

An analysis of American history, a recent piece in The Atlantic related, indicates that the use of private means was a critical aspect to ensure quality education for African-Americans legally excluded from access to public institutions.

Today, black kids arent legally excluded from the best schools but are legally bound to failing ones. In her speech, Weingarten bizarrely compared defenders of the status quo  amply funded by union dues, and embedded in entrenched bureaucracies  to David, and the reformers fighting for every inch to Goliath.

These are the words of a woman who knows the other side has the moral high ground, and the only way she can try to regain it is through obfuscation and tortured rationalizations.

Hers, in short, is the voice of someone who is losing  and deserves to.

comments.lowry@nationalreview.com
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has with immediate effect lifted the temporary suspension of lending services by banks.

However, the upliftment of temporary suspension of lending by banks does not apply to those entities that are under investigations by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for abusing loan facilities to the detriment of the economy.

In a statement on Tuesday, RBZ Governor Dr John angudya said: Further to the circular the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (the Bank) issued to banks on 9 May 2022, the Bank wishes to advise the public that the temporary suspension of lending services by banks has been lifted with immediate effect.

The ban on bank lending recently announced by President Mnangagwa was aimed at warding off attacks on the Zimbabwe dollar, stabilising the exchange rate and rein in rising inflation. It was only a temporary measure designed to prick the bubble of currency instability fuelled by market indiscipline

The Government is convinced the recent exchange rate movements were being driven by negative sentiments and indiscipline of economic agents as opposed to economic fundamentals.

In response, President Mnangagwa then announced a raft of policy measures to deal with the unwarranted and sustained depreciation of local currency to arrest an upward inflation spiral.

Among the interventions was the ban on bank lending and tightening of trading of shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), which was being used for destabilising speculative trading in shares.

Zimbabwe, which enjoyed a largely stable exchange rate and exponential decline in inflation since August 2019, after inflation climbed to a post dollarisation high of 837,5 percent in July 2019, is facing renewed surges in inflation.

The depreciation has been blamed on rising global inflation due to the war in Ukraine and also domestic factors that include, chiefly, rapid depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar on the parallel market.

The annual inflation rate, which had slumped to a two-year low of 50,1 percent in June last year, rose to 94,6 percent in April from 76,1 percent in March this year.

To improve price discovery and deal with disparities in the market, the Government has introduced the willing buyer willing seller system through banks, which will be used in setting of prices.

The auction system would remain in place, but as President Mnangagwa directed, would only see the central bank selling on the stock of foreign currency that is available.

To discourage speculative buying and selling of shares on the stock exchange, transactions executed within 270 days would attract a weighty 40 percent tax.

 Herald

Breaking News via Email
Serious divisions have gripped the ruling Zanu PF party now led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who toppled former president Robert Mugabe following a military coup that catapulted him into power.

Some members of the ruling party are now demanding the ouster of newly-appointed Energy and Power Development Minister Simon Khaya Moyo, who is allegedly linked to former First Lady Grace Mugabes Generation 40 group, which wanted her to succeed Mugabe.

This came out in a heated meeting in Gwanda attended by top Zanu PF officials in Matabeleland South province, including Defence, Security and War Veterans Minister Kembo Mohadi, Rabelani Choeni, Obedingwa Mnguni and newly-crowned Youth League provincial secretary Washy Nkomo.

According to Nkomo, the call was made while Khaya Moyo was sharing the top table with Mohadi and other senior officials. He said Zanu PF members claimed that the former Zimbabwean ambassador to South Africa, was in the forefront of forcing Mohadi and others to leave the party before the Zimbabwe Defence Forces seized key state institutions and placed Mr. Mugabe under house arrest.

Nkomo noted that the disgruntled ruling party members claim that Khaya Moyo had a list of names of people who were aligned to Mnangagwa and were supposed to be expelled from the party in the run up to the Extra Ordinary Congress to be held within the next few days.

He claimed that Khaya Moyo played a key role in the ouster of Mnangagwa, Mohadi and several members of the current presidents so-called Team Lacoste faction.

People are not happy about what he (Khaya Moyo) did before President Mnangagwa bounced back), said Nkomo, who was expelled from the party together with former Vice President Joice Mujuru said to have also plotted to oust Mugabe at the 2014 party congress.

Mrs. Mugabe attacked Mujuru who was then dumped by the party and replaced by Mnangagwa.

Khaya Moyo was not reachable for comment.

Others being currently targeted for expulsion include Youth League leaders Siphethokuhle Moyo and Vumani Phuthi.

Sources said there was chaos at the meeting as Zanu PF Central Committee member, Rennie Kibi, nearly fought with the Zanu PF Womens League regional boss.

Regional Minister Abednico Ncube condemned the G40 group, saying the faction is now in disarray as some members are on the run while others are in jail for allegedly committing serious crimes

Breaking News via Email
Eat, prey, love: bald eagles adopt baby hawk into their nest in Canada Guardian (MGL)

The hardest thing about gardening? It might be learning the gardeners lingo Prospect (micael)

Prehistoric Pointillism? Long Before Seurat, Ancient Artists Chiseled Mammoths Out of Dots Smithsonian

Apple paid Nokia $2 billion to escape fight over old patents The Verge

Scientists just found another worrying link between sugar and depression Quartz (David L)

Is the world really better than ever? Guardian (bob k). Paging Dr. Pangloss

China and India Torn Between Silk Roads and Cocked Guns Pepe Escobar, Counterpunch

North Korea

USA Threatens Again Korea (and China indirectly) with Nuclear War Defend Democracy. No one who sputters at North Korea admits to the basic problem: per capita GDP in South Korea is $27,700, Per capita GDP in North Korea is $1,800. There is no way to integrate the two without bringing South Korean incomes way down, a politically unacceptable solution, or for it to be politically acceptable for the US to fund a North Korean Marshall Plan to give it an adequately functioning economy when US citizens are already paying for too many guns and too little butter. In other words, if we cant live with them as is, we dont seem to have a solution other than nuking them. North Korea says missile test shows all US within range BBC

Brexit

Hammonds Brexit plan brings rare show of cross-party unity The Times. This sounds all well and good and has the virtue of simplicitybut why, pray tell, should the EU agree? Article 50 is crystal clear. The UK cant pretend it didnt know what it was getting into. This amounts to: Put a big chunk of Article 50 on hold until we get our act together. Key section: Mr Hammond said that the public wanted to see little change immediately after Brexit and the government would seek a transition deal which kept trading relations the same as at present for one to three years. The temporary arrangement would be similar to the single market and customs union but outside both. It would end before the next general election in 2022, by which time Britains relationship with the EU would be governed by a free-trade deal. And Id like a pony. Home Offices lack of action on post-Brexit Border is shocking Irish Times. Subhead: British department under fire after admitting it has not consulted experts on the issue. UK councils want billions in EU funding replaced after Brexit Politico

New Cold War

Syraqistan

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Roombas have been mapping your homes for years, and that datas about to be sold to the highest bidder BGR (resilc). I had thought about getting a Roomba, half as a cat toy.scratch that. The Soviet InterNyet aeon (micael). Key quote: the story of the Soviet internet is a reminder that we internet users enjoy no guarantees that the private interests propping up the internet will behave any better than those greater forces whose unwillingness to cooperate not only spelled the end of Soviet electronic socialism but threatens to end the current chapter in our network age.

Imperial Collapse Watch

American Failure American Conservative (resilc)

Trump Transition

Obamacare

Health Bills Defeat Roils Republicans, Insurers Wall Street Journal. Key section: Insurers had been pressing for legislation aimed at stabilizing the marketplaces, an idea that is likely to now move into the spotlight. But its not clear that any bill can move forward fast enough to affect the markets for next year, as insurers must file rates by mid-August and make final decisions about participation by late September.

FDA Targets Cigarettes in Broadening of Fight Against Addiction Bloomberg

House Republicans are about to slash money for job creation in Appalachia. New Republic

Fake News

Laurene Powell Jobss Organization to Take Majority Stake in The Atlantic New York Times

P&G Slashed Digital Ad Spending. This is What Happened Next Wolf Richter. Not good for publishers, but maybe more so for Faceborg.

Its Your Money But You Cant Have It: EU Proposes Account Freezes to Halt Bank Runs Michael Shedlock. So the clue-in people will get their money out before the rubes, who get caught by the freeze.

What so many critiques of economics gets right Lars Syll, Real World Economics Blog

Sprint Proposes Merger with Charter Communications Wall Street Journal

Wells Fargo board not changing quickly enough: NYC Comptroller Reuters

Ubers CEO Search Reaches New Degree of Difficulty Wall Street Journal. Hahaha. They are still flogging the SoftBank investment line, which is most likely either a deliberate or desperate misconstruing of a casual Keep us in mind inquiry, or SoftBank seeking to buy Asian ops at a knocked-down price. See Clive for further observations. So SoftBank is serving as an excuse for the fact that the CEO search is taking time, as in not getting the type of takers Uber thinks should be keen to take its impossible job.

The Illusion of Choice in Consumer Brands Visual Capital

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour (Alan T):

And a bonus video. On July 1, Will C sent this message:

The baby chicks in this video are now at six weeks and going strong. One rooster and five hens, if the signs are correct. Our surrogate mother hen, Mayapple, did a fantastic job. Ive never heard of baby chicks jumping onto their mother like in the video (@ 1:54). The mother is now insistent that she rejoins the laying flock we have elsewhere on the property. She must think her chicks are ready to fledge.

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
By Matt Bruenig, who writes about politics, the economy, and political theory, with a focus on issues that affect poor and working people. He has written for The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The American Prospect, In These Times, Jacobin, Dissent, Salon, The Week, Gawker and at his home base of sorts: Demos Policy Shop. Follow him on Twitter: @mattbruenig. Originally published at his website

This post was originally intended for the launch of the Peoples Policy Project website. But as that is running behind schedule, I figure I will post it here.

When policy commentators talk about the Nordic economies, they tend to focus on their comprehensive welfare states. And for good reason. Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden are home to some of the most generous welfare systems in the world. Each has an efficient single-payer health care system, free college, long parental leave, heavily subsidized child care, and many other social benefits too numerous to list here.

As marvelous as the Nordic welfare states are, the outsized attention they receive can sometimes lead commentators to the wrong conclusions about the peculiarities of Nordic economies. Jonathan Chait thinks the Nordic economies feature an amped-up version of  neoliberalism while an oddly large number of conservative and libertarian writers claim the Nordics are quasi-libertarian.

The common thread to these mistaken conclusions, aside from the desire to deny that there are leftist success stories in the world, is the apparent belief that the only extraordinary part of Nordic economies are the welfare states. Except for their generous social benefits, everything else is properly capitalist and even more capitalist than the United States. Or so the argument goes.

Labor Market

But this is not true. In addition to their large welfare states and high tax levels, Nordic economies are also home to large public sectors, strong job protections, and labor markets governed by centralized union contracts.

Around 1 in 3 workers in Denmark and Norway are employed by the government.

Centrally-bargained union contracts establish the work rules and pay scales for the vast majority of Nordic workers.

These labor market characteristics are hardly neoliberal or quasi-libertarian, at least if we stick to typical definitions of those terms. The neoliberal tendency, as exemplified most recently by Frances Emmanuel Macron, is to cut public sector jobs, reduce job protections, and push for local rather than centralized labor agreements. For the US labor market to become more like the Nordics, it would have to move in the opposite direction on all of those fronts.

State Ownership

Even more interesting than Nordic labor market institutions is Nordic state ownership. Collective ownership over capital is the hallmark of that old-school socialism that is supposed to have been entirely discredited. And yet, such public ownership figures prominently in present-day Norway and Finland and has had a role in the other two Nordic countries as well, especially in Sweden where the government embarked upon a now-defunct plan to socialize the whole of Swedish industry into wage-earner funds just a few decades ago.

The governments of Norway and Finland own financial assets equal to 330 percent and 130 percent of each countrys respective GDP. In the US, the same figure is just 26 percent.

Much of this money is tied up in diversified wealth funds, which some would object to as not counting as real state ownership. I disagree with the claim that wealth funds are not really state ownership, but the observation that Nordic countries feature high levels of state ownership does not turn upon this quibble.

State-owned enterprises (SOEs), defined as commercial enterprises in which the state has a controlling stake or large minority stake, are also far more prevalent in the Nordic countries. In 2012, the value of Norwegian SOEs was equal to 87.9 percent of the countrys GDP. For Finland, that figure was 52.3 percent. In the US, it was not even 1 percent.

Some of these SOEs are businesses often run by states: a postal service, a public broadcasting channel, an Alcohol retail monopoly. But others are just normal businesses typically associated with the private sector.

In Finland, where I know the situation the best, there are 64 state-owned enterprises, including one called Solidium that operates as a holding company for the governments minority stake in 13 of the companies.

The Finnish state-owned enterprises include an airliner called Finnair; a wine and spirits maker called Altia; a marketing communications company called Nordic Morning; a large construction and engineering company called VR; and an $8.8 billion oil company called Neste.

In Norway, the state manages direct ownership of 70 companies. The businesses include the real estate company Entra; the countrys largest financial services group DNB; the 30,000-employee mobile telecommunications company Telenor; and the famous state-owned oil company Statoil.

Finland and Norway have their special reasons for the level of state ownership they engage in. Finnish government publications discuss the countrys late development and status as a peripheral country when justifying their relatively heavy public involvement in industry. That is, Finland does not want to expose the entirety of its marginal, late-developing, open economy to the potential ravages of international capital flows.

In Norway, the discovery of oil in the North Sea was the impetus for the creation of its enormous social wealth fund. The fund currently owns around $950 billion of assets throughout the world, including more than $325 billion of assets inside the US. In a video on the Norwegian central banks website, the fund is described as follows: It is the peoples money, owned by everyone, divided equally and for generations to come.

No one would argue that the Nordic countries are full-blown socialist countries, whatever that might mean. But it is also folly to pretend the only thing they have proven is that high taxes and large welfare states can work. Even on the narrow understanding of socialism as public ownership of enterprise, the Nordic countries are far more socialistic than most commentators seem to realize. American socialists who draw inspiration from their successes do so rightly.
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.
(Natural News) At the recent Global Family Planning Summit in London, Melinda Gates, wife of the billionaire leftist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $375 million to organizations that provide contraceptives and abortions over the next four years, according to the U.K.-based magazine Marie Claire.

Although Gates stated that the money would only go towards contraceptives and sex education, LifeNews.com explained that such a claim is utterly false. The fundability of money makes it easier for pro-abortion organizations to provide abortion internationally, Life News reported. In other words, every dollar the Gates Foundation gives to Planned Parenthood for distributing birth control or building an abortion-friendly clinic frees up a dollar in Planned Parenthoods budget to spend elsewhere.

The fact that Melinda Gates would donate such a large amount to population control efforts is rather unsurprising, considering the fact that both she and her husband have been long time advocates of organizations such as Planned Parenthood. For example, between the years 2009 and 2013, the Gates Foundation reported donating $71 million to Planned Parenthood of America, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Gates also gave an additional $46.1 million to Marie Stopes International, a British-based organization known for providing what they consider to be safe abortion services, in 2012. Planned Parenthood predominantly stations its abortion clinics in African-American neighborhoods, and the vast majority of abortions in America are carried out on African-American women.

In a blog post published in June 2014, Melinda Gates wrote, Around the world there is a deep, broad, and powerful consensus: We should provide all women the information and tools to time and space their pregnancies in a safe and healthy way that works for them. Gates went on to say, In the United States and around the world the emotional and personal debate about abortion is threatening to get in the way of the lifesaving consensus regarding basic family planning.

Murdering black babies described as safety for women

There is something quite odd about how Melinda Gates and other leftists talk about abortion. If you really take the time to listen to what they are saying, nine times out of ten abortion advocates will mention the word safety. They argue that they support Planned Parenthood so that women can get access to safe abortions. They tell us that they want women to be able to get the abortion procedure done in a safe and comfortable environment. One the website for Marie Stopes International, the organization says its provides contraception and safe abortion services.

The reality is that when it comes to abortion, it is never safe. When an innocent baby inside the womb is picked apart limb from limb, has its skull crushed by a pair of forceps and then is sucked out onto a tray with a vacuum, that is anything but safe.

Sadly, liberals, feminists and abortion advocates do not recognize a fetus to be a separate life form, complete with its own set of lungs, its own brain and its own beating heart. Instead, they routinely label it as a clump of cells, which then gives them the green light to treat it as such instead of as a living and breathing human being (Related: Abortion clinics generate nearly $1 billion per year from murdering babies.)

There is also something ironic about an international organization called Planned Parenthood that each and every day performs procedures that destroy the potential for parenthood. Taking the life of an innocent baby simply because it might be an inconvenience isnt helping women prepare for being a parent, its preventing them from becoming a parent.

As a free citizen of the United States, Melinda Gates has a right to donate her money to virtually any organization that she wants. But just because she has a right to directly or indirectly fund abortion clinics and the horrors that go on inside of these facilities, doesnt mean it is morally acceptable either.

Sources include:

TheNewAmerican.com

LifeNews.com

ImpatientOptimists.org

MarieStopes.org
The violent MS-13 gang has kicked the tire in San Jose, in an effort to set up shop in the South Bay, but has so far been unsuccessful.

Leaders credit a slew of intervention programs for keeping one of the United States most ruthless gangs away from their city.

On Friday, in front of law enforcement officers in Long Island, President Donald Trump used blunt terms to describe how the MS-13 gang members, known for torturing victims to get their way, should be treated.

These animals, and when you see them, they're thrown into the backs of paddy wagons, Trump said. Throw them in. I said, Please don't be too nice.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was in El Salvador, talking about dismantling MS-13 in its home base.

Its extremely scary, said Mario Maciel, who heads San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardos Gang Task Force.

Maciel just returned from Central America, where he gave workshops on how his hometown is fighting gangs.

Those young men are lacking a lot of hope for their futures and there's nothing more dangerous than individuals who have no hope for their future, Maciel said. They're willing to do the most atrocious things.

To combat that trend, a group of San Jose teens on Friday graduated from a summer work program that aims to keep them off the streets.

Anything you do on the streets can get you in trouble  even the smallest thing you can think of, said one of the graduates, identified as Jarenny.

It is such efforts that can deter potential gang members from lives of crime, said Maciel.
Friends and relatives of Amer Sinan Alhaggagi, an Oakland man indicted on terrorism charges, are reeling from the accusations levied against him.

NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit first broke the news that the 22-year-old Alhaggagi was indicted late last week for attempting to provide support to the terrorist group ISIS.

The suspect's shocked family broke its silence when Alhaggagi's uncle, Hashem Awnallah, told NBC Bay Area that the charges are unbelievable.

"It doesnt jibe, frankly," he said. "It doesnt add up, OK, because thats not the person we know."

Federal prosecutors in a December detention hearing recounted in detail conversations dating back to last July that Alhaggagi had with FBI informants posing as ISIS sympathizers.

I live close to San Francisco, thats like the gay capital of the world, Alhaggagi allegedly told an FBI informant during an online conversation. Im going to handle them right. LOL. Im going to plant a bomb in a gay club. By god, Im going to tear up the city. The whole Bay Area is going up in flames. My ideas are genius.

Court records go further and said Alhaggagi had a goal to kill 10,000 people and target the UC Berkeley campus as well as San Francisco's Chinatown, downtown and Mission Street.

Alhaggagi family

Awnallah, however, painted a very different picture of Alhaggagi.

Awnallah has been involved in humanitarian work for years, helping people in his birth country of Yemen escape the war thats raging there. He said his nephew had carried on the family tradition of helping the community.

"His mother was known for cooking plenty of charitable food and Amer was well known for helping distribute that food," he said.

Awnallah, the brother of Alhaggagis mother, said Amer was born in the United States after his parents moved here from Yemen in search of opportunity and a better life for their children. He described them as a tight-knit, law-abiding family with close ties to the community. Amers younger sister, he said, was honored Friday for outstanding achievement in her summer school courses.

He has never been known to be either violent, radicalized, or harmful to anyone, Awnallah said.

Alhaggagi grew up in the East Bay, attending Berkeleys Emerson Elementary before graduating from Berkeley High School in 2013. After graduating, Awnallah said Alhaggagi worked several jobs and enrolled in classes at Berkeley City College.

Alhaggagis friends also said that the young man they knew was thoughtful and generous.

Everybody that I know was completely like, baffled, said Suhaib Ahmed. Because this person, we know him to be an amazing, kind-hearted soul.

Alhaggagi remains in custody. In addition to a terrorism-related charge, he's accused of identity theft and credit card fraud.

His defense team told NBC Bay Area that the charges against their client are overblown. He was naive and boasting about his plans, but never intended to actually follow through, they said.

Alhaggagi's family told NBC Bay Area that trips to Saudi Arabia and Yemen prosecutors say may have been connected to extremist activity were in fact far more innocent. The trip to Saudi Arabia, they said, was to attend his sister's wedding. The last time he was in Yemen, they said, was to visit family long before he even graduated from high school.

Alhaggagis family now awaits his day in court as they continue to cope with his arrest in shock and disbelief.

We have faith in the American justice system and we look forward to due process, Awnallah said.

Liz Wagner also contributed to this report.
Contra Costa County officials are warning residents to avoid touching bats after one of them found in a park in Clayton earlier this month tested positive for rabies.

The bat was found in a play structure area at The Grove Park at 6100 Main St. in Clayton on July 16, and it was immediately removed from the park.

The animal was taken in for treatment but died several days later. A positive rabies test result came back Thursday afternoon.

Rabies spreads from animals to humans mainly through bites. The people who touched the bat when it was found are not considered to be at risk.

There is no indication that any children touched the bat, county officials said.

Residents are being urged to make sure pets are up to date on their rabies vaccines and avoid handling wildlife.

Any bats seen behaving unusually, doing things such as lying on the ground or being active during daylight hours, should be reported to local animal control officials.
His White House in turmoil, President Donald Trump abruptly announced late Friday he was appointing Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to be his chief of staff, ending the tumultuous six-month tenure of Reince Priebus.

After months of speculation about Priebus' fate, Trump tweeted his decision just as he landed in Washington after a speech in New York in which he lavishly praised Kelly's performance at Homeland Security.

Priebus, the former Republican National Committee head, was the frequent target of rumors about his job security amid infighting and confusion within the White House and a long whisper campaign by Trump allies. Then, on Thursday, he was the subject of a remarkable and profane public rebuke by Trump's newly appointed White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.

Priebus told allies that he had offered his resignation to Trump on Thursday.

"I think the president wanted to go a different direction," Priebus told CNN just hours after his exit was announced. He added that he agreed the White House might well benefit from "a reset," and he said, "I'm always going to be a Trump fan. I'm on Team Trump."



Of his replacement, Priebus said in an earlier statement that he "can't think of a better person than General John Kelly to succeed me."

Trump's announcement on Twitter said, "I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American ... and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration."

He also saluted Priebus, the chief of staff he had just pushed out.

"I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!"

Kelly is a retired Marine four-star general. Trump had focused on him in recent days, telling those close to him that he believed military discipline was what his administration needed.

In a statement released Friday afternoon Kelly said that when he left the Marines, he never thought he would find as committed, as professional, as patriotic a group of individuals. But he was wrong, he said.

Priebus never could bring a semblance of order to the team of in-fighting rivals that populate Trump's West Wing, and questions about his future have long swirled around the office. Those questions sharply escalated this week with the arrival of Scaramucci, the hard-charging communications director who was hired over Priebus' objections.

Priebus' already tense relationship with Scaramucci took a darker turn over the past two days when the communications chief suggested in a late-night tweet that Priebus was one of the "leakers" that Trump has railed against. The New Yorker magazine published an interview Thursday in which Scaramucci called Priebus, amid an avalanche of vulgarity, a "paranoid schizophrenic."

Priebus, who hails from Wisconsin and has deep ties to House Speaker Paul Ryan, had grown increasingly isolated in the White House, as past Republican National Committee colleagues and other allies have left or been pushed out. Those who have departed include former deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, former communications chief Mike Dubke, press secretary Sean Spicer and press aide Michael Short. Another early departure from the Trump White House was National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Ryan, in a statement, said Priebus "has left it all out on the field, for our party and our country." Ryan added that he looked forward to working with Kelly

Both Scaramucci and Priebus traveled to New York's Long Island with Trump on Friday for a speech in which the president highlighted efforts to crack down on the gang MS-13. Priebus took the return flight to Washington, which had to circle the runway due to a storm, his fate sealed in the tweets that were sent by the president just as he stepped off the plane.

Shortly before the president deplaned, Priebus' black SUV pulled away, leaving the rest of the motorcade, including the president's vehicle, in the distance. The president eventually emerged, umbrella in hand, and delivered a brief statement on the runway as driving rain poured.

Rep. Peter King of New York sat across from the outgoing chief of staff on Air Force One's return flight to Washington and said Priebus "kept a poker face."

Priebus did not respond to reporters' shouted questions though he later released a statement saying it was "one of the greatest honors of my life" to serve as chief of staff. He also pledged to continue to support Trump's agenda. His term ends in fewer than 200 days, the shortest tenure for any president's first White House chief of staff since the post was formally established in 1946.

From day one, Priebus' power has been limited compared with past officials with his title. In a highly unusual arrangement, Trump said at the outset that Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon would serve as "equal partners" in implementing his agenda.

Scaramucci was the latest top aide to be granted a direct line to Trump, and it became increasingly unclear who actually reported to Priebus. Though Priebus forged an uneasy truce with his former foe Bannon, powerful White House aides Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, were both supportive of Kelly's hire, according to a person familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions.

Priebus, whose departure was the latest in a string of early exits from the administration, also was blamed by some within the White House for the failure of the Republican health care plan, with some Trump allies believing that Priebus' longtime relationships with Republicans on Capitol Hill should have ensured the bill's passage.

Priebus, a political operative and attorney, is expected to look for a corporate job or possibly write a book about his experience in the center of the Trump storm. One of the final establishment Republicans in the White House, he was a frequent target of barbs from Trump over not being an early backer of the celebrity businessman's candidacy.

As Homeland Security secretary, Kelly has taken the lead on some of Trump's most controversial policies, including his executive orders suspending the admission of refugees and temporarily barring visitors from several Muslim-majority nations. Those orders have been stripped down by courts pending a Supreme Court review this fall.

People who know Kelly told The Associated Press that he was not aware of the details of those initial orders until around the time that Trump signed them. Yet, just days after taking office, Kelly had to lead the agency as it dealt with the chaos and confusion that ensued at airports in the U.S. and around the world. He defended the orders to reporters and lawmakers and insisted that he indeed had been part of the decision-making process.

Kelly has also pushed for support for Trump's signature campaign pledge to build a wall along the southern border, though he acknowledged at his confirmation hearing that "a physical barrier in and of itself will not do the job."

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a frequent Trump critic, said that, as Homeland Security chief, Kelly has "been very effective in engaging members of Congress and communicating a coherent message for the President."

"Secretary Kelly is one of the strongest and most natural leaders I've ever known," Graham said.
Federal prosecutors say a bodybuilding former Rhode Island police officer has agreed to plead guilty in a steroids case.

Documents filed Friday in federal court in Providence show 34-year-old Evan Speck, of Westerly, agreed to plead guilty to possession with intent to distribute steroids, distribution of a misbranded drug and money laundering. A sentencing date has not been set.

He must forfeit more than $500,000 and other assets under the plea deal.

Speck's lawyer told The Providence Journal that Speck is taking responsibility for his actions.

Speck resigned from the Charlestown police department in March.

He is suing the police department saying he was discriminated against because of his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Town officials say Speck missed work because of his "alleged disability," but participated in bodybuilding competitions.
Two men died in separate incidents early Saturday after being pulled from Lake Michigan.

A 26-year-old man was getting off a boat early Saturday in the area of Jackson Park Beach near the 5900 block of South Lake Shore Drive when he fell in the water, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiners office. Other people on the boat then lost sight of him.

After being located by the police marine unit, the man was taken to University of Chicago Medical center, where he died at 3:21 a.m., authorities said.

A 28-year-old man died in a similar incident just over an hour later. Authorities were called about 3:45 a.m. to Oak Street Beach near the 1000 block of North Lake Shore Drive. A woman was able to get out of the water on her own, but a 28-year-old man was lost in crashing waves, authorities said.

A Chicago Fire Department dive team tracked him down, brought him to shore and then to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:24 a.m., authorities said. The death was believed to be accidental.

The National Weather Service issued a Beach Hazard Statement Friday, warning of dangerous waves and currents. The warning remains in effect until 7 p.m. Saturday, with waves expected to reach 3 to 5 feet.

People visiting the beaches should stay out of the water, the NWS warning states.
A Gary man serving a 65-year sentence for killing the grandmother and aunt of a police officer was fatally stabbed Wednesday at the Indiana State Prison, officials confirm.

Willie Steele, 49, who was sentenced for the 2009 strangulation deaths of 79-year-old Lillie and 52-year-old Doressa Miller, was working in a part of the facility for offenders who have violated prison rules, officials said. Steele was stabbed once in the torso before a correctional officer found him about 4:33 a.m., prison officials confirmed.

He was taken to Franciscan Health Michigan City where he was pronounced dead three hours later, prison spokeswoman Pam James said.

A suspect offender has been identified and has been placed in a restricted housing unit within the facility, prison officials said in a statement.

An investigation into the stabbing was ongoing, James said.

Steele pleaded guilty in October 2013 to the double murder, James said.

Steeles earliest possible release date would have been Nov. 14, 2049.

The Indiana State Prison is located on the west side of Michigan City.
The West Haven Fire Marshals office needs your help to identify who may have set a house on fire.

Charles Virzi is the owner of the 339 Center Street home that caught fire on July 11. He told NBC Connecticut on Friday that he will match the fire marshals office reward of $2,500. Now, a $5,000 reward will be offered to whoever gives authorities a tip that leads them to make an arrest.

Tenants of the home woke up to the home on fire around 3 a.m. on July 11. Fire Marshal Keith Flood said evidence shows ignitable liquids were found in the stairwell of the entryway of the two-family home.

The fire trapped a woman on the second floor and sent her to the hospital for several days. The stairs even burned completely, causing the woman to be rescued through a second flood back window.

Im concerned about my tenants because I look at them more like family than tenants. And if theres something I could do to find out who did this to these people, thats what Im willing to do, Said Virzi.

If you have any information, call the Connecticut arson hotline at 1-800-84-ARSON. You can also call Westport Police.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the state have healthcare because of the Affordable Care Act with those signups occurring through either the marketplace Access Health Connecticut, or through the expansion of Medicaid.

More than 104,000 people are covered through plans purchased through the marketplace, and another 208,000 receive care through Medicaid expansion, a key tenet of the Affordable Care Act.

After the votes to repeal the entire law failed early Friday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal now says it's the president's responsibility to ensure the system works.

He cannot conduct this vendetta with the sacrifice of some peoples lives," Blumenthal said. "The collapse or explosion of the exchanges will cost lives and the president should be bolstering and supporting the insurance exchanges and making the present system work as well as possible.

On Twitter, and in public statements, President Donald Trump has talked about impending failure of the healthcare market, which he says would be the fault of Democrats.

Trump tweeted early Friday morning, shortly after a proposal to repeal the individual mandate and part of the employer mandate failed, "3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!"

Senator Chris Murphy hopes Republicans work with Democrats to fix the law.

"They know if the health system goes belly-up that politically they are going to bear the responsibility and so they are better off working with us to shore up the Affordable Care Act rather than letting Donald Trump undermine it," Murphy said.

Jonathan Miller, from Meriden, had a marketplace plan for years to help him cover bills for Cystic Fibrosis. He describes the Affordable Care Act as a lifeline since he was born with a pre-existing condition.

I needed that access to the marketplace and without it, I would not have been able to afford my treatments," he said.

Miller was relieved that GOP efforts to repeal the law failed, but said Congress still has to address the costs that lead so many to struggle to pay for healthcare.

"I needed that access to the marketplace and without it, I would not have been able to afford my treatments," Miller said.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao made it clear on Friday that the government would not arrest film personalities in drugs cases. The investigation team would consider them as victims.The NDPS Act says that addicts are also accused and can be held liable, but Mr Rao asked officials not to go after film personalities.Mr Rao told a review meeting of top officials that the excise enforcement department had identified 12 persons from Tollywood. We dont consider them as accused persons as they are just victims. Trafficking and selling of drugs is a crime but consuming it is not, he said.

By questioning these persons, the investigation agency will get information on peddlers and suppliers, he said.Based on their statements, the SIT will be able to make arrests and conduct raids, he said.So far, the investigation has revealed that cine persons were only using drugs and not selling them. If it is proved that they are selling drugs, well register cases against them. Not only the people from Tollywood but we also consider drug addicts from all sectors as victims, he said.The Chief Minister was speaking at a review on the ongoing drug cases with Director General of Police Anurag Sharma, Hyderabad police commissioner M. Mahender Reddy, prohibition and excise commissioner Dr R.V. Chandravadan, Intelligence IG Naveen Chand, security IG Mrugesh Kumar Singh, director of excise enforcement Dr Akun Sabharwal, joint commissioners of police Shahnawaz Qasim (Cyberabad) and Tarun Joshi (Rachakonda).

The Chief Minister also explained to the officials that the Special Task Force had arrested 22 persons including two foreign nationals in connection with the drug cases. We are just utilising statements of drug addicts as clues in nabbing the prime accused. We have identified that the drug racketeers are obtaining drugs from Portugal, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Colombia and other countries. We have names of some key persons that are involved in drug trafficking.

Mr Rao said: We are not targeting the cine industry only. There is no truth of drug culture in the information technology sector.He said the state government had targeted the drug culture in its initial stages and was working to control it in Hyderabad. The allegations being circulated that drugs are on the rise in Hyderabad are false. Telangana state is in the top position in financial growth, development and law and order and the government is concentrating on eliminating social disorders, he said.

Our goal is to close all routes for drugs from the entry points into TS. Telangana state is not in the list of the heavy drug usage states in the country. Even in the list of cities, Hyderabad does not figure. Our aim is to close the businesses of drugs, illicit liquor, hookah, gambling, eve-teasing, adulteration, fake products and social disorders, said Mr Rao.
An animal rescue in Middlebury said they need more than a dozen pets placed in forever homes or the shelter will be forced to shut down.

"I can no longer bear the personal financial burden of this rescue. We have twelve long-time canines, and a ton of felines, needing adoption," the leader of the Brass City Rescue Alliance, Jennifer Humphrey, said.

Humphrey said if the animals aren't placed by the rescues last scheduled event on Aug. 5, she may have to close the shelter due to mounting expenses.

The facility's operating costs exceeded $70,000 in 2016. Thanks to a slow adoption season, the facility is now behind in the monthly rent it pays to the Town of Middlebury for use of the rescues Service Road building.

"Just like anything, you need to bring money in to pay the bills. This is so dire," Humphry said.

The rescue also takes in animals from Odessa, Texas, that would otherwise be euthanized. Twenty-eight of those animals are expected to arrive in Connecticut this weekend, making the need for adopting pet parents even more serious.

Anyone looking to adopt a dog or cat can check Brass City Rescue's website here.

The rescue is located at 2 Service Road, Middlebury, Connecticut.
President Trump said he would destroy the dangerous street gang MS-13 in a speech Friday in Long Island, New York. He vowed to deport any gang members here illegally and promised to have the backs of police and law enforcement.

But some are questioning comments he made about how police should treat suspects they're arresting.

"When you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? President Trump said. Like, don't hit their head, and they just killed somebody - don't hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, okay?"

Lieutenant Thomas Glover, President of Dallas' Black Police Association, said the comments were irresponsible and send the wrong message.

Lt. Glover said that in our current climate everything should be done to promote mutual respect and trust between the police and public.

He added that he hoped the president was joking and that he didn't believe any law enforcement officer would take a suggestion seriously to hurt a suspect, especially because they are innocent until proven guilty.

"In my 36-year career, I've ran across people who I thought committed serious crimes, seriously injured their wives or husband or children and it turned out they didn't, Lt. Glover said. If you begin to play judge and jury and allow people to get hurt, through your negligence or through your intentions, you are violating the law and you're no bigger than the people that are out there breaking the law intentionally."

President Trump also promised in his speech to enforce the nation's laws, protect our borders and support police like never before.
Calling all superheroes and fans of sci-fi flicks!

Dallas is your destination this weekend.



Its where a comic-con festival is being held, but this one has a unique twist.

Texas Latino Comic Con highlights Latino comic book artists.

Its co-founder is Hector Rodriguez, the creator of a popular comic book series called El Peso Hero.

He started sketching in 2011.

These stories need to be told, Rodriguez said.

His books center around a Mexican crime-fighting superhero named El Peso Hero.

For him it was as a put down by the border patrol because he's belittling his heroics, Oh hes nothing more than el peso, he's not worth anything, Rodriguez explained.

The comics are examples of art imitating life. They depict contemporary issues like immigration, discrimination and violence along the border.

The border is where Rodriguezs story begins.

He was born and raised in Eagle Pass, Texas, along the Mexico border.

There were comic book stores everywhere, Rodriguez said, but added there were no Latino main characters on the covers.

He draws inspiration from his experience growing up.

By night, Rodriguez sketches and writes his comics.

By day, hes a 5th grade bilingual reading teacher at Burks Elementary School in McKinney.

His stories may be fictional but reflect truth in today's world.

They need these stories. They need to be represented, Rodriguez said.

Texas Latino Comic Con will be held at the Latino Cultural Arts Center in Dallas on Saturday. Doors open at 11 a.m.

The event is free.
World War 1 begins (1914)

On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, starting World War 1, one of the deadliest conflicts in human history.

World War 1 was a battled of the Allied Power  mainly composed of Britain, France, Italy, the United States and Russia  and the Central Powers  Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the German and Ottoman empires. This conflict brought end to the Austro-Hungarian, German and Ottoman empires, but also Russias.

It is considered the first modern war, as it was the first time most countries used machine guns, military air-crafts, and tanks. The high casualty rate is typically attributed to military strategy being behind technology.

While the Allies attempted to use their victory to avoid a future, similarly deadly conflict, those attempts failed. World War II began just two decades later.

'Bonus Army' dispersed from nation's capitol (1932)

On July 28, 1932, President Herbert Hoover and Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the Bonus Army to be dispersed from the nations capital.

The Bonus Army, a group of World War I veterans and their supporters, gathered in D.C. to demand payment from the World War Adjustment Compensation Act of 1924. The issue with the compensation act: veterans could not redeem their rewards until 1945, but the Great Depression was already rattling American households.

In 1936, Congress overrode Franklin Delano Roosevelts veto and paid World War I veterans their bonuses nine years early.

Bomber crashes into Empire State Building (1945)

On July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the Empire State Building in New York City due to heavy fog.

The pilot accidently made a wrong turn and crashed into the upper floors of the Empire State Building, the 78th to 80th floors. However, the ensuing fire was brought under control within the hour, a rare success for a fire that high, even today.

Unfortunately, three crew members and eleven people inside the Empire State Building died because of that crash; and the damages totaled an estimated $1 million  over $13 million today.

Hawaii gets ready for statehood (1959)

On July 28, 1859, Hiram Leong Fong, of Hawaii, became the first Asian- and, more specifically, Chinese-American elected to the United State Senate; and Daniel Jen Inouye, also of Hawaii, became the first Japanese-American elected to the United States House of Representatives.

Hawaii officially became a state a month later on August 21, 1959.

Senator Fong, a Republican, is known for fighting for civil rights legislation and supporting the Vietnam War and President Nixon. He served in the Senate until 1977.

Fong died in 2004. He was 97.

Representative Inuoye, a Democrat, became the highest-ranking Asian-American politician in United States history. He served in the House of Representatives of until 1963, he was then elected to the Senate.

Inuoye was awarded a Medal of Honor for his service in the segregated all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II. He fought in Italy, where he lost his arm. He also received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal.

Inuoye died in 2012. He was 88.

President Lyndon Johnson sends more troops to Vietnam (1965)

On July 28, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced he was increasing the United States military forces in Vietnam by 50,000 people.

The increase  from 75,000 to 125,000  also raised the, unpopular, monthly draft calls from 17,000 to 35,000.

Johnson also affirmed the United States was ready negotiate an end to the war, appealing to United Nations requests. Communist leaders around the world viewed this as a hypocritical point. Johnson reportedly received congressional support.

This decision is seen as a turning point that effectively guaranteed U.S. military leaders a blank check to pursue the war, which ultimately became incredibly unpopular.

President Johnsons handling of the war, despite his contributions to landmark civil rights achievements and war on poverty, largely contributed to his inability to rally a large coalition to back his 1968 Presidential Campaign.

Earthquake in China kills thousands (1976)

On July 28, 1976, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake shook the world, killing several hundred thousand Chinese people.

The Tangshan earthquake of 1976, or Great Tangshan Earthquake, officially killed 242,000 people; however, some estimates exceed 600,000. There has never been a definite count.

The earthquake started at 3 a.m. in Tangshan, killing many by collapsing poorly reinforced homes.

The quake occurred on a previously unknown fault line. It is considered the second most deadly earthquake in human history.

NAACP changes leadership (1977)

Just a year later, on the other side of the world, Benjamin Hooks succeeded Roy Wilkins as Executive Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, one of Americas most famous civil rights advocacy groups.

Hooks was a strong advocate for self-help, while executive director, often urging the more successful of the African-American community to give back.

Executive Director Hooks retired in 1992. He was succeeded by Benjamin Chavis.

Hooks was born in Memphis, he also died there in 2010. He was 85. He was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George Bush in 2007.

Syria begins offensive attack in Aleppo (2012)

On July 28, 2012, the Syrian government began an offensive military-effort in Aleppo.

Aleppo, Syrias largest city, has been mostly destroyed by the battles. Forces reached a stalemate in July of 2016.

Now over 250,000 Syrians live without hospital care or basic amenities, according to the New York Times. The city and people suffered intense damage from airstrikes and ground fighting.

Thousands from Aleppo and other war-ravaged areas of Syria now constitute what is considered a refugee crisis and humanitarian efforts remain limited.

The civil war in Syria is still ongoing, but ISIL (commonly referred to as ISIS) has taken significant losses.

The United States, Russia and Jordan agreed to a ceasefire a few weeks ago, which has held so far. Previous ceasefires have failed, though neither side accepts blame.

Last week, the United States stopped assisting Syrian opposition groups who fought ISIS and Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President. The ending of CIA-assistance is seen as a significant change for the course of Syrias future.
A San Diego Fire-Rescue (SDFD) captain faces a felony domestic violence charge, San Diego police confirmed Friday.

Capt. Steven Michaels, 53, was arrested at 4 p.m. Thursday and booked on felony charges of domestic violence and trying to dissuade a witness. Hes also accused of a misdemeanor of tampering with a wireless device.

Michaels has now been arrested three times for cases of domestic violence. In the first two arrests, he was not charged with a crime.

"Of course, no one wants to be arrested and it looks bad when someone is being arrested by law enforcement multiple times, but under the law where there is no conviction, it doesn't count," said Jeremy Warren, a criminal defense attorney.

Since the captain is a public official, his employment and pension could be affected if he's charged and convicted.

"Under a law that was passed in 2013, if you're a public official convicted of a felony, you lose your pension," said Warren. "But the felony has to be connected to your on-the-job activities."

The incident was reported on Friday, July 21 according to San Diego Police Lt. Scott Wahl but Michaels was not present at the time officers initially responded. Wahl did not know the details of the July 21 incident.

When detectives returned to the apartment to follow up on the call, Michaels was spotted and taken into custody at that time, Wahl said.

When asked to provide the SDFD policy regarding leaders who are accused of a felony, SDFD spokesperson Monica Munoz provided the City of San Diego Civil Service Rule XI.

The regulations cover all employees and state an employee faces suspension or removal under various circumstances including:

The employee has been offensive in his or her conduct toward fellow employees, wards of the City, or the public.

The employee has been guilty of any conduct unbecoming an officer or employee of the City.

The employee has been convicted of a criminal offense involving moral turpitude.

Munoz did not comment on the criminal charges filed against Michaels, saying it is a personnel issue.

Michaels has had two other documented run-ins with law enforcement in the last 10 years.

His record was brought up during the trial of a San Diego man who stabbed two firefighters in the East Village in June 2015.

Video evidence showed Michaels made contact with the defendant, shoving him into a bench.

Defense attorneys questioned Michaels in court regarding two domestic violence arrests  one in 2006 and one in December 2015.

He said in court that in the 2006 incident, he punched his wife who was seven months pregnant at the time. No disciplinary action was taken against Michaels after the first domestic violence arrest. Charges were not filed.

"We took no action because his behavior posed no threat to other employees or to the public," then-SDFD spokesperson Lee Swanson said.

City pay data shows Michaels was promoted from fire engineer to fire captain after the first arrest.

In the December 2015 incident, Michaels testified in court that he kicked-in his girlfriends door. It was determined that charges would not be filed, according to the City Attorneys Office.

"Our office reviewed the evidence and statements in this case and determined that domestic battery charges could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt," City Attorney Spokesman Gerry Braun said at the time.

Ed. Note: This article has been revised to update City of San Diego policy regarding suspension and removal of employees.
A three-term Maryland Democrat who is one of the wealthiest members of Congress is the first to announce he'll seek his party's nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020.

Rep. John Delaney said Friday that he would seek the presidency, rather than the Maryland governorship or re-election to his House seat in 2018.

In doing so, he swiftly criticized Trump's efforts to dismantle the health care overhaul passed under President Barack Obama as "the most recent example of their brand of destructive partisanship."

"Partisanship is really destroying our country," Delaney told The Associated Press in an interview. "We're not able to get anything done, and if you look at how the future is going to unfold with the changes that are happening in our economy and how those changes are driving global change, there's so many obvious things ... we're not doing ... because of partisanship. We're not doing it because no one is really focused on the facts."

He said he wants to bring a new approach to governing and economic policy that addresses the nation's opportunities and challenges.

Delaney, a former banking entrepreneur, is known as politically moderate with a willingness to reach across the aisle. He has supported a measure to raise money to build infrastructure by allowing U.S. corporations to avoid taxes when they repatriate profits overseas, if they purchase bonds that would be used to build infrastructure.

Delaney said that he'll go soon to Iowa, host of the leadoff presidential nominating caucuses, and will start hiring a team. He is planning a formal campaign kickoff after the midterm congressional elections next year.

"In between now and then, we're going to build the infrastructure needed to have a successful campaign, once it kicks off, which includes getting people on the ground in the different states, building grassroots support, getting out and meeting people and building the type of apparatus you need to do something like this," Delaney said.

Delaney, who had never held political office before winning the congressional seat, surprised Maryland's political establishment in 2012 when he won a Democratic primary against a popular state senator and went on to defeat longtime Republican Rep. Roscoe Bartlett in a congressional district that had just been redrawn to add more Democrats. The district includes western Maryland and a large section of Maryland's largest county, Montgomery County, which is a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Delaney said he is entering the presidential race early because he knows he will need time to build name recognition.

"I kind of view myself as sort of a long-distance swimmer, and I view this as a long race, and so, part of the challenge, obviously, in running for president, is to build the kind of name ID you need, so that you're relevant when the race really starts," Delaney said, adding: "It's a lot easier to build name recognition over a year and a half than it is across two months."

He is one of the House's wealthiest members and has a net worth of roughly $90 million. He spent about $2 million to help finance his first House race in 2012, and he said he plans to invest in his presidential campaign as well.

"You can never do anything alone in life, right? So, I'm expecting that for this to be successful, I'm going to need a lot of support on the grassroots level, of people who are willing to support me financially. But I'm blessed to be able to support my own campaign, as well, so that we never have to worry about kind of the unevenness of that cycle," Delaney said.

His earlier consideration of a possible Maryland gubernatorial bid months ago quickly drew interest in his House seat. Several candidates already have expressed interest in running to replace him.

Meanwhile, Republicans said Delaney's House seat is one of the 32 that have been targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

"Congressman Delaney's retirement only strengthens our resolve to aggressively target this seat in 2018," said Matt Gorman, a spokesman for the NRCC.

U.S. Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., said he's running for president, instead of governor or re-election in 2018.

Delaney, a Democrat, announced his plans in a statement Friday.

The politically moderate banking entrepreneur is in his third term in Maryland's 6th Congressional District, which includes western Maryland and a large section of Montgomery County, the state's largest county. He's known for working across the aisle and backing pro-business measures, NBC News Senior Political Editor Mark Murray reported.

"The current administration is making us less prosperous and less secure, the health care debacle being the most recent example of their brand of destructive partisanship," Delaney said in the statement. "I'm running to bring a new approach to governing and economic policy that addresses our nation's opportunities and challenges and builds a future where the middle class can grow and succeed. My candidacy is about putting our future first, which involves responding to the rapid changes occurring in the world, strengthening our economy, and building a new social contract that widens the doors of opportunity, makes people more secure, and ensures no one is left behind."



The 54-year-old is worth roughly $90 million and is one of the House's wealthiest members. He founded two banks and is one of the richest members of the House, Murray reported.

He spent about $2 million to help finance his first House race in 2012.

His consideration of a possible Maryland gubernatorial bid months ago quickly drew interest in his House seat. Several candidates already have expressed interest in running for the seat.
Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will not take part in Saturday's El Clasico Miami.

The match at Hard Rock Stadium between Barcelona and Real Madrid, has been one of the most anticipated events in South Florida. Up until Friday afternoon, Ronaldo was expected to take part in the match. The surprising development will undoubtedly put a damper on the event.

Its still the biggest rivalry in sports. You have the biggest stars in the world, and for the first time in America. It's not that you wont get an amazing experience," said Daniel Sillman, the Director of Business Development for Relevant Sports.



NBC 6s Chris Fischer reports.

The rest of Real Madrid's team arrived in Miami on Thursday ahead of the contest. Even though Ronaldo was not with them, he was expected to fly in on his own until this last-minute change.



"We just got word today. We had been working with his team and agents to make it happen," Mr. Sillman added.

At Friday night's practice, many of the 32,000 fans whow attended said they just found out Ronaldo didn't make the trip to Miami as they were arriving.

One very disappointed fan joked, "He's on maternity leave, taking care of the twins."

The match between Real Madrid and Barcelona will take place on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

NBC 6s Julia Bagg has more as fans of Real Madrid and Barcelona are ready to see their teams take over Hard Rock Stadium in one of the top rivalries in all of sports.
Officers were seen roping off an intersection and searching for clues early Saturday morning after three people were gunned down in Northwest Miami.



Miami Police responded to a fatal shooting on the corner of Northwest 1st Place and 12th Street around 12:30 a.m.

According to Miami Police spokesperson Rene Pimentel, 55-year-old Kevin Prince died on the scene. Alexander Speer, 35, and Cassandra Chattier, 28,

were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center with non life-threatening injuries.

A convenience clerk employee says he was working when a women and man came in bleeding and asking for help.

"She come like that oh I got hit, I got hit and she bleeding," Danny Houshuin said. "I look outside and I got another person on the ground shot I think in the back. I called the police and they came!"

Police are asking anyone with information regarding the incident to contact the Miami Police Department or call Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
A former New Jersey church pastor who fled the country after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy is now headed to prison, authorities say.

Gregorio Martinez received a four-year sentence on Friday.

A native of the Dominican Republic who once was a Pentecostal preacher, Martinez had been found guilty in February 2015 of molesting a 13-year-old boy he got to know through a church in North Bergen. But he soon fled and remained at large until he was apprehended in the Honduras last August.

Authorities had been searching for Martinez since he failed to appear at a pre-sentencing hearing.

Martinez is also facing charges stemming from the alleged sexual assaults of three other males who came forward following his conviction. Authorities say he knew these alleged victims through churches in Hudson County.
A Pennsylvania man arrested last year at the Holland Tunnel with a vehicle full of weapons for an alleged drug rescue plans to plead guilty.

A person with direct knowledge of the case told The Associated Press on Friday that John Cramsey will plead guilty on Monday. The person wasn't authorized to speak publicly because details of the plea agreement were still being worked out.

Cramsey, a gun range owner from East Greenville, Pennsylvania, and two other people were arrested outside the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City, New Jersey, in June 2016. They told authorities they were on their way to rescue a teenager from a drug den.

Cramsey's daughter had died from a drug overdose that year, and friends said her death spurred him to action. He posted online shortly before his arrest that he was heading to New York to "rescue" a girl whose friend had overdosed.

Police recovered weapons including a semi-automatic military-style rifle, a shotgun and five handguns, along with other tactical gear.

Dean Smith, of Whitehall, Pennsylvania, and Kimberly Arendt, of Lehighton, Pennsylvania, made deals with prosecutors earlier this year to avoid a trial. All three were charged with multiple weapons offenses.

Smith was driving Cramsey's neon-painted truck when the group was stopped. According to police, the vehicle was pulled over because it had a crack in its windshield and had some objects hanging from a rearview mirror.

The defendants contended they were actually stopped because of the truck's Second Amendment-themed decorations, and they sought unsuccessfully in court to have the search invalidated.

New Jersey has more stringent gun laws than Pennsylvania. It doesn't recognize carry permits from other states, and guns in cars must be kept locked and unloaded in a trunk or secure container.

A spokesman for the Hudson County prosecutor's office didn't immediately return a message seeking comment after hours Friday.
President Donald Trump will sign a package of stiff financial sanctions against Russia that passed Congress with overwhelming support, the White House said Friday. Moscow has already responded, ordering a reduction in the number of U.S. diplomats in Russia and closing the U.S. Embassy's recreation retreat.

Trump's willingness to support the measure is a remarkable acknowledgement that he has yet to sell his party on his hopes for forging a warmer relationship with Moscow. His vow to extend a hand of cooperation to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been met with resistance as skeptical lawmakers look to limit the president's leeway to go easy on Moscow over its meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The Senate passed the bill, 98-2, two days after the House pushed the measure through by an overwhelming margin, 419-3. Both were veto-proof numbers.

The White House initially wavered on whether the president would sign the measure into law. But in a statement late Friday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had "reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it."

Never in doubt was a cornerstone of the legislation that bars Trump from easing or waiving the additional penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees. The provisions were included to assuage concerns among lawmakers that the president's push for better relations with Moscow might lead him to relax the penalties without first securing concessions from the Kremlin.

The legislation is aimed at punishing Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria, where the Kremlin has backed President Bashar Assad. It also imposes financial sanctions against Iran and North Korea.

Before Trump's decision to sign the bill into law, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the bill's passage was long overdue, a jab at Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress. McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has called Putin a murderer and a thug.

"Over the last eight months what price has Russia paid for attacking our elections?" McCain asked. "Very little."

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday said it is ordering the U.S. Embassy in Russia to reduce the number of its diplomats by Sept. 1. Russia will also close down the embassy's recreational retreat on the outskirts of Moscow as well as warehouse facilities.

Meanwhile, some European countries expressed concerns that the measures targeting Russia's energy sector would harm its businesses involved in piping Russian natural gas. Germany's foreign minister said his country wouldn't accept the U.S. sanctions against Russia being applied to European companies.

A spokesman for the European Commission said Friday that European officials will be watching the U.S. effort closely, vowing to "remain vigilant."

Trump had privately expressed frustration over Congress' ability to limit or override the power of the president on national security matters, according to Trump administration officials and advisers. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.

But faced with heavy bipartisan support for the bill in the House and Senate, the president had little choice but to sign the bill into law. Trump's communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, had suggested Thursday that Trump might veto the bill and "negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians."

But Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said that would be a serious mistake and called Scaramucci's remark an "off-handed comment." If Trump rejected the bill, Corker said, Congress would overrule him.

"I cannot imagine anybody is seriously thinking about vetoing this bill," said Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "It's not good for any president  and most governors don't like to veto things that are going to be overridden. It shows a diminishment of their authority. I just don't think that's a good way to start off as president."

Still, signing a bill that penalizes Russia's election interference marks a significant shift for Trump. He's repeatedly cast doubt on the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia sought to tip the election in his favor. And he's blasted as a "witch hunt" investigations into the extent of Russia's interference and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.

The 184-page bill seeks to hit Putin and the oligarchs close to him by targeting Russian corruption, human rights abusers, and crucial sectors of the Russian economy, including weapons sales and energy exports.

The bill underwent revisions to address concerns voiced by American oil and natural gas companies that sanctions specific to Russia's energy sector could backfire on them to Moscow's benefit. The bill raised the threshold for when U.S. firms would be prohibited from being part of energy projects that also included Russian businesses.

Lawmakers said they also made adjustments so the sanctions on Russia's energy sector didn't undercut the ability of U.S. allies in Europe to get access to oil and gas resources outside of Russia.

The North Korea sanctions are intended to thwart Pyongyang's ambition for nuclear weapons by cutting off access to the cash the reclusive nation needs to follow through with its plans. The bill prohibits ships owned by North Korea or by countries that refuse to comply with U.N. resolutions against it from operating in American waters or docking at U.S. ports. Goods produced by North Korea's forced labor would be prohibited from entering the United States, according to the bill.

The sanctions package imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. The measure would apply terrorism sanctions to the country's Revolutionary Guards and enforce an arms embargo.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted against the sanctions bill.
Delaware County has a new "super" Wawa.

Delco Councilman Dave White and District Attorney Jack Whelan joined the celebration at the grand opening of the convenience stores new location at Baltimore Avenue, Providence Road and State Street in the county seat of Media, Pennsylvania Friday.

The new store features more than just hoagies  it has gas pumps to fuel up at and outdoor seating to eat that Shorti.

As part of the Grand Opening, Wawa presented a $2,500 check to Delco Interfaith Food Assistance Network (DIFAN), through Delcos Family & Community Service and Department of Human Services, which provides food assistance to families.
Surveillance video shows U.S. Customs and Border officials watching a Tijuana teenager ingest liquid methamphetamine moments before the chemical led to the teen's death.

Cruz Marcelino Velazquez Acevedo, 16, of Tijuana was stopped by federal officials after he entered the U.S. from Mexico through the San Ysidro Port of Entry on November 18, 2013.

NBC 7 has obtained stills from the surveillance video from local attorney Eugene Iredale. He represented the teenager's family.

In his backpack, Velazquez carried two bottles containing an amber-colored liquid -- which turned out to be liquid methamphetamine.

When an agent asked what was in the bottles, Velazquez called the liquid a juice.

At secondary inspection, Velazquez once again explained the bottles contained juice, but agents believed they contained controlled substances.

The family claims in the lawsuit that agents "coerced and intimidated Cruz into taking a big sip from one of the bottles." A previous Medical Examiner report said Velazquez voluntarily took a sip.

Family members argued the teen was "coerced and intimidated" into drinking the liquid and was taken into custody instead of being given medical attention.

"It's true that Cruz was doing something that was against the law. And that he did not have to be doing. That's a fact," said Gene Iredale, a family attorney. "It's also true that they did not point their guns at him or physically threaten him but in a social context in which this occurred, they knew exactly what they were doing."

Around 6:45 p.m. that day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said that 16-year-old Velasquez carried in a bag filled with two amber-colored bottles. He was using his border crossing card.

When agents asked him what was in the bottles, Velasquez claimed they were full of juice. At the secondary inspection area, they told him to take a sip to prove it.

Velasquez hesitates for a moment and then takes a sip. Then another and another. He drank four sips of the concentrated liquid methamphetamine in total.

Three years after his death, the family received $1 million settlement, according to court documents.

After a K-9 alerted agents that Velazquez had controlled substances, agents handcuffed Velazquez and took him into custody.

Shortly after, Velazquez began sweating, and then "screaming in pain and clenching his fists," according to the suit.

In the lawsuit, the family alleged that Velazquez began yelling "the chemicals" in Spanish and then, "Mi corazon! Mi corazon!", or "My heart! My heart!" He began to seize uncontrollably, according to the suit.

Agents called paramedics, who had to sedate the teen before transporting him to Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center.

He was pronounced dead at the hospital several hours later, according to the Medical Examiner. The ME ruled his death an accident.

When asked about the potency of methamphetamine in a liquid form, a member of the UCSD Poison Control center said the substance can show life-threatening side effects within minutes because it hits the stomach quickly.

The agents involved in the case, Valerie Baird and Adrian Perallon, remained with the CBP in San Diego.

Another attorney, Alex Ozols, explained that a Supreme Court case has set a precedent that allows for the use of certain tactics to get a confession, which is an argument the CBP could make.

"What happened here, it looks like their tactic backfired," said Ozols. "They expected this individual to say hey there are drugs in here. I'm not going to drink it. He did start to drink it and that created a problem."

The family attorney said that the agents could have resolved the issue with a simple two-dollar test. He's fighting for the proper treatment of people crossing the border, as well as discipline for bad behavior and better training of agents.
A San Diego woman wounded in a shark attack three months ago is sharing her story, describing what it was like to be grabbed by a shark off San Onofre State Beach.

Leeanne Ericson was swimming in the ocean around dusk on April 29 when suddenly, her life changed forever.

On Friday, Ericson and her boyfriend, Dusty described the moment she was pulled under the surface of the water by a large shark.

"I felt it grab me and pull me down," Ericson told Good Morning America. "I just remember thinking about my kids and him and then trying to push the shark off of me."

The shark, estimated at 10 feet in length, ripped through the back of Ericsons leg, tearing out all the muscle from her knee to her hip and just missing her major arteries.

Ericson then describes her immediate decision to fight.

"I just started digging," she said. "I felt like I was digging out a cup of Jello."

They can only guess that she was touching the shark's eye, she said.

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She escaped with her life but suffered significant injuries and tremendous blood loss. Emergency crews airlifted her to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.

There, two dozen medical specialists cared for her in the weeks following the attack. She underwent numerous surgeries and is now left with thousands of dollars in medical fees, despite having insurance she said.

Last month, Ericson wrote about her recovery on an online fundraising page established by her family to help cover her medical expenses. She talked about wanting to get better so she could be reunited with her children.

Ericson's mother, Christine McKnerney-Leidle also shared an update that Ericson had started walking, taking 40 steps in the hospital.

Ericson works for a local credit union, Pacific Marine Credit Union. The company has opened an account to collect donations to help the victim in her recovery. Donations can be made at any Pacific Marine Credit Union branch, or by mail. Checks can be made payable to:

Support Leeanne

C/O Pacific Marine Credit Union

1278 Rocky Point Drive

Oceanside, CA 92056

Her family also continues to run this GoFundMe page, which as of Friday, had raised more than $99,000.

[[429733083,C]]

Last year, there were an estimated 59 shark attacks across the U.S., according to data collected by scientists at the University of Florida.



The attack that changed Ericson's life took place at San Onofre State Beach, located off Interstate 5 at Basilone Road, about 3 miles south of San Clemente, California, and 58 miles north of downtown San Diego.

According to investigators, Ericson was camping with her boyfriend when the couple decided to go in the water. Ericson swam while her boyfriend surfed next to her at a favorite spot at the beach.

The victims mother said the couple saw a seal in the water and Ericsons boyfriend turned to swim out to a wave. Just then, Ericson disappeared from the waters surface.

The beach was closed to the public for several days following the shark attack. It reopened, but throughout May authorities issued warnings at the beach after reported shark sightings near the same area where Ericson had been attacked.

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After seven years of emphatic campaign promises, Senate Republicans demonstrated Wednesday they don't have the stomach to repeal "Obamacare" when it really counts, as the Senate voted 55-45 to reject legislation undoing major portions of Barack Obama's law without replacing it.

Seven Republicans joined all Democrats in rejecting an amendment by Rand Paul of Kentucky that would have repealed most of former President Obama's health care law, with a two-year delay but no replacement. Congress passed nearly identical legislation in 2015 and sent it to Obama, who unsurprisingly vetoed it.

Yet this time, with Republican President Donald Trump in the White House itching to sign the bill, the measure failed on the Senate floor. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that repealing "Obamacare" without replacing it would cost more than 30 million Americans their insurance coverage, and that was a key factor in driving away a handful of Republican senators, more than Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could lose in the closely divided Senate.

The result frustrated other GOP senators, some of whom expressed disbelief that their colleagues would flip-flop on legislation they had voted for only two years ago and long promised to voters. Of the current Republican senators, only moderate Susan Collins of Maine opposed the 2015 repeal bill.

"I think everybody in there, maybe except for one senator, promised their supporters, their voters that they supported repeal of Obamacare," said Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. "A lot of them said 'root and branch.' Now, we're so far away from that. I'd just remind my colleagues, remember what you promised your voters."

Yet the outcome was no shock in a Senate that's already shown that unity is elusive when it comes to dealing with Obamacare. The real-world implications of repeal have proven sobering to GOP senators answering to voters who've come to rely on expanded insurance coverage under the law.

What the party's senators will end up agreeing on instead is far from clear. Yet they plunged forward with debate toward their unknown goal, pressured by an impatient president. By week's end Republicans hope to reach agreement among themselves, and eventually with the House, on some kind of repeal and replacement the Obama law they have reviled for so long.

One possibility taking shape in talks among senators was a "skinny repeal" that would abolish just a few of the key elements of Obama's law including mandates that everyone purchase insurance and taxes that all GOP senators can agree to oppose.
Nearly a dozen people are without homes after a basement wall collapsed in a southeast Washington apartment building early Saturday morning.

D.C. Fire and EMS said they were called to the 3800 block of V Street, Southeast, after a 50 foot section of wall collapsed inside a 3 story apartment building. Crews evacuated residents from the building and contacted the American Red Cross for assistance.

Officials said the wall failure was caused by the heavy rains, and the building is unsafe. A building inspector has been called in to assess the situation.

Eleven people were displaced from their homes until the building can be deemed safe. There were no reports of injuries.
The Air Force says it will spend $30 million this year on cleaning up contaminated groundwater at a former New Hampshire base.

The groundwater at the former Pease Air Force Base has been found to be contaminated with perfluorinated compounds from the use of firefighting foam.

The chemicals are found in scores of everyday products like nonstick cookware and stain-resistant carpet. The Environmental Protection Agency says exposure has been linked in animal studies to low birth weight, accelerated puberty, cancer and thyroid problems, among other maladies.

The Air Force said this week it already spent $25 million addressing the contamination. It plans on spending $30 million more in 2017, including $13 million to build a system to treat the groundwater from one of the contaminated wells.
A 7-year-old boy was killed on Friday after being trapped underneath a tractor that his father had been driving, according to Vermont State Police.

First responders arrived to a farm field on Route 36 in Fairfield where the accident occurred at about 1 p.m.

Investigators told NBC5 that Grady Howrigan's father, Luke Howrigan, 38, was driving the tractor with Grady as a passenger. Howrigan was transporting a manure tanker that was attached to the tractor when both overturned due to the steep terrain.

Police said Luke Howrigan was able to get free but could not free the child.

The seven-year-old boy was pronounced dead at the scene. His father was treated for non-life threatening injuries at Northwestern Medical Center.
A man was airlifted to a Boston hospital after being hit by a pickup truck Friday morning in Taunton, Massachusetts.

Police confirm 49-year-old Nicholas Fabiano of Taunton was struck on Whittenton Street. Crews were called to the scene around 10:45 a.m.

Fabiano's injuries were considered serious and he was airlifted to Brigham and Women's Hospital. His current condition is unknown, according to Taunton Police.

The department identified the driver of the 1996 Ford F-150 involved in the crash as 45-year-old Thomas Blackwell of Taunton.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
A Massachusetts woman was killed Friday night in a rollover crash in Concord, New Hampshire, according to state police.

Troopers responded to the crash on Interstate 89, just south of exit 2, at 8:44 p.m. after witnesses reported seeing a Ford Explorer traveling at a high rate of speed.

Authorities said the driver, Amanda Hadley, 38, of Rowley, Mass., attempted to maneuver around traffic and lost control  rolling over onto the highway and into the median.

Hadley, who was not wearing a seatbeat, was ejected from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two other passengers were transported to Concord Hospital with minor injuries.

Police said it appears speed is the contributing factor in the crash. A toxicology test is also being administered.

Anyone with additional information regarding the crash contact New Hampshire State Police.
By PTI

MUMBAI: The Securities Appellate Tribunal today rejected Sahara's plea against a Sebi order cancelling its mutual fund licence, but granted the company six weeks' time to approach the Supreme Court.

Sebi had ordered cancellation of 'certificate of registration' of Sahara Mutual Fund in July 2015, while barring the fund house from taking any further subscription from investors, after the regulator found the group was "no longer fit and proper to carry on the business of mutual fund".

Sebi also ordered transfer of the business to another asset management company, to be followed by re-constitution of its board of trustees, failing which Sahara Mutual Fund was asked to redeem units allotted to all investors and thereafter wind up the operations.

After hearing Sahara's plea against these directions, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) today upheld Sebi's order saying it found "no merit in the appeal".

After the order was pronounced by the SAT, the counsel for the appellants made an oral appeal for staying the operation of the order for a period of six weeks to enable the appellants to approach the Supreme Court.

"Accordingly, six weeks stay is granted," the SAT said in its 21-page order.

As per the latest data published by the mutual fund industry body AMFI (Association of Mutual Funds in India), Sahara Mutual Fund had average asset under management of about Rs 67 crore as on June-end 2017.

The Sebi order followed findings by the regulator that Sahara India Financial Corporation Ltd (sponsor for mutual fund) was not a 'fit and proper person' because its Promoter- Director was not 'fit and proper' and hence Sahara MF and Sahara Asset Management Company were no longer 'fit and proper' to carry on the business of mutual fund.

"The present appeal before us is regarding the fit and proper status of a Promoter/Director of Sahara Sponsor who holds about 80 per cent of its capital and who controls all Sahara Group Companies and hence on the fit and proper status of Sahara Sponsor to continue as Sponsor of a mutual fund in the context of Sebi/Supreme Court orders against (Subrata Roy) Sahara and two Sahara Group Companies," the SAT observed.

It noted that the mutual fund regulations state that the sponsor company as well as its key managerial persons or key person who controls the company is to be fit and proper.

The Tribunal said the law empowers Sebi to take actions in the interest of protecting investors and hence lifting the corporate veil to the extent to identify who controls a regulated entity cannot be faulted.

"Without such a power, Sebi will be a mute spectator to many of the corporate misdeeds which may jeopardise the interests of investors. Given the mandate of Sebi to protect the interests of the investors in the securities market, Sebi is statutorily empowered to lift the corporate veil and find out the truth whenever interests of the investors are affected or likely to be affected," it said.

It also referred to Sebi having itself found that two Sahara group firms and its directors were not conducting their business as per rules of public issue and were restrained from associating themselves with any listed company or company which intends to raise money from the public.

"It was also found that one of the Promoters/Directors is prima facie holding absolute control over the group companies," SAT said.

The Tribunal also referred to its earlier order in Financial Technologies India Ltd versus Sebi case, upholding a Sebi order that found the appellant firm and directors were not 'fit and proper' solely based on the decision of the erstwhile regulator Forward Markets Commission.

The SAT also said that subsequent to Sebi order against Sahara Mutual Fund, the RBI had cancelled the certificate of registration granted to the Sahara sponsor to carry on the activities of NBFC and also initiated steps to wind up the Sahara sponsor under the RBI Act, while Allahabad High Court restrained the company from alienating its assets

MUMBAI: The Securities Appellate Tribunal today rejected Sahara's plea against a Sebi order cancelling its mutual fund licence, but granted the company six weeks' time to approach the Supreme Court. Sebi had ordered cancellation of 'certificate of registration' of Sahara Mutual Fund in July 2015, while barring the fund house from taking any further subscription from investors, after the regulator found the group was "no longer fit and proper to carry on the business of mutual fund". Sebi also ordered transfer of the business to another asset management company, to be followed by re-constitution of its board of trustees, failing which Sahara Mutual Fund was asked to redeem units allotted to all investors and thereafter wind up the operations. After hearing Sahara's plea against these directions, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) today upheld Sebi's order saying it found "no merit in the appeal". After the order was pronounced by the SAT, the counsel for the appellants made an oral appeal for staying the operation of the order for a period of six weeks to enable the appellants to approach the Supreme Court. "Accordingly, six weeks stay is granted," the SAT said in its 21-page order. As per the latest data published by the mutual fund industry body AMFI (Association of Mutual Funds in India), Sahara Mutual Fund had average asset under management of about Rs 67 crore as on June-end 2017. The Sebi order followed findings by the regulator that Sahara India Financial Corporation Ltd (sponsor for mutual fund) was not a 'fit and proper person' because its Promoter- Director was not 'fit and proper' and hence Sahara MF and Sahara Asset Management Company were no longer 'fit and proper' to carry on the business of mutual fund. "The present appeal before us is regarding the fit and proper status of a Promoter/Director of Sahara Sponsor who holds about 80 per cent of its capital and who controls all Sahara Group Companies and hence on the fit and proper status of Sahara Sponsor to continue as Sponsor of a mutual fund in the context of Sebi/Supreme Court orders against (Subrata Roy) Sahara and two Sahara Group Companies," the SAT observed. It noted that the mutual fund regulations state that the sponsor company as well as its key managerial persons or key person who controls the company is to be fit and proper. The Tribunal said the law empowers Sebi to take actions in the interest of protecting investors and hence lifting the corporate veil to the extent to identify who controls a regulated entity cannot be faulted. "Without such a power, Sebi will be a mute spectator to many of the corporate misdeeds which may jeopardise the interests of investors. Given the mandate of Sebi to protect the interests of the investors in the securities market, Sebi is statutorily empowered to lift the corporate veil and find out the truth whenever interests of the investors are affected or likely to be affected," it said. It also referred to Sebi having itself found that two Sahara group firms and its directors were not conducting their business as per rules of public issue and were restrained from associating themselves with any listed company or company which intends to raise money from the public. "It was also found that one of the Promoters/Directors is prima facie holding absolute control over the group companies," SAT said. The Tribunal also referred to its earlier order in Financial Technologies India Ltd versus Sebi case, upholding a Sebi order that found the appellant firm and directors were not 'fit and proper' solely based on the decision of the erstwhile regulator Forward Markets Commission. The SAT also said that subsequent to Sebi order against Sahara Mutual Fund, the RBI had cancelled the certificate of registration granted to the Sahara sponsor to carry on the activities of NBFC and also initiated steps to wind up the Sahara sponsor under the RBI Act, while Allahabad High Court restrained the company from alienating its assets
By Express News Service

MUMBAI: On Friday, the government auditor expressed doubts if Indias 21 public-sector banks can raise Rs 1 lakh crore from the market in two years. Given the backdrop that public-sector banks raised a pitiful Rs 7,726 crore from the market, CAGs doubts strengthen the view that the Basel-III deadline could be missed.

In fact, the finance ministry last month reportedly sounded off the Reserve Bank of India if the deadline could be extended. While large banks have the muscle to meet the capital adequacy norms, there are a large number of mid- and small-size banks, which may find it difficult to raise the required capital. But, such a relaxation isnt favoured by all.

Former RBI Governor Y V Reddy recently told Express that seeking an extension was like changing the thermometer, just because a patient has fever.

According to Basel-III, state-run banks should amass Rs 1.8 lakh crore by 2019. Of this, Rs 70,000 crore includes government infusion, while the remaining Rs 1.1 lakh crore needs to be raised from the market.

As per the CAG report tabled in Parliament, as of March 2017, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) informed the CAG in June 2017 that the market scenario was quite upbeat especially the banking stocks. It added that stronger and bigger PSBs were nearing their 52-week high in stock markets and were at their highest levels in the last few years.

While the Bankex had gone down, the bigger few PSBs were doing well and their share prices were nearing a 52-week high. DFS also replied that bigger banks, which would need nearly 60-70 per cent of the capital requirement, would be in a position to raise equity from the markets in next two years, the report said.

Moreover, there was a significant gap between book value and market value of PSB shares, with most PSBs having a lower market value, which may come in their way approaching the market for additional capital funds.

The government as the majority shareholder, has infused a capital of Rs 1,18,724 crore from 2008-09 to 2016-17 in the PSBs for meeting their capital adequacy requirements based on their performance.

MUMBAI: On Friday, the government auditor expressed doubts if Indias 21 public-sector banks can raise Rs 1 lakh crore from the market in two years. Given the backdrop that public-sector banks raised a pitiful Rs 7,726 crore from the market, CAGs doubts strengthen the view that the Basel-III deadline could be missed. In fact, the finance ministry last month reportedly sounded off the Reserve Bank of India if the deadline could be extended. While large banks have the muscle to meet the capital adequacy norms, there are a large number of mid- and small-size banks, which may find it difficult to raise the required capital. But, such a relaxation isnt favoured by all. Former RBI Governor Y V Reddy recently told Express that seeking an extension was like changing the thermometer, just because a patient has fever. According to Basel-III, state-run banks should amass Rs 1.8 lakh crore by 2019. Of this, Rs 70,000 crore includes government infusion, while the remaining Rs 1.1 lakh crore needs to be raised from the market. As per the CAG report tabled in Parliament, as of March 2017, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) informed the CAG in June 2017 that the market scenario was quite upbeat especially the banking stocks. It added that stronger and bigger PSBs were nearing their 52-week high in stock markets and were at their highest levels in the last few years. While the Bankex had gone down, the bigger few PSBs were doing well and their share prices were nearing a 52-week high. DFS also replied that bigger banks, which would need nearly 60-70 per cent of the capital requirement, would be in a position to raise equity from the markets in next two years, the report said. Moreover, there was a significant gap between book value and market value of PSB shares, with most PSBs having a lower market value, which may come in their way approaching the market for additional capital funds. The government as the majority shareholder, has infused a capital of Rs 1,18,724 crore from 2008-09 to 2016-17 in the PSBs for meeting their capital adequacy requirements based on their performance.
By Online Desk

Hui Ka Yan, who chairs Hong Kong-listed property developer Evergrande Group, has seen his fortune leap by USD 8 billion to USD 33.5 billion in just two days as shares of his firm rocketed up more than 34 per cent, said a Forbes report. He is now the third richest person in China, as quoted by Forbes Real-Time Ranking of billionaires.

According to the Forbes report, Evergrande Group is a real estate company with nearly 600 projects across more than 200 cities in China. Its stock had risen an astounding 393 per cent since the beginning of 2017, giving Chinese billionaire, Hui, a year to date profit of USD 24.5 billion.

Evergrande stocks sudden incredible surge is extraordinary. The Forbes report said, together with his wife, Hui owns roughly three quarters of the 21-year-old company, giving it a small public float. On top of that, the firm has been busy buying back its own shares, splashing out roughly USD 1.4 billion in 2015 and 2016 to acquire more than 10 per cent of its stock.

The surge came after the company announced its expectation that its unaudited net profit for the first half of 2017 will be triple that of the previous year, the Forbes report said.

It further added, Evergrande had cited both a higher average selling price and increased square footage sold as the main reasons for the growth in profits, while in addition, the group has been paying down debt, which it says will increase the profit to be given to its shareholders.

The Forbes report also pointed out that Evergrande, headquartered in Guangzhou, China, has invested heavily in lesser known Chinese cities like Liaoyang and Tongling. It added that while a multi-year real estate boom has resulted in purchasing restrictions in major metropolitan cities like Beijing and Shanghai, smaller cities have so far escaped such restrictions.

Hui Ka Yan, who chairs Hong Kong-listed property developer Evergrande Group, has seen his fortune leap by USD 8 billion to USD 33.5 billion in just two days as shares of his firm rocketed up more than 34 per cent, said a Forbes report. He is now the third richest person in China, as quoted by Forbes Real-Time Ranking of billionaires. According to the Forbes report, Evergrande Group is a real estate company with nearly 600 projects across more than 200 cities in China. Its stock had risen an astounding 393 per cent since the beginning of 2017, giving Chinese billionaire, Hui, a year to date profit of USD 24.5 billion. Evergrande stocks sudden incredible surge is extraordinary. The Forbes report said, together with his wife, Hui owns roughly three quarters of the 21-year-old company, giving it a small public float. On top of that, the firm has been busy buying back its own shares, splashing out roughly USD 1.4 billion in 2015 and 2016 to acquire more than 10 per cent of its stock. The surge came after the company announced its expectation that its unaudited net profit for the first half of 2017 will be triple that of the previous year, the Forbes report said. It further added, Evergrande had cited both a higher average selling price and increased square footage sold as the main reasons for the growth in profits, while in addition, the group has been paying down debt, which it says will increase the profit to be given to its shareholders. The Forbes report also pointed out that Evergrande, headquartered in Guangzhou, China, has invested heavily in lesser known Chinese cities like Liaoyang and Tongling. It added that while a multi-year real estate boom has resulted in purchasing restrictions in major metropolitan cities like Beijing and Shanghai, smaller cities have so far escaped such restrictions.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Delhi airport guarding agency Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Saturday detained a Zambian woman at the Delhi airport for allegedly trying to smuggle about 12 kgs of narcotics by concealing it in her purse which she kept in her baggage.

According to the sources, she had concealed drugs in a specially designed ladies purse. Later, the accused woman handed over to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). We had a prior information that a woman will travel from Delhi airport with drugs. The accused who reached the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the wee hours to travel to Addis Ababa, was intercepted. During frisking, we found a packet in her purse, a CISF official said.

According to the CISF, the woman who was from Zambia has been identified as Doris Mwama I and has been handed over to the (NCB) Narcotics Control Bureau along with the 12 kgs of narcotics recovered from her bag. The drug, that was concealed in 12 ladies' purses, has been identified as pseduoephedrine.

NEW DELHI: Delhi airport guarding agency Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Saturday detained a Zambian woman at the Delhi airport for allegedly trying to smuggle about 12 kgs of narcotics by concealing it in her purse which she kept in her baggage. According to the sources, she had concealed drugs in a specially designed ladies purse. Later, the accused woman handed over to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). We had a prior information that a woman will travel from Delhi airport with drugs. The accused who reached the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the wee hours to travel to Addis Ababa, was intercepted. During frisking, we found a packet in her purse, a CISF official said. According to the CISF, the woman who was from Zambia has been identified as Doris Mwama I and has been handed over to the (NCB) Narcotics Control Bureau along with the 12 kgs of narcotics recovered from her bag. The drug, that was concealed in 12 ladies' purses, has been identified as pseduoephedrine.
Purnima Sriram Iyer By

Express News Service

After more than two decades of success in Bollywood, Akshay Kumar seems to have turned his gaze at socially-conscious films. He has done quite a few in the last couple of years, including the upcoming Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.

The man, in Hyderabad to promote the film, said he picked the film because its story needs to be told.

On doing socially-conscious films, he says, We are trying to address issues in films, with a dash of comedy, romance and action. My next film is Padman, which is based on sanitary napkins. More than 90 percent of Indian women cant even afford them.

Its an issue not really talked about. Recently, there were a lot of controversies when the government announced that GST would be levied on sanitary pads.

Does Padman cover that as well? Do you want me to do a documentary or a commercial film? he laughs. The film is about that issue, but its fictionalised and commercialised to appeal to all audiences. He feels messages get through better when told entertainingly. Even when Im giving advice to my son, I try to tell him that in a funny way, he says.

The actor is all praise for his co-star Bhumi Pednekar. Its not an easy role to play. I think it takes immense courage to be filmed as she has been in the film, he says. Elaborating further, he adds, Some of the scenes have her pulling up her saree and squatting. These are difficult scenes to do.

In the trailer of Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Akshays character is shown stalking. Well, he has no access to toilet, and yes, is a stalker. But the story is about how he eventually transforms into a gentleman, he says. The actor is also working on Rajinikanths 2.0.

At this point, I can only tell you that Im the villain, who gets beaten up by Rajinikanth, he says. While on roles, he says he still has an unfulfilled desire a dream role that he hopes to get a chance to play. I want to play a psycho, he says.

After more than two decades of success in Bollywood, Akshay Kumar seems to have turned his gaze at socially-conscious films. He has done quite a few in the last couple of years, including the upcoming Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. The man, in Hyderabad to promote the film, said he picked the film because its story needs to be told. On doing socially-conscious films, he says, We are trying to address issues in films, with a dash of comedy, romance and action. My next film is Padman, which is based on sanitary napkins. More than 90 percent of Indian women cant even afford them. Its an issue not really talked about. Recently, there were a lot of controversies when the government announced that GST would be levied on sanitary pads. Does Padman cover that as well? Do you want me to do a documentary or a commercial film? he laughs. The film is about that issue, but its fictionalised and commercialised to appeal to all audiences. He feels messages get through better when told entertainingly. Even when Im giving advice to my son, I try to tell him that in a funny way, he says. The actor is all praise for his co-star Bhumi Pednekar. Its not an easy role to play. I think it takes immense courage to be filmed as she has been in the film, he says. Elaborating further, he adds, Some of the scenes have her pulling up her saree and squatting. These are difficult scenes to do. In the trailer of Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Akshays character is shown stalking. Well, he has no access to toilet, and yes, is a stalker. But the story is about how he eventually transforms into a gentleman, he says. The actor is also working on Rajinikanths 2.0. At this point, I can only tell you that Im the villain, who gets beaten up by Rajinikanth, he says. While on roles, he says he still has an unfulfilled desire a dream role that he hopes to get a chance to play. I want to play a psycho, he says.
By BNS

Sooraj Pancholi has already shot a few scenes for his next film Hafiz which is directed by Faruk Kabir. However, according to latest buzz the film has been shelved. A source says,  Sooraj has shot for some portions of the film and the makers were planning to go to Morocco for next schedule. During the process of shooting some issues have cropped up all of sudden and the makers might shelve the film altogether.

There were reports suggesting that Sooraj has opted out of the film inspite of shooting for it as he could not give more dates to the project.

It is said that the team was supposed to fly to Morocco but did not get required permissions on time and therefore the project was delayed by two months.

Sooraj has apparently allotted his dates to Prabhudevas action film so he chose to quit Hafiz.

A source says, There is a possibility that project has been shelved even before Sooraj could opt out of it.

Sooraj made his debut in Heropanti with Athiya Shetty two years ago and Hafiz was supposed to be his second film.

He will be next seen in a remake of a South Indian film, directed by Prabhudeva.

Sooraj Pancholi has already shot a few scenes for his next film Hafiz which is directed by Faruk Kabir. However, according to latest buzz the film has been shelved. A source says,  Sooraj has shot for some portions of the film and the makers were planning to go to Morocco for next schedule. During the process of shooting some issues have cropped up all of sudden and the makers might shelve the film altogether. There were reports suggesting that Sooraj has opted out of the film inspite of shooting for it as he could not give more dates to the project. It is said that the team was supposed to fly to Morocco but did not get required permissions on time and therefore the project was delayed by two months. Sooraj has apparently allotted his dates to Prabhudevas action film so he chose to quit Hafiz. A source says, There is a possibility that project has been shelved even before Sooraj could opt out of it. Sooraj made his debut in Heropanti with Athiya Shetty two years ago and Hafiz was supposed to be his second film. He will be next seen in a remake of a South Indian film, directed by Prabhudeva.
A Sharadhaa By

Express News Service

Film: Vismaya

Cast: Arjun Sarja, Sruthi Hariharan, Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar and Prasanna

Director: Arun Vaidyanathan

Rating: 3/5

Being the 150th film of Arjun Sarja, the hype surrounding Vismaya was huge among fans, and what transpired on the silver screen is a movie that manages to extract thrills and nuggets of applause from a display of the vagaries of human psyche.

Arun Vaidyanathans smart thriller has intellect and artistic impressions that touch the soul. Albeit cleverly stitched as a thriller and slow-paced, Aruns thoughts seem to have toned down in the second half resulting in a cliched climax. Though the director connects the Aarushi murder case to his crime story, the impact is lame.

As a successful investigative officer, Ranjit Kalidoss(Arjun Sarja) is given charge of pursuing a mysterious psychotic serial killer. The killer plans his murders perfectly, leaving clues of his next victim using astrological sign and number games. Along with him, a team of officers, Vandana (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar) and Joseph (Prasanna), Ranjit, who is experiencing the onset of Parkinsons disease, the character is challenged by the mind games, where he has to use intelligence to crack the clues. Through the process of his investigation, he gets to know that he is the killers next target.

Arun Vaidyanathan has created a role that suits Arjun Sarjas age. It marks low on action, but high on reasoning and comprehension. Arjun Sarja is convincing as an investigating officer as well as a family person. Varalakshmi and Prasanna lend in good support to the storyline, while Jayaram Karthik comes in as a surprise package. In a different frame is Sruthi Hariharan, who has justified her role as Ranjits wife.

The background score and signature style music by S Navin is one of the films highlights. Cinematographer Arvind Krishna has remained faithful to the theme of a crime thriller.

Vismaya, which means 'surprise', could bring out different perspectives, and whether it amazes you is for you to find out.

Film: Vismaya Cast: Arjun Sarja, Sruthi Hariharan, Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar and Prasanna Director: Arun Vaidyanathan Rating: 3/5 Being the 150th film of Arjun Sarja, the hype surrounding Vismaya was huge among fans, and what transpired on the silver screen is a movie that manages to extract thrills and nuggets of applause from a display of the vagaries of human psyche. Arun Vaidyanathans smart thriller has intellect and artistic impressions that touch the soul. Albeit cleverly stitched as a thriller and slow-paced, Aruns thoughts seem to have toned down in the second half resulting in a cliched climax. Though the director connects the Aarushi murder case to his crime story, the impact is lame. As a successful investigative officer, Ranjit Kalidoss(Arjun Sarja) is given charge of pursuing a mysterious psychotic serial killer. The killer plans his murders perfectly, leaving clues of his next victim using astrological sign and number games. Along with him, a team of officers, Vandana (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar) and Joseph (Prasanna), Ranjit, who is experiencing the onset of Parkinsons disease, the character is challenged by the mind games, where he has to use intelligence to crack the clues. Through the process of his investigation, he gets to know that he is the killers next target. Arun Vaidyanathan has created a role that suits Arjun Sarjas age. It marks low on action, but high on reasoning and comprehension. Arjun Sarja is convincing as an investigating officer as well as a family person. Varalakshmi and Prasanna lend in good support to the storyline, while Jayaram Karthik comes in as a surprise package. In a different frame is Sruthi Hariharan, who has justified her role as Ranjits wife. The background score and signature style music by S Navin is one of the films highlights. Cinematographer Arvind Krishna has remained faithful to the theme of a crime thriller. Vismaya, which means 'surprise', could bring out different perspectives, and whether it amazes you is for you to find out.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: If you are a rain lover, a few of these silver droplets from the sky not only soothes your soul but wilders you into a sphere of large pillows of clouds dabbing out the old-gold colour of the sun.

There are number of places in the world that receive an immense amount of rain and as a fact, these rainy cities and towns are spread across the globe giving us ample opportunities to explore and experience.



Authenticating the popular proverb, Every cloud has a silver lining, Travel aggregator ixigo and digital marketplace Paytm Travel brings you a list of top rainy destinations around the globe that are extremely enticing during their wet seasons with lush green surroundings and a postcard-perfect sky.



Mawsynram, India

Located in Meghalaya, India, the beautiful city of Mawsynram receives an annual rainfall of 11,871 millimeters making it the wettest place in the world. Mawsynram is situated within a subtropical highland climate zone which is one of the reasons for its lengthy and powerful monsoon season. As an instance, this place received rainfall for 2 years straight with no reported break. WOW, isnt it?

Average annual rainfall: 11,871 mm

Big Bog, Maui, Hawaii

One of the biggest tourist areas in the Hawaiian Islands, Big Bog is an extremely rainy part of Maui. The rainfall at this place paints a picture of some of the most incredible rainforest sceneries. This places receives approximately 10,262 millimeters of rainfall each year on the edge of the Haleakala National Park.

Average annual rainfall: 10,272mm

Costa Rica, Central America

One of the wettest destinations in Central America, Costa Rica exhibits a delightful panoramic view, all thanks to the constant rainfall in this area. Along with white-sand beaches, the country houses lush rainforests, number of national parks and a copious variety of flora and fauna. Visit this place towards the end of spring to experience Costa Ricas rainiest season with less crowd, uber-lush surroundings and sunny mornings.

Emei Shan, Sichuan Province, China

Mount Emei, the highest of the Four Holy Mountains of Buddhism in China, receives an annual rainfall of 8,153 millimeters. This place experiences the phenomenon of clouds sea wherein the area attracts a double layer of clouds resulting in a good amount of rainfall. In the year 1996, Mount Emei was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well.

Average annual rainfall: 8,169 mm

Tutunendo, Colombia

Highlighting an interesting fact about Tutunendo, this place is blessed with two rainy seasons in an year; so getting drenched is an inescapable situation if you are visiting this part of Columbia. This place receives approximately 11,760 millimeters of rain per year and still remains a popular tourist destination. Book a flight with ixigo to encounter rainfall almost every day along with thunderstorms and if lucky, sun might spread its charm just for a few hours.

Average annual rainfall: 11,770 mm

San Antonio De Ureca, Equatorial Guinea, Africa

Receiving an average annual rainfall of 10,440 millimeters, San Antonio de Ureca is the wettest place in the African continent. This place gets a brief dry season that remains from November to March giving tourists a chance to watch turtles come ashore to lay eggs. Apart from these months, the area receives rainfall all throughout.

Cropp River, New Zealand

9 kilometers in length, the Cropp River in New Zealand receives an annual rainfall of 11,516 millimeters. New Zealand is mostly characterised by arid atmospheric conditions but the climate of Cropp River defines an evident contrast to that and garners abundant showers. In the year 1995, Crop River was recorded with 1,049 millimeters of rainfall within a period of 48 hours. That is remarkable!

Average annual rainfall: 11,516 mm

Debundscha, Cameroon, Africa

Located in the foothills of Mount Cameroon  the highest peak in Africa, Debundscha is among the wettest places on earth. Mount Cameroon has an annual precipitation level of more than 400 inches  a rarely attained figure elsewhere in the world. The region receives the most rainfall during the months of May to October.

Average rainfall: 10,299mm

Kukui Maui, Hawaii, Oceania

Located in Hawaii, Puu Kukui is the highest peak of Mauna Kahalawa. The peak was formed by a volcano that eroded into what is now called the Iao Valley. Travellers vouch for Kukui as being one of the best choices to experience majestic rains.

Average annual rainfall: 9,293 mm

Out of the areas that receive most rain on this planet, many of them are located near to large water bodies and mountains. This is the reason why these places do not experience much variation in weather as they end up collecting moisture from the layered cloud formations, ultimately receiving meters of rain each year.

NEW DELHI: If you are a rain lover, a few of these silver droplets from the sky not only soothes your soul but wilders you into a sphere of large pillows of clouds dabbing out the old-gold colour of the sun. There are number of places in the world that receive an immense amount of rain and as a fact, these rainy cities and towns are spread across the globe giving us ample opportunities to explore and experience. Authenticating the popular proverb, Every cloud has a silver lining, Travel aggregator ixigo and digital marketplace Paytm Travel brings you a list of top rainy destinations around the globe that are extremely enticing during their wet seasons with lush green surroundings and a postcard-perfect sky. Mawsynram, India Located in Meghalaya, India, the beautiful city of Mawsynram receives an annual rainfall of 11,871 millimeters making it the wettest place in the world. Mawsynram is situated within a subtropical highland climate zone which is one of the reasons for its lengthy and powerful monsoon season. As an instance, this place received rainfall for 2 years straight with no reported break. WOW, isnt it? Average annual rainfall: 11,871 mm Big Bog, Maui, Hawaii One of the biggest tourist areas in the Hawaiian Islands, Big Bog is an extremely rainy part of Maui. The rainfall at this place paints a picture of some of the most incredible rainforest sceneries. This places receives approximately 10,262 millimeters of rainfall each year on the edge of the Haleakala National Park. Average annual rainfall: 10,272mm Costa Rica, Central America One of the wettest destinations in Central America, Costa Rica exhibits a delightful panoramic view, all thanks to the constant rainfall in this area. Along with white-sand beaches, the country houses lush rainforests, number of national parks and a copious variety of flora and fauna. Visit this place towards the end of spring to experience Costa Ricas rainiest season with less crowd, uber-lush surroundings and sunny mornings. Emei Shan, Sichuan Province, China Mount Emei, the highest of the Four Holy Mountains of Buddhism in China, receives an annual rainfall of 8,153 millimeters. This place experiences the phenomenon of clouds sea wherein the area attracts a double layer of clouds resulting in a good amount of rainfall. In the year 1996, Mount Emei was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well. Average annual rainfall: 8,169 mm Tutunendo, Colombia Highlighting an interesting fact about Tutunendo, this place is blessed with two rainy seasons in an year; so getting drenched is an inescapable situation if you are visiting this part of Columbia. This place receives approximately 11,760 millimeters of rain per year and still remains a popular tourist destination. Book a flight with ixigo to encounter rainfall almost every day along with thunderstorms and if lucky, sun might spread its charm just for a few hours. Average annual rainfall: 11,770 mm San Antonio De Ureca, Equatorial Guinea, Africa Receiving an average annual rainfall of 10,440 millimeters, San Antonio de Ureca is the wettest place in the African continent. This place gets a brief dry season that remains from November to March giving tourists a chance to watch turtles come ashore to lay eggs. Apart from these months, the area receives rainfall all throughout. Cropp River, New Zealand 9 kilometers in length, the Cropp River in New Zealand receives an annual rainfall of 11,516 millimeters. New Zealand is mostly characterised by arid atmospheric conditions but the climate of Cropp River defines an evident contrast to that and garners abundant showers. In the year 1995, Crop River was recorded with 1,049 millimeters of rainfall within a period of 48 hours. That is remarkable! Average annual rainfall: 11,516 mm Debundscha, Cameroon, Africa Located in the foothills of Mount Cameroon  the highest peak in Africa, Debundscha is among the wettest places on earth. Mount Cameroon has an annual precipitation level of more than 400 inches  a rarely attained figure elsewhere in the world. The region receives the most rainfall during the months of May to October. Average rainfall: 10,299mm Kukui Maui, Hawaii, Oceania Located in Hawaii, Puu Kukui is the highest peak of Mauna Kahalawa. The peak was formed by a volcano that eroded into what is now called the Iao Valley. Travellers vouch for Kukui as being one of the best choices to experience majestic rains. Average annual rainfall: 9,293 mm Out of the areas that receive most rain on this planet, many of them are located near to large water bodies and mountains. This is the reason why these places do not experience much variation in weather as they end up collecting moisture from the layered cloud formations, ultimately receiving meters of rain each year.
For the last few weeks, Indian media is completely taken up by what is happening in the vicinity of Tri-junction where India, China and Bhutan meet. The Chinese media is even more obsessed. However, it is attempting intense psychological warfare with party mouthpieces such as Peoples Daily and Global Times, spewing venom against India. By and large Indian medias response has been measured. Why in 2017 has China suddenly turned a new leaf and adopted enhanced aggression as its policy towards neighbours? Our military and diplomats should wrestle this thought and thats what we need to contribute to.

Father of Chinas current modernisation, Deng Xiaoping, gave it the most pragmatic direction as early as 1978. His doctrine was all about internal strengthening of China with stable borders, choosing the non-military route for nation-building, and comprehensive strength before turning to transformation of the military. In the last few years, China settled around 23 continental boundary disputes with many neighbours, except India and Bhutan. As an element of its global power aims, it could not afford to have strong neighbours. Freeing India from land-based disputes through agreements would have meant that India would have the latitude to pursue two things inimical to Chinese interests. First, it could focus its forces against the Pakistani threat sans the looming threat on a second front. A weak Pakistan is not in Chinas interest; it being in Chinas camp offsets the US domination in Southwest Asia. Second, with settled borders in the north, India could focus on its maritime strength. The maritime zone from Chinas eastern seaboard to Persian Gulf is its vulnerability. It is through these sea lanes that China receives bulk of its energy supplies. It is also one of the conduits in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

For almost a decade, China has been needling India on the border at locations of its claim lines. It has signed a series of agreements on maintaining the status quo pending resolution, but has not moved ahead even in delineating a Line of Actual Control. This affords it to conduct walk in operations and aggressive patrolling. These actions force the Indian Army to be on alert, divert resources towards the northern borders and remain continental in security approach rather than focus on its vital maritime zone.

PM Narendra Modis aggressive foreign policy, although looking at China for cooperation, also focuses on developing strategic equations to safeguard Indian interests. The emerging US-Japan-India equation and increasing maritime security cooperation through the Malabar series of exercises is not something China approves of. While it is fully aware that the Sino-Indian trade of $80-90 billion is an important driver of its economy, it cant afford to allow India the development of comprehensive national power matching that of China as that could spell competition in power equations.

If the above rationale for Chinas strategy is understood, there is no difficulty in perceiving that after having achieved a virtual domination in South China Sea, and given little credence to the judgment of International Court of Justice on the row, China was strategising its next step. With issues in East Asia creating turbulence, attempting to browbeat Japan may be tough. PLA activities in the Himalayan belt have been progressively calibrated to higher level in Aksai Chin, Central Sector and Arunachal Pradesh. On the politico diplomatic front, Chinas refusal to budge on the admission of India into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and to declare Masood Azhar a global terrorist, were steps to girdle India. Chinese activities in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Nepal were also coordinated for strategic messaging.

Two things probably irked China and acted as triggers. First, the refusal by India to budge on visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh. Second, absence of India and Bhutan from the BRI meet in Beijing. In terms of choice of the location to trigger a standoff, there are two possibilities. Doklam is not disputed by India, but by Bhutan. Was the intent to test the strength of Indias commitment to its neighbour? Failure to come to its aid would be a moral climb down for India. On the face of it, this area has two advantages for China. One, it offers scope for strategically threatening Indias vulnerabilitythe Chickens Neck. Two, it creates a complex situation with greater messaging potential. Whether China has thought this through as strategy, is difficult to surmise.

Both sides cannot withdraw sans some loss of face, and war is no option. The issue is, even diplomacy is not an option as China refuses negotiation till India withdraws. Localised conflict is also not feasible as the one who suffers will retain the option to expand to other areas. The situation is a bind from where some routes towards resolution can only emerge as rhetoric reduces and mutual face-saving methods are arrived at, possibly at the initiative of Bhutan, which needs to play a greater role in the diplomatic messaging.

Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain

Former Commander, Srinagar-based 15 Corps

atahasnain@gmail.com

For the last few weeks, Indian media is completely taken up by what is happening in the vicinity of Tri-junction where India, China and Bhutan meet. The Chinese media is even more obsessed. However, it is attempting intense psychological warfare with party mouthpieces such as Peoples Daily and Global Times, spewing venom against India. By and large Indian medias response has been measured. Why in 2017 has China suddenly turned a new leaf and adopted enhanced aggression as its policy towards neighbours? Our military and diplomats should wrestle this thought and thats what we need to contribute to. Father of Chinas current modernisation, Deng Xiaoping, gave it the most pragmatic direction as early as 1978. His doctrine was all about internal strengthening of China with stable borders, choosing the non-military route for nation-building, and comprehensive strength before turning to transformation of the military. In the last few years, China settled around 23 continental boundary disputes with many neighbours, except India and Bhutan. As an element of its global power aims, it could not afford to have strong neighbours. Freeing India from land-based disputes through agreements would have meant that India would have the latitude to pursue two things inimical to Chinese interests. First, it could focus its forces against the Pakistani threat sans the looming threat on a second front. A weak Pakistan is not in Chinas interest; it being in Chinas camp offsets the US domination in Southwest Asia. Second, with settled borders in the north, India could focus on its maritime strength. The maritime zone from Chinas eastern seaboard to Persian Gulf is its vulnerability. It is through these sea lanes that China receives bulk of its energy supplies. It is also one of the conduits in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). For almost a decade, China has been needling India on the border at locations of its claim lines. It has signed a series of agreements on maintaining the status quo pending resolution, but has not moved ahead even in delineating a Line of Actual Control. This affords it to conduct walk in operations and aggressive patrolling. These actions force the Indian Army to be on alert, divert resources towards the northern borders and remain continental in security approach rather than focus on its vital maritime zone. PM Narendra Modis aggressive foreign policy, although looking at China for cooperation, also focuses on developing strategic equations to safeguard Indian interests. The emerging US-Japan-India equation and increasing maritime security cooperation through the Malabar series of exercises is not something China approves of. While it is fully aware that the Sino-Indian trade of $80-90 billion is an important driver of its economy, it cant afford to allow India the development of comprehensive national power matching that of China as that could spell competition in power equations. If the above rationale for Chinas strategy is understood, there is no difficulty in perceiving that after having achieved a virtual domination in South China Sea, and given little credence to the judgment of International Court of Justice on the row, China was strategising its next step. With issues in East Asia creating turbulence, attempting to browbeat Japan may be tough. PLA activities in the Himalayan belt have been progressively calibrated to higher level in Aksai Chin, Central Sector and Arunachal Pradesh. On the politico diplomatic front, Chinas refusal to budge on the admission of India into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and to declare Masood Azhar a global terrorist, were steps to girdle India. Chinese activities in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Nepal were also coordinated for strategic messaging. Two things probably irked China and acted as triggers. First, the refusal by India to budge on visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh. Second, absence of India and Bhutan from the BRI meet in Beijing. In terms of choice of the location to trigger a standoff, there are two possibilities. Doklam is not disputed by India, but by Bhutan. Was the intent to test the strength of Indias commitment to its neighbour? Failure to come to its aid would be a moral climb down for India. On the face of it, this area has two advantages for China. One, it offers scope for strategically threatening Indias vulnerabilitythe Chickens Neck. Two, it creates a complex situation with greater messaging potential. Whether China has thought this through as strategy, is difficult to surmise. Both sides cannot withdraw sans some loss of face, and war is no option. The issue is, even diplomacy is not an option as China refuses negotiation till India withdraws. Localised conflict is also not feasible as the one who suffers will retain the option to expand to other areas. The situation is a bind from where some routes towards resolution can only emerge as rhetoric reduces and mutual face-saving methods are arrived at, possibly at the initiative of Bhutan, which needs to play a greater role in the diplomatic messaging. Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain Former Commander, Srinagar-based 15 Corps atahasnain@gmail.com
By PTI

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government today ordered an inquiry against Mumbai University (MU) vice chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh over his role in implementing the new online assessment system, which has resulted in delay in declaration of examination results, the Assembly was informed.

Replying to a calling attention motion, Minister of State for Higher Education Ravindra Waikar told the House that an inquiry will be initiated against Deshmukh about the manner in which the new assessment system was implemented.

It would also be probed that how tenders were floated in connection with implementing the decision.

During the debate, BJP MLA Amit Satam said the delay in declaration of results has harmed the prospects of a number of students across the state.

"Did the vice chancellor consult about the decision with teachers, colleges well in advance and checked the feasibility of the project?" Satam asked.

Waikar said the presentation on the system of online checking of answer sheets, was demonstrated before a managing committee of the university.

He said the committee had raised apprehensions whether such a system could be implemented in a short span of time, to which they were assured by Deshmukh that it would be done.

"Questions were raised over whether the entire system could be put in place in such a short time. But the VC assured the committee and took the complete responsibility for it and due tenders were floated on May 2," Waikar said.

According to the reply, out of the total of 17.36 lakh answer sheets, the university is yet to check nearly 4.07 lakh answer sheets.

State education minister Vinod Tawde said while the inquiry committee will probe into the entire matter, the task before the government at present is to announce the results of exams of final year courses.

BJP MLA Ashish Shelar asked whether the government is in the process of setting up a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to avoid a similar situation next year.

Replying to Shelar, Tawde said the government will take steps so that such a delay does not take place in next the session.

He said the SOP cannot be implemented this year as some students have already taken admission in private junior colleges in the current academic session.

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government today ordered an inquiry against Mumbai University (MU) vice chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh over his role in implementing the new online assessment system, which has resulted in delay in declaration of examination results, the Assembly was informed. Replying to a calling attention motion, Minister of State for Higher Education Ravindra Waikar told the House that an inquiry will be initiated against Deshmukh about the manner in which the new assessment system was implemented. It would also be probed that how tenders were floated in connection with implementing the decision. During the debate, BJP MLA Amit Satam said the delay in declaration of results has harmed the prospects of a number of students across the state. "Did the vice chancellor consult about the decision with teachers, colleges well in advance and checked the feasibility of the project?" Satam asked. Waikar said the presentation on the system of online checking of answer sheets, was demonstrated before a managing committee of the university. He said the committee had raised apprehensions whether such a system could be implemented in a short span of time, to which they were assured by Deshmukh that it would be done. "Questions were raised over whether the entire system could be put in place in such a short time. But the VC assured the committee and took the complete responsibility for it and due tenders were floated on May 2," Waikar said. According to the reply, out of the total of 17.36 lakh answer sheets, the university is yet to check nearly 4.07 lakh answer sheets. State education minister Vinod Tawde said while the inquiry committee will probe into the entire matter, the task before the government at present is to announce the results of exams of final year courses. BJP MLA Ashish Shelar asked whether the government is in the process of setting up a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to avoid a similar situation next year. Replying to Shelar, Tawde said the government will take steps so that such a delay does not take place in next the session. He said the SOP cannot be implemented this year as some students have already taken admission in private junior colleges in the current academic session.
By Express News Service

Amid late night reports that the Congress party flew out 44 of its legislators to Bengaluru from Gujarat, three more of the party MLAs resigned Friday taking the number of legislators who quit to six, ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls. The party has fielded its heavyweight Ahmed Patel for the RS polls.

The erosion from its legislature party has cast a shadow on the fate of Patel as his party has to zealously guard against further desertion of MLAs to ensure his victory in the election due to be held on August 8. Patel, 67, is the political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and has been re-nominated by the party.

Besides the six legislators who already quit, two more MLAs have threatened to severe ties with the party.

Mansinh Chauhan, the Congress MLA from Balasinor in Mahisagar district, handed his resignation to assembly speaker Ramanlal Vora in the morning.

Chhanabhai Chaudhary, party legislator from Vansda in Navsari district, gave his resignation to the speaker at the latters residence Thursday night, while Ramsinh Parmar, MLA from Thasra in Anand district quit Friday from the Congress party and as MLA.

With this, the Congresss tally has come down to 51 in the 182-member assembly.

Thursday, three party MLAs, considered to be close to Vaghela, quit the Congress and joined the BJP, which quickly declared one of them its candidate for next months Rajya Sabha polls against Ahmed Patel.

Protests in Upper House

The Rajya Sabha Friday witnessed noisy protests with the Congress alleging that one of its Gujarat MLA has been abducted by the state police and the BJP retaliating that the main opposition is trying to malign the state.

The issue led to repeated adjournments in the house with the Congress members resorting to sloganeering against the Centre to stop killing of democracy.

Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi demanded an apology from the Congress for defaming the state.

The Congress is trying to defame Gujarat. They cannot keep their MLAs together and are blaming the state government for it. The Congress should set its house in order rather than blaming others. They need to introspect why the party is losing every election and what can be done, said Naqvi.

Amid late night reports that the Congress party flew out 44 of its legislators to Bengaluru from Gujarat, three more of the party MLAs resigned Friday taking the number of legislators who quit to six, ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls. The party has fielded its heavyweight Ahmed Patel for the RS polls. The erosion from its legislature party has cast a shadow on the fate of Patel as his party has to zealously guard against further desertion of MLAs to ensure his victory in the election due to be held on August 8. Patel, 67, is the political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and has been re-nominated by the party. Besides the six legislators who already quit, two more MLAs have threatened to severe ties with the party. Mansinh Chauhan, the Congress MLA from Balasinor in Mahisagar district, handed his resignation to assembly speaker Ramanlal Vora in the morning. Chhanabhai Chaudhary, party legislator from Vansda in Navsari district, gave his resignation to the speaker at the latters residence Thursday night, while Ramsinh Parmar, MLA from Thasra in Anand district quit Friday from the Congress party and as MLA. With this, the Congresss tally has come down to 51 in the 182-member assembly. Thursday, three party MLAs, considered to be close to Vaghela, quit the Congress and joined the BJP, which quickly declared one of them its candidate for next months Rajya Sabha polls against Ahmed Patel. Protests in Upper House The Rajya Sabha Friday witnessed noisy protests with the Congress alleging that one of its Gujarat MLA has been abducted by the state police and the BJP retaliating that the main opposition is trying to malign the state. The issue led to repeated adjournments in the house with the Congress members resorting to sloganeering against the Centre to stop killing of democracy. Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi demanded an apology from the Congress for defaming the state. The Congress is trying to defame Gujarat. They cannot keep their MLAs together and are blaming the state government for it. The Congress should set its house in order rather than blaming others. They need to introspect why the party is losing every election and what can be done, said Naqvi.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The defence experts on Saturday were seen divided on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti statement, dubbing the Separatists' arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as just an administrative measure.

Yesterday, Mufti said the arrests were just an administrative measure and will not solve the real problem of Kashmir.

On the one hand, where defence expert P.K. Saihgal opined that Mufti follows appeasement policy, journalist Rahul Jalali said that one needs to see the context in which Mufti made the statement.

One needs to look at the context in which Mehbooba Mufti said this. She was not critical of the NIA. What she said is that administrative measures are no solution, Jalali told ANI.

She continues to be soft towards the terrorists. She continues to follow the policy of appeasement. Her entire votebank is in the south of Kashmir, Saihgal told ANI.

Supporting his defence for Mehbooba, Jalali said that the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister also said that if the NIA has found evidence against the Separatists, then action should be taken on that issue.

She, in fact, said that the only solution to Kashmir will be found by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She appreciated his leadership and hoped that Prime Minister Modi, with his attitude, will find a solution to the Kashmir problem, he said.

Whereas, Saihgal maintained that former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullahs statement that Mufti won the last election primarily because of the Hurriyat support to her is not too far-fetched.

That is why she (Mehbooba) feels she is obliged to stand by them despite the fact, that they are traitors as far as national interest is concerned, he said.

"The NIA arrests do not solve any problems; they are just an administrative measure. An administrative measure cannot help us to resolve the situation and cannot address the real problem of Kashmir. It is important to replace it with a better idea," she said at an event organised by the Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals titled 'Understanding Kashmir' here, Mehbooba had said.

NEW DELHI: The defence experts on Saturday were seen divided on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti statement, dubbing the Separatists' arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as just an administrative measure. Yesterday, Mufti said the arrests were just an administrative measure and will not solve the real problem of Kashmir. On the one hand, where defence expert P.K. Saihgal opined that Mufti follows appeasement policy, journalist Rahul Jalali said that one needs to see the context in which Mufti made the statement. One needs to look at the context in which Mehbooba Mufti said this. She was not critical of the NIA. What she said is that administrative measures are no solution, Jalali told ANI. She continues to be soft towards the terrorists. She continues to follow the policy of appeasement. Her entire votebank is in the south of Kashmir, Saihgal told ANI. Supporting his defence for Mehbooba, Jalali said that the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister also said that if the NIA has found evidence against the Separatists, then action should be taken on that issue. She, in fact, said that the only solution to Kashmir will be found by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She appreciated his leadership and hoped that Prime Minister Modi, with his attitude, will find a solution to the Kashmir problem, he said. Whereas, Saihgal maintained that former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullahs statement that Mufti won the last election primarily because of the Hurriyat support to her is not too far-fetched. That is why she (Mehbooba) feels she is obliged to stand by them despite the fact, that they are traitors as far as national interest is concerned, he said. "The NIA arrests do not solve any problems; they are just an administrative measure. An administrative measure cannot help us to resolve the situation and cannot address the real problem of Kashmir. It is important to replace it with a better idea," she said at an event organised by the Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals titled 'Understanding Kashmir' here, Mehbooba had said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) today sought a report from the Gujarat government over Congress' allegation that the BJP was "engineering" defection of its MLAs ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.

An EC spokesperson said the Gujarat Chief Secretary has been asked to furnish a report to the poll panel in this context by the evening (5 pm) of July 31.

"The report has been sought on the allegation made in the memorandum submitted by the delegation of the Indian National Congress today (to the Commission)," the spokesperson said.

He added that the EC has also directed the state government to "ensure proper security to all the MLAs and their family members".

The poll watchdog's action came in the backdrop of the Congress party today petitioning it and demanding a free and fair election to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat as it accused the BJP of misuse of power and authority.

A delegation of top Congress leaders met Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti and demanded setting up of a high-powered committee to enquire into charges of money power and muscle power and blatant abuse of government machinery to engineer defections and give a time-bound report.

They also handed over a memorandum against use of money and muscle power by the ruling BJP government in a bid to alter the Rajya Sabha poll result.

"We demand to forthwith constitute a high powered committee of independent persons/officers to enquire into charges of money power, muscle power and blatant abuse of government machinery for purposes of engineering defection and resignations of INC MLAs.

"To direct the high powered committee to afford opportunity to all the MLAs who have been approached directly and indirectly with inducements of money and positions by the BJP, so that the allegations are duly recorded and substantiated for actions in accordance with law," the memorandum demanded.

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) today sought a report from the Gujarat government over Congress' allegation that the BJP was "engineering" defection of its MLAs ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections. An EC spokesperson said the Gujarat Chief Secretary has been asked to furnish a report to the poll panel in this context by the evening (5 pm) of July 31. "The report has been sought on the allegation made in the memorandum submitted by the delegation of the Indian National Congress today (to the Commission)," the spokesperson said. He added that the EC has also directed the state government to "ensure proper security to all the MLAs and their family members". The poll watchdog's action came in the backdrop of the Congress party today petitioning it and demanding a free and fair election to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat as it accused the BJP of misuse of power and authority. A delegation of top Congress leaders met Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti and demanded setting up of a high-powered committee to enquire into charges of money power and muscle power and blatant abuse of government machinery to engineer defections and give a time-bound report. They also handed over a memorandum against use of money and muscle power by the ruling BJP government in a bid to alter the Rajya Sabha poll result. "We demand to forthwith constitute a high powered committee of independent persons/officers to enquire into charges of money power, muscle power and blatant abuse of government machinery for purposes of engineering defection and resignations of INC MLAs. "To direct the high powered committee to afford opportunity to all the MLAs who have been approached directly and indirectly with inducements of money and positions by the BJP, so that the allegations are duly recorded and substantiated for actions in accordance with law," the memorandum demanded.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: A team of NIA officials and forensic experts on Friday visited the Uttar Pradesh Assembly hall in Lucknow where a packet of PETN, an explosive substance, was found under one of the seats occupied by Leader of the Opposition in UP Assembly Ram Govind Choudhary during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on July 12.

The NIA team visited the UP Vidhan Sabha hall on Friday and made a thorough assessment of the scene from where the suspected PETN was found. The team was accompanied by the NIA explosive expert and forensic experts from the CFSL, Chandigarh, a NIA spokesperson said.

The team also held discussions with officials of the Uttar Pradesh home department, Vidhan Sabha, police and the Uttar Pradesh anti-terror squad (ATS) on various aspects of the alleged recovery of PETN, the official said.

The NIA had registered a case on July 26 to probe the recovery of explosives in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly following a directive from the union home ministry. The ministrys decision came following a reference from the Uttar Pradesh government seeking an NIA probe into the incident.

The PETN found lying under Govinds seat is one of the most dangerous plastic explosives available in the black market and preferred by militants as the colourless crystals easily surpass security checks.

The150 grams of PETN was found wrapped in a paper under Ram Govind Choudharys seat, close to the podium where the speaker sits, creating a major scare and overhaul of the security apparatus of the Assembly.

NEW DELHI: A team of NIA officials and forensic experts on Friday visited the Uttar Pradesh Assembly hall in Lucknow where a packet of PETN, an explosive substance, was found under one of the seats occupied by Leader of the Opposition in UP Assembly Ram Govind Choudhary during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on July 12. The NIA team visited the UP Vidhan Sabha hall on Friday and made a thorough assessment of the scene from where the suspected PETN was found. The team was accompanied by the NIA explosive expert and forensic experts from the CFSL, Chandigarh, a NIA spokesperson said. The team also held discussions with officials of the Uttar Pradesh home department, Vidhan Sabha, police and the Uttar Pradesh anti-terror squad (ATS) on various aspects of the alleged recovery of PETN, the official said. The NIA had registered a case on July 26 to probe the recovery of explosives in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly following a directive from the union home ministry. The ministrys decision came following a reference from the Uttar Pradesh government seeking an NIA probe into the incident. The PETN found lying under Govinds seat is one of the most dangerous plastic explosives available in the black market and preferred by militants as the colourless crystals easily surpass security checks. The150 grams of PETN was found wrapped in a paper under Ram Govind Choudharys seat, close to the podium where the speaker sits, creating a major scare and overhaul of the security apparatus of the Assembly.
Aishik Chanda By

Express News Service

KOLKATA: As fresh clashes erupted between Gorkhaland supporters and policemen on Saturday leading to the injury of two protesters, a poster signed by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha/Maoist in Darjeeling calling for an armed rebellion for a separate state has sent the Gorkhas into a tizzy.

The poster, written in red ink, typical of Maoists, asked Darjeeling DM Jayashree Dasgupta and SP Akhilesh Chaturvedi to leave the hills within three days. It also hailed GJM supremo Bimal Gurung and urged the Gorkhas to wage armed struggle for Gorkhaland statehood.

The poster, signed off as GJM/Maoist, read, "Beware! Beware! Beware! If the DM and SP do not leave the district within three days, we will start an armed rebellion. Jai Gorkha! Long live Bimal Gurung!"

"We are sure that the agitators in the hills have put up the poster. We will take strict action very soon," Darjeeling SP Akhilesh Chaturvedi told New Indian Express.

On the other hand, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said that the party was not behind the poster. "It is a conspiracy to malign the Gorkhaland agitation and bring a bad name to GJM by associating us with the Maoists," he told New Indian Express.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly blamed China and Nepalese Maoists of helping the Gorkhaland agitation. However, Gorkha leaders have demanded proof for the allegations made by the state government.

However, spelling mistakes and sentence construction in the poster have cast doubt over its authenticity. Several Gorkha youngsters pointed out in social media that instead of the Nepali word 'Hoshiyaar' for 'Beware', Bengali word 'Hushiyaar' was written. Similarly, Chodera (to leave) was written as Chorera and Bhitra (within) were written as 'Bhitar' (Bengali word for within). Lastly, Bimal Gurung was also misspelt, which raised serious doubts over the authenticity of the poster and was seen by many Gorkhaland supporters as a move by the state administration to bring in more forces in the hills.

Meanwhile, two Gorkhaland supporters were seriously injured along with two policemen when a scuffle broke out over a khukuri rally in Sukna in Darjeeling district on Saturday.

The two injured protesters Sonam Tamang and Ajay Chhetri have been shifted to hospitals in Siliguri.

According to sources, the Gorkhaland supporters from Mahanadi, Tindharey and Garidhura areas took out a khukuri (Nepalese dagger) rally till Sukna as the present phase of indefinite strike entered its 45th day on Saturday and became the longest indefinite strike in the history of Gorkhaland agitation. The region witnessed 44-day-long strike in 2013 and 40-day strike in 1986.

However, when the protesters were confronted by police, a few of them allegedly pelted stones to which police responded by firing tear gas shells and water cannon.

Footage showing policemen vandalising common cars lines up along the main road also circulated in the social media.

Essential supplies are at an all-time low in the hills due to the indefinite strike which is a marked shift from the earlier strike where hill residents were given periodic relief to replenish their food stocks. However, the current strictness of the strike may be attributed to the death of eight Gorkhaland supporters since the beginning of the present phase of agitation on June 8.

KOLKATA: As fresh clashes erupted between Gorkhaland supporters and policemen on Saturday leading to the injury of two protesters, a poster signed by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha/Maoist in Darjeeling calling for an armed rebellion for a separate state has sent the Gorkhas into a tizzy. The poster, written in red ink, typical of Maoists, asked Darjeeling DM Jayashree Dasgupta and SP Akhilesh Chaturvedi to leave the hills within three days. It also hailed GJM supremo Bimal Gurung and urged the Gorkhas to wage armed struggle for Gorkhaland statehood. The poster, signed off as GJM/Maoist, read, "Beware! Beware! Beware! If the DM and SP do not leave the district within three days, we will start an armed rebellion. Jai Gorkha! Long live Bimal Gurung!" "We are sure that the agitators in the hills have put up the poster. We will take strict action very soon," Darjeeling SP Akhilesh Chaturvedi told New Indian Express. On the other hand, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said that the party was not behind the poster. "It is a conspiracy to malign the Gorkhaland agitation and bring a bad name to GJM by associating us with the Maoists," he told New Indian Express. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly blamed China and Nepalese Maoists of helping the Gorkhaland agitation. However, Gorkha leaders have demanded proof for the allegations made by the state government. However, spelling mistakes and sentence construction in the poster have cast doubt over its authenticity. Several Gorkha youngsters pointed out in social media that instead of the Nepali word 'Hoshiyaar' for 'Beware', Bengali word 'Hushiyaar' was written. Similarly, Chodera (to leave) was written as Chorera and Bhitra (within) were written as 'Bhitar' (Bengali word for within). Lastly, Bimal Gurung was also misspelt, which raised serious doubts over the authenticity of the poster and was seen by many Gorkhaland supporters as a move by the state administration to bring in more forces in the hills. Meanwhile, two Gorkhaland supporters were seriously injured along with two policemen when a scuffle broke out over a khukuri rally in Sukna in Darjeeling district on Saturday. The two injured protesters Sonam Tamang and Ajay Chhetri have been shifted to hospitals in Siliguri. According to sources, the Gorkhaland supporters from Mahanadi, Tindharey and Garidhura areas took out a khukuri (Nepalese dagger) rally till Sukna as the present phase of indefinite strike entered its 45th day on Saturday and became the longest indefinite strike in the history of Gorkhaland agitation. The region witnessed 44-day-long strike in 2013 and 40-day strike in 1986. However, when the protesters were confronted by police, a few of them allegedly pelted stones to which police responded by firing tear gas shells and water cannon. Footage showing policemen vandalising common cars lines up along the main road also circulated in the social media. Essential supplies are at an all-time low in the hills due to the indefinite strike which is a marked shift from the earlier strike where hill residents were given periodic relief to replenish their food stocks. However, the current strictness of the strike may be attributed to the death of eight Gorkhaland supporters since the beginning of the present phase of agitation on June 8.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The Congress herded 44 of its MLAs from Gujarat to Bengaluru ahead of the August 8, Rajya Sabha elections, in order to avoid poaching by the BJP. But its worries have not ended. There's already a rebellion brewing in Eagleton resort, where the MLAs are housed after they arrived in Bengaluru from Ahmedabad in the wee hours of Saturday.

The legislators were fuming at their mobile phones being confiscated by the resort manager. They even had a verbal exchange over the issue.

The MLAs were angry at not being able to keep in touch with their constituencies at a time when their home state, especially south Gujarat, was reeling under floods. Three MLAs from south Gujarat, including Dharshibhai Khanpura from Kankrej, Mahesh Patel from Palanpur and Govabhai Rabari from Deesa constituency, expressed their displeasure at not being allowed to use their phones and demanded to return home.

"These constituencies are most hit by flooding. MLAs from these places wanted to speak to people and officials in their constituency. But the resort manager Naresh Rawal who took away their phones refused to return them to the MLAs," sources said.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leaders from Gujarat are expected to fly down to meet the disgruntled MLAs and take a call.

The MLAs were brought to Bengaluru after six legislators quit the party to join the BJP over the past two days. With Ahmed Patel, political secretary to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, set to contest the election to a Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat, the party high command is determined to ensure his victory.

The Congress had earlier suffered an embarrassment with cross-voting by a section of its legislators in Gujarat during the presidential elections.

With recent defections, the Congress's strength in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly is down to 51. Sources in the party said energy minister D K Shivakumar was tasked with looking after the MLAs but as he was away to Singapore, his younger brother and Bengaluru rural MP D K Suresh, Congress MLC C M Lingappa, and

party leader Saleem Ahmad who is also additional special representative in New Delhi from Karnataka, were taking care of Gujarat MLAs at the resort on Mysuru Road, 22 km away from Bengaluru.

It's located in Bidadi in Sureshs Bengaluru rural Lok Sabha constituency. Suresh told Express, "We are taking care of the MLAs. They arrived here late in the night and are taking rest at the resort." He said they would be taken to a temple but didn't specify which one. "The KPCC is only coordinating their stay and other facilities and not paying for their expenses,'' he added.

BENGALURU: The Congress herded 44 of its MLAs from Gujarat to Bengaluru ahead of the August 8, Rajya Sabha elections, in order to avoid poaching by the BJP. But its worries have not ended. There's already a rebellion brewing in Eagleton resort, where the MLAs are housed after they arrived in Bengaluru from Ahmedabad in the wee hours of Saturday. The legislators were fuming at their mobile phones being confiscated by the resort manager. They even had a verbal exchange over the issue. The MLAs were angry at not being able to keep in touch with their constituencies at a time when their home state, especially south Gujarat, was reeling under floods. Three MLAs from south Gujarat, including Dharshibhai Khanpura from Kankrej, Mahesh Patel from Palanpur and Govabhai Rabari from Deesa constituency, expressed their displeasure at not being allowed to use their phones and demanded to return home. "These constituencies are most hit by flooding. MLAs from these places wanted to speak to people and officials in their constituency. But the resort manager Naresh Rawal who took away their phones refused to return them to the MLAs," sources said. Meanwhile, senior Congress leaders from Gujarat are expected to fly down to meet the disgruntled MLAs and take a call. The MLAs were brought to Bengaluru after six legislators quit the party to join the BJP over the past two days. With Ahmed Patel, political secretary to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, set to contest the election to a Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat, the party high command is determined to ensure his victory. The Congress had earlier suffered an embarrassment with cross-voting by a section of its legislators in Gujarat during the presidential elections. With recent defections, the Congress's strength in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly is down to 51. Sources in the party said energy minister D K Shivakumar was tasked with looking after the MLAs but as he was away to Singapore, his younger brother and Bengaluru rural MP D K Suresh, Congress MLC C M Lingappa, and party leader Saleem Ahmad who is also additional special representative in New Delhi from Karnataka, were taking care of Gujarat MLAs at the resort on Mysuru Road, 22 km away from Bengaluru. It's located in Bidadi in Sureshs Bengaluru rural Lok Sabha constituency. Suresh told Express, "We are taking care of the MLAs. They arrived here late in the night and are taking rest at the resort." He said they would be taken to a temple but didn't specify which one. "The KPCC is only coordinating their stay and other facilities and not paying for their expenses,'' he added.
By Express News Service

PURI: Amid heightened tension along the LoC, a group of Hindu pilgrims from Pakistan, on a tour to visit pilgrimage sites in India, said they were allowed to practice their religion fearlessly in Pakistan, and that they never had to face any trouble.

In fact, they said, they have two Asthans of their Guru, one at Pakistan and another at Raipur. Sant Shadaram Saheb (their guru) undertook a long pilgrimage and reached Mathelo Sindh (in Pakistan) nearly 250 years ago, where he settled and enshrined the Holy Shadani Darbar at Hayat Pitafi, said Nanik Lal, a visiting devotee.

On their 25-day trip, the 94-member group including 24 women from Ghotki district of Sindh province, had a darshan of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra in Puri on Saturday.

While some of the pilgrims, aged between 2 and 80, were visiting India for the second time, many visited Jagannath temple for the first time. Special arrangements have been made for their stay at the mutt of Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati.

This is my second visit to India and first to Jagannath Dham at Puri. We are overwhelmed at the spiritual atmosphere of Puri and hospitality of the people, said Vikram Pal, a devotee, who runs a grocery and grains business at Ghotki.

The pilgrims crossed the border at Wagah on July 18, toured various Hindu religious sites before arriving at Puri on July 26. They spent two days in Uttarakhand and visited pilgrimage sites at Haridwar. They were at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh from July 23 to 25.

They are on the pilgrimage with the support of Sant Shadani Darbar at Raipur in Chhattisgarh. They would visit the Darbar and attend birth anniversary of their Guru before returning to Pakistan.

The pilgrims offered prayers at the trinity in Jagannath temple, moved around the campus and later attended a preaching session of Puri Shankaracharya before leaving Puri in the evening.

We have visited several holy places in the country and are returning back with good memories, said another pilgrim Niranjan Chawla, who owns a cotton industry.



PURI: Amid heightened tension along the LoC, a group of Hindu pilgrims from Pakistan, on a tour to visit pilgrimage sites in India, said they were allowed to practice their religion fearlessly in Pakistan, and that they never had to face any trouble. In fact, they said, they have two Asthans of their Guru, one at Pakistan and another at Raipur. Sant Shadaram Saheb (their guru) undertook a long pilgrimage and reached Mathelo Sindh (in Pakistan) nearly 250 years ago, where he settled and enshrined the Holy Shadani Darbar at Hayat Pitafi, said Nanik Lal, a visiting devotee. On their 25-day trip, the 94-member group including 24 women from Ghotki district of Sindh province, had a darshan of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra in Puri on Saturday. While some of the pilgrims, aged between 2 and 80, were visiting India for the second time, many visited Jagannath temple for the first time. Special arrangements have been made for their stay at the mutt of Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati. This is my second visit to India and first to Jagannath Dham at Puri. We are overwhelmed at the spiritual atmosphere of Puri and hospitality of the people, said Vikram Pal, a devotee, who runs a grocery and grains business at Ghotki. The pilgrims crossed the border at Wagah on July 18, toured various Hindu religious sites before arriving at Puri on July 26. They spent two days in Uttarakhand and visited pilgrimage sites at Haridwar. They were at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh from July 23 to 25. They are on the pilgrimage with the support of Sant Shadani Darbar at Raipur in Chhattisgarh. They would visit the Darbar and attend birth anniversary of their Guru before returning to Pakistan. The pilgrims offered prayers at the trinity in Jagannath temple, moved around the campus and later attended a preaching session of Puri Shankaracharya before leaving Puri in the evening. We have visited several holy places in the country and are returning back with good memories, said another pilgrim Niranjan Chawla, who owns a cotton industry.
By ANI

GURUGRAM: A journalist was shot dead by three car-borne assailants in Gurugram yesterday afternoon.

The deceased has been identified as Surendra Rana, who used to work in a private channel.

The identity of the journalist was revealed by the authority letter recovered from his car, in which it was written that he was appointed as the Haryanas special correspondent and news coordinator.

Police are investigating the case.

GURUGRAM: A journalist was shot dead by three car-borne assailants in Gurugram yesterday afternoon. The deceased has been identified as Surendra Rana, who used to work in a private channel. The identity of the journalist was revealed by the authority letter recovered from his car, in which it was written that he was appointed as the Haryanas special correspondent and news coordinator. Police are investigating the case.
By PTI

JAGDALPUR: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today demanded the resignation of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh over the Panama Papers issue, citing the case of Nawaz Sharif who quit as Pakistani prime minister.

Gandhi alleged, "Sharif resigned after his and his family's name figured in the Panama Papers scandal but Chief Minister Raman Singh's family is also facing allegations in the Panama Papers issue and he has not yet resigned."

"It is because he belongs to the RSS and the BJP and they can indulge in corruption," he said wryly.

Last year, the Congress had alleged Singh's son Abhishek held offshore assets as per the Panama Papers leak.

Panama Papers are leaked documents of about 1.15 crore files containing details of about 2.15 lakh bank accounts.

Both the chief minister and his son, the Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon, had rubbished the allegations. The chief minister had described the charges as "baseless and unfounded".

Gandhi, on a two-day tour to the state, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of overlooking the corruption of the BJP chief ministers.

"Modiji talks about fighting corruption, but he can't see the corruption of the Chhattisgarh chief minister. The Rajasthan chief minister, too, has been linked to corruption, but Modiji is not speaking about it," the Congress leader alleged.

He was addressing a rally in Markel, a tribal village near here in Bastar district. The rally was organised to oppose the proposed disinvestment of the NMDC's steel plant in Nagarnar area. The plant in Markel is under construction.

"For the first time in the country, I have seen that a steel plant, which is still being set up, is being privatised.

People from the RSS and the BJP don't want development of tribals," he alleged.

"They want you to become slaves of rich people in big cities," claimed the 47-year-old Amethi MP, addressing the gathering which mostly comprised adivasis.

Gandhi alleged that land and forests belonging to tribals are being snatched and given to industrialists.

In 2004, Tata Steel proposed to set up a plant in Bastar for which people gave their land but later the company scrapped its plan. The acquired land was not given back to owners, the Congress leader alleged.

JAGDALPUR: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today demanded the resignation of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh over the Panama Papers issue, citing the case of Nawaz Sharif who quit as Pakistani prime minister. Gandhi alleged, "Sharif resigned after his and his family's name figured in the Panama Papers scandal but Chief Minister Raman Singh's family is also facing allegations in the Panama Papers issue and he has not yet resigned." "It is because he belongs to the RSS and the BJP and they can indulge in corruption," he said wryly. Last year, the Congress had alleged Singh's son Abhishek held offshore assets as per the Panama Papers leak. Panama Papers are leaked documents of about 1.15 crore files containing details of about 2.15 lakh bank accounts. Both the chief minister and his son, the Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon, had rubbished the allegations. The chief minister had described the charges as "baseless and unfounded". Gandhi, on a two-day tour to the state, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of overlooking the corruption of the BJP chief ministers. "Modiji talks about fighting corruption, but he can't see the corruption of the Chhattisgarh chief minister. The Rajasthan chief minister, too, has been linked to corruption, but Modiji is not speaking about it," the Congress leader alleged. He was addressing a rally in Markel, a tribal village near here in Bastar district. The rally was organised to oppose the proposed disinvestment of the NMDC's steel plant in Nagarnar area. The plant in Markel is under construction. "For the first time in the country, I have seen that a steel plant, which is still being set up, is being privatised. People from the RSS and the BJP don't want development of tribals," he alleged. "They want you to become slaves of rich people in big cities," claimed the 47-year-old Amethi MP, addressing the gathering which mostly comprised adivasis. Gandhi alleged that land and forests belonging to tribals are being snatched and given to industrialists. In 2004, Tata Steel proposed to set up a plant in Bastar for which people gave their land but later the company scrapped its plan. The acquired land was not given back to owners, the Congress leader alleged.
By Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: THE 10-year-old rape survivors pregnancy was discovered only after the doctors at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Chandigarh broke the news to her parents, where they had taken her after complaints of severe stomach pain.

The parents were told that the girl was 30 weeks pregnant bt the doctors followed by which, they found out that she had been subjected to repeated rape allegedly by her 55-year-old maternal uncle Kul Bahadur.

On July 18, a local court refused permission for an abortion on the basis of the GMCH report that claimed that the girl was heavily pregnant then and cannot undergo abortion as under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, medical termination of pregnancy is allowed only up to 20 weeks and exceptions are only made if the foetus is genetically abnormal.

Soon after, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava in the Supreme Court against the verdict of the local court.

According to sources, the girls family hails from Nepal and her father works as watchman and her mother as a house maid.

The minor had been earlier operated upon for ventricular septal defect (a heart defect).

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking its nod to terminate 32-week-old foetus after the eight-member team of doctors from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) ruled out the possibility citing medical reasons.

The apex court gave its verdict on the basis of the medical boards report stating that the termination of pregnancy is neither good for the girl nor for the foetus.

A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud took note of the report of the medical board.

In view of the recommendations made in by the medical board in its report, it would neither be in the interest of the girl child nor the alive foetus, which is approximately 32-weeks-old, to order abortion, the bench said.

Meanwhile the doctors were also of the opinion that the pelvic bones of the girl may not yet be fully developed and therefore tolerating a full-term pregnancy is very risky.

In May this year, the Supreme Court had allowed a 10-year-old rape survivor from the Haryana to abort her nearly 21-week foetus.

The country has a grim record of sexual assaults on minors with 20,000 cases of rape or sexual assaults reported in 2015, according to government data.

Timeline

July 14: 10-year-old girl complains of stomach ache. Doctors are startled to discovered she is nearly eight months pregnant. It turns out she was raped repeated by her maternal uncle.

July 15: Girls family moves application for termination of pregnancy.

July 18: District court in Chandigarh rejects the plea citing the law that pregnancies past 20 weeks cannot be terminated unless under medical advice.

July 20: Delhi-based lawyer files a PIL in Supreme Court

July 24: Girls pregnancy has by now progressed beyond thrity weeks. Apex court asks PGIMER Chandigarh to examine the girl to ascertain if the pregnancy can be terminated now

July 26: Eight-member panel of PGIMER doctors examines the girl from 9.30 am to 1 pm, submits report in sealed envelope to the court.

July 28: Supreme Court refuses to allow termination of pregnancy on the advice of the medical board.

CHANDIGARH: THE 10-year-old rape survivors pregnancy was discovered only after the doctors at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Chandigarh broke the news to her parents, where they had taken her after complaints of severe stomach pain. The parents were told that the girl was 30 weeks pregnant bt the doctors followed by which, they found out that she had been subjected to repeated rape allegedly by her 55-year-old maternal uncle Kul Bahadur. On July 18, a local court refused permission for an abortion on the basis of the GMCH report that claimed that the girl was heavily pregnant then and cannot undergo abortion as under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, medical termination of pregnancy is allowed only up to 20 weeks and exceptions are only made if the foetus is genetically abnormal. Soon after, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava in the Supreme Court against the verdict of the local court. According to sources, the girls family hails from Nepal and her father works as watchman and her mother as a house maid. The minor had been earlier operated upon for ventricular septal defect (a heart defect). The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking its nod to terminate 32-week-old foetus after the eight-member team of doctors from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) ruled out the possibility citing medical reasons. The apex court gave its verdict on the basis of the medical boards report stating that the termination of pregnancy is neither good for the girl nor for the foetus. A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud took note of the report of the medical board. In view of the recommendations made in by the medical board in its report, it would neither be in the interest of the girl child nor the alive foetus, which is approximately 32-weeks-old, to order abortion, the bench said. Meanwhile the doctors were also of the opinion that the pelvic bones of the girl may not yet be fully developed and therefore tolerating a full-term pregnancy is very risky. In May this year, the Supreme Court had allowed a 10-year-old rape survivor from the Haryana to abort her nearly 21-week foetus. The country has a grim record of sexual assaults on minors with 20,000 cases of rape or sexual assaults reported in 2015, according to government data. Timeline July 14: 10-year-old girl complains of stomach ache. Doctors are startled to discovered she is nearly eight months pregnant. It turns out she was raped repeated by her maternal uncle. July 15: Girls family moves application for termination of pregnancy. July 18: District court in Chandigarh rejects the plea citing the law that pregnancies past 20 weeks cannot be terminated unless under medical advice. July 20: Delhi-based lawyer files a PIL in Supreme Court July 24: Girls pregnancy has by now progressed beyond thrity weeks. Apex court asks PGIMER Chandigarh to examine the girl to ascertain if the pregnancy can be terminated now July 26: Eight-member panel of PGIMER doctors examines the girl from 9.30 am to 1 pm, submits report in sealed envelope to the court. July 28: Supreme Court refuses to allow termination of pregnancy on the advice of the medical board.
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: Ruling BJP leader and vice chairman of Mandsaur district panchayat, Gunwant Patidar, was sentenced to five years in jail by a special court on Saturday in a 2011 case of opium smuggling.



Gunwant Patidar was among BJP leaders who had reportedly accompanied kin of farmers killed in the June 6 Mandsaur firing to meet chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and force him to end his 28-hour fast for peace at Bhopals Dusshera Ground on June 10.



A special court (NDPS Act) in Mandsaur district pronounced the judgment in a 2011 opium smuggling case on Saturday. The court held Patidar guilty for smuggling and transporting 1.5 kg opium under Section 8/18 of NDPS Act.



Based on the evidence submitted by the prosecution in the case, the special judge (NDPS Act) in Mandsaur district, JC Rathore convicted Patidar for illegally transporting opium on February 15, 2011, and awarded him five years imprisonment, besides slapping a penalty of Rs 75,000 on the convict.



The prosecution counsel Nitesh Krishnan told media persons that Gunwant Patidar, the Mandsaur district panchayat vice chairman was on bail in the case.



Patidar had also tried to delay proceedings in the case by submitting before the court in earlier hearings that he was suffering from a mental ailment, but owing to want of evidence to support his requests, the court didnt consider his submissions, Krishnan added.



Gunwant Patidars five-year sentence is seen as an embarrassment for the ruling BJP which has been on the back foot since the June 2017 farmers unrest and death of six farmers in the alleged police firing and brutality in Mandsaur district.



Gunwant Patidar, who was convicted in the NDPS Act case on Saturday reportedly was among those who had reportedly accompanied farmers kin to meet the CM at the venue on June 10 in Bhopal.

The CM had ended his fast after which top BJP leaders claimed that the slain farmers kin had requested him to end the fast.



However, some media reports later showed that local BJP leaders had influenced the farmers family members to meet Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Bhopal and end his fast, failing which they would not get the Rs one crore compensation.



Shivraj Singh Chouhan, however, has repeatedly denied such media reports, the latest being in the state assembly on July 19 during the 11-hour long debate on the same issue.

BHOPAL: Ruling BJP leader and vice chairman of Mandsaur district panchayat, Gunwant Patidar, was sentenced to five years in jail by a special court on Saturday in a 2011 case of opium smuggling. Gunwant Patidar was among BJP leaders who had reportedly accompanied kin of farmers killed in the June 6 Mandsaur firing to meet chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and force him to end his 28-hour fast for peace at Bhopals Dusshera Ground on June 10. A special court (NDPS Act) in Mandsaur district pronounced the judgment in a 2011 opium smuggling case on Saturday. The court held Patidar guilty for smuggling and transporting 1.5 kg opium under Section 8/18 of NDPS Act. Based on the evidence submitted by the prosecution in the case, the special judge (NDPS Act) in Mandsaur district, JC Rathore convicted Patidar for illegally transporting opium on February 15, 2011, and awarded him five years imprisonment, besides slapping a penalty of Rs 75,000 on the convict. The prosecution counsel Nitesh Krishnan told media persons that Gunwant Patidar, the Mandsaur district panchayat vice chairman was on bail in the case. Patidar had also tried to delay proceedings in the case by submitting before the court in earlier hearings that he was suffering from a mental ailment, but owing to want of evidence to support his requests, the court didnt consider his submissions, Krishnan added. Gunwant Patidars five-year sentence is seen as an embarrassment for the ruling BJP which has been on the back foot since the June 2017 farmers unrest and death of six farmers in the alleged police firing and brutality in Mandsaur district. Gunwant Patidar, who was convicted in the NDPS Act case on Saturday reportedly was among those who had reportedly accompanied farmers kin to meet the CM at the venue on June 10 in Bhopal. The CM had ended his fast after which top BJP leaders claimed that the slain farmers kin had requested him to end the fast. However, some media reports later showed that local BJP leaders had influenced the farmers family members to meet Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Bhopal and end his fast, failing which they would not get the Rs one crore compensation. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, however, has repeatedly denied such media reports, the latest being in the state assembly on July 19 during the 11-hour long debate on the same issue.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Ten days after the 26-year-old student of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, went missing on July 18, city police are yet to find any clues about the 26-year-old's disappearance.

The institute had lodged a complaint with the police in this regard on July 24. A FIR was lodged on Thursday after three days of search yielded no result. However, the cops are still groping in dark after tracing his last location in Himachal Pradesh.

According to police sources, Shubhodeep Das of Kolkata was a 2015-2017 batch student pursuing MBA (II year) at IIM Lucknow.

Shubhodeep had reportedly left the campus on July 18 after entering in the college register that he was going to his hometown Kolkata. However, he did not reach there, according to his parents. Shubhodeeps mobile phone was also going switched off and his location was traced to New Delhi on Friday.

Das's parents described him as a brilliant student who was suffering from depression because of a personal issue. Shubhodeeps father Uttam Kumar visited the hostel and met his sons friends and acquaintances to get some clues about him but to no avail.

We are trying to find the location of the boy but have not been able to succeed," said the SHO of local police station.

LUCKNOW: Ten days after the 26-year-old student of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, went missing on July 18, city police are yet to find any clues about the 26-year-old's disappearance. The institute had lodged a complaint with the police in this regard on July 24. A FIR was lodged on Thursday after three days of search yielded no result. However, the cops are still groping in dark after tracing his last location in Himachal Pradesh. According to police sources, Shubhodeep Das of Kolkata was a 2015-2017 batch student pursuing MBA (II year) at IIM Lucknow. Shubhodeep had reportedly left the campus on July 18 after entering in the college register that he was going to his hometown Kolkata. However, he did not reach there, according to his parents. Shubhodeeps mobile phone was also going switched off and his location was traced to New Delhi on Friday. Das's parents described him as a brilliant student who was suffering from depression because of a personal issue. Shubhodeeps father Uttam Kumar visited the hostel and met his sons friends and acquaintances to get some clues about him but to no avail. We are trying to find the location of the boy but have not been able to succeed," said the SHO of local police station.
Mohammad Shehzad By

This is the third unceremonious ouster for Nawaz Sharif. He could have avoided all the ousters with a modicum of common sense. President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved his government on April 18, 1993. The Supreme Court reinstated it on May 26. But mocking this verdict, the Army Chief Abdul Waheed Kakar forced Sharif to resign. Had he not resigned and told the nation the truth, he could have walked with a raised head. But since he had come to power on the armys stretcher, he could not have stood up to Kakar.

Sharif lost the 1993 election but returned to power with a two-thirds majority in 1997. This heavy mandate went to his head under whose hangover he shot himself in the foot by sacking General Pervez Musharraf when the latters plane was running out of fuel in the air; Sharif even tried to stop it from landing. Can there be a greater spectacle of stupidity than this? Much before Musharrafs landing, Sharif had been ousted. The architect of the 1999 coup was nobody but Nawaz! People thronged the streets and danced and distributed sweets. The heavy mandate had vanished into thin air.

When the Panama Papers corruption proceedings were underway, his daughter Maryam tweeted, Jo mard hota hay wo bhagta nai (a man never runs away). But Sharif had ran away to Jeddah in 2000 with his family under a written agreement that he has been denying vehemently. His host Saudi Arabia humiliated him by waving the agreement before the world.

Sharif would have stood against the dictator if he were a politician with principles. But he is a wily businessman who would stoop to any level for power or to save his skin discarding loyal friends like Javed Hashmi who endured the worst physical and mental torture for democracy.

Sharif would pick a quarrel with institutions for nothing. In 1997, he attacked the Supreme Court with the help of his goons and had the chief justice removed by bribing the judges colleagues. Time would exact revenge in 1999. And time has again exacted revenge on him with the Supreme Court ousting him. No coup or conspiracy was hatched. The removal this time followed the due course of law.

Every sane voice advised Sharif to step down as the Panama proceedings started against him. But as always, he failed to read the writing on the wall. Even a temporary resignation could have saved him from disgrace. But he was hell-bent on humiliating not only himself but his entire family.

Sharif and his toadies tried everything to get away. One of his sycophantsNihal Hashmiwent to the extent of targeting not just the judges and the investigation team but also their coming generations if they dared to question Sharif and his family. His threat, instead of earning sympathy for Sharif, instead gave him the title of a Sicilian don. Who would need enemies in the presence of such obsequious sycophants?

Sharif and his army of bootlickers tried to convince the people that the Panama Papers were a conspiracy against them. The statement kept changing colours as time passed.

It became a conspiracy against democracy. When his son-in-law Muhammad Safdar appeared before the investigators on June 24, the conspiracy was no more against Sharif or democracy but Islam! On July 20, one of his trusted boysKhwaja Asif, the defence ministerstated that neither the army nor the judiciary is hatching a conspiracy. So was it the Jews, Hindus, Christians, RAW or Mossad, CIA or KGB? Neither Sharif nor his cronies could name the conspirator.

Hours before Sharifs disqualification, his most trusted friendinterior minister Chaudhry Nisarspilled the beans in a press conference. According to him, Sharif would listen to nobody but his bootlickers. Nisar did his best to inject some sense into Sharifs mind but in vain. The Nisar-Nawaz-N-League love affair is more than 30 years old. Nisar would even drive his car. And a man like him was finding it difficult to have an audience with the PM. I am sick and tired of this politics! he said. These words show Nisars frustration.

Sharifs problem is that he looks for dictatorship in a democracy. He thinks he is Pakistan. He is democracy and he is the sole custodian of Islam! The time has come for him to reconcile with the fact that his political career is over. The SC has not disqualified his party but only him and some of his cronies. This is something that the workers, office-bearers and the senior leaders of PML (Nawaz) should understand.

It is the end of Sharif, not the party. There is no dearth of competent people in PML (N) who can turn it into a real political party. Ironically, PML (N)like the PPP and PTIwas never a political party but a business enterpriseof the Sharifs. Grandpa dies and the son becomes the partys head. Pa thought he would be disqualified and did his best to present his daughter Maryam as the future prime minister. Papas cronies projected her as daughter of the nation. Sadly, the so-called daughter of the nation is facing forgery charges. Sadly, the brothers of the self-proclaimed daughter of the nation are facing corruption references. Sadly, the husband of the self-appointed daughter of the nation is facing the same charges. The entire family has been declared corrupt.

In a nutshell, Sharif and every member of his family have polluted the party. He cant become a political martyr like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The party is over. The party is dead!

The disgraced Sharif still has a chance. He should come out of the fools paradise and accept the fact that no miracle can make him prime minister again. He should also reconcile with the fact that his daughter too cant be PM of Pakistan. The party is not his fiefdom. He should respect the Supreme Courts decision, announce snap elections and resign from politics urging the new leadership to promote and practice democracy within the party.

Mohammad Shehzad

An Islamabad-based journalist and researcher

Email: yamankalyan@gmail.com

This is the third unceremonious ouster for Nawaz Sharif. He could have avoided all the ousters with a modicum of common sense. President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved his government on April 18, 1993. The Supreme Court reinstated it on May 26. But mocking this verdict, the Army Chief Abdul Waheed Kakar forced Sharif to resign. Had he not resigned and told the nation the truth, he could have walked with a raised head. But since he had come to power on the armys stretcher, he could not have stood up to Kakar. Sharif lost the 1993 election but returned to power with a two-thirds majority in 1997. This heavy mandate went to his head under whose hangover he shot himself in the foot by sacking General Pervez Musharraf when the latters plane was running out of fuel in the air; Sharif even tried to stop it from landing. Can there be a greater spectacle of stupidity than this? Much before Musharrafs landing, Sharif had been ousted. The architect of the 1999 coup was nobody but Nawaz! People thronged the streets and danced and distributed sweets. The heavy mandate had vanished into thin air. When the Panama Papers corruption proceedings were underway, his daughter Maryam tweeted, Jo mard hota hay wo bhagta nai (a man never runs away). But Sharif had ran away to Jeddah in 2000 with his family under a written agreement that he has been denying vehemently. His host Saudi Arabia humiliated him by waving the agreement before the world. Sharif would have stood against the dictator if he were a politician with principles. But he is a wily businessman who would stoop to any level for power or to save his skin discarding loyal friends like Javed Hashmi who endured the worst physical and mental torture for democracy. Sharif would pick a quarrel with institutions for nothing. In 1997, he attacked the Supreme Court with the help of his goons and had the chief justice removed by bribing the judges colleagues. Time would exact revenge in 1999. And time has again exacted revenge on him with the Supreme Court ousting him. No coup or conspiracy was hatched. The removal this time followed the due course of law. Every sane voice advised Sharif to step down as the Panama proceedings started against him. But as always, he failed to read the writing on the wall. Even a temporary resignation could have saved him from disgrace. But he was hell-bent on humiliating not only himself but his entire family. Sharif and his toadies tried everything to get away. One of his sycophantsNihal Hashmiwent to the extent of targeting not just the judges and the investigation team but also their coming generations if they dared to question Sharif and his family. His threat, instead of earning sympathy for Sharif, instead gave him the title of a Sicilian don. Who would need enemies in the presence of such obsequious sycophants? Sharif and his army of bootlickers tried to convince the people that the Panama Papers were a conspiracy against them. The statement kept changing colours as time passed. It became a conspiracy against democracy. When his son-in-law Muhammad Safdar appeared before the investigators on June 24, the conspiracy was no more against Sharif or democracy but Islam! On July 20, one of his trusted boysKhwaja Asif, the defence ministerstated that neither the army nor the judiciary is hatching a conspiracy. So was it the Jews, Hindus, Christians, RAW or Mossad, CIA or KGB? Neither Sharif nor his cronies could name the conspirator. Hours before Sharifs disqualification, his most trusted friendinterior minister Chaudhry Nisarspilled the beans in a press conference. According to him, Sharif would listen to nobody but his bootlickers. Nisar did his best to inject some sense into Sharifs mind but in vain. The Nisar-Nawaz-N-League love affair is more than 30 years old. Nisar would even drive his car. And a man like him was finding it difficult to have an audience with the PM. I am sick and tired of this politics! he said. These words show Nisars frustration. Sharifs problem is that he looks for dictatorship in a democracy. He thinks he is Pakistan. He is democracy and he is the sole custodian of Islam! The time has come for him to reconcile with the fact that his political career is over. The SC has not disqualified his party but only him and some of his cronies. This is something that the workers, office-bearers and the senior leaders of PML (Nawaz) should understand. It is the end of Sharif, not the party. There is no dearth of competent people in PML (N) who can turn it into a real political party. Ironically, PML (N)like the PPP and PTIwas never a political party but a business enterpriseof the Sharifs. Grandpa dies and the son becomes the partys head. Pa thought he would be disqualified and did his best to present his daughter Maryam as the future prime minister. Papas cronies projected her as daughter of the nation. Sadly, the so-called daughter of the nation is facing forgery charges. Sadly, the brothers of the self-proclaimed daughter of the nation are facing corruption references. Sadly, the husband of the self-appointed daughter of the nation is facing the same charges. The entire family has been declared corrupt. In a nutshell, Sharif and every member of his family have polluted the party. He cant become a political martyr like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The party is over. The party is dead! The disgraced Sharif still has a chance. He should come out of the fools paradise and accept the fact that no miracle can make him prime minister again. He should also reconcile with the fact that his daughter too cant be PM of Pakistan. The party is not his fiefdom. He should respect the Supreme Courts decision, announce snap elections and resign from politics urging the new leadership to promote and practice democracy within the party. Mohammad Shehzad An Islamabad-based journalist and researcher Email: yamankalyan@gmail.com
By Express News Service

VISAKHAPATNAM: A team of doctors from Harvard University will visit the kidney disease-affected villages in Uddanam region of Srikakulam district on Saturday. Actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan will meet the doctors on Sunday.

Before leaving for Uddanam, the Harvard team will meet doctors of Andhra Medical College (AMC) here on Saturday, who had already studied the mysterious health disorder. The doctors will leave for Borivanka village of Kaviti mandal in Uddanam region.

The Harvard doctors will have an interaction with the villagers for two to three hours. They will also inspect some aspects in the village, said Chaitanya Naidu, a Jana Sena activist.

On Sunday morning, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan will reach Visakhapatnam and meet the Harvard doctors during a programme Medical symposium on Uddanam Chronic Kidney Disease which will be held in Vizag. Pawan Kalyan will leave for Vijayawada on Monday and is most likely to meet Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the

same day.

VISAKHAPATNAM: A team of doctors from Harvard University will visit the kidney disease-affected villages in Uddanam region of Srikakulam district on Saturday. Actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan will meet the doctors on Sunday. Before leaving for Uddanam, the Harvard team will meet doctors of Andhra Medical College (AMC) here on Saturday, who had already studied the mysterious health disorder. The doctors will leave for Borivanka village of Kaviti mandal in Uddanam region. The Harvard doctors will have an interaction with the villagers for two to three hours. They will also inspect some aspects in the village, said Chaitanya Naidu, a Jana Sena activist. On Sunday morning, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan will reach Visakhapatnam and meet the Harvard doctors during a programme Medical symposium on Uddanam Chronic Kidney Disease which will be held in Vizag. Pawan Kalyan will leave for Vijayawada on Monday and is most likely to meet Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the same day.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Friday urged its customers to link their mobile numbers with Aadhaar.Odisha circle, BSNL, CGM Satyananda Naik said on Friday, as per the Supreme Court order and TRAI guidelines, all existing post-paid and pre-paid mobile customers must link their phone numbers with their Aadhaar through E-KYC verification by February 6, 2018 failing which their numbers will get deactivated. The BSNL officials pointed that out of 56 lakh existing mobile customers, only three per cent have so far followed the guidelines.

Naik also said BSNL is going to instal its own tower in the Secretariat here in a fortnight.

A new landline plan, Aseem, which was introduced on July 18 with a charge of `99 per year, allows the BSNL customers to carry their own landline number everywhere. But, no outgoing calls can be made through this facility.

General Manager AK Pahi said, a customer can choose a land phone number of his choice, which will be a virtual number, where all his incoming calls will be forwarded to his mobile number of any network without any charges.

Assem plan number can be connected with the mobile number of any network and also with BSNL land phone numbers. So far, when customers shifted from one city to another, their land phone numbers were changing, but with this facility they can connect their Aseem plan numbers with their new land phone numbers also, he said.

BSNL officials also said, the customers will get free one month rental if they book a landline or broadband connection from its Facebook page or Twitter account.

Broadband facility in Twin City police stations

Bhubaneswar: TO improve coordination among the police stations in the Twin City and better delivery of public services, Commissionerate Police will now use BSNL broadband connection. Police Commissioner YB Khurania said, close to 50 police stations and zonal ACP offices in the two cities will now be provided BSNL broadband services under a D1, 200 per month scheme so that they can upload and share various information. Commissionerate Police officials had sent a proposal in this regard to the State Government and they received a green signal. The police stations under the Twin City will be the first in the State to have such a facility. Currently, police stations are covered under Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) in the State but it is an Intranet network. The Commissionerate Police has also decided to give cash award of D1,000 to people who bring road accident victims immediately to the hospital. Its Red Cross unit will also fund service charges of 100 patients seeking blood from blood banks operating in the two cities. The police will also launch a blood donation drive to meet scarcity.

BHUBANESWAR: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Friday urged its customers to link their mobile numbers with Aadhaar.Odisha circle, BSNL, CGM Satyananda Naik said on Friday, as per the Supreme Court order and TRAI guidelines, all existing post-paid and pre-paid mobile customers must link their phone numbers with their Aadhaar through E-KYC verification by February 6, 2018 failing which their numbers will get deactivated. The BSNL officials pointed that out of 56 lakh existing mobile customers, only three per cent have so far followed the guidelines. Naik also said BSNL is going to instal its own tower in the Secretariat here in a fortnight. A new landline plan, Aseem, which was introduced on July 18 with a charge of `99 per year, allows the BSNL customers to carry their own landline number everywhere. But, no outgoing calls can be made through this facility. General Manager AK Pahi said, a customer can choose a land phone number of his choice, which will be a virtual number, where all his incoming calls will be forwarded to his mobile number of any network without any charges. Assem plan number can be connected with the mobile number of any network and also with BSNL land phone numbers. So far, when customers shifted from one city to another, their land phone numbers were changing, but with this facility they can connect their Aseem plan numbers with their new land phone numbers also, he said. BSNL officials also said, the customers will get free one month rental if they book a landline or broadband connection from its Facebook page or Twitter account. Broadband facility in Twin City police stations Bhubaneswar: TO improve coordination among the police stations in the Twin City and better delivery of public services, Commissionerate Police will now use BSNL broadband connection. Police Commissioner YB Khurania said, close to 50 police stations and zonal ACP offices in the two cities will now be provided BSNL broadband services under a D1, 200 per month scheme so that they can upload and share various information. Commissionerate Police officials had sent a proposal in this regard to the State Government and they received a green signal. The police stations under the Twin City will be the first in the State to have such a facility. Currently, police stations are covered under Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) in the State but it is an Intranet network. The Commissionerate Police has also decided to give cash award of D1,000 to people who bring road accident victims immediately to the hospital. Its Red Cross unit will also fund service charges of 100 patients seeking blood from blood banks operating in the two cities. The police will also launch a blood donation drive to meet scarcity.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Saturday rushed Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) for rescue operations in the newly inundated areas of Jajpur, Kendrapara and Dhenkanal districts.

Sources in Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) office said, the blocks inundated were Binjharpur, Bari and Dharmasala in Jajpur district, Kamakshyanagar and Bhuban block in Dhenkanal district and Pattamundai block in Kendrapara district.

The rising flood waters of Brahmani and Kharasrota rivers have marooned 26 villages in Bari, Danagadi, Rasulpur and Binjharpur blocks of the Jajpur district. Over 8000 people in at least 17 villages of Bari block have been marooned following a 60-feet breach in Brahmani embankment at Bankasahi of Kimbhiriapal panchayat in the district.

"ODRAF team rescued at least 30 people from the flood waters Bari block of Jajpur district," SRC B P Sethi said and added that rescue operation was also carried out at Mirzapur under the block.

Sources also said that district administration of Angul, Dhenkanal, Jajpur and Kendrapara have been kept on alert to meet the situation.



Official sources maintained that about 130 villages have been inundated in the floods which have affected over 1.5 lakh people. Several blocks were inundated as the water level in Brahmani and Kharasrota rivers rose after the sluice gates of Rengali reservoir were opened.



Though the water level was falling in Subarnarekha river at Jamsolaghat and Rajghat, flood water entered into more than 80 villages of Balasore district. Many villages in the district were inundated as flood water remaining above five feet.



Eight gates of Hirakud reservoir have been opened where 1,52,746 cusecs of water were released against an inflow of 94,904 cusecs to it. The water level in it at 3 pm was 607.45 feet as against the full reservoir level of 630 feet.

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Saturday rushed Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) for rescue operations in the newly inundated areas of Jajpur, Kendrapara and Dhenkanal districts. Sources in Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) office said, the blocks inundated were Binjharpur, Bari and Dharmasala in Jajpur district, Kamakshyanagar and Bhuban block in Dhenkanal district and Pattamundai block in Kendrapara district. The rising flood waters of Brahmani and Kharasrota rivers have marooned 26 villages in Bari, Danagadi, Rasulpur and Binjharpur blocks of the Jajpur district. Over 8000 people in at least 17 villages of Bari block have been marooned following a 60-feet breach in Brahmani embankment at Bankasahi of Kimbhiriapal panchayat in the district. "ODRAF team rescued at least 30 people from the flood waters Bari block of Jajpur district," SRC B P Sethi said and added that rescue operation was also carried out at Mirzapur under the block. Sources also said that district administration of Angul, Dhenkanal, Jajpur and Kendrapara have been kept on alert to meet the situation. Official sources maintained that about 130 villages have been inundated in the floods which have affected over 1.5 lakh people. Several blocks were inundated as the water level in Brahmani and Kharasrota rivers rose after the sluice gates of Rengali reservoir were opened. Though the water level was falling in Subarnarekha river at Jamsolaghat and Rajghat, flood water entered into more than 80 villages of Balasore district. Many villages in the district were inundated as flood water remaining above five feet. Eight gates of Hirakud reservoir have been opened where 1,52,746 cusecs of water were released against an inflow of 94,904 cusecs to it. The water level in it at 3 pm was 607.45 feet as against the full reservoir level of 630 feet.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: THE quality of the milk supplied by three private suppliers is sub-standard, State Dairy Minister KT Rajenthra Bhalaji has told the Madras High Court. When the suits filed by the Dodla, Arokya and Vijay came up before Justice CV Karthikeyan, Balaji produced the certificates of analysis issued by the Referral Food Laboratory in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

The certificates stated that the samples of milk drawn from the three companies were tested between July 18 and 26 and they were found to be sub-standard under Sec. 3(1)(zx) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. They do not conform to the standards laid down in table under Regulation No.2.1.1:1 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 as they showed fat content below the minimum prescribed limit.

The minister also alleged that the companies had filed the suits only to black-mail him. The judge adjourned the matter till August 1. It is on July 10 last, the judge had restrained the Minister from making allegations against the three private milk manufacturers without any documentary proof. The judge was passing interim orders on the applications arising out of the civil suits, on that day.

CHENNAI: THE quality of the milk supplied by three private suppliers is sub-standard, State Dairy Minister KT Rajenthra Bhalaji has told the Madras High Court. When the suits filed by the Dodla, Arokya and Vijay came up before Justice CV Karthikeyan, Balaji produced the certificates of analysis issued by the Referral Food Laboratory in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. The certificates stated that the samples of milk drawn from the three companies were tested between July 18 and 26 and they were found to be sub-standard under Sec. 3(1)(zx) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. They do not conform to the standards laid down in table under Regulation No.2.1.1:1 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 as they showed fat content below the minimum prescribed limit. The minister also alleged that the companies had filed the suits only to black-mail him. The judge adjourned the matter till August 1. It is on July 10 last, the judge had restrained the Minister from making allegations against the three private milk manufacturers without any documentary proof. The judge was passing interim orders on the applications arising out of the civil suits, on that day.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Much to the delight of Tollywood stars, being questioned in the drugs investigation, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is learnt to have hinted on Friday that drugs addicts will be treated as victims and not criminals.

Highly placed sources said Rao told officials to treat only those who supply and sell drugs as criminals. Hence, the state is unlikely to register cases against addicts, unless they act as a liaison for peddlers. Criminals will be brought to book, while victims will not be harassed, the CM reportedly told excise officials at a review of the probe on Friday.

This is being seen as a move to soothe Tollywood amid murmurs that the probe has disenchanted many in the industry. There is no truth that State government is targeting the film industry, while probing the drugs case, he said. Drugs were being supplied from Spain, Thailand, Portugal, Nigeria, Netherlands, he said. Government will not allow drugs into the State for supply. We will check supply of drugs at the origin, he said.

600kg of drugs seized

More than 600kg of Alprazolam, worth I5 to I7.5 crore was seized on Friday by DRI from illegal manufacturing units in Medak and Nalgonda districts.

HYDERABAD: Much to the delight of Tollywood stars, being questioned in the drugs investigation, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is learnt to have hinted on Friday that drugs addicts will be treated as victims and not criminals. Highly placed sources said Rao told officials to treat only those who supply and sell drugs as criminals. Hence, the state is unlikely to register cases against addicts, unless they act as a liaison for peddlers. Criminals will be brought to book, while victims will not be harassed, the CM reportedly told excise officials at a review of the probe on Friday. This is being seen as a move to soothe Tollywood amid murmurs that the probe has disenchanted many in the industry. There is no truth that State government is targeting the film industry, while probing the drugs case, he said. Drugs were being supplied from Spain, Thailand, Portugal, Nigeria, Netherlands, he said. Government will not allow drugs into the State for supply. We will check supply of drugs at the origin, he said. 600kg of drugs seized More than 600kg of Alprazolam, worth I5 to I7.5 crore was seized on Friday by DRI from illegal manufacturing units in Medak and Nalgonda districts.
By AFP

MADRID: After France and Portugal, Spain was battling a blaze Saturday that has ravaged bone dry pine forests and is still not under control despite the mobilisation of 20 water-dropping planes and helicopters.

Some 300 people were evacuated from villages and camp sites as the fire in Yeste in southeastern Spain burnt more than 1,000 hectares (nearly 4 square miles) in two days, Ana Cuevas, a spokeswoman for the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha, told AFP.

She added that the blaze had still not come under control after firefighters worked all night to try and stop its advance.

The fire, which started on Thursday morning, comes as parts of southern Europe experience a scorching summer, leaving forests and bushland highly vulnerable to blazes.

Neighbouring France battled huge fires near beaches popular with tourists on the Cote d'Azur, forcing the evacuation of 10,000 people.

These came under control on Thursday although authorities remain on high alert.

In Portugal, meanwhile, fires have raged across large areas of tinder-dry forest, cutting off roads in the centre of the country and forcing thousands to flee just a month after blazes that left more than 60 people dead.

MADRID: After France and Portugal, Spain was battling a blaze Saturday that has ravaged bone dry pine forests and is still not under control despite the mobilisation of 20 water-dropping planes and helicopters. Some 300 people were evacuated from villages and camp sites as the fire in Yeste in southeastern Spain burnt more than 1,000 hectares (nearly 4 square miles) in two days, Ana Cuevas, a spokeswoman for the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha, told AFP. She added that the blaze had still not come under control after firefighters worked all night to try and stop its advance. The fire, which started on Thursday morning, comes as parts of southern Europe experience a scorching summer, leaving forests and bushland highly vulnerable to blazes. Neighbouring France battled huge fires near beaches popular with tourists on the Cote d'Azur, forcing the evacuation of 10,000 people. These came under control on Thursday although authorities remain on high alert. In Portugal, meanwhile, fires have raged across large areas of tinder-dry forest, cutting off roads in the centre of the country and forcing thousands to flee just a month after blazes that left more than 60 people dead.
By PTI

KARACHI: A powerful blast near the Pakistan-Iran border in the restive Balochistan province today killed four persons and injured five others, an official said.

The blast took place in the Panjgur area and those killed and injured were mostly local shepherds, said Deputy Commissioner of Panjgur Abdul Jabbar.

"The injured have been shifted to a hospital in Quetta," he said. Jabbar said they were yet to confirm the nature of the blast which appeared to be a roadside Improvised Explosive Device.

According to some local media reports, Iranian forces opened fire after the blast, delaying the rescue operations.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but most terror attacks in the province are carried out either by separatist outfits or by militants.

Last month, at least 13 people  including seven policemen  were killed in a suicide car bombing outside the office of provincial police chief in Quetta.

Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade. The largest province of the country by area, it is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

In May, 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Balochistans Mastung area.



KARACHI: A powerful blast near the Pakistan-Iran border in the restive Balochistan province today killed four persons and injured five others, an official said. The blast took place in the Panjgur area and those killed and injured were mostly local shepherds, said Deputy Commissioner of Panjgur Abdul Jabbar. "The injured have been shifted to a hospital in Quetta," he said. Jabbar said they were yet to confirm the nature of the blast which appeared to be a roadside Improvised Explosive Device. According to some local media reports, Iranian forces opened fire after the blast, delaying the rescue operations. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but most terror attacks in the province are carried out either by separatist outfits or by militants. Last month, at least 13 people  including seven policemen  were killed in a suicide car bombing outside the office of provincial police chief in Quetta. Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade. The largest province of the country by area, it is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran. In May, 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Balochistans Mastung area.
By AFP

BEIJING: China today condemned North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile and urged restraint by all sides after the US and South Korea held a military exercise in response to the test.

"China opposes North Korea's violations of UN Security Council resolutions and (its actions) contrary to the general aspirations of the international community," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

Beijing "urged North Korea to abide by UN resolutions and stop taking actions that could worsen the situation," Geng said in a brief statement on the ministry's website.

"At the same time, (China) hopes that all parties concerned will exercise caution and avoid aggravating tensions and act together to preserve peace and stability on the peninsula," he said.

Washington, Tokyo, Seoul and the European Union all swiftly condemned Friday's missile test, which North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said brought the whole of the US mainland within striking range.

US President Donald Trump vowed to take "all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region."

The US and South Korea conducted a live-fire exercise using surface-to-surface missiles after the launch, the US army said.

The heads of the US and South Korean militaries discussed "military response options" after North Korea's launch, the Pentagon said.

China, Pyongyang's main economic and diplomatic ally, opposes any military intervention and calls for a resolution through dialogue.

BEIJING: China today condemned North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile and urged restraint by all sides after the US and South Korea held a military exercise in response to the test. "China opposes North Korea's violations of UN Security Council resolutions and (its actions) contrary to the general aspirations of the international community," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. Beijing "urged North Korea to abide by UN resolutions and stop taking actions that could worsen the situation," Geng said in a brief statement on the ministry's website. "At the same time, (China) hopes that all parties concerned will exercise caution and avoid aggravating tensions and act together to preserve peace and stability on the peninsula," he said. Washington, Tokyo, Seoul and the European Union all swiftly condemned Friday's missile test, which North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said brought the whole of the US mainland within striking range. US President Donald Trump vowed to take "all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region." The US and South Korea conducted a live-fire exercise using surface-to-surface missiles after the launch, the US army said. The heads of the US and South Korean militaries discussed "military response options" after North Korea's launch, the Pentagon said. China, Pyongyang's main economic and diplomatic ally, opposes any military intervention and calls for a resolution through dialogue.
By AFP

HANOI: Eight people were killed Saturday after a fire ripped through a small cake factory in a suburb of Vietnam's capital Hanoi, an official said.

The flames erupted on Saturday morning, trapping workers inside the factory in Hoai Duc district, according to state media.

"Eight people have died already, while two others injured and they are hospitalised," Nguyen Xuan Mau, head of the local communist party committee, told AFP.

"The fire was extinguished at around 12pm," Mau added.

Photos on state media showed charred sheets of metal roofing collapsed inside the building, which was gutted by the blaze.

Witnesses said there were nearly 20 workers inside the factory at the time of the fire, according to An Ninh Thu Do newspaper, the official mouthpiece of Hanoi police.

The cause is still under investigation.

Blazes are relatively common at houses, bars and restaurants in Vietnam, where fire prevention and firefighting resources are limited.

Last November 13 people died after a fire tore through a multi-storey karaoke bar also in Hanoi. Eleven of the victims were government workers enjoying a staff party.

In May 2014, five people burned to death in a fire at a karaoke bar in Hanoi after an electrical fault triggered a massive blaze.

HANOI: Eight people were killed Saturday after a fire ripped through a small cake factory in a suburb of Vietnam's capital Hanoi, an official said. The flames erupted on Saturday morning, trapping workers inside the factory in Hoai Duc district, according to state media. "Eight people have died already, while two others injured and they are hospitalised," Nguyen Xuan Mau, head of the local communist party committee, told AFP. "The fire was extinguished at around 12pm," Mau added. Photos on state media showed charred sheets of metal roofing collapsed inside the building, which was gutted by the blaze. Witnesses said there were nearly 20 workers inside the factory at the time of the fire, according to An Ninh Thu Do newspaper, the official mouthpiece of Hanoi police. The cause is still under investigation. Blazes are relatively common at houses, bars and restaurants in Vietnam, where fire prevention and firefighting resources are limited. Last November 13 people died after a fire tore through a multi-storey karaoke bar also in Hanoi. Eleven of the victims were government workers enjoying a staff party. In May 2014, five people burned to death in a fire at a karaoke bar in Hanoi after an electrical fault triggered a massive blaze.
By PTI

KARACHI: A roadside bomb today struck a vehicle in a town in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province near the Iran border, killing at least four persons and injuring five others, a media report said.

The explosion took place in Chedgi, an area situated at a distance of 70 kilometres from Panjgur. Chedgi is a sensitive area, situated near the Pakistan-Iran border.

It is unclear who planted the bomb and officers were still investigating. The administration has deployed a technical team to determine the nature of the blast, security officials were quoted as saying by the Geo News.

Four persons were killed and five others were injured in an explosion in Balochistan's Panjgur district, they said.

Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade.

The largest province of the country by area, it is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

Earlier this month, Health Minister of Balochistan province Rehmat Saleh Baloch survived a rocket attack when unidentified assailants targeted his convoy.

In May, 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Balochistans Mastung area.

KARACHI: A roadside bomb today struck a vehicle in a town in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province near the Iran border, killing at least four persons and injuring five others, a media report said. The explosion took place in Chedgi, an area situated at a distance of 70 kilometres from Panjgur. Chedgi is a sensitive area, situated near the Pakistan-Iran border. It is unclear who planted the bomb and officers were still investigating. The administration has deployed a technical team to determine the nature of the blast, security officials were quoted as saying by the Geo News. Four persons were killed and five others were injured in an explosion in Balochistan's Panjgur district, they said. Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade. The largest province of the country by area, it is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran. Earlier this month, Health Minister of Balochistan province Rehmat Saleh Baloch survived a rocket attack when unidentified assailants targeted his convoy. In May, 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Balochistans Mastung area.
By PTI

KABUL: An Afghan official says the Taliban has laid siege to police outposts in southern Helmand province killing at least 12 police, several of whom were members of Afghanistan's local police.

Attaullah Afghan, a member of the Helmand provincial council, today said that Taliban attacked police outposts in the Nawa district overnight and fighting was ongoing. He said the death toll so far was 12 police killed and another 12 wounded.

In a statement, the Taliban said their fighters captured two security posts in Nawa district killing 25 local and national police. It was not immediately possible to independently confirm the conflicting reports, but the Taliban often exaggerate their gains.



KABUL: An Afghan official says the Taliban has laid siege to police outposts in southern Helmand province killing at least 12 police, several of whom were members of Afghanistan's local police. Attaullah Afghan, a member of the Helmand provincial council, today said that Taliban attacked police outposts in the Nawa district overnight and fighting was ongoing. He said the death toll so far was 12 police killed and another 12 wounded. In a statement, the Taliban said their fighters captured two security posts in Nawa district killing 25 local and national police. It was not immediately possible to independently confirm the conflicting reports, but the Taliban often exaggerate their gains.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose gradual diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent this war-torn country from being a launch pad for terrorist attacks against the United states.

McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress.

The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA- 2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies, and its core interests.

The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan Government and reduce the Taliban's control of the Afghan population.

As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives including India under this move.

The legislative amendment calls for "imposing graduated diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

"It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan."

Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying America's regional diplomatic efforts working through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The move is also aimed towards advance regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation, and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states.

The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of American economic, and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anticorruption, financial transparency, and the rule of law.

Calling for increasing the number of US counter terrorism forces in Afghanistan; the amendment calls for providing the United States military with "status-based targeting authorities" against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, alQaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and other terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and its core interests.

In his amendment, McCain calls for pursuing a joint agreement to secure a long-term, open-ended counter terrorism partnership between the US and Afghanistan, which he said would include an enduring United States counter terrorism presence in Afghanistan.

The US Senate is yet to vote on NDAA-2018.

Yesterday, in a statement, McCain rued on the delay in its passage.

"It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now, the National Defense Authorization Act," he said.

"For 55 years in a row, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides our men and women in uniform with the resources, capabilities, and pay and benefits that they need to perform their missions on behalf of the American people and keep our country safe. This legislation is more vital than ever," McCain said.

"Global terrorist networks, increasing great power competition with Russia and China, malign Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East, a North Korean dictator racing to acquire missiles that can hit the United States with nuclear weaponsthe threats to our national security have not been more complex or daunting than at any time in the past seven decades," he said.

WASHINGTON: US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose gradual diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network. The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent this war-torn country from being a launch pad for terrorist attacks against the United states. McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress. The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA- 2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies, and its core interests. The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan Government and reduce the Taliban's control of the Afghan population. As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives including India under this move. The legislative amendment calls for "imposing graduated diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network. "It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan." Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying America's regional diplomatic efforts working through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan. The move is also aimed towards advance regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation, and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states. The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of American economic, and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anticorruption, financial transparency, and the rule of law. Calling for increasing the number of US counter terrorism forces in Afghanistan; the amendment calls for providing the United States military with "status-based targeting authorities" against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, alQaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and other terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and its core interests. In his amendment, McCain calls for pursuing a joint agreement to secure a long-term, open-ended counter terrorism partnership between the US and Afghanistan, which he said would include an enduring United States counter terrorism presence in Afghanistan. The US Senate is yet to vote on NDAA-2018. Yesterday, in a statement, McCain rued on the delay in its passage. "It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now, the National Defense Authorization Act," he said. "For 55 years in a row, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides our men and women in uniform with the resources, capabilities, and pay and benefits that they need to perform their missions on behalf of the American people and keep our country safe. This legislation is more vital than ever," McCain said. "Global terrorist networks, increasing great power competition with Russia and China, malign Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East, a North Korean dictator racing to acquire missiles that can hit the United States with nuclear weaponsthe threats to our national security have not been more complex or daunting than at any time in the past seven decades," he said.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says the US President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community.

North Korea yesterday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.

"North Korea's test launch today of another

intercontinental ballistic missilethe second such test in less than a monthis only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action.

The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these testsand these weaponsensure North Korea's security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region," Trump said.

The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 AM EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said.

This was North Korea's 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month.

The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call," Joint Chief of Staff Chairman's spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said.

Meanwhile, the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Korea's missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said today.

This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on July 5.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

"The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range," Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, said in a tweet.

"Now is the time to ramp up sanctions. China cannot have it both ways; it cannot do business as usual with the US and subsidising North Korea," he said.

"But we need to be ready to talk too, and ready to accept a freeze, something far less than denuclearisation for the foreseeable future," Sherman added.

WASHINGTON: The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says the US President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community. North Korea yesterday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang. "North Korea's test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missilethe second such test in less than a monthis only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action. The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these testsand these weaponsensure North Korea's security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect. "By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people. "The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region," Trump said. The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 AM EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said. This was North Korea's 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month. The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran. Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin. "During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call," Joint Chief of Staff Chairman's spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said. Meanwhile, the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Korea's missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said today. This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on July 5. The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions. "The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range," Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, said in a tweet. "Now is the time to ramp up sanctions. China cannot have it both ways; it cannot do business as usual with the US and subsidising North Korea," he said. "But we need to be ready to talk too, and ready to accept a freeze, something far less than denuclearisation for the foreseeable future," Sherman added.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: The US today imposed new sanctions on six Iran-based entities, targeting the country's ballistic missile programme, a day after Tehran launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space.

The sanctions have been slapped against Shahid Karimi Industries, Shahid Rastegar Industries, Shahid Cheraghi Industries, Shahid Varamini Industries, Shahid Kalhor Industries and Amir Al Mo'Menin Industries -- the subordinates of Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), an entity which the US says is central to Iran's ballistic missile programme.

Such a move by the Department of Treasury comes a day after Iran carried out launch of the Simorgh space launch vehicle. The test, however, was not successful.

Treasury said space launch vehicles use technologies that are closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile and this launch represents a threatening step by Iran.

"The US government will continue to aggressively counter Iran's ballistic missile-related activity, whether it be a provocative space launch, its development of threatening ballistic missile systems, or likely support to Yemeni Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia such as occurred this past weekend.

"These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program, and underscore the US' deep concerns with Iran's continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behaviour," said Treasury Secretary Steven T Mnuchin.

As a result of this action, all property and interests in property of those designated today subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

In addition, foreign financial institutions that facilitate significant transactions for, or persons that provide material or certain other support to, the entities designated today risk exposure to sanctions that could sever their access to the US financial system or block their property and interests in property under the US jurisdiction.

WASHINGTON: The US today imposed new sanctions on six Iran-based entities, targeting the country's ballistic missile programme, a day after Tehran launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space. The sanctions have been slapped against Shahid Karimi Industries, Shahid Rastegar Industries, Shahid Cheraghi Industries, Shahid Varamini Industries, Shahid Kalhor Industries and Amir Al Mo'Menin Industries -- the subordinates of Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), an entity which the US says is central to Iran's ballistic missile programme. Such a move by the Department of Treasury comes a day after Iran carried out launch of the Simorgh space launch vehicle. The test, however, was not successful. Treasury said space launch vehicles use technologies that are closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile and this launch represents a threatening step by Iran. "The US government will continue to aggressively counter Iran's ballistic missile-related activity, whether it be a provocative space launch, its development of threatening ballistic missile systems, or likely support to Yemeni Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia such as occurred this past weekend. "These sanctions target key entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program, and underscore the US' deep concerns with Iran's continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behaviour," said Treasury Secretary Steven T Mnuchin. As a result of this action, all property and interests in property of those designated today subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. In addition, foreign financial institutions that facilitate significant transactions for, or persons that provide material or certain other support to, the entities designated today risk exposure to sanctions that could sever their access to the US financial system or block their property and interests in property under the US jurisdiction.
By ANI

ISLAMABAD: Recent violence in Balochistan has again fuelled deep concerns about security for projects of the USD 57-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) according to a report in the New York Times.

Earlier this month, four Shias were murdered while travelling from Quetta to Karachi. Armed men riding on two motorcycles attacked their car on a highway close to Quetta in what police suspect was a sectarian attack.

Though no group has yet claimed responsibility for the murders this has once again raised question marks about the future of the landmark transport and energy link that is being planned between western China to Pakistan's southern deep-water port of Gwadar.



This latest killing would be fourth such attack in recent weeks in volatile Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

Factions of the Islamist Pakistani Taliban group and the Islamic State have claimed two of the four attacks, including two in which six police officers were killed.



The Pakistan Army is of the view that soft targets are being attacked by militants, frustrated by defeats.

According to another report published by The Diplomat, the issue of ensuring security of the CPEC has by and large been overshadowed by the promise of development

The primary question being bandied about is whether Pakistan is secure enough for undertaking such massive foreign investment engagement worth over USD 57 billion dollars.

The harsh truth of security risks in Pakistan is not totally lost on Chinese planners. After all, Chinese nationals in Pakistan have been targeted by extremists for many years. The Chinese government has, therefore, time and again raised this issue with Pakistan, says The Diplomat in a recent article.

Earlier this year, authorities in Pakistan created a Special Security Division that included 9,000 army soldiers and 6,000 paramilitary personnel to provide security for Chinese nationals and projects.

Additionally, various types of CPEC security forces have been deployed in the provinces.

The Pakistan government has said that it has allocated Rs.1.8 billion (USD 17 million) for CPEC security in its budget for 2017-18.

These security assurances notwithstanding, it did not prevent the abduction and then killing of two Chinese nationals by Islamic State affiliates.

Islamabad was placed under huge pressure at that point in time to rescue the kidnapped Chinese, but was unsuccessful.

Pakistan, according to The Diplomat, might be trying its best to ensure the protection of Chinese workers, but from Chinas perspective, all these measures will be discounted by the mere fact of any incidents.

Beijing will continue to insist that Pakistan tackle this issue of security for the CPEC comprehensively and systemically.

ISLAMABAD: Recent violence in Balochistan has again fuelled deep concerns about security for projects of the USD 57-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) according to a report in the New York Times. Earlier this month, four Shias were murdered while travelling from Quetta to Karachi. Armed men riding on two motorcycles attacked their car on a highway close to Quetta in what police suspect was a sectarian attack. Though no group has yet claimed responsibility for the murders this has once again raised question marks about the future of the landmark transport and energy link that is being planned between western China to Pakistan's southern deep-water port of Gwadar. This latest killing would be fourth such attack in recent weeks in volatile Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. Factions of the Islamist Pakistani Taliban group and the Islamic State have claimed two of the four attacks, including two in which six police officers were killed. The Pakistan Army is of the view that soft targets are being attacked by militants, frustrated by defeats. According to another report published by The Diplomat, the issue of ensuring security of the CPEC has by and large been overshadowed by the promise of development The primary question being bandied about is whether Pakistan is secure enough for undertaking such massive foreign investment engagement worth over USD 57 billion dollars. The harsh truth of security risks in Pakistan is not totally lost on Chinese planners. After all, Chinese nationals in Pakistan have been targeted by extremists for many years. The Chinese government has, therefore, time and again raised this issue with Pakistan, says The Diplomat in a recent article. Earlier this year, authorities in Pakistan created a Special Security Division that included 9,000 army soldiers and 6,000 paramilitary personnel to provide security for Chinese nationals and projects. Additionally, various types of CPEC security forces have been deployed in the provinces. The Pakistan government has said that it has allocated Rs.1.8 billion (USD 17 million) for CPEC security in its budget for 2017-18. These security assurances notwithstanding, it did not prevent the abduction and then killing of two Chinese nationals by Islamic State affiliates. Islamabad was placed under huge pressure at that point in time to rescue the kidnapped Chinese, but was unsuccessful. Pakistan, according to The Diplomat, might be trying its best to ensure the protection of Chinese workers, but from Chinas perspective, all these measures will be discounted by the mere fact of any incidents. Beijing will continue to insist that Pakistan tackle this issue of security for the CPEC comprehensively and systemically.
After the Senate fell short in their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration is poised to use its regulatory powers to accomplish what lawmakers could not: Shrink Medicaid.

President Donald Trump's top health officials could engineer lower enrollment in the state-federal health insurance program by approving applications from several GOP-controlled states eager to control fast-rising Medicaid budgets.

Indiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Arizona, and Wisconsin are seeking the administration's permission to require adult enrollees to work, submit to drug testing and demand that some of their poorest recipients pay monthly premiums or get barred from program.

Maine plans to apply Tuesday. Other states would likely follow if the first ones get the go ahead.

Josh Archambault, senior fellow for the conservative Foundation for Government Accountability, said absent congressional action on health bill "the administration may be even more proactive in engaging with states on waivers outside of those that are already planning to do so."

The hope, he added, is that fewer individuals will be on the program as states figure out ways "to transition able-bodied enrollees into new jobs, or higher paying jobs." States need to shore up the program to be able to keep meeting demands for the "truly needy" such as children and disabled, he added.

To Medicaid's staunchest supporters and most vocal critics alike, the waiver requests are a way to rein in the $500 billion program that has undergone unprecedented growth the past four years and now covers 75 million people.

Waivers have often been granted in the past to broaden coverage and test new ways to deliver Medicaid care, such as through private managed care organizations. But critics of the new requests, which could be approved within weeks, would hurt those who are most in need.

The National Health Law Program "is assessing the legality of work requirements and drug testing and all avenues for challenging them, including litigation," said Jane Perkins, the group's legal director.

The administration has already said it favors work requirements and in March invited states to suggest new ideas.

Before taking the top job at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Seema Verma was the architect of a Kentucky waiver request submitted last year.

Not all states are expected to seek waivers because Medicaid enjoys wide political support in many states, particularly in the Northeast and West.

Medicaid, the nation's largest health insurance program, has seen enrollment soar by 17 million since 2014 when Obamacare gave states more federal funding to expand coverage for adults. It's typically states' second largest expense after education.

This year, Senate and House bills tried to cap federal funding to states for the first time. Since the program began in 1965, federal Medicaid funding to states has been open-ended.

Health experts say allowing the waiver requests goes beyond the executive branch's authority to change the program without approval from Congress.

"The point of these waivers is not for states to remake the program whole cloth on a large scale basis," said Sara Rosenbaum, a health policy expert at George Washington University who chairs a Medicaid group that advises Congress.

Rosenbaum noted states received waiver for different purposes under the Obama administration.

In Iowa, state officials won the authority to limit non-emergency transportation. Indiana received approval to charge premiums and lock out enrollees with incomes above the federal poverty level if they fell behind on paying premiums.

"Now there is concern these more extreme measures would hurt enrollees' access to care," Rosenbaum said.

Three states seeking waivers today are home to three key GOP players in the Senate health debate: Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), John McCain (Arizona) and Vice President Mike Pence (Indiana).

If states add premiums, as well as work and drug testing requirements, the result would be fewer people enrolling and staying in Medicaid, said David Machledt, senior policy analyst for the National Health Law Program.

"How does that serve the purpose of the Medicaid program and what are the limits of CMS waiver authority?" he asked.

Wisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walker wants his state to become the first to require some Medicaid enrollees to undergo drug testing, is a prime waiver candidate.

State officials stress the effort is not to deter drug users from the program but to help provide treatment for drug users.

Wisconsin is also one of five states seeking a waiver to add a work requirement. People could meet the mandate through volunteering, job training or caring for an elderly relative.

In addition, Wisconsin wants to limit enrollees' Medicaid benefits to 48 consecutive months, unless the beneficiary is working.

Enrollees with incomes between 50 percent and 100 percent of the federal poverty level, or between $6,030 and$12,060, would have to pay $8 a month premium.

All these rules would apply to about 12 percent of people currently in Medicaid  adults who are not disabled and don't have dependent children.

Wisconsin Medicaid Director Michael Heifetz said the main goal of the proposed changes is not to shrink the size of Medicaid but, instead, to get people into the work force.

"The proposal is not designed to have folks leave the program except for positive reasons," he said.

If the waiver is approved, the state anticipates annual savings of nearly $50 million and a drop in enrollment of 5,102 over five years.

Wisconsin now spends $7 billion on Medicaid and has 1.2 million recipients.

Asked why childless adults  not parents  are the focus of the waivers, Heifetz said Wisconsin wanted to test the provisions on a smaller population first and focus on adults who should be able to find work.

But the Wisconsin effort has sparked broad outrage from hospitals, doctors and advocates for people with disabilities.

The Wisconsin Council of Churches said the state would be punishing the poor with its waivers  and undermining the vitality of communities.

"We are concerned the proposed changes to the program will be detrimental for the health of our most vulnerable neighbors  and undermine the social fabric and vitality of our state," said Peter Bakken, public policy coordinator for the group in Sun Prairie, a suburb of Madison.
Antibiotics are lifesaving drugs, but overuse is leading to one of the world's most pressing health threats: antibiotic resistance. Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center are developing a tool to help physicians prescribe antibiotics to patients who really need them, and avoid giving them to individuals who don't.

Scientists from the University's National Institutes of Health-funded Respiratory Pathogens Research Center identified 11 genetic markers in blood that accurately distinguished between viral and bacterial infections (antibiotics help us fight bacterial infections, but aren't effective and shouldn't be used to treat viruses). The finding, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, is important because physicians don't have a good way to confirm bacterial infections like pneumonia and more-often-than-not default to an antibiotic.

"It's extremely difficult to interpret what's causing a respiratory tract infection, especially in very ill patients who come to the hospital with a high fever, cough, shortness of breath and other concerning symptoms," said Ann R. Falsey, M.D., lead study author, professor and interim chief of the Infectious Diseases Division at UR Medicine's Strong Memorial Hospital. "My goal is to develop a tool that physicians can use to rule out a bacterial infection with enough certainty that they are comfortable, and their patients are comfortable, foregoing an antibiotic."

Falsey's project caught the attention of the federal government; she's one of 10 semifinalists in the Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Challenge, a competition sponsored by NIH and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to help combat the development and spread of drug resistant bacteria. Selected from among 74 submissions, Falsey received $50,000 to continue her research and develop a prototype diagnostic test, such as a blood test, using the genetic markers her team identified.

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A group of 94 adults hospitalized with lower respiratory tract infections were recruited to participate in Falsey's study. The team gathered clinical data, took blood from each patient, and conducted a battery of microbiologic tests to determine which individuals had a bacterial infection (41 patients) and which had a non-bacterial or viral infection (53 patients). Thomas J. Mariani, Ph.D., professor of Pediatrics and Biomedical Genetics at URMC, used complex genetic and statistical analysis to pinpoint markers in the blood that correctly classified the patients with bacterial infections 80 to 90 percent of the time.

"Our genes react differently to a virus than they do to bacteria," said Mariani, a member of the Respiratory Pathogens Research Center (RPRC). "Rather than trying to detect the specific organism that's making an individual sick, we're using genetic data to help us determine what's affecting the patient and when an antibiotic is appropriate or not."

Falsey, co-director of the RPRC, and Mariani say that the main limitation of their study is the small sample size and that the genetic classifiers selected from the study population may not prove to be universal to all patients.

A patent application has been filed for their method of diagnosing bacterial infection. Edward Walsh, M.D., professor of Infectious Diseases, and Derick Peterson, Ph.D., professor of Biostatics and Computational Biology at URMC, also contributed to the research.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibiotic resistant bacteria cause at least 2 million infections and 23,000 deaths each year in the United States. The use of antibiotics is the single most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance around the world.
Weaker Renault pricing kept a lid on core profitability in the first half, the French carmaker said, rattling investors and sending its shares sharply lower.The manufacturing division's weaker-than-expected performance overshadowed record levels of group revenue and profit in January-June, driven by the inclusion of Russian Lada sales and higher earnings from alliance partner Nissan.The automotive profit margin rose a modest 0.1 point to 4.8 percent, Renault said, despite the 10.4 percent jump in deliveries it posted earlier this month.The results drew comparisons with domestic rival PSA after the Peugeot maker's stronger pricing yielded a 7.3 percent core margin on relatively flat sales.Renault's automotive margin was "slightly up on last year but still a little bit below some of the benchmarks", Societe Generale analyst Stephen Reitman said.The Renault-Nissan alliance expects to pass Toyota and Volkswagen this year to become the largest auto group by sales, Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn has said.Renault, 43.4 percent-owned Nissan and recently acquired Mitsubishi Motors will unveil new goals and plans for closer operational integration later in 2017.The first-half performance "puts us on solid ground for the implementation of our next strategic plan", Ghosn said.The consolidation of Russian subsidiary AvtoVAZ helped group revenue to rise 17 percent to 29.5 billion euros ($34.5 billion). Operating profit increased in step to 1.82 billion euros for a 6.2 percent group margin, up 0.1 point.But Renault's 27 billion euros in automotive revenue fell nearly 500 million short of expectations, based on the median of 12 analyst estimates polled for Reuters, while overall operating profit was in line with the consensus.Bernstein analyst Max Warburton described the performance as "very, very odd" in light of Renault's recently updated model lineup, reaffirming his "market-perform" rating on the stock."Renault is at the peak of its product cycle, selling into what appears to be a very strong European market," Warburton said. "All the stars should have aligned this year."The carmaker's shares fell as much as 7.2 percent to 75.20 euros after the results announcement before recovering to 76.60 euros as of 0929 GMT, down 5.5 percent on Thursday's close.Finance chief Clotilde Delbos said the European business suffered from a "negative trend in the channel mix" - which typically reflects a shift towards heavier discounting."We've also seen some pricing pressure in some countries," Delbos added, citing South Korea in particular.Efficiency savings, which had all but evaporated last year, contributed a 204 million-euro profit gain as cost-cutting resumed, and net income jumped 58 percent to 2.38 billion euros thanks to a 1.29 billion Nissan contribution, up 72 percent.Lada also returned unexpectedly to profit, promising to lift future Renault earnings as the Russian market recovers. Renault recently upgraded Russian and Brazilian forecasts.
Jaipur: The leadership in China is much more qualified, former Union minister Arun Shourie said on Friday, even as a tense standoff between Indian and Chinese armies continues in the Sikkim sector.



"If we compare the levels of our Tehsildar to the official of the similar cadre in China, state governments, both in India and China, or their politburo with our cabinet, they (the Chinese) are much more qualified," he said addressing a seminar titled Talk Journalism.



The armies of India and China have been engaged in a standoff since June 16 in Sikkim section where India and China share a 220-km-long border. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region.



Shourie added that the "main challenge" before the nation today is to elect leaders who have "integrity, dedication and competence".



Shourie, a former minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee's NDA government and a bitter critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said there was deterioration in the "value system" in politics today with "ego, insecurity, remorselessness and opportunism" being manifest, PTI reported.



"Leaders like Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru also did politics but there were no such elements. They transformed our country without resorting to opportunism that we see today," he said in a veiled reference to the developments in Bihar politics.
Suddenly there was crazy movement of soldiers outside. We thought war had broken out. Then there were also rumours of clashes on social media, which were rubbish. We would have heard the gunfire and bombs going off had that happened because we are so close to the border, says a resident of Kupup, one of the last villages near the Indo-China border.This area was tense in the initial days, but fears have slowly ebbed and there was never any restriction on their movement.The initial media hysteria post the India-China standoff has residents edgy. They are not comfortable talking to reporters. They share a close working relationship with the army and dont want to jeopardise it.Even we have not seen Doklam, we are not allowed to go to that area. How can reporters stand 80 km away and say they are at ground zero, says another resident unhappy with the reports.The area has been sealed off by the army; barring soldiers and their support staff no one is allowed in the area.Reliable sources in the army tell us that soldiers from both sides stand face-to-face 24x7 at over 11,000 feet in Doklam braving the elements.The monsoon rains lash the plateau and night temperatures can drop below 5 degrees. Shifts change and wet uniforms have to be dried out, but with no sign of the sun for days its an arduous task.Several kitchens have been set up to feed the hungry jawans. The Chinese and Indian soldiers posted there see other each other every day and some apparently even exchange cigarettes.On our first attempt to travel to Kupup, Nathang and Zuluk villages, we got as far as Thegu, which is approximately 15 km from Nathu La.The army checkpoint seemed to know we were coming. The sentry was quick to reach out to his superiors. As I waited for them to check our credentials, I walked around.A small poster remembering the martyrs of the 1967 skirmish is testimony to how volatile this area can be. On that fateful day, men of the 70 field coy engineers assisted by 18 Rajput were laying wire fence when Chinese opened machine gun fire on them. Caught in the open, 70 of our soldiers were martyred.Two brave officers Captain PS Dagar of 2 Grenadiers and Major Harbhajan Singh of 18 Rajput rallied a few troops and immediately assaulted the Chinese medium machine gun position however both of them died a heroic death (sic), reads the citation. A small poster remembering the martyrs of the 1967 skirmish (Photo: Guneet Vedi/ Network18)At 13,000 feet, Thegu also boasts of the worlds highest working ATM, but we were not able to use it as we were turned back. The officer asked us to try from Zukuk village, the southern approach to the border villages.On our way back, we stop at Tsomgo (also called Changu) lake. Located at a height of about 12000 feet, it is one of the star tourist attractions. This is off-season so only a few shops are open. We stop by at one of them and start chatting with the shopkeeper, a young man in his twenties as he prepares Maggi for us.I have come back after 20 days to look for two of my Yaks which have gone missing, he says. I would not have come back because there is no business. First there was the Gorkhaland strike and now this. How will tourists travel? (Photo: Guneet Vedi/ Network18)We pay and leave; we could possibly be his last customers before the next season in October or till the situation improves.A few kilometers below Tsomgo Lake, the acclimatisation centre for Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims lies deserted. This year the yatra was cancelled by the Chinese following the standoff.On our way back, a nervous military policeman stops us at another checkpoint. Where did you guys vanish? From Thegu it takes only 20 minutes to get here, he asks.We laugh and say we were eating Maggi. He then proceeds to check our cameras to delete any sensitive videos and even takes a picture of my video journalist with his mobile phone.This place is teeming with selfie-taking tourists every season, search google and you will find every angle possible. The standoff had suddenly turned a tourist destination into a top-secret military installation.In Gangtok, I meet a group of young entrepreneurs who are in the hospitality business. This has been a bad year, first the highway liquor ban, and just when the tourist numbers were peaking, Darjeeling hills went into turmoil with the Gorkhaland movement. (Photo: Guneet Vedi/ Network18)We are more worried about Gorkhaland than the Chinese. Wish the Centre would intervene and solve the problem. Our businesses are suffering, says Tashi, a young restaurant owner.His friend, a hotelier, disagrees, A war with the Chinese could spell doom for us. I am more worried about them than our own people fighting for statehood.We are off again to Zukuk via Rongpo, the gateway into Sikkim.At Zuluk we meet Gopal Pradhan, an entrepreneur who transformed this sleepy hamlet into a tourist destination. This is the old silk route to Tibet, close to the site of the current standoff.Gopal Pradhan is agitated with the hysterical reporting. You can see there is no problem here and everything is peaceful. Why do media report as if a war is starting tomorrow? I saw a journalist who was pointing at my village and saying thats Bhutan. Even I have never been to Doklam and I have lived here all my life. Why lie?The military checkpoint at Zuluk is once again prepared for us. They point at my video journalist and call out his name, You guys are from CNN-News18, they gleam with pride on having exposed us. They take away our identity cards, check our mobile phones for suspicious footage and finally deny us permission.Back in Gangtok, we meet a businesswoman who travels via Nathu La to Tibet to trade. They form a miniscule percentage of the $70 billion bilateral trade between the two countries.Some people are saying dont buy Chinese. I guess even that decision will be good for the country, she says laughing.
In the 2009 Telugu grosser Maghadheera, hero Ram Charan rode a horse across the streets of Hyderabad to catch up with his lady love. Years later, a few techies have brought out the horses again, but for a different purpose - to commute to office across the city's potholed roads.Choreographed as a novel form of protest against the horrible condition of the roads, the IT professionals rode horseback through the stretch of roads in the Financial District area which have been dug up for "white-topping".The protesters argued that the repairs during monsoon months, without providing alternate routes, caused hardship to tens of thousands of employees at IT companies in Cyberabad area."A normal commute used to take 30 minutes, now it takes more than two hours. Our conveyance allowances run out a few days into the month," said Ramanjeet Singh who organised the protest."We pay taxes for better roads and not to suffer on roads. It's difficult to understand whether there are potholes on roads or roads on potholes," said Uma Mahesh, another protester.White-topping is the overlaying of cement concrete on tarred roads to make them last longer, but the protesters said the process was uncalled for at this time of the year."This road would have lasted at least five years more. Doing this now is highly irresponsible," said Anumod Thomas, who works in Cyberabad.The Greater Hyderabad Muncipal Corporation responded to the protest by saying emergency teams were out to help commuters.The techies said the rented horses were returned after a couple of hours and that no traffic rules were broken as it was only a token ride. But the point, it seems, was made.
New Delhi: India and Pakistan will hold talks over issues related to two of India's hydroelectricity projects under Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) at the World Bank headquarters in Washington on Monday, a senior government official said.



Union Water Resources Secretary Amarjit Singh will lead the Indian delegation during the talks. The Indian team will comprise officials from ministries of external affairs and water resources.



The official, who requested anonymity, said "as reported by a section of media in Pakistan", recently, Pakistan's Water and Power Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif was expected to lead the neighbouring country's delegation, which will comprise their ministry's secretary Naseem Khokhar.



The two countries last held talks over the two projects in March this year during the meeting of Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) in Pakistan.



"The Washington meeting will be held as part of efforts the World Bank is making to find a way out to establish mechanism to resolve the issues raised by Pakistan over India's Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectricity projects," the official added.



The official said it was not clear now whether Asif will join the discussion after the Supreme Court in Pakistan disqualified Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on charges of corruption in connection with Panamagate. "But the talks are scheduled to happen," the official said.



Pakistan had approached the World Bank last year, raising concerns over the designs of the two hydroelectricity projects located in Jammu and Kashmir.



It demanded that the World Bank, which is the mediator between the two countries under the 57-year-old water distribution pact, set up a court of arbitration to look into its concerns.



On the other hand, India asked for appointments of a neutral expert to look into the issues, contending the concerns Pakistan raised were "technical" ones.



Following this, the international lender had in November 2016 initiated two simultaneous processes - for appointing neutral expert and establishment of court of arbitration - to look into technical differences between the two countries in connection with the project.



The simultaneous processes, however, were halted after India objected to it.



After that, representatives of the World Bank held talks with India and Pakistan to find a way out separately.



"The next week's meeting is part of these efforts," the official added.


New Delhi: A Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student has alleged he was beaten up at the Rajiv Chowk metro station in New Delhi by a few CISF personnel and told he would be "sent to Pakistan", prompting the paramilitary force to order a probe even as it rejected the charges.



In a Facebook post, Aman Sinha, 22, who is pursuing a Master's degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the incident occurred on Thursday evening and alleged the involvement of CISF personnel posted at the security check

point of the busy station.



Sinha, who was sporting a beard, claimed that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel got enraged when he "defied" their instructions to take off his earphones, which is a laid down protocol that passengers are expected to

follow.



It was followed by a heated argument, he said. "Then another CISF person came and said you are spoiling the name of the nation, 'Pakistan bhejenge tum mussalay ko aaj.'(You Muslim, we will banish you to Pakistan today). They dragged me to the security office through the very long passage where there was no CCTV and no public.



"They started abusing my mother and sister, thrashing and beating me very badly, saying that 'public k samne humara naam kharab kar diya'. I tried to record it which they later made me delete and threw away my phone," he alleged.



When contacted, the CISF said the student was only asked to write an apology letter for his behaviour with the security personnel, and was neither "manhandled" nor "thrashed."



"He started yelling and arguing with constables Shoeb and PC Bisht who were on duty after he was asked to remove the

earphones, which is a normal security drill in the Delhi Metro.



He was unwilling and used abusive language after which he was taken to the metro control room," a senior CISF officer said.



He added that Sinha was taken to the control room of the station where he tendered an apology in writing.



As per CCTV records, the officer said, the entire episode lasted about 30 minutes and the student was then allowed to go.



A senior CISF official later said an inquiry has been ordered into the entire episode.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said the PDP would not allow the closure of cross-LoC trade and continue to work towards opening more routes across the Line of Control with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.



Addressing a large rally on the 18th foundation day of the People's Democratic Party here, Mehbooba also pitched for nominating members to the legislative assembly from the other side of LoC so that joint meetings could be held once in a year.



"There are many difficulties through the Wagah border, charas and ganja comes from there but no one talks about closing it. Just because a mistake happens on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, we should not talk about closing it. We will not allow that to happen," the chief minister said.



On July 21, police seized 66.5 kg of heroin and brown sugar worth Rs 300 crore from a truck coming from PoK. There have also been reports that the NIA, which is probing terror funding in Kashmir, may recommend closure of trade along cross-LoC routes.



"We are in favour of opening more routes. There should be facilities like banking there (at crossing points). There should be (full) body scanners (for trucks) so that we know what is coming in and what is going out from here," she said.



"What we in PDP have achieved since 2002 needs to be taken forward," Mehbooba added.

The chief minister said the Centre should tread the path taken by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and revive the Lahore pact between India and Pakistan.



"I appeal to the Centre to revive the Lahore Declaration so we can live peacefully in Jammu and Kashmir," she said, referring to the bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan signed in 1999.



Discussing the idea of a joint legislature for undivided Jammu and Kashmir, she said, "There are seats reserved in our assembly for that Kashmir. We should decide together to make nominations for those seats. We should decide that this assembly meets once in this Kashmir and once in that Kashmir every year so that we can talk about tourism, travel and opening of Sharda Peeth."



The PDP president also spoke about student exchanges. "I appeal to people on the other side of Kashmir. Come and send your children on a 15-day tour here and we will send our children there. They will see how we live here and our children will see how they live there."



The chief minister appealed to all mainstream parties, including coalition partner BJP and the opposition National Conference and Congress, to put their heads together and find a way to end bloodshed in Kashmir.



"I appeal to all parties -- be it National Conference, Congress, BJP, Communists or any other party -- let us sit together and find a solution to the problems of Jammu and Kashmir. We are one, we are the same. (When) anyone is killed, it is a Kashmiri, be it a policeman or an innocent pedestrian."



She said she appealed to Farooq Abdullah (NC), Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress) and the leadership of the BJP to help "heal the pain of Kashmiris".



The state was facing an ideological challenge, she said. "You cannot imprison an idea, you cannot kill an idea." Referring to her father and PDP chiefMufti Mohammad Sayeed, she said he would often say Kashmir is besieged and should be should be set free by the opening of roads like Kargil-Skardu, Jammu-Sialkot and Leh-Xinjiang.



The chief minister sought the support of the people and her party workers in helping the state out of its present state of uncertainty.



The PDP was founded on July 28, 1999 but the party decided to defer the foundation day celebrations by a day in deference to the Friday prayers.
The situation in Dokalam is not looking good. Not irreconcilable yet, but soldiers of two rising Asian powers facing off each other is not the best of scenarios. The NSAs current visit to China is perhaps the best opportunity to defuse the problem and as I started to write this article, I switched on the television to check if there was any update on the NSAs meetings. The headline in a major media channel was, Doval to tame Dragon?. This reflects the narrative in both countries which has somewhat drowned out rationality.



The media on both sides has been thumping their chests. It was China who took the lead and pulled out all stops in being rude and offensive. The Chinese media is state controlled and its statements do reflect a direct signaling by their government. Calling the Indian foreign minister a liar and the NSA as a schemer is definitely going a step too far. On the Indian side there are stories of how an India-China war would play out with attacks across the Himalayas, ending up with the Indian Army soldiers giving the PLA a bloody nose. Other countries are also roped into the conflict, one headline reads, US wont sit idle if India-China conflict breaks out: Experts.



To be fair to the media of both countries, they are only reflecting the national sentiment. There is growing nationalism in both countries. This brings a sense of pride in the nation and assists the leadership in pushing difficult but necessary reforms. It is also an instrument for strengthening autocratic controls, as in China, and for garnering popular support, as in India. However, it has a downside. It could limit policy options and force the two countries into populist but strategically poor decisions from where stepping back would invite internal wrath.



An India-China face-off was only to be expected. Differences between the two countries were on the rise  NSG membership, China Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Belt and Road Initiative, ties with the U.S and Japan, and a host of other issues. India and China are inevitable competitors on the world stage. China has made inroads in South Asia to weaken Indian influence and secure energy corridors which bypass the Malacca Straits. India is seeking to make inroads into East and South East Asia, among countries who seek to hedge against an assertive China who dismisses their territorial and maritime claims. Both countries are treading on each others toes.



It is important for leaders to understand this competition and handle it with a sense of long term strategy. There is no great strategic advantage to China in building a dirt road, or a strategic disadvantage to India in Dokalam, which should bring the two countries to the brink of a conflict. TRPs should not influence policy and blind us to geostrategic realities. Otherwise we will rush into a situation which will leave both countries red-faced. It is time to rely on the advice of experts in handling such situations. And frankly there are only two such expert groups - military officers and the diplomats. With no malice to the others, they just do not have the experience or the historical knowledge to deal with such crises. The central skill of the officer corps is, as Harold Lasswell put it, the management of violence. While winning wars is the most desirable outcome, one key function of the military is also to deter war. Diplomats are accomplished in the art of international relations and negotiations, and they do this best in an atmosphere which is not clouded by rhetoric. We hope both these groups are playing out their role.



The talk today is only about the military capability of both countries. The Chinese release videos of training and firing of artillery while the Indian Army has let it be known that they will not step back. The brutal fact is that there is no military solution to Dokalam. The Chinese have military superiority on paper but cannot surmount the reality of geography and the mighty Himalayas which define the border. Indian military strength, which has been built up in the last decade, cannot overcome the weaknesses in infrastructure which still plague us. Ultimately, none of the two countries will decisively win the shooting match. The victors, if there are any, will be those who are happy to see the two countries weakened.



In 1913, The Economist published an editorial, Neighbours and Friends, in which they described war among civilised communities as impossible. The assumption was that economic interdependence ruled out any chance of conflict. An year later, and 37 days after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the world was at a war which would end up with more than 40 million casualties. 27 days after the 9/11 attacks, the Americans were at war in Afghanistan, a war which would have been unimaginable a month prior. Both these examples could be considered a bit of an exaggeration when compared to Dokalam but do go to show how the impossible can become a reality. What is also clear in both instances is that decisions were taken without a clear understanding of future implications, and in the case of Afghanistan, by domestic compulsions.



The solution to the current standoff is simple. Near simultaneous withdrawal of troops and a moratorium on patrols coming into this area for a specified period of time. This will remove the immediate cause of tension. I am acutely aware that it is easier to write this than implement it on ground without some side claiming the greater victory. However we have two strong leaders in Modi and Xi Jinping who have the force of authority and popular backing to cut through the noise and diffuse the situation. This will define their sagacity and understanding of world affairs.



((The author is former Northern Commander, Indian Army, under whose leadership India carried out surgical strikes against Pakistan in 2016. Views are personal.)


Jagdalpur: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded the resignation of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh over the Panama Papers issue, citing the case of Nawaz Sharif who was forced to quit as Pakistani prime minister on Friday.



Gandhi alleged, Sharif resigned after his and his family's name figured in the Panama Papers scandal but Chief Minister Raman Singh's family is also facing allegations in the Panama Papers issue and he has not yet resigned.



It is because he belongs to the RSS and the BJP and they can indulge in corruption," he said. Last year, the Congress had alleged Singh's son Abhishek held offshore assets as per the Panama Papers leak.



Panama Papers are leaked documents of about 1.15 crore files containing details of about 2.15 lakh bank accounts. Both the chief minister and his son, the Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon, had rubbished the allegations. The chief minister had described the charges as "baseless and unfounded".



Gandhi, on a two-day tour to the state, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of overlooking the corruption of the BJP chief ministers.



"Modiji talks about fighting corruption, but he can't see the corruption of the Chhattisgarh chief minister. The Rajasthan chief minister, too, has been linked to corruption, but Modiji is not speaking about it," the Congress leader alleged.



He was addressing a rally in Markel, a tribal village near here in Bastar district. The rally was organised to oppose the proposed disinvestment of the NMDC's steel plant in Nagarnar area. The plant in Markel is under construction.



"For the first time in the country, I have seen that a steel plant, which is still being set up, is being privatised. People from the RSS and the BJP don't want development of tribals," he alleged.



"They want you to become slaves of rich people in big cities," claimed the 47-year-old Amethi MP, addressing the gathering which mostly comprised adivasis.



Gandhi alleged that land and forests belonging to tribals are being snatched and given to industrialists. In 2004, Tata Steel proposed to set up a plant in Bastar for which people gave their land but later the company scrapped its plan. The acquired land was not given back to owners, the Congress leader alleged.
Mumbai: Mumbai Police on Friday arrested seven Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists after they forced two shop owners to pull down their boards written in Gujarati. The seven men, including MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande, were booked for illegal assembly but were later released from the police station.



The men visited two establishments -- a restaurant at Mahim, and a prominent jewellery store in Prabhadevi. Both shops had their name boards written in Gujarati. We went there and asked why their name boards were in Gujarati. If you live in Maharashtra, you take your resources from here, then you must use the Marathi language, Sandeep Deshpande narrated to News 18.



He claimed that the shopowners themselves pulled down the name boards after their objection. We did not pull them down, he asserted. We could not verify the claim as none of the two shop owners approached the police with any complaints.



The Mumbai Police did not receive any complaint. We took suo motto action in the case, a police personnel said.



In video clips, the MNS activists are heard shouting slogans, too. This is not the first time MNS has objected to boards and announcements in other languages.



Earlier this month, MNS representatives were in Bengaluru to attend a seminar by Kannada Rakshan Vedike. The organization had invited regional chauvinistic parties to come together to plan a strategy for the spread of regional languages in their respective States.



MNS had earlier protested against Gujarati name plates. They had also objected to telecom companies and banks announcements in Gujarati and Hindi.


Jagdalpur: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi fired a fresh salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government on Saturday, saying that the prevailing unrest in parts of the country under its rule was benefiting the RSS, China and Pakistan.



Gandhi said that while there was peace under the Congress rule, strife has taken over several states ever since NDA came to power in May 2014.



After the NDA came to power in Delhi, conflicts started in several states. There was peace in Jammu and Kashmir. Terrorism there had nearly come to an end during the UPA rule, he said.



"When we came to power in 2004, we gradually controlled terrorism in J&K and it nearly came to an end. But now unrest is everywhere in the country - Srinagar, Sikkim and Bastar," the Gandhi scion said.



"Peace has vanished from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu. Who's getting benefit from the conflict in Kashmir? It's the RSS, Pakistan and China," he alleged.



The Congress was interacting with tribal students during a programme, 'Amcho Hak' (our rights), organised by the National Students Union of India in Chhattisgarh.



He said that their government regularly held talks with people from various sections to maintain peace. Our idea was to reach out to people, provide jobs to the youth. We conducted Panchayati Raj elections, he said.



Questioning who was fuelling civilian unrest in Kashmir, he said "you all have seen how the people of Jammu and Kashmir were living peacefully" when the Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre.



"Situation worsened after the BJP came to power there in coalition with the PDP. Similarly, in Chhattisgarh, the RSS and industrialists are getting benefits of conflict in Bastar," he claimed.



He said Chhattisgarh was a rich state with water, forests and minerals and alleged that "they want to snatch your resources and they can't do that till there is strife".



"That's why they are spreading discord, they want to make you fight among yourselves. Adivasis will never benefit from industrialisation," Gandhi claimed.



The Congress MP alleged that the RSS wanted Dalits, adivasis and OBCs to remain weak and oppressed so that they could rule over them.



"Wherever they go they trigger fight (aag lagate hai). In Haryana, they started a fight between Jats and non-Jats... between Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir, Bengali and non-Bengali in Assam...wherever they go they make people fight," he alleged.



Contrary to this, the Congress believes in peace, he said, adding his party wants to protect the rights of tribals. "We want you (tribals) to get benefit of your water, forests and minerals not anyone else. We want to protect your rights. Why is Prime Minister Modi trying to snatch your lands? So that he can give your lands, mines to industrialists," he claimed.



He said in all this, the tribals were suffering and it was causing them losses.



(With PTI inputs)
Actress Aditi Rao Hydari looked sizzling as she walked the marvellously done ramp for designer Gaurav Gupta (GG) on Day 6 of the ongoing FDCI India Couture Week 2017.The actress looked straight out of a fairytale land in the Gaurav Gupta ensemble as she closed the show for the designer with her confident and graceful walk on the ramp which was brilliantly beautified with decorative lighting installations by Klove. The star sashayed down the ramp, dressed in a gown with minimal make-up on and no accessories. She opted to keep her hair open and added a slightly wet, messy look to her tresses. The B-town beauty looked effortlessly chic.Credit: @ FASHIONDESIGN COUNCIL OF INDIA Gaurav, who showcased his couture collection titled 'Moondust', was all smiles as he walked in with his showstopper Aditi towards the end of the show. The two happily posed for shutterbugs after an 'enchanting' display of the couture line.Talking about walking the ramp for Gaurav, Aditi said at a post show media interaction, "It was very special, because GG was one of the first people who encouraged me and dressed me when I was new, 6-7 years ago. Also, it's very special because it's the first time I am walking for him and very much like GG, I believe in enchanted forest and unicorns and happy things."Credit: @ FASHIONDESIGN COUNCIL OF INDIA Gaurav too was extremely happy to have Aditi as his muse. During the media interaction he said, "She (Aditi) evolves and she is not scared to experiment. She has worn many different looks for me and for many designers and she goes for it. Also, within that she finds her personality, so it's not that she blindly goes for it, she's a 'thinking wearer'.Moondust, Gaurav's couture line featured garments with western silhouettes and which had lots of sparkle and looked exquisite and heavenly. His couture pieces totally floored the audiences, who were all gaga about the divinity in the designer's ensembles. With his signature sculpted wave gowns and a subdued, romantic colour story, Gaurav cast a spell on the ramp.(Photo: Gaurav Gupta showcases his collection 'Moondust at ICW 2017/W Five Communication)"It's a very couture collection. It's very detailed, all the embroidery and the work which has gone into it is very couture. It's inspired by nature, forest, a fantasy space, almost like a parallel world happening on the moon but in a fairy tale way. It was all these bath like sculptures made into garments...there's lot of innovation and creativity, it's just about celebrating fantasy," said Gaurav Gupta to the media.For his latest collection, Gaurav was inspired both from the past and the future. From the past he picked up on themes like fairytales, princesses, and magic castles; from the future he gathered new techniques and materials that could tell the story of Moondust in a new yet innovative way."I wanted to make couture feel new and refreshing again. So, I have included sculpted shapes that seem fantastic and surreal, but achieved in painstaking handcrafted embroideries and silhouettes," said Gaurav.Credit: @ FASHIONDESIGN COUNCIL OF INDIA The collection featured fabrics such as chiffons, dupions, crepes, tulle, nets and lace and the colour palette, which spoke of castles in enchantment, included dove grey, ivy and stone blue, ivy green, night teal, fern green among others.Credit: @ FASHIONDESIGN COUNCIL OF INDIA Bejeweled stags, birds that fluttered across the bodice, and sculpted waves embellished with sequins enhanced the beauty of each couture piece. Gaurav's collection truly looked magical and divine on the ramp.
New Delhi: As many as 125 Indian and foreign films were either held or refused screening by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) during 2016-17, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.



Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore, in a written reply said that out of 125 films, 78 were Indian and the remaining were foreign.



As many as 153 films (94 Indian and 59 foreign) were held up or refused in 2015-16, while in 2014-15, the number was 156 (114 Indian and 42 foreign), he said.



During 2016-17, Rathore said that out of a total 19,532 films which had applied for the CBFC certification, 19,407 got the certificate.



He said the majority of the remaining films which made representation to 'Revising Committee' or 'Film Certification Appellate Tribunal' also got certification.



The Minister said that in case of a film being rejected by the CBFC, an appeal could be filed in the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, and "the Central government has no powers to intervene".



To another query, Rathore said that the rate of advertisement of the All India Radio for Prime Minister

Narendra Modi's monthly address Mann Ki Baat is Rs 2 lakh for 10 seconds.



He also said as many as 33 editions of the address have been aired since the broadcast of first programme on October 3, 2014.



He said the programme is also aired in all regional languages and translated with the resources available with the All India Radio.



"Apart from a meagre amount for regional translation as per AIRs fee structure, no significant expenditure is incurred," he added.



Rathore said as many as 38 clients, including various ministries, booked advertisements before and after the broadcast of the radio address since January 2015.
On the occasion of Sanjay Dutt's 58th birthday makers of Bhoomi has released a second poster of the film featuring the complete look of the actor. Carrying forward the grim and noir-ism of the first poster, the new one sees Sanjay's face in full light with a pained expression in his eyes and face laden with rage.Omung Kumar took to twitter to share the poster. He wrote, "Happy Birthday BABA. #BabaIsBack @BhoomiTheFilm #SandeepSingh #BhushanKumar @LegendStudios1 @TSeries @duttsanjay @aditiraohydari @Vanita_ok"Bhoomi is an emotional and sensitive revenge drama that explores the relationship between a father and daughter. The shooting of the film took place in Agra and Chambal. Omung Kumar has directed the film while Bhushan Kumar and Sandeep Singh backed the project as producers.Sanjay is said to be emotionally attached to the film. The actor had released a statement after wrapping up the shoot for the film. "The experience has been wonderful right from the first day. Its an emotional day for me as we culminate this lovely journey. Im now looking forward to seeing the film release soon," Sanjay said.The film will mark Sanjay's comeback after he was released from the Yerwada Central Jail in Pune in 2016. His last release was the 2014 film PK, starring Aamir Khan. Bhoomi was earlier scheduled to release on August 4. However, the makers pushed the release date to September 22, 2017.
New Delhi: Gujarat, they say, has ruled the country for almost 13 years now.



Narendra Modi moved to Delhi in 2014 after an emphatic victory in Lok Sabha elections. For 10 years before that, Ahmed Patel, the low-profile political advisor to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was the chief of staff calling the shots.



Patel's rise in the Congress pecking order under Mrs Gandhi has been phenomenal, and perhaps the most under-reported development in contemporary Indian politics.



An old style politician, Patel has maintained cordial relations with the media which, ironically, he usually shies away from.



There is one phone call every senior Congress reporter invariably gets each year on Holi and Diwali without fail. It's from Ahmed Patel, or AP as he is known in political circles.



It is this understated style which has, perhaps, been his strength in Congress' durbar politics.



The three-time Lok Sabha MP from Bharuch in South Gujarat has been in Parliament since 1977. He is one of the few politicians who has worked with three generations of Congress' first family.



He cut his teeth in active politics during Indira Gandhi's tenure and learned the ropes when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister between 1984 and 1989. His proximity to the two former PMs helped Patel chaperone Sonia Gandhi when the latter took over as party president. Patel was also closely associated with the setting up of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, something which brought him close to the family after the former PM's assassination.



So when Sonia took the plunge into active politics, Ahmed Patel's stature within the party grew. Those who have watched him closely say he never flaunted his proximity to the Congress president. The fact that he was very discreet made him all the more valuable to the party.



Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah disclosed at a media interaction earlier this year that he was in the Congress because of AP.



With Ahmed Patel facing what is perhaps the toughest political challenge in his career, Congress MLAs from Gujarat have now been taken to Karnataka to guard against any further poaching.



Not that Patel did not have his share of adversaries in intra-party politics. Some would occasionally go and complain hoping he would be downsized in the next restructuring. But come the new list and Ahmed Patel would find pride of a position in the hierarchy.



Sources within the party say that in the last 10 years, Patel was the brain behind all the political decisions taken by Sonia. A former general secretary of the party says, There is not a single decision taken that did not have Patels stamp of approval. Whenever madam said she would think an issue over, everyone knew that she meant to discuss it with Patel."



When Team Rahul moved in, it was felt in Congress circles that AP's rein was finally over. Initially, it seemed to be so as calls to him would often get a stoic response don't ask me, I don't know anything.



But as the Congress faced one crisis after another, especially after the Lok Sabha debacle and Bengal elections, AP has been active in managing political crises.



From seat distribution talks with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh to the presidential and vice-presidential elections, Rahul and Priyanka have fallen back upon him in crisis situations.



But today, the man who offered calm solutions to the party is in crisis himself. He is almost on the brink of defeat in the Rajya Sabha election from his home state Gujarat.



AP's defeat in Rajya Sabha elections will have larger political ramifications. "It will hugely undermine Sonia Gandhi's authority. Consecutive fifth Rajya Sabha term (since 1993) is unprecedented.... A demoralising message will go that neither Sonia nor her key strategist are capable of winning indirect polls or keep the flock together, says political analyst Rasheed Kidwai.



This perhaps explains why Patel is determined to fight back to try and ensure a victory. It's time for him to ensure again that Sonia's prestige remains intact.
Lucknow: Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday accused the BJP of engineering defections after two SP MLCs resigned from the party and the Legislative Council.



Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh had resigned moments after BJP chief Amit Shahs chartered plane touched down at Lucknows Amausi Airport.



The BJP is behind the resignation of Samajwadi Party MLCs. Bukkal Nawab is an old member of our party. I had also gone to meet him on Eid. What is the reason that he has changed? These are a lot of members who reach the House ahead of time. They do it on purpose; so they can lure some MLCs to their side, Akhilesh Yadav said.



Sources said Nawab and Singh are likely to join the BJP in the presence of Shah, dealing a blow to the Samajwadi Party whose numbers will now go down in the Legislative Council.



Rumours are also rife of a third MLC, Madhukar Jaitely, leaving the party and the council.



The resignations now pave the way for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy CMs Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma to enter the Legislative Council.



Bukkal Nawab is considered to be a close aide of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and represents the Shia community in the party.



Yashwant Singh, on the other hands, is considered to be close to Raghuraj Pratap Singh, also known as Raja Bhaiya. Political buzz says Singh, too, may switch sides.



Speaking to ETV, Nawab said, I have handed in my resignation to Sabhapati Ramesh Yadav. If get an invite from the BJP, I will definitely consider it. All I wish for is Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya. I will donate Rs 10 lakh and a gold mukut (crown) for Ram Lalla. Yashwant Singh has resigned and I hope very soon Madhukar Jaitely ji will also resign.



Alleging horse-trading, Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal said If horse trading continues like this, the level of politics will definitely go down. Things like this should not be backed by any political party.



Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said, We welcome the decision by the Samajwadi Party MLCs and we are confident that we will win the Legislative Assembly as well.






Jammu: Expressing shock and surprise over its ally and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's flag remarks, the BJP today asserted that Article 35-A of the Constitution which grants special status to the state is "not a sacred cow that cannot be touched".



The state unit of the BJP said that while the party stands by the Agenda of Alliance with the PDP and won't seekalteration of existing constitutional position, "it is equally truethat Article 35-A has done more harm to the state than any other provision of law."



The biggest challenge before the state is to save the Sufi ethos of Kashmir's culture which are facing an assault from separatism and Islamic fundamentalism in theValley, it said.



The party said all efforts of the state government and theKashmiri people should be towards the protection of the these humane values and identity, instead of raking issues of Article 35-A and Article 370 which have led to inequalities and have retarded the state's growth due to "self-isolation".



"We are greatly shocked and surprised by the statement of Mehbooba that by challenging Article 35-A, the nationalist forces in the Valley get weakened and that... India will not get a shoulder to carry its national flag in the state", BJP state spokesperson Virender Gupta told reporters.



"Article 370 was incorporated in Indian Constitution as atemporary provision. It (Article 35-A and Article 370) is not a sacred cow thatcannot be touched," he said.



Mehbooba Mufti yesterday said at a function in New Delhi "Who is doing it? Why are they doing it? (challenging the Article 35-A). Let me tell you that my party and other parties who carry the national flag there (in Jammu and Kashmir) despite all risks.... I have no doubt in saying that there will be no one to hold it (national flag) (if it is tinkered)."



Referring to militancy and fundamentalism, the BJP on Saturday said "these challenges are extremely great than what these leaders, in particular the separatists, perceive, i.e. the removal of Article 35 or Article 370", Gupta said.



Sunil Sethi, chief spokesperson of state BJP, said the CM'sremarks on Article 35-A do not depict the truepicture and are politically incorrect.



"Article 35-A has in fact led to disparity and inequalities in the state," Sethi said.



It has created a situation where there is no gender parity for female state subjects and their children, he claimed.



"Though the party stands by the Agenda of Alliance and won't seekalteration of existing Constitutional position, but it is equally truethat Article 35-A has done more harm to the state than any other provision of law," he said.



He also blamed the provision for slow growth and progress of the state.



"Despite having natural resources, the state is in a financial mess because of self isolation," Sethi said. He said that bearing the national flag in the state is an honour for all citizens andthe party firmly believes that every person of the state is first an Indian andthen a state subject.



"Nationalism of the people of the state can't be understated by linking it with continuation of Art 35-A," he said.



Gupta said terrorists and separatists are causing disturbances in the Valley, at the behest of Pakistan, its spy agency ISI and ISIS.



"The majority of the population in Jammu and Kashmir is nationalist and committed to uphold the integrity of the country and believes that their interests and aspirations are safe as Indians," Gupta said.



He said that Kashmir is facing a serious danger from the spread of Islamicfundamentalism and referred to the "unimaginable disaster" unleashed by these forces in Syria, Iraq and some of the other countries.
New Delhi/Ahmedabad: The Congress has moved 44 of its Gujarat MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru to guard them from being "poached" by the BJP ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls in the state.



The MLAs arrived at the Bengaluru International Airport at 2:30am and were taken to Egleton Resort near Ramanagara. They were escorted by party MP DK Suresh, the younger brother of Karnataka Power Minister DK Shivakumar.



Some of the MLAs, Suresh said, wanted to visit the Tirupati shrine.



The Congress has demanded that the Election Commission (EC) lodge a criminal case against the BJP for "poaching" its MLAs using "money and muscle" power, a charge denied by the latter.



Three more of Congress MLAs had resigned on Friday, taking the number of legislators who quit the party ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls to six. One of them, Balvantsinh Rajput, has been named as a candidate for the Rajya Sabha by the BJP.



The Congress has re-nominated Ahmed Patel, the political secretary to party chief Sonia Gandhi, to the Upper House of Parliament from Gujarat.



In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the strength of the Congress has now gone down to 51 from 57.



The desertions have cast a shadow on the fate of Patel in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.



Sources had earlier told CNN-News18 that 16 MLAs from central and south Gujarat were shifted to Neejanad Resort in Anand while another 11 from Saurashtra were made to stay at a farmhouse near Rajkot on Friday.



Around half a dozen MLAs were expected to stay back in Ahmedabad.



In a span of less than 10 days, everything that could go wrong for the Congress has gone wrong. It all started with 11 MLAs cross voting in the presidential election, putting a dent in the grand projections of opposition unity. The big blow, however, was the public falling out and exit of Congress most popular leader in Gujarat, Shankersinh Vaghela.



His departure has opened the floodgates, with six more MLAs quitting in the last 24 hours, and more departures hinted.



All these developments are bad news for Congress leader Ahmed Patel, denting his chances to be re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.



There are a total of 182 seats in the Gujarat Assembly. Prior to the string of resignations, BJP had 121 seats and the Congress had 57. The NCP has two seats, the JDU has one and there is one independent.



The total eligible votes for the Rajya Sabha elections, divided by the number of seats (in this case, three) plus one i.e four, plus one is the minimum number of votes required by a candidate to win the seat. Gujarat gets to send three members to the Rajya Sabha. So in Gujarats case it would be (182/3+1) + 1.



However, with six legislators quitting, now the total number of MLAs in the Gujarat Assembly is 176, bringing down the total number of votes required to win to 45 (176/4+1).



This means that BJP President Amit Shah and Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani can automatically get elected. The BJP will still be left with a surplus of 31 votes.



Now in the Congress camp, six of the 57 MLAs have already quit, bringing their tally down to 51. With the possibility of a dozen more resignations till August 8, the Congress tally might come down to less than 45 in the Gujarat Assembly, signaling trouble for Patels RS aspirations.



The BJP has nominated candidates for all three seats Shah, Irani and Rajput not two, as originally planned and expected.



We are confident and certain that the Bharatiya Janata Party will win all the three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat. There is no doubt in my mind about that, said BJP's Bhupendra Yadav, after all three BJP candidates filed their nomination forms in Gandhinagar on Friday.






New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday sought a report from the Chief Secretary of Gujarat by July 31, hours after Congress Party communicated to the poll panel that its MLAs were being "threatened and bribed" by the ruling BJP to join its ranks.



The ECI also directed the state government to ensure proper security to all the MLAs and their family members. Earlier in the day, a Congress delegation met Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Joti and demanded setting up of a high powered committee to enquire into charges of alleged electoral malpractices by the ruling party and to give a time-bound report.



The poll watchdog's action came in the backdrop of the Congress party on Saturday petitioning it and demanding free and fair election to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat as it accused the BJP of misuse of power and authority.



The delegation handed over a memorandum against the use of money and muscle power by BJP state government in Gujarat to lure the Congress MLAs to alter the Rajya Sabha poll results.



"We demand to forthwith constitute a high powered committee of independent persons/officers to enquire into charges of money power, muscle power and blatant abuse of government machinery for purposes of engineering defection and resignations of INC MLAs.



"To direct the high powered committee to afford opportunity to all the MLAs who have been approached directly and indirectly with inducements of money and positions by the BJP, so that the allegations are duly recorded and substantiated for actions in accordance with law," the memorandum demanded.



The Congress delegation comprised of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and party's deputy leader Anand Sharma, Vivek K Tankha, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Manish Tewari.



Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday alleged that Gujarat government, led by BJP, was "intimidating bribing Congress MLAs" to join its ranks. Azad said that Congress had apprised Election Commission of India (ECI) of all the happenings in Gujarat.



"What is even more saddening is that this is happening in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Modi," Azad said, adding that he had asked the EC to remove all legislators who were threatening and kidnapping Congress MLAs.



Azad said the Centre and Gujarat government together are effecting defections of Congress MLAs in the wake of Rajya Sabha elections for the state and they are being threatened and lured through promises of tickets and money, and that the police and administration is being used for defections.





(With inputs from PTI)
New Delhi: RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Saturday said Nitish Kumars decision to switch alliance to the BJP would prove to be a historical mistake and the Bihar Chief Minister will never form his own legacy. In an interview with CNN-News18s Marya Shakil, Lalu cleared the air on the premature death of the Mahagathbandhan, the corruption allegations against his family and the next step for him and his party. He also emphatically denied media reports that he had earlier attempted to strike a deal with the BJP and offered to destabilise the Nitish Kumar government to make the charges go away.



Marya: You said Nitish Kumar has teeth in his stomach. If you knew him so well, why did you form an alliance in 2015?



Lalu: Ever since the BJP government came to power under the leadership of PM Modi and Amit Shah, we have seen a lot of things happen against the minorities. Demands for Ram Mandir by groups like Hindu Yuva Vahini and Bajrang Dal have also gone up.



Whatever I had said has been proven right. I had said that under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the nation will either flourish or disintegrate. I said this long back and people laughed it off then.



I was a political science student. In political science, one can forecast. My forecast was right. Today there is an Emergency-like situation. You've seen what happened during the note ban. When you talk about beef, it was under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah's leadership that India became the largest exporter of beef.



I had said Nitish will not have a legacy. Even during 1995 and 2014 elections, he lost but I fought alone with 4-5 lakh votes. In '95, Bihar and Jharkhand were united, like Tejashwi said on Friday. But Nitish won only seven seats. He was reminded of his status when he formed the Samta Party. Nitish is like a younger brother. He should remain younger.



Marya: But in 2015 it was a joint mandate.



Lalu: I noticed that wherever there was a divided vote, BJP was winning. It lost where it fought against a united opposition. So to stop this division of votes, Nitish was approached. A meeting with Mulayam Singh Yadav, Deve Gowda and other leaders was organised. We decided that we should come together on a single platform and fight to stop the BJP from winning. I'll tell you from my heart that I never wanted Nitish to be part of this because I knew him from the very beginning.



Marya: Were you wrong in reading him?



Lalu: That was my mistake. I can still tell about the time when he came running to me in my house and asked me for one more chance and my blessing. Rabri Devi and my two children were also there. He said that were getting old, we two brothers should get my children to get into politics in future. Nitish's son is not capable of getting into politics. So I told him to go ahead and gave him my blessings.



I got the declaration done by Mulayam Singh Yadav. Had I declared from Delhi then the public would've said that Lalu has surrendered to Nitish Kumar. That's why I got the declaration done by Mulayam. There was a press conference too. This man (Nitish Kumar) had flawed thinking from the very beginning. When the Mahagathbandhan was formed, it was decided that a coordination committee, a minimum common programme should be made, but till today no committee has been formed.



Marya: Did you ask for the formation of the coordination committee?



Lalu: Any major decision should be taken in the interest of the state. For example, during the presidential election, nobody even asked us about our opinion. It's a Mahagathbandhan. We should've sat together and had a discussion. This man (Nitish) ignored us and went ahead with his own decision without discussing or consulting with us. I told Nitish not to make this historic mistake.



Marya: So you warned him?



Lalu: Yes. Nitish would be watching this. I had told him not make this historic mistake. When I decided to vote for Meira Kumar, I addressed a press conference and said then also that he was making a big mistake. This is the same Nitish, who used to talk about a sangh-free India. I wouldn't compromise with the party's ideology. Even if I die or get hanged, there will be no compromise with the party's ideology. This is what I told Sonia ji and other party leaders in that meeting. I say this today too.



Marya: Was there some kind of communication gap between you and Nitish Kumar?



Lalu: No, he was secretly following his own way. You know I'm an outspoken person, I say things in the open. Nitishs spokespersons spread talk that he is Prime Minister-material, that he has good morals and personality. Everybody knows about this. I'm not making this up. Now see, he was expecting that everybody would project him in a way so that he becomes the next PM candidate.



Marya: Do you think only because Nitish Kumars name was not announced and efforts were not made to project him as the PM candidate, he took a different turn?



Lalu: Even Mamata Banerjee spoke about him. Nitish was hurt by her statement. How could we make him the PM candidate? Aren't there better people than him?



Marya: When Nitish Kumar went to the Raj Bhavan at 6:30pm to submit his resignation, a parliamentary board meeting was taking place at the same time in Delhi. In Bihar, BJP's core group was meeting. PM Modi also tweeted immediately. The way it all unfolded, the question that arises is whether all this was choreographed.



Lalu: Absolutely. This was a fixed match. Sushil Modi was made to do press conferences for public consumption so that peoples attention was diverted. I was very confident that Nitish Kumar would never join the BJP, but there was a serious doubt as well. Every kid in Bihar knows that Nitish is not a good man. Nitish told me that he wanted to give more responsibilities to Tejashwi and that he didn't ask for his resignation.



Marya: Did he ask for a point-by-point rebuttal on the allegations against Tejashwi?



Lalu: The suggestion that an MP or MLA should resign immediately after an FIR was filed against them in a corruption case was also discussed in the Parliament, but it was rejected outright. The decision should come from the courts.



Marya: Nitish Kumar said in the House that you are using the card of secularism to hide from corruption charges.



Lalu: He has no answers to the questions raised on the allegations against Tejashwi. He completed his statement within 5 minutes. He got his direct telecast also stopped.



Marya: What is next for Indian politics, and Lalu Yadav and his family, given the fact that your children's political career has just started?



Lalu: My children's political career is very bright. Our party's future is bright. Bihar's public knows that Lalu is not going to be bowed down by fascist and communal forces. If I had to make a deal, then I would've talked to Narendra Modi.



Marya: Didn't you ever have any meetings with any of the ministers in the Centre?



Lalu: Never. Some rumours were floated through Nitish Kumars men that Lalu is talking with central ministers to postpone his (corruption) cases. He was caught supporting BJP during surgical strikes and the note ban. People now know that he wanted to join the BJP and that's why he spread these rumours.
Jagdalpur: Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the BJP of "running after power" and asked his party workers to strengthen the organisation ahead of next year's Assembly polls.



Gandhi, who arrived here on a two-day visit to Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, addressed the party workers and asked them to strengthen the Congress ahead of the 2018 state Assembly polls.



Earlier, he was welcomed at the airstrip by state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly T S Singhdeo among other party leaders.



From there, Gandhi proceeded to the Ganpati Resort, where he addressed Congress leaders and workers from Bastar.



Besides, he had a separate interaction with the workers of the Youth Congress and the party's women's wing.



Addressing the closed-door gathering, Gandhi slammed the BJP and egged on the Congressmen to defeat the saffron party with the "power of truth".



"They (BJP) keep on telling lies in a way that they appear to be true to the people. All of them tell the same lie again and again to secure power. The truth is, they are running after power and have nothing to do with the truth," a senior party leader quoted Gandhi as saying.



Referring to the Congress workers as an "army of truth" Gandhi, according to the leader, said, "Only truth can beat lies and you are going to do this."



Launching a scathing attack on the ruling BJP in Chhattisgarh, the 47-year-old Amethi MP accused it of involvement in scams and committing atrocities on Dalits and tribals for the sake of remaining in power.



Later in the evening, he met senior party leaders and office-bearers at the Circuit House here.



On Sunday, the Congress vice-president is scheduled to address a workshop of party workers. Later in the day, he is also scheduled to address a public rally.
New Delhi: As the crisis in Gujarat Congress deepens, the party has decided to send 44 MLAs from the state to Bengaluru to stop them from being lured by the BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.



Sources told CNN-News18 that 16 MLAs from central and south Gujarat were shifted to Neejanad Resort in Anand while another 11 from Saurashtra were made to stay at a farmhouse near Rajkot on Friday. Around half a dozen MLAs are expected to stay back in Ahmedabad.



All of this comes as six MLAs quit after state president Shankersinh Vaghela had a fallout with party leadership and resigned.



Here are some recent instances of parties resorting to moving their MLAs to resorts in order to stop claimed implosions within the party:



Nagaland



The state government announced civic body elections in December 2016 followed by the announcement of 33% reservation of seats for women. The announcement was protested by various tribal bodies including Naga Hoho, the apex organisation of all major tribes.



Nagaland Governor PB Acharya on February 2 declared the entire process of elections as null and void. The crisis pushed then Nagaland chief minister TR Zeliang out. Nagalands lone Lok Sabha MP Neiphiu Rio and not Naga Peoples Front (NPF) president Shurhozelie Liezietsu was looking like the likely replacement.



The BJP moved 40 MLAs, including independents, in the 60-member assembly out of Nagaland capital, Kohima, late on February 18 night to be lodged in a resort close to Assams Kaziranga National Park.



The race was finally won by Liezietsu, after political drama that dragged on for months.



Tamil Nadu



After the death of AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, the party entered crisis mode as the late chief ministers confidante VK Sasikala took over the reins. Sasikala was a polarising figure among party members and her pushing out Jayalalithaas hand-picked successor O Panneerselvam (OPS), triggering a full blown factional war.



What followed was a political turmoil leaving the party in tatters. The AIADMK was split as one significant chunk of the party sided with OPS, instead of E Palaniswami (EPS)  Sasikalas chosen candidate for CM.



Matters took a turn for the worse after Sasikala was convicted and jailed in a disproportionate assets case.



The ruling EPS  Sasikala faction, to arrest anymore defections, shepherded several AIADMK MLAs into Golden Bay Resort on East Coast Road in Chennai.



The EPS won a violence-marred trust vote a few days later.



Karnataka



The state Congress, a few days before the Rajya Sabha polls on June 10, moved all independent MLAs from the southern state to the JW Marriott hotel in Juhu, Mumbai.



The Congress ended up winning three seats, while the opposition BJP had one seat in the biennial elections. The move to frisk away the independent MLAs to a resort by the ruling party came under a lot of criticism.



Uttarakhand



After the first couple of months in 2016, the BJP tried to oust the incumbent Congress government in the state as nine MLAs from the party rebelled against the high command and the then chief minister Harish Rawat. The state was getting ready for the next assembly elections, scheduled in 2017.



Fearful of further poaching by the opposition, 19 MLAs of the ruling Congress were bundled into three helicopters at Sahastra Dhara helipad in Dehradun, and flown to a resort tucked deep in the dense forests of Jim Corbett National Park, in the Ramnagar area of the Himalayan foothills.



After Presidents Rule was imposed in the state, Rawat won a trust vote and returned as Chief Minister on May 11. The rebel MLAs were subsequently disqualified from the state assembly under the anti-defection law as they joined the BJP.
Jodhpur: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Saturday said that Gujarat Congress MLAs, currently lodged in a Bengaluru resort to shield them against saffron party's "poaching" attempts, were "cattle in need of fodder".



"They (Congress legislators) are cattle...they are being taken to a cage. Only BJP can give them the fodder," he told reporters at the Jodhpur Civil Airport when asked about the recent developments in BJP-ruled Gujarat.



The Congress on late Friday night sent 44 of its Gujarat legislators to Bengaluru. Of the 57 Congress MLAs in the state, six resigned from the party in the last two days, with three of them joining the BJP on Friday.



Talking about the India-China military stand-off in the Sikkim section, the BJP leader, who was in the city to attend an event by Rajasthan Patrika, said India needed to harmonise its relations with Beijing.



On being asked about the stepping down of Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif over graft charges, Swamy said the bilateral relation between India and Pakistan will now worsen.



"Sharif was a henpecked prime minister and was nothing but a tool for the army and jehadis," he said.



The parliamentarian added that Pakistan should be split into four parts -- Baluchistan, Pakhtunistan, Sindh and West Panjab.



"Pakistan will never rectify. It is better to split it into four parts. This is the only solution to the problem with Pakistan," he said.



(With inputs from PTI)


YouTube's paid subscription service 'Red' will be eventually merged with Google Play Music to give way to a new service, media reports said. Google is planning to merge YouTube 'Red' -- available in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Mexico -- and Google Play Music to create a new streaming service, Lyor Cohen, YouTube's Global Head of Music was quoted as saying by The Verge on Thursday.Talks of the merger were in the industry for a while and picked up pace recently after the company merged the teams working on the two streaming services. Google's streaming services YouTube Music, Google Play Music and YouTube 'Red' are confusingly connected right now. "The important thing is combining YouTube Red and Google Play Music, and having one offering," Cohen was quoted as saying when asked about why YouTube Red isn't more popular with music users.Users will be notified of any change, Google told The Verge. YouTube 'Red' offers an enhanced experience by removing advertisements on videos and lets you save them offline. Google Play Music is Google's version of Spotify, while YouTube Music is a free app open to everybody.
Washington: President Donald Trump will sign a package of stiff financial sanctions against Russia that passed Congress with overwhelming support, the White House said Friday. Moscow has already responded, ordering a reduction in the number of US diplomats in Russia and closing the US Embassy's recreation retreat.



Trump's willingness to support the measure is a remarkable acknowledgement that he has yet to sell his party on his hopes for forging a warmer relationship with Moscow. His vow to extend a hand of cooperation to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been met with resistance as skeptical lawmakers look to limit the president's leeway to go easy on Moscow over its meddling in the 2016 presidential election.



The Senate passed the bill, 98-2, two days after the House pushed the measure through by an overwhelming margin, 419-3. Both were veto-proof numbers.



The White House initially wavered on whether the president would sign the measure into law. But in a statement late Friday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had "reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it."



Never in doubt was a cornerstone of the legislation that bars Trump from easing or waiving the additional penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees. The provisions were included to assuage concerns among lawmakers that the president's push for better relations with Moscow might lead him to relax the penalties without first securing concessions from the Kremlin.



The legislation is aimed at punishing Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria, where the Kremlin has backed President Bashar Assad. It also imposes financial sanctions against Iran and North Korea.



Before Trump's decision to sign the bill into law, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the bill's passage was long overdue, a jab at Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress. McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has called Putin a murderer and a thug.



"Over the last eight months what price has Russia paid for attacking our elections?" McCain asked. "Very little."



Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday said it is ordering the US Embassy in Russia to reduce the number of its diplomats by Sept. 1. Russia will also close down the embassy's recreational retreat on the outskirts of Moscow as well as warehouse facilities.



Meanwhile, some European countries expressed concerns that the measures targeting Russia's energy sector would harm its businesses involved in piping Russian natural gas. Germany's foreign minister said his country wouldn't accept the US sanctions against Russia being applied to European companies.



A spokesman for the European Commission said Friday that European officials will be watching the US effort closely, vowing to "remain vigilant."



Trump had privately expressed frustration over Congress' ability to limit or override the power of the president on national security matters, according to Trump administration officials and advisers. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.



But faced with heavy bipartisan support for the bill in the House and Senate, the president had little choice but to sign the bill into law. Trump's communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, had suggested Thursday that Trump might veto the bill and "negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians."



But Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said that would be a serious mistake and called Scaramucci's remark an "off-handed comment." If Trump rejected the bill, Corker said, Congress would overrule him.



"I cannot imagine anybody is seriously thinking about vetoing this bill," said Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "It's not good for any president  and most governors don't like to veto things that are going to be overridden. It shows a diminishment of their authority. I just don't think that's a good way to start off as president."



Still, signing a bill that penalizes Russia's election interference marks a significant shift for Trump. He's repeatedly cast doubt on the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that Russia sought to tip the election in his favor. And he's blasted as a "witch hunt" investigations into the extent of Russia's interference and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.



The 184-page bill seeks to hit Putin and the oligarchs close to him by targeting Russian corruption, human rights abusers, and crucial sectors of the Russian economy, including weapons sales and energy exports.



The bill underwent revisions to address concerns voiced by American oil and natural gas companies that sanctions specific to Russia's energy sector could backfire on them to Moscow's benefit. The bill raised the threshold for when US firms would be prohibited from being part of energy projects that also included Russian businesses.



Lawmakers said they also made adjustments so the sanctions on Russia's energy sector didn't undercut the ability of US allies in Europe to get access to oil and gas resources outside of Russia.



The North Korea sanctions are intended to thwart Pyongyang's ambition for nuclear weapons by cutting off access to the cash the reclusive nation needs to follow through with its plans. The bill prohibits ships owned by North Korea or by countries that refuse to comply with U.N. resolutions against it from operating in American waters or docking at US ports. Goods produced by North Korea's forced labor would be prohibited from entering the United States, according to the bill.



The sanctions package imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. The measure would apply terrorism sanctions to the country's Revolutionary Guards and enforce an arms embargo.



Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted against the sanctions bill.
Islamabad: Is Nawaz Sharif disqualified for life, or is there a possibility of him staging a comeback?



A day after the supreme court disqualified Sharif from holding public office, legal experts and political observers appear equally confused, as are ordinary Pakistani citizens.



When the question about the duration of the 67-year-old veteran politician's ouster from Pakistan's active politics was put to seasoned lawyers, most seemed confused.



Some said the question needed to be addressed since it has remain unanswered for far too long, Dawn, reported.



A five-member bench disqualified Sharif under articles 62 and 63 of Pakistans constitution, which state that a member of parliament should be "truthful" and "righteous".



Tariq Mehmood, former president of the supreme court bar association, told Dawn that a larger bench of the supreme court was seized with a number of cases, including those of Samina Khawar Hayat and Mohammad Haneef, in which the moot point was to determine whether disqualification under article 62(1)(f) of the constitution was perpetual or not.



Former chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, hearing one of such cases, had wondered how anyone could be disqualified from participating in elections forever on the basis of articles 62 and 63, saying people could reform themselves to be qualified under the provisions at some point of time.



Senior lawyer Raheel Kamran Sheikh recalled that former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was disqualified on June 19, 2012, from parliament for committing contempt of court under article 63, which specified disqualification for five years.



Unfortunately, under article 62(1)(f), no period of disqualification has been specified, he said, but endorsed what Mehmood observed.



Sheikh said some cases were pending to determine should the application of article 62(1)(f) be restricted to the current election or to all times to come.



He said the supreme court was in a "catch-22 situation", since by citing the reasons for disqualification of Sharif, it lowered the threshold for ineligibility of elected members to such an extent that too many heads might roll in future.



Through the Panama Papers judgment, he feared, the balance of power had been tilted in favour of the supreme court and the qualification of lawmakers had been threatened.



He said if the judgment was implemented across the board, the parliamentarians, feeling threatened, might react by getting together for a constitutional amendment aimed at curtailing or restricting the scope of powers under article 62 of the Constitution.



On the other hand, vice chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council Ahsan Bhoon said the disqualification of Sharif was forever.



To support his observation, he cited the 2013 Abdul Ghafoor Lehri case in which former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had held that under article 63, there were certain disqualifications which were of temporary nature and a person disqualified under article 63 could become qualified after the lapse of a certain period, whereas the disqualification under article 62 was permanent.





Thus, article 62 did not provide any period after which a person, who had been disqualified under the provision, could be eligible to contest elections of parliament, he said.



Former additional attorney general Tariq Khokhar also said that Sharif had been disqualified for life since ineligibility for not being sadiq and amen was forever.



But a senior lawyer, who did not want to be named, said that article 62 was a qualifying provision and, when originally enacted in 1973, it had qualifications which were all objectively determinable.



Later Gen Zia-ul Haq brought in nebulous qualifications in article 62, which was open-ended and highly subjective. No one has articulated its limitations better than Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who observed in one of the cases that no one should be disqualified on that basis.



The provision was largely dormant till it was dusted and brought out by Iftikhar Chaudhry and used to knock out parliamentarians, Khokhar said, adding that even Justice Chaudhry did not disqualify anyone directly, except in the dual nationality cases and that too on the basis of admissions.



But when people were disqualified in almost every such case, it was later observed that the disqualification was for life, he said, adding that was the law for the moment.



The lawyer also recalled that petitions were pending in the apex court to determine whether disqualification under article 62(1) (f) was for the remaining term or perpetual.






Sydney: Four people were arrested in a series of raids across Sydney on Saturday which the prime minister said was carried out to foil plans for terrorist attacks in Australia.



Armed police stormed homes in at least four neighbourhoods, including in the inner city.



"The New South Wales Joint Counter Terrorism Team has conducted multiple searches across Sydney today, resulting in the arrest of four men," police said in a statement.



"These searches and the broader investigation remain ongoing, and further information will be made available at the appropriate time."



The Seven Network reported 40 riot squad officers moved on one inner city home before an explosives team found a suspicious device, although police would not confirm this.



TV footage showed a man with a bandage on his head and draped in a blanket being led away by authorities.



National broadcaster ABC quoted a woman as saying her son and husband were arrested in the raids but denied they had links to terrorism.



"I love Australia," she said as she was led away to a car. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urged people to "remain alert".



"These operations are designed to disrupt and prevent plans to undertake terrorist attacks in Australia," he said of the raids.



"I have been kept closely briefed on the progress of the operations by the heads of our relevant security agencies.



"However, as the operations are ongoing, it is inappropriate to provide further detail at this stage."



Australian officials have grown increasingly concerned about the threat of extremist attacks and have prevented 12 on home soil since September 2014, with more than 60 people charged.



But five have taken place, mostly with guns, including a fatal shootout in Melbourne in June claimed by the Islamic State group.



In that incident, a man of Somali background was killed in a gun battle with police when he opened fire following an hour-long standoff after taking a woman hostage.



It is alleged 29-year-old Yacqub Khayre, linked to a 2009 terror plot targeting an Australian army barracks, had first murdered a Chinese-born Australian man.
Grenoble: Body parts that could belong to passengers killed in one or other of two Air India plane crashes more than 50 years ago have been found on Mont Blanc in the French Alps, sources said Friday.



Daniel Roche, who is fascinated by air plane accidents and has spent years combing the Bossons Glacier looking for remains, made the discovery on Thursday.



"I had never found any significant human remains before," he told AFP. This time however he had found a hand and the upper part of a leg.



In January 1966, an Air India Boeing 707 from Bombay to New York crashed near Mont Blanc's summit, killing all 117 people on board.



Another Air India flight crashed on the mountain in 1950, killing 48 people.



Roche said the remains he had found could be of a female passenger from the 1966 Boeing 707 flight, as he also discovered one of the plane's four jet engines.



Roche contacted local emergency services in the Chamonix valley who took the remains down the mountain by helicopter and they were due to be examined by experts.



"These remains are probably not from the same person," said Stephane Bozon of the local gendarmerie.



"They are probably from passengers, but between the two aircrafts, it's difficult to say".



Just 10 days ago, two bodies were found lying near each other, preserved in a receding glacier in the Diablerets massif in the Swiss Alps.



A DNA search identified the couple as Marcelin Dumoulin, a 40-year-old shoemaker at the time, and his wife Francine, a schoolteacher aged 37, who had disappeared in the Alps 75 years before.
Washington: US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose diplomatic, military, and economic sanctions on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.



The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent this war-torn country from being a launch pad for terrorist attacks against the United states.



McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress.



The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA- 2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies, and its core interests.



The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan Government and reduce the Taliban's control of the Afghan population.



As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives including India under this move.



The legislative amendment calls for "imposing graduated diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.



"It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan."



Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying America's regional diplomatic effortsworking through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan.



The move is also aimed towards advance regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation, and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states.



The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of American economic, and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anti- corruption, financial transparency, and the rule of law.



Calling for increasing the number of US counter terrorism forces in Afghanistan; the amendment calls for providing the United States military with "status-based targeting authorities" against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and other terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and its core interests.



In his amendment, McCain calls for pursuing a joint agreement to secure a long-term, open-ended counter terrorism partnership between the US and Afghanistan, which he said would include an enduring United States counter terrorism presence in Afghanistan.



The US Senate is yet to vote on NDAA-2018. On Thursday, in a statement, McCain rued on the delay in its passage.



"It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now, the National Defense Authorization Act," he said.



"For 55 years in a row, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides our men and women in uniform with the resources, capabilities, and pay and benefits that they need to perform their missions on behalf of the American people and keep our country safe. This legislation is more vital than ever," McCain said.



"Global terrorist networks, increasing great power competition with Russia and China, malign Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East, a North Korean dictator racing to acquire missiles that can hit the United States with nuclear weaponsthe threats to our national security have not been more complex or daunting than at any time in the past seven decades," he said.
New Delhi: Nawaz Sharif is busy picking his successor after he was barred from holding public office by the Supreme Court over the Panama Papers case.



Top sources in Sharifs ruling PML-N party have told CNN-News18 that his wife Kulsoom Nawaz and brother Shehbaz Sharif are the frontrunners.



Heres a look at the two contenders



Kulsoom Nawaz



Born into a Kashmiri family in Lahore, Kulsoom Nawaz is a professor. She attended Islamia College in Lahore and later graduated from Forman Christian College University. Kulsoom married Nawaz Sharif on April 2, 1971 and the couple went on to have four children  Hassan, Hussain, Maryam and Asma.



Kulsoom Nawaz has largely stayed away from politics. During General Pervez Musharraf-led military regime, Kulsoom was arrested by female members of the Pakistan Army Corps of Military Police and immediately shifted to her local residence. Sharif named Kulsoom as the president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in 1999, and she remained on post till 2002.



According to sections of the Pakistani media, the reports submitted to Pakistan supreme court by the Joint Instigation Team (JIT) on financial assets of Sharif family also mentioned Kulsoom Nawaz.



According to the JIT report, her total assets wen up 17.5 times in one year  from Pakistani rupees 1.64 million in 1991-92 to rupees 28.62 million in 1992-93. Her reported income was just Pakistani rupees 279,400.



Shehbaz Sharif



Nawaz Sharifs brother is currently the chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province. The first major public office held by Shehbaz was when in 1988 he was elected to the Punjab Provincial Assembly and later to the National Assembly in 1990.



Shehbaz was again elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1993 and named Leader of the Opposition. Elected a third time in 1997, Sharif was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Punjab on February 20, 1997.



After the military coup deposed the countrys government in 1999, Shehbaz spent years of self-exile in Saudi Arabia, returning to Pakistan in 2007. He was appointed chief minister for a second term after the PML-N's victory in the province in the 2008 general elections. He was elected as chief minister of Punjab for the third time in 2013.



Since Shehbaz is not a member of the National Assembly  the lower house of Pakistans parliament  he cannot succeed Nawaz Sharif immediately and would have to contest elections.
New Delhi: Pakistan is likely to get a new prime minister on Saturday when Nawaz Sharif, disqualified from holding the post over the Panama Papers case, picks a successor.



Top sources in Sharifs ruling PML-N party said his wife Kulsoom Nawaz and brother Shehbaz Sharif are the front-runners.



The odds are in favour of the former as picking Shehbaz, who is the chief minister of Pakistans Punjab province, could bring in another legal trouble for Nawaz Sharif, sources said.



Sources said Nawaz is not keen on handing over power to any of his cabinet ministers. His close confidant and relative Ishaq Dar has also been disqualified by the supreme court.



Nuclear-armed Pakistan was plunged into yet another crisis on Friday when the countrys supreme court disqualified Nawaz Sharif from office over undeclared assets.



Sharif stepped down after the Supreme Court disqualified him for failing to declare "receivable" salary from a UAE-based company of his son in his 2013 nomination paper. The court termed the salary which was not paid to Sharif as an "asset".



The allegations against the prime minister spiralled from the Panama Papers leak last year, which sparked a media frenzy over the lavish lifestyles and luxury London property portfolio of the Sharif dynasty.



Three of Sharif's four children  including his daughter Maryam Nawaz, his presumptive political heir  were implicated in the papers.



Sources have told CNN-News that Pakistans Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has put Sharifs sons Hassan and Hussain, daughter Maryam and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar put on the exit control list, prohibiting them from leaving the country.



It is the third time that the 67-year-old veteran politician's term as premier has been cut short. The much-awaited verdict plunged Pakistan into a political crisis at a time when the country is facing a brittle economy and a surge in militancy.



The court disqualified Sharif under Article 62 and 63 of Pakistan's Constitution. The articles state that a member of Parliament should be "truthful" and "righteous".



The federal Cabinet also stands dissolved.



The Supreme Court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau to start a corruption case against Sharif and his children. It ordered that the cases against them be registered within six weeks and trial be completed within six months after the registration of the cases.



The court also ordered a criminal investigation into the assets of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Sharif's trusted aide, and Captain Muhammad Safdar, who is Sharif's son-in-law and a Member of National Assembly (MNA).






Islamabad: Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will chair a crucial meeting to decide his successor, a day after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court.



The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.



Senior Pakistan Muslim League leader and former railway minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the party meeting later on Saturday. The meeting is likely to include discussion on candidates for the post of the prime minister, party's new president and members of the Cabinet.



"Different options were discussed in a similar meeting on Friday but no decision was taken," he said.



Meanwhile, party sources said that Sharif proposed name of his younger brother Shehbaz in Friday's meeting and none of the participants raised any objection to the proposal.



But Shehbaz, 65, cannot immediately replace his brother as he is not a member of parliament.



In order to become the prime minister, he would have to be elected first.



Hence, an interim prime minister would have to be chosen from among Sharif's confidants who will resign once Shehbaz is elected.



Pakistan has seen such arrangements in the past too. During former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharrafs time, politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was appointed as an interim prime minister until Shaukat Aziz, who was nominated by Musharraf, got elected by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ).



According to party sources, Sharif was conscious that bringing Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz to Islamabad may create political vacuum in the crucial state, which PML-N cannot afford ahead of next year elections.



Hence, there is possibility that a permanent Prime Minister might be elected from the senior party leader for the remaining tenure of the government, which would end in first week of June, 2018.



In case, Shehbaz is elected is premier, then his son Hamza could be a choice for the post of chief minister of Punjab.



But the problem is that Hamza is member of national assembly and would have to be elected as member of provincial assembly first in order to succeed his father.



The party would have to decide a prime minister for interim period in case Shehbaz emerges as the final consensus candidate for top job.



Different names so far considered to become interim Prime Minister include former defence minister Khawaja Asif, former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former planning minister Ahsan Iqbal and speak national assembly Ayaz Sadiq.
Beijing: China has said that Nawaz Sharifs disqualification from Pakistans premiership will not affect its USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, amid reports that some of Beijings big ticket investments in the country may come under a widening corruption probe.



"We believe that the China-Pakistan strategic cooperative partnership will not be affected by the change of the situation inside Pakistan," Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang was quoted by Pakistans state-run APP news agency as saying.



Terming the Supreme Court judgment against Sharif over the Panama Papers scandal as Pakistans "internal affairs", he said, "The all-weather friendship between China and Pakistan has withstood the test of time". He urged political parties in Pakistan to unite for its national interest.



"As a friendly neighbour, China hopes that all parties and sections in Pakistan can prioritise state and national interests, properly deal with their domestic affairs, maintain unity and stability, and keep focusing on the economic and social development," Lu said.



Meanwhile, a report in Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said that China has been assured by Pakistans powerful military and politicians that its investments in the CPEC would not be disrupted by Sharifs fall, "even though some of its investments could come under the widening corruption probe".



Despite the assurances it has received, the Supreme Courts ruling has put China in a "peculiar position", Arif Rafiq, non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute, a US think tank, told the Post.



Sharif stepped down after the Supreme Court disqualified him for failing to declare "receivable" salary from a UAE- based company of his son in his 2013 nomination paper. The court termed the salary which was not paid to Sharif as an "asset".



The Chinese are treading into new waters: this is the first civilian government in Islamabad that Beijing has fully invested in. (But) while the Communist Party of China is deeply leveraged in the civilian government, military-to- military ties also continue to strengthen," Rafiq said.



"Nonetheless, some CPEC projects are bound to be investigated because of existing allegations of corruption linked to the Sharifs," he said.



"Some projects, such as the Port Qasim Coal Power Project, could come under greater scrutiny given the involvement of power brokers allegedly connected to Sharif family financial improprieties," Rafiq said.



CPEC passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India has strongly protested CPEC. Its protests have taken a concrete shape after Sharif came to power in 2013, the year Chinese President Xi Jinping also took over office, promising implementation of his grand multi-billion Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which included the CPEC.



The CPEC, which involves huge investments by China to gain access to the strategic Gwadar port in Balochistan through rail and road connectivity, has taken shape under the Sharif-Xi leadership with firm backing from the Pakistan military.



The CPEC is headed by the Sharifs close aide, Ahsan Iqbal, who was the Minister for Planning and Development in the Sharif government. Reports from Pakistan say Iqbal too may face investigations.
New Delhi: Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, will be succeeding his brother as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.



Sources said the decision on Nawaz's successor was taken in two separate meetings of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), chaired by Nawaz himself. Shahid Khagan Abbasi will be the interim Prime Minister of Pakistan because 65-year-old Shehbaz cannot immediately replace his brother since he is not a member of parliament.



The interim leader would be in power for at least 45 days until Shehbaz steps down as the head of the Punjab government, and contests a by-election to the national assembly.



Shehbaz is currently the chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province. The first major public office held by Shehbaz was when in 1988 he was elected to the Punjab Provincial Assembly and later to the National Assembly in 1990.



Shehbaz was again elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1993 and named Leader of the Opposition. Elected a third time in 1997, Sharif was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Punjab on February 20, 1997.



The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.



Sharif has always denied any wrongdoing and his toppling has rekindled concerns about Pakistan's democracy after a member of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party hinted that elements of the powerful military were in some way involved.



"We know very well what the crime of Nawaz Sharif and the Muslim League is. What do we ask for? We ask for civilian supremacy in Pakistan," Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq told a news briefing.



Questioned further, however, Rafiq would not name the military as a whole.



The army has not commented on Sharif's removal, or allegations they were involved. In the past the army has dismissed claims they are behind Supreme Court's push against Sharif.



Nawaz Sharif, who has served three separate stints as prime minister, has not commented on the Supreme Court verdict against him but his party said it had "serious reservations" about the judicial process.



Sharif was investigated for corruption after the "Panama Papers" data leak revealed his family used offshore companies to buy posh London apartments.







(With inputs from Reuters)


Hamburg: A man killed one person and wounded four others in a knife attack at a supermarket in the German city of Hamburg Friday before being detained by police.



"There is no valid information yet on the motive" of the man, who "entered a supermarket and suddenly began attacking customers", said police.



German daily Bild published a picture of the attacker in the back of a police car with a white, blood-soaked bag over his head, and reported that he cried "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) in the supermarket.



This account was not immediately confirmed by police.



The suspect, who has not yet been identified, fled the supermarket after the attack.



But witnesses gave chase and overpowered the man, who was slightly injured.



"It was definitely a sole attacker. The first reports about a possible motive of a robbery have not been confirmed," Hamburg police tweeted.



Police have blocked off the area, in the northeast of the port city, Germany's second largest and host of the G20 summit of world leaders in early July.



Anti-terror police have also been deployed to the scene, according to Bild.



High alert



Germany has been on high alert about the threat of a jihadist attack, especially since last December's truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market that claimed 12 lives.



The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the carnage in which a Tunisian rejected asylum seeker and ex-convict, Anis Amri, 24, ploughed the stolen truck through a crowd.



It was Germany's deadliest attack by Islamic militants, but not the first.



In 2016, the IS group also claimed a bomb attack in the southern city of Ansbach which wounded 15 people and killed the Syrian attacker, and an Afghan man's axe rampage on a train in Bavaria that wounded five, before the perpetrator was shot dead by police.



In both of these cases, the attackers had been asylum seekers. But prosecutors think they were radicalised in Germany and not deployed from abroad to commit the attacks, like the jihadists behind the November 2015 Paris attacks were.



Germany's domestic intelligence service estimates there are about 10,000 radical Islamists in the country, including 1,600 who are considered potentially violent.



Public fears about more extremist violence have grown amid Germany's mass influx of refugees and migrants, mostly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan as well as several African countries.



Chancellor Angela Merkel opened Germany's borders in 2015, bringing more than one million asylum seekers to Germany since.



Germany is a target for jihadist groups, particularly because of its reconnaissance and refuelling missions to support the coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, and because it has deployed troops in Afghanistan since 2001.








Seoul: South Korea said on Saturday it will proceed with the deployment of four additional units of the US THAAD anti-missile defence system after North Korea's latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.



The deployment of the additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) units had been delayed after the initial two units, after South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered an environmental assessment.



China has been notified of the move to speed up the deployment, the South's presidential Blue House said.



China has angrily objected to the THAAD deployment, saying it does little to deter the North's missile threat while destabilizing regional security balance. It believes the THAAD's radar can penetrate deep into its territory.
Canberra: The US Pacific Fleet commander said Thursday he would launch a nuclear strike against China next week if President Donald Trump ordered it, and warned against the military ever shifting its allegiance from its commander in chief.



Adm Scott Swift was responding to a hypothetical question at an Australian National University security conference following a major joint US-Australian military exercise off the Australian coast. The drills were monitored by a Chinese intelligence-gathering ship off northeast Australia.



Asked by an academic in the audience whether he would make a nuclear attack on China next week if Trump ordered it, Swift replied: "The answer would be: Yes."



"Every member of the US military has sworn an oath to defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and to obey the officers and the president of the United States as commander and chief appointed over us," Swift said.



He added: "This is core to the American democracy and any time you have a military that is moving away from a focus and an allegiance to civilian control, then we really have a significant problem."



Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. Charlie Brown later said Swift's answer reaffirmed the principle of civilian control over the military.



"The admiral was not addressing the premise of the question, he was addressing the principle of civilian authority of the military," Brown said. "The premise of the question was ridiculous."



The biennial Talisman Saber exercise involved 36 warships including the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, 220 aircraft and 33,000 military personnel.



It was monitored by a Chinese People's Liberation Army-Navy Type 815 Dongdiao-class auxiliary general intelligence vessel from within Australia's 200-mile exclusive economic zone.



Swift said China had similarly sent an intelligence ship into the U.S. exclusive economic zone around Hawaii during the Pacific Fleet-hosted multinational naval exercise in 2014.



China had a legal right to enter the American economic zone for military purposes under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea  or UNCLOS which defines the rights and responsibilities of nations sailing the world's oceans, he said.



Governments needed to engage with Beijing to understand why the Chinese did not accept that the United States had the same access rights within China's exclusive economic zone, Swift said.



"The dichotomy in my mind is why is there a different rules-set applied with respect to taking advantage of UNCLOS in other EEZs, but there's this perspective that there's a different rules-set that applies within another nation's (China's) EEZ?" Swift said.
UPDATE:

The man who crashed his sport utility vehicle into a tree Friday also suffered a gunshot wound to the face, according to a news release from the Lynchburg Police Department.

The 22-year-old man is in stable condition at Lynchburg General Hospital as of early Saturday.

Police responded to the 1000 block of Pierce Street at about 7:13 p.m. for a single vehicle crash involving a late 1990s Ford Explorer, Sgt. Mac White told The News & Advance on Friday night.

The driver broke his leg and suffered facial injuries from hitting the windshield, White said Friday.

There may have been an altercation prior to the accident, he said.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Central Virginia Crime Stoppers at 1-888-798-5900 or Detective A.O. Kittrell at (434) 455-6170.

EARLIER: One person was taken to the hospital Friday night after the vehicle he was driving struck a tree in a single-car wreck in Lynchburg.

No one else was involved in the crash, in which a male driver was injured, according to Lynchburg Police Sgt. Mac White, who said the drivers name could not be immediately released.

Driver intoxication was not suspected as a factor in the wreck, but the cause was unclear, White said.

Were investigating that right now, he said. There may have been an altercation prior to the accident.

The wreck, which occurred at about 8 p.m. on the 1000 block of Pierce Street, involved a late-90s model Ford Explorer, he said. The driver broke his leg and suffered facial injuries from hitting the windshield, White said, and was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital.
I exercised powers as a magistrate

This was the response from Earle- Caddles attorneys to the minors lead counsel Anand Ramlogan, SC, who has threatened to go to court to ascertain on whose instructions t Caddle gave the order to have restarted anew, the 53 part heard cases left in abeyance by her predecessor Marcia Ayers-Caesar.

In a letter to Ramlogan, dated yesterday, Earle-Caddles attorney Vishma Jaisingh from the firm Fitzwilliam Stone Furness-Smith and Morgan, admitted that Chief Justice Ivor Archie met with the acting chief magistrate prior to her decision to restart the case. Jaisingh said Archie did so in accordance with section 15 of the Judicial and Legal Service Act which gives him control and supervision over the office of the Chief Magistrate.

The attorney also noted that Archie discussed with Earle Caddle the question of starting over the part heard matters and Jaisingh said on May 31, Archie, in a letter confirmed the discussions and that the acting chief magistrate would proceed, as agreed between them, to rehear the cases which would have to be aborted.

No other discussions took place, Jaisingh said. Ramlogan, on June 21, made the request of Earle Caddle seeking information on who gave the instructions to have the matters restarted and what further instructions were she given and by whom.

In his letter to Earle-Caddle, Ramlogan referred to a press release from the Court Protocol and Information Unit on May 25, 2017, which stated the consensus was reached and the subject part-heard matters will be heard de novo and to a subsequent letter by Archie who denied that any decision had been taking at the meeting of judges, magistrates and members of the Law Association as well as Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC.

Ramlogan further noted that the denial by the Chief Justice that the press statement was badly worded had now called into question the veracity and integrity of Earle- Caddles statement in court that she had received instructions to restart the cases de novo.

Since then Ayers-Caesar has filed a lawsuit against the State and the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, claiming she did not resign voluntarily but was forced to do so because of the discrepancy in the number of part heard matters she still had. She also defended magistrates in the process, saying they are not generally not responsible for the delays which are caused when preliminary enquiries have to be adjourned.

Ayers-Caesar said she did not intend to mislead the Chief Justice about the number of matters she had outstanding but that those cases could easily have been dealt with by another magistrate as the law provides for it.

Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has also proposed legislation to deal with the 52 part heard matters left in limbo aimed at avoiding a recurrence of a similar situation.

He has written to the Law Association seeking advice on the proposed legislation __ Miscellaneous Provisions (summary Courts and Preliminary Enquiries) Bill 2017 to treat with instances where a presiding Magistrate is unable to complete or continue a preliminary enquiry, for any reason. The Bill proposes to create the power for another magistrate to conduct a new trial or continue the trial with consent of parties, when the presiding magistrate cannot complete it, for whatever reason.
Sankat installed as University of Belize president

Sankat, a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, who took up the position in February, was officially installed in a ceremony on July 27 at the St Johns Anglican Cathedral of Belize, Belize, that included an academic procession and musical interludes that included an ensemble by UWI academic and conductor Jessel Murray.

Murray had performed an ensemble in 2008 at Sankats installation as principal and pro vice-chancellor of UWI St Augustine Campus.

A UB release said that Sankat was installed by the universitys board of trustees chairman Harrison Pilgrim. Belize Governor General Sir Colville Young robed him with his new academic gown.

The ceremony was blessed by Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Belize, the Rt Rev Philip S Wright. Among those present were government ministers and elected public officials, members of the diplomatic community, and representatives of the UWI, and representatives of UB students, staff, and alumni.

Sankat, an engineer by training spoke of his priorities for the transformation of the university.

Sankat said, it was imperative that national universities in small developing countries be supported in their roles because of the challenges they face in fragile economies. He said they also needed to be creative themselves so as to enhance and sustain human and national development.

I hope that I will be able, as your leader, to bring the knowledge resident at the university to shape, and develop a pathway for Belizes development through leadership, research, creativity and innovation and altogether bringing service and engagement to the people of Belize, he said.
Daagas wife to receive Nigerian title of honour on Emancipation Day

The ceremony will be held at an Emancipation Day openhouse event which will take place at the office of the National Action Cultural Committee (NACC), 40 Duke Street, Port of Spain, on August 1.

A number of artistes are expected to perform at this historic event, including nine-time Road March King, SuperBlue, former calypso monarchs, Karene Asche and Duane OConnor, 2017 National Calypso Queen, Sasha Ann Moses and Peoples Calypsonian, Bro Valentino.

The Stars of Stars Dance Troupe, the Guanapo Police Youth Club Drummers and the Sapophonics Steel Orchestra will also be in attendance among other groups.
Diego gets own Hall of Fame

Speaking yesterday at the launch of the Hall of Fame at the North Diego Martin Community Centre on Church Street, Sandra Singh, Programme Officer for the Commonwealth Local Government Forum and the Caribbean Region said the programme was designed to foster democratic culture in schools in local communities.

The Hall of Fame encourages the students to do culture mapping, to understand from within the community what are the gifts that resides in the community in terms of the heritage, and the people who have made contributions to the development of the community, Singh said.

She continued, For this Hall of Fame, research was done by students who were able to identify people from the community who would have contributed to the development of Diego Martin. She said students from 18 secondary schools from across the country participated in the programme, and trained in the principles of democracy, communication skills and community development and engagement.

Regional Corporation Chairman, Susan Hong yesterday expressed her gratitude to the Caribbean Association of Local Government Authorities (CALGA) and the Commonwealth Foundation for facilitating the Hall of Fame programme.

She said, many times, local heroes are overlooked or taken for granted and the Hall of Fame seeks to bring this trend to an end.

This Hall of Fame initiative will not only recognise our heroes but also inspire and encourage our younger generation to excel in whatever field they choose to.

They can now set a goal to aim for the sky and be recognised by our entire region. She continued, This is one of the most inspiring moments to honour the people of Diego Martin who would have done extraordinary things that would have made a difference in our communities and by extension our country.
Suratt praises soft drink ban

Since diabetes is a major cause of blindness and consuming too much sugar could lead to diabetes.

A patient suffering from diabetes could develop diabetic retinopathy which could lead to complete blindness. Suratt said diabetic retinopathy affects blood vessels in the light-sensitive tissue called the retina that lines the back of the eye, and is the common cause of vision loss among people with diabetes.
Sando Mayor hosts Emancipation Expo

African fashions reigned as many people were seen wearing colourful ethnic attire at the event. Going with the theme Ethiopianism, historian and activist, Haile Nikaeh Worlde Amlale spoke about Ethiopia and the people who came as slaves to TT from that country.

Amlale described Ethiopia as the holy land, saying the Bible endorses and identifies Ethiopia conclusively as the true Israel and the Ethiopians as true Israelites.

He said the existence of Ethiopia and the life of Ethiopians were both based on and intertwined by seven covenants: The Matrimony of Adam and Eve; The Rainbow of Noah; The bread and wine Offering of Melchizedek; The Circumcision of Adam; The Ark of Moses; The Throne of David and The crucified Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

Not only do the religious and cultural and social fabric of Ethopian lives but their educational, economical and political principles emanate from these seven covenants. This is Ethiopianism, Amlale said, adding that Ethiopians were chosen people and the children of Amlak (God).

I am speaking of Ethiopians inside and outside of Ethiopia, he ended.

The booths on Harris Promenade offered a wide range of African products including leather craft, jewelry and handcraft.

There were also African dresses, skirts, dashikis, trousers and a variety of plants and snacks on sale. On August 1, 1985 Trinidad and Tobago became the first country in the world to declare a national holiday to commemorate the abolition of slavery.

It replaced Columbus Discovery Day.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church marks twenty five years of celebrating Emanipation in TT.

This church has eight branches in Trinidad and one in Tobago. It was founded by the late Dr Liqe Kihanet Abraham Garnet Cecil Springer.
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has imported over US$$400 million cash since January this year to address the cash shortages but of that amount only less than US$200 million is in circulation.



According to the RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya, about US$200 million was locked up in cash barons hands who are hoarding money while part of it was externalised.

The country has long been facing cash shortages as about US$600 million is needed to meet cash demands.



The central bank is encouraging the transacting public to use plastic money and mobile money transfers to ease the high demand for cash.



So far $175 million worth of bond notes have been injected into the economy to incentivise exporters and ease cash shortages.



Dr Mangudya said: We have imported over US$400 million in the past seven months to ease the cash shortages. We will continue importing between US$15 million and US$20 million per week.



But lack of discipline (which include cash hoarding, capital flight and high rates) in the local economy is dampening our efforts to oil the market and turn around the economy.



He explained that importing cash was not an overnight process as banks were subjected to Customer Due Diligence (CDD) by their correspondent banks abroad. A correspondent bank is a financial institution that provides services on behalf of another.



Dr Mangudya dismissed claims that bond notes and US Dollar notes were shipped out of the country, adding that there was more cash flowing in the informal sector.



We still have a lot of physical money but its in the informal economy. Cash is not circulating and this is a cause for concern. This is what is called rent seeking behaviour which is not a normal practice, he said.



Due to this rent-seeking behaviour people want to do arbitrary transactions where they cash in on the shortage of forex. We call for behaviour change and fiscal discipline.

If banks are doing it, we call it abuse of office and if its done by business or traders its poor corporate governance.



We will compel the banks using the Bank Use and Promotion Act.

RBZ is pushing for fiscal consolidation and improving the investment climate and promotion of free banking to promote high levels of production.



There has been growing for the setting up of a Commercial Crimes Court, which awaits Cabinet approval, to deal with corruption and illicit financial flows. Sunday Mail
War veterans boss and former Cabinet minister Christopher Mutsvangwa yesterday said President Robert Mugabes memory was now failing, describing him as a revisionist bent on rewriting the countrys history.

Mutsvangwa was responding to Mugabes statements in his address to the Zanu PF womens league annual national assembly on Thursday that the 93-year-old received the war veterans chief along with his colleagues when they arrived in Mozambique to join the liberation struggle.

The war veterans chairman said he welcomed Mugabe and his entourage at Chimoio, contrary to the veteran leaders claims.

The truth is that I am the one who received Robert Mugabe at Chimoio Zhunda Camp and not the other way round, as now claimed by the comrade, who became the first President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

His version is patently a revisionist account. Only G40 (Higher Education minister) Jonathan Moyo could have penned it for him to regurgitate.

Comrade President, true revolutionaries have that attribute of historical integrity, as a cardinal virtue.

When addressing the womens league, Mugabe said he received the likes of Mutsvangwa and others at Chimoio, when they were coming from university (of Rhodesia) to join the liberation struggle.

We received the likes of Mutsvangwa and others at Chimoio, when they were coming from university.

They were four of them. We welcomed them, but today they are the ones saying the President must go.

He is too old, it is painful, but they are not alone.

They are being sent, Mugabe said in his address that included potshots at the military and a faction of the ruling party loyal to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
President Mugabe takes to the podium and starts with salutations before thanking the Youth League for the sterling job they are doing.



14:39 - He narrates the journey leading to the current youth interface meetings saying the journey started with the Million Man March held last year.



14:40 - Now its my turn to visit youths who travelled long distances to meet me last year.

14:41 - This initiative ensures that we remain in touch with the masses. President Mugabe says judging by the turnout, his home province has proved that it is Mashonaland Best, not West.



14:42  President Mugabe has applauded young people asking people to clap hands for them.

We used to hold rallies but we never did things this way. This is pleasing, he says.



14:43  I want to say, Zanu PF is the party which liberated the country. It is the party which lost its members at the battle fronts and it is the ruling party.

President Mugabe says when the country gained independence, they never concluded that the revolution had come to an end. Revolution is a continuous process, he adds.



14:49 - He pays tribute to earlier revolutionaries, the likes of Mbuya nehanda and Lobengula for making efforts to reclaim the country from the whites.

His Excellency says the heroes of the First Chimurenga were overpowered because they did not have lethal weapons like guns.

So, when we learnt of the efforts they had made, we took it upon ourselves to continue the struggle.

14:56 - He recounts the bombing of seven gallant sons of Zimbabwe at Chinhoyi saying the incident inspired others to fight harder and endure persecution by detentions.



15:10 - President Mugabe says dating back from the days of the liberation struggle, the principle has always been that politics leads the gun adding that the same principle leads today.



15:14  Government crafts policies. And those policies guide security arms. These are the Ministries of Defence, State Security and Home Affairs.

This is how all governments are run. We respect our defense forces, especially those who are at the top.



15:16 - Of course they will retire but we are going to find them room in government so that they do not languish, says President Mugabe.



15:18 - President Mugabe says he visited the graves of the fallen comrades who perished during the Chinhoyi battle and he would like to declare them national heroes as they lie there.

15:19 - Let us have a monument erected here and their names inscribed, says President Mugabe.

Father Riberio has written a book about them. He did some research about who they were and their background. We thank him for that, says President Mugabe.

He says father Riberio used to be their Chaplin at Harare Central Prison adding that he took care of him together with the late Cde Tekere.

We thank him very much, says President Mugabe.



15:23  People of principle. We believe this country is ours. We are owners of this country. We should defend and protect it. So how come? How come some of you who have farms have allowed whites to come back clandestinely and farm in your pieces? Have you failed to till the land? You are returning the land back to the whites? There are so many farms like that, he says.

He says people have been told the story of a donkey but says he wants to tell them the story of a Camel.



15:26  The camel was being used by a man and when it got cold, it made a special request to the master saying its cold outside. The camel ended up forcing out the owner of the tent when it got comfortable.

15:35 - Farms were repossessed, President Mugabe says, after Britain refused to honour the Lancaster House agreement

15:37 - I am only giving you counsel. Counsel as someone who travelled the journey throughout the struggle. Counsel also, as your President.

We must never let go our freedom, ownership of our resources, our story. The legendary story of our struggle.



15:41 - To the leaders whom we are working with in government, you must realise that what made us succeed was the aspect of unity. Yes, there are cases of discipline but what underlines all this is unity. Unity means we are together in mind, we speak with same language. We should avoid speaking and acting against each other. Gossiping, plotting and counter plotting against each other. I told Chipanga that you will be approached by some senior party members who will ask you to prop them up. Dont listen to them, says President Mugabe.

15:43 - Once you start listening to one part, you will cause divisions because it will penetrate your wing. Once your wing has been penetrated., we will have a divided party from the top to the bottom. I say to you stop them.

He says, There is talk that the President is going, I am not going. There is talk that the President is dying, I am not dying.





15:46 - Of course, I get ailments here and there, like every one else. But I am strong. Recently, doctors were shocked that I have bones so strong. I just said its the Lord. I thank God for keeping me strong for so long, he says.



15:49 - President Mugabe says he appreciates that there are people with ambitions to lead but he also thinks that a uniting figure is needed to take over.

14:50 -I look at the leaders at the top and the ministers. I ask myself that are they united? I see, No, they are not. They are divided along tribal lines. They are fighting. Some say we no longer want Zezurus. Its our time now. Then I conclude that as long as you have that mentality, you are not going to be a unifier. You are not going to be a good leader, he says



16:00 - President Mugabe says government came up with programs to assist farmers. He says those with plenty water are working with government under the command agriculture scheme whereas subsistence and communal farmers are assisted under the Presidential Inputs scheme.





He says the two schemes have yielded tremendous results this season. He has called on farmers to consider the possibility of farming crops like cassava, sweet potatoes and rice among others that are found in East Africa.





President Mugabe has also called on farmers to venture into cattle ranching adding that people must shed the notion that raring cattle is an old age thing.



16:06 - Responding to the request by Cdes Hamandishe and Zhuwao, President Mugabe has ordered the reinstatement of fired youth officers.



16:07  The request to fire 2000 youth officers, so I am told, never came to Cabinet. Whether it is the Minister of Finance, or Labour and Social Welfare, I say stop it.
UMGUZA MP Dr Obert Mpofu has blasted people agitating for the secession of some parts of the country saying Zimbabwe will never be divided.



The Minister has also appealed for political tolerance ahead of next years polls.

Addressing farmers during an exhibition in Nyamandlovu on Thursday, Dr Mpofu, who is also the Minister for Macro-Economic Planning and Development, slammed people and groups pushing a secessionist agenda.



There are those pushing for the so-called separation of Mthwakazi from Zimbabwe. They are delusional. They make ludicrous claims. Zimbabwe we dont want people to promote tribalism and regionalism. We are a united country, such a thing will never work. We wont accept it no matter what, he said.



Dr Mpofus comments follow recent pronouncements by a claimant to the Ndebele throne, Mr Stanley Raphael Tshuma, that he would revive the Mthwakazi Kingdom.



Mr Tshuma declared September 12 this year as the day for his coronation as King Mzilikazi II, which he said would also mark the official restoration of the Mthwakazi Kingdom encompassing the Midlands Province, parts of Masvingo and the three Matabeleland provinces.

Dr Mpofu said attempts to divide the country would be in vain. He also warned against political gossip.





Dr Mpofu said he always exposes those who come to him with the intention of gossiping as he knows that next time they will be turning against him.

He also said people should be free to join a party of their choice.





We are progressing because we are peaceful. We dont want anyone forcing people into joining any political party. If they dont want to join your party leave them, dont force them. And no one has the right to go around pinpointing others saying they belong to Zanu-PF or MDC. Why are you giving people political parties? Lets tolerate each other and desist from harassing each other on political grounds, said Dr Mpofu.





He said the country had a successful farming season with Command Agriculture and the Presidential Input Scheme propelling the country to a bumper harvest.

Dr Mpofu said those who are against Command Agriculture are not farmers and do not understand farming.





Command Agriculture is a Government programme that has actually succeeded. These (against Command Agriculture) are people who do not know what they want. They dont even know what they want. We are the farmers. We know what it has done for us. There is no farmer who is against Command Agriculture, he said. chronicle
No One Will

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Broke a leg while hiking? That's a good reason to call an air ambulance. Attacked by a yeti? An even better reason. Being all tuckered out? Not so much. The International Business Times reports a woman and her husband from the Swedish village of Jokkmokk were hiking in the mountains recently when they called police to tell them she was having trouble walking. Police dispatched an air ambulance and mountain rescue team only to discover the woman was having trouble walking because she was tired from all the hiking.

That wasn't considered an emergencyespecially because there was a cottage nearbyand the couple was given the option of either walking down the mountain on their own or paying for the helicopter ride, according to the Local. They ended up paying the equivalent of more than $3,600 for the helicopter ride. Mountain rescue should be for when there is a danger to life or health," a police spokesperson says. "If you have food and a roof over your head maybe its better to wait a bit until youre feeling a bit stronger." (Read more tired stories.)
A famous auction house must give up the name of the buyer who tried to pay $14.5 million for a rare idol the Turkish government claims was illegally taken from the country, a judge ruled Wednesday. According to Christie's, the 9-inch Guennol Stargazer comes from the Chalcolithic period between 3000BC and 2200BC and is one of about 15 such complete idols in existence. "The Guennol Stargazer is an iconic work of art and universally recognized as the finest Kiliya idol in existence," the auction house's head of antiquities says. Back in April, an anonymous buyer agreed to pay $14.5 million for the idol at auction. The next day, the Turkish government filed a lawsuit demanding the return of the idol and the would-be buyer's name, Courthouse News reports.

Now, despite the buyer backing out of the sale, a judge has ruled Christie's must hand over the buyer's name and contact information to lawyers for the Turkish government. Artnet News calls the ruling "highly unusual." The judge reasons the buyer may have "information about the idol, about the bidding process, or about Christies vigilance in determining the provenance of the idol. According to Turkey, the Guennol Stargazer was illegally dug up and smuggled out of the country in the 1960s. It's changed hands multiple times prior to being put up for auction by Christie's. The idol is an irreplaceable part of Turkeys cultural patrimony," a lawyer for the Turkish government says. The Guennol Stargazer is currently being held in a vault at Christie's. (Read more Christie's stories.)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Saturday the second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile demonstrated his country can hit the US mainland, hours after the launch left analysts concluding that a wide swath of the United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now in range of North Korean weapons. The Korean Central News Agency said that Kim expressed "great satisfaction" after the Hwasong-14 missile, which the country first launched on July 4, reached a maximum height of 2,314 miles and traveled 620 miles from the launch point before landing in waters near Japan. Kim said the launch late Friday sent a "serious warning" to the United States, which has been "meaninglessly blowing its trumpet" with threats of war and stronger sanctions, the KCNA said.

The agency quoted Kim as saying that the latest launch reaffirmed the reliability of the country's ICBM system and confirmed an ability to launch the missile at "random regions and locations at random times" with the "entire" US mainland now within range. A physicist and co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists tells the AP that if reports of the missile's maximum altitude and flight time are correct, it would have a theoretical range of at least 6,500 miles, meaning it could have reached Los Angeles, Denver or Chicago, depending on variables such as the size and weight of the warhead that would be carried atop such a missile in an actual attack. (It's possible North Korea could launch a nuclear-capable ICBM by early 2018.)
Daniel Roche's quest is an unusual one. As the AFP reports, he's been searching Mont Blanc's Bossons Glacier for years, looking for decades-old body parts. They could very likely be there: Two Air India flights crashed on the mountain, one in 1950 and one in 1966. And for the first time, he's found "significant human remains." On Thursday Roche discovered a hand and upper portion of a leg. The remains are being examined; Stephane Bozon of the gendarmerie expects they belong to two different passengers.

The 1950 crash killed 48 people; 16 years later, 117 were killed when an Air India Boeing 707 en route from Bombay to New York crashed near the summit. An accident report concluded in part that the pilot "who, under the mistaken impression that he had passed the ridge leading to the summit and was still at a flight level which afforded sufficient safety clearance over the top of Mont Blanc, continued his descent," crashing into the mountain. A BBC report quotes a mountain guide who went to the scene afterward: "Everything was completely pulverized. Nothing was identifiable except for a few letters and packets." (A receding glacier revealed a couple frozen for 75 years.)
When Canada suddenly ended the Avro Arrow program in 1959, it left the country with a lingering "what if" question, the director of Royal Canadian Air Force History and Heritage tells the Canadian Press: "Would Canada still be competing in modern fighter design of our own aircraft today?" The Avro Arrow was the only supersonic interceptor jet ever designed and built in Canada, the BBC reports. According to CBC, it was meant to respond to Soviet bombers in the Arctic during the Cold War. When the program was canceledlargely over costmany of its engineers fled Canada to work at Lockheed, Boeing, NASA, and others in the US and UK. "It tugs at the Canadian psyche of what could have been in Canada," mining CEO John Burzynski tells the BBC.

Burzynski is leading an effort to reclaim a piece of Canadian military history. When the Avro Arrow program was ended, pretty much everything was destroyed. But it's believed nine missing one-eighth-sized Arrow models launched over Lake Ontario in the 1950s to test the jet's flight design are still somewhere at the bottom of the lake. On Friday, an underwater vehicle equipped with military-grade sonar was deployed to find the missing Avro Arrow models, which would get new, drier homes in museums. "By finding and retrieving these marvelous examples of Canadian advanced technological design, this project is a proud reminder of what we as Canadians have done, and what we Canadians can do," the Global News quotes Burzynski as saying. (The search is on for Caligula's 2,000-year-old orgy boat.)
A prisoner abducted and killed an assistant warden's teenage stepdaughter after he escaped from a Louisiana prison, the AP reports. Deltra Henderson, 39, walked away from his prison assignment at David Wade Correctional Center on Thursday afternoon, stole a car, and kidnapped Amanda Carney, per the Claiborne Parish Sheriff's Office. The 18-year-old's body was found in a wooded area near the prison where Henderson crashed the car. Sheriff Ken Bailey tells People Carney and her parents lived in a home across from the prison. Henderson "was a trustee and he worked cleaning flower beds and mowing grass. ... They have trustees that go over there and work in the flower beds. He abducted her and got in her car and left."

Bailey says Henderson stabbed Carney repeatedly in the neck and covered her in pine needles. Henderson stole a second vehicle and crashed it before he entered a nearby home on prison property and found a gun. He barricaded himself inside after a gunfight with prison guards. Police found his body inside the home after the standoff ended. Investigators suspect Henderson was fatally wounded while he traded gunfire with prison guards, before police arrived. Carney recently graduated from a local high school and was enrolling at Southern Arkansas University in the fall to study nursing. "Everybody knows everybody (here)," the sheriff says. "It's just tragic." Henderson, who arrived at the prison in June 2001, was serving a 30-year sentence for cocaine distribution, attempted armed robbery, and aggravated burglary. (Read more prison escape stories.)
A Missouri man is accused of critically injuring a woman by purposely dropping an old television set onto her from a third-floor balcony, the AP reports. Jackson County prosecutors charged 36-year-old Otishus Kirkwood of Kansas City with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Authorities say the victim, who was not identified, sustained life-threatening injuries.

Investigators allege in court filings that officers on Thursday found the victim unconscious in front of the apartment building, near a broken tube television set. Police say a witness reported that Kirkwood threw the large television from an apartment's third-floor balcony, striking the victim on the head. The apartment's occupant said the victim and Kirkwood were homeless, and that he allowed them to occasionally sleep in his apartment. (Read more assault stories.)
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After Elon Musk took over as the CEO of Twitter, he introduced a host of sweeping changes to the micro-blogging platform, one of which was asking users to pay a subscription of $8 dollars a month for the blue tick visible on verified accounts. However, it has not been a smooth ride for the billionaire as he had to roll back the decision after many fake handles got the verification or the blue tick after paying for a subscription.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 27F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Low 19F. Winds light and variable.
By PTI: (Eds: With fresh intro, details)

Lucknow, Jul 29 (PTI) Two opposition SP and one BSP members today quit from the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council causing a disquiet among opposition parties in the state.

The development came on a day BJP president Amit Shah arrived on three-day visit to the state capital.

The resignations of the sitting MLCs -- Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh, both from the Samajwadi Party, and Thakur Jaiveer Singh from the Bahujan Samaj Party -- have been accepted, Chairman of Legislative Council Ramesh Yadav said.

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Taken by surprise, the SP, the BSP and the Congress blamed the ruling BJP for their move.

Shah, who arrived here this morning, will be holding meetings with party leaders, ministers and office bearers till July 31.

The development comes days after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped the RJD and the Congress in neighbouring support and took the support of the BJP to continue in power.

SP chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said he had met Nawab on Eid and wondered as to why he had a "sudden change of heart".

"I will talk to him (Nawab), if he has not been kept hostage and ask him as to why he is not giving the ruling BJP leaders a chance to face the public (election)... (Why) some MLCs are being lured and tutored so as to enable (their leaders) to not face the people," he told reporters here.

"While political corruption is on a big scale in Bihar, it seems the same will be done in Uttar Pradesh... The people are seeing what is happening... Those who have to go will go, they cannot be stopped," he said.

In a statement, BSP president Mayawati said the BJPs "greed for power has turned into lust for power".

The recent developments in Gujarat and UP proved that the Modi government has put the future of democracy at risk, she said, adding that instead of bowing before the BJP, the three MLCs should have faced the official terror and harassment as that was the only way to counter such forces.

After submitting his resignation, Nawab said he was "feeling suffocated" in the party for the last one year and that he was ready to meet the BJP leadership if called by it.

Jaiveer Singh alleged that the BSP has deviated from its path and, therefore, he resigned from the party.

UP Congress general secretary Deepak Singh, an MLC, alleged that as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his ministers will not be able to get elected to the Assembly, they are forcing the opposition members in the Council to resign from their seats by giving them the threat of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department.

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The BJP has to soon take a decision on five of its ministers in Uttar Pradesh, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who are not members of either of the two Houses.

Besides Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, ministers Swatantra Dev Singh and Mohsin Raza are not members of either the Assembly or the Council and will have to get elected to either of the two Houses to continue as ministers. PTI SAB SC

--- ENDS ---
New Delhi:

The Central Board of Direct Taxation on Saturday announced that there is no proposal to extend the date of filing the Income Tax return. As per CBDT, all tax payers should file returns on or before July 31. The deadline for filing I-T returns has been fixed for July 31.

This announcement by the tax board is contrary to the reports that surfaced in the media on Friday that the Government was planning to extend the date of ITR filing. The last date of filing returns, the chamber clarified would remain as July 31, while urging taxpayers to ensure complete adherence to norms and timely completion of the procedure.

The government was considering the possibility of extending the July 31 deadline for the filing income tax return, a senior bureaucrat in the finance ministry told a leading business daily on Friday. "Taxpayers this year have been facing many new difficulties, so prima facie there is a genuine case to extend the deadline," said this government official.

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New Delhi:

Vice Chancellor Dr Sanjay Deshmukh of the University of Mumbai has expressed his inability to meet the deadline on Friday as lakhs of students are waiting for their result .



At a meeting convened by Ramraje Nimbalkar, Chairman of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, Dr Deshmukh said that while the results of some streams such as Management and Technology would come in before July 31, the university cannot meet the deadline for faculty of Commerce, Law and Arts, as a large number of papers are yet to be evaluated.

If sources are to be believed, Tawde asked the VC to ensure that the results are declared without any errors, even if it means a delay of two-three days. State Education minister Vinod Tawde was also present at the meeting, along with Niranjan Davkhare, Dhananjay Munde, Anil Parab, Sanjay Dutt and others.

Tawde also added saying that an inquiry would be conducted against whoever responsible for the delay and not meeting the deadline  the company which was given the contract, or the VC and university officials.

Deshmukh said that the university will try its best to declare the results of all the major faculties by first week of August, after which a few members raised concerns about the fate of students seeking admissions abroad.

As on Friday, a total of 3,70,290 papers were yet to be assessed. 78,506 papers were assessed and moderated on Friday by 3620 teachers, a number lower than the last three days. "We are trying to declare a few results by tonight and in the next two days," said Vinayak Dalvie, Officer on Special Duty (OSD).

The assessment work had not started until Friday evening even after system was set up for assessment at Aurangabad University as the teachers of the university were not tagged into the system by the service provider. Tawde said in the legislative assembly on Friday that the government would prepare a masterplan to tackle the issue of delayed results at the university.

Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam demanded the resignation of MU VC Sanjay Deshmukh and State Education minister Vinod Tawde at a press conference held on Friday. "The university is blaming the service provider Meritrac  for the glitches," he said. "There seems to be a nexus between some senior BJP leaders and the company as the tendering process has not been done properly. A Judicial inquiry should be conducted into the case. The VC and State education minister should resign for playing with the future of lakhs of students."
New Delhi :

Akshay Kumar, who is busy promoting his upcoming movie 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha', has revealed that there is a special reason he chose to do this movie. The superstar stated that 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha' is a story which needs to be told and this made him intrigues about the project.



Interestingly, the movie deals with the issue of open defecation in India and is said to be inspired from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan'.



Akshay, who can't stop gushing about 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha', asserted that he picked the movie because its story "needs to be told." He further asserted, "We are trying to address issues in films, with a dash of comedy, romance and action."

Also Read | Akshay Kumar was not the first choice for Toilet: Ek Prem Katha?



The movie also stars Bhumi Pednekar, who is sharing the screen space with Akki for the first time and the 'Airlift' actor is all praises for her. The Khilad Kumar asserted that it takes a lot of courage to play a role which Bhumi has portrayed in the movie.



"Its not an easy role to play. I think it takes immense courage to be filmed as she has been in the film. Some of the scenes have her pulling up her saree and squatting. These are difficult scenes to do," Akshay was quoted as saying.



Helmed by Shree Narayan Singh, 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha' is slated to release on August 11.

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New Delhi:

Bollywood actor Inder Kumar's sudden demise came as a rude shock to the showbiz industry. The actor, who was 43 years of age, had passed away with a cardiac arrest on July 28. While the entire Bollywood industry is paying condolences to the late actor his ex-girlfriend Isha Koppikar has revealed that Inder's life wasn't a smooth one.



Isha, who was in seen in Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'Don', admitted that she is still finding it hard to come in terms with Inder's death.



I just got to know about it. I am deeply grieved. This should not happen to anyone. Inder was too young. He was only 43 and is survived by a wife and little daughter. I am extremely shocked and saddened and feel deeply for his family, especially his wife and brother Goldie, who always stood by him like a rock, Isha was quoted saying to Bombay Times.

Also Read | Inder Kumar, Salman Khan's co-star in 'Wanted', dies of cardiac arrest at 43



She also asserted that though Inder had a great potential to be top notch actor, he let go off all the opportunities due to some of his habits.



Inder had such a great potential as an actor but he threw it all away because of some habits. Only if he could be more responsible, this wouldn't have happened and he would still be with us. We should always think about our parents, the way we've been brought up, our siblings, our spouse and those who care for us. Inder's life was full of ups and downs. He had it in him to be on top of his game as an actor but he let it slip out of his hands. I offer my heartfelt condolences to his family, Isha added.



Apparently, Isha and Inder dated each other for almost a decade, before parting ways after which the 'Khallas' girl got married to hotelier Timmu Narang in 2009.







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New Delhi:

Priyanka Chopra who is a busy bee with a bunch of International flicks in her kitty, is at present gearing up for yet another project. After drooling people over her power-packed acting performance in 'Baywatch' and 'Quantico', the global diva is all set to try her hands in the arena of producing.

Yes! The 'Barfi' actress is reportedly executive producing a American comedy series on the life of B-town dancing queen Madhuri Dixit for US network ABC.

Latest media report suggests that the yet untitled project will be a mirror to reflect the life of 'Hum Aapke Hai kaun' actress who is also a part of the project. Along with Priyanka the dancing sensation will also produce the venture like her US based husband Sriram Nene.

The story will mainly show how years back Madhuri had taken a break from Bollywood and settled down in the US with her bi-cultural in-laws.

Earlier in June, the actress took to micro-blogging site Twitter by giving a hint of something new and grand.

Also Read: Priyanka flies back to USA after much awaited vacation at Maldives

Being excited and teasy, the beaty wrote, "Loving downtime in the US. Back up soon with announcements. Til then enjoy."

Loving downtime in the US. Back up soon with announcements. Til then enjoy! pic.twitter.com/MEyc9rNAF7  Madhuri Dixit-Nene (@MadhuriDixit) June 23, 2017

According to reports, 'General Hospital: Night Shift' writer Sri Rao, Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper are some other names who are also important parts of the project. Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper of Mark Gordon Company (MGC) will reportedly co-produce the venture with ABC Studios.

On the workfront, Priyanka Chopra is currently busy shooting her upcoming Hollywood projects like 'A Kid Like Jake' and 'Isnt It Romantic' along with her famous American television series 'Quantico'.

Also Read: Priyanka chooses family over IIFA 2017, to enjoy vacation on birthday

Priyanka, who will also be seen in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 'Gustakhiyan', is also gearing up to attend the upcoming Toronto Film Festival after giving a miss to IIFA 2017.

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New Delhi:

Bhartiya Janata Party on Saturday criticised Congress decision to shift 38 MLAs out of Gujarat. BJP Gujarat in-charge Bhupendra Yadav questioned the decision to shift MLAs with so much of expenses when the state is struggling to deal with natural calamity like flood.

Today, when people are surrounded by floods due to natural calamity, Congress has switched off all MLAs phone. They have been taken to Bengaluru with so much expenses, given all facilities, on the other hand people are in distress, said Bhupendra.

On Friday, in an overnight operation, Congress flew 38 of its Gujarat MLAs from Ahmedabad to Bengaluru to keep them from being poached by the BJP ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls in that state.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala demanded that the Election Commission (EC) lodged a criminal case against the BJP for poaching its MLAs using money and muscle power, a charge denied by the saffron party.

In a major setback for the opposition party in Gujarat, three more of its MLAs resigned on Friday, taking the number of legislators who quit the party ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls to six.

Also read: Afraid of poaching by BJP, Congress flies out 38 MLAs from Ahmedabad to Bengaluru, remaining others to join later

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New Delhi:

The Baba Buddha Amarnath Yatra which is dedicated to Hindu deity Shiva, is all set to be commenced from Saturday. Both Rajouri and Poonch district administrations have promised a multi-tier strategy to provide a tight security to the pilgrims.

Deputy Commissioner Rajouri Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary along with several other officials from civil administration has visited the Rajouri Transit Camp located near Dudha Dhari Mandirand and planned and reviewed a detail security arrangements for safety of the yatris.

8-10 Safaikaracharis on all the days of Yatra are also provided to keep the base camp clean while the Chief Medical Officer will take care about the proper healthcare facilities for the yatris. All the representatives from Baba Budha Amarnath Yatra committee are hugeli pleased with the arrangements put in place for pilgrims by the district administration. While there are nice preparations to welcome the yatris, Sunderbani is also decorated nicely for the halt of 1000 of Yatris.

Talking about the same the officials said, "The pilgrims will be received at Sunderbani, Nowshera where small camps are being set up by local organisations with the help of administration whereas the main yatra camp is being set up at Yatra Ground of Rajouri."

Also Read: Amarnath Yatra attack: Doctors remove bullet from body of survivor

"Rajouri yatra camp is being set up with joint efforts of district administration, police, army and by Baba Amarnath Yatra Committee Rajouri," they added.

"After leaving from Rajouri camp every day, yatris will move to Poonch district where separate arrangements are being put in place by authorities with the help of local organisations where main camp is being set up at Dashnmi Akhada Poonch while arrangements are also being put in at Baba Budha Amarnath Temple at Poonch Mandi town," they stated further.

According to sources in the district administrations of Rajouri and Poonch, "Coordinated services of different departments including PWD, Municipal Committees, PDD, PHE, Health, Education and army as well as police will be utilised for putting in place all necessary arrangements for pilgrims"

"A multi-tier security will be put in place during yatra which include security of all camps and halt points, security and protection of yatra convoy, security and vigil on yatra route," sources said.

"Tight security will be put in place for a smooth conduct of yatra and security of pilgrims," AdSP Rajouri, Mohd Yousif was quoted while interacting with reporters.

Also Read: 16 pilgrims killed, 31 injured in Amarnath Yatra bus accident

Buddha Amarnath ji "Chattani" which is one of the ancient temples of the country, is located in the village of Rajpura in tehsil Mandi of Poonch district. Buddha Amarnath ji is located between the beautiful hills and valleys in the left of the river Pulasti. Every year thousands of devotees travel for miles to catch a single glimpse of the place.

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By PTI: (Eds: With details, background)

Lucknow, Jul 29 (PTI) Two opposition SP and one BSP members today quit the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council causing a disquiet among opposition parties in the state.

The development came on a day BJP president Amit Shah arrived on a three-day visit to the state capital.

The resignations of the sitting MLCs -- Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh, both from the Samajwadi Party, and Thakur Jaiveer Singh from the Bahujan Samaj Party -- have been accepted, Chairman of Legislative Council Ramesh Yadav said.

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Taken by surprise, the SP, the BSP and the Congress blamed the ruling BJP for their move.

Shah, who arrived here this morning, will be holding meetings with party leaders, ministers and office bearers till July 31.

The development comes days after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped the RJD and the Congress in the neighbouring state and took the support of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to continue in power.

SP chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said he had met Nawab on Eid and wondered as to why he had a "sudden change of heart".

"I will talk to him (Nawab), if he has not been kept hostage and ask him as to why he is not giving the ruling BJP leaders a chance to face the public (election)... (Why) some MLCs are being lured and tutored so as to enable (their leaders) to not face the people," he told reporters here.

"While political corruption is on a big scale in Bihar, it seems the same will be done in Uttar Pradesh... The people are seeing what is happening... Those who have to go will go, they cannot be stopped," he said.

In a statement, BSP president Mayawati said the BJPs "greed for power has turned into lust for power".

The recent developments in Gujarat and the resignations of the MLCs in UP proved that the Modi government has put the future of democracy at risk, she said, adding that instead of bowing before the BJP, the three MLCs should have faced the official terror and harassment as that was the only way to counter such forces.

Giving a jolt to the Congress in Gujarat, six of its MLAs have resigned ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, for which the party has fielded its heavyweight Ahmed Patel.

After submitting his resignation, Nawab said he was "feeling suffocated" in the party for the last one year and that he was ready to meet the BJP leadership if called by it.

Jaiveer Singh alleged that the BSP has deviated from its path and, therefore, he resigned from the party.

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UP Congress general secretary Deepak Singh, an MLC, alleged that as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his ministers will not be able to get elected to the Assembly, they are "forcing" the opposition members in the Council to resign from their seats by giving them the threat of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department.

The BJP has to soon take a decision on five of its ministers in Uttar Pradesh, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who are not members of either of the two Houses.

Besides Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, ministers Swatantra Dev Singh and Mohsin Raza are not members of either the Assembly or the Council and will have to get elected to either of the two Houses to continue as ministers. PTI SAB SC

--- ENDS ---
Kolkata:

In connection with the Jalpaiguri child trafficking case, West Bengal CID on Saturday visited BJP Rajya Sabha MP Roopa Ganguly's house here for questioning.

According to a senior officer of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), a team of the agency's officers went to Ganguly's south Kolkata house to question her over her alleged meeting with arrested former BJP womens' wing general secretary Juhi Chowdhury, an accused in the case.

The CID had unearthed a child trafficking racket early this year in which babies and children were sold, some to foreigners, through questionable adoption deals.

"We will question her about her links to Juhi Chowdhury and also we need answers of a few more questions", the officer said.

Read more: GJM strike: Mamata Banerjee government issues notice to agitators

Incidentally, the state CID had also summoned BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and two other leaders for questioning in the same case.

The CID had arrested several persons including the head of a child protection agency in Darjeeling and a member of a child welfare committee on charges of selling babies and children through questionable adoption deals.

These arrests were part of a widening probe into the adoption racket at the Bimala Shishu Griho, a children's home in Jalpaiguri town.

Sacked state BJP womens' wing leader, Juhi Chowdhury, and the chief adoption officer of the children's home Sonali Mondal, the home chairperson Chandana Chakraborty and her brother Manas Bhowmik were arrested earlier.

They have been charged with selling about 17 children, aged between one and 14 years, to foreigners by entering into shady adoption deals.

Read more: FIR filed against BJP MP Roopa Ganguly over rape statement

The CID had unearthed the child trafficking racket during raids at homes and nursing homes in Baduria area of North 24 Parganas district, in Behala in the southern fringes of Kolkata and some other parts of south Bengal in November last year.

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New Delhi:

A special court on Saturday dismissed the bail plea of an alleged middleman who was arrested in the Election Commission bribery case involving AIADMK (Amma) faction leader TTV Dhinakaran.

Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry denied bail to Sukesh Chandrashekar, who was arrested on April 16 and charge sheeted by the Delhi Police on July 14. "Bail application dismissed. Detailed order to follow later in the day," the court said. Chandrashekar had sought bail on the ground that his custody was not required as the investigation regarding him was complete.

The prosecutor had opposed the bail plea saying that the investigation in the case was still going on. He has been denied bail twice by a sessions court and then by the Delhi High Court. The court has already fixed August three to consider the issue of taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed in the case.

The Delhi Police Crime Branch has charge sheeted Chandrashekar for alleged offences under the IPC including forgery of valuable security, forgery for purpose of cheating, using forged document as genuine, possessing a forged document, intending to use it as genuine and criminal conspiracy. He was also charged with the alleged offence of taking gratification by illegal means to influence public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act. If convicted, the offences carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The police have alleged in the charge sheet that Dhinakaran and Chandrashekar had conspired to bribe election commission (EC) officials to get the 'two leaves' symbol for their party. They have told the court that a supplementary final report would be filed later against accused Dhinakaran, his close aide T P Mallikarjuna, suspected hawala operators NathuSingh and Lalit Kumar, who are out on bail, after completing the probe against them.

The police has claimed that the money allegedly recovered from Chandrashekar was sent by Dhinakaran through unaccounted channels with the help of other accused persons. Chandrashekar was arrested for allegedly taking money from Dhinakaran to bribe ECI officials to get the AIADMK's'two leaves' symbol for the Sasikala faction. According to the police, Rs 1.3 crore in cash was allegedly recovered from him at the time of the raid at a hotel in Chanakyapuri area of south Delhi. Dhinakaran was arrested here on the night of April 25after four days of questioning for allegedly attempting to bribe ECI officials for the symbol.

Mallikarjuna was also arrested the same day. His faction had hoped to obtain the symbol for the by-poll to the R K Nagar Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu which was later cancelled by the ECI after the alleged irregularities surfaced, according to the police.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa who represented the constituency. The ECI had frozen the AIADMK's symbol after the two factions of the party -- one led by Dhinakaran's aunt Sasikalaand the other by former chief minister O Panneerselvam --staked a claim to it. Mallikarjuna was arrested for allegedly facilitating a Rs50 crore deal between Dhinakaran and Chandrashekar. Dhinakaran has been accused of arranging the money from undisclosed sources and getting it transferred from Chennai to Delhi through illegal channels.

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New Delhi:

The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday sought an enquiry report from Chief Secretary of Gujarat Dr Jagdip Narayan Singh by July 31 on allegations of horse-trading made by the Congress delegation in its memorandum. Also, ensure proper security to all the MLAs and their family members, the EC directed the state government.



Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised Congress decision to shift 38 MLAs out of Gujarat. BJP Gujarat in-charge Bhupendra Yadav questioned the decision to shift MLAs with so much of expenses when the state is struggling to deal with natural calamity like flood.

ALSO READ: AM Singhvi speaks on MLA exodus in Gujarat, says BJP spent crores of rupees on horse trading



Today, when people are surrounded by floods due to natural calamity, Congress has switched off all MLAs phone. They have been taken to Bengaluru with so much expenses, given all facilities, on the other hand people are in distress, said Bhupendra.



On Friday, in an overnight operation, Congress flew 38 of its Gujarat MLAs from Ahmedabad to Bengaluru to keep them from being poached by the BJP ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls in that state.



Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala demanded that the Election Commission (EC) lodged a criminal case against the BJP for poaching its MLAs using money and muscle power, a charge denied by the saffron party.

ALSO READ: MLA exodus from Gujarat Congress continues; Ramsinh Parmar submits resignation to Assembly Speaker

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New Delhi:

It has been a couple of days that a group of 12 Gorkhaland Janmukti Morcha supporters are on a hunger strike for indefinite time in Darjeeling district of West Bengal. They are on the strike since July 21 and are not ready for a second thought on their demand for a separate state. The group of 12 agitators from youth wing of GJM is taking the matter further all over the district since early days of July.

While some of them are on a fast till-death in Kalimpong, others are staging protest by a hunger strike since July 21 in several hill areas of West Bengal such as Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik. The entire process is been staged to create pressure on the Centre to make their demand accepted.

Meanwhile West bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has advised all the agitators to take medical help as they are on hunger for long. The Mamata Banerjee government further warned that protestors who have denied to follow the same. The GJM supporters, denying to take an aid may also be booked for abetment to suicide and murder.

In the mid of such tensed and horrible environment in the place, Darjeeling district magistrate Joyoshi Das Gupta on Friday issued a notice to the protestors which reads, "You are requested to kindly avail medical aid as will be advised by the medical officers. You are to inform us or persons around you in case you feel any weakness or dizziness."

Also Read: GJM hires Maoists to launch arm-struggle in Darjeeling, says WB police

"All concerned may note as per Indian law, any person who directly or indirectly tries to prevent government authorities from providing medical assistance to persons on fast including removal to hospitals when required, may be liable for punishment for abetment to suicide and abetment to murder," the notice adds.

West Bengal: Two policemen injured in clash between GJMM supporters and Police in Kurseong's Sukna. One person arrested. pic.twitter.com/Ld4gYyAWTY  ANI (@ANI_news) July 29, 2017

You are requested to kindly monitor the health conditions of people on fast at Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik. Your personal intervention is requested to shift them to hospital," the notice to Darjeeling and Kalimpong legislators Amar Singh Rai and Rohit Sharma reads further.

A couple of medical officers are also appointed in all the four districts to keep a tab whether the agitators are suffering illness and need any kind of medical help to be cured.

"They have started the indefinite hunger strike on their own will. If they need medical assistance, they can do so at their own will. But the manner in which the administration made some communications today is unfortunate. The movement will continue until our demand is achieved," Prakash Gurung, Yuva Morcha president was quoted while talking about the notice.

Also Read: 38-year-old killed in police firing, claim Gorkhaland supporters



The indefinite strike which is on its 45th day has a huge impact on the schools, colleges, shops and several other daily activities of the. A feel of horror and panic is hugely disturbing the daily lives across Darjeeling and its suburbs.

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New Delhi:

The National Investigation Agency have declared controversial preacher Zakir Naik a proclaimed offender. The NIA also said that his assets will be attached.



On July 19, the passport of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, wanted in connection with alleged terror funding cases, was revoked at the request of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), officials said.

"The Mumbai Regional Passport Office has approved the NIA's request to revoke Zakir Naik's passport," a spokesperson for the anti-terror agency said on Tuesday. The 51-year-old televangelist, who is currently abroad, is being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for charges related to terror and money laundering.

Recently a special court in Mumbai declared Naik a proclaimed offender, following the process of attachment of his assets under section 83 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) had been initiated.

The Mumbai-based preacher, who left India on July 1,2016, came under the lens of security agencies after some terrorists allegedly involved in the attack on a cafe in Dhakain July 2016 reportedly claimed they were inspired by his speeches.

Naik had his passport renewed in January 2016 and it was valid for 10 years. The NIA had on November 18, 2016, registered a case against Naik at its Mumbai branch under various sections ofthe Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

His city-based NGO, Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), has already been declared an unlawful association by the Centre. The controversial preacher has been accused of spreading hatred by his provocative speeches, funding terrorists and laundering several crores of rupees over the years.

Naik, a medical doctor-turned preacher, during his interactions with the Indian media from his haven abroad has repeatedly denied all charges. He was served a show-cause notice by the passportauthorities asking as to why his travel document should not be revoked.

The Interpol was approached against Naik after a year-long probe during which the NIA gathered evidence of his IRF and Peace TV being used to allegedly promote hatred between different religious groups. Besides banning his NGO, the central government has taken his TV channel off air.

With PTI inputs





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New Delhi:

Pakistan on Saturday violated ceasefire in Digwar sector of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir. Indian Army is retaliating strongly.

Exchange of fire started at 7:45 PM. This is first ceasefire violation after the resignation of Nawaz Sharif.

Earlier on July 18, Pakistan violated ceasefire along the Line of Control in Mandher sector in Poonch of Jammu and Kashmir.

On July 17, a minor girl and an Indian Army jawan were killed in a cross-border firing by Pakistan on Monday near the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch's Balakote.

The army jawan killed in the crossfire has been identified as Naik Muddasar Ahmed, a native of J&K's Tral region.

Also read: J-K: Pakistan violates ceasefire in Poonch; Army giving befitting response

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New Delhi:

In a shocker to Samajwadi Party, two party MLCs (Members of Legislative Council) resigned on Saturday. MLC Yashwant Sinha and Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder and MLC Bukkal Nawab tendered their resignations in a gap of few hours.A BSP MLC Thakur Jaiveer Singh also tendered his resignation around noon.A



After resigning from the party, Nawab praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.



"Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is doing good work and PM Modi has given a good slogan of 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas'. If they invite, then I might go with BJP. Yogi is also doing a good job in the state; at least there has not been any scam yet," Nawab told ANI.



Taking a jibe at Samajwadi Party and the family drama he said, "I am feeling very suffocated since last one-year. It is clear that when he (Akhilesh) is not with his own father then how can he be with the people.



He added that it doesn't feel right while writing party's name as Samajwadi Party, rather they should call it 'Samajwadi Akhaada', since it has become an arena now.



He further said, "More people may resign from the party soon."



The resignations coincide with BJP president Amit Shah's visit to Lucknow, rising speculations that the MLCs will join the ruling party later in the day.A



Talking about SP MLCs resignation, State minister Siddharth Nath Singh told ANI, the SP leadership should answer this question.A



He said, "Akhilesh Yadav will be the best person to explain why they resigned." Meanwhile, Amit Shah will first hold a day-long meeting with party office-bearers and then with Yogi Adityanath cabinet to plug gaps between the organization and the government. During his visit, Shah is also likely to defuse tension brewing between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. His visit will clear the air over Adityanath and Maurya quitting their Lok Sabha seats from Gorakhpur and Phulpur respectively.

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party MLC& Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder Bukkal Nawab resigns from the party, praises PM Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath pic.twitter.com/1qk1twb73i a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 29, 2017

A

SP MLC Yashwant Singh has also resigned from the party a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 29, 2017

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Akhilesh Yadav will be the best person to explain why they resigned: UP Minister Siddharth Nath Singh on SP MLCs' resignation pic.twitter.com/4ft8G3MhyH a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 29, 2017

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Uttar Pradesh: BJP workers welcome party President Amit Shah in Lucknow. pic.twitter.com/bot3AiW8oZ a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 29, 2017

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New Delhi:

According to former chief minister Omar Abdullah, those who are demanding a debate on the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir are 'playing with fire' as the issue is linked to the state's accession to India.



His remarks came after Attorney General K K Venugopal recently told the Supreme Court that the NDA government wanted a "larger debate" on Article 35A which provides special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.



"How can you debate special status of Jammu and Kashmir without debating accession? You can't. They are two sides of the same coin. J-K acceded to India on the special status that was granted to it," Omar said.



He said the BJP needs to understand that the outfits which are bringing this up are "playing with fire".



"It's these sort of steps that glamorise Azaadi," he said at the event 'Understanding Kashmir', hosted by social group 'BRIEF'.



"We have been consistent on the fact that the accession of J-K to India has been final. We have been consistent that whatever solutions we want to find, we want to find them within the four walls of the Constitution," he said.



Referring to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statement that one can change friends but not neighbours, he said a "positive and constructive" engagement with Pakistan is a necessity to find a solution to the Kashmir problem.



Blaming the Centre for the "shrinking" of political space for mainstream parties in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar said it has become popular to blame Pakistan for everything that is happening in the state.



"It's not just mainstream players in Jammu and Kashmir who are responsible for what is happening. The Union of India is responsible, whether it was the UPA or the NDA government.



It's popular to blame our neighbour for everything that is happening in the state but it is not true," he said.



The former chief minister said while the country knows that Pakistan fishes in troubled waters, "we also know that they are not the creators of the agitations we have seen in 2008, 2010 or 2016".



There is a fair amount of blame to be shared across the board, he said. "Who you want to blame and how much for, depends on which side you are sitting on."



Omar said the erosion of political space this time has been far more rapid than it has been in recent years and cited the state government's failure to conduct an election in south Kashmir.



"This is the first election in J&K that the Hurriyat conference has won, because since 1996 they have been saying that elections should not take place. There should be a boycott. Elections should be disrupted. On the back of the protests, you cancelled that election and handed victory to them," he said.



Omar said it was not just the political space of the regional parties that has shrunk, "even the ability of the government of India and the Election Commission has shrunk to the point that you put your hands up and walked away".



He also said he was shocked at the logic being offered for the Armed Forces Tribunal's decision to grant bail to five army personnel convicted in the 2010 Macchil fake encounter case.



"I'm shocked at the logic that's being given. That they were wearing Pathan suits and that they cannot be treated as civilians, I'm sorry, I'm wearing one. Am I not a civilian?" he asked.



The Armed Forces Tribunal had suspended the life sentence awarded to the Army personnel, including two officers, for allegedly staging the killing of three Kashmiri men in Macchil and granted them bail.



Omar also spoke on the reports that Zakir Musa was heading Al-Qaeda in the Kashmir Valley, saying that there was nothing new about it.



"The largest militant group operating in the Valley today is still the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and it's predominantly made of Kashmiri youngsters and their aim is political. Their aim is to remove J&K as a part of India. Their aim is not Musa's Al-Qaeda-driven aim," he said.

Musa is not a new phenomenon, Omar said.



"You have given him the name of Al-Qaeda. But people coming and fighting in the name of religion have been doing it since the mid-90s when Pakistan found that their ability to galvanise support from local Kashmiris on a political slogan wasn't working.



"They tried to give the slogan of jihad to attract other nationalities. What were Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and others? They were religious-driven organisations. So today Zakir Musa is an extension of that," he said.

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New Delhi:

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Saturday said that it is not within scope of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister to decide if India and Pakistan going to engage in dialogue.

"Not within scope of J&K CM to decide if India and Pakistan going to engage. But when you fight polls on that you setting yourself for defeat," said Omar.

Omar said that as regional political player one should understand limitations and problem is in desire to attract votes as we sell promises beyond ability to deliver.

Earlier, Former J&K Chief Minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah suggested the Indian government to take help of friendly countries in talks with Pakistan to resolve cross-border firing.

Reacting to Farooq's statement, Mehbooba Mufti said that there should not be third-party mediation in India-Pakistan relationships.

"What is the situation in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq today? Does Farooq sahab wants same thing to happen to us?," said Mufti.

"America and China should handle their own affairs, we should talk with each other," Mufti told.

Also read: Revive Lahore Declaration for peace in J&K: CM Mufti urges Modi Government

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New Delhi:

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday urged the Modi Government to 'revive Lahore Declaration so that we can live peacefully in Jammu and Kashmir.'



CM's remarks come a day after she had warned the government against diluting Article 370, which grants special status to the state.



Lahore Declaration refers to the agreement signed between India and Pakistan after the Kargil War. The treaty, signed by then Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Pak counterpart Pervez Musharraf on February 21, 1999, entails minimum interference in each other's internal affairs and de-escalation of conflict through several strategic measures.

Suggested read | If Article 35A is tinkered with there will be no one left to hold tricolour in Kashmir: CM Mehbooba Mufti





I appeal Centre to revive Lahore Declaration so that we can live peacefully in Jammu and Kashmir: J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti pic.twitter.com/VMViaASOcA  ANI (@ANI_news) July 29, 2017

Here are excerpts of the historic 'Lahore Declaration 1999'



The Prime Ministers of the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan... have agreed that their respective Governments:



#shall intensify their efforts to resolve all issues, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.



#shall refrain from intervention and interference in each other's internal affairs.



#shall intensify their composite and integrated dialogue process for an early and positive outcome of the agreed bilateral agenda.



#shall take immediate steps for reducing the risk of accidental or unauthorised use of nuclear weapons and discuss concepts and doctrines with a view to elaborating measures for confidence building in the nuclear and conventional fields, aimed at prevention of conflict.



#reaffirm their commitment to the goals and objectives of SAARC and to concert their efforts towards the realisation of the SAARC vision for the year 2000 and beyond with a view to promoting the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to improve their quality of life through accelerated economic growth, social progress and cultural development.



#reaffirm their condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and their determination to combat this menace.



#shall promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Jammu and Kashmir CM also urged Centre to focus on curbing trans-border drug trade instead of halting export import between India and Pakistan.

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By PTI: New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Police have arrested three men, including a Nigerian, suspected to be members of an international drug cartel and seized drugs worth Rs 10 crore from them.

In order to evade arrest, one of the accused jumped from a flyover while he was being chased and is currently undergoing treatment at AIIMS, the police said.

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The Special Cell sleuths noticed that Punjab-based drug dealers were procuring heroin from people of African origin in Delhi.

"This time, the traffickers had ferried drugs in roadways bus, autos and by commuting in the trucks to evade arrest," said Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell).

On July 24, the police learnt that two members of this cartel Sukhjeevan Singh (30) and Swarn Singh alias Lalli (33) would be coming to Delhi from Punjab in a truck through GT Karnal Road.

In the early hours on July 25, the truck crossed through the area but the two men slipped away in darkness.

However, the police team was aware that the contraband would be handed over to the buyers in southwest Delhis Dabri and the team rushed there, said the officer.

The duo were seen sitting in an autorickshaw and proceeding towards Uttam Nagar. The police team followed the three-wheeler and intercepted it on the elevated road, Vikaspuri.

Both the accused started running in different directions. Lalli, in order to evade arrest, jumped from elevated road with a bag and sustained injuries. He was immediately rushed to Ambedkar Hospital and later shifted to AIIMS Trauma Centre, said the officer.

Singh also tried to jump off but he was stopped by the police. One kilogram of high-grade heroin was recovered from Sukhjeevan. Five hundred gram of heroin was seized from the bag carried by Lalli.

A Nigerian drug supplier Chukwuma Celestine (32), was arrested on July 28 from his rented house in Dabri Extension and 610 gram of heroin and 985 gram of Methamphetamine were seized from him, said the officer.

During interrogation, Celestine told police that he has been involved in sending consignments of heroin to England, France, Italy, Canada, South Africa, Nigeria etc through courier companies.

He used to procure heroin from Afghan nationals who visit India and bring heroin to Delhi by several means, said the officer.

He was wanted in a case by the Special Cell and has previously been arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau (Delhi Zone) in 2015. PTI SLB IKA

--- ENDS ---

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New Delhi:

The much-anticipated visit of Indias National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to Beijing for NSA levels talks with BRICS nations, especially China has come to an end. During his trip, Doval met his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi and called upon President Xi Jinping.



Even though no official communication has yet confirmed that the two sides discussed the contentious Sikkim standoff, the visit can be considered vitally successful as it has forged a normal dialogue between neighbours during border dispute.



China, on Thursday, acknowledged that Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang met on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meet during which they discussed major problems in bilateral ties. However, China made no mention of the Doklam standoff.

Suggested read | Amid Sikkim standoff, India NSA Ajit Doval calls on Chinese President Xi Jinping



But it is likely that positive strides were made in the direction of conflict resolution. There was some recognition in the bilateral conversation about the need for more engagement before the BRICS summit in Xiamen early September, and there are likely to be some high-level official visits next month as part of efforts to defuse the situation, a top source told The Indian Express, without going into details of the meeting between Doval and Yang.



The report in English daily also hints at the possibility of visits by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and senior officials, including Joint Secretary (East Asia) Pranay Verma, to engage with Chinese interlocutors.



The Indian side has confirmed to Chinese interlocutors that Modi is likely to visit Xiamen, on the south-east coast of China and across the strait from Taiwan, for the summit planned from September 3 to 5.



Since the standoff began on June 16, China has been maintaining that there will not be a meaningful dialogue without the unconditional withdrawal of Indian troops.

Suggested read | Dokalam | Want peace with India, but won't compromise sovereignty: China

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Hyderabad:

Vikram Goud, a Telangana Youth Congress leader and the son of a former Andhra Pradesh minister, was allegedly shot at in his residence, the police said.

His family members said an "intruder" fired at him on Friday morning.

Vikram, in his mid 30s, is the son of former Andhra Pradesh minister M Mukesh Goud.

He was found with bullet wounds in his body at his house in Film Nagar, an upmarket area of the city, under suspicious circumstances, the police said, adding that he was out of danger now.

"The incident occurred between 3 am and 3.30 am yesterday", said Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone) A Venkateshwar Rao.

Read more: NYPD cop's wife gives birth to baby girl, two years after his death

Following a complaint from Vikram's wife, the police registered a case of attempt to murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and added the relevant Arms Act sections to it.

Ten police teams have been formed to crack the case.

According to Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahendar Reddy, in her complaint, Vikram's wife Shipali M alleged that an "intruder" fired at her husband, following which she rushed him to a private hospital in their car.

Reddy said as per the sequence of events narrated by Shipali, the couple was getting ready to visit a place of worship and Vikram was waiting for her on the ground floor of their house.

"Suddenly, his wife heard gunshots and subsequently, found Vikram lying in a pool of blood on the ground", he added.

The DCP said that according to the doctors at the hospital, Vikram was out of danger now.

According to the hospital authorities, Vikram suffered bullet injuries on his arms, chest and spinal cord. One bullet had been removed, they added.

"He is in the ICU and his condition is stable", a source in the hospital said.

Read more: Delhi: 6 dead, 3 injured after truck and dumper collide on NH-24

"The case is being investigated. We are scanning the CCTV footage obtained from the locality. We are reconstructing the crime scene. The victim is yet to reveal his version", said the police commissioner.

Mukesh Goud, a Congress leader, was a minister in the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government in the united Andhra Pradesh.

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New Delhi:

In an overnight operation, Congress flew 38 of its Gujarat MLAs from Ahmedabad to Bengaluru to keep them from being poached by the BJP ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls in that state. On Friday night, the party MLAs flew out from Ahmedabad to Bangalore and are now staying at Eagalton Resort in Ramnagar district, 40 kms from the city. Remaining party legislators will join later.

Six of the total party MLAs had already resigned from the party earlier and three had made their way to BJP.

The Friday night operation is an attempt to patch the bleed in Congress caused by elaborate plan scripted by veteran politician Shankarsinh Vaghela to stall the return of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel to the Rajya Sabha.



Looking at the current situation (in Gujarat), where attempts are being made to lure our members, we are taking 46 of our MLAs to Bengaluru tonight, a senior party leader, requesting anonymity told PTI on Friday night.



LIVE UPDATES

LIVE | #Congress flies out 44 MLAs from Ahmadabad to avoid poaching, only 38 make it to #Bangalore https://t.co/j1GE8kJDJb pic.twitter.com/y8p6L2wC6r  News Nation (@NewsNationTV) July 29, 2017



#Overnight updates

To hide their failure, BJP is trying to make sure our MLAs resign by offering money and through police pressure: Shailesh Parmar, Cong Gujarat MLA

To ensure BJP is not successful, 44 of us Congress MLAs are leaving from Gujarat for Bengaluru: Shailesh Parmar, Cong MLA



Earlier on Friday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala demanded that the Election Commission (EC) lodged a criminal case against the BJP for poaching its MLAs using money and muscle power, a charge denied by the saffron party. In a major setback for the opposition party in Gujarat, three more of its MLAs resigned on Friday, taking the number of legislators who quit the party ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls to six.



The Congress has re-nominated Ahmed Patel, the political secretary to party chief Sonia Gandhi, to the Upper House of Parliament from Gujarat.



In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the strength of the Congress has now gone down to 51 from 57.



The desertions have cast a shadow on the fate of Patel in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.

Suggested read | 44 Gujarat Congress leaders leave for Bengaluru amid talks of horse-trading by BJP

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New Delhi:

It has been a tradition to blow candles on birthday cake. Kids love to blow candles on the cake. But have you ever thought the tradition can be harmful for health. Researchers from Clemson University in South Carolina told that the ritual of blowing candles on birthday cake can create bacteria on the pudding.



We have never thought that blowing the candles on the cake, there could be chances of saliva being spit onto the cake. There are many bacterias present in our mouth. According to the researchers, the chances of spread of bacteria on the icing increases by 1,400 per cent when saliva gets spread on the cake while blowing candles. If the candle blower is suffering from any infection than it can cause a serious health hazard.



Dr Paul Dawson found the above conclusion with his group of students. The study evokes food safety concerns. Dr Dawson told Daily Mail Online that Dr Paul was having a conversation with his daughter and in that conversation he got the idea.



Although scientists do not consider it as a serious health hazard but they belive that precaution should be taken.
Grenoble:

Body parts that could belong to passengers killed in one or other of two Air India plane crashes more than 50 years ago have been found on Mont Blanc in the French Alps, sources have said.

Daniel Roche, who is fascinated by air plane accidents and has spent years combing the Bossons Glacier looking for remains, made the discovery on Thursday.

"I had never found any significant human remains before", he told AFP on Saturday. This time however he had found a hand and the upper part of a leg.

In January 1966, an Air India Boeing 707 from Bombay to New York crashed near Mont Blanc's summit, killing all 117 people on board.

Read more: Air India to stop serving non-vegetarian meals in its flights

Another Air India flight crashed on the mountain in 1950, killing 48 people.

Roche said the remains he had found could be of a female passenger from the 1966 Boeing 707 flight, as he also discovered one of the plane's four jet engines.

Roche contacted local emergency services in the Chamonix valley who took the remains down the mountain by helicopter and they were due to be examined by experts.

"These remains are probably not from the same person", said Stephane Bozon of the local gendarmerie.

"They are probably from passengers, but between the two aircrafts, it's difficult to say".

Read more: Suspicious packet found in food trolley of AI palne at Delhi airport

Just 10 days ago, two bodies were found lying near each other, preserved in a receding glacier in the Diableretsmassif in the Swiss Alps.

A DNA search identified the couple as Marcelin Dumoulin, a 40-year-old shoemaker at the time, and his wife Francine, a schoolteacher aged 37, who had disappeared in the Alps 75 years before.

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Beijing :

China has said that Nawaz Sharif's disqualification from Pakistan's premiership will not affect its USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, amid reports that some of Beijing's big ticket investments in the country may come under a widening corruption probe. "We believe that the China-Pakistan strategic cooperative partnership will not be affected by the change of the situation inside Pakistan," China's Foreign Ministry spokes man Lu Kang was quoted by Pakistan's state-run APP news agency as saying.

Terming the Supreme Court judgment against Sharif over the Panama Papers scandal as Pakistan's "internal affairs", he said, "the all-weather friendship between China and Pakistan has withstood the test of time". He urged political parties in Pakistan to unite for its national interest.

"As a friendly neighbor, China hopes that all parties and sections in Pakistan can prioritize state and national interests, properly deal with their domestic affairs, maintain unity and stability, and keep focusing on the economic and social development," Lu said.

Meanwhile, a report in Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said that China has been assured by Pakistan's powerful military and politicians that its investments in the CPEC would not be disrupted by Sharif's fall, "even though some of its investments could come under the widening corruption probe".

Despite the assurances it has received, the SupremeCourt's ruling has put China in a "peculiar position", Arif Rafiq, a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute, a US think tank, told the Post. Sharif stepped down after the Supreme Court disqualified him for failing to declare "receivable" salary from a UAE-based company of his son in his 2013 nomination paper. The court termed the salary which was not paid to Sharif as an"asset". "The Chinese are treading into new waters: this is the first civilian government in Islamabad Beijing has fully invested in. (But) while the Communist Party of China is deeply leveraged in the civilian government, military-to-m "Nonetheless, some CPEC projects are bound to be investigated because of existing allegations of corruption linked to the Sharifs," he said. "Some projects, such as the Port Qasim Coal PowerProject, could come under greater scrutiny given the involvement of power brokers allegedly connected to Sharif family financial improprieties," Rafiq said.

CPEC passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).India has strongly protested CPEC. Its protests have taken a concrete shape after Sharif came to power in 2013, the year Chinese President Xi Jinping also took over the office, promising implementation of his grand multi-billion Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI) which included the CPEC. The CPEC, which involves huge investments by China to gain access to the strategic Gwadar port in Balochistan through rail and road connectivity, has taken shape under the Sharif-Xi leadership with firm backing from the Pakistan military. The CPEC is headed by the Sharif's close aide, Ahsan Iqbal, who was the Minister for Planning and Development in the Sharif government. Reports from Pakistan say Iqbal too may face investigations.

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New Delhi:

North Korea on Friday launched an intercontinental ballistic missile for the second time in a month, the Pentagon said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.



Soon after the launch, a North Korea leader told media that the tested missile had 'all US mainland' in range.



China has reportedly condemned the missile test.



The unusual late-night test launch prompted the heads of the US and South Korean militaries to discuss military response options, the Pentagon said.It was North Koreas 12th missile test this year and second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in less than a month.



The US Department of Defence detected and tracked a single North Korea missile launch today at about 10:41 AM (New York time), Pentagon Spokesman Capt Jeff Davis said.



We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), as had been expected. The missile was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1,000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan.



We are working with our interagency partners on a more detailed assessment, Davis said.

Read | North Korea missile launch: Kim Jong-Un attends concert celebrating success



The North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America, he said.



Our commitment to the defence of our allies, including the Republic of Korea and Japan, in the face of these threats, remains ironclad. We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies from any attack or provocation, Davis said.



Speaker of the US House of Representatives Congressman Paul Ryan said: North Korea is a global menace and its pursuit of nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles poses clear and immediate danger to our national security. We take this threat very seriously.



Thats why, earlier this week, a bipartisan majority of the House voted to sanction North Korea. These expansive sanctions directly target Pyongyangs ability to threaten the United States and our allies. The Kim (Jong-Un) regime needs to pay for its actions, Ryan said.



Harry J Kazianis, director of Defence Studies from the Centre for the National Interest, a recognised expert on North Korea, said the latest test should not come as a surprise.



North Korea is slowly morphing into a nuclear and missile power right before our very eyes. North Korea will continue to test over and over again its missile technology and nuclear weapons in the months and years to come in order to develop the most lethal systems it can.



And you can bet every time they do tensions will continue to rise. This is what makes the situation on the Korean Peninsula as dangerous as it is, he said.

Read | North Korea appears to be preparing new missile test: Yonhap



A day earlier, Commander of US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris said North Korea is a clear and present danger to global peace and stability.



North Korean leader Kim Jong-Uns regime is not only a threat to South Korea, Japan and the US, but to China, Russia and US allies in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, he said.



(North Korea is) a threat to the entire world because North Koreas missiles point in every direction. Its the reason why we call for all nations to implement far stronger economic sanctions against Pyongyang, Harris said at an event at the Japanese Embassy in Washington.



The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing 98-2 a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.



Kim Jong-Un must end his dangerous pursuit of a nuclear weapon or face total economic isolation. The sanctions will limit access to foreign currency and the ability to conduct trade, severely weakening the North Korean economy, said Senator Dianne Feinstein.



It also gives us the ability to work with the UN to impose harsh penalties against any foreign entity that violates or helps North Korea circumvent these sanctions, she said.



In the past a few days, the Trump administration has ramped up its pressure on China to use its leverage on North Korea from going ahead with its missile tests.



We expected China to exert its very considerable, economic, political and diplomatic pressure on North Korea. The president has said he is not satisfied with the results, Sebastian Gorka, a top presidential adviser told PBS News early this week.



Thats why the president on the fringes of the G20 sat down with the heads of state of both South Korea and Japan to take the North Korean issue back to the UN Security Council. And why the president, additionally, at the end of the G20 had a conversation with (Chinese President) Xi Jinping to tell him exactly what he thought about what China needs to do right, he said.



Right now were going to maintain our policy of peaceful pressure with regards to North Korea, hoping that China can step up to the plate, while the president takes no options off the table, Gorka said.



Following the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford and Commander of US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris called South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Lee Sun Jin.



During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call, the Joint Chief of Staff Chairmans spokesman Navy Capt Greg Hicks said.



Senator Ben Cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the ICBM test is further evidence of Pyongyangs determination to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.



The US stands by our allies in Seoul and Tokyo, and there should be no question of our ironclad alliance commitments to safeguard our common security and the people of South Korea and Japan, he said.



In a statement, he said that the UN Security Council will also take additional measures to address Pyongyangs wanton disregard for the will of the international community, and the threat that its nuclear and missile programs pose to regional peace and stability.



This latest test also makes clear that the presidents approach to North Korea is not working, and I call on the president and his national security team to rethink how the US can best combine pressure, sanctions, our alliances and our military might with agile and forward-leaning diplomacy to seek to effectively address North Koreas malign ambitions, Cardin added.

(With Inputs from PTI)

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New Delhi:

At least four people were killed and several others injured in a powerful blast near the Pakistan-Iran border in the restive Balochistan province on Saturday, an official said. The Deputy Commissioner of Panjgur Abdul Jabbar said that the blast took place in the Panjgur area and those killed and injured were mostly local shepherds.



The injured have been shifted to a hospital in Quetta, Jabbar said. It is still not clear that whether the blast was an Improvised Explosive Device, he added. Iranian forces opened fire after the blast, delaying the rescue operations, according to local media reports.

ALSO READ | Lahore blast: 8 cops among 26 killed, 57 injured in explosion near CM house; rescue operations underway



As of now, no group has claimed responsibility of the blast. However, separatist outfits or militants carry out such terror attacks in the province. Talking about last month, 13 people including seven policemen were killed in a suicide car bombing outside the office of provincial police chief in Quetta.



Its been over a decade that Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings. Balochistan, which is the largest province of Pakistan is home to a low-level insurgency by Baloch separatists. In the region, Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate.



The largest province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran. In May, 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Balochistans Mastung area.

With PTI inputs.

ALSO READ | 2007 Samjhauta blast case: NIA court gives Pakistan time to produce witnesses

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New Delhi:

A 20-year-old youth from Mohali was shot dead by a group of men at a gas station in the US south Sacramento on July 26. He had moved to the US two years ago.

Simranjit Singh was staying with his elder sister and her husband, who had shifted to the country several years ago. Singh went there to study engineering and side-by-side he was working at a gas station as clerk.



He was the son of a retired Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) employee Ranjit Singh Bhangoo. As per reports, Bhangoo has refused to call the incident as hate crime but said that the entire family was shocked to hear about Singhs tragic death.

ALSO READ | London: India-origin Sikh man stabbed, turban ripped off in vicious attack



According to reports, a group of youths came at the station to buy liquor. They started drinking and littering the parking area, which Singh resisted.



He along with his colleague tried to stop the group but were allegedly thrashed by them. His colleague then rushed back to the station to call the police. In-between, one from the group pulled out his gun and allegedly shot 4-5 bullets aiming Singh. According to sources, he died on the spot.

ALSO READ | US hate crime: Sikh-American called Osama in racist incident in New York

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Washington:

According to White House, US President Donald Trump intends to sign a legislation which imposes punitive sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran. The legislation has been approved by the Congress this week.

The legislation bars Trump from easing or waiving the penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees.

In its statement, the White House said Trump "negotiated regarding critical elements" of early drafts of the bill and approved of the final draft "based on its responsiveness to his negotiations."

The Senate passed the bill, 98-2, two days after the House of Representatives pushed the measure through by an overwhelming margin, 419-3. Both were veto-proof numbers.

"President Donald J Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a late-night statement.

"He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it," Sander said without giving a time frame when it would be signed into law.

The new sanctions come as the White House grapples with several ongoing probes into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, which the President has blasted as unnecessary.

The legislation, could put strain on Trump's ability to improve ties with Russia, which he has vocally pursued, but has been restrained by the allegations that his associates had contacts with Russian officials during the election campaign.

Trump has denied any collusion between his associates and Moscow and termed the Russian investigation "a witch hunt".

Other than Russia, the legislation also seeks to make Iran pay for its "continued support of terrorism", and includes provisions to curb North Korea's nuclear programme.

Before President Barack Obama left office, he ordered the seizure of two Russian diplomatic compounds and expelled 35 of its diplomats in response to alleged election interference, a claim that Moscow has consistently denied.

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By PTI: New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) Of every 100 trains that the Railways cancelled during 2014-2016, eight were due to law and order issues or agitations, the government told Parliament today.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Railways, Rajen Gohain said that in 2014, 31 trains were cancelled due to law and order issues, while in 2015, the number rose to 540.

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In 2016, the number jumped to 1,149 and till June this year, the number of trains cancelled over law and order issues was at 121.

In 2014, 2015, and 2016, the total numbers of trains cancelled were 2,679, 8,605 and 9,235, respectively.

The number of trains diverted by the Railways in 2014, 2015 and 2016, were 4,056, 3,585 and 4,048, respectively, the minister said.

Till June, 4,409 trains were cancelled while 1,701 were diverted.

Most train cancellations were due to bad weather, delay in arrival of link rake, construction and maintenance work, accidents, and law and order problems, the minister informed the House.

"The yearly loss to Railways due to cancellation or deviation of trains is not maintained," the minister said.

However, due to train accidents, the approximate cost of damage, Gohain said, was Rs 38.02 crore in 2014, Rs 72.08 crore in 2015, and Rs 59.24 crore in 2016, respectively. PTI ASG KUN

--- ENDS ---
Beijing :

President Xi Jinping will inspect a military parade at China's biggest base at Zhurihe in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region tomorrow as the country gets set to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the world's largest 2.3million-strong People's Liberation Army.

Xi, 64, who is also head of the military and the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), will inspect the troops and also deliver an important speech. The event will be broadcast live by state-run TV and Radio, official Xinhua news agency reported. The PLA was founded on August 1, 1927, when the ruling CPC under the leadership of Mao Zedong carried on with his national liberation movement. It is one of the rare national armies which still continues to function under the leadership of the CPC and not the Chinese government.

Xi heads the Central Military Commission (CMC), which holds the overall command of the PLA. Earlier, the Hong Kong-based 'South China Morning Post'reported that PLA was planning to hold the biggest drills at the Inner Magnolia base which is also regarded as China'sbiggest military base. The Xinhua report, however, did not refer to any such plans. This year's August 1 anniversary will be held amid an over a month long standoff with India at Doklam in Sikkim section. Besides Doklam, China is also concerned by the situation in North Korea and the deployment of Terminal High AltitudeArea Defence (THAAD) missile by the US in South Korea much to the opposition of the Beijing.

The biggest military parade in China's modern history was held in Beijing on September 3, 2015, to mark the 70thanniversary of the end of the World War II. More than 10,000 servicemen and servicewomen marched down Changan Avenue past Tiananmen Square, along with about 500military vehicles, as nearly 200 PLA aircraft flew overhead.

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By PTI: Ranchi, Jul 29 (PTI) Jharkhand will become an Information Technology hub when nine IT companies will set up shop this September, state Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma said here today.

The nine companies would invest around Rs 1000 crore and the state government would give them space in the newly constructed Cooperative Bhavan at Namkum here.

The arrival of nine IT firms would help 5000 people would get direct employment, an official release said quoting Verma.

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Functioning of these companies would also benefit in the areas of agriculture and technology, she said.

The chief secretary said that better environment is being created in the state for investment in technology and investors too have appreciated its industrial policy.

After organising investment meet Momentum Jharkhand in February, efforts have begun to bring to the ground employment-oriented industries, she said. PTI PVR NN

--- ENDS ---
North Korea launched a ballistic missile Friday night which flew longer than any of its previous missiles and landed in the ocean off Japan, according to officials from Japan, South Korea and the United States.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said officials were analyzing whether it was a second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. On July 4, North Korea test-launched its first ICBM in a major step toward its goal of developing nuclear-armed missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Suga said the missile launched Friday flew for about 45 minutes - about five minutes longer than the ICBM on July 4 - and landed west of Japan's island of Hokkaido. He said Japan has lodged a strong protest with North Korea.

"North Korea's repeated provocative acts absolutely cannot be accepted," he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the launch "a serious and real threat" to the security of Japan, and said it would cooperate closely with the U.S., South Korea and other nations to further step up pressure on North Korea.

South Korea and the United States also confirmed the launch.

"We are assessing and will have more information soon," said Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from North Korea's northern Jagang province near the border with China. President Moon Jae-in was presiding over an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, Moon's office said.

Yoji Koda, a retired admiral in Japan's Maritime Self Defense Force, said in an interview with Japanese public broadcaster NHK that information that the missile flew 45 minutes and landed west of Hokkaido suggests it was most likely another ICBM.

Jul 29 (ANNnewsCH) - aaaaacacYaaaaaaaaaeZaaaaaaaaaacaaSaaaaaa
The Nissan Motor, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors group has become the world's number one automaker in terms of unit sales for the first time.

Major automakers have been reporting how many cars they have sold in the world during the first half of this year.

The latest release was from Toyota Motor and that shows the Renault-Nissan group's sales have topped those of Volkswagen and Toyota.

Toyota says that its group, which includes Daihatsu and Hino, sold more than 5.12million vehicles around the globe in the January-June period. That lags behind Nissan group which delivered 5.26 million vehicles.

Volkswagen came in second with 5.15 million.
Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, held a ceremony on Friday to commemorate topping one billion passengers since its opening in 1978.

At the ceremony, Makoto Natsume, president of the airport's operator, Narita International Airport Corp., said, "We will work hard for the airport to be chosen by customers." He anticipated fiercer competition in the future between airports in and out of Japan, due to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Susanne Sanaei, an American, said that she was "very surprised" to be the one-billionth passenger.
Businessman William Hagerty was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to Japan on Thursday in a ceremony that took place on the White House grounds.

Following an introduction by Vice President Mike Pence, Hagerty took the oath of office, with his left hand on a Bible held by his wife, Chrissy.

"I look forward to the challenge ahead of us," Hagerty, 57, said before an audience. "We're going to make a wonderful contribution to what is already a wonderful relationship."

Noting that now is "a momentous time" for the bilateral alliance, Pence said, "The United States and Japan stand together resolutely to confront whatever threats are posed to us, especially those posed by the regime in North Korea."
"The entire Kisoji is in the mountains" - this opening phrase about an ancient trail in Toson Shimazaki's classic novel "Before the Dawn" still holds true today. The 11 post towns on the Kisoji section of the Nakasendo road are linked by a road that runs through tree-covered mountains. I walked the section between Midono-juku and Tsumago-juku, post towns in Nagiso, to get a taste of what travelers in the Edo period (1603-1867) experienced as they walked this path.

Midono, which is about 1.5 kilometers north of JR Nagiso Station, was almost completely burned down by a huge fire during the Meiji era (1868-1912). The site of the honjin main inn, marked by a stone monument indicating Emperor Meiji once stayed there, is among the vestiges of the former post town.

As I walked along the Kisogawa river, the Momosukebashi bridge - a 247-meter wooden suspension bridge completed in 1922 by businessman Momosuke Fukuzawa to facilitate electric power development in the region - came into view. A little further downstream stands the Yomikaki hydroelectric power station, built in the Taisho era (1912-1926). Both facilities have been designated as important national cultural properties. The retro designs of these symbols of the nation's modernization evoke feelings of nostalgia.

As I leave the river and walk along the old Nakasendo road, I am surrounded by dense forest. Dotting the road are places of historic interest, such as the Kabuto Kannon shrine dedicated to Kiso Yoshinaka, a warlord in the late Heian period (from the late eighth century to the late 12th century), and a monument engraved with a poem by the monk Ryokan.

On the way, I left this road and stopped at the remains of Tsumago Castle, a mountaintop castle dating back to the Sengoku (warring) period (1493-1573). Only a trench and a few other ruins remain, but the magnificent view from the summit takes in the Kisogawa river, small settlements along the river, and the Central Alps in the distance.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 45-year-old man in the death of his male roommate in Nerima Ward last month, reports TBS News.

At some point from the evening of June 5 to the morning of the following day, Norimichi Iwamoto allegedly assaulted Akinori Ichikawa, 46, in the abdomen inside their residence, located in the Hayamiya area.

At 10:45 a.m. on June 6, Iwamoto alerted emergency services, saying Ichikawa fell down the stairs and was not breathing. He was later confirmed dead due to intra-abdominal bleeding.

An investigation into the incident commenced after an examination of the body of Ichikawa showed signs that he had been beaten.

Iwamoto, who has been charged with manslaughter, has told police that he wishes to consult with a lawyer before commenting on the case.
"Premium Friday," the nationwide campaign encouraging people to leave work early on the last Friday of every month and spur spending, faces a crucial moment a half year after its splashy debut.

Only a small number of companies have managed to establish the practice of departing early, while operators of department stores and amusement facilities are running out of ideas to attract visitors on the designated Fridays.

Travel agency H.I.S. Co. used to highlight the campaign on its website, but the post is now difficult to locate.

"With many people busy at the end of the month, not a lot of people go on holiday because of Premium Friday," a company official said, questioning the effectiveness of the government-backed campaign.

Yomiuri Land Co., which runs an amusement park, sold discount tickets only for the first Premium Friday event on Feb. 24.

An air of disappointment meanwhile hangs over the department store sector, which has been competing to provide different services, such as events and discounts, for early evening visitors.

"Few people are leaving work early and the effect has not been great," said Shigeki Yamazaki, managing director of the Japan Department Stores Association.

But there are some businesses that are benefitting from the campaign.

For example, izakaya (traditional taverns) specializing in tuna dishes have seen an increase in customers after cutting prices in the early evenings.

Jul 29 (ANNnewsCH) - aaeaeaaaaaecZaSiaaaaSiaaaaaYaaaaYaa aaaaaaaaZaaaaSaacaaaaYaaaaaSzaa
Five districts of UP, Agra, Pilibhit, Muzaffar Nagar, Ghaziabad and Noida are facing a serious drought that is showing no signs of lifting anytime soon.

By Siraj Qureshi: India is called a land of vast diversities and as almost always, this monsoon is serving to show exactly how vast the diversity is. When large parts of Northeast and West India are being inundated by heavy rains, causing property damage worth crores and claiming lives of men and animals alike, most of the Ganga-Yamuna plain area of Uttar Pradesh is parched due to lack of rainfall.

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Farmers in the northeast have lost their crops to the heavy rains and in Uttar Pradesh, the farmers are afraid of losing their crops to the dry season. Five districts of UP, Agra, Pilibhit, Muzaffar Nagar, Ghaziabad and Noida are facing a serious drought that is showing no signs of lifting anytime soon.

A senior administrative official told India Today that out of 72 districts in UP, 44 are yet to have decent rainfall in the monsoon season. Farms are drying up in these districts, but out of these, the worst affected five districts are gearing up for contingency plans in case the monsoon decides to skip these districts altogether. The heat and humidity is making people fall sick and although the Yamuna river is flowing with ample water to ward off any drinking water crisis, vegetable prices are shooting sky-high.

The month of July ends in two days, but the monsoon clouds have overflown these districts, especially the western UP, where 21 cities of 30 districts have seen very low rainfall. In east UP, 23 out of 42 cities have not had satisfactory rains. The affected districts of western UP include Agra, Oraiyya, Badaun, Bulandshehar, Etawah, Firozabad, Ghaziabad, Noida, Jhansi, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Hathras, Mahoba, Mathura, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Rampur, Pilibhit, Saharanpur, and Etah.

Agra's neighboring district Mainpuri has had 307.99 mm rains in July, Etah has had 274.3 mm, Firozabad has had 244.4 mm, while Mathura has had only 164.3 mm rainfall. A Meteorological Department official told India Today that the drought affected 5 districts have had seriously low rainfall this July.

Agra has had 53 per cent lower rainfall this year, with just 123.5 mm rainfall. The average for July is 260.4 mm. Rampur lost 52 per cent of its annual rainfall and got only 191.3 mm rains compared to the average of 399.4 mm. Noida got just 96 mm rains against an average of 204.2 mm, making a shortfall of 53 per cent. Ghaziabad had 105.8 mm rains against 238.6 mm average, with a shortfall of 56 per cent. Muzaffar Nagar lost 61% of its water, getting only 120.4 mm rains compared to 305.2 mm average. Similarly, Pilibhit too lost 62 per cent water this month, getting 152.8 mm rains against 403 mm average.

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Commenting on the lack of rains in Agra, social activist Vishal Sharma quoted a small verse "Shukr hai Agra mein nahin baraste badal, mere sheher ko barish ki aadat nahin hai". He said that although the dry season brings its own set of problems, it is a fact that Agra is not equipped to handle rains that last even an hour, let alone an entire day. The civic amenities in the city are prone to failure in the event of heavy rains due to the lack of drainage in most of the city, as was witnessed a couple of years earlier when heavy rainfall caused vast property damage in the city and the municipal authorities struggled for days to clear the water-logging in the low-lying areas.

Sharma said that even this month, the rainfall that took place a couple of days back, claimed the roofs of several old houses in Motikatra, Nagla Joshiyan and other parts of the old city, injuring a number of people. Several houses were also cracked, although the rain was not enough to cause serious water logging. However, even 40-50 mm rainfall in a day would be enough to cut off most of the densely populated outer areas from the rest of the city for several hours, if not days.

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Meanwhile, Agra District Magistrate Gaurav Dayal has instructed all Sub-Divisional Magistrates and Additional District Magistrates of Agra to prepare reports of the drought so that the compensation amounts could be decided for the farmers.

ALSO READ:

After years of dry spells, India enjoys monsoon bounty

Gujarat floods: Ahmedabad gets 200 mm rain in last 24 hours, normal life paralysed

Odisha to set up AWS, ARG for better drought management

--- ENDS ---
Several NHK cameras in Hokkaido have captured what appears to be a flash of light when a missile fired by North Korea is believed to have fallen off Japan's northernmost prefecture.

The light was recorded at around 0:28 AM on Saturday, Japan time. The North Korean missile is believed to have fallen in the Sea of Japan west of Hokkaido around that time.

Footage taken by a camera at NHK's bureau in the city of Muroran and another in the city's Shukuzu district shows a trail of light in the northwestern sky.

A camera in the town of Esashi on the Sea of Japan coast captured the sea being lit up for a short time.

Footage from a camera on the island of Okushiri shows the western sky being lit up briefly.

It has not been confirmed yet whether the light captured by the cameras was that of the missile.
A Japanese city boasting one of the world's largest hot-spring resorts opened a special amusement park on Saturday with a hot-tub merry-go-round and other rides featuring immersion in its famous thermal water.

The "spamusement park" will operate for just three days at the existing Beppu Rakutenchi amusement park in Beppu, Oita prefecture, after the southwestern Japan city successfully raised funds to set up special rides featuring the local hot-spring water.

The attraction became a reality after Beppu mayor Yasuhiro Nagano committed to open such a park in a YouTube video uploaded last November. The local representative pledged to go through with the idea if the video got more than 1 million views, a goal achieved in just three days.

The video's conceptual footage showed men and women of all ages wrapped in towels having fun at a park combining bathing and rides, which was originally an idea to promote tourism in the city.

The roller-coaster was depicted in the video as having seats filled with hot water, but the city opted to use bubbles made from hot-spring ingredients instead of water, due to safety concerns.

The city, which crowdfunded about 82 million yen (25 million baht) for the project, is letting only those who donated a certain amount of money enter. About 12,000 people are expected to ride the park's eight attractions in the three days it is operating, city officials said.

Jul 31 (Kyodo) - acaaYaaaaaaaaaaaaizaaaaiiaaacaaaaeSaaaaaaaaaaaaYcaaYaeeSaaaaaYaaaaaaaaaaaaicaaaaaaaaacaaYaiiaaa
The CAG has found gaping holes in the air-defence preparedness of India. The latest CAG report found that the missile systems, meant to be deployed along India-China border, were deficient in quality.

At a time when India is facing hostility from neighbours - Pakistan and China, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said that as many as 30 per cent of India's approved strategic missile systems failed basic tests.

The report, which finds serious faults in maintenance of IL-76 transport aircrafts and upgrades of fighter aircrafts, is extremely critical and alarming. It says that the central government had approved the introduction of Strategic Missile System, Akash in order to have necessary deterrence.

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The missile systems were to be installed at six designated sites during 2013-15. But, the CAG report says that the missile systems have not been installed even at a single site till date. The CAG report has said that delay in deployment of systems has cost Rs 3,619 crore due to execution of civil works.

The missile systems, procured from state-run Bharat Electronics Ltd were delivered late despite release of payment on time. The missile systems, meant to be deployed along China border, were also deficient in quality. It further said that the twin issues "posed an operational risk during hostilities."

30 PER CENT FAILED TESTS

Of the 80 missiles received till November 2014, 20 missiles were test fired between April and November 2014. Six of them or 30 per cent of the missiles failed the test. The CAG report says that the failure rate of missiles is too high.

Analysis revealed that there was malfunctioning in critical units. Two missiles failed to take off due to booster nozzle failure. The IAF, responding to the CAG audit in March 2017, said that "action for replacement of failed missile has been undertaken".

The CAG report is a major setback for the indeginisation effort and Make-In-India initiative to reduce India's dependence on imported arms. The report underlines that "the missiles fell short of the target, had lower than the required velocity, and there was malfunctioning of critical units."

DELAY DESPITE TIMELY PAYMENT

The missile has been fabricated by the state-run Bharat Electronics. The national auditor said that Rs 3,619 crore was paid to BEL but none of the missile systems was installed even seven years since the contract was signed.

The additional squadrons of missile launchers, radars, associated vehicles and missiles were supposed to be deployed at six air force bases in the eastern sector of India-China border.

The government had already approved related infrastructure including storage facilities, workshops and ramp structures. These were supposed to be constructed by Bharat Electronics on a turnkey basis at a cost of approximately Rs 100 crore. The report says that this infrastructure "could not be completed till October 2016 at any of the sites."

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The IAF has not taken over the buildings at two bases because of defects in the construction, which rendered them unsuitable for strategic missile system storage.

WHAT ELSE CAG SAID: THINGS TO KNOW The CAG report said that flying aid capability envisaged by the IAF for Jaguar remains largely unrealized even after 20 years. The CAG report further said, the non-dispatch of contracted quantity of aero engines abroad for overhaul and life extension during 2013-14 led to non-utilisation of aero-engines for ground helicopters and eventually the Air Force ended up paying higher cost in succeeding years. As per the national auditor the reconnaissance and surveillance capability in sectors was affected due to delay in construction of support facilities. This forced having a make-shift arrangement in place for recce for five years costing Rs 35 crore. As per the CAG report, the IAF has faltered in staying prepared when it comes to the capability to haul equipment and supplies for a fighting force. The Illyushins or the ILs are the backbone of the Air Force's transportation capability. The CAG report says that serviceability and maintenance of IL aircrafts are an area of problem. Underlining the lethargic decision making process of the Defence Ministry during the last few years of the UPA, the CAG report said the avionics of IL aircrafts has not been upgraded. These aircrafts fly with 1985 vintage avionics. This also has impacted the mid air re-fuelling capability of the IAF. The CAG report said that the Air Force failed to install auto-pilots on the now aging Jaguar aircrafts. Against the requirements of 108 auto-pilots for Jaguars of 1997 vintage, only 35 were procured between 2006 and 2008. Of the 35 procured, only 18 Jaguar auto-pilots could be integrated, the CAG report said. In the cases, where Jaguar auto-pilots were integrated, they were found to be working sub-optimally.

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ALSO READ |

Akash missiles, aimed at downing Chinese fighter jets in northeast, not installed: CAG

ALSO WATCH VIDEO: Doklam standoff: Will conflict with India be disastrous for China?

--- ENDS ---
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NEW MILFORDThe nearly 60-year-old Century Brass mill off Housatonic Avenue might have been demolished last year, but a snapshot of the companys first years in town were on display Saturday morning in a 1957 time capsule.

Mayor David Gronbach revealed the contents of the capsule to a crowd at the towns 50th annual Village Fair Days on the Town Green, explaining how the the town had found the capsule right just before crews began demolishing the building last October.

Land Use Inspector Sharon Millard had discovered a 1957 press release about the capsule, Gronbach said, which had been embedded in the cornerstone of the building during its construction.

It wasnt easy to find, he said. Right before the bulding was coming down, our public works department went in there...and discovered this and took it out. Hopefully it represents a new chapter not only in New Milfords developments, but for the property itself.

The Century Brass company, then known as Scovill Manufacturing, had created the 16-inch brass capsule to commemorate its new location in New Milford and the towns 250th anniversary. The branch, an offshoot of the Waterbury headquarters, would remain open from 1959 until the company closed in 1986.

Opening the capsule, Gronbach was joined by two residents who had worked at the Scovill plant.

The mayor first pulled out yellowed copies of the New Milford Times newspaper with headlines like Board seeking $20,000 to secure school plans and Added rooms at Pettibone needed first.

I mean, can you get any more relevant, Gronbach joked. Just incredible.

A copy of the Waterbury Republican newspaper was also in the capsule, the front page reading Sixth fleet sailing towards Middle East, Hussein imposes martial law in Jordan.

This is one of the great things about a time capsule, Gronbach said. It kind of freezes a moment in time and allows later generations to look back and reflect.

Other items included a 1957 Scovill calendar, a copy of the companys 1956 annual report, a company club necktie and a copy of Brass Roots, a book commemorating the companys 150th anniversary.

The last item was a pair of brass chimes, which the 1957 release said were made specifically for the capsule.

Warren Smith, one of the two Scovill workers who joined Gronbach on stage, told the crowd the chimes looked just like the brass tubing the company used to produce. He had worked for Scovill for 24 years after working for the construction company that built the mill, Smith said.

He said he remembers seeing the box back then, but didnt realize it was a capsule until later.

It wasnt anything that was registering with me," he said. I was just a 20-year-old kid.

Gronbach said the building had fallen into disrepair before being demolished. He added that the property might be the site of a new industry down the road.

In an earlier release, he revealed that several light industrial companies have expressed interest in the lot.

It was an amazing building, he said Saturday. This is a turning point. So, one time capsule and one building coming down, hopefully we see the ressurection of additional buildings and industry at the site.

aquinn@newstimes.com
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BROOKFIELD  When summer campers elsewhere were getting ready to bed down for the night, the kids from Camp Sundown were just getting started.

About 10:30 p.m. Friday night, a school bus full of campers, their families, counselors and volunteers pulled up at Mark Vacircas place on Candlewood Lake. Greeted by glowing tiki torches, they piled out of the bus and headed for the water, where they spent the next several hours swimming, paddle-boarding and riding a pontoon boat.

When it was time for a break, they headed for the ping-pong table in Vacircas garage, which had been outfitted for the occasion with LED lighting.

The change was critical, because the kids from Camp Sundown -- and many of their counselors -- suffer from a condition called xeroderma pigmentosum, an extremely rare genetic disorder in which skin cells are unable to repair damage from exposure to ultraviolet light.

Those with the condition must stay inside during daylight hours or, if they go outdoors, wear protective clothing or heavy applications of sunscreen. Even so, they remain highly susceptible to skin cancers, and most do not live beyond the age of 20.

Vacirca had met some of the campers families at a fundraiser and decided to invite them for a night of lakeside fun.

J.J., a 12-year-old from Russell, Penn., thanked him several times for changing the light bulbs from fluorescents to safer LEDs.

"Oh, this is so great, now I can play ping-pong as long as I want!"he said.

But J.J.'s parents still made sure he didn't play over an hour, so sensitive is his skin to light..

A girl from Long Island, 9-year-old Daniella, was more interested in dancing under the stars and posing for the camera.

Katie Mahar, whose parents Dan and Caren founded Camp Sundown in 1995 in upstate New York, described what life is like for campers:

We have very dark tinted windows everywhere and double doors which must be closed one at a time so no amount of light enters the lodge, Mahar said. My doctor tells me I need a small amount of light to be healthy, so I go for a walk every day just as the sun is setting.

Mahar, now 25, has outlived many with the disease. So has Chris, 24, who has been coming to Camp Sundown for 16 years and is now a counselor.

Joining them were several campers parents including Kristen Wheeden of Maryland, whose 12-year-old son has the disease.

It was a big surprise when we found out, said Wheeden, whose two older sons do not have XP. The disease is life-changing and impacts the whole family. There is so much anxiety. We have to constantly watch the weather.

Shes extremely grateful Camp Sundown exists.

Weve been coming for eight years, she said. It gives us a chance to let our hair down.

Another family who attended came from British Columbia; their 17-year old daughter has XP, but her twin brother does not.

Dan and Caren Maha founded Camp Sundown to give Katie a typical summer camp experience. The camp is free, surviving on donations and the help of volunteers. The Mahars also founded the Xeroderma Pigmentosum Society to help families with caring for UV-sensitive people.

Vacirca, who has previously hosted inner-city kids for outdoor events, said he was happy to share his place with the XP campers and their families.

Its hard to feel sorry for yourself when you hear what their lives are like, he said. I want to see them have a little fun.

For those who want to learn more, volunteer or make a donation, contact Camp Sundown, 437 Snydertown Road, Craryville, NY 12521, USA, (518) 929-2174, email xps@xps.org or visit www.xps.org/camp-sundown.
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NEW MILFORD  The four Finkle siblings, all in their 60s, have lived in a ranch house surrounded by placid woods for nearly two decades  the last home on Sandy Acres Lane, where the only sound likely to break the silence is a barking dog.

But on a summer night in June, their two TVs tuned to the nightly news, the balmy evenings calm broke with the sound of shattered glass.

After all of it, blood was all over the kitchen like a pig was slaughtered, JoAnne Finkle recalled last week.

All of it began when JoAnne heard sounds coming from the woods. She put down the birthday package she was preparing for a friend in Missouri and walked out on the back porch to investigate.

At first, she couldnt see anything, she said. But then her neighbor Michael Saunders emerged from the woods swinging a two-by-four and yelling incoherently about being pursued by two men.

Bee Finkle, watching from the window, said he was out there like a karate guy with that piece of wood, fighting people who werent there.

JoAnne yelled to Saunders that he was on private property and told him to go home. Saunders turned in her direction, yelling that he was being pursued, and started toward the house.

Mike Finkle, rising from the couch, told JoAnne to get inside and lock the doors. When he saw Saunders heading around the house for the front door, he ran and locked it just in time.

Saunders, still screaming about being chased, headed to the back once again. Mike grabbed the bats that Bee insists be kept by the front door for protection and returned to the back door while Joanne was dialing 911.

Saunders meanwhile had climbed the stairs to the back deck and started throwing lawn furniture into the yard. He then turned to the door and put his hand through the glass.

Still yelling about his invisible pursuers, he demanded to be let in. He even promised to protect the Finkles.

As Saunders ran his bloodied hand up and down the door frame, trying to let himself in, Mike and Bee propped the bats against the inside of the door.

But Saunders, more than 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, managed to unlock the door and force it open, trapping 93-pound Bee against the wall.

I was face to face with that loon, Bee said. He had hate in his eyes like the eyes of the devil.

Saunders grabbed Mike and threw him to ground, where they fought for possession of one bat. Meanwhile, JoAnne was making her third call to 911.

I told them, If you dont get somebody here, youll be taking out four bodies in four body bags,  she recalled.

Saunders was using the bat to lift Mike and slam him against the floor. Bee decided the only way to save her brother was to lure Saunders away by playing to his delusion. She yelled that shed help fight his pursuers and ran outside, hoping he would follow.

At that moment, police arrived. Officer Keith April, seeing Bee holding a bat with blood all over her arms and shirt, aimed his stun gun at her and ordered her to drop the bat.

She complied, but pointed at Saunders and shouted, It was him breaking in. April ordered him to the ground.

He said that two white males were chasing him and trying to kill him, April later wrote in his report. (He) began to ramble and say that they chased him from his house so he jumped off of his roof and ran to the (Finkles) residence to seek some help.

He was trying to force his way in because he was scared of the two males, April wrote.

Police found no sign of the two males and no sign of forced entry at the house next door, which Saunders shares with his mother, Donna.

It appears he was hallucinating, April wrote.

Saunders told police he hadnt taken any drugs, but admitted he had drunk a few twisted teas and seven nippers  miniature bottles of liquor.

Mike and Bee were both taken to New Milford hospital. Her injuries proved to be minor, but the cuts on Mikes hands had to be stitched closed. JoAnne was uninjured, and the fourth Finkle, Buddy, had slept through the chaos.

Saunders, 33, was charged that night with four felonies: home invasion, first-degree burglary, assaulting an elderly person and attempting to assault an elderly person.

His bail was set at $500,000, and the Finkles thought their ordeal was over. They fixed the door and cleaned up the blood, and Bee went to the police department to retrieve her bat, now bent at an odd angle.

But in a hearing earlier this month, Saunders bond was lowered to $150,000. He soon got out and returned to his mothers place to await his next court appearance on Aug. 8 in Bantam.

The Finkles were appalled.

Were living in fear, Bee said. Id say hes 300 feet away most every day. Way too close for comfort.

Saunders, who has not yet hired a lawyer, could not be reached for comment. His mother, reached by phone, declined to comment, adding that an attorney would call the News-Times. None had by deadline.

We pray he gets put away, Bee said. Take him where he can get the help he needs, not next door.

JoAnne, who said she jumps at the smallest noises, agreed.

Hes out there, next door, and he could be drinking again, she said. We dont know what hes capable of.

In Connecticut, it feels like the suspect has more rights than the victim.
In an exclusive conversation with India Today, the SP's former general secretary Amar Singh lashed out at Akhilesh Yadav. "Akhilesh Yadav is Aurangzeb, power has gone into his head," Amar Singh said, blaming him for the party's current situation.

By Anand Patel: Amar Singh, the name once synonymous with Samajwadi Party, has lashed out at its President and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav after two SP leaders quit the UP Legislative Council.

In an exclusive conversation with India Today, the party's former general secretary, Amar Singh, said that the Samajwadi Party has a dark future without its leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav.

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Amar Singh was dismissed from the SP just ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election as the Yadav clan was embroiled in a bitter tussle to control the party. He claims to have snapped all ties with his political mentor.

Reacting to the exit of two party legislators from the UP Upper House, Amar Singh said,"I am not happy at what's happening to the party which I raised with so much hard work and I am also not responding to any calls from Mulayam Singh Yadav since I was ousted twice from the Samajwadi Party and humiliated."

He says, "Samajwadi Party is gone with the wind. It's a quick sand, so the exit of leaders is understood."

"Samajwadi Party has become a regional party from once a national party for which Mulayam Singh Yadav and I had worked so hard," he adds.

He says, "Akhilesh Yadav is Aurangzeb, power has gone into his head and Mulayam Singh Yadav is like Shahjahan." Recalling how Mughal emperor Aurangzeb had held his father Shahjahan captive during tussle for the throne.

"Akhilesh is to be solely blamed for what is happening . One who cannot honour his father loses trust of people as well," Singh added. "Where have all those supporters of Akhilesh disappeared who used to chant slogans for him and call me names?"

Recalling the good old days of the party, Amar Singh said, "Despite Mulayam Singh's opposition, I was the one who supported Akhilesh who wanted to marry out of his caste, but I was humiliated and thrown out. He couldn't handle power."

Asked to comment on the latest development in Bihar, Amar Singh heaped praise on Prime Minister Modi.

"This is Narendra Modi's victory that Nitish Kumar who once broke off from him is now joining hands with him, even Ram Vilas Paswan who once resigned is standing with him and America which denied him visa is welcoming him," he said. "Secularism has become a farce. Everyone is using it as per convenience.'

"Today, there is 67 per cent BJP in the country, I have also worn saffron, no body can ignore this colour," he quipped, showing off his saffron kurta.

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ALSO READ:

Amit Shah in Lucknow: 2 Samajwadi MLCs quit, 3 MLAs 'waiting' to join BJP

Nitish's joining hands with BJP shows low level of politics in country: Agra social activist

ALSO WATCH:

--- ENDS ---
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DANBURY - Most household kitchens could not survive a municipal health inspectors visit without getting a few demerits.

Yet its those small details of kitchen hygiene  an unfastened garbage can lid or a soiled kitchen towel on the countertop  that can drop a restaurants health inspection score and put question marks in the minds of prospective diners.

So it is with caution that some restaurant owners are greeting an initiative that would make Danbury the first city in the Northeast to post local health inspection scores on Yelp, the popular restaurant review app.

A lot of times a restaurant can be failed for what most laypeople would not understand as a violation at all, says Anna Llanos, owner of Mothership Bakery and Cafe on Main Street. Its not like cockroaches in the food or really hideous things like that.

Restaurant-goers in Danbury interviewed for this story say they appreciate the small things when it comes to kitchen cleanliness so much that they pore over restaurant health inspections when theyre published by the newspaper.

If a broom isnt in the right spot, it sort of carries over to what you might expect from the meal, said Keith Margolus, 41, of Danbury, who was eating lunch with his wife and two daughters last week during The Downtown Chow-Down at Kennedy Park. The restaurants that we eat at the most frequently in Danbury - the ones that make outstanding food - also have received the top marks on their health reviews, so it is a very limited sample, but there does seem to be a correlation. Attention to detail matters.

City Hall agrees.

The city hopes that the Yelp initiative will not only deliver a popular service online, where more people are spending more of their lives, but will also encourage restaurant excellence by giving owners extra incentive to correct deficiencies.

The program is designed to be complementary to business, said Steve Nocera, Danburys director of project excellence. Our goal is to help promote Danbury businesses by creating an extra layer of transparency that other towns in the surrounding areas simply wont have.

The initiative, which Yelp has launched in San Francisco and 19 other cities and counties across the country, could be available in Danbury before school starts in the fall.

At the same time, the city Health Department is exploring whether to simplify the way inspection reports are reported to the public - perhaps by using a letter grading system that is popular in New York City.

Our reports can be confusing for a lot of people, because you can have several infractions that are one- or two-point violations and a restaurant can end up with a 95, which is a fantastic score, said Lisa Morrissey, Danburys director of health and human services. Or you can have one major violation - a four point violation - and have a 96 score but you still fail, and that is hard for some people to understand.

The city would continue to post quarterly results of its restaurant inspections on its website, but in a more conspicuous place, Morrison said.

The Yelp initiative is part of a larger effort in Danbury to make city services and features available online.

This is the way all governments are trying to go and Danbury is trying to lead the way, Nocera said. To the extent government can play a role to aid people who want to find great places to eat in Danbury, that is something we think is important.

A clean, well-lighted place

The way David Sanchez sees it, he already has to keep his bathrooms clean and his dining room attractive if he is going to avoid negative online reviews - to say nothing of avoiding low scores from the health department.

Like other restaurant owners in Danbury, Sanchez said he welcomes the extra visibility that his health department inspection scores on Yelp would bring for his restaurant, Papaya Mexican Grill on Main Street.

Some people will pay attention to that - not everyone, but some will, Sanchez said. Its always good to go by the rules and keep the place nice and clean for the customers.

Diner owner George Psarofagis agrees.

I think it would be helpful because I get good scores, said Psarofagis, owner of New Holiday Diner on White Street. It could burn me one day, I understand that, but I think people should know.

Psarofagis concedes that it is easy for a health inspector to find fault, even in the most conscientious of kitchens - especially during the lunch rush.

We had just sliced the turkey for lunch - I mean we had literally just sliced it - and there was turkey on the slicer and the inspector says to me Why isnt this clean?  Psarofagis said. I showed him the pan with the turkey still in it, and he said Well, it has to be kept clean - thats minus two points.

Psarofagis says he understands the reason the health department takes small infractions seriously is to prevent other mistakes that lead to food-borne illnesses.

The big things they look at are storage temperatures  both hot and cold, to make sure you are not in the danger zone - and then proper thawing techniques and proper storage of cooked and raw food, Psarofagis said. Those are things we all are serious about, because you could get somebody really sick.

Just a few booths away, 18-year-old Brian McCarthy has just finished a Belgian waffle with berries and whipped cream.

He said he has no intention of getting sick, so when health department inspection scores were published by The News-Times in the spring, he read them.

My friends and I were like, Whoa, we didnt know that one was that bad,  McCarthy said. Some people dont care, but I think it makes a difference, especially if there are two restaurants and you are trying to decide between the two and one has a really poor rating.

Downtown businesswoman Alicia Ghio agrees that the Yelp application would be popular in Danbury.

Its a digital life, so it makes sense to have that information right there in front of peoples faces, said Ghio, co-owner of RmediA. As long as it is updated regularly, that would be the key.

The fact that inspectors might cite restaurants for infractions less serious than would be found in the most hallowed home kitchens is beside the point, Morrissey says.

Thats why we dont inspect moms kitchen, she said.
Between rising costs and stagnant salaries, Americans are saving less than ever. The 2008 economic crisis is often blamed, but Americans have been saving less for quite some time now. Consumer trends and alternative credit options have convinced people that there are other ways of generating value in the short term, distracting them from the necessary habit of putting away funds for the future.

Add in the kinds of debt that people are willing to incur, and the U.S. has a major problem on its hands. NerdWallet reports that the average American household spends $1,300 on interest on credit card debt alone. Student loan debt has skyrocketed in recent years to a shocking $1.28 trillion and shows no signs of decreasing anytime soon.

Related: Don't Let Student Debt Paired With Startup Debt Demolish Your Financial Security

These issues were often discussed on the 2016 campaign trail, with a few candidates -- Trump, Clinton and Sanders -- offering their own solutions. Sanders argued for higher minimum wages coupled with free education for all students. Clinton advocated for income equality and better treatment at the workplace, while Trump argued for bringing jobs back to the U.S. Seldom did any of them discuss how to motivate Americans to make better financial decisions and prepare for a timely retirement.

The good news is while politicians may have missed the mark last year, entrepreneurs have been hard at work thinking of new ways to help people plan ahead and do the tough work of saving. Eugeny Prudchyenko, CEO and founder of EvoShare, explains how he caught inspiration to help solve this problem.

I spotted a Prudential billboard saying the best donation is donating to your retirement. This made me think, What if someone were to streamline popular cash back solutions to peoples retirement accounts? Which is how EvoShares cash-back service was born. Other entrepreneurs and innovators are catching the same spirit and developing unique approaches as well.

Related: It's Shocking How Many Entrepreneurs Aren't Saving For Retirement

1. Increase savings through spending.

Many companies realize that instead of pushing back on consumer spending habits, they can tap into them to help customers save. Companies like Target and GAP have done this to help encourage charitable donations by giving shoppers the option to allocate a portion of spending to charitable causes. Prudchyenko shares, If we dont want to have taxes and retirement age increased, migration of responsibility for peoples retirement from the private sector to public sector should be stopped. Utilizing new sources for retirement contributions can significantly impact this accomplishment. Solutions like these are great because they tap into real consumer trends rather than trying to alter them, creating alternative avenues to drive savings behavior.

2. Employee benefits alternatives.

More and more companies are searching for alternative ways to help their employees contribute to retirement. While the traditional pension of the 20th century is rapidly disappearing, companies havent stopped caring about the later-in-life success of their employees. Thats why large companies have 401k matching plans and other vehicles for helping employees plan for the future. Prudchyenko shared that EvoShare is working with companies to help create cash back tools for their employees' retirement. This is a part of a growing movement comprised of business owners looking for creative ways to help employees without negatively impacting profitability.

Related: What's Your Safe Money Plan for Retirement?

3. Banking alternatives making waves.

Millennials are naturally skeptical of traditional financial institutions. They watched as their parents struggled through the recession due to decisions they made on the advice of many different kinds of financial professionals, and as a result, they tend to seek out alternative methods for managing their money. The result has been an onslaught of startups catering to alternative banking and investing. Companies like Simple, which creates a bank free debit option, and apps like Mint that track spending, help consumers transact and track their decisions outside of traditional banking.

As the financial sector evolves to meet consumer demand, one thing is certain. Any business trying to help solve for the consumer stands to be the most successful. When entrepreneurs develop new approaches to old problems, the result is often a better market for everyone.

Related:

Americans Are Not Good Savers. These Entrepreneurs Are Helping Change That.

10 Ways to Travel the World Without Breaking the Bank

Financial Snowballs: How to Grow Your Savings Every Day



Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


As Amit Shah sets foot in Lucknow today, two Samajwadi Party MLCs- Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh quit the party to join BJP.

By India Today Web Desk: Samajwadi Party MLC (Member of Legislative Council) and Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder Bukkal Nawab today tendered his resignation from the party while singing a favourable tune for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath.

This comes close to reports of SP member and MLC Yashwant Singh quitting the party to join BJP.

In addition, three MLAs have stepped down as well sending shockwaves to Samajwadi Party and Uttar Pradesh's political corridors alike.

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Not only SP, but BJP national president's Lucknow visit has also rocked the Bahujan Samaj Party after MLC Jaiveer Singh relinquished his post today.

While speaking to the press, Nawab said that the Samajwadi Party should change its name to Samajwadi Akhaada (arena) since it has become a wrestling ground.

Speaking in context of the tussle between father Mulayam Singh Yadav and son Akhilesh Yadav for party ranks and reins, Nawab added that, "When he (Akhilesh) is not with his father, how can he be with the people."

'I MIGHT GO WITH BJP'

The Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder insinuated that he might join BJP if called upon and that many others from SP might follow suit soon.

On Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's work report so far, Nawab said, "Yogi is doing a good job... there hasn't been any scam at least."

With SP members suddenly on deflecting spree today, party leader Naresh Agrawal said, "In politics, some people are opportunists who change sides for their good... But such deflections do not affect the party."

The resignations coincide with Amit Shah's Lucknow visit today that will extend for two more days.

"Amit Shah will interact with party office bearers from Awadh, Kashi, Gorakhpur and Kanpur regions. He will also interact with various district presidents and district in-charges," UP BJP spokesperson Chandramohan said on Thursday.

The BJP National President will also hold a meeting with Yogi Adityanath to attend to issues of governance and plug gaps with his deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.

Also read: Nitish's joining hands with BJP shows low level of politics in country: Agra social activist

Also read: Modi had questioned your DNA, how did you join him, Tejashwi Yadav asks Nitish

Also read: Congress flies Gujarat MLAs to Bengaluru resort to prevent them from joining BJP

Also watch: Jai Shri Ram: How some BJP MPs greeted Ram Nath Kovind after his swearing-in

--- ENDS ---




Former Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media, Reno Omokri, has disclosed why he visited the Abuja House in London , where President Muhammadu Buhari is currently convalescing after seeking a second medical attention overseas this year.According to him, his visit to Abuja House was to register his displeasure at the hypocrisy of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.He said that the Buhari-led administration is quite literally the most hypocritical administration in Nigerias history, and that he was going to prove it.Omokri stated this on Saturday morning during a live video broadcast on Facebook.He said: I visited Abuja House in London where President Muhammadu Buhari is currently resident. I visited there and took pictures there as well.You need to realize that Abuja House is not President Muhammadu Buharis house. I am a Nigerian and I have paid millions of Naira in taxes. The Buhari administration can verify and check. It is our tax money that funds Abuja House. So, I am a stakeholder. I have every right to go there.So, I have every right to go there. The reason I went there is not because I am a tax payer: the reason why I went there is not heckle or embarrass President Muhammadu Buhari.I need to say this: I am not like other politicians that cannot do without politics. Politics is not like oxygen to me. With or without politics, I am going to be earning a living.The reason why I went to Abuja House is to register my displeasure at the hypocrisy of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. This administration is quite literally the most hypocritical administration in Nigerias history; full of sycophants. I am going to prove it.The former Presidential aide made known his proofs in the video below




Ex-Niger Delta militant leader, AsariDokubo has reacted to the alleged $90 billion fraud charge brought against former Petroleum Minister, Dieziani Alison-Madueke.In a video published on Facebook, Dokubo described President Muhammadu Buhari and members of his cabinet as liars.He stressed that if Alison-Madueke actually looted $90 billion at the current exchange rate and has returned it back to the national coffers, there was no need for the federal government to be seeking external borrowings to finance infrastructure development across the nation.He accused President Buhari of embezzling no less that N30 billion Naira from the oil sector during his time as Petroleum Minister and Chairman of Petroluem Trust Fund (PTF) under the late Sani Abacha administration.Dokubo also chided Nigerian music sensations Don Jazzy and Davido for condemning Alison-Madueke without first seeking after the truth.The ex-militant leader said amongst many other things: Nigeria is a very funny country where people will just wake up and bring up rumour.Nigeria is now a country of liars, ruled by liars, and managed by liars.How can somebody just wake-up and claim Diezani embezzled $90 billion? Multiple that amount of dollars with the value of one dollar to the Naira and tell me what the sum is.How much is the Nigerian budget? If Diezani actually embezzled such an amount of money and has returned the loot, why is the federal government still trying to borrow money for infrastructure development?Buhari can lie. He lies like a fish. All the people around him are liars.How much did Buhari loot from the NNPC during his time as Petroleum Minister? N2.8 billion.How much did he loot from PTF during his time as Chairman of the fund? Okadigbo panel said he embezzled N25billion.Those without character are accusing others of lacking character.If Diezani really stole what she is accused of stealing, let them prove it against her,Then that that calls himself Don Jazzy will open his mouth Davido, children will open their mouth. Davido has not talked about his uncle Isiaka Adeleke; Bola Tinubu; Fashola; even Awolowo.From where did Awolowo make his fortune?.See video below
Expert to Train Youths in Coal Extraction in Enugu

A petroleum industry expert, Dr Livinus Nosike, has called for more involvement of youths in the sector.Dr Nosike was spoke at the 6th Enugu Youth Summit tagged Innovative Technology & Youth Entrepreneurship Summit organised by the office of the S.A. to the Governor of Enugu, Dr Emeka Asogwa, and the State Ministry of Youths and Sports.While addressing hundreds of young entrepreneurs in the State, the 41-year-old Doctor of Petroleum Geology from Ezeagu Local Government Area of the State hinted that his company, Integrated Elvee Services (IES) Ltd, will be willing to train over 180 youths across Enugu State on petroleum and coal exploration as a way of creating hundreds of jobs within the State.He said the training was in view of the State governments ongoing discussions with South African investors to revamp the coal sector in Enugu State.He said, IES Oil and Gas Training will be empowering these youths with a token covering only registration fees which is a far cry from the N5,000 000 Naira equivalent or more with which students have to travel abroad to get trained. Coal is a huge goldmine; tons of unconventional hydrocarbon lies underneath our feet in Enugu State.It is the next mineral resource that can pay us more than petroleum in the State, unfortunately our Nigerian Universities are not practical about the trainings hence we as our own way of giving back to society want to empower youths of the coal-rich Enugu.The University of Nice  Sophia Antipolis, France graduate complained that graduates of petroleum courses in Nigeria have little knowledge about the industry. He emphasised that petrol does not only come from crude oil.He said, There is hydrocarbon from shale, from coal and from even plants  biofuel. Technology such as coal liquefaction produce hydrocarbon while polluting gas capture and sequestration help to abate the environmental impact.Even when it comes to conventional sources of hydrocarbon, its disheartening that many geology students dont know what a simple rig is. This is because the workings in the oil and gas industry seem mystified. Petroleum geo-science is like agriculture, it is not as complex as people think. Its simple to get trained in any of the chains in the industry.The Lagos-based entrepreneur who told journalists that the coal industry in Enugu will provide over 1,000 jobs noted that it will be sad for Enugu State to fall into the challenge of inexperienced locals working with the coal foreign investors.We should not make the mistake of the past, he said. When oil and gas exploration started in the Niger Delta, the local thought they will benefit from it because it is in their land. But in a capitalistic economy, he who brings the capital takes the proceeds. They only way to get the proceeds is to get involved early enough. That is the only way to ensure there is no schism between the various parties.
Six students kidnapped from the Igbonla Model College in the Epe Area of Lagos have regained their freedom. This followed talks between the...

Six students kidnapped from the Igbonla Model College in the Epe Area of Lagos have regained their freedom. This followed talks between the abductors and some government officials from Nigerias southwest region.

The boys were rescued in Aboto Creek in Ilaje LGA, Akure, Ondo State at about 3:30pm and are presently in custody of the State Police Command.

They have been released. The deputy governor of Ondo state called me and I spoke with my son. They are on their way to Lagos she said.

One of the mothers of the students on Friday afternoon confirmed that the students are on their way to Lagos.

Their release comes more than two months after gunmen stormed the school during the morning assembly and abducted the students. The kidnappers had on May 25 2017 attacked the school premises firing gunshots to scare the students and parents.

In a press statement, the States Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde congratulated the parents of the students and all concerned stakeholders over the development, just as he said the students would undergo series of medical tests and trauma therapy before they are reunited with their families.

This is a welcome development and the State Government has always believed that the students would be released unhurt. The news of their release is therefore a confirmation of that belief and we are glad that they would be reuniting with their families, Ayorinde said.

He said the State government remains resolute in its commitment to ensure the safety of lives and property of residents in the State and has already beefed up security in schools to prevent a re-occurrence.

It is on record that the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration has invested massively on equipment and welfare of security personnel so as to ensure that the State remains safe for residents and investors.

This government has already taken giant steps to secure all our schools, especially those in the suburbs and riverine areas and we are confident that the steps taken so far will go a long way in nipping a repeat of such in the bud, Ayorinde said.

The commissioner also quoted Governor Ambode as commending the efforts of security agencies who worked tirelessly to ensure the safe release and return of the students.





Meanwhile the Lagos State Government on Friday expressed excitement over the release of six students of Igbonla-Epe Model College who were abducted on May 25, 2017 in their school premises.
"Exactly what is behind this is something that we will need to investigate fully," Australian Federal Police commissioner Andrew Colvin said.

An Australian policeman refuses to let members of the public walk onto a street that has been blocked to the public (Reuters Photo)

By Reuters: Security has been increased at Australian airports after police foiled "Islamic-inspired" plans for a bomb attack on an aircraft during counter-terrorism raids in which four men were arrested on Saturday, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have confirmed.

"In recent days, law enforcement has become aware of information that suggested some people in Sydney were planning to commit a terrorist act using an improvised device," AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin said during a press conference with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday, adding:

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"We do believe it is Islamic-inspired terrorism. Exactly what is behind this is something that we will need to investigate fully."

"At this time we don't have a great deal of information on the specific attack, the location, date or time. However, we are investigating information indicating that the aviation industry was potentially a target..."

Five properties were searched on Saturday across the Sydney suburbs of Surry Hills, Lakemba, Punchbowl and Wiley Park. The commissioner said four of those searches may continue for days.

ARRESTED MEN NOT YET CHARGED

An AFP spokesman told Reuters the men had not been charged as of Sunday morning.

Turnbull said advice from Australian security and intelligence agencies had led to increased security measures at Sydney airport on Thursday, while the country's other domestic and international airports were affected from Saturday.

"Some of the measures will be obvious to the public, some will not be," Turnbull said.

Colvin said travellers could expect an increased police and security agency presence at airports.

"You can expect longer delays to make sure that more screening is being done on baggage, both hold luggage as well as hand luggage," adding that travelers should allow more time to get through security.

Australia, a close ally of the United States, has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown militants returning from fighting in the Middle East, or their supporters, since 2014.

Authorities say they have thwarted a number of potential attacks since then but there have been several "lone wolf" assaults, including a cafe siege in Sydney that left two hostages and the gunman dead.

About 100 people have left Australia for Syria to fight alongside organizations such as Islamic State, Australia's immigration minister said last month.

(Inputs from agencies)

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Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull lauds PM Modi's leadership, says will work closely to deepen bond between nations

Australia abolishes visa programme used largely by Indians

ALSO WATCH

PM Modi and Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull visit Akshardham temple

--- ENDS ---

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President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, has pledged to contribute towards the sponsorship of a spinal cord corrective surgery for a six-year-old boy, Ali Ahmadu, ran over by Boko Haram terrorists.Saraki, according to a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Mohammed Isa, made the pledge when the victim was presented to him in Abuja by officials of the Global Initiative For Peace, Love and Care, a non-governmental organisation, spearheading the campaign for his medical care.The Senate President, while sympathising with Ali and his parents, promised to mobilise his colleagues to offset the balance of the cost of the treatment after the group had collected donations from members of the public.The NGO had told Saraki that it had already commenced soliciting for donations from corporate bodies and individuals on behalf of the kid.Saraki said, This is not just what we must be seen to be doing; this is all about serving people. It will be a great joy for us to have someone like Ali back to normal life. My colleagues and I will contribute whatever the shortfall of what you will raise in form of donations to make sure he is given adequate medical attention.Ali is not like many kids that are not fortunate to survive Boko Haram attacks; and as a society that keeps seeking for foreign assistance, we ourselves should be able to do things like this ourselves. This is an opportunity for us to show our compassion to the victims of Boko Haram.We will continue to work harder to bring an end to these crises in the North-East to bring an end to the issue of humanitarian and food crisis there.Earlier, the GIPLC Coordinator, Mr. Nuhu Kwajafa, said Ali, who hails from Chibok town in Borno State, was injured by Boko Haram vehicle when the insurgents invaded the town three years ago.Kwajafa said the NGO had consulted several hospitals in the United States, India and the United Arab Emirates for the treatment of Ali.
The office of Indonesias ombudsman has unearthed evidence of rights violations in the execution of a Nigerian drug convict in 2016, an ...

The office of Indonesias ombudsman has unearthed evidence of rights violations in the execution of a Nigerian drug convict in 2016, an official said yesterday.Humphrey Jefferson was still seeking clemency from President Joko Widodo at the time of his execution, which meant he still had a chance of being pardoned, said Ninik Rahayu, an official of the ombudsmans office who is overseeing the case.Jefferson, sentenced to death in 2004, had also sought a second judicial review of his case by the Supreme Court, but his request was denied by the Central Jakarta Court without proper explanation, Rahayu said, in what she called maladministration.If the court had taken on Jeffersons case, his execution would have had to be delayed until its final verdict.When one is given the death penalty, all of the procedures must be done according to the laws, Rahayu told reporters in her office.The rights of the person must be fully met before his sentence is carried out. You cant bring back the dead to life.Rahayu said the Attorney Generals Office, responsible for conducting the execution, had not followed rules requiring it to give Jefferson and his family 72 hours notice of the event.But a spokesman for the Attorney Generals Office, Muhammad Rum, insisted that the execution was done according to law.Telephone calls to the Central Jakarta court to seek comment were not answered.A Supreme Court spokesman, Judge Suhadi, who goes by one name like many Indonesians, did not comment on the specific case, but said the court did not generally grant a second review.Jefferson, two other Nigerians and an Indonesian were the only prisoners to face the firing squad on July 29 last year, from a group of 14 picked initially.The delay was due to a comprehensive review, said Attorney General H. Muhammad Prasetyo.The executions were the second round under Widodo, whose predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, imposed a moratorium on the death penalty.Many international bodies and foreign governments had urged Indonesia to pardon those on the death row. They also asked Indonesia to abolish capital punishment, but the calls have gone unheeded.Widodo has told law enforcement officers not to hesitate in shooting drug traffickers who resist arrest in the war on drugs.The ombudsmans office has given government bodies 60 days to respond to its findings. But its limited powers mean it can only take its recommendations to Widodo in cases of failure to respond.Jeffersons lawyer, Ricky Gunawan, said he planned to use the ombudsmans findings to file a civil lawsuit against the office of the attorney-general, seeking compensation for his client.We call on the Attorney Generals Office to stop the preparation of any future death execution and treat the convicts with respect and have their rights fulfilled, Gunawan said.
Ovation Magazine Publisher, Dele Momodu, has called out governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose over his ceaseless attacks on President Muh...

Ovation Magazine Publisher, Dele Momodu, has called out governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose over his ceaseless attacks on President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to Momodu, in his weekly column Pendulum Fayoses attitude towards Buhari and his health status was terrible.

Momodu said, The Governor of Ekiti State has never hidden his pathological disdain for Buhari.

He attacks him with devastating blows and pugilistic upper cuts at every opportunity.

Several times, Fayose has declared Buhari dead or incapacitated only to get egged on his face as the President rises like the proverbial Lazarus.

He never gets tired of quoting impeccable sources and swearing and threatening to release damaging proof of his false doomsday prophesies.

So far, so good, hes been dead wrong at every turn!

Even if not entirely hale and hearty, Buhari continues to stand ramrod on his feet, albeit looking feeble and weak.

There is no doubt that the President is presently enjoying better health than has been the case in the recent past.




Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, on Friday had a closed-door meeting with the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.The meeting came barely 48 hours after Emmanuel joined six other members of the Nigeria Governors Forum to visit ailing President Muhammadu Buhari in London, where he has been receiving medical treatment since May 7.Although he did not disclose the subject of his discussion with Osinbajo, the governor told State House correspondents that his interaction with Buhari in London showed that God had answered the prayers of Nigerians.He said, Let me thank God for the life of the President and thank God for Nigerians, too. I also appreciate Nigerians who have prayed sincerely and earnestly for Mr. President and I think God has actually answered the prayers of Nigerians.From the photographs, you could see that God has actually answered our prayers, so some of us were quite excited to see Mr. President. He welcomed us, discussed with us and he was also happy to see us.So, what you are seeing both on television and newspapers are genuine. God has actually healed our President and we thank God for that.When asked what the governors discussed with Buhari, Emmanuel refused to disclose the details.He, however, said the discussion was in the interest of the country.He said, I dont think when you hold a meeting, even with your wife and children, you will come and make that public.The President is the father of the nation and we represent the sub-units of this nation and so, it is not everything that we discussed that we should just come out and say.It was a closed-door meeting, but be assured that whatever the President discussed with the governors was in the best interest of all the citizens of this country.When asked to give an idea of when Buhari would be back in the country, Emmanuel said he could not do so because he was not a doctor.He also noted that the Presidents return day was not the issue, but the fact that God had healed him.The governor said, I am not a medical doctor. Let me say something here, when you have a father, you will love him and take interest in his well-being.Let me also say, some of us behave as if the President and the governors are supermen. We are human beings, we also have challenges. So let us not think that because we are governors or President, we are supermen.We are not gods, we are mere mortals like any of us here. So, that should also make us play down on the way we look at certain issues.Emmanuel had on Wednesday joined six other state governors  Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Umar Ganduje (Kano), Kashim Shettima (Borno), Samuel Ortom (Benue) and Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo)  to visit Buhari at the Abuja House, London.
The leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, on Friday, said that the secessionist group will send the governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, back to Jos in 2019.Kanu who spoke in Owerri when he visited the state with hundreds of thousands of his supporters insisted that there would be no election in Anambra State in November and in the other four the South East States in 2019.Saying that a Sovereign State of Biafra was the only solution, he said that only referendum not power devolution to States nor restructuring will solve the problems of the country.According to Kanu We are in the land of Biafra. I have come to Owerri to spread the good news of the coming of Biafra Republic. I dont want you people to be deceived. Restructuring does not have any meaning and I want you people to go and tell Ohanaeze Ndigbo.There is no freedom in Nigeria. All their children are abroad studying and enjoying good environment.Only referendum can solve the problems of Nigeria. Power devolution is not the solution. Resource control is not our problem. What we need is Biafra. They are going about deceiving our people in the name of restructuring.I want to say it again. There will be no election in Anambra and there will be no election in 2019, in Igboland. And there will be no election in Imo state.Go and tell Rochas Okorocha that I am a child of God. I want you people to tell him that he will leave Government House in 2019 and go back to Jos where he came from. Let him get ready. 
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has reacted to the release of kidnapped boys of Igbonla Government College, Epe in Lagos.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has reacted to the release of kidnapped boys of Igbonla Government College, Epe in Lagos.

A tweet Friday night by his spokesman, Laolu Akande conveyed Osinbajos joy.

Congrats to Lagos State Governor on release of kidnapped boys. He worked very hard with FG agencies, Ondo, Delta governments & Nigerian Navy for the result, Akande tweeted,





Peter Jonah, Isiaq Rahmon, Adebayo George, Judah Agbausi, Pelumi Philips and Farouq Yusuf were abducted on May 25, 2017.

They released at Aboto Creek in Ilaje local government of Ondo state on Friday.





Meanwhile, Lagos State Government has welcomed the release of the students.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde congratulated the parents of the students and all concerned stakeholders over the development.





He disclosed that the students would undergo series of medical tests and trauma therapy before they are reunited with their families.

This is a welcome development and the State Government has always believed that the students would be released unhurt.

The news of their release is therefore a confirmation of that belief and we are glad that they would be reuniting with their families.





It is on record that the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration has invested massively on equipment and welfare of security personnel so as to ensure that the State remains safe for residents and investors.

This Government has already taken giant steps to secure all our schools especially those in the suburbs and riverine areas.

We are confident that the steps taken so far will go a long way in nipping a repeat of such in the bud, Ayorinde said.
The Performing Musicians Employers Association of Nigeria (PMAN) has accused Lai Mohammed, minister of information, of intellectual property theft.The association, in a statement on its Facebook page, said the recently convened Creative Industry Financing Conference heavily contained ideas from a proposal it had earlier submitted to the minister.PMAN said its proposal was entitled Bar Coding Technology for the Creative Industry in Nigeria.The proposal which detailed plans on how to boost the creative industry, PMAN said, was handed to the minister during a presentation meeting led by the bodys president, Petty Okafor, on August 5, 2016.The body said the proposal contained ideas on how to improve the creative industry and generate over N15 trillion revenue for the government.According to PMAN, the recommendations in its proposal were what the government went ahead to implement under the guise of the Creative Industry Financing Conference.Ifeanyi Ejiofor, counsel to PMAN, in a five-page petition, said, Though the conference was deceptively tagged creative industry financing conference, it is our clients firm belief that the conference was held in full implementation of our clients original brain child and ideas as clearly highlighted in their respective presentation of 5th August, 2016 and Action Plan of 18th August, 2016, all in the possession of the Ministry of Information and Culture.PMAN gave the minister an ultimatum of 72 hours to desist from continuing with the plans in the proposal or be sued for violation of intellectual property.Our client viewed this action as a grave infringement of their intellectual property rights and dubious conversion of their brain child ideas and concept, originating from painstaking professional study, research and investigation that gulped them over N500,000, the petition read.
The Enugu State Police Command on Saturday called for more collaboration with residents of the state through its distress call numbers and social media addresses.The commands spokesman, SP Ebere Amaraizu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu that members of the public should collaborate with the police to sustain the tempo of peace in the state.The commands control room numbers are: 08032003702;08075390883; 08086671202 and 08098880172 for prompt and necessary action.Also, our social media platforms  Facebook: facebook.com/EnuguStatePolice; Twitter: twitter@enugupolice and Email: enugustatepolice@gmail.com, he said.Amaraizu urged residents of the state to be law abiding by not taking laws into their hands, but endeavour to report any issue regarding threat to peace in their environments to the nearest police station.The command is also advising members of the public to report any suspicious person, groups and gathering in their neighbourhoods through the distress call numbers or the social media platforms.Members of the public should not tamper with any suspicious object discovered anywhere, either in the farm, house or road, but should report promptly to the nearest police station, he advised.The spokesman said that the command would continue its partnership with sister security agencies to keep the tempo of crime and criminality at its lowest ebb in the state.
In a video posted on Facebook, Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri extensively explained why he visited Abuja house in London.



In a video posted on Facebook, Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri extensively explained why he visited Abuja house in London.

He went further to condemn the Buhari-led administration saying it is hypocritic and full of sycophants. He also criticised the fact that the presidential jet has been parked for more than 80 days incurring unnecessary charges, pointing out that the money being 'wasted' there can instead be used to pay 2,000 Nigeria workers who are being owed.

Watch the video below.




A rebellion is building up in the House of Representatives against Speaker Yakubu Dogara,according to multiple sources in the Green Chamb...

A rebellion is building up in the House of Representatives against Speaker Yakubu Dogara,according to multiple sources in the Green Chambers of the National Assembly.Dogaras offence is what many members perceive as his soft spot for the Presidency.The Reps claim the Speaker want to turn the House into a rubber stamp for the executive arm.They are also angry that constituency projects are not being implemented by the Executive,and want to know why about 50-60 per cent of them (members) have not been assigned their official cars.Another grievance of the Reps is alleged lateness in payment of their salaries and allowances.Dogara ,though shocked by the development,has launched a counter move to calm frayed nerves.Majority of the Reps are said to have opted not to team up with the Senate to move against the Presidency,at least for now.Investigation revealed that Dogara was jolted on Wednesday when some members of the House took him up on the various issues at an Executive Session.It was learnt that a ranking member from Kano State led the protest by faulting the House leaderships alleged romance with the presidency instead of asserting the independence of the chamber.The members alleged that their support for the presidency, especially ailing President Muhammadu Buhari, was not being reciprocated by the latter.They also complained about how ministers had been treating summons by committees with disdain.They were particularly irked by the alleged unwillingness of the Executive to implement constituency projects in the 2016 budget.Members claimed they went through hell to get the constituency projects executed.A top source said: Since he was elected, the Speaker has never had the type of revolt he witnessed during the week from members.The matter got to a point that some members at the plenary on Wednesday refused to stand up in deference to the Speaker in order to usher him into the chamber.Even on Thursday, some members extended their annoyance to voting during the debate on amendments to the 1999 constitution.Another ranking member gave said: Some members from the North-West actually led the revolt at the Executive session. They accused Dogara of leaning so much to the Executive such that the House was being turned into a rubber stamp.They gave a long list of constitutional violations by the Executive which the House ignored because of Dogaras rapprochement with President Muhammadu Buhari and Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.They queried why the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola will come out publicly to deride the House without any sanction. They cited cases of ministers and chief executives of MDAs not honouring House summons.Also, the MDAs, especially ministers, elect to implement constituency projects based on their whims and caprices. But they have always forgotten that the budget is a law. Some of us are tired and frustrated.The Speaker has been persuading us to be patient but we are not delivering dividends of democracy to our constituents. What we now get is stoning of some members by their constituents.Another member from the South-South said: Well, some of us actually complained bitterly about welfare matters. We are two years into our tenure and about 50-60 per cent of our members have not been given official cars.The complaint we have been getting borders on the fact that the Peugeot model cars have been ordered from abroad but yet to arrive. It is insulting that we have to be lobbying to get official cars which will be paid for from our entitlements.We believe that something was fundamentally wrong with the award of the contract for the cars by the House Services Committee.There was no communication on what has really happened. Unfortunately, the leadership has been tolerating the House Services Committee.A member from the North-West said: It has not been funny because we get our salaries and allowances late.We protested to let the Speaker know that we are suffering in silence. If the Speaker had not handled it with maturity, we would have changed all the principal officers. Of what use is backing President Buhari without meaningful projects in our constituency?Many of us preferred the Senate antagonistic method because it is working for that chamber. This was why we took on Dogara since the beginning of the week.But a principal officer said: When Dogara opened up at the session, it was realized by members that he has not been pocketed by the presidency. His leadership style is that of consultation and not confrontation. He thinks service delivery to Nigerians should be the priority of lawmakers and not feud with the Executive.The same Speaker said he had engaged the Acting President on Fashola matter and Prof. Osinbajo directed the Minister to go and apologize. He obeyed the directive on Friday.In the last few months, the Speaker has been to the Villa to iron out issues amicably between the two arms of government.On the welfare of members, the principal officer said: I think it has to do more with the failure of the House Services Committee than the problem with the Speaker. He was shocked to hear some of the complaints.Findings confirmed that following assurances from the Speaker, members jettisoned plans to team up with the Senate against the Executive.Dogara has sued for calm; we are giving him benefit of the doubt. He is a good listener but we need action.A member from the North-East said: We have heard from Dogara and his team.We are awaiting action on their pledges to address our complaints. We love the Speaker, we have temporarily sheathed the swords.We have all collectively resolved not to join the Senate to fight the Executive because some of the issues are really too personal. Some have to do with sheer politics and ambition. We wont be part of it.But the House leadership has suffered a jolt, the situation might never be the same henceforth. We love Dogara but we cannot sacrifice the interest of our constituents.
The head of a Muslim food certification body in Australia is of the view that Australian men are a dying breed and Australian women need Muslim men to fertilise them and make them happy.

By India Today Web Desk: The head of a Muslim food certification body in Australia has said "Australian women need [Muslim men] to fertilise them".

The statement has caused an outcry on social media.

The head of the Halal Certification Authority in Australia, Mohamed Elmouelhy, wrote on his Facebook page that Australian women need male Mulsims because men in the country "are a dying breed".

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"Australian women need us to fertilise them and keep them surrounded by Muslim babies while beer swilling, cigarette smoking, drug injecting can only dream of what Muslim men are capable of," his post read.

Mohamed added that Muslims "have a duty to make your [Australian] women happy".

Mohamed is of the view that white race in Australia "will be extinct in another 40 years" if Australia "is left to bigots".

However, after the ruckus the post caused, it was deleted but internet revived the post with screenshots.

Screenshot: Facebook

A social media user blasted saying Mohamed is a "f**kwit," "sick excuse of a man," and a "twisted, foul, sexist bigot".

Several even called for the authorities to "kick him out of the country".

THE STUDY

Mohamed's rant followed a study by the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Jerusalem, which found a 52.4 per cent decline in sperm concentration and a 59.3 per cent fall in total sperm count among men in Western nations, including Australia.

The study rustled Israeli scientists leading the research and sccientis Hagai Levine said it "an urgent wake-up call for researchers and health authorities."

However, Australian scientists aren't panicking and sound pretty chill.

"I would not worry our 'guys' too much, just to maybe be a bit conscious. I will refer to the study as informative rather than scientific and maybe, just maybe the simple[r] life in non-Western countries is actually the best, even for sperm. Maybe a study can be done in Australia regarding city men versus rural men?" senior scientist for exercise and nutrition at the Australian Catholic University, Dr Orly Lacham-Kaplan, told the News Corp Australia media outlet.

FYI || Photo of a Hindu and a Muslim praying at Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah shows the real India ||

FYI || Muslim woman plans to open all-inclusive, liberal mosque in UK; even burqas are not mandatory ||

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The Police yesterday disclosed that 20 suspected kidnappers and one civilian were killed during the rescue operations of abducted pupils...

The Police yesterday disclosed that 20 suspected kidnappers and one civilian were killed during the rescue operations of abducted pupils of Lagos State Model College, Igbonla, Epe.Commissioner Fatai Owoseni stated this at the Lagos House, Alausa, during a joint press briefing on the release of the pupils.He said three kingpins, including the mastermind of the pupils kidnap, Bright Idubo Adeniyi and a notorious militant, Oniweyi Eyelabo alias America, were killed in two operations.Owoseni also explained that the civilian who was killed was a member of the Joint Task Force, adding that eight policemen and four members that took part in the operations were wounded.He said: As long as you have human beings in a society, there must be security challenges. Government and security agencies acted swiftly in this incident. We were not letting out information to avoid criminals using same.We have talked against celebrating whether ransom was paid or not. We do not want to glorify crimes. If we start talking about it, we may be sending wrong messages to the public.It is pertinent to mention that security agencies did everything that was needed to be done. I want to acknowledge the roles played by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) and governors of the Southwest region.Continuing, he said: The response to this kidnap was very swift. It was combination of so many factors. The abduction took place on May 25. There were a lot of things that were done underground that we did not want reported to avoid jeopardising the safety of the victims.It would interest you to know that the kidnappers were many in number. The person who led the kidnap was one Bright Idubo Adeniyi. Immediately after that operation, security agencies stormed into action.The first thing we did was to ensure that the children were not taken off the areas we could monitor. The kidnappers in three boats, tried to move the children away. In the course of doing that, they ambushed Marine Police operatives and volunteers who knew the terrain very well.Two of their three boats were sunk and 17 of them killed that day, including Adeniyi. The security operatives were cautious with the third boat because it had the children in it.The kidnappers went further with a view to frustrate efforts of security operatives and the government by attempting to attack Marine Police posts in order to steal our gunboats.Specifically on July 18, they ambushed a Marine Police post with a view to steal gunboat. That operation was led by America and he died in that ambush with two others. We must tell you that the criminals launched the offensives and the government and security operatives handled everything that needed to be handled.We also engaged the parents. Where we needed to engage psychologists, we did. It also led to the Acting President reassuring the parents on the release of the children. I can tell you that this is one operation the criminals will know that the government is responsible and they cannot dispute whether the government has the capacity to secure its citizenry.We have just started. This is the beginning. The security operatives with the support of the governors of the Southwest, has demonstrated the commitment reached in Abeokuta for a joint security team in the region.The criminals should know that there will be no hiding place for them in the southwest. People involved in criminality would be made to face the wrath of the law.Earlier, Lagos Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule, who received the children on behalf of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode from Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of Ondo State, said the state would intensify security in public schools before resumption.She said: I will like to commend the police and other security agencies for ensuring that the children are back. We plan to have comprehensive medical check-up on the children and they will be debriefed in collaboration with other stakeholders.We are going back to the drawing board to ensure that all that need to be done in terms of security before the resumption of schools are done.Akeredolu said the combined efforts of South West governors and security agencies led to the release of the pupils, adding that the role played by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, was incisive.
By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) of Bangladesh arrested three members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh's 'Sarwar-Tamim Group' after conducting raids at the Bakhtabali area in Narayanganj district. RAB claims that they are the members of the JMB's suicide squad.

Kamrul Hasan, RAB-11 Commander Lieutenant Colonel, said that they were nabbed from Lal Miar Char of Boyrakandi area.

The arrested terrorists are Mohammad Waliullah Chishti alias Johnny (27) of Muradnagar area of Comilla, Mohammad Kamrul Hasan alias Hridoy (35) of Debidwar area of the same district and Mohammad Al Amin Sheikh alias Rajib (25) of Mollarhat area of Bagerhat.

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Kamrul told, a foreign pistol, revolver, five bullets, 'militancy books', and leaflets were recovered from the spot. "A group of 20-25 people led by a top leader were held in a secret meeting. They were planning an attack'.

They tried to flee on getting the news of RAB's raid. However, three of them were caught. We are on the lookout of the rest.

The arrested Omar and Rajib Sheikh are booked under anti-terrorism law, said an RAB official.

Also Read:

Pakistan poet demands trial of Pakistanis involved in Bangladesh genocide of 1971

INS Ranvir in Bangladesh for goodwill visit

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Both Bani Judge and Lopamudra Raut have apparently been approached to participate as hosts of the show.

By India Today Web Desk: Bigg Boss fans, we have some good news for you. According to latest reports, Bigg Boss 10 contestants Lopamudra Raut and Bani Judge will be sharing screen space on the new season of the controversial reality show.

Yes, you read that right. Bani and Lopa, who disliked each other intensely on the previous season of the show will be hosting small segments of the show's new season, according to a report in The Times of India.

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While reality star Bani Judge has hosted shows before, this will be the first time Lopamudra will be donning the hat of a host.

Now, that will be interesting to watch.

While nothing has been confirmed by the makers of the show, or the channel (Colors), there is a strong possibility that the former contestants of the show might join hands for Bigg Boss 11.

Bollywood star Salman Khan, who has been associated with the show for a while now, has already shot for the promos of Bigg Boss 11. The show will most likely air in September this year.

Also read: Salman Khan to return as Bigg Boss 11 host this September, shoot promo this weekend

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The Brahms and their bees have been busy.

The family, which runs 3 Bee Farms in Griswold, sell their honey and produce at eight farmers markets a week while hosting events at their orchard.

Steve Brahms, who runs the farm along with his parents, Mike and Donna Brahms, his wife, Diane Brahms, and his brother, Shawn Brahms, said business is good.

We have 35 hives right now, but at our peak in good years weve had up to 85 hives, Steve said. We expanded into vegetables eight years ago and its going strong.

The name 3 Bee Farms is a play on words, as the farm involved three generations of Brahms when it was founded. Steve said his children will hopefully take the farm into the future.

Steves grandfather, Don Brahm, and Mike used to know a beekeeper who kept a hive on their land.

One day, Don decided to buy the equipment for two hives and have a go at it himself.

We told him we dont know anything about beekeeping. He said it doesnt matter, were doing it, Steve said.

Now, the family sells their goods at markets in Anita, Crescent, Atlantic, Avoca and more. Despite having nine acres dedicated to produce, theyre selling faster than they can grow, he said.

We sell vegetables from A to Z. Literally. We sell it all, from asparagus to zucchini, he said.

Which helps, because a jar of honey lasts forever, Steve said. People stock up on honey ,so selling other products has given the business a more diverse way to thrive.

Tours are held at the farm, showing off how the honey and beeswax is made, along with featuring their greenhouses and apple farms, educational talks and more. Produce-wise, they harvest more than 20 varieties of apples from 1,200 trees, pumpkin patches, a corn maze and games for families who visit.

For more information go to 3beefarms.com.
WASHINGTON  John McCain seemed poised to be the savior of the GOP health bill when he returned to the Capitol despite a brain cancer diagnosis.

But he turned out to be the executioner.

The long-time Arizona senator stunned pretty much everyone Friday by turning on his party and his president and joining two other GOP senators in voting no on the Republicans effort to repeal Obamacare.

That killed the bill. And it also dealt what looks like a death blow to the Republican Partys years of promises to get rid of Barack Obamas health law, pledges that helped the GOP win control of the House, the Senate and the White House.

It was a moment burning with drama, irony and contradictions, playing out live on a tense Senate floor.

Eighty years old and in the twilight of his career, McCain lived up to his reputation as a maverick. When he walked into the well of the Senate around 1:30 a.m. and gave a thumbs-down to the legislation, there were audible gasps. Democrats briefly broke into cheers, which Minority Leader Chuck Schumer quickly waved his arm to quiet.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stood stone-faced, his arms crossed. McCain had just saved the signature legislative achievement of the man who beat him for the presidency in 2008, a law the senator himself had vigorously campaigned against while seeking a sixth Senate term last year.

Friday afternoon, McCains office announced he was returning to Arizona to begin radiation and chemotherapy treatments for his brain tumor.

After so many years as a senator, with so little left to lose, McCain had taken a stand for the Senate he used to inhabit, the one where he made deals across the aisle with the likes of Ted Kennedy, not the riven, stalemated Congress of today.

We have seen the worlds greatest deliberative body succumb to partisan rancor and gridlock, McCain said in a statement. The vote last night presents the Senate with an opportunity to start fresh. It is now time to return to regular order with input from all of our members  Republicans and Democrats  and bring a bill to the floor of the Senate for amendment and debate.

President Donald Trump tweeted his disapproval of McCains no vote, as well as those of fellow GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska whose opposition had been expected. A president who once mocked McCains years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam did not have much sway with the senator when it counted.

This is clearly a disappointing moment, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. I regret that our efforts were not enough, this time.

Its time to move on, he said. The vote was 49-51 with three Republicans joining all Democrats in voting no.

Iowa Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley expressed disappointment. They voted for the bill.

As Ive said throughout this debate, Obamacare is not sustainable in Iowa and we have to act. Iowans in the individual market have seen their choices vanish and have seen massive rate increases. Throughout my 99 county tour, I hear countless stories from Iowans facing these premium increases, as well as increases in other out of pocket costs like deductibles and copays that they simply cannot afford. We dont have the option to sit back and do nothing; Iowans are demanding relief from Obamacare, Ernst said in a statement through her office. I am disappointed that the Senate was unable to advance important changes to this flawed law. We must now continue to find ways to work on behalf of Iowans and the American people who have been negatively impacted by Obamacare to find affordable, patient-centered solutions that work for them.

Grassley called the result disappointing.

The health care situation is the same as before. Obamacare has not delivered on its promises and is failing. Those who have access to insurance often cant afford to use it because of sky-high deductibles, premiums and co-payments. Because of Obamacares failures, 72,000 Iowans dont know if theyll be able to afford health insurance next year. Only one insurer will stay in the exchanges and plans premium increases of 43 percent on average, on top of big increases this year, he said through his office. The state of Iowa has a proposal pending with the federal government to try to save coverage for those individuals. Longer term, Ill continue to work for access to affordable health care by promoting the free market, supporting efforts to decrease the costs of prescription drugs, and making sure Medicare and Medicaid continue to be available to those who need them. The American people deserve better than Obamacares failures.

Vice President Mike Pence lobbied McCain right up to the end. The two men huddled on the Senate floor for about a half hour before the vote.

As their conversation ended, McCain and Pence smiled and patted each other on the back, and McCain walked across the floor to talk with Schumer. About a dozen Democrats gathered around him. McCain held out his hands, looked upward and mouthed an expletive. His face looked exasperated.

And then, as Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut described it later in a post on the website Medium, Time seems to stand still.

The roll was called, and Collins and Murkowski both voted no. With Democrats unanimously opposed, McConnell could lose only two Republicans in the 52-48 Senate.

Finally McCain came to the front, raised his arm to get the attention of the tally clerk, gestured no, and walked away past the glowering McConnell. With that one moment, seven years of urgent GOP promises were dead, likely never to be revived.

McConnells remarks in the immediate aftermath were a bitter rebuke.

I and many of my colleagues did as we promised and voted to repeal this failed law, the majority leader said on the Senate floor. We told our constituents we would vote that way and when the moment came, when the moment came, most of us did.

Schumer said McCain is blessed with an internal gyroscope of right and wrong.

Schumer who negotiated a sweeping immigration bill with McCain several years ago and has been talking with him frequently of late.

He gets angry, for sure, but when push comes to shove and there are brass tacks, that internal gyroscope of right and wrong guides him, Schumer said.

Just days earlier, on Tuesday, McCain had buoyed the efforts of McConnell  and Trump  when he returned to the Capitol for the first time after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, and cast a decisive vote to open debate on the GOP repeal legislation.

Yet even then he forecast that his support could not be counted on, as he took the floor to lecture his colleagues, the scars from his surgery etched severely along the left side of his face.

Why dont we try the old way of legislating in the Senate, the way our rules and customs encourage us to act, he said. If this process ends in failure, which seems likely, then lets return to regular order.

The outcome McCain predicted came to pass  he made sure that it did. And now if Republicans want to get anything done on health care, they will have little choice but to return to regular order, and turn to Democrats.

 Nonpareil News Editor Mike Brownlee contributed to this report.
Postal Service officials confirmed late Friday afternoon that the former Sears building at the Mall of the Bluffs has been selected as the new site for the Council Bluffs Post Office.

The selection of the Mall of the Bluffs site follows a community meeting and review of all public feedback, according to a Postal Service release.

Because of maintenance concerns at the current facility, the Postal Service must find a new location, said USPS Vice President of Facilities Tom Samra.

The Postal Service subleases its current location at 8 S. Sixth St. from the General Services Administration, which has announced they intend to terminate their overall lease for the property in early 2018.

In addition to the Post Office, the upper floors of the building house a federal courtroom as well as offices for U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst.

Mayor Matt Walsh said Friday he has been in discussion with GSA officials about a site for the federal court and the two senators offices.

He said he initially suggested building a facility in the property being developed east of Tom Hanafan Riverside Park that would be leased to the GSA for the federal court and the needed federal office space.

The location of a federal facility near downtown Omaha as well as Eppley Airfield would be advantageous, Walsh said.

The mayor said he was told that federal regulations prohibit building facilities specifically to be leased for federal use. However, GSA officials said it might be difficult to find space in Council Bluffs that would meet the security needs of the federal court.

Walsh said it is his understanding that GSA officials plan to work with officials of Iowas Fourth Judicial District to see if space might be available at the Pottawattamie County Courthouse that could be used for a federal courtroom, since the courthouse meets the needed security requirements.

If courtroom space is available at the county facility, Walsh said the GSA would look for office space for Grassley and Ernsts offices elsewhere.

He said if no such arrangement can be worked out with Fourth Judicial District officials, GSA officials have indicated it might open the possibility of building a new facility that could be leased by the GSA for the federal court.

The new Post Office facility in the former Sears building will be 16,719 square feet and offer the same services currently provided to Council Bluffs customers, including three retail windows, nearly 900 Post Office boxes and several parcel lockers offering Post Office box customers an easy, convenient and secure delivery option to pick up packages without going to the retail counter. Carriers will also work from the new location.

If all goes according to schedule, the build out at the new location is expected to be finished in late first quarter 2018.

The Postal Service anticipates providing the same services at the new location as are currently provided to our customers at the existing location, Samra said.

The Postal Service noted in the release that its important to note that postal customers dont have to visit a Post Office to conduct most transactions.

Customers can buy stamps and ship packages through their rural carrier, also known as a Post Office on Wheels. Theres also Stamps By Mail, Stamps By Phone at 1-800-STAMP-24 (1-800-782-6724) and the 24/7 online Post Office at usps.com where customers can buy stamps, change their address, print postage-paid shipping labels and request a free package pickup.

There are currently three contract Postal Units in Council Bluffs, which offer virtually all of the services of a Post Office, including buying stamps and mailing packages:

 Hy-Vee, 2323 W. Broadway  7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week;

 Hy-Vee, 1745 Madison Ave.  7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week; and

 Oard Ross Drug, 701 16th Ave.  Weekdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

There are currently 20 other locations to purchase stamps in Council Bluffs, including Wells Fargo, Hy-Vee, U.S. Bank, Caseys General Store, Office Depot, Walmart Supercenter, QuikTrip, CVS and Walgreens.
The service will be offered weekly, flying on Saturdays, and will launch March 10, 2018. The route is new for Southwest, and it will be the only airline to fly nonstop to Tampa International from Omaha, said Steve McCoy, Eppleys manager of airline affairs.
An RJD worker was shot dead in Bihar's Siwan on Friday night.

By India Today Web Desk: An RJD worker was shot dead in Sheikhpura village of Siwan in Bihar on Friday night.

The deceased has been identified as Minhaj Khan, a youth leader from RJD.

Sources said that the unidentified assailants entered Khan's house forcibly and attacked him.

The accused shot him point blank on the head.

Police who rushed to the spot immediately after is conducting a probe.

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Also Read:

Triple terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir; police constable shot dead

Noida: Woman techie shot dead in basement of her apartment, attack caught on CCTV

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A drunk Etah cop asked an accused to buy him cigarettes and liquor after a court hearing. The video goes viral on the internet.

By India Today Web Desk: An Etah cop's video of asking a prisoner to buy him tobacco, cigarettes and liquor has made him a laughing stock on the internet.

People are having their share of fun as they watch the hysterical video which is making rounds on many social media platforms.

An intoxicated cop from Etah can be seen walking up to a rickety roadside kiosk (panwaadi) and buying tobacco with a prisoner in handcuffs right along with him.

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If one was not enough, then there was another cop who was spotted and was caught on camera asking the handcuffed prisoner to buy liquor, cigarettes and tobacco for them.

PRISONER AND ETAH POLICE

Police constables Ravi Kumar Singh Yadav and Rakesh Kumar were taking Raju, an accused, to the district jail after the court hearing.

Both the constables not only drank alcohol with the accused but also asked him to buy cigarettes and tobacco for them.

Watch: Drunk Policeman and prisoner buying tobacco in Uttar Pradesh's Etah

#WATCH Drunk Policeman and prisoner buying tobacco in Uttar Pradesh's Etah (28.7.17) pic.twitter.com/2FJLJdk65i- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 29, 2017

The incident throws light on the security and sincerity of the police force towards its duty as the accused could have fled the scene because of their sheer negligence.

FYI || Truth behind viral video of UP cops under Yogi government misbehaving with Akhilesh Yadav ||

FYI || Watch: 2 men lob hand grenade at bank in Uttar Pradesh, flee with Rs 3 lakh ||

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For too long, the Environmental Protection Agency has strayed from its intended purpose and instead has become a red tape factory with little to no accountability. Thankfully, the Trump administration is working to reverse this harmful trend.

Farmers and ranchers have been hit especially hard by the endless onslaught of EPA regulations, even though they are careful stewards of our land and water. Their livelihood depends on responsible usage of these resources, and the Nebraskans I talk with take this responsibility seriously. We all want clean air and clean water, which can and should be combined with the goals of economic growth and competitiveness.

One of the clearest examples of the agencys new direction under the Trump administration is the proposal released by the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to repeal the Obama administrations Waters of the U.S. rule, or WOTUS. This rule was one of the most flagrant abuses of regulatory power in modern history and threatened the future of agriculture. It would have given the EPA sweeping jurisdiction to regulate everything from ditches to prairie potholes.

When the Obama administration finalized WOTUS in 2015, I introduced the House resolution to block the rule using the Congressional Review Act, or CRA. The Senate version of my resolution passed both chambers of Congress but was unsurprisingly vetoed by President Barack Obama.

Now, the Trump administrations proposal to repeal this rule is a welcome step toward certainty and relief for producers, landowners, and local communities. The formal proposal was released on July 27, and the public has until Aug. 28 to submit comments to the agency at Regulations.gov.

The Clean Power Plan, another dangerous Obama administration regulation, threatened to force hundreds of coal-fired power plants to shut their doors, killing jobs and increasing the cost of energy. Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order at the EPA to dismantle these federal regulations and empower states to move forward with responsible energy development.

To this point, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has worked to undo more regulations in his short tenure than any other administrator in the history of the agency. The regulations issued by the Obama administration threatened entire industries and defied the Constitution with costly legislating through the executive branch. In April, Administrator Pruitt announced his back-to-basics agenda of returning EPA to its core mission: protecting the environment by engaging with state, local, and tribal partners to create sensible regulations that enhance economic growth.

As Administrator Pruitt reins in the red tape, I am hopeful we can see the agency refocus on important projects which have been languishing. For example, Missouri residents have been waiting 27 years for an EPA decision on how to clean up a toxic waste site. Administrator Pruitt has stated his commitment to resolving this and other long-awaited cleanup efforts.

Standing against federal overreach has been a priority of mine for many years, and I appreciate the Trump administrations commitment to this effort. An EPA that prioritizes both protecting our resources and growing our economy is certainly a welcome change.
Parramatta forward Kenny Edwards is facing a fine over a contrary conduct charge from the Eels' Round 21 win over Brisbane on Friday night.

Edwards was charged over a hit on Brisbane winger Jonus Pearson in the 37th minute of Friday night's match.

He will be fined $1,100 if he enters an early guilty plea and risks a $1,500 fine if he unsuccessfully fights the charge at the NRL judiciary.
By PTI: Mumbai, Jul 29 (PTI) BJP MLA Ashish Shelar has sought an SIT probe into the purchase of eight penguins by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the city-based Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, popularly known as the Byculla Zoo.

Shelar, the Mumbai chief of the BJP, also wants the revamp of the zoo to be made part of the probe by the Special Investigation Team.

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He made this deamd during a debate in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly yesterday.

Shelar sought to know if the Penguins brought from abroad were bacteria infected.

He also alleged that while preparing the master plan for revamp of Byculla zoo, the project manager was appointed without calling for bids.

The Byculla zoo redevelopment plan was first envisaged in 2005. The master plan was prepared in 2009 which was rejected by the heritage conservation committee (of the BMC).

Despite this, the same firm was awarded the contract for preparing the plan again, the MLA claimed.

He alleged that the firm which was awarded the contract had used bogus mails, forged documents and did not have any experience of doing such a work.

Shiv Sena MLA and former Mumbai mayor Sunil Prabhu said his party would also insist on an inquiry as the then corporators had passed the proposal in the BMC, which was mooted by the BMC commissioner.

On March 17, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Mumbai mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar had inaugurated a newly-built enclosure for penguins at the Byculla Zoo.

Byculla Zoo comes under the BMC, which has been ruled by the Shiv Sena rule for over two decades. PTI ND NRB NM NM

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* Michelle Michniewicz, of Hobart, was disheartened by the lack of support for grieving parents at the hospital where she gave birth in 2015 to her daughter, Juno, who was born without a heartbeat. She since founded Juno's Promise, which provides bereavement services to mothers and fathers dealing with the loss of a baby and doula services for rainbow births.

"It's a promise that life will be beautiful again," she said. "When you lose a child, it takes away the innocence of pregnancy. When you get pregnant again, it's super scary."

* The Michigan City community is getting ready for the Michigan City Chamber Music Festival, which will present its 16th season of free summer concerts Aug. 5-13. The programs feature a variety of musical eras from the Baroque to a late-20th century repertoire. Read about it in Sundays Lifestyle section.

* The Sunday Times coupon value is a healthy $258.15. Be sure to keep an eye out for the savings.
VALPARAISO  The Porter County Sheriff's Department is on its way to becoming the second department in the county to equip its officers with body cameras.

The Porter County Council set the ball rolling last week when it gave the department the approval needed to spend $234,000 in drug-related seizure funding to cover the first part of a five-year contract for body and vehicle cameras.

The move, which still requires approval from the Porter County Board of Commissioners, comes two months after Valparaiso approved funding for the same type of cameras.

The debate over the cameras has heated up in the wake of several high-profile cases across the nation of alleged police brutality caught on law enforcement and civilian cameras.

Porter County Sheriff Dave Reynolds said funding has delayed his department's use of the cameras, not resistance from him or his officers.

"Our department wants them because they know what they do," he said.

The cameras, which will be provided to 45 patrolmen and SWAT team members, will serve to protect the safety of officers as much as the public, Reynolds said.

Cameras are actually smartphones

The BodyWorn brand of cameras being purchased by the county and Valparaiso are actually Motorolla Moto Z smart phones loaded with appropriate software, according to Mark Wood, business manager with Utility Associates Inc., of Decatur, Georgia.

"We capitalize on features of a smartphone," said Wood, who is a retired Indianapolis police officer.

The cameras feature high definition audio and visual, he said.

The cameras also rely on the phone's gyroscope and GPS features so that if it detects the officer falling to a horizontal or prone position, it sends out an emergency call and directions to where he or she can be found, he said.

"If an officer goes down, our camera knows that," Wood said.

The phone's Wi-Fi and cellular capabilities are also used so that video is sent in real time to the cloud for secure storage.

"So there's no docking station at the end of your shift," he said.

Valparaiso and the county will also receive the latest feature that capitalizes on the phone's ability to listen, he said. Whenever it hears a gunshot, it will turn on and will also provide audio and visual for the two minutes prior to the sound, Wood said.

The cameras can also be set to turn on whenever an officer is running, leaving his vehicle or turns his overhead lights on, he said.

Policies determine use and public access to videos

Reynolds said his department has been testing out body cameras, but has had none in place full time yet.

The use of vehicle cameras will not be new. Reynolds, who helped introduce the technology locally years ago as chief of police in Portage, said it was discovered that those earlier versions of vehicle cameras did not hold up well to the changing temperatures in the area.

Local defense attorneys have questioned the absence of cameras in police cars over the years, considering the large amount of federal dollars directed to area departments for their purchase.

The proposed body cameras will be worn by the officers upfront and center in specially designed clothing, he said. Since they are held within the uniform, the officers don't run the same risk as other models of having them come off during scuffles.

The company will also replace all the body and vehicle cameras after three years, Reynolds said.

Having the same camera makes sense for the county and Valparaiso because they share in so many efforts and the city has officers on the county SWAT team, he said.

Valparaiso Police Chief Mike Brickner, who will be leaving next month to head up the county's 911 and emergency management departments, has said the body cameras by police officers will improve officer safety and public transparency.

He said he had spent two years studying the initiative, testing six different models of cameras.

The Hammond Police Department equipped each of its officers with body cameras last year as part of an effort to improve community relations "through improved officer accountability and transparency."

Reynolds said he is looking into the use of the cameras in Hammond and elsewhere to establish a policy about how they will be used in his department. State statute spells out how the public can gain access to the videos.

Departments get creative for funding

The Porter County Council approved the purchase contingent upon attorneys for itself and the county commissioners reviewing a proposed five-year contract, according to Council President Mike Jessen, R-4th.

Reynolds said the proposal calls for $234,000 the first year, followed by $58,000 for each of the next four years.

He has the money for the first and second years, he said, and anticipates having enough additional money from seized assets to cover the remaining years when they roll around.

Jessen said last week's conversation on the purchase would have been much different had the sheriff not had half the money upfront. A question remains about renewing the agreement after the five years, he said.

Valparaiso is also entering into a five-year contract with Utility Associates to equip all of its 46 officers at a cost of $269,000.

City Administrator Bill Oeding has said the contract will be paid for with reserves from the city's insurance funds.
LAPORTE  She's 34 and now a member of the governor's cabinet, but moving up the ladder and even possibly to the top spot is not what Mayor Blair Milo says is her goal.

"I never got involved in government to be someone," she said. "I got involved to do something, and this is a really exciting opportunity to continue to do more where I've seen great action is needed and more coordination is needed."

Milo will become the state's first secretary of career connections and talent, a position created by Gov. Eric Holcomb to help fill the 700,000 jobs in Indiana projected to be vacated over the next decade and the 300,000 new ones anticipated during the same time period.

Milo, though, said her strategy is not just filling holes.

She said it's really about putting students and others on a path to a career or jobs high in demand that they would be passionate about and enriched by.

Her approach is part of an equation she's followed in LaPorte, and she believes it holds the key to a healthier society and country.

"Ultimately, we want to see people feel engaged in the workplace," Milo said. "When they feel passionate about what it is they get to do, I think that results in greater happiness for the individual and greater productivity.

"And then that creates greater growth for that person individually and the business they're serving."

The end result, she said, is a higher quality workforce and better economic growth for the state and nation.

"All of the outcomes are positive when you are able to connect an individual with a career they feel passionate about," Milo said.

Her game plan includes recruiting talented individuals from outside the state.

She also said she wants to focus on more offenders getting the skills needed to become successful on the outside, and helping more abusers of heroin and other drugs overcome their addictions so they can become personally satisfied and productive.

Milo, a U.S. Navy veteran, said she's excited and sad to be leaving the community she grew up in and returned to just prior to her election as mayor in 2011.

While living in Indianapolis, she plans to keep her current residence so home doesn't seem all that far away.

"Certainly, I have mixed emotions on some of the change elements that are part of it. LaPorte is a big part of my heart and so much a part of who I am, so it's important for me to still have a presence here," she said.

She officially begins her new duties at the Statehouse Aug. 14.
Representatives of the United Way of LaPorte County, NIPSCO and Dwyer Instruments stopped by Lake Hills Elementary School in Michigan City last month to present backpacks, books and a ceremonial check to teachers and children taking part in Michigan City Area Schools' summer Kindergarten Countdown program.

The Kindergarten Countdown program serves more than 100 children who will be entering kindergarten, many of whom have not had a preschool experience. Children enrolled in the five-week session learn about classroom routines, are introduced to basic reading and math concepts and participate in field trips and other hands-on activities.

Dwyer Instruments senior human resources manager Shawn Rutkowski was on hand to deliver 135 children's books, which were donated by Dwyer employees taking part in a jeans day book drive. Rutkowski said employees will also be volunteer readers in Kindergarten Countdown classrooms this summer.

Angie Nelson-Deuitch, NIPSCO public affairs manager, entertained students with a dramatic reading of "Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss. After posing with a ceremonial check for $30,000 that represents the companys donation this year, Nelson-Deuitch noted that NIPSCO has donated over $100,000 in recent years to support the program.

United Way manager Dave Sisk said this years Kindergarten Countdown is also supported by UPS, which designated $5,000 to the project; both UPS and The Book Warehouse donated books that will be given to the children to take home. According to Sisk, the Michigan City High School Student United Way club will also assist with Kindergarten Countdown, reading to children and chaperoning field trips.

We truly appreciate the United Way and the businesses and community partners who are supporting Kindergarten Countdown, said Dr. Jan Radford, MCAS director of curriculum and instruction. This is helping us ensure that children in our community are starting school prepared and excited about learning.
VALPARAISO  The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has given the Memorial Opera House a $35,000 federal matching grant to assess the structure with an eye toward future preservation work.

This is an exciting opportunity for the Memorial Opera House as we are about to celebrate our 125th anniversary, Memorial Opera House Director Scot MacDonald said. This grant will enable us to develop a comprehensive plan to repair and improve our historical treasure for decades to come.

The Memorial Opera House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was constructed in 1893 to commemorate the Veterans of the Civil War. With 364 seats, it is one of the largest community theater venues in the county.

Over the years, the building has suffered some deterioration from water filtration and damage to both the exterior masonry and the interior plaster. Other infrastructure challenges include the 120-year-old plumbing system and the aging electrical system, as well as the subflooring in the auditorium area, which is beginning to buckle.

This is a huge step in our holistic approach to upgrade and maintain our county-owned buildings, Porter County Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, said. The Opera House is one of the most iconic historical structures in Porter County, and this grant will provide us with the blueprint we need to preserve it for future generations.
MICHIGAN CITY  Sullair, a long-established maker of air compressors and related products in Northwest Indiana, has been purchased by Hitachi.

Mayor Ron Meer said the city has been assured Hitachi is committed to Michigan City. The company hopes to expand the operation.

''They're staying here and staying established in Michigan City,'' Meer said. Sullair at 3700 E. Michigan Blvd. employs 550 people.

Jack Carlson, president of Sullair, is looking forward to working with his firm's new owner.

We are thrilled by the prospect of partnering with Hitachi to grow Sullair as we embark together on the next chapter in our proud history, he said.

According to Hitachi, the cost to acquire Sullair from its parent company, Accudyne Industries, was $1.24 billion.

Sullair was founded in 1965 in Michigan City and also has facilities in China and India.

Hitachi said the goal of the acquisition is to gain access to Sullairs global sales network, mainly in North America, and provide Sullairs customer base with digital solutions by leveraging the expertise in informational and operational technology Hitachi cultivated through the years.

Hitachi is a diversified company involved in information and telecommunication systems, social infrastructure, high-functional materials and components and electronic systems and equipment. The Tokyo-based firm also sells air compressors mainly in Japan and Asia and will add Sullair's products to its existing catalog.

When Hitachi will take over Sullair has not been released, but Meer anticipates it will happen in the next couple of months.

In February, Sullair opened a new facility, which provides a larger, hands-on training area for employees and a virtual reality compressor training room.

By the end of the year, the company's first oil-free machines also will be available for staff training.
The NYPD on Saturday responded to comments President Donald Trump made that seem to encourage officers to use force when arresting people.

In a statement, Police Commissioner James O'Neill said, "The NYPD's training and policies relating to the use of force only allow for measures that are reasonable and necessary under any circumstances, including the arrest and transportation of prisoners. To suggest that police officers apply any standard in the use of force other than what is reasonable and necessary is irresponsible, unprofessional and sends the wrong message to law enforcement as well as the public."

Trump made the remarks Friday while speaking to law enforcement officers on Long Island.

He told officers not to worry about injuring people while arresting them.

The president was in his home state talking about the fight against violent gangs like MS-13. He promised to destroy the deadly street gang as part of his crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
By PTI: Lucknow, Jul 29 (PTI) Lashing out at the BJP for its "greed for power", BSP supremo Mayawati today said the recent developments in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have put "democracy at risk".

"The political developments in Goa, Manipur, Bihar and now in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh are proof enough that the Modi government has put democracy at risk," she said in a statement here.

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"BJPs greed for power has turned into lust for power.. the manner in which the official machinery and power is being misused is most condemnable," she said.

The BSP chief said the central government had misused its power in a very blatant manner in Gujarat following which MLAs have been forced to leave their state and move to a safer place.

After forming its government in Goa and Manipur by "crushing democracy", whatever is happening in Bihar, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh is an example of misuse of official machinery like ED, CBI, income tax etc against opposition leaders, she said.

All this is being done to divert attention from the wrong policies and works of the BJP government, she said.

"The governments in Odisha and West Bengal are also facing official terror," she alleged.

On the resignation by three MLCs, two from Samajwadi Party and one of BSP in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati said rather than bowing before the BJP, they should have faced the challenge. PTI SAB SRY

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Kiara Jackson, Samantha Harris and Kayla Seals stood in front of Lowder Hall room 110 on Friday, facing a group of their peers from Birmingham City Schools.

The problem is, at school, children cant eat hot meals from home, Jackson said. Theres an average of one or two microwaves in school cafeterias. When everybodys sharing a microwave at a school cafeteria, the lines are very long. So your children cant get to the microwave fast enough to get to their seat and back without missing lunch.

Well, we have a solution, with the Microbox, Harris chimed in. Its a lunchbox that your child can warm up their food in.

The three girls were part of the Junior Tiger Cage Entrepreneurship Camp held this week at Auburn University. The camp, hosted by the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business, was a weeklong experience for ninth and tenth graders who learned about creating and pitching a product.

Friday, the 15 students who participated presented their ideas to their parents and a panel of three judges, who asked the young entrepreneurs questions about their product and evaluated their presentations.

Learning the ropes

It was an intense week, said Lakami Baker, managing director for the Lowder Center for Family Business and Entrepreneurship. We did educational activities about entrepreneurship. We did brainstorming activities. We taught them about doing market research, competitor analysis, and then to work on their financial system.

Campers also met with an admissions counselor to learn about the process for applying to Auburn. They went on a field trip to Auburn Escape Zones, to meet with the business owner as well as working together as a team to break out of one of the escape rooms.

But the focus of the week was on the ideas generated by the students themselves. The campers divided themselves up into five groups of three to identify a problem, create a product that would address the problem, market it and present it to their peers and the judges.

Judges were Opelika photography business owner Tanisha Stevens, Kerry Chandler from the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation, and David Ketchen, research director for the Lowder Center at Auburn.

Stacey Nickson, director of Auburns Center for Educational Outreach and Engagement, co-created the entrepreneurship camp. This is the camps second year.

She was already engaged in entrepreneurship camps, but Auburn Universitys outreach program was not offering (one), Nickson said. I was looking for someone who would do an entrepreneurship camp, and she was looking to extend the work she does to kids who are not in the mainstream, or kids who are underrepresented. So we came together, because I had the underrepresented kids, and she had the entrepreneurship camp.

Putting a plan in action

The camp was free for students, as it was paid for by Gear Up, a federally-funded Department of Education program.

I have worked with K-12 youth for 30 years. I believe in their creativity, especially students who have had to live a life in which they perhaps have had to be creative. But what gets me really excited is that they have now been taught to create a program around their creativity, Nickson said. So its not just about, I have a great idea. Its I have a great idea that I can articulate and that I can bring to fruition, because I know how you put a business plan and a business model together.

One team, consisting of students David Jackson, Sy Starr and Makayla Rutledge, pitched a headset they called Pro Connections, Inc. They would market the product to construction workers, as the hands-free devices would fit on hard hats and eliminate the need for walkie talkies on a construction site.

The only competition we would have are walkie talkies and cellphones, because those are the only two devices that are used on construction sites, Jackson explained as the students shared that their proposed headset would make construction sites more efficient and possibly safer.

Nickson said the campers exceeded her expectations with each of their ideas and their demonstrated ability to problem-solve collectively.

Were not saying were trying to make everybody in here an entrepreneur, Baker said. What we do want is for them to develop some type of entrepreneurial mindset, meaning that instead of complaining about some of the things that they see, we want them to take action.
MONTGOMERY -- A former Lee County deputy sheriff, who once applied for a position as a school resource officer, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on a child pornography conviction.

Kevin Wayne Taylor, 40, a resident of Phenix City was found guilty for receipt and possession of child pornography and sentenced in federal court on Thursday to 240 months in prison without parole, according to a news release from A. Clark Morris, Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama.

Taylor was arrested by the the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) in August 2016 following an investigation that began when a 10-year-old girl reported that Taylor had inappropriately touched her and taken pictures of her genital area with a cell phone.

After receiving the report, the Lee County Sheriffs Office forwarded it to the SBI who executed a search warrant at Taylors residence and seized several computer devices. Some of the devices contained images and videos of child sexual abuse.

The evidence indicates that Taylor had been collecting these images for approximately 11 years. After learning of the evidence in this case, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones promptly terminated Taylors employment.

Kevin Taylor was a child predator disguised as a law enforcement officer who was charged with protecting our community, said U.S. district attorney Morris. Taylor not only failed to protect our community, but infected our community by preying on children."

Sheriff Jones said that his office will continue its work to identify threats to the community.

"We will not tolerate anything but professional conduct from those who serve in our ranks," Sheriff Jones stated in the news release. "When matters such as this are brought to our attention, we will take swift action and assist agencies in any way possible to ensure these types of crimes are dealt with properly.

Jones' comments were echoed by Hal Taylor, Alabamas Secretary of Law Enforcement.

No matter who you are, ALEA will pursue criminals that target children, stated Hal Taylor. While the vast majority of our law enforcement serve with honor and integrity, those officers that break the law will be treated like every other criminal we investigate.

Following his 20-year prison sentence, Kevin Taylor will be subject to supervised release for the remainder of his life. Taylor remains in the custody of the United States Marshals pending placement by the Bureau of Prisons.

I thank the agents and prosecutors in this case for their hard work in obtaining such a strong sentence," Morris said. "This prosecution should send a message to others that the protection of our children will always be a priority, and those that victimize our children will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
WASHINGTON  The early morning defeat of Senate Republicans skinny repeal legislation brought sighs of relief from health insurers, including those in Nebraska and Iowa.

Medica plans to offer insurance on both the Nebraska and Iowa Affordable Care Act exchanges in 2018 and had warned about the bills potential consequences.

Repealing the individual mandate and doing nothing else would have been a universally agreed to bad idea for individual markets, Medica spokesman Greg Bury said after the vote. The fact it wasnt repealed is good.

But while the ACA, or Obamacare, remains the law of the land, it needs help  and soon.

Soaring prices and fewer choices may greet customers when they return to the ACA insurance marketplaces this fall, in part because insurers are facing uncertainty about whether the Trump administration will continue to make key subsidy payments and enforce other parts of the existing law that help control prices.

Assurances dont look to be coming anytime soon.

As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch! President Donald Trump tweeted early Friday, soon after the Senate narrowly rejected the latest push to dismantle the Obama-era health care law.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said in a statement after the Senate vote that the Trump administration would pursue its health care goals through regulation.

Bury said the plans and prices that Medica filed for 2018 were based on the law in place at the time. The average rate increase for Iowa is 43.5 percent, while Nebraska rate information will be released Tuesday.

Rates are subject to change depending on a number of variables, including the actions by Congress, Bury said. Indeed, insurers broadly say Washington can help stabilize the situation.

We hope the vote in the Senate did not close the door to Congress taking some positive actions to provide short-term stability for markets by funding cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) and re-establishing a federal reinsurance program, Bury said.

Iowa officials, in hopes of enticing another insurer to its market, have proposed a stopgap measure that includes a shift in federal subsidies to give more relief to younger, healthier people and a reinsurance mechanism that would shield participating insurers from a concentration of individuals with persistent and expensive health conditions.

The proposal requires federal approval before the open enrollment period that begins Nov. 1.

In a statement, Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen said he still hopes Congress finds a solution, but the state will continue working with federal officials on the stopgap plan.

Its too easy, he said, for people to game the system now by joining the market and paying premiums only when they need to see a doctor.

Its the equivalent of letting individuals buy homeowners insurance once their house starts on fire, he said. We are asking the federal government to allow us to limit that gaming under our waiver request.

Ommen also said that individuals not receiving subsidies are bearing the brunt of the increases.

We should not be asking farmers and small businesses to sell their farm or property to cover unexpected health emergencies, he said. Not having an individual market is unacceptable.

Insurers main concern now is that the Trump administration will stop paying those CSRs  crucial subsidies called for in the law that help reduce costs like deductibles for people with low incomes. The subsidies, estimated at $7 billion a year, have been challenged by Republicans in court, and Trump has guaranteed them only through this month.

If they stop, insurers will have to raise prices for coverage, known as premiums, because by law they must still offer the same reduced deductibles for their low-income customers.

Leerink analyst Ana Gupte surveyed several states and has said that insurers are asking for price hikes of around 36 percent when they assume the subsidies go away, compared with about 18 percent if they stay.

People with low incomes might be shielded from these hikes in part because the law provides tax credits that cover much of the premium. But those who make too much to qualify for that help  and tend to vote Republican  could get hit hard, said health care consultant Robert Laszewski, a former insurance executive.

(Trumps) hurting his own people, Laszewski said.

Of course, all shoppers will be hurt if insurers leave markets, said Urban Institute health economist Linda Blumberg. Then theres nowhere to use your subsidy.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield insurer Anthem has already withdrawn from markets in Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana. CEO Joseph Swedish said Wednesday that the company may cut more if it doesnt get certainty on the subsidies quickly.

Insurers have until the middle of next month to finalize their 2018 prices, industry officials say.

Just where Congress goes from here remains an open question. The Senate has delayed the start of its August recess, but its not clear whether it will stick around until health care is resolved. And as they left Friday, House members were telling each other See you in September.

Its time to go back to Nebraska and talk to people, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., told The World-Herald when asked about the future of health care efforts. Thats my plan.

He has a slate of town hall meetings scheduled.

Fortenberry wasnt ready to use words like improve or fix that are favored by Democrats. But he also said the repeal-and-replace approach doesnt have enough support.

Lawmakers could look for ways to change aspects of the law that have proved harmful while protecting those that have helped.

At this point its time for both Republicans and Democrats to own the issue fully and work for constructive solutions that are not going to be perfect for either side, Fortenberry said.

This report includes material from the Associated Press.
WASHINGTON  Before Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act collapsed in Fridays wee hours, Nebraskas Sen. Ben Sasse took to the floor to chide his colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

While Republicans have failed to produce their own health care proposals, Democrats have been reflexive defenders of a law that not only failed to reduce health insurance premiums but also helped drive them up, he said.

Stop pretending this is in any way affordable, Sasse said.

The Nebraska Republican campaigned in large part on his health care policy expertise and ability to craft conservative solutions, but he avoided the spotlight during much of the health care debate. His Friday address represented a scathing critique of that debate.

In his view, the country is heading toward one of two destinations: a European-style single-payer model of socialized medicine, or an innovative system in which insurance is portable across job and geographic change.

But he said the Senate had refused to grapple with that major choice and instead focused on small-bore pretty crappy options. The end result, he said, was a lost opportunity that made a joke of the Senates reputation as the worlds greatest deliberative body.

He called for the Senate to work through its August recess on the issue.

In his own floor speech, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said access to affordable health care is out of reach for millions of Americans as the ACA has failed to deliver on its promises to allow people to keep their plans and drive down premiums.

Democrats have demonized Republicans, he said, telling Americans they want to rip health care from the young, the old and the disabled.

They will say and do whatever it takes to secure sweeping, universal government control of the health care system, no matter how much it costs the taxpaying public, the toll it takes on the U.S. economy, or the loss of personal freedom, he said. Their message is dead wrong. Our reform efforts are not making the sky fall.

After the vote, Sasse and Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., issued statements calling for lawmakers to continue working through August to find a solution.

Its disappointing that the Republican Party chose not to keep its word tonight, Sasse said. As Ive said for a month, Congress should work around the clock through August to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Fischer said thousands of Nebraskans have shared with her personal stories of higher health care costs and fewer choices under Obamacare. They need relief. I am disappointed we were unable to move forward today. I believe the Senate should stay in session through the month of August to find a way to address this very important issue.

Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb was quick to release a statement following the vote, in which the decisive nay came from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

As Sen. Ben Sasse pretends to be a rebel and Sen. Deb Fischer ignores open town halls, we thank the true maverick John McCain for standing up for Americans, Kleeb said.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, declined to comment as she left the Capitol following the final vote. She later released a written statement that said she was disappointed. She said Congress still needs to act to provide relief to those hurt by the ACA. Iowans are demanding relief from Obamacare.
By PTI: Kozhikode (Ker), Jul 29 (PTI) The body of a 17-year-old engineering student, who had recently joined the National Institute of Technology-Calicut, was today found hanging from a window bar in his hostel room here.

The boy, hailing from Andhra Pradesh, had joined the NIT-C at Kunnamangalamin the district on July 26.

He was last seen around 4.00 pm yesterday in his hostel room, police said.

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When a student who shared space with the deceased came to their room at 8.00 am today, he found it locked from inside, they said.

He came back with other students later and still found it locked. When they peeped through the window, they saw the body hanging from the window bar inside the room.

Police rushed to the spot after being informed about the incident by the hostel warden.

A case of unnatural death has been registered, they said.

The body has been sent to the Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode for postmortem, police added. PTI KV BN SRY

--- ENDS ---
In unwelcome news for the beef industry, Japan said Friday that it was imposing emergency tariffs of 50 percent on imports of frozen beef, mainly from the U.S.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said the move will have a serious economic impact on Nebraskas beef industry, which is looking to expand exports as the states cattle herd grows.

He did not quantify the expected impact, and the U.S. Meat Export Federation said the impact is not clear. Japan is the nations and Nebraskas largest export market for beef. Nebraska exported $316 million worth of beef to Japan in 2016 out of total exports worth more than $1.1 billion.

Ricketts is scheduled to make a trade mission to Japan in September.

Our beef community can rest assured these tariffs rate increases will be at the forefront of our discussions in Japan, Ricketts said.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso announced the move Friday.

The tariff will take effect automatically as the volume of the imported U.S. frozen beef exceeded the quota set by law, Aso said. So this is what has to be done.

The usual tariff rate for frozen beef imports is 38.5 percent. Under World Trade Organization rules, Japan can introduce safeguard tariffs when imports rise more than 17 percent year-on-year in any given quarter.

The hike could shift Japans purchases of U.S. beef from frozen to fresh, and raise the risk of triggering tariff increases on fresh beef later this year, compounding the effect on U.S. beef exports, the U.S. Meat Export Federation said.

Ricketts said he is calling on Congress and the Trump administration to work harder at negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with Japan, to address the tariff rates and other market access issues.

The U.S. agriculture industry had been hoping for wider access to Japans lucrative market through a Pacific Rim trade initiative, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have reduced Japans tariff on U.S. beef to 9 percent. President Donald Trump withdrew from that accord after taking office.

Trade terms Japan negotiated with the 10 remaining members of the TPP remain in force. So Australia, the biggest rival to U.S. beef exporters with a more favorable tariff rate of 27.5 percent for frozen beef, will not face the same jump in tariff rates thanks to a free trade agreement reached with Tokyo as part of the TPP talks. That puts the U.S. at an even greater competitive disadvantage, Ricketts said.

The U.S. and Australia together account for 90 percent of all of Japans imports of frozen beef, which is mostly used by beef bowl, hamburger and other fast-food outlets.

Japans beef farmers are famed for their marbled Kobe beef, and the government has long used tariffs and other measures to protect its farmers from foreign competition. Still, prices for imported beef tend to be half or less those for beef from domestic cattle.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.
KEARNEY, Neb.  A Kearney, Nebraska, teen is being held at the Northeast Nebraska Juvenile Services Center in Madison after allegedly shooting into a crowd Thursday night at the Buffalo County Fair.

The 16-year-old male is accused of shooting a handgun into the ground near a crowd of about 10 teenagers and young adults at about 10:30 p.m., said Doug McCarty, a Kearney Police Department investigator. The incident happened as a fight seemed to be starting between some of the teens north of the exhibit center.

A handgun was produced, McCarty said, and a single shot was fired. No one was injured in the incident.

The teen was taken into custody on suspicion of attempted felony first-degree assault and using a firearm, a handgun, to commit a felony, and the unlawful discharge of a firearm within the city limits, a misdemeanor. He was transported to Madison where he will be held until a hearing is scheduled.
Creighton Universitys dean of law the past two years, Paul McGreal, will step down next week, Provost Tom Murray said.

McGreal will take a sabbatical for an academic year, then return to Creighton to teach, Murray said in a letter to faculty members and staffers.

Michael Kelly, associate dean of international programs in the law school, will serve as interim dean of law.

Murray said he would eventually provide updates on plans for a search for a permanent dean.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP)  President Donald Trump posted Friday afternoon on Twitter that he is naming Gen. John F. Kelly, the current Secretary of Homeland Security, as his new chief of staff.

"I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American," Trump said in the post.

The move ousts Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman from 2011 to 2016 who was named Trump's chief of staff shortly after the election.

In a separate Twitter post, Trump thanked Priebus  who traveled with the president earlier in the day to an appearance in Brentwood, New York  for his service.

"I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country," Trump posted. "We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!"

The move comes amid reports of disagreement in the White House. A recent Associated Press report described tension among Trump's staff, with newly named Anthony Scaramucci airing his grievances with White House colleagues in a profanity-laden interview.

>> Get the full story later today on Omaha.com or in tomorrow's World-Herald

Copyright 2017 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) will be releasing the official notification for the CAT 2017 tomorrow, July 30.

By India Today Web Desk: The Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Lucknow will be conducting the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2017 on November 26 in two sessions at approximately 140 test centres across India.

Further, as reported by TOI, all the IIMs will be releasing the detailed notification of CAT 2017 tomorrow, July 30.

(Read: CAT 2017: Exam to be held on this date, check out here! )

Where to check the official notification:

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After per latest media reports, the official notification of CAT 2017 will be released in all the newspapers across the country.

Eligibility criteria:

Those candidates who are willing to appear for the examination need to possess at least a Bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognised institute/university.

Candidates who are in their final year or are waiting for results to be declared are also eligible to apply.

Last year, IIM Bangalore was the conveyor of CAT exam and over 2 lakh candidates appeared for the same on December 4.

Moreover, last year, after the CAT 2016 got over, rumours arose that the question paper got leaked. However, in an official notice, IIM Bangalore said that candidates should not pay any attention to such rumours.

The CAT 2017 is one of the toughest examinations for taking MBA admissions in 19 IIMs and 150 other institutes of India.

List of courses offered:

Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management

Post Graduate Programme in Management

Post-Graduate Programme in Food and Agribusiness Management

Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management

Post Graduate Programme in Securities Markets

Meanwhile, Professor Neeraj Dwivedi, convener, CAT 2017, in an official release said that there is no new change as of now in the examination structure. Like previous years, there will be three sections - Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability. The duration of the test will be 180 minutes.

All the CAT 2017 aspirants are requested to keep a close check on the official website of IIMs and particularly IIM Lucknow .

Read: Bill to introduce exams in Class 5, Class 8 to come soon: Prakash Javadekar

For more updates, follow India Today Education or you can write to us at education.intoday@gmail.com

--- ENDS ---
After SP MLCs resign, Akhilesh calls it 'political corruption'

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

In a major blow to Samajwadi Party, two MLCs resigned from the party posts. Reacting to the developments in his party, the former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of indulging in "political corruption".

BJP is indulging in political corruption from Bihar to UP. People are watching everything: Akhilesh Yadav on resignation of MLCs pic.twitter.com/ZnUCqKV6DA  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 29, 2017

Talking to media, the former UP CM said, "I came to know about Bukkal Nawab's resignation. I met him recently and I know him for a long time. If he's not been shifted to somewhere by BJP, I will meet him. This is 'political corruption'. But if someone wants to leave, they can leave," Yadav said.

His comments are in line with the Congress party, who have alleged against BJP of abducting its MLAs in Gujarat ahead of Rajya Sabha polls.

SP MLC and Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder Bukkal Nawab today tendered his resignation from the party while singing a favorable tune for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. This comes close to reports that suggest that SP member and MLC Yashwant Singh has also quit the party.

Talking about Nitish Kumar joining hands with the BJP in Bihar, Akhilesh Yadav mocked at Bihar CM and said,"People who spoke about DNA, now joined NDA".

It may be recalled that during Bihar assembly election in 2015, Nitish has called PM Modi's DNA remark 'an insult to the people of Bihar'.

In fact, Akhilesh Yadav had also made a sarcastic comment on Nitish Kumar's decision over joining hands with BJP with a Bollywood song and said that the latter could not resist separation from his former ally.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 14:54 [IST]
Bengaluru: Former Infosys employee gets life term for murdering wife

India

oi-Anusha

A former Infosys employee has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his wife. The District Principal City and Sessions Court in Bengaluru pronounced the quantum of punishment on Saturday after convicting Satish Kumar for murdering his wife, Priyanka Gupta.

The prosecution sought the death penalty for Satish considering the meticulous planning and execution apart from his attempts to misguide investigators in the case. The court, however, held that it was not the rarest of rare cases and hence a death penalty could not be given. Satish, who worked as an HR manager with Infosys was convicted on Friday by judge Basavaraj Sappannanavar.

Murder of Priyanka Gupta had rocked the city of Bengaluru in 2010 after Satish filed a police complaint alleging that it was murder for gain. On August 8, 2010, Priyanka was found dead with a slit throat at her residence in Hulimavu. While Satish put up a show of mourning his wife and alleged that she was murdered by miscreants for gain, investigations revealed that Satish was the perpetrator.

Murder most foul

On August 8, 2010, Satish promised to surprise his wife Priyanka. He first blindfolded her and tied her hands. An unsuspecting Priyanka played along. Satish made Priyanka sit on a chair and proceeded to tie her legs. He then strangulated her with a nylon rope before slitting her throat and murdering her.

Satish fled from the spot only to return later. He faked a scene and floated the theory that miscreants had broken into the house and had murdered his wife. He even filed a police complaint against unknown persons. Inconsistency in his statements led the police to believe that he may have had a role in the murder. After pursuing, Satish cracked and admitted that he had killed his wife over domestic issues.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 16:03 [IST]
Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000

Bihar's Gopalganj by-poll to see a tough fight between BJP and RJD

Bihar: Over 200 students sick, claim they saw 'dead lizard' in mid-day meal

Bihar Cabinet expansion: Nitish keeps Home, Sushil Modi gets Finance

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Portfolios were allocated to the newly sworn-in Cabinet of the Nitish Kumar led JD (U)-BJP coalition government in Bihar on Saturday.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will keep the Home Ministry portfolio with him while Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi will handle the Finance and Commerce Ministries.

Rajeev Ranjan has been allocated Water Resources Ministry, Maheshwar Hazari was given Building Construction while Manju Verma will head Social Welfare Ministry. Vijendra Yadav has been given charge of Energy Ministry while Krishna Nandan Verma will head the Education Ministry.

Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, an NDA ally, expressed disappointment over being left of the Cabinet expansion, while members from another NDA ally LJP member was included.

"Ram V Paswan ki rajnaetik bhookh abhi nahi gayi, CM ke yahan parivar ko le ja kar maang ki; yeh aaj ki rajneeti reh gayi hai? (Ram Vilas Paswan's (LJP chief) political greed is not yet satisfied. He took his family to CM's residence and demanded cabinet berth. This is the state of politics today)," Manjhi told ANI.

LJP's Pashupati Kumar Paras taking oath Pashupati Kumar Paras, who is the brother of LJP president and Union minister Ramvilas Paswan was made a minister. Paras is not a member of either house of Bihar. The LJP has two MLAs in the current assembly and they voted in favour of the confidence vote yesterday. When media persons asked Paras about this, he said, "I took oath as a minister on the decision of the party and the direction of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar." Image courtesy - ANI/Twitter Kapil Dev Kamat being sworn-in JD (U)'s Kapil Dev Kamat was allocated Panchayati Raj Department. Image courtesy- ANI/Twitter Ramesh Rishidev taking oath at Raj Bhawan The swearing-in of ministers in the newly formed Nitish Kumar-led JD (U)-BJP government was held on Saturday evening. Image courtesy - ANI/Twitter Nand Kishore Yadav will head path construction sector Veteran BJP leader, associated with the RSS since 1969. In the erstwhile JD(U)-BJP government, he served as the Minister for Road Construction and Tourism. Image courtesy - PTI Brij Kishore Bind taking oath Brij Kishore Bind was allocated Backward and Extremely Backward Class Welfare Department. Image courtesy - ANI/Twitter

Twenty-seven ministers - 12 of the BJP, 1 of LJP and 14 of the JD(U)- were administered the oath by Bihar Governor K N Tripathi at the Raj Bhawan in Patna.

The Nitish Kumar-led NDA government on Friday secured 131 votes against the opposition's 108 during the floor test in the Bihar Assembly.

OneIndia News
CISF personnel thrash JNU student at Metro station in Delhi

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, July 29: A JNU student was allegedly beaten up at the Rajiv Chowk metro station on Saturday by a few CISF personnel and told he would be "sent to Pakistan".

The incident prompted the paramilitary force to order a probe even as it rejected the charges.

In a Facebook post, Aman Sinha, 22, who is pursuing a Master's degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the incident occurred on Thursday evening and alleged the involvement of CISF personnel posted at the security check point of the busy station.

Sinha, who was sporting a beard, claimed that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel got enraged when he "defied" their instructions to take off his earphones, which is a laid down protocol that passengers are expected to follow.

It was followed by a heated argument, he said. "Then another CISF person came and said you are spoiling the name of the nation, 'Pakistan bhejenge tum mussalay ko aaj.'(You Muslim, we will banish you to Pakistan today). They dragged me to the security office through the very long passage where there was no CCTV and no public.

"They started abusing my mother and sister, thrashing and beating me very badly, saying that 'public k samne humara naam kharab kar diya'. I tried to record it which they later made me delete and threw away my phone," he alleged.

When contacted, the CISF said the student was only asked to write an apology letter for his behaviour with the security personnel, and was neither "manhandled" nor "thrashed." "He started yelling and arguing with constables Shoeb and PC Bisht who were on duty after he was asked to remove the earphones, which is a normal security drill in the Delhi Metro.

He was unwilling and used abusive language after which he was taken to the metro control room," a senior CISF officer said. He added that Sinha was taken to the control room of the station where he tendered an apology in writing.

A senior CISF official later said an inquiry has been ordered into the entire episode which lasted about 30 minutes and the student was then allowed to go.

PTI

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 16:45 [IST]
Congress leaders approach Election Commission over Gujarat crisis

India

oi-Anusha

A delegation of Congress leaders approached the Election Commission of India on Saturday evening over the crisis in Gujarat. The party raised concerns about corrupt practices in Gujarat ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections calling it a 'murder of democracy'.

Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Vivek Tankha and Manish Tewari are part of the delegation. The delegation arrived at the ECI at 5 PM on Saturday and accused the BJP of poaching their legislators. The Congress has flown down its MLAs to Bengaluru in an attempt to stop BJP from 'luring them'.

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"The BJP is indulging in the murder of democracy. The way they are threatening our legislators is unconstitutional. First they threatened our MLAs and now they are threatening their families," alleged MAnish Tewari after meeting officials of the ECI.

The Congress has alleged that the BJP is using money, muscle and pressure tactics to poach its MLAs in a bid to stop Ahmed Patel's election to the Rajya Sabha. The BJP has fielded three candidates including Amit Shah for three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat.

"We have full confidence on our MLAs but the way the the BJP is forcing them to deflect is unconstitutional," said Abhishek Manu Singhvi. "The timing is suspect. If there were issues our legislators could have raised it earlier but waiting for the Rajya Sabha elections to come closer and then say that they want to leave the party is questionable," said Anand Sharma.

Meanwhile, in Karnataka D K Suresh, under whose supervision the Gujarat Congress MLAs have been herded said that the legislators had visited Karnataka since it was a calm state. D K Shivakumar, the energy minister of Karnataka and brother of D K Suresh will return to Bengaluru late in the evening after which the next course of action will be planned. The party is also considering shifting some of the 40 plus legislators to different resorts in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

OneIndia News
By PTI: By K J M Varma

Beijing, Jul 29 (PTI) China today launched a medium-level emergency response plan as it braced for the upcoming dual typhoons.

Nesat, the ninth typhoon this year, is expected to make landfall in Taiwan today and might land in the form of a typhoon or strong tropical storm in Fujian early tomorrow.

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The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters launched a level III emergency response plan for the two typhoons set to hit Taiwan and Fujian this weekend.

The 10th typhoon is expected to hit central and northern Fujian late tomorrow or early Monday.

Downpours are forecast in eastern part of south China, east China and Shandong province, and the biggest rainfall in Fujian could reach 500 millimetres, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

China has a four-level emergency response mechanism to deal with droughts and floods, with the first-level to deal with the most serious cases and the fourth-level to prepare for the least serious cases.

Under a level III emergency response plan, the office must report to the State Council within two hours and send a work team to the disaster zone within 24 hours.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters urged local governments to prepare for the typhoons with timely warning, safety checks and effective flood drainage measures. PTI KJV CPS

--- ENDS ---
Congress MLAs arrive at resort in Bengaluru amidst major exodus in Gujarat

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Several Congress MLAs from Gujarat have arrived at Bengaluru and are parked at a resort amidst a huge exodus. The MLAs arrived at around 3 am on Saturday and are currently at a resort in Bidadi around 40 kilometres away from Bengaluru.

They are likely to be parked at the resort till the Rajya Sabha elections are complete. The move to move the MLAs to Bengaluru was taken after the party lost 6 of its MLAs in the past one week. All these MLAs in Gujarat had joined the BJP which gave the party an immense advantage over the Congress in the RS elections.

The party's strength had been reduced to 51 following the resignation of the MLAs. Senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia when contacted said that the decision was taken as most of the MLAs were being threatened and coerced by the BJP.

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The decision to move the MLAs to Karnataka was taken as the state has a Congress government. It was one of the few states in which the Congress still holds a strong position.

OneIndia News
Don't allow next Doklam in Arunachal, says BJP MP; claims China has encroached upon 60 km of state

Doklam: It is the Communists who are controlling the conflict

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Is the Doklam issue an internal problem for the Chinese? It is becoming increasingly difficult for the Chinese leadership to explain to the Communist Party members why India is not backing off from Doklam.

China has been repeatedly stating that India should back off from the tri-junction.

However India has stood its ground and said that the question of a withdrawal does not arise. Moreover pulling out would also mean letting Bhutan the country with which India signed a Friendship Treaty in 2007.

Doklam: To appease China, India will not let down Bhutan

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The Chinese have tried and put pressure through various quarters to ensure that India pulls out. The state media had written dozens of articles warning India of war and also sending out a reminder about 1962.

In reality it is the Chinese who are under tremendous pressure from some members of the Communist Party who have been explanations on India's stand. It would have been a non-issue for them had it not been for these questions, a senior official explained.

On August 1, China celebrates the 90th anniversary of the Peoples' Liberation Army.

Doval in China: No solution to Doklam standoff, but tensions will not escalate

There is not expected to any announcement on Doklam prior to that as China would not want to look weak. Until then China would continue to insist that India pulls out of Doklam.

Within the Communist Party there are problems that are being caused for the Chinese leadership. The party congress is set to have an internal election in which leaders to top posts would be elected. It is these leaders who are putting pressure on China to continue bullying India on the Doklam strife. Several questions are being asked of the leadership.

China had imposed an air flight zone over islands disputed with China. It also created artificial islands in the South China sea despite facing stiff resistance from the US.

Some leaders in the Communist Party in a bid to put pressure on the leadership are asking why they cannot have their way in Doklam when they were able to get away in the South China sea.

Indian officials say that not much is expected to change until these internal strifes are sorted out in China. India would continue to hold its guard at the tri-junction. The only option for a troop pull out would be if the replacement would be the Bhutanese forces.

However India also maintains that the tensions will not escalate beyond this point.

OneIndia News
Don't allow next Doklam in Arunachal, says BJP MP; claims China has encroached upon 60 km of state

Doklam: To appease China, India will not let down Bhutan

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

China has said that a resolution to the Doklam standoff would be issued once Indian forces withdraw. This is however an option that India is not willing to take. India cannot be seen to abandon its allies and a withdrawal would mean stabbing Bhutan in the back.

It is a complex situation and India at best would withdraw troops on the pre-condition that it is replaced by the forces from Bhutan, a highly placed source informed OneIndia.

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For Bhutan, India guarantees its security through the 2007 Friendship Treaty. Bhutan has allowed access to Indians on its territory. In fact Bhutan looks up to India in the absence of any formal diplomatic ties with China.

While the negotiating the road to peace, India would have to take into consideration a lot of factors which have to ensure friendly tied with China and also not sidelining Bhutan.

Former Research and Analysis Wing officer, Amar Bhushan says that India cannot forget about Bhutan in this crisis. India is the protector and not taking into account the interests of Bhutan may lead to them opening them up to the Chinese.

Bhushan says that the best solution would be to tell China that India is ready to withdraw troops on the condition that it would be replaced by the forces from Bhutan. Although Bhutan does not have a strong military, it still be would be significant step in suggesting the above.

Bhushan further says that both India and China would have be convinced that there is no point in getting bogged over this small bit of area. The matters between India and China are unlikely to escalate any further. Once the winter sets in the tensions would be resolved automatically says Bhushan. During this period the Chinese cannot remain in the area, the former R&AW officer also points out.

Abhijnan Rej, a Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation writes in the Hindustan Times that whatever be the interpretation, one of the key Chinese objectives in initiating the Doklam standoff seems to be testing India's resolve to stand by Bhutan. It should be an Indian imperative to not fold in this trilateral poker, for doing so has two far-reaching consequences.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 7:59 [IST]
Tomorrow is the last date to file your ITR: What happens if you miss it

Government may extend deadline to file ITR this year

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

With the July 31 deadline to file Income Tax Returns fast approaching, the government is likely to extend the same for this year. While no fee will be levied on delayed ITR filing this year, various changes in the process of filing ITR is likely to pressurise the government to extend the deadline.

Experts believe that the deadline will be extended given the fact that the cutoff date to issue TDS certificates by banks and other deductors was also extended this year. In 2016, the Central Board of Direct Taxes amended the rules relating to the deadline for filing TDS returns by banks that are liable to issue Form 16A to tax payers. Thanks to this revision, the deadline automatically got extended by 15 days for banks and deductors. The amendment allowed deductors to file TDS by May 31 instead of MAy 15. Form 16A was then given by banks to their customers up till June 15, 2017, for the financial year 2016-17.

Many banks, owing to the extension gave out TDS certificates only on the last day of the deadline i.e., June 15, 2017. Since the customers got the TDS certificates late, the process of ITR has been delayed. Earlier, the date for employers to issue Form 16 was May 31 but due to the extension given to banks, the new deadline is now June 15.

The delay has now reduced the time tax payers have to file ITR.

Moreover, the union government has made it mandatory to link Aadhaar card with PAN to file ITR. Out of 6.09 crore people registered with the IT department website, only 2.67 crore have linked their Aadhar and PAN so far. Experts believe that looking at the crisis at hand, the government will have to extend the deadline. Chartered accounts being busy with the coming of GST regime has become yet another problem for tax payers. With very limited time, change in rules and lack of experts, filing ITR is expected to be a chaotic process this year.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 13:34 [IST]
PM Modi should admit that demonetistion a failure: Owaisi on cash seizure in UP

Govt denies report of scrapping of Rs 2,000 note, announces arrival of Rs 200 note soon

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, July 29: As reports of the Narendra Modi government undertaking demonetisation for the second time within a period of seven months are doing the rounds, a cabinet colleague of the Prime Minister said that the news was false. The minister informed that there was no plan to scrap Rs 2,000 note.

However, he confirmed that Rs 200 notes are going to hit the market soon. "No news that Rs 2,000 will be scrapped," Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar was quoted as saying by IANS.

Gangwar informed that Rs 200 note, printing of which had already begun, would be in circulation soon. The move to introduce Rs 200 note was to increase the circulation of smaller denomination notes, he added.

"The reduction in printing of new Rs 2,000 notes is a separate issue. But that needs to be confirmed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The RBI will give information on Rs 2,000 notes," he said.

In November last year, the PM announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to fight against black money, terror funding and corruption. Afterwards, the government introduced new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.

According to reports, the government has stopped further printing of the recently printed Rs 2,000 notes.

On July 26, the issue was raised in Parliament when the opposition asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to confirm if the government was going to "demonetise Rs 2,000 notes" and if its printing had been stopped. The Minister declined to reply.

Industry experts said the government was aiming to limit the circulation of high denomination Rs 2,000 note, which would remain a legal tender, but not demonetise it.

The circulation of smaller denomination notes would be increased by introducing a new Rs 200 note.

A top government official, on condition of anonymity, told IANS that the Rs 200 note would be introduced in the markets in August.

"The paper for Rs 200 notes was ready in the Mysuru paper mill in June. It should be in circulation next month," the official said.

The Mysuru paper mill is joint venture of Security Printing and Minting Corp of India Ltd (SMPCIL) and Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran, a wholly-owned subsidieary of RBI.

The Rs 200 new note was being printed in the RBI printing press. India has four currency note printing pressess -- two RBI presses at Mysuru (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Bengal) and two Security Printing and Minting Corp of India Ltd (SMPCIL) presses at Nashik (Maharashtra) and Dewas (Madhya Pradesh). SPMCIL is a public sector unit.

Lauding the introduction of Rs 200 note, a State Bank of India (SBI) report recently said that it would serve as the "missing middle".

"It seems that there has been a significant move towards relocating distribution of currency towards smaller denominations post demonetisation. However, while such a move is laudable and consistent with the long term vision of a less cash economy, we need to consider the following issues.

"Though the number of small denomination notes has increased, the mismatch caused by the presence of Rs 2,000 denomination straight after Rs 500 denomination is causing difficulties in exchanging the high denomination notes," the SBI Ecowrap report noted.

Post-demonetisation, there were reports of people facing problems in using the Rs 2,000 note as sufficient quantum of smaller denomination notes of Rs 100 and Rs 500 were not available.

The government had brought in the Rs 2,000 note immediately after November 8, 2016 demonetisation to expedite remonetisation.

The economy is now close to complete remonetisation as the new currency in circulation reached 84 per cent of the extinguished one on July 7, according to the SBI Ecowrap report.

The total amount of the spiked high value denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in circulation on November 8 was 15.44 lakh crore.

OneIndia News
What the ISI is doing in Punjab is carbon copy Kashmir: Is SJF the new Hurriyat?

Hurriyat terror funding: How 5 Indian firms engaged in barter trade to raise money

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The National Investigation Agency is probing the Kashmir terror funding case. The agency which has been probing several Hurriyat leaders will call in more for questioning.

During the course of the ongoing investigation, the NIA has stumbled up a plethora of evidence which clearly points towards the role of several businessmen and how they at the behest of Pakistan were routing in the funds.

During the probe it was learnt that a retired brigadier of the Pakistan army had been appointed to oversee the funding of terrorism through cross-border trade. NIA sources say that the retired army officer has identified 667 traders through whom the funds are being raised. The officer has been identified as Brigadier Ahmed Iqbal, sources say.

The agency also learnt that there were five Indian companies that were linked to the Hizbul which helped facilitate the transfer of funds. Five firms with dubious accounts were discovered. These companies engaged in barter trade with Pakistanis, the NIA also learnt.

NIA officials say that they have examined documents that have been seized from the Trade Facilitation Centres located at Salamabad in Uri and Chakkan-da-Bagh in Poonch district. These documents would help the agency get a better picture of how cross border trade is funding terror activities in India.

The biggest draw is the California almonds. They are sourced at Rs 350 from Pakistan and sold at Rs 650 in India. There are a select set of traders who work on the pay rolls of terrorist organisations who carry out this trade for them. NIA officials say that the worry is that a bulk of the traders are on the payrolls of terrorist groups either out of choice or fear.

The NIA has found that a food item would be imported from Pakistan at a very low price and then sold at double the amount in India. For instance the California almonds would be imported by the trader at Rs 350 a kilogram and then sold at Rs 650 in the Indian market. The profit investigators say would be used to fund terror.

The NIA has also found a list of 21 items that are being imported by traders from Pakistan at a very low cost. Out of this the highest profit margin is for the California almond which sells at double the cost in India, the NIA official also informed.

Investigators have stumbled upon crucial evidence regarding terror funding along the Line of Control through the sale of dry fruits and food products. The modus operandi adopted by terror groups in selling products at a higher cost and using the profits to fund subversive activities in India was discovered by the National Investigation Agency.

It was found that cross border traders had been tapped by terror groups to help raise funds for terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir. Investigators were stumped to find out that terror funding continued unabated despite the decision on demonetisation wiping out the fake currency network.

The NIA has found that a food item would be imported from Pakistan at a very low price and then sold at double the amount in India. For instance the California almonds would be imported by the trader at Rs 350 a kilogram and then sold at Rs 700 in the Indian market. The profit investigators say would be used to fund terror.

There is a select network of traders that the terror groups have tapped into to further their agenda. These traders work under terror groups such as the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, an NIA official informed.

The NIA has also found a list of 21 items that are being imported by traders from Pakistan at a very low cost. Out of this the highest profit margin is for the California almond which sells at double the cost in India, the NIA official also informed.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 10:36 [IST]
Is BJP the Congress' worry or has its lack of confidence dragged it down

India

oi-Anusha

In a bid to keep its flock together ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress has flown down 44 MLAs from Gujarat. While the party has accused the BJP of trying to lure their legislators, does the herding of legislators indicates a lack of confidence on their own?

The Congress can't afford to lose any more legislators if it wants to elect Ahmed Patel to the Rajya Sabha. The party hopes that Karnataka, the strongest Congress bastion, for now, will serve as a safe house for MLAs from Gujarat. The legislators have been left at the care of Congress MP D K Suresh. In an all out attempt to elect Sonia Gandhi's aide to Rajya Sabha, the party has gone out risking its reputation to herd its legislators.

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The rift in Gujarat Congress was out in the open when senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela lashed out at his party during his birthday celebrations. Serial resignations of party MLAs only added t the Congress' woes. In an election year, losing legislators has been the second drawback to the Congress that was already firefighting the rift within. In Karnataka, the Congress hopes to win back the confidence of its legislators and stop them from defecting.

Away from BJP, towards Tirupati

Karnataka Congress leaders claimed that legislators from Gujarat have arrived in Karnataka to visit the Tirupati temple. On Saturday, the legislators are expected to leave the luxury resort in Bidadi where they have been herded. Despite 44 MLAs flying down to Bengaluru, Congress is still short of numbers to elect Patel to the Rajya Sabha.

Karnataka is not new to resort politics. The infamous operation Kamala by the BJP had brought the political scenario in the state much disrepute. Only this time around, the politicians involved are not from the state.

Under Siddaramaiah's leadership, the Congress in Karnataka was able to thwart attempts at horse trading as recently as 2016 during the cabinet reshuffle. During the BBMP elections, JD(S) corporators were herded off to resorts in Kerala under the supervision of Congress MLAs to stop BJP from luring them. The BJP under the leadership of B S Yeddyurappa had successfully managed to gather support from the JD(S) to form a coalition government, all thanks to resort politics.

What really is the Congress' fear?

Congress in Gujarat is a broken house. Despite anti-incumbency against the BJP in Gujarat providing the Congress with an opportunity to oust the current government, inter squabble of the party, is snatching victory away from the Congress' hand. Senior leaders of the COngress have alleged that their legislators are being bribed up to Rs 10 crore or threatened with the police force to support the BJP.

While the picture being painted is that of BJP 'stealing their MLAs', the herding of MLAs points to a lack of confidence in the party on its own leaders. Does the Congress' jitter over BJP poaching their MLAs also point towards a sinking ship syndrome?

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J&K TV journalist shot dead in Gurugram

India

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By Chennabasaveshwar

A 30-year-old TV journalist was shot dead by car-borne assailants allegedly following an argument on the busy Jharsa Road on Friday afternoon in Gurugram.

Times of India reports that Surender Singh Rana, the Haryana state coordinator of a Jammu-based news channel, JK 24x7 News. Police said the murder was the fallout of a monetary dispute.

A Santro came and stopped in front of Surender's Safari a few minutes later. Three men and a woman got out of the car, and asked Surender to step out too. An argument ensued between the journalist and the accused, and one of the men managed to get hold of Surender's licensed revolver hidden under his T-shirt and pumped six bullets into him. Later, the accused fled in their car, reports TOI.

The case has been registered at the Civil Lines police station under Sections 302 (murder), 34 (murderous act committed by several person) of the IPC and 25-54-59 of the arms act. Police, however, said they were not sure if Surender's gun was used in his murder. Investigating is underway.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 10:39 [IST]
FM Nirmala Sitharaman hints at possibility of Centre considering restoration of state status to J&K

Nobody will hold Tricolor in Kashmir if Article 35A is tampered with, warns Mehbooba

India

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By Oneindia Staff Writer

Srinagar, July 29: At a time when the debate over the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir is on, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said that if the Article 35(A) of the constitution or the Permanent Resident Act (35A)--a provision that empowers the state's permanent residents--is tampered with then nobody in the state will hold the Indian Tricolour.

The CM's warning holds significance as the Article 35(A) has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

The Article 35(A) of the constitution empowers the state legislature to define "permanent residents" and accord special rights and privileges to them.

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#WATCH: J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti says if Article 35A is tampered with, no one in Kashmir will be there to hold the tricolour. pic.twitter.com/Ij39FR27Sk  ANI (@ANI_news) July 29, 2017

Strongly defending the constitutional clause, Mehbooba said that any change in its status would invite repercussions and mean that nobody would be able to protect the Indian national flag in J&K.

The CM of J&K also praised former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. "For me India is Indira Gandhi. Maybe some people won't like it, but she was India. While I was growing up, she represented India for me," added Mehbooba.

Her statements on the Article 35(A) and Indira Gandhi are likely to irk her alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Several members of the BJP are vocal against the special status granted to J&K.

Moreover, we all know how much the BJP loves to hate the former PM, especially for her role during the Emergency in 1975.

She said that mainstream parties like the National Conference (NC) and her own Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) risk their workers' lives who stand up and carry the national flag in Kashmir.

"Any tinkering with the article won't be acceptable. I won't hesitate in saying that nobody will even carry the corpse of the National Flag in Kashmir (if the article is scrapped). Let me make it very clear," she said at an event on Kashmir in Srinagar.

The CM said that by employing such tactics, "you are not targeting separatists who have an agenda to secede but you are weakening the forces who have accepted India, participated in elections. They make efforts to integrate J&K with India with respect and dignity. You are weakening them."

The Article 35(A) is being challenged in the Supreme Court by NGO--We The Citizens--on its legal basis because the article was never presented before Parliament and executed on the orders of President of India.

The provision was implemented in 1954 when then President Rajendra Prasad used the powers conferred on him by Article 370 to introduce the "Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 1954".

Under the article, citizens from other parts of the country cannot acquire immovable property in J&K or take up employment with the state government.

The Supreme Court has now referred the case to a three-judge bench for a larger debate over it.

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Abdul Basit bids adieu to India and thanked for everything

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Perception and misconceptions between India-Pak must be addressed: Abdul Basit

India

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By Chennabasaveshwar

Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Saturday sought a dialogue process to address perceptions and misconceptions between India and Pakistan. Basit said that both countries should come out with a solution which is acceptable to people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"We need to see how we can work out a solution which is in sync with aspirations of people of Jammu & Kashmir," he said.

"Whatever the two countries decide, if it doesn't find resonance with the people of J&K it's useless," he added.

On the Jammu and Kashmir issue he said, "Engagement is the key. Dialogues are a necessity. Never give up, keep trying, things will get better."

On the possibility of release of Kulbhushan Jadhav, Basit said,"Jadhav is convicted, there is a mercy petition and Army court will take a decision."

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has accepted the early retirement request of Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 19:01 [IST]
The deployment will not resolve South Korea's security concerns and will only make things more complex, the ministry said.

North Korea on Saturday confirmed its second test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. (Picture for representation/Reuters)

By Reuters: China urged North Korea on Saturday to respect United Nations Security Council resolutions and stop all acts that could worsen tensions on the Korean peninsula, after the isolated state launched another missile.

China also hopes that all parties can act with caution to prevent the situation from escalating, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

North Korea on Saturday confirmed its second test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday, saying the missile was meant as a "stern warning" for the United States, its state news agency said.

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The ICBM, which aimed for "maximum distance", flew for 47 minutes and 12 seconds while reaching a maximum altitude of 3,724.9 km, the North said. The missile flew 998 km while successfully reaffirming re-entry capabilities of the rocket, it added.

The test was ordered by the North's leader Kim Jong Un, who was cited as saying the isolated state's weapons programme is an invaluable asset that cannot be taken back or replaced.

China's Foreign Ministry also expressed serious concern over South Korea after it said it will proceed with the deployment of four additional units of the US THAAD anti-missile defence system.

The deployment will not resolve South Korea's security concerns and will only make things more complex, the ministry said, reiterating a Chinese call for the system to be withdrawn.

Also Read:

North Korea fires ballistic missile which lands in sea off Japan. No damage

North Korea issues stern warning, says US is in missile range

--- ENDS ---
Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000

RJD youth leader shot dead while sleeping at home in Bihar

India

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By Oneindia Staff Writer

Patna, July 29: Amid political turmoil in Bihar, one youth leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was shot dead by unidentified persons in Sheikhpura village of Siwan district on Friday night.

The victim has been identified as Minhaj Khan, the general secretary of the youth wing of the RJD in Siwan.

According to reports, unidentified men barged inside Khan's house late on Friday night and killed him while he was fast asleep. The killers are yet to be arrested in the case. Police told reporters that a probe is underway to nab the culprits.

After hearing gunshots, his family members immediately rushed to his room to find Khan lying in a pool of blood on his bed. By that time, the assailants had already left the crime spot.

The police during its investigation found a live bomb and petrol tank outside Khan's house. The bomb has been defused, informed police officials.

The murder of the RJD leader has taken place at a time when the party has lost power in the state after its former partner the Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) has joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a new government on Thursday.

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No Hindutva or RSS extremism involved in Leicester violence; influencers spread false narrative: UK think tank

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RSS worker killed in Kerala, eight detained

India

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By Anusha Ravi

An RSS worker was hacked to death by alleged CPM workers in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. Hours after the murder, the Kerala police have arrested eight people.

Assailants chopped off Rajesh Edavakode, an RSS worker's hand in Sreekaryam earlier on Saturday. A critical Rajesh succumbed to injuries hours after the attack

Kerala BJP unit chief Kummanam Rajashekharan accused the CPM of assaulting another RSS worker. Political killings have become a dangerous trend in Kerala. Rajesh's murder comes in the backdrop of multiple incidents of political unrest in Thiruvananthapuram.

Rajesh was attacked when he was going home after attending RSS shaka. He was rushed to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College by local residents, but later shifted to the private hospital where he succumbed to injuries.

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To quell hunger strike, Mamata govt to slap suicide, murder charges against Gorkhaland supporters

India

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By Oneindia Staff Writer

Darjeeling, July 29: A total of 12 Gorkhaland supporters are on a hunger strike since July 21 in the hills of West Bengal, as a part of their demand for a separate state.

All the 12 agitators on fast belong to the youth wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which is spearheading the Gorkhaland agitation in Darjeeling and its neighbouring areas since June 8.

Out of the 12 people on fast, three each are staging hunger strike in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik. The rest three are on a fast unto-death in Kalimpong. They are fasting to mount pressure on the Centre to launch a dialogue on Gorkhaland.

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Sensing trouble that the agitators on hunger strike might face serious health issues, the Mamata Banerjee government in the state has asked protesters on fast to take medical aid.

The government further warned that those who prevented the hospitalisation of those who are fasting would be booked for abetment to suicide and murder.

Darjeeling district magistrate Joyoshi Das Gupta on Friday issued a notice in this regard to the protesters, reported The Telegraph.

Das Gupta had also issued notices to Darjeeling and Kurseong MLAs for their "personal intervention" to shift nine fasting Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha supporters to hospital.

"You are requested to kindly avail medical aid as will be advised by the medical officers. You are to inform us or persons around you in case you feel any weakness or dizziness..," reads the notice sent by Das Gupta to the agitators on fast at three places in Darjeeling district.

The notice adds, "All concerned may note as per Indian law, any person who directly or indirectly tries to prevent government authorities from providing medical assistance to persons on fast including removal to hospitals when required, may be liable for punishment for abetment to suicide and abetment to murder".

"You are requested to kindly monitor the health conditions of people on fast at Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik. Your personal intervention is requested to shift them to hospital...," reads the notice by the district magistrate to Darjeeling and Kalimpong legislators, Amar Singh Rai and Rohit Sharma.

The district administration has deputed a couple of medical officers in all the four venues where fast is on to keep a tab on the health of those on hunger strike. If the medical officers suggest the district administration that those on fast require medical aid then they would be immediately shifted to hospital.

Talking about the notices, Prakash Gurung, Yuva Morcha president, said: "They have started the indefinite hunger strike on their own will. If they need medical assistance, they can do so at their own will. But the manner in which the administration made some communications today is unfortunate. The movement will continue until our demand is achieved."

On Saturday, the indefinite bandh in the hills entered its 45th day. Due to the bandh, life has come to a standstill across Darjeeling and its suburbs. In the hills, schools, colleges, shops and several offices have remained closed for more than a month now.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 9:03 [IST]
FM Nirmala Sitharaman hints at possibility of Centre considering restoration of state status to J&K

Tricolour is sacrosanct, it will fly high in J&K, says MoS PMO on Mehboobas remarks

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, July 29: The rift between the ruling alliance partners in Jammu and Kashmir--Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)--is out in the open after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday warned that nobody will hold the Indian tricolour in Kashmir if the Article 35(A) is tampered with.

In reply to the CM's statement, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh on Saturday said that the "tricolour is sacrosanct to us". "It will fly high in J&K as much as it does in any other state of the Indian Union," Singh added.

PDP chief Mehbooba is running a coalition government in the state with the BJP. The state BJP unit said that Mehbooba's comment on tricolour were "politically incorrect".

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"The statement of CM of J&K on Article 35(A) doesn't depict true picture and is politically incorrect," said chief spokesperson of the BJP, Sunil Sethi. Sethi said that Article 35(A) and 370 have "only led to disparity and inequalities in the state".

"As Article 35(A) saves state subject laws from applicability of concept of equality, it has led to situation on unequal treatment of female state subjects and their children within state (sic)."

"Any tinkering with the article won't be acceptable. I won't hesitate in saying that nobody will even carry the corpse of the National Flag in Kashmir (if the article is scrapped). Let me make it very clear," Mehbooba said at an event on Kashmir in Srinagar.

The CM's warning holds significance as the Article 35(A) has been challenged in the Supreme Court. The Article 35(A) of the constitution empowers the state legislature to define "permanent residents" and accord special rights and privileges to them.

Strongly defending the constitutional clause, Mehbooba said that any change in its status would invite repercussions and mean that nobody would be able to protect the Indian national flag in J&K.

Speaking about the arrest of separatist leaders by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) recently, Mehbooba said the arrests were just an administrative measure and will not solve the real problem.

"The NIA arrests do not solve any problems; they are just an administrative measure. An administrative measure can not help us to resolve the situation and cannot address the real problem of Kashmir. It is important to replace it with a better idea," she said.

Once again taking a contrary view to Mehbooba's statement on separatist leaders, Singh said all should respect law.

"All of us must respect law of the land and allow agencies to do their job to best of their wisdom and discretion," Singh added.

Mehbooba has asked the Centre to revive the Lahore Declaration signed between India and Pakistan in 1999 on Saturday.

"I appeal to the Centre to revive the Lahore declaration so that we can live peacefully in J&K," the CM said.

Currently, peace talks between India and Pakistan have come to a halt in the wake of Pakistan's continuous violation of ceasefire agreements along the LoC and its support to cross-border terrorism in J&K.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 13:11 [IST]
Mulayam Singh Yadav passes away; Prez Murmu, PM Modi join leaders in mourning the death of SP founder

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Two SP leaders quit party; praise Modi and Yogi

India

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By Chennabasaveshwar

In a major political development in Uttar Pradesh, two Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders and quit the party on Saturday. Also, Thakur Jiaveer Singh from the BSP submitted his resignation to Chairman of the Legislative Council, Ramesh Yadav.

SP MLC (Member of Legislative Council) and Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder Bukkal Nawab today tendered his resignation from the party while singing a favourable tune for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. This comes close to reports that suggest that SP member and MLC Yashwant Singh has also quit the party.

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They are expected to join BJP soon as party president Amit Shah is in Lucknow. The resignations coincide with Amit Shah's Lucknow visit that will extend for two more days.

The Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder Nawab insinuated that he might join BJP if called upon and that many others from SP might follow suit soon.

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party MLC& Rashtriya Shia Samaj founder Bukkal Nawab resigns from the party, praises PM Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath pic.twitter.com/1qk1twb73i  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 29, 2017

The resignation drama in UP is likely to be similar to what happened with Congress in Gujarat. Congress is yet to recover from the jolt it received after the resignation by six MLAs from the party.

Talking about SP MLCs resignation, State minister Siddharth Nath Singh told ANI, the SP leadership should answer this question.

He said, "Akhilesh Yadav will be the best person to explain why they resigned."

Meanwhile, Amit Shah will first hold a day-long meeting with party office-bearers and then with Yogi Adityanath cabinet to plug gaps between the organization and the government. During his visit, Shah is also likely to defuse tension brewing between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. His visit will clear the air over Adityanath and Maurya quitting their Lok Sabha seats from Gorakhpur and Phulpur respectively.

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US Consul General on a one day information gathering trip to Siliguri

India

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By Amitava

Darjeeling: Amid the Indo-China standoff in Sikkim and the political upheaval in Darjeeling, the United States Consul General, Kolkata, was in Siliguri on Thursday on a single day tour.

Craig L. Hall, the US Consul General, Kolkata, held an hour long meeting with Rabindra Nath Ghosh, Minister in charge of North Bengal Development Department, Government of West Bengal at Uttarkanya, the mini Secretariat located in Fulbari in the Jalpaiguri district on Thursday.

When questioned on his visit to Siliguri, Consul General Hall stated "I am based in Kolkata so it is good to have a chance to come to Siliguri and see firsthand what's happening here. "

Consul General Hall stated that he was on "information gathering mode," in Siliguri. "We will take back what we have learned about Siliguri and communicate that to American business and Government policy makers to help them understand better what are the opportunities here," added the Consul General.

Apprising Minister Ghosh of US support to India, Hall stated "The US very much supports India's efforts and efforts of the Government of West Bengal to develop the economy of this part of the country as part of a larger plan to expand regional connectivity with the North East and neighboring countries. US is looking for ways to be supportive of that because we think it will be in US' interest, India's interest and the regions interest to see India's influence economically and socially expand in the region. "

Incidentally Siliguri which is an important part of the SIliguri corridor is of immense strategic importance. The Siliguri corridor or Chicken's neck is 200 km long and 60 km wide strip of land connecting North East states with the rest of India. Through this corridor runs the rail road network to the North East. There is the presence of 3 vital military formations in the North East near the Chinese border namely Dibrugarh in Upper Assam; Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh and Dimapur in Nagaland. The Siliguri corridor also provides important logistic support to Sikkim.

On being questioned by media persons regarding his meeting with the Consul General, Minister Ghosh stated "We discussed tea, tourism, railway and flight connectivity to this region. The Consul General asked me about the borders we share with Bangladesh along with Nepal and Bhutan borders that are open. He asked me whether we feel that China and Nepal are causing any disturbance in this region. I apprised him that Nepal Maoists are causing the unrest in Darjeeling. The Consul General seems to be having lots of information regarding this."

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 6:21 [IST]
Flood situation in Bengal grim, death toll rises to 28; rain batters Rajasthan

India

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By Oneindia Staff Writer

Twelve more people died in the last 24 hours in flood-affected 11 districts of West Bengal taking the toll to 28, a senior governement official said.

Around 23 lakh people have been hit in over 165 villages inundated by heavy rains and the water released by Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), the official said, adding the weather conditions showed signs of improving.

The state government has opened around 2,067 relief camps in the affected districts wherein around 44,542 people have been provided shelter, the official said.

An Indian Air Force Mi17 V5 helicopter was sent from the Barrackpore air force station to rescue a family stuck at a house in Ghatal, a Defence spokesperson said. Several areas in West Midnapore, Howrah, Bankura and West Burdwan districts of the state have been flooded due to incessant rains and the release of water by the DVC from its barrages owing to heavy precipitation in upper catchment areas in Jharkhand.

Worse than 1978 flood situtation

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the current flood in West Bengal as worse than the one which hit the state in 1978. "This year's flood condition is worse than that in 1978. There are so many places where there is so much water ... It's so deep at some places," Banerjee said. The state did not have so many dams in 1978, she said.

Rajasthan

Rajasthan is also battling floods in four districts. Over 1,050 people have been rescued from Jalore, Pali, Barmer and Rajsamand districts till Friday, where heavy rains have triggered floods.

In Jalone district alone 128 villages have been affected by the flooding. More than 525 people from these districts have been shifted to 20 special relief camps, a public relations officer of the state government said.

Army evacuated over 500 students, teachers on Friday night, from Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Hostel in Banswara, who were stranded due to flooding.

Army evacuated 500+ students & teachers last night, frm Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Hostel in Banswara,who were stranded due to flooding #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/y00uBFReQ7  ANI (@ANI_news) July 29, 2017

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is monitoring the rescue and relief operations, reports PTI.

OneIndia News
Why BJP may not outsmart Congress in Karnataka

India

oi-Anusha

In Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and almost every state in the country, BJP has managed to outsmart the Congress. From winning elections, forging alliances and cashing in on the rift within the Congress, the BJP's political acumen has helped it take the Congress by surprise. But it is a different story in Karnataka, where BJP is on the back foot.

While the BJP has taken an aggressive approach to issues, elections in other parts of the country, the Congress in Karnataka led by the new in-charge General Secretary Venugopal and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is dealing blow after blow to the BJP.

Congress in Karnataka has put the BJP state unit in a tight spot over many issues in the recent past. The Congress has played Hindi imposition in Namma Metro stations, separate flag row, Kannada as a mandatory subject in schools, Mahadayi river water sharing, Dalit appeasement, Indira canteens and now the Veerashaiva v/s Lingayat issue to its advantage, most importantly to BJP's disadvantage.

BJP in Karnataka is waiting for Amit Shah

Fully aware that the BJP will be cornered and caught between the party senior leaders and sentiments of Kannada people on the issues of Hindi imposition and state flag, the Congress timed its move on the same perfectly. While the Karnataka BJP could not make its stand clear over issues close to Kannada pride, the Congress went all out to convey to the people of the state that the government puts its sentiments first.

While the BJP planned to woo the Dalit voters by visiting their colonies and dining with them, the Congress took the welfare scheme routes. While the Siddaramaiah government doled out freebies and scholarships to one section of Dalits, an international conference on Dr B R Ambedkar was organised to appeal to another section of the community.

While the BJP trumped the Congress in Uttar Pradesh elections by making it a known entity and in Manipur and Goa by racing ahead in the alliance race, the Congress in Karnataka easily demolished the communal unrest in Coastal Karnataka which was fast becoming an agenda for the BJP to fight elections on.

Setting its infighting aside, the Congress in Karnataka is focusing on systematically attacking each agenda of the BJP. The Congress is currently two steps ahead of the state BJP on almost all issues and is managing to take the party by surprise. While the BJP is doing very little to counter the Congress, the state unit is eagerly waiting for Amit Shah's visit in August.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 15:13 [IST]
You used worse words against Jaitley: Jethmalani to Kejriwal

India

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By Vicky

The war of words between senior counsel Ram Jethmalani and Arvind Kejriwal took another turn with the former alleging that the Delhi Chief Minister had used worse words against Union Minister, Arun Jaitley.

"When Arun Jaitley filed the first suit and criminal case, you naturally sought my services. Ask your conscience how many times you used worse abuses than a mere 'crook'. You have hundred times asked me to teach this crook a lesson," he said in a letter to Kejriwal.

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Kejriwal had told the Delhi High Court in an affidavit that he had not asked Jethmalani to use abusive words against Jaitley. That with due respect, it is submitted that neither the answering defendant nor the counsel briefing the senior counsel gave instructions to the learned senior counsel to use the objectionable words... The answering defendant vide letter July 19, 2017 has conveyed to the senior counsel directly that no instructions to use objectionable words were ever given by him at any point of time to the learned senior counsel," Kejriwal told the court in his reply to an application filed by Jaitley.

Jehtmalani on the other hand has asked Kejriwal to settle his fees of Rs 2 crore. He also said that he would never appear for the Delhi CM ever again. Pay the fees for the first matter and nothing for the second, Jethmalani also told Kejriwal.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 10:45 [IST]
Don't allow next Doklam in Arunachal, says BJP MP; claims China has encroached upon 60 km of state

Doval in China: No solution to Doklam standoff, but tensions will not escalate

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The visit by India's National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval to China may have not yielded any immediate solution to the Doklam standoff, but it has ensured a cool off period. The ice was broken after weeks of tensions between the two countries.

A top official said that it has given both India and China to talk with the assurance that there would be no further escalation at the tri-junction.

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Doval met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials at Beijing on Friday on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. There were no commitments given by both sides on the standoff.

However both sides expressed the need to speak on the issue. China would continue to reiterate that India needs to pull back its troops. The problem for the Chinese leadership is that this issue has become a domestic political problem. The leadership is under tremendous pressure from a section of the Communist Party to push back Indian troops.

A resolution could be expected once the members of the Communist Party are convinced.

China is expected to resolve talks after that. The Indian official said that the take away from the BRICS summit was the de-escalation of tensions between the two countries.

Both countries have set the stage for talks and there is an assurance from both sides that the problem will not escalate.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 7:11 [IST]
By PTI: Panaji, Jul 29 (PTI) The Congress and other parties have begun the exercise to field a common candidate against Manohar Parrikar in the upcoming Panaji by-election scheduled on August 23.

The Congress which has decided to contest the by-election in Panaji along with Valpoi held a series of meetings today in capital city chaired by Goa Pradesh Congress committee president Shantaram Naik to shortlist the candidates.

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The party had almost finalised the candidature of former minister Atanasio Monserratte to contest from Panaji, but he left the party to join Goa Forward Party, said party sources.

Congress sources confirmed that after the exit of Monserratte, the party has zeroed in on ex-mayor of Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) Ashok Naik.

After the meeting, Shantaram Naik told PTI that "the party will field its own candidates in both the constituencies, and the parties which are willing to defeat BJP should join the hands with us."

"The talks are yet to begin with any of the party but congress will welcome the support," he said.

Naik said names of both the candidates would be announced on Monday by the Congress.

The name of Ashok Naik has been considered as he would be acceptable to majority of parties which are not with the BJP-led government, said party sources.

"Ashok Naik has been at the helm of affairs at the CCP between 2001-2006 and is known for his simplicity. There are various leaders from other parties who are willing to support him," a senior Congress leader said, refusing to be quoted.

He said that the exercise to have a dialogue with parties like the Goa Suraksha Manch and the Aam Aadmi Party has already begun.

When contacted, Ashok Naik said "Congress had approached me with the offer to contest in Panaji by-election. I met their leaders. I have told them that I will consult my supporters and well wishers and get back on Monday."

He claimed that there are several BJP workers too, who are supporting him.

When contacted, GSM President Anand Shirodkar said the party is yet to take a stand on whether to support consensus candidate or not.

"It will depend entirely on the situation," he said. PTI RPS RMT

--- ENDS ---
How does Nawaz Sharif's ouster as Pak PM affect India

International

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By Vicky

India did not comment, but kept a close watch on the developments that unfolded in Pakistan on Friday. Nawaz Sharif was ordered to step down by the Supreme Court in connection with the Panama papers case. What does Sharif stepping down as the PM mean for India?

The first concern is that the army gets stronger in Pakistan. Although the army has always been a major player with Sharif at the helm of affairs there were some checks and balances.

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Sharif never challenged the army in Pakistan. However at times he did try to assert himself. Currently there is no leader in Pakistan who can stand up even a little bit to the army.

The other question is will installing Shahbaz Sharif as the PM of Pakistan help the cause.

India would hope that Shahbaz is the PM considering the manner in which he confronted the ISI DG at a closed door meeting in October. Sharif has also managed to keep the army under check to a certain extent by warning it about the growing international isolation of Pakistan.

The Dawn had stated in a report," in a blunt, orchestrated and unprecedented warning, the civilian government has informed the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan and sought consensus on several key actions by the state."

When India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan, Sharif did acknowledge the same. There was promise shown in that meeting. However the army and the ISI decided to derail it in the form of the Pathankot attack. While both leaders did try to maintain ties, the army worsened it in the form of the Uri attack.

What India would worry about is the growing clout of the military in Pakistan. India would prefer a demilitarised Pakistan in the longer run. While the elections in Pakistan are a year away, India would worry about the fact is that there would be no Nawaz Sharif as PM. He has been barred from electoral politics for five years by the SC. There is no strong leadership and India is still unsure how a Shahbaz Sharif would handle the army.

An official in Delhi said that Pakistan has always been dictated by the military. Hence this current scenario would not affect us much. However it is always better that Pakistan has a strong democratically elected leader. There would some amount of check and balance at least.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 7:03 [IST]
North Korea conducts ICBM test; Trump calls it reckless and dangerous action

International

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Washington, July 29: The US President Donald Trump asserted that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community and called it a reckless and dangerous action by the authoritarian regime after North Korea carried out the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test.

North Korea on Friday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.

"North Korea's test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missile the second such test in less than a month is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action.

The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these tests and these weapons ensure North Korea's security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect. "By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region," Trump said. The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 AM EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said.

This was North Korea's 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month. The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran. Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call," Joint Chief of Staff Chairman's spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said.

Meanwhile, the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Korea's missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said today. This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on July 5. The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

"The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range," Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, said in a tweet. "Now is the time to ramp up sanctions. China cannot have it both ways; it cannot do business as usual with the US and subsidising North Korea," he said.

Sherman further said that but we need to be ready to talk too, and ready to accept a freeze, something far less than denuclearisation for the foreseeable future.

PTI
On electoral reforms, the one lesson, India must learn from Pakistan

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The Supreme Court of Pakistan had penalised Nawaz Sharif and asked him to step down as Prime Minister. It observed that he had made a false declaration of assets in his assets while filing its nomination. This was one of the major grounds the SC relied on while directing Sharif's disqualification.

In India, any leader would have got away with a soft punishment had he or she made a false declaration in the affidavit. In India there is no clear provision that attracts disqualification of a candidate who files false information in his or her affidavit.

The Supreme Court of India had in 2013 observed that those who conceal information in their nomination papers should be barred from contesting elections. The EC hoewever has no powers to reject such nominations.

The EC had proposed that the punishment for concealing information should attract maximum punishment. It had suggested a two years sentence without an alternate clause of a fine. The EC had also sought that filing of a false affidavit be made a ground to reject the nomination papers. This suggestion has not yet seen the light of the day and has been pending for over 10 years now.

In the Indian law there is no provision to bar a candidate from contesting an election who has been convicted from filing a false affidavit. Under Section 8 (3), a candidate filing a false affidavit will be sentenced to six months in jail if found guilty. The law says that the person is barred from contesting an election only during the jail term.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 16:19 [IST]
Third time unlucky: Nawaz Sharif is down, but not out as yet

International

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By Prabhpreet

Nawaz Sharif resigned as Prime Minister after being disqualified by the highest court of Pakistan as well as being barred from electoral office for a further five years.

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This though a big event for any leader of any country in the world, is nothing new for Sharif. He's been in this situation before and suffered similar consequences. The details of the turmoil this time though are different, and his personal future in Pakistani politics a doubt.

He was earlier dismissed in 1993 by the President over corruption allegations and restored by the Supreme Court. But had to step down again after the then Pakistani Army Chief persuaded by the army chief. Two years into his second stint, he was ousted in the 1999 coup by another army chief, General Pervez Musharraf, who he had appointed.

Despite suffering such fate, he has still managed to find his way back into the mix of things and win elections. Such resilience is what makes righting him off too quickly an unwise thing to do, no matter what the odds this time.

The latest threat to his premiership began with the leak of Panama Papers last year in April, with a leak of 11 million documents from the Panama based law firm, Mossack Fonseca. They listed names of those holding offshore bank accounts considered to be used for unaccounted money and included people many of whom are famous.

The problem for Sharif began as the documents revealed that Sharif's three children, sons Hussein and Hassan along with daughter Maryam, were registered beneficiaries of three offshore companies.

This led to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to order a formation of Joint Investigative Team (JIT) after pressure from the main opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its leader Imran Khan. The JIT looked into the matter whether Sharif or his family members had gotten financial benefits illegally and whether he had lied to the public about his assets and laundered money with his family.

The report submitted to the court by the JIT confirmed many of the allegations like the family had could not account for its vast wealth and had tried to give falsified information on the team. It is on the basis of this report that the Apex court of Pakistan has based its judgment and also ordered a criminal investigation against Sharif and members of his family

The Supreme Court said that the Election Commission of Pakistan should de-seat the PM for not disclosing his role in the Dubai based Capital FZE company in his nomination papers. Justice Ejaz Khan who headed the bench announced that the court unanimously deemed Nawaz Sharif unfit from holding office.

This has now led Pakistan, already with a history of turmoil in terms of upholding democracy, as the Generals of the country have been trigger-happy when it comes to replacing elected leaders and have not let any democratic government survive five years till date, into another period of uncertainty. A fact, that few know better than Sharif.

Roles played by the Army and Pakistan intelligence service, ISI, are already being talked about. As many have claimed that the information that the JIT was able to get its hands was not possible without the help from the country's military establishment.

Though it may be hard to believe now, Sharif was not always on the wrong side of Army. In fact, he was used for the role, which is being played by Imran Khan now with the help of the establishment to destabilize him. Sharif was used in the 90's by the military establishment to destabilize Benazir Bhutto's elected government.

But all seems to have not been over for Sharif yet. And Khan might not get to be the elected leader of the country as soon as he thinks or hopes. As even though he is disqualified, if Sharif is able to keep his party together and be able to play the victim card when next elections are held next year, the chances of his party, Pakistan Muslim League (N), winning are still high. This is so as he is still politically stable and his vote-bank intact even though he suffered a blow from the Panama controversy.

And in this attempt keep his party together, the search for his successor has garnered much limelight. With his brother Shehbaz, widely expected to eventually take over as Prime Minister, if Sharif gets his way. Shehbaz Sharif is currently the Chief Minister of the Punjab province, and will not be able to take over immediately given that he is not a member of the National Assembly.

This has led to Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif, being seen as the frontrunner to be interim Prime Minister for 45 days till Shehbaz is elected in by-polls. Such a steady movement from Sharif's party would ensure that it does not break up.

It will now depend on what the military establishment wants, and whether they would help Imran Khan to help break up the PML (N). Whether the Army does this or not will also be able to allow observers to understand how big a role did it play in Sharif losing his job.

All the while, the world, especially western powers, China and India will be watching the developments in the country with a keen eye, given Pakistan's importance into the happenings in Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries. India, on the other hand, will be waiting to see whom it has to talk to and what their take would be on Kashmir and terrorism. By the end of it all, Sharif might still come out being the main man when it comes to the government, running it from behind the scenes.

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 6:01 [IST]
Trump appoints John Kelly new Chief of Staff; Reince Priebus out

International

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Washington, July 30: Amid growing tensions at the White House due to infighting among top staffers, President Donald Trump has fired Reince Priebus as chief of staff and replaced him with Homeland Security Secretary Gen (rtd) John Kelly.

"I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff," Trump told his more than 34.8 million followers on twitter soon after his return from New York. "He is a Great American and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration," Trump said.

The latest shakeup of the White House leadership comes as the feud between Priebus and the new Communication Director Anthony Scaramucci went nasty over the past few days, hogging the media limelight. Scaramucci was appointed the new White House Communication Director on July 21.

Soon after, Sean Spicer had resigned as the White House Press Secretary in protest. Trump also promoted his Deputy Sarah sanders as the new White House Press Secretary. Before being appointed as the White House Chief of Staff, Priebus was the chairman of the Republican National Committee, in which capacity he played a key role in Trump's presidential election.

Kelly has been a staunch supporter of Trump, during his election campaign days. He previously served as the former Commander of US Southern Command and was the commanding general of the Multi- National Force West in Iraq from February 2008 to February 2009. As Secretary of Homeland Security, Kelly has played a key role in the border security of the Trump Administration.

Over the last few weeks, Trump has expressed frustration over the White House leaks. With a retired general in charge of his White House now, the president hopes to bring in some discipline and end the current mess inside the White House. Later in a statement, the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Kelly would begin his new responsibility Monday morning.

"General John Kelly is one of the true stars of the Administration. He has helped seal the border and reduced illegal immigration by 70 per cent," she said. "He is respected by everyone, especially the people at the Department of Homeland Security. The entire Administration loves him and no one is comparable.

He will begin on Monday morning and a cabinet meeting will follow his swearing in," Sanders said. In a tweet, Trump thanked Priebus for his service. "I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!" he said. Sanders said Priebus was loyal in his dedication to the President.

"The President thanks him and his family for his great service to the country, and he will always be a member of the Trump Team," she said. In a written statement, Priebus said it has been one of the greatest honours of his life to serve the President and the country. "I want to thank the president for giving me this very special opportunity. I will continue to serve as a strong supporter of the President's agenda and policies," he said.

"I can't think of a better person than General John Kelly to succeed me and I wish him God's blessings and great success," Priebus said. Sanders told reporters that Trump began the process of appointing a new chief of staff some two weeks back.

Congressman Peter King who accompanied Trump aboard Air Force One to New York and back, told reporters that during the flight, he saw no indication of Priebus' exit.

In fact, he chatted with Priebus repeatedly during the flight. "We didn't even know it. We were sitting right across from him and he kept a poker face," King said, referring to Priebus. King said the president told him as they were about to get off that he was going to announce Kelly as chief of staff.

Asked what Priebus said during the flight, King repeated: "Good poker face, showed nothing". In a statement, Kelly said he was honoured to be asked to serve as the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States.

"To the tremendous men and women of DHS, I thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Secretary," he said.

In a statement to the employees of the Department of Homeland Security, Kelly said that when he left the Marines, he never thought he would find as committed, as professional, as patriotic a group of individuals, but he was wrong. 'You accomplish great things everyday defending our nation and I know your exceptional work will continue,' Kelly added.

PTI
Vital issues discussed, sets tone for PM visit, Doval says after China visit

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

One can expect a series of meeting between India and China in the days to come following the visit by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Meetings between the two foreign secretaries is also a possibility soon. The stage would however be set for the visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will take part in the BRICS summit between September 3 and 5.

On the outcome of the China visit, Doval informed that it would have an impact on the main visit by the PM in September. There were vital issues that were discussed and it will have a good impact he said.

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Doval further said that it was great that vital issues were discussed. It will have an impact on the next summit meeting. The five nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will need to show leadership in countering terrorism he also said. The outcome of the meeting today will contribute to the forthcoming BRICS summit meetings to be held in Xiamen in September, India's NSA also said.

Meanwhile the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement, "The foreign representatives said that BRICS countries should cement unity and cooperation to cope with common challenges in economy and security areas such as anti-globalisation and terrorism, and to increase the influence of BRICS in global affairs."

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Story first published: Saturday, July 29, 2017, 7:44 [IST]
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The woman hails from Mathura and gave her statement to the police in which she said that her in-laws poured petrol on her and set her on fire.

By Shalini Lobo: A 27 year-old woman succumbed to 90 per cent burn injuries in Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital. The woman hails from Mathura and gave her statement to the police in which she said that her in-laws poured petrol on her and set her on fire.

In her previous statement in a hospital in Mathura, the woman gave her statement saying that she burnt herself while cooking. The victim's family allege that she gave her statement under duress. The family approached the DCW for help. The DCW had filed a zero FIR in the case and forwarded the complaint to the Mathura police.

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The woman was brought to Safdarjung in a fragile state and since she suffered 90 per cent burns, the doctors said it was difficult to save her. The victim died while undergoing treatment.

--- ENDS ---
by  Graham Pierrepoint



In a week where we witnessed the death knell for the likes of software such as Adobe Flash and Microsoft Paint (which, admittedly, has received a reprieve after public outcry), it seems that another feature that many of us may have grown accustomed to will be dropped in the near future. Google Instant  brought in seven years ago  is reportedly being retired due to its lack of relevance in current browsing and searching trends. After some time of rumors reverberating, a spokesperson advised press that the feature would be phased out in due course. When exactly this is to come to pass, it is not yet clear.

The search engine brought about the Instant feature by way of attempting to predict what searches were looking for  in a sense, predictive autocomplete  in an effort to try and streamline searching behavior, or to make using Google more convenient. However, as browsing and searching habits have changed, it appears that the firm is now keen to retire the function and to flatten out a similar experience across multiple device types. What sounded the death knell for Google Instant? Mobile browsing.

While Google has made a number of changes to its algorithms over the years in an effort to keep up with the increasing volume of internet users migrating to smartphone and tablet browsing, Google Instant remained a facet of an earlier time which, in the midst of the mobile revolution, no longer seems relevant. Instants overlay essentially makes little sense for browsers and searchers using their screen to type  meaning that the function faced the digital boneyard as soon as mobile search claimed its majority share.

The summer of 2017 is shaping up to be a real graveyard for outdated tech  while functions and outdated software such as Google Instant and Adobe Flash are set to bite the dust with what may be general consensus from many users, it is telling that software as long-running  and perhaps even as basic  as Microsoft Paint generates the biggest outcry. For many people, MS Paint was a childhood staple  and in the case of the other two big software fellings this week, it was simply a case of technology marching forward. Will we see any more big software brands or titles drop off their mortal coil before the summer ends? Cling onto your default programs and browsing habits while you can!
A 25-year-old patient at RML and another at AIIMS became the latest victims of the H1N1 virus.

By Priyanka Sharma: It is double trouble for Delhiites. While the Delhi and central governments were getting ready to tackle vector-borne diseases in the city this monsoon, the deadly swine flu virus is taking on alarming propositions, claiming five lives and infecting dozens.

A 25-year-old patient at RML and another at AIIMS became the latest victims of the H1N1 virus.

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A doctor at RML told MAIL TODAY, "Naveen, 25, was admitted last week to the swine flu ward for treatment. He died on July 21 last week. Earlier in April, we had reported the death of 65-year-old Jairaj Singh from Shakarpur due to influenza virus."

"So far, RML hospital has witnessed 33 positive cases of swine flu. While 22 patients are from Delhi, 11 are from other states such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh," he added.

Meanwhile, AIIMS also reported one death last week.

AIIMS director Randeep Guleria said, "One patient died at the respiratory ward while undergoing swine flu treatment. He was in severe condition and we had put him on echmo, but he had lungs failure."

"We still have three patients in ICU on ventilator," he added.

320 CASES, TWO DEATHS

Earlier this week, the Union health ministry released its data in which it said that Delhi has reported at least 320 swine flu cases with two deaths.

The two deaths were reported at Lok Nayak Hospital and a private hospital in April. According to doctors, this year H1N1 virus reported early in the city at the time of monsoon which is unusual.

Earlier this year, researchers at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, run by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), isolated a new strain called the Michigan strain as part of the on-going H1N1 surveillance in the country. Health experts said at a time more than 100 cases of dengue, chikungunya and malaria are being reported by municipal corporations, the sudden spurt in swine flu cases in Delhi is a worrying development.

"In Delhi, the situation is normal. We have sufficient stocks for more than two months to deal with the swine flu crisis," Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain had said after MAIL TODAY broke the story on swine flu.

SM Raheja, additional D-G, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told MAIL TODAY, "We are ready to deal with the crisis. Surveillance has been increased and doctors at all major hospitals such as Lok Nayak, GTB, Ambedkar, DDU have been alerted. Dedicated isolation wards of HINI patients has been set up. Public awareness campaigns, hoarding have also been put up. There is nothing to worry about at present moment."

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ALSO READ

Delhi government shores up resources to fight H1N1

H1N1 virus hits Delhi-NCR early this year

--- ENDS ---
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For now, there will be no modifications to current policy, General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an internal memo to all military service chiefs, commanders and enlisted leaders.

In this March 27, 2008 file photo, the Pentagon is seen in this aerial view in Washington. Photo: AP

By AP: Unmoved by President Donald Trump's proclamation-by-Twitter, top Pentagon leaders declared on Thursday they'll allow transgender troops to remain in uniform until Defense Secretary Jim Mattis receives an authoritative directive to remove them.

For now, "there will be no modifications" to current policy, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an internal memo to all military service chiefs, commanders and enlisted leaders. That was despite Trump's announcement Wednesday on Twitter that he will not "accept or allow" transgender people to serve in the US military.

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By late Thursday, the Pentagon still had nothing more to go on than the tweets, a highly irregular circumstance that put Mattis and others in the chain of command in a position of awkward unease, if not paralysis. A commander in chief normally works out policy changes of this magnitude in advance in order to preserve order and morale.

Trump's tweets drew quick, sometimes scathing criticism from many lawmakers, both Democratic and Republican, as well as many military troops and retirees. But social conservatives applauded. Protesters demonstrated in several cities as well as outside the White House.

After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow...... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017

....Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming..... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017

Dunford began his memo to the nation's military leaders: "I know there are questions about yesterday's announcement." He said nothing would change until the president's direction had been received and developed by Mattis into written "implementation guidance."

"In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect," Dunford wrote. "As importantly, given the current fight and the challenges we face, we will all remain focused on accomplishing our assigned missions." That last statement appeared to reflect a concern that confusion over Trump's tweets might distract troops, who are engaged in dangerous operations around the world, including shooting wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said guidance on how to "fully implement this policy" is still to be worked out. Asked whether Trump realised he could not change the transgender service policy via Twitter, Sanders said, "I think he was making the announcement of the policy change," even though no specifics had been worked out.

Mattis has been on vacation this week and has been publicly silent. Sanders has said Trump informed Mattis of his decision after he made it on Tuesday. It was Trump's judgment, she said, that transgender individuals are an unacceptable cost and distraction for the military and should not be allowed.

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Dunford was not aware that Trump was going to announce the ban, a US official said. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

DIGNITY AND RESPECT

The top Air Force officer, Gen. David Goldfein, sent a note internally to his entire force Thursday citing Dunford's memo and saying that he and Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson "emphasize that all airmen will be treated with dignity and respect as we work through the potential policy changes" coming from the White House.

Together, the Dunford and Goldfein notes illustrate that military leaders did not equate Trump's tweets with legal orders.

Gen. Mark Milley, the Army chief of staff, made similar points during a speech at the National Press Club.

"I have yet to receive implementation guidance" from Mattis, Milley said. "We'll act when we receive directives through the proper chain-of-command channels." Until then, nothing changes, he added, citing the Dunford memo.

Trump's announcement caught the Pentagon flat-footed in a way rarely seen in the recent history of civil-military relations. The Pentagon has not released data on the number of transgender people currently serving, but a Rand Corp. study has estimated between 1,320 and 6,630, out of 1.3 million active-duty troops.

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"Please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US Military," Trump tweeted, even as hundreds, if not thousands were already serving. The implication of the pronouncement was that those now in uniform would be forced to leave.

Nick Rondoletto, left, and Doug Thorogood, a couple from San Francisco, protest against a proposed ban of transgendered people in the military in the Castro District on July 26, 2017, in San Francisco. Photo: AP

Trump wrote that he had consulted with "my generals and military experts," but the White House has not identified them and none have come forward. Just last week, when asked about the transgender issue at a Senate hearing, Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "I am an advocate of every qualified person who can meet the physical standards to serve in our uniformed services to be able to do so."

Transgender service members have been able to serve openly since 2016 - a policy applied only to those already in uniform. The Obama administration began a review of the costs and benefits of allowing transgender individuals to enlist, and less than a month ago Mattis extended that review for another six months. Mattis said then that this "does not presuppose the outcome of the review," but Trump's tweets appeared to have done just that. There had been no presumption that the extra six months was a prelude to a total ban.

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The American Civil Liberties Union said its chances of getting a court to block Trump's proposed ban might depend on the details of the plan.

Also Read:

Trump to ban transgenders from US military despite vow to fight for LGBT community

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Rumble 11 Nov 2022

On COI #348, Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman cover the latest escalations in the Ukraine war, the potential for peace talks, as..
Asia-Pacific Underground Coal Gasification Market Insights and Analysis for Period (2014 - 2020)

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Global energy demand had seen an exponential growth over the decade due to changing lifestyle. At the time when natural gas prices witnessing fluctuation and coal resources are depleting, the world is witnessing a significant gap between demand and supply of energy. Though as per World Coal Association, global coal reserves are estimated to be 861 tonne and accounts to 42% of total world electricity production; the year on year growth for coal consumption was highest in FY 2013, making it the highest since 1970. The demand for coal consumption is increasing every year thereby leading to depletion of coal reserves at an alarming rate. Moreover, most regions are economically unviable to extract coal from its bed. It is due to this reason that companies are looking for alternative solution that can lead to harnessing the total potential of coal, without disturbing the ecological balance.Underground coal gasification (UCG) is an industrial process by which coal is gasified under intense heat and atmospheric pressure. This enables the production of synthetic gas, constituents of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which are extracted through a well and utilized in various sectors, ranging from power generation to biodiesel and fertilizer production. Though this concept is not new to the market, little progress has been achieved in this sector, primarily due to low R&D. However, with growing energy consumption and fluctuating oil prices, industries are focusing on UCG to offer clean, efficient and cost-effective energy to various industries.Request For Report Sample@Asia-Pacific is projected as the largest market for underground coal gasification over the next 5 years due to impressive growth in end-use industries ranging from power to chemicals. China along with India, and Australia are key markets for underground coal gasification projects. China is the largest producer as well as the largest consumer of coal based energy. It consumes almost half of the total coal production to meet its energy demand. China has conducted 17 UCG trials since 1991 to check the economic viability of UCG. Major power generating enterprise SinoCoking Coal is planning to harness coal reserves in Henan Province which was abruptly shut down because of strict environmental compliance set up by Chinese government. UCG is an environmental friendly approach that empowers companies to scale high power generation. With worlds most populated country, China offers a vibrant platform for energy sector companies to set up their base in China and thereby meet the growing demand of energy in China. Recently, China signed a whooping US $ 1.5 billion major pact with UK for commercial development of UCG in interiors of Mongolia.Next prominent market is India. In India, mining contributes 10% of Indias GDP. With vast coal reserves, India is looking towards harnessing coal without disturbing ecological balance. There are also some sites which are economically nonviable to mine. Though Indias untapped 88.6 billion tonnes of non-metallurgical coal is found at a depth of 300 to 1200 metre is economically nonviable; UCG makes it economically sound option. Coal India Limited is trying to push the UCG technology to harness the coal in Kaitha (Jharkhand) and Thesgora (Madhya Pradesh) area. These two promising region is expected to generate high return on investment (ROI) by FY 2025.Next prominent destination is Australia. In Australia, most companies are undertaking R&D to fully harness the concept of UCG. At present, three major UCG trials is being conducted by Linc Energy, Cougar Energy, and Carbon Energy at Queensland. Australian government is paying a vigil eye on these projects until the technology is commercially proven.Visit For TOC@SinoCoking Coal, Cougar Energy, Carbon Energy, Linc Energy, and ONGC are key market players that have conducted pilot projects on UCG technology.Future is optimistic for underground coal gasification. With major innovations going around globally, it is expected to meet the needs of people in oil shortage region. Regions including APAC, and Africa will be a future market for underground coal gasification segments.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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
New Study Offers Detailed Insights on Agricultural Adjuvant Market

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Agricultural adjuvant are used to enhance the effectiveness of pesticides such as herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and other agents that are used to control or eliminate the unwanted pests. Adjuvant plays a crucial role in improving the efficiency of agrochemical and also for increasing the yield or productivity of the crop. Agricultural adjuvant includes ammonium fertilizers, surfactants and oils.Agricultural adjuvant plays a key role in the global agrochemical market. The market has grown exponentially over the recent few years and this growth is expected to continue over the forecast period. Various factors such as ease of application, innovative product contributions, advanced production practices, increased accessibility and increasing attack of pests and diseases play a vital role in driving the overall agricultural adjuvant market. Adjuvants are slowly making their mark as the best tool for farmers used to improve application, achieve more cost-effective solution, facilitate the dosage, better-targeted and more environmentally acceptable pest control. A significant amount of the demand for agricultural adjuvants market is anticipated from countries such as France, India, Australia, Italy, U.S., Brazil and Germany among others. The global agricultural adjuvant market consists of activator adjuvants and utility adjuvant. Activator adjuvants include ammonium fertilizers, oils and surfactants while utility adjuvants consists of water conditioners, buffering agents, compatibility agents, buffers, anti-foam agents and drift control agents among others. Agricultural surfactant chemicals are the most dominating product which captures the maximum market share of the overall agricultural adjuvant market. North America is expected to be the largest market for agricultural adjuvant.Request For Report Sample@The leading players of agricultural adjuvant market includes Akzonoble N.V. (Netherlands),Adjuvant plus Inc. (Canada), Brandt Consolidated (U.S.),Momentive Performance Materials (U.S),Clariant International Ltd. (Switzerland), LambertiSpA (Italy),Solvay SA (Belgium), Croda Chemicals (India), Dow Croning (U.S.),Helena Chemical Company (U.S.) andTanatex Chemicals (Europe) among others. This research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically-supported and industry-validated market data and projections with a suitable set of assumptions and methodology. It provides analysis and information by categories such as market segments, regions, product types and distribution channels.Visit For TOC@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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Flexible Colored PU Foams Market Forecast and Analysis by Future Market Insights

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Polyurethane foam is a diverse and large segment of global polyurethane market. Polyurethanes are said to be a part of our day to day life. Foams play a significant role in commercial and industrial sector ranging from automotive to refrigeration. Based on the variants foams available in the market and increasing area of applications for flexible colored PU foams, the market is expected to experience growth in the near future. Foams are differentiated as flexible and rigid foams. The properties that rigid foam posses are hardness, resilience, compression properties, abrasion resistance, whereas flexible polyurethane foam posses properties such as dry heat resistant, water resistant, oxygen, ozone resistant and remain flexible at low temperature. Few critical characteristics for the use of polyurethane foam in the industrial sector are chemical resistant, oil and grease resistant, flame resistant, noise reduction and fungus, mildew, mould resistant.The rigid polyurethane foams have outstanding thermal insulation properties, which makes its use as an insulator in commercial and domestic appliances such as hot water systems and refrigerators. The flexible polyurethane foam is extremely comfortable and finds wide range of applications in the furniture seating and automotive industry.Request For Report Sample@The factors that drive the flexible colored PU foams market include the growing demand from the automobile and construction industry coupled with the rising demand from the interior and furniture sector. The demand for colored PU foams in the packaging sectors is expected to rise in the near future. Furniture and interiors are expected to be the largest consumers of flexible colored PU foams as it is used in luxury couches, chairs mattresses and carpets on a large scale. However, the volatile raw material prices are expected to pose a challenge to the growing flexible colored PU foams market. In addition, environmental regulations are expected to hinder the market growth owing to issues related to use of diisocynate in the production process.Liquid resin blends and isocyanates are expected to contain hazardous components that may lead to health hazards. Isocyanates are said to be skin and respiratory sensitizers. In addition, amines, glycols and phosphate that exist in the spray polyurethane foam also may hamper the health of humans to some extent. Certain regulatory and health safety information is made available in the U.S. through organization such as Polyurethane Manufacturers Association (PMA) and Centre for the Polyurethane Industry (CPI). Others information sources are the raw material manufacturers and polyurethanes systems.Visit For TOC@The key segments included in the flexible colored PU foam industry include North America, Asia Pacific, Europe and Rest of the World (RoW). Due to high growth in the interior and furniture market, North America is expected to dominate the flexible colored PU foam market followed by Europe. Owing to the developments in the construction industry, Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market for flexible colored PU foam market. Owing to the benefits such as CFC free, HCFC free and non-Ozone Depleting Potential foams (non-ODP), a rising demand for bio based PU foams from North Africa and the Middle East is expected to open more opportunities for the flexible PU foams market.The key market players in the flexible colored PU foam market include: BASF SE, Carpenter Company, Bayer Material Science AG, Huntsman Corporation, Recticel SA, INOAC Corporation, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, The Dow Chemical Company, Rogers Corporation Stepan Company and Era Polymers Pty Ltd among others. Era Polymers Pty Ltd is an Australian distributor which offers a full range of ozone friendly foams that are CFC and HCFC free.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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Interesting Research Report on the Future of Acetophenone Market

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Increasing consumption of Acetophenone in various applications such as ingredient of fragrances in food & beverages, specialty solvent soaps in plastics and resins and in polymerization of olefins as a catalyst has resulted in growing demand for global acetophenone market. Acetophenone (formula: C6H5C(O)CH3) is an organic compound and the simplest form of sweet-smelling ketone. It is a thick colourless liquid and is an important precursor to useful fragrances and resins. It naturally occurs in apple, cauliflower, apricot, cheese, banana and beef. By different methods, acetophenone can be obtained. Acetophenone is accomplished by reaction of ethyl benzene with oxygen, which is also one of the key manufacturing methods for acetophenone in the industry. However some other manufacturing methods are also witnessing growth in the global acetophenone market.Acetophenone Market: Drivers & RestraintsOne of the key drivers for the global acetophenone market can be attributed to the application of precursor to resins. Also, increasing demand from end use industries such as use in pharmaceuticals, food & beverages, consumer goods (detergent, soaps, lotions and creams) and others (tobacco, chewing gum and cigarettes) are fuelling the growth of the acetophenone market. Increasing disposable income and inclination towards luxury goods in emerging economies is also expected to drive the global acetophenone market in coming five years. However, transient corneal injury and skin irritation in humans as well as numerous regulations concerns act as restraints in the growth of global acetophenone market.Request For Report Sample@Acetophenone Market: SegmentationOn the basis of End-User, the global acetophenone market has been broadly segmented into:ResinsPerfumes & FragrancesPharmaceutical ProductsOthersOn the basis of regions the global acetophenone market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia-Pacific and Japan.Acetophenone Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global acetophenone market is dominated by Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) region in terms of global consumption of acetophenone. The emerging economies such as China and India witness an increased demand for high end and luxury products as a result of increase in disposable income and living standard. The Asia-Pacific region is followed by North American region in the global acetophenone market, wherein the U.S. is the key market for perfume & fragrance manufacturers. Furthermore, Western European region is the next key region, in the global acetophenone market. The Western European region accounts for a large number of fragrance manufacturers, resulting in high demand for acetophenone.Visit For TOC@Acetophenone Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in the global Acetophenone market include Rhodia, Alfa Aesar, CellMark USA LLC, INEOS Phenol and many others.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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Dairy Processing Equipment Market Forecast and Analysis by Future Market Insights

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Milk is an advantageous nutritious food that has a short life span and needs careful handling. It is highly perishable as it has a stupendous medium for the growth of microorganisms. Milk processing permits the preservation of milk for days, weeks as well as even months and thus helps to decrease food-borne diseases. The processing of dairy products gives a small-scale dairy makers higher cash incomes than selling raw milk and proposes better prospects to reach regional and urban markets. Besides this, milk processing can also aid in to deal with seasonal changes in supply of milk. The shift of raw milk into processed milk and yields can be advantageous for the entire society by creating off-farm jobs in collection of milk, marketing, transportation as well as processing of milk. Dairy processing arises all over the world; moreover the structure of the industry differs from country to country. It has been observed that in less developed regions, milk is highly sold to the public directly, but in most of milk manufacturing countries milk is sold on a basis of wholesale. It has also been noticed that, general trend towards huge processing plants has offered the companies with the scope of acquiring bigger, more effective and automated equipment. Specialized processes which includes ultrafiltration as well as modern drying processes, have inclined the chances for recovery of milk solids that were previously discharged. In addition to it, all processes have become more energy efficient and effective and the utilization of electronic control systems has permitted enhanced processing effectiveness and cost savings.The Global dairy processing equipment market has showcased a higher growth over the past few years and is anticipated to showcase a significant CAGR from 2015-2025. Advancement in technology as well as rising consumption of dairy products to bolster the overall global dairy processing equipment over the next 10 years till 2025.Request For Report Sample@Global Dairy Processing Equipment: Market SegmentationThe Global Dairy Processing Equipment market is segmented on the basis of types of equipment which include homogenizers, separators, dryers, membrane filters, pasteurizers, churning equipment and others. As the industry has various application areas, thus the global dairy processing equipment market is also bifurcated by applications such as cream, cheese, processed milk, protein concentrates, milk powder, yogurt and others. The global dairy processing market is further segmented on the basis of unorganized and organized sector with the majority of the share captured by former in the overall dairy processing equipment market.Global Dairy Processing Equipment Market: Growth DriversChange in technology along with higher consumption of dairy products are the major growth handlers in the global dairy processing equipment market. Apart from this, rising demand for milk in cream, cheese, milk powder and yogurt are intensifying the market of global dairy processing equipment. The innovation as well as the expansion in the new dairy products with respect to end-user applications are also fostering the growth of the global dairy processing equipment market. It has been noticed that for the production of milk powders and protein concentrates, the equipment such as membrane filters and evaporators are used which is anticipated to witness significant demand in the coming 10 years from 2015-2025 in the global dairy processing equipment market.Global Dairy Processing Equipment Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the Global Dairy Processing Equipment industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle East and Africa. It has been noticed that, presently Asia Pacific region captured the highest market share in the global dairy processing equipment market followed by Europe and North America holding second and third position respectively. The dairy processing industries in the key dairy manufacturing countries have experienced rationalization with a trend towards larger plants operated by less number of people. Thus, in the U.S., Australia, Europe and New Zealand major dairy processing plants are quite huge. China occupies the substantial share in Asia Pacific region in terms of importing dairy products and New Zealand and Australia are the major exporters of dairy products.Visit For TOC@Apart from this, it has been noticed that plants producing products with short life span such as yogurts, soft cheese and creams, tend to be placed in urban centers close to consumer markets, whereas the plants producing items with longer shelf life which includes milk powders, butter milk, and cheese are tend to be situated in rural areas proximity to milk supply.Global Dairy Processing Equipment Market: PlayersSome of the major conglomerates capturing the substantial market share in the Global Dairy Processing Equipment market includes SPX Corporation, Tetra Laval group, Alfa Laval Corporate AB, IDMC Limited, GEA group, the Krones group, A&B Process systems and Feldmeier Equipment, Inc. Some of the countries such as China in the AsiaPacific region has become the major importer of dairy products and served as a profitable market for international dairy processors to capitalize the rising consumer demand, thereby presenting a prospect for dairy processing equipment manufacturers all over the world.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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Interesting Research Report on the Future of Adaptive Cruise Control System Market

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Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) is a special form of the conventional cruise control systems which is used to maintain and control the speeds of cars and other intelligent vehicles. Adaptive cruise control is an intelligent form of cruise control systems that slows down and speeds up automatically to keep pace with the car in front of you. It dosent make use of any satellite, any roadside infrastructures or any cooperative support from other vehicles, rather it uses sensors and lasers to control the speed of vehicles. The main impact of adaptive cruise control system is on drivers safety as by adjusting the distance between according to the traffic conditions. The overall process is achieved through a radar headway sensor, longitudinal controller and digital signal processor. Adaptive cruise control systems are being enhanced to guide through collision warning capabilities to warn drivers through audio or visual signals that a collision is imminent and that evasive steering is required. Now-a-days, Adaptive cruise control system is often paired with a pre-crash system which alerts the driver and often starts braking. Adaptive cruise control is also known as autonomous cruise control, active cruise control, intelligent cruise control or radar cruise control.Global Adaptive Cruise Control System Market: SegmentationThe Global Adaptive Cruise Control System Market can be segmented on the basis of Geography, Vehicle Type and Technology. On the basis of Geography, the Global Adaptive Cruise Control System Market can be segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and Latin America. On account of type, the Global Adaptive Cruise Control System Market can be segmented into passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles. Passenger vehicles include luxury cars, mid-range cars and premium cars. Further, considering technology, the Global Adaptive Cruise Control System Market can be segmented into infrared sensors, laser sensors, image sensors, radar sensors and ultrasonic sensors.Request For Report Sample@Global Adaptive Cruise Control System Market: Region-Wise OutlookThe key regions in the field of adaptive cruise control systems are Asia Pacific, Europe, Americas. The Asia Pacific region includes the emerging markets like Thailand, India and China. The factors such as rising demands of premium and luxury cars in such regions are effective to the overall growth of the global adaptive cruise control system market. Europe is the region which is a major market to the product and is home for the major suppliers of adaptive cruise control systems. The key regions in Europe comprises of Germany, France and Italy. The American region comprises of Brazil, Mexico, Canada and others; Brazil and Mexico being the emerging markets of this region.Global Adaptive Cruise Control System Market: DriversThe growth of the global adaptive cruise control system market highly depends on the rising number of accidents due to increase in traffic. Moreover, with the advancement of technology, people tend to be on a safer side and thus are willing to pay to install adaptive cruise control systems and thus are willing to pay. The increasing disposable incomes and greater sales of premium and luxury cars is also a major factor driving the growth of the global adaptive cruise control system market. The increasing use of sensors with the advancement in the technology is another fuelling factor. Moreover, government initiatives to improve fuel efficiencies and safety attributes of vehicles are motivating the manufacturers to apply such integrated systems to ensure safety as well as to comply with the government regulations.Global Adaptive Cruise Control System Market: ChallengesThe regions with higher intensity of fog, rainfalls and snowfalls are repelling to the adaptive cruise control systems. Regions with such weather conditions make such safety systems inefficient in making and monitoring the speeds of the surrounding objects and vehicles making the owners of the vehicles reluctant to implement such systems. Since each and every manufacturer competes with each other, each manufacturer implements high end safety sensors thus making the car owners difficult to understand the exact operating procedures of the product.Visit For TOC@Global Adaptive Cruise Control System Market: Key PlayersVarious companies are into manufacturing the adaptive cruise control system market. Some of the key players involved in the global adaptive cruise control system market are Denso Corporation, Magna International Inc., Mando Corporation, Valeo SA, TRW Automotive, Autoliv Inc., Hyundai Mobis Co. Ltd., Robert Bosch GmBH, Delphi Automotive PLC and others.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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Lead Acid Battery Market Value to Reach US$ 31,708.4 Mn by 2020

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Future Market Insights, in its latest report titled,Lead Acid Battery Market: Asia Pacific, Latin America, Japan, Middle East & Africa Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020, states that the target regions lead acid battery market accounted for US$ 24,210.5 Million in 2014, and is expected to reach US$ 31,708.4 Million at a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period. Asia Pacific, which accounted for the major chunk in the target regions lead acid battery market, is expected to expand at an estimated CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period.By application type, the target regions lead acid battery market is segmented as transportation, stationary industrial, motive industrial, commercial, residential, and grid storage. Transportation and stationary industrial collectively contributed to around 82.4% of market revenue in 2014. Transportation was the largest end-use application in the target regions lead acid battery market in 2014, and is anticipated to continue its dominance through 2020. Stationary industrial is the second largest contributor to the target regions lead acid battery market, and is expected to register the fastest CAGR of 8.5% during the forecast period.The report finds that grid storage is one of the smallest end-use application segments in the target regions lead acid battery market, but is anticipated to register the fastest CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period.Request For Sample@Lead acid batteries are predominantly used in passenger cars, commercial vehicles and two wheelers. In addition to that, demand for lead acid battery has also surged due to the increasing adoption of UPS, owing to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. Adoption of grid storage technology in developing countries such as India and China is expected to fuel the target regions lead acid battery market. In addition to that, an increase in the demand for electric vehicles is expected to further accelerate the expansion of the lead acid battery market globally.Moreover, key challenges in the lead acid battery market are raw material price volatility and stringent emission regulations. Lead is the essential raw material used in the manufacturing of lead acid batteries. Lead prices account for approximately 49% of the overall cost of the lead acid batteries. Any fluctuations in lead prices affect the overall profitability of lead acid battery manufacturers.Region-wise, Asia Pacific is the largest contributor in the target regions lead acid battery market, and is expected to continue its dominance till 2020. Currently, the Asia Pacific lead acid battery market is valued at US$ 15,995 Million and is expected to reach US$ 19,881 Million by 2020. Latin America and Japan are other major markets contributing 14.4% and 14.1% respectively, to the target regions lead acid battery revenue. Middle East & Africa accounted for the lowest contribution in terms of revenue in 2014, but is expected to register a significant growth at a CAGR of 4.9% over the forecast period.Send An Enquiry@The degree of competition in the target regions lead acid battery market has been analysed in the report, which also presents the comparative view of the key strategies and financial outlook of major companies operating in target regions lead acid battery market. These include Johnson Controls INC, Exide Technologies, GS Yuasa Corporation, EnerSys and Yokohama Industries.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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite :
New Study Offers Detailed Insights on Industrial Lubricants Market

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Industrial lubricants are defined as the fluid used to lessen the wear and tear of materials and also to reduce friction. Industrial lubricants can be either water based or petroleum based. Their primary function is to avoid metal to metal contact amongst the tools or finished components. Industrial lubricants exhibit good corrosion protection properties, excellent demulsibility and help extend the equipment life. It is used in variety of equipments to yield a particular performance level. They help achieve higher productivity and also improve efficiency of machineries. The industrial lubricants can be used in variety of applications such as automotive, industrial machinery, mining, hydraulic and many others. The selection of lubricants depends on variety of factors such as exposure to harsh chemicals, temperature, etc. However, the global industrial lubricants market is anticipated to witness a moderate single digit growth in the forecast period.Industrial Lubricants Market: Drivers and restraintsThe global industrial lubricants market is expected to witness a high growth rate in the upcoming years due to the growing automotive industry. The increasing manufacturing of vehicles is one of the major factor contributing to the growth of global industrial lubricants market. Growing demand for low viscosity fluids in automotive sector is expected to boost the industrial lubricants market in the forecast period. The increasing demand for grease in industries to continue smooth working of machineries is anticipated to help the global industrial lubricants market grow in the upcoming years. The growing food industry is also expected to be a major growth driving factor in the global industrial lubricants market. Rapid industrialization in the developing countries is also anticipated to drive the global industrial lubricants market. There are specific standards in each region pertaining to the mandatory minimum standards for the imported and manufactured industrial lubricants. Investments in research and development along with proper expansion can help the global industrial lubricant market players grow.Request For Report Sample@Industrial Lubricants Market: SegmentationThe global industrial lubricants market can be segmented on the basis of type asGear lubricantsCompressor lubricantsHydraulic lubricantsTurbine lubricantsMetal working fluidsOthers (processing lubricants, textile machinery oils, greases, etc.)The hydraulic lubricants account for the maximum share in the global industrial lubricants market. Metal working fluids as well as industrial lubricants together accounts for major share in the global industrial lubricants market.On the basis on end use industries, the global industrial lubricants market is broadly segmented as follows:AutomotiveIndustrialMarinePower generationChemicalsFood processingTextilesOthers (railways, metals, petroleum refining, etc.)The automotive industry contributes to the maximum share in the global industrial lubricants market. The industrial sector also accounts for a major share in the global industrial lubricants market.Visit For TOC@Industrial Lubricants Market: Region  wise outlookThe global industrial lubricants market is segmented into seven key regions on the basis of geography as North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan and Middle East and Africa. Out of these, North America and Western Europe contribute maximum share to the global industrial lubricants market. Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness the maximum growth rate in the global industrial lubricants market in the near future. India itself accounts for a major share in the global industrial lubricants market.Industrial Lubricants Market: Major key playersSome of the key players identified in the global industrial lubricants market areExxon Mobil CorporationFUCHS LubricantsShell International Petroleum Company LimitedChevron CorporationBP p.l.cPetrochina lubricant companyBASF SEKMG ChemicalsEni S.p.AIndian Oil Corporation LtdABOUT 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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Transformer Oil Market Projected to Grow at Steady Rate through (End of Forecast Period)

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In order to meet the residential, commercial and industrial energy requirements and ensure a smooth operation of power supply transformer plays an important role. During transformer operation, transformers dissipate heat which can damage the system if not controlled. In order to achieve seamless operation of transformer by preventing from heat damage the oil are used. Transformer oil is used in oil-filled and submersible transformers to maintain temperature of transformer. Application of transformer oil can also be seen in high-voltagecircuit breakers and switches. Since the oil is in constant contact with components it is therefore susceptible to chemical interaction. It is therefore essential to check for the quality of transformer oil at regular intervals since with continuous reaction the chemical composition of the oil may change and this may render it unfit for use.The market for transformer oil is subjected to the demands of the various end-use industries such as chemicals and automotive, and the type of transformer used. The oil used in transformers is hydrocarbon mineral oil. There are two major types of transformer oil used in the industry; naphthenic and paraffinic based. Though bio based transformer oil have gained attention due to stringent environmental issues but their usage is restricted due to limited advantage. The market of transformer oil will be driven by the expanding energy demand and growing installation of power grids in urban scenario. Due to growing population, the power grid companies needs to expand and upgrade their existing capacities causing penetration of transformers to increase which in turn fuel the market for transformer oil. The transition towards renewable sources of energy, strict environmental laws and shift towards organic oils may restraint the market of mineral based transformer oil.Request For Report Sample@Asia is one of the largest consumer of transformer oils followed by North America, South America and Europe. For the forecasted years Asia-pacific transformer oil market will continue to lead in terms of consumption. The demand for transformer oil in Asia Pacific is rapidly growing for emerging markets of India and China. This demand is transformer oil is attributed to the increasing focus on rural and urban development in infrastructure. This involves a shift in focus from high capacity transformer to small and mid-segment transformers for domestic and agricultural uses. The transformer oil markets of China, India and also Brazil will dominate owing to the government initiative for the electricity accessibility to the countrys population. The demand for in the mineral based is anticipated to stabilize due to the shift towards green (bio based) alternatives. The demand for transformer oil in regions of Americas and Europe is related to high capacity industrial transformers. The demand for transformer oil in these regions is anticipated to be slower than those in Asia Pacific owing to the significant development of renewable sources of energy and reduced dependability on conventional sources of energy.Visit For TOC@Transformer Oil Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players identified in the transformer oil market are Hydrodec Group PLC, Nynas AB, Calumet Specialty Products Partners, Valvoline,APAR Industries, Sinopec Corporation, Engen Petroleum Limited.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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Russia's tit-for-tat decision to expel hundreds of US diplomats and seize two US compounds may be an acknowledgment in Moscow that Trump's ability to bring better ties is limited.

By Reuters: Russian President Vladimir Putin tossed President-elect Donald Trump a bouquet in December when he chose not to retaliate for the US expulsion of Russian diplomats and seizure of Russian diplomatic compounds.

The honeymoon is over.

Russia's tit-for-tat decision to expel hundreds of US diplomats and seize two US compounds may be an acknowledgment in Moscow that Trump's ability to bring better ties is limited, at best, and the start of a new downward spiral in relations.

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Russia took the step after the US Senate on Thursday sent a breath-taking signal that it does not trust Trump on Russia by passing a bill that imposes new sanctions on Moscow and ties the president's hands if he seeks to ease them.

The White House issued a statement on Friday night saying Trump had negotiated changes to the legislation and now intends to sign it.

"(The Russians) have taken Trump's measure and while they are willing to exploit his goofy fixation on Putin and naive sense you can do deals with someone like Putin ... they realize his clownish performance as president makes it really hard for him to deliver on any of the big things that Russia wants," said Andrew Weiss, a former national security council Russia expert.

At the top of Russia's wish list is an easing of US sanctions imposed for its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and its destabilization of eastern Ukraine, something the Senate action would all but rule out. Another, all but inconceivable, item would be formal US recognition Russia's claim to Crimea.

'TRUMP NOT A GUY WHO CAN DELIVER'

"Trump's performance surely has left nobody in Moscow with the impression he is a guy who can deliver," said Weiss, now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank.

Trump's desire, often expressed during the 2016 presidential campaign, to improve relations has been hamstrung by findings from US intelligence agencies that Russia interfered to help the Republican against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

A federal law enforcement investigation and multiple US congressional probes looking into the possibility that Trump's campaign colluded with Russia, have made it harder for Trump to open a new chapter with Putin.

Russia denies it interfered in the election and Trump has said there was no collusion.

The Senate's 98-2 passage of the sanctions bill, which followed a 419-3 vote in the House of Representatives, forces Trump to take a hard line on Moscow or veto the legislation and infuriate his fellow Republicans.

The huge margins mean Congress could easily override a veto.

ULTIMATUM TO US

Weiss suggested that Trump's low approval ratings at home, his tendency to alienate NATO allies such as Germany and his inability to pass domestic legislation all contribute to a Russian perception that he is weakening the United States.

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"(That) is going to pay dividends for Moscow, so there is no need to turn him away from the course he is already on which is self-destructive and bad for America's standing internationally. All of that is a huge win for the Kremlin," Weiss said.

Russia gave the United States until September 1 to cut its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people, the number of Russian diplomats left in the United States after Washington expelled 35 Russians in December because of the alleged election hacking.

It also said it would seize a Moscow compound used by US diplomats as well as a US diplomatic warehouse.

Some former officials said Russia could take other steps, such as seeking to help Russian-backed forces seize more ground in eastern Ukraine or to try to limit US air operations in Syria, while others said any reaction might be more muted.

Russia could look at imposing economic counter-sanctions against the United States, the former official said, saying he thought that retaliation in Ukraine or Syria was less likely because it was more likely to lead to a US counter response.

Michael McFaul, the US ambassador to Russia from 2012-2014, said he does not think that Russia will escalate tensions with the United States just yet because Trump's assertions that he wants better relations with Moscow are encouraging Putin to continue seeking some kind of accommodation with the US president.

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"I don't think they are going to walk away from that just yet," said McFaul. "I believe that Putin still believes there might be something he can do with Trump."

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FMI Predicts Automotive Wiring Harness Market to Reach US$ 91.53 Bn by 2025

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Future Market Insights (FMI) recently announced the release of its report titled Automotive Wiring Harness Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025. According to the report, the global automotive wiring harness market was valued at US$ 36.82 Bn in 2014 and is anticipated to reach US$ 91.53 Bn by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 8.7% throughout the forecast period.Automotive Wiring Harness Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global automobile industry registered an annual growth rate of over 5.5% from 2010 to 2015, and is estimated to be valued at US$ 5.1 trillion by end of 2015. Consistent growth in the parent industry is expected to fuel demand for automotive wiring harness in the near future.Currently, increasing fuel costs and stringent government regulations regarding CO2 emissions are boosting demand for electric vehicles in regions such as North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific.Governments across various geographies have mandated use of certain electronic safety features such as Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Stability Program (ESP) and other features in both passenger and commercial vehicles. Furthermore, rise in demand for high-end electronics and safety features in vehicles, particularly passenger cars, along with cost reduction and enhanced reliability is leading to increase in global demand for automotive wiring harnesses.Automotive Wiring Harness Market TrendsUse of automotive Ethernet by automotive OEMs represents a new trend in the external as well as internal electronics devices connectivity in an automobile. These automotive Ethernets minimise the use of complex wiring harness structures to a great extent and, thereby, may act as a restraint for growth of the global automotive wiring harness market in the coming years.Request For Sample@Rise in technological developments is expected to create favourable growth opportunities in the market in the near future. Growing demand for connectivity and car digitisation, which not only helps establish connectivity within the integral parts of a vehicle but also enables communication with other vehicles through improved and intelligent roadway infrastructure, is an emerging trend in the market.Automotive Wiring Harness Market SegmentationRegion-wise, APEJ (Asia Pacific Excluding Japan) dominated the global automotive wiring harness market in 2014, accounting for 38.3% value share of the overall market. Furthermore, APEJ is foreseen to expand at a relatively high CAGR of 10.4% during the forecast period and is expected to maintain its revenue share dominance till 2025 end. Rise in automotive production and sustained economic growth are some of the factors driving the APEJ automotive wiring harness market currently.North America and Western Europe are expected to register high Y-o-Y growth during the forecast period, owing to increasing demand for e-vehicles and e-bikes in these regions. Growth of the connected car market has resulted in rise in demand for multiple electronic devices in vehicles in North America and Western Europe.Japan is currently witnessing moderate growth in demand for e-bikes, and the trend is expected to continue during the forecast period as well. The Japan automotive wiring harness market is expected to register a sluggish CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period, due to the matured automotive industry in the country.Send An Enquiry@On the basis of vehicle type, the passenger vehicles segment dominated the global automotive wiring harness market in 2014 in terms of revenue, and is foreseen to expand at a CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period. In terms of revenue, the hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles segments are expected to register significant CAGR between 2015 and 2025, in view of the stringent government regulations and growing fuel prices globally.On the basis of application type, the chassis & safety segment dominated the global automotive wiring harness market in 2014 in terms of revenue, accounting for 40.8% share of the overall market. This segment is expected to lose its market share to the HVAC segment, which is projected to expand at a significant CAGR of 10.1% during the forecast period. Furthermore, HVAC manufacturers are designing new eco-friendly devices in order to follow the environment standards along with introducing new innovating designs.Automotive Wiring Harness Market: Key CompaniesKey market players covered in the report include YAZAKI Corporation, Aisin Seiki Co., Samvardhana Motherson Group (SMG), Delphi Automotive PLC, Fujikura Ltd., Sumitomo electric Industries, Ltd., Lear Corporation, LEONI AG, Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. and PKC Group PLC.Most players in the market are engaged in various activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, increasing investments in technological and product developments, geographical expansion and brand building via strong marketing strategies, in order to sustain their position in the competitive 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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite :
Special Purpose Needles Market Poised to Rake in US$ 17.26 Bn by 2026

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The global special purpose needles market is projected to be valued at US$ 17,261.5 million by the end of 2026, registering a CAGR of 7.4% during the forecast period (20162026). In a new report titled Special Purpose Needles Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 20162026, Future Market Insights delivers key insights on the factors and trends impacting the global special purpose needles market over a 10-year forecast period (20162026).The market for special purpose needles is witnessing steady growth across the globe owing to an increasing geriatric population. According to analysts at Future Market Insights, Increasing prevalence of diabetes and infectious diseases and increasing incidence of cancer and spine disorders across the globe are the primary factors driving the growth of the global special purpose needles market. Availability of better reimbursement options for some types of special purpose needles in developed economies is likely to propel demand for special purpose needles over the forecast period. A key trend witnessed in the global special purpose needles market is the development of advanced techniques in the production of special purpose needles to facilitate enhanced patient safety and comfort. However, rise in awareness on needle free injections and risks associated with injections are major factors expected to hamper the overall growth of the special purpose needles market over the forecast period.The global special purpose needles market can be segmented on the basis of product type (Fine Aspirating Needles, Biopsy Needles, Hypodermic Needles, Pen Needles, Suture Needles, IV Catheter Needles, Implantation Needles, Dental Needles, Ophthalmic Needles, Blood Collection Needles, Spinal Anaesthesia Needles, Epidural Needles, AV Fistula Needles, Cannula Needles); application (Sample Collection, Drug Delivery); and distribution channel (Hospital Pharmacies, Private Clinics, Retail Pharmacies and Drug Stores, E-Commerce).Request For Sample@Segmentation highlightsThe Pen Needles product type segment is expected to gain popularity over the forecast period, driven by increasing global adoption of small sized needles for insulin injections. The Pen Needles product type segment is estimated to reach a valuation of US$ 644.3 Mn by the end of 2016, registering a CAGR of 9.1% over the forecast period.The Sample Collection application segment is estimated to register a CAGR of 7.7% while the Drug Delivery application segment is expected to register a CAGR of 7.1% during the forecast period.Demand for special purpose needles over the forecast period is expected to be the highest in the Hospital Pharmacies distribution channel segment, which is expected to register a CAGR of 8.5% in terms of value.Regional forecastThe North America market has been estimated to dominate the special purpose needles market while the market in APEJ is expected to be the fastest growing in terms of revenue growth. The markets in North America, Western Europe, and APEJ are estimated to collectively hold 74.7% market share of the global special purpose needles market in 2016.Send An Enquiry@Vendor insightsMedtronic, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Terumo Corporation, Smiths Medical, Boston Scientific Corporation, Novo Nordisk A/S, Argon Medical Devices, Inc., Stryker Corporation, NIPRO Medical Corporation, Cook Medical, and SERAG-WIESSNER GmbH & Co. are some of the major companies operating in the global special purpose needles market. These companies are adopting innovative strategies to bring in improvements to their product design and are initiating advanced R&D activities and market consolidation to strengthen market foothold and expand 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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite :
Beverage Packaging Market Expected to Grow at a CAGR of 3.3% During 2015 - 2025

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The global beverage packaging market is expected to be worth nearly US$ 200 billion in 2017, up from US$ 186 billion in 2015. Demand will be sustained by increasing consumption of packed food and beverages and increase in the number of one-person households in key markets. Advances in packaging technology will continue to shape up the global market, with intelligent packaging expected to gain traction.Plastics to Account for Over 50% Revenue ShareBeverage packaging manufacturers will continue to rely on plastic for bulk of production, with glass, metal, and paperboard among other key raw materials. Overall, plastics will account for over 50% revenue share by raw material type, with metal a distant second at approximately 24% market share. Benefits of plastic packaging, such as low production costs, easy transportation, and lower weight will continue to make it a preferred raw material for manufacturers. PET, polystyrene, and polypropylene will remain the highest-selling plastics in the beverage packaging marketcollectively, they are expected to account for US$ 52.64 billion in revenues in 2017.Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) Largest MarketAsia Pacific (excluding Japan) will continue to be the largest market for beverage packaging in 2017. Increasing demand for packed food products will continue to fuel market revenues in the region. The APEJ beverage packaging market is expected to surpass US$ 50 billion in revenues by 2017 and continue to be the largest market for beverage packaging globally.Request For Sample@North America and Western Europe  the other leading markets for beverage packaging  will continue to post moderate gains. Adoption of advanced packaging technology will witness higher growth in these two regions vis-a-vis APEJ. Collectively, North America and Western Europe will account for nearly half of global beverage packaging market revenues in 2017.CSD/soda manufacturers will remain the largest application segments in the global beverage packaging market, followed by dairy and juice/soft drinks. Demand for beverage packaging from CSD/soda segment is anticipated to be worth US$ 58 billion in 2017, up from nearly US$ 55 billion in 2015. Plastics will remain the largest product type for CSD/soda, followed by cans and glass bottles.Vendor InsightsLeading players in the global packaging market are focusing on creating functional and sustainable packaging that caters to the swiftly changing needs of consumers. Increasing investment in R&D to develop next-generation packaging solutions and strengthening of distribution networks in emerging nations remain key strategic endeavours of beverage packaging brands. The key players profiled in the report include Ampac Holdings, LLC, Amcor Limited, Alcoa Inc., Ball Corporation, Crown Holdings, Inc., Owens-Illinois, Inc., Rexam PLC, Reynolds Group Holdings Limited, SIG Combibloc, Ardagh Group S.A., Tetra Laval International S.A. and Compagnie de Saint-Gobain.Send An Enquiry@Long-term Outlook: During the forecast period, 2015-2025, the global beverage packaging market is expected to grow at 3.3% CAGR through 2025, totalling US$ 257.5 billion in revenues. Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) will remain the largest market for beverage packaging throughout the forecast period 2015-2025.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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite :
7.3% CAGR Attained by Coconut Milk Market through 2027

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Nutrition-rich foods are becoming top choice of consumers in developing markets, while developed economies are already viewing them as top-grossing products. High nutritional content of coconut milk is garnering the interests of consumers in countries such as the US and Canada. Future Market Insights recent report on the global coconut milk market reveals that North America will be a dominant consumer & producer of coconut milk in the years to come. The global market for coconut milk, which is expected to witness sales of over 430,000 MT by the end of 2017, will garner around 25% of these sales from North America.According to the report, revenues from global coconut milk sales reached US$ 780.4 Mn in 2016, and are estimated to soar towards US$ 830 Mn by the end of 2017. Key findings in the report project that the global market for coconut milk will soar at a healthy 7.3% CAGR to bring in US$ 1,687.7 Mn in revenues during the assessment period, 2017-2027. In terms of volume, the market will exhibit a 6.4% CAGR and record an estimated sales of more than 800,000 MT towards the end of 2027.Request For Report Sample@Increasing demand for plant-based, organic beverages among consumers, in developed as well as developing countries, is being observed as the key attributor for growth of global coconut milk market. Besides the healthy content, consumers are also growing inclined towards new tastes, which is why savouring Asian cuisines enriched in coconut milk are gaining popularity across the globe. However, high price of procuring raw coconut meat (in some countries), and growing proliferation of organic substitutes for coconut milk, are likely to restrain the markets growth to a considerable extent.Demand for Coconut Milk Powder Losing TractionOne of the vital findings compiled in the report indicate that in 2017, coconut milk in the form of powder is predicted to gain traction, reflecting a market share of 38%. However, towards the end of the forecast period, presence of coconut milk powder products on global market revenues is likely to incur a significant dip. Demand for coconut milk in form of fluids will grow steadily, and dominate with nearly 65% revenue share by 2027-end. Likewise, the demand for conventional coconut milk is expected to gain traction in 2017, but may witness a decline in its global revenue share by the end of forecast period. Organic coconut milk products, on the other hand, will reflect an uptick in global sales, registering a value CAGR of 8.2% through 2027.Send an Enquiry @Growing consumption of coconut milk is mainly attributed by effective end-use. Household, food services and food & beverage manufacturing are observed as three profitable end-uses of coconut milk. Collectively, revenues from these three end-use applications will collectively account for more than 80% of global coconut milk revenues by the end of 2027. The report also profiles leading producers and manufacturers of coconut milk in the world as key participants in the global coconut milk market, which include Mc Cormick & co., The Whitewave foods, Goya Foods, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Theppadungporn Agricultural Industry,Ducoco Ailmentos SA, Thai Agri Foods, Celebes Coconut Corporation, Pacific Foods of Oregon, GraceKennedy Group, Thai Coconut Public Company Limited, M&S Food Industries, The Sambu Group, Fresh Fruit Ingredients Inc., Chefs Choice Food Manufacturer Company Limited.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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Carrageenan Gum Market to Grow at a CAGR of 4.3% by 2024

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In spite of recording global sales of over 60,000 metric tonnes in 2016, Future Market Insights predicts that the global demand for carrageenan gum will witness a considerable decline. A latest research report published by Future Market Insights projects that by the end of 2024, the global consumption of carrageenan gum would have soared moderately at 4.3% CAGR and surpassed 88,000 metric tonnes. The report further reveals the real reason behind sluggish sales of carrageenan gum in the world.According to the report, titled Carrageenan Gum Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2024, the common fallacy that renders carrageenan gum as harmful ingredient has been instrumenting the decelerated growth in its global sales. Misconceptions arising from ambiguous status of carrageenan gum as a viable food ingredient has restrained the market from attaining a steady growth. The global carrageenan gum market, which is presently valued over US$ 700 million, is hence anticipated to register a 4% CAGR and bring in close to US$ 1 billion by the end of 2024.Limited availability of raw carrageenan is also expected to keep curbing the production of carrageenan gum in the world. A majority of carrageenan gum produced across the globe gets consumed by food and beverage manufacturers. The report reveals how more than half of global carrageenan gum revenues are accounted by food & beverage industries. Presence of carrageenan gum is also gaining traction in production of personal care products & toiletries. In 2016, nearly ten thousand metric tonnes of carrageenan gum were consumed by this segment. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical manufacturers are expected to lower their participation in the global consumption of carrageenan gum, owing to the ingredients speculative status and prolonging FDA approvals. Carrageenan gum will also be used in production of animal feed and pet food products, revenues from which are projected to surpass US$ 200 million by the end of 2024.Request For Sample@A regional analysis of global carrageenan gum market projected higher demand for carrageenan gum in Europe. Apropos the report, Europe will contribute to more than 35% of global carrageenan gum revenues throughout the forecast period. Revenues emanating from Europe are also expected to rise at 4.4% CAGR, while the regions carrageenan gum consumption will register growth at 4.8% CAGR. Meanwhile, North America and Asia-Pacific will collectively account for almost 50% of global carrageenan gum revenues through 2024. Latin Americas carrageenan gum market, on the other hand, will bring in nearly US$ 120 million in revenues. Middle East & Africas carrageenan gum revenues, however, will be registering the slowest CAGR over the forecast period.A majority of carrageenan gum manufacturers in the world are based in the US. Companies such as CP Kelco ApS, FMC Corporation, E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Co., Ingredient Solution Inc., and Cargill, Incorporated are prominent players in the global carrageenan gum market. The market is also witnessing higher participation from companies namely, Compania Espanola de Algas Marinas S.A. (CEAMSA), W. Hydrocolloids Inc., Altrafine Gum, Kerry Group, Extractos Naturales Gelymar S. A., and Marcel Trading Corporation.Send An Enquiry@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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite :
Talent Acquisition & Staffing Technology & Services Market to Expand at 5.9% CAGR through 2027

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Findings from Future Market Insights recently published report indicate a steady rise in the global demand for talent acquisition and staffing technology. Cloud-based platforms for hiring best talents are gaining prominence in talent acquisition businesses. Moreover, growing impact of social media technology on workforce recruitment industry has boosted the markets growth. In the report, titled Talent Acquisition and Staffing Technology & Services Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2017) & Forecast (2017-2027), social platforms are expected to gain traction, registering a global market value share of little over 46% by the end of 2017.Key highlights from the report on global market for talent acquisition and staffing technology & services include:Global talent acquisition & staffing technology & services market is projected to expand at a value CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period, 2017-2027By the end of 2017, the market will be valued over US$ 87 BnSocial media platforms is estimated to be valued at US$ 40.2 Bn in 2017, and is expected to grow at a significantly high CAGR during the forecast periodTowards the end of 2027, nearly US$ 154 Bn worth of revenues will be amassed in the global marketRequest For Report Sample@Impetus on recruitment marketing and hiring culture is gaining traction across global corporate settings. Employee engagement and brand building are being closely associated with each other as employment of credible individuals is enhancing a companys operation efficiency as well as reputation. Creating positive candidate experience through transparent communication is a prominent trend observed in the global market for talent acquisition and staffing technology & services. In 2017 and beyond, proliferation of analytical tools and social media platforms will be viewed profitable for the markets growth. Surging adoption of Big Data and other data-driven solution for decision making in talent acquisition business is also expected to impact the dynamic growth of the market.However, the market is pegged to witness restraints from improper sourcing and low investments. Sourcing the right candidate continues to be a major challenge for talent acquisition and staffing technology & services. Moreover, participants in the market are observed low investment; companies are failing to garner sizeable investment for offering global recruitment services. The report has profiled key participants in the global market for talent acquisition and staffing technology & services, which include International Business Machine Corporation, Oracle Corporation, SAP SE, Randstad Holding NV, Linkedin Corporation, PeopleFluent, Inc, CareerBuilder,LLC , CornerStone OnDemand, Inc., Saba Software,Inc., Paycom Software, Inc., The Adecco Group, ADP, LLC., Workday,Inc., Krones Incorporated, Ultimate Software Group, Inc., Skillsoft Corporation, Lumesse, inc., Acendre, Infor, BambooHR, LLC.Send an Enquiry @The report predicts that demand for services will be higher, and will account for 67.2% share on global market value by the end of 2017. Throughout the forecast period, North America will be viewed as dominant region, accounting for more than one-fourth of value of the global market for talent acquisition and staffing technology & services. Japan, on the other hand will showcase fastest growth as its talent acquisition and staffing technology & services market is predicted to soar at 8.8% CAGR through 2027. The report also reveals that talent acquisition and staffing technology & services in the Middle East & Africa region will exhibit a nascent growth, and will be valued at US$ 4.5 Bn by 2027-end.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:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Market Research Report 2017

Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve

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Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering North America Europe China Japan Southeast Asia IndiaGlobal Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players including Emerson Electri Flowserve Corporation IMI PLC Kitz Corporation Velan IncOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBy Size Up to 1" 1"-6" 6" to 25" By Material Stainless Steel Cast Iron Alloy CryogenicOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve for each application, including Automotive Construction Aerospace and Defense MarineGet a free sample copy of Welding Accessories @Table of ContentGlobal Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Market Research Report 20171 Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Market Overview2 Global Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)4 Global Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)5 Global Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Market Analysis by Application7 Global Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Trunnion Mounted Ball Valve Market Forecast (2017-2022)13 Research Findings and ConclusionGet access to full report @24MarketReports is the marque of market research industry which identifies massive database of market research reports. We are having a numerous sectors market research gathering which covers diverse verticals around the Earth. Our central focus to make it trouble-free for decision makers to find applicable information and locate right Research reports which can save their time and assist in what they do best.New York City Zone 01, United Stateshelp@24marketreports.comInt'l: (+1) 646 781 7170UK(Toll free): +44 800 088 5734
A luxury custom house that was part of the 2007 Street of Dreams new home tour was extensively damaged in a fire Friday morning due to insufficient sprinklers, according to Clackamas Fire spokesman Micah Shelton.

Smoke was rising from the shake roof of the two-story house at 18158 S. Grasle Road in Oregon City when firefighters arrived at about 9:20 a.m. Vaulted ceilings in the 4,644-square-foot house made it difficult for firefighters to access the blaze in the attic, which had no sprinklers.

There was a sprinkler system covering the rest of the house.

"Most attics do not have a sprinkler system as they are exposed to the cold in the winter and there is not a lot of fire potential within the space," said Shelton. "Generally, the fire starts outside of the attic and moves into it. It would be great if we could all have sprinklers within the home and attic."

Firefighters worked for more than an hour to put out the flames. The once-showcase estate suffered extensive damage.

No one was injured, reported Shelton, but the family dog that neighbors saw fleeing the fire was missing.

According to public records, the house sold for $905,000 in 2014 and real estate database Redfin estimated current value, before the fire, at $1.4 million.

The fire is under investigation. The home has four fireplaces, according to Redfin.

The Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland has produced the fundraising Street of Dreams new home tour for 42 years. This year's month-long tour opens Saturday in Happy Valley's Mitchell Park development.

-- Janet Eastman



jeastman@oregonian.com

503-799-8739

@janeteastman




On Aug. 21, the moon is going to mask the sun for a rare total solar eclipse that will cross the United States from the Oregon to the South Carolina coasts. And if you want to safely watch this astronomical spectacle, you'll need special "eclipse glasses" to protect your eyes.

These are the special solar filters that allow viewers to look at the sun for short periods of time as the eclipse progresses. Although the sun will be significantly dimmer as the eclipse progresses, it's still not safe to view directly except for that short window of totality - and only if you're in the zone of totality.

That means that if you're watching the eclipse in Portland, Eugene or other places outside the zone of totality, you must protect your eyes, since looking at the sun can cause permanent eye damage, even if the sun is partially obscured.

Regular sunglasses aren't enough, since they don't block out the ultra-violet and infrared rays that can damage your eyes. You'll want to find glasses that are labeled "ISO," which stands for the International Organization for Standardization, meaning they meet safety requirements for looking at the solar eclipse.

The American Astronomical Society had previously cautioned consumers to only purchase eclipse glasses that were clearly marked "ISO 12312-2," which means the glasses meet international safety standard for filters for direct viewing of the sun. But there are reports of counterfeit eclipse glasses that are labeled as if they're ISO-compliant, when in fact they are not. The society now recommends that you look for glasses with both the ISO designation, produced by one of their recommended list of reputable manufacturers.

In addition, NASA and the American Astronomical Society offer these tips:

If the lenses have scratches, they are unsafe to use.

Don't use the glasses if the lenses are wrinkled.

Glasses that are older than three years shouldn't be used.

It's OK to use solar eclipse glasses over regular eyeglasses or contact lenses. Just make sure the glasses are securely on

Stand still and cover your eyes with your eclipse glasses before looking up at the sun. After looking at the sun, turn away and remove your filter -- do

Never look through binoculars, a telescope, a camera equipped with a telephoto lens, or other optical devices while wearing eclipse glasses. These devices concentrate the rays of the sun, and will damage your eclipse glasses, rendering them useless and causing serious injury to your eyes.

If you are

Many Oregon retailers have eclipse glasses available. Fred Meyer, for example, is selling pairs at all of its stores near and within the eclipse's path for $1.99 each. Market of Choice and Bi-Mart have eclipse glasses at check-out stands, also for $1.99.

And here's a great deal: Columbia Sportswear is giving out free solar eclipse glasses, while supplies last, at its downtown Portland, Portland International Airport, Sellwood, Lake Oswego, Bend, Lincoln City and Woodburn stores.

Walmart has certified glasses for $1 in stores, and is also selling "Get Eclipsed" guidebooks that include a pair of solar glasses for $3.47.

The Science Store at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry sold out its first shipment of about 7,000 eclipse glasses in early June, but will have more in stock soon, retailing for $2.99 each, featuring the OMSI logo.

There are numerous online sources for eclipse glasses, and many offer discounts for bulk purchases.

Amazon has numerous variations of eclipse glasses available, including scratch-resistant plastic frames with high-definition lenses for $18.99 each. They also have a family eclipse kit, which includes four pairs of Eclipsmart Solar-safe Shades, plus a 32-page eclipse guide, for $9.95.

Walmart is selling six packs of eclipse glasses for $13.79, and a dozen for $17.95.

The website Eclipse2017.org has all sorts of information about this August's eclipse, along with deeply discounted eclipse glasses for large orders, like 100 pairs, priced at $1.15 apiece, or 200 pairs for $0.99 each.

-- Grant Butler

503-221-8566; @grantbutler
Portland school board member Paul Anthony has withdrawn a federal civil rights complaint accusing the school district he oversees of racial discrimination, board members announced Saturday.

Anthony filed the complaint in May 2016 over concerns about unequal course offerings for middle school students. The move was viewed by many as highly unusual as Anthony is a person of power within the district.

His complaint accused the district of systemic racism in course offerings, with minority students disproportionately provided fewer electives and less instructional time. At the time, he told The Oregonian/OregonLive he felt he'd run out of options in his capacity as a board member. The only way to get help seemed to be to ask for federal intervention, he said.

Those feelings have now changed.

Anthony's letter to the U.S. Department of Education's civil rights office attributed his decision to confidence in a new school board. This July, three new board members were sworn into office.

"The District now has internal solutions that I believe will result in providing equitable programming to all our students, regardless of race, family income, or geographic location, and do so faster than a civil rights complaint is likely to achieve resolution," Anthony wrote.

Anthony was out of town and unavailable for an interview on Saturday morning, but by text elaborated on those new internal solutions.

He credited a "radically revised" budget process, "led by great budget people committed to programming equity." Additionally, he cited "inclusive participation" by principals and teachers as well as solutions devised by the human resources department to staff more equitably at schools.

Anthony informed other board members about his decision on Tuesday. His email credited "extensive discussions" with newly-elected board chair Julia Brim-Edwards.

Brim-Edwards told The Oregonian/OregonLive she felt Anthony's decision was a "positive step forward." She said the board now has a shared commitment to work collaboratively.

"The issue that Paul raises, I strongly believe as the board chair there is a mechanism for the board and the district to address this," she said. "We don't need the federal government requiring us to do it. We want to do it and we are going to organize our work so that we can."

In the year since Anthony filed his complaint, the district has gone through significant upheaval. Anthony's federal complaint made a point of blaming then-Superintendent Carole Smith by name. She's gone, having resigned in July 2016. Hiring for her successor is underway.

 Bethany Barnes

Got a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email Bethany: bbarnes@oregonian.com
After the Congress submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission accusing the BJP of using money power to lure MLAs in Gujarat, the poll body directed the chief secretary of the state of submit an inquiry report within two days.

At least 40 MLAs of the Gujarat Congress are currently put up at a resort in Bengaluru

By India Today Web Desk: The Election Commission of India today ordered the Gujarat chief secretary to conduct a probe into allegations raised by Congress that the BJP was luring its MLAs in Gujarat using "money, muscle and state power". The chief secretary has been asked submit an inquiry report by July 31.

A delegation of the Congress leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Manish Tewari, today met Election Commission officials and submitted a memorandum, alleging that the BJP-led Gujarat government was arm-twisting its legislators.

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The Congress has seen its strength in the Gujarat Assembly dip to 51 after six party MLAs resigned as legislators. Three of the six even went on to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In a related development, the EC also asked the Gujarat government to ensure that all MLAs and their families are given proper security.

Meanwhile, at least 40 Gujarat Congress MLAs remain sequestered at a Bengaluru resort after the Grand Old Party flew them out of their home state in order to prevent the BJP's attempts to 'poach' them. Another four MLAs are expected to join them, an unnamed senior party leader was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Karnataka: #Visuals from outside Bengaluru's Eagleton resort where #Gujarat Congress MLAs have been lodged pic.twitter.com/RNY7g9eOG8- ANI (@ANI_news) July 29, 2017

Congress has come under criticism from the BJP for flying its MLAs off to Karnataka even as the state struggles to battle the aftermath of the recent flooding and heavy rains. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani attacked Congress on Twitter, posting, "Unfortunately, our friends in the Congress are insensitive about people's suffering. They are instead relaxing in resorts in Karnataka."

The BJP's Gujarat in-charge Bhupendra Yadav too critised Congress. "Today, when people are surrounded by floods due to natural calamity, Congress has switched off all (their) MLAs' phones," Yadav told news agency ANI. "They have been taken to Bengaluru with so much expenses, given all facilities, on the other hand people are in distress."

'HORSE TRADING'

The Congress, on the other hand, has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of using the state machinery and "money and muscle power" to lure its MLAs.

Congress's Gujarat in-charge Ashok Gehlot on Friday said, "This (sending MLAs to Bengaluru) has been done to protect our MLAs. They are being threatened to join the BJP, which is using muscle, state and money power to poach our legislators."

"The mobile phones of the MLAs have been taken away as nobody can threaten or coerce them," Gehlot added.

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Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Bharat Solanki alleged that the BJP was playing "dirty politics".

"It is luring our MLAs with money, muscle and state power. In such circumstances, our MLAs decided that we should remain together and so they have gone to Bengaluru," Solanki had told reporters on Friday.

The resignations have dented Congress's strength in Rajya Sabha ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha polls. The party's Ahmed Patel is contesting on one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat that are up for re-election this year.

BJP national president Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani are contesting on the other two seats.

ALSO READ | Gujarat Speaker denies horse trading claims as Congress knocks Election Commission's door

ALSO READ | All eyes on Vaghela as BJP seeks to checkmate Ahmed Patel in Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls

ALSO WATCH | Gujarat: Setback for Congress as 3 MLAs join BJP

--- ENDS ---
A Salem security guard was arrested Friday and charged with the murder of a 25-year-old man.

Salem police say Gregory Weston Capwell, a 33-year-old private security guard for Homefront Security, shot Jose Francisco Moreno in a southeast Salem parking lot early Saturday morning. When police arrived, they found Moreno dead and Capwell at the scene.

Police arrested Capwell after multiple interviews, review of surveillance footage and consultation with the Marion County District Attorney's Office.

No other details were immediately available.

 The Oregonian/OregonLive
A fresh complaint was filed with the agency on Friday, demanding a full probe into the bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattorochi

By Atir Khan: After AugstaWestland, the Enforcement Directorate is likely to probe the money kickbacks trail in Bofors case now.

A fresh complaint was filed with the agency on Friday, demanding a full probe into the bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattorochi in Bofors case.

The complaint has been filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ajay Agarwal, who has sought a full-fledged probe into the bank accounts of Quattrocchi, the middleman's two bank accounts.

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The bank accounts had been frozen in 2003 after CBI had requested the then government to intervene and freeze his bank accounts in BSI AG Bank, London.

WHAT THE COMPLAINT SAYS

However, the bank accounts were defrozen during UPA-I Government in 2006. The complaint says the ED should probe the money trial and ascertain where the money went after Quattorochi's accounts were defrozen.

In the complaint Agarwal had alleged that the money could have been sent to some relatives of Sonia Gandhi in Italy. The complaint says CBI was interested in probing this angle but UPA Government did not give it permission for filing Special Leave Petition against March 2005 Delhi High Court order of quashing the charges against the accused.

He has also quoted a CIA report which states that bribes were certainly paid to middlemen and agents so that they could be paid finally to the officials of the Government of India.

Bofors had transferred the approximately Rs 21 crore to AE Services owned by Ottavio and then it was further transferred to the accounts of Ottavio and his wife Maria in BSI AG Bank, London.

Agarwal claims statements recorded during CBI investigations show that Quattorochi was very close to Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.

The couple used to trust Quattorochis so much that whenever they went on foreign tour they would leave their children behind with them.

He has further said that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act commenced on 2005.

One year later the bank accounts were defrozen, therefore ED can still investigate the money trail in a continuing crime.

ALSO READ

Three decades after Bofors scandal, India to get first artillery guns - M777, test firing at Pokhran today

China-made parts used in the production of Bofors guns: CBI

ALSO WATCH

All you need to know about India's Rs 5000 crore M777 Howitzer deal with US

--- ENDS ---
Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora said that he had questioned all the Congress MLAs who recently resigned and claimed that they were not under any pressure.

By India Today Web Desk: The six Gujarat Congress Members of Legislative Assembly who recently resigned ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha polls were not under any pressure, Ramanlal Vora, the speaker of the Gujarat Assembly said.

Meanwhile, the Congress put up a strong front saying that the recent resignations won't affect the chances of party loyalist Ahmed Patel in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. The party, once again, slammed the BJP for horse trading and met with officials of the Election Commission over the matter.

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Vora, however, denied the allegations, saying he had spoken to all of the six MLAs before accepting their resignations and that they had denied being under pressure.

Speaking to India Today, Vora, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, said he is performing his "duties perfectly". Vora said he asked all the six Congress MLAs about whether they were under pressure or whether they had been offered money to quit their posts. They replied in the negative, Vora added.

Vora also said that apart from the six MLAs who quit he has not received any new resignations. Interestingly, Congress MLA Raghavjee Patel just yesterday said that 20 more MLAs are ready to quit the Gujarat Assembly.

Patel, considered close to strongman Shankersinh Vaghela, also said that he had sent feelers out to Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah expressing his desire to join the BJP.

"The state party leadership, along with Congress high command, is responsible for whatever is happening right now. In the coming days, around 20 Congress MLAs would sever ties with the party. Thus, it will be impossible for Ahmed Patel to win the Rajya Sabha polls," Raghavjee said on Friday.

Ahmed Patel occupies one of three Gujarat Rajya Sabha seats that are up for grabs this year. BJP's Smriti Irani and Amit Shah are contesting for the other two seats.

Ahmed Patel, a Congress loyalist considered to be party president Sonia Gandhi's right-hand man, is a four-time Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament.

However, his election looks increasingly threatened even as the Congress, which accused the BJP of horse trading, maintained a strong front, saying that Patel will win his Rajya Sabha election.

"Despite all the horse trading by the BJP we are confident of pulling off the Rajya Sabha election of Ahmed Patel," Congress general secretary in-charge of Gujarat, Ashok Gehlot, said.

CONG KNOCKS EC's DOOR

Meanwhile, the Congress today took up the resignations of its MLAs and the BJP alleged horse trading with the Election Commission in New Delhi today.

Senior Congress leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Vivek Tankha and Manish Tewari met with EC officials asking the poll body to take action against the BJP for 'horse trading'.

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The party plans to cite the example of on of its MLAs - Punabhai Gamit - was allegedly intimidated by police in Gujarat. Congress claims that Gamit was abducted by a local DSP in Vyara in an attempt to lure him to join the BJP.

On Friday, Azad had said that Gamit, after attending a district Congress executive committee, had gone for a tea to another MLA's house when the DSP "abducted" him.

The police officer, according to the Congress, then told Gamit that the Congress had decided not to give him a ticket for the upcoming assembly elections and that he would be better off joing the BJP.

Earlier yesterday, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said, "Crores of rupees have been spent in horse-trading in Gujarat by the BJP. You have seen this naked drama... The policy of the BJP in Gujarat is - by hook or by crook, come to power by breaking all laws."

The Congress, whose strength in the Gujarat Assembly has gone down to 51, seemingly rattled by the resignations of the six MLAs, three of whom joined the BJP, late Friday night flew around 40 MLAs to Bengaluru.

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Notable, the resignations and defections also come ahead of the Gujarat Assembly election that is expected to be held later this year.

(With inputs from Mayuresh Ganpatye and Mausami Singh)

ALSO READ | All eyes on Vaghela as BJP seeks to checkmate Ahmed Patel in Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls

ALSO READ | How Shankersinh Vaghela's expulsion spells doom for Congress ahead of Gujarat Assembly polls

ALSO WATCH | Gujarat: Setback for Congress as 3 MLAs join BJP

--- ENDS ---
Bangladesh Police claims Neo-JMB terrorist Aslam Rashed, who was arrested from Natore district on Friday, supplied arms to perpetrators of the 2016 Gulshan Cafe attack in Dhaka.

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: Bangladesh Police has claimed that Aslam Hossain Rashed alias Rashidul Islam alias Rash, who was arrested from Singra in Natore district on Friday morning, provided weapons to the perpetrator of the Gulshan cafe attack in Dhaka last year.

Rashed belongs to the Neo-Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), an Islamic State-inclined terror outfit.

Chief of Counter Terrorism Unit Monirul Islam said this at the DMP Media Center in Dhaka on Saturday afternoon. Islam said Neo JMB leader Rashed not just provided weapons but also trained those who carried out the Gulshan Cafe attack as instructed by his bosses.

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Where the arms were kept and who financed the attack would be clear only after the investigation is complete. Monirul Islam said that it would be possible to submit the chargesheet if concrete details could be found after the investigation or if Rashed gave a statement in the court.

Rashed is the sixth militant to be taken into custody in this case. He is the last important suspect to get to the final point of investigation, Islam added.

Bangladesh Police addressing a press conference following the arrest of Rashed. Bangladesh Police addressing a press conference following the arrest of Rashed.

RASHED SENT TO 6-DAY REMAND

After hearing the police's plea, the court sent Aslam Hossain alias Rashed to six-day remand. Rashed is being called one of the masterminds and coordinators of the Gulshan cafe attack.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Nurun Nahar Yasmin issued the remand order on Saturday. Sub-inspector Farid Mia, general registration officer of the same court, confirmed this to the media.

Mia said, "Inspector Humayun Kabir of Counter Terrorism and Transitional Crime (CCTC), who is in charge of the investigation, filed for a 10-day remand for Rashed to interrogate him in connection with the case."

HOW RASHED BECAME A TERRORIST?

According to police sources, in 2014, Rashed watched an online video on terrorism while he was a student of higher secondary class in Rajshahi New Government Degree College. Later, he left home in the name of a so-called 'hijrat', while reading in a private paramedical college.

It was at this point of time that Rashed was introduced to one Tamim Chowdhury by Shariful Islam Khaled. In a few days, he got into the good books of Chowdhury. After the attack on Holey Artisan bakery, Rashed kept changing his locations at frequent intervals to avoid getting traced. Initially he was in Gazipur, later he was hiding in different places in north Bangladesh.

Police said the onus of supplying arms for the Holey Artisan attack was on him. He was also responsible for paying the rent of the houses of Tamim Chowdhury and the attackers.

"Rashed was supposed to take part in Holey Artisan attack with perpetrators Rohan Imtiaz and Nibras. Later, Tamim Chowdhury changed his mind and gave him another responsibility. Rashed trained the perpetrators of Gulshan cafe incident."

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Rohan Imtiaz and Nibras died in an Army operation on July 2, 2016 morning at the Gulshan Cafe.

Meanwhile, the family members of Rashed said that while he was in a student's hostel in Rajshahi, he might have been drawn into terrorist activities.

They claimed that had been missing from 11th Ramadan (in June 2016) last year. Since then, they had had no contact with him. "We expected that he would come back one day."

On July 1, 2016, terrorists killed 23 people, including 17 foreigners and a chef, at the Gulshan Cafe in Dhaka. Indian national Tarishi Jain was among those killed.

Also read |

Bangladesh: 3 Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh members arrested

Bangladesh: 2 suspects behind Holey Artisan attack killed in raid months ago

Bangladesh: Mastermind of Holey Artisan attack among 4 neo-JMB militants arrested

--- ENDS ---
When you think of blood donations, many probably think of cookies and juice, but pies are taking center stage in a recent partnership announcement.

Grand Traverse Pie Co. is teaming up with Michigan Blood to give back to blood donors throughout the year. Over the next three years, GT Pie will donate nearly $10,000 in gift cards to the blood organization. The gift cards will then be handed out to donors through Michigan Blood's "Acts of Random Thanks" program.

"This partnership allows us to give back to those who give to us in an even greater way," said Carleen Crawford, director of marketing and communications for Michigan Blood.

Through the ART program, Michigan Blood's community relations team offers messages of thanks through letters with gift cards attached. As the name implies, it's done at random times -- and in different locations -- throughout the year.

GT Pie said the partnership is another way to show its dedication to being a Michigan-first company. It purchases more than 95 percent of its products from Michigan companies and promotes agriculture and commerce. Michigan fruit, sugar and flour come from the state's growers and processors, and GT Pie will drive over $22 million into Michigan's economy this year.

"Our vision is to be a respected Michigan brand; we believe that this is only achieved when we dish out respect ourselves," said Mike Busley, co-founder of GT Pie. "We hope our partnership with Michigan Blood shines the light on the importance of giving blood to help save Michigan lives."

Michigan Blood is the primary provider of blood and blood products for more than 60 hospitals in Michigan, including MidMichigan Medical Center-Midland, Covenant HealthCare and St. Mary's of Michigan.

Any healthy person 17 or older (or 16 with parental consent) who weighs at least 112 pounds may be eligible to donate, although females age 18 and under must weigh 120 pounds or more. Blood donors should bring photo ID.

The Midland Dow Diamond Donor Center, 825 E. Main St., is open Thursday through Monday.

To schedule an appointment, call 1-866-642-5663 or schedule online at https://donate.miblood.org.
The Michigan Small Business Development Center has hired Kristi L. Kozubal as regional director for the Great Lakes Bay Region. Kozubal replaces Christine Greve, who has been the regional director for more than two decades and will retire at the end of this month.

"We have a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Great Lakes Bay Region," Kozubal said. "I'm thrilled to now be in a position where I can make a greater impact on growing this ecosystem and have the opportunity to affect more change through the services offered by the Michigan SBDC."

With more than 15 years of experience working with small businesses, nonprofit agencies and local government organizations, Kozubal brings a diverse mix of experience and talent to her role as the regional director. After graduating from All Saints Central High School in Bay City, she attended the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning where she earned a bachelor of science degree in architecture.

Upon graduation, she obtained the position of planning and zoning administrator for Bay City. While serving the city, Kozubal returned to school to earn her juris doctor degree from Michigan State University College of Law. She is a licensed Michigan attorney who has been in private-practice for over 10 years.

For seven years, Kozubal has been the managing partner in the law firm of Learman Kozubal, PLC, which provides counsel on business law, estate planning, real estate, and civil litigation. As an attorney, Kozubal has advised her clients on business formation, strategic planning and management, policy making, executive recruitment, financial restructuring, succession planning and more.
On Thursday, members of the Michigan congressional delegation wrote to President Donald Trump urging him to grant the state of Michigan's request for federal assistance in response to last month's flooding. Gov. Rick Snyder made the formal request for funding on July 21.

The letter was signed by Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters and U.S. Reps. John Moolenaar, Dan Kildee, Fred Upton, John Conyers, Sander Levin, Tim Walberg, Bill Huizenga, Mike Bishop, Debbie Dingell, Brenda Lawrence, Dave Trott, Jack Bergman and Paul Mitchell.

Moolenaar made the following statement:

"Mid-Michigan residents, along with local and state officials, have done an outstanding job responding to the flooding. However, cleanup costs are more than they can bear alone. FEMA has already done a preliminary assessment of the damage and I hope the governor's request will be granted so federal assistance will be available for our region."

The content of the letter is below.

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing in support of Governor Rick Snyder's request on July 21, 2017 for a major disaster declaration for the State of Michigan as a result of severe flash flooding that affected Bay, Gladwin, Isabella, and Midland counties. This request comes after federal, state, and local officials conducted a Joint Preliminary Damage Assessment in the counties affected and determined that federal assistance was needed.

In late June, heavy rainfall in mid-Michigan resulted in some of the worst flooding the State has seen in recent years. This flooding has had devastating impacts on homes, businesses, agricultural crops, and public infrastructure. Notably, thousands of homes and businesses were flooded, which caused significant damage to foundational structures and electrical and mechanical systems. Unfortunately, many residents were displaced from their homes. Widespread road closures were also reported across the counties due to washed out thoroughfares and other public infrastructure damage.

The four counties affected declared states of emergency and began quickly assessing the damage, which is estimated to be over $100 million. Federal, state, and local officials working on the ground conducted assessments from July 6-9, and determined the level of damage required federal assistance. As described in the Governor's request, the recovery efforts will extend beyond the capacity of the state and local governments. The Governor is requesting Individual Assistance from the federal government in an effort to support eligible residents with home repairs and uninsured property losses and assistance to help businesses recover from this disaster. Additionally, the Governor has requested Hazard Mitigation Assistance statewide to prevent long-term risk to life and property from natural disasters in the future.

The people of the State of Michigan are resilient, and we commend the work of federal, state, and local officials to promptly assess the damage resulted by the flooding and determine the paths for recovery. We urge you to issue a federal major disaster declaration and to provide the requested assistance so the residents and business owners of these communities can begin to rebuild from this emergency. Thank you for your consideration of our request.
Episcopal Relief and Development's U.S. Emergency Relief Program approved a $10,000 grant to help Midland area residents replace lost furnishings and/or make minor home repairs related to this summer's historic flooding. The Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Michigan Council approved an additional $5,000 to further the reach.

St. John's Episcopal Church applied for the grant, proposing a partnership with Midland County's Habitat for Humanity, in which gift certificates are distributed through its parish office and redeemed at ReStore, Habitat for Humanity's nonprofit retail outlet specializing in resale of discounted priced new and previously owned building materials, home furnishings and appliances.

Gift certificates are available at St. John's Episcopal Church's parish office, located in its Griswold Ministry Center at 405 N. Saginaw Road. Office hours are 9 a.m.-3p.m. Monday-Thiursday, and 9 a.m.-noon Friday. St. John's is also offering these evening times for gift certificate distribution: 6-8 p.m. Aug. 1 and Aug. 8.

Those requesting gift certificates are required to provide their name, address and phone and, if not already done, are advised to report flood damage. The certificate is valid through Dec. 31 and has a value of $150, redeemable only at the Midland ReStore, 1703 S. Saginaw Road.

There is a limit of one certificate per household. There is no replacement for lost or stolen gift certificates. One hundred certificates will be distributed on first-come, first-served basis to those coming in person to the parish office. The church cannot accept calls or emails to hold certificates.

For more information, visit www.sjec-midland.org/flood-restore
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By PTI: (Eds: Repeating after correcting intro)

By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jul 29 (PTI) The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says US President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community.

North Korea yesterday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.

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"North Koreas test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missile?the second such test in less than a month?is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action.

The United States condemns this test and rejects the regimes claim that these tests?and these weapons?ensure North Koreas security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region," Trump said.

The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 AM EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said.

This was North Koreas 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month.

The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call," Joint Chief of Staff Chairmans spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said.

Meanwhile the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Koreas missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said today.

This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on July 5.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

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"The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range," Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, said in a tweet.

"Now is the time to ramp up sanctions. China cannot have it both ways; it cannot do business as usual with the US and subsidising North Korea," he said.

"But we need to be ready to talk too, and ready to accept a freeze, something far less than denuclearisation for the foreseeable future," Sherman added. PTI LKJ ARK UZM

--- ENDS ---
SECOR  The newest addition to the ParkLands Foundation's collection of nature preserves contains hiking trails through an upland oak-hickory forest and the flood plain along the Mackinaw River in southeastern Woodford County.

The foundation, a private, nonprofit organization that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has several preserves in McLean and Woodford counties. But the newly acquired Hayes Woods Nature Preserve will be the first in Woodford County to have a developed trail system.

When it comes to ParkLands, people are most familiar with the Merwin Preserve, along the Mackinaw River northeast of Lake Bloomington, and its trails.

This will be a Merwin mimic for Woodford County, as far as having a nice trail, said ParkLands board member Angelo Capparella.

The trails were established by the former owner, Richard Hayes.

It is named Hayes Woods in honor of their excellent environmental stewardship over the years and their desire to keep it protected, said Capparella.

The 69-acre parcel, which includes 0.68 of a mile along the Mackinaw River, was purchased with the assistance of grants from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and the Grand Victoria Foundation's Vital Lands program.

Dennis O'Brien, executive director of the Clean Energy Community Foundation, said, ParkLands' achievement of protecting over 4,771 acres of natural area along the Mackinaw River in Central Illinois is impressive and "the new preserve is in good hands."

The purchase furthers our Mackinaw Bluffs Corridor Project goals of increasing protected natural areas in both Woodford and McLean counties so as to enhance ecological health, provide habitat for native plants and animals and protect water quality of the Mackinaw River, ParkLands said in an announcement.

Maintaining an interconnected network of natural areas is important to provide corridors of movement for animals, sufficient areas for breeding birds and protection for sensitive areas, explained Capparella, who also is a wildlife biology professor at Illinois State University.

The purchase became final on Monday, but there is still work to do.

We'll be putting up signs and making maps to prevent people from getting lost and prevent them from straying on to adjacent lands that are not part of the preserve.

The foundation also plans to upgrade the parking area, but there will not be portable toilets or similar facilities.

This is really a nature preserve; it's not a park, emphasized Capparella. Nature has priority."

The public is welcome to engage in passive recreation, such as hiking, nature photography and bird watching, but no bicycles or pets are allowed, he said.

Walking the perimeter trail takes you though the woods, past ravines and along the Mackinaw.

Three major ravines on the property are oriented in different directions and may host rare plants. A few wildflowers were blooming, but spring is when the flowers really burst forth.

Capparella said volunteers will be taking a plant inventory and removing invasive plants, such as autumn olive.

We want to make sure that our native oak and hickory are doing well because they produce the food crop for our animals, he said.

In the coming months and into the spring, they also will be taking an inventory of reptiles, amphibians, breeding birds and other animals.

I'm very interested in seeing what bats are using this for breeding and migrating, said Capparella. His preliminary research has found three species: eastern red bat, little brown bat and hoary bat.

Two other ParkLands preserves, Letcher Basin and Kenyon, are nearby and Capparella said, You could really make a day of it walking all the preserves. Maps will be added later to the organization's website, www.parklandsfoundation.org.

It's definitely a feather in our cap for our 50th, said Capparella. I hope our next 50 years will continue to be so strong.
Bill Browder, a businessman behind a Russian sanctions law, testified Thursday that he believes a Russian lawyer went into a June 2016 meeting with top aides to the campaign of President Donald Trump with something to offer, and that Russian intelligence likely monitored the meeting.

"I can tell you with 100% certainty that the Russian intelligence services would have been aware of that meeting in advance as they were plotting it out, there would have been weeks spent studying how to best achieve the results in that meeting," Browder told the Senate judiciary committee Thursday.

Browder added that he has no first-hand knowledge of the details of the meeting but was commenting on his experience with the Russian government.

"I have no direct evidence, but I know how Russian security services behave, and this was a big ask, to repeal a major legislation," Browder told the committee. "They wouldn't have gone in without being prepared to offer something in return. What the offer was I don't know. But the KGB and FSB would have studied their targets carefully."

Browder, who worked with the Senate to pass the sanctions almost a decade ago, told members of the judiciary committee Thursday that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya is the family lawyer for a Russian family closely aligned with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is leading one of a handful of Congressional probes into Russia's interference in the election, said he believed the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr., then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, Veselnitskaya and others was not the only one.

"The idea that Manafort, who is well known by the Russian world as sympathetic to their cause, that they didn't see that as an opportunity to get a relationship with the Trump campaign is hard to believe," Graham said.

Graham then quoted from Trump Jr.'s email exchange where he said he would "love" dirt on the Clinton campaign for use later in 2016.

"It's also hard for me to believe that once the Trump campaign expressed a desire to get help -- 'Yeah, I love it -- maybe later in the summer' -- that that meeting was one and done," he said.

Attendees of the June 2016 meeting have repeatedly said that their was no additional contact between Veselnitskaya and the Trump campaign.

"As it ended, my acquaintance apologized for taking up our time," Trump Jr. said in a statement, obtained by CNN on July 9. "That was the end of it and there was no further contact or follow-up of any kind. My father knew nothing of the meeting or these events."

Trump Jr.'s revelation of the June 2016 meeting with Veselnitskaya has reignited interest in Russia's efforts in the 2016 election for weeks now, spurring congressional investigators to pry into new avenues.

The House and Senate intelligence committees interviewed Kushner earlier in the week -- Kushner, in testimony he released publicly, said that he remembered very little of the meeting and later asked an aide to bail him out of the meeting.

Senate intelligence committee staff interviewed Manafort as well this week. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley subpoenaed Manafort earlier in the week, but dropped the subpoena after Manafort agreed to testify privately and provide his notes about the June 2016 meeting.

The meeting has also sucked in the players in the fight over the Magnitsky Act -- Russian sanctions approved in 2012 -- into the Russian probe. Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer in the Trump Jr. meeting, has been the lead proponent in the US of overturning the ban.

The hearing with Browder had originally been planned as a blockbuster event with requests of public testimony from Trump Jr., Manafort and Glenn Simpson, whose firm helped craft the "Steele Dossier" with stunning allegations against Trump. But all three witnesses negotiated with the committee to appear in private instead.

CNN's Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.
By PTI: Jammu, Jul 29 (PTI) Union minister Jitendra Singh today played down reports of former Hizbul Mujahideen commander Zakir Musa being named as the head of al-Qaedas cell in Jammu and Kashmir, saying India is capable of meeting any challenge.

Islamist terror group al-Qaeda had on Thursday officially announced the establishment of its unit in Jammu and Kashmir, naming former Hizbul Mujahideen militant Zakir Musa as its chief in the troubled state.

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The announcement was made by the Global Islamic Media Front, the media wing of al-Qaeda and its allied jihadist groups across the world.

"I think Kashmir today and India today is much more awakened than ever before. India is capable of meeting any challenge," Minister of State in the PMO Singh said here while responding to a question on al-Qaedas new cell in Kashmir.

He said the greatest assets are the common masses of Kashmir particularly the youth of the valley, who are ready to join mainstream India and want to be part of the developmental journey led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The youth of Kashmir is very well connected globally. He (youth of Kashmir) is aware about the enormous opportunities available to him in the rest of the country in last 2-3 years," Singh said.

He said "that is why, you have seen 30 young boys and girls of Kashmir qualified for the IITS and IIMs. We have Kashmiri boys qualifying and topping in civil service exams. They are aware about the opportunities available to them in central government".

"They (youth of Kashmir) are keen to avail the opportunities made available to them and they are keen to do it regardless of what is being fed to them (by separatists)," he said while ruling out the youth getting influenced by terror.

"It is only the wheel of fear that is preventing them and very soon, when the militancy is down and out, Kashmiri youth will look forward to a giant leap in the country," he said. PTI AB KUN

--- ENDS ---
Dear Chief Minister

Sir, I have failed. But I am not among those 16 lakh students that failed this year. Rather I constitute a large part of the general public of Bihar which has failed along with its students. The government may not agree with me or my views, yet I expect the government to pay heed to my views as they are not just representing me but are a coalesce form of what the people of Bihar want to say.

It concerns with the legacy of rotting state of education system that we are going to pass on the future generations of Bihar. It concerns with the failing machinery of the government system in providing any substantive measure to undo this rotting and protect the future citizens from its consequences. I know that deep inside your heart even you acknowledge this reality. Then why shy away from conveying it to the people?

16.5 lakh students (8 lakh in 12th standard and 8.5 lakh in 10th) failed this year in Bihar Board examinations. The 38% pass rate in intermediate is the lowest rate in the entire country. On being asked about the reason for this, your party men say, "it's because of the strong anti-cheating norms being implemented". Does this mean that those who passed in previous exams did it only on the basis of cheating?

However, I dont agree with their reasons whatsoever. First of all, the anti-cheating reason holds no weight. And I will tell you why. These anti-cheating norms are also followed in CBSE and in state education boards of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other southern states, still the student pass with flying colours. You know why? Because those boards have a substantive education policy.

Now, let me tell you the real reasons behind this great failure.

1. With 37.3% less teachers than required, we obviously cannot provide quality education to students. So, no point expecting them to deliver good results.

2. Among those teachers who are available, 28% remain absent.

3. You employed 1.5 lakh para-teachers through "Shiksha-Mitra" scheme, the criteria for appointment was not merit based, but rather left to the conscience and consent of the Panchayat Mukhiya. If this is not considered a mockery of the education system then what else could it be? I mean, in a state where police constables and Chaprasis are appointed through written exams, how can you justify appointing teachers just on the consent of a Mukhiya, who might not be educated himself (not herself, because the real power lies with her husband. You know that too)

4. Now, coming to the last and most important fact. In intermediate, there are no classes held for students in school and colleges. You might frown at me for putting it so bluntly to you, but thats a fact. Move out of Patna and you will see it yourself.

So, the basic problem you see is the non-availability of "quality teachers" and of the concept of "healthy classrooms". You cant expect students facing such basic problems to compete with the students of other boards. But consider yourself lucky that not only some of these students compete on the same level, but also outshine the students of other boards. The credit for this only goes to their hard-work and dedication. It has nothing to do with your system of education.

There are two basic things that you need to explain, not only to me but to the entire people of Bihar.

1. What restrains you from appointing permanent teachers, who have necessary qualifications and could provide good quality teaching?

2. Why Bihar spends the least amount of money per student in the entire country?

In 2005, when you got elected as CM, overthrowing the rotting regime of Lalu Yadav, we started aspiring, we harboured hopes. We knew that you have inherited a corrupt and deteriorating education system. But we also hoped that in times to come you will respond for better. We hoped that you, with your goodwill intent, practical bent of mind and implicative ideas on education policy, the state of affairs in education would normalise, if not reach the status of pre '90s.

With a heavy heart, a frustrated mind and helpless hands, I wrote this letter. It was my attempt to remind you that you have not been able to do justice to the hopes and promises that you built.

Since hope is the only thing that common people could have, I still hope for a better tomorrow for the future students.

With regards

A member of student community
Iranian Officials Trade Barbs In Dispute Over Internet Censorship

07/28/17

By Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL

Some 40 million Iranians are believed to use the Telegram messenger app on their smartphones.





cartoon by Hemadoddin Javadzadeh, Ghanoon daily





Iranian officials have traded barbs in a public dispute over the hugely popular messaging app Telegram.



Hard-line conservatives have long pushed for more restrictions on the Telegram app, which, according to its CEO Pavel Durov, has 40 million active users among Iran's 80-million population. The government of President Hassan Rohani, a relative moderate who has promised Iranians less censorship, appears to be resisting the pressure.



On July 26, the deputy state prosecutor in charge of cyberspace, Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, threatened Communications Minister Mahmud Vaezi with a lawsuit if he "continues ignoring juridical orders on blocking social-media channels with criminal content," he told reporters, according to Iranian media.



Khoramabadi, the secretary of the state committee in charge of online censorship, cited a Telegram channel operated by the opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), considered a terrorist group by Iran, and another by the opposition media outlet amadnews as examples of channels whose blockage had been requested.



"A juridical order has been issued to block these channels; however, they have not been blocked," Khoramabadi was quoted as saying by the hard-line Tasnim news agency.



Khoramabadi claimed that the extremist group Islamic State (IS), which claimed responsibility for the deadly June 7 attack on the Iranian parliament in Tehran, had used Telegram to coordinate the attack.



"It is not acceptable for Iranians that IS terrorists held their communications through Telegram to carry out a terrorist attack on the parliament, and security bodies had no information about the issue because Telegram cannot be controlled," Khoramabadi was quoted as saying by the hard-line Tasnim news agency.



Vaezi responded by accusing Khoramshahi of using IS's alleged use of Telegram for communications as an excuse to push for more social-media restrictions.



"He should assume a clear position; one day he says Telegram app's servers must move to Iran, and then goes on to say that their transfer would be tantamount to espionage and infiltration," Vaezi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.



"It is clear that the issue lies elsewhere, and he is not happy when I say that his thinking is geared more toward blocking cyberspace," Vaezi said.



"[Khoramabadi] claims that no indigenous [mobile- messaging] services have been established and that the Communications Ministry has neglected to fulfill its role," Vaezi added. "He is gravely mistaken. He is well aware of the good steps undertaken by the ministry and knows well the many obstacles we face -- the greatest obstacle being his way of thinking."



Iran is among the world's most prolific Internet censors. Tens of thousands of websites, including news sites, are blocked. Many journalists, bloggers, and activists have been arrested and harassed in recent years for their online comments and activities.



Vaezi said earlier this year that his ministry would not give in to "pressures" to block Telegram ahead of the May presidential vote. He did not indicate where such pressures originated.



Rohani, who was reelected to a second presidential term in May, said during his reelection campaign that he had fought hard against those seeking to enforce more restrictions on social media.



"If it wasn't for this government, even our friends here today couldn't have campaigned on the Internet," he said during a televised debate that included conservative candidates.



Both Rohani and his main rival, hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi, extensively used the Internet and social media, including Telegram and Instagram, to spread their messages and attract voters.



Many Iranians use Telegram for messaging purposes, and it is also a popular way of exchanging news and information.



The app allows users to create channels where they can send comments, articles, pictures and videos, including those blocked in Iran on YouTube, to an unlimited audience.



Iranian media outlets, and many of the country's politicians, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, maintain their own channels on Telegram.



In the run-up to the May vote, the administrators of a number of pro-reform and pro-government Telegram channels were arrested. Some were later released.



The hard-line judiciary also blocked voice-call features on the messaging app.



In March, Prosecutor-General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri claimed that between 16,000 to 20,000 Telegram channels were blocked each week. But he added that blocking alone is not enough, suggesting that Iran should work on developing its own national network and mobile app.



Iranian authorities have recently appeared to be pressuring Telegram to move its servers to Iran. Such a move could allow them to have better control over the app, its content, and its users.



Last week, Iran's hard-line Fars news agency quoted Deputy Communications Minister Nasrollah Jahangard as saying that Telegram had agreed to move its servers to Iran.



But in a message on his own Telegram channel, company CEO Durov dismissed the claim as a "weird rumor."



"The idea of a privacy-oriented messaging app Telegram moving its servers to a country with a history of Internet censorship is absurd and is hardly worth commenting on," Durov wrote.



"We won't be able to put the privacy of our users at risk, even if rejecting such demands means getting blocked in some countries," he added.



Amir Rashidi, an Internet security researcher with the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, says Khoramabadi and his hard-line allies appear to be pushing for Telegram to be blocked.



He says Khoramabadi had said last year that Telegram's servers must be transferred to Iran.



On July 26, however, Khoramabadi suggested that the transfer of Telegram's servers to the country risked making alleged "espionage and infiltration" activities "systematic."



"It basically means that Khoramabadi is not interested in resolving what the Iranian establishment sees as a problem," Rashidi said. "Rather, he's after shutting Telegram down. In fact, his issue is his animosity toward the Internet: He wants to do all he can to stop these services in Iran."



Rashidi added, however, that it would be very difficult for Iran to block Telegram as the country has no alternative to offer to the millions of Iranians who use the app on a daily basis.



"Even those who are considered the theoreticians of this establishment -- clerics and others who often appear on state television to comment on alleged infiltration [by foreigners] -- even those who have a much harder line than the establishment use Telegram," he said.



About the author:



Golnaz Esfandiari is a senior correspondent with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She can be reached at esfandiarig@rferl.org

Copyright (c) 2017 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Islamic State Threatens Iran in New Video

07/28/17

By Mehdi Jedinia, VOA



"Roots of Terror"

Source: Iranian magazine Tejarat Fard



The Islamic State group has issued a short new video in which it threatens the Islamic Republic of Iran and vows to destabilize the country with terrorist attacks.



The video, released Tuesday, depicts a teenage boy in military uniform who directly looks at the camera and speaks Persian with a bold voice, threatening the regime.



The teenager is introduced as the "Persian Qattadah" in the video, which is the name of a close disciple of Prophet Muhammad.



"We will destroy your land and your home, we will disrupt your security and we will shed your blood into rivers," the teenager is heard saying in the video.



Iran has not yet reacted to the video. It was produced in similar fashion to other videos released by the terror group in the past.



In late March, IS released a 36-minute, Persian-language video aimed at Iran's Sunni Muslim minority in which several adults spoke in Persian, but with heavy Baloch and Arabic accents.



The new video portrays a child soldier who speaks fluent Persian with no accent at all, which suggests that the terror group may have made inroads in parts of the country to recruit.

Mixed reaction

Analysts' views on the content and purpose of the video were mixed.



Some said IS wanted to exploit Iranian Sunnis, who have long been deprived of their rights.



"Islamic State's propaganda is falling on fertile ground as Sunnis in Iran are deeply underprivileged and deprived of many of their rights," Ali Alfoneh, a nonresident senior fellow at Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at The Atlantic Council, told VOA.



"It is hardly surprising that the Islamic State is trying to target Iran's Sunni minority," Alfoneh added.



Others downplayed the video and viewed it as a desperate move by IS to show that it remains relevant. The terror group has faced numerous defeats on the battlefield in recent months in Iraq and Syria.



"This is an isolated case and depicts a desperate effort by IS to show it is still capable of conducting new attacks," said Alex Vatanka, a senior analyst at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.



"With less territory under control and shrinking sources of revenue, recruiting new members from Iran, where people, even dissident Sunnis, see less common ground with IS, seems to be shooting in the dark and bears no fruit at all," Vatanka added.

Marginalization of Sunnis

Alfoneh of the Atlantic Council said he thought that some of Iran's policies were purposefully marginalizing the country's Sunni minority from the mainstream, which could drive them closer to extremist groups like IS.



"Iran's Sunnis are being oppressed, and the Iranian government policy of relating Sunnis to IS and Saudis has not given the desired fruit expected," he said. "Twin attacks on June 7 committed by Iranian members of IS prove that fact."



IS militants carried out twin terrorist attacks in early June targeting Iran's parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.



The attacks, which IS claimed responsibility for, killed at least 17 people and injured dozens more.



Iran's mainly Baloch and Kurd Sunni minorities have long accused Tehran of discriminating against them because of their religious views.



Human rights organizations also have talked of mass executions of Sunnis and have urged Iran to lift restrictions on Sunnis, who make up about 9 percent of the country's population.



Tehran has acknowledged it executed at least 977 people in 2015, which it says was mainly for drug-related crimes.
Former Deputy Power Minister and Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu, John Jinapor, says his family is traumatized following the raiding of his house by the Police CID, Friday morning.



As we speak, my family is traumatized. Imagine a 6 and 8-year-olds going through a thing like this, they are very traumatized he said in an interview on Okay FM.



John Jinapors house was raided by some personnel from the Police service and National Security in connection with the 2015 AMERI deal.



According to reports, the police men involved in the swoop were armed with AK 47 assault rifles.



Recounting what happened, the MP indicated that: they searched everywhere, my bedroom, kitchen, my childrens room, garage and everywhere possible, but I told them that I dont have anything with me and that every document regarding the Ameri deal was left at the ministry. They have taken my IPhone and asked that I bring my laptop too. I told them I dont have a personal laptop, the one I use is a property of parliament and so I will go and ask the Speaker if he will allow me to go and give it to them".



Meanwhile, the former Deputy Minister has been asked to report to the police station on Monday, 31st July, 2017.



Source: 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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Actress Victoria Lebene has won her first major award at the just ended Golden Movie Awards 2017.



Victoria played a lead character in a short film titled Bitter Sweet Wine, and the film which is yet to be released won the Golden Short Film of the year award at the 2017 Golden Movie Awards held on Saturday July 22, at the plush Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra.



Victoria who received the award with her co-star Anthony Woode and the Director of the film Justice Ornan Abadah expressed her appreciation We are overwhelmed and we appreciate the fact that we have this award. To those that believe in us or not, we are going to make you proud.



Actor, Anthony Woode and Victoria Lebene featured in an epic two-cast short film titled Bitter Sweet Wine. The film was shot at one location in Accra and directed by fast rising Ghanaian filmaker Justice Ornan Abadah.



Bitter Sweet Wine film is about James (Anthony Woode) who decides to surprise his girlfriend (Victoria Lebene) on her birthday night with gifts.



"Bitter Sweet Wine" follows this two as they have a long night expressing love, pain and also revealing their cheating escapades. The short film is set to be released online on 1st of August 2017.





Source: Nkonkonsa.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The actress walked the ramp for designer Monisha Jaising in the colours that Indian brides wear.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Actress Shilpa Shetty, who walked for designer Monisha Jaising at India Couture Week (ICW) 2017, says that she did a lot of mistakes in her career an learnt a lot from them.

"Style has to be very personal. I made lot of mistakes in my career but you learn. Experience is something that can not be brought and I love the fact that I have learnt from my own mistakes I have seen that, I went through it and I learnt," Shilpa told reporters when asked that how her style has evolved over the years.

Photo: Yogen Shah

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Draped in exquisite silk brocade with golden weaves, Shilpa set the stage on fire as the showstopper.

Photo: Yogen Shah

Also Read: India Couture Week: Dia Mirza promotes nature-friendliness in this royal outfit

And the actress says she shares a lot of similarity with the designer apart from being a "Gemini" born individual.

Photo: Yogen Shah

Photo: Yogen Shah

"I try to do different and I think that is the common thread between the designer and me, and the other thing that is common between us is the fact she likes to be a trend setter not trend follower," said Shilpa, a mother of one.

Photo: Yogen Shah Photo: Yogen Shah

"I totally understand that feeling. I would rather not do things if somebody has done it than just follow that trend blindly," she added.

Photo: Yogen Shah

Also Read: India Couture Week: Athiya Shetty dazzles on the ramp for Shymal and Bhumika

The actress was seen wearing Oprah-coloured dress which according to the designer is the colour of bride in India. The fabrics of the dress was benarasi brocade.

Photo: Yogen Shah

Jaising unfolded her most colossal collection "Opera" at the fashion gala and the collection shown had a theatrical variation of fabrics composed of lame, velvet metallics, tulle, chikankari, Italian organza, banarasi, metallic satin and much more. There were lehengas, evening dresses, cocktail saris, evening gowns, crop tops and ball skirts.

--- ENDS ---
An interstate typically jammed with vehicles was silent early Saturday morning, still closed after a fatal crash and fire halted traffic.

Cumberland County dispatchers confirmed two people died.

As of 12:35 a.m. Saturday, I-81 remained closed in both directions between Exit 37 at Newville and Exit 44 just south of Carlisle.

The highway was closed since about 10 p.m. Friday following a collision involving two tractor trailers.

They crashed at about 9:30 p.m. Friday when both rigs were heading north.

One of the trucks went off a bridge over Kutz Road, which also remained closed early Saturday morning.

There was a report of one of the tractor trailers catching fire, and responders from as far away as Perry County were called out, according to dispatches heard on the police scanner.

South Central PA First Alert commented on its Facebook page that weather conditions were likely a factor. Rain was falling heavily in Cumberland County at that time.

No other details were immediately available.

A video below shows the tractor trailers engulfed in flames.

The worse feeling a human can ever face is that when u wanna save a life of someone but ur hands are very tight. All I could do was to call 911 and pray for those people to RIP. It's really depressing to just be helpless in thses situations, to just sit and watch people burn to the ground. Wish I could have helped more. May their souls rest in peace. Posted by Marko Armanious on Friday, July 28, 2017

Staff writer David Wenner contributed to this report.
Update

Some Steelton residents evacuated after hearing about a leaking propane tanker near Front Street on Friday night, while others stayed put.

"They didn't force us out, so I stayed," said Hector Humber. "Life goes on."

The leak occurred Friday evening at a facility operated by UGI Energy Services while a crew was unloading a propane tank from a rail car to a storage tank, according to the company.

On social media posts, borough officials said about 60 to 110 residents were evacuated from an area from Gibson to Eleanor streets, between Front and Second streets.

The area blocked off by police along Front Street extended even further, from Elliot Street to Jefferson Street. Traffic was also blocked at the intersection of Locust and Front streets.

Residents in the area closed off by police could be seen milling around on their front porches, walking their dogs, painting their homes, fixing their cars; children could be seen playing in their yards.

Residents venturing too close to the propane leak were told to go back to their homes by officers.

But just a few blocks away it was business as usual in Steelton.

Jerry Locci had to navigate some closed streets but he was able to make it to the Advanced Auto Parts Store along Front Street.

"I'm not sure what's going on," he said. "I'll worry when somebody tells me to worry."

Residents interviewed explain confusion and conflicting information about whether to evacuate.

Seven people spent Friday night at a shelter set up at the Steelton-Highspire Elementary School in Swatara Township by the Central Pennsylvania Regional of the American Red Cross.

Kim Maiolo, a spokeswoman for the group, said the shelter will also be open on Saturday night.

"We will be here if anybody needs our help," she said.

As of about 1 p.m. Saturday, the roadblocks were still in place and much of Front Street was deserted. Several tanker trucks could be seen hauling propane out the area.

"We're just trying live our lives the best we can and get through this," said Thomas Gary. "It won't last forever."
Pennsylvania has a storied reputation as a blue-collar, labor state. But is that identity contributing to a generation's demise?

Seventy percent of the people who died from drug overdoses in Pennsylvania last year were men, even though men comprise just about half the population.

Men working in the natural gas industry.

Experts don't fully understand why men are dying at such a disproportionate rate, but some theorize that men may be more likely to work in manual labor jobs, and therefore more likely to start using, and later abusing, pain pills.

Four out of five new heroin users started out with prescription painkillers, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Other Rust Belt states have similar tales of men dominating emergency rooms and morgues from overdoses.

The National Institutes of Drug Abuse notes that men are more likely than women to use almost all types of illicit drugs and illicit drug use is more likely to result in overdoses.

One Canadian expert interviewed by Vice News believes that men also are more likely to use alone, which is a risk factor in dying from an overdose.

"Some research has shown that women tend to use with others, and are less likely to be alone when they're injecting drugs or using other medications," University of British Columbia's Elizabeth Saewyc told VICE. When other people are around, there's a better chance that someone will be able to respond quickly and get them some help, she said.

Regardless of the reason, drug overdoses claimed 3,327 men last year in Pennsylvania compared to 1,403 women, the equivalent of a modern-day plague.

READ MORE: Drug overdose deaths continue to spread across Pennsylvania: See how far

A group of health and law enforcement experts have teamed up for the past three years to collect and analyze detailed information about every overdose death in the hopes of better understanding causes and devising solutions.

The team is also uploading data in real-time on the website OverdoseFreePA.pitt.edu. Thirty-one counties, including York County, already contribute real-time data after deadly overdoses, but Cumberland and Dauphin counties are not yet participating.
The York-based paper manufacturing company Glatfelter announced this week that it plans to cut 120 jobs, including 30 salaried positions at its Spring Grove facility.

About 50 of the positions will be eliminated with the closing of one of the company's paper manufacturing plants in Chillicothe, Ohio. The move will reduce that unit's capacity by 80,000 tons, or 10 percent.

"The supply-demand imbalance in the printing and writing markets continues to put pressure on industry operating rates and selling prices," said Dante C. Parrini, the company's CEO, in a written statement. "In light of the challenging market conditions, we must aggressively manage costs."

Those cost-cutting measures are expected to improve the company's profitability by $9 million, according to Glatfelter.

Glatfelter employs roughly 4,300 people and operates facilities in Canada, France, Germany, the Phillippines and the United Kingdom. It reported annual sales of about $1.6 billion.

Last year, the company settled a lawsuit alleging it discriminated against people with disabilities for $180,000 without admitting wrongdoing. In 2013, the state Supreme Court rejected the company's claim that it was overtaxed by Pennsylvania to the tune of $2.2 million.
By G. Warren Elliott and Corey Britcher

Kayaks are being sold at more locations and lower prices than in years past, with additional styles and options available as the sport grows in popularity.

At the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC), we are glad to see growing numbers of people on the water. However, we are concerned with the recent rash of tragic deaths related specifically to kayaking.

Pennsylvania has earned a good reputation nationwide through implementing and enforcing boating safety programs. Our annual accident and fatality total has historically been below the national average. Unfortunately, and tragically, that number has spiked this year, largely due to kayaking.

By the end of June in an average year, statistics show that we could expect to have four boating deaths. Alarmingly, as of mid-July, there have been 11 boating fatalities. Of that total, eight involved kayaks.

As chairman of the PFBC boating committee and as the director of the Bureau of Law Enforcement, we are very concerned. We are not sure what to attribute the spike to, but we have some ideas.

We believe individuals are kayaking without understanding the potential dangers - like cold water and the physical reaction to sudden cold-water immersion if you capsize, or the force of high, swift waters and low-head dams. We believe many people overestimate their swimming ability and underestimate the force of moving water.

We urge paddlers to be safe and prepare before they ever get on the water. Check water conditions through the U.S. Geological Survey's river gauges, National Weather Service or local outfitters. Use water trail maps to mark entry and takeout access points and to identify hazards, like strainers, rapids and low-head dams. Always wear a properly fitting and properly secured life jacket. Use the buddy system and never paddle without a friend. File a float plan - make sure someone knows where you plan to launch and take out, along with your timetable. Avoid high, swift waters.

We encourage anyone going out on the water to obtain boating education training. We firmly believe an educated boater is a safe boater.

Visit the PFBC website to find information about classroom courses offered locally or online. Review the PA Boating Handbook and A Beginner's Guide to Safer Paddling. Both are available online and at PFBC locations.

We would be remiss if we didn't mention the role that drugs and alcohol have played. Boating, of any kind, and drinking or taking illegal substances do not mix, and there are serious consequences for boating under the influence.

Kayaking is a relatively easy and inexpensive sport to undertake, with plenty of opportunities for launching in the state's abundant lakes, rivers and streams. The PFBC encourages everyone to enjoy these resources. Along with this encouragement, we underscore the need for paddlers to become educated on their sport.

The losses experienced this year are tragic. We hope that by discussing them we can educate others and prevent similar accidents in the future.

Safe boating is smart boating.

For more safe boating information, visit www.WearItPennsylvania.com.

G. Warren Elliott is a Boating-at-Large Commissioner for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Col. Corey Britcher is Director of the Bureau of Law Enforcement for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
By Eugene Robinson

The Court of Mad King Donald is not a presidency.

It is an affliction, one that saps the life out of our democratic institutions, and it must be fiercely resisted if the nation as we know it is to survive.

Eugene Robinson (PennLive file)

I wish that were hyperbole. The problem is not just that President Trump is selfish, insecure, egotistical, ignorant and unserious.

It is that he neither fully grasps nor minimally respects the concept of honor, without which our governing system falls apart. He believes "honorable" means "obsequious in the service of Trump." He believes everyone else's motives are as base as his.

The Trump administration is, indeed, like the court of some accidental monarch who is tragically unsuited for the duties of his throne.

However long it persists, we must never allow ourselves to think of the Trump White House as anything but aberrant. We must fight for the norms of American governance lest we forget them in their absence.

It gets worse and worse. The past week has marked a succession of new lows.

Trump has started a sustained campaign to goad or humiliate Attorney General Jeff Sessions into resigning. Trump has blasted Sessions on Twitter, at a news conference, in newspaper interviews and at a campaign-style rally. He has called Sessions "beleaguered" and said repeatedly how "disappointed" he is in the attorney general.

Forget, for the moment, that Sessions was the first sitting U.S. senator to support Trump's campaign, giving him credibility among conservatives. Forget also that Sessions is arguably having more success than any other Cabinet member in getting Trump's agenda implemented.

Those things aside, what kind of leader treats a lieutenant with such passive-aggressive obnoxiousness? Trump is too namby-pamby to look Sessions in the eye and say, "You're fired."

That's what the president clearly is trying to summon the courage to do, however. The Post reported that Trump has been "musing" with his courtiers about the possibility of firing Sessions and naming a replacement during the August congressional recess.

Trump has no respect for the rule of law. He is enraged that Sessions recused himself from the investigation of Russia's meddling in the election, and thus is not in a position to protect the House of Trump from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

According to the New York Times, "Sharing the president's frustration have been people in his family, some of whom have come under scrutiny in the Russia investigation." I'm guessing that means the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Who elected them , by the way?

Trump seeks to govern by whim and fiat. On Wednesday morning, he used Twitter to announce a ban on transgender people serving in the military, surprising his own top military leaders.

A Pentagon spokesman told reporters to ask the White House for details; White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters to ask the Pentagon. Was Trump trying to reignite the culture wars? Would the thousands of transgender individuals now serving in the military be purged? Was this actual policy or just a fit of indigestion?

Inside the mad king's court, the internecine battles are becoming ever more brutal.

Members of Trump's inner circle seek his favor by leaking negative information about their rivals. This administration is more hostile to the media than any in recent memory but is also more eager to whisper juicy dirt about the ambitious courtier down the hall.

Trump's new favorite, Anthony Scaramucci, struts around more like a chief of staff than a communications director, which is his nominal role. Late Wednesday night -- after dining with Trump and his head cheerleader, Sean Hannity -- Scaramucci took a metaphorical rapier to the actual chief of staff, Reince Priebus, by strongly hinting on Twitter that Priebus leaks to reporters.

The next morning, Scaramucci told CNN that "if Reince wants to explain that he's not a leaker, let him do that." And in a profanity-laden phone call to the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, Scaramucci called Priebus "a f---ing paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac."

Why bring in Scaramucci? Because, I fear, the mad king is girding for war. Trump is reckless enough to fire Mueller if he digs too deeply into the business dealings of the Trump Organization and the Kushner Companies.

What then? Will Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) draft and push through a new special-prosecutor statute so that Mueller can quickly be reappointed? Will House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately open debate on articles of impeachment? Will we, the people, defend our democracy?

Do not become numb to the mad king's outrages. The worst is yet to come.

Eugene Robinson is a columnist for The Washington Post. His work appears on Saturdays on PennLive.
Mario Henderson leads chants of "save Medicaid," as other social service activists, Medicaid recipients and their supporters stage a protest outside the building that houses the offices of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Thursday, June 29, 2017, in Jackson, Miss. Soaring prices and fewer choices may greet customers when they return to the Affordable Care ActAos insurance marketplaces in the fall of 2017, in part because insurers are facing deep uncertainty about whether the Trump administration will continue to make key subsidy payments and enforce other parts of the existing law that help control prices. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
By PTI: New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) India and Pakistan will hold talks over issues related two of Indias hydroelectricity projects under Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) at the World Bank headquarters in Washington on Monday, a senior government official said.

Union Water Resources Secretary Amarjit Singh will lead the Indian delegation during the talks. The Indian team will comprise officials from ministries of external affairs and water resources.

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The official, who requested anonymity, said "as reported by a section of media in Pakistan", recently, Pakistans Water and Power Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif was expected to lead the neighbouring countrys delegation, which will comprise their ministrys secretary Naseem Khokhar.

The two countries last held talks over the two projects in March this year during the meeting of Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) in Pakistan.

"The Washington meeting will be held as part of efforts the World Bank is making to find a way out to establish mechanism to resolve the issues raised by Pakistan over Indias Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectricity projects," the official added.

The official said it was not clear now whether Asif will join the discussion after the Supreme Court in Pakistan disqualified Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on charges of corruption in connection with Panamagate.

"But the talks are scheduled to happen," the official said.

Pakistan had approached the World Bank last year, raising concerns over the designs of the two hydroelectricity projects located in Jammu and Kashmir.

It demanded that the World Bank, which is the mediator between the two countries under the 57-year-old water distribution pact, set up a court of arbitration to look into its concerns.

On the other hand, India asked for appointments of a neutral expert to look into the issues, contending the concerns Pakistan raised were "technical" ones.

Following this, the international lender had in November 2016 initiated two simultaneous processes - for appointing neutral expert and establishment of court of arbitration - to look into technical differences between the two countries in connection with the project.

The simultaneous processes, however, were halted after India objected to it.

After that, representatives of the World Bank held talks with India and Pakistan to find a way out separately.

"The next weeks meeting is part of these efforts," the official added. PTI ENM RT

--- ENDS ---
An Ohio State Highway Patrol cadet patrols the midway at the Ohio State Fair Thursday, July 27, 2017, in Columbus, Ohio. The fair opened Thursday but its amusement rides remained closed one day after Tyler Jarrell, 18, was killed and seven other people were injured when the thrill ride broke apart and flung people into the air. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
India's cow milk production will see a jump of 60 million tonnes in the next decade, with cows to increase by 105 million. Consumption along with nutrition will see a rise, and we might leave the US and European Union behind as well.

By India Today Web Desk: A report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OECD) has revealed that India is projected to become the world's biggest milk producer in the coming 10 years.

India has tripled its output during the first quarter of this century.

COWS, MILK AND INDIA

India's milk output which was 160.38 million tonnes in 2016, is expected to reach 227.78 million tonnes by 2026, according to the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2017-2026 report released this week.

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In the next 10 years, there will be a projected jump of 60 million tonnes. During the same decade, even the number of cows is expected to go up by 105 million.

The number of cows is projected to increase from 122.5 million to 227.78 million during the decade, the report said.

REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee

INDIA VS THEM - US AND EU

It is said India's milk output in 2026 would be one-third higher than that of the second largest producer, the European Union (EU).

"This remarkable growth is achieved with yields below two tonnes per head, far below EU or US levels," the report noted.

REUTERS/Kamal Kishore

CONSUMPTION AND NUTRITION

Nutritionally, Indians are projected to make a breakthrough during the 10 years to 2026, according to the report.

The annual consumption of fresh dairy products which was around 80.74 kg per person in 2016, is expected to shoot up to 106.94 kg by 2026.

Overall, the total calories available per person per day is projected to increase to 2,730 kilocalories (kcal) by 2026, up from the 2,442 kcal last year.

REUTERS/Parivartan Sharma

WHEAT AND RICE PRODUCTION

Wheat production, which was 92.29 million tonnes last year, would rise to 106.83 million tonnes in 2026, seeing a jump of 14 million tonnes.

The area under cultivation would go up from 29 million hectares which is the statistic of last year, to 31.9 million hectares in 2026.

Rice production is projected to increase from 108.86 million tonnes last year to 2016 million tonnes by 2026.

During the period, area under rice was expected to increase marginally from 44.65 million hectares to 44.81 million hectares, it added.

REUTERS/Amit Dave

FYI || Moo-ving through malls: Cows go window shopping in a mall ||

FYI || UP cow gathers worshippers; Calf born with human face hailed as incarnation of Lord Vishnu ||

--- ENDS ---
Carol Yancer (left) cries while she and Ray Rivero, her boyfriend, talk about getting clean and off the streets as they sit on a stoop along Somerset Street in Philadelphia. Read more

The El rumbles above Somerset Street, above Ray Rivero, already deep in his sales pitch.

"I'm king," he says, in a pair of red-mirrored sunglasses. "I make the most money. I got the most clients. And I give the best runs."

That's what Ray is  a runner. Every day, from early morning to late night, he sells "works"  clean syringes  at the foot of the El station in Kensington.

There, he'll meet the people getting off  the ones from outside the neighborhood, the ones who don't know the place the way Ray does. He sells the syringes. He guides them off the avenue to the best dope. And for those who need it, he'll mine a vein in their neck and shoot them up.

"Come see Ray Rocz," he says, the nickname a reference to the crack habit he's had since 14. "You get more than a run. You get an experience."

By his side, girlfriend Carol Yancer giggles and rolls her eyes. She knows he likes to be the center of attention. It's early afternoon. It's a good day. They have get-well money  enough to buy their first fix in the morning, the one that staves off the early symptoms of withdrawal, the nausea, and the aches and pain. Together, they inject up to 30 bags of heroin a day.

They are homeless, and they sleep on the steps of a church blocks from Ray's childhood home, where his family still lives, and a five-minute drive from Carol's mother's house, where her three kids now live.

To support their habit, Ray, 33, sells his works. And when cash is low, Carol searches for dates on the avenue.

Ray's customers, from far-off suburbs and rural towns, can tell themselves Kensington is an interlude. A stopover.

To Ray and Carol, this is home.

A journey to the avenue  and addiction

Ray met Carol on the avenue seven months ago.

He'd been on the street for three years after a four-year stint in prison for forgery  stealing a neighbor's ID and cashing checks pilfered from her mailbox.

Carol, who is 37, was newly homeless. She'd been thrown out of her mother's Port Richmond home. She had relapsed and been stealing from her children, ages, 10, 17, and 19. Xboxes and games and clothes.

For that, Carol is wracked by guilt. It's one of the reasons she uses, she said: to forget.

After taking Carol in so many times, kicking her out was the hardest thing she's ever done, Carol's mother told me, rocking in grief in her living room. She had to think of Carol's kids, she said. Carol can come home when she stops using, she said.

Ray, who has two children of his own whom he's lost custody of, is no longer welcomed in his house. Weeks after he got home from prison in 2013, his mom threw him out of the family home on Emerald Street after he walked out with their TV. Two years later, then sleeping on the street, Ray got into a fight with his mother's boyfriend, who accused him of brandishing a gun. Ray denied it but spent more than a year in jail awaiting trial before he was eventually acquitted.

"Why don't they come?" Ray says of his family. "They know where I'm at."

Ray's mother, Barbara Rivero, said she just cannot trust her son in her home. But she lives with the knowledge that he is blocks away every day, she said.

Ray and Carol met in their addiction in a neighborhood that had pushed them toward it.

A neighborhood whose plight has been ignored for decades as drugs have taken generations. A neighborhood where now, amid a ballooning heroin crisis, the imperative should be to keep people alive  the ones visiting it and the ones who have only ever known it. The ones, like Ray and Carol, who have been overlooked, who shoulder the brunt of the stigma against drug addiction.

Ray had grown up with an alcoholic father in a poor family ripped apart by the heroin that blanketed Kensington. Two of his sisters were addicted. Carol was with a man who beat her. Together they grew hooked on pills. When the pills ran out, she turned to the heroin five minutes away.

When they met, Ray offered Carol the only thing he could: protection and a high.

But these days, Carol wants out.

Competition from the county kids

Some days, Ray sells in front of the bar on the corner of Kensington and Somerset (featured in the first Rocky movie, he notes with an ironic shrug).

Danny Hinkie works the corner, too, and has done so much longer than Ray.

"I'm the king of Kensington and Somerset," Danny says. "I'm passing it on to Ray."

These days, Danny's ruling passion is his hatred of the county kids. The ones from Bucks and Montgomery who have spent enough time in the neighborhood that they've begun to sell works, too. Competition. The kids they once guided to get high got stuck on the avenue and now guide others.

"Chumps," Danny spits. "And if they die in Kensington, it's a big deal. We die? Another Kensington scumbag dead."

Still, on good days, with syringes going for a $1 and trips to a dealer negotiable on how much they need, Ray can make a few hundred bucks in 12 hours of work. He can keep him and Carol high.

And there are the other hustles: Carol has her dates. Ray's not above plucking the pockets of passed out users along the avenue.

And when money is flush, Ray and Carol spend nights at the Hotel Carlyle, a boarding house in Francisville. There, they lie in bed watching Comedy Central. Carol likes the tub  likes feeling "normal." They go to bed laughing.

I miss my kids

But not every day is a day at the hotel. And things seem to be spiraling. Somehow amid a heroin boom, Ray is making less money. There are 50 other runners on the avenue now, he says. There's Carol's ex-boyfriend who recently got out of prison and beat Ray up for five nights straight. On the sixth night, he fatally overdosed on the avenue. Ray's older sister overdosed a few weeks ago. Ray found out from a bartender that she died. For that, he went home. "You're next," his mother told him.

He worries something is wrong with him  that he hasn't cried more.

Carol cries more now. For her kids and her mom. For her and Ray.

Despite his bravado, Ray admits the foundation is cracking. After all, he said, it's built on heroin. They believe they can make a life without it.

"I miss my kids. I miss my mom. I want Ray," Carol said. "He's a good person. I don't want to see him dead. I want him to be part of my life. We just have to get our stuff together. But every day, it's just the same thing."

So they pick through the weeded lot on Helen Street, just off Somerset, where Ray will inject Carol, and Carol will help Ray back to their church step.

And Carol will cry, and Ray will hug her. And soon they will pick up their belongings and go back to the avenue. Back to the lifeline.

Carol will lean against the pay phone, muster up a smile, hoping for a date. The light will change, traffic will shift, and she will be gone.

And Ray will make his way back to the El, his voice thin above the crowd  works, works  until the train rumbles overhead, and you cant hear him at all.
Q: Getting your period in the summer is such a drag. Is it safe to make it stop temporarily?

A: The short answer is yes. Now, for the long answer.

We are traditionally accustomed to a "natural" menstruation cycle, which occurs monthly. In this cycle, your hormones trigger your brain to release an egg and thicken the uterine lining, in preparation for a pregnancy. If there is no pregnancy, your uterine lining sheds due to a withdrawal of hormones.

However, if you are using hormonal contraception, there is usually no ovulation so instead your body mimics that hormone withdrawal when you take your placebo birth control pills or remove your ring or patch.

So, does that make it OK to fool Mother Nature? Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer.

There has been much debate on this topic within the medical community over the years.

Some physicians, me included, think it is reasonable for a healthy woman to suppress her menses, with guidance from her health-care provider, for a period of time without significant risk to her health.

However, the effect of continuous hormone use has not been extensively studied, so there are some doctors who don't support this view. Many question the effects this may have on bone heath, heart health, fertility, and raising the risk of certain types of cancer. It's also important to remember that the use of birth control in and of itself does carry some risk factors, including blood clots or stroke.

The best advice is to discuss your plans with your health-care provider who can tell you, based on your personal health history, whether or not it is advisable for you.

Joanne Kakaty-Monzo, DO, is chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
By PTI: twins in UK

By Aditi Khanna

London, Jul 29 (PTI) An Indian-origin woman has become the worlds first mother to give birth to twins monitored in the womb using a potentially life-saving digital growth chart, British media reported.

Mala Vast Dhuri gave birth to healthy identical boys Kiaan and Kush, weighing 2 kg and 2.1 kg, by Caesarean at St Georges Hospital in south London recently.

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The 37-year-old said she was "over the moon" after doctors at the hospital scanned and checked the development of her babies against growth charts designed specifically for twins, the Daily Mirror reported yesterday.

"I am over the moon to meet my gorgeous little boys. Thanks to St George?s for ensuring their safe arrival,? Dhuri said.

The UKs Twins and Multiple Births Association raised money for the project to create the charts using 10,000 scans of twins.

It means doctors can compare babies development against what is normal for twins, rather than for single births.

Dr Asma Khalil, consultant obstetrician and multiple births expert based at St Georges, led the project and said it could save "hundreds, if not thousands of lives" each year.

"We know twins are smaller than singles so using these old charts meant doctors had to use their own judgement. This resulted in an over-diagnosis of growth problems. It meant babies were often being delivered too early," she told the newspaper.

"With twins, your chances of having a stillborn child are two to three times higher, or six times higher having a child with cerebral palsy. While stillbirth rates in singletons have declined in recent years, stillbirth rates in multiple birth babies increased by around 10 per cent between 2013 and 2015,? she added.

Dr Khalil said if doctors had used the singleton chart to monitor Mala, the twins could been delivered two to three weeks early.

Comparing growth rates to "singletons" can lead to unnecessary interventions, causing stillbirths, premature births and disabilities. PTI AK PMS AKJ PMS

--- ENDS ---
Julius, one of the cats living at the New York avenue cat colony. Read more

ATLANTIC CITY  It was getting to be around noon  lunchtime  so that meant that Rusty, a rather portly orange tabby cat, would soon emerge from beneath the Boardwalk and make his way into a nearby apparel store for his midday meal.

Mostly unnoticed by the throng of pedestrians, bicyclists, and rolling-chair drivers, Rusty left the security of his feral cat colony and scampered across the crowded plank into Fashion Island.

Store owner Sam Mohammad grabbed a pink cat bowl from behind the counter and filled it with the usual: cold milk from the store fridge. Mohammad then hustled a second bowl brimming with tuna-flavored cat food mixed with some dry kibble he fetched out of the back room.

Welcome to the lifestyle of Atlantic City's feral felines.

Rusty lives among a colony of 100 feral cats known as the Atlantic City Boardwalk Cats Project, administered by the Bethesda, Md.- based Alley Cat Allies, which has evolved over the last decade and a half to be unlike the practices in any other Jersey Shore town.

In Atlantic City there are 15 feral cat colonies along the two-mile stretch of Boardwalk. There are official feeding stations and cat condos supervised by the Boardwalk Cats Project.

There are as many as 100 towns in New Jersey participating in active trap, neuter and release programs, which allow volunteers and animal-rights groups to care for feral cats in outdoor colonies. But most Shore towns have sought to eradicate their feral populations.

Last summer, Seaside Heights adopted an ordinance to deal with as many as 300 feral cats that were roaming the streets of the one-square-mile borough.

Some Seaside Heights residents wanted the town to trap and remove all the cats. But after much debate  and animal-rights groups gathered more than 12,000 signatures on a petition against the plan  officials amended the law to contain a provision allowing residents who have undergone formal training to establish feral cat colonies outside the tourist and business districts, away from the beachfront. So far, local groups have been working with the town to try and save as many of the feral cats as possible, but some of the cats have been euthanized.

Cape May in 2008 moved a colony of about 100 feral cats away from its beachfront because of concerns about shore birds, like the endangered piping plover, interacting with the felines.

"I can't speak about how other towns have handled this issue, but I know that here in Atlantic City, with the help of Alley Cat Allies we have embraced these feral cats," said Joe Kelly, executive director of the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce. "I think the city has taken something that could have been an issue and turned it into a positive thing for visitors and a humane way to handle the feral cats."

On the Boardwalk, the business of caring for the cats continues daily.

Rusty lapped up his bowl of milk and chomped on the kibble, oblivious to anything around him. He then took a nap beneath a canopy of racks of tie-dyed tops and flouncy summer dresses at Fashion Island. Eventually he scampered down a sandy footpath back to his straw-bedded cat condo colony.

A half-dozen signs posted along the Boardwalk explain to passersby the cats and their unusual beachfront presence. If visitors look closely, they may see cats lazing on or under the Boardwalk or the areas where ACA has set up their feeding stations and bedding.

"I'm personally not a cat lover, but they are innocuous enough," said Arnie Jenkins, a retired postal worker from New York City, who recently visited Atlantic City to gamble. "I guess you notice them if you want to, or you can just ignore them if you're not into them. Either way it's cool."

Alley Cat Allies began its Atlantic City trap-neuter-return project in 2000. The feral cats are "ear-tipped"  a small notch is made in an ear  to indicate they have been spayed or neutered and vaccinated before being returned to their oceanfront home. The cats are brought in twice a year for vet checkups, and receive daily feedings administered by ACA volunteers. The TNR method has halted the breeding cycle of the Boardwalk cats and no kittens have been born in the colony for years. The advocacy group says it involved with about 650 smaller TNR feral colonies nationwide, including at Coney Island in New York City, where a small monitored colony was launched on the boardwalk there in 2014.

So beloved have the Boardwalk cats become that visiting them has become its own tourist attraction, with the cats winding up on various blog "Top 10" lists of Atlantic City must-sees, according to city officials.

"Atlantic City's project has become a model program nationwide, mostly because of the amazing interaction between the cats and humans," said Matthew Wildman, a cat behavior expert and ACA's senior project coordinator in New Jersey. "The cats have really become their own famous and beloved part of the Atlantic City Boardwalk scene."

Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian called the cats a "beloved part of the fabric of the community" and in an ACA-produced video in June noted that when everyone else had evacuated the barrier island after Hurricane Sandy, the volunteers remained behind to take care of the cats.

Wildman said that's why so many people were outraged in March when three of the cats from the nearby Vermont Avenue colony were killed. Until then, none of the cats within the colony had ever been harmed, officials said.

The police department on July 18 posted surveillance photos of the alleged perpetrators  three men  on its Facebook page in the hope that someone will identify them. The same day, ACA offered a $5,000 reward to anyone providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of the alleged suspects. So far, police are mum about whether they've received any tips, but no arrests have been made.

"I can't even believe someone would come here and harm these cats," said Jeannine Wilson, 63, a retired nurse from Vineland, who visited the Boardwalk feral cats colonies twice this month. "They mostly keep away from people, but a few of them are so loving,  They just want to be petted and will come right up to you. It's a really cool thing to see, if you're an animal lover."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. leaves the Senate chamber after a vote as Republicans remained stymied in their push to repeal and replace Obamacare. Read more

WASHINGTON  As Republicans surveyed the wreckage of their plans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, GOP lawmakers said Friday they cannot afford to miss again when they take aim at their next marquee effort: cutting taxes and rewriting the tax code.

"If there's a silver lining in not succeeding on health care, it's probably that it makes it absolutely essential that you succeed on tax reform, and I think most of my colleagues understand that in their gut," said Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.). "They just know, politically, they better get something done that they can go home and talk about."

Still seeking their first major legislative victory under the Trump administration, Republican leaders signaled that the tax overhaul will be their centerpiece this fall, after a summer recess that began Friday in the House.

"Frankly, that's the issue that really floats their boats more than anything else, if we're being completely honest," said Rep. Charlie Dent (R., Pa.).

But some Republicans worried that their inability to deliver on their long-held promise to roll back Obamacare could overshadow upcoming work on taxes, critical spending bills, and perhaps more modest health reforms that may hinge on bipartisan talks.

"Success breeds success. Failure tends to compound itself. So it makes it tougher," Cole said Friday, hours after the Senate health bill imploded.

The seemingly definitive defeat cost Republicans more than just momentum and time. They were also counting on the health plan's spending cuts to produce savings that could be used for the tax overhaul.

"It would have been better to do health-care reform first, but it is not a necessity," Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) said Friday on WPHT radio. "We've got to move ahead on tax reform, that's the key to getting the economy moving again."

Many Republicans see the tax code as a complex but less emotionally charged issue than health care  though its intricacies have stymied major changes for more than 20 years and the GOP plans released so far consist mostly of outlines and goals. It was the specifics that tripped up the attempt to repeal and replace the ACA.

Republicans hoped they had learned from the health fight.

"The lesson is that you've got to get buy-in from all stakeholders before the debate even starts, and that's not how they worked" on health care, said Andrew Roth, vice president for government affairs at the Club for Growth, a free-market lobbying group. "They placed a bill out there after they crafted it in secret and they basically said, 'My way or the highway.' That's not what they're doing with tax reform."

He said the club and other key groups have had numerous meetings with the Trump administration and xongressional leaders. Cole pointed to a joint statement this week from the White House and top Senate and House officials that settled one major dispute, a proposed tax on imports, which was dropped.

"There's a little more common goal within the Republican Party" on taxes, said Rep. Tom MacArthur (R., N.J.).

But one hindrance shows no sign of abating: the daily controversies emanating from the White House.

"The neverending drama, turmoil, instability, chaos down the street is not helping anything  it's not," Dent said Friday morning. "All these tweets dominate the agenda and the news cycle and makes it hard for everybody here to focus on the work that needs to occur."

A few hours later, President Trump replaced his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and announced it on Twitter.

And it wasn't lost on anyone that two of the three fatal Republican "no" votes on health care came from Arizona's John McCain and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, senators Trump has personally attacked.

Cole said a more visible push from Trump on health care would have built support and reassured jittery lawmakers. Instead, the president used more ammunition on his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, than on health care, and vacillated on strategy and policy.

At a speech in front of law enforcement Friday, Trump mentioned the health fight in passing and said, "Let Obamacare implode."

Other lawmakers in both parties, however, including McCain, have called for bipartisan negotiations to address the health law's lingering problems and uncertainty in markets.

Dent and other House Republicans from the Philadelphia area have been part of bipartisan meetings working on plans to shore up the individual insurance market, repeal the ACA's tax on medical device makers, and "relax" the mandate that employers with 50 or more workers offer health coverage, he said. He had another meeting on those topics Friday.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), who heads the Senate health committee, has suggested holding hearings that allow input from both parties, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Democrats would be willing to work with Republicans as long as they drop the idea of a drastic repeal.

Other Republicans want to continue fighting for a push, which has appeared doomed before, only to be revived.

Democrats encouraged Trump to turn to enacting an infrastructure program, warning that tax reform might not be as easy as Republicans hope.

"If they do the same thing, campaign one way and then propose legislation another way in favor of the wealthy, powerful few, they'll fail on tax reform," Schumer said.

Health care accounts for about 17 percent of the economy, said Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Philadelphia Democrat. "With tax reform, you're talking about touching 100 percent," he said. "And if you're talking about the number of stakeholders that are involved, it increases exponentially, so tax reform is far more complex."

But it's a puzzle Republicans will have to solve if they want to score a major victory in Trump's first year.
John Kelly was not the sort of Marine general who dreamed of working in Washington. He likely never expected he would work in the White House.

In choosing Kelly to be his new chief of staff, President Donald Trump has turned to someone who in many ways is the opposite of his predecessor Reince Priebus, a seasoned political operator.

Kelly, like the president he serves, has limited experience in politics and only passing familiarity with many of the big domestic issues that will cross Trump's desk. Instead of a deft political sense, he will bring some plain-spoken discipline to an often chaotic West Wing.

The 67-year-old Kelly, who is relatively close in age to Trump, has bonded quickly with a president who has often seemed overwhelmed and isolated in Washington.

"Sometimes you feel alone and besieged," said a Kelly confidante who also knows the president. In Kelly, Trump's Homeland Security secretary, the president has picked both an enforcer for the West Wing and someone who can be a friend.

In his 40 years in the military, Kelly developed a reputation for bluntness that won him the respect of his fellow Marines and sometimes grated on senior officials in the Obama administration. He is best known in Washington as an experienced battlefield commander who led U.S. troops in Iraq and lost a son in Afghanistan in 2010 to a Taliban bomb.

But the most relevant experience he will bring to the chief of staff job is a tour as senior military adviser to defense secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta in the Pentagon. The job demanded Kelly act as a disciplinarian, pressing to make sure the military service chiefs and the sprawling Pentagon bureaucracy were executing the defense secretary's agenda.

He also acted as a gatekeeper, deciding which of the military service's top brass would get time with the defense secretary each day.

The president "clearly needed some adults in the room," said Kelly's longtime friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer frank opinions. "It's the end of the end of the chaos. Not with John Kelly around."

But in Trump, Kelly will be serving a boss who is far different than Gates and Panetta, two disciplined Washington hands. He will be working in a freewheeling Trump White House that has little in common with the regimented and hierarchical world of the Pentagon or Marine Corps.

As a four-star general, Kelly was frequently at odds with the Obama White House. He spoke out forcefully on issues ranging from Obama's plan to shutter the prison complex in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the perceived vulnerability of America's borders. At a time when the Obama administration was trying to wind down America's wars and calm fears of a terrorist attack, Kelly often spoke of the threat posed by groups like the Taliban in dire terms.

"Our country today is in a life-and-death struggle against an evil enemy, but America as a whole is certainly not at war," Kelly said in a speech to Marine veterans four days after his son was killed. "Not as a country. Not as a people."

Kelly was similarly a voice of doubt as the Obama administration pressed to open combat jobs to women. "They're saying we are not going to change any standards," Kelly told reporters at the Pentagon. "There will be great pressure, whether it's 12 months from now, four years from now."

As the four-star general in charge of U.S. Southern Command, Kelly oversaw the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay. His weekly updates on the prison, which were blasted out to dozens of White House and Pentagon officials, became well known for their candor. "His vernacular wasn't the typical government prose," said one former White House official. "He would call out some of the military commission judges, saying that they had no idea what they were doing."

Kelly's move to the chief of staff job alongside Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, means military officers will now occupy two of the most important and senior positions in the White House.

Kelly is also a confidante of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine general and Kelly's former commander during the 2003 Iraq invasion. The two men, both devout Catholics, frequently prayed together on Sundays.

When Mattis decided to relieve one of his brigade commanders in the middle of a battle, he sent Kelly to tell the officer he was being removed.

Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is one of Kelly's closest friends and was the one who rang the doorbell at his home early one morning in 2010 to tell him his son had been killed in Afghanistan.

The instant he saw Dunford, dressed in his service uniform on the front porch, Kelly said he knew his son Robert was dead. "It was disorienting, almost debilitating," Kelly wrote of that morning. "At the same time my mind went through in detail every memory and image I had of Robert from the delivery room to the voice mail he'd left a few days before he died. . . . It was as graphic as if I was watching a video."

As Homeland Security secretary, Kelly helped implement Trump's controversial travel ban and other initiatives aimed at curbing illegal immigration. Kelly also revoked an Obama-era initiative that sought to delay the deportation of parents of U.S. citizens, though he let stand a similar program for children.

He has seemed to share many of the president's hard-line views on immigration, and he did not shy from advocating his position forcefully in public. In February, he told the House Homeland Security Committee it was "entirely possible" dangerous people were entering the U.S. without a ban in place, and that officials might not know until something bad had happened.

"Not until the boom," he said when asked if he could provide evidence of a dangerous person entering the country.

He also has been quick to shoulder the blame when Trump administration initiatives, such as the travel ban, triggered a backlash from lawmakers who felt blindsided.

"This is all on me, by the way," Kelly testified.

"I should have delayed it just a bit so that I could talk to members of Congress."

The Washington Post's Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci wants to get rid of White House leakers. Read more

The biggest witch hunt going on in the White House is in its communications department.

In a frenzied hunt for leakers within the Trump administration, Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House communications director, attacked President Trump's chief-of-staff, who was fired Friday, and threatened to purge all communications staffers in a desperate quest to uproot leakers. Michael Short, an assistant press secretary, was the first to burn at the stake.

Such drastic action is hypocritical, to say the least, coming from a man who has leaked information himself. But the real source of my frustration with "The Mooch" is his justification for taking such drastic action:

In an interview, Scaramucci proclaimed, "leaking is atrocious. It's outrageous. It's unpatriotic. It damages the president personally. It damages the institution of the presidency."

To fire staffers for disloyalty is one thing, but to purge them for a lack of patriotism is entirely another. It's an insulting tactic used time and time again to undermine the credibility of true patriots who decide to put their country ahead of politics.

Historically, leakers have been anything but unpatriotic. In fact leaking is as old as America itself.

Centuries later in 1971, Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, which revealed how the Johnson administration had systematically lied about the extent of U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945-1967.

In 1972, Mark Felt, a top FBI official later revealed to be the Washington Post source known as "Deep Throat," leaked the information regarding the Watergate scandal, which led to President Richard Nixon's resignation.

Other leakers include Thomas Drake, Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning. The list goes.

Undoubtedly, there are pros and cons to every leak. With the truth comes breaches in protocol that could risk national security and, at worst, human lives.

Some people prefer the truth to national security. But in many of these cases, the leakers put their own lives on the line because they love their country. From that perspective, the White House leaks can be seen as protecting the institution of the presidency.

Scaramucci and others who decry the leakers as traitors wrongly see the presidency and President Trump as one in the same, but they're not. The institution is much greater than the person.

Leakers in the Trump administration are putting truth ahead of politics to give America a glimpse of the incompetency and paranoia inside the White House.

Truth has always been Trump's greatest enemy, which is why Scaramucci is so adamant about getting rid of anyone who exposes Trump's lies.

Scaramucci is no patriot for doing that. Patriots are people who expose the truth, not the ones who try to keep it hidden.

James Meadows is a University of Pennsylvania student interning at Philadelphia Media Network.
New White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci's wife has filed for divorce, according to the New York Post.

The paper, citing multiple sources, reported Friday that Deirdre Ball, 38, is giving the Mooch  with whom she has two children  the ax after three years of marriage. Apparently, Ball is not quite as sold on the Washington political lifestyle as Scaramucci, 53.

"She liked the nice Wall Street life and their home on Long Island, not the insane world of D.C.," an unnamed source told the tabloid.

Another anonymous source claims clashing loyalties toward the commander in chief caused tension. Ball has been less than enthused about Scaramucci's ascent in the ranks of Donald Trump's White House. "Deidre is not a fan of Trump," the source said.

Scaramucci was photographed sans ring at the White House Friday.
President Trump, speaking to a crowd of police officers in Brentwood, N.Y. about gang violence on Friday, scored a laugh line when he said officers "shouldn't be too nice" during arrests.

"When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of the paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in rough, I said, 'Please don't be too nice," he said during a speech about rooting out members of the MS-13 gang, a priority his administration has stressed in recent weeks. "Like, when you guys put somebody into the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put your hand, like, don't hit their head, and they just killed somebody, don't hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, okay?"

The quip was met with laughter and applause. But the practice he was apparently referencing  known as "rough rides" or "nickel rides," where police throw arrestees into police vans and take them on a seatbelt-less drive, aimed at knocking them around on the way to the station house  has a long, fraught history in Philadelphia and other cities around the country.

In 2001, an Inquirer investigation highlighted 20 people who were paid $2 million in settlements after they were injured in police vans, including two who were paralyzed. The department subsequently changed its rules about how arrestees were transported, but lawsuits continued to allege that the practice persisted. Three years ago, the city paid out $490,000 in a settlement to a stonemason whose neck was broken after he was placed, unbelted, in a Philadelphia police wagon.

And on Twitter, some commentators referenced the case of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore man who died after he was transported unbelted in a police van in 2015, and whose death sparked protests and riots for six nights.

Later on Friday afternoon, the International Association of Chiefs of Police  where former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey serves on the executive committee  released a statement that said treating everyone officers encounter with respect is "a bedrock principle" of law enforcement.
In the wake of accounts that independent counsel Robert Mueller has turned his investigation to the first family, President Trump tweeted last weekend that he has the "complete power to pardon." His aides and lawyers suggested that the president might pardon not only his son Donald J. Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, but himself too.

Criticism rained down from legal scholars and commentators. Noted liberal Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe argued that "the Constitution embodies [a] broad precept against self-dealing." Many critics rely on a brief, three-paragraph analysis by Richard Nixon's Justice Department. On Aug. 5, 1974, it concluded the president could not pardon himself because of "the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case."

The constitutional text and history shows that Trump has the Constitution, if not the politics, about right. Article II declares that the president "shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in cases of Impeachment." This text shows that the Framers knew how to make exceptions to the pardon power. They forbade a president from issuing pardons for impeachments, and they restricted them to federal crimes only. If the Framers had wanted to prevent presidents from pardoning themselves, they had only to add another exception.

Admittedly, a self-pardon would not advance the core purposes of the constitutional provision. As Alexander Hamilton explained in Federalist 74, the Constitution creates a pardon power "out of humanity and good policy" to allow for "mitigation from the rigour of the law." Opponents of the Constitution responded, however, that the power ought not rest in the hands of the president for the very reasons raised today by Trump's critics. They claimed that the legislature should hold the pardon power, because in cases of treason, "the connivance of the chief magistrate [i.e., the president] ought not to be entirely excluded." In other words, the Anti-Federalists seemed to argue that the president should not have the pardon power because he might pardon himself and his coconspirators in a plot to commit treason.

Tellingly, Hamilton did not respond that the president could not pardon himself. He did not raise the claim that the Constitution silently adopted the rule that no one could be a judge in his own case. Instead, Hamilton argued that the benefit of vesting the power in the president alone outweighed the costs of possible abuse. Only a single man could act quickly in times of crisis to use pardons to break up a conspiracy. "In seasons of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments, when a well-timed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquillity of the commonwealth," wrote Hamilton.

Tribe and other critics retreat to the natural law principle that forbids a man from serving as a judge in his own case. We welcome their newfound eagerness to read the natural law into the Constitution, an idea over which they and a Democratic Senate attempted to roast Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings. In any event, the Constitution regularly grants a branch the power to judge itself. Congress decides its own salaries and whether to oust its own members. The judiciary decides the extent of its own jurisdiction and hears cases involving attempts to curb judicial power. And the Constitution grants the president various powers with which an incumbent may shield himself, including the veto and the pardon.

Of course, exercises of presidential power have consequences. By pardoning himself and his associates, Trump will all but ensure that the public regards them as guilty. His family may escape jail time, but Trump may well go down as one of the handful of notorious presidents in American history, on a par with Nixon or Andrew Johnson, whom the Reconstruction Congress impeached.

Nor would a pardon stop the investigations. While we will not see Jared Kushner in prison garb any time soon, both the executive and the legislature will continue to investigate the Russia hacking episode, any connections to the Trump campaign, and any financial improprieties of the president and his associates. Even if Trump pardoned himself, Mueller could surely continue his investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 elections and any obstruction of justice. A pardon would only redouble congressional and executive efforts to find the truth of the matter.

A self-pardon will also shift the balance of power to Congress, which could strangle the Trump presidency in its infancy. As the constitutional text makes clear, pardons cannot extend to cases of impeachment. Even if Trump pardons himself, the House can still impeach him and the Senate can still vote  with a two-thirds majority  to remove him from office. A pardon only prevents Trump's prosecution after he leaves office.

In a moment of rare bipartisanship, legislators of both parties could agree that they will impeach and remove any president who pardons himself. As Hamilton explained again in The Federalist, "high crimes and misdemeanors" encompasses "the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust." Members of Congress would be well within their rights to read "high crimes and misdemeanors" as including any president who pardoned himself.

The crucible for presidential self-pardons would come in the wake of a Trump ouster, by election or otherwise. If the next administration chose to ignore the self-pardon, it could prosecute Donald Trump, private citizen. At that point, Trump would produce the self-pardon and the courts would adjudicate this question of presidential self-help.

Trump clearly followed Nixon on the campaign trail by appealing to the silent majority to win the 2016 elections. But it is time for him to close the Nixon playbook. Unless he wants to meet the same fate as Nixon  impeachment or resignation  he should put aside talk of pardons and turn his attentions to the problems facing the nation.

John Yoo is a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a former Bush Justice Department official. yooj@berkeley.edu

Saikrishna Prakash is the James Monroe distinguished professor of law and Miller Center senior fellow at the University of Virginia School of Law. sprakash10@gmail.com
An exhibition in Delhi shows exactly how India was mapped out through the ages.

By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today: Although the preferable medium has changed - we use the digital version more than the paper one now - there is no doubt that maps are still a major guiding factor in our lives. We are literally lost without it at times. Other than its most basic use though, maps have another important role in the world. They provide an interesting look into the history of a region, displaying both the shifting geographical boundaries as well as the perspective of the cartographer or explorer.

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These two features are all the more important in the case of the cartographic gems on display at the 'India: A mapful story' exhibition at Ojas Art in Mehrauli. There are 71 maps on display, marking the 71st year of India's Independence, dating back to both the 18th and 19th centuries.

A map of Asia. Photo: Mail Today

All the maps belong to the pre-independence era, and therefore show the changes an undivided Indian subcontinent went through in those two centuries. Also, each map has its own special feature, owing to the cartographer's own viewpoint and aesthetic sense. Age wise, adds Anubhav Nath, curatorial director at Ojas Art, "The oldest map is from 1786 and the newest is from 1946."

Also Read: Take a trip to Bhutan in black and white at this exhibition

He adds, "Each map tells a story - a story of discoveries, geography, colonisation and politics. The boundaries change - areas become bigger and smaller, depending on who commissioned the cartographer. The maps are works of art with beautiful cartouches and elaborate designs and coloring." The maps - which have been printed in England, France, Italy and the USA - are the works of cartographers such as Seutter, Rennell, Mortier, Lapie, Bonne and Tallis. They have been sourced, Nath adds, from a variety of collectors, dealers and kabadiwaalaas. Besides maps, selected lithographs from the same era will also be on display.

India Orientalis, extending from India to the coasts of Southern China with the Pearl River Estuary. Photo: Mail Today

Although none of the maps have been owned by a famous historical figure, there are a few that hold a special place in Nath's heart. "Two maps are from my grandfather's collection," he says. "There's a deep personal connect as one of them was always in my grandfather's office and before we travelled he would always show the countries on the map."

Be it personal or historical, each map on display at 'India: A mapful story' has its own story to tell.

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- The exhibition is on display at Ojas Art, 1 AQ, Qutab Minar Roundabout, Mehrauli on August 1-20; 11 am to 7 pm. Closed on Mondays and August 15.

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The 57 new planes would be used for operations from the INS Vikramaditya and the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) being built at the Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi.

By Ajit Kumar Dubey: Looking to buy 57 fighter aircraft to augment its fleet, the Indian Navy recently invited foreign vendors to carry out trials to see if the planes could operate off the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

French Rafale, Swedish Saab Sea Gripen, Russian MiG-29K and American F-18 are the contenders for the over Rs 75,000 crore mega deal of the maritime force.

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"The foreign vendors were asked to prove that their aircraft would be able to operate off our Russian-origin aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya," a senior Navy source told MAIL TODAY.

Aircraft manufacturers, including the French Rafale and American F-18, had taken part in the trials and were asked to provide more inputs on their respective plane's capabilities to be able to take off and land at the Vikramaditya, the sources said.

The trials were held at INS Vikramaditya's home-base in Karwar in Karnataka. The 57 new planes would be used for operations from the INS Vikramaditya and the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) being built at the Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi along with the 45 MiG29Ks already imported from Russia.

DIFFERENCE IN TAKE-OFF SYSTEMS

There is a huge difference in take off systems on board the aircraft carriers of Russian and Western origin. While the aircraft on Western carriers are launched using a steam-powered catapult while on the Russian platforms, they take off from an angled ski-jump - the launch mechanism on both the Vikramaditya and the underconstruction IAC.

The need for buying new super expensive aircraft came up after the Navy rejected the naval version of the indigenous light combat aircraft as it wanted a twin-engine fighter with a stronger airframe and landing gear to operate from a flight deck with high-tempo flying cycles.

As per the requirement projected by the Navy, it wants to manufacture these planes in India as the Request for Information had asked the original equipment manufacturers to respond to it.

It also sought to know at what level of Transfer of Technology (ToT) and deep repair expertise the company is willing to share with India.

It also asked the vendor to specify critical technologies required and comment on its ability to absorb the aircraft manufacturing technology at the levels of sub vendor/supply chain elements in India through ToT from OEM and its partners.

DELIVERY

As regards the delivery schedule, the first lot of jets have to be delivered in three years after inking of the contract and all the 57 have to be delivered in the next three years.

The existing fleet of the MiG-29K planes has been creating a number of problems for the maritime force as they are not yet ruggedised enough for aircraft carrier operations as was reported by MAIL TODAY recently.

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The planes have also been facing engine problems and the Navy had taken up the issue with Russia whose engineers and technicians are working to address the issues as the planes are still in warranty period.

With two aircraft carriers and over five squadrons of maritime strike aircraft, the Indian Navy would be emerging as a very strong force to reckon with.

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The story of Indian Navy's largest warship INS Vikramaditya

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The Senate has made its counteroffer on NASA's 2018 budget. The legislation, which was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee last Thursday, would provide $19.53 billion for NASA, $124 million below the space agency's 2017 appropriation but significantly higher than the $19.1 billion requested by the Trump Administration. It's also $343 million less than the House's proposal, which would provide a much-healthier $19.87 billion for NASA in 2018.

The funding discrepancy between the Senate and House proposals is not unusual in recent years. And notably NASA has ended up on the higher end of the funding range by the time a compromise was worked out between the two chambers of Congress.

The majority of the proposed increases above the President's request are to the usual suspects: the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule. And in a complete repudiation of the Trump Administration, the Senate fully rejects cuts to NASA's Earth Science Division and the Education Directorate. The accompanying committee report specifies the continuation of every Earth Science mission proposed for cancellation by the Trump Administration proposal, and states that it "does not agree with the proposed cancellation of the activities" of the Education Directorate, though they will consider proposals to move the programs to other areas of NASA if the Administration can make a good case for doing so.

Planetary Science would receive significant cuts in the Senate proposal, dropping by $234 million from 2017 levels to $1.61 billion. This is also significantly below the Administration's proposal of $1.9 billion. While disappointing, this is also represents a consistent tactic taken by the Senate in recent years, which has responded to the much-higher budgets for plaentary proposed in the House of Representatives.

So, did the Senate endorse a new Mars orbiter to replace the aging telecom and high-resolution imaging assets at the Red Planet? It's hard to say, but it's promising. While there was no explicit directive either way, the committee provided an additional $75 million to the Mars Exploration Program, which is what The Planetary Society had recommended in order to support the start of a new orbiter by 2022 and begin investing in Mars Ascent Vehicle technology development to enable future sample return. This is the only logical need for the additional funding provided by the Senate, though the flexibility would be left to NASA within the Mars program for its application.

Also left unmentioned was how the rest of the cuts to the Planetary Science Division would be applied. There was no clarity on support for Europa mission, something I always find to be an oddity, since it is, so far, the only science mission currently in development that could utilize the Space Launch Systema priority program for the committee's chair, Sen. Richard Shelby.

Though we cannot and will not take anything for granted, the House's proposals tend to be represented in the final compromise bill. The Planetary Society will continue to strongly argue increased funding for science and the restoration of the Planetary Science Division budget in the coming months.
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BRENTWOOD, N.Y. (Reuters)  U.S. President Donald Trump expressed dismay on Friday that the Senate tried to repeal his predecessors healthcare program overnight but failed to do so, saying lawmakers had been working on it for seven years but were going to get it done.

They should have approved healthcare last night, but you cant have everything, Trump told law enforcement officers in Brentwood, New York, on Long Island. Boy, oh boy, theyve been working on that one for seven years, can you believe that? The swamp. But well get it done. Were going to get it done.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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By Chris Kahn

NEW YORK (Reuters)  A majority of Americans believe that transgender individuals should be allowed to serve in the military, according to an exclusive Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday.

The July 26-28 poll suggested that the country largely disagrees with President Donald Trumps announcement this week that he will ban transgender personnel from the armed forces.

When asked to weigh in on the debate, 58 percent of adults agreed with the statement, Transgender people should be allowed to serve in the military. Twenty-seven percent said they should not while the rest answered dont know.

Democrats mostly supported military service by transgender Americans while Republicans were divided on the issue.

Among Republicans, 32 percent said transgender people should be allowed to serve, while 49 percent said they should not. Another 19 percent of Republicans said they dont know.

(See graphic of poll results http://tmsnrt.rs/2eUOBTj)

The public was also divided over the impact of banning transgender service members. Some 32 percent said it would hurt morale in the military while 17 percent said it would improve morale. Another 33 percent felt it would have no impact and the rest said they dont know.

When asked about the impact on military capabilities, 14 percent said prohibiting transgender service members made the military more capable while 43 percent said no impact, 22 percent said less capable and the rest said they dont know.

The presidents announcement, made in posts on his Twitter account, surprised many senior military officers and appeared to pre-empt an ongoing Pentagon review into its inclusion of transgender service members.

The United States top military officer, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, said the military will not alter its current policies until it receives additional guidance from Trumps secretary of defense.

Roger Kaikko, 61, a Trump voter near Cleveland, Ohio, who took the poll, said he disagrees with the president.

Even the president shouldnt be able to take rights away from some people just because he may not like them, Kaikko said. Theyre people too. Unless theyre causing problems, they should serve just like anybody else.

Opinions about the ban probably will not have lasting impact on the presidents overall public support, said Jan Leighley, an expert in political behavior at American University.

For many people, this is just a distant political issue, Leighley said. When compared to healthcare, immigration or the economy, the presidents stance on transgender issues is not something thats going to change their prior beliefs or attitudes about Trump.

The Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll was conducted online in English across the United States. It gathered responses from 1,249 adults including 533 Democrats and 434 Republicans. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire group and 5 percentage points for Democrats and Republicans.

See the poll questionnaire and methodology: http://tmsnrt.rs/2eUlaRr

(Reporting by Chris Kahn; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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Following on the heels of the Boy Scouts, the Suffolk County Police Department has become the second organization in two days to disavow statements from Trump after the President called for more police brutality during a Friday speech to law enforcement officers.

Video of Trump:

Trump said, And when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon  you just see them thrown in, rough  I said, please dont be too nice. Like when you guys put somebody in the car, and youre protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Like, dont hit their head and theyve just killed somebody  dont hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, okay?

The Suffolk County Police Department tweeted:

The SCPD has strict rules & procedures relating to the handling of prisoners. Violations of those rules are treated extremely seriously.  Suffolk County PD (@SCPDHq) July 28, 2017

As a department, we do not and will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners.  Suffolk County PD (@SCPDHq) July 28, 2017

On Thursday, The Boy Scouts of America apologized for Trumps inappropriate speech to their national jamboree.

How many organizations had to apologize for or disavow speeches given by the previous five presidents? The answer to that question is zero.

Donald Trump is not well, and anytime that he is irresponsibly allowed to abuse the presidential platform in public is another moment of national disgrace that will result in a cleanup crew being forced to follow behind and clean up his toxic mentally broken mess.
By PTI: France, Germany and Britain

By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jul 29 (PTI) The United States, France, Germany and Britain have condemned the launch of a space launch vehicle by Iran on July 27 and alleged that it is inconsistent with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution in this regard.

"With its latest launch of a Simorgh space launch vehicle on 27 July, Iran has again demonstrated activity inconsistent with UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2231. We condemn this action," the four countries said in a joint statement.

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Three of them, the United States, France and Britain are members of the UN Security Council.

Germany is part of the G-4 group including India, Japan and Brazil who seek a permanent membership to the Security Council.

"Irans program to develop ballistic missiles continues to be inconsistent with UNSCR 2231 and has a destabilising impact in the region.

We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities," the joint statement said.

"We are writing to the UN Secretary General with our concerns. The governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom are discussing these issues bilaterally with Iran and are raising their concerns," they said.

The UN Security Council Resolution 2231, they said calls upon Iran to not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such technology like this launch.

Space launch vehicles use technologies that are closely related to those of ballistic missiles development, in particular to those of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.

"This step follows missile launches into Syria on 18 June and the test of a medium range ballistic missile on 4 July," the joint statement said.

US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, in a separate statement said the Trump Administration will not let Iran off the hook for behavior that threatens American interests.

"We will not simply trust Irans word that they are in compliance with international obligations. We will continue to impose consequences until Iran stops its provocations and complies fully with Security Council resolutions," she said.

"The issue with Iran always comes back to mistrust. Irans widespread support for terrorists tells us we cant trust them.

Irans breaking its obligation on missile testing tells us we cant trust them. Yesterdays launch proves that yet again," Haley said.

Earlier in the day, the Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on six Iran-based subordinates of Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), an entity which it said is central to Irans ballistic missile program.

Such a move by the Department of Treasury comes a day after the Iran carried out launch of the Simorgh space launch vehicle.

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The test, however, was not successful.

Treasury said space launch vehicles use technologies that are closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile and this launch represents a threatening step by Iran.

As such the sanctions have been slammed against Shahid Karimi Industries, Shahid Rastegar Industries, Shahid Cheraghi Industries, Shahid Varamini Industries, Shahid Kalhor Industries, and Amir Al MoMenin Industries.

"The US Government will continue to aggressively counter Irans ballistic missile-related activity, whether it be a provocative space launch, its development of threatening ballistic missile systems, or likely support to Yemeni Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia such as occurred this past weekend," said Treasury Secretary Steven T Mnuchin.

"These sanctions target key entities involved in Irans ballistic missile program, and underscore the United States deep concerns with Irans continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behavior," Mnuchin said.

As a result of this action, all property and interests in property of those designated today subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

In addition, foreign financial institutions that facilitate significant transactions for, or persons that provide material or certain other support to, the entities designated today risk exposure to sanctions that could sever their access to the US financial system or block their property and interests in property under the US jurisdiction. PTI LKJ ARK

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The last week has been one of Donald Trumps worst so far, though there havent been many good ones, and one Democratic congressman actually gave the president a backhanded compliment for pulling it off.

Of the presidents disastrous week, California Rep. Ted Lieu said, You really gotta try to be that bad.

Video:

Rep. Ted Lieu on Trumps epically bad week: You really gotta try to be that bad #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/dfxxe0TqaO  Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) July 29, 2017

First, Lieu weighed in on Trumps disturbing endorsement of police brutality:

It is highly disturbing that Donald Trump is encouraging police brutality. As a former prosecutor, hes basically asking police officers to violate the law. Police officers took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. If they listen to the president, not only are they going to be violating the law, theyre going to be subjecting themselves to discipline and their cities and counties to massive lawsuits.

Then the California congressman summed up Trumps entire week perfectly, touching not just on his police brutality comments, but also his troubling speech to boy scouts and his tweets about transgender soldiers.

Let me say, in one week, Donald Trump got rebuked by the boy scouts, by the Pentagon, by the International Association of Police Chiefs  you really gotta try to be that bad.

Its no question that the first six months of Trumps presidency have been an unmitigated disaster defined by scandal, incompetence, and an inability to pass a single substantive piece of legislation to better the lives of the American people, especially the voters who helped propel Trumps electoral victory last year.

But during weeks like this when there is a perfect storm of screw-ups, as Lieu noted, you have to think the president is trying to fail miserably.
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Donald Trump has been president for more than six months, and Republicans have largely allowed him to get away with things previous presidents would have never gotten away with  but now it appears the honeymoon is over.

As PoliticusUSA reported via Reuters earlier today:

As fellow Republicans labored to repeal Obamacare this week, U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly swerved off-topic, escalating concerns in his party about his ability to govern the country six months after taking office. While senators grappled with healthcare, Trump banned transgender people from the military. He regaled a Boy Scout jamboree with a tale from a New York cocktail party. He indulged an obscene tirade by his flamboyant new communications director. In the end, the Senates efforts collapsed in a predawn vote on Friday, magnifying the ineffectiveness that often goes with the chaos around Trump, the constant storm of tweets, the White House infighting, the self-inflicted wounds.

The Trump presidency has so far been an unmitigated disaster, and unlike many Republicans, most Americans have been panicking since well before he was even elected last year.

Keep in mind, this is a guy who built his political career on the racist lie that President Barack Obama isnt an American. He launched his campaign calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. He spent the election cycle demonstrating that he is completely unable to discuss or understand  or even care to learn  complicated policy issues. He tried to justify his treatment of women, even after a tape surfaced showing him bragging about sexual assault.

All of this while he would repeatedly throw childlike tantrums on Twitter about whoever was his enemy at a given moment  a Gold Star family, a federal judge, a beauty pageant contestant, and of course Hillary Clinton.

On behalf of a majority of Americans who voted to elect somebody not named Donald Trump, I have one question for Republicans who are just now panicking: Where in the world have you been and why has it taken you so long to recognize that this is who Trump is and always has been?

The truth is that the GOP didnt care.

It didnt bother them that this man is clearly mentally unstable. It didnt bother them that he lacked the qualifications and temperament to be President of the United States. It didnt bother them that he is an amoral egotist who has never cared about anybody but himself. It didnt bother them that his main claim to fame is hosting a prime time game show.

They have complete control of Congress, after all, and they saw Trump as a way to achieve right-wing policy goals that they have failed to accomplish for a long time. He would be their puppet, they hoped.

Six months into his time in the White House, their tune is changing as Trumps incompetence, corruption, and unfitness has thrown the entire Republican agenda into a dumpster and set it ablaze.

For sure, there are still too many Republican leaders who continue to toe the line for the dangerous man in the White House. But as long as Trump continues to treat the government like a reality show or a play toy  something that exists solely for his childish amusement  more in the GOP will see what most Americans have known for a long time.

Donald Trumps incompetence is a clear and present danger to the United States of America.
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After failing to usher repeal and replace legislation through Congress, Donald Trump is having a hard time staying off Twitter.

As Jason Easley wrote earlier, the president took to social media this morning to rage over the health care loss and attack Republican members of Congress for not getting it done.

Just hours later, Trump was back at it again, repeating the lie that the Affordable Care Act is imploding and issuing a threat to end payments that keep health care costs down.

Tweets:

After seven years of talking Repeal & Replace, the people of our great country are still being forced to live with imploding ObamaCare!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017

If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017

The child in the Oval Office may be lashing out over his massive failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act with total Republican control of the government, but the truth is the truth.

Obamacare is not imploding  in fact, just the opposite is true.

As the New York Times Editorial Board wrote earlier this month, The biggest lie that President Trump and other Republican leaders have been repeating about the Affordable Care Act for years is that it is collapsing, imploding or exploding. The truth is that the law is actually working reasonably well, and even the part that has shown the most weakness  the health insurance marketplaces  has been stabilizing.

The law has helped more than 20 million Americans get health insurance and most of those people have been satisfied with the health plans theyve been able to get.

Trumps threat to end bailouts for insurance companies  which are actually called Cost Sharing Reduction payments  would also be devastating to the current health care system. As The Hill noted on Saturday, those payments lower the amount individuals have to pay for deductibles, copayments and insurance.

The angry child in the White House continues to lash out at members of Congress, undermine the current health care system and lie about his own health care proposal  all because he cant handle the fact that he was dealt a devastating blow in Congress and the American people simply arent buying what hes selling.
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Heres more evidence that Donald Trump is nothing more than a low information Fox News viewer. Trump used a Fox and Friends story as proof that Russia was really against him during the 2016 election.

Trump tweeted:

In other words, Russia was against Trump in the 2016 Election  and why not, I want strong military & low oil prices. Witch Hunt! https://t.co/mMSxj4Su5z  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017

This whole Russia didnt really want me to win thing that Trump is doing is getting sad, but a deeper look reveals a troubling pattern. Donald Trump has chosen to believe a propaganda program on Fox News over the intelligence community and the United States government that he is supposed to be running.

At some level, Trump has convinced himself that the Russia scandal is a conspiracy and that Putin never wanted him to win.

Each Trump tweet that denies reality is evidence that this president is not mentally well. What Trump is doing isnt political spin. It is personal delusion. There is not a bigger believer in Trump lies than the man himself.

Russia wanted Trump to win. The evidence is obvious and everywhere. Putin was working to elect Trump. The President knows this at some level because he has slipped up in the past and admitted to knowledge of the Russia scandal. The odds are that this president knew what his campaign was doing with Russia, but he has convinced himself that the investigation is a plot to get him.

Trump lives in a fake news bubble managed by his friends at Fox News, and the media bubble the president is living in is only making his detachment from reality worse.
An aerial view of the V.C. Summer construction site in Jenkinsville, where two nuclear reactors are being built by Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas. The project's future is increasingly in doubt as a deadline approaches for the utilities to decide whether to scrap the reactors or press on amid mounting costs. Provided/SCE&G
Our body is designed for a relationship between our brain and the sun. The internal clock is ideally synced for alignment with a sunrise, a sunset and a 24-hour day. Our watches, bedside clocks and smartphones often determine when we wake up, get to work or go to sleep. Has your body adequately adjusted to last weeks time change? Read morePeper column: The sands of time
By Mail Today: The tussle between the JNU administration and Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) representatives has escalated in the first week of academic session.

The administration claims that JNUSU members did not turn up for the meeting to discuss positive developments on the JNU campus.

Senior faculty members, including VC Jagadesh Kumar, allegedly waited for 40 minutes for JNUSU representatives but three registered JNUSU members did not turn up.

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The University's registrar Pramod Kumar has maintained that the administration had extended the invitation in the very first week of the new academic session to the office bearers of JNUSU for informing them about the developments related to student community.

"The senior officials of the administration, including the Vice-chancellor, waited for more than 40 minutes at the venue, but none of the invited members of the JNUSU turned up for the meeting that was scheduled on Friday. The security guards at the entrance of the admin building informed that the invitees did turn up at the entrance gate, arguing over not inviting one of the office bearers," said Pramod Kumar.

JNU DEREGISTERS STUDENTS' UNION PRESIDENT

The university has officially deregistered JNUSU president Mohit K Pandey and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 for participating in protest.

"We feel this targeting is a draconian use of administrative power to hit someone with belt, and undermines students' voices to settle differences of opinion," said JNUSU president, Mohit Pandey.

The union has demanded registration for the barred, JNUSU president Mohit K Pandey in this monsoon semester.

ALSO READ

75 per cent hostel seats in JNU to be reserved for north-east students

JNU makes filling up of MPhil, PhD forms in Hindi mandatory

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Ellen Weavers school choice position puts her at odds with teacher advocacy groups in South Carolina, but they say they can find common ground on other issues. Read moreSC educator groups pledge to work with Weaver, despite differences
Jack Evans is a reporting intern at the Post and Courier. He attends Indiana University and has written for the Indiana Daily Student, the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Knoxville Mercury, among other publications.
At more small businesses, any water-cooler chat takes place in a messaging app. Staff meetings are held via Skype. There might not even be an office.

Having a remote staff can be a good fit for many companies. Among the upsides: It expands the pool of job candidates, and lowers a company's overhead since there's no need for a big office. But there can be downsides, including the risk of personal and professional isolation. And sometimes interaction isn't quite as effective as it is in person.

"There is only so much that you can communicate through text," says Max Sheppard, CEO of TrustedPros, an online service that helps people find home-improvement workers. "This makes it difficult to gauge employee emotions, morale, and well-being."

Sheppard, like many other owners, uses messaging programs like Google Hangout and Slack that let remote staffers hold group or individual chats. He has six employees, all in the Toronto area. Video services like Skype and Zoom are also popular.

Many owners have at least one meeting a year that brings far-flung staffers together. Some, Sheppard among them, gather with employees for periodic dinners or other social activities.

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Employees overall are doing more telecommuting, though it's hard to quantify how many work remotely and how many of those are at small companies. In a report from Gallup released earlier this year, nearly a third said they work remotely 80 percent or more of the time, up from nearly a quarter who said that in 2013.

CULTURE CLASH?

Having some staffers work remotely while others are in one office can create separate cultures, and some remote employees may feel left out.

At Todd Horton's software company, KangoGift, four staffers work together in Boston and six are remote, scattered in Europe and India. Communication can get problematic  some employees feel so distant they forget to keep everyone in the loop with them.

"Information can get trapped in silos," says Horton, whose business helps companies send performance awards to employees. "If the European team gains an insight and doesn't share it quickly, the others will never know something happened."

Another wrinkle: Horton will sometimes take the Boston crew out for a business lunch, and the overseas employees do learn of it.

"They know they're missing out," Horton says.

At H2O Media, an advertising agency based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, where seven of 12 staffers work remotely, "We all try to look at the separation as a positive, and we make an effort to stay connected via team emails, calls and annual meetings," says Allison Baker, social media and marketing coordinator.

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But Baker notes that the remote workers include salespeople  a job that had employees working away from an office long before computers or telecommuting.

Timing may be key to the success or failure of a remote work situation, says James Celentano, managing director of EnterGain, a human resources consulting firm. If a company transitions from in-office to remote staffing, it can be a difficult adjustment. Startups, especially those with tech-savvy staffers, may find it easier.

"Those that do it well or have fewer issues are companies that embrace it from the get-go," Celentano says.

MORALE PROBLEMS

Owners need to be aware if working remotely is getting staffers down.

Kean Graham, who recalls getting cabin fever when he worked at home the first few years after starting his company, is mindful of the need for his staffers to sometimes see different scenery during the workday.

"You have to be proactive and change your environment  go to a coffee shop or shared workspace or even go take a walk," says Graham, CEO of MonetizeMore, an advertising technology firm. He's based in Victoria, British Columbia, and has 80 remote staffers on five continents.

Managers need to watch for signs that workers are discontented, even depressed, Graham says. For example: anger, or withdrawal that becomes apparent from the tone of a staffer's voice, email or text, or a lack of communication.

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A remote employee's morale needs to be an important consideration when a boss makes any kind of communication, but especially a critique.

"If you don't word it correctly, people can take offense at something very simple. You have to be very pointed in how you ask questions or give feedback," says Michael Fry, president of Deepwater Subsea, a Houston-based company that inspects oil rigs and has 11 staffers in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee.

His solution: Pick up the phone. A conversation, which can also be done with video to see the other person, is not only more personal but can lower the risk of misunderstandings.

A GOOD FIT?

A remote job can be a dream for some employees, but a disaster for others. They can miss working with colleagues or find it hard to stay productive.

"Working from home sounds alluring and sexy, but what we've found is there are just some people that shouldn't work from home," says Bryan Miles, CEO of staffing company BELAY, whose 70 employees at its base of Atlanta all telecommute. "We've hired people and they've found, "Gosh I should really be in an office."

Usually it's clear within three to six months whether working remotely is a good fit, Miles says.

LOST SPONTANEITY

With a remote staff, a company can lose some of the spontaneous chatter about sports, movies or news. Those moments help create a camaraderie that Andrea Goulet remembers from working in a traditional office setting. Her solution for Corgibytes, her software repair and revising company, is to encourage staffers to keep a daily journal in Slack about what's happening with them.

"If you neglect the entire human side of communication, then you don't feel that connection," Goulet says. Her Richmond, Virginia-based company has 12 full-time remote staffers in states including Virginia, Michigan, North Carolina and South Carolina.

KangoGift's Horton finds that without colleagues nearby there's less of an ability to just bounce an idea off a co-worker and brainstorm. That can hurt communication, and affect people's creativity.

"I try to combat it," he says. "I'm always encouraging everyone to constantly share ideas using messaging tools."
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka  Amid piles of dried chiles, straw baskets and ripe papaya, Jeevanti Chatuvina's wares  represented by her sister modeling a gold-studded red sari, dramatic eyeliner and a perfectly coiffed chignon  glamorized the weekly market found on the edge of a lagoon lush with mature mangroves about an hour's drive north of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Her bridal beauty business, like the others at the pop-up, represents the economic link between protecting the mangroves  as nurseries of the island's fish stocks, tsunami buffers and CO2 sinks  and sustaining communities dependent on them.

"We can't do mangrove conservation without the people," said Anuradha "Anu" Wickramasinghe, co-founder of Sudeesa, a Sri Lanka nonprofit advocating for small-scale fishing and farming operations. It was his idea to provide business training and $100 micro-loans to some of the poorest women in coastal fishing communities in exchange for their protection of the vital ecosystem, applying a social fix to an environmental problem caused by logging, mass prawn farming and, in the northern areas, civil war. "They get training from us and seed money from Seacology."

This spring, I joined Seacology, the California-based environmental nonprofit, on one of its tours that showcase its projects. Mangrove restoration in Sri Lanka is its largest ever, with the organization donating $5 million over five years to protect more than 21,000 acres of coastal mangroves by bringing the micro-loan program to 15,000 rural women. Meeting the program's budding entrepreneurs and exploring solutions to environmental challenges with field experts were the highlights of an itinerary also filled with more tourist-friendly activities, like a walking tour of Colombo, visits to Hindu and Buddhist temples, and meals both traditional and trendy.

'Greater sense of urgency'

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From the broken Paris climate pact to the collapsing ice shelf in Antarctica, climate issues have dominated recent headlines. Providing access to those front lines, the travel industry has mirrored eco-concerns with the growth of climate-focused trips.

Many of these trips are concentrated at the poles. In Greenland, for example, the number of tourists rose almost 24 percent in 2015. Last year, tourism grew by nearly 10 percent  more than double the global average. American travelers represented one-third of the 34,539 travelers who visited Antarctica this past winter, according to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, by far the largest contingent (Chinese travelers come in second at 12 percent).

"The Arctic and the Antarctic are changing in dramatic ways, more so than anywhere on Earth," said Sven Lindblad, founder and CEO of Lindblad Expeditions, the pioneer of cruise travel to Antarctica and the Galapagos. "Clearly, there is a greater sense of urgency and interest on the part of travelers to see and understand these environments."

The travel industry contributes to carbon emissions, of course, but tour operators argue that exposure to threatened regions converts the curious to conservation. As oceanographer Jacques Cousteau once said, "People protect what they love."

"Our most significant contribution to the realm of sustainability is utilizing the experiences our travelers are having as 'Aha!' moments to come back and do more to protect the planet and our species,'" said Ted Martens, vice president of marketing and sustainability at Natural Habitat Adventures, a wildlife-focused tour company that offsets the carbon emissions of its operations by funding green technology projects.

'Arctic safari'

Natural Habitat runs trips in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund that have generated $10 million since 2003 for WWF programs confronting deforestation in the Amazon and preserving orangutan habitats in Borneo, among others. Natural Habitat's six-day trips to see polar bears in Canada cost $6,195 (all rates are per person).

With World Wildlife Fund-Canada, Adventure Canada is offering an "Arctic Safari" from July 30 to Aug. 10 that explores Greenland's communities and ice fjords, from $5,995.

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Some operators encourage citizen scientists to help researchers with their work. The nonprofit EarthWatch Institute runs "Climate Change at the Arctic's Edge" trips, in which travelers take water and tree core samples to measure the health of animals and plants (from $2,014 for seven days). EarthWatch Institute also offers teen-only departures.

Over the next two summers, Poseidon Expeditions will run trips to the North Pole featuring a citizen science program to collect data on sea ice thickness and melting (from $6,960 for 10 days). Data from the operator's first citizen science launch, in 2015, is already being used by the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States' Sea Ice Prediction Network.

Lindblad is celebrating its 50th anniversary in the Galapagos this summer with cruises aboard the 96-passenger National Geographic Endeavor II (10 days from $6,960) and the new National Geographic Global Explorers Program. The latter's educational activities include collecting plankton, recording wildlife sightings and earning an inflatable Zodiac boat "driver's license."

During the 2017/2018 Antarctic travel season, Abercrombie & Kent's Classic Antarctica departure Jan. 6 is devoted to "Understanding Climate Change" and features noted Antarctic researcher Dr. James McClintock (from $13,495 for 12 days).
An area man made his first appearance Monday in Olmsted County District Court, where he's been accused of possessing and sharing child pornography.

Eric Lowell Saterdalen, 56, of Stewartville, faces two counts of disseminating pornographic work and 10 counts of possession of pornographic work, all felonies.

Conditional bail was set at $100,000; he's due back in court May 24.

The investigation began in September, when Yahoo reported a user had uploaded suspected child pornography to his account. A subpoena revealed the account was associated with a phone number belonging to Saterdalen, the criminal complaint says.

More images were uploaded in October; the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's Internet Crimes Against Children unit obtained a subpoena that indicated the internet address was assigned to Saterdalen, the complaint continues, with a service address of 800 Grandview Court SE, Stewartville  Saterdalen's home.

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On May 5, deputies with the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant at the residence.

Saterdalen identified his laptop computer and cell phone; a preliminary exam of the computer allegedly revealed a number of images believed to be child pornography, including one with a victim under the age of 1 year, court documents say.

If convicted, the dissemination charges carry a maximum penalty of seven years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both.

The possession charges are punishable by up to five years in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both.
A driver stepped out of his car to smoke a cigarette Friday afternoon in Austin and then watched helplessly as the car rolled into the nearby Mill Pond.

The driver apparently failed to put the car into park, authorities said. The incident began at about 5:30 p.m., said Tom Schulte, a fire department shift commander. The car was almost completely submerged when authorities arrived at the scene. Nobody was in the car when it was in the water.

The Olmsted County Dive Team and the Austin Fire Department cooperated in pulling the car out of the pond, Schulte said. "It was in the water roughly 2 1/2 hours," Schulte said.

The driver was not injured.
Tamil Nadu's finance and fisheries minister Jayakumar said that Kamal Haasan and MK Stalin should stop their criticism of the government.

By Pramod Madhav: The feud between Kamal Haasan and the politicians has escalated yet again after Tamil Nadu's finance and fisheries minister Jayakumar said that Kamal Haasan and MK Stalin should stop their criticism of the government or else they'll end up mentally challenged like one of Haasan's popular characters.

"Kamal Haasan and Opposition leader MK Stalin should stop their criticism about the government or else they'll end up like Kamal's character in the climax of Moondram Pirai/ Sadma," said Jayakumar.

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Moondram Pirai released in 1982. Kamal Haasan played the lead in the movie directed by Balu Mahendra.

Moondram Pirai is about a school teacher, R. Srinivas (played by Kamal Haasan) who rescues Bhagyalakshmi (played by Sridevi who loses her memory in an accident. The rest of the film shows how Bhagyalakshmi recovers her memory with Srinivas' help. Tragically, Bhagyalakshmi forgets Srinivas as she recovers. The climax shows how Srinivas follows Bhagyalakshmi to the railway station and tries to gain her attention.

Covered in mud, Srinivas attempts to jolt Bhagyalakshmi's memory about him but unable to comprehend, she thinks of him as a lunatic and leaves. The movie along with its climax is considered as a masterpiece and a fine example for Kamal Haasan's performance. It was comical for Jayakumar to use the movie as a 'mild threat'.

Also Read:

Kamal Haasan on rumours of Akshara changing her religion: Love you, even if you have

Bigg Boss Tamil: Did Kamal Haasan take a dig at Sasikala?

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Solutions to the region's housing struggles are unlikely to come without risks.

The question, in many cases, is who takes the risk.

"There isn't a lot of risk capacity on the pieces of the market that usually take the risk," said Steve Borchardt, housing initiative director for the Rochester Area Foundation.

Borchardt, a former Olmsted County sheriff, has been working since 2014 to encourage some traditional risk-takers and others to work toward housing solutions, especially those aimed at the workforce market, or households earning approximately 60 percent of the area median income.

After studying the current trends, he noted builders aren't especially willing to risk building houses and apartment complexes at reduced prices because the need for higher-priced, market-rate housing hasn't been met. Developers know they can cover costs with the higher-priced housing, but are unsure of other options.

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Likewise, financing changes have made banks less likely to take risks and political pressures make some risks challenging for local government.

While companies like Joseph Development and others have found ways to use state support to build more-affordable apartment complexes with rents of less than $1,000 a month, solutions for owning a home at similar prices remain elusive.

Jean DeWitz, of DeWitz Builders, said she made the discovery the hard way when she bought property before the recession with the hope of bringing a new style of housing to the local market.

It was a strategy that benefitted her father, Robert DeWitz, who took risks in the past and developed large sections of the city.

For her, the timing wasn't right. She still owns undeveloped lots that she bought before things shifted in a national downturn.

"We were going to try some new products," she recalled, noting the experience made her leery of the process.

She said she's not alone when feeling burned by the recession. While her lots remain empty and unsold, other builders had put down extra money to construct houses with the speculation that buyers would come.

"There were builders in Rochester that had 50 specs during the recession," she said, noting it created an aversion to risk.

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A new effort, however, could help gauge future risks when building affordable homes in Rochester.

A group of builders, architects, bankers, real estate agents and others has been pulled together by Rochester Area Builders Inc. to determine whether the market will accept less-expensive homes, which Borchardt said would likely include detached garages, no basements and smaller lots.

Dewitz, who is part of the group, said keeping it simple could get prices for new homes down to $210,000, which would put mortgages within reach of more residents, but she said she's not sure buyers are willing to give up some traditional expectations.

"As a builder, I don't see that they are," she said, noting many homebuyers are looking for homes with many extras, rather than basic models that were once sold to first-time buyers.

Another voice on the team, Jose Rivas, a partner in CRW architecture + design group Inc, said increased financial challenges also face potential young buyers.

"What would have been the millennials 30 years ago didn't have the student debt millennials have today," he said.

At the same time, he noted changes in the millennial generation could allow some flexibility for new homes. A generation that is less reliant on car ownership might not need attached  or any  garages, and people moving to Rochester from other areas of the nation might be more accustomed to smaller yards and closer neighbors.

Dewitz said she's hoping an outside consultant can help point local builders in the right direction.

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"They will take the bull by the horns," she said, noting the assignment will be to determine what is right for the current and future markets.

Borchardt said he thinks the answers will be found on many fronts, but they will also be entangled.

Rochester, he noted, already has a variety of affordable homes, but many are occupied by people who may be looking to downgrade a bit. As families age and children move, parents may want a smaller home. But finding one at the right price can be a problem.

In the draft of Rochester's new comprehensive plan, the Rochester-Olmsted Planning Department points out the city's aging population  those just reaching retirement age  may be competing with millennials for homes.

"Rochester's demographic trends indicate that a wider variety of housing options are essential to meet the community's current and future needs, particularly as the aging Baby Boomers compete for the same social and housing options desired by young professionals," it states.

Borchardt and city planners said that means the solution for one group may benefit others. Building smaller, less-expensive homes could free existing homes in the market that could cater to young families.

At the same time, Borchardt said conversations in the community have shown him that generalizing can produce barricades.

He said some experts suggest millennials are primarily looking for smaller, new housing options, often steering toward apartments and townhomes. At the same time, he said local evidence shows many people in the same age bracket are snatching up older homes in the neighborhoods surrounding Rochester's downtown.

He said it goes further to show that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution for any portion of the market.
Architect Adam Ferrari knows there aren't any magic bullets to solve Rochester's affordable housing problem, but he's optimistic that using several methods will make things better.

Ferrari has been a high profile member of the Med City's design community for the past 12 years. He has worked with the Rochester Area Foundation's First Homes project, served as the director of Design Rochester and launched a nonprofit Charette Happens and his own firm called 9.square.

Before packing up to move to the suburbs of Philadelphia, Ferrari shared some of his thoughts about how to spur more affordable housing in Rochester.

"It's true, though some don't want to admit it, we do have an affordable housing problem," he said. "And it only gets worse as our economy gets stronger and it lags behind.

"Rochester needs to throw open the tool box and, in some cases, it needs to get more tool boxes."

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Ferrari said the market itself won't inspire developers to create affordable housing through new construction or renovation. He believes the city needs to make it attractive and easier for "risk-averse developers."

Part of it is changing the image of affordable housing, which causes neighborhoods to fight them.

"The term affordable housing is terrible. At the foundation, we used phrases like workforce housing, teacher housing, firefighter housing," he said. "You have to include the neighborhood from the start.  Then they are much more likely to agree."

According to Ferrari, the four general ways to encourage affordable housing are:

 Prohibit or mandate through the strict letter of the law:Inclusionary zoning and other zoning restrictions are examples of this approach.

 Incentivise by providing "a carrot:"The Rochester Downtown Alliance used this method with its Facade Improvement Grant program, which kick-started improvements.

 Lead by example:Ferrari said the Rochester Area Foundation attempted to through its housing projects in the Kutzky Park neighborhood.

 Leverage:The city can use leverage in situations such as the Metropolitan Market Place project and the downtown riverfront development proposal, where developers need to use city-controlled property.

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One method Ferrari favors is inclusionary zoning. The city could create an inclusionary housing policy, which would require adding a set percentage of affordable housing units to developments receiving city tax-increment-financing support, as well as ones needing conditional-use permits.

However, that legislated rule would not solve everything. On the flip side, similar to many developers, he also believes Rochester's complex zoning and permitting process is making it harder for affordable housing to be created.

"There's not enough freedom.  Zoning is not conducive to affordable housing. It's conducive to the same developers building the same things," said Ferrari. "We have a whole lot of rules that are bogging things down. They need to loosen some of the rules."

The hiring of a new city administrator and retirements among other top city staff members are good signs for the future, he said. To solve these new housing issues, new leadership and "a new culture" is needed, according to Ferrari.

"I'm very optimistic. I've see this community rally when there's a significant need," he said.
The start date and salary for Rochester's next city administrator could be finalized Monday.

The Rochester City Council is scheduled to consider an employment agreement for Steve Rymer , who was selected through a nationwide search that resulted in 27 applications .

Rymer said earlier this week he will need time to wrap up responsibilities in Morgan Hill, Calif., where he is city manager.

"As we transition between the two, it's really making sure it works so Morgan Hill is at a place they need to be to start their transition and then arrive here as soon as possible to start the transition in Rochester," he said. "It will be a couple-month process, I'm sure."

When it comes to salary, Rymer said he's aware the state's salary cap for city officials means his new paycheck will be smaller than his current one.

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Minnesota limits local government salaries to 110 percent of the governor's earnings. That means most city and county employees cannot take home more than $167,978, but Rochester has a waiver that allows a $173,055 salary for its city administrator.

The extended limit, however, remains well below the $248,000 salary Rymer earns as top administrator in the city of 44,000, according to the Morgan Hill Times .

Using a cost-of-living calculator on Salary.com, Rymer's current salary in nearby San Jose, Calif., would have the same spending power as $126,922 in Rochester.

In addition to his salary, the Morgan Hill City Council approved up to $900,000 for a home loan in 2014 and a $110,000 home-improvement loan in 2015 with the caveat that Rymer live in the city. When he leaves the position, he will have a year to pay off the loan, the Morgan Hill Times reported.

The Robbinsdale native said the advantages of being closer to family and working in a growing, vibrant community make the salary change worth it.

"Professionally, as well as personally, it's a great opportunity," he said.

Interim City Administrator Gary Neumann, who has been filling the position since Stevan Kvenvold retired after 38 years in the city's top administrator post, said he expects a smooth transition when Rymer comes to Rochester, calling him an "excellent choice" to fill the position.

During his interview with the city council, and following the council's decision, Rymer said his immediate goal when he arrives in Rochester will be to listen.

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"I'm really going to be in a listening mode and really working with the leadership team, employees, the council  and the community," he said this week.

The council will be discussing the employment agreement during a recessed council meeting at 3:30 p.m. Monday in room 104 of City Hall, 201 Fourth St. SE.

The council also will consider a temporary on-sale liquor license for Kinney Creek Brewery at the Aug. 5 Kegs & Barrels Fest and a special-event permit for the Aug. 5 DAV Car Show and Job Fair.

Following the recessed meeting, the council will hold its weekly committee of the whole meeting , which will include updates from the city clerk and the Finance/IT department, as well as a Destination Medical Center update and discussion of potential costs associated with livestreaming meetings held in room 104 of City Hall.
ALBERT LEA  First District Congressman Tim Walz will host a round-table discussion Monday at Albert Lea City Hall with city and county leaders to discuss Mayo Clinic's decision to end some hospital services at the hospital.

The discussion is expected to start at noon and is open to the public, though space is limited. Dozens to hundreds of concerned citizens have routinely packed meetings where the issue has been discussed since Mayo's June 12 announcement that some hospital services would be shifted from Albert Lea to Austin.

Mayo plans to shift overnight care, inpatient care for major surgeries, ICU and childbirth from Albert Lea to Austin.

Walz's news release did not identify who will be among the panel members, according to MNA spokesman Jay Armstrong.

Other participants will include members from Save Our Hospital, Albert Lea City Council, Freeborn County Board, local citizens and SEIU, another union that represents hospital employees; SEIU joined the conversation this week after meeting with MNA officials.

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Mayo spokeswoman Joan Gordon said Friday that it was not invited to participate in the round table; Walz has previously criticized Mayo's lack of communication about its consolidation. It's unclear if Mayo will have a representative at the discussion.

The meeting is being held after the city council, county board and school board unanimously approved resolutions opposing Mayo's decision, which was reached without seeking or receiving local input. Mayo has since informed the public that rural staffing issues and ongoing financial losses prompted its consolidation plans.

Mayo laid off three hospital employees last week, effective Sept. 27, in a move that pushes its consolidation plans forward. However, rumors of a second round of layoffs are unfounded, Gordon said.

"There were preliminary discussions earlier this week with SEIU representatives about a potential reduction in supply chain staff, but we have determined that no reductions will be necessary, and there will be no immediate impact to Albert Lea supply chain staff," Gordon said via email Friday evening. "Reports to the contrary on social media are incorrect."

Gordon says that staffing levels at both Austin and Albert Lea campuses are expected to remain "close to current levels when all the transitions are completed."
Neighborhoods across Rochester will be bustling with activity on Tuesday, as they participate in National Night Out, an annual event when local police departments across the nation help put the "unity" in "community."

Individuals can register their neighborhoods or themselves to participate and conduct an activity that evening. Darrel Hildebrant, coordinator of Rochester's National Night Out and a representative of the Rochester Police Department's Crime Prevention Unit, said that events range from wine tastings to cookouts; in someone's backyard to a city park in their neighborhood. Hildebrant said this event is, "lots and lots of fun" and "it's an 'in thing' right now."

Hildebrant said the purpose of National Night Out is about, "getting to know your neighbors and neighborhood so you know who belongs there, and you can report suspicious activity."

Hildebrant noted that seniors are hosting what he calls "national noon outs," they're having their parties after lunch rather than when most of the other parties occur, on average from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 or 8 p.m.

Numbers of participants for this event are booming  6,000 more people than last year have already registered for a total of 82,430 people participating in 431 different parties. These large numbers are not new for Rochester  Hildebrant said Rochester has been, "in the top three cities for attendance and participation the past 10 years  Orlando is in our same group, and every year, Mickey Mouse seems to beat us out."

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Registration is open through the event on Tuesday, and people who participated but did not register can do so afterward, to have their attendance count toward the city's grand total.
The so-called Trump Dossier appears to be something like the Rosetta Stone that will allow us to decipher the true story underlying the Trump/Russia collusion hysteria. The hysteria has been driven by the Democrats and their media adjunct to explain the shocking outcome of the 2016 election.

Ishmael Jones argued the fraudulence of the Trump Dossier here on Power Line yesterday. The FBI apparently thought the Trump Dossier was the real deal. John Brennan and James Clapper disseminated it in briefings to Presidents Obama and Trump. Leaks to the media followed in due course.

The provenance of the Trump Dossier lies with GPS Fusion. GPS Fusion is the for-hire political outfit paid to dig up dirt on targets, as Kim Strassel put it in her Wall Street Journal Potomac Watch column yesterday. For whom was GPS Fusion working in the matter of the Trump Dossier? GPS Fusion isnt saying. Strassel connects a few dots and offers a hypothesis or two:

We know that at the exact time Fusion was working with the Russians, the firm had also hired a former British spy, Christopher Steele, to dig up dirt on Mr. Trump. Mr. Steele compiled his material, according to his [Trump Dossier] memos, based on allegations from unnamed Kremlin insiders and other Russians. Many of the claims sound eerily similar to the sort of oppo [former Soviet counterintelligence officer] [Rinat] Akhmetshin peddled. [Akhmetshin attended the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump, Jr., Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner.] We know that [GPS Fusion co-founder Glenn] Simpson is tight with Democrats. His current attorney, Joshua Levy, used to work in Congress as counsel to no less than Chuck Schumer. We know from a [Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck] Grassley letter that Fusion has in the past sheltered its clients true identities by filtering money through law firms or shell companies (Bean LLC and Kernel LLC). Word is Mr. Simpson has made clear he will appear for a voluntary committee interview only if he is not specifically asked who hired him to dig dirt on Mr. Trump. Democrats are going to the mat for him over that demand. Those on the Judiciary Committee pointedly did not sign letters in which Mr. Grassley demanded that Fusion reveal who hired it. Heres a thought: What if it was the Democratic National Committee or Hillary Clintons campaign? What if that money flowed from a political entity on the left, to a private law firm, to Fusion, to a British spook, and then to Russian sources? Moreover, what if those Kremlin-tied sources already knew about this dirt-digging, tipped off by Mr. Akhmetshin? What if they specifically made up claims to dupe Mr. Steele, to trick him into writing this dossier?

Lee Smith has much more background on GPS Fusion in his Tablet column here. Ken Dilanian has more on Simpson in his NBC News report here.

Bill Browder did business in Russia through Hermitage Capital Management, of which he is the chief executive officer; Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian auditor/attorney who represented Hermitage Capital. Magnitsky was arrested as a result of his work for Hermitage Capital and murdered in prison.

On Thursday Browder testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his close encounters with GPS Fusion (as did Thor Halvorssen, for which see Smiths column above and Chuck Rosss account below). Natasha Bertrand has much more on Browder and GPS Fusion in this Business Insider column. Browders 2015 memoir is Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Mans Fight for Justice.

The text of Browders testimony submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee on FARA violations connected to the anti-Magnitsky Campaign by Russian government interests is posted online here by the Washington Examiner and here in PDF. Video of Browders testimony as given before the committee is posted here.

The text of Thor Halvorssens testimony to the committee is posted online here. The Daily Callers Chuck Ross has a good account of Halvorssens testimony and related background here.
By PTI: Colombo, Jul 29 (PTI) Sri Lanka today signed a USD 1.1 billion deal to sell a 70-per cent stake of the strategic Hambantota port to China, amid concerns over the massive debt the island nation incurred in building the port.

The deal had been delayed by several months over concerns that the deep-sea port could be used by the Chinese navy.

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Cash-rich China has invested millions of dollars in Sri Lankas infrastructure since the end of a brutal civil war in 2009.

As part of the deal, the stake in the loss-making port has been sold to Chinas state-run conglomerate China Merchant Port Holdings (CMPort).

Sri Lankas Minister of Ports and Shipping Mahinda Samarasinghe and Chinas envoy to Colombo Yi Xianliang were present when the Concession Agreement was signed.

Under the 99-year lease agreement, CMPort is to invest up to USD 1.1 billion in the port and marine-related activities.

"This is a very favourable agreement compared with the plan in 2014," Samarasinghe said, referring to the original plan laid out during former president Mahinda Rajapaksas tenure.

The agreement was open for further amendments, he said.

The deal may raise security concerns in India.

According to the new deal, only Sri Lankan Navy will be responsible for security of the deep-sea port, and the port will not be allowed to become a base for any foreign navy.

The new provision is seen as an attempt to allay Indias concerns over Chinese navys possible presence in Sri Lanka.

The port, overlooking the Indian Ocean, is expected to play a key role in Chinas Belt and Road initiative, which will link ports and roads between China and Europe.

The Sri Lankan government had to face huge opposition to the deal from trade unions, who called it a sellout of the countrys national assets to China.

Last week, petroleum workers brought the country to a standstill for two days by stopping fuel distribution. They

But Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said: "We are giving the country a better deal without any debt."

The accumulated loss from the port was more than USD 300 million and the money realised from deal will set off the debts owed to China, he said.

Sri Lankas Cabinet had on July 25 approved the transfer of stake in the port to the Chinese firm, tweaking the deal after the initial agreement sparked protests in the country.

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The initial 80:20 share distribution has been revised to 69.55 per cent to CMPort and 30.45 per cent to Sri Lanka Port Authority. PTI CORR ABH AKJ ABH

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I wrote here about the attempt of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity to obtain voter data from the states to determine whether, or to what extent, voter fraud is a problem. More than a few states have resisted, even though many of them make the same information available for purchase by campaigns, political parties, researchers or even the general public.

What, it must be asked, are these states trying to conceal?

A new study by the Government Accountability Institute suggests the answer. It shows that thousands of votes in the 2016 election were illegal duplicate votes from people who registered and voted in more than one state.

Our friend Hans von Spakovsky, a member of the Commission on Election Integrity, reports:

The Government Accountability Institute was able to obtain voter registration and voter history data from only 21 states because while some states shared it freely, others impose exorbitant costs or refuse to comply with voter information requests. . . The institute compared the lists using an extremely conservative matching approach that sought only to identify two votes cast in the same legal name. It found that 8,471 votes in 2016 were highly likely duplicates. Extrapolating this to all 50 states would likely produce, with high-confidence, around 45,000 duplicate votes.

The Government Accountability Institute wasnt content just to match names and birthdays, which can be the same for different individuals. It contracted with companies that have commercial databases to further cross-check these individuals using their Social Security numbers and other information. When names, birthdates and Social Security numbers are matched, there is virtually no chance of false positives.

Notice that the study is confined to only one type of voter fraud  cases where an individual uses the same name to vote in more than one state. It does not capture cases of ineligible voting by noncitizens and felons  likely the most common type of fraud  and absentee ballot fraud.

Even so, 45,000 fraudulent votes is not an inconsequential number. As Hans points out, Hillary Clinton won New Hampshire by fewer than 3,000 votes out of over 700,000 cast. (New Hampshire was one of the states that refused to turn over its data for this study. There have been allegations of Massachusetts residents voting there).

In addition, the 2000 presidential election was decided by 537 votes out of a total of 105 million cast. And in 2008, Al Franken won his Minnesota Senate race by a mere 312 votes. He ended up being the deciding vote that gave this country Obamacare.

The Institutes work should prove helpful to the Commission on Election Integrity as it overcomes obstacles thrown up by those who claim voter fraud doesnt exist, but are unwilling to have that claim tested.
Sara Carter reports that the FBIs top lawyer, James A. Baker, is said to be under investigation for leaking classified material that disclosed a top-secret U.S. surveillance program built by Yahoo Inc. The leaked information formed the basis for a story in Reuters. The Reuters story described how the the software program developed by Yahoo for the U.S. government allowed the intelligence community to search Yahoo emails containing specific characters or phrases.

According to Carter, a senior government official with close knowledge of the intelligence community alleges that Baker opposed the Yahoo Inc. software program. In addition, according to the same official, under Baker, many FISA warrants languished for both counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations.

Bakers positions on the Yahoo software program may (or may not) be meritorious. But leaking information about that top-secret program, if thats what happened, would place him in serious legal jeopardy.

Baker was appointed FBI general counsel by James Comey in 2014. According to Carter, he is a confidant of the former director.

Baker has a long and distinguished career working on intelligence matters. During the Bush Administration, he was counsel for intelligence policy and head of the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review. In 2006, Baker received the George H.W. Bush Award for Excellence in counterterrorism, the CIAs highest counterterrorism award.

Unfortunately, leaking in response to policy disagreements has become a way of life in Washington. If the FBIs general counsel indulged in this practice, it would underscore how pervasive the leak culture is and would cry out for the vigorous prosecution of this official.
By PTI: Colombo, Jul 28 (PTI) Sri Lanka will sign a deal with a Chinese firm to sell 70 per cent stake of the strategically- located Hambantota port at USD 1.12 billion, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said today.

The strategic deal that may raise security concerns in India will be signed tomorrow between state-owned China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPort) and Sri Lanka Port Authority. The CMPort will have a majority stake in the port.

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"We are giving the country a better deal without any debt," Wickremesinghe said.

He said the money realised from the 70 per cent transfer of equity on a 99-year lease of the Hambantota port will be set off against debts owed to China.

He said the accumulated loss at Hambantota was over USD 300 million.

Wickremesinghe said the government had agreed with the Opposition to have a parliamentary debate on the Hambantota deal but the sittings were disrupted and the House was adjourned till next week.

"How can they face it (the debate) when it was they who started it", Wickremesinghe said, referring to former president Mahinda Rajapaksas joint Opposition.

Sri Lankas Cabinet on July 25 approved the sale to a Chinese firm of a 70 per cent stake in the Hambantota port, tweaking the deal after the initial agreement sparked protests.

Accordingly, instead of 80:20 share distribution in the initial agreement shares of overall investment will be revised as 69.55 per cent to CMPort and 30.45 per cent to Sri Lanka Port Authority.

Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe earlier said that Sri Lankas navy will be responsible for security of the port which will not be allowed as a base for any foreign navy.

His comments are being seen as an attempt to allay Indian concerns over the Chinese presence in the Hambantota port. India perceives it as a danger to its national security.

The Chinese will manage port operations and Sri Lanka will handle port security, the minister said, indicating that it should allay fears that the port could be misused by the Chinese. PTI Corr UZM AKJ UZM

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Hyderabad, Jul 29 (PTI) The Palestines Ambassador to India today expressed hope that New Delhi would use its growing ties with Israel to find a lasting solution to the Palestinian problem.

Adnan Abu Alhaija said he was looking at India for political backing to the cause of the Palestinian people rather than social or humanitarian support.

He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting organised by the the Hyderabad chapter of the Indo-Arab League here.

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"India supports two schools (in Palestine). This is not the real thing we are looking for. We are always looking for political support," Alhaija said.

The envoy was replying to a query on the Indian governments support in social and medical fields.

He said India should follow the principle of "justice" while forging relationships with other countries.

The Palestinian envoy said they were not upset over Prime Minister Narendra Modis recent high-profile visit to Israel, a first by an Indian premier to the Jewish state.

"We see it as a matter of bilateral relations of India with other countries," Alhaija said.

"As long as that (deepening of the ties with Israel) is not affecting Indias support to the Palestinian cause, the attitude of India towards the Palestinian cause, we could say its bilateral relation. As I said, we hope India will use this relation to find a solution to the Palestinian cause."

The envoy said he will soon approach the Indian government to seek support on the issue of Al Aqsa mosque.

Violence recently erupted at the mosque in East Jerusalem after Israeli authorities installed metal detectors outside the shrine as part of enhanced security measures.

Security was stepped up at the holy site after two Israeli police officers were shot dead on July 14. The move sparked protests from the Palestinians.

Asked about bilateral trade relations, Alhaija said a Palestinian business delegation is expected to visit India shortly to explore possibility to further expand economic ties.

The envoy said he has requested trade bodies, such as FICCI and CII to organise a meeting with Indian businessmen for the delegation members to encourage investment in Palestine. PTI GDK ARS RSY TIR ARC TIR

--- ENDS ---
MARGATE  The flow of new information on a federal prescription-drug investigation among city employees on Absecon Island this week has slowed, but city officials have released some financials to quell concerns about city involvement or knowledge of the scheme.

For months there has been rumor and speculation about an FBI probe of prescription fraud involving doctors, pharmacies and public employees within Atlantic County, Margate Business Administrator Rich Deaney said during the July 20 commission meeting.

Three towns  Atlantic City, Ventnor and Margate  have confirmed they were subpoenaed in June for information on employees using certain prescription plans.

Last week, Margate officials tried to get ahead of those rumors, laying out health benefits costs to taxpayers after concerns arose about the possible financial impact to the city.

It has been reported that Margates costs for prescriptions have risen substantially in the past three years. That is simply not true. Our premiums have been relatively stable, varying by less than 4 percent over a three-year period, Mayor Mike Becker said at the City Commission meeting.

According to numbers presented by Margate, the total cost of health insurance premiums to the city between 2014 and 2016 has risen from $2.4 million to $2.8 million.

But it wasnt the cost to taxpayers that drew attention. It was the rise in the gross cost of brand-name prescriptions being filled, a burden paid by the insurance plans to the pharmacies.

In 2010, Margate employees filled prescriptions for 2,207 brand-name drugs with a cost of $539,114. In 2014, 1,265 prescriptions were filled costing $713,935. But in 2015, 1,394 prescriptions were filled totaling $3.4 million.

Deaney said prescription-drug fraud is not unique to Downbeach.

Nationwide, there reportedly has been a 3,000 percent increase in the dispensing of compound drugs in the past several years, he said.

Longport Mayor Nick Russo, who said the borough did not receive a subpoena, said that he had seen similar types of schemes during his time as a state supervisor of investigations with the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice and teacher of graduate-level courses in criminal justice through the University of Phoenix.

Russo described one federal case in the southern part of the U.S. in which a number of public employees had been caught up in a scheme that kicked back to people who filled prescriptions for supplements intended to improve health, fitness or weight loss. While those supplements purchased over-the-counter could be very expensive, a person with a good health insurance plan could have them filled by prescription.

Russo said he has no firsthand knowledge about such a scheme in Atlantic County, but just what he has read and researched. He added there could be a disproportionate number of people who are in public safety who work hard to stay in shape, making them a target.

And, Russo pointed out, getting a prescription filled is not a crime if you have a legitimate need for it and if the doctor has prescribed it.

Any indictments or charges handed down in a multijurisdictional medical fraud case will come from the federal grand jury, whose proceedings are done in secret.

Deaney said that neither Margate nor any other of the 700 local governments participating in the State Health Benefits Plan receive reports listing claim experience unless they specifically request them.

The only way to get reports sorted by municipality is to request a special report to be produced at a fee of several thousand dollars each, he said. Your professionals are not here to manage prescription claims (a private matter between doctors and patients); your professionals are here to manage costs which are being contained.

 Staff Writers Suzanne Marino and Nanette LoBiondo Galloway contributed to this report
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Last November, nearly 80 percent of New Jersey voters showed up at the polls to vote against expanding gaming outside of Atlantic City. Voters saw through the false fiscal projections and empty promises of outside big-money interests who stood to gain enormously, while taxpayers stood to lose an estimated $2 billion in economic activity and 30,000 jobs.

Despite voters overwhelming opposition at the polls, expansion proponents wasted no time in circumventing their will. Out-of-state gaming corporations immediately began working with legislators behind closed doors to draft bills that would allow various forms of gaming expansion without another referendum vote, including Historical Horse Racing, video lottery terminals, racetrack slot parlors and racetrack internet gaming cafes. Each of these concepts is nothing more than a backdoor effort to allow gaming expansion at any cost.

Expansion proponents continue to run into two big problems with their efforts to skirt the results from this past Novembers ballot result  the unconstitutionality of gaming expansion within the two-year period of its ballot failure and the lack of credibility by both the developers and the elected officials who support this cause.

The referendum system allows voters in New Jersey to have their voices heard on critical issues that we face as a state. For years, voters have determined public policy through this system and elected officials have been forced to respect those policies. By allowing residents to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment, it adds another check and balance to the Legislature, while preventing bad legislation from being passed after the public has already spoken out on a particular issue. The current effort to expand gaming in the face of Novembers referendum result undermines our system of government and the state constitution.

Gaming expansion proponents also face a real lack of credibility with their claims of increased revenue and job creation  the same issues they faced in their failed campaign on Question One last November. Billionaire developer Jeff Gural, who was the loudest voice and biggest funder of casino expansion, has a troubling track record of making promises to state government officials and residents, then making threats when things do not go his way. Recently, Gural threatened New York State officials with closing his Vernon Downs racetrack and casino if they did not provide him with the tax breaks he felt he was entitled to. This was after his revenue promises went unmet and education commitments to students in the Empire State suffered.

This is just a glimpse of what is to come if New Jersey residents buy what Gural and his Trenton friends  many of whom have accepted thousands in political contributions  are selling. If the special interests are allowed to expand gaming in New Jersey, voters will be in a no-win situation where we would be held captive by an out-of-state developer who threatens to close up shop whenever he fails to get the payback from Trenton he feels he is owed.

We need decision makers in Trenton to make the well-being of our citizens their top priority. But as we struggle to fund our childrens schools, maintain crumbling infrastructure and meet staggering pension obligations to public workers, Trenton politicians are spending their time and energy making another desperate attempt to reward New York developers and big campaign donors with taxpayer dollars. These gaming expansion bills are nothing more than another shady deal hatched in the backrooms of Trenton helping billionaires and leaving New Jersey residents footing the bill when their projects inevitably fail.

New Jersey has seen this show before. Time and again Trenton politicians promised to protect the pensions of law enforcement and state workers, but failed to do so; time and again Trenton politicians promised to invest resources into the Transportation Trust Fund to maintain and enhance the states infrastructure, but used the resources as a personal piggy bank for pet projects; time and again Trenton politicians promised to lower property taxes, yet New Jersey has some of the highest taxes in the country. This latest promise on gaming expansion serving as some sort of revenue panacea is just another fiction made up in the state capitol that has little to no hope of materializing.

The people of New Jersey deserve a government that respects their will, their vote and their state constitution. Trenton politicians owe it to the taxpayers, residents and small business owners of New Jersey to respect their wishes, put their interests first and stop this shadow expansion effort.

Bob McDevitt is president Unite Here Local 54; Patty Abrahamsen is a councilwoman in Rockaway Township; Pastor David Rios represents the Passaic County Spanish Clergy Organization (La Alianza Civica Ministerial); and Greg Balderacchi is a board member of Trentons Bad Bet.
A rare summer nor'easter dropped more than 5 inches of rain over the region Friday into Saturday, bringing with it strong winds and flooding to coastal areas, and, in part of Cape May County, a conserve-water advisory.

Beth Ann Lumpkin, of Mantua Township, Gloucester County, who has a home at 22nd Street and Haven Avenue in Ocean City, said Saturday's flooding was the worst she has experienced on the island.

"Today was pretty bad, but obviously my son had a good time in the flooding, so it's not all bad for a day in Ocean City. Better to be here than back home," she said.

Lumpkin's son, Ryan Gambill, 11, took advantage of the water as a place to splash around with friend James Reagan, 11, of Blackwood, Camden County.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Sea Isle City's Office of Emergency Management announced the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority had temporarily shut down its wastewater pumps due to the severe rain. As a result, the city asked residents to conserve water used for washing dishes, bathing, doing laundry and other tasks. The MUA pumps wastewater for Sea Isle, Avalon and Stone Harbor.

Residents throughout South Jersey prepared Friday by moving cars to higher ground and securing outdoor furniture. The storm played out as predicted. Flash flood warnings were issued for residents from Cape May to Pleasantville, and by Saturday afternoon, the rain became a trickle.

Still, low-lying areas near the beach did what they are prone to do: flood. For most areas, flooding remained minor through the morning, receding by 11 a.m.

In downtown Mays Landing, only a few streets still held water along the curbs after sunrise, though flooding remained an issue later in the day. Police issued an advisory saying Old Egg Harbor Road was closed between Route 40 and Pinehurst Drive due to flooding about 3:30 p.m. By about 5:30 p.m., that had improved to one lane open northbound.

In Ocean City, flood-prone areas near Haven and Simpson avenues rose to the occasion for most of the morning.

Lumpkin said the water had receded greatly since earlier in the day, when it came up over the sidewalk.

"You know you don't park on this side of the street when it rains because you know there could be flooding," Lumpkin said. "This actually has gone down pretty dramatically."

In Margate, police had blocked off Winchester Avenue at Gladstone Avenue due to flooding. At least a foot of water trapped some residents in their homes.

Richard Koff, of Margate, who was sitting on his porch with his dog at Granville Avenue, said he is used to flooding at his home.

Koff said a Maserati parked down the street in about a foot of water was left there after a flood from a storm last week. Homeowners in the area know to move their cars to higher ground when large rainstorms are predicted, he said.

"We were expecting this. With a big storm, this intersection floods out every storm," he said.

On the beach side, the overnight rain caused 15-inch-deep pools between the dune and the bulkhead in areas from Fredericksburg to Exeter avenues.

These pools are exacerbating an already tense situation between residents and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is conducting a much-protested beach fill and dune project there.

The predictions made last year have come true, Argyle Avenue resident Vincent Castronuovo said about 10 a.m.

Castronuovo was at the bulkhead to tell parents not to let their children play in the storm water, which can contain bacteria, animal waste and pollutants.

Meanwhile, Ventnor Avenue from Longport through Atlantic City was clear for motorists.

Wind from the storm is expected to persist into Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

Staff Writer Nanette LoBiondo Galloway contributed to this report.
By PTI: Omar

Srinagar, Jul 29 (PTI) Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today termed as "unbelievably scary" the "justification" for the Armed Forces Tribunal decisions to grant bail to five army personnel convicted in the 2010 Macchil fake encounter case.

The Armed Forces Tribunal suspended the life sentence awarded to the Army personnel, including two officers, for allegedly staging the killing of three Kashmiri men in Macchil and granted them bail.

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"They wore Pathan suits, which are worn by terrorists... What an unbelievably scary justification. You can be killed for what you wear!" Abdullah wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.

He was reacting to a media report that claimed the tribunal had suspended their sentence and granted them bail on the grounds that the victims of the encounter were wearing Pathan suits which are worn by terrorists.

The five army personnel had approached the tribunal challenging the punishment given to them following court martial proceedings in 2014.

The encounter of the three civilians on the intervening night of April 29 and 30 in 2010 in Macchil sector had triggered widespread outrage and violence in the state. PTI MIJ AAR

--- ENDS ---
TORONTO, July 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Deanna Sgro nominated as Ontario Liberal Party candidate for new riding of Humber RiverBlack Creek.

Deanna Sgro, a lawyer and community volunteer was nominated as the Ontario Liberal Party candidate for the new riding of Humber RiverBlack Creek in north Toronto.

Ontario Provincial Liberal Candidate (PRNewsfoto/Deanna Sgro)

Sgro outlined why she is running, saying, "We need to make sure the economic growth Ontario is seeing is fairly shared and felt in everyone's daily lives. That's why I strongly support raising the minimum wage. It's also why, as a mom with two kids of university age, I'm so pleased Ontario Liberals will ensure free post-secondary education to those families and students who cannot otherwise afford it. Free tuition is a true game-changer for so many families, one that will make a real difference in the lives of our children, and parents' pocketbooks. It'll even let adults go back to school affordably.

"We are rightly proud of our health-care system as Canadians; the new OHIP+ program to provide children and youth free pharmacare is another way the Ontario Liberal government is working to make life more affordable for families," Sgro added, continuing, "Whether transit or child care, good schools or a clean environment  the policies our government champions are so important. That's why winning the next election is so important."

Deanna Sgro was endorsed by the longtime Member of Provincial Parliament for the area, Mario Sergio, who recently announced he will not seek reelection after forty years in public service. Sergio said, "I am thrilled Deanna Sgro, a dedicated community leader, will become my successor as Ontario Liberal candidate in the new riding of Humber RiverBlack Creek."

As the middle child of the Hon. Judy Sgro, the long-time federal Member of Parliament for the area, Deanna Sgro noted that, if elected, Humber RiverBlack Creek will be served by the first "mother-daughter team" in Canadian politics, noting, "There have been plenty of father-son duos in Canadian politics. I think this says something rather nice about how far women have come in politics, and the work we continue to do to ensure equality and to inspire young girls to know that any role is open to them."

About Deanna Sgro

Deanna Sgro is a lawyer, working as General Counsel and Vice-President Corporate Services at a North American-leading customer management firm, which employs over 600 workers in the GTA. Born and raised in Toronto, Sgro attended local schools in the community and graduated from York University and Osgoode Hall Law School, where she earned both a JD and an LLM. She is a practicing lawyer and leader in the community, devoting her time as a volunteer regularly to causes including the Mackenzie Health Foundation and Law Help Ontario.

SOURCE Deanna Sgro
LAKEWOOD, Colo., July 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- General Moly, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE MKT and TSX: GMO), the only western exchange listed, pure-play molybdenum mineral development company, will be participating at two upcoming investment conferences in New Jersey and New York. General Moly CEO Bruce D. Hansen will be making presentations and meeting with investors at the conferences.

Mr. Hansen will present at the John Tumazos Very Independent Research Metals Conference in Holmdel, New Jersey at 3:40 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, August 3, 2017.

The following week, Mr. Hansen will present at the Jefferies Industrials' Conference in New York City at 11:20 a.m. ET on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. Both presentations will be posted and webcast live at the relevant times with available playback via the investor section of www.generalmoly.com.

In his presentations, Mr. Hansen will provide highlights of the Company's Mt. Hope Project in Nevada, including advancing completion of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act towards a Record of Decision, and discuss the positive long-term supply and demand fundamentals for molybdenum.

Last month, the Company launched a new blog, Moly Bits, by Mr. Hansen, commenting on how molybdenum demand benefits from a rebounding oil and gas industry, in addition to robust growth in the global liquid natural gas market. The blog may be accessed through http://generalmoly.com/molybits.php.

About General Moly

General Moly is a U.S.-based molybdenum mineral development, exploration and mining company listed on the NYSE MKT and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GMO. The Company's primary asset, an 80% interest in the Mt. Hope Project located in central Nevada, is considered one of the world's largest and highest grade molybdenum deposits. Combined with the Company's wholly-owned Liberty Project, a molybdenum and copper property also located in central Nevada, General Moly's goal is to become the largest pure play primary molybdenum producer in the world.

Molybdenum is a metallic element used primarily as an alloy agent in steel manufacturing. When added to steel, molybdenum enhances steel strength, resistance to corrosion and extreme temperature performance. In the chemical and petrochemical industries, molybdenum is used in catalysts, especially for cleaner burning fuels by removing sulfur from liquid fuels, and in corrosion inhibitors, high performance lubricants and polymers.

Contact:

Scott Roswell

(303) 928-8591

[email protected]

Website: www.generalmoly.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements herein that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by such sections. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated, expected, or implied by the Company. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to metals price and production volatility, global economic conditions, currency fluctuations, increased production costs and variances in ore grade or recovery rates from those assumed in mining plans, exploration risks and results, political, operational and project development risks, including the Company's ability to obtain a re-grant of its water permits and Record of Decision, ability to maintain required federal and state permits to continue construction, and commence production, ability to raise required project financing, ability to respond to adverse governmental regulation and judicial outcomes, and ability to maintain and /or adjust estimates related to cost of production, capital, operating and exploration expenditures. For a detailed discussion of risks and other factors that may impact these forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors and other discussion contained in the Company's quarterly and annual periodic reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K, on file with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements.

SOURCE General Moly, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.generalmoly.com


FOUR PAWS brings two lions and two dogs from Syria to Turkey for medical treatment.

BOSTON, July 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - A happy ending for the remaining zoo animals from Syria: the international animal welfare organization FOUR PAWS, together with the Turkish Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, Turkish volunteers and security experts, has managed to evacuate four more animals, including two lions and two dogs, from the "Magic World" amusement park near Aleppo. Just over a week ago, nine other animals were rescued from the same zoo; with the latest rescue, all thirteen abandoned animals from the Syrian zoo have arrived in Turkey. There they will receive medical treatment in the wildlife rescue center Karacabey until they are fit enough to be transported to a species-appropriate home.

Four Paws mission completed photo copyright: Ahu Savan An (CNW Group/FOUR PAWS)

The evacuation of the last four of the thirteen zoo animals posed again a huge challenge to the animal welfare organization FOUR PAWS. "Just the fact that the first nine animals were brought out of Syria is a miracle. It was an organizational and logistical feat. It makes us incredibly happy that we could rescue the remaining animals who were still suffering. We would not have been able to achieve this without the many Turkish volunteers, who helped with the logistics and provided us with important contacts on-site. Many of them took time out of their job or even came from abroad to help. We are also very grateful for the support of the Turkish government which opened the border for us," says FOUR PAWS vet and head of the mission Dr Amir Khalil. The five lions, two tigers, two Asian black bears, two hyenas and two dogs can finally hope for a better future. The animals are being given medical treatment in the wildlife rescue center Karacabey near the city of Bursa before they make the final journey to their permanent homes. "The help that we are receiving in Karacabey is tremendous. However, FOUR PAWS has a very good selection of options for the animals between our sanctuaries in Jordan, South Africa, and the Netherlands. Given the critical condition of some animals we need to transfer them to a place that is well-equipped for special medical treatments as soon as possible," says Dr Khalil.

Diagnoses: parasites, injuries and cardiac arrest

The results of the first medical examinations have shown that many of the animals are not only severely malnourished but traumatized as well. In addition to psychological damage, some animals have minor wounds or are infected with parasites. However, living in a war zone has scarred some more than others. "Unfortunately, the male hyena is completely blind and the female is suffering from a severe kidney disease. The medical condition of both tigers has also taken a hit. One even suffered a cardiac arrest, but we were able to resuscitate him," reports the head veterinarian of the Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research Berlin Dr Frank Goritz, who is supporting the FOUR PAWS team together with local vets. All thirteen animals are expected to survive though.

Joint mission with Turkish government, Turkish volunteers, security experts and major donor

The cooperation with the Turkish Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, Turkish volunteers and security experts, who have a lot of previous experience working in Syria, has been essential to the success of the mission which took months to plan. The security team handled the evacuation of the animals from the zoo and their transport to the Syrian-Turkish border, where the FOUR PAWS rapid response team took the animals into their care and took them further into Turkey. The challenging rescue operation was financially supported by a substantial donation from the US journalist, businessman, and animal conservationist, Eric Margolis. "I am so relieved that the rescue operation was successful. The zoo animals had no chance of escaping their tiny cages. They were surrounded by bomb explosions and gunshots every single day. This mission has saved their lives. I look forward to visiting the animals soon in their new homes," says Margolis.

SOURCE FOUR PAWS
LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lundin Law PC, a shareholder rights firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit against Lexmark International, Inc. ("Lexmark" or the "Company") (NYSE: LXK) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws between August 1, 2014 and July 20, 2015, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares during the Class Period should contact the firm prior to the September 19, 2017 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

To participate in this class action lawsuit, click here.

You can also call Brian Lundin, Esq., of Lundin Law PC, at 888-713-1033, or you can e-mail him at [email protected].

No class has been certified in the above action yet. Until a class is certified, you are not considered represented by an attorney. You may choose to do nothing and be an absent class member as well.

According to the Complaint, throughout the Class Period, Lexmark made materially false and/or misleading statements, and/or failed to disclose, that: end-user demand and growth for the Company's supplies business was deteriorating; that pricing increases were the primary driver of supplies revenue growth, not end-user demand; that customers in the supplies channel reacted by buying ahead of anticipated pricing increases; and that as a result, there were excessive inventory levels at its European wholesale distributors. On July 21, 2015, Lexmark reported poor results for its second quarter ending June 30, 2015 and lowered its 2015 sales guidance. The Company revealed its supplies growth was not attributable to end-user demand but rather the result of its European customers buying ahead of customary price increases which produced excessive inventory. Upon release of this news, shares of Lexmark fell in value materially, which caused investors harm according to the Complaint.

Lundin Law PC was established by Brian Lundin, Esq., a securities litigator based in Los Angeles dedicated to upholding shareholders' rights.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

Contact:

Lundin Law PC

Brian Lundin, Esq.

Telephone: 888-713-1033

Facsimile: 888-713-1125

[email protected]

http://lundinlawpc.com/

SOURCE Lundin Law PC

Related Links

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Corky Harvey, MS, RN, IBCLC is a co-founder of the Pump Station & Nurtury. Laura Markham, Ph.D the author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids : How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting . Nina Spears a doula and postpartum baby care expert. Chris Pegula the author of Diaper Dude and Dude to Dad. Pediatrician Jeremy Friedman has published more than 25 book on parenting. Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Jenn Mann is a bestselling author of Supper baby and A-Z guide to raising happy confident kids.She is the host and lead therapist on VH1's Couple's Therapy. Ryan Jordan is the founder and CEO of Educated Nannies in Los Angeles. Ryan has over twenty years of experience working with children and families as a teacher, nanny, and tutor. AJ Jonesco , a DONA trained Postpartum Doula and Newborn Care Specialist at for The Pump Station and Nurtury.

To encourage education of new parents many brands are giving away prizes to parents that tune in and ask questions.

"We learn as we go and it is not going to be perfect but seeking out resources and asking for help is what I learned as a mother of four", says Brooke Burke-Charvet.

The show will also stream to Facebook.com/kidsinthehouse and allows parents to ask questions.

"My aim with Kids in the House is for parents to feel like they have pediatricians, top expert and other parents who have hard earned wisdom to share at their fingertips with one click", says Kids in the House CEO Leana Greene.

There is $10 billion worth of self-improvement books sold every year. But even though many parenting books are being sold, many parents feel too overwhelmed to read when they're in the thick of it. The books end up collecting dust on the nightstand. Therefore, video resource like Kids in the House is really helping parents to get quick and easy answers.

The millennial parents are of the mindset that there is no one way to parent. It's important to hear left right and center on the topic by watching videos and hearing from different experts. Parents can quickly distinguish what method might work better for them. I feel Kids in the House is a way to equalize the access to the best experts in the world. You might not be able to afford or be in the right location to see the top expert on a specific topic but with today's technology is now possible. Please check out this incredible episode on the link below.

https://www.kidsinthehouse.com/

SOURCE Kids in the House

Related Links

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"The collaboration with Plug and Play as a member in the new energy program is a key initiative for Siemens to develop the relationship with leading startup companies in the energy and adjacent markets. We are passionate about this partnership and the opportunities that come with the connection to this global ecosystem," says Zuozhi Zhao, Chief Technology Officer of the Power and Gas Division of Siemens.

"This partnership with Plug and Play supports the implementation of our innovation roadmap for topics that address the changes in the energy market. Key targets include the reduction of emissions, the utilization of digital technologies and new business models, the increase of energy efficiency, and the management of the growing renewable install base, all embraced by the Energy and Sustainability Program," says Bernd Wachmann, Head of Innovation of the Power and Gas Division of Siemens. "With its global customer base, its broad portfolio and the global sales channels Siemens offers huge opportunities for startups."

"Plug and Play has built the critical mass and developed the know-how to foster startup innovation in partnership with the leading corporations around the world. Our partners in the energy sector have line-of-site into the emerging technologies across various sectors like finance, automotive, retail, new materials, etc. The Energy platform serves to find new technologies in artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance, blockchain, data analytics, machine learning, supply chain optimization, Industrial IoT, asset tracking, cybersecurity, and more in order to adapt them for the energy sector," says Wade Bitaraf, Director of Plug and Play Energy & Sustainability.

Plug and Play Energy & Sustainability will run 12-week business development programs twice per year, accepting up to 20 startups per class. This program is stage-agnostic and does not require equity or fees from the startups to participate. For startups and corporations interested in joining, contact [email protected]

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world's largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment  such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems  and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2016, which ended on September 30, 2016, Siemens generated revenue of 79.6 billion and net income of 5.6 billion. At the end of September 2016, the company had around 351,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. We connect startups to corporations and invest in over 150 companies every year. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in 24 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 180 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 365 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $6 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/energy

Media Contact

Allison Romero

(408)524-1457

[email protected]

SOURCE Plug and Play

Related Links

http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com


WASHINGTON, July 29, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

FIRST CAR AD

Profile America  Saturday, July 29th. The nation's love affair with automobiles is generations old. Our devotion can be traced down through the decades by looking at advertising, as cars progressed from romantic if noisy new playthings to a near necessity in our vast country. The first known national ad promoting a car appeared in late July 1898 in the Scientific American magazine. It was for the now forgotten Winton Motor Carriage with the headline "dispense with a horse." Americans did just that, and by 1906, 57 car companies spent over a half-million dollars advertising in 12 national magazines. Today, joining auto manufacturers in advertising the latest models are many of the country's more than 21,400 new car dealers. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources:

Winton story and ad/accessed 4/28/2017: www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/07/dayintech_0730/

Auto advertising and early carmakers/accessed 4/28/2017: http://adage.com/article/news/100-years-auto-ads-a-100-year-ride-fulfills-advertising-s-destiny-good-times-bad-product-invented-matches-automobile-perfect-vehicle-show-ad-part-1/80641/

New car dealers/County Business Patterns/NAICS 441110: https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2015/00A1//naics~441110

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotion of the U.S. Census Bureau. Statistics and accounts drawn from cited non-Census sources are employed for illustrative or narrative purposes, and are not attested to by the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Audio" in the "Library" pull-down menu).

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

Related Links

http://www.census.gov


TOLEDO, Ohio, July 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Welltower Inc. (NYSE: HCN) today announced results for the quarter ended June 30, 2017. For the quarter, we generated net income attributable to common stockholders of $0.51 per share and normalized FFO attributable to common stockholders of $1.06 per share.

Quarterly Highlights

Seniors housing operating SSNOI grew 3.5% and SS REVPOR grew 3.9%

Increasing total SSNOI guidance to 2.25%-3% from 2%-3% due to stronger 1H17 seniors housing operating performance

Net debt to undepreciated book capitalization declined to 35.0% from 39.2% at 6/30/16

Net debt to adjusted EBITDA improved to 5.17x from 5.47x in 2Q16

"Our core diversified health care real estate platform continues to drive outperformance and demonstrates the value of owning best in class real estate managed by the industry's top operators," commented CEO Tom DeRosa. "Increasing demand for high-end seniors housing has led to pricing power and enabled Welltower to drive consistent rate growth. We are pleased to be raising guidance for our total same store portfolio as a result of our strong first half performance."

Capital Activity On June 30, 2017, we had $442 million of cash and cash equivalents and $2.6 billion of available borrowing capacity under our primary unsecured credit facility. During the second quarter, we generated approximately $192 million in proceeds under our ATM program at an average price of $72.56. In addition, we extinguished $182 million of secured debt during the quarter, bringing our year to date retirement of debt and preferred securities to $1.275 billion at a blended average rate of 5.6%.

Outlook for 2017 Net income attributable to common stockholders has been revised to a range of $2.32 to $2.42 per diluted share from the previous range of $2.39 to $2.49 per diluted share primarily due to the normalizing items in Exhibit 1 and impairments. We are affirming our 2017 normalized FFO attributable to common stockholders guidance and expect to report in a range of $4.15 to $4.25 per diluted share. As previously disclosed, we will no longer report FAD, primarily because it could be considered a liquidity metric, but we will provide relevant data components. In preparing our guidance, we have updated the following assumptions:

Same Store NOI : We are increasing SSNOI guidance and now expect average blended SSNOI growth of approximately 2.25%-3% in 2017, up from 2%-3% primarily due to better than expected performance in our seniors housing operating portfolio in the first half of 2017.

: We are increasing SSNOI guidance and now expect average blended SSNOI growth of approximately 2.25%-3% in 2017, up from 2%-3% primarily due to better than expected performance in our seniors housing operating portfolio in the first half of 2017. Acquisitions : 2017 earnings guidance excludes any additional potential acquisitions beyond what has been announced.

: 2017 earnings guidance excludes any additional potential acquisitions beyond what has been announced. Development : We anticipate funding additional development of approximately $173 million in 2017 relating to projects underway on June 30, 2017 . We expect development conversions during the remainder of 2017 of approximately $143 million , which are currently expected to generate stabilized yields of approximately 8.8%. These projections exclude the development projects in London and midtown Manhattan which are still in the planning stages.

: We anticipate funding additional development of approximately in 2017 relating to projects underway on . We expect development conversions during the remainder of 2017 of approximately , which are currently expected to generate stabilized yields of approximately 8.8%. These projections exclude the development projects in and midtown which are still in the planning stages. Dispositions : We continue to anticipate approximately $2 billion of disposition proceeds at a blended yield of 7.6% in 2017. This includes approximately $1.3 billion of proceeds from dispositions completed to-date and $0.7 billion of incremental proceeds from other potential loan payoffs and property sales.

Our guidance does not include any additional investments, dispositions or capital transactions beyond what we have announced, nor any transaction costs, impairments, unanticipated additions to the loan loss reserve or other additional normalizing items. Please see the exhibits for a reconciliation of the outlook for net income available to common stockholders to normalized FFO attributable to common stockholders. We will provide additional detail regarding our 2017 outlook and assumptions on the second quarter 2017 conference call.

Dividend Growth As previously announced, the Board of Directors declared a cash dividend for the quarter ended June 30, 2017 of $0.87 per share, as compared to $0.86 per share for the same period in 2016. On August 21, 2017, we will pay our 185th consecutive quarterly cash dividend. The declaration and payment of future quarterly dividends remains subject to review and approval by the Board of Directors.

Investment and Disposition Activity We completed $292 million of pro rata gross investments for the quarter including $110 million in acquisitions/JVs, $162 million in development funding and $20 million in loans. 92% of these investments were completed with existing relationships. Acquisitions/JVs were comprised of four separate transactions at a blended yield of 6.5%. The development fundings are expected to yield 7.8% upon stabilization and the loans were made at a blended rate of 6.6%. We also placed into service 10 development projects totaling $273 million at a blended stabilized yield of 7.6%. Also during the quarter, we completed total dispositions of $160 million consisting of loan payoffs of $43 million at an average yield of 8.9% and property sales of $117 million at a blended yield on proceeds of 9.3%.

Notable Investments with Existing Operating Partners

Legend Senior Living We expanded our relationship with Legend by acquiring two purpose-built, private pay seniors housing properties located in Tulsa, OK and Greeley, CO. The properties were acquired through our existing 88/12 joint venture with Legend and the purchase price based on a 100% ownership interest was $49 million. These properties were added to an existing long-term master lease at an initial lease yield of 6.25% and which escalates 3.25% annually. Since starting our initial $6 million development in 2005, we have completed $547 million of follow-on investments with Legend.

Sagora Senior Living We expanded our relationship with Sagora by acquiring a 100% ownership interest in a 90-unit private pay seniors housing property owned by a third party and located in the Houston MSA for $24 million. The property opened in 2015 and was added to a master lease which has a corporate guarantee and expires in 2032. The initial lease yield is 6.25% with 5% annual increasers for the first two years and then 3.5% annual increasers thereafter. Since closing our initial $8.5 million acquisition in 2010, we have completed $460 million of follow-on investments with Sagora.

Ascension Health We acquired an on-campus, affiliated outpatient medical office building in the Austin MSA. The purchase price was $19 million, representing a 6.7% stabilized cap rate. The property is 80,734 rentable square feet, was built in 2014, and is 75.8% leased. It is located on the campus of a 93-bed Ascension Health affiliated hospital. Ascension Health, the largest non-profit health system in the U.S. and the world's largest Catholic health system, encompasses 15,721 staffed beds across 128 hospitals and generates $17.7 billion of annual net patient revenues.

Notable Investments with New Operating Partners

University of California Irvine Health We acquired an off-campus, affiliated outpatient medical office building in Costa Mesa, CA in a 55/45 joint venture with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The purchase price based upon 100% ownership interest was $43 million, which represents a year one cap rate of 6.9%. After factoring in the above market rate debt, the effective cap rate is 6.2%. The property is 76,880 rentable square feet, was built in 2007, and is 93% leased. UC Irvine Health leases 39% of the building's RSF and is a new tenant for Welltower. UC Irvine Health is owned and operated by The Regents of the University of California (Moody's A2), a public university system with 10 campuses.

Notable Development Conversions

Sunrise Senior Living We expanded our relationships with Sunrise and Revera by completing the development of two private pay, seniors housing properties located in Bath and High Wycombe, U.K. for 24 million based upon 100% ownership. Revera is a 25% joint venture partner. The purchase price represents an 8.1% stabilized return on cost. Since closing our initial $243 million acquisition in 2012, we have completed $5.1 billion of follow-on pro rata investments with Sunrise.

Brandywine Living We expanded our relationship with Brandywine by completing the development of a 120-unit senior housing property located in the New York MSA. The investment amount based upon 100% ownership interest was $53 million and the property was added to a newly-created master lease in a 95/5 joint venture at an initial lease yield of 7.0%. There are outsized annual escalators for the first five years of the lease followed by 25 basis point annual escalators thereafter. Since closing our initial $599 million acquisition/leaseback in 2010, we have completed $397 million of follow-on pro rata investments with Brandywine.

Kisco We expanded our relationship with Kisco by completing the development of 60 assisted living, memory care and private pay long-term/post-acute units as part of a private pay, rental continuing care retirement community campus located in the North Hills area of Raleigh, NC. The 165 IL units were completed in 1Q17. The investment amount based on 100% ownership interest was $23 million and the property was added to a master lease at an initial lease yield of 8.0% in our existing 85/15 joint venture. There are no increasers for the first five years and 25 basis point annual increasers thereafter. Since closing our initial $19 million acquisition in 2012, we have completed $137 million of follow-on investments with Kisco.

Medstar We completed a 46,326 square foot development of an outpatient medical building in Timonium, MD that is 100% leased by Medstar Health. The investment amount was $21 million and the yield on the development is 6.0%.

St. John Providence We completed a 56,211 square foot development of an outpatient medical building in Howell, MI that is 70% leased by St. John Providence, a subsidiary of Ascension Health, with the remaining space fully occupied by several physician practices. The investment amount was $16 million and the stabilized yield on the development is 8.1%.

Notable Dispositions

Foundations Health Solutions We completed the disposition of 11 triple-net facilities for $117 million. The properties were purchased by Foundations and continue to be operated and managed by Foundations. We realized a gain on sale of $42 million and an unlevered IRR of 11.4%.

Genesis Healthcare We received $28 million in loan repayments from Genesis at an average yield of 10%.

Conference Call Information We have scheduled a conference call on Friday, July 28, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss our second quarter 2017 results, industry trends, portfolio performance and outlook for 2017. Telephone access will be available by dialing 888-346-2469 or 706-758-4923 (international). For those unable to listen to the call live, a taped rebroadcast will be available beginning two hours after completion of the call through August 11, 2017. To access the rebroadcast, dial 855-859-2056 or 404-537-3406 (international). The conference ID number is 44271382. To participate in the webcast, log on to www.welltower.com 15 minutes before the call to download the necessary software. Replays will be available for 90 days.

Supplemental Reporting Measures We believe that revenues, net income and net income attributable to common stockholders (NICS), as defined by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP), are the most appropriate earnings measurements. However, we consider funds from operations (FFO), net operating income (NOI), same store net operating income (SSNOI), same store revenues per occupied room (SS REVPOR), and Adjusted EBITDA (A-EBITDA) to be useful supplemental measures of our operating performance. Excluding A-EBITDA, these supplemental measures are disclosed on our pro rata ownership basis. Pro rata amounts are derived by reducing consolidated amounts for minority partners' noncontrolling ownership interests and adding our minority ownership share of unconsolidated amounts. We do not control unconsolidated investments. While we consider pro rata disclosures useful, they may not accurately depict the legal and economic implications of our joint venture arrangements and should be used with caution.

Historical cost accounting for real estate assets in accordance with U.S. GAAP implicitly assumes that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time as evidenced by the provision for depreciation. However, since real estate values have historically risen or fallen with market conditions, many industry investors and analysts have considered presentations of operating results for real estate companies that use historical cost accounting to be insufficient. In response, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) created FFO as a supplemental measure of operating performance for REITs that excludes historical cost depreciation from net income. FFO attributable to common stockholders, as defined by NAREIT, means net income attributable to common stockholders, computed in accordance with U.S. GAAP, excluding gains (or losses) from sales of real estate and impairments of depreciable assets, plus real estate depreciation and amortization, and after adjustments for unconsolidated entities and noncontrolling interests. Normalized FFO attributable to common stockholders represents FFO attributable to common stockholders adjusted for certain items detailed in Exhibit 1. We believe that normalized FFO attributable to common stockholders is a useful supplemental measure of operating performance because investors and equity analysts may use this measure to compare the operating performance of the company between periods or as compared to other REITs or other companies on a consistent basis without having to account for differences caused by unanticipated and/or incalculable items.

We define NOI as total revenues, including tenant reimbursements, less property operating expenses. Property operating expenses represent costs associated with managing, maintaining and servicing tenants for our seniors housing operating and outpatient medical properties. These expenses include, but are not limited to, property-related payroll and benefits, property management fees paid to operators, marketing, housekeeping, food service, maintenance, utilities, property taxes and insurance. General and administrative expenses represent costs unrelated to property operations or transaction costs. These expenses include, but are not limited to, payroll and benefits, professional services, office expenses and depreciation of corporate fixed assets.

SSNOI is used to evaluate the operating performance of our properties under a consistent population which eliminates changes in the composition of our portfolio. As used herein, same store is generally defined as those revenue-generating properties in the portfolio for the relevant year-over-year reporting periods. Land parcels, loans and sub-leases as well as any properties acquired, developed/redeveloped, transitioned, sold or classified as held for sale during that period are excluded from the same store amounts. Normalizers include adjustments that in management's opinion are appropriate in considering SSNOI, a supplemental, non-GAAP performance measure. None of these adjustments, which may increase or decrease SSNOI, are reflected in our financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Significant normalizers (defined as any that individually exceed 0.50% of SSNOI growth per property type) are separately disclosed and explained in the relevant supplemental information package. We believe SSNOI provides investors relevant and useful information because it measures the operating performance of our properties at the property level on an unleveraged basis. No reconciliation of the forecasted range for SSNOI on a combined or segment basis for fiscal year 2017 is included in this release because we are unable to quantify certain amounts that would be required to be included in the comparable GAAP financial measure without unreasonable efforts, and we believe such reconciliation would imply a degree of precision that could be confusing or misleading to investors.

REVPOR represents the average revenues generated per occupied room per month at our seniors housing operating properties. It is calculated as the pro rata version of resident fees and services revenues per the income statement divided by average monthly occupied room days. SS REVPOR is used to evaluate the REVPOR performance of our properties under a consistent population which eliminates changes in the composition of our portfolio. It is based on the same pool of properties used for SSNOI and includes any revenue normalizations used for SSNOI. We use REVPOR and SS REVPOR to evaluate the revenue-generating capacity and profit potential of our seniors housing operating portfolio independent of fluctuating occupancy rates. They are also used in comparison against industry and competitor statistics, if known, to evaluate the quality of our seniors housing operating portfolio.

We measure our credit strength both in terms of leverage ratios and coverage ratios. The leverage ratios indicate how much of our balance sheet capitalization is related to long-term debt, net of cash and IRC section 1031 deposits. We expect to maintain capitalization ratios and coverage ratios sufficient to maintain a capital structure consistent with our current profile. The coverage ratios are based on EBITDA which stands for earnings (net income per income statement) before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Covenants in our senior unsecured notes contain financial ratios based on a definition of EBITDA that is specific to those agreements. Failure to satisfy these covenants could result in an event of default that could have a material adverse impact on our cost and availability of capital, which could in turn have a material adverse impact on our consolidated results of operations, liquidity and/or financial condition. Due to the materiality of these debt agreements and the financial covenants, we have defined A-EBITDA to exclude unconsolidated entities and to include adjustments for stock-based compensation expense, provision for loan losses, gains/losses on extinguishment of debt, transactions costs, gains/losses/impairments on properties, gains/losses on derivatives and other non-recurring and/or non-cash income/charges. We believe that A-EBITDA, along with net income and cash flow provided from operating activities, is an important supplemental measure because it provides additional information to assess and evaluate the performance of our operations. Our leverage ratios include net debt to undepreciated book capitalization and net debt to A-EBITDA. Undepreciated book capitalization represents book capitalization adjusted for accumulated depreciation and amortization. Book capitalization represents the sum of net debt (defined as total long-term debt less cash and cash equivalents and any IRC section 1031 deposits), total equity and redeemable noncontrolling interests.

Our supplemental reporting measures and similarly entitled financial measures are widely used by investors, equity and debt analysts and ratings agencies in the valuation, comparison, rating and investment recommendations of companies. Our management uses these financial measures to facilitate internal and external comparisons to historical operating results and in making operating decisions. Additionally, they are utilized by the Board of Directors to evaluate management. The supplemental reporting measures do not represent net income or cash flow provided from operating activities as determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP and should not be considered as alternative measures of profitability or liquidity. Finally, the supplemental reporting measures, as defined by us, may not be comparable to similarly entitled items reported by other real estate investment trusts or other companies. Please see the exhibits for reconciliations of supplemental reporting measures and the supplemental information package for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, which is available on the company's website (www.welltower.com), for information and reconciliations of additional supplemental reporting measures.

About Welltower Welltower Inc. (NYSE: HCN), an S&P 500 company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, is driving the transformation of health care infrastructure. The company invests with leading seniors housing operators, post-acute providers and health systems to fund the real estate infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience. Welltower, a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), owns interests in properties concentrated in major, high-growth markets in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, consisting of seniors housing and post-acute communities and outpatient medical properties. More information is available at www.welltower.com. We routinely post important information on our website at www.welltower.com in the "Investors" section, including corporate and investor presentations and financial information. We intend to use our website as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Such disclosures will be included on our website under the heading "Investors". Accordingly, investors should monitor such portion of the company's website in addition to following our press releases, public conference calls and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information on our website is not incorporated by reference in this press release, and our web address is included as an inactive textual reference only.

Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When we use words such as "may," "will," "intend," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "pro forma," "estimate" or similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters, we are making forward-looking statements. In particular, these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those relating to our opportunities to acquire, develop or sell properties; our ability to close anticipated acquisitions, investments or dispositions on currently anticipated terms, or within currently anticipated timeframes; the expected performance of our operators/tenants and properties; our expected occupancy rates; our ability to declare and to make distributions to shareholders; our investment and financing opportunities and plans; our continued qualification as a REIT; our ability to access capital markets or other sources of funds; and our ability to meet our earnings guidance. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ materially from our expectations discussed in the forward-looking statements. This may be a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the status of the economy; the status of capital markets, including availability and cost of capital; issues facing the health care industry, including compliance with, and changes to, regulations and payment policies, responding to government investigations and punitive settlements and operators'/tenants' difficulty in cost-effectively obtaining and maintaining adequate liability and other insurance; changes in financing terms; competition within the health care and seniors housing industries; negative developments in the operating results or financial condition of operators/tenants, including, but not limited to, their ability to pay rent and repay loans; our ability to transition or sell properties with profitable results; the failure to make new investments or acquisitions as and when anticipated; natural disasters and other acts of God affecting our properties; our ability to re-lease space at similar rates as vacancies occur; our ability to timely reinvest sale proceeds at similar rates to assets sold; operator/tenant or joint venture partner bankruptcies or insolvencies; the cooperation of joint venture partners; government regulations affecting Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates and operational requirements; liability or contract claims by or against operators/tenants; unanticipated difficulties and/or expenditures relating to future investments or acquisitions; environmental laws affecting our properties; changes in rules or practices governing our financial reporting; the movement of U.S. and foreign currency exchange rates; our ability to maintain our qualification as a REIT; key management personnel recruitment and retention; and other risks described in our reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Finally, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements.

Welltower Inc.

Financial Exhibits

Consolidated Balance Sheets (unaudited)

(in thousands)











June 30,











2017

2016

Assets













Real estate investments:

















Land and land improvements

$ 2,746,483

$ 2,537,508





Buildings and improvements



25,399,178



25,293,007





Acquired lease intangibles



1,436,041



1,345,424





Real property held for sale, net of accumulated depreciation



141,319



501,192





Construction in progress



321,655



475,203











30,044,676



30,152,334





Less accumulated depreciation and intangible amortization



(4,568,408)



(4,109,585)







Net real property owned



25,476,268



26,042,749





Real estate loans receivable



520,479



647,677





Less allowance for losses on loans receivable



(5,811)



-







Net real estate loans receivable



514,668



647,677





Net real estate investments



25,990,936



26,690,426

Other assets:

















Investments in unconsolidated entities



425,489



543,068





Goodwill



68,321



68,321





Cash and cash equivalents



442,284



466,585





Restricted cash



45,357



58,440





Straight-line rent receivable



370,819



449,617





Receivables and other assets



632,580



688,044











1,984,850



2,274,075

Total assets

$ 27,975,786

$ 28,964,501

















Liabilities and equity













Liabilities:

















Borrowings under primary unsecured credit facility

$ 385,000

$ 745,000





Senior unsecured notes



8,250,940



8,711,790





Secured debt



2,670,914



3,442,178





Capital lease obligations



73,092



74,759





Accrued expenses and other liabilities



893,441



728,080

Total liabilities



12,273,387



13,701,807

Redeemable noncontrolling interests



388,876



394,126

Equity:

















Preferred stock



718,750



1,006,250





Common stock



369,525



357,950





Capital in excess of par value



17,439,977



16,625,186





Treasury stock



(62,335)



(51,288)





Cumulative net income



5,330,702



4,102,919





Cumulative dividends



(8,805,336)



(7,491,922)





Accumulated other comprehensive income



(163,624)



(159,638)





Other equity



1,173



3,917







Total Welltower Inc. stockholders' equity



14,828,832



14,393,374





Noncontrolling interests



484,691



475,194

Total equity



15,313,523



14,868,568

Total liabilities and equity

$ 27,975,786

$ 28,964,501

























Consolidated Statements of Income (unaudited) (in thousands, except per share data)









Three Months Ended

Six Months Ended









June 30,

June 30,









2017

2016

2017

2016 Revenues:



























Rental income

$ 355,599

$ 422,628

$ 722,741

$ 838,290



Resident fees and service



677,040



615,220



1,347,377



1,217,369



Interest income



20,901



24,007



41,649



49,195



Other income



5,062



14,802



9,133



18,851 Gross revenues



1,058,602



1,076,657



2,120,900



2,123,705































Expenses:



























Interest expense



116,231



132,326



234,827



265,285



Property operating expenses



501,855



458,832



1,012,024



908,468



Depreciation and amortization



224,847



226,569



453,124



455,265



General and administrative expenses



32,632



39,914



63,733



85,606



Transaction costs



-



5,157



-



13,365



Loss (gain) on derivatives, net



736



-



1,960



-



Loss (gain) on extinguishment of debt, net



5,515



33



36,870



9



Impairment of assets



13,631



-



24,662



14,314



Other expenses



6,339



3,161



18,014



3,161

Total expenses



901,786



865,992



1,845,214



1,745,473































Income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes

























and income from unconsolidated entities



156,816



210,665



275,686



378,232 Income tax (expense) benefit



8,448



513



6,203



2,239 Income (loss) from unconsolidated entities



(3,978)



(1,959)



(27,084)



(5,778) Income (loss) from continuing operations



161,286



209,219



254,805



374,693 Gain (loss) on real estate dispositions, net



42,155



1,530



286,247



1,530 Net income (loss)



203,441



210,749



541,052



376,223 Less: Preferred dividends



11,680



16,352



26,059



32,703





Preferred stock redemption charge



-



-



9,769



-





Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests



3,332



(1,077)



4,156



(924) Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders

$ 188,429

$ 195,474

$ 501,068

$ 344,444































Average number of common shares outstanding:



























Basic



366,524



356,646



364,551



355,879



Diluted



368,149



358,891



366,423



357,489































Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders per share:



























Basic

$ 0.51

$ 0.55

$ 1.37

$ 0.97



Diluted

$ 0.51

$ 0.54

$ 1.37

$ 0.96































Common dividends per share

$ 0.87

$ 0.86

$ 1.74

$ 1.72

Normalizing Items





















Exhibit 1 (in thousands, except per share data) Three Months Ended



Six Months Ended









June 30,



June 30,









2017

2016



2017

2016

Transaction costs $ - (1)

$ 5,157



$ -

$ 13,365

Loss (gain) on derivatives, net

736 (2)



-





1,960



-

Loss (gain) on extinguishment of debt, net

5,515 (3)



33





36,870



9

Preferred stock redemption charge

-



-





9,769



-

Nonrecurring income tax benefits

(7,916)(4)



-





(7,916)



-

Other expenses

6,339 (5)



3,161





18,014



3,161

Additional other income

-



(11,811)





-



(11,811)

Normalizing items attributable to noncontrolling interests and unconsolidated entities, net

1,911 (6)



921





24,850



2,439

Net normalizing items $ 6,585

$ (2,539)



$ 83,547

$ 7,163





























Average diluted common shares outstanding

368,149



358,891





366,423



357,489

Net normalizing items per diluted share $ 0.02

$ (0.01)



$ 0.23

$ 0.02































Notes: (1) Effective 1/1/17 with the adoption of ASU 2017-01, any non-capitalizable transaction costs are in Other Expenses.



(2) Primarily related to mark-to-market of a convertible note receivable.



(3) Primarily related to secured debt extinguishments.



(4) Primarily related to a nonrecurring deferred tax benefit.



(5) Primarily related to severance-related costs and non-capitalizable transaction costs.



(6) Primarily related to non-capitalizable transaction costs in joint ventures.



FFO Reconciliations





















Exhibit 2 (in thousands, except per share data) Three Months Ended



Six Months Ended









June 30,



June 30,









2017

2016



2017

2016

Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders $ 188,429

$ 195,474



$ 501,068

$ 344,444

Depreciation and amortization

224,847



226,569





453,124



455,265

Losses/impairments (gains) on properties, net

(28,524)



(1,530)





(261,585)



12,784

Noncontrolling interests(1)

(16,955)



(20,616)





(35,061)



(37,934)

Unconsolidated entities(2)

16,593



17,077





33,077



33,682

NAREIT FFO attributable to common stockholders

384,390



416,974





690,623



808,241

Normalizing items, net(3)

6,585



(2,539)





83,547



7,163

Normalized FFO attributable to common stockholders $ 390,975

$ 414,435



$ 774,170

$ 815,404





























Average diluted common shares outstanding

368,149



358,891





366,423



357,489



































Per share data attributable to common stockholders:

























Net income $ 0.51

$ 0.54



$ 1.37

$ 0.96

NAREIT FFO $ 1.04

$ 1.16



$ 1.88

$ 2.26

Normalized FFO $ 1.06

$ 1.15



$ 2.11

$ 2.28



































Normalized FFO Payout Ratio:

























Dividends per common share $ 0.87

$ 0.86



$ 1.74

$ 1.72

Normalized FFO attributable to common stockholders per share $ 1.06

$ 1.15



$ 2.11

$ 2.28

Normalized FFO payout ratio

82%



75%





82%



75%



































Other items:(4)

























Net straight-line rent and above/below market rent amortization $ (17,058)

$ (26,897)



$ (34,980)

$ (56,520)

Non-cash interest expenses

3,612



2,124





5,852



2,066

Recurring cap-ex, tenant improvements, and lease commissions

(15,263)



(16,593)





(29,069)



(28,399)

Stock-based compensation

4,763



7,031





9,669



15,217





























Notes: (1) Represents noncontrolling interests' share of net FFO adjustments.



(2) Represents Welltower's share of net FFO adjustments from unconsolidated entities.



(3) See Exhibit 1.



(4) Amounts presented net of noncontrolling interests' share and Welltower's share of unconsolidated entities.



Outlook Reconciliations: Year Ended December 31, 2017















Exhibit 3 (in millions, except per share data)

































Prior Outlook



Current Outlook









Low

High



Low

High

FFO Reconciliation:

























Net income attributable to common stockholders $ 880

$ 917



$ 853

$ 890

Losses/impairments (gains) on properties, net(1,2)

(316)



(316)





(300)



(300)

Depreciation and amortization(1)

887



887





891



891

NAREIT FFO attributable to common stockholders

1,451



1,488





1,444



1,481

Normalizing items, net(3)

77



77





84



84

Normalized FFO attributable to common stockholders $ 1,528

$ 1,565



$ 1,528

$ 1,565



































Per share data attributable to common stockholders:

























Net income $ 2.39

$ 2.49



$ 2.32

$ 2.42

NAREIT FFO

3.94



4.04





3.92



4.02

Normalized FFO

4.15



4.25





4.15



4.25



































Other Items (1)

























Net straight-line rent and above/below market rent amortization $ (65)

$ (65)



$ (70)

$ (70)

Non-cash interest expenses

10



10





12



12

Recurring cap-ex, tenant improvements, and lease commissions

(71)



(71)





(71)



(71)

Stock-based compensation

18



18





21



21





































Notes: (1) Amounts presented net of noncontrolling interests' share and Welltower's share of unconsolidated entities.



(2) Includes estimated gains on projected dispositions.



(3) See Exhibit 1.



SSNOI Reconciliations





Exhibit 4 (in thousands)

Three Month Ended













June 30,









2017



2016





Net income $ 203,441

$ 210,749





Loss (gain) on real estate dispositions, net

(42,155)



(1,530)





Loss (income) from unconsolidated entities

3,978



1,959





Income tax expense (benefit)

(8,448)



(513)





Other expenses

6,339



3,161





Impairment of assets

13,631



-





Loss (gain) on extinguishment of debt, net

5,515



33





Loss (gain) on derivatives, net

736



-





Transaction costs

-



5,157





General and administrative expenses

32,632



39,914





Depreciation and amortization

224,847



226,569





Interest expense

116,231



132,326





Consolidated NOI

556,747



617,825





NOI attributable to unconsolidated investments

21,873



16,881





NOI attributable to noncontrolling interests

(29,359)



(27,156)





Pro rata NOI

549,261



607,550







Non-cash NOI attributable to same store properties

(12,702)



(18,162)







NOI attributable to non same store properties

(62,013)



(102,276)







Currency and ownership adjustments(1)

(584)



(19,897)







Other adjustments(2)

(297)



(7,261)





Same store NOI (SSNOI) $ 473,665

$ 459,954



















% growth

Seniors housing triple-net $ 129,536

$ 125,748

3.0%

Long-term/post-acute care

64,163



62,228

3.1%

Seniors housing operating

196,506



189,798

3.5%

Outpatient medical

83,460



82,180

1.6%



Total SSNOI

$ 473,665

$ 459,954

3.0%























Notes: (1) Includes adjustments to reflect consistent property ownership percentages and foreign currency exchange rates for properties in the UK and Canada.

(2) Includes other adjustments described in the accompanying Supplement.

SHO SS REVPOR Reconciliation





Exhibit 5 (dollars in thousands, except REVPOR)

Three Months Ended June 30,







2017



2016



Consolidated seniors housing operating (SHO) revenues $ 678,089

$ 625,251



SHO revenues attributable to unconsolidated investments

41,735



40,366



SHO revenues attributable to noncontrolling interests

(58,203)



(57,052)



SHO pro rata revenues

661,621



608,565



Non-cash revenues on same store properties

(138)



(130)



Revenues attributable to non-same store properties

(76,755)



(18,514)



Currency and ownership adjustments(1)

(597)



(11,165)



Other adjustments(2)

-



(7,654)



SHO same store revenues $ 584,131

$ 571,102



Avg. occupied rooms/month(3)

34,555



35,093

% growth SHO SS REVPOR $ 5,650

$ 5,440

3.9%















Notes: (1) Includes adjustments to reflect consistent property ownership percentages and foreign currency exchange rates for properties in the UK and Canada.

(2) Includes other adjustments described in the accompanying Supplement.

(3) Represents average occupied rooms for same store properties on a pro rata basis.





















Undepreciated Book Capitalization





Exhibit 6 (dollars in thousands)

As Of







June 30, 2017



June 30, 2016



Lines of credit $ 385,000

$ 745,000



Long-term debt obligations(1)

10,994,946



12,228,727



Cash and cash equivalents(2)

(442,284)



(466,585)



Net debt

10,937,662



12,507,142



Accumulated depreciation and amortization

4,568,408



4,109,585



Total equity(3)

15,702,399



15,262,694



Undepreciated book capitalization $ 31,208,469

$ 31,879,421



Net debt to undepreciated book capitalization ratio

35.0%



39.2%



















Notes: (1) Amounts include unamortized premiums/discounts and other fair value adjustments as reflected on balance sheet.

(2) Inclusive of IRC section 1031 deposits, if any.

(3) Includes all noncontrolling interests (redeemable and permanent) as reflected on balance sheet.



















Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation





Exhibit 7 (dollars in thousands)

Three Months Ended







June 30, 2017



June 30, 2016



Net income $ 203,441

$ 210,749



Interest expense

116,231



132,326



Income tax expense (benefit)

(8,448)



(513)



Depreciation and amortization

224,847



226,569



EBITDA $ 536,071



569,131



Loss (income) from unconsolidated entities

3,978



1,959



Stock-based compensation

4,763



7,031



Loss (gain) on extinguishment of debt, net

5,515



33



Losses/impairments (gains) on properties, net

(28,524)



(1,530)



Loss (gain) on derivatives, net

736



-



Additional other income

-



(11,811)



Other expenses & transaction costs

6,339



6,895



Adjusted EBITDA $ 528,878

$ 571,708



Adjusted EBITDA Annualized $ 2,115,512



2,286,832



Net debt(1) $ 10,937,662

$ 12,507,140



Net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio

5.17x



5.47x





















Notes: (1) See Exhibit 6.

SOURCE Welltower Inc.

Related Links

http://www.welltower.com


By PTI: Mumbai, Jul 29 (PTI) Maharashtras women commission will ink an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for rescue and rehabilitation of women who are victims of sex trafficking, acid attack and domestic violence, its chief has said.

"We have had serious talks with the UNDP wing working in Maharashtra to work for rescue and rehabilitation of the women trafficked for sexual exploitation, victims of acid attack or domestic violence.

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"We are going to sign an MoU with the UNDP in the next 15 days," said Vijaya Rahatkar, chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW).

Under the pact, one of the key areas would be to impart skills to the affected women so as to help them sustain themselves financially, she said.

"In a bid to curb the menace of women trafficking overseas, we approached the Ministry of External Affairs, which has agreed to hold joint meetings with the Airports Authority of India, immigration department, the state government and the MSCW," she said.

Rahatkar was speaking yesterday at an international conference on women trafficking organised by the commission in partnership with the International Justice Mission, India.

On Thursday, the Maharashtra government and the Hotel Industry of India signed an agreement, under which they will cooperate in curbing women trafficking.

The commission believes hotels are a breeding ground for trafficking of women, said Rahatkar, a former Aurangabad mayor. PTI APM NRB RSY

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This is a unique event where attendees can meet, engage and learn from peers, competitors, and alternative industries

Five industry experts to present

The Foundation for Strategic Resourcing (F4SS) has announced the speaker lineup for this years CI Connect. The event will be held September 11 to 13, 2017 in Asheville, TN.

CI Connect is the premier event for the secondary packaging/contract manufacturing industry. The event is owned and operated by F4SS and is open to members and non-members.

During the 2 1/2 day event, attendees will have the opportunity to network with peers, tour four innovative Asheville area manufacturing locations, participate in breakout sessions and hear presentations and panel discussions by industry thought-leaders.

Asheville and its thriving business and community scene are a perfect place for our CPG customers, third party manufacturers, packagers and assemblers to benchmark, network and share best practices that will enhance our industry and improve our capabilities, says F4SS chair, Steve Weinstein. This is a unique event where attendees can meet, engage and learn from peers, competitors, and alternative industries in a hands-on forum of leading companies such as P&G, J&J, Kelloggs, General Mills, Gojo, Unilever, and more.

The 2017 keynote is Werhner Washington, plant manager, Procter & Gamble Paper Products. Washingtons keynote, Importance of Culture: Developing, Fostering & Leveraging it to Drive Continuous Improvement, reflects the theme of this years event.

Other presentations and discussions will be given by Brendan Beers, Asheville Business Support Manager, New Belgium Brewery; Joseph Hungerford, director-manufacturing, facilities and technical center operations, Borg Warner Turbo Systems; and Mike Richardson, plant manager, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Attendees will tour the facilities and learn about the continuous improvement processes of BorgWarner Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and New Belgium Brewing Company.

For more information or to register, visit the F4SS website. (http://www.f4ss.org)

Founded in 2007, F4SS is the association that provides networking, research and educational opportunities for secondary packaging/contract manufacturing professionals. The sharing of best-practices for continuous improvement helps participants to improve culture and efficiency, reduce costs and increase profits at their organizations.
Rigaku XtaLAB mini II benchtop chemical crystallography system

Rigaku Corporation is pleased to announce its attendance at the 24th Congress & General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), to be held August 21- 28, 2017 in Hyderabad, India. Rigaku, together with Rigaku Oxford Diffraction (ROD) - the sole Diamond Sponsor of the event, will be presenting its advanced lines of instrumentation and software in Hall 3, stall number 46.

The program will consist of a variety of plenaries, keynotes, microsymposia, poster sessions, commercial exhibits, workshops and official meetings of the IUCr, and Rigaku will be sponsoring or participating in a number of special events at the Assembly.

The Rigaku exhibit will showcase the latest in instrumentationincluding macromolecular and chemical crystallography, general purpose X-ray diffraction (XRD), and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS).

More information about single crystal diffraction solutions from Rigaku is available at http://www.rigaku-oxford.com

About Rigaku Oxford Diffraction (ROD)

ROD was formed as the global single crystal business unit of Rigaku Corporation after the acquisition of the former Oxford Diffraction organization from Agilent Technologies in 2015. ROD is a leader in the field of single crystal analysis, both in the field of chemical crystallography as well as well as macromolecular crystallography. Formed in 1951, Rigaku Corporation is a leading analytical instrumentation company based out of Tokyo, Japan.

For further information, contact:

Paul Swepston, Ph.D.

Global Manager

Rigaku Oxford Diffraction

281-362-2300 x 111

Paul.swepston(at)rigaku.com
Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique was recently awarded CoolSculpting Diamond Level status. Through the Crystal Rewards Program, the most successful CoolSculpting practices across the country are annually honored. This marks the second time this year that Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique has achieved the coveted Diamond Level status, the highest ranking possible.

CoolSculpting is a nonsurgical fat elimination system, based on the science of Cryolipolysis. Using the innovative technology, CoolSculpting freezes away fat cells, thus providing long-term results. Cleared by the Food and Drug Administration as a safe and effective method to eliminate isolated areas of fatty tissue, a single CoolSculpting treatment can reduce fatty tissue by up to 20-25%.

The Crystal Rewards Program was designed to recognize the most experienced CoolSculpting physicians. At the highest point of distinction, the Diamond Crystal Level requires a rigorous set of practice standards. Only a small number of offices across the country see the volume of patients, and provide the optimal client experience, to earn the distinction of Diamond Level.

According to Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique founder, Paul Vitenas, MD, FACS, his Houston medi-spa was created as a special space where patients could expect the best in cutting-edge treatments, including noninvasive fat elimination. Our practice was built on three key tenants: Safety, Quality and Service, says Dr. Vitenas. He then continues, (We) never stop trying to be better.

Earning Diamond Crystal status for the second time, Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique is widely known for consistently providing exceptional patient care and optimal results. For Dr. Vitenas, this is a reflection of a renowned staff of aesthetic professionals, working together to achieve the best results for each individual patient. Handpicked by Dr. Vitenas, all of Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutiques CoolSculpting providers are graduates of the CoolSculpting University, an intensive training facilitated by the developers.

While the experienced staff plays an integral role in the overall patient experience, so does Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutiques modern, state-of-the-art facilities. The luxurious, inviting office brings innovative treatments in a spa-like setting. For the fastest, most efficient treatments, Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique offers four CoolSculpting machines. This gives patients the unique option of DualSculpting, treating two areas simultaneously during the 35-minute procedure. Comfortable, private treatment rooms, free WiFi and NetFlix, as well as complimentary, off the street parking, ensure that each CoolSculpting experience is second to none.

Dr. Paul Vitenas founded Vitenas Cosmetic Surgery in 1991. After years of offering Houston the most innovative plastic surgery procedures, he opened the doors to Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique to meet his patients' growing desires for exceptional, innovative noninvasive cosmetic techniques, as well.

Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique is located at 4208 Richmond Avenue, on the first floor of the Vitenas Cosmetic Surgery facility. To find out more about the CoolSculpting Crystal Rewards Program, visit the CoolSculpting site. To schedule a complimentary CoolSculpting consultation at Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique, contact the office at, 281.810.9083 or fill out the online Contact Us form.
A young woman prays while holding a Palestinian flag during a prayer service outside the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. on Friday, July 28, 2017. We want to effect a change in foreign policy to one that is more balanced and just for everyone living in the Middle East.

In an act of profound symbolism, hundreds of Muslims prayed in the street outside the Israeli embassy today in a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Jerusalem whove been forced to pray in the streets outside the gates of Al Aqsa mosque sanctuary because of Israeli restrictions on their freedom to worship.

About 350 Muslims from Washington D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland, along with Christian and Jewish supporters, attended the event, despite the torrential rain.

We consider the turnout to be a huge success, especially because of the weather, said Kristin Szremksi, AMP national director of media and communications. Were here in an act of solidarity. Were sending a message to Israeli authorities that American Muslims and their allies in the Jewish and Christian communities will continue to engage with our elected officials and well continue to promote the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement as peaceful means to pressure Israel to comply with international law and end the occupation.

The event was organized by the American Muslims for Palestine, a national education organization based in Falls Church, VA. It was held in response to the current situation in Jerusalem, where Israeli authorities erected metal detectors, checkpoints and, later, surveillance cameras at the Al Aqsa mosque sanctuary, the third holiest site for Muslims. For two weeks, Palestinians protested by praying on the streets outside the sanctuarys gates. On Thursday, after the obstacles apparently were removed and Palestinians were once again able to enter the mosque complex, the Israeli military stormed the site, firing rubber-tipped bullets and injuring 100 worshipers. Today, no men under the age of 50 were allowed in for Friday prayers.

For us, it is not about the electronic gates. It is not about banning Muslims for two weeks  two Fridays  to pray in their masjid (mosque). For us it is about the occupation, Osama Abuirshaid, AMP national policy director, told the assembly. The occupation is the root of all problems.

Abuirshaid went on to say that in contravention of numerous international laws and UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2334 passed in December 2016 with a U.S. abstention, Israel is an occupying force. AMPs mission, and indeed the goal of all justice-minded activists, is to effect a change in foreign policy to one that is more balanced and just for everyone living in the Middle East, he said.

It is the 21st century, Abuirshaid said after the event. It is time to bring the worlds longest-lasting military occupation to an end and enable Palestinians to achieve their inalienable rights to self-determination, freedom of movement, right to return, as well as freedom of worship.

AMP has organized several events over the past two weeks, including livestreaming educational events and rallies from New York to California. For more background information on Jerusalem, an interactive Jerusalem timeline, videos, statements and talking points, visit http://www.ampalestine.org/projects/jerusalem.

The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is a national grassroots nonprofit organization, whose mission is to educate the American public about issues related to Palestine and its rich cultural, historical and religious heritage. For more information, go to http://www.ampalestine.org.
Heather Furnas, MD, is proud to announce that she will be one of the Plastic Surgery Foundation (PSF) Visiting Professors for 2017-2018. This outstanding group of plastic surgeons will travel the United States, sharing their expertise and knowledge with Residents at some the nations best medical schools. Dr. Furnas is among eight of the countrys leading plastic surgeons to participate in the elite program this academic year.

The PSF Visiting Professors program began in 1979, with a single plastic surgeon. Today, the PSF Visiting Professors Committee selects eight outstanding plastic surgeons, from a large pool of experienced applicants. As a whole, the selected group of Visiting Professors all have exceptional backgrounds in plastic surgery, three of whom are experienced in cosmetic surgery and at least two are women.

Residents in plastic surgery training programs benefit from the varied backgrounds and vast wealth of knowledge each of the Visiting Professors bring. Aside from years of surgical skill and patient experience, the Visiting Professors offer unique and innovative perspectives on plastic surgery that Residents would not otherwise receive during their training. Each school visit will typically involve two days of lectures, discussion groups, patient evaluations and rounds.

Throughout the upcoming year, Dr. Furnas is scheduled to present at seven schools. These include the University of Texas Medical Branch - Galveston, the University of British Columbia, the Northwest Society of Plastic Surgeons, the University of Cincinnati, the Medical University of South Carolina, and University of Southern Florida. Dr. Dr. Furnas will present on a variety of topics within her field of expertise, including female genital plastic surgery, what residents should know about the job search and business aspects of plastic surgery, and gender differences among plastic surgeons.

An alumnus of UCLA School of Medicine and Stanford University, Dr. Furnas is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. In 1991, along with her husband, Francisco Canales, MD, Dr. Furnas founded Plastic Surgery Associates in Sonoma County. An avid researcher, writer and educator, Dr. Furnas is routinely asked to present at plastic surgery conferences around the world. At the 2017 Aesthetics Meeting in San Diego, Dr. Furnas was presented with the Tiffany Award for the Best Scientific Presentation, Why Patients Request Labiaplasty.

More information on the PSF Visiting Professors can be found at the Plastic Surgery Foundation website, including details on applying for visits during in the upcoming academic year. Find out more on Dr. Heather Furnas by contacting Plastic Surgery Associates at 707.537.2111. Consultations can be made with Dr. Furnas or Dr. Canales at either of the Plastic Surgery Associates offices, located in beautiful Santa Rosa and Novato, California.
A.D. Albertini, chairman of Aries Transporte S.A. (left), congratulates Victory Cruise Lines President and CEO Bruce Nierenberg on the successful execution of a berth agreement for 2018. Aries Transpo "We believe  and travel agents have told us  that we have created the best itinerary with our multiday port experiences that will allow our guests to really explore the country and its people in a more relaxed and well-paced way - Bruce Nierenberg, CEO

Victory Cruise Lines Victory I begins a series of six cruises this winter that will circumnavigate the island of Cuba roundtrip from Port of Miami. The inaugural Cuba cruise for the 202-passenger Victory I will depart Miami Feb. 8, 2018. The 14-night itinerary will feature five Cuban ports and overnight calls at the islands capital of Havana, historic Santiago de Cuba and Trinidad, with day calls at Cienfuegos, affectionately called La Perla del Sur by the locals, and Maria la Gorda.

Staying true to its all-inclusive philosophy, Victory Cruise Lines includes all shipboard cuisine and beverages (including spirits), as well as all shore excursions and port experiences, all in one price.

We may not be the first cruise line to serve Cuba from the U.S., but we believe  and travel agents have told us  that we have created the best itinerary with our multiday port experiences that will allow our guests to really explore the country and its people in a more relaxed and well-paced way, said Bruce Nierenberg, president and CEO of Victory Cruise lines. Most cruise ships are too big to call anywhere except Havana and no cruise product has as many multiday stops in Cuba as Victory I. All Victory I Cuba 360 cruises will completely circumnavigate the island nation.

What also distinguishes Victory Cruise Lines from other operators in Cuba is our intimate, classically furnished Victory I, which offers the finest dining and highest service levels in the market, Nierenberg said. Add to that our immersive shore excursions and creative port experiences and our guests will have an unmatched opportunity to really get to know the culture and people of this undiscovered region and largest country in the Caribbean.

VCLs The Best of Cuba Voyages will sail roundtrip from Miami. All Victory cruises to Cuba fully comply with all U.S. regulations for Americans traveling to Cuba including recent regulatory changes announced by President Donald Trump and the U.S. State Department. All Cuban shore experiences will operate within U.S. guidelines for American travelers visiting Cuba. Victory Cruise Lines will provide certification of compliance with U.S. regulations for all guests on Victory I.

Victory I departs from Miami Feb. 8 and 22, March 9 and 24, and April 7 and 20, 2018. All-inclusive full fares start at $8,957 per person, double occupancy.

The 2018 winter season ends with an 11-day Cuba and Colonial America repositioning cruise that begins May 5 with a short flight from Miami to Havana (included) and an overnight stay at Havana. Victory I then departs Havana May 6 and will call at Jacksonville (St. Augustine), Florida; Charleston (Mount Pleasant), South Carolina; Norfolk (Yorktown), Virginia; Newport, Rhode Island; and Gloucester (Boston), Massachusetts, ending in Portland, Maine. Fares start at $6,890 per person, double occupancy.

Victory I will then reposition with an 11-day voyage from Portland to Toronto, Ontario, for a summer season of Great Lakes Grand Discovery cruises between Toronto and Chicago, Illinois.

# # #

Miami-based Victory Cruise Lines operates Victory I and Victory II, identical 202-passenger ships on all-inclusive cruises to the Great Lakes, Canada, New England and Cuba. For more information about Victory Cruise Lines, contact your travel agent or call toll-free 1-888-907-2636 or visit http://www.victorycruiselines.com.

Editors Note: Color photos and logos are available for download at http://www.victorycruiselines.com/media
Sometimes a patient arrives too late to save some of their teeth, or this postponement complicates the dental implant procedure.

San Francisco Dental Implant Center, a highly rated center for oral surgery in the San Francisco Bay Area, is proud to announce a new blog post on the issue of cost. In summary, the cost of dental implants may concern Bay Area residents, and so local residents could be putting off replacing teeth until a personal budget is in the black. According to the new post, however, waiting too long could create a more painful and costly dental problem.

Sometimes a patient arrives too late to save some of their teeth, or this postponement complicates the dental implant procedure, explained Dr. Alex Rabinovich, chief oral surgeon of San Francisco Dental Implant Center. If they had come in earlier, their surgery may have taken less work and been less expensive. Thats why we added a new post about this topic for our San Francisco patients. Waiting to pay for dental implants could mean teeth problems get worse.

To read the new blog post about the cost of waiting for Bay Area dental implants go to http://www.sfdentalimplants.com/blog/cost-dental-implants/.

San Francisco locals may be concerned about the cost of dental implants, and yet, according to the new post, oral surgery can be affordable if managed right. Cost issues with wisdom teeth or broken teeth can be addressed. Waiting to have dental implant surgery could cost locals more in money and problems. To learn more about dental implant surgery please, readers are also referred to the sister website at http://www.oralsurgery-sf.com/wisdom-teeth/.

Affordable Bay Area Dental Implants can be Found before the Cost of Bad Teeth Gets Worse

Here are some background points from the new post to the blog. Silicon Valley residents could have a reputation for busy schedules, but may not be immune to procrastinating. Avoiding a visit to the doctor can be normal. Several reasons could be at play; fear of a painful experience, a busy work schedule or the cost. If the problem is broken or bad teeth, putting off oral surgery could end up costing a patient more in the long run. Periodontal disease can quickly escalate if a bad tooth is ignored. The need for only a single dental implant could rise to a full set of teeth if the disease is allowed to spread. The cost of the implants could rise with each diseased tooth. San Francisco residents may be relieved to know affordable dental implants can be found, and so - according to the post - this procrastination is counterproductive.

Moreover, scheduling a visit with a top oral surgeon and reviewing an affordable payment plan for dental implants could be the best strategy. Interested parties are urged to read the post in its entirety or reach out to the company for more information.

About San Francisco Dental Implant Center

San Francisco Dental Implant Center, under the direction of Dr. Alex Rabinovich, focuses on the placement and restoration of dental implants, making its team among the most experienced in the Bay Area. Dr. Rabinovich is a Board Certified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon specializing in the field of dental implants. This additional training, along with his years of experience, sets Alex Rabinovich MD DDS apart from the growing number of general dentists offering dental implant treatments. Dr. Rabinovich provides services for the San Francisco Bay Area, Peninsula and surrounding North Bay Cities.

Contact:

San Francisco Dental Implant Center, Media Relations

Web. http://www.sfdentalimplants.com/

Email. visage.sanfran(at)gmail(dot)com

Tel. 415-817-9991
Running common errands in a popular Oceanside community like San Diego can mean wasting hours in a car.

Key Housing, leaders in long-term and short-term corporate rentals throughout California, is proud to announce its featured property for August, 2017, will be 'The Promenade at Rio Vista' in San Diego, California. Among the features of this chosen property are so-called 'serviced apartments in San Diego.' Many Europeans articulate furnished apartments using this terminology, and with August being the close of vacation season, it was a logical choice as featured complex for August.

Running common errands in a popular Oceanside community like San Diego can mean wasting hours in a car. Vacationers from Europe are not going to be happy about that when on holiday. They will want to enjoy the California beaches instead of sitting in traffic, explained Robert Lee, President of Key Housing. The Promenade at Rio Vista is walking distance to several services to help get chores done quicker. The fact that it has serviced apartments made it an even stronger choice for our August featured SoCal property.

To review the featured property as well as San Diego serviced apartments for August go to http://www.keyhousing.com/rightside.asp?action=form3&ID=815

European visitors searching for tips and insights about San Diego serviced apartments to rent are also encouraged to view information at the blog archive: http://blog.keyhousing.com/tag/san-diego/.

More on the Featured San Diego Property and the concept of 'Serviced Apartments in San Diego'

The Promenade at Rio Vista is a fully-furnished corporate apartment property. On-site services can include: laundry facilities, fitness center and a resort-style pool. Dental, chiropractic care, grocery shopping and dining may also be found only steps away. This complex has extra amenities that may help European travelers on holiday enjoy more sand and surf. Holidays lasting up to a month can mean normal family errands could cut into vacation time. Many serviced apartments may not have important services close by. Walking distance to grocery shopping and dental care could help European visitors spend more time exploring San Diego instead of managing time-sucking chores.

Because Europeans may take off an entire month for vacation compared to Americans at maybe one to two weeks off, Europeans may prefer a fully-furnished short-term stay residence, or "serviced apartment, to a hotel. For this reason, Key Housing is proud to announce 'The Promenade at Rio Vista' as the featured short-term rental property for August.

About Key Housing

Based in Folsom, California, Key Housing Connections Inc. specializes in corporate housing and serviced apartments in large cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego as well as smaller cities like Fresno, Burbank, and Carlsbad. Key Housing is a leader in affordable, friendly, short-term and corporate housing in places like Bakersfield, Encinitas, Hermosa Beach, and just about every city in California. Whether it's a San Diego serviced apartment or a San Francisco furnished rental, just search, click or call today!

Key Housing

(800) 989-0410

http://www.keyhousing.com/
Welcome Guest! You Are Here:
According to reports, Mandana Karimi had issues with her brother-in-law's partner, TV actress Smriti Khanna.

By India Today Web Desk: Former Bigg Boss contestant Mandana Karimi was recently in the news after she filed a divorce from her businessman husband Gaurav Gupta. Mandana had cited domestic abuse as the primary reason for her separation with her partner.

The model-actress had tied the knot with Gaurav in January this year.

Now fresh reports claim that it was Mandana who had started the big fight with her husband and in-laws. According to a report in SpotboyE, Mandana had serious issues with her brother-in-law Gautam Gupta's fiance, TV actress Smriti Khanna.

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"Mandana made life difficult for the Guptas, who are a very respectable family, they will never indulge in washing dirty linen in public. Mandana's brother-in-law Gautam is dating TV actress Smriti Khanna and the couple had started to contemplate marriage. Mandana did not want another woman in the house," SpotboyE had quoted a source as saying.

However, Smriti's partner, Gautam, refused to speak on the subject.

"I will talk about Mandana when we decide to do so. Right now, I don't want to say anything," Gautam told SpotboyE.

According to Mid Day, Mandana's divorce petition mentions that Gaurav insisted her to convert to Hinduism ahead of their wedding. She was also asked to give away her career as "the profession was incompatible with his family's status in the society". Mandana was also barred from entering her marital house. A complaint has also been filed against her mother-in-law.

Also read: Bigg Boss 9 star Mandana Karimi says quitting work on her husband's behest was her biggest mistake

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As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others.

By Press Trust of India: US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose gradual diplomatic, military and economic costs on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent this war-torn country from being a launchpad for terrorist attacks against the United States.

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McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress.

The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA-2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies and its core interests.

WHAT DOES McCAIN SENATE AMENDMENT SAY

The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan government and reduce Taliban's control of the Afghan population.

As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives, including India under this move.

The legislative amendment calls for "imposing graduated diplomatic, military and economic costs on Pakistan" as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

"It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan."

Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying America's regional diplomatic efforts working through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The move is also aimed at advancing regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence-sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states.

The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of America's economic and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anti-corruption, financial transparency and the rule of law.

NUMBER OF COUNTER-TERRORISM FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN MUST BE INCREASED

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Calling for increasing the number of US counter-terrorism forces in Afghanistan, the amendment calls for providing the United States military with "status-based targeting authorities" against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al- Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and other terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies and its core interests.

In his amendment, McCain calls for pursuing a joint agreement to secure a long-term, open-ended counter-terrorism partnership between the United States and Afghanistan, which he said would include an enduring United States counter terrorism presence in Afghanistan.

The US Senate is yet to vote on NDAA-2018.

Yesterday, in a statement, McCain rued on the delay in its passage.

"It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now - the National Defense Authorization Act," he said.

"For 55 years in a row, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides our men and women in uniform with the resources, capabilities and pay and benefits that they need to perform their missions on behalf of the American people and keep our country safe. This legislation is more vital than ever", McCain said.

"Global terrorist networks, increasing great power competition with Russia and China, malign Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East, a North Korean dictator racing to acquire missiles that can hit the United States with nuclear weapons - the threats to our national security have not been more complex or daunting than at any time in the past seven decades", he said.

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ALSO READ |

Trump goes tough on Pak, blocks aid for not acting against Haqqani network

US warns Pakistan to act against Haqqani Network or face their wrath

Afghanistan: Taliban fighters attack police, capture two districts

ALSO WATCH VIDEO: Trump administration blocks funding to Pakistan for not acting against Haqqani network

--- ENDS ---
In a third tweet, Trump thanked Priebus "for his service and dedication to his country."

"We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!" Trump said.

CNN reported that Priebus offered Trump his resignation on Thursday.

Priebus released the following statement on Friday:

Trump told reporters more about the move as he returned from Long Island after giving a speech there Friday afternoon.

"Reince is a good man," Trump told pool reporters after he got off Air Force One. "John Kelly will do a fantastic job. General Kelly has been a star, done an incredible job thus far, respected by everybody. He's a great, great American."

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Kelly "one of the true stars of the administration" who "has helped seal the border and reduced illegal immigration by 70%."

"He is respected by everyone, especially the people at the Department of Homeland Security," she said. "The entire administration loves him, and no one is comparable. He will begin on Monday morning and a Cabinet meeting will follow his swearing in Monday morning."

Sanders said Trump thanked Priebus for his service.

"They accomplished a lot together," she continued. "He was loyal in his dedication to the president. The president thanks him and his family for his great service to the country, and he will always be a member of the Trump team."

Sanders told reporters that conversations about the shakeup started between Trump and Priebus about two weeks ago.

The episode marked the end of a weeklong saga involving Priebus and new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. Priebus had worked hard to block Scaramucci's appointment, but Trump decided to hire him anyway. Sanders denied that Priebus' resignation had to do with Scaramucci.

Immediately after Scaramucci's hiring, White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced he was resigning. Spicer was Priebus' closest White House ally based on both of their past work for the Republican National Committee. (Spicer was the chief strategist and communications director, while Priebus was the chairman.)

The New York Times reported on Friday that Priebus was pushed out as Trump became convinced he was not strong enough for the role. Trump had discussed bringing in "a general" to lead his administration, according to The Times, and selected Kelly, a retired Marine four-star general whose work leading the Department of Homeland Security has pleased the president.

But Kelly's appointment leaves a gap at the Department of Homeland Security, and his successor will have to be confirmed by the Senate.

Priebus joined Trump on his trip to Long Island, where he gave a speech focused on his administration's efforts to fight the MS-13 street gang. Also on the flight was also Scaramucci, who had savaged Priebus in a New Yorker interview published less than a day earlier.

In that interview, Scaramucci called Priebus a "f------ paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac" and said the chief of staff would be resigning soon.

Scaramucci became incensed at Priebus on Wednesday after a Politico report detailed Scaramucci's financial disclosures, which was publicly available from Scaramucci's stint at the Export-Import Bank. Scaramucci, who did not know that at the time, said in a now-deleted tweet that the report was illegally leaked and that he would contact the FBI and the Justice Department. He also tagged Priebus and wrote "#swamp."

Scaramucci called The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza that day because he was angered by one of the reporter's tweets, which cited a "senior White House official" who said Scaramucci was having dinner at the White House with the president, first lady Melania Trump, former Fox News executive Bill Shine, and Fox News host Sean Hannity.

On Thursday night, The Washington Post reported that Scaramucci and his allies were compiling a diagram of news outlets to which they believed Priebus leaked information, citing a White House official. They planned to present their findings to Trump on Friday, the official told The Post.

House Speaker Paul Ryan  a fellow Wisconsinite and close ally  released a statement on Priebus' departure shortly after it was announced.

"Reince Priebus has left it all out on the field, for our party and our country," Ryan said. "Here is a guy from Kenosha, Wisconsin, who revitalized the Republican National Committee and became White House chief of staff. He has served the president and the American people capably and passionately. He has achieved so much, and he has done it all with class. I could not be more proud to call Reince a dear friend."
Rounding out yet another tumultuous week for his administration, President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would be replacing chief of staff Reince Priebus with retired marine Gen. John Kelly, who currently serves as head of the Department of Homeland Security.

A number of names have been floated to take over Kelly's role, like Rep. Michael McFaul, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, and Thomas Homan, the acting head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Also in the running is Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to speculation and some media reports.

Dana Perino, the co-host of Fox News' "The Five," said Friday that Kelly could have been named Trump's chief of staff to open up the Homeland Security position for Sessions, who has recently been in hot water with Trump over his recusal from ongoing investigations into the Trump campaign's possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 election.

"I think that this was all set up for a few weeks because the president has been so upset about Jeff Sessions and his recusal in the Russia investigation," said Perino, who formerly served as White House press secretary under the George W. Bush administration.

She added that if Sessions spearheaded the Department of Homeland Security, it would appease Trump's base, which favors the former Alabama senator's hardline position on immigration and border security.

"The Republicans and conservatives that came to Jeff Sessions' defense this week all said, 'But he's doing the best on the issue we care about most, and that is immigration,'" Perino said.

"Well, where can Jeff Sessions do even more on immigration? As the Secretary of Homeland Security," she added. "So I think what they're going to try to do is move Sessions over to DHS, and then how can conservatives complain?"

Homeland Security staffers have also privately discussed the possibility that Sessions could fill Kelly's position, two sources told Politico, although another source close to the administration told the website such an outcome was unlikely.

Trump has fumed, both privately and publicly, about Sessions' recusal from the Russia investigation. He called his attorney general "weak" and "beleaguered" last week, and he told the New York Times the week before that if he'd known Sessions was going to recuse himself, he would have nominated someone else for the position.

Rising tensions

A new attorney general would have one critical power Sessions does not: the ability to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, who took over spearheading the FBI's Russia investigation after Trump fired former FBI director James Comey in May.

But if he is contemplating moving Sessions to the DHS to open the door for an attorney general more favorable to his personal interests, Trump may be disappointed, because replacing Sessions may not have any effect on Mueller's status as special counsel.

If Sessions takes over as Secretary of Homeland Security, Trump would have to appoint an acting attorney general before he formally nominates a new attorney general. That acting individual could be deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein or someone else who has been confirmed by the Senate. Since Rosenstein himself appointed Mueller as special counsel shortly after Comey was fired, it appears highly unlikely that he would dismiss Mueller.

If someone else took over as acting attorney general, they wouldn't need to recuse themselves as Sessions did, absent any extraordinary circumstances. However, the regulations Mueller is operating under stipulate that he can only be fired with cause.

Regardless of who the attorney general is, "there needs to be a basis to fire Mueller," said Andrew Wright, who served as associate White House counsel to former president Barack Obama. If Mueller is removed without cause, "Rosenstein and others would object, and there would be massive backlash from the Hill," Wright said.

None of the dynamics of Muellers probe would change

If Trump does move Sessions over to the DHS, it's unclear who he would nominate to serve in Sessions' place. Trump has, in recent days, increasingly begun to favor those who have shown him the most loyalty, as demonstrated by his hiring of former Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci and the subsequent resignations of White House press secretary Sean Spicer and chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Trump had reportedly soured on both Spicer and Priebus long before they resigned, based primarily on what he saw as their lukewarm defense of him and his agenda.

In keeping with his tendency to lean on loyalists, Trump could bring on someone like former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, both of whom were strong Trump campaign surrogates, to take Sessions' place. But even in that case, the attorney general "would be under intense pressure not to communicate with the president  who is the subject of the investigation  about the nature of the investigation," Wright said. "So none of the dynamics of Mueller's probe would really change, even with a new attorney general," he added.

And if the Trump administration "engineers" an avenue through which to fire Mueller, "the president will buy himself an independent counsel statute," Wright said, referring to legal actions lawmakers would likely take to revive the US Office of the Independent Counsel, which reports directly to Congress.

Trump's attacks on Mueller began soon after Rosenstein appointed him special counsel. In addition to calling the investigation a "witch hunt," Trump also publicly warned Mueller against delving into his finances when it emerged that the special counsel was examining his past business dealings, which Trump said fall outside Mueller's mandate.

In appointing Mueller, however, Rosenstein gave him broad authoritynot only to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated" with Trump's campaign, but also to examine "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."

Rosenstein also gave Mueller the power to investigate "any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R.  600.4(a)"  including perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses.

The mandate's scope is similar to that given by then-Acting Attorney General James Comeyto special counsel Patrick Fitzgeraldin 2003 to investigate who leaked the identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame.

In the wake of Mueller's expanding investigation, Trump has reportedly considered the possibility of pardoning those close to him, as well as himself.
US meal-delivery startup Blue Apron went public last month, banking on investor interest in the sudden flurry of firms catering to lazy chefs.

Blue Apron's share price finally recovered this week after Wall Street analysts decided its stock was a bargain.

Where does all this yo-yoing leave Blue Apron's European competitor, HelloFresh, which is reportedly planning its own IPO this year?

Like Blue Apron, HelloFresh sends you boxes full of pre-prepared ingredients so you can cook your own meal without the hassle of going shopping. You tell HelloFresh how many meals a week you want, how many people you're cooking for, and then you sign up for a subscription plan. Three meals a week for two people costs 34.99 a week, according to HelloFresh's website.

Theres one important metric where HelloFresh is doing well

HelloFresh has started making quarterly reports available on its site, possibly as a precursor to going public.

Business Insider examined the company's accounts and found the startup may be in a healthy place at least on one metric.

To be clear: HelloFresh's filings don't give the same level of transparency as Blue Apron's S-1 filings, so there are some important numbers we don't know, such as average revenue per user.

But an important metric is one that isn't immediately visible on the balance sheet: gross margin. This is the number you get when you divide gross profit by revenue. It's how much sales revenue HelloFresh keeps after dealing with the direct costs of obtaining and shipping its meal kits. The higher the percentage, the better.

HelloFresh has improved its gross margins over the last five years  except for a blip in 2015.

There are a few reasons why this figure is important, though you won't see it on HelloFresh's balance sheet. One is that it shows how much the company has left over from sales to spend on its operations. Another is that it shows whether the business is getting more or less efficient over time. Investors want to see increasingly efficient businesses, not companies that are squeezed.

You'll see a dip in the gross margin figure between 2014 and 2015. Coincidentally, HelloFresh shelved its IPO plans in 2015. But then the company actually posted its best gross margin figure of around 57% in 2016.

A gross margin of more than 50% is also pretty good: Amazon has historically had gross margins between 30% and 37%.

HelloFresh is exploding

Gross margin isn't the only good news  HelloFresh is growing fast and trimmed its losses between 2015 and 2016.

But its burning cash

Anyone who has travelled through central London on the tube over the last three years has probably been accosted by a HelloFresh salesperson offering discounts on its subscription boxes. The company pursues sales aggressively, even sending salespeople door to door in London.

That push for rapid expansion is expensive.

Business Insider calculated that HelloFresh has a considerable free cash flow deficit. We calculated this using cash from operations minus capital expenditure.

Having a negative free cash flow isn't necessarily bad  Netflix also burns cash. Ultimately, investors won't mind if HelloFresh bleeds cash for the time being in exchange for growth.

And marketing and fulfillment spend is going up

This is a more painful chart showing that even as HelloFresh's revenues explode, its logistical costs and marketing spend are also massively increasing. Fulfillment costs are eating into HelloFresh's bottom line, and until the company can cut that spend, it probably won't be profitable.

Here are some of the problems that Blue Apron and HelloFresh share:
The media personality took to Instagram earlier today to express her excitement over the union which has produced two children.

Betty, who is the publisher of the Genevieve magazine wrote, "Tickle Tickle...34 years later..WE STILL DO!"

The philanthropist clocked 60 in March 2017 and she doesn't even look it.

Her admirable aura and high sense of fashion have portrayed her as one with a great deal of style as often seen in her public appearances.

ALSO READ: Publisher commends celebrities for keeping relationships private
The origin of hiplife music has often sparked controversy as hiplife star Barima Sidneyhas challenged him over his claim in the past.

Speaking on Joy FMs Personality Profile Thursday, Rockstone said there was no controversy about the issue in the past, saying bloggers and the media "saw a fat bone and decided to chew on it."

The hiplife Grand Papa said:There was never no controversy. There never was. It was just bloggers and media who saw a fat bone and decided to chew on it.

And it was a very disgusting time actually. But also, God works in mysterious ways because it also brought to light plenty things that people didn't know.

You know, it is called the Jesus syndrome. At some point your own people might just turn, you know and crucify you.

But you know me, I come on like Mohammed Ali. I have a big mouth and I fought my way through out and till today I stand up proud and I beat my chest and I tell them, listen, I am the originator of hiplife, there is no dispute about it. And if you wanna [want] show me who did, bring them out. And as soon as I say that, they keep looking at me."

Sidney has said Rockstone must stop holding himself as the originator of Hiplife since he and other musicians had already started a trend the Hiplife Grand Papa helped develop further.

Yes, the history of hiplife has been distorted and there are many people, especially the new generation, who have been misled for many years.

Some of us have been very quiet for long and its time to straighten some of these crooked stories for the benefit of all, Sidney said.

Giving his account of the origin of hiplife, Sidney, who together with Jyoti and Omanhene Pozo formed the trio named, Nananom, said before Rockstone came on the scene, there had been other artistes and groups who had held the forte for many years.
The teenagers, four boys and two girls - aged 16 to 18 - reportedly disappeared during the First Global Challenge tournament in Washington DC.

BBC reports that the DC Police Department revealed that the teenagers they were last seen on the closing day of the competition, which was Tuesday, July 25.

According to the reports, two of the teenagers have reportedly crossed into Canada but this information remains unconfirmed by the police.

The DC Police Department reportedly posted fliers of the missing group on it Twitter's page on Thursday, July 27, urging the general public to reach out with useful information.

The teenagers were identified as Don Ingabire, 16, Kevin Sabumukiza, 17, Nice Munezero, 17, Audrey Mwamikazi, 17, Richard Irakoze, 18, and Aristide Irambona, 18.

The organisers of the competition disclosed that they alerted the police after the Burundian team supervisor was unable to find the teenagers.

Washington Post reports that the First Global Challenge spokesman Jose Escotto, in a statement, said: "the proper reports have been submitted to the police who are investigating the case."

BBC reports that the event aims to encourage young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Earlier this month, however, it was reported that a team of Afghanistan girls were initially not allowed to attend the competition because of visa problems but US President, Donald Trump saved the day at the last minute and the girls were able to travel to the US and participate in the competitions.
The victim who goes by the name "Juicy J" on Twitter took to the microblogging site to report the incident which soon led to the driver's arrest.

According to the rider in a series of tweets, Iniobong had reacted to a comment she made about being a lesbian by pressing her nipple.

This was his way of testing out a theory regarding the inability of lesbians to give a reaction when an opposite sex touches sensitive parts of their body.

She wrote, "You will not believe what just happened to me.

"So I'm in a taxify & the driver keeps taking many many. sexual orientation becomes the topic & i say I'm a lesbian.

"This guy reached out to me & squeezed my nipple. you can't even imagine my shock he said 'lesbians don't react to male touch so I was curious'".

ALSO READ: Driver in court over alleged sexual assault on daughter

In a video also posted by Juicy J, the repentant taxi driver was seen begging her for forgiveness but his appeal fell on deaf ears.

He didn't have to wait very long to get the result of his highly unacceptable behaviour.

For him, it was a clear case of "Curiousity killed the cat".
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Speaking at a recent event, CM Mehbooba Mufti said that while "some people won't like it", she believes that 'India is Indira Gandhi'.

By India Today Web Desk: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, at a recent event, expressed her view that to her, 'India is Indira Gandhi'.

Speaking at the event in Kashmir yesterday, Mufti said that while "some people won't like it", she grew up believing that "Indira Gandhi represented India,".

"When I was growing, Indira Gandhi represented India for me. Maybe some people won't like it, but to me, India is Indira Gandhi," Mufti said.

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WHAT DID SHE MEAN?

The Jammu and Kashmir CM clearly seems to be praising the former prime minister, hailing her as the leader of the country.

Nonetheless, Mufti also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his work, who, she believes, can be the "true harbinger of peace and stability in the Valley".

"Prime Minister Modi has the potential to become the man of history and his leadership is an asset which needs to be harnessed. Our hopes are pinned on him to work together and bring Kashmir out of the mess," said Mufti at the event.

ON KASHMIR

Speaking about Kashmir, Mufti said that the state is often misrepresented by the media, and even called Kashmir a "mini India".

"Kashmir is a mini India within India. We are a diverse state with all kinds of multi-diversity of religion and everything. Opposing religious divide, the state had aligned to a more secular and accommodative India where Hindus and Muslims pray together at a shrine, and statues of Hindu gods are being made by Muslim artisans," she said.

(With inputs from ANI)

For more on Kashmir...

16-year-old develops Kashbook, Kashmir's own Facebook, after government banned social media websites

Who is Sandeep Kumar, UP resident arrested for working for Lashkar in Kashmir?

World's highest railway bridge being built in Jammu and Kashmir will be taller than Eiffel Tower

Viral video shows Kashmiri youth tied to the front of moving army jeep

--- ENDS ---
READ MORE: Nana Addo refers petition against Charlotte Osei to Chief Justice

The petitioner, a statement from the Director of Communications at the Flagstaff House Eugene Arhin said, is asking that the president invokes the provisions of Article 146(3) of the Constitution to impeach the two: Ms. Georgina Opoku Amakwa and Mr Amadu Sulley.

The petition was filed by one Emmanuel Korsi Senyo, a concerned citizen of Ghana and delivered on 25th July, 2017, the statement said.

President Akufo-Addo, pursuant to the terms of Article 146(3), has, thus, referred both petitions to the Chief Justice for resolution, in accordance with the provisions of Article 146(3), the statement said.

READ MORE: EC chair accuses her deputy of signing illegal contract worth GHC40m

Mrs Osei has accused her two deputies of insubordination and separately accused them of signing illegal contract and illegal vote transfer.
Appearing before Parliament to answer questions on the status of the two -- Muhammed Al-Dhuby and Muhammed Bin-Atef --after the Supreme Court ruled that their stay in Ghana is unconstitutional and that it should be rectified or they should send back to the US.

READ MORE: Gitmo 2 Bill tabled in parliament

Mrs Botchway said what exists between the Ghana and US was a verbal agreement known in diplomatic as circles note verbale.

Mr. Speaker, we have not changed anything. In the note verbals that were exchanged between the two countries. Indeed there was no agreement. The whole transaction was done through what we call a note verbale from both sides. What we have done is to attach all those documents, she said.

Meanwhile, she has presented a formal agreement to Parliament to regularise the stay of the two former Gitmo detainees.

According to her, parliament can vote to send them back or let them stay.

The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, has also asked the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House to deliberate on the agreement between Ghana and the United States to host two ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees in Ghana.

The government was recently ordered by the Supreme Court to send to parliament for ratification, the agreement between the two countries that allowed the transfer of the two ex-Gitmos.

The court in June this year declared as unconstitutional, the agreement which has Ghana hosting the two ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees.

It will be recalled that Margaret Banful and Henry Nana Boakye filed a suit against the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, and Minister of Interior on the relocation of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammed Salih Al-Dhuby in Ghana without seeking parliamentary approval.
The Speaker gave the assurance on Friday after the Minority Chief Whip Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak condemned the raids and appealed to him to restrain the security personnel from the exercise.

READ MORE: Inusah Fuseini under investigation over spying device

Three MPs: Dr Kabena Donkor, MP Pru East, Dr Dominic Ayine, MP for Bolgatanga East and John Jinapor, MP for Kusawgu, have had their homes searched by security officials from the Criminal Investigations Department for documents related to the Ameri deal.

Speaking on the matter, the Speaker said: "It is also notable in several jurisdictions, the courts have made a very generous extension to matters relating to going to, being in, or coming from Parliament and this honourable house will continue to be very mindful of any matter in this regard."

We will want to ascertain whether the legal process was followed. I will, soon after sitting, call the appropriate authority to my office and demand that honourable members are handled appropriately, coterminous with their office as honourable members, he added.
Medical Director of Royal MMR Hospital, Dr. Mohammed Donkor confirmed the sacking on Accra-based Adom FM.

He said the hospital feels very embarrassed by the conduct of the two thus they had no choice than to part ways with them.

READ MORE: Rashida Black Beauty offers apology to Ghanaians

The two nurses were employed as health assistants at the Royal MMR Hospital.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) says it has launched investigations into the matter.
All three commissioners have petitions filed against them for their impeachment. The Chief Justice will in the coming days determined whether there is prima facie evidence against them.

As for Electoral Commission, there is no way in the history of our party that were going to trust any electoral commission or what so ever, we wont.

"To hear the story that is being told now, one commissioner accusing the other, if we had sat down without taking our destiny into our own hands [in 2016], we would have been laughing at the wrong side of our mouth now, he stated emphatically.

Mahama's worst mistake

Meanhwile, the flagbearer and founder of the All Peoples Congress, (APC) Dr. Hassan Ayariga has said former President John Mahama committed the worst mistake in his life by appointing Madam Charlotte Osei as the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC).

According to him, Mahama did not do Ghanaians any good by appointing Charlotte Osei.

Ayariga said she [Osei] only created mess at the commission.

In an interview on Accra-based Kasapa FM, he said "I have nothing against the EC but I have something against her leadership[Chairperson].
In a statement, Martin Amidu unleashed a barrage of criticism at NDC MPs for not showing exemplary conduct, when Thursdays sitting turned chaotic after the Minority Leader complained that he has been denied the opportunity to question the governments Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

He also singled out the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak and A.B.A Fuseini for criticism over comments they made against the Speaker.

The statement by Martin Amidu further warned against sacrificing the reputation of the Speaker for partisan gains while calling on Ghanaians to defend the Constitution against contemnors.

He said: The reputation, dignity and honour of the office of Speaker (bi-partisanly elected) must not be allowed to be used for partisan, cheap and uncouth posturing in any way. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

A stitch in time also saves nine. Citizens Vigilance for Justice demands that fellow Ghanaians join us to defend the Constitution against these contemnors. Citizens, lets be awake; we are sovereign over Parliament and must hold it to account!

READ MORE: Minority threatens to impeach Speaker of Parliament

Read Martin Amidus article below:

The internet is awash with the news that some Members of Parliament yesterday exhibited both in and out of parliament unpardonable un-parliamentary behaviour amounting to contempt and rioting in Parliament.

When ordinary citizens complain about their behavior we are charged with or threatened with the arbitrary and archaic procedure of contempt of parliament.

We now have a golden opportunity to see how equality is equity before the law when it comes to Members of Parliament.

I have confirmed this news by just listening and watching a video showing Hon. Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, the Minority Chief Whip, speaking to a group of pressmen gathered around him outside what appears to be the chamber of parliament (I suspect he was speaking to the parliamentary press corps) and charging the Speaker of Parliament with exercising the discretionary constitutional and statutory powers of his office capriciously.

The Constitution, Standing Orders and laws of the Ghana notwithstanding, no matter what, the last thing we expect of a true Ghanaian brought up within all our cultures is to exhibit the highest degree of decorum when speaking to others let alone to or of elder persons.

I formed the impression that apart from the above contemptuous statements spoken by the Hon. Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak outside parliament to the press he had earlier during the sitting of parliament also registered his anger in a robust way by saying that the minority would no longer countenance any act of disrespect by the speaker

Another Member of Parliament, Hon. A. B. A Fusieni also speaking to Class FMs Ekow Annan is quoted to have contemptuously said the following of the Speaker of Parliament: For want of a better term, the Speaker has exhibited gross levels of bias that is unbelievable.

In the annals of the history of parliament. I have never seen this kind of behavior. We are going to be forced to take maybe unprecedented action that has never happened in the annals of our fourth republicWe are very close and there are a number of options available to us Minority to exploit including the impeachment of the speaker. Our democracy is endangered when members of parliament can issue threats and use intimidatory language to rudely chastise the Speaker outside Parliament in such an uncouth manner.

Compare the above uncouthness with the decorous language of Hon. Haruna Iddrisu (Minority Leader) reacting to his not being given the floor a second time on the matter; and the equally decorous response of the Speaker in Parliament: Minority Leader: You know the essence of parliamentary questions is significant and integral to the exercise of oversight.

Your refusal to allow me to even as Minority Leader to proceed can only be an effort to cripple us. We respect you as chair of this house; we have a responsibility as leaders to support you in maintaining order in this house. He exclaimed. Speaker: I have consistently made it clear to both sides of the House  Majority and Minority  that no one will be allowed a double bite as I said on many occasions to both the Minority and the Majority. In all honesty you all know that.

Let me make it clear that this argument was unnecessary and that in future what is going to happen is no leader shall have double bite at the chamber.

Like it or not, the reputation and dignity of the office of the Speaker of Parliament has deliberately been brought into serious inexcusable opprobrium and disrepute both in and outside Parliament by those indecorous Members of Parliament who rioted, banged desks, wagged their figures at the Speaker and granted interviews to the media to bring the high office of the Speaker who was elected by the whole House and not by one political party into disrepute and contempt before reasonable members of the public.

I agree in toto with a quotation attributed to the Majority leader in the Daily Guide Africa that: The majority leader said that the threat by the minority to impeach the speaker was contemptuous of parliament, according to Order 30 (j), while the riotous behavior of the minority members was equally contemptuous as captured under Order 30 (3) (a) of parliament. On or around 12th January 2017 the Hon. Alex Agyekum took the floor of the House to threaten and intimidate me by calling for me to be hauled to Parliament for contempt for saying nothing contemptuous of the present Parliament.

In any case unbeknown to him as a blind man, so to speak, I was stepping on stones. The Hon. Ras Mubarak also this July took to the floor of the House and threatened and intimidated Mr. Sydney Casely-Hayford, a distinguished citizen and far old enough to be his grandfather, with being charged for contempt of Parliament for articulating to students at a public academic forum what had always been constitutionally protected as part of his freedom of thought and conscience but became contempt when he exercised his right to freedom of expressing those thoughts and conscience.

We elected the 275 Members of Parliament out of about 26 million citizens to show exemplary conduct to the nation in the discharge of their functions on our behalf in Parliament. Consequently, those who are calling for mere apologies to the serious dent on the distinguished and eminent Speakers reputation earned over several years as a University teacher, professor, lawyer, Member of Parliament and an ambassador to assuage the deliberate contempt are not helping to uphold the Constitutional order.

The reputation, dignity and honour of the office of Speaker (bi-partisanly elected) must not be allowed to be used for partisan, cheap and uncouth posturing in any way. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Every bathroom on the Ford is, for the first time, gender-neutral, equipped with flush toilets and stalls, according to Navy Times.

Bathroom-design experts have said sit-down toilets are less sanitary and take up more space, and most of the Ford's crew members are men. (Women are only about 18% of the Navy.)

But the Navy has said getting rid of urinals has advantages for current and future operations.

Making every bathroom accessible to all of the ship's sailors will make things more convenient for sailors, the Navy has said. And bathrooms that can be used by either gender mean the Navy can reassign them without making any design changes, should the crew's makeup change.
Mufti's statement came a day after she warned the Centre against diluting Article 370, which grants special status to the state.

By India Today Web Desk: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today appealed to the Centre to revive the Lahore Declaration so that the people in the Valley could live peacefully. "I appeal Centre to revive Lahore Declaration so that we can live peacefully in Jammu and Kashmir," Mufti said.

The Lahore Declaration is a bilateral agreement and governance treaty between India and Pakistan. It was signed in 1999 after the Kargil war by then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Pakistan counterpart Pervez Musharraf.

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Mehbooba Mufti further asserted that the trade routes with Pakistan should not be blocked. Instead, there should be a crackdown on drugs which are smuggled from across the border.

Mufti's statement came a day after she warned the Centre against diluting Article 370, which grants special status to the state.

"Any changes in the Article 370 will not be acceptable. I won't hesitate in saying that nobody will even hold the Tricolour in Kashmir if the article is scrapped," she said at a Kashmiri event in Delhi yesterday.

An understanding for development of atomic arsenals and to avoid accidental and unauthorized operational use of nuclear weapons was developed in the treaty.

Meanwhile, the government has condemned Mufti's recent statement on the Indian flag where she said that any change Kashmir's special status would invite repercussions and mean that no one would shoulder the Indian flag in the Valley.

"This is the most shocking and ridiculous statement which Mufti has made. Tricolour is sacrosanct to us. It will fly high in Jammu and Kashmir as much as it does in any other state of the Indian Union. Being in power does not make one misuse it!" ANI quoted Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office (MoS PMO).

Also Read:

PM Modi man of the moment, true harbinger of peace: Mehbooba Mufti

Modi can take Kashmir out of its present state, says Mehbooba Mufti

Also Watch:

Serious ramifications if J-K special status is tinkered: Mehbooba Mufti

--- ENDS ---
In a Twitter thread, she narrated how the driver Iniobong squeezed her nipple during the ride. "YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO ME" she tweeted at 2:50PM.

During her trip, her driver reached out and squeezed her nipple. "You can't even imagine my shock" she tweeted. According to her, the driver said "lesbians don't react to male touch so I was curious." Earlier before the incident, the driver had struck up a conversation about sexual orientation.

Later in the day, he was in police custody and charged with sexual assault. Pulse reached out to @juiciestofjays who spoke more on the incident.

According to her she has been using Taxify since it was launched in Lagos but this is the first time she has had a sexual assault incident with one of its drivers. She told Pulse that the driver showed no remorse for what he did.

"When he squeezed my nipple he laughed, still in disbelief that I was a lesbian and had no idea that he had violated me" she said. After he dropped her off, she told him this was going to be the end of the matter.

"I told him he wasn't going to hear the last of it and the moment I sent a tweet out to Taxify, friends and strangers with connects to both military & police personnel started reaching out to me asking for his details and how they can pick him up.

"Taxify was swift in responding, I was called by one of them. She apologized and asked if I was alright then told me he has been blocked off the platform and the police had already been called on my behalf. When he was arrested, she sent pictures but I will be going to the station today for a statement and to make sure he is charged immediately so his rights are not violated" she told Pulse.

When asked if she has any hope the case would reach its logical conclusion she said "If it doesn't, Taxify knows the consequences."

Taxify has released an exclusive statement to Pulse.

"On the 28th of July 2017, we received a series of tweets alongside video footage from one of our riders alleging that a driver-partner had inappropriately touched her.

"The incident described here is abhorrent and against everything we believe in and there is absolutely no place for this kind of behavior at Taxify.

"As a result of this, we took swift action in removing the driver from our platform and inviting the police in to conduct a full independent investigation of the incident.

"While this incident is regrettable, we want to assure all our riders that providing best-in-class safety is our priority. We are working on building even more safety programs and intensifying existing ones by making sure that we leverage every tool at our disposal to set the highest standard in safety that we can" Terver Bendega, a rep for Taxify told Pulse.
Kanu said this while speaking to Punch in an interview, on his call for a boycott of the the November 18, 2017 governorship election in the state.

See excerpts of the interview below:

What is your position on the November 18 governorship election in Anambra State?

There will not be any election in Anambra on the 18th of November, 2017, and there wont be any going forward until they give me a date for a referendum. They know what to do, it is very simple. They should convene a meeting, I attend or I send my representative and they give us a date. That is very simple. That is the only way we can have elections.

Have you considered that your position could lead to bloodshed?

Where on this earth have you ever found self determination resulting in any form of conflict? Only in Nigeria, because those in the political class are not educated enough to understand or distinguish between self determination and war. They dont mean the same thing. Referendum does not mean the same thing as war. If there is war, we still have to sit round the table to discuss, ultimately. If there isnt any war, we still need to discuss. Things cannot go on this way. The status quo can no longer hold. Like Evangelist Eliot Ukoh said, if on or before October 1st nothing happens in terms of substantive restructuring, they will support us.

Are you not bothered that Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other Igbo leaders have distanced themselves from your call for election boycott?

No, Im not because the people are with us. We control the people 100 per cent. And come to Anambra on the 18th of November, 2017, the whole world will be amazed.

What will IPOB do to people who decide to come out to vote in Anambra on November 18? What will happen if party members decide to come out to vote for their candidates?

Those party members are IPOB members as well and I can assure you that they will listen to us and they will not vote.

ALSO READ: 5 ways to tame Nnamdi Kanu

But if people come out to vote, what will IPOB do?

Nothing, we are entirely peaceful. We are not stopping anyone from voting. If you want to vote, you can go and vote. We are democrats.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the incident occurred on Friday when two female suicide bombers hit an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in the area.

Modu, who visited some of the victims, said that the suicide bombers infiltrated into the camp and detonated explosives.

Two female suicide bombers attacked the 24 Housing estate at about 9: 30 p.m on Friday.

Seven persons died on the spot and one other died in the hospital, while 14 other persons were receiving treatment at the Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri."

ALSO READ:Boko Haram releases video of UNIMAID workers begging for their lives

Modu said that the council had distributed metal detectors to members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) to enhance security at the camp.
Unfortunately for the well-known critic and former special assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on new media, his visit was futile as he actually didn't get to see Muhammadu Buhari.

Omokri took to social media to tweet pictures of his visit to the president's home.

Unlike Omokri, delegations from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and All Progressives Congress, APC, recently met with Buhari on two different occasions.

Pictures of the president hosting his guests in the two meetings were made public. This gave Nigerians a chance to see their president, who has rarely been seen since he left the country on May 7, 2017.

These two meetings happened within the last one week.

ALSO READ: 7 things we learnt as president meets APC Governors

Meanwhile, Africa and Middle East security expert, Aye Dee has refused to believe that Buhari actually met with the delegates.

Making his claim in a series of tweets, he warned Nigerians not to believe the pictures.

He wrote, "Nigeria, we are being lied 2 by @AsoRock, neither @MBuhari nor any of the Governors have been to Abuja House, London, today. Last Vehicle In."

To those criticising him, he wrote, "We wait and see... I stand by my assertions."

Aye Dee also reminded the public that the president has been out for 83 days.

He tweeted, "July 29th, 2017, obviously devoid of any shame whatsoever, @NGRPresident @MBuhari has spent 83 continuous days outside Nigeria..."
The state FRSC Sector Commander , Mr Olusegun Martins told newsmen in Lokoja that three other victims died on Friday night.

He said that a staff of the Kogi state Polytechnic , Lokoja was one of them.

He said the relations of dead victims have started identifying them but said that six of them were burnt beyond recognition.

According to him, eight other injured victims of the accident are still receiving treatment at the intensive care units of the Federal Medical Centre and the State Specialist Hospital, Lokoja.

He said that investigation into the cause of the accident was underway.

NAN reports that 10 people lost their live instantly in the accident which occurred at about 1:45 pm on Friday, at Felele area of Lokoja.

The accident occurred as a result of a head-on collision involving a bus and tanker laden with 33,000 litres of petrol.

Eyewitnesses said that the collision ignited a fire which engulfed the two vehicles and a commercial tricycle.

Most of the victims were occupants of the 18-seater bus believed to be owned by Delta Line.
I will die installing Biafra. It is Biafra or nothing. I am in Owerri to continue with the message of Biafra. Nobody can stop us. We dont want restructuring; it is either Biafra or nothing.

We have said no to those pretending to be representing us. There is no hope in Nigeria, there can never be justice in Nigeria. Biafra has finally come to stay. Dont be deceived, I told Ohaneze that restructuring would fail; has it not failed today?

This is coming after a coalition of youths in the South-East warned Kanu not to hold any rally in Imo state.

The Coordinator of the One Nigeria Group, Azunnaya Andrew, who spoke to Punch said One Nigeria Group stands for Nigerias oneness. We totally condemn the pro-Biafra rally in Owerri, conducted by one Nnamdi Kanu.
Fayose, in a statement by Mr Lere Olayinka, his Special Assistant on New Media and Public Communication, however, called for total removal of any age barrier to electoral contests.

If a Nigerian, who is 18 years can vote, such a person should also be qualified to be voted for. The electorate, not the law, should determine his fate.

Age is not a barrier to intellectual capability. Many countries have been successfully led by young people. General Yakubu Gowon became Head of State at 32, he said.

The governor, who assured Nigerians that the Ekiti State House of Assembly would endorse the bill when presented to it, called on other States Houses of Assembly to endorse it.

There is no nation that can develop without giving its youths opportunity to serve. There is nothing wrong in a 30-year-old contesting for the Presidency. We must give the youths the opportunities early enough because the future belongs to them.

He said that the Ekiti government was already putting the provisions of the bill into practice by insisting that candidates seeking to be local government councilors must be between the ages of 18 and 40.

Fayose reiterated his resolve to enforce the age limit for local government positions, saying that the National Assembly had reinforced his position on that.
NAN reports that the Federal Road Safety Corps ( FRSC) on Saturday said the death toll in the petrol tanker accident, had risen to 13.

In a statement issued by Melaye, he commiserated with the people of the area over the accidents,

According to him, the accident would have been an avoided if the dualisation and expansion of the Abuja to Lokoja Expressway had been completed on schedule.

Our prayers are with the victims and I pray for the repose of the souls of the departed ones and the fortitude for their families to bear the irreparable loss while I also wish the injured ones quick recovery and return to their normal activities.

I hope concerned authorities will do the needful by putting the bad portions of the busy road in shape and complete the ongoing expansion and dualisation works on time in order to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.

As as lawmaker, I will continue to attract development to my constituency and draw the attention of the executive arm of government at all levels to the plight of my constituents at all times, Melaye said.

State FRSC Sector Commander , Mr Olusegun Martins told newsmen in Lokoja that three other victims died Friday night.

He said that a staff of the Kogi state Polytechnic , Lokoja was one of them.

He said the relations of dead victims have started identifying them but said that six of them were burnt beyond recognition.

According to him, eight other injured victims of the accident are still receiving treatment at the intensive care units of the Federal Medical Centre and the State Specialist Hospital, Lokoja.
Some staff of UNIMAID and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were recently kidnapped by the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

According to Punch, 30 civilians and 18 soldiers were reportedly killed in a gun battle between the sect members and troops of the Nigerian Army.

During his condolence visit to UNIMAID Adamu said that the Federal Government will not shut down the institution despite the attacks.

The minister also said You demonstrate great courage and resilience to stay here to do your work despite the security challenges.

We commend you and the government appreciates what you are doing; even to work in Maiduguri requires courage. Before I came here, I had thought of closing down the university, but after listening to the Vice-Chancellor and seeing what you are doing, I felt proud of you.

The Federal Government will not shut down the university and we will provide you with all the necessary support.
Mehbooba Mufti said that PM Modi can be the true harbinger of peace and stability in the Valley.

By Ilma Hasan: Days after a string of arrests of separatist leaders in Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has warned against any tinkering with Article 35(A) of the constitution that is being debated in the Supreme Court, which empowers the state legislature to define permanent residents and accord special rights and privileges to them.

Mufti said that any change in its status would invite repercussions and mean that nobody would be able to protect the Indian national flag in the state.

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Speaking at a Kashmir event in Delhi on Friday, Mehbooba Mufti hailed former prime minister Indira Gandhi as the ideal representative of the India she envisions and said 'India is Indira Gandhi' for her.

"When I was growing, Indira Gandhi represented India for me. Maybe some people won't like it, but to me, India is Indira Gandhi," Mehbooba Mufti said.

Mehbooba Mufti was all praises for the 'man of the moment' Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who she believes, can be the true harbinger of peace and stability in the Valley.

"Prime Minister Modi has the potential to become the man of history and his leadership is an asset which needs to be harnessed. Our hopes are pinned on him to work together and bring Kashmir out of the mess," ANI quoted Mufti.

Furthermore, Mufti denied the idea of revoking the state's special status granted as per Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, while backing the people of her state vehemently. The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the flag and the special status were a crucial element of preserving the Valley's culture and heritage.

Also Read:

Modi can take Kashmir out of its present state, says Mehbooba Mufti

Arrest of Hurriyat leaders an administrative affair: Mehbooba Mufti

Watch:

Serious ramifications if J-K special status is tinkered: Mehbooba Mufti

--- ENDS ---
The IPOB leader also told members of his group that the Governor of Imo, Rochas Okorocha will soon be sacked from the Government House.

He said We are in the land of Biafra. I have come to Owerri to spread the good news of the coming of Biafra Republic. I dont want you people to be deceived. Restructuring does not have any meaning and I want you people to go and tell Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

There is no freedom in Nigeria. All their children are abroad studying and enjoying good environment.

Only referendum can solve the problems of Nigeria. Power devolution is not the solution. Resource control is not our problem. What we need is Biafra. They are going about deceiving our people in the name of restructuring.

I want to say it again. There will be no election in Anambra and there will be no election in 2019, in Igboland. And there will be no election in Imo state.

Go and tell Rochas Okorocha that I am a child of God. I want you people to tell him that he will leave Government House in 2019 and go back to Jos where he came from. Let him get ready. 
According to Premium Times, the lawmakers got up to 500 job slots and cash rewards for passing the bill.

Reports say the Senators openly accused each other of receiving bribes from the Peace Corp during one of their sittings.

A source who spoke to Premium Times revealed that the leadership of the Senate quickly weighed in, made peace amongst the feuding senators and hushed up the case, consequently saving the upper chamber from another major embarrassment.

Speaking on the allegation, the Peace Corp spokesman, Milicent Umoru said At no point did our organisation offered any bribes to lawmakers.

The bill actually suffered a whole lot before it was finally adopted a few days ago.

Dickson Akoh, the Peace Corps commandant, while speaking to newsmen, said The Peace Corps will achieve capacity building for youth creativity and intervention; capacity building for youth development and empowerment in agriculture; and peace education and conflict resolution.
Madumere made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja while reacting to Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in London.

He said that it was ideal for politicians to build bridges of love among colleagues irrespective of party affiliations and interests.

The Deputy Governor, who said that the visit was an end to malicious rumours, said there was nothing secret about the presidents health.

Every Nigerian has realised that there is nothing secret about the presidents illness, I am happy that some governors like David Umahi of Ebonyi described the recovery as miraculous.

Umahi is a PDP governor, so that goes to show that the President is okay without any hidden or mysterious sickness, he said.

Madumere, however, urged Nigerians irrespective of their faith or belief to continue to pray for the good health of the president.

According to him, the President needs our support because he means well for Nigeria.

He therefore commended the leadership of APC and its governors for the synergy and optimum understanding that exists between the president and vice president in moving Nigeria forward.

NAN reports a seven-man delegation of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) visited President Muhammadu Buhari on July 26 to ascertain his state of health.
It would be a war story set in the pre-colonial era and would tell the story of communities fighting for the ultimate village throne.

There would be chiefs, horses and of course, the deadly masquerades parading as white walkers.

Pulse Movies has put together Nollywood stars who would make a perfect fit for some of the show's major characters.

Here we go;

1. Ramsay Bolton - Sambasa Nzeribe

With "Slow Country" and "A Mile from Home," Sambasa Nzeribe has proven his ability to own any villainous role.

We can totally picture him unleashing dogs on his victims with an evil grin on his face.

2. Ned Stark - Zack Orji

The talented veteran, Zack Orji, has the looks and charisma needed to play the much loved deceased head of House Stark, Ned Stark.

3. Lord Varys - Pete Edochie

Take off the beards and Pete Edochie effortlessly becomes Lord Varys - protecting the realm, manipulating the council and dishing out words of wisdom, but this time around, garnished with Igbo proverbs.

And then, there's the striking pose in the picture...

4. Petyr Baelish - Chiwetalu Agu

Chiwetalu Agu plays the manipulative, devious and evil uncle so well that it is impossible to imagine anyone else playing the role of Littlefinger.

5. Daenerys Targaryen - Nse Ikpe Etim

Timid, strong, beautiful, a fighter with a body that can confidently stroll through fire, Nse Ikpe-Etim is one actress who can pull off Daenerys Targaryen without trying too hard.

6. Jaime Lannister - Ramsey Nouah

Ramsey Nouah is a talented actor who can be whatever and whoever he wants to be on screen.

His physical agility as seen in "76,' makes him the best actor to bring the arrogant, conflicted and gifted swordsman, Jaime Lannister, to life.

7. Olenna Tyrell as Patience Ozokwor

Olenna Tyrell's prominent traits are her sharp wit, wisdom, cunningness and intelligence.

These are traits we have seen in Patience Ozokwor's on-screen characters over the years and that makes her perfect for the role.

Plus, how easy it would be for Ozokwor to orchestrate something like the Purple Wedding.

8. Missandei - Adesua Etomi

These two have more of an uncanny physical resemblance than any other actress you could think of. So, who better than Adesua Etomi to play the loyal Missandei.

Also, we can imagine her chemistry with Grey Worm.

9. Tywin Lannister - Richard Mofe Damijo

As we recently stated, RMD has interpreted every role there's to interpret in Nollywood.

He has the looks, talent and charisma needed to embody the ruthless, calculating and charming Westeros' Machiavellian, Tywin Lannister.

10. Tyrion Lannister - Chinedu Ikedieze

Witty, brilliant, devious, cunning and often underestimated; these are traits we have seen in most of Chinedu Ikedieze's on-screen characters over the years.

So, who better to play one of the viewers' favourite, Tyrion Lannister?

11. Cersei Lannister - Ireti Doyle

Complex, fierce, cold, political mastermind; these are roles we have seen Ireti Doyle bring to life on screen.

Who better than the "Mrs President" actress to bring Cersei to life.

Plus, they speak alike and have the same facial expressions.

12. Grey Worm - Banky W

Banky W as the strong Grey Worm, just because, we have the perfect actress interpreting Missandei and fans can't seem to get enough of their on-screen chemistry.

13. Arya Stark - Jemima Osunde

Strong, determined, well spoken and wise beyond her years, Arya Stark is one of viewers' favourite, and that is what "Shuga" actress Jemima Osunde is to most Nigerians.

It's easy to picture her wield her Sword while she avenges the Red Wedding.

14. Sam Tally - Gregory Ojefua

The uncanny resemblance is just one of the reasons why Gregory Ojefua should be Sam Tally.

His roles in "The Arbitration," "Just Not Married" and "Suru L'ere" are enough proof that he can kill a White Walker, break laws and heal Ser Jorah.

15. Night King - Hanks Anuku

The menacing look with which Hanks Anuku delivered his roles during his acting career, makes it difficult to cast any other person as the dangerous leader of the White Walkers.

We may just have to bring him back from retirement.

16. King Joffrey Baratheon - Gabriel Afolayan

As Adetiba in "King Invincible," it's impossible to doubt Gabriel Afolayan's ability to be the spoiled, impulsive, and cruel Westeros prince, Joffery Barantheon.

17. Hodor - Mr Ibu

Hodor has a friendly personality, one that makes him easy to love. With John Okafor as Hodor, viewers would have a hilarious character.

And maybe, that's just what Westeros needs.

18. Bran Stark - Olumide Oworu

Curious, courageous and determined sounds like the Olumide Oworu we have seen in "Soldier's Story," "Shuga" and "The Johnsons."

And with John Okafor as Hodor, their chemistry would make being the three-eyed raven so much fun.

19. Rob Stark - Tope Tedela

Mature, brave, dutiful, stubborn, loyal and carries the weight of the world on his shoulders sounds like the Tope Tedela we have seen in movies like "Slow Country" and "Out of Luck."

20. Melisandre - Tonto Dike

The subtle resemblance makes Tonto Dike a suitable choice as the Red Priestess of Asshai, Melisandra.

It's easy to picture Tonto Dike dramatically trying to raise Jon Snow from the dead.

21. Jon Snow - OC Ukeje

Humble, gentle, brave, loyal and stubborn; these are the core traits of Jon Snow, and these traits aptly describes OC Ukeje's roles over the years.

22. Tormund - Ikechukwu

Add the beards and you have a replica of Tormund in Ikechukwu. Plus, he already has the physique apt for a fighter in Westeros.

23. Wildings - Bolanle Ninolowo, Beverly Osu, Belinda Effa, Bisola Aiyeola, Denrele Edun, Falz, IK Ogbonna, Alex Ekubo, Uti Nwachukwu, Rukky Sanda

24. Sansa Stark - Ivie Okujaye

Strong, weak and conflicted, we have seen Ivie Okujaye effortlessly bring these characters to life in several movies. So, who better to play Sansa Stark than the "Make A Move" star.
As the name implies, the place breaks a lot of Islamic rules of worship. This has not gone down well with Muslims.

Yet, the Turkish-born lawyer and activist has announced her plans to open another one in the United Kingdom and more in Europe.

Whilst visiting London in search of potential sites for her next Mosque, she had an interview with the Guardian.

According to Ates, her liberal places of worship is the beginning of a revolution in Islam.

The 54-year-old added that she is not the only one who wants this for Muslims.

In her words, Im not alone with this idea. It is a movement, its a revolution, she told the Guardian.

I may be the face of the liberal mosque, but I alone am not the mosque. We have millions of supporters all over the world.

In Ates mosque, anyone is allowed in. Women, men, the LGBT community and anyone from all strands of Islam is welcome.

Another taboo that is broken in this mosque is admitting women without headscarves, known as burqas or niqabs.

Ates explanation for this is that there is no Islamic requirement (to cover ones head). There is no theological argument even in the most conservative interpretation of the Quran.

Its men saying, I cover her because she is my property.

The mosque has received lots of criticism from many Muslim bodies for this and other taboos.

Turkeys main Muslim authority, Diyanet, has called the mosque an experiment aimed at nothing more than depraving and ruining religion.

Turkeys Sabah newspaper has also called the mosque practices the so-called prayer of the perverse.

In fact, the founder has been forced to get a round-the-clock protection from German police, The Local reports.

Ates said, Over social media, I have received so many death threats due to the founding of the mosque that the State Office of Criminal Investigations has determined that they must protect me around the clock.
Foreign financial institutions could face punitive measures if they deal with the blacklisted firms, it added.

SHIG was already under United Nations, US and European Union sanctions.

The White House also indicated that President Donald Trump would sign into law a bill passed by both houses of Congress endorsing sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany and the US condemned Tehran's "provocative" and "destabilizing" action, saying the test was in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

"We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities," they added.

Resolution 2231 was passed two years ago to endorse a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

It lifted economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program.

The resolution called on Iran not to test ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and an arms embargo remained in place.

All four Western governments have written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres about their "concerns", according to the joint statement.

It said the British, French and German governments are discussing the issues in talks with Iran.

The United States has had no diplomatic ties with the Islamic republic since 1980, and Trump has halted the direct contacts with Tehran initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Iran denied all accusations against it and said it has "proven its compliance with the nuclear deal" as repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"Iran does not recognise any limits to its scientific and technological progress and will not wait for the approval or permission of any country regarding the activities of its scientists and experts," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said.

"Tests regarding the launch of satellite-carrier rockets are Iran's definitive right and in full compliance with our country's international commitments."

'Can't trust them'

At UN headquarters in New York, US envoy Nikki Haley expressed mistrust of Iran.

"Iran's widespread support for terrorists tells us we can't trust them. Iran's breaking its obligation on missile testing tells us we can't trust them. Yesterday's launch proves that yet again," she said.

Despite his electoral promise to tear apart what he once called "the worst deal ever," Trump has so far respected the nuclear agreement, a diplomatic success for his predecessor that advanced multilateralism and non-proliferation.

It is unclear whether his administration will continue to certify every three months that Iran is respecting the deal, or keep off economic sanctions linked to Iran's nuclear program.

European countries say the nuclear and ballistic issues should be treated separately.

Yet the joint statement noted that Iran's latest test features technology related to "ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons."

In unveiling the new US sanctions, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said they "underscore the United States' deep concerns with Iran's continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behavior."

He warned that Washington would "continue to aggressively counter Iran's ballistic missile-related activity, whether it be a provocative space launch, its development of threatening ballistic missile systems, or likely support to Yemeni Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia such as occurred this past weekend."

According to the Treasury, "space launch vehicles use technologies that are closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile and this launch represents a threatening step by Iran."

Iranian state television broadcast footage of the takeoff from the Imam Khomeini space center, named after the late founder of the Islamic republic, in Semnan province in the east of the country.

The report said the launch vehicle, named Simorgh after a bird in Iranian mythology, was capable of propelling a satellite weighing 550 pounds (250 kilograms) to an altitude of 300 miles (500 kilometers).

Unlike North Korea, Iran has no intermediate range or intercontinental ballistic missiles capable or reaching US territory.

But its arsenal does include medium-range missiles capable of striking Israel or US bases in the Middle East.

Western governments suspect Iran of trying to develop the technology for longer-range missiles with conventional or nuclear payloads, a charge denied by Tehran, which insists its space program has purely peaceful aims.
The UNESCO World Heritage site also boasts unique plant and animal life, including the continent's largest mammal, the European bison.

"We issued a decree yesterday ordering the immediate halt to the forest's exploitation," an EU Court of Justice spokesman told AFP on Friday.

He added the order was "temporary" pending a final court ruling in the case, which could take months, possibly years.

The court was acting on a July 13 request by the European Commission, the 28-nation EU executive, for "interim measures" to stop large-scale logging in "one of Europe's last remaining primevel forests."

The Polish government has said it authorised the logging, which began in May last year, to contain damage caused by a spruce bark beetle infestation and to fight the risk of forest fires.
His health is closely watched by Zimbabweans, who fear the country could face chaos if he dies without anointing a successor.

Mugabe told tens of thousands of supporters at a rally in the town of Chinhoyi, in his home province, that doctors were recently surprised by his strong bone system.

He has traveled to Singapore three times this year for what officials say is routine medical treatment.

There is the issue that the president is going. I am not going, Mugabe told supporters on the grounds of a local university, 100 km west of the capital Harare.

The president is dying. I am not dying. I will have an ailment here and there but bodywise, all my internal organs  very firm, very strong, Mugabe said as he leant on the lectern.

Mugabe had walked onto the stage slowly but without assistance.

The issue of who will succeed Mugabe has deeply divided the ruling party, with two factions supporting Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Mugabes wife Grace.

On Thursday, Grace challenged Mugabe to name his preferred successor, to end divisions over the future leadership of ZANU-PF.

She repeated the call on Saturday, adding that Mugabe would lead the process to choose his eventual successor.

Mugabe said although some party officials wanted to succeed him, he saw no one among his subordinates with his political clout to keep the party united and fend off a challenge from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
President Michel Temer signed a decree allowing the use of the armed forces in Rio de Janeiro state, the official government gazette announced.

Temer plans to mobilize 10,000 soldiers altogether.

The operation aims in particular to fight organized crime in this city of 6.5 million people, Defense Minister Raul Jungmann told a news conference.

He said other countries also need to cooperate in fighting such crime at the regional level.

A year after hosting the Summer Olympics, Rio has descended into a chaos of violence, with an average of three people killed each day by stray bullets in the first six months of the year, especially when there are shootouts between police and drug traffickers.
Hizbul Mujahideen on Saturday claimed that Zahoor Ahmad Thokar of 173 Territorial Army, who was missing along with his service rifle and ammunition, has joined the militant outfit.

By Ashraf Wani: Hizbul Mujahideen on Saturday claimed that Zahoor Ahmad Thokar of 173 Territorial Army, who was missing along with his service rifle and ammunition, has joined the militant outfit.

In an e-mailed statement, the Hizbul spokesman Saleem Hashmi said, "Zahoor Ahamd Thokar has joined militant ranks. Indian agencies and Narendra Modi led government is trying to enforce Al-Qaeda and ISIS like organizations in Kashmir through the biased media, which is aimed to defame the freedom struggle of Kashmir."

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He said that there is no such organisation in Kashmir and has no role as well.

Few weeks back, Zahoor Ahmad Thakur went missing from his camp in Gantmulla area along with an AK-47 rifle.

According to the statement, a meeting of Hizbul command Council was held, which was presided by its chief Syed Salahuddin.

"In the meeting, a glee was expressed over Thokar's joining into the militant ranks," the spokesman said.

Hizbul Mujahideen also appreciated Thokar's decision of joining militant ranks.

The spokesman said that many officials have earlier joined the militant ranks as well and have sacrificed their lives for the freedoms struggle.

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Soldier with AK-47 rifle goes missing, suspected to have joined Hizbul Mujahideen

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Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin: Global terrorist for US but a free bird in Pakistan

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--- ENDS ---
"At 4 pm (1130 GMT) on Friday, the supercarrier USS Nimitz and its accompanying warship, while being monitored by the Guards' frigates, flew a helicopter near the Resalat oil and gas platform and approached the force's ships," the paramilitary force said.

"The Americans in a provocative and unprofessional move, sent a warning message to the frigates and fired flares," it said. The Guards "ignored the unconventional move by the US ships and continued their mission."

Three days earlier, a US Navy patrol ship fired warning shots at a Guards boat in the Gulf as it closed in on the American vessel, according to US officials.

The Guards denied approaching the US ship in Tuesday's incident and said it was the American vessel that had been at fault.

There have been a string of close encounters between US ships and Iranian vessels in the Gulf in recent months.

On the political battlefield, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told state broadcaster IRIB that Tehran condemned new US sanctions against its missile programme, which President Donald Trump is set to sign into law, and vowed to press on.

"We will continue with full power our missile programme," he said. "We consider the action by the US as hostile, reprehensible and unacceptable, and it's ultimately an effort to weaken the nuclear deal."

Ghasemi was referring to a 2015 agreement between Iran and US-led world powers that lifted some sanctions on Tehran in return for curbs on the country's nuclear programme.

"The military and missile fields... are our domestic policies and others have no right to intervene or comment on them," the spokesman said.

The sanctions bill, which also targets Russia and North Korea, was passed by the US Senate on Thursday, two days after being approved by the House of Representatives.

Separately on Friday, Washington imposed new sanctions targeting Iran's missile programme, one day after Tehran tested a satellite-launch rocket.

Iranian state television broadcast footage of the takeoff from the Imam Khomeini space centre in Semnan province in the east of the country.

The launch vehicle was capable of propelling a satellite weighing 550 pounds (250 kilogrammes) into orbit at an altitude of 300 miles (500 kilometres), it said.

'Destabilising' action

Western governments suspect Iran of trying to develop the technology for longer-range missiles with conventional or nuclear payloads, a charge denied by Tehran, which insists its space programme has purely peaceful aims.

In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany and the US condemned Tehran's "provocative" and "destabilising" action, saying the test was in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the nuclear deal.

"We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities," they said.

Resolution 2231 called on Iran not to test ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and an arms embargo has remained in place.

The United States has had no diplomatic ties with the Iran since 1980, and Trump has halted the direct contacts initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Tensions have mounted between Washington and Tehran since Trump took office six months ago vowing to be the best friend of Israel.

At UN headquarters in New York on Friday, US envoy Nikki Haley expressed mistrust of Iran.

"Iran's widespread support for terrorists tells us we can't trust them. Iran's breaking its obligation on missile testing tells us we can't trust them. Yesterday's launch proves that yet again," she said.

Despite his electoral promise to tear apart what he once called "the worst deal ever", Trump has so far respected the nuclear agreement.

The joint US-European statement said that Iran's latest test features technology related to "ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons".

Iran insists it has "proven its compliance with the nuclear deal" as repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The girls chatted all the way back to the classrooms, each packed with an average of 90 pupils.

In late May, the school became the first to reopen in western Mosul, as Iraqi forces pressed a sector-by-sector campaign that would finally this month expel the Islamic State group from the whole of the country's second city.

Several other schools have followed suit.

Under IS, "we had 27 pupils. Now they number 650," said Nihad Jassem, an administrative employee at the school in the Mosul al-Jadida district.

Its shrapnel-scarred metal gates have been covered with sheets and blankets, shattered windows let in the raging summer heat, the walls are cracked, water and electricity were only restored on Wednesday, the teachers have not been paid, and the school has a severe shortage of books -- "But we're happy!" insisted Jassem.

After three years under IS rule, "we want to develop, we want to be civilised again. These girls have a fresh chance," she said.

"Their future was about to be destroyed forever."

At the next recess, the girls, aged between 13 and 15, go back to chatting and giggling in the corridors or outside in rare spaces in the shade.

They all sport headscarves, at times with a broach or bow attached, some wearing makeup and a small number in the niqab full-face veil.

"We cater to everyone here," Jassem said.

"We have a mission. I want them (the girls) to succeed," said Iman Yussef, a teacher of 26 years standing, 10 of them at Trablus school.

'Wound that hasn't healed'

Under IS rule, teachers were forced to show up or face arrest by its religious police.

"Many just ran away but those with nowhere to go had to come," she said.

Biology, history, geography and sciences were scrapped from the curriculum, leaving only studies on Islam, and the Arabic and English languages.

"We don't talk about those times any more. It's like a wound that hasn't healed, so we don't touch it," said Shada Shammaa, who teaches Arabic at the school.

"In any case, we are not totally rid of IS. Some of the girls may have family members in IS."

Behind the stream of smiles around the school, fear and sorrow sometimes come to the surface.

"We're all happy but our happiness is not complete because we've all lost someone. A friend of mine was killed together with her family a few days ago in the Old City," the last sector of Mosul recaptured earlier this month, said 15-year-old Seema Faris.

A schoolmate, Nur Kheiri, chipped in: "The other day someone apparently wanted to carry out a suicide attack on a school but was stopped in time. The government should send in soldiers to protect us."

On the academic front, the priority for pupils aiming to become professionals one day is to catch up with their peers, as the Iraqi government has said it does not recognise schooling under IS, which seized control of Mosul in 2014.

In the race to catch up, schools in western Mosul, which was retaken months after the eastern sector, are operating in the summertime, with holidays cancelled this year.

"We only have 40 days left before the exams and we've only covered half of the book," complained Shams Maher.

"It's very crowded and the heat is unbearable, but we don't care. What we want is books," said her friend Kheiri, with a cheeky smile on her face.
The alliance's Arab and Kurdish fighters now hold half of Raqa, but as they tighten the noose around IS, the jihadist group appears to be lashing out.

"The closer we get to the city centre, the harder IS defends itself, because it's completely besieged," said Davram Dersem, an SDF field commander.

To defend Raqa, IS has deployed a barrage of car bombs, suicide bombers, weaponised drones, snipers, and mines scattered across the city.

"They're cornered like a wounded animal. Raqa is their main stronghold -- they're not going to abandon it easily," Dersem added.

The Kurdish commander spoke to AFP in the western Raqa neighbourhood of al-Daraiya.

Mortar shells crashed into surrounding neighbourhoods, which were also hit by the occasional air strike.

After IS captured Raqa in 2014, the group transformed the city into a symbol of its most macabre practices, including public beheadings.

Raqa was also thought to have been used as a hub for planning attacks overseas.

Now, much of it has been destroyed by the fierce fighting and US-led air strikes. Roofs have collapsed and streets are littered with rubble, metal, and glass.

'Life-or-death battle'

In the adjacent district of Massaken al-Dubbat, 24-year-old SDF fighter Talal Sharif pointed at a devastated row of two-storey homes ahead.

"All of this destruction, it's because of their car bombs. There have been at least four in each of these streets," Sharif told AFP.

"Little by little, they're being suffocated in Raqa. This is why they're resisting."

Sharif spoke confidently, but his face was marked by exhaustion after weeks of street-by-street battles.

When his unit recently stormed an IS-held neighbourhood, they stumbled on four enemy fighters sleeping inside a home.

"During the raid, one of the jihadists blew himself up, another two were killed, and one was taken prisoner," Sharif recalled.

But if they don't have access to belts of explosives or car bombs, IS fighters resort to something much simpler -- grenades.

"In close combat, they just toss grenades. For them, it's a life-or-death battle," Devrem said.

Up to 50,000 civilians remain trapped in Raqa in increasingly dire circumstances, with little access to food, water, or life-saving medication, according to the United Nations.

The intensifying fight for Raqa has also forced tens of thousands of its residents to flee, dodging IS sniper fire, mines, and even US-led coalition air strikes.

On Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 21 civilians -- including eight children from a single family -- had been killed in "intensifying air strikes by the coalition" over the previous 24 hours.

The Britain-based monitor says more than 300 civilians including dozens of children have died since the SDF first broke into Raqa.

Another 467 IS jihadists and 219 SDF have also been killed in the fighting.

SDF advisor Nasser Hajj Mansour said the battle for Raqa is far from over.

"It could still be long. In the coming days, the battles will become more ferocious," Mansour said.
Yet despite the country's history of military rule, power will likely remain within the hands of a civilian government -- and probably that of Sharif's eponymous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Party, analysts say.

"In a country as volatile as Pakistan, there's good reason to be concerned whenever a prime minister is dismissed," said Michael Kugelman of the DC-based Wilson Centre.

"But my sense is that everything will eventually fall into place -- a successor will be chosen and the current government will serve out its term."

Pakistan has been roiled by military coups and instability for much of its 70-year history.

But recently there has been a surge of optimism in the militancy-plagued developing country, which has seen a dramatic improvement in security and positive economic growth in recent years.

While the 2013 election that brought Sharif to power for a third time was also a powerful symbol of stability, representing Pakistan's first democratic transition from one elected government to another.

Supreme Court judged most harshly

Sharif was disqualified from the prime minister's office but remains the head of the PML-N party which holds a majority in parliament, meaning the next prime minister will likely emerge from its ranks.

Political analyst Hasan Askari said that Pakistan's parliamentary system of government remains unshaken despite the Supreme Court's ousting of a democratically-elected premier.

"Sharif will bring forward some person from the party. Obviously his personality will not carry as much weight (as Sharif)... But at the moment we can say, the first impact of the judgement has not proved to be destabilising," he said.

With Pakistan just a year away from general elections, the question is whether the country's opposition parties can capitalise on Sharif's removal.

Opposition leader Imran Khan has breathlessly pounded his party's anti-graft slogans and called for Sharif's removal as his slow downfall has played out on Pakistan's TV news channels over the last year.

But his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which governs one of Pakistan's four provinces, has so far failed to turn itself into a national party.

"(It is PTI) that initiated the case against the prime minister (Sharif), therefore they are going to be the major beneficiary in terms of reputation and credibility," said Askari.

But, he cautioned, the party would benefit most from early elections, while popular opinion is still on its side -- a remote prospect, with the PML-N-dominated National Assembly more likely push for elections to be held as scheduled in June 2018.

"This is a party (PML-N) that has the luxury of not facing a formidable opponent with national clout," said Kugelman.

"This decision is not a game-changer for PTI," agreed senior political analyst Rasul Bakhsh Rais. "The only change is that Mr Nawaz Sharif is no longer a prime minister."

The immediate reaction to Sharif's ouster from Pakistanis was muted, analysts agreed, with passionate statements made on both sides but only sporadic demonstrations in the streets, suggesting citizens believe the PML-N is still in control.

While Sharif now has to face down allegations that his family has illegally amassed huge wealth, some observers say that it is the Supreme Court who will ultimately be judged the most harshly.
She journeyed more than 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) by bus from eastern Venezuela's Ciudad Bolivar to reach Cucuta, Colombia for medical care, one of many pregnant Venezuelans looking outside their crisis-stricken country's borders for vital care.

She recently arrived at the university hospital Erasmo Meoz with an excessively low weight for her advanced stage of pregnancy.

"Thank God, my weight increased and the doctor told me the baby is doing well," the 21-year-old woman told AFP. "He just needed to grow his lungs a little bit, because they were tiny."

Zambrano's decision to flee her country reflects the increasingly dire situation in Venezuela.

Amid the South American country's turbulent political and economic crisis, infant mortality reached 30.12 percent in 2016, with nearly 11,500 deaths of children between zero and one year old.

The maternal mortality rate has exploded to 65 percent, according to the Venezuelan Ministry of Health.

Spiraling costs

Zambrano's baby developed at an unusually slow rate because of his mother's malnutrition: "I did not eat three times a day," she said, opting instead to feed her one-year-old daughter.

During her exhausting trek to Colombia, she began to bleed, she said, due to complications with the placenta.

Pale and petite, she is nevertheless feeling better, having reached 34 weeks of pregnancy in a public hospital where her care is cost-free.

In the neighboring room, Joselys Canas, 19, is relieved that her son was born in Cucuta, where she settled with her mother just over a year ago after leaving Maracaibo, a Venezuelan state that borders Colombia.

She said she was "very lucky, especially because there are no medicines there -- there's nothing."

The number of Venezuelan patients at the hospital "has increased exponentially," said its director, Juan Agustin Ramirez.

Between September and December 2015, 655 Venezuelans were treated there, compared to 2,300 in 2016 and 1,400 already this year -- generating a cost of more than $1.6 million, Ramirez said.

Chronic shortages

Pregnant women arrive without having received prenatal checks, he said, meaning they are automatically classified as at-risk patients.

"If we end up with a tragedy of great proportions -- a displacement of Venezuelans -- we will need to ask for international aid," Ramirez said, to establish field hospitals for refugees.

If Marbella Nino, 22, had delivered Joshier in Venezuela, she would have had to purchase all the surgical equipment for her C-section.

She could not find the supplies, she said. But even if she had, the young mother said: "Truthfully, I don't have the money to buy it."

The Colombian hospital even gave her diapers for her baby, a rare find on the other side of the border.

"I preferred to give birth here, where I could be vaccinated and better monitored," she said.

Nino is preparing to return to Venezuela in three weeks, and now worries of her country's chronic shortages of food and medicines.
"As the principal economic enablers of North Koreas nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development program, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability," Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

The launch was a "blatant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that reflect the will of the international community," he added.

China is the regime's last remaining major ally, while Russia's Vladimir Putin has warned the international community should not "lose its cool" over the nuclear-armed regime.

US President Donald Trump denounced the latest ICBM launch as a "reckless and dangerous" action and rejected Pyongyang's claims that such tests helped ensure its security.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people," he said in a statement.

Friday's test came just hours after the US Senate passed bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang.

North Korea's accelerated drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability poses a thorny policy challenge for Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim Jong-Un's regime.
By India Today Web Desk: With Mahagathbandhan split, Lalu Yadav's August 27 Patna rally may fail to unite Opposition

With Nitish Kumar's JD(U) pulling out of the Mahagathbandhan alliance, it remains to be seen whether Lalu Yadav's August 27 rally in Patna will be able to unite Opposition parties against the NDA.

North Korea issues stern warning, says US is in missile range

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The rare late-night launch sent a ballistic missile into space. It remained airborne for more than 40 minutes, flying 1,000 kilometers due east before splashing into the Sea of Japan.

Abhinav Mukund 'really disappointed' after missing out on maiden Test hundred

Abhinav Mukund, who was out for 81 in the last over of day 3 of India's opening Test vs Sri Lanka, said he was upset he could not stay on to come back unbeaten on the penultimate day.

Kamal Haasan on rumours of Akshara changing her religion: Love you, even if you have

Kamal Haasan took to Twitter to say that his love for his daughter was unconditional.

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PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP)  North Korea test-fired on Friday what the U.S. believes was its second intercontinental ballistic missile, which flew longer and higher than its first ICBM launched earlier this month, officials said.

"We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile, as had been expected," Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said in Washington.

The missile was launched on very high trajectory, which limited the distance it traveled, and landed west of Japan's island of Hokkaido.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called it a "serious and real threat" to the country's security. North Korea's development of ICBM technology is a major step toward its goal of developing nuclear-armed missiles capable of reaching as far as the United States.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the missile, launched late Friday night, flew for about 45 minutes  about five minutes longer than the ICBM North Korea test-fired on July 4. He said Japan has lodged a strong protest with North Korea.

"North Korea's repeated provocative acts absolutely cannot be accepted," he said.

Prime Minister Abe said Japan would cooperate closely with the U.S., South Korea and other nations to further step up pressure on North Korea to halt its missile programs.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile reached an estimated height of 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) before landing at sea about 1,000 kilometers (625 miles) away. It was apparently more advanced than the ICBM North Korea previously launched, it said.

The "Hwasong 14" ICBM test-fired earlier this month was also launched at a very steep angle, a technique called lofting, and reached a height of more than 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) before splashing down in the ocean 930 kilometers (580 miles) away. Analysts said that missile could be capable of reaching most of Alaska or possibly Hawaii if fired in an attacking trajectory.

Jeffrey Lewis, a missile and nonproliferation expert with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said in tweet that early data from Friday's test suggest a missile with a range of about 10,000 kilometers (6,250 miles) that would be capable of reaching targets deep into the United States mainland.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from North Korea's northern Jagang province near the border with China. President Moon Jae-in was presiding over an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, Moon's office said.

There was no immediate confirmation of the launch by North Korea. The day's broadcast on state-run television had already ended when the news broke at around midnight Pyongyang time.

July 27 is a major national holiday in North Korea called Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War Day, marking the day when the armistice was signed ending the 1950-53 Korean War. That armistice is yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula technically in a state of war.

North Korea generally waits hours or sometimes a day or more before announcing launches, often with a raft of photos in the ruling party newspaper or on the television news. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is usually shown at the site to observe and supervise major launches.

Late night launches are rare. North Korea usually conducts its missile and underground nuclear tests in the morning. It's likely the North launched the missile at night and from the remote province of Jagang to demonstrate its operational versatility. To have a real deterrent, it's important for North Korea to prove it can launch whenever and wherever it chooses, making it harder for foreign military observers trying to detect their activities ahead of time.
Id like to address the elephant in the room. That elephant being the Republican Party and their refusal to represent the majority of their constituents. Lets begin with stricter gun control (something that would help lessen the fears parents have when sending their children off to school), 53% of Americans favor this (Pew Research) yet the elephant in the room refuses to consider any such thing. Over 70% of Americans want stricter background checks yet again; the elephant in the room refuses to represent them. 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal. Again, the elephant in the room pushes laws that do the opposite. 74% of Americans do not want social security reduced in any way. But the elephant in the room pushes to do just the opposite, cut social security. 63% of Americans now prefer Medicare for all, but the elephant in the room fights it with all its might. 67% of Americans feel more needs to be done to reduce climate change, but not the elephant in the room. The elephant sides with the fossil fuel industry claiming its not a big concern. Given these few statistics (there are more like them) its obvious that the Republican Party is the party of minority rule, quite the opposite of what our founding fathers envisioned. The Republican Party has become a power cult, not a party that represents the majority of Americans. Remember this while you mark your ballot in this midterm election. Save Democracy! Vote Democratic!
Celebrating Our Service Members

Friday, November 11 is Veterans Day, when we honor and show gratitude to all members of our Armed Forces  those currently serving, those who...

Transit Equity Starts With QueensLink

For decades Queens has seen a disinvestment in the necessary transit infrastructure the borough needs to promote equity and sustainability. Most of the time, transformative...
Fair, July 27, 2017

By Peter Hart

Peter Hart interviewed Sonali Kolhatkar about women in Afghanistan for the October 10, 2010, episode of CounterSpin, an interview that was rebroadcast on the July 21, 2017, show. This is a lightly edited transcript.

MP3 Link

Janine Jackson: Media are celebrating the participation of Afghan girls in a robotics competition in DC after being denied visas twice as somehow a feel-good story about America. No one seems to have pondered the irony of the denial, given that Afghan girls doing science is precisely the sort of PR moment the US pretended the 2001 invasion was all about. It could have opened a talk about what decades of unending war on Afghanistan have actually done towards that ostensible goal, but it did not.

CounterSpin discussed the war as feminist storyline with author, activist and radio host Sonali Kolhatkar back in 2010. Well hear that conversation again on todays show.



was burned by her husband in 2006. (Photo: RAWA.org) Gulbar was burned by her husband in 2006. (Photo: RAWA.org)

Peter Hart: As the US war in Afghanistan began, the cover of Time magazine on December 3, 2001, announced: Lifting the Veil: The Shocking Story of How the Taliban Brutalized the Women in Afghanistan. How Much Better Will Their Lives Be Now? Almost nine bloody years later, with the war grinding on, the cover of Time magazine features a disfigured Afghan woman and the text, What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan?

The political context for both of these statements is fairly clear: One a hopeful signal that the war has been launched to liberate women in Afghanistan. And now, more recently, this weeks Time comes amidst growing doubts about that war, and the release of tens of thousands of classified documents that portray the violence and confusion of the US war.

As the Obama White House tries to craft a coherent defense of the war amidst talk of timelines and benchmarks, Time magazine is signaling that the original defense of the war should still hold up. But does their argument make sense?

Sonali Kolhatkar is host of the radio program Uprising, based at KPFK in Los Angeles. Shes co-director of the Afghan Womens Mission and co-author of the book Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords and the Propaganda of Silence. Sonali, welcome back to CounterSpin.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Its my pleasure. Thanks, Peter.

PH: Were probably beyond the point of asking how people felt when they saw this Time cover; the intent is so obvious and their editorial explanation suggests little in the way of nuance. Why Time did this is clear, as their managing editor Richard Stengel explained when he was on NBCs Chris Matthews Show:

What we have brought to that country was freedom for women in a way that theyd never had before. Girls are going to school, women are in Parliament, women are on television.

The flip side, obviously, is that women are brutalized by the Taliban, and thus we must stay in Afghanistan. What do you think when you hear comments like Stengels, and see this cover story in Time magazine?

SK: The reality is much more nuanced than what most people like to admit. First of all, what Stengel says about us bringing freedom to Afghan women is ludicrous. There are a few things that Afghan women did gain as a result of the US defeat of the Taliban, and most of those were on paper. They were constitutional; there are now quotas in the government for womens representation, and even a line in the constitution that says women are equal to men. But also in the constitution is the line that Islamic Sharia law is the supreme law of the land, and that was done in order to appease the USs Taliban-like friends, who are just as misogynist as the Taliban.

And what neither Time, nor what many of these mainstream reporters admit, as well as members of the Obama and before that Bush administration admit, is that when it comes to womens rights, as long as theyre our friends, it doesnt matter if we undermine womens rights with the empowerment of misogynist warlords. We create this distinction between misogynists who are enemies and misogynists who are friends, but to Afghan women, there is no difference.



Sonali Kolhatkar: We create this distinction between misogynists who are enemies and misogynists who are friends, but to Afghan women, there is no difference. Sonali Kolhatkar: We create this distinction between misogynists who are enemies and misogynists who are friends, but to Afghan women, there is no difference.

For example, in todays Afghanistan under US occupation, there are record numbers of women in prison, languishing in prison, for these so-called honor crimes, that have been put there by judges appointed by our guy, Hamid Karzai. There are warlords with known histories of criminal, violent behavior, condemned across the world, that are in Parliament. Members of Parliament who are women have been kicked out of Parliament by men like this. This is supposedly the freedom that Afghan women got.

And under our own occupation, the Taliban, that many people in Afghanistan really reviled, are now becoming more popular, because theyre able to say that were fighting the US imperialism. And so in a strange way, the US has actually empowered misogynists on both sides of this war. The Taliban are becoming more legitimate among Afghan people, even though the majority of Afghan people dont agree with their anti-women policies, but because theyre the only ones who are claiming that theyre protecting people from the bombs of NATO and the US.

The Time magazine cover should have said something to the effect of, well, this is what is happening to women under our occupation.

And another thing that Rick Stengel didnt admit was that Afghan women did enjoy freedoms, to an extent, before the Soviet invasion in the late 1980s. And we forget that this history happened. Its not like we freed Afghan women from some barbarism, and gave them a taste of freedom that they never knew. They had freedom, and they had some level and measure of freedom, but that was all set back because of war and foreign interference.

PH: You see that, actually, in the Time magazine piece, that there is a paragraph that mentions that 40 years ago, Afghanistan was a fairly cosmopolitan country, particularly in Kabul, so you get this sense that the piece is somewhat at odds with the cover. It begins to fall apart further when you think that this woman whos portrayed on the cover, this happened to her last year, so the presence of US troops in her country did not help her one bit.

You do see this debate sort of breaking down along two lines, and its a very difficult debate to engage, but its the one thats in the media. You have to support the US war in order to impede the growth or the spread of the Taliban, or you end this war and you unleash this wave of barbarism across the country. Youre given those two options in the media, and it seems like its very difficult to choose the latter.

SK: I think what a lot of people are missing is that the issue of womens rights is essentially a red herring in Afghanistan. No one really cares about womens rights; they only care about womens rights when it becomes important to justify the war, for example, in 2001, and now when the support for the war is flagging. Inside Afghanistan, the issue of womens rightswhether its legal rights, whether its political rights, human rights for women, etc.it sort of changes with time, depending upon whos in power in which locality. But whos fighting wars, and which foreign armies are fighting wars, and which misogynist or fundamentalist warlords are fighting wars on the ground, makes little difference for women.

And so I think it should be made very, very clear to most people, womens rights have always been a PR effort for the US military. Theyve always been part of the PR effort. Wars are not fought to liberate women. Wars are fought over power, but never to liberate women. And what really, really sickens me is groups like Feminist Majority. On Ms. Magazine, there was a blog post recently about this Time magazine article, where you see this sort of liberal feminist line that continues to buy the justification that the war is somehow going to protect Afghan women. You get the sense that they kind of want it to be, they want the war to be fought for womens rights, and they just think that its not being done properly, but if we try hard enough, we have enough troops on the ground, somehow womens rights will be better protected. And theyre completely missing the point, and really doing no justice to the term feminist.





PH: Now, finally, I see this in Time magazine, and my mind is drawn to a couple of months ago, where a very brave and well-known Afghan activist is named one of the most 100 influential people, and Time magazine erases her opposition to the warat least tries to argue that that opposition to the war is something she needs to get over.

SK: Oh my goodness, youre talking about Malalai Joya, and it was amazing that she was recognized by Time magazine. But youre right, the little write-up of her in that announcement by Time magazine was essentially to say that she needs to listen a little bit more to the people who are ardently trying to help her, and that she doesnt know better than those of us here in the United States, apparently, who are trying to liberate her and her fellow Afghans. It was such a slap in her face.

And I really encourage all of your listeners to check out her book that came out, A Woman Among Warlords. If you want to find out what Afghan women, and what a true Afghan hero, a woman like Malalai Joya, who is respected and loved throughout the country, what she really thinks about the US occupation, read her book. On page 1 of her book, she criticizes the US occupation, and she has long called for the occupation to end. And what she and other womens rights activists in Afghanistan are saying: Right now, we have three enemies on the ground. We have the US and NATO occupation, we have the government warlords in the Parliament, and we have the Taliban. Its better for us to fight against two instead of three enemies, and so they want the US and NATO out of there, and they essentially realize that they have to liberate themselves, because nobodys going to do it for them.

PH: Weve been speaking with Sonali Kolhatkar. Shes host of the radio program Uprising, based at KPFK in Los Angeles. Shes also the co-director of the Afghan Womens Mission, and she co-authored the book Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence. Sonali, thanks for joining us this week on CounterSpin.

SK: Thank you.
Speaking to India Today a day after Nawaz Sharif's ouster as Pakistan prime minister, former president Pervez Musharraf said that his country is better off without Sharif.

By India Today Web Desk: Ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif deserved what he got, former president and army chief General Pervez Musharraf said today.

Speaking to India Today TV's Managing Editor Rahul Kanwal, Musharraf called the Pakistan Supreme Court judgment that deposed of Sharif "tremendous" and good for the people of Pakistan.

Musharraf denied charges that the Supreme Court disqualifying Sharif from office amounted to a 'judicial coup', saying that the judgment was "well thought-out" and applauding the justices for showing "caliber". Musharraf, who as the Pakistan Army chief once overthrew a civilian government and imposed military rule, spoke to India Today TV a day after Sharif stepped down as PM after the Supreme Court ruled that he had been dishonest by not disclosing income from a Dubai-based company.

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The Pakistan Supreme Court verdict came in a case related to the Panama Papers expose that threw up documents purportedly showing Sharif's family owning properties in excess of their incomes.

SHAHID KHAQAN ABBASI TO BE INTERIM PRIME MINISTER

Musharraf's comments came just as news broke in Pakistan that former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will take over as interim prime minister. Nawaz Sharif's brother Shahbaz Sharif is expected to eventually become the prime minister of Pakistan once he gets elected to the national parliament.

In his chat with India Today, Musharraf spoke on a range of issues, including China, Kashmir and India Today's recent investigation that exposed how some Hurriyat leaders took funding from Pakistan to, among other acts, burn schools.

The former Pakistani president called the investigation "propaganda" and once again slammed India for carrying out a "genocide" in Kashmir. On China, Musharraf said that Islamabad is "great" friends with Beijing. The former Pakistani army general also said that the United States's recent blocking of funds was not going to "kill" Pakistan.

MUSHARRAF ON SHARIF, PAKISTAN POLITICS, INDIA: TOP HIGHLIGHTS The Supreme Court judgment against Nawaz Sharif is not a coup, Musharraf said. "(It) was a very good judgment that was well thought out and well deserved by Nawaz Sharif. The Supreme Court, yes indeed, previously on many occasions (hasn't shown) such caliber, but this time they (the justices) showed caliber and they reached a judgment which is absolutely according to the wishes of the people of Pakistanis." It is a tremendous judgment that is good for the people of Pakistan, Musharraf also said, adding that Nawaz Sharif told lies, distorted facts. He broke the law of Pakistan and deserved to go, Musharraf said, acknowledging that his ouster would help make it easier for him to return to the country. "But, I always planned to go back," Musharraf added. "I had gone back in 2013 and the same cases (that were there against me then) are there now... But yes, the dismissal of Nawaz Sharif eases my situation." Sharif's dismissal is bound to benefit Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Musharraf said while talking about the political implications of the Supreme Court ruling. "Yes, Imran Khan (and his PTI) is the gainer. (Nawaz Sharif's) Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) is the loser." Musharraf also indicated that he is not averse to aligning with Imran Khan to take on the PML(N) in the upcoming general elections. "I am prepared to be in league in anyone... my aim is clear - to dislodge PML(N) and the (Pakistan) People's Party - they have been tried and tested three times and have failed all those times. They should be defeated and sidelined for good. They have looted and plundered Pakistan," Musharraf said. Asked about the India Today investigation on Hurriyat terror funding, Musharraf came down heavily calling the India Today report "propaganda" and the allegations that Hurriyat burnt schools "nonsense." Members of the Hurriyat are "mujahedeen who want to help their Kashmiri brethren", Musharraf said, adding, "All the youth of Kashmir have risen against you (India). You should be ashamed of what your Army is doing in Kashmir... You are causing a genocide there." On international affairs, Musharraf said that there is a need for ground realities to be understood and for Islamabad to correct the impression other nations have of Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif failed us in that regard, Musharraf added, while saying that the US's recent move to block $350 million in funding will not "kill Pakistan". The former president also spoke about China calling the country a "great friend" and dismissing reports that Beijing was seeking to "enslave" Pakistan. "When they give us aid (and) cooperate in defense matters, it hurts you (India) and that is why you keep talking about it," Musharraf said. "China not trying to enslave us or making us into their chick," Musharraf said, referring to a recent India Today Magazine cover story headlined "China's New Chick" that reported about Beijing's expansive plans to gain a controlling stake in large swathes of Pakistan's economy.

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FULL INTERVIEW | It's a very good verdict, says former Pakistan PM Pervez Musharraf on Nawaz Sharif's ouster

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ALSO READ | Story of Nawaz Sharif's ouster: From Panama Papers to Supreme Court, a timeline

ALSO READ | No Pakistani PM has completed full term, Nawaz Sharif too failed to break jinx

ALSO READ | Panama Papers case: How Nawaz Sharif was convicted in 50 hearings over 273 days

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All the JD-U ministers of the grand alliance government in Bihar are likely to be retained in cabinet expansion scheduled for this evening in Patna. In addition, five BJP MLAs are expected to take oath. Jitan Ram Manjhi and one member each from the LJP and the RLSP will also be sworn in.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will expand his cabinet today. It is expected that 14-16 ministers will take oath this evening in Patna.

The swearing in ceremony has been rescheduled for 5 pm. Earlier, it was slated to take place at 3 pm.

On July 26, only Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi took oath as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister after JD-U parted ways with the RJD and the Congress leaving the grand alliance to joined hands with the BJP-led NDA.

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Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will administer the oath to the new members of the Nitish cabinet. Tripathi was admitted to a Patna hospital after he administered oath to Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi. He is likely to be discharged from hospital after which the swearing in will take place at Raj Bhawan.

Most of the JD-U ministers of the grand alliance government are likely to be retained in the cabinet. Here is the full list of the ministers of Nitish cabinet:

BJP's FINAL LIST OF MINISTERS

Shushil Modi

Nandkishor Yadav

Prem Kumar

Mangal Pandey

Vinod Narayan Jha

Ram Narayan Mandal

Suresh Sharma

Pramod Kumar

Vijay Kumar Sinha

Rana Randhir Singh

Vinod Khuswaha

Krishna Kumar Rishi

Brijkishor Bind

JD-U's LIST OF PROBABLES

Bijendra Prasad Ydaav

Rajeev Ranjan Singh

Shravan Kumar

Jai Kumar Singh

Krishnanandan Prasad Verma

Maheshwar Hazari

Shailesh Kumar

Santosh Kumar Nirala

Khurshid Ahmed

Madan Sehni

Kapil Dev Kaamat

Dinesh Chandra Yadav

Ramesh Rishi Dev

Former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM and one member each from the LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan and the RLSP of Upendra Kushwaha are also expected to be sworn in.

ALSO READ |With Bihar in kitty, will PM Narendra Modi oblige Nitish Kumar with promised special package?

Nitish Kumar wins trust vote in Bihar Assembly with 131 votes

ALSO WATCH | Congress slams Nitish Kumar, says Bihar's mandate was against Modi

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Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded the resignation of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh over the Panama Papers issue, citing the case of Nawaz Sharif who quit as Pakistani prime minister.

Gandhi alleged, "Sharif resigned after his and his family's name figured in the Panama Papers scandal but Chief Minister Raman Singh's family is also facing allegations in the Panama Papers issue and he has not yet resigned."

"It is because he belongs to the RSS and the BJP and they can indulge in corruption," he said wryly.

Last year, the Congress had alleged Singh's son Abhishek held offshore assets as per the Panama Papers leak.

Panama Papers are leaked documents of about 1.15 crore files containing details of about 2.15 lakh bank accounts.

Both the chief minister and his son, the Lok Sabha MP from Rajnandgaon, had rubbished the allegations. The chief minister had described the charges as "baseless and unfounded".

Gandhi, on a two-day tour to the state, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of overlooking the corruption of the BJP chief ministers.

"Modiji talks about fighting corruption, but he can't see the corruption of the Chhattisgarh chief minister. The Rajasthan chief minister, too, has been linked to corruption, but Modiji is not speaking about it," the Congress leader alleged.

He was addressing a rally in Markel, a tribal village near Jagdalpur in Bastar district. The rally was organised to oppose the proposed disinvestment of the NMDC's steel plant in Nagarnar area. The plant in Markel is under construction.

"For the first time in the country, I have seen that a steel plant, which is still being set up, is being privatised. People from the RSS and the BJP don't want development of tribals," he alleged.

"They want you to become slaves of rich people in big cities," claimed the 47-year-old Amethi MP, addressing the gathering which mostly comprised adivasis.

Gandhi alleged that land and forests belonging to tribals are being snatched and given to industrialists.

In 2004, Tata Steel proposed to set up a plant in Bastar for which people gave their land but later the company scrapped its plan. The acquired land was not given back to owners, the Congress leader alleged.

In another rally Rahul hit out at the NDA government, alleging that strife started in several states, including Jammu and Kashmir, after it came to power in May 2014.

He claimed that the prevailing unrest in parts of the country under its rule was benefiting the the RSS, China and Pakistan.

"After the NDA came to power in Delhi, conflicts started in several states. There was peace in Jammu and Kashmir. Terrorism there had nearly come to an end during the UPA rule," he alleged.

"We held talks with people from various sections... our idea was to reach out to people, provide jobs to the youth. We conducted Panchayati Raj elections," he said.

Gandhi was interacting with tribal students during a programme, 'Amcho Hak' (our rights), organised by the National Students Union of India in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh.

"When we came to power in 2004, we gradually controlled terrorism in J&K and it nearly came to an end. But now unrest is everywhere in the country--Srinagar, Sikkim and Bastar," the Amethi MP alleged.

"Peace has vanished from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu. Who's getting benefit from the conflict in Kashmir? It's the RSS, Pakistan and China," the Congress leader alleged.

Questioning who was fuelling civilian unrest in Kashmir, he said "You all have seen how the people of Jammu and Kashmir were living peacefully" when the Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre.

"Situation worsened after the BJP came to power there in coalition with the PDP. Similarly, in Chhattisgarh, the RSS and industrialists are getting benefits of conflict in Bastar," he claimed.

He said Chhattisgarh was a rich state with water, forests and minerals and alleged that "they want to snatch your resources and they can't do that till there is strife".

"That's why they are spreading discord, they want to make you fight among yourselves. Adivasis will never benefit from industrialisation," Gandhi claimed.

The Congress MP alleged that the RSS wanted Dalits, adivasis and OBCs to remain weak and oppressed so that they could rule over them.

"Wherever they go they trigger fight (aag lagate hai). In Haryana, they started a fight between Jats and non-Jats... between Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir, Bengali and non-Bengali in Assam...wherever they go they make people fight," he alleged.

Contrary to this, the Congress believes in peace, he said, adding his party wants to protect the rights of tribals.

"We want you (tribals) to get benefit of your water, forests and minerals not anyone else. We want to protect your rights. Why is prime minister Modi trying to snatch your lands? So that he can give your lands, mines to industrialists," he claimed.

He said in all this, the tribals were suffering and it was causing them losses.
The intercontinental ballistic missile test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says United States President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community.

North Korea on Friday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.

"North Korea's test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missile -- the second such test in less than a month -- is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action.

The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these tests -- and these weapons -- ensure North Korea's security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region," Trump said.

The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 am EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said.

This was North Korea's 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month.

The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options.

Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call," Joint Chief of Staff Chairman's spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said.

Meanwhile the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Korea's missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said today.

This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on July 5.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

"The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range," Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, said in a tweet.

"Now is the time to ramp up sanctions. China cannot have it both ways; it cannot do business as usual with the US and subsidising North Korea," he said.

"But we need to be ready to talk too, and ready to accept a freeze, something far less than denuclearisation for the foreseeable future," Sherman added.
India must maintain its guard and keep its powder dry in the wake of the changes taking place across the border, says Col Anil Bhat (Retired).

Friday's landmark verdict by Pakistan's Supreme Court to disqualify Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding office and finding him guilty for accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income, may have a resounding impact on that country's political landscape, but by no stretch of imagination, can we expect Pakistan's foreign or defence policy towards India undergoing any change.

No change either should be expected whatsoever in the status or standing of the Pakistan Army or its Inter-Services Intelligence agency vis-a-vis policy towards India.

As such, the quod erat demonstrandum can only be expected to be business as usual. India, needless to stress, must maintain its guard and keep its powder dry in the wake of the changes taking place across the border.

No matter who replaces Sharif, there will be no change with regard to dealing with various terrorist organizations operating from Pakistan's soil and their leaders.

Pakistan's policies towards Afghanistan and Bangladesh, where its terror is being exported, will also very likely be status quo. And, as far as China is concerned, the latter will ensure that its interests in Pakistan are not affected.

The Panama Papers were an unprecedented leak of 11.5million files in 2016, from the database of the world's fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca.

The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which in turn shared them with a large network of international partners.

The documents reveal how in various ways the rich and powerful can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes.

Twelve national leaders are among 143 politicians, their families and close associates from around the world, who are known to have been using offshore tax havens.

Among national leaders with offshore wealth was Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The high-profile scandal is about alleged money laundering by Sharif in 1990s, during his two tenures as prime minister. He used the money accumulated to purchase assets in the United Kingdom, which included four expensive flats in Park Lane, London.

Information about the assets surfaced through the leak of the papers last year. It was revealed that several offshore companies were owned by three of Sharif's children.

Following petitions filed by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Awami Muslim League and Jamaat-e-Islami, in October 2016, a six-member Joint Investigation Team was set up by Pakistan's Supreme Court in May 2017, with the mandate to probe the Sharif family for allegedly failing to provide the trail of money used to buy properties in London in 1990s.

Investigating the charges against Sharif and his family, the JIT submitted its report to the court stating that the lifestyles of Sharif and his children were beyond their known sources of income, and recommended filing of a new corruption case against them.

Sharif dismissed the report as a "bundle of baseless allegations" and refused to quit, despite demands to do so from several quarters.

The apex court, which concluded hearing the case on July 21, reserved its verdict for July 28, and now, we all know what the outcome is.

IMAGE: Supporters of Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif react after the Supreme Court's decision to disqualify him. Photograph: Mohsin Raza/Reuters
IMAGE: US President Donald Trump with John Kelly. Kelly will begin as the new Chief of Staff on Monday morning, it was announced. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

United States President Donald Trump has fired Reince Priebus as chief of staff, replacing him with Homeland Security Secretary Gen John Kelly (retired), amid growing tensions at the White House due to infighting among top staffers.

I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff, Trump told his more than 34.8 million followers on Twitter soon after his return from New York.

He is a Great American and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration, Trump said.

The latest shakeup of the White House leadership comes as the feud between Priebus and the new Communication Director Anthony Scaramucci went nasty over the past few days, hogging the media limelight.

Scaramucci was appointed the new White House Communication Director on July 21.

Soon after, Sean Spicer had resigned as the White House Press Secretary in protest.

Trump also promoted his Deputy Sarah sanders as the new White House Press Secretary.

Before being appointed as the White House Chief of Staff, Priebus was the chairman of the Republican National Committee, in which capacity he played a key role in Trumps presidential election.

Kelly has been a staunch supporter of Trump, during his election campaign days.

He previously served as the former Commander of US Southern Command and was the commanding general of the Multi-National Force -- West in Iraq from February 2008 to February 2009.

As Secretary of Homeland Security, Kelly has played a key role in the border security of the Trump Administration.

Over the last few weeks, Trump has expressed frustration over the White House leaks.

With a retired general in charge of his White House now, the president hopes to bring in some discipline and end the current mess inside the White House.

Later in a statement, the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Kelly would begin his new responsibility Monday morning.

General John Kelly is one of the true stars of the Administration. He has helped seal the border and reduced illegal immigration by 70 per cent, she said.

He is respected by everyone, especially the people at the Department of Homeland Security. The entire administration loves him and no one is comparable. He will begin on Monday morning and a cabinet meeting will follow his swearing in, Sanders said.

In a tweet, Trump thanked Priebus for his service.

I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him! he said.

Sanders said Priebus was loyal in his dedication to the US President.

The President thanks him and his family for his great service to the country, and he will always be a member of the Trump Team, she said.

In a written statement, Priebus said it has been one of the greatest honours of his life to serve the US President and the country.

I want to thank the president for giving me this very special opportunity. I will continue to serve as a strong supporter of the Presidents agenda and policies, he said.

I cant think of a better person than General John Kelly to succeed me and I wish him Gods blessings and great success, Priebus said.

Sanders told reporters that Trump began the process of appointing a new chief of staff some two weeks back.

Congressman Peter King who accompanied Trump aboard Air Force One to New York and back, told reporters that during the flight, he saw no indication of Priebus exit.

In fact, he chatted with Priebus repeatedly during the flight.

We didnt even know it. We were sitting right across from him and he kept a poker face, King said, referring to Priebus.

King said the president told him as they were about to get off that he was going to announce Kelly as chief of staff.

Asked what Priebus said during the flight, King repeated: Good poker face, showed nothing.

In a statement, Kelly said he was honoured to be asked to serve as the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States.

To the tremendous men and women of DHS, I thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Secretary, he said.

When I left the Marines, I never thought I would find as committed, as professional, as patriotic a group of individuals. I was wrong. You accomplish great things everyday defending our nation and I know your exceptional work will continue, Kelly said in a statement to the employees of the Department of Homeland Security.
During last two days, six Congress MLAs have tendered their resignation. Three of them, including Balwantsinh Rajput, joined the BJP on Thursday.

Ahmed Patel has been fielded by the Congress for the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls.

By Press Trust of India: Amid the exit of six Congress MLAs ahead of Rajya Sabha polls, a senior party legislator has said Ahmed Patel will find it difficult to win the elections as more opposition lawmakers are likely to resign in the days to come.

Congress MLA Raghavjee Patel, considered close to former party strongman Shankersinh Vaghela, indicated he would also resign and join the BJP. Ahmed Patel has been fielded by the Congress for the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls.

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"The state party leadership, along with Congress high command, is responsible for whatever is happening right now. In the coming days, around 20 Congress MLAs would severe ties with the party. Thus, it will be impossible for Ahmed Patel to win the Rajya Sabha polls," Raghavjee told media persons yesterday.

"When I met Ahmed bhai recently, I cautioned him about this situation and urged him not to contest polls, as I already saw this coming. I firmly believe the Congress cannot win the Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat," said the MLA from Jamnagar (Rural) seat.

"Since there are only two main parties in Gujarat, the BJP is the only option for me if I leave the Congress. I have already had a word with BJP national president Amit Shah and state president Jitubhai Vaghani and conveyed my wish to join the party," said Raghavjee.

Another Congress MLA from Jamnagar, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, also indicated he would leave the party.

"A large number of Congress workers are unhappy with the way the party is functioning. Though I and Raghavjee had made numerous representations about it in the past, the party high command has not given any satisfactory answer. I will take appropriate decision in coming days," said the MLA from Jamnagar (North) seat.

During last two days, six Congress MLAs have tendered their resignation. Three of them, including Balwantsinh Rajput, joined the BJP on Thursday.

Rajput is now pitted against Ahmed Patel.

In the 182-member Assembly, the strength of Congress has gone down to 51.

Of the total 11 RS members from the state, the term of three of them -- Smriti Irani and Dilipbhai Pandya (both BJP) and Ahmed Patel -- is ending on August 18.

Also Read:

All eyes on Vaghela as BJP seeks to checkmate Ahmed Patel in Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls

Amit Shah, Smriti Irani to contest for Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat

Also Watch:

Gujarat: Setback for Congress as 3 MLAs join BJP

--- ENDS ---
The rare late-night launch sent a ballistic missile into space. It remained airborne for more than 40 minutes, flying 1,000 kilometers due east before splashing into the Sea of Japan.

By Asian News International: North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un has issued a fresh challenge to President Donald Trump by launching another sophisticated missile test that could potentially hit the mainland US, North Korea's state news agency said.

The missile launch was meant as a "stern warning" for the United States, North Korea's state news agency said.

The ICBM, which aimed for "maximum distance", flew for 47 minutes and 12 seconds while reaching a maximum altitude of 3,724.9km, North Korea said. The test was ordered and supervised by Kim Jong Un, who termed his country's weapons programme was an "invaluable asset" and demonstrated a "surprise attack capability."

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The rare late-night launch sent a ballistic missile into space. It remained airborne for more than 40 minutes, flying 1,000 kilometers due east before splashing into the Sea of Japan.

North Korea has successfully tested the re-entry component of its intercontinental ballistic missile program, according to North Korea's state news agency.

In terms of the missile's distance, North Korea's estimates line up with the Pentagon's calculations, which said the missile traversed approximately 1,000 kilometers before landing in the Sea of Japan.

During Pyongyang's last ICBM test on July 4, US personnel had a "very easy" shot at Kim while he strolled around the platform for 70 minutes but never took the shot. United States and South Korean military officials on Friday discussed "military response options," after North Korea carried out its second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in a month.

Marine General Joseph Dunford, who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with Admiral Harry Harris, the Commander of US Pacific Command spoke with General Lee Sun-jin, Chairman of the South Korean Joint Chief of Staff, the Telegraph reported.

Both Dunford and Harris have expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. "The three leaders also discussed military response options," said Captain Greg Hicks, a spokesman for Gen Dunford.

The Pentagon confirmed that the missile, which flew for 45 minutes, travelled an estimated 600 miles and landed on west of Japan's Hokkaido island, was an ICBM. It flew for six minutes longer than the previous one, on July 4.

ALSO READ

India asks North Korea to refrain from nuclear and ballistic missile programmes

Successfully tested intercontinental ballistic missile: North Korea

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Body cameras for the Mooresville Police Department have arrived. Find out when they will be used.

Mooresville-Decatur
Naqvi's comments came a day after the Samajwadi Party's Abu Asim Azmi opposed a demand for making the singing of Vande Mataram mandatory in Maharashtra's schools and colleges.

By Press Trust of India: Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said singing Vande Mataram was a "matter of choice" and those refusing to sing it could not be dubbed as anti-nationals.

"Singing Vande Mataram is absolutely an individual's choice. Those who want to sing can sing it, those who dont, may not. Not singing it does not make one anti-national," said the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs, who was in the city for an event, speaking to PTI.

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He added that however, if someone deliberately opposed the singing of the national song, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, it was "in bad taste" and "not in the interest of the country".

'NOT EVEN IF A REVOLVER IS PUT TO MY HEAD'

Sparks flew in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly yesterday as the ruling BJP MLAs slammed Samajwadi Party's Abu Asim Azmi, who opposed a demand for making the singing of Vande Mataram mandatory in the schools and colleges of the state.

Citing a recent Madras High Court order, which made singing of Vande Mataram mandatory in Tamil Nadu schools, BJP MLA Raj Purohit said it should be followed by schools and colleges in Maharashtra as well.

Azmi said he would not sing Vande Mataram even if he was "thrown out of the country", while AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan said he would not sing it "even if a revolver is put to my head".

Speaking at Shirdi, state PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil today said no one should have a problem saying Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai.

Meanwhile, commenting on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's return to the NDA-fold, Naqvi described the JD(U) chief as "a natural ally of the BJP".

"It does not matter whom he (Kumar) had criticised (when he had parted ways with the NDA). The BJP will support anybody who is against corruption and interested in good governance," the Union minister said.

ALSO READ

Controversy over Vande Mataram in Maharashtra yet again

Madras High Court makes Vande Mataram mandatory in schools and colleges

ALSO WATCH

Is Vande Mataram issue pushing development agendas behind in Yogi Adityanath's governance?

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Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has lashed out at the ruling PDP and Mehbooba Mufti for the prolonged unrest in the Valley and the messy situation that the state administration was in.

By Ilma Hasan: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has lashed out at the ruling PDP and Mehbooba Mufti for the prolonged unrest in the Valley and the messy situation that the state administration was in. He said that if he wanted, he could be in power in the state.

Speaking at an event organised at the India International Centre in New Delhi, Omar said, "If I wanted, I could be in power in Jammu and Kashmir now. I could have planned against Mehbooba Mufti and offered a National Conference (NC) alliance to the BJP as an alternative."

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Hinting that the Centre would have been interested in having the BJP ally with the NC in the state, Omar said, "I know for a fact that people in Delhi would be keen on this". While speaking on a host of issues, Omar clearly didn't attack the BJP on the occasion but slammed Mehbooba Mufti for indulging in nepotism as far as appointments to administrative positions were concerned.

OMAR ACCUSES MUFTI OF NEPOTISM IN ADMINISTRATIVE POSTS

He said, "The administration is in a mess, officers who are close to Mehbooba have been given big positions. Only people close to the party, who aren't qualified, have been put in the administration."

There have been rumours doing the rounds of late of a rift between the BJP and PDP, the latest issue causing sharp differences between the two ruling parties being the arrest of 7 Hurriyat leaders by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), something that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was clearly miffed with.

According to reports, Mufti contested the arrests of Hurriyat leaders, saying that the move would hamper talks that the government was trying to have with separatists. Reacting on this issue, Omar said, "The chief minister can't arm-twist the Centre to engage with the Hurriyat. You can't force the union govt to do it. If election promises such as these (of engaging with the Hurriyat) are made (when that can't always be possible), the credibility of the government suffers."

ALSO READ |

Revive Lahore Declaration, do not block trade routes with Pakistan: Mufti to Centre

Amarnath Yatra terror attack: President's Rule may be only option, says Omar

PM Modi man of the moment, true harbinger of peace: Mehbooba Mufti

ALSO WATCH VIDEO: Kashmir inching towards President's Rule, Omar Abdullah tells India Today

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A memorial service was held Saturday at Clover Hill Assembly of God in Midlothian for Tiara Alexandra Cole, a former Manchester High School student and competitive cheerleader who was found fatally shot July 22 in a hotel room in Decatur, Ala.

Cole, 22, who lived in Lawrenceville, Ga., at the time of her death, was known as an elite, competitive cheerleader who had trained at FAME All Stars gym in Midlothian, where a vigil in her honor was held Friday.

Cole was found dead of a gunshot wound at about noon on July 22 after Decatur police officers responded to a call of a deceased person at the Quality Inn at 2120 Jameson Drive SW, according to a news release posted on the departments Facebook page.

After speaking with Coles family, detectives determined that Cole had traveled to Decatur with a male companion in Coles 2003 Toyota Camry.

Cole was shot at some point while in the hotel room, police said.

Authorities issued an all-points bulletin for information on Coles car, and at about 11:15 that evening, Decatur police were contacted by the Gwinnett County (Ga.) Sheriffs Office and told that officers had located Coles vehicle.

Police said the car was occupied by Carey Davis Jr., 25, of Norcross, Ga., who was arrested on unrelated charges.

He was subsequently charged with murder in Coles death.

A GoFundMe account set up to pay for Coles memorial service had raised $5,411 as of mid-afternoon Saturday.

Morrissett Funeral Home at 6500 Iron Bridge Road was handling the arrangements.
WARM SPRINGS  A Bath County woman charged with killing her 6-year-old daughter told a detective she wanted to send the girl to heaven to protect her from aliens, according to court documents.

Darla Elizabeth Hise, 27, is charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 4 shotgun slaying of Abigail Grace Hise in their Hot Springs home.

Hise also told officials at a psychiatric hospital that she had aliens in her body and wanted them removed from her stomach, her attorney, Tony Anderson of Roanoke, wrote in a motion to suppress her statement to police.

Anderson is arguing that because of his clients mental condition and chronic drug use, she was not able to knowingly waive her right to remain silent before giving a statement to Jeff Grimm, a detective with the Bath Sheriffs Office.

In this case, the evidence will show that Hises drug use and psychosis prevented her from being fully aware that she was abandoning her right against self-incrimination and to counsel and the consequences of abandoning those rights, the motion filed Wednesday in Bath Circuit Court stated.

The day after her daughters death, Hise spoke to Grimm while in the emergency room of Bath Community Hospital, where she was admitted after complaining of anxiety and abdominal pain.

Authorities had arrested Hise the previous night after getting a call about a shooting at her home on Billy Goat Lane. Deputies responding to the area found Hise, who led them to the home, where her daughter was discovered dead.

Hise was speaking incoherently when she was taken to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with possible drug-induced psychosis vs PTSD psychosis, the motion stated. Tests showed that Hise had been using methamphetamine, amphetamines and marijuana; drugs she said she had been taking for the previous three weeks.

Throughout her interview with Detective Grimm, she detailed her psychosis that she believed her daughter and son were in danger from aliens and she thought she was going to save her daughter by sending her to heaven, the motion stated.

A 3-year-old boy was found in the home and placed in the care of another family.

In addition to first-degree murder, Hise is charged with attempted murder, two counts of use of a firearm, possession of methamphetamine and having a firearm while in possession of the drugs.

Although Hise signed a waiver of her Miranda rights before speaking to Grimm, Anderson is contending that her ability to understand the process was hindered by intoxication, drugs, mental defect or other disability.

Several days after her statement, Hise was transferred to Central State Hospital, where she reportedly made statements about aliens in her body and was observed to be paranoid and suspicious, the motion stated.

Hise is currently being held without bond in the Western Virginia Regional Jail.

In March, Anderson asked for a mental evaluation of Hise, writing that he believed she lacked the ability to understand court proceedings or assist him with her defense. An evaluation of her competency to stand trial was conducted; the results were placed under seal.

Anderson and Bath Commonwealths Attorney John Singleton could not be reached for comment Friday.

Also this week, Anderson asked in court papers that Hises trial be moved away from Bath, where news media coverage of the case has evoked great passion and prejudice in the community.
In the 1920s, Richmond was a city of compact neighborhoods, some delineated by streetcar tracks. A more significant boundary than those rails  one enforced by law  was race. Among the parallel universes created by segregation was Jackson Ward, the seat of the citys African-American middle class.

From one of the neighborhoods grander houses, Maggie L. Walker made history, achieving breakthroughs for blacks and women in banking, journalism, retailing and politics.

And from a house next door, a future history-maker  then a little boy  watched, and learned from, the mannered, serious-minded woman he and others knew as Miss Maggie.

William Ferguson Fergie Reid, who in 1967 would become the first African-American elected to the Virginia legislature in the 20th century and at age 92 keeps a close eye on state politics from his apartment in Chevy Chase, Md., lived with his family immediately west of Walker on East Leigh Street.

Because of an oddity attributed to the previous owner of the Reid house, theirs and Walkers had  at the time  the same number: 110. It was a source of confusion. One day, Reid said a courtly man with a Van Dyke beard appeared at the Reids door, apparently believing it was the Walker house.

The caller was W.E.B. DuBois, the African-American scholar and civil rights pioneer.

Reid, a retired surgeon who followed his father into medicine, was 9 years old when Walker, to whom Richmond erected a monument on Broad Street two weeks ago, died in 1934 at age 70. Reid is among the few people still alive who personally knew Walker.

Reids memories of Walker are vivid.

They are a record of a family friend famous for her advocacy of African-American self-determination at a time when Jim Crowism consigned blacks to second-class status. Reids recollections also are a window on a close-knit community largely unknown to the white world beyond the narrow, tree-lined streets of Jackson Ward.

As Reid tells it, Walker  at her peak in the 1920s  was a celebrity entrepreneur on the scale of Oprah Winfrey and an influential opinion-shaper whose reach among African-Americans recalled that of John Johnson, the founder of Ebony and Jet magazines.

She was widowed and living with her children and grandchildren, said Reid, referring to Walker. Naturally, we were together every day in our house or their house; so we were very close.

Reid reeled off the names of the Walker grandchildren: Maggie Laura, Armstead, Mamie Evelyn and Elizabeth, who was Reids age.

The household included Walkers servants. Among them, Alphonso, the chauffeur. He was in livery, right down to the polished jodhpur boots, whenever he drove Walker in her Pierce-Arrow, said Reid.

The automobile had been modified to accommodate the disabled Walker. The two-story Italianate house, designed and built by African-Americans and now a historic site operated by the National Park Service, was fitted with a platform, allowing Walker, who used a wheelchair, to get inside.

The daughter of an Irish-born Confederate soldier and a former slave who cooked for Elizabeth Van Lew  an abolitionist and Union spy who lived in Church Hill  Walker was the first black woman in the United States to start a bank, the St. Lukes Penny Savings Bank. Reids dentist-dad, Leon, was a director personally recruited by Walker.

The bank  antecedent to Consolidated Bank & Trust, a longtime symbol of African-American economic muscle acquired by a West Virginia financial institution in 2011  offered a Christmas savings plan that required customers to deposit 25 cents per week.

As gift-giving season approached, savers had nearly $13  a lot of money, at the time, Reid said.

She really preached thrift and that savings was a necessity, said Reid, adding that at holiday time, Walker would give $1 to each of the white police officers who guided traffic through Jackson Ward before stoplights were installed.

Walker published a newspaper and opened a department store, targeting African-Americans largely shunned by Richmonds white-owned businesses.

She helped start the local chapter of the NAACP and led a boycott of the segregated streetcar system.

And Walker ran on an all-black statewide ticket in 1921 for superintendent of public instruction, now an appointive official selected by the governor.

The ticket was Republican, because the GOP  as the party of Lincoln  had freed the slaves and given them the vote. By the 1920s, however, Virginia and other Southern states had implemented a poll tax and literacy tests to eliminate African-Americans as a political force.

On Memorial Day, said Reid, Walker would round up neighborhood children for a picnic lunch and take them to Richmonds black cemeteries  including Evergreen, where she is buried  to place flowers on soldiers graves. Walker also would visit a Confederate cemetery.

Reid, a Democrat elected to a Richmond-Henrico County seat in the House of Delegates for which he was defeated in 1973, described the Jackson Ward in which he grew up as a hotbed of sensibility: traditional families led by working parents who sent their children to public school.

He said that in his immediate neighborhood, East Leigh and Second streets, there were 15 kids, all of whom graduated from high school, with some  like himself  going to college and graduate school, pursuing professional careers in big cities in the Midwest and Northeast as well as overseas.

Reid, whose lawyer-grandfather roomed at then-Hampton Institute with Booker T. Washington in the 1870s, said he and his pals had powerful influences in their parents and others, including Maggie L. Walker. Though having been a youngster when she died, Reid said he didnt appreciate Walkers example until he was older.

She was just a neighbor as far as we were concerned, Reid said. We didnt know until later  until after she died  of the role that she was playing.
The Parzor foundation along with Madison, which is private company, is counseling young Parsi couples to get married at young age and with proper family planning, get early babies.

By Saurabh Vaktania: The Parsi community, which has been witnessing a decline in its population in India, is asking its people to have more babies. The Parzor foundation along with Madison, which is private company, is counseling young Parsi couples to get married at young age and with proper family planning, have babies at an early age.

At proper age, the couples in the community should get married and get babies soon. This was the motto of Jiyo Parsi event held in Mumbai. Prominent people from the community were present along with Ministry of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

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Parsi community leaders say that while other communities in India are expanding, Parsis are on the verge of extinction. According to the census taken in 2011, there are only 57,264 Parsis in India.

Jiyo Parsi Scehem was initiated to reverse the decline in the Parsi population by adopting scientific medical protocols and structured interventions, to stabilize and increase the population of Parsi in India. Several Parsi organisations and many reputed doctors across India are working to spread awareness on the sociological, psychological and medical issues which have led to critical decline in the numbers. Through the initiative, 101 babies have been born from September 2013 till date.

Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director of Madison, said, "Jiyo Parsi is awareness campaign for the community. Every year Parsi population is going down. With the initiative, we are encouraging young Parsi couples to marry at right time and have more babies. Also, couples, who are married should, do proper family planning and have babies. Few people think of marrying late, but when they get old, their marriages don't happen, they feel alone, therefore community people should get married early and have happy family."

Abbas Naqvi, Minister of Minority Affairs, said, "Our government looks after all the communities. However, when we look at the population of Parsi community, the condition is pretty bad. Therefore, our government for the better future of the Parsi community will help them in every possible ways. We will give them financial support, to make add films etc. The message should be spread amongst the the whole community."

Parizad Kolah, actress, anchor and prominent face of the community, said, "With the Jiyo Parsi event, we are spreading awareness amongst the community. We are making them understand how bad the condition of Parsi community is in term of population. At proper age people should get married and have proper family planning.

Going through the Census report and facts, it is true that the community population is fast decreasing due to several reasons. However, the community leaders are trying hard to preserve the beautiful Parsi community and will take the initiative to next level in the coming months by various innovative ideas.

ALSO READ:

Inclusive growth a "draft of development" for BJP: Naqvi

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One of three men arrested after a scuffle at a May counter-protest has been convicted on one charge, had another dismissed and a hearing for a third pushed to early next year.

Charles Best, 21, had a hearing in Charlottesville General District Court on Thursday for charges related to the May 14 candlelit event held in Emancipation Park, formerly Lee Park, as a response to a torch-lit event held there the previous night.

The May 13 event, put together by white supremacist Richard Spencer and other alt-right leaders, was held in protest of the citys decision to rename the park and remove the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

In the final minutes of the May 14 event, several disorders broke out, according to police. While breaking up one fight, a city officer was struck in the head by a cellphone thrown from the crowd. The officer suffered a minor injury.

Police identified Best as the person who threw the phone and charged him with disorderly conduct, assault on a police officer and carrying a concealed weapon after police found a fully automatic-opening knife on his person.

The assault on a police officer charge was dropped Thursday, but Best was found guilty of disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail with all of that time suspended, and will have to pay $89 in court costs.

A hearing on the concealed weapon charge was scheduled for Jan. 26.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoneys letter of apology to police and firefighters over a glitch in the processing of pay increases was a classy move. The administration knows how to hit the right notes.

Speaking of apologies, the head of the Boy Scouts of America felt compelled to apologize for Donald Trumps speech at the national Jamboree, which was crass and self-glorifying and full of Trump. The Boy Scouts, apologizing. For the president. Let that sink in for a minute.

Cosmopolitan magazine has just declared the Byrd Theater the coolest movie palace in all of Virginia. Its right, of course. The Byrd shows up in a list of the coolest movie theaters in every state. Its great to know the Byrd is so widely appreciated. Its also great to know Cosmo can write a list about something besides the 97 Latest Mind-Blowing Tricks to Please Your Man!!!

File this one under B, for BWAAAAA-HA-HA-HA-HA!: Virginia Rep. Dave Brat says the party most responsible for President Donald Trumps attacks on his own Attorney General Jeff Sessions is ... the media. Brat blames intensive coverage of the Russian investigation, from which Sessions has recused himself. CNNs Kate Bolduan wasnt buying Brats theory on Thursday. The media is not forcing the President to tweet his attacks, she said. I think you did, Brat replied. Bolduan: Are you kidding me? The media did not force the President to attack Jeff Sessions. Brat: Im using force in like a bank-shot metaphor. You didnt coerce him. You made him frustrated.

Good news (1): Development along the James continues apace, with the approval of more apartments and commercial space at Rocketts Landing. High-density, mixed-use development like this is exactly what that area needs.

Good news (2): A new law that took effect at the beginning of the month has cleared the way for needle exchanges. Critics of such programs sometimes accuse them of encouraging drug use, but the concern is misplaced. Needle exchanges not only help reduce the incidence of disease; as Elaine Martin, director of Virginias HIV prevention services, recently suggested, they also are a gateway  to recovery. (Were using gateway in like a bank-shot metaphor there.)

Good news (3) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has found that the Atlantic Coast Pipelines environmental effects can be reduced to less-than-significant levels. The effects on public safety will be good, too. Pipelines offer a means of transporting gas that is 10 times safer than by truck: From 2007 to 2016, the incident rate for road transport of fossil fuels was 7.1 per billion ton-miles. For pipelines: 0.73.

And speaking of energy: Whats the biggest obstacle to renewables? It might not be those eeeeevil fossil fuel companies. Newsday reports that wind energy is facing a backlash. Tennessee and North Carolina have both imposed a two-year moratorium, and several counties in New York are resisting a project to put turbines near Lake Ontario. Its gotten so bad that some wind-energy companies are filing suit against communities that say no to them.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
By PTI: (Eds: rpt after correcting slug)

Kohima, Jul 29 (PTI) Altogether 78.55 per cent of voters today exercised their franchise in Northern Angami-I assembly constituency bye-election where former Chief Minister Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu is one of the candidates.

While Liezietsu has been nominated by Naga Peoples Front, the other candidate is an independent, Kekhrie Yhome, a greenhorn.

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Polling was peaceful and 78.55 per cent votes were polled, Chief Election Officer Abhijit Sinha said.

He said Yhome demanded repoll in one of the 25 polling stations and it would be decided after scrutiny of documents of the election observers and other officials tomorrow.

The bye-election was necessitated following resignation of sitting MLA Khriehu Liezietsu on May 24, paving the way for his father Dr Liezietsu to get elected as a member of the Assembly.

Counting of votes will be done on August 3.

After casting his vote, Liezietsu said the challenge was tough as many big political leaders were with his rival, who he termed as a "proxy candidate".

Yhome, on the other hand, said he is a novice politician and it was exciting to contest with a veteran politician like Liezietsu.

Liezietsu became chief minister in February replacing NPF colleague TR Zeliang, who again ousted him in a rebellion on July 19. PTI NBS NN

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Last year, FloydFest organizers did a festival within a festival at a remote locale on the site. The party, featuring The Pimps of Joytime and a fireworks show, was "FloydFest 16," designed so that future event numbers would match the calendar year. That meant that 2017 would be the year of FloydFest 17.

The stage is in use early Saturday morning. Here's the skinny (not repeal), courtesy Richard Oakley, Editor-in-Chief of The Poke Around (paragraph breaks mine):

>This year, at the former "secret stage," FloydFest has partnered with The Poke Around to host a surprise campfire jam, dubbed "The Pick Around," at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday night.

>We are holding a multi-faceted fundraiser on Participation Row to equally benefit all non-profits at FloydFest, and The Pick Around will be the culmination of that fundraiser, hoping to make a final push for all of these great causes.

>The people that run these NPO's do so purely out of love and dedication to their causes, and we at The Poke Around come from a similar place, love and dedication to the artists and music lovers that make up A Tribe Called FloydFest.

> The Pick Around will be musically hosted by South Hill Banks (also a 2017 On-The-Rise finalist) and David Via's Galax Pickers. With limitless potential for sit-ins and collaborations from the wealth of talented pickers at FloydFest 17 ~ Freedom, this will be a completely organic, once-in-a-lifetime celebration that you do not want to miss.
Roanoke police found human skeletal remains while searching an area near Tinker Creek Wednesday and Thursday, according to tweets posted to the departments Twitter account Friday afternoon.

The remains were found while police searched a trail leading to the creek near the 2700 block of Radford Road Northeast, which is a dead-end road.

Police evidence technicians and personnel from the medical examiners office began gathering physical evidence from the area Thursday after first searching the area Wednesday afternoon. Evidence will be taken to the medical examiners office, police said Thursday.

Roanoke police previously said they are taking into consideration the disappearance of a woman reported missing in March who lived in the 2600 block of Radford Road, though the remains have not been identified yet.

Edme Merle-Perez, 38, was reported missing March 27. Officers dont believe she left home on her own. Police and a Virginia State Police dive team searched Tinker Creek in connection with her disappearance in May, and have conducted several interviews related to the investigation.

At approximately 12:30 p.m. Friday, officers were bringing tents and other materials back up the trail. Its unclear whether police will be collecting additional evidence from the area.

We will continue to work with the medical examiners office to determine identification, the department said in a second tweet.
Swimmers and anglers should stay out of Tinker Creek indefinitely due to an herbicide spill at a farm supply store in Cloverdale that caused a large fish kill Saturday morning.

No one should water crops or animals with water from the creek, authorities said.

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management was notified Saturday morning of foam on the water in the creek at Cloverdale and dispatched hazardous materials workers, said Jeff Caldwell, public information officer for the department.

VDEM and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality followed the trail of foam and dead fish to a company called Crop Production Services on Simmons Drive in Cloverdale, he said.

Caldwell said an herbicide identified as Termix 5301 spilled from a large, caged, plastic tank on the parking lot at Crop Production Services and was apparently washed into the creek by recent rains.

Saturday afternoon, Larry Willis of the DEQ waded in Tinker creek about a half mile downstream from source of the spill with a pole and a notebook documenting what he said were likely thousands of dead fish.

Nearby, along Summer View Drive, dozens of dead fish were plainly visible from the banks of Tinker Creek. A white foam floated on the water and collected against rocks and logs.

Botetourt County Fire and EMS said Saturday evening that the spill had been contained.

Caldwell said it was unclear how long the directive to stay out of the stream would stand. Its going to depend on the weather and how much rain we get, he said.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie supports industrial hemp, and hes not just blowing smoke.

Gillespie, who along with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ralph Northam participated in an agricultural forum at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke on Friday, championed establishing standards for industrial hemp to turn the unmistakable green plant into big bucks.

Given the science and the data that we have at this point, I would be one who would be able to work with the Trump administration to be able to make the case for Virginia being one of the areas where we should be able to establish some practices and procedures for us to be able to have commercial development for industrial hemp, Gillespie said.

Throughout his 55 minutes on stage, fielding questions from members of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation and its partner agencies, Gillespie oft pointed to the relationship he, as governor, could have with President Donald Trump because of their shared political party.

Northam has called Trump a narcissistic maniac and has criticized many of the presidents actions.

Northam, who had a minor medical procedure earlier in the day, teleconferenced into the first of a series of gubernatorial forums. The pediatric neurologist laughed off the procedure by saying, even doctors have to go see a doctor now and then. Northams campaign declined to elaborate on the medical procedure.

In what turned into a comedy of errors, the video feed projecting Northam onto a massive screen periodically lagged and froze, truncating the candidates speech or killing the live stream.

While Northam supports decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana, he has not taken a position on industrial hemp.

Libertarian candidate Cliff Hyra wants to legalize marijuana, but has not discussed hemp. Hyra did not attend the forum.

Gillespie, who opposes marijuana decriminalization, said a farmer in Southside Virginia first encouraged him to study the benefits of industrial hemp about a year ago. Since then, Gillespie has heard other Virginia farmers argue they have fertile soil that could be used to grow hemp, the candidate said.

Hemp is used to make hundreds of items from clothes and rope to paper and beauty products. Last year, Americans spent more than $688 million importing hemp products.

Allowing hemp farming in Virginia could require some finagling at the state and federal level.

Del. Joseph Yost, R-Pearisburg, got the ball rolling in 2015 when the General Assembly passed a bill legalizing hemp research at some Virginia universities. But hemp, like its sister marijuana, is criminalized by the federal Controlled Substance Act. Hemp contains minuscule amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol  the ingredient in marijuana that gives users their high.

Currently, Virginia farmers arent allowed to grow hemp for commercial purposes, but that could change if federal lawmakers downgrade hemp from its vilified label as a controlled substance.

The two candidates spoke separately at the forum, but both covered a lot of ground as they discussed issues affecting the commonwealths agriculture and forestry sectors.

Both agreed to shore up a stronger migrant labor population so farmers could hire legal workers during peak times. The candidates also promised reforms to support small businesses and improve broadband coverage.

Gillespie and Northam also agreed to improve the Port of Virginia in order to increase the flow of Virginias agricultural and forestry exports, which amounted to a $2.77 billion industry last year.

Northam pointed to Gov. Terry McAuliffes trade missions overseas as drivers of increased international trade. Northam pledged to continue that precedent and make promoting exports a priority.

We have been very aggressive with that and thats why I think our economy is doing as well as it is in Virginia, he said. Thats why weve been able to bring so many new jobs to Virginia, so much new capital investment and thats why our unemployment rate is now at the lowest point its been in the last nine years.

McAuliffe announced this month that the agriculture and forestry industries contribute $91 billion annually to the commonwealth. The industries have grown by 30 percent since 2013, according to a local study.
By PTI: CMs: Rahul

Markel (Cgarh), Jul 29 (PTI) Training his guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today said though the former spoke a lot about ending corruption, he was silent on the graft charges against the Chhattisgarh chief minister and his Rajasthan counterpart.

"Recently, the Pakistani Prime Minister resigned after his name surfaced in the Panama papers issue. The Chhattisgarh chief ministers family was also named in the same report, but he did not resign. He belongs to the BJP and RSS and they can do corruption," he said.

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"Modiji talks about (ending) corruption and gives long speeches, but he cant see the corruption committed by Chief Minister Raman Singh. The Rajasthan chief minister (Vasundhara Raje) is facing graft charges, but the prime minister never said a single word on that," he added.

The Congress leader was addressing a mammoth Jan Adhikar rally at Markel village in Chhattisgarhs insurgency-hit Bastar district.

The rally was held in protest against the proposed disinvestment of the NMDC steel plant coming up at Nagarnar village in the region.

Gandhi accused the ruling BJP in Chhattisgarh of "looting the natural resources of the Adivasis (tribals) of Bastar.

"There is only one work which is being done at Bastar. The jal, jungle and zameen (water, forest and land) of Bastar are being snatched," he said.

"Now, they (BJP) are talking about outsourcing (in Chhattisgarh). The RSS wanted to put an end to reservations. This outsourcing method is the way of achieving that through the backdoor...why are the locals of Chhattisgarh not getting jobs...do only those from Maharashtra and RSS deserve to work here?," asked Gandhi.

He claimed that those who had happily given their land for a proposed Tata plant in Bastar (at Lohandiguda) were yet to get it back even though the project was called off.

"The UPA had brought a bill to protect the land of tribals and farmers. It was clearly mentioned in it that no land could be acquired without the permission of the local panchayat. Besides, there was also a provision for a four-time compensation to farmers, as compared to the market rate, against the land acquired. But, it was opposed by Modiji, who later got the support of the corporates in the election," said Gandhi.

He claimed that after coming to power at the Centre, the NDA had attempted to withdraw the bill, but had to drop the plan following a strong opposition by the Congress.

"Then, the BJP asked the states ruled by it to reject the bill at their level," he alleged.

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Referring to the proposed disinvestment of the NMDC steel plant, the Congress leader said, "A public sector steel plant is about to be set up in Bastar, which would have ensured employment for the locals. For the first time, I have heard that a public sector plant, which is still under-construction, is being privatised. The same is being done by Modiji in every state."

He alleged that the RSS did not want the tribals to get good jobs and prosper.

"They want you (tribals) to go to the big cities like Delhi and work as servants. But, we want development for all, employment for all and make everyone feel that it is his own state," he said.

Targeting the prime minister over demonetisation, Gandhi alleged that his vision of a cashless economy only benefited the "corrupt", who were in possession of black money.

"Modiji had a dream on November 8 and announced demonetisation. Everybody knows that the black money is in the banks of Switzerland and real estate, but Modiji did nothing towards it. Only the poor and labourers bore the brunt of demonetisation," he said.

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Gandhi alleged that while the poor were standing in long queues to get their old currency notes exchanged, the rich got their work done through the "backdoor of the banks".

"The Reserve Bank has so far not revealed the amount of black money deposited in the banks after demonetisation. Modiji has exchanged all the black money of the country for the corrupt people," he said.

Criticising the prime minister for his "divisive" politics, Gandhi said, "Wherever he goes, he makes one countryman fight with the other...he has triggered an unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, in the north-east and in Haryana. You are aware of what is happening in Chhattisgarh. The women are being killed and raped, but Modiji never speaks a single word about it."

Exuding confidence about a Congress victory in next years Chhattisgarh Assembly polls, he said his party would stand by the people of Bastar in their fight for their rights.

"The Congress is going to win the election in Chhattisgarh. The people of the state have seen the real face of BJP-RSS. When we come to power, the Adivasis will benefit from the natural resources in the region. The Congress will stand by the tribals in their fight for their rights, including the one against the (proposed) disinvestment of the Nagarnar steel plant," he asserted.

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Alleging that the BJP-RSS showed "big dreams" to the people of the state and never attempted to make them a reality, the Congress vice-president alleged that the saffron party always ran "after money and power".

"The Congress is fighting for the rights of the poor and tribals. When it comes to power, it will change Bastar. We will improve the health and education facilities in the region," he said.

"I believe, if Bastar is weak, it will weaken Chhattisgarh and the country. We will not let that happen," added Gandhi. PTI TKP NP RC

--- ENDS ---
Kaine, Warner call on parties to work together following defeat of Obamacare repeal

Virginias two Democratic senators called for both parties to work together on health care following the Senates overnight vote to stop repeal of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Three Republicans  Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska  joined all 48 Democrats to reject a repeal bill by a vote of 51-49.

Warners press secretary issued a statement on his behalf around 2:15 a.m.

Thank you to all Americans who made their voices heard. You did this, Warner said in the statement. Its time to drop this partisan repeal process for good and work together on ways to improve health care for all Americans.

Warners staff posted a late-night video of the senator on his Twitter feed saying the Senate acted in a bipartisan way and responded to concerns of millions of Americans in rejecting the measure backed by President Trump and Senate Republican leadership.

A statement from Kaine was released about 2:30 a.m.

Thanks to the help of countless Americans who shared their stories and made their voices heard, we were able to stop a bill that would have taken health care away from millions of people, Kaine said in the statement. There is a better way. Let the public into the process. We shouldnt be kicking millions off of their health insurance or increasing families health care costs. Tonight we put people over politics, and going forward we all need to work together to improve health care for all Americans.
ABINGDON  Sylvia White is a longtime patron of the Virginia Highlands Festival.

The Abingdon resident has been going to the festival annually for more than 50 years.

Well, we came for the first time in 1964, and Ive probably been here every year since then, said White, who clutched her first purchase of this years festival, some scarves.

She enjoys coming back each year to see familiar vendors and antique dealers.

I just think its just a great thing for the community, she said.

White was there Friday for the kickoff of the 69th annual festival. This years theme is Kick Up Your Heels! Despite Fridays rain, festivalgoers were circling in and out of the various vendors tents at the Juried Arts & Crafts show.

What can people expect from this years show?

Number one thing people can expect is the best of the best, Executive Director Becky Caldwell said. And at all price points, too, all the way from a dollar to probably a comma somewhere in there.

Sock-maker Melanie Koenig of Hampton, Tennessee, is back for a second year. Last year, she won the Honorable Mention Award for the arts & crafts show. She uses a 1908 sock-knitting machine to hand-crank her creations.

I teach hand-knitting, and I was at a hand-knitting conference and saw these machines and became obsessed, she said.

Koening searched the internet for four to five months to find her own early 1900s sock machine. She then took additional time to learn how to make the socks.

I make socks the way they used to be made during that period, she said.

Koenig uses yarn exclusively from Germany that is 75 percent wool, 25 percent nylon and machine washable. The yarn features ink-jetted designs. She also makes scarves, bags, baby hats, footie socks all the way to thigh highs and has plans to craft small toys and shawls.

Across the square is the Creative Arts By Cathy, tent featuring hand-painted gourds that function as birdhouses that are made by Cathy Probst-Walker of Crossville, Tennessee. The self-taught painter and former self-taught woodworker began painting gourds 10 years ago.

A man in my neighborhood gave me a couple of gourds and said, Lets see what you can do with these, and from there it just progressed, she said.

One gourd birdhouse takes about four days to make, a joint effort between Probst-Walker and her husband, Dow Walker.

Her husband first cleans out the gourds and drills the holes, then Probst-Walker spends two days painting before handing her latest creation back to her husband for varnishing.

Probst-Walker paints birds, flowers, various animals  turning some gourds into chickens  and even colleges, including Virginia Tech, on the gourds.

The beauty of it, the diversity of the product, you have so many colors and subjects, her husband said.

Just a few tents over is Quillins Quills, of Abingdon. Charlie Quillin and his wife, Heda, who wast there for the festivals first day, have been making wooden pens, pencils, wine stoppers and more for about 15 years.

Heda, my wife, is really the heart and soul of this thing, Quillin said.

The Quillins craft their wood creations from domestic and exotic woods, Corian or custom.

We dont cut down live trees, he said.

A lot of wood comes from colleges in the area, including Emory & Henry (Quillins alma mater), Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, the University of Virginias College at Wise and the old Virginia Intermont College.

There was a guy, Bill Anders, that did this at the festival years ago, and he was kind enough to say Im going to show you how to do this, Quillin said.

Quillins most frequent and hardest question to answer is: How long does it take to create a pen? His answer: Frankly, God is the one who determines it. Sometimes the wood turns out very quickly, and sometimes it blows out on you.

Regardless of how long it takes, Quillin always ends up with something quite remarkable.

Its amazing what you can find in a piece of wood, he said.

Festivalgoer Linda Snodgrass of Abingdon has been attending the festival since 1975.

Snodgrass stopped by the vendors tents after finishing a three-hour shift as a volunteer at the Washington County Public Library book sale, which is happening at the festival.

Im always interested in seeing if there are new crafts, new types of jewelry, she said. This is a good place to get ideas if youre a do-it-yourselfer.
ABINGDON  Lawrence Dyes family couldnt afford a bicycle when he was a child  but hes more than made up for it.

Now 85, Dye, known as The Legend, has biked more than 192,000 miles on the Virginia Creeper Trail. He reached his 100,000th mile approximately 17 years ago.

For years, Dye has been featured in the Virginia Highlands Festival with the annual Creeper Trail Ride with The Legend, event, which takes place today.

We have this annual ride with the legend as we call Lawrence The Legend, to celebrate and honor him, said Virginia Creeper Trail Club President Wayne Miller.

Dye is a lifetime member of the club.

Todays annual event begins at 8 a.m. and ends around 4 p.m. Riders meet at the Virginia Creeper Trailhead around 7:30 a.m.

Im not riding with them, because part of this year I stopped riding because of age. Im 85 now, Dye said.

However, he will be there to send the riders off.

Last year, 26 bikers participated, and Dye rode part of the way with them.

It wont be the same without Lawrence leading the charge, Miller said. He injured his back, and it must be a pretty serious injury because he rode three or four years ago when he had shingles. He rode when he had shingles because he had that obsession to ride every day.

Those participating will bike from the Abingdon Trailhead to Whitetop Station and back, the exact route Dye took to log his 100,000 miles.

It took a long time to get to 100,000 miles, and I rode most of it by myself. I would start in Abingdon about 7 oclock in the morning and then ride to Whitetop [Station] and back, it would be 66 miles in one trip, Dye said. Day after day, it [the miles] just started adding up.

When Dye hit that milestone, approximately 5,000 people went to Green Cove Station, located along the Creeper Trail, to celebrate.

The 100,000th mile was very special because its so many miles and a lot of people were celebrating it, he said.

Theres a park bench installed at Green Cove with a plaque commemorating the occasion, Miller said.

Miller moved to the area 10 years ago and has known Dye for that stretch of time.

Been amazed at what hes accomplished, Miller said. Ive watched him continue to amaze us with all his stamina and endurance.

This past April, the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Creeper Trail was celebrated at the inaugural Virginia Creeper Fest in Abingdon.

The 34.3-mile recreational trail was officially dedicated in 1987, after trains stopped passing over the railroad in 1977.

The Virginia section of the railroad was abandoned shortly after the trains stopped, and contractors from Chicago were ordered to salvage the steel rails and remove the tracks and the wooden trestles, Miller said.

The contractors were convinced to leave the trestles behind so a trail could be built, according to the Virginia Creeper Trail Club website.

The Virginia portion of the trail begins at the visitors center along Green Spring Road in Abingdon, runs through rural parts of Washington County and ends in the Whitetop area.

Dye decided to ride the Creeper Trail years ago simply because it was there.

Some of my neighbors were riding it, and so I rode with them, and then I just kept riding.
The main accused has been identified as Ashu, who has a criminal background.

By Mail Today Bureau: A day after former international powerlifter Anil Sharma was attacked by a group of men, Delhi Police arrested the main accused and have also identified his other accomplices.

The main accused has been identified as Ashu, who has a criminal background. He was arrested from his friend's house and has confessed his involvement in the crime.

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He told police that last Friday, Sharma called him him and asked him to meet.

According to police, after Sharma along with his two friends returned from a hotel, they went to Paharganj area near Ashu's residence where Ashu reached with his friends.

When Ashu met him, an argument took place that soon became heated followed by a scuffle.

SHARMA FIGHTING FOR LIFE

Sharma is battling for his life at BL Kapoor Hospital where doctors have removed one of his kidneys, pancreas and some parts of the intestine as they were completely damaged during the attack.

The attackers smashed him with bricks and rods.

Meanwhile, Ashu claimed it was an unplanned attack that occurred due to sudden provocation.

He admitted he was unaware about the intensity of the injuries, police said quoting his confessional statement. The police team has identified the remaining accused and raids are on to nab them.

ALSO READ

Delhi: Former international athlete Anil Sharma fighting for his life after thugs beat him with rods

Delhi: Father-son killed for spat over air cooler

--- ENDS ---
A North Carolina man who came to Roanoke to buy a used Lexus SUV he found on Craigslist was instead robbed at gunpoint Friday.

The man agreed to meet the seller in the 2200 block of Mattaponi Drive in the Countryside neighborhood, said Roanoke Police spokesman Scott Leamon.

He arrived to find three men accompanying a vehicle that was not the same year as the one advertised on the online sales site Craigslist, but he nevertheless took the SUV for a test drive with one of the men, Leamon said.

Afterwards, the man was directed to park the car in one place on Mattaponi, and then move it to another, according to Leamon. After he parked, the man with him exited the vehicle, ostensibly to get the title, and he was approached by a man with a gun outside the vehicle.

The men robbed him of an unspecified amount of cash and other items, Leamon said. He called 911 from a nearby residence.

No one was injured and no arrests have been made, Leamon said.

Leamon advises online shoppers on sites like Craigslist to buy local and always meet the other party in a high traffic area with high visibility such as a mall or big box store parking lot. For smaller items, he suggested meeting in the police department lobby.

If the product brought to the sale is not what was advertised, he said, pull the plug right there.
WHITETHORNE  Off a small service road at Kentland Farm, Virginia Tech graduate student Jabari Byrd is growing cannabis with his professor.

Now this plot isnt part of any illicit plan. Its a piece of research at Tech thats leading the state into a new era of studying industrial hemp, and its fully sanctioned by the federal and Virginia governments.

On a hot July afternoon, Byrd led a group of professors, fellow students and an activist around the fields to show off more than a dozen varieties of industrial hemp. Byrd showed plots that were part of herbicide studies and planting day studies in an effort to determine the best conditions for the plant that until last year hadnt been cultivated in the state for decades.

A law legalizing hemp cultivation for research purposes sponsored by Del. Joseph Yost, R-Pearisburg, was passed in 2015. The law was championed by longtime former Montgomery County Board of Supervisors chairman and farmer Jim Politis. Virginia Tech was one of the first universities in the state to apply for permits to research the crop. Virginia State University and James Madison University are also conducting research on the crop.

Further state legislation could come soon if Congress passes the federal Industrial Hemp Farming Act, which was introduced Friday in the House of Representatives.

The measure, co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, proposes altering the definition of marijuana to take industrial hemp off a list of substances banned by the federal controlled substances act. That could open the door for commercial growth of the plant.

Ive met many Virginia farmers who are ready to commercially produce and create a market for industrial hemp in the U.S., but outdated, though well-intentioned, federal restrictions on the cultivation and commercialization of this crop stand in the way, Goodlatte said in a written statement. By removing industrial hemp from the definition of a controlled substance, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act will finally allow for responsible, commercial production of industrial hemp without fear of violating federal law.

Industrial hemp is the same species of cannabis plant as marijuana. The difference: marijuana is chock-full of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the intoxicant that makes people high. Industrial hemp has a very small concentration, .03 percent or less as defined in Virginia, while marijuana often has a double digit percentage concentration.

The reason for research

The passage of the 2015 state law and the possibility of loosening federal regulations on hemp production mean Tech researchers are starting to see some value in looking at the renewable crop, said Tom Hammett, associate dean of Academic Programs and a professor in the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials at Tech.

Hammett said Tech researchers are focusing on turning the crop from a novelty into a viable cash crop.

This isnt the first time Hammett has looked at hemp products. He said that hes spent three to four years helping students study how hemp might be a viable biomaterial commercially. The plant, though, is starting to pick up more steam for study.

We need to look and see what products we can get that will raise the value of hemp, Hammett said. People are a little bit skeptical of it now.

That skepticism comes from the way hemp has been regulated and stigmatized in the past, said Jason Amatucci, the Virginia Industrial Hemp Coalitions executive director. It has been outlawed in Virginia since the 1930s.

Amatucci said that products from the plant, currently mostly imported from Europe and Canada, show some vitality and potential for the plant in the United States.

Vote Hemp, a national advocacy group, and Hemp Business Journal, a hemp trade publication, estimated the hemp market value in the country is about $688 million. At least 33 states have legalized growing hemp to some degree for research and commercial purposes.

But, in order for industrial hemp to be commercially viable in Virginia, there needs to be scientific proof from universities like Tech, James Madison and Virginia State to corporate interests that the crop will thrive in Virginia and contribute to the states economy, Amatucci said.

Their proof of concepts and variety research trials help to move the hemp industry forward in Virginia, which in turn will result in new jobs for the Commonwealth, he said.

Work at Tech

About a half dozen projects going on at Tech are looking at that proof of concept.

In the field, Byrd, along with professor John Fike who is currently out of the country and was unavailable for comment, are analyzing the best times to grow and manage hemp crops at Kentland Farm. They have 18 varieties growing at the farm.

Byrd said the ultimate goal will be to put together a Virginia Cooperative Extension document to guide farmers on the best ways to plant the crop if it becomes legal to grow commercially.

Part of that information will be gleaned from the work done by entomologists who are conducting pest population studies on the plant. Graduate student Kadie Britt and senior Emily Rutkowski have been traveling around the state studying pests on the plants and have found plenty of bugs. Japanese beetles are probably the most common pests on industrial hemp so far, Britt said.

Researchers are looking beyond the field for what to do with hemp in the future.

On the same day the group visited the field, the Virginia Industrial Hemp Coalition  via Amatucci  also donated several bags of hemp hurd (fibrous parts of the plants stalk) to Tech researchers. The hurd was imported from the Netherlands, Amatucci said. One of the first projects will be to test how hemp-enforced concrete can withstand pressure, said Dan Hindman, a professor in Techs sustainable biomaterials department.

Hempcrete, a mix of hemp hurd and lime, is already on the market. However, it isnt strong enough to hold a lot of weight over an extended period of time.

The goal with testing hemp-reinforced concrete is to see how the plant might be able to replace materials like steel rebar to strengthen concrete in construction, said Sarah Blome, a student working with Hindman.

The fact that the hurd also comes from the stalks, while farmers can sell other parts of the plants for profit, makes whats used for Hindmans project all gravy, he said.

If the researchers can figure that out, they might find a way to replace resource-intensive metals with an annual crop that would also suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as it grows.

Its just a small part of trying to make a big [construction] industry greener, Blome said.

Biological systems engineering professor Justin Barone and chemical engineering professor Donald Baird said theyre both beginning to explore how hemp can be used in car parts.

Hemp fibers are lighter than glass fibers commonly used in cars, Barone said. Those hemp pieces could eventually be used to improve gas mileage.

The way to go farther on a tank of gas is to make a car lighter, he said.

Right now, the limiting factors are mainly cost and a need to keep working on the strength of hemp fiber products that could be used in various parts of cars.

Baird said he hopes to get some funding in the near future to further research how hemp fibers can work in car parts. He said further research dollars will come to the university soon for various hemp-related projects.

Theres simply a renewed interest in researching hemp, Baird said.

For Hammett, all the research continues a positive trend for studying how to use the plant. Its not like the plant will solve all of societys problems, he said, but its a harmless plant that could become a valuable product for the state.

Its part of a mix of crops that stakeholders should have access to, Hammett said. Why shouldnt hemp be part of what we use?
The comedy show will be produced by both Priyanka Chopra and Madhuri Dixit.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Indian actress Priyanka Chopra, who has found a foothold in Hollywood, is reportedly executive producing a comedy series about Bollywood's dancing diva Madhuri Dixit's life for US network ABC.

According to an exclusive report by variety.com, the yet untitled series is based on the real life of Madhuri, who will also executive produce the project.

The story would follow how Madhuri settles down in the suburbs of the US with her bi-cultural family and tries to bring her colourful lifestyle to an otherwise dull town.

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In reality, Madhuri had taken a break from showbiz when she married Sriram Nene, who was based in US back then and shifted to Denver from Mumbai to start a family. The mother of two sons returned to showbiz around five years ago, and continues to be one of the most charming beauties in the Hindi film industry.

Sri Rao, a writer for shows like General Hospital: Night Shift, will pen the pilot and executive produce the series, as will Madhuri's husband.

Just last month, Madhuri had teased that something new and exciting was going to be announced.

"Loving downtime in the US. Back up soon with announcements. Til then enjoy," she had tweeted.

Other names attached to the project include Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper through the Mark Gordon Company (MGC), while ABC Studios will co-produce the show with MGC, reports variety.com.

Priyanka currently stars on American show Quantico, which is going into its third season. Earlier this year, she made her Hollywood debut with Baywatch, and she is now shooting for romantic comedy Isn't It Romantic with Liam Hemsworth.

Also read: Priyanka Chopra's Quantico will return for Season 3

--- ENDS ---
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today took to Twitter to take a dig at Congress, who flew around 40 MLAs to Bengaluru late Friday night to avoid further resignations and defections ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha polls.

By India Today Web Desk: As Gujarat continues to reel under massive flood fury, the Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today took to Twitter to take a dig at Congress, who flew around 40 MLAs to Bengaluru late Friday night to avoid further resignations and defections ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha polls.

Rupani tweeted, "Gujarat has just seen heavy rain and flooding. Centre and state government are leaving no stone unturned to help normalise the situation. In this adversity, our sole aim is to provide relief and stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Gujarat."

Gujarat has just seen heavy rain & flooding. Centre and State Government are leaving no stone unturned to help normalise the situation.- Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) July 29, 2017

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He further added that "Unfortunately, our friends in the Congress are insensitive about people's suffering. They are instead relaxing in resorts in Karnataka. Our aim is relief & rehabilitation. Gujarat Congress prefers resort & relaxation. Flood is our priority, fun theirs. People are best judges."

Unfortunately, our friends in the Congress are insensitive about peoples suffering. They are instead relaxing in resorts in Karnataka.- Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) July 29, 2017

Meanwhile, the strength of Congress in the Gujarat Assembly has gone down to 51, after the resignations of the six MLAs, three of whom joined BJP.

The grand old party accused the BJP of horse trading.

However, Gujarat Assemble Speaker Ramanlal Vora denied the allegations. He said he spoke to all of the six MLAs before accepting their resignations.

He further added that he asked all the six Congress MLAs about whether they were under pressure or whether they had been offered money to quit their posts, but they replied in the negative.

On Friday, Congress MLA Raghavjee Patel had said that 20 more MLAs were ready to quit the Gujarat Assembly.

Meanwhile, according to officials, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will visit the flood-affected areas of Banaskantha district on July 30. He will also hold review meeting with the officials to monitor the rehabilitation efforts.

Interestingly, after Rupani's tweet about Congress leaders relaxing in Karnataka resorts, reports came that Ahmad Patel, Ashok Gahelot and Bharat Solanki will be visiting flood affected area of Banaskantha tomorrow.

According to media reports, the death toll due to rains and flooding rose to 129 till Friday as NDRF personnel rescued 3,622 people from north Patan and Banaskantha.

ALSO READ:

Gujarat floods: Ahmedabad gets 200 mm rain in last 24 hours, normal life paralysed

Gujarat Speaker denies horse trading claims as Congress knocks Election Commission's door

All eyes on Vaghela as BJP seeks to checkmate Ahmed Patel in Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls

ALSO WATCH:

--- ENDS ---
Official website of this new regulatory bill was launched on July 26, but the homebuyers claim it's toothless and the builders say its very confusing.

By Abhishek Anand: The 'much hyped' Real Estate Regulatory Bill (2016), also known as RERA, turns out to be disappointing for both homebuyers and builders.

Official website of this new regulatory bill was launched on July 26, but the homebuyers claim it's toothless and the builders say its very confusing.

Over 40,000 homebuyers in satellite cities of Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad are waiting for possession of their flats even after making payment to the builders.

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"We had left no stone unturned to force the government to pass the Bill in Parliament. However, now we see that the RERA had nothing much to offer. So far its website works like incomplete yellow pages for undergoing projects in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. It is disappointing to see that the government has made a toothless bill," said Indrish Gupta, founder member, Noida Extension Flat Owners Association (NEFOWA).

The RERA Bill was passed from both Houses of the Parliament last year amidst the issue of delayed possession to thousands of homebuyers. Many homebuyers associations had met a number of Union ministers and MPs to get the bill passed in Parliament. As RERA rolled out its website on July 26, the homebuyers are disappointed. Even the builders are confused over the clauses of the website. Many a times, complete data of the projects are not being uploaded. Also, details of certain things that are required for the website are confusing.

"Apart from delayed uploads and malfunctioning in the website, builders are also confused about certain clauses in the online forms. The websites asks for cost of a unit. How is it possible for any builder to keep a fix price of each dwelling in its project. Apart from this, many irrelevant questions are asked and relevant questions are ignored," said Suresh Garg, secretary, Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (CREDAI), western UP.

ALSO READ:

UP govt committed to safeguarding interests of home buyers: CM

Surjewala accuses Khattar govt of diluting RERA Act

--- ENDS ---
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Jul-28-2017 21:00 TweetFollow @OregonNews INDO EXPO Cannabis Trade Show Encourages Oregon Hemp Businesses Get your cannabis industry friends and head to Portland!

INDO EXPO comes to Portland Aug 5 & 6, 2017.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Hemp is where its at. Finally, everybody is talking about hemp and its history in our country and beyond. In fact, some say the cannabis movement wouldnt be here at all, without hemp. There have been important groups formed to bring about an end to cannabis (aka marijuana) prohibition in the United States, including NORML, formed in 1970 by Keith Stroup. Another, very passionate leader, was Jack Herer, affectionately known as the Hemperor. Jack Herer learned, via his best friend Captain Ed and other experts of the time, that hemp was the plant that started it all. All the hoopla about marijuana had little importance vs the priceless value of the hemp plant itself. He was a leader among activists-to-come. He founded and served as the director of H.E.M.P. Help End Marijuana Prohibition. In 1973, he wrote G.R.A.S.S.: Great Revolutionary American Standard System [with Al Emmanuel], and in 1985, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, known as the bible of marijuana prohibition, earning him the moniker, the Emperor of Hemp. Jack changed the perception of cannabis prohibition and those that use it, one reader at a time. Jack Herer passed away in 2010, but education about the hemp plant and its multiple beneficial uses has increased exponentially in his stead. The seeds of wisdom that he sowed are continuing to find the light, as more people are interested in the truth behind the longstanding facade of prohibition. In Portland, August 5-6th, you can see for yourself. No, Jack Herer is not the subject of the show. However, INDO EXPO is bringing hemp into the mainstream, something he would find intriguing to say the least. They are offering a platform within the main hall of this enormous trade show to showcase a select group of hemp vendors and services, all USA Hemp made product lines. INDO EXPO is looking to encourage small and local hemp business and entrepreneurs working with Industrial Hemp and all its amazing bi-products. This unique & first of its kind accelerator program will support young, start up hemp businesses in Oregon. Exhibits include but are not limited to: Hemp Seed, Hemp Farmers, Hemp CBD products, Hemp Processors, Hemp Education, HempCrete, Hemp for Pet, Hemp Coffee, Local Hemp Stores and Products and much more. This event is a must-see for anyone in the cannabis industry. The myriad of products and services on display is impressive to say the least. The INDO EXPO Trade Show is focused on building business to business (B2B) relationships and providing a professional platform for producers, processors, wholesalers, and retailers all "under one roof". By bringing together industry professionals from around the world, growth of the Cannabis industry is fueled. This full-spectrum Cannabis B2B event showcases hundreds of companies, brands and product lines, representing equipment, lighting, nutrients, greenhouses, supplies, tools, lifestyle and ancillary companies and services such as legal, HVAC, IT, packaging, labeling, security and real estate firms, staffing, HR, brokers, consultants and more. Whats more, there is a career fair on Sunday, with a host of Hiring Exhibitors and dozens of positions in need of talent. Whether youre interested in learning how to promote and sell a product line, or if you want to purchase items for your store or grow facilities, there is something for everyone; enjoy the many product demonstrations, educational seminars, networking opportunities, classes, and workshops. So, before harvest starts, meet up at the Indo Expo in Portland, theres plenty to see, do and learn. Jacks dream, Hemp will save the world, if anything can! is well underway. Now, on to ending prohibition at the federal level... _________________________________________

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Dear Editor,

Re: Nine former workers accused of theft

They stole from their workplace. They got caught. They now have to pay the price for their crime. Simple really, yes?

The reasons as to why they stole is the bigger issue here and one that has been asked of by many and for many a year. So why did they steal?

Cost of living?  food, clothing, gas, power etc. Faalavelave commitments? Pressure to provide contributions to the church? Addictive dependencies alcohol, tobacco, gambling or sadly now meth/ice? Peer pressure and/or social status? Or perhaps a combination of any of these would provide enough temptation for the most devoutly honest or strongest willed person to feel taking from another is justified?

Its obviously a problem that will not go away overnight and needs to be tackled on multiple fronts. The need to foster social responsibility towards fellow citizens and the nation of Samoa as a whole is paramount.

Showing genuine respect to others for their lives and possessions that they have worked hard for. We need a stronger emphasis on social responsibility driven from our schools. Government and Churches employing a bipartisan approach to guiding our young and steering them in a true course of respect and accountability.

Sadly, the most influential people who have been entrusted to lead our country, who should be the role models of our country (especially the young who are our future), are the very ones who help perpetuate this lack of accountability!

How often do we hear about a corrupt politician, church minister, C.E.O, financial controller or any one of the socially accepted pillars of our society making the transgression into theft and crime? Hardly the lead by example approach we need so badly yeah? Its almost like its ok to borrow someone elses belongings  if the people in power can whats a few grocery items and a little cash here and there  right?

The reckless use of responsibility and accountability by some of our leaders is an insult to the people of Samoa. The people they are there to represent and help. I go crazy sometimes when I hear a politician, minister or person in a position of power and influence prattle on about a problem they cannot or wish not to deal with by that throwaway line  Its in the hand of God now. What a joke!

God did not canvas and campaign to get the people to vote for him to hold that position of power and responsibility?

God did not spend years at bible school to become a faifeau that yields so much accountable influence and guidance over our people? God did not sign an individual employment contract to run a government department or enterprise? God does not run the country  people do.

Whether individual or as a combined team, people run the country and have been entrusted by the nation to do so. They certainly get a few more benefits and a healthier hourly rate to do this than the average citizen, so youd expect them to actually perform what is required of them yeah? Not abdicate their responsibility in a flash by saying its not actually up to me anymore. If you accepted the role of responsibility, you either perform by leading, following or if you cannot perform it, get out of the way, right?

But I digress, sorry. The fact is we have a problem with theft here in this country whether or not its a bag of rice, some milk formula or the misappropriation of taxpayers money in the figure of thousands and thousands of tala.

Whatever the reason/s, sometimes it feels like theft in Samoa is so rife, it has seemingly become sanitized as par for the course.

You just expect and accept it to happen. In a country that purports it is founded on God, there are so many occurrences we hear of that indicate a large majority of Samoans are actually founded on Godlessness. Not everyone of course but a heck of a lot!

So, going back to the original story. The management at Farmer Joe placed a degree of trust in their employees. These employees abused this trust and stole from their employer. From the facts presented in this story, it sounds like they did this either individually or in a complicit manner over a period of time (which may have required some team work and careful planning in assisting each other to get around the security systems in place?).

I do not believe raising the hourly minimum rate is the solution. It is merely a Band-Aid remedy that may stem the flow temporarily.

However, I do believe increasing individual pay rates that reflect performance, commitment and contentiousness in ones work role.

A more advantageous and practical approach could be to toughen up on crime in the workplace, develop better in house security systems to reduce theft, promote accountability and responsibility towards fellow employees and the employer.

Outside of the workplace we need to get back to the basic principles of respect for ourselves and for one another. Impress to our children at an early age that honest and the care of one another is key to a better life for everyone.

Include these principles within our schools from year one right through to university, encourage accountability for ones actions and show the benefits of how this can create a better, stronger and healthier community and country for all.

Last but in no way least, hold the people in power to account. HOLD THE PEOPLE IN POWER TO ACCOUNT. This is so important as this is where the root evil can either be stopped or perpetuated. These people have a moral and social obligation to lead by example and show the citizens of Samoa the respect and honesty we all deserve.

T.C.
The village of Laulii welcomed 31 new titleholders of the Sa Maposua family during a colorful and elaborate ceremony yesterday morning.

Among the titles conferred were Maposua, Tagaloatele and Sulamanaia. The new titleholders come from the family of Maposua Ioane.

The ceremony was held at Malae where the titleholders were blessed by pastors of different denominations within the village during the ceremony.

High Chief, Maposua Toaitiiti, said yesterdays ceremony had taken a while to plan but the family is pleased that it has been done.

Many of them (new titleholders) are from America, Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia, he said.

We thank God for making all things possible. These titles are all about coming together to serve our family in whatever way we can.

Traditional formalities followed the formal ceremony.
Australia has provided A$1million (T$1.9m) in additional financing to the ongoing Samoa AgriBusiness Support Project designed to boost the South Pacific nations economic performance by addressing challenges hindering increased trade and export.

The project, cofinanced by the Asian Development Bank (A.D.B) and the governments of Australia and Samoa, was launched in May 2015 and provides access to finance and tailored business support services to agribusinesses in the country.

We depend on agriculture to help develop and grow our economy, said Lavea Tupaimatuna Lavea, Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Finance. Agribusiness partnerships and promotion of commercial value chains in increasing and sustaining economic productivity are key priority areas for us.

Agribusinesses are often family-owned enterprises, mostly involved in agro-industrial processing of local raw materials, such as taro and coconut, supplied by smallholder families. Agribusinesses are, therefore, critical for stimulating agricultural production and sustaining local employment generation.

Private sector development continues to be important in catalyzing sustainable and inclusive economic growth in Samoa, said Emma Fan, Regional Director of ADBs Pacific Liaison and Coordination Office in Australia.

By partnering with commercial banks and addressing the constraints that hinder access to finance, the project can help agribusinesses expand and create more jobs for the community.

The project has now partnered with four commercial banks to provide suitable and affordable financial services to participating agribusinesses. With project support, increased willingness to provide sustained commercial funding to the agribusiness sector in Samoa is anticipated.

Enabling economic growth is a key priority of Australias aid program and our aid for trade focus. In supporting Samoan agribusinesses, this project increases economic opportunities for farmers, families, and communities, said Australian High Commissioner Sue Langford.

The project has been performing well for the past 12 months, providing advisory services and assistance to obtain commercial funding to medium size businesses. The supported agribusiness segments include cocoa, coconut, root crop, and poultry farming.

A.D.B has been working with the Government of Samoa since 1966 and has approved $186.19 million in loans, $122.97 million in Asian Development Fund grants, and $32.06 million in technical assistance.
RSS worker Rajesh (34) was hacked to death in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram in the evening on Saturday. BJP has alleged that CPM workers were behind the incident. Police have started investigating the case.

By India Today Web Desk: An RSS worker was hacked to death in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram in the evening on Saturday.

The victim, identified as 34-year-old Rajesh, was killed in Sreekaryam area of the state capital around 8.30 pm while he was returning from the shakha office.

According to the police, the six-member gang of attackers was led by a history-sheeter. The miscreants chopped off Rajesh's left hand in the attack. All the six attackers are absconding.

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According to reports, there were over 20 wounds in his body.

Rajesh was rushed to a nearby hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.

Kerala BJP chief Kumanam Rajasekharan alleged that the CPI-M was behind the attack, a charge denied by the district leadership of the Left party. The BJP has called for a state-wide hartal on Sunday, the state BJP chief said. Rajasekharan went on to say that such violent acts had the tacit support of the state government, adding that he would bring these attacks to the notice of the Centre.

"Unfortunate that Rajesh left us. Stricken!", Rajasekharan said in another tweet.

SEARCH IS ON TO ARREST MISCREANTS

Police have started investigating the case and search is on to trace the absconding criminals.

A local goon called Manikandan is said to be the prime suspect in the case.

City police commissioner Sparjan Kumar said, "Police are on the lookout for the attackers. Security has been beefed up across the city to prevent such untoward incidents from recurring."

Police have also clamped prohibitory orders for three days from Friday after BJP's Kerala unit office in Thiruvananthapuram was torched and the residence of CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's son Bineesh Kodiyeri was attacked.

Earlier, 10 people, including 4 from the student and youth wings of CPI-M, were arrested in connection with the clashes in the city on Friday.

CPM DENIES INVOLVEMENT

Meanwhile, the CPM is in denial. A press statement issued by the party said that it had no connection with the incident.

It is pertinent to mention here that RSS and CPM workers have had a history of violent clashes in Kerala.

In the most recent of such confrontations, clashes broke out between workers of the two communities in Kannur district's Payyanur area on July 11 earlier this month.

Kannur district has been particularly volatile since the murder of CPM worker Dhanaraj last year.

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(WITH INPUTS FROM GOPI KRISHNAN UNNITHAN AND PTI)

Also read |

Kerala: Payyanur tense after clashes between RSS, CPI(M) workers

Kerala: RSS leader, accused of murdering CPM activist, hacked to death in Kannur

ALSO WATCH VIDEO: CPI-M workers caught on CCTV vandalising BJP office in Kerala

--- ENDS ---
Baby Matauaina, who left Samoa for an emergency operation in New Zealand for a congenital heart disease, returned home this week with a grateful heart, for the support from the Little Angels Foundation of New Zealand.

In April this year, the parents of the 4-month old Baby Matauaina at the time, sought S.V.S.Gs support for the mothers airfare, so she could accompany her child for a life-saving operation in New Zealand.

Through the Little Angels Foundation, S.V.S.G was able to help this child and her family.

Baby Matauaina had her open heart surgery on 20 April 2017 at the New Zealand Starship Hospital and it was successful.

She was then in a recovery period for three months with relatives in New Zealand.

She is now 7 months old and is a beautiful little girl, full of life.

Visiting the S.V.S.G office, the grateful mother Joyce Iliganoa Leota, thanked the Little Angels Foundation for its contribution in saving Baby Matauainas life.

Thank you so much to the Little Angels Foundation and to Samoa Victim Support Group for enabling me to accompany my child during her operation. As a mother, I am grateful to God and to you all for your support, she said.

The Little Angels Foundation, working in partnership with S.V.S.G to help children from underprivileged families, stepped in, and paid for the mothers airfare.

In addition, S.V.S.G received donations from Lisa Sutton, Gaylene Rowe and a Guest Donor on S.V.S.Gs Givealittle page, which was presented to the mother before they departed.

S.V.S.G President, Siliniu Lina Chang, acknowledged with gratitude the support from the Director and the supporters of the Little Angels Foundation, for continuing to help the children of Samoa in need, through its partnership with SVSG.

I would also like to say thank you to all those who donated via the Givealittle page, for the heart to help Baby Matauaina, she said.
A familiar face for kiwis  and for TV audiences where Shortland Street is shown  is in Samoa.

Maggie Harper, better known as Jenny Harrison on Shortland Street, probably didnt think that on her first visit to Samoa she would be approached for an interview.

But within two minutes, the Samoa Observer recognised her and the rest is history.

At first, Maggie seemed to be really shy upon being recognised.

But she was more than happy to open up to the Weekend Observer, telling us that her and her partner found themselves heading to Samoa after looking for a hot holiday to get out of Aucklands 10 degree weather.

I had heard such nice things about Samoa and it was one of the only Pacific Island groups that we hadnt been to, she said.

Enjoying the five star Sheraton Samoa Aggie Greys Hotel, Maggie filled us in on her thoughts so far about Samoa.

Last night we had dinner at Paddles and that was so good, she said. We are staying at Aggie Greys and its lovely there. Its very beautiful and were loving it.

The main agenda for this busy Auckland actor and her partner consists chiefly of two things  shopping and relaxing.

They are going to be hiring a car and intend to enjoy a leisurely drive around Upolu and eventually planting themselves by the poolside  when they plan to live up the resort life at Return to Paradise later in their 10 day trip.

There is one more thing that Maggie is looking forward to. she told Dear Tourist,

Im really looking forward to this Sundays singing from the Church, Ive heard from others to listen out for it and that its really lovely.
The cost of fuel doesnt just impact vehicle owners.

Even people who dont have vehicles are hit hard.

Kilifi Timoteo from Matatufu knows what it feels like. Without a vehicle, he has to find a way to take his crops to the Fugalei market.

I mean almost half of the money that I earn from selling taro is spent on paying a pick-up for a bag of taro, he said.

For a pick-up, I pay $150 for one load, and thats too much for us farmers back here.

Yes we can sell in front of our houses, but its very slow and thats why we always want to go to Apia.

To use a bus, Kilifi said its $10 for one basket.

The thing is we cant rely on a bus to take our taro to Apia because it all depends on the whether there is room.

So when you think of the many people who travel to Apia from this side and the bus only comes here twice a day, thats why we have to find other transportation means.

The only option for us is to hire a pick-up even though its very expensive.

The rising fuel prices have not helped.

As Ive mentioned earlier, its a real problem for us here. Its very hard to live especially at this time, taro are everywhere, so I end up selling one basket of taro at the market for $5.

I mean I settle for whatever I can get, but at least I can earn from it for the good of my family especially my three children who are in school.

Kilifi believes the only solution is for the government to open (many) overseas markets and then send out trucks to collect taro from the farmers.

I think that is the only solution for this problem, for it will save time and money for us farmers.

They need to make it easier for us. I think of all these government vehicles being abused unnecessarily. Imagine if one of them was sent out here to collect taros?

Aside from the said problem, Kilifi said life in their village is great.

Everything is fine here. Life is peaceful and there are no other challenges.

The simple things here in the village are what makes me happy and thats what makes me want to stay here and spend the rest of my life here.
The most important thing in life is love and family.

At sixteen years age, Laloasi Ponifasio, is a young man with the right priorities.

He spoke with the Village Voice while he was waiting for his father who had gone out fishing at Laulii.

Laloasi is the eldest of three siblings. He has many dreams. One of them is to represent Samoa in the Manu Samoa team.

I want to become another Kahn Fotualii, he said, I mean I just love his skills and the way he plays and I feel I can do that too.

But that dream has to wait for now.

His father doesnt have other work and his mother stays in American Samoa.

My mother supports us financially sometimes when we need money, he told the Village Voice.

We depend mostly on our plantation and the sea, and those are the two main sources that help my family survive from day to day.

Laloasi left school last year when he was in Year 10.

I left school, because of financial problems in my family, but I still want to go to school when I can, he said.

But for now, Im helping my family especially my father in looking after my other siblings and doing the normal chores from day to day.

He understands that education is important.

I think, Ill be back to school as soon as possible when we have enough money, and Ill try my best to do well (in school) to make my dreams comes true.

Thats the other reason I want to go back to school ... education will help me make my dreams come true.

Rugby is the only game I watched and I loved playing it as well and if I ever get the chance when I grow older, then Ill go for it.

Laloasi believes in the power of the education.

I know education can help my family out in so many ways, he said.

Education can build a new house for my family to live in, and thats why education is very important to me if only I get a chance to go back to school.

If not, Ill continue to help my father at the plantation or else find a job as soon as possible to provide for them financially.

Life is very hard nowadays, so I have to put my family first, my family is my everything.
Attorney General, Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff, is absolutely correct.

On Tuesday last week, he commended the outcome of a Cabinet-appointed Commission of Inquiry tasked to investigate the conduct of two senior Police officers with a very firm message to members of the public.

The results of this open and public Commission of Inquiry, is a clear endorsement on the Cabinet decision to affect the suspensions and start this Commission, A.G. Lemalu said. Where fundamental matters which are the key to the administration of justice are affected such as the alleged interference with witnesses in criminal proceedings, there must be proper action in response from government as to accountability.

We couldnt agree more. The Police after all play such a vital role in maintaining law and order with the overall goal being to achieve truth and justice. The idea then that they could abuse their positions in an attempt to defeat the natural course of justice is deplorable and completely unacceptable.

Which is precisely what the Inquiry found. Chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice, Lesatele Rapi Vaai, the Inquiry focused on the conduct of suspended Police Commissioner Samoa Mulinuu in handling of the criminal matter against Sililoto Peneueta. His involvement in alleged tampering with witnesses in the case of Mauga Precious Chang was also investigated.

The second officer investigated was former Inspector Luatimu Samau. He was also accused of alleged witness tampering and breaching the Police Code of Conduct.

According to a copy of the Inquiry report, the Commission is emphatic that there was corrupt motive in their conduct and as a result, it did not hesitate to recommend to Cabinet to terminate their services.

About Samau, the report reads: We are satisfied that he had involved himself in the investigation with a corrupt motive; he blatantly ignored the code of conduct issued by the Commissioner pursuant to section 11 Police Service Act 2009; and he is also guilty of misconduct pursuant to section 50 of the same Act.

His impugned conduct viewed as a whole falls far below the standard that a reasonable member of the Samoan community is entitled to expect from him.

As for Samoa Mulinuu, the Commission said: The Commission is of the view after considering the circumstances involving the Sililoto matter and the Police v Mauga Chang matter, that the services of the Assistant Commissioner should be terminated.

The two incidents involved members of the community, one was a police witness, the other was a target of an unfounded complaint.

An element of corruption played a role in his conduct. He ignored the oath he took when he was sworn in as a police officer, and he also breached the Police Code of Conduct.

His explanation that his conflict of interest did not influence the integrity of the investigation cannot be accepted. His oath and the Police Code of Conduct required him to disassociate himself with the investigation of the Sililoto matter; he had no choice. It also required him not to interfere in the Police v Mauga Chang matter.

These are two very serious matters. Whats important here is that the government through the Commission has sent out a clear warning that such behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Now according to Lemalu, the Inquirys findings reaffirms that due diligence coupled with transparency and accountability is very much alive in Samoa.

But the government is not stopping there.

From what weve been told, changes will now be implemented on how government will deal with serious allegations of breach of duties by police officers.

From past experiences, government has noticed the blatant ignorance by certain senior police officers taking for granted the due diligence process put in place to recognize and respect their rights by calling Commission of Inquiries to investigate the shortcomings within our Police Force, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who is also the Minister of Police, said.

And after a number of Commission of Inquiries, Cabinet had hoped it would have identified and address discrepancies within the police force but this apparently has not been the case.

To that extend, a new procedure approved by Cabinet is now in place on how government will deal with serious breaches of conduct and behavior within our police ranks.

The new procedure will apparently see the Minister of Police acting on a complaint, and decides if a breach of specific duties is warranted. If so, the Minister must then give the person alleged to have committed the breach the opportunity to present his or her side by submitting written submission in response to the allegations.

Once that is completed, the Cabinet can, without the need for a full commission of inquiry, make a decision as to a suspension and or dismissal.

The second option will not only save costs but is more effective and efficient and at the same time, protects the interest of government and the accused, Prime Minister Tuilaepa said.

This is strongly supported by the Attorney General.

The new option will retain the ability to launch these types of Inquiries in the future and it has also now given a second option to government.

This is understood to be motivated by the fact there have been several costly consecutive Commissions now with what can be perceived as a subsequent lack of deterrence from ongoing breaches of duty, and no actual institutional change.

Well this is good news. Its great that the government is being proactive to stop wrongdoing in the police force. They deserve credit.

But they should also look at putting in place a similar procedure to address corruption and collusion in other government bodies, which have been clearly identified and exposed in the past.

The officers which were subject of the recent Inquiry have clearly been made as examples. But we all know there is a lot more to be done to fully clean out the corruption we know exists in the government.

So lets not stop with the Police. The Attorney General and P.M. Tuilaepa obviously have a lot more to do. Lets wait and see!

Have a restful Sunday Samoa, God bless!
The mayor of a village in Upolu where Police have re-opened the investigation of a missing persons case is remaining cautious with public comment.

Speaking to the Sunday Samoan yesterday, the Mayor, whose name is withheld, said he is aware about the heavy presence of Police officers in the village and he does not want to give too much details away.

On Friday, Acting Assistant Police Commissioner, Salaa Moananu Salaa, confirmed the Police are investigating a case involving a missing man and an alleged plot by some village men to cover up a bizarre killing back in 2013.

Two men have been questioned and are under Police custody with more arrests possible.

Salaa declined to discuss the details of the case except to say there was no new information over the years until four days ago when police got a new lead.

More than 20 Police officers - including contracted divers  were immediately assigned to the village on Friday

Yesterday, the Village Mayor told the Sunday Samoan they were a bit shocked when there was talk in the village about the alleged murder case.

This escalated with the heavy Police presence.

I was not too happy about the police not reaching out directly to me, who is the village mayor, for assistance."

I know the police are doing their job, but nonetheless they should have informed me and to see what I can do to help them.

He confirmed there was talk about the alleged plot by some village men.

But that was it, just talk. It wasnt until the heavy presence of the Police which got me thinking real hard about this stuff... if this type of crime did occur in our village, we have to do something about it.

Asked if he could provide the Samoa Observer with some directions to the family of the missing man, he was reluctant.

You should get the information from the Police. I cannot say anything about that.

One man from the village also confirmed with the Sunday Samoan that he was at the area where the Police officers and divers conducted the search on Friday.

There were many of us who came to help the Police Officers, look around and we did not find anything.... nothing at all, he said.

In the meantime, the two men who have been questioned are under Police custody.

The Sunday Samoan understands the two men were taken into Police custody for a different matter when they coughed up information about the case.

A Police source told the Sunday Samoan that during interrogation process, one of the men admitted to the Police that he and two other men were responsible for the death of a man who has been missing since 2013.

Back in 2013, it is alleged that the three men went to purchase the missing mans cattle. When the missing refused, the men allegedly plotted to steal the cattle.

The plot was carried out but it hit a snag when the owner caught the thieves in action. It is alleged that this was when they assaulted the man.

The source said the men cleared out the cattles organs and allegedly stuffed the man inside its stomach. They then threw the cattle down the river where it washed out into the ocean.
The Samoa Life Assurance Corporation (S.L.A.C.) celebrated its 40th Anniversary at the Taumeasina Island Resort on Friday night.

The night saw many of Samoa Lifes clients join staff and the Board members to celebrate the milestone.

Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, congratulated the Corporation for all they have achieved in the past 40 years.

The Corporation has achieved a lot, according to the Chief Executive Officer of S.L.A.C., Leiataua Alden Godinet.

While the journey has not always been easy, he told the Sunday Samoan that the past 40 years has been great for Corporation.

During the last 40 years the Corporation has been through a lot of changes, he said.

During that time we were able to sustain and meet our deadlines. We also achieved our targets and $1million in profits on average which is good considering that we were also able to attain at least $44million in total assets during the last 40 years.

The Corporation employs 64 staff members, 11 of them are Sales Agents.

One of the Corporations biggest investments is its office in the heart of the Apia Township. And like most things in life, there are always challenges.

Weve also had struggles and difficulties. One of the major ones that we have encountered in the past couple of years is that some of our policy holders, sometimes when they have difficulties in maintaining or paying their policies, they decide to request to surrender their policies."

Weve also had some cancellations but we have our own countermeasures to tackle those difficulties.

Leiataua said they are working hard to promote the importance of life insurance and he is positive about the future.

Background

The Samoa Life Assurance Corporation (Samoa Life) is Samoa's national life office.

As life insurers we offer a full range of policies and services to suite nearly every need in the life insurance field. These are kept continually under review to ensure that all markets can be catered for.

In addition Samoa Life offers a full advisory service not only in personal but also business insurance and related financial services for its members.

Samoa Life is committed to developing innovative, appropriate, affordable and quality insurance choices that reflects the needs of individuals and the local communities.

Through the various policies available we are not only providing financial protection but also promoting long term savings.

It is indeed a good option of providing for the future needs of its own people. Insuring lives is a personal choice of individuals and the continuation of cover is also dependent on the policyholders needs and their ability to maintain the policy for its intended duration.
Legal battles over seawalls along San Diego Countys coastline will continue in the coming months, despite a recent state Supreme Court decision that dealt a blow to two Encinitas homeowners fighting a 20-year limit on the concrete structure that protect their bluff-top homes.

The plaintiffs in the Encinitas case have petitioned the high court to reconsider its July 6 ruling in favor of the California Coastal Commission. In that ruling, the justices concluded that the homeowners forfeited their right to sue when they accepted a permit to build a new seawall to replace a structure that was destroyed in a 2010 storm.

Attorneys for the homeowners argue that the legal nuances of forfeiture werent originally covered in the case, so they must be allowed to address those points in a new hearing.

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Meanwhile, a Solana Beach case brought by a group of coastal homeowners will go before appellate court starting in September. In that case, a homeowners group called the Beach & Bluff Conservancy is challenging a lower court decision that upheld several restrictions on seawalls, while dismissing some others.

At issue in both cases is whether the Coastal Commission and local government agencies can impose expiration dates on seawalls that are rebuilt to protect existing property, and can regulate homeowners construction and exclusive use of beach stairways. The Solana Beach case also covers disputes over shoreline protection for new or redeveloped properties.

The issue has been contentious in coastal communities as scientists warn that rising seas could reshape the shoreline by the end of the century. Recent research on climate change reports that sea level rose more than seven inches over the last century, and could swell another 3 to 10 feet by 2100. As water levels rise, beachfront homeowners are asserting their right to safeguard their property, while regulators struggle to protect the states shrinking beaches.

Coastal homeowners say they need seawalls to defend their homes against the onslaught of the ocean, but commission officials say the structures hasten erosion and worsen beach stability down the line. About 10 percent of the states 1,100-mile coastline is armored, including a third of Southern California beaches, according to the Coastal Commission.

The Encinitas case concerns a dispute between the California Coastal Commission and homeowners Tom Frick and Barbara Lynch over a seawall that armors their two bluff-top properties. After a storm demolished the original seawall in 2010, the commission granted a permit to repair it, but placed a 20-year expiration date on the barrier that the plaintiffs alleged was unconstitutional

In its ruling earlier this month, the state Supreme Court didnt directly address the legality of the time limit  only the legal question of whether the families gave up their right to fight it by accepting the permit and building the wall in 2011.

In a nuanced technical distinction, the justices agreed that the homeowners didnt waive their right to sue, which would have required them to knowingly relinquish that option, said land use attorney Jon Corn, who is representing the families in coordination with the Pacific Legal Foundation. Instead, the judges ruled that the families forfeited their rights by accepting the permit despite its unwanted restrictions.

Corn said however that equitable forfeiture, involves separate legal standards than waiver, and deserves its own legal attention.

None of the parties in the case spoke of equitable forfeiture, Corn said. It wasnt argued and it wasnt briefed.

According to state law, he said, the court must provide a chance to revisit that. The high court will decide by October 4 whether to reconsider the case. The Coastal Commission declined to comment on the request for a new hearing.

In the Solana Beach case, plaintiffs will appeal a mixed decision by San Diego Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Casserly. In December, 2016, Casserly upheld several restrictions on seawalls, including requirements that all seawall permits eventually expire under certain conditions, that no shoreline protection can be built for new development, and that private stairways must add public access as a condition of future permits.

Its unconstitutional to require people to give up property rights as a condition of a building permit, said Larry Salzman, a senior attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation.

However, the judge overturned the citys prohibitions on new seawalls needed to protect existing accessory structures such as pools or hot tubs, and restrictions on the maintenance of private stairways to the beach.The city of Solana Beach, the Coastal Commission and Surfrider Foundation have counter-appealed, challenging the judges decision to set aside those restrictions.

At the end of the day, sea walls destroy beaches, said Julia Chunn-Heer, policy manager for the San Diego County Surfrider Foundation. And we are here to protect oceans, waves and beaches.

The plaintiffs must submit their briefs on the case by Sept. 9, said Angela Howe, legal director for the Surfrider Foundation. A month later, the city, Coastal Commission and Surfrider must file their briefs, and in November, the parties will submit responses. Solana Beach city officials could not be reached for comment.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
After perhaps 15 years of waiting  and trying not to lose faith  San Elijo Hills residents will finally see restaurants and shops go up on vacant land in the commercial heart of the upscale community.

Grading is set to begin next week on a weedy, fenced-in patch of dirt in the middle of the sprawling master-planned development in southern San Marcos. Construction should start around October, and the first businesses could open by next spring on the 5 acres of vacant land in what is essentially downtown San Elijo.

I know there has been skepticism. I hope to cure that in a few weeks as we start creating dust and showing people what a great project this is, said Duncan Budinger, director of retail development for Ambient Communities, which is building the project. We fully believe we are going to meet or exceed the expectations of the community.

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Residents and the city of San Marcos have long demanded the completion of San Elijo Town Center, a retail hub expected to serve the thousands of homes. The median income within a one-mile radius of the Town Center site was nearly $95,000 last year, according to the project developers.

The plan calls for 34,000 square feet of restaurants and retail, as well as 24 townhomes  three-story units with rooftop decks.

The project will be built in two phases, and should be done by the end of 2018.

The first phase of the commercial center will be on a roughly 2-acre square lot in the middle of where San Elijo Road splits into northbound and southbound sections. The Town Center will consist of four separate buildings with 11 total spaces for businesses. The layout includes several outdoor patios and seating areas. Three of those retail spots have already been leased.

Budinger said he could not yet announce the names of the planned tenants, but they include a restaurant, a nationally known fitness spot and a service-type of business. Doors should be open by the middle of next summer.

The second phase will consist of about 11,000-square-feet of shops in a building on a slice of a triangular shaped island further up San Elijo Road, just behind the areas Visitors Center.

The first dozen town homes will go up in Phase One on the lot right behind the Chevron gas station. The remaining dozen are part of Phase Two, and will go up on the triangular-shaped lot.

HomeFed, the publicly traded company that manages San Elijo Hills, has teamed with Ambient Communities to build the Town Center. Jeff OConnor, director of operations for HomeFed, said last week that the development will include a few restaurants.

We really tried to cater to what the residents want, OConnor said.

Earlier this month, when the developers put a construction trailer on the land and stakes in the ground, residents were thrilled by the signs of life. Among them was Councilman Chris Orlando, who has lived in San Elijo Hills for about 15 years.

To have this finally coming, I think its something that most everyone in the community has been looking forward to, Orlando said Friday. It will be great to finally see the dirt turning and progress being made on it.

Nicolas Jonville, a San Elijo Hills resident since 2002 and a real estate broker whose office is in the Town Center, was equally overjoyed. After recently spotting a bulldozer on the site, one of his real estate agents took a video and posted it online.

I was like Yay! The video got a bunch of likes. Everybody is excited, Jonville said.

The development, he said, has been long awaited and the excitement has been building up. And the emotion. A lot of people have lost faith.

The communitys first commercial businesses  a grocery store, bank and gas station  opened on San Elijo Road around 2008. On the south side of the street, a strip of small businesses line the main road, with condos on top. Ambient bought those nine retail shops earlier this year.

The developers have said theyre confident the area has enough homes and pass-through traffic to support the new Town Center, especially as the main route becomes a more popular conduit between San Marcos and Carlsbad. Bundinger pointed to a traffic study from late 2016 indicating that there are more than 30,000 average daily vehicle trips on San Elijo Road.

The San Elijo Hills master plan calls for about 3,460 residential units, ranging from condominiums to large homes. Construction started in late 1998, and the vast majority are up and occupied. Only about 80 housing units  high end homes  remain to be built.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
Whats most extraordinary about InnerMission Productions staging of Adam Gwons chamber musical Ordinary Days is how director Matthew E. Graber and a cast of four create the illusion of Manhattan, in all its bustling humanity, in confines the size of a freight elevator.

But rather than being an impediment, Diversionary Theatres little Black Box space proves an effective conduit between cast and the closely seated audience, facilitating an emotional connection with Ordinary Days  searching characters and its I-Love-New York backdrop.

Two tales of doubt and personal identity unfold at the same time, though never together, in this 18-song, 90-minute affair which is getting its San Diego premiere. Deb (Jamie Channell Guzman) is a harried graduate student who, to her horror, has lost on the subway the notes to her dissertation. That she can spew a complicated drink order to a Starbucks barista without taking a breath speaks to her manic disposition.

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By contrast, the good-natured guy Warren (Patrick Mayuyu) who finds and returns her notebook seems, at first blush, positively zen, encouraging Deb to see the big picture. But Warren, who cat-sits and hands out aphorism-graced fliers for an unseen artist, knows in his heart that life holds more in store for him.

The heart and its uneasy slow-dance with love defines Claire (Kym Pappas) and Jason (Brent Roberts), who have moved in together and found their relationship wanting. Incurably romantic Jason wants what evasive Claire cant seem to give him. He does not know of a terrible loss in her past, one that Gwons 5-year-old musical reveals in a moving two-song climax (Falling, Ill Be Here) that will make your throat tight. Here, Ordinary Days  other character  New York City  is evoked in the memory of the darkest, least ordinary day in its history.

Mayuyu is likable and sympathetic as Warren, who in spite of his restlessness, seems most at home in the big city. Guzman impresses with her knack for the machine-gun pace of Gwons lyrics for Deb. Pappas and Roberts bring home with tenderness the dissonance of their romance, particularly in Roberts yearning ballad Favorite Places.

Ordinary Days is the first-ever musical for co-artistic directors Pappas and Carla Nells 12-year-old InnerMission Productions. On a technical level, it works for the most part. Musical director Hazel Friedman accompanies the cast on piano, and in the closeness of the Black Box space, acoustics is a non-issue.

At times, such as when one of the characters is singing alone, the static image of a studio audition may come to mind. But playwright Gwons revealing and often clever lyrics enliven solos like Guzmans Dear Professor Thompson and Calm, or Mayuyus Life Story. And during numbers in which all four actors are onstage and in full ensemble voice, youd swear there was more than a piano supporting them.

Ultimately, Ordinary Days  emotive potency, which inhabits then transcends the fates of its four New Yorkers, requires no more than a keyboards minor chords and the intermittent crescendos that accompany lifes unforgettable moments.

Ordinary Days

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 30; 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 31 (Industry Night performance). Through Aug. 12.

Where: The Black Box space at Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd., University Heights.

Tickets: $25

Phone: (619) 324-8970

Online: innermissionproductions.org

Coddon is a freelance writer.
Former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will be appointed as interim prime minister of Pakistan until Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of ousted PM Nawaz Sharif, can be elected to parliament and take over as PM.

By India Today Web Desk: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will take over from ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in an interim capacity. The 58-year-old Abbasi's name was arrived upon during a meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz).

The meeting was chaired by Sharif, who had to step down from the post of prime minister after the Pakistan Supreme Court disqualified him from office after finding that he lied about his assets.

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Speaking after the meeting, Nawaz Sharif that his brother Shahbaz Sharif will eventually succeed him in office. However, Shahbaz cannot become prime minister right away as he is not a member of Pakistan's parliament. And so, Abbasi, until recently the petroleum minister in Nawaz Sharif's cabinet, will hold fort, serving as prime minister for 45 days after which Shahbaz is expected to take over.

According to Pakistani media, Shahbaz is expected to contest for parliament from Nawaz Sharif's now-vacant seat, which is a PML-N stronghold. Once in parliament, Shahbaz can easily become PM thanks to the PML-N's strong majority which will allow the party to elect him into office on its own.

Shahbaz is currently the chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province and will have to quit that post to take over as prime minister.

In his first public comments since Friday's Supreme Court ruling, Nawaz Sharif said his "conscience is clear". He also stressed that the court did not prove any corruption or siphoning off public money after months of investigation stemming from the revelation in last year's Panama Papers leaks that his children were linked to offshore companies.

Sharif's dismissal has sparked uncertainty at a time when Pakistan was enjoying a rare period of relative stability, with militant attacks slowly declining and economic growth hitting its highest pace in a decade.

DISQUALIFIED FOR BEING DISHONEST

On Friday, the Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif from holding the office of the prime minister after finding him not to be "sadiq" and "ameen" (honest and righteous).

The verdict came in a case connected to the Panama Papers leak. The massive leak of documents had prompted a probe into the former prime minister's family's wealth over allegations that they had links to offshore companies nad owned property in excess of their incomes.

Sharif, who himself wasn't named in the Panama Papers expose, has denied any wrongdoing on his or his family's part. He was disqualified following a special court-mandated probe in the Panama Papers revelations and after the Supreme Court held that he had failed to disclose income from a Dubai-based company.

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The five-member Joint Investigation Team that was probing the Sharif's wealth said in its report that it could not account for the family's vast wealth.

Apart from disqualifying Sharif, the Supreme Court ordered the Pakistani National Accountability Bureau to file cases against Sharif and his children within six weeks.

(With inputs from agencies)

ALSO READ:

Story of Nawaz Sharif's ouster: From Panama Papers to Supreme Court, a timeline

No Pakistani PM has completed full term, Nawaz Sharif too failed to break jinx

ALSO WATCH VIDEO: Nawaz Sharif's brother Shehbaz Sharif to be new Pakistan prime minister

--- ENDS ---
As a girl growing up in a city in northern Togo near the Burkina Faso border in West Africa, Lili Klu figured out that a conventional education really wasnt for her. At 15, she decided to learn a trade: sewing. She turned out to be such a natural that she was able to complete the three-year program in one year. When she moved to San Diego with her husband in 2000, she opened L.K. Fashion Boutique on El Cajon Boulevard and has recently started a non-profit program, Lilis Fashion Academy, to teach sewing and the business of fashion design to women.

I love the creativity (of sewing and fashion), the appreciation on a clients face and that I could educate and empower women, she says. Fashion is always about risk, and one of the biggest aspects of creativity is risk. You need it if you want to be successful in the fashion industry. Risk will set you apart from all the designers, and for me to become a designer speaks to my love for fashion and sewing.

Klu, 41, lives in the Grantville neighborhood with her husband and two sons. She took some time to talk about her new non-profit program, her favorite African fashion designers and her inspiration when creating clothes.

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Q: Tell us about Lilis Fashion Academy.

A: Its an educational sewing institute that focuses on teaching the skills needed to master sewing with a variety of techniques needed for a successful career in sewing. Sewing machines helped to emancipate women as it gave them a commercially marketable skill. We believe that as our students learn how to sew for themselves and others, they will obtain these marketable skills that will encourage them to become entrepreneurs and financially support themselves, their families, and supply jobs for people in their community.

The program will develop each participants employment readiness because sewing is a window into history, sociology and economics. This class is designed to get students to complete the program knowing the basics of threading the machine, working the controls, selecting stitches, sewing straight lines and curves, and sewing basic seams while pushing them to specific sewing techniques.

Q: How does the academy work?

A: New students will register and pay a $100 registration fee and get an introduction to the program. Then, theyll start lessons that I teach. To successfully complete the year-long program (which requires no other payments beyond the registration fee), students are required to complete an eight-week capstone project. The project consists of students designing their own fashion concept to fit a specific model. This will be a platform where students take what they learned throughout the course of the program and apply it to examine a specific idea around a model. Each student must make five outfits for five models for their graduation fashion show. On graduation day, the students receive a certificate of completion, and owners of fashion businesses in San Diego will be invited to attend the fashion show to see the skills of our students and to offer them future employment.

This is the first year of the program and we currently have eight students who will graduate next March.

Q: How would you describe LK Fashion Boutique?

A: Our mission is to provide men and women with an upscale selection of African clothes and exists to not only attract and maintain customers, but to spread sophisticated fashion and instill confidence with folks in the West. I moved to San Diego in 2000 and started working as an independent designer for the African community in San Diego.

What I love about Grantville 

Its a good place to live and raise a family.

Q: Are there meanings or traditions behind different prints?

A: Yes, theres a lot of meaning and tradition behind African prints, lots of hidden meanings. For example, the kente come from west Africa, specifically Ghana. The kente is a vibrant fabric and the pattern and design represent common African motifs, like religious beliefs. The colors on all African prints have a meaning. For example, red symbolizes death, green means fertility, white expresses purity, and blue signifies love.

Q: Whats your opinion of the fashion scene here in San Diego? How would you describe it?

A: San Diego fashion is very laid back, but the casual sweatpants and sandals every day and for every occasion is not cutting it. We need to spice it up little bit.

Q: What do you get the most requests for?

A: Dashiki prints and actual dashikis are the most popular.

Q: How would you describe your personal style?

A: Simple but still elegant.

Q: Who are some African fashion designers youre a fan of?

A: Kofi Ansah, whos from Ghana but based in London. I think Kofi is really one of the first African designers who brought modern African style and design to another level. He gave the fashion industry a new type of style with graphics and new shapes. Theyre not just clothes that you wear; theyre more than that. Theyre visual, theyre art and each pattern has a story. When you think about modern African style, you think about Kofi first. Hes a pioneer.

Deola Sagoe is an African designer whose work I find to be so creative, and who put Africa before fashion success. I admire Deola because shes an African woman who made it in an industry first ruled by men, and because shes African. Lets be real, female fashion designers are still in the minority. Can you believe that out of the 50 major fashion brands only 14 percent are run by women? Daola is an entrepreneur. When it comes to her work, I respect the fact that she could transform traditional Nigerian designs into contemporary designs. Today, shes well-known for her unique style and most of her creations are made with Komole Kandids motifs. Theyre gorgeous and elegant. I want to have my own signature and be well-known in the industry just like her.

Q: What inspires you when youre creating your clothes?

A: African culture. African wax is a unique textile. The simplest dress can be made with African wax and it will look 100 times better than a regular, plain dress. The pattern is what makes the difference. To create an outfit with this type of fabric is an art because of the bright colors and patterns. You need to find the right balance. Its always difficult for me to work with other types of fabric. I love using African wax because it shows who I am, its my identity. Each pattern has a story and each represents a part of Africa.

Q: Whats been challenging about your work with your fashion business and with your new non-profit academy?

A: It hasnt really been challenging at this point. I love what I do and I love empowering women to become fashion designers.

Q: Whats been rewarding about it?

A: Helping and empowering women.

Q: What has it taught you about yourself?

A: Leadership, teamwork and humility.

Q: What is the best advice youve ever received?

A: Love yourself first and make sure you learn something that you really love.

Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?

A: I would love to work with Versace or Calvin Klein one day.

Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.

A: Opening the boutique on Saturday and then spending Sunday at church and then at home with my family.

Email: lisa.deaderick@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @lisadeaderick
A Northern California mosque that was targeted in a vandalism hate crime found itself at the center of controversy this week after an imam delivered a sermon with inflammatory remarks about Jews.

Oh Allah, liberate the Al Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews, Imam Ammar Shahin said in Arabic in his July 21 sermon at the Islamic Center of Davis.

Oh Allah, count them one by one and annihilate them down to the very last one, he said in the videotaped service.

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The comments, which were translated and distributed to the media by the nonprofit Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI, have been roundly criticized by local and national Jewish leaders. A few of them have written a complaint to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Its deeply concerning to read hateful and violence-advocating words directed against any group, including ourselves as Jews, said Steve Cohan, co-president of Congregation Bet Haverim in Davis, in a prepared statement.

Shahin apologized Friday, saying he let his emotions cloud my better judgment.

I understand that speech like this can encourage others to do hateful and violent acts, Shahin said during a news conference held by religious leaders and the citys mayor. For this I truly apologize.

As a religious leader, this has humbled me.

In the days following his sermon, Shahin said he discussed his statements with a number of people within and outside the Muslim community. Thats when he realized the level of harm it has caused.

Indeed, commitment to defending religious rights in Jerusalem should not cause division or fan the flame of anti-Semitism, Shahin said.

The sermon centered on recent turmoil surrounding Al Aqsa Mosque, in one of Jerusalems holiest sites, revered by Muslims and Jews.

The recent killings of two Israeli police officers and several Muslim worshipers there prompted Israelis to close the hilltop compound for several days, cancel Friday prayers for the first time in decades and install metal detectors.

The new security measures were seen by many Muslims as an expansion of Israeli control and triggered some of the worst clashes East Jerusalem has seen in years.

Tensions eased greatly on Thursday, however, as Israeli authorities removed the metal detectors and other security restrictions.

In his July 21 sermon, spoken in Arabic and English, Shahin spoke of the history of Jerusalem and voiced outrage over events surrounding Al Aqsa Mosque. He encouraged fellow Muslims to rise up and speak out as well.

Islamic Center officials earlier this week said the imams comments had been taken out of context by Islamophobic news organizations.

A statement by Shahin and the Islamic Center board said the sermon has been misconstrued.

We sincerely apologize to anyone offended, the statement said.

The ICD will always stand against anti-Semitism similarly to how the Jewish community has always stood against Islamophobia in our close-knit community.

Nevertheless, local Jewish leaders such as Cohan said they were dismayed.

We are disappointed that these words appear to have come from the Islamic Center of Davis, a place in our community that had to deal with an act of hatred earlier this year, he said.

In January, a woman shattered half a dozen windows at the Islamic Center, destroyed two bicycles and draped strips of uncooked bacon on a door handle. Muslims are prohibited from eating pork products. The woman was sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to the vandalism and admitting to a hate crime allegation.

James Gelvin, a professor of history at UCLA and expert on Israeli-Palestinian relations, said Shahins statements came at a time of great anxiety in the Middle East.

To them, Al Aqsa is front-page news, Gelvin said. Not Trump and whether or not hes connected to Russia.

He said tensions over the holy site are at an all-time high and many in the area fear another uprising.

It is clear from the first sentence that this imam is talking about Israels recent actions and the need to safeguard Al Aqsa Mosque, Gelvin said. But to say he could have chosen his words better would be a gross understatement.

Moving forward, Shahin said Friday that he intends to improve his relationships with leaders of other faiths.

I hope to grow and develop as a more worthy leader in the community, he said.

Rabbi Seth Castleman of Davis thanked Shahin for his words and asked him to follow through with actions. He said he and other Jewish and Muslim religious leaders spent four hours Thursday looking to hash things out, and they found that we agree far more than we disagree.

Looking at Shahin, Castleman said:

Apologies are only as worthy as the actions that follow, so I call upon you. I implore you to follow those words with actions.

esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com

@LATBermudez

UPDATES:

7:25 p.m.: This article was updated to reflect comments from a Friday news conference, at which the imam apologized for his remarks.
A state appeals court justice late Friday temporarily blocked Southern California Gas Co.s plans to resume injecting natural gas into the Aliso Canyon storage facility, granting a request from Los Angeles County to delay the reopening.

Earlier Friday, a Superior Court judge rejected the countys bid, said he did not have jurisdiction over the matter.

Regulating Aliso injections is the prerogative of the Public Utilities Commission, Judge John Wiley said in his order. Under these circumstances, this court may not act.

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The county was seeking a temporary restraining order to halt the reopening of the facility, which spewed more than 100,000 tons of methane gas in a leak from October 2015 to February 2016.

Citing concerns that Southern California Gas Co. could resume injections as soon as Saturday, county attorneys filed an appeal Friday afternoon.

Associate Justice Lamar Baker of the 2nd District Court of Appeal gave Southern California Gas Co. and state oil and gas officials until 6 p.m. Saturday to file motions opposing the temporary stay.

After that, he said he would decide on the fate of the restraining order.

State officials announced last week that Aliso Canyon would be allowed to reopen at a reduced capacity. They said new safety protocols had been implemented and that reopening the facility would increase the reliability of the energy system in Southern California.

L.A. County sued state regulators and Southern California Gas Co. in March, saying they had failed to complete a comprehensive safety assessment and environmental impact review. The state also violated the Public Records Act by not handing over documents related to its analyses, the suit alleged.

County lawyers amended their lawsuit on July 21 to request an immediate stay of the decision to reopen the facility until the rest of the lawsuit is decided.

The amended lawsuit also included comments from a former Southern California Gas Co. storage engineer, James Mansdorfer, who warned of the potentially catastrophic earthquake risk posed by the Santa Susana fault running underneath the Aliso Canyon wells.

My concern is that movement on the fault would almost surely sever the casing (and tubing) of every well, resulting in release of gas at a rate of 100 to 1,000 times the rate of the 2015 leak, he wrote.

Mansdorfer recommended that the company install subsurface safety valves, which he said would prevent the loss of gas if the fault were to move. However, he noted such movement was a low probability event and said the valves could be installed while the field was returned to service.

This week Mansdorfer further clarified, writing in supplemental comments: I believe that allowing injection of gas to a limited pressure while the geologic risk analysis is being performed is appropriate. ...The limited pressure being allowed by [state oil and gas regulators] does not substantially increase the risk.

During Fridays Superior Court hearing, Louis R. Miller, one of the private attorneys representing the county, made a plea to the state.

Complete the plan thats in place, he said. Make these people in Porter Ranch as safe as we can.

Speaking on behalf of the Public Utilities Commission, which regulates private utilities like Aliso Canyon, attorney Mitchell Shapson said the commission has full authority to issue temporary restraining orders, if it so desires. The right place for the county to go to is the PUC, Shapson said.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Miller said that was an empty invitation. Theyve already approved it, he said.

Activists who attended the hearing  wearing red T-shirts with the words Shut. It. All. Down  were confused and angry about the decision.

Why are we here? asked Helen Attai, a Porter Ranch resident. Didnt the judge already know he didnt have jurisdiction?

Deirdre Bolona, who lives a few streets south of the fields edge, said, This is a slap in the face of the citizens of the San Fernando Valley  and beyond.

I want them to complete the things they were ordered to do, she added.

State Oil and Gas Supervisor Ken Harris ordered Southern California Gas Co. to conduct a leak survey of the facility and survey of background methane emissions in the area before resuming injections. According to a checklist on the companys website, the latter has not yet taken place.

Chris Gilbride, a spokesman for Southern California Gas Co., said in a statement the company is working diligently to complete the steps necessary to begin injections, but he did not provide a timeline.

After the stay was granted, Gilbride said in an emailed statement: Unnecessary delays will challenge our ability to meet the states directive to maintain natural gas supplies.

nina.agrawal@latimes.com

Twitter: @AgrawalNina

ALSO

L.A. County study decries state claims for need of Aliso Canyon storage plant

Southern California Gas to pay $8.5 million to settle lawsuit over Aliso Canyon leak

Aliso Canyon shutdown jolts utilities to push energy storage plans

UPDATES:

7 p.m.: This article was updated with an appeals court granting the countys request for an immediate stay.

This article was originally published at 6:15 p.m.
With a history marred by scandal, videotaped incidents and civil unrest, the Los Angeles Police Department made a top priority of shifting the culture of an agency once known for militaristic, cowboy policing into a model of a more modern, progressive law enforcement agency.

Its a process that continues today, though even some of the LAPDs harshest critics say the department has made progress.

So when President Trump on Friday encouraged law enforcement officers to be rough with people they arrest, Los Angeles officials quickly rejected his remarks, saying the comments stood in stark contrast to their expectations for police here.

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What the president recommended would be out of policy in the Los Angeles Police Department, said Steve Soboroff, one of five civilian police commissioners who oversee the LAPD.

Its not what policing is about today.

Trumps comments came during a speech in New York that largely focused on Mara Salvatrucha, a primarily Salvadoran gang better known as MS-13.

But a clip of his statement about how to handle arrestees quickly reverberated across law enforcement circles and social media, drawing criticism during a time when interactions between police and the public have drawn intense scrutiny.

Please dont be too nice, Trump told a room full of police recruits. Like when you guys put somebody in the car and youre protecting their head, you know the way you put the hand  like, dont hit their head, and theyve just killed somebody?  You can take the hand away.

Members of the Los Angeles Police Commission were quick to note that the presidents comments contradicted two major policing concepts that the LAPD has woven through its policies and training: constitutional policing and de-escalation.

The latter has become a particular focus of this commission, which recently rewrote LAPD rules and training to formally require that officers attempt to defuse situations before using force.

The evidence is clear that fair, respectful policing builds trust and confidence in law enforcement, said commissioner Shane Murphy Goldsmith. Thats what we need, and its what were going to stay focused on  these remarks dont change that.

Matt Johnson, the boards president, said the LAPD would continue its efforts to build trust among residents and hold itself to the highest standards of effective, constitutional policing.

Anything less is unacceptable and out of step with our values, he added.

While commissioners voiced displeasure with Trumps comments  one called the remarks disappointing, another said they were regrettable  they also stressed that they did not believe police officers in Los Angeles would change their behavior as a result.

I am confident that they will have no impact on the continuing resolve of this department, from its leadership to the men and women patrolling our streets, to conduct themselves at all times with integrity and in a way that respects the rights and dignity of others, regardless of their status or circumstances, said Commissioner Cynthia McClain-Hill.

The LAPD once had a reputation as a rogue force, with repeated allegations of police misconduct against the citys black and Latino residents that heightened tensions. The videotaped beating of Rodney King in 1991 by LAPD officers and the riots the next year brought the department to a breaking point, beginning two decades of reforms.

The LAPD has won praise for toughening rules on how police use force and are disciplined and improving relations with minority communities. But some tensions remain, as highlighted by protests by Black Lives Matter activists in recent years.

Both the LAPD and the union representing rank-and-file officers also appeared to distance themselves from the presidents remarks.

In its statement, the Los Angeles Police Protective League said it appreciated Trumps commitment to combating gang violence but noted that its officers would continue our efforts to hold gang members accountable in accordance with the law and the departments policies.

The LAPD also weighed in, noting the importance of enforcing the law with the utmost integrity and the highest professional standards.

If an officer acts outside the law, it serves only to undermine the hard work and sacrifice that officers make every day to keep the community safe, the department said in a statement. Our officers understand and embody these important principles.

kate.mather@latimes.com

@katemather
This is a story about the ordinary  a common, everyday event happening to someone everywhere.

But it wasnt to Mary Flesner when it fell upon her.

*

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Mary stood at her husbands bedside and looked down with helpless, empty hands as Jims breathing struggled like an exhausted runner. Then it stopped.

She leaned over for a final kiss, and when she lifted her head she was alone, even among her good friends standing nearby.

Sickness sometimes gives plenty of notice of what is to come, and the approach of death seems to be a long road. However, the terminus of that road is always a cliff, and when you fall over, youre a widow.

Mary Flesner was a widow.

He was gone, the 65-year-old man who had been every day to her for almost 44 years.

*

One month later, Mary, 64, sits in her comfy dollhouse home in the Windansea area of La Jolla and talks about dealing with Thanatos, as the Greeks personified death. She is not a teary, handkerchief-twisting woman. When she chokes up, she chokes it back.

Marys memory of Wednesday, June 14, is as fresh as a red scar.

By 11:10 in the morning he was gone. My friends and I just went through the motions at lunch. I came home, just mentally exhausted and numb.

And when the door was finally shut that night, the house was empty.

Shes been supported by female friends, but they cant be there at night when half the bed is empty and the ceiling is the only thing to stare at.

We talk a lot about Jim and cry sometimes because he was such a special guy. Im lucky. Ive been surrounded by people almost every day, but people do have their own lives, I understand that.

*

Jim and Mary lived quietly in retirement in their small house not far from the beach. They had both retired early from airline jobs at the airport.

Then in 2015, the beginning of the end: Jim Flesner was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. It was a shock to both because he had not been more than an average drinker. But there are multiple causes by which that clever disease can sneak into the body.

When he was diagnosed, he didnt accept it at first. But, like, if hed have a glass of wine, hed make it half wine and half water. It was kinda cute in a way. Then about 10 months ago, he just quit (drinking) completely.

Jim also developed congestive heart failure, diagnosed last November. Sustainable health was gone and would never return.

Early last month, his body faltered and he spent 36 hours in the hospital, then sent home on Sunday, June 11. He wasnt well, but there seemed no reason for him not to go home. However, as Mary and the doctors later learned, an infection was already hard at work.

I was very blessed that I was able to sleep with him that night. Our cat slept with us; I think the cat knew something was going on.

The next morning, Monday, June 12, he was not feeling good. I could barely get him out of the shower. I put him in a chair in our bedroom and asked my girlfriend to come over to kind of observe him. I just need another set of eyes and somebody to help me.

I called his liver specialist. She suggested he go back to the E.R. and so I called 911. Jim did not want to go back into the hospital, but I said, We gotta go.

When the paramedics came, Jim apologized to them. He said, Sorry, guys. I didnt mean to disrupt your day. He was an ultra considerate guy.

After Jim was admitted to the emergency room, his decline became precipitous. Unaware of what was happening, Mary was alone in the waiting room when she saw something ominous approaching  two doctors.

When youre in the E.R. waiting room, you dont ever want to get a visit from two doctors.

The solemn physicians told her that Jim was very sick. Sepsis, or blood poisoning, was attacking his weakened system and winning.

In a corner of the waiting room, in low voices, she was asked if she had a DNR (do not resuscitate) order and whether she had her affairs in order.

Those words seeped in like water sluggishly swirling into a slow drain.

She says, Now when I look back, yeah. They were being honest with me. I was stunned, but never in denial. But I thought, Ive got to give Jim a fighting chance.

Jim was moved to the intensive care unit where all the drugs, beeping monitors, wires and IV punctures could not forestall the creeping chill of what was coming. On Monday night, a ventilator was inserted down his throat and he was kept unconscious with drugs, Mary was told.

For two days, Mary was there, sort of  part fog, part shadow, part glare of reality. Hospital staff members came in and did their jobs quietly and with straight faces. They gave off rays of compassion.

Though Mary and Jim had no children, or even extended family, her troupe of friends shared her vigil, took her to lunch, spoke their support or just held her hand.

She had planned to spend Tuesday night in a recliner in his room, but she remembered that Jim hated the idea of a death watch. So when a nurse said, Mary, go home, she did.

Wednesday morning, as she stood at Jims bedside, it was clear what was going to happen. Only when.

The critical care doctor came into the room. He was Dr. Achal Dhupa, and Mary recognized him as the one who had treated Jim years earlier.

I said, Dr. Dhupa, Jim was one of your patients. He said, I know, and he touched Jim on the shoulder, which, to me, I thought it was just so  nice.

Dr. Dhupa just quietly said, Lets let Jim have some dignity. And then he also said, You come into this world taking your first breath, and you leave this world taking your last. I just loved the things he said. It gave me peace.

The staff quietly prepared to turn off the life-support equipment.

My girlfriends came in, eight girls, all of us crying  they all knew Jim  and we all said our goodbyes. And then I said to Dr. Dhupa, I said, Lets do it. Jim was gone in five minutes.

And that was that.

Before she departed, she sought out a kind nurse whom Jim had wanted to particularly thank but didnt have the chance. Mary tracked down ICU nurse Matt Lugendill and thanked him for Jim.

Time to go. She walked out of the hospital holding Jims bag of clothes. In a few days, they would be fingered over on a Salvation Army rack.

*

All that was weeks ago, or like yesterday, depending on whether the perspective is yours or Marys. Loneliness has moved into her small house until shes ready to kick it out.

Shes left with financial and other paper threads to untangle. Death creates jobs for the bureaucracy.

I break down emotionally a little bit by going through all this paperwork. I think, Oh, I want somebody else to do it for me. But ultimately, the only person who can do it is me.

It doesnt sound like you have pressing financial worries.

Knock on wood. Hopefully.

She is aware that ghouls and predators sometimes try to take financial advantage of grieving widows, but none has come around to her house.

Mary has intensified her commitment to a greyhound rescue organization. She also had a second memorial for Jim on July 30. And then, well  you have to find ways to keep busy.

Shes gifting herself with a new paved patio out front. Shes going to spread Jims ashes in the shrubs at the edge of the patio because he loved to sit out there and watch life go by.

Sitting in her small living room, shes relaxed and smiling, but tears are obviously just off-stage. Her eyes redden, but she doesnt weep, not in front of someone whos not a girlfriend.

Memories and reminders are everywhere, like knickknacks in a great-grandmas parlor. She points across the room to a commercial leather chair.

Thats Jims barber chair. He always wanted one. Actually, its really comfortable.

Mary, have you thought about what youll be doing in, say, 10 years?

Shes matter-of-fact. I hope Im not alive in 10 years, to tell you the truth.

No! Why do you say that?

I dont know. Just right now its, like, Im OK if I was to leave this earth right now. I would be OK.

She pauses and backs off that idea. I guess its the loneliness talking. Anyway, thats kind of a dumb statement to make.

Thats depression talk. You dont seem depressed.

No, Im not. I dont think I am. I have a lot ahead of me. I can travel.

Who knows? Maybe remarriage.

She feigns being aghast. Oh, lord no!

Marys on that grief-recovery roller coaster. Tears erase smiles, or is it the other way around?

I owe it to myself to remain strong. I mean, Jims gone. I just gotta keep moving forward. Going backward doesnt do any good.

She flashes the waggish humor she shared with Jim. At least I dont think it does.

You seem a bounce-back person.

Yeah, Im trying to be. To tell you the truth, Jim, he didnt dwell on his sickness. I would get upset sometimes and cry about it and hed say, Why are you crying? Quit your crying. That always is in the back of my mind. I can hear him saying that to me, so its kind of like I havent really cried. Death isnt the worst thing in the whole world.

What is?

She shakes her head as a form of sighing. I guess death is actually the worst thing in the world. Then, she rethinks that. Well, I dont know about that. Actually, itd be how you die. You could ...

You could die unloved.

Right, and ...

You could die alone.

Thats a word with an echo. She absorbs it. Alone.

Carry on, Mary.

*

Once, while browsing the UC Berkeley bookstore, I ran across a small book of verse by an undersung writer named Theodora Kroeber. She wrote, thoughtfully:

When I am dead

Cry for me a little.

Think of me sometimes

But not too much.

It is not good for you

For your thoughts to dwell

Too long on the Dead.

Think of me now and again

As I was in life

It is pleasant to recall

But not for long.

Leave me in peace

As I shall leave

you, too, in peace.

While you live

Let your thoughts be

with the Living.

Fred Dickeys home page is freddickey.net. He believes every life is an adventure and welcomes ideas at freddickey1@gmail.com.

Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
When conquistador Pedro de Alvarado landed in Guatemala in 1524, he probably saw at least one bronze-skin, short, raven-haired young Maya woman.

The genes of that progenitor have traveled half a millennium and 2,000 miles to Poway in the person of Catarina Agustin, a 17-year-old senior at Poway High School.

Catarina is a happy kid  except at the moment she is grieving for the sad plight of a friend named Joe.

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She came here with her family five years ago from a country where the wounds of civil war still seep blood 20 years after peace was supposedly rediscovered. The violence of that war had been harshly visited on the Indian population.

The immigration of the Agustin family was typical. The laborer father came first, made a place and then brought the family. Catarina thinks her parents might return to Guatemala in a few years after her father retires. Her mother is eager to go.

Catarina, however, does not share her mothers longing for the old country. She is proud of her green card and eager to gain U.S. citizenship. This is home.

She is the youngest of five children and the only one left at home. She early on learned how sad life can be with the death (by cancer) of a brother of 15.

Catarina and her parents live in one room attached to a garage in rural Poway. My parents have their own bed, and we have a little kitchen, and a little stove. We have a bathroom and a shower and everything. My bed  a pallet, actually  is above the bathroom. Its not that big at all.

I love where I live, even though I dont have that much stuff. I love how my parents treat me and how they love me and try to give me everything I need. They help me and support me.

She makes no complaints. Shes not the type. However, when I dig a little ...

Dont you wish you had a house like the kids at school?

I do. I do, but Im happy that I have a school.

Tears form in her eyes.

Why does that make you sad?

I dont know. Its just what it is.

My look probably says theres more to it than that.

She wipes her eyes and the smile returns. Yeah, I wish I had a big house and I would get my own room, but, I dont. Im OK with it.

Im OK with what my parents have and they dont have. Im OK with everything because I love studying and I have my own education. Thats why I love to go to school, because I havent been absent since I came here. I never missed a day, even though sometimes I feel lazy, and sometimes I dont want to go to school, but Im still going.

She is proud of her B average and looks forward to college. English is her third language, after Spanish and a Mayan tongue.

Her conversational English has traveled a good distance down a long road. Learning our twisty language is not for those cowed by frustration.

Catarina dreams of attending a university to study business, but knows community college is probably the first step. When that time comes, shell need transportation, probably a junker, but thats a year from now.

She says her most pressing need is for a laptop computer on which to write her senior project in the coming year. She now uses a tablet, which she proudly says she bought with her own money. However, its inadequate for her upcoming needs.

Its not easy being a teenager, or any other age. However, the skin is never thinner than at that time. Catarinas main touchiness is being occasionally teased because shes only 4 feet 8. (Oops! Scratch that only.)

Ive heard, Oh, youre so short, and like they say shorty because Im short. I used to get offended before, but I dont care anymore. I mean, it doesnt matter. I mean, the tall doesnt make you a bit different. However tall you are, even though youre so short, you can still be a better person.

Do you have a lot of friends?

Yes, I do. Yeah.

Almost all Hispanics?

Not really. Some Hispanic, some Asian people and some American people, white people. Theyre so nice. My dad doesnt let me go out and hang out with friends, but when Im in school Im still talking with them, hanging out with them.

Catarina is comfortable living within the strictures of an imported culture. But as we know, each generation pulls more away and into mainstream culture. For Catarina, it has fashioned a rule-abiding young woman of respect and old-school values. Tough to argue with that.

Catarina initially caught my eye at the county fair in Del Mar because I was intrigued by her relationship with a pudgy youngster of more than 230 pounds named Joe, with whom she has a love interest.

Alas, the relationship will soon come to a tragic end, especially from Joes perspective.

Joe is a Hampshire-cross barrow. Joe is a pig. I will not call him a swine because it might hurt Catarinas feelings. You try to be sensitive.

Joe has shared the past four months with Catarina as her FFA project. She comes from an agriculture family, so it was a smooth move to join FFA and get into the pork business. She borrowed $500 to buy Joe and supply the feed to fatten him for four months at the rate of 2 pounds a day. The boy can eat.

She showed him at the fair, but he wasnt a winner, except to her. She hopes for a better showing at the Ramona fair in August. Either way, hes then going to market, where she anticipates earning a profit on the $500.

I think I will make money, but it depends on how much people want to pay for him.

Thats business-ed lesson number one, Catarina.

However, this talk about cashing in on Joe turns her face sad and her voice thicker.

She pays homage to her fattened friend. Hes sweet and funny, and he knows me. Hes the best friend Im going to have, and I really liked spending time with him, and I dont want him to go, but thats how it is.

Hes part of my life and he will have a space in my heart to remember him. He will be the best-ever animal that ever happened to me. I will love him forever, even though hes not going to be with me.

How about you? What have you learned about you?

About becoming adult and becoming more mature, thinking about the future, planning. Im still a teenager and when we are teenagers, we make mistakes. From the mistakes that happen, I have learned a lot, and the advice that my dad have given me. With those advice, I will keep them forever and will have them in my mind.

I just want to study. I just want to be in school. I just want to have a career and share that experience with my family. My parents have helped me and supported me with everything. They give me an education. They give me good advice. Theyre so supportive with me. Thats what I love about my family. They give you advice when you make mistakes. They give you everything.

Rising out of poverty is nothing new. It first happened back when one burly Neanderthal had the driest corner of the cave and the others had to shiver in dampness. However, some went out and found their own dry cave.

Poverty has sticky fingers, but the grip can be broken.

Nineteenth century American-dream successes used to be called Horatio Alger stories after the novelist who thrilled young people with can-do tales. Catarinas got the gumption to write her own Horatio Alger story. And it wouldnt be fiction.

Joes problem is he has nothing to offer but pork chops. Pigs are said to be among the smartest of animals, but hes never worried about why all the free Purina has been put on his plate.

Theres no such thing as a free lunch, Joe.

Fred Dickeys home page is freddickey.net. He believes every life is an adventure and welcomes ideas at freddickey1@gmail.com.
Both men were aspiring law enforcement officers, studying criminal justice at Palomar College. Then their career paths diverged.

One was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of setting an Encinitas church and school on fire, and the other lauded for working undercover to help catch him.

Tyler Carender, 20, is charged with causing more than a half-million dollars in damage to St. Andrews Episcopal Church and Oak Crest Middle School in a series of early morning fires last fall.

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The first fire, on Oct. 22, destroyed the youth center at the church, prompting the building to be razed. Investigators noted a set of Vans footprints at the scene, according to a search warrant unsealed in San Diego federal court last week for Carenders home, car and cellphone.

A week later, flames erupted in the middle school administration center, causing a partial ceiling collapse.

And on Nov. 12, another fire ignited at the churchs preschool building. Investigators suspected it was sparked by a Molotov cocktail going through a window. A neighbor reported seeing a man flee the scene.

Carender, who lives with his mother in a home that abuts the middle school, had been arrested in 2011 for firing an airsoft rifle at middle school students from his backyard.

A few days after the third fire, a tipster called Crime Stoppers fingering Carender as the arsonist. The person, whose name was not revealed by authorities, called a second time with more information.

According to the search warrant, Carenders Facebook page showed he had an interest in the fires. He posted below one news story with the comment: wtf I went to that middle school I really hope they catch the person.

Carender was pursing a degree in administration of justice at Palomar College in San Marcos, and sheriffs detectives provided college police with a bulletin identifying him as a person of interest.

A fellow student working as a community service officer for the police department immediately recognized Carender as a classmate and agreed to help with the investigation, the court document says. The student, whose name was not given, fostered a friendship with Carender, and their early conversations revolved around their shared aspirations of going into law enforcement. But Carender expressed concern that he wouldnt pass the required background tests.

Carender also casually brought up the fires in their early talks, at one point saying that living in Encinitas was nice except for the recent crime wave there. He also asked his classmate if he had any training in investigating arsons.

During a hiking outing at Torrey Pines State Reserve in March, Carender expressed concern about background tests, and the community service officer pressed Carender to share his secrets. Carender said he had pleaded guilty to a DUI in 2015 and admitted to breaking into vehicles and a house and using drugs, according to the search warrant.

Carender added, Theres one more thing, man, but I cant tell you. I could go to jail for the rest of my life.

After some prompting from his new friend, Carender finally said, according to the search warrant, Do you remember those arsons in Encinitas I told you about?  I did those.

Later, during the hike, the officer secretly activated a voice recorder on his cellphone and brought up the arsons again. Carender, who was wearing Vans sneakers, made more comments about the fires, the search warrant states.

Afterward, the student reported the confession to his supervisor at the police department, wrote up a report and submitted the recording.

Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested Carender on July 5 at his home on an indictment. He pleaded not guilty and was granted release on $50,000 bond. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
A young man said to be the godson of Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, under pressure amid a bloody power struggle over the powerful Sinaloa cartel, has turned himself in to U.S. authorities at the border in Calexico, Mexican news outlets reported Friday.

Damaso Lopez Serrano, known as Mini Lic, presented himself to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the U.S.-Mexico crossing on Wednesday and was then handed over to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, an unnamed Mexican government official told the Mexican news wire service EFE.

Mexican authorities had been hunting for Lopez Serrano in neighboring Mexicali, EFE reported.

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U.S. authorities did not release any information Friday. There did not appear to be any federal charges filed against him in San Diego, at least any that were publicly available.

Lopez Serrano got his nickname from his father, Damaso Lopez Nunez, known as El Licenciado. The father was reputed to be part of Guzmans top tier in the Sinaloa cartel. He was arrested by Mexican authorities in May at a high-rise tower in Mexico City.

Lopez Serrano, previously known for his playboy image on social media, used to share a friendly relationship with Guzmans sons, but that has apparently changed as his father has led an effort to wrest control of the cartel from them, according to news reports. The Sinaloa group has also come under fire from the competing Jalisco New Generation cartel.

Guzman, on the run after a gutsy prison escape, was arrested in Sinaloa in January 2016 and extradited to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges in New York federal court in Brooklyn a year later.

High-level targets close to Guzmans empire have often been nabbed along this stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Last month, Guzmans alleged mistress and a former Mexican legislator, Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, was caught as she tried to enter San Diego at the Cross Border Xpress airport terminal. She has been indicted on a conspiracy charge of helping the cartel launder money and will be tried in Washington, D.C.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
Mexican Mafia, God, family  in that order.

Thats how one expert described the power and influence the notorious prison gang, also known as La Eme, holds over people in prison or county jail, as well as those on the outside.

In a 2007 article published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, writer Tony Rafael  who spent years researching the Mexican Mafia  explained in an interview how the gangs leaders give orders to members of Hispanic or Latino street gangs that could include harassing, assaulting or killing others on its behalf.

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Failure to follow orders is usually punished, often violently.

When you click up with a gang thats loyal to the Mexican Mafia, the Mexican Mafia comes before God, your family, and your friends going all the way back to childhood, said Rafael, who published a book on the subject in 2009. When they tell you to do something, you gotta do it.

A group of 11 men and women accused of committing crimes linked to the Mexican Mafia prison gang pleaded not guilty in San Diego Superior Court. A total of 20 defendants are named in the complaint filed this week. (John Gibbins/U-T)

It will be interesting to see how that notion plays in San Diego Superior Court, where 20 people are facing charges related to their alleged association with the prison gang.

Twelve men and eight women stand accused of various felonies after a three-year investigation, dubbed Operation Emero, conducted by a multi-agency gang task force. The investigation was led by the Sheriffs Department, FBI and a special services unit of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Some of the defendants pleaded not guilty this week in San Diego Superior Court to charges including extortion, kidnapping, assault likely to produce great bodily injury, drug possession for sale and conspiracy to commit assault, arson, robbery and torture.

Others, including defendants now in prison on other convictions, are expected to be arraigned over the next few weeks.

Felix Aguirre, a retired San Diego police detective who conducts training and information sessions on gangs, said the Mexican Mafia is one of several prison gangs that thrive in correctional institutions in California and across the country.

It basically controls everything from prostitution to drugs  a lot of the criminal activities within the institutions, he said.

When someone is sent to prison, its typical for that person to seek out a group of inmates he can identify with  usually other members of the same race  for protection and safety, Aguirre said. Those who associate with the Mexican Mafia may eventually be told to put in work for the gang, either inside a prison or jail, or out on the streets.

The carnales, loosely translated from Spanish as brothers, are the leaders of the organization, the shot-callers, Aguirre said. Below them are the camaradas or comrades, the second-tier leaders, and then the crew members or associates who carry out their orders. They also tend to rely on women  perhaps wives or girlfriends of the carnales  to communicate their directives on the street.

The gang is known to take a tax from anyone carrying out other criminal activities in areas claimed by the prison gang. In other words, if dealers are selling drugs in Mexican Mafia territory, they have to pay a percentage to the gang. If they dont, the gang will still find a way to collect.

The consequences are assault, violent robberies  They take what they want, Aguirre said.

Prosecutors in San Diego County havent revealed many details about the new case, but have said the defendants operated in two groups, one of which was led by federal prisoner Jose Alberto Bat Marquez, the other by California death row inmate Ronaldo Ayala.

Neither is charged in the San Diego case, presumably because both men are expected to spend the rest of their lives locked away from the rest of society. But their names appear multiple times throughout the 40-page complaint in a long list of overt acts prosecutors included to support the charges.

Among them, Marquez is accused of directing a female defendant to give an inmate knuckles over a drug debt. On another occasion, Marquez told the same defendant to slap a woman and collect the money she owed him, according to prosecutors.

They say Ayala used a contraband cellphone to make calls from death row, including one in which he authorized the stabbing of an inmate at Centinela state prison in Imperial County in April.

dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @danalittlefield
An election integrity activist has launched a campaign to personally recount votes from last years presidential primary in San Diego County.

Ray Lutz, the founder of the Citizens Oversight Project, announced Friday that he wants determine if the official results were accurate.

But to take on that task, he has to win a lawsuit hes filed to gain access to the ballots.

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Lutz has previously said that he suspects that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders received more votes in the region than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and should have won the Democratic presidential primary. To check if anything illegal happened, he wants access to the countys reams of old ballots to count votes himself, and has filed a public records lawsuit to get to them.

He said the difference in the vote margins between early vote-by-mail ballots and votes cast at precincts on Election Day was so large that fraud likely occurred in the Democratic contest.

The county has long said that there was no evidence of fraud in the election, and that its processes for counting the votes and for verifying the accuracy of the results are accurate and comply with law.

The first step for Lutz is getting access to the old ballots. The county says state law seals ballots, and they cant be released to Lutz and other members of the public like other types of records.

The ballots from the June election have been sealed pursuant to California Elections Code and law prohibits the ballots to be unsealed, a county lawyer wrote in a letter to Lutz.

If Lutz prevails in his lawsuit, voters privacy would not be compromised because identifying details are removed from ballots before they are counted.

Lutzs claim that Sanders could have become president if the outcome in San Diego County was different is mathematically impossible. Even if every county voter who could participate in the Democratic primary supported Sanders, the Vermont senator still would have still lost California. Even if Sanders had won California, Clinton would have had enough delegates from primaries and caucuses from across the country and support from superdelegates to still win the nomination.

Clinton received 215,655 votes in San Diego County while Sanders received 199,716. Statewide, Clinton received 2,745,302 votes to Sanders 2,381,722.

Lutz also announced the Easy Voting Project, a new national effort to increase access to the ballot box that will focus on increasing same-day voter registration, allowing people to sign up and vote on Election Day.

The National Conference of State Legislatures says that 15 states and the District of Columbia already have, or will soon begin same-day voter registration.

California will start offering same-day conditional voting in statewide races next year. Would-be San Diego County voters can register or re-register at the Registrar of Voters Office before they can cast a provisional ballot. Election officials will then verify that the voter was eligible to participate in the election before their ballot is counted.

Voter registration regulations are governed by state law, and its unclear how Lutzs new campaign will try and increase same registration.

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1841
By Adila Matra: "You become what you behold," said the 19th century poet and painter, William Blake. Kolkata based artist Subir Hati believes Blake was a revolutionary. So, just after he was awarded the Glenfiddich Emerging Artist of the Year winner for 2016, he left for Scotland as a part of the programme and came back with a set of paintings inspired by the words and works of William Blake. Titled Fly Ash: Phoenix Redefined, the work mostly consists of sculptures.

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Hati is specifically inspired by a single concept that Blake talked about. "The concept that 'light emerges from darkness' is present in his work, and it is this very thought that inspires me," says the artist who has a Master's degree in Visual Art from Benaras Hindu University in 2004. Subir is a sculptor and a painter; he experiments with steel, stone and wood.

His work titled Frozen Sun & a Sun Catcher. Photo: Mail Today

Talking about his time in Scotland, Hati says, "I truly enjoyed the residency in Scotland. It gave me a chance to interact with, and exchange ideas on artistic practice with fellow artists, and the fact that they were from different countries made this process even more interesting. I also enjoyed meeting people from different walks of life, and engaging in dialogue with them about art and global issues. It was truly an enriching experience for me. I felt totally at home there, and the support I received made me forget that I was in a foreign land." Out of the 12 works, the one titled 'Mirror Image' is Hati's favourite. It is a wooden sculpture with patterns that let in light. "I am fond of light and more and more light is engulfing my works day by day. I believe in designs and my eyes and ears are open to receive those patterns that the world generates every nano second," he says.

Also Read: Discover how the Indian subcontinent has changed, through maps

When asked what was the inspiration behind the title, the artist responds, "To my mind ash comes from destruction, whether intentional or unintentional, and the Phoenix rises from the ashes. This process is quite similar to the destruction we face in our lives, be it emotional, physical or material. Therefore, I draw inspiration from the concept of rebirth - of the phoenix rising from the ashes."

- 'Fly Ash: Phoenix Redefined' previews today at Art District XIII, Lado Sarai, will continue till August 31.

--- ENDS ---
The chief complaint labor unions had about San Diegos five-year old pension cuts is one of two issues the state Supreme Court plans to consider when reviewing an April appeals court decision that vindicated the city.

If the Supreme Court decides to overturn the pension cuts, the city could be forced to spend millions creating retroactive pensions for more than 3,000 workers hired since 2012.

RELATED: State Supreme Court takes up appeal challenging San Diego pension cutbacks

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City labor unions have always said it was illegal for then-Mayor Jerry Sanders and the City Council to put Proposition B, the citys pension overhaul measure, on the 2012 ballot without first meeting with labor leaders about the proposed pension changes.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled in April that Sanders and the council did nothing wrong. But the Supreme Court announced Wednesday it will review that ruling, and said on Friday the review will include whether there is a legal obligation to meet with labor in such a situation.

RELATED: Appeals court vindicates San Diegos 2012 pension cutbacks

The second issue the courts review will focus on is whether the appellate court overstepped its authority in April when completely overturning a 2015 Public Employment Relations Board ruling that the pension cuts were illegal.

Labor unions and PERB contend the appellate court needed to restrict its review of the labor board ruling to whether it was clearly erroneous, not evaluate the entire ruling from the ground up.

Ann Smith, an attorney for the citys largest labor union, said Fridays announcement is good news for opponents of Proposition B because it shows the Supreme Court will focus its review on the issues she raised.

They are getting at the central issue of when does the duty to (collectively) bargain arise, by whose conduct and when, Smith said.

The second issue, she said, gets to the heart of whether the Fourth District Court of Appeal had the right to veer from precedent and use a de novo standard of review, meaning they could look at the case without regard to the PERB ruling.

A spokesman for City Attorney Mara Elliott declined to comment on Fridays announcement of the issues the Supreme Court will review in the case.

On Thursday, the spokesman said the courts decision to review Aprils appellate ruling isnt a shock.

It is understandable that the Supreme Court would want to review a case where an appellate court and a state agency have such different views of the law, particularly in a matter of statewide significance, said Gerry Braun, Elliotts chief of staff.

Proposition B replaced guaranteed pensions with 401(k)-style retirement plans for all newly-hired city employees except police officers, making San Diego the only jurisdiction in California not to offer traditional pensions to new employees.

Estimates of how much it would cost the city to reverse Proposition B have ranged from $100 million to less than $20 million, but even the people making such guesses have always qualified them based on a wide number of variables.

Its rare for the state Supreme Court to issue a notice of review, which happens in less than five percent of civil cases where a review is requested.

If the court had decided against a review, Aprils appellate ruling would have become a published precedent throughout California.

The lawsuit filed by Smiths union, the Municipal Employees Association, and three other unions representing city employees says Mayor Sanders illegally circumvented state labor law by describing Proposition B as a citizens initiative but using the power and influence of his office to gather 116,000 signatures on its behalf.

City employee involvement with the measure would require negotiation with labor unions under state law, the suit says.

Sanders has said he acted as a private citizen, not as the mayor, when he helped create the measure and worked to help get it passed.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that the states requirement that city officials confer with labor groups about ballot measures applies only to measures placed on the ballot by leaders of a government agency, not by a citizens initiative such as Proposition B.

The judges said it was undisputed that Sanders and others in the city government provided support to the proponents of Proposition B and the subsequent campaign, but that such involvement didnt require those city employees to confer with labor leaders.

Arguments in the case wont be heard until at least 2018 and possibly 2019.

Briefs must be filed by late August  within 30 days of the Supreme Courts notice of review last Wednesday.

While the court could choose a variety of remedies, overturning the appellate court ruling would likely force San Diego to create retroactive pensions for more than 3,000 workers hired since July 2012.

City officials have said that would not only be costly, but complicated and cumbersome.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
The family of a man fatally shot by two deputies in Vista last year has filed a lawsuit that claims the shooting was an unreasonable and excessive use of force.

The document, filed in San Diego federal court last week, also alleges that the Sheriffs Department did not properly train or supervise its deputies despite a pattern of use-of-force incidents, failing to prevent the deadly shooting.

The lawsuit against the county and Deputies Christopher Villanueva and Peter Myers comes nearly a year after the fatal shooting of Sergio Weick, 33.

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In recent weeks, Villanueva has again been the focus of public and media attention in the wake of another incident that marked his second fatal shooting of a man in Vista. Relatives of that man, Jonathon Coronel, announced last week that they plan to file a federal lawsuit over the shooting.

Weick, a known gang member wanted for a parole violation, was killed on Aug. 11.

Deputies had spotted him driving and tried to pull over his car. He led them on a brief chase before he ditched the car and ran into a gated community on Bronze Way in Vista. Myers and Villanueva ran after him.

At the end of a narrow path between homes, Weick stumbled and fell. Deputies said he fumbled with his shirt and waistband, apparently reaching for something, according to a report on the shooting.

The deputies repeatedly yelled for Weick to stop and put his hands up, but he ignored those orders, authorities said. Both deputies shot him several times, thinking he was going for a weapon.

Deputies found a knife on each hip and a shotgun in his car.

Weick died at a hospital three days later.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of Weicks parents, two daughters and son notes that the knives were not brandished and claims the deputies fired their guns recklessly.

At no time, prior to being shot and killed by defendants Myers and Villanueva, did Sergio Weick display a weapon or other instrument, or take any physical action that would lead a reasonable officer to believe that his or her life was in danger or in threat of imminent harm, the lawsuit reads.

The use of deadly force against decedent Weick was excessive and objectively unreasonable under the circumstances, the document continues.

The lawsuit also claims that flawed, inadequate and substandard training ... left (the deputies) unprepared for handling such encounters and created a scenario that led to the deadly use of force.

In January, then-District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis ruled the shooting was justified, a decision that meant the deputies would not face criminal charges.

Villanueva has been a deputy for a year. Before that, he was a police officer in Escondido for two years. Meyers has been with the Sheriffs Department for eight years.

Weicks family seeks an undetermined amount of money for loss of financial support, attorney fees and other damages.

The Sheriffs Department did not respond to requests for comment late Friday.

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Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com

Phone: (619) 293-1876

Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
The Republicans effort to repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act suffered a major blow this week, but organizers were forging ahead with nationwide Saturday rallies  including one in San Diego  protesting any further attempts to undermine the existing system.

The Our Lives on the Line day of action has been planned since June, touted as a show of force against repeal efforts. Our Lives on the Line is a coalition of progressive healthcare organizations.

Early Friday, Sen. John McCain cast the deciding vote in defeating the so-called skinny repeal of the Affordable Care Act. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the skinny bill, if implemented, would have left 16 million more Americans uninsured, and cause insurance premiums to soar.

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Organizers see the action as a victory but are not planning to pull back on their campaign.

We have won an important battle in the fight for millions of Americans healthcare, but our fight continues, said Emma Shapiro, a spokeswoman for Our Lives on the Line. The resistance showed up  we called, we came to meetings, we rallied in the rain, and we won a critical victory in the fight to protect our care. But we know that President Trump and Republicans in Congress remain determined to take away healthcare, no matter how reckless it is or how many millions of Americans would be hurt. Were not waiting for their next attack.

On Saturday morning, President Trump tweeted this warning: If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!

In San Diego, the rally was focused on womens healthcare. The proposed repeal bill included cutting federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

About 75 people rallied at Balboa Park wearing pink T-shirts stating I stand with Planned Parenthood. They held signs such as Together we fight for all and Resist, eliciting honks from several drivers who passed.

Today we are celebrating, at least for now, said Darrah Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest. She called the failed repeal bill the most dangerous legislation for women ever.

Moving forward, she said shed like to see a bipartisan effort to have a thoughtful conversation about what the American people need as far as healthcare.

Planned Parenthood provides healthcare services to 2.5 million women nationwide, including 150,000 patients a year in San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties, Johnson said.

Jacqueline Serafin, 33, of University Heights said she has become an advocate for Planned Parenthood because the organization was there for her as a teen and college student when she needed its services.

Healthcare should be accessible to anyone and everyone who needs it.  The impact of not having an organization like Planned Parenthood would be detrimental to our collective health, Serafin said.

In Los Angeles, about 100 demonstrators rallied near City Hall.

No matter how much credit we give them, this victory belongs to all of you. For everyone who made calls, marched, told their stories or were just plain loud, thank you so much, said new Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles). This defeat is a major victory for working-class families in this country.

Other rallies were planned for cities including Washington, D.C., Denver and Chicago.

The campaign will kick off the Drive for Our Lives national bus tour, which will run through Congress August recess. The bus tour, which starts in L.A., will travel to more than 18 states and share stories of Americans whose coverage would have been threatened under the repeal bill, according to a press release.

Largely, it was in the works already. A lot of it is to continue the momentum, said Remi Yamamoto, a spokeswoman for Drive for Our Lives, said of the campaign. Were not going to wait for the next attack and the next round.

Mejia is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

Union-Tribune staff writer Kristina Davis contributed to this report.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
President Donald Trumps unique management style was on full display this week, rightly earning more than the usual Democratic disdain for it.

His relentless criticism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions angered conservatives. His overly political speech to the nonpartisan Boy Scouts of America forced its chief executive to issue an apology. And his announcement in three early morning tweets to ban transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military in any capacity so floored the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the chairman told top brass not to implement it without more formal direction.

Clearly, the president hopes to shore up his base with these misguided ways of governing. But he cant keep alienating Americans all the time, right?

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Sessions, whom Trump called VERY weak, among other insults on Twitter, was the very first sitting senator to endorse his candidacy and remains the Cabinet member whose views on immigration, tough criminal justice and an insular America most mirror the presidents. On the left, opponents of Trumps agenda erupted because they dont want Trump to fire Sessions and then be able to fire special counsel Robert Mueller and upend his Russia probe. On the right, supporters of Trumps agenda erupted because they dont want to lose one of the administrations strongest conservatives.

Rush Limbaugh labeled Trumps all-out assault on Sessions unseemly. Tucker Carlson told Trump, For Gods sake, lay off Jeff Sessions. Hes your friend, one of the very few you have in Washington. The loquacious Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, called the unprecedented attacks on a Cabinet member a sign of great weakness on the part of President Trump and said, If Jeff Sessions is fired, there will be holy hell to pay.

Equally unprecedented this week was Trumps super political speech in front of 40,000 people at the the National Jamboree for the Boy Scouts of America, which turned off people inside and outside the scouting community. After the organization had warned its members beforehand to ensure that any reactions to the presidents address are, as we state in our Scout Law, friendly, courteous, and kind, it was the president who missed that mark.

Most emblematic of Trumps ham-handed management style, though, was his sudden ban on transgender individuals in the military. Hearing from some in the GOP that the U.S. government should ban Pentagon-funded sex reassignment surgery, Trump could have reasonably suggested that. Instead, he opened up a new front in the culture wars.

That Trump, whose five Vietnam-era draft deferments kept him out of harms way during the Vietnam War, would impede the ability of thousands of current transgender military members from serving their country is frankly unpatriotic. While Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, called the move the absolute right decision and said, National security should trump social experimentation, always, Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, smartly took steps to block it. Added Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, We should all be guided by the principle that any American who wants to serve our country and is able to meet the standards should have the opportunity to do so.

Trump defined U.S. standards down this week.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion
John McCain on Thursday foiled the stripped down health care bill. He is an American hero, never mind that it required an aggressive brain tumor to arrive there.

The individual mandate requires every citizen to purchase health care. This is fundamental to health insurance: a large group of healthy people pay into a pool that affords them protection in the event that they became sick.

The Republicans argue that healthy people should have the freedom to forgo health insurance. The terrifying truth is that disease always strikes unexpectedly and derails even the best-laid plans.

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Indeed, McCains struck at a pivotal time, causing the maverick to vote against the Republican-controlled Senate on the repeal bill.

In its defeat, the GOP is forced to truly experience the unpredictability of disease and its damaging wake, and I hope this helps them finally accept the individual mandate for the protection of all Americans.

Alex Meilan

Hillcrest

The failure of the Republican promise to Repeal/Replace Obamacare is now obvious to anyone. They dont want to do it.

Want proof? After voting many times to do so, and even sending it to president Obama for his expected vetoes, they thusly were protected from actually doing what they have promised for seven years.

After gaining the House in 2010, the Senate in 2014 and more recently, the presidency in 2016 they still cannot get the job done. They simply do not want to upset the establishments apple cart. This failure will ultimately cause them to lose big in 2018, and thus pave the way to the impeachment of Donald Trump.

The people elected Trump to drain the swamp and get things done, but he is being thwarted by both parties.

Its no longer a choice between being a Democrat or Republican, so are you a patriot or progressive?

Burt Smith

Oceanside

Paul B. Evans (A simple way to fix health care in U.S., July 24) spoke of an individual $2,000 annual coverage cost and $5,000 for a family of four.

I agree and those figures sound remarkably close to the present Medicare premiums. We the people should own it, not the for-profit insurance companies. Yes, keep it simple, Medicare for all.

Tony Norris

Otay Mesa

Something is missing from the health insurance debate. Donald Trump campaigned on a promise he would repeal and replace Obamacare with something better and cheaper.

Where is the plan he promised? Did he not have a plan? Weve seen the Mitch McConnell plan, the Ted Cruz plan, the Rob Portman plan and others.

Wheres Trumps plan? Hes good at criticizing everyone for not passing a new health care law, but why are his supporters not holding him accountable for failing to produce the plan he promised? Wheres the outrage from the supporters he duped? Are they incapable of acknowledging Trump duped them?

Many of them will pay more or lose their health insurance under all the Republican plans offered to date. But like Trump they are bashing his opponents instead of making the buck stop with him. He fooled them again. How sad.

Eliot Alazraki

San Diego

I am sick for the first time in my life with stage 1 breast cancer. I have had fantastic medical care from UC San Diego Health and Graybill Medical and am fortunate to have insurance.

Everyone should have the same care. We are mandated to pay into insurance, so if and when you need it, you can receive great health care and not go bankrupt.

Congress should not repeal the ACA.

Christine Armstrong

San Marcos

Letters and commentary policy

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A photo appearing on the July 22 Business front looked more than odd to a few readers  it looked fake. Definitely not what a mainstream media company wants at any time, and even more so in todays political/media climate.

The photo accompanied a Los Angeles Times piece on an Assembly bill that would extend low-emission vehicle subsidies. The picture showed a worker on the assembly line for Tesla electric cars.

The photo looked weird because the same worker doing exactly the same task appeared on both sides of the shot.

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With all the hoopla about fake news, the feature photo of the Tesla assembly line on the front page of the business section would seem a flagrant example, emailed Boyd Goddard of Rancho Santa Fe. What could possibly be the point, or agenda behind an obviously photoshopped picture?

If you hadnt noticed, identical twins seem to be employed on the assembly line, right down to the minutest detail. Or has Tesla managed to totally anthropomorphize the assembly robots? That would be a story in itself!

A couple of other emails also brought up the word Photoshop, claiming the photo had been manipulated.

But that was not the case. The picture was indeed an accurate depiction of what was occurring at the time. The problem was the caption written for the U-T Business page. It failed to include key information  that the worker was reflected in a large computer screen on the assembly line. The original caption provided that information, and the U-T caption writer shouldnt have made the mistake of omitting that.

The fallout is the perception by Goddard and other readers that something dishonest is going on. Thats not what a business that hinges on credibility needs. Just a few words of description could have avoided the problem.

As a side note, manipulating a news photo to add or subtract images that did not appear in the original shot of the scene is strictly forbidden in newsrooms.A photographer might adjust for tone, said photo editor Alma Cesena, but beyond that, we never change a photo.

Such tweaking of a picture would be grounds for immediate termination, she added.

A photo illustration is treated differently than a news photo, however. Usually a graphic artist will manipulate a picture in any number of ways to illustrate a feature story, but it is clearly evident to readers and labeled Photo illustration.
President Donald Trump has been tweeting about MS-13 .

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been talking about MS-13.

With everything else going on at the White House, Trump's administration is clearly devoting a lot of energy to MS-13. But what exactly is it?

Heres what you need to know about a violent international gang that has plagued the U.S. for more than three decades.

What is MS-13 and how big a problem is it?

Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) is an extremely violent gang created by Salvadoran immigrants who fled the country during the civil war and settled in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Many members have been deported back to Central America in the last two decades, and they took L.A.-style gang culture back with them, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

But the gang members have also spread across the U.S. too, increasing their stature nationally and internationally. A quick search of the Justice Department s many MS-13 arrest announcements will show you that the gang has a wide presence across the U.S. in cities from San Francisco to Boston. The gang is known to operate in at least 40 states.

Sessions and Trump have taken to blaming the previous administration for it.

"Because of an open border and years of lax immigration enforcement, MS-13 has been sending both recruiters and members to regenerate gangs that previously had been decimated, and smuggling members across the border as unaccompanied minors, Sessions said earlier this week.

Why is Trump talking about it now?

In February, the president signed an executive order calling for stronger enforcement of federal law relating to transnational criminal organizations. Since then, Sessions has made dismantling transnational gangs like MS-13 a priority, according to a Justice Department press release on Thursday.

Sessions was sent to El Salvador this week to meet with that countrys attorney general to discuss the prevalence of MS-13. In response, El Salvador announced charges against 113 gang members on Thursday, according to the Justice Department.

On Friday, Trump gave a speech to police officers in Long Island, New York, pledging to destroy the gang.

Together we're going to restore safety to our streets and peace to our communities, and we're going to destroy the vile, criminal cartel MS-13 and many other gangs," Trump said.

What is Trump doing about MS-13?

The Washington Post reports there has been an increase in gang-related deportations to El Salvador .

However, this has been an ongoing effort. From fiscal years 2016 to 2017, ICE made 602 criminal arrests related to MS-13 that resulted in 153 convictions.

The president said in June that his administration has already deported about 50 percent of the MS-13 gang members in the U.S. but Politifact found instead that 2,798 of the estimated 10,000 members in the U.S. have been deported in fiscal year 2017.

At his speech Friday, Trump asked Congress to find money to pay for 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers "so that we can eliminate MS-13."

He has also been tweeting about his commitment to not rest until MS-13 is eradicated.

Do you have other questions about MS-13? Send us a tweet to @sdutideas or comment below and well try to find the answer and add it to this page.

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin
Forty-five compassionate and talented people attended a sewing event at Sew Easy Studio in Ramona and at the end of the day had 75 dresses for African orphans.

Organizer AnnaMarie Nachazel-Spenner said she was thrilled by the events attendance on July 15, and she fought back tears as she thanked everyone for coming.

Men and women of all sewing skill levels gathered and chose fabric, thread, ribbons, and more to make beautiful little dresses, and Marilynn Hersey and Sharon Meegan from Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church donated 21 dresses purchased for the girls.

David Lloyd, who had traveled as a missionary to Kenya, arrived with his wife, Gerry Ann, and five finished dresses. He explained the plight of orphaned girls in Africa.

The ratio of children to adults there is alarming, and the clothes are threadbare, he said. They are being held together by more threads in some cases.

He was quick to add that real heroes are found in Doctors Without Borders.

Beverly Helms, the grandmother of a girl who works for a charity in Africa, came with the newest edition of Sew News, which featured the African Dress Initiative. Huldah Momanyi-Hiltsley of Ramona came and sewed a dress for the first time. She is of Kenyan descent and is the founder of SaniNaps, a group that makes sanitary napkins for African girls so they can stay in school.

More stories were shared during the day. Sewing and chatter and laughter and love filled the big sewing studio, and shop owner Barbara Jean Smith was joined by her husband Chris and daughters Lucy and Katelyn, who helped with the snacks.
The division bench of Bombay High Court consisting of Justice Ranjit More and Justice V L Achliya had stated that the word can be interpreted as an abuse by many across Maharashtra.

By Vidya : Supreme Court overturned Bombay High Court order which had stated that the word 'Ghati' was an abusive word.

The division bench of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul have reiterated in the order earlier this month which stated that on January 1, 2016 an FIR was lodged against Badri Iyer an IAS aspirant.

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On January 1, Iyer accompanied by a lady left Club Alibi at 1.45pm. Since Iyer's friend was unwell they sat at a space opposite to the club. Iyer later booked a cab, however, before the cab arrived few policemen approached them and allegedly misbehaved with them.

Iyer and the woman were manhandled and they were taken to the nearest police station where they were kept for some time. An FIR too was later filed by the policemen on charges of assault against public servants.

Iyer produced before the court a transcript of a telephonic conversation between him and the FIR informant, a policeman himself, in which the policeman admits that the complaint was made at the behest of his superior.

He also admitted that he knew nothing of the facts which transpired on the morning of January 1, 2016. Armed with the transcript, Iyer approached the Bombay High Court to quash the FIR lodged against him.

However, in spite of severak arguments put forth by Iyer's lawyer Chitra Salunkhe, High Court had declined and dismissed his petition.

The division bench of Bombay High Court consisting of Justice Ranjit More and Justice V L Achliya had stated that the word can be interpreted as an abuse by many across Maharashtra.

The division bench of Supreme Court while passing a castigating remark against Mumbai police said, "We are of the opinion that it is clear from the facts that no offence has been committed, much less an offence of assault against a public official in the course of duty. We are afraid that Iyer has been made a scapegoat for no fault of his, and we find that, in point of fact, a false case has been registered against him," with this the bench quashed the proceedings against Iyer and set aside the judgment of February 23, 2016 of Bombay High Court.

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By PTI: New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Three men have been arrested for allegedly killing a dhaba owner and his son after a quarrel over the placement of a cooler at the eatery in outer Delhis Najafgarh, the police said today.

Four customers at the eatery had wanted the cooler to be turned towards them but the dhaba owner Shyam Vermas son Mayank did not agree, leading to a fight.

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One of the persons in the group allegedly pulled out a pistol and shot Mayank in the neck and when his father tried to stop them, he was shot in the head.

While the dhaba owner was declared brought dead to a hospital, his son succumbed to injuries the next day.

One of the accused, Karim Khan (25), was arrested on July 27. He helped the police identify the other accused Raja Bihari (23), Anil (24) and Amit Prajapati (28) who were arrested today. PTI SLB BSA

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FLORENCE, S.C. -- From Dagmars to diesels there was a little bit of everything for people to like at this year's Pecan Music and Food Festival Car Show.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Some Pee Dee lawmakers say a Supreme Court decision on domestic violence needs a deeper look.

Last week the state Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples in South Carolina should get the same legal protections against domestic violence as straight couples.

Current law defines "household members" in domestic cases as a spouse, former spouse, people with a child in common, or men and women who are or have lived together. It does not include unmarried same-sex couples.

The legislature will have to amend state law for domestic violence laws to apply to any  unmarried, cohabiting or formerly cohabiting couples, regardless of gender or sexual preference.

Some Pee Dee lawmakers say no one should be excluded from domestic violence laws, including couples in the LGBT community, but the legislature will need to be careful in reacting to the court decision.

Were going to have to unpack it some more and figure out the scope of what theyve done as it relates unmarried couples, said Rep. Jay Jordan, a Florence Republican who sits on the House Judiciary Committee. We dont want to create more disparity.

Jordan reiterated that domestic violence is wrong in any circumstance, but said a closer look at the courts decision will be better in the long run.

Itd be a mistake to immediately jump in and start making new regulations, he said. Were just now starting to figure out if the laws we passed two years ago are having a real impact on the state. This will certainly be a piece of the puzzle moving forward.

In a statement Wednesday, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said he would ask the court to reconsider the decision. Wilson, whose office defended the state during the case, criticized the court for striking down the entire clause on unmarried couples.

"While we respect the court, the approach taken by two of its members makes it impossible for us to protect victims of dating violence under our current domestic violence laws," Wilson said. "Instead of extending the protections of South Carolina's domestic violence laws to a larger group of couples, the effect of this decision will limit those protections to a much smaller group of people. Under this current ruling the only people we can now protect are spouses, former spouses and people who have a child in common."

Rep. Roger Kirby, a Democrat from Lake City, said as solutions to the states domestic violence problem continue to be sought, equal protection is the most important part of the issue.

Everybody deserves equal protection under the law from domestic violence, period, he said. Sexuality or gender shouldnt make a difference. We want to have laws that protect everybody in those situations. Protection from domestic violence isnt owned by any one group of people.
By PTI: New York, Jul 29 (PTI) In a bid to stop the spread of antibiotic resistance, scientists are developing a tool to help physicians differentiate between bacterial and viral infections.

Researchers identified 11 genetic markers in blood that accurately distinguished between viral and bacterial infections.

Antibiotics help us fight bacterial infections, but are not effective and should not be used to treat viruses.

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"It is extremely difficult to interpret what is causing a respiratory tract infection, especially in very ill patients who come to the hospital with a high fever, cough, shortness of breath and other concerning symptoms," said Ann R Falsey, professor at University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) in the US.

Researchers studied 94 adults hospitalised with lower respiratory tract infections.

They gathered their clinical data, took blood from each patient, and conducted a battery of microbiologic tests to determine which individuals had a bacterial infection and which had a non-bacterial or viral infection.

The team then used complex genetic and statistical analysis to pinpoint markers in the blood that correctly classified the patients with bacterial infections 80 to 90 per cent of the time.

"Our genes react differently to a virus than they do to bacteria," said Thomas J Mariani, professor at URMC.

"Rather than trying to detect the specific organism that is making an individual sick, we are using genetic data to help us determine what is affecting the patient and when an antibiotic is appropriate or not," Mariani said.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. PTI APA SAR SAR

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New itineraries include 'Magnificent Volcanoes of the Aleutian Islands,' June 24-July 6, taking travelers along the Pacific Ring of Fire, and 'Greenland of Great Explorers,' July 12-26, following in the footsteps of French explorers who pushed the boundaries of polar navigation in the 19th century.

Iceland itineraries will also be offered aboard Le Champlain, one of the newbuilds in the Ponant Explorers series, with the chance to see vast glaciers, fjords, Arctic foxes and whales. Ports include Reykjavik; Grimsey, the nations northernmost territory and the ideal place to experience the midnight sun; and Heimaey, encased in a fortress of lava and home to 8,000 puffins.

Additional expeditions visit Spitsbergen, located 800 miles from the North Pole; Baffin Bay, accessible only briefly during the summer when the sea ice becomes fragmented; and Alaska.
By PTI: exchanges

(Eds: Adding extra quotes)

Srinagar, Jul 29 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the PDP would not allow the closure of cross-LoC trade and continue to work towards opening more routes across the Line of Control with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Addressing a large rally on the 18th foundation day of the Peoples Democratic Party here, Mehbooba also pitched for nominating members to the legislative assembly from the other side of LoC so that joint meetings could be held once in a year.

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"There are many difficulties through the Wagah border, charas and ganja comes from there but no one talks about closing it. Just because a mistake happens on the Srinagar- Muzaffarabad road, we should not talk about closing it. We will not allow that to happen," the chief minister said.

On July 21, police seized 66.5 kg of heroin and brown sugar worth Rs 300 crore from a truck coming from PoK.

There have also been reports that the NIA, which is probing terror funding in Kashmir, may recommend closure of trade along cross-LoC routes.

"We are in favour of opening more routes. There should be facilities like banking there (at crossing points). There should be (full) body scanners (for trucks) so that we know what is coming in and what is going out from here," she said.

"What we in PDP have achieved since 2002 needs to be taken forward," Mehbooba added.

The chief minister said the Centre should tread the path taken by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and revive the Lahore pact between India and Pakistan.

"I appeal to the Centre to revive the Lahore Declaration so we can live peacefully in Jammu and Kashmir," she said, referring to the bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan signed in 1999.

Discussing the idea of a joint legislature for undivided Jammu and Kashmir, she said, "There are seats reserved in our assembly for that Kashmir. We should decide together to make nominations for those seats. We should decide that this assembly meets once in this Kashmir and once in that Kashmir every year so that we can talk about tourism, travel and opening of Sharda Peeth."

The PDP president also spoke about student exchanges.

"I appeal to people on the other side of Kashmir. Come and send your children on a 15-day tour here and we will send our children there. They will see how we live here and our children will see how they live there."

The chief minister appealed to all mainstream parties, including coalition parter BJP and the opposition National Conference and Congress, to put their heads together and find a way to end bloodshed in Kashmir.

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"I appeal to all parties -- be it National Conference, Congress, BJP, Communists or any other party -- let us sit together and find a solution to the problems of Jammu and Kashmir. We are one, we are the same. (When) anyone is killed, it is a Kashmiri, be it a policeman or an innocent pedestrian."

She said she appealed to Farooq Abdullah (NC), Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress) and the leadership of the BJP to help "heal the pain of Kashmiris".

The state was facing an ideological challenge, she said.

"You cannot imprison an idea, you cannot kill an idea." Referring to her father and PDP chief

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, she said he would often say Kashmir is besieged and should be should be set free by the opening of roads like Kargil-Skardu, Jammu-Sialkot and Leh-Xinjiang.

The chief minister sought the support of the people and her party workers in helping the state out of its present state of uncertainty.

The PDP was founded on July 28, 1999 but the party decided to defer the foundation day celebrations by a day in deference to the Friday prayers. PTI MIJ MIN

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When it comes to growing grapes, Michigan has 13,700 acres of vineyards making Michigan the fourth largest grape-growing state. About 3,000 acres are devoted to wine grapes, making Michigan the fifth state in wine grape production in the nation. Vineyard area has doubled over the last 10 years.Michigan wineries are benefitting from the trend that has seen a surge in the number of those who consume wine several times each week, or daily  it has more than doubled  from 7.6 percent of all those in the U.S. of legal drinking age 2000 to 13 percent in 2015. The trend is being led by women who account for 57 percent of wine volume in the U.S.And wineries are popular tourist destinations, attracting more than 2 million visitors to Michigan annually.With that context, consider this regional wine news roundup.Lake Michigan Colleges Wine & Viticulture students are now sharing what they have been growing, fermenting, blending, and perfecting since the program began in 2015.Visitors to Lake Michigan Vintners, the new boutique winerys tasting room in downtown Baroda, recently had the opportunity to enjoy live music, food trucks, and specially priced wines poured by the folks who knew the wine when it was still a grape.During the recent grand opening, Lake Michigan Vintners introduced nine small-batch, limited production varietals and blends made from locally sourced fruit.From the dry Inaugural Red Blend with hints of chocolate covered strawberries, to a semi-sweet Riesling with aromas of green tea and candied orange, the tasting room has a wine or hard cider to suit almost every taste."Weve employed old world techniques with a modern understanding to best express the unique qualities of our local grapes and vineyards, says Michael Moyer, who oversees the academic program, teaching winery, and tasting room."Because of Southwest Michigans soil and climate, they are more representative of European wines than those from the U.S. West Coast," Moyer says. "They represent the naturally fruit forward, balanced, and food friendly wines our region is capable of producing.The teaching winery is the first of its kind in the Midwest. Lake Michigan College launched the Wine & Viticulture Technology program with the support of leading wineries spanning the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail up to Old Mission Peninsula.The aim is to foster the next generation of expert winemakers, and to advance Michigan in its burgeoning status as a recognized, world class wine region. Students of the program experience every aspect of the wine industry, including vineyard management, winemaking, lab analysis, and all aspects of business and tasting room operations.Moyer was recruited by Lake Michigan College from the state of Washington to run the program. Since earning a Masters Degree in Enology from University of California-Davis, Moyer worked for some of the nations most esteemed wineries. Now, Moyer has become an evangelist for Michigan wine."Southwest Michigan has a longer growing season than Burgundy, France, but were still one of the best kept secrets in the wine world. Its exciting to partner with our area wineries whove been laying the groundwork and see our potential unfolding."To learn more about the Lake Michigan College Wine and Viticulture Technology program, visit here Lake Michigan Vintners Tasting Room is located in downtown Baroda on 8972 First Street. The tasting room is open Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 5 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.; and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. It is closed on Monday and Tuesday. For more information visit here . When the results of two major wine competitions were recently announced wineries of the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail were celebrating their wins. The Indy International Wine Competition and the Michigan Wine Competition both recognized the quality wine produced in Southwest Michigan.The Indy International Wine Competition at Purdue University featured over 2,000 wine entries, making it the largest independently organized wine competition in the county for the last 25 years. The entrants represented 37 U.S. states and 14 countries. The wines were judged in a blind evaluation based on their aromas and tastes.Cody Kresta Vineyard and Winery of Mattawan and St. Julian Wine Company of Paw Paw received numerous awards, including Best in Class, Double Gold, and Gold for various wines.Major awards presented, from this competition to members of the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail:Cody Kresta Vineyard and Winery, Mattawan  2015 Chardonnay (oaked)St. Julian Wine Company, Paw Paw  2016 Braganini Reserve Gruner VeltlinerSt. Julian Wine Company, Paw Paw  2016 St. Julian Reserve Pinot GrigioCody Kresta Vineyard and Winery, Mattawan  2015 Chardonnay (oaked)St. Julian Wine Company, Paw Paw  NV Sweet Nancie SparklingSt. Julian Wine Company, Paw Paw  NV MichcatoSt. Julian Wine Company, Paw Paw  2016 St Julian Reserve Pinot GrigioThe full list of winners can be found here The results from the Michigan Wine Competition also have been announced."I was very impressed with the quality of the wines, and know that Michigan has a very bright future," says Jim Trezise, president of WineAmerica and president of the International Riesling Foundation.Here are the results awarded to the member wineries.Semi-dry White  Tabor Hill Winery, Buchanan  2016 GerwurtztraminerSemi-dry Red  Lemon Creek Winery, Grand Haven  Pheasant Run RedDessert  St. Julian Wine Company, Paw Paw  Solera Cream SherryLawton Ridge Winery, Kalamazoo  2015 AZO RedLemon Creek Winery, Berrien Springs  Grand Lacs Blanc; Silver Beach SauterneSt Julian Wine Company, Paw Paw  Sweet Nancie Peach SparklingTo see the Gold Medal winners and find out if your favorites were award winning wines, visit here The Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the development of the outstanding wine producing and tourism industry in Southwest Michigan. Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail is a way to explore the state's wine growing region with rolling hills close to beach towns. Wine Spectators 2017 Awards have been announced and The Bistro on the Boulevard has received the "Award of Excellence." This annual award is presented to restaurants offering a wine list that meets the Wine Spectator's international standards of quality and variety.The Bistro on the Boulevard is the only restaurant in Berrien County to be recognized with this award. There were 2,335 restaurants (worldwide) that received the 2017 award, according to The Bistro on the Boulevard. Currently, the wine list at the St. Joseph restaurant hosts over 150 bottles, ranging in price from $20 to $300, and representing international wine culture.The "Award of Excellence at the Bistro on the Boulevard represents the work of Maitre d Samer Badreddine, who curates the extensive wine list. "Receiving the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence places the Bistro on the Boulevard in a new caliber of restaurants, and puts us on the map," Badreddine says. "A labor of love, our wine list represents years of research and development. We are thrilled to be recognized by Wine Spectator, and are very excited about the potential this award holds for us and for Southwest Michigan."The Bistro on the Boulevard, 521 Lake Boulevard St. Joseph, is a farm-to-table restaurant with French influence overlooking Lake Michigan. 
Press Release

July 28, 2017 STATEMENT ON THE ADMISSION OF THE BILIBID WITNESSES' LAWYER RE THE "BARGAIN" THAT GOVT STRUCK WITH THE DRUG LORD CONVICTS 7/28/17 The lawyer for the Bilibid witnesses just admitted recently before the media that the possible retraction of his clients' witnesses against me is not a threat, but merely a reminder to Aguirre of the "bargain" that the government has struck with the convicted drug lords in exchange for their testimonies. The use of testimonies against me as bargaining chips for privileges and perks of Bilibid convicts-witnesses only proves that these testimonies are all fabricated. The ease by which the convicts use their testimonies to extract favors from the authorities only reveals the transactional nature of the whole case against me. Criminal convicts with zero credibility and subject to the absolute mercy of Duterte and Aguirre were simply given the choice between an easy life and even pardon, or harassment or even death, in exchange for fabricated testimonies against me. The choice for them was easy, especially to those who were just waiting for the moment to exact their revenge on me, after I raided their kubols and segregated them in Building 14 when I was still DOJ Secretary. This is the value of the testimonies of the convicted criminals, as a bargaining chip for prison privileges, including the use of cellphones, wifi, TVs, airconditioners, etc., some gadgets of which are used in the continued operation of the Bilibid drug trade. In any court of law, these testimonies are worthless. This constitutes one of the grounds in the Ombudsman case I filed against Aguirre, viz., graft and corruption for giving undue privileges to the convicted criminals and for using their false testimonies in legal proceedings before the House, the DOJ, and ultimately the courts. In the face of all this, Aguirre still has the gall to say that the threatened retraction is the handiwork of people who want to weaken and destroy the case against me. Ginoong Aguirre, mahiya ka naman sa sarili mo, kung may natitira ka pang hiya para sa sarili at pamilya mo. Pinakulong mo ang isang inosente, gamit ang mga pekeng ebidensiya at testimonya. Ngayon ay ituturo mo pa ang tangkang pagbaliktad ng mga testigo mo sa mga taong walang kinalaman. Alam mo namang kagagawan mo lahat yang pag gawa gawa ng ebidensiya laban sa akin, alinsunod sa utos ng iyong Hari, si Duterte. Lahat na lang ng nanggaling sa iyo ay peke. Lahat na lang ng sabihin mo ay peke. This latest development is nothing but proof of my innocence, and the depravity of Aguirre's person. Criminals and convicts are only expected to lie and perjure themselves in exchange for an easy and even profitable life in prison, especially if the reward is pardon or commutation of sentence. But not so for a lawyer and DOJ Secretary. For Aguirre to undertake such brazen act of knowingly putting an innocent person in jail only reflects a character devoid of any integrity or morality whatsoever.
Press Release

July 28, 2017 POE: DRIVER'S LICENSE VALIDITY EXTENSION AWAITS PRESIDENT'S SIGNATURE The public may soon enjoy a reprieve from application fees and having to line up every three years to renew their drivers' licenses, as a measure that seeks to extend the licenses' validity to five years or even 10 years is awaiting the signature of the President. Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public services and sponsor of the Senate version, said the measure--which was ratified by both chambers on May 31--was transmitted to Malacanang for President Rodrigo Duterte's approval last July 11. "Puputulin ng batas na ito ang red tape. Hindi na kailangang indahin ng mga kababayan natin ang pagpapabalik-balik sa LTO para mag-renew dahil mas mahaba na ang validity ng kanilang lisensya," said Poe. The enrolled bill will lapse into law even if the President fails to affix his signature after 30 days. Poe said her panel will work closely with the Department of Transportation and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in drafting the implementing rules and regulations, which shall be promulgated not later than 30 days from the legislation's effectivity. Poe explained, "May insentibo ang drivers natin na sumunod sa batas trapiko. Kapag wala silang paglabag, puwedeng maging hanggang sampung taon pa ang validity ng kanilang lisensya." For the initial license application, the motorist must apply in person at any LTO offices. To make renewal of licenses convenient for drivers, the measure requires the LTO to create an online process within a year from the effectivity of the law. To ensure that drivers are not unduly charged in securing licenses, Congress inserted a provision that the license fees shall not cost more than the government's procurement expense. "Hindi dapat ito pagkakitaan," Poe said. A fine of P20,000 shall be imposed against applicants for willful misrepresentation, connivance with an officer, falsification of documents and cheating during examinations, and they shall be prohibited from applying for a period of two years. "Dahil nagbibigay tayo ng kaluwagan, kailangan rin natin ng regulasyon para tiyaking hindi ito maaabuso. Mahal ang multa para sa mga magsisinungaling, mandadaya, at mamemeke sa aplikasyon ng lisensya sa ilalim ng batas na ito," Poe warned. A license will be revoked for four years if the driver is involved in death or physical injuries resulting in the loss of any part of a victim's body, insanity, imbecility, impotence, blindness or incapacity to work. Local government units, the Metro Manila Development Authority and other agencies issuing traffic violation receipts are required to report the details of the traffic violation within a reasonable time to the LTO. The measure--authored in the Senate by Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto and Senators Richard Gordon, Joseph Victor Ejercito and Joel Villanueva--seeks to amend Section 23 of Republic Act No. 4136, as amended by Batas Pambansa Blg. 398 and Executive Order No. 1011 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code. Poe said, "Matagal nang nananawagan ang mga kababayan natin na habaan ang validity ng driver's license. Magiging patunay ang pagsasabatas ng panukala natin na nakikinig ang gobyerno."
Press Release

July 28, 2017 POE SETS HEARING ON TNVS The Senate committee on public services chaired by Sen. Grace Poe is scheduled to conduct a public hearing on Thursday, August 3, on the franchise rules on ride-sharing services such as Uber and Grab and the government crackdown on colorum units of transport vehicle network services (TNVS). The Senate inquiry, in aid of legislation, will be held at 10 a.m. at the Senate Session Hall. Poe said, "This government must be forward-looking. Many of our commuters now rely on ride-sharing services such as Uber, Grab and U-Hop to travel around the city. TNVS companies provide services that taxi operators have inadequately provided in the past decade--point-to-point pick-up and delivery, standardized fare, safe and comfortable rides." The senator added, "We should tap available technology and determine ways to integrate ride-sharing services into our existing public transportation system to address the increase in traffic demand. Our commuters deserve to be given more choices." Poe noted that the popularity of Uber and Grab should provide an impetus for franchise holders in public transportation to improve their services. Among the measures to be tackled in the hearing are Senate Bill Nos. 696 (Sen. Bam Aquino), 1001 (Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian), 1501 (Poe) and 1502 (Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito) and Senate Resolution Nos. 262 and 430 (Poe), 431 (Gatchalian), 431 (Sen. Joel Villanueva), 433 (Sen. Bam Aquino), 434 (Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara) and 436 (Gatchalian). Poe's committee will also tackle SBN 340 and 375 authored separately by Poe and Gatchalian seeking to establish a Taxi Passenger Bill of Rights. The Poe panel has invited Board Member and spokesperson Aileen Lizada of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Grab Philippines Public Affairs Manager Leo Gonzales, Uber Philippines Government Relations and Public Policy Head Yves Gonzales, National Center for Commuter Safety and Protection President Maricor Acol, and transport experts Rene Santiago and Primitivo Cal. The committee also intends to invite drivers' unions. LTFRB has decided to hold its earlier decision to impound colorum TNVS units plying in Metro Manila after Poe and Ejercito, vice-chair of the committee on public services, met with LTFRB and representatives of Uber and Grab last week. In 2015, the LTFRB issued Department Order No. 2015-011 which encourages "innovation across all forms of public land transport in order to increase mobility on major thoroughfares, boost travel times, improve the quality, sustainability and reliability of public transport services, and respond to the needs of the modern commuter." But this objective has quite changed when LTFRB later issued Memorandum Circular 2016-008, which directed its technical division and regional offices not to accept any applications for TNVS proposing to ply the route within Metro Manila or entering Metro Manila. According to Poe, ride-sharing services provide the comfort and reliability that commuters look for in public transportation, and the LTFRB should strike a balance between regulating TNVS and ensuring that public need for safe, comfortable, and reliable transportation is met. "We want to improve accountability and promote safer standards for the protection and welfare of our commuters," Poe stressed.
Press Release

July 28, 2017 Luzon's 'zero dark' prospect in 2024 prompts need to resume WPH oil hunt Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today backed moves by the country's top diplomat to find "a constitutionally-compliant win-win arrangement" that will allow Manila and Beijing to jointly explore for oil in the West Philippine Sea. With the Malampaya field off Palawan projected to run out of the natural gas which powers 45 percent of Luzon's electricity grid by 2024, "the search for ways to secure our energy future becomes urgent," Recto said. "Luzon is facing a dark future if we cannot find replacement for Malampaya," Recto said. "2024 is the zero dark moment." Piped in from an offshore platform, Malampaya gas fuels three base load power plants in Batangas with a capacity of 2,700 megawatts (MW). The plants provide 40% to 50% of the energy needs of "the 57 million people living in the world's 4th most populous island," Recto said. While energy officials and the gas field's driller have assured that a combination of measures will stretch Malampaya's life to 2029, "it has been conceded that output will drop in 2024," Recto said. This specter of energy starvation is what should drive the renewed hunt for new gas and oil fields within our seas," Recto said. Recto describes as "of the highest importance" the mission of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to re-allow West Philippine Sea oil prospecting through "a modus vivendi with China that will however pass our sovereignty test." Cayetano on Wednesday said that a planned joint oil exploration in the West Philippine Sea would comply with the Constitution's requirements for foreign ownership and with other Philippine laws. "Any agreement will not give up a single inch of our territorial integrity," he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of ASEAN Mayors in Taguig City. Cayetano had met visiting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, who also called on President Duterte in Malacanang. Duterte had announced that a partner had been selected to explore and exploit oil fields in the West Philippine Sea. He was probably referring to the suspended drilling activities by an Anglo-Filipino consortium at the Reed Bank. The company halted prospecting after a Chinese ship harassed a survey ship during the Aquino administration, one of the events that prompted the latter to hail Beijing to an international court, which Manila won. During his Manila visit, Wang Yi said China was open to the idea of a joint venture with the Philippines. Recto said constricting the Philippines' access to the West Philippine Sea will choke the country's "fuel and fish" supply. "We get a big chunk of our protein and power from that area," he said. A House of Representatives think-tank estimated that 20-25 percent of all the country's annual fish catch come from the waters west of Palawan and Luzon's western seaboard, two areas now embraced by the Chinese nine-dash line map. "If it's fenced off, we have no fish to fry and no electricity to fry that fish. It is a blow to our stomach," Recto said. Recto said the three Malampaya-dependent plants can run on imported fuel after 2024 but that would be more expensive for consumers.
Press Release

July 29, 2017 De Lima fires back at Duterte over threats to abolish CHR Senator Leila M. de Lima today lashed out at President Duterte for threatening to abolish the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) following its alleged interference on how government security forces deal with drug-related cases and the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao. De Lima, who once chaired CHR, said she finds Duterte's threat appalling but nonetheless unsurprised that the President can unleash his tirades against those critical of his administration. "I no longer find it surprising given that the President demonizes human rights advocates and promotes killings as crime prevention even before he assumed the presidency," she said. In a press conference after his Second State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 24, Duterte warned CHR to stop investigating members of the police or military without seeking the approval of his office, as he mulled on its abolishment. The CHR, created under the 1987 Constitution, is tasked to protect citizens' rights from abuses by the state. Following the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao on May 23 due to the ongoing clashes between government troops and ISIS-inspired Maute group terrorists in Marawi City, CHR has kept a watchful eye on reports of threats or instances of warrantless arrest in the province, which irked the President. CHR Chairman Chito Gascon, on his part, vowed that the agency will continue to perform its constitutional mandate despite Duterte's warning, maintaining that any talks to abolish CHR would take constitutional amendments or Charter change. In strengthening CHR, the neophyte Senator earlier filed Senate Bill No. 1230, which seeks to regard the CHR as the national human rights institution and strengthen its powers and functions. "Over the years, CHR has proven its exemplary work as a cornerstone of human rights in the country. It has served countless Filipinos through its programs and services, and has addressed institutional challenges in terms of resources and extent of its mandate," she said. De Lima, who was recognized by Amnesty International (AI) as one of the notable Women Human Rights Defenders, vowed to continue fighting against injustices even while in detention. "This regime can send its most vicious hatchet men against me, but I refuse to be silenced on the human rights situation in the country. Down to my last breath, I will continue opposing this bloody regime," she said.
By PTI: Muzaffarnagar, Jul 29 (PTI) Two criminals were killed and five policemen were injured in an encounter at Bhura village in Shamli district, the police said today.

A police team had gone to arrest Naushad at his house last night when he and his accomplice Sarwer opened fire on them, Superintendent of Police Ajay Pal Sharma said.

The criminals were killed in retaliatory fire. Five policemen, including SHOs Dharmender Singh and Bhagat Singh, were injured in the incident. They have been hospitalised, he said.

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They were wanted in more than 12 cases of loot and murder in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana. Two firearms and large quantity of cartridges have been seized, he said.

Naushad carried a reward of Rs 6,000 and his associate Sarwer Rs 12,000, the officer said. PTI CORR ANB

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Press Release

July 29, 2017 Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Statement on the "Bangkay sa Bangka" modus to conceal drug killings

Dispatch from Crame No. 128 I have received reports, same as the one reported by Al Jazeera in its article yesterday ("Philippine police 'dumping bodies' of drug war victims"), that some fishermen were hired by police authorities to dispose bodies in the Manila Bay--bodies of suspected drug offenders killed in the Duterte regime's War on Drugs. It can be recalled that this is the same pattern of killings that Davao Death Squad (DDS) insider, Edgar Matobato, confessed to the Senate. Per Matobato's testimony, aside from dumping dead bodies at the Laud / Ma-a Quarry Davao City, they also disposed bodies in the deep waters of Samal Island. This is clearly part of President Duterte's promise that "he will kill drug pushers and do-nothings, dump them in Manila Bay and fatten all the fish there." Kailan lang, mayroon ding naiulat na ginagamit ang mga ospital para itago ang mga pagpatay. Ngayon naman, ang isa pang modus: "Bangkay sa Bangka". No wonder the number of deaths in the War on Drugs has not been updated or altogether been kept from the public. Extrajudicial killings are still happening in the streets, but this time, mass murder by rogue police officers and hired assailants is done through another strategy to hide the real magnitude of EJKs. This also signals a new policy of the police: getting rid of bodies to get away with murder. It was also not long ago when a South Korean businessman was forcibly taken and killed by police officers under the guise of a drug arrest in what came to be known as "Tokhang-for-ransom". His body cremated and his remains flushed down the toilet. In connection to this "Bangkay sa Bangka," I will be filing a Senate Resolution calling for an investigation on this deplorable practice, and put an end to these brazen acts of killings and desecrating bodies. In his 2nd SONA, Duterte vowed to continue his regime's unrelenting War on Drugs. Katumbas ito ng pagpapatuloy ng walang habas na patayan at karahasan ng DDS sa Davao noon, na ginagawa na rin ngayon sa buong Pilipinas. Nasaan ang konsensya niyo, Ginoong Pangulo?"
Press Release

July 29, 2017 Speech of Senator Loren Legarda

Inauguration of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity New Headquarters

29 July 2017 | University of the Philippines - Los Banos, Laguna I congratulate the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) for the launch of your new headquarters in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN. I also wish to express, once again, my support to the mission of ACB to champion biodiversity conservation in the region. ASEAN is one of the most diverse regions in the world. It hosts more than 600 million people who speak more than 900 different languages and dialects. While it occupies only three percent of the Earth's surface, it is home to 18 percent of all species assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is home to the mega-diverse countries of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, all three of which are also part of the Coral Triangle. Amid this abundance, great challenges face us in the task of protecting and preserving our region's rich biodiversity. The increasing loss of biodiversity, particularly in Asia, is being attributed to habitat loss, over-exploitation, pollution, invasive alien species and climate change. The establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), since it promotes economic, political, social and cultural cooperation across the region, is seen as a way for the region to gain greater influence in the global economic and political stage. But I wish to remind everyone of a very important goal we must all aim for as we work towards economic integration--resilience and sustainable development. The ASEAN Community is geographically located in one of the most disaster prone regions of the world. According to the United Nations, people in the Asia-Pacific region are four times more likely to be affected by disasters caused by natural hazards than those in Africa; and 25 times more likely than those in Europe or North America. Moreover, climate change has already made its presence felt in our region and in our respective countries. Extreme weather events, stronger typhoons, heavier rains, severe floods, and devastating droughts have become recurring events, a common concern for countries in our region. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that poverty alleviation and achieving food security will become increasingly difficult, new poverty traps will arise as existing obstacles remain, and economic growth will slow down because of climate change. Faced with these difficulties, it is a must that development policies should promote effective risk reduction towards sustainable and resilient growth. We must make our countries resilient by increasing investments in disaster risk reduction, conducting and sharing risk assessments, establishing effective and efficient early warning systems, and protecting our ecosystems, among other actions. We find hope in the international frameworks adopted by the community of nations in 2015, particularly the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction--that would save our planet and all species from destruction and death, depending on the level of action we take today. These three agreements are interlocking and the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity has a key role in helping the region make good use of these agreements, especially on how it can be adopted by each ASEAN member state based on their biodiversity profile. The Philippines is very fortunate to be the home of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity and I look forward to more partnerships with you. The Senate has already passed on third reading the proposed Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas Act, which would strengthen protection and conservation measures of almost a hundred protected areas in the country. We hope the measure to be passed in the House of Representatives soon and be enacted by the President. I also enjoin other ASEAN Member States to craft policies that would strengthen the management and protection of your countries' natural resources especially in critical areas, including watersheds, marine sanctuaries, wetlands, tropical forests, coastal areas, among others. In closing, I wish to stress that, if we truly want the ASEAN Economic Community to be successful, we must learn to co-exist with our environment. The Earth that we live in provides us with our needs, and even if we have all the money in the world, we will not survive in a deteriorating environment. We will meet more challenges along the way but I encourage all of you to never get tired of doing what is good for our planet. As different nations living in one planet, we need to unite towards the preservation of our biodiversity. Together, we can work for a safe, sustainable and resilient present and future. Thank you.
By PTI: By Aditi Khanna

London, Jul 29 (PTI) An Islamic community radio station in the UK has lost its licence for broadcasting 25 hours of lectures by Al Qaeda recruiter Alman al-Awlaki.

Sheffield-based Iman FM was found in breach of broadcast norms by the UKs Office of Communications (Ofcom) for airing the lectures titled The Life of Mohammed by the America-born radical cleric during the holy month of Ramazan between May 26 and June 16.

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The station claimed that it was unaware of the background of the preacher, who was killed by a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011.

"Ofcom has decided that it is necessary in the public interest to revoke the licensees Broadcasting Act licence, and that the licensee is unfit to hold a broadcast licence. The service has been off-air since July 4 and will not be reinstated," saidan Ofcom spokesperson.

The media regulators investigation found that Al Awlakis lectures included "a direct call to action to members of the Muslim community to prepare for and carry out violent action against non-Muslim people" and "statements clearly condoning and encouraging acts of crime, terrorism or violent behaviour".

The watchdog said the content, including calls for "virtuous jihad" and anti-Semitic statements, was in "serious breach" of the broadcasting code amounting to hate speech, justifying terrorism, inciting violence and encouraging crime.

The station, run by Iman Media UKwhich has been on air since October 2014, was suspended following complaints on July 4 and has had its licence revoked this week after representations from the owners failed to save keep it on air.

Iman FM said it "fully accepted" that breaches had taken place but insisted to Ofcom they were due to "recklessness, but not deliberate intent".

Iman FM stands for the Institute of Media Arts and Naats and itschief executive is listed as Mohammed Shabbir Mughal, who has set up other radio stations for the Muslim community in the Sheffield area since 2000, including RadioHajj.

It told Ofcoms investigation that it had broadcast the lectures because the regular presenter for its breakfast show was not available during the month of Ramazan.

The radio station, which apologised to listeners in June for the broadcast, admitted that its compliance procedures had failed.

The management of Iman FM said: "We are disappointed with Ofcoms decision to revoke our licence. We are currently working with our legal team in looking at any further legal options. We will not be making any further comment at this stage."PTI AK KJ AKJ KJ

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President Trump drew vigorous applause from a uniformed New York crowd Friday when he boasted of telling police they can be rougher with suspects.

Please dont be too nice, he said.

But the reaction from Bay Area law enforcement experts was tepid at best.

We all realize that we have crime and we have gangs and we need to come up with a strategy to combat that, said Anthony Ribera, a former San Francisco police chief who teaches law enforcement leadership at the University of San Francisco. We also have to realize that were dealing with the community.

The presidents comments came during a speech on Long Island at Suffolk County Community College. His audience was largely law enforcement officers, including members of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The speech was part of a larger effort urging Congress to approve the hiring of 10,000 more officers for ICE, a federal agency that has responsibility for enforcing immigration laws and often deals with the suppression of transnational gangs. At several points during the 34-minute talk, Trump complained that politicians and political correctness are impediments to carrying out justice.

Ive met police that are great police that arent allowed to do their job because they have a pathetic mayor, Trump said at one point.

Later, he seemed to approve rough treatment of suspects.

When you see these thugs thrown into the back of a paddy wagon  you just see them thrown in, rough  I said, Please dont be too nice, Trump said to laughter and applause from the audience. Like when you guys put somebody in the car and youre protecting their head ... I said, You can take the hand away, OK?

Within hours, the presidents suggestions were disavowed by the Suffolk County Police Department, which wrote on Twitter: As a department, we do not and will not tolerate roughing up of prisoners.

It was the latest case in which subjects of a Trump speech quickly distanced themselves from his comments. A day earlier, the Boy Scouts of America apologized to its members for the political rhetoric the president inserted in a speech at the National Scout Jamboree.

Managing use of force is one of the most difficult challenges faced by law enforcement agencies. The ability of law enforcement officers to enforce the law, protect the public, and guard their own safety, the safety of innocent bystanders, and even those suspected or apprehended for criminal activity is very challenging, the International Association of Chiefs of Police said.

Law enforcement officers are trained to treat all individuals, whether they are a complainant, suspect, or defendant, with dignity and respect, the statement reads. This is the bedrock principle behind the concepts of procedural justice and police legitimacy.

The remarks also drew a swift rebuke from such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union.

By encouraging police to dole out extra pain at will, the president is urging a kind of lawlessness that already imperils the health and lives of people of color at shameful rates, said Jeffery Robinson, the ACLUs deputy legal director. We must increase the trust between police and civilians, not decimate it.

The same point was made by representatives from Bay Area police departments.

We enforce the laws on the books, said Officer Grace Gatpandan of the San Francisco Police Department. We use force when its appropriate, and we use de-escalation tactics when it is appropriate.

Since the police killing of Mario Woods in 2015, in which video footage showed San Francisco officers surround and then shoot the apparently knife-wielding man, even though he did not appear to pose an imminent threat, the department has been instructing its members to use minimal force.

The department voluntarily underwent a collaborative review by the U.S. Department of Justices community policing division and has committed to putting in place all recommended reforms.

We have our policies, Gatpandan said. Also, We are ... implementing the reforms set by the Department of Justice.

Roughing up suspects while arresting them is against our policy, said Officer Johnna Watson of the Oakland Police Department. Our policy is to treat people fairly. To not abuse the power and the authority that has been given to us.

LaDoris Cordell, a retired Santa Clara County judge, decried Trumps speech and said it obliterated the basic tenets of criminal law. Beyond that, she suggested the gratuitous roughing-up of suspects is pointless.

No one I know of, no police officer, has ever been killed by putting a person carefully into the back of a police car, she said. The reason being, anybody who gets put into a squad car is handcuffed, and theyre handcuffed behind their back.

That is, she said, a tactic designed to keep both officers and those they place under arrest safe.

Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriffs Department, said it was nice to be supported and appreciated in law enforcement by the president.

However, he cautioned that there are strict codes of ethics and guidelines when it comes to the treatment of people in custody, especially when theyre compliant and in cuffs.

The aim should be to treat the person you have in custody like they were your family member, a brother or sister, Kelly said. Usually, when we encounter people, its not one of the better days of their lives.

Chronicle staff writer Sarah Ravani contributed to this report.

John King, Michael Bodley and Vivian Ho are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com, mbodley@sfchronicle.com, vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo, @michael_bodley, @JohnKingSFChron
Fremont Police Department

A group of bystanders in Fremont helped detain a 77-year-old registered sex offender who was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a nonverbal developmentally disabled woman, officials said Friday.

The victim had been reported missing July 21, just hours before witnesses said they saw her being assaulted by Cheuk Li in a car parked near the 40700 block of Grimmer Boulevard and intervened, according to the Fremont Police Department.
For all of the angst concerning trade deficits with China, the United States has something China increasingly needs: rice.

Thats right: Our top economic rival needs America to help provide its national food staple.

The Trump administration recently announced it struck a deal with China that for the first time will allow U.S. farmers to export rice to that country. The agreement is particularly important to California, the nations second-largest producer of rice, most of it grown in the Sacramento Valley.

Looking forward, this opportunity is significant, said Tim Johnson, president and CEO of the California Rice Commission.

Until recently, China was a net exporter of rice, and it still sends some overseas. But imports now account for 3 percent of the 144 million metric tons consumed last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and have been growing.

For many people, Californias status as a rice-producing juggernaut might come as a surprise. Most of the countrys crop originates in the warm, humid South, particularly Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Missouri. But the biggest shocker might be why China, the worlds largest producer of rice, needs to buy our stock in the first place.

The answer, like most questions about international trade, is complicated. Despite populist anger over a system that critics see as costing American jobs, global trade is a two-way system in which both sides benefit. Those benefits, along with pitfalls, are never static; they are driven by ever-changing economics, demographics and cultural mores.

U.S. companies may have shifted manufacturing to lower-wage countries like China. But Chinas march to an industrialized economy also means there are fewer rice farmers to feed the countrys enormous population. Since a depleted labor force normally means an industry needs to offer higher wages to attract workers, it makes more economic sense for China to import the food than grow it themselves.

People still need to eat, said Giacomo Santangelo, a professor of economics at Fordham University in New York. Someone has got to be growing the food. Youre filling a gap.

So if U.S. companies have outsourced manufacturing jobs to China, then China has outsourced agricultural production to the United States, where farming is highly mechanized.

The United States runs a large trade deficit: $502.3 billion in 2016, according to government data. But America actually enjoys a sizable surplus in agriculture: U.S. farmers exported $133 billion of food in 2015, about $19.5 billion more than we imported.

A lot of those exports go to developing countries with big populations and rapidly growing economies like China and India.

Theres a tragic historical irony to Chinas rice imports. In the late 1950s, less than a decade after defeating the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War, Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the Great Leap Forward, a program to rapidly industrialize the mostly agrarian country.

But Maos radical economic policies, combined with a drought, led to a severe famine that reportedly killed 30 million people over a three-year period. Scholars later blamed Mao for exacerbating the famine by refusing to accept food donations from other countries and even exporting rice to the Soviet Union.

Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

In the 1980s, leader Deng Xiaoping began to modernize Chinas economy by opening the country to foreign investment, thus unleashing a period of massive economic growth that continues to this day. A major part of the reforms was to move hundreds of millions of people from the countryside to the cities so they could staff Chinas booming factories.

Chinas transformation of its labor force is striking. In 1990, about 60 percent of Chinas workers toiled in agriculture, compared with 20 percent for both industry and services, according to the International Labour Office, an arm of the United Nations. Nearly 30 years later, agriculture and industry each employ roughly 30 percent of workers, with service attracting about 42 percent.

Though Chinas economy is still rapidly growing, the countrys labor pool is shrinking. In 2016, about 71 percent of people ages 15 and older were working, compared with 79 percent in 1990, according to the International Labour Office.

Where are people in China going to get their food from? Santangelo of Fordham said.

Unlike U.S. workers, who are highly productive, Chinas labor force is very inefficient: 30 percent of people work in agriculture, but the industry generates only 9 percent of the national income, Santangelo said. Inefficiencies mean higher costs, so the country must import food like rice more cheaply produced from other countries.

Hence the opportunity for California rice growers.

Thanks to international trade deals like the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1995, the state has been able to significantly boost rice exports over the years.

From 2005 to 2015, Californias rice exports have more than doubled from $320 million to $746 million, according to state data. California now accounts for nearly 40 percent of all U.S. rice exports.

The rice industrys proximity to West Coast ports like Oakland and West Sacramento has allowed Northern Californias farmers to ship rice to Asia, most notably Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Exporting rice has been great for jobs, great for rural economies, Johnson of the Rice Commission said. It really made us up our game.

Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

But, until now, China, with its 1.4 billion-person market, has been out of reach. The recent agreement was actually the result of a decades worth of protracted negotiations between the two countries.

Given President Trumps tough words on trade, especially with China, there was considerable skepticism on whether a deal could be reached, Johnson said.

The rhetoric made everyone wonder whether the agreement would be delayed or even scrapped, he said.

But even with the agreement in place, theres still a long way to go.

China needs to send inspectors to U.S. rice mills; like most countries that import food, China wants to make sure the rice meets its quality and safety standards. It especially wants to make sure the rice wont introduce new pests or diseases to the country.

Johnson thinks the first rice exports could arrive in China in small quantities by early 2018.

Should things go well, rice farmers in the Sacramento Valley wont be the only people to benefit from the deal.

So will Oakland freight workers.

From January to May this year, the Port of Oakland handled $223.5 million of rice exports, according to port statistics. Not one grain went to China, otherwise one of its largest trading partners.

It wont take supplying all the rice in China to make a difference. Even a small scoop of the market will do.

Thomas Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: tlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByTomLee
Peruse the list of companies with permits to test self-driving vehicles in California, and youll find many of the worlds biggest automakers, such as Ford, Honda and Mercedes-Benz.

Youll also find major tech companies, including Apple and Nvidia, plus a host of startups developing autonomous cars.

Then theres Bauers Intelligent Transportation.

The San Francisco company does not make cars. Nor is it a technology firm with coders deeply versed in the programming needed for robotic vehicles.

Instead, it runs shuttle buses for technology firms, ferrying those coders to and from work. Clients have included Cisco Systems, Electronic Arts, Intuit and Zynga. It also offers charter buses and limos.

Of the 36 companies that have so far received California permits to test autonomous vehicles on public roads, Bauers appears to be unique. At least one other business on the list  Frances Navya  plans to test robotic shuttle buses, and several propose creating robotic taxi fleets in the future. But none of the other companies currently makes its money shuttling passengers (although Ford owns San Francisco shuttle service Chariot).

So, will Bauers try to develop its own self-driving technology, which would be a major departure? Or will it team up with another firm already working on autonomous vehicles? The company isnt saying. CEO Gary Bauer did not return several phone calls seeking comment.

And while Bauers has a permit for testing, the company has not registered any vehicles or test drivers with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, a department spokeswoman said. The states regulations require a trained human seated behind the wheel, ready to take control, any time an autonomous car drives on a public street.

Bauers has more than 200 chauffeurs driving various sizes of buses, vans and limousines, according to its website.

The companys shuttle bus drivers are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which they voted to join last year. Doug Bloch, political director of Teamsters Joint Council 7, said the union was aware that Bauers had received an autonomous vehicle testing permit but did not know the companys plans.

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The advent of autonomous cars and trucks has become a major concern for the union and its members, he said.

I dont think our people who work for Bauers feel any different than anyone else who drives a truck or bus, Bloch said. Theyre scared. Theyre concerned.

An estimated 4 million Americans who drive for a living could lose their jobs to autonomous vehicles, he said. If, however, the technology also creates jobs, the Teamsters want to place as many of their people in those new positions as possible, he said.

We want our members to have those jobs, whatever they are, Bloch said. The Teamsters are not against innovation, but we dont want to be casualties.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF
More than 800,000 people who took out car loans from Wells Fargo were charged for auto insurance they did not need, and some of them are still paying for it, according to an internal report prepared for the banks executives.

The expense of the unneeded insurance, which covered collision damage, pushed roughly 274,000 customers into delinquency and resulted in almost 25,000 wrongful repossessions, according to the 60-page report, which was obtained by the New York Times. Among the Wells Fargo customers hurt by the practice were service members on active duty.

Wells Fargo, one of the largest banks in the United States, is struggling to repair its image after a scandal in which its employees created millions of credit card and bank accounts that customers had never requested. That crisis, which came to a head last year, toppled Wells Fargos CEO and led to millions of dollars in fines.

The San Francisco bank also stands accused of having made improper adjustments to the terms of the home loans of customers who were in bankruptcy, which Wells Fargo denies.

Asked about the findings on auto insurance, Wells Fargo officials confirmed that the improper insurance practices took place and said that the bank was determined to make customers whole.

We have a huge responsibility and fell short of our ideals for managing and providing oversight of the third-party vendor and our own operations, Franklin Codel, the head of consumer lending at Wells Fargo, said in an interview. We self-identified this issue, and we made the right business decisions to end the placement of the product.

The report, prepared by consulting firm Oliver Wyman, looked at policies sold to Wells customers from January 2012 through July 2016. The insurance, which the bank required, was more expensive than auto insurance that customers often already had obtained on their own.

National General Insurance underwrote the policies for Wells Fargo, which began to require the insurance on auto loans as early as 2006. The practice continued until the end of September.

Christine Worley, a spokeswoman for National General, declined to comment.

For borrowers, delinquencies arose quickly because of the way the bank charged for the insurance. Say, for example, that a customer agreed to a monthly payment of $275 in principal and interest on her car loan and arranged for the amount to be deducted from her bank account automatically. If she were not advised about the insurance and it increased her monthly payment to, say, $325, her account could become overdrawn as soon as Wells Fargo added the coverage.

The report tried to determine how many Wells Fargo customers were hurt and how much they should be compensated. It estimated that the bank owes $73 million to wronged customers.

State insurance regulations required Wells Fargo to notify customers of the insurance before it was imposed. But the bank did not always do so, the report said. And almost 100,000 of the policies violated the disclosure requirements of five states: Arkansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee and Washington.

Wells Fargo took issue with some of the figures in its own report. In a statement, Jennifer Temple, a bank spokeswoman, said the bank determined that only 570,000 of its customers may qualify for a refund and that just 60,000 customers in the five states had not received complete disclosures before the insurance placement. Finally, she said, the bank estimated the insurance may have contributed to 20,000 wrongful repossessions, not 25,000.

We take full responsibility for these errors and are deeply sorry for any harm we caused customers, Temple added.

Requiring borrowers to be insured is common for mortgages, where banks expect customers to carry enough homeowners insurance to protect the property backing their loans. Pressing such insurance on auto borrowers, however, is not as common: Representatives of Bank of America, Citibank and JPMorgan Chase said they did not offer the policies, although some smaller banks do.

In the Wells Fargo arrangement, National General receives all of the commissions on the insurance it sold to the banks borrowers. But for a time the bank shared in that revenue. Wells stopped sharing in the commissions in February 2013, according to the report.

Borrowers sustained financial damages beyond the costs of the insurance, the report said. The harm also included repossession costs, late fees, charges for insufficient funds and damage to credit reports.

In recent years, people have complained to federal regulators about lender-placed insurance on auto loans, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus database shows. Many complaints identified Wells Fargo. In one example, an unidentified Wells Fargo customer reported providing proof to the bank on three occasions that the car was already insured and that the new insurance was unnecessary, only to continue receiving calls from bank employees demanding payment of insurance charges.

Wells Fargo automatically imposed the insurance through its Dealer Services unit. Its website says it has more than 4 million customers and provides a variety of banking services to 14,000 auto dealers around the nation. It says the companys lender-placed auto insurance may be considerably more expensive than insurance you can obtain on your own.

Such policies typically cost more than $1,000 a year, not counting interest. (Customers could pay them in full or finance them over time.) If a car was repossessed, the bank might charge a reinstatement fee of as much as $500, so a borrower could face $1,500 in charges.

Here is how the process worked: When customers financed cars with Wells Fargo, the buyers information would go to National General, which was supposed to check a database to see if the owner had insurance. If not, the insurer would automatically impose coverage on the customers accounts, adding an extra layer of premiums and interest to their loans.

When customers who checked their bills saw the charges and notified Wells Fargo that they already had car insurance, the bank was supposed to cancel the insurance and credit the borrower with the amount that had been charged.

The Oliver Wyman report indicated that many customers appear not to have notified Wells Fargo of the redundant insurance. This may have been because their payments were deducted automatically and they did not spot the charges.

Gretchen Morgenson is a New York Times writer.
The Bureau of Land Management ranger whose stolen gun was used in the killing of Kate Steinle on San Franciscos Pier 14  a shooting that sparked a national debate over immigration policies  will testify in the upcoming murder trial of the alleged shooter, authorities said Friday.

Attorneys for Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a 54-year-old Mexican immigrant, have argued that Ranger John Woychowskis testimony is critical in establishing the history and condition of the .40-caliber Sig Sauer semiautomatic pistol that was stolen from his car in downtown San Francisco three days before the shooting.

Woychowskis testimony could support the contention that the July 1, 2015, shooting was an accident involving a troubled homeless man rather than a cold-blooded slaying, defense attorneys said.

However, the U.S. Department of Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management, had said department policy is not to allow its employees to testify or to produce department records either upon request or subpoena.

On Friday, Judge Richard Loftus of San Francisco Superior Court said the Bureau of Land Management agreed to allow Woychowski testify.

A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment further because the case is the subject of a pending lawsuit. The Steinle family is seeking damages from the federal agency and Woychowski, saying the act of leaving a loaded handgun unsecured in a car directly led to her death.

Steinle, 32, was strolling with her father along the Embarcadero on Pier 14 when a bullet pierced her back and went through her heart. City prosecutors charged Lopez-Sanchez with murder, saying he deliberately fired the gun along the crowded pier, but his attorneys said he discovered the gun on the pier shortly before the shooting.

We know the weapon on July 1, 2015 was pointed at the ground when it was discharged, said Deputy Public Defender Francisco Ugarte. We know the bullet ricocheted off the sidewalk and traveled about 100 feet. It has the physical traits of an accident, and the condition of the weapon when it was last handled is relevant.

Woychowski, he said, is the last known person who has handled the weapon prior to its appearance on the pier, and I think he can provide information to the jury relating to the condition of the weapon.

Steinles death sparked a push against the policies behind Lopez-Sanchezs release from San Francisco jail.

He had been on track for a sixth deportation to Mexico after serving 46 months in prison for felony re-entry into the country, but he was released from city jail three months before the Pier 14 killing, rather than being turned over to federal immigration agents, under the citys sanctuary law.

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.

Lopez-Sanchez had been transferred from federal custody to the city jail in March 2015 on an old warrant alleging he fled marijuana charges in 1995. When prosecutors discharged the case, the San Francisco Sheriffs Department released him despite a federal request to hold him for deportation.

Legislation known as Kates Law that would boost punishment for people who repeatedly enter the country illegally and a separate measure that seeks to pressure cities to abandon sanctuary policies recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Lopez-Sanchez is scheduled to return to court Tuesday, when a judge is expected to set a trial date.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com TWitter: @VivianHo
As evidenced last year with the opening of the first U.S. outpost of Mensho Ramen, Bay Area ramen devotees are not afraid to stand in long lines for noodles.

With the grand opening of Ippudo Ramen -- yet another Japanese ramen chain with a huge following that spans the globe -- there's a new queue to stand in.

The ramen chain, which got its start in 1985 in Fukuoka, Japan, has locations around the globe, including two shops in New York. The Berkeley store marks its first West Coast location (look for a San Francisco outpost to open by the end of this year).

Oakland resident Timothy Dorran was the first in line for Friday's opening. Having visited Ippudo outposts in Singapore, Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, he wanted to see how the noodles at the Berkeley shop would compare. He arrived at 7 a.m. His reasoning for standing in line for four hours: "People do it for barbecue in Austin."

Other folks, like Berkeley's Joey Shoji, arrived around 10:15 a.m., a slightly more reasonable time. At that point there were about 40 people ahead of him in line. Like Dorran, Shoji has also visited other Ippudo locations on his travels and is a fan. "I'm a carb boy," he joked.

Chatting with Shoji while waiting for the doors to open was Carol Karalekas, who was also waiting for her husband to find parking. The opening proved to be lucky timing for the couple, who were in Berkeley to visit their son, as it's one of their son's favorite restaurants.

"I'm hoping they open one in Naples," said Karalekas, who lives in the Florida town.

Who knows if a Florida shop is in the cards, but the chain, which is partially under the corporate umbrella of Panda Restaurant Group (Panda Express), is in rapid-expansion mode.

According to Ippudo spokesperson Tomohiko Hara, the company expects to have 300 outlets outside of Japan by 2030.

If Berkeley's location is any indication, you can expect to wait in line at all of them.

(Visit Inside Scoop's Facebook page for videos of Ippudo's grand opening.)

--Sarah Fritsche, sfritsche@sfchronicle.com

Important to keep in mind if you visit Ippudo Ramen:

The specialty here is Shiromaru Classic Ramen ($14) -- made with a light and not too salty tonkotsu broth, pork loin chashu, sesame kikurage mushrooms, menma, red pickled ginger, and scallions -- but there are plenty of other versions to try. All the noodles are made on-site and customers can choose what kind of texture they want, ranging from soft (yawa) to very firm (bari kata).

In addition to ramen, there are other bites like steamed buns, available with pork belly, chicken or vegetable ($8-$9 for two buns) and unagi rice ($6). Check out the full menu here.

No reservations are taken. The restaurant also has a no take-out or take-away policy for leftovers, so be sure to come hungry and finish your food.

There will almost definitely be a wait, so arrive early. For now, hours are 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Thursday; until midnight Friday-Saturday; until 10 p.m. Sunday.

Ippudo Ramen, 2011 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 666-8807. http://ippudo-us.com/store/
The White House said Trump would sign a bill that imposes sanctions on Russia ,Iran and North Korea.

By Reuters: US President Donald Trump will sign legislation that imposes sanctions on Russia (and Iran and North Korea), the White House said on Friday, after Moscow ordered the United States to cut hundreds of diplomatic staff in retaliation for the measures and said it was seizing two US diplomatic properties.

Moscow's decision, which had echoes of the Cold War, was announced by the Foreign Ministry on Friday, a day after the US Senate overwhelmingly approved new sanctions on Russia.

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The legislation was in part a response to conclusions by US intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election, and to further punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Late on Friday, the White House issued a statement saying Trump would sign the bill after reviewing the final version. The statement made no reference to Russia's retaliatory measures.

Russia had been threatening retaliation for weeks. Its response suggests it has set aside initial hopes of better ties with Washington under Trump, something the US leader, before he was elected, had said he wanted to achieve.

Relations were already languishing at a post-Cold War low because of the allegations that Russian cyber interference in the election was intended to boost Trump's chances, something Moscow flatly denies. Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russian officials.

The Russian Foreign Ministry complained of growing anti-Russian feeling in the United States, accusing "well-known circles" of seeking "open confrontation".

'BOORISH US BEHAVIOUR'

President Vladimir Putin had warned on Thursday that Russia would have to retaliate against what he called boorish US behaviour. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Friday that the Senate vote was the last straw.

A top White House aide said on Thursday that Trump might veto the bill in order to push for a tougher deal, an idea that drew skepticism in Congress because his administration had spent weeks lobbying for a weaker bill. Trump now has a 10-day window in which he can veto the bill, but the legislation is expected to garner enough support in both chambers to override any veto.

Congressional aides said they still had no indication of whether Trump would sign the bill or veto it.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by telephone that Russia was ready to normalise relations with the United States and to cooperate on major global issues.

Lavrov and Tillerson "agreed to maintain contact on a range of bilateral issues", the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry said the United States had until Sept. 1 to reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people, the number of Russian diplomats left in the United States after Washington expelled 35 Russians in December.

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'EXTREME AGGRESSION'

It was not immediately clear how many US diplomats and other workers would be forced to leave either the country or their posts, but the Interfax news agency cited an informed source as saying "hundreds" of people would be affected.

A diplomatic source told Reuters that it would be for the United States to decide which posts to cut, whether occupied by US or Russian nationals.

An official at the US Embassy, who declined to be named because they were not allowed to speak to the media, said the Embassy employed around 1,100 diplomatic and support staff in Russia, including Russian and US citizens.

Russian state television channel Rossiya 24 said over 700 staff would be affected but that was not confirmed by the foreign ministry or the US embassy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry's statement said the passage of the bill confirmed "the extreme aggression of the United States in international affairs".

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov met outgoing US ambassador John Tefft on Friday to inform him of the counter measures, Russian news agencies reported. The US Embassy said Tefft had expressed his "strong disappointment and protest".

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Most US diplomatic staff, including around 300 US citizens, work in the main embassy in Moscow, with others based in consulates in St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was also seizing a Moscow dacha compound used by US diplomats for recreation, from Aug. 1, as well as a US diplomatic warehouse in Moscow.

In December, the outgoing Obama administration seized two Russian diplomatic compounds - one in New York and another in Maryland - at the same time as it expelled Russian diplomats.

Trump and Putin met for the first time at a G20 summit in Germany this month in what both sides described as a productive encounter, but Russian officials have become increasingly convinced that Congress and Trump's political opponents will not allow him to mend ties, even if he wants to.

The European Union has also threatened to retaliate against new US sanctions on Russia, saying they would harm the bloc's energy security by targeting projects including a planned new pipeline to bring Russian natural gas to northern Europe.

A European Commission spokesman in Brussels said the bloc would be following the sanctions process closely.

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--- ENDS ---
The White House announced late Friday that President Trump will sign legislation he had opposed to toughen sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea.

The sticking point?

Russia, of course.

The White House tried to put the best face on this major reset of relations with Russia, saying the president had negotiated changes and reviewed the final version, and based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it. Its the right decision, although Trump had little choice.

As a candidate and now as president, Trump has been oddly solicitous of Russian President Vladimir Putin. And there is that no small matter of Russian interference on Trumps behalf in the 2016 election  of which the evidence is overwhelming  and the investigation into possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

As a political matter, a Trump veto would seem to be courting huge blowback. Then again, the first six months of his presidency have been all about operating on the edge.

Yet as a matter of foreign policy, the case for the sanctions is so strong that the legislation received just two no votes in the Senate and three in the House of Representatives. The bill is crafted to punish Russia for its meddling in the U.S. election and its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria. It also attempts to constrain Irans nuclear program.

As for North Korea, the need to sanction a hostile and erratic regime with nuclear ambitions was reaffirmed Friday with its test firing of yet another intercontinental ballistic missile.

One of the key provisions of the sanctions legislation is that it prevents the president from relaxing or waiving the Russia sanctions without congressional consent.

Trump was wise to set aside his ego, at least for a moment, and avoid the humiliation of a veto override on an important foreign policy bill.
In these hyperpolarized days, its difficult to imagine Congress making bipartisan strides toward solutions to almost anything, let alone entrenched injustices. So Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., deserve much of the positive media attention theyve garnered for introducing a new bill that would address an important criminal justice reform: reducing the use of cash bail for pretrial defendants.

Harris and Paul have picked a good cause.

The courts want to make sure that defendants will return to face the court for their trial. So asking for large sums of money in exchange for pretrial release may seem, in theory, like sensible public policy.

The problem is that, in practice, cash bail mostly serves to underline the costs of living in an economically unequal society. Poor defendants stay in jail because they dont have large sums of money to offer. This costs them major life disruptions, like job loss, and it costs the public money. Hundreds of thousands of people around the country are being held in jail before their cases are heard, just because they cant make bail.

Meanwhile, wealthier defendants are allowed to re-enter the community regardless of the danger they may pose.

A persons financial situation isnt the only way to judge the risk a defendant poses to public safety, or even the most accurate way.

Large cities around the country have recognized these realities and are quietly moving to reform their cash bail systems. Their reasons are based on both equity and economics.

Washington, D.C., has successfully offered cash bail alternatives to most suspects for years. Last week, Chicago became the largest U.S. city to base bail amounts on a defendants ability to pay. It also allowed judges to consider defendants financial ability to pay for their pretrial release.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon is running a pilot project to use data-driven risk assessments on individual defendants, rather than one-size-fits-all bail amounts, to decide whether they should be released pretrial.

The federal government has also been moving away from a cash bail system. And a handful of states, including New Jersey, have moved forward with reforms that employ risk assessments rather than bail amounts to manage their pretrial jail populations.

But for the most part, states have been slower to reform. California, for example, tried and failed to pass a bail reform bill while Harris was state attorney general.

So Harris and Paul are offering a modest proposal to encourage states to catch up.

The Pretrial Integrity and Safety Act would create a fund of $10 million in grant money. Up to six states could apply for the grant, which would enable them to drop or restrict cash bail in favor of alternative assessments, based on best practices.

By any measure, this is a cautious bill. It offers incentives for reform and allows states to use different kinds of assessment tools rather than mandating a particular program.

Still, its likely to face an uphill climb in Congress.

Paul has been a serious advocate for criminal justice reform for many years, but many of his Republican colleagues are more skeptical. Nor are all Democrats eager to take up an issue that has deep-pocketed defenders, including the bail bonds and insurance industries.

Even if the bill were to pass, it could face steep headwinds from Attorney General Jeff Sessions Department of Justice.

As the bill is written, the Justice Department would have a major role in its implementation. While most states, cities and other jurisdictions are moving away from historically harsh criminal penalties, Sessions has made it clear his intention is to shore them up. He would be an unlikely candidate to strongly implement this bill, should it become law.

Despite the difficult climate, Harris and Paul are wise to start the push for this bill here and now. Even if it doesnt pass Congress this year, its already started an important conversation among states about their bail practices. The more states learn, the more likely they are to consider an option that will increase equality and save money without compromising public safety.
An oasis in the parched summer dance scene, ODC Dances Summer Sampler is back with another intriguing collection of short works that define the companys range of interests. Three of the works on the opening program at ODC Theater on Thursday, July 27, were intended for intimate spaces like this and would look lost in the downtown Yerba Buena Theater location.

This is an arena for experimentation. The nights first premiere united co-Artistic Director KT Nelson with guest Korean choreographer Na Hoon Park in a trio whose title best translates as One Long Breath. The dancers  Jeremy Smith, Rachel Furst, Mia J. Chong  are huddled together as you take your seat. The movement, accompanied by bird sounds, exults in a mood of serenity, while the physical configurations disdain sudden transitions and favor curved spines and limbs. When the trio moves as one body, its a marvel. We are not accustomed to seeing ODC dancers nibble at space this way (they usually devour it), and it is transfixing for about 10 minutes.
WASHINGTON  His White House in turmoil, President Trump abruptly announced late Friday he is appointing Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to be his chief of staff, ending the tumultuous six-month tenure of Reince Priebus.

After months of speculation about Priebus fate, Trump tweeted his decision as he landed in Washington after a speech in New York in which he lavishly praised Kellys performance at Homeland Security.

Priebus, the former Republican National Committee head, had been a frequent target of rumors about his job security amid infighting and confusion within the White House and a long whisper campaign by Trump allies. Then, on Thursday, he was assailed in a profane public rebuke by Trumps newly appointed White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.

Priebus said he had offered his resignation Thursday and the president accepted.

I think the president wanted to go a different direction, Priebus told CNN just hours after his exit was announced. Im always going to be a Trump fan. Im on Team Trump.

Kelly is a retired Marine four-star general. Trump had focused on him in recent days, telling those close to him that he admired the generals star power and that he believed military discipline was what his administration needed.

Priebus never could bring a semblance of order to the team of infighting rivals that populate Trumps West Wing, and questions about his future have long swirled around the office. Those questions sharply escalated this week with the arrival of Scaramucci, the hard-charging communications director who was hired over Priebus objections.

Priebus already tense relationship with Scaramucci took a darker turn over the past two days when the communications chief suggested in a late-night tweet that Priebus was one of the leakers that Trump has railed against. The New Yorker magazine published an interview Thursday in which Scaramucci called Priebus, amid an avalanche of vulgarity, a paranoid schizophrenic.

Priebus term ends in fewer than 200 days, the shortest tenure for any presidents first White House chief of staff since the post was formally established in 1946.

Jonathan Lemire and Jill Colvin are Associated Press writers.
By PTI: countries

(Eds: Recasting overnight story)

By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jul 29 (PTI) An influential US lawmaker has introduced a bill that will remove tariff benefits for countries found to be non-compliant in returning American children abducted by one parent without the consent of the other, a move that may impact countries like India.

The bill Bindu Philips and Devon Davenport International Child Abduction Return Act of 2017 is named after two parents, an Indian-American and a Brazilian-American, both of whom allege that their kids were abducted and taken to India and Brazil respectively and despite US court orders the two countries were not helping them get their kids back.

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"Bindu Philips fought valiantly in India for over eight years for the return of her abducted twin sons, only to be given the incessant delays in Indias courts and little support from the Obama administration," Congressman Chris Smith, Chair of the House panel on global human rights, said.

"Just recently, she was finally granted a short visit with her children in India, but the childrens father marred the time with harassment and monitoring, refusing to let the children and mother leave a hotel for seven days.

"Devon Davenport has had a return order for his daughter Nadia from Brazil since 2009. He has won every single one of the 24 appeals against the order?but Brazil still will not enforce its own return order," the Republican lawmaker said.

Smith said that 11 of the 13 countries found to be non- compliant in the annual Goldman Report by the US State Department in the return of abducted American children are still receiving billions of dollars in tariff exemptions under the Generalised System of Preferences.

"We must cease rewarding countries that aid abductors. When is enough finally enough?" he asked.

In 2016, 629 American children were taken from the US by one parent without the consent of the other, often in direct violation of valid US court orders, US criminal law and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

The Obama administrations refusal to apply sanctions against countries that fail to return abducted children has led to a rate of return of only 16 per cent, Smith said.

Noting that for years, the US governments response to abductions has been an engraved invitation to abductors, Smith said abductors have an 84 per cent chance of no penalty for ripping their child from home and family in the US.

"It is my hope and expectation that this year, the State Department will begin to act more decisively on behalf of American families so that more children come home," he said.

The new bill proposes to amend the Generalised System of Preferences, a trade programme designed to promote economic growth in the developing world through duty free entry for some products, so that any country named as non-compliant in the prompted resolutions of abductions would lose trade benefits granted by the US. PTI LKJ CPS KJ AKJ KJ

--- ENDS ---

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Lawrence McClarty started his day early Saturday. He loaded his car with kites and folding chairs, filled his stomach with waffles from a nearby diner and arrived by 7 a.m. at the Berkeley Marina.

The 57-year-old Oakland residents eagle kite was the first to pierce the clouds.

Not long after, McClarty was joined by hundreds of families at the Berkeley Kite Festival, a two-day event that draws thousands of people, as children watched their parents fly kites, grabbing ahold of the handle once the kites soared above them.

McClarty made his debut at the festival two years ago without any experience flying kites. He started with a $20 kite. Now, he said he has spent $450 on various fliers.

I never thought I would like this. I enjoy it so much that now we come out on our own, McClarty said, gazing at the eagle, thunderbird, octopus and diamond kites he had floated into the air.

McClarty and some friends had staked out a picnic table on a mostly isolated hill. They tied their kites to the folding chairs and laughed with one another as they pointed out the oversize purple, blue and green octopuses soaring above them. A mechanic for United Airlines, McClarty joked that kite-flying would be the closest he would ever get to flying.

The thunderbird looks like a real plane, McClarty said.

Nearby, a man crouched down, inspecting his eagle kite, which had crashed into the grass. His blue hat shielded his face as he grabbed the string that had snapped and tied the ends back together.

The man then stood back up slowly, gleefully laughing, as the eagle fluttered back into the sky.

Shuttles dropped off children and parents at the entrance of the festival, where the kids oohed and aah-ed, pointing at the dragons, bears and tadpole kites that swayed in the wind.

Benjamin Penaloza, 6, sat on his mothers lap at the top of a crowded hill, pointing at the many octopuses that glided before him.

His parents had driven in from Walnut Creek and this year, Benjamin decided to make his own kite at one of the festival booths.

We just have to put the string in and its ready, his father, Adolfo Penaloza, said.

The 38-year-old man concentrated as he gripped his sons kite, a piece of construction paper with red, orange and yellow stripes scribbled on. On the backside of the kite, his son had crayoned red and orange zigzags.

Why? I just wanted to, the boy said.

While some of the more serious kite fliers perched on less crowded areas of the marina, many families came simply to enjoy the recreation that has been around for well over 2,000 years.

There was no kite-fighting or competing at the festival. Some people napped under their tents while others listened to drummers or toured the various food stands offering funnel cakes, barbecue and tacos.

Everyone can (fly kites) and its also quiet time you can spend with your family. We put our phones down and spend time outside, said Maura Kelley, 38, Benjamins mother.

Kite-flying teaches control and patience, she added.

Not far from where the Penaloza family were sitting, Chris Fong, 36, of San Mateo tried to maneuver his orange cat kite, which was drifting uncontrollably.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, Fong called out, trying to prevent the kite casualty as it started to collide into someones ladybug. His children, ages 4 and 2, trailed behind him.

I dont know why everyones kite is going that way, but my kite is going this way, Fong said, pointing to the right. I dont want to hit the other kites. Its a little bit challenging with all the kites.

Whether they were avid kite-fliers or beginners, one thing was certain at the Kite Festival: It was a chance to appreciate the outdoors.

We just enjoy it. Its relaxing, its therapy, McClarty said. We enjoy life.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
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The car Tesla has long promised  a stylish electric sedan priced for the middle class  arrived Friday night when CEO Elon Musk handed over the first 30 Model 3s to their new owners at the companys Fremont factory.

The first batch of cars all went to Tesla employees, who will keep an eye out for any bugs or glitches that could mar the $35,000 sedans rollout over the coming months. Others among the 400,000 people worldwide who placed $1,000 reservations for the Model 3, some more than a year ago, still have to wait.

To those who lined up to buy a Model 3 ... I just want you to know that really matters to us, Musk told a crowd of a few thousand employees gathered outside the factory, along with Tesla fans watching the event on a live Internet stream. Were going to do everything possible to get you your cars as fast as possible.

The car is the culmination of Musks strategy  spelled out 11 years ago in his teasingly named Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan  to use the proceeds from Teslas first highly expensive car models to fund development of a more affordable car. And it represents the key to the companys future.

Until now, Tesla has aimed its electric cars  the Roadster, Model S and Model X  at eco-conscious and wealthy early adopters. With the Model 3, Tesla is targeting the mass market, hoping to broaden the appeal not just of the company but of electric vehicles overall.

Despite the excitement around the Model 3 when Musk first unveiled the design in March of last year, with thousands of people lining up at Tesla stores around the world to order them, Tesla had until Friday kept many details about the car secret. On Friday, the Palo Alto company revealed:

The car will get 220 miles of range on its standard battery pack  five more miles than expected  with a $9,000 option for a bigger battery pack capable of going 310 miles on a charge.

Recharging the battery via Teslas high-speed superchargers will add 130 miles of range in 30 minutes. Home charging on a 240-volt circuit will add 130 miles of range in 30 minutes.

The Model 3 will jump from 0 to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds, with a top speed of 130 miles per hour.

All the sensors needed for Teslas Autopilot system, which can steer a car on freeways and change lanes, will be included in each Model 3, although activating the system comes at a one-time cost of $5,000. Complete self-driving capability  something neither Tesla nor any other automaker has yet perfected  will cost an additional $3,000, if and when it becomes available.

The standard color will be black. Any other available colors  which include metallic blue, silver, pearl and red  will cost $1,000.

And after Teslas start as a niche purveyor of small-batch cars, the Model 3 will play a central role in Tesla expansion into true mass production. The company, which built just under 84,000 cars last year, plans to make 500,000 in 2018 and 1 million in 2020.

Welcome to production hell, Musk told employees Friday, saying the next six months would see a sharp increase in the pace of building cars.

Ill be with you, going through hell, he said. As the saying goes, if youre going through hell, keep going.

Unlike the Model S sedan, which hit the market in 2012, and the Model X SUV, launched in 2015, the Model 3 will face substantial competition. The $37,500 Chevy Bolt, for example, boasts a similar price and battery range  238 miles on a charge  as the Model 3.

This is one of Teslas challenges  theyve always launched in a white space before, said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst with Autotrader.

Like many analysts, Krebs will be keeping her eye on the quality of the Model 3 sedans that Tesla delivers in the coming months. The Model X suffered from numerous glitches  including problems with the cars signature falcon wing rear doors  that slowed its ramp-up. While those problems are largely considered resolved, Tesla has struggled to increase overall production this year.

I want to see how good the quality is coming out of the plant, Krebs said. This is Teslas first time with high-volume production, and they had a lot of problems with the X. Its really important to have high quality.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: DBaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF
NEW YORK  For more than a month, Martin Shkreli, the former hedge fund manager, has swiveled in his chair and smirked his way through a trial that could land him in prison for 20 years. If anyone thought the high-stakes trial could tame the ever-loquacious Shkreli, they would be wrong.

An hour after leaving court Thursday, Shkreli took to Facebook to render his judgment on the trial, marrying his cause with that of a certain leader of the free world. My case is a silly witch hunt perpetrated by self-serving prosecutors. Thankfully my amazing attorney sent them back to junior varsity where they belong. Drain the swamp. Drain the sewer that is the DOJ. MAGA, he wrote.

President Trump, of course, has frequently invoked swamp draining in his battles with entrenched Washington interests, and his campaign tag line, Make America Great Again, is often reduced to MAGA on social media.

This is not the first time Shkreli has referred to the prosecutors as junior varsity. During the first of his trial, Shkreli strolled into a room full of reporters at the courthouse and mocked the prosecutors with the same term, comparing them negatively to their colleagues in Manhattan. Do I want to exonerate myself? Yes, he told the assembled reporters. I think the world blames me for almost everything. ... They blame me for capitalism.

After the encounter, a visibly frustrated U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto chastised Shkreli and ordered him to stop talking to the media in the courthouse where jurors could potentially hear him. Shkrelis attorneys promised to abide by the order and said someone from the defense team would escort Shkreli at all times.

But the order did not address Shkrelis life outside the room and online where he continues to be a visible presence. In addition to posting about the trial, Shkreli posted a live stream where he was seen still in the suit he wore to court.

After more than four weeks of testimony, the case is speeding to a close with the jury scheduled to begin deliberations Monday morning.

Prosecutors allege that for five years Shkreli lied to investors in two hedge funds and the pharmaceutical company Retrophin, all of which he founded. Shkreli told investors that he had a successful track record as a hedge-fund manager and sent them false performance reports and backdated documents to cover up his losses, prosecutors allege.

In more than eight hours of closing statements that stretched from Thursday into Friday, the defense and prosecution teams have painted vastly different pictures of Shkreli. Prosecutors portrayed Shkreli as a chronic liar who believes the law doesnt apply to him, while the defense says he is a socially awkward genius who worked hard to make Retrophin a success and repay investors.

Shkreli told lies upon lies, prosecutors told the jury. He lied about the size of his hedge funds, whether his funds had an auditor and how they were performing. He lied about attending Columbia University, they said.

He is calculating, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis told the jury Friday. It is not just the sheer volume of lies. It is the kind of lies

Mr. Shkreli is a smart man. He knew exactly what he was doing. He intended to deceive and intended to defraud, Kasulis said.

Shkrelis defense team has sought to rebut the accusations with a simple argument: His investors were not victims but wealthy people whom Shkreli made even richer. Despite troubles with his hedge funds, Shkrelis investors walked away with a profit, defense attorneys said.

Shkrelis attorney, Benjamin Brafman, held up a poster showing that some of Shkrelis investors had made three times their initial investment. Meanwhile, Shkreli spent two years sleeping in his office trying to launch Retrophin, he said.

Maybe he screwed up, maybe he made mistakes, the attorney said, but Martin Shkreli was always truthful to the mission of making Retrophin a success.

That is not relevant, Kasulis said. If you rob a bank, then you rob another bank to pay back the first bank, you still robbed the first bank, she said. You cant rob Peter to pay Paul. Just because the defendant got lucky and Retrophin became a success years later ... it doesnt excuse fraud.

While prosecutors have taken a strait-laced approach to closing arguments, Brafman has entertained the jury with props and stories. He even compared himself to a lifeguard attempting to save Shkreli from a felony.

When you deliver a verdict of guilty, that is forever, you are a felon forever, Brafman told the jury Friday. It is not prosecutors who get the last word in this case, he said, You have the last word. I hope those last words are not guilty.

Kasulis called Brafmans antics a distraction. Martin Shkreli doesnt think the rules doesnt apply to him, that the law doesnt apply to him, unfortunately for him, it does, he said.

Renae Merle is a Washington Post writer.
When a huge earthquake hit his hometown in Nepal in 2015, Madindra Aryal and his family had to stay in tents without electricity. He and his neighbors lived in complete darkness at night, and they could not charge their cell phones, which meant they were unable to contact worried family members.

From that experience, Aryal, a 26-year-old electronics engineer, came up with an idea: Why not try to produce a solar-powered cell phone charger, one that would be inexpensive enough that Nepalese villagers could afford it?

Although he knew he could not do it on his own, he set up a project called Nepals Light, then looked for a way to raise money, which is no easy feat in a poor nation.

Enter Collaborizm, a Kickstarter-esque website from New York that specializes in nurturing companies in the pre-incubation stage  before they have seed money, a business plan or even, in many cases, a working prototype. Collaborizm connects aspiring entrepreneurs like Aryal with mentors, suppliers and early-stage capital.

For Aryal, help came fast: Collaborizm connected him to Gham Power Nepal, a utility. He also had a previous deal with Bal Joshi of Thamel.com, which transfers money and goods to and from Nepal. Those resources enabled him to build a prototype two weeks after the quakes.

After the prototype was built, 500 chargers were manufactured, priced at about $24, and delivered to those most affected by the temblor. With the help of Collaborizm, Nepals Light raised $10,877 on crowdfunding site Indiegogo.

With these funds, Aryal was able to build another 500, which were distributed free to rural Nepalese still living in darkness.

Collaborizm helped Aryal create weekly discussion panels to give him advice on improving the product. From those discussions, he decided to make his charger more portable by using plastic instead of metal.

If we want more entrepreneurs going from step three to 60, we need to help more young ones go from zero to three, said Steven Reubenstone, founder and chief executive of Collaborizm, which was set up in March 2016.

It does not always work. Some ideas, no matter how intriguing, languish because of insufficient demand, an entrepreneurs lack of know-how or countless other reasons.

For instance, Narendran Asokan, a 22-year-old computer science engineer in India, wanted to manufacture shoes with a built-in GPS to help locate children who are lost or abducted.

But he had problems obtaining the type of salt he would need to power the battery in the shoe.

Collaborizm provided me with a special kind of salt from the United States, Asokan said. Suppliers in India only sold such salts in bulk. The salt crystals will vibrate with each step, powering the battery, sending a signal to the database.

Collaborizm also helped him raise money to refine the product and connected him to a mentor, Robert Lancer, the sites chief technology officer. Lancer led him through each step of the creation cycle.

Asokan was able to get the GPS in the shoe to work, but he could not power the battery without more money and a bigger team. The project is stalled as he pursues a second startup called Sciencotonic, which he describes on the website AngelList as an augmented reality application to teach science.

Sciencotonic is the first project on Collaborizm to receive support from Startup India Hub, a clearinghouse for Indian entrepreneurs. Asokan will get legal help, investor support and a manufacturer.

Young entrepreneurs need to know the pitfalls to avoid while getting their products to market, Lancer, 33, said. It is easy to get carried away over engineering, adding features and losing focus of what users need. Its a constant process that ideas must go through.

As anyone who has ever watched Shark Tank knows, it is not easy to coax venture capitalists to invest in early-stage projects, particularly ones that are just a gleam in the eye of someone in a faraway land. But Collaborizm connects like-minded people across the world to produce the prototypes that gain the most traction on the platform.

We have said it was impossible to do a project, and some project leaders still go ahead with it, Lancer said. I often given my two cents, and some have proved me wrong.

For now, Collaborizm has minimal revenue. About three months ago, it began taking a cut of the pay that freelancers earn through their work on Collaborizm projects, which so far has amounted to about $20,000 for the parent site. Those freelancers, who are drawn from developing companies, are paid small amounts  say, $40 to help build a prototype  and sponsors on the site put up the money. The idea is that crowdsourcing talent from underdeveloped countries can help inventors get their models built far less expensively than they could in the United States.

If you dont have money, we can connect you with people who do have it, Lancer said. Mentors like him oversee the entrepreneurs progress, sometimes delivering technical critiques and other criticism needed to keep inventors focused.

Ideas fail all the time, said Justin Sherratt, an entrepreneur and a former director of the Founder Institute in New York, which trains entrepreneurs and nurtures startups. Collaborizm is doing a good job of helping these startups get closer to that jigsaw puzzle we call product market fit.

The site is like a virtual water cooler that provides support and the needed camaraderie during the early stages of a company, added Sherratt, chief operating officer of the virtual reality game Next Island. (It is not posted on Collaborizm.)

One of the projects on Collaborizm with popular appeal is CoffeeBot, a drone that will deliver coffee to people in the workplace (or elsewhere). Theoretically, it will roll around the office proffering coffee and doubling as a drop box for office mail, controlled by employees cell phones.

John Rodrigues, a mechanical engineer who is the CoffeeBot project leader, said his drone won first place in a Collaborizm hackathon. I thought, Why not connect package and coffee delivery fun in the workplace? he said. I imagined how excited a person would be getting coffee from a bot that goes to others in the office.

Rodrigues and his team have learned a few things along the way: For one, they are creating a second iteration of CoffeeBot that will be taller, the better to serve customers in cafes and at office desks.

The goal for CoffeeBot is to see the robot delivering coffee in Starbucks and at workplaces, putting a smile on the peoples faces, Rodrigues said.

As these projects mature, Collaborizm hopes to keep supporting their efforts. The only way to fail on Collaborizm is to give up, said Reubenstone, the founder. We hope to disrupt the creation of early-stage startups, helping projects develop and mature into small companies.

Steven Rocker is a New York Times writer.
CHICAGO  Chicago now gives at-risk inmates the overdose-reversing drug naloxone upon their release from jail, and Los Angeles is poised to follow suit, putting the antidote in as many hands as possible as part of a multifaceted approach to combatting the nations opioid epidemic.

The Cook County Jail in Chicago, which is the largest single-site jail in the country, has trained about 900 inmates how to use naloxone nasal spray devices since last summer and has distributed 400 of them to at-risk men and women as they got out. The devices can undo the effects of an opiate overdose almost immediately and are identical to those used by officers in many of the countrys law enforcement agencies.

Sheriff Tom Dart, whose office runs the jail, said addicts are most at-risk of fatally overdosing in the two weeks after getting out because of their time away from drugs while locked up.

Weve got to keep them alive (and) if we can get them through that two-week window, they might get treatment, get off drugs, he said.

Dr. Connie Mennella, the chair of Correctional Health for the countys hospital system, which administers the program, said only inmates are being trained to use naloxone, but that she eventually hopes their relatives and friends can also be trained.

We are trying to saturate this community with this drug, and we are educating them to tell their buddy, mother, father how to use it, where they keep it and, If you come home and see me not responding, to go get it and use it, she said.

Proponents say such jail programs can be the difference between a former inmate living and dying.

And Dr. Arastou Aminzadeh, the correctional health-medical director for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, said the kits are particularly important for just-released inmates because the same amount of drugs they once used to get high before they were locked up could now kill them.

Their threshold has dropped but they may use the amount of drugs they used to use, said Aminzadeh, who is helping Los Angeles jails prepare to begin its naloxone program early next year.

It is too soon to gauge the effectiveness of Cook Countys program, but Dart said anecdotal evidence suggests that the kits have saved lives.

In New York City, more than 4,000 kits have been distributed to friends and relatives of inmates at the citys jail at Rikers Island since the program there was launched in 2014.

Don Babwin is an Associated Press writer.
LOS ANGELES  A California appeals court judge temporarily blocked a Los Angeles natural gas storage facility from reopening a year and a half after a major blowout spewed methane that drove thousands of families from their homes.

The order late in the day Friday by Associate Justice Lamar Baker of the 2nd District Court of Appeal came after Los Angeles County lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get a lower court to stop Southern California Gas Co. from resuming operations at Aliso Canyon.

State regulators recently gave approval to allow the company to pump gas into underground storage wells after an overhaul and rigorous testing. The county said it feared operations would resume Saturday.

The facility above the San Fernando Valley has been largely out of commission since an old well failed in October 2015, unleashing methane for nearly four months and leading 8,000 families to evacuate.

The utility said in response to the appeals court order that it has met and sometimes exceeded the states safety requirements for the field, and that unnecessary delays will challenge our ability to meet the inventory requirements regulators are asking for to avoid an energy shortage.

The blowout released the largest-known amount of climate-changing methane in U.S. history and led to widespread complaints of nosebleeds, nausea, headaches and symptoms that persisted even after the leak was capped last year.

The countys effort to keep the facility closed hinges on a claim that the states extensive safety review did not take into account the risk of an earthquake from a fault that runs through the field.

In rejecting the countys petition earlier in the day, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Wiley said he didnt have authority to overturn orders by the California Public Utilities Commission.

County lawyer Skip Miller disagreed and said the county would file a last-minute request for a stay with the higher court.

The countys appeal said it needed to block operations because it was notified the company planned to resume operations Saturday, and if that happened its legal bid would be moot.

Many residents want to see Aliso Canyon permanently shuttered. They have held boisterous protests at the facilitys gate, at public meetings and demonstrated in T-shirts Friday that said Shut it down.

Brian Melley is an Associated Press writer.
Dr. Herbert Needleman, whose studies of children exposed to low levels of lead prompted regulations that limited or banned the metal in a range of common products, like gasoline and paint, and set a standard for the modern study of environmental toxins, died on July 18 in Pittsburgh. He was 89.

His son, Dr. Joshua Needleman, said the cause was lung failure resulting from edema, an excess of fluid.

Herbert Needleman was working at a community psychiatric clinic in North Philadelphia after medical school when he met a young man who would become a touchstone for a crusading career. The boy approached Dr. Needleman and explained his ambitions, which were large, even as the boy struggled with words. He was bright and open; nonetheless, he had deficits that struck Dr. Needleman as similar to those found in children with lead poisoning.

I thought, how many of these kids who are coming to the clinic are in fact a missed case of lead poisoning? he said in a later interview. His clinic office overlooked a school playground; the view gave him an idea.

Doctors had long known that exposure to high doses of lead caused mental lapses, even permanent brain damage and death. But what about the low-level exposure that many children, like the ones playing in the yard, absorbed every day  merely by living in older urban neighborhoods thick with lead paint and industrial contamination?

No one knew. No one could study the effects carefully, because the available tests for lead exposure were of hair, blood or fingernails  each flawed in its own way. Bone is the most accurate long-term repository: Once absorbed into the body, lead circulates in the blood and accumulates in the skeleton. But taking bone samples  biopsies  is painful and hardly justifiable for the sake of a hypothesis, especially in young children.

Yet Dr. Needleman had seen an earlier study of lead poisoning, a small one, which measured accumulated lead exposure in teeth. Teeth are a part of the human skeleton. And young children shed them.

That was the insight that changed everything, said Dr. Bernard Goldstein, former dean of the University of Pittsburghs graduate school of public health. Herb became the Tooth Fairy.

In a series of studies  small ones in Philadelphia and a much larger project in the Boston area  Dr. Needleman offered children ages 6 and 7 small rewards for their loose teeth, once they had fallen out. Those teeth told a story: Children living in poor urban neighborhoods had lead levels five times higher, on average, than those of their peers in the suburbs.

In a landmark 1979 paper in the New England Journal of Medicine, which included more than 2,000 children, he and his co-authors  he was then at Harvard  explained the associated consequences in devastating detail. Children whose accumulated exposure to lead was highest in the group scored four points lower on an IQ test than youngsters whose exposure was at the lowest end.

Teachers rated the high-exposure children as having a host of classroom issues, including attention deficits and behavior problems. A follow-up of the same children a decade later found a correlation between high lead levels and reading delays.

Its not like you can look at one kid and spot a four-point difference in IQ, and say, OK, we know lead caused this, said Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, in Durham, N.C. Its a population effect; you have to have a population of the right kids and ask the right questions. Thats what Dr. Needleman did, and it has become a model for subsequent research.

In the decade that followed  and over strenuous opposition from the lead industry  the findings of Dr. Needleman and others spurred stiffer regulation of lead in gas, tin cans, paint, household pipes and other products. The federal health authorities now consider lead at any level unsafe for children.

The story did not end there, however; it had an important political coda, one that itself set a template for commercial backlash against research into possible environmental hazards. The lead industrys opposition culminated in the late 1980s in an attack on Dr. Needlemans research and character. A pair of psychologists approached him for his data from the 1979 study, as part of a court case in which they were testifying on behalf of a lead smelting company. The psychologists proceeded to accuse him of scientific misconduct, an accusation taken up by the newly formed federal Office for Scientific Integrity.

In testimony, Dr. Needleman acknowledged that he had made some math mistakes in his analysis but that those errors were minor and did not change the findings. Investigators eventually agreed and dismissed all charges. But not before the University of Pittsburgh, where he was then on the faculty, conducted its own investigation and locked him out of his own files, putting bars on his file cabinets. He was cleared in that investigation as well.

You have no idea what he went through, said Dr. Philip Landrigan, the dean for global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. He swung in the wind for those years, and he never backed down. I dont use this word often, but hero is appropriate in Herbs case.

Herbert Leroy Needleman was born Dec. 13, 1927, in Philadelphia, one of two sons of Joseph and the former Sonia Shupak. His father sold furniture; his mother, whose family owned a pickle business, ran the household.

He graduated from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., in 1948, and received a medical degree in 1952 from the University of Pennsylvania. After serving in the Army, at Fort Meade, Md., he completed residencies in both pediatrics and psychiatry in Philadelphia.

In the 1960s, while teaching at Temple University, he became an active opponent of the Vietnam War. He went to jail at least once for participating in a protest; and he was chairman of a group called the Committee of Responsibility to Save War-Burned and War-Injured Vietnamese Children, which brought injured youngsters to the United States for medical care.

One of those children lived with us, at our house, said his son, Joshua. I was only 4 years old, but I remember.

Dr. Needlemans first marriage, to Shirley Weinstein, ended in divorce. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, the former Roberta Pizor; a son from his first marriage, Samuel; two children from his second marriage, Joshua and Sara Needleman Kline; as well as seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

In a 2005 interview, Dr. Needleman was asked whether the attack on his credibility was meant to scare off other researchers looking into environmental toxins. If this is what happens to me, what is going to happen to someone who doesnt have tenure? he replied.

Im worried that people who are trying to get a niche and dont have tenure are asked to do things they question the ethics of, he continued. They are intimidated. Its a real force.

Benedict Carey is a New York Times writer.
1 Flood warnings: The National Weather Service issued flood warnings Saturday for the District of Columbia and surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia. Heavy rains caused several waterways to flood, including Rock Creek in the District of Columbia. Heavy rains caused a basement wall to collapse in an apartment building in southeast Washington, displacing 11 people, according to the districts fire department.

2 Chemical plant fire: A factory that produces agricultural chemicals caught fire Saturday in Atmore, Ala., blanketing the area with potentially hazardous smoke and prompting an order for people to remain indoors. Police said the fire began before dawn at a factory operated by Tiger-Sul Products, and crews were still on the scene hours later. No injuries were reported. Police Chief Chuck Brooks said sulfur was burning in a warehouse, and up to 300 residents near the plant were asked to stay inside their homes as a precaution. The plant is located about 50 miles northeast of Mobile in a town of about 10,000 people.
A 30-year-old homeless man was found dead by paramedics inside of a donation box on the streets of a South Los Angeles neighborhood on Friday.

An unidentified neighbor told ABC7 that she called 911 after seeing that the man was laying motionless inside of a box where people leave old clothes and unwanted items.

"He wasn't moving so I said, 'Oh, wow. Maybe I better call 911.' So that's what I did," the woman said. "By the time paramedics came, they tried to revive and get him out, but it took like 30 minutes to get him out. So they had to go and get these electric saws to get him out."

Another neighbor, Shirley Williams, told NBC4 that the man tried to reach inside of a small opening in the box, and that "his head was caught in there with his legs out."

Ryan Pelham

Neighbors also stated that they have seen this man at the donation box in the past, and that they would like to see the box removed from their neighborhood.

"Everywhere, clothes are pulled out of there, that could have happened to anyone, not just this man," Jackie Love told ABC7. "I guess they were trying to help the community, but all they did was add more junk to the community."

NBC4 reports that the box was set on the sidewalk illegally, and that police are trying to find the owner of the box.

There is no company name on the box, and both ABC7 and NBC4 have been unsuccessful in their attempts to find out where it came from.
By PTI: Kohima, Jul 29 (PTI) Voting has began amidst tight security for the by-election to the Northern Angami-I Assembly constituency in Kohima district from where former Nagaland chief minister president Shurhozelie Liezietsu is contesting on a NPF ticket.

Voting started at 7 am and will end at 4 pm, official sources said.

A total of 16,235 voters, which include 7697 male and 8538 female will exercise their franchise in 25 polling stations.

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The contest in the Northern Angami seat is straight between Liezietsu and and his only rival Independent candidate Kekhrie Yhome.

The by-election was necessitated following the resignation of sitting MLA Khriehu Liezietsu on May 24 last, so that his father Shurhezelie Liezietsu could get elected as regular member of the state assembly.

Long ques of voters were seen in polling booths. PTI NBS RG PS

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MARTINEZ, Calif. (AP)  The State Bar Court of California announced Friday it has temporarily suspended a former Contra Costa County district attorney who pleaded no contest to perjury over his personal use of campaign funds.

The association is also investigating whether Mark Peterson merits further punishment, including disbarment, the East Bay Times reported Friday.
By PTI: New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) A Delhi court today denied bail to a woman director of two Dubai-based firms, arrested in connection with the probe into the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper money laundering case, and sent her to judicial custody.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar sent Shivani Saxena, a director of M/s UHY Saxena and M/s Matrix Holdings, both located in Dubai, to judicial custody for 14 days after her ED custody expired today.

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The court had on July 26 granted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) three more days to interrogate her, after the agency submitted that she was required to be confronted with various incriminating documents to ascertain the proceeds of the crime and the money trail.

The ED had arrested Saxena on July 17 from Chennai under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Saxena and her husband Rajiv are residents of Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, an archipelago which is home to the most expensive properties in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The ED alleged that the two Dubai-based firms Saxena was involved with are those "through which the proceeds of crime have been routed and further layered and integrated in buying the immovable properties/shares among others" in this case. PTI UK AG ARC

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By PTI: Gurgaon (Hr), Jul 29 (PTI) A woman today approached police claiming that her braid was "mysteriously" chopped off, in a first such case being reported from the Millennium City.

Notably, several cases of mysterious braid chopping have been reported from various villages in Mewat region recently, and prior to that in parts of Rajasthan.

Sunita Devi, a resident of Ashok Vihar phase-III area, said yesterday around 10 pm she was attacked by a strange- looking man, in his 60s, when she was alone in her house.

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"While I was preparing dinner in the kitchen, I saw a thin man in a red and yellow outfit on the main entrance of my house. When I went to enquire, I saw he was carrying a trident. I told him to go away. He went away and disappeared ... when I closed the gate, he mysteriously reappeared," she told PTI.

Sunita said before she could comprehend anything she fell unconscious.

"When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on the floor and my braid was chopped off," she said, adding her house, however, was not ransacked.

Police said they have made a Daily Diary entry of the incident and launched a probe into the matter.

Gurgaon Police PRO Ravinder Kumar said the perpetrator was yet to be identified and the woman has not complained of any external wound.

He also confirmed that this was the first such case of braid chopping in Gurgaon.

The woman was in extreme trauma and still terrified. She was admitted to a private hospital and discharged this evening, he said.

"The victims husband has made a complaint at Sector 5 police station. We have made DD entry to mark it for investigating the matter as prima facie there is no such criminal part in it. We have enhanced the night patrolling in the area," Kumar said.

The officer said the matter was quite complicated and sensitive too.

"We are examining the CCTV footages of leading areas, streets and roads to get clue as no one, including the victims, has concrete evidence about such incidents which have been reported in Mewat region also in the last two weeks," he said.

"In all cases, the victims are getting unconscious at the time of chopping hair and all of them are claiming phantasm," he added. PTI CORR KIS KIS

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This would be the first time women would be inducted in the armed forces as jawans.

By Ajit Kumar Dubey, Manjeet Negi: Seeking to open more avenues for women in the force, the army is now planning to induct women as jawans in the military police. Army chief General Bipin Rawat has sought the views of all army commanders on this issue. This would be the first time that women would be inducted in the armed forces as jawans, almost 25 years after the three services starting taking in women in the officer cadre in the 1990s.

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"This would be the first time that women officers would be inducted into the forces as jawans and this is planned to start with the military police," a senior army source said. The requirement for women in military police was felt as they are required in operations where women have to be dealt with and the male jawans cannot be employed.

For this task, the army relies on either the local police or the CRPF to send in their troops from the women battalions and sometimes this causes delays in launching the operations.

In places such as Kashmir, during combat operations against terrorists, a large number of local women gather around as protesters, and in future, the women in olive green can be used to tackle them. "Even in ceremonies and events in peace stations where invitees have to be frisked, we have to rely on other forces to check the females. With women in military police, this problem can be done away with," the source said.

'ARMY COMMANDERS TO GIVE INPUTS TO CHIEF'

The seven Army commanders, who head the operational and training commands of the force, will give their inputs to the army chief on the issue before the plans start taking shape for implementation on ground, the sources said.

Asked if the Army had any plans of taking women in infantry battalions, the sources said the stand on this issue remains the same as it was earlier when Rawat had indicated that any direct combat role for women officers in the army would meet with logistical difficulties.

Rawat had said that it was up to the women to decide if they are willing to join men in frontline combat roles without separate and additional facilities, while mentioning that when out on tanks, the men sleep under the tank during the night with no separate facility.

"You have to see society as whole. I have said that if we induct women into combat roles, they will have to share equal responsibility like their male counterparts because equal opportunity must come with equal responsibility. Which means that they will have to perform exactly the same task," he had said.

Earlier also, when the issue of inducting women in combat roles came up in 2015, the view among the top brass in the defence ministry was that women's induction on infantry would be possible only if women-only battalions are created with females only as their commanding officers.

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The armed forces are also in the process of identifying the issues that could be faced in inducting women in combat roles and opening more avenues for them.

The forces are also in the process of listing the issues that can be faced and the legal framework that will be required for them to serve in the forces. A large number of women officers have been inducted in the armed forces since 1990s, but they got into combat roles with the Air Force inducting three lady officers as fighter pilots last year.

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Indian Army to deploy women in combat role on frontlines soon?

Wife of Army officer slaps junior officer's spouse during an event; matter reaches PMO

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JNU Vice-Chancellor wants tank on campus to remind students of army's sacrifices

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John Morris, a renowned picture editor who left an indelible stamp on photojournalism from World War II through the Vietnam War, died Friday at a hospital near his home in Paris. He was 100.

His friend and colleague Robert Pledge, a founder of the agency Contact Press Images, confirmed the death.

Mr. Morris had a long and storied career in picture editing. In one memorable instance, in wartime London, he edited Robert Capas historic pictures of the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944 and got them printed and shipped to New York in time for the next weeks issue of Life, the countrys largest-circulation picture magazine at the time.

Forceful and sometimes fractious, Mr. Morris had a peripatetic career that included stops at most of the major postwar centers of American photojournalism. In addition to Life, he worked for the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Geographic and the celebrated cooperative agency Magnum Photos.

Though a lifelong Quaker and pacifist  he made an exception for World War II, calling it just  Mr. Morris was closely associated with images of war, which he was instrumental in placing before the eyes of the world.

At Magnum he offered assignments to the great war photographer and photo essayist W. Eugene Smith after Smith had a falling-out with Life.

While working for the Times during the Vietnam War, he successfully argued for front-page display of Eddie Adams photograph of a Saigon police chief shooting a suspected Viet Cong insurgent in the head. It appeared as the lead picture on Feb. 2, 1968, and became one of the most indelible images to emerge from the war.

So did a photo of a naked Vietnamese girl running from a napalm bombing raid. (The photograph was credited to Nick Ut, whose given name was later revealed to be Huynh Cong Ut.) Mr. Morris persuaded editors to run that photo at the bottom of the front page despite a Times policy against nudity. Both that photograph and the one by Adams won Pulitzer Prizes.

Mr. Morris was himself an eyewitness to history: In the early morning of June 5, 1968, he witnessed the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The most terrible event I think I ever witnessed up close, he said in an interview.

It turned him  for a day, at least  into a reporter (he seldom carried a camera himself): His eyewitness account appeared on the front page of the next days Times, under his byline.

For five minutes, the throng in the Embassy Room was thrown into a state of panic, Mr. Morris reported. The cries of admiration changed to hysterical screams as the shots  muffled by the crowd noise  penetrated the consciousness of the bystanders.

John Godfrey Morris was born in Maple Shade, N.J., on Dec. 7, 1916, and grew up in Chicago. He became passionate about journalism as a student at the University of Chicago in the 1930s, going to work for the campus newspaper and founding a student magazine called Pulse, loosely modeled on Life.

After graduation he came to New York and, in 1938, found a job at Life as a clerk. He worked his way up to Hollywood correspondent and, with the outbreak of World War II, London picture editor, in charge of Lifes photographic coverage of the war in Europe.

His editing of Capas photos of D-Day produced one of the more enduring bits of lore in photojournalism history. As the story went, Capa sent the London office four rolls of film from Normandy, but in the rush to process them a darkroom technician overheated the film during drying, ruining all but 11 frames.

Or so the technician had told him, Mr. Morris said, and he related that account for 70 years or so.

But recently, persuaded by newer theories that have since emerged, he came to believe that a darkroom error was not the reason there were so few Capa frames. He told Jim Estrin of the Times in December 2016 that he believed that Capa had been so rattled during the withering fire at Omaha Beach that he exposed only 11.

Mr. Morris went to Normandy within weeks of the invasion to see the Western Front for himself and better understand the photos he had been editing in London. Allowed to walk ashore at Normandy in July 1944, he spent a month in the combat zone accompanying photographers, including Capa, for Life and the Associated Press. In Normandy, he and Capa narrowly avoided being wounded when they came under fire from a German platoon.

Mr. Morris left Lifes London bureau at the end of the war and, after a brief stint heading the magazines Paris bureau, returned to New York and became the picture editor of Ladies Home Journal.

It was an unlikely home for the kind of photojournalism he had championed, but in 1948 he persuaded the magazines editors to print photographs of Russia that Capa had taken on a trip with John Steinbeck, and he later introduced a series of picture essays called People Are People the World Over.

By Mr. Morris account, the series partly inspired Edward Steichen to curate The Family of Man, an exhibition of more than 500 pictures by more than 270 photographers that opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955.

His association with Capa led Mr. Morris to leave Ladies Home Journal to become the first executive editor of Magnum, which had been founded by Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour and George Rodger in 1947.

Hired in 1953, Mr. Morris was put in charge of selling Magnums pictures to magazines, running its offices in New York and Paris, and managing its mercurial and far-flung photographers. By the end of his first year, he was already arguing with Capa about the agencys future size and direction, but he remained Magnums main manager and salesman for nine years.

He joined the Washington Post in 1964 with the title of assistant managing editor, responsible for, among other things, choosing color photographs for the front page. The Post was one of the first large newspapers to run color photos.

But he was fired after less than a year, having run afoul of a deputy managing editor, and returned to New York, where he joined the Times. He was picture editor there from 1967 to 1973, during the height of the Vietnam War.

After stepping down as picture editor, he was named head of NYT Pictures, a syndication service started by the Times primarily to market the work of its staff photographers. He left that job in 1975.

Mr. Morris returned to Paris in 1983, soon after marrying Tana Hoban, a photographer who specialized in childrens books, and spent the next six years as Paris editor of National Geographic. He was a frequent visitor to the United States to judge photojournalism competitions and to lecture at journalism schools.

Mr. Morris had been widowed twice when he married Hoban, and she, too, died before him, in 2006. His first wife, the former Mary Adele Crosby, with whom he had four children, died in 1964. His second wife, the former Marjorie Smith, a school headmistress and single mother of two sons with whom he had two daughters, died in 1981.

Among his honors was the Legion dHonneur, presented in 2009, and an Infinity Award for lifetime achievement given by the International Center of Photography in New York in 2010.

He is survived by his partner, Patricia Trocme; four sons from two marriages, John II, Chris, Kirk and Oliver; and four grandchildren.

Andy Grundberg is a New York Times writer.
MANADO, Indonesia  A six-nation summit co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia agreed Saturday to set up a forum to strengthen cooperation between intelligence services to counter extremist threats in Southeast Asia.

Security ministers and officials from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and New Zealand held a one-day meeting in Manado, the capital of Indonesias North Sulawesi province, focusing on the Islamic State group attack on the southern Philippine city of Marawi.

Indonesias top security minister, Wiranto, told a news conference that the six countries agreed to establish the Foreign Terrorist Fighters Forum to strengthen information sharing and cooperation between law enforcement and intelligence services.

The Marawi occupation has raised fears that the Islamic State groups violent ideology has taken root in the Philippines restive south and could destabilize neighboring countries. More than 600 people have been killed in the conflict, including foreign fighters, and the city has been devastated by government air strikes against the militants. Indonesia and Malaysia also face the threat of citizens who went to Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamic State returning home and carrying out attacks.

We cannot keep silent because terrorism has become a real threat to humanity, said Wiranto, who uses one name. Not a single country is free from the threat of terrorism and therefore this threat must be faced together.

He said immigration procedures should also be strengthened to prevent militants from traveling in the region.

Australian Attorney General George Brandis said the conflict in Marawi reminds us in the most immediate possible way of the urgency and the proximity of the threat that is faced by all of us.
1 Taliban attacks: Militants in Afghanistan laid siege Saturday to police outposts in southern Helmand province, killing at least 12 officers, officials said. Attaullah Afghan, a member of the Helmand provincial council, said Taliban fighters attacked the outposts in the Nawa district overnight and fighting continued Saturday. He said the death toll so far was 12 officers killed with another 12 wounded. In a statement, the Taliban said their fighters captured two security posts and killed 25 officers. It was not immediately possible to independently confirm the conflicting reports, but the Taliban often exaggerate their claims.

2 Terror plot: Australian police disrupted a plot to bring down an airplane and arrested four men in raids on homes in several Sydney suburbs, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Sunday. Turnbull said security has been increased at Sydney Airport since Thursday because of the plot. Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said details were scant on the specifics of the attack, the location and timing. There was no evidence that airport security had been compromised, Colvin said. We believe its Islamic-inspired terrorism, Colvin said when asked who was behind the plot.
ISTANBUL  Seven staff members of an opposition newspaper were released from a Turkish jail Saturday pending the outcome of their trial on charges of aiding terror organizations.

A court ruled for the release of Cumhuriyet newspapers cartoonist Musa Kart and six others Friday, but ordered four others to remain held.

The daily newspaper is staunchly opposed to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and is one of the few remaining outlets in Turkey critical of the government.

Nineteen defendants went on trial Monday for allegedly aiding several outlawed organizations, including Kurdish militants, a far-left group and the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the government blames for a failed coup last year.

Upon being released from prison, Kart said they had been imprisoned for nine months for unjust, lawless, baseless allegations. He said the indictment would collapse with their release.

Their families and supporters embraced them outside the prison on the outskirts of Istanbul. The terms of their release bar them from leaving Turkey.

I thought Id be very happy at the moment of my release, the 63-year-old cartoonist said. Unfortunately, four of our friends are still in Silivri prison.

Cumhuriyet Editor in Chief Murat Sabuncu, investigative journalist Ahmet Sik, prominent columnist Kadri Gursel and chairman Akin Atalay remain behind bars.

The Cumhuriyet arrests are part of a wider crackdown in the aftermath of last summers bloody coup attempt that has led to the imprisonment of more than 50,000 people.
SEOUL  South Korea announced Saturday that it will soon start talks with the Trump administration about allowing Seoul to build more powerful ballistic missiles to counter the North, but current and former U.S. officials said the move would have little effect on the most urgent problem facing Washington: North Koreas apparent ability to strike California and beyond.

The Souths newly elected president, Moon Jae-in, called for the relaxation of limits on its missile arsenal hours after the North launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, 2,300 miles into space. Experts quickly calculated that the demonstrated range of that test shot, if flattened out over the Pacific, could easily reach Los Angeles and San Francisco and perhaps as far as Chicago and New York, though its accuracy is in doubt.

The new missiles that South Korea wants, in addition to being able to strike deep into the North, could be a way of pressuring China to restrain Pyongyang because the missiles would likely be able to hit Chinese territory as well.

Moons top national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, called his White House counterpart, Gen. H.R. McMaster, Saturday to propose that the allies immediately start negotiations to permit South Korea to build up its missile capabilities. McMaster agreed to the proposal, which would probably involve increasing the payload on South Koreas ballistic missiles, according to officials in both countries.

South Korea needs approval from the U.S. to build more powerful missiles under the terms of a bilateral treaty.

The United States sent two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against North Korea after the countrys latest intercontinental ballistic missile test.

The U.S. Pacific Air Forces said the B-1 bombers were escorted by South Korean fighter jets as they performed a low-pass over an air base in South Korea before returning to Guam. The mission was a response to the consecutive tests by North Korea this month.

There are still questions over whether the North can shrink a nuclear weapon to fit atop its intercontinental missiles, or keep it from burning up on re-entry into the atmosphere.

But at the Pentagon and inside U.S. intelligence agencies, there was a sense that the North had now crossed a threshold it has long sought: Demonstrating that if the U.S. ever threatened the government of Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, it had the ability to threaten death and destruction in the continental United States.

The U.S. has lived with that threat from Russia and China for decades, but the past four U.S. presidents have all said the country could not take that risk with a government as unpredictable as North Koreas.

Hours after Fridays test, former U.S. officials said President Trumps options are limited.

In the White House, you have a threshold decision: Can you get them back to the table or not? Mark Lippert, President Barack Obamas ambassador to Seoul, said Saturday about negotiating with the North Koreans  a step Trump said during the 2016 campaign, and again several months ago, he was willing to try. Lippert said he supports Washingtons current diplomatic efforts as well as United Nations sanctions against the North.

But so far, the North has not responded, perhaps calculating that it first wanted to demonstrate it was a permanent member of the club of nuclear-armed nations, and able to strike U.S. cities, to strengthen its position before any negotiation.

Lippert, speaking at a conference in Kent, Conn., said that barring negotiations, the question gets binary pretty quick: containment or some kind of military operations.

Some analysts believe the U.S. will simply learn to live with the Norths new capability, despite the words of Trump and his predecessors.

We are left in a situation where they believe we will ultimately acquiesce, said Christopher Hill, an American diplomat who led nuclear negotiations with North Korea during the last Bush administration, which resulted in the dismantlement of part of a plutonium reactor. Hill is now dean of the Korbel School at the University of Denver.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Choe Sang-Hun and David E. Sanger are New York Times writers.
Last week in an unprecedented interview, Ali Fallahian, the former Iranian intelligence Minister, revealed the mindset behind the mass execution of summer of 1988. Ali Fallahian, who was called as the most feared mullah in Iran by the News Week is wanted by Interpol for his involvement in the AMIA bombing that killed 85 people on July 18, 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In the interview, Fallahian explained that whoever had any relation with the MEK was condemned to death.

Regarding MEK and all the militant groups, the ruling is the death sentence  Imam (Khomeini) has said this  their verdict is death sentence  Fallahian said in the interview.

Mr. Mousavi (Tabrizi) who was the Revolutions general prosecutor used to say that there is no need for trial at all  it makes no sense that we try them  Imam repeatedly insisted that you should be careful not to let them go Imam continuously stressed that you should always be cautious of this matter  Their ruling is always execution. This was his (Khomeinis) verdict as the supreme leader, both before and after this event of 1988 (massacre of political prisoners). Fallahian said in the interview referring to MEK members and supporters.

 First, you should bear in mind that their (MEKs) ruling was death punishment; and if the religious judge did not sentence them (MEK) to death, his ruling has been illegal  so all of us should acknowledge that the verdict for a Monafeq [the term used by the regime to call a MEK member or sympathizer] is death sentence, this was both Imams fatwa and his verdict there was a discussion about those who were supposed to be executed, but the executions did not carry out, and those who were to be executed but didnt get a verdict. Nonetheless why they were kept alive against Imams (Khomeini) will? Fallahian said, responding to a question about the victims of the massacres of 1988 (MEK members and supporters) who were serving their sentences.

When someone is a member of a military group, and that group is fighting with us, regardless of whether that person is armed or not, he is one of them (and should be executed). Fallahian said referring to MEK members.

In the summer of 1988 Khomeini, the supreme leader of regime issued a religious decree calling for the massacre.

Whoever at any stage continues to belong to the (PMOI/MEK) must be executed. Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately!Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the MEK are waging war on God, and are condemned to executionIt is naive to show mercy to those who wage war on God, reads part of the decree.

A committee of four men was formed to implement the order, and in a matter of few months over 30,000 political prisoners were executed, mostly members and supporters of the MEK.

Fallahian is not the only official confessing to the massacre of political prisoners and MEK members and supporters. Ahmad Khatami, a board member of the regimes Assembly of Experts, in Tehran Friday prayers sermon called for the perpetrators of the massacre of MEK members to be awarded medals.

Mullah Abbasian, another Friday prayers imam, made similar remarks and said:

During the election season we witnessed how a number of people sought to change the MEKs image and criticized those who stood against the MEK Hats off to the judge who executed MEK members

Earlier this month in an interview with a state news agency Ali Razini, the head of Branch 41 of the Supreme Court  said that the execution of prisoners in 1988 in what has been named the 1988 massacre was fair and lawful. In the interview he confessed that the objective of the massacre was to uproot the MEK.

Rulings by the top 20 judges and I ensured the countrys security at that time and ever since. As a consequence, the MEK can never establish itself here. We nipped them in the bud.

Razini said referring to the rulings of massacre of thousands of MEK members.

Last week a number of political prisoners in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj in a letter to UN Human Rights council wrote: The formation of a committee to investigate the massacre in 1988 is necessary not only for the same crimes and prosecution of the perpetrators, but also for preventing repeat of such atrocities. The fact is that the number of executions and human rights violations in Iran are still catastrophic, as the perpetrators of those crimes were not held accountable or punished

Marking the 29th anniversary of this horrific purge, the time has come to hold the mullahs regime accountable for crimes against humanity.

*****

More about MEK:

A Long Conflict between the Clerical Regime and the MEK

The origins of the MEK date back to before the 1979 Iranian Revolution., the MEK helped to overthrow the dictatorship of Shah Reza Pahlavi, but it quickly became a bitter enemy of the emerging the religious fascism under the pretext of Islamic Republic. To this day, the MEK and NCRI describe Ruhollah Khomenei and his associates as having co-opted a popular revolution in order to empower themselves while imposing a fundamentalist view of Islam onto the people of Iran.

Under the Islamic Republic, the MEK was quickly marginalized and affiliation with it was criminalized. Much of the organizations leadership went to neighboring Iraq and built an exile community called Camp Ashraf, from which the MEK organized activities aimed at ousting the clerical regime and bringing the Iranian Revolution back in line with its pro-democratic origins. But the persistence of these efforts also prompted the struggling regime to crack down with extreme violence on the MEK and other opponents of theocratic rule.

The crackdowns culminated in the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988, as the Iran-Iraq War was coming to a close. Thousands of political prisoners were held in Iranian jails at that time, many of them having already served out their assigned prison sentences. And with the MEK already serving as the main voice of opposition to the regime at that time, its members and supporters naturally made up the vast majority of the population of such prisoners.

As the result of a fatwa handed down by Khomeini, the regime convened what came to be known as the Death Commission, assigning three judges the task of briefly interviewing prisoners to determine whether they retained any sympathy for the MEK or harbored any resentment toward the existing government. Those who were deemed to have shown any sign of continued opposition were sentenced to be hanged. After a period of about three months, an estimated 30,000 people had been put to death. Many other killings of MEK members preceded and followed that incident, so that today the Free Iran rally includes an annual memorial for approximately 120,000 martyrs from the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

The obvious motive behind the 1988 massacre and other such killings was the destruction of the MEK. And yet it has not only survived but thrived, gaining allies to form the NCRI and acquiring the widespread support that is put on display at each years Free Iran rally. In the previous events, the keynote speech was delivered by Maryam Rajavi, who has been known to receive several minutes of applause from the massive crowd as she takes the stage. Her speeches provide concrete examples of the vulnerability of the clerical regime and emphasize the ever-improving prospects for the MEK to lead the way in bringing about regime change.

The recipients of that message are diverse and they include more than just the assembled crowd of MEK members and supporters. The expectation is that the international dignitaries at each years event will carry the message of the MEK back to their own governments and help to encourage more policymakers to recognize the role of the Iranian Resistance in the potential creation of a free and democratic Iranian nation. It is also expected that the event will inspire millions of Iranians to plan for the eventual removal of the clerical regime. And indeed, the MEK broadcasts the event via its own satellite television network, to millions of Iranian households with illegal hookups.

MEKs Domestic Activism and Intelligence Network

Whats more, the MEK retains a solid base of activists inside its Iranian homeland. In the run-up to this years Free Iran rally the role of those activists was particularly evident, since the event comes just a month and a half after the latest Iranian presidential elections, in which heavily stage-managed elections resulted in the supposedly moderate incumbent Hassan Rouhani securing reelection. His initial election in 2013 was embraced by some Western policymakers as a possible sign of progress inside the Islamic Republic, but aside from the 2015 nuclear agreement with six world powers, none of his progressive-sounding campaign promises have seen the light of day.

Rouhanis poor record has provided additional fertile ground for the message of the MEK and Maryam Rajavi. The Iranian Resistance has long argued that change from within the regime is impossible, and this was strongly reiterated against the backdrop of the presidential elections, when MEK activists used graffiti, banners, and other communications to describe the sitting president as an imposter. Many of those same communications decried Rouhanis leading challenger, Ebrahim Raisi, as a murderer, owing to his leading role in the massacre of MEK supporters in 1988.

That fact helped to underscore the domestic support for the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran, insofar as many people who participated in the election said they recognized Raisi as the worst the regime had to offer, and that they were eager to prevent him from taking office. But this is not to say that voters saw Rouhani in a positive light, especially where the MEK is concerned. Under the Rouhani administration, the Justice Minister is headed by Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who also served on the Death Commission and declared as recently as last year that he was proud of himself for having carried out what he described as Gods command of death for MEK supporters.

With this and other aspects of the Islamic Republics record, the MEKs pre-election activism was mainly focused on encouraging Iranians to boycott the polls. The publicly displayed banners and posters urged a vote for regime change, and many of them included the likeness of Maryam Rajavi, suggesting that her return to Iran from France would signify a meaningful alternative to the hardline servants of the clerical regime who are currently the only option in any Iranian national election.

Naturally, this direct impact on Iranian politics is the ultimate goal of MEK activism. But it performs other recognizable roles from its position in exile, not just limited to the motivational and organization role of the Free Iran rally and other, smaller gatherings. In fact, the MEK rose to particular international prominence in 2005 when it released information that had been kept secret by the Iranian regime about its nuclear program. These revelations included the locations of two secret nuclear sites: a uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy water plant at Arak, capable of producing enriched plutonium.

As well as having a substantial impact on the status of international policy regarding the Iranian nuclear program, the revelations also highlighted the MEKs popular support and strong network inside Iran. Although Maryam Rajavi and the rest of the leadership of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran reside outside of the country, MEK affiliates are scattered throughout Iranian society with some even holding positions within hardline government and military institutions, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Drawing upon the resources of that intelligence network, the MEK has continued to share crucial information with Western governments in recent years, some of it related to the nuclear program and some of it related to other matters including terrorist training, military development, and the misappropriation of financial resources. The MEK has variously pointed out that the Revolutionary Guard controls well over half of Irans gross domestic product, both directly and through a series of front companies and close affiliates in all manner of Iranian industries.

In February of this year, the Washington, D.C. office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran held press conferences to detail MEK intelligence regarding the expansion of terrorist training programs being carried out across Iran by the Revolutionary Guards. The growth of these programs reportedly followed upon direct orders from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and coincided with increased recruitment of foreign nationals to fight on Tehrans behalf in regional conflicts including the Syrian and Yemeni civil wars.

In the weeks following that press conference, the MEKs parent organization also prepared documents and held other talks explaining the source of some of the Revolutionary Guards power and wealth. Notably, this series of revelations reflected upon trends in American policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. And other revelations continue to do so, even now.

MEK Intelligence Bolstering US Policy Shifts

Soon after taking office, and around the time the MEK identified a series of Revolutionary Guard training camps, US President Donald Trump directed the State Department to review the possibility of designating Irans hardline paramilitary as a foreign terrorist organization. Doing so would open the Revolutionary Guards up to dramatically increased sanctions  a strategy that the MEK prominently supports as a means of weakening the barriers to regime change within Iran.

The recent revelations of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran have gone a long way toward illustrating both the reasons for giving this designation to the Revolutionary Guards and the potential impact of doing so. Since then, the MEK has also used its intelligence gathering to highlight the ways in which further sanctioning the Guards could result in improved regional security, regardless of the specific impact on terrorist financing.

For example, in June the NCRIs Washington, D.C. office held yet another press conference wherein it explained that MEK operatives had become aware of another order for escalation that had been given by Supreme Leader Khamenei, this one related to the Iranian ballistic missile program. This had also been a longstanding point of contention for the Trump administration and the rest of the US government, in light of several ballistic missile launches that have been carried out since the conclusion of nuclear negotiations, including an actual strike on eastern Syria.

That strike was widely viewed as a threatening gesture toward the US. And the MEK has helped to clarify the extent of the threat by identifying 42 separate missile sites scattered throughout Iran, including one that was working closely with the Iranian institution that had previously been tasked with weaponizing aspects of the Iranian nuclear program.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) led by Maryam Rajavi is thus going to great lengths to encourage the current trend in US policy, which is pointing to more assertiveness and possibly even to the ultimate goal of regime change. The MEK is also striving to move Europe in a similar direction, and the July 1 gathering is likely to show further progress toward that goal. This is because hundreds of American and European politicians and scholars have already declared support for the NCRI and MEK and the platform of Maryam Rajavi. The number grows every year, while the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran continues to collect intelligence that promises to clarify the need for regime change and the practicality of their strategy for achieving it.
The first stage is estimated to cost $2 billion, with an end price of up to $5 billion, with production projected to start within 40 months. Irans domestic market will receive the supply in 2021.

However, Washington continues to impose sanctions on Tehran, and their comprehensive Iran policy has not yet been defined.

Numerous concessions have been provided to Total by Iran, so the risk may be worth taking. As well, Iran may receive no compensation if Total decides to abandon the contract. This happened ten years ago, when a similar contract was signed between Iran and Total, which ended with the French company pulling out and not paying any compensation. As the contract remains classified, this scenario is only a possibility.

Khamenei has remained silent despite all the disagreements and discussions inside the regime. Irans parliament canceled any and all discussions, and as in all major policy matters, Khamenei has the final word.

The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) are concerned, as the Total deal leaves it out of earning any direct revenue.

The $4.8 billion deal only provides for 2.5 percent of Tehrans investment needs, because in the next five years, according to the Oil Ministry, Iran will need around $200 billion in investments. This deal provides only 1/40th of that amount. In fact, according to the Iranian Parliamentary Research Center, Iran will go from being an oil exporter to becoming an oil importer if around $150 to $200 billion in foreign investments are not realized in the next decade.

Total, a foreign company, owns 50.1 percent of contract share, China owns 30 percent and Iran owns only 19.9 percent. This huge gas resource, that belongs to the Iranian people, will be handled by a foreign company. This contract is considered illegal, according to the Guardian Council, a body tasked to oversee the parliaments actions. This is based on Article 81 of Irans constitution, which states that no contract should place over 50 percent of shares to a foreign company, especially a long-term and classified company set for 25 years. Additionally, based on Article 77 of the Iranian Constitution, the parliament must be informed of all foreign contracts.

Total is not even obliged to transfer any technology to Iran until the gas field begins to lose its output. Only then is Total obligated to provide Iran its technology.

Iran claims that this deal signals that the sanctions wall is crumbling, yet the US Congress is back to work, and Iran sanctions bill are high on its agenda.

According to the Financial Times, Washingtons efforts to keep Iran at a distance from the international banking system have has much the same effect as would tearing up the nuclear deal. Warnings by The Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body established to fight global money laundering, have been issued about the consequences of any deals made with Iran.

The FATF listed nine countries, including Iran, who have failed to take action against financial measures that provide money to terrorists, as well as money laundering.

The Iran list of sanctioned individuals and entities involved in nuclear and ballistic missile activities has been renewed by the European Union. Individuals with renewed information on the EU list include 23 names:

 IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Suleimani.

 Former IRGC chief Rahim Safavi.

 Former IRGC Basij chief Mohammad Reza Naqdi.

 Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs of Iran Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr.

 Former Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Fereydoon Abbasi.

 Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, also involved in Irans controversial nuclear program

Also included on this are 14 nuclear and ballistic missile groups and centers.

While the U.S. administration continues to analyze its Iran policy, and regime change is a major possibility as stated by White House officials, Iran is not a politically stable country.

In a recent interview, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said that establishing friendly relations with Iran hinges on regime change. In a Congressional hearing last month, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also spoke of peaceful regime change.

The Iranian opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), held its famous annual convention in Paris in early July. Hundreds of dignitaries and many thousands of Iranian expats gathered together, from across the globe.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, considered Trump emissaries, discussed the necessity for regime change in Iran.

A viable alternative to the regime in Tehran, the NCRI, proves that regime change is achievable.

Total should reconsider the risk of doing business with Iran.
American allies have already been told by US officials that they should be prepared to join in reopening negotiations with Iran, or expect that the United States may abandon the agreement, as it did the Paris climate accord.

The United States has begun raising the possibility of demanding access to military sites in Iran where there is reasonable suspicion of nuclear research or development with international inspectors in Vienna, according to several foreign officials.

Rufusal by the Iranians could enable Washington to declare Tehran as being in violation of the deal.

Because it was never a treaty, Trump has latitude to abandon the accord. President Barack Obama made an executive agreement, which his successor can eliminate by disregarding the accords requirement to waive sanctions against Iran.

Trumps instructions followed a series of exchanges with Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, after Trump balked at certifying for a second time since he took office, that Iran is in compliance with the agreement. He later reluctantly approved the certification.

According to an official, regarding his inability to find Iran non-compliant, he had a bit of a meltdown when that wasnt one of the choices. Hes made it clear he does not plan to let that happen again.Were doing very detailed studies, he told The Wall Street Journal in an interview this week. He later said that when the next 90-day review of the deal comes around, I think theyll be noncompliant.

His aides described the studies Mr. Trump referred to as evenhanded efforts to evaluate the costs and benefits of staying inside the deal, which limits Irans ability to produce nuclear fuel for at least the next nine years, versus abandoning it.

Some say that abandoning the agreement would come at a high diplomatic cost. Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, the other parties to the agreement, do not share Mr. Trumps objections. The United States will be isolated on the issue, if it withdraws support for the accord, much as it is on the climate change agreement.

Still, Trump said, Look, I have a lot of respect for Rex and his people, good relationship, he said of Mr. Tillerson. Its easier to say they comply. Its a lot easier. But its the wrong thing. They dont comply.

In an interview this week with The Washington Post, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, and longtime critic of the deal, suggested that this is not the moment to abandon something that is largely working. What I say to the president, and this is what Tillerson, Mattis and McMaster say, said Mr. Corker, referring to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, is that you can only tear the agreement up one time. He argued for a more nuanced approach. Radically enforce it, and demand access to various facilities in Iran.
By Nathan Eagle on 28 July 2017 for Civic Beat -

Image above: A Waikiki lifeguard station surrounded by ocean water is barely operational today. From original article promo.

Image above: Coastal highway on north shore of Oahu threatened by high ocean waves. From original article.

Image above: The beach at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel is under ocean waves that break against the hotel's porch railing. From original article promo.

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SUBHEAD: Climate change and ocean rise is forcing difficult choices on Hawaii now.A coastal hazard expert briefs Hawaii officials and others about the need to adapt to rising sea levels and warmer temperatures.With the impacts of climate change bearing down on Hawaii, government officials and community members need to make some important decisions about the islands iconic coastlines, said Dolan Eversole, a coastal hazards expert with the University of Hawaiis Sea Grant program.Thats the policy question that were faced with now  whats more important, protecting the property or protecting the beach? he said. Its not a simple answer.Eversole was addressing a roomful of state and county officials, nonprofit leaders and others Thursday at the annual State of Hawaii Drowning Prevention and Ocean Safety Conference at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu.Even under conservative projections, he said Hawaii will have to adapt to a suite of issues that are exacerbated by increasing temperatures and rising sea levels, including coastal erosion, hurricanes, tsunamis, high surf, high winds and flooding.Climate change is not necessarily an independent problem, Eversole said. Its going to overlie the problems that we have and in many cases make them worse.The king tides that caused flooding in Waikiki and other parts of the state this summer were in many ways a glimpse into the future, he said.Its not all doom and gloom though, at least compared to other coastal states like Florida and Louisana that are also being forced to adapt to climate change.Hawaii has the advantage of topography, Eversole said. Elevations increase quickly in the mountainous islands, so adapting for some can mean moving to the other side of Kamehameha Highway, which wraps around Oahus northern coast.Its going to be inconvenient but we wont have to go too far, he said, underscoring how thats not even an option in some other places.Eversole is also heartened by Hawaii having a climate adaptation plan underway. The first part of that plan, due in December, will show how sea-level rise will likely affect hotels, homes and other properties in the coming decades.Honolulu Emergency Services Director Jim Howe, who was the citys longtime ocean safety chief, said the city has much of the necessary information and has started to respond.He said the newly created Office of Climate Change, Resilience and Sustainability has held its first major gathering of stakeholders to gain input. A full report from that meeting with roughly 350 individuals from businesses, nonprofits, government and environmental groups is coming, he said, but the preliminary results illustrate the need to focus on the coastal areas and infrastructure.Were going to have to make some priority decisions, Howe said. Where are we going to best spend our money? What is going to be the best approach for us as a community? Thats a dialogue that we need to have.He said Hawaii has to brace for weather impacts, from increased flooding to more frequent hurricanes.All of us in the community need to be prepared, Howe said. The more we can be proactive, the better off were going to be in the end.Theres a lot at stake. Hawaiis economy largely depends on millions of tourists coming to visit its famed beaches.Hospitality Advisors, a consulting firm, estimated Waikiki Beach alone contributes more than $2 billion in visitor spending annually.Waikiki Beach is already in need of millions of dollars of overdue work and theres still no master plan for the beach, Eversole said.And the adjacent Kuhio Beach is a public safety emergency, he said, noting how sections of the groin are collapsing in front of a mound where hula dancers perform.Its a mess right now, he said. Its the worst Ive ever seen it.Studies are underway, including the states $800,000 Waikiki Beach Technical Feasibility Study, and public-private partnerships have formed to address the most serious problems.The Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District Association is splitting a $1.5 million project with the state to fix the Royal Hawaiian groin, which Eversole said literally holds together Waikiki Beach.Commercial properties pay a special tax that funds the associations projects, which are all focused on beach management.Construction may not begin for two years, though, due to permit requirements, Eversole said.Hawaii is probably one of the most vulnerable areas to coastal hazards in the world, he said.This is not the first time Eversole has waved flags trying to alert the public and policymakers to the problems Hawaii faces due to climate change.He was lead author of a 2014 UH Sea Grant report, funded by the Hawaii Tourism Authority , that details the current and future effects of climate change in the islands.Eversole said what concerns scientists the most are the extremes, not the averages, in terms of swings in temperatures and the rates of change.The rate of warming air temperature in Hawaii has quadrupled in the last 40 years to more than 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. This causes stress for plants and animals, heat-related illnesses in humans and expanded ranges for pathogens and invasive species, he said.It could get exponential at some point in the future unless we do something about it, he said.When it comes to sea-level rise, the global average is 4 millimeters a year, but its not uniform. Low-lying atolls in the western Pacific are seeing 10-millimeter increases annually while Hawaii is averaging 1.5 millimeters a year.Eversole said that Hawaii should not bank on its below-average increase because projections show it will greatly accelerate.Inarguably in the scientific community, climate change is real. There is no question, he said. The only question that surrounds climate change is what do we do about it. Were in a catch-up mode.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 30-year-old male was assaulted and robbed early Saturday morning in Tompkinsville, according to preliminary information from the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Police responded to a call of an assault at 1:44 a.m. in front of 53 Victory Blvd., the spokesman said.

Police said an unidentified suspect took $50 from the victim before fleeing.

The victim suffered a laceration to his left arm, according to the NYPD spokesman.

An FDNY spokeswoman said the victim was taken to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze with minor injuries.

No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing, according to the spokesman.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island car dealership found the key to kindness recently as it handed over the keys to a 2017 Dodge Durango GT to Blue Lives Matter-NYC.

Dennis Cooper and Roman Lirman, co-founders of Exotic Motor World in New Dorp, donated the vehicle July 21 to show their support for police officers, including their neighbors across Hylan Boulevard at the 122nd Precinct stationhouse.

"We always look at police officers with a lot of respect. We understand that the men and women who put on the blue uniform, it's not an easy job," Cooper said. "In honor of that and fallen officers, we wanted to show our appreciation."

The car will be used for the nonprofit organization's everyday tasks, such as transportation to and from meetings and fundraisers, as well as helping the families of fallen officers travel between boroughs or to Blue Lives Matter events.

It also will be used in the visits the Blue Lives Matter team makes to the families of officers killed in the line of duty.

"It's a big deal ... To have people out there that want to support the police means so much to get us to that next step and next level," said Joey Imperatrice, the founder and president of Blue Lives Matter-NYC.

"Just to see the smile on their faces means the world to us," Cooper said, adding that they made the decision to donate the vehicle after meeting Imperatrice and learning about the Blue Lives Matter-NYC organization.

On Sunday, Aug. 13, Blue Lives Matter-NYC and Exotic Motor World will partner to host a police appreciation day at the dealership at 2351 Hylan Blvd. The free event will feature 20 to 30 exotic specialty cars, music, food and beverages, and a rock-climbing wall for the NYPD and their families.

"We're going to continue pushing forward. This is only the beginning," Cooper said of the dealership's support.
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. -- Speaking to hundreds of members of local police departments on Long Island Friday, President Donald Trump vowed to stop the violent gang MS-13 in parts of Suffolk County and other areas of the country, while bashing Mayor Bill de Blasio and suggesting cops rough up violent suspects that they arrest.

More than 100 members of local law enforcement stood behind Trump on the stage inside a packed auditorium at the Brentwood campus of Suffolk County Community College, creating a blue backdrop with large boards plastered with "American Heroes" and "Protecting American Lives."

They, and the others in the audience in front of them, along with local Republican elected officials, were a welcoming crowd for the president, who flew from Washington, D.C., that morning with Rep. Daniel Donovan aboard Air Force One.

During the flight, the president discussed with Donovan replacing Chief of Staff Reince Priebus with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

Donovan is on the House Homeland Security Committee, and is chairman of its subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications.

Trump asked Donovan his opinion of Kelly, according to Donovan's office. Hours later, Trump announced he was replacing Preibus with Kelly.

Donovan, who got a front row seat to the speech next to Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin and upstate Rep. Chris Collins, and who has had a good relationship with Trump, got a brief public greeting from the president.

"Dan Donovan, thanks Dan, thank you Dan," Trump said awkwardly, giving brief, yet friendly, greetings to the three other members of Congress there.

Donovan, district attorney of Staten Island for 12 years before being elected to Congress, prosecuted gang crime.

The president spent most of his 35-minute speech thanking law enforcement, vowing to destroy the gang, and promising to give police the tools they need to do so.

"MS-13, the cartel, has spread gruesome blood shed throughout the United States -- we've gotten a lot of them out of here. ... But the rest are coming, they'll be out of here quickly, right?'

He said, "From now on, we're going to enforce our laws, protect our borders and support our police like our police have never been supported before."

While Trump spoke inside, across the street from the college, hundreds of protesters gathered, chanting and shouting while holding signs.

Some say the president doesn't separate members of MS-13 from hard-working and law-abiding immigrants, inviting hateful rhetoric on that group.

Others say the ICE crackdown on criminal undocumented immigrants make all immigrants afraid of reporting crimes to the police for fear of deportation, making gang activity go unreported and the members emboldened.

The president spoke to the ICE agents in the room also, promising he would continue to ask Congress to fund another 10,000 agents to help with enforcement and removal of MS-13 members and other violent undocumented immigrants.

"The men and women of ICE are turning the tide in the battle against MS-13 but we need more resources from Congress, and we're getting them," the president said.

MS-13 started in Los Angeles and is made up mostly of El Salvadorians, and immigrants from other South American countries.

Recently, more than 15 members of the gang were arrested for five murders on Long Island, including four young men killed in a park with wooden clubs, machetes and knives.

"They prey on children, they shouldn't be here," Trump said. "They stomp on their victims, they beat them with clubs, they slash them with machetes and they stab them with knives. They have transformed peaceful parks and beautiful, quiet neighborhoods into blood-stained killing fields. They're animals."

In his introduction of the president, Rep. Peter King, whose district includes the neighborhood of Brentwood where the event was held, said the president is dedicated to "decimating and destroying MS-13 ... And we're not going to worry about political correctness."

Talking to the law enforcement members sometimes like it was an informal conversation, the president took a shot at the mayor.

"I've met police that are great police that aren't allowed to do their job because they have a pathetic mayor, or a mayor that doesn't know what's going on."

The officers cheered during a sustained applause.

"Were you applauding for someone in particular?" Trump said tongue-in-cheek.

Austin Finan, a de Blasio spokesman, said, "It appears the defeat of his biggest agenda item has really upset the president. He needs to get a grip. The truth is the women and men of the NYPD are doing their jobs better and more effectively than ever before -- strengthening bonds with the communities they serve and driving crime to historic lows."

The president relayed a conversation he had with acting director of ICE, Thomas Homan, while on Air Force One.

"How tough are these guys?" Trump said he asked about MS-13.

The president said Homan responded: "They're nothing compared to my guys."

"Sometimes that's what you need, right?" Trump said.

Later he added, police shouldn't take it easy when arresting the gang members.

"When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough."

"I said, 'Please don't be too nice.' When you guys put somebody in the car and you protect their head. The way you put the hand ... like, they just killed somebody and 'don't hit their head.' I said, 'You can take the hand away'."

Law enforcement there applauded the half-joking suggestion of police brutality.

During a six-week sweep, ICE arrested about 1,400 people for gang-related activity.

According to ICE, 1,095 were confirmed gang members, and 238 were arrested for either criminal or administrative charges. More than 900 of the people arrested were Americans citizens.

The brutal murders will stop, Trump said. He told the police on Long Island, "You're not going to allow it to happen, we're backing you up 100 percent, remember that ... They're going back to their country. Period."
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump announced Friday he was appointing Homeland Security head John Kelly to be White House chief of staff, ending the tumultuous six-month tenure of Reince Priebus.

After months of speculation about Priebus' fate, Trump tweeted the decision just as he landed in Washington after an event in New York in which he lavishly praised Kelly's performance at Homeland Security.

P:riebus, the former Republican National Committee head, was the frequent target of rumors about his job security, the victim of a long whisper campaign by Trump allies and the subject of a remarkable public rebuke this week by the new White House communications director.

Trump's announcement on Twitter: "I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American ... and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration."

He also saluted Priebus, the chief of staff he had just pushed out.

"I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!"

Speaking to reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, Trump said: "Reince is a good man. John Kelly will do a fantastic job."

Kelly is a retired Marine four-star general.

Priebus never could bring a semblance of order to the team of in-fighting rivals that populate Trump's West Wing, and questions about his future have long swirled around the office. Those questions sharply escalated this week with the arrival of Anthony Scaramucci, the hard-charging communications director who was hired over Priebus' objections.

Priebus' already tense relationship with Scaramucci took a darker turn over the past two days when the communications chief suggested in a late-night tweet that Priebus was one of the "leakers" that Trump has railed against. The New Yorker published an interview Thursday in which Scaramucci called Priebus, amid an avalanche of vulgarity, a "paranoid schizophrenic"

Both Scaramucci and Priebus traveled to New York's Long Island with Trump on Friday for an event where the president highlighted efforts to crack down on the gang MS-13. Priebus took the return flight to Washington, his fate sealed in the tweets that were sent by the president just as he stepped off the plane. Priebus did not respond to reporters' shouted questions.

From day one, Priebus' power has been limited compared with past officials with his title. In a highly unusual arrangement, Trump said at the outset that Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon would serve as "equal partners" in implementing his agenda.

Priebus, who hails from Wisconsin and has deep ties House Speaker Paul Ryan, had grown increasingly isolated in the White House, as past Republican National Committee colleagues and other allies have left or been pushed out of the West Wing. Those who have departed include former deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, outgoing press secretary Sean Spicer and press aide Michael Short.

Scaramucci was the latest top aide to be granted a direct line to Trump, and it became increasingly unclear who actually reported to Priebus.
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[July 28, 2017] Certified True Randomness Created by Cambridge Quantum Computing

CAMBRIDGE, England, July 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mission critical part of the process to safeguard communications in the quantum computing age developed by Cambridge Quantum Computing Background The generation of random numbers and sequences is a critical part of numerous computational processes that are vital across the world and across industries. Generating random numbers is the most critical aspect for any secure communications using quantum computing or quantum technological platforms - by definition, quantum keys cannot be developed without a secure source of true, device independent randomness. Until now, classical random number generators are entirely deterministic. Even the most sophisticated method or programme for generating randomness relies on a pre-set algorithm or series of algorithms. Consequently, this output cannot be trusted without further assumptions that in turn undermine the process. Since it is not possible to create randomness out of nothing random numbers generated by any sort of software are vulnerable to hacking or repetition. Quantum mechanics is intrinsically probabilistic and therefore allows for the generation of randomness (for example sending a photon through a beam-splitter and measuring in which arm it ends up). However even here one must trust that the quantum devices are operating, as they should. True certifiable randomness requires a protocol that is device independent. Cambridge Quantum Computing ("CQC") has answered a question that has challenge researchers for decades - is there a way of generating randomness in a device-independent and certifiable way?



Cambridge Quantum Computing ' s Invention As recent headlines from around the world including China and Russia reinforce the inevitable move from digital to quantum-based communications, the very foundations of our encryption systems will need reviewing.

The most critical component in any quantum technology or quantum computing based communications methodology is the ability to generate random numbers. All quantum key distributions will require such basic ingredients. There has, until now, been no true "certified" randomness in the world, and even primitive quantum mechanical based random number generators are not device independent or certified. Cambridge Quantum Computing has invented a certified true randomness generation protocol that is device independent. The protocol, which the company refer to as "RNG", was invented by CQC's scientists Fernando Brandao (currently at Caltech) and Simone Severini (currently at UCL), and has been one of the core projects of Cambridge Quantum Computing. The company said "Having spent a number of years perfecting the research basis for RNG, we are in the early stages of commercialising this essential technology that in many ways has for decades been the 'holy grail' for quantum communications." The company continued, "For the first time in human history we have the ability to generate and use certified true randomness. CQC's protocol allows scaled use that will be the embedded key for all future quantum communications where randomness is required to be guaranteed and to be device independent. Applications ranging from national security to finance, and including communications from embedded devices and the 'internet of things' to basic fintech effectiveness will require RNG. In fact anyone who uses Monte-Carlo simulations will also require certified true randomness and will ultimately have to migrate from pseudo-random generating methods to secure truly random generators that are device independent" About Cambridge Quantum Computing Based in Cambridge and London, and with offices in Hong Kong and a presence in the United States, CQC is the leading independent quantum algorithm and quantum software company. In addition to the randomness protocol CQC has created a unique compiler (named "t|ket>") for quantum processors. CQC is also active in creating quantum algorithms that will drive value from early stage quantum processor with "shallow" circuits and has a focus here in two areas - firstly the analysis of complex time series and secondly on quantum chemistry. More information can be found at http://www.cambridgequantum.com Contacts: Ilyas Khan, CEO, +44-203-301-9333

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A 29-year-old Karabar man will remain in police custody after being charged with accessory after the fact to the 2016 murder of Canberra artist Eden Waugh.

Taniela Manu Pikula appeared before the ACT Magistrates Court on Saturday after he was arrested by ACT Police on Friday night in relation to the alleged murder of the 37-year-old in Watson in November.

Taniela Manu Pikula, 29, being escorted by police in a van to court. Credit:Elliot Williams

It is alleged Pikula assisted two men being investigated for Waugh's murder, Jason Pikula-Carroll, 21, and Tavake Lee Pikula, 31, between November 3 and November 14. The men have not yet been charged.

A woman was charged earlier this year with accessory after the fact for the murder, allegedly stashing the murder weapon. She was released on bail this month after pleading not guilty.
Billionaire Richard Branson says he's ceding control of Virgin Atlantic Airways so that the carrier can join what it claims will be "the most significant joint venture in aviation."

For Virgin, the deal may be as much about gaining a lifeline after years struggling to keep up with British Airways.

Branson, 67, said in an open letter when Air France-KLM Group announced the purchase of 31 per cent of Virgin Atlantic on Thursday that the deal, tied to an expansive trans-Atlantic alliance, will allow the British airline to "prosper and grow" in coming decades "as I get a little older."
Workplace inspectors would get new powers to raid workplaces to check people were not being underpaid and labour hire companies would need to comply with new licensing agreements under a NSW Labor crackdown on wage theft.

In his speech to the NSW Labor Party conference on Saturday ALP leader Luke Foley launched a landmark industrial relations policy to combat the underpayment of young and other vulnerable workers.

Ashleigh Mounser was underpaid in numerous jobs in Wollongong. Credit:Janie Barrett

"There'll be punishing fines for companies and jail terms of individuals guilty of systemic wage theft," Mr Foley said.

A NSW Labor government would make head franchisors legally liable for any breach of fair work laws. New wage theft laws would impose fines and criminalise the deliberate underpayment of workers and would include jail penalties of up to 14 years.
[July 28, 2017] Global Bare Metal Cloud Market to Grow at a CAGR of 40% by 2023: Key Players are Century-link, Datapipe, Dell Technologies, IBM, Joyent & Rackspace Hosting - Research and Markets

The "Global Bare Metal Cloud Market Insights, Opportunity, Analysis, Market Shares And Forecast 2017 - 2023" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering. The global bare metal cloud market is growing with a CAGR of 40.3% during the forecast period (2016-2023). Bare metal cloud is a public cloud service where customer leases hardware resources from a remote service provider. The major advantage of the bare metal cloud is that it offers flexibility. Businesses face the challenge to find the right cloud for their needs with the ability to customize software for unique app requirements, hence the bare metal cloud is used. It has virtualization, no operating system (OS), or applications. The major factors boosting bare metal cloud market is bare metal cloud for DevOps and big data applications, bare metal cloud for batch processing and microservices applications, nd increasing awareness in open compute project (OCP (News - Alert)).



The major challenges of the bare metal cloud market are risk with disease transmission and difficulties faced in the bare metal restore. Bare metal cloud is evolving the high-performance market. IT professionals and system administrators are majorly adopting the bare metal cloud services for more flexibility. Furthermore, as the cloud has broken up conventional business models, IT experts required to figure out how to relate the adaptability of the cloud with the security and energy of their bare metal servers or hardware framework. Companies Mentioned

Bigstep

Centurylink Inc.

Datapipe (News - Alert)

Dell Technologies, Inc.

Ibm Corporation

Internap Corporation

Joyent

Limestone Networks, Inc.

Oracle Corporation

Packet

Rackspace Hosting (News - Alert)

Scaleway Incorporation

Spotinst

Storm Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction 2. Market Overview 3. Market Determinants 4. Market Segmentation 5. Competitive Landscape 6. Global Bare Metal Cloud Market By Region 7. Company Profiles For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fhzsk6/global_bare_metal View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170728005551/en/

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Migrant farm workers are taking on one of Australia's richest families, the Smorgons, in what could be the first major strike in the farm sector for many decades.

The workers and a union are seeking better pay and conditions at giant glasshouses north of Adelaide at a company majority owned by a Smorgon-family investment company.

Ejaz Ali, who gave evidence in the Fair Work Commission asking to be allowed to go on strike over conditions at Perfection Fresh in Adelaide Credit:James Elsby

Strikes are almost non-existent in the farm sector, which is overwhelmingly non-union. On Friday, three migrant workers appeared in the Fair Work Commission to argue that they were genuinely representing their co-workers and wanted to strike.

One worker, Ejaz Ali, speaking through a Hazaragi interpreter, said he was representing up to 50 workers and that they were prepared to strike so they "could demand our rights". He said workers "had a lot of differences" with their employer, Perfection Fresh.
Whenever a politician falls foul of Section 44, there are those who argue that it is some sort of constitutional anomaly now out of date. Credit:Louise Kennerley Tony Abbott is said, by the British High Commission, to have positively renounced his British citizenship in 1993. I expect he has done enough, though my guess is that his children (and his wife) could even now obtain British passports on the basis of the facts of Abbott's birth and parentage, even if they are not at this moment British citizens. Rupert Murdoch effectively renounced his Australian citizenship when he became, for business reasons, an American citizen. In those days, the US would not allow dual citizenship; nowadays it does. If Murdoch chose to resume his Australian citizenship without dropping his American citizenship, he might have an argument that he is no longer subject to Australia's (fairly weak) laws restricting foreign media ownership. Though he remains fond of boons, special favours and grovelling obsequiousness from Australian politicians on both sides of the fence, I expect that he accepts that resumption of citizenship would not be popular here, given his abandonment of heaven on earth. The modern-day equivalent of 1960s conscription of Australians by countries such as Italy, Greece, Spain, Yugoslavia and Israel is the fact that some countries such as China treat people they regard as citizens as locals when they are in their original homeland even after we have come to consider them as Australians. This can persist past renunciation. China concedes our officials some limited consular rights. A claim of continuing reach of law and duty, even after renunciation, is a potential threat to any traveller having dual citizenship, even when unaware of the fact. The nature and reach of Australian citizenship has several times changed since federation, when most non-Aboriginal Australians were mere British subjects. Section 34 of the Constitution said that until Parliament otherwise provided, a federal politician "must be a subject of the Queen, either natural-born or for at least five years naturalised under a law of the United Kingdom, or of a colony which has become or becomes a state, or of the Commonwealth or of a state."

There are those who think that changing the constitution to have fewer elections might be more popular. I doubt it. This "must be" provision is match by the "must not be" words of Section 44. Its first part says that any person who "is under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power" is incapable of being chosen or sitting as a member of the federal parliament." Whether one fits in such categories is a matter of fact, not of intention, and, it is clear, ignorance of one's status is not a defence. We are all, by and large, relaxed about our citizens having dual citizenship of other countries. At least while we are at peace. But any nation has a right to insist, in wartime anyway, that any of our citizens gives us their full-blooded loyalty and allegiance, not to another nation of which they are simultaneously a citizen. Nor is it safe to assume that a citizen's obligations to Australia depend on domicile of the moment. A Greek Australian on holiday in Greece, or a dual Australian and Israeli in Israel is not excused their duties to Australia while there. Preferring one's rights and duties to another country, even an ally or a neutral, can lead only to trouble, particularly but not only when the defence and foreign affairs interests of the two countries are in conflict. . At least since Sir Roger Casement was executed for treason in Britain a century ago, it has been clear that adhering to one's country's enemies while abroad is as much treason as doing so at home. (An alternative interpretation of the centuries-old statutes was rejected by the courts, leading some to say that Sir Roger, an Irish patriot, had been "hanged by a comma".)

Many of us are, rightly, deeply suspicious and worried about whether our rights and duties as citizens are to be enumerated, interpreted and enforced by people such as Peter Dutton, Mike Pezzullo or Roman Quaedvlieg. Our constitution, including s44, provides some protection from their potential excesses. I doubt that all the skills and powers of this trio could persuade Australians that we needed weaker constitutional protections. People even further on the political fringe would have a field day if anyone tried. Section 44 also excludes those convicted or under sentence of a crime potentially punishable by a sentence of more than a year (the provision that took out Rod Culleton as a One Nation senator for Western Australia); or those who are bankrupt or insolvent (which also affected Culleton, and threatened the career of Senator Robert Day, the Family First senator for South Australia); holding an office of profit under the crown, or a Commonwealth pension (which was a problem for Phil Cleary, elected to the House of Representatives while he was still a teacher); and having a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a government contract (another, fatal problem for Bob Day, and now a problem for a Turnbull Minister, David Gillespie, whose case, like Canavan's, is bound for the High Court. Gillespie owns a shopping centre, in which one of the buildings is leased to the post office. I don't think any politician could find a popular constituency for weakening the government contract provision. It reflects an anti-corruption attitude that developed with blatant jobbery, bribery and chicanery by 19th century politicians. Like the provision about office of profit under the crown, it also represents an attempt to prevent ministers from influencing politicians with offers of jobs, pensions and juicy perks. If not a spectacularly successful attempt. If some politicians deserve sympathy, but not much support, for their constitutional difficulties, there are those who think that changing the constitution to have fewer elections might be more popular. I doubt it. Australians might not much like being too often in electoral mode, if only because they see enough of politicians. Likewise, there are insider observers who claim that short terms make politicians nervous about doing unpopular things. I doubt myself that longer terms infuses timorous politicians with extra courage or boldness, and, in any event, rejoice in the opportunity to throw the bastards out as frequently as possible. With the US House of Representatives, one gets this chance every two years. There has never been any great difficulty in getting politicians to agree, at least for a time, that the terms of politicians (in the Reps anyway) should be extended. In various states and territories, politicians, if not the people, have voted themselves extended terms. .

But even Australians who are said to hate going too often to the polls can recognise a rort when they see it. On the last occasion, 30 years ago, when a four-year term proposition was put to the people at referendum, voters rejected the proposition two to one, and the proposition did not have majority support in a single state: 6.3 million Australians said no; 3.1 million yes. The leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, is the latest champion of four-year terms, and Malcolm Turnbull is happy enough to go along now that it has been raised by the other side. But it is to be doubted that their joint advocacy will be any more successful than the advocacy of Bob Hawke, and the initial, later withdrawn, support of John Howard and the Liberals. The Liberals were to renege on initial support when Peter Reith convinced Howard that there should be a populist campaign against all four propositions in the 1988 referendums. Reith wanted simplistic slogans warning of the accretion of power in Canberra, and the risks of an over-powerful state. (I expect Reith would have had a field day if a sinister and authoritarian Home Affairs Department went to popular referendum.) While many Liberals tended to support two of the four referendum propositions on offer (four-year terms and mention of local government in the constitution, Reith argued that it would be tactically better to oppose all four propositions. The other two wanted to enshrine one-vote one-value, and prevent gerrymanders; another created a very limited set of Bill of Rights-style personal freedoms. All four failed miserably, no proposition achieving majority support in any state, and only one (for fair elections) even in the ACT. Fair elections did best, with 38 per cent support; the rights and freedoms proposition was the least supported, with only 31 per cent in favour.
It is perhaps the greatest practical and symbolic transition from childhood to adulthood. That moment when a newly licensed teenager hops behind the wheel of a car and drives away.

Most adults have fond memories of taking to the road, initially with some trepidation but, as time goes on, with increasing confidence and a sense of freedom.

Sun Herald Editorial dinkus. Credit:Fairfax

But as Julie Power's chilling investigation last week showed, allowing young people to travel in cars with their mates can have deadly consequences. Power detailed the incredible pain and suffering inflicted on the family of 17-year-old Jackson Williams, who was killed when the car he was travelling in with four others veered off the road and smashed into a telegraph pole on the Central Coast. The driver, who was 17 at the time and had his P-plates for two weeks, was last week sentenced to 200 hours of community service and his licence was suspended for three years.

For Jackson's mother, Michelle, life will never be the same. Unfortunately, her story is not an isolated one.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has mocked the idea of a yes or no vote on the republic, arguing it won't deliver jobs in North Queensland.

But Australian Republican Movement's chief Michael Cooney says it's time for Malcolm Turnbull  a former head of the ARM  to stand up and take the lead on the issue.

Critics have argued Barnaby Joyce should be relieved of the water resources portfolio. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In a major speech to an 800 person fundraising dinner for the ARM on Saturday evening, opposition leader Bill Shorten will promise that  if he wins the next election  Australians will vote in his first term on a straightforward question: "Do you support an Australian republic with an Australian head of state?"

Mr Shorten's promise means a first vote on the issue would be held sometime between 2019 and 2022, and would be followed by a second vote that would settle the tricky issue of the best model  for example, whether a president was chosen by direct election, or the parliament.
The president of the Australian National University Students' Association James Connolly has gone public with his own alleged sexual assault. Credit:Jamila Toderas Allegedly raped by a staff member at another institution, Louise, not her real name, says she reported her assault when he later began teaching at an education provider affiliated with the university. Documents released under freedom of information laws show the university immediately requested the teacher be suspended and provided counselling for Louise, but the teacher was later reinstated by the affiliated education provider in 2012 after no charges were laid. Abby Stapleton, the national women's officer for National Union of Students. Credit:Ben Searcy Louise has put in a formal complaint to the Human Rights Commission and is encouraging other survivors to do the same.

"When universities are failing to respond to reports of sexual assault and harassment, this is preventing equal access to education." Students at every WA university have reported sexual harrasment. Credit:James Brickwood In NSW and Victoria, less than 20 per cent of cases of sexual assault result in criminal proceedings being initiated. A spokesman for the University of Adelaide said, as the incidents took place at a separate institution, the university was not responsible and it received no reports from other students after Ms Duncan disclosed further harassment, limiting their ability to take further action. Interim vice-chancellor Mike Brooks said when he met with Louise he tried to make clear the university's genuine compassion.

"We remain committed to doing all we can to assist," he said. Louise has referred her case to the South Australian Police through its Royal Commission branch and has taken her story public ahead of the release of the world's largest survey into sexual assault. The survey of 31,000 students, to be released by the Human Rights Commission on Tuesday, is likely to raise further allegations, not just against students, but also of staff and the institutions that employ them. Figures obtained under freedom of information laws by Sunday Night, seen by Fairfax Media, show up to 20 per cent of complaints of sexual assault at the University of NSW between 2010 and 2016 involved staff. At the University of Western Sydney, a male staff member who had five sexual harassment complaints made by female students was suspended before being issued a warning when he returned to work.

In April, a University of Canberra law lecturer who lured students into his office for plagiarism checks was found guilty of raping a student and indecently assaulting others, while showing another a pornographic PowerPoint slide. In May, despite receiving a petition signed by thousands, the University of Tasmania refused to remove a former high school teacher turned PhD candidate who had been convicted of child exploitation and of maintaining a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. All universities have since introduced sweeping changes into how they deal with sexual assault, including training hundreds of staff and launching complaint portals, while funding a national 1800 hotline. Universities Australia chief Belinda Robinson has acknowledged the issue is a "a community challenge".

"And it's one that university leaders want to address," she said last week. "All of us  university leadership, students and staff  can help to shift understanding and attitudes. "We expect the results will be challenging for everyone. But particularly so for students and survivors who have told their stories as part of this work." Sexual assault advocate Nina Funnell, who on Saturday launched an End Rape on Campus campaign to give a face to the stories of assault, said the "reactive approach was too little to late". "For over five decades students have tried to highlight the issue of sexual assault within university communities," the sexual assault survivor said. "Many who have participated in the campaign have said my university failed me and the institutional betrayal can be worse than the assault."

The president of the Australian National University Students' Association James Connolly did not want to wait until the survey was released to go public with his own story. The 22-year-old has spoken about his own alleged rape to stifle the culture of "toxic masculinity" among male survivors of sexual assault in a move that has been hailed by ANU as one of "extraordinary bravery". Mr Connolly said he was pinned down and assaulted by a man he invited back to his college but denied consent. "He was holding me down harder. He was stronger than me, larger than me. I was unable to move. He had silenced me," he wrote this week in ANU publication Woroni. Mr Connolly told Fairfax Media he had been discouraged from reporting to the university or police by seeing so many other survivors re-traumatised.
The Turnbull government has condemned a "reckless and menacing" intercontinental ballistic missile test by North Korea, which is the second test by the rogue state in the past month.

The latest missile test flew further and higher than the July 3 test and was described as a "stern warning" to the United States. North Korea claims the test proves it can strike the US mainland and, therefore, potentially, the northern Australian city of Darwin.

Australia last month announced increased sanctions on North Korea and in a statement, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and Defence Minister Marise Payne criticised Friday's test in arguably the strongest language yet from the Australian government.

"The ballistic missile tests and North Korea's ongoing reckless and menacing behaviour, are in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions, is a threat to regional and global security and stability and is in violation of the rules based order we seek to promote and advance," they said.
Bill Shorten will slam the door shut on tax loopholes that let high income earners legally use trusts to slash their tax bills, in a move designed to raise $17.2 billion over 10 years.

The new tax policy, foreshadowed by Fairfax Media a week ago, is the second-largest revenue raising measure announced by the federal opposition, after its ambitious plan to curb capital gains and negative gearing tax breaks, designed to raise $37 billion over 10 years.

Mr Shorten will tell Labor's NSW conference on Sunday that, if he wins the next election, he will introduce an across-the-board minimum 30 per cent tax rate on discretionary trust distributions to people over the age of 18.

The policy, Labor argues, will only affect 2 per cent of taxpayers and is a fairness measure that puts middle-income earners on level pegging with Australia's most wealthy.
Little more than an hour into Labor's annual conference factional rancour and insult trading has erupted on the issue of former NSW Labor general secretary, minister, numbers man and practitioner of "whatever it takes politics", Graham Richardson's key address at the conference overshadowing the morning proceedings.

Only about half an hour after the 2017 NSW Labor conference was opened with a welcome to country ceremony, factional sniping dominated conference speeches between the party's left and its dominant right wing, focused pointedly on Mr Richardson's speech on Sunday, which this week attracted widespread controversy.

By lunchtime, however, delegates united to give the party's NSW leader Luke Foley a standing ovation in response to his conference speech.

"When conference met last year, the then Premier was, we were told, far and away the most popular political leader in the nation," he said. "Remember him?"
Economists love a cash gift because it has the same value for both the giver and the recipient. In 1993 economist Joel Waldfogel coined the term "deadweight loss" to describe the gap between the price you pay for something and what it's actually worth. His research with undergraduates led him to conclude that gift giving destroys 10-30 per cent of value  so if you buy someone a $100 bag, they'll value it between $67 and $90. Cash avoids that wastage, and gift cards are the next best thing. Many Australians feel gift cards are a more thoughtful, personal gift than cash, and one that implicitly encourages the recipient to spend it on something nice for themselves, rather than on the weekly groceries. Mind you, this is probably overstated by retailers. In 2014 Choice surveyed 735 of its members and found that only one in four would prefer a gift card over cash. The problem is not everyone is as diligent in spending their gift cards as I was at 16. A Finder survey of 2005 people found almost one in six people have let funds expire on gift cards in the past two years. On average we've left $54 in unspent credit on gift cards  effectively donating $142 million back to the retailers over the past two years. On average, men are more wasteful, leaving $68 on the card on average, while women leave $45, Finder says.

In the past three years three out of five respondents to the Choice survey experienced a problem with a gift card such as being caught out by expiry, while one in three had lost the full value of at least one gift card in the previous three years. I think there are a few reasons for this. First, gift cards can be lost, or simply left at home so you don't have them when you need them. Put them in your wallet, even if it bulks it out, or spend it online. Second, gift cards usually expire and while some retailers will give you a grace period, others are hardcore. Some cards expire after three months, most are 12 months, and a handful never do. Third, there's the hassle factor, especially if you're busy and it's not a store you shop at frequently. The overwhelming majority of gift cards in Australia are "closed loop", which means they can only be used with a specific retailer or group of retailers. They are usually free, whereas "open loop" cards such as those issued by Visa can incur fees for purchase, redemption and the privilege of checking a balance. Fourth, there's always the risk of the retailer going out of business, as happened with Dick Smith just after Christmas 2015. Retailers such as Australia Post and supermarkets that sold the Dick Smith cards tried to do the right thing by customers, but many people lost money.

Also many retailers distribute low-value gift cards as marketing. I don't know about you, but if I've somehow wound up with a card entitling me to $20 at a fancy online florist where the minimum spend is $80, I won't use it unless I'm already planning to shop there. The shift to digital gift cards may improve the redemption rate. When my aunt gives me a gift card, she tells me to send a photo of what I actually buy and follows up if I don't. But most gift cards don't come with an in-built reminder system. I'm not a big fan of vouchers simply being emailed to me, as there's a high chance they'll sink into my inbox and never emerge. But I like the sound of the Prezzee app, which will store your gift cards and then nag you to spend them. Unfortunately, it's only for gift cards bought through the Prezzee platform and you can't use it as a repository for all your gift cards. Loading
Chinese intelligence officials sought the help of a Sydney crime figure as the middle man in an operation to smuggle weapons to Islamic militants in Iran and Lebanon.

US counter-terrorist and organised crime investigators, including agents from the FBI, have identified a Sydney criminal identity as a man who brokered the deal between Middle East militant groups and Chinese arms suppliers in about 2011.

Hezbollah members during a military operation in Syria last week. Credit:HEZBOLLAH MEDIA OFFICE HANDOUT

The crime figure is a Sydney money launderer who was a Hezbollah functionary and met with Chinese nationals identified by the US as intelligence operatives.

Hezbollah-aligned figures asked that the man broker the international arms deal, according to briefings from officials who asked not to be identified.
[July 28, 2017] Cloud9 Technologies Cracks the Code on Trader Voice Transcription

Cloud9 (News - Alert) Technologies, the leading voice collaboration and analytics platform for financial firms and institutional traders, today unveiled the industry's most advanced and accurate voice transcription solution. The Cloud9 Voice Transcription solution, developed with cutting-edge deep learning technology in partnership with Google (News - Alert) and Quantiphi, provides firms with the ability to harness the insight in their voice trading recordings and data by converting speech to text. The groundbreaking solution will revolutionize compliance, surveillance, and advanced analytics in the trader voice space. "Today, PMs, traders, and analysts utilize only 5% to 10% of voice data for analysis - with Cloud9's Voice Transcription Solution, they can now use 100%," said German Soto Sanchez, Global Head of Corporate Development at Cloud9. Cloud9 solved the complex problem of trader voice transcription by collaborating with Quantiphi and leveraging Google's TensorFlow technology to build a custom model that can detect and accurately transcribe trader voice conversations. Historically, this process has proven impossible to address using conventional transcription tools, with existing industry offerings falling significantly short of their stated accuracy and performance. "Trader voice comes with a unique set of problems for transcription - it's full of slang and jargon, it includes overlapping speech and pitch variations, and the audio clips tend to be only a few seconds - all which make it incredibly difficult to transcribe. Typical transcription models and approaches do not work for the financial services industry," said Asif Hasan, Co-Founder of Quantiphi. "Cloud9 had to build its model from the ground-up using advanced, deep learning technologies. The result is, frankly, magic - we are able to transcribe multiple trader voices at unprecedented levels of accuracy within millisecnds."



This custom-transcription model can be applied to other highly-specialized, vernacular-heavy areas like air traffic control, legal, and healthcare. "What we've been able to accomplish with Cloud9 and Quantiphi is incredibly impressive and couldn't have been done with the technologies available two or three years ago, let alone five years ago," said machine learning expert, Lukman Ramsey, Cloud Solutions Architect at Google. "It's a prime example of the benefits of Google TensorFlow - not only does it democratize the process, but it also supports machine learning projects in highly-specialized industries where technology hasn't gone before."

Cloud9's transcription solution debuted in a live demonstration at the Google NYC offices in front of a capacity crowd composed of representatives from major financial services firms, technologists, and industry consultants. The Cloud9 Voice Transcription solution represents the Company's first of many analytics offerings that will leverage its expertise in deep learning through its Google and Quantiphi partnership. "Cloud9 Trader Voice Transcription will be game-changing for this industry," said Richard Bryant, a fixed income trader and capital markets executive with over 20 years of trading experience. "To hear an actual trader voice call and then to see the model identify the complex jargon and precisely transcribe the conversation is truly remarkable. Up until now, since many had promised and failed to provide such a solution, I did not think this was remotely feasible." "Legacy voice turret infrastructure simply cannot support transcription at this standard," said Soto Sanchez. "The Company's highly advanced cloud based platform represents a quantum leap in voice trading technology and was critical in providing the unique inputs necessary for the creation of this sophisticated solution. With our transcription solution, we've unlocked the potential within voice to power analytics and help firms develop greater insight into their trades and trade activity." "In short, the future of advanced trading is through the power of voice, and by partnering with Google, the world's leading speech to text company, and the top data science experts at Quantiphi, Cloud9 will be the driving force of this industry." About Cloud9 Technologies Cloud9 Technologies is the leading cloud based voice collaboration and analytics platform designed for the unique functional and compliance needs of institutional traders. The company delivers its services from the cloud using software applications that leverage the Internet and advanced WebRTC technologies. Cloud9 connects counterparties across all asset classes via a cloud-based communication platform that features end-to-end security, encryption and advanced compliance capabilities. Cloud9 eliminates the infrastructure and expense associated with legacy hardware and telecommunication based solutions. Our customer base includes top brokerages, sell-side firms, and tier one banks. For more information, visit: www.c9tec.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170728005701/en/

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Turns out the man whose one-word sermon etched itself into Sydney's soul was not a such dab hand at writing after all.

"Mr Eternity" Arthur Stace joined the Australian Imperial Force to fight overseas in March 1916 but his mundane signature on the enlistment form showed little indication of the copperplate beauty that was to come.

Because he wrote mostly before dawn, few saw Arthur Stace at work. Credit:Nick Moir

Its impossible to know what made him write so poorly. Maybe like many who joined up, he was drunk at the time. Least ways, Stace admitted to a strong fondness for the demon alcohol.

But if he wrote badly at his enlistment, in the years ahead Stace perfected his proverb in yellow, waterproof chalk, more than 500,000 times on Sydney's pavements. Sometimes he wrote it 50 times a day.
It's an ordinary Wednesday evening when 120 Sydneysiders decide to give away more than $40,000.Think of it as live crowd-funding meets Shark Tank meets MasterChef, replete with strict time slots, nervous contestants and a big reveal at the close.

Armed with a drink and an open mind, this miscellaneous group of strangers, colleagues and friends will hear a six-minute pitch from three different social causes, and decide whether to open their wallets, before challenging the room to do the same.

One of the first to pledge money to Vanguard Laundry Services. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

On this night, hosted by The Funding Network, it's Toowoomba local Luke Terry who kicks things off. His social enterprise Vanguard Laundry Services started off the back of a not-for-profit initiative supporting people with mental illness seeking employment.

He needs $30,000 to buy an industrial-sized tumble drier, to grow his social enterprise.
Renay Bull aka Renay Paige is the girlfriend of Newcastle fraudster Lemuel Page. Credit:Instagram His lengthy history of leaving investors short-changed was exposed after a number of people coming forward to claim they too were gazumped by the 48-year-old. "We are all clever and intelligent people," as one former investor put it. "We understand business and investment yet we all got done the same way." Newcastle developer Lemuel Page with his girlfriend Renay Bull. Most of the people Fairfax Media spoke to last week explained how Page would drop references to his supposed association to the well-known Ibrahim family in the form of a veiled threat.

Sam Ibrahim, the older brother of nightclub boss John Ibrahim, was a shareholder in Silver City Drilling, with Page, a trustee report shows. Ibrahim's wife Karen is listed as a current shareholder  and former director  of Page's company Elefteria Pty Ltd. Court documents and trustee reports showed Page claimed to be linked to another Sydney businessman who made the BRW Rich 200 List in 2001. This man lent slain businessman Michael McGurk up to $300,000 before the latter was shot dead outside his Cremorne home in 2009 Page clocked up an impressive debt of his own by the end of 2016  owing creditors, many former friends and business associates $17 million.

As the bankruptcy proceedings came to a head last year, properties owned by one of Page's companies were swiftly transferred to a company his girlfriend controlled. A home at The Junction in Newcastle was sold by Elefteria Properties Pty Ltd for $770,000 to Pegasus Corporation Pty Ltd in March 2016. The director of Pegasus is listed as Renay Bull, a body-builder, podiatrist and Page's long-term partner. Last August, Elefteria Properties sold a property for $1.2 million to Yipeeo Pty Ltd, which also lists Ms Bull as a director. Page avoided sinking into bankruptcy in November, 2016 after telling a trustee he had no real estate interests and offered to pay $180,000. Mr Goldstein was one of the fortunate few who managed to get most of his money back from Page after placing caveats on his properties.

After a working relationship blossomed between the pair over a couple of months, Mr Goldstein and Page took out options on purchases of properties in 2015. He alleged Page presented him with fraudulent option papers, which he suspected Page later stole back when he was left alone in Mr Goldstein's Sydney office. The pair also set up a motor dealer's licence, with Page's estranged wife Fiona. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Fiona. The deal was that the trio would purchase cars at a good price before on-selling them for a profit. "We never on-sold them, we purchased them with my money," Mr Goldstein explained. "He then went off to some not-so-honest broker who then allowed him to completely finance loans on the cars  unbeknown to me."

Like other investors, Mr Goldstein's wife Dorothy likened Page's treatment of her husband to "grooming". "The way he grooms people is he comes across the poor person that has been very hard done by," she said. "He tells everybody that he has all these properties but I'm buying them out and this is the opportunity to come in. He was very, very clever." Another investor from the Hunter region said he lent Page $150,000 in 2013 and never saw a cent of it again. The man said Page kept coming up with excuses about why he couldn't pay the money back, including delays in property settlement.

"It was one excuse after another," he said. A Sydney woman told of how she met Page at Sydney's upmarket Establishment restaurant, where he would throw money around three times a week. The woman gave Page $70,000, most of which was a loan from her mother, to invest in an initial public offering for the Community Life Limited venture. It was development plan for a low-budget retirement village. "When we approached him about getting our money back he said 'I promise I'll get it for you,' " she explained. "We didn't have it in writing and thought there was zero chance we would get anything back."
Further to that last post, the AFP are asking members of the public to follow any instructions they receive from police.

"Members of the public are urged to follow any instructions they receive from police at or in the vicinity of search locations." A statement read.

"The community should continue to go about their daily business and report any suspicious activity to triple zero (000), Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400."
Labor leader Bill Shorten will be under increasing pressure to recognise Palestine after the party's NSW conference appears set to make an "historic" push to do so, despite some MPs complaining about "furious" lobbying by the Israeli embassy - something the diplomatic mission denies.

On Friday afternoon shortly before NSW Labor Right figures met to negotiate on the wording of a proposal that would "urge" a future federal Labor government to recognise a Palestinian state, state MPs received an email.

"Historic" motion: Former Premier Bob Carr. Credit:Janie Barrett

"Time and again throughout its history Israel has extended a hand of peace only to have it rejected by the Palestinians," the three-page document from the Public Affairs Section of the Israeli Embassy labelled as a fact sheet and obtained by Fairfax Media, reads. "The international community must speak up against the culture of oppression, genocidal rhetoric, terror and incitement that is prevalent among the Palestinians."

Former Premier Bob Carr told Fairfax Media there had been a "furious" lobbying campaign against the motion, which will "urge" a future federal Labor government to recognise Palestine and be voted on by 800 party conference delegates on Sunday.
A woman in stark white jodhpurs and a suede hat trots gracefully into the arena with a purple striped horse head on a wooden stick between her legs.

She performs a novice freestyle dressage routine to the judges as Keith Urban's Hit the Ground Runnin' booms out into the arena.

The rider, Sunshine Coast Riding for the Disabled Australia (SCRDA) operations manager Coralie Kedzlie, was competing in Australia's first ever hobby horse competition in May and is excited to be welcoming a second event to Queensland this Sunday.

The horse on the stick might not be real, but the sport definitely is. In Finland, over 10,000 athletes participate in events across the country.
Washington: US President Donald Trump plans to sign a bill passed by US Congress that increases sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, the White House announced late on Friday.

The decision comes despite strong reservations among Trump advisers over a provision that binds his hands when it comes to altering sanctions policy against Moscow.

A 98-to-2 vote by the Senate on Thursday had set up a choice between vetoing the bill knowing that lawmakers were prepared to override his veto, or signing legislation his administration lobbied hard against.

"President Donald J. Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it," a White House statement said. "He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it."
A person claiming to be Australian fugitive Shaun Davidson, who escaped from a Bali jail more than a month ago, has offered the media his "first telephone interview while on the run".

But it comes at a price: the media outlet must email the amount they are offering for this honour in a bizarre bidding war, while the person purporting to be Davidson considers whether it is an offer he likes.

The offer is posted on a Facebook page - Matthew Rageone Ridler - which apparently belongs to the jail escapee, although police are investigating whether he is the one behind the provocative posts.

"I've been a free man now for 30 full days I've left fans amazed police and governments dazed who wouldv thought id be ontop with my cheeky smartass ways (sic)" was posted on July 18.
Some campaigners fear their sought-for Brexit will be eventually revealed as a mirage. Credit:AP Brexit godfather Nigel Farage claimed "the old alliance of big business and a Tory government is booming again". He perceived a "new consensus" forming to undercut Brexit. Nigel Farage, left, warns that 'establishment' forces are aligning to undermine the result of the EU referendum. Credit:AP "For a nation to rise up against the establishment and secure a historic victory, only to have its hopes thwarted by an out-of-touch elite, is a recipe for dangerous division," he said.

So what has them so worried? Brexit minister David Davis, left, and the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier have seen early negotiations make slow progress. Credit:Geert Vanden Wijngaert In a nutshell, it's not going well. A combination of poor preparation from the British government, and the sheer scale of the problem, are combining to create a strong headwind. And meanwhile the clock is ticking down to a March 29, 2019, deadline, when the rules of the treaties that underpin the European Union say Britain is on its own, ready or not. British expatriates living in Europe remain uncertain as to what their future holds. Credit:Getty Images

Last week the second round of Brexit negotiations in Brussels ended on a bum note, with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier chastising his opponents for not knowing what they want. "We make better progress where our respective positions are clear," he said. British Trade Minister Liam Fox has hinted the Brexit transition may continue beyond the March 2019 deadline. Credit:Bloomberg This week Barnier warned the stand-off over issues such as the rights of EU citizens in Britain, the problem of the Northern Ireland border, and the "divorce bill" settling accounts between Britain and the EU, would drag the first phase of talks into 2018. This would mean even less time for the second phase: settling the relationship between Britain and the continent  on trade, customs, migration and a hundred other issues  before the March 2019 deadline.

Former Labour minister Denis MacShane believes Brexit 'will be a very limited exit and it won't be one that causes sustained economic problems for us'. Credit:Alamy Meanwhile, at the start of the week the British government sprang leaks suggesting it was united on a post-Brexit "transition period" that would include free movement from the EU into Britain  and could last up to four years. Trade Minister Liam Fox tried to reassure Eurosceptics that this was a "rounding error" compared with how long they had been waiting for Brexit. The government has long flagged that Britain would gradually transit to its post-Brexit state, rather than adopt all new rules and regulations at once. But this was a step further that outraged Eurosceptics. The government was adopting the language of the business lobby, who have  with increasing volume  been arguing for a gentle transition into Brexit over several years, during which free trade and free movement of labour are retained to avoid a "cliff-edge" moment (a phrase the government has tellingly adopted).

Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis insisted that free movement of labour "ends when we leave the European Union in the [northern] spring of 2019". But Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Lewis' boss, explained that even if freedom of movement ends officially in March 2019, EU citizens will still be able to come to Britain to live and work if they register with the government. Essentially, not much will change, at least for a while. The Brexiteers fear that two years will become four, four perhaps more, and their sought-for Brexit will be revealed as a mirage. 'We are a pragmatic nation' Former Labour minister for Europe Denis MacShane, who has been pumping out books on Brexit for the last two years, had a new one out this month. Its title: Brexit, No Exit: Why (in the end) Britain Won't Leave Europe.

MacShane  very much not a Brexiteer  concedes that the result of last year's referendum does imply Britain leaves the EU. But he identifies more than 20 other "Brexits'' apart from the one in the treaty  none of which need happen. There's the single market, the customs union, foreign and security policy, human rights, farming, research, ratings agencies, professional qualifications  many ways in which Britain could still choose to be part of what MacShane hates calling "the European project". Over a nice tuna nicoise salad he's whipped up in his Pimlico home, MacShane argues a minimal Brexit is possible, realistic and practical. He imagines a speech he hopes the prime minister  whoever it is  will deliver after Brexit. "As of today, Britain has recovered its sovereignty. We are masters of our destiny. Only this our palace of Westminster will be where our laws are made. We have left the European Union.

"Now. We are a pragmatic nation, a trading nation, we believe in co-operation, we are open to foreign investment. Many European laws are ones we wrote. So for the time being I'm not proposing any significant rupture in our trading relationship with Europe." MacShane thinks the problem of Northern Ireland  where a return to border posts would mean a serious threat to peace  will be the incentive to stay in the customs union. He thinks pressure from the business lobby  which is finally starting to awake from its post-Brexit quiescence  will mean free movement of EU citizens remains, at least for a while, and the can could be kicked endlessly down the road. "The negotiation that Britain needs is not with Europe, which is sitting pretty," MacShane says. "The negotiation that's needed is with the British people. Particularly the English." As long as you deliver the supreme prize  sovereignty  the rest is up for grabs, MacShane says.

It may need some crisis before the tide turns, "Frankly it would be helpful were Nissan or Toyota to announce [a factory] closure or Ryanair to say they couldn't fly any more," he says. He's trying to encourage people to do little talks around the country, to conduct a little "Brexit audit" to gather stories of businesses and organisations that may be damaged by Brexit. There's a precedent, he says. In 2014 Switzerland held a referendum to cap EU immigration. It proved a headache for the government, which couldn't find a way to enact the referendum without also leaving the single market. In the end, it finessed a law that granted job preferences to Swiss workers without imposing actual quotas. "A lot of people would now accept that the implications of Brexit weren't spelt out [before the referendum]," MacShane says.

Rather than pressing for a second referendum, the parliament should press for a Brexit that hurts Britain the least. Should  and will, MacShane says. "I would love there to be a complete reversal [of Brexit], I expect that's difficult but I certainly think it will be a very limited exit and it won't be one that causes sustained economic problems for us," he confidently predicts. 'The best deal we can get' Miller says there "must not be a disintegration of democracy as a result of Brexit, so the vote has to be respected".

She isn't pushing for a new referendum either. However, she believes the vote didn't preclude "the option to remain". "We should be pushing for the best deal we can get from the EU, and then we compare that to where we are, and then there's a full and proper vote in parliament, and then whatever happens, happens." What may happen is that Britain stays in its "transition phase" until its next election, which would be another opportunity to reverse or reinterpret Brexit, she says. If there must be a deal, she wants Britain to have a status like Norway  outside the EU but inside the single market, allowing free movement of people, goods, services and capital. She believes the country could get it if it pushed for it. According to reports from the continent, it's a Plan B that Brussels is prepared to accept. But Miller says she isn't growing in confidence. In fact, she's getting more worried that the Brexit process is already descending into farce, and the enormity of the challenge will just prove too much for Britain, which will fall off the cliff edge of a deal-less Brexit.
[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a press occasion at the Prime Minister's Office.

In regard to North Korea's missile launch, the Prime Minister said,

We have held telephone talks at the Foreign Minister level between Japan and the United States and also between Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK). A telephone talk was also held between Mr. Shotaro Yachi, Secretary General of the National Security Secretariat, and Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, U.S. National Security Advisor. We reached the recognition that through this launch of an ICBM-class missile, it had become clear that the threat posed by North Korea to both Japan and the U.S. had increased and that this threat had become real.

Japan, the U.S., and the ROK fully agreed that we will intensify pressure going forward, including responses taken through the United Nations Security Council. In addition, we shared the recognition that it is of crucial importance to further strengthen our efforts to urge China going forward.

North Koreas development of ICBMs is a grave and real threat to the security of the international community. Grounded in the strong solidarity of Japan and the U.S., Japan and the ROK, and Japan, the U.S. and the ROK, we will respond in a resolute manner, working in close cooperation with the international community.



There is also the possibility of further provocative actions by North Korea. We will maintain a high level of vigilance and take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the people.
He demanded that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., eliminate the filibuster "NOW" - despite the fact that McConnell dismissed the idea when Trump raised it months ago. By way of persuasion, Trump wrote that Republican senators "look like fools and are just wasting time," and will "NEVER win" until they kill the rule. It's worth noting that while Trump now attacks the filibuster as antiquated, four years earlier he defended it as a venerable tradition dating back to Thomas Jefferson.

Once used rarely and memorably (as when a senator spoke and sang for 15 hours to block a vote in 1992), the filibuster has become an almost routine tactic for minority parties to impede bills and nominees they can't defeat in a straight-up vote. On Saturday, Trump blamed the filibuster for hypothetically allowing Democrats to block "complete Healthcare," despite the fact that Republican senators have not been able to unite around even a narrowly tailored bill so far. Trump also wrote that "Kate's Law," which would increase punishments for criminals who illegally re-enter the United States after being deported, would never pass with the filibuster in place. So to attempt a recap of the president's latest rounds of tweets: Trump knows that some healthcare bills could pass through the Senate with a simple majority of votes. Friday's "skinny repeal" bill could have done it with only 50, for example. But Republicans need to kill the filibuster anyway, Trump argues, lest it allow Democrats to block a more sweeping health-care reform bill - which does not yet exist but will be supported by a majority of senators (but not 60 of them) once it is written.

If that logic strikes you as confusing, you're not alone: Senator Chris Murphy tweeted: "If McCain had just voted yes they would have had those 60 votes required under reconciliation! No, wait...." But there's no reason to assume Trump's day-long argument against the filibuster has concluded. Shortly before 8am, he added some new points. "If the Senate Democrats ever got the chance, they would switch to a 51 majority vote in first minute," Trump wrote. And also: "They are laughing at R's. MAKE CHANGE!"

To this point, Trump has failed to shepherd a single substantial piece of legislation into law. His only major accomplishments have been by executive power - rolling back regulations and undoing a few of his predecessor's achievements, like the Paris climate treaty - along with his successful nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. How Trump's aides have been fired REINCE PRIEBUS: Trump announced on Friday he was replacing his chief of staff after months of speculation about Priebus's fate and a series of belittling and emasculating comments from Trump and other White House aides. JAMES COMEY: When firing the FBI director in May, Trump deployed one his most trusted and longest-serving aides to carry out the task: bodyguard-turned-security director- turned director of Oval Office operations Keith Schiller. Schiller was sent to the Justice Department to deliver a letter notifying Comey of his firing. But the director was in California and learned of his dismissal from TV. COREY LEWANDOWSKI: Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski had guided the campaign with the motto, "Let Trump be Trump". Trump had stuck with Lewandowski even after he was accused of roughing up a female reporter. He agreed to pull the plug in June 2016 only after an intervention from his adult children and son-in-law. Lewandowski was unceremoniously escorted out of Trump Tower in Manhattan by security after being notified of his dismissal.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: New Jersey's governor spent months leading the president-elect's transition team, pulling together policy papers and coming up with lists of potential cabinet members. But Trump decided he no longer required Christie's services in the days after his November 8 election. According to The New York Times, Trump gave chief strategist Steve Bannon the chore of telling Christie he was out. PAUL MANAFORT: Trump chose to fire his campaign chairman amid a steady stream of negative headlines about Manafort's foreign consulting work. He technically resigned from the position last August but Trump's son, Eric Trump, said in an interview his father was concerned that questions about Manafort's past were taking attention away from the billionaire's presidential bid. MICHAEL FLYNN: Trump's campaign adviser-turned-national security adviser resigned in February following reports that he had misled Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia. But Flynn's resignation wasn't voluntary. Trump later said that he'd fired Flynn, and blamed leaks from intelligence agencies and biased reporting from the "fake media" for forcing his hand. SAM NUNBERG: The man behind many of Trump's earliest and most popular campaign ideas was pushed out of Trump's campaign in the summer of 2015 following a report that he'd posted racially charged material on his Facebook page. This time, Trump delivered the news to Nunberg directly over the phone. SEAN SPICER:The White House press secretary resigned this month after six months on the job. He quit after Trump tapped New York financier Anthony Scaramucci to serve as White House communications director. Spicer, who quit with little warning, was not fired and said in an interview with Fox News Channel that the president wanted him to stay on. But Spicer, a devout Roman Catholic, had been subjected to a string of public slights by his boss, including being excluded from Trump's meeting with the Pope during a trip to the Vatican.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Internet, so embedded in the lives of so many people, acting as the main way for information exchange, that to deny access to everyone in the world is a breach of human rights, according to the United Nations in their ongoing efforts to protect internet access around the world.

Director of Bureau Telecommunication and Post St. Maarten, Mr. Anthony Carty  in response to statements of the CEO of Telem - explained: the statement above from the UN indicates how internet is now being looked at globally. Internet in this day and age must be seen as public utility - just like electricity and water  that should be available & accessible to everyone. Recognizing the need and importance of internet services for our citizens and visitors, to connect to the World Wide Web, should be of the highest priority in every discussion.

Ryan Wijngaarde, in charge of Consumer Affairs & Sector Development at BTP further outlined that free public WIFI is common practice in many countries, cities and island territories around the world. Its being used for education purposes and utilized by millions of students, its an essential tool to bridge the digital divide in country, whereby less fortunate people can still visit hotspots to get connected. Weve seen that its being used for disaster relief, whereby residents after natural disaster, still have places to connect to the internet to communicate with family and friends, and last but not least, free public WIFI is the most essential tool nowadays for Tourism, Country, City, and island promotion. Free WIFI zones gives your town a modern look and demonstrates forward thinking.

For the above mentioned reasons BTP applauds the initiatives from the Minister of TEATT, Mrs. Arrindell-Doncher and Tourism Director Mr. Brison, to explore solutions that can truly benefit our island, and further enhance our tourism product. St. Maarten is a one pillar economy that depends on tourism; its income contribute to almost 85% of our economy. Looking into ways to safeguard tourism, cater better to our visitors, listen carefully to their needs, and embracing modern technology as a tool to increase their satisfaction, is imperative if we want economic growth for our nation.

Regional and international studies indicate that the first thing visitors are doing when coming of the cruise ship, yacht or plane, is to search for WIFI and connect to the internet to check messages, communicate with their family and friends back home, and update social media. If our main focus is  and remains - to monetize tourist  via super expensive data roaming charges - and not to facilitate, we might win the battle but lose the war.

Mr. Carty continued: When talking about Free Public WIFI, it must be clear that the intention is to make the service free for end-users in designated areas (e.g. tourism hotspots), whereby the Ministry of TEATT/ Tourism Bureau can enter into commercial agreements with Internet Service Providers for bandwidth & infrastructure. As we are talking about a very large data consumption, to our opinion there still will be a big revenue model that St. Maarten service providers can benefit from. There are many examples were this is being done, including Aruba & Curacao, and we are confident that this can work for St. Maarten too, and will be beneficial for all major players involved.

Offering free WIFI services is not a new thing; many businesses in St. Maarten are offering free WIFI services to guest to accommodate them, and at the same time capturing data for marketing purposes. Broadband expenses are often partly being paid back by allowing business to advertise on the landing page. That government is trying to replicate a proven business model on designated strategic locations, is justifiable, and at no point the government should be held hostage by service providers that are making claims of a potential loss in (roaming) revenues, and therefore not be able to invest in corporate social responsibility.

BTP is the Telecom regulatory authority of St. Maarten and mandated via Landverordening to advice the Minister of TEATT, and represent and defend the interest of country St. Maarten related to telecommunications. BTP will be liaison between the Minister of TEATT and the telecom industry, and is encouraging the minister to continue to engage in conversations with different telecom service providers in St. Maarten, and to continue to explore opportunities to improve communication services on the island for residents, businesses and tourist.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On July 30th, the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE), co-sponsored by Dominos Pizza, will host the 6th annual 'Bon Voyage' ceremony for all 2017 study financing recipients. The ceremony begins at 1:00p.m. and will be stationed in the departure hall. The ceremony will include djs, food, and drinks. Family and friends are also invited to attend this joyous ceremony.

Thirty-three (33) students will be traveling to the Netherlands to further their tertiary level education. Two support officers of the Division Study Financing (DSF) will be accompanying the students to the Netherlands, which has been a tradition established over the past few years. The DSF chaperones will also utilize the trip to meet with current students, residing in the Netherlands, who have been experiencing difficulties, and will provide in person assistance.

All departing students are required to assemble at the airport for 12:00p.m. The students will arrive in the Netherlands on July 31st, at 12:00p.m.

Upon the students arrival in the Netherlands, they will be greeted at Schiphol Airport by the Minister Plenipotentiary in the Netherlands, the honorable Henrietta Doran-York, staff members of the St. Maarten House, the Unified St. Maarten Connection (USC) board members, Study Financing guidance counselors and volunteers.

The students will be shuttled to the 'Steigenberger Hotel' where a welcome ceremony will take place. They will be served refreshments, and officially introduced to the Study Financing Guidance counselors, as well as other stakeholders. At the end of the ceremony, the students will depart to their respective cities along with assigned volunteers.

An orientation week will take place during the week of Monday July 31st- Saturday August 5th for the students. The activities range from registration at the Civil Registry, DUO, and the banks, as well as city tours and outfitting of apartments.

The students attending Tallahassee Community College (TCC), will be the only other group of students travelling together, and will leave in August. All other students will be leaving on various dates throughout July and August to commence classes.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS), would like to congratulate and wish all students leaving the best of luck while pursuing their studies. Leaving your comfort zone is never easy, but with determination, continuous drive and a great support system you will make it. You wont always be the smartest student, but you have to be the one willing to work the hardest to see your dreams come to fruition. Ensure you are surrounding yourself with positive individuals who can help you realize your potential and help strengthen your weaknesses. For some, the new journey will open your eyes and allow you to learn new things about yourself. Be a sponge, and harness your inner growth. Remember, as you pursue the goal youve set out to accomplish, the road may change, but always remember to keep a keen eye on the reason you embarked on this journey of personal development and adjust your sails accordingly to be able to achieve success.

Study financing is a privilege and comes with a responsibility to study, make good use of the finances and as good citizen, feel gratitude and accountability to repay the loan portion in order to facilitate the dreams of future students of St. Maarten.
Nepotism, Conflict of Interest continues.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Students of NIPA many of whom are contemplating to discontinue their studies at the institution says that another young and talented professional has been dismissed on Friday.

The students identified the teacher as the only female in the Culinary and Arts department, they said Ms. Renata De Weever, is the backbone of NIPA that she has been working at NIPA since 2014, over the years the students said Ms. De Weever did everything possible to give the school good exposure, she is known as a caring teacher that would embrace her students while promoting the school in the interest of her country and students that longed for a second chance. The students that contacted SMN News said that Ms. De Weever was notified on Friday that her contract with NIPA will not be renewed because of a lack of work. However, the students are very concerned about the boards decision to renew the contract of another employee that is related the Minister of EYS for a period of three years.

The students said nepotism is plaguing NIPA and that they are thinking twice as to whether or not they should continue their studies at the institution.

Over the past months SMN News have been reporting the outcry from students that attends NIPA each time they are told one of their teachers are being dismissed.
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Claim: A Chinese man named Li Ching-Yuen lived to be 256 years old. Rating: About this rating Unproven

Man's fascination with the concept of longevity beyond the 70 or 80 years of the typical human lifespan is documented in a variety of writings, myths and legends stretching back thousands of years. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus, for example, wrote of a magical fountain in modern day Ethiopia that restored the youth of those who bathed in its waters, and Old Testament reckonings of the biblical patriarch Methuselah (grandfather of Noah) put his age at the time of his death at between 720 and 969 years. Nonetheless, modern reality pales in comparison to such accounts, as the longest verified human lifespan in recorded history is that of Jeanne Louise Calment, who passed away in her native France in 1997 at the age of 122.

One of the more unusual cases of asserted human longevity in modern times involved Chinese resident Li Ching-Yuen (also rendered as Li Ching-Yun), mention of whom started appearing in U.S. newspaper accounts in the 1920s accompanied by claims that he had been born in either 1677 or 1736. When Li Ching-Yuen finally died in 1933, at a reputed age of either 197 or 256, the New York Times noted of his passing that :

Li Ching-yun, a resident of Kaihsien, in the Province of Szechwan, who contended that he was one of the world's oldest men, and said he was born in 1736  which would make him 197 years old  died today. A Chinese dispatch from Chung-king telling of Mr. Li's death said he attributed his longevity to peace of mind and that it was his belief every one could live at least a century by attaining inward calm. Compared with estimates of Li Ching-yun's age in previous reports from China the above dispatch is conservative. In 1930 it was said Professor Wu Chung-chien, dean of the department of education in Minkuo University, had found records showing Li was born in 1677 and that the Imperial Chinese Government congratulated him on his 150th and 200th birthdays. A correspondent of THE NEW YORK TIMES wrote in 1928 that many of the oldest men in Li's neighborhood asserted their grandfathers knew him as boys and that he was then a grown man. According to the generally accepted tales told in his province, Li was able to read and write as a child, and by his tenth birthday had traveled in Kansu, Shansi, Tibet, Annam, Siam and Manchuria gathering herbs. For the first hundred years he continued at this occupation. Then he switched to selling herbs gathered by others. Wu Pei-fu, the war lord, took Li into his house to learn the secret of his living to 250. Another pupil said Li told him to "keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog." According to one version of Li's married life he had buried twenty-three wives and was living with his twenty-fourth, a woman of 60. Another account, which in 1928 credited him with 180 living descendants, comprising eleven generations, recorded only fourteen marriages. This second authority said his eyesight was good; also, that the finger nails of his right hand were very long, and "long" for a Chinese might mean longer than any finger nails ever dreamed of in the United States. One statement of THE TIMES correspondent which probably caused skeptical readers to believe Li was born more recently that 1677, was that "many who have seen him recently declare that his facial appearance is no different from that of persons two centuries his junior."


James Krauseneck maintained his innocence at the sentencing Monday and was supported by his daughter, Sarah, who was 3 at the time and saw her deceased mother, Cathleen Cathy Krausneck, 29, a Macomb County native.
Everything you need to know about No. 20 Notre Dame's game vs. Navy Saturday in Baltimore
[Provisional Translation]



Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a press occasion at the Prime Minister's Office.

In regard to North Korea's missile launch, the Prime Minister said,



North Korea has again launched a ballistic missile in disregard of the stern protests and warnings of the international community, firing it into Japans exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Following upon the recent launch of an ICBM-class missile, this clearly demonstrates that the threat to Japans security has become grave and real. Japan has lodged a strong protest against North Korea and we condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. As long as North Korea continues such provocative actions, there is no alternative but to further strengthen pressure on North Korea through close cooperation with the United States and the Republic of Korea, and also with China, Russia, and other members of the international community.



There is also the possibility of further provocative actions by North Korea. Under the strong Japan-US alliance, we will maintain a high level of vigilance and take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the people.


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STAMFORD  Titan hung up his bulletproof harness this week.

The Stamford Police Department retired the 10-year-old German Shepherd after six and a half years on the job.

Titan, who has a custom-fit bulletproof harness, was an expert tracker for the department with his handler, Officer Mark Tymon.

Titan was an incredible tracking dog for a German Shepherd, K-9 Unit Sgt. Seth OBrien said. People often think the Bloodhound is the best tracking dog, but Titan could track as well as any dog I have had an opportunity to be around.

OBrien said police dogs often retire between 8 and 10 years old. OBrien retired his own dog, Cooper, in November after he turned 10.

At this point, we have come up with the demarcation line at 10. It would not be fair to subject him to a call that he might not be able to recover from, like jumping a tall fence or getting into a fight with a bad guy, OBrien said. If a dog is going to be that fortunate to make it to 10, that will be it.

The department now has eight working K-9s, including a Bloodhound, Labradors and German Shepherds. The department recenly added a young German Malinois named Axe, who is being handled by Officer Willie Guilford, to replace Titan.

OBrien said Titan has helped police track a bank robber in Greenwich, find a car thief in Darien and recently located a suicidal woman who wandered away.

Tymon, who has 20 years with the department, has taken Titan home with him to finish his life as a pet.

I think he is ready, OBrien said.

Jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com;
NORWALK  Norwalk Community College will host a Super Saturday Registration Blitz Aug. 5.

The event, which is slated to take palce from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the East Campus Atrium, will be a special one-day, one-stop advising and registration event held at all of the 12 Connecticut community colleges.

NCC President David L. Levinson, academic advisors and staff from the Financial Aid Admissions, English as a Second Language, Business and Registrars offices will be on hand to advise students and help them register for fall classes.

The schools $20 application fee will be waived for anyone who registers on Super Saturday.

Fall classes begin August 29.

For more information on the statewide Super Saturday Registration Blitz, visit www.ct.edu/SuperSaturday.
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STAMFORD - Its not a hospital, but a house.

Not an institution, but a sanctuary.

Not a facility, but a dwelling for the dying.

The Fairfield County Hospice House at Roxbury and Den roads - the first of its kind in Connecticut - has been Lynda Tuckers vision for more than a decade.

Dying is a private process. It should be that way at the end, said Tucker, a hospice nurse who had the idea to create such a house in the county. It calls for a homelike setting.

Thats what families will find at the hospice house, expected to begin accepting patients this fall. Six patient bedrooms are centered around an open, airy living room with a fireplace. Each bedroom has a sliding glass door leading to a porch and walking path.

Family members can bake cookies in the large kitchen and share them sitting around a six-foot table. There is space upstairs for temporarily storing hospice furniture in case a family wants to replace it with their own during their stay.

There are rooms for family members to sleep overnight, a den for families to gather in quiet, and a meditation room for anyone who needs to be alone.

There is an office for nurses and a break room for volunteers.

When I came to Connecticut in 2003, the only hospice was in Branford, Tucker said of the 52-bed Connecticut Hospice. People would say, Its so far. So I went looking for a house closer by.

She searched in her town, Westport, and surrounding areas for a few years without success. Then her friend, Westport attorney Larry Weisman, talked to his friend, Stamford land-use consultant Rick Redniss, who mentioned property at 1 Den Road owned by the Roxbury Community Association.

The deed for the land  once the site of a church that was built in 1870 and burned down in 1997  came with a restriction. It must be used for the public benefit, Redniss said.

I spoke to the Roxbury Community Association, Redniss said. They gave it to us.

It was the first of many donations needed to build the 10,000-square-foot, $3 million Fairfield County Hospice House. Over the last seven years, volunteers formed a board of directors and raised $1.35 million, said Colleen Harkey, director of development. The group obtained $1.25 million in state grants, and $1 million in services were donated by an architect, excavator and other contractors, she said.

People have been excited about the opportunity to help, Harkey said. We keep hearing from families that its hard to have a loved one dying in a place far away, and they are happy to have this in such a convenient location.

But, when the group sought approval from the state Department of Public Health, they faced an obstacle, Weisman said.

The health department told us, We have no way of licensing you because we dont have anything like this in Connecticut, he said.

Because of the homelike setting, Fairfield County Hospice House is in a different regulatory category than Connecticut Hospice, which was the first of its kind in the country when it opened in Branford in 1974, and from the 12-bed Regional Hospice & Home Care Center in Danbury, which opened two years ago.

The state health department had to write legislation for it and that had to get passed, Weisman said. They havent written the regulations for it yet. They told us to go ahead with building it and well get the regulations done after that.

The hospice house will provide a setting and support staff and work with patients care providers, such as Visiting Nurse & Hospice of Fairfield County.

We dont take insurance. Patients bring their own hospice provider with them, Harkey said.

The room and board cost is borne by the patient or the patients private insurance, Weisman said.

The group hopes to raise enough money to set up an endowment to help patients who cannot meet the cost, he said.

Even as the flooring is going down and the cabinets are going up, and before the rooms are furnished and a staff has been hired, families are calling the hospice house to ask about care for loved ones.

Im getting at least two calls a week asking if were open yet, Harkey said.

The new executive director, Terry Robustelli, hired this month from Stamford Hospital, said word is out about the one-of-a-kind home.

People are already calling and asking to volunteer, Robustelli said.

The work is extremely gratifying, said Tucker, who began her career as an oncology nurse in hospitals in Cincinnati and elsewhere.

They had opened an 18-bed hospice with all private rooms on the grounds of a hospital where I was working, and I was asked to go and see what hospice was like, Tucker said. At first I said, No, I dont think I would like to do that. It would be very hard on me.

Then I did one eight-hour shift. I lost a patient. But I went home and said, This is for me, she said.

That was in 1983. She has been a hospice nurse ever since.

Theres a lot more opportunity for one-on-one. There is not a lot of high-tech equipment. Its very personal, Tucker said. Its authentic nursing. I feel very lucky to do it.

With the hospice house soon to offer a personal setting for such personal care, her luck is even better, Tucker said.

Ive been waiting so long, I cant quite believe it, she said.

angelacarella@stamfordadvocate.com
MATTOON -- During their final class reunion, the Mattoon High School classes of 1952 and 1953 recently made the decision to distribute the remaining funds in their reunion account to the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Scholarship Fund.

The gift of $1,000 was presented to scholarship committee member Gayla McDaniel during an assembly at Williams Elementary School in May. Upon receiving the gift, McDaniel expressed her gratitude to the classes for their continual support of the scholarship fund: "The Classes of 1952-1953 have been incredibly loyal to the legacy of Arland D. Williams, Jr. Throughout the years at each class reunion they would 'pass the hat' for donations to the scholarship fund, always making sizable contributions in their fellow classmate's memory. This major donation to the scholarship fund marks the end of an era; not only of continual tributes by these classmates, but the end of an era of recognizing what a true hero is in our country. Our world today doesn't show loyalty in this manner."

The Arland D. Williams, Jr. Scholarship is one of several scholarships administered by Mattoon Area Community Foundation. The Arland D. Williams, Jr. Scholarship provides financial assistance for Mattoon High School graduates majoring in the field of finance, banking, accounting, economics or computer sciences. The scholarship honors the memory of the late Arland D. Williams, Jr. who graduated from Mattoon High School and became a well-known example of extraordinary heroism when his actions saved five people after a 1982 airplane crash in Washington D.C. His selfless actions cost him his life but his legacy lives on.

For more information about the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Scholarship or Mattoon Area Community Foundation, visit www.enrichingourcommunity.org or contact Joedy Hightower, president/CEO at 217-342-4988.

Mattoon Area Community Foundation exists as an affiliate of Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation and does not have a separate corporate existence. Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that is a tax-exempt public charity pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation manages permanent and non-permanent assets for the long-term benefit of Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Lawrence, Marion, Richland and Shelby counties in Illinois.
C ome summer, it can be tempting to shun the British Isles for a summer break with guaranteed sun  were seduced by sun-drenched parties on the White Isle, boating on the French Riviera and Aperol Spritzes in Italian piazzas.

But sometimes it pays to look a little closer to home and take delight in Blighty, in all her moody, dramatic and often rain-lashed glory.

A new book from the founders of Cereal Mag will help you in this endeavour. Named These Islands: A Portrait of the British Isles, the new coffee table book features beautiful imagery showcasing the best of Britains scenery: from the sheer limestone cliffs of Beachy Head in Sussex to the windswept paths of the Wild Atlantic Way in Northern Ireland.

Alongside the powerful pictures from photographers including Finn Beales and Jonathan Gregson, there are writers to guide you through the history and essays discussing everything from the romance of the rain to the geological history of our islands.

These Islands is the first book from Francis, the new publishing house and creative studio by the creators of Cereal magazine, a bi-annual known for its high production values and sense of aesthetic.

In many ways, this book is Cereals tribute to these islands," said Cereals Editor-in-Chief Rosa Park. "Its not only our opportunity to introduce a very special part of the world to those who arent familiar with it, but also a chance to celebrate it with those who know and love it.

These Islands: A Portrait of the British Isles is available to buy here (Francis, 45)
A man was seriously injured in a knife attack after he rushed to help a friend who was fighting a gang of thugs in east London.

The 28-year-old victim was found collapsed on a busy road after he was stabbed in the stomach in the incident in Stratford.

He had been called by a friend who was having an altercation with a group of men at Maryland Point, police said.

He was stabbed and managed to walk a short distance before he collapsed, while the suspects fled from the scene.

Emergency services raced to the incident, which happened shortly after midnight on Sunday, July 16, and the victim was rushed to hospital.

He remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition having suffered what police described as "life-changing injuries".

The officer in the case, Detective Constable Jon Saddington, from Newham CID, said: "The victim is still in hospital after this attack and is likely to have life-changing injuries.

"I would appeal to anyone who saw the attack or the events leading up to it to call police.

"We need to understand what has happened and we need to catch whoever was responsible for this attack."

The man who stabbed the victim is described as black, aged in his early 20s and wearing dark clothing.

Any witnesses or anyone with any information is asked to call police on 101 or via Twitter @MetCC.

To give information anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.
A young man is fighting for life after a stabbing in a park in east London.

Emergency Services were called shortly after 8pm to the area around Maryland station, in Stratford, where they found a man suffering from stab wounds.

Photographs show a large police cordon in place across the shops and restaurants opposite the station and a number of police vehicles at the scene.

The man, in his 20s, was rushed to hospital with injuries that are believed to life threatening.

Police said he had been stabbed in nearby West Ham Park.

A spokesman added that the circumstances under which he ended up near the station are being investigated.

He said: "We were called by the London Ambulance Service at 8.15pm.

"No arrests have been made and enquiries are ongoing."
T he head of a Cambridge University equality group has appeared to claim all white people are racist after praising protesters who clashed with police in Dalston.

Jason Osamede Okundaye, who runs the Black and Minority Ethnic society, took to Twitter on Friday night after a protest over the death of Rashan Charles turned violent and police came under attack.

Tweets sent from the 20-year-old students account encouraged the protesters and claimed white people had colonised Dalston.

One tweet said: Watching these middle-class white people despair over black people protesting in their colonised Dalston is absolutely delicious.

His account then posted a meme aimed at the protesters which said youre doing amazing sweetie.

A tweet sent from the student's account following the protests / Twitter

A later tweet added: ALL white people are racist. White middle class, white working class, white men, white women, white gays, white children they can ALL geddit.

The student at the prestigious university's Pembroke College has since made his account private after receiving a backlash over his comments.

A Cambridge University spokesman told the Standard: The College is looking into this matter and will respond appropriately.

Riot police were called to Kingsland Street on Friday night after protesters blockaded the road and began lighting small fires.

Several wheelie bins and a mattress were set alight / PA

Clashes ensued and police said bottles and other items were thrown at officers, while a member of the pubic was assaulted as they cycled past.

One police officer suffered a minor injury to his eye. Members of the public were forced to barricade themselves in shops and bars.

Protesters blocked the road with traffic cones and discarded rubbish / Tom Connelly

Detective Superintendent Claire Crawley, from Hackney Borough, said: "The disorder of last night was separate from the peaceful protest at Stoke Newington Police Station that was held earlier that day.

"Thankfully nobody was seriously injured, but there was inconvenience to local residents and road users and damage caused to vehicles, a cash machine and a number of windows.

Riot police and horses were drafted in / PA

"We will always support the right to lawful protest but behaviour such as that seen last night cannot be tolerated."

A teenage boy was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm. He was taken to an east London police station where he remained in custody on Saturday afternoon.
T he family of Rashan Charles, who died in police custody a week ago, has urged calm at a fresh protest in east London.

"Burning down homes will not give justice," said a spokesman for Mr Charles's family, who called instead for "dignified" demonstrations.

Their appeal came at a vigil for the 20-year-old amid heightened tensions after protestors threw glass bottles and set fire to mattresses at a protest on Friday night.

Outside Stoke Newington police station on Saturday, Mr Charles's father Esa joined the family of Edson Da Costa - who died last month, six days after being detained by police - for a vigil organised by Stand Up To Racism.

Rashan Charles's family has called for calm / AFP/Getty Images

Stafford Scott, who stood next to Mr Charles and spoke on behalf of the family, directly addressed the young people who protested the night before, and said that they understand their anger and frustration.

"Don't feel that the family don't feel that anger and that frustration too. But what the family knows is that taking it to the streets doesn't give you justice," he said.

Shadow home secretary and Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott told the crowd she felt it was important to attend the vigil to "show her support" for the families and parents of Mr Da Costa and Mr Charles.

Diane Abbott attends the protest in east London, calling for calm / REUTERS

"That is the call that every parent dreads. The call that tells you that your young child has died in those sorts of circumstances," she said.

Ms Abbott said she agreed with what was said about the "importance of peace on the streets", and added: "Violence is not the answer.

"But I am here to assure the parents and assure the community that I will stand by the parents in their fight for the truth," she said, flanked by about 40 protesters carrying banners with slogans such as "No to racism" and "Black lives matter".

Several wheelie bins and a mattress were set alight on Friday night. / PA

The shadow home secretary called for calm earlier on Saturday after a protest in east London on Friday night turned violent.

Ms Abbott referred to the "understandable anger" of people in Mr Charles's community but said demonstrations "must be peaceful".

A large gang of protesters - many of whom had their faces covered - clashed with riot police as tensions came to a head in Dalston on Friday evening.

The group of masked demonstrators blocked busy Kingsland Road before hurling bottles, stones and other objects at police and starting a fire in the middle of the road.

Rashan Charles appears to swallow an object in video footage

Rashan Charles, 20, was chased into a shop by officers in Dalston on July 22.

He was restrained on the floor and later died after apparently swallowing an object and being "taken ill".

The police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, has since launched a probe into his death.

IPCC investigation: Rashan Charles died after being chased by police / Twitter

Friday night's protest turned violent when scores of missiles were launched at police as they attempted to disperse the group.

The Met Police on Saturday warned anybody wishing to use protests as "as an excuse to commit crime" that they would be "dealt with robustly".
A pupil who had drunken sex with his physics teacher in a plane toilet reportedly bragged to friends about how the pair drank cheap whisky together and exchanged sexts.

Eleanor Wilson was banned from the profession earlier this week after she engaged in sexual activity with the 16-year-old pupil in the toilet of a plane while returning home from a school trip.

The trip was a 2015 charity and conservation trip to Swaziland, not a visit to the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva as previously reported, according to the Daily Mail.

The newspaper reported that the pupil told school friends that he drank cheap whisky with the teacher and had sex a lot on the two-week trip.

Struck off: Eleanor Wilson / Facebook

A friend said: He enjoyed telling me all about his time in Swaziland as you could go to a store and buy whisky for next to nothing.

He said they had sex a lot on the trip to Africa and on the flight back.

At the hearing, the unnamed pupil said he and Miss Wilson had been drinking miniature bottles of wine before engaging in oral sex and full sex.

According to his friend, the boy, now 18, was already quite experienced with girls and had recently broken up with his girlfriend.

Eleanor Wilson, 28 was sacked over her sexual relationship with the boy

He said, despite rumours about the pair at the school, that the relationship continued after they got home.

The boys friend added: He showed me text messages from her. Hed text her and she would reply, Cant talk, Im in a meeting, or nervous about a presentation for assembly.

She would sext him too and he showed me. I knew immediately they were genuine.

The relationship, which continued for several months, only came to light when another student heard about it and threatened to tell the school unless Miss Wilson engaged in sexual activity with him.

Miss Wilson left the school in May 2016 and was banned from the profession following a two-day hearing earlier this week.

She was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute by a National College for Teaching and Leadership panel who found she had also tried to cover up the relationship.
A Jet2 plane has been forced to make an emergency landing for the second time in two weeks.

On Friday, the aircraft was flying from Newcastle to Prague when it was diverted to Frankfurt due to a technical fault.

The same aircraft was flying from Ibiza to Leeds when it was diverted to Barcelona on July 16.

In both cases, terrified passengers spoke of how oxygen masks were deployed as the pilot declared an emergency on the plane.

Referring to the second incident, a spokesman for the airline insisted passenger safety had not been compromised and said the plane had been grounded while engineers investigate a technical fault.

"We would like to emphasise that at no point was the safety of passengers compromised," a Jet2 spokesman said.

"On landing, our crew liaised with everyone on board to ensure their welfare.

"Over the next few days our most senior engineers will be investigating the aircraft fully.

"At this stage it is too early in the process to comment on the cause of the technical fault.

"We would like to apologise to our customers, as safety is always our highest priority."
A knife-wielding man who killed one person and injured six others in a frenzied attack in Hamburg is a known Islamist, police say.

The 26-year-old man, named locally as Ahmad A, reportedly cried Allahu Akbar while he carried out the attack in a supermarket on Friday afternoon.

Hamburgs state interior minister Andy Grote said "there are indications of radicalisation", adding: "He was known as an Islamist but not a jihadist".

He said that the suspect also suffered from "psychological" issues.

Police officers look on after the knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg / REUTERS

The suspect is a Palestinian born in the United Arab Emirates who is registered on an Islamist database, Mr Grote said.

According to police the attacker took a 20cm blade from the shelves of the supermarket, before randomly stabbing customers.

Police investigator work at the area around a supermarket / AFP/Getty Images

"He ripped off the packaging and then suddenly brutally attacked the 50-year-old man who later died," police spokeswoman Kathrin Hennings said.

The man, who is believed to have acted alone, then fled but was chased by witnesses who were able to restrain him nearby.

Flowers and candles are placed in front of the supermarket / EPA

A woman and four men suffered stab injuries, while another person was injured trying to overcome the suspect. They were all rushed to hospital.

The incident happened in a branch of Edeka, Germany's largest supermarket chain, in the Barmbek region in the north of the city.
100 years ago, July 29, 1917

Sunday. No paper.

50 years ago, 1967

CHARLESTON -- People attending the 113th annual Coles County Fair next week will get an opportunity to see the two latest additions to the Lincoln Debate House located near the south entrance to the historic fairgrounds. Bill Browning, secretary of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, said that a 4- by 10-foot color painting of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate held in Charleston on Sept. 18, 1858, now adorns the east wall. The painting was done by Al Moldroski, art professor at Eastern Illinois University. Other new additions include 12- by 20-inch photos of the six other debate sites along with a 6-foot tall map of Illinois showing the location of each site... MATTOON -- Col. John W. Farrar, son of Monroe Farrar of Mattoon, will retire from the U.S. Air Force on Aug. 1 after 25 years of service. Retirement ceremonies will take place at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., after Col. Farrar returns from a one-year tour of duty in Southeast Asia. While there, he has commanded the 4258th Strategic Wing at U-Tapao Airfield in Thailand. He is a 1935 graduate of Mattoon High School and 1940 graduate of Eastern Illinois State Teachers College. He began pilot training in April 1941. He and his wife, Ruth, have two daughters.

25 years ago, 1992

MATTOON -- State Rep. Mike Weaver, R-Ashmore, was involved in a auto accident Saturday morning at the intersection of the Loxa Road and Illinois Route 16. Elbert C. Wick, 85, of Grayville was driving south on Loxa Road but failed to stop at the stop sign at the intersection with Route 16. Weaver was westbound on Route 16 when Wicks auto collided with his vehicle. Wick was treated and released at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center. He was ticketed for failing to stop at an intersection CHARLESTON -- They saved the best find for last. Researchers found a document at the Coles County Courthouse Monday that included the signature of Abraham Lincoln. Researchers with the Lincoln Legal Papers project previously found six documents in Lincolns handwriting, but the inclusion of Lincolns A. Lincoln signature on this one made it exceptional. On this document, Lincoln acknowledged receiving a $10 payment from J. Wilson Ross, court-appointed administrator of the estate of Garrett Cavener.

100 years ago, July 30, 1917

Information unavailable.

50 years ago, 1967

Sunday. No paper.

25 years ago, 1992

CHARLESTON -- Coles County will be represented by a Darling in the Miss Illinois County fair pageant in January. April Darling, that is. Darling, 19, of Charleston was crowned Miss Coles County Fair last night. Jennifer Lowell passed reign to Darling, the daughter of Don and Doris Darling. The pageant was dedicated to Dick Lynch, who with his wife Annette hosted the pageant for 17 years. Lynch, the Coles County coroner, died of cancer in December. Heather Yarbrough, the 1983 queen, and Jeff Bennett hosted this years pageant. Kristie Unkraut of Mattoon was first runner-up, April Nance of Charleston was second runner-up and Alecia Mapes was voted by other contestants as Miss Congeniality CHARLESTON -- One notable visitor to the Coles County Fair yesterday was Gov. Jim Edgar. Edgar and his brother, Fred, of Charleston watched the afternoon harness races at the fairgrounds. The governor, a Charleston native and harness racing enthusiast, later presented a blanket to a race winner on behalf of Coles County elected officials.

100 years ago, July 31, 1917

Information unavailable.

50 years ago, 1967

MATTOON -- Nearly 500 area people turned out at Coles County Memorial Airport to see an Ozark Air lines FH 227B prop jet land. The commercial plane was carrying passengers on a charter flight. Russell Pankey, district manager of marketing and public relations for Ozark, said this type of aircraft will make scheduled stops at Coles County this fall. The prop jet has a seating capacity of 48 passengers and a cruising speed of 300 miles per hour. This plane was chartered by Curtis Harvestore of Effingham for a tour of Wisconsin farm lands... SULLIVAN -- For his actions more than 20 years ago during World War II, Army Sgt. 1st Class Edgar E. Wilhelm, son of Mrs. Iva Wilhelm of Sullivan, has received the Bronze Star Medal. The presentation was made recently at Ft. Eustis, Va. Sgt. Wilhelm earned the award for "exemplary conduct in ground combat against the armed enemy" while assigned to the 33rdnfantry in Europe on Dec. 11, 1944. Sgt. Wilhelm is now an instructor at the Army Transportation School.

25 years ago, 1992

CHARLESTON -- All those raindrops falling on your head this month set a record in the history of July rainfall. As of yesterday afternoon, local weather observer Dalias Price said July rainfall in Charleston of 9.41 inches exceeded the previous record of 9.21 inches set in July 1938. Despite this months heavy rains, the yearly total of 20.92 inches is still behind the yearly average of 23.38 inches. While this months total makes it one of the wetter months on record, the July total is far short of the 14.4 inches of rain that fell in September 1926 and 13.98 inches in June 1957, when 7 inches fell on one day CHARLESTON -- Two local radio stations are working to remain competitive in a market with an inordinate amount of competition. Under the agreement, WMCI-FM in Mattoon will take over much of the operation of WEIC-FM in Charleston. WMCI will pay a monthly fee to WEIC for the rights to control much of the broadcast and receive all advertising revenue from WEIC-FM. The agreement was announced by Sally McClanahan, WMCI general manager, and Steve Garman, WEIC owner-operator CHARLESTON -- Wesley United Methodist Church in Charleston is launching a petition drive to place a referendum on the November ballot that would give voters the opportunity to approve any new forms of gambling in the county. The group needs the signatures of 3,000 Coles County registered voters by Aug. 17.Wesley is one of 1,400 churches covering about a dozen counties in Illinois that are running petition drives. The proposal would not affect existing legalized gambling.
K im Jong Un has issued a warning to the US after North Korea tested a missile allegedly capable of hitting Los Angeles, Chicago and Denver.

Analysts have concluded that a wide swathe of the US is now in range of North Korean weapons following the latest test launch.

The Korean Central News Agency said Kim expressed "great satisfaction" after the Hwasong-14 missile reached a maximum height of 2,314 miles and travelled 620 miles before accurately landing in waters off Japan.

The agency said the test was aimed at confirming the maximum range and other technical aspects of the missile it says was capable of delivering a "large-sized, heavy nuclear warhead".

Kim Jong-Un signs documents for the test launch / AFP/Getty Images

Analysts estimated that the North's first ICBM on July 4 could have reached Alaska, and said that the latest missile appeared to extend that range significantly.

Immediately after the launch, US and South Korean forces conducted live-fire exercises.

South Korean defence Minister Song Young-moo called for the deployment of strategic US military assets - which usually means stealth bombers and aircraft carriers - as well as additional launchers of an advanced US anti-missile system.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the missile flew for about 45 minutes - about five minutes longer than the first. The missile was launched on a very high trajectory, which limited the distance it travelled, and landed west of Japan's island of Hokkaido.
P resident Donald Trump has ousted his White House chief of staff Reince Priebus in favour of General John Kelly, current secretary of homeland security.

Mr Trump tweeted: "I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American."

The shakeup came after new communications director Anthony Scaramucci launched a foul-mouthed tirade claiming Mr Priebus was a "f***ing paranoid schizophrenic" and would be asked to quit.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Priebus said he resigned on Thursday. Mr Priebus travelled with Mr Trump on Friday to an appearance in Brentwood, New York, where the president thanked him for his service and "dedication to his country".

Reince Priebus, right, arrives at Long Island with President Trump / REUTERS

Mr Trump tweeted on Friday that Mr Kelly "has been a true star of my administration" while White House staff denied the former chief of staff's departure was linked to Mr Scaramucci's scathing recent interview.

Mr Kelly is seen as a battle-hardened commander who can bring a background of military discipline and order to Mr Trump's embattled administration.

As homeland security secretary, Mr Kelly took the lead on some of Mr Trump's most controversial policies, including his executive orders suspending the admission of refugees and temporarily barring visitors from several Muslim-majority nations.

Those orders have been stripped down by courts pending a Supreme Court review in the autumn.

In April, Mr Kelly bluntly challenged members of Congress critical of the Trump administration's aggressive approach to immigration enforcement to either change the laws or "shut up".

But Mr Kelly has also won cross-party respect as a result of his distinguished military career.

He joined the Marine Corps in 1970, carving out a reputation as a respected but outspoken commander who could stir debate and issue unpopular directives on issues ranging from women in combat to the treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention centre.

Kelly was the fifth person to lead the Department of Homeland Security, which includes agencies that protect the president, respond to disasters, enforce immigration laws, protect America's coastlines and secure air travel.
T he Simpsons producers have revealed they rejected Donald Trump after he asked to make a guest appearance on the popular animated show.

Executive producer Al Jean was asked at a Comic-Con panel if the series had ever turned down a celebrity who wanted to voice a character.

He paused upon hearing the question, the Wrap reported, before answering: Lets just say hes the president of the United States.

The Simpsons creators predicated that Mr Trump would become president more than 16 years ago, but only as a warning to Americans.

In an episode which aired back in 2000, Lisa becomes President of the United States, talking over from President Trump.

Weve inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump, she says while sitting in the Oval Office.

Simpsons writer Dan Greaney told The Hollywood Reporter that the episode was meant to show a vision of the country going insane.

Show creator Matt Groening told The Guardian: We predicted that he would be president back in 2000  but (Trump) was of course the most absurd placeholder joke name that we could think of at the time, and thats still true.
A major music festival in Barcelona has been evacuated after a massive fire engulfed its stage.

The inferno broke out at Tomorrowland Unite Spain festival hours before top DJ Steve Aoki was set to headline the event.

Video footage has emerged showing thick plumes of smoke billowing into the sky after the left hand side of the main stage caught fire.

Some 22,000 people were forced to flee, according to local media.

One eyewitness said on social media the stage just exploded.

No injuries have been reported as a result of the blaze.

Steve Aoki, best known for his chart-topping collaboration Just Hold On with One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, was due on stage at 2am local time, with the one-day festival expected to carry on until 3am.

The director general of civil protection in Catalunya tweeted that 22,143 people had been evacuated from the event, but no injuries had been reported so far.

It is not yet known what the cause of the fire was, although local media reported that it appeared to be related to the pyrotechnics, and it was quickly brought under control.

The line-up for the evening had also been set to include DJs Ingrosso and Afrojack.
A former star of Essex dance group Diversity has reportedly died in a car crash in Canada.

Robert Anker, 27, died following the collision in Ontario on Thursday, according to local reports.

Canada's York Regional Police said a Chevy Cobalt and a Ford F550 collided in Major Mackenzie Drive just before 6am.

Mr Anker was one of the founding members of Diversity, who beat Susan Boyle to be crowned winners of Britains Got Talent in 2009.

Following the groups success, he went on to appear in West End show Thriller before moving to Canada last year with his fiance.

Diversity performing in 2009 / PA Archive/PA Images

His poignant last Instagram posts have come to light following his tragic death. On July 17 he told followers: Remember to take time to enjoy the world.

In another he wrote: Simply smiling because I love life.

Diversity, which includes TV stars Ashley Banjo and Perri Kiely, tweeted on Saturday morning: "A former member of our group has tragically passed away. He inspired so many with his talent and was taken far too soon. R.I.P Rob."

Fans have also posted messages of condolence on Twitter, with responses to the Diversity tweet reading: "Rip rob! Such a talent loss! Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends."

A JustGiving page has been set up in Mr Ankers memory by his cousin Rochelle Hanson. It has almost raised 5,000.

The page states: On 27th July 2017, Robert Anker aged 27 was involved in a fatal car accident in Canada and sadly passed away at the scene.

"We are raising funds for his family to be able to cover all costs for their trip to go and arrange his funeral in Canada.

"We would love to ensure that his family don't worry or stress about money at this time.

The foreign office is providing assistance to Mr Ankers family.
F rom The Beach to Boyz N the Hood, heres our extensive list of all the new arrivals coming to Netflix this August.

The Beach - August 1

Arguably the ultimate backpacker movie  this movie is the antidote to all of those How to quit your job and travel the world  for free! articles. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Richard, an American searching for thrills in Thailand. Instead he finds a cult-like community in Ko Samui where, thanks to a cocktail of sex, drugs and shark attacks, he begins to lose his grip on sanity.

Dallas Buyers Club  August 1

The touching tale of Texas hustler Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) who turns to smuggling pharmaceuticals after being diagnosed with AIDs and told he has just 30 days to live. Rather than succumb to despair, Woodruff sets about helping as many HIV/AIDs patients as he can access vital medicines not yet approved in the US.

10 must-see Netflix Original series 1 /13 10 must-see Netflix Original series Narcos Wagner Moura stars as Pablo Escobar in this drama about the rise of the Colombian drug trade Juan Pablo Gutierrez/Netflix Stranger Things The Duffer Brothers' Eighties-set mystery series channels classic Spielberg and Stephen King, with plenty of loveable characters Netflix Jessica Jones Krysten Ritter is perfectly cast as Netflix's super-strong private detective, with David Tennant in superb form as her terrifying mind-controlling ex Myles Aronowitz/Netflix Bojack Horseman Netflix's hit animation is no Family Guy rip-off - it's a remarkably sharp and astute sitcom about a horse actor struggling with depression after spending his early years in a hit sitcom Netflix Orange is the New Black The inmates of Litchfield Penitentiary make for one of the best and most diverse casts on TV in this witty and gripping comedy-drama Netflix Master of None Aziz Ansari writes and stars in this brilliantly observant comedy series about 'millennials', identity, and the pace of modern life K.C. Bailey/Netflix House of Cards Kevin Spacey brings added gravitas to the Machiavellian plotting of lethal politician Frank Underwood NETFLIX The Get Down Baz Luhrmann brings his inimitable visual style to this tale of the origins of hip-hop in the Bronx in the Seventies Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Ellie Kemper is irrepressibly upbeat in Tina Fey's comedy about a woman who emerges after a decade in a doomsday bunker - and sets out to seize life Daredevil Casting off the memories of the Ben Affleck film, Marvel's Daredevil offers a dark and brooding origin story of blind lawyer-turned-vigilante Matt Murdock Netflix

Mandela Long Walk to Freedom  August 28

This Mandela biopic sees beloved Brit actor Idris Elba star as Nelson Mandela. While the film has been criticised for being a little too reverential of the South African activist and agitator to be truly realistic, Mandelas struggle will always be epic and iconic.

Boyz N the Hood  August 30

Ignore the silly name - this Nineties come of age film has depth and heart in spades. It sees a young Cuba Gooding Jr. star as Tre who is sent to live with his father in the gangster rap heartlands of South Central LA. While Tres strict father (Larry Fishburne) and his devout girlfriend) Nia Long help keep him on the straight and narrow, the teens friends arent so fortunate and get drawn into the neighbourhoods drug and gang culture.

Best LGBT films and TV shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime - in pictures 1 /13 Best LGBT films and TV shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime - in pictures Ru Paul's Drag Race Netflix Scrum Amazon Prime Orange is the New Black Netflix Carol Amazon Prime Paris is Burning Netflix The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Netflix The Invisible Men Amazon Prime First Girl I Loved Amazon Prime Sense 8 Netflix Dallas Buyers Club Amazon Prime

Suits Season 7  new episodes weekly

While yes, it stars Meghan Markle, the actress who happens to be Prince Harrys paramour, that really is only one of many reasons to watch high stakes legal drama Suits. The latest series of the show sees Markles character given a big promotion while a colleague deals with a difficult break-up. New episodes will arrive on the streaming service weekly.

Here's the full list of everything arriving on Netflix in August:

1st August

All Stars

Anarkali of Aarah

AWAKE, A Dream From Standing Rock

Below Her Mouth

Bountiful Blessings: Season 1

Boyka: Undisputed

Bruno and Boots: Go Jump in the Pool

Chuttalabbayi

Curse of the Pink Panther

Dallas Buyers Club

Dark Net: Season 1

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

Entangled: Season 1

Fartsa: Season 1

Hippopotamus

Hogie the Globehopper: Season 1

Horrid Henry: The Movie

Houston, We Have a Problem

Inspector Gadget: Season 2

Justice in the City: Season 1

Locust: Season 1

Max Steel

Maz Jobrani: Immigrant

Method: Season 1

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir: Season 1

Naruda DONORuda

New Blood: Series 1

Opening Night

Penn & Teller: Season 1

Revenge of the Pink Panther

Right Right

Robot Jox

Savage Dog

Seed Of Innocence

Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments: Season 2B - weekly episodes continue

Son of the Pink Panther

The Birdcage

The Blind Christ

The Bomb

The Dream Catchers: Season 1

The Family Court: Season 1

The Golden Path: Season 1

The Great Train Robbery

The In-Laws: Season 1

The Little Nyonya: Season 1

The Pink Panther Strikes Again

The Truth About Alcohol

The Truth: Season 1

The Wedding Party

Tie The Knot

Tie The Knot

Together: Season 1

Trail of the Pink Panther

Under Arrest: Season 6

Vroomiz: Season 3

Wake Wood

We Speak Dance: Season 1

Women Who Kill Lions

World War II in Colour

2nd August

Godzilla (1998)

Jab We Met

Killjoys: Season 2

Shooter: Season 2 - weekly episodes continue

3rd August

When the Bough Breaks

The Day of the Jackal

4th August

Alan Saldana: Mi vida de pobre

Dope

Icarus

Lockup: State Prisons: Collection 1

Love & Mercy

The Headhunter's Calling

Voltron: Legendary Defender: Season 3

Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later

5th August

Warrior's Gate

6th August

Orphan Black: Season 5 - weekly episodes continue

Selfless

7th August

Power: Season 4

The Black Room

Hostel

8th August

First Love: Season 1

Good Time: Season 1

Hey, Kids!: Season 1

If Life Cheats You: Season 1

9th August

The Base

10th August

Diary of an Exorcist - Zero

Shut In

11th August

Atypical: Season 1

Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh: Season 3

Naked

Sweet Sixteen

True and The Rainbow Kingdom: Season 1

12th August

Pray For Rain

13th August

Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo

14th August

Power: Season 4

The Outcasts

Bride and Prejudice

15th August

Brad Paisley's Comedy Rodeo

The Sweet Life

We're No Animals

16th August

Envy

17th August

The Girl Who Played with Fire

18th August

Dinotrux: Season 5

Glitter Force Doki Doki: Season 1

Marvel's The Defenders: Season 1

What Happened To Monday

19th August

What She Put on the Table: Seasons 1

Hide and Seek

Triple Nine

21st August

All About Love: Season 1

Power: Season 4

Unacknowledged

Bad Rap

Dickensian: Season 1

22nd August

Lynne Koplitz: Hormonal Beast

Ryan Hamilton: Happy Face

Wasteland

23rd August

Feel Rich

Gothika

25th August

I.T

The D Train

Death Note

Disjointed: Part 1

DreamWorks Dragons: Race to the Edge: Season 5

The Mist: Season 1

26th August

Buster's Mal Heart

28th August

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

29th August

Dying to Know: Ram Dass & Timothy Leary

Killing Me Softly

30th August

Boyz n the Hood

31st August

The Other Boleyn Girl
Some things need to be above politics.

Educating our children should be at the top of the list.

This week was the time to end the chess game between Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Illinois General Assembly. Illinois, at long last, has a budget in place, but that will be meaningless to the states schools if a new funding plan isnt put in place.

Some Southern Illinois schools have said they can only operate a few days with the cash currently on hand.

There appears to be a ready solution  "appears" being the key word in that statement. The last remaining hurdle, while not insignificant, is not insurmountable. Time is running out. Lets show the rest of the country we can actually be adults and get the bill signed and implemented.

Senate Bill 1, which has passed the House and Senate, will change the way Illinois schools are funded. Currently, schools operate largely on funds raised through property taxes, although the Illinois State Constitution provides that the state be the primary source of funds.

The property tax model created a well-chronicled system of haves and have-nots. The new plan calls for monies to be distributed on the basis of need -- "need" being defined by the number of students living below the poverty level and the ability of a district to generate tax revenue.

Sounds simple enough. Sounds like a no-brainer -- except for the fact this is Illinois.

Over the course of the past three weeks, Gov. Rauner has said he likes the bill, he wants to veto the bill, he wants to veto part of the bill, and then, he said he likes it again. The sticking point is the status of Chicago public schools.

Since the state does not currently contribute to pensions for teachers in Chicago Public Schools, an amount has been earmarked for that purpose. That is being labeled a bailout by opponents of the bill.

Conversely, Rauner pointed out that Chicago public schools also benefit from a $250 million block grant. His point being that if the purpose of the new funding program is to put schools on even footing, Chicagos public schools shouldnt receive the grants and the additional pension funds.

We believe the solution is to take the Chicago pension funding off the table to expedite the signing of the bill and deal with it as a separate issue. Amazingly, that seems to be acceptable to both the governor and the General Assembly.

Rauner told The Southern Illinoisans editorial board the state should take out the pension baloney and leave the rest of the plan in place.

Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill), one of the primary proponents of the plan, also finds that acceptable.

The goal is to have a statewide system, he said in a July 21 interview. The goal is to correct inequity, thats not going to happen if we dont deal with Chicago Public Schools.

In the meantime, its time for the two sides to quit bickering and put a plan in place.

Rauner complains SB1 was passed six weeks ago and hasnt made its way to his desk. Manar said the bill hasnt been presented because Rauner has continually moved the goalposts.

The governors position is erratic, Manar said. It is inconsistent. It is contradictory in nature. It changes by the day. It makes it impossible for serious people like me to try to navigate compromise.

Schools are scheduled to open their doors in just a couple weeks.

Our children have a right to an education.

It is time for a pragmatic approach. Take out the Chicago pension funding provision and get the bill to the governors desk. And, the governor has to keep the goalposts in place and affix his signature.

Dont let politics block the school door.

-- The Southern Illinoisan
On a mild, unfaltering Friday night at Pinewood Bowl, comedian Jim Gaffigan delivered his brand of mild, unfaltering stand-up thats earned him admiration for almost two decades.

In a 70-minute set sandwiched, literally, by a Runza joke and his famous Hot Pocket riff, Gaffigan traversed classic comedic turnpikes like in-laws, man boobs, gyms, travel, fashion and genetic tests.

On his Noble Ape tour, Gaffigan, as he does, kept things clean  mostly. Such an approach places a premium on observational, deadpan humor  which not coincidentally is his Kevlar.

His wife recently had brain surgery, so hospitals quickly moved into his crosshairs.

Everyone looks sick in hospital lighting. I walked in and they were like, We need to get you to ER!

Born in Illinois and raised in Indiana, Gaffigan now lives in New York City. His gym is the Chinatown YMCA. There, he seems to gain more in material than he loses in weight.

Watching a 90-year-old on an elliptical machine makes me want to die in my 70s.

And recent international trips to Finland, China, Japan and the United Kingdom have broadened his observational purview.

I went to the M&M store in Piccadilly Circus. Three floors. The first floor is M&Ms. The second floor is more M&Ms. The third floor is so you can jump to your death for spending time at the M&M store in London.

As the night progressed, Gaffigan progressed  no, more like hilariously degenerated  into his raunchier material. An extended bit about gastroenterologists had the crowd rolling.

You wouldnt believe the turnover for the camera cleaners. They last a week and then go back on food stamps.

On vegetarian Hot Pockets: For those who dont want to eat meat, but still want explosive diarrhea.

Gaffigan largely stayed away from politics, controversy and foul language. In a sense, his stand-up was upstanding, even if there was some indigestion toward the end.
Charter Communications has put the kibosh on a plan by Allo Communications to help new Allo customers return old Time Warner/Spectrum equipment.

Allo Communications, which provides internet, TV and phone service in parts of Lincoln, was trying to provide a customer service by returning the equipment on behalf of customers, Ben Kiser, with Allo/Nelnet, told the citys Cable Advisory Board this week.

But recently, the Charter/Spectrum office has refused to accept deliveries of that equipment, Kiser said.

They dont want their own equipment back, Kiser told the board. The deliveries are no longer being accepted, he said. Its a little frustrating.

When a Spectrum customer returns equipment, we provide a receipt as proof the account has been updated appropriately," according to a response from Charter Communications.

"This process is necessary and in customers' best interest, as they are responsible for any fees associated with unreturned equipment, which is why we do not accept third-party returns.

Allo, which competes with Spectrum and Windstream in Lincoln on internet, TV and phone services, was packing equipment and having it delivered by a third party, Kiser told the board.

We are trying to make it easier for customers, he said.

After a call with Windstream officials in early July, Allo stopped sending equipment back to them because they offer customers the option of returning their equipment with a postage-paid return box, Kiser said.

Charter attorneys have told Allo the customer is responsible for returning the equipment and that it cannot be collected by Allo and delivered to Charter's office, Kiser said.

The customers appreciate it. Hopefully we will be able to figure out a solution," he said.

Allo has equipment from about 27 customers in limbo because of Charters refusal to accept the deliveries since July 20, Kiser said.

We are trying to work through that right now, he said.

The equipment discussion was part of Kisers report to the city's cable advisory group about Allos work putting in fiber-optic lines across the city.

Allo, a Nebraska company purchased by Nelnet, is in the middle of a three-year project bringing internet access to every home and business in the city.
TransCanada is still working to lock in more customers before it commits to building the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, a company executive told investors Friday.

Paul Miller, president of TransCanada's liquid pipelines business, said a final decision probably won't come until November or December, after Nebraska regulators have finished their review of the pipeline's proposed route through this state.

"We'll make an assessment of the commercial support and the regulator approvals at that time," Miller said during a conference call with investors Friday morning. "In the event that we do decide to proceed with the project, we still need probably six to nine months to do some of the staging of the construction crews, etc., and that would be followed by about a two-year construction period."

The statements cast further doubt on whether the $8 billion pipeline, first announced nearly a decade ago, will ever be completed.

"It gives me a little bit of optimism," said Art Tanderup, a Neligh-area farmer who opposes the Keystone XL. "Can't get our hopes up too high here. I can't start jumping and doing my happy dance."

About half a mile of the 36-inch underground pipeline would cross through Tanderup's land en route from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City near the Nebraska-Kansas state line. The Keystone XL would then meet up with an existing pipeline network to carry heavy crude to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Tanderup plans to be in the audience at the Cornhusker Marriott in Lincoln when the Nebraska Public Service Commission holds its five-day formal hearing on the project beginning Aug. 7. The commission also took comments from the general public during four hearings this summer.

A decision by Nebraska regulators should come by late November and would be the final major hurdle for Keystone XL to overcome, assuming TransCanada can rally sufficient buy-in from customers.

Miller said the company lost some potential customers after then-President Barack Obama rejected the project in 2015, although some of that interest has returned since President Donald Trump reversed Obama's decision earlier this year, one of his first acts in office.

On Thursday, TransCanada launched an "open season" to seek out new contracts for the pipeline. That process will close Sept. 28, Miller said.

Politico, one of the first national news outlets to highlight Miller's statements, reported that one problem TransCanada faces is shifting demand for oil.

Much of that demand is coming from Asia, so shippers would probably prefer to move oil to the West Coast for export, said Rusty Braziel, president of energy consulting firm RBN Energy.

If youre a producer in Alberta, the conundrum you face here is you really want to go west," Braziel told Politico. "Do you want to take barrels to the Gulf Coast and fight with everyone else sending barrels through the Gulf Coast? Hell no.

Jane Kleeb, founder of the anti-pipeline group Bold Alliance, questioned why Nebraska should approve a project that might never be built but would give TransCanada permanent easements to Nebraskans' land.

"I don't even think that the Public Service Commission should be considering this," she said. "If they don't have the committed shippers, why are we considering a pipeline route through our state?"

TransCanada spokesman Matthew John said he doesn't believe Miller's comments Friday reflect any change in the company's commitment to the project or its path forward with Nebraska regulators.

"It's just part of the process that we're going through to rework contracts."
Western corn rootworm beetles began emerging in early July in southeastern and south central Nebraska. Beetle emergence will be somewhat later in northeastern and western Nebraska.

During mid-July and August these beetles will lay eggs in corn fields. These eggs overwinter in the soil, hatch into rootworms in the spring, and feed on corn roots if continuous corn is grown. However, not all continuous corn fields have economic infestations of corn rootworms.

Scouting

Weekly scouting of adult rootworm beetles in July and August will provide the information needed to decide whether rootworm control is needed next year.

For adult beetle control programs, decisions as to whether to treat and if so, when to spray, should be based on information from field scouting. Start scouting for corn rootworm beetles soon after beetle emergence begins and continue scouting weekly until threshold levels are exceeded or beetle activity stops. Examine 50 plants per field, taking samples from each quarter of the field. Sampled plants should be several paces apart so examining one plant doesnt drive beetles off the next plant to be sampled. The most reliable method is to examine the whole plant for beetles.

Beetles may hide behind leaf sheaths or in the silks, so take care to observe all beetles present. An alternative method is to check for beetles only in the ear zone (the area including the upper surface of the leaf below the primary ear and the under surface of the leaf above the primary ear).

In continuous corn if beetle counts exceed the thresholds noted in Table 1, damaging populations of corn rootworms are possible in that field next year. In first year corn, there is a higher proportion of female beetles, so the threshold is lowered compared to those in continuous corn. The number of beetles per plant to equal a threshold level should be adjusted for different plant populations (see Table 1). If the ear zone method is used for scouting, divide these thresholds in half, since on average only 50% of the beetles on a plant are counted using this method.

Another scouting method for adult rootworm beetles is to use Phercon AM yellow sticky traps (unbaited). Traps should be placed on the plant at ear level. In this case the treatment threshold is an average of two beetles/trap/day.

In fields with insect levels over the threshold, next year consider:

n rotating out of corn

n planting a pyramided transgenic corn expressing the Cry 34/35 protein and another protein active against rootworms (see Handy Bt Trait Table at http://msuent.com/ for more information), or

n using an insecticide at planting on non-Bt corn to prevent economic damage.

Fields remaining below the threshold level throughout the beetle egg-laying period are not expected to have economic populations of rootworms next year.

Adult Beetle Control

Individuals using adult beetle control programs should begin treatments when the beetle threshold is exceeded and 10% of the female beetles are gravid (abdomen visibly distended with eggs). This is an important point since the first beetles to emerge are mostly male, and females require at least 10-14 days of feeding before they can lay eggs. Treatments applied too early may be ineffective if large numbers of females emerge after the residual effectiveness of the treatment has dissipated.

Continue to monitor fields weekly after treatment for rootworm beetles. Late maturing fields are particularly susceptible to corn rootworms moving into them from nearby earlier maturing fields and may need to be retreated.
SCOTTSBLUFF  Japans government announced Friday that starting Aug. 1, it would be raising its tariff on imported frozen beef from 38.5 percent to 50 percent, sparking a stream of protest from politicians and beef export industry leaders.

I am concerned that an increase in Japans tariff on frozen beef imports will impede U.S. beef sales and is likely to increase the United States overall trade deficit with Japan, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said in a statement Friday. This would harm our important bilateral trade relationship with Japan on agricultural products.

Japan is the top export market for U.S. beef in both volume and value, and anything that restricts our sales to Japan will have a negative impact on Americas ranching families and our Japanese consumers, National Cattlemens Beef Association (NCBA) President Craig Uden said in a statement. NCBA opposes artificial barriers like these because they unfairly distort the market and punish both producers and consumers. Nobody wins in this situation. Our producers lose access, and beef becomes a lot more expensive for Japanese consumers.

We hope the Trump Administration and Congress realize that this unfortunate development underscores the urgent need for a bilateral trade agreement with Japan absent the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

During the first quarter of the Japanese fiscal year (April through June), a spike of frozen beef imports triggered a safeguard, causing an automatic increase to the tariff rate under a World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement.

According to the U.S. Meat Export Federation, Japan has maintained separate quarterly import safeguards on chilled and frozen beef since 1994. This safeguard allows imports to increase by 17 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The duty increases from 38.5 percent to 50 percent when those imports exceed the safeguard volume. Since Japans frozen beef imports in the 2016 Japanese fiscal year were lower than in previous years, coupled with the increased demand for beef driven by Japans food service sector, imports exceeded the 17 percent. The duty on U.S. frozen beef imports will remain in effect until March 31, 2018.

Conditions have changed since the quarterly safeguards were established in 1994 however, and the growth in Japans imports this year has not adversely impacted Japans domestic beef producers. Japan has also moved away from the quarterly safeguard mechanism in its recent trade agreements. Through the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement, Japan transitioned from quarterly safeguards to annual safeguards, which are much less likely to be triggered. The snapback duties on Australian beef have also been reduced, minimizing any potential impact on trade. The duty on Australian beef will remain at the current rate of 27.2 percent.

Japan also agreed to similar terms in its economic partnership agreement with Mexico and in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is the 12-nation multilateral trade deal which at one time included the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Peru, Chile, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal as his first executive order after taking office in January.

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts also released a statement Friday afternoon.

I call on Congress and the Trump Administration to redouble their efforts to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement with Japan to address the beef tariff rates as well as other agricultural market access issues similar to what would have been covered under the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Ricketts said. As announced, I will be leading a trade mission to Japan in early September. Our beef community can rest assured these tariffs rate increases will be at the forefront of our discussions in Japan.

According to the release from Ricketts, Japan is Nebraskas number one export market for beef products. In 2016, U.S. Beef exports to Japan equaled $1.5 billion, with Nebraskas share of the market was valued at over $316 million. It is anticipated that this will shift purchases from frozen to fresh triggering beef safeguard tariff increases on fresh beef as well later this year compounding the impact on Nebraskas beef exports.
When Mildred Moody celebrates her 90th birthday on Saturday, shell not only be surrounded by loved ones and friends, but also students she has helped teach through the years.

With the upcoming school year, Moody will mark 20 years serving as a foster grandparent at Gering schools.

It is very rewarding, Moody said. I have been blessed to work with a lot of beautiful children and wonderful teachers.

Moody, who was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, didnt start out working with teachers and students. She grew up in Torrington, Wyoming, where she started a retail career with an after-school job at JCPenney. Her teacher told the students that they could get extra credit, and her dad, who owned and operated a popcorn store thought it would be a good idea. She then worked at Goodards 5 & 10 Ben Franklin Store.

Mr. Goodard asked me one question in my interview: What can you do? I told him, I can make change. And, I was hired.

She lived in Torrington until 1975, when she moved to Ft. Morgan, Colorado, and she managed the clothing department of a Big R Store. She worked for the store until it sold to Wheelers. She managed the clothing department for Wheelers until 1992 when she and her husband moved to Gering.

(Working in retail) was really satisfying, she said. I loved colors, loved to organize the clothing. At Wheelers, they had jeans, western shirts, boots and I made the decisions about what to carry.

She spent her years in retirement helping care for her husband, Dwight, who battled Parkinsons disease, when she said she decided she needed to get out of the house on occasion.

I needed to look to the future and what my life would be without him, she said.

She learned about the foster grandparent program. She liked to work with children, so it became a good fit for her. She worked for about six hours a day, with teachers being flexible with her schedule so she could come home to help her husband.

For 13 out of 16 years working at Geil Elementary, she said, she worked with one teacher, Mrs. Marsha Neifert. When Neifert retired, she began working at Lincoln Elementary. Shes worked with Mrs. Bethany Joliffe at Geil and Mrs. Mickie Janecek at Lincoln in the last three years.

Mostly, she said, she works with students on their spelling.

I work with them on their phonics, she said. The first few years I was a foster grandma, the students just did sight reading. Then, they introduced phonics. What a difference. The children really caught on quickly.

The children at the beginning of the school year are different than at the end. At the beginning, many of the students are still feeling things out, some learning to hold a pencil, cut scissors, or even learn their colors. They can be shy and need a little guiding along.

Some are still adjusting to being away from mom.

I give them a little grandmotherly love and some hugs, she said. Each child is different and I observe them for a few days to figure them out.

She loves to watch them develop in that first year of school and move into the first grade. As the children grow, she keeps track of their successes.

She stays in touch with many students. Several students that she worked with live in the neighborhood.

One boy, he is a junior in high school right now, is a lifeguard at the swimming pool. Another works at Scottys. One girl, who struggles with hearing problems, is working in the public as a cosmetologist and she loves it. One student is in Kansas and she is now a school teacher. Just this week, two boys  a third and sixth grader  came over to pull my weeds and another little boy likes to come over and pick my grapes from the vine. One boy mowed my lawn for two years and he saved his money to go to Washington D.C. I was so proud of him. Its so rewarding to see their accomplishments and to see them.

Her birthday celebration Saturday, July 29 will be held at 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Gering Civic Center. Some students have received invitations, but Moody is hoping others will stop by.

As it will be her 20th year  and she is 90 years old  she admits that she is not sure how long shell be working in the foster grandparent program. Last year, she suffered some health problems, so was gone for extended periods from the classroom. This year, she says she is healthy, but I take one year at a time.

Moody is a walking advertisement for the foster grandparent program and is always looking for others to join her. She rattles off the requirements: Potential grandparents need be 55 years of age or older, fill out an application to see if they are income qualified, be able to serve 15 hours a week and once qualified, they then they need to complete 40 hours of training. In the summertime, she said, the grandparents participate in weekly classes on nutrition, health and wellness topics.

She tries to recruit people to join the program.

We are really short on grandparents right now, she said. We have lost several over the last two to three years. We can especially use grandpas. The kids love grandpas.

For more information on the foster grandparent program in Scottsbluff, Gering and other communities in the Panhandle, call Cathy Schumacher, director of the program at Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska, 308-633-3348.
SCOTTSBLUFF  The City of Scottsbluff now has an updated inventory of its tree stock, which hasnt been done in about 15 years.

The project, completed two weeks ago, was a cooperative effort of the North Platte Natural Resources District (NPNRD) and the Nebraska Forest Service.

The purpose of the study is to give us a living tree inventory, said Dave Wolf, NPNRD information and education coordinator. We dont want to do a study every five years or so and then let it sit on the shelf.

Wolf said a current inventory was important because of the threat from the Emerald Ash Borer. While the pest beetles are primarily contained in eastern Nebraska, the potential of them moving west is still possible.

For cities that have a lot of ash trees, it could cost millions to remove diseased and dead trees, he said. The tree stock in some cities is from 70 to 80 percent ash. They could be in big trouble, especially now that the Emerald Ash Borer is attacking other tree species.

The adult beetles lay their eggs in ash trees. Once they hatch, the larvae eat the soft part of the wood, eventually killing the tree. Its the soft part of the wood that transports water and nutrients into the upper branches.

Wolf said its the same process as the mountain pine beetle that has destroyed millions of acres of ponderosa and lodgepole pine trees.

The Emerald Ash Borer only has a range of about 2,000 feet. The primary method of transportation is firewood.

We can see how the beetles have migrated along major highways, Wolf said People are cutting up the dead ash trees and hauling it off for firewood. The pests come along for the ride.

Another purpose of the tree inventory is to identify trees that are potentially hazardous, so owners can remedy the problem.

During the early stages of the tree inventory, two trees in the Scottsbluff cemetery were identified as problematic. Two days later, strong winds toppled one of them.

The four-month inventory was conducted over the past two summers by the NPNRDs Amanda Shepperd. The procedure involved measuring the height and width of the citys trees, along with species and condition. Findings were then plotted on an interactive map, allowing cities to change the status of trees as problems are treated and dead trees removed.

Shepperd inventoried 8,030 publicly owned trees for the City of Scottsbluff during the study. A rule of thumb multiplies the number of public trees by three to get an average population. That would put Scottsbluffs total tree population in the 24,000 range.

The most common species are cottonwood, honey locust, northern hackberry, ash, spruce, juniper, ponderosa pine and crabapple. Most of them are in the middle age range, from 10 to 20 years, depending on the species.

Ive found that many of the trees are in need of pruning and could use mulch, she said. I didnt seea lot of big issues, but owners should regularly inspect their trees and keep them watered.

Wolf said that while NPNRD works extensively with ag producers, their focus includes all the communitys natural resources, including trees.

Most of the tax base that supports us comes from urban areas, he said. We thought this would be a good partnership to bring our message to city residents. Amanda helped our outreach because she was able to talk with land owners about the health of their trees.
Jim Van Etten has stood in the crowd during a trove of presidential speeches.

Kennedy in 1960, Carter in 1980, Clinton a year ago in Lincoln.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln plant pathology professor heard Obama speak twice at the National Academy of Sciences annual meeting.

But it wasn't until this year  April 22 to be exact  that Van Etten took to the political podium himself.

That day, scientists and others around the world took up their picket signs for the March for Science.

Van Etten, 79, who rallied hundreds of concerned civilians and scientists at Lincoln's satellite march, was never much of an activist, despite living through turbulent political moments in U.S. history.

Like the civil rights movement in the '60s, when scores of activists advocated for an end to racial segregation and discrimination.

Or the surge of anti-war sentiment that swept across the country as the U.S. entangled itself in the quagmire of Vietnam.

I was never involved in these causes, but I was very supportive, said Van Etten, who has been teaching at UNL for nearly 50 years. I was more sympathetic than active.

But when scientists chose to protest proposed federal budget cuts to scientific research and climate change denial, Van Etten found himself pushed into the frays of activism.

"I think it's odd that I have to march," Van Etten said. "I've been a scientist since 1960 and I certainly don't ever remember scientists having to defend their research to the public."

Van Etten said the current administration has not supported the country's scientific community, with President Donald Trump proposing to cut science funding from the 2018 federal budget and pulling out of the Paris Agreement in June.

Some of the proposed budget cuts, outlined in May, would slash funding to NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency.

In mid-July, the House Appropriations Committee OK'd a bill that would cut $528 million in EPA funding, a more modest cut than Trump proposed.

"There just seems to be an anti-science culture among people in the U.S.," Van Etten said. "That's a huge mistake ... it's been building up, but the attitude of the president questioning climate change has made it worse."

While there are no upcoming scheduled marches, Van Etten plans on being active as long as science and climate change remain issues of contention.

"It's about being in a democracy," he said. "Every citizen has the right to protest and march as long as it's done peacefully ... and I'm a strong proponent of that."
The Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs (NCIA) along with the Mid-America Transportation Center (MATC) hosted the Sovereign Native Youth STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Leadership Academy in Lincoln this week. I was part of a tour with these Middle and High School students of the Capitol and later a tour of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) Museum near Ashland. I really enjoyed working with these exceptional young people, who came from all over Nebraska. I was honored to escort this group.

This week also included a radio interview with the Chadron radio. So I could be in two places at once, my Legislative Aide did a radio interview with KRVN in Lexington where the Right to Repair legislation was discussed. I co-sponsored this bill (LB 67) that would restore ownership, or what I consider to be just basic property rights, to owners of Agriculture equipment. Information technology has advanced to the point everything has an on-board computer which owners of ag equipment cannot repair themselves because they cannot access software operating systems. Ag equipment owners should have the same rights of ownership an automobile owner has. If you have a car with a problem, you can plug in a little hand-held diagnostic computer and read a fault code and find out what part is bad and replace it yourself. If you own a shiny new half-a-million dollar piece of ag equipment with a problem, you cant even start the engine without paying a technician to come out and access the operating software. I hope folks contact the members of the Judiciary Committee and urge them to support this bill and vote it out to General File so we can debate it and pass this legislation.

My staff also attended a hearing about the 911 emergency system this week. There are a lot of challenges making sure everyone in the state has access to basic cell phone/wireless coverage so no matter where you are, you can dial 911 and call for help. Thats the goal in the law and getting there, especially in places like the Sandhills, is a considerable challenge. This infrastructure is taken for granted in the urban areas of our state, so not everyone realizes the urgent need we face in the Western Nebraska. I am a strong supporter of efforts to expand wireless coverage and we have to do everything we can in the Legislature to promote this. Unless theyve been out-West recently, No Service is not something a lot of people in Nebraska have seen on their phone in a long time. Like everything else, this capability costs money so funding is also a serious concern.

The staff and I continue to discuss the property tax issue with many citizen groups and a number of Senators. I think a ballot initiative is going to happen this summer, along with a legislative resolution a number of senators support early next session. I am excited and very hopeful we will see something soon, and I will be supporting it.

The Nebraska constitution says the legislature shall provide for the free instruction in the common schools. What has happened instead is the legislature provided laws that ended up forcing 70% of the States school districts (175 of 249) to operate without financial support from the State. In those school districts, 100% of the costs are being paid for entirely by local property tax payers. This is a very divisive situation where most urban schools end up with State dollars supporting them, and most rural schools do not.

The bottom line is the Legislature has to find a way for the State of Nebraska to pay a lot more for K-12 education than it does right now. Too much of that bill is on the backs of property tax payers. the legislature shall provide needs to really mean provide.

I visited the Middle Niobrara Natural Resource Districts Conservation Field Day in Ainsworth 26 of the July. Later that day Ill attended the ribbon cutting for the new Mid-Plains Community College in Valentine. Ill also be at the Sheridan County Parade in Gordon Saturday on the 29th of July as well as the County Fair and Rodeo. I look forward to seeing everyone and talking with you. Please join me.

Please contact my office with any comments, questions or concerns. Email me at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov or call us at 402-471-2628.
President Klaus Iohannis has sent, on Saturday, a message on the occasion of the Day of the National Anthem of Romania.

"'The Day of the National Anthem', celebrated every year on July 29, is a solemn moment that offers us, Romanians, the opportunity to reaffirm our attachment to the values and principles that stood at the base of the Romanian modern state. The verses of the patriotic poem 'An echo', written by Andrei Muresanu and sung on the chords created by Anton Pann, have always represented a call to freedom and the unity of all Romanians in order to gain national sovereignty," said the head of state in the message.

He mentioned that the National Anthem of Romania, official since 1990, was first sung in the context of the "revolutionary effervescence of 1848, and then in the crucial moments of the country's history, during the First and Second World War, during the War of Independence and the Great Union of 1918."

Iohannis showed that, at present, the value of the anthem is consecrated by the Romanian Constitution as a national symbol, together with the tricolour flag, the coat of arms and the seal of the state.

l and social cohesion, and through the mobilizing spirit and energy conveyed, the Anthem represents the quintessence of efforts submitted for reaching the major objectives of our country, for building a Romania powerful and prosperous in Europe and the world. On this day of celebration, I urge you to honor this national symbol and sing it proudly, as a gesture of solidarity, stating our national identity, unity and patriotism. We honor, at the same time, the memory of those who have contributed to consolidating the Romanian state and we relay our respect to the past. May 'Awaken thee, Romanian!' be sung as many times as possible and always be our guide in the path of our becoming!", the head of state concluded.
Updated at 3:35 p.m.

NEW YORK  The fate of former drug company executive Martin Shkreli now rests with jurors in Brooklyn federal court, who will begin deliberating Monday morning after a month-long trial.

Shkreli, 34, is best known for raising the price of anti-infection drug Daraprim by 5,000 percent in 2015 as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals. The increase sparked outrage from U.S. lawmakers and patients and earned Shkreli the nickname pharma bro.

The charges he now faces relate not to Turing but to Shkrelis management of his previous drug company, Retrophin Inc., and hedge funds MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare, between 2009 and 2014. Prosecutors claim he lied to MSMB investors, lost their money and paid them back with cash and stock stolen from Retrophin.

On Friday, jurors finished hearing lawyers closing arguments in the case.

Maybe Martin could have been more responsive to the needy investors, said Benjamin Brafman, Shkrelis attorney. Maybe because of the way his mind operates at warp speed, he was doing too many things at one time.

But Brafman urged jurors to see Shkreli as an eccentric genius, driven by his desire to build a drug company that would save lives. He stressed that the investors made money in the end.

In a rebuttal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said Brafman was describing a mythological Martin Shkreli.

He knew exactly what he was doing, she said. We have proven his intent to deceive beyond any doubt.

She described Shkreli as calculating, saying he told investors what they wanted to hear so they would hand over their money.

Kasulis told the jurors it did not matter that Shkrelis hedge fund investors were paid back by Retrophin.

If you rob a bank, and then you rob another bank to pay back the first back, you still robbed that first bank, she said.

Shkreli, who did not testify in his defense, has often seemed to revel in his public reputation, posting on social media even as his trial unfolded.

My case is a silly witch hunt perpetrated by self-serving prosecutors, he posted on Facebook Thursday, after the first part of Brafmans argument. Thankfully my amazing attorney sent them back to junior varsity where they belong. Drain the swamp. Drain the sewer that is the (U.S. Department of Justice). MAGA.

MAGA is widely used as an acronym for Make America Great Again, President Donald Trumps campaign slogan.
Samuel Mercers name often is associated with many buildings in Omahas Old Market area, but most of his prominence resulted from his medical practice, his real estate developments and his great influence in inner Omaha street railway development.

Samuel David Mercer was born in 1842 on a farm near the village of Walnut Hill, Illinois. His fathers farm was large enough to be self-sustaining, meaning Mercer experienced a wide variety of career possibilities. Saving his money, he joined his uncles in the purchase of a threshing machine. That led to an accident in which he injured his left hand. The incident, in turn, gave rise to an interest in medicine.

After first taking classes at McKendree College, he began studying medicine at Michigan University, then the Chicago Medical College, ultimately graduating from the Berkshire Medical College of Massachusetts. During the Civil War Mercer served as a surgeon. Almost immediately after leaving the army, he moved to Omaha in November 1866.

Mercer hit the ground running and within months opened the first official hospital for civilians. The Omaha hospital was in a house variously said to be at 26th and Cass, 30th and California and 30th and Cass streets. Mercer operated it for just a few months before selling it to the city of Omaha as a pest house or small pox hospital, which it served as only briefly before burning to the ground.

In August 1866, Mercer became one of the founders of the Omaha Medical Society. Commercially, he partnered with James Megath to move the McCoy Distillery from Council Bluffs to Omaha. They changed the name to Willow Springs Distillery before selling it to Peter Iler, who built it into the country's third largest distiller.

Mercer opened a private hospital in 1867 known as the Omaha Medical and Surgical Institute and was appointed surgeon for the Grant Smelting & Refining Co. In February 1868, Mercer founded and became corporate secretary of the Nebraska State Medical Society; the following year he was appointed assistant surgeon for the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad and in May found time to be one of the founders and first faculty members of the Omaha Medical College.

Not one to let grass grow under his feet, Mercer also found time to be chair of surgery  at the state university in Lincoln, was appointed Douglas County physician; in 1877, became chief surgeon for the Union Pacific Railroad and founded the Union Pacific Dispensary at 10th and Harney streets.

As his medical practice flourished -- he was elected vice president of the American Medical Association -- Mercer took an interest in real estate. In 1883, he platted the Walnut Hill subdivison, named for his boyhood home. He helped plat the Bemis Park subdivision in 1889 as the city's first to have curving streets rather than conforming to a grid system.

On a 3-acre lot on the northeast corner of 40th and Cuming streets, Mercer built a two-story, 23-room, nine-bedroom, $60,000 Queen Anne Revival mansion, complete with its own plant to manufacture gas for illumination. The house featured a three-story tower above the south entrance, an elaborate Eastlake porch, an entryway of cherry, walnut and mahogany, a billiards room, stained glass windows and mosaic tiles. On the balance of the subdivision, Mercer built 75 smaller houses which he sold on small monthly installments.

Mercer retired from medicine in 1887 to focus on real estate but also devoted considerable time and wealth in developing street railways and even a cable railway system in Omaha. He created the Omaha Street Railway Co., became president of the Omaha Motor Railway Co. and extended one line to his house at 3920 Cuming.

The 1880s also saw him erect buildings in what would develop as the Old Market area, build the Mercer Hotel at 12th and Howard and establish hospitals in Ogden, Utah; Laramie, Wyoming, and Denver.

In 1890, the Republican Party nominated Mercer as its candidate for governor and though not elected, he became chairman of the Republican State Central Committee in 1891. The Mercer Chemical Co. opened in 1892 as a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals.

In the 1920s, his mansion was converted to apartments, while the stables were razed and a garage built in their place. The extant house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Mercer Park Road was platted as a north/south street running parallel to North 38th Street between Cuming and Hawthorne Avenue.

Mercer died October 1907 and though he is most often remembered for his real estate and medical successes, the meticulous index of a book on the history of streetcars gave up listing his name, stating instead that Mercer was mentioned numerous [literally hundreds of] times between [pages] 27 and 152.

Another biographer simply added no Sam Mercer, no Old Market.
America, home of the free and land of self-storage.

Of all the self-storage in all the world, more than 75 percent of it is in the United States. There are nearly 50,000 self-storage facilities in the United States. The rest of the world has about 15,000 combined, according to the Self Storage Association.

And this summer, St. Louis is getting at least 1 million more square feet of it, give or take.

Demand for self-storage is most often attributed to four major life events that the industry calls the four Ds: divorce, death, downsizing or dislocation (i.e. job loss).

The big driver is change, said Brad Schwer of Morningstar Equity Research. In one way or another, people are looking for stability.

The U.S. has an estimated 2.6 billion square feet of self-storage, according to the Self Storage Association. Thats about 8.1 square feet per person, and thats growing.

Were not sure how long this trend will last. We think maybe were at the top of the bell curve, said Mike Blackett, a senior vice presidents with the Alexandria, Va.-based trade group. But the demand is there, and facilities are expanding, so you will see some price wars, competition and see whos left standing.

When a steady income or residence is elusive, leasing a small square of storage space for possessions can provide peace of mind, according to Beau Reinberg, co-owner of the 10-year-old W-Ave Storage facility downtown and the two-week-old Extra Space Storage at 10300 Watson Road.

When the economy took a dip, he maximized income at W-Ave Storage by leasing to Urban Harvest, a food roof-farming tenant. Part of the parking lot is a paid lot, but the other part is leased to St. Louis Volleyball, which trucked in tons of sand to host matches for 200 teams.

But he has five to six new storage facility sites in the works, and they will be strictly storage. He no longer needs to diversify, he said.

Sticky situation

The reality is that most people rent storage much longer than they expect, overvalue the sentimental items inside and rarely shop for better pricing elsewhere once their belongings have been stored.

Schwer, the analyst, calls the success of retaining self-storage customers stickiness. That viscous quality helped establish the sector.

You couldnt be in a better property sector from 2011 to 2015, explained David Rogers, the chief executive officer of Life Storage (formerly Uncle Bobs Self Storage) at an investor forum recorded in June. Now growth is slower, but there are still opportunities. Rogers called the market for self-storage in St. Louis tremendous, thanks in particular to vacant buildings already zoned for warehousing storage.

The vast majority of self-storage facilities are mom-and-pop shops, but corporate mega-businesses are fighting for a bigger share of the business. Life Storage has 700 properties nationwide and 14 facilities in the St. Louis region.

Out of the shadows

Once upon a time, self-storage consisted of sketchy properties on the outskirts of town with dubious security. Now, theyve become integrated into communities. The buildings are nicer, year-round climate control is standard, theres personnel on-site, security is sophisticated and payments are automated.

Until recently, Blackett said, self-storage was a well-kept real estate investment secret. The intense new attention from outsiders or newbies to the industry is a shift, he said.

Now theres maybe a lot of people trying to make a quick buck and throwing their hat in the ring, Blackett said.

But the factors that make self-storage great for investors are not always appealing to communities.

Each facility typically employs only two or three people. They generate minuscule traffic, which is not great for nearby retailers or neighborhoods that want to appear lively.

Usually not generating a lot of traffic is a good thing, but the two biggest challenges are finding available land and getting projects approved by the city in an area that you want to be in, said Benjamin Hagedorn of Northpoint Development, which has launched a new storage company that opened its first two 300,000-square-foot facilities under the name Beyond Self Storage in the St. Louis region this summer.

Even though, were quiet, we dont pollute, and the building is nice too. Self-storage is just not the sexiest use. Some places would rather see an active Starbucks, he said.

But self-storage can be a practical compromise and a reliable source of income for communities in need of new businesses.

Some redevelopment costs are just too high for a typical retail business. They just cant make it work economically, where a self-storage business can, Hagedorn explained.

So a vacant four-story, 155,000-square-foot property at 725 North 23rd Street with two freight elevators, four loading docks and adjacent parking can easily get a new life as CubeSmart Self Storage, coming soon (the companys first local location is in St. Charles), instead of being laboriously retrofitted to become lofts or more likely left to decay.

The property stood vacant a few years after Commercial Letter Inc., a direct mail company, consolidated its operation to an Earth City facility and the buildings price was reduced twice before reaching its final sale price of $1.2 million.

The 300,000-square-foot National Candy Building complex had been vacant for more than 20 years. Built in 1927, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but it had been vandalized and presented many challenges for developers. The seven-story building at 4230 Gravois Avenue was bought in 2015 by U-Hauls parent company, Amerco Real Estate Co., for $1.5 million and now its an equipment rental site and self-storage facility.

Good business?

Schwer called it smart for investors, but when asked if it was smart for customers, he hedged.

Its a good business to be in, he said. The reason its a good business is because theres a low bar for entry and the industry has proven that you can raise rents on existing customers by 5 to 10 percent every eight to 10 months or so, and they will stay. Most are on auto payments, Schwer explained, and the incremental increases arent typically enough to spark a reaction.

People arent going to move into  a new space even if its half the price. Nobody is going to go and take the trouble to pick up all of our stuff and move it, Rogers of Life Storage explained to investors.

Clutter-clearing professionals and certified organizing specialists have a different perspective on good. Its not surprising that they do not approve of the thriving self-storage trend.

Sue Anderson initially stopped short of calling self-storage insidious, then she thought better of it and said, I think they should be ashamed. Wait, is there ever a good reason? Hmm, I dont know, fire maybe. A parents death and you need time to cope. Maybe.

The problem is that legitimate, unassailable reasons for stowing stuff are rare, she said.

People are always gonna do something with the stuff, said Anderson of Simplified Living Solutions Inc. Im gonna knit that afghan, refinish that table, do a report, make a scrapbook, you could fill in the blank. But what they are doing is avoiding reality.

She said that people are literally buying time.

Others suggest an element of willful delusion about the precious cargo in self-storage.

Amazon, eBay and Craigslist have made it easier to accumulate more faster  They have also nurtured thousands of forms of niche consumption (for example, collecting of a sort that used to take people half a lifetime of hunting through flea markets), explained Heidi Aronson Kolk, a cultural historian in the American Culture Studies program at Washington University. She emailed her response from New York where she is participating in a research fellowship. Much of what we put into storage is of uncertain value. We may not even remember how we came to have it or feel any sense of attachment to it, but eBay and Antiques Roadshow have taught us that it will probably be worth something someday.

She said that self-storage compounds the very American problem of overaccumulation by directing the flow into an off-site receptacle.

Kolk agrees that storage is an avoidance tactic that lets people skirt pragmatic questions about our possessions  what they mean to us, why we have them, and what to do about them.

You should not keep anything that you dont need, use or love, Anderson said. And the reality is that if you need it, use it or love it, its going to be in your house.

She said clients always thank her profusely for helping them clean out storage units.

Its just a storage full of delayed decisions, Anderson said. They are like what is all this crud and thats after $100 to $300 (a month) of renting for years.

Yeah, sometimes our biggest competitor is the dumpster, Hagedorn said as a fact, not a joke. But he isnt anti-minimalism, nor does he bemoan the clutter specialists who disparage self-storage.

The reality is that sometimes people do plan on temporary use of three to six months but end up renting long term, he said. People have different reasons, some of them are storing memories and they just want someone to take care of thing that are important to them. And if its important to the customer, then its important to us.
Updated with Monday's closing share prices.

Charter Communications Inc.'s shares surged to a record high on Monday after a source said Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. was considering an acquisition offer, even as Charter has shot down the possibility of it being the acquirer in any merger with SoftBank's U.S. wireless carrier, Sprint Corp.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday that SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son is considering making a bid for Charter, which has a market capitalization of $101 billion and another $60 billion in debt, as early as this week in what would be by far the Japanese telecommunications conglomerate's biggest ever deal.

The prospect of a Sprint-Charter tie-up comes at a time when the telecom industry is preparing for a wave of deal activity. Regulators lifted a ban on merger discussions among telecom companies following the conclusion of an auction of broadcaster airwaves for wireless use in April.

Analysts and investors have said that tie-ups between cable companies and wireless carriers increasingly make sense as the distinction between broadband and wireless connectivity blurs, and consumers demand seamless connections for their devices.

Cable companies have the infrastructure that wireless carriers need for the growing amounts of mobile data customers are using. Meanwhile, cable companies could benefit from ownership of cellular networks as they launch their own mobile services.

Charter is currently planning to launch its own wireless service on Verizon Communications Inc.'s network next year, and analysts have said that renting a network from a wireless carrier will be more costly long term than owning one.

Sprint, which is in the middle of a turnaround plan, has been looking to boost its financial status and better compete amid a fiercely competitive and saturated market for wireless service. The company has been exploring deal options with T-Mobile US Inc. but faces the hurdle of reaching an agreement on price as well as getting the deal approved by regulators. Both companies have said they are open to other partners.

Charter's shares closed Monday at $391.91, up nearly 6 percent, after hitting a record high of $399.95. Sprint shares fell 2.9 percent to $7.98.

A Charter spokesman declined to comment on Monday on whether the company would sell to the wireless carrier.

A deal between the two could be complex and disruptive, analysts said, noting financing issues, complicated ownerships and the possibility of upending existing partnerships.

JPMorgan analyst Philip Cusick wrote in a research note on that a base case scenario would assume a $500 a share bid for Charter, paid for with $20 billion of new cash from SoftBank and $40 billion of new debt. The deal could drive $2 billion in annual synergies, but he noted that SoftBank could lever Charter up significantly. A deal could also nullify part or all of Charter's network resale agreement with Verizon.

It would also require the blessing of cable provider Comcast Corp. Comcast and Charter announced a wireless partnership in May aimed at finding cost savings as both companies enter the wireless market with their own mobile services. That agreement bars either company from tying up with a wireless carrier for a year without the other company's consent.

________________________________

Our earlier story, from Bloomberg, posted at 9:44 a.m. Monday

Masayoshi Son, the chairman of Japanese technology goliath SoftBank Group, wants in on the U.S. cable market. And he appears determined to use Charter Communications to get him there, one way or another.

Son's initial gambit failed: Charter on Sunday rebuffed his proposal to combine the company with Sprint, which SoftBank controls. Undeterred, the Japanese billionaire is mustering an offer from SoftBank to buy Charter outright and intends to make the offer this week, according to a person with knowledge of his plans who asked not to be identified ahead of a public announcement.

Bidding for Charter, which has a market value of $101 billion, would mark the most ambitious target yet for Son, whose deal spree has made SoftBank one of the most debt-laden companies in Japan. While an early bet on Alibaba Group Holding has delivered outsized returns, Sprint has lost billions since he bought control in 2013 while the Japanese company's investments in India have been largely written off.

"Son is going back to his bad old days of wanting to conquer the world, just as we thought he was becoming more sensible," said Amir Anvarzadeh, head of Japanese equity sales at BGC Partners Inc. in Singapore."It does sound as if they're doing anything but de-leveraging. They're re-leveraging."

The plan for Charter isn't complete and could change, the person familiar with the matter said.

Shares of SoftBank fell 2.3 percent in Tokyo, giving the company a market value of $89 billion. The company also has debt of $135 billion (14.9 trillion yen), making it the second-most indebted non-financial company in Japan, trailing only Toyota Motor .

The plan by Son could reignite deal talks that had appeared to be dead late Sunday, when Charter said it wasn't interested in buying Sprint. The billionaire had previously proposed a deal that would create a new public company to absorb Sprint and Charter and combine them, people familiar with the matter said last week.

"We understand why a deal is attractive for SoftBank, but Charter has no interest in acquiring Sprint," Charter said in a statement before Bloomberg reported Son's latest plans.

Son is known for bold decisions and has spoken, without irony, about his 300-year plan for SoftBank and aims to build the world's most valuable company. His Vision Fund has raised $93 billion for tech investments, winning backing from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, as well as Apple and Qualcomm.

Last year, SoftBank paid $32 billion for chipmaker ARM Holdings in a bet on the nascent concept known as the Internet of Things, while he has committed billions to ride-sharing services such as Didi Chuxing in China and Southeast Asia's Grab.

U.S. cable and wireless carriers have been circling each other as more consumers watch video and access the internet on mobile devices. By combining, companies like Charter and Sprint could offer a full suite of telecommunications services to customers, from home broadband internet to wireless plans, and compete head-to-head with the packages sold by phone giants AT&T and Verizon Communications.

Since the end of May, Charter and Comcast had been in exclusive talks with Sprint over possible deals, including one that would allow the cable companies to resell wireless service under their own brands.

The exclusivity ended this week, and Charter has decided against a reselling deal with Sprint, according to another person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

"Overall our view is that Charter likely does not want to sell, but that SoftBank is one of the few companies that could put a bid in big enough to take control," analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co., led by Philip Cusick, said in a note. "While we don't see a deal as very likely, especially given later headlines that Charter is cool to the idea, Masa is never to be counted out as a buyer."

A combination of Sprint and Charter would put together the fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier with the No. 2 U.S. cable company. Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, has a market value of almost $33 billion and even more in long-term debt  putting pressure on Son to make a deal as Sprint's losses mount and bond maturities approach.

JPMorgan estimates synergies from combining Sprint with Charter at about $2 billion a year.

Son has also been considering merging Sprint with T-Mobile US Inc., the third-biggest U.S. wireless carrier. Sprint has argued publicly that a merger with T-Mobile makes sense because it would create a bigger wireless carrier to take on larger competitors AT&T and Verizon. But a surge in the value of Sprint's wireless spectrum holdings persuaded executives to consider other deals, too, Bloomberg reported in April.

Charter has a separate pact with Comcast that could complicate a deal with Sprint. The cable companies agreed in May to work together on any transaction with a wireless company in the next year. That means if Charter changes its mind and decides to merge with Sprint, Comcast would have a say in the matter.

Charter has long-term debt of more than $63 billion. Its revenue totaled $40.8 billion in the past year.

Cable billionaire John Malone holds a 21 percent stake in Charter through his Liberty Broadband Corp. Son has also met with Malone and Warren Buffett about making potential investments in Sprint, a person familiar with the matter said earlier this month.

Charter moved its headquarters from Town and Country to Stamford, Conn., in 2012, but maintains a large local workforce estimated at about 4,000 people.

With assistance from Bloomberg' Alex Sherman Yuki Furukawa and Yuji Nakamura

____________________________

Our earlier story, from Reuters, posted at 5:32 a.m. Monday

Charter Communications Inc. is not interested in Sprint Corp's proposal to be acquired by Charter, a company spokesman said.

Sprint proposed a merger with Charter as the wireless carrier seeks an alternative to a deal with T-Mobile US Inc. that has so far not come to fruition, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp., which controls Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint, proposed a complex transaction that would create a new company and be controlled by SoftBank, the sources said.

"We understand why a deal is attractive for Softbank, but Charter has no interest in acquiring Sprint," the spokesman said in an email to Reuters on Sunday.

Charter has a good mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) relationship with Verizon Communications Inc. and intends to launch wireless services to cable customers next year, the spokesman added.

MVNOs do not own networks, and instead rent capacity from established operators to sell on to their customers, usually at low prices due to their small overheads, with cheap distribution through the internet or convenience stores.

______________________

Our earlier story, "Sprint seeks alternatives to a merger with T-Mobile, eyes Charter," which was updated Saturday morning.

Sprint Corp. has proposed a merger with Charter Communications Inc. as the wireless carrier seeks an alternative to a deal with T-Mobile US Inc. that has so far not come to fruition, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp., which controls Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint, proposed a complex transaction that would create a new company and be controlled by SoftBank, the sources said, asking not to be named because the talks are private. The Wall Street Journal first reported the discussions on Friday.

There is no guarantee Charter would be interested in a tie-up with Sprint, the sources said. Bloomberg reported Friday Charter had rebuffed Sprint's merger proposal.

Charter's market capitalization, at $94.6 billion, is much larger than Sprint, which closed trading valued at $32.8 billion on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc also expressed interest in a takeover of Charter earlier this year, sources have said.

If Charter were to agree to a merger with Sprint, it would need the blessing of No. 1 U.S. cable provider Comcast Corp. Charter and Comcast announced an agreement in May that bars either company from entering into a material transaction in wireless for a year without the other's consent.

Sprint and Comcast declined to comment while Charter, SoftBank and T-Mobile did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sprint shares rose 5.8 percent in after-market trading while Charter shares were marginally up.

Sprint has been looking at solutions to further its turnaround, strengthen its financial health and better compete in the fierce U.S. wireless industry.

It held talks this month about receiving billions in funding from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and John Malone's Liberty Media Corp., Reuters previously reported, but they have not resulted in a deal. Sprint had been in a two-month period of exclusive negotiations with Charter and Comcast over a potential wireless partnership that had put Sprint's merger talks with T-Mobile US on hold. That exclusivity period has ended but talks with the cable companies continue, according to the sources.

Despite regulatory hurdles, investors have long expected a deal between T-Mobile and Sprint, the third- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless service providers, anticipating cost cuts and other synergies.

T-Mobile appears to be in no rush to pursue a merger although it has acknowledged interest in speaking to Sprint. T-Mobile has been gaining share from larger competitors AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. in a saturated U.S. wireless market through network improvements and lower prices.

Charter moved its headquarters from Town and Country to Stamford, Conn., in 2012, but maintains a large local workforce estimated at about 4,000 people.

This isn't the first time the Wall Street Journal has raised the possibility of a Charter combination with a major telecom. In January, it reported about the possibility of a Verizon-Charter merger.

The Post-Dispatch contributed to this report by Reuters.
WASHINGTON  Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, President Donald Trumps nominee for international religious freedom ambassador, describes religious freedom as the choice of what you do with your own soul.

If confirmed, the 60-year-old, two-term Republican governor, former U.S. senator and onetime presidential candidate would be the first politician confirmed as the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. Previous ambassadors were religious or nonprofit leaders, and Brownback would follow a rabbi and a Protestant minister.

Religious Freedom is the first freedom, he said in a tweet responding to Trumps announcement. I am honored to serve such an important cause.

Here are five faith facts about this Methodist-turned-Catholic politician:

1. He was a key sponsor of the legislation that created the office he may lead.

As senator, he supported the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, which also created the ambassadorial post.

During his two terms as governor, his actions on international religious freedom would be minimal, said Rabbi David Saperstein, the most recent international religious freedom ambassador. But Brownbacks support of the State Department office while he was senator, and his efforts to end the South Sudan civil war, were noteworthy, Saperstein said.

2. He is a Catholic convert but attends evangelical churches with his family.

Brownback has been a bit of a Christian church hopper. He grew up a Methodist but converted to Catholicism in 2002. Today he attends Topeka Bible Church, said Teresa Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the nondenominational evangelical church with an average weekly attendance of 1,400.

Sometimes, he rises early for Mass before joining his family at the church, calling the routine, according to author Jeff Sharlet, a great mixture of the feeding.

Sharlets book,The Family, about a secretive Christian group to which Brownback belonged, said the governor was baptized not in a church but in the Catholic Information Center, a Washington chapel run by Opus Dei, another secretive group.

3. He has supported religious liberty issues and rallies with conservative Christians.

In 2016, he joined a Rally for Religious Freedom alongside Catholic bishops, the lead pastor of Topeka Bible Church and Barronelle Stutzman, a Washington state florist who was sued after she cited her religious beliefs in refusing to create an arrangement for a gay wedding. I have never seen a bigger rally at this statehouse than this one, Brownback told the demonstrators, according to a Catholic diocese website. It is fantastic.

When then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry, now U.S. energy secretary, invited 49 other governors to attend The Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis in Houston in 2011, Brownback was the only other governor who showed up in person. (One other sent a video.)

In 2012, he was criticized by church-state separationists for promoting a ReignDownUSA.com prayer event for which he said, Weve been favored like no nation in history and yet too often weve forgotten God.

4. His nomination has been hailed by a range of evangelicals.

The National Association of Evangelicals called Brownback a strong candidate. Faith and Freedom Coalition declared help is on the way after dozens of reports of Christian persecution abroad in the last month alone. Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore noted Brownbacks dealing with AIDS in Africa and advocating on behalf of persecuted religious minorities. Focus on the Family founder James Dobson called him a man of deep personal faith.

5. He signed legislation allowing religious campus groups to restrict membership.

The 2016 bill allows religious organizations to establish religious belief as qualification for membership, he said at that time.

The ACLU, reacting to his nomination, said, In Gov. Brownbacks view, religious freedom has meant issuing a license to discriminate against others, especially against LGBT Kansans.
ST. LOUIS  Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, told a gathering of activists Friday that they were in the fight of our lives, not just to save our cities but to save our young people.

Clay was the keynote speaker at the national conference of the Urban League being held at Americas Center downtown.

The organization honored the Democratic congressman with its Legend Award at a black tie gala in his hometown.

In a fiery speech, he emphasized the importance of gathering in St. Louis at a time when he believes there is an unprecedented threat against equal employment, health care and fair policing.

We are fighting to defeat the duplicitous and savage assault on voting rights which is being led directly from the White House, Clay said. And most importantly, we are fighting to never allow the forces of hate, intolerance, violence and bigotry.

Clay noted that the House approved a measure on Wednesday that he sponsored that would create a U.S. Civil Rights Network within the National Parks Service to preserve sites significant to the civil rights movement.

St. Louis is the perfect place for this years conference because you are literally standing on the front lines of that struggle, he said.

Clay noted historic sites around the city where visitors could see the legacy of struggle and progress, including the Old Courthouse where Dred Scotts case was tried and the Eads Bridge, which served as an escape route from the East St. Louis riots 100 years ago.

He rattled off a series of firsts for Ferguson  a city in his legislative district  including its first black police chief and city manager, as examples of advancement.

The city was the scene of protests after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, 18, by a police officer in 2014; leaders there later agreed to a federal reform pact.

The Urban League opened its new job training and education site there this week. The site of the facility on West Florissant Avenue is where a QuikTrip burned down during protests after Browns death.

Clay cited Whitney M. Young, a civil rights activist and former chief director of the Urban League, in his acceptance speech, saying: Every man is our brother and every mans burden is our own. Where poverty exists, all are poorer. Where hate flourishes, all are corrupted. Where injustice reins, all are unequal.

The Urban Leagues annual awards gala is named in Youngs honor.
JEFFERSON CITY  Amid the ongoing political squabbles under the Capitol dome, there is one thing lawmakers in Missouri agree upon: Gov. Eric Greitens should stop calling them back to town.

In an informal survey of legislators on both sides of the aisle last week, the Post-Dispatch found no one who would publicly identify a single issue that is pressing enough to warrant the Republican governor to schedule a third special session.

Take Rep. Bruce DeGroot, R-Chesterfield, who was asked Wednesday to point to any issue that demanded the need for a return trip to the capital city.

Not that I can think of, DeGroot said.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, sounded a similar refrain when asked if there was a subject needing immediate attention.

Not to my knowledge, Kehoe said.

Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-OFallon, initially deferred to the governor when asked if there should be any more special sessions this year.

Its not my call. If the governor thinks theres a need, hell call it, Bahr said.

But, Bahr added, I have no need to call a special session.

Even Greitens chief ally in the Legislature, House Speaker Todd Richardson, doesnt see any looming issue requiring action.

Theres nothing that immediately comes to mind, Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, said.

Greitens, a political newcomer, has called two special sessions since the Legislature ended its regular session in May. The first was aimed at luring two factories to New Madrid County by allowing them to negotiate for lower electric rates. The second formally ended Wednesday when he signed a bill tightening restrictions on abortion providers.

In both instances, Greitens said he forced lawmakers into overtime because they hadnt done their jobs during the regular session, which runs from January through mid-May.

Lawmakers dont see it that way.

I agree with governors half the time. This governor is no different, said Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, when asked if the abortion issue needed to be dealt with this summer.

We could have done this in regular session, Richard said.

His counterpart across the aisle concurred.

There has not been anything in my opinion that weve come back for that has reached the height of an extraordinary session, said Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors.

After calling the Legislature back in May to deal with special electric rates for the two proposed factories in southeast Missouri, Greitens rankled lawmakers when he followed up with a second call to address tougher regulations on abortion providers.

The Senate took six weeks to hammer out a response, primarily because many members were unable or unwilling to spend more time in Jefferson City.

Some lawmakers had vacations planned. Others were scheduled to attend conferences in other states. One senator, Republican Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg, got married and went on a five-day honeymoon cruise originating out of New Orleans.

Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, did not attend the final two days of the special session on abortion when Republicans steamrolled a bill through the chamber.

House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, was critical of the cost of the second special session, which was expected to top $60,000.

Notwithstanding the fact that the legislation recently produced will most likely be struck down as unconstitutional by a federal court, Gov. Greitens shamelessly continues to call extraordinary sessions fully aware of the hole being burned in the pockets of hardworking taxpayers. Thousands of dollars that would be more adequately utilized by not gutting in-home care for 8,000 senior and disabled citizens or passing legislation that will create viable health care options for women and children, she said in a statement.

For now, the governors office is staying quiet on whether another special session is in the offing. Spokesman Parker Briden, who was on vacation last week, did not respond to the Post-Dispatch about the possibility of another callback.

In May, a delegation of St. Louis city leaders lobbied state officials in an attempt to boost funding for police pay. At the time, Mayor Lyda Krewson said the city had asked Greitens to consider calling a special session to address that issue.

Since then, however, Greitens has deployed a special unit of the Missouri Highway Patrol to work the highways within the city limits in order to free up city police to focus on violent crime.

On Friday, Krewson spokesman Koran Addo said the city is no longer pursuing a special session.

Richard suggested that even if Greitens does call another special session, the Senate could decide to ignore it.

Well have a conference call with all the senators, and well decide together if we decide to come back, Richard told reporters.

For now, lawmakers are not scheduled to return to action until Sept. 13, which is the day set aside for them to consider overriding vetoes the governor has made to the bills they sent him in the spring.
A day after the Fourth of July, Trevor Reilly sat at Granite City Food & Brewery crafting plans.

He was looking to make a name for the small, fringe party he adopted after feeling the GOP had turned its back on him.

The Lancaster Libertarian party, which Reilly heads, has started to meet there monthly since January, looking for ways to grow a party seemingly overlooked in last year's election.

Reilly, a libertarian neophyte and newly ordained political activist, didn't see last year's presidential election as a two-dimensional, "pick-the-lesser-of-the-two-evils" fight between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Instead, Reilly, a 25-year-old University of Nebraska-Lincoln student and Afghanistan veteran, took a third route campaigning for libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.

"It's like being part of the 'Bad News Bears,'" he said. "You're the underdog."

Being the underdog was a change of pace for Reilly.

Ever since he was eligible to vote, he had always been a staunch Republican, a direct outcome of growing up in a conservative household.

But as the election cycle picked up, Reilly saw himself drawn to the TV more and more  watching everything from "Morning Joe" on MSNBC to Fox News.

That's how he found out about the Libertarian Party, eventually deciding to switch affiliations after he said the GOP abandoned the values he held dear  like smaller government and fewer taxes.

"More Republicans were straying away from the values, like smaller government, that they used to hold," he said. "This year's election was just a culmination of that."

Reilly has been the head of the Lancaster Libertarian Party since October, spearheading activism previously unseen in the party in Lincoln.

From June 25 to July 2, the party held Freedom Week, devoted to discussing and highlighting libertarian ideals.

Such as smaller government, less taxation, legalization of more recreational drugs, and less bureaucratic meddling in people's lives.

In short, fiscally conservative but socially liberal, Reilly said.

The week culminated in the Rally for Liberty on the north steps of the Capitol, in which around 60 people gathered to discuss and celebrate the libertarian platform.

It's a platform that it is not totally new to Nebraska politics.

In June 2016, state Sen. Laura Ebke of District 32 pulled the same switch as Reilly, ditching the Republican Party for the Libertarians, citing frustration with Republican partisanship.

Reilly plans to organize more rallies  not marches, he said  to get the libertarian message out.

"Marches don't work to the same extent; they can devolve," he said. "Rallies stay centered on the message."

Concerning the latest uptick in activism in Lincoln and around the country, Reilly said he sees it as reaction to Trump  just as the tea party reacted to Obama.

"It's just a side trying to get back at the other side," he said.

As far as his own future is concerned once he graduates?

"Who knows," Reilly said. "I might even run for office someday."
The Politico/Morning Consult poll reported last week that 49 percent of Republican voters, and 28 percent of all voters, believe Donald Trump won the popular vote for president. And one in seven Democratic voters thinks Hillary Clinton won the vote in the Electoral College.

Not since 2014, when it was reported that nearly twice as many Americans believed in the lost continent of Atlantis than believed that human beings are responsible for climate change, have I found poll results so profoundly depressing.

I know Im not supposed to mock Trump voters because they want respect, but really  how do half of you think your man won the popular vote when the Federal Election Commission, controlled by Republicans, says Clinton got 2.9 million more votes?

And you 14 percent of Democratic voters who think Clinton won in the Electoral College: What part of President Trump do you not understand? You dont know what the Electoral College is, do you?

The poll was taken after Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the noted vote-suppressor who is vice chairman of Trumps advisory Committee on Electoral Integrity and Bigfoot, said on MSNBC that all the votes cast in the 2016 election were absolutely in doubt.

Never mind that no study has ever found widespread voter fraud or that state election authorities, Democrat and Republican alike, have certified their votes. Kobach has been appointed to find unicorns, and find them he will.

I have written before about how profoundly disturbing it is that America grants the vote to any citizen who is at least 18 years old regardless of how ignorant that citizen is. People have called me an elitist for this, pointing out that the Constitution doesnt say you have to be informed to vote.

In recent years, Republican legislatures in most states, trying to hold down Democratic turnout and afraid of unicorns casting multiple votes, have required voters to show a photo ID, too. A better idea would be to ask them to answer a simple qualifying question: Who is the vice president of the United States?

This is not a trick question, like How many branches of government are there? Immigrants seeking to become citizens have to know stuff like that, but not native-born Americans.

Over the years, studies have shown consistently that at least 1 in 4 voters dont know who the vice president is. One in 3 cant identify his or her states governor.

These people explain that they dont follow politics, that its not relevant to their lives. It seems to me that the very least citizens should be asked to do is pay attention. Otherwise they are liable to get bamboozled by some celebrity who tells them what they want to hear and then proceeds to break nearly every promise he made. In theory, anyway.

Cognitive scientists blame part of the problem on the media. Well, of course. Everything is our fault.

There is such a thing, these scientists say, as media priming. Whatever people have read or seen most recently gets stored in an easily accessible node of the brain. A pollster calls up and asks what they think, they reach for whats handy  even though, if they thought about it for a while, theyd realize it couldnt be true.

Media priming has been blamed for the rise and fall in the rates by which Americans believe in, say, UFOs and ghosts. Other scientists say people are programmed to believe weird things that make them comfortable or conform to their predetermined attitudes.

At Yale University is something called the Cultural Cognition Project, where scholars study the tendency of individuals to conform their beliefs about disputed matters of fact (e.g., whether humans are causing global warming; whether the death penalty deters murder; whether gun control makes society more safe or less) to values that define their cultural identities.

Dan Kahan, a professor of law and psychology at Yale, explained this notion to Salon.com last fall:

There definitely are conspiracy theorists. There definitely are facts where people have fundamentally misinformed beliefs. But there are also propositions that theyll affirm for a display purpose.

They may want to preserve their position within their social group, he said, because the status of their group or their standing in it depends on that answer.

But he added, Then there are other things that people will say because thats kind of like a declaration of who they are. Part of the reason they might be doing it is because they know its really going to get an aversive response from people who have an alternative identity and who know thats the true answer.

So people may say Trump won the popular vote or Clinton won the electoral vote because (a) they really are that stupid, (b) thats what their friends think or (c) just to get under the skin of snotty elitists like me.

If thats the case, it worked.
Each Saturday and Sunday well post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief verdict on a single cigar of buy, hold, or sell.

What a difference nine months can make! When I reviewed this cigar back in early November, I found it decent yet dry and not as flavorful as I had hoped. Some modest rest in the humidor, however, has done the Blind Mans Bluff Robusto (5 x 50, $7.50) a world of good. Where it was once papery and salty, it is now creamier, sweeter, more balanced, and more complex. The combination of an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Honduran Criollo binder, and filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and Honduras yields a profile with white pepper, roasted peanut, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Construction has also improved. My advice? Pick up a five-pack and store it away for at least six months.

Verdict = Buy.

Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys


BELLEVUE  For veteran Marty Jaramillo, it began when he was seated just a few feet away from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in January 2016.

Ushered into a Drake University auditorium early alongside 24 other disabled veterans, the Bellevue resident felt he was well-treated by campaign staff. They even gave him a free Trump T-shirt.

Jaramillo, who served in the Air Force 41 years, listened intently to Trump, who held the rally to honor veterans instead of attending another GOP debate following a publicized feud with co-moderator Megyn Kelly.

"You veterans are amazing people, brave beyond comprehension," Trump told the crowd.

Chants of U-S-A! broke out, silenced by a sea of applause or Trump's voice.

The rally cemented Jaramillos support for the future president.

Confident a businessman would revive the economy, that a wall would keep out drug dealers, and that Trump cared about the working class because he could not be bought, Jaramillo turned his passion into action.

Never before politically active, Jaramillo joined the Nebraska Patriots for Trump group and launched the Trump campaign office in Omaha.

When the infamous audiotape of Trump saying he grabs women by their genitals was released three weeks before the election, Jaramillo was undeterred.

"To date, there hasn't been one president  not even Ronald Reagan  that I agreed with on everything," he said.

He made a bet with a friend and won; Trump was elected president.

After the inauguration, Jaramillo felt uneasy about the increase in protests and rallies he felt created hatred toward the president. Trump supporters are personally attacked and labeled racists, bigots and fascists, he said.

As a counter to liberal protests, he organized two pro-Trump rallies this year.

"We would've never had a rally had the other side just accepted things," Jaramillo said.

On Feb. 27, around 15-17 people gathered at Offutt Air Force Base, where Jaramillo spent the last portion of his career, at the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The group held signs in support of military, first responders and Trump.

On March 4, he hosted a slightly bigger rally outside Jerzes Bar and Grill in Papillion.

Two counter-protesters showed up, but Jaramillo said they kept an appropriate distance. When a news crew showed up, fellow Trump supporters booed them for approaching the counter-protesters.

Jaramillo said he was quick to speak up.

"They have a right to have their word heard just as much as we have a right to have our word heard.

Jaramillo also attended the Make America Great Again rally in Omaha on March 25.

Six months into the presidency, Jaramillo is pleased with how Trump is doing.

Every couple of months, he meets with members of the Nebraska Patriots for Trump group.

They chat about the presidency and discuss future rallies, which they coordinate with a national group  Spirit of America  so the events fall on the same day across the country.

Jaramillo hopes to organize more rallies and dreams that one day, President Trump will stop by to greet his loyal supporters, like he's done at other Spirit of America events.

It's great to see that he did that because he recognized the American people are supporting him," Jaramillo said.
Last year marked three milestones in Marcia Kirks life, each divisible by five years:

- She sold her studio 2 dance school to Lindsey Fisher, a former student, after 25 years in business;

- She retired from teaching dance after 40 years in the field; and

- She celebrated her 60th birthday.

Four weeks ago, another key event in her life occurred: dancewares, inc., the dance apparel shop she owns in Rathbone Village, changed addresses. After 31 years at 2150 Winthrop Road, it opened July 1 at 2120 Winthrop Road.

Moving three doors north into the former Iron Tail Art Gallery has given the shop over 50% more floor space, going from less than 700 square feet to over 1,100 square feet.

The move has allowed us to expand our inventory and to display it more attractively, said Kirk. We have an ability to spread out that we didnt have at the other location while remaining in the neighborhood. This is a comfortable fit.

Six months ago, Kirk and store manager Megan Harris  a 17-year store employee who also taught dance for Kirk at studio 2 - attended a regional market in Dallas and brought back some of the industrys newest brands and latest styles.

Responding to industry trends, Kirk and Harris have placed a new emphasis on unique leotards in colors other than traditional black, geared toward dancers taking classes other than ballet. "Jazz, lyrical and modern dancers are coming back to leotards," Kirk observed, "but they want something different than those they wear in their ballet classes."

She added, "We pride ourselves in our pointe shoe selection. I am constantly looking for a new shoe style that will fit one foot type, strength or another, and add new styles when appropriate. We know the various studios preferences, stock those preferences and do our best to please teachers and students alike in our fittings.

Theres nothing better than getting a little one into her first ballet slippers and nothing more rewarding than getting a ballerina up on her first pair of pointe shoes.
Nebraska Homes Sales is hosting a free, new event for the public to see newly constructed premier homes and learn more about home construction.

If you are considering building now or sometime in the future, you should attend Builderfest. Nebraska Home Sales represents many fine home builders in Lincoln, and were excited to showcase a few of them, said Brent Robinson, Nebraska Home Sales managing broker.

Builderfest features five premier homes with trending floor plans, designs and features in the new Southlake development, northwest of 98th and Hwy. 2 at Andermatt Drive.

This free event is an open house for the public to view the newest homes on the market. Five custom homes, each by a different builder, are conveniently located within the same block, which makes it easy for everyone to walk from house to house, Robinson said.

Featured builders are: Denali Custom Builders, Deprez Custom Homes, Fowler Custom Homes, Medallion Homes and MPI Custom Homes.

Builderfest dates and times:

Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 5-6, 1-5 p.m.

Thursday and Friday, Aug. 10-11, 4-7 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 12-13, 1-5 p.m.

For more information, go to: www.nebhomesales.com/builderfest
Its shaping up to be busy year for House of Science founder and CEO Chris Duggan.

The organisation she set up in 2013 to help get science resource kits into the Bay of Plentys primary schools has gone national, she has just returned from joining NASA scientists on a flight to gather infrared data from stars in Earths galaxy, and she has been named as a finalist for the Women of Influence awards in the science and innovation category for the third year in a row.

The former chemistry teacher spent 15 years in the classroom before leaving to set up the House of Science in Tauranga in 2013 on the back of a dream to help primary teachers teach better science  something that isnt happening in three quarters of New Zealand primary schools, she says.

Rather than point the finger at others and say you should be doing better I thought Id follow the be the change you want to see [mantra] and see if I could make a difference on a small scale in Tauranga.

The House of Science resource kits contain everything a Year 1-8 teacher needs to get their students involved in hands-on science experiments and range in topics from flight science to forensics, food science to force and friction.

Tauranga currently has 48 of these kits available to 55 House of Science member schools and each week more than 2000 children are using them to learn science.

With the backing of the Wright Family Foundation, the organisation has gone national this year. A House of Science NZ Charitable Trust was established to develop resource kits and support the establishment of House of Science branches across the country.

Chris has reluctantly handed over management of the Tauranga branch to take over the role of national CEO.

Its freed me up to take over the national roll-out. My job now is to find partners who want to come on board on a national scale, either to develop a new resource box or sponsor an existing box.

Chris has enjoyed great success already, with some big players in the New Zealand science community, including the MacDiarmid Institute, ESR, NIWA, Ag Research and Massey University, signing up to be involved.

Its really exciting. A lot of the Crown Research Institutes have a mandate to reach into the community to communicate their science to the general public, and that can be quite tricky, so we are providing a really nice solution for that by getting a resource into schools.

The biggest barriers to the teaching of primary science are a lack of resources and a lack of confidence by teachers, says Chris.

The government funds professional development for about 250 teachers each year but thats only a drop in the bucket.

Our resources are designed to empower teachers through giving them hands-on equipment that kids can use and the whole class can get involved with. Because they are simple to use, the teachers are getting more confident in teaching the science lessons.

House of Science receives no government funding. School membership fees make up about 10 per cent of the cost of running the service, with the rest coming from sponsorship by local businesses, community grants, and donations. Membership for schools includes professional development for teachers, says Chris.

We give them strategies and methods they can use in the classroom. They need to be positive about it because science needs to be normalised. Its not a freakish subject only for highly-talented, gifted kids  its actually for everyone, so its important to have literacy in the whole community, not just for the kids who are going to go on to be brain surgeons or rocket scientists.

As well as taking on a new role this year Chris has recently returned from a trip to Christchurch where she was one of nine VIPs, including Tauranga MP Simon Bridges, who were invited to join NASA scientists on a flight to gather infrared data from stars in Earths galaxy

It was very, very cool, says the science buff.

And as for that nomination for the 2017 Women of Influence awards?

Hey, it might be third time lucky.
Top business minds will descend on Tauranga to share their wisdom at The Biz, part of a free 10-month national event series hosted by Yellow.

The Biz Tauranga is the first of Yellows 2017 annual events program, designed to support small to medium business owners with expert digital marketing advice, practical tips and solutions, inspiration and networking opportunities.

Speakers at the August 3 event, held at the beautiful Mills Reef Winery, include lifelong Tauranga resident, business owner of Tandem Skydive, author and burns survivor John Martin; Vaughn Davis, owner and creative director of advertising and social media business The Goat Farm, and more.

John Martin will aptly speak about change - how to deal with it and not be afraid of it. Its a subject he knows well, as an early adopter (he did the first base jump in New Zealand) and a survivor of a plane crash in his 20s that left him with burns to 70 per cent of his body.

Ill be putting more of a human face on things, and tell my story about how my life changed so dramatically to say to people, have a go and get into it, says John.

My message is shut up and jump! which is linked to my skydiving business. Its not a horror story, its positive, and linked to a lot of relevant stories of business and life along the way.

Vaughn Davis will explain how being a connected business today is more important than being a big one.

In many ways we can outmaneuver the big guys by being agile, using technology, personal networks and a different approach to the way our businesses are structured, says Vaughn.

Social media and the internet allows businesses to connect to suppliers and partners like never before  and that has nothing to do with geography. For instance, The Goat Farm works with people across Auckland, Wellington and Nelson to get the job done.

Tauranga businesses are ideally placed to use social media as they have authentic community connections that many big corporates dont, plus the flexibility to interact quickly and honestly.

Yellow Chief Marketing Officer Darren Linton says The Biz Tauranga has a fantastic line-up of speakers with tremendous business experience and plenty of practical advice and tips to share.

To reflect the growing need for businesses to strengthen their online presence, we will share valuable insights across digital marketing, video, social media, automation and web design, explaining how these tools can improve business performance.

The Biz events are tailored to the needs and interests of local businesspeople. The SMEs of Tauranga are integral to our regional and national economy, so we want those who attend The Biz to walk away with practical advice, tools and solutions to succeed.

MC for the event is Tenby Powell, who masterminded the NZ SME Business Network.

All attendees will receive:

A free digital marketing audit

Automatic entry in the draw to win a Yellow video package valued at NZ$5,000 (T&Cs can be found at info.yellow.co.nz/Biz_Terms.html

Information to take away about Yellows business solutions

The opportunity to network with other businesspeople over canapes and drinks

For more information and to secure a place, head to www.bizevents.co.nz

The Biz Tauranga details

Location: Mills Reef Winery, 143 Moffat Road, Bethlehem, Tauranga

Date: Thursday August 3

Time: 4pm  7.30pm
Police are urging the public to be cautious when collecting war memorabilia, after a disposal team found a displayed mortar was still highly explosive this week.

Whakatane Police were called on Wednesday July 26 following a report of a leaking mortar that was on display at a local club.

The New Zealand Defence Force explosive ordnance disposal team were called to assist and found the mortar was still highly explosive.

A number of other items on display were also deemed to be unsafe, and were disposed of by the team.

While these items were deemed to be memorabilia, unfortunately no one had been able to confirm if they were safe to have on display, says Whakatane Police.

This serves as a timely reminder to always check with a professional if you want to collect war memorabilia and avoid significant risk to yourself and others.

If you have concerns about an item in your home or on display in public, please do not attempt to move the item but call police immediately.
Its very cold this morning.

Thats the verdict from anyone who had to get up before sunrise.

Even the MetService agrees, putting Taurangas 7.30am temperature at 1.2 degrees Celsius  although it supposedly feels like -2 C. MetService recommends four clothing layers, and one windproof layer  dont say you werent warned.

Once youre all wrapped up though, why not head outside, where the sun is, at the very least, shining brightly? There are the usual Sunday markets today around the city, with a farmers market in the Mount at the Phoenix carpark, and a boutique style market with art, handcrafted products, artisan foods, preserves, and delicious brunches at Oropi. Both run from 9am to 1pm.

Radio-controlled model yacht enthusiasts will also be meeting at the pond behind 24 Montego Drive, Papamoa, where they will be sailing. Adult beginners are welcome to join.

If going outside for long periods of time just isnt your thing today, check out some of the indoor events on below:

WHATS ON  Sunday, July 30:

Bay Bible Fellowship/Lords Day Join us for our Worship service at Welcome Bay Primary School Hall, 309 Welcome Bay road. 10.00am. 1 Peter 4:10-11 Using your gifts for God, not self. Visit us at www.bbf.net.nz

Bible Seminars Malachi - lessons from the last book of the Old testament Interactive, Q & A. Refreshments provided. Sunday 1:45pm at Greerton Senior Citizens Hall, Maitland St Vic 543 0504

Bingo Club Mt. Maunganui Bingo on the second and fourth Sunday of each month at 1pm. Good prizes. Ph 575 4886

Croquet Every Sun, Tues & Fri at Tga Domain, Cameron Rd 12.45pm. Beginners welcome. Peter 571 0633

Czech and Slovak Club Tauranga Czech School and Playgroup 10am - 12noon, Tauranga Boys College, Devonport Rd, guests welcome!

Farmers Market - Mount Mainstreet Farmers Market held every Sunday 9am  1pm, rain or shine! Right in the middle of Mount Mainstreet at. Phoenix Car Park, Maunganui Rd. www.mountmainstreet.nz

Healing - Optimal Emotional Freedom Release your symptoms at root cause. W. Dyer This really works. The Backbenches Room, Grindz Cafe, 50 First Ave. 12:30pm: Coffee + Chat. 1 - 2:30: Tuition + Practice Optimal EFT. Entry by Koha.

Home Computer Club [Tga] Inc. Computer enthusiasts meet to share knowledge and experience, at Arts & Crafts Centre, Elizabeth St. West, on last Sun of each month, 9:30am - approx. 12:30pm. $3 door charge 544-2067

Maketu Market This Sunday at Maketu Village Green.Ph Pat 07 533 2687

Oropi Sunday Market A boutique style market with Art, Handcrafted Products, Artisan Foods, Preserves, delicious brunches by local chef 9 until 1pm at the Oropi Memorial Hall, 1295 Oropi Rd.

Quakers in Tauranga In hall behind Brain Watkins House, cnr Elizabeth St/Cameron Rd 10am for an hour of mainly silent worship followed by tea/coffee & talk. 544 0448 www.quaker.org.nz

Radio Controlled Model Yachts Meet Sun 1.30pm & Thurs 1.30pm at pond behind 24 Montego Drive, Papamoa to sail Electron & similar 3ft long yachts, for fun. Adult beginners welcome. Graham 572 5419

Sunday Funday Games & activities for the whole family at Greerton Aquatic & Leisure Centre 12-3pm. Parents & caregivers are welcome & encouraged to participate. BBQ hire $15

Taize at St. Georges On World Peace Day/Hiroshima Day you are invited to this quiet service based on the style of worship from the Taize Community in France. 7pm on Sun 6 August. http://www.stgeorgesgatepa.org.nz/

Tauranga Friendship & Social Club alks, dinners & outings for over 60s. Barbara 544 7461

Tauranga Spiritual Society Senior citizens hall, 14 Norris St (behind pak n save Tga) Healing Circle. Doors open 6.30pm start 7pm Members $5 non members $7 022 067 0467

Te Puke Country Music Club Charity Concert at Te Puke Citz Club 1pm Ph Gayle 573 8255

Toastmasters Corkers Club Meets once a month 3rd Sunday 2pm at Zone Cafe, Bayfair join our happy group Phone text 021 044 5 654

Wellness Art Workshop With Mira Corbova/ Professional Artist & Inspirational Tutor: 9/16/30 July, 11am-2pm @ The Art Lounge, 32 Devonport Rd, Tauranga Info/To Book: theartloungenz@gmail.com www.theartloungenz.com
Youve driven by Legacy Estates dozens of times, but have you ever wondered what a day in the life of a resident is like?

Wonder no more.

The Legacy Estates Chef Showcase, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday (Aug. 2) at the Estates, 7200 Van Dorn, needs to be on your calendar.

Of course, it probably already is if youve ever attended a Legacy Retirement Communities signature event in the past.

After all, where else can you enjoy palate-pleasing specialties such as lobster bisque, caramelized and seared pork belly with pickled apples, beef tenderloin and shredded chicken tinga fajitas, Bananas Foster, jumbo shrimp cocktail, and smoked salmon?

The lobster bisque and Bananas Foster will even be accompanied by live cooking demonstrations.

Build-your-own Bloody Marys

Dining Services Manager Robert Darrah and his staff are going above and beyond with this event by introducing a build-your-own Bloody Mary bar.

Sharing a unique taste sensation that started on the coasts, the Legacy Retirement Communities creative culinary team has cooked up a combination thats sure to please. Top off your cool cocktail with a combination of garnishes including chicken strips, shrimp, olives, bacon, pickled asparagus, and even cheeseburgers.

The inspired additions can transform the classic beverage into a memorable, one-of-a-kind brunch creation.

Its a specialty we first introduced to our residents at Legacy Terrace and they seemed to love it, said Paula Saltzman, Executive Chef at Legacy Terrace, 5700 Fremont St. Were excited to take it to the next level and serve it at one of our signature events.

Special Stations

Chef Showcase will be a culinary collection of cuisine connoisseurs. A year ago, Chef Showcase was inserted into the Legacy Retirement Communities signature-event lineup in place of the former Chef Fest event.

Chef Showcase allows our chefs to showcase their talents , said Darrah. Chef Showcase enables folks to experience some of the different flavors of the world. Our chefs and those who attend have a lot of fun with it.

The Asian Fusion Station will be one of the must-see stops along your food tour. Besides the caramelized pork belly, youll dine on vegetable pot stickers, crab Rangoon, mini-egg rolls and dipping sauces. The Fusion Station will be in the Grand Dining Room.

Youll also not want to miss the progressive Mexican cuisine served at the South Station, where youll find beef tenderloin and shredded chicken tinga fajitas served with flour tortillas, corn salsa, fresh guacamole, Southwestern egg rolls, and jalapeno cream cheese peppers. Vic Saltzman, Executive Chef at The Legacy and former chef at Chi Chis Mexican Cuisine during its heydays in Lincoln, will lead the efforts in the Mexican cuisine area.

Multitalented chef

Signature events allow Keenan Cain, the multitalented Executive Chef at Legacy Estates, to expand his repertoire and entertain folks with his ice carvings. His project for the Chef Showcase will be a Shrimp Boat carving that will complement the jumbo shrimp cocktail and smoked salmon to be enjoyed in the Pub.

Ice carving is somewhat of a lost art that Cains creations bring to life with each Legacy Retirement Communities signature event. Cain is a master ice carver and a previous ice carving contest winner a number of years ago at the Piedmont Shops holiday promotions.

On the culinary side, Cain will also prepare his fresh lobster bisque, from start to finish, every 45 minutes, starting at 11 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 1:15 p.m.

Drawings, shuttle

The red-carpet treatment youll get at the Chef Showcase will include free shuttle service from the former Russ's Market parking lot near 70th and Van Dorn streets, beginning at 10:45 a.m.

While youre at Chef Showcase, sign up for drawings for four $25 Hy-Vee gift cards.

Legacy Retirement Communities signature-event calendar for 2017 concludes Sunday, Sept. 10 with the annual Terrace Town Carnival, to be held at the Legacy Terrace, 5700 Fremont St. Watch the Neighborhood Extra for details.
The Customs authority has announced that new measures are being introduced on Western beach as part of its campaign to combat smuggling. The frontier fence at the beach has been reinforced with extra strands of barbed wire extending out to sea and hardened fences have been placed parallel to the wire. Officers from HM Customs will now also be stationed at the beach to carry out overt and covert operations, and a portacabin has been placed at the entrance to the beach for the use of officers.

As part of this campaign, a bill is also to be presented to the Gibraltar parliament to enable Customs officers to search premises which are licenced to sell tobacco without a warrant. Additional provisions will include making it an offence to assault, resist or obstruct officers and to give false information by signing any document in respect of the import or sale of cigarettes.

Chief minister Fabian Picardo has stressed that the government will continue to support Customs in their work to control the illicit trade in tobacco. That means giving them the resources necessary and the legislative powers necessary when they seek that we should provide them with greater powers, he said.

A few days ago plain-clothes Customs officers arrested five people on Western beach and seized a vehicle and 209 cartons of cigarettes. The officers chased three Spanish teenage boys as they ran along the beach to the frontier fence and two Spanish women were arrested for transporting the cigarettes. The haul of tobacco, worth approximately 4,000, was confiscated.
For a long time, artist Jose Luis Puche dreamed of living in the centre of Malaga. He wanted to be close to the museums, the galleries and the cultural life of the city. Four years ago, he achieved his dream: he and his girlfriend found a fantastic apartment to rent in Calle Montano. The first year was wonderful. I loved being at the heart of things. My studio was close by, we went to nearly all the inaugurations of exhibitions, he says. Then one day they noticed more activity in their block, where there were only 12 apartments. A girl who was renting an apartment put it on Airbnb with the owners consent, he says, and then the problems began. Parties on the landings, noise late at night, damage to communal areas and the occasional fright when a drunken tourist tried to get into the wrong apartment.

The person who advertised the apartment, seeing that it was always full, rented another in the same building to double her profits. Then it was like a plague; it spread. Other people saw there was money to be made and started doing the same thing, says Jose Luis. An apartment of this type would cost 600 euros a month to rent long term, but it can make nearly 3,000 a month from holiday lets. Thats a lot of money, he explains.

There came a time when only two apartments in the block were permanently occupied, the one rented by Jose Luis and his girlfriend, and one other. In September last year they received notification from the landlord that they would have to leave because someone wanted to buy it and rent it as tourist accommodation. By then, their street was full of Airbnb lets. We already wanted to move, because we felt completely out of place, he says.

This is by no means an unusual story in the central and eastern districts of Malaga city. The boom in holiday lets is affecting numerous people who work in Malaga and want to rent long-term.

Overnight stays up by 4.6% thanks to foreign demand In the first six months of this year a total of 598,296 tourists stayed in hotels in Malaga city, which is six per cent more than in the same period last year. Julio Andrade, councillor for Tourism, says this has been the best half-year since records began, and there were 1,114,459 overnight stays, an increase of 4.6 per cent compared with the same period in 2016. The councillor says the figures are due to increased demand from international markets, which has more than made up for a drop in the number of Spanish visitors. Between January and June, 356,434 of those who stayed in hotels in the city were from abroad, which was 14.5 per cent more than in the first half of last year. They accounted for 748,236 overnight stays, which was 11.68 per cent higher. Average hotel occupancy in Malaga city was 75.07 during this period, an increase of two per cent. The average length of stay was 1.94 days. In the first half of this year, Malaga was the third city in terms of growth in tourism, behind only Zaragoza (+8.96%) and Barcelona (+7.58%).

For Andrea, a partner in a graphic design studio, a similar situation occurred but in her case it involved an office instead of a home: one day the landlord told them they had to leave because he was going to use the premises, in the historic city centre, for holiday lets.

Some owners break the law

For the Rentacasa agency, which specialises in rented accommodation, this situation is not unusual. Many people are being evicted because of Airbnb, and the numbers are growing, says one of the partners, Inmaculada Vegas. The agencys clients include numerous people from abroad who work for technology companies on the PTA. Since Easter more than 15 clients have received notice to leave their apartments, all of them in the historic city centre, she says.

In many cases the property owners are breaking the law, because for the first three years, rental contracts should automatically be extended each year, unless the tenant says they want to leave. The owner can only rescind the contract if he or she is going to live there or needs it for a close relative. Very few tenants do anything about it, because they dont want to get involved in legal proceedings, says Inmaculada.

There have even been some dramatic cases where families have ended up with nowhere to go, because the long-term rental market has become impossible because of the popularity of holiday lets.

On average, 33 properties join the tourist accommodation market every day in Malaga province; there are already 10,000 of them, offering 54,000 beds, and more than 7,000 are in the city. The number of properties for long-term rent is currently just 784, according to a recent report by the Solvia agency, which concludes that the number is clearly inadequate for a city with 600,000 inhabitants and a large floating population.

Jose Luis Puche is well aware of the difficulty in finding an apartment to rent in Malaga. It took them four months to find somewhere they liked and could afford, and it meant being outside the historic city centre.

The best they could offer us there was a 30 m2 apartment for 600 euros a month. We couldnt even get a sofa in it, he says. After considering leaving Malaga altogether they found their present home in the Armengual de la Mota area. We have rediscovered what its like to live in a district, with proper neighbours: there are shops, supermarkets... the city centre is becoming inert, just a decorative area for tourists and I dont understand why nobody seems worried about that, he says.

Eight months of searching

Lakshmi Aguirre and her partner, professionals in their thirties, have been looking for somewhere to live for eight months. Their case is not directly related to holiday accommodation, but it does reflect the scarcity of long-term rentals in the city. They had to leave their apartment because it was full of termites and damp and the owners refused to carry out repairs. However, they found themselves trapped.

When a decent apartment comes onto the market it is 400 euros more than they were asking five years ago, and there is still such high demand that you end up being subjected to a type of casting session. They also make some abusive demands, such as demanding six months rent as a deposit, says Lakshmi.

In the end they did find a new home, but they had to pay more than they had hoped: 1,000 euros a month for an apartment in Pedregalejo. Tourism is great, she says, but if it gets to the point where local people cant even live in their own city, something has to be done.

Javier, a chef who is also in his thirties, is afraid he will find himself in a similar situation in a few months time. He signed his rental contract two years ago, so in theory he should be able to stay there for another two years, but he isnt sure that will be the case.

I live in El Morlaco, near the seafront, and nearly all the houses in my complex are used for holiday accommodation. I have a feeling mine might, as well, he says.
Lincoln residents deserve the best the city can offer when it comes to safety. As the director of Lincoln Public Works and Utilities, I can vouch that each and every one of our employees takes that responsibility to heart.

As a mother, I understand the innate desire to protect our children. Their safety is our number one priority. So its important to understand that the City shares the same goal as those seeking a school zone on North 84th Street between Windmill Drive and Lexington Avenue -- the safety of those using the intersection.

Over the past two years, we have worked with concerned parents and discussed the situation with Lincoln Public Schools, the Lincoln Police Department and others.

Unfortunately, some have been led to believe that adding a school zone along this high-speed, high-traffic corridor will improve safety. That is not the case. Research and experience show that adding a school zone in the 84th Street corridor will create a pedestrian crossing that is less safe for children and motorists.

Consistency and predictability preserve safety at an intersection -- drivers know where and when to stop, and pedestrians know where and when to cross the street safely.

We have more than 40 safely applied school zones in the city of Lincoln - including two on South 84th Street. In those areas, the schools are in close proximity to the road, and drivers can quickly assess why speed limits are changing.

The regular speed limit is slow enough that drivers can brake without causing collisions. And students may not have the benefit of a well-controlled crosswalk with signals or stop signs in those locations.

In contrast, placing a school zone in an area outside of those guidelines can decrease safety. Drivers can be confused when it is not apparent that a school is nearby. Traffic studies prove that unexpected and abrupt drops in speed from 45 mph to 25 mph causes problems in heavy traffic.

In a group of vehicles, sudden braking, lane weaving and erratic driving patterns cause more frequent and more severe crashes. It can also result is increased red-light running, speeding through a yellow light, hard braking at the crosswalk or even entering into the crosswalk -- behaviors that decrease safety for pedestrians.

The good news is that we already have a very safe pedestrian crossing at the intersection of 84th Street and Leighton Avenue. This fully controlled crossing has pedestrian and vehicle signal indicators that stop traffic rather than just slowing it down. The intersection has pedestrian-controlled push buttons, marked crosswalks, intersection lighting and advanced prepare to stop when flashing beacons to warn drivers of a signal change.

Engineering standards, practices and traffic analysis has led us to one conclusion -- a school zone in this location is not safe for children. As we work with others in the community to provide safety for our kids, we must continue to rely on research, experience, facts and data to guide our decisions.
Retired Wythe County County Administrator Cellell Dalton appeared before his former bosses recently to offer his opinion on the architectural and engineering plans for the Appalachian Regional Exposition Center.

What he said was not encouraging and will delay plans, which have been pushed back several times already, even more.

These plans, in my opinion, have a lot of inherent problems, Dalton told the Wythe County Board of Supervisors on July 13. Dalton made his comments after studying the plans at the request of Supervisor Joe Hale.

Dalton said the plans, created by The Lane Group, were not complete enough to put the project out to bid. Among the issues are coordinates, spot elevations and issues with the grading. He said a lot of questions need to be answered before the county can put the project out to bid.

There is no means to set the buildings the way they have drawn them, Dalton said. Its sort of like the Barbie doll house out there. They just set them down but give no dimensions from the property line or a coordinate or anything else.

Supervisors mentioned the possibility of hiring Dalton, who retired in September, as the construction site manger.

Ill just say it out loud, Dalton said. After going through this for the hours I did, Im not sure I want to be involved with it. It is just that messed up.

The county is currently advertising for a construction manager.

After Daltons comments, county officials met with the Lane Group July 18 to address concerns, said County Public Information Officer Jeremy Farley.

The Lane Group will be issuing an addendum to the plans, which is standard, to address the concerns raised, Farley wrote in an email As the project is bid, there will be other issues that contractors will bring forth that will be addressed in same manner. To address some of the concerns with benchmarks, elevation profiles, etc that Mr. Dalton mentioned, TLG will be obtaining final grade elevation profiles from (the) grading contractor to work into their addendum. In summary, it was a very productive meeting.

The cost of the countys architectural services contract with TLC is $293,200.

During the most recent supervisors meeting on July 25, Bear said he hopes plans will be presented to supervisors and accepted by Sept. 1 so the county can advertise for bids on the project. Construction is expected to take about nine months, but is dependent on the weather.

The Lane Group estimates it will cost $6.3 million to build the Apex Center.

Farley said the county will bid out individual trades and supply some of the materials as an opportunity to save on construction costs, but also plans to bid out as a lump sum project that would be overseen by a general contractor and county representatives.

The goal is to have most cost-effective manner to construct the facility, Farley said.

Daltons complaints are not the first ones concerning the Apex Center plans.

In June, Hale, arguably the biggest Apex proponent on the board, questioned drawings submitted by The Lane Group.

As a result of Hales concerns, the countys economic development committee, along with County Administrator Stephen Bear, met with TLG representatives Bobby Lane and Doug Williams May 30. The economic development committee members are Hale, Steve Willis and Charlie Lester.

The goal of that meeting was to clarify details shown in the 75 percent review plan so that potential bidders were clear on what was expected and to ensure cost saving measures were addressed.

The plan Dalton critiqued was the final review plan.

In July, the county paid a $12,285 fine to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality because of storm water management violations at the Apex site. The county plans to recoup the money from the grading contractor, Baker Construction.

The county purchased the expo site off of Exit 77, for $1.3 million in September 2015. In December 2015, supervisors agreed to issue $5 million in bonds to pay for construction of Phase I, which includes a 90,000-square-foot metal building, an arena floor, seating, restrooms, concession areas, final site grading, handicapped parking, a fire suppression system, code-required bathroom facilities, electrical service entrance, arena ventilation and bleacher seating.

At the time the county bought the land and issued the bonds, supervisors hoped the Apex Center would be complete by the end of 2016 and could start booking events for 2017.

Payments on the $5 million in bonds begin in December and will be about $333,000 per year for 20 years.

To reach Millie Rothrock, call 228-6611, ext. 35, or email mrothrock@wythenews.com.
After a short public hearing with just two speakers, Floyd County Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved a new registry for those who operate short-term rentals with a $50 annual fee and a possible $500 fine for non-compliance.

Those who rent out a room or two in their homes or provide services under the expanding Airbnb programs must also charge the countys transient occupancy tax to those renting rooms, county legal counsel Stephen Durbin told the hearing.

Both operators of short-term rentals who spoke at the hearing supported the registry and said the $50 annual fee is not too much.

It should be at least $50, said Chris Marino of Willis. We must also make sure we comply with codes and meet standards. She also urged the board to provide a level playing field for those involved in short-term rentals.

Kamala Bauers, co-owner of Hotel Floyd, said she supplies short-term rental at the Floyd EcoVillage on Franklin Pike and the countys registry, created through changes in Virginia codes in the last General Assembly sessions, is both helpful and needed.

The ordinance defines short-term rentals as periods of 30 consecutive days or less.

Little River Superivsor Linda DeVito Kuchenbuch said the ordinance and registry should be viewed as a service to those who operate short-term rental properties and is not intended to be used to punish those who might be notified of violations.

The short-term services provide a service for the countys growing tourism industry and also income for those who provide the rentals, she added. I dont want the ordinance to create additional liabilities for these folks.

Durbin said the ordinance does not create any new liabilities because the rules, regulations, taxes and fees were already in place and any liability is already there.

The 15-minute hearing started a little late Tuesday night after an overflow crowd with several speakers packed the Boards meeting room to support efforts by Preserve Floyd to promote conservation, alternative energy sources and environmental efforts.

The 12 warmest years in recorded history have all come in the last 15 years, said Erica Largen. The question is not whether we need to actthe question now is whether we will have the courage to act before it is not too late.

The speakers urged the county to join the National Mayors Climate Initiative, which is urging local communities to provide climate initiative at the local level.

One of the speakers, 12-year-old Anchor Burton of the Courthouse District, urged the county to scrap the coal-fired heating systems in local schools and replace them with solar-powered units.

Pollution is not a good thing, he said, noting that he and other students come to schools where a toxic cloud of coal dust threatens their health.

The young speakers comments brought the largest applause of the evening from the overflow crowd.

Locust Grove Supervisor Lauren Yoder praised the young speaker for suggesting something that we, as Supervisors, can actually do to improve the countys environment.

Jane Cundiff of Little River District urged the Board to provide tax incentives to help those who work to improve the environment and also use taxes to punish those who exploit the countys limited resources.

After the comments in both the meetings public comment period and as an agenda item for the Preserve Floyd where the Board was asked to endorse the resolution to join the National Mayors Initiative, the Supervisors deferred the action to an upcoming meeting to examine the proposal and decide on whether or not to join it.

Kuchenbuch thanked the crowd to proving that public involvement is important.

Ive talked the talk and walked the walk, she said. Your actions are important, but they cannot stop here. They must be ongoing.

Supervisors ended the meeting with a closed-door executive session to discuss property issues and consult with legal counsel on several issues. Such sessions have been part of most Supervisorss meetings in recent months.

In other action Tuesday:

--The Board received proposed changes to the subdivision ordinance and Board chairman Case Clinger told County Administrator Terri Morris to put the ordinance on the agenda of a future meeting to study and discuss any changes.

--Supervisors decided, at an upcoming meeting, to study the annual list of proposed recommendations for legislative actions for presentation to the Virginia General Assembly.
BALDWINSVILLE, NY -- The biggest brewery in Upstate New York is also one of the least visited: The giant Anheuser-Busch plant just outside Baldwinsville has never given regular tours. It has a tasting room, used for special events, but it's almost never open to the public.

That'll change Aug. 5, when the big brewery in the Radisson Business Park off Route 31 hosts an open house. Visitors can take a tour and learn about the brewing process. Perhaps most important, to many visitors, is the opportunity to get close to the famous Clydesdales.

Of the 12 Anheuser-Busch breweries in the United States, only six are open for regular tours, including the historic original brewery in St. Louis. All are manufacturing facilities, which can make inviting visitors inside difficult.

The seldom-visited Baldwinsville plant opened in 1976 as a Schlitz brewery before being taken over by A-B in the early 1980s. It makes beers like Budweiser and Bud Light, along with more than 60 others products, from Goose Island and Blue Point "craft" beers to Lime-A-Ritas, Spiked Seltzers and the non-alcoholic Teavana bottled teas.

"It is very rare, but it's exciting for us and a lot of fun to be able to have the public come and see and feel what we feel everyday about this place," said Nick Offredi, brewmaster at the Baldwinsville brewery. "It's great for the community to able to get close to Budweiser and to the Clydesdales, too."

The tour will be offer a "windows" look, Offredi says. Visitors will not be allowed on the production floor, but will be able to "get some insights into the process." Offredi will help lead visitors in a toast to the brewery.

But why is the world's largest brewer opening up its Upstate New York brewery now?

Consider the timing: Anheuser-Busch, the American division of the global beer conglomerate Anheuser-Busch InBev, is under increasing attack from craft brewers, who see the international giant as a threat.

A-B foes, including such craft brew pioneers as Sam Adams founder Jim Koch, cite the company's recent merger with fellow brewing giant SAB Miller, its acquisition of about a dozen formerly independent "craft" brewers and what they see as its predatory business practices.

So Anheuser-Busch, whose global headquarters is in Belgium, is pushing back. The message: A-B has breweries and employees across America. (The Baldwinsville brewery alone has about 500 employees.)

The local brewery tour comes amid a major marketing campaign in which A-B is highlighting its 12 local breweries, located in 11 different states (California has two). The campaign includes a TV ad, run during major sporting events and at other times, that shows a brief image of each local brewery with the location name superimposed on the screen.

A-B also this summer launched new packaging for its flagship beer, Budweiser. On certain bottles, cans and cartons, the name of the state in which they are produced is substituted for the word Budweiser. State mottos and other details also appear on the packages. It's similar to the renaming of Budweiser as America in 2016.

"Our new state bottles and cans celebrate the homes of our breweries and the communities that support them," Budweiser vice president Ricardo Marques said in statement. "Since 1876, Budweiser has been proudly brewed across America, and this summer, we're inviting local consumers to raise a cold one with us."

Offredi, the Baldwinsville brewmaster, says the plant's workers are happy to see the attention focused on their brewery.

"There's a lot of employee pride and excitement about this," Offredi said. "When that (TV) ad came out, and it said 'brewed in Baldwinsville,' I snapped a picture on my phone. That's pretty cool."

Don Cazentre writes about craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
KINGSTON -- A counselor at the Northeast Center for Rehabilitation and Traumatic Brain Injury was sentenced Friday to 46 years in prison for sexually abusing six residents there.

Jacky Stanley, 51, of Kingston was arrested in August 2016. Investigators said he sexually abused six patients with traumatic brain injuries at the Northeast Center between July 2014 and February 2015. He was a unit counselor whose job was to help patients acclimate to the facility and its programs.

At his one-week trial, evidence showed that one victim awoke to find Stanley performing oral sex on him. Stanley threatened to harm one of the victims and the victim's family numerous times to keep quiet. His abuse surfaced only after one of the victims came forward, authorities said.

The jury convicted Stanley of 24 counts related to the abuse, including one count of criminal sexual act in the first degree and seven counts of sexual abuse in the first degree, both felonies.

Ulster County Judge Donald Williams handed down the sentence Friday. In addition to the 46-year prison sentence, Stanley will be under supervision for 20 years after his release, according to the press release from the office of state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

"These were heinous acts of abuse targeting residents already suffering from traumatic, life-changing injuries," said Attorney General Schneiderman. "My office recommended a significant sentence based on the defendant's proven pattern of sexual abuse. We applaud the bravery of the victims who came forward to bring the defendant to justice."

Town of Ulster police conducted the investigation with the help of the Northeast Center, Schneiderman said.

- Paul Brooks, The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y.
Update: Driver loses control of car, causing multi-car collision on Plattsburgh highway



PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- A highway in the northernmost part of New York near the Adirondacks is back open in both directions after a large crash shut down portions of the roadway.

Interstate 87 in Plattsburgh, also known as the Northway, reopened at 10:45 p.m. Friday, according to the Department of Transportation.

The road was closed for more than six hours after a multi-vehicle crash closed the southbound lanes from Exit 36 to Exit 37 just before 4 p.m. Friday. Traffic was reduced to one lane headed north.

Officials arrived at the scene and found vehicles disabled in the median, in the roadway, and off the shoulder of the southbound lane, State Police Capt. Robert LaFountain told the Press Republican.

It is unclear how many vehicles were involved, but state police said three people were taken to the University of Vermont Health Network at the Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh for treatment.

The extent of their injuries is currently unknown.
Words I never imagined typing: Attorney General Jeff Sessions, please stay.

It's obvious that President Trump wants you to go. He and his aides have made that blindingly, humiliatingly clear. But it's also obvious that Trump does not want to do the deed himself.

You may be a dead attorney general walking. Still, don't make the president's job any easier by going gently. Don't enable this cowardly lawlessness. Certainly, you serve at the president's pleasure, and he has made his displeasure abundantly clear. The source of it is -- from my point of view -- pretty much the one thing you have done correctly during your tenure at the Justice Department: You recused yourself from overseeing the probe into Russian meddling in the election.

This was the correct call -- and not a close one. If anything, it took you too long to get there; your recusal came only after reports about your misleading testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee about your Russian contacts during the campaign.

Your decision to recuse yourself from the Russia probe was not, as Trump claimed in his petulant New York Times interview, "very unfair to the president" -- it was clearly mandated by Justice Department regulations, which provide that "no employee shall participate in a criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship" with its subject. The regulations define a political relationship as "a close identification with an elected official ... arising from service as a principal adviser thereto."

So staying in your post, as long as you can, notwithstanding the pressure on you to quit and the accompanying embarrassment of sticking around when you are clearly not wanted, would be a win for the rule of law. Let the president try to convince the country -- let him try to convince a Senate that would ultimately be called on to confirm a new attorney general -- that firing you served the national interest, not his own personal political and legal needs. Don't make it easy for him.

No question, Trump can fire you. He can fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Other senior officials, if they maintain a shred of respect for themselves and the Constitution, would probably leave as well.

Trump could then fire, or, more precisely, find or install someone willing to fire, special counsel Robert Mueller. He can hand out pardons, perhaps even to himself. That's all on him, and he would reap the political whirlwind that I trust would follow, notwithstanding the spinelessness among congressional Republicans that appears to be a widespread, pre-existing condition.

In the meantime, what should you do? A speech on the independence of the Justice Department and the necessity that justice be dispensed without regard to politics sounds awfully timely.

Explain the judgment you reached that department regulations and basic considerations of conflict of interest prevented you from remaining in charge of the Russia probe. Defend the decision to name a special counsel and explain that these are the very circumstances that warrant -- indeed, demand -- a special counsel, so that the public has confidence in the outcome of the investigation.

And you might turn to the wisdom of your predecessors to explain the proper, if complex, contours of the relationship between president and attorney general. Griffin Bell, President Carter's attorney general, explained in a 1978 speech that "the president retains the power and the duty to accept or reject the attorney general's judgments. ... The course best calculated, however, to inspire public confidence in the faithful execution of the laws is for the president to allow the attorney general freedom from undue influence, in the first instance; to accept the attorney general's judgment in specific cases; and to remove him if his judgments seem wrong."

If the president wants to can you, he should explain in what sense -- other than that it threatens his political and legal well-being -- your judgments, including to recuse yourself, have been wrong.

Or -- brace yourself -- you might invoke Eric Holder, President Obama's first attorney general, outlining how the White House and Justice Department should interact: "The legal judgments of the Department of Justice must be impartial and insulated from political influence," Holder wrote in a 2009 memo. "It is imperative that the department's investigatory and prosecutorial powers be exercised free from partisan consideration."

An unlikely source for you to quote, but advice that every attorney general -- and every president -- must live by.
RACINE COUNTY  Who can predict all the ways in which a future with Foxconn would change daily life here? A few experts and industry people tried to peer into the future and talk about how the predicted jobs might be created.

According to Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, which has committed to build a plant in southeastern Wisconsin, would be the largest corporate attraction project in U.S. history measured by jobs: 13,000 Foxconn jobs and an estimated 22,000 indirect jobs. The plant would manufacture liquid crystal displays, or LCDs, for use in many kinds of products.

The $10 billion construction alone, of a total of 20 million square feet in Foxconn buildings, is expected to support 10,000 jobs as well as 6,000 indirect jobs, over four years.

All of our tradespeople are excited, Bukacek Construction CEO Jim Cairns said. Were thrilled.

Cairns said finding that much skilled labor would likely involve other Midwest states. You wont train on that job, he said. These will have to be job-ready guys.

To find companies that would oversee the four-year project, Cairns said, Well see national construction companies that will have great interest  Likely it will be a combined effort of numerous general contractors.

Cairns said Foxconn would likely create the need for more construction in the area, across many areas such as government  fire stations and departments of public works  housing, retail and schools.

And plants may have to be built to supply the materials such as precast concrete panels or asphalt that Foxconn would demand, Cairns added.

Meanwhile, he pointed out, other construction projects would also have to be done while Foxconn is being built.

Nearby supply base

The Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese manufacturing model indicates there would be new, related manufacturing not far from wherever Foxconn would locate, said Doug Fisher, Marquette University assistant professor and director of Marquettes Center for Supply Chain Management. That model is to have the entire supply base near the manufacturing operation.

They tend to align their supply base near those operations, Fisher said. For example, where shoes are made, the Chinese model also has plants nearby to supply everything from the rubber to the grommets.

It allows very efficient manufacturing, he explained. If there are hiccups, they can react very quickly. That brings the employment base in proximity to the manufacturer.

You have companies in Wisconsin that can be potential suppliers for Foxconn, said Marquette University Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation Carmel Ruffolo. And these guys will all have to upscale. That adds to that number of jobs.

Foxconn also would be a huge consumer of services, Fisher said, including security, janitorial, maintenance, logistics  drivers and handlers  warehousing services, staffing and temp agencies and food service.

Basically youre running a city of 13,000 people, he said.

Housing impacts

Mike Ruzicka, president of the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors, issued his written prognostication for the housing industry, saying a construction boom is on the horizon.

Southeastern Wisconsin will see significant gains in new construction, unit sales, and increased values with the Foxconn development, Ruzicka wrote. With the additional jobs moving into the area, more new homes, condos, and apartment buildings will need to be built, which will grow the market exponentially.

Additionally, small and large commercial structures, like office buildings, grocery stores, specialty shops, etc. will need to be built to accommodate the new workers and their families moving into the area.
here's everything that we've seen and read about the upcoming Asus ZenFone 4 Pro

Asus ZenFone 4 Pro will have a Dual Rear Camera module and its functionality will be similar to that of Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom, meaning that the secondary camera will have a telephoto lens making 2X optical zoom capability possible.

Creative Rendering of the Asus ZenFone 4 Pro

Details about the Taiwanese company's 2017 top of the line Android smartphone are now starting to surface online.As of writing,1. In terms of design and build, it will still have a glass-metal-glass sandwich construction just like thefrom 2016 but this fresh iteration it will feature a Home button - in front, below the screen - lined with a Fingerprint Scanner.2.3. The handset will be powered by a 10nm 64-Bit Octa-Coreprocessor and will handle multitasking with 6GB of RAM. This combination is pretty standard for flagship-level Android smartphones this year.4. The screen is an ultra-clear-and-crisp 5.7-inch QHD 2560 x 1440 AMOLED, which is similar to that the5. The handset will run Android 7.1 Nougat operating system with Zen UI skin and have Dual SIM Dual Standby capability.6. Asus ZenFone 4 Pro is expected to be officially announced by the company within September while release date will be sometime in Q4 2014, just in time for consumers' Yuletide gadget shopping.Asus has not confirmed nor denied all rumored or leaked information about the. Although I believe that all things are in this post are already on point about the device, we'd all do well to still take these with a grain of salt.
The Russian Soyuz rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome pad in Kazakhstan at 11:41 a.m. EDT on July 28 carrying three veteran astronauts en route to the International Space Station.

MS-05 docked six hours later at the space station's Rassvet module and, after two hours of making sure that everything was sealed tightly in place, the current ISS crew  Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and flight engineers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer  opened the hatches for cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy and astronauts Randy Bresnik and Paolo Nespoli.

The three proceeded to the Russian Zvezda module for the post-docking video call to NASA and their respective families before getting started with their five months' worth of work.

Meet Expedition 53

The ISS crew is supposed to be split evenly between the Russian and U.S. orbital segments but Russia's decision to reduce spending by limiting its crew allowed the USOS to send another astronaut for Expedition 53 via the Soyuz spacecraft.

Heading the three-man crew is Ryazanskiy, who happens to be the first scientist cosmonaut to perform as a Soyuz commander. He also has a doctorate in biomedicine so his expertise will surely come in handy since the USOS crew is currently working on cancer research in microgravity. Ryazanskiy has actually gone on two space flights, and this is already his second long-duration mission aboard the ISS, the first one being a 166-day mission aboard Soyuz TMA-10M in 2013.

Under his command are fellow space veterans  astronauts Bresnik and Nespoli  who will both be stationed at the USOS.

This is Bresnik's first long-duration mission but he already has a spacewalk under his belt from 2009. Apart from the scientific work ahead, Bresnik reveals that he is looking forward to watching the total solar eclipse from the ISS on Aug. 21.

Bresnik was really happy about how everything went smoothly from launch to docking that he took a moment to thank the Russian engineers involved in the mission during the video call.

"That was the most amazing, smooth rocket ride I've ever had. I would really like to say thanks on behalf of the three of us to our Russian colleagues and our Russian partners who made such a beautiful vehicle," he expressed.

ESA astronaut Nespoli, on the other hand, is already on his second long-duration mission aboard the ISS  the first one being a 160-day mission in 2010  but he already helped install a module for the station in 2007, just not as an official member of the crew.

Increased Productivity For Science

The three new ISS crew are expected to work with Expedition 52 astronauts Whitson, Yurchikhin and Fischer on the hundreds of biology, biotechnology, Earth science, and physical science research and experiments lined up for them.

"I am excited about having a full complement of people up here who can really utilize this amazing laboratory. I cannot wait ... for the discoveries that we make together," Fischer said in an interview.

They will be working together on research and experiments until Sept. 3, when Yurchikhin, Whitson, and Fischer are scheduled to return to Earth.

Bresnik is also looking forward to doing some repairs aboard the station to further increase productivity.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Niantic Labs finds itself in legal trouble because of the failed Pokemon GO Fest, as some attendees have joined a class action lawsuit against the developer.

The Pokemon GO Fest was supposed to be the culmination of the popular mobile game's first anniversary, with players in Grant Park, Chicago, working together with players from all around the world to unlock various bonuses and the highly anticipated Legendary Pokemon. However, what happened was considered by most attendees as a complete failure.

What Happened At The 'Pokemon GO' Fest?

The Pokemon GO Fest brought players from all over Chicago, the rest of the United States, and the world into Grant Park on July 22, but it failed to live up to its promise.

Technical issues plagued the event, with some players not able to log in to the mobile app while some players encountered connectivity issues. By the middle of the afternoon, the event's organizers called off the event.

The blame game then started, with Verizon, one of the carriers with representatives at the event, claiming that all the issues were on the end of Niantic Labs. The developer, on the other hand, said that the Pokemon GO Fest disaster was due to the oversaturation of the networks of some network providers.

To make up for the failed event, Niantic Labs refunded the $20 tickets of all attendees, gave them $100 worth of PokeCoins, and added the Legendary Pokemon Lugia to their accounts.

Unhappy Attendees File Lawsuit Against Niantic Labs

For some attendees, Niantic Labs has not done enough to apologize for the disastrous event.

Thomas Zimmerman, an attorney based in Chicago, revealed that a California local, Jonathan Norton, contacted him regarding a class action lawsuit against Niantic Labs for the Pokemon GO Fest. Since then, about 20 to 30 other attendees have joined the lawsuit, the lawyer told Polygon.

"He paid to fly out [to Chicago] for the festival, and had to wait for several hours in line, just like most everybody else in order to get in," Zimmerman said.

The disgruntled attendees claimed that Niantic Labs should reimburse not just the tickets for the event, but also their travel expenses. Norton spent much more than $20 to be able to join the Pokemon GO Fest, along with many others who came from outside of Chicago. Zimmerman claimed that he even spoke with an attendee who came all the way from Japan.

The bonuses that Niantic Labs gave to try to appease Pokemon GO Fest attendees were not enough, as the developer failed to deliver the experience that was hyped up for the event.

It is unclear how far the class action lawsuit would go, as claimants joining the legal action might have to pay fees that would exceed how much they would get if Niantic Labs reimbursed their travel expenses.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Gateway Technical Colleges new IT Center for Excellence on its Racine Campus provides students with the same high-tech equipment environment to train on which is used in the industry today, giving them the skills to enter and succeed in their career.

Information technology courses, which were held on the Kenosha and Racine campuses, were shifted under one roof at the center, located on the third floor of the Technical Building on the Racine campus, 1001 Main St. The 11,500-square-foot center opened in spring and continues to expand in scope and number of courses held.

Highlights of this new center include:

Network and computer support labs provide students with a work environment identical to the one they will experience in their career.

The work students perform on servers, routers and communications are the same they would perform on an actual job site.

Students can advance their Web and software development skills on a split-screen environment that shows them the results of their training much faster than on other equipment, giving them real-time feedback.

A high-definition video conferencing room allows area high school students to take courses from their school remotely and begin their college education and career earlier.

Students have access to high-end desktop computers, hardware and the newest technology, said IT instructor Allen Pearson. From an instructors standpoint, there is a lot of cutting edge equipment for my students to train on, and the equipment allows me to expand teaching in the classroom.

Every time I walk in there I say to myself wow, this is cool.

Pearson said a tremendous benefit he didnt forecast is that students, more than ever, are forming study groups for their coursework and to prepare for exams.

I have always encouraged my students to do this, but this year there were many groups  one even named themselves Study Bytes. The industry demands long hours of work and being able to collaborate, and they certainly did that through the study groups.

I think thats due to the aura of the center. Everything is there, all the related courses are there, as well as the instructors, said Pearson. The center promotes even greater learning.

Pearson points out that the learning at the center provides students with the skills to a career field that is in-demand, and provides solid pay, as well. Many Gateway Technical College graduates have gone on to even hold leadership positions within the industry.

For more information on Gateway IT programs, visit the website www.gtc.edu/bit.
RACINE  The Racine community is invited to kick off National Night Out , Americas night out against crime and drugs, at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1, in the 1500 block of North Wisconsin Avenue between Kewaunee and St. Patrick streets.

Members from state and local government, public safety officials, Racine Neighborhood Watch representatives, and McGruff the Crime Dog will announce the official start of community-wide, National Night Out festivities.

The fourth annual tri-church event with St. Joseph Catholic Church, St. John Lutheran Church and New Life Christian Fellowship church will be held in conjunction with the kickoff event. Activities will include music, children's games, face painting, church tours, fire and police vehicles and raffle prizes. Free food and beverages will be served.

Racine Neighborhood Watch is coordinating National Night Out events and activities in the Racine community for the 26th year. It is a long-standing, summertime tradition embraced by nearly 7,000 residents. Registered National Night Out celebrations number more than 60 and include block parties, cookouts, carnivals and movie nights with visits from police, fire, sheriff and McGruff.

National Night Out encourages neighbors to give neighborhood crime and drugs a going away party, turn on their porch lights, lock their doors and come outside, celebrate neighborhood camaraderie and take a unified stand against crime. National Night Out promotes community-police partnerships and crime prevention, demonstrates neighborhood strength, and encourages on-going and positive communication.

For more information, contact Racine Neighborhood Watch at 262-637-5711 or email susan@racinenw.com.
"Based on these preliminary results (of the census) the redistribution of resources will be made in September 2024, one month earlier than we had proposed," Arce said. | Read More
WORSHIP AT RACINE COUNTY FAIR

A worship service will be held at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, July 30, during the Racine County Fair in the Runzheimer Stage area at the fairgrounds, 19805 Durand Ave., Yorkville. Worship will be led by the Rev. Sue Leih and other pastors from the United Methodist churches at Burlington, English Settlement, Union Grove, Waterford Community and Yorkville. The Hims of Harmony quintet from Yorkville UMC will bless the service with their music ministry.

SUMMER KIDS FUN FEST

Christ Church United Methodist, 5109 Washington Ave., will hold its annual Summer Kids Fun Fest: Camp Out, Getting SMore of Jesus from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 2-3.

Children will participate in Bible-learning expeditions, sing and dance to catchy songs, play teamwork-building games and make a teddy bear at craft time to give to a child in need. Parents are welcome to stay, or drop their kids off at check-in. Church volunteers will take groups of children from one station to the next.

This event is free and open to all children from preschool age to fifth grade. Donations are accepted. Online registration is available at www.christchurchracine.com. Children that preregister online will be entered into a drawing to win a family fun camping prize. For more information, call the church office at 262-632-1607.

YOUTH SUNDAY

The youth of Faith United Methodist Church, 1013 Harmony Drive, will conduct the 10:45 a.m worship service Sunday, July 30. Jared Ellis will be the speaker and Michael Young will be the Liturgist. Other youth involved in the worship service are Nobal Days and Skyler Gister. Advisors of the youth are Rebecca LaSchiava, Rommel Ellis and Jason LaSchiava.

OUTDOOR BILINGUAL SERVICE

Emaus ELCA, 1925 Summit Ave., celebrates an outdoor bilingual service at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, July 30, followed by a potluck picnic. People are encouraged to bring chairs and parasols. This will take the place of both regular Sunday morning worship services.

THE POWER TO HEAL

In The Healing Effects of Believing, Christy Domanoski and April Woods will explore the different ways one finds faith  through religion or personal experience  and how that faith, regardless of origin, has the scientifically-proven power to heal. This lay-led service will be held at 10 a.m. on Sunday, July 30, at Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church, 625 College Ave. It features a solo by Ben Taft.

MISSION TRIP SUNDAY

Sacred Journeys Spiritual Community is celebrating Mission Trip Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, July 30, at Meadowbrook Country Club, 2149 N. Green Bay Road, Mount Pleasant. Nine volunteers who traveled to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota this summer will share their stories. The volunteers built bunk beds, decks, outhouses, wheelchair ramps and trailer skirting to help the residents of the reservation. They also spent time learning the culture, spirituality, stories and issues of the Lakota tribe.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

Mighty Fortress In Jesus, the Victory is Won! vacation Bible school for children from 3 years old to fifth grade will be held from 9 a.m. to noon July 31-Aug. 4, at Grace Lutheran Church, 3700 Washington Ave.

Children will learn that in Jesus, the victory is won. Students will look into the Bible, Gods holy word, and explore five Bible accounts about God, our mighty fortress, and the victory Jesus has won for us. Activities include crafts, games and singing.

Register online at www.vbsmate.com/GraceLutheranRacine.

FIVE-DAY BIBLE CLUB

A five-day Bible club for children will be held from 3 to 4:30 p.m. July 31-Aug. 4, at First Evangelical Free Church, 2401 Ohio St. For more information, call 262-554-1235.
RACINE PUBLIC LIBRARY

RACINE  The Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., is offering these free events:

Early Childhood Music, 10 a.m. Monday, July 31. Lisa Friedrich will perform an interactive early childhood music program in the Youth Services Department.

Teen Filmmaker Class, 1 p.m. Monday, July 31. Teens in grades six through 12 will create a trailer about their favorite book. Up to 12 teams may participate. To sign up to a team, go to www.racinelibrary.info or call 262-636-9217.

Celebrating Harry Potter, 6 p.m. Monday, July 31. The library will celebrate Harry Potters birthday with cake, crafts and more. Registration is required.

Camp NaNoWriMo Thank Goodness Its Over Party, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1. Closing party for the Camp NaNoWriMo writing program. To register, call 262-636-9245 or email carrie.richmond@racinelibrary.info.

Elvis and the Superstars performance, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2. Master impressionist Dave Ehlert will perform.

Between You and Me Book Group, 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3. Coming Together Racine and the library will host a book group focusing on books with themes of race and racism.

Got a Printed Photo mess? program, 2-4 p.m. Thursdays, Aug. 3 & 10. Pixologie will give a presentation showing techniques on how to organize printed photos. Patrons may bring a box of photos for assistance and bring 50 photos to be scanned at no charge. Registration is required.

To register for an event, call 262-636-9217, unless otherwise noted, or go to www.racinelibrary.info. A valid library card is required.

WATERFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY

WATERFORD  The Waterford Public Library, 101 N. River St., will offer these free programs:

Read to Chester, 10-10:45 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1. Individual children and/or families may sign up for one 15-minute slot to read to Chester, a Cairn Terrior/Dachshund mix.

Lets Leave it to the Beavers with Wehr Nature Center, 10-11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2. Wehr Nature Center will teach attendees about how beavers create their homes through this interactive experience with simultations, theater and real beaver artifacts.

Teen Lunch and Comedy Show, noon-1:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3. Teen volunteers ages 12 and older can participate in a special luncheon with pizza and ice cream sundaes while watching comedian Mike Marvell perform. Registration is required.

Music at the Library, 5-6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4. Holly Pisors, who performs and teaches piano in central Wisconsin, will perform a special program of piano music by Chopin and Liszt.

For more information, call 262-534-3988 or go to www.waterford.lib.wi.us.

BURLINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

BURLINGTON  The Burlington Public Library, 166 E. Jefferson St., will offer these free following:

Sensory Play, 10 a.m. Tuesdays, Aug. 1-29. This hands-on program allows children to explore with their senses in the park next to the library, weather permitting. In case of inclement weather, the program will move to the librarys basement.

Job Searching? Make Sure Your Resume Pops! 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2. Tom Kipp of Cardinal Stritch University will lead an interactive workshop on resumes including how they are changing and how to get attention from employers. Participants should bring their current resume.

How Mental Health & Wellness Affect Our Community: You Dont know What You Dont Know, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3. Discussion areas will include the need to recognize how mental health issues and lifes critical incidents affect children in local schools, community members, health and the workplace. Attendees will learn about critical incident stress management, psychological first aid and mental health first aid.

For more information, call 262-342-1130 or go to www.burlingtonlibrary.org.
RACINE  Its not every day that the city settles a claim from a citizen, especially one so seemingly trivial like a $100 claim over a stolen sign.

But after initially denying liability in the claim of Brian Winch of the 2500 block of Kearney Avenue, Assistant City Attorney Marisa Kasriel asked the Finance and Personnel Committee to receive and file the motion so that the city could arrange a settlement. The city reached a settlement with Winch for $60.

According to Winch, the sign was a handmade For Sale sign in the style of a sandwich board. He said he was selling his motorcycle and some furniture on his front lawn, when on June 2, a city garbage collector removed the sign and put it in his truck.

I looked out my window and I saw the garbage man and the sign was still there, Winch said. Five minutes later, the sign was gone.

Winch said that he got in his car and attempted to chase the garbage man down. When he did, the garbage man told him to call his supervisor. Winch did that and later filed a claim for reimbursement.

Winch added that he has not yet sold his motorcycle or the furniture, but is still trying to do it.

At this weeks committee meeting Kasriel said the city changed its mind about denying liability because Winch had a legitimate claim. The $60 settlement drew some laughter from aldermen on the committee.

City Attorney Scott Letteney said Friday that his office had no further comment on the settlement. The City Council still needs to approve the settlement at its next meeting Wednesday.
Baton Rouge Magnet High School led the way in Louisiana this past year when it came to Advanced Placement with more students taking the college placement exams and more scoring well enough to potentially earn college credit than any other public high school in the state.

Baton Rouge Magnet easily outpaced perennial frontrunner, Ben Franklin High School, in New Orleans.

A student needs to score at least a 3 to earn credit at colleges and universities in Louisiana and at many nationwide. Scores on AP exams range from 1 to 5 and they are given in 38 subjects.

A total of 483 students at Baton Rouges flagship public high school scored a 3 or better during the 2016-17 school year. Thats 24 more than Ben Franklin and 92 more than Baton Rouge had the year before.

Ben Franklin still came out far better than Baton Rouge Magnet High in the percentage of test-takers who earn 3s and above, with 84 percent at the New Orleans high school versus 54 percent at the Baton Rouge school.

Also, about half of all 945 students who attended Ben Franklin last year earned a 3 or above; only a third of Baton Rouge Magnet's 1,473 students managed to do the same.

Other south Louisiana schools that did well in terms of the number of students earning 3 and above on AP exams were Lafayette High School in Lafayette, 256; Lusher Charter School in New Orleans, 227; Dutchtown High in Geismar, 194; Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies in Metairie, 185; Live Oak High School in Watson, 182; and Zachary High School in Zachary, 177.

All of those, except Lafayette High and Lusher, had more high scoring AP students than the year before. Dutchtown High was the fastest growing of the group with 35 more students this past year earning 3s and above compared to the year before.

Nan McCann, who serves as principal of both Baton Rouge Magnet and its sister school, Lee High, said the results for Baton Rouge High are gratifying and were part of a long-term effort.

We were working towards being the top AP school in the state, McCann said.

+6 Burning Cheetos and motion detectors: Louisiana teachers getting hands-on training If you see lot more Cheetos, flaming Cheetos no less, in your local public high school this 

As part of reaching that goal, the school has added AP courses every year and has sent teachers to training programs both locally and across the country. McCann credits that training for much of the schools success.

You cant just branch out alone, McCann said. You have to go outside to see what other teachers are doing.

Lee High, the other high school where McCann is principal, showed significant improvement as well. It had 72 students score at least a 3 on an AP exam. Thats roughly double the number over last year and the second highest total in the East Baton Rouge Parish school system.

McCann noted that Lee Highs growth in AP is more impressive when you take into account that the school focuses more on dual enrollment than AP as part of its extensive partnership with LSU.

We always thought of Baton Rouge High being the AP school and that Lee would be the dual enrollment school, she said.

Baton Rouge High has also benefited since it joined forces in 2015 with the Dallas-based nonprofit, the National Math and Science Initiative. It is one of several schools that NMSI is working with in the capital region. Primary funding for the NMSI initiative is provided by ExxonMobil, which gave it $13 million in 2016.

NMSI, which began its College Readiness Program in 2007, touts big gains in passage rates on Advanced Placement exams for all students, particularly noting the gains made by female, Hispanic and African-American students. The initiative offers a variety of help for participating schools: a summer training institute, mentors for teachers new to AP, three Saturday help sessions for students at participating schools, and extra money for schools to buy additional AP instructional materials.

For Baton Rouge High, the NMSI grant meant shifting its focus toward getting lower-scoring students to 3s and above, and working to increase the ranks of all test-takers. It ran counter to past practice at the high school, McCann said.

We have come to understand at Baton Rouge High that its more important that kids are taking these classes, even if they score a 1 or 2, she said. "They will be more prepared for college. That was a hard thing for us.

The shift has affected the passage rate of the high school. In the 2011-12 school year, less than 200 students took AP exams at Baton Rouge Magnet, but about 80 percent earned 3s and above. During the 2016-17 school year, nearly 900 Baton Rouge Magnet students took AP tests, but only 54 percent earned 3s and above.

NMSIs program also pays $100 per passing AP exam score that it gives to both students and teachers. That has sparked criticism from opponents of such financial incentives who argue that it impairs students intrinsic motivation.

McCann said those incentives have helped, but shes not sure how much. She said they will go away for Baton Rouge Magnet after the 2017-18 school year, unless another private donor steps in to help. She said, though, that she thinks Baton Rouge Magnet has made AP such a central part of what it does that even without the incentives, the school will do well in the future.

Woodlawn and McKinley high schools also participated in NMSIs College Readiness program last year, and Woodlawn improved its numbers some, while McKinleys declined. Lee High is joining the program this school year, which starts Aug. 9, as are Tara and Scotlandville high schools.

Tara and Scotlandville will need all the help they can get. The two Baton Rouge high schools have had hundreds of students take AP exams in the past few years but almost none have scored high enough to potentially earn college credit.

East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Warren Drake said hes proud of what schools like Baton Rouge Magnet High have done in recent years and wants to see gains in other schools as well.

We cant give up on them, Drake said. Its always going to be a challenge at certain schools, but were not going to leave them by the wayside.
Veteran business owner Liz Toussaint has spent the past 19 years running a flower shop in the quickly growing Gungahlin town centre, watching it change from a rural area to busy local hub.

When she first opened her Poetry in Flowers store, she says Gungahlin was "mostly sheep paddocks and not much else".

Poetry in Flowers owner Liz Toussaint supports the new development in Gungahlin. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Tending to her succulents and pruning roses on Friday, locals stopped into her Gungahlin Market Place store to say hello.

The area is set to see more change in coming months as the ACT government turns nearby Hibberson Street into a one-way shared road for cars and pedestrians, part of a $3 million suite of roadworks and improvements.
Unscrupulous retirement village operators in NSW will be targeted under a suite of reforms, "cracking down" on the industry recently linked to allegations of unfair practices.

Minister for Better Regulation Matt Kean will announce the package on Sunday, highlighting a four-point plan designed to protect retirement village residents from potentially dodgy practices.

"This plan will put consumers first by making contracts more transparent, giving residents the tools to compare costs, and cracking down on providers through a compliance blitz," he said.

"Retirees have worked hard their whole life so I'll be coming down on any operators who have not complied with the law."
Netflix has whipped out the credit card to spend close to an additional billion dollars extra on content and its global expansion.

The company has entered into a revolving credit agreement to borrow $US500 million ($625 million), according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Netflix is boosting its credit line as it hopes to fund new shows that are hits like Orange is the New Black.

In addition, the programming giant has the option to increase the amount of the facility by up to an additional $US250 million, subject to certain terms and conditions.

Netflix said it will not immediately borrow any amount under the arrangement.
An hour after leaving court on Thursday, Shkreli took to Facebook to render his judgement on the trial, marrying his cause with that of a certain leader of the free world.

But if anyone thought the high-stakes trial could tame the ever-loquacious 34-year old, they would be wrong.

For more than a month, "Pharma Bro" and former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli has swivelled in his chair and smirked his way through a trial that could land him in prison for 20 years.

President Donald Trump, of course, has frequently invoked swamp draining in his battles with entrenched Washington interests, and his campaign tag line, Make America Great Again, is often reduced to MAGA on social media.

If anyone thought the prospect of a potential 20 years in prison could tame the former hedge fund manager and pharma executive, they're mistaken. Credit:AP

Dubbed "the most hated man in America" after raising the price of a potentially life-saving drug by 5,000 per cent, Shkreli has built a large following on social media with more than 82,000 followers on Facebook and 68,000 YouTube subscribers.

It's not the first time he has referred to the prosecutors as "junior varsity." During the first of his trial, Shkreli strolled into a room full of reporters at the courthouse and mocked the prosecutors with the same term, comparing them negatively to their colleagues in Manhattan. "Do I want to exonerate myself? Yes," he told the assembled reporters. "I think the world blames me for almost everything. . . . They blame me for capitalism."

Dubbed "the most hated man in America" after raising the price of a potentially life-saving drug by 5,000 per cent, Shkreli continues to have a large following on social media with more than 82,000 followers on Facebook and 68,000 YouTube subscribers.
The final season of Game of Thrones is back and winter is coming for House Turnbull.

The failure of the federal government on energy policy is driving up emissions, driving up energy prices, stalling investment and harming consumers. And hasn't it been a cold winter. Unless the Turnbull government can soon pull energy policy out of the bog Tony Abbott created, no amount of blaming the states or renewables is going to save him.

An average Canberra household with both gas and electricity will be paying an additional $11 per week or $580 per year. Credit:Claudiad

Coalition MP Craig Kelly caused a stir recently when he said that "people will die" due to rising electricity prices. Kelly was wrong to blame renewable energy  more on that later, but he was right about the lethal cost of energy poverty. Of course, it's hard to believe Kelly truly cares about the poor being able to pay for power when the Turnbull government is simultaneously trying to slash a supplement designed specifically to help struggling Australians to pay their energy bills. That's ice cold.

The Clean Energy Supplement helps aged pensioners, disability support pensioners, single parents, widows, students, veterans and people who can't find work to pay their electricity bills. It was introduced to compensate the price increases that came with the carbon price. Of course, when Tony Abbott scrapped the carbon price, allowing polluters to once again pollute our air for free, he promised it would reduce electricity bills. But, as with his earlier claim that climate change is absolute crap, Abbott was wrong.
It is often said there are none so blind as those who refuse to see.

Sadly, that increasingly seems to be the case in Victoria when it comes to the issue of safe injecting rooms for the thousands of people who are dependent on illicit drugs, and in particular the rising use of heroin in Melbourne.

Illustration Andrew Dyson

Premier Daniel Andrews has steadfastly opposed any trial of a safe and supervised injecting room in Richmond, the worst affected of Melbourne's inner suburbs. His opposition flies in the face of more than a decade of evidence that they work and reduce fatalities.

No example is more evident than the case study of Kings Cross in Sydney. Since it opened in 2001, the Uniting Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) in Kings Cross has supervised more than 1 million injections, and managed more than 6000 drug overdoses without a single fatality.
River flows from the basin are highly variable. Credit:Louie Douvis 'Shocked and rocked' Evidence revealed by ABC's Four Corners on Monday indicated well-heeled irrigators have been extracting billions of litres to water cotton farms, with apparent encouragement by NSW bureaucrats. Ian Hunter, who as Water Minister for parched South Australia is arguably the most anxious to see upstream states toe the line, says his faith in the integrity of the basin plan has been "shocked and rocked". He's calling for a judicial inquiry because he doesn't trust NSW's investigation with its limited terms of reference and powers to extract documents and call witnesses. Water bird populations have dropped two-thirds from 1980s levels. Credit:Justin McManus

Labor's federal water spokesman, Tony Burke, who launched the plan during the Gillard government has also lodged a formal request for an audit to the National Audit Office. Also draining confidence have been revelations NSW has undertaken only perfunctory enforcement of the state's 130,000-odd water licences. Former compliance officers  often former police picked for their ability to detect and investigate criminal behaviour  have been frustrated as cases ripe for prosecution failed to proceed and expert teams were dismantled. Regulators' resolve across the basin may be tested in the months ahead as the region appears to be headed for an extended dry period. Credit:Peter Braig NSW boasts dozens of compliance staff but only a handful of them conduct on-the-ground, surprise inspections.

'Make money' Jamie Morgan, former head of the Department of Primary Industry's former Strategic Investigations Unit until early this year, says there was "no appetite for compliance any more".



He cites the transfer of responsibilities to state-owned WaterNSW, a corporation. "They are now the poacher and gamekeeper," Morgan says. "The charter is to make money, not to spend money to prosecute people they are making money from." Morgan's unit of 12 officers was disbanded soon after it began to target the Barwon-Darling region of north-west NSW, which even the authority views as a frontier zone compared with the more tightly regulated southern basin. His ability to issue stop-work notices for water users suspected of breaching their licences - an action he had performed hundreds of times in few years [check time] - was abruptly terminated by David Harris, his new boss at WaterNSW last September. New notices would need Mr Harris's "express written consent", he said. Fairfax sought an explanation for the change from WaterNSW.



A separate team of nine investigators that feed Morgan's group, was wound up when a $17 million, five-year federal subsidy  under the National Framework for Compliance and Enforcement Systems for Water Resource Management  ended. "Most of the states weren't fair dinkum on regulation," a former member of that team says.



Regulators' resolve across the basin  taking in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, SA and the ACT  may be tested in the months ahead as the region appears to be headed for an extended dry period.

June was the basin's driest since 1986 - and the fourth driest on record - and July's rains have been similarly poor and the outlook for the next three months also points to below-average rainfall for the region. (See Bureau of Meteorology chart below showing June 1- July 26 rainfall for the basin - outlined in black.) "When it dries out, the incentives to steal water go through the roof," the ex-investigator says. The shorter term fluctuations aside, the basin plan does not little to account for climate change. The authority's Glyde says the region is likely to get hotter but the impacts on rainfall are unclear - the northern region may get more rain and the southern areas less.

"Sooner or later we'll be precise enough [to predict local climate change impacts] and we'll have to bring forward the case for making changes to the plan," he said." Winding back oversight Meanwhile, federal oversight has also been systematically wound back. The Sustainable Rivers Audit, which in 2010 found all but two of the basin rivers to be in a poor to extremely poor state, was disbanded after the Coalition government in NSW cut funding. In 2015, the Abbott government also scrapped the National Water Commission that had been charged with auditing the basin plan. A year later, Barnaby Joyce as deputy prime minister deftly used the turmoil of Malcolm Turnbull's ousting of Abbott as PM to snatch control of water policy as his price for Coalition peace. Joyce reminded his constituents what was at stake for them on Wednesday, telling a pub gathering in the Victorian irrigating centre of Shepparton: "We've taken water and put it back into [the agriculture ministry] so we can look after you and make sure we don't have the greenies running the show, basically sending you out the back door."
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It is not clear if Davis will be attending Erica Packer's 40th birthday celebrations next month in Aspen, which PS previously revealed. However, planning is well underway for the three-day affair, with a guest list including Collette Dinnigan and Karl Stefanovic, along with Erica's former mother-in-law Ros Packer and ex-sister-in-law Gretel. PS has also confirmed that ex-husband James Packer is also on the guest list and is due to be there, while one name that has been noticeably absent is her most recent former boyfriend, Seal, who is now rumoured to be dating fellow Australian, Delta Goodrem. Packer and his ex-wife have remained close since they split in 2013 after six years of marriage and three children. Prince Frederik to take helm of Wild Oats

It seems only fitting that the King of Hamilton Island would allow the future King of Denmark to use one of his thoroughbred racing yachts at next month's Race Week regatta. And so it will be that Crown Prince Frederik has chartered billionaire Sandy Oatley's Wild Oats 66 yacht to compete in a few weeks time, bringing with him a crew of his sailing buddies from Europe and picking up a few locals too, including America's Cup legend Ian Murray, who has signed on as tactician. Sandy Oatley has also given him his son-in-law, Sydney to Hobart sailing veteran Troy Tindill, husband of Oatley heiress Nicky, to join the royal Danish crew. Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark is heading Down Under to indulge his love fo sailing and compete in the Race Week regatta. Credit:Mark Kolbe But is not clear if Princess Mary will be joining Fred on the Coral Sea, the racing action coinciding with school commitments for their four children, though a few days on the Whitsundays would be hard for her to turn down.

Prince Frederik is a keen sailor, being a competitive Farr 40 skipper as well as an accomplished Dragon boater. In 2005, Prince Frederik learnt that Australian girls played to win when his then new bride beat him 2-1 in a series of 20-minute yacht races on Sydney Harbour. Princess Mary allowed Prince Frederik a best-of-three rematch after she had won a race before their wedding in Copenhagen. Prince Mary of Denmark was in winning form when she raced against her husband Prince Frederik in 2005. Credit:Daniel Berehulak Dressed in black shorts and a white windcheater, Princess Mary joined forces with sailor Chris Meehan on board a Farr 40 class yacht, to win the first and third races against her husband who skippered his own yacht Nanoq.

Chris Meehan was Prince Mary's old boss when she was simply Mary Donaldson who worked at Belle Property. Meehan, a keen sailor, is said to have been instrumental in getting Prince Frederik to Hamilton Island for Race Week. He will be competing with 200 other boats that have entered this year's event, a much needed boost for locals still recovering from the devastation of Cyclone Debbie. Barber brothers preserve piece of past The linoleum is worn-through around the barber's chair, but it's spotless. So too are the faux marble benches that are in pristine condition. As is the flocked wallpaper and the shelves neatly filled with 1960s Italian pop records, an array of vinyl singles capturing the sound of another era that hair maestro Angelo Perri and his "baby" brother Tony still crank up occasionally on the timber-panelled sound system. "Scissors and comb... never go out of fashion," says Calabrian-born Angelo, 65, neatly turned out in his fitted barber's smock and tie as he works his mastery on yet another client, his 10th for the day and it's yet to reach noon. Indeed, it has been the same routine for the past 50 years, having started at the salon as an apprentice in 1967.

Barber Angelo Perri keeps busy at Paris Style Hairdresser, which looks like a perfectly preserved time capsule from the mid-1960s, in Cabramatta. Credit:James Brickwood Today, PS's spotlight shines on the Paris Style Hairdresser shop, tucked away in the back streets of Cabramatta, a perfectly preserved time capsule from the mid-1960s that has survived, frozen in time, while the suburb around it has experienced an extraordinary physical and cultural transformation. "I'm the kind of person who likes to leave some history behind. I still got my first car, an Austin," Angelo explains when asked why he resisted the urge to change his ordered little shop. But his 58-year-old little brother Tony suspects when people come to visit the shop they "think we're dinosaurs". Hardly. What the Perri family has is a unique piece of Sydney's suburban history, one of the last remnants of an era that has been comprehensively bulldozed in the name of supposed progress across the city.

Angelo Perri (left) and his brother Tony run a special piece of Sydney's suburban history. Credit:James Brickwood "I think I made a mistake when I bought this place," Angelo sagely admits. "There was a block of land for sale next door for $6000, the same price as the business. But I thought I would always have an income from the shop ... the land is worth millions now." Nowhere is the change in Cabramatta more evident than in the customers who visit Angelo six days a week. In the 1960s they were named Gino, Luigi or Boris, their accents still echoing their European roots. Today those customers are named An, Bao and Lap, many of them men from the first wave of Vietnamese migration to Australia. "Cabramatta was once filled with European barber shops, delicatessens and European cafes," says Tony, as he surveys the shops around him, selling steaming pho, karaoke machines and blinged-up phone accessories. "In the 1980s when the drug trade was at its height business suffered. But today it is a very vibrant community. I think there are more people out there on John Street then in half the shopping malls across the city. We've survived it all."

DJ's big plans have staff jumpy As David Jones forges ahead with plans to recreate its flagship Elizabeth Street store with a $200 million makeover following the sale of the men's store on Market Street, PS hears murmurs that not everyone is enamoured with the mooted changes. Indeed some long-term staff have been left wondering what their future at the retailer will be as plans for a new mega luxury department store are hatched featuring an entire floor, level seven, dedicated to luxury women's footwear. PS hears the retailer, which is now owned by South Africa's Woolworths, is keen to ensure the staff have the right "look" to go with their bold new retail space. Meanwhile next week the store will unveil its new Neil Perry-inspired food hall at Bondi Junction, our first taste of things to come for the grand dame of Sydney shopping. Roxy's rings are all the talk
Fake news is rampant, but reports on quarrels at Channel Seven's Sunrise are no sham.

"We absolutely fight. Do you think we sit there and agree on everything? We are like a family and we argue like one too," laughed Sunrise newsreader Natalie Barr to Fairfax Media this week as she promoted the government's new Return Unwanted Medicines campaign.

Barr, 49, and host David "Kochie'' Koch, 61, made headlines last month when they clashed during a rent or buy debate. In another heated exchange the day before, Kochie scolded Barr and co-host Samantha Armytage, 40, for being "nasty" when they joked that Amal Clooney would be back to her pre-pregnancy weight by lunchtime after the birth of twins.

When asked if the feuds were all authentic, the good-humoured Bunbury-native laughed again: "They are absolutely real. We argue all of the time and we have differences of opinion every day of the week. Sometimes when we disagree it will still be going into the ad break. I don't even get why that is even an issue."
Bumble may look a bit like other dating apps but it only allows women to initiate contact. She sued for sexual harassment and discrimination, reportedly settling the case for about $US1 million. While Wolfe is prohibited legally from discussing the matter, the experience led her to create Bumble, what she terms the "first female-first platform in a mainstream capacity". Since then, other "women first" apps have surfaced, including ride-sharing service Shebah, the women-only alternative to Uber. But none have matched Bumble's success. "We don't only have a voice but we have incredible impact to drive growth and the next phase of social media," she said.

How Bumble is different We're not trying to build an excuse [for male behaviour], we're trying to reprogram behaviour. Whitney Wolfe, Bumble founder and CEO. Bumble works on a few basic premises that makes it stand apart from other dating apps. Only women can initiate contact, and matches have only 24 hours to initiate a chat, or the match disappears, to discourage "warehousing". Men who send photos of their genitals, post shirtless profile photos or are reported for other abuse are banned, and sometimes publicly shamed by the site. Wolfe said it's essential Bumble takes a zero-tolerance approach to bad behaviour or else the app's reason for being is nullified.

"In the real world, we adhere to rules ... we adhere to 'please' and 'thank you' ... all of a sudden, you open the 'door' for someone on your phone and you can abuse them? That doesn't make sense," she said. "Unfortunately until Bumble it has never been encouraged or built into the product. We're not trying to build an excuse, we're trying to reprogram behaviour." In some ways, it's a sad indictment on the behaviour of a small minority that has necessitated apps such as Bumble in the modern dating landscape. But while such apps create safer spaces for women to meet other men or women, human behaviour can mitigate some of the benefits, said Dr Evita March, a psychology researcher at Federation University Australia.

"[A] trend I have noted is that individuals make initial contact via these apps but then move to a free messenger app ... the [original] app is no longer able to moderate the behaviour," Dr March said. Just shoot me Give men freedom to send photos to a woman, Dr March said, and often it isn't long before they send her a photo of their penis. "Unfortunately, there does not seem to be an easy answer on how to avoid such behaviour," she said.

Dr March suggests paid apps have a lower rate of such encounters, "as the individuals are paying to use the app and are therefore more serious [about dating]". "If you are unable to use a paid app, use an app like Tinder, that must be associated with a Facebook profile, or Bumble, where [women] make the initial contact." Dr Nikki Goldstein, author of Single But Dating, thinks niche apps will eventually dominate the crowded online dating space. "There is a lot of negativity towards dating apps but there are marriages, babies. We can hook up with people easily ... We're aware of the obstacles but let's celebrate the fact we can meet people easily," she said. "You have to look at what dating experience you want and choose the app that matches the experience. Don't be on everything."

While she's a fan of Bumble, Dr Goldstein said it won't suit everyone. There are still women who like men to make the first move. And that doesn't make you anti-feminist. "It's a difficult area  the whole pro-women movement gets mixed up with feminism. Women have a right to do whatever they want to do." From bedroom to boardroom  and beyond Wolfe is taking the Bumble premise and broadening it to the friendship and professional spheres, with Bumble BFF and Bumble Biz, respectively. As one of a minority of females in the start-up space  only 17 per cent of tech start-ups have at least one woman founder, according to tech researcher CrunchBase  Wolfe feels a responsibility to "engineer kindness" in the social space, irrespective of whether the connections are sexual, platonic or professional.

In September, she will launch Bumble Biz as a women-driven alternative to LinkedIn, which has 500 million users worldwide. Is the professional networking world really as bad as the dating world? Heck yes, said Wolfe. "Networking, like dating, does not hold even standards to women as men. Men use [networking] apps to belittle and dumb us down," she said. On traditional networking apps, Wolfe said women are susceptible to be "treated like objects  to be looked at as legs and heels rather than brains". "What we're trying to solve is not just putting women in control but giving women access to opportunities where they don't lose confidence or their voice.

"It's time this changes and not just in the dating world. It's time it's changing for all the connections we make." But Wolfe insists Bumble isn't trying to become the next Facebook. "There's a lot of blank space between dating and Facebook," she said. "We want to be the Facebook for people you don't know." And she doesn't discount the value of forming satisfying female friendships. "It is so difficult as an adult female to find friends. We come out of highly social environments, college, high school. We graduate, we move on ... and while we chase our dreams, loneliness follows that. You spend a lot of time keeping in touch but not being in touch physically," she said.
Federal police are seeking to charge a former high-ranking Australian intelligence official, Roger Uren, with breaching spy agency secrecy laws after ASIO discovered a cache of classified files during a raid on his home in late 2015.

A Fairfax Media investigation can also reveal that Mr Uren's wife, Chinese-Australian lobbyist and suspected intelligence operative Sheri Yan, introduced an alleged Chinese spy to her Australian contacts. As a result of these introductions, the alleged spy, Colonel Liu Chaoying, had several dinner dates with a millionaire Melbourne businessman with political connections.

Confidential documents were found at the Canberra home of Roger Uren and Sheri Yan during an ASIO raid. Credit:Black Tie Magazine

US court documents also reveal that in 2016, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's brother, political lobbyist Greg Rudd, gave a glowing character reference for Yan, which she used to seek a reduced jail sentence for bribing a top United Nations official.

Fairfax Media has learned that the AFP, which declined to comment citing an ongoing investigation, has referred a brief of evidence against Mr Uren to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. The AFP is seeking to charge Mr Uren under the Intelligence Services Act in relation to his alleged unauthorised handling and possession of classified documents. If the charges are approved by the DPP and Mr Uren is convicted, he could face a jail sentence of up to three years.
A man has been charged with allegedly pointing a laser at a NSW Police helicopter at Werrington, in Sydney's west.

Just after 8.30pm on Saturday, a PolAir helicopter was helping St Marys police with an unrelated incident when a laser beam was directed at the crew from the vicinity of Victoria Street.

The man was arrested for allegedly pointing a laser at a police helicopter.

St Marys police located a 31-year-old man on the balcony of a unit block allegedly shining a laser pointer towards the sky.

The man was arrested and charged with possessing a prohibited weapon without a permit and doing an act to threaten the safety of an aircraft and persons on board.
Justine Varga's Maternal Line features scrawls made by her grandmother onto a piece of film. Credit:Stephen Oxenbury Varga did not respond to Fairfax Media's request for further comment. Sullivan, who shot the Qantas advertisement of the choir on the Great Wall of China, suggested Varga's work did not meet the entry requirements for the award because it was created by her grandmother. "The act of reproducing a work, in whatever form, does not in itself constitute its creation and does not entitle the person making the reproduction to claim copyright over the work," he said. "In just the same way that a person who prints a photographer's negative in the darkroom cannot claim to have created the work and own the copyright." He added: "Nor does Ms Varga's apparent directions given to her grandmother or the provision of the materials used by the grandmother to create the work entitle Ms Varga to own the image that resulted."

Kimberlee Weatherall, a professor and associate dean at the University of Sydney law school, said the owner of the prize-winning work was Varga's grandmother, either solely or jointly with her granddaughter. "Either way, Ms Varga would need to secure an assignment of ownership in order to own copyright, which would need to be in writing," she said. "Although if the grandmother intended to transfer ownership to Ms Varga, a court might recognise her ownership claim and order that a transfer be signed." The eligibility requirements for the Olive Cotton Award stipulate that an entry is "owned and created by the artist". "I don't know what an artist would have to do to claim to be the creator in artistic terms," Professor Weatherall said. "In copyright law terms, Ms Varga would likely need to establish that she entirely controlled the expression  deciding what would be done on the page and where. "But of course, it would then be much harder to argue that it was a portrait of her grandmother since the basis for that claim is that the expression was in fact her grandmother's."

Professor Weatherall also said that merely reproducing a work did not make a person its author. "You have to contribute original expression to the artistic work to be an author," she said. "That would require, in this case, in some way changing the scrawls, or how they were presented on the page, or re-colouring the entire thing, or adding an entirely different background." Not since the NSW police raided a 2008 exhibition of works depicting naked children by photographer Bill Henson, has a photo sparked such an intense debate. Hate mail has also been sent to the prize's judge Shaune Lakin, a curator of photography at the National Gallery of Australia. Ingrid Hedgcock, a curator at Tweed Regional Gallery, said the gallery stood by Dr Lakin's decision to award the $20,000 prize to Ms Varga's "very complex photographic portrait".

"The artist's methods are well established and are understood by her grandmother who greatly respects her granddaughter's practice and was a knowing participant in contributing to this work," she said. "The artist's conceptual, intellectual and emotional intention is vital in this process." Ms Hedgcock suggested entrants in the prize would have made the decision to enter based on whether they believed Dr Lakin might favour their work: "As with any award the entrant pool varies from year to year, to some degree influenced by whether entrants perceive the judge will favour their working methods." Polixeni Papapetrou, whose work My Ghost, a silkscreen portrait of her daughter Olympia, was highly commended, said some entrants in the prize were "shocked and disappointed" by the selection of Varga's work as winner. Sullivan also questioned whether Varga's work met the entry requirement that required a "photographic" work. Loading
A Sydney lawyer who fears he will not be paid by Salim Mehajer has lost a court bid to stop acting for the colourful former councillor on the eve of a Supreme Court hearing.

Mr Mehajer, 31, is facing a string of legal battles, including a fight with a liquidator who is seeking to claw back $700,000 from Mr Mehajer for creditors of his failed company SM Project Developments.

Tim Orlizki of law firm Kent Attorneys appeared in the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking leave to withdraw from acting for Mr Mehajer in the liquidator's proceedings before a three-day hearing starts on Tuesday.

Mr Orlizki said he had accepted "assurances" from Mr Mehajer, the former deputy mayor of the now-defunct Auburn Council, that tens of thousands of dollars would be paid into his trust account before the hearing.
Police are still searching for two bullets, after an officer's missing Glock magazine and 12 of the 14 bullets were found.

Police said the magazine and bullets were recovered on Saturday afternoon after they were handed in to the Rosewood Police Station by a member of the public.

Police are searching for a glock magazine containing 14 rounds of ammunition

It is believed the magazine fell out of an officers handgun during his trip on a work motorcycle between Brisbane and Ipswich on Friday afternoon.

Police thanked the public for their support so far.
RACINE COUNTY  Even the architects of a deal bringing Foxconn to southeastern Wisconsin acknowledge the $3 billion in proposed state incentives is a big number.

So far, its been met with bipartisan support among lawmakers from Racine and Kenosha counties  not surprising, given the company is widely expected to build its facility manufacturing liquid crystal display panels somewhere in the area.

Outside Racine County, however, the plan has seen some skepticism, mostly by Democrats and affiliated groups. A Bloomberg News article reported that Wisconsin is paying as much as $1 million per job and argued it would be cheaper to buy every Wisconsin resident an iPhone.

I have a hard time believing $1 million per job is the best deal for taxpayers in Wisconsin, Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, wrote on Twitter.

Many supporters of the project acknowledge a certain fear surrounding the commitment of taxpayer dollars but believe the potential benefits are worth it.

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, a Kenosha Democrat who represents parts of Racine County, noted the Foxconn plant is expected to create jobs beyond the up to 13,000 at its campus.

State officials project the plan will generate 10,000 construction jobs and 22,000 indirect and induced jobs as suppliers and businesses serving Foxconn move in. Gov. Scott Walker has called the future development, dubbed Wisconn Valley, an ecosystem.

Look, its an eye-popping number, Barca said of the $3 billion package. But you cant just look at the cost and the investment. You have to look at whats the opportunity and whats going to come from it.

Big leagues

Legislation was formally unveiled Friday as Walker called the state Legislature into a Wisconn Valley special session. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said he hopes to get the bill on the floor of the Legislature by mid-August.

According to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the incentives will include:

Up to $1.5 billion in state income tax credits for job creation;

Up to $1.35 billion in state income tax credits for capital investment;

Up to $150 million for the sales and use tax exemption (sales tax holiday). The WEDC says thats similar to the construction of the Milwaukee Bucks arena.

The incentives are projected to cost between $200 million and $250 million per year, the WEDC said in a fact sheet about the plan.

Opponents point to Foxconns 2013 plan to build a factory in Pennsylvania that never came to fruition, saying Foxconn has made big promises before and note delivered.

Walker and other officials are quick to note that money is tied to actual performance, saying the state will not be on the hook if Foxconn fails to invest money or create jobs.

I know some people have raised some skepticism about whats going to happen, (but) you also have a signed MOU (memorandum of understanding), said state Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, shortly after the MOU was signed Thursday at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

What Im seeing so far makes a lot of sense given the potential for the area and for economic development, Mason added.

Walker told the crowd at the museum that the states $3 billion commitment is bigger than anything weve done before.

But if you want to play in the big leagues, its comparable with just about every other major financial incentive like this for a major project anywhere, not only in this country but around the world, Walker said.

Local incentives unknown

One of the sites believed to be under heavy consideration is on Highway 11 near Interstate 94, where property owners have been approached about selling their land. The area is mostly in Mount Pleasant and also includes part of Sturtevant.

Of additional concern to taxpayers in those communities, and Racine County generally, is incentive packages passed by local governing bodies.

Local officials have declined to comment about what may be proposed, saying negotiations are ongoing. One of the most common funding mechanisms used by municipalities for development is tax-incremental financing, which allows municipalities to borrow money to pay for infrastructure improvements and use the increased tax increment to repay the loan.

The state bill will include language altering TIF laws to allow municipalities to borrow more for the Foxconn project than they would otherwise be allowed, Vos said. He added the Legislature approved a similar measure for the Amazon distribution center in Kenosha.

The bill will also include language on local items, such as permits, to expedite the development process, Vos said.

The Mount Pleasant Village Board is scheduled to meet in closed session Monday about a development project not specified on the meeting agenda but believed to be Foxconn. Village President Dave DeGroot did not provide details about Mount Pleasants discussions going forward.
Two 13-year-old boys have been found after being reported missing in south-east Queensland, as three other teenagers remain unaccounted for across the state.

In the latest development, one of the children was found on Saturday after being last seen in Helensvale on the Gold Coast on Wednesday.

Missing 14-year-old girl, last seen in Loganholme on July 24. Credit:Queensland Police Service

Another boy was found safe and well on Friday night after being reported missing from Samford Valley on July 20. However, as one teenager was found, another missing persons report was made public.

Police launched a public appeal on Saturday to find a 14-year-old girl who was last seen in Loganholme last Monday.
A Victorian MP who was barred from entering the US while on a parliamentary study trip has accused the Trump government of discrimination.

It comes as his Labor colleagues lashed out at the Trump administration over the "extraordinary and unprecedented" events which led to Muslim MP Khalil Eideh being denied entry to the US.

Labor MP Khalil Eideh speaks at Melbourne Airport with senator Kim Carr. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

Speaking next to a baggage carousel at Melbourne Airport after a 48-hour journey home, a bleary-eyed Khalil Eideh also revealed on Saturday afternoon that he had dual Syrian-Australian citizenship.

"I am exhausted, very very disappointed and frustrated," Mr Eideh said.
Parents have long blamed their children's slipping grades on poor teaching, issues at home or technological distractions.

Now they can point their fingers at controversial changes to school reports.

About 45 per cent of schools in Sydney's south-west were found to be inefficient.

The Education Department has overhauled the way schools grade students in their reports, making it more difficult for children to achieve exceptional results.

Sought-after A grades  or equivalent top results like "outstanding"  are now only awarded to students who are 18 months ahead of the expected level for their age.
Manado, Indonesia: Six countries have agreed to crack down on the cross-border movements of terrorists  including by sharing and establishing databases on foreign fighters  to help combat the "menace" of Islamic State.

At a summit in Indonesia to address the growing terror threat, ministers said they would increase co-operation amid fears militants are exploiting porous borders to travel between countries.

George Brandis said the terror threat is faced by all in the region. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

A communique released by ministers from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and New Zealand said closer co-operation among border control agencies was vital to prevent the movement of foreign terrorist fighters.

Attorney-General George Brandis said the countries would also co-operate on counter-terrorism financing, intelligence sharing, cyber security, lessons learned from countering violent extremist programs and the treatment and management of terrorist prisoners.
Cape Canaveral, Florida: A new crew arrived at the International Space Station on Friday, giving NASA for the first time four astronauts to boost US research projects aboard the orbiting laboratory.

A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three spaceflight veterans slipped into a docking port aboard the station at 5:54pm Florida time as the $US100 billion research outpost sailed about 400 km over Germany, a NASA TV broadcast showed.

Strapped inside the capsule, which blasted off aboard a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan six hours earlier, were Randy Bresnik, with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Sergey Ryazanskiy, with the Russian space agency Roscosmos; and Italy's Paolo Nespoli, with the European Space Agency.

The men will join two NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut already aboard the station, a project of 15 nations.
KENOSHA  In a visit Wednesday to Washington for the big Foxconn announcement, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos had beers with Reince Priebus for about an hour and noticed something different.

Priebus was calmer than Vos had seen him in some time.

He has always been stressed, said Vos, Priebus old college roommate and longtime friend. I dont think theres been one time since the election that hes gotten more than 6 hours of sleep.

The following day, Priebus submitted his resignation as White House chief of staff, news that became public Friday.

Speculation about Priebus future in the White House had reached a fever pitch until Trump tweeted Friday afternoon that he replaced the Kenosha Tremper High School graduate with General John F. Kelly, who had been serving in President Donald Trumps cabinet as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Priebus has strong ties to the Racine-Kenosha area, active in local politics in the 2000s before becoming chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party. He and his wife moved to Washington after Priebus won the Republican National Committee chairmanship in 2011, though the couple still maintain a residence in Somers.

Priebus was named White House chief of staff shortly after Trumps improbable election victory. Stories of his impending demise seemed to begin almost immediately after that.

His tenure was marked by numerous media reports of in-fighting within Trumps staff. In his final days, new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci went after Priebus as a suspected leaker within the West Wing.

Meanwhile, Trumps administration has struggled to get priorities such as health care, tax reform and infrastructure bills off the ground, and the president has been consumed by questions over his dealings with Russia.

Vos speculated Priebus had likely already made the decision to resign by Wednesday, an otherwise celebratory day for the Wisconsin native. A Wisconsin delegation joined Priebus at the White House for the announcement that Foxconn will build a $10 billion manufacturing campus in southeastern Wisconsin.

Like many of Priebus allies in his home state, Vos was not shy about criticizing Trump for Priebus departure.

There is nobody whos a harder worker, who understands politics better, who has more connections than Reince, Vos said at a press conference at the Racine County Fair on Friday, following the news of Priebus resignation.

This new guy that hes bringing in, I wish him nothing but success. But what I would say is, I dont know if bringing in somebody who has no political experience, in addition to bringing in a communications director who has no communications or political experience  not what I would decide.

In an interview Friday with CNN, Priebus insisted there were no hard feelings and that his departure was good for the president. He said it was right to hit the reset button.

I think the president wanted to go in a different direction. I support that, Priebus said.

For his part, Trump thanked Priebus for his service and dedication to his country.

We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him! Trump tweeted.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican who represents Racine County and is also close with Priebus, said Priebus has left it all out on the field, for our party and our country.

Here is a guy from Kenosha, Wisconsin who revitalized the Republican National Committee and became White House chief of staff, Ryan said in a statement. He has served the president and the American people capably and passionately. He has achieved so much, and he has done it all with class. I could not be more proud to call Reince a dear friend.

Vos, who is getting married in the fall to former state Rep. Michelle Litjens, said with a laugh: On the bright side, hopefully he can come to our wedding.

Its bittersweet, Vos said. At the end of the day, its a blessing for him and his family. Its just sad for Wisconsin and for the president.
First legal distillery in Oxford opens doors

The Oxford Artisan Distillery (TOAD), the first distillery in Oxford, has announced its opening. TOAD is the culmination of five years of planning and various collaborations.

The distillery will produce a range of spirits (gin, absinthe, vodka and rye whisky) with total provenance from grain to glass. It is one of only a handful of distilleries in the UK to prepare its own neutral spirit on site and claims to be the only distillery in the world to use populations of sustainably grown ancient heritage grains. Using genetically diverse populations of rye, wheat and barley grown exclusively for the distillery on farms within a 50-mile radius of Oxford. The majority of grains used in TOADs spirits are grown from varieties once common in Britain before the hybrid monoculture varieties of late. Thriving in fields which dont need the chemicals used in intensive arable farming, the result is a crop which is not just organic but is part of a new sustainable movement and the pinnacle of current eco-agriculture.

Founder Tom Nicolson says: Intensive farming has had a catastrophic effect on wildlife. It depletes the soil and contributes to global warming. Scientists are also linking pesticides to illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. There has never been a more urgent need to explore less toxic and more nurturing ways of growing our food.

Master distiller, Cory Mason, continues: "Our concern with importing stills from Germany was that almost every other craft distiller in the UK is using them".

TOAD approached Paul Pridham from South Devon Railway; although more used to restoring and repairing boilers for heritage locomotives, they set about producing their first ever still. First came the creation of two very large steel formers, into which they hydraulically pressed the main components from more than three tonnes of six-millimetre thick copper. They then had to heat and cool the metal before hammering, sanding and grinding out any imperfections by hand.

Pridhams team created two stills: Nautilus (2,200-litre) and Nemo (500-litre) are named after Jules Vernes fictional submarine and its captain. Together with two five-metre, 40-plate copper distillation columns, TOAD anticipates the stills will produce around 1,000 bottles of gin and 750 bottles of rye whiskey from every tonne of grain.

Nicolson continues: So many things are mass-produced  we at TOAD are trying to break the mould. We are entirely focused on creating really great spirits while fighting for the heart and soul of true craft distilling and taking our time to get it right every step of the way. We really care about provenance and its our devotion to craft distilling which will, I believe, mark the difference between us and other distilleries.

There are plans for a visitor centre and restaurant at the purpose-built distillery site in South Parks, Oxford. With the support of Oxford City Council and the Oxford Preservation Trust, work to convert and develop the former Parks depot is well underway. The centrepiece of the site is an 18th Century Grade II listed Threshing Barn which will initially house TOADs casks and grain. A new barn has been added to the compound to house the artisan distillery.

TOADs signature gin and vodka is initially available to purchase at the distillery from 27 July, bottled in 70cl. It will retail at 39.50 (gin) and 36.50 (vodka) a bottle.

29 July 2017 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, news editor
MADISON  Concerns are increasing among lawmakers and others in Wisconsin over what incentives the state may offer to become the first U.S. ho
A man accused of sexually assaulting a College Station jogger after dragging her into a stranger's apartment was denied a reduction in bond Friday.

Raymond Charles Bailey Jr., 30, asked District Judge Travis Bryan III to lower his $335,445 bail, which was set shortly after his arrest in early June.

He was charged with aggravated kidnapping and burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault, both of which are first-degree felonies, punishable by up to 99 years in prison. Sexual assault is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Resisting arrest is a Class A misdemeanor and public intoxication is a Class C misdemeanor. The theft charge will be assessed based on the value of the items taken, police said.

The victim told police she was jogging along Luther Street about to turn onto Highland Street when Bailey approached her and asked him to help knock on doors, but when she declined, he struck her in the face, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the nearby apartment where he raped her, according to a police report.

The woman was able to escape and flag down a passing motorist who picked her up, according to police who showed up almost at the same time after a neighbor reporting a disturbance. An officer was talking to Bailey, who wandered outside, when the victim drove past and pointed out her assailant to the driver, according to the police report.

Bailey remained in the Brazos County Jail late Friday. His mother testified earlier in the day that her son would not leave town and would follow whatever conditions the judge placed on her son.

Brazos County prosecutors argued that the bail amount was appropriate and he needed to remain behind bars to protect the community. He faces several drug and harassment charges in Hearne, so was out of jail on bond when he was taken into custody last month in College Station.

Bailey did not testify.
Local entrepreneurial gurus lobbed questions at nervous teenagers touting product prototypes on Texas A&M's campus Friday afternoon.

"Did you get a feel for how long you would have to ride the bike with the generator to charge it once?" posed James Lancaster, owner of a local business incubator, to a group of teens attempting to sell him on the idea of a phone charger powered by pedaling a bicycle.

The friendly back-and-forth was part of a new Startup Aggieland competition that challenges teams of high school students to come up with business ideas to pitch before a panel.

The competition was part of the Youth Adventure Program, a week-long camp that lets participating high schoolers learn more about a major or field of study at Texas A&M. In addition to lectures and tours of local businesses, the students learning about entrepreneurship were tasked with tackling problems posed by the outdoor clothing company Patagonia.

Shelly Brenckman, marketing coordinator for Startup Aggieland, said the aim of the program is to catch potential entrepreneurs early enough.

"It's a case of nature versus nurture," she said. "Sometimes entrepreneurship comes naturally, sometimes it's in their DNA but it's stifled. So you want to bring it out at an early age so they have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

One group created a model of water bottles and packing boxes made out of recycled material. Another pitched a water purification system for hikers and economically developing countries.

The winner modeled a detachable hiking stick that held within it various tools, including a flashlight, compass, firestarter, a whistle and fishing rod.

"When you are out camping or hiking, you have a lot of separate tools for different functions -- we really noticed this problem and decided to fix it." pitched Plano team member Dylan Parker during the presentation.

The name of their early prototype, "Savvy Stick," was the creation of teen Remy McCluney , who turned out to be the ideal participant for Startup Aggieland. She said the whole experience got her hooked on entrepreneurship.

"I wanted to try something new, and honestly this week has opened my mind up to so much more," she said. "Even when I'm doing daily stuff, I think of different ideas and stuff that I can make into a business."
Upon first inspection, one could be forgiven for mistaking the 50-acre Park West student apartment complex in College Station for a resort located in a more metropolitan area of the state.

The facility's rooftop, 50,000-square-foot amenities deck boasts a swimming pool, hot tub, cabanas, outdoor grills and more. Other features spread across the development include two additional pools, spacious courtyards, three fitness centers, a jogging trail, a sand volleyball court and numerous gaming and study rooms. There are currently two Texas A&M bus stops for shuttling students to and from campus, and a convenience store and coffee shop located on site.

Nearly two years to the day since plans for the $245 million project at 503 George Bush Drive were officially unveiled, Park West had its grand opening Friday just in time for the fall semester.

The 2.2 million-square-foot public-private partnership, initiated by the Texas A&M University System, ranks as the largest student housing development of its kind in the nation.

A&M System Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs Phillip Ray said the project, which is being overseen by developer Servitas and was constructed by The Weitz Company, is the latest in a growing list of "legacy projects" to come together under Chancellor John Sharp.

"When you see a project come to fruition from the initial conversations, proposals and evaluations, it's very satisfying to reach the home stretch," Ray said. "...Without question, this is the finest student housing facility in the country, bar none, and I'm just elated and thrilled for our students who are going to benefit from this."

Although the project itself may be outside the ordinary, Servitas Vice President of Construction Aaron Docsa said the team faced the same challenges as any construction project.

"The largest challenge the team faced was just time," Docsa said. "You can't create time, so you have to find ways to utilize every minute of every day to make sure you're constantly meeting your production levels."

Other "typical" challenges included managing the workers -- which could be up to more than 1,000 on site at a time -- as well as materials procurement, deliveries and staging, Docsa said.

He said the project was "very fortunate" to have the team at Weitz serving as general contractors alongside the more than 70 subcontractors who contributed. Although Docsa said the project slightly exceeded the original budget Servitas had planned on, he said it was to be expected with a design-build project such as this.

Weitz Senior Project Manager Frank D'Ascanio said the massive student housing project -- which includes an eight-story building, two five-story buildings and 12 three-story townhomes -- was completed a week ahead of schedule largely thanks to the "amazing team" that was assembled.

"A project like this really needs to be a partnership with the developer, the school and the designers," D'Ascanio said. "There are challenges along the way, but if everyone is working toward a common goal, you'll get there and you'll get it done."

Despite taking 35 rain days over the past two years, during which the area received 80 inches of rain, D'Ascanio said the project team was able to keep on track by doing things a little outside the usual order. He said the team made the decision early to "take weather out of the equation" and pave the entire site -- a move he credited with preventing additional delays that could have pushed the project back beyond its goal completion date.

D'Ascanio said despite the hard work and long hours needed to complete the project in its allotted 24 months, he is going to miss working on Park West. He said at such a large scale and working at a brisk pace, it was rewarding to the see the site continue to advance and evolve month after month as hundreds of workers each did their job to move it forward.

"It's a great feeling, and to be a part of it has been an amazing experience," he said.

Docsa said along with the good work done by Weitz and the sub-contractors who participated in the project, he praised the role of the A&M System by "finding solutions, not causing problems."

Additionally, Docsa said he appreciates the patience, support and understanding of the community and nearby residents of the during this two-year process.

"We just thank [the community] for its understanding while we were stealing all the manpower, causing traffic and bringing semi-truck after semi-truck to the area," Docsa said. "All the residents around us, the retail vendors and suppliers of Bryan-College Station have just been outstanding."

Ray said there are plans to further develop a 10-acre plot of land near the intersection of Penberthy Road and separating the apartments from George Bush Drive to include additional retail and dining options for residents and visitors of the area.

The fully furnished units -- which are available as studio, one-, two-, three- or four-bedroom apartments -- come equipped with full-size beds, in-unit washer and dryer, stainless steel appliances, walk-in closets and Wi-Fi. As of Friday, 1,630 of the 3,406 beds available in the apartment complex have been leased.

The buildings were constructed with an expected lifespan of 50-plus years. Ray said after 32 years, including the development's two years of construction, the ground lease and responsibility for maintaining the project will revert to the A&M System. The project provided Texas A&M University with $18 million in funding up front -- which Ray said has been "reinvested into the mission of Texas A&M" -- and is expected to accumulate more than $600 million for the university over the project's lifetime.

For more information on Park West, visit parkwestlife.com.
There are two John McCains. The first is the well-curated PR image of a straight-talking, principled maverick war hero who skirts partisanship in favor of doing whats right. The second John McCain, the three-dimensional one who occupies reality, is a reliable partisan conservative who loves war and occasionally says things mildly critical of his own party. Over the past week, in the interest of politeness and nationalist myth-making, our media has overwhelmingly focused on the former at the expense of fidelity to history.

Its easy to understand why pundits would go easy on or even praise McCain, a longtime senator from Arizona who recently was diagnosed with brain cancer and who suffered as a prisoner of war for five years. But accuracy matters more than etiquette.

As many others have noted throughout the years, McCains political career has been marked by jarring flip-flops and malleable principles. He was opposed to President George W. Bushs NSA wiretap program before he supported it. He defended the estate tax before he harshly criticized it. He vaguely opposed torture but undermined legislative efforts to stop it. He embraced Social Security privatization before saying otherwise  twice. Positions evolve, thats fine; but most politicians dont build their entire brand on principle only to shift stances in a seemingly arbitrary fashion.

Another problem with the latest wave of McCain hagiographies is that theyre proof of low standards in the age of Trump. In the wake of his cancer diagnosis, McCain received praise from pundits for a moment in 2008 when he corrected a racist voter who called Obama an Arab. No maam, McCain said. Hes a decent family man. But the fact that McCain casually contrasted being Arab with being decent  without defending Arabs as such  goes largely ignored. The media grades Republicans on such a steep curve these days that the most basic instance of common decency is taken as evidence of profound moral courage.

Take, for another example, McCains heroic return to the Senate floor on Tuesday to defend Senate traditions, which he said had been cast aside by his colleagues in their hurry to repeal Obamacare. Outlets from CNN to The Washington Post to ABC framed this return as a swan song appeal to patriotism, a defense of decency by a lion of the Senate. Buried in these reports, however, is that while McCain condemned the partisan, cynical nature of the bill being rammed through Congress, he proceeded to vote for every measure that advanced it, anyway. (He did vote no on a partial repeal bill that would not have replaced Obamacare.)

In voting for (Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnells motion, McCain participated in precisely the sort of cynical partisan political maneuver that he inveighed against, the New Yorkers John Cassidy wrote. Once again: Theres John McCain the PR vassal and John McCain the loyal Republican apparatchik; and once again the media focused on the former while downplaying the latter.

One of the most pervasive myths is that McCain, as The Washington Post editorial board recently said, champions human rights. Its a popular trope that consistently gets bandied about uncritically  even by McCain himself in a self-promoting op-ed in The New York Times in May. Theres only one problem with this conventional wisdom: Its bogus.

While McCain does occasionally condemn human rights abuses, he generally does so when seeking to demonize those already in the crosshairs of American aggression  Russia or Venezuela, say. And hes never met a war he didnt like, which is a rather unusual trait for a supposed champion of human rights.

McCain passionately advocated for an Iraq invasion that caused 500,000 to 1 million deaths and a Libya bombing that turned the country into a haven for extremists and slave markets. He cheerleaded the 2014 Israel bombing of Gaza while hundreds of Palestinian civilians were being killed. And perhaps most shamelessly he continues  to this day  to support Saudi Arabias devastating and cruel siege of Yemen thats claimed more than 10,000 civilian lives and led to nearly 600,000 cases of cholera. McCain selectively cares about human rights when it permits him to lay the groundwork for U.S. aggression, but looks the other way when the U.S. or its allies are at fault.

No one wants to dunk on an octogenarian just diagnosed with cancer, but history is being written as we speak and its essential that history not get obscured by the rose-tinted goggles of a bipartisan fetishizing U.S. media. Those subject to McCain-backed policies domestically  including the millions who would be affected by Obamacare repeal  deserve better. Those subject to his militarism abroad  from Yemen to Iraq  deserve better too. Their hardships matter as much as his, and their suffering ought not be glossed over in the interest of nationalistic mythmaking.

Adam H. Johnson is a media analyst for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.
The Crystal Theatre / Contributed photo

Norwalks Crystal Theatre, a youth acting group, joins forces with the Budapest-based Liget Dance Ensemble to present a two-hour romantic neo-Gothic musical, Hungarian Nights, a new work by Cheryl Kemeny and Mariner Pezza.

The 22 Hungarian Liget dancers will add incredible excitement and authenticity to this show, first produced in 2010 and later at the New York Musical Festival (2012) as a staged reading with an all-star Broadway cast, Crystal Theatre says.
16-year-old boy murdered in Bara

A 16-year-old boy was murdered in Bara district on Friday.
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NORWALK  The transition from high school to college can be difficult.

For students from low-income backgrounds, that difficulty is only exacerbated by their socioeconomic status.

There is figuring out how to pay for college. There is the complexity of navigating the registration process.

When you mix in the prospect of acclimating to a new social environment and taking on a load of new responsibilities, it can almost be too much to handle.

Research out of Harvard University shows that up to 40 percent of seemingly college-intending students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, fail to enroll in college the fall after graduation.

The phenomenon is known as summer melt. Every year college-bound students  despite getting good grades in high school, gaining acceptance to a school and applying for financial aid  fail to enroll for their initial semester of college.

For many, it is a perplexing predicament: why would students who put in most of the hard work not follow through when it comes time for the fall semester?

But for institutes of higher education across the country, its a phenomenon that has been at the forefront of conversation on how to build and maintain an educated populace.

Locally, its something leaders within Connecticut State College and Universities and, more specifically, Norwalk Community College have been looking at.

More Information Melting away 10-40 - percentage of seemingly college-intending students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, who fail to enroll in college the fall after graduation. See More Collapse

Its certainly something weve all be speaking about, said David Levinson, president of Norwalk Community College and vice president for Connecticut State Colleges and Universities. Trying to get students to not only enroll, but stay. Each college is using similar strategies to target those who are applicants to do whatever they can to create welcoming and nurturing environments  especially for new students

Levinson said there are various programs and services at NCC used to combat the summer melt.

For example, Levinson said, NCC hosts its new student orientation early on in the summer to help acclimate students to the school. He also said the college tries to have financial aid packages available as early on as possible to help alleviate the financial woes that may deter students from attending school.

There are also college tours, group registration events, advisers and more.

Andrea Santos, a business administration student at NCC and co-president of the schools Student Government, said she has witnessed the summer melt phenomenon first-hand.

She said she knows of students who put off going to college for a semester to work full time in order to save up money.

As an orientation leader at NCC, she also has heard of the fears and anxieties that some students have of going to a new school, with new people and taking on new responsibilities.

She believes NCC provides many services to help alleviate some of the issues that contribute to the summer melt. She noted the Norwalk Community College Foundation, which provides students with scholarships to help those in financial need. She also pointed out other services such as advising and even a food pantry on campus.

Ultimately, she said though that she believes a key to allowing the services to be successful in deterring the summer melt could come down to each prospective student being able to connect themselves to those services and the greater school community as a whole.

KSchultz@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2567; @kevinedschultz
The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal from a Grand Island student who was suspended for 15 days because of a social media post in 2016.

The Supreme Court dismissed the case because it lacked subject matter jurisdiction.

On Sunday, April 3, 2016, a group of Barr Middle School students were communicating on a social media website. A post was made anonymously, saying, Tomorrow gonna be hella fire (fire emoji) be there (School). The post was followed by another anonymous post, saying, Dont show up to school tomorrow (gun emoji).

That evening, the Barr administration was notified by the Grand Island Police Department of the anonymous postings.

The following morning, extra security was present at the school and police and Barr staff members searched the school for any potential threats.

During the morning, the school received over 100 telephone calls from parents concerned about safety, read the Supreme Courts background of the case. That day, 17 students were checked out of school and four of them remained checked out on April 5.

Police officers and Barr staff members interviewed students to determine who had made the anonymous postings. The appellant in the case was one of the students interviewed. She admitted to making the hella fire post. The post with the gun emoji was not made by her, and no evidence was uncovered that she had any connection with the second post. The Barr principal sent her home and suspended her for 15 days.

She requested an administrative hearing to contest her removal. At that hearing, held April 14, 2016, Barrs principal testified that when he talked to the student and her parents on April 4, she stated that she did not know why she made the post or could not explain it to them. He said the social media posting was the sole reason for her removal from school and at the time of her removal, there were no further threats to the safety of other students by her.

The student testified that on the evening of April 3, 2016, she was at home using her cellphone to communicate with other students on a social media website. The context of the discussion, when she made her post, was about skipping school the next day. She explained that hella fire means good or cool.

Accordingly, she stated that her post was a sarcastic statement that school would be good or cool the next day and that the other students should be there, the Supreme Court wrote in detailing the events.

Following the administrative hearing, the Grand Island Public Schools superintendent upheld the students suspension. In another appeal, the GIPS Board of Education upheld the suspension in May 2016.

She then filed a petition with Hall County District Court to appeal the boards decision. The District Court affirmed the suspension, saying it did not exceed the authority provided by Nebraska law. The District Court reasoned that the girls posting was open to several interpretations, including one of violence, and that it in fact prompted a posting that could also be considered threatening or violent. The posting on social media, the District Court said, set in motion a series of events that caused substantial disruption to the school environment.

In the court documents, the student is identified only by her initials.
Gov. Pete Ricketts is calling on Congress and the Trump administration to redouble their efforts to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement with Japan after Japan announced Friday that it had raised its tariff to 50 percent on frozen beef from the United States.

One of the first acts of the Trump administration was to pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which included Japan. Ricketts said that he would also like Congress and the Trump administration to address ... other agricultural market access issues similar to what would have been covered under the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Our beef community can rest assured these tariff rate increases will be at the forefront of our discussions in Japan, he said.

Ricketts said that Japans tariff increase will have a serious economic impact on Nebraskas beef community. Japan is Nebraskas No. 1 export market for beef products, with a value of more than $316 million in 2016 alone.

According to Ricketts, the increase in the tariff rate will place Nebraska beef exports at an even greater competitive disadvantage with other countries with which Japan has free trade agreements, such as Australia and the European Union. He said it is anticipated that this will shift purchases from frozen to fresh, triggering beef safeguard tariff increases on fresh beef as well later this year, compounding the impact on Nebraskas beef exports.

Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said that U.S. beef producers have already been placed at a competitive disadvantage in the Japanese market due to this countrys inaction on trade.

Australias trade agreement with Japan has brought the tariff on its frozen beef down to 27 percent, compared to the nearly 40 percent tariff applied to U.S. beef, Smith said. Now, with this hike to 50 percent, our producers will face nearly double the tariff as their Australian counterparts.

He has introduced a resolution in the U.S. House urging the Trump administration to begin the process of establishing a trade agreement with Japan.

We know U.S. beef tastes better, and our efficient producers can meet demand from Japanese consumers if trade barriers are removed, Smith said. We cant afford to wait any longer to work on a bilateral agreement with Japan.

Smith serves on the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade policy. He introduced his resolution calling on the administration to begin negotiations for a trade agreement with Japan in March.

Steve Nelson, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, said the tariff increase Japan announced for U.S. beef is a big blow to Nebraskas beef producers.

He said that in 2016, Nebraska exported more than $316 million in beef and beef products to Japan, accounting for 16 percent of the total U.S. beef exports to this important customer.

What makes this action worse is that the United States recently walked away from an agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have rendered this action meaningless, Smith said. Now is the time for the Trump administration to follow through on their promise for a better deal for Nebraskas cattlemen and women, and now is the time for a bilateral agreement with Japan.

National Cattlemens Beef Association (NCBA) President Craig Uden, a fourth-generation cattleman from Elwood, said his organization is very disappointed to learn that the tariff on frozen beef imports to Japan will increase from 38.5 percent to 50 percent until April 2018.

Japan is the top export market for U.S. beef in both volume and value, and anything that restricts our sales to Japan will have a negative impact on Americas ranching families and our Japanese consumers, Uden said.

NCBA opposes artificial barriers like these, he said, because they unfairly distort the market and punish both producers and consumers.

Nobody wins in this situation, Uden said. Our producers lose access, and beef becomes a lot more expensive for Japanese consumers. We hope the Trump administration and Congress realize that this unfortunate development underscores the urgent need for a bilateral trade agreement with Japan absent the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Japan was the top export market for U.S. beef, valued at $1.5 billion in 2016. According to data compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation, first quarter U.S. beef sales to Japan this year increased 42 percent over 2016. In addition to the United States, the 50 percent safeguard tariff also applies to imports from Canada, New Zealand, and other countries that do not have a free trade agreement with Japan.
32 injured as bus turns turtle in Nawalparasi

As many as 32 persons were injured when a bus they were travelling in met with an accident at Daunne in Bardaghat Municipality of Nawalparasi along the East-West Highway on Saturday.
Union Pacific Railroads heritage equipment and streamliner and diesel locomotives will travel across Nebraska over three days, departing from Omaha and stopping for a rally in Grand Island on Aug. 6, the final day of the tour.

First lady Susanne Shore announced details for the Nebraska150 Express statewide train tour set for Aug. 4-6.

Grand Islands rally will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 6 at 280 E. Front Street, which is north of the YMCA. It will feature performances by the Grand Island Senior High cheerleaders, Grand Island Northwest High School Band and United Veterans Honor Guard.

Food trucks will be on hand to serve lunch and downtown restaurants will offer discounts to rally attendees who present their flag and/or pennant. Both flags and pennants will be distributed at the event.

There will also be a classic antique car show. Sponsors include the city of Grand Island, Arrive Railside, Grand Island Chamber of Commerce and Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. Visit www.gichamber.com for more information and updates.

Other communities on the Nebraska150 Express tour include Columbus, North Platte, Ogallala, Sidney, Gering and Kearney. To ensure the trip remains on schedule and the tour reaches as many Nebraskans as possible, public train tours and tickets are not available.

I want to thank Union Pacific for its generous support of this event and commitment to our state, Shore said. Our histories are inextricably linked as we have, in many ways, grown up together. I cant think of a more fitting way to celebrate this historic occasion than with a fun train tour that harkens back to days gone by.

I also want to thank the communities of Columbus, North Platte, Ogallala, Sidney, Gering, Kearney and Grand Island for being part of the tour and planning such an amazing array of events, she said. We invite all Nebraskans to come out and enjoy the fun, food and music.

Kearneys rally from 9 a.m. to noon on Aug. 6 will feature the Kearney Police Department Honor Guard, music, and activities for kids courtesy of the Kearney Area Childrens Museum. Free doughnuts will be served for breakfast prior to the rally. The Food Truck and Tropical Sno will be on hand to serve lunch.

Rally attendees can show their fans and pennants, which will be distributed at the rally, to get reduced-price admission to the Trails and Rails Museum and the Great Platte River Road Archway on Sunday afternoon. Sponsors include the city of Kearney, Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce, First National Bank and Kearney Area Childrens Museum.

Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz cited Union Pacifics long association with Nebraska as it progressed from a territory to a state as a reason for participating in the sesquicentennial event.

Our connection to Nebraska dates back to President Abraham Lincoln founding Union Pacific 155 years ago, when the Cornhusker State was a bustling territory, Fritz said. Our first track was laid in Omaha, not far from where the Nebraska150 Express will be departing. Thanks to the perseverance, ingenuity and support of communities and their citizens, both Union Pacific and Nebraska blossomed with towns developing along the transcontinental railroad route. We look forward to touring the state and visiting these communities as part of the sesquicentennial celebration.

The Nebraska150 Express schedule on Aug. 6 has it leaving North Platte at 8 a.m. and arriving in Kearney at 10 at 110 W. Railroad St. It will leave Kearney at 11 and arrive in Grand Island at 11:55 at 280 E. Front St. It will depart Grand Island for Omaha at 12:55 p.m.
A hearty Saturday Salute goes this week to all the volunteers who are making the 10th annual Boy Scouts Overland Trails Council Merit Badge University possible in Grand Island this weekend.

There are typically more than 500 Boy Scouts from several states camping at Stuhr Museum for a weekend full of chances to earn merit badges they wouldnt have access to in their hometowns.

More than 70 different sessions are planned throughout the community to accommodate the Scouts interest in a variety of topics, from blacksmithing and tinsmithing to sustainability and nuclear science, with experts in the fields providing the training.

This is a lot of fun for the Boy Scouts, but its also a very educational event that could spark an interest in a topic that will become a career or a lifetime hobby.

And its only possible because there are so many people with expertise in the wide variety of badges available to Boy Scouts who are willing to volunteer to share their knowledge and experience.

Happy 50th, Stuhr Museum

We also salute Stuhr Museum as it is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a free day of activities Sunday.

The museum will be open from noon to 5 p.m. and will incorporate Nebraskas sesquicentennial celebration into its own milestone observance.

Painting the Legacy of Nebraska continues to be on display, with more than 100 paintings by Todd Williams, illustrating all 93 of Nebraskas counties. Williams, who grew up in Central City and graduated from Central Community College in Columbus, will be on hand for the celebration and visitors will get to watch him work on a new painting Sunday.

There will also be a free ice cream social at 2 p.m. in Railroad Town and living history interpreters will be throughout the 1890s living history community to show how people lived during the 1890s.

National Night Out coming

A hearty salute also goes to everyone who will be participating in National Night Out in Grand Island on Tuesday evening.

From about 6 to 9 p.m., residents of neighborhoods throughout the community and the nation will be turning on outside lights and spending the evening outside getting to know their neighbors and building a relationship with local police, who will be visiting the various neighborhoods with events planned in Grand Island.

This is the 22nd year the Grand Island Police Department has participated. The event, sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, is designed to encourage neighborhood camaraderie and make our community a safer, better place to live.
With the whole world watching, we the people told Great Britain why we had revolted. It was to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, secure the blessings of liberty and to promote the general welfare for ourselves and our posterity. Even the language The right to life ... was lifted from the British debate about what to do with the poor.

Back in that day, insurance was understood to be for things that might, but probably wouldnt, happen  like losing your ship at sea  rather than that which always happens, such as sickness and the expenses that attended to our eventual demise. One might read the words ordained and established in our Constitution and easily conclude that such terms as blessings, justice, domestic tranquility and general welfare would eventually become health care. There are voices today who argue that the health of a nation cannot exist without the actual health of its people, so health care is a right.

However, deep in the currents of this emerging nation were other streams of thought, some of which are today owned as fully American, yet are less than consistent. The merchant class, along with economists and factory owners, typically had a negative view of humanity. Economists saw people as a commodity like coal. Factory owners viewed people as an expense, rather than a resource. And the merchant class viewed people as insatiable. These views were seen as justified by the quasi-scientific notions of English breeding and the application of Darwinism to the understanding of society.

This natural selection approach to the care of human beings led to the notion that it is wrong to help the poor, as this leads to the weakening of the human species. It is one thing to leave nature to the natural course of events. Yet, is this the best we can do for one another?

The writing of Ayn Rand has popularized the notions that empathy toward others is a weakness and all altruists are manipulators. Her philosophy is not that of our countrys forebearers, as it is one of total selfishness. One wonders how popular this way of thinking is among our leaders. Among her disciples are Allen Greenspan, Rep. Ron Paul and his son, Sen. Rand Paul. This philosophy is significantly different from the values and vision of the founders of this nation. It prevents its followers from giving any serious consideration to health care as a right, even if such is consistent with our constitutional values.

Personally, I prefer the founders vision. I continue to wonder, can we be the more perfect union that we set out to show the world by providing health care for our people?
An adage states, Any fool can destroy and tear down but it is wisdom and skill that builds, conserves and preserves. The proposed budget submitted by the president in May is very foolish as it is based on increased spending to destroy while slashing spending that builds, conserves and preserves.

The budget calls for an increase of $54 billion for the Pentagon for more weapons and war. The U.S. already spends more on war than the next seven nations combined. Most of these seven are considered our allies. The past 16 years the Pentagon has spent $3 trillion on the destruction of Middle Eastern nations to combat terrorism. The result of this foolishness is that our bombs have reduced these nations to rubble while spawning more hatred and enemies. Former defense secretaries have stated there are no military solutions to the devastation that the U.S. has wreaked on the people of the Middle East.

Another reason this increased spending should be rejected is that the Defense Department is the one federal department that has never been audited. There is waste and bloated spending with no accountability. Increased military spending alongside tax cuts is the largest contributing factor to our $20 trillion national debt.

Nebraskas two senators are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Both seem to believe that the more that is spent on war will somehow make us respected and strong. It is an illusion that is destroying whatever moral leadership this nation is perceived to possess.

As a combat veteran of a foolish war 50 years ago and a member of Nebraskans for Peace and Veterans for Peace, it is time for citizens to contact our congressional delegation and reject this immoral budget.
A woman who scammed residents into giving her money by falsely claiming to have breast cancer and later claiming that her young son had leukemia was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison

The hearing for 28-year-old Melissa Barton lasted for more than four hours. The former Troy woman had pleaded guilty in October to charges of theft over $500 and theft by deception.

In addition to the prison time, Circuit Judge Kyle Napp ordered Barton to repay the $1,290 in donations received from friends and total strangers who tried to help after listening to her often tearful story, which seemed to grow more desperate with each telling.

One of her victims was First Baptist Church of Maryville. The criminal charges allege that those thefts happened on or about March 14, 2013, and between May 13 and 20, 2014. At one point Barton claimed that her landlord was threatening to evict, according to testimony from Chris Coyne, who investigated the Barton case for the Troy Police Department. The church eventually gave $600 to her landlord, he said.

Barton used several aliases including Melissa Dawn Pruett Barton, Melissa Pruett and Missy Barton.

On Aug. 5, 2014, Troy police executed a search warrant for her duplex in Troy. She had been telling people she was battling stage three breast cancer that required her to undergo chemotherapy. When Troy police searched her residence they found a wig she had worn in several Facebook postings and videos.

But when Madison County Assistant States Attorney Katie Warren asked whether Barton had lost her hair from chemotherapy treatment or any other reason, Coyne said "No.

Attorney John Rekowski pointed out that Barton has only one felony on her record. And while acknowledging the seriousness of the offense, the amount of the thefts is relatively small, he said.

Rekowski added that while Barton pleaded guilty in October of 2016, Troy Police waited until two days before Christmas to issue a press release, a clear attempt to ruin her holiday and take a victory lap at Christmas.

During the hearing, Warren played four videos that Barton posted on the Internet to update supporters about her medical condition.

OK. So I just found out my results. Freaking out. Which I was told is very normal. I dont feel normal. I do want to thank all of you so much for having my back. I just didnt want to hear that today. All I can ask is that you continue to pray for me and my family, because I dont think I can handle much more. God bless you . . . you have got to be my biggest support system I have right now.

Barton cried several times during the videos. She hadnt disclosed her cancer to many members of her family members, she said in the video, though the ones she told have been very supportive.

But at the same time theyre just not as strong as I am. Ive never seen my husband crying until today. And I just want to kick its butt. I really do. Please keep praying because Im way too young to, uh, go anywhere. I have two beautiful children who need me very much and I will fight until I beat it. I will not quit until then. I love you guys and I just want to keep you guys updated. You are my support system and I need you. So thank you for having my back. I love ya and Ill talk to you soon.

Before she was sentenced, Barton spoke briefly, apologizing to everyone her actions affected, especially people fighting cancer.

Napp said that watching the videos nearly brought tears to her eyes. I watched a woman who I believed had cancer, and I almost forgot that it was the defendant, who doesnt have cancer, didnt have cancer, and has never had cancer, Napp said. And yet she convinced me, even though shes sitting in the room here and I know its not true. I watched this video and it affected me. Shes a wonderful actress, theres not doubt about it.

As to Bartons courtroom apology, Napp was skeptical. I dont know if shes really contrite or if its just another at that shes putting on to try to avoid going to prison, she said. I dont know.

When Barton is released from prison she will face 30 months of probation. Warren said that if all the victims cannot be located, those amount of restitution will be donated to the American Cancer Society. Some victims have already said they will donate their amounts to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The LLS web site states that the goal of the organization is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkins disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons praised Warren and the Troy Police Department.

The defendant in this case played on the emotions of donors and fraudulently collected funds that should have gone to community members that are actually impacted by cancer and other illnesses, Gibbons said in the statement. Id like to thank the officers of the Troy Police Department, whose investigative work on this case allowed us to come to a successful resolution.
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Linkedin Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, July 29, 2017 11:07 1932 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aaca975 1 Science & Tech google-street-view,international-space-station,space-station,Google,space Free

After taking users to Peru's Machu Picchu and Game of Thrones filming locations, Google Street View has recently introduced a new feature that allows its users to explore inside the International Space Station (ISS) and to see the Earth from on high.

Among the ISS locations on offer in the new feature are the Cupola Observational Module, from where users can look at activity outside the station, the experimental Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the unmanned SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule that transports supplies to the ISS astronauts, and the US Lab Module that serves as the primary research laboratory.

Read also: Google lets you virtually explore 'Game of Thrones' filming locations

SpaceXs Dragon cargo craft is seen Feb. 23, 2017, during final approach to the International Space Station. (blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2017/02//File)

The ISS is a very interesting place with lots of high-tech equipment, Thomas Pesquet, the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut who was in charge of taking photos for the Google Street View, said in a behind-the-scenes video.

[It's a very challenging task] since we dont have gravity in space, said Matthew Potter, who leads the technical photography operations for Google Street View, adding that they could not use a tripod in space, where camera stabilization tools were critical to their mission.

Floating 250 miles  more than 400 kilometers  above the Earth, the ISS consists of 15 connected modules that face four different directions in a cross-like formation. The space station serves as a scientific research hub to explore space, collect data from the atmosphere and Earth's surface, observe cyclones and other weather patterns, and conduct experiments, such as how a human body reacts to microgravity. (kes)
Another dies in Gorkhaland protest firing

One person died when security forces opened fire at protestors in Darjeeling no Saturday morning.
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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, July 29, 2017 13:06 1932 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aacb1bd 1 Science & Tech Instagram,Instagram-Stories,social-media,Indonesia,business Free

Jangkar Bawono, 27, takes pictures of the locally made leather shoes in Surabaya, East Java, to post on the Instagram account of his footwear company.

Speaking at an Instagram media gathering event in Jakarta earlier this week, Jangkar said he had used the social media platform since he first launched Port Blue in October 2015.

The Surabaya-based company uses Instagram as its main advertising platform, where the handle @portblueshoes is registered as a business account and currently has over 81,000 followers.

Operating without a specialized marketing team or a photo studio, Jangkar said the company took full advantage of the business tools to make an average of Rp 500 million (US$37,518) to 600 million in sales per month.

All the necessary analytics data can be easily accessed when making business decisions, especially for advertising, where he said the company had assigned a budget of Rp 70 million to 80 million per month for Instagram and Facebook.

"With Instagram's Insights tools, we can know which posts are most popular and engaging; and based on that data, we choose the images to use in advertising," Jangkar said on Wednesday, adding that the company had been placing ads on the platform's feeds since June 2016.

Read also: Indonesia Instagram's biggest market in Asia Pacific

Indonesia has been ranked as Instagram's biggest market in Asia Pacific, making it a lucrative tool for reaching customers and potential buyers.

More Indonesian companies are tapping into the platform, which hosts around 45 million active users in Indonesia each month, to tap into potential markets.

Additionally, Southeast Asia's largest economy also produces on average twice as many Instagram Stories as any other country in the world.

Susan Rose, Instagram headquarters' product marketing director, said that running a business successfully on Instagram started by registering a business account, as this gives access to a range of necessary and informative tools.

With 700 million active users globally on a monthly basis, she said the image-sharing platform had also become a hub to spark exploration through its visual experience.

Read also: Twitter dives, growth stall highlights contrast with Facebook

People go to Instagram to see something that is relevant to them, Rose added, noting that users follow more than just friends and family, but also a diverse mix of accounts, such as businesses, influencers and publishers.

"And what this means is that they're really crafting their Instagram experience to reflect what their passions are," Rose said.

Online shopping site Blibli.com in February this year became the first company in Indonesia to use the Story platform to advertise by creating eye-catching content to last for the 24-hour time limit.

Lani Rahayu, Blibli.com's senior marketing communications and PR manager, found that the creative and personalized elements used in engaging consumers were key in helping to raise brand awareness and revenue.

Read also: Instagram introduces archive feature, allowing users to hide photos

The company had learned from past mistakes in posting images with too much text or hard sell promotions, Lani said, by now crafting content that was more visually pleasing with a personal touch, even involving employees as their models in the stories to create an authentic experience.

Campaign results delivered a 22-point lift in ad recall and a sevenfold increase in message association, Lani said, which means audiences were able to recognize the promotions and found relevance between the product and the message behind the stories that created interest in purchasing.

"The key take-away from this is craft and personalize your content to engage with audiences," Lani said. (kes)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, July 29 2017

Transjabodetabek commuter buses will operate with police escorts to ensure a one-hour travel time from Bekasi, West Java, to Jakarta, an official has stated.

State-run bus company Perum PPD began the service, which is free-of-charge in the mornings, in Bekasi on Thursday, company spokesperson Arga Narendra said.

The buses connect the Summarecon Bekasi complex to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, July 29, 2017 16:03 1932 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aacd24a 1 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,bandung,art-festival,West-Java Free

Bandung is currently hosting Bandung International Arts Festival (BIAF) 2017 until July 30.

This year marks the 4th anniversary of the festival that is held in public spaces, such as Curug Batu Templek, Plaza Cikapundung River Spot and Car Free Day Dago in Jl. Ir. Juanda.

The participants of this years BIAF come from 11 cities and provinces in Indonesia and eight countries, said Tourism Ministry's Archipelago Marketing Development deputy Esthy Reko Astuti.

The nine countries attending the event include India, Malaysia, Germany, Australia, Japan, United States, Hungary and Egypt.

Read also: Yogyakarta holds annual Yogyakarta Art Festival (FKY) 2017

Among the festival's activities are installation, workshop, forum, peoples party and syukuran lembur (overtime gathering to express gratitude to God).

This event serves as an interesting cultural attraction that will promote the wonder of Indonesia through nature and culture. Cultural tourism is one of the leading tourism in our country that needs to be preserved and celebrated consistently, Esthy added.

Indonesia's tourism portfolio consists of three main tourism, namely nature that takes up 35 percent, culture that takes up 60 percent and man-made that takes up five percent; the percentages however are different in each region. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, July 29, 2017 18:01 1932 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aacdca0 1 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,mount-kerinci,Jambi,Airport Free

Depati Parbo Airport in Kerinci regency, Jambi, is currently being upgraded.

Kerinci has been established as the tourism brand of Jambi, which is why Depati Parbo Airport needs to be developed by extending the runway and upgrading the terminals to make visitors more comfortable, said Jambi Governor Zumi Zola.

Read also: A letter from culturally rich Jambi

The airport currently has a 1,800-meter runway that can host ATR 72 airplanes. A Boeing plane however requires a runway that is 2,600 meters long and 100 meters wide.

The runway expansion will also shorten the traveling time from five to 10 hours by land to only an hour by air.

Were now working on the land acquisition. There are 30 hectares that are being acquired this year and hopefully it will be done by next year, added Kerinci Regent Adirozal.

Read also: As homelands devastated, Indonesian tribe turns to Islam

It currently takes a 10-hour drive from Jambi to Kerinci and Sungaipenuh city. Meanwhile, traveling by land from Padang in West Sumatra to Kerinci and Sungaipenuh city via southern coast takes five hours. The road access to both places are quite challenging due to the erosion-prone hills surrounding the area.

Susi Air is the only airline currently serving Jambi  Kerinci route with only two flights available on Wednesday and Thursday per week. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, July 29, 2017 17:02 1932 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97aacd934 1 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,raja-ampat,festival,art-exhibition Free

Raja Ampat in West Papua is known as one of the most beautiful places in Indonesia. But the place also has interesting culture to offer, hence it hosts a string of attractive festivals.

The latest one is Suling Tambur Festival and Traditional Handicrafts Exhibition that run from July 28 to 30 at Waisai Torang Cinta Beach and was officially opened by West Papua governor Dominggus Mandacan.

Read also: Saving Raja Ampat waters with tourism

Throughout the festival, visitors are invited to join underwater activities, such as snorkeling and diving. It also features shows like suling tambur music parade, suling tambur traditional music competition and the best marching band majorette and best costume competitions.

The handicrafts exhibition is expected to boost local economy. These handicraft products made by the locals can be purchased and brought home as a special gift from Raja Ampat, said Raja Ampat Tourism Agency head Yusdi Lamatenggo.

Read also: What to do in Raja Ampat beyond diving, snorkeling

Yusdi said 24 districts in Raja Ampat were invited to take part in the festival.

The festival and exhibition marked the first time these kind of events are being held in Raja Ampat and the administration is planning to make them an annual event. (kes)
Heres something to look forward to in September. Were likely to learn more about plans by the owners of the Jarmulowsky Bank Building to open a hotel in the 12-story, landmark-protected property.

The property at 54 Canal St./9 Orchard St. was purchased in 2011 by DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners for $33 million. Local architect Ron Castellano has been overseeing a painstaking renovation of the building during the past several years. Earlier this month, a gigantic crane was brought in to hoist the framework for a 50-foot domed spire to the roof. Original plans called for a hotel, but DLJ shifted gears last year, floating the idea of leasing the building for offices and retail.

Now the hotel concept is back on. The development team planned to go before Community Board 3 in August, seeking support for a liquor license. The application has now been pulled. You can expect it to re-emerge in September.

According to sketchy information available on CB3s website, a full liquor permit is being requested on behalf of Sixth Avenue Restaurant Management. Thats the LLC associated with LAmico, the Italian-ish restaurant from Laurent Tourondel at the Eventi Hotel on 6th Avenue (at 30th Street). Tourondels publicist did not reply to a request for comment. The contact name on the application is Steven Carter, managing director at DLJ. The application indicates the restaurant or restaurants would include live music.

According to Department of Buildings records, the first floor of the hotel will include a restaurant and bar. Theres also a bar and lounge on the second floor. Hotel rooms are located on floors 3-12, and theres an accessory lounge on the top floor.

The Jarmulowsky is known as, Nine Orchard Street on DLJs website. The investment strategy, the developers note, is to complete an extensive rehabilitation to convert the property into an upscale, independent hotel. Heres more:

The neighborhood around the property is rapidly improving. The propertys distinctive architectural character and full block presence allow for an impactful, authentic redevelopment. DLJ RECPs investment theme in Nine Orchard Street is similar to other properties in our portfolio  we identify underperforming assets in neighborhoods positioned for sustained growth. In this case, we believe that our redevelopment of Nine Orchard Street will further catalyze the improvement of the surrounding neighborhood.

The surrounding neighborhood has, of course, changed a lot since DLJ purchased the Jarmulowsky Bank property six years ago. Division Street and Canal Street have become restaurant/nightlife hot spots. The SPaCE Block Association is active in this area and can be expected to weigh in on the proposed liquor license/licenses.

In a 2015 prospectus for foreign investors of an unrelated project, DLJ said the development costs for the Lower East Side building were $90 million. The deep-pocketed firm is sparing no expense to restore the Jarmulowsky to its former glory. That will likely count for something with the community board, but members of the liquor licensing committee are sure to have some tough questions for the applicants about the scale of their nightlife operations.

DLJ did not respond to our request for comment.
(front page)

Workers face growing crisis of decline in health care

Riddled with political disagreements, the Republican Party cant muster enough votes to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, which President Donald Trump promised would be one of his top priorities.

Since its passage seven years ago, Obamacare, which includes a more than $2,000 tax penalty per family for any year they dont buy health insurance  insurance that is becoming increasingly costly  is unpopular among many working people.

Insurance premiums are scheduled to go up further. In Connecticut, for example, insurance company bosses have announced plans to jump premiums by 15 to 34 percent. In Maryland, workers will see increases from 18 to nearly 60 percent.

Whether its Obamacare or any of the failed Republican overhauls proposed so far, none make any pretense to provide health care for all who need it. All are based on a system of private profits for insurance, hospital and pharmaceutical companies. Many workers face limited options, with plans featuring soaring premiums, high deductibles, and shrinking coverage.

The Senate barely voted to open debate on Republican health proposals July 25, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a 50-50 tie. But just a few hours later, their latest bill went down to defeat 57-43. The following day a proposal to repeal Obamacare and come up with a replacement within two years was also rejected.

Meanwhile, the health care crisis facing working people under the capitalist for-profit system continues to worsen, with the rising opioid epidemic, hospital closures and less care across large areas of the country.

Thousands from throughout Appalachia flocked to the annual free clinic set up in Wise, Virginia, July 21-23 for the only medical, dental and eye care they get, unable to afford insurance under Obamacare or qualify for Medicaid coverage. I really think that they dont have any clue whats going on, auto mechanic Larry McKnight, 37, told the Washington Post, pointing to politicians of all stripes in Washington. You watch the news and its two sides pitted against each other, which in turn just makes them pitted against us, the normal person. Some 29 million people in the U.S. have no health insurance today.

Rural hospital closures

Among those especially hard hit are some 90 million workers and farmers living in rural areas. Over the past seven years, 80 of the more than 1,800 rural hospitals have closed, with 673 others on the brink. At this rate, some 40 percent of U.S. rural hospitals could be shut in the years ahead.

Deteriorating care has had a big impact on pregnant women and newborns. Between 2004 and 2014 more than 200 hospitals have closed their birthing units. In Texas, just 70 of the states 162 rural hospitals deliver babies. Residents in 16 percent of Minnesotas rural counties have seen maternity care there vanish over the past decade. Overall, 54 percent of rural counties lack hospital-based obstetrics, according to the University of Minnesotas Rural Health Research Center.

In Cook County, Minnesota, Clare Shirley and her husband Dan had to drive two and a half hours to get to a hospital in Duluth where she could give birth, as the one closer to their home had shut its labor and delivery service. She just made it. This story is typical of the situation facing working-class women who cant afford to take days off work or stay in hotels near the hospitals prior to giving birth. And its led to higher infant mortality rates, longer stays in intensive care units, and more out-of-hospital deliveries.

And theres a shortage of doctors as many prefer to remain in large cities where pay is more lucrative. According to the National Rural Health Association, rural areas could be short 45,000 doctors by 2020, and specialists are even more scarce.

Drug costs for people under 65 are soaring  up 11.3 percent in 2016 and projected to go up another 11.6 percent this year. Wages are barely rising at all.

Many new drug prices are astronomical. When Gilead introduced its new hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, it set the cost at $1,000 a pill, or $84,000 a year.

The spreading opioid epidemic amid deteriorating health care has reached the point where four out of five people with opioid use disorder do not receive treatment, reported the Post.

The Middletown, Ohio, fire department reports that it sends people out on calls for drug overdoses  four to five a day  more often than to respond to a fire. Complaining that the cost of anti-overdose drug Naloxone threatens to bankrupt the city, council member Daniel Picard has submitted a bill that authorizes the fire department to respond if you overdose twice, but not a third time. Strike three and theyll let you die.
SWP takes campaigning deeper into working class

RAVENA, N.Y.  The rulers political crisis is deepening, Margaret Trowe, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Albany, told Danielle Sitterly, after knocking on her door here July 22. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have a solution to the economic decline, and millions of workers are losing confidence in both of them, and in the political swamp in Washington. Only the working class has a solution  to organize a movement of millions that can end the dictatorship of capital.

To me its more like a tyranny, said Sitterly, a disabled worker who cares for her three children.

Trowe underlined the importance of organizing the unorganized and supporting unions to strengthen the fight against growing boss attacks on workers.

But sometimes unions dont do enough to support workers struggles, Sitterly responded. My husband works at a big plant where hes forced to work massive overtime, she said.

In many unions the officials dont organize the kind of fight necessary to take on the bosses attacks, Trowe said. They tell us to rely on the Democrats to protect us. But this is a deadly trap. We need to organize ourselves, to strengthen our unions into democratic, fighting organizations capable of taking on the employers and both their political parties, the Democrats and Republicans.

Sitterly told Trowe that she was concerned with the radicals and liberals on the campuses who are intolerant of any point of view they disagree with. They shout down people with different ideas or try to get them fired.

Trowe described how she and other SWP members recently went to Middlebury College in Vermont after some students there shouted down conservative academic Charles Murray and physically attacked him and the professor who invited him to speak.

We debated with students, explaining how suppressing free discussion always hurts the working-class movement, said Trowe, showing Sitterly the book Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart? Class, Privilege, and Learning Under Capitalism by SWP National Secretary Jack Barnes, which contains a polemic against Murrays book, The Bell Curve.

We need to debate with people like Murray, who say there is an intelligent cognitive elite that is rich and in power because theyre smart, Trowe said.

Behind the election of Donald Trump as president, the rulers see the working class beginning to discuss how they can assert their class interests against the growing carnage of capitalism they face, said Trowe. They increasingly fear the working class because they expect growing class battles where workers learn our worth and capacity to build a successful revolutionary fight for political power. Sitterly got the book and subscribed to the Militant, and said she wants to stay in touch.

SWP members and supporters around the country are stepping up their efforts to get out to workers neighborhoods as well as strike picket lines and social protests to discuss what our class faces today and the partys program.

In doing so, we introduce workers to Are They Rich Because Theyre Smart?; The Clintons Anti-Working-Class Record; Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power, all by Jack Barnes, and Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible? by SWP leader Mary-Alice Waters.



Campaigning in North Minneapolis July 22, David Rosenfeld, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Minneapolis mayor, met Catrice Lynch, a preschool teachers aide who goes to college part time. I cant afford health care even though Im working 40 hours a week, she said.

Insurance is designed to make profits and prevent you from going to the doctor, responded Rosenfeld. The solution is to fight for health care for all, not health insurance for profit. We can make gains on this as we organize to unify our class and fight for political power, like they did in Cuba with their revolution in 1959.

Last week campaign supporters in Minneapolis organized teams throughout the area to introduce the party, selling 12 Militant subscriptions and 11 campaign books by party leaders. They gathered 164 signatures for a total of 331 out of the 750 needed to go well over the filing requirement to place Rosenfelds name on the ballot.



While visiting the Skyway neighborhood just south of Seattle, Mary Martin, SWP candidate for Seattle mayor met Elisa, a house cleaner whos originally from El Salvador.

There are real problems in every country including in my home country and here in the U.S., Elisa said, pointing to the growing drug trade that preys on working people.

The drug trade is a big business under capitalism, Martin said. And this wont end until the working class removes the capitalist class from political power through a socialist revolution. One of the first things the revolutionary government in Cuba did after workers and farmers took political power there was to close down the gambling, drug and prostitution trade that devastated the lives of many. Elisa purchased the Spanish edition of Are They Rich Because

Theyre Smart?

To join SWP members campaigning in your area, contact the branch nearest you listed on

page 4.

Tony Lane in Minneapolis and Edwin Fruit in Seattle contributed to this article.
(front page)

Protests say, Prosecute cop who killed Justine Damond!

Star Tribune/Aaron Lavinsky via AP

MINNEAPOLIS  Hundreds gathered here in south Minneapolis July 20 near where Justine Damond was shot and killed by Minneapolis cop Mohamed Noor five days earlier, and then marched to a rally at Beards Plaisance Park.

Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, who was killed by a cop in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights in July 2016, joined the protest, hugging Damonds fiance. This is not a black or white thing, she told the rally before the march. This is a human being thing.

Damond, originally from Australia, was Caucasian and Castile was African-American.

Jeronimo Yanez, the cop who killed Castile, was acquitted in June. Like I said after the verdict, I knew they were going to kill again, Valerie Castile told the rally. And they have.

The crowd chanted, No justice, no peace, prosecute the police!

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, charged with investigating Damonds shooting, is not making any further information public. Noor, one of a handful of Somali-American officers on the force, has refused to be questioned.

There is no video recording of the killing as neither Noor nor his partner Matthew Harrity had turned on their body cameras or the videocam in their squad car.

The two cops had been sent to respond to a 911 call from Damond, who reported she heard what sounded like a sexual assault in the alley behind her home. When she walked up to the cops car in her pajamas, Noor shot her in the stomach.

The rally drew participants from the surrounding neighborhood and from across the Twin Cities, including a number who had been active in protests since the killing of Castile.

We really need to go deep with this and follow through with this and people need to be heard, marcher Julie Shannon told KARE 11 news. And as a whole system things need to change because this isnt OK.

The following day, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges asked for and got the resignation of Police Chief Janee Harteau.

There is widespread discussion and debate about what can be done to curtail cop abuse among working people and capitalist politics in the city. Robert Bennett, the lawyer for the Damond family, called for more rigorous procedures for hiring of cops, better police training, and more exacting instructions covering cop use of body and squad car cameras. Somali-American City Council member Abdi Warsame, called for the city to find a different police chief who could provide fundamental change.

No amount of so-called de-escalation training, sensitivity training, body cameras and community policing programs will change the nature of the police, Socialist Workers candidate for mayor David Rosenfeld said in a public statement. Like every aspect of the criminal justice system, cop brutality is an essential part of how the rulers protect their interests.

The fight against police brutality, and the call for the prosecution of Noor and Yanez, Rosenfeld said, is part of a bigger fight to unify the working class and act in solidarity with all who are exploited and oppressed.

I think the cop needs to go to jail, theres no reason for the shooting, one worker told Rosenfeld as he and other SWP members campaigned on doorsteps in north Minneapolis July 22. It doesnt matter if the police officer is white or Black, he said.

The problem is the character of the police, not the individual, Rosenfeld replied. And the only way to change their behavior is to send them to jail when they kill us.

Angus Knowles, a union bus mechanic, told SWP campaigners Kevin Dwire and Jacquie Henderson that he didnt think workers should have any confidence in the cops. When something happens around here, he said, standing in his front yard, Im not going to call the cops. Thats just asking for more trouble.





Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home




Bhattarai turns down Maoist chairs unification proposal

Convener of the Naya Shakti Party Nepal Baburam Bhattarai has turned down the proposal of CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal for unification between the two forces.
(special feature)

Raul Castro: Cubans are free, independent

and sovereign

Below is an excerpt from a July 14 speech by Cuban President Raul Castro at the closing session of the National Assembly of Peoples Power discussing Cubas relations with Washington. After this excerpt, Castro concluded his talk by reiterating the Cuban peoples solidarity with the people of Venezuela, demanding Washington respect Venezuelas legitimate right to resolve its internal problems peacefully and without any foreign interference. Translation by the Militant.

Regarding our foreign policy, I would like to say the following:

This past June 16, President of the United States Donald Trump, announced his administrations policy toward Cuba  nothing novel for sure, since he reclaimed the rhetoric and elements from a past of confrontation, which has proven to be an absolute failure for over 55 years.

It is evident that the U.S. president has not been well informed on the history of Cuba and its relations with the United States, or on the patriotism and dignity of the Cuban people.

History cannot be forgotten, as they have at times suggested we do. [Then U.S. President Barack Obama urged Cubans to leave the past behind in a March 22, 2016, address on Cuban television, to forget about the decades of Washingtons economic, political and military attacks against Cubas socialist revolution.] For more than 200 years, the ties between Cuba and the United States have been marked, on the one hand, by the attempts of the northern neighbor to dominate our country, and on the other, by the determination of Cubans to be free, independent, and sovereign.

Throughout the entire 19th century  different U.S. administrations tried to take possession of Cuba  they did so in 1898, with a deceitful intervention at the end of the 30-year war Cubans waged for their independence [from Spain]. U.S. troops entered as allies, and then became occupiers.

Negotiating with Spain behind Cubas back, they militarily occupied the country for four years  and imposed an addendum to the constitution of the nascent republic, the Platt Amendment, which gave them the right to intervene in our internal affairs and establish, among other things, the Guantanamo naval base, which today still usurps part of our national territory  the return of which we will continue to demand. 

On Jan. 1, 1959, exactly 60 years later, with the triumph of the revolution led by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, we became definitively free and independent.

From that moment on, the strategic goal of Washington toward Cuba has been to overthrow the revolution. For more than five decades they resorted to diverse methods: economic war, breaking diplomatic relations, armed invasion, attempts to assassinate our principal leaders, sabotage, a naval blockade, the creation and support of armed bands, state terrorism, internal subversion, the economic, political, and media blockade, and international isolation.

Ten administrations held office until President Barack Obama, in his Dec. 17, 2014, speech, without renouncing their strategic goal, had the good sense to recognize that isolation had not worked, and that it was time for a new focus toward Cuba.

Washington profoundly isolated

No one could deny that the United States, in its attempts to isolate Cuba, in the end found itself profoundly isolated. The policy of hostility and blockade toward our country had become a serious obstacle to relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, and was rejected almost unanimously by the international community. Within U.S. society, a growing majority opposed to this policy had developed, including among a good portion of the Cuban emigre community. 

Over the last two years, working on the basis of respect and equality, diplomatic relations have been re-established and progress made toward resolving pending bilateral matters, as well as cooperation on issues of mutual interest and benefit. Limited modifications were made to the implementation of some aspects of the blockade. The two countries established the basis from which to work toward building a new type of relationship, demonstrating that civilized coexistence is possible despite profound differences.

At the end of President Obamas term in office, the blockade, the Guantanamo naval base and the regime change policy remained in place.

The announcements made by the current U.S. president June 16 represent a step back in bilateral relations. This is the opinion of many people and organizations in the United States and around the world, who have overwhelmingly expressed their outright rejection of the changes. This sentiment was also expressed by our youth and student organizations, Cuban women, workers, farmers, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, intellectuals, and religious groups, on behalf of the vast majority of the nations citizens.

The U.S. government has decided to tighten the blockade by imposing new obstacles on its businesspeople to trade and invest in Cuba, and additional restrictions on its citizens to travel to the country, justifying these measures with outdated, hostile, Cold War rhetoric regarding the Cuban peoples exercise and enjoyment of human rights and democracy. 

Today, we reiterate the revolutionary governments condemnation of measures to tighten the blockade, and reaffirm that any attempt to destroy the revolution, whether through coercion and pressure, or the use of more subtle methods, will fail.

We likewise reject use of the issue of human rights against Cuba, which has many reasons to be proud of its achievements, and does not need to receive lessons from the United States or anyone else (Applause). 

Cuba and the United States can cooperate and live together, respecting our differences and promoting everything that benefits both countries and peoples, but dont expect that, to do so, Cuba will make concessions essential to its sovereignty and independence. Nor will it negotiate its principles or accept conditions of any kind, just as we have never done throughout the history of the revolution.

Independently of what the U.S. government does, or does not decide to do, we will continue advancing along the path sovereignly chosen by our people.
While it may seem like MPs have barely been back in Westminster for five minutes, its time to offer up some book inspo for our politicians as they begin their summer recess.

They could let their hair down by immersing themselves in fiction or opt for more weighty political tomes to get them ready for the tough work once Parliament is back in session in September.

If theyre trying to keep up with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, last summer he read Chernobyl Prayer by Svetlana Alexievich, a Nobel prize-winning collection of eyewitness accounts from the reactor disaster of 1986.

Hmmm, what shall I read? (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Meanwhile, Corbyn might want to maintain his youthful appeal by reading the books suggested for students starting at Stanford University in the US as part of its Three Books scheme. This year, the reading has been selected by Dr Noah Diffenbaugh, professor of earth system science. They are Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, Salvage The Bones by Jesmyn Ward and Elizabeth Kolberts The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.

Elsewhere, there is political etiquette in reading the works penned by your colleagues. In the same year David Cameron read Coming Up Trumps: A Memoir by Baroness Trumpington, Ed Miliband read Ten Cities That Made An Empire by then Stoke Central MP Tristram Hunt, now director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Nick Clegg read The Cruel Victory by previous Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown.

To follow the trend, current MPs could choose Johnny Mercers autobiography We Were Warriors, which was published in June. In it the Plymouth MP charts his journey from Afghanistan to Westminster.

Alternatively, they could reach for Rachel Reevess book Alice In Westminster: The Political Life Of Alice Bacon, chronicling the life of the former Labour MP for Leeds North East, which was published late in 2016. Reeves serves the constituency of Leeds West. Former Labour frontbencher Harriet Harman, the MP for Camberwell and Peckham, published A Womans Work in February.

Johnny Mercer served in the British Army for 12 years before being elected as an MP (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

For something entirely different, politicians could try the second novel from Paula Hawkins, Into The Water. Her first book, The Girl On The Train, was on then US president Barack Obamas 2016 reading list, giving the former journalist bragging rights over and above having a best-selling debut.

Into The Water is probably the book which everyone will read on holiday this year, thereby offering even the most out-of-touch politician an I know the price of milk equivalent in page-turner form.

For anyone wanting to mimic Obamas 2016 list completely, theyd need to also pick up Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, H Is For Hawk by Helen Macdonald and Seveneves by Neal Stephenson.

What will the PM read on her holiday? (Marco Bertorello/PA)

Closer to home, Cameron revealed a real breadth in his reading choices, one year taking Skippy Dies  the comic account of life at a Catholic public school in Dublin  as well as Simon Sebag Montefiores Jerusalem: The Biography. When still leader of the opposition, he opted for Terror And Consent by Philip Bobbitt, a book also read by US politician John McCain when he was competing against Obama for the White House.

Miliband attracted attention in 2011 for the weightiness of his holiday reading, including Leadership On The Line: Staying Alive Through The Dangers Of Leading by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky.

Perhaps a good book as we go into conference season following the summer hiatus?

Cameron has no need to reveal his reading list any more (Neil Hall/PA)

And finally, spare a thought for Brexit Secretary David Davis, who last year said his summer would be spent reading thousands of pages of international trade law and European treaties.

You can only imagine he still has plenty more pages to go.
Religion is supposed to be a bad thing, right?

I'm not particularly religious, spiritual perhaps, but not religious. But religion has always interested me, and I spent my AS History learning about the Crusades. Anything my teacher didn't know about the Crusades wasn't worth knowing.

So, when I was working around the Farringdon/Clerkenwell area - I took a quick stop at the Museum of the Order of Saint John.

Expanding around the world, the order built hospitals around the world, both in the Levant and abroad. Settling in Clerkenwell in the 1100s, they were expelled from Britain when Henry VIII founded the Church of England.

They would later have bases in Cyprus, Rhodes, and Malta, in the latter, they formed a bastion of knights defending Southern Europe from the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia and North Africa. Based in Rome for a while, an Order has existed in Britain since being formed in 1888 by Queen Victoria's royal charter, this order has its' roots in the pan European Catholic order of knights founded in 1099.

It has helped provide ambulances and first aid kits and courses in 40 nations around the world.

Which means, it ultimately has been a source of good in the world, the services it provides makes a real difference in helping to save lives. It continues to do so in an era in which more and more people are looking upon religion with utter contempt.

Don't think religion turns people bad, it merely amplifies the qualities already within the person, and the museum helps to celebrate those who have taken solace in their religion and done good as a result of it.

It's important to recognise these and other religious charities that perform such good deeds and help make the world a better place and this museum helps you realise that.

It also has something for history buffs - you can see the history of the knights through the Crusades with diagrams, beautiful artefacts and lots of sources from the period. The site is quite small, but the information there is all informative and insightful and leaves you wanting more. In a good way.

The museum is of course, free, so if you have the chance to stop by and have some time to kill, it definitely is worth the visit.
A new app with the tagline date celebrities discreetly is launching, promising privacy and authenticity for its users.

If that all sounds a bit weird, its because the app is definitely not offering mere mortals the opportunity to engage with their favourite celebrities at the swipe of a finger. That would probably be too good to be true.

The catch is you also have to be considered a celebrity to get a spot on the dating app. And their criteria for that? A blue verified tick on Twitter.

(blog.loveflutter.com)

Blue is the premium version of Loveflutter, a dating app launched in 2013 that uses Twitter to connect users. This time theyve got rid of the plebs. The great unwashed. The majority of Twitter users.

Swipe interesting people nearby in music, film, fashion, politics, media, sports, business and more, the website says.

Around 200,000 Twitter accounts have been verified, Blue said, and they include everyone from LeBron James to probably your local newspapers fishing correspondent  with the club much less exclusive since Twitter allowed anyone to apply for a verified account.

If you think your account should be verified  let us know! Check out our article to learn what it takes to apply. https://t.co/J8MUNCC5bg  Twitter Verified (@verified) October 6, 2016

But Blue is largely being sold as the safest dating community ever.

In an era of catfishing and fake identities, authenticity is key, which is why were leveraging Twitters world-class verification system to make dating safer, the website says.

Offering further rationale for the exclusive platform, it says: For those of you in the public eye, privacy and authenticity in dating are a key concern. Its why weve tapped into a ready-made community of like-minded singles.

The app will be free for the first 1,000 members in each city, with the rollout taking place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, London and Tokyo.

A monthly subscription fee will be announced, with Blue testing different prices to see what works for people.

Some people feel shunned. Sad.

Really want to get involved with the blue tick dating scene but, alas, I'm still not verified. Twitter has no-platformed me.  Simon Hedges (@Orwell_Fan) July 26, 2017

Others have their own ideas.

could someone please start a dating app for people who would, out of principle, never in their lives earnestly use an 'elite' dating app  maddie holden (@winningprotocol) July 26, 2017

And a few are unsure the clientele will actually be that high-brow.

Predictions for who is on the verified twitter user dating app  Rose Callaghan (@operation_rosie) July 26, 2017

Not to mention the much-talked about echo chamber.

Twitter announces Blue, the echo chamber dating app. Now verified users can meet up online with like minded checkmarks.  RoastAnatomy (@RoastAnatomy) July 26, 2017

But if youre a lonely single person with a blue tick, download the Loveflutter app and itll let you know when the exclusive version becomes available.
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Dr KC supporters start relay hunger strike at Maitighar Mandala

Supporters of Dr Govinda KC, who has been staging hunger strike at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, have started relay hunger strike at Maitighar Mandala in the Capital from Saturday.
Duo held with loaded guns in Taplejung

Police on Friday arrested two persons in possession of two loaded guns from Sirijangha Rural Municipality of Taplejung.
Farewell, Bird of Fire!

Lain Singh Bangdel was best known for being the catalyst that brought Modernism into Nepali art. His daughter, Dina Bangdel, who passed away on t July 25 in Richmond (USA), had carried his legacy forward to astonishing results.
KC, govt team talks inconclusive again

The second round of talks between the government talk team and representatives of fasting Dr Govinda KC on the sixth day of his hunger strike also ended without any conclusion on Saturday.
Hamlin senior throws standout Gracelyn Leiseth headed to Florida

Hamlin's Gracelyn Leiseth to compete in women's track and field at the University of Florida.
Paddy output likely to fall in 5 Tarai districts

Newly-appointed Minister for Agricultural Development Ram Krishna Yadav on Friday directed his officials to find immediate, mid-term and long-term solutions to address the problem of low paddy transplantation in five central and eastern Tarai districts.
Govt begins procurement process of raw materials from India to build Fast Track

The government has begun the procurement process of raw materials and other equipment from India to build the Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track, the newly appointed Defence Minister Bhimshen Das Pradhan said on Friday.
Roaring back

Just a decade ago, if someone had told us that Bankes jungles would one day have a thriving population of tigers of its own, they would have been labeled as crazy, says Sabitra Pun.
Besides the brilliant acting skills, the humble nature and hospitality make Anil Kapoor one of the most gracious actors in Bollywood.

The 60-year-old actor from Mumbai took good care of the whole crew of Mubarakan, which was released on Friday.

Despite his busy schedule, the Slumdog Millionaire actor managed to attend the films special screening with the whole the cast and crew.

Anil showed up on time and met everyone personally to thank them for the support he received during the production of the film.

Directed by Anees Bazmee, Mubarakan features Arjun Kapoor, Ileana D'Cruz and Athiya Shetty besides much-experienced actor Anil.

The film has won hearts in no time and is being loved by one and all.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday asked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to explain if his family had deliberately attacked the Golden Temple in 1984 with the aim of destroying the symbol of Sikh faith and taken advice and help from the United Kingdom government to make this conspiracy successful.

In a statement here, former minister and SAD General Secretary Bikram Majithia said the recent disclosures by British Sikh MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi about the help extended by the UK government to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to plan and execute Operation Bluestar on the Golden Temple complex, which houses the holiest of Sikh shrines  the Harmandir Sahib.

"It has become clear that the aim was not to flush out militants as claimed. This could be done in many ways. But the manner in which the attack was carried out with foreign help using helicopter gunships and tanks indicate it was carried out deliberately to destroy the symbol of the Sikh faith," Majithia said.

Dhesi, UK's first turban-wearing MP who is on a private visit to Punjab, had told the media that he would pitch for an independent inquiry into the role of the UK government in Operation Bluestar.

The Indian Army carried out Operation Bluestar in June 1984 to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple complex.

Majithia said this was the reason why the Gandhi family had never offered an unqualified apology for the attack on the Sikh race.

"Rahul Gandhi has never expressed remorse, forget seeking forgiveness from the community for attacking their supreme religious places and butchering its members en masse in massacres engineered by his family members," he added.

"Even now the Gandhi family was keeping a studied silence on the issue of seeking help from the UK government to attack the Golden Temple. After disclosures that a security adviser from the UK visited India and that those storming into the Darbar Sahib complex were given training by the UK's elite SAS (special forces), the Gandhi family has not thought it fit to explain its actions.

"The family should apologise for seeking help to suppress Sikhs from the British who suppressed the country and butchered its freedom fighters. This amounts to disrespecting the freedom fighters also," he added.

Saying, it was never too late to express remorse and beg forgiveness from the Sikh community, Majitha asked Rahul Gandhi to "come clean and lay bare the entire conspiracy" hatched by his grand-mother to strike against the Sikh race besides seeking forgiveness for the same.
On the 13th anniversary of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatras mahaprayan (death), Odissi dancers across the world offered their sraddhanjali (tributes) through new productions as well as the great gurus choreographic works.

I had the good fortune of attending the two-day long festival in the memory of the legend by his prime disciple and son, who is now a guru in his own right, at GKCM Research Centre, Bhubaneswar. There, Guru Kelucharans disciples gathered informally to reminisce about their golden days under his tutelage.

In the morning session on the first day, Guru jis Italian disciple Ileana Citaristi, who has made Bhubaneswar her home, was the master of ceremonies. Among the speakers who shared their first hand knowledge of the guru were Ananga Dwivedi, who wrote the script of Konark for Guruji's dance-drama of the same name and Satchidananda Das ,the mardala exponent, who spoke of the way Guru ji played the mardala, which entered ones heart as a piece of fine poetry. Speaker Sneha Samant Ray described him as a Karma Yogi, who was a stickler for perfection. Ramesh Chandra Das described him as Jibanta Iswar (living god) with an amazing sense of humour. He was an instrument in my destiny, said Citaristi.

Among the eminent speakers were Sangita Gossain, associate professor, Utkal University and chief executive of the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Research Centre. She said that Gurujihad an immense capacity to inspire.The patachitra artist that he was, he used his power of drawing to express himself, besides using sign language in countries where he was a foreigner. Every experience was a learning curve for him. Even when he was with Dr Devi Shetty for a heart surgery, he took it as an opportunity to ask the doctor, how much pressure he needed to give and to which part of the body, in order to avoid injury and thus was able to refashion his dance style accordingly. Endless were the anecdotes about him.

The first evening saw Rajashree Praharaj, Ileana Citaristi, Itisree Devi, Pranati Mohanty and Rajib Bhattacharya perform Guru Pranam before they got down to their individual pieces. Pandit Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar awardee, Praharaj made a mark with her flawless rendition of Ardhanariswara choreographed by Guruji. The piece-de-resistance was Mohantys abhinaya piece, Kuru Yadu nandana, which was painstakingly taught to her by Guru ji. People left the hall teary-eyed.

Samakala, based on contemporary Odissi but rooted in tradition, was performed the next evening by the disciples of Srjan. It proved for the umpteenth time, Guru Ratikant Mohapatras ability to train students with a perfection that few can match in the country. In Synthesis, the sculptures on temple walls left their silent abode to render myriads of tala patterns, alongside the modern compositions. Sculpture-like physique of the pupils lent well to the piece.

In Madhava Nritya performed duet, Praharaj excelled as Rai delineating most of the nine emotions to create rasa. Vithala Smarane was a sheer devotion piece.

On the other hand, Mosaic, founded by Bharatanatyam performer-cummentor Mohana Iyer presented an evening of Bharatanatyam margam formulated by the Tanjavur quartet. It recapitulated what Balasaraswati had revealed years ago  that each piece of the Bharatanatyam margam attributes to different parts o the temple. Mosaic aimed to attain Saayujyam or divine connection invoking Ganesha, composed by saint poetess Ouvaiyaar.

Next up was Alarippu choreographed by CV Chandrasekhar, a fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi, in ragam Navarasakanada and Misra Chapu Talam. What the gopuram is to a temple, Alarippu is to the Bharatnatyam repertoire.The outer prakaram, an open space with a specific geometric shape is much like the Jatiswaram, which is a pure dance. It was presented in Mohana ragam and adi talam by Mohana Iyer, fused with repetitive musical notes and composed by Mridangam Vidhwan R Srinivasan.

Presentation of Sabdam, a Madurai N Krishnan composition in ragam Malika, showcased the inner prakaram where sculptures of paintings of Gods and Goddesses on pillars abound. Sabdam was a reverential piece to the mother of Kartikeya. The garbhagriham or the sanctum sanctorum, which houses the Lord naturally called for a Varnam. Requring a great deal of skill, it was rendered to a discerning audience of rasikas, where the seeker and truth, signifying the devotee and deity, came to a point of union. A natural corollary of the piece was the union of the jeevatma and the paramatma. It was allegorical, where the jeevatma finds its existence impossible without the paramatma. In this case the paramatma is the son of Shiva who rides a peacock. It was in Kamboji ragam and a TS Kalyanasundaram Pillai composition. The dance was composed by mentor Mohana Iyer.

The popular bhajan, Sri Ramchandra kripalu bhajaman by Tulsi Das was evocative. A Madhura bhakti Padam showing srinagara rasa by Kalanidhi Narayanan was included. It dealt with the theme of separation and union in a common parlance. Composed by Subbarama Iyer, in ragam Kapi andadi tala, it was savoured well by the rasikas. Padam is usually performed solo but it was performed by Rituparna Pal and Pritam Das. The dancers rounded off the evening with a Madhurai N Krishnan Tillana where the dancer abandoned themselves purely to rhythm and movement. The dance composition was by Mohana Iyer. The participants Anisha Parameshwaran, Ranu Saha, Rituparna Pal, Shantanu Roy and Pritam Das are good dancers in the making.

The success of a dance evening takes team work. Just good dancing is not enough. Besides other factors, the auditorium should give maximum comfort to both dancers and rasikas. Rasika Ranjani Hall did not meet up to anybodys expectation. In such sweltering heat, a critic can do little justice to performers. While there may be several factors preventing the sabha from modernising the hall, in my opinion, that needs to be given a serious thought.
While National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Dovals discussions with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on the stand-off at Doklam may not have yielded immediate results, his visit to Beijing has certainly brought down the high level of anti-India rhetoric that the Chinese official media indulged in ever since the logjam began in mid-June.

In fact, Chinese news agency Xinhua praised Prime Minister Narendra Modis leadership and Indias "open foreign economic policy" in a lengthy commentary the day Doval reached Beijing, in an unexpected break from the shrill rhetoric unleashed by the official media.

Observers said Indias refusal to budge from its position over the stalemate may have prompted Beijing to ask the official media to tone down its criticism of the Indian leadership since the media campaign was not paying dividends.

Doval is expected to brief PM Modi, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on his discussions with the Chinese side on the stand-off.

Since Parliament is in session, the government is also likely to inform both Houses on the contacts with China to end the stalemate. Modi is scheduled to visit China in September for the BRICS Summit and also have bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. New Delhi would like the stand-off to end before the PMs visit to China but is doubtful whether it was possible, given the strong positions taken by both sides.

Sources in the Indian establishment are, however, drawing satisfaction from the fact that Doval was able to discuss major problems with Yang despite Beijings insistence for weeks that there would be no talks with India until Indian troops withdrew from their positions at the disputed site.

We have all along been saying that we wish to resolve the stand-off through diplomatic meansthe NSAs talks with his Chinese counterpart was the first significant step in this direction, official sources added.

Delhi is hopeful that diplomatic channels on both sides would be activated in the coming weeks in the run up to the Modi-Xi meeting on the margins of the BRICS Summit.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and said he has not resigned even though his "family's name" figured in the Panama Papers.

"Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had to resign because his name figured in the Panama Papers. Here the name of Chief Minister's family also figured in Panama Papers, but he (Raman Singh) didn't resign," Congress Gandhi said while addressing "Jan Adhikar" rally here.

"How can he resign? He is the leader of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)," Gandhi said.

The Congress had targeted Raman Singh earlier also citing an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) leak and said that "name of Raman Singh's son Abhishek Singh figured in it".

The list spelt his name as "Abhishak Singh", with "a" replacing "e" in his first name. A company  Quest Heights Ltd  was said to be registered in the name of "Abhishak Singh".

Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress leader said: "He speaks over corruption but he cannot see the corruption of his own leaders."

Gandhi said that in Chhattisgarh, the government was busy snatching the rights of the people of the state.

"I can see only one thing happening here, whether it is land, water or forest, whatever belongs to you is now being snatched by the government," he said.

Gandhi also accused the BJP and the RSS of trying to end the reservations by using the tool of "outsourcing".

"RSS and BJP are trying to end reservations. They are using the word 'outsourcing' to end reservations from the backdoor," he said.

In Chattisgarh, everyone could get employment but the people of the state, he added.

The Congress Vice President asked the people whether they had the the merit to get a job in their own state. "Do only people from Maharashtra know how to work in Chattisgarh?"

The Congress leader also accused the state government of telling a lie about building a steel plant in Bastar only to acquire land.

"They acquired your land saying that we would construct a steel plant here, and many of you will get employment. But later you came to know that the plant was not coming," he pointed out.

"And to date, the people have not got their land back," he added.
The BJP appears hurt with J-K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti praising Indira Gandhi and also threatening that any tinkering with the Article 35A that grants J&K legislature powers to define states permanent residents would have adverse repercussions in Jammu and Kashmir.

The BJP that shares power in J&K with Mehboobas PDP on Saturday reacted strongly by asserting that her statement on Article 35A does not depict true picture and is politically incorrect. The Constitutional provision deprives women of J&K of their fundamental rights and nationalism cannot be tagged with the Article 35A.

Mehbooba appears to have targeted the BJP when she said: For me India is Indira Gandhi. Maybe some people won't like it, but she was India. While I was growing up, she represented India for me.

This indicates the strains that have come to the fore between the PDP and BJP particularly due to delay in implementation of the Agenda of Alliance signed by the two parties. The PDP leadership has been showing aggressive postures on the delay and has been demanding resumption of talks with Pakistan and separatists on the Kashmir issue as the partys base has shrunk in the Valley.

Mehbooba in her speech at the 18th foundation day of the PDP on Saturday at Srinagar appeared upset with the BJP when she questioned as to why voices of closing the two centres for trade with Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK) were being raised on the pretext of hawala money and drugs for secessionist activity coming through these places. No such demand is made when drugs are smuggled through the Wagha border in Punjab. She said PDP will not allow closure of cross-LoC trade and continue to work towards opening more routes across LoC with POK.

Reverting to her pre-BJP coalition rhetoric, she demanded that the seats reserved for POK in the J&K Assembly should be filled through nomination and the session of the house held by rotation on this side of the Line of Control (LoC) and also in Muzaffrabad, which is the capital of POK.

She stressed that exchange of students and visitors between the divided Kashmir should be introduced.

Mehbooba appealed all politicians of J&K, including Farooq Abdullah of NC and Ghulam Nabi Azad of Congress, to come together for resolution of all issues related to Jammu and Kashmir.

In a blow to the BJP, quoting her father Mufti Sayeed she reiterated that you cannot kill the idea of Azadi in Kashmir but should evolve some better idea than this one.

Taking jibe at Mehbooba, Umar Abdullah, former Chief Minister and NC leader, tweeted, Mehbooba Mufti's assertion that "India is Indira & Modi is only the man of the moment" would suggest she's ready to exit coalition. No way!!. Omar also tweeted If only her governance was as good as her sound bytes she wouldn't have to blame China & the media for all that plagues J&K today.

BJP chief spokesman Sunil Sethi reacted to Mehboobas assertion on Article 35A by claiming that the provision was introduced in the Constitution of India through process of the Article 370 and in fact has lead to only disparity and inequalities in the state . As the Article 35 A saves state subject laws from applicability of concept of equality, it has lead to a situation on unequal treatment of female state subjects and their children within state .

Sethi in a statement said that though BJP stands by Agenda of Alliance and won't seek alteration of existing Constitutional position, but it is equally true that the Article 35 A has created more harm to the state than any other provision of law.

He further said that the state subject laws, which are protected by the Article 35 A, are also responsible for retarding growth and progress of the state which has become fiscally dependent on grants of the central government in the absence of less investments and infrastructural projects in the state as outsiders are reluctant in putting their money in J&K.Despite having more natural resources, the state is in financial mess because of self isolation.
The attack on two women in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh suspected of carrying beef (though it turned out to be buffalo meat) was the 26th in 118 days since 55-year-old Pehlu Khan died after a mob attack on April 1, bringing the count to 27 cases of cow-related violence in seven months this year.

This is the most in eight years, according to an IndiaSpend database that records such violence in India. We have now recorded as many as 70 cases of cow-related violence over eight years.

Created through a collection and content analysis of reports in the English media  which tend to have the greatest spread of national news  the database shows that 97 per cent (68 of 70) of such incidents were reported after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government came to power in May 2014. More than half or 54 per cent of the cow-related violence  38 of 70 cases  were from states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), when the attacks were reported, revealed our analysis of violence recorded until July 27.

The data shows that Muslims were the target of 51 per cent (36 of 70) cases of violence centred on bovine issues over nearly eight years (2010 to 2017) and comprised 86 per cent (24 of 28) killed.

As least 136 people were also injured in these attacks, and more than half (54 per cent) of these attacks were based on rumours.

Despite the increase in violence related to bovine issues, particularly over the last three years, the Ministry of Home Affairs does not collect data on lynchings, said a government statement to the Lok Sabha on July 25.

National or state crime data do not distinguish general violence from cow-related attacks and lynchings, so the IndiaSpend database is the first such statistical perspective to a growing national debate over such violence.

In nearly half the attacks (49 per cent), police register cases against victims.

Of 70 attacks over eight years, 68 (97 per cent) occurred, as we said, after Modi's government came to power (2014-2017), with most attacks within seven months in 2017. The year 2016 reported the second-most cases of cow-related violence at 25 incidents.

In nearly half or 49 per cent (34 attacks) of cases reported, police registered cases against victims/survivors  as they did in Mandsaur.

On June 29, 2017, a day after protests in Indian cities, London and New York against the government's slow response and silence after nationwide attacks against mostly Muslims and Dalits, Modi, speaking at the centenary celebrations of Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, said:

"Killing people in the name of gau bhakti (cow worship) is unacceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve of."

"No one has the right to take law into his/her hands. We belong to a land of non-violence. Violence is not the solution to any problem."

On July 16, the Prime Minister, in a series of Tweets, once again criticised cow vigilantes and put the onus on state governments to stringently act against them.

As many as 1,235 cases related to offences promoting enmity between different groups  under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, etc.) and 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Indian Penal Code  were reported during 2014-16, according to a July 25 Lok Sabha reply to a question on lynchings.

"[Under sections 153A and 153B of the Indian Penal Code] the National Crime Records Bureau [NCRB] maintains data on offences promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth etc However, it does not maintain data on cases relating to cow 'vigilantes', cow trade and trafficking," Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Minister of State for Home, told the Lok Sabha in his reply.

"Offences promoting enmity between different groups" increased 41 per cent over three years to 2016, rising from 336 to 475. Uttar Pradesh, India's most-populous state, reported the most (202) cases, registering a 346 per cent increase, from 26 in 2014 to 116 in 2016. It was followed by Kerala (151), Karnataka (114), Telangana (104) and Maharashtra (103), among the top five states, over three years.

Cases in Uttarakhand increased at the greatest rate nationwide, 450 per cent, from four in 2014 to 22 in 2016.

With mob violence in the name of cow protection rising, the National Campaign Against Mob Lynching, a committee of civil society members, has proposed a new law. The Manav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA) suggests no bail for those accused of mob lynching, life imprisonment for those convicted and immediate suspension of the concerned station house officer. An online petition demanding MASUKA has received over 34,000 signatures.
In a tete-a-tete with The Statesman, prolific writer and a well-known author Ruskin Bond spoke about his personal life, professional life, love, relationships and much more, unabashedly. Bond has written over 500 short stories and articles that have appeared in magazines and anthologies.

He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1993, the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014. Born in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, and growing up in Jamnagar, Dehradun, New Delhi and Shimla, Bond has immense love for India. As a young man, he spent four years in the Channel Islands and London and returned to India from England in 1955 and started freelancing from Dehradun.

He now lives in Landour, Mussoorie, with his adopted family.

In an interview with NIVEDITA R, he reminisced about his childhood, his father and the unforgettable times spent with him.

Excerpts:

Q: How did you feel when your first article got published in The Statesman? How old were you?

A: I came back from England in March 1955 when I was 19 years old and I would bombard most of the magazines in India with stories, essays and articles. My priority was writing for The Illustrated Weekly of India and The Statesman of Calcutta. In fact, one of my most popular stories The Eyes Have It, which is till today frequently put into anthologies, was first published in The Statesman in early 1955.

I was thrilled when it got published and I still do get thrilled sometimes when my story gets published (smiles). I got about Rs.35 per story back then. I had cuttings of some of the stories, which I lost over a period of time. There were many stories that went into The Statesman, which in a way I've lost but maybe I shall have to go there one day to find them again and, hopefully, they have kept all the old papers.

Q: What do you like most about India? Why didn't you ever think about returning to England?

A: Well, I like the general informality of life here and also the morality. From one part of the country to another, there are so many cultures and languages and customs. There's always something happening and no writer here can ever complain about running out of material or stories. On a personal level, I find it easy to get to know people and make friends. I have relationships and attachments, which is not easy in other countries maybe. Growing up here, there is love of the land itself and that sense of belonging has always been there.

Q: What do you have to say about controversies surrounding freedom of expression and intolerance towards liberal writers?

A: Controversies come and go. I think, inherently by nature, Indians are a tolerant people although there are, maybe, periods or moments of conflicting ideas and ideologies. But by and large people here have always believed in 'live and let live'. And I have been living in a place for 50 years, where everyone knows me but no one intrudes or tells me how I should be living. So, I think by and large the natural tolerance of people will predominate.

Q: Do you think writers, in general, should get into these controversies?

A: It depends on writers and some by nature are likely to want to be activists and prevent social inequalities and so on. There are so many causes always. So that's fine. Some will succeed and others won't.

Q:Where do you draw your inspiration from?

A: I draw my inspiration from people as they are stories. I'm always interested in people, very often humble people, from different walks of life. Also, from the natural world since Ive always been close to nature.Trees, forests, rivers, mountains, birds, they all give me something to ponder on and write about. Contemplation of my life has also been an inspiration. Im a fairly subjective writer. There are so many memories, so many friendships, and relationships that I don't really run out of material or stories.

Q: What keeps you persistently motivated?

A: Its the fact that I love writing and also Ive to support a fairly large adopted family. It's a combination of things. Even if I didn't need to write for income, I would nevertheless be a writer. I'm an obsessive writer.

Q: Six decades on, do you have any qualms or regrets?

A: I'm a writer without regrets because I've done most of the things I wanted to do at least as a writer. I know I'm not going to write a magnum opus but within my limitations Ive written stories, essays, poems, memoirs and given time I'll continue to do so. I wouldn't stop writing. Maybe in personal relationships sometimes you feel you could have done better or not hurt somebody or been more supportive to a relative or a friend or loved one.

Q: Whom do you miss the most?

A: Looking back, I was very close to my father and Ive written a special memoir about him called Looking for the Rainbow. That's more or less for young readers and older people seem to like it too. Of course, there were others close to me too but as time passes, the connecting links get weaker.

Q: Do you have any fond memory of your childhood?

A: My father would come back from work and then he would take me for walks around Delhi and this was Delhi in 1942, when World War II was on. If he took me to Purana Qila or Red Fort or Humayun's Tomb, he would tell me the history behind those places. I learnt a lot from him that way. Although I missed school for one-and-a-half years, when I was eight or nine-years-old, he did put me in boarding school in Simla (now Shimla), where everyone thought I would find it difficult to keep up with others but I got double promotion (laughs).

Childhood memories are of course disjointed but the news of my fathers death was quite a traumatic experience. Then when I went to my second home to my mother and step father in Dehradun, it took some time for me to get adjusted. These incidents gave me insight into childhood and helped me to write about other children too and empathise with their difficulties. Then and in my teens, everyone told me that maybe I was a bit too old for my age. Now, it's opposite as people say I'm too childish for an old man.

Q: Tell me about your autobiography, Lone Fox Dancing.

A: A lot of it covers my writing life and personal life or the connection between the two. This is purely factual. This took me over a year to complete. I did other short stories in between.

Q: You have written in various genres. What's your favourite one?

A: I like writing for children. I write realistic stories as Im not very good at fantasy. It would be about children having their adventures or some experience that might be very challenging or affecting their lives. And short stories are probably my favourite genre, which Ive been most successful in. Ive written over 100 short stories, novellas, etc. I can write about anything.

Q: Do you ever suffer writer's block? If yes,how do you overcome it?

A: Yes, occasionally, but not very often as I enjoy writing. If I sit down to write something, I would have done it in my head first. I would visualise a story from beginning to end first. Visualising is important. Although the dialogue and description can come in later, the beginning, middle and end of the story should be there so that you don't break down half way through. Sometimes in longer works, you do get stuck. Then put it aside for some time, and come back to it later. Probably you will get new ideas and if all else fails, theres a waste paper basket.

Q: How's your life in Mussoorie?

A: Well, one isn't really living away from hustle and bustle because most of the year round, a place like Mussoorie is invaded by good citizens of Delhi, who come for holidays and I also get tourists knocking and begging on my door every now and then. Theres a lot of horrendous traffic jams. Getting in and out of the town has become difficult. It's got very commercialised.

Q: What would you like to say to budding writers?

A: Well, we do hear about a lot of success stories of young writers across the globe and in India too, which was rare in earlier times. I think there are a lot of young people who want to take up writing or emulate the more popular writers. Sometimes they are not polished enough in their language but so keen to get published that they often make the mistake of going to vanity publishers or self publishing, spending all their savings on bringing out a book. Try to get your book published by an established publisher who would give you royalty. You must be paid for your work, which I've said throughout my life. You must insist on a royalty or payment for your work.

Q: Is there any shortcut to success?

A: There is no shortcut to success. Perseverance is the key to success and don't be impatient. Persevere if you are confident in yourself.
It is often said there are no permanent enemies or friends in politics but only permanent interests. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has proved this once again. He parted ways with his foe-turnedfriend-turned foe RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday. He retained power by getting support from friend-turned-foe-turned-friend the BJP.

The two parties had been in alliance until 2013 when Kumar walked out of the NDA protesting against Narendra Modis projection as the NDA prime ministerial candidate.

It was Nitish who had stitched up a Grand Alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress in Bihar in 2015 that delivered a crushing blow to the BJP in the Assembly polls. In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the RJD has 80 MLAs, the Congress 27 and the CPIML has three.

It was not surprising that the Grand Alliance much touted by the opposition as a model to be replicated at the national level did not last the full term; it was born out of political opportunism and there was mistrust and suspicion among the coalition partners  the JD (U), RJD and the Congress.

It was only a question of when and not why. And it has happened in just two years.

The excuse, of course was the corruption of the Lalu family. Ending the will he, won't he dilemma Nitish Kumar parted company with Lalu and joined hands with the BJP to retain his chief ministership on Thursday. In just 40 hours, the whole scripted drama was played out. Justifying his opportunism, Nitish Kumar claimed after the swearing in ceremony, "Whatever decision we have taken will be in the interest of Bihar and of its people. It will ensure development and justice." Why did Nitish choose to embrace the BJP?

He had been comfortable with the BJP all along. Even after Godhra, he remained with the NDA in 2002. It is not surprising that he chose to go back because in his calculations the opposition had no narrative to challenge Narendra Modi and felt it was better to join Modi than fight him. Secondly, he has also realised that the opposition was not going to project him as a prime ministerial candidate.

Failing to bag this honour, he wasnt willing to become subservient to Lalu who was seeking to widen his support base through Mayawati and Akhilesh. Thirdly, Nitish saw that continuing in the Grand Alliance was not giving him any benefits at the state or at the national level. However, experts feel that while Nitish might have gained for the time being, the future is uncertain. Secular voters who opted for the Grand Alliance are disappointed that he has chosen to go with the BJP. The opposition respected him but this has now eroded entirely.

On the other hand, the BJP sees him as a necessity for the next poll but there is no trust between the two. What does it mean at the national level? Bihar is an important state politically and the impact will be felt surely when one of the nonBJP parties of which the JD (U) was an important constituent parts company to join the saffron ranks. Opposition unity, carefully built up to check the BJP, may now be a pipedream after the departure of the JD (U).

The Congress could be a minor player in Bihar politics, but it still was that critical glue which held the alliance together. The party had suffered a string of electoral reverses after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and being part of the winning alliance in Bihar had brought some cheer. Failure of the Bihar experiment will be seen as proof of the Congress' growing inability to lead an alternative front at the Centre.

The Bihar effect echoed in Gujarat where six Congress MLAs quit this week. Secondly, the BJP is in a win-win situation. It has successfully broken the Grand Alliance. It is indeed sweet revenge for the BJP as Bihar was the first loss in 2015 for Modi while Delhi was a minor blip.

It has gained the second largest state after UP now. JD (U) may be the bigger partner in the newly formed alliance but JD (U) may be rendered politically obsolete by BJP. The BJP of today is different under Modis leadership and much more dominant than earlier. Also the number of BJP-ruled states has gone up to 18 now while the Congress is ruling only in five states.

Thirdly, the BJP calculates that with a good showing in Bihar and UP, Modi is bound to get re-elected in 2019, The UP Assembly polls had given a big moral boost to the BJP and now with the new political realignment, Bihar too could come under its sway. Fourthly, the BJP will improve its position in the Rajya Sabha, where it is in a minority, with the support of the JD (U) and be better placed to face the opposition onslaught on passage of every Bill. In the Lok Sabha too its numbers will go up.

A disappointed coalition partner Rahul Gandhi said in frustration "He (Nitish) had joined hands with us in the anti-communal fight, but Nitish Kumar, for his personal politics, joined hands with those against whom he had fought."

In short, the Bihar developments have strengthened Modi and weakened opposition unity. As for Nitish, the jury is out.
US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose gradual diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent this war-torn country from being a launch pad for terrorist attacks against the United states.

McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress.

The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA- 2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies, and its core interests.

The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan Government and reduce the Taliban's control of the Afghan population.

As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives including India under this move.

The legislative amendment calls for imposing graduated diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, includingthe Taliban and the Haqqani network.

It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying America's regional diplomatic effortsworking through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The move is also aimed towards advance regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation, and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states.

The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of American economic, and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anti- corruption, financial transparency, and the rule of law.

Calling for increasing the number of US counter terrorism forces in Afghanistan; the amendment calls for providing the United States military with status-based targeting authorities against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al- Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and other terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and its core interests.

In his amendment, McCain calls for pursuing a joint agreement to secure a long-term, open-ended counter terrorism partnership between the US and Afghanistan, which he said would include an enduring United States counter terrorism presence in Afghanistan.

The US Senate is yet to vote on NDAA-2018.

Yesterday, in a statement, McCain rued on the delay in its passage.

It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now, the National Defense Authorization Act, he said.

For 55 years in a row, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides our men and women in uniform with the resources, capabilities, and pay and benefits that they need to perform their missions on behalf of the American people and keep our country safe. This legislation is more vital than ever, McCain said.

Global terrorist networks, increasing great power competition with Russia and China, malign Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East, a North Korean dictator racing to acquire missiles that can hit the United States with nuclear weaponsthe threats to our national security have not been more complex or daunting than at any time in the past seven decades, he said.
RPP settles for supporting govt without Cabinet share

Two days after dissolving a committee formed to negotiate with the government, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party has formally said that the prospects of the fourth largest force joining the Deuba Cabinet have ended.
He refused to testify against the now-ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999 after General Musharraf staged a coup, landing himself in a military jail.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has remained loyal to his political master ever since. Now, after nearly two decades, his master has chosen him to step into his shoes, though for a short stint of 45 days. This period will allow the anointed prime minister, Shahbaz Sharif, brother of the ousted leader, to win a seat in the National Assembly, as required by law.

A second generation politician, 59-year-old Abbasi has been a staunch supporter of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. He was chairman of Pakistan International Airlines from 1997 to 1999 when General Musharraf overthrew Sharif's government. He was arrested and remained in jail for two years. He was acquitted by a court in 2001.

He has steadfastly refused to turn approver against Nawaz Sharif in the corruption cases which reinforced the confidence of senior leadership reposed in him. After PML-N victory in 2013 general elections, he was made a part of federal cabinet by allotting him the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources. He conducted various projects for the discovery of fossil fuels in Sindh and elsewhere.

The announcement came a day after Pakistan's Supreme Court removed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from the office, after finding that he was dishonest to Parliament and had misled the courts.

Abbasi, also the CEO of private airline Air Blue, has Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University in Washington DC, and has been elected as Member of the National Assembly in six elections since 1988. He was also the Federal Minister of Commerce in the Yousaf Raza Gillani cabinet.

Abbasi will now need to obtain a trust vote from the National Assembly  a rubber stamp cermony  before he is sworn in.

The rulling party also decided to rally behind Nawaz's younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, as his eventual successor.

Sharif would be sworn in after 45 days of Abbasi's caretaker prime ministership. Sharif needs to get elected to the National Assembly before assuming the highest government office, and he will fight from seat NA-120 in Lahore. Pakistan's Election Commission will issue the date for the polls on July 28.
Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif will chair a crucial meeting to decide his successor, a day after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court yesterday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.

Senior Pakistan Muslim League leader and former railway minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the party meeting later today. The meeting is likely to include discussion on candidates for the post of the prime minister, party's new president and members of the Cabinet.

Different options were discussed in a similar meeting yesterday but no decision was taken, he said.

Meanwhile, party sources said that Sharif proposed name of his younger brother Shehbaz in yesterday's meeting and none of the participants raised any objection to the proposal.

But Shehbaz, 65, cannot immediately replace his brother as he is not a member of parliament.

In order to become the prime minister, he would have to be elected first.

Hence, an interim prime minister would have to be chosen from among Sharif's confidants who will resign once Shehbaz is elected.

Pakistan has seen such arrangements in the past too.

During former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharrafs time, politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was appointed as an interim prime minister until Shaukat Aziz, who was nominated by Musharraf, got elected by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ).

According to party sources, Sharif was conscious that bringing Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz to Islamabad may create political vacuum in the crucial state, which PML-N cannot afford ahead of next year elections.

Hence, there is possibility that a permanent prime minister might be elected from the senior party leader for the remaining tenure of the government, which would end in first week of June, 2018.

In case, Shehbaz is elected is premier, then his son Hamza could be a choice for the post of chief minister of Punjab.

But the problem is that Hamza is member of national assembly and would have to be elected as member of provincial assembly first in order to succeed his father.

The party would have to decide a prime minister for interim period in case Shehbaz emerges as the final consensus candidate for top job.

Different names so far considered to become interim prime minister include former defence minister Khawaja Asif, former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former planning minister Ahsan Iqbal and speak national assembly Ayaz Sadiq.


In response to Iran's "continued provocative actions", including a rocket launch on Thursday, the US is imposing new ballistic missile sanctions on Iran, US Treasury Department said on Friday.

The sanctions targeted six Iran-based subsidiaries of Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, a company central to Iran's ballistic missile programme, Xinhua quoted a Treasury statement as saying.

On Thursday, Iran launched a space vehicle which used technologies "closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile," representing a "threatening step by Iran," according to the statement.

"The US government will continue to aggressively counter Iran's ballistic missile-related activity," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in the statement.

As a result of sanctions, the six companies' US property would be frozen and US citizens were prohibited from engaging in any transaction with them.

Foreign financial institutions were also warned of possible punitive measure if engaging with those entities.
The last days of the Newfie Pride

There were many nights he didnt sleep. The numbers and scenarios turned over and over in his mind, making rest impossible. Id get up two, three oclock in the morning, night after night, come out to the kitchen table and work the numbers every ...
Talks between govt panel and Dr KC positive

A talks team formed by the government to address Dr Govinda KCs demands pledged on Friday to come up with a concrete plan to endorse the Health Profession Education (HPE) Bill.
But the tribe has a long way to go
Political blame game continues in Gujarat with over 40 Congress MLAs being packed off to a resort near Bengaluru, even as Raghavji Patel, Congress MLA from Jamnagar (Rural) on Saturday came out in open and said that he would soon join the BJP.

The Congress, which has been out of power in Gujarat for 22 years, is stung by the resignations of six of its MLAs, ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections on August 8. More resignations are likely in the coming days.

Patel said that he had been unhappy with the functioning of the party and would soon join the BJP. I am waiting for a reply from the BJP, he said, further adding that in the last six months he had been touring his constituency and conveying people as to why he was planning to join the BJP.

He even claimed that party workers from his area would resign in large numbers.

Shocked by the political crisis, Congress has alleged the BJP and its president Amit Shah is using money and muscle power to lure its MLAs. A representation was also made to Central Election Commission in this regard.

The resignations, which forced the party to shift its MLAs to Bengaluru, is faced with a scenario where it may fall short of the numbers required for Ahmed Patel, political advisor to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to win the Rajya Sabha elections. Ahmed Patel is seeking a fifth term to the upper house.

After the exit of six MLAs, Congress' strength in the assembly has gone down to 51 from 57 and the party's total seats to 176 from 182. It needs the support of 45 legislators to win the election. The MLAs, who resigned, will not be able to vote.

The BJP has fielded Amit Shah, Union minister Smriti Irani and Balwantsinh Rajput, who recently quit Congress and joined the party. While the saffron party has the required number of strength, things might be difficult for Ahmed Patel.

State Congress Bharatsinh Solanki said that 44 votes were necessary for the victory. He claimed that 40 Congress MLAs, two NCP MLAs, one JD (U) legislator and one more member would vote for Ahmed Patel.

The figure of 40 MLAs quoted by Solanki is strange for the simple reason that till date the Congress has 51 MLAs. It might indicate that the party is anticipating more resignations ahead of the RS elections.

No wonder then that the MLAs have been taken to a Congress-ruled state. The party has claimed that they took them out of Gujarat for their safety and said that they had only two options of Congerss-ruled stateseither Karnataka or Punjab. Actually, the MLAs wanted to be together, said Solanki.

The Congress denied that the mobile phones of the MLAs were taken away and said that the legislators volunteered to give their phones, for they felt threatened by the BJP. Solanki also accused the ruling BJP of using government officers to threaten the party MLAs. He even alleged that the six MLAs, who resigned, were lured with tickets.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that the Congress did not trust its own MLAs and hence they had to be taken to Bengaluru.

In Bengaluru, the Congress MLAs are to visit some temples and the famous Ramnagar where movie Sholay was filmed.

The Congress is also accused of sending their MLAs to Karnataka at a time when North Gujarat faced floods and a large number of people lost their lives. State BJP president Jitubhai Vaghani said it was unfortunate that the Congress was doing such an act at a time when Gujarat was going through crisis.

Solanki, however, claimed that the Congress MLAs were the first ones to go to the affected areas and it was because of the BJP that they had to be sent out of Gujarat.
China is blowing hot and cold and the Indian security brass led by Its national security advisor Ajit Doval will continue to remain on their toes till the dragon settles down to rest.

There has been no breakthrough in the Doklam standoff between the two neighbours in the strategically sensitive Bhutan tri-junction during Doval 's ongoing visit to Beijing this week. But Doval's visit gains significance as it has made one thing clear: New Delhi can brave all rhetoric. If hawkish forces in Beijing are threatening India with consequences, New Delhi isn't buckling down yet.

This was more or less the outcome of Doval's Beijing visit for the BRICS security summit, where he held bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi. The talks, predictably enough, could not bring about a solution.

Security officials said there will be no withdrawal of the Indian Army from Doklam till the time the PLA also takes a step back. The settlement will be arrived at when both the border guarding troops go back to status quothe positions before June 16 when the standoff started.

Since the tension started at Doklam, there have been bitter exchange of words and war mongering by the Chinese hawks. The dragon is blowing cold right now and Doval is manoeuvring his way through; China has realised that it cannot unsettle New Delhi.

The tensions are likely to continue till there are political compulsions driving President Xi Jinping. The cooling off period where there is no escalation from either side can be used to temper down the rhetoric.

"We have been able to stick to our position and China has realised that despite all it's tactics, New Delhi is undeterred. Certain voices have also started emerging in China that there is a need to de-escalate the tension," said a top security official.

Meanwhile, Jinping, who is the chairman of the central military commission that controls the PLA is busy doing others things right now. PLA is holding its 90th anniversary on August 1. China will confer its highest military awardthe order of August 1to outstanding servicemen of the PLA. Besides the war games and display of military might and equipment, it will also talk about the major battles and outstanding achievements of the PLA, one of the world's largest standing forces.
Tantalising Tansen

The town of Tansen did not emerge out of accident. Unlike the many hamlets lining the highways of Nepal, the district headquarters of Palpa has a rich history that spans across many generations. Once a powerful principality, Tansen still retains much of its former glory.
On 27 July, Ansar Ghawzat-ul-Hind, a never known before Al Qaeda affiliate, took to Twitter to declare militant Zakir Musa as their new commander in Kashmir.

Zakir had succeeded Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani after the latter was killed in the Anantnag encounter last year. However, Zakir assumed the new role after breaking ranks with the Hizbul Mujahideen.

The claim by the shadowy group has once again put the spotlight on Zakir. A resident of Tral's Noorpora village, Zakir was a fun-loving guy before joining militancy.

He was fond of riding his bike down the slopes of Tral. His father, Abdul Rashid Bhat, a high-ranking government engineer, had bought him a car once he had secured admission at an engineering college in Chandigarh. But now, both the vehicles are gathering dust in the beautiful lawns of their house.

Zakir left his family and joined the group led by Burhan on July 17, 2013.

In a letter to his father, he talked about the injustice meted out against Muslims in the valley and outside. He felt jihad was the only solution. However, Zakir's decision has deeply hurt his father. Abdul was more fond of Zakir than his elder son, who is a doctor, and his daughter, a bank executive.

"Despite all the comforts of life, he chose this path," said Abdul Rashid, as tears welled up in his eyes. Neighbours said youngsters in the neighbourhood used to envy Zakir's lifestyle. But now they have become sympathetic.

Zakir often releases small video clips exhorting people to support militants in whatever way they could. He thanked the youth for coming to the rescue of the militants during encounters in one such video. "This you should do only for the sake of Islam," he said. "We are only fighting for the sake of Islam."

Praising the youth for risking their lives during the encounters, he suggested they could help the militants by alerting them through WhatsApp messages and also by keeping an eye on troop movements.

Change of stance

After taking over as the new commander, Zakir said he was doing jihad only for the sake of establishing Islamic rule in Kashmir, seen as a major departure from the traditional Hizbul Mujahideen-stand that calls for integrating Kashmir with Pakistan.

On May 12, while he was still with the Hizbul Mujahideen, Zakir had threatened to behead separatist leaders if they failed to desist changing the nature of Kashmir crisis from a "struggle for Islam to a political one". Notably, it was the first time that a militant commander openly threatened to execute separatist leaders. While the leaders faced criticism in the past from militants, they have never been meted out life threats.

"We will behead the resistance leadersseparatistsahead of the Kafirs (non-Muslims) in Lal Chowk (Srinagar) if they don't refrain from turning the Kashmir issue into a political fight than a struggle for Islam, Zakir warned in an audio message.

He added that since their days of infancy, they have heard that azaadi (freedom) means to struggle for Islam. Kashmir's relationship with Pakistan was also for the sake of Islam. But now we are told Kashmir issue is a political one.

Not surprisingly, the threat was an unprecedented one for Hurriyat Conference leaders. Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq, father of separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Abdul Gani Lone, father of cabinet minister Sajad Gani Lone, both were killed in militant attacks.

A few separatists, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, however, appeared unfazed by the threat.

However, Zakir 's threat was rubbished by Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir-based Hizbul Mujahideen supreme, who asked him to stay away from issuing such statements. Taken aback for being disowned by the Hizbul top command, Zakir broke away from them and floated his own group sans a name.

On May 29, when Sabzar Ahmed Bhat, who had succeeded Zakir in Hizbul, was killed along with another militant in Tral, his funeral was attended by Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik, in an attempt to send Zakir a message.

After breaking ranks with Hizbul, sources said Zakir's influence is increasing as more people are being attracted to his idealogy. But it is not significant as yet, said a source aware of the developments. Hizbul and Lashkar-e-Taiba continue to be the dominant groups in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Zakir is yet to react to his being named as the Kashmir chief of the purported Al Qaeda affiliate, who declared him as their Amir in Kashmir.

Indigenous struggle

But the United Jihad Council (UJC), the umbrella group of over a dozen Kashmiri militant outfits based in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, distanced itself from the outfit and emphasised their struggle was limited to Kashmir.

There is neither any place nor any requirement for any global militant outfits, be it Islamic State, Al Qaeda or any other organisation,'' said UJC chairman Syed Salahuddin in a video message. We have reports that outfits like Islamic State are being introduced by India to counter the militants and unleash a bloodbath in Kashmir.

Salahuddin, who was recently de-designated as a global terrorist by the US, said the new outfit was a handiwork of Indian agencies to defame the Kashmir struggle.

Many separatists and observers also share similar views. Linking Zakir with an Al Qaeda unit is an attempt to malign the separatist movement in Kashmir, they say. "Once the movement is linked with Al Qaeda or ISIS, all kinds of crackdown and atrocities will be justified by the state,'' said an senior journalist.

Separatists Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik, who have formed the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), said the ongoing movement in Kashmir was indigenous and has no global agenda.

The agencies are desperate to malign our movement and, under a well-thought-out plan, devising policies to bring a bad name to the freedom struggle in Kashmir, a JRL statement said.Groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda are non-existent in J&K and there is no role for these groups within our movement which is local in nature and indigenous in character.

Meanwhile, DGP Kashmir said that the media reports on Al-Qaeda's Kashmir unit would be investigated. A militant is a militant, whichever outfit he belongs to. Anybody who picks up a gun is a militant to us, he said.
Fear of Operation Lotus has forced the Gujarat Congress to pack off its 44 MLAs to Congress-ruled Karnataka. Veteran Congressman Shankarsinh Veghela bid adieu to the party. Six Congress legislators and his loyalists quit the party and also the assembly. The Congress is desperately trying to hold on to the numbers to ensure a victory for party loyalist Ahmed Patel in the crucial Rajya Sabha elections (to three seats) on August 8.

The MLAs who landed in Bengaluru airport in the wee hours of Saturday, were quickly ferried into Eagletona golf resort in Bidadi, a three-star resort in the outskirts of Bengaluru. It is learnt that the MLAs flew into IT city in two batchesone from Rajkot via Mumbai and the other on a direct flight from Ahmedabad on Friday night.

Congress MP from Bangalore Rural, D.K. Suresh (brother of senior Congress leaders and energy minister D.K. Shivakumar), who is overseeing the arrangements, maintained that the MLAs from Gujarat were on a pilgrimage and would be visiting Mysuru and Kodagu to offer prayers.

They are our party leaders and now our guests. However, they are here to save democracy in Gujarat, said Suresh, adding that their travel itinerary was yet to be finalised.

The Congress party stands cornered in Gujarat as the BJP, which is fielding party chief Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani, suddenly decided to field a third candidateBalwantsinh Rajput (who quit the Congress and joined the BJP)against Patel, who is seeking re-election. The party is worried that there will be horsetrading and is hence trying to keep its flock together.

In the 132-room resort, where a deluxe room could cost anywhere between Rs 7,000 to Rs 9,000 per day, the Congress government spending huge money to keep 44 MLAs for the next nine days is a sad reminder of the growing menace of resort politics, the recent one being reported from Tamil Nadu, after the AIADMK split.

The resort has now turned into a fort as there is a make-shift police control room and police deployment too. By noon, the MLAs were treated to a sumptous vegetarian buffet with roti, naan, kulcha, dal, mushroom manchuri, vegetable curry, jeera rice and dessert (jalebi). They have been asked to abstain from making phone calls.

By evening, some of the MLAs are said to have expressed displeasure over remaining lodged in a luxury resort, even as Gujarat was buckling under the flood fury.

The legislators are under constant surveillance as the AICC general secretary and Karnataka incharge K.C. Venugopal and Shivakumar (who is on a foreign tour) are keeping a close watch, say sources.

A verbal spat broke out between the group and their manager Naresh Rawal over the use of mobile phones. According to sources, some MLAs were unhappy with the leaders confiscating their mobile phones. By evening, at least three MLAs were reported to have insisted on returning to Gujarat.
The Madras High Court added fuel to the raging nationalism fire by delivering a controversial verdict. It is now mandatory to sing the national songVande Mataramat least once a week, preferably Monday or Friday, in schools and once a month in other private institutions and government offices in Tamil Nadu.

If people find it difficult to sing the national song in Bengali or in Sanskrit, steps can be taken to translate it into Tamil, said Justice M.V. Muralidharan in his order which, as expected, elicited split responses. A section of legal experts and politicos termed it a distinct judicial overstep.

Confusing than consoling

The High Court order will certainly pave way for more disputes as it comes at a time when the Supreme Court is still hearing a case on the constitutional status of the national song. In February, the top court, while declining to entertain a plea to direct the Centre to frame a national policy to promote Vande Mataram, had noted that there was no concept of a national song in the Indian Constitution.

The Article (51A on fundamental duties) does not refer to national song. It only refers to national flag and national anthem. Therefore, we do not intend to enter into any debate as far as the national song is concerned, the apex court had said.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer V.N. Subramaniam said singing or not singing Vande Mataram is a citizen's right to decide, and added that courts did not have any business on this.

Pointing out that the national song had never been mentioned in the Constitution, he told THE WEEK: These kind of activities are totally unfair and unfortunate.

Rajya Sabha MP and Janata Dal (United) leader Pawan Varma said though the national song has a great emotional appeal, there should be no compulsion attached to it.

"I believe these are matters where the judiciary could have left the decision to the people of India," Varma, a former diplomat, told THE WEEK. He, however, added that he didn't want to comment on the functioning of judiciary.

While delivering its verdict, the high court observed that patriotism was an essential requirement for every citizen of this country, and said the Motherland should always be remembered.

M.B. Rajesh, a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala said nationalism was not something which has to be imposed on people. The courts should be aware of the ground realities in the country. The verdict can be used by the so-called nationalists to meet their political interests, he said, and added that nationalism was not just shouting slogans like Vande Mataram, but to uphold the idea of India.

The High Court order also lacks clarity when it said those with genuine reasons could be exempted from singing the national song; the order has not elaborated upon what these reasons could be. It is also worth noting how the court order on the 'national' song is applicable only to this particular state.

I suspect the judge was carried away by the nationalist hysteria whipped up by some elements for their own purposes, said political analyst and senior journalist B.R.P. Bhaskar.

The original issue before the court was the language in which Vande Mataram was written. It was beyond the court's competence to go beyond that issue and pass an order regarding the singing of Vande Mataram, because it had not heard arguments on that matter, said Bhaskar.

He hoped that sooner rather than later, the judiciary would correct the mistake.

While delivering its verdict, the high court observed that patriotism was an essential requirement for every citizen of this country

Rightists elated

The high court order, however, has exhilarated the saffron brigade which has, ever since Independence, been crusading to manifest Vande Mataram as a symbol of nationalism and insignia of Indian culture. Welcoming the verdict, the Bharatiya Janata Party said singing Vande Mataram at schools would imbibe values of patriotism in students.

A day after the order came, a BJP MLA from Mumbai, Raj Purohit, even suggested that Vande Mataram be made mandatory in Maharashtra also, drawing strong protests from Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi and AIMIM legislator Waris Pathan. Reacting to this, State minister and Shiv Sena leader Diwakar Raote said both Azmi and Pathan had Pakistan in their heart.

The right-wing outfits under the patron of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have strenuously used the iconic song as a catalyst for their ideological campaign and a tool to thrust upon the Hindutva politics. The more the Muslim groups discarded it as a communal instrument, the more the Hindu factions emboldened it as a cultural ideogram, with both sides milking political gains out of public sentiments from time to time. Over the years, the poem, though mellow, has reverberated during saffron demonstrations, vigilante acts and other shows of noisy patriotism. In addition to gau raksha, Ram temple and uniform civil code, the Sangh bloc intermittently fired up this emotional issue for political mileage.

"The fake nationalists are trying to impose the homogeneity, politically and culturally, destroying the diversity of our country," rued Rajesh, who is also a state committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

I wish those who are imposing these, read the famous book of Rabindranath Tagore, who had warned how nationalism could be used as a tool to divide people, he said.

Under Modis rule

Earlier this month, a 30-year-old imam was assaulted by Bajrang Dal members near a mosque at Hisar, Haryana, for allegedly refusing to chant Vande Mataram. The attack was the latest in a series of threats, harassment and intimidation by hyper-nationalists, who seemingly got a free hand after the Narendra Modi-led government came to power in 2014. The boisterous squabbles over the national song only got murkier with leaders like VHPs Sadhvi Prachi openly proclaiming: Chant Vande Mataram or leave India. Others like RSS leader Indresh Kumar termed those who do not recite the song as traitors. Furthermore, a few others like Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and firebrand Hindutva mascot Yogi Adityanath asserted that refusing to sing Vande Mataram was a reflection of one's narrow-mindedness.

Yogis comment was a swipe at Muslim councillors who protested when the Meerut and Varanasi municipal corporations made singing of Vande Mataram mandatory. Councillors in Meerut were allegedly told by the corporation: "Hindustan mein rehna hai to vande mataram kehna hoga (If you want to live in India, you have to sing Vande Mataram)."

It remains to be seen whether the fringe elements will take advantage of the high court order and resort to violence to impose their tenets, the way they did after the Supreme Court made the national anthem mandatory in cinemas last year.

The right-wing outfits have strenuously used the iconic song to thrust upon the Hindutva politics | AFP

Divisive tune

The melodious poem of devotion, penned by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1875 using Bengali and Sanskrit vocabulary, became the rhythm of India's national movement after Rabindranath Tagore recited it at an annual convention of the Indian National Congress in Kolkata in 1896. However, the poem, composed as an ode to Mother India, morphed into a divisive tool in the 1930s when Muslim League leaders like Muhammed Ali Jinnah started questioning the idolatry in it. Though the Congress expurgated the song and reduced it to just the first two stanzas, the Muslim leaders did not relent. Mired in controversy, Chatterjee's verses lost the race to Tagore's Jana Gana Mana with the latter being declared the national anthem with constitutional validity
In a sign of growing unease between the alliance partners in Jammu and Kashmir, the PDP and the BJP, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti warned the Centre against shutting down the cross-LoC trade.

The NIA, which has arrested seven separatists on charges of receiving hawala funds to foment unrest in Kashmir, suspects the good exported from Pakistan occupied Kashmir(PoK) could also be finding its way into funding the separatist activities in Kashmir.

Mehbooba also called for holding assembly sessions in PoK once a year.

There are so many issues (with trade) through Wagah. Charas and ganja are smuggled into India but you dont stop the trade,'' she told a PDP rally on the 18th anniversary of the party in Srinagar. ''If something goes wrong on Srinagar- Muzaffarabad road, you should not commit a blunder to shut down the cross-LoC trade.''

We will never ever allow it to happen, she said.

Mehbooba recently skipped the swearing in ceremony of President Ramnath Kovid in Delhi. Sources said she is upset over Centre's crackdown against the separatists, some of who have helped the PDP on issues like the passing of GST bill amid opposition from separatists, opposition and traders.

The chief minister's remarks come in the backdrop of reports of dossier prepared by the NIA that cross-LoC trade is posing a security threat,

A week back, police claimed it had seized 66.5 kilograms of narcotics from a PoK truck at the Trade Facilitation Centre Salamabad in Uri.

Let us replicate the safety parameters of Wagah (trade point) at the trading points on the LoC,'' she said. ''Mufti Sahab( her father) was always saying open all the routes: Kargil-Skardu, Jammu-Saikote, Nowshera-Jhangar, and others.

She also called for holding an assembly session in PoK once a year and sought to fill the 25 reserved seats for PoK in J&K Legislative Assembly.

Mehbooba suggested regular tours across the LoC by students, professionals and other groups for a better understanding of the each other concerns.

I appeal to (government) that part of Kashmir to send your school students here. This would not only promote more people to people contacts but also lower the intensity of acrimony on the two sides of the divide, she said.

She also said Centre should revive Lahore declaration in a bid to get Kashmir out of the present situation.

Jammu and Kashmir is a crown of India. India is incomplete with this crown. I appeal the Centre to revive Lahore declaration so that we can live in peace, she appealed.

The opposition dismissed her statements as rhetoric.

Remember what she used to say before elections and what she said after joining hands with BJP,'' said Agha Ruhulla of the NC. "It is rhetoric. She has no power. She has surrendered everything to BJP which is ruling the state.''
The intent does not matter, only the end result does. Nawaz Sharif was keen on friendly neighbourhood ties with India. That was not to be. Despite all his attempts, including attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing in to the mother-to-mother relationship he forged with his counterpart, Sharif and Modi did try. But finally, it boiled down to what Modi saidblood and water cannot flow together. Indeed, with the incidents of attacks on Indian soldiers at Pathankot, Uri and a continuous stream of regular cross-border hostilities, India and Pakistan ended up not reaching out to each other for the longest time in recent years. Indeed, even now, the two countries are not on talking terms.

Sharif's ouster, therefore, is not the loss for Indo-Pakistan bilateral relations that it could have been. Indeed, the Pakistan army beheading Indian soldiers, just when Modi dispatched an Indian businessman and Sharif's friend to Pakistan to work a way out of the diplomatic deadlock, was the final straw. Pakistan army is dead set against attempts to normalise relations between the two countries.

On the outside, Sharif's ouster appears good as it re-emphasises India's argument that Pakistan is a rogue state where everything is corrupt, says former Indian diplomat P. Stobdan. While Sharif's brother Shahbaz is slated to become next prime minister, Stobdan points out that he too is named in corruption cases; if the courts confirm the dirt against him, he will be out on his feet.

Pakistan will go to polls in 2018; given that Sharif's party, Pakistan Muslim League, is in majority, there are chances that they will somehow maintain control till then. But the PM will be a lame duck, not worth investing in, says Stobdan. Further, by then, India too will be in election mode, looking ahead at the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Of course, in a dynamic situation, everything could change within a day. The military could emerge on top again; that is a mixed bag from the Indian perspective. A strong military power in Pakistan will be good for China, as well as for the newly forged ties between Russia and Pakistan. This is not good news for IndiaRussia is an old military partner. India will have to think of ways to thwart this Russia-China-Pakistan nexus in the sub-continent.

On the other hand, historically, Indo-Pakistan ties have never been more stable than when the military was in charge. It is the democratic leadership in Islamabad and any closeness that it develops with India that the army does not like. The Kargil war, too, happened when a democratically elected government under Sharif was in charge. The 26/11 attacks happened when Yousaf Raza Gillani of the Pakistan People's Party was the prime minister.

The situation in Islamabad is still unfolding and New Delhi is keeping a close watch. This is not the time to comment, but to assess, say observers. The silver lining is that by the end of the day, India understands Pakistan and knows how to deal with it. With Pakistan, we always know what we are up against. We have a long experience in handling the nation. Our primary worry is China. We do not understand China and continue to make mistakes in our dealings with that neighbour,'' Stobdan said.
The 10-year-old rape survivor who will soon give birth, following the dismissal of her plea to allow abortion, might need years of sustained counselling centred on respect, rehabilitation and resilience, experts say.

The 'three Rs' are necessary to help the child, raped by her uncle and just a few weeks away from full-term pregnancy, cope with the trauma of the assault as well as the childhood pregnancy, psychologists and childcare experts said.

"She should get continued support in the form of good counselling. She needs to be rehabilitated and not abandoned in a dirty home. She needs to be in a place where she would be respected," said Mumbai-based psychologist Harish Shetty.

Too young to have attained the "developmental maturity" to deal with the issue, the child may suffer psychologically as well as physically, the experts state.

City-based psychiatrist Samir Parikh advises psychological interventions not just for the child but for her family as well.

"Such interventions could help in the healing process post the trauma associated with the experience, while also helping the child and the family members develop more adaptive coping mechanisms, and also work on building the child's resilience post the pregnancy," Parikh said.

Such an experience is also likely to lead to interference in the child's interpersonal relationships, personality, self-esteem and overall health, he added.

According to Mumbai-based gynaecologist Sonal Kumta, giving birth and abortion in such early pregnancies are both "equally risky".

"It may lead the girl to be anaemic or the baby to be born prematurely," she said.

Shetty went on to say that counsellors must look out for sudden emotional outbursts and tend to her in an "understanding" manner.

"One should understand her grief and help her resolve her issues slowly over a period of time. They should look out for emotions and excessive fearsnightmares, sadness etc."

He added the process of rehabilitation should not stop.

"She should be helped in building resilience and start a new life in a new city with a new identity," he said.

While diagnosing pregnancy in children as young as 10-year-olds is very difficult, Kumta advises "educating" girls from the start to make them aware.

"We need to be aware that something like this can happen and not be in a denial mode," Kumta said.

Courts allow medical termination of a pregnancy up to 20 weeks under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and can make an exception if the foetus is genetically abnormal.

Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association, stressed there should be no delays in court decisions on such cases, for the health of the mother was of paramount importance.

"A delay in hearings in such cases is unacceptable. There should be a day by day hearing as it will have consequences on the health of the mother," she said.

The PIL in this case was filed after a Chandigarh district court on July 18 refused to let the girl undergo the abortion as it was confirmed that she was 26 weeks pregnant.

Considering the report of the medical board that terminating the pregnancy would neither be good for the girl nor the foetus, the apex court had expressed satisfaction over the medical care being provided to the survivor.

An apex court bench comprising Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud took note of the report of the medical board set up by PGI (Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research) Chandigarh to examine her and the consequences if the termination of pregnancy was allowed.

The bench asked Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, who was present in the court room, to consider its suggestion to set up a permanent medical board in every state to take prompt decisions on prospects of early abortion in view of the fact that such cases were reaching the apex court in a big way.
Yogis expensive swearing-in ceremony

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath always bats for less expenditure and more austerity. But, according to reports, his swearing-in ceremony was much more expensive than his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav's. Yogi had taken oath on March 19 at Smriti Upvan. As per official figures, Rs 1.81 crore was spent on the entire ceremony. Whereas, in 2012, just Rs 91 lakh was spent on Akhileshs oath ceremony by the concerned departments. The responsibility to hold such functions rest with the LDA (Lucknow Development Authority). Now, the secretariat has sought an explanation from the LDA in this regard. According to LDA official S.K Agrawal, the department is preparing a comparative chart of both ceremonies. But another LDA official said that as many central leaders and dignitaries participated in the ceremony, the cost went up.

Keshav Prasad headed to Delhi?

In political circles, it is well known that Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya is not happy with the present set up of two deputy CMs. The BJP central leadership is aware of this fact and attempts are being made to accommodate him in Delhi during the next expansion. Keshav Prasad refutes all this news and describes them as mere gossip. Keshav Prasad is a Member of Parliament from Phoolpur constituency. If he is not sent to Delhi, he will have to vacate his parliament seat and contest from any assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Since, Phoolpur parliamentary seat has not been an easy one for the BJP, the party would like to retain the seat till 2019 general elections. This is possible only if Keshav is taken to Delhi.

NIA to probe explosive found in assembly

NIA has taken over the probe of recovery of dangerous explosive from inside the UP assembly building, confirmed ATS, IG, Aseem Arun. It may be recalled that a few weeks ago, some powder, wrapped in a polythene, was found under seat number three inside the assembly hall. Earlier, the UP Anti Terror Squad was probing the matter. The explosive was sent to National Forensic Science Lab (Hyderabad). Though the report is yet to come, the NIA has taken over the investigation. The Lucknow Forensic Lab had described the powder as an extremely dangerous explosive PETN. The chief marshal of the assembly, Manish Chandra, registered a case in this connection. The investigating agency confirmed that it was a deadly explosive called PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate) a small quantity of which had the potential of causing extensive damage. In 2011, an explosion occurred outside Delhi High Court, where PETN was used.

Saharanpur tense again

As Saharanpur was slowly limping back to normalcy an incident has made the atmosphere tense again. Ambedkers poster were defaced which has led to tense situation in Topri village of the district. The incident led to a confrontation between Muslims and dalits of the area. But timely intervention by the police put an end to the fight. A local had allegedly defaced a poster depicting Baba Sahab Ambedkar, which infuriated the members of the dalit community. According to village headman Sanjay, there was a scuffle between the members of both the communities. It may be recalled that Saharanpur has been very sensitive in terms of caste clashes and communal riots. Riots had claimed one life and led to widespread arson and loot in various parts of the district.
Charlie Gard, a British baby who became the subject of a bitter dispute between his parents and doctors over whether he should be taken to the United States for experimental treatment, has died, local media said on Friday.

The 11-month-old baby suffered from an extremely rare genetic condition causing progressive brain damage and muscle weakness, and his parents' long struggle to save him drew an international outpouring of sympathy, including from US President Donald Trump and Pope Francis.

"Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you Charlie," Connie Yates, the baby's mother, was quoted as saying by the media.

Local media said a family spokesman had confirmed the death.

"Everyone at Great Ormond Street Hospital sends their heartfelt condolences to Charlies parents and loved-ones at this very sad time," said a spokeswoman for the hospital where Charlie had been receiving treatment.

Pope Francis said on Twitter: "I entrust little Charlie to the Father and pray for his parents and all those who loved him."

The Vatican-owned Bambino Gesu children's hospital had offered to transfer Charlie to Rome for treatment, which the pope said should be provided "until the end", as his parents wished. British Prime Minister Theresa May said she was deeply saddened by the news and her thoughts and prayers were with Charlie's parents.

After a harrowing legal battle that prompted a global debate over who has the moral right to decide the fate of a sick child, a judge on Thursday ordered that Charlie be moved to a hospice where the ventilator that kept him alive would be turned off.

Yates and the baby's father Chris Gard had wanted Charlie to undergo a treatment that has never been tried on anyone with his condition before, against the advice of doctors at his London hospital who said it would not benefit him and would prolong his suffering.

Charlie required a ventilator to breathe and was unable to see, hear or swallow.

The case drew comment from Trump, who tweeted on July 3 that "we would be delighted" to help Charlie.

Britain's courts, after hearing a wealth of medical evidence, ruled that it would go against Charlie's best interests to have the experimental nucleoside therapy advocated by a US professor of neurology, Michio Hirano.

The case prompted heated debate on social media and in the press on medical ethics, and staff at the Great Ormond Street Hospital which treated him received abuse and death threats.

US Vice President Mike Pence tweeted that he was saddened to hear of Charlie's death. He has previously referred to the case in the context of the US healthcare debate, saying it offered a warning of the risks of state-funded healthcare.
US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose gradual diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent this war-torn country from being a launch pad for terrorist attacks against the United states.

McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress.

The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA- 2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies, and its core interests.

The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan Government and reduce the Taliban's control of the Afghan population.

As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives including India under this move.

The legislative amendment calls for "imposing graduated diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, includingthe Taliban and the Haqqani network.

"It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan."

Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying America's regional diplomatic effortsworking through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The move is also aimed towards advance regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation, and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states.

The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of American economic, and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anti- corruption, financial transparency, and the rule of law.

Calling for increasing the number of US counter terrorism forces in Afghanistan; the amendment calls for providing the United States military with "status-based targeting authorities" against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al- Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and other terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and its core interests.

In his amendment, McCain calls for pursuing a joint agreement to secure a long-term, open-ended counter terrorism partnership between the US and Afghanistan, which he said would include an enduring United States counter terrorism presence in Afghanistan.

The US Senate is yet to vote on NDAA-2018.

Yesterday, in a statement, McCain rued on the delay in its passage.

"It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now, the National Defense Authorization Act," he said.

"For 55 years in a row, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides our men and women in uniform with the resources, capabilities, and pay and benefits that they need to perform their missions on behalf of the American people and keep our country safe. This legislation is more vital than ever," McCain said.

"Global terrorist networks, increasing great power competition with Russia and China, malign Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East, a North Korean dictator racing to acquire missiles that can hit the United States with nuclear weaponsthe threats to our national security have not been more complex or daunting than at any time in the past seven decades," he said.
The looting continues!

King Deuba has finally managed to expand his cabinet after months of consultation with his astrologers. Maybe his gurus finally approved his cabinet-expansion plans. I think our government should form a new ministry.
Trial error

Top AstraZeneca shareholder Neil Woodford said a 16 per cent fall in the companys share price after the failure of a high-profile cancer drug trial was unwarranted. The investment case... is about so much more than this one trial, he said.

AstraZeneca investor Woodford says share fall results not justified

Oil deal

Oil and gas firm Faroe Petroleum has bought an extra 13.9 per cent interest in a North Sea field from JX Nippon Exploration, for 4m.

Profits up

The fall in the pound boosted profits at engineering firm Imi. Revenues of 846m and profits at 106m were both up 11 per cent.

Factory plan

Chemicals firm Ineos is planning a new plant in Germany to make cumene, a key raw material for the chemicals industry.

Deal: Video game tournaments will be broadcast on internet channel BBC Three

Contract win

Engineer Amec Foster Wheeler has won a 2.9m contract from the Government to develop smaller nuclear reactors.

Video games

A BBC deal with esports specialists Gfinity will see video game tournaments broadcast on internet channel BBC Three for the next six weeks.

Cable rollout

Some 100m will be spent by Hyperoptic to provide full-fibre cables to 5m UK homes by 2025.

5g talks

Telecoms watchdog Ofcom has launched a consultation on proposals for 5G mobile internet to be available in the UK by 2020.

EDF dip

French utility giant EDF has suffered a drop in half-year profits as its income fell 3.7 per cent to 1.7bn.

Confidence falls

Consumer confidence has hit a low not seen since after the Brexit vote, to -12 points, claims a survey by GfK.

Gatwick goal

Airport operator Gatwick plans to reach its goal of 50m yearly passengers, by investing 1.1bn over the next five years.

Russian fightback

A recovery in Russia helped car maker Renault to post rising first-half profits of 1.6bn.
Amid all the hullabaloo about the Governments new clean air policy announced this week, you may have gained the impression that 2040 will spell the end of the internal combustion engine.

Its actually a bit more subtle than that. The devil, as ever, is in the detail.

Only new cars with a conventional petrol or diesel engine will be banned from sale from that date.

Boost for Britain: BMW will build its electric Mini in Oxford

That means hybrid cars  those with petrol-electric and diesel-electric engines  of which there are already millions on Britains roads, including the Toyota Prius, will still be permitted.

They are not considered conventional in the conventional sense by Whitehall.

Indeed, car makers are moving quickly to hybrids, anyway, to meet emissions targets.

Millions of conventional petrol and diesel cars bought before the deadline are also likely to still be around  if they havent been priced off the road by local councils waging war on the internal combustion engine.

Any of these existing petrol and diesel cars will be able to be bought and sold as used cars, until they reach the end of their lives.

As for all-electric cars, ministers are promising a charging point every 20 miles on major roads.

This is a bid to overcome range anxiety  the fear of running out of juice before you reach your destination. Its hoped that by 2040, battery technology will have advanced sufficiently to reduce such concerns.

But as one cynical motor industry boss told me: If only we could engineer our cars to run on government spin, we could extend their range to thousands of miles.

Confusion over the death of diesel and petrol comes after news this week that German giant BMW will build the electric Mini at its Oxford plant.

BMW, like Jaguar Land Rover, is investing heavily in electric and hybrid technology. I have driven working prototypes of both the electric Mini E, launched in 2008, and an all-electric Rolls-Royce, which was brought out in 2011.

Significantly, the flexible chassis of the new Rolls-Royce Phantom, launched on Thursday and featured below, is designed to allow alternative propulsion technologies, such as electric motors and batteries.

> What the petrol and diesel new car ban by 2040 means for you

New boutique motoring magazine 5054

If you consider yourself the thinking man or womans petrol-head, then a riveting new boutique magazine will be right up your street.

Created by incisive motoring journalist Hilton Holloway - whose career began in mountain-bike design - the smart and beautifully produced new 5054 magazine takes an intelligent look at the past, present and increasingly fascinating future of the motor car.

It takes its name (pronounced Fifty Fifty Four) from the serial number given in the Thirties to the prototype Supermarine Spitfire aircraft.

More details and a peek inside can be found at 5054magazine.co.uk
The worlds biggest tech companies face being broken up as they toast a formidable set of sales figures.

This week, Google, Facebook and Amazon  and Microsoft last week  reported huge growth in advertising sales, cloud computing services and internet video revenues.

The total revenues of the four for the last quarter were 74bn.

Formidable: The worlds biggest tech companies face being broken up as they celebrate an impressive sales figures

That has renewed political feeling in Washington that the Silicon Valley titans are at risk of becoming monopolies  and should be split into several different companies.

President Donald Trumps chief strategist, Steve Bannon, is among those reportedly pushing for them to be considered utility companies, like power firms, so they could be more closely scrutinised.

It is not unprecedented to break up US firms  giants such as Standard Oil, AT&T and IBM have been separated in the past.

Professor Jonathan Taplin, a US academic who studies tech companies, said: Something has definitely changed in the past month. You now have people on both sides of the political aisle saying maybe we should be regulating these firms as utilities.

They are becoming natural monopolies. Breaking them up, as was done with Standard, would be an extreme option but there are lots of smaller actions that could be taken first.

US Senate Democrats have outlined plans for a better deal that proposes breaking up monopolies across a number of major industries.

The dominance of the tech giants has been underlined by their results this week. Google, owned by Alphabet, accounts for 90 per cent of all web searches. Google and Facebook command 99 per cent of all new internet advertising revenues.

Alphabet this week posted revenues of 19.8bn for the second quarter. However, it was hit with a 2bn fine by the EU for manipulating search results, which wiped out an increase in profits.

Facebook, meanwhile, has grown to 2.1bn users, of which 1.3bn use it every day. Its other services, such as WhatsApp, now have 1.3bn monthly users. WhatsApp Status, its version of Snapchat Stories launched six months ago, now has more than 250m daily users. Rival Snapchat has 166m daily active users.

Total revenue rose 44.8 per cent to 7.1bn from the same period in 2016, and Facebook posted a profit of 2.9bn  up 71 per cent.

Adverts on mobile phones accounted for 87 per cent of its total advertising revenue.

The boost came from cashing in on video within its Facebook news feed, as well as the growth of its Instagram photo app, which now has 700m users.

Amazon shares sank after it announced a fall in profit to 29bn, but below this bottom line revenues were soaring. Its growth was spurred on by other services climbing 51 per cent, which analysts have interpreted as being Amazons own advertising business as well as its credit card arm.

The firms have also been accused of killing off rivals.

Amazons bid for organic supermarket chain Whole Foods is expected to be closely examined by competition officials.

Also, the 49.5 per cent share dive of Snap, the parent company of photo-messaging app Snapchat, has been partly blamed on Facebook, which has been accused of taking features from Snapchat and duplicating them in its rival Messenger and Instagram apps. Apple reports its results on Tuesday.

Amazon did not comment.
TNA signs MoU with I-CCEW

True North Associates (TNA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ronnie K Irani Centre for the Creation of Economics Wealth (I-CCEW) on Tuesday.
British fintech leader Worldpay will seek to convince investors in the coming week that the 7.7bn bid by American rival Vantiv is a terrific deal and should not be resisted.

In the effort to persuade stakeholders that this is not a takeover but a merger, there will be a series of commitments.

This probably will include a pledge to maintain the Worldpay name at the top company, a secondary quote for the groups shares in London, some kind of headquarters in the UK and Softbank-style job promises.

None of this should go unchallenged.

Puny pledge: Worldpay will seek to convince investors in the coming week that the 7.7bn bid by American rival Vantiv is a terrific deal

Worldpay is a global leader in online payments systems, operating in 146 countries and 126 currencies. Clients include Google and other digital giants.

In contrast, Vantiv has grown big on point-of-sale technology in the US at a moment when commerce is switching online. So which company has the better business?

Worldpay shareholders might also question a little more the meanness of a 21 per cent premium now that a dividend has been thrown in.

Not of much consequence to chief executive Phil Jansen, who took 30m-plus out of the enterprise at flotation and might be as happy about working in Cincinnati or New York as in London.

What we do know, of course, is that if the deal is done, command and control will move from the UK to the US and Britain will be deprived of building a digital champion to rival Silicon Valley and China.

Britains great research universities and software skills might outshine much of the world, but it becomes a wasted resource and investment when the benefits and wealth creation take place elsewhere.

If the Government wants to end the self-immolation of tech takeovers, there was never a better case for intervention than Worldpay, a company born at Royal Bank of Scotland and brought to fruition by judicious investment.

Instead, head buried in the sand, the Cabinet continues to feud about Brexit as prosperity drains away.

The vision of IAG coining it with pre-tax profits up 13.8% in the six months to June

Cruz control

The big difference between British Airways owner IAG and other European carriers is that it has a chief executive in Willie Walsh who has been willing to take on the unions in one of the last private sector bastions of old-style labour practices.

The consequence is a sharp uplift in first-half operational profits and the promise of a double-digit increase in the second half.

As ever, the core of BAs income remains the transatlantic routes, where IAG is increasing its presence with flights from Barcelona using its low-cost carrier Level.

The vision of IAG coining it with pre-tax profits up 13.8 per cent in the six months to June at 871m cannot but aggravate the 75,000 passengers at Heathrow and around the world whose Easter holidays were devastated by an IT snafu and electrical failure.

The report into the causes of the meltdown is still some weeks away and is likely to make recommendations for a bulletproof system. As worrying as the computer failure was BAs treatment of customers, with Spanish chief executive Alex Cruz nowhere to be seen as the saga unfolded.

His cost-cutting leadership, introducing BA customers to M&S sandwiches and shrinking leg-room, had tarnished BAs image before the systems implosion.

Walsh needs to order a mid-course correction if the carriers competitive edge is to remain intact.

Barclays bother

The unanswered question at Barclays is whether chief executive Jes Staley will be allowed by regulators to carry on with his strategic reforms.

No one questions Staleys credentials or direction of travel, but his poor handling of a whistleblower left a lot to desire.

At times it seems that ten years after the start of the financial crisis, UK High Street banks are continuously swimming through mud. Pre-tax profits of 2.3bn at Barclays were turned into a 1.3bn loss after more payment protection insurance payouts and big restructuring costs associated with retreat from Africa.

Staley has set great store by remaining a big player in investment banking. But that didnt quite come off in the first half because a lack of volatility held back trading.

The bank is not even at the starting post when it comes to doing a deal with the US Department of Justice over mortgage securities.

Oh dear.
Rolls-Royce's results this week will be watched closely by investors keen to know if the aerospace giant is on track to generate enough cash to meet its 71billion backlog of orders.

The company aims to deliver more than 1billion in free cash flow by 2020 to help fund a massive expansion in its output.

The firm is in the throes of doubling engine production from 300 to 600 a year, the biggest increase since the Second World War, in a transformation programme led by chief executive Warren East. He has led the company for two years after it issued a series of profit warnings.

The firm is in the throes of doubling engine production from 300 to 600 a year

When Rolls unveils results on Tuesday, it is expected to report underlying profit up at 193million against 104million last year, but free cash flow is likely to be slightly worse.
To Write, You Have to Forget Kathmandu?

This conversation took place during the academic year 1990-1991. I was then a second year doctoral student in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) in Philadelphia, USA. In the summer of 1989, leaving behind confused years trying to become an economist, I decided to switch my focus of study to South Asian history.
Tractor imports come to a screeching halt

Tractor imports have come to a halt in the country after the government brought the vehicle into the value added tax (VAT) network.
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By Thomas J. Grech

On his hit show, Parts Unknown, famed chef and New York City native Anthony Bourdain has taken millions of viewers around the world in search of the most eclectic, inventive cuisine.

While Bourdain has ventured from Myanmar to Morocco, and from Congo to Copenhagen, the truth is that one of the most vibrant food communities in the world is right in his own backyard: Queens.

Indeed, earlier this summer, Bourdain dedicated an entire episode of Parts Unknown to the Worlds Borough. From a thriving Chinese dumpling shop in Flushing and a popular Mexican tamale stand on Junction Boulevard to an Ecuadorian street cart in Corona, and many more local favorites, the show made one thing abundantly clear: Our small businesses are a destination unto themselves.

While Bourdain shined a spotlight on our tapestry of neighborhoods that the Guinness Book of World Records has described as the most diverse in the world, the sad truth is that Queens has traditionally taken a backseat to the tourist sites of Manhattan and the hipster-darling that is Brooklyn.

Luckily, this tradition is starting to change, as more travelers from every corner of the globe look to experience the authenticity that accompanies a borough with more languages, customs and ideas than any other place on the planet. Here in Queens, our diverse neighborhoods and vibrant communities are the attraction, and as a result, they are bringing more tourists and tourist dollars to our borough.

The sharing economy in general  and home sharing in particular  has played a key role in the surge of tourism in Queens. In a borough that has historically been ignored by the big hotel chains, home sharing platforms like Airbnb are allowing travelers to stay in the heart of our communities, with local hosts that are proud to showcase their favorite restaurants, shops and secret gems.

The numbers dont lie. In 2016, over 150,000 visitors stayed in Queens on Airbnb, a 50 percent increase from 2015. Instead of hotels in Midtown, these travelers opted to stay with the over 3,000 Queens hosts. In turn, our host community earned over $27 million in supplemental income, with the typical Queens host earning $4,900, annually.

In addition, Airbnb travelers tend to stay longer and spend locally, bringing even more money into local small businesses and neighborhoods. Last year, 44 percent of Airbnb guests in the city said that they could not have visited, or would not have stayed as long, without Airbnb. Moreover, guests spent over $200 per day during their trip, with one-third of that spending occurring in the neighborhood where they stayed.

Despite this overwhelming positive impact of home sharing, New York state law imposes Draconian fines of up to $7,500 on hosts for the simple act of sharing their home with visitors from around the world. Unlike more sensible regulations in global cities like London and Milan, and nearby cities like Philadelphia and Jersey City, the law here does nothing to distinguish between responsible hosts who occasionally share their own home and bad actors who remove permanent housing from the rental market.

That could change if the state Legislature adopts a bill introduced by Assemblyman Joe Lentol. His bill, A7520, would amend the Multiple Dwelling Law to allow for responsible home sharing in all five boroughs, giving more Queens families a new way to earn some extra money, and preventing illegal hotels from exacerbating the housing crisis.

In addition to limiting hosts to sharing a single home in the city  a policy that Airbnb already voluntarily imposes on its platform  the bill would also extend hotel taxes to home sharing, pumping over $90 million into city and state budgets to support core services. Moreover, the bill would protect public safety by requiring hosts to register with the state, mandating that all hosts have insurance, and ensuring that platforms like Airbnb provide a 24/7 hotline for hosts, guests and neighbors to report any disruptive activity.

New York can and should nurture the growth of the sharing economy, while preserving permanent housing and our quality of life.

On Parts Unknown, Bourdain said, the whole world is in Queens, and like the world as a whole, it is constantly changing. Lets tell Albany to join the rest of the world in embracing the sharing economy.

Thomas J. Grech

Executive Director

Queens Chamber of Commerce
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By Gina Martinez

Flushings Lewis H. Latimer House Museum has been given a $24,950 grant in Support of African American Heritage.

Latimer house was one of 16 grantees in the 2017 fiscal year to receive a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The museum said it will use this grant to further its education mission by upgrading its School Program, including lesson plans and packages connected to Lewis Latimer and meeting the New York City Common Core and New York State standards. The funding will also enable the museum to carry out extensive outreach activities in surrounding school districts.

Latimer House, a New York City Landmark, was the house of the African-American inventor, Renaissance man, and son of fugitive slaves. The museum now calls attention to Latimers and other African- Americans contributions to science, technology, arts, poetry, and American life, through innovative tours, exhibits, public and educational programs.

Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) expressed her support for this program and said the grant will allow kids to learn more about Latimers legacy in science and technology.

Im pleased that the Lewis Latimer House Museum has been awarded this federal grant and it was a pleasure to help them secure it, she said. With this money, the museum will be able to increase its exposure to young people by developing a plan for local schools to visit their facility. The funds will cover the costs of outreach to schools and pay for the preparation and development of lesson plans. As a result, more kids will learn about the life and history of Lewis Latimer, and the pioneering contributions he made to society, particularly his role in developing the telephone and incandescent light bulb. It is critical that we preserve and promote our local history, and that we educate our children about it.

This year IMLS received 32 applications requesting a total of $3,076,510. Of the 32 projects, 16 were selected to receive funding totaling $1,485,955. IMLSs peer reviewers evaluated all eligible and complete grant applications, assessing the merit of each proposal and its fit with the goals of the grant program.

IMLS Director Dr. Kathryn K. Matthew said she is proud to support applicants work through the grant, as they informs and inspire all in their communities.

As centers of learning and catalysts of community change, libraries and museums connect people with programs, services, collections, information, and new ideas in the arts, sciences and humanities, she said. They serve as vital spaces where people can connect with each other.
Bridgewater looks to become a regional nightlife hub in western PA

Bridgewater bars offer patrons a nightlife experience that is unique from any other in western Pennsylvania
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Two Malta men allegedly committed a string of burglaries and thefts in Saratoga and Rensselaer counties, State Police said Friday.

Work by troopers, Saratoga County deputies, Stillwater police and Hoosick Falls police led to the arrests of Tyler Paradis, 27, and Nelson Bruno Jr., 28, who are accused of stealing tools, lawn equipment and other items from homes, sheds, garages and trailers in the Malta, Stillwater and Hoosick Falls area. Items were then taken to Capital Region pawn shops and sold for cash, police said.
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Hoosick Falls

A gaping sinkhole in Sherri Stevenson's driveway has become a tourist attraction for a flood that ravaged the quaint village of Hoosick Falls this month. And it scares her to death.

About 10 feet deep, the hole reveals collapsed concrete and steel in a 1950s-era underground drainage system built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect the village from normally gentle Woods Brook as it flows to the Hoosic River.

Cutting through the heart of the village, that system of concrete flumes and culverts was smashed by extreme rainstorms on the evening of July 1, leaving the village relatively defenseless against another major flood.

"People keep coming here to look at the sinkhole and show it to their kids," Stevenson said. "I have to keep looking out my kitchen window to see if people are walking in. I am so afraid that some child is going to fall in and get hurt."

For now, the village put orange posts and yellow warning tape around the hole, along with "No Parking" signs, to ward off the curious.

Another kind of anxiety is being felt by Hoosick Falls' new part-time mayor, Robert Allen, a 39-year-old who also teaches music and drama in the school district. He has to figure out how to clean up the mess, patch the damage, and find millions of dollars to come up with a new flood control system.

The village has known for years that the Woods Brook system needed replacement, he said. That led to a 2016 consultant's report, paid for with the help of a state grant, which recommended diverting the stream from the village through a new culvert system about a mile long to the Hoosic River.

But like many small towns and cities in the New York, faced with aging infrastructure for such purposes as drainage, drinking water and sewage, Hoosick Falls cannot afford the work without outside help.

The village has a general fund of $1.7 million a year, and the diversion project could cost $8 million or more.

But something has to be done, or the problem could be even worse next time. Allen said the flood was only about a foot below the well head for the town drinking water. Flood waters could have damaged the system and tainted the water.

That would be a major blow for a village that had to switch its drinking water to the wells after learning last year that its original supply was tainted by the toxic chemical PFOA.

"Any long-term solution for flooding probably is years away," Allen said. "Right now, we're just holding our breath."

Staffers from the Corps of Engineers visited Hoosick Falls on July 12 to inspect potential damage to the flood control, said James D'Ambrosio, a spokesman for the New York District.

At the time the Corps built the village system between 1950 and 1952 as part of federal flood control efforts nationwide, it was meant to protect "two major industries, six retail and wholesale establishments, 55 residences, two railroads and stations, public roads, utilities and services," according to a 1959 Corps maintenance manual.

D'Ambrosio said such projects after completion routinely became the property of local governments, which were responsible for operating and maintaining the systems. Funding for any corps maintenance or building projects must be earmarked through congressional action, he added.

For now, Allen said the village will apply for a state grant to support potential repairs to its Woods Brook system as it explores a long-term fix.

bnearing@timesunion.com  518-454-5094  @Bnearing10
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EDUCATION

ALBANY LAW SCHOOL

Raymond H. Brescia and Keith H. Hirokawa were promoted to professors of law. Brescia and Hirokawa previously served as associate professors of law.

Sarah F. Rogerson was promoted to clinical professor of law. Rogerson previously served as an associate professor of law.

SKIDMORE COLLEGE

Guy Mastrion was appointed as the ninth F. William Harder Chair of Business. Mastrion is founder and chief creative officer at Brandforming.

FINANCIAL

RBC WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Tim DiStefano joined as a financial adviser. DiStefano previously worked at Ayco, where his primary focus was on portfolio modeling.

HEALTH CARE

DINAPOLI OPTICIANS

Gena Deckelbaum joined as an optometrist.

Linda Greaves-Miller joined as a contact lens practitioner.

Sue Morrette and Hillary Masino joined as opticians.

MEDIA

PATIENT EXPERIENCE PROJECT

Harrison Boulay joined the digital strategy team. Boulay is responsible for helping drive customer engagement and meeting business and strategic goals through the use of web technologies and digital marketing.

NONPROFITS

SCHENECTADY ARC

Mary Ellen Pratt joined as residential director. Pratt has more than 25 years of experience in the human services field.

NORTHERN RIVERS FAMILY OF SERVICES

Lori Favata was promoted to executive program director of Home & Community Based Services. Favata has been with the organization for 10 years.

Tom McBride was promoted to assistant controller. McBride joined in 2011 as a budget analyst.

COLONIE SENIOR SERVICE CENTERS

Christine Cullam joined CSSC as finance director. Cullam has more than 20 years experience in accounting. She will provide financial oversight of the Beltrone Living Center, King Thiel Senior Community and Sheehy Manor.

PROFESSIONS

HESLIN ROTHENBERG FARLEY & MESITI PC

Matt Hulihan was promoted to partner. Hulihan practices a variety of intellectual property services, focusing on patent and trademark prosecution.

Rachel Leah Pearlman was promoted to partner. Pearlman focuses her practice on information technology law, including intellectual property prosecution, litigation and licensing.

BARCLAY DAMON

Daniela Weiss joined the law firm's Albany office as special counsel in public finance and financial institutions and lending practice areas. She previously worked as assistant corporation counsel for the city of Albany.

CULLEN AND DYKMAN

Christopher Buckey joined firms as a partner in the litigation department. His expertise is in commercial, construction, real estate, zoning and land use, serious personal injury, wrongful death, insurance defense, and employment discrimination litigation.

REAL ESTATE

RE/MAX CAPITAL

Udoka Okeke joined as a real estate associate. Okeke will focus on residential sales.

SERVICES

BESTPASS INC.

Sarah Richburg was promoted to sales coordinator. Richburg previously served as assistant sales administrator.

Ashley Bates was promoted to sales assistant. Bates previously served as an office assistant.

TIERRA FARM

Todd Kletter was promoted to chief executive officer. Kletter joined earlier this year as assistant director.

R.F. PECK COMPANY INC.

Michael J. Bulzomi joined as a sales engineer. Bulzomi previously served as an air control product manager at Nailor Industries.

UPSTATE SHREDDINGWEITSMAN RECYCLING

George Ostendorf named general manager. He will be responsible for overseeing and managing all operations and employees at Ben Weitsman of New Castle, a division of Upstate Shredding. He previously worked at scrap company Metalico as operations manager in Rochester and Buffalo.

 Jennifer Patterson
UML leaders to study situation in Province 2

The main opposition CPN-UML has decided to send the partys major leaders to Province 2 to take stock of the ground reality, as part of its preparations for the third phase of local level elections scheduled for September 18.
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Hoosick Falls

Flood-ravaged residents in Hoosick Falls this month may have felt like they were hit by an oncoming train, and in a meteorological sense, they were.

It was a train that the National Weather Service did not see coming until long after it arrived.

On the evening of July 1, the village in northern Rensselaer County near the Vermont border was pounded by a form of extreme, sustained deluge called a "training" storm. That is because such a storm acts like a train, with individual storm cells rapidly reforming behind each other in a line, following a narrow path as if on rails.

And that track ran straight through Hoosick Falls, where repeated torrential rains turned Woods Brook, a normally gentle brook named for a local patriarch, into a raging locomotive that blasted apart the village's decrepit, 1950s-era flood protection system.

The sudden storm also caught the Albany office of the National Weather Service somewhat off guard.

By the time weather officials issued a flash flood warning for the region at 9:21 p.m.  after repeated cloudbursts had erupted for about three hours  the village was badly flooded, Main Street was submerged by a rising torrent, and some people had already fled nearby homes.

Ray O'Keefe, the meteorologist in charge for Albany, said the warning was late, and showed the limits of weather radar and its ability to quickly estimate extreme rainfall and where it will fall.

The challenge may become harder in the future, as man-made climate change makes more extreme storms more likely in the Northeast.

"While we cannot say the (Hoosick Falls) storm was caused by climate change, incidences of severe weather and flooding such as this have a higher probability in a globally warmed climate," said Ross Lazear, an instructor at the University at Albany who studies extreme weather and weather forecasting.

O'Keefe said the Weather Service is not satisfied with being late with its flood warnings in Hoosick Falls.

"Of course, we want our warnings to be out before the storm," said O'Keefe. "The tools available to us that evening pointed toward a nuisance event .... When all was said and done, we had a flash flood in Hoosick Falls."

That evening, shortly after the first line of storms hit the village, his office issued its first flood advisory at 6:53 p.m. for Hoosick Falls and the region. When radar showed that the storm had apparently moved on, the weather service canceled the flood advisory at 8:05 p.m.

That was about the same time as village Mayor Robert Allen, who 90 minutes earlier had driven to his office through a pounding cloudburst  issued his own flooding emergency notice through social media.

O'Keefe said the weather service, after getting reports from emergency workers about flooding, reissued the flooding advisory at 8:34 p.m. An advisory indicates nuisance-level flooding.

At about that time, Main Street resident Sherri Stevenson was watching "walls of rain" outside her kitchen window as the raging Woods Brook behind her garage overwhelmed its buried flood control culvert and flume, submerged her driveway, and roared across the street on its way downstream.

"I saw air bubbles fizzling through the moving water on my driveway, and then, this hole just opened up. Then it was like a little geyser a few feet in the air," she said.

What Stevenson saw was the partial collapse of an underground concrete flume built in the early 1950s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of a 3,300-foot system of enclosed flumes and culverts to protect the village from being flooded by Woods Creek.

By 9:21, the weather service had issued another notice, this time as a higher-level "warning," which indicates a threat to life and property. Stevenson had already fled her house as the Woods Brook starting carving away the ground beneath her new front porch.

Allen said he is not certain what he could have done had he gotten an advance warning, other than call in his public works crews earlier.

But this was a day that village officials had been dreading, knowing for years that the Woods Brook flood control system was a ticking time bomb should an extreme storm hit.

In 2016, the village got a state grant to study what to do. A consulting engineer created a plan to divert most of Woods Brook away from the village by building a new, mile-long culvert system to carry water directly to the Hoosic River.

But that will cost $8 million or more, money that the village of 3,500 residents just cannot afford. Allen said it represents about six full years of his entire general fund budget.

Meanwhile, the smashed flood controls now mean the village could be exposed to more flooding when the next major storm arrives.

O'Keefe said the flood in the village shows the limits of flash flood forecasting, which relies on Doppler radar; rainfall measurements from ground stations, like the New York State Mesonet, a network of more than 120 weather stations across the state; and reports from ground observers.

For example, the Mesonet station in Schaghticoke, about 10 miles west of Hoosick Falls, shows the leading edge of the storm coming through just after 6 p.m., lasting for a half-hour and dumping 1.7 inches of rain.

"Our Doppler radar is a life-saving tool," he said, citing a July 17 flash flood that hit southern Saratoga County. Then, the weather service gave a 90-minute advance notice of the coming flood.

"But as the Hoosick case shows, the radar has its limits," said O'Keefe. "NWS research efforts are focused on doing a better job of assimilating our radar data with our observational data to improve our flash flood warning service."

bnearing@timesunion.com  518-454-5094  @Bnearing10
Melville

President Donald Trump came to the doorstep of Long Island communities hard-hit by gang violence Friday and vowed to help police eradicate the MS-13 gang.

Trump shook hands with some officers as he took the stage at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood. He was greeted with chants of "USA! USA!"

"I am the big, big admirer, and believer, in law enforcement, from day one," he said. "We are going to destroy the vile criminal cartel, MS-13, and many other criminal gangs."

Addressing gang members, Trump vowed: "We will find you, we will jail you and we will deport you."

"These are animals," he said of the gang, saying they liked their victims to "die slowly."

Trump told police officers in attendance, "We have your backs 100 percent, not like in the old days." Police cheered the remark.

"It's a whole new world," he said. "We have started nipping it in the bud."

Trump, who grew up in Queens, said he was surprised by the gang violence on Long Island.

"I grew up on Long Island," he said. "I didn't know about this. I never thought I'd be up here talking about liberating the towns of Long Island, where I grew up."

The president veered onto other topics, briefly touting what he said was a stronger economy and decrying the failure of his effort to repeal Obamacare.

"You can't have everything, boy oh boy," he said, adding that he would let the health care system "implode."

And the president said, "We will build the wall," referring to his proposal to prevent illegal immigration from Mexico. "The wall is vital as a tool for ending the humanitarian disaster."

Trump blamed former President Barack Obama's immigration policies for allowing a surge of criminals into the country.

Trump was introduced by Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who called the president a "great advocate" for law enforcement. "President Trump knows that blue lives do matter," he said. "MS-13 is going to be destroyed, and we're not going to worry about political correctness."

Among Trump's requests to Congress will be: 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers; a substantial increase in immigration judges; expedited removal of Central Americans; and legislation to punish sanctuary cities, a White House official said.

In his first visit to Long Island since taking office, Trump addressed hundreds of Long Island law enforcement personnel at Suffolk County Community College's Brentwood campus. Also attending was Evelyn Rodriguez, mother of MS-13 victim Kayla Cuevas. Immigrant advocate groups, however, are protesting what they called his administration's harsh deportation policies that go beyond targeting criminals.

Some also protested other Trump policies, such as his recent Twitter vow to bar transgender people from serving in the military.

Federal law enforcement officials announced the indictments last week of 14 suspected MS-13 gang members on Long Island, including nine accused of bludgeoning and hacking four young men to death in a Central Islip park in April. And Friday, New York City police charged two men who they said were MS-13 members from Hempstead with a murder in Queens.

Asked to respond to immigrant advocates who say they're as afraid of immigration agents as they are of gang members, Suffolk Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said his officers don't ask for immigration status of victims or witnesses. "Of course we protect victims. That said, we're aggressively targeting MS-13. I'm not going to apologize for that," he said.

John Becker, president of Suffolk Sheriff's Department Police Benevolent Association, said, "For the first time in many years we feel we have a president who supports law enforcement."
The following editorial appears on Bloomberg View:

If and when the U.S. Congress ever gets around to giving serious attention to comprehensive tax reform, it ought to reconsider the deduction for mortgage interest. A new study suggests this quirk of the tax code makes even less sense than previously thought.

The U.S. isn't alone in allowing some kind of tax deduction for mortgage interest  many countries do, though the American version is unusually generous. And the stated reason for this preferential treatment is the same everywhere: It promotes homeownership, which in turn is believed to encourage people to take a bigger stake in their community.

The new research, the first of its kind, shows that the deduction doesn't do that. Examining Denmark's reform of the mortgage-interest deduction in the 1980s, the study shows that a sharp cut in the preference for top-rate taxpayers (with smaller changes for other taxpayers) had a "precisely estimated zero effect" on homeownership, even in the very long run. The deduction encouraged people to live in bigger houses and borrow more, but that's all.

Up to now, the question has presented a trade-off  more homeownership on the one hand against the admitted drawbacks of the deduction on the other. Those drawbacks are numerous: For a start, the deduction is very regressive, as it is worth more to high-rate taxpayers than low-rate taxpayers. It also shifts tax from owners to renters, and from owners of expensive properties to owners of modestly priced properties.

In addition, it can worsen financial instability by encouraging overborrowing. Recall that the recession of 2008, cause of untold harm to millions of households, started in the U.S. housing market. In hindsight, perhaps a generous taxpayer subsidy to over-extended borrowers is ill-advised. In all, then, there would be a solid case for limiting and preferably abolishing the mortgage-interest deduction even if it did what it was supposed to. But it doesn't.

There will be political resistance to removing this tax break  as there would be for any other multibillion-dollar subsidy of dubious value. Yet it can be done: Denmark did it, and so did Britain, where the idea was initially seen as impossible. Maybe the U.S. can follow suit  especially now that it's clear that this defect of the tax system no longer has a leg to stand on.
It's been one year since Gov. Andrew Cuomo quietly foisted an estimated $7.6 billion electric utility rate hike on the people of New York to bail out three aging, upstate nuclear power plants. Since then, we've learned a lot about how bad that deal was, but we still don't know much about how the administration cooked it up.

Here's what we know: The deal is the result of an astonishingly secretive process. True, some hearings were held, but on a proposed bailout ranging from $59 million to $660 million. After the process wrapped up, the administration jacked up the price into the billions, without any meaningful public process to debate its merits.

The Cuomo administration didn't release an estimate for the entire cost of the 12-year plan, so the independent Public Utility Law Project crunched the numbers and found it could be as much as $7.6 billion. That stunning transfer of wealth to the single corporation owning the plants may well be the largest in New York's history.

The first two years of the bailout are estimated to cost ratepayers $964,900,000, an average of more than $1.3 million per day.

Since the bailout hit utility bills on April 1, New Yorkers have paid nearly $163 million extra to prop up these plants. That's a huge amount of money in a state like New York, already burdened with some of the highest utility rates in the country, and where 800,000 ratepayers are behind on their utility bills.

Included in that $163 million is close to $10 million in extra charges being footed by Niagara Mohawk residential ratepayers, based on the PULP analysis.

No one with a utility bill is immune. School districts, hospitals, businesses and municipalities are now grappling with higher utility rates because of a deal that was hammered out with virtually no public input.

Albany County, for example, is slated to pay up to $225,543 more per year for the bailout. Albany's school district may pay up to $87,552 more per year and Albany Medical Center up to $537,843 per year.

Despite the massive scale of the bailout, New Yorkers still don't know what alternatives the Cuomo administration considered to meet our energy needs. But there are clearly other paths to study. For example, the analysis released this month by energy expert Amory Lovins, which criticizes the growing trend toward subsidizing costly, uneconomical nuclear power plants.

Lovins, once named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People, found that bailouts like the kind New York just implemented could be avoided by closing unprofitable nuclear plants and reinvesting their operating costs into energy efficiency, such as better insulation, windows, and appliances.

Because energy efficiency reduces demand and is so much cheaper per kWh than the energy produced by a nuclear plant, it could replace the power generated by the nuclear plant and replace some of the power generated by coal or gas, all for the same price as one kWh of nuclear energy.

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Lovins' independent analysis contradicts the Cuomo administration's assertions that the bailout is the only way New York can reduce carbon emissions and meet its energy needs.

To "celebrate" the one-year anniversary of the bailout, let's hope the administration finally conducts a comprehensive public review of all the alternatives to spending billions to keep old, unprofitable nuclear power plants running.

It's not too late to reverse course and invest in 21st-century, clean, efficient power sources. New York ratepayers deserve to have their money bankroll job-creating technologies that help attack the problem of energy pollution, not kick the can 12 years down the road.

Blair Horner is executive director the New York Public Interest Research Group.
IMPORTANT SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Lundin Law PC Announces an Investigation of Halliburton Company and Advises Investors with Losses to Contact the Firm

Lundin Law PC, a shareholder rights firm, announces that it is investigating claims against Halliburton Company ("Halliburton" or the "Company") (NYSE: HAL) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws.

To get more information about this investigation, please contact Brian Lundin, Esquire, of Lundin Law PC, at 888-713-1033, or by email at [email protected].







On October 21, 2011, Halliburton revealed that it commenced an internal investigation into possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") by Halliburton personnel in Angola. On July 27, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that the Company would pay $29.2 million in fines and penalties to settle allegations of FCPA violations in connection with its Angolan operations. Upon release of this news, Halliburton's share price dropped.

Lundin Law PC was founded by Brian Lundin, a securities litigator based in Los Angeles dedicated to upholding shareholders' rights.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170728005803/en/
[July 28, 2017] Robots Market in Oil and Gas Drilling Operations - Global Forecast and Opportunity Assessment by Technavio

The global robots market in oil and gas drilling operations is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 5% during the forecast period, according to Technavio's latest report. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170728005719/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global robots market in oil and gas drilling operations from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) In this report, Technavio covers the market outlook and growth prospects of the global robots market in oil and gas drilling operations for 2017-2021. The market is segmented on application, which includes offshore and onshore and by solution which includes hardware, software, and services. The oil and gas industry faces challenges, which are technical and mechanical in nature. These challenges have prevented operators from working safely and seamlessly. Environmental challenges also hinder the productivity of the oil and gas industry, as a major part of operations is carried out manually. However, after the dip in the oil and gas industry in 2014, there has been a shift in the industry from manual operations to automation. Due to the level of risks involved in drilling operations, oil and gas industry players engaged in the drilling and extraction of oil and natural gas are adopting automated machines. Technavio's industrial automation research analysts categorize the global robots market in oil and gas drilling operations into the following segments by regions: EMEA

Americas

APAC Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report



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: largest robots market in oil and gas drilling operations

"The EMEA region will witness growth in the production and supply of liquid natural gas, which will meet the growing demand for fuel. The oil and natural gas industry in EMEA is expected to grow, with developments in major export countries, such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, and Iran. Major companies that contribute largely to the crude oil export share in EMEA are Gazprom, Rosneft, and LUKOIL," says Sushmit Chakraborty, a lead analyst at Technavio for research on robotics. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have hydrocarbon reserves in abundance. Hence, offshore and onshore exploration of oil and gas are major operations carried out in these regions. However, EMEA witnessed a downfall in oil and gas prices during the year 2014. There has been a downward shift in demand and the production of natural gas and crude oil, which has resulted in the plummet of oil and gas prices. This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free. Robots market in oil and gas drilling operations in the Americas "The most important consideration during the production of natural gas and oil is the implementation of methods, which can prevent the degradation of the environment. This has resulted in the adoption of automated machines. There has been a steady adoption of robotic drilling machines in the Americas, which provides efficiency during the exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas," adds Sushmit. The oil and gas industry involves substantial risks and is highly capital intensive. Companies involved in onshore and offshore exploration activities are in need for technologies that can enhance production at minimum operational costs. The Americas will not witness new mergers and acquisitions due to financial constraints. Robots market in oil and gas drilling operations in APAC The oil and gas industry is witnessing volatile and low prices. The market is uncertain because of which there is a slowdown in new projects and investments in oil and gas exploration. APAC is focusing on serving the current demand for oil and gas for energy generation. Southeast Asian countries are rich in oil and gas reserves. Countries, such as Vietnam and Indonesia, are known for their natural gas reserves. China, being the largest revenue contributor to the oil and gas industry, displays a high potential for exploration. The top vendors in the global robots market in oil and gas drilling operations highlighted in the report are: Drillmec

Ensign

Nabors

Schramm Browse Related Reports: Autonomous Tractors Market in Europe 2017-2021

Global Telepresence Robots Market 2017-2021

Used and Refurbished Robots Market in APAC 2017-2021 About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. 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/20170728005719/en/

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[July 28, 2017] Rail Freight Transportation Market in APAC - Trends and Forecasts by Technavio

Technavio's latest report on the rail freight transportation market in APAC provides an analysis of the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2017-2021. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170728005781/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the rail freight transportation market in APAC from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) The market was in a growth stage driven by high freight volumes in 2016 because of the continued improvement of global economic conditions, industrial production along with the rising demand for raw materials, and hike in the market for container transport. The rail freight transportation market in APAC is expected to register a CAGR of close to 4% during the forecast period. Sharan Raj, a lead analyst from Technavio, specializing in research on logistics sector, says, "The increase in inbound freight tonnage and inbound freight transportation revenues was mainly due to the significant increase in deepening of railway freight transportation and the considerable operations of southern express trains, and white freight tonnage." This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free. The top three emerging trends driving the rail freight transportation market in APAC according to Technavio research analysts are:



Integration of IoT in rail freight transportation

Tracking and tracing systems of rail freight using GPS

Integration of intelligent systems in freight cars Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report 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.

Integration of IoT in rail freight transportation Railway authorities in developed nations like Canada, Japan, France have evolved with time. New strategies, such as build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangements, public-private partnerships, and complete private funding, are adopted to enhance railway reliability, safety, and punctuality. "A recent innovation in the market is the Road-Railer. It is a truck trailer with steel wheels for rail travel and rubber tires for road travel. These trailers can swiftly change from the rails to highways and back again. It allows for faster deliveries, scheduling flexibility, and can be used for small loads," according to Sharan. Tracking and tracing systems of rail freight using GPS Railroads have made innovations to help overcome disadvantages and compete more effectively and efficiently with trucking over short distances for smaller loads. Intermodal is a rail service that hauls truck trailers or containers on railroad flatcars. It features a lower section, in which the container is loaded. The innovations generated also incorporate environmental efficiency of rail transportation, as it reduces the carbon emission by 53%. The increase in rail freight transportation mode is also reducing the road freight congestion, resulting in decreasing traffic. Integration of intelligent systems in freight cars Intermodal shipping combines rails and trucking. Intermodal shipping has demonstrated a higher level of quality performance than traditional rail freight service. Companies use EDI combined with bar codes. It is used to provide quick response to customers. EDI is a specialized network that companies use to exchange orders and status with their suppliers and clients. This system allows companies to conduct secure transactions with customers on the Internet. This type of electronic-based distribution reduces inventories and replenishes store stock quickly. It enables stores to have a better selection of products with the same space. It also accomplishes the strategic goal of quality customer service. The key vendors are as follows: Asciano

Aurizon

Guangshen Railway

Japan Freight Railway Browse Related Reports: Global Project Logistics Market 2017-2021

Global Finished Vehicles Logistics Market 2017-2021

Logistics Market in APAC 2017-2021 About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. 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/20170728005781/en/

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[July 28, 2017] Plug and Play Partners with Siemens to Launch New Energy & Sustainability Innovation Platform

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Siemens participates in the newly founded Plug and Play Energy & Sustainability Program, which focuses on new technologies that can be adapted across the energy market value chain. This program renders a network between leading startups, corporations, and venture capitalists at the heart of Silicon Valley. Siemens joins the platform to identify startups for collaborative projects. Technical focus areas include digital platforms and new business models in the energy market, energy efficiency, distributed energy resources; wind, solar, energy storage and microgrids, electric mobility, alternative energy, etc. "The collaboration with Plug and Play as a member in the new energy program is a key initiative for Siemens to develop the relationship with leading startup companies in the energy and adjacent markets. We are passionate about this partnership and the opportunities that come with the connection to this global ecosystem," says Zuozhi Zhao, Chief Technology Officer of the Power and Gas Division of Siemens. "This partnership with Plug and Play supports the implementation of our innovation roadmap for topics that address the changes in the energy market. Key targets include the reduction of emissions, the utilization of digital technologies and new business models, the increase of energy efficiency, and the management of the growing renewable install base, all embraced by the Energy and Sustainability Program," says Bernd Wachmann, Head of Innovation of the Power and Ga Division of Siemens. "With its global customer base, its broad portfolio and the global sales channels Siemens offers huge opportunities for startups."



"Plug and Play has built the critical mass and developed the know-how to foster startup innovation in partnership with the leading corporations around the world. Our partners in the energy sector have line-of-site into the emerging technologies across various sectors like finance, automotive, retail, new materials, etc. The Energy platform serves to find new technologies in artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance, blockchain, data analytics, machine learning, supply chain optimization, Industrial IoT, asset tracking, cybersecurity, and more in order to adapt them for the energy sector," says Wade Bitaraf, Director of Plug and Play Energy & Sustainability. Plug and Play Energy & Sustainability will run 12-week business development programs twice per year, accepting up to 20 startups per class. This program is stage-agnostic and does not require equity or fees from the startups to participate. For startups and corporations interested in joining, contact [email protected]

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world's largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment  such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems  and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2016, which ended on September 30, 2016, Siemens generated revenue of 79.6 billion and net income of 5.6 billion. At the end of September 2016, the company had around 351,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com. About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. We connect startups to corporations and invest in over 150 companies every year. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in 24 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 180 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 365 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $6 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/energy Media Contact

Allison Romero

(408)524-1457

[email protected] View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/plug-and-play-partners-with-siemens-to-launch-new-energy--sustainability-innovation-platform-300496256.html SOURCE Plug and Play

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[July 29, 2017] Videocon d2h Limited Quarter Ended June 30, 2017 Earnings Release

MUMBAI, India, July 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- VDTH ("Videocon d2h" or the "Company") announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30 2017. Key highlights for the quarter ended June 30, 2017: Revenue from operations came in at INR 7.73 billion;

Subscription and activation revenue came in at INR 7.09 billion;

Adjusted EBITDA came in at INR 2.49 billion and Adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 32.2%;

Profit after tax came in at INR 12 million;

Free cash flows [3] came in at INR 572 million;

came in at INR 572 million; Gross subscribers [4] and net subscribers increased by 0.63 million and 0.13 million, respectively, during the quarter;

and net subscribers increased by 0.63 million and 0.13 million, respectively, during the quarter; Net subscribers base at 13.04 million as of June 30, 2017 ; and

; and Churn[5] came in at 1.27% per month in Q1 FY18.







Key metrics Q1 FY18 Gross subscriber additions (million) 0.63 Net subscriber additions (million) 0.13 Adjusted EBITDA (INR million) 2,485 Profit after tax (INR million) 12 Free cash flow (INR million) 572

Commenting on the company outlook, Executive Chairman of Videocon d2h, Mr. Saurabh Dhoot, said "I am pleased to share that the Honorable National Company Law Tribunal has approved the scheme of amalgamation with Dish TV India. We are awaiting the certified copy of the order. The appointed date for the Scheme is October 1, 2017, from which date the businesses of Videocon d2h Limited and Dish TV India Limited will be amalgamated. In the past few weeks, the management has been working on an integration plan. The merged entity plans to adopt and implement the best practices of both companies. We believe this merger provides exciting opportunities through the customer service model, convergence of technologies, expanded breadth of content offerings including expansion of exclusive content, advertising income growth potential as well as synergies from a combined subscriber base of more than 28 million. The merged entity would be one of the largest Pay TV platforms in the world in terms of subscriber base, according to the Company estimates. I am very excited for this new journey of a business that commands strong business fundamentals and growth opportunities supported by our strong balance sheet and growing free cash flows." Speaking on the business outlook, Mr. Anil Khera, CEO of Videocon d2h, said "I am pleased to share that Goods and Service Tax (GST) came into effect starting July 1, 2017. GST will simplify the taxation regime and improve the ease of doing business. GST would also drive the unorganized segment, such as local cable operators, towards taxation. I am happy to share that the monsoons this year have been in line with long term average. This is likely to strengthen the macro-economic sentiment and imply good consumption from rural India. This is positive for the DTH industry and the upbeat rural sentiment due to the good monsoon could lead to a strong outlook for the festive quarter."

Financial Summary (In INR million, unless otherwise indicated)



Q1 FY17 Q4 FY17 Q1 FY18 Key financial metrics







Revenue from operations

7,633 7,549 7,726 Subscription and activation revenue

6,970 6,886 7,091 Adjusted EBITDA

2,519 2,364 2,485 Adjusted EBITDA margin (%)

33.0% 31.3% 32.2% Profit after tax (loss)

27 (87) 12









Content cost (% of revenue)

38.7% 42.5% 42.0%









Adjusted EBITDA less capex

887 981 1,246 Free cash flows

138 318 572









Key operating metrics







Net subscribers (million)

12.29 12.91 13.04 ARPU[6] (INR)

211 196 198 Churn per month (%)

0.49% 0.87% 1.27% During the quarter ended June 30, 2017, Videocon d2h reported revenue from operations of INR 7.73 billion. Subscription and activation revenue came in at INR 7.09 billion. Videocon d2h achieved Adjusted EBITDA of INR 2.49 billion in Q1 FY18. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 32.2% during the quarter. The company achieved a Net Profit after Tax of INR 12 million in Q1 FY18. The Company added 0.63 million gross subscribers and 0.13 million net subscribers during Q1 FY18. Net subscribers totaled 13.04 million as of June 30, 2017. Monthly churn came in at 1.27% for the quarter. Subscriber acquisition costs in the form of hardware subsidies were INR 1,865 per subscriber during the first quarter of Fiscal 2018. As of June 30, 2017, Videocon d2h had term loans of INR 19.67 billion and total cash and short term investments of INR 4.35 billion.

Conference call's dial in details The results conference call time and details are provided below.

Call #1 Call #2 Date Monday, July 31,2017 Monday, July 31,2017





Time 11:00 am India time 6:30 pm India time

1:30pm HK time 9:00pm HK time

6:30am UK time 2:00pm UK time

1:30am NYC time 9:00am NYC time





Dial in details



India +91 22 3960 0752/ 1 800 120 1221 +91 22 3960 0752/ 1 800 120 1221 Hong Kong 800 964 448/ +852 3018 6877 800 964 448/ +852 3018 6877 Singapore 800 101 2045/ +65 3157 5746 800 101 2045/ +65 3157 5746 USA 1866 746 2133 / +1 323 386 8721 1866 746 2133 / +1 323 386 8721 UK 0808 101 1573 / +44 20347 85524 0808 101 1573 / +44 20347 85524 Pin code Not required Not required





Playback details



India +91 22 3065 2322 +91 22 3065 2322 USA 1 855 4360 715/ 1 863 9490 105 1 855 4360 715/ 1 863 9490 105 Playback ID 76076 03597 Forward looking statements This earnings release may contain forward-looking statements, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition to statements which are forward-looking by reason of context, the words "may", "will", "should", "expects", "plans", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential", or "continue" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. We caution you that reliance on any forward-looking statement involves risks and uncertainties that might cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These and other factors are more fully discussed in the Videocon d2h's annual report on Form 20F filed with the SEC and available at http://www.sec.gov. All information provided in this announcement is as of the date hereof, unless the context otherwise requires. Other than as required by law, Videocon d2h does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or other information in this announcement. Q1FY18 financial results are available on the company web site www.ir.videocond2h.com

References

[1] The Company calculates EBITDA by calculating profit or loss after tax as increased by income tax expense, net finance costs, depreciation, amortization and impairment and reduced by other income. Adjusted EBITDA is EBITDA adjusted for share-based payments (which comprise the recognition of fair value of the Employee Stock Option Plan 2014 recognized as an expense over the vesting period and equity-based compensation paid to our Executive Chairman) which amounted to INR 21.01 million for Q1 of Fiscal 2017, INR 45.23 million for Q4 of Fiscal 2017 and nil for Q1 of Fiscal 2018, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA presented in this earnings release is a supplemental measure of performance and liquidity that is not required by or represented in accordance with the IFRS. Furthermore, Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance or liquidity under IFRS and should not be considered as an alternative to profit after tax, operating income or other income or any other performance measures derived in accordance with the IFRS or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities or as a measure of liquidity. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA is not a standardized term, hence direct comparison between companies using the same term may not be possible. Other companies may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently from the Company, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures. The Company believes that Adjusted EBITDA helps identify underlying trends in the Company's business that could otherwise be distorted by the effect of the expenses that are excluded when calculating Adjusted EBITDA. The Company believes that Adjusted EBITDA enhances the overall understanding of its past performance and future prospects and allows for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by its management in its financial and operational decision-making. [2] Net subscriber means subscribers authorized to receive DTH broadcasting services on account of payment of subscription charges or any entry offer at the time of initial connection, as well as subscribers who are temporarily disconnected due to non-payment of subscription charges for a period not exceeding 120 days. [3] The Company calculates free cash flow as Adjusted EBITDA less capital expenditure and net interest expense, as increased by other income. Free cash flow is not an IFRS measure and should not be construed as an alternative to any IFRS measure such as cash flow from operating activities. Free cash flow should not be considered in isolation and is not a measure of the Company's financial performance or liquidity under IFRS and should not be considered as an alternative to cash flow from operating, investing or financing activities or any other measure of its liquidity derived in accordance with IFRS. Free cash flow does not necessarily indicate whether cash flow will be sufficient or available for cash requirements and may not be indicative of the Company's results of operations. Free cash flow as defined herein may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures used by other companies. [4] Gross subscribers mean total registered subscribers. [5] Churn has been calculated as the number of subscribers who have not made payment for at least 120 days and is the difference between the number of gross subscribers and the number of net subscribers. [6] Average Revenue Per User ("ARPU") is calculated by dividing revenue from operations by the average of the Company's net subscribers for the period. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/videocon-d2h-limited-quarter-ended-june-30-2017-earnings-release-300496307.html SOURCE Videocon d2h

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Rex Early, longtime Republican leader in Indiana, has died

Rex Early was chairman of the Indiana Republican Party and led former president Donald Trump's campaign in Indiana in 2016.
Willie Parker has been sentenced to life without parole for 50 years in connection with the murder of his boss exactly two years ago. The Wyandotte County District Attorney announced the sentencing on Twitter. Michel Ziade was murdered on July, 28 2015. Parker was subsequently charged with first-degree murder.
Kansas City, MO Fraternal Order Of Police

MO STATE SENATOR SILVEY

COUNCILMAN QUINTON LUCAS

As always . . .

Tonight let's take a brief pause to check this week's Kansas City winners amid a soggy week and a litany of change underway.Checkit;FOP Union leaders and officers at the street level flexed their political muscle to push their candidate to the forefront. They were successful thanks to one of the best community minded police officials in recent memory . . . Only time will tell if this success translates to better results on local streets.This Missouri mid-level GOP dude is getting pressure to run for KANSAS CITY MAYOR from his colleagues and constituents. Behind the scenes, he says he's still considering his options as the Northland continues to desperately search for a champion.This week the 3rd District At-large Councilman declared war against KCI secrecy and local media lauded his pronouncements . . . In the meantime, the push toward a single-terminal continues with pep rallies, celebrity endorsements and sketchy no-bid financing deals.This list has been compiled according toand it's a weekly comprehensive guide to local powerful people.
It was very clear they had made up their minds, Humphrey said.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City has a new police chief, but the man who was passed up for the job told 41 Action News Friday he was surprised by the announcement. 41 Action News spoke with Norman, Oklahoma Police Chief Keith Humphrey, the other finalist for the police chief position, after the announcement that Major Rick Smith was named police chief.








A national disgrace, a move that HORRIBLY impacts biz and tarnishes the reputation of the Show-Me State throughout the nation.Reactionaries might not care or might like the backward image . . . The smarter denizens of our blog community realize thatand this bit of public shaming has the potential to impact the pocketbook of local biz.Checkit:You decide . . .
LIBERTY, Mo. -- Missouri's top dog was in town Friday and wants to crack down on the addiction crisis. At the Clay County Courthouse Governor Eric Greitens released his plan to do that. The governor spent the afternoon visiting the drug court, talking with judges, staffers and graduates about the state's opioid crisis.
The Missouri Court of Appeals has given labor its second boost in a month in unions' two-pronged effort to to overturn the state's "right to work" law. On Friday, the court overturned a judge's earlier decision changing the wording on labor's proposed referendum to block "right to work," which is slated to go into effect Aug.
Sprint Corp. is looking to strike a merger deal with Charter Communications Inc., The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday. Sprint officials had no comment when reached by the Kansas City Business Journal. According to the report, Sprint is pursuing a deal in which a new public company would be formed to combine the Overland Park-based mobile company and Charter.
Bahrain's Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning will be carrying out the infrastructure works for the $1-billion King Abdullah Medical City, a massive healthcare project coming up in the south of the kingdom.

A financing contract worth BD16.5 million ($43.4 million) has been signed between Bahrain government and the Saudi Development Fund in this regard, stated Ahmed Al Khayyat, the works affairs undersecretary at the ministry.

The scope of work includes the main 66 kV power station, a sewage treatment plant, water collection tanks besides sewerage, irrigation and stormwater drainage networks. The ministry will also handle the internal and external roads networks, lighting, telecommunication network and aesthetic works, he added.

The giant medical city project is being funded through a SR1 billion ($267 million) grant from the late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and will be built on a one-million-sq-m plot donated by His Majesty King Hamad at Durrat Al Bahrain.

The medical city will be a multiple-phased mixed-use development comprising academic and medical facilities, a research centre, on-site accommodation and other communal facilities to create a self-sustained campus, said senior ministry officials.

Al Khayyat was speaking after a meeting with the officials of Saud Consult, the project consultants for King Abdulla Medical City, in the presence of advisor Nabeel Al Khalfan and Hassan Al Arrayedh from the Electricity & Water Authority and representatives from the Arab Gulf University Hisham Jaffar (HAJ), the project owner.

Highlighting the infrastructure and facilities design stages, Al Khyatt said the preliminary designs for the project have completed, while the detailed designs are presently in process.-TradeArabia News Service
The Bahrain Technology Companies Society (BTECH), in cooperation with the South Korean Embassy in Bahrain, will organize the Bahrain-Korea Forum for Video and Mobile Applications and Games in the kingdom.



The event takes place on September 25 and 26 at the Bahrain Exhibition and Convention Centre.



The forum, which will be held for the first time in Bahrain, is expected to attract about 100 participants, including Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Economic Development Board, Tamkeen, and many relevant South Korean entities.



Korean mobile phone and video game developers along with their Bahraini counterparts also will be participating.



The forum includes a number of topics including the review of enhancing the cooperation between the Kingdom of Bahrain and South Korea at the governmental and private sector in the field of video game industry, in addition to the presentation of the South Korean experience in this field, while the second day of the forum will be dedicated to field visits to companies.



President of the Bahrain Technology Companies Society (BTECH) Ubaidly Al Ubaidly discussed the arrangements for holding this forum with the ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Bahrain Koo Hyunmo, in the presence of the CEO of ThinkSmart Ahmed Al-Hujairi.  TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa)s 13MW first phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park has received International Renewable Energy Certificates (I-REC) issued in 2017.



The move supports Dewas commitment to the environment and its adherence to the vision of the wise leadership to increase the share of clean energy in the energy mix. It also underlines Dewas efforts to encourage the use of clean energy and promote environmental sustainability and green economy.



The I-RECs, which were issued by the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence (Dubai Carbon), are equivalent to 25,000 megawatt hours of annual net electricity supplied to the grid from the 13MW power plant.



This makes Dewa the first organisation in the Arabian Gulf to adopt the I-REC system, which is a voluntary system for international trade in renewable-energy certificates. The system was created to encourage utilities around the world to increase the amount of renewable or clean energy in their supply mix.



Dewa is the first utility in the region to sell I-REC certificates. It has signed an agreement to sell its 2017 certificates to Philips Lighting, through Norways ECOHZ. The agreement affirms Philips' commitment to completely depend on renewable energy for its operations, by 2020.



At Dewa, we work to achieve the vision of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to transform Dubai into a global hub for green economy and renewable energy, said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dewa.



We also support the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which was launched by His Highness. The strategy maps out Dubais energy sector over the next three decades by establishing a sustainable model in energy conservation that supports economic growth without damaging the environment or natural resources. This will help Dubai to attain the lowest carbon footprint in the world by 2050. We are also working to achieve the Demand Side Management Strategy, which was launched by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, to reduce energy and water demand by 30 per cent by 2030, he added.



"We are glad to cooperate with Philips Lighting, one of the leading organisations committed to instilling a culture of sustainability, to use the clean energy produced by Dewa from the first phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The park is the largest single-site solar project in the world with a planned capacity of 5,000MW by 2030.



Dewa has consistently supported Dubais efforts to raise awareness on various environmental issues by adopting and launching several relevant initiatives and projects. Our aim is to increase awareness on the importance of conserving and preserving our natural resources. Carbon reduction and impact mitigation form part of our environmental strategy, concluded Al Tayer.  TradeArabia News Service
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Variably cloudy with snow showers. High 38F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 100%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies with late-night snow showers. Low 28F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 40%.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 29

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested an Ambala native in connection with the Ponzi scam worth Rs 600 crore following raids at five places across India. The ED has also seized fixed deposit receipts, immovable property papers, jewellery and high-end cars worth about Rs 4.18 crore during the raids.

The raids were conducted in Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ambala, and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh yesterday. He was today presented before a local court that sent him to 14-day judicial remand.

The accused, Kamal K Bakshi, is also a proclaimed offender in a cheating case registered with the city police in 2012. Four tricity residents were duped of about Rs 50 lakh, following which Economic Offences Wing of the city police had registered the case. The case was later investigated by the ED as there were many complaints against the Chandigarh-based Uni Pay Group from across India.

The accused has now been taken in custody by us from the ED. He is being sent to judicial custody as he was a PO in a 2012 case with us. He was an agent of the company bosses and mostly did his business online, said a UT police official.

According to information, the probe is on against Uni Pay Group under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED had filed an FIR following a case registered by UT police.

The ED conducted searches at five offices and residential premises of Kamal K Bakshi and AK Singh across the country in relation to the scam. The duo held high ranks in the ponzi company. According to sources, the company lured thousands of innocent investors in the guise of high returns on investment. The ED officials said the alleged kingpin of the scheme was a Malaysian national, identified as Mugundhan Gangam, who floated two firms, Unipay 2U Marketing Private Limited and Unigateway2U Trading Private Limited, in India.

He is suspected to be hiding in Malaysia. Assets worth Rs 1.63 crore have also been attached under the PMLA in the case.
Mohali, July 28

Gloom descended on neighbours in Sector 70 here on hearing of the killing of a youth in Sacremento in the USA.

According to reports, Simranjit Singh (20), who worked at a gas station in Sacremento, was gunned down around 10.30 pm there two days ago. He had gone to the USA last year to meet his elder sister, who lived in Sacremento.

Simranjit Singhs father, Ranjit Singh Bhangu, is a retired PSEB official and has his residence in Sector 70. At present, Ranjit Singh and his wife are reported to have gone to New Zealand to meet one of their daughters.  OC
Our Correspondent

Mohali, July 29

The body of 20-year-old Simranjit Singh, who was gunned down at a gas station in Sacramento, US, will be brought to Mohali for cremation. The victims parents, who are now in New Zealand visiting one of their daughters, have booked a flight for India for August 4.

Simranjits father, Ranjit Singh Bhangu, had retired from the Punjab School Education Board about five years ago. He and his wife live in Sector 70 here.

Simranjits mother, Manjit Kaur, is in a state of shock and does not want to go to the US at any cost. Her son would have turned 21 on September 7.

The Sacramento police have arrested one suspect and are looking for two others in connection with the murder. Simranjits father could not be contacted in New Zealand as his mobile was switched off. However, Navjeet Kaur, sister of Simranjit Singh, who lives in Sunny Enclave, Kharar, told Chandigarh Tribune that she had talked to her father in New Zealand and sister Harpinder Kaur in the US this morning. They had told her that the body would be brought to Mohali for cremation.

She said the body of her brother had still not been handed over to Harpinder Kaur who was completing the formalities for bringing it to India. The authorities concerned were giving all possible help in this regard and the formalities were likely to be completed by Friday. She said the body would reach about two days after her parents came to Mohali.

She said she had two sisters and Simranjit was the youngest of the four siblings. In fact, he was their kid brother, being 18 years younger to the eldest sister and 16 years younger to her. The eldest sister had moved to the US about 10 years ago. The family was to hold a path at Anandpur Sahib on September 7, Simranjits birthday.

Navjeet Kaur further said that Simranjit had a temporary job at the Sacramento gas station and was pursuing studies in computer science. Earlier, he had taken admission to Chandigarh University, Gharuan, but left during the BTech (first year) course in that subject. He had decided to leave his job in the next few days as his examination was on August 5.

She said her parents and brother were US green card holders. Simranjit wanted to settle in the US. Her parents had planned to move to that country in March next year.

A next-door neighbour of the Bhangu family, Dalbir Singh, said he had known Simranjit since he was six as the family had been staying in Sector 70 since 1995. He said Simranjit was well-behaved and no neighbour had any complaint against him.

He said Simranjits parents had planned to sell their rural property in a village near Chamkaur Sahib to buy a house for their son in the US.

Sacramento police arrest one suspect

According to the Sacremento County Sheriffs Department, detectives were looking for two suspects wanted in the murder, which occurred on July 25. Detectives had identified them as Rodolfo Zavala (23) and Ramon Zavala (15) of Sacramento. Alexander Lopez was arrested on July 26 for his alleged involvement in the murder.

The Sheriffs department said a little before 10.30 pm on July 25, the Sheriffs Communication Center received a 911 call regarding a shooting at the Chevron Gas Station in South Sacramento.

Deputies located the victim on the ground of the parking lot, suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Deputies learned that one of the gas station employees was cleaning the gas station parking lot. At one point he had a verbal altercation with the suspects, who were loitering there. One of the suspects physically assaulted the employee during the altercation. That employee went inside the store to call 911. Simranjit Singh was then approached by these suspects. One of the them pulled out a handgun sand fired several shots at the victim.
Mohali, July 29

A team of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau nabbed Assistant Sub-Inspector Buta Singh while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 here today.

The ASI, who was posted at the Sohana police station, demanded the bribe in lieu of releasing the car of an accused in the NDPS case.

According to the Vigilance officials, Buta Singh demanded Rs 18,000 from the complainant, Meharban Singh, for preparing the release report of the car. The complainant said the deal was settled at Rs 10,000, following which he lodged a complaint with the bureau.

A trap was laid by the Vigilance team and the ASI was nabbed from his office at the police station. A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered.

A senior Vigilance official said investigation would be conducted to ascertain whether other officials of the police station were involved in corruption. Three village panchayats had recently complained of harassment by the ASI in certain cases.  TNS
Ananya Panda

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 28

Around 45 Indian women, many understood to be from Puducherry, Haryana and Punjab, who were allegedly trafficked first to Dubai and later Oman on the pretext of better jobs by some agents, are currently restrained in Oman after confiscation of their passports.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Malliwal has written a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj urging her help bring back the 45 women trapped in Oman where, as per their claims, they were not only forced to work as housemaids but also assaulted. Swati has sought an appointment from the minister to discuss the matter.

The issue came to light after an NGO associated with the DCW, Navshristi, received a complaint over phone from some of these women two days ago alleging they failed to get any support from the Indian Embassy in Oman.

Many of these women, who were promised nursing work in Dubai by an agent and later employed as maids across Oman, were beaten and kept hungry too, the NGO told the DCW in its representation.

The commission has received a representation from the NGO two days ago stating it received complaints from women who have been restrained in Oman and are unable to come back to India. They have sent a complaint to Navshristi, an NGO associated with the DCW, said a DCW official.

Thereafter, the DCW chief sought the External Affairs Ministers intervention in a letter which was accompanied by phone recordings expressing concerns over the case which seems like human trafficking.

I am Monica from Karnal from India. I had come to Dubai in 2016 with the help of an agent. We were beaten up and forcibly sent to Oman. Our agent has taken away our passports. We ran away from our employers houses and approached Indian Embassy (in Oman) for help, but has received no help for 11 months. I am being told I have a case against me. I have two small kids, madam. Please help me, said a voice in one of the audio clips The Tribune obtained from the DCW.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 29

A Zambian woman was apprehended at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), Delhi, today for allegedly trying to smuggle about 12 kg of narcotics by concealing it in her baggage, an airport security official said.

The official said the woman, who reached the IGI Airport in the wee hours to travel to Addis Ababa, was intercepted by CISF personnel, based on a tip off.

The woman from Zambia has been identified as Doris Mwama I and has been handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) along with the 12 kg of narcotics recovered from her bag.

The drugs that was concealed in 12 ladies hand bags has been identified as pseudoephedrine, according to NCB official.
Washington, July 29

Two Sikh Americans have been killed in separate incidents in California, according to community organisations and media reports.

Subag Singh, 68, was found dead in a canal after he went missing in the morning of June 23. His body had injuries.

California law enforcement officials from Fresno county have said that they were trying to find out who was responsible for the killing of the elderly Sikh American.

Deputies found his body with visible trauma in a canal on McCall and Jensen. Investigators are trying to piece together what led up to the body being found in a canal, Fox26 news said in a report.

Deputies are not saying if this was a hate crime, but members of the Sikh community say this would not be the first, it said.

Honestly, we are very hurt, it just hurts us. And we think what else do we need to do, Gurdeep Shergill, a local community leader, was quoted as saying.

In a separate incident, Simranjit Singh, 20, of Elk Grove was shot dead on July 25 outside a gas station where he worked.

According to Sacramento Bee news, he was shot dead by men who had earlier assaulted his co-worker.

At this point in both investigations, it is unclear if either of these crimes were racially motivated but we are working with both local and federal law-enforcement authorities to ensure these murders are thoroughly investigated and that the local jurisdictions are treating the cases with the utmost importance, said Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF).

These attacks are inexcusable and we offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of Subag Singh and Simranjit Singh.

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We call upon local and federal law-enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate these heinous crimes and classify them as hate incidents if hate is shown to be a motive, SALDEF executive director Baldev Singh said.

There have been a number of attacks targeting Indian-Americans and Sikhs in the recent months in the US.

In March, a 39-year-old Sikh man was shot in the arm outside his home in Kent, Washington, by a partially-masked gunman who shouted go back to your own country.

In February, 32-year-old Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed when a US Navy veteran opened fire at him and his friend Alok Madasani, yelling get out of my country. PTI
Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Prem Nagar (Bhiwani), July 29

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today urged the Centre to set up an institute like the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the state.

He was at Prem Nagar village to lay the foundation stone of Government Medical College. He said the state had been facing shortage of doctors. The state government has finalised a plan to establish 19 medical colleges. The work on these projects is likely to begin before the end of the present tenure, said Khattar.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda was also present on the occasion.

As per the international healthcare standards, with a population of 1.7 crore, Haryana requires over 27,000 doctors, but we have over 12,000 of them, including private practitioners, he said. He urged Nadda to set up an AIIMS in Haryana.

The Union Health Minister said the Centre had provided a grant of Rs 150 crore to PGIMS at Rohtak for setting up a superspeciality block on the campus. Besides, two tertiary cancer centres are being established in Mewat and Mahendragarh districts at a cost of Rs 45 crore, said Nadda.

Woman, daughter create ruckus in front of Khattar

A woman and her daughter created a ruckus in front of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar who was here on Saturday to lay the foundation stone of a medical college. Shakuntala, widow of Sher Singh who was shot dead in the court complex in Bhiwani in May, alleged that the police had failed to arrest her husbands killers. She, along with her teenaged daughter, tried to move towards the stage when policewomen caught hold of her. She was dragged out of the meeting venue. The police took her to the police station in a vehicle. Police sources said she was booked for creating disturbance at the programme. Shakuntala had alleged that seven of the 12 accused in her husbands murder case were still roaming free.
Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 29

The State Information Commission (SIC) has recommended to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha to take a decision for placing the attendance record of MLAs on the public domain, as is the practice in Parliament and many other state Assemblies.

State Chief Information Officer Yash Pal Singal, taking up an appeal by RTI activist Harinder Dhingra, also asked the Assembly to provide the appellant information within four weeks on its budget and expenditure made on running the House proceedings after the BJP government came to power in October, 2014.

Dhingra had sought information about the number of working days of the current state Assembly till date, the number of times the Assembly had been adjourned, the number of days each MLA attended the House since their election in October, 2014, and the expenditure incurred on running the Assembly.

The State Public Information Officer (SPIO) of the Assembly only provided information on the first two points.

On the appeal, the First Appellate Authority (FAA) of the Assembly informed Dhingra that information on point 3 (attendance of MLAs) was not provided to you in view of the orders dated February 27, 2017, of the Speaker obtained by the Chamber Bench, which is the custodian of the records of the attendance of the MLAs.

As regards point 4 (expenditure on running the current Assembly from October, 2014, till date), the FAA said the information was not provided since nothing specific on this point was available with the Assembly Secretariat.

Dhingra also sought from the Lok Sabha Secretariat copies of the attendance register of all 10 MPs from the state, he was informed that the information was available on its website.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat also replied that it was possible that a member might have attended the session on a particular day but not signed in the register, but even then the information was available on website. Singal observed in the order that the total budget and expenditure incurred in running the Assembly must be available with the public authority and be shared with the appellant.

Singal also directed the SPIO of the Assembly to provide information about the budget and expenditure to Dhingra within four weeks and file the status report by August 31.

RTI query

Harinder Dhingra, an RTI activist, had sought information about the number of working days of the current state Assembly till date, the number of times the Assembly had been adjourned, the number of days each MLA attended the House since their election in October, 2014, and the expenditure incurred on running the Assembly.
Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 29

Charred remains of an unidentified Tibetan youth were found in a forest below the Dalai Lama temple at Mcleodganj on Saturday causing quite a stir in the area.

While many Tibetans suspected that it could be another act of self-immolation, police say anything in the matter could only be said after post-mortem.

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Sources said the body was noticed by a Tibetan passerby at about 4 pm. He told Tibetan settlement officials that the body of a Tibetan was on fire in a forest, who further informed police.

As the word spread a large number of residents of Mcleodganj started gathering at the spot. Many Tibetan websites cast apprehensions that this could be another self-immolation by a Tibetan.

In last two years more than 150 Tibetans have committed self-immolation to protest against the Chinese rule in Tibet. While most of them have committed self-immolation inside Tibet, two have taken the extreme step in India.

Sources added that the place where charred remains of the youth have been recovered is used by Tibetans to invoke the deities through incense ceremonies.

The DSP (Headquarters) who was present at the spot said a forensic team has been called to examine the body and the spot where it was found.

A Tibetan youth who had committed self-immolation in Varanasi two weeks ago was cremated in Mcleodganj by the Tibetan Youth Congress.

Another Tibetan youth who had committed self-immolation in Delhi was also cremated in Mcleodganj.
Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 29

Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat wrapped up his two-day visit to the Jammu region today. During his tour, he visited the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district and held threadbare discussion with Army officers on the security situation in the state.

Sources said the Army Chief was scheduled to visit forward areas in Poonch district today but due to bad weather, he cut short his visit and returned to New Delhi this morning.

On Friday, General Rawat had a firsthand account of the Army's preparedness at the LoC, where Pakistan has been violating ceasefire for the past few months.

The Army Chief reviewed the security situation with Northern Command chief Lt Gen D Anbu and General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 16 Corps Lt Gen AK Sharma.

The Northern Command PRO, on Friday, said that General Bipin Rawat complimented the troops for their unflinching efforts and reiterated the need to remain ever prepared to counter the nefarious designs of the adversary.

During his visit to Rajouri on Friday, the Chief of Army Staff was briefed on the Armys operational readiness by the GOC, Ace of Spades Division.

During his visit to the 16 Corps, he reviewed the operational preparedness and the prevailing security situation in the Corps zone.
Vikram Sharma

Tribune News service

Jammu, July 29

The Congress today distanced itself from the Chief Minister's statement "India means Indira", which was being looked by some as her indication to the party (Congress) for a clandestine political tie-up.

Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said, "The maxim India means Indira holds great significance and relevance for people of India as under former Prime Minister Indira Gandhis tall stewardship, the country witnessed drastic changes towards development and self-reliance."

He said, "The BJP and the PDP are at a crossroads of political uncertainty. The coalition has failed to keep itself integrated and the parties are not on the same page. The Chief Ministers statement at this crucial juncture can throw up multiple interpretations, but for the Congress, it is clear on its grounds and ideology and does not give worth to indications, if there are any.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in her recent statement at New Delhi had said, Some people may be troubled, but for me India means Indira."

The Bharatiya Janta Party, while reacting to her statement, said, "It (BJP) does not believe that a person of a stature of Chief Minister can identify the magnificence of India with a single person."

Bharat has produced great men of honour, dignity and respectability. Identifying the country with one person only is very unfortunate. India is much beyond any persona, said Sunil Sethi, chief spokesperson, BJP.

Sethi also denied any likelihood of a clandestine strategy between the PDP and the Congress for power-sharing in the state.

The Congress is numerically and politically washed out in Jammu and Kashmir. No government without the BJP can be formed in the state, Sethi added.

Jammu For India (JFI) convener Hari Om said, "Frustrated Mehbooba Mufti has virtually revolted against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by saying Modi has deviated from the Vajpayee line and her invoking Indira Gandhi is a clear indication that she is mulling a tie-up with the Congress, its natural ally,
Srinagar, July 29

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said trade with Pakistan should not be stopped and reviving the Lahore Declaration engineered by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the way forward for peace between the two countries.

The Chief Minister said trade with Pakistan needed to be strengthened and not stopped to bridge distances between the neighbours.

She said peace between the two countries as envisaged in the Lahore Declaration was still the best way forward to move in India-Pakistan relationship.

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On the 18th foundation day of her party--the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)--Mufti said Kashmir was the crown of India and the country was incomplete without it.

She said legislators from Pakistani side of Kashmir should be allowed to come here and interact with the lawmakers on the Indian side to know each others viewpoint.

Mufti said it was time to take steps to save the people in Kashmir and not to compound the problems already faced by them.

Party Vice President and parliament member Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said 50 per cent of states area which was at present under Pakistan administration has virtually passed into Chinas control.

The position today is that even if Pakistan wants to talk to India it cannot do so without Chinas permission, Beigh said. IANS
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 29

An Army man from Kashmir, who deserted his unit earlier this month, has joined the Hizbul Mujahideen in south Kashmir, official sources said.

Police sources said they had intelligence inputs that Sepoy Zahoor Ahmed Tokar, a resident of Sirnoo in volatile Pulwama district, had joined militant ranks from the past one week.

Meanwhile, the Hizbul Mujahideen today claimed that Sepoy Zahoor Ahmed had joined the militant outfit. ...Zahoor Ahmed will hopefully prove an asset for this ongoing struggle, Hizb said in a statement issued to a local news agency in Srinagar.

Tokars picture brandishing a gun had surfaced on the social media, announcing he had joined the militant ranks.

Sepoy Zahoor Ahmed Tokar was posted in the 173 Territorial Army (Engineering) at Gantmulla, Baramulla, in north Kashmir. He had deserted his unit on July 5 night and fled with an AK rifle and three magazines. After he went missing, the forces had sounded an alert as he had good knowledge of the security system in the Valley.

Tokar, after joining the Territorial Army, was posted at the Gantmulla base for approximately two years.

Police sources said Tokar was in touch with Hizb overground workers in Pulwama before he deserted the base.

During investigation, the police questioned Tokars family members and friends.

There have been instances in the past in the state where policemen have joined militant ranks, but this is the first such incident in which a Kashmiri soldier has joined militant ranks.

In May this year, Constable Syed Naveed Mushtaq, a resident of militancy-infested Shopian district, had fled with four INSAS rifles, including his service rifle, from the guard post at the FCI godown in Budgam and later joined militant ranks.
Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 29

More than a year has passed, but the 37 schools that were set afire by miscreants during the unrest last year are yet to be built as the government has no funds.

A total of 5,000 students studying in these government schools were affected. Most of the schools were burnt in south Kashmirs Kulgam district, the epicentre of the 2016 unrest.

"The state government has no funds to rebuild the schools. We have prepared a proposal and submitted it to the Central government. We are awaiting release of funds to rebuild the schools and if the funds are not released then we will look for an alternative. But right now, there is no progress on rebuilding, Minister of Education Syed Altaf Bukhari said. "Till now I have not succeeded in reconstructing the schools," he said.

The minister admitted that the students who studied in these schools were suffering academically and said the reconstruction takes time. We have shifted the students to rented accommodations and nearby schools till some permanent arrangement is done, Bukhari said.

A senior official of the Department of Education said no serious efforts were being taken to rebuild the schools. That (burning of schools) was a major setback to education. People have forgotten about these schools. I am not even sure whether they will be rebuilt any time soon. Most of the schools are in rural Kashmir where it takes decades to even establish a school, the official said.

The burning of schools became the focal point of unrest last year after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani's killing.

Around 37 schools were either partially or fully damaged in the fire incidents and the education sector suffered an infrastructural damage of Rs 10 crore during the unrest last year.

5,000 students affected

* Most of the schools were burnt in south Kashmirs Kulgam district, the epicentre of the 2016 unrest. A total of 5,000 students were affected

* Around 37 schools were either partially or fully damaged in the fire incidents and the education sector suffered an infrastructural damage of Rs 10 crore during the unrest last year
Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 29

Chief Minister Mehbooba Muftis statement on Article 35A has irked BJP leaders as it is being seen by them as a veiled attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)  the fountainhead of the Sangh Parivar.

Although BJP ministers of the state coalition government have been lying low, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today termed Mehboobas remarks on the National Flag as shocking and ridiculous.

Spokespersons for state BJP leaders, too, have reacted against her statement and reiterated their demand for abrogating Articles 370 and 35A.

The Tricolour is sacrosanct for us. It will fly high in J&K as much as it does in any other state of the Indian Union, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in Prime Ministers Office (PMO), has reacted to Mehboobas statement, while avoiding reaction to Article 35A as the matter is sub judice.

Mehbooba had on Friday warned that any tinkering with the special status granted to the state would have serious ramifications and there would be no one to hold the Tricolour.

As the Chief Minister had sought a solution of the Kashmir problem, Dr Singh said the only issue in J&K was the liberation of the areas illegally occupied by Pakistan. The whole nation is committed to the unanimous resolution passed by the Parliament on PoJK, he said.

On Friday, she had stated in Delhi, Any tampering with Article 35A wont be acceptable. I wont hesitate in saying that nobody will even carry the corpse of the National Flag in Kashmir, if it happens. Let me make it very clear.

Mehboobas statement is being seen as an attack on the RSS as the Sangh leadership had launched a nationwide campaign against Article 35A, dubbing it as the biggest constitutional fraud.

Dr Krishana Gopal, Sah Sarkaryavah (national joint general secretary), RSS, had said this at a seminar in Jammu on June 23 this year. He had argued that this Article was added to the Indian Constitution through a Presidential Order on May 14, 1954, without any debate in Parliament.

As some organisations have challenged the constitutional validity of Article 35A, the Chief Minister had on January 30 this year stated on the floor of the Legislative Assembly that those taking legal course to weaken Articles 370 and 35A were anti-nationals.

On July 17, the apex court had referred the petition challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A of the Constitution to a three-judge Bench for a larger debate.

Meanwhile, two spokespersons for the BJP, Sunil Sethi and Prof Varindra Gupta, too, have strongly objected to Mehboobas statement.

Sethi said, The statement of the Chief Minister on Article 35A doesnt depict the true picture and is politically incorrect. Article 35A was introduced in the Constitution of India through a process of Article 370 and has lead to only disparity and inequalities in the state.

Meanwhile, Gupta, while expressing shock at the statement, said Article 370 was incorporated as a temporary provision and Article 35A was a constitutional fraud. He said, On a number of occasions, provisions of Indian Constitution were introduced in the state for the benefit of its people. If its removal is in the interests of the nation and beneficial to the people of the state, its abrogation should be done, of course with the consent of the state as well as people of India.
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 29

Appealing to the Centre to revive the Lahore Declaration for restoring peace in the region, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the PDP would not allow cross-LoC trade to be stopped. She was addressing a rally on the 18th foundation day of the Peoples Democratic Party here.

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From the Wagah border flow charas and ganja, but no one says it must be closed. Just because a mistake occurs on the (Srinagar) Muzaffarabad road, we should not commit the mistake of closing it. In fact, we are in favour of opening more trade routes, the CM said, referring to the seizure of 66 kg of narcotics from a truck at the Salamabad trade centre near Uri on July 21.

Since then, trade along the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad axis has remained suspended, raising fears it may be closed.

Mehbooba, also the PDP chief, sought banking facilities on the cross-LoC trade route. Full-body scanners must be installed, she said.

Batting for nominating members to the Legislative Assembly from the other side of the LoC so that joint meetings could be held once a year, she said, There are seats reserved in our Assembly for that Kashmir. We should decide together to make nominations for these seats. We should decide that this Assembly meets once in this Kashmir and once in that Kashmir every year so that we can talk about tourism, travel and opening of Sharda Peeth.

Mehbooba also spoke about student exchanges. I appeal to the people on the other side of Kashmir to send their children on a 15-day tour here and we will do likewise.

Stressing what the PDP had achieved since 2002 needed to be taken forward, she said the state was facing a challenge which was ideological. She recalled her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as saying: You cannot imprison an idea, you cannot kill an idea. Kashmir is besieged and should be set free by opening roads.

She made an appeal to Farooq Abdullah (NC), Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress) and the BJP to help heal the pain of Kashmiris.

Senior PDP leader Muzaffar Baig appealed to hardline separatist Syed Ali Geelani to ask militants to shun violence, as Islam bans terorism.
Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 29

Student delegates from different parts of the country discussed and debated on several issues of global and national importance during the second day of the Dr Kalam Model United Nations being held at BCM Arya Model School.

Around 500 students from different parts of the country are participating in the MUN, which is being organised by the Initiators of Change and the school.

In the UN General Assembly, student delegates  acting as representatives of different countries  discussed about the need for increasing or decreasing the military expenditure.They discussed the pros and cons of such expenditures.

There was a discussion on the freedom of speech and expression at All India Political Party Meet. Acting as politicians from different political parties, they discussed several pros and cons of allowing student politics in private universities.They discussed about the violence in Delhi University and at the JNU last year.

There is an urgent for the world to pay attention to the problem of climate change and global warming, said Deepak Vohra, Special Advisor to the government of Lesotho and south Sudan, who was the chief guest during the inauguration of Dr Kalam Model United Nations (MUN) at BCM Arya Model School yesterday. Vohra said the world was seeing great changes and it was important for India as well as the world to look seriously at the climate change. He said if attention was not paid, several countries would submerge due to global warming within 30 years. Bangladesh would submerge, along with several other countries. Where would the people of countries go? India would have to bear the burden of 30 crore population of the country. Steps need to be taken, else the country ready for the influx, he said.

Another major challenge that has emerged is that of rise of violence in the name of Islam, he said. He said word Islam literally means peace, but groups like Islamic State, Boko Haram were destroying heritage and humanity. Even the United Nations has not been able to do much. Islam needs to reinvent itself, he said.

Khushi Arora, secretary general, Youth Parliament, said students of five government schools in rural areas were also participating in the event. They have been trained by the Initiators of Change.

Gouravdeep Singh, founder of the organisation, said on the first day, participating delegates discussed several issues. He also appealed to the delegates to support the students from schools of rural areas.
Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 29

Annihilation is perhaps the word that aptly describes the BJP strategy to tackle the Opposition, particularly the Congress, and to achieve the ultimate goal of its dream of a Congress-mukt Bharat while keeping its allies, especially difficult ones like the Shiv Sena, on a tight leash.

While the Congress is trying hard to thwart poaching of its legislators ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat, observers believe the BJP putting up a candidate against the Congress all-powerful leader Ahmed Patel actually shows their target is not him, but the ultimate power in the grand old party Sonia Gandhi.

BJP leaders, meanwhile, term the Congress move to shift its Gujarat MLAs to Bengaluru as childish and attention-diverting gimmick saying many things can still happen if they have to do as in the case of Presidential elections.

By pitting Congress former chief whip Balvantsinh Rajput as its third Rajya Sabha candidate from Gujarat against Patel, the clear indication by the BJP is there are no holy cows (read friendly senior leaders in Opposition parties) for whom they will let go of seats for friendly considerations.

Also, despite winning Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is not leaving Opposition partiesSP and BSPany breathing space. Just today, three MLCs, two from SP and one from BSP, resigned. Speculations in Delhis political corridors are that the BJP is going all out to finish Mayawati or whatever is remaining of her BSP.

Rumours are that Deputy CM of the state Keshav Prasad Maurya may resign from his position and be given a post in the Prime Minister Narendra Modis Cabinet in the next reshuffleall to stall BSP supremo Mayawati from contesting from the Phulpur constituency he holds and entering Parliament via the Lok Sabha route. She had recently resigned from the Rajya Sabha to protest not being allowed to speak in the House on atrocities against Dalits.

Spare time for party workers, Yogi told
Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 28

Naistanabood annihilation  is perhaps the word that best explains the Bharatiya Janata Party's strategy so far as its Opposition, particularly the Congress, is concerned. It is the word perfectly that sums up BJP president Amit Shahs strategy for 2019 general elections  ensuring a Congress-mukt Bharat and to keep its allies especially difficult ones like Shiv Sena  on a tight leash.

And it isnt just Bihar where the BJP has closed the deal by ensuring it came back to power after Nitish Kumar and JD (U)s older coalition with the RJD and the Congress  dubbed the Mahagathbandhan  broke. Sources indicate there could be more trouble in the Opposition  after six Congress legislators broke ranks from the party to cross over into the saffron fold in two days, some more lawmakers could well be on their way.

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It isnt without reason, for instance, that the Congress has moved 44 of its legislators to a resort outside Bengaluru to fend off BJPs poaching before August 8 Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat. In fact, sources said that when the BJP pitted a candidate against all-powerful Congress leader Ahmed Patel, their target was not he, but was instead the supreme power of the Congress  Sonia Gandhi.

Congress still has 51 legislators, "but many things can happen by the final voting day as it had in the presidential elections", the sources said. By pitting Congress former chief whip Balvantsinh Rajput as its third Rajya Sabha candidate from Gujarat against Patel, the BJP has sent a clear signal  there were no senior leaders in the Opposition for whom they were willing to have bhai-chara or friendly considerations.

But Congress isnt the only party on the BJP radar. Speculations in Delhis political corridors suggest the BJP is also going all out to finish Mayawati, or what remains of her and her party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, in Uttar Pradesh.

Rumours are that Deputy Chief Minister of the state Keshav Prasad Maurya may resign from his position to take a position in Prime Minister Narendra Modis Cabinet in the next reshuffle  all to stall BSP supremo Mayawati from contesting from the Phulpur constituency he holds and entering the Parliament through the Lok Sabha route

She had recently resigned from the Rajya Sabha in protest of not being allowed to speak in the House on atrocities against Dalits. Countering speculations, some BJP leaders insist Maurya, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, and his Goa counterpart Manohar Parrikar, will resign from their Parliament memberships after voting for Venkaiah Naidu  the NDA's vice-presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, the JD (U) acquisition is also expected to affect positions of difficult allies like Shiv Sena, who, in its editorial piece on Saturday mocked both Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his decision to dump the secular coalition, and the BJP.

So the BJP had made Pakistan happy by aligning with Nitish Kumar, Sena mouthpiece Saamna said, referring to the saffron election campaign in the Bihar Assembly polls.
Panaji, July 29

In a new online crowdfunding appeal, Fiona Mackeown, mother of British teenager Scarlett Keeling who was sexually assaulted and left to die on a Goa beach in 2008, said that she needs 20,000 pounds to source information and video footage, which allegedly links a Goa minister's son to her daughter's murder.

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"I am certain there is more evidence out there to convict the right men of the right crimes in Scarlett's case. An Indian man tried to make contact with me to tell me he saw Scarlett with some men on the night she died, she was trying to get away and he went to help but they threatened him and he left," Mackeown said on crowdfunding site www.justgiving.com while making a pitch for the money.

"I was also told by a respectable person that there was a video containing evidence connected to Scarlett's murder and the minister's son," she said.

Last year, a trial court in Goa acquitted two beach shack workers of culpable homicide and sexual assault charges due to lack of evidence, following a two-year long investigation and a six-year trial.

According to documents which were brought on record by the prosecution during the trial, Scarlett was allegedly sexually assaulted by Samson D'Souza and Placido Carvalho in February 2008 after allegedly plying her with drugs and left to die at the Anjuna beach.

The case was first investigated by the Goa Police, whose probe was riddled with inconsistencies and constant petitioning by Mackeown resulted in the case being transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

But Mackeown, in her letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi some months back, had suggested that the CBI probe was compromised.

"I feel like the authorities in India are just going through the motions as ours was a very public case but dragging it out to wear us as a family down and hope the public forget. The truth can not be exposed with half an investigation as those that tried to cover up Scarlett's murder were never investigated due to political connections," she has also said in the appeal.

IANS
Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, July 29

The Central government will offer all the support required for buses that run on alternative fuels but would not back hybrid vehicles that use petroleum products, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said at an event in Thane near Mumbai on Friday evening.

(To avail of the government's support), vehicles would have to run on electricity, ethanol, biogas or CNG not hybrid, Gadkari said. The minister's statement at the event organised by the Bus Operators Confederation of India comes after demands were made by automobile manufacturers to bring down the Goods and Services Tax for hybrid vehicles.

Under the new rules hybrid vehicles attract 28 per cent GST plus a 15 per cent cess.

The minister called upon bus operators to adopt non-fossil fuels. Look at Stockholm which has 400 buses which run on biogas derived from solid and liquid waste. If they can do it, why can't we.... Bus operators can bring down the fares by a quarter by using non-fossil fuel, Gadkari said.

The minister also said roads across the country should be converted into cement-concrete ones. Gadkari, who played a major role in building flyovers across Mumbai as PWD minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government from 1994 to 1999, said concrete roads have a long lifespan. The roads we built in Mumbai 20 years ago are still in good shape, Gadkari said.

The minister also called upon automobile manufacturers to build trucks with air-conditioned cabins so that drivers could drive the vehicles comfortably in hot weather.
United Nations, July 29

India is the worlds third-biggest exporter of beef and is projected to hold on to that position over the next decade, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2017-2026 report, released here this week, said India exported 1.56 million tonnes of beef last year and was expected to maintain its position as the third-largest beef exporter, accounting for 16 per cent of global exports in 2026 by exporting 1.93 million tonnes that year.

The type of beef exported was not specified, but the meat exported appeared to be mostly from buffaloes as the report specified the animal for imports by Myanmar from India.

According to the OECD database, India imported 3,63,000 tonnes of beef last year and the amount was projected to stay the same over the decade. The total world beef export in 2016 was 10.95 million tonnes and was expected to increase to 12.43 million tonnes by 2026, according to the FAO.

The report ranked Brazil as the worlds top beef exporter, followed by Australia. IANS

Mandsaur cow vigilante attack is 27th this year

The attack on two women in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh suspected of carrying beef (though it turned out to be buffalo meat) was the 26th in 118 days since 55-year-old Pehlu Khan died after a mob attack on April 1, bringing the count to 27 cases of cow-related violence in seven months this year. This is the most in eight years, according to an IndiaSpend database that records such violence in India.
Our Correspondent

Jaipur, July 29

There was no let-up in flood furry in western Rajasthan that includes Pali, Jalore and Sirohi districts for the sixth day on Saturday.

Army rescued 540 girl students and teachers from waterlogged Dr B R Ambedkar Hostel at Bhianswara at Ahor town of Jalore district after torrential rains lashed the area in the wee hours, a defence spokesman said here.

An army column was deployed at Sanchor, another at Ahor and third one in the Jalore areas inundated around the south bank of Jowai river.

With the opening of three gates of Jawai dam flowing above red mark in Pali district, 200 villages in the region up to Jalore and Sirohi districts were put on 'high alert' and entire administration rushed to the low-lying areas to save human population. About 60,000 cusec water was released from Jawai river into its tributaries.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje took a chopper flight to review three flood-affected districts but due to poor visibility the chopper could not land and returned to Jaipur, a spokesman said.

As of Saturday, flash floods caused by torrential rains in parts of Rajasthan has claimed 16 human lives and killed at least 1,000 cattle heads at gaushala of Jalore and Sirohi and more than 1,800 people were rescued with the help of army and NDRF teams.

Of the casualties, six deaths reported from Jalore, four in Sirohi, three each in Pali and Barmer. Forty-three people have died since June 1 in rain-related mishaps and lightning incidents in the state.
Keki Daruwalla

HOW cultures, and especially political cultures, differ from country to country. Many in India would be hard put to understand what is going on in the Trump presidency, where first the National Security Adviser and then the FBI Director have been fired. The President has also passed some derogatory remarks about his Attorney General. Russians have got involved with the Trump campaign team, and the Senate is hearing what the fired guys have to say.

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Frankly one could not shed tears when James Comey, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was fired by President Trump. He had committed his blunders. It was not so much the FBIs meddling in the affair of Hillary Clinton and her mails from a private server, as his ill-timed announcement of restarting the investigation barely a week before the American elections that cost Clinton her presidency. It cost America Trump. In India, we wondered how a non-secure server used by Hillary Clinton could become such a great issue. Remember, Trump had even threatened to send her to jail! On May 2, Clinton told CNN, I was on the way to winning until the combination of Jim Comeys letter of October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of the people who were inclined to vote for me and got scared off. Incidentally, nothing incriminating was found in those emails, but Hillary Clinton was damned in the eyes of the voters.

James Comey is a 6 foot, 8 inch hulk who took his morality very seriously. Such people can cause problems. He had a good record as a moral lawyer. He had thought that not telling the American people about the new tranche of Hillary emails would be misleading them. Who was he to either lead or mislead the American people? An Intelligence or investigative chief should not take himself so seriously. Having caused the damage, he did not click with Donald Trump either. He was on better ground here. Later, to put it very simply, as Donald Trumps presidency lurched from scandal to scandal, the FBI got involved in looking into the charge of how the Russians helped the Trump election team. Trump asked him to go slow on the investigations  going slow would mean dont indict.

To simplify matters, the first big gun to be fired was the National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, within four weeks of his appointment. He was sacked because he had lied to the Vice President about his contacts with the Russians, and in particular, his telephone conversation with the Russian ambassador while the election was on. Donald Trump sacked Flynn. It is suspected that the Russians knew he had not revealed the whole truth, hence was likely to be blackmailed. The previous Attorney General Sally Yates had testified that General Flynn was a blackmail risk. But the President, after firing his NSA, asked the FBI Director to go slow both on the Russian matter and on the former NSA Flynn. He is a good guy, Trump kept saying, and the FBI Director reluctantly agreed that Flynn was a good guy, but gave no assurance about overlooking the former NSAs culpability in not revealing the whole truth about his contact with the Russians.

Now comes the crux of the matter. James Comey was fired on May 9. This in the middle of his 10- year term, mind you he had taken over in September 2013. The White House could have left it there but to justify the sacking, it had to blame him further. So the Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that Comey had lost the confidence of the rank and file of the FBI.

For his testimony before the Senate in June, Comey prepared a document which got leaked. (Trump has called these leaks cowardly). The story Comey reveals about a meeting with Trump on February 14 in the White House reads like a movie script. Vice President Mike Pence, Attorney General Jeff Sessions were a part of the meeting. After the meeting, Trump asked the other two to leave the room so he could talk to Comey alone. Mind you the Attorney General is the FBI Directors boss! The Presidents own son-in-law was also asked to leave the room. Trump then spoke in favour of Flynn. He is quoted as saying, I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go. This bit is viewed by many observers in America as obstruction to justice.

There is more murk here (including Trumps own admission) and juicy titbits. But the point is, this would never have happened in India. Prime Ministers dont have to spell out their wishes to the CBI Director or the taxmen. There are enough bureaucrats and law officers to do it. The law minister could hint to the Director which way the government would want the wind to blow. It could be a trusted man in the PMO who gives the hint, or someone from the kitchen cabinet. That is why the cases against some of the political warlords of UP and Bihar have gone on for 20 years. Can we say the same about states though? Can one visualise a CM telling a DGP, Woh chor hamara aadmi hai. Khyal rakhna? No, cant happen!
Grenoble, July 29

Body parts that could belong to passengers killed in one or other of two Air India plane crashes years ago have been found on Mont Blanc in the French Alps.

Daniel Roche, who is fascinated by air plane accidents and has spent years combing the Bossons Glacier looking for remains, made the discovery on Thursday.

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I had never found any significant human remains before, he said. This time, however, he had found a hand and the upper part of a leg.

In January 1966, an Air India Boeing 707 from Bombay to New York crashed near Mont Blancs summit, killing all 117 people on board. Another Air India flight crashed on the mountain in 1950, killing 48 people.

Roche said the remains he had found could be of a female passenger from the 1966 Boeing 707 flight, as he also discovered one of the planes four jet engines.

These remains are probably not from the same person, said Stephane Bozon of the local gendarmerie. They are probably from passengers, but between the two aircrafts, its difficult to say.

Just 10 days ago, two bodies were found lying near each other, preserved in a receding glacier in the Diablerets massif in the Swiss Alps.

A DNA search identified the couple as Marcelin Dumoulin, a 40-year-old shoemaker at the time, and his wife Francine, a schoolteacher aged 37, who had disappeared in the Alps 75 years before.  AFP
Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, July 29

The opposition in Uttar Pradesh suffered a setback with three MLCs putting in their papers almost coinciding with BJP national president Amit Shahs three-day visit to Lucknow.

While MLCs Bhukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh are from the Samajwadi Party, Thakur Jaivir Singh represented the BSP.

Another SP MLC Madhukar Jetli is also rumoured to be quitting but till now he has not formally resigned.

While it has not been officially confirmed, all these MLCs are likely to join the BJP during Shahs presence in the next three days.

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Most importantly, the vacancy in the Upper House has solved the BJPs problem of accommodating CM Yogi Adityanath and deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Singh before September 19, the expiry of six months of their terms in office.

It remains to be seen how the BJP proposes to make room for minister of state with independent charge Swatantra Dev Singh who is also not a member of either house of the state legislature.

The lone Muslim minister, Mohsin Raza, who is also not a member of either house is most likely on his way out after being found involved in a number of Waqf scams.

Bhukkal Nawab considered close to Akhilesh Yadav has been with the SP since 1992 and his term was to end in 2022.

However, his name has been embroiled in illegal construction on the Gomti river front in which a CBI probe has been ordered by the Yogi government.

Yashwant Singh, considered close to independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, told reporters that he had been feeling alienated in the SP.

Meanwhile, SP national president Akhilesh Yadav has hit out at CM Yogi for political corruption.

He said that fearing to face the people the BJP government has indulged in such political corruption not only in UP but in Bihar and Gujarat as well.

Meanwhile, SP MLC Deepak Mishra in a press statement charged the BJP of forcing the SP MLCs to resign by threatening to implicate them in false cases of corruption and land encroachment.
New York, July 28

The top United States official in charge of South Asia is scheduled to visit India amid rising tensions in the region, the State Department announced on Friday.

Alice Wells, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, is to start her 10-day visit to New Delhi and Islamabad on Sunday during which she is to meet with government officials, thought leaders, and business executives to discuss US relations with the region, a department statement said.

The department described the visit as an introductory trip to the region for Wells, who took interim charge of the South and Central Asia portfolio in the State Department last month following the resignation of Nisha Desai Biswal, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.

Her visit comes during a time of rising tensions between India and China with a standoff between their troops in the Doklam region of Bhutan, where Beijing is trying to build a road in Thimpus territory, and heated rhetoric from Chinas official media.

Meanwhile, the democratically elected government in Afghanistan is facing increasing violence from extremists, some of whom, Kabul has asserted, are backed by elements in Islamabad.

Wells also has the additional position of Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This position was downgraded last month when Laurel Miller quit the job and it was made a part of the State Departments Bureau of South and central Asian Affairs.

In Pakistan, Wells will confront political uncertainty following the Supreme Court ruling unseating Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Wells is a career foreign service officer and she was the Ambassador to Jordan before her interim South Asia appointment.

She has done stints as an executive assistant to Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State and as a Special Assistant to Obama for Russia and Central Asia.

The administration of President Donald Trump, which has a huge backlog of diplomatic assignments to fill, has not nominated a permanent appointee for Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, a position that requires Senate approval.

It took more than six months for the administration to even name Wells to the acting position. 

IANS
Our Correspondent

Tarn Taran, July 29

A violent clash between Sikhs and Christians left three from both sides injured on the premises of the Valtoha police station, 45 km from here, today.

The warring sides had gathered at the police station in connection with a tussle between nihang Parminder Singh and members of the Christian community, led by Tarsem Masih, three days ago.

The Christian community had filed a complaint against Parminder Singh, who was summoned by the police.

Bhai Dilbag Singh, a Sikh preacher from Gurdwara Jhadu Sahib, Harpreet Singh of Bahmniwala and head of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satikar Committee and other Sikh activists accompanied Parminder Singh.

Members of the Christian community, too, came there in a large numbers.

Inspector Kamalmeet Singh, SHO, was not present at the police station. When both the sides were awaiting for the SHO, Somnath a preacher of Khemkaran Church, indulged in a verbal duel with Parminder Singh, who attacked the Christians with his sword. Harpreet Singh of the Christian community was injured. The other side too attacked Sikh activists. Parminder Singh and Navdeep Singh sustained injuries.

All those injured have been admitted to different hospitals.

Kamalmet Singh, SHO, said the police was awaiting the medico legal reports and action would be taken as per them.
Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 29

Taking a cue from the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, Nakodar SDM Amrit Singh has decided to name streets after the girls who have done the subdivision proud.

The first such street has been named after Capt Sonia Arora, who is posted in the North East. The Army officer is scheduled to visit her home town on Monday.

Amrit, an IAS officer, said, We will invite school students and girls from Capt Aroras locality to interact with her at a felicitation function next week. I want her success story to inspire them.

The SDM said she had got approval from the Local Bodies Department for naming the street. Among the other local girls who have made their mark, there is an Air Force officer (Shivamjit Kaur Sandhu) and a Judge (Shruti). The latter is the daughter of a tea stall owner, she added.

Taking to The Tribune on the phone, Capt Arora said, Im happy to be chosen as a role model for the girls of my town. My father, Harish Kumar, who runs a utensils shop, had given me the go-ahead to join the Army despite my relatives reservations. When I returned from the Officers Training Academy, Chennai, the whole town had welcomed me.
Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Jaito (Faridkot), July 29

A local industrialist was shot dead by two unidentified members of a gang this evening. The incident took place in front of a rice mill belonging to the deceased, Ravinder alias Pappu Kochhar.

Kochhar was waiting in his car for the gate of his mill to be opened when the assailants, who came in a Swift Dzire car, fired three shots at him. Kochhar owned several rice mills and two schools.

The murder is said to be the handiwork of a gang of extortionists. On February 7, three gangsters had taken away a car from Kochhar. The police had booked gangsters Bunty Dhillon (25), Jumpy Don (21) and Sema Behbal Kalan. Fearing for his life, Kochhar had not lodged a complaint with the police. However, taking suo motu notice of the incident, the police had registered a case on the complaint of the Jaito SHO and booked the three. The car was found abandoned in a Moga village after a week.

Bunty and Jumpy had allegedly committed suicide during a police encounter near a village in Dabwali town (Haryana)last month.

Belonging to Jaito area, both these youths were facing over 24 criminal cases. Both were members of Ranjit Singh-Gurbax Singh gang of Sewewala in Jaito.

While Dr Nanak Singh, SSP, refused to comment on the identity of the culprits behind the killing, sources said Kochhars denial of extortion money to the gangsters led to the murder.

The SSP said the police were yet to register an FIR. Deceaseds brother Narinder Kochhar accused the police of failing to provide security to him despite threats to his life.
Chandigarh, July 29

A British member of parliament (MP) on Saturday pitched for an independent inquiry into the role of the UK government in Operation Bluestar, an Indian army action in 1984 to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple.

The UK's first turban-wearing MP Tanmanjit Singh Dhesi is here on a private visit to India.

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"As far as 1984 Operation Bluestar is concerned, you know that all felt pain. But we never know that there was any role of the UK government in it. We always thought it was an action taken by the Indian government," Dhesi said addressing media here.

He claimed that some journalists in the UK while analysing secret documents found "involvement of the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher".

Whether the role was in advisory capacity or something more but when we learnt about it, we were sad because we never thought our government would have any role in it," the British MP said.

"That is why we are demanding that independent inquiry should be held to establish the extent of then Thatcher government's involvement in 1984 operation Bluestar," the Labour Party MP said.

Dhesi said the Conservative Party-led government had earlier ordered an inquiry in this regard. But it was "an eyewash".

"Neither anything came out of that inquiry nor any document was released. That is why the demand for independent inquiry is growing to put pressure on the UK government," he said.

The onus for ordering inquiry is entirely on the present UK government, Dhesi said, adding, "If the UK government makes any delay in ordering independent inquiry then it will be called as justice delayed, justice denied."

Dhesi, known as Tan, won his Slough seat to become the UK's first turban-wearing MP last month.

On the issue of 'Kirpan' and Sikhs not being allowed to wear turbans in some counties, the British MP said he would continue to raise such issues at appropriate platforms.

"It is a matter of great sadness that people cannot practice their faith as they cannot freely wear 'kirpan' or turban. In France, more than 80,000 turbaned Sikh soldiers laid down their lives in order to liberate that very country.

And now that very county do not allow turbans. Sikh students cannot go to schools with turban," he rued.

On being asked about students from Punjab now preferring other countries over the UK, Dhesi criticised the Conservative party led-UK government for being "too harsh" as far as immigration rules were concerned and said immigration rules should be "balanced".

"We are in favour of having immigration rules which benefit Britain and which are fair. At the moment, Conservative party is being too harsh as we are actually losing out the potential of so many intelligent students (who want to come to the UK). ... Conservative party has harmed our economy," he said.

Asked about 'Khalistan' sympathisers in the UK, Dhesi said "It is not a question of supporting any particular ideology."

He said like in India, people get a chance to express their views and follow any ideology in the UK also, "there is freedom of expression and freedom of speech.

"Each party, like Congress, SAD, AAP has support base in the UK. It is not correct that people living in UK follow only one ideology," he stressed.  PTI
The Holmen School Board Monday condemned a bill package limiting district referendums and voiced support for another bill designed to shine light on state voucher system through a pair of resolutions.

The first resolution condemns Republican-sponsored bills that would put restrictions on when and how often school districts could go to referendum, as well as capping referendums length at five years. The second supports a bill that would disclose on property tax bills how much of that money funds Wisconsins school choice programs.

The pair of resolutions adopted by the board are similar to those passed by other school districts in the state including Eau Claire. With the state budget nearly four weeks overdue, it is uncertain whether the package of referendum bills would be taken up this year, and a similar, more-limited bill failed to pass the last session.

The voucher school disclosure bill is being circulated by Democrats and is unlikely to be picked up by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

According to board member Anita Jagodzinski, who sponsored the resolutions, the boards opposition to the referendum bills is a matter of local control.

The people in Madison think they know better than the board and the taxpayers what is right for the district, she said. They do not.

If passed, those bills would require school districts to hold referendum votes on the same dates as general elections, limit how often school boards could put referendum questions on the ballot and eliminate the ability for school boards to propose recurring referendums with no end date. Instead, the maximum length for a referendum would be five years.

The Holmen district currently has four ongoing referendums going back to 1998 that exceed the revenue limit for more than $1.7 million each year and provide funding for ongoing school operation costs, capital maintenance and improvement and other uses.

The voters have already supported these measures, Jagodzinski said, and if the bill passes the Legislature, these referendums would end and district would have to go back to the voters every five years for approval.

Board member Tom Kruse took issue with the resolution about referendums, saying he had talked to state Rep. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville. Based on their conversation, Kruse didnt believe the bills would strip local control.

He also told the board the measures might return some control to voters if they have to approve referendums regularly and shouldnt be a burden if the district has its ducks in a row.

That inflamed board members Kate Mayer and Liza Collins, who chairs the boards Finance Committee. They said it would be incredibly costly for the district to have to do the work to pitch the same referendum every year and gain the support of the voters.

Tom, do you know much cost it is to go to referendum? Liza Collins asked. Do you know how much effort it is to go referendum?

The district does its homework, Mayer said, and has its ducks in a row years in advance on the projects it proposes.

District Administrator Kristin Mueller said this bill would result in the district having to go to referendum continuously and would have to hire a full-time staff member just to handle referendum work.

The second resolution supports a bill that would require property tax bills to include information about losses in school aid due to Wisconsin choice programs. According to the resolution, the Holmen district provided $103,168 last year to Aquinas for the voucher program, which provided about $7,500 to eligible low-income students who apply for the program to attend a participating private school.

Voucher schools should have to say, We are taking this much of the money too, Jagodzinski said. If they want a piece of the public pie, they should have to talk about it on the tax bill.

School district taxes, along with each other taxing authority, are listed separately on property tax bills.

Board member Gary Dunlap argued that the board was unfairly targeting the voucher system and trying to count the money the state pays for a students education twice.

If a student leaves the district on a voucher, the school district doesnt have to educate that student, he said, so the money isnt being taken away from a student who needs it.The district receives more than $12,000 in funding per student from state and local sources, he said, and doesnt lose any extra money from the voucher program than if a student enrolled at a private school without a voucher.

Board President Cheryl Hancock countered that a good portion of that funding per student, nearly $4,000 according to the latest state numbers for the district, comes from local property taxes, not the state. If the voucher payment increases faster than the districts state aid, she said, it will be the local taxpayers on the hook for the difference.

Mayer also argued that private schools dont have to take special needs kids, which are much more expensive to provide support and resources for, whereas public schools are required to educate students regardless of ability.

The district doesnt spend the $12,000 on each student, she said, and losing kids to the voucher program, which has a history of serving students already enrolled in a private school, means less money to provide those services.

Despite being some of the longest discussion the board has had at recent meetings, both resolutions passed unanimously. During the board reports at the end of the meeting, Jagodzinski got the last word on the matter.

As an elected, public school board member, I am very glad that passed, she said. Because I think we all need reminding sometimes that we are elected to a public board of education, not a voucher board of education, not a private board of education, a public board of education.
Tribune Reporters

Bathinda/Sangrur, July 29

Two more debt-related suicide cases were reported from separate places in the state in the last 24 hours.

In the first incident, a farmer of Jagga Ramtirath village allegedly ended his life by hanging himself at his house. The victim, Nirbhay Singh (32), was reportedly depressed due his failure to repay Rs 12-lakh loans he owed to banks and arhtiyas.

Nirbhay is survived by his wife and three children. He had completed his graduation from Talwandi Sabo.

According to his family, Nirbhay owned 6 acres of land and had a loan of Rs 12 lakh. His cotton crop was destroyed due to white fly attack due to which he suffered losses.

Finding Nirbhay missing this morning, his family found his body hanging near their old house. A post-mortem examination was conducted at the Talwandi Sabo Civil hospital. Farmer leaders in the area appealed to the Congr-ess government to an-nounce a complete waiver of his loan.

Talwandi Sabo MLA Baljinder Kaur also met the bereaved family and blamed the government for rising suicides. She alleged that the Congress government was not serious on the issue of farm loan waiver.

If the government failed to act early, the Aam Aadmi Party will stage protests and demand an answer from the government in the Assembly, she said.

In another related incident in Sunam, a 32-year-old indebted farmer of Kohriya village allegedly committed suicide by consuming pesticide. The police have handed over the body of the farmer to his relatives after post- mortem today.

As per information, deceased Karmjit Singh was under stress due to loans he and his family had taken from banks and private commission agent of Dirba.

Karmjit had been under mental stress for the last many days as creditors were demanding their money back. In the evening of July 26 he went to field and consumed pesticide, Balvir Singh, father of the deceased, said in his statement to the police.

The family got him admitted to a government hospital at Kohriya, from where he was referred to a private hospital in Sangrur on the evening of July 27. He died today. Post-mortem was conducted in the Sunam Civil Hospital.

We have initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC as his father has stated that Karmjit Singh committed suicide due to debt, said Surjan Singh, incharge, Kohriya police post.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 29

The Aam Aadmi Party, Left parties, rights groups and writers today opposed the RSS move to remove Punjabi poet Avtar Pashs poem from NCERT textbooks. They held a meeting here today to discuss the matter.

Prof Harish Puri, former head, political science, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, who presided over the meeting, said: We should spread awareness among the masses about the anti-people designs of the RSS.

Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Leader of Opposition, said the RSS move was retrograde. It is an attack on creative and progressive thinking of literary persons. All right-thinking people should come forward to thwart such attempts, he said.

Prof Rabinder Nath Sharma, senate member, Panjab University, said the writers, who the RSS wanted to remove from public memory, were those who brought recognition to the Indian literature.

Prof Manjit Singh said since Punjab had a tradition of resistance against anti-people ideologies, its people had the potential to stop the current onslaught of the RSS.

Dr Joginder Dyal of the CPI, Dr Sarabjit Singh of Kendri Punjabi Lekhak Sabha, and Prof HS Mehta.
Michael Paulson

Edward Albee died last year. But the renowned playwright is making one last request from the great beyond. Albee wants two of his friends to destroy any incomplete manuscripts he left behind.

The instruction  included in a will Albee filed on Long Island, New York, where he lived and died  is unusual but not unprecedented. There is a term in the legal world for such instructions  dead hand control  and, although compliance has varied and enforceability is debatable, they have been attempted by artists from Franz Kafka to Beastie Boy Adam Yauch. For now, the impact of Albees will is a mystery. The executors  an accountant, Arnold Toren, and a designer, William Katz, both longtime friends of the playwright  declined through a spokesman to answer questions. They would not discuss whether any papers had already been destroyed. But the executors have been carrying out other aspects of Albees will.

This autumn, at the request of the estate, Sothebys will auction off more than 100 artworks collected by Albee; the proceeds, estimated at more than $9m, will benefit his namesake foundation. (The playwright, who was gay, never married and had no children or close relatives. His foundation, which maintains a residence for artists in Montauk, New York, is the primary beneficiary of his estate.)

The executors have made clear they plan to honour Albees desires, even when they might be controversial. In May, for example, they refused to allow a tiny Oregon theatre to cast a black actor as a blond character in a production of Albees most famous play, Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, citing the playwrights intentions as expressed during his lifetime.

Now at stake, at a minimum, are the latest drafts of Albees final known project, Laying an Egg, about a middle-aged woman struggling to become pregnant. (One plot element concerned her fathers will.) The play was twice scheduled for production at Signature Theatre, an off-Broadway nonprofit in New York, and twice withdrawn by Albee, who said it wasnt ready.

Even if the executors destroy Albees draft, other copies may exist  a Broadway producer, Elizabeth Ireland McCann, said she had at least a partial version of the script  but it is not clear whether Albee had done work on the project that only he had seen. It is also unclear whether Albee left any other incomplete manuscripts behind or whether the language in the will could be interpreted to apply to early drafts of his published plays.

Am I disappointed? Yes, because every tiny bit of everything that a writer has written provides insight into that writers creative process, says David A Crespy, president of the Edward Albee Society and a professor of playwriting at the University of Missouri. But am I surprised? No. He maintained very strict control over the materials that were available to the public.

Albee is best known for Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a penetrating 1962 drama that was adapted into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. He won the Pulitzer Prize three times  in 1967 for A Delicate Balance, in 1975 for Seascape and in 1994 for Three Tall Women  and the Tony Award twice, in 1963 for Virginia Woolf and in 2002 for The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? He also won a Tony Award for lifetime achievement in 2005. His work is frequently staged; a revival of Three Tall Women, starring Glenda Jackson and Laurie Metcalf, is to open on Broadway next year.

The playwright died in September at the age of 88. His will, which he signed in 2012, was filed in Suffolk County Surrogates Court; the provision in question says, in part: If at the time of my death I shall leave any incomplete manuscripts I hereby direct my executors to destroy such manuscripts. Until the manuscripts are destroyed, the will says, the executors should treat the materials herein directed to be destroyed as strictly confidential and to ensure that such materials are not copied, made available for scholarly or critical review or made public in any way.

Some artists back Albees right to decide the posthumous disposition of his writings. For writers, drafts of unfinished work can be quite sensitive, says Doug Wright, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (I Am My Own Wife) who is president of the Dramatists Guild of America. These drafts are not public property; they belong to the author, and the author has the right to determine their fate. And James Bundy, dean of the Yale School of Drama, says: Edwards choice strikes me as entirely in keeping with his own exacting standards.

 The Independent
Kuldip Dhiman

When poet Jaleel Manakpuri was being felicitated by an organiser who was not familiar with the nuances of Urdu, a friend sitting next to the poet said, Jaleel sahab, aaj aap zaleel hone wale hain. (Jaleel sahib, today you are going to be humiliated). This is because a slight difference in pronunciation can change the meaning completely in Urdu. Jaleel means glorious, and if pronounced zaleel, it means to be humiliated.

Urdu, along with its twin sister Hindi, has been a language of the masses for more than 700 years. Both grew out of what is called khari boli, the general language of communication in northern India. While Urdu is normally written in the Persian script, and has more Persian, Turkish and Arabic words, Hindi is written in the Devanagari and inclines more towards Sanskrit. These are virtually indistinguishable to the outsider.

The name Urdu has its origins in the Turkish word ordu which means army camp, and over the centuries, it has produced great literature, especially poetry. A single sher (couplet) of Urdu can help you express what cannot be said in a thousand words. However, with the rise of English as the lingua franca, and with an unfair association of Urdu with religion, this beautiful language seems to be losing favour with the masses. Many Urdu aficionados have begun to feel that the language is slowly dying, while experts in the field hold that Urdu is doing much better than before.

Rekhta, an organisation devoted to the promotion of Urdu language and literature, recently held a mushaira (poetic gathering) at the Tagore Theatre, Chandigarh. If numbers are any indication, it was heartening to see that the hall was jam-packed with young and old, with many of them standing outside the theatre hall to listen to the poets. The same is true of wherever mushairas are held. Litterateurs from Punjab such as Saadat Hasan Manto, Sahir Ludhianvi, Krishan Chander, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Gulzar and hundreds of others have made tremendous contribution to popularise Urdu.

Its popularity notwithstanding, Urdu certainly remains in the shadow of English. Dr Kumud Bansal, Chairperson, Haryana Urdu Akademi, Panchkula, observes, Not just Urdu, all Indian languages are suffering. Children are not being taught their mother tongue anymore. Most parents want their children to learn only English. This is because of the slave mentality we have. This is the reason we need Urdu academies. Have you heard of an English academy?

We move over to Malerkotla, a town rich in Urdu culture. Talking about the current health of Urdu, Dr Rubina Shabnam, Secretary, Punjab Urdu Academy, Malerkotla, says: Urdu is the language that emerged in the undivided Punjab. In his book, Punjab Mein Urdu, Hafiz Mehmood Khan Shirani, the great linguistic and researcher, has shown through research based on historical evidence that the greater Punjab was the birthplace of Urdu. So Urdu is rooted in this region. However, not all scholars agree with Shirani.

Talking about the academy and its aims, Dr Shabnam says, We started in 2014, and we have a budget of only Rs 50,000 per annum. Even with this meagre sum, we have managed to hold stage programmes but have not been able to publish anything. Now, the government has given us a one-time sum of Rs 3 crore. With this, we hope to realise the aims of the academy. Recently, I met Manpreet Badal, Finance Minister, and he said he would give us a hundred crore rupees. If we got this amount, we would be able to encourage Urdu writers, and poets. Presently, we are starting free Urdu learning centres in six cities of Sunam, Bathinda, Ropar, Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Patiala.

Regarding the popularity of Urdu, Prof Mahmood Alam, former professor at Government College, ex-secretary, Punjab Urdu Academy, Malerkotla, and writer of a poetry collection Shikast-e-Khwab, says: If you ask me about the current status of Urdu, I would say it is far better than before. Two decades ago, Urdu was not being taught in as many schools as it is being taught now, and there were not as many students as we have now. During my time, there used to be four teachers, and we had about four or five students who wanted to learn Urdu. Now you have 30 students, but unfortunately only one teacher. Many wish to learn Urdu but they get discouraged because it does not offer employment opportunities.

Rubbishing language politics, Professor Alam observes, People say that there is friction between Hindi and Urdu. They say languages create conflict between different people, but this is not so. Languages bring people together. If Hindi and Punjabi speakers learn Urdu, their Hindi and Punjabi pronunciation will improve, and vice versa.

One has to learn the finer points of this language in order to speak it well. As Dagh Dehalvi puts it: Nahin khel ai Dagh yaron se kah do; Ki ati hai Urdu zaban ate ate (O! Dagh, tell friends that learning Urdu is not a childs play; It takes its own time to be mastered).

Amarnath Wadehra, a diehard Urdu protagonist, remembers the days of his youth when Urdu poets were a rage in Lahore, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and the rest of Punjab. There used to be regular mushairas that went on all night, and people came in hordes to listen to their favourite poets like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Sahir Ludhianvi, Firaq Gorakhpuri and many other stalwarts. Urdu poets did a lot to fan the flames of the freedom moment, and bring about a social change. Many freedom fighters sacrificed their lives for the country singing Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mei hai. The younger generation should learn English for getting jobs, but they must also learn Urdu to enrich their personality.

Born in 1937, Pakpattan, Pakistan, Dr HK Lall has been teaching Urdu for the past four decades. Urdu is in my blood. My father taught it to my brother and me. Even at 81, he continues to teach the language untiringly. Khidmat-e-Urdu karunga umr bhar; Yeh meri puja, mera imaan hai. (I will serve Urdu all my life; It is my worship, it is my conscience).

Disappearing readers

Propagators notwithstanding, the fact is that the circulation of Urdu newspapers and magazines is going down by the day. In 2001, the total number of Urdu newspapers in the country was 2,906, but many have been forced to go online or have closed shop because of falling circulation. In a telephonic conversation, Sham Dass Khanna, news editor, Hind Samachar, the number one Urdu daily in Punjab, said, The situation is alarming. From 1,20,000 copies per day until the 1990s, our circulation has come down to 37,000 copies per day. Our readers are disappearing because Urdu does not promise career options.

Measures needed

In order to improve the condition of Urdu, Dr Nadeem Ahmed Nadeem, who conducts certificate and diploma courses in Urdu and Persian at Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, Fatehgarh Sahib, says: We plan to start special classes for students who are doing post-graduation and doctorate in Punjabi because there is a close relationship between Punjabi and Urdu. The knowledge of Urdu is important even for religious studies because the poetry of Guru Nanak Dev, Guru Arjan Dev and Guru Gobind Singh is replete with Persian words and phrases.

Urdu is the language of Punjabi culture because it was born in Punjab, observes Dr Nadeem. It is essential to learn Urdu, because once you learn how to read and write it, doors open to eight languages because they all used the same script. These languages are: Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Kashmiri, Pashtu, Dogri, Sindhi, and also Punjabi because in Pakistan, it is written in the Persian script. If you examine Punjabi and Urdu, you will notice that there are so many similarities. For example, chhabeel comes from the Arabic word sabeel; ardas comes from arz-e-dash.

Dr Mohammad Ayyub Khan, programme in-charge, Haryana Urdu Akademi, points out the practical problems in the propagation of Urdu: There is an acute shortage of teachers. At Panjab University, Punjabi University, Guru Nanak Dev University, and Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, they have appointed only one Urdu teacher, and this one teacher runs the entire department. How can they do justice to their jobs? In MA classes, we have eight subjects, so we need at least four Urdu teachers. It is not that there are no posts, but I fail to understand why these are not being filled up. It is not that the government is not giving funds to promote the language; the funds are not being properly utilised.

Muhammad Rafique, lecturer, political science at Government Senior Secondary School (Boys), Malerkotla, says: A team from Delhi came here to study the status of Urdu in this tehsil, and they gave a good report about it. They said, in other states, about 1,200 Urdu teachers have been appointed but their output is very poor. We have only 45 teachers, but their output is tremendous.

Sahibzada Ajmal Khan Sherwani, a poet belonging to the royal family, suggests that if we want people to learn Urdu, we must produce excellent literature, films, TV serials and plays in Urdu. We see that the rise or downfall of a language is directly linked to the rise or downfall of its literature. Urdu is very popular, and one of the reasons is the extensive use of Urdu in the film industry. Another reason for its popularity is various TV channels that telecast Urdu programmes, serials, seminars, and mushairas. In addition to this, the government must open more institutes and encourage students to learn it in schools and colleges so that great writers and poets are produced.

Speaking of Urdu, he wrote a verse: Hoon main Urdu, hai dilon mei mera maskan dekho; Kaun kehta hai ki meri koi jagir nahin (I am Urdu, and my abode is in the hearts of people, Who says that I have no legacy?).

The legacy of Zauk, Sauda, Momin, Iqbal, Hali, Faraz and others is alive indeed in the hearts of the masses.
Harish Khare

I am still unable to understand what exactly Nitish Kumar has gained by his antics in Bihar. He was Chief Minister before he walked out on his alliance partners and teamed up with the very people against whom he had campaigned so vigorously only eighteen months ago; yes, he is Chief Minister again, but, once more, dependent upon another set of allies. In good time, the new set of allies would also make demands which he will have to concede.

Whatever may be his compulsions and calculations, the saddest part is that Nitish Kumar has only ended up reinforcing the cynical impression about the Indian politicians. If Nitish Kumar has no qualms in going back to those very people he had denounced so effectively and so sincerely, the BJP, too, has no problem in embracing him again. In fact, in state after state, the BJP has been inducting those very discredited and corrupt Congressmen and Congresswomen whom its leadership had castigated in choicest of colourful phrases.

In simple language, that is called opportunism. But the Indian politicians are too clever and too self-serving to be bothered; instead, they can be relied upon to weave a tale  and, a very convincing tale, at that  to explain and justify their compromises. Well, well! Politicians will be politicians.

I am inclined to believe that Nitish Kumar missed a great opportunity to emerge as a genuine moral voice in Indian politics.

Suppose, instead of getting into bed with the BJP, had he simply resigned and walked away, citing his inability to put up with Lalu Prasad and his family and their corrupt ways! Overnight, he would have carved out a place for himself, an exalted space in public life beyond Bihar; he would have bought himself a valuable halo and could have possibly emerged as the second JP.

Had he simply walked away and not sought to stay in the chief ministers chair, he would have been able to talk of sacrifice, would have convincingly raised his voice against corruption as a little more than the current vendetta against political rivals.

As Sant Nitish, he would have not only aroused public consciousness not just against corruption of the old (Lalu Prasad type) but also against the creeping shadow of the corporate corruption on Indian political life. As Sant Nitish, he would not have had to endorse a moral equivalence between communalism and secularism. If secularism cannot be a cover to justify corruption, then fight against corruption cannot be a cover to legitimize communal politics. As Sant Nitish, he could have helped the nation resolve this dilemma.

Alas, the could-have-been sant turned out to be a very familiar sinner.

*******

I am baffled that some Congress leaders chose to make an issue of President Ram Nath Kovinds omission of Jawaharlal Nehrus name from his first speech as our new Rashtrapati. Either these leaders do not know their Nehru or they are engaging themselves in some kind of a ritual, meant to please the Congress first family. I am sure these leaders do know that Nehrus imprint on this country is permanent and indelible and it simply does not get eroded just because the nation-builder does not find a mention in a presidential address.

We have been told that this is the first time since 1950 that the head of our republic belongs to the Jana Sangh/BJP/RSS. True, he is presumed to have severed his party links; but it would be unrealistic to expect that he would be able to acquire overnight a different mindset. So, no one should be surprised that Nehru did not get a mention.

It is a grave injustice for the Congressmen to think that Nehru belongs exclusively to them or to a political family just as it would be a tragedy if any governing establishment were to think of the first premier as a political party functionary. He was a national leader, a supreme nationalist and a patriot. Yet, he had carved out an international presence for himself and India.

Given our current political narrow-mindedness, we may allow ourselves a sadistic pleasure in denigrating Nehru and demeaning his contribution, but history is not so easily erased or rewritten.

Like any other democratic ruler, who served the nation for seventeen long years, he had his share of accomplishments and disappointments.

Similarly, I fail to understand the excitement over President Kovind bracketing Deendayal Upadhyaya with Mahatma Gandhi. I am sure the Mahatma would be amused at all those who are taking offence at this hyphenation.

I am sure not more than a dozen people in this country would be able to spell out what contribution Deendayal Upadhyaya made to our national life over the decades. The Sangh Parivar needs an icon and it is welcome to Pandit Deendayal jee. The Mahatma does not lose his stature just because in a presidential speech he gets bracketed with an obscure ideologue. Indeed, I am inclined to believe that the Mahatma would be immensely pleased if someone were to think that someones stature gets enhanced in his company.

History is complicated. In this age of information explosion, neither lies nor distortions can remain unchallenged for long. Gandhi and Nehru need no protection  or official patronage.

*******

On Friday evening, I was very kindly invited by my friend Ashwani Kumar, former Union law minister, to attend a reception at the Japanese Ambassadors residence. The occasion was to mark the conferment of the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun by the Japanese Emperor on Ashwani Kumar. It was quite a gathering  distinguished legal luminaries, political leaders across party lines, and senior diplomats.

The limelight, though, was stolen by Dr Karan Singh, the Eminence Grise of the Indian public life. The former Maharaja, now a commoner, was asked to say a few words. Though frail, he cuts a striking figure. He spoke eruditely about the cultural bonds between India and Japan, and captivated the gathering when, by way of benediction, he recited a mahaarti. Effortlessly impressive.

Later, when I complimented him on his command over Sanskrit, he surprised me by revealing that it was only when he was already 23 years old that he first started learning the language. One day, one Pandjit jee came and he said he wanted to teach me Sanskrit. That was it. I never learnt how to write, but I can and do read the language, he said.

Now, as we know, Dr Karan Singh has an authoritative understanding of the Hindu scriptures, such as the Vedas and the Upanishads. In his public speeches, he often recites in Sanskrit from the holy scriptures. It always makes an impression, especially in an English-speaking crowd.

I remember many, many years ago Khushwant Singh telling us how as a very young, yuvraj, Karan Singh used to mesmerise the elite gatherings in New Delhi with a flawless recitation of TS Eliots long poem, The Wasteland.

The same gift for an eloquent recital becomes even more eloquent in Sanskrit.

*******

It was pleasing to learn that former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukbhir had made a point of travelling to Patiala and calling on Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to convey their condolences after the Captain lost his mother. The occasion called for grace and dignity and it was very decent of the Badals to put in an appearance. Civilised behaviour among political rivals should be encouraged and even applauded as such gestures do deepen the democratic roots in the country.

I will certainly raise my cup of coffee to the Badals. Join me.

kaffeeklatsch@tribuneindia.com
Saba Naqvi

There is in our country a very special antaratma ki awaz (voice of conscience) that hovers above us, ordinary human beings, who occasionally grapple with what is right or wrong. The physical body that this antaratma ki awaaz inhabits and uses as a vessel to express itself is that of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

It apparently speaks through him every now and then, whereupon he acts in ways that shapes the political destiny of the country. In his own words it spoke to him when he ended a long-standing arrangement with the BJP over the candidature of Narendra Modi as PM. At that time this voice of conscience thought that Modi was communal and a danger to the country and hence it used the person of Nitish Kumar to not let Modi destroy the social fabric of Bihar.

This voice of conscience was so committed to an outdated principle called secularism that it even drove the person of Nitish Kumar to turn for help to his old political foe, Lalu Yadav (who always had a mass base in spite of criminal convictions) to help him return to office in Bihar.

Now again that antaratma ki awaaz has spoken and Nitish Kumar, the medium, has revealed it to the world. This is a startling message, somewhat complicated, but then anyone who understands philosophy would know that what was wrong yesterday can be right tomorrow because all is an illusion and nothing is permanent and we need to adjust to the temporary nature of things...

Its deep stuff so to understand the various levels at which it operates: you could sit in a lotus position and meditate or have a smoke since you cant have a drink in the wonderful state that Nitish Kumar rules and will continue to rule till the BJP decides that he is not fit to rule

But we are getting ahead of the story because first, this voice of conscience revealed to Nitish Kumar that he may have erred in describing Modi as communal. He is actually a great leader who tweets congratulatory messages and what was communal yesterday need not be communal tomorrow. After all, no less than the Buddha had said that do not dwell on the past but concentrate your mind on the present moment. With Bodh Gaya not far from Patna, no doubt Nitish Kumar has absorbed the message of the Buddha and, therefore, attained a measure of enlightenment.

The voice of conscience has also revealed to Nitish Kumar that corruption is suddenly a greater crime than communalism because the TV channels that used to once idolise him no longer do so and they say he was wrong in tying up with the corrupt Lalu Yadav (never mind that over the years Nitish has dispensed favours and tickets to history sheeters).

The voice of conscience also told him that its okay to stab your own partner in the back particularly when he is under attack from the CBI and ED because he and his entire family should be in jail. Its okay to kick a man when he is down, said the voice. Its all okay as long as the goal is pure and, in this case, it is the desire to be CM and henceforth remain on the right side of Narendra Modi and give up misguided dreams of being PM yourself. The voice explained that ego should not stand in the path of progress.

The antaratma ki awaaz had a slightly tougher time figuring out how to explain to the person that is Nitish Kumar that he now needed to go against the mandate of the people that had voted for him and Lalu against the BJP. But then the voice also explained to him that sometimes it was necessary for the greater good to take steps that people may not understand immediately but could understand after the passage of some time.

Again some complicated philosophical concepts had to be understood to grasp the message of the voice of conscience. (To quote the Buddha again: I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done). Hence the voice posed a question to the person that is Nitish Kumar that why let a mandate stand between a politician and high office? Especially when office is what counts and not the mandate of the people.

Its been a struggle for Nitish Kumar to try and serve the people when his antaratma ki awaaz keeps disturbing his life. Once it compelled him to resign when he was a railway minister and a terrible accident took place. On another occasion it compelled him to resign before a trust vote in 2000 that he would have lost anyway.

For in the end, Nitish is a good man and no doubt the voice of conscience will continue to illuminate his path both in the temporal and spiritual world.
Jasmine Singh in Boot (Kapurthala)

You cant miss very large kothis painted white, as you enter Boot, a village in Kapurthala, also known as the village of drug addicts. The largish houses have taken over chunks of panchayat land. This is just the beginning of this villages notoriety, says a vegetable seller.

The village recorded 47 FIRs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the maximum from a single village, in 2014, across the state. In police records, 375 cases have been filed between March 15, 2017, and July 25, and 472 accused have been arrested.

These figures tell a story of a village of more than 4,000 people; where every house has at least one or two young boys lodged in jail under charges of drug peddling. The village has seen over 70 deaths in the last 3-4 years, mostly youngsters in the age group of 23-27.

Soon after he was re-appointed Punjab Congress president, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh publicly swore that if voted to power, he would wipe out the drug menace from the state in four weeks. The Chief Minister formed a Special Task Force (STF). But four weeks have meant little.

There was a 10-day police crackdown. Drug peddlers were caught, FIRs registered, and a strict watch was kept on outsiders entering the village and those leaving, says an elderly villager (name withheld on request). For those 10 days, all big dealers fled the village, says the villager. Earlier 1 gm chitta (heroin) would cost Rs 1,400 and now it is available for Rs 4,000, says the villager.

Boot villagers sold illicit liquor before they took to selling chitta about four years back. Today hardly any house is left that does not deal in chitta. A small-timer who sells 1 gm-10 gm earns anything between Rs 25,000-40,000 a day. Would villagers want to do any other business, asks a youngster who promised to share everything about the village on the condition of anonymity.

I dont want to get into trouble. A few days back, our villagers attacked and tore the uniform of two head constables. Our community is very fearless. We are not scared of police or parcha... we can buy off policemen anytime.

A walk through this village presents nothing unusual. But you dont see many young boys. Some are in jail, many have died and others are either trading chitta or using syringes, says a youngster. He shows a place where empty syringes are lying scattered near village farmlands.

The drug problem can be wiped out if the police decide to do so. But they are busy catching only the small drug peddlers, says the youngster, ensuring the conversation is not taped. If you stand here alone for more than 20 minutes, chances are someone might approach you for a deal. Clients from all across Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi and Mumbai come to Boot for the best chitta, he says laughing, requesting us to leave.

A former sarpanch from Dogranwala, Veer Singh, blames the police for the rising drug problem in Boot. If the police file an FIR against two genuine drug dealers, then it includes 10 more innocents. Those dealers who are caught in the morning are seen roaming freely in the evening.

Kapurthala SSP Sandeep Kumar says he is surprised that the villagers blame the police. But he admits that Boot villagers are not easy to deal with.

I never send one or two policemen there. A team goes for the raid. There have been incidents when villagers have attacked policemen. And as far as taking bribe is concerned, we shift the policeman from that village on the slightest of doubt. An inspector and an ASI were dismissed for their involvement in drugs. They were arrested by the Special Task Force.

The nearest Amritsar border is 80 km from Kapurthala from where heroin is said to be smuggled in the village. High quality chitta is also smuggled to Delhi.

Villagers, and even the police, say that big dealers from outside Boot sell the drug in the village. You may find each house keeping at least 250 gm of chitta. And each house has modern facilities. The law enforcement agencies must find out how these people have made this kind of money, says Dogranwala former sarpanch, Veer Singh.

Boot village has a school and a college nearby. Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira, the new leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, says drugs would not vanish overnight. The drug menace is a result of unemployment and failure of agriculture in Punjab, says Khaira.
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 29

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs removal by the countrys Supreme Court has once again thrown the country into a state of political turmoil. Pakistan has never been an easy place for democracy and Sharifs ouster is another blow to the fragile democratic process of this nation. Many might argue that it is the Supreme Court and not the Army that is behind the move this time and also point to the fact that Sharif has been ousted on corruption charges.

That argument holds true only when one is unaware of the situation on the ground. Sharifs removal, irrespective of the mechanism by which he has been asked to step down, also proves once again that in nations where elected institutions are weak, unelected mechanisms gain the upper hand. For India, the worry is great. The presence of Nawaz Sharif and an elected leader offered some resistance to the all powerful army.

A recent report in The Dawn newspaper revealed the serious differences between Sharif and the military establishment. In a blunt, orchestrated and unprecedented warning, the civilian government has informed the military leadership of a growing international isolation of Pakistan and sought consensus on several key actions by the state, the report had stated.

The Rawalpindi barracks have always been more belligerent towards India. The Kashmir card is used by the Army in Pakistan to time and again cash in its legitimacy. And there are few who doubt that the real reason behind Sharifs ouster has been his resistance to the army. The recent Kulbhushan Jadhav case is the best example. Jadhav was awarded a death sentence by a secret military court, keeping the civilian government out of the loop, and that led to India-Pak relations dipping to an all time low.

Moral of the story: when with the establishment, you will not be touched, Asma Jahangir, a prominent human rights lawyer, wrote on Twitter, adding, but if you disagree your grand mom will also be investigated. She couldnt have been more correct.

Bilateral talks just a dream now
Islamabad, July 29

Pakistans ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif will chair a crucial meeting to decide his successor, a day after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court on Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing the embattled leader out of office.

Senior Pakistan Muslim League leader and former railway minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said the party meeting would be held later on Saturday. The meeting is likely to include discussion on candidates for the post of the prime minister, partys new president and members of the Cabinet.

Different options were discussed in a similar meeting on Friday but no decision was taken, he said.

Meanwhile, party sources said Sharif proposed the name of his younger brother Shehbaz in Fridays meeting and none of the participants raised any objection to the proposal.

But Shehbaz, 65, cannot immediately replace his brother as he is not a member of parliament.

In order to become the prime minister, he would have to be elected first.

Hence, an interim prime minister would have to be chosen from among Sharifs confidants who will resign once Shehbaz is elected.

Pakistan has seen such arrangements in the past too.

During former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharrafs time, politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was appointed an interim prime minister until Shaukat Aziz, who was nominated by Musharraf, got elected by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ).

According to party sources, Sharif was conscious that bringing Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz to Islamabad might create political vacuum in the crucial state, which PML-N could not afford ahead of the next years elections.

Hence, there is possibility that a permanent prime minister might be elected from the senior party leaders for the remaining tenure of the government, which would end in first week of June 2018.

In case, Shehbaz is elected premier, then his son Hamza could be a choice for the post of chief minister of Punjab.

But the problem is that Hamza is a member of the national assembly and would have to be elected as member of provincial assembly first in order to succeed his father.

The party would have to decide a prime minister for interim period in case Shehbaz emerges as the final consensus candidate for top job.

Different names so far considered to become interim prime minister include former defence minister Khawaja Asif, former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former planning minister Ahsan Iqbal and speaker, national assembly, Ayaz Sadiq. PTI
Seoul, July 29

South Korea said on Saturday it will proceed with the deployment of four additional units of the US THAAD anti-missile defence system after North Koreas latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The deployment of the additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) units had been delayed after the initial two units, after South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered an environmental assessment.

China has been notified of the move to speed up the deployment, the Souths presidential Blue House said.

China has angrily objected to the THAAD deployment, saying it does little to deter the Norths missile threat while destabilizing regional security balance. It believes the THAADs radar can penetrate deep into its territory. Reuters
The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Greater Chippewa Valley centers in Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Menomonie and Black River Falls will host the Eighth Annual Lemonade Day on Thursday, Aug. 3, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 35 locations across the four communities.

Lemonade Day is a program designed to teach youth the process of operating their own business.

Boys & Girls Club members will be selling glasses of lemonade at various locations throughout the greater Chippewa Valley using business and marketing plans they have created.

All proceeds will support the ongoing programming of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Greater Chippewa Valley.

Locations in Black River Falls include:

Boys & Girls Club - Lunda Center

Black River Country Bank

CO-OP Credit Union

4 Seasons Quick Stop

Gordy's County Market

Jackson County Bank

Jackson County Farmer's Market (2pm-6pm)

Theisen's
Raqqa, July 29

As Islamic State group fighters steadily lose chunks of their Syrian bastion Raqqa to a US-backed force, the jihadists are ramping up the ferocity of their counter-attacks.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) first broke into Raqqa in early June and have advanced in a pincer-like motion towards the heart of the city.

The alliance's Arab and Kurdish fighters now hold half of Raqqa, but as they tighten the noose around Islamic State, the jihadist group appears to be lashing out.

"The closer we get to the city centre, the harder IS defends itself, because it's completely besieged," said Davram Dersem, an SDF field commander.

To defend Raqqa, Islamic State has deployed a barrage of car bombs, suicide bombers, weaponised drones, snipers, and mines scattered across the city.

"They're cornered like a wounded animal. Raqqa is their main stronghold  they're not going to abandon it easily," Dersem added.

The Kurdish commander spoke to AFP in the western Raqa neighbourhood of al-Daraiya.

Mortar shells crashed into surrounding neighbourhoods, which were also hit by the occasional air strike.

After Islamic State captured Raqaq in 2014, the group transformed the city into a symbol of its most macabre practices, including public beheadings.

Raqqa was also thought to have been used as a hub for planning attacks overseas.

Now, much of it has been destroyed by the fierce fighting and US-led air strikes. Roofs have collapsed and streets are littered with rubble, metal, and glass.

In the adjacent district of Massaken al-Dubbat, 24-year- old SDF fighter Talal Sharif pointed at a devastated row of two-storey homes ahead.

"All of this destruction, it's because of their car bombs. There have been at least four in each of these streets," Sharif said. "Little by little, they're being suffocated in Raqqa. This is why they're resisting."

Sharif spoke confidently, but his face was marked by exhaustion after weeks of street-by-street battles.

When his unit recently stormed an IS-held neighbourhood, they stumbled on four enemy fighters sleeping inside a home.

"During the raid, one of the jihadists blew himself up, another two were killed, and one was taken prisoner," Sharif recalled.

But if they don't have access to belts of explosives or car bombs, Islamic State fighters resort to something much simpler  grenades.

"In close combat, they just toss grenades. For them, it's a life-or-death battle," Devrem said.

Up to 50,000 civilians remain trapped in Raqqa in increasingly dire circumstances, with little access to food, water, or life-saving medication, according to the United Nations.

The intensifying fight for Raqqa has also forced tens of thousands of its residents to flee, dodging Islamic State sniper fire, mines, and even US-led coalition air strikes.

On Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 21 civilians  including eight children from a single family  had been killed in "intensifying air strikes by the coalition" over the previous 24 hours.  AFP
Colombo, July 29

Sri Lanka on Saturday signed a $1.1 billion deal to sell a 70-per cent stake of the strategic Hambantota port to China, amid concerns over the massive debt the island nation incurred in building the port.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The deal had been delayed by several months over concerns that the deep-sea port could be used by the Chinese Navy.

Cash-rich China has invested millions of dollars in Sri Lankas infrastructure since the end of a brutal civil war in 2009.

As part of the deal, the stake in the loss-making port has been sold to Chinas state-run conglomerate China Merchant Port Holdings (CMPort).

Sri Lankas Minister of Ports and Shipping Mahinda Samarasinghe and Chinas envoy to Colombo Yi Xianliang were present when the Concession Agreement was signed.

Under the 99-year lease agreement, CMPort is to invest up to $1.1 billion in the port and marine-related activities.

This is a very favourable agreement compared with the plan in 2014, Samarasinghe said, referring to the original plan laid out during former president Mahinda Rajapaksas tenure.

The agreement was open for further amendments, he said.

The deal may raise security concerns in India.

According to the new deal, only Sri Lankan Navy will be responsible for security of the deep-sea port, and the port will not be allowed to become a base for any foreign navy.

The new provision is seen as an attempt to allay Indias concerns over Chinese navys possible presence in Sri Lanka.

The port, overlooking the Indian Ocean, is expected to play a key role in Chinas Belt and Road initiative, which will link ports and roads between China and Europe.

The Sri Lankan government had to face huge opposition to the deal from trade unions, who called it a sellout of the countrys national assets to China.

Last week, petroleum workers brought the country to a standstill for two days by stopping fuel distribution.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday said: We are giving the country a better deal without any debt.

The accumulated loss from the port was more than $300 million and the money realised from deal will set off the debts owed to China, he said.

Sri Lankas Cabinet had on July 25 approved the transfer of stake in the port to the Chinese firm, tweaking the deal after the initial agreement sparked protests in the country.

The initial 80:20 share distribution has been revised to 69.55 per cent to CMPort and 30.45 per cent to Sri Lanka Port Authority. PTI
Istanbul, July 29

Seven staff from the Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet walked free from jail on Saturday after over eight months behind bars, expressing hope four colleagues still in prison would be released soon.

An Istanbul court on Friday ordered the release of the seven people in the trialseen as a test for press freedom under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoganbut kept the most prominent journalists in jail.

The staff from the newspaper, one of the few voices in the media in Turkey to oppose Erdogan, had been charged with aiding terror groups in accusations denounced as absurd by supporters.

Those freed have been released under judicial control, meaning they will have to report regularly to the authorities and remain charged.

The seven, including the papers respected cartoonist Musa Kart, were freed from Silviri jail on the outskirts of Istanbul in the early hours of Saturday following the court decision.

We were taken away from the people we love, our relatives, our work, said Kart after his release.

But he added: Believe me, during this period in jail we have felt no hatred, no rancour, we could not live with such thoughts.

The others released include books supplement editor Turhan Gunay as well as the papers legal executives. They had been held for 271 days in jail.

The four remaining in custody are the commentator Kadri Gursel, investigative journalist Ahmet Sik, the papers editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and chief executive Akin Atalay.

Kart commented: I thought I was going to be very happy to find out that I was going to be released but I cant say that today. Unfortunately, four of our friends are still behind bars.

The image of journalists in jail is not flattering for our country and I hope our four friends will come out as soon as possible.

The staff are charged with supporting in their coverage three groups that Turkey considers terror groupsthe Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the ultra-left Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), and the movement of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based preacher who Ankara accuses of ordering last years coup attempt.

The next hearing was set for September 11. If convicted, they face varying terms of up to 43 years in jail.

Prosecutors meanwhile said they would file new accusations against Sik over an incendiary defence statement he made on Wednesday where he slammed Turkeys ruling party over its past cooperation with the Gulen movement.  AFP
Dear friends around the world,

When people of different countries and cultures interact with each other with an open mind, more tolerance and acceptance will arise in the world.

I live in Malaysia, a beautiful and diverse country where harmony is part of mainstream living. Therefore I am always happy to read news about people who not only understand but embrace another culture. The painter, Mr. Chen Lin is a shinning example of this. Laos has 49 ethnic groups or tribes, and the beautiful diversity of its people is what makes Laos rich in its cultural heritage.

I also like stories about people who made it against all odds. As someone who grew up under challenging circumstance and having to make it on my own since I was 15, I can relate to the hardship that Mr Chen Lin had to endure, as well as the kindness he has received that encouraged him to continue pursuing his passion and goals.

Tsem Rinpoche

Chinese painter Chen Lin talks about his deep ties to Laos and its people There are some artists who aim to make a long-lasting name for themselves in the field of art, and then there are some artists who want nothing more than to bring a little bit of happiness to people. Sixty-year-old Chinese painter Chen Lin certainly belongs to the latter group. A majority of Chens paintings depict the lives of ordinary people living in China or Southeast Asian countries. Due to the simple and straightforward nature of his painting style, his works have received a warm welcome around the world. In June, an exhibition of Chens works was held in Hong Kong as part of activities celebrating the 20th anniversary of the citys return to China. Interestingly enough, this Chinese artist is actually often associated with Laos, a result of the 15-year period during which his art focused on the scenery of Laos and its people.

Living in Laos Although Chen went to art school, he never imagined he would find himself making a living as an artist overseas. Like many in the Chinese mainland who were born in the 1950s, Chen had a stable job designing ads for a State-run company. However, he was laid off in 2000, a time when many State-run companies began restructuring. The idea of heading to Laos was planted in Chens head by a Laotian man he encountered one day while sketching the landscape in Xishuangbanna, South Chinas Yunnan Province. Have you ever thought about going to Laos? the man asked him. Later he helped Chen to get a visa. Chens first trip to Laos in 2003 didnt go as smoothly as he had imagined. He ended up getting robbed and found himself lacking the money to return home to China. To earn some money, Chen set up shop near the Mekong River and began drawing portraits for people. Charging only 5,000 Lao kip (60 cents) per painting, Chens business attracted a large number of customers, who found that having their portrait drawn was actually cheaper than taking a photo and getting it developed. His business became so popular that sometimes the police had to get involved to help keep the crowd orderly. To avoid having his customers wait too long, Chen decided he would paint each portrait in under 20 minutes. Soon enough, he found his skills had greatly improved. Two years later, he opened his first gallery in Laos.

Deep love Chen has been to a number of countries now, painting his way from Vietnam to Myanmar and on to Thailand. Yet, Chen said his deepest feelings are still reserved for Laos. Laos is a home base for me. Whenever I go, I return to my gallery there, shut the door and paint, Chen said. Chen told the Global Times that he has been deeply impressed by the honest, simple and warm hearts of Laotians over and over again. He recalled that one time a young man he didnt know ran over to protect his works during a big rainstorm. Another time, a group of locals raised money to purchase all of his works for an exhibition. When I first started and didnt have any money, a monk shared his food with me and brought me paper and pencils. He encouraged me to keep drawing and painting, to not give up. I came across so many people like this, which has meant a lot to me, Chen noted.

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(By Tsem Rinpoche and Beatrix Ooi)

Bhutan, officially known as the Kingdom of Bhutan, is the smallest state located within the Himalaya mountain range. It is located in the Eastern Himalayas, bordered by China and India. Within the South Asia region, after the Maldives, Bhutan is the second least populous nation, with no more than 800,000 residents living in the small landlocked country. The capital of Bhutan is Thimphu and it is also the countrys largest and only city. Bhutanese history is an admirable record of centuries of independence, having never been colonised by external forces or foreign nations.

Bhutan is divided into 20 districts (dzongkhags) and 205 village blocks, which is then further divided into numerous municipalities for administrative purposes. Formerly an absolute monarchy, Bhutan became a constitutional monarchy in 2008 and is currently governed by the King of Bhutan and the nations parliament.

The country is famous for pioneering the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), instead of the more commonly-touted Gross National Product (GNP). GNH is both a development philosophy and a measurement of the nations collective happiness. As a development philosophy, GNH is used to guide the government when they make decisions of national importance. The GNH philosophy emphasises harmony with nature and traditional values.

Bhutan is well-known for their conservation efforts and visitors will definitely understand why, when they see what Bhutanese nature has to offer. The country benefits from a wide range of climates and incredible landscapes. Mountain peaks in Bhutan can easily reach 7,000 metres (22,966 feet). The highest peak in Bhutan is the Gangkhar Puensum, which stands at 7,570 metres (24,840 feet) and holds the record of the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. Since 1994, climbing mountains higher than 6,000 metres in Bhutan has been prohibited due to their respect for local spiritual beliefs; later, starting from 2003, mountaineering was completely prohibited.

Weather

The climate in Bhutan varies depending on the altitude and time of the year. In the south, the climate is generally subtropical; in the highlands, it is generally temperate; and in the north, there is year-round snow. Bhutan experiences five seasons through the year, comprising of summer, monsoon, autumn, winter, and spring. March to May is spring, when the weather is comparably pleasant; June to August is summer, which also overlaps with the monsoon season when there will be heavy downpours. Therefore if you are planning a trip to Bhutan, it is strongly encouraged that you visit the country during March to May.

Culture

Till this day, the culture of Bhutan remains largely unchanged, thanks to their relative isolation from the world until the 20th Century. Visitors to Bhutan who are familiar with Tibetan culture may be pleasantly surprised by the similarities between Bhutanese and Tibetan culture. Like the Tibetans, the Bhutanese culture stems from the ancient religion of Buddhism and it has particularly influenced the growth and development of this country. The concept of Gross National Happiness, for example, is not found anywhere else in the world but it is particularly important in Bhutan, thanks to their cultural and religious heritage.

The official Bhutanese languages, Dzongkha and Sharchop are relatively affiliated to the Tibetan language. Those familiar with the Tibetan script, for example, will be able to read Bhutanese script, although they may not necessarily understand it. An ancestor of the Tibetan language called chhokey (Dharma language) is widely used by the Bhutanese monks.

Another similarity between Tibetan and Bhutanese culture that visitors might notice is that both populations highly revere Padmasambhava, an 8th Century Buddhist master and the founder of the Nyingma tradition of Buddhism. In Bhutan, there are many pilgrimage places associated with Padmasambhava.

Religion

In general, 75% of the Bhutanese population identify as Buddhist so it should be no surprise that the official state religion is Buddhism. In the south of the country, there is a Hindu majority. In fact, approximately 23% of the Bhutanese population is Hindu.

Other religions account for less than 1% of the countrys population. For example, there is also a small population of Muslims in Bhutan (0.2% of the population) while 0.4% practise other religions such as Bon and other indigenous faiths.

It is said that Buddhism was introduced to Bhutan in the 7th century through the works of the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo. A convert to Buddhism himself, King Songtsen Gampo had ordered for the construction of two huge Buddhist temples at Bumthang in central Bhutan and Kyichu Lhakhang in the Paro Valley.

Religious Festivals

On the tenth day of a particular month in the lunar Tibetan calendar, each dzongkhag will hold a religious festival known as the tsechu. The tsechu is a tradition of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and the day upon which it is held differs from one dzongkhag to another.

During the tsechu, villagers from the surrounding districts will gather together for several days for religious purposes and to socialise. They will contribute auspicious offerings to the lama in charge or monastery during the festival. The main activity of the tsechu is a series of religious dances called cham which are usually held in a large courtyard. Each part of the dance may take up to a few hours to complete, and it may take two to four days for each dance to finish completely. One of the purposes of this dance is to bless the audience directly and to spread the principles of tantric Buddhism.

The tsechus arose from Padmasambhava, the great scholar who visited Tibet and Bhutan in the 8th and 9th Centuries. Padmasambhava is famous for subduing spirits and wild environments, and converting people to Buddhism. He did this by performing rites and rituals, reciting mantras, and performing dances to subdue the local spirits and gods who were malevolent in nature.

During Padmasambhavas visit to Bhutan, he came to the aid of King Sindhu Raja who was dying. In the Bumthang Valley, he performed a series of subjugation dances intended to restore the kings health. The king was immensely grateful and went on to help spread Buddhism throughout Bhutan.

After this, to commemorate the acts performed in Bumthang, Padmasambhava organised the first tsechu. During the tsechu, eight manifestations of Padmasambhava were reflected in the eight forms of dance. These dances later developed to become the cham dances which tell the story of Padmasambhava and his miraculous deeds. The Dance of the Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava is performed on the fourth and final day of the festival, as a culmination of events, depicting the triumph of good over evil.

Following the dance is the unfurling of the thongdrel. Early in the morning, amidst prayers and intense supplication, this very large thangka is unfurled. The thongdrel measures 30 metres by 45 metres, and it depicts Padmasambhava flanked by his two consorts and surrounded by his eight incarnations. It is said that those who witness the unfurling of the thongdrel are cleansed of their negative karma. The thangka is left unfurled until it is rolled up again just before sunrise, to be kept in the monastery until the next tsechu during the following year.

The Monastery

In a country where Buddhism is the state religion, it should come as no surprise that the landscape is dotted with monasteries. Monasteries in Bhutan benefit from financial support from the government through annual subsidies.

The governments support for monasteries has continued into the modern era and monasteries in Bhutan continue to thrive. By the late 1980s, Bhutan had registered some 12,000 monks, and there were also active congregations of nuns but no accurate figures are available.

The process of becoming a monk in Bhutan is quite similar to the rest of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Young boys typically join the monastery around six to nine years old and are placed under the direct tutelage and guidance of a headmaster. From this headmaster they will learn to read chhokey, which is identical to classical Tibetan, as well as Dzongkha, and English. Ultimately, the monks will have to choose between two paths: to study Buddhist theory or to take on the path of becoming proficient in rituals and personal spiritual practice.

Each monastery is headed by a khenpo (abbot) who is usually a lama. The highest-ranking khenpo in the country is known as the Je Khenpo (chief abbot) and in theory, his status is equivalent to the kings. The Je Khenpo is assisted by the Five Lopons (or masters) and they are in charge of religious tradition, logic, liturgy and prayers, lexicography, and the universities. When the Je Khenpo passes on, the Dorji Lopon (the chief lopon) is appointed to succeed him.

Unlike the Dalai Lama or Panchen Lama, the position of Je Khenpo is never held by a child but always by an experienced monk. This position is awarded to the monk on the basis of merit, through an election and it is usually the most respected monk of the Dratshang Lhentshog (Commission for the Monastic Affairs) who is elected into position.

Clothing

One of the characteristics of the Bhutanese is their traditional dress. It is an easily-recognisable outfit which continues to be worn by everyone in Bhutan, young or old. Bhutanese men wear the gho, a knee-length robe that is tied around the waist with a traditional belt known as kera. The pouch that forms in front of the robe was traditionally used to carry food bowls and a small dagger. Today it is used to carry small items like mobile phones, wallets and doma (betel nut).

Women wear the kira, a long, ankle-length dress along with a light outer jacket known as a tego with an inner layer known as wonju.

When the Bhutanese visit the dzongs (temples) and other administrative centres, they wear long scarves. The scarves are varied in colour, indicating the wearers status. The scarf worn by men is known as kabney and those worn by women are known as rachus. The rachu is hung over the womans shoulders and it does not have any specific status associated with its colour. They are made from raw silk and brocaded with beautiful patterns.

Rank Kabney/ Scarf The King Yellow / Saffron Je Khenpo (Head Abbot) Yellow / Saffron Minister Orange Judge Green District Administrator Red with a small white stripe Commoner White

Dos and Donts

DOS

Have a printed visa clearance copy at the time of check-in for the flight to Bhutan.

Do remember that some of the Himalayan mountains in Bhutan are considered to be the dwelling place of gods and are therefore not open to tourists.

Do remember that credit cards are not accepted in small shops. So remember to carry Bhutanese currency with you though Indian Rupee is also widely accepted.

Do be cautious about purchasing anything old or antique in Bhutan since the export of antiques is strictly forbidden in Bhutan.

Do remember to keep your mobile on silent mode or switched off completely while entering monasteries and other religious places.

Do refrain from touching any murals, paintings and any other ritual objects.

Do refrain from uttering any negative comments on either the royal family, the countrys religion or the chief abbot.

Do ensure you walk in a clockwise direction when visiting and touring religious places.

Do refrain from giving sweets or money to children.

Do note that GSM phones work well in Bhutan but most Indian networks do not have roaming services in Bhutan. Airtel is the only Indian service provider that works in Bhutan on international roaming.

DONTS

Dont wear tight or revealing clothes while visiting religious areas as it is considered to be extremely rude.

Remove hats and caps while visiting temples.

Dont forget that all electronic devices including cameras, laptops, video recorders and even mobiles need to be registered with the customs authorities upon arriving in Bhutan. There is a checking again on departure so be sure to declare all electronic items upon arrival.

Dont forget that smoking is strictly prohibited in most areas in Bhutan. Bhutan is the only country in the world that completely bans the sale and production of tobacco and tobacco products. Under the law, any individual found selling tobacco can face imprisonment for a period of three to five years. Therefore Bhutanese stores do not sell tobacco. Visitors are permitted to bring 100 cigarettes into the country provided they are willing to pay a 200% tax.

Dont ever point at any person, object or animal with a single finger. Use instead an upturned flat and extended hand, especially when indicating or gesturing towards a sacred object or place.

Dont ever touch the robes of a monk.

Dont throw garbage anywhere except at designated places.

Dont feed birds/animals while visiting natural sites.

Dont use slang and vulgarities while visiting religious sites.

Dont be rude to older people. In Bhutan, showing respect to ones elders is extremely important.

Food

1. Ema Datshi

The national dish of Bhutan comprises of chillies and cheese. The chillies can either be fresh green chillies or dry red chillies, and they are cooked with local Bhutanese cheese known as datshi in a good amount of butter.

2. Momos

Travellers in the Himalayan region are sure to have stumbled upon the ubiquitous momos. These dumplings are one of the most popular Tibetan foods and can be found in Nepal, India and here in Bhutan. Momos are typically filled with minced meat, cheese and vegetables. They can be eaten steamed or deep-fried, together with the Bhutanese chilli sauce known as ezay.

3. Hoentay

Hoentays are somewhat similar to momos except they are made from buckwheat dough. These dumplings are normally filled with a combination of local spinach or turnip leaves and cheese. They can also be eaten either fried or steamed, together with ezay.

4. Lom

The freezing winter in most areas of Bhutan makes it hard for vegetables to grow. Lom refers to turnip leaves, which are one of the very few vegetables that can grow in Bhutan. These leaves are dried and preserved, then sauteed and eaten on its own. Another favourite way of consuming lom is cooking it with some pork.

5. Goen hogay

This particular dish is a traditional Bhutanese cucumber salad made of cucumbers, chilli flakes, cilantro (coriander), Sichuan pepper, tomato, onions and some datshi cheese. Oil can also be added to give it a little bit of dressing, while the Sichuan pepper has a pleasant, slightly numbing effect on the tongue.

Travel Requirements

Bhutan has a quality over quantity approach to tourism. As such, all travellers to Bhutan are required to pay a daily fee of US$250. This fee covers accommodation, transport in Bhutan, a guide, food and entry fees. Since tours are prepaid, visitors will only need to bring money for drinks, laundry, souvenirs and tips. It is best to bring cash for these requirements; while there are ATMs in most main towns, the use of credit cards is confined to mostly the well-touristed areas and not widespread throughout the country.

Except for Bangladeshi, Indian and Maldivian passport holders, all tourists must book their trip through a legitimate Bhutanese tour operator. The operator will take care of all visa arrangements. Please note to contact official tour operators in Bhutan. Do not go through unregistered operators and make direct payments, or you may find yourself very disappointed. For more information, please visit http://www.tourism.gov.bt/plan/tour-operators.

20 Places to Visit

1. Paro Taktsang (The Tigers Nest Temple)

Paro Taktsang is Bhutans most prominent and instantly recognisable religious monument. The name Taktsang literally means The Tigers Nest. One of the most sacred sites in Bhutan, the monastery clings on to an extremely steep cliff that is 900 metres above the valley of Paro.

The temple was built in 1692 at a cave where Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated and engaged in retreat. According to legend, it is said that Guru Rinpoche, riding a tigress, flew to this very spot and engaged in a three-year, three-month, three-day, three-hour retreat in order to subdue the malicious spirits that resided there. Ever since then, the cave is considered to be a blessed site and many have visited the site and engaged in their own retreats there.

Paro Taktsang is located about 10 kilometres away from Paro town. Visitors have to trek for roughly 2-3 hours in order to get to this holy site.

How to get there

Direct flights to Paro Airport are available from international destinations like Bangkok (Thailand), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Kathmandu (Nepal), and Delhi and Kolkata (India). From there, taxis are available and it is easy to get around Paro. An alternative option would be to hire a taxi from Thimphu for the 45-minute drive to Paro.

Address: Taktsang trail, Bhutan

Accommodation

1. Naksel Boutique Hotel & SPA

Address: Ngoba Village, Lango Geog, Paro 00975, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 272 992

2. Olathang Hotel

Address: P.O. Box No. 1214, Paro 12008, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 271 304

3. Hotel Dorjee-Ling

Address: Main Street, Paro Town, Paro 12001, Bhutan

Contact: +91 84477 47674

2. Tashichho Dzong

Tashichho Dzong, also known as Thimphu Dzong, is located close to the capital of Bhutan, Thimphu. The original monastery was built in 1216 by Lama Gyalwa Lhanapa, who was the founder of the Lhapa branch of the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Centuries later, in 1641, it was taken over by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal and he built another dzong known as the Lower Dzong. A dzong is a type of building, or form of architecture that looks like a fortress.

After a devastating fire, the original Tashichho Dzong had to be consolidated and moved to the Lower dzong. Over the years, the building expanded a couple of times until an earthquake struck in 1897. It was not until 1902 that it was rebuilt again. King Jigme Wangchuk had the building renovated in the traditional style without any nails. There are close to 30 temples and chapels within the Tashiccho Dzong compound.

How to get there

Most tourists prefer to hire taxis or mini-buses to travel around Bhutan. In this case, itd be easier to travel around Thimphu with a taxi. If you are visiting this area, please make sure to carry some bottled water and snacks because landslides are common around this area and will require some time to clear up.

Address: Chhagchhen Lam, Thimphu, Bhutan

Opening hours: It is open to visitors only once the offices close at 5:00 pm

Entrance fee: Nu300/- which is less than USD$5.

Accommodation

1. Kisa Hotel

Address: Chang Lam, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +91 83888 77888

2. Hotel Norbuling

Address: Bldg # 5, Changlam Street, Thimphu 11001, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 335 754

3. Wangchuk Hotel, Thimphu

Address: Changlam 19, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 323 532

3. Punakha Dzong

The Punakha Dzong or Puntang Dechen Photrang Dzong (The Palace of Great Bliss) is the administrative centre of the Punkha district. The building was constructed in 1637-38 by Ngawang Namgyal, the 1st Zhabdrung Rinpoche. The Punakha Dzong is the second largest and second oldest dzong in Bhutan, and one of its most prominent examples of the unique, traditional Bhutanese architecture.

The dzong houses holy relics of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, which includes the Rangjung Kasarpani and the remains of its founder, Ngawang Namgyal. It is said that Guru Rinpoche had once given a prophecy that someone named Namgyal would arrive at a hill that resembles the shape of an elephant. True enough, centuries later, Ngawang Namgyal found a peak that resembled the shape of an elephants trunk and it was on this peak that he eventually built the dzong.

One of Bhutans most important religious sites, the royal wedding of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk and Queen Jetsun Pema was held here at Punkha Dzong on October 13, 2011.

How to get there

Taxis and buses are available from Bhutans capital, Thimphu. A shared taxi costs around Nu150 which is less than USD$3 and it is a 90- to 120-minute ride from the capital to Punakha.

Address: Punakha, Punakha, Bhutan

Contact: +975 17 66 99 80

Accommodation

1. Drubchhu Resort

Address: Missina, P.O Box 777, Punakha 13001, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 376 237

2. Hotel Lobesa

Address: Punakha, Bhutan

Contact: +975 17 61 26 72

3. RKPO Green Resort

Address: Punakha, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 376 233

4. Rinpung Dzong

Rinpung Dzong, also known as Paro Dzong, is located in the Paro district about 2 kilometres away from Paro Airport, Bhutans sole international airport. Rinpung Dzong is a huge Buddhist monastery following the traditions and practices of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage. The dzong was constructed in the 15th Century; later, upon the request of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, it was reconstructed again in 1644.

There are 14 shrines and chapels within the dzongs compound, including a monks assembly hall, a sandalwood stupa, a protectors shrine, a chapel of the head lama, a chapel of Amitayus, a chapel of the 11-Faced Avalokiteshvara, a chapel of Akshobhya and many more.

How to get there

As the dzong is very close to Paro airport, it can be very easily reached by taxi.

Address: Paro, Bhutan

Contact: +975 17 33 83 00

Accommodation

1. Naksel Boutique Hotel & SPA

Address: Ngoba Village, Lango Geog, Paro 00975, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 272 992

2. Olathang Hotel

Address: P.Box No. 1214, Paro 12008, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 271 304

3. Hotel Dorjee-Ling

Address: Main Street, Paro Town, Paro 12001, Bhutan

Contact: +91 84477 47674

5. Kyichu Lhakhang

Located in Lango Gewog in the Paro district of Bhutan, Kyichu Lhakhang is one of Bhutans oldest temples, having been established in the 7th Century. It is said that the temple grounds were constructed by King Songtsen Gampo of Tibet in 659, and that Kyichu Lhakang is also one of the four border-taming temples that the King built.

It is believed that in the 8th Century, Guru Rinpoche visited the temple and concealed many spiritual treasures, known as termas, there. Later, the temple came under the charge of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. From 1836 to 1838, it was restored by the 25th Je Khenpo Sherab Gyaltshen. In 1971, Queen Kesang Choden Wangchuk, the consort of King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, built a Guru Temple next to the old Jowo (Shakyamuni) Temple that was consecrated by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

Since Queen Kesang Choden Wangchuk began her patronage of the temple, annual rituals of various deities such as Vajrasattva, Vajrakilaya and Palchen Heruka have been performed in this very temple for the well-being of the country. It is rumoured that there are two orange trees within the compound of Kyichu Lhakang that bear fruit throughout the year.

How to get there

Kyichu Lhakang is approximately 5 kilometres away from Paro town, and can be very easily reached by taxi if you are planning a visit.

Accommodation

1. Naksel Boutique Hotel & SPA

Address: Ngoba Village, Lango Geog, Paro 00975, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 272 992

2. Olathang Hotel

Address: P.Box No. 1214, Paro 12008, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 271 304

3. Hotel Dorjee-Ling

Address: Main Street, Paro Town, Paro 12001, Bhutan

Contact: +91 84477 47674

6. Gangteng Monastery

Located in the Wangdue Phodrang District of Bhutan, Gangteng Monastery is also known asor Gangtey Gonpa or Gangtey Monastery. It was established by the First Gangteng Tulku, Gyalse Pema Thinley in 1613I, and it is one of Bhutans few temples belonging to the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism (the majority belonging to the Drukpa Kagyu lineage).

Gangteng Monastery is the largest Nyingma monastery in Bhutan and it is also the main seat of the Pema Lingpa lineage. The Monastery is also famous for the presence of black-necked cranes who, during the winter time, fly from Tibet to central Bhutan in order to roost. Upon their arrival, the cranes circle the monastery three times and they repeating this circling when they return to Tibet.

Therefore, aside from the annual tsechu held at the monastery, Gangteng Monastery also hosts the Crane Festival to mark the arrival of cranes from Tibet. Viewed as a religious blessing by the people, this annual event takes place one day after the celebration of the Kings birthday, on 12 November every year.

The monastery can trace its history back to the late 15th Century, to prophecies made by the well-known Terton (treasure finder) Pema Lingpa. On a visit to the Phobjikha Valley where Gangteng Monastery is located, Pema Lingpa prophesied that his descendants would establish a monastery on the top of the mountain and it would become famous as the seat of the Pema Lingpa tradition.

As Pema Lingpa correctly predicted, it was his grandson Gyalse Pema Thinley who established Gangteng Monastery in 1613. The monastery was later expanded by his son, Tenzing Legpai Dhendup. It may also interest visitors to know that the current rulers of Bhutan, the Royal House of Wangchuk, too are descendants of Pema Lingpa.

Gangteng Monastery is surrounded by Gangten Village, and in later years, a Nyingma monastic college or shedra, Do-gag Tosam Rabgayling, was formed above the village.

How to get there

It is easy to reach this famous monastery, with many taxis, cars and buses available for charter or hire.

Address: Wangdue Phodrang District, Bhutan

Accommodation

1. Gangtey Lodge

Address: Just below the monastery, Gangtey 975, Bhutan

Contact: +975 17 16 06 66

2. Punatsangchhu Cottages

Address: Zamtopang, Wangdue 00975, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 481 942

3. Dragons Nest Hotel

Address: Wangdue Phodrang, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 480 521

7. Motithang Takin Preserve

Motithang Takin Preserve is located in Thimphu, and it is a wildlife reserve for takin, the national animal of Bhutan. Originally a mini-zoo, Motithang was later converted into a wildlife sanctuary because the animals that were set free refused to inhabit the nearby forests.

A local legend tells the story of how the takin came to be the national animal of Bhutan. It all started in the 15th century, when a Tibetan saint by the name of Drukpa Kunley was requested by the Bhutanese during one of his teachings to perform a miracle in front of them. Not only was Drukpa Kunley a great teacher but he was also a highly practised adept of tantric meditations. At their request, Drukpa Kunley agreed to perform the miracle on the condition that a whole cow and whole goat were fed to him for lunch.

As soon as the meal was prepared, Drukpa Kunley gobbled down the food and all that was left were some bones from the animals. He then took the head of the goat and joined it to the skeleton of the cow. Before the amazed congregation could believe their eyes, they had a live animal standing right in front of them. The animal had the head of a goat and the body of a cow, and it was given the name dong gyem tsey (takin). Due to Drukpa Kunleys reputation and the fact this was his magical creation, the takin came to be revered by many and eventually became the national animal of Bhutan.

How to get there

One of Bhutans most famous destinations, it is easy to charter a taxi, bus or van to get to Motithang Takin Preserve.

Address: Motithang district of Thimphu, Bhutan

Operation hours: 9am to 4pm, Tuesday to Sunday

Entrance fee: Bhutanese- Nu10 ; SAARC national/ adult Nu30/50 (less than USD$1)

Accommodation

1. Kisa Hotel

Address: Chang Lam, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +91 83888 77888

2. Hotel Norbuling

Address: Bldg # 5, Changlam Street, Thimphu 11001, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 335 754

3. Wangchuk Hotel, Thimphu

Address: Changlam 19, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 323 532

8. National Museum of Bhutan

Built in 1968 at the request of King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, the National Museum of Bhutan is located in the town of Paro. The building houses some of the most exquisite examples of Bhutanese arts including paintings and bronze statues. The museum currently houses more than 3,000 Bhutanese artworks, showcasing Bhutans cultural heritage that dates back to more than a millennium ago. The museum is the perfect destination for connoisseurs of Himalayan art, for those who wish to gain a deeper insight into how Bhutan came to be the kingdom it is today, and how religion has become to intertwined with Bhutanese daily life.

How to get there

Taxis, buses and vans can be chartered to get to the National Museum of Bhutan.

Address: Paro, Bhutan

Operating hours: 9am-4pm, closed on Mondays and during national holidays

Entrance fee: SAARC national/adult Nu 50/200 (USD$3), monks, nuns & children under 10 years old, free

Contact: +975 8 271 511

Accommodation

1. Naksel Boutique Hotel & SPA

Address: Ngoba Village, Lango Geog, Paro 00975, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 272 992

2. Olathang Hotel

Address: P.Box No. 1214, Paro 12008, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 271 304

3. Hotel Dorjee-Ling

Address: Main Street, Paro Town, Paro 12001, Bhutan

Contact: +91 84477 47674

9. Jigme Dorji National Park

Jigme Dorji National Park is named after the late king, Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, a visionary who took radical steps to preserve Bhutans cultural heritage while opening her up to the world. It was King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk who took Bhutan on her first steps towards democratisation and modernisation, while safeguarding the countrys unique environment and history as a culturally distinct nation. Under the Third King, there were vast political and social reforms throughout the kingdom, with holistic laws being implemented concerning all fundamental aspects of Bhutanese life. His Majesty was also a forerunner in environmentalism in the region; during his reign, the Manas Sanctuary was established in 1966, becoming one of the first sanctuaries in the region.

Hence it is only fitting that a National Park came to be named after the king. The Jigme Dorji National Park is the second largest National Park in Bhutan, covering an area of 1066 acres. It was formed in 1974 and due the vast area it covers, the elevations within the park ranges from somewhere between 1400 meters to more than 7000 meters.

This diverse environment results in a great variety of animals who call the park home. There are more than 30 species of animals that have been identified within the park, some of which are endangered. They include the snow leopard, takin, Bengal tiger, clouded leopard, Himalayan black bear, the red panda and many others. It is also home to more than 300 species of birds.

How to get there

Most tourists prefer to hire taxis or mini-buses to reach the National Park, which is a well-recognised destination.

Address: Thimphu, Bhutan

Accommodation

1. Kisa Hotel

Address: Chang Lam, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +91 83888 77888

2. Hotel Norbuling

Address: Bldg # 5, Changlam Street, Thimphu 11001, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 335 754

3. Wangchuk Hotel, Thimphu

Address: Changlam 19, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 323 532

10. Memorial Chorten, Thimphu

A chorten is a reliquary that, in general, contains the ashes or ashes of a distinguished personality or attained being. Chorten is the Tibetan or Bhutanese word for such a structure, while stupa is the Sanskrit word. Its shape is said to represent the mind of an enlightened being i.e. a Buddha.

Located at Doeboom Lam in the southern part of Thimphu, the Memorial Chorten was built in 1974 to commemorate the third King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk and is a prominent landmark in the city. Unlike other stupas however, this memorial stupa does not contain any human remains. It was constructed when King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk was alive, and he wanted to build a stupa to represent the mind of the Buddha. Thus this stupa was built and dedicated to him.

How to get there

Travel within Thimphu is easy and most tourists will hire a taxi or mini-bus to travel around.

Address: Doeboom Lam, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +975 4 649 494

Accommodation

1. Kisa Hotel

Address: Chang Lam, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +91 83888 77888

2. Hotel Norbuling

Address: Bldg # 5, Changlam Street, Thimphu 11001, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 335 754

3. Wangchuk Hotel, Thimphu

Address: Changlam 19, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 323 532

11. Simtokha Dzong

Simtokha Dzong, also known as Sangak Zabdhon Phodrang (literally Palace of the Profound Meaning of Secret Mantras) was built in 1629 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, who is famous for unifying Bhutan. Simtokha Dzong holds special significance as the first dzong to be built in Bhutan, thus popularising the use of a dzong as a monastic castle.

According to legend, the dzong provided protection against a demon which had disappeared into a nearby rock, giving rise to the dzongs name  Simtoka means demoness and do means stone. Later, in 1961 and at Queen Mayum Choying Wangmo Dorjes suggestion, King Jigme Dorje Wangchuk established a prominent Dzongkha language institute as part of the dzong.

How to get there

Simtokha Dzong is located about 5 kilometres south of the centre of Thimphu. It is easy to hire a taxi to take you to the dzong.

Accommodation

1. Kisa Hotel

Address: Chang Lam, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +91 83888 77888

2. Hotel Norbuling

Address: Bldg # 5, Changlam Street, Thimphu 11001, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 335 754

3. Wangchuk Hotel, Thimphu

Address: Changlam 19, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 323 532

12. Jambey Lhakhang

Jambey Temple or Temple of Maitreya is located in Bumthang, Bhutan. According to legend, it is said that this particular temple is one of the 108 temples built by King Songtsen Gampo within a single day in order to pin down a demoness to earth. The demoness was creating trouble and obstructions towards the proliferation of Buddhism, so the temples were built at various points of her body to subdue her. These temples are scattered across Tibet, Bhutan and the borderlands. Some of these temples include the Jokhang in Lhasa, as well as Kyichu Temple in Paro, Bhutan and this one, Jambey Lhakhang in Bumthang, Bhutan.

One of the main relics that currently reside in this temple are the relics of the future Buddha, Jowo Jampa (Maitreya). The temple houses easily more than one hundred statues of the deities of Kalachakra that were produced under the request of Bhutans first king, Gongsa Ugyen Wangchuk.

How to get there

In order to get to Bumthang, visitors will need to apply for an entry permit when they are in Thimphu. Your tour guide may then guide you from there and make all of the necessary arrangements. If you find yourself alone without a guide, there are buses that go to Bumthang from Thimphu on a daily basis. Tickets may be purchased from Lungtenzampa bus station.

Address: Bumthang, Bhutan

Contact: +975 77 49 61 47

Accommodation

1. Amankora Bumthang

Address: Jakar, Bhutan

Contact: +975 77 25 02 54

2. Chumey Nature Resort

Address: Geytsa, Bumthang 32002, Bhutan

Contact: +975 17 11 48 37

3. Jakar Village Lodge

Address: Jakar Village, below Jakar Dzong, Bumthang 1051, Bhutan

Contact: +975 77 17 17 77

13. Buddha Dordenma Statue

Buddha Dordenma, also commonly known as Buddha Shakyamuni, is one of Bhutans more recognisable and prominent landmarks. This religious monument is a gigantic Buddha Shakyamuni statue that was built in the mountains to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the former king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk. Standing at 169 feet (or 52 metres), the statue is one of the largest Buddha statues in the world. It contains 100,000 8-inch-tall and 25,000 12-inch-tall gold-plated bronze Buddha statues.

The statue is located on a hill in Kuensel Phodrang Nature Park. Construction works began in 2006 with the initial aim of completing it within four years (in 2010). However, construction was not finalised until 2015 when the statue was consecrated and the 943.4 acre nature park was open. The total cost of the entire project is over US$100 million, while the statue alone cost US$47 million.

The statues existence fulfils the 12th Century prophecy of the renowned yogi Sonam Zangpo, who had predicted that a large statue of Padmasambhava, Buddha or a phurba (ritual dagger) would be built on the site. This statue would bestow blessings, peace and happiness on the whole world.

However, even before that, a second prophecy had been made in the 8th Century regarding the construction of the statue itself, by none other than Padmasambhava. After 800 years, the prophecy (which was mentioned in a terma, or treasure) was uncovered by the terton (treasure finder) Pema Lingpa.

How to get there

This large and very prominent Bhutanese landmark is very accessible by either taxi or mini bus.

Address: Kuensel Phodrang, Thimphu, Bhutan

Accommodation

1. Kisa Hotel

Address: Chang Lam, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +91 83888 77888

2. Hotel Norbuling

Address: Bldg # 5, Changlam Street, Thimphu 11001, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 335 754

3. Wangchuk Hotel, Thimphu

Address: Changlam 19, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 323 532

14. Kurjey Lhakhang

The story of this temple began with Sindhu Raja and Guru Rinpoche, also known as Padmasambhava. One day, Guru Rinpoche was invited to Bhutan by Sindhu Raja to subdue some malicious spirits that were disturbing the area. Guru Rinpoche then visited Bumthang and took up residence in a cave where he entered into meditation. After subduing the spirits, imprints of Guru Rinpoches body remained in the rock.

This sacred event gave rise to the name of the site; Kurjey means imprint of the body. Due to Guru Rinpoches blessings and activities there, the temple ground and site is now considered to be extremely sacred and highly revered by many.

Aside from being a pilgrimage site, Kurjey Lhakhang is also the final resting place for the remains of the first three kings of Bhutan. There are three main temples at Kurjey Lhakhang, the first one having been built in 1652, the second in 1900 while the third one was built in 1990s. In front of the temples, there are three stupas constructed to commemorate the first three kings of Bhutan.

How to get there

In order to get to Bumthang, visitors will need to apply for an entry permit when they are in Thimphu. Your tour guide may then guide you from there and make all of the necessary arrangements. If you find yourself alone without a guide, there are buses that go to Bumthang from Thimphu on a daily basis. Tickets may be purchased from Lungtenzampa bus station.

Address: Bumthang, Bhutan

Contact: +975 77 49 61 47

Accommodation

1. Amankora Bumthang

Address: Jakar, Bhutan

Contact: +975 77 25 02 54

2. Chumey Nature Resort

Address: Geytsa, Bumthang 32002, Bhutan

Contact: +975 17 11 48 37

3. Jakar Village Lodge

Address: Jakar Village, below Jakar Dzong, Bumthang 1051, Bhutan

Contact: +975 77 17 17 77

15. Clock Tower Square

Located in Thimphu, the capital city of Bhutan, the Clock Tower Square with its four clock faces is one of the most prominent landmarks in Bhutan. The clock tower itself is a work of art, having been enriched with Bhutanese carvings and paintings to give it a typical Bhutanese architectural appearance. The Clock Tower Square being in a central location means that it is surrounded by some restaurants, shops and hotels which makes it easier for tourists.

How to get there

This large and very prominent Bhutanese landmark is very accessible by either taxi or mini bus.

Accommodation

1. Kisa Hotel

Address: Chang Lam, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +91 83888 77888

2. Hotel Norbuling

Address: Bldg # 5, Changlam Street, Thimphu 11001, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 335 754

3. Wangchuk Hotel, Thimphu

Address: Changlam 19, Thimphu, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 323 532

16. Tamzhing Monastery

Tamzhing Lhundrup Monastery is located in Bumthang, Bhutan. In a country where the majority of the monasteries uphold the Drukpa Kagyu lineage, Tamzhing is the most influential Nyingma monastery. The temple was built in 1501 by Pema Lingpa a renowned finder (terton) of treasured Dharma teachings (terma), so the monasterys walls are graced with portraits of him.

Until 1960, the monastery (like many others in Bhutan) was privately owned. It had been this way since Pema Lingpa passed away in 1521 at the age of 72, when his successors took over and looked after the monastery after his passing. Unfortunately, as the years went by, Tamzhing Lhundrup Monastery became neglected and fell into disrepair. It was used only during special occasions, when pilgrims would come to make offerings.

Today, efforts are underway to establish a thriving monastic community there. Since the 1960s, when the community consisted of just 10 to 15 monks, the community has since grown to over 95 monks. The monastery continues to rely on private donations and sponsorship for its survival.

How to get there

In order to get to Bumthang, visitors will need to apply for an entry permit when they are in Thimphu. Your tour guide may then guide you from there and make all of the necessary arrangements. If you find yourself alone without a guide, there are buses that go to Bumthang from Thimphu on a daily basis. Tickets may be purchased from Lungtenzampa bus station.

Address: Bumthang, Bhutan

Contact: +975 77 49 61 47

Accommodation

1. Amankora Bumthang

Address: Jakar, Bhutan

Contact: +975 77 25 02 54

2. Chumey Nature Resort

Address: Geytsa, Bumthang 32002, Bhutan

Contact: +975 17 11 48 37

3. Jakar Village Lodge

Address: Jakar Village, below Jakar Dzong, Bumthang 1051, Bhutan

Contact: +975 77 17 17 77

17. Chendebji Chorten

The stupa was built in accordance to the style of the Boudhanath Stupa in Nepal and it was established by Lama Ngesup Tsering Wangchuk, who was said to be the direct descendant of a Tibetan king, Trisong Detsen. The model of the Boudhanath Stupa in Nepal was brought to Bhutan by Lama Ngesup Tsering Wangchuk and up till this day, the model still resides in Gangtey Gompa located in the Wangdu district of Bhutan.

Local folklore tells of the stupa being constructed to subdue a demoness, Ngala dudm, and bring peace to the valley. It is said that she used to roam in the area, taking the lives of innocent people at night and destroying any temples that were built. Hence the Chendebji Stupa was constructed to subdue her and pin her down.

An important site of religious significance, the stupa is also host to an annual tsechu festival, held in various locations all over Bhutan to commemorate the deeds of the saint Padmasambhava. The stupa is located between Trongsa and Punakha, at a scenic point where two rivers meet. Visitors have commented that it is a pleasant rest stop on the journey between the two destinations.

How to get there

The Chendebji Chorten is located 41 kilometres away from the west of Trongsa in Bhutan. It takes about six hours by bus from Thimphu and two hours from Jakar.

Accommodation

1. Yangkhil Resort

Address: Trongsa, Trongsa, Bhutan

2. Tashi Ninjay Guest House

Address: Darshing Pokto, Trongsa, Bhutan

3. Puenzhi Guest House

Address: Trongsa, Bhutan

Contact: +975 3 521 197

18. Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten

Located within the Punakha Valley, the beautiful building was built by the Queen Mother, Ashi Tsering Yangdon Wangchuk. Construction of this four-storey temple took nine years to complete, resulting in a building in the shape of a stupa. The stupa is an hours hike from the base, but visitors are rewarded with incredible views of the Punakha Valley from the temple which sits perched on a ridge.

How to get there

Taxis and buses are available from the capital, Thimphu. A shared taxi costs around Nu150 which is less than USD$3, and it is a 90- to 120-minute ride from the capital to Punakha.

Address: Punakha, Punakha, Bhutan

Contact: +975 17 66 99 80

Accommodation

1. Drubchhu Resort

Address: Missina, P.O Box 777, Punakha 13001, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 376 237

2. Hotel Lobesa

Address: Punakha, Bhutan

Contact: +975 17 61 26 72

3. RKPO Green Resort

Address: Punakha, Bhutan

Contact: +975 2 376 233

19. Kila Nunnery

Kila Nunnery, also known as Chele la Gompa or Kila Gompa nunnery, is located by the cliffs below Chele pass. Built in the 9th century, it is known to be the oldest nunnery in Bhutan. The nunnery includes about seven temples and several retreat huts where the nuns engage in their meditational practices. There are roughly 50-70 nuns who live here in complete isolation from the outside world. They rarely get visitors as the road that leads to the nunnery requires long hours of trekking. Getting to Chele pass from Paro takes about one and a half hours. However, if you are coming from Haa, it will only take you half an hour to get there. The landscape surrounding the nunnery is absolutely mesmerising, so be sure to check the place out when you are travelling in Bhutan.

How to get there

Direct flights to Paro Airport are available from international destinations like Bangkok (Thailand), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Kathmandu (Nepal), and Delhi and Kolkata (India). From there, taxis are available and it is easy to get around Paro. An alternative option would be to hire a taxi from Thimphu for the 45-minute drive to Paro.

Address: Taktsang trail, Bhutan

Accommodation

1. Naksel Boutique Hotel & SPA

Address: Ngoba Village, Lango Geog, Paro 00975, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 272 992

2. Olathang Hotel

Address: P.O. Box No. 1214, Paro 12008, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 271 304

3. Hotel Dorjee-Ling

Address: Main Street, Paro Town, Paro 12001, Bhutan

Contact: +91 84477 47674

20. Iron Chain Bridge, Paro

Another of Bhutans famous and iconic places to visit is the Iron Bridge, located near Tachog Lhakhang Dzong, on the way to Paro Valley. One must cross the bridge in order to get to the Dzong.

There are a total of 108 iron bridges throughout Bhutan and Tibet, which were built by Drupthob Thangtong Gyalpo in the late 1300s. Many of the bridges are still in use today. According to legend, Thangtong Gyalpo gathered villagers to perform traditional operas in order to raise funds to build these bridges over Himalayan rivers so that pilgrims would have access to various holy Buddhist sites.

How to get there

Direct flights to Paro Airport are available from international destinations like Bangkok (Thailand), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Kathmandu (Nepal), and Delhi and Kolkata (India). From there, taxis are available and it is easy to get around Paro. An alternative option would be to hire a taxi from Thimphu for the 45-minute drive to Paro.

Address: Paro Valley, Bhutan

Accommodation

1. Naksel Boutique Hotel & SPA

Address: Ngoba Village, Lango Geog, Paro 00975, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 272 992

2. Olathang Hotel

Address: P.O. Box No. 1214, Paro 12008, Bhutan

Contact: +975 8 271 304

3. Hotel Dorjee-Ling

Address: Main Street, Paro Town, Paro 12001, Bhutan

Contact: +91 84477 47674

Travel Books

Below are some of the travel books you may find helpful if you are planning for a trip to Bhutan.

1. Lonely Planet Bhutan (Travel Guide)

Lonely Planet Bhutan is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Join the pilgrims at colourful Changangkha Lhakhang, hike to the dramatic cliff -hanging Taktshang Goemba, or explore the busy weekend market at Thimphu; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Bhutan and begin your journey now!

2. Insight Pocket Guide Bhutan (Insight Pocket Guides)

The extraordinary Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is one of the worlds most exciting new travel frontiers, a picture-book-beautiful mountain landscape with a rich Buddhist culture. The only country in the world to measure its success by the principals of Gross National Happiness, Bhutan is a truly unique place. Insight Pocket Guide Bhutan is a brand-new, full-colour travel guide that combines lively text with vivid photography to highlight the best that the country has to offer.



Sources:

www.wikipedia.com

www.tripadvisor.com

www.lonelyplanets.com

www.tourism.gov.bt

www.wikitravel.com



For more interesting information:



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Charley and Kenneth Pearson work as long as daylight allows, no matter the scorching Oklahoma sun, pounding rain or freezing cold. Its no easy way to make a living, but the Pearsons never knew anything else.

But as other family farms around them disappeared, the Pearsons defiantly pressed on in the sand rock hills of southern Osage County. Its more than the farm, no matter the price of the ground they stand on.

Its still country, Charley Pearson said. Every time I go to town and I drop over that hill by the church, you still drop back into the country, no matter what there is behind you.

Like hundreds of other farms, the Pearsons roots go back 90 years to the original homestead. Today, they raise calves to be sent to grazing fields near Enid.

Twice a year, calves are sold and loaded on a tractor trailer, itself a surprisingly intricate and logistical process to line up seller, cattle and buyer in April and October. The Pearsons gradually expanded to todays 2,300 acres as farms around them faded away.

Soon, half-million dollar houses started popping up on sold farmland. Subdivisions started selling lots up the road for country living within commuting distance of downtown Tulsa. Change came fast in the past 10 years.

Although the brothers drive late-model trucks and run a modern business from Charleys office, there are relics to the generations before them on every inch of the property.

In the old barn, a massive collection of rusting license plates hangs in the corrugated metal building. Older houses and workshops still stand, including the barn the Pearson family broke apart and hauled to the ranch from Pawhuska to start the farm.

Past the gate, Charley and Kenneth keep their great-grandfathers 1959 Chevrolet Apache farm truck where it was last parked, the three-speed column shifter still in the truck. The weather turned the trucks green paint to a rusting, fading patina color. If Charley and Kenneth have their way, the truck will be there as long as theyre alive.

The brothers hold on to things, not only because they can save money if older equipment still works, but also its untold sentimental value.

Not for the young

The Pearsons  Charley is 57 and Kenneth is 67  have farmed for a long time, and so has the average farmer in Oklahoma. According to the 2012 U.S. Department of Agriculture farm census, the average Oklahoma farmer is 58.3 years old, the same as the national average. Its also up from 57.6 in 2007 and 56 in 2002.

The youngest farmers in America dont have the farm as their primary income source, according to census data. Those farmers with a primary job off the farm are about 52 years old on average. Retirement farmers are the oldest category, with an average age of 69 for those operating a farm to supplant normal retirement.

Several factors drive up the average age. Unlike most jobs, the Pearsons live on one paycheck a year. None of their income is guaranteed. Theres no timecards at the gate. Its hard work, and the Pearsons said younger generations would rather work 40 hours a week for a regular wage.

Not only is the work difficult and wages dependent on countless variables, but its also getting more difficult for young people to start up new farms.

For a young person to come out here and start out, its not impossible because it has been done, Kenneth Pearson said. But theyre so far in debt theyll never get out.  Theyll never see the light of day.

Tom Buchanan sees both sides of the situation. When hes not working as the Oklahoma Farm Bureaus president, hes working cattle and irrigated cotton at his ranch in Altus.

Like most of America, more than 90 percent of Oklahomas farms are considered family farms. Corporate farms are growing, but Buchanan said most of those look and are operated nearly identical to comparable independent family farms.

Of more than 80,000 farms in Oklahoma as of 2012, 91 percent were family-owned single proprietorships. Family-held corporations made up 2 percent in 2012, up from 1.2 percent in 2002. Partnerships make up 4.5 percent, down from 6.8 percent in 2007.

With the changing dynamics of family farms, Buchanan said hes not sure young people will have the option to start their own farm in the near future.

It is an extremely steep hill for a young producer to start out brand new without any kind of family ties, Buchanan said. I really view that as extraordinary for 10-15 years from now for a brand new, never farmed, no family tied in, to break into farming.

Its going to be those people who can come back or grow in to an existing family farm. Thats the real outlook.

The lean times

Other factors make staying in farming more difficult, Buchanan noted. Land prices make startup costs painfully high, and most smaller farms operate on razor thin profit margins. A broken axle on the tractor, brush fire or hail storm can throw a whole years work in the red.

The Pearsons have seen it firsthand. A single lightning strike can kill dozens of cattle. Predators can pick off one at a time. Droughts and wicked weather can wreak havoc.

During the drought in 2011, most, if not all, of the nearby cattle farmers were forced to sell their herds or risk taking a catastrophic loss when drinking ponds dried up. In a pinch, farmers can ship hay in to feed cattle, but at a high cost. Charley Pearson said its almost impossible to haul in enough water for the cattle.

Despite the inherent risk with farming on all scales, Buchanan said farms growing into larger albeit family-run businesses is good for the agricultural industry as a whole.

The American consumer today enjoys the most abundant, most affordable and highest quality food supply America has ever seen, Buchanan said. Thats a result of the American farmer-rancher today. I believe they will continue to provide the most affordable, safest food supply this nations ever seen.

Although the romanticized family farm as the Pearsons have run for nearly a century is slowly giving way to larger, family-run farming corporations, the job wont be easier.

Farmers will continue to face both good and bad years. Cattle, wheat and other commodities will fluctuate as they have for decades.

But the Pearsons wouldnt have it any other way.

Ive had a lot of people ask me, Would you have ever done anything else? Charley Pearson said. And absolutely not. This is what I like to do. I enjoy doing this. I dont think I could ever work in a factory and do the same thing standing in the same spot every day in, day out.

Its a livelihood, and I think youll see that in the younger generation. If they really appreciate it, theyll see it as something totally different that people just dont realize goes on in todays times.
The Learn and Play Daycare center in Black River Falls will be closing their doors Friday, which has forced several families in Jackson County to find new childcare options. The daycare provided a two week notice to parents on July 17.

The closing is expected to displace 44 children under the age of five.

Rose Caulum, a parent from Melrose that sends her children to daycare at the center, said that many daycare centers in the area currently have a six month waiting period before they accept more children.

I am blessed that I have a friend in town here that is able to take vacation from her job and we will have to pay her to watch our kids so we can get into a childcare facility in Galesville, Caulum said, further explaining that her family is lucky because they were already in the process of moving centers because of changes in employment.

While her kids went to the Learn and Play Daycare, Caulum said she was happy with the service they provided, When it is running, the teachers have been very wonderful to work with. They were great with my daughters. Cindy, she runs the daycare. She cares a lot about the children. It has been a wonderful experience.

Tammy Overlien, the president of the board for the daycare, has been involved with the daycare in some way for more than 21 years, We are very sad that we have to do this. We are still providing quality care for the children that are there and we have tried to be a quality provider over the years. Costs have just become too much. There are guidelines that we have to abide by and everything has just become too much for what we are able to bring in with the children that we have.

Overlien said the main reason they are closing the doors is because they have a staffing shortage, Our wages are low and they can go other places in Jackson County to get better wages and benefits.

Cindy McCormick, the administrator for the daycare, also said, We have struggled to find qualified staff by state standards and have been working to find these employees.

Caulum adds that there are a lot of certifications employees of daycares have to go through, In general, the problem is that there is a shortage of certified employees who are willing to work in childcare centers because they frankly are not able to pay the amount of money that attracts people for long-term employment. A lot of that has to do with state-mandated requirements. There are a lot of restrictions that are put on centers that are not directly benefiting children, but are increasing the costs.

Many foster parents in Jackson County also use the Learn and Play Daycare, which has caused a lot of issues for Child Protective Services.

Learn and Play is one of the main daycares in Jackson County and we have children in foster care who need daycare services while the foster parents works. It is difficult because we use Wisconsin Shares, which is the childcare assistance administered by the state through the Western Region for Economic Assistance Consortium. In order to receive Wisconsin Shares financial assistance, it has to be a verified licensed provider. So as one of main licensed centers in Jackson County, we are kind of scrambling to find a placement for daycare for our kids in out-of-home care, said Dan Williams, Jackson County DHHS children and families division manager.

Williams also said that daycare is a big stressor for families and can be a significant barrier to employment.

Losing Learn-n-Play is going to be a significant loss. The childrens families receiving Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy are not easily going to find replacement regulated care. Maybe there will be an influx in interest in certification and licensing with the loss. It is not an easy process, but starting a business is never an easy process, Kathy Rumsey of Jackson County DHHS-Public Health said.

Learn and Play Daycare did face financial hardships in December 2015 when parents received a phone call from the owner that the daycare would be closing in two weeks, but parents were told before the two weeks were up that the daycare would instead remain open.

Overlien admits that the Learn and Play Daycare is very near and dear to her heart and that she is very sad that it is closing, We appreciate all of the parents and children we have had over the years.

The public health office said that if anyone is interested in becoming a certified child care provider to help with the daycare shortage in the county or who may be interested in more information can contact Rumsey at 715-284-4301 ext. 375.
Individual health insurance premiums are likely to take another sharp jump in 2019, the states top regulators said Friday, and might have done so even if a reform bill had not failed in the U.S. Senate Thursday night.

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak said he was disappointed the so-called skinny Affordable Care Act repeal-and-replace bill failed because he believed passage would have brought Congress closer to an ultimate solution to problems caused by the ACA.

We missed a chance (Thursday) night to say, We have a game plan. Heres what were going to do, said Deputy Commissioner Mike Rhoads.

Doak and Rhoads agreed, though, that passage would have brought no guarantee of more stable markets. At the end, insurance and medical associations came out against the bill, saying they were afraid it would create new uncertainties.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma, the only insurer offering policies on the government exchange and one of two offering them outside the exchange, said it has already filed its proposed products and premiums for 2018 and remains committed to them.

Thursday nights vote has no immediate effect on our priority of serving our members across the state, Melissa Clark, BCBSOK senior manager for public affairs, said in an email.

We have been fully committed to this market from the outset, Clark said. This decision was and is central to our purpose to provide long-term stability and offer valuable products that give our members access to quality, cost-effective care.

Premiums for individual polices rose 76 percent in the most recent policy year, and Rhoads said he expects they will rise another 30 percent to 40 percent in the next few years.

Individuals qualifying for federal premium subsidies through the health insurance exchange are shielded to a large extent from those increases, but those who do not qualify are paying $15,000 a year and more.

The increases are driven by steep losses in Oklahomas individual insurance market. The number of exchange insurers has fallen from five to one since the ACAs implementation, and that one  Blue Cross Blue Shield  has been losing money.

Until that changes, premium increases are likely to continue, Rhoads said.

Uncertainty, meanwhile, creates instability in the insurance markets, Rhoads and Doak said. Insurers cannot act with confidence if they dont know what the law is going to be.

The uncertainty and instability rises from the conflict at the federal level, Rhoads said. Thats where the instability comes in.

Many Republicans, including Doak, want states to have more flexibility in fashioning health insurance policy. For instance, he favors allowing the high-deductible, bare-bones policies outlawed by the ACA.

Not everyone wants to drive a Cadillac, he said.

Rhoads agreed, saying those policies were popular before and offer a more affordable alternative for individuals who now may be paying the federal penalty rather than buying health insurance.

In theory, that brings more people into the risk pool and brings down premiums for those who have  and in many cases need  more extensive coverage.

The flip side of the argument comes from those who say such policies will draw healthy individuals now paying for more expensive plans into cheaper ones, and reduce overall revenue.

They also theorize that it will lead to more uncompensated care because some people with high-deductible polices will simply walk away from bills not covered by insurance.

Doak points out that even with the ACA, Oklahoma medical providers are absorbing around $400 million a year in uncompensated care.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Thursday nights failure seemed a particularly bitter pill for Sen. James Lankford.

Lankford took to Facebook and Twitter and was heard on National Public Radio voicing his frustration with the Senate setback and how it was being discussed.

Some media pundits have focused on who won and who lost, Lankford wrote on Facebook. This reaction is frustrating to me. This debate is not about what politician won and who lost or what political party won and which party lost, this healthcare conversation is about peoples lives.

We must realize that many Americans have been helped by Obamacare, but also admit that many Americans have been hurt by the law. This issue is complicated and is not as easy as some make it seem.
A 20-year-old man was killed Friday night when he was thrown from his pickup during a rollover crash in Ottawa County.

About 7:15 p.m., Tanner Williams of Miami, Oklahoma, was driving a 1994 Nissan Frontier on Cayuga Road, just over a mile south of U.S. 60 near Wyandotte, when he went off the road and then overcorrected, causing the truck to roll, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol report.

The vehicle rolled once and landed on its roof, ejecting Williams, who was found 15 feet from the trucks resting place. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 17-year-old of passenger, who is from Wyandotte, was taken to a Joplin, Missouri, hospital with head, arm, and leg injuries, then treated and released, according to the report.

Troopers are still investigating Williams condition at the time of the crash and the cause of the collision.

Neither the driver nor passenger was wearing a seatbelt, the report states.
The mother of an infant who died in a shed received a 20-year prison sentence Friday, and her boyfriend was ordered to spend life behind bars, in a case marked by what a judge called the couples horrendous treatment of the 5-month-old boy.

Anna Marie Hyden, 24, was charged with child neglect along with Kevin Lee Crawford, 53, on claims they allowed Arrow Hyden to live in an uninhabitable environment in the 300 block of South Zunis Avenue. Authorities said they had exposed him to methamphetamine, which along with their failure to seek medical care contributed to the baby dying Jan. 16, 2016.

District Judge William LaFortune told the pair they are equally responsible for what happened despite the Oklahoma State Medical Examiners Office being unable to determine the manner of death.

LaFortune said Hyden will spend 20 years in prison and have five years of probation, while Crawford will serve a life sentence plus 15 years for related drug charges. Hyden and Crawford entered blind guilty pleas in April and May, respectively.

The matter prompted a review by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services into its handling of five referrals for neglect involving Arrow it received while he was alive, which resulted in some form of discipline for six employees, two of whom resigned rather than be discharged. One of the employees partially won an appeal finalized earlier this year that modified her discipline from discharge to a demotion, according to an order from the Oklahoma Merit Protection Commission.

Interim Chief Public Defender Stuart Southerland argued for Hyden to be admitted into Family & Childrens Services Women In Recovery program rather than be sent to prison. He presented multiple witnesses who told the court that Hyden had diagnoses of bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse disorder due to a lifetime of mistreatment and trauma.

LaFortune said he opted not to send Hyden to Women in Recovery because the matter transcends mere addiction due to the baby being harmed. He ordered that Hyden complete the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Helping Women Recover program as a condition of her release from prison.

District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler provided a statement after the hearing citing the importance of making sure victims stories are heard in the broader conversations about criminal justice reform and its effectiveness for people with addiction.

Arrow was a victim because of drug addiction, Kunzweiler said. He was a silent voice, and only because of the Tulsa Police Department and only because of the prosecutors in my office do those victims get to be heard.

LaFortune said Hyden completely failed to comply with the rules of her probation in a previous felony case and noted that she did not take advantage of the array of options provided to her that would have kept her out of prison.

Crawford, who has had contacts with law enforcement since 1983, was criticized by the judge for bringing Hyden into his life as his puppet in a horrendous ride of drug abuse.

Crawfords attorney, M.J. Denman, said his client is disappointed in the outcome and will withdraw his guilty plea.

The Tulsa World previously reported that DHS Director Ed Lake said staff members involved in numerous referrals regarding Arrow had been disciplined due to indications they did not effectively intervene to prevent the tragic outcome of his case.

Records obtained by the World show that DHS workers found some referrals for neglect related to Arrow as unsubstantiated despite home visits revealing Hyden admitting to drug use and failing with Crawford to stick to a safety plan for the child.

DHS at the time said it would provide additional training to its Tulsa employees about child safety decisions and decided to review two years of child death cases to find areas possibly needing improvement. An April 2016 report from the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth stated that a DHS inquiry, which started before Arrow died, substantiated allegations of threat of harm to the infant and inadequate shelter.

Ladana Miller, a retired DHS worker, testified earlier this month about a report she wrote in December 2015 indicating Hyden told her she was using drugs and would sometimes leave Arrow in the care of others. Miller helped Hyden implement a safety plan at that time, but police said Hyden violated it a few days later and disappeared with the infant.

Under cross-examination, Miller said removing a child from a parent is the last resort for DHS. She said the level of emergency in Hydens matter was not severe enough at the time to take the baby into protective custody.

Miller said she left DHS voluntarily before it announced its findings from an internal investigation, of which she was a part, about DHS role in the situation.

Assistant District Attorney Sarah McAmis, who prosecuted the case, told reporters after the sentencing that the lengthy proceedings were completely worth it because Arrow received justice from police and the court system.

If an adult chooses to continue in that lifestyle despite all of the help that had been given to both of them, and if an adult chooses to live in deplorable conditions, thats fine, she said. Thats a choice that an adult can make for his or her self. But you cannot bring a baby into that environment. Whether you are an addict or not, you have a responsibility to make sure that baby is taken care of.
Sapulpa police arrested two people  a 29-year-old woman and her 19-year-old boyfriend  Wednesday on allegations they sexually abused a 4-year-old girl.

Kristina Jean Koehn, 29, of Hominy, admitted to police that she took at least two photographs of a nude girl who was known to her and sent them to her boyfriend, Chance Tyler Hood, 19, of Sapulpa, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Hood allegedly admitted to requesting the photographs.

Koehn and Hood admitted to taking the girl to a Sapulpa park where Hood had the girl touch and lick his penis, according to the affidavit.

The girl disclosed the molestation to police when interviewed by an investigator, according to the affidavit.

Koehn was booked into Creek County Jail on child abuse and child pornography complaints. Hood was jailed on complaints of first-degree rape, two counts of possession of child pornography and soliciting sexual conduct with a minor.


Hakkasan Las Vegas Nightclub at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino will welcome platinum-recording artist Travis Scott as he hits the renowned nightspot for a special live performance Saturday, Aug. 5 (Pictured: Scott performs at Drais Nightclub  Photo credit: Mike Kirschbaum / Tony Tran Photography).

Shortly after he takes the Las Vegas stage on The DAMN. Tour at T-Mobile Arena, the Houston native will make his way to the nightlife mecca and put on an encore show for his fans.

On the heels of his own nationwide headlining Birds Eye View tour and both of his major label released albums, Rodeo and Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight becoming RIAA certified platinum, the rapper continues to climb the charts and make headlines worldwide, making him one of the industrys most talked about artists.

Scott recently dropped three new songs: Butterfly Effect, A Man, and Green & Purple featuring Playboi Carti  all of which have surpassed more than 13 million streams each. He will join Kendrick Lamar for The DAMN. Tour starting July 12 for a 20-city run.

Adding to the excitement, Scott will return to the nighttime hot spot for an additional performance Saturday, Aug. 26.


The D Las Vegas held their highly-anticipated Miss D Legs 2017 contest. There was no better location for the 3rd annual competition than at the downtown hot spot known for its iconic legs, which extend 34 stories high on their hotel and are visible from all around the Vegas valley (Pictured: Miss D Legs 2017 Winners at The D Casino Hotel Las Vegas  Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel).

Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel

Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel

Heads were turning all night long! Starting at 7 p.m. thirty sexy models strutted into the casino for a photo shoot on the property. Following the Ds motto, long on fun, short on ordinary, the bars were filled with beauty as the striking contestants lined up for professional photos with flair bartenders, the casino owner, Derek Stevens, and the host of the contest, none other than Miss Nevada USA 2017, Lauren York! Talk about a picture-perfect chain of events.

Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel

Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel

After the many photos were snapped, the crowd was leg-ging for more. The models headed over to the 3rd Street Stage, and the crowd followed behind (everybody wanted a front row view) minutes before the contest began. Lauren York and the D Vice President, Mike Palm, were the incredibly entertaining emcees for the night.

Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel

After tallying the judges votes, it was determined that the winner of the prestigious Miss D Legs title was Sam Adams, #29. She was awarded her sparkly sash in front of the Fremont frenzy! In addition, Sam won a stellar cash prize. Three other beauties took 2nd, 3rd and 4th spot in cash prizes.

Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel

Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel

Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel

Photo credit: the D Casino Hotel

The stunning Miss D Legs 2017 posed for endless photos, and the camera flash was just as bright as her beautiful smile. It was just another night filled with sexy fun which we have come to expect from the D Casino Hotel in downtown Vegas!
Flames broke out in a refrigeration repair shop at 335 Le Van Luong Street and worked their way across the entire roof that covers two other businesses.

Fire investigators said it is too early to determine the cause of the blaze. No serious injuries were reported.

The fire, started just before noon, already was burning in the roof over the refrigeration shop when firefighters arrived. Storeowners and passers-by tried to use fire extinguishers to quash the flames without success.

The facade of the three businesses seemed to be the only parts of the structure that still was intact after the blaze was brought under control.
Twenty vendors will be allowed to conduct business on 40 metres of Nguyen Van Chiem Street in HCM Citys District 1 from August 28.- VNS Photo Anh Vu

According to a plan which was approved by the citys administration in March, the two food streets will be located on the sidewalks of Nguyen Van Chiem Street and Bach Tung Diep Park.

The areas have spacious pavements with room for vendors businesses and vehicle parking.

oan Ngoc Hai, vice chairman of the districts Peoples Committee, said on Wednesday there were many different opinions on how the plan should be implemented, which led to the delay of the launching of the two food streets.

Our district wants to open the food streets as soon as possible so that poor families will have an official place to conduct their businesses on the sidewalk, he said.

This will not only help them secure their income but also help us better monitor food safety and hygiene practices, he added.

In the pilot period of the programme, which will be about six months, District 1 will set up 20 booths on Nguyen Van Chiem Street and 15 booths along Bach Tung Diep Park.

There will be 35 households allowed to sell products, mainly prepped food, in the designated areas. They will not have to pay taxes or rent during the pilot programme.

All of the businesses will be allowed to operate from 6-9am and from 11am to 1pm every day.

District authorities will organise classes to train street vendors on food safety and hygiene and garbage sorting at the source.

Stools, tables and umbrellas for street restaurants will also be provided to avoid obstructing pedestrians and make best use of the pavements as the street vendors can share them with one another.

District 1 is also looking at other streets with pavement width of at least three metres to launch more space for poor people to make a living.
Screengrab of the app "VR leoi yau" or "VR travel friend".

HONG KONG: Virtual reality games usually promise shoot 'em up adventures but in Hong Kong Friday (Jul 28) lovelorn tech fans donned headsets to go on imaginary dates. The city's annual Ani-Com and Games fair sees thousands queue to try out the latest consoles or buy up comic book collectibles, often dressed up as their favourite characters.

But for those who had spent too long alone in their rooms, a new VR smartphone app offered some romantic solace.

Users can choose between four female models and spend a vacation with them in either Japan or Thailand, joining them on trips to cafes, hot springs and karaoke.

They slot their phones into a plastic headset and are then immersed on a date, during which they can choose options for activities.

Promoters of the Hong Kong-made app, which is known by its Cantonese name "VR leoi yau" or "VR travel friend", said it was to help what they called "Otakus" to practise their dating skills.

Screengrab of the app "VR leoi yau" or "VR travel friend".

The name is a Japanese term for obsessive manga or anime fans.

"We want to allow more people to try out what it's like to date a girl because there are a lot of Otakus who don't know how to communicate with girls," Margaret Ming, the app's communication officer, told AFP.

"This game can teach them how to get to know girls," Ming said, adding that there is some flirting involved in the story arcs with the models.

Student Wong Wing-yeung, 14, said he enjoyed trying out the app at the fair Friday as it could be hard to interact with the opposite sex in real life.

"Maybe it can help those who are shy with girls," he said.

The app is free, while the plastic headset and magazine introducing the women to date cost HK$48 (SGD$8).

The show at the city's harbourside convention centre is one of the biggest of its kind in Asia and was packed with teenagers, many of them in coloured wigs and costumes mimicking their favourite Japanese comic book heroes.

Die-hard comic fans posed with life-size ultra-realistic models of Wonder Woman, Thor and the Hulk at the stall for Hot Toys, a local firm famous for its figurines.

Others posed for selfies with people dressed as Star Wars stormtroopers.
Manufacturing activities in Samsung Display in the northern province of Bac Ninh

From electronics to logistics

On July 14, 2017, Samsung SDS Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Samsung Group, established a joint venture with MP Logistics with the aim of expanding its logistics business in Vietnam. The cooperation with MP Logistics is expected to help Samsungs information and technology (IT) and logistics services access to the Vietnamese cargo transportation industry.

The logistics market in Vietnam has an annual growth rate of about 15-20 per cent due to the promotion of free trade agreements with South Korea, China, Japan, and the European Union (EU), a leader of Samsung SDS said.

Samsung SDS expected that this cooperation would expand its business in the Vietnamese IT-based logistics market, as well as other transportation services for consumer goods and food.

This new joint venture will give us the motivation to expand our business in the Vietnamese logistics market, Kim Hyung-tae, vice chairman of Samsung SDS's Smart Logistics Business Unit, said.

The cooperation with MP Logistics is considered Samsungs next step in the Vietnamese logistics market, because previously in 2016, Samsung SDS had established another joint venture with Aviation Logistics Corporation (ALS), one of the leading aviation logistics service providers in Vietnam. With this new joint venture, Samsung now has the right to manage the cargo terminals in Noi Bai International Airport.

Thanks to the right to manage activities in this big airport, Samsung can ensure its delivery deadlines, gradually complete its supply chain, and cut down on expenses. Noi Bai is an important gateway to deliver Samsung exports from Samsungs two Vietnamese complexes in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen.

Regarding MP Logistics, it is now one of the biggest providers of logistics services in air and ocean freight, warehousing, distribution, project cargo, and inland transportation in Vietnam. Its founder cum CEO, Dang Thi Minh Phuong, was highly complimented by Bloomberg as the Queen of Logistics in Vietnam. Thus, teaming up with MP Logistics may be the best way for Samsung to join the domestic logistics market.

Competition heating up

In any economy, logistics always plays an important role. In Vietnam, the economic development has led to the expansion of the logistics market. According to statistics from Vietnam Logistics Association (VLA), there are over 1,300 logistics enterprises operating in the country, including foreign-invested enterprises. Logistics services in Vietnam currently have a value of $20-22 billion per year, accounting for about 20.9 per cent of the countrys GDP.

As reported by newswire Enternews, due to the expansion of the logistics market, many foreign-invested enterprises have expanded their businesses in Vietnam, such as DHL Global, Maersk Logistics (Denmark), APL Logistics (Japan), Nippon Express (Japan), and Kerry Logistics (Hong Kong). Foreign-invested enterprises may dominate the segment of international deliveries, but Vietnamese enterprises still hold most of the domestic deliveries market share.

Currently, most domestic logistics services, including trucking transportation, cargo terminals, and seaports, are provided mainly by domestic enterprises, Nguyen Tuong, deputy chairman of VLA said.

However, the situation may change and many overseas logistics enterprises have entered Vietnam to gain more market share in this sector. Besides Samsung, previously, DHL Global and Kerry Logistics also established logistics joint ventures in Vietnam to develop their businesses. In addition, some Japanese enterprises, such as Yusen Logistics and Logitem, have also been present for a long time.

In May 2017, Korea Economic Daily of South Korea reported that TaeKwang Industrial Co., Ltd., a South Korean enterprise in the textile and petrochemical industries, had expressed interest in holding a stake in Gemadept Corporation, one of the leading Vietnamese companies in its core business sectors, including port operation and logistics.

If domestic logistics enterprises keep their old strategies without providing any new services, they may lose significant market share to foreign investors when the logistics industry in Vietnam sees a boom in the coming period.
Products of DHG

DHG now has Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings, one of the five biggest pharma firms in Japan, as a big foreign shareholder with 24.5 per cent, followed by FTIF Templeton Frontier Markets Fund. SCIC is the biggest stakeholder with 43.3 per cent.

As Vietnams biggest publicly traded drug maker, DHG pulled in consolidated net revenue of over VND1.8 trillion ($81.8 million) in the first half of 2017, up 7 per cent on year.

According to Viet Capital Securities Joint Stock Company (VCSC), DHG's in-house sales in the first half of 2017 grew a mere 2 per cent year-on-year. Sales did not recover as well as were expected following a weak first quarter 2017, which was partly disrupted by a change in DHGs delivery model.

Major product lines such as painkiller (Hapacol) and antibiotics (Klamentin) posted low single-digit growth in the first half of 2017 compared to the first half of 2016. Best performers were vitamin supplements, with some products growing double-digits, but this category only contributed less than 10 per cent to total sales.

DHGs lackluster sales in the first-half of 2017 could be attributed to stiffening competition in the over-the-counter (OTC) channel amid a lack of product differentiation, customers, retailers, are still adapting to DHGs new delivery model that requires larger but less frequent orders and some production lines were put on pause in the half of 2017 as required by the upgrade of the effervescent line to Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S) standards.

"Though the effective tax rate should rise going forward, it has trailed our expectation. Apart from a production ramp-up at the new tax-free factories, a deferred tax of VND11 billion ($0.5 million) created a net tax benefit of VND8 billion ($0.4 million) in the first half of 2017. We expect effective tax rate to rebound in the second half of 2017 and 2018 as an upgrade of the effervescent line (Hapacol) to PIC/S requires a relocation of the vitamin supplement line back to its old factory, which has no tax break," said Dao Nguyen, VCSC senior analyst.
British baby Charlie Gard suffered from a rare genetic disorder. (Photo: AFP/Chris J Ratcliffe)

His parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, had fought a lengthy legal battle to allow him to be taken to the United States for treatment for a rare genetic condition.

But despite the international attention brought by his case, he died exactly one week short of his first birthday. "Our beautiful little boy has gone. We are so proud of you, Charlie," his mother Yates said in a statement.

A court had ordered that the 11-month-old should be moved from hospital to a hospice, where his life support was withdrawn.

Supporters around the world donated 1.35 million (US$1.75 million, 1.5 million) via an online fundraising site to support his parents and their efforts to keep their son alive, while 350,000 signed a petition demanding that he be allowed to receive experimental treatment in the US.

Following news of the boy's death, Pope Francis, who supported the campaign, tweeted: "I entrust little Charlie to the Father and pray for his parents and all those who loved him."

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "deeply saddened" by the death while US Vice President Mike Pence wrote he was: "Saddened to hear of the passing of Charlie Gard."

MITOCHONDRIAL DISEASE

Gard was born on Aug 4 last year with a rare form of mitochondrial disease that causes progressive muscle weakness, including in key organs such as the heart. He was admitted to hospital at eight weeks old and his condition progressively deteriorated.

Gard's parents fought a five-month legal battle for him to be taken to the United States for experimental treatment. They lost a series of appeals in British courts and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Their campaign led to offers of help from the United States and the Vatican, leading the hospital to ask the courts for a final assessment of any new evidence.

On Jul 2, Pope Francis called for the couple to be allowed to "care for their child until the end", saying he had followed the case with "affection and sadness".

The following day, US President Donald Trump said in a tweet: "If we can help little Charlie Gard, as per our friends in the UK and the pope, we would be delighted to do so."

But the boy's parents gave up their battle last week, saying "time has run out", after they were shown scans indicating that his condition had deteriorated too far. "We are so sorry that we could not save you," they said in an emotional statement at the High Court in London.

'AGONY'

Judge Nicholas Francis summed up the emotion involved in the case.

"It is impossible for any of us to comprehend or even begin to imagine the agony to which Charlie's parents have been subjected in recent weeks and months as they have had to come to terms with the decision that they have now made," he said in a judgement.

The parents then asked for Gard to be taken to their home for his final days but were overruled by the hospital which said the ventilator keeping him alive was too bulky to fit through their front door.

They finally agreed for him to be placed in a hospice.

Photographs of the baby dominated the front-pages of Britain's Saturday newspapers, which paid tribute to a "beautiful little boy".

The Daily Mail ran with the headline "Rest in Peace Carlie", with the centre-right publication saying the 11-month-old baby had "captured hearts around the world".

It said the case has "raised so many questions about our age".

The case triggered debate about whether parents or the state should have a final say on a child's wellbeing and whether a child's fate should be settled in a courtroom.

It provoked strong reactions, with an army of supporters shouting "shame on GOSH" following this week's court hearing.

The hospital issued a statement on Friday, saying: "Everyone at Great Ormond Street Hospital sends their heartfelt condolences to Charlie's parents and loved ones at this very sad time.
When President Donald Trump campaigned this spring at the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson, one part of his predecessors approach got a special endorsement.

It was during the Revolution that Jackson first confronted and defied an arrogant elite. Does that sound familiar? Trump asked to laughs from his audience.

When Trump ally and National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre teed off six weeks later on Americas greatest domestic threats, he cited not homegrown terrorists but what he termed the three most dangerous voices in America: academic elites, political elites, and media elites.

The rhetoric against elites came from two men who would seem to be card-carrying members of the club: LaPierre made more than $5 million in 2015, the most recent year for which his compensation was publicly released. Trump lived before his inauguration in a gold-plated home in the sky above New Yorks Fifth Avenue, a billionaires luxurious domain.

Yet for Trump and his allies, a war on elites has been central to the campaign which put him in the presidency and has maintained the loyalty of his core voters. Trump has taken particular aim at entities that could counter his power, which has helped stoke the ardor of his political backers.

Among his targets so far: the governments intelligence agencies, the media, foreign allies, the Department of Justice, establishment politicians, scientists and the Congressional Budget Office. The last has played a large role in raising questions about Republican proposals to repeal and replace Obamacare, leading to a furious White House assault on its competence.

Trump has refused to accept the judgment of intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. He has alleged, without proof and contrary to both Democratic and Republican officials in key states, that millions of illegal voters cast ballots last year. He has blamed vaccines for autism, despite the scientific debunking of that notion.

Excoriating elites is classic populist language, said Yale historian Beverly Gage. Trump has taken it to a whole new level by not only attacking clueless elites but the entire idea of expertise.

To voters listening for them, Trumps anti-elitism signals have blared. As telling as his political and policy postures is his language  who else but Trump would angrily call his predecessors signature program a big fat ugly lie  and a perpetual sense of victimization.

Hes a billionaire, and therefore a member of a certain type of elites, Gage said. But hes also the guy from Queens rebelling against the know-it-all smarty pantses from Manhattan.

Trump has used both specific insults and the specter of powerful and mysterious external forces  he often describes them as an undefined they  arrayed against common Americans, with him as chief defender.

We have accomplished so much, and we are being given credit for so little, he said Friday as he announced his new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci. The good news is the people get it, even if the media doesnt.

Such us-against-them positioning has been common during populist eras in American politics for generations. That the man fueling it arose from elite social status is not uncommon either.

The Colonial leaders who bucked British control were the elite of their day, wealthier and more educated than those they led into the Revolution. But they were able to persuade followers that they shared sentiments more powerful than social standing.

Now, as then, who and what represents the distasteful elite is almost entirely in the eye of the beholder.

It is a world view, it really isnt dependent on education status or income, said Jeffrey L. Bell, author of the 1992 book Populism and Elitism, who describes himself as a populist despite his education at an elite university, Columbia. What has mattered, he said, is an objection to power being centralized in government or among distant leaders.

In early American history, populist sentiments led farmers to rebel against more urban coastal elites. The only coast with political power at the time was in the East; the West Coast has since become another symbol of elitism, particularly when the gaze is fixed on California and Hollywood.

Helpfully for Trump, the states he needed to turn his way in November already possessed strong veins of populism, making their voters more receptive than those in other states to Trumps message. Among the key states were Iowa and Wisconsin.

In Iowa, Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said Trumps nearly 10-point victory relied in no small part on shared distaste for the elites the president spent his campaign scorning.

Populism really probably is a better explanation for the election in Iowa than party or religious influence, Kaufmann said. We really fit what he was standing for  pushing back against the establishment, establishment Democrats and establishment Republicans, and trying to find the working-class voter.

Kaufmann set off fireworks recently when he used a Trump appearance in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to rail against a fellow Republican, former college president and current Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, whom he called an arrogant academic.

The irony? Kaufmann has a doctorate in history and is a college professor.

Yeah, Im an academic, he said, somewhat sheepishly. I dont know of another kind of arrogance worse than academic arrogance. The arrogance is coming from reading books, sitting at a desk and learning from reading, versus people out there building the roads.

A June Pew Research Center survey suggested that members of his party increasingly share a disdain for academics.

Less than two years ago, 37 percent of Republicans said colleges and universities had a negative effect on the country; by June, 58 percent felt they exerted a negative force. Democrats views were essentially unchanged over that time.

The distinction Kaufmann drew between people employed in different types of work was precisely the one honed by Trumps day-to-day message, replete with mentions of the travails of coal miners and manufacturing-line workers whose jobs the president has vowed to resurrect.

Trump is hardly the first president in modern times to seek out those voters. Ronald Reagan, then part of Hollywoods upper crust, made a similar pitch.

His eventual vice president, George H.W. Bush, castigated the liberal elite during his 1988 run against then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, whose foreign policy views, Bush said, were born in Harvard Yards boutique. Bush, a Yale graduate, broadcast his love of pork rinds in one of many efforts to seem more of the people than his wealthy upbringing suggested.

Four years later, Bush was outmaneuvered on that front by Democrat Bill Clinton, whose campaign delivered a sharp evocation of Americans who work hard and play by the rules but fail to get ahead.

Two strains of change have tended to fuel anger at elites. One is economic, the second is cultural.

Cultural shifts in the 1960s, particularly against the Vietnam War and for civil and womens rights, caused a backlash that helped propel Richard Nixon to the White House. Reagans victory over President Carter in 1980 and Clintons over Bush in 1992 were strengthened by the economic tumult of those times.

In 2016, both economic and cultural changes were at play. Economic resentments simmered against elites whom many voters held responsible for the 2008 financial crash, resenting that few on Wall Street were punished for malfeasance while everyday Americans lost their jobs and homes.

Cultural change was also in the air, given the campaign by the first female major party nominee and fights over issues such as transgender bathroom use.

When the views and experiences of elites and non-elites separate, you get tension. Thats when populist movements start to take shape, Bell said.

Katherine Cramer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, has studied resentments among rural voters in the state for a decade. Todays sentiments derive from the same views that propelled earlier populist movements, she said: those who consider themselves not to be elite also feel they are being overlooked.

Why do they get all the stuff? Cramer said her subjects wondered. In reality, those rural voters get at least as much government money as urban dwellers, but they felt otherwise.

Theres this sentiment that the people in charge, whether theyre railroad barons or the government, are not paying attention to ordinary people, she said.

Distaste for elites may wane and surge in the future, she said, but it seems unlikely to disappear, given its staying power over the generations.

As much as I hate to admit it on a personal level, its in our DNA, she said.
The arrival of the three astronauts will boost the ISS back up to its full capacity of six for the time since April, after Russia decided to cut the number of its cosmonauts to two. (Photo: AFP/Vyacheslav Oseledko)

The arrival of the three astronauts will boost the ISS back up to its full capacity of six for the time since April, after Russia decided to cut the number of its cosmonauts to two. (Photo: AFP/Vyacheslav Oseledko)

Footage broadcast by Russia's space agency Roscosmos showed the Soyuz craft carrying NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazansky and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency take off into the dusky sky from Kazhakstan's Baikonur cosmodrome.

Six hours later, after orbiting Earth four times, the Soyuz docked with the space station. The hatches between them were to open later, after pressurisation and leak checks are carried out, according to the US space agency NASA.

The arrival of the three astronauts boosted the ISS back up to its full capacity of six for the first time since April, after Russia decided to cut the number of its cosmonauts to two.

NASA has responded to Russia's reduction by boosting the number of astronauts that will operate in its half of the ISS.

In total, four astronauts - Peggy Whitson, Jack Fischer, Bresnik and Nespoli - will now conduct experiments in the NASA-run segment, with Ryazansky joining Fyodor Yurchikhin to man the Russian section.

'TON OF SCIENCE'

Bresnik said at a pre-launch press conference on Thursday that the extra member would help the crew conduct experiments and carry out repairs. "There is a ton of science to do," he said ahead of the flight.

Bresnik - who is on his second flight - also praised the work of Whitson, Fischer and Yurchikhin, already aboard the orbital lab. "They've really got their groove on. They are working very, very well. They have good technique and tempo," he said.

Ryazansky, 42, who is embarking on his third stint aboard the ISS said at the press conference that he would be taking a small gnome into space in tribute to a song beloved by his family.

Live footage broadcast on Roscosmos's website showed the toy gnome hanging inside the capsule as the trio prepared for takeoff.

At 60 years old and with 174 days logged in space, Nespoli is the most experienced of the three fliers, but the Italian made it clear his love for space travel hasn't faded over time with a tweet showing him pulling his space suit on Friday.

"Beam me up S...oyuz! Hitching another ride soon to the @Space_Station," he wrote.

Nespoli became the oldest astronaut onboard, edging Fyodor Yurchikhin, 59 and Whitson, 57.

But Whitson is the oldest female astronaut in the history of space exploration and has broken other records during her latest mission at the ISS.

In April, Whitson became the NASA astronaut with the most cumulative time spent in space, having already broken the record for spacewalks by a woman the month before.

Whitson was expected to return home in June with Russian Oleg Novitsky and Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, but had her mission extended into September by NASA in a decision connected to the Roscosmos crew reduction.

Roscosmos has said its two-man crew format will help it save costs while the ISS waits on the arrival of a long-delayed Multipurpose Laboratory Module that will generate enough work on board to justify a third cosmonaut on board.

The US$100 billion ISS space laboratory has been orbiting Earth at about 28,000 kilometres (17,000 miles) per hour since 1998.

Space is one of the few areas of international cooperation between Russia and the US that has not been wrecked by tensions over Ukraine and Syria.
Small but thoughtful gift best for hostess who has everything
movie review

The Son Is So Bad, You May Question Whether You Actually Liked The Father The new film from The Father director Florian Zeller, starring Hugh Jackman as a parent unsure of what to do about his childs depression, is a mess.
Lady Gaga. Photo: James Devaney/GC Images

Kesha may be in the midst of a thrilling creative comeback, but her legal battle with her former producer and alleged abuser Dr. Luke isnt exactly slowing down. On Saturday, Dr. Luke officially subpoenaed Lady Gaga  a key player in the music producers ongoing defamation suit  for deposition regarding alleged texts that Kesha sent her accusing him of rape. Dr. Lukes counsel served a subpoena on Lady Gaga because she has relevant information regarding, among other things, false statements about Dr. Luke made to her by Kesha, Dr. Lukes lawyer said in a statement. This motion has become necessary because Dr. Lukes counsel has not been able to obtain, despite repeated request, a deposition date from Lady Gaga.

TMZ provided additional context to the matter on Saturday afternoon, reporting that the texts had already been subpoenaed but the copy Gaga provided was so heavily redacted it was incomprehensible. TMZ further reported that Dr. Lukes lawyers hope to question Gaga in person for around three hours. (Gaga has been a vocal supporter of Kesha throughout this ordeal.) Dr. Luke previously attempted to sue Pebe Sebert, Keshas mom, for defamation as well. The case was dismissed last month.

Update, July 30: Lady Gaga is hitting back at Dr. Lukes claims thats she been uncooperative in the legal process. As Lady Gagas legal team will present to the court, she has provided all of the relevant information in her possession and is at most an ancillary witness in this process, a statement from her representative provided to Variety reads. Dr. Lukes team is attempting to manipulate the truth and draw press attention to their case by exaggerating Lady Gagas role and falsely accusing her of dodging reasonable requests.
WASHINGTON (TNS)  Congressional maps in key battleground states such as Pennsylvania have shifted the political balance of Congress toward Republicans  but that could soon change.

Former President Barack Obama and other leading Democrats are making their first moves this month on a push to change how states draw congressional districts.

Obama has kept a low profile since leaving the White House, but returned to politics as the headliner of a July 13 fundraiser for a Democratic group that plans to fight for more equitable congressional and state legislative districts after the 2020 census.

Democrats and election experts point to the Keystone State as an example of how partisan-drawn districts can skew a states congressional delegation in Washington.

Democratic candidates in Pennsylvania garnered as much as 51 percent of the votes in the past three elections. Yet each time they won only five of 18 seats  or about half the number they might expect if the districts were drawn in a way that did not give either party an advantage.

Voter rights groups have seized on such statistics and arent waiting for 2020.

They have launched legal challenges to strike down congressional maps in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Maryland ahead of the 2018 elections. Some of the lawsuits champion a new, mathematical approach to proving partisan gerrymandering that will be tested at the Supreme Court this fall in a case about Wisconsins state Assembly districts.

The Supreme Court could give energy to the political and legal efforts if it decides  for the first time  to require that states account for political balance when drawing congressional maps and to give federal courts a way to decide if the maps are fair.

The change would make a significant difference in Congress, potentially affecting who has control of the House in the next decade and by what margin. Republicans now hold 240 seats to 194 for Democrats, with one vacant seat previously held by a Republican.

Eight Republican-held seats would be poised to flip to Democrats if legal challenges lead to more balanced congressional maps in five states where the GOP benefited the most from partisan gerrymandering, according to a CQ Roll Call analysis that used the election formula referenced in the Supreme Court case.

While not enough to give Democrats control of the House, a shift in the partisan makeup of delegations from Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Michigan and North Carolina could alter the outcome of close votes on legislation, such as the 217-213 tally on May 4 in the Houses contentious effort to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law.

The Supreme Court will be circumspect in potentially upending the way congressional maps are drawn  partisan gerrymandering is almost an American political tradition. The court hasnt weighed in on the issue in more than a decade and could be sharply divided.

Until the Supreme Court decides, a federal judge has paused a challenge to the congressional map in North Carolina  where Republicans dominate the delegation 10-3 despite 47 percent of voters choosing Democratic candidates in 2016.

A partisan gerrymandering case in Maryland might also pause until the justices rule. The director of The Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia, which is challenging Pennsylvanias map, says the right decision from the high court could spark challenges in other states.

If it turns out well in the Supreme Court, that can only help our case, the law centers Mimi McKenzie says. Were hoping a lot of these advocacy groups, who are advocating for a better way to draw our congressional maps, will sort of use this lawsuit as a springboard or a tool to really push for a better solution going forward.

Until now, Democrats and voter rights groups couldnt do much about partisan gerrymandering because the Supreme Court has never said the states cant do it. While the high court expressed concerns in previous cases, the justices havent given a clear solution for when courts could tell a state had crossed the line and essentially stripped voters of their constitutional right to choose their representative.

Enter a mechanism known as the efficiency gap, a way to express in a single tidy number the systematic advantage a congressional map gives one political party.

First proposed in a 2014 law review article by Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and Eric M. McGhee, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, it became a key part of a historic federal court decision in November.

A three-judge panel, in a 2-1 vote, leaned on the efficiency gap to strike down Wisconsins 2011 state Assembly map as a partisan gerrymander  the first time that happened in more than 30 years.

The test is relatively simple. Partisan gerrymandering works by reducing the effectiveness of one partys vote, either by consolidating as many of their votes into a single district, known as packing, or by breaking party strongholds in a way that dilutes the votes, known as cracking.

The gap measures the degree of packing and cracking by counting wasted votes by a party in a state: all votes cast in a district where the party loses and those cast above the 50 percent level needed in a district that the party wins.

The difference between the total wasted votes for each party divided by the total votes yields the states efficiency gap, which is represented by a percentage.

The result can then be used to calculate the number of additional representatives that could be gained by the imbalance.

Wisconsin is a swing state that has supported presidential candidates from both parties and currently has one Democrat and one Republican representing it in the U.S. Senate.

In 2012, Republicans won 61 percent of the states 99 Assembly seats with just 49 percent of the statewide vote, the three-judge panel noted in its decision. Two years later, Republicans won 64 percent of the Assembly seats with only 52 percent of the statewide vote.

Even boosting Democratic turnout wouldnt have changed the results much. Combined with other evidence, the majority of the three-judge panel found the Republican-controlled Legislature enacted a state Assembly map that dilutes the voting strength of Democratic voters in Wisconsin based on where they live with the intent to entrench the Republican Party in power for the remainder of the decade.

Wisconsin has a litany of arguments against using the efficiency gap. The districts were congruent, compact and fairly equal in population. Democrats in Wisconsin tend to live in cities so the political geography favored Republicans, which explains the efficiency gaps findings, but also illustrates the formulas unreliability.

All of those are sure to come up before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court has agreed to review the case, known as Gill v. Whitford, in the term starting in October, giving the court the chance to weigh in definitively on partisan gerrymanders. A decision would likely come down in the first half of 2018, as congressional races heat up. Its unclear whether a ruling from the justices will spark maps to be redrawn before the November election.

In the last major case about partisan gerrymandering, in 2004, five justices rejected an argument that Pennsylvania Republicans had unconstitutionally drawn congressional districts. But the court left open the possibility that with the right mechanism in place, the justices might be inclined to allow challenges to legislative maps based on partisan concerns.

The makeup of the court has changed with new justices since then: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch.

Like many of the most divisive cases, the sides will seek to win over Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the conservative known to sometimes side with the liberal wing to deliver 5-4 decisions. Kennedy agreed with the decision in the 2004 case, but declined to shut the door on finding a standard that judges could use to rule on partisan gerrymandering cases.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote in a dissent in the case that the use of purely political boundary-drawing factors may be impermissible when it amounts to the unjustified use of political factors to entrench a minority in power.

Not only will the efficiency gap be part of the case, but election experts expect a raft of briefs from outside groups pitching their own formulas to the Supreme Court.

John Ryder, former general counsel to the Republican National Committee and an election law veteran, says a Supreme Court decision that allows judges to strike down maps based on partisan gerrymandering would essentially be allowing proportional representation. And if the country goes that way, he says, a member of Congress would represent a partisan ideology more than a local community.

What it means is whatever political party comes up on the short end of an election is going to immediately file a challenge because, Its not fair, we didnt get the number of seats we think we should have, Ryder says. Then some court somewhere is going to have to determine if they should have had 51 seats, or 53 seats, or 47, and determine how many Democrats and Republicans are properly seated in the legislature.

That would make courts heavily involved in the redistricting business, since a remedy for a perceived imbalance would be a court-ordered gerrymander itself that might ignore other redistricting principles such as keeping districts compact, Ryder says.

I think if they rule in the plaintiffs favor in the Wisconsin case, you will see a landslide of litigation, Ryder says. It makes every redistricting plan ripe for challenge.

Partisan gerrymandering has long been seen as a regrettable but integral part of our representational system utilized by whichever party was in power. With the GOPs expanding hold of the mapping process through its control of state legislatures and governorships  and with the advent of advanced computer simulations  the advantages gained by gerrymandering have increased in recent elections. That benefit has gone largely to Republicans.

The Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia says the partys focus on influencing the redistricting process after the 2010 census is a big reason why Republicans dominate the states congressional delegation.

The process in the Keystone State produced one of the most infamous districts, the 7th District outside Philadelphia. All that keeps the district contiguous at one point is a narrow neck that runs through a medical endoscopy center. The district was represented by a Democrat in 2006 and 2008; Republican Rep. Patrick Meehan has won re-election in the last three contests with around 60 percent of the vote.

In the past three elections, Republicans were more than twice as likely to benefit from skewed congressional districts, according to a CQ Roll Call analysis of states with more than one district, using the efficiency gap methodology.

While any district map may give slight benefit to one party or another, the creators of the efficiency gap have argued for outlawing any maps skewed to the point that they regularly result in two or more extra representatives in Congress.

The analysis shows 10 states had gaps that exceeded the two-member advantage in at least one of the past three elections: Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, California, New Jersey and New York.

Republicans got the advantage in all of those elections except California in 2014. The largest, in Texas in 2016, resulted in more than four extra GOP representatives under the efficiency gap methodology.

If the maps had been redrawn so that no party had an extra two representatives in Congress, at least four to 11 GOP seats would have instead gone to Democrats in each of these recent elections.

That means if the court endorses the standard proposed by the efficiency gap model, successful challenges to these maps could result in a half dozen or more seats going to Democrats in each of the next several elections.

Such results wouldnt be automatic since those states would still get to defend their maps in court. But coupled with other factors  such as President Donald Trumps unpopularity, the appeal of the candidates and other factors  any redistricting change could help Democratic efforts to retake control of the House.

Even if challenges in those states dont quickly tip the balance in the House, a ruling that blocks partisan gerrymandering would also factor heavily into how states draw maps after the 2020 census.

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee says the redistricting process in 2021 will be the most important turning point for the future of the Democratic Party.

In addition to changes in states that exceeded the two-seat measure, 25 states had disparities that were a net benefit to Republicans over the last three elections, the CQ Roll Call analysis found.

The 10 states with the most disparity without crossing that two-seat threshold were South Carolina, Indiana, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arkansas, Kansas, Alabama, Missouri, West Virginia and Iowa.

Less advantageous maps drawn in those 10 states after the 2020 census could result in even fewer GOP representatives, on the order of one to more than a dozen seats.

A bill co-sponsored by dozens of Democrats would require each state to form an independent redistricting commission, which would be forbidden from considering political party affiliation or the voting history of district voters. These commissions would also not be allowed to consider where any House member or candidate lives, so their residence could be drawn into a district.

The issue of redistricting reform is one that is central to our democracy, says Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who helped lead the effort to introduce the bill. Too often, politicians choose their voters instead of voters picking their elected officials.

The chances of such legislation appear dim, with little energy from Republicans on the issue and major fights underway on health care, a tax overhaul and funding for the federal government.

Election experts say the Supreme Court case is the best chance to reduce partisan gerrymandering. Paul Smith, a veteran Supreme Court advocate who joined the Campaign Legal Center for redistricting challenges, will argue the Wisconsin case before the Supreme Court.

The moment is huge, says Edward Foley, a constitutional law professor and director of Ohio State Universitys election law program. I think were at an inflection point in this area of law.

A major reason: Kennedy could soon retire from the court and be replaced with a justice who could shut the door on such challenges. Is the Wisconsin case the last moment to persuade Kennedy to have that legacy of saying partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional?

One question thats going to be on the mind of any justice is, can they set a precedent that withstands the test of time, not just decides that case? Foley says.
Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

If youre a huge Bollywood fan and you didnt happen to live in the Denver suburbs in the mid-2000s, dont worry: You didnt completely blow it. According to Variety, Quantico star Priyanka Chopra is currently developing a single-camera comedy for ABC about the life of Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit. A critically acclaimed Bollywood actress and dancer, Dixit moved to the U.S. following her marriage to cardiologist Shriram Nene; both are set to executive-produce the project. Dixit, her husband, and their two children lived in Denver, Colorado, for roughly a decade before relocating back to Mumbai in 2011. The sitcom will following the life of a former Bollywood star who settles down in the suburbs of America with her bi-cultural family and tries to bring her colorful lifestyle to an otherwise dull town. In addition to Dixits extensive big-screen career, Chopra and the pilots writer, Sri Rao  former head writer on General Hospital: Night Shift  are both Bollywood veterans themselves. If you didnt know how badly you wanted to mix your Hindi cinema references together with your snowboard and legal-weed jokes, you do now.
The judge presiding over a Title IX lawsuit that pits 10 former female students against Baylor University laid more pretrial ground rules Friday and said if the plaintiffs claims that the university is withholding information are true, he would have grave concerns.

Attorneys on both sides of the case met with U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman for about an hour Friday to get his direction on pretrial discovery matters and to iron out some disputes between the parties.

Ten former students, known in the federal lawsuit only as Jane Doe 1-10, allege that Baylor officials inappropriate responses to reports of sexual assault between 2004 and 2016 fostered a dangerous environment.

Jim Dunnam, who represents the plaintiffs with attorney Chad Dunn, told the judge that for the third time since the discovery process began, it appears Baylor is withholding information requested by the defense, including a warrantless arrest affidavit.

He said the only way the plaintiffs became aware of the situation is because they gained access to the documents through other means and noticed that materials Baylor produced had pages missing.

Dunnam referred to the matter at the hearing as finding things out of the ordinary. However, in a motion filed this week, he and Dunn described it as what appears to be another event of intentional withholding of relevant information.

Lisa Brown, one of Baylors attorneys, defended the universitys responses. Brown denied that any documents not produced were intentional acts and said the university is dealing with a large volume of information that comes from multiple departments.

She complained to Pitman that the plaintiffs did not contact her with their concerns to allow her first to look into the problem instead of filing a motion on the eve of the hearing and calling them out in front of the judge.

The repeat pattern we are seeing is a failure to confer, Brown told Pitman. These are very serious charges, and we havent been given a reasonable opportunity to investigate and respond.

The plaintiffs allege in their most-recent motion that Baylor officials called their request for student conduct code violations a fishing expedition, and nothing more. The plaintiffs argue that one or more of the Jane Does were charged with conduct code violations after their sexual assault reports to the university.

As it turns out, Baylor has so far withheld at least some of plaintiffs records, that, had they been produced, would have allowed plaintiffs to immediately and definitively rebut the impression made to the court that no evidence existed that a plaintiff was subject to honor code discipline after reporting a sexual assault, and demonstrate conclusively that this is not a fishing expedition,  the motion states.

According to the motion, Jane Doe 4 was sanctioned for alleged off-campus alcohol use in June 2014, 14 days after she notified the Baylor counseling center of her rape.

The letter informing the student about the disciplinary action was missing from records produced by Baylor, the motion alleges.

Had the plaintiffs not had access to a document that should have been produced, they would not have ever known about this, the judge said. It at least raises the specter that something is going on, and Im looking forward to hearing an explanation and assurances that this wont keep happening.

In other matters, the judge instructed the parties to keep working together to develop the terms and scope to guide an independent company in its search for relevant documents among Baylors electronically stored information.

Baylor has expressed concerns that certain documents requested could violate student privacy rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

What I would hope is that you work a little better together than you seem to be, Pitman said.

The judge has set a tentative trial date for the case for Oct. 1, 2018.
Texas Administrative Judge Fernando Rodriguez ruled this week that a former Waco ISD teacher helped a student who was in distress and nearly choking on breakfast pizza. Rodriguez wrote that the teacher did not deny the student food, then remove food from his mouth in anger when an aide gave it to him, as state education officials claimed.

Texas Education Agency staff had recommended the State Board for Educator Certification suspend for two years and consider permanently revoking the educator certificate of former J.H. Hines Elementary School teacher Linda Hampton, but Rodriguez ruled the board should take no action and dismiss the claims against Hampton, with prejudice.

Ms. Hampton did nothing wrong.  Ms. Hamptons actions did not amount to assault, but rather, helped a distressed student, Rodriguez wrote.

An aide from an outside program serving preschool students at J.H. Hines filed the initial complaint against Hampton, who had been at Waco ISD for 15 years and in education for 30 years at the time. The aide filed the complaint after she told her supervisor of an incident that happened April 21, 2015, and the supervisor told her to report it, according to the ruling.

TEA staff determined Hampton had disciplined one of her preshool students, who had a history of behavior issues, by denying him food, according to the ruling. However, the judge found that Hampton was delaying the students breakfast and had told him, as a result of his behavior, he had to wait to get his pizza until the other children had received their breakfast, the ruling states.

The judge wrote that the aide, who was responsible for administering a Head Start food program, gave the student food while Hampton was delivering attendance forms to the school office, telling the boy it was OK for him to have the food without Hamptons permission because she wasnt there.

Hampton used a finger-swipe maneuver, a rescue technique taught to teachers in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation classes, and the boy looked relieved after the food was removed and he was able to spit the rest out, according to the ruling.

A Waco ISD teacher aide who witnessed the incident but was not interviewed by the TEA had previously given the school a report stating Hampton resolved an unsafe situation, according to the ruling. The Waco ISD aide also emphasized during her testimony that Hampton had never denied food to a child and had told the boy that day he would get food when he calmed down.

According to the ruling, Hampton resigned from her teaching position with Waco ISD in May 2015 after school administrators started reviewing the incident. Hampton alleged that she felt attacked by the investigation into the incident, claimed her principal did not have her back and she decided to quit in disgust.

TEA spokesperson Lauren Callahan said the State Board of Education Certifications will review the judges recommendation and make a ruling.
ONALASKA  In a spirited rehearsal last week, the Coulee Region Gospel Choir fine-tuned its latest eclectic concert offering.

In addition to the full 60-voice choir, listeners Sunday will hear quartets, solos and a separate praise group, as well as the mens and womens choirs backed up by the band and a five-piece brass ensemble.

The two-part program at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Onalaska will honor veterans with an opening patriotic set that includes the Star-Spangled Banner, God Bless America, and Let There be Peace on Earth sung by Dave Baldwin and the mens choir, accompanied by Carolyn Bjerke on flute.

Part two of the concert turns the page from the patriotic to the spiritual. According to Director Tim Jensen, the spiritual side called, Come to Jesus, is an invitation to receive eternal life.

This is part of the Great Commission were fulfilling, said Jensen. Its a message of joy, not fire and brimstone, to come to Jesus.

Jensen took the helm of the choir last summer, filling in for director Steve Koch 10 days before a performance. Jensen has continued in the role ever since. Hes passionate about the choirs music; hes also its biggest critic and cheerleader.

Youre doing great, you really are. Keep at it, he exclaimed as the rehearsal began.

As a band teacher of 13 years, Jensen said he had never had the opportunity to direct a choir, so he jumped at the chance to lead the CRGC. He is ecstatic that Koch stayed on as a piano accompanist.

Im lost if hes late, said Jensen. Its not pretty if I have to play parts.

In addition to directing, Jensen will also solo, both vocally and with his alto saxophone, on a bluesy piece called Have You Made Your Reservation? The choir will perform familiar church melodies like I Surrender All, Ill Fly Away, Victory in Jesus and When We All Get to Heaven. Featured also are two songs arranged by longtime member Sylvia Groleau: Great, Great Morning and Song in My Heart.

Judy Keinanen of Onalaska will make her solo debut with a Babbie Mason piece called Come on Into the House. Keinanen moved into the area from Duluth nine years ago, drawn by her nine grandchildren and son who is the youth pastor at Christ is Lord Church in Onalaska.

While not formally trained in music, Keinanen said her extended family would get together frequently for hymn sings. Then, in the early 70s, she joined a gospel group and quartet, touring the upper Midwest on weekends for 20 years and traveling as far as Kansas and Michigan. After attending a CRGC concert last year, she knew she had to join.

And for Keinanen, fun is where its at.

This is not a stuffy church choir concert, she said. All the music is upbeat, positive and fun.

Her only regret is waiting so long to join.

At 83, Francis Jones of La Crosse is the oldest choir member. Jones was pastor at what is now the River of Life Church in Onalaska from 1963-1974, but directed choirs in nearly every church hes served. Prior to that, Jones sang in high school, college and as a missionary with a 150-voice choir in Africa. As a young man, he also won the Dorian Society Solo competition at Luther College.

When Jones joined the CRGC in 2015, he was initially impressed with the quality of voices. These people are educated in music, he said. If the director needs a change  OK, its done.

Despite having members from 34 area churches, the choir retains its family atmosphere, he said.

The choir will be accompanied by Paul Leithold on guitar, Steve Koch on piano and Julie Bodendein on drums.
As Waco Independent School District trustees start to consider changes to the funding model for the districts two magnet schools, they are worried neighboring districts will open similar vocational training programs and take away needed students.

Both of Waco ISDs Greater Waco academies have operated at a loss since they opened, district Chief Financial Officer Sheryl Davis said last week. Expenditures for the Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy and Greater Waco Advanced Health Care Academy are expected to exceed revenue by $609,333 this year.

Thats the type of activities, I believe as a region, we should discourage, Superintendent A. Marcus Nelson said, referring to Connally ISDs new partnership with McLennan Community College to offer health care courses, as an example. What we dont want is five years from now, several other districts have created manufacturing or health care magnets.

Connally has relatively low enrollment in the Waco magnets, career and technical education director Donna McKethan told trustees during a board meeting Thursday night. She said she is unsure of the exact number of students Connallys program could have pulled away.

Waco ISD has discussed avoiding overlap in early college offerings with districts in the area, and those conversations need to continue, McKethan said.

Building-use fee

The board unanimously approved a $200 increase Thursday to the building-use fee GWAMA and GWAHCA students home districts will pay in 2017-18. The increase from $400 to $600 per student will help cover indirect building and administration costs, which would be $523 per student if the schools were at capacity.

The other $77 per student will go to expansions in the works for each academy. GWAMA will add a construction science academy, and an unused gym at GWAHCA will be converted into science labs to meet dual credit requirements.

The campuses offer dual credit courses and hands-on vocational training, and the fee increase is the first step the board has taken to pursue additional options to fund the schools.

The academies tuition rate of $2,900 will remain unchanged. The tuition is based on average daily attendance funding, but the tuition rate doesnt cover direct program costs, which are estimated at $4,346 per a student, district documents state. The district will review tuition rates again in the 2018-19 school year.

Neither campus has reached full capacity, but keeping enrollment up is critical for the magnets to remain sustainable, Greater Waco Academies director Dale McCall said. Recruitment has become even more critical since an almost $6 million federal grant that helped get GWAMA started expired last year, McCall said.

Academy growth

GWAHCA will grow from 200 students last year to 220 this year, and GWAMA will grow from 185 students last year to 252 this year, he said.

Board president Pat Atkins said the schools probably wont ever make money for the district, but there needs to be an important discussion between districts about supply and demand so the district doesnt price itself out of the market.

We do need to demonstrate the added value. I mean theres got to be value added to the money theyre investing with us, Atkins said. This program, when we all pull our resources together, we can offer on a scale and with some of the unique offerings no one district has got.

Discussion on other changes to the academies funding is expected to continue, Atkins said. The district could even revisit specifics of the funding model each spring, Davis said.

I think the important thing is we look at a couple of options. I believe if we communicate with our partners about what our need is and what the projected need will be, everyone seems on board, said Robin McDurham, a Waco ISD area superintendent who helps oversee the academies. This just appears to be a good time to engage in this conversation now that the grant is gone and we have a clear picture four or five years into the program of what to expect.
Mrs Bickel, our Year 8 scripture teacher, was big on the Book of Revelations. She seemed to favour all the parts of the Bible that depicted hell. The fiery lake of burning sulphur, the dragon who came out of the sea with 10 heads (each bearing a blasphemous name) and all the bits about sinners receiving the mark of the Beast.

This was scary for 13-year-olds, so much so that my father complained to my school (proudly public, and notably lax on what happened in scripture classes).

Mrs Bickel did not approve of Madonna's Like a Prayer video.

His complaint was ignored, a fact for which I am grateful, because come Year 9, things got interesting. We turned. Deploying the peculiar manipulative intelligence only available to teenage girls, we undermined Mrs Bickel's authority by asking increasingly precocious questions  about homosexuality, about the condemnation of non-believers, about Jesus' capacity to forgive all the acts we sensed Mrs Bickel regarded most sinful. We mentioned sex as often as possible.

I recall fondly Mrs Bickel's discomfort as she attempted to answer detailed queries on the film clip for Madonna's Like A Prayer, which had been released a few years previously.
A 2016 survey conducted by the Coalition for Women's Refuges found only 61 per cent reported being always able to take women without residency, with one in five reporting they had no ability to take women in such circumstances.

According to Anna Kerr, co-chair of the Women and Girl's Rights Subcommittee of the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights advocacy group, "women's refuges are frequently unable or unwilling to accept women who do not have a visa status that qualifies them for Centrelink payments".

Some of the most vulnerable women and children are being left with nowhere to turn if they need to escape domestic violence. Credit:Stocksy

A decrease in the number of free beds in shelters following the NSW government's ' 'Going Home, Staying Home" funding reform disproportionately affects migrant women who are unable to receive Centrelink payments.

Women's domestic violence shelters in NSW are being forced to turn away women without residency or citizenship, a problem that will only be exacerbated with the proposed changes to the citizenship test , advocates have warned.

The coalition is a group of refuge owners who oppose the 2014 reform, which saw a number of shelters closed or merged into general homelessness programs run by religious charities. Its survey attracted participation from 62 of the 76 women's refuges in operation in NSW last year. Of the participating refuges, only four said the reforms had not affected their ability to deliver services.

Kerr says the result is that refuges find themselves forced to take the pragmatic approach of turning away women who do not have residency, as someone receiving Centrelink payments  or otherwise able to pay contributions  could potentially fill their bed.

"While freeing up more beds, this has the result of leaving some of the most vulnerable women and children in our community with nowhere to go if they need to escape domestic violence," says co-chair Rita Shackel. "These are often women who have the additional disadvantage of limited English language skills."

Extending the waiting time and tightening the English language test for citizenship will decrease the number of migrant women able to receive Centrelink payments, impeding their access to refuges, the legal advocacy group says.

A NSW Department of Family and Community Services spokesperson told Fairfax Media "any" women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless because of domestic violence are entitled to support from the "specialist homelessness services" they fund (which includes services which admit men and people suffering from other forms of homelessness), citing that $61.6 million will be allocated to such services over the 201718 financial year.
During World War II, the Nazis had their eyes on Norway, and on April 9, 1940, they invaded the neutral country. This land was valuable to Germany because it allowed for easier access to Swedish iron ore, it opened a larger naval front and it created a battlefield away from France.

The day before the Germans invaded, Ruth Wiese Engelsen Gundersen left her home in Bergen, Norway.

Ruth was born Sept. 17, 1917, in Bergen, a large, coastal city along the countrys southwestern coast that was at the center of trade and commerce. Although much of Ruths childhood was spent in Norway, she attended schools in England and Switzerland.

The 1940 Nazi invasion occurred after the United Kingdom and France mined Norwegian waters to halt German trade and shipping. On the first day of the German invasion, the Nazis took control of Bergen. Had Ruth waited even a day longer to leave her hometown, she likely would have been forced to remain there until after the wars end because Germans controlled Norway until May 8, 1945.

Ruth was crossing the Atlantic Ocean when she first heard of the Nazi invasion of her home country. Throughout the war, she was unable to freely communicate with loved ones back home, and she only received occasional family letters through the Red Cross.

After arriving to the U.S., she met Thorolf Gundersen in New York City, a man who would become her husband after just a few months together. Thorolf was the seventh son of Adolf Gundersen, the founder of the Gundersen Health System.

The couple relocated many times during the war, but they eventually settled in the La Crosse area. Once here, Ruth became an important member of the community, where she was involved in the Lutheran Hospital Guild, the Investment Club and the League of Women Voters.

Ruths beaded bags were most likely acquired during her travels throughout Europe or during her years attending schools in foreign cities. Beaded bags were popular for centuries, but they were most famous during the 1920s. The popularity bled into the 1930s, when Ruth most likely bought hers. Her purses were purchased in Europe, most likely Germany or France.

The sheer number of beads creates a tapestry-like image. One of the beaded purses has a black-and-white beaded design that forms multiple animals, including a deer, a fox, a squirrel and a peacock. The beads also form flowers and geometric designs. The silver frame attached to the purse is decorated with corn, among other vegetables and fruit.

Gundersens other purse has a beaded, multicolored floral design with a crocheted drawstring. The flowers are on an ecru background, with a beige silk crepe lining. The center of the purse has a black tassel with gold accents.

Later in her life, Ruth saw the historical significance of these purses, and she donated them to the La Crosse Historical Society. These beaded purses and others items can be found in the societys online collections database.
In February, an advisory body from the National Academy of Sciences announced the academy's support for using CRISPR to edit the genes of embryos to remove DNA sequences that doctors say cause serious heritable diseases. The recommendation came with significant caveats and suggested limiting the use of CRISPR to specific embryonic problems. That said, the recommendation is clearly an endorsement of CRISPR as a research tool that is likely to become a clinical treatment - a step from which there will be no turning back.

CRISPR's combination of usability, low cost and power is both tantalising and frightening, with the potential to someday enable anyone to edit a living creature on the cheap in their basements. So, although scientists might use CRISPR to eradicate malaria by making the mosquitoes that carry it infertile, bioterrorists could use it to create horrific pathogens that could kill tens of millions of people.

With the source code of life now so easy to hack, and biologists and the medical world ready to embrace its possibilities, how do we ensure the responsible use of CRISPR?

There's a line that A Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor uses when describing the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, where "all the children are above average." Will we enter a time when those who can afford a better genome will live far longer, healthier lives than those who cannot? Should the US government subsidise genetic improvements to ensure a level playing field when the rich have access to the best genetics that money can buy and the rest of society does not? And what if CRISPR introduces traits into the human germ line with unforeseen consequences - perhaps higher rates of cardiac arrest or schizophrenia?

Barriers to mass use of CRISPR are already falling. Dog breeders looking to improve breeds suffering from debilitating maladies are actively pursuing gene hacking. A former NASA fellow in synthetic biology now sells functional bacterial engineering CRISPR kits for $150 from his online store. It's not hard to imagine a future in which the big drugstore chains carry CRISPR kits for home testing and genetic engineering.
Western Australia's doctors are chafing at poor management and a workplace culture that discourages speaking out, according to the state's medical lobby.

In the wake of a damning independent review of staff morale at Perth's Princess Margaret Hospital, AMA WA is sending out surveys to its membership in the state to create a bigger picture look of morale in the state's health system.

AMA WA is sending a survey to senior doctors across the state. Credit:Nic Walker

Since the survey's publication in June, AMA WA state president Omar Khorshid said the medical lobby had been inundated with messages from doctors across the state expressing similar concerns.

"PMH's issues really reflect broader concerns, the lack of respect for senior clinicians, lack of consultation when new management comes in, fear that if you speak out you'll lose your job," he told WAtoday.com.au.
Zuao Ru Lin, a Chinese entrepreneur from Beijing, at one of his eight factories, in Neyshabur, Iran. Credit:New York Times Others worry that with the large-scale Chinese investment and China's growing presence in the Iranian economy, Tehran will become more dependent than ever on Beijing, already its biggest trading partner. China is also an important market for Iranian oil, and because of remaining unilateral US sanctions that intimidate global banks, it is the only source of the large amounts of capital Iran needs to finance critical infrastructure projects. But that, apparently, is a risk the leadership is prepared to take. Growing relationship: Visitors to the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art view Andy Warhols Chairman Mao artworks in 1999. Credit:Getty Images "China is dominating Iran," said Mehdi Taghavi, an economics professor at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran, adding that the "Iranian authorities do not see any drawbacks to being dependent on China. Together, we are moving ahead."

It is not just roads and rail lines that Iran is getting from China. Iran is also becoming an increasingly popular destination for Chinese entrepreneurs like Lin. With a few words of Persian, as well as low-interest loans and tax breaks from the Chinese and Iranian governments, he has built a small empire since moving to Iran in 2002. His eight factories make a wide variety of goods that find markets in Iran and in neighbouring countries. A shopper leaves the Hyper Star market, near a sculpture of a shopper, at the new Isfahan City Center shopping mall on June 2, 2014 in Isfahan, Iran. Credit:Getty "You can say that I was even more visionary than some of our politicians," Lin said with a laugh. Since 2013, when the "One Belt, One Road" plan was started, he has had dozens of visitors from China and multiple meetings with the Chinese ambassador in Tehran. "I was a pioneer, and they want to hear my experiences," he said. 'Of course, Iran's economy will also grow': An Iranian employee relocates paper waste at the Pardis Kaghaz Pazh recycled paper factory in Neyshabur. Credit:New York Times

Lin established his factories along what will be a key part of the trade route - a 925-kilometre electrified rail line linking Tehran and Mashhad, financed with a $US1.6 billion loan from China. When completed and attached to the wider network, the new line will enable Lin to export his goods as far as northern Europe, Poland and Russia, at much less cost than today. "I am expecting a 50 per cent increase in revenue," Lin said. He lit another cigarette. "Of course, Iran's economy will also grow. China will expand. Its power will grow." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Iran's leadership have relied on Chinese capital for infrastructure projects, despite concerns over domination from Beijing. Credit:AP He played Chinese pop music in his car and tapped his fingers on the wheel. "Life is good in Iran," he said. "The future is good." Iranians who spotted Lin driving between his factories waved and smiled. Having mastered a few basic phrases in Persian over the years, he said "hi" and "goodbye" to some of his 2000 employees. Iranians are hard workers, he said, but he does not like their food. "We grow our own vegetables and eat Chinese food," he said. "Just like home."

Zuao Ru Lin, centre, and his plant chief executive Nan Xiang inspect the final product. Credit:New York Times Even when the boss was out of earshot, workers in his factories said that they were very happy with the Chinese. "They pay every month on time and only hire people instead of fire," Amir Dalilian, a guard, said. "If more will come, our economy will flourish." When finished, the proposed rail link will stretch nearly 3200 kilometres, from Urumqi, the capital of China's western region of Xinjiang, to Tehran. If all goes according to plan, it will connect Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, according to the state-owned China Daily. Track sizes need to be adjusted and new connections made, as well as upgrades to the newest trains. Iranian and Chinese employees work side by side at Pardis Kaghaz Pazh. Credit:New York Times In a 2016 test, China and Iran drove a train from the port of Shanghai in eastern China to Tehran in just 12 days, a journey that takes 30 days by sea. In Iran, they used the existing track between Tehran and Mashhad, powered by a slower diesel-powered train. When the new line is opened in 2021, it is expected to accommodate electric trains at speeds up to 200 km/h.

Fakhrieh-Kashan, an English speaker who oversees negotiation of most of the larger international state business deals, said the Chinese initiative would do much more than just provide a channel for transporting goods. "Think infrastructure, city planning, cultural exchanges, commercial agreements, investments and tourism," he said. "You can pick any project, they are all under this umbrella." Business ties between Iran and China have been growing since the United States and its European allies started pressuring Iran over its nuclear program around 2007. China remains the largest buyer of Iranian crude oil, even after Western sanctions were lifted in 2016, allowing Iran to again sell in European markets. Chinese state companies are active all over the country, building highways, digging mines and making steel. Tehran's shops are flooded with Chinese products and its streets clogged with Chinese cars. Iran's leaders hope that the country's participation in the plan will enable them to piggyback on China's large economic ambitions. Loading
A dozen years ago, fewer than 1 in 5 La Crosse students was nonwhite. Today, that number is closer to 1 in 3.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Western Wisconsin school districts including La Crosse, Westby, Arcadia and Sparta continue to see ethnic and racial diversity increase, following a statewide trend. Most of these districts are also seeing increasing student poverty, as the proportion of students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs is on the rise.

Twelve years ago, 38 percent of students were eligible for the lunch program in La Crosse, compared with nearly half of students in the district last year. Statewide, the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch peaked at 42 percent in 2013 and fell after that to 38 percent last year.

These changes bring challenges and opportunities to school districts, educators say. They say schools must continue work to be socially just, equitable and culturally responsive in order to provide a quality education to all students, regardless of background.

When we talk about demographic changes, we have been rolling up our sleeves on the issue for a long time, La Crosse Associate Superintendent of Instruction Troy Harcey said. We have a rich tapestry in La Crosse and a very diverse student body.

Last year, almost 10 percent of students in La Crosse identified as Asian, more than 5 percent as black, almost 4 percent as Hispanic, and almost 9 percent identified with two or more races. Along with different backgrounds, Harcey also said the district has to be aware of gender, poverty, ability and other characteristics.

Two years ago, districts participated in a social justice conference in Madison to improve how educators and staff are trained to work with students from different backgrounds. The school district switched to an asset-based approach, Supervisor of Instruction and Staff Development Rob Tyvoll said, as part of a goal to provide equitable opportunities to students.

We had to question the mindset about students of negative backgrounds and question those negative stereotypes, he said. With the change to asset-based thinking, we look for the potential and the positives and give students the opportunities to demonstrate that potential.

Part of that work is discussions on identity, Tyvoll said, and tackling issues such as white privilege, which is defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a transparent preference for whiteness that saturates society and provides white people with unearned perks people of color do not enjoy.

Other work on identity includes district efforts to celebrate other cultures and groups through programs and events. The district also has a number of cultural liaisons who work with African American, Southeast Asian and other student subgroups.

Another way the district works to embrace different backgrounds is to create more responsive classroom systems. Instead of teachers as overlords, Tyvoll said, responsive learning designs include students in conversations about behavior and expectations, giving students a voice and allowing their views to be respected.

If they are allowed to be part of the conversation and community, these things become much more meaningful, Tyvoll said.

One school district that has seen an explosion in diversity is Arcadia, where the Hispanic population became the majority in 2015. While not as extreme, other rural school districts have also seen their Hispanic population rise as people move to the region for jobs, especially on dairy farms.

Groups want kids to see themselves in books Local social justice organizations are working to provide more responsive literature to mino

Almost 1 in 6 Sparta School District students is Hispanic or black, up from 1 in 20 during the 2015 school year. About half of the districts students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number that has spiked and fallen over the past 12 years.

To provide extra resources for Hispanic students, who make up 12 percent of the student body, Director of Pupil Services Peggy Jadack said the district works with community organizations such as Lugar de Reunion as well as adding additional teachers for English-language learners.

Regional economics is likely the driver of the need for free or reduced-price lunch in her district and others, she said. About 15 percent of residents in Monroe County and La Crosse County live under the poverty line, according to the most recent Census data, and that number jumps to nearly 20 percent in the city of Sparta and 24 percent in the city of La Crosse.

To help those kids, Sparta instituted a universal free breakfast program, as well as weekend food backpacks and a summer school lunch program. The district tries to be sensitive to student needs and works with community organizations to fill any gaps.

We work hard with all parents and families to make sure kids have what they need to be successful, Jadack said.

At Onalaska, nearly 1 in 4 students identifies as nonwhite, and more than a quarter of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, down from 31 percent in 2012. Having a more diverse student population is good for the district, Superintendent Fran Finco said, as students will live and work in a world full of people from different backgrounds.

The district works to meet the school boards goal that all students can achieve high levels of learning, he said. There are still challenges to overcome as the district has a large achievement gap between white and minority students and between rich and poor students.

On the most recent state tests, slightly more than 31 percent of poor students rated as proficient or advanced on the English language arts Forward exam compared with more than 60 percent of their richer peers. Only 21 percent of black students got a passing score on the test, compared with more than 66 percent of white students.

Finco said the district has to look at those who are struggling and get them the resources they need to succeed or excel. For poorer students who might not have books or parents who read to them at home, that might mean providing books they can take with them or providing programs to help parents gain these skills.

If a student doesnt speak English as a first language, the district might have to provide more English-language learner support the district offers additional instructional time to students struggling in a subject such as math or reading. A number of schools in the district have food pantries and other programs that make sure kids arent going hungry at school, which can affect learning.

The district also has increased the number of support staff available. Ten years ago, Finco said, the district had 49 staff members dedicated to working with at-risk kids or those with special needs that number has nearly doubled to 87.

We have to give them what they need to get up to that bar, he said. We have to come up with culturally responsive interventions so all students succeed.
In a long-sought transformation designed to please performing arts lovers both inside and outside of East High School, district contractors are entering the last month of a top-to-bottom rebuild of the schools theater.

The $4.7 million project, which includes about $250,000 in community donations, will expand and radically improve the space, with added or improved features including enhanced lighting, far superior acoustics, a new orchestra pit with a cover, better dressing rooms and storage, and the addition of a 136-seat balcony. The renovated theater will have 610 seats, up from 494.

Theres not a bad seat in the house, said Chad Wiese, facilities manager for the Madison School District, who promises the work will be finished by the start of school. If Im picking a seat, its the balcony. Its pretty spectacular.

The stage itself also will be redesigned and bigger, with 8 more feet on the apron, and a new fly system  the assemblage of rope lines and pulleys that enables the crew to move curtains, lights and scenery on and off the stage  overhead with a major upgrade from manual to automated for improved safety and efficiency. A soaring, polished-wood arch also stretches over and around the sides of the stage, adding visual grace.

The East theater establishes a new standard for what we want these spaces to look like in all the high schools, district budget director Mike Barry said.

The renovation also will make the entire theater fully handicapped-accessible, with a wheelchair lift and eight wheelchair-accessible seats, and it will add one large, multipurpose room off of the theater for drama classes.

Outside community theater groups  long pressed to find affordable performance space on the East Side for productions  also will get a chance to use the theater, coordinated with school use and perhaps a year after students and staff at the school get comfortable with it.

Were in new territory, said Paul Milisch, East Highs drama and creative arts teacher, who also directs all theater performances. We need some time to learn the equipment ourselves and to learn how to use the space and how to make that bridge to the community.

Funded mainly as part of a $41 million facilities referendum in April 2015 to expand or renovate 16 district schools, the project at East High has been a source of growing excitement and nostalgia among students, staff and alumni going back several decades.

Principal Mike Hernandez said hes fielded calls from graduates living all over the country each time hes updated the schools Facebook page with construction news or sent out emails about the projects progress.

This is the beginning, the centerpiece, of our community-based school, Hernandez said. Its about the pride its exuding, from our students to our alumni to our community. This is going to bring some serious pride back into the building and back into the community and to all (East High) Purgolders, future and past.

Pride was likely not the main emotion inspired by the old theater for most, especially in its last few decades.

Built in 1924 during the schools second addition, the theater/auditorium was reconfigured in 1970, during which it lost some space to new classrooms and saw its original chairs replaced with the hard, orange-plastic, bowling-alley-type seats so many would grow to loathe.

Our old theater was falling apart, said Elsa Ackerman, an incoming senior whos been part of the schools award-winning drama club, Eastside Players, since her freshman year. The chairs were uncomfortable, the acoustics were awful and many things were old and decrepit.

Most recently, its also been a source of dislocation and inconvenience, as hundreds of students and staff members who still needed the theater  not just for plays but also performances by several school bands, chorale groups and orchestras, plus school-wide meetings and awards ceremonies  awkwardly straddled the months of construction that shut it down starting in May 2016.

Of the five plays Ackerman has been in at East, only two were performed in the old theater, with the others having to go on in the schools field house and at the Bartell Theater on Mifflin Street. Rehearsals for those plays typically were held in classrooms, she said, with at most a few days to practice in their final performance space.

It will be great to have a theater we can rehearse and perform in, so actors can really get to know the space they will be performing in, Ackerman said. I am so excited for the new opportunities the renovated theater will bring, and the history Easts actors will create in it.

Milisch said a big goal of the renovation was to improve the audience experience in the theater.

He said the challenge of putting on good shows in a space hampered by poor sound and lighting, and by chairs that make your back cramp up after 30 minutes, was like swimming with sand bags on, predicting the new chairs and redesign would please audience and performers alike.

Part of it is just bringing that physical comfort, and also its having a venue that matches the (advanced) work these students are doing, Milisch said. The performers are going to have a quite a bit better experience.

Theyll also have more to do. In March, for the first time in many years, East High is putting on a musical, as one of the two main-stage productions the drama club does every year, plus a one-act play for a statewide contest.

The redesigns much improved sound system  the old one was like my boom box from 1991, Hernandez quipped  made a musical worth doing again, staff said, along with the laminated-wood wave clouds added to the theaters ceilings and side walls for sound quality.

Its a great opportunity to bring something new into the new space, said Luke Hrozat-Staedter, a vocal teacher at the school who will direct the music for the musical.

Im just excited to have a space where everything is running smoothly, electrically and sound-wise, he added. Its going to be a welcoming space for students to perform in and we wont have all the headaches. Stuff isnt going to just break on us at the last second.

Persephone Bates, a member of the schools show choir who will be a senior this fall, did admit to some fond memories of performing in the old theater.

She remembers sharing with friends a lot of inside jokes happening behind the scenes, she said, as well as the building of anticipation while she waited to go on stage.

What she wont miss?

Tripping on piles of costumes and stacks of wood under the stage in the dark, Bates said, and sitting on those uncomfortable chairs.

The redesigned layout of the new theater will have better and safer spots for storage of props and costumes, and of course, the new seats, to be installed later this week, will be cushioned.

What Bates relished most was the prospect of being part of the first senior class to use the renovated space.

Just to perform on it with a lot of my peers, and to have the stage all to myself at some point, Bates said. Im very excited for the performance opportunities.That was a sentiment seconded by Hrozat-Staedter, a Madison West High School graduate who remembered participating in the theater at that school as adding something intangible to his experience as a student.

It was more than just a classroom to me, he said. It was a place where I was able to thrive and grow. Having a space thats new and that has systems in place to support our students will only improve their education.
Graeme Hamilton has a great article in Canada's National Post about how Quebec pulled itself out of dire fiscal problems not unlike The Bahamas faces today.

Here are a couple quotes:

"For decades, Quebec was seen as a laggard, trailing the rest of the country in economic growth and job creation while amassing substantial public debt."

"In 2012, a report by Montreals HEC business school warned that Quebec was en route to becoming the poorest province in Confederation."

"Not long ago, protesters upset over program cuts were carrying placards of Leitaos face with a thick red line through it."

"It took 50 years, Vailles wrote, but Quebec, following its twisting politico-economic path, (has) reached a financial situation considered healthier than that of its illustrious neighbour.

"Leitao says a key part of the turnaround has been a disciplined approach to public finances."

Its not a big revolution what we did, he said. We realized that spending was growing at a much faster pace than revenues. If you do that on a consistent basis, youre going to end up with a ballooning deficit. We said we would restrain the rate of growth in program spending and allow revenues to keep growing at three per cent a year. (Carlos Leitao is the Quebec Minister of Finance)

Take heart that it can be done here too.

Read the entire article here...
Alec Baldwin sues to 'clear his name' in movie set death
By WestKyStar & Shawnee College Staff Jul. 27, 2017 | 09:45 PM | METROPOLIS, IL

In addition to the extension now offering a massage therapy program, Shawnee Community Colleges Metropolis Extension Center will offer truck driving beginning this fall semester. The program takes only 16 weeks to complete which includes a six-week program and a ten-week externship. Classes will be held from 8 am-4 pm during the six-week program.



The truck driving program schedule at the Shawnee Community College Metropolis Extension Center is as follows:

August 21st- September 29th

October 2nd- November 10th

November 13th- December 22nd



Truck driving is also available at Shawnee Community Colleges Main Campus located in Ullin, IL. The program schedule is as follows:

August 14th- September 22nd

September 25th- November 3rd

November 6th- December 15th



For more information on the truck driving program at Shawnee Community College, contact the Metropolis Extension Center at 618-524-3003 or the Main Campus at 618-634-3200.





The Shawnee Community College Metropolis Extension Center will add another program to the fall semester of classes.
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A Minnesota City man is being charged with several crimes related to a sexual assault reported in spring 2015.

Dylan Leslie Evanson, 22, is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct as well as two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The charges allege that on May 3, 2015, Evanson engaged in sexual activity by force or coercion causing injury, with someone over 13 years old, but under 16.

According to the sheriffs department report, the victim  born in 1999  reported the assault and went to the emergency room immediately afterwards.

Deputies and the doctor attending both noted bruises on the neck of the victim, who said they were caused by Evanson.

The victim said that she had been assaulted while staying at Evansons Minnesota City apartment, where she was waiting before going to a friends home the next day.

The victim said that while there he had begun assaulting her and forced her to have sex with him, not saying anything and continuing despite her saying not to.

Afterward she called a friend to pick her up when Evanson was asleep and left around 3:30 a.m.

On July 15, 2015 deputies made contact with Evanson, who claimed it had been consensual and that he was awake when she told him she was going to the hospital.

He also claimed that he had not known she was underage until she told him afterward, and that he had thought she was 18.

On Feb. 5, 2017, deputies made contact again with Evanson and showed him messages from the victim prior to the assault, including those in which she told him her age.
Submit an event for Around Town by emailing calendar information to bnr-news@wiscnews.com at least three business days before the event date.

Today

Hospice training: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Home Health United-Hospice, training session, St. Clare Hospice House, 915 12th St., in Baraboo. Volunteers are needed in both administrative and patient-interactive areas. For more information or to register for training, call 877-356-4514 or email volunteers@hhuvns.org or visit homehealthunited.org.

Volunteer training: 9-11 a.m., Baraboo River Equine-Assisted Therapies, 12311 Highway W, Baraboo. Volunteers will learn to groom and tack horses and assist with lessons for disabled and special-needs riders. Volunteers must be at least 14 years of age. For more information, call 760-212-8021 or visit barabooriverequineassistedtherapies.org.

Festival: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Reedsburg Revitalization Organization, City Park, 222 N. Park St., Reedsburg. Party in the Park will feature a flea market with antiques and up-cycled wares from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., DJ from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., food vendors from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., free kids crafts from 1-5 p.m., magic show from 3-5 p.m., artwork and live music with Jake OMcClusky Band from 5-7 p.m. For more information visit facebook.com/reedsburgrevitalizationorganization.

Brat sale: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., People Helping People, Cell.Plus, 906 Highway 12, Baraboo. Cell.Plus  US Cellular Agent will match the funds raised, up to $1,000. The PHP brat stand will offer grilled brats for $3.50, all-beef franks for $3, as well as chips, soda and bottled water.

Brat fry: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monsignor OReilly Knights of Columbus Council 746, Festival Foods, 615 Highway 136, Baraboo. Proceeds will benefit the Backpack Project, a community project that provides school supplies and personal items to financially disadvantaged children in the Baraboo School District.

Art Stroll: Noon to 5 p.m., Reedsburg Artslink, downtown Reedsburg. Saturdaze Art Gallery Stroll, a self-guided walking tour of established and pop-up venues, with a Party in the Park, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in City Park; featuring a flea market, food trucks, kids crafts and Jake OMcClusky Band from 5-7 p.m. Visit LK Design & Photography, 170 E. Main St., Reedsburg, to pick up a map.

Live performance: 2 and 7 p.m., Reedsburg Junior Players, CAL Center, 1100 S. Albert Ave., Reedsburg. Performance of Dorothy in Wonderland The Musical. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Fashion show: 2-3 p.m., Wormfarm Institute, Avalon Ballroom, 170 East Main St., second floor above the Vault Wine Bar. Unconventional fashion show, Off the Wall.

Teen build: 4 p.m., Baraboo Public Library, Attridge Park, 900 Second Ave., Baraboo. Help to create a medieval world. This free program is for teens who have completed grades 6-12. For more information, call 608-356-6166 or visit baraboopubliclibrary.org.

Concert: 4:30 p.m., Witwen Campground, S9855 Highway E, Sauk City. Outdoor concert with Harmonious Wail. Grounds and concessions open at 4:30 p.m. music starts at 6:30. Bring lawn chairs and beverage. Free to the public; goodwill offering accepted.

Bulls & barrels: Gates open 5 p.m, event 7 p.m., La Valle Team Penners Association, CC Bucking Bulls, E4320 Schultz Road, La Valle, off Highway 33 between Reedsburg and La Valle. La Valle Bulls & Barrels event for bull riding and barrel racing. DJ in concession stand to follow show. Lawn seating is available. Advance tickets $12; at the gate, $15; free for ages 6 and younger. Tickets available at Jays Power Center in Reedsburg, State Bank of Cazenovia in La Valle and Fedderly Dodge in Reedsburg. For more information, call 608-434-3518 or visit ltpa.weebly.com.

Music event: 7 p.m., Mirror Lake State Park. Earth, Music, Magic will be presented at the Amphitheater. The educational musical enrichment presentation will feature primitive musical instruments from all over the world highlighting songs, stories and humor with audience participation. The event is free, but donations would be appreciated. A current park sticker is required to enter the park. Bring a chair or blanket and flashlight. For more information, call 608-254-2333.

Dance: 7:30-10:30 p.m., Devils Lake State Park. Dance to the Big Band sounds of the Hal Edwards Orchestra at the Chateau. Cost is $10. For more information, call 608-356-8301.

Astronomy event: 8:30-10:30 p.m., Devils Lake State Park. Madison Astronomy Society will host Explore the Night Sky. Join astronomers from the University of Wisconsin Astronomy Program to explore the universe. Meet near the North Shore boat launch parking lot behind the Rock Elm Shelter. For more information, call 608-356-8301.

Sunday

Live performance: 2 p.m., Reedsburg Junior Players, CAL Center, 1100 S. Albert Ave., Reedsburg. Performance of Dorothy in Wonderland The Musical. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Ice cream social: 4-7 p.m., North Freedom Methodist Church, 301 E. Walnut St., North Freedom. Everyone is welcome for food and fellowship. Prices range from $1-$3 for barbecue, hot dog, brat, pie, cake, root beer float, drinks and ice cream with toppings.

Concert: 6-8 p.m., Devils Lake State Park. Swing Crew will perform a free concert on the north shore, just outside the Chateau. The concert is sponsored by the Friends of Devils Lake State Park. For more information, call 608-356-8301.

Monday

Senior potluck luncheon: Noon to 1 p.m., Baraboo Area Senior Center, 124 Second St., Room 24, Baraboo. Speaker will be Janet Bolling of Home Health United who will speak on Senior Bullying. There is no cost, but bring a side dish to pass. For more information call Diane Pillsbury at 608-356-8464.

Blood drive: 1-5 p.m., American Red Cross, Thunderbird Lanes, 1117 Eighth St., Baraboo. To make an appointment or for more information, call 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org.

Teen craft: 5 p.m., Sauk City Public Library, 515 Water St., Sauk City. Teens can make homemade fidget spinners using zip ties and ball bearings. Space is limited so sign up is required. For more information, call 608-643-8346 or visit saukcitylibrary.org.

Cookbook club: 6:30 p.m., Sauk City Public Library, 515 Water St., Sauk City. A potluck-style club that will sample new cookbooks monthly. July pick is Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker. Sign up for a dish slot at the checkout counter. For more information, call 608-643-8346 or visit saukcitylibrary.org.

Presentation: 7 p.m., Vicki Braun, Reedsburg Public Library, 370 Vine St., Reedsburg. Free public presentation on Gut and Physiology/Psychology Syndrome or GAPS. For more information, call 608-495-6117. Free on-street parking is available.

Tuesday

Blood Drive: 1-6 p.m., American Red Cross, Bridges Elementary School 1200 Broadway St., Prairie du Sac. To make an appointment or for more information, call 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org.

Teen lock-in movie: 4 p.m., Baraboo Public Library, 230 Fourth Ave., Baraboo. Students who have completed grades 6-12 can spend the night in the library watching inspirational movies. Permission slips are required for this event. For more information, call 608-356-6166 or visit baraboopubliclibrary.org.

Club meeting: 6:30 p.m., Sauk Prairie Community Club, Junge Park pavilion, 1535 Hemlock St., Sauk City. Dinner will be catered by TJs; bring a beverage. To check availability, call 262-853-3966 or email tee.elle@sbcglobal.net. New members are welcome.

Memoir writing: 6:30 p.m., Baraboo Public Library, 230 Fourth Ave., Baraboo. Free Palm of the Hand memoir writing workshop open to the public. For more information, call 608-356-6166 or visit baraboopubliclibrary.org.

Teen Tuesday: 6:30 p.m., Ruth Culver Community Library, 540 Water St., Prairie du Sac. No-bake dessert recipes featured. Peanut butter and/or nuts may be present. Suited for grades 6-12. For more information, call 608-643-8318 or visit pdslibrary.org.

History presentation: 7 p.m., Sauk County Historical Society, Frank Fischer Center at 20 Wisconsin Dells Parkway South, Lake Delton. Presentation will focus on the 1850s city of Newport, built near what is now Lake Delton. Modern digital mapping will be used to help bring Newport back to life. Pictures of buildings that were once a part of Newport will also be presented. This presentation is free and all are welcome.

Wednesday

Coding club: 2 p.m., Ruth Culver Community Library, 540 Water St., Prairie du Sac. This new club meets Wednesdays through Aug. 23 with a different focus each week. For more information, call 608-643-8318 or visit pdslibrary.org/coding-club.

Community event: 5:30-7 p.m., Meadow Ridge Senior Living, 1700 Jefferson St., Baraboo. National Night Out event is free and open to the public designed to promote safe, strong neighborhoods and support local police and fire departments and Baraboo Community Heroes. The event will include a car show, free custard from Culvers, Joses Mexican Restaurant food cart, music by The Illusive Sounds, lawn games and a bake sale with funds going to benefit Baraboo Community Heroes.

Gamblers meeting: 6-7 p.m., Sauk County Gamblers Anonymous, SSM Health St. Clare Hospital, Crane Room A, 707 14th St., Baraboo. Ongoing meeting meets every Wednesday and Sunday.

Concert: 6:30 p.m., Reedsburg Area Chamber of Commerce, Concert in the Park series at City Park. Swing Crew will perform. Bring a lawn chair or blanket; food, refreshments and Farmers Market products will be available; no vehicles or pets allowed in park. For more information, call 608-524-2850. In case of inclement weather, signs will be posted indicating a new location.

Support group: 7:30 p.m., Al-Anon Family Group, The Comfort Zone, St. Vincent De Paul Resource Center, 1906 North St., Prairie du Sac. Support group meets every Wednesday.

Thursday

Clown workshop: 10 a.m., Baraboo Public Library, 230 Fourth Ave., Baraboo. Workshop will be hosted by Greg DeSanto, Executive Director of the International Clown Hall of Fame. Children ages 3-11 can learn how to apply clown makeup, perform circus acts and make people laugh. The workshop will be topped off with a pie-throwing contest. This is a free program. For more information, call 608-356-6166 or visit baraboopubliclibrary.org.

Luncheon: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., SSM Health St. Clare Hospital Auxiliary, Glacier Rock, 626 W. Pine St., Baraboo. Summer Harvest Luncheon Fundraiser with music by Brian Beebe. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the Unique Boutique gift shop in SSM Health St. Clare Hospital, 707 14th St., Baraboo. Limited tickets will be available at the door.

Hospice training: Noon to 4 p.m., Agrace Hospice and Palliative Care, 1670 South Blvd., Baraboo. Volunteers are needed to visit and provide companionship to local hospice patients. For more information, an application and to schedule orientation, call 608-327-7163.

Bingo: 2-3 p.m., Sauk City Public Library, 515 Water St., Sauk City. Bingo every Thursday through Aug. 31. Prizes from book sale coupons to chocolate bars. Free event open to the public. For more information, call 608-643-8346 or visit saukcitylibrary.org.

Concert: 7 p.m., Sauk County Courthouse lawn, 515 Oak St., Baraboo. Concerts on the Square concert series will present Ladies Must Swing. The Al. Ringling Theatre will serve as the rain site. For more information, visit barabooconcertsonthesquare.com.

Friday

Brat fry: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., St. Peters Christian Kidzone Daycare, 2nd Street Market, 115 Second St., Reedsburg. Juvenile diabetes fundraiser selling hamburgers, brats, hot dogs, chips, soda and water.

Brat fry: 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Baraboo Optimist Club, Viking Express, 935 Eighth St., Baraboo.

Blood drive: Noon to 6 p.m., American Red Cross, Christ Lutheran Church, 237 E. Daley, Spring Green. To make an appointment or for more information, call 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org.

Construction zone: 1-3 p.m., Sauk City Public Library, 515 Water St., Sauk City. Build with LEGOs, Magnatiles, wooden blocks, cardboard and more. This drop-in event encourages children to build with the provided materials. For more information, call 608-643-8346 or visit saukcitylibrary.org.

Fish fry: 5-7:30 p.m., Elite Catering, Devils Lake State Park, north shore by the Chateau. Every Friday until Sept. 1. Two-piece fish or a one-piece chicken dinner with three sides, $11.50; childrens plates available.

Fundraiser: 5-11 p.m., Relay For Life Of Sauk County, Derleth Park, 236 Water St., Sauk City. Cancer patients and survivors including honorary survivor Keri Olson will be recognized. Opening ceremony starts at 6 p.m. followed by a survivors lap, caregivers lap and then a luminaria ceremony at 10 p.m. Closing ceremony at 11 p.m. For more information or to volunteer at the event, call Camilla Jackson at 608-662-7548, email camilla.jackson@cancer.org or visit relayforlife.org/saukprairiewi.

Concert: 6-10 p.m., Full Throttle Night, FloodZone Bar & Grill, 109 W. Broadway, Rock Springs. Performance is by Rising Phoenix. All proceeds go to the Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue to help care for the animals. In addition to live music, there will be classic cars, trucks, motorcycles, food, arts and crafts vendors and fireworks, 50/50 raffles and prizes. For more information, call Jeff Kozlowski at 608-697-8643 or email jeff@wisconsinbigcats.org.

Guided kayak tour: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Devils Lake State Park. Guided tour observing wildlife and learning about the parks geology and history. Preregistration and prepay is required prior to the event. Bring a kayak or rent one from the Chateau. The rental fee is $25 for a single kayak and $45 for a double. Meet at the Chateau. To register and to reserve a kayak, call the Nature Center at 608-356-8301 ext. 140.
A Baraboo man charged last year with repeatedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl rejected a deal with prosecutors Friday, and demanded a new attorney.

The defendant, 36-year-old Michael S. Huebsch, was scheduled for a plea and sentencing hearing in Sauk County Circuit Court. Instead, his attorney asked a judge to approve his withdrawal from the case.

At this time, it is his desire to go a different direction with new counsel, Adams-based defense attorney John Newton said Friday.

A 15-year-old girl told a Baraboo Police Department officer that she fell asleep playing video games in Huebschs room in April 2016. When she woke up, the girl alleged, Huebsch was touching her inappropriately.

The girl said she and Huebsch had intercourse multiple times between April and August, and that she did say no at some point to Huebsch, but did not recall him ever saying anything back.

According to the officer, the girl appeared visibly uncomfortable while describing her interactions with Huebsch, and made a disgusted face while explaining what happened.

The criminal complaint also detailed alleged instances in which Huebsch sent the girl inappropriate messages on social media, caused scenes at her workplace, and harassed her boyfriend and his family after she broke off contact.

A separate witness told investigators that Huebsch said the girl better resolve the matter or things could get to the level of Columbine. Prosecutors believe that was a reference to the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.

When interviewed by an officer, Huebsch denied the girls allegations. He said they did not have sexual relations, but had accidentally kissed one time.

In September, prosecutors charged Huebsch with felony repeated sexual assault of the same child and second-degree child sexual assault.

In court Friday, Newton said Huebsch likely qualifies for a public defender and asked that the case be rescheduled with new counsel.

Based on what Ive heard here today, I dont believe I have any basis for compelling Mr. Newton to remain on the case, Sauk County Circuit Court Judge Michael Screnock said.

Noting that the case is close to a year old, Sauk County Assistant District Attorney Linda Hoffman requested that the case be scheduled for a preliminary hearing.

Screnock ordered Huebsch to apply for a public defender Friday. He scheduled the case for a preliminary hearing Aug. 10.
St. Johns Lutheran School is launching a scholarship program to provide new students with a year of free schooling.

The parochial school on Fifth Street in Baraboo will offer five scholarships this year to students who are interested in attending St. Johns for the first time. Principal Craig Breitkreutz said the program will allow families to try out the private school without being burdened by tuition costs.

We wanted to give people an opportunity to experience a year of education at St. Johns free of charge, he said. The idea is reaching out to the community so that people have an opportunity to see what the school has to offer with the hopes that, after that year, people will want to stay longer.

St. Johns School Board Chairman Martin Strobel said the idea for the scholarship program arose out of a desire to become more involved with the community. He said the program will give St. Johns more exposure, while advancing the churchs evangelical goals.

Obviously, we would like to attract people who are interested in learning about our church and what we teach, and this certainly is an opportunity for somebody to be introduced to the Christian faith simply by taking the opportunity to attend our school, he said.

Just over 100 students in grades 4K through eight are enrolled at St. John's. With an average class size of 10 to 12 students, Breitkreutz said children often receive personalized instruction in core classes, like math and language arts. He said many classes also combine grade levels, so students experience diverse classroom environments as well.

They can get the good of the small, personalized teachers who really care about whats going on with those kids, and you also can have the larger environment where therere benefits to that as well, he said.

Breitkreutz said the religious aspect of classes at St. Johns creates a high level of morality, which makes for a safe school environment. He added that the school has robust theatre and music programs as well.

While those things have kind of been scaled back in a lot of places, weve continued to ramp it up because we realize how important these programs are to kids and their learning, he said. It boosts their morale, it boosts their ability to think, and we know that this helps provide a more well-rounded child to have these experiences in school.

Tuition at St. John's costs $1,225 annually for members of St. Johns Church, $2,450 for Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod members and $2,900 for nonmembers.

Families who are interested in the scholarship opportunity may contact St. Johns by phone at 608-355-3860 or by email at eagles@st.johnsbaraboo.org. Breitkreutz said hell lead applicants on a tour of the school and sit down with parents to discuss if St. Johns will be a good fit.
Several years ago, I learned the prescription drug I was taking cost three times more here than it did in Canada. I wondered if it was the same for all prescription medications. It was. And still is. I also learned why pharmaceutical companies charge so much more here than in other countries  because they can.

The August 2016 Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study covering the years 2005 to 2016 and found Per capita prescription drug spending in the United States exceeds that in all other countries. It also found that it was more than twice as much as that of 19 other industrialized nations.

Thats one reason the cost of overall healthcare in the United States is much higher than other countries. And, not surprisingly, although Republican lawmakers complain about high healthcare costs, theyve consistently refused to do anything to lower them. Theyd much rather reap huge campaign contributions from Big Pharma than reduce the costs to taxpayers and help citizens afford the medications they need.

The subject of how the pharmaceutical industry has guaranteed its obscene profits could fill several books. It started in 1973 when President Richard Nixon signed a bill allowing businesses involved with healthcare to operate as for-profit companies. In 1988, despite millions of dollars in lobbying money from pharmaceutical companies to exclude drug coverage under Medicare, Congress finally passed a bill that included limited prescription drug coverage for Medicare recipients. But, to placate the pharmaceutical industry, it didnt regulate prices. Efforts by President Bill Clinton to do that failed in Congress after massive attacks by conservative organizations and drug company lobbyists.

During the George W. Bush administration, more rewards to Big Pharma appeared in the innocent-sounding Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. Responding to millions in campaign contributions from pharmaceutical companies, Republicans made sure the bill prohibited Medicare from negotiating prices for prescription drugs and continued the ban on importation of cheaper drugs from Canada.

The bill was brought up in the House of Representatives during the middle of the night, but stalled when some Republicans balked. President Bush immediately made phone calls to Republicans who opposed it, and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, who was then Secretary of Health and Human Services, made an unprecedented appearance on the House floor to twist arms. Some Republicans later described threats and actual bribery. After the longest known roll-call vote in the history of the House, it passed with only 16 Democrats in favor and 25 Republicans against it.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, one of the 25, called it outrageous that the bill prohibited the federal government from using its purchasing power to negotiate better prices for Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers.

Since then, Democrats have introduced several bills allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and repeal the prohibition against importing cheaper drugs from Canada. Republican majorities doomed them all.

I did question why, when Democrats had a majority after President Obama was elected, they didnt do anything. I found out: At the time, we were in the middle of the Great Recession, so the major priorities were to save the economy by bringing back jobs and preventing further collapse of the housing and banking industries. Democrats only had 72 days with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Also, during that time, two Democratic senators were gravely ill and unable to cast votes. Sen. Ted Kennedy was terminally ill with a brain tumor and Sen. Robert Byrd from West Virginia was in frail health at the age of 91 and missed 128 of 183 votes.

Why have Republicans consistently voted against the welfare of their constituents in favor of pharmaceutical company profits? Follow the money. Drug manufacturers and wholesalers have given hundreds of millions of dollars in political contributions to presidential and congressional candidates. Of that, more than 60 percent has gone to Republican or conservative causes.

What about Donald Trumps promise to bring down the costs of prescription drugs? Not surprisingly, nothing in his healthcare plan or the ones the Republicans proposed would do that. Also, he picked Dr. Scott Gottlieb to head the Food and Drug Administration. Gottlieb just happened to be a consultant to dozens of giant pharmaceutical companies. Guess whose side hell be on.

What can we do? First, we can compare drug prices at our local pharmacies for any medications we take, as there can be huge differences. Next, we need to demand our lawmakers pass a law that prohibits campaigns from receiving any special interest money. If they wont, we need to elect ones who will.

Or, we can choose to do nothing and let wealthy donors like those from Big Pharma continue to get away with it.
After about an hour of point and counterpoint, the Portage Common Council on Thursday voted 5-2 to approve a memorandum of understanding that could lead to the building of a Pauquette Park band shell.

The agreement between the city and the Portage Service Club Association calls for the PSCA to raise all the money to build not only the band shell, but also handicapped-accessible restrooms and a sidewalk in Pauquette Park. The total cost is estimated at $315,000, of which about $159,000 has been raised as of early July.

The city would maintain and operate the performance pavilion once its construction is completed. But the project cant start until the PSCA has raised all the money, and any proposed design and location for the pavilion and other facilities would require approval from the citys Plan Commission.

Thursdays vote follows the Park and Recreation Boards 3-2 decision on July 6 to reverse its previous rejection of the pavilion proposal.

Common Council members voting for the memorandum of understanding include Dennis Nachreiner, Mary Hamburg, Doug Klapper, Rita Maass and Jeff Monfort. Voting no were Bill Kutzke and Mike Charles. Martin Havlovic and Mark Hahn were absent from the meeting.

Before the discussion began, Mayor Rick Dodd offered a short but pointed perspective that was titled Moving Portage Forward on the Common Councils agenda.

Dodd said the key questions facing the council, on any proposal, are whether it will make Portage a better place to live and whether the positives outweigh the negatives.

Well never have all the answers for these projects, Dodd said, but we will need to keep Portage moving in the right direction.

Hamburg said she took to heart Dodds caution against basing decisions on what if scenarios.

Were not talking Lynyrd Skynyrd here, Hamburg said, referring to a classic rock band. Were talking small bands for a small community.

According to supporters, the pavilions primary purpose is to provide shelter, and improved acoustics, for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, which on July 1 performed its 25th annual Concert in the Park at Pauquette Park, under a makeshift tent.

But Kutzke said he was concerned about noise, parking problems and congestion at Pauquette Park if the venue were to be utilized for more than a once-a-year orchestra concert.

There are other locations, such as Veterans Memorial Park, that would be more suitable for a band shell than Pauquette Park, he said.

Im not comfortable with the notion that our city planning should be determined by somebody who makes a very generous donation, Kutzke said.

Charles, who voted against the memorandum as a Park and Recreation Board member, said he was persuaded by a petition, signed by about 47 people who live near Pauquette Park, opposing the band shell.

The residents of this area purchased their homes because it was near a park, not near a band shell, he said.

Nancy Beasley, speaking for the PSCA, reiterated what shed said at the Park and Recreation Board meeting, that she sees Pauquette Park as belonging to all the people of the Portage area, not just those who live near the park.

By saying no, the city (would be) turning down an offer to enhance and improve a city park, she said. What is the greater good for the community? Are we going to allow a small negative faction to dictate for the whole community?

The Common Council packet for Thursdays meeting included letters of support for the pavilion from people such as Portage High School Principal Robin Kvalo and Portage High School band director Tom Shaver. There also was a letter in opposition, from Hahn, who had voted against the Pauquette Park pavilion at the Park and Recreation Board.

Klapper  whose District 4 includes Pauquette Park in its boundaries  said he has heard from no constituents who oppose the pavilion.

And, he said, generous offers for community improvements dont come along every day.

If we dont take advantage of this, Klapper said, we might be shutting the door on others.
Students and teachers will face big adjustments in Portage High School next year when cellphones are no longer allowed in classrooms.

The 2017-18 High School Handbook includes a new policy aimed at removing the distractions caused by phones  and Principal Robin Kvalo knows the change will take getting used to.

Oh, it will be a challenge, Kvalo said Thursday, because our young people, as well as adults, are addicted to their phones. Removing phones from the classroom had been a discussion for the past year-plus prior to the school board approving the high schools handbook earlier this summer.

Assistant Principal Matt Paulsen explained that some students just cant put it down or stop thinking about it buzzing in their pockets. He and Kvalo agreed that removing cellphones from the classroom should pay dividends this school year.

I think its a great idea, Paulsen said. We go on visits to local businesses quite often with our staff, and we see they cant have cellphones on their job, so were trying to prepare our kids for that world.

So I see us preparing them for whatever their life is going to be outside of here, in their careers.

Paulsen said research shows scores go up as soon as (phones) went out of the room. One such study, shared by researchers from the University of Texas in 2015, suggested banning phones in classrooms was equivalent to adding five days to the school year. The study claimed test scores among teens in England improved by about six points after the classrooms banned phones.

District Administrator Charles Poches said the policy was not issued by the districts Policy Committee but was instead a move orchestrated among staff for its handbook at the high school, where phones were seen as a problem.

Focus for 50 minutes

Kvalo explained Thursday that students will need to leave their phones in their lockers, that they may use their phones between classes, at lunchtime or in the library (known as the iCenter) when instruction isnt taking place.

There will be plenty of opportunities to use your phone, Kvalo said, noting that if and when teachers allow phones for projects, they will need to post signs on the doors that say so.

Students cant even use them in the hallways during class time.

Kvalo said she has spoken with student leaders at the school and they didnt seem too worried about it.

But, she added, there will certainly be some who are worried about it.

Kvalo said PHS didnt consult with other schools in the Badger Conference regarding their respective phone policies, though some teachers had already banned phones from their classrooms at PHS. The new policy simply provides uniform policy for whats been an ongoing concern for several teachers, she said.

The policy is no different for the adults, Kvalo said, though she didnt believe phones had necessarily been a problem for teachers. She emphasized, we want to focus for 50 minutes on the content theyre working on.

Teachers may put their phones in their desks or purse  locked away somewhere  as long as the phones are not in their pockets.

If its an emergency, we have phones in every classroom, she said of landlines.

Under the new policy, when a phone is found in the classroom, it will be confiscated. The student may pick it up in the office at the end of the day. If infractions occur multiple times, parents will be contacted. The only time the policy will result in disciplinary action is if the students behavior becomes insubordinate.

Unique challenge

The challenge with phones, today, is that you are accessible 24/7, and with that comes the expectation youre available 24/7, Kvalo said. Challenges next year might be found for parents who have gotten used to getting information to their children immediately.

Thats a unique challenge, Kvalo said, training our parents that your child wont be texting you back right away.

So if parents need to tell their children to take the bus home or are asking where are the car keys?  examples that Kvalo used  then parents will need to know they likely wont hear from their child until the class period ends. Parents should contact the high school office for emergencies.

Banning phones in classrooms should also cut down on the number of times students say theyre going home and that theyd already texted their parents to say they werent feeling well. Thats not something that had been allowed anyway.

I expect once they get used to it, they wont touch their phones until lunch, Kvalo said. Once you put it away, it does detract them from needing to use it.

No purpose

Does the school empathize with those who might see losing phones as a big deal?

Absolutely, Kvalo said. I understand by putting myself in their shoes: Most phones kids have nowadays have the power of a computer. They can do almost anything with them, but its very rare theyll need it (in school).

I have to consciously put it away during meetings, Kvalo said of her own phone.

PHS has been 1-to-1 with Chromebooks for years, meaning every student has one unless they decide to bring in their own computer. Kvalo did not foresee a situation where one student might be able to use it while others cant, even for projects, because if one student needs a cellphone, that would mean everybody would need it.

Weve found theyre just a distraction, Kvalo said. Theres no purpose for them in the classroom.
Congratulations to Gov. Scott Walker and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, for landing Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics giant thats promising a $10 billion plant and thousands of jobs in southeastern Wisconsin.

If Foxconn delivers on its elaborate plans, Wisconsin will benefit from a surge in construction, manufacturing and employment in Ryans 1st Congressional District, which includes Kenosha and Racine counties. Thats where the plant (or plants) would likely go.

Foxconn, which makes liquid display panels for computers, televisions and other devices, also has expressed an interest in University of Wisconsin-Madison research, which could further expand the companys positive economic impact across the state.

This weeks announcement is exciting and welcome, given that several other states had hoped to land the technology manufacturer and its 20-million-square-foot campus on at least 1,000 acres.

But Wisconsin taxpayers still need convincing that the governors incentive package is worth its steep price. Gov. Walker wants the Legislature to approve some $3 billion in tax breaks and other incentives for Foxconn to locate here  by far the biggest government subsidy ever for a private company in the state.

The governor insisted Thursday that Foxconn wouldnt get the $3 billion over 15 years unless it employed 13,000 people. Still, thats about $231,000 in state subsidy per job.

Were eager to listen in the coming weeks to the governor and other advocates sell the Foxconn agreement to the Legislature and to the public. And we hope the case is strong for moving forward.

Unfortunately, the governors Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., which oversees and enforces such deals, has a spotty track record on protecting public dollars. And some of Foxconns promises in the past have failed to materialize.

Economists also stress that the source of most job creation is small business. So would those $3 billion in government incentives be better spent on helping startups expand in a state that ranks low for business creation? And if the Foxconn agreement does go forward, what guarantees does the state have that it will follow through?

Those are the kinds of questions that need clear and detailed answers as the Legislature prepares to take up special legislation as soon as next month to approve the state subsidies.

We hope the state Legislature can find its way to supporting tax and other benefits for Foxconn that are justified. What state lawmakers, in the glow of this weeks splashy announcement, shouldnt do is ignore their responsibility to ensure public dollars are protected and well spent.
A plan for the deteriorating Sauk City rail bridge will move forward.

The plan concerns removing piers one, two and three and spans one, two and three of the defunct bridge.

The Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission approved the plan, which will cost approximately $990,000, at its July 7 meeting.

The rail bridge is over a century old and has been in disrepair since 2002. In September, 2016, the bridge shifted several feet and an inspection of the bridge by Westbrook Associated Engineers found pier 2 was in a failed condition, and recommended it be removed.

An ad hoc committee was formed to investigate funding options for the structures removal, and made that recommendation during the July 7 meeting of the Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission.

The commission will share one-third of the cost to remove the bridge sections along with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad at an estimated $330,000 each.

The commission will apply for a loan up to $200,000 for freight rail improvement through the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said Matthew Honor, associate planner with the Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission. The remaining $130,000 would come from the commissions amended 2017 budget.

Honer said the next step is getting a request for proposal go out for bid by August.

Any surplus funds from steel salvage from the Great Sauk State Trail could also be used toward the bridge as well.

Honer said the commission hasnt yet discussed when work on the bridge would take place, although he said it would likely happen when it was safest for a contractor to get out there.

I imagine it would be done at the safest time for the contractors which would be when the water level is low, Honer said.

He said it is still not known exactly how the bridge piers and spans would be removed.

We dont know that because we dont yet know how the contractors will propose to tear down the bridge, Honor said. But it will be done in a matter that takes into account public safety.
Last week, Gov. Scott Walker signed January 2017 Special Session Assembly Bill 7 (SS AB 7), which I coauthored with Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, to expand graduate medical education in addiction specialty.

SS AB 7 is part of a bipartisan package of bills known as the Heroin, Opioid Prevention, and Education (H.O.P.E.) Agenda that is focused on combating Wisconsins heroin epidemic. Since the HOPE Agenda began in 2013, there have been 28 separate proposals that have been introduced, passed both houses of the legislature and signed into law.

One of the primary goals of this effort is to prevent addiction before it happens. We know from the medical community that in the majority of cases, heroin addiction begins with an addiction to prescription medications. Every persons body reacts differently to pain and pain medication. While many seek temporary relief from pain through prescription medication, others cannot manage without strong pain relief and ultimately succumb to the addictive qualities of these drugs.

When prevention is unsuccessful, there must be options for treatment, and in order for treatment to be successful, you need qualified medical personnel trained in addiction specialties. SS AB 7 allows the Department of Health Services (DHS) to award grants to a hospital for the development of an addiction specialist training program with the graduate medical training programs in rural hospitals.

Graduate Medical Education (GME), often referred to as residency training," is the training that medical students receive after graduating from medical school, and is a key factor in determining where physicians practice. In fact, data from the Wisconsin Hospital Association shows that 86 percent of students from Wisconsin who attend medical school in Wisconsin and complete their residency training in Wisconsin then practice in Wisconsin.

Statewide estimates show that Wisconsin will need an additional 2,000 to 4,000 physicians by 2035. In addition to SS AB 7, the Joint Finance Committee has added $1.5 million in the proposed budget to expand the GME program for all specialties. Since 2013, the program has helped create seven new residency programs and trained 79 physician residents (including 31 new psychiatrists and 33 new family medicine physicians) in Wisconsin. The state contribution is matched dollar-for-dollar by the hospitals, health systems and medical schools to advance this public-private partnership.

This funding will help the Rural GME Training sites located in the 17th Senate District that serve Grant, Green, Iowa, Richland, and Sauk Counties. In addition, the UW Family Medicine Department also has training locations for the Wisconsin Rural Physician Residency Assistance Program (WRPRAP) that are located in Dodgeville, Lancaster, Monroe, Reedsburg and Richland Center, along with developing programs in Mineral Point and Platteville.

Efforts such as these programs, and other initiatives are a proactive solution to help address the physician/health care shortage with home grown talent. Changing demographics also factor into the equation, Wisconsins population is expected to grow 12 percent by 2035, but within that growth the number of senior citizens is expected to increase by 69 percent. Seniors tend to go to the doctor three times as frequently as the rest of the population, which makes this need more acute.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative has a comprehensive site called the Wisconsin Collaborative for Rural GME, http://wcrgme.org/. Their site has a directory of current programs, information on how to start rural training site, and funding.




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Russia is home to diverse cultures, which are manifested in the high number of different languages used all over the country. The Russian language is the most popular in the country, with about 260 million speakers and is legally recognized as the countrys official language at the national. There are other 35 languages which are used as official languages in different regions of Russia. The country is also home to about 100 other minority languages.

Russian Language: National Language of Russia

Russian is the language enshrined in the Constitution of Russia as the nations national language. Russian is also one of the most widespread languages in the world, with speakers in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Latvia, Moldova, Estonia, Georgia Tajikistan, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus. The Russian language is also used as an official language in the United Nations, and also a primary language used by internet users around the world. The Russian language in its written form uses its distinct alphabet with additional consonants and vowels, which are based on the Cyrillic script. The global population of Russian native speakers is estimated to be 260 million people, with the majority residing in the former Russian Federation. The Russian language is classified as an Indo-European language and is one of the four East Slavic languages.

Russian Language: Dialects

The Russian language spoken all over the country has not changed much, and is quite similar as it has been used for hundreds of years in the country. However, despite its rather homogenous nature, the language does have several dialects which are geographically defined. The most fundamental dichotomy of the language is in two distinct dialects, Northern and Southern, with the nations capital Moscow being the linguistic divide between the two. The Northern dialect is predominantly used along the Volga River. The Northern dialect is further subdivided into five other smaller sub-dialects which include the Vladimir dialect, Vlatka dialect, Novgorod dialect, Olonets dialect, and the Arkhangelsk dialect. A common characteristic found in the Northern dialects is that the unstressed syllables do not have typical vowel reduction. The Southern dialect is predominantly used in the Northern Caucasus, the lower regions of the Volga and Don, southern Siberia, and the south of Ural. The Southern dialect is comprised of four smaller sub-dialects which include the Smolensk dialect, Ryazan dialect, Tula dialect, as well as the Orel dialect. There are other lesser dialects which exist outside the two principal dialects, and these are the Sloboda dialect and the Steppe dialect.

Russian Language: Standardized Language

While the language exists in various dialects, the commonly used dialect is the standardized dialect used in the capital, Moscow. Some linguists categorize the Moscow dialect as the Central Russian dialect, as the region where it is predominantly used is located between the regions of the Northern dialect and the Southern dialect, and therefore is seen as a transition between the two major dialects. The Moscow dialect was originally used by affluent members of society and the urban population in Moscow until the 20th century, when the government encouraged the nationwide use of the dialect. The standardized dialect of the language is incorporated into the Russian national education curriculum and is the dialect taught to foreigners as a second language. The official use of the standardized dialect of the Russian language is regulated by the Russian Language Institute, which is based in the Russian Academy of Sciences, a government institution.

Russian Language: Braille

Locally known as Braille Script, Russian Braille is a version of the standardized Russian language used nationwide in the country. Russian Braille uses the languages alphabets which are based on Cyrillic characters. Russian Braille also includes numbers and other arithmetic symbols.

Other Official Languages Of Russia

Besides Russian, there are other numerous languages which have been adopted as the official languages in Russia. These languages include; Ossetic, Ukrainian, Buryat, Kalmyk, Chechen, Ingush, Abaza, Adyghe, Cherkess, Kabardian, Altai, Bashkir, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Karachay-Balkar, Khakas, Nogai, Tatar, Tuvan, Yakut, Erzya, Komi, Hill Mari, Meadow Mari, Moksha, and Udmurt. These languages have thousands of native speakers who make up a significant percentage of the total Russian population. The Adyghe language, also known as West Circassian, is an example as it has more than 128,000 native speakers in Russia and is the official language in the Republic of Adygea, although there are also other speakers of the language in other countries. The Abaza language is another example, and has over 35,000 native speakers in Russia and is officially recognized as the official language in the Karachay-Cherkessia Constituency. In the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Bashkir language is used as the official language, and this language has 1.2 million speakers nationally. The Buryat language is the Buryat Republics official language and has over 265,000 native speakers all over the country. Chuvash language is the official language in the Chuvashia Republic, where it has about 1.1 million native speakers. Chechen language is one of the biggest languages besides Russian in the country, as it has over 1.4 million native speakers in Russia. The language is used as the official language of the Republic of Chechnya. Like many Russian languages, the Chechen language features Cyrillic and Latin alphabets in its written format. The Ossetian language is an Eastern Iranian language adopted as the North Ossetia- Alania region and its number of native speakers is estimated to be about 570,000 people around the country.

Endangered Languages Of Russia

The Kalmyk language is legally recognized as the official language of Kalmykia and has about 80,000 native speakers in the republic. However, Kalmyk is in danger of extinction, and UNESCO labels the language as definitely endangered. Other languages that are in danger of extinction include Northern and Southern Yukaghir, Ter Sami, Udege, Enets, Orok, Seto, Ket, Ingrian, Chulym, Ludian, Chukchi, Veps, and Tofalar.

Some languages have already been declared extinct in Russia, but might have small populations of native speakers in other countries in the world. Such languages include Ainu, Yugh, and Kerek.

Foreign Languages Spoken in Russia

Russia is home to thousands of expatriates who might have verbal and written knowledge of the nations national language, but also use their native languages while communicating. The most dominant foreign languages in Russia include English, German, French, Turkish, and Ukrainian. The use of these foreign languages is usually restricted to the major cities of Russia.
The Rise of the Byzantine Empire

The rise of the Byzantine Empire occurred simultaneously with the fall of the Roman Empire. The power and influence of the Roman Empire began in the 3rd century CE, in a period that saw the empire plagued with civil wars caused by the collapse of administrative structures. Constantine I ascended to power in the early 4th century and later in 330 CE, established Constantinople as his seat of power. Constantinople was founded on the site of an existing city known as Byzantium, from which the empire got its name. Constantines successors continued expanding the empire, ultimately leading to the Byzantine Empire to cover most of the Mediterranean region encompassing Egypt, Sicily, Italy, Greece, and Rome.

Threats to the Byzantine Empire

The empire was combating numerous challenges throughout its history, some of which ultimately led to its demise. During the Late antiquity period, the Byzantine Empire faced invasions from the Atilla the Hun, the Visigoths, the Vandals, and the Alans from numerous fronts. The 5th century was marked by the rise of Islam in the Mediterranean, with the Arabs engaging in war with the Byzantine Empire, which led to the fall of Egypt and the Levant between 634 CE and 641 CE. The Battle of Yarmouk in 636 CE between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate saw the empire experience another humiliating defeat. After the victory, the Arabs revved up their campaigns against the empire and succeeded to conquer Asia Minor, Sicily, Crete, and Cyprus. The fall of Egypt was a major blow to the Byzantine Empire, as the region was an important source of grain and manufactured goods. In the 11th century, the Byzantine Empire saw the rise of another challenge in the form of the Seljuq Empire, with the two empires clashing in the Battle of Manzikert in August 1071, which resulted in the decisive defeat of the Byzantine Empire. The humiliating defeat was compounded with Byzantines loss of Armenia and Anatolia to the Seljuq Empire. The century also saw the invasion of the Normans who had captured vast territories in Italy by the 12th century.

Crusades, Plagues and the Ultimate Collapse of the Byzantine Empire

Another threat faced by the Byzantine Empire was the Plague of Justinian, which decimated the population of the empire between 541 CE and 542 CE. During its peak, the plague led to the death of 5,000 people each day in Constantinople. The Crusades, which were initially meant to assist the Constantinople-based Empire to reclaim its lost territories, ultimately became a threat to the Byzantine Empire. The Fourth Crusade of 1204 CE, in particular, was incredibly devastating to the Byzantine Empire, where soldiers in the crusade mutinied and invaded Constantinople where they engaged in widespread looting, vandalism, and destruction. The event, which came to be known as the Sack of Constantinople, weakened the Byzantine Empires military and economic influence, which led to the invasion of the Ottoman Turks in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Ottoman Empire was ultimately victorious in the Byzantine-Ottoman wars, which culminated in the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Police Issue Early Hours Appeal For Missing 5 Year Old Girl

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Jul 29th, 2017

Police say concern is mounting for a young girl who is missing from the Holyhead area, believed to be in the company of her father who failed to appear before court.

The appeal was launched at 1am today, and circulated across North Wales plus neighbouring areas.

Five-year-old Molly Owens is believed to be in the company of her father, Brian George Owens.

26-year-old Brian Owens was due to be sentenced at Caernarfon Magistrates Court yesterday (Friday, July 28th) but he failed to appear before the court. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Molly is described as having collar length blonde hair and blue eyes. She sometimes wears pink glasses. It is not known what she is wearing.

Her father, Brian Owens is described as being 5ft 9 tall and of slim build. He has short brown hair and blue eyes.

Police enquiries are ongoing and North Wales Police are in contact with colleagues at British Transport Police and neighbouring forces.

Chief Inspector Sharon McCairn of North Wales Police said: We are concerned for Mollys whereabouts and are appealing to anybody who may have information to contact us.

Equally I am issuing a direct appeal for Brian Owens to make contact with us to let us know that both he and Molly are safe and well.

Anybody with information is asked to contact North Wales Police quoting reference number V113559.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested 114 undocumented immigrants in New York City and the surrounding counties as part of an 11-day police operation that ended Saturday, July 22.

The ICE operationas well as a subsequent speech on Friday by US President Donald Trump on Long Island, near New York Cityis an attempt to intimidate immigrant communities, particularly in sanctuary cities, where local police departments are subject to limited restrictions on aiding the deportation of undocumented immigrants. The New York City Council first passed legislation to limit cooperation with ICE in 2014.

As in previous raids around the country under the Trump administration ICE portrayed the arrest of the 114 immigrants as a crackdown against violent criminals.

In the news release announcing the arrests, Thomas Decker, field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, stated, Of those arrested during this operation, nine were released from New York custody with an active detainer, which poses an increased risk to the officers and the community. Regardless of politics, ICE will be diligent in its responsibility to find those who come to the United States to prey upon our communities and ultimately return them to their home countries.

The criminal charges against the immigrants ranged widely from white-collar crimes such fraud and forgery to violent crimes such as sexual assault and manslaughter. The most common crime was driving under the influence, of which, according to an ICE news release, 17 of the undocumented immigrants had been convicted.

Thirty-two of those detained in the roundup had no criminal record.

Eleven immigrants will face federal prosecution for re-entry after deportation, and could face up to 20 years in prison.

The statement from ICE gives no indication regarding when many of the detainees committed these crimes, how long the detainees had lived in the US or which of the detainees had been released from custody. Previous ICE raids have picked up immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades using the pretext of crimes they committed while children.

Many of the immigrants now facing deportation emigrated from countries in Central America suffering from extreme gang violence, and one detainee is from Afghanistan, where the United States has been at war for more than 15 years. Immigrants targeted in the operation were of 35 different nationalities.

Anu Joshi, director of immigration policy at the New York Immigration Coalition, told the Gothamist: From the beginning, this administration has purposefully attempted to make immigrant communities feel afraid. Sensationalizing [the recent] operation [in New York], or pushing a narrative about these communities, is just another way for them to do that.

She added, These are still immigrants and families who are being arrested, so whether that happens in 11 days or over the course of a month, I dont think that really matters.

Trumps remarks yesterday on Long Island to a mixture of Federal, state, and local police were scheduled under the pretext of discussing MS-13, a street gang based in El Salvador that has recently gained media attention in the US.

However, the president used the opportunity to pander to his audience and further embolden police and ICE agents to crack down on immigrants. He advised the assembled law enforcement agents to be rough when putting detainees into the backs of their vehicles.

He described his administration as allowing officers to start nipping the issue of immigrants in the bud, and hailed the police for using military equipment. He also claimed that MS-13 had exploited weak borders and lax immigration enforcement as part of their criminal operation.

Trump also made an indirect attack on New York Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio inferring that he is a weak mayor that doesnt know what is going on. De Blasio early on in his administration drew denunciation from members of the New York Police Department (NYPD) for limited criticisms of police brutality. By 2015 he supported the hiring of 1,000 additional cops and the establishment of a counter-terrorism unit.

In his remarks Friday Trump called on Congress to help fund the hiring of 10,000 ICE officers as well as hundreds of immigration judges and prosecutors to help speed up deportations.

Trumps xenophobic statements serve to whip up the most right-wing and fascistic elements in the United States. The escalation of the crackdown on immigrants paves the way for a police-state regime and attacks on workers more broadly.
Indias principal Stalinist partythe Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPMhas pledged its support for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the current India-China border crisis, even as it concedes that the crisis has been provoked by Indias emergence as a subordinate ally of US imperialism, and even as Indias belligerence threatens to spark war with both China and Pakistan.

Six weeks ago, Indian troops interceded on a ridge in the Himalayan foothills, the Doklam or Donglang Plateau, to prevent Chinese construction workers from expanding a road in territory that is claimed by both China and the Indian-dominated kingdom of Bhutan. Since then, hundreds of Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a tense eyeball-to-eyeball standoff, separated by little more than a hundred metres. Both New Delhi and Beijing have rushed thousands of additional troops to the remote region and for weeks Indian and Chinese leaders have been trading threats of a military clash.

The border crisis both exemplifies and represents a new stage in the rapid deterioration of Sino-Indian relations. This deterioration is the inevitable consequence of Indias transformation into a veritable frontline state in Washingtons military-strategic offensive against China.

But rather than warning Indias workers and toilers of the immense dangers the Indo-US alliance constitutes for the people of Asia and the world, the Stalinists are treating the Doklam border standoff as little more than a diplomatic flap.

Graver still, they are boosting the most fatal illusions in the Narendra Modi-led BJP government and the Indian bourgeoisie, vouching for their pacific character, and supporting their predatory great-power ambitions. Above all, they oppose the development of a global working class-led movement against imperialist war based on implacable opposition to the strivings of all the rival bourgeois powersthe Indian Republic includedfor resources, markets and strategic advantage.

On July 14 CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury attended an all-party leaders meeting summoned by the BJP government to build a consensus on the border standoff with China. According to External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay, all participants expressed strong support for Indias approach and also for the need for national unity.

Neither Yechury nor the CPM has contradicted or contested Baglays remarks. Indeed, Yechurys participation in a meeting summoned by the government and with the aim of forging a consensus among the parties of the Indian bourgeoisie speaks for itself. Rather than exposing and rallying the working class against the foreign policy machinations of the Indian bourgeoisiemachinations that are aimed at realizing its predatory, great-power ambitionsYechury rushed to offer the Stalinists help in cloaking them in national, supra-class colours.

Following the all-party meeting, Yechury declared on his Facebook page that the CPM fully supports the government in its efforts to resolve [the stand-off with China] through diplomatic channels and talks. The CPM leader coupled this with a call for Modi and the BJP to reflect and introspect about why suddenly, neighbourly ties are deteriorating in the region.

Yechurys comments are tantamount to a vote of confidence in the BJP governments and Indian bourgeoisies peaceful intentions. Who are they trying to kid?

 With the enthusiastic backing of the corporate media, big business, and the countrys military-strategic establishment, the BJP government hasaccording to the CPM Politburos own statement on Modi latest White House visitcemented India as a subordinate junior ally of US imperialism. And it has done so as the quarter-century of wars US imperialism has waged across the Middle East in a bid to stave off the consequences of the loss of its economic predominance have metastasized into reckless military-strategic confrontations with nuclear-armed China and Russia.

 Emboldened by Washingtons embrace of New Delhi as its principal South Asian and Indian Ocean ally, the BJP government has aggressively sought to impose itself as the regional hegemon. Last September, it ordered illegal cross-border raids inside Pakistan, then boasted that India has thrown off the shackles of strategic restraint vis a vis Islamabad. Ten months later, and with the Hindu supremacist BJP adamantly insisting that Pakistani terrorism is the root cause of the mass disaffection from Indian rule in disputed Kashmir, the Indian and Pakistani militaries confront each other daggers drawn.

 And the Modi government, continuing the efforts of its predecessors, is doggedly pursuing the development of a nuclear triad, including, with the Agni V missile, the capacity to strike every major Chinese population centre with nuclear weapons.

As for Modi and his BJP introspecting and adopting a more neighbourly policy, this is patently absurd. It is akin to appealing to them (as the Stalinists frequently do) to adopt pro-people policies or to renounce communalism.

Building on the global strategic Indo-US partnership forged by the previous Congress Party-led government, the BJP has made the Indo-US alliance the cornerstone of its global strategy. More fundamentally, the Indian bourgeoisie, like its rivals round the world, has responded to the deepest crisis of world capitalism since the Great Depression by embracing austerity, war and reaction. It brought Modi and his Hindu supremacist BJP to power to intensify pro-market reform and more aggressively assert its interests on the world stage.

That Yechury should address such stupid and reactionary appeals to Indias BJP-led government is of course no accident. Decades ago, the CPM and its sister party, the Communist Party of India (CPI), were integrated into the bourgeois political establishment. Their function is to contain and suppress social opposition and to counsel and alert the ruling class.

This is clearly illustrated in recent postings on the CPMs Peoples Democracy web site.

On July 12, Peoples Democracy published an editorial titled India-China: No Other Way, But Talks. By then, the Indian population had been inundated for almost a month with government and media reports painting China as a violator of Bhutans sovereign rights, equating the Doklam dispute with the Chinas purportedly aggressive actions in the South China Sea, and vaunting Indias ability, if needed, to avenge its defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian border war.

Yet this editorial was the very first time the border stand-off had been mentioned by either Peoples Democracy or the CPM party web site.

The editorial notes that the prime factor contributing to the growing divergence between India and China is Indias strategic alliance with the United States. India, it continues, has joined the United States on its strategic designs in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region which is aimed at containing China.

But it does not do so not from the standpoint of summoning the Indian working class to join with its class brothers and sisters in the US, China, Pakistan and around the world, in building a global movement against war and imperialism based on a revolutionary socialist program.

No, its argumentexpounded in much greater length elsewhereis a plea for the Modi government and the political establishment as a whole to recognize that the Indo-US alliance does not serve the national interests of the Indian bourgeoisie. India, argues the CPM, would do far better to maintain its strategic autonomyi.e., its room to maneuver between the US, the other western imperialist powers, Russia, and China.

The predominance of defence factor in the bilateral relationship is making India more and more dependent on the US and bringing it under their security umbrella, complained a lengthy article in Peoples Democracy July 16 edition. The article goes on to lament that the Indian bourgeoisie is losing the ability to use its military to pursue its own interests, including through waging war, due its subordination to Washington: We are  mortgaging our military to US imperial interests  giving India very little autonomy to decide its war and peace.

While occasionally garbed in anti-imperialist rhetoric, the Stalinists opposition to the Indo-US alliance has nothing to do with genuine opposition to imperialist war, which must be based on the mobilization of the international working class against all the rival bourgeoisies and the decrepit capitalist order.

The CPM unabashedly supports the great ambitions of the Indian ruling class, including the rapid expansion of Indias military. It has voiced no criticism as Indias military budget has risen almost five-fold from $11.8 billion in 2001 to some $56 billion today.

In respect to the Doklam border dispute, it does not denounce it as a reactionary struggle for strategic advantage between rival capitalist states. Rather it advises the BJP government to advance Indias interests through diplomatic horse-trading and by letting Bhutan take the lead in negotiating with China.

In respect to Indias relations with Pakistan, the CPM counsels restraint just as it does in the current border dispute with China. But that did not stop the CPM joining with the rest of the Indian establishment last September in lauding the illegal and highly provocative Special Forces raids Modi ordered the Indian army mount inside Pakistan. At the initiative of Kerala Chief Minister and CPM Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan the state legislature passed a resolution hailing the Indian military.

Nor does the Indian Stalinists ostensible opposition to US imperialism and the Indo-US alliance stand in the way of their allying, in the name of opposing the BJP, with the Congress Party and a host of right-wing regional and caste-ist parties that have all supported Indias integration into the US strategic agenda.

The China-India border standoff is only the latest warning that South Asia and the Indian Ocean are being sucked into the maelstrom of great-power conflict. The exposure of the CPM as a political agent of the Indian bourgeoisie, which uses phony socialist and anti-imperialist rhetoric to politically smother the working class, is imperative for the mobilization of the masses of South Asia against war.

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The North Korean test of another long-range missile yesterday produced a new round of condemnations and threats by the US and its allies. The launch follows a missile test on July 4, which, according to US analysts, had a range capable of reaching Alaska.

US President Donald Trump condemned the latest test and declared that the US will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Joseph Dunford and US Pacific Command chief Admiral Harry Harris called South Koreas top military official, General Lee Sun Jin. After affirming an ironclad commitment to South Koreas defence, Dunford and Harris also discussed military response options, Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Harris stated.

In a show of force just hours after the call, the US and South Korean militaries conducted a joint live fire exercise, which included firing missiles into the sea. A similar drill followed the North Korean test earlier this month.

Details provided by the South Korean military indicate that the latest missile was launched on a very steep trajectory, climbed to an altitude of about 3,700 kilometres, travelled about 1,000 kilometres and landed in waters off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Estimates put the potential range of the missile, if flown on a flatter trajectory, at 9,000 to 10,000 kilometres. This provoked lurid claims in the US media that major American cities could be targeted by North Korea with nuclear weapons.

As analysts have pointed out, however, the missiles range is uncertain without knowing its payloada heavier load would significantly shorten the range. As is also acknowledged, North Korea has yet to demonstrate that its missiles are accurate or that it has overcome the technological problems involved in reentry into the earths atmosphere.

The New York Times headlined its article North Korea tests a ballistic missile that experts say would hit California. Its first paragraph insisted this was a milestone that American presidents have long declared the United States could not tolerateimplying that the Trump administration needed to respond forcefully.

A lengthy CNN article reviewed all of Trumps options, pointing out that last month the US military updated its options for North Korea with the goal of giving Trump plans for a rapid response. Two American officials told CNN that the war plans would be presented to the president if a missile or nuclear test indicated that significant progress was made to developing a weapon capable of hitting the continental United States.

Such articles are designed to create a climate of fear and panic that North Korea is going to attack major American cities with nuclear weapons. This turns reality on its head. It is not the small, impoverished country of North Korea that is about to attack the USa move that would result in annihilation by the huge American nuclear arsenal.

Rather it is the USwhich has launched one illegal war of aggression after another over the past 25 yearsthat is planning and preparing pre-emptive strikes on North Korea. Pyongyangs nuclear and missile tests only provide a convenient pretext for a US attack, and for the massive American military build-up throughout the Asia-Pacific that is primarily aimed against China, which Washington regards as the chief threat to its global hegemony.

North Koreas bellicose posturing and weapon testing is utterly reactionary: it plays directly into US hands, sows divisions in the international working class and does nothing to defend the population. Nevertheless, the Pyongyang regimes quest for nuclear weapons is motivated by very real fear of a devastating US attack.

Article after article in the US media openly discusses the pros and cons of pre-emptive strikes on North Korea while Trump and his officials repeatedly declare that all options are on the table. In its article on the latest missile test, CNNs only objection to military aggression against Pyongyang was that it would result in North Korean attacks on South Korea and a new war on the Korean Peninsula.

Significantly General Dunford, who as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman is the top US military official, dismissed such objections last weekend. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, he said the use of military force against North Korea would result in a horrific war but it was not unimaginable, as some commentators suggested.

What was ruled out or unimaginable, Dunford said, was North Korea having the capacity to hit the US with a nuclear weapon. He added: So my job will be to develop military options to make sure that doesnt happen.

At the same forum, CIA director Mike Pompeo suggested the US should intensify its plans to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. He said the real problem was not North Koreas nuclear weapons but who controlled them. Pompeo declared he was confident that the intelligence community will present ... a wide range of options for the president to separate those two. Pompeo added that he was sure the North Korean people would love to see him [Kim] go.

The Washington Post reported on Monday that the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) had, following the July 4 missile test, revised its assessment of North Koreas capabilities. It claimed Pyongyang would have a reliable, nuclear-capable ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] as early as next yeartwo years earlier than previously estimated.

Yesterdays missile test will only heighten the clamour in Washington for action, including covert regime-change operations and military strikes. The extraordinary political crisis embroiling the Trump administration, which is under siege over allegations of collusion with Russia, only increases the danger that it will resort to reckless measures against North Korea to deflect attention.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A man accused of killing four victims - Brandi peters and her two daughters and their son in Tallahassee in 2010 - will stand trial Monday.

Henry Segura could face the death penalty if convicted.

The pre-trial hearings are over.

On Friday, a judge made some final decisions before jury selection starts Monday.

But first came that shocking admission from a former gang member Thursday. James Santos testified he ordered a hit on peters and her children.

"First of all, I introduced her to my organization and she was disloyal," Santos said. "I employed the person. They decided to steal. It had nothing to do with me."

Defense attorney Nathan Prince: "You understand testifying to these facts in a courtroom you have admitted to committing a first degree murder."

Santos replied: "Yes, I have no problem with that."

Santos has since hired an attorney to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights to protect himself from self-incrimination during Segura's trial.

The judge decided to allow parts of his testimony at trial, specifically his claims in setting up the hit and why he did it.

The judge also accepted parts of an expert's testimony about DNA evidence from drug runner Angel Avila-Quinones found at the crime scene.

The defense pointed to three other men who allegedly are connected to the murders. Segura's attorney is accusing Tallahassee police of refusing to consider anyone other than Segura for the crime.

The judge wouldn't call the men "potential suspects" but said he'd need to hear more about their involvement in the murder before ruling on including them at trial.

The complex case is expected to last three weeks.

MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go.
With over half a million in marijuana tax revenue since 2014, Union Gap is closing out its second year of a First through Seventh grade summer
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DNEPROPETROVKS

Victoria Rozhnov was at home with her six-year-old daughter, Angelica, when the shelling began. She quickly ran into the girls room and pulled her out of bed to move her to the bathtub. As soon as they left the room, a shell landed in the backyard. A large piece of shrapnel entered through the houses window, landing in Angelicas bed. Had she stayed in bed, it would have ended in a disaster. It was a great miracle, Victoria says.

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That day in early February 2017, in their rented apartment in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the Rozhnovs resolved to immigrate to Israel.

Three years after the beginning of the civil war in Ukraine, many Jews still live in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas, which are controlled by the pro-Russian separatists. When the battles began, Victoria and Stanislav Rozhnov fled Donetsk with little Angelica, who was three years old at the time, and rented an apartment in another, quieter city.

Victoria, 27, is a housewife. Stanislav, 29, a coal miner, went to work at the mine every day, until it was shut down and he ran out of money to pay rent. Left with no other choice, and despite their fears, they were forced to return to their apartment in Donetsk. Baby Maxim was born 14 months ago, and they found themselves in the midst of war with two small children.

Donetsks destroyed airport. People walk around with rifles and you dont know what theyre thinking (Photo: Sergey Averin, RIA Novosti)

"We were so afraid, Victoria says, It was a real nightmare. People walk around with rifles and you dont know what theyre thinking and what they want from you. Sometimes theyre drunk and they just shoot. Some of our acquaintances were killed in bombardments.

Now theyre about to join Victorias parents, who immigrated from Donetsk to Haifa in 2016 and have since been pressuring them to make aliyah too. We are leaving all our belongings behind and coming to Israel with only three bags. Well come to Israel, study Hebrew in an ulpan and start a new life, Victoria says.

They are bringing along their dog, Betty. The Jewish Agency is helping new immigrants bring their dogs for free and is even funding the air transportation of two dogs to Israel.

When Victoria talks about Israel, her blue eyes light up with a glimmer of hope. Its hard to say the same about her husband. His eyes look dimmed, and he seems sad. Im afraid I wont have a job in Israel, because you have no coal mines there. But Im sure things will be better for the children, Stanislav says.

A Soviet sanatorium

Both Victoria and Stanislav have Jewish grandparents, but they know nothing about the Holocaust. They have never lit a Shabbat candle or fasted on Yom Kippur. The fact they are eligible to make aliyah under the Law of Return is a lifesaver.

I meet them at the refugee center created by the Jewish Agency on the banks of the Dnieper River, a 30-minute drive from the city of Dnepropetrovsk and about 220 kilometers from the conflict zones. Its an old resort village, like a Soviet sanatorium, which serves as a transit camp for Jews who escaped the battles and would like to immigrate to Israel. Its noting luxurious, but the conditions arent bad: Three meals a day, a television in every apartment and an air conditioner. They can bathe in the Dnieper. Most importantly, its quiet and safe.

The Rozhnov family at the refugee center.' More than 2,000 Jews have immigrated to Israel from the conflict zones since the beginning of the war

The center was established by the Jewish Agencys emissaries in Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkiv, Max Luria and his wife Natalie Navitovsky, who are responsible for eastern Ukraine, an area with some 100,000 Jews. They came here from Israel in April 2014 with three children, one of whom was six-months-old at the time. They thought they would have a pleasant and serene mission, but the war broke out two weeks later. The Jewish Agency gave Max an emergency appointment and put him in charge of the evacuation of Donetsks Jews.

Although we are here with babies, we decided to stay and take care of the Jews, Max says. The Agencys security officer instructed us to have an extra fuel tank available, so if something happens, we can put the family in the car and drive towards Kiev.

When Max and Natalie took in the first Jewish refugees, they immediately noticed their distress. We saw frightened people who had fled a war zone, Max says. They had no passports, and they were afraid to return home.

He turned to several donors, who helped set up a residential center allowing Jews to recover for a few weeks before their passports are issued and they can undergo an immigration process. More than 630 people stayed at the center in 2016, and at a certain point it accommodated 150 people at the same time. At the moment, there are six families there waiting to make aliyah.

At the center, I meet 50-year-old Victoria Vinnitskaya and her 77-year-old mother, Sofia. They both lived until recently in an apartment building in Donetsk, which was hit with artillery shells.

It happened in the evening hours of April 8. Victoriaa history teacher, psychologist and tour guidewas at home. Her mother, a doctor working at the local hospital, who keeps working as an infectious disease specialist despite her age, was in the adjacent apartment. Suddenly, there was heavy shelling. The building and the yard were hit by five shells. All the windows were shattered. The main gas pipe was ruptured and gas began leaking. The front door was damaged, the elevator got stuck and the tenants were trapped in the building. A structure in the yard, which had served as a cobblers workshop, was completely burned.

We sat in the building like in a death trap until 2am, Victoria says. There was the smell of gas in the air and we were afraid everything would explode. Victoria cant stop the tears. Sofia is stronger. She doesnt cry.

Victorias 22-year-old son, Alexander, was in Israel at the time as part of the Masa program (semester- or year-long programs in Israel). Friends of his from Donetsk sent him pictures of the damage to his mother and grandmothers house. All phone and internet service was disconnected, and he didnt know what had happened to them for more than 24 hours. Contact only returned the next day. He wouldnt stop crying on the phone, Victoria says. He told me, Thats it, Mother, you must immigrate to Israel. I wont let you stay there anymore.'"

The two women realized there were no more excuses. They left everything behind and moved to the refugee center ahead of making aliyah. We could have sold the apartment for $1,500, but we decided it was better not to sell and left the keys with friends.

Alexander is about to join the IDF. They will live in the northern town of Kiryat Yam, next to friends who immigrated two years ago.

I ask them who they identify with morethe rebels or the Ukrainians. Sofia replies in Yiddish, I only identify with Israel. We know Israel defends its citizens.

The Gusev family38-year-old Natasha, 39-year-old Slava and 18-year-old Nikitaarrived at the refugee center from Donetsk in March and will soon immigrate to Israel. Nikita was supposed to make aliyah as part of the Selah program (an abbreviation for Students before Parents), but convinced his parents to join him. His 10 classmates at Chabads Or Avner School in Donetsk have all immigrated to Israel already.

In the first year of the war, things were very difficult, Nikita says. We were experienced shelling three times right next to our house. Then we got used to it. We would go down to the basement. There are no air raid sirens here. If you hear a whistle, its far away. If you hear something like a strong wind, you should flee, because a few seconds later theres a large explosion. And several minutes after that, police, army and ambulances arrive. Good friends of oursa mother, a father and two childrenwere killed. The rocket came in through the window and killed them.

The rescue from the hospital

More than 2,000 Jews have immigrated to Israel from the conflict zones since the beginning of the war. The Jewish Agency believes there are still 5,000 or 6,000 Jews left there.

People are very afraid to leave despite the difficult situation, Max Luria says. Because of the war, they cant sell their houses and property, and they leave with nothing. In Israel, they have to start all over again. Learn a language, find work.

Luria himself immigrated to Israel in 2006 from Dnipropetrovsk, and his wife Natalie immigrated from the Russian city of Vladivostok. Their story is my story too, and I give them a lot of inspiration, says Max.

Jewish Agency emissary Max Luria and his wife Natalie. Although we are here with babies, we decided to stay

One of the exciting rescue operations Max and Natalie were responsible for involved two brothers from Luhansk, who had lost their parents at a young age. The eldest one, 23, immigrated to Israel in 2014 and joined the Border Police. His younger brother, 22, is mentally ill and was kept in an isolation ward at a psychiatric hospital all alone, without any relatives. The older brother wanted to bring his sick brother to Israel, but the authorities in Luhansk would only discharge him from the hospital if his brother arrived and took responsibility for him. He planned to do so, but Jewish Agency officials were afraid if he travelled to Ukraine to pick up his brother, the Luhansk Peoples Republic would force him to enlist, and he would be unable to return to Israel.

Max located a group of pro-Israel German Christians, who managed to rescue the brother from the Luhansk hospital and smuggle him to Dnipropetrovsk, where he was taken to a psychiatric hospital. Max and Natalie arranged a flight for his brother from Israel, and the two met at the hospital. The sick brother broke into tears and kept saying, I want to come with you to Israel. And he did. They flew to Israel together, and he is now hospitalized in Kfar Saba.

More than 19,000 people have immigrated to Israel from Ukraine with the Jewish Agencys help since the start of the waran average of about 6,000 a year compared to some 2,000 in the year before the war. According to the Agencys estimates, about 200,000 members of Ukraines Jewish community are eligible for aliyah. Chabad presents much higher numbersa million and a half people.

For 70 years, these Jews hid their religion because of the Soviets, says Chabad emissary Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki, the chief rabbi of Dnipropetrovsk. There are many Jews here who dont know they are Jewish. There are families in which the old grandmother gathers everyone before she dies and tells them theyre Jewish."

Unfortunately, the State of Israel isnt doing enough to bring them to Israel. They could bring 100,000 people. They should invest several hundreds of millions of dollars and increase the aid packages, he says. Today, the state offers a NIS 15,000 (about $4,200) grant to each family that immigrates from Ukraine.

The huge discrepancy between the Jewish Agency and Chabad figures is mostly due to the Law of Return. Many Ukrainians say they have Jewish roots, but only those who can present documents proving they meet the laws requirements can immigrate. The Nativ liaison bureau is responsible for verifying the documents on behalf of the state. Local rabbis help locate the documents in archives. Young people arrive with the story their grandmother told them when they were small, but without any proof the Jewish Agency is forced to turn them down.

Dnepropetrovsk has a thriving Jewish life. The worlds largest Jewish center, the Menorah, was built in the city with a donation from two Jewish oligarchs, Igor Kolomoisky and Zvi Hirsch Bogolubov. Its comprised of seven buildings symbolizing the seven-branch candelabrum, covers 36,000 square meters in size and includes a hotel, kosher restaurants, a magnificent synagogue, a Holocaust museum, a wedding hall, a mall, ritual baths, a medical center, a bank, galleries and more. Its the Jewish peoples Dubai, says Rabbi Kaminezki.

That doesnt reflect what is happening 200 kilometers from there, however, which is why the Jewish Agency is putting a lot of effort into convincing Jews to make aliyah. The Agencys delegation in Ukraine, led by Ron Garfield, includes five regular Israeli emissaries, a mobile emissary and dozens of activists. The Agency is also working in cooperation with the Ofek Israeli company, with the Immigrant Absorption Ministrys support, to strengthen the connection between Ukraines Jews and Israel.

In the past three years, 500 high school students arrived in Israel as part of the Naaleh program (an acronym meaning youth making aliyah before parents), and 333 youths arrived as part of the Selah program. The Agency operates 144 Hebrew classrooms for some 2,000 students. It has also developed a professional training program to increase immigrants chances of finding work in Israelstarting from musicians and dancers, through bus drivers, doctors and hi-tech workers.

Roman Polonsky, head of the unit for Russian-speaking Jewry at the Jewish Agency, believes the crisis in Ukraine will continue, as will the wave of immigration.

People are fleeing the war and the uncertainty, and as far as theyre concerned, Israel is a safe and stable place. When I tell them Israel is not the most successful model of serenity and stability, they say: Yes, but you have the Iron Dome and no one there fights his own brother with weapons.
In one of his delusional speeches, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week called on the entire Muslim world, and the Turks as well, to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque, because that was Prophet Muhammads commandment.

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He didnt let the fact that the mosque was built 70 years after Mohammads death confuse him. Just like he denies the Armenian genocide, the arrest of thousands of citizens, who have been jailed for many years and subject to forced labor or executed one way or another.

Erdogan. Do you really plan on funding his vacation resorts? (Photo: EPA)

The truth is I couldnt care less about Erdogan. What I do care about is the rise, or should I say leap, in the number of Israelis who have travelled in recent weeks and months to Turkeys vacation resorts, the all-inclusive clubs in Antalya, as well as the occasional media reports presenting the people of Israel with all the nice, beautiful and luxurious things Turkey has to offer.

Yes, I used to vacation in Turkey too, before the Marmara incident, and I used to write that these vacations offer the best value for money. I travelled there again after the Marmara incident, when it seemed the Turkish president was beginning to reconcile with the State of Israel, and I went back to writing about what the Turks have to offer.

But like many people in Israel, I was wrong too. the Turkish president hasnt changed, and there is no reconciliation between him and the people of Israel. He gladly seizes every opportunity he gets to attack Israel or try to meddle in its internal affairs, presenting himself as the most important Muslim leader in the world.

In a television report aired two weeks ago, Israeli families explained that they had travelled to Antalya because they had no other choice. There was no room in the other destinations we wanted to go to, so we went to Antalya, they said in a sort of fake apology. Thats a pretty lame excuse and delusional answer to the question why do people even go to Turkey.

Money has no smell

Personally, I have no intention of going there as long as the tyrant is on his throne, and I wont go either if his successor follows in his footsteps. The truth is Im afraid to go there. Every time I receive an offer to go on a business trip to Turkey, I refuse politely. Images from the film Midnight Express pop up in my head, and I really dont want to take any risks.

If something happens, dont call on the Israeli government to rescue you (Photo: Danny Sadeh)

But beyond the fear, I find no reason to travel to a country whose leader spits in your face and in my face, day after day and hour after hour. I have no reason to invest my money in the Turkish economy.

Im not a public opinion leader and I wont call on anyone to boycott Turkey and not to go there, if thats what they want to do. Neither will I call for a boycott of the travel agencies that sell vacation packages to Turkey. Money, as you know, has no smell.

I do hope, however, that if something happens in Turkey, God forbid, all those who go there and ignore Erdogan's incitement will remember that there is an advisory against travelling to the tyrants country. If something happens, God forbid, and I hope nothing happens, they shouldnt call on the Israeli government to come and rescue them. When there is no lifeguard in the sea, one shouldnt go into the water.
Jordan has given Israel the results of its investigation into the shooting deaths of two Jordanians by an Israeli Embassy guard.

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Jordan's attorney general has filed murder charges against an Israeli embassy guard in the shooting deaths of two Jordanians. State media said Friday that Attorney General Akram Masaadeh charged the guard with two counts of murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm.

Anti-Israel protest in Jordan in front of Israeli embassy in Amman

Reports further stated that Masaadeh called for the guard to be tried in Israel, and that Jordan would relay such a demand through diplomatic channels.

Jordanian authorities have said that in Sunday's incident, the Israeli guard opened fire after a 16-year-old attacked him with a screwdriver. Another Jordanian man, standing near the teen was also killed.

The funeral of Bashar Al-Hamarna, a physician and landlord of house where shooting took place

Meanwhile, Israel's State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan instructed the relevant authorities to hand over material relating to the incident, and at the end of the investigation the Jordanian authorities will update the developments and findings.

Netanyahu greets Israeli security guard upon his return from Jordan (Photo: Haim Tzach/GPO)

Political sources privy to the initial Israeli investigation said that it appears the security guard behaved properly under the circumstances after the 16-year-old Jordanian stabbed him three times, twice in the back and once in the chest.

Photo: Haim Tzach/GPO

As for the Jordanian doctor, Bashar Al-Hamarna, who owned the apartment and was also killed in the incident, the findings of the initial investigation indicate that after the attacker crept up behind Ziv and began to stab him, he jumped back and fired his weapon. Ziv apparently tripped as he jumped back, which caused one bullet to hit the doctor, who was injured and later died of his wounds. The State of Israel apologized to the Jordanians for his death and undertook to pay the family financial compensation.

Ynet reported yesterday that the police are expected to summon the Israeli security guard at the Israeli embassy in Jordan, who shot two Jordanians to death, for questioning.

King Abdullah consoles father of teenage boy who apparently attacked Israeli guard with screwdriver

The guard, along with the rest of the embassy staff, returned to Israel under the protection of diplomatic immunity.

Upon returning, the guard received a warm welcome from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, much to Jordan's dismay, with Jordan's King Abdullah II calling Netanyahu's behavior "unacceptable and provocative."

The stabbing and subsequent shooting incident at the Israeli embassy in Jordan came following mounting tensions at the Temple Mount, where two Israeli policemen were killed by Palestinian terrorists earlier this month.

Protest in Amman over Temple Mount crisis

Israel responded to the deadly attack at the Temple Mount by setting up additional security measures at the holy site, a move that aroused a monumental backlash from the Muslim and Palestinian publics, including mass prayer demonstrations, violent riots and a deadly attack in the settlement of Halamish, in which three family members were killed by a Palestinian terrorist.

After two weeks of violence, Israel removed the added measures from the site on Thursday, a move that Muslim protestors see as a great victory.

PM Netanyahu (L) and King Abdullah II (PhotosL AFP)

The Waqf, Jordan's religious body that administers a major Jerusalem holy site at the Temple Mount, stated Israeli police have indeed lifted all restrictions on Muslim worshippers there. The Waqf added that the situation at the compound has returned to what it was before a deadly Arab attack there earlier this month.

Israeli police confirmed that age restrictions and other measures set earlier in wake of security assessments warning of Palestinian violence have been lifted.

The Israeli embassy in Jordan (Photo: Shalom Bartal)

Gaza's Health Ministry state a Palestinian teen was killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers stationed near the strip's border fence with Israel on Friday.

The ministry added that the 16-year-old was killed protesting tensions at the Templke Mount. There were several such protests on Friday in the coastal territory ruled by the terror group Hamas.

Israel's military said dozens of Palestinians rolled burning tires, hurled rocks at soldiers and tried to damage the security barrier. The military said shots were fired at main instigators after they ignored warning shots and calls to halt.

Several hundred Jordanians have chanted "Death to Israel" in a protest near Israel's Embassy on Friday, before being dispersed by security forces. Friday's protesters emerged from a mosque near the embassy in Jordan's capital, Amman. They were blocked by police after walking for about 200 meters (yards).
North Korea said on Saturday it had conducted another successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that proved its ability to strike all of America's mainland, drawing a sharp warning from US President Donald Trump and a rebuke from China.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally supervised the midnight launch of the missile on Friday night and said it was a "stern warning" for the United States that it would not be safe from destruction if it tries to attack, North Korea's official KCNA news agency said.

North Korea ICBM launch

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North Korea's state television broadcast pictures of the launch, showing the missile lifting off in a fiery blast in darkness and Kim cheering with military aides.

"The test-fire reconfirmed the reliability of the ICBM system, demonstrated the capability of making a surprise launch of the ICBM in any region and place any time, and clearly proved that the whole US mainland is in the firing range of the DPRK missiles, (Kim) said with pride," KCNA said.

DPRK is short for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The launch comes less than a month after North Korea conducted its first ICBM test in defiance of years of efforts led by the United States, South Korea and Japan to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear weapons ambitions.

North Korea's ballistic missile launch (Photo: Reuters)

North Korea conducted its fourth and fifth nuclear test last year and has engaged in an unprecedented pace of missile development that experts said significantly advanced its ability to launch longer-range ballistic missiles.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people," Trump said in a statement. "The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region."

China, North Korea's main ally, said it opposed North Korea's "launch activities that run counter to Security Council resolutions and the common wishes of the international community."

A foreign ministry statement added: "At the same time, China hopes all parties act with caution, to prevent tensions from continuing to escalate, to jointly protect regional peace and stability."

Early on Saturday, the United States and South Korea conducted a live-fire ballistic missile exercise in a display of firepower in response to the missile launch, the US and South Korean militaries said.

The top US military official, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, and Admiral Harry Harris, commander of US Pacific Command, spoke by phone with the top South Korean military official, General Lee Sun-jin, to discuss military response options to the launch.

The Trump administration has said that all options are on the table to deal with North Korea. However it has also made clear that diplomacy and sanctions are its preferred course.

The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the United States held separate phone calls and agreed to step up strategic deterrence against North Korea and push for a stronger UN Security Council sanctions resolution, the South and Japan said.

Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump (Photo: AP)

South Korea has also said it will proceed with the deployment of four additional units of the US THAAD anti-missile defence system that President Moon Jae-in has earlier delayed for an environmental assessment.

The missile test came a day after the US Senate approved a package of sanctions on North Korea, Russia and Iran. Trump is ready to sign the bill, the White House said on Friday.

The sanctions are likely to include measures aimed at Chinese financial institutions that do business with North Korea. Washington has also proposed a new round of UN sanctions on North Korea following its July 4 ICBM test.

'Reliable ICBM by year-end'

In Friday's test, North Korea's Hwasong-14 missile, named after the Korean word for Mars, reached an altitude of 3,724.9 km and flew 998 km for 47 minutes and 12 seconds before landing in the waters off the Korean peninsula's east coast, KCNA said.

Western experts said the flight was an improvement on North Korea's first test of an ICBM.

The flight demonstrated successful stage separation, reliability of the vehicle's control and guidance to allow the warhead to make an atmospheric re-entry under conditions harsher than under a normal long-range trajectory, KCNA said.

The trajectory was in line with the estimates given by the South Korean, US and Japanese militaries, which said the missile was believed to be an ICBM-class rocket.

Independent weapons experts said the launch demonstrated many parts of the United States were within range if the missile had been launched at a flattened trajectory.

The US-based Union of Concerned Scientists said its calculations showed the missile could have been capable of going as far into the United States as Denver and Chicago.

David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists wrote in a blog post that if it had flown on a standard trajectory, the missile would have had a range of 10,400 km (6,500 miles).

Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated a range of at least 9,500 km and said the window for a diplomatic solution with North Korea "is closing rapidly."

"The key here is that North Korea has a second successful test in less than one month," he said. "If this trend holds, they could establish an acceptably reliable ICBM before year's end."
Thousands of people went out to celebrate at the end of Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque the opening of all the gates to the Temple Mount and Israel's removal of additional security measures.

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Palestinian flags were hoisted over the top of the mosque and sweets were distributed to the crowd.

Friday's celebrations followed the relative calm, though Thursday's removal of the metal detectors from the holy site initially caused rioting by Muslim protestors in the compound that lasted until Thursday evening.

Muslim worshippers celebrate at Temple Mount

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"This is our great victory, we proved that we are very strong, and all the steps taken by the police and the racist government have failed," several worshippers shouted while at the Temple Mount compound. "All thanks to our stubborn struggle."

Celebrations at Temple Mount

"Our joy is very great, especially as this struggle united us, which is why we won," said one of the demonstrators. "We will never give up the Al-Aqsa Mosque, even if it costs us our lives. Today is a holiday for us, we are all happy here. We prayed and we will always come here to pray, without giving up."

Ali Masarwa, a resident of Wadi Ara, added: "Thank God that everything went quietly. We said that as long as the police are not inside the mosque compound, everything will go quietly and without any clashes. We now have no restrictions and no humiliating inspections of worshippers."

On Friday, there were minor confrontations after the prayers on the Temple Mount. Several Muslims threw rocks at police in the Wadi Joz neighborhood of Jerusalem near the Lions' Gate. The police reacted to the rock throwing with stun grenades, and no injuries were reported.

While most of the worshippers left the Temple Mount area relatively calmly, there were several disturbances in the West Bank area, which included rock throwing at Israeli security forces. Hundreds of Palestinians participated in these clashes in areas surrounding the Palestinian cities of Qalqilya, Bethlehem and Nablus. Two Palestinians were lightly wounded by rubber bullets during these altercations.

Meanwhile, King Abdullah II of Jordan spoke to US President Donald Trump to discuss the latest developments on the Temple Mount, telling him that further coordination is important to prevent renewed tensions over a contested Jerusalem shrine.

King Abdullah II (L) and Pres. Trump (Photo: AP)

The Royal Court said the monarch also told Trump in a phone call Friday that he valued the "key role" the US played in defusing the latest crisis.

Abdullah told Trump it is important to maintain the status quo at the site, a frequent flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

Jordan serves as custodian of the Muslim-administered holy site, the third holiest in Islam and an extremely sacred site in Judaism.
The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on six subsidiaries of a company key to Iran's ballistic missile program, citing continued "provocative actions" like Tehran's launch of a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit.

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Iranian state television reported Thursday that Iran had successfully tested a rocket that can deliver satellites into orbit, an action the United States and others say breaches a UN Security Council resolution because of its potential use in ballistic missile development.

Iran ballistic missile launch

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US officials have long been concerned that the technology used to position satellites in space may also be suitable for the production of long-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting the US. Iran's Simorgh rocket launch is based on the North Korean missile model.

While Iranian state press reported that the test had passed successfully, intelligence agencies in the US quickly described these reports as more propaganda than fact, with two US officials telling Fox News that the rocket launch was "a catastrophic failure, as it exploded before reaching space.

Despite the supposed "catastrophic failure," the attempt to launch a rocket violates UN Security Council Resolution 2231. US State Department spokesman Heather Nauert said the United States considers this as a continuation of the development of ballistic missiles.

An Iranian ballistic missile launch (Archive photo: Reuters Moahmood Hosseini)

A joint statement on Friday from the United States, France, Germany and Britain said the launch was inconsistent with a UN Security Council resolution calling on Iran not to conduct such tests.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms owned or controlled by the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group. The move enables the US government to block any company property under its jurisdiction and prevents US citizens from doing business with the firms.

"These sanctions ... underscore the United States deep concerns with Irans continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behavior," US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement.

"The US government will continue to aggressively counter Irans ballistic missile-related activity, whether it be a provocative space launch ... or likely support to Yemeni Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia such as occurred this past weekend," Mnuchin said.

The six Shahid Hemmat units targeted by the US sanctions manufacture missile components, missile airframes, liquid-propellant ballistic missile engines, liquid propellant, guidance and control systems. They also do missile-related research and maintenance.

US Pres. Trump (Photo: AFP)

The Treasury move was announced just hours after the US Senate voted almost unanimously to impose new sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea.

The measure put President Donald Trump, who has sought better ties with Russia, in a tough position, forcing him to either sign the bill into law or anger his party by vetoing it.

The sanctions in that bill also target Iran's missile development programs as well as human rights abuses.

The State Department charged on Thursday that Iran's test of the satellite launch vehicle was a violation of UN Security Council resolutions as well as the spirit of the multinational Iran nuclear deal, under which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear programs in exchange for a lifting of some economic sanctions.

Washington's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said the Trump administration would continue to impose consequences on Iran until it complied fully with UN resolutions.

"The issue with Iran always comes back to mistrust. Irans widespread support for terrorists tells us we cant trust them. Irans breaking its obligation on missile testing tells us we cant trust them. Yesterdays launch proves that yet again," she said in a statement.

The Trump administration certified Iran as being in compliance with the nuclear deal last week, even though Trump has called the agreement negotiated by his Democratic predecessor "the worst deal ever."

Trump issued a veiled threat against Iran earlier this week, warning Tehran to adhere to the terms of the nuclear accord or face "big, big problems." He said in a speech in Ohio that the deal had "emboldened" Iran and added "that won't take place much longer."
As hundreds of Palestinians rioted on Friday in several different locations throughout the West Bank and along the Gaza border fence, the Border Police's elite undercover unit infiltrated the crowds and arrested three central instigators in the violence.

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The three suspects were all Palestinian residents of Ramallah and were transferred to security forces for further questioning.

Violent protests in West Bank ( ")

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In addition to Ramallah, violent disturbances were recorded in Hebron, Rachel's Tomb, Nablus, Tulkarm and Qalandiya as a result of the ongoing tension over the Temple Mount and the return of worshippers to the sensitive compound.

Undercover officers detaining protestor

Dozens of rioters blocked roads, burned tires and hurled rocks at IDF and police forces who were dispatched to the area to maintain order.

Undercover officers detaining rioter

The IDF also reported that one Palestinian rioter was detained in Hebron.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian outlets reported that 16-year-old Abed al-Rahman Abu Hameiseh was killed in clashes with IDF forces near the border fence in the central Gaza Strip.

Palestinian rioters attempt to throw tear gas canisters back at police (Photo: AFP)

Photo: Reuters

The IDF confirmed the violent protests in a statement, saying, "In the past few hours, violent riots have begun throughout the Gaza Strip, involving dozens of Palestinians in several locations along the perimeter who are burning tires and throwing stones at IDF forces. In the course of the violence, an IDF force fired at a number of key instigators."

Children take part in protests in Hebron (Photo: AFP)

Photo: AP

The IDF also reported that a soldier was lightly wounded by stone-throwing rioters near Qalandiya. He was evacuated for medical treatment.

Police fire tear gas at rioters (Photo: AFP)
TEHRAN - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard said Saturday a US Navy aircraft carrier fired a warning shot in an "unprofessional" confrontation with Iranian vessels, the official IRNA news agency reported.

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IRNA quoted a statement from the Guard as saying that the USS Nimitz and an accompanying ship came near an Iranian oil offshore platform in the Persian Gulf and a helicopter from the ship hovered near vessels manned by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.

The report said the confrontation took place Friday afternoon and the US navy ships left the area following the encounter.

USS Nimitz (Photo: Reuters)

The US Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet had no immediate comment.

The incident comes after a US Navy patrol boat fired warning shots Tuesday near an Iranian vessel that American sailors said came dangerously close to them during a tense encounter.

Iran and the US frequently have run-ins in the Persian Gulf, nearly all involving the Revolutionary Guard, a separate force from Iran's military that answers only to the country's supreme leader. In January, near the end of then-President Barack Obama's term, the USS Mahan fired shots toward Iranian fast-attack boats as they neared the destroyer in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian forces view the American presence in the Gulf as a provocation. They have accused the US Navy of unprofessional behavior, especially in the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil trade passes by sea.

Also Saturday, Iran's parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy held an urgent meeting with deputy foreign minister and senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araghchi in which they reviewed measures that the country may apply in response to a package of sanctions the US Senate approved Friday against Iran and sent to President Donald Trump for signing.

Araghchi told state TV Saturday that the decision is a "hostile" breach of the deal.

"It is a breach of the deal in articles 26, 28 and 29," said Araghchi. "A strong answer will be given to the action by the US."

The articles say the US Administration, acting consistently with the respective roles of the President and Congress, will refrain from re-imposing the sanctions or any policy specifically intended to directly and adversely affect the normalization of trade and economic relations with Iran.

The US legislation imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. The measure would also apply terrorism sanctions to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard and enforce an arms embargo. Democrats said the new sanctions would not conflict with the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

On Friday, the United States, France, Germany and Britain, who brokered the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran along with China, Russia and the European Union, said they're raising concerns with the United Nations over Iran's Thursday launch of a satellite-carrying rocket into space.

In a joint statement, they said that Iran's launch was "inconsistent" with a UN Security Council resolution that enshrined the nuclear deal.

On Saturday Iran's foreign ministry said the missile program is part of "domestic policy of the country, deterrent and at service of regional peace and security."

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since 1979 when Iranian militant students stormed the US embassy and took 52 American hostages for 444 days.
BEIRUT -- Syria's army and its allies on Saturday reached the edge of al-Sukhna, the last town held by Islamic State in Homs province and a key step in their multi-pronged offensive against the militants, a Hezbollah-run military media unit said.

Sukhna is on the main desert highway between Palmyra and the government's besieged enclave at Deir al-Zor, about 130km (80 miles) to the east.

The Hezbollah media unit earlier said the Sukhna gas field and heights above the town were within range of the army and its allies' fire.

A war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that the army had similar fire control across the whole town and that most Islamic State militants there had fled.
MAIDUGURI -- Authorities in northeastern Nigeria say at least 14 people are dead after a suicide bombing blamed on the Boko Haram extremist group.

Bello Dambatta, head of the rapid response team for the State Emergency Agency SEMA, said a female suicide bomber sneaked into a building late Friday in Dikwa, east of the city of Maiduguri, and detonated her explosives.

Volunteers said at least two dozen others were wounded and had to wait until Saturday morning to be evacuated because of safety concerns and the lack of phone service.
SANAA -- Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels said on Saturday they targeted a military ship belonging to the United Arab Emirates, part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting them in the country.

The ship, carrying military equipment, was arriving from Eritrea's Assab port, according to Houthi officials. It is the third ship belonging to the coalition to be targeted off Yemen's western coast since the beginning of 2017.

The Saudi Press Agency, citing a statement by the coalition, said that Houthis used an explosives-laden boat, which struck the pier close to a group of ships at the Red Sea port of Mocha. It added that there were no casualties or any substantial damage.
During the weekend, IDF forces raided the home of the terrorist who carried out the stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion Junction on Friday.

Security forces confiscated six vehicles.

In addition, IDF forces raided several locations in Qalandiya, seizing M4 rifles and magazines.

IDF forces along with the Shin Bet, Border Police and Israel Police also detained two wanted terror suspects in the West Bank overnight Friday.
Hundreds of demonstrators descend on Goren Square near the home of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to protest lack of progress in investigations into the prime minister.

Demonstrators carried signs saying, "We have lost faith", "enough with corruption," and more.

Across the square, a number of Likud counter-protestors assembled, chanting slogans in support of the prime minister.
BENGHAZI -- A fighter jet from eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army was shot down in Dahr Al-Hamer district in Derna and its two crew detained, an air force spokesman said on Saturday.

"A MiG-21 fighter was shot down by a missile after the aircraft carried out an airstrike targeting militants," LNA spokesman for the Benina air base, Naser Hassi, told Reuters.

Derna, which has a history of militancy, is a target for LNA forces, backed by neighbouring Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, as part of Haftar's self-declared war on Islamist militants.
The Religious Peace Initiativea joint Israeli-Palestinian interreligious dialogue grouptook part in negotiations between the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf and Israel in an attempt to bring the Temple Mount crisis to an end.

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The Israeli Mosaica organization, together with the Muslim Adam Center worked with both the Israel Police and the Waqf to "translate" into detail the understandings between the Israeli government and Jordan.

Rabbi Micharl Melchior (Photo: Guy Asiag)

Former minister and Knesset member Rabbi Michael Melchior, told Ynet, "The removal of the cameras was not the end of the story. There were a lot more details to the agreement. They were delicate things we can't go into detail about. Despite interest from the public and the press, we don't want to ruin what we have fixed."

For Melchior, the bottom line is what matters. Israel removed "provocative and inefficient" security measures while the Waqf will be obligated to keep the quiet at the Temple Mount. However, he makes it clear there is no acceptance of Israeli sovereignty over the site.

"We work daily on the subject of religious peace and therefore are very connected to senior Waqf officials and the entire Muslim world," Melchior added. "We kept sending messages from them to the police and back, and in the end we also formulated what would include the Waqf announcement about ending the crisis."

Rabbi Melchior agreed to reveal only a small amount of details behind the scenes of the negotiations.

"There were extremist people, religious and political officials, who suddenly raised their heads and were not ready under any circumstance to come to an agreement, because they wanted the success of having the metal detectors removed.

"After their victory in this, they weren't satisfied with the status quo of July 14, 2017 at the Temple Mount (before the terror attack that led Israel to place the additional security), and there were those who wanted to go back to June 4, 1967 status quo (before the Six-Day War). Despite the fact they normally don't have a lot of say, they managed to create an atmosphere accordingly."

Photo: Yael Friedson

According to Melchior, these extremist positions also threatened to infiltrate Waqf leadership, but the trust between the parties in the Religious Peace Initiativewhich operates centers in east Jerusalem, Ramallah and Gazaenabled the mobilization of all parties to resolve the crisis.

"In the end, we managed to bring all of the eight central leaders of the Waqf to one common position," he said.

Melchior is not worried the cabinet decision to place smart cameras at the Temple Mount will resume the crisis, despite threats in recent days from the Muslim side.

"As far as I know, there was no such operative decision. In any event, I believe in the future any dialogue will be done through the Waqf," he said.

Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg

In regards to the perceived shot Israel took to its pride, Melchior said, "Despite all the talk about capitulation, it was in our supreme interest in the end, and I am glad the police also saw it that way. What happened in the last two weeks is that all the extremists began to celebrate here freely. All the moderate voices, usually strong and central, just had their heads down.

"The Waqf understands the Temple Mount is a holy place, and they are obligated to keep the peace and quiet. Under no circumstances do they want the place to be used by people to hide arms, cause riots or launch incitement.

"Of course this doesn't mean they accept Israeli sovereignty, but they definitely don't want the site to be used for incitement and violence. That in itself is a significant message."
Hundreds of people participated in the funeral procession of the young man who was shot to death during a police chase in Jaffa.

The procession began at the house of the deceased in Jaffa, heading for the Al Jabaliya Mosque, before proceeding to the cemetery.
Subsidies.

There, Ive said the word.

Its evidently a terrible word.

Years ago I read a Letter to the Editor printed in the Omaha World Herald. The writer was a rabid anti-ethanol guy who promised to never use ethanol because it and the farmers that produced the grain were subsidized, and he would rather buy oil from a Mideast producer even if the profits paid for terrorism. That tells me that ags image falls below somebody that wants to cut your head off and possibly below whale effluent.

By the way, ethanol is NOT subsidized. And for those who say 40 percent of all the corn is used to make ethanol are either foolishly or intentionally misleading the public. You can also make the claim that 100 percent of the corn crop goes into a harvesting machine. It is what comes out of the ethanol plant that matters. Not only is ethanol created in the process, but several other food products plus livestock feed that are very palatable and higher in protein than the corn that was delivered to the plant.

Farmers are offered subsidized crop insurance, thanks to the American taxpayer. But we do pay a sizable portion of the policies to lessen weather and price worries, which means that now ag also has a dog in the fight. And, hopefully we will never again bail out those that refuse to participate in this program.

Speaking of bail-outs - the cost of bailing out the nations banks and the ensuing stimulus program cost $1,487,000,000,000! Thats right, $1.487 trillion. Or, $4,875 per person in this country. In comparison, American agriculture is a basic part of a system that keeps your grocery shelves filled every day. Agricultures share of the total cost of our food bill is LESS than 1 percent! Oh, I forgot to include the cost of ag subsidies, which amounts to $60 per person each year. Try to find a deal like that in any other country in the world.

Remember, agricultures balance of trade surplus in 2015 was $19.5 billion. In 2014 it was $38 billion.We have had a surplus in agricultures trade with the world since 1960. These billions of dollars of surplus far surpass the cost of our supposed subsidies.

FEMA, the federal governments agency that deals with disasters is taxpayer funded, as it should be. Federal flood insurance does not pay its own way. In just one week in August of 2015 the Forest Service spent $243,000,000 to fight forest fires out west. The American taxpayer, as we should, paid the bill.

Fair Nebraska is not a group that is opposed to all taxes. It is evident to us that there is a need to adequately fund public education, our roads, our safety, and many other things. But we are adamant that the funding is done in an equitable manner. We will not abide to some of the lies, intentional misleading efforts, and fables about agriculture, especially regarding Nebraskas farmers and ranchers.

Those of us that have created Fair Nebraska realize this will be a struggle that may take years to win, but it is a battle that we have to fight, and will win.

Dennis Richters

Seward county farmer

and board member

of Fair Nebraska.
Sharon Faye Odle, 77 years old, went to be with her Lord and Savior, on July 26, 2017 in her home in Yukon, Okla. Sharon was born on April 11, 1940 in Geneva to Ralph and Elise Ellison. She was preceded in death by her parents and her in-laws, Arthur and Florine Odle.

She was second oldest of eight children. After graduating high school, Sharon moved on to Oklahoma where she attended Bethany Nazarene College, now Southern Nazarene University. This is where Sharon met her husband, Carl Odle, during her junior year of college and they married the following year in November of 1961. Sharon went on to complete two degrees; an AB in Religion and a BS in Elementary Education.

Married for 55 years, Sharon and Carl worked in the Pastorate for 12 years and continued their ministry wherever God led them. Sharon taught second grade at the old central elementary school in Yukon, Okla. for six years and substituted for several more. She had a licensed in-home daycare for many years and taught childrens church, childrens quizzing and caravans. They finally settled back in Yukon, Okla. to retire where she continued to co-pastor with her husband in the senior adult ministries at Yukon Church of the Nazarene.

Sharon faithfully cared for family and friends through wonderful cooking and baking from scratch. A woman of faith and the heart of her family, Sharon was a tireless Christian example. Over the years she was a member of various womens groups, prayer groups, and Associated Retired Minsters & Missionaries (ARMM). Sharon loved to bake, read, sew, play games, chat with friends and family and go on road trips. Sharon was always giving to others out of a heart of love and concern.

Throughout her life she maintained a sweet and simple demeanor, constant nurturing love and unwavering faith in God. Her signature gift of joy, shown through her constant smiling, laughter and joking around will never be forgotten.

Her surviving family members are numerous, husband, Arthur Carl Odle; son, Steven Odle; daughter and son-in-law, Sheryl and Bryan McDonald; granddaughter, Abigail Odle; siblings, Ronald Ellison and wife Donna, Joyce Kelly and husband Rev. Thomas, Jerry Ellison and wife Sharon, Laura Grace Fox and husband Jack, Gaylord Ellison, Jeannette Cronan and husband Rod, Dale Ellison and wife Michelle; sibling in-laws, Jeanette Skalla and husband Ed, Diane Powell and husband Rev. Larry, Sandra Stevens and husband Alvest; aunts, Vera Woodman and Mariam Worley. There are too many beloved cousins, nieces and nephews to list or even count but we know she loved and cherished them all.

Viewing will be Sunday, July 30, 11 a.m.  9 p.m., with family present from 6  8 p.m. at Mercer-Adams Funeral Service, Bethany, Okla. Services to celebrate her life will be Monday, July 31, 10 a.m. at Yukon First Church of the Nazarene with interment following in Yukon Cemetery.

To share a memory or condolence, visit www.mercer-adams.com.
The following questions were asked recently on the Wonderline:

Q: Does anyone have memories of the 1950 flood in York?

A: This question carried over from last weeks Wonderline as readers provided their memories.

Ted Gleim of Lincoln said he was six years old when the flood waters ravaged the town of York. He said his grandmother lived on Thompson Avenue and he would come to York with his parents once a week to visit her and buy groceries. He remembers standing in the downtown area, in the vicinity of Fourth and Lincoln, looking out over all the water. He said he also remembers seeing four-wheeled military amphibious vehicles moving about the area to pick up people who had become stranded.

We also heard from Wanda Marget from Fairmont. She said, My husband and I went to York, the night of the York flood of 1950. Edith and Monte Chapman and three friends of Fairmont were in our 1937 Chevy headed to York. It was raining and when we got about four miles south of York, the water was coming over the edge of the road and our flooded out. We sat in the car all night and in the morning the guys were able to get the car running. We tried to drive into York but the river was flooded all over the road so we walked into York on the railroad tracks (that are no longer there) to check on my parents, Ivan and Laura Tracy, who lived on West Sixth Street. Laura Tracy had been at the Safeway store buying groceries that evening, which was located near the auditorium, and Ivan Tracy was working at Miller Seed. Ivan Tracy ended up swimming across Sixth Street to get to Laura at the Safeway store.

Q: Please let us know what date the city employees salaries were published in the YNT.

A: The job titles and monthly rates of pay for city employees were published in the legals in the News-Times on Wednesday, July 19. These are submitted by the city offices for publication on an annual basis.

Q: Where in York can we get those glasses to view the eclipse?

A: Eclipse viewing glasses can be found at Eakes Office Plus, Wagner Decorating, Ace Hardware and Walmart.

As far as the thousands that were at the York County Visitors Bureau, they have all been distributed and have no more.

Q: Where are there going to be gathering spots for watching the eclipse in York County?

A: The Wessels Living History Farm and Hendersons Mennonite Heritage Park are both holding eclipse viewing events. Additional gathering spots include the York County Fairgrounds parking lot (to the west of the grounds), the Holthus Convention Center parking lot, Recharge Lake, Mincks Park, Harrison Park, Miller Park and East Hill Park.

Q: Is the York News-Times a member of the York Chamber of Commerce?

A: Yes.

Q: I read in a past story in the newspaper that something called the Civil Service Commission was going to be working with the administrator in the interviewing process for a new police chief. What is the Civil Service Commission?

A: The Civil Service Commission is an advisory board that adopts and promulgates procedural rules and regulations which provide in detail the manner in which examinations and hiring of police officers and firefighters may be held.

Q: Is there really a pigeon race in Cordova each year? I heard someone say they were going to go to it and I dont know anything about that. Is that real? Does it really involve pigeons?

A: Yes, it really involves pigeons.

During the bird release held this year, 44 homing pigeons were sent flying on a 72-mile race back to their homes in Douglas and Alvo. The man who owns most of the birds told the Seward County Independent that each of his pigeons has a microchipped band on one leg. When the pigeons arrive back at their coop, they walk across a threshold that scans the chip. He can then see when each bird arrived home and how long their flight lasted. It takes the pigeons about 1  hours to return to their homes.

Q: When will the city council start their budget meetings? I want to attend the sessions this year, as I think it would be interesting. I just havent heard as to when they will start.

A: The city council and department heads will have their first public work session at 5 p.m., on Thursday, Aug. 3, prior to the regular city council meeting.

Q: What years saw the hottest summers in Nebraska since they started recording temperatures?

A: The summer with the highest average temperature in Nebraska was in 1936. It is followed by the summers of 1934 and 1937.

Q: The story of the Titanic is one everyone knows well. But there are some really ironic facts about some of the people who did not die on the Titanic because their plans changed? Can you look that up? I heard a speaker once at a senior center who talked about some of these strange back stories. And just one more question, are any of the survivors still alive? Im sure no one is as its been way too long now  if thats the case, who was the last living survivor?

A: We did find some stories about people who were supposed to be on the Titanic and then were fortunate to not go after all.

For example, J.P. Morgan was supposed to be on the Titanic on her maiden voyage but he took ill  and died shortly after the Titanic disaster in 1913.

Milton S. Hershey, founder of North Americas largest chocolate firm, was due to travel on Titanic but was needed home at an earlier date and was not on the doomed ship.

Alfred Vanderbilt, the multimillionaire sportsman and heir to the Vanderbilt shipping and railroad empire, was returning from a trip to Europe and cancelled his passage on the Titanic so late that some early newspaper accounts listed him as being on board. Vanderbilt lived on . . . ironically and tragically to become one of the most celebrated casualties of the Lusitania sinking three years later.

As far as the last living survivor, that was Millvina Dean who died at the age of 97 in May, 2009. As a two-month-old baby, she was the youngest passenger on board. She, her mother and brother were placed in Lifeboat 10 and were among the first off the liner who escaped. Her father drown.

Dean became the very last survivor when another woman who had been a baby on board, Barbara Dainton, died in October, 2007, at the age of 96. The last American survivor was Lillian Asplund, who died at the age of 99 in 2006.
Expert Advice with Ian Hosking Richards. 30/07/2017

We are used to politicians banging on about negative gearing, but now they seem to have actually done something about it. Is this a potential deal breaker, or is it business as usual?

In the almost twenty years that I have been actively investing, the subject of negative gearing has been a hot topic. Yet, despite all the talk and blustering, little has actually changed. Until now.

So should we be worried? The short answer is no. Why? Let me explain.

The main reason you buy a property is the potential for capital growth. You should never buy a property simply to get a tax rebate. Remember, the very generous tax treatment that Australian resident tax payers are entitled to claim simply does not exist in the vast majority of countries. Yet there are many property investors in these countries that have created extraordinary wealth, all without the benefit of negative gearing. Your focus should not be how much a particular property will cost you to own now, but rather how much wealth it will create for you for your future.

Secondly, if you use the right strategy you will still be able to claim a generous tax benefit similar to what was available to you pre-budget. The changes mainly relate to the purchase of established properties, where fixtures and fittings have already been depreciated by a previous owner. Until these changes are legislated a lot of the detail is missing, but It appears that purchasing a new property will be exempt from these changes.

My strategy has always been to buy new. It allows me to attract a premium tenant. I can anticipate my cash flow much more accurately as I will not incur any unexpected expenses in the early years of ownership. It also allows me to choose a builder that I trust. And crucially, my strategy exempts me from the recent tweaks to the rules. So for me there will be very little change. Business as usual. For those who have followed a different strategy, ie buying established properties, they may want to re-consider in the light of recent changes whether this is still the best strategy. They may actually find that a buy new strategy works even better for them than their previous strategy prior to the changes. If, like me, you want an affordable property with great potential for capital growth, that pays for itself, doesnt cause any headaches, and helps you to achieve your long term goals, a change in strategy might help you to still reach your goals, and more quickly and easily than you had imagined.

Summary

Whilst a negative gearing benefit can help to cashflow a property, it is not essential in creating wealth through property. The residents of many other countries manage quite well without having to rely on the government subsidising their private investments. However, the new rules will affect certain investors more than others, and it will still be possible to get substantial help from the ATO if you select the right type of property.

..........................................................

Ian Hosking Richards is a successful property investor with a portfolio of over 30 properties. He is the CEO and founder of Rocket Property Group, a leading independent real estate agency that helps hundreds of people each year enter the property market or grow their existing portfolios.

For further information or assistance, please visit www.rocketpropertygroup.com.au or call 1300 850 038.

To read more articles by Ian Hosking Richards, click here

Disclaimer: while due care is taken, the viewpoints expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Your Investment Property.
Washington: The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test carried out by North Korea is a reckless and dangerous action by its authoritarian regime, says US President Donald Trump, asserting that Pyongyang has further isolated itself in the international community.

North Korea yesterday launched an ICBM for the second time in a month, the Pentagon has said, a day after US Congress voted to impose new tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and Pyongyang.

"North Korea's test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missile the second such test in less than a month is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," Trump said hours after Pyongyang carried out the provocative action.

The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these tests and these weapons ensure North Korea's security, he said, adding that in reality, they have the opposite effect.

"By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

"The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region," Trump said.

The North Korean ICBM tests carried out around 10.41 AM EST was launched from Mupyong-ni and travelled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, the Pentagon Spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said.

This was North Korea's 12th missile test this year and second ICBM in less than a month.

The provocative North Korea ICBM test comes in less than 24 hours of the Senate passing a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Subsequent to the North Korean ICBM launch, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, and Commander, US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options. Harris joined Dunford in his Pentagon office to make the phone call," Joint Chief of Staff Chairman's spokesman Navy Capt. Greg Hicks said.

Meanwhile the South Korean and US militaries conducted a second combined training event to exercise assets countering North Korea's missile launch/nuclear test, a media release said today.

This exercise once again utilised the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II, which fired missiles into territorial waters of South Korea along the East Coast on July 5.

The ATACMS can be rapidly deployed and engaged and provides deep-strike precision capability, enabling the South Korea-US alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions.

"The missile North Korea just tested probably put US West Coast in range," Congressman Brad Sherman, who is ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, said in a tweet.

"Now is the time to ramp up sanctions. China cannot have it both ways; it cannot do business as usual with the US and subsidising North Korea," he said.

"But we need to be ready to talk too, and ready to accept a freeze, something far less than denuclearisation for the foreseeable future," Sherman added.
Washington: An influential US lawmaker has introduced a bill that will remove tariff benefits for countries found to be non-compliant in returning American children abducted by one parent without the consent of the other, a move that may impact countries like India.

The bill 'Bindu Philips and Devon Davenport International Child Abduction Return Act of 2017' is named after two parents, an Indian-American and a Brazilian-American, both of whom allege that their kids were abducted and taken to India and Brazil respectively and despite US court orders the two countries were not helping them get their kids back.

"Bindu Philips fought valiantly in India for over eight years for the return of her abducted twin sons, only to be given the incessant delays in India's courts and little support from the Obama administration," Congressman Chris Smith, Chair of the House panel on global human rights, said.

"Just recently, she was finally granted a short visit with her children in India, but the children's father marred the time with harassment and monitoring, refusing to let the children and mother leave a hotel for seven days.

"Devon Davenport has had a return order for his daughter Nadia from Brazil since 2009. He has won every single one of the 24 appeals against the order?but Brazil still will not enforce its own return order," the Republican lawmaker said.

Smith said that 11 of the 13 countries found to be non- compliant in the annual Goldman Report by the US State Department in the return of abducted American children are still receiving billions of dollars in tariff exemptions under the Generalised System of Preferences.

"We must cease rewarding countries that aid abductors. When is enough finally enough?" he asked.

In 2016, 629 American children were taken from the US by one parent without the consent of the other, often in direct violation of valid US court orders, US criminal law and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

The Obama administration's refusal to apply sanctions against countries that fail to return abducted children has led to a rate of return of only 16 per cent, Smith said.

Noting that for years, the US government's response to abductions has been an engraved invitation to abductors, Smith said abductors have an 84 per cent chance of no penalty for ripping their child from home and family in the US.

"It is my hope and expectation that this year, the State Department will begin to act more decisively on behalf of American families so that more children come home," he said.

The new bill proposes to amend the Generalised System of Preferences, a trade programme designed to promote economic growth in the developing world through duty free entry for some products, so that any country named as non-compliant in the prompted resolutions of abductions would lose trade benefits granted by the US.

Noting that for years, the US government's response to abductions has been an engraved invitation to abductors, Smith said abductors have an 84 per cent chance of no penalty for ripping their child from home and family in the US.

"It is my hope and expectation that this year, the State Department will begin to act more decisively on behalf of American families so that more children come home," he said.

The new bill proposes to amend the Generalised System of Preferences, a trade programme designed to promote economic growth in the developing world through duty free entry for some products, so that any country named as non-compliant in the prompted resolutions of abductions would lose trade benefits granted by the US.
New Delhi: The commander of the United States Pacific Fleet, Admiral Scott Swift, has said he would launch a nuclear strike against China next week if President Donald Trump ordered it.

The US Navy Admiral made the sensational statement while addressing a security conference at Australian National University.

Answering to a hypothetical question whether he would make a nuclear attack on China next week if Trump ordered it, Swift replied: The answer would be: yes.

He also warned against the US military ever shifting its allegiance from its commander in chief.

Every member of the US military has sworn an oath to defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and to obey the officers and the president of the United States as commander and chief appointed over us, Swift said.

Australia and the United States recently held their biggest ever joint military exercises, a show of force, largely at sea, aimed at sending a message both to allies and potential foes, including China.

The exercises involved 33,000 US and Australian troops on board battleships equipped with strike jets.

The military exercises were held as tension over China's more assertive activity, particularly in the disputed South China Sea, are raising fears of confrontation.

Relations between the United States and China have soured in recent months as the United States seeks to counter what it perceives as Chinese assertiveness in the Pacific, encapsulated by Beijing's artificial island building in the South China Sea.
Islamabad: Shehbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab has been announced as the next prime minister of Pakistan whereas former Petroleum Minister and senior PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will be appointed as the interim Prime Minister, Pakistani media said on Saturday.

Abbasi will run the government as an interim Prime Minister until Nawaz Sharif's brother Shehbaz is elected as a member of parliament, says Pak media.

Shehbaz's ascension to the Prime Minister`s office was considered to be a foregone conclusion, as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) continues to hold a hefty majority in Parliament and can independently vote him into office.

He will also likely seek election to the National Assembly from Nawaz Sharif's vacated seat, which was a PML-N stronghold, Dawn reported.

Shehbaz will have to forego his seat in the Punjab Assembly, and a new Chief Minister of the province will need to be chosen.

Sources claim that Punjab Excise and Taxation Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman was likely to replace Shahbaz as the Chief Minister.



The News International reported that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) finalised Shehbaz to replace Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted by the Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday, as the next prime minister of the country.

The names of Shahbaz and Abbasi, the Petroleum Minister, were finalised in two separate meetings, one informal and the other involving the PML-N's parliamentary committee. The meetings were attended by close aides of Nawaz Sharif, including Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Ahsan Iqbal, Ayaz Sadiq, Saad Rafique, Rana Tanveer, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Shahbaz Sharif along with other members of the PML-N's leadership.

The meetings came as the PML-N deliberated its political and legal options after Sharif's disqualification and decided on who would take over the party's reins in Parliament.

As per media reports, Nawaz reportedly met senior PML-N leaders after the Supreme Court verdict was announced against him in Panama Papers lead case and recommended Shehbaz as his replacement.
Washington: US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose gradual diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent this war-torn country from being a launch pad for terrorist attacks against the United states.

McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress.

The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA- 2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies, and its core interests.

The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan Government and reduce the Taliban's control of the Afghan population.

As part of this objective, McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives including India under this move.

The legislative amendment calls for "imposing graduated diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, including?the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

"It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan."

Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying America's regional diplomatic efforts?working through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

The move is also aimed towards advance regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation, and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states.

The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of American economic, and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anti- corruption, financial transparency, and the rule of law.

Calling for increasing the number of US counter terrorism forces in Afghanistan; the amendment calls for providing the United States military with "status-based targeting authorities" against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al- Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and other terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and its core interests.

In his amendment, McCain calls for pursuing a joint agreement to secure a long-term, open-ended counter terrorism partnership between the US and Afghanistan, which he said would include an enduring United States counter terrorism presence in Afghanistan.

The US Senate is yet to vote on NDAA-2018.

Yesterday, in a statement, McCain rued on the delay in its passage.

"It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now, the National Defense Authorization Act," he said.

"For 55 years in a row, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides our men and women in uniform with the resources, capabilities, and pay and benefits that they need to perform their missions on behalf of the American people and keep our country safe. This legislation is more vital than ever," McCain said.

"Global terrorist networks, increasing great power competition with Russia and China, malign Iranian influence spreading across the Middle East, a North Korean dictator racing to acquire missiles that can hit the United States with nuclear weapons, the threats to our national security have not been more complex or daunting than at any time in the past seven decades," he said.
New Delhi: Security and Intelligence Services (India) Ltd has raised Rs 350.81 crore from 18 anchor investors ahead of its initial public offer (IPO) that opens on Monday.

Security and Intelligence Services has alloted 43,04,432 shares to 18 anchor investors at Rs 815 per share aggregating to Rs 350.81 crore, the company said in a statement on Saturday.

The anchor investors include Abu Dhabi Investment Authority - Behave, Reliance Capital Trustee Co Ltd A/C Reliance Tax Saver (Elss) Fund, Birla Sun Life Trustee Company Private Ltd A/C Birla Sun Life Small & Midcap Fund, Amundi Funds Equity India and Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited.

The issue will open on Monday and comprise of fresh equity shares aggregating up to Rs 362.25 crore and an offer for sale of up to 5,120,619 equity shares by the selling shareholders.

Price band for the offer, which will close on Wednesday, has been fixed from Rs 805-815 per equity share.

The company provides security solutions and business support services to a wide range of customers across India and Australia.

Shares of the company are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE.

Axis Capital, ICICI Securities, IIFL Holdings and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company are the global coordinators and book running lead managers to the offer.

The book running lead managers are SBI Capital Markets, Yes Securities (India) Limited and IDBI Capital Markets & Securities Limited.
New Delhi: A committee, set up to submit an action plan for restoring Yamuna floodplains, has told the National Green Tribunal that there was no compaction of the soil on the site where the Art of Living's (AOL) three-day cultural extravaganza was held last year.



The report assumes significance as its findings are different to that of an earlier seven-member expert panel which had alleged that the Yamuna floodplains were completely destroyed due to the World Cultural Festival of AOL.



The three-member committee, which was formed by NGT after submission of report by the larger panel, today said the land where AOL's function was held last year was found to be fully covered with grass and some saplings of tree species.



"This kind of grass and natural regeneration of seedlings is not possible on compacted soil. The area was also under water in small depressions in majority of the areas where function was held. No significant size of the wetland/water body was noticed by the committee in the area used by AOL," the committee said in its report submitted before a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.



Referring to Google earth images, the committee said in its report that it could not locate any "heap of debris" on the site and it is evident that no "wetland or water body" is seen on the site prior to the event.



"The committee also inspected the areas on eastern bank which are under the control of UP government. This site as informed by chief engineer was used for parking of vehicles on 15 hectare land permitted by them to AOL temporarily for the event.



"He further informed the committee members that this land was being used by farmers for raising agricultural crops prior to the function and at present also the site is under agricultural crops.



"The committee observed that no compaction of the soil was seen in this area as many portions were ploughed out where soil was very loose and very healthy crops were standing on the ground. This is only possible if the soil is loose which can support the crop," it said.



The panel comprises principal commissioner of DDA's horticulture department and chief engineers from the irrigation departments of Delhi and UP.



With regard to the removal of the toxins which may have leached out of the dumped debris on the site, the panel said that two successive monsoons might have already washed away such material.



"After the function of AOL, one monsoon season of 2016 is already over and monsoon season of 2017 is in progress and it is expected that many of the toxic substances might have already been washed away. Anyway, toxification, if any, identified after the comparison of the testing of the soils of AOL site and the adjoining areas of the river is proposed to be removed through the remediation methods," the panel said.



The committee has recommended against creation and maintenance of the wetlands within the Yamuna flood plain as such type of activity will also alter the natural flow of the river.

The matter is fixed for hearing on August 4.

Earlier, an expert committee had told the tribunal that restoration of Yamuna floodplains, "ravaged" due to a cultural extravaganza organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living last year, would cost Rs 42.02 crore besides additional ancillary expenses.

It had suggested that there would be two components of rehabilitation plan -- physical and biological-- and they would cost Rs 28.73 crore and Rs l3.29 crore respectively.

The seven-member committee had observed that entire floodplain area used for the main event site between DND flyover and the Barapulla drain (on the right bank of river Yamuna) has been completely destroyed, not simply damaged.
Hamburg: The suspect who killed a man with a knife in Hamburg supermarket was a known Islamist, German officials said Saturday, adding that his motives remained unclear as he also suffered from psychological problems.

Identified as a 26-year-old man of Palestinian origin, he had arrived in Germany in 2015, but was due to be deported as his application for asylum was rejected.

The assault risks reopening a bitter debate over refugees two months before general elections, putting pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel over her decision to open Germany`s borders in 2015, letting more than a million asylum seekers in.

"He was known as an Islamist but not a jihadist," said the German port city`s interior minister Andy Grote, noting "there are indications of radicalisation".

But the minister stressed that while there could have been an Islamist motive for the attack, the suspect also suffered from "psychological instability".

"It remains unclear which was the overriding element," he said.

Police piecing together the assault on Friday said the man had entered the supermarket and took a kitchen knife measuring around 20 cm from the shelves.

"He ripped off the packaging and then suddenly brutally attacked the 50-year-old man who later died," said deputy police chief Kathrin Hennings.

He later wounded two other men in the supermarket before fleeing, slashing others along the way, before he was overpowered by courageous passers-by.

Witnesses told AFP the man had brandished the bloodied knife, shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest") as he fled the scene, but that bystanders gave chase and flung chairs to stop him.If confirmed as an Islamist attack, it would be the first in Germany since Tunisian Anis Amri drove a truck into crowds at a Berlin Christmas market on December 19, killing 12 and injuring 48.

Germany has been on high alert over the threat of a jihadist assault since Amri`s rampage in Berlin, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility.

Like the Hamburg suspect, Amri was due to have been deported after his asylum request was turned down, but the process was held up by a lack of identity documents.

News website Spiegel Online named the supermarket attacker as Ahmad A., while officials said he had not filed an appeal against Germany`s decision to reject his asylum application.

In fact, he had helped to obtain documents to facilitate his departure from Germany.

On the day of the attack, he had even gone to the authorities to ask if the identify papers had arrived. Police chief Ralf Meyer said the suspect was "almost exemplary" in this aspect.

Heavily armed police who searched a Hamburg asylum seekers` shelter where the man lived did not find any weapons.At the asylum shelter in a leafy suburb, the suspect`s neighbour, who gave his name only as Mohamed, described him as "very intelligent".

"He was always helping other asylum seekers with their paperwork," the 31-year-old Syrian refugee told AFP.

But in recent weeks, he "had a crisis, he bought Islamist clothes and read the Koran very loudly in his room".

"And three weeks after Ramadan, he had another crisis. He started to drink heavily and smoke joints... he was sad that his mother was ill and that his asylum request was rejected," recounted Mohamed.

"I find this whole story very sad. He is 26 years old and... he has not achieved anything. And now we don`t know what he did this," he added.

On the high street in northeast Hamburg where the assault struck, residents laid flowers and candles outside the supermarket, which was closed.Ahead of elections in September, the latest assault is expected to rekindle the debate over the record refugee influx.

"It makes me especially angry that the perpetrator appears to be a person who claimed protection in Germany and then turned his hate against us," said mayor Olaf Scholz.

Beatrix von Storch of the Islamophobic populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) had stronger words, writing on Twitter that "before Mrs Merkel tweets again that this is `beyond comprehension`: this has something to do with Islam. Comprehend that once and for all!"

AfD`s support has fallen back in polling since the height of the migrant crisis, but the party remains on course to clear the threshold of five percent of the vote to enter parliament for the first time.
Ahmedabad: The Congress has shifted 44 of its MLAs from Gujarat to a resort outside Bengaluru in order to fend off what they call 'horse trading', by the BJP ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha election in the state.

Out of the 57 Congress MLAs in the state, at least seven of them resigned from the party in the last two days with three of them joining the BJP.

Gujarat Congress general secretary Nishit Vyas, however, claimed that the party decided to shift the MLAs as they faced threat and were offered bribe by the saffron party.

"It was for the safety and security of the MLAs who are being threatened if they do not agree to switch sides... that is why we decided to bring them to Bengaluru," Nishit Vyas reportedly told the PTI.

However, two Congress MLAs have reportedly expressed their displeasure over the lawmakers being moved to Bengaluru at the time when flood crisis has deepened in Gujarat.

A section of the Congress legislators claimed that seven MLAs decided against going with them to Bengaluru. The seven include Vaghela, who has already quit the party, and his MLA son Mahendrasinh Vaghela.

Party sources said Bengaluru was chosen as Congress has its government in Karnataka. The MLAs have been kept at a resort some 50 km from Bengaluru city, Vyas confirmed without divulging more details.

In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the strength of the Congress has gone down to 51 from 57. The desertions have cast a shadow on the fate of Ahmed Patel, who has been renominated by the Congress in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.
New Delhi: Outgoing Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Saturday said that the Pakistan military court would take a decision regarding alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has filed a mercy petition against his death sentence in the court.

"Kulbhushan Jadhav is convicted. There is a mercy petition filed and the Army court will take a decision," Basit, who had earlier maintained silence over the issue, told ANI.

The Pakistan government had earlier accepted the request of Abdul Basit to resign from the foreign service after he was passed over for the post of foreign secretary earlier this year.

Basit was to retire in April 2018, but he opted for an early retirement and sent his resignation letter to former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The India-Pakistan relations have been strained ever since a death sentence was awarded to former Indian Naval officer Jadhav. India even moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek justice for Jadhav that stayed the death sentence till its final decision.

When asked about the future of the downhill relations, the outgoing envoy said, "Never give up. Keep trying; things will get better."

Jadhav was sentenced to death on April 10 this year after being accused of espionage and working for the India's external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). He was arrested from Balochistan on March 3 last year.

Meanwhile, Sohail Mahmood, currently Pakistan's envoy to Turkey, has been named the next High Commissioner to India.

Mahmood, a 55-year-old career diplomat, is expected to take up his responsibilities in New Delhi next month.
New Delhi: Days after quitting as Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's counsel in the defamation cases filed against him by Union minister Arun Jaitley, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani has fired a fresh salvo at his erstwhile client, saying the CM has asked him to use abusive words against the Finance Minister.

Earlier on July 20, the senior lawyer had written a letter to Kejriwal in which he had claimed that the AAP leader asked him to use worse words than 'crook' against Arun Jaitley. As per the latest reports of leading daily Times Of India, Jethmalani has now taken an unprecedented step and has sent a copy of the same letter to the Union Minister.

Reportedly, in a letter to the Delhi CM, the senior advocate had also claimed Kejriwal had used even more offensive language against Jaitley during private discussions on the case.

xcerpts from Ram Jethmalani's letter dated 20.7.2017 to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on defamation suit filed by Arun Jaitley against Kejriwal pic.twitter.com/oiRbCuvEQj  ANI (@ANI_news) July 29, 2017

"When Arun Jaitley filed the first suit and criminal case, you naturally sought my services. Ask your (Kejriwal) conscience how many times you used worse abuses than a mere 'crook'. You have hundred times asked me to teach this crook a lesson," the lawyer said his letter.

Speaking to ANI, Jethmalani said, "The reason behind it is he (Kejriwal) has spoken a lie. He has gone and said that I have not given any instructions, but fact is he did and I have them recorded. I'm not disappointed at all; I did all that I could do. If he does not pay me I don't mind, because I have fought for many for free. It does not make a difference if I lose one".

Earlier on May 17, the recording of Jaitley's statement in a Rs 10 crore civil defamation suit, filed by him against Kejriwal and other AAP functionaries, witnessed high drama as the Union minister objected to the use of a word against him by the veteran lawyer representing the chief minister. Days after the court proceedings, Jaitley filed a fresh Rs 10 crore defamation suit against Kejriwal over the use of the objectionable word allegedly by Jethmalani.

However, Kejriwal later filed an affidavit stating that there was no instruction from him to his counsel to use objectionable remarks against Jaitley in the defamation case.

Earlier, the Delhi government had cleared a payment of Rs 3.5 crore to Jethmalani, which included Rs 1 crore as retainer and Rs 22 lakh as fee for each appearance in court even before the cross examination stage is over.

In December 2015, Jaitley had filed a civil defamation suit against Kejriwal and AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee, claiming that they made "false and defamatory" statements in the case involving the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) thereby harming his reputation.

(With inputs from agencies)
New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow is expected to release the official notification of the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2017 on July 29 (Saturday).

It is estimated around 2 lakh candidates will appear for the prestigious exam.

The official notification for CAT 2017 will be released at iiml.ac.in

The CAT exam is most likely to be held in November.

The first step will be Written Ability Test (WAT), and if one cleears it then he/she would be eligiblle for Group Discussion (GD) followed by Personal Interviews (PI) round.
New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday made it clear that for her "India is Indira Gandhi". Addressing an event in Kashmir, Mufti referred to Sangh Parivar's dislike for the Nehru-Gandhi family and said,"To me, India is Indira Gandhi. When I was growing, she represented India for me. Maybe some people won't like it but she was the India."

To me India is Indira Gandhi.Maybe some people won't like it but she was India,while I was growing up she represented India for me:J&K CM pic.twitter.com/81uY3crbmc July 29, 2017

"I want to see that India which cries, feels the pain of Kashmir. The India that embraced us on our terms. We are a diverse state with all kinds of multi-diversity of religion and everything. Kashmir is a mini India in India," Mufti further said.

The Chief Minister also pinned her hopes on Prime Minister Modi for resolving the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Showering praise on the prime minister, Mufti said,"I feel Modi is the man of the moment. He can become the man of history and his leadership is an asset which needs to be harnessed. And there has to be a way to work together and take Kashmir out of the mess."

#WATCH: J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti says if Article 35A is tampered with, no one in Kashmir will be there to hold the tricolour. pic.twitter.com/Ij39FR27Sk  ANI (@ANI_news) July 29, 2017

The J&K CM asserted that she was saddened to see the idea of India projected on television prime times that widens the gap between India and Kashmir. She said she has not known this India projected in "hyperventilating" TV debates. "I am sorry to say that the image of India which the (TV) anchors project is not what India is about, is not the India I know," she said.

Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir, defying the two-nation theory that was based on religious divide, had aligned to a more secular and accommodative India where Hindus and Muslims pray together at shrine and statues of Hindu gods are being made by Muslim artisans.

Strongly opposing any move to revoke Kashmir's special constitutional status, she said some people were talking "about our flag, sometimes about Article 370... which are very dear to the people of the state and they help preserve the state's unique identity". Mufti said the government of India and the people of the country needed to do more to accommodate the aspirations of Kashmiris even as the sentiment of 'azadi' needed to be replaced with a "better idea".
Islamabad: Social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsAPP and Viber were once welcomed in Pakistan as mediums for engaging in religious debate and afforded a measure of privacy, but today government pressure is building on these platforms to reveal names of individuals or groups engaging in blasphemy or any other kind of "illegal" speech or discourse.

In recent months, Pakistan`s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had increased pressure on both Facebook and Twitter to identify individuals suspected of blasphemy.

Earlier this month, The Guardian reported that Facebook Vice President (Public Policy) Joel Kaplan met with Khan to discuss Islamabad`s demand that Facebook either remove blasphemous content or be blocked across Pakistan.

That social media would become the means for a government crackdown on free speech was seen as a bitter twist for platforms that claim to want to increase openness and allow for free flow of ideas.

Facebook has rejected Pakistan`s demand that new accounts be linked to a mobile phone number, a provision that would make it easier for the government to identify account holders.

Currently, opening a Facebook account in Pakistan requires only an email address, while mobile phone users must provide fingerprints to a national database.

According to prominent academic and activist Pervez Hoodbhoy, platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber were places "where you could discuss the hypocrisy of people whose behavior was loathsome but who wore the thick garb of piety.

"He said the government`s decision to track down people "wherever you are and however you might want to hide," suggests that "Pakistan is fast becoming a Saudi-style fascist religious state", claimed Hoodbhoy.

Last month, 30-year-old Taimoor Raza, a Shia Muslim was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad on Facebook.

According to The Guardian, he was participating in an online debate with a man who turned out to be an undercover counter-terrorism agent.

His death sentence was the first to result from a social media posting, and is an extreme example of Islamabad`s escalating battle to enforce its blasphemy laws, which criminalize insulting Islam.

Established under British colonial rule, these blasphemy laws have been criticized by both religious and secular reformers, who argue that they are used to persecute minorities, settle personal scores and stifle debate.

In 2013, the Pakistan government requested data on 210 users, according to Facebook`s government request report.

By 2016, government requests had risen to 2,460 accounts, with Facebook complying with about two-thirds.

Parents are now telling their children to self-censor on Facebook, Hoodbhoy was quoted, as saying, especially in light of the lynching in April of Mashal Khan - a university student who was accused of offending Islam.

Ahmad Waqas Goraya, an activist and blogger, said that the standards for blasphemy had been lowered as the government used anti-blasphemy laws to crack down on dissent.

Goraya was one of five bloggers abducted for four weeks in January for being critical of the military establishment.

Pakistan is not the only country where Facebook is being asked to either censor content or be blocked.

Thailand and Vietnam are the two other countries where strictures are being applied.

Pakistan is in the process of rerouting its internet traffic through China, laying a 500-mile fiber optic cable from the China-Pakistan border to Rawalpindi.

Some fear the project will lead to a block of Facebook in Pakistan, similar to the one in China.

The project is expected to be finished next year.
Singapore: Amazon.com Inc launched its two-hour delivery service in Singapore on Thursday, marking the e-commerce giant`s biggest push into Southeast Asia and its first head-on battle with Chinese rival, Alibaba Group Holding.

While Amazon already delivered to Singapore, higher-end services had not been available, including Prime subscriptions which elsewhere provide free delivery, e-books as well as access to the company`s video-streaming service. Amazon provides video streaming separately in Singapore.

The Prime Now Singapore app promises to deliver everything from Tiger Balm ointment to eggs, hammer drills and Pampers nappies across the city state within two hours.

In Asia, Amazon has largely sidestepped China and focused on India, where it is the number-two player behind local rival Flipkart. But its arrival in Singapore, a tiny but wealthy city state of just over 5 million people, has been hotly anticipated as a gateway to a Southeast Asian region of 600 million, where currently only a fraction of sales are conducted online.

Singaporeans make a just fraction of total purchases online now, but the country`s shoppers rushed to download the app, which offers free delivery on orders of S$40 ($29.50) or more. For now, Amazon is waiving the membership requirement.

Workers at Amazon`s 100,000 square foot warehouse in Singapore were already busy on Thursday dealing with orders placed in the early hours.

"Something with such quick delivery will be great," said Jeremy Khoo, a 50-year-old communications manager in Singapore, who said he would now shop for groceries from Amazon Prime Now.

Industry executives, meanwhile, are preparing for a battle of titans in Singapore and beyond.

Alibaba owns Southeast Asia-focused Lazada, and spent an extra $1 billion to boost its stake to 83 percent last month.

Ahead of Amazon`s arrival, it launched subscription-based customer loyalty programme LiveUp in Singapore in April, a venture which includes ride-hailing app Uber, streaming service Netflix and local online grocer Redmart, which it owns.

"Singapore will be a test bed," said Ajay Sunder, vice president of digital transformation at Frost and Sullivan.

"I would give Amazon another two quarters, they should be rolling out soon in Southeast Asia, at least the major cities."

Frost forecasts online product sales in Southeast Asia to grow to $71 billion by 2021 from $16 billion in 2016.

HOME ADVANTAGE?

Since launching five years ago, Lazada has expanded into six markets in Southeast Asia: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Amazon has yet to detail its plans for the wider region and a spokeswoman declined to comment.

Besides financial support, Alibaba`s investment has boosted Lazada`s range of merchants and improved its logistics. Lazada and Alibaba could already be ahead, said Xiaofeng Wang, a senior analyst at research firm Forrester, with their longer experience of local customers, and with logistics and vendor systems.

Amazon, though, has deep pockets, technological nous and an inventory of U.S. products, she added.

But while Southeast Asia may be the last big battleground for e-commerce in Asia, it is not easy: there are regulatory differences, language barriers and logistical hurdles like the huge number of islands that make up the Philippines, or Jakarta`s paralysing traffic. Internet connections can be slow or non-existent, and in many places card payments are rare.

In Singapore, Amazon said it plans to tie up with third-party providers to tackle last-mile logistics, but gave no details on partners.

Lazada has also used third-party providers and developed its own logistics and warehouses.

The market is also fragmented, with several local players including Indonesia`s Tokopedia, in which a source has said Alibaba rival, Chinese e-commerce group JD.com Inc, is considering an investment.

Amazon`s Prime Now launched in New York City in December 2014 and has since expanded to several other major U.S cities, as well as European cities such as London, Berlin, Milan, and Madrid.

"Prime builds loyalty, and same-day delivery adds to convenience factor," Frost`s Sunder said, adding Amazon could try the service in the main Southeast Asian cities.

"But Prime Now across Indonesia or across Thailand that will remain a distant reality given the logistical challenges."
Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday asked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to explain if his family had deliberately attacked the Golden Temple in 1984 with the aim of destroying the symbol of Sikh faith and taken advice and help from the United Kingdom government to make this conspiracy successful.

In a statement here, former minister and SAD General Secretary Bikram Majithia said the recent disclosures by British Sikh MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi about the help extended by the UK government to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to plan and execute Operation Bluestar on the Golden Temple complex, which houses the holiest of Sikh shrines -- the Harmandir Sahib.

"It has become clear that the aim was not to flush out militants as claimed. This could be done in many ways. But the manner in which the attack was carried out with foreign help using helicopter gunships and tanks indicate it was carried out deliberately to destroy the symbol of the Sikh faith," Majithia said.

Dhesi, UK`s first turban-wearing MP who is on a private visit to Punjab, had told the media that he would pitch for an independent inquiry into the role of the UK government in Operation Bluestar.

The Indian Army carried out Operation Bluestar in June 1984 to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple complex.

Majithia said this was the reason why the Gandhi family had never offered an unqualified apology for the attack on the Sikh race.

"Rahul Gandhi has never expressed remorse, forget seeking forgiveness from the community for attacking their supreme religious places and butchering its members en masse in massacres engineered by his family members," he added.

"Even now the Gandhi family was keeping a studied silence on the issue of seeking help from the UK government to attack the Golden Temple. After disclosures that a security adviser from the UK visited India and that those storming into the Darbar Sahib complex were given training by the UK`s elite SAS (special forces), the Gandhi family has not thought it fit to explain its actions.

"The family should apologise for seeking help to suppress Sikhs from the British who suppressed the country and butchered its freedom fighters. This amounts to disrespecting the freedom fighters also," he added.

Saying, it was never too late to express remorse and beg forgiveness from the Sikh community, Majitha asked Rahul Gandhi to "come clean and lay bare the entire conspiracy" hatched by his grand-mother to strike against the Sikh race besides seeking forgiveness for the same.
Lucknow: The victory in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections was the result of hard work of BJP workers and the government's aim is to take welfare-centric measures of the Centre to the people, which had been stagnated in the previous regimes, party president Amit Shah said on Saturday.

Shah made the remarks while addressing the ministers of the UP government here.

At the meeting of the government and organisation held at the UP BJP office, it was pledged that various welfare-centric measures of the Centre and state government will be taken to the doorstep of the public, an official statement issued by the party said.

"The government is working to verify the BPL cards and this work has largely been completed. This will help in providing government ration to the deserving and actual beneficiaries. The government is committed for the betterment of people of Uttar Pradesh. The ministers in the government are also contributing in this regard," Shah said, according to the statement.

At the meeting, a roadmap was also prepared for fulfilling the promises mentioned in the 'Sankalp Patra' (manifesto) at the earliest.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, "Ministers have been made in-charge for various districts, and assigned with the responsibility of carrying out developmental activities in the district. This will also help in review of various schemes."
Imphal: The Manipur government is facing a unique problem -- of militants killing persons accused of rape and other heinous crimes against women. A suspected rapist was on Friday night brought blindfolded to Imphal and shot dead with two bullets to the head, police said.

Themheng Ngashangba, Imphal West district Police Superintendent, said, "Suspected militants brought a blindfolded man on Friday night at Tera in Imphal and shot him dead. The deceased was identified as Irom Bobo, 43. There were two gunshot injuries in the head."

A massive manhunt had been launched to nab the accused, but no arrests have been made. The outlawed underground organisation, United National Liberation Front, has claimed responsibility for shooting Bobo. The outfit says that he had confessed to his crime.

"He was given the exemplary punishment," a spokesperson of the outfit said.

Eye witness accounts said that three persons brought the blindfolded man in car around 8 p.m. and left immediately after shooting him in the head.

Sources said that Bobo was arrested in 2003 in connection with the rape and murder of a minor girl. He had been remanded to judicial custody for one year.

Insurgents of all hues have been killing those who have raped women.

Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who is in charge of the Home Department, said, "The government takes a strong view of crimes against women. For the first time we have set up a fast-track court to exclusively try crimes against women. It will go a long way in protecting the women in the state."

Police fear there could be more killings since there have been instances of rape and other sexual crimes against women.

In another incident, police had a difficult time in controlling agitating women who tried to mob Indira Moirangthem, her paramour and an accomplice when they were produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Monalisa Maibam in Bishnupur district on Friday.

It is alleged that Indira, with the help of these two persons, shot dead her husband, Herachandra Moirangthem, a serviceman. Womenfolk have been agitating, saying the wife had killed the husband. The accused persons have been remanded to judicial custody for 15 days.
Kano: At least 69 people died in a Boko Haram ambush of an oil exploration team in northeast Nigeria, as three men kidnapped by the jihadists made a video appeal.

Experts said the attack -- Boko Haram`s bloodiest this year -- underscored the persistent threat it poses, despite government claims the group is a spent force.

"So far the death toll stands at 69," said an aid agency worker involved in the recovery of bodies after the attack in the Magumeri area of Borno state on Tuesday.

The worker, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said 19 soldiers, 33 civilian militia and 17 civilians were killed.

"The last body was recovered Friday in the bush in the Geidam district of neighbouring Yobe state, which is several kilometres from the scene of the ambush," he told AFP.

"It shows the victim, who had gunshot wounds, died after trekking a long distance. There could be more such victims in the bush."

Another source with knowledge of the rescue operation gave the death toll as "70 or more" and also said it was unclear whether all the victims had been accounted for.

The attack hit Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation staff.

"It`s a confirmation of the boldness and reassurance that Boko Haram has managed to gain over the last six weeks," said Yan St-Pierre, from the Modern Security Consulting Group.

"They have been attacking more and more military outposts and more military convoys. For them to go after NNPC personnel just shows they don`t fear any military reprisal.

"Basically they have managed to gain enough resources, enough material, to plan ambushes targeted towards high value targets."News of the rising death toll came after Boko Haram published a four-minute video in which three men identified themselves as being from the University of Maiduguri.

The trio were part of a NNPC team on a mission to find commercial quantities of oil in the Lake Chad basin.

"I want to call on the acting president professor Yemi Osinbajo to come to our rescue to meet the demand," one of the men says in the video, which he said was shot on Friday.

He attributed the attack to the Islamic State-supported Boko Haram faction headed by Abu Mus`ab Al-Barnawi, which has vowed to hit military and government targets.

"They have promised us that if their demands are met they will release us immediately to go back to the work we were caught doing," the man added.

There was no indication of where the video was shot but Magumeri is some 50 kilometres (31 miles) by road northwest of Maiduguri.

University of Maiduguri spokesman Danjuma Gambo confirmed the identities of the three kidnapped men in the video.

"They are our staff but one more is yet to be accounted for," he told AFP.

Five members of staff from the university -- two lecturers, two technologists and a driver -- were killed, vice-chancellor Ibrahim Njodi said on Friday.

He told reporters the university had been hesitant to send staff with the NNPC team but had been assured about security.

Nigeria is searching for oil in the northeast to try to reduce its reliance on supplies from the Niger delta, where militant attacks have slashed production.Kidnapping has been a feature of the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000, displaced more than 2.6 million and left millions of others on the brink of famine.

Thousands of women and girls have been seized, to be married off to fighters, used as sex slaves or suicide bombers, while men and boys have been made to fight in the Islamist ranks.

The al-Barnawi faction differs from fighters loyal to Boko Haram`s long-time leader Abubakar Shekau in that it disagrees with the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.

On Friday, two suicide bombers struck a camp for displaced people in Dikwa, 90 kilometres (56 miles) east of Maiduguri, killing eight, said local government official Rawa Gana Modu.

In Bama, 70 kilometres (45 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, three young female suicide bombers were killed when their explosives detonated prematurely on Thursday.

"A fourth bomber, an 11-year-old girl, was too frightened to pull the trigger," said Babakura Kolo, a member of the civilian militia group.

"She succeeded in removing her vest and sneaked into town. She was found and taken into custody."
Islamabad: The ousting of Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has left a power vacuum at the top of the nuclear-armed country, yet experts say that in the long run, it is unlikely to be destabilising. Sharif's disqualification on Friday by the Supreme Court over corruption allegations denies him the chance of becoming the country`s first prime minister to complete a full five-year term.

Yet despite the country's history of military rule, power will likely remain within the hands of a civilian government -- and probably that of Sharif`s eponymous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Party, analysts say.

"In a country as volatile as Pakistan, there`s good reason to be concerned whenever a prime minister is dismissed," said Michael Kugelman of the DC-based Wilson Centre.

"But my sense is that everything will eventually fall into place -- a successor will be chosen and the current government will serve out its term."

Pakistan has been roiled by military coups and instability for much of its 70-year history.

But recently there has been a surge of optimism in the militancy-plagued developing country, which has seen a dramatic improvement in security and positive economic growth in recent years.

While the 2013 election that brought Sharif to power for a third time was also a powerful symbol of stability, representing Pakistan`s first democratic transition from one elected government to another.Sharif was disqualified from the prime minister`s office but remains the head of the PML-N party which holds a majority in parliament, meaning the next prime minister will likely emerge from its ranks.

Political analyst Hasan Askari said that Pakistan's parliamentary system of government remains unshaken despite the Supreme Court`s ousting of a democratically-elected premier.'

"Sharif will bring forward some person from the party. Obviously his personality will not carry as much weight (as Sharif)... But at the moment we can say, the first impact of the judgement has not proved to be destabilising," he said.



With Pakistan just a year away from general elections, the question is whether the country`s opposition parties can capitalise on Sharif`s removal. Opposition leader Imran Khan has breathlessly pounded his party's anti-graft slogans and called for Sharif`s removal as his slow downfall has played out on Pakistan's TV news channels over the last year.

But his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which governs one of Pakistan`s four provinces, has so far failed to turn itself into a national party. "(It is PTI) that initiated the case against the prime minister (Sharif), therefore they are going to be the major beneficiary in terms of reputation and credibility," said Askari.

But, he cautioned, the party would benefit most from early elections, while popular opinion is still on its side -- a remote prospect, with the PML-N-dominated National Assembly more likely push for elections to be held as scheduled in June 2018.

"This is a party (PML-N) that has the luxury of not facing a formidable opponent with national clout," said Kugelman. "This decision is not a game-changer for PTI," agreed senior political analyst Rasul Bakhsh Rais. "The only change is that Mr Nawaz Sharif is no longer a prime minister."

The immediate reaction to Sharif's ouster from Pakistanis was muted, analysts agreed, with passionate statements made on both sides but only sporadic demonstrations in the streets, suggesting citizens believe the PML-N is still in control.

While Sharif now has to face down allegations that his family has illegally amassed huge wealth, some observers say that it is the Supreme Court who will ultimately be judged the most harshly. "When history is written this is going to go down as one of a series of decisions that the Pakistani judiciary has given against popularly elected governments," said constitutional lawyer Yasser Hamdani.
Brussels: The European Union said Saturday it has launched legal action against Poland`s right-wing government over a new law it fears will undermine the independence of the country`s common courts.

The action taken by the European Commission, the EU executive, could lead to Poland being hauled before the 28-nation bloc`s highest court, the European Court of Justice, and eventually given a fine.

The commission is now coming down hard on Warsaw to prevent what it says is not just an increasing threat to Poland`s democratic standards but those across the 28-nation bloc.

"The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland by sending a letter of formal notice, following the publication in the Polish Official Journal of the Law on the Ordinary Courts Organisation on Friday 28 July," the European Commission said in a statement.

It said Poland`s governing Law and Justice Party (PiS) had one month to respond to Commission concerns, including that "the independence of Polish courts will be undermined" by increased powers for the justice minister.

Other concerns, it said, include "discrimination on the basis of gender due to the introduction of a different retirement age" for female and male judges.

The legal action had been expected after Polish President Andrzej Duda signed into law a measure earlier in the week that allows the justice minister to unilaterally replace the chief justices of the common courts.

However, Duda surprised many in the government when he vetoed a bill that would have reinforced political control over the Supreme Court and another allowing parliament to choose members of a body designed to protect the independence of the courts.

The ruling Law and Justice party nonetheless vowed to push ahead with all the reforms despite the vetoes.

European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans on Wednesday warned of even more severe action if Supreme Court justices are sacked.

"If such a measure is taken the commission is ready to immediately trigger the Article 7 procedure," Timmermans said Wednesday.

Article 7 is a never-before-used EU process designed to uphold the rule of law, a so-called "nuclear option" that can freeze a country`s right to vote in meetings of EU ministers.

The legal reforms have triggered mass street protests in Poland and raised fears for the rule of law in one of the EU`s leading eastern former communist states.

Brussels and Warsaw have been at loggerheads over the legal changes ever since the right-wing PiS took power in 2015 and announced reforms to Poland`s constitutional court.
Islamabad: The Pakistani legal experts and political commentators are confused about the duration of the Nawaz Sharif's ouster from active politics. Sharif was on Friday disqualified from office by the Supreme Court which sent his case to an anti-corruption court for trial in the Panamagate graft scandal.

Is the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief disqualified for life, or is there a possibility of him staging a comeback? This big question has created confusion amongst the Pakistanis.

According to Pakistan-based prominent media outlet DAWN, when the question about the duration of the 67-year-old veteran politician's ouster from Pakistan's active politics was put to seasoned lawyers, some said the question needed to be addressed since it has remained unanswered for far too long.

Tariq Mehmood, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, told the newspaper that a larger bench of the Supreme Court was seized with a number of cases, including those of Samina Khawar Hayat and Mohammad Haneef, in which the moot point was to determine whether disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution was perpetual or not.

Former chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, hearing one of such cases, had wondered how anyone could be disqualified from participating in elections forever on the basis of articles 62 and 63, saying people could reform themselves to be qualified under the provisions at some point of time.

Senior lawyer Raheel Kamran Sheikh recalled that former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was disqualified on June 19, 2012, from parliament for committing contempt of court under Article 63, which specified disqualification for five years.

Unfortunately, under Article 62(1)(f) no period of disqualification has been specified, he said, but endorsed what Mehmood observed.

Beleaguered Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned on Friday after the Supreme Court, accusing him of dishonesty, disqualified him from holding the post following a probe that exposed illegal family wealth stashed abroad.

The Panama Papers leaks of April 2016 revealed that three of Sharif's children owned offshore companies and assets not shown on his family's wealth statement. This was apparently used to channel funds to acquire foreign assets, including in London.

The court has recommended that anti-corruption cases should be registered against several individuals including Sharif, his daughter Maryam and her husband Mohammad Safdar, Sharif's sons Hassan and Hussain Nawaz as well as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

The judges ruled that the prime minister had been dishonest to Parliament and the courts and could not be deemed fit for his office.

Brother of ousted Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif seen as successor

Pakistans ruling party plans to appoint the brother of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as his successor to fight the 2018 general elections, local media reported on Saturday, but will first have to appoint an interim prime minister. Shehbaz Sharif, 65, the chief minister of the vast Punjab province that accounts for more than half of Pakistans 190 million people, will need to be first elected to the national assembly before he can take over as leader of the country.
Seoul: Kim Jong-Un boasted of North Korea's ability to strike any target in the US after a second ICBM test that weapons experts said on Saturday could even bring New York into range -- in a potent challenge to President Donald Trump.

Under Kim's leadership North Korea has accelerated its drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability, in defiance of international condemnation and multiple sets of UN sanctions.

Kim said the test "is meant to send a grave warning to the US" and demonstrated the North's ability to launch "at any place and time," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The "leader said proudly the test also confirmed all the US mainland is within our striking range," it said.

Weapons experts said the altitude and flight time of Friday's missile suggested it was significantly more powerful than the July 4 test, with a theoretical range of around 10,000 kilometres meaning it might be able to reach east coast US cities like New York, depending on the payload size.

"North Korea seems to have made a logical step forward, as it tries to perfect the technologies to build and field an operationally-viable ICBM that can threaten the mainland United States," said Michael Elleman, missile defence specialist at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Kim Dong-Yub, a defence analyst at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said the North may have succeeded in miniaturising warheads down to 750 kilograms.

"If the missile carries a 750 kg payload, its range could be 10,000 kilometres. Taking into account the Earth's rotation, it means it could reach not only the western cities but New York and Washington as well," he told AFP.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said he held telephone talks with Tillerson and agreed on the need to put "the heaviest possible pressure" on North Korea.

"We confirmed that we will closely cooperate in adopting a fresh UNSC (UN Security Council) resolution, including severe measures, and working on China and Russia," Kishida told reporters.

The heads of the US and South Korean militaries also discussed "military response options" after North Korea's launch, the Pentagon said.

South Korea said the test had prompted it to speed up deployment of a US missile defence system, despite consistent protests from China that the programme would destabilise the region.

North Korea's unrelenting pursuit of its missile and nuclear programmes poses a thorny policy challenge for Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim's regime.

The North's July 4 test triggered global alarm, with experts saying the missile had a theoretical range to reach Alaska.

There remain doubts whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for the projectile to survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
Seoul: North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un has issued a fresh challenge to President Donald Trump by launching another sophisticated missile test that could potentially hit the mainland U.S, North Korea's state news agency said.

The missile launch was meant as a "stern warning" for the United States, North Korea's state news agency said. The ICBM, which aimed for "maximum distance", flew for 47 minutes and 12 seconds while reaching a maximum altitude of 3,724.9km, the North said.

The test was ordered and supervised by Kim Jong Un, who termed his country's weapons programme was an "invaluable asset" and demonstrated a "surprise attack capability."

The rare late-night launch sent a ballistic missile into space. It remained airborne for more than 40 minutes, flying 1,000 kilometers due east before splashing into the Sea of Japan.

North Korea has successfully tested the re-entry component of its intercontinental ballistic missile program, according to North Korea's state news agency.

In terms of the missile's distance, North Korea's estimates line up with the Pentagon's calculations, which said the missile traversed approximately 1,000 kilometers before landing in the Sea of Japan.

During Pyongyang's last ICBM test on July 4, US personnel had a "very easy" shot at Kim while he strolled around the platform for 70 minutes but never took the shot. United States and South Korean military officials on Friday discussed "military response options," after North Korea carried out its second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in a month.

Marine General Joseph Dunford, who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with Admiral Harry Harris, the Commander of U.S. Pacific Command spoke with General Lee Sun-jin, Chairman of the South Korean Joint Chief of Staff, the Telegraph reported.

Both Dunford and Harris have expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. "The three leaders also discussed military response options," said Captain Greg Hicks, a spokesman for Gen Dunford.

The Pentagon confirmed that the missile, which flew for 45 minutes, travelled an estimated 600 miles and landed on west of Japan's Hokkaido island, was an ICBM. It flew for six minutes longer than the previous one, on July 4.
Karachi: A roadside bomb on Saturday struck a vehicle in a town in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province near the Iran border, killing at least four persons and injuring five others, a media report said.

The explosion took place in Chedgi, an area situated at a distance of 70 kilometres from Panjgur. Chedgi is a sensitive area, situated near the Pakistan-Iran border.

It is unclear who planted the bomb and officers were still investigating. The administration has deployed a technical team to determine the nature of the blast, security officials were quoted as saying by the Geo News.

Four persons were killed and five others were injured in an explosion in Balochistan's Panjgur district, they said.

Balochistan has been experiencing incidents of violence and targeted killings for over a decade.

The largest province of the country by area, it is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists. Al Qaeda-linked and sectarian militants also operate in the region. The province shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

Earlier this month, Health Minister of Balochistan province Rehmat Saleh Baloch survived a rocket attack when unidentified assailants targeted his convoy.

In May, 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in Balochistans Mastung area.
Find out which Las Vegas schools offer nursing programs. See requirements and school information, including program duration, admission requirements, and tuition costs.

View Schools

Las Vegas, Nevada offers some options to students looking for nursing degree programs, whether they are at the bachelor's or master's level. This article aims to outline some of the key details for those looking to study nursing in the Las Vegas area.

What You Need to Know

A few 4-year colleges and universities offer undergraduate and graduate nursing programs in and around Las Vegas. Like many clinical healthcare programs, there are often numerous prerequisites for admission that may include placement tests, health screenings, background checks and preliminary coursework. Both bachelor's and master's programs in nursing emphasize a combination of hands-on experience and lecture-based learning.

Bachelor's degree programs in nursing require four years to complete if you have no prior college experience. However, if you have completed prerequisites and have some college credits, you might be able to complete your bachelor's program in 14-18 months. These programs prepare you for the registered nurse licensure exam. Master's degree programs take two or three years to complete. After graduation, you could work as a nurse practitioner, nurse educator or nurse leader, depending on which course of study you select.

Nursing Bachelor's Degree Programs in the Las Vegas Area

Nevada State College

Some prerequisite courses you'll be required to take include microbiology, medical terminology, chemistry and physiology. Nevada State's part-time nursing program allows you the flexibility to juggle other responsibilities and attend school, with the average credit load falling somewhere between 4-9 credits per semester. Within the program, you'll explore concepts in health assessment, pharmacology, maternal child nursing and gerontology, as well as nursing management and professional practice.

Program Name: Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program Length: 4 years, part-time

4 years, part-time Tuition: $5,438 per year in-state, $17,458 per year out-of-state (2018-2019)

$5,438 per year in-state, $17,458 per year out-of-state (2018-2019) Prerequisites: Prerequisite coursework, GPA of 2.5 for all coursework prior to enrollment, GPA of 3.25 in nursing coursework

Prerequisite coursework, GPA of 2.5 for all coursework prior to enrollment, GPA of 3.25 in nursing coursework Admission Requirements: Degree audit, Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS)

Degree audit, Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) School Type: 4-year, public; 4,930 students (all undergraduate)

Roseman University

Roseman University requires you to complete a series of prerequisite courses in anatomy, chemistry, statistics and math before enrolling in its bachelor's degree program in nursing. At Roseman, you can complete a full-time, 18-month BSN or a 14-month accelerated, hybrid BSN. Your course of study will consist of several blocks of development designed to enhance your critical-thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills. These blocks include health assessment, fundamentals of nursing, nursing pharmacology and nursing research, among others. In addition to coursework, you'll complete clinical experiences.

Program Name: Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program Length: 14-18 months

14-18 months Tuition: $36,095 per year (2018-2019)

$36,095 per year (2018-2019) Prerequisites: Prerequisite courses

Prerequisite courses Admission Requirements: TEAS

TEAS School Type: 4-year, private not-for-profit; 1,724 students (656 undergraduate)

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas' bachelor's program in nursing is designed to enhance your skill sets in areas such as leadership, clinical judgment, healthcare technologies, information networks, communication and professional standards. Some of your courses will cover pharmacology, elderly nursing care, family nursing and nursing leadership.

Program Name: Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program Length: 4 years, full-time

4 years, full-time Tuition: $7,985 per year in-state, $23,132 per year out-of-state (2018-2019)

$7,985 per year in-state, $23,132 per year out-of-state (2018-2019) Prerequisites: CPR certification; courses and minimum GPA

CPR certification; courses and minimum GPA Admission Requirements: Physical exam, health insurance, background check, drug screening, proof of immunization, health tests

Physical exam, health insurance, background check, drug screening, proof of immunization, health tests School Type: 4-year, public; 30,457 (25,282 undergraduate)

Nursing Master's Degree Programs in the Las Vegas Area

Touro University

The master's program at Touro University will provide you with both practical training and sufficient theoretical training to pursue a variety of professional roles in areas such as management, education, clinical care and research. Some of the courses you'll be required to take include advanced pathophysiology, human resource development, human diversity and nursing theory. Within the program, you'll develop strategies for clinical prevention and demonstrate advanced nursing competencies.

Program Name: Master of Science in Nursing

Master of Science in Nursing Program Length: 6 semesters

6 semesters Tuition: $46,384 per year (2018-2019 combined graduate tuition and fees)

$46,384 per year (2018-2019 combined graduate tuition and fees) Prerequisites: Bachelor's degree in related field, RN license, prerequisite courses, minimum GPA, computer literacy

Bachelor's degree in related field, RN license, prerequisite courses, minimum GPA, computer literacy Admission Requirements: Criminal background check, health insurance, proof of immunization, medical clearance, letters of recommendation, one year of professional experience as a registered nurse

Criminal background check, health insurance, proof of immunization, medical clearance, letters of recommendation, one year of professional experience as a registered nurse School Type: 4-year, private not-for-profit; 1,479 students (65 undergraduate)

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Before enrolling in University of Nevada, Las Vegas' master's degree program in nursing, you'll need to complete undergraduate coursework in research, statistics and physical assessment with at least a 2.0 GPA. Within the master's program, you can complete a track for nurse practitioners and nurse educators. The nurse educator track examines nursing theory, teaching and nurse research. In the 48-credit family nurse practitioner track, you'll examine the advanced practice nursing roles, nursing theory, pharmacology and family primary care, as well as complete two capstone courses.

Program Name: Master of Science in Nursing

Master of Science in Nursing Program Length: 4 semesters

4 semesters Tuition: $5,934 per year in-state, $20,406 per year out-of-state (2018-2019 combined graduate tuition and fees)

$5,934 per year in-state, $20,406 per year out-of-state (2018-2019 combined graduate tuition and fees) Prerequisites: Bachelor's degree, current RN license, CPR certification, prerequisite courses, minimum GPA

Bachelor's degree, current RN license, CPR certification, prerequisite courses, minimum GPA Admission Requirements: Professional statement, resume, proof of health and malpractice insurance, drug screening, proof of immunization and vaccination, medical examination, background check, letters of recommendation

Professional statement, resume, proof of health and malpractice insurance, drug screening, proof of immunization and vaccination, medical examination, background check, letters of recommendation School Type: 4-year, public; 30,457 (25,282 undergraduate)

From reading this article, you can see that nursing degrees can be pursued at the undergraduate and graduate level in Las Vegas, Nevada. Use this information in your decision-making process when thinking of attending either the University of Nevada, Touro University, Roseman University or Nevada State College.
Washington: With North Korea boasting that its latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch can target the entire U.S., President Donald Trump condemned the launch branding it as 'reckless and dangerous'.

"North Korea's test launch today of another intercontinental ballistic missile-the second such test in less than a month-is only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime," President Trump said in a statement.

"The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these tests-and these weapons-ensure North Korea's security. In reality, they have the opposite effect," the statement added.

Trump further said that by threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people.

He assured that the U.S. will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect its allies in the region.

North Korea on Friday conducted its second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in a month.

The rumoured launch comes one day after the 64th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War.

The anniversary had led to increased concerns the regime planned another test to fire another intercontinental ballistic missile.

The United States have been concerned over the North's accelerated missile and nuclear programme.

North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un has issued a fresh challenge to President Donald Trump by launching another sophisticated missile test that could potentially hit the entire United States, North Korea's state news agency said.

According to reports, the missile launch was meant as a "stern warning" for the United States.

The missile, which aimed for "maximum distance", flew for 47 minutes and 12 seconds while reaching a maximum altitude of 3,724.9km.
Beijing: In a dramatic turn of event, an eight-year-old boy, who got run over and had one of his feet caught under the bus wheels, was safely rescued by the police officers and passersby.



The incident, took place in China's Yaan city, was captured on a phone and was shared on YouTube.



The police officers and passersby lift the bus with the help of hydraulic jack and get the boy out.



The boy was rushed to a nearby hospital where he is being given medical treatment.



Watch the video here:
YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. Relative calm has been maintained in the Arsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact in the period of July 23-29, the Defense Ministry of the Artsakh Republic told Armenpress.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire regime more than 180 times by firing shots from caliber weapons, as well as 60 mm mortars at the northern direction of the line of contact.

The Defense Army forces adhered to the ceasefire regime and confidently conducted the military service.
YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. Finance Minister of Armenia Vardan Aramyan on July 28 met with Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Vazil Hudak, press service of the ministry told Armenpress.

During the meeting Minister Aramyan touched upon the current cooperation with the EIB and attached importance to the EIB assistance provided for energy, transportation, water supply, solid waste management spheres, as well as expressed readiness for expanding and deepening further cooperation. The Minister also presented Armenias current economic situation, the main development trends and the Governments steps aimed at economic development.

The EIB Vice-President also attached importance to multilayer cooperation with Armenia. He said they are ready to discuss new cooperation programs, including the opportunities to assist the public-private sector cooperation development in Armenia.
YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. Hollywood star George Clooney plans to sue a French magazine Voici over 'illegal' photographs of his and Amal Clooneys twins and posting them on its cover, Interfax reports.

"Over the last week photographers from Voici magazine scaled our fence, climbed our tree and illegally took pictures of our infants inside our home. Make no mistake the photographers, the agency and the magazine will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, Clooney said in a statement to TMZ.
YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. The Emergency Situations Ministry told Armenpress from July 30 to August 3 high temperature is expected in Armenia.

In the daytime up to 38...39 degrees above zero and a high risk of fire is expeted in the valleys of Syunik, in Yerevan and Ararat Valley.

The daily average air temperature will be 4-6 degrees higher than normal.

No precipitation is expected in Yerevan from July 30 to August 3.
YEREVAN, JULY 29, ARMENPRESS. OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir reiterated his call to Turkish authorities to drop charges and release all journalists in prison in the country, following yesterday's interim court decision in the Cumhuriyet trial, the OSCE Office told Armenpress.

The release of seven Cumhuriyet journalists and executives is an important step, the Representative said, but the fact that many of the journalists were returned to jail and are still facing serious criminal charges, is indicative of the critical state of media freedom in Turkey.

Desir noted that the first hearing failed to produce any evidence of the crimes the journalists are accused of. "All journalists must be released without further abitrary detention", Desir said.

On 28 July, the Istanbul 27th Heavy Criminal Court ruled that Onder Celik, Turhan Gunay, Mustafa Kemal Gungor, Hakan Kara, Musa Kart, Guray Oz and Bulent Utku be released under judicial supervision pending trial while Akn Atalay, Ahmet Kemal Aydogdu, Kadri Gursel, Murat Sabuncu and Ahmet Sk were returned to jail. The court also decided that additional criminal charges would be brought against Ahmet Sk for his defense statement. The trial will continue on 11 September and conclude by the end of the year, according to the courts decision.
The Democrat leadership has made constant, profound and incredible pronouncements that one's supportive vote for Republicans is tantamount to surrendering Democracy forever. Understanding their sincere thinking in their extreme position: How will you still vote on this election day?

Democrat; because the continuance of this Democracy from the existential threat of extreme Republicans is paramount.

Republican; the process of having a choice is the democratic method within what so called "Democracy" does exists.
More than two decades of litigation may end, but court and legislature must agree on proposals to improve education in low-income counties

After two decades, the parties involved in the landmark Leandro v. North Carolina lawsuit have filed a joint court motion asking an independent consultant to help enforce a state Supreme Court order guaranteeing a quality education to every North Carolina student.Alongside that move, Gov. Roy Cooper set up a state commission to make its own recommendations about Leandro. Executive Order 10 establishes the Commission on Access to a Sound Basic Education.Retired Union County Superior Court Judge David Lee, who since 2016 has overseen the Leandro case, must OK the motion. If he does, and he orders the state to adopt any recommendations, the lawsuit could end.It's a big if. The consultant and the commission will suggest policies to enforce the Leandro decision, but any recommendations requiring money would have to get the General Assembly's approval. The consultant and the commission will work separately from each other and file their own reports, but information can be shared between the two.Terry Stoops, vice president of research and director of education studies at the John Locke Foundation , voiced some concerns about the direction the case was taking. He noted that the consultant and the commission may not share the priorities set out by Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning - who was tasked with overseeing Leandro enforcement from 1997 until he retired in 2015.The Leandro case started in 1994 when five rural school districts sued the state arguing that they couldn't raise enough tax revenue locally to provide an education for their students on par with the schools in wealthier districts.In 1997, the Supreme Court held that every North Carolina child has a right to "a sound, basic education" under the state constitution. Later in a 2004 ruling, the court said the state had not lived up to the dictates of the 1997 decision.While the state's education establishment and left-leaning lawmakers argued that the ruling mandated a major shift of tax dollars from urban to rural districts, Stoops said Manning disagreed."Manning believed that the focus should be on the effectiveness of the expenditures themselves, rather than on the amount of taxpayer money allocated to schools," Stoops wrote in a blog post Stoops explained.In a press release , the governor suggested more money was needed.Cooper said.The commission will have 17 members appointed by the governor. Their job is to review the state's ability to staff schools with competent and well-trained teachers and principals, while also monitoring whether the state is giving public schools adequate resources.The threat alone of a new funding mandate may be enough finally to put the Leandro case to rest, Stoops said, by encouraging the General Assembly to pass legislation meeting the requirements laid out by the Supreme Court.
Democratic appointees claim GOP leaders aren't taking racially gerrymandered districts seriously; attorney Strach said new maps should not take effect until regular 2018 election cycle



Phil Strach, an attorney for legislative defendants, carries a box of legal materials from federal court in Greensboro on Thursday. (CJ photo by Dan Way)

Attorneys for legislative Republican leaders endured a barrage of questions and comments from a three-judge federal court panel over lawmakers' failure to remap 28 unconstitutionally drawn legislative districts.Judges James Wynn, Catherine Eagles, and Thomas Schroeder issued no ruling after a three-hour hearing Thursday in the Covington v. North Carolina lawsuit.But they repeatedly expressed impatience with the General Assembly's inaction.The hearing, at the federal courthouse in Greensboro, was necessary because the U.S. Supreme Court said - even though the districts in question unconstitutionally relied too much on race - the panel failed to justify a separate election for a legislature that would serve only one year. The federal justices will review the panel's opinion from Thursday's hearing and decide if the judges made their case or if the high court needs more information or even a full set of arguments before issuing an opinion.Wynn, an appointee of President Barack Obama who sits on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said several times the court could hire a special master to redraw the maps even though he expressed doubts about the plantiffs' call for a special legislative election this year.The judges sat passively through the plaintiffs' presentation of expert testimony. When plaintiffs attorneys Anita Earls and Edwin Speas gave their closing arguments, the judges asked a handful of questions.But Wynn and U.S. District Court Judge Eagles - also appointed by Obama - sharply challenged attorney Phil Strach, representing GOP legislative leaders. Strach spent most of his allotted time answering questions instead of presenting his arguments.Strach reminded Wynn and Eagles that in sending the case back to the three-judge panel, the Supreme Court also said their remedy should limit any impacts on the state's sovereignty in electoral matters, not disrupt the ordinary processes of government needlessly, or unnecessarily set aside state constitutional provisions.Wynn said.He said the districts were unconstitutionally drawn by race, andby the Supreme Court.Wynn said.Eagles echoed Wynn's admonition, claiming Strach wasn't serious about fixing the unconstitutional gerrymanders.Strach responded.Eagles disparaged Strach's contention the state had complied with the court's 2016 ruling to fix the gerrymandered districts. Strach said the legislature was ordered to remedy the unconstitutional districts in its next session, and the General Assembly sits in a two-year session.Eagles asked. Strach said yes.Strach said the House and Senate redistricting committees are now focused on the situation, and a public hearing process is vital. The legislature wants to put out new maps, then hold three public hearings in August, September, and October.Eagles said public hearings were held in 2011 when the original maps were drawn, and questioned the need to repeat that process.Wynn asked why the hearings hadn't been held.Strach said the state's population has shifted dramatically since 2011, and new maps would look very different, so public hearings are essential.He noted that the legislature thinks more than 100 legislative districts might need to be redrawn to accommodate the 28 unconstitutional districts. He reiterated that the session lasts until 2018, and the General Assembly did most of the heavy legislative work in this year's long session so that it could spend the next year on the new districts.Eagles said in 2002, state legislative districts were redrawn in two weeks under court order, and she saw no reason why that couldn't happen again.Strach reminded her that a court struck down those maps and then drew its own set, demonstrating the folly of a rushed process.this time, he said.Wynn suggested a number of scenarios.The legislature could submit maps and conduct public hearings while the judges reviewed them. Any significant changes could be handled through a petition to the court.The court could hire a special master to draw new maps if the judges reject the legislature's plan, preventing further delays.Wynn said he prefers not to redraw the maps because that is the legislature's job. Schroeder - a U.S. District Court Judge appointed by President George W. Bush - said jurists are among the least qualified people to draw new electoral maps, but the legislature's timeline gives the court scant opportunity to review the maps and consider plaintiffs' request for a special election.
If Satan Can Defeat Us in Our Homes, He Can Defeat Us as a Nation

"If Satan can defeat us in our homes, then he can easily defeat us as a nation." - Paul Aynes, Bible Study, People's Baptist Church, Greenville, NC



Today was another excellent Sunday in Bible Study and at church. I am always grateful to learn about the Bible and its lessons. Folks, if you are not always learning about your faith, learning about what the Bible teaches, applying those lessons to your life, and associating yourself with people who are doing the same, then you need to think hard about how you spend your time and energies. Always invest in yourself and your family; that is your best investment and that's where you will get the best pay-off. Stay away from hypocrites. Find the church that serves you best. We all know those who go to church on Sunday but ignore its teachings during the week and in their treatment of others. I've learned that the hard way this year.



Remember that Jesus not only died for our sins but he spent his time on Earth teaching. The disciples called him "teacher." He called himself "The Son of Man." He came to serve man, by giving us the greatest gift of all - keeping the channel open to our Heavenly Father and offering us the hope of eternal fellowship with Him. He taught so that we could live good and decent lives, serving one another, raising strong families, and therefore providing the foundation of loving, productive communities - always, of course, honoring God. By following his teachings, we can become the best versions of ourselves and thereby establish, as best as possible, the kingdom of heaven here on Earth.



But we can't live the lessons if we aren't taught and if we aren't even seeking out the lessons. We shouldn't be reading the Bible for its isolated verses; We can't hope for a strong, healthy nation if we allow essential foundations to crumble. We can't hope to enjoy the protection of the Divine Creator when we fail to reflect His values.



Going back to the idea that Jesus taught us the lessons that could help establish, as best as possible, a Godly kingdom on Earth, I can't help but wonder if that was the inspiration for settling the colonies in America. I know that the Pilgrims and the Puritans left England because of religious persecution (that did not adhere to the Anglican Church, or Church of England); they focused particularly intently in the books of the Old Testament and believed that they had to live strictly to the divine law in every aspect of their lives. To that end, compacts and covenants were important in their lives. They were central to their establishments of social, political, and religious organizations. As they understood (from the Old Testament), God promised his people many things, through covenants, such as eternal life, wisdom, liberation from bondage, a new land, a prosperous nation, etc provided they obeyed His law... provided that they obeyed divine and moral law. They lived their lives and established their communities intending to be as close to God's chosen people as possible.



We may recall from school: The Pilgrims came to America in 1620, aboard the Mayflower, and settled Plymouth Colony. The Puritans reached the new world in 1629 and established the Massachusetts Bay Colony (and they would establish other colonies, such as the Connecticut colony, later on). The term "Puritan" first began as a taunt or insult applied by traditional Anglicans to those who criticized or wished to "purify" the Church of England. Although the word is often applied loosely, "Puritan" refers to two distinct groups: "separating" Puritans, such as the Plymouth colonists, who believed that the Church of England was corrupt and that true Christians must separate themselves from it; and non-separating Puritans, such as the colonists who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who believed in reform but not separation. Most Massachusetts colonists were non-separating Puritans who wished to reform the established church. (Donna Campbell, "Puritanism in New England").



This reliance on covenants, on promises, on adherence to God's law, perhaps the reason our founders often referred to our nation as being "guided by Divine Providence." Samuel Adams once wrote: "Numerous have been the manifestations of God's providence in sustaining us. In the gloomy period of adversity, we have had 'our cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.' We have been reduced to distress, and the arm of Omnipotence has raised us up." Our nation's victories in the Revolution and subsequent wars, our prosperity, and even the inspired words in our founding documents have been attributed to the "benevolence" or the "providence of Almighty God." ("Providence" meaning "wisdom"). Otto von Bismarck, ruler of Prussia and then all of Germany (he formed the German empire, 1862-1890) commented: "There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America."



If our country indeed was founded, in large part, by groups of people who lived according to covenants, including with God and with one another - to follow His laws and to do so for the benefit of one another - then I understand why our early generations believed, and perhaps expected, that God would extend His blessings to the new nation. Early governments were structured this way. There was firm reliance on the Almighty. A person who can govern himself properly is an excellent member of society. A society comprised of such individuals needs very little government. A society comprised of such individuals requires very little laws. When less government is required, more freedom is enjoyed. Robert Winthrop, former Speaker of the US House (1838-1840) explained it well: "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet."



When less government is required, communities are happier and healthier because everyone is doing right by others; they are exercising their God-given liberties without burdening those of others and they are providing the help and support of others that otherwise government would need to do. In other words, they are getting along because the precepts of the Bible have taught them how to handle the evils that arise in society - vice, greed, ambition, crime, coveting, injustice, oppression, infidelity, immorality, and abuse of civic duty, and they are conscientiously committed to following such precepts.



Matthew 22:36-40 says: 36. "Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?" 37-39. Jesus answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, "Love others as much as you love yourself." 40. All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.



The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams took note: "The law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code; it contained many statutes . . . of universal application-laws essential to the existence of men in society, and most of which have been enacted by every nation which ever professed any code of laws."



And his father, John Adams, had delivered this famous message: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."



We hear it over-and-over again - that religion and morality are essential to the existence of men in society; that our government system, as established and limited by the Constitution, cannot be maintained unless the people are religious and moral; and that religion and morality are indispensable if we hope to secure the freedoms that we have. And yet we see a trend in the very opposite direction. The people of the United States are becoming more distant from God, they are becoming shockingly immoral, they spend more and more time in the pleasures and distractions of this world than in education and spiritual renewal, and they work tirelessly to violate the laws of nature that have guided the world from its beginning and have successfully sustained its progression and survival. Satan has been deceiving us in our priorities and in the way we view our lives; rather than living a life of discipline and purpose, today's individuals live for pure pleasure and self-gratification. It's a "me, me, me" generation. Satan has been destroying our homes. In schools, teachers and administrators no longer assume that their student's parents have the same name, are married, or are even the opposite sex.



We can't protect our families and strengthen our nation if we don't secure the one pillar that props us up most strongly - religion. Religion provides the foundation for morality and the two of these together help us make the decisions that keep our nation in good health. To fight Satan, we must spend more time learning what God and Jesus expect from us. We must learn what God's law means and how we are meant to apply it. Too many people treat the Bible like the progressives treat Constitution - as if it were a "living, breathing document, to be re-interpreted according to the social dictates of the time. In other words, they are willing to perverting it. But here's the thing: God's Law has divine and natural elements to it, and as such, it is unchangeable, infallible, and universal. Laws made by humans are imperfect, just as humans are. They are subject to change, to be molded and to evolve with time just as people and societies do. But laws that come from God, who, by definition, is the epitome of universality and infallibility, must be perfect, unchanging, and universal. They transcend all time and all cultures. As Marcus Tullius Cicero (of Rome) wrote: "There will be but one eternal and unchangeable law that will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is, God, over us all..."



Again, we are helpless and ill-equipped to meet today's evil challenges when we don't study the Bible.



If going to church on Sunday is about feeling good because you've made a donation or because you've put in an appearance, then all you have, my friends, is a hobby. It's a waste of your time. If you're reading a Bible verse here and there in church, then all you're doing is reading the Bible to know the Bible. You should be in a church that is Bible-centered, where you read the Bible to know God and to study Christ's teachings. You should be investing in your lives and in your families, and by extension, investing in your communities. The future of our society here in the United States, and therefore the future of our very republic and our ideals depends upon moral accountability.



"We ought to muse upon the things of God, because then we get the real nutriment out of them...... Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? It's because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord...... " Charles H. Spurgeon



References:



Diane Rufino, "Self-Governing Individuals are Necessary for a Self-Governing Society," www.forloveofgodandcountry.com, April 14, 2013. Referenced at: https://forloveofgodandcountry.com/2013/04/14/self-governing-individuals-are-necessary-for-a-self-governing-society/



Donna M. Campbell, "Puritanism in the New England," Literary Movements. Dept. of English, Washington State University. .Referenced at: https://public.wsu.edu/campbelld/amlit/purdef.htmby


HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam on Friday said other countries should respect its legitimate right to drill for oil in its waters amid growing tension with China over energy development in the South China Sea. The drilling began in mid-June in Vietnam's Block 136/3, which is licensed to Vietnam's state oil firm, Spain's Repsol and Mubadala Development Co [MUDEV.UL] of the United Arab Emirates. The block lies inside the U-shaped "nine-dash line" that marks the vast area that China claims in the sea and overlaps what it says are its own oil concessions. China on Tuesday urged a halt to the drilling. "Vietnam's petroleum-related activities take place in the sea entirely under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of Vietnam established in accordance with international law," Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement sent to Reuters. "Vietnam proposes all concerned parties to respect the legitimate rights and interests of Vietnam." This week, the BBC reported that Vietnam had halted drilling there after Chinese threats, but there was no independent confirmation and neither Vietnamese officials nor Repsol made any comment on the report. Thomson Reuters data showed the drilling ship Deepsea Metro I was in the same position on Friday as it had been since drilling began on the block in the middle of June. China claims most of the energy-rich South China Sea through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. (Reporting by My Pham; Editing by Nick Macfie)
For this years IPCPR Trade Show, Mel Shahs Bombay Tobak upgraded to a more spacious booth  and it accommodated the healthy flow of traffic throughout the week. This seemed to be a natural progression of things as the company now has two strong brands (MBombay and Gaaja) and eight lines between those brands.

With a strong portfolio, Shah chose to focus on a line extension for his Gaaja Natural line as he introduced the new Robusto size Its a 5 x 54 box-pressed offering that comes in 14 count boxes. Its the third vitola to be introduced into the Gaaja line.

The blend for Gaaja consists of tobaccos from Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, and the Dominican Republic. Of particular note is the Paraguayan tobacco  which is something not common in premium cigars. In addition, Gaaja features an Ecuadorian Connecticut Desflorado, variety Hybrid Mejorado 2004 wrapper. This is a hybrid wrapper that is a combination of a Connecticut Seed crossed with Cameroon-grown in Ecuador using the Desflorado technique.

Pricing for the new vitola $12.50 and it is shipping toward the latter part of July 2017.

We interviewed Mel Shah just prior to the 2017 IPCPR Trade Show on Prime Time Special Edition.
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An appeals court in Gabon on July 26, 2017, upheld a lower courts conviction of Gildas Biviga, a journalist for Radio Gabon, on defamation charges, but reduced his sentence to time served and ordered his release, according to media reports.

The Mouila Court of Appeals convicted Biviga of being complicit in the defamation of Jean-Pierre Boungoulou, the public prosecutor of the central Gabonese town of Tchibanga, for airing an interview with Marcel Libama, the leader of the national education union, in which Libama alleged the prosecutor had abused his powers of arrest and detention.

In response, Boungoulou ordered both Libama and Biviga arrested on criminal defamation charges on June 20, according to Cyprien Mougoulie, a member of the education union, and media reports.

The Mouila appeals court upheld the Tchibanga criminal courts imposition of fines of 300,000 CFA francs (U.S.$528) on both men, but reduced their prison sentences to one month of time served, Bivigas lawyer, Martial Loundou, told CPJ. The men spent 37 days in state custody, according to media reports.

It is the first time in 12 years that something like this has happened to me. I never had any problem before, Biviga told CPJ.

Prison guards beat Biviga and Libama while they were in custody, Biviga said, adding that he did not believe he was specifically targeted because others in the prison were also beaten. The journalist said guards slapped him on the head, causing him to lose hearing for several days, and that his ankle was inflamed from the beating.

On July 13, both Biviga and Libama were admitted to the Benjamin Ngoubou Hospital in Tchibanga for five days, Hasse Nziengui, the deputy director of Radio Gabon, told CPJ.

Mougoulie told CPJ that the syndicate would file a complaint about the beatings to a court in Tchibanga.

I leave this case in the hands of the high authorities. We are waiting for the results of the investigations, Biviga told CPJ.

Boungoulou declined to comment when contacted by CPJ.

Multiple calls to Denis Ngoma, the director of the central prison of Tchibanga, went unanswered.
Swaziland has a problem: It has the worlds highest prevalence of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. According to UNAIDS, in 2016, 220 thousand people out of a population of about 1.5 million were living with HIV, including 27.2 percent of all adults ages 15 to 49. Last year, 3,900 citizens of Swaziland died as a result of the HIV virus, and 8,800 were newly infected. In 2016, life expectancy for men was 52 years, 51 years for women.

Ten years ago, the government of Swaziland made a commitment to stabilizing the epidemic, with an eye to eventually reversing it. With the support of the U.S. government, through the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, the Ministry of Health and other partners expanded access to comprehensive HIV prevention, care, and treatment services for all persons living with HIV/AIDS.

The effort has proven to be a success. On July 24th, PEPFAR issued groundbreaking data showing that the HIV epidemic is coming under control across all age groups in Swaziland.

Additional PEPFAR-supported studies released in December 2016, show similar results in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The rate of new HIV infections in these countries has decreased by more than 50 percent, and in Swaziland, by nearly half.

Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are among the 13 highest-burden countries where PEPFAR is accelerating its efforts toward reaching epidemic control by 2020 through the UNAIDS 90-90-90 framework and expansion of HIV prevention, while simultaneously sustaining support to all countries and populations where it works.

We now have clear evidence that four African countries are approaching control of their HIV epidemics, said U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy, Ambassador Deborah Birx, M.D.

These unprecedented findings demonstrate the remarkable impact of the U.S. governments efforts, through PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in partnership with African countries. We now have a historic opportunity to change the very course of the HIV pandemic.
The people of Timor-Leste went to the polls on July 22 to select 65 parliamentary representatives. It was the fourth set of general elections, including both parliamentary elections and the presidential election in March, to take place since the half-island nation gained independence from Indonesia in 2002. These were also the first elections for Timor-Leste since the departure of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in 2012.

The official tally is not expected until early August, but it appears that Fretilin, a party that started as a resistance movement and fought for independence, won 30 percent of the vote.

The National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction, or CNRT, which won the majority at the last election in 2012, came in second this year with an estimated 28 percent of votes cast.

Fretilin is expected to take 23 seats in parliament; CNRT will have one less. Despite its success, Fretilin will only be able to form a minority government in parliament unless it forms a coalition.

This election should serve as a growing foundation for future elections to build upon and further consolidate the countrys democracy, said Derek Luyten, regional director for Asia at the International Republican Institute, which fielded a team of international election observers with U.S. government support.

State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said,

The United States congratulates the people of Timor-Leste for holding peaceful national parliamentary elections. This achievement represents another major milestone in Timor-Lestes young democracy.

We applaud all political parties for their participation and look forward to working with the new government.

We commend Timor-Lestes national election bodies for leading an electoral process that was well-managed, credible, and accountable to the people.The United States also appreciates the robust engagement of domestic and international observers during the elections.

Timor-Leste and the United States share many values and principles, and the United States looks forward to deepening the partnership.
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29

Trend:

Armenia is carrying out planned provocations in order to divert the attention of the countrys community from the continuing incidents of criminal nature in the Armenian army, which are accompanied by severe injuries and fatal outcomes, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said July 29.

One of such provocative actions is the periodic dissemination of false information about various cases that allegedly occurred in the Azerbaijani army, through fake profiles created in social networks under Azerbaijani names, according to the ministry.

The carried out work revealed that the Facebook account used under the name of Tofiq Ibrahimov, that was spreading false, slanderous and provocative information about the Azerbaijani army, had been created and managed by Armenias special services.

All information shared on the Facebook account is fictitious, and persons with the indicated names and surnames are not related to the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, the Defense Ministry said.

The negative information about Azerbaijans army, which is spread by the enemy on purposefully created accounts in social networks, is provocative in nature, the Defense Ministry said, adding that Armenia may continue spreading such information in future.
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) has accepted the deposit of 362.6 kilograms (11,655.2 troy ounces) of gold which was purified in Switzerland, said the countrys Ministry of Finance.

The Ministry stated that gold, which was produced at the Gadabay mines and refined in Geneva, was turned over to the CBA by the State Service for Control on Precious Metals and Stones of the Ministry of Finance.

Earlier, the government of Azerbaijan accepted on deposit 1,529.1 kilograms of gold bars (49,158.6 troy ounces) of millesimal finesse 999.9.

In total, up until today, 1,891.7 kilograms (60,813.8 troy ounces) of gold was turned over to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan on deposit. Current market value of this gold is $75.8 million.

Based on the production sharing type of an agreement signed with the government of Azerbaijan in August 1997, Anglo Asian Mining PLC has the rights of development of six mining fields in south-west of Azerbaijan, including Gadabay, Ordubad, Gosha Bulag, Gizil Bulag, Vejnali and Soyutlu.

The gold produced at the mining fields after purification in Switzerland is being brought back to Azerbaijan and deposited in the governments account.
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkish media outlets reported on July 29, that in the event of a flight cancellation compensations will be paid to the passengers by the airlines.

According to the reports, in case of a domestic flight cancellation, passengers will receive compensation of up to 100 euros. In the event of the cancellation of an international flight, passengers, depending on the flight duration, will be able to get compensation in the range of 200 to 600 euros.

Decision made by Turkish Civil Aviation governance was justified by the necessity of ensuring the compliance with passengers' consumer rights.

Furthermore, in case of a domestic flight delay, airlines will be obligated to pay compensation of up to 50 euros.

If international flights are delayed, airlines will be required to pay 125 to 300 euros to passengers, depending on the flight duration, according to the Turkish media.

On top of all, passengers will be able to get a full refund in case of a returned ticket.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 29

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

The upcoming cotton harvesting campaign has been mulled at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, the Altyn Asyr TV channel reported July 29.

Reportedly, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov gave instructions to ensure the proper level of cotton harvesting in all regions of the country.

Turkmenistan is one of the biggest cotton producers in the world. More than one million tons of cotton is grown annually in Turkmenistan, which is the raw material base for the development of textile industry. Up to 70 percent of the raw materials are processed in the country.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 29

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

US Ambassador Allan Mustard and Turkmenistans Minister of Finance Gochmyrat Myradov signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to implement the provisions of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), said the US Embassy in Ashgabat.

The agreement underscores growing international cooperation to curb offshore tax evasion and marks a step forward in building a stronger, more stable and responsible global financial system.



Ambassador Mustard stated, Todays signing marks a significant step forward in our efforts to work collaboratively to combat offshore tax evasion  an objective that mutually benefits our two countries. By working together to detect, deter, and discourage tax abuses through increased transparency and enhanced reporting, we can help to build a stronger, more stable, and more accountable global financial system.



The automatic exchange of financial account information for tax purposes has become the global standard in the effort to curtail offshore tax evasion. The United States enacted FATCA in 2010 to combat offshore tax evasion by encouraging transparency and information exchanges on financial accounts held by U.S. taxpayers in other jurisdictions. The United States has intergovernmental agreements to implement FATCA with more than 113 jurisdictions.
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29



By Kamila Aliyeva  Trend:



Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree on July 28, which aims to further stimulate work of domestic exporting enterprises, involving the amplification of production volumes and foreign markets exports operations, as well as liberalization of the foreign exchange market itself.



According to the information published on the website of Uzbek Foreign Ministry, signed decree envisages the establishment of the procedure according to which, starting from August 1 of the current year, previously required implement of 25% on the foreign exchange earnings from the export of goods (services) by enterprises-exporters will be cancelled.



Uzbek President also instructed the Central Bank to carry out detailed explanatory work on the mechanisms of implementation of the new decree with commercial banks and exporting enterprises.



Within a month, the countrys Central Bank and Ministry of Justice, as well as other interested governmental branches should make proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers on amendments and supplements to the legislation arising from this decree.



The control on the implementation is entrusted to the Republics Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov and Chairman of the Central Bank Mamarizo Nurmuratov.
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29

By Emil Ilgar  Trend:

The Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) plans to meet in Abu Dhabi, UAE, to discuss the compliance of oil producers, obliged to cut production.

According to the latest OPECs assessment, the participating OPEC and Non-OPEC producing countries achieved a conformity level of 98% in June 2017.

OPEC and some other oil producers, like Russia have committed to cut oil production by about 1.8 mb/d from January 2017 to March 2018.

Following the 4th Meeting of JMMC in St. Petersburg, Russia, on 24 July 2017, the Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Technical Committee (JTC) has been instructed to convene with some OPEC Member Countries as well as some non-OPEC participating countries to identify ways and means of raising levels of conformity, OPEC reported July 29.

Consequently, meetings will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on August 7-8 and will be co-chaired by Kuwait and Russia, in the presence of representatives from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is serving as President of OPEC in 2017.



Other Members of the JMMC/JTC will not be attending as they have delegated to the Co-Chairs the responsibility of conducting these meetings and reporting back to the JTC and the JMMC accordingly, the report said.



The report added that this is a technical meeting being held to better understand the difficulties and obstacles faced by some OPEC and non-OPEC participating countries and to assess how conformity levels can be improved with the goal of achieving a faster rebalanced global oil market, for the benefit of producers and consumers alike.
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 28

By Emil Ilgar  Trend:

Iran should allow the IAEA to inspect all its suspicious sites, including military fields, Former Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Olli Heinonen told Trend July 28.

"The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Iran is a party to, requires countries to accept inspections by the IAEA. The NPT requires a state to accept safeguards on all nuclear materials in all peaceful activities with its territory for the exclusive purpose that such material is not diverted to nuclear weapon or other explosive nuclear devices," Heinonen said.

Heinonen who is now a senior advisor on science and nonproliferation at Foundation for Defense of Democracies added that therefore, all the territory of a state is subject to the verification regime, and military sites do not form sanctuaries.

Previously, the US House of Representatives and the Senate passed a bill during this week against Iran, aimed to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The US charges Iran in interfering in regional countries, supporting some military groups in the region like Houthis, Hezbollah, etc as well as developing a ballistic missile program.

Associated Press reported citing official US sources on July 27 that the Donald Trump administration is pushing for inspections of suspicious Iranian military sites in a bid to test the strength of the nuclear deal.

Heinonen said that it goes without saying that to protect confidential information special procedures can be agreed for inspections at military sites.

However, the agreed procedures have to be implemented in such a way that the IAEA can draw its conclusions independently, he said.

"We need to keep in mind that it is not just the right of the IAEA to verify that the state declarations with regard to nuclear material are correct and complete, but it is also an obligation for the IAEA to verify the statements made by a state. In addition, JCPOA contains additional verification requirements with regards to some activities related to nuclear weapons development. Confirming the absence of such activities, together with open questions remaining from the Possible Military Dimension investigations, and reasons for the existence of man-made uranium particles at Parchin requires that the IAEA has also access to military sites in Iran," he explained.

Parchin military base, located near the capital city of Tehran, is where the UN body suspected Iran has conducted nuclear-related tests more than a decade ago.

Iran has denied doing any nuclear activity at Parchin.

Heinonen said that "let us now see how this develops, but in my view, Iran will be ill-advised, if it doesn't not permit the IAEA to conduct restrictions-free inspections that are required under the NPT safeguards agreement, Additional Protocol, and the JCPOA".

Iran and P5+1 Group, including US, Uk, France, Russia, China plus Germany reached a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, which was implemented in January 2016.
Tehran, Iran, July 28

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

The US sanctions on Iran was not a surprise, a member of Research Center of Irans Parliament, Gholamreza Sharafi, told Trend July 28.

Washingtons ties with international community has been based on win-lose relations and always it recognizes its own interests.

"The US has damaged the interests of all nations which are involved in negotiations or cooperated with Washington," Gholamreza Sharafi, who is also a member of Energy Commission in the Parliament said.

"This is not our first experience with the US and Iran has known Washington for years, both before and after the Islamic revolution is 1979. They have never behaved constructively with Iran," he added.

Both the House of Representatives and Senate passed a bill during this week against Iran, aimed to impose sanctions on Islamic Republic. The US charges Iran with interfering in regional countries' issues, supporting some military groups in region like Houthis, Hezbollah, etc as well as developing a ballistic missile program.

Sharafi also said that as far as the nuclear negotiations go, Iran has agreed to co-operate with the P5+1 Group (US, UK, France, Russia, China + Germany) and to fulfill all of its obligations based on the reached agreement.

He added that Donald Trumps policy in the region has failed and he wants to carry out controversial actions to hide his losses in global policy.

Sharafi called the new sanctions a "political fuss".
Tehran, Iran, July 29

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran issued a message about a confrontation with the US military forces off Persian Gulf.

A USS Nimitz (CVN-68), a supercarrier of the United States Navy, on Friday flew a helicopter that approached the IRGC frigates, the IRGCs official website reported July 29.

The IRGC message said that the US forces then shot flares, calling the move provocative and unprofessional.

This was the second military confrontation between Iranian and US forces.

The IRGC announced late on Tuesday that one of its patrol ships had neutralized an act of provocation by a US military ship north of the Persian Gulf.

Earlier the day, a U.S. official was quoted by media as saying that warning shots were fired from a US Navy vessel near an Iranian boat north of the Persian Gulf.

The IRGC said its boat paid no attention and continued with its mission and after a while the U.S. vessel left the area.
Tehran, Iran, July 29

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

The Islamic Republic of Iran has never backed down in the face of US provocative actions and will always come up with a proper response, said the countrys First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, IRNA news agency reported July 29.

Furthermore, Jahangiri characterized the new US administration as a radical current that devises harsher-than-before actions against Iran.

He also noted, that US government tries to paint Iran as the violator of the 2015 nuclear deal, but so far Iran had moved in a way, that US has not been able to endanger countrys standings with the world.

Jahangiris comments came upon the package of sanctions against Iran accepted by the US House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

The sanctions bill was passed by a 419-3 vote in the House and 97-2 in the Senate.

Notwithstanding the fact of the belittlement of the Congressional move by the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, he was quoted saying that Iran will surely retaliate.
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iranian lawmakers have drafted a bill to react against a recent approval by the US House of Representatives on introducing fresh sanctions on the Islamic Republic, a senior diplomat said.

Abbas Araqchi, an Iranian deputy foreign minister and a senior nuclear negotiator, has said that his ministry has agreed with the articles of the new bill drafted by the countrys MPs, IRNA news agency reported.

The diplomat further added that the US has violated three articles of a nuclear deal agreed between Iran and world powers (including the US) in 2015.

Araqchi also described the law draft as comprehensive, adding that the new bill has envisaged measures to support the countrys armed and security forces as well as those countrymen who suffered losses due to the US imposed sanctions.

The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to slap new sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea but the bill in order to become a law needs to be signed by President Donald Trump.
Tehran, Iran, July 29

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Federica Mogherini will travel to Tehran on August 5, in her capacity as chair of the Joint Commission of the JCPOA, to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Hassan Rouhani, said Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ray in a tweet July 29.

On this occasion, she will have bilateral meetings with Iranian dignitaries to review the state of implementation of the nuclear deal and discuss the issues of bilateral and regional relevance.

The official inauguration ceremony for Hassan Rouhani will be held in the Parliament on August 5, where he will swear in as the 12th president of the Islamic Republic.

Before the inauguration ceremony, on August 3, Rouhani will attend a ceremony to receive his presidential precept from Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Hassan Rouhani overwhelmingly won the presidential election on May 19, sweeping 57 percent of the vote.
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29

By Emil Ilgar  Trend:

The US returned to past aggressive policy against Iran, but Tehran should be cautious and control the current political turmoil, Ali Khorram, Iran's former ambassador to the UN office in Geneva, told Trend.

According to him, the US plans to return to an era of tension with Iran, but it is better that Iran is restrained and controls the situation.

Iranian lawmakers have drafted a bill to react against a recent approval by the US House of Representatives on introducing fresh sanctions on the Islamic Republic, Abbas Araqchi, an Iranian deputy foreign minister and a senior nuclear negotiator has said on July 29. He said that Foreign Ministry has agreed with the articles of the new bill drafted by the countrys MPs.

The diplomat further added that the US has violated three articles of a nuclear deal agreed betweenIran and world powers (including the US) in 2015.

Regarding to possibility of canceling the nuclear deal, achieved in 2015, Khorram said that the USmight cancel the deal bilaterally, but the nuclear deal was an international agreement between the UN Security Councils permanent members plus Germany and Iran.

The base of the nuclear deal is strong, he said, adding that after removal of sanctions (in January 2016), Iran shouldnt enter an era of tension, and should avoid returning the international sanctions.

Araqchi described the law draft as comprehensive, adding that the new bill has envisaged measures to support the countrys armed and security forces as well as those countrymen who suffered losses due to the US imposed sanctions.

The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to slap new sanctions on Iran,Russia and North Korea but the bill in order to become a law needs to be signed by President Donald Trump.
Eight people were killed by gunmen in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, Sputnik reported citing local media.

The incident happened at night in the municipality of Concordia, the Excelsior media outlet reported.

Five out of eight victims were reportedly beheaded. Seven victims were members of one family while the eighth one was a friend of this family.

Motives of the crime remain unknown.

The security situation in Mexico remains poor with drug cartels actively operating in the country. According to the recent government statistics, the number of murders committed in Mexico in May was bigger than in any other month within last 20 years. A total of 2,186 people were killed in Mexico in May.
Dozens of Syrian refugees were prevented from reaching Greece through an illegal route on boats via Turkey's Aegean province of Canakkale late Friday, regional authorities announced, Anadolu reported.

According to Canakkale Provincial Gendarmerie Command, 39 Syrian nationals tried to reach Lesbos Island using two sailing boats, but they failed when their vessels hit rocks near Akvaryum (Aquairum) Cove area.

Gendarmerie Command later took the refugees into custody.

Also, two Turkish nationals and five Ukrainians who allegedly organized the trip for the refugees were arrested.
Turkey said on Saturday that North Korea had violated the UN Security Council resolutions and disregarded its international obligations by conducting ballistic missile tests, Anadolu reported.

Having conducted its second ballistic missile test within one month, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) continues to flagrantly violate UN Security Council Resolutions and to disregard its international obligation, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Ankara also called on North Korea to abide by the UNSC resolution and to refrain from any action that would lead to further escalation in the region.

The test on Friday is the latest step by the North Korea to develop a missile program capable of striking the U.S.

Pyongyang carried out its first milestone ICBM test on July 4, which Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un called a "gift" as the U.S. celebrated its Independence Day.
- It is no longer news that top Nigerian comedian and ex governor's daughter, Kemi Olunloyo have been having exchange of words on social media

- The war started after Kemi Olunloyo took it upon herself to bash the baby of Seyi Law, calling her several names

- Now the comedian has revealed that he has nothing against Kemi Olunloyo

Following the exchange of words between Kemi Olunloyo and Seyi law, the latter has decided to shoulder all that has been said to him and his family in order to forge ahead.

In a recent chat with Saturday beat, the comedian noted that he holds no grudge against Kemi Olunloyo as she is perceived to be his enemy.

Seyi Law and his family: Photo credit: Instagram/Seyi Law

READ ALSO: Kemi Olunloyo attacks Seyi Law's baby again, says she has 'Type 1 diabetes'

He said he has realised that Kemi Olunloyo is a brilliant fellow, I dont have any grudge against Kemi Olunloyo. The truth is that I see a lot of brilliance in her but it is just that her way of doing things without having ethical values is what makes people get pissed at her."

Speaking of how he could get back at Kemi Olunloyo if he wanted to, Seyi said he could sue her in the US and make her pay through her nose. In his word, "she claims to be a citizen of the US and my child is a US citizen. I could decide to sue her in the US and she would pay out of her nose. She could even be the one to pay the money that would send my child to school. Some people are brilliant but they take their stupidity to an extent that they ruin themselves along the line. Brilliance without caution would make you become foolish."

PAY ATTENTION: Get all the latest gossips on NAIJ Gossip App

Meanwhile, a Nigerian man identified as Omololu Omotosho, who claimed he knows Kemi Olunloyo very well, has come out to show some love to her. He revealed that she is nice and loves to fight for the right of the voiceless people around her.

Watch Legit.ng's exclusive interview with Olajumoke Orisaguna below:

Source: Legit.ng
By Jeffrey Dastin and Rishika Sadam (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc on Thursday reported a jump in retail sales along with a profit slump, as its rapid, costly expansion into new shopping categories and countries showed no sign of slowing. The world's largest online retailer posted second-quarter revenue of $38 billion, up 25 percent from a year earlier. The breakneck growth stood in contrast to the fate of many brick-and-mortar rivals, who have struggled to find their footing as more people shop online. Yet Seattle-based Amazon posted a 77 percent drop in quarterly income, and even said it could lose up to $400 million in operating profit during the current quarter. Beyond reflecting retail's notoriously thin margins, the forecast signaled Amazon would invest heavily to maintain its dominance. Shares - up nearly 40 percent this year - fell 3.2 percent to $1,012.68 in after-hours trading. The company had earned 40 cents per share instead of $1.42 as analysts had expected, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. "Q3 is generally a high investment period," Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said on a call with reporters, citing spending on fulfillment and hiring to prepare the company for the Christmas holiday rush. He added, "Our video content spend will continue to grow, both sequentially and quarter over quarter." Indeed, investing in faster shipping and video has become a refrain of sorts for the company. While some expected Amazon's spending in these areas - stepped up since last year - to ease, the company is plowing ahead to reinforce its fast-shipping club Prime. Olsavsky said video content included with Prime membership has helped Amazon retain subscribers and persuade those on a free trial to sign up for $99 per year in the United States. A cornerstone of the company's strategy, Prime encourages shoppers to buy more goods, more often from Amazon. Subscription sales including Prime fees rose 51 percent in the second quarter to $2.2 billion. Cowen & Co analysts have estimated that more than 50 percent of U.S. households will have Prime membership by the end of 2017. "The fact that they are investing on so many fronts right now just speaks to the opportunity that they have before them," said Edward Jones analyst Josh Olson. "We are giving them the benefit of doubt here because they have executed so well historically." NEW FRONTIERS AND COSTS Shares of Amazon had touched a record high of $1,083.31 earlier on Thursday, helping Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos briefly unseat fellow tech billionaire Bill Gates to become the world's richest person, according to Forbes. His wealth has followed the meteoric rise of Amazon's stock. From its origins as an online bookseller, Amazon has jumped into areas that historically had barriers to e-commerce, from apparel to appliances. The specter of Amazon's disruption now hangs over a dizzying array of industries. Grocery is the latest to feel the threat. The company said last month it would buy Whole Foods Market Inc for $13.7 billion, pending regulatory approval. Olsavsky declined to discuss in detail the company's strategy for the upscale grocer but said, "We really think it will be a big boost for us as we expand our grocery and consumables offering." Amazon also announced its two-hour delivery service Prime Now in Singapore on Wednesday, part of its ongoing investment to be a major retail player in Asia. Amazon has committed to investing $5 billion in India and earlier this year said it would take on commerce in the Middle East by acquiring Dubai-based Souq.com. Even excluding the proposed Whole Foods deal, Amazon forecast an operating income of between $300 million and a loss of $400 million for the current quarter. Analysts had expected $931 million, according to FactSet StreetAccount. "You tend to expect companies like this to grow their expenses at a slower rate than their revenues," said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities. "G&A up 50 (percent) is crazy," referring to general and administrative costs in the second quarter. Operating expenses rose 28.2 percent to $37.33 billion in the second quarter ended June 30. Costs for fulfillment, marketing and technology all rose. Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian said in a note Amazon's profit margin was "a bit mixed" but added, "accelerating growth in core retail and relatively steady growth in AWS underpin our positive long-term view." Sales from Amazon Web Services, the company's cash cow and the biggest cloud-computing business in the world, rose 42 percent to $4.1 billion. The subsidiary will expand in France, Sweden and China in the near future, Olsavsky said. (Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco and Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Lisa Shumaker)
velvet ant

Pain is notoriously subjective  some people can take more of it than others.

But we need to measure pain, so scientists have derived scales that are generally considered valid ways of assessing how much one thing hurts compared to another.

When entomologist Justin Schmidt created the "Schmidt Pain Scale for Stinging Insects," he gave the world the first measure for comparing the pain of a yellow-jacket sting (he describes it as "hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine W.C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue") to that of a tarantula hawk wasp ("blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair dryer has just been dropped into your bubble bath").

But as Schmidt mentions in his 2016 book, "The Sting of the Wild," even his four point scale (a yellow-jacket scoring a two, the tarantula hawk a full-on four) has limitations, as stings on different parts of the body hurt in different ways.

For example, Schmidt's base for the scale, a honey bee, generally rates as a two: "Burning, corrosive, but you can handle it. A flaming match head lands on your arm and is quenched first with lye and then sulfuric acid."

But a honey bee sting on the back of the hand, he writes, is a very manageable 1.5. A sting on the tongue, on the other hand, is worth bumping up to a three: "It's crawled into your soda can and stings you on the tongue. It's immediate, noisome, visceral, debilitating. For 10 minutes life is not worth living."

This differentiation raises the question: Where do stings hurt the most?

That's where Michael Smith comes in. After reportedly suffering a bee sting on the most sensitive of male body regions, the testicles, Smith devised a plan that  if this were not for science  would certainly cross the boundary into masochism.

To find out where it hurt the most to be stung, Smith created an experiment in which a bee would sting 25 different parts of his body. Unlike Schmidt, who received most of his stings incidentally while conducting other research, Smith intentionally submitted himself to the stings each time. He let each bee sting the body parts three times for 60 seconds each  enough to inject a full dose of venom. He received three experimental stings each day along with two daily "calibration" stings on the forearm. The guard bees doing the stinging all came from the same hive, and he randomized the order of the stings.

Story continues

After the tortuous process was over, Smith rated the stings from one to ten. Since each body part was stung three times, he calculated the average. Here are his results:

main2

According to Smith's experience, the nostril and upper lip stings were more painful than the ones on the locations known to be especially painful for men. (Smith is the only one who has conducted such an experiment, so we don't have data for women. Any volunteers?)

Smith didn't test the tongue, so we can't see how that compares to Schmidt's experience. He also decided against stinging himself in the eye, since, as he wrote in the study where he published his results, his advisor feared he'd blind himself.

Of course, Smith's results might not hold true for everyone, since individuals perceive sting pain differently. The ratings could also have been affected by how much pain Smith expected to feel from each sting.

Nonetheless, as Schmidt writes in his book, "Michael's study took honey bee sting pain science to a new high."

Diana Yukari contributed to this story.





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From computers to coffee cups and bottles of water, plastic is an integral part of modern life. Despite its ubiquity, the issue of plastic waste is a big, pressing one.

Recent research has highlighted just how big the problem is. The study  by scientists from the University of Georgia, the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Sea Education Association  found that as of 2015, humans had produced an estimated 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic, with 6.3 billion tons of that seen as waste.

At the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC) in China, scientists are looking to turn plastic into fuel.

"If we have the plastic waste in the environment or in the ocean or bury it underground, it's going to stay there for hundreds or thousands of years," SIOC's Zheng Huang told CNBC's Sustainable Energy.

"So we needed to find a solution to plastic waste, and we think converting them into fuel is an excellent way to reuse it," he added.

The work Huang and his team are doing focuses on polyethylene, used in everything from bags to toys and food packaging.

"What we are doing differently is to use so called 'cross alkane metathesis' strategies," Huang said.

"It's a process involving metathesis between polyethylene and the shorter alkanes which are very cheap and have low values," he added. "The metathesis between the polyethylene and the shorter alkane will result in the breakdown of the polyethylene into shorter alkanes, which are suitable for diesel fuels."

The team believe they may have made a breakthrough in their research. "This process needs a lower temperature compared to the conventional methods," Huang said. "It can degrade the polyethylene into a relatively clean product under milder conditions."

The end results seem to show promise for the future. "In our process, we can get the oil hydrocarbons as the major products and some waxes as the minor products," Chuan Qin, a student at SIOC, said. "The major products can be used as a fuel, such as diesel," Qin added.

Story continues

SIOC's Zheng Huang went on to explain that, as far as the research he and his team were carrying out, there was still work to be done.

"At this early stage, we need to develop a method which can degrade plastic into a useful product, but eventually we need to develop a more efficient system which can make the process economically viable," he said.

Currently, their technology was limited to the degradation of polyethylene, but Huang said the hope was to develop a way of degrading other types of plastic.





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House Judiciary Committee Republicans on Thursday called for a new special counsel  to investigate Hillary Clinton , James Comey and Loretta Lynch.

In a letter addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Republicans said they were writing to "request assistance in restoring public confidence in our nation's justice system and its investigators, specifically the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)."

The lawmakers said they presumed investigation of potential Russian influence on the U.S. presidential election was covered by special counsel Robert Mueller, but that they "are not confident that other matters related to the 2016 election and aftermath are similarly under investigation" by the former FBI director.

"The unbalanced, uncertain, and seemingly unlimited focus of the special counsel's investigation has led many of our constituents to see a dual standard of justice that benefits only the powerful and politically well-connected," the letter said. "For this reason, we call on you to appoint a second special counsel to investigate a plethora of matters connected to the 2016 election and its aftermath, including actions taken by previously public figures like Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."

Last year, the Justice Department declined to charge Clinton or her associates for Clinton's handling of classified information while at the State Department. As a candidate, Trump threatened to appoint a special prosecutor to look into Clinton's actions.

Comey had made a public announcement about the FBI's recommendation that the Justice Department not pursue charges against Clinton. He had said "no reasonable prosecutor" would bring a case against the former secretary of state for her handling of government emails. That conclusion was widely panned by Republicans.

Story continues

Mueller, meanwhile, was appointed in May following Trump's dismissal of Comey and after the former FBI director's accounts about private conversations with the president started to surface.

Although the Thursday letter will surely be deemed a cynically partisan move by those on the left, the lawmakers attempted to address those criticisms.

"Our call for a special counsel is not made lightly. We have no interest in engendering more bad feelings and less confidence in the process or governmental institutions by the American people. Rather, our call is made on their behalf. It is meant to determine whether the criminal prosecution of any individual is warranted based on the solemn obligation to follow the facts wherever they lead and applying the law to those facts."

Still, Thursday's letter aligns with recent messages from the White House.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out and tried to shift the focus to Clinton amid his frustration with federal and congressional investigations into whether his campaign coordinated with Moscow. He has called the probe, led by Mueller, a politically charged "witch hunt."

The man Trump has picked to lead the FBI, Christopher Wray, has disputed that assertion.

Trump also recently lashed out at Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Moscow's role. He called Schiff "sleazy" and "totally biased" and accused him of using Russia as an excuse for Democrats' performance in the election.

CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.





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House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday struck an optimistic tone on Republicans' ability to reach a tax reform deal, just hours after the latest GOP attempt to repeal Obamacare crumbled, for now, amid party divisions.

In a Fox Business interview, Ryan expressed a sentiment that many in the GOP have shared in recent weeks: tax reform is the top priority for the party, and the White House and top lawmakers have taken more strides to reach a consensus at the start than they did during the health-care process.

"I feel much more confident that we're going to stick the landing on tax reform because we have now said we have consensus, here's the framework, let's go get it done," Ryan said. "... We as Republicans, especially now, agree on how to do it. Health care is a good example. There's not a complete consensus on how best to do health-care reform. On tax reform, we have that consensus."

Ryan's comments came a day after the Republican leaders working on tax reform released a joint statement saying they will abandon the controversial border adjustment provision and outlining the broad goals for tax reform . The key congressional and White House officials said they wanted the bill to start moving through relevant committees "this fall."

Passing a tax reform plan will still be a difficult task for Republicans, despite a strong ideological underpinning and powerful GOP forces putting their weight behind the effort . The last comprehensive tax reform took place in 1986, and various business and local interests will complicate the goals for Republican lawmakers in the areas they represent.

Ryan , Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin , National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn , House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch have been meeting regularly to strike a plan that the GOP wants to push through Congress this year. Republicans in Congress have generally seen more policy engagement from the White House on taxes than they did in the health-care fight.

Story continues

"It is more important for us than anything that we get tax reform done because we think it's absolutely critical for strong economic growth," Ryan said Friday.

But many unknowns remain. The joint statement released Thursday by the six leaders did not offer new details on possible corporate or income tax rates, revenue neutrality or other specifics that could be included in the tax plan.

The border adjustment proposal was a key revenue-raising plank of the plan House Republicans unveiled last year, but it faced resistance from the retail industry and an uncertain future in the Senate. It taxes imports but lets exports go untaxed.

Ryan, a champion of border adjustment, said he was comfortable dropping the provision if it means reaching a party consensus more quickly.

Still, removing the measure adds more questions, among them: how do Republicans pay for their desired cuts for business and individual tax rates without another revenue-raising tool? Ryan said he wants to see if a "viable alternative" exists to border adjustment.





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Seattle Genetics, Inc. SGEN reported a loss of 39 cents per share for the second quarter of 2017, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 43 cents but wider than the year-ago loss of 23 cents per share.

Revenues came in at $108.2 million, up 13.4% year over year, primarily on the back of strong sales of Adcetris. Revenues also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $107.2 million.

Seattle Genetics share price has gained 0.3% year to date compared with the industrys rise of 11.9% in the same period.

Quarter in Detail

Seattle Genetics top line comprises product revenues, collaboration and license agreement revenues and royalties.

The companys only marketed product, Adcetris, generated revenues of $74.3 million, up 12.3% year over year.

Collaboration and license agreement revenues increased 7.5% to almost $21.5 million. Collaboration revenues included fees earned from the companys agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. for Adcetris and other ADC collaborations.

Royalty revenues increased 34.7% year over year to $12.4 million attributable to international sales of Adcetris by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. TKPYY.

Research and development (R&D) expenses were $114.4 million, up 33.7% year over year. Also, selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses increased 22.3% to $40.7 million. Costs were high primarily due to investment in vadastuximab talirine, enfortumab vedotin, Adcetris and other pipeline development.

2017 Outlook Update

The company raised its outlook for net sales of Adectris in the U.S. and Canada to the range of $290 million to $310 million (previously $280 million to $300 million).

Pipeline Update

Seattle Genetics continues to work on expanding Adcetris label further through three phase III trials. We note that the company reported positive data from ALCANZA phase III study recently and submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application (BLA) in June for including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma in its label.

Story continues

The company announced top-line data in Jun 2017 from the phase III ECHELON-1 study (frontline classical Hodgkin lymphoma) on Adcetris showing a statistically significant improvement in modified progression-free survival (PFS). Seattle Generics and Takeda are planning to submit applications for regulatory approval in their territories.

Moreover, top-line data from the ECHELON-2 study (frontline CD30-expressing mature T-cell lymphoma) should be out in 2018. The company is also evaluating Adcetris in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibbs BMY Opdivo in relapsed/refractoryclassical Hodgkin lymphoma. Adcetris received a non-conditional approval in Canada for Hodgkin lymphoma with high risk of relapse.

In addition, the company expects to initiate a pivotal phase II study on enfortumab vedotin in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer patients in late 2017. Also, in the quarter, the diffuse large B-cell lymphoma candidate, polatuzumab vedotin, received PRIME designation in Europe, which is being evaluated in combination with Roche Holding AGs RHHBY Rituxan.

However, the company discontinued the phase III CASCADE study on vadastuximab talirinein frontline older patients with acute myeloid leukemia in Jun 2017 based on higher rates of death observed in the study.

Our Take

The companys second-quarter loss was narrower than estimated and sales also beat expectations. With positive news announced from Adcetris studies, investors should focus on updates on Adcetris label expansion. The increase of the net sales guidance for Adcetris is also encouraging.

Seattle Genetics, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Seattle Genetics, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Seattle Genetics, Inc. Quote

Seattle Genetics currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.

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MS 13 member tattoo

The street gang that President Donald Trump has said US authorities are going to "destroy" as part of his crackdown on crime is known by a simple moniker: Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.

And the garish tattoos that adorn the faces and torsos of its members often do more to announce the gang's presence than the formal name.

But the somewhat sinister name and the gang's extensive operations are a far cry from its humble origins.

Migrants from Central America, El Salvador in particular, fled civil wars in the region in the 1970s and '80s, with a large number of them ending up in LA and Southern California.

Many of those young men, who arrived in the US without family networks or any other connections, gravitated toward gangs.

Some of them, according to Ioan Grillo's "Gangster Warlords," joined up with Barrio 18, an established gang that was started by Mexican immigrants but had begun letting in members of other nationalities.

MS 13 gang member signs

Other migrants, at the time just teenagers on the streets of LA, started a new gang. Grillo, citing the work of anthropologist Juan Martinez and the dogged reporting of Spanish-language news site El Faro, described how they arrived at their new organization's name:

"Bizarrely it comes from a Charlton Heston movie. Back in the 1950s, the film The Naked Jungle was a hit in El Salvador with the weird translation of 'Cuando Ruge la Marabunta' or 'When the Ants Roar.' Following this, Salvadorans took the name Mara to mean group of friends, who like ants protect each other."

As Grillo describes, the first wave of Maras in LA saw themselves as rockers, dressing the part, listening to heavy metal, and calling themselves the "Mara Stoners."

Their newness and odd attire marked them as targets for other LA gangs, who attacked them throughout the early 1980s.

Story continues

But by 1984, the Maras had changed.

"To sound tougher and reinforce their Salvadoran identity, the Stoners re-baptized themselves as the Mara Salvatrucha," Grillo writes. "People have speculated that Salvatrucha might be a play on words of Salvadoran and trucha, meaning 'street smart.' Others say it just sounded good."

As the civil war in El Salvador deepened in the 1980s, more Salvadorans arrived in LA and found their way to Mara Salvatrucha.

This influx of new recruits, ones hardened by the horrors of the civil war back home, helped make the Maras better able to strike back at their rivals.

As time went on, the violence MS-13 members instigated and participated in got them thrown in jail, where, according to Grillo, the dynamics of gang life were different.

ms13

Rather than upstarts who could carve out their own territory, Maras had to look for a bigger organization for protection:

"Mara inmates realized they had to join La Eme [The Mexican Mafia] to survive, and the mob was happy to add war-hardened machete wielders to its cell-block armies. The Mexican Mafia uses the number thirteen (M as the thirteenth letter of the alphabet), so as Maras joined up, they became the Mara Salvatrucha 13."

MS-13 has only grown in the years since. As of 2012, the UN estimated that it had 19,000 members in Honduras and El Salvador, and members have been arrested as far away as Washington, DC, where the surrounding counties are believed to be home to as many as 3,000 members.

While the gang mainly focuses on local-level crime  extortion, drug dealing, and theft  it also has links to Mexican transnational drug cartels. It reportedly does street-level drug distribution for the Sinaloa cartel, helping that Mexican organization secure the vast majority of the US drug market.

NOW WATCH: EX-DEA AGENT: What I did when a drug dealer tried to bribe me with $3 million





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French English

PRESS RELEASE

27 July 2017

New Leadership roles announced at EDF Energy

EDF Energy is today announcing changes to its leadership team as it proceeds along the path of EDF Energy 2020. This is the company's action plan to ensure that EDF Energy delivers its contribution to the EDF Group CAP2030 strategy.

Following good progress by the company on implementing the EDF Energy 2020 action plan, EDF Energy CEO Vincent de Rivaz has today announced the following changes to the Executive responsibilities for its Generation and New Nuclear Build activities:

Nuclear Development Managing Director - Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson

Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson will bring his years of experience and expertise to this newly-created role to oversee EDF Energy's future nuclear new build development projects, Sizewell C and Bradwell B, working with EDF's strategic partner CGN to establish a new build series programme. In addition, he will take charge of the creation of a new waste and decommissioning business for the existing AGR (advanced gas-cooled reactor) fleet. He will also bring EDF Energy's contribution to the development of small modular reactors (SMRs).

Hinkley Point C Managing Director - Stuart Crooks

Stuart Crooks will take charge of the Hinkley Point C project now that it has entered fully into its construction phase. He moves from his very successful role as MD of the Generation business to lead the construction and delivery of the UK's first new nuclear power station in almost a quarter of a century. Having safety as the overriding priority, he will draw on the recent project reviews to maintain control of schedule and cost risks. He will also establish the nuclear operations arrangements for Hinkley Point C building on the existing strengths of the UK operating fleet and the experiences of EPR operations from Flamanville and Taishan.

Generation Managing Director - Brian Cowell

Brian Cowell will join the EDF Energy Executive team to lead the Generation business, having been Director of Nuclear Operations for EDF Energy's high-performing nuclear fleet. He will be responsible for all of EDF Energy's existing nuclear, coal, gas and renewables operations. He will oversee work to identify further nuclear life extension opportunities, optimise end of AGR lives and plan for the phased closure of the coal plants. Through the EDF Energy Renewables joint venture, he will seek to develop further UK renewables capacity.

Notes:

The following stakeholders have been informed of these changes which are expected to be in place by September:

Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR)

UK Government (BEIS)

China General Nuclear (CGN) - EDF strategic partners in UK new nuclear build

Centrica - minority shareholders in EDF Energy Nuclear Generation

A key player in energy transition, the EDF Group is an integrated electricity company, active in all areas of the business: generation, transmission, distribution, energy supply and trading, energy services. A global leader in low-carbon energies, the Group has developed a diversified generation mix based on nuclear power, hydropower, new renewable energies and thermal energy. The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to approximately 37.1 million customers, of which 26.2 million in France. The Group generated consolidated sales of 71 billion in 2016. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

EDF Energy is the UK's largest producer of low-carbon electricity, meeting around one-fifth of the country's demand and supplying millions of customers and businesses with electricity and gas. It generates electricity with eight nuclear power stations, more than 30 wind farms, one gas and two coal power stations, as well as with combined heat and power plants. EDF Energy is leading the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C. This will provide low carbon electricity to meet 7% of UK demand. The project is already making a positive impact on the local and national economy, British industry, as well as boosting skills and education. EDF Energy also invests in a range of low carbon technologies including renewables and battery storage. It is applying research and development expertise to improve the performance of existing generation and developing the potential of new technologies. The company provides gas and electricity for more than 5 million customer accounts and is the biggest supplier of electricity by volume in Great Britain and the largest supplier to British businesses. It offers innovative energy systems for commercial customers and digital innovation for customers at home. EDF Energy has also launched its own innovation accelerator, Blue Lab, which focuses on making customers' lives easier. The Better Plan is EDF Energy's framework for being a sustainable and responsible energy business and is an integral part of EDF's 2030 vision to be the efficient, responsible electricity company, and champion of low-carbon growth. The Better Plan is underpinned by comprehensive environmental and social programmes which have been recognised by a wide range of organisations. EDF Energy is part of EDF Group, the world's biggest electricity generator. In the UK, the company employs around 13,000 people at locations across England and Scotland.
fiesta wrote:

Frobisher, a sixteenth-century English explorer, had soil samples from Canadas Kodlunarn Island examined for gold content. Because high gold content was reported, Elizabeth I funded two mining expeditions. Neither expedition found any gold there. Modern analysis of the islands soil indicates a very low gold content. Thus the methods used to determine the gold content of Frobishers samples must have been inaccurate.



Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?



(A) The gold content of the soil on Kodlunarn Island is much lower today than it was in the sixteenth century.

(B) The two mining expeditions funded by Elizabeth I did not mine the same part of Kodlunarn Island.

(C) The methods used to assess gold content of the soil samples provided by

Frobisher were different from those generally used in the sixteenth century.

(D) Frobisher did not have soil samples from any other Canadian island examined for gold content.

(E) Gold was not added to the soil samples collected by Frobisher before the samples were examined.

The methods used to determine the gold content of Frobishers samples must have been inaccurate.

was added



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Let us read the question stem first. We are looking for an assumption. An assumption is a necessary missing premise. We are looking for the option that needs to be true for the conclusion to be true.Premises:Frobisher had soil samples from Canadas Kodlunarn Island examined for gold content.Because high gold content was reported, Elizabeth I funded two mining expeditions.Neither expedition found any gold there.Modern analysis of the islands soil indicates a very low gold content.Tell me, when you read the above premises, what possibilities come to mind? Frobisher had samples examined. High gold content was reported. No gold was actually found. Modern analysis show very low gold content.The following possibilities come to my mind:1. Either there was gold and before the expeditions were sent, it was mined (very unlikely!)2. His methods were inaccurate.3. Someone had added gold to the soil he tested.Conclusion:If I am concluding that his methods were inaccurate, then I am assuming that no one added gold to his samples and gold was not mined before the expeditions were sent. (Technically, gold could have been added and his methods could have been inaccurate too but lets not mess with that.)Hence option (E) is an assumption.Also, use you can use assumption negation technique to see that it is the right answer.I negate (E) : Goldto the soil samples collected by Frobisher before the samples were examined.I can not conclude now that his methods were inaccurate.Hence (E) is the correct answer.Option (C) is not correct. We did not assume in the argument that his methods were different. They could have been the same ones generally used in the 16th century, It is possible that 16th century methods were not accurate._________________
Who knew Iara Oshiomhole was this playful with kids?

The wife of former Edo state governor, Iara Adams Oshiomhole, was recently spotted during a visit to a childrens orphanage home in Benin city, Edo state.

Iara Oshiomhole visits orphanage home in Edo state (Photo credit: Nationalhelm)

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Iara Oshiomhole in playful mood (Photo credit: Nationalhelm)

She was in a playful mood with the children.

Se has been off the public eye since her husband handed over power to the Obaseki-led administration last year.

Source: Legit.ng
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LEXINGTON  An annual retreat conducted by the Lexington Board of Education included two action items.

During the special meeting, board members approved hiring Barry McFarland as a substitute principal at Sandoz Elementary School. Although the contract is for up to a year, based on an annual salary of $105,137, it is unknown how long McFarland will be the schools acting principal.

Superintendent John Hakonson said McFarland will only cover the position until the school administrator, currently on medical leave, can return. "It could be short term. It could be long term. Its just day by day," said Hakonson, without disclosing the medical condition.

McFarland last worked for Lexington Public Schools in 2014 as assistant superintendent. He left to join his familys business. He has also been a principal and teacher for LPS.

The board approved a $14,667 contract for the installation of a rooftop unit and gas piping at the central office building to update one of three rooftop heat pumps. The bid was awarded to the low bidder, Snell Services, Inc. of North Platte.

Hakonson said the heat pump being replaced quit working and the new unit will be gas powered instead of electric powered, as recommended by Bo Berry, director of building and grounds. A gas feed will be installed so that when the other two units are replaced in the future they can also be gas powered.

During the retreat, board members discussed finances, student data, vehicle inventory and future construction, without taking any action on these items.

Hakonson said board members were shown student data with nice gains in reading, but no 2017 data was available because it has not been released yet. He cautioned that it is anticipated Lexington, along with schools statewide, wont appear as strong when the 2017 results are made public because of a raised benchmark.

He also noted it will difficult to compare test results for the upcoming year as the state is switcing tests.

"Its a little bit exhausting. As soon as we get used to a new assessment, and prepare students for it, they change it," said Hakonson.

He said the board is pleased with reading and wants a greater focus on science.

Another area of discussion was the districts English Language Learner students. Hakonson said during the last school year, 153 immigrant students enrolled in the district and most did not know English. Many were enrolled in the newcomer program. He said 35 percent of Lexingtons students qualify for ELL services. Some are students who are born in the United States, but who enter school not knowing English because it isnt spoken in the home.

The district plans to study its ELL program, looking at how students are advanced within the three levels and mainstreamed into regular classrooms.

"We would like to be the best program in our state," said Hakonson.

Although the board has discussed wanting to add a gym at Sandoz Elementary School, board members agreed to wait. Sandoz is the only school where the gym is also used as a lunchroom, said Hakonson.

Board members agreed to take a conservative approach toward finances in consideration of the ag economy and the state economy.

"Now is not the right time to proceed with construction," said Hakonson.

He said LPS has a cash reserve of three months expenses which is the level the district tries to maintain.

The board heard an update on the high school construction project. Concrete has been poured for the expanded parking lot and a courtyard area, said Hakonson. Landscaping is yet to be completed.

Interior work on the former National Guard Armory owned by LPS has been completed and the facility will be named The Skills Armory, with a subtitle of Automotive and Welding Technology. A public open house is being planned for Sept. 12.

"Its a great facility. One of the best of its kind in western Nebraska," said Hakonson

The board meets at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of the month in the council chambers at City Hall.Their next scheduled meeting is Aug. 14.
Beijing, July 28 (IBNS): National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday met Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Doval also attended the BRICS Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues.

"NSA Shri Ajit Doval attends the 7th #BRICS Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues in Beijing today," Embassy of India in Beijing tweeted.

"NSA Shri Ajit Doval met with President Xi Jinping along with other #BRICS High Representatives for Security Issues," it said.

Doval met the Chinese leader amid rising tension between the two nations over the border standoff at Sikkim.

China asked India on Monday not to nurture "illusory thinking" about the Chinese army's ability and immediately withdraw its troops from the Doka La border, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The 90-year history of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) demonstrated that the army's ability to safeguard the national sovereignty and territorial integrity has continued to strengthen. It is easier to shake the mountains than to shake the PLA," defense ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said at a press conference in Beijing.

"China's border forces have put in place emergency response measures and will further enhance targeted deployment and training. China will safeguard its territorial sovereignty and security interests at all costs," W said.

The warning he issued comes amid a heightened tension in the relationship between the two countries following a standoff at the disputed Doka La plateau at the next to Sikkim at the India-China-Bhutan border tri-junction.

According to China, Indian troops have crossed into its territory to obstruct work on a road.

Bhutan also lays claim on the region and India considers the Chinese activities in the region a threat to its own security.

Bu Wu said : "The Doklam region is part of China's territory. China has every right to build road in its own territory."

"India should immediately withdraw its troops to the Indian side of the boundary with China, which is a precondition and basis for resolving the conflict. India should take practical measures to correct its wrongdoing, stop provocation and jointly safeguard peace in the border regions," he said. .

"The Chinese border troops have taken initial counter measures at the site and will step up targeted deployment and training."

"India should not leave things to luck and not harbor any unrealistic illusions," he said, adding that the military had taken emergency measures in the region and would continue to increase focused deployments and drills.

India has said it warned China that construction of the road near their common border would have serious security implications.

Image: Embassy of India in Beijing Twitter page


New York, July 28(Just Earth News): Visiting a newly established United Nations human rights office in Honduras, a senior official on Fridaystressed the need to protect human rights defenders in the country.

They are doing a tremendous service for the long-term future of Honduras and should never be attacked, punished or stigmatized, said UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Andrew Gilmour, at the end of a three-day visit with Government officials, civil society representatives and members of the UN and diplomatic communities.

According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Gilmour brought up widespread impunity, horrific levels of violence, increased militarization of public security, restrictive access to family planning, as well as a disturbing increase in femicide and violence against women in his discussions.

Gilmour added that he was particularly troubled by the violence courageous defenders face.

Among the groups with whom he met was the Organization of American States' Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), as well as the National Commissioner for Human Rights. Gilmour underlined the essential work they are both doing and their key partnerships with the UN Human Rights Office. a

We are glad that the direct link between corruption and human rights abuses is increasingly recognized  for example, when concessions for land or natural resources are wrongfully granted and without consulting indigenous communities, he said.a

In his official visits, Gilmour highlighted the essential work that officials and the UN Human Rights Office are both doing.

Gilmour reiterated that opening space for dialogue, access to information and meaningful participation in policy-making are key elements of a democratic society. He encouraged State officials to see human rights defenders as allies and useful agents of change.a

He also warned against a reliance on harsh penal policies for juveniles and security-only approaches.a

Social investment and rehabilitation options would be far more likely to address the root causes of violence in Honduras, Gilmour said.a

In 2016, an independent human rights expert spoke out about violence targeting rights defenders in Honduras.

At that time, the special rapporteur cited reports which said Honduras had become one of the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights defenders, particularly those promoting rights related to environment and land issues.

UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Source: www.justearthnews.com


North Korea has increased efforts in recent years to prevent outside information from entering the country.

But international activists say technology and outside forces will one day lead to the end of state censorship.

North Korea is one of the most disconnected nations in the world. The country has a ban on foreign media. Most people do not have access to the Internet. The Transitional Justice Working Group reports that the government has even executed citizens for sharing media from South Korea. The group researches human rights abuses in North Korea.

North Korea is following a similar method to other authoritarian governments, observers in Cuba and Myanmar say. Cuban and Burmese leaders of organizations that have fought censorship in their own countries recently met in Seoul to share their experiences with Koreans doing similar work.

Cuba

In Cuba, as in North Korea, there is a growing demand for foreign movies and television programs. This has made the business of illegally bringing in outside information increasingly profitable.

Rafael Duval is with Cubanet, an independent news organization that fights government restrictions in Cuba.

Cubanet uses devices such as USB drives and DVDs to spread a weekly collection of foreign videos and other materials. The collection is called "El Paquete"  "the package" in English. Cubanet delivers the materials through the black market  a system through which things are bought and sold illegally.

Duval says it is the job of some Cuban officials to prevent foreign media from entering the country. But many of them accept illegal payments in exchange for not reporting the sharing of media. And many officials often use foreign media themselves, he adds.

Another project helps Cubans who have email accounts find out information from the Internet. About 25 percent of Cubans have access to email.

The project, called Apretaste, connects Cubans with volunteers in places like the U.S. state of Florida. Cubans can email questions to the volunteers. The volunteers then send them the Internet search results. The organization responds to more than 100,000 requests for information each month.

Myanmar

Myanmar is another country where the free exchange of information has increased. Before the countrys democratic reforms in 2011, the military government closely controlled the Internet.

But its loose border with Thailand, along with a rise in satellite television receivers in the country, brought change. This change made it easy for exiled opposition groups to get around the governments restrictions on media.

North Koreas growing black market

The North Korean economy has grown in recent years, even with international sanctions placed on the country because of its continued missile tests.

In the past year, the countrys gross domestic product rose 3.9 percent. The Bank of Korea in Seoul says the increase was driven in part by the exports of coal and other minerals.

But there is also a private market in the country that is driving economic growth. The communist government lets it operate, but does not officially approve of it.

A recent study says that most North Koreans now earn about 75 percent of their money from the black market. The study was done by the Beyond Parallel project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

The illegal export of North Korean fish, shoes, cigarettes and cooking oil has given has given people new buying power. This power makes it possible for them to bring in outside information and technology.

Nat Kretchun is deputy director of the Open Technology Fund. The project is supported by Radio Free Asia, or RFA. RFA and VOA are each part of the U.S. government-supported Broadcasting Board of Governors.

Kretchun says technology like televisions and DVD players are now ubiquitous -- or seemingly everywhere -- in North Korea.

The number of legal North Korean mobile phone users has also grown in recent years. Many North Korean cell phones were able to spread unapproved media and information. But recent changes to the phones operating systems added censorship and surveillance technology.

Kretchun says the technology blocks unapproved media files from being used on North Korean phones.

However, activists are developing technology of their own in response to government actions.

Kim Seung-chul is a North Korean who fled to South Korea. He created North Korea Reform Radio, which sends anti-government messages to the North.

Kim feels the South Korean government should offer more support to groups working to get into North Koreas closed information environment.

The South Korean government, conservatives, veterans and famous people have a lot of money, but they do not use the money for this. They get angry about North Koreas situation, but they do not act, Kim said.

Im Pete Musto. And I'm Ashley Thompson.

Brian Padden and Youmi Kim reported this story for VOA News. Pete Musto adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

We want to hear from you. How long do you think it will be before North Korea becomes more open? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

censorship  n. the system or practice of examining books, movies, or letters in order to remove things that are considered to be offensive, immoral, harmful to society

authoritarian  adj. not allowing personal freedom

black market  n. a system through which things are bought and sold illegally

account(s)  n. an arrangement in which a person uses the Internet or e-mail services of a particular company

sanction(s)  n. an action that is taken or an order that is given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country

gross domestic product  n. the total value of the goods and services produced by the people of a nation during a year not including the value of income earned in foreign countries

communist  adj. used to describes a person or people who believe in a way of organizing a society in which the government owns the things that are used to make and transport products and there is no privately owned property

ubiquitous  adj. seeming to be seen everywhere

surveillance  n. the act of carefully watching someone or something especially in order to prevent or detect a crime

veteran(s)  n. someone who fought in a war as a soldier or sailor
Now, it's time for Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English.

On this program, we explore everyday expressions that we use in conversation. Americans often use the first saying we will talk about today. But many people likely do not know where it comes from.

To keep something at bay means being unable to move closer while attacking or moving toward someone or something. If you keep something at bay, you appear to be in control of the situation. English speakers say either "keep at bay" or "hold at bay."

For example, when protecting their village, the villagers kept the armed attackers at bay through the night. The villagers did not let them come closer.

However, bad people can also hold something at bay. The armed robber held police at bay for about 9 hours before they caught him. So, the robber did not let police get anywhere near him. They didn't catch him until 9 hours later.

In these examples, the things being kept at bay -- the attackers and the police -- are real. You can physically touch them. But you can also use this expression about more intangible things -- ones you can't see or touch.

For example, if you move to a new city you can keep loneliness at bay by joining a club, playing a group sport or taking a class. You can also invite your old friends to come and explore your new city with you. All these things will keep loneliness away from you, or at bay.

You can keep illness at bay by eating healthy food and getting enough sleep and exercise. And I can hold my desire for chocolate at bay by not buying it and keeping it in my house!

English learners and native speakers alike may think the term at bay has to do with water, perhaps involving a ship unable to reach the shore. After all, one of the many definitions of "bay" is a large area of water that is partly surrounded by land.

But language experts will stop them right there. To find out the origin of this expression, let's talk about another definition of "bay." It also means to bark with long, drawn-out sounds, as when a dog cries out at the moon.

Those hounds are baying.

In the 14th century, barking hounds were said to be "at bay." When dogs are kept at bay, they are kept from attacking. The Phrase Finder website says the first recorded usage of "at bay" is in an English story from the year 1330.

Back to modern times, at bay is a common expression. You can use it with friends and strangers.

Now, let's hear this expression used at work. Let's say you are the head of a small company that makes toys. Part of your job is to keep open lines of communication between the owner and company employees. Well, when the owner suddenly makes changes to work rules, the employees get angry. And you hear about it. The owner's solution is to throw a party for the employees. You tell her that a party will not keep their anger at bay. They only thing that will improve the situation is fair treatment.

Now, there are other ways to keep something from getting worse. You can also ward off something or stave off something.

To ward off a danger or illness means to prevent it from affecting you or harming you. We often use "ward off" when talking about mental health, disease or, strangely enough, evil spirits.

For example, she knew that, for her, the best way to ward off a bad mood was to see a happy movie. You eat chicken soup to ward off the common cold. And some people say that you can use garlic to ward off vampires and keep them from sucking your blood.

Staving off something sounds much more official. We use "stave off" in fairly serious situations, such as ship-wrecked survivors who staved off starvation by eating coconuts for eight months. Here's another example, The single mother staved off poverty by working three jobs.

Now, what if you simply want to keep your distance from a person. You don't want to be near them. In this case, you wouldnt use ward off or stave off or even at bay. What can you use? Well, we have a great expression for keeping distance.

To keep someone at arm's length means you dont want to be close to that person. Imagine that you are holding your arm straight out in front of you. A person cant get close. And thats the point.

Let's say, you meet someone. You don't know her very well, but she seems nice -- seems is the important word here. Slowly over time, you learn more about the woman. And you don't like what you see. She is strange and not in a good way. You catch her in some lies. And she appears to be a trouble-maker. So, you decide to keep her at arm's length. When you don't answer her calls and ignore her emails, she will know you are keeping her at arms length.

In this case, you could say you kept her friendship at bay. But you were never friends in the first place. So it sounds more natural to say that you kept her at arm's length.

We here at Learning English have no desire to keep you at bay or at arms length. And we certainly dont want to ward or stave you off! Youre our audience Without you, well, we wouldnt be here!

I'm Bryan Lynn.

And I'm Anna Matteo.

Anna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

intangible  adj. not made of physical substance : not able to be touched : not tangible

origin  n. the point or place where something begins or is created : the source or cause of something

boredom  n. the state of being bored

mood  n. an emotional state of mind or feeling

vampire  n. a dead person who leaves the grave at night to bite and suck the blood of living people

coconut  n. a large fruit that has a thick shell with white flesh and liquid inside it and that grows on a palm tree
Good afternoon. I am going to begin with a riddle I came up with yesterday. I think it's fair. If no one guesses the answer I'll tell you at the end of the chat. Here it is:

What object that is in many if not most kitchens NEVER has to be washed, even though it is used frequently? It could last 30 years, and still never have to be washed. A friend guessed "the dishwasher," but that's not strictly true. It is washed, with soap, every time it is used. Okay, go.

My column on Sunday involved the recent ubiquity of the word "nothing burger," and I got some mail from conservatives suggesting that I deliberately failed to include the fact that the recent iteration actually began with Hillary Clinton, who used it to describe the charges about her emails. They are right about the last fact, but it wasn't deliberate. I would have loved to have mentioned that. This was not a column making any political point.

HOWEVER, if we are going to get political ....

Even further research reveals that there was a much earlier iteration in Washington. Ready? Ann Gorsuch, Neil's mom, used it to describe the consolation job she was offered by Ronald Reagan in 1984. It was chair of the National Advisory Committe on Oceans and Atmosphere. Her shocking dismissive reaction was one reason she withdrew from the post.

Finally, I would like to direct your attention to the odd name near the top of this story. It was pointed out to me on Twitter by Peter Sagal. I immediately observed that this bureaucrat ought to be stripped of her power. @TimLowell, more cleverly, said "her thinking is very one-sided." I welcome additional comments.

Okay, let's go. Noon.
Bahraini Justice authorities have charged 60 individuals, all of them Shia, for forming a terror group and planning to carry out terrorist attacks as the small gulf country, led by a Sunni minority, continues crackdown on angered Shia majority.

Forty-seven of the men are set to appear in court next month, in mass trial, reports say. They are accused of forming a terrorist group, undergoing training in the use of weapons and explosives with the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks and the deliberate killing of policemen, Ahmad al-Hamadi, public prosecutor told the media.

The 13 others who will be tried in absentia have reportedly fled to Iran, Iraq and Germany.

Bahrain has been embroiled since 2011 in protests and riots by majority Shia which authorities claim have been receiving support from regional Shia nation, Iran.

In June, the Supreme Court found 26 defendants guilty of forming a terrorist group between 2011 and 2013, possession of weapons and Molotov cocktails, and attempting to kill policemen in the Shiite-dominated village of Diraz, west of capital Manama.

Five people were killed in May after police opened fire to break a month-long sit-in in front of the house of a top Bahraini Shia Cleric sentenced to one year in prison for corruption.
The Algerian police announced the arrest of the leader of the local branch of the Islamic State group (IS) and former commander of al Qaeda in the country, which was responsible for several attacks against tourists and security forces.

A security source who asked not to be named told Reuters that Mohamed Yacine Aknouche, 43, who leads a local IS cell was arrested this week near Tipaza, a coastal city, 50 Km west of capital Algiers. Authorities said Yacine and his cell were preparing attacks against security forces.

Yacine was once a Europe-based affiliate of Algerias Islamic Armed Group (GIA), and was sentenced in absentia by a French court in 2004 to eight years in prison, the source told Reuters.

Local media Ennahar quoted unnamed security sources as saying the cell was based in the village of Ain Taggourait and had plotted attacks in Algiers. Aknouches cell underwent training in a nearby forest using homemade weapons, Reuters reports.

Algeria has been shaken by sporadic Islamic attacks, mostly targeting security forces.

The North African country, in its darkest years, in the 1990s, fought with several Islamist groups. Up to 35,000 were reportedly active in the height of the civils war, which killed thousands of Algerians.
U.S. to work with strategic coalition of Southeast Asian countries

Armenian PM: To reform army, it is necessary to make military service more attractive

Putin and Raisi discuss topical issues of the bilateral agenda

Blinken: Ukraine must decide on timing and content of any talks with Russia

Catholicos expresses hope that Russia efforts will contribute to ensuring free, safe life of Artsakh Armenians

More than 50 of poorest developing countries are on brink of bankruptcy, says UN official

Armenia ex-ombudsman: We are facing serious national security issues (PHOTOS)

Biden has no plans to meet with Saudi crown prince at G20 summit

EU offers natural gas price cap assurances amid disagreements with member countries

Scholz is against establishment of ceasefire in Ukraine on Kremlin's terms

Turkologist: Turkey does not support agenda of achieving peace with Armenians

Sweden to not permit deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory after joining NATO

Erdogan signs decree on appointing Turkey ambassador to Israel

Information security expert: Some Armenia officials received letter that they were victims of national hackers attack

Armenia FM meets with France minister of foreign trade

Foreign Policy: US to resume nuclear arms control talks with Russia

Armenia opposition MP: Artsakh army reduction is impermissible

Biden to warn Chinas Xi that North Korea path could lead to increase in US military presence

US Treasury chief: India can buy as much Russian oil as it wants

Newspaper: Armenia authorities trying to find legal grounds for signing peace treaty

Newspaper: People of Karabakh not going to tolerate final destruction of their army

Texas woman sentenced to death for killing pregnant woman, removing fetus from victim

Van Gogh's painting sold for a record $117 million

Gentiloni: EU countries have accumulated enough gas to get through the coming winter

Several dozen activists detained at protest rally in Baku: They chant slogans 'Freedom!', 'Resign!'

Princess Haya seeks asylum in Wales

Pashinyan: Iran is concerned about the presence of other actors in our region, which are not in the territory of Armenia

Pashinyan: Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan listened to presented proposals

Volvo reveals its flagship EX90 electric crossover

Pashinyan: Yerevan supports Russia's proposals for Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement

Pashinyan: Russia cannot withdraw from Karabakh unless it creates additional guarantees for peacekeeping mission

Pashinyan: We will do everything to Armenia-Azerbaijan sign peace treaty by end of year

Russia bans entry of Biden's family and White House press secretary

Pashinyan: We believe there should be a dialogue between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh

Pashinyan says positions voiced by some member countries of CSTO are unacceptable

19 countries that use euro currency will slide into recession over winter

Pashinyan to Baku: If 1991 border is mutually recognized, what are your troops doing near Jermuk?

Pashinyan: If the Karabakh issue is solved, why is Azerbaijani Armed Forces shooting at Karabakh residents?

Pashinyan: Russia should say whether their version of peace settlement is still circulating?

Pashinyan: Maybe Azerbaijan doesn't want Armenia to receive revenues?

Pashinyan: Azerbaijan must withdraw its troops from Armenia

Pashinyan: My yesterday's speech served its purpose, Azerbaijani MFA no longer uses 'corridor' term

Microsoft founder Paul Allen's collection of world masterpieces sold for $1.6 billion

Public TV of Armenia hosts Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan

China shows drone killer

Armenian FM meets his French counterpart

Rishi Sunak decides to close hole in British budget through austerity

Delegation of Russian MPs visits Jermuk resort town

Lavrov and Mirzoyan discuss regional agenda

Harut Sasunyan: The best way to achieve peace is to be prepared for war

Turkish prosecutor demands court to ban Istanbul mayor from political activities

German business leaders warn against leaving China

Sasunyan: Russia and US pursue their own interests in South Caucasus

British economy shrinks in three months, foretelling prolonged recession

Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan summoned to Foreign Ministry

Euro rises above dollar for first time in long time

Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister calls Council of Turkic States 'forum of peace' and praises Turkey

EU embargo on Russian oil will be a boon for OPEC

Armenia defense minister receives China ambassador, military attache

Lemkin Institute condemns Azerbaijan president's genocidal rhetoric

Dollar goes up, euro rises sharply in Armenia

U.S. warns Europe that conflict over Taiwan will cause massive global economic shock

EU calls on Armenia, Azerbaijan to moderate their rhetoric

Erdogan says Turkey has been waiting at door of EU for 52 years and will give answer when time comes

U.S. fears that European support for Ukrainian strategy will begin to weaken

Armenia, Iran emphasize need to quickly implement agreements reached (PHOTOS)

Armenia soldier wounded by Azerbaijan shooting undergoes surgery

Gas over morality: Hungary guards Azerbaijan's interests

U.S. quietly seeks concessions from Saudi Arabia after Mohammed bin Salman humiliated Biden

Italy's Ambassador to Armenia visits Gyumri

Russian Armed Forces complete redeployment of grouping from right bank of Dnieper

IRGC: Adversaries are frightened and on alert

Armenia appoints ambassador to Sri Lanka

Kremlin doesn't consider leaving Kherson 'humiliating'

Israeli president thinks the world is concerned about Netanyahu's far-right coalition partner

Chinese MFA: China is not distancing itself from Russia, as Biden believes

Ukraine will seek help from its foreign partners in financing Starlink satellite internet systems

Erdogan: Situation in South Caucasus remains fragile

Marukyan: Azerbaijans Aliyev admitted that his country started 2nd Karabakh war, despite previously insisting opposite

Azerbaijan blackmailing Armenia through Lachin corridor

Turkish-occupied northern part of Cyprus becomes observer in Organization of Turkic States

Armenia PM: In his latest speech Aliyev flagrantly violated agreement on refraining from threat or use of force

World Bank official: Armenia is one of best countries in terms of credit portfolio performance

Azerbaijan president makes repeated accusations, threats against Armenia

Iran citizens injured in Armenia road accident

China reveals new giant drone that could point to the future of air warfare

US embassy in Armenia closed today

Karabakh MOD: Defense Army did not fire at Azerbaijan positions located in occupied territories

Israel and U.S. counter threat of hypersonic missiles together

U.S. and EU plan to publish new roadmap on artificial intelligence

Armenia ombudsperson meets with Belgium colleagues

Newspaper: Armenia parliament opposition seats to no longer be empty

Newspaper: Armenia parliament committee of inquiry into 2020 war circumstances is inactive

U.S. will no longer consider Russia a country with a market economy

US intends to protect Azerbaijan from threats of Iran

Aliyev, Erdogan discuss results of tripartite meeting in Russias Sochi

Azerbaijan army fires at Armenia positions, uses mortars as well

UAE is going to launch flying cabs from airports

Volvo Cars expects to introduce electric SUV by 2024

Amazon becomes world's first public company to lose $1 trillion in market value
In 2012, Chinese student He Yang had a clear plan of her future: graduate from the Beijing Foreign Studies University, known as the alma mater of Chinese diplomats, and work for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Five years have passed since then, but her life seems far from that plan. Instead of working as a Russian-speaking diplomat in Beijing, she is now a student at the Yerevan State University, where she studies Armenian, South China Morning Post writes.

''But with Beijing hoping to set a new world order, the demand for talents that can speak languages like Armenian has been skyrocketing. Once considered itself as the centre of the earth surrounded by barbarians, the Middle Kingdom is now actively reaching out, learning the language of countries stretching from Eurasia to Africa, the article says.

This policy is backed by the Belt and Road Initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, which is designed to revive the ancient Silk Road trading routes. Chinese companies have already invested at least $50 billion USD in member countries of the initiative. Thus, backed with government funds, thousands of Chinese students and headed to countries involved in the initiative for language learning. Chinese universities, which mainly taught French and Spanish, have begun offering language courses that few people in China have ever heard of.

Meri Knyazyan teaches Armenian as an optional course at the Beijing Foreign Studies University and helps the university set up an undergraduate programme on Armenian studies, the first of its kind in China. To add the number of teachers, the university sent two Chinese students to learn the language in Armenia, in the hope that earning a master's degree will land them the job of a lecturer.

Language is part of soft power. It is the best tool to understand the culture of local people Knyazyan says.

Apart from teaching, Meri organizes screening of Armenian documentaries, introduces Armenian cuisine and tells Chinese students about the history of Armenia. In her words, some students became so interested in the country that they travelled to Armenia to see it with their own eyes. Consequently, more students began attending the courses of Armenian.

According to the newspaper, that is good news for Chinese companies which strive for a greater presence in overseas markets but often fail due to cultural differences.

It remains to be seen how the language learning will contribute to the development of closer relations between China and Armenia, but He Yang already feels the positive sides. Whenever I speak Armenian, people in Armenia become more friendly. I even get better deals at stores by bargaining in the local language, she says.
The following is a statement from the Wisconsin State Fair addressing the recent accident at the Ohio State Fair involving a Fire Ball ride that resulted in one dead and seven injured.

"Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and families affected by the recent tragedy at the Ohio State Fair.

"The Fire Ball ride involved in the accident at the Ohio State Fair was not scheduled to be a part of the 2017 Wisconsin State Fair; however, the Freak Out, a similar ride, was planned for our SpinCity Amusement Ride and Game area.

"Out of respect for the families affected by the tragedy, as well as the pending investigation into why the accident occurred, Wisconsin State Fair Park Chairman of the Board, John Yingling, along with Kathleen OLeary, Wisconsin State Fair Park CEO, have made the decision to not have the Freak Out at the 2017 Wisconsin State Fair.

"The Wisconsin State Fair holds itself to the highest standards, and the safety of our guests is our number one priority. We will continue our rigorous ride inspection process, which includes inspecting all rides multiple times prior to and during the fair. Wisconsin State Fair staff works in partnership with independent ride inspection professionals as well as the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services to inspect each ride and attraction."
Phuket, 28 July 2017  Savour a tasty aperitif or a refreshing drink whilst watching the sunset. This is one of the best ways to enjoy the island with friends and loved ones. La Gritta is a venue with something special for every diner. The al fresco seating area offers guests a prime location to relax with brilliant views of Patong Bay and the sunset over the Andaman Ocean.

Guests can partake in a sumptuous dinner as the sun sinks into the sea. La Gritta offers the Kitchen-Meets-Bar promotion, a tasty treat to start the evening. Chef Patrizia brings together a great combination of five popular Italian appetisers paired with five Italian beverages, which is available only in August 2017.

The five pairing menus include:

Negroni and Carpaccio di Tonno, priced at 680 THB++

Tuna carpaccio offers the finest quality of sashimi, served together with orange salad, juniper berries and fennel seed. This dish is paired with a Negroni cocktail.

Spritz and Spiedini di Pollo, Salsiccia e Peperoni, priced at 620 THB++

This dish is similar to satay in Thailand. It is comprised of seasoned and skewered grilled chicken, Italian sausage, bell peppers and cherry tomatoes. This dish is paired with a Spritz cocktail.

Rossini and Foie Gras in Salsa Madeira, priced at 890 THB++

Roasted foie gras, crispy on the outside and soft inside, served together with dry prune wrapped with pancetta (Italian bacon) and Madeira wine sauce. This dish is paired with a Rossini cocktail.

Bellini and Canape di Salmone Affumicato e Ricotta al Pistacchio, priced at 890 THB++

A canape of finely sliced smoked salmon filled with ground pistachio, ricotta and parmesan cheeses, and garnished with salmon caviar and seasonal vegetable. This dish is paired with a Bellini cocktail.

Martini e Fritto di Baccala e Zucchini, priced at 580 THB++

A tempura dish consisting of fried cod fish that offers a slightly salty taste well complemented by the sweetness of young zucchini, served perfectly crispy. This dish is paired with a Martini.

All prices are subject to a 10% service charge and 7% VAT. Terms and conditions apply.

For more information and reservations, please contact +66 (0) 7634 0112, email lagritta@amari.com,

or visit www.lagritta.com and https://www.facebook.com/LaGrittaPhuket.

Address: Amari Phuket, 2 Muen-ngern Road, Patong Beach, Kathu, Phuket 83150, Thailand
Custom Business Solutions Launches Reseller Network for NorthStar POS system #RetailNow

(Las Vegas RetailNOW Booth #738) Aug. 2, 2017  Custom Business Solutions (CBS), a leading hospitality technology service provider, today announces plans to develop a nationwide reseller network for NorthStar Order entry, the companys signature cloud-based software point of sale (POS) solution.

Developed for the restaurant industry six years ago, NorthStar Order Entry provides an omni-channel system for guests and servers to more efficiently place orders while managing security, improving speed of service and enhancing the guest experience, all managed from the cloud.

The NorthStar system was first used by STACKED Restaurants, which operates four Southern California locations, and is now employed by numerous companies throughout the restaurant, hospitality and travel industries including cruise ships.

According to CBS COO Jeremy Julian, a reseller network will accelerate user adoption and help CBS meet the growing demand for the flexible, easy to use POS software.

Hospitality customers of all sizes are finding NorthStar to be a valuable component of their successful business operations. We believe a reseller network will help us connect with more customers who desire a modern, cloud-based POS system that delivers a competitive advantage in todays challenging environment, said Jeremy Julian.

As a reseller for more than two decades, CBS knows what it takes to deliver value and results in the reseller channel. The company is looking for regional resellers with technical expertise and a track record of positively serving customers in the hospitality industry. These resellers would work directly with regional restaurant brands that would benefit from the easy to install and user-friendly NorthStar system and its data analytics capabilities.

ABOUT CUSTOM BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

Since 1994, the advanced software solutions offered by Custom Business Solutions have helped numerous hospitality professionals to operate their businesses more profitably. Restaurant operators and their guests have benefited from CBSs NorthStar suite of products that enhance the dining experiences. CBS also offers a range of support services such as after-hours help desk capabilities. Custom Business Solutions, Inc. is headquartered in Irvine, CA with offices throughout the Western United States. For more information, visit www.cbsnorthstar.com.http://www.cbsnorthstar.com/



More websites for Point-of-sale niches:

POS-Advice.com  a 100% focus on restaurant point of sale

POSforum.net  a support forum where users share information and answer tech questions for various restaurant POS products including Oracle/Micros and Aloha.
#RetailNOW 2017 Conference Next Week In Las Vegas

RetailNOW is the largest yearly event for professionals providing Point of Sale solutions in the retail technology industry. Attendees will have access to more than 170 booths featuring the industrys latest products and amenities. Keynote speakers include point of sale, payments, and technology manufacturer experts who are eager to discuss the rapidly changing retail technology environment.

Where: Paris Las Vegas hotel  3655 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109

When: August 6th-9th, 2017

About: This highly-informative show allows for industry professionals to acquire the latest knowledge on emerging technologies in the space and the convergence of payment technology with point of sale. Our 80,000 sq. foot exhibit hall provides hands-on exposure to the newest products and is considered the premier trade show for all technology related to retail, hospitality, grocery verticals, and beyond.



PointofSale.com , now in its 8th year, does not sell products or services and we rely on sponsors to keep the site up. We are independently owned and operated. Please visit the POS software pages and POS hardware pages (see left side menu above) to find great POS products from various vendors. For more info, contact us through the Footer menu below. Be sure to visit POS-Advice.com for restaurant related point of sale content.

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The Process of Computerizing Your Business
Former MP Inderjit Singh. (Yahoo file photo)

Former Member of Parliament Inderjit Singh said that some Singaporeans have expressed concerns on the prospects of a current MP resigning to run in the upcoming presidential election (PE).

While Inderjit said that the Constitution allows for a sitting government politician to stand in a PE, the spirit of the Elected President is independence of office as intended by Mr Lee Kuan Yew when the idea was mooted.

Inderjit did not mention any MPs name in his post on his Facebook page on Friday (28 July). His comments come after Yahoo News Singapore reported on Thursday that sources said Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob, who is also MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, is planning to run in the upcoming presidential election in September, which is reserved for Malay candidates. Two other potential presidential candidates, Salleh Marican and Farid Khan, are not sitting MPs.

Inderjit, who was formerly MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, said public perception on the issue is important. While Mr Ong Teng Cheong also did the same in (the) 1993 (presidential election), I sense people are increasingly uncomfortable with this, said Inderjit, who is an entrepreneur.

On the debate as to who Singapores first elected president was, Inderjit said the policy makers could have avoided the question if they had paid more attention on the issue. The Constitution could have specified that the number of consecutive presidential terms during which there is no president from a particular community is five instead of six before a reserved election is triggered, he said.

Former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock had filed a constitutional challenge against the timing of the upcoming election, which was dismissed by the High Court on 7 July. Tan had filed an appeal against the ruling and will know the outcome on Monday.

Tan had questioned the advice given by the Attorney-Generals Chambers (AGC) to the government that the first term of the elected presidency began with President Wee Kim Wee. Tan said the AGC should have counted the five most recent presidential terms produced by open elections, starting with President Ong Teng Cheong.

Story continues

Inderjit also highlighted the concept of Malayness as a debatable issue. He said, It is critical that the leaders of the Malay community and the government come out and make this position clear and hopefully this position will apply to all aspects of life in Singapore.

The former MP also said that it is important that Singapore has enough qualified Malays who meet the very stringent requirements set in the Constitution to run in the PE. He added that it would be a pity if there are not enough qualified Malay candidates to choose from for the first ever reserved PE.

Inderjit hopes the issues that he has highlighted will be addressed before the PEs formal process begins.

He said, As the Head of State, the President of Singapore holds the highest office and he or she must get the full respect of all SingaporeansAnd once our President has been elected, lets all show respect for the President of Singapore and stand united as Singaporeans.
Indonesia and Australia on Saturday called for stronger cooperation in counter-terrorism as the region braces for the return of foreign militants fighting in the Middle East. In a one-day gathering in North Sulawesi of six nations including Malaysia, the Philippines, New Zealand and Brunei, ministers discussed terrorism in Southeast Asia and fears over IS unrest in the Philippines, where government forces are pitted against Islamist gunmen holed up in a southern city. "Global terrorism is that lethal threat to all of our societies and with the collapse of the caliphate in the Middle East, the return of foreign terrorist fighters to our region and the increasing prevalence of cross border terorism... (the threat) is becoming more severe, not less," Australian Attorney-General George Brandis told a post-meeting press conference. Indonesian chief security minister Wiranto said the delegations had agreed to hold regular meetings to allow information to be shared and to establish a database of miliants to keep track of their movements. "We will also push for a cooperation with companies that provide social media services as well as video sharing and messaging service," Wiranto said. Indonesia recently announced restrictions on the popular messaging app Telegram after claiming the platform had been used frequently by radicals to spread information and propaganda. Parts of Southeast Asia have long struggled with Islamic militancy, with hundreds of radicals from the region flocking to join IS in Iraq and Syria.
Slovak police on Friday said they had charged far-right leader Marian Kotleba with promoting extremism, over cheques he gave to poor families for a sum that carries symbolic weight in neo-Nazi circles. Kotleba, who leads the Kotleba-People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS), was charged on July 20 and accused of "promoting sympathy towards a movement aimed at suppressing fundamental rights and freedoms," police spokesman Martin Waldl told AFP. Local media reported that the charge stemmed from a charity event LSNS organised in March. According to the local pluska.sk news site, Kotleba handed out three larger-than-life cheques for 1,488 euros ($1,748) at the event. The number 1,488 is a well-known neo-Nazi symbol. "I can confirm that this member of parliament was accused in connection with the cheques for 1,488 euros," interior ministry spokesman Ivan Netik told AFP. Kotleba faces up to three years in prison if convicted. The former teacher, who has been charged with hate speech in the past, is notorious for having led street marches with party members dressed in black neo-Nazi uniforms before he entered parliament. Governor of his native central region of Banska Bystrica, he is hostile to both the Roma minority and the established elite. He has spoken warmly of former president Jozef Tiso, who agreed to deport tens of thousands of Jews to Nazi Germany during World War II. His party has campaigned heavily against letting migrants into the country and won seats in parliament for the first time in March 2016. It currently has 14 MPs sitting in the 150-member parliament. In May, prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to ban the far-right party. There is evidence that the LSNS "is an extremist political party with fascist tendencies," Andrea Predajnova, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor general, said at the time.
The United States and European allies sharpened their tone Friday on Iran, demanding Tehran immediately cease its ballistic missile tests, a day after it tested a rocket carrying a satellite. Amid already tense US-Iran relations, the US Treasury imposed fresh sanctions, singling out six companies owned or controlled by Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), which it said was central to the Islamic republic's missile program, freezing their US assets and barring US citizens from dealing with them. Foreign financial institutions could face punitive measures if they deal with the sanctioned entities, it added. SHIG was already under UN, US and European Union sanctions. In a joint statement, Britain, France, Germany and the US condemned Tehran's "provocative" and "destabilizing" action, saying the test was in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231. "We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities," they added. Resolution 2231 was voted at the UN two years ago to endorse the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. It lifted economic sanctions in exchange for curbs to Tehran's nuclear program. The resolution called on Iran not to test ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and an arms embargo remained in place. All four Western countries have written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres about their "concerns," according to the joint statement. It said the British, French and German governments are discussing the issues in bilateral talks with Iran. The United States has had no diplomatic ties with the Islamic republic since 1980, and President Donald Trump has halted the direct contacts with Tehran initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama. - 'Widespread support for terrorists' - At UN headquarters in New York, US envoy Nikki Haley spoke of deep "mistrust" with Iran. "Iran's widespread support for terrorists tells us we can't trust them. Iran's breaking its obligation on missile testing tells us we can't trust them. Yesterday's launch proves that yet again," she said in a statement. Despite his electoral promise to tear apart what he once called "the worst deal ever," Trump has so far respected the tenets of the accord, a diplomatic success of his Democratic predecessor that advanced multilateralism and non-proliferation. It is, however, unclear that the US administration will continue to certify every three months that Iran is respecting the deal, or keep off economic sanctions linked to the Islamic republic's nuclear program. European countries, however, say the nuclear and ballistic issues should be treated separately. Yet the joint statement noted that Iran's latest test features technology related to "ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons." - Fresh US sanctions - In unveiling the new US sanctions, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said they "underscore the United States' deep concerns with Iran's continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behavior." He warned that Washington would "continue to aggressively counter Iran's ballistic missile-related activity, whether it be a provocative space launch, its development of threatening ballistic missile systems, or likely support to Yemeni Huthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia such as occurred this past weekend." According to the Treasury, "space launch vehicles use technologies that are closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile and this launch represents a threatening step by Iran." Iranian state television broadcast footage of the takeoff from the Imam Khomeini space center, named after the late founder of the Islamic republic, in Semnan province in the east of the country. The report said the launch vehicle, named Simorgh after a bird in Iranian mythology, was capable of propelling a satellite weighing 550 pounds (250 kilograms) to an altitude of 300 miles (500 kilometers) above earth. Western states suspect Iran of developing the technology capable of launching long-range ballistic missiles with conventional or nuclear payloads, a charge denied by Tehran, which insists its space program has purely peaceful aims. Tensions have mounted between Washington and Tehran since US President Donald Trump took office six months ago.
Can an event that lasts less than three minutes make an impact on your business? One Tennessee company is counting on it. And your business could potentially do the same.

The event in question is the total solar eclipse, which will take place on August 21. And American Paper Optics in Bartlett, Tennessee has been planning for this moment for years.

The company specializes in making 3D glasses. And it can use many of the same processes and materials to make special eclipse glasses that allow people to safely view the eclipse through solar filters.

The Takeaway from Solar Eclipse Business Opportunities

This special product makes a lot of sense for the company. But even if your small business doesnt make a product that so naturally lends itself to a special event like a solar eclipse, you could potentially take advantage of the upcoming event in a similar way.

Maybe you have a restaurant with an outdoor space that offers a great view of the sky. You could offer an eclipse package for the day for those who want a great view. Or you could put together informational packets with some branded materials, or even host a party at your office.

And theres no reason to wait for a solar eclipse. Almost any special rare event, from your towns 200th anniversary to an important scientific discovery or innovation the whole world is watching, could provide an opportunity.

Create a website with important facts and updates as they arise for those interested on the web. Launch a special product or service  perhaps a special dish at your restaurant  in honor of the event. Youll keep your business top of mind and turn already existing excitement into extra revenue for you!
Usefulness Content Freshness In the quest for innovative products and services, many businesses are investing in fancy technology so they can create the "next big thing". The chase for innovation is pointless if you can't maintain for the long-term success of your business. How do you maintain long-term success? Build and maintain the right culture."The Invisible Advantage: How to Create a Culture of Innovation" shows you how to leverage that culture into a disruptive advantage.

If you buy something through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more.

Businesses dont just need disruptive innovation. They crave it. Disruptive innovation allows companies like Google and Amazon to grab customers from established competitors while also fending off challenges. Innovation has become a popular buzzword, even if companies have no idea what it really means. The Invisible Advantage: How to Create a Culture of Innovation helps readers make sense of the trendy innovation buzzword and integrate the innovation process seamlessly into your businesss everyday work culture.

What is The Invisible Advantage About?

According to The Invisible Advantage, business owners have an unbalanced view of disruptive innovation. Because of the increased media exposure of the next big thing, many business owners mistakenly assume that disruptive innovation is an all-or-nothing game. The excessive focus is on finding the next big thing without worrying about the details. The central idea behind The Invisible Advantage, is that business owners need to stop chasing the next big thing and start creating an innovation-supporting culture. Culture, the book says, is the secret sauce to a sustainable competitive advantage.

In the book, an innovation-supporting culture involves more than hiring some developers to create an app or product managers to create a new gadget. An innovation-supporting culture involves proactively creating and maintaining a workplace culture where free thinking, an experimental approach to failure, and a willingness to learn is encouraged. Being proactive about the process is the key. Many business owners assume they already have an innovation-supporting culture. The Invisible Advantage urges business owners to test their assumptions so they can address any obstacles or weak spots.

Innovation in The Invisible Advantage is a speed race, nor it is a set it and forget it option either. Innovation is a gradual process that adapts to the entire business as it pursues its goals. Innovation, the authors would say, also shouldnt be locked away in the IT department. Every department, like HR or Finance, should get involved. Why? In order to move forward in a sustainable way, you need all parts of a business working toward a common and well-defined goal. The culture of your entire business affects your business ability to innovation. By leveraging that culture, you can consistently build an advantage that competitors dont see it coming.

Author Soren Kaplan is an expert in digital innovation. He works as a professor at USC School of Business, keynote speaker, guest lecturer and founder of InnovationPoint, LLC. As an expert in innovation, Kaplan has worked with some of the top brands including Disney, Red Bull, and NBC Universal.

What Was Best About The Invisible Advantage?

The Invisible Advantage brings innovation down from its lofty position as industry buzzword to reality. It provides a balanced and more realistic view of what actually drives innovation. As the book reminds readers, it isnt the technology that brings disruptive innovation. It is the culture. Technology is a part of disruptive innovation, but it isnt what drives innovation. Soren Kaplan does a good job of showing how readers should capitalize on that fact to gain a decisive advantage in their own way and not as a clone of Apple or Google.

What Could Have Been Done Differently?

The Invisible Advantage does an incredible job of helping readers understand the internal changes that are required to not only build an innovative culture but also to maintain it. One way the book accomplishes this is through an innovation portfolio, which helps readers allocate time to specific innovation activities which create a comprehensive, but balanced, approach to innovative activities. While this is extremely helpful, more attention needs to be placed on helping readers integrate these activities into the normal flow of a business. It is much easier for a business like Disney to hold an innovation lab. Its another issue for a small business to do the same.

Why Read The Invisible Advantage?

The Invisible Advantage offers great insight into the reality of innovation. In trying to help business owners prepare for innovation, many books on the topic get really technical or really abstract. This leaves readers with the Those are great ideas but how do I actually implement them? problem. The Invisible Advantage bypasses that problem by providing a down-to-Earth guide to the real driver of innovation, your culture. The book then leads readers through the questions and processes (with examples of successful companies like Adobe, Facebook, and Intuit) that start in the transformation of your planning and work processes so they can help you innovate more consistently.

In short, The Invisible Advantage helps readers integrate innovation into their planning and refine that innovation for a distinct and unique advantage.

Get discounts and special offers on new and classic business books with an Audible Premium Plus membership. Learn more and sign up for an account today.
No other zoo in Slovakia breeds this owl species.

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Four great grey owlets hatched in Kosice Zoo a month ago but were spared the glare of publicity until these days.

"We started breeding great grey owls in late 2012. The female is five years old and is a native of the zoo in Prague. The male hatched 16 years ago in the Royal Burgers Zoo in the Netherlands and was moved to zoos in Decin and Ostrava before settling down in Kosice Zoo, where he's now sired his first offspring," said head of the zoo's education and marketing department Eva Malesova, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

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"Breeders regard the hatching of as many as four chicks as a feat because, according to literature, great grey owls hardly ever lay five eggs," she added for TASR.

No other zoo in Slovakia breeds this owl species. The breed's supervisor Jozef Lenard said that great grey owls, sometimes also called Lapland owls, are one of the largest types of owls. They can grow up to 60-80 centimetres in length and have a wingspan of up 150 centimetres. They weigh in at 700 to 1,500 grams and can reportedly live up to 30 years of age - much like other owl species, in fact.

They rely on their uniquely keen sense of hearing, which allows them to accurately pinpoint their prey, most commonly rodents, even beneath a snow layer of 50 centimetres from as far away as 100 metres.
Solving difficult problems in cooperation with your neighbors is what leaders are supposed to do. The leaders of Slovakia and Hungary were not even willing to try.

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Though we still must wait a few weeks to get the full decision, this week the expert adviser to the European Court of Justice issued a clear condemnation of the lawsuit brought by the Slovak and Hungarian governments opposing the European Union refugee quota system, recommending the case be dismissed for seven  yes, seven  different reasons.

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Though the court could still choose to go against his recommendations, they almost never do. I could make the arguments of how and why the lawsuit was a waste of time and taxpayer money  not to mention that what is filed exclusively in a cynical attempt to make domestic political gains  but the court expert, Advocate General Yves Bot, does a pretty good job himself.

Mr. Bot concludes that the quota system was a proportionate means of enabling Greece and Italy to deal with the impact of the 2015 migration crisis. The plan was always temporary in nature, scheduled to run from September 2015 through September 2017 in order to address a clearly identified emergency situation, he writes.

Read also:

Read also: EU courts advocate general proposes to dismiss quota lawsuits Read more

This means that not only did the challenge filed by the Fico and Orban governments signify that the governments of Slovakia and Hungary did not care about the well-being of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war zones, it also showed they did not care to help their supposed friends in Europe who had no choice but to deal with the people flooding their shores. It was an accident of geography that Italy and Greece were the frontlines of a refugee crisis, just as it would have been Slovakias and Hungarys problem if the war in Ukraine had escalated to the point of causing a refugee crisis.

Mr. Bot goes on to completely dismantle the argument, still made by Orban and Fico loyalists, that because the quota system hasnt worked very well it proves they were right all along. The limited efficacy of the measures provided for in the contested decision does not call in question its appropriateness for achieving the objective sought, he writes.

Solving difficult problems in cooperation with your neighbors is what leaders are supposed to do. The leaders of Slovakia and Hungary were not even willing to try. By filing the lawsuit and refusing to take refugees in, they sabotaged the implementation of the quota system so they could later point out that it didnt work in an attempt to prove they were right all along.

This sort of circular logic is  for lack of a better word  bullshit, Mr. Bot says, since the quota system must be assessed on the basis of the facts and the law at the time when it was adopted and not in the light of retrospective considerations as to how effective it has been.

Mr. Fico's and Mr. Orbans positions on refugees have long been unfriendly, inhumane and immoral  real people died, and many are still suffering  but they now look to be illegal too.
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Corning Incorporated engages in display technologies, optical communications, environmental technologies, specialty materials, and life sciences businesses worldwide. The company's Display Technologies segment offers glass substrates for liquid crystal displays and organic light-emitting diodes used in televisions, notebook computers, desktop monitors, tablets, and handheld devices. Its Optical Communications segment provides optical fibers and cables; and hardware and equipment products, including cable assemblies, fiber optic hardware and connectors, optical components and couplers, closures, network interface devices, and other accessories. This segment also offers its products to businesses, governments, and individuals. Its Specialty Materials segment manufactures products that provide material formulations for glass, glass ceramics, crystals, precision metrology instruments, software; as well as ultra-thin and ultra-flat glass wafers, substrates, tinted sunglasses, and radiation shielding products. This segment serves various industries, including mobile consumer electronics, semiconductor equipment optics and consumables; aerospace and defense optics; radiation shielding products, sunglasses, and telecommunications components. The company's Environmental Technologies segment offers ceramic substrates and filter products for emissions control in mobile, gasoline, and diesel applications. The company's Life Sciences segment offers laboratory products comprising consumables, such as plastic vessels, liquid handling plastics, specialty surfaces, cell culture media, and serum, as well as general labware and equipment under the Corning, Falcon, Pyrex, and Axygen brands. The company was formerly known as Corning Glass Works and changed its name to Corning Incorporated in April 1989. Corning Incorporated was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Corning, New York.
The following companies are subsidiares of Laboratory Co. of America: 1957285 Ontario Inc. dba Quality Underwriting Services, 2089729 Ontario Inc., 2248848 Ontario Inc., 3065619 Nova Scotia Company, 3257959 Nova Scotia Company, 8165335 Canada Inc., 8348596 Canada Inc., 896988 Ontario Limited, 9279-3280 Quebec Inc., Accupath Diagnostic Laboratories Inc., Assets of Pathology Inc, Beacon LBS IPA Inc., Beacon Laboratory Benefit Solutions Inc., CannAmm GP Inc., CannAmm Limited Partnership, Center for Disease Detection International, Center for Disease Detection LLC, Centrex Clinical Laboratories Inc., Chiltern, Clearstone Central Laboratories (U.S.) Inc., Clearstone Holdings (International) Ltd., Clinical Outreach Laboratory Services, Clipper Holdings Inc., Colorado Coagulation Consultants Inc., Colorado Laboratory Services LLC, Correlagen Diagnostics Inc., Covance Inc., Curalab Inc., Cytometry Associates Inc., Czura Thornton (Hong Kong) Limited, DCL Acquisition Inc., DCL Medical Laboratories LLC, DCL Sub LLC, DIANON Systems Inc., DL Holdings Limited Partnership, Decision Diagnostics L.L.C. (aka DaVinici/Medicorp LLC), Diagnostic Services Inc., DynaLifeDX, Dynacare - Gamma Laboratory Partnership, Dynacare Company, Dynacare G.P. Inc., Dynacare Holdco LLC, Dynacare Laboratories Inc., Dynacare Laboratories Limited Partnership, Dynacare Northwest Inc., Dynacare Realty Inc., DynalifeDX Infrastructure Inc., Envigo's nonclinical contract research services business, Esoterix Genetic Counseling LLC, Esoterix Genetic Laboratories LLC, Esoterix Inc., Execmed Health Services Inc., FirstSource Laboratory Solutions Inc., GDML Medical Laboratories Inc, Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratories GP Inc., Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratory Limited Partnership, HHLA Lab-In-An-Envelope LLC, Health Testing Centers Inc., Health Trans Services Inc., Home Healthcare Laboratory of America LLC, IDX Pathology Inc., Impact Genetics Corporation, Impact Genetics Inc., Kaleida LabCorp LLC, Lab Delivery Service of New York City Inc., LabCorp BVBA, LabCorp Belgium Holdings Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (Canada) Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (China) Inc., LabCorp Colorado Inc., LabCorp Development Company, LabCorp Employer Services Inc., LabCorp Health System Diagnostics LLC, LabCorp Indiana Inc., LabCorp Japan G.K., LabCorp Limited, LabCorp Michigan Inc., LabCorp Nebraska Inc., LabCorp Neon Ltd., LabCorp Neon Switzerland S.a.r.l., LabCorp Specialty Testing Billing Service Inc., LabCorp Specialty Testing Group Inc., LabCorp Staffing Solutions Inc., LabCorp Tennessee LLC, LabCorp UK Holdings Ltd., LabWest Inc., Laboratoire Bio-Medic Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America, Lifecodes Corporation, LipoScience Inc., Litholink Corporation, MEDTOX Scientific Inc., MNG Laboratories, MedAxio Insurance Medical Services GP Inc., MedAxio Insurance Medical Services LP, Medical Neurogenitics LLC, Medtox Diagnostics Inc., Medtox Laboratories Inc., Monogram Biosciences Inc., Monogram Biosciences UK Limited, Myriad Autoimmunes Vectra Testing Business, NWT Inc., National Genetics Institute, New Brighton Business Center LLC, New Imaging Diagnostics LLC, New Molecular Diagnostics Ventures LLC, Orchid Cellmark ULC, Ovia Health, PA Labs Inc., Paclab LLC, Path Lab Incorporated, Pathology Associates Medical Lab LLC, Pee Dee Pathology Associates Inc., Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc., Persys Technology Inc., Pixel by LabCorp, Princeton Diagnostic Laboratories of America Inc., Protedyne Corporation, SW/DL LLC, Saint Josephs-PAML LLC, Sequenom Biosciences (India) Pvt. Ltd., Sequenom Inc, Sequenom Inc., Tandem Labs Inc., Toxikon Corporation, Tri-Cities Laboratory LLC, Viro-Med Laboratories Inc., Visiun, and Yakima Medical Arts Inc..

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The following companies are subsidiares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum: AMI Metals Aero Services Ankara Havaclk Anonim Sirketi, AMI Metals Europe SPRL, AMI Metals Inc. , AMI Metals UK Limited, Acero Prime S. de R.L. de C.V., Admiral Metals Servicenter Company, Admiral Metals Servicenter Company Inc., Airport Metals, Alaska Steel Company, Alaska Steel Company, Aleaciones Especiales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., All Metal Services (Malaysia) Sdn., All Metal Services India Private Limited, All Metal Services Limited, All Metal Services Ltd. (Xian), All Metals Holding, All Metals Processing & Logistics Inc., Allegheny Steel Distributors Inc., American Metals Corporation, Best Manufacturing Inc., CCC Steel Inc., Chapel Steel Canada Ltd., Chapel Steel Corp., Chatham Steel Corporation, Clayton Metals Inc., Continental Alloys & Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Continental Alloys & Services Limited, Continental Alloys & Services Pte. Ltd., Continental Alloys Middle East FZE, Crest Steel Corporation, Delta Steel Inc., Diamond Manufacturing Company, DuBose National Energy Fasteners & Machined Parts, DuBose National Energy Fasteners & Machined Parts Inc., DuBose National Energy Services, DuBose National Energy Services Inc., Durrett Sheppard Steel Co. Inc., Earle M. Jorgensen Company, FastMetals Inc., Feralloy Corporation, Ferguson Perforating Company, Ferguson Perforating Company, Fox Metals And Alloys, Fox Metals and Alloys Inc., Fry Steel, Fry Steel Company, GH Metal Solutions, GH Metal Solutions Inc., Haskins Steel, Infra-Metals Co., KMS FAB LLC, KMS Fab, KMS South, KMS South Inc., Liebovich Bros. Inc., McKey Perforating, Merfish United, Merfish United Inc., Metals USA, Metals USA Inc., Metalweb Limited, National Specialty Alloys, National Specialty Alloys Inc., Northern Illinois Steel Supply Co, Northern Illinois Steel Supply Co., Nu-Tech Precision Metals Inc., Nu-Tech Precision Metals Inc., PDM Steel Service Centers Inc., Pacific Metal Company, Phoenix Corporation, Precision Flamecutting and Steel Inc., Precision Strip Inc., Reliance Metalcenter Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Reliance Metals Canada Limited, Rotax Metals Inc, Rotax Metals Inc., Service Steel Aerospace Corp., Siskin Steel & Supply Company Inc., Sugar Steel Corporation, Sunbelt Steel Texas, Tubular Steel, Tubular Steel Inc., Valex Corp., Valex Korea Co. Ltd., Valex Semiconductor Materials (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., Viking Materials Inc., and Yarde Metals Inc..

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STEM

Trump Donates Second Quarter Salary to Fund Science Camp

President Donald Trump plans to donate $100,000, or his second quarter salary, to help build a science camp at the Department of Education that aims to boost student interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made the announcement at the White House on Wednesday, according to a news release, where she said, [The President] and I have had many conversations about how best to put students needs first and to ensure we are setting them up for a lifetime of success. There is much work to be done, but we are certainly on the right track thanks to the presidents leadership.

At the White House event, DeVos continued to explain how Ivanka Trump and her recently hosted a summer reading event at the Spark!Lab at the Smithsonians National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The focus of the event was gettings girls ages 6-10 interested in STEM topics and DeVos and Trump watched as participating girls conducted science experiments, according to the Washington Post and other news organizations.

We want to encourage as many children as possible to explore STEM fields in the hope that many develop a passion for these fields, DeVos said.

The president of the United States earns $400,000 annually. Trump previously donated his first quarter salary of $78,333.32 to the National Parks Service.
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.
Southern Copper Corporation engages in mining, exploring, smelting, and refining copper and other minerals in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, and Chile. The company is involved in the mining, milling, and flotation of copper ore to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates; smelting of copper concentrates to produce blister and anode copper; refining of anode copper to produce copper cathodes; production of molybdenum concentrate and sulfuric acid; production of refined silver, gold, and other materials; and mining and processing of zinc and lead. It operates the Toquepala and Cuajone open-pit mines, and a smelter and refinery in Peru; and La Caridad, an open-pit copper mine, as well as a copper ore concentrator, a SX-EW plant, a smelter, refinery, and a rod plant in Mexico. The company also operates Buenavista, an open-pit copper mine, as well as two copper concentrators and two operating SX-EW plants in Mexico. In addition, it operates five underground mines that produce zinc, lead, copper, silver, and gold; a coal mine that produces coal and coke; and a zinc refinery. The company has interests in 82,134 hectares of exploration concessions in Peru; 493,533 hectares of exploration concessions in Mexico; 246,346 hectares of exploration concessions in Argentina; 29,888 hectares of exploration concessions in Chile; and 7,299 hectares of exploration concessions in Ecuador. Southern Copper Corporation was incorporated in 1952 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona. Southern Copper Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Americas Mining Corporation.
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. provides insurance and financial services to individual and business customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. Its Commercial Lines segment offers workers' compensation, property, automobile, liability, umbrella, bond, marine, livestock, and reinsurance; and customized insurance products and risk management services, including professional liability, bond, surety, and specialty casualty coverages through regional offices, branches, sales and policyholder service centers, independent retail agents and brokers, wholesale agents, and reinsurance brokers. The company's Personal Lines segment provides automobile, homeowners, and personal umbrella coverages through direct-to-consumer channel and independent agents. Its Property & Casualty Other Operations segment offers coverage for asbestos and environmental exposures. The company's Group Benefits segment provides group life, disability, and other group coverages to members of employer groups, associations, and affinity groups through direct insurance policies; reinsurance to other insurance companies; employer paid and voluntary product coverages; disability underwriting, administration, and claims processing to self-funded employer plans; and a single-company leave management solution. This segment distributes its group insurance products and services through brokers, consultants, third-party administrators, trade associations, and private exchanges. Its Hartford Funds segment offers investment products for retail and retirement accounts; exchange-traded products through broker-dealer organizations, independent financial advisers, defined contribution plans, financial consultants, bank trust groups, and registered investment advisers; and investment management and administrative services, such as product design, implementation, and oversight. The company was founded in 1810 and is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut.
The following companies are subsidiares of Novartis: 1 A Pharma GmbH, Abadia Retuerta S.A, Admune Therapeutics, Advanced Accelerator Applications, Advanced Accelerator Applications, Advanced Accelerator Applications International SA, Advanced Accelerator Applications S.A., Advanced Accelerator Applications S.r.l., Advanced Accelerator Applications USA Inc., Aeropharm GmbH, Alcon, Alcon  Couvreur NV, Amblyotech, Amblyotech Inc., Arctos Medical, Arctos Medical AG, Australia Pty Ltd, Beijing Novartis Pharma Co. Ltd., BioMedical Research Co. Ltd., CELLforCURE, Cadent Therapeutics, Cadent Therapeutics Cambridge, Cellerys, Cellerys AG, CellforCure, Chiron Corporation, Ciba-Geigy Japan Limited, Co. Ltd, CoStim Pharmaceuticals, CoStim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Coalesce Product Development Limited, Corthera, Development Co. Ltd., EBEWE Pharma Ges.m.b.H Nfg. KG, Encore Vision, Endocyte, Endocyte Inc., Eon Labs Inc., Farmanova Saglik Hizmetleri Ltd, Fougera Pharmaceuticals, Fougera Pharmaceuticals Inc, Gyroscope Therapeutics, HEXAL AG, Hexal, IDB Holland BV, Iberica S.L.U., Ilaclari Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S, JSC Sandoz, Japat AG, Kedalion Therapeutics Inc., Lek Pharmaceuticals d.d., Lek S.A., Manufacturing Pte Ltd , Navigate BioPharma Services Inc, Neutec Pharma Limited, Novartis (Hellas) S.A.C.I., Novartis (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Novartis (Taiwan) Co. Ltd, Novartis (Thailand) Limited, Novartis Argentina S.A., Novartis Australia Pty Ltd, Novartis Austria GmbH, Novartis Biociencias S.A., Novartis Biosciences Peru S.A., Novartis Bioventures AG, Novartis Business Services GmbH, Novartis Capital Corporation, Novartis Chile S.A., Novartis Corporation, Novartis Corporation Sdn. Bhd., Novartis Deutschland GmbH, Novartis Ecuador S.A., Novartis Farma S.p.A., Novartis Farma  Produtos Farmaceuticos S.A., Novartis Farmaceutica S.A, Novartis Farmaceutica S.A. de C.V., Novartis Finance Corporation, Novartis Finance S.A., Novartis Finance Services Ltd, Novartis Finland Oy Espoo, Novartis Gene Therapies, Novartis Gene Therapies EU Limited, Novartis Gene Therapies Inc., Novartis Grimsby Limited, Novartis Groupe France S.A., Novartis Healthcare A/S, Novartis Healthcare Philippines Inc., Novartis Healthcare Private Limited, Novartis Holding AG, Novartis Hungary Healthcare Limited Liability Company, Novartis India Limited, Novartis Inflammasome Research, Novartis Integrated Services Limited, Novartis International AG, Novartis International Pharmaceutical Investment AG, Novartis Investment Ltd, Novartis Investments S.a r.l., Novartis Ireland Limited, Novartis Israel Ltd, Novartis Korea Ltd., Novartis Middle East FZE, Novartis Netherlands B.V., Novartis Neva LLC, Novartis New Zealand Ltd, Novartis Norge AS, Novartis Ophthalmics AG, Novartis Optogenetics Research Inc., Novartis Overseas Investments AG, Novartis Pharma (Logistics) Inc., Novartis Pharma (Pakistan) Limited, Novartis Pharma AG, Novartis Pharma B.V. , Novartis Pharma GmbH, Novartis Pharma GmbH, Novartis Pharma K.K., Novartis Pharma LLC, Novartis Pharma Maroc SA, Novartis Pharma NV, Novartis Pharma Produktions GmbH, Novartis Pharma S.A.E., Novartis Pharma S.A.S., Novartis Pharma Schweiz AG, Novartis Pharma Schweizerhalle AG, Novartis Pharma Services AG, Novartis Pharma Services Romania S.R.L., Novartis Pharma Stein AG, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc., Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Limited, Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Limited, Novartis Poland Sp. z o.o., Novartis Portugal S.G.P.S. Lda., Novartis Ringaskiddy Limited, Novartis Saglik Gida ve Tarim Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S, Novartis Saudi Ltd., Novartis Securities Investment Ltd, Novartis Services Inc., Novartis Slovakia s.r.o., Novartis South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Novartis Sverige AB, Novartis UK Limited, Novartis US Foundation, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Inc, Novartis Vietnam Company Limited, Novartis de Colombia S.A., Novartis de Venezuela S.A., Novartis s.r.o., Oriel Therapeutics Inc., PT. Novartis Indonesia, Protez Pharmaceuticals, Pte Ltd, Research Inc, Salutas Pharma GmbH, Sandoz A/S, Sandoz AG, Sandoz B.V., Sandoz Canada Inc., Sandoz Egypt Pharma S.A.E., Sandoz Farmaceutica S.A., Sandoz Farmaceutica Lda., Sandoz GmbH, Sandoz Hungary Limited Liability Company, Sandoz Ilac Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., Sandoz Inc, Sandoz Industrial Products S.A, Sandoz International GmbH, Sandoz K.K., Sandoz Limited, Sandoz Manufacturing Inc., Sandoz NV, Sandoz Pharma K.K, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals AG, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals d.d., Sandoz Philippines Corporation, Sandoz Polska Sp. z o.o. , Sandoz Private Limited, Sandoz Pty Ltd, Sandoz S.A. de C.V, Sandoz S.A.S., Sandoz S.R.L., Sandoz S.p.A., Sandoz South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Sandoz Ukraine LLC, Sandoz d.o.o. farmaceutska industrija, Sandoz do Brasil Industria Farmaceutica Ltda, Sandoz s.r.o., Selexys Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Shanghai Novartis Trading Ltd., Societe par actions SANDOZ, Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, The Medicines Company, The Medicines Company, Triangle International Reinsurance Limited, Trinity River Insurance Co Ltd, Vedere Bio, Vedere Bio ll, Xiidra, Ziarco, and Ziarco Group Limited.

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Morgan Stanley is the 6th largest financial institution in the US. The company is ranked 61st on the Forbes Fortune 500 list and is the 39th largest bank in the world. A financial holding company, Morgan Stanley provides a full range of financial services to clients around the world.

Morgan Stanley was formed in 1935 as a result of the Glass-Steagall Act. Glass-Steagall separated commercial and investment banking in a way that forced the then-largest bank J.P. Morgan & Co to split into two groups. J.P. Morgan & Co. chose to retain the commercial side of the business while partners Henry S. Morga, grandson of J.P., and Harold Stanley took the investment end. In its first year, Morgan Stanley did 24% of the IPO business and maintains a lions share of the market to this day.

The original company existed and grew through acquisitions until 1987 when it merged with Dean Witter Discover & Co. The new Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover & Co existed for 14 years until 2001 when the name was shortened back to Morgan Stanley.

The bank is credited in part with both beginning and ending the financial crisis of 2007/2008. The Process Driven Trading unit lost $300 million in one day due to a short-squeeze that popped the bubble in the housing market. After teetering on the brink of failure Morgan Stanley agreed to become a bank holding company regulated by the Federal Reserve, a key factor in the original decision to split from parent J.P. Morgan & Co. Ironically when given the chance, present-day J.P. Morgan refused to buy Morgan Stanley but that was for the better.

Today, Morgan Stanley operates through three segments via offices in 41 countries and employs more than 75,000 people. Revenue in 2021 topped $49 billion and total assets topped $1.15 trillion.

The operating segments are Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments. The Institutional Securities segment is by far the largest and most profitable. It offers a range of services and products for businesses, institutions, and entities that include capital raising, strategic advisory, underwriting, advice on M&A, restructuring, and real estate. The Wealth Management segment provides brokerage and investment advisory services for individuals and employers. The services include brokerage, financial planning, company stock-plan administration, insurance, mortgage loans, lines of credit, and retirement planning. The Investment Management segment provides investment products to a range of institutions, organizations, corporations, and governments.
United Rentals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It operates in two segments, General Rentals and Specialty. The General Rentals segment rents general construction and industrial equipment includes backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms, such as boom and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment comprising pressure washers, water pumps, and power tools for construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and government entities. The specialty segment rents specialty construction products, including trench safety equipment consists of trench shields, aluminum hydraulic shoring systems, slide rails, crossing plates, construction lasers, and line testing equipment for underground work; power and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning equipment, such as portable diesel generators, electrical distribution equipment, and temperature control equipment; fluid solutions equipment for fluid containment, transfer, and treatment; and mobile storage equipment and modular office space. This segment serves construction companies involved in infrastructure projects, and municipalities and industrial companies. It also sells aerial lifts, reach forklifts, telehandlers, compressors, and generators; construction consumables, tools, small equipment, and safety supplies; and parts for equipment that is owned by its customers, as well as provides repair and maintenance services. The company sells used equipment through its sales force, brokers, website, directly to manufacturers, and at auctions. The company operates a network of 1,360 rental locations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. United Rentals, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Pushing forward European and international measures to prevent profit shifting and international tax fraud will be a top priority for Austria's European Council presidency in the second half of 2018, Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling said on Saturday. "The cross-border fight against tax fraud and tax avoidance is a top priority for me," Schelling said in a statement following a meeting with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire in Vienna. "Tackling tax evasion more effectively will require European and international solutions. The European Union must finally come up with a joint strategy," he said. The finance ministry said Schelling had devised a plan to eliminate opportunities for tax avoidance and evasion, which was discussed with European Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici two weeks ago. During their meeting on Saturday, Le Maire and Schelling discussed the need for a deepening of ties in the economic and monetary unions of the EU and euro zone, the finance ministry said. Estonia currently holds the presidency of the European Council, with Bulgaria due to take over from January. (Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Andrew Bolton)
The bank will repay nearly 600,000 borrowers for poor mortgage arrears handling since 2009. Find out how to claim.

Lloyds Banking Group has pledged to repay hundreds of thousands of Lloyds borrowers for failings when handling mortgage arrears  even if they weren't directly impacted by the issue.

The UKs biggest high street lender unveiled the cost of the redemption programme in its half-year results, where it also revealed it would reserve an extra 700 million to cover further payment protection insurance (PPI) claims.

Lloyds has set aside 283 million in a conduct provision fund to cover the mortgage arrears payments which it estimates will be paid to 590,000 borrowers who fell behind on mortgage payments between 2009 and 2016.

Find a new mortgage deal today

What's happened?

Lloyds borrowers who fall behind on monthly mortagage payments can agree a payment plan. This involves a thorough affordability assessment to check new payments are set at the right level and arrears fees are charged for the extra work.

But the bank admits that, when borrowers fell into arrears between January 2009 and January 2016, advisors didn't always do enough to ensure payment plans were affordable and sustainable.

As a result some customers may have been inappropriately charged.

After consulting with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Lloyds has now agreed to a redress scheme that will refund all fees charged to 590,000 customers for arrears management and broken payment arrangements over the seven-year period, even those not impacted by the failings.

Jonathan Davidson, executive director of supervision for retail and authorisations at the FCA, said: Ensuring fair treatment of customers, especially those in financial difficulties or who are vulnerable, is a key priority for the FCA. We continue to engage with Lloyds as it works to improve the way it treats customers in arrears.

Stephen Noakes, group customer services director, Lloyds Banking Group, said: We apologise to customers who were affected and are proactively reimbursing them as quickly as possible.

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"We have taken significant steps to address this situation and prevent it from happening again. These measures include ensuring consistency of in-depth income and expenditure reviews, colleague training, strengthening management controls and reviewing fee charging.

How much can you get?

The 283 million redress scheme will refund the accrued interest on all fees up to the redemption date or, where customers have already paid the fees, the date when the fees were paid.

Lloyds will also pay an extra 8% interest to customers that were deprived of funds.

Customers will also be able to make a claim for the distress and inconvenience caused by the experience.

In addition, Lloyds will ask borrowers to consider if they suffered any consequential losses as a result of the arrears handling, such as a direct debit fee charged because of a broken payment plan.

How to claim a refund and compensation

The FCA says that Lloyds will write to all affected customers to explain the level of refund they will receive and explain how to claim extra compensation.

Borrowers do not need to take any action until they are contacted by Lloyds.

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Angelina Jolie has been accused of exploiting Cambodian children during casting for her new Netflix film.

The actress told Vanity Fair how she chose the child actor for First They Killed My Father.

She told the magazine she looked at orphanages, circuses and slum schools, specifically seeking children who had experienced hardship.

"The casting directors set up a game, rather disturbing in its realism: they put money on the table and asked the child to think of something they needed the money for, and then to snatch it away," wrote the author of the Vanity Fair piece, Evgenia Peretz.

"The director would pretend to catch the child, and the child would have to come up with a lie."

Jolie's film is about the murderous Khmer Rouge regime that committed genocide in Cambodia in the 1970s.

"Srey Moch was the only child that stared at the money for a very, very long time," Jolie said of the girl who eventually got the part.

"When she was forced to give it back, she became overwhelmed with emotion.

"All these different things came flooding back. When she was asked later what the money was for, she said her grandfather had died, and they didn't have enough money for a nice funeral."

Twitter users said they were "disturbed" by Jolie's casting process.

"Angelina Jolie is crazy. What a cruel psychological game to play with impoverished children," one user wrote.

"That's disturbing! How vicious," wrote another.

"What the actual F***?! #AngelinaJolie is totally messed up for thinking this kind of exploitation of kids is okaycrazy world!," said another.
The term stranger danger was coined as a warning to children: beware the unknown adult, proceed with caution and be very careful what personal information you reveal. The question is, do adults take their own advice? Perhaps most would be more guarded and make sure they know who they are dealing with before revealing too much about themselves. But our relationship with strangers has been evolving and social media has torn down some of the barriers that used to protect us.

Now a relative stranger could be a Facebook friend and evidence shows that sexual predators are using this to their advantage. How we transition from stranger to non-stranger relationships is a relatively unexplored strand in research, with little recognition paid to the fact that the internet has completely transformed our level of engagement with strangers.

At the same time other studies are showing how the rate of reporting sexual offences to conviction is low. A report by Her Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) concluded that 1 in 4 sexual offences should have been recorded as crimes but were not. Reasons cited for this were mainly centred on poor processes for recording the crimes and transferring them on to national recording systems.

Regardless of these issues, the reporting of sexual offences is on the rise, with this attributed to increased reporting of sexual offences and apparent improved investigative responses. In the year ending March 2015, the Office of National Statistics recorded the highest figure for sexual offences since recording began in 2002, up 37% increase on the previous year. For female victims of serious sexual assaults, 16% were recorded as stranger relationships. Other categories included partner/ex-partner (47%) other known (33%) and family member (4%).

What is a stranger?

What is our understanding of how stranger rapes occur? Do we believe this happens within a dark alleyway, involving victims randomly chosen by someone they have never interacted with? Given that most of these attacks are perpetrated by people the victims know  as opposed to the dangerous stranger  do these statistics allow us to feel safe within our online social interactions? Herein lies the problem: people we know. At what point would we say we actually know someone in the online and interconnected society of today?

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One in three relationships now start online. The change in how people communicate in their day-to-day lives has impacted on the modus operandi of sexual offenders. The online environment has evolved a new type of sexual offender. Police forces have recorded a six-fold increase in the number of internet-facilitated sexual offences between 2009 and 2014.

The vast amount of dating and social networking sites easily accessed through smartphones has resulted in the normalisation of providing personal information to strangers. Even Snapchat now allows users to share their exact location. People are able to see your every move from your home location, work, school or college.

Snapchat states that their default setting is off for location-sharing and users must activate it. They claim that locations can only be shared with your friends list. Given our friendship circles are continually changing and our friends lists are likely to contain people we have never met, how practical is this safety feature?

Are you being groomed?

Grooming techniques are individually tailored to meet victims expectations. From child sexual grooming research, we know that trust is key in developing relationships online, with boundaries slowly broken down before introducing sexualised conversations. In cases initiated through online dating that resulted in sexual assaults, sexual communication was reported in over 50% of cases prior to meeting, with online contact to first meeting occurring within a week for 43% of cases . The frequency and intensity of interactions allows victims to feel comfortable and shifts the perception of the relationship from stranger to non-stranger quicker than offline encounters.

National Crime Agency evidence reveals 72% of internet-facilitated sexual assaults took place in the victims home. Exploration of attack locations of 459 internet-facilitated rapists showed more than half occurred within a 1.6km radius of the offenders home. This differs from previous findings where offenders travelled further to their assault location in a bid to reduce the risk of identification. Is this due to an expedited transition from stranger to non-stranger, where the regular dating precautions are dismissed, with victims meeting their victims sooner and in unsafe locations?

New offenders, new crimes

Recent research exploring sexual offending within the UK appears to back this up, concluding that the typical offender profile and crime scene behaviours have changed. Stranger rapists are appearing to be less criminogenic  in other words, they have fewer criminal convictions. And those with previous convictions are now likely to be for more low-level offences. This new type of sex offender is also taking fewer precautions and less likely to use forced entry or violence in their sexual attacks.

The same techniques used by online sexual offenders are being employed by so-called romance fraudsters targeting dating websites with the intention of extracting money from victims. Around 34.4m from over 3,100 victims was recorded regarding romance fraud last year.

More needs to be done to increase the understanding of the term stranger and how this is defined within criminal justice agencies. More importantly society as a whole needs to start getting to grips with the term. Our interactions online are now embedded at such a young age. They have allowed us to become comfortable in revealing personal information and speeding up the relationship process at a dangerous pace.

So before engaging with new friends online ask yourself: is this person really a stranger? Have you transitioned them to non-stranger status too quickly? Are you really being safe online?

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Michelle McManus receives funding from Lancashire Constabulary and Lancashire Police Crime Commissioner as part of a part-time secondment placement within Lancashire Constabulary's Evidence Based Policing Research Hub. This article was written with the help of Lee Rainbow and Mark Webb from the National Crime Agency.

Louise Almond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.
Renewable energys share of British electricity generation from wind and solar technologies reached record levels of 26% in the past year. This is excellent news for our national carbon emissions, but the grid is under increasing pressure to manage this intermittent power supply.

The on-and-off nature of renewable energy means that to avoid unexpected blackouts and surges it must be integrated into the national electricity grid alongside energy storage. That is the challenge that lies in the background as the UK government announced it will invest 246m in research funding on a four-year energy storage strategy focusing on battery innovation.

It is hoped that the Faraday Challenge will break down barriers to new battery technologies and introduce new business models. The plan is to establish a Battery Research Institute and drive innovation, particularly for the electric vehicle industry. However, the plans size and scope sends mixed signals to the energy storage sector and brings confusion on the longer-term direction.

The Faraday Challenge is focusing on known technology, looking for innovation in established and publicly recognised lithium-ion batteries. But on top of the well-known lead-acid (car) and lithium-ion (electronics) batteries, there are many alternative technologies for energy storage.

These include a range of other electrochemical storage devices, such as sodium-sulfur, metal-air, sodium-ion, flow batteries, and supercapacitors, as well as other energy storage devices such as pumped-hydro, flywheels, compressed-air (CAES), and superconducting magnets (SMES).

As shown in the graphic below, these technologies can be assessed by their power output and by the duration for which they can deliver this power (energy stored).

The US, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Korea and China are all ahead of the UK in lithium-ion technology. The governments intervention is dwarfed by Teslas Gigafactory, built for US$5 billion (3.8 billion) to produce half a million car batteries a year when in full production  and by the recent announcement about the worlds largest lithium-ion battery in Australia. China produces 55% of all lithium-ion batteries globally. These are daunting glimpses of the scale at which competing nations are tackling battery storage technology.

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In truth though, it is not investment in more lithium-ion research that would give Britain a foothold. It should be genuinely original and fundamental research into new, breakthrough technologies, perhaps with a focus on sustainable and low-cost materials. The Faraday Challenge fund, so far, does not seem to consider real innovation, but is looking for ready-to-roll technology  it is more like a grid subsidy, cloaked as a research fund.

No surprise then, that within a day of the Faraday Challenge launch, the government announced a ban on new diesel and petrol cars from 2040, coupled with a 255m fund for councils to tackle emissions. With such a deadline  and rising demand for electric vehicles globally  is the government forcing the hand of energy storage researchers to focus solely on lithium-ion innovation? Furthermore, the National Grid committed more than 66m to deploying medium-scale frequency response energy storage projects last year, all based on lithium-ion technology.

The Faraday Challenge fund is tentatively aimed at two niches for the UK market, automotive batteries and domestic storage. These are both sectors where lithium-ion batteries have proven to be good, albeit expensive, options when there are potentially better and cheaper candidates for stationary storage such as flow batteries or compressed air storage.

New technology

We believe that a breakthrough to new markets in energy storage will be a move away from lithium-ion  a manufacturing market in which the UK simply cannot compete globally. And if it did want to take on the well-established Asian nations, then it would need a lot more than 246m.

So which innovative fields offer a chance for leadership? Well, redox flow batteries are not included in the fund description, despite having been a leading technology for decades  and one which specifically targets the sweet spot in energy storage from very small communities to city grid scale. It was also a leading technology for energy storage more than 13 years ago.

Flow batteries work entirely in the liquid phase, with the soluble charged materials staying in solution. Unlike conventional batteries, the electrodes do not contain the active materials  and energy storage can be separated from power generation in the battery. It is much like heating water over a heating element and storing the hot water in a separate tank until it is needed.

This is a key advantage of a flow battery as it allows flexible systems to be manufactured to suit a wide variety of energy needs, from 5 kWh systems that would serve a few average homes, to 10s of MWh systems suitable for grid storage, their storage capacity being dictated by the size of the storage tank, not the electrodes.

The wealth of alternative chemistry that may be used in a flow battery is also a major selling point. The possibility of using abundant, low cost, organic materials to power the batteries is increasingly clear. But flow batteries, along with many other electrochemical storage technologies, only work as stationary storage. It seems the governments prime concern is with the automotive industry, where lithium-ion has the edge. Long-term stationary storage is still not truly being considered.

Frankly, the UKs investment is not enough to make a step-change in the energy storage industry. That is especially true if the genuine intention is to set up manufacturing streams, establish an institute to facilitate innovative battery research and to explore fundamental science. The governments intentions are not clear. Are they looking to kickstart venture capital to subsidise the industry? In the first half of 2017, more than US$1 billion (760m) was raised this way for battery, smart grid and energy-efficiency technologies in the US.

Is this a first phase of investment? How will the technology be retained in the UK once innovations are made? Does the government want frontier research and new market breakthroughs, or something quick? Those are almost always mutually exclusive. In order to establish and grow companies that will create or dominate new markets, we need long-term investment into frontier research, not a four-year business plan for tech in which plenty of other countries have already built up a commanding lead.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Kathryn Toghill receives funding from EPSRC. Kathryn Toghill coordinates a national redox flow battery network in the UK.

Denes Csala does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.
One question that arises from the announcement by the UK government that new diesel and petrol cars will be banned by 2040 is what it means for biofuels. If cars running on fossil fuels will be substituted by electric cars, it could imply that all liquid transport fuels will be eliminated.

Around 5% of the volume of the average British tank of petrol or diesel comes from biofuels at present. It is produced from various sources, including corn, wheat, sugar beet and waste ranging from rotten vegetables to used cooking oil.

Biofuels in the UK by feedstock type

The large-scale use of biofuels dates back to the 1970s, when they were first introduced in Brazil through government incentives to build vehicles that could run on 100% ethanol produced mainly from sugar cane. Brazil remains a leader in biofuels, despite ups and downs over the years. More than a quarter of petrol content must comprise ethanol  and most vehicles can run 100% ethanol if they choose to.

Elsewhere biofuels have enjoyed varying fortunes. They became a popular possible alternative in the 1990s as a consequence of the rise in the oil price. More recently, more than 60 countries across the world require some blend of biofuels at the fuel pumps as part of their commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and have also launched biofuel production programmes.

Yet progress has become very slow in many countries. Among the reasons are the period of low oil prices and the fact that it uses much more farmland to increase biofuel proportions in fuel tanks.

Biofuels RIP?

So will anyone bother to keep striving towards sustainable liquid fuels now that the end of petrol/diesel vehicles appears in sight? The answer has to be yes, for a couple of important reasons.

The first is hybrid vehicles, which have been far more successful than purely electric ones to date. These engines that run on a combination of liquid fuels and recharged batteries will play a major part in the transition towards complete electrification. If the UK is to move towards a complete ban on fossil fuels in transport, new hybrids are likely to increasingly depend on biofuels.

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The second point is that the transport system is about far more than roads. Aviation, shipping and haulage are all significant and they have a much more limited scope for electrification. They will continue to rely heavily on liquid fuels  to which end the US navy recently launched its first biofuel-powered aircraft carrier, for example.

So if were still going to need biofuels, how do we make the most of them? I was a member of a working group of the Royal Academy of Engineering that recently produced a report about the sector commissioned by the UKs departments for transport and energy.

The report, which involved a meta-study of a number of research papers about the sector, said biofuels would undoubtedly play an important role in meeting the UK`s commitments towards climate change. It called for a combination of incentives and careful regulation to avoid risks and unintended consequences, such as crops being diverted from food production.

It proposed incentives to encourage so-called second-generation biofuels  those which predominantly come from waste and have a far better emissions profile than biofuels from dedicated crops such as soya or corn. It proposed to incentivise growing biofuel crops on land that was unsuitable for food production, while generally capping crop-based biofuels to help prevent them from taking up space that could be for food crops. It also proposed that the minimum blend level in the UK be increased from its current 4.75% (more work is required to determine what might be realistic).

If the government approached biofuels in this way, there could be indirect benefits  giving farmers an extra incentive to plant more crops, for example, as well as improving crop yields and making farming processes more efficient. The amount of land dedicated to farming could also rise as a result.

My message is therefore that we will need biofuels for the foreseeable future despite the UK governments 2040 ban. By prioritising the right kinds of biofuels through subsidies and caps, we can minimise their drawbacks and maximise their advantages over petroleum fuels. The 2040 ban, far from meaning the end of liquid biofuels, should be seen as an important opportunity for the sector.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Raffaella Ocone was the co-author of a recent UK-government-funded report into the biofuels industry by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
By Patrick Markey and Ahmed Elumami CAIRO/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Standing beside French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris this week, Khalifa Haftar, the most powerful military leader in eastern Libya, was smiling when he shook on a deal with the country's prime minister for a ceasefire and Spring elections. But hours later and away from the diplomatic stage, Haftar exposed the reality of deep fractures in Libya's political landscape, saying any ceasefire was limited, he actually had no interest in elections and Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj's power-sharing council was in the grip of terrorists. Keen to expand the French role in ending Libya's crisis, Macron had applauded the moment as a powerful act for peace among the country's rival armed factions who have skirmished over the oil-producing desert state since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Getting the rivals together for only the second time may have been an achievement. But Haftar's subsequent remarks were a reality check on the complexities of uniting Libya's fractious players and delivering on the ground after years of failed Western efforts to end the crisis. The Paris deal was meant to revive a stalled U.N.-brokered deal to end the chaos in the OPEC state that has allowed Islamist militants and people smugglers safe haven, risking regional instability and opening up a flow of illegal migrants across the Mediterranean. Yet Paris excluded key stakeholders, left major differences about Haftar's role to resolve later and, said Middle East analysts, risked emboldening Haftar further in his military campaign by appearing to bolster his international legitimacy over rivals. Libya's war is on multiple fronts. Haftar has been battling in the east against an alliance of Islamist militants and ex-rebels in Benghazi and carrying out air strikes on armed groups in Derna. Clashes among rival brigades sometimes break out over private feuds, but this year, heavy shelling and fighting has erupted several times between forces allied to a previous government and brigades backing Serraj. "I DON'T CARE ABOUT ELECTIONS" Haftar had rejected Serraj's U.N.-backed presidential council, even saying some members belonged to al Qaeda. The commander brands most opponents Islamist militants to be defeated as his self-styled Libyan National Army gains ground backed by powerful allies: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the United Arab Emirates and Russia. "The ceasefire is just with moderate parties and youths who have some misdemeanours, we're in contact with them," he told France24 Arabic. "I do not care about elections. I care about the future of Libya as a stable and civil state." Past attempts to negotiate peace in Libya have been undone by splits within each faction, who are often loose alliances of convenience among brigades of former rebels more loyal to cities, regions or tribes than to the idea of a Libyan nation. Haftar, a former Gaddafi ally who lived in exile in the United States for years, has gained momentum, winning over Islamist rivals in Benghazi and taking over key oil ports in a combination of military force and tribal negotiations. He now hints at pushing closer to the capital of Tripoli. But he still is far from a unifying figure even in the east. Serraj, meanwhile, has struggled to extend his own influence, and is widely seen as powerless. He is loosely backed by most of the Misrata western brigades but opposed by other armed groups even within Tripoli. The Misrata brigades despise Haftar as a would-be "military warlord". "The outcome of the summit, particularly if it's nothing more than a handshake, could tip the balance in favour of the war faction within Haftar's camp," said Mattia Toaldo, Libya expert at the European Council of Foreign Relations. POWER-SHARING STALEMATE After Gaddafi fell six years ago in a NATO-backed uprising, former rebel brigades who once fought together to oust the autocrat turned against each other in a struggle for control. Two years ago, Libya had two competing governments and parliaments, one in the east and one in Tripoli after a battle to capture the capital in 2014. The U.N.-backed agreement over a unity government has been the main focus of negotiations since. Diplomats say that despite what Haftar said afterwards, the fact that he agreed in principle the best way forward was a political deal, elections and a ceasefire would help to advance U.N. negotiations. "All those are steps forward," said one diplomat close to the talks. "There is room to manoeuvre here. Neither Haftar nor Serraj can deliver on the ground. It is up to the U.N.-led process." Still to be resolved though are major differences over the make-up of the presidential council, the role of civilian control over any future Libyan military, and what position Haftar might take in the government of unity. "I will never be a part of the Presidential Council, never be on the side of terrorist groups," Haftar told French television, referring to members of the council he dismissed as linked to al Qaeda or Islamic State. Yet, hardliners on both sides are unlikely to be convinced by Paris. Serraj's government was supposed to get a vote of approval from the eastern parliament. That never happened. Remnants of a former Islamist-led government also oppose Serraj in Tripoli. MACRON UPSETS ITALY The Justice and Construction Party - the Libyan political wing of Muslim Brotherhood -- dismissed Paris as a distraction and demanded any amendments to the political deal be through the United Nations not through deals with individual countries. France took a leading role in the NATO air campaign that helped rebels topple Gaddafi in 2011, but his demise tipped the country into years of chaos. Macron's approach has also caused tensions inside the European Union, with Italy upset. Rome previously took the lead in efforts to bring peace to its former colony, throwing its weight behind Serraj and viewing Haftar with scepticism. Meanwhile, Haftar was immediately praised by staunch ally Cairo. After the Paris talks, Egypt's foreign minister stressed the need to enhance the role of Haftar's Libyan National Army as one of the institutions to expand and restore security. "Haftar has the tendency to call anyone who opposes him a terrorist," said Geoff Porter at North Africa Risk Consulting. "This leaves a lot of people outside the parameters of the ceasefire." (Reporting by Patrick Markey, editing by Peter Millership)
Storyful

Neighbors helped a resident of Wilbur-by-the-Sea, Florida, salvage her belongings on Thursday, November 10, after her home collapsed during Tropical Storm Nicole.Video released by the Volusia Sheriffs Office shows neighbors helping Nina Lavigna in her damaged home. The sheriffs office said, Our team of Sheriff Mike Chitwood, Senator Tom Wright and Rep Chase Tramont met some incredible people today.The sheriffs office said county and municipal building inspectors declared 24 hotels and condos to be unsafe and ordered their evacuation.At least 25 single-family homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea were evacuated after being declared structurally unsafe, the sheriffs office said.The sheriffs office told residents that deputies are out in force to prevent any and all looting or criminal activity.Nicole made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane early on November 10, but weakened to a tropical storm and then a tropical depression, the National Weather Service said. Credit: Volusia Sheriffs Office via Storyful
Hilltop Holdings Inc. provides business and consumer banking, and financial products and services. It operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, equipment loans and leases, agricultural and commercial real estate loans, and other loans; and commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance. This segment also provides treasury management, wealth management, asset management, check cards, safe deposit boxes, online banking, bill pay, trust, and overdraft services; and estate planning, management and administration, investment portfolio management, employee benefit accounts, and individual retirement accounts, as well as automated teller machines. The Broker-Dealer segment offers public finance services that assist public entities in originating, syndicating, and distributing securities of municipalities and political subdivisions; specialized advisory and investment banking services; advice and guidance to arbitrage rebate compliance, portfolio management, and local government investment pool administration; structured finance services, which include advisory services for derivatives and commodities; sells, trades in, and underwrites U.S. government and government agency bonds, corporate bonds, and municipal bonds, as well as mortgage-backed, asset-backed, and commercial mortgage-backed securities and structured products. This segment also provides asset and liability management advisory, clearing, retail, and securities lending services. The Mortgage Origination segment offers mortgage, jumbo, Federal Housing Administration, Veterans Affairs, and United States Department of Agriculture loans. Hilltop Holdings Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
The following companies are subsidiares of Stryker: 2Hip Holdings SAS, ActiViews, Aimago SA, Alcott Indemnity Company, Arrinex Inc., Arrinex Inc., Ascent Healthcare Solutions, Berchtold, Berchtold + Fritz GmbH, Berchtold Consulting GmbH, Berchtold Corporation, Berchtold GmbH & Co. KG, Berchtold Holding Switzerland GmbH, BioMimetic Therapeutics LLC, BioMimetic Therapeutics USA Inc., CHG Hospital Beds, Cactus LLC, Cardan Robotics, Cartiva Inc., Changzhou Orthomed Medical Instrument Company Limited, Concentric Medical, EnMovi Ltd., Entellus Medical, Entellus Medical Inc., GYS Tech LLC, Gauss Surgical, Gauss Surgical Inc., Gauss Surgical Singapore Pte. Ltd., Gaymar Industries, Gongping (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd., Groupe Bertec, HeartSine Technologies LLC, HeartSine Technologies Limited, Howmedica International S. de R.L., Howmedica Osteonics Corp., Hygia Health Services, Hygia Healthcare Services Inc., HyperBranch, HyperBranch Medical Technologies Inc., HyperBranch Medical Technology, Image Guided Technologies, Imascap SAS, Imorphics Limited, Infinity MSD Corp., Infinity MSF Corp., Infomedix Communications, Instratek, InstruMedics L.L.C, Invuity, Invuity Inc., Ivy Sports Medicine, Ivy Sports Medicine LLC, Jiangsu Chuangyi Medical Instrument Company Limited, Jolife AB, K2M Group, K2M Group Holdings Inc., K2M Holdings Inc., K2M Inc., K2M UK Limited, Loon Intermediateco LLC, MAKO Surgical, MAKO Surgical Corp, Memometal Technologies, Mobius Imaging, Mobius Imaging LLC, Muka Metal, Muka Metal Ticaret ve Sanayi Anaonim Sirketi, NV Stryker SA, Nettrick Limited, Novadaq Corp, Novadaq Technologies, Novadaq Technologies ULC, OOO "Stryker", Orneo Ozel Saglk Hizmetleri Medikal Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Ortho-Space Ltd., OrthoHelix Surgical Designs Inc., OrthoSensor, OrthoSensor Korea Ltd, OrthoSpace, OrthoSpace US Inc., Orthomed (Hong Kong) Medical Instrument Company Limited, Orthosensor Inc., Orthovita, Orthovita Inc., OtisMed, P.C. Sweden Holding AB, PTH West LLC, Patient Safety Technologies, Patton Surgical, Physio-Control, Physio-Control (Shanghai) Sales Co. Ltd., Physio-Control Brazil Vendas Ltda., Physio-Control Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Physio-Control Holdings Inc, Physio-Control Inc., Physio-Control Investments LLC, Physio-Control Lebanon Sales Offshore s.a.l., Physio-Control Manufacturing Inc., Physio-Control Operations Netherlands B.V., Physio-Control Sales Limited Liability Company, Pivot Medical, PlasmaSol, Porex Technologies, SCI Calyx SA, SSI Divestiture Inc., SYK Costa Rica Services Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, SafeAir AG, SafeWire, Sage Products, Sage Products Coperatief U.A., Sage Products Holdings II LLC, Sage Products Holdings III LLC, Sage Products LLC, Scopis, Scopis GmbH, Sightline Technologies, Small Bone Innovations, SpineCore, Spirox Inc., Stanmore Implants Worldwide, Stanmore Implants Worldwide Limited, Stanmore Inc., Stryker (Barbados) Foreign Sales Corporation, Stryker (Beijing) Healthcare Products Co. Ltd., Stryker (Shanghai) Healthcare Products Co. Ltd., Stryker (Suzhou) Medical Technology Co Ltd, Stryker (Thailand) Limited, Stryker AB, Stryker Acquisitions B.V., Stryker Asia Holdings C.V., Stryker Australia LLC, Stryker Australia Pty. Ltd., Stryker Austria GmbH, Stryker B.V., Stryker Berchtold B.V., Stryker Beteiligungs GmbH, Stryker Canada Holding Company ULC, Stryker Canada Manufacturing ULC, Stryker Canada ULC, Stryker Canadian Management ULC, Stryker Capital B.V., Stryker China Limited, Stryker Colombia SAS, Stryker Communications Inc., Stryker Corporation (Chile) y Compania Limitada, Stryker Corporation (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Stryker Customs Brokers LLC, Stryker Czech Republic s.r.o., Stryker Delaware Inc., Stryker EMEA Supply Chain Services B.V., Stryker Employment Company LLC, Stryker European Holdings Cooperatief U.A, Stryker European Holdings LLC, Stryker European Operations B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings I B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings II B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings III B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings LLC, Stryker European Operations Limited, Stryker Far East Inc., Stryker Foreign Acquisitions Inc., Stryker France SAS, Stryker Funding B.V., Stryker Global Technology Center Private Limited, Stryker GmbH, Stryker GmbH & Co. KG, Stryker Grundstucks GmbH & Co KG, Stryker Grundstucks Verwaltungs GmbH, Stryker Holdings B.V., Stryker IFSC Designated Activity Company, Stryker Iberia S.L. Unipersonal, Stryker India Private Limited, Stryker International Acquisitions B.V., Stryker International Holdings B.V., Stryker Ireland Limited, Stryker Italia S.r.l., Stryker Japan K.K., Stryker Korea Ltd., Stryker Lebanon (Offshore) S.A.L., Stryker Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG, Stryker Luxembourg Sarl, Stryker Malta Holdings Limited, Stryker Manufacturing Holdings B.V., Stryker Manufacturing S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Mauritius Holding Ltd., Stryker Medical London LP, Stryker Medtech K.K., Stryker Medtech Limited, Stryker Mexico Holdings B.V., Stryker Mexico SA de CV, Stryker NV Operations Limited, Stryker Nederland B.V., Stryker New Zealand Limited, Stryker Osteonics AG, Stryker Pacific Limited, Stryker Performance Solutions LLC, Stryker Poland Services sp. z o.o., Stryker Polska Sp.z.o.o., Stryker Portugal - Produtos Medicos Unipessoal Lda., Stryker Professional Latin America S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Puerto Rico Holdings B.V., Stryker Puerto Rico LLC, Stryker Puerto Rico Sales LLC, Stryker Renovation Services LLC, Stryker Romania SRL, Stryker Sales LLC, Stryker Servicios Administrativos S.de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Singapore Private Limited, Stryker South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Stryker Spine SAS, Stryker Spine Sarl, Stryker Sustainability Solutions Inc., Stryker Tibbi Cihazlan Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Stryker Tijuana Operations S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Trauma GmbH, Stryker Turkish Holdings B.V., Stryker UK Limited, Stryker Unite Ltd., Stryker Verwaltungs GmbH, Stryker Vietnam Company Limited, Stryker do Brasil Ltda, Surpass Medical, Synergetics, TMG France SAS, TMJ Solutions LLC, TSO3 Corporation, TSO3 Inc., Thermedx LLC, Tornier Inc., Tornier Orthopedics Ireland Limited, Tornier Pty Ltd., Tornier SAS, Tornier Scandinavia A/S, Tornier UK Limited, Tornier US Holdings Inc., Trauson, Trauson (China) Medical Instrument Company Limited, Trauson (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings (B.V.I.) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings Company Limited, Trooper Holdings Inc., Vexim, Vocera, Vocera Communications, Wright DutchCo B.V., Wright Medical Australia Pty Limited, Wright Medical Brasil Ltda, Wright Medical Costa Rica S.A., Wright Medical Device (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Wright Medical Group, Wright Medical Group Inc., Wright Medical Netherlands B.V., Wright Medical Singapore Pte Ltd, Wright Medical Technology Inc., Wright Medical UK Ltd, Wright PacRim Inc., ZipLine Medical Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ZipLine Medical Hong Kong Limited, ZipLine Medical Inc., and eTrauma.com.

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The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. manufactures, markets, and sells skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products worldwide. It offers a range of skin care products, including moisturizers, serums, cleansers, toners, body care, exfoliators, acne care and oil correctors, facial masks, cleansing devices, and sun care products; and makeup products, such as lipsticks, lip glosses, mascaras, foundations, eyeshadows, nail polishes, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools. The company also provides fragrance products in various forms comprising eau de parfum sprays and colognes, as well as lotions, powders, creams, candles, and soaps; and hair care products that include shampoos, conditioners, styling products, treatment, finishing sprays, and hair color products, as well as sells ancillary products and services. It offers its products under the Estee Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Lab Series, Origins, MAC, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Aveda, Jo Malone London, Bumble and bumble, Darphin, Smashbox, Le Labo, Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle, GLAMGLOW, Kilian Paris, Too Faced, Dr. Jart+, DECIEM, and The Ordinary brands. The company sells its products through department stores, specialty-multi retailers, upscale perfumeries and pharmacies, and salons and spas; freestanding stores; its own and authorized retailer websites; third-party online malls; stores in airports; and duty-free shops. The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Intu owns and manages some of the best shopping centres, in some of the strongest locations, in the UK and Spain. Our UK portfolio is made up of 17 centres, including eight of the top-20, and in Spain we own three of the country's top-10 centres, with advanced plans to build a fourth. We are passionate about creating compelling experiences, in centre and online, that make our customers smile and help our retailers flourish. We attract around 400 million customer visits and 26 million website visits a year offering a multichannel approach that truly supports retail strategies. Our strategic focus on prime, high-footfall flagship destinations, combined with the strength and popularity of our brand, means that intu offers enhanced footfall, dwell time and loyalty. This helps our tenants flourish, driving occupancy and income growth. We are committed to our local communities, with our centres supporting nearly 130,000 jobs (representing about 3 per cent of the total UK retail workforce), and to operating with environmental responsibility. We have already met or exceeded a significant number of our 2020 environmental targets.
The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 13125882 Canada Inc., 211 E. Russell Road LLC, 4458664 Canada Inc., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES ASIA PTE. LTD., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES BORROWER S.C.A., ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES LLC, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES MIDDLE EAST FZE, ACCUDYNE INDUSTRIES SERVICES LIMITED, ASTRUM IT GmbH, Accudyne Industries Acquisition S.A r.l, Accudyne Industries Canada Inc., Accudyne Industries S.A r.l., Air Dimensions, Air Dimensions Inc., Albin Pump SAS, BOC Edwards Global Low pressure Air business, CISA S.p.A., Cameron-Centrifugal Compression, Comercial Ingersoll-Rand (Chile) Limitada, Comingersoll-Comercio E Industria De Equipamentos S.A., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Dosatron International SAS, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Proprietary Limited, FlexEnergy Holdings LLC, Frigoblock Grosskopf Gmbh, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First (UK) Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings II Inc., GD Global Holdings Inc., GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., GPS Industries, Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp (Canada), Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Limited, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica SL, Gardner Denver Inc., Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver International Inc., Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Investments Inc., Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan Ltd., Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co. 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City Councilor Carmichael Dominguez announced Friday he will not be seeking a fourth term as a representative of District 3 on the citys southside, nor will he run for mayor in 2018.

Meanwhile, former county manager Roman Tiger Abeyta declared hell be a candidate for the seat Dominguez is vacating.

Dominguez was first elected to the City Council in 2006 and spent the last six years as chairman of the Finance Committee. He previously served on the citys Planning Commission and the school board.

Dominguez made the announcement in a letter to constituents that also published on the opinion page of the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper. Explaining his decision not to run for public office, he said he was focusing on other priorities in my life at this time.

Online court records show that he and Deborah Leyba-Dominguez divorced last month.

Dominguez did not return a phone message from the Journal on Friday but responded to an emailed request for an interview or comment by sending the same letter published in the newspaper.

Aside from thanking family and friends, his colleagues in city government, city employees, and the constituents of District 3, Dominguez mentions some of whats been accomplished during his tenure on the council. Using the pronoun we throughout, he said much-need funding for capital projects were brought to the district, Airport Road has become more attractive and safer, an overlay district created in that area will bring future development, and the first phase of a regional park was built.

Dominguez also said the greatest challenge the city is currently facing is the growing division in Santa Fe. Its not just a socioeconomic division, he said, but also harsh political discourse.

We must find a better way to work together and respect one another, he wrote. We must listen to diverse perspectives, and above all, we must try to understand each persons respective walk in life.

He says hell be happy to work with whomever is elected to the position and closes the letter by offering some advice to his District 3 replacement: There will be disagreements and debates will become spirited, but its more important than ever before in our city and, indeed, our country, to treat one another with regard and kindness. Dont forget to ask one another, How are you doing? Be aware, always be aware, that your colleagues are human beings worthy of your regard. You are a public servant. You work for the good of the public.

Chris Rivera, who also represents District 3 on the council, said he knew Dominguez was weighing a decision about whether to run again, but he didnt learn of the decision until Friday.

Clearly, I was saddened, he said. Hes done a great job for the district and city as a whole.

Rivera mentioned Dominguezs work on the Finance Committee and said hell miss working with him on issues that effect District 3.

Well miss him in District 3 for his institutional knowledge and the way he carries himself and treats people with respect, he said.

Abeyta, who is currently chief professional officer with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Fe, praised Dominguez in his letter announcing his candidacy for the District 3 seat.

I believe that the southside is underserved and our contribution to the overall well being of the city is underappreciated, he wrote. We have been fortunate to have had a City Councilor in Carmichael Dominguez who over the past 12 years has fought against this inequity on our behalf and I wish him Godspeed as he pursues other worthwhile endeavors in his life.

In a brief phone interview Friday, Abeyta was asked if would have run if Dominguez had decided to run for re-election.

I dont know if I would have or not, but him not running made the decision a lot easier, he said.

Abeyta, who served as county manager from 2006 to 2010 after a stint as assistant city manager but has never held an elected position, said in his letter to District 3 residents his motivation to run is to make sure the district get what it deserves.

We are the city district with the largest population of working families and children under 18 years of age but do not have the basic services that residents of the other districts in our city enjoy, he wrote. We pay our fair share of gross receipts tax but our streets and walkways are not always maintained, we do not have adequate park space for our children to play, and we do not have a recreation center. As your city councilor I will listen to you, and fight for us.

Abeyta was briefly a candidate for mayor in 2014, but withdrew his name and swung his support to the eventual winner, Javier Gonzales, who he is related to by marriage.

Jim Williamson, an accountant with Akal Security in Espanola, apparently is also running for the District 3 City Council seat. He recently launched a website where he outlines his position on such issues as water, parking and use rates at the citys recreation centers; public safety; infrastructure and street maintenance; and economic development.

I humbly ask for your support in March of 2018 as a true representative of the People of Santa Fe, he states on the website. Currently City Hall thinks that we work for them Its (sic) time to remind them that we the people are in charge and that City Hall works for us.
Buhl church hosts Summer Family Festival

BUHL  Buhl Calvary Assembly of God is holding a Summer Family Festival with missionary Darrel Blatchley from the Philippines at 11 a.m. on Sunday. There will be music, prizes, a water slide bounce house, Bible time and prayer for all ages. Kona Ice and Betty Bs Kitchen food truck will be selling food items. Calvary Assembly is at 110 Fruitland Ave. in Buhl. For more information, call 208-543-5559 or email mattwoodroof@hotmail.com.

Rev. Michael Case at Ascension

TWIN FALLS  The Rev. Michael Case will be guest celebrant at 9 a.m. on Sunday for Ascension Episcopal Churchs Holy Communion. Case is the part-time priest-in-charge at Holy Nativity in Meridian. Nursery care is available from 8:45 a.m. until after the worship service. Ascension Cafe will not be held this week. All are welcome for coffee and light treats after the service.

The handwork group will meet from 1 to 3 p.m. on Wednesday making personal projects, prayer shawls, hats and blankets for newborns.

All are welcome for worship, study and fellowship. Ascension Episcopal Church, 371 Eastland Drive N., is handicapped accessible. For more information, go to episcopaltwinfalls.org or call 208-733-1248.

Gospel Music Jamboree scheduled

TWIN FALLS  The Community Church of the Brethren is holding a Gospel Music Jamboree from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 19. The Community Church of the Brethren is at 461 Filer Ave. W. Hot dogs, chips and drinks will be provided. Please bring your lawn chairs. This event is free and open to the public.

Church to hold Interchurch Holiness Convention

TWIN FALLS  An evening revival rally will be held at 7 p.m. on Aug. 8 at Twin Falls Wesleyan Holiness Church, 203 Madison St. with guest speaker James Plank and special music by the Cassady Family. For more information, go to ihconvention.com or call John Sander at 208-733-1987.

Women invited to Ecumenical Brunch

BURLEY  Presbyterian Womens Ecumenical Brunch is at 10 a.m. on Saturday at 2100 Burton Ave. in Burley. There will be a special program and a light brunch. All women of the area are invited to attend and bring a friend. For more information, call 208-678-5131.

How much church is too churchy?

TWIN FALLS  Some people think Unitarian Universalism is not a real church. Its the kind of criticism that you get used to when you belong to a creed-less faith. But strangely enough, some people check out UU and still feel its too churchy. Why? Join us as we think about not only what makes church, a church, but how church and the beloved community relate to one another.

Newcomers of all religious paths or none at all are always welcome. The Magic Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meets at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday at 588 Addison Ave. W. in Twin Falls. The building is handicapped accessible, please park in the rear of the building. Child care is available. For more information, please call 208-734-9161.

Vacation Bible School at Central Church of Christ

RUPERT  The Central Church of Christ in Rupert will host a Vacation Bible School from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 7 through Aug. 10. For information and to register students, call 208-260-1653. Parents may also register their children at the church building.

This years theme is Holy-wood. All children from preschool through teens are invited to attend. There will be singing, activities, snacks, and most importantly, learning about God. All events are free. Parents are encouraged to sit in the audience and watch the activities.

The Central Church of Christ is at South Fourth and H streets, behind D.L. Evans Bank facing Oneida Street in Rupert.
Only 20 percent of the nations public universities excel at both promoting opportunity and generating research, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution.

Two of them are in New Mexico.

Brookings named New Mexico State University and the University of New Mexico to its leaders list for having both high research activity and high social mobility  as measured by the schools accessibility to low-income students and how far those students move up the income ranks.

NMSU was listed as second best and UNM was eighth.

The Washington, D.C., think tanks report evaluated 342 selective, four-year, public universities for Ladders, labs or laggards, a report authored by Dimitrios Halikias and Richard V. Reeves and issued this month.

The report rated public universities for their benefits to society, designating them labs if they promote knowledge via research, or ladders if they are associated with social mobility. It classified those that rate well in both areas leaders and those that do poorly in both laggards.

The authors argue that public money flowing into universities often benefits students who are already considered upper-middle class, noting that most schools studied have more students from the top 20 percent of the income distribution than the bottom 40 percent.

New Mexicos schools, however, fared particularly well on the access measure, boasting some of the nations highest concentrations of low-income students. NMSU has the second highest rate of any public research university, with 17.9 percent of its students coming from the bottom 20 percent of the income spectrum, the report said. Only University of Texas at El Paso has more. UNM is eighth on the access list with a 13.6-percent concentration of low-income students.

School leaders say thats largely a function of New Mexicos economy. Both NMSU and UNM get most of their students from within New Mexico, a state with one of the nations highest poverty rates.

UNM does not consider students ability to pay when recruiting, said vice provost of enrollment management, Terry Babbitt. It makes grants available to high-need students  a population Babbitt said fares just as well as any when provided adequate financial backing.

High-need students with the right funding support succeed at the same level as other students, Babbitt said in an email. For example, a high-need student receiving the Lottery Scholarship graduates at nearly the same rate as students without need.

NMSU Chancellor Garrey Carruthers said NMSU has various programs to help lower-income students. He cited one, called CAMP, College Assistance Migrant Program, that specifically aids seasonal and migratory farmworkers and their children. He added that NMSU has a robust scholarship program and provides micro-grants to students on the verge of dropping out of school because of low-level debts.

But NMSUs accessibility serves as just part of Brookings leader distinction, and Carruthers said the schools research activity is just as important  and provides students a chance to study with top flight faculty.

We take a great deal of pride in taking a poor boy, like myself, and by giving them an excellent education, said Carruthers, an NMSU alum.

Brookings used mobility rate data from researchers at The Equality of Opportunity Project and used The Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education ratings to determine research activity.

According to The Equality of Opportunity Project data, 17.8 percent of NMSU students whose parents are in the bottom 20 percent of the income distribution go on to reach the top 20 percent themselves. At UNM, 15 percent with low-income parents reach the top 20 percent.
Ive covered all things O.J. Simpson since 1995. Heres my forecast on his future:

Allow me to go out on a limb here to predict that O.J. Simpson has not had his last tango with law enforcement.

Yes, he recently got a Nevada parole board to approve his release from prison on or about Oct. 1. But I got the impression Simpson  after serving nine years for kidnapping and armed robbery  really doesnt think he did anything wrong back in 2007.

A parole commissioner asked him about the night he and a posse of pals, two of whom were armed, stormed into a Las Vegas hotel room and demanded the return of Simpsons memorabilia.

What were you thinking? Commissioner Tony Corda asked.

It was my property, Simpson said with a shrug and a smile. I wasnt there to steal from anybody. And he proceeded to launch into one of his famously long soliloquies.

I never should have allowed those security guys to be there, Simpson told the board, referring to the two men with guns. They were just out for themselves.

One of those armed men was Walter Alexander, who readily admits he used to be the guy who got the drugs for his buddies during their long weekend get-togethers. But these days, Alexander says, he has found God and turned his life around.

I watched O.J.s parole hearing sitting next to Alexander on the New York set of a cable TV program. He looked stunned as O.J. gave his revisionist version of events from a decade ago. Early on, Alexander turned to me and whispered, He is not telling the truth.

What is he talking about, that we were out for ourselves? Alexander asked. Why does he keep calling us security guys like he didnt know us? He asked us to come with him to get his stuff back!

Back on the TV screen Simpson expressed open-palmed surprise that there had been guns in the room. Alexander, who had told me he hoped his longtime ex-friend would win his freedom that day, sat upright in his seat.

He just blew it. They will know hes lying, Alexander said as he sadly shook his head. He was convinced O.J. had just lost his parole bid.

Alexander was sure the commissioners remembered his own trial testimony and that of Michael McClinton, the other gunman in the hotel room. Both testified during O.J.s trial that they had firearms at O.J.s insistence and that right before they entered, Simpson instructed them to show the guns and look menacing.

I feel sorry for him, Alexander said as he sank back down in his seat on the set. HLN host Erica Hill and I passed a glance, wondering if he was right. Would the Nevada parole commissioners see through Simpsons golly-gee-I-didnt-know-anything guise?

Then those jaw dropping comments from Simpson.

I have, basically, led a conflict-free life, prisoner No. 1027820 told the parole board.

Really? How many people do you know who have faced four separate court trials as Simpson has? One in 1995 on that infamous charge of double murder, a 1997 civil proceeding at which he was ordered to pay the family of murder victim Ron Goldman a settlement of $33.5 million, a 2001 road rage trial that found him not guilty of burglary and battery and, of course, the 2008 trial in Las Vegas.

He has led a conflict-free life? Does O.J. Simpson think were stupid?

When Simpson said, Nobody has ever accused me of pulling any weapon on them, I thought of two people who would argue with that if only they werent dead  Simpsons ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend Ron Goldman.

I dont think anybodys ever accused me of having an alcohol problem or any kind of substance problem, Simpson said when a commissioner asked why hed failed to take an alcohol abuse program in prison as hed promised. From the seat to my left, Alexander said, He had been drinking all day (in 2007). He was totally drunk when we went to that room.

My own reporting during the 1995-96 double-murder investigation and trial contradicted that statement, too. I whispered to Alexander that back in the day sources had told me Simpson was a frequent drinker and drug user.

Cocaine and ecstasy were his favorites, Alexander said in a matter-of-fact tone.

I could continue to pick apart Simpsons statements to the parole board, but why? The commissioners chose to ignore Simpsons discrepancies and seemed to have pre-determined the outcome of this televised extravaganza.

So, O.J. walks free in a couple of months. His fate will, once again, rest with his own behavior. Given his propensity to blame everyone else for his problems, Im betting hell find it tough to stick to the strict restrictions of his parole. I wonder if O.J. realizes that no matter where he goes, countless cellphone cameras will be ready to capture his every move.

Simpson says he just wants to go back to his family in Florida and live quietly. Good idea. Then he can finally fulfill his 1995 promise to, pursue as my primary goal in life the killer or killers who slaughtered Nicole and Mr. Goldman.

www.DianeDimond.com; email to Diane@DianeDimond.com.
SAN DIEGO  I savored the recent news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to send thousands of immigration agents to so-called sanctuary cities to round up undocumented immigrants.

With apologies to Apocalypse Now, I love the smell of vindication in the morning.

The Trump administration is planning to target a host of cities for additional scrutiny by allocating more agents and resources to those locales.

No problem there. While I vehemently oppose conservative politicians roping local and state cops into the enforcement of federal immigration law, this isnt that. These are federal agents enforcing federal statutes. Thats their job.

ICEs acting Director Thomas Homan  who has called the whole concept of sanctuary cities ludicrous  doesnt seem all that interested in politics.

Instead, what Homan specializes in is common sense. He made this clear during a recent interview with the Washington Examiner.

What I want to get to is a clear understanding from everybody, from the congressmen to the politicians to law enforcement to those who enter the country illegally, that ICE is open for business, he said. Were going to enforce the laws on the books without apology.  Its not OK to violate the laws of this country anymore. Youre going to be held accountable.

Id feel better if Homan were just as committed to holding accountable a group of people who can fight back with lawyers, accountants and public relations specialists: employers of undocumented immigrants. These are the untouchables.

Still, he is right to push the message that anyone in the country illegally should worry about being deported. This includes those who live in so-called sanctuary cities.

In the America I grew up in, cities didnt shield people who violated the law, he said in the interview.

Homan can rest easy. Despite what you hear in conservative media, cities dont shield people from ICE. And  ironically  this recent crackdown proves it once and for all.

Which is what brought about my sense of vindication.

For the last couple of years  ever since the tragic killing of 32-year-old Kate Steinle, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant, in San Francisco in July 2015 sparked a national outcry about sanctuary cities  Ive argued with boneheaded Republicans who insisted that Democratic officials had built an impenetrable fortress to protect the undocumented.

This is nonsense. Ive said all along that, while the federal government can tell cities what to do, the opposite is not true. Federal authorities can go where they please, and there is no place in the United States where the undocumented can avoid deportation. Ive also maintained that the whole idea of sanctuary cities is a fraud concocted by Democratic officials at the local level who like to pretend theyre more powerful than they really are, and that Republicans have been gullible enough to fall for the distraction.

Now, thanks to the decision by the Trump administration to essentially invade sanctuary cities  Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia etc.  Ive been proved right. And the Republicans have been shown to be wrong. The fortress is made of cotton candy.

Democrats cant afford to be smug, though. The crackdown also had the effect of exposing their scheme as phony. Theyre going to have to find another way to trick pro-immigrant groups into thinking that the Democratic Party is in their corner.

Meanwhile, rather than admit they were wrong, Republicans have scrambled to come up with another definition of a sanctuary city. Now they broadly apply the title to any locality that limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Wait just a minute. In most places, local and state police are under no legal obligation to be at the beck and call of their federal brethren. This is especially true if running errands for Uncle Sam will make more difficult the job they are sworn to do: protecting and serving their communities.

Texas is an exception. It is now the only state in the country that has established criminal and civil penalties for local government entities and law enforcement that dont comply with immigration laws and detention requests from the federal government. But that only reaffirms the point that  in the other 49 states  there is no such requirement. Otherwise, the Lone Star State would not have needed to pass this kind of law.

Conservatives are always bragging about how they support their local law enforcement officers. By opposing the Trump administrations silly war on mythical sanctuary cities, theyd be off to a fine start.

E-mail: ruben@rubennavarrette.com. Copyright, The Washington Post Writers Group.
It was great while it lasted.

For around 24 hours, leaders at the state Public Education Department and New Mexicos largest school district appeared to be on the same page regarding student achievement and a path forward, allowing student needs to bring them together rather than letting adult concerns push them apart.

It is essential for New Mexicos students, parents and taxpayers that they keep that focus.

It all started with the release of the 2016 Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Careers results. Those revealed that less than a third of our 300,000-plus K-12 public school students can read at grade level, and less than a fifth can do the math. And while high schoolers in Albuquerque Public Schools, which is entrusted with educating around a quarter of the states students, outperformed their peers across the state, that isnt saying much  because just 44.4 percent of APS 11th-graders can read at grade level, and thats down from 51.3 percent in 2015. (Overall just 27 percent of APS students can read at grade level; 19.7 percent can do the math. Statewide its 28.6 percent in English and 19.7 percent in math.)

But while the results werent encouraging, the reaction from PED and APS leaders was. Acting PED Secretary Christopher Ruszkowski made it clear APS  with more than 80,000 students  is a bellwether of how we are doing. We cant move forward as a state without our largest district on board. And APS Superintendent Raquel Reedy, instead of dismissing the scores or making excuses, emphasized the 2016 PARCC scores show the work that needs to be done, and we wont be satisfied until our students are where they need to be. She said the district is already working on attacking low tests scores in a five-year academic master plan, with goals and steps to reach them, and a new pre-K-to-graduation approach to education that sounds like it will align with PARCC and the Common Core curriculum to get students ready for college and careers.

And perhaps most heartening, Reedy said APS will continue to work with other school districts as well as the state, which includes taking advantage of opportunities provided by the Public Education Department when available. Replicating the success in academic growth thats happened in districts like Farmington, Gallup, Gadsden and Hobbs only stands to help APS students and teachers, as does participating in PEDs Principals Pursuing Excellence and Teachers Pursuing Excellence, which target low-performing schools and educators for additional support. Ruszkowski provided data showing schools in the mentorship programs start at lower levels but achieve more student academic growth than schools that dont engage.

Bask in that collegial glow for a moment, because Thursday and Friday, everything seemed to change.

Thats when APS criticized PED for not providing enough funding to the massive district to participate fully in PEDs professional mentoring and student reading programs  funding the district has lobbied against because it is not in the state formula. And Ruszkowski acknowledged demand for PPE and TPE has outstripped supply  and districts that deliver results get priority, which APS hasnt.

Now put aside all the hurt feelings and baggage of the past six years and remember that more than 80,000 students need the grown-ups to put them first.

The fact remains districts do not have to be in lockstep with PED for their students to improve. Gadsden, which is data driven but not signed up with all PED programs, has delivered a 10.7-percentage point increase in English language arts and a 6.9 percentage point increase in math since 2015. Charter school Albuquerque Institute of Math and Science, which as an A school does not qualify for the mentoring programs, has the second-highest ELA proficiency in the state at 85.7 percent and the highest math proficiency at 83.8 percent. And APS own Early College Academy has 73.2 percent of its students proficient in reading  the sixth-highest percentage in the state.

New Mexico needs APS to walk Reedys talk and work with these schools, their leaders and others like them to replicate student success  whether thats participation in specific programs or sharing during teacher development days or simple brown-bag luncheons. APS has acknowledged its sheer size makes it fiscally impossible to get its 100-plus principals in PEDs Principals Pursuing Excellence, but it sure better make sure the ones who make the cut share every scrap of knowledge they glean with their colleagues.

This week APS administrators were reviewing the districts academic master plan, and Ruszkowski says he plans to sit down with Reedy next month to learn about it  his first meeting with her as acting secretary of education. He cautions that while I am optimistic about meeting with the educators, the superintendent and the team, the board has to chart a course that puts student learning and academics and college and career readiness front and center.

Reedy appeared to be doing just that this week  instead of following the boards anti-data lead of encouraging students to opt out of PARCC and rejecting proven turn-around programs, or the teachers unions script of spinning poor scores with diatribes against testing. In contrast she said, front and center, that the truth is there are few scores in the state that we can be proud of.

Shes right. And her 80,000-plus students and the entire state of New Mexico need APS to walk her talk and take the lead in first making student improvement, and then student achievement, the rule here and not the exception.

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.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

Faraja Yasipi, an 11-year-old boy who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Tanzania in December, is already picking up English.

Hes got a firm enough grasp of it to even tell a joke.

This is my cat, he said, showing a photograph of a squirrel during a presentation at Highlands High School on Friday morning.

His classmates  and fellow refugees  roared with laughter.

Faraja and more than 40 students from around the world gave brief presentations about themselves to mark the end of Newcomer Academy, a summer school program run by Lutheran Family Services for newly arrived refugees attending middle and high schools in Albuquerque.

Albuquerque Public Schools enrolled nearly 250 new refugee students in the last school year.

The four-week program focuses on math and English, as those are two subjects the students typically struggle with the most, LFS education and vocational program supervisor Melanie Mullen said.

The presentations were meant to challenge the students to use their skills in written and spoken English, and computers.

Most of the children who presented on Friday said they were from Tanzania, but Mullen said many may have been born elsewhere and settled in refugee camps there.

There are a handful of people here who have never been to school before, ever, so this is their orientation to academic behavior in the classroom in the U.S., Mullen said.

There were also presentations given by students from Afghanistan, Syria, Rwanda, Chad, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi.

Despite sometimes speaking in their native tongues amongst themselves, it was clear they were beginning to feel more at home in the U.S.: a few chose Takis corn chips and pizza as their favorite foods.

One high school student said she loves this countrys shoe selection.

Khadija Al Alwan, mother of 15-year-old Mohamad Abdulatif, fled Syria with her family in fall 2016, just a few months before President Donald Trump sought to ban those from Syria and a few other Middle Eastern countries from entering the U.S.

She said its been difficult to adjust to life in a new country.

Maybe the kids will adjust easier, she said through a translator.

Mohamad appeared to be doing just that.

Theres nothing in America I dont like, he said during his presentation, though he mentioned he misses his friends back in Syria.

Mullen said Trumps executive order has changed the tone of refugee relations in the U.S., but Albuquerque remains a positive place for them to resettle.

Although the general atmosphere is one of negativity, the local level and the response of the community is fantastic, Mullen said.
Rio Rancho Public Schools, typically a top performer in the state, received mixed results in the latest round of PARCC testing.

While RRPS is still well above the New Mexico average at every grade level, the district lost ground in English from 2015 to 2017.

The latest results, released Monday by the New Mexico Public Education Department, show RRPS proficiency at 40 percent in English Language Arts and 29.2 percent in math, compared to statewide rates of 28.6 percent and 19.7 percent, respectively.

In 2015  the first year New Mexico administered the rigorous Common Core-aligned exam  42 percent of RRPS students reached the benchmark for English and 27.4 percent in math.

Among the states 10 largest districts, only RRPS and Albuquerque Public Schools saw declines over the past three years.

Standouts Farmington and Hobbs gained 10.7 percentage points and 9.2 percentage points in English, respectively.

Math scores went up across all of the 10 largest districts, though APSs improvement was minimal  0.6 percentage points.

The Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Careers is administered every spring in grades 3-11.

RRPS spokeswoman Kim Vesely said administrators are reviewing the scores and looking to identify and replicate instructional strategies that yield good results.

Over the past two years, the district, parents, and the community have put considerable effort into identifying the characteristics of successful graduates, Vesely said. Our goal, as always, is to assure students are able to meet the State of New Mexicos rigorous standards defining what students should know, understand, and be able to do in order to be successful in college, career, or the military.

She touted strong performance among eighth-graders, who gained 10.8 percentage points in English and 11.6 percentage points in math over the past year.

Were also very pleased with our overall results in elementary and middle school English Language Arts, where the evidence suggests changes in curriculum adopted last year may be improving student outcomes, Vesely said.

But RRPS fourth-graders stumbled in English, dropping from 44.1 percent proficiency in 2015 to 32.7 percent in 2016 and 32.6 percent in 2017.

Happy Miller, RRPS accountability chief, noted that the districts fourth-graders completely switched from paper and pencil tests to computerized exams in 2016. During the first year of PARCC, the district received a waiver because it did not have enough devices to offer computer testing to all students.

Research has shown that test format impacts scores, particularly among children who dont have computers at home. Maryland, Illinois and other states have seen similar declines after introducing computer exams.

Miller said school systems need to help students boost their technology skills and said the district is working to acquire additional devices, improve infrastructure, and introduce approaches to integrate digital tools into instruction.

APS lags behind

Looking across the state, Santa Fe Public Schools saw slight gains, with 28.3 percent proficiency in English and 16.5 percent in math.

Farmington was a standout for growth and its scores are now among the best  39.3 percent proficient in English and 25.5 percent in math, an increase of 11.5 percentage and 5.8 percentage points, respectively, over the past three years.

Albuquerque Public Schools reached 27 percent proficiency in English and 19.7 percent in math.

APS Superintendent Raquel Reedy said the district is addressing low tests scores in a five-year academic master plan that outlines goals and steps to reach them. One component is a new pre-K to graduation approach to education.

We understand the work that needs to be done, and we wont be satisfied until our students are where they need to be, Reedy said.

PARCC continues to be divisive, particularly the use of the test scores in calculating teacher proficiency and school grades. PED has said the approach holds teachers and districts accountable, but the states teachers unions claim it is unfair and produces inaccurate results.

Betty Patterson, National Education Association of New Mexico president, argued that standardized tests based on a narrowly prescribed curriculum and linked to specific grade levels are not a good way to judge student or teacher success.
SANTA FE  A Colorado Springs man who went missing after his raft capsized on the Arkansas River was searching for Santa Fe author and collector Forrest Fenns Thrill of the Chase treasure, his friend says.

Eric Ashby, 31, moved to Colorado four months ago specifically to search for the treasure, according to Dave Gambrell, who says he became a friend and mentor to Ashby shortly after his arrival.

Two other Colorado men have previously died, both along the Rio Grande in New Mexico, since 2016 looking for the antique chest that Fenn says contains gold coins and other precious items.

Fenn says the treasure is hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. He set off a national sensation by publishing a book in 2010 with a poem said to include clues to the chests whereabouts.

According to a Fremont County Sheriffs Offices Facebook page, human remains were found Friday afternoon in the Arkansas River east of Florence, but they have not been identified. Office spokeswoman Megan Richards did not respond to calls for comment.

A news release about the offices search and rescue mission shared Thursday stated that Ashby was rafting in the Royal Gorge June 28  accounts differ over whether it was with three or four others  when the raft flipped.

While the others made it to safety, Ashby did not.

But nobody with Ashby reported the emergency. A bystander who witnessed the incident called police.

Gambrell said a small search at that time reached a dead end.

Ashbys family called police July 8 to report him missing. Ashbys sister did not respond to a Facebook message from the Journal as of press time.

Gambrell says the people in the raft with Ashby let him drown because they did not call for help, and it is still unclear why they did not.

Even the one eyewitness is still scratching his head, said Gambrell, who is independently investigating the incident along with six to seven other friends. He said he doesnt believe the police are doing an adequate job.

Gambrell has created a Facebook page, Find Eric Ashby, that now has more than 500 members.

Ashby, who Gambrell described as a happy go lucky and adventurous treasure hunter, was aware of the deaths of Fenn treasure hunters Paris Wallace and Randy Bilyeu.

Eric thought he was very close to the treasure, Gambrell said, saying the treasure was his heart.

Gambrell maintains that Fenn and Ashby were in recent communication via email. Fenn, however, said in an email Friday that he has no record of conversations with the 31-year-old.

New Mexicos State Police Chief Pete Kassetas told the Journal in June that Fenns treasure hunt was stupid and needed to be called off.

But Fenn has remained adamant that he will not call off the hunt and that the treasure said to be worth millions is real. He said after Wallaces death south of Taos earlier this summer that he would try to outline safety precautions for searchers.

In the Friday email, Fenn told the Journal that he always stresses safety for anyone who goes into the mountains.

Though he didnt respond directly to a question about whether he will now call off the treasure hunt, he said this of the hiding spot: It is not in a dangerous place, and I did nothing that I thought was risky when he placed it.

Gambrell said Fenn needs to take ownership for the lost lives, adding that he is in contact with family members of Wallace and Bilyeu, the other treasure hunters who have died, to begin a campaign against the author.

There is no treasure in this world that is worth a human life, said Gambrell.
When Albuquerque mechanic Mike Snyder disappeared in 2002, it was a whodunit for eight years.

The real life murder mystery has been made into a true crime special for the TV series American Monster. It will air for the first time at 10 p.m. Sunday on Investigation Discovery.

Ellen Snyder, Snyders wife, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in July 2011.

Mike Snyder, who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, was preparing to leave his wife at the time of his disappearance, his family said, according to Journal archives. He was reported missing several months after he was last seen by relatives, but there was little police could do because there was no trace of his body.

It would take six years for cold case detectives to begin investigating. In 2010, investigators found Snyders remains buried eight feet deep in his backyard in North Albuquerque Acres. He had been shot multiple times, and Ellen Snyder would later give a full confession, according to Journal archives. According to police, she persuaded her teenage son from a different marriage to help her hide the body.

The true crime special will include interviews with two of Snyders sisters and a retired Albuquerque police detective. It will also use home video footage to tell the tale, according to a news release.

American Monster is described as a series that examines in depth details of killers who commit shocking and surprising crimes.
Verizon Wireless started pushing out the July Android Security Update to all Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus units on its network earlier this week, as evidenced by the wireless carriers official support pages that were updated in the last 24 hours to reflect the existence of the new software builds for the devices. Verizons variants of the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus are currently receiving the update version G928VVRU3CQF3, whereas the Galaxy Note 5 is set to be upgraded to the build N920VVRU3CQF3, as confirmed by the largest mobile service provider in the United States. In addition to fixes for a variety of known vulnerabilities found in the Android operating system, the updates are also meant to address some software bugs, including the one that affects the performance of the Google app when Easy Mode is activated. Following the installation of the latest software packages for the devices, users should benefit from improved voice over Wi-Fi performance, Verizon said, adding that the new firmware also introduces support for an additional notification thats meant to inform users when theyre running out of storage space.

The New Jersey-based wireless carrier is distributing the new software for the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus in the form of two over-the-air (OTA) updates that are being rolled out in stages, which is standard industry practice that indicates you may have to wait several days for the latest patch to become available in your territory. Impatient users always have the option of searching for the update manually through the system Settings app on their devices, i.e. the System Updates option found in its About Device menu. Both Verizon and Samsung recommend that the new patch is downloaded over a Wi-Fi network and the installation itself isnt prompted before your Galaxy Note 5 or Galaxy S6 Edge Plus have at least 50 percent of battery charge left.

Being released in 2015, both of the Samsung-made handsets are nearing the ends of their product life cycles and arent expected to ever officially receive a stable version of Android 8.0. The South Korean tech giant should still keep them updated with regular security patches for the foreseeable future, though time will tell how long the company ends up supporting the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus.
The LG V30 is set to be announced on August 31st, at LGs press conference in Berlin. Which means itll be debuting a bit earlier than the V10 and V20 have in previous years. But now it appears that were learning when the device will actually be on sale. According to Android Authority, the LG V30 will go on sale in South Korea on September 15th, with the rest of its markets following on September 28th. Its quite common for LG to launch a smartphone in its home country of South Korea ahead of the rest of the world. Its something that LG does with almost every smartphone these days.

Now, September 28th is not the pre-order date, according to the information that Android Authority has obtained, pre-orders start in the US on September 17th. Theres no word on when itll start for Europe, but sales do start on September 28th as well. This is the first time that a V-series smartphone will launch in Europe, as the previous two did not make it to Europe. And thats something that LG customers in Europe were pretty upset about, and it looks like LG heard them this time around. As it is planning to launch the V30 in Europe, from the very beginning even.

So far, there havent been many concrete leaks for the LG V30, but the rumor mill is hinting at a 6-inch OLED display, which would be a 18:9 aspect ratio like the LG G6 was, meaning that it should be about the same size as the V20 from last year. On top of that, it does also have a Snapdragon 835 chipset inside with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. This would be the companys first smartphone with a Snapdragon 835, since the LG G6 did have a Snapdragon 821, since it was launched before the Snapdragon 835 was ready. Many are expecting the LG V30 to be a true competitor to the Galaxy Note 8 which will be debuting about a week ahead of the LG V30, in New York City on August 23rd. The Galaxy Note 8 is definitely going to be a top seller this fall for Samsung, itll be interesting to see if LG can dethrone it.
BURLEY  A new 5th Judicial District judge took his oath of office Friday, his wife helping Mike Tribe slip on the black robe hell wear while administering justice in Cassia County.

Tribe reminisced and laughed during a speech after he was sworn in to office and then turned somber as he reflected on the responsibility and heavy weight of the job.

I see so many people that I feel indebted to here, Tribe said as he looked around the courtroom at his family, friends, colleagues and judges who were in attendance at the Cassia County Judicial Center, where he will take the bench as district judge.

Tribe recognized his law partner Brent Robinson and former partner Sen. Kelly Anthon along with the cities of Heyburn and Rupert and the Minidoka County and Cassia County school districts, which he legally represented.

Thank you to all the public entities that trusted me to represent you, Tribe said.

Robinson, he said, taught him how to be a lawyer, how to treat people and how not to make that angry phone call  that day.

Tribe also noted his former boss Minidoka County Prosecutor Lance Stevenson, for whom he served as a deputy prosecutor along with the public defenders office, which, he said, does the Lords work day in and day out.

Tribes wife, Amber Tribe, was responsible for both getting him to law school and through it, he said. He also acknowledged his children and his parents.

Barry Wood, deputy administrative director for the Idaho Supreme Court, said at one time Tribe was his law clerk. Tribe spent his first 18 months out of law school working for Wood.

When wed get in the car to drive home, Judge Wood would ask me my opinion. He wanted my opinion and respected my opinion, Tribe said. And then if I hadnt been paying attention in court, hed know.

Wood said the job of district judge is an important one and there are only 45 district judges in the state, which has a population of 1.6 million people.

When you ponder about whats about to happen here today, when a person takes this position he is joining a very small group of people who cover this state top to bottom and side-to-side, Wood said.

It is a rewarding and fascinating job but it is also a heavy one, he said.

Its a tremendous responsibility because we deal with peoples lives, their fortunes and their freedoms, Wood said.

It takes real dedication to do it right and you must have your heart in the right spot, Wood said.

Wood reminded Tribe of the tenets he must uphold as a judge.

I feel very sobered after Judge Woodss words. I feel that responsibility, Tribe said.

Tribe has all the attributes that are looked for in a judge, including integrity, moral courage, legal ability and experience, wisdom and a clear mind, among others and he has a good work ethic and a passion for the law, Wood said.

I really believe and can say with confidence that given your personality you will not develop black-robe disease, Wood said, explaining the condition sometimes arises when judges let power and authority go to their heads.

Tribe said his predecessors set the bar high, especially Michael Crabtree, former Cassia County district judge.

You know if I can be as patient, as calm and as fair as Judge Crabtree, I will be very happy, Tribe said.
Sprint has been in talks with both Charter and Comcast for the past few weeks, since the quiet period following the Incentive Auction ended. And it looks as if Sprint may be tying up with Charter. According to The Wall Street Journal, Sprint has proposed a merger with Charter, which has not yet been agreed upon. According to the report, SoftBank would be in control of the combined company, which is a bit of an interesting move, as that would mean that SoftBank is purchasing part of Charter, and it already owns nearly 90% of Sprint.

It was just reported yesterday that Sprint was still in talks with both Charter and Comcast, and it appears that Sprint may be leaning towards Charter on this one. The company has proposed a full merger with Charter, according to the report, however Bloomberg has noted that Charter isnt so keen on the ideal of a complete merger between the two companies. So itll be interesting to see whether Charter does agree to the deal or not. Theres very little known about this deal right now, and itll likely stay that way until a deal is agreed upon by both companies, if that happens.

Comcast and Charter had entered exclusive talks with Sprint a few weeks ago. Its said that this exclusivity was to keep T-Mobile and its parent company Deutsche Telekom out of the picture. At least for now. Sprint has been looking to combine with T-Mobile for quite some time, as it believes combining its spectrum together would really help out both companies in the long run. However, in 2017, a deal between T-Mobile and Sprint could become detrimental to both companies. As they have both significantly changed since they first started trying to combine in 2013 and later called off due to regulators not being keen on the idea. SoftBank has been trying to poach Sprint to cable companies for quite some time now and have even talked with some big investors like Warren Buffet, about investing in the fourth largest US wireless carrier. And that is because Sprint needs money and needs it rather soon. Especially with a big chunk of its debt coming due in the next few years.
Remember the WRX wagon? The family-friendly rally car had plenty of supporters, and the Levorg is kind of a spiritual successor. It's even got a version called TS Spec.B, fundamentally the same underneath as the current fourth-generation WRX , down to the specially tuned suspension and a 2.0-liter turbocharged boxer engine.But it's unlikely that Rowen started out its project that way because the rivers of engineering and creativity would have been wasted on a factory-tuned car. Instead, this car is probably packing the 1.6-liter turbo with 170 PS and 250 Nm (184 lb-ft) of torque. That's pretty good, and the Japanese have always put the show ahead of the go.The customization is pretty extensive. The all-new front bumper is decorated with extra trim at the bottom and a blacked out grille at the top. The hood scoop also gets attention. All four of the fenders have new inserts which are accompanied by the side skirts and 20-inch brushed aluminum wheels.But it's the back view that impresses us the most, thanks to the quad exhaust system with massive tips. Rowen does that very well and backs it up with a wing that screams "I don't belong on a family car." Tinted taillights and a brand new bumper complete this transformation. You can even order custom LED taillights from them.We think that more could have been done with the wheel design. After all, this is a Subaru, and almost everybody wants to see some 90's-style gold wheels. However, the stance is the right one. So which one do you like more, the white or the dark blue?
Aero Electric Aircraft Corp. plans to build a four-seat version of its all-electric airplane, the company announced at EAA AirVenture this week. The Sun Flyer 4 will have a payload of 800 pounds for pilot and passengers, the company said. The four-seat airplane will have operating costs five times lower than costs associated with similar combustion-engine aircraft, said George Bye, CEO of AEAC. With four hours of flying time, the versatile Sun Flyer 4 will appeal to both flight schools and pilot-owners. Spartan College, which has placed 25 deposits for the two-seat Sun Flyer 2, also made the first deposit for a Sun Flyer 4. Spartan plans to develop a complete training system for the Sun Flyer aircraft, AEAC said, including a course for airframe and powerplant technicians that will feature specialized training for the all-electric system.

AEAC has built a proof-of-concept prototype of its two-seat Sun Flyer, which was on display this week at Oshkosh. The company says they plan to certify the airplane under FAR Part 23. AEAC projects the energy cost for Sun Flyer 2 will be only about $1 of electricity for each hour of flight, compared to $25 to $65 per hour for leaded avgas. The two-seat Sun Flyer prototype will soon begin power-on tests at its home station at Centennial Airport near Denver, the company said this week. It began taxi tests last year.
Kitty Hawk, a California startup that made a splashliterallywith a man-carrying multi-rotor, recently brought its machine to AirVenture this week for demonstration flights. Although the first demo was winded out, Kitty Hawk co-founder Todd Reichert told AVweb in this video that the company views the Kitty Hawk as transitional technology. This is step one in a much bigger vision. We are crossing this threshold, with computing, with battery technology and small lightweight sensors, this is now physically possible, Reichert said. The use cases in the next five years are going to be incredibly diverse, he added.

Although Reichert discourages the comparison, the Kitty Hawk is essentially a multi-rotor similar to small unmanned drones scaled up. It uses similar technology and Kitty Hawk believes it will be the simplest aircraft ever created to learn to fly. At under 254 pounds, the Kitty Hawk will be marketed as an ultralight, thus requiring no license or specific training. Kitty Hawk intends the aircraft as a recreational vehicle similar in concept to fixed-wing ultralights. Reichert declined to put a price tag on the aircraft or even to speculate if it will be competitive with existing ultralight aircraft. As currently construed, the Kitty Hawk is on straight floats, although it can operate and land on solid ground, too. Reichert said Kitty Hawk pursued the water-only approach because it believed it to be safer until the aircraft gains more flight experience. The Kitty Hawks software limits its altitude to under 40 feet.
President Trump announced via Twitter on Wednesday morning that transgender people would no longer be allowed to serve in the U.S. military. That announcement came 69 years to the day after Harry Truman issued an order abolishing racial discrimination, and leading to the end of segregation, in the armed forces.

Here's how determinations of who is and isn't fit to serve have shifted over the past century:
TWIN FALLS  A group of Idaho business leaders wants to partner with the Twin Falls School District to boost student achievement.

Its part of Idaho Business for Educations schoolhouse strategy, launched last year. It wants to create six to eight local teams throughout the state  including in Twin Falls  by the end of 2017.

The five-year-old nonprofit group  which has 189 members across Idaho, including the Times-News  aims to prepare students for the workforce and to pursue post-high school certification or degree.

One Idaho State Board of Education plan includes the goal of 60 percent of residents ages 25 to 34 to hold a post-high school degree or certificate by 2020.

Some state legislators have expressed doubts about whether the goal is attainable.

Its going to be a stretch, said Rod Gramer, president and chief executive officer of Idaho Business for Education. But I always say whether we hit the goal or not, our employers still need that kind of educated workforce.

Gramer presented to the Twin Falls school board during a Wednesday night work session about the schoolhouse strategy.

School trustees expressed their support for creating a student achievement team with Idaho Business for Education and directed Superintendent Brady Dickinson to move forward.

The Twin Falls School District wants to partner with local industries, spokeswoman Eva Craner said, to prepare students for the jobs that exist now and in the future.

Ideally, the local group would meet monthly, Gramer said. He hopes it will be up-and-running by the time school starts in mid-August.

The next step: identifying volunteers from local businesses affiliated with Idaho Business for Education to be part of a team.

Gramer said some business leaders have expressed interest, but he declined to provide names because the business havent yet committed.

I think if we could get three or four, that would be great, he said. It doesnt have to be a large group, but it needs to be an effective group.

The nonprofit also recently started a team in Kuna and is about to create a group in Caldwell. Its also working on proposals to start teams in Pocatello/Chubbuck and Lewiston.

One area of focus: working with school districts on yearly strategic plans. Every school district is required to submit one to the Idaho State Board of Education by Oct. 1.

These plans are supposed to have goals that are focused on improving student achievement, Gramer said.

One example of data in the Twin Falls School Districts plan is SAT scores. The district outlines goals for the average score and what percentage of students will score at the college and career ready benchmark.

At the state level, Idaho Business for Education works with leaders on policies and investments that help set local school leaders and students up for success, Gramer said, from kindergarten through university.

But children arent educated at the statehouse, he said. We realize that real change really happens at the local schools across the state.

In Twin Falls, volunteer business leaders will work with the school district to help ensure state policies and investments are effectively implemented to help improve student achievement, Gramer said.

One example: State legislators appropriated $9.1 million last year to help elementary schoolers who score below grade level on the Idaho Reading Indicator.

For that investment, we should be really focused on the local level on improving our reading scores by the third grade, Gramer said.

The Twin Falls district received about $370,000 last year, and money was used for literacy training for teachers and a digital intervention program for students.

State leaders are looking, Gramer said, to make sure their investment is making a difference.
Japan's economy relies on keeping people employed past the typical retirement age, especially after the country's birthrates last year fell below one million for the first time since 1899 and because it has the longest life expectancy among any other country. A couple things to consider, from the NYT:

More than half of the taxi drivers in Japan are 60 years old or older

Among Japanese men 65 and older, more than half have some sort of paying job (compared to only ~33% of American men the same age)

Why this matters: Japan could be a case study for how other countries reshape their economies and labor markets. For example, Japan is increasing the age at which workers can collect pension (to 70 years old) to mitigate the economic strain from the number of retirees currently collecting. And there are more resources specifically targeting retirees, like a senior center in Tokyo that connects retired workers with short-term gigs.
A spokesperson for President Barack Obama issued a statement regarding the Senate's failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, saying that Obama "believes it is still possible for Congress to demonstrate the necessary bipartisanship and political courage" to improve upon the law together.

Summing it up: "The Affordable Care Act has always been about something bigger than politics  it's about the character of our countryIt's about the dreams protected, and the untold misery and ruin prevented."

The full statement from Obama spokesperson, Kevin Lewis:

The Affordable Care Act has always been about something bigger than politics  it's about the character of our country. It's about the twenty million Americans and counting who've gained the security and peace of mind of health insurance, and the tens of millions more who benefited from upgrades like free preventive care, such as mammograms and vaccines, and improvements in the quality of care in hospitals that have averted more than 100,000 deaths so far. It's about the dreams protected, and the untold misery and ruin prevented.

Today, it remains that way because of everyone who mobilized, organized and made their voices heard. The Affordable Care Act has made America stronger and healthier, but there will always be more work to do. President Obama has always said we should build on this law, just as members of both parties worked together to improve Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid over the years. President Obama still believes that it is possible for Congress to demonstrate the necessary bipartisanship and political courage to keep delivering on the promise of quality, affordable health insurance for every American.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this post misidentified President Obama's spokesman and has since been updated.
Statement from the President:

President Donald J. Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it. He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it.

Why this matters: Trump is yielding to massive Congressional majorities that want to punish Russia. And the Russians have already retaliated.
29 July 2017 11:30 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Azerbaijans economic development can get a powerful momentum against the backdrop of the growing demand for Islamic financial instruments in the country.

During the first half of this year, Azerbaijan has already signed four different Islamic financing agreements. The agreements were signed between Azerbaijans Ministry of Economy and Islamic Development Bank, the Al Huda Center of Islamic Banking and Islamic Economics and the Azerbaijan Center for Research of Economic Resources, the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector and the Hi-Tech Park of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), as well as between the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector and the Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Arab Countries Public Association.

These agreements provide for an analysis of the banking legislation and studying the opportunities of introducing the Islamic banking principles and financial instruments in Azerbaijan, and also contribute to examining the global experience in the Islamic financing, attracting investments, etc.

Such interest to Islamic financing, on the part of both the government and private sector in Azerbaijan, is quite logical. Over the past two years, Azerbaijans economy has faced global challenges. And to cope with these challenges, various reforms have been implemented, strategic road maps have been developed and huge work has been done in general to neutralize the negative processes and improve the investment climate and business environment.

Introduction of the Islamic financing tools in Azerbaijan is a logical development of the reforms that will expand the opportunities to attract additional capital and stabilize the economy. Shari'a-based financing has a number of advantages: its orientation at the real sector of economy; fair risks distribution between the investor and borrower; interest-free loans; zakat that Islamic banks can pay by implementing micro-projects for the poor, which also increases the social significance of the Islamic financing.

Enforcement of the relevant legislation in Azerbaijan will also promote coming of the Islamic banks into the country. Lately Baku has been actively developing ties with Arab countries. However, to develop a full-scale cooperation with the Middle East, Azerbaijan lacks the legislation that is based on the Islamic finance principles. Such legislation will allow Islamic banks to work more actively in Azerbaijan and provide the country with effective tools to support the overall development of the economy.

For example, the Islamic bonds called sukuk could help raise funds to finance various projects, not only from the domestic market, but also from that of Arab countries.

Another tool  waqf or awqaf  could help implement social projects. Waqf is a property that is transferred for religious or charitable purposes. A mandatory condition is that such property should generate benefit or income, and be non-expendable, and therefore, money cannot be transferred as waqf. The waqf transfer can be free of charge when the owner of the property, for example the government, loses its rights over the property. However, there is another option, under which the primary owner after having transferred the property to another person, receives a part of income that can be generated by the transferred property.

The use of another tool  takaful, an Islamic insurance system  can help strengthen the social protection of citizens and become a source of additional income. Takaful is different from traditional insurance in that it operates according to the principles of solidarity. Contributions made by the clients of a takaful company are pooled into a common fund, which is used to pay insurance compensation in case of insured events. In addition, the operator (a takaful company) invests this money in business of different companies. At the end of the year, the total profit, net costs and payments are distributed among the insured.

As of today, the volume of assets in the Islamic financial instruments market ranges from $2 trillion to $3 trillion. Effectiveness of the Islamic financial instruments has been also proved by the fact that financial companies of many non-Muslim countries, such as Great Britain, Australia, China, Switzerland and others, are actively using the Islamic finance tools. The Islamic financial instruments can open up new opportunities for Azerbaijan to support development of the economy and increase the well-being of its people. Emergence of Islamic banks in the country can give a powerful impetus to development of the economy and attract additional capital from both the Arab countries and local market.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
29 July 2017 12:05 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Azerbaijans Central Election Commission (CEC) held a meeting on July 28.

The meeting, chaired by CEC Chairman Mazahir Panahov, approved the CEC protocol, dated July 21, 2017, and made changes to the composition of some district election commissions.

Moreover, the CEC meeting discussed current issues.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
29 July 2017 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order to provide funding for the construction of a road in Ujar.

Under the presidential order, AZN2.7 million is allocated from the Presidential Contingency Fund for the construction of Ujar-Garaybayli-Rastaja road connecting three residential areas with the population totaling 20,000 people.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
29 July 2017 13:10 (UTC+04:00)

"The US State of Arizona is interested in developing relations with Azerbaijan in a number of areas, including in economic sphere," said Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Javan Mesnard as he met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ogtay Asadov.

Speaker of Azerbaijan`s Milli Majlis Ogtay Asadov described the US as one of the first countries which recognized Azerbaijan's independence. He underlined Azerbaijan's interest in strengthening relations with the US, which span 25 years. "Azerbaijan has close economic and political relations with a number of US states, including the State of Arizona. Our country stands by the US in the fight against international terrorism," Asadov said, Azertac reported.

They exchanged views on Azerbaijan`s economic development of and prospects of interparliamentary relations. Speaker Asadov thanked Javan Mesnard for the State of Arizona`s support for Azerbaijan in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He also hailed Arizona House of Representatives' adopting a declaration recognizing the Khojaly genocide.

Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Javan Mesnard described Azerbaijan as a country with ancient history and culture.

He noted that he will inform about the favorable investment climate in Azerbaijan upon his return to his country. Speaker Mesnard expressed his confidence that the US high-tech companies will cooperate with Azerbaijan.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
29 July 2017 18:00 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan and Macedonia have discussed prospects for developing bilateral cooperation as ambassador to Turkey and Macedonia Faig Baghirov met with the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Dimitrov in Skopje.

They hailed the current level of political relations between the two countries, Azertac reported.

The two emphasized the importance of deepening political relations in terms of the development of economic cooperation.

They highlighted great potential for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Macedonia in all spheres, particularly in economic, trade, tourism and transport areas.

Ambassador Baghirov highlighted the international energy and transport projects implemented by Azerbaijan. He thanked the government of Macedonia supporting Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Macedonian FM Dimitrov said he is aware of the prestigious Azerbaijan-hosted events, adding that Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov attends the forum organized by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center on a regular basis. He pointed out that the continuous contacts of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov make a significant contribution to the development of political dialogue between the two countries.

The sides expressed their readiness to revitalize a bilateral consultation plan between the foreign ministries of both countries in order to expand and develop cooperation in political, economic and consular areas.

Ambassador Baghirov extended Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov's invitation to his Macedonian counterpart to pay a visit to Baku.
29 July 2017 13:41 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Friday on six subsidiaries of an Iranian company key to Iran's ballistic missile program in response to Tehran's "continued provocative actions," including Thursday's launch of a space launch vehicle, Reuters reported.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed the sanctions on six Iran-based companies owned or controlled by Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, the Treasury said in a statement.

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BUHL  More than 6,000 Idaho Power Co. customers regained power Saturday evening in Buhl and Filer after a brush fire burned in the Snake River Canyon north of the towns.

Multiple agencies responded to the fire as smoke billowed into the air east of Clear Lake Country Club.

Several power poles burned at about 4 p.m., causing the power outage, said a Southern Idaho Regional Communications Center supervisor.

Idaho Highway 46 was closed between mileposts 92 in Gooding County and 89 in Twin Falls County. All roads were open at 8:30 Saturday night, SIRCOMM said.

Also by 8:30, Idaho Power reported power had been restored to all customers.

The fire ran from along River Road to the canyon rim, near 1600 East and 4600 North. One house was evacuated.

By 8:30 the fire was under control, SIRCOMM said, but the Buhl Rural Fire Protection District but was still on site.

Chief Andrew Stevens told the Times-News late Saturday night that three structures were threatened but saved. About 60 acres of brush burned, in addition to utility poles.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/07/2017 (1934 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Linda Hansen beat stage three cervical cancer in the late 1990s, but she has been living with a painful and disheartening side-effect ever since.

The Roblin woman has been living with lymphedema since 1999. The condition causes the swelling of the soft tissues in a limb because lymph fluid cannot flow normally and it builds up. It is a repercussion of dozens of radiation treatments Hansen endured.

Its the size of an elephant leg, she said of swelling that has tripled the girth of her leg. Her leg carries an additional four to five litres of fluid, she has been told.

Ed Doering/Roblin Review Linda Hansen of Roblin has been living with a condition called lymphedema, which has caused her left leg to swell to triple its normal size. Her next hope is a possible surgery in Quebec.

For years, she has been on a heavy medicine regime prescribed by doctors. Despite this, her left leg still hurts, making even quick strolls a struggle. She has seen maybe a dozen physicians who told Hansen that shes stuck living with it.

Yet, she never lost hope. She clung to a glimmer of hope months ago when she stumbled upon a possible solution. She overheard a doctor during a phone conversation with a staff member at the clinic, suggesting the Mayo Clinic in the United States might be able to help.

She found out about the non-profit medical practice and later visited the clinic in Rochester, Minn. She scheduled a surgery for early July, with the belief Manitoba Health would pay most of her bill.

But shortly before the procedure, the province withdrew its financial backing. Instead, they directed her to a surgeon in Quebec, who might be able to solve her issues.

Whether or not hes going to be able to do something, I sure hope so, Hansen said. Its a pretty horrific disease.

The mother of three is now waiting to hear back about the prospects of a possible surgery in Montreal.

Theres hope; theres always hope, Hansen said of what keeps her going. I dont believe for one minute there isnt something that can be done.

That doesnt mean this ordeal hasnt been devastating to Hansen.

She has fought with anxiety, depression and a physical pain often too burdensome.

She notices people who stare, who circle around her to get a closer look.

You can hear their whispers, Hansen said through tears. Its not nice.

Hansen considers her anguish an injustice she has been forced to endure by herself.

Never did doctors, who she begged for a solution, suggest the Mayo Clinic, until she happened to overhear a doctor in the background of a phone call.

She is bothered by being unemployed, without steady work because of her condition. She is not receiving disability payments because she once discontinued the benefit in a futile bid to return to work.

She has fought to re-continue disability payments since then, but her appeals have been denied.

And then theres the physical agony, which only gets worse as Hansens risk of infection rises due to medication weakening her immune system.

It hurts to the point you dont even want to tolerate the pain anymore, so you just try to get your mind off it. You do something, you take a pill, you talk about it with somebody, you cry, an emotional Hansen explained.

Sometimes you rant and rave and you dont understand whats going on.

But galvanized by the support of her husband, three adult children and her friends, she presses forward.

Every day you have to push through, she said.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ianfroese
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/07/2017 (1934 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For two university students interested in human rights law, visiting Ghana for a first-hand look at how an abuse like child marriage could be permitted proved eye-opening.

Rikki Bergen, one of two long-time friends who flew overseas for the unique opportunity this June, said it didnt make sense to her, how child marriage could happen in a country where community bonds are so tight.

It surprised me how many people are in fear of the consequences if they turn someone in for trying to marrying a child, the 20-year-old from Brandon said.

Submitted Bailey Pelletier, left, and Rikki Bergen speak with a Ghanaian woman as part of their human rights internship in Ghana. The Brandon women were studying child marriage and sharing with young women how they could avoid becoming one of the 20 per cent of young women in Ghana entered into child marriages.

If I call the police, this family is going to get in trouble, Bergen said of the assumption held by bystanders who watch silently as parents give their young girls away. And this family has maybe helped me out before, so I dont want to do that to them.

Unlike other volunteer abroad projects where Canadians fly overseas to build infrastructure or play with children, Bergen and Bailey Pelletier, also 20 and from Brandon, took an internship in law and human rights in the Ghana capital city of Accra.

Projects Abroad, an international volunteer organization, tasked the Brandonites with studying child marriage. There, the duo linked up with Achievers Ghana, a non-profit group saving girls from the type of situation where theyd be at risk of being married off. The organization helps with the schooling of 350 young girls, who meet with Achievers for extracurricular activities like poetry, drama and computer coding.

During their four-week tenure, they interviewed a lawyer, women at risk, met community members, and shared what they learned during a workshop with the young girls who work with Achievers.

The girls could take their internship in whichever form theyd like.

Bergen and Pelletier said they became engrossed in their topic. Their workshop, which could have lasted 30 minutes, ran two hours long.

We wanted it to be something that they could use afterwards, and that they could apply and teach the other girls as well in a very hands-on way, Bergen said. Throwing statistics at them didnt seem like enough.

The numbers dont look good. UNICEF stated one in five women from Ghana are married before they reach the age of majority, according to a 2016 report.

This rate is highest in the countrys poorest areas. The Brandonites realized this when speaking to women of different socio-economic backgrounds.

The girls in the slums werent shocked at all, Pelletier shared.

Ghana is one of Africas more stable governments, but a number of societal issues lag the nation behind more progressive Western societies.

Child marriage is actually banned in the country, and the government is moving to eradicate the illegal practice.

In conversation with locals, Bergen found many people dont bother to report child marriage when they see it, and police only seem to investigate when formal complaints are made.

Submitted Rikki Bergen, middle left in green, and Bailey Pelletier, right, with the Ghanaian women as part of their human rights internship in Ghana. The Brandon women led a workshop on child marriage intervention with the young women.

It can be especially difficult to prosecute examples of child marriage when the girls dont have birth certificates stating their real age. The women shared with staff at Achievers Ghana strategies to obtain a birth certificate, though the document is expensive to obtain.

Pelletier said one of her most revealing interviews was a conversation with a lawyer, who initially told her people in power respect the countrys constitution. He eventually conceded that wasnt always the case.

For those disadvantaged, the only way that people could really get help, especially girls, was through legal aid, Pelletier said, but he was a lawyer and he couldnt even tell us where the legal aid offices were.

The women found education to be a defence against child marriage. If they arent educated or they cant read, they cant do much to help their family, Pelletier said, describing education as one of the leading reasons why young girls, sometimes seen as a burden to their family, are married off.

The friends spent four weeks in Ghana, enjoyed two weeks off in Morocco and concluded their trip with two more days in Ghana. They returned to Brandon in mid-July.

Currently, Bergen is studying linguistics at Western University in London, Ont., and Pelletier is a political science student at Brandon University.

After studying a human rights issue in-depth, they remain as inspired to study human rights law at McGill University in Montreal after completing their undergraduate degree, if not more so.

If anything, Im more dedicated, Bergen said.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ianfroese
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. owns and leases freight railroads. It operates through three segments: North American Operations, Australian Operations, and U.K./European Operations. The company transports various commodities, including agricultural products, autos and auto parts, chemicals and plastics, coal and coke, food and kindred products, lumber and forest products, metallic ores, metals, minerals and stone, petroleum products, pulp and paper, waste, and other commodities. It owns or leases 122 freight railroads, including 105 short line railroads and 2 regional freight railroads located in the United States, 8 short line railroads located in Canada, 3 railroads located in Australia, 1 railroad located in the United Kingdom, 1 railroad in Poland and Germany, and 2 railroads in the Netherlands with a total of approximately 16,200 miles of track. The company also operates 6,200 additional miles of track that is owned or leased by others. In addition, it operates deep sea maritime containers and provides bulk haulage, including coal, aggregates, cement, and infrastructure services. Further, the company provides rail service at approximately 40 ports; rail-ferry service in North America, Australia, and Europe; and contract coal loading and railcar switching for industrial customers. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Darien, Connecticut.
Americans face much uncertainty surrounding the longevity of Social Security. But about 61% of beneficiaries income came from Social Security, as of 2014, according to the Social Security Administration. Thats alarming considering the average monthly payout is only about $1,342 per month.

Some people have begun investing elsewhere to ease the pressure of a potentially dismal payout in the future. Other Americans? Not so much. You cant rely on a 401(k) if you dont have one  or more commonly if it gets depleted within a few years because you didnt save enough. Luckily, Social Security is guaranteed retirement income you can count on  for now.

So where will Americans have to rely on Social Security the most? The most obvious choice is in places where people are likely to have no other income options. To get a definitive ranking of states where this is the case, The Cheat Sheet analyzed states whose populations are the worst with money, are least likely to be saving for retirement, and have the largest senior population.

Put all these financial factors together, and it could become a not-so-perfect storm in which retirees need cash faster than states can provide it. Here are 15 states where people are banking on Social Security the most.

15. Connecticut

Connecticut ranks No. 43 in terms of money management, and has the third highest average credit card balance ($4,907) in the nation.

How much youll need to rely on Social Security depends largely on your history with money management. CreditCards.com used credit scores and the average credit card balance in comparison to household income to determine each states track record with money management. It seems retirees wont be doing themselves any favors when it comes to preparing for retirement in Connecticut. With a track record of irresponsible spending and credit debt, theyre likely to need Social Security more than most.

Next: A state crawling with retirees

14. Florida

Nearly a fifth of Floridas population is made up of seniors.

Floridas sunny climate attracts a flock of seniors looking to spend their retirement in warmth each year. According to World Atlas ranking of states with the largest senior population, Florida tops the list with just over 19% of its residents over the age of 65. This means Florida will be forking over billions in monthly Social Security payouts. Luckily, residents in this state fare surprisingly well in terms of financial responsibility, so they should be able to make do with what theyre getting  for now.

Next: A tiny New England state

13. Rhode Island

Despite East Coast income, Rhode Island is not a place overpopulated with savers.

Get Rich Slowly compiled the list of states least likely to be successful savers by examining the income tax rate, credit card debt, and total deposits per capita as told by the FDIC in every state. It seems Rhode Island residents will need that Social Security check to pay those high taxes and other daily expenses because this state didnt show the best track record for saving. Rhode Island ranks No. 37 for saving money and getting ahead.

Next: A trendy state with a need for Social Security

12. Colorado

Both CreditCards.com and Get Rich Slowly thought residents in Colorado could put a bit more effort toward money management and saving strategies  especially if retirees in this outdoorsy state plan to use their income to explore everything the Rocky Mountains have to offer. Both studies scored Colorado in the bottom 15 for states with irresponsible habits that will affect available funds in addition to Social Security.

Next: The deal with Washington

11. Washington

Most West Coast states are going to pose additional threats to a secure retirement simply due to a higher cost of living than, say, Southern states. Washington residents received $16.5 billion in Social Security payouts in 2012, which averaged to about $1,298 per month per person, according to AARP. With a history of poor savings and bad money management, Washington retirees will lean on guaranteed income, such as Social Security.

Next: The Palmetto state

10. South Carolina

The coastal state of South Carolina is becoming increasingly attractive for retirees. Cities, such as Charleston, are rich with Southern charm and full of exciting opportunities to explore. But people in South Carolina will likely need to lean heavily on Social Security benefits for funding as theyre not exactly known for their saving abilities. Plus, the states 7% income tax bracket affects anyone who earns over $14,600. Yikes.

Next: The inconsistencies in New Hampshire

9. New Hampshire

Retirees in New Hampshire will be in for a tough time if their Social Security ever runs dry. CreditCards.com says the population has a bad credit debt history. Add a high cost of living and lofty tax rate into the mix, and New Hampshire residents might have to start looking for additional sources of income to supplement their Social Security compensation after a few years of retirement.

Next: California is so not golden.

8. California

Raise your hand if youre surprised to see California on a state list about retirement. Didnt think so. Get Rich Slowly and CreditCards.com both say California residents are definitely not golden when it comes to socking away money for retirement. But who could blame them? Their cost of living is sky high, and they have an income tax rate as high as 13.3%. Unless retirees have millions in the bank  and most do not  Californians will be relying greatly on Social Security payouts for daily living.

Next: Many New Jersey residents rely on Social Security as their sole source of income.

7. New Jersey

On average, New Jersey retirees get $1,337 a month from Social Security, as of 2012, according to AARP. And 3 in 10 rank this monthly payment as their sole source of income. And while many retirees pass the time enjoying the Jersey Shore beaches, thats about all they will be able to afford once their checks get allocated elsewhere. Get Rich Slowly found New Jersey residents havent capitalized on savings as much as they could have and will feel the heat once their income is cut during retirement.

Next: Arizona will need Social Security.

6. Arizona

Warm temperatures year-round make Arizona another prime destination for retirees. A substantial population of senior residents means this state will rely heavily younger resident contributions to fund its Social Security program. For older residents, it seems paying off debt took a front seat to saving for retirement, meaning Social Security will be a welcome payout for Arizona retirees each month.

Next: We go way north for our next state.

5. Alaska

Alaska has the highest credit card debt in the nation at a whopping $5,868, according to CreditCards.com. With such debt looming, it makes sense residents in the Frontier State would be heavily reliant on guaranteed income, such as Social Security. Once that average $1,195 per month check is allocated to food, health care, and housing, theres likely to be little left over for living an enriched life during retirement.

Next: Maryland residents dont manage money well.

4. Maryland

Maryland is another state that will rely on Social Security. This is not necessarily due to its large senior population, but rather its reputation for bad money management. Thats unfortunate for hopeful retirees in this mid-Atlantic state. Taxes are quite high, with residents paying a median of $6,470 in annual state and local taxes. And the cost of living is steeper than most. This means retirees will be practically stalking the mailman for their monthly Social Security check to make ends meet.

Next: The nations capital

3. Washington, D.C.



Even though the retirement population in Washington, D.C., is nothing to write home about, its clear the ones who do remain will face a tough road ahead of them. The cost of living and taxes are high, making it difficult for any retirees to fund a rewarding lifestyle without substantial savings to fall back on. Social Security payouts will be a welcome reprieve to those living on a tight budget in the nations capital.

Next: The fate of Vermont

2. Vermont

Social Security in Vermont generates about $3 billion in economic output, which is handy as World Atlas cites a statewide senior population of beneficiaries at about 17%. Unfortunately, Vermont residents have a history of poor money management, which means theyll be relying on Social Security the most. Even though their need for this program is high, it doesnt hold a candle to our No. 1 state for Social Security reliance.

Next: Social Security or bust on the big island

1. Hawaii

Hawaii outperforms its competitors by scoring dismally in all categories The Cheat Sheet analyzed. While many retirees flock to the state to enjoy sublime weather year-round, sticker shock takes hold almost immediately thereafter. Not only has our research uncovered a history of debt (about $4,667 in credit card balances on average), but expensive utilities, groceries, and cost of living will drain your savings. Without that Social Security check, retirees could find themselves kicking it with the beach bums sooner rather than later.

Follow Lauren on Twitter @la_hamer.

More from The Cheat Sheet:
Baby Charlie Gard dies in hospital after life support removed

Charlie Gard, a British baby who became the subject of a bitter dispute between his parents and doctors over whether he should be taken to the United States for experimental treatment, has died, the Daily Mail newspaper's website said on Friday.

The 11-month-old baby suffered from an extremely rare genetic condition causing progressive brain damage and muscle weakness, and his parents' long struggle to save him drew an international outpouring of sympathy.

Parents denied right to take Charlie home

A British judge gave the parents of Charlie Gard until noon on Thursday to agree on arrangements for his death with the hospital caring for him. If no agreement is made, the baby would be transferred to a hospice where his ventilation tube would be removed.

The 11-month-old baby, who suffers from an extremely rare genetic condition causing progressive brain damage and muscle weakness, has been the subject of a bitter dispute between his parents and Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

The case has triggered a heated international debate in the press and on social media about who should decide a child's fate, and has drawn comment from U.S. President Donald Trump and Pope Francis.

Having reluctantly taken the decision over the weekend to let Charlie die, his parents have been making desperate attempts to make an arrangement that would make it possible for them to spend several days with him, away from the hospital.

Charlie requires invasive ventilation to breathe and cannot see, hear or swallow.

At stake in this final, agonizing part of the legal dispute is how long Connie Yates and Chris Gard will have with their son before he dies.

The parents tried for several days to gain permission to take their son home, but as Wednesday's court hearing progressed it became clear that would not happen because the logistical problems were insurmountable.

The parents had made clear that if they could not take Charlie home, they would prefer him to die in a hospice rather than in the hospital, where he has spent most of his life.

But a lawyer for Charlie's court-appointed guardian told the court that no hospice could provide care for intensively ventilated children for a long time, so the parents' wish to spend several days with him could not be fulfilled.

The parents have been trying to find a doctor willing to oversee a plan that would allow Charlie to be ventilated in a hospice for several days. It was to give them a final chance of making such an arrangement that the judge gave them until noon on Thursday.

"Unless by 12 noon tomorrow the parents and the guardian and the hospital can agree an alternative arrangement, Charlie will be transferred to a hospice and extubated shortly after," said Nicholas Francis, the judge presiding over the case.

Mother in Tears

An alternative arrangement appears unlikely, given the total breakdown in relations between the parents and the hospital.

The judge ordered that the name of the hospice and the exact timing of Charlie's last moments should not be disclosed to the public.

At one point, Yates shouted in court, apparently at Charlie's guardian: "What if it was your child? I hope you are happy with yourself." She then left the courtroom in tears.

At the start of the hearing, the parents' lawyer, Grant Armstrong, had said they had found a doctor who could help them.

But the guardian's lawyer, Victoria Butler-Cole, later said the person in question was a general medical doctor with no experience of intensive care, and that he had not identified any hospice willing to undertake intensive care for a long period.

Butler-Cole said the parents should spend the last few days of Charlie's life with him, not with their lawyers.

The dispute first made headlines months ago, when Charlie's parents wanted to take him to the United States to undergo experimental treatment.

The Great Ormond Street doctors said it would not help and would only prolong the baby's suffering. British courts, backed by the European Court of Human Rights, refused permission, saying the parents' plan was not in Charlie's best interests.

The parents gave up the legal battle on Monday, saying that the latest scans showed Charlie's condition had deteriorated to the point that no recovery was possible. But they remain convinced that the treatment might have helped Charlie had he received it months ago.

The hospital disagrees. It says Charlie had suffered irreversible brain damage by January as a result of a series of seizures, and his responsiveness has not changed since then.
Charlie Gard: Emotion has trumped trust in today's society, but parents and professionals can work together

The tragic case of Charlie Gard, and the desperate efforts of his parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard to do everything to give him a chance of life, have gripped the national and international media. The case raises profound and troubling questions about the power of medical technology, the duties and responsibilities of doctors and parents, and the role of the law courts, as well as the impact of global media coverage and social media campaigns.

As a paediatrician who has spent a lifetime caring for desperately sick and vulnerable newborn babies, I have spent many hours in painful and emotionally fraught discussions with grieving parents. Would it be the right thing, the most loving response, to switch off life-support machinery and 'allow nature to take its course'? Or should we continue to use sophisticated invasive technology to keep the baby alive, despite the apparent hopelessness of the situation? Just because we are capable of extending life indefinitely, is this the right thing to do?

Nearly all the dilemmas of medical ethics start with human pain. They start with human beings who grieve, suffer, bleed and struggle. And our first response has to be one of empathy. Whether we are professionals or spectators we have to try to enter into the pain  to recognise and acknowledge the distress and desolation of parents who weep and struggle and pray for healing for their child.

Paediatricians, ethicists and legal experts are all agreed that the best approach to these profound dilemmas is one of collaboration. The health professionals and the parents need to develop a deep and effective partnership in which together they can work out what is best for the child. Both the law and professional guidelines agree that it is the best interests of the child which must guide all decision-making. But, of course, in cases such as Charlie's there may be deep-seated and passionate disagreements about what is best.

Collaboration depends on trust and mutual respect. A helpful concept is the 'expert-expert' relationship. Health professionals are experts in the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases and of the medical treatments that are available. But parents too are experts  in their family history and background, in their personal concerns, goals and philosophy of life. And collaboration between experts can only work if there is openness and respect.

Sadly, it appears that the collaborative relationship between Charlie Gard's parents and the medical team at Great Ormond Street Hospital broke down. It was this breakdown that led to the court case and the prolonged legal wrangles that have resulted.

Mutual trust and respect between professionals and parents may seem in short supply in 2017. Many forces seem to corrode confidence and esteem between strangers. We are in a popular climate that increasingly distrusts experts and that celebrates the power of raw emotion and instincts rather than carefully assessed and scrutinised evidence. Large healthcare teams and shift-working threaten continuity of care and weaken familiarity and friendship in the intensive care unit. Parents need to be confident that doctors are really listening, empathising and seeking to understand their concerns and their goals for their child. When confronted with parents who do not agree, health professionals need to respond with compassion, flexibility and a preparedness to compromise.

Unfortunately, the intense scrutiny of the 24-hour news cycle, and the social media campaigns do not assist the process. Dedicated and caring hospital staff have been subjected to a barrage of abuse, hate mail and even death threats. Nurses have been abused in the streets and families have been harassed whilst visiting their children in hospital.

Confidentiality between patients and doctors has always been a bedrock principle of medical ethics. For 2,000 years medics have known of the unintended harm that can result to patients when privacy is breached. In this new age of social media, when intimate medical details and discussions between doctors and parents are broadcast to the world, strange, unintended and violent forces may be unleashed.

Charlie Gard's sad plight is focusing renewed attention on practical mechanisms for improving communication, mediation and conflict resolution between parents and doctors.

But my own experience, together with many paediatricians across the UK, is that in the vast majority of cases trust and mutual respect between professionals and parents can be earned, developed and nurtured.

John Wyatt is Emeritus Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics at University College London. His comments are from a personal perspective.
Death of Charlie Gard prompts prayers for parents after months of struggle

The death of baby Charlie Gard last night following a bitter court battle has drawn prayers and commiserations from around the world.

The 11-month-old baby suffered from an extremely rare genetic condition causing progressive brain damage and muscle weakness, and his parents' long struggle to save him drew an international outpouring of sympathy, including from US President Donald Trump and Pope Francis.

'Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you Charlie,' Connie Yates, the baby's mother, was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

Downing Street issued a statement from Prime Minister Theresa May saying: 'I am deeply saddened by the death of Charlie Gard. My thoughts and prayers are with Charlie's parents Chris and Connie at this difficult time.'

Pope Francis said on Twitter: 'I entrust little Charlie to the Father and pray for his parents and all those who loved him.'

US Vice-President Mike Pence, who controversially used the case to argue against state-funded healthcare systems, said on Twitter: 'Saddened to hear of the passing of Charlie Gard. Karen & I offer our prayers & condolences to his loving parents during this difficult time.'

After a harrowing legal battle that prompted a global debate over who has the moral right to decide the fate of a sick child, a judge on Thursday ordered that Charlie be moved to a hospice where the ventilator that kept him alive would be turned off.

Yates and the baby's father Chris Gard had wanted Charlie to undergo a treatment that has never been tried on anyone with his condition before, against the advice of doctors at his London hospital who said it would not benefit him and would prolong his suffering.

Charlie required a ventilator to breathe and was unable to see, hear or swallow.

The case drew comment from Trump, who tweeted on July 3 that 'we would be delighted' to help Charlie.

Britain's courts, after hearing a wealth of medical evidence, ruled that it would go against Charlie's best interests to have the experimental nucleoside therapy advocated by a US professor of neurology, Michio Hirano.

The case prompted heated debate on social media and in the press on medical ethics, and staff at the Great Ormond Street Hospital which treated him received abuse and death threats.

Additional reporting by Reuters
North Korea tests another missile, says all of US is now within range

North Korea said on Saturday it had conducted another successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that proved its ability to strike America's mainland, drawing a sharp warning from US President Donald Trump and a rebuke from China.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally supervised the midnight launch of the missile on Friday night and said it was a 'stern warning' for the United States that it would not be safe from destruction if it tries to attack, the North's official KCNA news agency said.

North Korea's state television broadcast pictures of the launch, showing the missile lifting off in a fiery blast in darkness and Kim cheering with military aides.

'The test-fire reconfirmed the reliability of the ICBM system, demonstrated the capability of making a surprise launch of the ICBM in any region and place any time, and clearly proved that the whole US mainland is in the firing range of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] missiles, (Kim) said with pride,' KCNA said.

The launch comes less than a month after the North conducted its first ICBM test in defiance of years of efforts led by the United States, South Korea and Japan to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear weapons ambitions.

The North conducted its fourth and fifth nuclear tests last year and has increased the pace of missile development, significantly advancing its ability to launch longer-range ballistic missiles.

'By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people,' Trump said in a statement. 'The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region.'

China, the North's main ally, said it opposed North Korea's 'launch activities that run counter to Security Council resolutions and the common wishes of the international community'.

A foreign ministry statement added: 'At the same time, China hopes all parties act with caution, to prevent tensions from continuing to escalate, to jointly protect regional peace and stability.'

Early on Saturday, the United States and South Korea conducted a live-fire ballistic missile exercise in a display of firepower in response to the missile launch, the US and South Korean militaries said.

The Trump administration has said that all options are on the table to deal with North Korea. However it has also made clear that diplomacy and sanctions are its preferred course.

The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the United States held separate phone calls and agreed to step up strategic deterrence against the North and push for a stronger UN Security Council sanctions resolution, the South and Japan said.

South Korea has also said it will proceed with the deployment of four additional units of the US THAAD anti-missile defence system that President Moon Jae-in has earlier delayed for an environmental assessment.

Moon, who has pledged to engage the North in dialogue but was snubbed by Pyongyang recently over his proposal to hold cross-border military talks, said Seoul will also seek to expand its missile capabilities.

China's Foreign Ministry expressed serious concern about the announced move on THAAD, saying it will only make things more complex. Beijing opposes the missile defence system because its power radars can look deep into China.

'We strongly urge South Korea and the United States to face squarely China's concerns about its interests, stop the relevant deployment process and withdraw the related equipment,' the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The missile test came a day after the US Senate approved a package of sanctions on North Korea, Russia and Iran. Trump is ready to sign the bill, the White House said on Friday.

The sanctions are likely to include measures aimed at Chinese financial institutions that do business with North Korea. Washington has also proposed a new round of U.N. sanctions on North Korea following its July 4 ICBM test.

In Friday's test, North Korea's Hwasong-14 missile, named after the Korean word for Mars, reached an altitude of 3,724.9 km and flew 998 km for 47 minutes and 12 seconds before landing in the waters off the Korean peninsula's east coast, KCNA said.

Western experts said the flight was an improvement on North Korea's first test of an ICBM.

The flight demonstrated successful stage separation, reliability of the vehicle's control and guidance to allow the warhead to make an atmospheric re-entry under conditions harsher than under a normal long-range trajectory, KCNA said.

The trajectory was in line with the estimates given by the South Korean, US and Japanese militaries, which said the missile was believed to be an ICBM-class rocket.

Independent weapons experts said the launch demonstrated many parts of the United States were within range if the missile had been launched at a flattened trajectory.

The US-based Union of Concerned Scientists said its calculations showed the missile could have been capable of going as far into the United States as Denver and Chicago.

David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists wrote in a blog post that if it had flown on a standard trajectory, the missile would have had a range of 10,400 km (6,500 miles).

Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated a range of at least 9,500 km and said the window for a diplomatic solution with North Korea 'is closing rapidly'.

'The key here is that North Korea has a second successful test in less than one month,' he said. 'If this trend holds, they could establish an acceptably reliable ICBM before year's end.'
Parents who taught their kids to lean on faith kill themselves in tragic double suicide over financial difficulties

A married couple who taught their children about the power of faith leaped to their deaths in a tragic double suicide in New York City on Friday. It is reported that they committed suicide because of financial difficulties.

The bodies of chiropractor Glenn Scarpelli, 53, and his wife Patricia, 50, were found lying in the street close to the Empire State building early in the morning as people arrived for work.

They are believed to have jumped from the window of Glenn's former office on the ninth floor of an office building at East 33rd St, near Madison Avenue.

They were the parents of daughter Isabella, 20, and Joseph, 19, both former students of Loyola School, a Jesuit-run Catholic school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, according to the Daily Mail. Isabella currently attends the Austin, Texas, based Catholic college, St Edward's, the website said.

In a suicide note found in his pocket, Glenn wrote: 'We had a wonderful life....Patricia and I had everything in life.'

However, he also described the couple as being in a 'financial spiral'. 'We can not live with' the 'financial reality,' the letter said, according to the New York Post.

Patricia had a separate suicide note that said: 'Our kids are upstairs, please take care of them.'

According to the Daily Mail, Glenn had debts of around $213,000 with the federal government and nearly $42,000 in unpaid taxes owed to the state.

The website said the parents used to help organize the annual benefit for their kids' Jesuit school. Its report detailed an essay written for the school magazine by Joseph who said his 'proud Italian-American family' attended their local Catholic church on a weekly basis.

According to the Daily Mail, the essay also described how Glenn and Patricia encouraged faith in their children.

'My parents repeatedly told me that I could wake up one day and lose every material possession and everyone I love, but no one will ever be able to take away my faith,' it is reported to have said.
Oil and gas will remain key energy sources despite the presence of shale and other alternative energy resources, the president of oil and gas company BHGE told CNBC on Monday.

"When you look at the energy requirements, the increasing population, we feel there's going to be a necessity from an oil and gas perspective as we go forward," Lorenzo Simonelli told CNBC on the sidelines of the World Petrolum Congress in Istanbul.

"LNG (Liquefied natural gas) continues to grow at 3 to 4 percent, oil continues to grow at about 1 percent, you've got natural gas growing at 2 percent, as you look long term that supply demand balance is going to be there. What we've got to focus on is making sure that we drive productivity through that value chain to let the investments go forward," he added.

Oil and gas firms worldwide have cut their share in investment given the subdued market prices in the last few years. Wood Mackenzie, an energy consultancy, said in May that it expects exploration spending to increase by no more than 10 percent from the recent historic lows.

Given the low level of investments, the world could soon face an oil supply shortage, Amin Nasser, the chief executive of Saudi Aramco, said Monday also in Istanbul, Reuters reported. He added that it is too early to know if other energy resources such as shale gas will be able to develop at a fast enough pace to replace oil and gas.
The revenue shortfalls have forced states to tighten spending. At least 23 states had already made midyear budget cuts, totaling nearly $5 billion, even before the budget battles began this month.

States are also bracing for the potential impact of new policies out of Washington that threaten to put great financial strain on their budgets.



One of those changes is within the Republican-proposed health-care reform bill, which aims to slash government spending on Medicaid coverage. (The current program, the Affordable Care Act, had originally been created for low-income families and was expanded in 32 states.)



Under current law, the federal government shares the cost with the states, which saw their Medicaid spending rise by a median 5.2 percent in fiscal 2017, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. Medicaid spending is expected to rise by another 4.2 percent in fiscal 2018.

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But if approved, the latest Republican health-care bill would slash Medicaid funding under the current law by some $772 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.



States are also proceeding even more cautiously than usual due to uncertainty about other possible changes in federal policy.



One of those involves tax reform, and the possible loss of the federal income-tax deduction for state and local taxes. That would increase the effective cost of those taxes to state residents.



States are also waiting for clearer signs about the prospects for increased federal spending on infrastructure, one of the few policies that has drawn bipartisan support in Congress. Despite that general agreement, there has been little progress on legislation to boost funding for state infrastructure projects.
As the Trump administration nears a key deadline in its renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a council of private sector executives is urging principals to use portions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal scrapped during President Donald Trump's first days in office.

The advisory group, in a report submitted to Congress and the U.S. trade representative in late June, suggested the USTR borrow exact language pertaining to the agricultural sector and suggested using the Asiawide trade deal as the basis for text on environmental and labor regulation, with "additional strengthening of measures beyond what was in TPP," according to a copy of the June 30 letter obtained by CNBC.

"The TPP, which has been demonized by President Trump, was essentially the renegotiation of NAFTA," said Andy Shoyer, co-chair of the international trade practice at Sidley Austin and former trade attorney during the initial NAFTA agreement. "The exercise is already done, in bringing text from the 1990s in the 21st century."

The group has seen some membership turnover between the Obama and Trump administrations but currently includes the chief executives of 3M , MasterCard and Schnitzer Steel and the former CEO of McGraw Hill  as well as representatives from the automobile, manufacturing and steel labor unions, and retail and small-business industry groups.

Its first meeting took place over the phone in June and was described by three attendees as "collegial" and "introductory." A follow-up meeting is scheduled for this fall, according to the attendees. But its feedback is expected to figure prominently in the USTR's approach, since formal meetings with the relevant advisory committees in the Senate and House have yet to take place, according to congressional aides.

Deep policy divisions appear to exist between the business and labor groups: The report cites the "majority" of members preferring to focus on issues outside trade deficits in favor of a "mutually beneficial" trade deal, sentiments to which the labor union representatives dissent in favor of promoting U.S. investment and jobs.

An addendum to the report authored by labor representatives references a "nationwide debate" about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was ultimately rejected by candidates from both parties. "As a result, the TPP must not be a template for renegotiating NAFTA, as some suggest."

Democratic lawmakers backed by labor and environmental groups rejected the TPP-type approach ahead of the release of the negotiating objectives on Monday.

"People are very concerned about what the direction of NAFTA is," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), an outspoken critic of past trade deals. "We'll see if they have listened and if they maintained their campaign promises, and if not we'll go into the same mode we did with TPP and defeat it."

C. Fred Bergsten, a member of the advisory council and director emeritus of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the nonlabor members of the group warned not to focus on the "hobby horse" of the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico.

"Half a dozen major U.S. industries have integrated across North America and their whole business model would be disrupted," Bergsten told CNBC.

While there are opposing views among the advisory group members, a person familiar with the conversations says the USTR's approach is clear, "The doctrine is to create a deal that advantages the U.S. and doesn't take away more jobs."

The trade representative, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, told Congress he intends to begin talks with Canada and Mexico in mid-August. Lighthizer started a 90-day clock for the U.S. to develop its negotiating stance on May 18, when he formally notified Congress of the administration's intent to renegotiate the deal.
China's economy is a lot more resilient than the West thinks, according to one of Wall Street's most distinguished voices on the region.

Stephen Roach, who was chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, believes the world's second largest economy is on the cusp of an even bigger growth spurt  thanks to new technological advances and a booming consumer.

"The wave of innovation in their private-based economy, anything from e-commerce to medical sciences, is really quite spectacular," Roach said Monday on CNBC's "Trading Nation."

During his 30-year tenure at the Morgan Stanley, Roach led a team of economists around the world. He continues to make several trips a year to China as a Yale University senior fellow.

"The Chinese economy seems to be making remarkable progress in transforming itself into more of a consumer-based model driven more by cashless e-commerce," Roach said. "Their e-commerce share of total consumption is more than double ours [U.S.], and that gap is rising."

The latest data show China's economy grew at a faster-than-expected 6.9 percent in the second quarter. The pace far exceeds where the United States is right now, with its economic growth rate at 1.42 percent.

"The Chinese have defied a lot of naysaying for close to 40 years, and I think that will continue to be the case," he said. "All the talk about a crash landing, a slowdown, a debt-induced Japanese-like end game, those fears are largely overblown."

But there appears to be at least one anomaly. The robust economic numbers haven't been reflected in the Shanghai composite index , which is up just 2 percent this year. Despite the sluggishness, he still says he's "pretty optimistic" and acknowledges that the Chinese stock market isn't as far along as he had hoped.

"With the economy performing better than expected, the stock market should conform to that. But I've long learned that the connection between the Chinese economy and the stock market is a tenuous one at best," Roach said.
The House Budget Committee on Tuesday unveiled a spending proposal that would boost defense funding but dramatically reshape social welfare programs such as Medicare and food stamps.

The fiscal 2018 budget  which the committee said would result in a $9 billion surplus after a decade  reflected compromise between defense hawks and fiscal conservatives, but risked alienating moderate Republicans loathe to embark on the politically perilous process of reforming popular entitlement programs.

In fact, the budget ran into its first roadblock even before it was officially released Tuesday. The proposal assumes $204 billion in deficit reduction over a decade from the passage of the House bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. But the bill appeared to die in the Senate on Monday evening after Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas came out against it.

The collapse of the health-care bill could place even more pressure on GOP lawmakers to pass a budget  not just to keep the government running, but also because Republicans plan to use the process to push through what is arguably their top agenda item: tax reform.

"The budget resolution is no longer a theoretical outline with little chance of implementation," Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black said. "It is the major governing document of the 115th Congress, and it is the concrete fulfillment of our promise to the American people."

The proposal calls for $621 billion in defense spending in fiscal 2018, including money for President Donald Trump's signature border wall. That is more than the White House had requested, but it is still below the $668 billion that the conservative Republican Study Committee would like. The budget also outlines $203 billion in spending reductions to social safety net programs  an amount that GOP Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, head of the moderate Tuesday Group, has signaled is too steep.

The House proposal mirrors the White House budget in imposing new work requirements for programs like food stamps. But it goes beyond the administration's blueprint by also outlining changes to Medicare  one of the programs that Trump vowed on the campaign trail not to touch. Among the reforms detailed in the budget are limiting Medicare benefits for wealthy seniors and allowing more private insurers to compete for coverage.

Although the House budget does not address Social Security retirement, it does call for changes to the disability insurance program, such as barring recipients from also collecting unemployment benefits.

"Mandatory spending must be addressed in this budget resolution and in budget resolutions to come," the document says.

The study committee plans to propose additional cuts to mandatory spending programs later this week. The group supports a bill introduced last year by Rep. Sam Johnson of Texas that would raise the age of eligibility for Social Security. Study Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina said his group plans to support the House budget but hoped that its proposals would become a blueprint for the future.

"Are we on a sustainable path?" he asked. "The truth is that overwhelmingly, both Republicans and Democrats would answer the same way. No we are not."

The House estimated that, if implemented, its budget would boost economic growth to an average of 2.6 percent annually over the next decade  short of the Trump administration's often-criticized goal of 3 percent. Still, officials in both cases point to tax reform as the key to jump starting growth.

The budget proposal provides some broad guidance for how lawmakers should proceed, but substantial divisions remain within the GOP  even over the framework.

The budget directs tax cuts to be deficit neutral, meaning that they could be offset by higher revenue elsewhere or spending reductions. House GOP leadership has previously said tax reform should be paid for only through higher revenues. Some conservative groups, such as the House Freedom Caucus, have argued that tax cuts should not have to be offset at all because they will spur economic growth.

"This budget cannot dictate to the [tax-writing] Ways and Means Committee how tax reform should be done," the document states.

The proposal also supports shifting the tax code to a "territorial" system, in which the individuals and businesses would only have to pay taxes on income earned in America. The United States is one of the only developed nations that taxes income earned in other countries as well.

One topic the budget does not appear to address is the federal borrowing limit. Lawmakers will have to vote to raise the debt ceiling by late summer or early fall or risk an unprecedented default. Some Republicans have called for the measure to be combined with vote over the budget. However, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has repeatedly called on Congress to pass a "clean" bill to lift the cap with no strings attached.

The House budget committee will mark up its proposal on Wednesday.
Seattle's rich should engage in upper-class "civil disobedience" and refuse to pay their city taxes, Washington state's Republican leaders said.



After the city of Seattle passed a new income tax on households earning more than $500,000, the Washington State Republican Party called for taxpayers to "forcefully resist" the tax by refusing pay, file or comply with it.



"It deserves nothing less than civil disobedience," the state GOP said in a statement.



Last week, Seattle's city council passed a 2.25 percent tax on income above $250,000 for individual filers and income over $500,000 for couples. Washington state has no personal income tax, and until Seattle's tax, no city in the state collected income tax.

State GOP Chairman Susan Hutchison told CNBC there is a "tax fatigue" among everyone in Washington, not just the rich.

"We are so taxed, despite not having an income tax. Our property taxes are sky high and we have the highest sales tax in the country. In fact, we are one of the most highly taxed states in the entire country per capita. So adding an income tax is a huge burden and everyone is feeling it," she said in an interview with "Power Lunch" on Wednesday.

Seattle is seeing a massive wealth boom from growing tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft , yet the gains aren't being spread evenly. Soaring housing prices are squeezing out middle-class families and lower-income earners from many neighborhoods and creating a shortage of affordable housing, local officials say.



Seattle's outgoing mayor called the tax "a new formula for fairness."
Donald Trump Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Trump can't go it alone when changing trade agreements

Those constraints begin with Congress, where lawmakers from both parties have been talking with the White House about NAFTA for months. Most of the Republican Party is populated by die-hard free traders who wouldn't be fans of a new version of NAFTA that would upend the norm of virtually zero tariffs  or border taxes  between the US and its North American neighbors. Big business interests have also been pushing for trade to remain as free as possible. And that's all to say nothing of the pushback the US will face in talks with Canada and Mexico, who won't make concessions on fundamental issues of open trade to Trump without a massive fight. Ultimately, the summary frames renegotiating as something that must (emphasis mine) "benefit the economies and populations of the United States and of our trading partners." The well-being of America's trading partners wasn't something candidate Trump seemed to care much about during the campaign.

The most controversial proposal seems purely symbolic
Wilbur Ross, U.S. commerce secretary, speaks during the 47th annual Washington Conference on the Americas at the U.S Department of State in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is to welcome British Trade Secretary Liam Fox on Monday to begin discussions for a new trade deal between the two countries. The pair will be joined by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer for the two-day talks that aim to lay out a continuity agreement allowing businesses from the two countries to continue trading after Brexit. Many aspects of the U.K.'s relationship with the U.S. are currently governed by wider regulatory and technical agreements held with the European Union, but these will become uncertain once Britain leaves the bloc. Though the U.K cannot formally negotiate independent trade deals until it leaves the EU, it is allowed to prepare for them by holding discussions with current European trade partners, "so as to deliver maximum continuity and certainty for businesses," a U.K. government white paper stipulates.

Why is a deal important?

The U.S. is the U.K.'s second-largest trading partner outside of the EU, importing approximately 20 percent of all Britain's goods and services. The countries also currently share a number of agreements on economics, security and trade, which could be at risk as of March 2019, when the U.K. is expected to formally exit the EU. Maintaining this special relationship with the U.K. is increasingly important given the new administration's protectionist 'America First' stance and preference for bilateral trade deals rather that multilateral deals, which are seen to disadvantage the U.S. Likewise, the U.K. will be eager to secure new trading relationships outside of those brokered by the EU. However, the U.S. has been critical of other countries' trade surpluses with the U.S. and the U.K., whose trade surplus is an estimated 40 billion, will be starting its dialogue from a tricky position. Without a deal, the two countries will have to revert to World Trade Organization rules, with tariffs applied universally to countries without deals, ranging from 32 percent on wine to 9.8 percent on cars.

Where do talks stand?

Ross said last month that the U.S. is eager to start trade talks with the U.K. as soon as possible and is confident of a "happy finish." "From the U.S. side, we've made it clear that we are prepared to begin as soon as the U.K. is ready," Ross said at a Select USA Investment Summit in Washington in June.

U.K. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox outside 10 Downing Street Carl Court | Getty Images

Fox said at the time that the U.K. was eager to "scope out" its future relationship with the U.S. Trade working groups on both sides of the Atlantic have since been working behind the scenes to lay the groundwork. More recently, Fox has voiced his rejection of protectionist policies, which he said had emerged from those who had benefited most from globalization. "It is so concerning to hear the voices of protectionism growing louder. Those who have benefited most from an open, liberal trading environment have a duty to ensure that others are able to take advantage of the same benefits in the future," Fox said Thursday.

What progress will be made this week?

Under EU rules, few details of the deal can be thrashed out this week but U.S. trade officials have suggested that Ross, Lighthizer and Fox will focus on establishing "commercial continuity" as well as exploring possible ways to "strengthen trade and commercial ties," according to Reuters.

Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

"The early discussions will focus on laying the groundwork for commercial continuity for U.S. and U.K. businesses as the U.K. leaves the EU and exploring possible ways to strengthen trade and commercial ties, consistent with the EU's common commercial policy," a U.S. trade official said. "These discussions will also provide a mechanism for preparing the ground for a potential future trade agreement once the U.K. leaves the EU." Some commentators are less optimistic. Paul Hollingsworth, U.K. economist at Capital Economics, told CNBC via email Thursday that he is expecting little more than "hot air and some broad ideas."

Which sectors stand to benefit?

Pharmaceuticals, finance, technology and infrastructure are some of the most valuable areas of business between the U.K. and the U.S. This means they are likely to rank highly in trade ministers' negotiations.

Eric Thayer | Reuters

"These are the high value-added sectors where there are synergies to be had by agreeing [on] a common set of standards and legal structures," Simon French, chief economist at Panmure Research, told CNBC via email Thursday. However, similar aims were proposed under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal and were quickly "bogged down," French cautioned, referring to the delayed proposals for an EU-U.S. deal.

How likely is a deal?

Both parties have a lot to gain  and lose  if their existing agreements fall apart after Brexit. But analysts have suggested that the U.S. may be reluctant to sign up to an agreement until Britain's post-Brexit standing becomes clearer. In the second stage of negotiations late week, Britain's Brexit minister David Davis faced criticism for his lack of clarity on key issues, such as citizens' rights. Also, with Congress facing divisions over key issues such as health-care reforms, Hollingsworth suggests the chances of getting approval for a deal are "extremely low at present."

Who will be the winners and the losers?

Under a new U.K.-U.S. deal, businesses could benefit from reduced tariffs, common standards and increased investment. Critics have cautioned though that the U.K. will begin negotiations on the back foot given its reliance on EU trade negotiators over recent decades, leaving U.K. businesses vulnerable to takeovers by U.S. firms. "The US has many of the world's toughest trade negotiators, whereas the UK has ceded policy and knowhow to the European commission for decades," Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, wrote in the Observer on Sunday. "If talks began on a U.S.-U.K. deal over the coming months, I know which of the two I'd put my money on. "There is a huge risk that UK-based firms will continue to face higher upfront costs and regulatory requirements after any agreement, leaving them at an instant disadvantage to U.S. competitors that would suddenly have wider scope to compete in and buy up chunks of the U.K. market."

What will this mean for Britain's future trade deals?

Success for the U.K. in securing a trade deal with the U.S. will have important implications for other countries considering establishing a bilateral trade agreement with post-Brexit Britain.

A Union Jack flag flies near the Elizabeth Tower, commonly referred to as Big Ben, at the Houses of Parliament in central London, U.K., on March 29, 2017. Justin Tallis | AFP | Getty Images

"The symbolism of a UK-US 'agreement in principle,' which may be the short-term outcome, will be helpful for other countries considering terms with the U.K.," Panmure Gordon's French suggested. However, as countries outside the U.S. continue to show favor for global, free-trade agreements, the recently agreed outline free trade deal between the EU and Japan is likely to provide a "more valuable precedent" for those looking to establish over-arching multilateral partnerships, French added.

How will they match the U.K.'s existing trade within the EU?
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Democrats rolled out a new economic platform Monday in hopes of winning over President Donald Trump's populist base with promises to take on big businesses, lower the cost of prescription drugs and create jobs. The campaign  "A Better Deal"  is intended as a counterpunch to the president's frequent criticism of the lackluster recovery and stagnant wages under President Barack Obama and Trump's vow to restore the economy to 3 percent annual growth. Democrats are also searching for ways to reconnect with working-class voters whose deep frustration with their own economic prospects helped drive their support for Trump. "It is an ambitious economic agenda that represents a renewed Democratic commitment to the hard-working men and women across the United States who have been left out and left behind for too long," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. Among Democrats' top agenda items is greater scrutiny of corporate mergers, including tougher standards that incorporate consumer privacy, product quality and the impact on wages and jobs. Democrats are also seeking post-merger reviews and greater enforcement authority.

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Those responsibilities would be carried out by a new competition advocate that Democrats have nicknamed the "Trust Buster." One of the deals that could be targeted is AT&T 's $85 billion bid for Time Warner , which is awaiting regulatory approval. Other sectors that could wind up in the crosshairs include the beer industry, airlines and eyeglasses. "We will revisit our antitrust laws to ensure that the economic freedom of all Americans  consumers, workers and small businesses  come before big corporations that are getting even bigger," the document read. At a Monday event unveiling the agenda, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the economy is "broken," pointing to mergers which have reduced competition and consumer choice. "Americans know this economy is rigged, rigged in favor of billionaires and giant corporations and rigged against everyone else. It's not hard to see how this happened. In industry after industry, a handful of corporations have seized power in this country," she said.

Prescription drug prices

In addition, Democrats are proposing an independent agency to tackle the high cost of prescription drugs. The director would be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, charged with investigating drug manufacturers and able to slap fines on companies with exorbitant rate hikes. Pharmaceutical companies would also be required to notify the government of substantial price increases.

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Small-business owners have been some of the most vocal opponents of the Affordable Care Act. One trade group fought the overhaul all the way to the Supreme Court.

But for many solo entrepreneurs and freelancers, the seeming collapse of the Senate's efforts to repeal and replace the law came as a relief.

Sarah McCarthy, 39, a talent agent in Los Angeles, said President Barack Obama's health care law allowed her to start her own business. She opened her company in 2013, and for the first two years, her income was low enough that she qualified for subsidized coverage through the state exchange started after the law. That allowed her to put more money into building her business. She now employs a part-time assistant and earns enough to pay the full cost of her health insurance.

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She fears that the health care law's elimination would force her or her husband, a self-employed photographer, to work at a large company to gain affordable health coverage for them and their two daughters.

"Being able to buy health insurance that didn't completely break us financially was key to our ability to take the risk and become entrepreneurs," Ms. McCarthy said.

Her opposition highlights a growing schism about the Affordable Care Act among small-business owners  a split exposed as Republicans have pursued reversing much of the law in recent months. The divide also points to an unexpected outgrowth of the Republican agenda in Washington: As lawmakers pushed their plans, public support for the Affordable Care Act grew from new corners.

With so many forces aligned in opposition to the Senate's proposed changes, the views of small-business owners have not been a decisive factor. But the enthusiasm that a growing number are voicing for the health care law weakened the argument, often cited by Republicans, that small businesses had been harmed by it and need a rollback.

Business owners with a few dozen or more workers often resent the cost and regulatory burden of complying with the law's mandates, and many have backed the Republican efforts. For those who employ only themselves, however, some of the features of the Affordable Care Act  like coverage for existing conditions and curbs on prices  opened up coverage unavailable to them before the law.

In addition, there is a vocal group of self-employed workers who are, like many people, paying higher premiums and deductibles because of the law. But some of them want lawmakers to adjust the law to address those higher costs, instead of repealing and replacing it entirely.

The National Federation of Independent Business, a powerful industry lobbying group that was the plaintiff in the case that went to the Supreme Court, helped lead the small-business effort, years ago, to fight the law. It dislikes the costs that complying with the law impose on businesses, and the mandate that individuals buy insurance.

As the Senate took up its overhaul proposals, the trade group pressed hard for a full repeal  and then criticized lawmakers for not getting it done.

"Small-business owners are deeply disappointed," Jack Mozloom, a spokesman for the group, said. "The high cost of health care has been the No. 1 concern for small-business owners for more than three decades. Obamacare made that problem worse, driving up costs and shrinking choices. The Senate had a chance to address the problem, and they blew it."

But as overhaul legislation advanced through Congress, many small-business owners became more vocal about their opposition to the changes. Other industry groups, like the Main Street Alliance and the Small Business Majority, championed their cause.

Manta, an online small-business community that regularly studies the sentiment of business owners, found that a majority of those it surveyed in January said that they wanted the law repealed during President Trump's time in office. Asked this month about the Republicans' Senate bill, far more people said they opposed it than supported it. (A majority of those same respondents said they approved of the job Mr. Trump had done so far as president.)

Brent Messenger, the head of community for Fiverr, a marketplace for freelancers, said that members he had spoken with recently lined up about 2-to-1 against a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Striking down the law, he said, "would be potentially catastrophic for the gig economy."

Small-business owners generally face higher per-person insurance costs for themselves and their employees than large employers, because individuals and smaller groups are inherently more risky to insure  and, therefore, more expensive  than the larger pools that big employers can assemble. The Affordable Care Act tried to address some of those problems by requiring insurers to set level premiums for all individual policyholders by age and by prohibiting insurers from dropping policyholders if they got sick.

One in five people who buy coverage through the marketplaces created by the law is a small-business owner, totaling 1.4 million people, according to Treasury Department research. Another significant population relies on government programs like Medicaid, which the health law expanded.

Joel Schaubert, 51, a software consultant in Minneapolis, said that before the law, he worried about what would happen if he harmed his left arm, which he broke a decade ago in a biking accident. It became a pre-existing condition, and as he navigated the individual insurance market, the policies he bought explicitly excluded it from coverage, he said. That changed only after the health law took effect.

"I can finally get insurance that covers my entire body," Mr. Schaubert said.

But to expand coverage and bring in enough healthy customers to keep various insurance pools afloat, the government also forced some trade-offs. To put more people into the individual insurance market, it stopped allowing sole proprietors to join small-group pools and required them to instead buy individual coverage.
Indeed, the recent joint naval drills between the U.S., India and Japan  known as the Malabar exercises  were widely interpreted as a coordinated response to perceived Chinese expansion in the Indian Ocean.

"As the [Doklam] crisis stretches on, China is likely to seek ways to pressure India, both on the border and elsewhere, and this will compound the cycle of competition that is already well underway," Shashank Joshi, research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said in a recent note published by the Lowy Institute.

A fierce border standoff in Bhutan's Doklam region  triggered by a Chinese road construction project in a disputed area and a Bhutanese request for Indian help  is now entering its second month with soldiers from both sides engaged in skirmishes. But a new confrontation in the relationship is arising as New Delhi is growing concerned about a Chinese naval presence in its own backyard: the Indian Ocean.

The rivalry between India and China is heating up as the heavyweight economies face territorial tensions on both land and sea.

July 11, 2017 - Ships carrying Chinese military personnel depart Zhanjiang for a support base in Djibouti. The establishment of the People's Liberation Army Djibouti base was a decision made by the two countries after friendly negotiations, and accords with the common interest of the people from both sides, according to the PLA navy.

In the run-up to Malabar, Indian media reported a surge in Chinese naval vessels around the area, noting sightings of 13 to 14 units in two months. Those included Luyang III class destroyers, hydrographic research vessels, an intelligence-gathering ship and a submarine.

Beijing does operate in the area for its "Belt and Road" initiative, an infrastructure program that involves developing port facilities in the Indian Ocean with Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India isn't a member of the initiative and has repeatedly indirectly criticized the program for violating Indian sovereignty.

"China's naval presence in the Indian Ocean is showing signs of a qualitative shift," Joshi said, noting the mainland's growing patrols and the July 12 dispatch of Chinese troops to a military base in Djibouti  Beijing's first long-term foreign military deployment in almost 60 years.

"This Chinese facility is not just a platform from which China can project initially modest power into the western Indian Ocean, but will also justify and support a greater volume and pace of other patrols through the eastern and central Indian Ocean," Joshi added.

New Delhi is certainly paying close attention to those developments, as reflected by the Malabar drills.

"With over 20 ships, including two submarines and over 100 aircraft and helicopters involved in complex maneuvers, [India's] strategic messaging to China seemed more than clear," Abhijit Singh, head of the Maritime Policy Initiative at think tank Observer Research Foundation, wrote in a note.

"Indian commentators cast Malabar as a strategic precursor to a more proactive sea-denial strategy aimed at challenging People's Liberation Army Navy ships in the Indian Ocean."

The situation draws parallels with Beijing's behavior in a different body of water. The world's second-largest economy has been creating artificial islands in contested sections of the South China Sea. But unlike that international waterway, the Indian Ocean isn't a site of overlapping sovereign rights, meaning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to counter the mainland on his home turf may not be sustainable.

"There is something essentially flawed about the idea that Indian naval power can prevent Chinese warships and submarines from accessing India's near-seas. Modern-day trading nations regard the oceans as a shared global common, with equal opportunity rights for all user states," said Singh.
Military vehicles carry missiles during a parade marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's founding father Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang on April 15, 2017. Sue-Lin Wong | Reuters

When a brutal, communist dictatorship is able to attract tourists, the most obvious question is: Who? North Korea was isolated further Friday as the United States that it will ban its citizens from visiting the country. Given the worrying headlines that consistently swirl around the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, common sense suggests that you'd be hard pressed to find a vacationer willing to take a trip there. But international tourists do visit  and in the thousands. Tourists range in age from students to the retired, Simon Cockerell, Beijing-based general manager of Koryo Tours, one of the largest international operators of trips to North Korea, told CNBC via telephone. Cockerell detailed that it was "very common to have people booking alone." Lupine Travel, a British company that offers trips to North Korea, told CNBC via e-mail that roughly 75 percent of its clientele are male. For Koryo Tours, U.S. and U.K. nationals each make up 20 percent of its customer base. The rest comprises of travelers from northern and western Europe, as well as Australians, Canadians and those from Middle Eastern countries including Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The non-Chinese tourist market is currently 4,000-4,500 per year, down from a high of 6,000 in 2012, according to Cockerell.

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But Chinese ultimately make up the lion's share of North Korea's tourists  95 percent, Cockerell said. He added that most commonly, this comprises of less wealthy Chinese crossing the border for a day trip, often seeking nostalgia for China's own, pre-industrialized past. The U.S. announced Friday that it would implement a Geographical Travel Restriction on U.S. nationals traveling to the country. According to State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, in a statement seen by CNBC, this was "Due to mounting concerns over serious risk of arrest and long-term detention" of U.S. citizens. A notice will be published in the Federal Register this week, with the restriction going into place 30 days afteward. As yet, no other countries have announced similar measures. According to Reuters, North Korea is the only country in the world U.S. citizens cannot visit. "If the U.S. government says Americans cannot come to this country, we don't care a bit," senior North Korean official Han Chol-Su told Agence France-Presse Tuesday.

Why the US made the ban

Two experts who spoke to CNBC said the U.S. measure was a response to American student Otto Warmbier's recent death following a visit to North Korea. In March 2016, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years hard labor after allegedly trying to steal a political slogan from a hotel. He was released in June this year and returned to the U.S. in a coma, dying that month. Tensions in the Korean peninsula have amped up recently, with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un continuing to test nuclear weapons  thought to be capable of reaching U.S. soil  despite United Nations sanctions. Koryo Tours said that military tension does not deter tourists, though the Otto Warmbier case had caused U.S. visitor numbers to drop off. Dylan Harris, director of Lupine Travel, added that amped up media coverage of North Korea during times of tension brings about more interest in the country, which results in extra bookings that negate any cancellations from more wary travelers.

Otto Warmbier (C), a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea from January 2016, is taken to court in the capital Pyongyang in this photo released March 16, 2016. Kyodo | Reuters
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Amazon launched its express, same-day delivery services, Prime Now, on Thursday in Singapore, making it the e-commerce giant's first foray into the Southeast Asian market. Prime Now will allow Singapore users to place orders for fast delivery on a variety of items, including beer, beverages, milk, eggs, fresh produce, dried goods, consumer electronics, toys and baby products. The app was made available for download on Wednesday night in Singapore, both on Google's Play store and Apple's App store. Prime Now is part of Amazon's Prime membership service and was launched in December 2014 in New York. To-date, the service is available in more than 50 cities in nine countries, including Berlin, London, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo.

What's brewing is a war, a massive face-off between Alibaba and Amazon. Ken Mandel President for innovation and commerce in Asia Pacific at Publicis Media

There are several delivery options given: For orders below 40 Singapore dollars ($29.48), users pay a S$5.99 delivery fee; orders above S$40 are delivered free in a two-hour delivery window. For those wanting to get their goods within an hour, they pony up S$9.99 per order. "Prime Now is Amazon's fastest delivery method yet," Henry Low, director of Prime Now for Asia Pacific at Amazon, told CNBC. "What we've done is we have looked at what our Singapore consumers love to have ... (and) we've worked with hundreds of local vendors and made (them) available." Though Prime Now is a service that is available only to Prime members, Low said Amazon was making this available to non-members in Singapore for a limited period of time, letting customers try the service for free. He also said that the company was working to launch the Amazon Prime membership service soon in Singapore, but he declined to specify a timeline.

Amazon's urban fulfillment center in Singapore, where the tech giant rolled out its Prime Now express delivery service in the city-state on Thursday, July 27, 2017. Saheli Roy Choudhury | CNBC

Setting up for a showdown

Amazon's entry into Southeast Asia had been heavily anticipated since it was first reported last year. Analysts said Singapore's relative affluence and westernization, as well as good infrastructure, made the country a prime candidate for Amazon's expansion. "The primary reason Amazon picked Singapore as its first market in Southeast Asia is due to the fact that consumers here are more westernized and affluent, and many of them are already shopping overseas," Xiaofeng Wang, a senior analyst at market research company Forrester, said in a statement. The foray into Singapore sets up the stage for a potential showdown between Amazon and Chinese tech rival Alibaba , which recently took a controlling stake in regional e-commerce company Lazada. The investment opened up Alibaba's global footprint in markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and made it accessible to approximately 23 million active buyers on the Lazada platform.

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Last year, Lazada bought Singapore-based online grocer RedMart for an undisclosed sum. RedMart provides online grocery shopping to customers in Singapore, from fresh produce to frozen foods within two-hour delivery windows  a direct competition to the Prime Now service in the city-state. More recently, it was reported that Alibaba was also considering a possible stake in Indonesian e-commerce player Tokopedia. "What's brewing is a war, a massive face-off between Alibaba and Amazon," Ken Mandel, president for innovation and commerce in Asia Pacific at Publicis Media told CNBC. "Because Alibaba owns Lazada, they are going to certainly be a force to be reckoned with."

The main thing to watch here is this sort of war where they're testing all their new weapons against each other, and they can hone those. Mike Booker Partner at Bain & Company, on Amazon facing off against Alibaba through Lazada

Earlier this month, CNBC spoke to Lazada co-founder Aimone Ripa di Meana who said the company was confident about taking on Amazon's eventual expansion into Southeast Asia. According to Meana, Lazada's advantages include on-the-ground knowledge about each of the six regional markets in which it operates, an extensive logistics network and backing from Jack Ma. To be sure, analysts point out that Amazon also has its strengths. Forrester's Wang said a crucial advantage for Amazon is "in the strength of U.S. products/brands and (electronic) books, etc." She added that Amazon Prime is also an "attractive loyalty program that has worked in the U.S., but how it localizes to meet the needs of customers here will be the key to success." Localization is often a topic analysts and experts bring up when talking about global companies succeeding in Southeast Asia's hugely diverse local markets. Amazon's Prime Now directors in Singapore, Low and also Aarif Nakhooda, are natives to the city-state.

An Amazon facility in Singapore Saheli Roy Choudhury | CNBC

A lucrative $200 billion market

Southeast Asia is a lucrative market for e-commerce as millions of first-generation internet users are starting to embrace online shopping. A frequently cited study from Google and Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings predicted the region's internet economy to grow to $200 billion by 2025, driven mostly from growth in e-commerce. Its proximity to China, which has already become a leading market for e-commerce, also makes the region Alibaba's "backyard," according to Forrester Senior Forecast Analyst Satish Meena. "[Alibaba wants] to be the major player in this market, beating Amazon. When it comes to a direct battle between these two, Alibaba doesn't have many countries left where they can actually take a lead," Meena told CNBC, adding that those markets are still at a relatively early stage of development for e-commerce. Among markets outside the United States and China, Meena explained that Amazon already had a sizable presence in Europe and was also doing well in the Indian market. Indeed, local media reported earlier this month that Amazon had invested more than $2 billion to-date in their India operations. But Meena said it is unlikely that Amazon will invest as aggressively in Southeast Asia as it has done in India. Instead, they are likely to test the waters in one or two markets to grow the business and and gain customers. "They will take their time, increasingly grow their investment in logistics, warehousing and everything. So that they can gain the customers and gain them for a long time," he said.

Saheli Roy Choudhury | CNBC

Amazon's Low said the company isn't thinking about what its competitors are doing. Instead, its focus is on the consumers, he said. "We look at what customers and consumers would like to have, and then from there on we would develop and invent systems and products which will solve customer problems. In the Prime Now case, it's really the convenience angle they were trying to solve," he said. Low declined to say what Amazon's next market could be in the region.

The real winner

In the end, analysts agree that the biggest beneficiary from the Amazon and Alibaba rivalry will be the consumers. "The first thing people need to realize is that this is one of the first markets that Amazon and Alibaba are going to go head-to-head ... it's going to be a win-win for the consumers in Singapore," Mike Booker, a partner at Bain & Company, told CNBC's "Capital Connection" on Thursday.

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A general view shows a building of the state-owned ChemChina in Beijing on February 3, 2016.

China will turn all big companies owned by the central government into limited liability firms or joint-stock firms by the end of 2017, as Beijing looks to make its state-owned giants more nimble as part of broader reforms of the capital markets.

The cabinet said on Wednesday that the restructuring will help the firms to set up flexible and market-based operating mechanisms.

The cabinet guidelines, however, did not elaborate whether private capital will be allowed to invest in the state giants or whether they will list shares.

Beijing has been trying to reform state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and to create globally competitive conglomerates in sectors including power generation, railways, shipping and chemicals.
Police in the Chinese capital have detained 67 people for disturbing social order after demonstrators gathered to stage a rare protest in Beijing, complaining that the government was unfairly targeting a charity. While there are thousands of protests every year in China over everything from pollution to corruption, large protests are rare in heavily guarded and affluent Beijing, with the ruling Communist Party valuing stability above all else.

Jens Schott Knudsen | Moment Open | Getty Images

State news agency Xinhua said late last week police had detained executives from a company called Shanxinhui, accusing them of operating a pyramid scheme and duping people out of money in the name of raising funds to help the poor. Beijing police said in a statement late on Wednesday that 67 of those involved in the protest, which led authorities to shut down a major road in a southern neighborhood of the city, had been detained. Some of those involved, who were deemed not to be a great threat and who had repented, had been released after receiving "rule of law education", it said. Those who planned and instigated the action would be punished in accordance with the law, police said. The statement did not say whether any of the 67 had been released or how many may face prosecution.

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U.S. media company Discovery Communications in the lead to acquire U.S. cable TV network owner Scripps Network Interactive , people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Discovery has after prevailing over a rival offer from Viacom , another U.S. media company, one of the sources said.

While a deal could come as early as next week, negotiations are ongoing and no agreement is certain, the sources added.

The exact value of Discovery's offer could not be learned, but sources said it is a cash-and-stock bid, comprising mostly cash, and valuing Scripps in the region of $90 per share.

The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. Viacom, Scripps and Discovery declined to comment.
South Korea is in no hurry to set up an advanced missile defense system designed to protect its shores from North Korean aggression despite fears of another intercontinental ballistic missile attack from its northern neighbor. In June, South Korean President Moon Jae-in suspended further installation of the $923 million Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, pending a full review. That move was welcomed by China, who vehemently opposes the technology. And even as Kim Jong-un's regime threatens "merciless blows" to its enemies, Seoul isn't expected to shift its stance.

A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched from the Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska during Flight Test THAAD (FTT)-18 in Kodiak, Alaska, July 11, 2017. Leah Garton/Missile Defense Agency/Handout | REUTERS

That's because the American hardware carries emotional political baggage for South Koreans, Jenna Gibson, director of communications at the Korea Economic Institute of America, wrote in a note published this week by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "THAAD is not about China, or even the U.S.  it is about scandal-ridden former President Park Geun-hye." The fact that THAAD was initiated by Park  the country's first democratically elected leader to be ousted from office via impeachment  is South Korea's core issue with THAAD, the note explained. Park's image was greatly scarred once news broke of her role in a multi-million dollar corruption scandal last year. Backlash against her sparked months of mass street demonstrations that became known as the "Candlelight Revolution." Many believe Park hurried through the deployment of THAAD's initial two missile launchers while she was still in office to prevent her successor from reversing the decision, according to Gibson. The initial stages of THAAD deployment took place in South Korea earlier this year. The system, paid for by Washington, was tested last month when the U.S. shot down a simulated ballistic missile. However, the majority of South Koreans oppose sudden THAAD deployment, a May poll revealed.

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An employee inspects a Hyundai Motor Genesis sedan on the production line at the company's plant in Ulsan, South Korea, on Monday, April 24, 2017.

bleak results stretched into a 14th straight quarter as political headwinds continued to drag down sales in China, its biggest market, and higher incentives failed to boost business in the United States.

The South Korean firm  which together with affiliate Kia Motors is the world's No.5 automaker together  has been betting on a gradual earnings recovery, but the plan hit a roadblock with China's backlash over Seoul's decision to deploy an anti-missile system showing no signs of abating.

For the second quarter ended June, Hyundai Motor reported a net profit of 817 billion won ($729.14 million), down 51 percent from a year ago  the 14th such decline in a row. Analysts on average had expected 1.35 trillion won. Its operating profit came in at 1.34 trillion won and sales at 24.31 trillion won.

Its China retail sales slumped 29 percent in the first half of 2017 as the automaker continued to struggle with its heavy reliance on sedans while customers increasingly opt for sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in the world's biggest auto market.

Its weak brand image has also put Hyundai at a disadvantage versus local and global rivals such as Honda Motor , Toyota Motor and General Motors , all of which reported higher China sales for last month. GM, in its earnings call on Tuesday, said it set second-quarter sales record in China, although it also referred to pricing challenges.
The circumstances that brought down Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 remain one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries, but the carrier's chief executive said he believed a breakthrough can be made within the next four years.

The plane, a Boeing 777, was carrying 239 people en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur when it vanished from radar screens in March 2014. Search operations concentrated in the southern Indian Ocean, but the aircraft was not found.

Pieces of debris were found at various locations, but the search was called off in January this year.

"(Given) the advances in scientific research around the location where the aircraft may have gone down ... I personally would be very surprised if in the next three or four years, we don't get a breakthrough. I think that's the timescale we're looking at," the airline's CEO, Peter Bellew, told CNBC on Wednesday.

The 2014 double tragedy of MH370 and MH17  an Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur passenger flight that was shot down when it was flying over eastern Ukraine  aggravated Malaysia Airlines' financial woes.

The carrier, which also suffered from increased competition and the weakening ringgit, was taken private by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad in an attempt to keep operations afloat.

After the airline cut jobs and unprofitable routes, Bellew said it is expected to turn profitable by the second half of next year as its focus on growing the business-class segment is yielding results. The company is also looking to re-list on the local stock exchange the following year, he said.

The CEO's optimism also stemmed from his belief that oil prices are heading down towards $25 or $30 per barrel by the end of this decade as renewable energy and new battery technologies become increasingly common. That will lead to an "unprecedented decade of benefits for airlines," he said.

"Lots of aircrafts that don't look economic at $55 per barrel to operate suddenly, at $35 per barrel, will look like great sense, including the A380s," Bellow said.

"We're quite confident now. We've seen significant uptick in our business over the last 12 months. Our confidence is buoyed by the fact that the passenger numbers have increased very significantly ... alongside that, the brand has become much stronger."
Software startup Slack Technologies is raising $250 million in a new funding round, according to people familiar with the matter, boosting the company's valuation as Silicon Valley companies enjoy a surge in venture capital investments.

Slack, which makes messaging and collaboration software for businesses, is raising the fresh funding at a valuation of slightly more than $5 billion, the people said, a step up from its previous $3.8 billion valuation.

The investment is being led by SoftBank Group and venture capital firm Accel, a previous investor, said the people, who declined to be identified. SoftBank has been heavily investing in startups, and it recently launched a $93 billion Vision Fund for technology investments.

Other previous investors are participating. Slack has in the past raised money from venture firms GGV Capital, Spark Capital and Thrive Capital, among others. Slack spokeswoman Julia Blystone declined to comment on "funding rumors."

Slack is headquartered in San Francisco. Bloomberg and news website Axios previously reported the funding deal.
On Thursday, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos became the richest person in the world. Worth more than $90 billion, according to Forbes, he took the top spot from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, thanks to recent jumps in the value of Amazon stock. But Bezos hasn't always been the billionaire titan he is today. He was born the son of a 16-year-old mom and deadbeat dad. And he didn't set out to be the CEO of an e-commerce juggernaut.

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos Photo by Bloomberg

"I won the lottery with my mom. Thanks for literally everything, Mom"

Jeff Bezos was born on January 12, 1964, as Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen. His biological dad, Ted Jorgensen, met and started dating his mother, Jacklyn Gise, when they were both in high school. Jorgensen was 18 and Gise was 16 when she became pregnant. They flew to Mexico with their parents' money to get married. Jorgensen belonged to a unicycle troupe and worked at a retail store making $1.25 an hour, so he didn't have much money. He was also "had a habit of drinking too much," according to "The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon," by journalist and biographer Brad Stone. When Jeff Bezos was 17 months old, his mom divorced Jorgensen. In 1968, Gise remarried Miguel Bezos, who arrived in Miami in 1962 from Cuba knowing only one word of English: "hamburger." Jorgensen agreed to let Bezos adopt his son and, at 4 years old, Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen became Jeffrey Preston Bezos. Biographer Stone suggests that Bezos' childhood may have contributed to his obsession with success. "It is of course unknowable whether the unusual circumstances of his birth helped to create that fecund entrepreneurial mix of intelligence, ambition, and a relentless need to prove himself. Two other technology icons, Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison, were adopted, and the experience is thought by some to have given each a powerful motivation to succeed," Stone writes.

Growing up, Bezos spent summers with his grandparents on their Texas ranch, he says in the commencement speech he gave at Princeton in 2010. "I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores. We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially 'Days of our Lives,'" says Bezos. Bezos would also occasionally get to road trip with his grandparents. "My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada. And every few summers, we'd join the caravan," Bezos says in graduation speech. "We'd hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather's car, and off we'd go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers. I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips."

Launching Amazon: "I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice"

Bezos got straight As in high school, was the valedictorian of his class and was accepted early admission to Princeton, according to Stone's biography. For a time in college, he thought he would be a theoretical physicist. But it was years later, while working in finance in New York City that he had the idea to start Amazon. "I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles  something that simply couldn't exist in the physical world  was very exciting to me," says Bezos, in his 2010 Princeton address. At the time, Bezos was just 30 and had been married for a year. "I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most startups don't, and I wasn't sure what would happen after that," he says.

After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice. Jeff Bezos founder of Amazon, Blue Origin

His wife told him to go for it. "As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor. I'd invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn't work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings," he says. "I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion." But not everyone was on board. Bezos boss took a walk through Central Park and told Bezos that, while it sounded like a "really good idea," it would be an even better idea for somebody who didn't already have a good career. "That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision," says Bezos. "Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. "After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice."

The early days of Amazon: "I thought maybe one day we would be able to afford a forklift"

When Amazon first started, it sold only books. Bezos would drive the packages to the post office himself in his 1987 Chevy Blazer. "I thought maybe one day we would be able to afford a forklift," Bezos tells Charlie Rose in a wide-ranging interview in 2016. "And it is very, it's very, very different today." After books, the next items Bezos added to Amazon were music and videos. Then, he asked customers to see what else they would want to buy from the online retailer. "I sent an email message out to the customer base, actually a thousand randomly selected customers, and I said, besides books, music and video, what would you like to see us sell? And the list came back incredibly long," explains Bezos. "It was basically just whatever the person had on their mind right now," says Bezos, and that sparked an idea.

"One of customers said, 'I wish you sold windshield wipers because I need windshield wipers for my car.' A light kind of went on in my head. You know, people  people will want to use this new fangled e-commerce way of shopping for everything," Bezos says to Rose. "People are very convenience-motivated," says Bezos. "So that really started the kind of the expansion into all categories, consumer electronics, and then apparel, and so on." Expand he did. Today, Amazon sells almost everything. From toilet paper to groceries to electronics to fashion to furniture. When Bezos enters a new product category, he is not intimidated by a lack of expertise. "I am never disappointed when we're not good at something because I think, well think how good it's going to work when we are good at it," Bezos tells Rose. "And the apparel is like that. There is so much opportunity. Nobody really knows how to do a great job of offering  apparel online yet. And we have tons of invention and ideas and working our way through that experimental list."

Amazon's North star: "Customer obsession, as opposed to competitor obsession"

Bezos has always been a rare combination of optimistic, idealistic and visionary. Back in 2003, while much of the tech industry was still hungover from the dot-com bust, Bezos was aggressively foretelling the potential of the Internet. "I do think there's more innovation ahead of us than there is behind us," says Bezos in a TED Talk he gave that year. "We're very, very early."

As Bezos charged full force into the Wild West that was the Internet then, he was  and still is today  guided by a single belief: Do what is best for the customer. "Thing that connects everything that Amazon does is the number one  our number one conviction and idea and philosophy and principle which is customer obsession, as opposed to competitor obsession. And so we are always focused on the customer, working backwards from the customer's needs, developing new skills internally so that we can satisfy what we perceive to be future customer needs," Bezos tells Rose. Another through line to Bezos' business strategy is his "willingness to think long-term," he says. "We are very happy to invest in new initiatives that are very risky, for five to seven years, which most companies won't do that," Bezos tells Rose. "It's the combination of the risk-taking and the long-term outlook that make Amazon, not unique, but special in a smaller crowd." Finally, he's obsessive about finding problems and fixing them. "Taking real pride in operational excellence, so just doing things well, finding defects and working backwards  that is all the incremental improvement that in business, most successful companies are very good at this one. ... [Y]ou don't want to ever let defects flow downstream," Bezos says to Rose. "That is a key part of doing a good job in any business in my opinion."

From e-commerce to media

As consumer behavior on the web has evolved, so, too has Amazon. Prime, the e-commerce's popular two-day shipping membership comes with access to premium television shows, for example. Being a content creator built on the back of an e-commerce giant gives Amazon freedom to be creative. For example, one of Amazon's most popular shows, "Transparent," is about a patriarch who becomes a woman later in life. It's won eight Emmys and been nominated for another 28. "A show like 'Transparent' which has won Golden Globes and Emmys is not ever  it is not a show that could be successfully done on broadcast TV, because broadcast TV needs a much bigger audience," says Bezos to Rose. "And so you can actually think about the creative process a little differently. You can attract different storytellers. You can go for stories that are narrower but incredibly powerful and well told." In addition to producing online shows, Bezos is also the owner of another kind of content: journalism. Through his Nash Holdings LLC, he bought the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million. "I bought it because it's important," says Bezos. "I would never buy a financially upside down salty snack food company. You know, that doesn't make any sense to me. But The Washington Post is important. And so it makes sense to me to take something like that, and I also am optimistic. And I thought there were some ways to make it  I want it to be a self-sustaining, profitable enterprise," Bezos says to Rose. "And I think it can be done." Bezos' empire now stretches far and wide. Amazon, which currently has a market cap of about $500 billion, agreed to buy Whole Foods last month and also owns companies like Zappos and Twitch. Through Bezos Expeditions, he's also invested in companies like Twitter and Basecamp, among many others.

The final frontier: "I fell in love with the idea of space and space exploration and space travel when I was 5"
Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) speaks during a press conference condemning the new ban on transgendered servicemembers on July 26, 2017 in Washington, DC.

"There will be no modifications to the current policy until the president's direction has been received by the secretary of defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance," said Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Regardless, the top officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued an internal memo on Thursday that was obtained by NBC News , and it indicated no immediate changes were planned on the policy.

Some reports such as Politico 's have suggested Trump is using the transgender military ban issue to energize support in the House from Republicans for his border wall.

Trump tweeted his ban Wednesday and followed it up by adding the military "cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."

President Donald Trump's sudden move to ban transgender people from the U.S. military is generating widespread controversy, and even the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday pushed back on any immediate changes.

Even so, a Rand Corporation study released last year looked at the impact of transgender people serving in the U.S. military and found "the number would likely be a small fraction of the total force and have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs."

The nonpartisan think tank's study was originally sponsored by the Obama-led Pentagon at a time when the military was looking at the transgender issue.

"We identified that less than 0.1 percent of the force would seek the type of treatments that would affect their ability to deploy," Agnes Gereben Schaefer, lead author on the study and a Rand senior political scientist, said in an interview Thursday.

According to Rand estimates, out of the U.S. military's 1.3 million active-duty service personnel, between 1,320 and 6,630 members of the force are transgender, but "only a small portion" of them would likely seek to have transition-related treatment, according to Rand.

Rand estimates that between 29 and 129 active service members would seek the transition-related care that could impact their deployability or result in additional health-care costs.

"To put that in perspective, in 2015 in the Army alone there were about 50,000 active component soldiers who were unable to deploy," said Schaefer, pointing out that the reasons were due to accidents or issues unrelated to transgender surgery.

As for Trump's assertion of "tremendous medical costs," that doesn't appear to be the case when looking at Rand data.

The think tank estimates transition-related health care for active service members would cost the military between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually. That equates to a 0.04 percent to 0.13 percent rise in the active military's $6.27 billion in annual health-care expenditures.

Assuming the high-end estimate provided by Rand, the military's costs of transgender health care over a 10-year period would total about $84 million.

But opponents of transgender people serving in the active U.S. military claim the costs over a 10-year stretch could run into the billions.

The Family Research Council, which identifies itself as a Christian public-policy group, estimates the potential 10-year costs of transgender individuals serving in the military could "total as much as $1.9 billion to $3.7 billion."

Similarly, Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri said the 10-year cost would be about $1.35 billion. Her estimate includes active duty, National Guard and Reserve members, or a force of 2.13 million personnel.

"Our military is the most effective, efficient and well-funded fighting force in the world, and as the president notes, we cannot burden our armed forces with the tremendous costs and disruptions that transgender in the military would entail," Hartzler said in a statement Wednesday. She recently introduced an amendment in the House that seeks to bar the military from paying for transgender surgeries or allowing those individuals to be deployed.

Democratic Rep. Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts, who serves as chair of the Congressional Transgender Equality Task Force, blasted Trump's transgender ban on Wednesday and said on the House floor that transgender service members "are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect our freedom" and "deserve better" from the president.

Rand's Schaefer said they also looked at transgender impact on the Reserve force but the analysis found "it's hard to figure out how the Reserve component members might utilize their health benefits because a lot of them have civilian jobs."

Finally, Rand's research included looking at lessons learned from 18 other countries, including Canada, that have allowed transgender personnel to serve openly in their military.

"None of them reported any negative impacts on operational effectiveness or operational readiness or cohesion of the force," Schaefer said.

The Canadian Armed Forces, in a statement provided to CNBC on Thursday about the transgender issue, said: "Diversity is viewed as a source of strength and flexibility, plays a pivotal role in making CAF a modern forward-looking organization, and is imperative to the CAF's operational effectiveness."

That said, the Canadian military said it does not collect data on the number of transgendered personnel in its forces and has "no bona fide work-related reason" to do so.
Under pressure from widespread illegal narcotics distribution, Southeast Asia's largest economy has expressed a willingness to let authorities shoot down drug dealers, sparking fears the country could embark on a Philippine-style drug war. In a speech last week, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, said his country faced a "narcotics emergency" and recommended police to shoot drug traffickers who resisted arrest. "I have told you, just be firm, especially with foreign drug dealers who enter the country and resist [arrest]. Gun them down. Give no mercy," local news outlets quoted the leader as saying.

Jakarta, July 20, 2017: 1 ton of crystal methamphetamine at the Metropolitan Jakarta regional office. Indonesian national police shot dead a Taiwan drug smuggler and arrested three Taiwanese at a hotel in Anyer, Banten province, after they received information from the Taiwanese government that Dasril Roszandi / NurPhoto / Getty Images

National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian also said last week that he had instructed police officers "not to hesitate shooting drug dealers who resist arrest," Indonesian media reported. Such comments mirror those of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is accused of giving police free rein to kill drug suspects. Philippine police have the right to shoot if their lives are endangered when drug suspects resist arrest, according to Duterte's official instructions, but reports of extrajudicial executions are widespread. In response, Human Rights Watch slammed Indonesian authorities. "President Joko Widodo should send a clear and public message to the police that efforts to address the complex problems of drugs and criminality require the security forces to respect everyone's basic rights, not demolish them," Phelim Kine, the organization's Asia deputy director, said in a recent note. Many believe Duterte's war on drugs, which has killed thousands, has jeopardized overall rule of law and democracy. Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano, however, has criticized media for misrepresenting Duterte's policies. If Indonesia, already weighed down by religious politics, embraces Duterte's controversial policies, analysts predicted an increase in societal divisions. "Launching such a crackdown will be deeply controversial in Indonesia," said Anwita Basu, analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "Violence of this kind is not well liked in the archipelago where democracy is maturing and people are increasingly becoming more engaged in politics."

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Visitors trying out new Huawei smartphones at an exhibition.

Huawei, the world's third-largest smartphone vendor by shipment, said that its consumer business group saw sales revenue for the first six months ending in June grow by 36.2 percent on-year to 105.4 billion yuan ($15.65 billion).

Its smartphone shipment rose 20.6 percent on-year to 73.01 million. In May, a report from Gartner said Huawei had about 9 percent of the global market share in the first quarter of 2017, behind leaders Samsung and Apple.

More recently, research firm Canalys said Huawei remained the market leader for smartphones within China despite a 3 percent annual decline in device shipments in the mainland.

"Our Consumer Business Group continued to deliver extraordinary growth, beating the industry average and penetrating high-end markets around the globe," said Richard Yu, chief executive officer of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, in a prepared statement.

The Chinese smartphone maker said it had 22.1 percent of marketshare in the Greater China region, and also saw an 18 percent on-year growth in shipments across Europe.

Earlier, Huawei said it saw a 15 percent on-year jump in overall revenue for the six months ending in June, with solid growth across its carrier, enterprise and consumer business groups. Still, it was the slowest growth for that period in four years.

Total revenue for the first six months of 2017 came in at 283.1 billion yuan ($42.04 billion) and operating margin was 11 percent. Huawei said it expected to round out the year in a positive financial position.

 Reuters and CNBC's Sophia Yan contributed to this report.
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SHENZHEN, China  Chinese tech firm Huawei has clawed its way to the top in China and now it wants to clobber Apple and Samsung globally by selling to richer customers. "We're more focused on developed countries, instead of developing countries," Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's consumer business group, told CNBC. That's because they're more likely to have a better economy and stronger consumer spending power, he said. related investing news UBS calls Ralph Lauren a 'turnaround stock,' sees fashion brand rallying 36% "Everybody knows that profit is on high tier, low tier no profit, and the middle tier very few margin ... to be honest, we have no interest in the low end," Yu said, adding that "Huawei is a company good at technology, innovation ... we believe we can bring more value to the high-end users" who care about better design and user experience. Huawei has made it big at home, and it has expanded ambitiously in a quest to become a global brand. It's now the world's third-largest smartphone maker, accounting for nearly one-tenth of the market. But profits are getting harder to come by, and the company still lags behind Samsung and Apple with 22 percent and 15 percent of the market last year, according to industry research firm Canalys.

David Ramos | Getty Images

Experts say the company is doing poorly in key markets like Indonesia and India  and the U.S. remains elusive. "The U.S. is a must-have," said Mo Jia, an analyst at research firm Canalys. "Only by [obtaining] a sound presence in the U.S., Huawei could have the chance to claim its crown in the global smartphone market." On Thursday, Huawei's consumer business group said sales for the first half of the year increased 36.2 percent to 105.4 billion yuan ($15.6 billion), with smartphone shipments up by 20.6 percent to 73 million units. The company expects to keep pace for the second half, shipping 140 to 150 million phones by the end of this year, but that's only a tad higher than the 139 million phones it sold last year. So there's still a ways to go, especially if Yu's division is to hit its own target of $100 billion in revenue by 2020. To get there, Huawei will keep prioritizing higher end customers in markets like Europe and Japan, where it's done well  phone shipments in Europe were up 18 percent in the first half of the year, led by Italy. "Rome was not built in a day; everything you have to do it step by step," Yu said. "And the U.S. will be our next step ... they need a better product, also better innovation from better vendors, from Huawei."

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Yu declined to discuss specific growth plans in the U.S., but said the fast-changing tech industry meant companies couldn't go it alone. "You cannot do everything by yourself; you have to do many things with partners." The company already partners with a range of companies including Leica, which industry analysts have touted as a success, allowing Huawei to launch dual-camera technology. It's also going keep building tens of thousands of stores, some operated with partners, hitting 56,000 shops by year-end. Looking ahead, Yu said Huawei would launch the world's first artificial intelligence-powered processor in a smartphone before the end of 2017  with a planned launch around the same time as Apple's iPhone 8. Yu wouldn't give further details, but Huawei is expected to put out its Mate 10 phone, a product that he said would beat the competition by a mile with a longer battery life, faster charging speed, and great camera capabilities. "Huawei has even more powerful products," he added.

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Japanese PM Shinzo Abe during his meeting with Danish PM Lars Loekke Rasmussen on July 10, 2017 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Embattled Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada on Friday said she was resigning, after a series of gaffes, missteps and a cover-up at her ministry that have contributed to a sharp plunge in public support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Inada, 58, an Abe protege who shares his conservative views and had been suggested as a possible future premier, had already expected to be replaced in a likely cabinet reshuffle next week that Abe hopes will help rebuild his ratings.

Support for the prime minister has sunk below 30 percent in some polls, due to scandals over suspected cronyism and a view among many voters that he and his aides took them for granted.

Abe apologized "to the people from my heart", in comments to reporters carried live on national television after Inada announced her resignation.

He said Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida would add the defence portfolio to his duties, to eliminate any gap at a time when Japan faces tough security challenges, such as a volatile North Korea.

Abe, however, had drawn fire from both ruling and opposition party lawmakers for retaining Inada despite her missteps and perceived incompetence.

"He should have thrown Inada under the bus long ago. Doing so on the eve of a cabinet reshuffle only looks like desperation," said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan.

The resignation coincided with a report of an investigation into suspicions that defence ministry officials tried to hide logs showing worsening security in South Sudan, where Japanese troops joined in a U.S.-led peacekeeping operation.

Critics said troop deployment in the dangerous environment violated conditions set for such activities in line with Japan's pacifist constitution.

No Japanese troops have died in combat since World War Two and the growing chaos in South Sudan fuelled concern.
Bezos' rise carries important symbolic weight  signaling Amazon's unbridled power and value, presenting a new face of outsized wealth to the world and heralding a new kind of billionaire who is skeptical of philanthropy and has massive reach in culture, technology and media. Bezos will be a stark contrast to his fellow Seattle-area resident Gates, who has topped the list for much of the past quarter-century and devotes his time and money to philanthropy. What's most astounding about Bezos' rise is his recent wealth surge. He has been a billionaire for nearly 20 years, first making the Forbes list in 1998 with a net worth of $1.6 billion after Amazon's IPO. He chugged along for the following decade, reaching $4.4 billion in 2007, gradually rising to $18.4 billion by 2012, ranking him 26th on the list. But over the past two years, as Amazon's stock has soared, so has Bezos' fortune. He owns 79.9 million shares, or just under 17 percent of the company. His net worth has grown by $70 billion over the past five years, surging by $45 billion in the last two years alone  possibly the largest wealth-creation surge in history.

When he hits the mark, Bezos, who started selling books from his garage 22 years ago, becomes the first man to bump Gates from his perch in seven years and is only the sixth man to hold the "richest person" title in the past 30 years, according to Forbes.

According to Forbes and Bloomberg, the Amazon CEO had a net worth of over $89 billion as of the close of markets Wednesday, while Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had a net worth of just over $90 billion.

Of course, Bezos avoids talking publicly about his wealth. Like most tech tycoons, he insists he's trying to change the world rather than get rich. In his commencement speech at Princeton, Bezos said he had the idea of selling books on the internet while he was working at a New York hedge fund. Torn between his high-paying job and a risky start-up, he chose the start-up.



"I took the less safe path to follow my passion and I'm proud of that choice," he said.



Bezos may not only be the richest man in the world today  he might become the richest man ever, at least measured in pure dollars. At his peak Gates was worth $90 billion, marking the largest single fortune ever. With little sign that Amazon's momentum may be slowing, Bezos could well be the first 12-digit man, worth $100 billion one day.

On Thursday, a leading analyst said that Amazon "could be the first trillion-dollar company" with its stock doubling to $2,000.



Indeed, Bezos' rise to the top of the rich list shows just how large and fast today's biggest fortunes have become. In the 1980s, Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi was considered the richest man in the world with a net worth of around $4 billion. By 1995, when Gates first became the richest man, he was worth $12.9 billion.



By 2005, Gates was still topping the list at $50 billion.



In 1987, according to Forbes, there were 140 billionaires in the world with a combined net worth of $295 billion. Now, billionaires number 2,043 and have a combined $7.7 trillion. In fact there were more new billionaires in the world in 2016  233  than the entire population of billionaires in 1987.



Gates has been the richest man for 18 of the past 23 years. The only interlopers were Carlos Slim of Mexico, who was the richest man between 2010 and 2012, and Warren Buffett, who was the richest in 2008.

Indeed, with the exception of Slim and the occasional overseas billionaire, Gates and Buffett have been a duopoly at the top of the rich list. Their close friendship and partnering in philanthropy made them a potent symbol of the philanthropic side of wealth.



Bezos will be a different figurehead. Unlike Gates, he is still actively running and building a business. He is far more press-averse, rarely giving interviews or public addresses. He is hyper-competitive. And he is only moderately  some would say barely  philanthropic.



But like Gates and Buffett, Bezos is not given to many flashy displays of wealth. He has loads of real estate  he bought the most expensive home in Washington, D.C., and owns homes in Beverly Hills, California, and New York along with his spread in Medina, Washington  and is one of the nation's largest landowners, with over 300,000 acres.

He also owns The Washington Post and founded Blue Origin, the space-travel company. Yet Bezos drove his 1996 Honda Accord long after he became a billionaire.



When asked how his life changed when he became a billionaire he said: "Personally, it hasn't changed at all. The big difference is that we now have $50 million in the bank, which is huge."

With a net worth topping $90 billion, Bezos' definition of "huge" may have changed.
Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

Meg Whitman dismissed speculations on Friday morning Asia time that she may join Uber as a replacement for its former chief, Travis Kalanick.

Whitman, who is currently CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise , emerged as a front-runner in the ride-hailing company's search for a new chief executive officer after Kalanick stepped down in June, following pressure from shareholders.

In a series of tweets, Whitman reiterated her commitments to HPE and said she didn't plan to move. She said, "So let me make this as clear as I can. I am fully committed to HPE and plan to remain the company's CEO."

Whitman added, "We have a lot of work still to do at HPE and I am not going anywhere. Uber's CEO will not be Meg Whitman."

Whitman Tweet 1: (1/3) Normally I do not comment on rumors, but the speculation about my future and Uber has become a distraction.

Whitman Tweet 2: (2/3) So let me make this as clear as I can. I am fully committed to HPE and plan to remain the company's CEO.

Whitman Tweet 3: (3/3) We have a lot of work still to do at HPE and I am not going anywhere. Uber's CEO will not be Meg Whitman.

Earlier this week, Whitman stepped down as chairwoman of HP's board, but she remained at the helm of the more enterprise-focused HPE business. The two companies were created in 2015 from the split of Hewlett Packard.

News site Axios said on Thursday that it had learned from multiple sources that Whitman had emerged as a front-runner to become Uber's next CEO. But, Axios reported, it was not a done deal and there was no consensus among the members of Uber's executive search committee.

Currently Uber is struggling from myriad issues on top of the search for Kalanick's replacement. Those include an intellectual property fight with Waymo, Google's self-driving car program, scrutiny into its workplace culture and a criminal probe over a software that helped drivers evade local transportation regulators.
Shadow banking is a broad category of banking-like services from non-traditional players; it can include loans from non-financial companies as well as investment products. It is outside the bounds of normal banking regulation, so it largely goes unregulated.

"The government's adoption of more coordinated policy measures to curb shadow banking will help mitigate asset risks for banks, and address some key imbalances in the financial system," Yulia Wan, a Moody's banking analyst, said in a statement on Thursday.

Moody's Investors Service no longer takes a negative view on China's banking system, raising its outlook to stable on Thursday as concerns over so-called shadow banking eased.

Earlier this month, Moody's had noted that actions on shadow-banking had included the central bank changing its monetary policy setting in the last quarter of 2016 to "moderate neutral" from "moderate," which raised market funding costs and refinancing risks for banks, reducing the return from supporting long-term investments with short-term market funds.

In March and April, the China Banking Regulatory Commission also requested banks test whether their interbank liabilities would exceed the regulatory ceiling at one-third of total liabilities.

Moodys' noted in the Thursday report that there were signs of declines in outstanding wealth management products issued by the mainland's banks and fewer investments in loans and receivables among the 26 listed banks.

But it added that profit growth would be limited by continued pressure on net interest margins and slower fee-income growth on higher funding costs and stricter shadow-banking regulations.

It also noted that banks relying on short-term market funds would face lower profits and were exposed to refinancing risks.

Moody's pointed to another risk that might emerge from the shadow banking crackdown: The potential for disputes among financial institutions over the responsibility of absorbing losses on bad investments.

Wan added that non-performing loan formation rates were also expected to stay stable at current levels.

"Overall delinquency rates will stabilize as corporate profit continues to recover, helped by stable and solid economic growth, steady commodity prices and a slower increase in corporate leverage," the Moody's statement said.

Moody's said that operating conditions were also stabilizing amid government efforts to support growth, including policies to encourage investment in sectors such as infrastructure and self-occupied residential property.

China's banking system has long spurred concerns about financial stability risks, particularly as the economy grows more indebted.

In particular, analysts have been concerned that official figures were understating the true level of non-performing loans.

But Moody's noted that the Chinese government was a key shareholder of the major banks on the mainland and would likely support them in "times of stress."

That support would likely cushion any potential crisis.

Separately Thursday, Moody's kept its outlook negative for banks in Hong Kong, citing "rising private sector indebtedness."

In May, Moody's downgraded China's credit rating to A1 from Aa3, changing its outlook to stable from negative, citing concerns that efforts to support growth will spur debt growth across the economy.

CNBC's Huileng Tan contributed to this article.
Nike's CEO Mark Parker will be taking a drastic pay cut this year to the tune of 71 percent of his income, according to CNN Money, which looked at the company's regulatory filings. That means his compensation will go from $47.6 million to $13.9 million.

To put it into perspective, in 2016, Parker claimed the No. 14 spot in the New York Times' ranking of highest paid CEOs.

The pay cut comes after a year of poor sales and a layoff of 1,000 employees in June.

CNBC Make It contacted Nike for comment, but the company could not be reached.

Nike is not the only company to have senior executives take drastic pay cuts over the years. Here are five other CEOs who've had this happen:
Procter & Gamble CEO David Taylor said billionaire investor Nelson Peltz has not offered a substantial plan to help the company.

"I want to prevent anything from derailing the work we're doing," Taylor told CNBC. The company, which makes Pampers diapers and Tide detergent, is in the midst of a plan to cut its costs by $10 billion over the next five years.

However, with its sales stagnating, the company has come under attack by Peltz's hedge fund Trian Partners, which owns about $3.3 billion worth of P&G shares.The fund is pushing for shareholders to vote Peltz to P&G's board. The proxy battle began earlier this month after P&G rejected Peltz's request to be named a director after months of meetings.

Taylor said P&G has a "rigorous" selection for board membership.

"The fact that he has good advice doesn't mean we just add him to the board," Taylor said.

Peltz does bring "a number of good folks with him," Taylor told CNBC. However, he said, P&G does not need a group to come and be a shadow management team.

Taylor's comments came after P&G reported earnings that beat expectations amidst aggressive cost-cutting efforts.

"I respect Nelson Peltz, I will listen to Nelson Peltz. There is evidence, though, now, that we have the plan and the portfolio," Taylor said.

He pointed to P&G's earnings results as proof its plan is working. The company's net sales remained flat at $16.08 billion for the quarter, though its organic revenue grew 2 percent. P&G's selling, general and administrative expenses fell 7 percent, and its profit climbed 13.5 percent.

He did, however, acknowledge two areas the company needs to address: diapers in China and Gillette. P&G's razor brand has struggled to compete with newcomers Harry's and Dollar Shave Club.

Peltz has criticized P&G for allowing the upstarts to eat into Gillette's market share.

Trian published a letter Thursday following P&G's earnings announcement criticizing the company's performance compared with its peers.

"Over the past 10 years, P&G's total return to shareholders is less than half that of its peers and it has been in the bottom quartile over most recent time frames," Trian said in its statement. "Trian believes P&G needs to address the root causes of this consistent underperformance, including deteriorating market share across most of its categories and excessive cost and bureaucracy."

P&G lowered its razor prices earlier this year. Taylor said it's about a 9- to 12-month story for Gillette, but Peltz's criticisms will not add a greater sense of urgency to reverse sales trends.

"We were already moving fast," Taylor said. "I feel that Peltz is pushing on things that I am pushing on, as well."
A file photo of Martin Shkreli, former chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, arriving at federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

A prosecutor on Thursday told jurors at the Martin Shkreli securities fraud trial that they were the only people who could see the entire scope of the "Pharma bro's" allegedly widespread schemes that duped investors and directors at his drug company for years.

"You are the only people who know the whole story of what happened," said assistant U.S. Attorney Alixandra Smith as she began closing arguments in Shkreli's fraud trial in Brooklyn, New York, federal court.

Smith said that after a month-long trial it was time "to pull back the curtain on these... fraud schemes and finally see the truth behind all these lies."

Shkreli, 34, is accused of defrauding a group of investors in two hedge funds by lying about his investing track record, and doubling down on those lies by issuing glowing financial reports about their money even as he was losing it.

He also is charged with ripping off Retrophin, the drug company he later founded, out of stock shares and cash to pay back those investors.

Smith told jurors that "to this day" investors in Shkreli's two hedge funds "have no idea what really happened to their money, what happened to their funds."

"All of the information they got... was from the defendant, and it was false," Smith said.

Smith said Shkreli routinely lied about his past experience in running a prior hedge fund when he was soliciting investments for his MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare funds.

"He did not talk about the fact that he had blown up a fund, lost people's money, and had a [legal] judgment that he owed," Smith said.

Shkreli also lied about having auditors and advisers for his funds, and grossly overstated the total amount of assets that his funds actually had under management, Smith said.

And he also then gave investors "false performance statements and the false [claim] about being able to redeem their money" within 30 days.

In the case of young investor Sarah Hassan, Smith noted, the performance reports she received from Shkreli "all show positive returns, all the while."

But, Smith added, that was false, and Shkreli had actually "stopped trading altogether" in the fund where Hassan had invested her money, "in February 2011 because there was nothing left in the fund."

"The brokerage account [for the fund] was actually shut down in 2011," the prosecutor said.

Hassan was "told her investment had grown, which is a lie, and she's also told she can take her investment [out] in cash or stock, which is lie," Smith said.

Hassan and other witnesses testified at length how Shkreli stonewalled them for months or more as they sought the redemption of their money after he said his hedge funds were closing. Hassan, like a number of other investors, ended up getting a combination of Retrophin stock and cash, instead of just cash from the hedge fund, as she had requested.

Defense lawyers have repeatedly underscored the fact that Hassan and the other Shkreli investors all ended up getting stock and cash that was worth more than their original stakes in his hedge funds.

Smith's closing statement was expected to continue until midday. After that, Shkreli's lawyer will give his own argument.

Prosecutors are expected to conclude their statements with a rebuttal to the defense argument on Friday morning. After that jurors will receive legal instructions from Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, and begin their deliberations.

Defense lawyers did not call a single witness in the case, which began in late June. Shkreli earlier this week told Matsumoto he would not testify.

WATCH: Co-worker says Shkreli 'mentally unstable'
Wells Fargo said on Thursday that it would compensate around 570,000 customers with car loans who were harmed by being forced to buy auto insurance.

The bank estimated the total cost at around $80 million.

Auto-loan contracts require customers to have comprehensive insurance for potential damage, and the bank was permitted under the contracts to buy that coverage and pass on the cost if there was no evidence it had been purchased elsewhere, Wells Fargo noted in the statement on Thursday.

But it added that its "internal controls were inadequate," with customers charged insurance premiums even if they were paying for their own vehicle insurance.

"We take full responsibility for our failure to appropriately manage the collateral protection insurance program and are extremely sorry for any harm this caused our customers, who expect and deserve better from us," Franklin Codel, head of Wells Fargo Consumer Lending, said in the statement.

"Upon our discovery, we acted swiftly to discontinue the program and immediately develop a plan to make impacted customers whole," he said.

The overcharging of customers for auto insurance was first reported by the New York Times on Thursday.

That article, citing a 60-page internal report prepared by consulting firm Oliver Wyman, said that Wells Fargo required a much larger number of customers  more than 800,000  who took out car loans to buy auto insurance they did not need.

The cost of the unnecessary insurance pushed around 274,000 customers into delinquency and resulted in nearly 25,000 wrongful vehicle repossessions, the article said, citing the internal report.

The internal report examined insurance policies sold to Wells Fargo customers from the beginning of 2012 through mid-2016, the article said, noting the practice began as early as 2006 and continued through September of 2016.

Wells Fargo's mea culpa over the improper auto insurance sales marked another black eye for the bank.

In September, Wells Fargo reached a $185 million settlement with regulators over creating what the bank then said could be as many as 2.1 million accounts in customer names without their permission.

Workers created the accounts to meet the bank's aggressive sales quotas to enroll customers in multiple programs.

Since then, former CEO John Stumpf has left the bank and a handful of other executives have departed as well. Wells Fargo recently announced another settlement  this time $142 million to take care of a class-action lawsuit.

The Wells Fargo board recently decided to claw back more money from Stumpf and Carrie Tolstedt, the former head of the community bank unit head, where the scandal unfolded.

CNBC's Jeff Cox, Wilfred Frost and Dawn Giel contributed to this article.
Amazon's first foray into the Southeast Asian market appears to have hit a roadblock.

The e-commerce giant launched its express, same-day delivery service, Prime Now, on Thursday morning in Singapore, but by that afternoon the service seemed to have become unusable.

Many users in Singapore were unable to select a delivery window for their purchases to be delivered at the checkout screen. A message stated that all remaining delivery windows "for today and tomorrow are currently unavailable," and that users should check in later for updates.

On Friday, the messaging on the checkout screen was updated to say that Amazon was "working hard to open up more capacity as soon as possible."

Some items listed also appeared to be either in low supply or to have run out of stock on Friday morning.

When contacted by CNBC, Amazon said that users were unable to check out because they were "sold out" of delivery availability.

The company said in an official statement that "Singapore loves Prime Now, and we are delivering thousands and thousands of orders each day." Most reports on local media indicated delivery could be selected for only a few hours after the initial launch.

In its statement to CNBC, Amazon added: "Due to great customer response, delivery windows are currently sold out. We are rapidly opening up new windows to ensure we can continue delighting customers in Singapore."

The Prime Now service is available in Singapore through the app, which can be downloaded on Google's Play store and Apple's App store. Prime Now is part of Amazon's Prime membership service and was launched in December 2014 in New York. To-date, the service is available in more than 50 cities in nine countries, including Berlin, London, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo.

There are several delivery options given: For orders below 40 Singapore dollars ($29.48), users pay a S$5.99 delivery fee; orders above S$40 are delivered free in a two-hour delivery window. For those wanting to get their goods within an hour, they pony up S$9.99 per order.

 CNBC's Leslie Shaffer contributed to this report.
Tesla's Model 3 is perhaps the most desired electric vehicle in history, with a waiting list that stretches more than a year.

But competition could start to heat up relatively soon, according to one analyst.

For now, Tesla seems to be in a class of its own, and enjoys a considerable lead over competitors. It has no rivals in the high-end electric car segment, and enthusiasm for the Model 3, based on reservations, has far outpaced the interest in similarly priced electric cars. These include the already available Chevrolet Bolt and Nissan Leaf .

But Tesla will face a bevy of competitors in the next few years, especially among high end carmakers with strong brands of their own, said Barclays analyst Brian Johnson, who has been a consistent skeptic of the California electric car maker and renewable energy company, even though Tesla stock has risen more than 50 percent this year alone.

"We can just hear the Tesla fans objections to the volume of competitor launches  most of those are mass market cars, and many are compliance cars  and hence not appealing to the status-conscious Tesla target segment," Johnson said in his note to clients on Friday.

Recently, Barclays hosted a powertrain conference in London, where several high-end auto companies showed off their planned electric offerings.

From what he saw there, along with recent announcements from manufacturers, Johnson said legacy luxury automakers will begin a launch cadence in 2019 that will distribute a broad selection of electric vehicles across several brands by 2021.

"In particular at our conference, we were impressed by Mercedes' plans for the EQ brand as a standalone platform for EVs from inception," Johnson said. "We think Mercedes' strategy will stand them in good stead in the long run."

He added that BMW will produce early electric vehicles on existing architectures, but will also develop a standalone platform as it builds scale. He expects Mercedes and BMW to have four models each, and Volkswagen to have seven  three from Audi, two from Porsche and one Bentley.

Maserati , Jaguar and Aston Martin are each expected to have one model.

Whether any of these will be able to truly challenge Tesla remains to be seen. But each could conceivably take significant slices out of the market share Tesla all but controls now.

Johnson also thinks, along with many others, that China will be the key growth market for electric vehicles over the next several years, and Tesla is at a great disadvantage to Chinese makers who all but dominate the Chinese market.

Tesla's Model S and X cars compete with 19 Chinese electric vehicle models in that country, by his count. Local regulations favor local companies, and Chinese models typically sell better than Tesla cars, according to his report. Both Daimler and GM have plans to source battery cells in China as well.

Still, some analysts have expressed skepticism that traditional auto companies pose a great threat to Tesla. Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas, for example, said in a note published in April that traditional automakers tend to profit more from cars with internal combustion engines, and was doubtful that shareholders would reward companies for pursuing "money-losing electrics."

Jonas said that Tesla's true competitors may end up being tech companies instead.

To be sure, Tesla has a considerable lead on competitors and has a strong brand. So far the company has had the high-end electric vehicle market to itself.

The company proved that electric cars could offer luxury and high performance and be highly desirable to consumers. They are now aiming to prove that they can also offer at least some of that performance and design at a lower price.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has at times encouraged other companies to make electric cars. In 2014, Tesla released all the patents it held at the time "in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology," Musk said in a blog post.

The market for electric cars is still tinyonly about 1 percent of all cars sold. It is likely about to become quite a bit more crowded.

Tesla was not immediately available for comment.
On Thursday, Amazon revealed that growth of its public cloud business had slowed to the lowest point in at least three years in the second quarter: Amazon Web Services revenue, at $4.1 billion, was up 42 percent year over year.

Competitors might have taken a moment to cheer immediately after the Amazon earnings release. But if there were celebrations, they were kept brief.

That's because Amazon rules the roost in cloud. It effectively pioneered the business in 2006 when it introduced services for renting out raw computing and storage resources from its data centers.

Last month, when technology analysis firm Gartner weighed in for its annual report on the public cloud market, it did acknowledge some weakness at AWS -- namely that its ability to execute on its current vision has declined -- but generally the theme was the same as always: Amazon remains the King Kong of the cloud, bigger and more ferocious than anyone else.

"AWS remains the dominant market leader, not only in IaaS, but also in integrated IaaS+PaaS, with an end-of-2016 revenue run rate of more than $14 billion," Gartner's Lydia Leong, Raj Bala, Craig Lowery and Dennis Smith wrote in the report. "It continues to be the thought leader and the reference point for all competitors, with an accelerating pace of innovation on top of an already rich portfolio of services, and an expanding impact across a range of IT markets."

Last week Microsoft said that in the second quarter its Azure public cloud business, which holds the No. 2 position in the market, brought in 97 percent more revenue than it did in the second quarter of 2016. Microsoft did not disclose Azure's revenue in dollars, although Piper Jaffray estimated that it was around $1.4 billion -- one-third of AWS' revenue.

Earlier this week Alphabet didn't report exact revenue for its Google Cloud Platform business, which holds the No. 3 position in the public cloud market, in the second quarter. What Alphabet did say is that in the quarter the cloud closed three times the number of deals exceeding $500,000 that it did in the second quarter of 2016. But again, there were no actual dollar figures for revenue, operating income or operating expenditures, making comparisons of the clouds difficult.

That didn't stop analyst firm Synergy Research Group from updating its market share numbers for the categories of infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and hosted private cloud. AWS holds 34 percent of the market, while Azure has 11 percent, IBM had 8 percent and Google has 5 percent, the firm said.

In the past four quarters AWS' market share increased by 1 percentage point, Synergy said.
People use their mobile phones in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on August 31, 2015.

It's a match made in business heaven: Chinese technology companies hungry for expansion are diving into the less-developed African continent, where several countries are targeting double-digit economic growth.

Iginio Gagliardone, a lecturer in media studies at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, told CNBC via telephone that the Middle Kingdom's expansion into Africa has been particularly pronounced over the past four to five years.

"China is everywhere," Gagliardone said, though he noted that its presence was stronger in certain markets.

For example, Gagliardone explained that China was "definitely the only player" in Ethiopia, with Chinese investment in the country's technology sector totaling $3 billion as of 2012.

But, he added that China was making its presence felt not just in East Africa, but also as far north as Egypt and Morocco and as far south as South Africa.

According to analysts CNBC spoke to, success in Africa boiled down to cost, with Chinese companies offering cheaper alternatives to their U.S. and European competitors. Gagliardone also said that African companies welcome the Chinese "no questions asked" style of doing business.

The China-Africa tech story began two decades ago, with the expansion of Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE , followed by Huawei, which provides similar services.

Tim Steinecke, an analyst at management consultancy Xynteo, wrote to CNBC via e-mail that both multinationals helped lay Africa's telecommunications infrastructure, and also worked with local African companies, research institutions and governments.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 slid more than 1 percent at the end of trading with only the oil and gas sector in positive territory. For the week, the benchmark fell almost 3 percent, the FTSE 100 dropped more than 1 percent and the Dax slipped 0.7 percent.

On Wall Street, U.S. equities fell on Friday as large-cap tech stocks followed Amazon.com lower on the back of its earnings miss in the previous session. The Stoxx 600's technology sector dropped 1.33 percent.

Tabacco stocks fell sharply after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a plan for tobacco and nicotine regulation, which seeks to lower nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels.

Shares of Altria Group, maker of Marlboro and Parliament brands through its Philip Morris USA unit, plunged more than 17 percent. British American Tobacco , which owns brands such as Camel, Lucky Strike and Newport, more than 7 percent. Imperial Brands also fell more than 4 percent.

Switzerland's largest bank, UBS , posted better-than-expected profits in the second quarter of the year on Friday. The lender reported 1.174 billion Swiss francs ($1.21 billion) in net profits, up 14 percent on a year earlier. Its shares slipped over 3 percent amid a cautious outlook for the firm.



U.K. lender Barclays reported a net loss of 1.21 billion ($1.58 billion) for the first half of 2017 on Friday. The bank attributed its results to a fall in sterling, a charge from the mis-selling of payment protection insurance and a loss from the sale of its Africa unit. It's shares down 1.6 percent.



Elsewhere, Adidas surged towards the top of the benchmark after reporting an improved full-year outlook in its second-quarter earnings report late Thursday. The German sporting goods firm said it anticipated currency-neutral sales to grow between 17 and 19 percent in 2017. It had previously estimated a range between 12 and 14 percent. Shares were more than 8 percent.


A riot security force member fires his weapon at a rally during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017.

Some hedge funds are taking big bets on Venezuelan debt ahead of a controversial national vote on Sunday that has sparked severe unrest in that country.

The vote is for a special constitutional assembly that could rewrite the constitution despite widespread condemnation and the threat of more sanctions by the U.S. and other nations, particularly against Venezuela's state-owned oil company known as Petroleos de Venezuela , S.A., or PDVSA.

One particular trade concerns a PDVSA bond that has a $1.8 billion principal payment due in November. This bond traded Friday at 76.5 cents, deeply distressed and down from 83 cents just one month ago as the threat of sanctions weighs on it.

There are strong rumors that President Nicolas Maduro has reached a deal with Venezuela's government opposition that would stop the vote this Sunday. Hedge-fund traders are betting that if the rumors are true, they will get a windfall on their holding of this PDVSA bond.

If Sunday's vote is called off, the bond could rise dramatically on Monday, reflecting the market's view that the oil company would be able to make the November payment. And those who bought the bond on Friday at 76.5 cents and held it to November, if the principal payment is made, could recover 100 cents, a 30.7 percent return.

But if the rumors aren't true, and Sunday's vote is held, traders think it means more sanctions from the United States, and possibly the EU, and a likely default of the PDVSA bond by the Venezuelan government.

In that case, the recovery value on the bond in a restructuring is somewhere between 30 and 60 cents, based on the varied opinions of funds and restructuring experts.

The outlines of a deal, according to the speculation circulating in the emerging-market trading community, are as follows:

Maduro agrees not to hold the vote on Sunday, agrees to hold long-delayed regional elections in December and a presidential election in late 2018. The government would also allow a humanitarian aid channel opened. Thus far that has been prohibited because the government denies there is a crisis in the country.

In exchange for that, the opposition stops the unrest on the streets, and eventually allows safe passage out of the country for Maduro. It is unclear whether the opposition is united on this and will actually go along with it.

Sunday's vote for the new assembly would supersede the current parliament, which is controlled by Maduro's opposition. That has been criticized by leaders throughout the Americas as anti-democratic. Violent protests have rocked Venezuela, with nearly 100 deaths so far.

The United States imposed sanctions on 13 former and current Venezuelan officials earlier this week, promising more if Maduro goes through with the vote.

One of the most severe sanctions being floated is a ban on the import of Venezuelan oil, or a tax so heavy it wouldn't make sense to buy it. Oil makes up 95 percent of Venezuela's exports, and its sale provides the U.S. dollars Venezuela would need to pay the PDVSA bond due in November.

An even tougher option is what's known as the "Iran or Cuba" option or the "nuclear" option: prohibit the Venezuelan government from transacting in U.S. dollars, which would prevent it from selling oil in large parts of the world.
For months, the world has been captivated by the slow drip of information about Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

R. David Edelman, a former advisor to President Obama on technology and cyber issues isn't as worried about what the Russians did in the past as he is about what the state-actor could do in the future.

Dr. Edelman says the current news environment and emerging technology could create the perfect conditions for Russia to mislead the American public with misinformation.

"It is worth thinking  and perhaps worrying  about the intersection of Russia-style information operations and artificial intelligence," said Edelman. "Too often, people simply believe what they see online, especially if it confirms an existing bias. And new research is showing just how easy it is to impersonate a voice, an image, or even a video of a well-known official," he said.

The former cyber policy director imagines a fake broadcast being accepted as truth.

"I think in 5 years it will be very difficult to tell truth from fiction. Video forgery, audio forgery, deep learning provides tools that state and non-state actors could use to create confusion," said Edelman.

While malicious Russian cyber activity in nothing new to the U.S., the tactics used have become more sophisticated over the years. In 2014, hackers thought to be working for the Russian government broke into an unclassified White House computer system, according to reports. Then, there was the hacking of the State department email system which was described by law enforcement and congressional officials briefed on the investigation as the "worst ever" intrusion against a federal agency. In 2016, cyber hacking activities were aimed at Democratic party groups including Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and his emails were released on WikiLeaks as part of an "influence campaign" directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a declassified U.S. intelligence report.

"What we saw in the election hacking was simply an extension of a longstanding series of aggressive actions Russia has undertaken throughout modern history  usually within their sphere of influence, in the region  to sow discord to favor the political preferences and to ultimately discredit the West," he said.

As Obama's cyber policy lead Edelman was on the team that established the U.S.-Russia "red phone" designed to de-escalate cyber crises. The phone was used by Obama to warn Putin of potential consequences if Russian interference didn't stop. "While we did find ways to work together, to try to prevent crises or miscalculations, there was no point in the last nine years where U.S. experts regarded the Russians as a friendly actor," Edelman said.

The election meddling was in line with Russia's policy goal of destabilizing the Western order, he said. Still, Edelman thinks the Trump candidacy may have led them to become bolder as time went on. "They saw the potential to really shake things up," he said.

Since the Russian security services didn't hack the election in the sense of changing votes from one to the other, the narrative around the cyber intrusion should change, Edelman said.
Japan's Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Friday the country will raise tariffs on frozen beef imports from the United States and other countries from August to protect domestic producers.

Tariffs on frozen beef will jump to 50 percent from the current 38.5 percent between Aug. 1 and the end of March next year, as a "safeguard" mechanism to protect domestic farmers is being triggered, the ministry said in a statement.

The increase will be the first time the tariff mechanism has been tripped for beef imports since it was last triggered for chilled beef in August 2003, the farm ministry said.

The increase threatens a significant sector of United States' access to the biggest Asian market for U.S. beef overall, just as President Donald Trump is trying to expand American exports to Japan.

A tariff increase is automatic if quarterly imports for specific types of beef products - both from all nations and from those that do not have economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with Japan - rise more than 17 percent from a year earlier.

In April-June, Japan's first fiscal quarter, frozen beef imports from all nations totalled 89,253 tonnes, up 17.1 percent from a year ago, and imports from non-EPA nations reached 37,823 tonnes, up nearly 25 percent, government data showed.

Nations that have EPAs with Japan, such as Australia, Mexico and Chile, will be excluded from the hike in tariffs. Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters the government has been contacting affected nations such as the United States to explain the increase, Kyodo news agency said.
Some see a huge miss when they look at Amazon 's latest earnings report, but retailers see exactly why they're struggling to compete.

The internet giant is growing sales, but Amazon isn't worried about the bottom line as it continues to invest heavily in its many businesses. The investments are hurting profits, but they're also setting Amazon up for even bigger success, analysts say.

"Amazon is buying sales at the expense of the bottom line," said GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders in a research note. "In our view, this is a sustainable position both because Amazon is cash generative and is not losing money; nevertheless, it takes some of the shine off Amazon's success."

Amazon on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings per share of 40 cents, falling short of analysts' estimates of $1.42, according to Thomson Reuters' consensus estimates.

Total sales jumped 25 percent year-over-year, meaning Amazon brought in roughly $7.5 billion more in revenue during the second quarter of 2017 compared to a year ago, Saunders said. "This is an impressive performance  but it is doubly so for a company of the size and scale of Amazon."

Much of Amazon's efforts to double down in its investments are deliberate, and retailers should be warned if they're not already, he added.

"Amazon chooses to reinvest in its business and to sacrifice profits to boost its market share and dominance," Saunders said. On the other hand, a retailer like Wal-Mart made more net profit in a week than Amazon did during the entire quarter, he pointed out.

As Amazon's profitability is actually weakening instead of improving, the e-commerce behemoth is said to be " " The gap in sales has widened, over the past year, between Amazon and brick-and-mortar store-based retailers.

Retailers just can't compete, Stefan Weitz, an executive vice president of technology for Radial, told CNBC.

"No other retailer can come close to this kind of [profit] loss without a catastrophic result. ... Amazon's earnings report underlines why the company is accelerating  they're investing more money directly back into their business than any other retailer can afford," Weitz said.

Though Amazon Web Services remains the company's main growth driver, it's clear Amazon is making investments in growing its product offerings on Amazon.com, as evidenced by the latest Prime Day.

Meantime, Amazon is rolling out its own private-label brands in home goods, grocery and fashion. And with a Whole Foods acquisition in the works and expected to be completed before the year is over, Amazon is preparing to vastly expand its real-estate footprint.

"We are experimenting with a number of [physical] formats," CFO Brian Olsavsky said on Thursday's earnings conference call when asked about the success of Amazon's bookstores.

"You've seen the physical bookstores, and I would say that the benefit there is again ... it's also a great opportunity for people to touch and feel our devices and see them."

Olsavsky went on to say that Amazon is looking at rolling out different-sized stores, and the e-retailer now considers "revenue cost per square foot, just like any other physical retailer."

Just last week, the founder of home goods retailer Crate & Barrel, Gordon Segal, joined CNBC to say that Amazon was taking the "touch and feel" out of shopping. On Thursday's earnings conference call, Amazon executives used those exact words to describe the company's success thus far in physical retailing.

Amazon doesn't look to be slowing down its spending and expansion in key areas anytime soon.

CFO Olsavsky told analysts and investors Thursday that the company will "continue to invest in ... fulfillment capacity and logistics services, digital video ... not to mention Prime Now and AmazonFresh and Prime benefits."

Prime has grown to be a key part of Amazon's success. In combination with other subscription revenues, Amazon Prime fees brought the company roughly $2.2 billion of revenue this quarter, up 51 percent from one year ago.

Few retailers boast such extensive loyalty programs that tap into so many American homes as does Amazon Prime. Costco 's annual membership is known for having high renewal ratings among those shoppers who start to use it. Target 's Cartwheel Perks app and Redcard credit card have grown. And Starbucks ' Starbucks Rewards program hands out gold stars in return for purchases, proving to be an enticing offer.

Still, the reach of these retailers' programs pales in comparison to Prime.

"The unfortunate truth for other retailers is that Amazon's growth and success will force them to reduce margins, especially if they want to grow in e-commerce," GlobalData Retail's Saunders said.

"While Amazon is comfortable operating with relatively low profitability, many other retailers  and their investors  are not. This is something that will create some significant pain points over the coming years."
Russia told the United States on Friday that some of its diplomats had to leave the country in just over a month and said it was seizing some U.S. diplomatic property as retaliation for what it said were proposed illegal U.S. sanctions.

Russia's response, announced by the Foreign Ministry, came a day after the U.S. Senate voted to slap new sanctions on Russia, putting President Donald Trump in a tough position by forcing him to take a hard line on Moscow or veto the legislation and anger his own Republican Party.

President Vladimir Putin had warned on Thursday that Russia had so far exercised restraint, but would have to retaliate against what he described as boorish and unreasonable U.S. behaviour.

Relations between the two countries, already at a post-Cold War low, have deteriorated even further after U.S. intelligence agencies accused Russia of trying to meddle in last year's U.S. presidential election, something Moscow flatly denies.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the United States had until Sept. 1 to reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people, the same number of Russian diplomats it said were left in the United States after Washington expelled 35 Russians in December.

It said in a statement that the decision by Congress to impose new sanctions confirmed "the extreme aggression of the United States in international affairs."

"Hiding behind its 'exceptionalism' the United States arrogantly ignores the positions and interests of other countries," said the ministry. "Under the absolutely invented pretext of Russian interference in their

"Under the absolutely invented pretext of Russian interference in their domestic affairs the United States is aggressively pushing forward, one after another, crude anti-Russian actions. This all runs counter to the principles of international law."

It was not immediately clear how many U.S. diplomats and other workers would be forced to leave the country.

An official at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, who declined to be named because they were not allowed to speak to the media, said there were around 1,100 U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia. That included Russian citizens and U.S. citizens.

Most staff, including around 300 U.S. citizens, work in the main embassy in Moscow with others based in outlying consulates.



The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was also seizing a Moscow dacha compound used by U.S. diplomats to relax from Aug. 1 as well as a U.S. diplomatic warehouse in Moscow.

The outgoing Obama administration seized two Russian diplomatic compounds - one in New York and another in Maryland - at the same time as it expelled the Russian diplomats in December.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned it would respond in kind if Washington decided to expel any Russian diplomats.

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It may seem like Silicon Valley is populated entirely with celebrity college dropouts, but in fact, they're the exception to the rule. Going to college pays off, and to land a job at one of the most coveted tech employers, you'll need to stay in school.

Data analysis site Paysa looked at over 8,200 job posting and over 70,000 resumes at tech "titans" (companies worth at least $100 billion with an IPO more than 10 years ago) and "tech disruptors" (companies worth at least $10 billion with an IPO within the last 10 years) and found that employees at these companies are highly educated, not dropouts.

A disproportionate number of employees at these sought-after companies actually have advanced degrees, and one company stood out as employing the highest percentage of workers with Ph.D.s  Google.

A whopping 16 percent of positions at Google require a doctorate degree. Less than 2 percent of Americans have earned a doctoral degree and an even smaller percentage have studied topics that are relevant to Google's work. Data visualization initiative Data USA reports that in 2015 there were only 34,002 people in the workforce with doctorate degrees in computer science  just 0.01 percent of the total U.S. population.
In the crowded world of finance twitter, some market analysts are looking for a way to get paid for their tweets.

Bespoke Investment Group co-founders Paul Hickey and Justin Walters, with the help of Centric Digital, quietly launched a paid, private Twitter channel product called Premo Social on July 13. For about $10 or more a month, subscribers can get live market and economic analysis in their

Twitter feeds from Bespoke, Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO and CNBC contributor Josh Brown, T3Live's Scott Redler or macroeconomics blogger Mark Dow.

"We wanted to come up with a way to distribute our content in the fastest way possible," Hickey told CNBC. He noted that some of Bespoke's time-sensitive reports often took too long to reach clients through email, so creating a subscription service on top of Twitter allows for real-time distribution to a large, existing user base.

Premo Social is completely independent from Twitter and the social media company didn't respond to a request for comment on this article. Premo's system automates the authorization process for adding new followers to a private Twitter feed, while collecting a fee along the way.

"If a social media platform's goal is to keep eyeballs, this only enhances that goal," Hickey said.

Bespoke, Josh Brown and the other initial Premo account holders already have tens of thousands or more followers on Twitter. But the selling point for subscribers is tweets that "avoid some of the more personal stuff" and provide "actionable, thought-provoking" analysis, Hickey said.

While he wouldn't disclose the number of subscribers, Hickey said initial sign-ups have "exceeded everbody's expectations so far."

Like private tweets, Premo Social tweets flow right along with tweets from other accounts. Theoretically, the product could bring more users to Twitter, while giving financial analysts some extra income.

Mark Dow said in a July 24 post on his "Behavioral Macro" blog on Tumblr that he was "pretty happy" when he found Premo Social.

"My public twitter account and blog no longer reward my effort the way they did when I started tweeting, disincentivizing thoughtful output," Dow wrote. He charges a premium for his private Twitter feed  $30 a month, including the ability to correspond via direct messaging.

However, it's not clear whether these independent paid feeds or an official paid service one day will help Twitter the company, which reported Thursday an 8 percent slump in advertising revenue to $489 million. Monthly active users were unchanged at 328 million. The stock fell more than 14 percent Thursday.

Michael Pachter, managing director, equity research, at Wedbush Securities, said Premo Social sounded like "a smart idea to allow users to monetize and for Twitter to exploit their user base, but $10 per month seems pretty rich for me for each feed."

Pachter compared the idea to mobile video games, which failed to convince customers to pay for each game.

A host of online financial tips and analysis websites have sprouted up over the years, some of which have done quite well.

For example, TradingView, launched in September 2011, said it has 2 million active monthly users. The website offers free and paid charting tools for major global markets and digital currencies like bitcoin and ethereum. Users can also post trading ideas, and their ranking in the system grows as more of their ideas prove accurate.

The firm said it generates about $6 million in revenue a year and has 100 employees.

"Professional investors and traders historically had the advantage of great tools & a community of like minded people to bounce ideas off each other. TradingView was born in 2011 to give regular folks the same advantage," Stan Bokov, co-founder and COO, said in an email.

More than 200 firms annually compete in the Benzinga Fintech Awards for recognizing innovation and excellence in the capital markets industry.

We're "very keen advocates that this was the right time for this type of model," said Nick Creegan, product manager for Premo Social. "We're starting to move out of the phase where people are used to getting everything for free."

As for Premo Social, it plans to launch paid subscription feeds in the near future on other social media platforms.

That said, the model may not work for other industries.

"The only celebrities who I think have any chance of getting subscribers are those who are giving investment advice," Pachter said.
These moves suggest that even though Google has largely abandoned hopes of catching Facebook with its own social network, Google+, it still believes there is value in aping individual Facebook features. That's not a bad idea, given how profitable and fast-growing Facebook has been. "There's no internet company that's been better (than Facebook) over the last five years at delivering consistent, strong growth across its (financial) metrics," says Scott Kessler, director of equity research with CFRA, a firm which has "buy" ratings on shares of both companies. Google's updates to its mobile Feed, which now includes local data on weather, events and restaurants along with articles from its media partners, are especially notable because they reveal the company's biggest fear: That a growing portion of consumer internet activity is moving away from searching for things online to finding them via friends, family and favorite publishers on their social networks. "The world is moving away from the notion of traditional search," Kessler said in a phone interview with CNBC Friday. By giving mobile app users relevant, bite-sized information even before they type a query into its search box, "Google is trying to make the search experience more dynamic," Kessler said. "They have a lot of data and Feed helps them tie it together."

Different price trajectories
Venture capitalists have historically avoided investing in aerospace start-ups. That's because developing space technologies like rockets or satellites costs a great deal, and it can take a long time to reel in customers, especially if a start-up is seeking government contracts.

That's where space angel Ellen Chang comes in. The veteran aerospace engineer created LightSpeed Innovations in the summer of 2015 as an accelerator like Y Combinator or TechStars, but just for aerospace startups. Her aim is to help space startups find ways to make money, even before their technology is ready for big-time customers.

It's no longer necessary to launch a multi-million dollar rocket to have a viable space-tech start-up. Demand for space-related technology has ramped up beyond NASA and the Defense Department.

According to the Director of Research at the nonprofit Space Foundation, Micah Walter-Range, aerospace technologies like GPS and nano-satellite constellations are being used in areas such as ride-hailing, navigation apps and business services that monitor things like crop growth on farms or factory emissions.

Venture investors have begun to place bets in so-called "new space" startups, with $1.49 billion in funding going to aerospace companies in 2016 across 49 deals according to CB Insights, and 25 venture deals in this sector so far in 2017.

Lightspeed aims to help these start-ups by creating a network of early-stage mentors, investors and accelerators -- the type that peers who make mobile apps or hardware would take for granted.

But a typical tech accelerator like Y Combinator doesn't necessarily work for these kinds of founders.

"Astro-preneurs tend to be older. They get advanced degrees, have some industry experience and are ready to go out on their own. But they also have families and can't relocate then eat only ramen," she said.
Crude oil just hit its highest level in two months and is up more than 8 percent in the past four days as of Friday  and the technician who correctly called the move said the rally is far from over.

In a recent interview on CNBC's "Futures Now," Scott Redler, chief strategic officer of T3Live.com, said we could see crude make a run toward $50 in the coming days. Crude came within 25 cents of the key psychological level on Friday.

This week, Redler explained why we could continue to see a move higher in the commodity, in spite of widespread skepticism that OPEC's production cuts will spur a sustained move higher.

"You'll see that we have already had a move" to the upside, Redler told CNBC, setting oil up for "a bigger trend line."

He predicted that crude would likely pause around the $50, $51 level; however, if it is able to hang above that level and doesn't fall, "you might actually see a little bit more of a move [higher]."

Other analysts are still widely bearish on crude. In a research note to clients on Friday, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch reiterated that it was expecting U.S. oil to average $47 this year and $50 per barrel in 2018. The bank expects Brent crude to average $50 - $70 per barrel through 2022.

Still, oil's bounce has also pushed up energy stocks. The sector was the second best performer on the week, outperforming the broader market.

Redler pointed out that the energy ETF, XLE , chart shows a recent break above the descending trend line.

"Here's your descending trend line here. Going sideways, and now we're a little bit above it. We're actually at $66.36 ... and now if we can get above this little spot, and oil continues as it's going, I think we could see a move towards like $68 [in the XLE], and that could be a good trade," he added.

"Now I think you can be long on the XLE verse $65, and we could probably see another 5 to 7 percent [upside move] as long as everything stays on course, which it looks like as oil's approaching that $50, $51," Redler said.

Crude oil passed above its 200-day moving average level of $49.41 and was trading more than 1 percent higher at the $49.62 range midday Friday.

Correction: Scott Redler said the Energy ETF XLE could go to $68. The headline on an earlier version mischaracterized his comments.
Sprint is seeking to merge with Charter Communications to create a media and communications behemoth, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the situation.

Sprint is looking to offer bundle deals to customers with cellular-phone service, TV, landline and broadband internet service, the Journal said. The proposed combination of Sprint with Charter would merge the fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier with the second-largest U.S. cable company.

Charter and had both reportedly been talking with Sprint about various deals, with an exclusivity window closing this past week. However, Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son appears to be insisting on a splashy mega deal with Charter, the unidentified sources told the publication.

Meanhile, a separate report suggested Charter may not be interested in Sprint's overtures, one source told Bloomberg on Friday.

A representative from Sprint didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Charter declined comment when asked by CNBC on Saturday.

Son is also chairman of Japan's SoftBank. And under Sprint's latest proposed merger, a new publicly traded entity that combines Sprint and Charter would be controlled by the Japanese company, according to the people who spoke with the Journal.

Meantime, Sprint had also reportedly been discussing a possible merger with its rival T-Mobile . These talks could gain legs again, along with the Sprint-Charter dialogue, the Journal reported.

Notably, Sprint is set to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday.

Read the full report from The Wall Street Journal.
With the kind of prime time theatrics Elon Musk has become known for displaying as he has built Tesla , the company delivered its first Model 3 electric cars in front of thousands of the company's workers in Fremont, California.

"This is a great day for Tesla," said Musk before he turned over the first 30 Model 3s to employees who had ordered the new car. Musk himself will keep the very first production version of the Model 3.

With a streamlined interior and a video screen over the center of the dashboard, the Model 3 is the most modest vehicle Tesla has built. It also starts at $35,000, less than half the price of Tesla Model S or Model X.

"It was never our goal to make expensive cars," Musk said. "We finally have a great affordable electric car that is absolutely what is needed. There was no great affordable electric car and this one is."

That affordability and Tesla's growing popularity help explain why the automaker now has over a half million reservations for its newest car. The updated reservation total means Tesla has added more than 100,000 potential buyers since it last discussed how many people had put down a deposit of $1,000 in order to buy a Model 3.

The challenge now is ramping up production and meeting that demand. Tesla hopes to build 20,000 Model 3s in the month of December and then another 400,000 next year as the company targets total vehicle production of a half million in 2018.

In other words, Tesla's assembly lines are moving into overdrive.

"Everything was focused on how we could move this through the assembly line faster and more efficient with great quality," said Doug Field who leads the Tesla vehicle programs.

So what does the Model 3 feel like behind the wheel?



Like all electric cars, the instant torque and acceleration stands out. While the Model 3 does not have the immediate thrust you feel with the Model S in ludicrous mode, this is a car with more than enough acceleration off the stop going 0-60 in 5.6 seconds.



The interior stands out because of a raised 15-inch touchscreen display that has all of the information you need, including a navigation map. Does the lack of an instrument cluster behind the steering wheel seem strange? Not at all. In fact, I was comfortable having everything on the touchscreen.



Finally, forget about needing a key fob to start your car. With the Model 3, your phone is your key. You also get a valet key so when you pull up to a restaurant or hotel, you can give the valet key.
Some in the health care industry speculate that consolidation is the fate for most providers. But Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) has evidence that a sustainable advantage is gained not so much from economies of scale, but rather from economies of knowledge. Expertise correlates to patient outcomes and operational efficiency. And through collaborative relationships with third-party hospitals from up the road to across the globe, and advanced education used by medical professionals in more than 150 countries, HSS is getting bigger by helping others get better.

"154 years of specialization gives HSS the opportunity and responsibility to focus on sustainable leadership, at a time when quality is the answer to meeting the global challenges of surging demand and cost," says HSS President and CEO Lou Shapiro. "At HSS, a unique level of experience has long propelled the most advanced knowledge and prolific invention and innovation; now, we are syndicating that to other institutions in a sustainable business model that fuels growth through quality performance for consumers, our partner institutions, and for HSS."

The HSS Global Orthopedic Alliance was created recognizing that specific needs vary among health systems. The Alliance systematically transfers knowledge, protocols and other support from HSS to achieve different degrees of transformation, the highest of which is recognized as an HSS Center of Excellence.

Through the Alliance, HSS provides mentorship, education, and consulting to hospital systems that want to specialize in musculoskeletal care and adopt the model of care that has been successful for HSS. To date, it has collaborated with hospital systems in six countries outside the U.S., including Brazil, Greece, Ghana, China, South Korea and England.

"We've had great success exporting our brand to other health systems around the world," says Dr. Charles Cornell, orthopedic surgeon at HSS, and Medical Director at HSS Orthopedics at Stamford Health, a collaboration between HSS and a top Connecticut hospital system launched early this year. "The heart of the mission of the Hospital for Special Surgery is to deliver the best of care around the world. And we found the best way to do this is to collaborate with exceptional health organizations."

One such organization is Hospital Alvorada, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 2014, HSS formalized a relationship with Hospital Alvorada, with a focus on total joint replacement, of which HSS performs more than 10,000 each year. Inclusive in the partnership is access for physicians and surgical staff at Hospital Alvorada to seminars, symposia and continuing education videos online through the education portal HSS eAcademy, as well as other mentorship and training opportunities. This has benefitted both hospitals  and patients  immensely.

"The partnership with HSS did attract more surgeons to the hospital," said Dr. Osvaldo Pires, Orthopedic Surgeon at Hospital Alvorada, Sao Paulo, Brazil. "[When you have] better surgeons, of course, you have better outcomes. The quality of the surgeons hired by the hospital increased significantly."

As a result of its partnership with HSS, Hospital Alvorada is well on its way to establishing its own reputation as a leader in the field of joint replacement and musculoskeletal medicine in Brazil. In this way, HSS's Shapiro hopes to take the impeccable skill and knowledge found at HSS to help as many people as possible the world over.

"People come [to HSS] from all over the world," adds Shapiro. "But the entire world doesn't come to New York."

Click here to visit the HSS website.
Credit Suisse Group AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial services in Switzerland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. The company offers wealth management solutions, including investment advice and discretionary asset management services; risk management solutions, such as managed investment products; and wealth planning, succession planning, and trust services. It also provides financing and lending solutions, including consumer credit and real estate mortgage lending, real asset lending relating to ship, and aviation financing for UHNWI; standard and structured hedging, and lombard lending solutions, as well as collateral trading services; and investment banking solutions, such as global securities sales, trading and execution, capital raising, and advisory services. In addition, the company offers banking solutions, such as payments, accounts, debit and credit cards, and product bundles; asset management products; equity and debt underwriting, and advisory services; cash equities, equity derivatives, and convertibles, as well as prime services; and fixed income products, such as credit, securitized, macro, emerging markets, financing, structured credit, and other products. Further, it provides HOLT, a framework for assessing the performance of approximately 20,000 companies; and equity and fixed income research services. The company serves private and institutional clients; ultra-high-net-worth individuals, high-net-worth individuals, and affluent and retail clients; corporate clients, small and medium-sized enterprises, external asset managers, financial institutions, and commodity traders; and pension funds, hedge funds, governments, foundations and endowments, corporations, entrepreneurs, private individuals, financial sponsors, and sovereign clients. As of December 31, 2021, it operated through a network of 311 offices and branches. The company was founded in 1856 and is based in Zurich, Switzerland.
World Fuel Services Corporation engages in the distribution of fuel and related products and services in the aviation, marine and land transportation industries worldwide. Its Aviation segment supplies fuel and related products and services to commercial airlines, second and third tier airlines, cargo carriers, regional and low-cost carriers, airports, fixed based operators, corporate fleets, fractional operators, private aircraft, the U.S., foreign governments, intergovernmental organizations, and military customers. This segment also offers fuel management, price risk management, ground handling, dispatch services and trip planning services, such as flight planning and scheduling, weather reports and overflight permits. Its Land segment offers fuel, heating oil, propane, natural gas, lubricants and related products and services to petroleum distributors and retail petroleum operators, as well as industrial, commercial, residential and government customers. This segment also offers management services for procuring fuel and price risk management; advisory and fulfillment solutions related to power, natural gas and other energy products; consulting, renewable fuel products, carbon management and renewable energy solutions and card payment solutions; and transaction management and commercial payment programs. Its Marine segment markets fuel, lubricants and related products and services to international container and tanker fleets, commercial cruise lines, yachts and time charter operators, offshore rig owners and operators, the U.S., foreign governments, and other fuel suppliers. Its marine fuel-related services include management services to procure fuel, cost control, quality control, and claims management services. This segment also engages in the fueling of vessels, transportation and delivery of fuel and fuel-related products. World Fuel Services Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
The following companies are subsidiares of Accenture: 2nd Road, ?What If!, ?What If! China Holdings Limited, ?What If! Holdings Limited, ?What If! Limited, ACN Consulting Co Ltd, AD.Dialeto (Digital Agency acquired by Accenture), AFD.TECH, AGS Business and Technology Services Limited, AIG Shared Services Business Processing Inc, ASM Research Inc., ASM Research LLC, ATAN, Accenture (Botswana) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (China) Co. Ltd., Accenture (Shenzhen) Technology Co. Ltd., Accenture (South Africa) Pty Ltd, Accenture (UK) Limited, Accenture 2 Business Process Services S.A., Accenture 2 LLC, Accenture A/S, Accenture AB, Accenture AG, Accenture AS, Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, Accenture Agencia Interativa Ltda, Accenture Australia Holding B.V., Accenture Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture B.V., Accenture BPM Operations Support Services S.A., Accenture BPM S.C.R.L., Accenture BPS Services S.p. z o.o., Accenture Branch Holdings B.V., Accenture Bulgaria EOOD, Accenture Business Services for Utilities Inc, Accenture Business Services of British Columbia Limited Partnership, Accenture Business and Technology Services LLC, Accenture C.A., Accenture Canada Holdings Inc, Accenture Capital Designated Activity Company, Accenture Capital Inc, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Accenture Chile Asesorias y Servicios Ltda, Accenture Cloud Services GmbH, Accenture Cloud Software Solutions Limited, Accenture Cloud Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions LLC, Accenture Cloud Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd, Accenture Co. Ltd, Accenture Communications Infrastructure Solutions Ltd, Accenture Company Ltd, Accenture Consulting Pty Ltd, Accenture Consulting Services Ltd Tanzania, Accenture Consultores de Gestao S.A., Accenture Consultoria de Industria e Consumo Ltda, Accenture Consultoria de Recursos Naturais Ltda, Accenture Credit Services LLC, Accenture Customer Services Distribution SASU, Accenture Customer Services Ltd, Accenture Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, Accenture Defined Benefit Pension Plan Trustees Limited, Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan Trustees Limited, Accenture Delivery Poland S.p. z o.o., Accenture Dienstleistungen GmbH, Accenture Digital Holdings GmbH, Accenture East Africa Limited, Accenture Ecuador S.A., Accenture Egypt LLC, Accenture Enterprise Development (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Accenture Federal Services LLC, Accenture Finance II Limited, Accenture Finance Limited, Accenture Finance and Accounting BPO Services S.p.A., Accenture Finance and Accounting Services S.r.l., Accenture Financial Advanced Solution & Technology S.r.l., Accenture Flex LLC, Accenture GP LLC, Accenture Global Capital Designated Activity Company, Accenture Global Engagements Limited, Accenture Global Holdings Limited, Accenture Global Services Limited, Accenture Global Solutions Limited, Accenture GmbH, Accenture HR Services S.p.A., Accenture Healthcare Processing Inc, Accenture Holding Brasil Ltda, Accenture Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Accenture Holdings (Iberia) S.L., Accenture Holdings B.V., Accenture Holdings France SASU, Accenture Hungary Holdings Kft, Accenture Inc, Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions Kft, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions SA, Accenture Insurance Services B.V., Accenture Insurance Services LLC, Accenture International B.V., Accenture International LLC, Accenture International Limited, Accenture Japan Ltd, Accenture Korea B.V., Accenture LLC, Accenture LLP, Accenture Lanka (Private) Ltd, Accenture Limited, Accenture Lithuania UAB, Accenture Ltd, Accenture Ltda, Accenture Maghreb S.a.r.l., Accenture Managed Services SRL, Accenture Management GmbH, Accenture Marketing Services LLC, Accenture Marketing Services Limited, Accenture Middle East B.V., Accenture Minority I B.V., Accenture Mozambique Limitada, Accenture Mzansi Pty Ltd, Accenture NV/SA, Accenture NZ Limited, Accenture Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Co., Accenture OOO, Accenture Operations GmbH, Accenture Operations S.p. z o.o., Accenture Operations Services Private Limited, Accenture Operations Services Sdn Bhd, Accenture Outsourcing S.r.l., Accenture Outsourcing Services S.A., Accenture Oy, Accenture Panama Inc, Accenture Participations B.V., Accenture Participations II Limited, Accenture Peru SRL, Accenture Post Trade Processing SASU, Accenture Post-Trade Processing Limited, Accenture Process (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Pte Ltd, Accenture Puerto Rico LLC, Accenture Qiyun Technology (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Accenture S.C., Accenture S.L., Accenture S.R.L., Accenture S.p. z o.o., Accenture S.p.A., Accenture SASU, Accenture SG Services Pte Ltd, Accenture SRL, Accenture Saudi Arabia Limited, Accenture Sdn Bhd, Accenture Service Center SRL, Accenture Services (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Services AB, Accenture Services AG, Accenture Services AS, Accenture Services GmbH, Accenture Services Morocco SA, Accenture Services Oy, Accenture Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Services S.p. z o.o., Accenture Services SRL, Accenture Services and Technology S.r.l., Accenture Services s.r.o., Accenture Single Member S.A. Organization Information Technology & Business Development, Accenture Solutions Co. Ltd, Accenture Solutions Private Limited, Accenture Solutions Pte Ltd, Accenture Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Solutions S.p. z o.o, Accenture Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture State Healthcare Services LLC, Accenture Sub II Inc, Accenture Sub III Inc, Accenture Sub LLC, Accenture Systems Integration Limited, Accenture Sarl, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Accenture Technology Solutions (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (HK) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (Thailand) Co. Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas S.A., Accenture Technology Solutions GmbH, Accenture Technology Solutions Oy, Accenture Technology Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions S.A. de C.V., Accenture Technology Solutions S.r.l., Accenture Technology Solutions SASU, Accenture Technology Solutions SRL, Accenture Technology Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture Technology Solutions Slovakia s.r.o., Accenture Technology Ventures B.V., Accenture Technology Ventures SPRL, Accenture Tecnologia Consultoria y Outsourcing S.A., Accenture Uruguay SRL, Accenture Vietnam Co. Limited, Accenture Zambia Limited, Accenture do Brasil Ltda, Accenture plc, Accenture s.r.o., Acceria, Acquity Group, Adaptly LLC, Adaptly UK Limited, AddVal Technology, Adqptly, Advantium Inc., Advoco, Agilex Technologies Inc., Alfa Consulting, Allen International, AlphaBeta Advisors, Altevie Technologies S.r.l., Altima, Altima (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Altima Asia Ltd, Altitude, Altitude LLC, Altius Consulting Limited, Altius Data Solutions Private Limited, Analytics 8 LP, Analytics 8 Pty Ltd, Analytics8, Aorui Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Apis, Apis Group Pty Ltd, Appaloosa Technology SASU, AppsPro, AppsPro, Arca, Arca Ingenieros y Consultoria S.L., Arca Telecom S.L., Ariba - BPO, Arismore, Artio People (Payroll) Pty Ltd, Artio People Pty Ltd, Aspiro Solutions (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Automation Partners Pty Ltd, Avanade (Guangzhou) Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd., Avanade Asia Pte Ltd, Avanade Australia Pty Ltd, Avanade Belgium SPRL, Avanade Canada Inc, Avanade Consulting Poland S.p. z o.o., Avanade Denmark A/S, Avanade Deutschland GmbH, Avanade Europe Holdings Limited, Avanade Europe Services Limited, Avanade Finland Oy, Avanade France SASU, Avanade Holdings LLC, Avanade Hong Kong Ltd, Avanade Inc, Avanade International Corporation, Avanade Ireland Limited, Avanade Italy S.r.l., Avanade Japan KK, Avanade Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avanade Middle East Limited, Avanade Netherlands B.V., Avanade Norway AS, Avanade Poland S.p. z o.o., Avanade Schweiz GmbH, Avanade South Africa Pty Ltd, Avanade Spain S.L., Avanade Sweden AB, Avanade UK Limited, Avanade do Brasil Ltda , Avanade Osterreich GmbH, Avenai, Avieco, Axia Ltd., BABCN LLC, BCS Consulting, BCT Solutions, BCT Solutions Pty Ltd, BENEXT, BPO Servicos Administrativos Ltda, BRIDGE Energy Group, BRIDGEi2i, Beacon Consulting Group Inc., Beijing Genesis Interactive Technology Co. Ltd., Beijing Zhidao Future Consulting Co. Ltd, Benext, Berico Technologies LLC, Bionic, Bionic Solution LLC, Blue Horseshoe, Boomerang Pharmaceutical Communications, Bow & Arrow, Bow & Arrow Limited, Brand Learning, Brand Learning Group Limited, Brightstep AB, Byte Prophecy, Byte Prophecy Private Limited, CAS, CRMWaypoint, CS Technology (Australia) Pty Ltd, CS Technology (UK) Limited, CS Technology Group LLC, CS Technology LLC, CadenceQuest Inc., Callisto Integration Europe B.V., Callisto Integration Europe Limited, Callisto Integration LLC, Callisto Integration Ltd, Capgemini - North American health practice, Capital Consultancy Services Inc, Certus Solutions Consulting Services Limited, Certus Solutions Ltd, ChangeTrack Research Pty Ltd., Chaotic Moon Studios, Chengdu Mensa Advertising Co. Ltd., Cimation, Cirrus Connect Australia Pty Ltd, Cirrus Connect Limited, Cirruseo, Clarity Insights, ClearEdge Partners, Clearhead, Clearhead Group LLC, ClientHouse GmbH, Cloud Sherpas, Cloud Sherpas (GA) LLC, Cloud Sherpas Japan G.K., Cloud Sherpas New Zealand Limited, Cloudeasier SAS, Cloudpoint Limited, Cloudsherpas Inc, Cloudworks, Cloudworks Consulting Services Inc, Cloudworks Technology LLC, Computer Research and Telecommunications LLC, Concrete Desenvolvimento de Sistemas Ltda, Concrete Solutions, Concrete Solutions Ltda, Context Information Security, Context Information Security LLC, Context Information Security Limited, CoreCompete LLC, CoreCompete Limited, CoreCompete Private Limited, Corliant Inc., Creative Drive LLC, Creative Drive US LLC, CreativeDrive, CreativeDrive Digital Content Services (Shenzhen) Co Ltd., CreativeDrive EMEA Limited, CreativeDrive Singapore Pte Ltd, CreativeDrive UK Group Limited, Cutting Edge Solutions Limited, Cygni AB, Cygni Norrsken AB, Cygni Stockholm AB, Cygni Syd AB, Cygni Vast AB, Cygni Ost AB, Cygni Ostersund AB, DAZ Systems Inc, DAZ Systems LLC, DAZSI Systems (India) Pvt. Limited, DI Futures Corporation, Data Essential SARL, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings LLC, Decora Marketplace LLC, Decorado Marketplace Ltda-EPP, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digital Results Group LLC, Double Digit Limitada, Double Digit Pty SA, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Limited, Duck Creek Technologies, ESR Labs, ESR Labs AG, EdenOne Solutions Limited, Edenhouse ERP Holdings Limited, Edenhouse Solutions Limited, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting LP, End to End Analytics LLC, End-to-End Analytics, Endorphin Medici (M) Sdn Bhd, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Limited, EnergyQuote JHA, Enimbos, Enimbos Global Services S.L., Enkitec, Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions LLC, Enterprise System Partners, Enterprise System Partners B.V., Enterprise System Partners Bilisim Danismanlik Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Enterprise System Partners Global Corporation, Enterprise System Partners Limited, Enthusian Pty Ltd, Entropia, Entropia (M) Sdn Bhd, Entropia Holdings Pte Ltd, Entropia Intercraft Sdn Bhd, Epylon, Ergo, Espedia S.r.l., Ethica Consulting Group, Ethica Consulting S.p.A., Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Experity, Exton Consulting, Exton Consulting Spain Strategy&Management S.L., Exton Germany GmbH, Exton International SAS, Exton Italia S.r.l., Exton SAS, FGM LLC, Fairway Technologies Inc, Farah BidCo Limited, Farah MidCo Limited, Farah Topco Limited, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Formicary, Founders Intelligence, Fruendo S.r.l., FusionX, Future State Consulting LLC, FutureMove (Beijing) Automotive Technology Co. Ltd., FutureMove Automotive, FutureMove Automotive Co. Ltd., GRA Supply Chain Pty Ltd, Gagel Group S de R.L. de C.V., Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gevity, Gren utvikling AS, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., HRC Retail Advisory, Hagberg Consulting Group, Hahntel Ltda, Halo Partners LLC, Hamilton Holding Company S.A, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Happen GP Limited, Happen Limited, Headspring, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl A/S, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn Bhd, IBB Consulting, ICM.S S.r.l., IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INSITUM, IQSP Consulting LLC, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Icon Integration (NZ) Limited, Icon Integration Pty Ltd, Imagine Broadband (USA) Limited, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Imaginea Technologies LLC, Industrie IT (Hong Kong) Ltd, Industrie IT (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Industrie IT Group Pty Ltd, Industrie IT Pty Ltd, Industrie&Co, Infinity Works Consulting Limited, Infinity Works Holdings Limited, Infinity Works Management Limited, Infinity Works Midco Limited, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Innotec International EAD, Innotec International S.p. z.o.o., Innotec Marketing GmbH, Innotec Marketing International Ireland Limited, Innotec- Marketing Spain S.L, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., International Biometric Group LLC, International Biometric Group UK Limited, Intrepid, Intrepid Futureworks Sdn Bhd, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Technology Ltd, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, ItSafer Continuity Services S.L., JKD Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, K Comms Group Limited, KSC Studio LLC, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, King James Group, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Limited, Kogentix Singapore Pte Ltd, Kogentix Technologies Private Limited, Kolle Rebbe, Kolle Rebbe GmbH, Kream Comms Limited, Kunstmaan, Kurt Salmon, Kurt Salmon Canada LTD, Kurt Salmon US LLC, LEXTA, LINKBYNET, LINKBYNET Indian Ocean (L.I.O) Ltd, LabAnswer, Lexta GmbH, Lexta UK Limited, Lien par le reseau Inc, Lien par le reseau infrastructures Inc, Lin Bo (Shanghai) Network Technology Co. Ltd., Link By Net SAS, Link By Net SRL, Link By Net Vietnam Company Limited, Linkbynet East Asia Ltd, Linkbynet Singapore Pte Ltd., Loud & Clear Creative Pty Ltd, Lumenup S.A., MAXIM Systems Inc., MCG US Holdings LLC, Mackevision CG Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mackevision Japan Co. Ltd., Mackevision Korea Ltd, Mackevision LLC, Mackevision Medien Design, Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Mackevision Singapore Pte Ltd, Mackevision UK Limited, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd, Maihiro, Matter, Maud Corp Pty Ltd, Maxamine International, Measuretek LLC, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing LLC, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mistral Wind Operations  Servicos Empresariais Unipessoal Lda., MobGen, Mortgage Cadence LLC, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, Mudano Limited, Myrtle Consulting Group LLC, N3, N3 (Dalian) Business Consulting Co. Ltd., N3 Brazil Consultoria em Marketing Ltda, N3 Germany GmbH, N3 LLC, N3 North America LLC, N3 Results Australia Pty Ltd, N3 Results Ireland Limited, N3 Results Japan G.K., N3 Results Limited, N3 Results Malaysia Sdn Bhd, N3 Results Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., N3 Results S.A.S., N3 Results Singapore Pte Ltd, N3 Results Unipessoal Lda, NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., Nell'Armonia Israel Ltd, Nell'Armonia SAS, Nell'Participation SAS, NellArmonia, Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda, New Energy Group, News Imaging LLC, NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage Pte Ltd, Northstream, Novetta Holdings LLC, Novetta LLC, Novetta Solutions LLC, Novetta Topco LLC, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Olikka Pty Ltd, Olympus Systems Corporation, Openmind, Openmind S.r..l., Openminded, Openminded SAS, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium AG, Orbium Consulting Limited, Orbium Inc., Orbium Ltd, Orbium Pte Ltd, Orbium Pty Ltd, Origin Digital, PCO Innovation, PLM Systems S.r.l, PRION GmbH, PT Accenture, PT Asta Catur Indra, PT Kogentix Teknologi Indonesia, PacificLink Group, Paja Finanssipalvelut Oy, Parker Fitzgerald Inc, Parker Fitzgerald International Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Limited, Parker Fitzgerald PTY Ltd, Parker Fitzgerald Services Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Solutions Limited, Pecaso Ltd., Pegasus Production A/S, Pegasus Production K/S, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pollux Automation Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pollux Canada Inc, Pollux S.A.S., Pollux USA LLC, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Limited, Pramati Technologies Europe Limited, Pramati Technologies Private Limited, Presence of IT Workforce Management North America LLC, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Limited, Procurian Inc., Prof. Homburg GmbH, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co. Ltd., RBCP Fund 1-A Vapor Blocker LLC, RBCP Platform Vapor Blocker I LLC, REPL Consulting LLC, REPL Consulting Limited, REPL Digital Limited, REPL Group K.K., REPL Group Pty Ltd, REPL Group Worldwide Limited, REPL Pte Ltd, REPL Software Limited, REPL Technology Limited, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Root LLC, Rothco, Rothco Limited, S3 TV Technology Ltd., SALT Solutions GmbH, SEC Servizi, SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Salt Solutions, Sandbox Studio LLC, Sapling Bidco Limited, Sapling Midco Limited, Sapling Topco Limited, Schlumberger Business Consulting, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace (UK) Limited, Seabury Consulting, Seabury Corporate Advisors LLC, Seabury Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Search Technologies BPO Inc, Search Technologies International LLC, Search Technologies LLC, Search Technologies Limited, Securiview SAS, Sentelis, Sentor Managed Secuirty Services AB, Servicios Tecnicos de Programacion Accenture S.C., Seven Seas Business Ventures LLC, Shackleton, Shackleton Chile S.A., Shackleton S.L.U., Shanghai Baiyue Advertising Co. Ltd., Shun Zhe Technology Development Co. Ltd., SigInt Technologies LLC, Silveo, Silveo Consulting India Private Limited, Simian Pty Ltd, SinnerSchrader, SinnerSchrader AG, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., Sirvart S.A., Sistemes Consulting S.L., Skylink SAS, Soltians Limited, Solutions IQ LLC, SolutionsIQ, SolutionsIQ India Consulting Services Private Limited, Somers Ventures Ireland Limited, Somers Ventures LLC, Spacelink SAS, Storm Digital, Structure Consulting Group LLC, Sutter Mills, Synership LLC, Systor AG, T.A. Cook, TXF LLC, Tambourine, TargetST8, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Ltd, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Tquila, Trivadis, Trivadis AG, Trivadis Austria GmbH, Trivadis Denmark AS, Trivadis Germany GmbH, Trivadis Holding AG, Trivadis Partner AG, Trivadis Services AG, Trivadis Services SRL, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Vector Acquisition Company LLC, Vector Topco LLC, Verax Solutions, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd, Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Wabion GmbH, WaveStrike LLC, White Cliffs Consulting LLC, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wise Partners SAS, Wolox, Wolox Colombia S.A.S, Wolox LLC, Wolox Mexico S.R.L de C.V., Wolox S.A., Wolox SpA, Workforce Insight, Workforce Insight LLC, Yesler, Yesler LLC, Yesler Limited, Yesler Singapore Pte Ltd, Zag, Zag Australia Pty Ltd, Zag Limited, Zag USA LLC, Zebra Worldwide Australia Pty Ltd, Zebra Worldwide Group Limited, Zebra Worldwide Media Pty Ltd, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines Inc, Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc, Zestgroup, Zielpuls, Zielpuls (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zielpuls GmbH, avVenta, designaffairs, designaffairs Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., designaffairs GmbH, designaffairs group China Co. Ltd., dgroup, i4C Analytics, iDefense, solid-serVision.com GmbH, and umlaut.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Eli Lilly and: 1096401 B.C. Unlimited Liability Company, ARMO BioSciences Inc, ARMO Bioscience, Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Alnara Pharmaceuticals Inc., Andean Technical Operations Center, Applied Molecular Evolution Inc., AurKa Pharma, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., ChemGen, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals Inc., Dermira, Devices for Vascular Intervention(DVI), Disarm Therapeutics, Dista Ilac Ticaret Ltd. Sti., Dista S.A., Dista-Produtos Quimicos & Farmaceuticos LDA, ELCO Dominicana SRL, ELCO Insurance Company Limited, ELCO Management Inc., ELCO for Trade and Marketing S.A.E., ELGO Insurance Company Limited, Elanco Animal Health Ireland Limited, Elanco Switzerland Holding Sarl, Eli Lilly (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Eli Lilly (Philippines) Incorporated, Eli Lilly (S.A.) (Proprietary) Limited, Eli Lilly (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Eli Lilly (Suisse) S.A., Eli Lilly Asia Inc., Eli Lilly Asia Pacific SSC Sdn Bhd, Eli Lilly Australia Pty. Limited, Eli Lilly B-H d.o.o., Eli Lilly Benelux S.A., Eli Lilly Bienes y Servicios S de RL de CV, Eli Lilly CR s.r.o., Eli Lilly Canada Inc., Eli Lilly Cork Limited, Eli Lilly Danmark A/S, Eli Lilly Egypt for Trading, Eli Lilly European Clinical Trial Services SA, Eli Lilly Export S.A., Eli Lilly Finance S.A., Eli Lilly Ges.m.b.H., Eli Lilly Group Limited, Eli Lilly Holdings Ltd., Eli Lilly Hrvatska d.o.o., Eli Lilly Interamerica Inc., Eli Lilly Interamerica Inc. y Compania Limitada, Eli Lilly International Corporation, Eli Lilly Ireland Holdings Limited, Eli Lilly Israel Ltd., Eli Lilly Italia S.p.A., Eli Lilly Japan K.K., Eli Lilly Kinsale Limited, Eli Lilly Nederland B.V., Eli Lilly Nigeria Ltd., Eli Lilly Norge A.S., Eli Lilly Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd., Eli Lilly Polska Sp.z.o.o. (Ltd.), Eli Lilly Regional Operations GmbH, Eli Lilly Romania SRL, Eli Lilly S.A., Eli Lilly Saudi Arabia Limited, Eli Lilly Services Inc, Eli Lilly Services India Private Limited, Eli Lilly Slovakia s.r.o., Eli Lilly Sweden AB, Eli Lilly Vostok S.A. Geneva, Eli Lilly and Company, Eli Lilly and Company (India) Pvt. Ltd., Eli Lilly and Company (Ireland) Limited, Eli Lilly and Company (N.Z.) Limited, Eli Lilly and Company (Taiwan) Inc., Eli Lilly and Company Limited, Eli Lilly de Centro America S.A., Eli Lilly do Brasil Limitada, Eli Lilly farmacevtska druzba d.o.o., Eli Lilly y Compania de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Eli Lilly y Compania de Venezuela S.A., Glycostasis Inc, Greenfield-Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Heart Rhythm Technologies Inc, Hybritech, Hypnion, ICOS Corporation, ImClone GmbH, ImClone LLC, ImClone Systems Holdings Inc., ImClone Systems LLC, Imclone Systems, Irisfarma S.A., Ivy Animal Health, Kinsale Financial Services Unlimited Company, Lilly (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd, Lilly Asia Ventures Fund I L.P., Lilly Asia Ventures Fund II L.P., Lilly Asian Ventures Fund III L.P., Lilly Cayman Holdings, Lilly China Research and Development Co. Ltd., Lilly Deutschland GmbH, Lilly France S.A.S., Lilly Global Nederland Holdings B.V., Lilly Global Services Inc., Lilly Holding GmbH, Lilly Holdings B.V., Lilly Hungaria KFT, Lilly Japan Financing G.K., Lilly Korea Ltd., Lilly Nederland Finance B.V., Lilly Nederland Finance B.V. - GCC, Lilly Nederland Holding B.V., Lilly Pharma Ltd., Lilly Portugal - Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Lilly S.A., Lilly Suzhou Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Lilly Trading Co. LTD, Lilly USA LLC, Lilly Ventures Fund I LLC, Lilly del Caribe Inc., Lilly ilac ticaret limited sirketi, Lohmann Animal Health, Loxo Oncology, Lylly Centre for Clinical Pharmacology PTE. LTD., Novartis Animal Health, OY Eli Lilly Finland AB, Origin Medsystems, PT. Eli Lilly Indonesia, Pacific Biotech, Pharmaserve-Lilly S.A.C.I., Physio-Control, SGX Pharmaceuticals, SGX Pharmaceuticals Inc, Spaly Bioquimica S.A., UAB Eli Lilly Lietuva, Valquifarma S.A., and Vital Pharma Productos Farmaceuticos.

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Kinder Morgan, Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. The company operates through four segments: Natural Gas Pipelines, Products Pipelines, Terminals, and CO2. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment owns and operates interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline, and underground storage systems; natural gas gathering systems and natural gas processing and treating facilities; natural gas liquids fractionation facilities and transportation systems; and liquefied natural gas liquefaction and storage facilities. The Products Pipelines segment owns and operates refined petroleum products, and crude oil and condensate pipelines; and associated product terminals and petroleum pipeline transmix facilities. The Terminals segment owns and/or operates liquids and bulk terminals that stores and handles various commodities, including gasoline, diesel fuel, chemicals, ethanol, metals, and petroleum coke; and owns tankers. The CO2 segment produces, transports, and markets CO2 to recovery and production crude oil from mature oil fields; owns interests in/or operates oil fields and gasoline processing plants; and operates a crude oil pipeline system in West Texas, as well as owns and operates RNG and LNG facilities. It owns and operates approximately 83,000 miles of pipelines and 143 terminals. The company was formerly known as Kinder Morgan Holdco LLC and changed its name to Kinder Morgan, Inc. in February 2011. Kinder Morgan, Inc. was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The following companies are subsidiares of Procter & Gamble: "Petersburg Products International" LLC, "Procter & Gamble Services" LLC, "Procter & Gamble" LLC, 1837 LLC, Agile Pursuits Franchising Inc., Agile Pursuits Inc., Ambi Pur, Arbora & Ausonia, Arbora & Ausonia S.L.U., Avon - Giorgio Beverly Hills, Billie, Braun GmbH, Braun Shanghai Co. Ltd., Celtic Insurance Company Inc., Charlie Banana USA LLC, Corporativo Procter & Gamble S. de R.L. de C.V., DDFSkincare, Detergent Products B.V., Detergent Products SARL, Detergenti S.A., FPG Oleochemicals Sdn. Bhd., Fameccanica Data S.p.A., Fameccanica Industria e Comercio Do Brasil LTDA., Fameccanica Machinery Shanghai Co. Ltd., Fameccanica North America Inc., Farmacy Beauty, Fater Central Europe SRL, Fater Eastern Europe LLC, Fater Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Fater S.p.A., Fater Temizlik Urunleri Ltd STI, First Aid Beauty, First Aid Beauty Limited, Folgers Coffee, Fountain Square Music Publishing Co. Inc., Gillette Australia Pty. Ltd., Gillette China Limited, Gillette Commercial Operations North America, Gillette Diversified Operations Pvt. Ltd., Gillette Egypt S.A.E., Gillette Group UK Ltd, Gillette Holding Company LLC, Gillette Holding GmbH, Gillette India Limited, Gillette Industries Ltd., Gillette International B.V., Gillette Latin America Holding B.V., Gillette Management LLC, Gillette Pakistan Limited, Gillette Poland International Sp. z.o.o., Gillette Shanghai Ltd., Gillette U.K. Limited, Gillette del Uruguay S.A., Hyginett KFT, Industries Marocaines Modernes SA, Inversiones Plaza LLC, LLC "Procter & Gamble - Novomoskovsk", LLC "Procter & Gamble Distributorskaya Compania", LLC Procter & and Gamble Ukraine, Laboratoire Mediflor S.A.S., Laboratorios Vicks S.L.U., Lamberts Healthcare Ltd., Liberty Street Music Publishing Company Inc., Limited Liability Company 'Procter & Gamble Trading Ukraine', MDVIP, MERCK KGAA NPV, Marcvenca Inversiones C.A., Merck Consumer Healthcare, Modern Industries Company - Dammam, Modern Products Company - Jeddah, Native, Nature's Best Health Products Ltd., New Chapter Canada Inc., New Chapter Inc., Nioxin Research Laboratories, Noxell Corporation, OUAI, Olay LLC, Oral-B Laboratories, P&G Consumer Health Germany GmbH, P&G Distribution East Africa Limited, P&G Distribution Morocco SAS, P&G Hair Care Holding Inc., P&G Health Austria GmbH & Co. OG, P&G Health France S.A.S., P&G Health Germany GmbH, P&G Healthcare Zhejiang Limited, P&G Industrial Peru S.R.L., P&G Innovation Godo Kaisha, P&G Investment Management Ltd., P&G Israel M.D.O. Ltd., P&G Japan G.K., P&G K.K., P&G Northeast Asia Pte. Ltd., P&G Prestige Godo Kaisha, P&G South African Trading Pty. Ltd., P&G-Clairol, PG13 Launchpad Alpha Inc., PG13 Launchpad Beta Inc., PG13 Launchpad Gamma Inc., PGT Healthcare LLP, PT Procter & Gamble Home Products Indonesia, PT Procter & Gamble Operations Indonesia, Phase II Holdings Corporation, Pressbox, Procter & Gamble Algeria EURL, Procter & Gamble Amazon Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Amiens S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Argentina SRL, Procter & Gamble Asia Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Australia Proprietary Limited, Procter & Gamble Azerbaijan Services LLC, Procter & Gamble Bangladesh Private Ltd., Procter & Gamble Blois S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Brazil Holdings B.V., Procter & Gamble Bulgaria EOOD, Procter & Gamble Business Services Canada Company, Procter & Gamble Canada Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Chengdu Ltd., Procter & Gamble Chile Limitada, Procter & Gamble China Ltd., Procter & Gamble China Sales Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Commercial LLC, Procter & Gamble Czech Republic s.r.o., Procter & Gamble DS Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Danmark ApS, Procter & Gamble Detergent Beijing Ltd., Procter & Gamble Deutschland GmbH, Procter & Gamble Distributing New Zealand Limited, Procter & Gamble Distributing Philippines Inc., Procter & Gamble Distribution Company Europe BV, Procter & Gamble Distribution S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Eastern Europe LLC, Procter & Gamble Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Procter & Gamble Egypt, Procter & Gamble Egypt Distribution, Procter & Gamble Egypt Holding, Procter & Gamble Egypt Manufacturing Company, Procter & Gamble Egypt Supplies, Procter & Gamble Energy Company LLC, Procter & Gamble Espana S.A.U., Procter & Gamble Far East Inc., Procter & Gamble Finance Holding Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Management S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Finance U.K. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Financial Investments LLP, Procter & Gamble Financial Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Financial Services S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Finland OY, Procter & Gamble France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH, Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH & Co. Operations oHG, Procter & Gamble Ghana Trading Limited, Procter & Gamble GmbH, Procter & Gamble Grundstucks-und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Procter & Gamble Guangzhou Consumer Products Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Guangzhou Enterprise Management Service Company Limited, Procter & Gamble Guangzhou Ltd., Procter & Gamble Guangzhou Technology Innovation Co. LTD., Procter & Gamble Gulf FZE, Procter & Gamble Hair Care LLC, Procter & Gamble Health & Beauty Care Limited, Procter & Gamble Health Belgium BV, Procter & Gamble Health Limited, Procter & Gamble Health Ltd., Procter & Gamble Health Poland Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Hellas Single Member Ltd., Procter & Gamble Holding France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Holding GmbH, Procter & Gamble Holding S.r.l., Procter & Gamble Holding Thailand Limited, Procter & Gamble Holdings UK Ltd., Procter & Gamble Home Products Private Limited, Procter & Gamble Honduras S de RL, Procter & Gamble Hong Kong Limited, Procter & Gamble Hungary Wholesale Trading Partnership KKT, Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Limited, Procter & Gamble Inc., Procter & Gamble India Holdings Inc., Procter & Gamble Indochina Company Limited, Procter & Gamble Industrial - 2012 C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial S.C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Costa Rica Limitada, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de El Salvador Limitada de Capital Variable, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Guatemala Limitada, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Panama S. de R.L., Procter & Gamble International Operations SA, Procter & Gamble International Operations SA-ROHQ, Procter & Gamble International Sarl, Procter & Gamble Investment Company UK Ltd., Procter & Gamble Investment Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Italia S.p.A., Procter & Gamble Jiangsu Ltd., Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan Distribution LLP, Procter & Gamble Korea Inc., Procter & Gamble Korea S&D Co., Procter & Gamble L&CP Limited, Procter & Gamble Leasing LLC, Procter & Gamble Levant S.A.L., Procter & Gamble Limited, Procter & Gamble Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Berlin GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Ireland Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing SA Pty Ltd, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Thailand Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Tianjin Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Marketing Romania SRL, Procter & Gamble Mataro S.L.U., Procter & Gamble Mexico Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Mexico Inc., Procter & Gamble Middle East FZE, Procter & Gamble Nederland B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Services B.V., Procter & Gamble Nigeria Limited, Procter & Gamble Norge AS, Procter & Gamble Operations Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Overseas India B.V., Procter & Gamble Overseas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Pakistan Private Limited, Procter & Gamble Peru S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Philippines Business Services Inc., Procter & Gamble Philippines Inc., Procter & Gamble Polska Sp. z o.o, Procter & Gamble Portugal - Produtos De Consumo Higiene e Saude S.A., Procter & Gamble Product Supply U.K. Limited, Procter & Gamble Productions Inc., Procter & Gamble RHD Inc., Procter & Gamble RSC Regional Service Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Retail Services Sarl, Procter & Gamble S.r.l., Procter & Gamble Service GmbH, Procter & Gamble Services Company N.V., Procter & Gamble Services Switzerland SA, Procter & Gamble Singapore Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Spol. s.r.o. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Sverige AB, Procter & Gamble Switzerland SARL, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Limited, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Sales Company Limited, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Limited, Procter & Gamble Technology Beijing Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Trading Thailand Limited, Procter & Gamble Tuketim Mallari Sanayii A.S., Procter & Gamble UK, Procter & Gamble UK Group Holdings Ltd, Procter & Gamble UK Parent Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Universal Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Vietnam Company Limited, Procter & Gamble d.o.o. za trgovinu, Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.C.A., Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.R.L., Procter & Gamble do Brasil Ltda., Procter & Gamble do Brazil LLC, Procter & Gamble do Nordeste S/A, Procter & Gamble doo Beograd, Procter & Gamble-Rakona s.r.o., Procter and Gamble Lanka Private Limited, Procter and Gamble SA Pty Ltd., Progam Realty & Development Corporation, Recovery Engineering, Redmond Products Inc., Richardson-Vicks, Richardson-Vicks Real Estate Inc., Riverfront Music Publishing Co. Inc., Rosemount LLC, SPD Development Company Limited, SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH, Series Acquisition B.V., Seven Seas Limited, Shulton Inc., Snowberry, Snowberry New Zealand Limited, Sunflower Distributing LLC, TAOS - FL LLC, TAOS Retail LLC, THIS IS L, TULA, Tambrands, Tambrands Inc., Temple Trees Impex & Investment Private Limited, The Art of Shaving, The Art of Shaving - FL LLC, The Dover Wipes Company, The Gillette Company, The Gillette Company LLC, The Gillette co., The Iams Company Inc., The Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC, The Procter & Gamble Global Finance Company LLC, The Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company, The Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, The Procter & Gamble U.S. Business Services Company, This is L., This is L. Inc., Thomas Hedley Co, US CD LLC, Vidal Sassoon Shanghai Academy, VitaminHaus Pty Ltd, Walker & Co. Brands Inc., Walker & Company Brands, Wella AG, Zenlen Inc., Zirh, and iMFLUX Inc..

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Schlumberger Limited provides technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. It offers software, information management, and IT infrastructure services; consulting services for reservoir characterization, field development planning, and production enhancement; petro technical data services and training solutions; reservoir interpretation and data processing services; asset performance solutions; open and cased-hole services; exploration and production pressure and flow-rate measurement services; pressure pumping, well stimulation, and coiled tubing equipment for downhole mechanical well intervention, reservoir monitoring, and downhole data acquisition; and integrated production systems. The company also provides mud logging and engineering support services; drilling equipment and services for shipyards, drilling contractors, energy companies, and rental tool companies; land drilling rigs and related services; drilling tools; well cementing products and services; and well planning and drilling, engineering, supervision, logistics, procurement, contracting, and drilling rig management services, as well as supplies engineered drilling fluid systems; and designs, manufactures, and markets roller cone and fixed cutter drill bits. In addition, it offers well completion services and equipment; artificial lift production equipment and optimization services; valves; process systems; and integrated subsea production systems comprising wellheads, subsea trees, manifolds and flowline connectors, control systems, connectors, and services, as well as designs and manufactures onshore and offshore platform wellhead systems and processing solutions. The company was formerly known as Societe de Prospection Electrique. Schlumberger Limited was founded in 1926 and is based in Houston, Texas.
This morning there is a report in The Sun regarding the pay of senior university staff. It says:

A staggering 1,250 vice chancellors and senior staff at top unis are pocketing more than 150,000 a year as student tuition fees rocket. Theresa May has been urged to CAP university pay after disbelief at the spiralling wages now paid at Britains biggest campuses. An investigation of salaries at 29 unis such as Cambridge and Londons Imperial College revealed 4,220 staff pocketed more than 100,000 in 2015-2016.

Some 1,254 earn more than the PM  over 150K

Figures two weeks ago revealed the average salary and benefits for vice-chancellors rose 2.5 per cent to a whopping 257,094 in 2015-2016.

This follows an eye-watering 5.4 per cent rise the previous year.

The University of Baths Dame Glynis Breakwell is on 451,000 while Alice Gast trousers 430,000 at Imperial College London.

The greatest danger for the Conservatives is not that voters are unaware of the need for spending restraint by the state. That is widely understood. The problem is the suspicion that the Conservatives wish it in a way that protects the rich but penalises the poor. Low paid public sector workers find themselves being asked to accept a one per cent pay rise  while their fellow public sector workers, who are University Vice Chancellors already on say 250,000 a year might have a rise of 2.5 per cent, or five per cent.

When Lord Adonis raised this issue in the House of Lords the Governments response, from Lord Bates, was as follows:

Universities are independent and autonomous institutions, and are responsible for setting the pay for their staff. As such, government does not have pay controls in place for senior university staff. The Government has no current plans to intervene in universities remuneration. Vice-chancellor pay is decided by official university remuneration committees, which include expert representatives from outside the sector. We expect these committees to examine robustly the evidence for pay increases for all relevant staff.

That is not good enough.

The University of Buckingham is an independent institution. They do not receive public funds. Therefore it is reasonable for them to pay their staff what they like. If you regard it as offering bad value for money  then you dont have to pay the fees to study there.

But for the higher education sector more generally, it is misleading to describe it as independent of Government. That is because it is provided with taxpayer funding of 3.7 billion a year from the Higher Education Funding Council. Then we have assorted other methods that colleges obtain public funds  including via the European Union.

For example the accounts for Bath University show it was paid 35.2 million from the Higher Education Funding Council, 20.4 million from Research Councils and 4.5 million from the European Commission. That is before we even take into account the cost of the taxpayer of that proportion of the tuition fees that will never be recouped as student loans are not repaid in full.

Its our money they are spending.

Universities are happy to behave as part of the public sector when it is a matter of being dependent on state funding. It is quite unreasonable if they then make grand demands for independence when it comes to deciding how much to pay their staff.
Aurora Expeditions will mark the 25th anniversary of its first expedition to Antarctica with a special expedition to the continent and South Georgia, according to a statement.

The voyage will last 18 days. The 54-passenger Polar Pioneer will leave Ushuaia, Argentina for the Antarctic Peninsula and offer daily shore landings. Travellers can expect to see massive colonies of king penguins, fur seals and wandering albatross.

Along with the experience, guests will receive an anniversary dinner, a commemorative book of the companys 25-year history and a polar jacket with a limited edition badge.

The voyage will be led by one of Auroras original expedition leaders, Dr. Gary Miller,

And will include a naturalist, an historian and polar specialists.

The trip will depart December 27, 2017, and conclude January 13, 2018.
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.
Provident Financial Services, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Provident Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, families, and businesses in the United States. The company's deposit products include savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, money market deposit, and certificate of deposit accounts, as well as IRA products. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans that are secured by properties, such as multi-family apartment buildings, office buildings, and retail and industrial properties; commercial business loans; fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgage loans collateralized by one- to four-family residential real estate properties; commercial construction loans; and consumer loans consisting of home equity loans, home equity lines of credit, marine loans, personal loans and unsecured lines of credit, and auto and recreational vehicle loans. The company also offers cash management, remote deposit capture, payroll origination, escrow account management, and online and mobile banking services; and business credit cards. In addition, it provides wealth management services comprising investment management, trust and estate administration, financial planning, tax compliance and planning, and private banking. Further, the company sells insurance and investment products, including annuities; operates as a real estate investment trust for acquiring mortgage loans and other real estate related assets; and manages and sells real estate properties acquired through foreclosure. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 96 full-service branch offices in northern and central New Jersey, as well as in Pennsylvania and New York counties. The company was founded in 1839 and is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.
GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines, and health-related consumer products in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare. The company offers pharmaceutical products comprising medicines in the therapeutic areas, such as respiratory, HIV, immuno-inflammation, oncology, anti-viral, central nervous system, cardiovascular and urogenital, metabolic, anti-bacterial, and dermatology. It also provides consumer healthcare products in wellness, oral health, nutrition, and skin health categories. The company offers its consumer healthcare products in the form of nasal sprays, tablets, syrups, lozenges, gum and trans-dermal patches, caplets, infant syrup drops, liquid filled suspension, wipes, gels, effervescents, toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, denture adhesives and cleansers, topical creams and non-medicated patches, lip balm, gummies, and soft chews. It has collaboration agreements with 23andMe; Lyell Immunopharma, Inc.; Novartis; Sanofi SA; Surface Oncology; Progentec Diagnostics, Inc.; Alector, Inc.; and CureVac AG., as well as strategic partnership with IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. The company was formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline plc and changed its name to GSK plc in May 2022. GSK plc was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Brentford, the United Kingdom.
Summit Midstream Partners, LP focuses on owning, developing, and operating midstream energy infrastructure assets primarily shale formations in the continental United States. The company provides natural gas gathering, compression, treating, and processing services, as well as crude oil and produced water gathering services. Its unconventional resource basins include the Utica and Point Pleasant shale formations in southeastern Ohio; the Williston Basin that consists of the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations in northwestern North Dakota; the Denver-Julesburg Basin, which include the Niobrara and Codell shale formations in Colorado; the Permian Basin that comprise the Bone Spring and Wolfcamp shale formations in New Mexico; the Piceance Basin, which include the Mesaverde formation, and the Mancos and Niobrara shale formations in western Colorado; the Barnett Shale formation in north-central Texas; and the Marcellus Shale formation in northern West Virginia. The company also owns an ownership interest in Ohio Gathering, which owns and operates natural gas gathering and condensate stabilization facility in the Utica Shale in southeastern Ohio. It serves natural gas and crude oil producers. Summit Midstream GP, LLC operates as a general partner of the company. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
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.
Oppenheimer Holdings Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a middle-market investment bank and full-service broker-dealer in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company offers brokerage services covering exchange-traded and over-the-counter corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange-traded options and futures contracts, municipal bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and unit investment trusts; financial and wealth planning services; and margin lending services. It also provides asset management services, including separately managed accounts, mutual fund managed accounts, discretionary portfolio management programs, non-discretionary investment advisory and consultation services, alternative investments, portfolio enhancement programs, and institutional taxable fixed income portfolio management strategies and solutions, as well as taxable and non-taxable fixed income portfolios and strategies. In addition, the company offers investment banking services, such as strategic advisory services and capital markets products; merger and acquisition, equities capital market, and debt capital market products and services; and institutional equity sales and trading, equity research, equity derivatives and index options, convertible bonds, and trading services. Further, it provides institutional fixed income sales and trading, fixed income research, public finance, and municipal trading services; repurchase agreements and securities lending services; and proprietary trading and investment activities. Additionally, the company offers underwritings, market-making, trust, and discount services. It serves high-net-worth individuals and families, corporate executives, public and private businesses, institutions and corporations, governments, financial sponsors, and domestic and international investors. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Phase Ii Financial Inc.
The hard truth youve known all along has finally been provenby science.

In a recent U.S study researchers from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health found that men who wore boxer shorts had a 25 percent higher sperm count than those in tighter fitting underwear. In other words, go commando and youll never shoot blanks again.

The scientific explanation published in the journal Human Reproduction is of course a bit more complicated than that. It relates back to keeping the hormones that affect the sperm count happy. The study which accounted for 656 men found that cooler temperatures around the testicles boosted sperm production.

This is due to the fact that sperm production is most sensitive to temperatures above 34 degrees Celsius (92F). This phenomenon can be seen on warmer days when your testicles hang lower from the body when compared to cooler days when they contract closer to the body.

In the realm of underwear, briefs and jockey shorts hold the scrotum closer to the body which causes the testicles to warm up. Boxer shorts meanwhile accommodate a looser and airier fit thats more conducive to sperm production. So in other words, cheap underwear has nothing to do with it.

The figures from the research reveal a 17 percent increase in total sperm count alongside 33 percent more swimming sperm when comparing boxers to tighter-fitting underwear. Thankfully this finding doesnt affect sperm shape or DNA quality  its simply a numbers game.

Since men can modify the type of underwear they choose to wear, these results may be useful to improve mens testicular function, says the studys lead researcher, Dr Lidia Minguez-Alarcon.

RELATED: What Your Choice In Underwear Actually Says About You

The surprising results were derived against factors that affect sperm production including a mans age, body mass index (BMI) and personal habits such as smoking andwe kid you nothot tub usage.

Be warned though, changing your underwear today wont warrant a higher sperm count the next day.

The research papers author Dr Jorge Chaverro told the BBC that it takes about three months for an entire population of sperm to change, so plan in advance.

Well there you have it. Who said free-balling on the daily was a nuisance to society?
With no path to win, Mastriano still silent on conceding blowout loss
Karachi: According to the Pakistani media, former Petroleum Minister and senior leader of PML-N Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will be appointed the Interim Prime Minister, Pakistani media say that Abbasi will run the government as Interim Prime Minister until the brother of Nawaz Sharifs brother Shahbaz is elected.

Earlier, the news came that after making the accused in the Panama Gate case, after the loss of Nawaz Sharif, his wife Kulasum Nawaz could be made the Prime Minister. However, now news is coming that Shahid Khakan will be the interim Prime Minister of Pakistan. It is also being said by the sources in the Pakistani media that Nawaz Sharif is not in favor of making any of his cabinet ministers as the Prime Minister.

Nawazs chair on the order of the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday disqualified the three-time Prime Minister of Pakistan for corruption and ordered that corruption cases against Sonia and her children could be pursued with the disclosure of Panama Papers. After this, Sharif was forced to resign. According to author and journalist, Zahid Hussain convinced any of Sharifs successor through can not say anything. It is a very uncertain situation.
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Oklahoma is the hub for much of the country's oil and natural gas. But it may soon be home to the country's largest wind farm, and the second largest such farm in the world.

Invenergy is developing the Wind Catcher 2,000 MW wind farm and an accompanying 350-mile high voltage transmission line. General Electric (GE 1.09%) will supply the 2.5 MW wind turbines; when complete, the $4.5 billion project will be sold to American Electric Power (AEP -1.98%). It's a bold project and could transform energy in Oklahoma.

The biggest wind farm in the U.S.

This 2 GW wind farm is easily going to be the biggest in the U.S. According to Invenergy, it will generate 9 million MW-hrs of electricity annually, about 2 months worth of Oklahoma's electricity consumption. In one plant Oklahoma will solidify its #2 spot in wind in the U.S., behind Texas.

This is also a sizable investment for American Electric Power. The company's market cap is $34 billion, so a $4.5 billion investment in any plant is a big vote of confidence in wind power. And it shows another company making a concerted effort to invest in renewable energy rather than fossil fuels.

The rush to build wind projects is on

The timing, and scale, of this project is no accident. Projects that began construction in 2016, as the Wind Catcher project did, are eligible for a 2.3 cent per kWh production tax credit. In 2017 the subsidy fell to 1.84 cents per kWh, in 2018 it goes to 1.38 cents per kWh, and in 2019 it falls to 0.92 cents per kWh, after which there is a phaseout.

Building a huge project that will take until mid-2020 to complete ensures the highest possible subsidy and takes advantage of the falling cost of wind turbines. That's why the scale and timing of the project's construction are what they are.

The wind production tax credit is different than the solar tax credit, which is based on installation costs. The way the production tax credit is structured, you get 2.3 cents per kWh produced and any revenue from the utility on top of that is upside. In other words, at 9 million MW-hrs per year, the subsidy alone is worth $207 million, or 4.6% of the construction cost.

More renewable energy is coming

Almost every major utility in the U.S. has put renewable energy from wind and solar as a top growth priority. AEP made a big move in that direction by agreeing to buy the Wind Catcher project. And it's making a surprising state, Oklahoma, a renewable energy leader.
In October, four farmers will be taking on their own tenancy on the Cambridgeshire County Council estate for the first time.

All from different backgrounds but with a shared determination to succeed in agriculture, we have found out how they feel about being new entrants at such an uncertain time for farming in the UK.

In the first of a three-part series, Ben Pike spoke to new entrant Lee Smith, 31, about how it feels to be taking control of his own unit and continuing to build on the giant strides he has already taken to forge a future in farming.

See also: The benefits of becoming a council farm tenant

Its third time lucky for Cambridgeshire young farmer Mr Smith, who missed out on winning a council tenancy for the past two years.

Wolvey Holes Farm Five miles from Ely, Cambridgeshire

148 acres of Grade 2 soils capable of root cropping

Has previously produced oilseed rape, barley, beans and potatoes

Small area of woodland with diversification potential

Two general-purpose buildings and a bungalow

On 11 October he and his fiancee Jenny Mackay will get started with their plan to build a mixed livestock and arable enterprise at 148-acre Wolvey Holes Farm at Coveney, near Ely.

Short-term grazing

From a standing start he has already made huge progress, having spent the past 11 years working in agriculture to build experience while investing any earnings in buying livestock.

I used to go out with my granddad and uncle who worked on arable farms driving tractors, Mr Smith said. After that I never wanted to do anything else.

From school I went straight to a farm to work and learned loads with AG Wrights at Haddenham.

They had a herd of 400 Herefords, so that was the first time I got into the livestock side.

He saved money and bought a handful of cattle and sheep, grazing them on any available parcels he could find from local farmers, plus a couple of acres he managed to buy.

I was really lucky because there were a lot of people with small parcels of grassland they needed grazing off or that I could make hay from.

Fast forward to 2017 and the results of his hard work are impressive.

Weve got 100 head of cattle and 250 breeding ewes now. I still only own a couple of acres, the rest is rented which is OK but you never know if youve got it from one year to the next.

A tenancy was an obvious goal; Mr Smith had built a reputation as a good tenant on short-term grazing agreements, but competition for a five-year authority tenancy was stiff.

Business benchmarking

After two rejections in two years, he took a course with the Princes Trust charity to learn about farm benchmarking  a strategy that he thinks paid off.

Consultants spoke to us about managing farms and benchmarking business figures. There were some good talks, which were really interesting and definitely helped with the tender.

We were assigned a mentor who happened to be involved in placing ex-council farm tenants, so he knew his stuff and was really good at putting things together.

The couple enthuse about traditional rotations and farming systems.

Were focusing on improving the soil structure by having livestock on the farm.

Its currently all down to arable but were going to put 40 acres into a temporary grass rotation and put in some sugar beet. The sheep can graze the tops of those and well put some stubble turnips in.

It should mean the farm gets the benefit of a fully mixed system.

Building resilience

Miss Mackay works for the Wildlife Trust and is enthusiastic about the environmental and conservational potential on the farm.

Mr Smith added: We have been talking to the RSPB and we plan to plant wild bird mixes and also manage hedgerows and cultivate margins for turtle doves.

Looking after the conservation is something we can do to make ourselves more resilient if there isnt any support for farmers going forward.

Direct payments arent something Lee has ever had the benefit of.

Despite the fact that he now has a regular rent to pay, he plans to continue to build a business that isnt subsidy dependent.

We will apply for BPS entitlements but will try to make ourselves resilient so that we can adapt to whatever the new situation is once we leave, he says.

Brexit was obviously a subject that was asked about during the interviews with the council, but so much is unknown at the moment.

I said that I thought it was a really good opportunity to open some new markets, but we can only wait and see what happens next.

The next Cambridgeshire County Council opportunities for new tenants will be in January 2018.
Georgian khachapuri named the best cheese pizza by Forbes - GeorgianJournal
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 to feature better multimedia functionalities News oi -Chandrika The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will get launched on August 23.

Well, the anticipation regarding the Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 is rising every day. There is not even a month left till the launch of the flagship phablet.

We have heard countless rumors about the Galaxy Note 8 over the past few months. However, all those information came from not so reliable sources. Now, Samsung itself has revealed some features of the upcoming phablet. Reported by The Investor, the company has claimed that the Galaxy Note 8 will be the best handset for multimedia consumption.

"The Galaxy Note 8 will feature more advanced, richer multimedia functionalities," said a Samsung executive. As we already know, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is expected to come with a large 6.3-inch infinity display with an aspect ration of 18.5:9. So the display will be perfect for watching movies or playing games.

Speaking of other features, the phablet is likely to feature a Snapdragon 835 SoC or an in-house Exynos 8895 SoC depending on the market. This processor is said to be coupled with 6GB RAM and a 3300mAh battery.

There are claims that the S Pen Stylus of the device will be updated. To recall, that the Galaxy Note 7 came with an advanced S Pen that could do numerous capabilities. The handset is believed to be the first one from Samsung to feature a dual camera setup at its rear.

Also, the Galaxy Note 8 will have a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner but it will be positioned in a better way than the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 8 pre-order date leaked ahead of its launch News oi -Samden Sherpa Samsung might have just self-leaked the Galaxy Note 8's pre-order date.

Samsung has already confirmed that it will be unveiling the new Galaxy Note 8 phablet during the Unpacked event on August 23 in New York. Thus, we will be getting our first official look at the successor to the most "popular" smartphone the Note 7 (which became popular for its exploding fiasco) soon.

However, while the launch dates have more or less been confirmed, the South Korean giant has held back on the actual release dates of the Galaxy Note 8. It was unclear as to when the consumers would be able to order the device. Till now the dates have been a mystery.

While such is the case, things have just got interesting. Well, Samsung has unintentionally leaked the release/pre-order date of the upcoming Galaxy Note 8 much ahead of its launch. As per a report from BGR, the documentation leaked on Samsung's Australian website reveals that the Note 8 will be available for preorder in the region starting August 25th. The details are provided in a pdf outlining the Note 8 screen replacement program, which has stated the promotion will begin on August 25. Basically, the new screen replacement program will be launched with the Note 8 as well.

Samsung has pulled the documentation from its official website but you can still find the original post at Androidu.ro. Australian site Ausdroid also has published an article about the same.

In any case, if the reports are to be believed and that August 25th is the pre-order date in Australia, it's most likely that the Galaxy Note 8 will be available for pre-order in various other major mobile phone markets as well.

Talking about the leaked features and key specs of the device, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is expected to come with a massive 6.3-inch infinity display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, dual rear cameras, and a 3300mAh battery.

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Samsung galaxy S8 Active high-resolution renders leaked News oi -Vijeta Samsung Galaxy S8 Active's high resolution renders have been leaked which shows that the device will not have curved edges and will boast a sturdy body that can endure physical pressure.

Samsung has not yet announced the launch of Galaxy S8 Active, although there are plenty of leaked pictures, renders, and reports that confirm that the handset will be announced soon enough. Recently, a benchmark test of the smartphone was also spotted which clearly suggest that the device is in the making and will be announced soon.

A high resolution renders for the mobile phone has also surfaced. The leaked render of Samsung Galaxy S8 Active suggests that the device has a rugged design. The device does not sport curved edges as the margins have been raised to give it a sturdy design although it retains rounded corners. S8 Active will be the first S8 device that will not have curved edges.

It has a 5.8 inch AMOLED display with 1440X2960 pixels of resolution. It packs in a powerhouse of 4000 mAh along with 4GB or Ram and 64 GB in built storage. The device will run on Snapdragon 835.

Specification wise there is not a lot of difference in Galaxy S8 Active, S8 and S8 Plus, although the design of S8 Active looks a lot more durable.

The render has been provided by Samsung expert Evan Blass who has a commendable track record in terms of details on announced smartphones. This makes the render even more reliable.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active will be available in the US via AT&T which is the only carrier to offer Galaxy Active phones. There is no word whatsoever on the price of the device. Samsung will announce the device soon unless it waits to provide a competition to the upcoming iPhone this fall.

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Topwise to launch its smartphone brand Comio in India, plans to invest Rs 500 crore News oi -Priyanka Ind-Ra expects Vivo India and Oppo's smartphone sales to grow by around 40 percent -50 percent over FY18.

Chinese original device maker (ODM) Topwise Communication is all set to foray in India on August 18 with the launch of its brand Comio.

The company has confirmed the launch date.

Topwise Communication is also planning to invest Rs 500 crore over the next two years to mark its presence in the country.

We have been an ODM to many players, including those in India. There is a huge opportunity in India and we are keen on tapping that," said Comio CEO Sanjay Kumar Kalirona.

He further said that Comio will play in the Rs 6,000-12,000 price bracket, which is a "sweet spot" accounting for 35-40 per cent of the smartphone market in volume terms.

"There aren't many players in the offline market in this price range. Most Indian companies are focusing on sub-Rs 6,000, while other Chinese firms are looking at devices over Rs 15,000," he added.

Meanwhile, a new report by research firm India Ratings and Research ( Ind - Ra), Indian mobile phone makers' business profile has been adversely impacted due to the rapidly increasing market share of Chinese players and fierce competition.

It says that the increasing strength of Chinese mobile phone manufacturers in the smartphone market is reflected in the 3.4x growth in market share to 51 percent in quarter one of this calendar year (CY).

The report pointed out that the global vendor Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (Samsung) remained the market leader with the 28percent share in 1QCY17 (1QCY16:25 percent), the share of Indian vendors downsized to a mere 14 percent (40 percent).

Lenovo also sustained its position due to the established brands and products in the diversified price segments. Oppo and Vivo India have recorded sales increases of seven to nine times over FY17 respectively.

Ind-Ra expects Vivo India and Oppo's smartphone sales to grow by around 40 percent -50 percent over FY18

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London, July 29 (IBNS): Some activity patterns in the brain can be dangerous, producing persistent dark moods that drain peopleas motivation, pleasure, and hope.

For the past thirty years, pills like Prozac or Zoloftcollectively known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIshave offered millions of Americans a way to shed the heavy cloak of depression and attain more wholesome states of mind.

These medications were designed to increase nerve cells access to serotonin, a chemical that helps the brain regulate certain emotions, read The Rockefeller University website.

Yet researchers still dont know precisely how the drugs work to adjust errant brain chemistry, or how to make them work better.

Now, a team of Rockefeller scientists has for the first time described how SSRIs initiate their action by targeting a particular type of nerve cell. Their findings, published last week in Neuron, may provide a path to new antidepressants that would not only be safer to use than existing ones, but that would also act more quickly.

Lucian Medrihan, a research associate in the lab of neuroscientist and Nobel laureate Paul Greengard who led the study, explains that while existing SSRIs can produce moderate effects within hours or even minutes, most people dont really begin to feel better until theyve been on the drugs for a significant amount of timea major drawback when it comes to treating clinical depression. The drugs may also cause a wide range of uncomfortable side effects, including nausea, dizziness, weight gain, and sexual dysfunction.

The basic idea behind SSRIs is relatively simple. When a neuron releases serotonin to signal another cell, it normally reabsorbs excess amounts of the neurotransmitter, preventing it from lingering in the space where the two nerve cells meet. The drugs interfere with this mopping-up step, essentially prolonging the signal.

What happens next has been a hard nut for neuroscientists to crack, however, because of the intrinsic complexity of the brain.

At least 1000 types of neurons could potentially be affected by a surge in serotonin, and they dont all respond in the same waysome get triggered, for example, while others calm down. Thats because there are 14 types of serotonin receptors present in various combinations in different neurons, says Yotam Sagi, a senior research associate in Greengards lab. How a cell reacts to the neurotransmitter depends on the particular hodgepodge of receptors it carries.

Sagi and Medrihan set out to identify the earliest molecular steps by which SSRIs curb depression. To narrow their search, they honed in on a region of the brain known as the dentate gyrus, and on a particular group of cells called cholecystokinin (CCK)-expressing neurons, which they suspected were affected by SSRI-induced serotonin changes.

Using a technique called translating ribosome affinity purification, developed at Rockefeller by Nathaniel Heintz and Greengard, Sagi was able to identify the serotonin receptors present on CCK cells. We were able to show that one type of receptor, called 5-HT2A, is important for SSRIs long-term effect, he says, while the other, 5-HT1B, mediates the initiation of their effect.

Next, Medrihan set up a series of intricate experiments to see if he could mimic an SSRI response by manipulating CCK neurons in living mice. He suppressed the activity of these cells with chemogenetics, a technique that makes it possible to switch nerve cells on or off at will, and placed panels of tiny electrodes inside mouse brains. He then monitored the firing of other neurons in the dentate gyrus. Only five years ago, this research would not have been feasible, he says of the methods involved.

The results were unmistakable: when a mouses CCK neurons were inhibited, the same neural pathways that mediate responses to SSRIs lit up. In targeting these cells, the scientists had seemingly recreated a quickened, Prozac-like response without the drug itself.

They also performed behavioral experiments by placing the mice in a pool and monitoring their swimming patterns. After the CCK neurons had been briefly silenced, the behavior of these animals, which had not received any drugs, was similar to that seen in other mice after Prozac treatment: they swam with prolonged zest.

Greengard, who is Vincent Astor Professor, says the research resolves an important question in the field. Many different types of synapses throughout the brain use serotonin as their neurotransmitter, he says. An issue of major importance has been to identify where in the myriad of neurons the antidepressants initiate their pharmacological action.

The findings, which identify CCK neurons in the dentate gyrus as the site of interest, will advance scientists understanding of how SSRI antidepressants work, and should also facilitate development of new classes of potent and selective drugs, Greengard says. Such future therapies would presumably act faster than existing SSRIs, and might also produce fewer side effects.

Image: Wikimedia Coomons
New Delhi, Jul 29 (IBNS): Tiger protection is still a challenge all over the world, said Union Environment & Forest Minister Dr Harshvardhan while addressing a Global Tiger Day event in New Delhi on Saturday.

"Awareness is key for tiger protection. Students can play a big role in it, " he said.

Since 2010, July 29 is observed as Global Tiger or International Tiger Day in order to raise awareness about tiger conservation.

It was on July 29, 2010, when the 13 tiger range countries came together to create Tx2  the global goal to double the number of wild tigers by the year 2022.

According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there are now only 3,980 tigers in the wild.

Tweeted superstar Amitabh Bachhan, "T 2500 - International Tigers Day !! the population of tigers grows substantially since we started the campaign !!"

Protecting tiger habitat and ensuring the animals get enough food within their habitat are key to tiger conservation.

Although the picture overall may appear bleak, there are some success stories as well.

India's Sunderban Tiger Reserve, where men and animals live in close proximity and in a hostile terrain, some good news has emerged recently.

While fewer human lives are lost from tiger attacks now, the big cat population is not declining in the India's Sundarbans National Park (SNP), the worlds biggest mangrove forest and genepool and UN heritage-listed natural wonder, say officials of the forest department in West Bengal.

The media quoting forest officials said that intensive patrolling is carried out in the buffer and core areas and at strategic locations in the Sunderbans National Park, which was brought under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act in 1973. The patrolling is as much to contain man from venturing into the restricted area as to ward off poachers-- a major threat to the striped beast.

Sand artist Sudarsan Pattanaik created a pretty sand art on Puri Beach in Odisha to commemorate the day.



Image: SudarsanPattnaik/Twitter
INVESTIGATION against the police and the military on the governments bloody drug war should be addressed first to President Rodrigo Duterte, Malacanang insisted Saturday even after Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales shot down calls to first seek presidential clearance before investigating his men.

While the Palace still respects the power of the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate police and military personnel, they maintained that Duterte still assumes command responsibility for the actions of his men as Commander-in-Chief or Chief Executive.

The Executive recognizes the constitutional mandate of the Ombudsman to investigate public officials, said Abella in a statement.

[But] the President requests that investigations of members of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines related to the performance of their duties in the governments anti-drug campaign or while Mindanao is under martial law be addressed to him, he added.

The Commission on Human Rights and the Office of the Ombudsman both gained the ire of Duterte for criticizing his brutal war in drugs and for goading people to kill.

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Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales

Carpio-Morales, who chided Dutertes call for police and military officials to seek his approval first before submitting themselves to any investigation, said there was no law which requires security officials to report first to their commander-in-chief about any investigation.

Anong pakialam niya? [Whats his business?] Under the law we have subpoena powers. We have orders for particular officials, including police and soldiers, to show up or to file pleadings, Morales said in an interview with reporters.

There is no law that requires a soldier or a policeman or any respondent for that matter to seek clearance from anybody, Morales said, adding it was up to the government law enforcers if they would follow Duterte or not.

She also vowed to continue the prosecution of cases involving police and military personnel if they found probable cause against them.

The Ombudsman has been handling several cases involving law enforcers, including the criminal charges filed by the families of alleged drug suspects killed in the PNPs campaign against illegal drugs dubbed as Oplan Tokhang.

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Ahmedabad, Jul 29 (IBNS) : In a bid to prevent horsetrading with their legislators ahead of the August eight Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress has flown in ten more MLAs from Gujarat to a Bengaluru resort as the party goes jittery after resignations of six of its MLAs as a result of a crafty political manoeuvre by former leader ShankerSinh Vaghela.

According to media reports, the Congress leadership on Friday had already flocked together 30 legislators in the same resort.

The Congress had earlier accused the BJP of indulging in horse trading in a bid to weaken the party ahead of the Rajya Sabha and state Assembly elections, scheduled later this year.

The party apprehends tha further exodus of MLAs will stall the return of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel to the Rajya Sabha- a design Vaghela, who quit the party recently, allegedly has in mind.

Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia told reporters at Ahmadabad airport that it was a question of the security of MLAs and they were being taken to a safe place.

According to reports, Congressmen formed a cordon around the MLAs as they stepped off a bus at the airport.

Following the resignations, the strength of the Gujarat Assembly has come down to 176 and that of Congress to 51.

A candidate requires 44 votes to win given the current strength of the Assembly where the BJP has a strength of 121.

The BJP has nominated Amit Shah, Smriti Irani and former Congressman Balwantsinh Rajput for the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats, while the Congress has again nominated Ahmed Patel, the political secretary to Sonia Gandhi.
Srinagar, July 29 (IBNS): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday sought afreedoma for Kashmiris who she said ahave been cageda by blocking of various routes.

Addressing a workers meet on the partys founding day in Srinagar, Mehbooba batted for the re-opening of routes between Jammu and Sialkot, Kargil and Skardu and Nowshera and Jhanger.

"Like Mufti Sahab, I have been repeatedly seeking opening of these roads, said Mehbooba.

Quoting her father, Mehbooba said that Kashmiris have been caged. Free Kashmiris, he would say.

She also appealed to other political parties like the National Conference, Congress, BJP and others to sit together and find a solution to the problems Kashmiris are facing.

We fought alone in the past. My appeal to NC, Congress, BJP and Communists is lets sit together and resolve our issues, she said.

Mehbooba also said that India was incomplete without Jammu and Kashmir. JK is crown of India. It needs to be respected. India is incomplete without Jammu and Kashmir, she said.



(Reporting by Saleem Qadri)
New York, July 29(Just Earth News): Set to arrive in Libya next week, the new United Nations Special Representative said that he was coming to Tripoli to work with the Libyans, in an attempt to help find a solution out of the political crisis that led to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and pushed the country into a crisis that sees thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing to Europe and other countries in Africa.

I am coming to work with them and for them, Ghassan Salame told UN News about his message to the people of Libya. I am not going to work in their place because there are things that they need to decide. [If] they're happy to remain in that political vicious circle, I can do nothing for them. But if their decision is to get out of it, they will find in me an energetic and creative mind at their service.

Some people wanted me to be extremely interventionist in their own affairs, some people wanted me to be very, very prudent in their own affairs.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in June appointed Salame lame as his Special Representative and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

During their first official meeting on Friday, described as long and fruitful by Salame, the Secretary-General gave his new envoy two key cards to use in Libya.

The Secretary-General had the opportunity to express the great attention he is devoting to Libya as a high level issue, Salame said, and his confidence in the leadership [that] I will need to demonstrate with dealing with this sensitive issue.

In the month since being appointed, Salame said he received hundreds of emails and tens of thousands of tweets offering advice on how to assist Libya  sometimes contradictory.

Some people wanted me to be extremely interventionist in their own affairs, some people wanted me to be very, very prudent in their own affairs, he said. Some people wanted me to deal; some people wanted me to never talk to other people.

I learned a lot from all this, Salame said, adding that he was particularly moved by the incredible warmth the Libyans have shown him so far.

During the next few days, the new UN envoy plans to meet with permanent representatives to the UN of various stakeholders to refine his own view of how Libya is seen. These will include meetings with the so-called 'P 5,' or five permanent members of the Security Council  China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and United States  as well as countries with a direct interest in the evolution of Libyan affairs, such as Algeria, Egypt, Italy and Tunisia, as well as the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU).

Salame is due to arrive in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, by Wednesday.

He said his first few days will be devoted to listening to Libyans: I have reached an age where I am looking for neither a big career, money nor glory. I have reached a point in my life where my first priority is legacy. And therefore, I want this mission to be a successful one so that I can speak of my diplomatic career as much as of my academic career.

And what is success at this case? It is to work with the Libyans for the Libyans in order for them to find a common ground that takes them out of the political quagmire they have painted themselves into, he continued.

The comments come just days after Libya's UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and the country's eastern commander General Khalifa Haftar met and agreed on a joint declaration that calls for a negotiated political solution, national reconciliation and an immediate ceasefire.

The most positive result of the meeting, the UN envoy said, is that both sides agreed the solution in Libya can only be political and not military.

They also agreed on having the elections sometime next year. Something that needs to be prepared very well, he said, noting that the UN will support Libyan efforts to plan for free and fair elections.

UN efforts in Libya are guided by the Security Council, which established a political mission in the country in 2011. As the head of UNSMIL, Salame will be responsible for supporting mediation and good offices to assist implementation of Libyan political agreements; consolidate governance, security and economic arrangements of the Government of National Accord; and support human rights and transitional justice efforts in the country, among others.

Photo: Screen capture

Source: www.justearthnews.com
New York, July 29(Just Earth News): The United Nations rights office expressed concern on Friday over the intensifying crackdown in Viet Nam against human rights defenders who have questioned or criticized the Government and its policies.

Noting that last Tuesday, well-known activist Tran Thi Nga was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment and five years' house arrest for so-called anti-State propaganda for comments posted online, Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed serious concerns about the severity of the sentence and the conduct of the trial, which does not appear to have met due process standards.

Human rights defenders should never be treated as criminals who are a threat to national security, she told reporters at the regular bi-weekly news briefing in Geneva.

In accordance with provisions of article 88 of Viet Nam's Penal Code, Tran was kept in incommunicado detention for some six months  from her arrest in January until a few days before the trial. Tran was not allowed adequate time to prepare her defence, the trial lasted just one day and her family and friends were denied entry to the courtroom, according to the UN rights office.

Tran Thi Nga's sentence comes less than a month after Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a prominent blogger known as 'Mother Mushroom,' was jailed for 10 years, also under article 88, following similarly flawed judicial proceedings.

OHCHR pointed out that over the last six months, at least seven other human rights defenders have been arrested and face prosecution, several dozen are currently detained, and two have been deported or sent into exile abroad. Many others have been intimidated, harassed and brutally beaten.

The UN Human Rights Office and international human rights mechanisms have repeatedly denounced article 88 of the Penal Code, along with several other provisions of the Code, as being in breach of international human rights law.

The Vietnamese Government's failure to address the concerns of the international community about restrictions on fundamental freedoms raises doubts about its commitment to protect and promote human rights, stressed Throssell.

We urge the Vietnamese authorities to immediately release all those detained in connection with their exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, and to amend the overly broad ill-defined laws that are used  under the pretext of national security  to crack down on dissent, she stated.

Photo: UN Photo/ Violaine Martin

Source: www.justearthnews.com
New York, July 29(Just Earth News): The head of the United Nations peacekeeping operations has warned that the increased intensity of attacks on civilians and peacekeepers is bringing Central African Republic (CAR) to the tipping point.

Addressing the Security Council in a closed-door session, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, yesterday cited the worsening security and humanitarian  situation in Bangassou, in the south-eastern part of the country, where three UN peacekeepers have been killed in recent days.

The attacks took place against the backdrop of sustained fighting in the south-east of the country, heightened inter-ethnic tensions and efforts by spoilers to manipulate communities along religious lines and undermine the stabilization process in the country, Lacroix told the 15-member Council, according to a note from the UN Spokesperson's Office.

Lacroix is scheduled to travel to the CAR over the weekend to convey a message of support to the UN stabilization mission known by its French acronym, MINUSCA, and to meet with national authorities.

In his address yesterday, Lacroix also raised concerns about the deteriorating security in the border town of Zemio, 290 km east of Bangassou, with the risk of further clashes between the Muslim community and elements affiliated with anti-Balaka, which had already led to the displacement of more than 22,000 civilians.

He also mentioned that the security situation in the town of Bria, in the north of the country, remains fragile and that the departure of the Ugandan and American forces from the eastern part of the country this spring has created a vacuum leading to the emergence of hostile 'self-defence' groups.

The violence has led to a worsening humanitarian situation in the country, with the numbers of internally displaced persons up about 40 per cent since last year.

Clashes between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian, have plunged the country of about 4.5 million people into civil conflict since 2012. According to the UN some 2.3 million people, over half the population, in dire need of assistance. In addition to those displaced within the CAR, more than 484,000 people from the country have been forced to seek refuge in neighbouring nations.

The senior UN official also reiterated that a military solution to the problem of the armed groups will not suffice to address the root causes of the conflict: The absence of tangible progress in the peace process risks further worsening the situation.

He noted the importance of operationalizing the July 17 roadmap by the members of the African Initiative for Peace and Reconciliation and underlined the importance of prioritizing the implementation of the ceasefire agreed upon in the Rome agreement of 20 June.

UN Photo/Catianne Tijerina (file)

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Islamabad, July 29 (IBNS): An explosion in Panjgur area of Pakistan left at least four people dead, media reports said.

The explosion left five others injured.

According to levies officials, the administration has summoned a technical team to determine the nature of the blast, Geo News reported.

The explosion occurred in the Chedgi area.
Business The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (July 29)

City taxis are seen among the traffic in central Yangon, Myanmar on May 11, 2017. / Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

Grab Announces Expansion, New Initiatives

The Grab Myanmar taxi-ride platform is introducing a new phase of expansion with investments in technology, driver care and local partnerships, the company announced this week.

Following a four-month beta trial, there are now more than 5,000 drivers on the Grab platform and driver-partners have reported a 30 percent improvement in monthly income on average, according to a company statement. Drivers also have access to banking and financial services through the companys partnerships with CB Bank and Wave Money, it added.

The next phase for Grab in Myanmar is focused on bringing a five-star experience to driver-partners and passengers, while supporting the government in upgrading its transport infrastructure. This includes making the Grab app more user-friendly, upskilling and improving the well-being of driver-partners on our platform, and creating more job opportunities for locals, said Hooi Ling Tan, co-founder of Grab, which is headquartered in Singapore.

The Myanmar arm of the company said that new initiatives include the introduction of a Zawgyi- and Unicode font- enabled app with more safety and tech features, a Driver Care program and partnerships with local firms to improve traffic management and driver welfare.

Yangon chief minister U Phyo Min Thein presided over a launch this week of Grabs new phase, where he encouraged the company to build the language, business and other skills of drivers in order to provide the best service to passengers.

Mini Grids Aim to Boost Electricity Access

The use of mini grids to improve electricity connectivity in Myanmar is growing, according to a report in the Nikkei news website.

Trial operations are due to begin this year for one mini grid operation in about 10 locations in Sagaing Region, it reported.

The project is being operated by the Yoma Micro Power venture, a joint operation between Yoma Strategic Holdings and a Norwegian government fund, and will build small power stations that generate electricity with solar panels and diesel generators.

Excess power output will be stored in batteries and payments will be collected from customers, with mobile service companies as core customers. Each site will have at least one mobile service station.

The Parami Energy Group also sees opportunities in electricity for villages, according to the report.

Parami signed an MOU last year with French state-owned utility EDF and the Magway Region government to supply mini grid electricity to 8,000 households. It is working to introduce similar projects in other regions and hopes to expand the business to one million customers in four years, according to CEO Pyi Wa Tun.

Just 32 percent of households in Myanmar use electricity from the grid as a main source of lighting, according to the 2014 census.

Improvements to the national electricity grid will likely take decades, according to analysts.

CITIC in Deal to Raise Rice Sector Standards

Two Myanmar organizations have signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinas China International Trust and Investment Company (CITIC) Construction to implement an agronomics service center project, according to reports.

The deal between the Myanmar Rice Association and the Myanmar Agronomics Public Corporation and CITIC was signed in Naypyitaw last weekend, Xinhua and the Myanmar News Agency reported.

The project is due to work to boost rice production per acre production rate, enhance rice quality, mitigate production costs and increase internal and external investment in production, milling and trading.

Myanmar exports a variety of Emata rice, Ngasein rice, sticky rice, parboiled rice and broken rice to international markets including China, Sri Lanka, the European Union and South Africa. But productivity is low compared to the production of neighboring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam.

China is by far the largest market with about 1.5 million tons of rice exported to the country through border gates during the fiscal year 2016-2017, according to the report.

CITIC already has a significant footprint in Myanmar as the lead partner in a consortium that has proposed taking a 70-85 percent stake in the US$7.3 billion Kyauk Pyu deep sea port, part of Chinas One Belt, One Road Initiative. CITIC also won the right to nearly run a nearby industrial park and an oil refinery.

In June The Irrawaddy reported that farmers were demanding compensation for land selected by CITIC to be part of the industrial park. Earlier this year a report by the International Commission for Jurists (ICJ) urged the government to ensure human rights in the Kyauk Pyu SEZ development.

Bus Firm Seeks Foreign Investors

A local US$10 million bus assembly and production facility is keen to enlist 50 percent foreign investment, according to DealStreet Asia.

Yangon-based Myanmar Motor Corporation Public Company (MMC) is keen to expand with an eye to export to mainly Asian markets, its president Htay Aung told the website. The company is in talks with two foreign enterprises, he added.

MMC is an exclusive dealer of the German commercial vehicle MAN. Currently, it orders parts and assembly of the vehicles in China which are then imported into Myanmar as finished buses.

The firm expects to roll out its own MAN buses from Yangon soon, after it gained a license to manufacture the buses locally in January this year. The vehicles will be assembled at a facility in Mingaladon Township which will be able to produce around 100 buses a year.

Started in 2012, MMC is a consortium of 31 local companies including Sakura Trade Center, Sakura Engineering and Construction Development, Sakura Technical Services and Sakura Auto which imports new and reconditioned cars.

Marriott in Deal for Downtown Yangon Hotel

The Hotel Sule Square and the Naing Group have signed a deal with Marriott International to open a hotel in downtown Yangon, it was reported this week.

The 200-room Courtyard by Marriott will be located in Yangons Sule Square as part of a mixed-use development including retail outlets and cafes.

Karl Hudson of Marriott International said, Myanmar holds immense potential as a new tourism destination in Southeast Asia given its rich history and natural beauty. Demand is expected to grow as the government and economy are stabilizing, according to a report in a trade website.

Forum on Small Business Development

A forum on the development of small and medium sized enterprises will be held by the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) at its Mingalardon Hall facility in Yangon on the morning of Saturday July 29 (today). The event is due to bring economists, government officials and private sector interests together and all are invited.
Dateline Dateline Irrawaddy: Prospects For Peace Are Not Good

Dateline / The Irrawaddy

Ye Ni: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week, we discuss the latest developments in Shan and Kachin states and their impacts on politics and the countrys peace process. The Irrawaddy news crew members Ko Kyaw Kha and Ma Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint join me to discuss this. Im Irrawaddy Burmese editor Ye Ni.

Speaking of the latest developments in the peace process in Shan State, Lt-Gen Yawd Serk of the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) has said that the prospects for peace now look dim. Shan politicians raised objections when they were asked to promise not to secede at the recent talks on federalism. U Harn Yawnghwe, a Shan politician living abroad and the son of [Myanmars first president] Sao Shwe Thaik, was blacklisted [from entry to Myanmar]. And clashes have recurred between government troops and the SSA-S, though it has signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

The news reports weve heard about Shan State are more and more discouraging. Ko Kyaw Kha, do you agree with what Lt-Gen Yawd Serk has said? And youve talked to the Shan politicians who attended a recent discussion in Thailands Chiang Mai. What did you hear from them?

DATELINE IRRAWADDY: This week, The Irrawaddy discusses developments in Shan and Kachin states and their impacts on the peace process. Posted by The Irrawaddy  English Edition on Friday, July 28, 2017

Kyaw Kha: The Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU)composed of Shan political parties, particularly the SNLD (Shan Nationalities League for Democracy) and SNDP (Shan Nationalities Democratic Party), and Shan armed groups SSA-N and SSA-S, and Shan local civil society organizationsplanned to hold a meeting in Chiang Mai. The committees main objective is to engage in Shan national politics and promote the rights of ethnic Shan people. However, the military attache of the Myanmar Embassy in Thailand banned their meeting. So, the meeting was disrupted. They think their meeting was banned because one of the participants, the SSPP [Shan State Progress Party, the political wing of the SSA-N], is not an NCA signatory, as well as because of the news that U Harn Yawnghwe would attend the meeting, and because [the government] did not want to see political solidarity among Shan stakeholders. Currently, there have been renewed clashes between the RCSS [Restoration Council of Shan Statethe political wing of the SSA-S] and the Tatmadaw. The RCSS held talks on this issue with joint ceasefire monitoring committees at state and Union levels, but there is still no clear answer. Both the RCSS and the Tatmadaw said clashes took place because there are still no clear lines of demarcation between the territories of the two sides.

YN: Lets talk about Kachin State. As you know, there have been clashes in Kachin State since 2011. Though they are not that frequent today, there are still sporadic clashes. The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) was previously leading the ethnic alliance United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), but has partnered with the United Wa State Army (UWSA) now. This has upset ethnic allies and raises question among them and the Kachin people about the KIOs leadership role. We have covered a report about KIO leadership as analysts have said that the political views of KIO leaders differ from one another. Ive heard that the KIO leaders explained their stances and political developments in Kachin State at a meeting in Laiza. What will be the future political steps of KIA [Kachin Independence Army, the armed wing of KIO]?

Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint: Kachin people have criticized the KIOs switch from the UNFC to the FPNCC (Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee) led by the UWSA. They criticize out of their concerns about the uncertainties over political developments in Kachin. They asked if the KIO would not try for peace. But from July 15-17, the KIO invited peoples representatives from inside and outside the country, community leaders, and locals to Laiza and explained their political shift. They explained that the UNFC had reached a dead end, and that Kachin was hit hard as the KIA has lost many outposts and hills in the large-scale assaults by the military since August 2016, and displaced persons had had to flee from place to place.

They explained that they had no other choices but to cooperate with UWSA to demand federalism and ethnic rights from the government. According to KIO leaders, some people understood the KIOs decision after the explanation, though they criticized KIO before, and they said that they would wait and see to what extent the KIO leaders can do this.

Another criticism is that there are divisions in the party. KIA spokespersons and sources close to them have said that there are groups who have moderate views and want to hold talks on the NCA with the government, as well as groups who want to demand autonomy and ethnic rights together with the UWSA. Chinese analysts have said that Gen Gun Maw, who continuously engaged in the peace process with U Thein Seins government, has moderate views, and Gen NBan La is a hardliner who would demand autonomy for Kachin State. Sources close to the KIA said that there are always members who have different views in a family, but that the divisions do not amount to a power struggle; and that the ones who have greater support from Kachin locals will take the leading role in engaging in the peace process with the government. Gen NBan La has cooperated with UWSA as it is also pressing the same demandautonomy. Again, there have been continuous clashes between the military and the Arakan Army, Taang National Liberation Army and the Kokang group in northern Shan State. So, from a geopolitical perspective, the KIA feels unsafe remaining a member of the UNFC. For these reasons, the KIA has decided to cooperate with UWSA.

YN: It can be said that the main stakeholders in peace process now are the military, the NLD (National League for Democracy) government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the UWSA and ethnic armed groups based in northern Myanmar, the CSSU or Shan political forces, UNFCthe ethnic alliance of NCA non-signatoriesand the eight NCA signatory groups, including the KNU (Karen National Union). And Lt-Gen Yawd Serk said peace prospects look dim. Ko Kyaw Kha, how do you think these players will end the show on the peace process stage?

KK: As we have consistently covered the peace process, what we see is that the prospects for peace for the time being are not good. The peace process is down. In the case of the joint ceasefire monitoring committees, discussions have stalled as territories havent been designated yet [between the military and ethnic armed groups].

We can look at the peace talks with NCA non-signatories as two partsgroups led by UNFC in the southern part of Myanmar and groups led by the UWSA in northern part. The northern groups want to hold talks with the government as a bloc under the name of FPNCC. But the government has said that it would only meet with them separately. So, there is no negotiation at all. Despite the fact that China is mediating, the two sides still have not been able to meet, and discussions could not take place.

In the case of the UNFC, it has insisted that it would hold talks based on the nine points it has presented to the government; and the government is set to meet the UNFC next week. But there are no talks between the government and the other stakeholders. In the case of the NCA signatories, some of them have not been able to hold a national-level political dialogue, and there is no progress in discussions about the renewed clashes between the government and NCA signatory groups [like the SSA-S]. NCA signatories are now just reviewing their dissatisfactions at 21st Century Panglong. There is almost no progress in the peace process, except that the UNFC will meet the government next week. It is suffice to say that the prospects look dim. Thats why SSAs Lt-Gen Yawd Serk said that 2017 wont be the year of peace at all, as was claimed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Htin Kyaw.

YN: So, it seems that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has shifted her focus to the issue of IDPs (internally displaced persons), as the peace process has reached an impasse. She has met with the KBC (Kachin Baptist Convention) recently. Ma Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint, what have you heard about the meeting?

NLHP: They held talks for an hour and a half on July 24. They had some discussions about peace, but according to those who attended the meeting, before the second session of the 21st Century Panglong conference, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi urged Kachin leaders in Myitkyina to sign the NCA. But as it didnt happen, this time she asked KBC leaders if they would help children in areas controlled by the KIA to be able to go to school, and that the government would cooperate with the KBC.

The talks also focused on cooperation in returning IDPs to their homes. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked what the barriers were in peace process, and KBC leaders replied that the assaults of Tatmadaw were barriers to peace, and they urged her government to handle this seriously. And she replied that as the government was still trying to amend the 2008 Constitution, they only had formal relations with the Tatmadaw according to the Constitution, and the government therefore was not in a position to exercise direct control over Tatmadaw. She said the government wouldnt neglect the Kachin and the IDP issue, and the two sides agreed to cooperate on those issues as well as on the peace process.

YN: Thank you for your contributions!
News This Week in Parliament (July 24  July 28)

A man wears a mask to protect himself from H1N1 in Yangon on July 24, 2017. On Friday, an urgent proposal was submitted to Parliament calling for a widespread awareness campaign of the illness. / Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

Monday (July 24)

In the Lower House, Dr. U Tin Aung of Kyaukse Township asked if the Ministry of Education would enable students enrolled in distance programs at universities to submit their assignments online. Deputy Minister for Education U Win Maw Tun replied that a pilot survey would be implemented in 2018, but that for the time being, the ministry would be unable to establish a website through which assignments could be accepted and assessed.

In the Upper House, Daw Ei Ei Pyone of Irrawaddy Division Consituency (8) asked if the government had plans to prevent citizens from seeking employment illegally in foreign countries as domestic workers. Union minister for labor, immigration and population U Thein Swe said the government would take measures to legally send migrant workers to appropriate foreign countries at an appropriate time, and ensure that they received the protection and entitlements afforded by the laws of the countries in question.

Tuesday (July 25)

Daw Khin Saw Wai of Rathedaung Township asked in the Lower House if the government would translate laws which were written in English language and enacted in the colonial period, and are still enforced, into Burmese. Deputy Attorney-General of the Union Attorney-Generals Office U Win Myint said that according to the law, his office is only responsible for translating laws written in Burmese into English.

Thirteen Lower House lawmakers discussedand the legislature approvedan urgent motion put forward by Daw Thandar of Einme Township objecting to the end-of-mission statement issued by UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee on July 21.

Upper House lawmakers debated draft amendments to the controversial Telecommunications Law, and the military resisted the proposed reforms. Speaker of the Upper House Mahn Win Khaing Than assigned the bill committee to review the draft changes.

Wednesday (July 26)

The Union Parliament approved the list of nominees they had presented on Friday for three vice-governor positions and five director positions within the Central Bank of Myanmar, which will soon be vacant when existing terms expire.

The Union legislature also approved the draft law amending the Special Commodities Law.

Twenty lawmakers discussed the annual report from the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission for 2016, and Daw Zin Mar Aung of Yankin Township pointed out that the governments responses continue to be weak in addressing domestic violence, child rape, and the abuse of housemaids.

Thursday (July 27)

U Aung Sein of Dawei Township asked in the Lower House if the Parliament planned to enact a mediation law to help reduce possible lawsuits over civil cases both between people and between people and government departments. Judge U Mya Thein of the Unions Supreme Court said they were still conducting a feasibility study of court-led mediation for civil cases, and currently had no plan to enact a mediation law.

The Upper House approved the new Myanmar Companies Law. The draft law combines elements of the Myanmar Companies Act of 1914 and the Special Companies Act of 1950, reworked in hopes of attracting foreign investment, according to the Ministry of Planning and Finance.

Friday (July 28)

U Thein Htun of the Union Solidarity and Development Party submitted an urgent proposal urging the Union government to conduct a widespread awareness campaign about the H1N1 virus. The Lower House approved the proposal.

In the Upper House, lawmakers discussed the Myanmar Gems Bill 2017.
Pressure is continuing to mount on Kaspersky Lab in the US with a congressional panel asking 22 government agencies to share documents on the Moscow-based company, claiming its products could be used for nefarious activities against the United States.

Responses to the letters, sent by the US House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology on Thursday, were sought by 11 August, Reuters reported.

The requests were for all material relating to Kaspersky Lab products dating back to 1 January 2013, inclusive of any internal risk assessments.

Kaspersky Lab has been under pressure in the US for a while, with the federal government earlier this month removing the company from a from a list of approved software suppliers for two government-wide purchasing contracts that are used to buy technology services.

The founder of the company, Eugene Kaspersky, has offered to provide the source code of the company's products for examination in order to prove that there is no basis to the allegations of spying.

The committee said it was concerned that Kaspersky Lab is susceptible to manipulation by the Russian government, and that its products could be used as a tool for espionage, sabotage, or other nefarious activities against the United States", according to the letters which were sent by the chairman of the committee, Republican Lamar Smith.

The report said letters were sent to all cabinet-level agencies, including the Department of Commerce and Department of Homeland Security, the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA among others.

Reuters said it had been told by an aide to the committee that the bid to obtain information was a first step and that there may be more actions depending on the responses received.

If employees of the company were in any way affected by the happenings, they did not show any sign of it, with reports that the company hosted a party at the Red Square restaurant in Las Vegas this week on the sidelines of the annual Black Hat conference.
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TeleSur |  

The ruling comes after months of hearings over Nawaz Sharifs alleged corruption.

Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned on Friday after the countrys Supreme Court disqualified him from office over corruption claims against his family.

The Prime Ministers office said in a statement that Sharif has stepped down despite having serious reservations about the judicial process.

All legal and constitutional options will be exercised regarding our serious differences with this verdict, the statement read.

Sharif, 67, has served as premier on three separate occasions. No prime minister has completed a full five-year term in Pakistan since the countrys independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

In a unanimous decision on Friday, the Supreme Court said that Sharif was not honest and therefore he was disqualified to be a member of the Parliament. The ruling states that Sharif failed to make financial disclosures and his family could not account for assets that are disproportionate to his known means of income.

The court also disqualified Sharifs former accountant and current Finance Minister Ishaq Dar from office, state-run PTV news channel said.

Mariyam Aurangzeb, Sharifs information minister, said the government was saddened but not surprised by Fridays ruling.

Sharifs ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, PML-N, which won a majority in Parliament in 2013, is expected to name a new prime minister to hold office until elections due next year.

Among possible allies to replace Sharif are Defence Minister Asif Khawaja, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Petroleum Minister Shahid Abbasi.

Meanwhile, the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, PTI, has announced plans to celebrate the verdict with a rally on Sunday.

Imran Khan, the PTI leader who last year threatened mass street protests unless Sharifs wealth was investigated, called Fridays ruling a victory for Pakistan.

What we have seen today, if anything could strengthen Pakistans democracy, then this is it. In a democracy, a leadership must be accountable, he said. Our democratic evolution has moved forward.

The charges against Sharif and three of his children stemmed from disclosures last year in the Panama Papers, which revealed that his expensive family-owned residential property in London was funded through offshore companies.

The Supreme Court ruled in April that there was insufficient evidence to remove Sharif from office, but ordered a probe by a high-level investigative panel that included members of military intelligence agencies.

The investigators found that Sharifs family assets do not match their earnings and that Sharif had been the chairman of the board of Capital FZE, a company based in the UAE, for years without declaring his position.

Sharif denied the allegations and had warned his ouster would destabilize Pakistan.

Via TeleSur

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Related video added by Juan Cole:

Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif resigns over Panama Papers verdict  BBC News
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Maan News Agency |  

JERUSALEM (Maan)  Following deadly clashes that erupted across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and besieged Gaza Strip on Friday in protest of continued Israeli-imposed restrictions on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Islamic Trust, or Waqf  in charge of running the holy site  has confirmed that all Israeli restrictions have been lifted and gates have been opened for Palestinians of all ages from occupied East Jerusalem, Israel, or those with Israeli permits from the occupied West Bank to perform Asr (afternoon) prayers at Al-Aqsa.

Head of public relations at the Waqf Firas al-Dibs told Maan that Israeli forces had opened all gates to Al-Aqsa Mosque and lifted restrictions banning Palestinian men under the age of 50 from entering the holy compound, which was enforced by Israeli authorities since Friday morning.

During dhuhr (noon) prayers, when protests erupted across the occupied Palestinian territory, scores of Palestinians were prevented from praying at Al-Aqsa amid two weeks of unrest over Israeli policies at the holy site.

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said that the security measures at Al-Aqsa were only meant to apply to dhuhr prayers on Friday, adding that after the noon prayer Palestinians of all ages would be permitted to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque.

    #_        ?#_ pic.twitter.com/W6jClebsVU   (@Marwa_waz) July 28, 2017

Meanwhile, Palestinian lawyer Muhammad Mahmoud said that Israeli authorities had released 95 Palestinians during dawn hours on Friday who were detained during clashes at Al-Aqsa on Thursday , while 28 detainees were released on Friday morning.

Mahmoud added that the Palestinians were released under the following conditions: if they were a resident of the Old City in Jerusalem, they were banned from Al-Aqsa Mosque for two weeks; If they lived outside the Old City, they were banned from the Old City for two weeks; If residing outside of Jerusalem, they were banned from Jerusalem for two weeks.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society had reported earlier on Friday that 21 Palestinians were banned from Al-Aqsa for 15 days.

What was hailed as a rare victory for Palestinians, after thousands participated in a nearly two-week civil disobedience campaign and successfully demanded the removal of Israeli security measures at the holy site, was quickly transformed into violent clashes on Thursday when Israeli forces raided Al-Aqsa Mosque as thousands of Palestinians had entered the site for the first time since July 14.

Israeli authorities subsequently imposed new restrictions on the compound Friday morning, barring Palestinian men under the age of 50 from entering Al-Aqsa, the third holiest site in Islam.

Palestinians continued mass demonstrations across the occupied Palestinian territory in protest of the new restrictions on Al-Aqsa. The protests turned deadly after a 16-year-old Palestinian was shot to death by Israeli forces in Gaza, while another Palestinian in the Jerusalem-area town of al-Ram was reported in critical condition after being shot by Israeli-fired live ammunition.

According to Maan documentation, six Palestinians were killed by Israelis, one of whom was killed by an Israeli settler, since mass protests were organized among Palestinians over the past week to protest Israels policies at Al-Aqsa.

Palestinians have celebrated their successful protests around Al-Aqsa in the context of routine Israeli violations of Palestinian life and properties in East Jerusalem, which makes such victories seldom amid Israels continued occupation of the territory.

Meanwhile, others have pointed out that Israel continues to restrict millions of Palestinians from accessing the holy site through its annexation of East Jerusalem  a move never recognized by the international community  and its half-century occupation of the West Bank and 10-year siege on Gaza, which have forced Palestinians outside of East Jerusalem and Israel to obtain Israeli permits in order to pray at Al-Aqsa.
By Yi Whan-woo





Kang Kyung-hwa Rex Tillerson

Top diplomats of South Korea and the United States discussed issues related to North Korea by phone, Thursday, as Washington is seeking the toughest-ever sanctions against Pyongyang.

The conversation between Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took place on the same day the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved a package of bills penalizing Russia, Iran and North Korea.

While much of the attention was on Russia, the bills also seek to choke off North Korea amid Seoul's efforts to resume dialogue with Pyongyang on one hand and joining the U.N. sanctions against the North on the other.

The bills aim at blocking North Korea's imports of crude oil and oil products, banning employment of North Korean workers forced to earn cash abroad, prohibiting the sailing of ships from North Korea and the countries that are uncooperative with the U.N. sanctions and curbing trade of North Korean goods online.

The bills, which await U.S. President Donald Trump's signature to take effect, came after the U.S. Department of State banned Americans from traveling to North Korea on July 21.

The measure followed the death of Otto Warmbier, a detained American college student who died after being released from the Kim Jong-un regime in a coma in June, also amid concerns that the North may be capitalizing on tourism to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Park Young-ho, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Friday that Rex Tillerson may have reaffirmed to Kang the U.S. policy of "maximum pressure and engagement" with North Korea.

"The North Korea sanctions approved by the Senate mainly require support from China," Park said. "In that regard, the two foreign ministers may have discussed how the two allies can coordinate and tune-up their North Korea policies instead of having South Korea take practical measures in line with the Senate's bills."

Secondary boycott

He said the Moon government should pursue balanced diplomacy between Washington and Beijing in a more prudent manner, claiming that "The bills may eventually lead to a secondary boycott of Chinese entities and individuals doing business with North Korea."

It was the first dialogue between Kang and Tillerson since July 4 when North Korea purportedly succeeded in the test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday that Kang and Tillerson agreed on bilateral cooperation against North Korea's missile program.

"The two sides assessed security on the Korean Peninsula in the aftermath of Pyongyang's July 4 missile test," the ministry said in a press release. "They shared thoughts on the U.N. Security Council's push to adopt a new set of sanctions and how they could help curb Pyongyang's military provocations for denuclearization."

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Kang and Tillerson pledged to work closely to strengthen the alliance, adding "They reaffirmed our joint commitment to a stable, peaceful and denuclearized Korean Peninsula."

"The Secretary told Foreign Minister Kang that the United States remains firmly and fully committed to the defense of the ROK and other allies in the region. The leaders agreed to continue our close coordination in response to North Korea's destabilizing violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions and hold North Korea accountable for its unlawful actions," Nauert told reporters in a daily press briefing.
Grace Mugabe, Zimbabwean iron First Lady has challenged her husband Robert to name his preferred successor to end deepening political divisions in the southern African nation.

The first Lady who earlier this year accused some ruling Zanu-PF party officials of plotting to take over from her husband did the U-turn on Thursday, State televisions website reports.

Robert Mugabe should run as a corpse in next years election if he dies before the vote, Grace said in February.

However, at a meeting of ZANU-PFs womens wing in the capital Harare on Thursday, Grace Mugabe contradicted the veteran leader, saying he should name a successor.

The First Lady and Zanu PF Secretary for Womens Affairs has challenged the President to name his successor saying this has been the trend in other countries, ZBC said online.

The First Lady said there is nothing wrong with Mugabe naming his successor, saying the move will enable all members to rally behind one candidate.

Africas oldest leader, Mugabe, 93, who also attended the meeting, did not comment.

Note that Mugabe has governed Zimbabwe since the end of white-majority rule in 1980 following a bitterly fought war.

His wife, who has often professed her undying loyalty to her husband, has assumed an increasingly high profile.
An animal rights activist in a polar bear costume jumps into the Han River at Yeouido Hangang Park in Seoul, Friday, in protest of Everland's alleged mistreatment of a polar bear./Yonhap



By You Soo-sun



A polar bear at a Korean zoo was found to be suffering, according to animal rights activists, Friday.

Activists of the animal welfare group, Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE), urged the zoo to provide adequate care for the polar bear, also known as Tonki, and to cease future exhibition of polar bears, during a press conference in Yeouido Hangang Park in Seoul. In protest, one activist jumped into the Han River wearing a polar bear jumpsuit.

Tonki is a 22-year-old male polar bear, which has lived in captivity in Everland for 20 years, the country's largest theme park, located in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. According to CARE, Tonki has been living in gruesome conditions, without an adequate water supply and air-conditioning he needs to stay cool.

"At first sight, I questioned if he was even alive," said a CARE activist who visited the zoo earlier this month.

This is not the first time Everland has been criticized for its mistreatment of polar bears. It was revealed two years ago that Tonki was held inside a small pit, where he also displayed signs of a mental disorder presented by actions like head bobbing and pacing. More than 5,000 people have signed a petition to help Tonki. Everland promised to improve the welfare for Tonki.

The animal rights advocates denounced Everland for failing to follow through on its promise. It also directed criticism to Samsung, its operator and a leading conglomerate of the country. "We demand Samsung cease showcasing new polar bears by importing them here. We also seek better living conditions for Tonki," the CARE representative called out. "If his health further deteriorates, they should make ways for conditions that would allow him to die in peace."

On July 11, they made their first visit to the zoo, disguised as foreign tourists. Video footage made secretly shows Tonki foraging for water. It was 30 degrees Celsius outside. The thermometer inside the drained pool was broken, pointing at 11 degrees.

On their second visit three days later, they found water that came up to his ankles. It was 34 degrees that day. The water tank was full by their third visit, July 16. "We believe they took the necessary actions due to the complaints," the CARE representative said. "But Tonki is too old, and has been neglected for too long."

Everland refuted the claims, saying "They must have taken the video when we drained the water to clean the tank, which we do twice a week. We also maintain the room temperature at 18 degrees, and are doing our best to help him."
In general, a scientific law is the description of an observed phenomenon. It doesn't explain why the phenomenon exists or what causes it. The explanation for a phenomenon is called a scientific theory . It is a misconception that theories turn into laws with enough research.

"In science, laws are a starting place," said Peter Coppinger, an associate professor of biology and biomedical engineering at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in India. "From there, scientists can then ask the questions, 'Why and how?'"

Difference between a scientific theory and a scientific law

Many people think that if scientists find evidence that supports a hypothesis, the hypothesis is upgraded to a theory, and if the theory is found to be correct, it is upgraded to a law. That is not how it works, though. Facts, theories and laws  as well as hypotheses  are separate elements of the scientific method . Though they may evolve, they aren't upgraded to something else.

"Hypotheses, theories and laws are rather like apples, oranges and kumquats: One cannot grow into another, no matter how much fertilizer and water are offered," according to the University of California, Berkeley (opens in new tab). A hypothesis is a potential explanation of a narrow phenomenon; a scientific theory is an in-depth explanation that applies to a wide range of phenomena. A law is a statement about an observed phenomenon or a unifying concept, according to Kennesaw State University (opens in new tab).

"There are four major concepts in science: facts, hypotheses, laws and theories," Coppinger told Live Science.

Though scientific laws and theories are supported by a large body of empirical evidence that is accepted by the majority of scientists within that area of scientific study, and help to unify that body of data, they are not the same thing.

"Laws are descriptions  often mathematical descriptions  of natural phenomena for example, Newton's Law of Gravity or Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment. These laws simply describe the observation. Not how or why they work," Coppinger said.

Coppinger pointed out that the law of gravity was discovered by Isaac Newton in the 17th century. This law mathematically describes how two different bodies in the universe interact with each other. However, Newton's law doesn't explain what gravity is or how it works. It wasn't until three centuries later, when Albert Einstein developed the theory of Relativity , that scientists began to understand what gravity is and how it works.

Mendelian Inheritance shown with a pea model. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

(opens in new tab)

"Newton's law is useful to scientists in that astrophysicists can use this centuries-old law to land robots on Mars. But it doesn't explain how gravity works, or what it is. Similarly, Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment describes how different traits are passed from parent to offspring, not how or why it happens," Coppinger said. Gregor Mendel discovered that two different genetic traits would appear independently of each other in different offspring. "Yet, Mendel knew nothing of DNA or chromosomes . It wasn't until a century later that scientists discovered DNA and chromosomes  the biochemical explanation of Mendel's laws. It was only then that scientists, such as T.H. Morgan, working with fruit flies, explained the Law of Independent Assortment using the theory of chromosomal inheritance. Still today, this is the universally accepted explanation (theory) for Mendel's Law," Coppinger said.

The difference between scientific laws and scientific facts is a bit harder to define, though the definition is important. Facts are simple, one-off observations that have been shown to be true. Laws are generalized observations about a relationship between two or more things in the natural world based on a variety of facts and empirical evidence, often framed as a mathematical statement, according to NASA.

For example, "Apples fall down from this apple tree" is considered a fact because it is a simple statement that can be proven. "The strength of gravity between any two objects (like an apple and the Earth) depends on the masses of the objects and the distance between them" is a law because it describes the behavior of two objects in a certain circumstance. If the circumstance changes, then the implications of the law would change. For example, if the apple and the Earth shrank to a subatomic size, they would behave differently.

Scientific laws and mathematics

(Image credit: Shutterstock.)

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Many scientific laws can be boiled down to a mathematical equation. For example, Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation states:

F g = G (m 1  m 2 ) / d2

Fg is the force of gravity; G is the universal gravitational constant, which can be measured; m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects, and d is the distance between them, according to The Ohio State University (opens in new tab).

Scientific laws are also often governed by the mathematics of probability. "With large numbers, probability always works. The house always wins," said Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. "We can calculate the probability of an event and we can determine how certain we are of our estimate, but there is always a trade-off between precision and certainty. This is known as the confidence interval. For example, we can be 95% certain that what we are trying to estimate lies within a certain range or we can be more certain, say 99% certain, that it lies within a wider range. Just like in life in general, we must accept that there is a trade-off."

Do laws change?

Just because an idea becomes a law doesn't mean that it can't be changed through scientific research in the future. The use of the word "law" by laymen and scientists differs. When most people talk about a law, they mean something that is absolute. A scientific law is much more flexible. It can have exceptions, be proven wrong or evolve over time, according to the University of California, Berkeley.

"A good scientist is one who always asks the question, 'How can I show myself wrong?'" Coppinger said. "In regards to the Law of Gravity or the Law of Independent Assortment, continual testing and observations have 'tweaked' these laws. Exceptions have been found. For example, Newton's Law of Gravity breaks down when looking at the quantum (subatomic) level. Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment breaks down when traits are "linked" on the same chromosome."

Examples of scientific laws

The law of conservation of energy, which says that the total energy in an isolated system remains constant. In other words, energy cannot be created or destroyed, according to Britannica (opens in new tab) .

. The laws of thermodynamics, which deal with the relationships between heat and other forms of energy

Newton's universal law of gravitation, which says that any two objects exert a gravitational force upon each other, according to the University of Winnipeg (opens in new tab)

Hubble's law of cosmic expansion, which defines a relationship between a galaxy's distance and how fast it's moving away from us, according to astrophysicist Neta A. Bahcall

The Archimedes Principle, which states that the buoyant force on an object submerged in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by that object.

Additional resources

This resource from the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (opens in new tab) has an in-depth explanation of scientific theories and laws.

has an in-depth explanation of scientific theories and laws. Find out why a theory cant evolve into a law in this article from Indiana Public Media (opens in new tab) .

. Watch a video about the difference between a scientific law and a scientific theory from TEDEd. (opens in new tab)

Bibliography

University of California, Berkeley, "Misconceptions about science." https://undsci.berkeley.edu/teaching/misconceptions.php

NASA IMAGE Education Center, "Teacher's Guide: Theories, Hypothesis, Laws, Facts & Beliefs." https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/371711main_SMII_Problem23.pdf

The Ohio State University, "Lecture 18: The Apple and the Moon: Newtonian Gravity." https://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/pogge.1/Ast161/Unit4/gravity.html

Encyclopedia Britannica, "Conservation of energy." November 16, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/science/conservation-of-energy

University of Winnipeg, "Newton's Law of Gravitation." 1997. https://theory.uwinnipeg.ca/physics/circ/node7.html
BUILDING THE LA RAZA 'The Race' WELFARE STATE ON MIDDLE AMERICAS' BACKS: Months ago, the Biden administration publicly defended their proposal to begin providing federal identification cards to border crossers and illegal aliens who they plan to release into American communities. The goal of the proposal is to make securing public benefits easier.
Minister of Tourism, Culture & Creative Arts, Catherine Afeku, has said the celebration of African Emancipation Day must be seen as a complete call for the economic empowerment of African nations.

According to her, It is time for Africa to grow beyond international aid and achieve economic independence; therefore, the focus of Africans should be centred on propelling the economic growth of their countries.

The minister was addressing a durbar at this year's wreath-laying ceremony in Accra on Tuesday to commence the celebration of the 25th Pan-African Historic Festival (PANAFEST) and Emancipation Day.

The wreath-laying ceremony was organised to pay tribute to the fallen fathers of Africa and of African descent, who by their toils, liberated Africans from servitude.

Three separate wreath-laying events were done on the graves of three illustrious sons  Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president, Dr William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, a prominent political activist and George Padmore, a Pan-Africanist.

Tributes were also paid to the big shots of Africa's emancipation, including Kwamena Mensah-Sarbah, Nelson Mandela, Nana Yaa Asantewaa, Casely Hayford, Bob Marley, Martin Luther King and John Henry Clark.

This year's PANAFEST and Africa Emancipation Day celebration is on the theme: 'Emancipation, Our Heritage, Our Strength' and on the sub-theme: 'The Power of Pan-African Culture'.

The theme, Madam Afeku stated, must be used to champion the economic interest of Africans, adding, Our leaders must put personal interests aside and pursue the collective interest of the people.

Let us dream Africa first, read Africa first and live Africa first, she said.

Madam Afeku gave the assurance that the government was resolute to pursue Ghana's emancipation to the fullest, especially in the area of economic development.

She also reaffirmed the commitment of the ministry and the Ghana Tourism Authority to protecting the cultural heritage.

The President of the African-American Association of Ghana, Madam Theresa Kwakye, said, Despite the pain the people of Africa have suffered in building the continent, they are still determined, resilient and strong.

She expressed appreciation to the people of Africa for welcoming returnees from outside the continent back to their root, and urged Africans to unite for economic progress.

The 2017 PANAFEST and Emancipation Day celebration started on July 25 and will end on August 2.

It would feature activities such as a welcoming ceremony for Africans in the Diaspora, a durbar of chiefs and queen mothers, an expo and an inter-faith dialogue to highlight the roles played by religion during the slave trade.

Other attendees were Madam Emilia Almeida, who is in-charge of Foreign Affairs of Angola, and dignitaries of the embassies of Zimbabwe, Niger, Nigeria, Cuba, South Sudan, some officials of the Ghana Tourism Authority, PANAFEST Foundation, Ministry of Tourism and other stakeholders
The government of Ghana has laid down plans to build an ultra-modern music recording studio for musicians in the country, Citi Showbiz has learnt.

According to the President of the Creative Arts Council, Mark Okraku Mantey, the government is concerned about the low quality of music production in the country, hence the decision to set up a studio that meets international standards.

The government will set up an ultra-modern music studio so that after individual producers have done the basic programming, they can go to there to master them, he said.

He said in tandem with this, the government will take some Ghanaian music producers abroad for training to broaden their scope in music production.

One of the things this government has for the musician is that we've realized the standards in the music industry is continuously falling. This is made manifest when you play a Ghanaian song after songs produced from Nigeria or South Africa you realize a drop in the quality and this is because we are recording below standards so we want to move a notch higher, he said.

He made this revelation at the 2nd Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) which took place on Thursday, 27th July, 2017 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

The 2016 NPP Manifesto on creative arts

The New Patriotic Party prior to assuming office laid down these items for the arts sector in its 2016 Manifesto:

establish a Creative Arts Fund to make available funds to modernise and develop the sector

create a Division of the High Court, focusing on the Creative Arts to deal with all matters relating to intellectual property rights, complete with a dedicated enforcement unit

establish a Creative Arts Council to coordinate and harmonise the various interests and fragmented associations into a well-functioning body to protect the interests of members.

collaborate with private sector interests to acquire the technology and equipment needed to log creative works, in order to determine true and deserved royalties.

promote regional and district literature, music, dance and drama competitions, particularly in schools and colleges, and

pursue the construction of modern large seating theatres in every regional capital except Accra, beginning with Takoradi, Tamale and Kumasi, as well as setting up an additional Copyright Office in Tamale to cater for the northern sector in addition to the existing ones in Accra and Kumasi.



By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Accra, July 28 - (UPI/GNA) - The U.S. Treasury Department is ready with tougher sanctions on Venezuela, including crude oil restrictions, but may hold back, an industry report read.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 13 current and former government officials in Venezuela for their role in Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's efforts to silence his opponents.

The sanctioned individuals include Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, the former Vice President for Finance at State Oil Company Petroleos de Venezuela, known also as PDVSA.

The sanctions noose could get tighter if Maduro pushes ahead with a vote on Sunday that would likely redraft the Venezuelan constitution in his favor.

A source in the administration of President Donald Trump, told S&P Global Platts that the Treasury Department is ready with sanctions that could restrict the import of crude oil from Venezuela, the third largest source of imports behind Canada and Saudi Arabia, respectively.

"Treasury is preparing them, but that doesn't mean they'll implement them," the source said.

Tightening sanctions further could strike a blow to the Venezuelan economy as energy represents about 95 percent of its export economy, but it could create U.S. problems as well.

Patrick DeHaan, a Senior Petroleum Analyst for price-tracker GasBuddy, and Phil Flynn, a Senior Market Analyst for the PRICE Futures Group in Chicago, both told United Press International that, this week a potential ban on Venezuelan oil might have unintended consequences.

"A cut of Venezuelan exports would add about 15 to 25 cents a gallon to U.S. gasoline prices," Flynn said.

Platts adds that, for the refiners concentrated on the U.S. Gulf Coast, Venezuela is the largest source of crude oil, ahead of Saudi Arabia, noting those reviewing sanctions in the Trump administration recognize the potential for blowback.

The administration source told Platts that "many within the Trump administration view sanctions on Venezuelan crude imports as having a more devastating effect on the U.S. refining sector than on Venezuela's economy."

GNA
President Nana Akufo-Addo has referred two petitions invoking the provisions of Article 146(3) of the Constitution, in respect of the office of the Deputy Chairpersons of the Electoral Commission to the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo.

A press release from the Presidency Friday said, the office of the President received the two petitions, both dated July 25, 2017, from Emmanuel Korsi Senyo, who described himself as a Concerned Citizen of Ghana.

The petitions against Georgina Opoku Amankwa and Mr. Amadu Sulley comes days after an earlier communique confirmed that a similar petition against the EC Chair, Charlotte Osei has also been forwarded to the CJ.

"President Akufo-Addo, pursuant to the terms of Article 146(3), has, thus, referred both petitions to the Chief Justice for resolution, in accordance with the provisions of Article 146(3)," the statement signed by Director of Communication, Eugene Arhim said.

The country was shocked last week Thursday with a 27-point petition pregnant with allegations of misconduct against the EC Chair.

Georgina Opoku Amankwa

The petition which was to trigger the full impeachment processes under Article 146 of the Constitution, partly described the EC Chair as incompetent, corrupt, fraudulent and autocratic.

The petition, signed by a private legal practitioner, Maxwell Opoku Agyemang stated among others, that the Chairperson of the Commission in many instances breached the Procurement Law in procuring goods and services for the Commission.

In what the petitioners claim to be a one-woman show, Charlotte Osei was alleged to have unilaterally and without recourse to procurement procedures engaged the services of lawyers, [email protected] who represented the Commission in the pre-election legal banter with aggrieved parties and disqualified flag bearers.

She was also alleged to have abrogated an existing contract with Super Tech Ltd. (STL), unilaterally renegotiating and re-awarding the contract at the new sum of $21,999,592 without serious regard to the tender processes.

The chairperson, Mrs Osei unilaterally awarded a contract of about $25,000 to a South African company Quazar Limited to change and re-develop the Commissions Logo under the guise of rebranding without going through tender contrary to the Public Procurement Act, point 26 of the petition read.

Amadu Sulley

Events took on a new twist when Mrs Osei's responses to the claims against her triggered further allegations against her by two of her deputies, Georgina Opoku Amankwaa and Amadu Sulley.

In a related development, Mrs Osei has proceeded to court with a suit against the Mr Opoku Agyemang.

She is seeking damages from the court against Maxwell Opoku Agyemang, who on behalf of the unnamed workers of the Electoral Commission petitioned the president to remove the Chairperson of the Commission over stated misconduct.

In a suit on Monday, July 24, 2017, and intercepted by Myjoyonline.com, the lawyer for the EC Chair, Thaddeus Sory, said the claims contained in the petition which was publicised both in the social and traditional media were false and defamatory.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim
29.07.2017 LISTEN

Accra, July 28, GNA - The Campus France Ghana Fair, the first ever study in French Fair and Exhibition Show for all French professional students, will be held from October 3 to 5, in Accra and Kumasi.

Mr Francois Pujolas, the French Ambassador, said the Fair would be opened to all Ghanaians to enable them get information on what to do to gain admission and scholarship to tertiary institutions in France.

He said there were so many opportunities for Ghanaian students to study in France on scholarship.

He said: 'For instance, you can come to France but study in English.'

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mr Pujolas said the fair would provide a perfect opportunity for meetings between academic institutions from France and their Ghanaian counterparts.

He said during the fair a platform would be launched for all former Ghanaian alumnae of France tertiary institutions.

'We estimated their numbers of few hundreds and we have already online registered 200 of them,' he said.

Mr Pujolas said there were some very prominent Ghanaian personalities on the list as former alumnae.

'This will be a big event as well and for that reason we want to connect with those people who went to study in France, because they can play a role also in promoting the study in France to the young Ghanaian people,' he added.

He said there was an increasing trend of the number of Ghanaian students going to France purposely to study; adding that 'and that is what we will put resources in because we believe in the future and the future means the younger generation'.

The Ambassador said the objective of the Campus France Ghana Fair was to make the information on studying in France more accessible to Ghanaian students and to increase co-operation between academic institutions themselves from both countries.

'There are already programmes, of course we are not starting from scratch, there are already some cooperation in place between universities in Ghana and universities in France; but we want to develop that. So we will do that. That is an opportunity for them to meet like university to university,' he said.

Mr Pujolas noted that over the years, there had been some level of students exchange between the two countries; stating that French political science students prefer Ghana as their destination for exchange programmes to all other African countries.

'It is nice to create some solidarity between generations and awareness about France and Ghana,' the Ambassador said.

On 60 years of Ghana and France relationship Mr Pujolas said: 'The Ghana - France relationship is about better facing the challenges of the day and preparing for a better future, which means sustainable future for both countries, Europe and Africa at the same time.'

'That is what we want to achieve through co-operation and peace and stability, economic development and cultural diversity,' he stated.

GNA

By Iddi Yire, GNA
Milwaukee

MS-13's most vicious 'animals': The brutal gangsters still on the run including one who murdered a fellow member and another who shot dead his ex-girlfriend

Carlos Flores Garcia and Victor Alfonso Argueta are wanted for stabbing to death two men in Maryland whom they mistook for members of a rival gang

Robert Morales, 39, is wanted by FBI for murders of two men in Los Angeles and an attempted murder of a woman

Sole MS-13 member to have made it onto FBI's Ten Most Wanted list is Walter Yovaniy Gomez, accused of stabbing a man 17 times and cutting his throat

Founded in by Salvadoran immigrants in Los Angeles in 1980s, MS-13 is now estimated to have 10,000 members in US

MS-13 has emerged as America's most brutal street gang, sowing terror wherever it's got a foothold and leaving a trail of mutilated corpses in its wake.

The Latino gang's ultra-violent criminal activities have drawn the attention of President Donald Trump , who vowed to eradicate the criminal enterprise in a controversial speech delivered last week in Long Island, New York , where MS-13 units, known in Spanish as 'clicas,' have been holding towns in fear through acts of murder and bloody retribution.

'They kidnap. They extort. They rape and they rob,' Trump told an audience of police officers on Friday. 'They stomp on their victims. They beat them with clubs, they slash them with machetes, and they stab them with knives. They have transformed peaceful parks and beautiful quiet neighborhoods into bloodstained killing fields. They're animals.'

Scroll down for video



+4 Gang crackdown: President Donald Trump delivered a strongly-worded speech in Long Island, New York, Friday and vowed to wipe out MS-13



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In that speech, Trump suggested that police should not be 'too nice' to suspected MS-13 'thugs' and condoned using 'rough' methods when dealing with accused gangsters - words that have been met with sharp criticism by many law enforcement officials across the nation.

Having been started by Salvadoran immigrants on the streets of Los Angeles in the 1980s, MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, is now estimated to have some 10,000 members in the US, many of them teenage boys and young men from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

As Fox News first reported, among the gangsters there are currently five men considered to be the most-wanted affiliates of MS-13 in the country, suspected of slaying both rival and fellow gang members.

Walter Yovaniy Gomez, 28, is accused of stabbing a fellow MS-13 member 17 times in the back and cutting his throat

Walter Yovany Gomez: The 28-year-old undocumented immigrant from Honduras is the only member of MS-13 who has earned a spot on FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Yovaniy Gomez, dubbed 'Cholo,' is wanted for his alleged involvement in the murder of a man in Plainfield, New Jersey, in May of 2011. The victim was suspected of socializing with a rival gang and had been ordered to be killed by MS-13 leaders. It is alleged that Gomez and another gang member, after an evening of socializing with the victim, attacked him. The victim was struck in the head numerous times, had his throat cut, and was stabbed 17 times in the back. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Gomez in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, on September 19, 2013, after he was charged with violent crime in aid of racketeering. He was last seen in Maryland after he was driven there from New Jersey. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the suspect's arrest.



+4 Robert Morales, 39, is wanted for murders of two men in Los Angeles and an attempted murder of a woman

Robert Morales : The 39-year-old, known as 'Casper,' is believed to be a member of the Coronado clique of MS-13. He is wanted for the alleged murder of two men and the attempted murder of a woman in Los Angeles. On July 31, 2000, Morales allegedly shot and killed a man waiting at a bus stop. On November 9, 2000, Morales allegedly shot and killed a fellow MS-13 gang member, and fired several shots at the victim's girlfriend. On January 22, 2001, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County issued an arrest warrant after Morales was charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. A federal warrant charging Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution was issued on January 17, 2007.

Morales has a long criminal history including several assaults, burglary, narcotics transportation, and domestic violence. He has ties to El Salvador.

Carlos Flores Garcia, 30, is wanted in a double murder

Carlos Flores Garcia and Victor Alfonso Argueta: Garcia, 30, and Argueta, 31, both of El Salvador, are wanted for their alleged involvement in a double murder in Baltimore County, Maryland.

On January 8, 2006, the men were at a club in South Baltimore when they met the two male victims. It is believed the murders occurred because the suspects thought they saw one of the victims flash a rival gang sign. Law enforcement investigation revealed that the victims had no gang affiliation.

When the two victims left the club, they were approached by the suspects and agreed to meet them behind a local school. The two male victims were then stabbed multiple times with knives and died.

Victor Alfonso Argueta, 31, is believed to be Garcia's accomplice in the 2006 killing

Garcia was charged in the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore County with two counts of first degree murder on September 11, 2006. A federal arrest warrant has been issued for Garcia and he has been charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Argueta was charged in the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore County with accessory to commit first degree murder after the fact and conspiracy to act as an accessory to commit first degree murder after the fact on September 11, 2006. A federal arrest warrant has been issued for Argueta and he has been charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.



+4 Carlos Alberto Gonzalez-Barahona, 26, is wanted for killing his estranged girlfriend and kidnapping a truck driver

Carlos Alberto Gonzalez-Barahona : The 26-year-old El Salvadorian national has been deported multiple times from the US and is wanted for killing his estranged girlfriend in June, earning him a spot on Texas Department of Public Safety's Ten Most Wanted list.

In 2010, Gonzalez-Barahona was convicted of Burglary of a Habitation after an incident in Harris County. In October 2013, he was deported from the United States back to El Salvador.

Then on June 18, Gonzalez-Barahona allegedly shot and killed his estranged girlfriend at their apartment in northwest Houston. After the shooting, he reportedly fled the Harris County area and abandoned a pickup truck he was driving in Wharton County. His whereabouts since then are not known. Prior to abandoning the truck on June 20, he allegedly kidnapped the driver of the truck at gunpoint in Brazoria County.

On June 20, the Harris County Sheriff's Office issued a warrant for Gonzalez-Barahona's arrest for Murder, followed by another warrant issued in July for Aggravated Kidnapping.

MS-13 works as an umbrella grouping of units, some of which are larger and more violent than others.

Most MS-13 members are young men that trace their heritage to El Salvador, Honduras or Guatemala, and among the members there are as many immigrants as there are US citizens. Many were born in the United States.
Bolgatanga, July 28, GNA - Dr Roger Kanton, the Upper East Regional Co-ordinator of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), has called on Government to give the agriculture industry the needed support.

This, he said would make the sector vibrant to effectively serve its purpose.

He said even though agriculture had a good potential to sufficiently feed the people of Ghana and earn income from the export of the many products that could be produced in the country, it was being under exploited and given little attention.

Dr Kanton said this at a Research, Extension and Farmer Linkage Committee (RELC) planning session in Bolgatanga to review last year's activities and to plan for this year.

It attracted Agricultural Researchers, Agricultural Officers and farmers.

He said the RELC was initiated from 1992 and 1993 and had proven by all standards to be the best way to support agriculture in Ghana, 'Unfortunately, funding has been problematic, we always depend on donors,' he said.

He said the RELC could transform the country's agricultural production and appealed to the government to fund the sector, saying it was not appropriate to montage the livelihood of Ghanaians to external donors.

The Research fellow suggested the establishment of a Ghana Agricultural Services Division, similar to the Ghana Health Services (GHS) and the Ghana Education Service (GES), devoid of political interference.

'So I am calling on Ghanaian agriculturalists, and it should be championed by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) Directorates and the Chief Director of MOFA, to let us have a purely technical wing of MOFA called Ghana Agricultural Services Division that should be devoid of any political interference so that when projects come, they will run them,' he said.

According to him, such an establishment would churn out technical people to man the affairs of the sector with technical and policy support from the MOFA.

Reverend John Manu, Regional Director of Agriculture said the RELC was a vital activity in the programmes of MOFA and the Department of Agriculture, as its inception had brought solutions to some researchable issues farmers faced.

He said gone were the days when researchers would come out with research findings and leave them on the shelves to gather dust.

'This platform is strengthening the linkage between researchers, extension officers and farmers, and had also granted stakeholders an opportunity to present issues pertaining to the development of the agricultural sector thus enhancing food production and productivity,' he said.

Reverend Manu, who is also the Chairman of the RELC, appreciated the support of Canada for the Modernisation of Agriculture in Ghana programme that had revived the RELC and the agricultural sector.

GNA
29.07.2017 LISTEN

Accra, July 28, GNA - Dr Philip Nyinaku, the Project Coordinator of the Forces Liver Health Protection Project (FLiHP), has advocated the early screening of chronic diseases to enable people to know their status.

He said about 2.5 million people, representing a prevalence rate of eight per cent in Ghana, have Hepatitis B, adding; 'This has necessitated the exercise we are having today with the Ghana Armed Forces and by extension the whole community,' he said.

Dr Nyinaku was speaking to the Ghana News Agency during a screening exercise launched at the 37 Military Hospital as part of activities to celebrate the World Hepatitis Day.

He said 500 people would be screened at the end of the exercise.

The day, which is marked every year on July 28, is an opportunity to add momentum to all efforts to implement the World Health Organisation's first global health sector strategy on viral hepatitis for 2016-2021, and help member states to achieve the final goal to eliminate hepatitis.

Hepatitis B is caused by a Hepatitis B virus and can be acquired through the sharing of needles with an infected person, getting a tattoo or piercing with tools that were not sterilized, as well as the sharing of personal items like razors or toothbrushes with an infected person.

Hepatitis B infects the liver, which can have short or long term effects.

Babies and young children infected with the virus are more likely to get chronic hepatitis B.

Some of the symptoms are flu, tiredness, abdominal discomfort, fever, poor appetite, nausea and vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhoea.

Others might include; dark yellow urine, light coloured stools, yellowish eyes and skin.

As long as one has the virus, he or she can spread it to others, especially having unprotected sex with an infected person and contact with the blood and body fluids of an infected person.

GNA

By Elsie Appiah-Osei/William Fiabu, GNA
Sunyani, July 28, GNA - The Ghana Education Service (GES) has set-up an investigative committee to probe into alleged forgery of documents and certificates by some employees.

Mr Augustine Karbo, the General Secretary of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) who announced this warned that the Union would not tolerate wrongdoings.

He was addressing members of the Brong-Ahafo Regional branch of the Union at a meeting in Sunyani, which offered opportunity for the members to interact with the national executives on certain developments and the current state of the Union.

Mr Karbo said it was a serious offence for public sector employees to forge documents for promotion, but instead challenged the members of the Union to upgrade themselves to be able to meet the demands of employers and increased productivity at their work places.

He noted that many employees in the formal sector were going through what he described as 'modern form of slavery' in work places, adding that should it not be a justification for employees to forge documents.

Mr Karbo entreated members of the Union to concentrate on their jobs, work hard and improve on productivity, as the national executives tackled their problems.

He observed that the surest way to improve on productivity at work places was for the members to upgrade themselves and work hard for good outcomes.

He told the members of the union that the 20 per cent deduction from their monthly salaries were being used to champion the course of the union for their own good, explaining that it was part of their contributions that are being used to pay salaries of union executives.

Mr Karbo reminded them that last year the Union was able to negotiate for 12.5 per cent increment for members, indicating that the Union fought a lot for the additional 11 per cent salary increase effective January 2018.

He advised members of the union to bury their differences and forged ahead in unity so that with the spirit of togetherness they could fight a common cause for improved conditions of service and good welfare.

Mr Peter Lumor, the National President of TEWU, advised the members not to look down on each other, saying in TEWU and unionism every job description is very essential for progress.

He later sworn into office Mr Daniel Ayarna, as the new Regional Chairman of the Union.

GNA

By Dennis Peprah, GNA
29.07.2017 LISTEN

Accra, July 28 GNA - Mr Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu has called on the government to apologise to Ghanaians for the sudden about-turn on the two Guantanamo Bay detainees.

He said the New Patriotic Party (NPP had promised Ghanaians to return the two detainees if they won power because former President John Mahama had made the nation unsafe by accepting to host the two persons in the country.

Mr Okudzeto-Ablakwa made the call when he spoke to the media in Parliament on matters relating to the two Guantanamo detainees.

Madam Shirley Ayorkor-Botway, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration was summoned to the House to answer questions asked by Mr Okudzeto-Ablakwa on the current position of the government on Ghana's hosting of the two Guantanamo detainees in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision.

The Supreme Court decision on June 22, is that the former Head of State should have sent the agreement he had with the United States government on the two Guantanamo detainees, Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby to Parliament for ratification pursuant to Article 75.

Mr Okudzeto-Ablakwa also stated that the Supreme Court ruling offered the NPP government a wonderful opportunity to return the two Guantanamo detainees for it to be consistent with the position they took when they were in opposition.

He said when Mr Mahama administration decided to receive the two Guantanamo detainees in agreement with the United States, he was accused by the NPP of putting the country up for all kinds attacks.

Mr Okudzeto-Ablakwa noted that President Akufo-Addo in opposition issued a statement that he was not consulted on the matter.

He said at the time, President Akufo-Addo distance himself from this whole arrangement.

He said on January 13, 2016, Nana Akomeah, Director of Communication of the NPP issued a statement that the presence of the two Guantanamo detainees was causing heighten tension and hysteria in the country.

GNA

By Christopher Arko, GNA
Ntotroso, (B/A), July 28, GNA - Mr Maxwell Atuahene, the Assemblyman for Ntotroso in the Asutifi North District of the Brong-Ahafo Region, has expressed worry about the excessive use and abuse of tramol drug among the youth in the area.

He said immediate measures must be taken to bring the situation under control, else something unfortunate could happen to the users.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Ntotroso, a mining community in the area, Mr Atuahene who is the owner of the Maxwell Atuahene Chemical shop, an over the counter licensed drug store, said the demand for the drug among adolescent boys and girls in the area was very high.

Tramol (acetaminophen) is a pain reliever and a fever reducer and is used to treat many conditions such as headache, muscle aches, arthritis, backache, toothaches, colds and fevers.

It relieves pain in mild arthritis but its side effect according to the medicine seller is similar to a narcotic.

Mr Atuahene observed that the abusers of the drug who were mostly engaged in illegal or small scale mining laced it with five Star energy drink for either sexual enhancement or for narcotic purposes.

He noted the abuse of the drug was commonly among the youth in the major towns in the District- Kenyasi number one, Kenyasi number two, Ntotroso, Gyedu and Wamahinso.

Mr Atuahene indicated because the Police in the area had intensified patrols to clamp down on Indian hemp smokers and peddlers, many of them had changed and diverted attention to the excessive use of the tramol drug.

He appealed to the District Security Council to do something about the situation as soon as possible.

Mr Adusah Yakubu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Firm Foundation and Environment Ghana, a Kenyasi-based non-governmental organisation told the GNA that many Senior High School students, including girls were also abusing drugs.

He added that aside the use of the drug, alcoholism and sexual promiscuity among the students were also high which needed to be controlled.

Mr Yakubu suggested that the drug must be banned, if possible, saying that was the surest way to control its abuse among the youth in the area.

GNA

By Dennis Peprah, GNA
29.07.2017 LISTEN

Hohoe (V/R), July 28, GNA - Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), will visit Ghana from August 1-4, as part of efforts to strengthen co-operation.

According to a release copied to Ghana News Agency, he is expected to engage with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, key cabinet members and other development partners on the Bank's partnership with the country, and visit landmark projects financed by the Bank.

AfDB's portfolio in Ghana as at June 2017 is composed of 22 operations with an overall commitment of about $ 950,319,370.

The Bank is finalising a new Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for Ghana for the period 2017-2021.

The Strategy will support Ghana's efforts to transform the economy through three of AfDB's High 5s- Light Up and Power Africa, Industrialise Africa and Feed Africa.

The High 5s are the five areas in which the Bank is focusing on to help accelerate Africa's economic transformation.

This will be done through support to private sector development in particular the energy sector to facilitate industrialisation, and agriculture development to transform the rural economy and improve food security.

The draft strategy is expected to be presented for Board consideration during the 3rd Quarter of 2017.

Recent road projects supported by the Bank include rural, urban and regional trade corridors. The support goes beyond road construction.

It includes the integration of community infrastructure development through rehabilitation and reconstruction of schools, health, water and sanitation facilities as well as markets along the road corridors to support trade and integration to boost economic activities of the local communities.

Ghana's aviation industry has witnessed a significant growth in the past decade due to the discovery of petroleum and gas reserves in the country, sustained domestic demand, and increase in the tourism sector.

The Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), which is responsible for the development and management of airports in the country, has prepared a capital expenditure programme to build new airport infrastructure and rehabilitate or modernize the existing airports.

The AfDB is supporting the airport expansion programme through a $ 120 million loan from its private sector financing facility.

It said construction of a new terminal at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and rehabilitation of facilities were among key projects designed to improve air transport in the country.

The programme will also help to boost the country's economy, reducing the cost of doing business and improving competitiveness.

AfDB is also exploring the funding of two separate interventions at Takoradi port through its private sector financing window.

The Bank plays a lead role in infrastructure development in Ghana and in transportation in particular.

It said the transport sector is the second largest share of the country's portfolio- 26 per cent.

Since 1981, the Bank has financed 10 road projects, one railway project, four road studies, and one multinational project in addition to supplementary loans totaling $ 358,978,620.

The projects financed by the Bank have made significant contribution towards improving mobility, providing access to socio-economic opportunities for millions of people and facilitating regional integration.

In 2016, the Bank successfully closed two projects: The Fufulso-Salwa and Awoshie-Pokuase Road and Community Development Projects and begun the implementation of the Accra Urban Transport Project and preparation of the Eastern Corridor project.

The Fufulso-Sawla Project received a Bank Award in May for contributing towards regional integration.

The Bank's current intervention in Ghana under the Development of Skills for Industry Project is tailored to address a key issue of human capital development through increasing the capacity of the country to produce high calibre technical skills.

The project also dovetails with the Jobs for Youth in Africa (JFYA) strategy.

The JFYA directly supports SDG8 on inclusive growth, productive employment and decent work for all, SDG 4 on equitable education and skills development, and SDG1 on ending poverty.

GNA
By Nana Osei Kyeretwie,GNA

Sunyani, July 28, GNA - The University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), ended a maiden edition of an International Conference on Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Africa (ICCCSDA) 2017 in Sunyani.

It was jointly organised by the Centre for Climate Change and Gender Studies (3CGS) and the Earth Observation and Research Innovation Centre (EORIC) under the auspices of the University and attended by about 120 participants.

They comprised researchers, policy-makers, development practitioners, representatives of civil society organisations and other stakeholders from Ghana, Algeria, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, Togo, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

On the theme: 'Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Strengthening Africa's Adaptive Capacity,' the four-day event 'seeks to create a platform for knowledge sharing which would lead to informed decision-making in climate sensitive areas such as natural resources, agriculture, food and water security, energy, science and technology and transport'.

It was sponsored by a number of agencies and organisations including Ghana Water Company Limited, Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, Newmont Ghana, Global Environmental Facility Small Grant Programmes - UNDP, Forestry Commission, the Chinese Embassy in Ghana, Zenith Bank and the United States Agency for International Development.

Mr Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, in an address read on his behalf lauded the conference as 'very significant', saying the Regional Coordinating Council is proud to be associated with it since 'governance and development are all about ensuring sustainable development within climate-friendly environment'.

He noted that issues of climate change had gained global prominence and the Ghana and Africa sought homegrown approaches towards adaptation and mitigation of the impact of the menace, the better it would be for Ghanaians and Africans.

Dr. (Mrs) Mercy A. A. Derkyi, Chair of the local organising committee said the idea to organise the event meant to be an annual programme was geared towards taking proactive steps in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 13- 'Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts'.

Dr Derkyi, also a lecturer at the UENR expressed optimism that the conference would help chart a positive course for Africa and the world at large towards sustainable development, mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

GNA
Accra, July 28, GNA - Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah, the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), has said the Police have a role to play to ensure that traders do not sell on the streets.

He cited the Legislative Instrument (LI) 2180 of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012, which prohibits trading in the streets and on pavement walkways in the country.

Mr Adjei Sowah said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency when he paid a courtesy call on the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Osabarima Oware Asare Pinkro III.

The MCE paid the call to outline his plans towards curbing insanitary conditions and indiscipline in the Metropolis and to seek the support of the Police in his efforts.

He said there was the need for the Police to play supportive role in the fight against poor sanitation conditions and indiscipline.

'The time has come for the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service to live up to their mandate by ensuring that interventions are effected to make it convenient for the people to live in comfort in the city,' Mr Adjei Sowah said.

DCOP Asare Pinkro expressed gratitude to the MCE for the visit and assured him of the assistance of the Police in his endeavours to make the city of Accra safe for all residents.

He said 'We are not going to fail in our responsibilities to the Government and the good people of the country. We shall continue to be professional, transparent, patriotic and loyal to the State and for that matter ensure adequate security for this year's Homowo Festival.'

He said the Police would continue to support the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to make the security of the people a priority.

DCOP Asare Pinkro took the MCE to inspect huge human and vehicular traffic and the huge refuse in front of the Central Police Station which could cause insecurity.

GNA
29.07.2017 LISTEN

Accra, July 28, GNA - Mr. Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, the Board Chairman of the National Communications Authority, has urged the Board, Management and Staff of the Authority to utilise their collectively strength and intellect to the benefit of the stakeholders they served.

Speaking at a durbar of the members of the recently-sworn in Board and staff at the NCA's headquarters, Mr Sakyi Addo said in their efforts to address the challenges of the industry they must effectively cater for the needs of the Government, the Operators and the consumers.

He entreated them to adhere to the corporate governance structures, respect the hierarchy and reporting lines and also exhibit exemplary behavior to make the regulatory body a credible world class institution.

Mr. Sakyi-Addo assured the staff of better working conditions and the necessary resources in order for them to deliver on their mandate.

Mr. Joe Anokye, the acting Director General of NCA, welcomed the Board and commended the staff for the support given him during his six months stay in office.

GNA
Another illegal mining disaster has occurred at Wassa Nananko in the Amenfi East District in the Western Region, leaving one person dead and another seriously injured.

The victim, who was identified as Mumuni Manya, 27, was trapped in a mudslide at a mining site at Nananko and died instantly.

The second person narrowly escaped death but sustained serious degrees of injury. He is said to be in critical condition at an unnamed hospital.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Western Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Olivia Ewurabena Adiku, said the two were in the company of other illegal miners who escaped after the incident.

She said the area in question was an alluvial mining site which was deserted by illegal miners following the ban on galamsey across the country.

However, some of the illegal miners sneaked to the site to continue to ply their trade on the blind side of the law.

When contacted, the Amenfi East District Police Commander, Superintendent Daniel Amoako, said several warnings to the people in the area not to go back to the sites did not yield any result.

The body of the deceased, he said, had been deposited at the Wassa Akropong Government Hospital morgue for preservation and autopsy.

Anti- galamsey

Meanwhile, the fight against illegal mining being championed by the police and the Volunteers Against Environmental Degradation (VAED) in the Western Region has come to a halt as the team has run out of finances.

The group, which was credited with flushing out several Chinese illegal miners and their Ghanaian collaborators in parts of the country, funded its own operations.

The leader of the team, Mr Richard Addo, said the members of the team looked on helplessly as some illegal miners resumed their activities with impunity.

Resumption

In a related development, reports indicate that there is a mad rush by illegal miners to return to the deep forest in the Western Region to carry out their operations ahead of the deployment of the anti-galamsey task force.

Areas including Shama, Daboase, Ahanta West, Nzema East, Tarkwa Nsuaem, Prestea Huni-Valley, Amenfi West, Amenfi Central, Amenfi West, Wassa and Denkyira have witnessed significant levels of galamsey activities in recent days.


WASHINGTON (July 27, 2017) 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions moved one step closer this week to fulfilling the Trump administration promise of blocking millions in funding to sanctuary jurisdictions. The Center for Immigration Studies has a new map displaying the sanctuary jurisdictions most likely to lose access to certain DOJ grants, based on the severity of their current sanctuary policies.Sessions announced that state and local jurisdictions will lose access to certain federal law enforcement grants in 2017 if they prohibit officials from communicating with ICE, if they block ICE from interviewing jail inmates, and if they fail to notify ICE of the pending release of criminal aliens ICE is seeking to deport. These rules apply to the Byrne Justice Assistance Grants, which are the largest source of federal criminal justice funds for state, local, and tribal authorities; Trump has requested $380 million for 2018.View the full text and map at: https://cis.org/Vaughan/AG-Sessions-Set-Block-Millions-Funding-Sanctuaries View sanctuary maps at: https://cis.org/Map-Sanctuary-Cities-Counties-and-States Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies and author of the analysis, notes, "The four largest Byrne/JAG grants in 2016, worth more than $10 million, all went to sanctuaries jurisdictions: New York City; Cook County, Ill.; the City of Los Angeles; and Philadelphia. The Department of Justice should cut them off unless they change their policies. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing local governments that interfere with immigration enforcement and endanger the public."The Byrne/JAG grants are one of three programs now off-limits to sanctuaries. Last year, Rep. John Culberson, in his capacity as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that controls DOJ's budget, imposed requirements for basic compliance with the federal law on sanctuaries for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which offers partial reimbursement for the costs of incarcerating illegal aliens, and the Community Oriented Policing grant program. A number of jurisdictions have changed their policies as a result.
One of the loyalists of former President John Dramani Mahama and former Deputy Minister of Power, John Abdulai Jinapor, yesterday had his Tema residence reportedly raided by the police.

Early in the morning, operatives of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service went to his house in search of documents on the AMERI deal.

While Mr John Jinapor claims that armed policemen stormed his residence, thereby traumatizing his children, sources at the CID have painted a different picture, pointing out that the eventual entry by the operatives was caused by the refusal of the security man to allow them access to the house.

The policemen went to the residence in connection with investigations into the controversial AMERI power deal.

Two other officials, who are connected with the AMERI deal, also had their homes searched simultaneously.

They are Francis Dzata, technical advisor for the AMERI deal and Dominic Ayine, a former Deputy Attorney General.

Former Power Minister, Dr Kwabena Donkor's Spintex Road house had earlier been searched.

The CID personnel were on a mission to collect evidence that would possibly implicate the former power minister, his deputy and the two other officials for causing financial loss to the state with their involvement in the controversial AMERI agreement.

They seized an iPhone belonging to Mr Jinapor during the search yesterday, according to police reports, after seizing pen drives and laptop from the house of Dr Donkor earlier.

Concerning the two other officials, police source said nothing was found.

Drama In Jinapor's House

Reports gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicated that the team  comprising three CID operatives, led by an ASP, and two other armed personnel in mufti  stormed Jinapor's Tema Community 12 house around 6:30 am.

The police reportedly parked their vehicle about 100 meters away from the house, left the armed police officers inside it while the CID personnel, who had a court warrant, went to press the door bell of the former deputy power minister.

Reports said the CID men stood at the gate close to 30 munities pressing the door bell but nobody came to open the gate  which is said to be electronically controlled.

Police sources said after making no headway, the personnel became helpless and sat outside waiting for somebody to come out of the house.

Lo and behold, the sources said, a gentleman who was using a motorbike also came to the house to press the bell but after receiving no response, he made a call to somebody on his mobile phone.

It was at this point that the security man came to open the gate for the said person to enter, the source intimated.

The search team, according to reports, took advantage to introduce themselves to the security man in order to allow them enter the house, but he refused to listen to them and closed the gate.

The personnel then forced to enter, but they were warned by the security officer not to venture, threatening that he would not be responsible if anything happened to them, the source indicated.

The source said it was at this point that the CID personnel called the uniformed personnel to assist.

Upon hearing the voices of the personnel outside the gate and persistent pressing of the door bell, Mr Jinapor then ordered his security man to open the gate for them.

According to the source, Mr Jinapor, realizing that they were security men, came to meet them and after they had showed him the warrant of search, they were led into the house.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that the uniformed men stood outside the compound while the investigators entered the house to conduct their search.

Children Traumatized

The former deputy power minister said after the raid his kids were left traumatized.

According to the MP, his entire house  including his children's rooms and bathrooms  were ransacked by the security personnel.

He said on Starr Fm that They searched everywhere, my bedroom, kitchen, my children's room, garage and everywhere possible, but I told them that I don't have anything with me and that every document regarding the AMERI deal was left at the ministry.

He added, As we speak, my family is traumatized. Imagine six and eight-year-olds going through a thing like this; they are very traumatized.

Jinapor confirmed that the search team seized his iPhone and insisted that he turns in his laptop to assist them with the investigations.

They have taken my iPhone and asked that I bring my laptop too. I told them I don't have a personal laptop; the one I use is a property of parliament and so I will go and ask the speaker if he will allow me to go and give it to them. They have also asked that I report to the police station on Monday, he underscored.

Flashback

It would be recalled that the Mahama administration, in the heat of the dumsor (erratic power supply) in February 2015, entered into a $510 million deal with AMERI for the supply of power plants to mitigate the power crisis.

But media reports indicated that the cost of the project was outrageously high, compelling the Nana Akufo-Addo government to set up a committee to look into the contract.

([email protected])

By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey


Ohene Boafo runs his hands through the brown cocoa beans spread across the man-made wooden drying structure at his home in Atta Ne Atta in the West Akim Municipal District of the Eastern Region.

I harvested them a few days ago from my cocoa farm. I am drying them so I can sell, he says.

Mr Boafo has been a cocoa farmer since he was a youth, but says his vocation has not brought him so much satisfaction until recently.

First, my trees took longer to bear fruits and they were sometimes attacked by pests so I could only breakeven but now my cocoa trees bear good fruits because of the good farming practices and seedlings I plant, he explains.

His cocoa trees have been bearing good fruits and the quantity he collects has also increased. Initially, he was able to harvest two bags from a hectare of land, but as a result of the hybrid cocoa seedlings and the good agricultural practices he adopted through Cocoa Life Programme, spearheaded by Mondelez International, a multinational confectionary, food and beverage company, his yields have improved to eight cocoa bags per hectare.

Cocoa Life has given us a lot of education through their cocoa extension agents. We were taught how to maintain our farms well, in terms of weeding, pruning, spraying and adopting good agricultural practices and, in fact, I listen to the advice and my yield has increased, he reveals.

Mr Boafo benefits from free improve hybrid cocoa seedlings from the Cocoa Life Programme, which operates in 447 communities across the cocoa growing districts of the country.

The seedling, nursed by Tree Global, an international nursery service which provides high performance seedlings to large scale projects focused on agriculture, has a maturity period of 18 months as against the hybrid Tetteh Quarshie seedlings which has over eight years maturity period.

Sometimes, when we don't have enough rains the yield decreases but the Coca Life seedlings can survive for some months without rainfall. Cocoa Life buys the seedlings and supplies them to us without any cost, he asserts.

Improved Seedlings

As part of the Cocoa Life Programme, Tree Global has been contracted to produce quality and innovative seedlings for farmers in the Cocoa Life communities to ensure high yields at their central nursery station in Tafo, Eastern Region.

Explaining how the seedlings are produced, Nursery Manager & Head of Plant Science at Tree Global, Alberto Britez, says the hybrid Tetteh Quarshie cocoa seedlings produced from the Seed Production Division (SPD) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) are nursed in plastic pots designed to protect the tap root of the seedlings, instead of the usual polythene to boost production.

We use the potting soil (media) to nurse the seedling under our integrated place management (IPM) system  good fertilizer programme, irrigation and control of disease  which makes them survive better during bad conditions and from our trials in the fields, we are having very good results with more than 90 percent survival rate during the first year, he explains.

When you start from the seed with good care from the beginning, that seed is going to perform well, Britez adds.

The seedlings, after three months of nursery, are then transported in a specially designed tray containing 36 plastic pots to the farmers during the cocoa planting season. The special transportation and handling of the seedlings from the central nursery centre to the farms is to ensure the full benefit of the roots of the seedlings.

When the farmers get the seedling, we make sure they plant quickly and return the container. But we make sure they are ready to receive the seedling before we transport them, Agbeko Ashiagbor, assistant nursery manager further explains.

The distribution of the seedling to farmers under the Cocoa Life Programme is done in consultation with COCOBOD and the Beneficiary Farmers' Unions to agree on how many seedlings go to which district and the quantity to be given to the farmers.

Mr Ashiagbor states that the company distributed 500,000 seedlings to cocoa farmers in seven cocoa growing districts in the Eastern, Brong Ahafo, Western Region and Ashanti Regions during the last cocoa growing season.

This season, we have given out 565,000 seedlings to farmers in four regions of the country, including Fanteakwa District, West Akim District, New Juabeng District and Suhum District in the Eastern Region, in Ashanti we supplied Amansea West District, in Brong-Ahafo we supplied Asunafo North District and in Western we supplied Wasa East District, Mr Ashaigbor opines.

Nursery Expansion

The demand of the farmers far out stream the supply calling for increased production, for example, the farmers in Asunafo North Municipality of the Brong-Ahafo Region requested for two million seedlings from Tree Global, but the company could supply the quantities agreed by the partners.

Mr Ashiagbor points out that the nursery can be expanded if government supports the project with funds to meet the growing demand of the farmers.

Current capacity is about 800,000 to one million seedling, but we can produce up to 1.5 million seedlings. We have an 11 acres land but we are operating within five acre so we have the capacity to produce the demand of the farmers, he adds.

The Country Lead of Mondelez International Cocoa Life (MICL), Yaa Peprah Amekudzi, says since the project began about 10 years ago, cocoa farmers in some districts of the country had benefited from millions of hybrid seedlings.

She says although the company is doing a lot to improve cocoa production in the country, more needs to be done to enable Ghana to attain its target of exporting one million metric tons of cocoa beans.

According to Mrs Amekudzi, Ghana needs to establish, at least, five Tree Global subsidiaries in major parts of the country where cocoa is grown.

We cannot do this alone and so we may need the support of the government to enable more farmers to get access to improved hybrid cocoa seedlings. It is due to budget because we pay $1 per a seedling and we are hoping that as the farmers begin to talk about the trees themselves government will show interest in this as well because the yield is earlier and they survive under difficult conditions, , she adds.

She says the programme has one sole aim, and it is to make sure Ghana's cocoa is as high quality as Ghana government wants it to be, so it is like helping the farmers, country and ourselves.

Alternative Livelihoods

Cocoa Life communities also have the opportunity of benefitting from different livelihood programmes aimed at not only ensuring the cocoa trees yield the best of fruits so they can have value for their money, but also sustaining them outside the cocoa season.

Working with partners, including World Vision, ABUNTU, OLAM and Child's Right International, Mondelez supports thriving cocoa communities to build lasting change in the lives of cocoa farmers.

We are not only giving free hybrid cocoa seedlings but we are also implementing a number of programmes to improve the well-being of cocoa farmers, especially the women. Cocoa does not give monthly income so we have to initiate alternative means of livelihoods for farmers, Mrs Amekudzi says.

Through the project, 16,000 bicycles and 15,000 solar lamps have been given out to farmers to assist their children to commute to school and learn at night. Also, about 600 wells have been dug for communities without a source of potable drinking water.

Co-operative unions and groups have also been established to assist farmers financially, while women are taken through skills training in dressmaking, bakery, soap making among others.

Mr Boafo is the president of the West Akim Farmer Co-operative and Marketing Union and attests to the fact that the union has benefitted immensely from the Cocoa Life project.

They gave us a calendar that tells us what we need to do every month from nursery to harvesting so we get the best cocoa beans. We also get free spraying machines and farm boots so we do not have to wait for the mass cocoa spraying exercise before we spray our farms, he adds.

In the Ningo Nankese cocoa growing community, women cocoa farmers have received skills development in bakery under the alternative livelihood programme.

The Peace & Unity Pastries Group, as the co-operative is called, has so far trained 16 women in the community in bread and pastries making.

It takes four months for the women to learn the skills organised free-of-charge. Some people from other places come and buy our bread and pie, Vida Martey, head of the co-operative says.

She says the introduction of the alternative livelihood programme has not only boosted the confidence of women but also empowered them financially.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri


MP for South Dayi, Rockson Dafeamekpor says he sees no wisdom in police officers turning up in the homes of former ministers for surprised searches.

He said the security officials would be given any information they desire if they simply ask the officers involved.

He was commenting on the raging debate about the propriety of searches conducted by CID officers on the homes former government appointees believed to have played various roles in the controversial AMERI power deal.

Minority MPs have angry, with some of them threatening chaos over the searches for documents relating to the transaction which government contends was inflated by more than 150 million dollars.

Speaking on Newsfile, the MP said the immunity of MPs must be respected.

Vice-President of policy think tank, IMANI, Kofi Bentil says the parliamentary immunity being touted by MPs recently has outlived its usefulness and must be amended.

He said the law, contained in Article 117 of the Constitution, has its roots in medieval times and cannot be justified as having much practical application in modern times.

The Constitution says, Civil or criminal process coming from any court or place out of Parliament shall not be served on, or executed in relation to, the Speaker or a member or the clerk to Parliament while he is on his way to, attending at or returning from, any proceedings of Parliament.

Kofi Bentil, however, said, the circumstances that obtained which made the immunity of Members of Parliament critical abated a long time ago and should have extinguished the provision which he said is simply a cloak for MPs.

He latched on to a comment made by NDC MP, Rockson Dafiamekpor, who whilst justifying the law, said it was a medieval system which had merits.

House Speaker Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye, Friday said he would haul before him heads of security agencies investigating the controversial AMERI power deal.

Two MPs  Dr Kwabena Donkor, a former Power Minister, and John Jinapor, a former Deputy Power Minister  had their homes searched by men from the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service.

The investigators turned up at the homes of the MPs wielding search warrants but the Minority MPs were irked by the situation.

Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak Friday prayed the Speaker to intervene to stop the harassment of our members.

He argued the searches were frustrating the work of the MPs involved.

He had the support of the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who read Article 117 and the Standing Orders of Parliament to back the argument that the Speaker ought to be requested to release MPs to submit to criminal investigations.

Speaking on the issue of Joy FM/MultiTVs news analysis show Newsfile, Mr Kofi Bentil said the MPs are relying on an archaic law to give themselves protection.

He said if the MPs believe that the conduct of the investigators is improper, they should exercise their powers and change the law.

But The people who are to change the law find it very useful and convenient, it serves their interest.

Senior journalist, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, disagreed with any proposal to amend or change the law in a manner that removes the immunity of MPs.

He said if the immunity was removed, an unruly executive could, in furtherance of political motives, arrest and detain some MPs when urgent matters come before the House.

He catalogued the history complaints about the treatment of MPs dating back to 1975 and wondered why the process of dealing with MPs has not been refined.

What is it that makes us unable to deal with these things with finesse? He asked.

Kweku Baako believes the law is a good one but its implementation must be refined to reflect the times.

Mr Bentil said he was not opposed to some protection for MPs, but the maintained the manner MPs have flaunted the current law appears a determination on their part to exempt themselves from submitting to the law.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com| Malik Abass Daabu
The wife of Ghanas Vice-President, H.E. Hajia Samira Bawumia, has called on activists across the world who are fighting to end human trafficking to put emphasis on the sources of human trafficking, rather than the destination of trafficked persons.

Addressing participants from the civil society, law enforcement, and government agencies at the International Women Trafficking Conference in India, Mrs. Bawumia proposed an innovative acronym; the five (5) Ss which stand for Socialization, Sensitization, Support, Supervision and Security to an inspired audience, as holistic approach to tackling the menace of human trafficking.

Ill share a Ghanaian proverb that says the best way to starve a river is to cripple its source. The river of human trafficking is extremely vast and flows from a gushing spring of unending water. We cannot empty it by fetching the water with buckets and pouring it elsewhere. Even if we use sophisticated pumps, we may only succeed in emptying one river and creating another river elsewhere, she said.

The US Department of States Office to Monitor and Combat the Trafficking of Persons has described Ghana, as a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Mrs. Samira Bawumia shared experiences from Ghana, where human traffickers were diverting their routes to the Gulf region after the government of Ghana instituted measures to stop the trafficking of women.

The biggest obstacle in the fight against human trafficking is that the victims do not know they are being trafficked. While some are too young to understand, many of the women who are trafficked are brainwashed and deceived, and they will defend their traffickers even when they are arrested. Only, two weeks ago, the Ghana Immigration Service announced it had rescued 150 women who were being trafficked across Ghanas borders to be taken to the gulf regions, she told participants of the conference.

Mrs. Bawumia said human traffickers often use deceit in luring their victims into servitude. They brainwash their victims into believing that paradise awaits them. "The victims then see their traffickers as saviours, and security agencies, who are trying to rescue them, as demons, who stand in their way to that paradise. This makes the fight difficult," she said.

The conference is being organized by the Maharashtra State Commission for Women in partnership with the International Justice Mission. The conference brought together international experts in various fields, including members of civil society, law enforcement, and government agencies, to share current policies and best practices being used to combat and eliminate women trafficking.

Mrs. Bawumia told the participants who are drawn from all over the world that while all manner of persons could be affected by human trafficking, some people were more vulnerable to trafficking than others.

It is obvious that human trafficking is no respecter of gender, but children and women are more vulnerable than male adults. For women and girls, it is even worse because apart from the demand for their exploited labour, they are also exploited sexually, she said.

She charged participants to intensify the fight against human trafficking by creating awareness about the phenomenon in their respective countries:

Let us intensify education. Let us help our women to understand the dangers that await them in the countries they are being lured into. Let us teach our mothers and fathers not to give their children to anyone who comes promising to take better care of them. Let us educate them not to give birth to more children than they can cater for. Let us encourage and partner the media to expose human trafficking cartels and put the spotlight on their dark and inhumane activities. Let us put pressure on governments, which are not committed to the international treaties on human trafficking in particular and human rights in general. Let us be advocates of good governance and development and help eliminate the factors that cause desperation among people and make them vulnerable to traffickers.
Nairobi (AFP) - Unknown gunmen attacked the home of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto on Saturday, less than two weeks before the country votes in high-stakes polls, two security sources told AFP.

Ruto was not home during the attack that left one officer from the elite police General Service Unit (GSU) seriously injured, a security official who was not authorised to speak to the press said.

"There are armed people who staged the attack and have shot the GSU officer and stolen his gun,' the official said.

Security forces are trying to establish if there are still attackers in the deputy president's "expansive" home near the town of Eldoret, some 312 kilometres (194 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi, a senior police officer said.

"More security personnel have been deployed and a security operation is ongoing," the officer said.

Ruto's running mate President Uhuru Kenyatta faces a tight re-election contest on August 8 against longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga.
A private legal practitioner is putting more spokes in the wheel of governments bid to set up an Office of Special Prosecutor which is to speed up the corruption fight.

Kwame Akuffo insists the government or president cannot allocate and distribute powers entrenched in the Constitution to individuals or offices they so choose, not even to the Special Prosecutor.

He argued forcefully the Attorney Generals department derives its powers directly from the Constitution and no one can purport to take that power away and give to another office.

Kwame Akuffo was speaking on Joy FM/MultiTVs Newsfile programme Saturday, on the controversial attempt to Office of the Special Prosecutor which has been a subject of debate in Parliament this week.

A-G is not a lawyer to the president. We must all accept thatShe is the legal advisor to the government and owes allegiance to the Constitution, he said.

The setting up of the office is in fulfillment of a campaign promise by the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party in the run-up to the 2016 Presidential election.

The office is to lead the prosecution of suspected corrupt officials in the most independent manner without government interference or the appearance of it.

Previous prosecutions of public officers by incumbent governments have been greeted with allegations of witch-hunting.

President Akufo-Addo is hoping the creation of the Office of the Special Prosecutor will take away the perception or reality of partisanship in the area of public prosecution.

But the attempt to set up the Office has suffered a hitch in Parliament after the Minority vehemently raised issues of procedural breaches.

They argued the Bill ought to have gone through the 14-day mandatory period of maturity after gazetting and publication before being laid.

A former Deputy Attorney-General under the John Mahama administration Dr. Dominic Ayine argued on the floor of Parliament, government had breached parliamentary procedures in laying the document on the floor.

He would not accept the argument that the bill was laid under a certificate of urgency.

The Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs ruled that the Bill did not qualify to be laid under a certificate of urgency.

The Bill was therefore withdrawn.



Gloria Akufo is the A-G

Discussing the matter on Newsfile, Kwame Akuffo said he does not understand why the Office of the Special prosecutor should have the same privileges as the Attorney-General.

He said under the current laws of the country there is no need for a Special Prosecutor. What the country needs is for the Attorney Generals office to be strengthened, he argued.

Citing the example of Martin Amidu and the late president John Mills, the legal practitioner said Amidu realized that he was not in office as the lawyer of the president and that he owed his allegiance to the Constitution.

With that knowledge, he said Martin prosecuted the case against Woyome even when the government machinery and the president were against it.

He said the new Attorney General must take a cue and work as independently as possible without fear or favour.

When that is done there will be no need for a Special Prosecutor, he noted.

Even though he is all for the creation of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Malik Kweku Baako Jnr who was also on Newsfile admitted that the arguments by Mr Akuffo make sense.

He encouraged him to send a memorandum to the Attorney General to help in the crafting of the law for the new office.

We have lost the battle against corruption almost terminally, he stated, adding the new office may just be the opportunity for a better fight against corruption.

Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah
To the unsaved world, walking in faith and accepting the commands of God's prophets is illogical if not irrational.

To them giving offerings at the instruction of a heavenly ordained man of God is a complete different way of life.

Beloved, we serve a living God who delights in making covenants with his children through offering. The whole Bible is a story of God's covenant with his people.

Too many Christians are unaware of God's desire to covenant with his people and thus are not alert to hearing the holy spirit's guidance when God does want to make an everlasting covenant with them through special offerings.

Child of God, remember to be a Christian means to be involved in a conflict. Christianity is a spiritual war between God's kingdom and the kingdom of darkness.

This war is raging in both towns and villages across the land. The devil has dispatched destructive and disrupted forces into God's church. The battle is no more restricted to the devil's playgrounds like naked beaches, night clubs, brothels etc.

The devil and his cohorts are ripping members of God's congregation apart and knocking kingpins in the kingdom of God right off the platform.

But I thank God for his grace and unsearchable wisdom. God is birthing his divine plans among his people and raising army Generals to battle the devil and his agents in this end time.

God's church is filled with his glory and there is a great desire to win souls for God by his zealous children.

The kingdom of God is prevailing as the end of the age quickly approaches the final showdown when the saints of God will deliver the final blow to the enemy and deliver the kingdom of this world to our Father in heaven.

As a believer, remember your offering determines your love for God. Those who usually nag and find it difficult to give offerings are those who have not fully surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ.

If you can trust God with your life, why can't you trust God with your money?

John Wesley once said, if you give your life to Christ, you must give your purse to him as well.

The hardship you are going through must not stop you from giving offerings to God. We are told in 2nd Corinthians 8 that, the Macedonian church gave mightily to God even in their deep poverty and affliction.

Again, Scripture tells us in Mark 12:41-44 that, Jesus sits right opposite the offering bowl whenever he enters the temple. This is the more reason why Jesus told his disciples that the widow's offering was the best because she gave all that she had to God.

Until we stop giving traditional offerings , it will be very difficult for us to move to greater heights in life.

Our offering must not be determined by economic hardship but rather our love for God must lead us to give abundantly to support his work.

When pharaoh finally agreed to let the Israelites leave Egypt and he asked them to leave their sheep, cattle etc behind, Moses disagreed on the grounds that they would use the animals as burnt offering to God.

Beloved, you can never reach the promised land if you cannot give offerings to God.

Beloved, if you understand the importance of offering, you won't allow anybody to brainwash you and discourage you from giving.

The Bible tells us how God caused brimstones and thunder to strike and kill the Philistines (archenemies of the Israelites) when Samuel sacrificed a burnt offering to God at Mizpah in 1st Samuel 7:10-12.

Again, When God directed prophet Elijah to go to Zarephath and help the widow, there was a condition.

Elijah added a *specific promise* to his request of the jar of flour and the jug of olive oil from the widow.

Prophet Elijah gave this promise to the widow (1st Kings 17- 14)

"For this is what the Lord the God of Israel says, the jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land".

What is the difference between what Elijah did and what Bishop Ashimolow did?

Is it because Bishop Ashimolow's name is not in the Bible?

I can say on authority that the widow's offering to Prophet Elijah was more expensive than what Pastor Ashimolow demanded from the congregation.

The handful jar of flour and jug of oil was all that she had. In fact she was going to prepare a tiny loaf of bread with it , eat it with her child and die!

It was her moment of despair.

Beloved, any offering that you give to God that you don't feel the pains in your bones is not an offering.

You can never touch God's throne of grace if you keep offering 1 cedi to God each Sunday whilst you spend 20 cedis weekly on recharge cards and 48 cedis on pizza every Tuesday. Where lies your priority as a child of God?

Abraham became God's friend because of his obedience, faith and numerous offerings to God.

Again, David became a man after God's own heart because of his numerous covenants with God through offering.

In 2nd chronicles chapter 20 verse 20, the Bible admonishes Believers to believe in God and get established and also believe in his prophets and get prosperous.

We lose the argument from the scratch when we begin to calculate the different kinds of dishes a man of God is going to prepare with our offerings.

Your offering is a covenant between you and God. The man of God standing before you is a mere vessel been used by God to direct your path.

The church of God is heaven's official agency in the earth realm and its responsible for carrying out the foreign policies of its heavenly kingdom through methodologies and strategies.

Throughout the Bible, we have different kinds of anointing that gives wealth and prosperity to the glory of God.

We have Abrahamaic anointing(Gen.12:1-3),

Isaac anointing(Gen.26:1-14)

Jacobian anointing (Gen.28:1, 30:43), Joseph anointing (Psalm 105:21)

Solomaic anointing (1chron.29, 2 chronic.9)

Joshua anointing (Joshua 6:1-3) etc and all these kinds of anointing comes with specific principles and strategies.

Don't be a double minded Christian. As a believer, you need to know what and why you believe.

If you get taunted and tempted by the devil anytime you try to give to God, do what Jesus did. Rebuke Satan with the word of God .(Matt 4:10).

Never try to defend God by entering a conversation with the devil .Eve tried this and she failed. Never take a lip from the devil.
29.07.2017 LISTEN

The alleged breaches of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663) (PPA) as amended, in the award of contracts at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), may not be limited to UEW alone.

Almost all public entities, not just universities or polytechnics, might have contravened the provisions of the PPA. Most public appointees, run the public set ups they find themselves in, as if those entities were their personal properties. Most public servants have no iota of respect for the public who patronise the service the entity in question, provide.

Fees and other charges are levied without recourse to the laws regulating the system. No valid receipts are issued after payment is effected to ensure proper accountability.

Currently, about 3 state owned entities are in the news, for possible violations of the PPA and issuance of fake receipts to members of the public. These are the Electoral Commission (EC), the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), and the Tepa Nurses Training College (TNTC).

The above, may just be a tip of the iceberg. There could more rot elsewhere.

Just this week, Vice Chancellors Ghana (VCG), issued a statement, in an attempt to state their position on the current developments at UEW. In that statement, they ignored the possible PPA violations by the concerned officials, but rather dwelt on the other issue (the award of certificates, diplomas, and degrees; and appointments and promotions undertaken by the defunct governing council).

This to some extent, points in the direction that, they may also have possible PPA violations in their cupboards.

It is proposed that, the administration of President Nana Akufo Addo, as a matter of urgency, send forensic auditors to all state owned entities to carry out forensic audits. All state owned entities, that gets government subvention, must be included in this audit.

Besides this, all revenue, payable to state owned entities, must be paid into the consolidated fund, out of which a remission maybe made by the government back to the entity to undertake pre-approved projects/ventures.

The government should call the bluff of some Trade Unions, who are vehemently opposed to this idea, and implement it without delay. A Trade Union has no business, telling the government, how its revenue should be received, unless that Trade Union, is a beneficiary of the looted Internally Generated Funds (IGF). So far as the remittance to the state owned entity is done on time, that suffices.

The leakages at the ports, which the government is trying hard to block, might be peanuts, when compared to what is being lost at most of these public entities.

IGF has led to so many needless deaths. Most public officials, who attempt to challenge those controlling the IGF, at their various workplaces, are 'cleverly' eliminated. Either they are transferred to remote branches of the entity, if they are lucky, or in other circumstances, they are framed up and dismissed. In the extreme situation, the incorruptible officials who challenge the corrupt officials, die under mysterious circumstances.

Therefore, by taking IGF out of the control of all state entities, those who stand out to protect the state coffers, will be saved from the jaws of these marauding 'hyenas'.

Those public officials found to have misappropriated public funds, should be made to reimburse the state with interest, have their properties confiscated to the state, and finally serve a prison term. There are already laws in place to guide all the above outlined measures to deter public servants from looting and sharing state funds. What is left, is the will-power to implement theses laws.

If the government is able to implement the above proposed measures, the uncalled for rivalry to get appointed as public hospitals Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Accountants of Public Universities, Bursars of Senior High Schools, etc, would be a thing of the past. There will be very little funds left to misappropriate.

This country is being raped to death, by some 'terminal' and 'cancerous' degree holders, and not the unemployed, who are desperately trying to survive on a daily basis, by hawking around the tollbooths or engaged in kayayei in our big markets, who the tax net, has not roped in.

These 'terminal' and 'cancerous' degree holders, to a greater extent, are the cause of the unemployment situation in the country. This is because, they siphon so much from the state coffers, to a level that, not much is left for the government to implement viable policies, geared towards curtailing the unemployment rate in the country.

The Oduman Community Clinic for example, which is state owned, and located at Ablekuma, has a reputation for charging exorbitant fees, even with a patient having a valid National Health Insurance Scheme Card (NHIS). The government needs to audit this clinic and all other public entities without delay!

The nearby communities to this clinic, finds it economically wise, to travel over 10 miles to Amasaman hospital for medical attention, instead of the community based Oduman clinic. What is the essence of putting up a community clinic, if the local population can't afford its services? It is clear that, most of the fees charged by Oduman clinic, are likely to be illegal!

The state funds looters, have infected mother Ghana, with cancer, and this has led to mother Ghana, being terminally ill.

The time to clean this rot, that stinks to high heaven, is now, otherwise, the cancer inflicted on it by the corrupt public officials, is likely to 'end mother Ghana's life'!!
The Assemblyman for Tandan electoral area in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region, Hon Charles Kwesi has awarded brilliant pupils of Tandan Catholic primary school.

Hon Charles Kwesi gave the awards during an "our day" ceremony to mark the end of the academic year, on July 27, 2017.

Pupils who excelled in the third term examination were given prizes as a source of motivating them to learn hard from class one to class six.

Some of the items were exercise books, pens, pencils, rulers, crayons, and cash prize.

During the durbar organized by the Assemblyman, the school authorities and the chief of the area, Hon Charles Kwesi admonished that education is the key to every nation's development. He indicated that every school child should take his or her studies seriously.

Hon Kwesi added that the gesture was not going to be a one off event but will continue till his four year mandate as the Assembly member for the area.

"Educating our children shouldn't be one person responsibility but should be a shared responsibility so I call on everyone gathered here and those who are not here to help our children in their education", Hon Kwesi emphasized.

He also used the occasion to appeal to government and NGOs to come to the aid of the Tandan Catholic primary school with some facilities especially ICT lab.

Since the Assemblyman assumed office from 2015 till date, he has been organizing quizzes for both primary and the junior high school.

Hon Charles Kwesi commended the Member of Parliament for Ellembelle Constituency, Hon Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah for the unflinching support he has been giving to schools in Ellembelle District especially Tandan Catholic primary and the junior high school.

Mr Eric Moha who represented the chief of the area expressed his profound appreciation to the Assemblyman, Hon Charles Kwesi for the kind gesture he has shown to the pupils.

Mr Moha said other Assembly members should emulate the exemplary life of Hon Charles Kwesi and help their electoral areas as far as education is concerned.

He also advised the pupils to take their studies seriouse devoid of immoral behaviours that could limit their education ladder.

Mr Moha cautioned parents who encourage their children to watch some non educative programs on televisions (TV) to desist from it.

He also appealed to parents to give the necessary support to their wards and invest more in their education.

The Chairman for the Parents, Teacher Association (PTA) , Mr Francis Asuah Ackah applauded the Assemblyman for the love and care he has shown to the school.

Mr Ackah encouraged the Assemblyman to do more for the school.

He said this was the first time a sitting Assembly member has done that to the school. He prayed for long life for the Assemblyman.

He also advised the pupils who were not able to get any award to take their studies seriously so next time they could receive some awards.

Mr Ackah commended the teachers for time devoted for the pupils and encouraged them to work hard. "Teachers in Ghana are doing well in this country but their rewards are small so government must take teachers priority into consideration".

On behalf of the pupils, Millicent Dowase who was adjudged the best pupil in the school thanked the Assemblyman for the award given to them.

She promised the Assemblyman and Tandan community at large that these awards given will motivate them to learn hard and become great leaders in this country.

"My colleague pupils should learn from us and take their studies seriously, let us learn hard and become great leaders in future", Millicent Dowase appealed.
29.07.2017 LISTEN

Our world face many challenges, crises and forces of division  such as poverty, violence, and human rights abuses  among many others  that undermine peace, security, development and social harmony among the world's peoples.

To confront those crises and challenges, their root causes must be addressed by promoting and defending a shared spirit of human solidarity that takes many forms  the simplest of which is friendship.

Through friendship  by accumulating bonds of camaraderie and developing strong ties of trust  we can contribute to the fundamental shifts that are urgently needed to achieve lasting stability, weave a safety net that will protect us all, and generate passion for a better world where all are united for the greater good.

Background

The International Day of Friendship is an initiative that follows on the proposal made by UNESCO and taken up by the UN General Assembly in 1997 ( A/RES/52/13 ), which defined the Culture of Peace as a set of values, attitudes and behaviours that reject violence and endeavour to prevent conflicts by addressing their root causes with a view to solving problems.

In its resolution of 1998, proclaiming the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (20012010) ( A/RES/53/25 ), the General Assembly recognized that enormous harm and suffering are caused to children through different forms of violence.

It emphasized that the promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence should be instilled in children through education. If children learn to live together in peace and harmony that will contribute to the strengthening of international peace and cooperation.

The Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace ( A/RES/53/243 ) adopted in 1999 set 8 areas of action for nations, organizations and individuals to undertake in order for a culture of peace to prevail:

foster a culture of peace through education;

promote sustainable economic and social development;

promote respect for all human rights;

ensure equality between women and men;

foster democratic participation;

advance understanding, tolerance and solidarity;

support participatory communication and the free flow of information and knowledge;

promote international peace and security.

The International Day of Friendship is also based on the recognition of the relevance and importance of friendship as a noble and valuable sentiment in the lives of human beings around the world.

The International Day of Friendship was proclaimed in 2011 by the UN General Assembly with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities.

The resolution (A/RES/65/275) places particular emphasis on involving young people, as future leaders, in community activities that include different cultures and promote international understanding and respect for diversity.

The Day is also intended to support the goals and objectives of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace and the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for theChildren of the World (2001-2010) .

To mark the International Day of Friendship the UN encourages governments, international organizations and civil society groups to hold events, activities and initiatives that contribute to the efforts of the international community towards promoting a dialogue among civilizations, solidarity, mutual understanding and reconciliation.

The day has been celebrated in several southern South American countries for many years, particularly in Paraguay , where the first World Friendship Day - International Friendship Day was proposed in 1958.

Initially created by the greeting card industry, evidence from social networking sites shows a revival of interest in the holiday that may have grown with the spread of the Internet, particularly in India, Bangladesh, and Malaysia.

Digital communication modes such as the Internet and mobile phones may be helping to popularize the custom, since greeting friends en masse is now easier than before. Those who promote the holiday in South Asia attribute the tradition of dedicating a day in honor of friends to have originated in the U.S. in 1935, but it actually dates from 1919.

The exchange of Friendship Day gifts like flowers, cards and wrist bands is a popular tradition of this occasion.

Friendship Day celebrations occur on different dates in different countries. The first World Friendship Day was proposed for 30 July in 1958, by the World Friendship Crusade .

On 27 April 2011 the General Assemblyof the United Nations declared 30 July as official International Friendship Day. However, some countries, including India, celebrate Friendship Day on the first Sunday of August. In Oberlin, Ohio , Friendship Day is celebrated on 8 April each year

History

Friendship Day was originated by Joyce Hall , the founder of Hallmark cards in 1930, intended to be 2 August and a day when people celebrated their friendships by holiday celebrations.

Friendship Day was promoted by the greeting card National Association during the 1920s but met with consumer resistance - given that it was too obviously a commercial gimmick to promote greetings cards.

By the 1940s the number of Friendship Day cards available in the US had dwindled and the holiday largely died out there. There is no evidence to date for its uptake in Europe; however, it has been kept alive and revitalised in Asia, where several countries have adopted it.

In honor of Friendship Day in 1998, Nane Annan, wife of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, named Winnie the Pooh as the world's Ambassador of Friendship at the United Nations. The event was co-sponsored by the U.N. Department of Public Information and Disney Enterprises, and was co-hosted by Kathy Lee Gifford.

Some friends acknowledge each other with exchanges of gifts and cards on this day. Friendship bands are very popular in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and parts of South America. With the advent of social networking sites, Friendship Day is also being celebrated online.

The commercialization of the Friendship Day celebrations has led to some dismissing it as a "marketing gimmick". But nowadays it is celebrated on the first Sunday of August rather than 30 July.

However, on 27 July 2011 the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 30 July as "International Day of Friendship".

The idea of a World Friendship Day was first proposed on 20 July 1958 by Dr. Ramon Artemio Bracho during a dinner with friends in Puerto Pinasco, a town on the River Paraguay about 200 miles north of Asuncion, Paraguay .

Out of this humble meeting of friends, the World Friendship Crusade was born. The World Friendship Crusade is a foundation that promotes friendship and fellowship among all human beings, regardless of race, color or religion.

Since then, 30 July has been faithfully celebrated as Friendship Day in Paraguay every year and has also been adopted by several other countries.

The World Friendship Crusade has lobbied the United Nations for many years to recognise 30 July as World Friendship Day and finally on 20 May, General Assembly of the United Nations decided to designate 30 July as the International Day of Friendship; and to invite all Member States to observe the International Day of Friendship in accordance with the culture and customs of their local, national and regional communities, including through education and public awareness-raising activities.Its also known as Shru and Sanjya day.

On July 30, lets all thank our friends who really showed friendship from day one till now. For those friends who tell you they love you, but disappoint you when you need their love in action, lets pray for them. The world is all about friendship...lets avoid making enemies. Happy Friendship Day to friends.
29.07.2017 LISTEN

It is amazing how political office holders, stakeholders and people whom the average Ghanaian has trusted them with the affairs of the state tend to forget about the welfare of these people and take actions that are favourable to them only.

In recent times, political leaders and government officials have constantly broken their sworn oath of office without been prosecuted and continue to do so,our legislative body has been turned into a rubber stamp legislature where decisions are taken to favour political parties and their executives but not the Ghanaians.

Barely eight(8) months ago,the New Patriotic Party(NPP) in their manifesto promised a free secondary School education for all our Ghanaian students at the senior high level and today they are expediting actions to ensure that promised is actualised.

Last Thursday,the Honourable Minister of education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh at a Press Conference answering questions in relation with the Free Senior High School Education Policy made mention that," students held back during their secondary education for

non performance will not be catered for in their extra year of study under the Free Senior high school education policy".

This statement by the Minister has attracted rebukes and allegations from some political figures who accuse the government for diverting from their promise. This situation is appalling and nothing good to write home about. The NPP in their campaign period made their policies known to us, to some extent including the amount of money allocated to each policy and promise.Now anyone who is well informed to criticize the Minister's statement must be knowledgeable enough to know that the country run a three year duration of education at the secondary School level and it's based on this time frame that the government formulated this policy and allocated funds to actualise it.In short,the policy was to cater for the 3 years study of secondary school students and by that they are fulfilling their promise.

Note,this is not to say that what the Minister said was totally right,but that was what the NPP government promised us. The question we should be aking as concerned citizens is that,what provision is the government making for student's with disabilities who through no fault of theirs may have to repeat their class and hence stay for additional years at school.

These leaders who have sworn to serve the country must through history learn that, no person or government is a repository of knowledge and that we all need the advice and guidance of others, therefore government officials who claim to work for the good of the country, and noticed loop holes in the Minister's statement should have suggested other options to ensure that the privilege and right of challenged students who may be held back for no reason known to them is not trempled and violated through the actualization of this policy.

However, these leaders due to greed and their thirst for political powers are using all nefarious means to undermine this policy for their personal gain.

It is about time our leaders told us the truth and work harder towards the development of Ghana but not their pockets and stomachs.The Minister of education did not say anything opposite to what they promised us, so every Tom,Dick and Harry must come together,with Ghana's interest at heart, work to ensure that every citizen who is entitled to this policy enjoys it fully.The TRUTH must always be told.
29.07.2017 LISTEN

It is too late for all kinds of novel origins of Lagos or Awori, the real owners of Lagos. It is sad and embarrassing that the Oba of Lagos did not know that he is a descendant of a father from Ilesha. Shame! Most historians know that Ashipa was the first Oba of Lagos as taught from old schools days. Ashipa title is still common throughout Yoruba and Bini land. The same is true of Ado as his son indicating special relationship between Yoruba and Bini origin of the OBA title.

In order to understand the controversies surrounding the origin of Oba of Bini, one has to understand that each time an Oba is crowned; he has to renew his palace lease from Ogiamien Ode. Ogiamien, the son of the soil leased his own land to Oba, the stranger. This treatment as an outsider made the children of Eweka crave acceptance in a strange land by a novel theory.

The real problem started because Eweka as Yoruba, became Oba only on a condition that he has to lease the land each time at coronation before ascending Bini throne. Ekaledera was used as novel theory to claim a relationship to an Ogiso father. The mischief-makers try to claim the father of Oranmiyan was the lost son of Ogiso in order to trivialize that rite of passage Ogiamen administered. If Oba were a son of Ekaledera he wouldnt rent from Ogiamen. He no be we-we!

Yoruba artifacts are much older, Iwo Eleru dated far back to 10,000 B.C! Ile-Ife moved few times from the North of Bini before present location East of Bini: according to Prof. Fela Sowande, Ile Ife is not the Ife to which Yoruba oral traditions refer. Also in the words of Professor Wande Abimbola, the seven sites of Ife mentioned by Ifa are Ife Oodaye, the first and possibly the original one, Ife Nleere, Ife Ooyelagbomoro, Ife Wara, Otu Ife, Ife Oore and Ife Oojo.

See Prof. Thurstan Shaw on radiocarbon dating. Carbon dating indicated Oba-Ogiso relationship at Ife burial ground went as far back as 560AD, that is even before arrival of Oranmiyan in Bini. It is undisputed that Ogiso fell from grace after a brutal order killed a pregnant woman. The people revolted against him with votes of no confidence. The people of Ogodimiogo knew and asked Ile-Ife for Oba as a well-known respected prominent seat of wisdom not by chance.

Going by the parallel history of the Bible, Koran and what we know today of Africa as the cradle of man and civilization; Oduduwa was not created, born or wandered into Yoruba birth land in the 12th century. Oduduwa was not the Orunmila, Olodumare or Obatala. Some even claimed he took over from Obatala. If Obatala was sent as the god of creation, it does not make sense that Oduduwa who succeeded him (Obatala) was alive in the 12th century.

Novel theory of Bini fell apart because Oduduwa existed not only in Bini but also by Olukumi in and outside Nigeria including Ijaw that called him Adumu or Adimu. Every community including the Ijaw that knew Oduduwas as Adumu or Adimu knew Oduduwa as their progenitor existed Before Christ. The son of Oduduwa does not mean direct son; it could mean descendant, great-great grandfather or even creator. It was the last born of Oduduwa, Oranmiyan descendants that transformed Benin into an Empire. African progenitors are older than Jesus or Mohamed.

Jacob Egharevba, the highly respected historian and son of Edo wrote A Short History of Benin that is irrefutable in the academic community. Yet those without credentials or anthropological facts have selectively disputed him with their novel theories propagated by Edo e-warriors. His account of the history was the irrefutable theory among respected academics that are not even Yoruba themselves, such as another respected Prof. Peter Ekeh of State University of New York.

Quoting Jacob Egharevba: When Evian was stricken by old age he nominated his eldest son, Ogiemwen as his successor, but the people refused him. They said he was not the Ogiso and they could not accept his son as his successor, because as he himself knew, it had been arranged to set up a republican form of government. This he was now selfishly trying to alter.

While this was still in dispute the people indignantly sent an ambassador to the Ooni Oduduwa, the great and wisest ruler of Ife, asking him to send one of his sons to be their ruler, for things were getting from bad to worse and the people saw that there was need for a capable ruler.

Oba title and Bini (Ile Ibinu) never existed in Bini until the arrival of Oranmiyan that overthrew Ogiso. Since then, the head of Oba of Bini had always been buried in Ile-Ife until recently. These are facts that can never be denied within the academic communities. Indeed, the lingua franka in the palace of the Oba was and still in Yoruba names.

Professor Peter Ekeh an Urhobo quoted from another non-Yoruba scholar Okpewho: consider the appearances of the Ogisos in Benin and Urhobo folktales - In Isidore Okpewho's (1998) comprehensive and scholarly study of Benin folklore, there is a Benin folktale concerning the Ogiso, which ends as follows:

Ogiso goes back on his word. Whereupon heaven and earth threaten to convulse the nation, forcing the Ogiso to capitulate. [His rival] became the Oba, and the Ogiso became his sword bearer. (p. 67)

Nevertheless, the glory and power of Bini Empire cannot be contested because it lasted past many African Empires including Oyo that was destroyed by civil wars. Once Oredo, that is Bini the land of Edo came under Oba, they became venturous outside, unlike Ogiso that was oppressive inside. It was the reason the Urhobo and others deserted Ogomigodo. Bini power was felt as far East as Onitsha where Oba of Bini and his Yoruba descendants are still present until today with their Yoruba dialect. Actually, Zik embraced his Bini descendants.

The present Oba of Bini made the relationship clear that Oranmiyan is the First Oba Bini. Ogiso children cannot be easily won over. They know the difference between the invader (actually the invitee Oba from the land of wisdom they knew and respected) they lease the land to; and the son of the soil as the owner of their land! There was one lost son of Oba Bini who founded the Olukumi. He established in Asaba and Onitsha where they still speak, bear Yoruba, Edo and Igbo names. Those looking for Ekalederah would find his kin and descendants there, not in Ile-Ife.

The names and gods served by Benin and other Yoruba cousins revealed a relationship one should be proud of not to cause disenchantments. There is no Ogun River near Bini that they worship like the Yoruba. They interpreted EWEKA as Yorubas Owo Mi Ka and are yet to dispute the reason they differed to the wisdom of Ile-Ife on choice of ruler, burying their Oba and Ogiso symbols in the Holy Land of Yoruba. Yet, e-warriors claim Yoruba language is their broken Edo!

It is not in doubt that Yoruba Oba Benin had his emissaries sneaked into Lagos. The battle was fought to a standstill only to compromise on Ashipa as the First King. Ogunfunminire was the father of Omo-Onile: Olumegbon, Aromire, Oloto, Oluwa, Oniru, Onisiwo, Onitoolo, Elegushi, Ojora and Onikoyi. Nobody disputes Omo-Onile as the children of Awori Ogunfuminire that had established in Isheri while his children spread beyond into the Island. Aromire own Lagos Island.

Oba of Bini emissaries were not the first or the last Aromire and his brothers had to fight off their land. There were Ijebu, Egba, British, Portuguese, Arabs etc. that were attracted because of Lagos proximity to the Ocean for all types of trade. Indeed, it was not the first time Yoruba fought within themselves or even disowned one another. You must have read about Awujale of Ijebu Ode denying Oduduwa was his father or even being Yoruba. He claimed Waddai.

However, most Yoruba had similar claim. The difference with Oba of Binis emissaries sneaking into Lagos and fighting to a standstill while other Yoruba did not get involve was the fact that Bini itself had Yoruba Oba from 12th century and not Ogiso. They sneaked in temporarily as visitors, camped at Iddo unaware. The story could have been different if they came as warriors.

Do we really have to prove over and over again, the relationship between Nigerians when each of the 250 ethnics want suzerainty and autonomy as separate people dividing themselves into clans and hamlets of prehistoric days? Compare that to the call for separations into Arewa, Igbo and Yoruba nations when they claim One NORTH ONE PEOPLE despite variety of ethnic groups. Better still, they are ready to unite the whole South against North. Maybe Igbo nation and Yoruba nation dividing the south into two!

Oh, they have forgotten that there are more minorities in the North and South than just the three behemoths that want to go their separate ways. We have not been able to separate Awori and Egun in Dahomey from Nigeria yet. Or separate Igbo and Hausa cousins that still cross at will from Cameroon. Well, just leave minorities out of all your nations.

There was a great deal of noise about how Lagos was going to lose its glory after the capital moved to Abuja. It is the exact opposite; people cannot get enough of Lagos. Every day, people troop into Lagos without relief. After establishing themselves with the generosity of Lagosians, each ethnic group starts claiming ownership of Lagos. Where else? Lagosians must be proud because it shows nothing can change the attractive culture of the indigenous people of Lagos.

Nothing can change the Yoruba origin of Lagos and Bini, even when Nigeria breaks into pieces!

E-warriors kotikwu jor. Just park make I see road.
The recently sworn-in Board of the National Communications Authority (NCA) has met staff of the Authority at a durbar to interact with them and also to familiarise themselves with the operations of the Authority. The interaction with staff took place at the NCA Tower on Friday, 28th July, 2017.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Joe Anokye, Ag. Director General of NCA, welcomed the Board and commended staff of the Authority for the support given him during his six (6) months of appointment at the NCA.

Addressing the staff present, Mr. Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, the Board Chairman of the Authority, said the Board of Directors were assured that NCA had professional staff and that the professional advice and input of staff would be valued.Mr. Sakyi-Addo urged his fellow Board member, Management and Staff of the Authority to take into account the interest of all stakeholders who they serve, from the Government to the Operator and to the consumer in achieving the Authoritys objectives as well as addressing the challenges of the industry.

He entreated all present including the Board Members, to adhere to the corporate governance structures and also respect the hierarchy and reporting lines which exist and in addition, exhibit exemplary behaviours such that media reportage of NCA will be positive and add to the Authoritys reputation as a credible and world class regulator.

Speaking further, Mr. Sakyi-Addo assured staff of better working conditions and necessary resources in order for them to deliver and achieve the set objectives of the Authority.

He thanked the Ag. Director General staff for their dedicated service and requested for their support to help the Board of Directors drive the organisation towards the achievement of their objectives.The event was well attended by NCA staff, including representatives from the Regional/Zonal offices.

The Board of Directors, was inaugurated by the Honorable Minister for Communications, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful. The inauguration was held on Thursday, 6th July, 2017, at the Conference Room of the Ministry of Communications in Accra.

The Board which is chaired by Mr. Kwaku Sakyi-Addo were appointed by the President in accordance with article 70 of the Constitution of Ghana. The other Members of the Board are;Mr. Joseph Anokye,Kwabena Adu-Boahene,Mr. BernardForson,Mr. Philip Asare Kwame Ayesu, Mrs. Susan Barbara AdjorkorBoyeKumapley and Mr.Paul Adom Otchere.

About NCA

The National Communications Authority, (NCA), was established by an Act of Parliament, Act 524 in December 1996, which has been repealed and replaced by the National Communications Authority Act, 2008 (Act 769). The Authority is the statutory body mandated to license and to regulate electronic communication activities and services in the country.

About the NCA Board

Members of the Board shall hold office for a period not exceeding four years and are eligible for re-appointment but a member shall not be appointed for more than two terms. This does not apply to the Director-General.The Board comprise:

 The Chairperson;

 The Director-General appointed under section 16;

 One representative of the National Security Council, National Media Commission and Ministry of Communications, not below the rank of a director.

 one person with experience and expertise in communications; and

 three other persons at least one of whom is a woman and each of whom has knowledge of expertise in electrical engineering, law, business or public administration.

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Bamako (AFP) - Former Tuareg rebels operating in northern Mali took control of the key town of Menaka on Saturday, two days after clashes elsewhere in the region with pro-government forces, sources said.

"They entered Menaka very early this morning and they are there now," an official in the governorate of the town, one of five regional capitals in north, told AFP.

"They didn't fire a single shot."

On Thursday, the ex-rebels -- gathered in a group called the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) -- clashed with pro-government forces in the town of Kidal further north, inflicting heavy losses.

The two sides signed a 2015 peace deal on curbing violence in northern Mali and limiting the reach of jihadists, but the United Nations says fighting between them has escalated in recent weeks.

A source in the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, or MINUSMA, said: "The situation is calm in Menaka. Elements presenting themselves as CMA fighters are in the town and in the surrounding dunes. They say they want to make the town secure."

Alghabass Ag Intalla, a CMA commander, added: "Our troops are in control of Menaka. We didn't fire a single shot."

"The GATIA fled," he said, referring to the French acronym for a pro-government force named the Imghad and Allies Touareg Self-Defence Group.

He said the move was not a violation of the ceasefire because the GATIA "had no business being in Menaka."

Menaka had since March been run by interim authorities in line with the peace accord.

Northern Mali is the site of frequent clashes between rival armed groups, as well as a haven for jihadist activity.

In 2012, key cities in the region fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda, who exploited an ethnic Tuareg-led rebel uprising.

While the Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation, attacks have continued on UN and French forces, civilians and the Malian army.

Militias like the GATIA operate in areas where Mali's army is absent or has a very limited presence.
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - At least 69 people died in a Boko Haram ambush of an oil exploration team in northeast Nigeria, as three men kidnapped by the jihadists made a video appeal.

Experts said the attack -- Boko Haram's bloodiest this year -- underscored the persistent threat it poses, despite government claims the group is a spent force.

"So far the death toll stands at 69," said an aid agency worker involved in the recovery of bodies after the attack in the Magumeri area of Borno state on Tuesday.

The worker, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said 19 soldiers, 33 civilian militia and 17 civilians were killed.

"The last body was recovered Friday in the bush in the Geidam district of neighbouring Yobe state, which is several kilometres from the scene of the ambush," he told AFP.

"It shows the victim, who had gunshot wounds, died after trekking a long distance. There could be more such victims in the bush."

Another source with knowledge of the rescue operation gave the death toll as "70 or more" and also said it was unclear whether all the victims had been accounted for.

The attack hit Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation staff.

"It's a confirmation of the boldness and reassurance that Boko Haram has managed to gain over the last six weeks," said Yan St-Pierre, from the Modern Security Consulting Group.

"They have been attacking more and more military outposts and more military convoys. For them to go after NNPC personnel just shows they don't fear any military reprisal.

"Basically they have managed to gain enough resources, enough material, to plan ambushes targeted towards high value targets."

Video appeal

People pray over the body of a victim in the grounds of the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria on July 29, 2017

News of the rising death toll came after Boko Haram published a four-minute video in which three men identified themselves as being from the University of Maiduguri.

The trio were part of a NNPC team on a mission to find commercial quantities of oil in the Lake Chad basin.

"I want to call on the acting president professor Yemi Osinbajo to come to our rescue to meet the demand," one of the men says in the video, which he said was shot on Friday.

He attributed the attack to the Islamic State-supported Boko Haram faction headed by Abu Mus'ab Al-Barnawi, which has vowed to hit military and government targets.

"They have promised us that if their demands are met they will release us immediately to go back to the work we were caught doing," the man added.

There was no indication of where the video was shot but Magumeri is some 50 kilometres (31 miles) by road northwest of Maiduguri.

University of Maiduguri spokesman Danjuma Gambo confirmed the identities of the three kidnapped men in the video.

"They are our staff but one more is yet to be accounted for," he told AFP.

Five members of staff from the university -- two lecturers, two technologists and a driver -- were killed, vice-chancellor Ibrahim Njodi said on Friday.

He told reporters the university had been hesitant to send staff with the NNPC team but had been assured about security.

Nigeria is searching for oil in the northeast to try to reduce its reliance on supplies from the Niger delta, where militant attacks have slashed production.

Suicide bombings

Kidnapping has been a feature of the Boko Haram insurgency, which has killed at least 20,000, displaced more than 2.6 million and left millions of others on the brink of famine.

Thousands of women and girls have been seized, to be married off to fighters, used as sex slaves or suicide bombers, while men and boys have been made to fight in the Islamist ranks.

The al-Barnawi faction differs from fighters loyal to Boko Haram's long-time leader Abubakar Shekau in that it disagrees with the indiscriminate targeting of civilians.

On Friday, two suicide bombers struck a camp for displaced people in Dikwa, 90 kilometres (56 miles) east of Maiduguri, killing eight, said local government official Rawa Gana Modu.

In Bama, 70 kilometres (45 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, three young female suicide bombers were killed when their explosives detonated prematurely on Thursday.

"A fourth bomber, an 11-year-old girl, was too frightened to pull the trigger," said Babakura Kolo, a member of the civilian militia group.

"She succeeded in removing her vest and sneaked into town. She was found and taken into custody."
29.07.2017 LISTEN

We want to put on record that the likes as of our party in 2016 elections is not because the government did not deliver to the good people of Ghana but because there was a vast gap between party and government.

Our grassroot which has been the heart of our party was never resourced and recognized enough to keep the spirit of the party alive as a socialist party.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press and media, the record set by the NDC government shall remain unprecedented in the political history of Ghana but if we as a party are not able to restructure our party where the grassroot man is given due recognition, where the youth wings are empowered, then any dream of political power shall only be a desert mirage in all these predicament. We must be careful not to engage in any divisive public and media engagements which others have done already by throwing needless blame games on others. We are all at fault and this is the time to be reborn.

John F.K Kennedy postulated "Let us not seek the Republican answer or the democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future". This is what we must hold in high esteem.

We caution party big wings who think they can make decisive pronouncements on the media to solve our problems. The future of the party belongs to we the youth and we will not support anybody to collapse the party by actions and inactions of theirs that are parochially motivated. In critical decision, we admonish that the party should consider placing the grassroot in a very strategic position to contribute positively to the electoral prospects of the part.

The issue of who becomes the leader of our party is needless and prematured and we again pleed that party members should not create room for certain media cabal to score political points to our disadvantage. To us, we have more competent and credible people in the party and working in unism is what is more important at the critical moment in opposition. We want to reassure the rank and file of the party that we the members of team one NDC youth group based in Tamale is ready to sacrifice for the party to ensure a come back to power in 2020 and we encourage our colleagues to do the same.

The signs are very clear that the NPP is struggling and demonstrating hipocracy and incompetency almost daily and well meaning Ghanaians are fast regretting for given them the mandate. The six months of the NPP government in power is like a hell to many Ghanaians. We are been greeted with wanton lawlessness, violence, lies, deceits and populist inferior tactics, abuse of office, gargantuan cover ups of dirty oil in the market by BOST. No wonder the vice president Dr. Bawumia disgraced himself in his account dubbed achievement of government within its hundred days in office where every intention and budgetary allocation is considered as an achievement. An issue we have considered as the most political comedy in recent history. That is the mark of an incompetent government which appears to still be in a campaign mood. We are faced with high transport fares, increase in prices of commodities, violence across the length and breadth of the county, and sacking of public officials.

We are calling on every single member of the party to continue to monitor and expose the hipocracy of this substandard government.

It is our prayer and hope that this wake up call will be given the necessary attention and pave the way for our victory come December 2020.

We thank you for your audience.

Signed by.

Issah Abdul Kudus Digabra

(Deputy Secretary)

0240343687

Secretary.

Issaka Sadiq

0246144245

Chairman

Alhaji Macca Naa
The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Ocquaye, has directed Parliament's Defence and Interior Committee to investigate the recent killing of on-duty police officers and to recommend means of ensuring the safety of the officers.

Four police officers have been shot at, and some killed, in the line of duty within June and July 2017.

The Inspector General of Police blamed the incidents on serious logistical constraints; even though the Interior Minister insists the Police Service will be sufficiently resourced.

But, making a case for Parliament's urgent intervention, the Member of Parliament for Ledzokuku, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye called for an immediate audit of the police patrol department.

It is a criminal who should be pleading with a security officer to spare his or her life, and not the reverse. To have a police officer begging a criminal gives a weighty indication that all is not well with respect to the safety of police personnel, Dr. Okoe Boye lamented in reference to the final moments of an officer killed at Lapaz.

The MP said his call was to ensure the Defence and Interior Committee performs an audit of the real state of the national patrol department to identify the deficit that allows such police brutalities to occur so overtly and brazenly.

The Police administration, earlier in July, posthumously promoted two of its officers who were killed in the line of their duty.

The officers, Lance Corporal Robert Kumi Larbi Ackah and Constable Michael Kporyi lost their lives in two separate incidents at Dawadawa on the Buipe-Kintampo road and Michel Camp in Accra respectively.

Corporal Robert Kumi Ackah was killed on the Buipe  Kintampo highway, when he was escorting an OA passenger bus to the Northern Region. He was said to have been mistaken to be an armed robber by his colleagues in a Patrol Team.



By: Sixtus Dong Ullo/citifmonline.com/Ghana
29.07.2017 LISTEN

Accra, July 29, GNA - Mr Francois Pujolas, France Ambassador to Ghana, has called for the promotion of French language teaching and learning in Ghana.

He applauded Ghana Government's vision to popularize French among the Ghanaian society, to introduce it from the primary level of education and to consolidate it at the junior high school and senior high school levels.

Mr Pujolas, who made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said since Ghana was surrounded by French speaking countries, the practice of the French language was therefore, Ghana's best regional integration tool.

He said it was also one of the best ways for economic development as a facilitator of dialogue, negotiations, and harmonization with its neighbours.

"France is very much attached to cultural diversity and, in particular, the promotion of the French language because we think it is a real asset particularly for a country like Ghana surrounded by French speaking countries," he said.

"Considering this moment of regional integration and if Ghana wants to play its full role in that process Ghanaians must speak more French than they do today," he said.

Mr Pujolas said over the past decades the Embassy had being working together with Ghanaian authorities trying to develop the teaching and learning of French.

"What we have decided lately, is to modernized the training of French teachers in Ghana to adopt new methodologies in order to make the French language more attractive to students so they will learn more of French," he said.

He said the Embassy intends setting up a pilot bilingual classes at the primary school level; adding that "this is a project we are working on right now".

He said the as far as the teaching of French was concern, within the Ghana education system the Embassy was putting in more resources and new ideas in order to really make a difference.

"We also want to use new technologies better in order to widen the offer for learning French.

"In concrete terms, we have launched last June IT contest 'hackaton' dedicated to finding new innovative solutions for long distance learning of French," he said.

Mr Pujolas said the Embassy would be working more closely with the media community in Ghana, especially, radio stations in particular to promote the French Language.

On Ghana's 10 year old membership of the International Organization of Francophonie, the Ambassador said: "We support that very much as the Ghanaian Government enter into cooperation with this organisation through linguistic pact that should be signed in the coming months".

He urged Ghana to continue strengthening its ties with the International Organization of Francophonie.

On 60 years of Ghana and France relationship Mr Pujolas said: 'The Ghana - France relationship is about better facing the challenges of the day and preparing for a better future, which means sustainable future for both countries, Europe and Africa at the same time.'

'That is what we want to achieve through co-operation and peace and stability, economic development and cultural diversity,' he said.

GNA

By Iddi Yire, GNA
The Berlin-based art historian Benedicte Savoy was a member of the advisory board of Germanys most ambitious cultural project in decades. A reckoning.

29.07.2017 LISTEN

The Arts Council of the African Studies Association will be holding its17thTriennial Conference in Accra, Legon University, Ghana, from 9th to 12 Augusr, 2017( http://www.acasaonline.org/ ) and within this conference, representatives of the Humboldt-Forum, Jonathan Fine and Paola Ivanov (both Ethnologisches Museum Berlin) will be presenting the institution under the topic of External and Internal Museum Collaborations. It is important that the African and international public hear also other views about the Humboldt-Forum. My own views of the relations between African museums and Western museums can be easily found at this site as well as at other places. https://www.toncremers.nl/kwame-opoku-will-humboldt-forum-defend-holding-looted-artefacts-with-misleading-statements-and-self-serving-arguments/

Kwame Opoku.



The Humboldt Forum is like Chernobyl

(From Suddeutsche Zeitung, founded 1945, also known as SZ, Germany's largest broadsheet newspaper, publishes Suddeutsche articles of international interest on this tumblr. (Translation mostly in cooperation with Worldcrunch .)

The Berlin-based art historian Benedicte Savoy was a member of the advisory board of Germanys most ambitious cultural project in decades. A reckoning.

By Jorg Hantzschel

Last week, Neil MacGregors contract as advisor to the Humboldt Forum was renewed until 2019. Nevertheless, doubts and misgivings about this major project persist. We discussed this with renowned art historian Benedicte Savoy, 45, who resigned from the Forums advisory board a few days ago.

SZ: What were your reasons for leaving the advisory board?

Benedicte Savoy: My frustration had been building up over months. It was mainly because of the way this panel was treated. It existed since 2015. There have been only two meetings over that period. I also felt that I couldnt speak freely while I was part of the project. You either belong to it and defend it, or you have a critical view, in which case its better to leave.

But are critical debates not the purpose of the board?

Yes, they are, and we were very critical. But other boards, such as the Louvres, where Im also a member, meet four or five times a year. The work there is really hands-on. Critical views are taken seriously. This one however is a token exercise.

Has your view of the Humboldt Forum changed over the last two years?

When I first heard of the project, I was 30. Now Im 45. I have never been enthusiastic about it.

Why not?

To begin with, there is the reconstruction of the Schloss. The architecture conveys that history is reversible. But when people ask for the return of stolen objects they are told that history cannot be reversed. Its an irreconcilable contradiction that will always haunt the Humboldt Forum. Then there is the iconography of the facade, with its weapons, helmets, armour. Finally, theres the cross on top of the cupola.

Still you decided to join.

I was relieved and hopeful when Neil MacGregor came on board. But as soon as he was nominated it became clear that the same institutions would continue that had not got their act together for ten years. Not even a MacGregor can achieve much against the lethargy and immobility of these institutions. There is still the same lack of transparency, team spirit and responsibility as before. Even with political will, much money and a brilliant head at the helm, such a project does not stand a chance.

Are you referring to the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz? What issues do you see there?

First of all, theres the name. There are historical reasons for it, as for the structure of the organization as such. But it isnt appropriate anymore. Culture is not the property of Prussia, Great Britain or France. And Prussia doesnt have the best global reputation. These are names, words, but the terminology influences the way of thinking, just as the cross does. It counteracts the project. The metaphors wind their way through the entire institution. The hierarchical structure, the individual museums lack of autonomy - theres total sclerosis. The SPK reigns over a huge number of archives, museums, libraries. They should have had the courage to say: This is too much. We would like to pass on the responsibility. Its a question of honesty and responsibility.

What was the role of policymakers?

Policymakers allowed the rebuilding of the Schloss without ensuring a critical debate about it. The first ten years were squandered, but in a way that left scars and makes everything more difficult. Monika Grutters and Neil MacGregor are desperately trying to save whatever is left to save. But if this behemoth should stand a chance to work in 15 years or so, things need to be dealt with today.

What is the most important task?

Provenance research. It costs lots of money, its a thankless job. You might work for ten years on a particular collection and end up not knowing much more than when you started. But today no Humboldt Forum and no ethnological museum anywhere should open before this research isnt done. Provenance research should be the key idea of the project. And, secondly, the provenance of each object should be displayed in a comprehensible way. Its no longer possible to display works on the walls of a museum without stating where they came from. Even if you dont find anything, you state: We did what we could, we digitalized all the documents, theyre accessible to anybody, this is what we know as of today. Its also a matter of respect to the people that we took these objects from.

So the main concern is educating the public.

For me, its less important to understand what particular use an object had in Namibia than to find out about the circumstances in which it got here. I want to know where my steak is coming from, too. When you buy food, this information is on the packaging. The same should apply to intellectual nutrition. I want to know how much blood is dripping from a piece of art, how much academic ambition went into finding it, how much archaeological delight. It makes these objects even more significant. Its a win for both sides.

The museums in Dahlem are destined to become purely research institutions, while the Humboldt Forum is due to display their top objects. Exhibiting objects and research will be separated.

This is not the only problem, but the museums will also be separated from the universities. If you only exhibit objects and stop working with them intellectually, theyre dead. Collections and museums have been created for research purposes. In the 19th century lectures and seminars were held in Berlin museums. The British Museum, the Louvre continue to be research institutions to this day. This integration of academic endeavour and museums should also have been encouraged as part of the planning process in the Humboldt Forum, by providing the necessary rooms. Why cant school children have regular classes there?

The founding directors would object to this and explain that the project was after all founded in the spirit of the Humboldt brothers, the legendary scientists.

No, they would not. They know very well that the Humboldt name is only a label. The core belief of the Humboldts was that collecting, research and teaching should be connected. This is precisely what will not be realized at the Humboldt Forum.

But this is the main selling point of the project.

Its just buzzwords that are being sold here. Humboldt, provenance, multi-perspectivity, shared heritage. Lofty concepts, but what we need is intellectual creativity. Not museum education where everybody dresses up as American Indians or ancient gods, but a serious, poetic, humanistic engagement with these objects and the past from which they originate. Education is a daily practice, it requires continuous inventing and adapting to the needs of younger generations. There could be intellectual fireworks there. And by the way: Intelligence is sexy. One could use the potential in Berlin, the passion of so many young people to create something that is sexy. Instead we sit here in these gloomy board meetings as if it was still the 1980s.

What do you make of Neil MacGregors idea to bring culture and nature together and to include objects from other Berlin museums?

Why not? I welcome any idea, anything that stimulates the mind and is not just there to bring in the crowds and make money with restaurants and shops. The Humboldt Forum is too valuable for that. It is based on 300 years of collecting, with all the abominations and hopes that came with it. Its us, its Europe. So much could be done with it, were it not covered under this leaden blanket, like nuclear waste, to make sure no radiation can escape. The Humboldt Forum is like Chernobyl.

Germany has changed quite a bit in recent years. What does that mean for this project?

It comes at the wrong time. Germany redefines itself as an open, international country. It makes a huge effort to accommodate people escaping from conflict areas and war zones. Its impossible to open this type of museum, in such a location, at this particular moment. It would have been better to leave the objects in Dahlem and prepare them in a way that they could have withstood Germanys internationalization and the debate about its colonial history. That way one could have said at some point: Look, we accommodated people from all over the world in a reasonably dignified manner. And we took care of these objects that came to us in the same way. The right thing would have been to have a moratorium. That would have bought time to understand the new situation. I have students who grew up in Damascus. Thats our reality. Everybody is aware of this, except for those up there.

What do your students say?

They say the Schloss is fake, but its meant to house original objects. Why not produce perfect copies and write on the labels: We owned the original for 120 years, now we have returned it to Cameroon. A museum of fakes in a fake castle, that would make sense.

Youre from the country of the grands projets. How would France have tackled the Humboldt Forum?

They would have left it alone due to lack of money. As everywhere in Europe, there is not enough money for culture. Germany is the only place where its flowing so incredibly freely. But you need to have ideas flowing too. It would have been better if the funds had been missing here, too, but instead the desire would have been there. Then people in the institutions would have brainstormed every week: What great things can we do? Where do we find the money? Instead they gave 600 million to an institution that is completely exhausted, that hasnt had an idea in decades and told them: Do something! This could only ever fail.

Picture: Anja Berghauser
Rabat (AFP) - King Mohammed VI of Morocco on Saturday pardoned more than a thousand detainees, some of whom were under arrest for taking part in protests in the troubled northern Rif region, the justice ministry announced.

The monarch pardoned a total of 1,178 people, including a number who had joined demonstrations in the northern port city of Al-Hoceima and surrounding area, the ministry said in a statement, issued shortly before King Mohammed made a televised speech to mark 18 years on the throne.

The justice ministry said pardons were granted to those "who have not committed crimes and who are not implicated in serious acts... bearing in mind their family and humanitarian conditions."

The Rif, a predominantly Berber region where Al-Hoceima is located, has been gripped by months of unrest.

Protests erupted last October after a fishmonger was crushed to death in a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve a swordfish confiscated for being caught out of season.

Demands for justice later snowballed into a wider social movement named Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, calling for jobs, development and an end to corruption.

Abdessadek Al-Bouchtaoui, a lawyer for detained protesters, described the mass pardon as "a positive step but it does not go far enough, because we are calling for the release of everyone held."

According to the latest official figures, 176 were being held, including the movement's leader, Nasser Zefzafi.

The government has promised to make major investment in the region, sent ministers to the area and withdrawn police from prominent sites in a bid to defuse the situation.

A brief lull ended on July 21 with clashes over a banned demonstration which also drew in supporters from among the large Moroccan diaspora.

Seventy-two police officers were wounded by stones and 11 protesters were injured by tear gas used to break up the rally, the official news agency MAP reported, citing authorities in Al-Hoceima.
Jacksonville Fire at sunset Saturday View Photos

Update at 8:55pm: The Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office reports that Jacksonville Road is now back open at Highway 120. All earlier evacuation advisories are still in place. Day 2 coverage is here.

Update at 7pm: Progress is being made extinguishing the Jacksonville Fire. Sgt. Andrea Benson of the Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office reports that all earlier mandatory evacuation orders have been lifted. This includes the areas of Algerine Road, Twist Road and Hog Mountain Road. Those areas are still under a less severe evacuation advisory. along with Campbells Flat Road, Meadowlark Lane and Blackbird Lane.

Road closures remain on Algerine and Jacksonville roads. CAL Fire reports that the Jacksonville Fire remains around 600 acres and 30-percent contained.

Update at 6:40pm: CAL Fire is now estimating that the Jacksonville Fire is 600 acres and it remains 30-percent contained.

Update at 6:20pm: Firefighters have reached 30-percent containment on the 230 acre Jacksonville Fire. Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office spokesperson Andrea Benson reports that there are no changes to the earlier announced evacuation orders and advisories.There are evacuation orders for Algerine Road, Twist Road and Hog Mountain Road and evacuation advisories for Campbells Flat Road, Meadowlark Lane and Blackbird Lane.

Update at 5:59pm: CAL Fire reports the Jacksonville Fire has grown to 230 acres.

Of note, an emergency alert via cell phone went out to the entire county indicating there is an advisory evacuation notice, and the Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office notes that it was not meant for the entire county. The earlier evacuation orders and advisories remain the same.

In addition, the Mother Lode Fairgrounds is available to take in livestock.

Update at 4:55pm: The CHP reports that the Tuolumne County Roads Department has closed Jacksonville Road and Twist Road near the 130 acre Jacksonville Fire, so you will need to avoid the area. Also, Lime Kiln Road is closed at Campo Seco Road. All earlier evacuation orders remain in place.

Update at 4:40pm: Additionally, the Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office reports that evacuation advisories have been issued for Campbells Flat Road, Meadowlark Lane and Blackbird Lane. The latest size estimate from CAL Fire remains 130 acres.

Update at 4:20pm: The Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office reports that the earlier evacuation advisories for Algerine Road, Twist Road and Hog Mountain Road are now upgraded to mandatory evacuation orders. The fire jumped Algerine Road in Jamestown. CAL Fire asks that you stay out of the area.

Update at 4pm: CAL Fire reports the Jacksonville Fire is up to 130 acres. Evacuations continue in the immediate area near the fire.

Update at 3:50pm: Sgt. Andrea Benson of the Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office reports that evacuation advisories have been issued for Algerine Road, Twist Road and Hog Mountain Road.

Update at 3 p.m.: CAL Fire reports the Jacksonville Fire has grown to 80 to 100 acres. Tuolumne County Sheriffs Officials report that two homes are being evacuated and CAL Fire reports other structures are threatened at this time. The CHP closed Jacksonville Road at Algerine Road and Jacksonville Road at Highway 120 and at Stent Cut Off Road. The flames broke out on the 15000 block of Jacksonville Road near Jumper Mine Road around 2 p.m.:

A special thanks to community news partners R. Layton, Janie Cabral, Matt Biehl, Martin Miles, Tamara Hansen, Mike Mcevoy, Jennifer Teem and, Jackie Matthews, Amy Gladen for sending in photos. Pictures can be emailed to news@clarkebroadcasting.com.

Update at 2:30 p.m.: CAL Fire is reports a vegetation fire on the 15000 block of Jacksonville Road near Jumper Mine Road is 15 to 20 acres and moving at a fast rate of spread heading up a slope. Tuolumne County Sheriffs Officials report that one home has been evacuated and CAL Fire reports other structures are threatened at this time. The CHP close Jacksonville Road at Algerine Road and Jacksonville Road at Highway 120 and at Stent Cut Off Road.

Original post at 2:11 p.m.: Jamestown, CA  Air and ground resources are heading to a vegetation fire in the Jamestown area.

CAL Fire reports it is in the vacinity of the 15000 block of Jacksonville Road near Jumper Mine Road. CAL Fire has requested that the CHP close Jacksonville Road at Algerine Roads and at the south end of Jacksonville Road near Highway 120. There are no details on the fires size or the flames rate of spread or whether any structures are threatened at this time. Well bring you more details as soon as they come into the newsroom.
- The Yoruba Liberation Command (YOLICOM) says it is time for the Yoruba nation to exit Nigeria

- The group states that Nigeria will never be genuinely restructured by the present crop of political leaders

- The YOLICOM says it is in support of the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra for self actualization irrespective of whatever hate speech he has been accused of

Amid agitation for Biafra Republic in the southeast, a southwest group, the Yoruba Liberation Command (YOLICOM) has declared secession from Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Buhari is not suffering from anything alien - Onochie

The group which made the declaration in Lagos on Thursday, July 27, sought the creation of Oduduwa Republic, Vanguard reports.

The spokesperson for the group, Opeoluwa Akinola, at a press conference held at Ogba said it was time for the Yoruba nation to exit Nigeria which he said was being dominated by the Fulani north.

The group rejected the calls for restructuring, noting that Nigeria will never be genuinely restructured by the present crop of political leaders.

It said: We totally reject the idea of restructuring as proposed. It is an attempt to restructure Nigeria on their own terms and not on the terms of the people. Nigeria will never be genuinely restructured by the present crop of political leaders who are themselves beneficiaries of the same skewed system.

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Even if the country will be restructured, it will pass through the National Assembly, which was created during the era of military rule of the Fulani to ensure an upper hand for the Fulani North. The National Assembly is an organ of the Fulani and their agents, so also is the Nigerian military, which has continuously been used to repress, intimidate and humiliate Nigerians.

The group says what the South-Western Yoruba region needs now is Oduduwa republic.

The group also said it is in support of the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra for self actualization irrespective of whatever hate speech he has been accused of. It said it wants an end to marginalization of some regions in the country and sought for a relation with the Biafra nation by the Oduduwa republic.

The full statement released by the group read:

You will recall that since 1914, when Nigeria was amalgamated at gun point, the country has been thrown into one turmoil or the other. For over a century, Nigeria has failed to meet the international benchmark of socio political and economic development.

The only references to Nigerias grandeur were the striking achievements of the then three regions of South West, South East and the North. Since the collapse of federalism and the three tiers founded to a large extent on the civilisations and values of the ethnic configuration in the country, Nigeria was remained in the tunnel of misery, pangs and pains, including the fact that the country was plunged into an avoidable civil war that took now fewer than I million lives.

Since the end of the war, millions of Nigerians as individuals and collectively as a society, have continued to wage and fight wars of survival characterised by extreme hunger and lack of the essentials of life like housing, good water, shelter, health and drinkable water. It has been most traumatic for the Yoruba Nation, which, between 1953 and 1966, raised one of the most advanced political economies in Africa and in the entire black world, parring on the same level with many countries in Europe by the standard of the time.

The Yoruba educational, cultural and political institutions were not only some of the best in Africa, the then Western Region gave hope to the entire black world with the highest Human Index development in Africa by the rating of the UNDP. The destruction of the regional system of government has turned Nigeria into a unitary state dotted with a savage vulture of corruption, ineptitude, inefficiency, moral degeneration, deaths, violent crimes and now violent religious extremism.

The so called democracy is nothing but the imposition of individual will through an orchestrated mass corruption where the poverty of the voters is exploited for electoral gains by politicians seeking political offices. Democracy is not about the interest of the few elected people and their cronies. Democracy is now government of the party for the [party leaders and by the party members.

Since 1914, the recurrent question has been: Should Nigeria remain one or not? Should the bottled up energies free s and liberate themselves from the shackles of misery, the fetters of iron and the muddy mess of agony or they should remain in eternal slavery? The question has come up again in the past few months with various groups making demands.

You will agree with me that the self-determination groups in Nigeria are the engine of our history today. We have the largest population with which all the members of the main political parties in Yorubaland combined together cannot equal. Our members are not in these movements for personal gains like we have in the political parties. Our members are in these organisations to make sacrifices and if necessary lay down their lives for the Yoruba nation.

We wish to announce to this important gathering, that we in YOLICOM representing some of the finest leaders of self-determination groups from across the Yoruba nation, has weighed the options extensively. For the past three months, we have been consulting with all the Yoruba self-determination groups, meeting poor and malnourished Yoruba people, talking to our people in the villages, towns and on the hills and mountains in the rural communities of Yoruba nation.

In the light of the foregoing, and in response to the occurrences in Nigeria of the past few months, including but not limited to the releases, utterances and comments certain groups representing the Igbo nation in Nigeria, IPOB (The Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB) Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MASSOB) among others to the effect that they desire to leave Nigeria and cease to be called Nigerians; and certain groups representing the (AREWA) people of Northern Nigeria, to the effect that the Igbo people should vacate the territory of Northern Nigeria before October 1st, 2017.

That we support the aspirations of the Igbo Nation irrespective of the unfortunate hate speeches, infantile savage utterances of a certain Nnamdi Kanu, who appears to have singled out Yoruba Nation for ridicule and revulsion. We take solace in the fact that we work with many large-hearted, better-exposed, principled and consciousness Igbo leaders who have a richer sense of history and understands better the complex nature of nation building and who also realize that importance of alliances, networking in statesmanship and international friendship and solidarity. We look forward to a viable and mutual relationship to the future Igbo nation, based on cordial respect within the framework of international best practices.

We observe the panic measures of the government which has been to attack proponents of self-determination and even exterminate them. We also note the setting up of a committee to handle the issue of restructuring as led by the Governor of Kaduna state, Mallam El Rufai."

OUR DECLARATION

The Yoruba Liberation Command (YOLICOM), the core of the authentic representatives and defenders of the values, rights and demands of the Yoruba Indigenous people, rejects the deceitful and self-serving tactics of the Nigerian political leadership, an extension of the Fulani oligarchy. We now make the following declarations:

That what we want as a people of Oduduwa Republic. We have no apology for this. That the Yoruba people wish to see an end to the over 100 years of bitter acrimony, ethnic rivalry, savage killings, blackmail of the Yoruba nation by some recalcitrant ethnic groups, herdsmen killings, forcing millions of our people to stop going to farms and the excruciating burden of coming from a country with the stigma of terrorism.

That our people have endured for a century the misery of Nigeria, her destruction of our values and the inestimable cultural genocide inflicted on our heritage by the rogue Nigerian country. It is time for the Yoruba Nation to exit from this axis of evil. That we totally reject the idea of RESTRUCTURING as proposed by the Nigerian state and the political elite. It is an attempt to restructure Nigeria on their own terms and not on the terms of the people. Nigeria will never be genuinely restructured by the present crop of political leaders who are themselves beneficiaries of the same skewed system.

That even if the country will be restructured, it will still pass through the National Assembly which was created during the era of military rule of the Fulani to ensure an upper-hand for the Fulani North. The NA is an organ of the Fulani and their agents so also is the Nigerian military which has continuously been used to repress, intimidate and humiliate Nigerians. Nigeria has become a burden on Yoruba people. We suddenly have been exposed to unimaginable threats of violence, wiping off entire families through clubbing to death, kidnapping of women and adults, savage killings, kidnap of school children, stealing of public wealth and the public display of the stolen wealth, with arrogance by the criminals, the complete annihilation and confrontation of the poor people by the Nigerian state and many other ills that were hitherto strange to our long-lasting ancient civilization and values.

By here policies and material relations, the Nigerian state with her ruinous gene, is breeding a disastrous crop of younger generation of people in Yoruba land. This is unacceptable to us. That any referendum at this time will swing on the side of the corrupt and irresponsible political class who continue to use ill-gotten public wealth to bribe, influence and manipulate elections and all institutions of politics and economy.

Democracy itself has become an element for all forms of crooks and criminals to seek legitimacy to continue to abuse the people and steal their resources in the most brazen, inhuman, primitive and callous manner. A developed country can never emerge out of the charade of elections, form and content of Nigerian version of representative government.

That we hereby and here, display the proposed flag of the Yoruba nation as a symbol of mobilization of our long suffering people out of the huge slum and prison called Nigeria, a country built and sustained by corruption, blood shedding, malicious damages and total contempt for humanity. That the entire proposed Yorubaland Nation lies almost completely within the trough encompassed by the River Niger, to the North and East, River Volta to the West and the long stretch of the Atlantic Ocean to the South. This geographic space more or less roughly describes the totality of the area occupied by Yoruba people over the extent of our known history.

This includes stretches of land from the West at the borders of Togo, through Benin Republic to the Delta end of Warri in the creeks of the Niger delta (between Longitude 230E and 630E).The upward sweep commences from the Atlantic ocean coastline up to the immediate westerly bend of the Niger river, (below the confluence) (between Latitude 6N and 9N). That we assert our right to self-determination as espoused in Article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which recognizes Indigenous peoples right to self-determination, which includes the right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

Article 4 affirms Indigenous peoples right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs,, and Article 5 protects their right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions.. Article 26 states that Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired, and it directs states to give legal recognition to these territories.

We in YOLICOM totally agree with the desire and demand of the Igbo to vacate Nigeria. It is within their inalienable rights to so demand. We shall do all within our powers to assist and encourage the Igbo to achieve this.

In the same vein, we agree that the Arewa groups are within their rights to demand that all Igbo should vacate their territories within the time frame given. As the deadline approaches, we see the threat being actualized. We also see the quit notice is also directed against the Yoruba people. There are about 6.5 million Yoruba in the 17 Northern States minus Kwara and Kogi states.

We only urge the international community to recognise that this expulsion order, however, has automatically grouped every other southerner, or non-Muslim northerner, together in the order, because there is no verifiable way to differentiate between the Igbo and the Yoruba, between the Igbo and the Ibibio, Efik, Urhobo, Itshekiri, Ijaw or the Northern Yoruba of Kwara and Kogi. The Igbo do not carry a mark on their heads identifying them as such. Therefore this is an expulsion order to all Southerners and people of the Middle Belt by the core north of North West and North East. By this order, the North has automatically asked its people resident in the south to vacate the south of Nigeria and go back home to the North.

Southerners, and especially Yoruba people resident in any part of the North are advised and encouraged to come back home, to Yorubaland where they are guaranteed one hundred percent protection of their lives, limbs and properties. It is important you do not fall victim to the wholesale slaughters, massacres and all the horrendously horrible things the Hausa-Fulani are known for if we are to judge by past experience. In the confines of Yorubaland, they dare not try any of these crimes because they know we have the antidote to their madness. We hereby repudiate, repeal and destroy the amalgamation proclamation of 1914, bringing the peoples of Nigeria together by fiat has come.

We hereby assert the right of the Yoruba people to self-determination. This desire will be pursued using all local and international instruments until the Sovereign Nation of Oduduwa Republic is realized within the shortest time possible.

We urge Yoruba people from all over the world to prepare for this battle which will be waged with all the power and energy within our disposal. This is the only way out of the political and economic quagmire we find ourselves as the Yoruba Nation.

We call on the United Nations, (UN) to immediately put the machinery in motion for the immediate dissolution of Nigeria. Set the captives free. If Nigeria fails to heed this advice to dissolve the unholy and cruel union, the perpetrators and beneficiaries of the parasitic nation will have themselves to blame.

Meanwhile, governors from the northern region of Nigeria have cautioned pro-Biafra activists and those calling for restructuring to refrain from conducts that could risk the unity of Nigeria.

The governors gave the caution on Thursday, July 27, at a joint meeting of the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) and traditional rulers at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna state, Guardian reports.

Shettima, who was represented by the governor of Katsina state, Aminu Masari, at the two-day meeting which began on Thursday, July 27, said the hate speeches being propagated by groups such as IPOB and MASSOB are inimical to the unity of Nigeria.

In the video below, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said Nigerians are greater together than apart

Source: Legit.ng
- The FG has been given 10 day ultimatum to arrest Nnamdi Kanu

- Arewa Youth Assembly says failure of the FG to order his arrest will result in mass protest

- The group also insisted that the IPOB leader has flouted his bail conditions

The federal government has been called upon to arrest Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB or face mass protest by the Arewa Youth Assembly, AYA, a group from the northern part of the country.

According to the group, the IPOB leader has violated his bail conditions and such acts is capable of distabilising the country, Premium Times reports.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: Owerri stands still as millions of pro-Biafra supporters reportedly troop out to welcome Nnamdi Kanu (video)

Legit.ng had reported that Kanu is standing trial over treasonable offences but was granted bail by a Federal High Court in Abuja on April 28 under stringent bail conditions.

In a statement signed on Friday by its speaker and made available to Premium Times, Mohammed Salihu and clerk, Desmond Minakaro, AYA gave the acting president Yemi Osinbajo 10 days to order the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu.

The group also threatened to shut down federal government activities in the Federal Capital Territory if Osinbajo fails to meet its demands.

The leadership of Arewa Youth Assembly has observed with keen interest the high level of lawlessness in the country and the silence of government on issues that are capable of disintegrating the country.

The level of insecurity and youth agitations call for concern by all well-meaning Nigerians. These threats have turned our country into a place of uncertainty and now a laughing stock within the international communities. Nigerians now live in a state of fear and trauma, the group noted.

The most surprising and amazing of these is that the federal government is watching while Nnamdi Kanu is creating a state within a state, threatening to stop Anambra state gubernatorial election, holding rallies in South-South and South-East and using provocative and inciting words, granting interviews to the press, which pose a threat to national unity and security. the statement added.

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The new group however is different from Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, which issued an ultimatum to all Igbos living in the northern part of the country to vacate the region on or before October 1.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reports that following Nnamdi Kanu's visit to Imo state on Friday, July 28, some youths of the state have thrown their support behind the state and federal government.

The youths said they are in support of the state governor, Rochas Okorocha and President Muhammadu Buhari and would not support the agitation for secession.

Coordinators of the various youth bodies, Azunnaya Andrew, Emeka Igwe, GTC Samuel and Jeff Nwoha, who spoke at a press conference, said they condemned the pro-Biafra rally in the state.

Watch video of Nnamdi Kanu addressing followers in Isiama Afara, Abia state:

Source: Legit.ng
- Fatai Owoseni, the Lagos state commissioner of police said 20 kidnappers were killed while rescuing six abducted students of Igbonla-Epe Model College, Lagos state

- Owoseni however regretted that one civilian volunteer died during the rescue operation

- He further said that eight policemen and four other civilian volunteers also sustained injuries

The Lagos state police command has disclosed that 20 kidnappers were killed while making attempts to rescue the six abducted students of Igbonla-Epe Model College, Lagos state.

Fatai Owoseni, the state commissioner of police, on Friday, July, 28, made this known to journalists in the state, The Cable reports.

Legit.ng recalls that the boys were released on Friday, July 28, 64 days after they were kidnapped in their school premises on Sunday, May 28.

READ ALSO: Pictures of Nigerian civil war - From starving children to execution of Nigerian soldiers

Owoseni however regretted that one civilian volunteer died during the rescue operation and eight policemen and four other civilian volunteers sustained injuries.

He said: We have responsible security agencies that dont want to sacrifice the lives of those children. Our objective was to do everything possible to get these children alive, unhurt and thats exactly what has happened.

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The commissioner commended the south-west governors for demonstrating a clear commitment to combat crime in the region.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the six students of Igbonla Model College in Epe who were abducted had been released. The students were in the custody of their abductors for two months.

Watch this Legit.ng TV Video of Igbodu/Isiwo farmers and community members from Epe area of Lagos protesting the kidnap of some of their farmers by unknown gunmen:

Source: Legit.ng
- Alhaji Yusuf Garba Ali, the former national chairman of the then All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), has cautioned Nnamdi Kanu to stop blowing hot air because of recognition

- Alhaji Ali said it is unbelievable that Kanu is still talking of Biafra even though many leaders from the Southeast said what they need is restructuring and not secession

Alhaji Yusuf Garba Ali, former national chairman of the then All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), has cautioned Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to stop blowing hot air because hejust want to be recognized.

According to Ali, the Igbos dont want to secede from Nigeria for any reason, Vanguard reports.

Garba Ali said: I think even the people in the south east are no longer saying that they want to secede.

READ ALSO: Pictures of Nigerian civil war - From starving children to execution of Nigerian soldiers

The Arewa youths also reacted based on what they thought was the decision of majority of the people of the south east.

Kanu is still talking of Biafra but leaders from the region have told him that what they need is restructuring and not secession. The question of secession simply does not arise.

''Despite the Boko Haram crisis in the north east, there are still Igbos living there.

There is no part of this country you go to that you do not find another tribe settling there. How do you want to break up the country?

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I do not believe that Nigeria is going to break. What we have is people blowing hot air. Some are using it for their economic interest. They want recognition. There are lots of people blowing hot air just because they want to be recognized.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that large numbers of pro-Biafra supporters trooped-out to welcome leader the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, in the Imo state capital, Owerri.

According to a post on Facebook by Somto Okonkwo, the supporters who were reportedly in their millions, came out to welcome the IPOB leader during his visit to Owerri on Friday, July 28.

In the video below, Legit.ng TV takes a critical look at Nnamdi Kanu and the struggle for the actualisation of the Republic of Biafra:

Source: Legit.ng
- Ovation Magazine Publisher, Dele Momodu has accused Ayodele Fayose, the Ekiti state governor for mocking Buhari over his ill health

- Momodu said it is sad that several times, Fayose has declared Buhari dead or incapacitated

- He however said there is no doubt that the president is presently enjoying better health than he has been in the recent past

Ovation Magazine Publisher, Dele Momodu, has slammed Ayodele Fayose, the Ekiti state governor for ridiculing President Muhammadu Buhari because of the current condition of his health.

According to Momodu, in his weekly column Pendulum Fayoses attitude towards Buhari and his health status was terrible, Daily post reports.

Legit.ng gathered that he said the President Buhari is presently enjoying better health than what has been the case in the recent past.

READ ALSO: Pictures of Nigerian civil war - From starving children to execution of Nigerian soldiers

Momodu said: The Governor of Ekiti state has never hidden his pathological disdain for Buhari.

He attacks him with devastating blows and pugilistic upper cuts at every opportunity.

Several times, Fayose has declared Buhari dead or incapacitated only to get egged on his face as the President rises like the proverbial Lazarus.

He never gets tired of quoting impeccable sources and swearing and threatening to release damaging proof of his false doomsday prophesies. So far, so good, hes been dead wrong at every turn!

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Even if not entirely hale and hearty, Buhari continues to stand ramrod on his feet, albeit looking feeble and weak.

There is no doubt that the President is presently enjoying better health than has been the case in the recent past.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose, alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari had been on life-support since June 6, at a West-End, London Hospital.

The governor in a statement by Lere Olayinka, his the special assistant, claimed that facts available to him shows that the president who not only has voice impairment, could not have spoken in Hausa to Nigerians on Ramadan day as claimed by the presidency.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video asking Nigerians who they would vote for in 2019 - Buhari or Fayose:

Source: Legit.ng
Former Niger Delta militant leader, Mujaheed Asari Dokubo, has joined the talks about the alleged fraud charge leveled against Nigeria's former minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Dokubo, in a video posted on Facebook, called President Buhari and his ministers liars. He said cabinet members as liars. He also lambasted Davido and Donjazzy for condemning the former minister without first asking what exactly happened.

He said:

Asari Dokubo attacks Buhari, Donjazzy and Davido (photo source: PunchNg)

Nigeria is now a country of liars, ruled by liars, and managed by liars. How can somebody just wake-up and claim Diezani embezzled $90 billion? Multiple that amount of dollars with the value of one dollar to the Naira and tell me what the sum is.

READ ALSO: Nollywood actor Aremu Afolayan blows hot, rains curse on Diezani (photos, video)

"How much is the Nigerian budget? If Diezani actually embezzled such an amount of money and has returned the loot, why is the federal government still trying to borrow money for infrastructure development?

"Buhari can lie. He lies like a fish. All the people around him are liars. How much did Buhari loot from the NNPC during his time as Petroleum Minister? N2.8 billion.How much did he loot from PTF during his time as Chairman of the fund? Okadigbo panel said he embezzled N25billion.

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Those without character are accusing others of lacking character. If Diezani really stole what she is accused of stealing, let them prove it against her. Then that that calls himself Don Jazzy will open his mouth Davido, children will open their mouth. Davido has not talked about his uncle Isiaka Adeleke; Bola Tinubu; Fashola; even Awolowo.From where did Awolowo make his fortune?

See the video below:

Source: Legit.ng
- IPOB leader Nnadi Kanu speaks on his call for a boycott of the governorship election in Anambra state

- He insists that there will be no election in Aambra state if the federal government refuses to hold a referendum

- Kanu also says he controls 100% of Anambra state people

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has said that he controls the people of Anambra state 100%.

The IPOB leader speaking to The Punch in an interview, on his call for a boycott of the November 18, governorship election in the state said that there will be no election if the federal government refuses to hold a referendum.

READ ALSO: Air Force deploys helicopter, personnel to keep peace in Kafanchan (photos)

Kanu also said party members who are supposed to vote during the elections are IPOB members. He said: "I can assure you that they will listen to us and they will not vote."

Read excerpts of the interview below:

What is your position on the November 18 governorship election in Anambra State?

There will not be any election in Anambra on the 18th of November, 2017, and there wont be any going forward until they give me a date for a referendum. They know what to do, it is very simple. They should convene a meeting, I attend or I send my representative and they give us a date. That is very simple. That is the only way we can have elections.

Are you not bothered that Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other Igbo leaders have distanced themselves from your call for election boycott?

No, Im not because the people are with us. We control the people 100 per cent. And come to Anambra on the 18th of November, 2017, the whole world will be amazed.

What will IPOB do to people who decide to come out to vote in Anambra on November 18? What will happen if party members decide to come out to vote for their candidates?

Those party members are IPOB members as well and I can assure you that they will listen to us and they will not vote.

But if people come out to vote, what will IPOB do?

Nothing, we are entirely peaceful. We are not stopping anyone from voting. If you want to vote, you can go and vote. We are democrats.

In an earlier report by Legit.ng, Alhaji Yusuf Garba Ali, former national chairman of the then All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), has cautioned Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to stop blowing hot air because hejust want to be recognized.

According to Ali, the Igbos dont want to secede from Nigeria for any reason.

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Garba Ali said: I think even the people in the south east are no longer saying that they want to secede.

In the video below, Legit.ng TV takes a critical look at Nnamdi Kanu and the struggle for the actualisation of the Republic of Biafra:

Source: Legit.ng
- Former aviation minister emi Fani-Kayode criticizes the Arewa Youths for calling for Nnamdi Kanu's arrest

- The former minister said any attempt to arrest IPOB leader will have consequences

- Fani Kayode described Kanu as a hero whose call for Igbo independence is legitimate

Former minister of aviation Femi Fani Kayode on Saturday, July 29, said that Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), leader Nnamdi Kanu is a hero and his call for independence for the Igbo is legitimate and lawful.

The former minister in a series of tweets monitored by Legit.ng spoke about the IPOB leader adding that any attempt to arrest him will have consequences.

Fani-Kayode also berated the Arewa Youths for calling for the arrest of IPOB leader.

READ ALSO: Asari Dokubo attacks Buhari, Don Jazzy and Davido

He said: "The Arewa Youths that demanded that the Igbo must leave the north by October 1st and that have now given the Federal Government an ultimatum to arrest Nnandi Kanu in the next 10 days are stoking a fire that may end up consuming Nigeria.

They must be gagged, put in chains and spanked hard!

Nnamdi Kanu is a hero and his call for independence for the Igbo is legitimate and lawful.Any attempt to arrest him will have consequences."

According to an earlier report by Legit.ng, Fani Kayode said those agitating for restructuring may need to take it by force because Nigeria will never be restructured through constitutional means or the National Assembly.

The former minister made the statement in a Facebook post on Thursday July 27 when speaking on the backdrop of the Senate vote to reject a proposal to amend the 1999 Constitution to devolve more powers to the states.

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Fani-Kayode said the northern region which exercises control of the National Assembly will always block any move to restructure the country.

Watch the Nigerian youths protest that made the National Assembly pass the 'Not Too Young To Run' bill on Legit.ng TV below:

Source: Legit.ng
Nigerian comedian, Obinna Simon, popularly known as MC Tagwaye who is known for mimicking President Muhammadu Buhari might have just won the heart of many Nigerians.

MC Tagwaye who is sometimes considered by many as Buharis doppelganger recently visited the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Katsina state where he presented them with food items and money. He was accompanied by his twin brother.

READ ALSO: Seyi Law throws shade at Hushpuppi, receives epic response (photos)

He took to his Facebook page to share photos from his visit after which he was showered with praises by his friends and followers on the platform.

MC Tagwaye visits IDP camp in Katsina: Photo credit: Facebook/ MC Tagwaye

He captioned his post, "giving back to the society... I felt, it's not when you have millions or billions in your bank account before you think of giving back to the society, from the little I have, I want to give back to the society.... today in Katsina we feed 50 IDPs homes out of 150 in Katsina capital city, and a total of 850 in Katsina State, you can assist them, no effort is a waste. These are people that were affected by what happened in Maiduguri, Borno state, it's just a little, but as God provides I will do more."

Check out more photos from his visit below:

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MC Tagwaye visits IDP camp in Katsina: Photo credit: Facebook/ MC Tagwaye

MC Tagwaye visits IDP camp in Katsina: Photo credit: Facebook/ MC Tagwaye

MC Tagwaye visits IDP camp in Katsina: Photo credit: Facebook/ MC Tagwaye

How thoughtful of MC Tagwaye!

Watch the Legit.ng TV video below to see what went down during the battle of the richest between Hushpuppi and Davido:

Source: Legit.ng
- There have been allegations that Fulani herdsmen have defied rules and orders concerning open grazing in Nigeria

- Some states of the federation like Benue and Taraba now have laws against open grazing

In Abuja, Nigerias capital city, Fulani herdsmen have allegedly continued with open grazing of cattle despite calls against it by the government and citizens of the country.

Legit.ng reports that many states in the country have come against open grazing in the form of laws.

Some of these states include Benue and Taraba. In Edo, the state Assembly is still battling with a law to stop open grazing.

READ ALSO: Just in: Assassins kill Ogun traditional ruler, set body ablaze

It was learnt that the need to discourage open grazing followed the alleged atrocities committed by herdsmen in many states. In some cases, the herdsmen are alleged to have defiled women, kill residents and farmers and even raze down communities.

Photographs of a herd of cattle in roaming Durumi-Abuja, were released on social media by George Onmonya Daniel.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported earlier that the Fulanis in Southern Kaduna said 54 of their members from various hamlets were killed in the recent attacks in some communities in Kajuru Local Government Area.

It was reported that the herdsmen also said 15 others are still unaccounted for.

This was allegedly revealed by the Assistant National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Ibrahim Abdullahi, at a press conference in Kaduna on Saturday July 22.

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The Kaduna state Commissioner of Police, Agyelo Abeh, had on Wednesday July 19, explained how the violence started.

Durumi-Abuja, Nigeria. Cow, cow, everywhere, he said.

Watch this video and see the devastation allegedly caused by herdsmen:

Source: Legit.ng
- Governor Ambode hails Osinbajo, Security Agencies, following the release of six kidnapped students of Igbonla Model College

- Governor Akeredolu says Ambode worked tirelessly to ensure the safe return of the school students

- Lagos CP Owoseni says 20 Kidnappers died during crossfire with security forces

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos state on Friday, July 28, hailed the successful rescue of the six kidnapped students of Igbonla Model College, Epe.

This comes even as the governor assured that the government would utilise the academic break to reinforce security in all schools in the state, especially in the suburb and riverine areas to prevent a reoccurrence.

Speaking through the Lagos states deputy governor, Dr. Mrs. Oluranti Adebule, Ambode said he remained totally committed to ensuring the security of all residents especially students and would spare nothing to ensure that schools remain safe from all forms of crime and criminality.

He said: The issue of security is a social contract that we have signed with the people of Lagos and we would ensure that we do not disappoint. As far as our schools are concerned, we are going back to the drawing board to secure our schools before the next academic session."

READ ALSO: 6 abducted Lagos school boys reunite with parents (photo)

The governor also commended the collaborative efforts by security agencies from Lagos and Ondo states as he specially thanked the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for his interventions towards ensuring the safe rescue of the students.

While presenting the rescued students to the media, Ambode said the six students would be debriefed and taken through comprehensive medical tests so as to ensure that they recover from the trauma they might have passed through while in the custody of their abductors.

Also speaking, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu who played a key role in the rescue of the students, commended Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and Governor Ambode for working tirelessly on the matter.

He said that the duo demonstrated uncommon interest in the whole process leading to the safe return of the students.

According to Akeredolu, he never believed the kidnappers could be hibernating in Ondo creeks until he was told about a month ago during the National Economic Council (NEC) Meeting in Abuja by Osinbajo, and later Governor Ambode, while he immediately deployed his deputy, Mr Alfred Agboola who is from the riverine areas in Ondo, to take up the matter.

He said Agboola immediately swung into action and worked with the Delta state deputy governor as well as security agencies to ensure safe return of the students.

Akeredolu said: I must commend Governor Ambode for his commitment to the rescue of the students. At the meeting of Western Nigeria Governors forum held in Abeokuta on Monday, we discussed the issue of the students and Governor Ambode mentioned the issue of joint security patrol in our riverine areas.

He (Governor Ambode) was very committed to it and he expressed readiness to support with the needed resources. Throughout the days the students were in captivity, the Lagos State Governor never kept his eyes off the ball and he kept working on it until today that we have the students back.

On his part, the Lagos state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni said 20 of the kidnappers died during gun duel with security forces, while eight policemen and four civilian volunteers sustained injuries.

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However, he disclosed that one civilian volunteer unfortunately died in the process of rescuing the students.

Owoseni also said that a suspect, who attempted to capitalize on the situation to swindle the parents of the students by asking that they should bring ransom to Abeokuta, was arrested and is currently in police custody.

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the school boys were released on Friday, July 28, 65 days after the students were captured from their school by armed abductors on Sunday, May 28.

The freed boys are Peter Jonah, Isiaka Rahmon, Adebayo George, Judah Agbausi, Pelumi Philips and Farouq Yusuf.

Watch this Legit.ng TV Video of Igbodu/Isiwo farmers and community members from Epe area of Lagos protesting the kidnap of some of their farmers by unknown gunmen

Source: Legit.ng
- The court case instituted by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, against Omoyele Sowore is still on

- Sowore is the publisher of online newspaper, Sahara Reporters

- The court has freezed the bank accounts of the online medium

An Ilorin High Court, presided over by Justice Adeyinka Oyinloye, has reportedly freezed the bank accounts of online newspaper, Sahara Reporters.

Documents seen by Legit.ng showed the court gave the order on Tuesday, July 25.

The court documents seen by Legit.ng

The Senate President had, through his lawyer, Babatunde Olomu, asked for the intervention of the court following over a series of libelous stories published against Saraki on Sahara Reporters in between September and December 2015.

Both Sowore and Sahara Reporters were joined as defendants in the suit marked as KWS/23/2017.

More details from the court papers seen by Legit.ng

Legit.ng gathered that the court's decision has sent the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore into panic mode.

The publisher have reportedly not been able to access their bank accounts since the court's decision.

More details of the court order seen by Legit.ng

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On Wednesday, June 28, the court had ruled that Sowore pay a sum of N4 billion as damage to Saraki for the alleged libelous publications.

The Senate President had also vowed that he will not spare any legal efforts and expenses, both in Nigeria and abroad, necessary to recover every kobo of the cost awarded in his favour from Sowore.

The money will also be used to support genuine publications whose owners are struggling to pay salaries of workers or meet their ever rising running cost. Part of the money will also be channelled to help lawyers who have been providing pro bono services to litigants, particularly, on cases bothering on enforcement of fundamental human rights, a statement by the Senate President said.

In the video below, Legit.ng TV asked some Nigerians if they still think Nigeria is the giant of Africa. Watch responses.

Source: Legit.ng
- Nnamdi Kanu claimed Rochas Okorocha, the Imo state governor, will leave in 2019 and go back to Jos where he came from

- Kanu disclosed that he is not afraid because he is a child of God and anybody who wants to go and tell Okorocha should go ahead

Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on Friday, July 28, said that the secessionist group will order Rochas Okorocha, the Imo state governor to leave the state for Jos in 2019.

Kanu made this known in Owerri when was welcome by hundreds of thousands of his supporters, Punch reports.

Legit.ng gathered that he also said that Biafra Republic was the only solution not restructuring will solve the problems of the country.

READ ALSO: How man was allegedly brutalized for confronting Nigerian governor who delayed their flight

According to Kanu We are in the land of Biafra. I have come to Owerri to spread the good news of the coming of Biafra Republic. I dont want you people to be deceived. Restructuring does not have any meaning and I want you people to go and tell Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

There is no freedom in Nigeria. All their children are abroad studying and enjoying good environment.

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Only referendum can solve the problems of Nigeria. Power devolution is not the solution. Resource control is not our problem. What we need is Biafra. They are going about deceiving our people in the name of restructuring.

I want to say it again. There will be no election in Anambra and there will be no election in 2019, in Igboland. And there will be no election in Imo state.

Go and tell Rochas Okorocha that I am a child of God. I want you people to tell him that he will leave Government House in 2019 and go back to Jos where he came from. Let him get ready.''

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Alhaji Yusuf Garba Ali, former national chairman of the then All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), has cautioned Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to stop blowing hot air because he All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), has cautioned Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to stop blowing hot air because he just want to be recognized.

According to Ali, the Igbos dont want to secede from Nigeria for any reason.

In the video below, Legit.ng TV takes a critical look at Nnamdi Kanu and the struggle for the actualisation of the Republic of Biafra:

Source: Legit.ng
A Nigerian man who is blessed with three kids has shared a powerful testimony of how he was told that his wife would never be able to conceive.

Legit.ng came across the man of the man identified as Ifeanyi Okeke on Kemifilani's blog. He revealed in his long note that rather than worry over his wife's medical condition, he believed in God that something positive will eventually happen and it did.

READ ALSO: Nigerian couple welcomes beautiful baby girl 10 years after marriage (photos)

Read his story below:

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR BECAUSE GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS - What was my Prayer Point: God please takeaway these wealth and give me children, even a child give me whether male or female. Dated March 2008.

Ifeanyi Okeke and his family: Photo credit: Kemi Filani

In March 2008 I had been married to my wife (my Blessing) for eight years without a child. Eight years is not eight days or eight weeks or eight months. I mean eight years, enough to graduate and bag a PhD and be called a Professor.

I was blessed with a flourishing banking career. About the most popular banker in town already an Assistant General Manager (in-waiting). Nothing was more frustrating to me as going home to my wife with the news of a new promotion, a new car for her or a new house I intend building because of the response which will give me: what is all these worth without a child together.

It was in this frustration that I went into my room on that fateful but equally blessed day, went Unclad, knelt down, raised my hands up to heaven and made the radical prayer request.

To put things in perspective, in October 1999 we were both serving (NYSC) (having been dating since 1997) when I proposed to her. March 2000 just one month out of NYSC we got married (paid her bride price). Yes we got married, TW and Church wedding were ceremonies that followed later. I got a job April 2000. On June 26, 2000 we got into a night bus together at Ido park, Lagos on a journey to Kano as I had completed three months training and was posted to Kano Main branch of the elsewhere Universal Trust Bank (UTB) as a Credit and Marketing Staff. We arrived Kano early morning June 27 2000 and moved into a one room she lived in as a CORPER which shared toilet, bathroom and kitchen with with another CORPER (Helen MO, tagged)

It was about October in 2004 that a renowned Consultant Gynecologist and Head of Gynecology & Obstetrician Department of Teaching Hospital in Nigeria after a laparoscopy procedure on my wife, had given his verdict to myself and wife that she will not be able to carry a child. In his opinion, even if she is able to conceive either naturally or assisted, her WOMB could not carry a baby. He further advised that I discuss with my wife to marry another lady if I want to have kids. Story for another day back to my answered prayer.

Yes God granted the two petitions I made in March 2008 but the second one came first "give me even a child". In January 2009 our first child, Angel oluebubechukwu (Miracle work of God) was conceived and was successfully carried to term and delivered September 2009. About the time of her delivery God was already in motion to grant the first "takeaway all my wealth" as the stock market crashed with all I had worked for. At this point I was a Deputy General Manager in a top bank. One year after different circumstance had led me to leave my job. Well I got another the next month at the same level in another top bank. Four months after God decided it will not only be a child but children so my wife conceived again, this time twins, CHIMZARAMEKPERE (My God has answered my prayer) and CHIMDERA (Once my God has written or ordained) carried to term and delivered November 2011. Two months before their delivery God completely answered the first prayer as in a circumstance beyond my control but by mutual consent I left my top banking job.

What would you say: YES GOD granted my prayers offered to him kneeling down Unclad with my hands raised to heaven.

A month after their delivery I couldn't afford to buy pampers. Three/Four months later I couldn't afford to take then to church for dedication. One year after I couldn't buy even a cake to mark their birthday.

Ifeanyi Okeke and his family: Photo credit: Kemi Filani

What did I do: I ran back to God Unclad, knelt down with hands raised up to heaven. I pleaded with God and said: Yes I told you to take away my wealth and give me children or even a child but I didn't ask you to takeaway so much that I cannot afford to feed them. God said: my child I granted your request exactly as you asked. This was in 2012. Well I believe God has a reason for everything under the sun. We went through struggles through for two years. By late 2014 through the special intervention of the Mother of Perpetual Help (Blessed Mary, Mother of God) God looked back with a smile and started the restoration process. It's been three years of God's divine restoration project in our lives.

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Yesterday when I took these shots of my kids the entire memory came back so I decided to share with you. These kids I will not exchange for all the wealth in the whole world.

Friends, please bless God with my family. But beware what you ask from God because he answers prayers.

When you are down and out inside the gutter, run to the Mother of Perpetual Help (The Blessed Mary) to intercede for you. She NEVER fails to get result from her son who NEVER says no to her Mother.

Watch Legit.ng video below:

Source: Legit.ng
- The committee that was to handle the congress of the APC Rivers state was accused of manipulating the result

- Supporters of Senator Magnus Abe shut the venue of the event

A convention supposedly being planned in Rivers state by the All Progressives Congress became chaotic following what witnesses say is a rift between Rotimi Amaechi and Magnus Abe.

Amaechi, a former governor of the state and current minister of transport, is reported to be having a political battle with Magnus Abe, a former senator and ally.

At the time of this report, hundreds of supporters loyal to Abe blocked members of the partys national convention committee from exiting Novotel Hotel, where the congress reportedly held.

READ ALSO: Stop blowing hot air because you want to be recognized - Garba Ali cautions Nnamdi Kanu

Vanguard reports that Abes supporters stormed the hotel with complaints that the convention committee had refused to distribute the material meant for the election to the 23 LGAs

The supporters claimed that the results of the election supposed to take place at the convention had been written to favour a faction of the party.

One of the aggrieved members, a lawmaker representing Eleme/Tai/Oyibo federal constituency at the National Assembly, Hon Barinada Mpigi, complained that the delegate lists had been manipulated.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported earlier that the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state has reacted to an allegation by Governor Nyesom Wike that the party played politics during the visit of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

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Osinbajo visited Rivers state on Thursday, July 27, and inaugurated a fertiliser plant built by Indorama Eleme Petrochemical Limited and two other projects by the state government.

But according to Wike, the Rivers APC prevented Osinbajo from inaugurating the remaining projects executed by his administration and even tried to prevent him (Osinbajo) from coming.

Watch this video and hear what an APC member said about the party:

Source: Legit.ng
- Spokesman of Igala Socio-Cultural group, Barry Moses Idakwo, says the inclusion of Kogi state has made nonsense of the ancient Igala nation

- Ex-minister Jerry Agada says Idoma land and Benue state has a whole should be left out of the purported Biafra territory

- Chief Horsfall in Rivers state says that anyone who wants to cede Port Harcourt, Rivers state, is looking for trouble

Some prominent leaders in Kogi, Benue and Rivers state have strongly rejected the plan by leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, to extend his proposed Biafra Republic to their states.

In Kogi, the Igala Socio-Cultural Group, has expressed extreme repugnance over their reported inclusion in Biafra.

Speaking on the issue, a spokesman of the group, Barry Moses Idakwo, noted that the inclusion has made nonsense of the ancient Igala nation, Daily Trust reports.

READ ALSO: Stop blowing hot air because you want to be recognized - Garba Ali cautions Nnamdi Kanu

According to him, Nigeria is a democratic country where citizens should be allowed to live peacefully and secured as prescribed by laws, Daily Trust reports.

Idakwo said: The agitators for Biafra have marginalisation as the main plan for their grievances. It is therefore unthinkable to annex the Igala kingdom without consulting us.

In Benue state, a former minister of state for education, Professor Jerry Agada, said Idoma land should be left out of the purported Biafra territory.

He warned Nnamdi Kanu and other agitators of Biafra to stop the inclusion of Idoma people in particular and Benue state as a whole in their map.

Agada said that Idoma people had never been connected with Biafra, not even Orokam where he hails from, which shares border with Enugu state.

He said: Idoma nation can never be part of Biafra. In as much as the Igbos have their fundamental human right to agitate, they should be reasonable so as not to coax people that do not have a link with their ideology or believe in their quest for power.

Meanwhile, in Rivers state, a former director-general of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), Chief Albert Korubo Horsfall, said Port Harcourt would never be part of Biafra.

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Gowon declared no victor, no vanquished verdict and that concept is still there. We are living happily with everybody. Port Harcourt is the capital of Rivers state. From time-to-time the issue of Port Harcourt has been an object of agitation. Port Harcourt was one of the issues the so-called Biafra demanded and this matter was discussed in Kampala. I dont know why people are worried about Biafra and want to resurrect and create tension which is totally unnecessary, he said.

According to him, everybody has a right to agitate, but to agitate on somebody elses territory is wrong.

Horsfall added that if anybody wants to cede Port Harcourt, the person is looking for trouble.

Legit.ng had earlier reported a retired police chief from Benue state, Abubakar Tsav, saying that Nnamdi Kanus plan to extend the Biafra agitation beyond the south-east shows that the IPOB leader must have mental disorder.

This comes even as a traditional ruler in Benue state, King Shuluwa, described Kanu as a man with little intelligence for trying to extend Biafra Republic to Benue, while the president of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Eric Omare, asks the IPOB leader to restrict his Biafra agitation to states of the south-east.

In the video below Legit.ng TV takes a critical look at Nnamdi Kanu and the struggle for the actualisation of the Republic of Biafra.

Source: Legit.ng
- The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said it had been successful in its fight against Boko Haram terrorists

- NAF also gave reasons for increasing its number of officers to the north-east

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has announced the introduction of additional measures to increase its operational capability in the ongoing battle against terrorists in the north-east.

The NAF revealed in a statement obtained by Legit.ng that the measures include the deployment of additional special forces and personnel of the Regiment Specialty to fight alongside the Nigerian Army troops and others already on ground.

In addition, the NAF has deployed thermal imaging cameras aimed at adding more value to the current efforts at detecting and checkmating the activities of suic*de bombers before they carry out their suic*de missions.

Some of the NAF officers deployed to the north-east. Credit: Nigerian Air Force

This follows the spate of suic*de bombings that have been recently recorded in Maiduguri.

READ ALSO: How man was allegedly brutalized for confronting Nigerian governor who delayed their flight

The thermal imaging camera uses infrared and reads temperature differences up to an appreciable distance away and can identify a person at an acceptable distance.

The cameras, which are mounted on NAF aircraft, can also penetrate obscurants such as smoke, fog and haze, the statement by Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, director of NAF public relations and information, said.

The NAF said its war against Boko Haram had yielded positive results.

Some of the officers as they arrived Borno. Credit: Nigerian Air Force

The focus has largely been the conduct of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions as well as interdiction missions on identified BHT targets.

This is in addition to range of other air operations and humanitarian intervention schemes aimed at winning the heart and minds of the populace in the conflict areas.

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The NAF remains appreciative of the support it is enjoying from Nigerians in its efforts at putting an end to the madness in the North East Geopolitical Zone of our country, NAF said.

Legit.ng reported earlier that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has deployed an armed helicopter with force protection elements and other logistics support to Kafanchan as part of efforts to ensure lasting peace in Southern Kaduna.

It was gathered that the deployment, which is at the instance of the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, would complement the efforts of the surface forces already on ground to keep peace in the area.

Watch how NAF celebrated the promotion of some of its officers recently:

Source: Legit.ng
At least, eight persons were killed while 14 others sustained serious injury in a latest bomb attack by Boko Haram insurgetnts which happened at an Internally Displaced Persons camp.

Legit.ng learnt that the attack happened very late on Friday, July 28 in the camp located in Dikwa Local Government Area of Borno and was reportedly carried out by two female suic*de bombers.

The News Agency of Nigeria confirmed that the chairman of the council, Alhaji Rawa Modu, confirmed the incident in Maiduguri on Saturday, July 29.

READ ALSO: Pictures of Nigerian civil war - From starving children to execution of Nigerian soldiers

Modu said he visited some of the victims adding that the bombers infiltrated the camp and detonated explosives.

Two female suic*de bombers attacked the 24 Housing estate at about 9: 30 pm on Friday.

Seven persons died on the spot and one other died in the hospital, while 14 other persons were receiving treatment at the Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri," he said.

He said the council had distributed metal detectors to members of the Civilian Joint Task Force to enhance security at the camp.

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At the time of this report, security agents were yet to confirm the incident.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has announced the introduction of additional measures to increase its operational capability in the ongoing battle against terrorists in the north-east.

The NAF revealed in a statement that the measures include the deployment of additional special forces and personnel of the Regiment Specialty to fight alongside the Nigerian Army troops and others already on ground.

Watch this video as Nigerians speak on Buhari's absence and Boko Haram:

Source: Legit.ng
- Ibrahim Magu wonders why corruption is celebrated in Nigeria

- He urges stakeholders in the anti-corruption war not be discouraged with the way corruption cases are handled in Nigeria

- The EFCC acting chairman says corruption is capable of killing Nigeria if the anti-graft agency doesnt fight and kill it now

Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has said that corruption will kill Nigeria if the anti-graft agency doesnt fight and kill it now.

This comes even as the EFCC boss urged stakeholders in the anti-corruption war not be discouraged with the way corruption is celebrated in Nigeria.

Magu made this known while speaking at an event on the need for support to anti-corruption in Nigeria organised by the National Orientation Agency (NOA) on Friday, July 28, in Abuja.

He advocated for grassroots mobilisation and sensitisation of Nigerians, especially among youths, on the dangers of corrupt practices on their future, The Guardian reports.

READ ALSO: You will go back to Jos in 2019 - Nnamdi Kanu tells Rochas Okorocha

Magu said: It is very necessary for us to put our hands together and come out and fight corruption.

We need the inputs of everyone in the fight against corruption. Like Mr. President said, if we dont kill corruption now, corruption will kill Nigeria.

He said the Presidency has no doubt about the ability of the EFCC under his leadership to fight corruption in the country, adding: We have the appropriate political goodwill, and that is the most important thing we need in fighting corruption.

There is no doubt about the commitment of the leadership of this country in fighting corruption.

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He, however, maintained that the fight against corruption would help to guaranty a better fire for Nigeria, noting: We have passed the level of trying to see the cause of corruption; we should find the solution to corruption. We must fight corruption.

I think we should emphasise on fighting corruption. There is no best one strategy of fighting corruption. I can assure that whatever measure you take to fight corruption, the most important thing is to mobilise the people, both inside and outside, in the villages, anywhere you find yourself, sensitise the people, target the youths in particular, because they are more in number, tell them that we are doing this to give them a better life in the next generation.

We have to key in to expose the corrupt practices and in exposing all sorts of corruption, let us fight and kick corruption out. We should not be discouraged, because that is the only thing that can guarantee a better life for the next generation.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that Magu accused banks in the country of creating an enabling atmosphere for looters.

Magu made the statement while expressing his opinion over plans to separate the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) from the parent body.

Watch a Legit.ng TV video below of Nigerians staging a walk in support of the EFCC

Source: Legit.ng
- Police in Abuja has said Evans will be returned to Lagos state to face his prosecution

- The alleged kidnapper may be slammed with no less than a 40-count charge bordering on armed robbery, kidnapping, murder etc

- Two major accomplices of Evans were arrested in the course of police investigation in Abuja

There are strong indications that arrested kidnap kingpin, Chukwudi Onwuamadike a.k.a Evans will soon be transferred from Abuja to Lagos where he is expected to be arraigned in court.

According to Vanguard, police authorities at the Louis Edet House, Force headquarters, Abuja, may have concluded investigations into activities of Evans.

The report added that the police force interrogation with Evans has been was very extensive and intensive as the authority is determined to prepare a water-tight case for prosecution in court.

Speaking to Vanguard, a police source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Evans would be slammed with no less than a 40-count charge bordering on armed robbery, kidnapping, murder etc as all the veritable evidences that will nail him in court have been carefully prepared and documented.

READ ALSO: You will go back to Jos in 2019 - Nnamdi Kanu tells Rochas Okorocha

Although, the source noted that Evans pleaded passionately to be pardoned and granted lesser charges, assuring that he is ready to turn a new leaf, his interrogators have ensured that they were determined to capitalize on his pleas to extract very useful information that will lead to a successful prosecution.

It was also gathered that investigators are in search of all known and unknown members of Evans vicious gang and accomplices before concluding their investigations.

However, it was gathered that two other major accomplices were arrested in the course of their investigation. They include; one Emeka, who allegedly gave information that led to the bloody attack on transport mogul and owner of Young Shall Grow Motors, Chief Obianodo in 2013, and another man popularly called Baba Eko, who allegedly supplied information that led to the kidnap of Evans last victim, Chief Donatus Dunu, early this year.

But so far, investigators have not been able to identify some of his vast properties and wealth both in Nigeria and abroad including tracing the whereabouts of his wife and children but according to the police source, efforts are in top gear in that regard.

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The source added: We are also critically looking into the role played by security agencies including the police, army etc; that enabled Evans operate freely for so long without being arrested and I can assure you that the Inspector-General of Police directed that we should leave no stone unturned in that regard. He specifically directed us to expose everybody, whether police or military, directly or indirectly involved in the criminal escapades of Evans with firm assurance that they all must face the wrath of the law.

Legit.ng had previously reported that Abba Kyari who led the Special Intelligence Response Team (SIRT) of the Lagos state police command that arrested Evans, declared that about ninety percent of information being reeled out about him (Evans) on social media is false.

The senior police officer said that just like most Nigerians; he woke up every morning to hear different false stories on social media pertaining to how they arrested Evans, and what he said.

Evans was reportedly arrested last month inside his palatial mansion in the Magodo by men of the Nigeria Police Force.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video asking if Evans should be jailed or employed by the federal government.

Source: Legit.ng
- The Senate recently rejected giving governors in the country more powers at the ongoing constitutional amendment

- Bukola Saraki, the president of the Senate, said hate speeches and distrusts were two reasons devolution of power was thrown out

Nigerias Senate president, Bukola Saraki, has revealed that the rejection of devolution of powers to states by his colleagues was actually because of the hate speeches that have overtaken the country.

Legit.ng learnt that Saraki stated this in Ilorin, the Kwara state as he speaking with newsmen after receiving a delegation of the #NotTooYoungToRun# group.

He also said there was serious mutual distrust among the citizens of the country.

The Senate president also promised that the issue could be revisited and passed as the amendment to the 1999 constitution continues.

READ ALSO: FG begins 2017 YouWiN programme for young entrepreneurs

According to him, some stakeholders think the proposed amendment in the bill is a smart way of introducing restructuring. As a result, they kicked against it.

As you know, we have three senators representing each state and one from the FCT and they all represent their constituencies and whatever they do there, they must engage with and get feedback from their constituencies.

I believe that if this constitutional amendment had come maybe eight months ago, the devolution of powers bill would have passed easily.

But I think we must be honest with ourselves that presently there is a lot of mistrust in the country at the moment; the air is very polluted and let us be very frank, that blame must go all round; whether it be the politicians, or opinion leaders, socio-cultural group leaders and some others who are running commentaries and even some of you in the media who sometimes write stories that amplify hate speeches and points of view that are inaccurate.

And I think what happened was that a lot of our colleagues misread or misunderstood or were suspicious of what the devolution of powers to states was all about; whether it was the same thing as restructuring in another way or attempt to foist confederation on the country or to prepare the ground for other campaigns now going on in the country.

And they made a lot of appeal that they had not consulted with their constituencies and you can see what is happening; there was a meeting in Kaduna yesterday where it was clear that certain parts of the country wanted more time to understand what restructuring is all about before joining the discussion.

So it is clear that not all Senators were on board. My own advise; we have spoken a lot with the Senators because we cannot bully them or stampede them, because at the end of the day, this country belongs to all of us. You cannot hassle me out of the country.

Neither can I hassle you out. What we must do is dialogue; reassure each other and let people understand that this concept is for the purpose of making a modern Nigeria; that it is not going to in any way undermine any part of the country.

Nothing is foreclosed in this exercise; you dont foreclose passage of bill. We must have a good understanding of how parliament works. It is not foreclosed.

It has been defeated as at today but it does not mean that it would be defeated when it comes tomorrow.

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The gender bill was defeated in the bid to include it in the constitution but what was not reported in the media is that the sponsors got a victory in that they got an undertaking from members that what was defeated would be included in the Gender Opportunity bill.

That was something that would not have happened before.

So the fact that devolution of powers to state lost that day does not mean that after the recess, if a lot of consultations are done again it will not scale through, a statement by Sarakis office quoted him as saying.

Legit.ng earlier reported how the Nigerian Senate voted against giving more powers to states in what can be termed a set back to the agitation for restructuring in the country.

The Senate on Wednesday July 26 rejected the proposal to amend the 1999 Constitution in other to devolve more powers to the states.

Nigerians recently gave their opinions on whether the Senate should be scrapped. Watch the video here:

Source: Legit.ng
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I can probably say that word, but I just wont, the CNN host Don Lemon said on Thursday night, as he tangled with the obscenity-laced quotations that were displayed on screen.

Mr. Lemon was wrestling with a thorny problem that was challenging all news organizations: Just hours earlier, The New Yorker had published an interview with Anthony Scaramucci, President Trumps new communications director, that was a censors nightmare. Lacing his remarks with profanities and vulgar references, Mr. Scaramucci had warned his colleagues he would fire them, threatened to kill leakers in the White House and attacked the presidents chief of staff, Reince Priebus (since departed), and the chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon.

The language is pretty rough here, Mr. Lemon said, as he stumbled and tumbled over Mr. Scaramuccis words. Is this what the president wanted?

Over the course of Thursday night, CNN shifted the way it displayed Mr. Scaramuccis comments. At first it included just an F and a G with asterisks between for one of the offensive words, but later it filled in the blanks until only two letters, C and K, were missing. Mr. Lemon at one point used the word C-block instead of the one Mr. Scaramucci had actually used.
A 73-year-old man was severely burned on Friday after he opened an oatmeal container that had been left at a home in Queens and it exploded, the police said.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, had second- and third-degree burns to 80 percent of his torso and legs and was taken to Nassau University Medical Center, where he was in critical condition, Robert K. Boyce, the chief of detectives, said on Twitter.

The explosive was a victim-actuated device, with the explosion caused by opening the cylindrical package, Chief Boyce said. The blast, which was reported around 4:15 p.m., left behind substantial evidence, he said.

The explosive was in a Quaker Oats container left on the porch of a home on the 100 block of 222nd Street in the Brookville neighborhood of Queens, the police said.
Emergency repair work on the tracks and switches at New Yorks Pennsylvania Station is more than halfway finished, with 12 of the 20 planned repairs completed, according to data from Amtrak in a report published on Friday.

Of the remaining eight repairs, four are in progress. All are scheduled to be completed by Sept. 4.

Since the work began nearly three weeks ago, many people from Long Island, New Jersey and beyond who commute to Penn Station have adopted backup travel plans, using buses, ferries, trains or some combination of the three to get to Manhattan. Transit agencies have only made minor changes to their suggested alternative routes like eliminating buses with low ridership and adding trains at busier stations.

For many, the transit struggle persists once they hop on the subway.

The Long Island Rail Road, which is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has provided commuters with a few different ways into Midtown.
In the city that never sleeps, will it be like moving the New Years Eve ball drop to noon?

After enduring a run of violence, organizers of the Jouvert festival in Brooklyn and New York City officials said on Friday that the annual pre-dawn celebration of Caribbean culture would now be held during daylight hours. The hope, officials said, is that starting the event closer to dawn will make it harder for people to settle disputes under the cover of darkness before slipping into the vast crowds that gather.

The biggest thing for us is sunlight, said Marco A. Carrion, commissioner of Mayor Bill de Blasios Community Affairs Unit. We believe that light is a big deterrent.

Instead of the usual 4 a.m. start time, this years festival, on Sept. 4, will begin at 6 a.m., 26 minutes before sunrise.

Jouvert, which draws its name from a French term for daybreak, and the West Indian American Day Carnival, which follows, together make for one of the citys biggest cultural celebrations. Each year on Labor Day, some 250,000 people gather for Jouvert, according to city officials, and 1.5 million to 2 million people come out for the carnival.
My favorite moment came when Trump dispatched Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to warn Murkowski that if she continued to vote against the bill, her home state of Alaska would lose stuff it wanted from the federal government.

Perhaps we will read about this in The Art of the Deal: Presidential Edition. (If you need to win over one special vote, try to do it with threats. This is particularly effective if your target has more power than you do.) The administration, which so far has barely managed to exercise enough clout to get a building renamed, was trying to strong-arm an influential committee chairwoman whose Senate term does not end until 2023  a date that, many of her colleagues believe fervently, is a lot longer than they are likely to be dealing with Donald Trump.

Murkowski and Collins continued voting no because they believed that Trumpcare would be bad for the people in their states. Other Republican senators felt the same way, but lacked the same nerve.

They were amazing, said Chuck Schumer, the extremely happy Senate Democratic leader.

Both women have had memorable Senate careers, but neither has always been what youd call a profile in courage. Collinss Maine constituents give her a lot of latitude. Murkowski, who was first appointed to her seat by her father the governor, is known for her intense devotion to all forms of oil drilling.

The Alaska Dispatch News speculated that the projects Zinke threatened to ax included future opportunities to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If so, cynical minds noted, he was basically warning Murkowski that if she didnt behave, he might attempt to protect the environment.
Kennedys policy began to fray after his assassination, however. Outreach toward the likes of nonaligned India risked the antagonism of allies like Pakistan. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, exhibited a deeply felt preference for allies, but shared the anti-poverty passions held by many leaders in Africa and Asia. Nonaligned leaders often baffled and frustrated Johnson, but some potential for concord still existed.

Vietnam shattered that possibility. Few Asian or African leaders shared the Communist beliefs of Ho Chi Minh, but most looked to North Vietnam as a fellow anticolonial state, recalling the long Vietnamese struggle against France after the Second World War. North Vietnam had far outpaced its southern rival in its quest for international legitimacy  to the great frustration of the American government. As Johnson Americanized the war in South Vietnam, he faced an uphill struggle to explain the conflict to uncommitted states.

The Vietnam War put the nonaligned states in a bind. North Vietnams close solidarity with the Peoples Republic of China alarmed them. Yugoslavia and India were particularly opposed to Mao Zedong, viewing his revolutionary agenda as a fundamental threat. Neither could they, however, countenance the American bombing of North Vietnam, even as they valued decent relations with Washington.

And so they attempted to coax the combatants toward the negotiating table. In April 1965, shortly after the commencement of the Rolling Thunder bombing campaign, a group of 17 nonaligned states released a cautiously worded appeal, calling for immediate negotiations and an immediate halt to the fighting. India even suggested deploying an Afro-Asian peacekeeping force between the two Vietnams, in advance of negotiations.

To Johnson, these calls represented both a challenge and an opportunity. He was eager to put his Communist foes on the defensive diplomatically, to depict them as aggressive and intransigent. Doing so entailed taking nonaligned appeals and offers to mediate the conflict seriously, even if this meant halting the bombing of North Vietnam. Johnson declared a weeklong bombing pause in the spring of 1965. This was insufficient  either to advance negotiations, or to placate his critics.

Months later, at the end of 1965, Johnson announced a second bombing pause, linking it to his peace offensive. He dispatched special envoys around the world, to nonaligned and Communist capitals, seeking a diplomatic opening that might enable direct negotiations with North Vietnam. Nonaligned states responded promptly, offering to convey messages to Hanoi  or perhaps to act in a mediating capacity. Algeria, which enjoyed deep ties to the ruling party in Vietnam, offered to help. Yugoslavias Tito  who knew far more about the schisms within the Hanoi government than Johnson did  advised playing on those divisions. Nonaligned states could not influence the battlefield, but their own diplomatic networks and revolutionary experiences gave them perspective sorely absent in Washington.
Mr. Kelly is a not a political person like Reince Priebus, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee who has now been shown the door. Having served as commander of the United States Southern Command, which encompasses military operations in South and Central America and the Caribbean, Mr. Kelly possesses far greater managerial experience and far less political baggage than Mr. Priebus, who brought on his own team of party functionaries and infighters, most of whom have also left or been kicked out.

Mr. Kelly, who has experience in Iraq and lost a son in combat in Afghanistan, has the capacity to be the adult in the room. A decorated, retired military officer, he most likely does not see the White House job as a springboard. His biggest challenge will be to mobilize a deeply divided staff to deliver something for Americans who want to see progress rather than pratfalls and bickering from the White House.

The most effective chiefs of staff arent as focused on the principals and the president as they are on management of the broader government, says Max Stier, chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group advocating a more effective federal government, which provided advice to the Trump transition team. Mr. Kelly, accustomed to working within the vast military apparatus, has a more outward-looking, strategic approach than most on Mr. Trumps insular team.

A plain-spoken product of working-class Boston, Mr. Kelly has reportedly asked for full control of White House operations. Where this leaves him with the list of people who now enjoy direct access to the Oval Office  including Anthony Scaramucci, the potty-mouthed new communications director; Dan Scavino, the director of social media; and Steve Bannon, the presidents chief strategist  is unclear. Controlling these claimants to the presidents ear will be vital to Mr. Kellys success.

Mr. Trump has declared war on White House leakers, and he says he wants his chief of staff to stop them. But leaks are a symptom, not a cause, of an operation in which nobody has been charged with setting priorities and maintaining focus. Unfortunately, that pretty much describes every organization Mr. Trump has ever led.
On Wednesday, Anthony Scaramucci, the new director of communications in the White House, phoned Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker to demand the name of an alleged White House leaker. Scaramucci was quoted (and later re-quoted in The Times) saying the following:

Of the now former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus: Reince is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic.

Of the White Houses chief strategist: Im not Steve Bannon, Im not trying to suck my own cock.

Of the Beltway swamp that wants to undermine Donald Trump: Theyre going to have to go fuck themselves.

Of his new colleagues in the administration: Theyll all be fired by me.

In its account of the conversation, The New York Times opted to quote Scaramucci in full. Why not? Were long past pretending that this is not the way the leadership of the country speaks. Every vote cast for Donald Trump was a vote for vulgarity. His supporters got exactly what they paid for.

A more interesting question is how the conservative movement came to embrace it.

Did it happen in the 1990s with the movements embrace of titillated outrage against Bill Clinton?

Did it come with the defeat of John McCain in the 2008 presidential election and the conclusion by rank-and-file conservatives that concepts of honor, service, integrity, independence, compromise and statesmanship  the virtues that just saved the G.O.P. from a political disaster of its own devising in Fridays health care vote  were for suckers?
WASHINGTON  President Trump frequently referred to John F. Kelly as one of my generals, the three senior military leaders he recruited for his team. On Friday, Mr. Trump decided to see whether Mr. Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, could impose a new sense of discipline on an unruly and chaotic West Wing.

Mr. Kelly, who became a star in Mr. Trumps eyes for overseeing immigration policy as secretary of homeland security, will become the presidents second chief of staff. He replaces Reince Priebus, the establishment Republican who never completely meshed with Mr. Trump. Mr. Priebus was ousted after a nasty public feud with Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House communications director.

The square-jawed Mr. Kelly, the first general to hold the chief of staff position since Alexander M. Haig during the Nixon administration, will be an imposing and strait-laced figure in a West Wing filled with constantly warring aides and advisers, most of whom came to Washington with virtually no experience in federal government before Mr. Trumps victory last year.

John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter, calling Mr. Kelly a great American and saying he had been a true star of my Administration.
WASHINGTON  Reince Priebus was ousted Friday as President Trumps chief of staff, after weeks of speculation about his status within the White House. His departure culminated in a very public display of a rivalry with the new White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.

The relationship between Mr. Priebus and Mr. Trump  one a creature of the Republican establishment who rarely speaks in definitives, the other a Manhattan outsider famous for his brash language  goes back much farther than is widely known.

Here is a look at some of the milestones in their shared past to help explain their current status.
BRENTWOOD, N.Y.  Hours after another defeat at the hands of the Republican-held Senate, President Trump launched into a speech about immigrant gang violence on Friday and wound up delivering a de facto campaign rally with a spray of Long Island police officers applauding behind him.

In his second brief appearance in his home state since taking office  this time in a small auditorium at the Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood  Mr. Trump described cities as bloodstained killing fields that were overrun with undocumented immigrants before his inauguration in January. He described the perpetrators of violent crimes as animals and said his administration seeks to dismantle, decimate and eradicate gangs.

He also used his roughly 30-minute speech to bolster the police, urging them to be less nice in arresting immigrant criminal suspects or gang members whom he described as enraptured by slow torture of their victims. The gang La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, has been accused of a string of heinous gang murders on Long Island.

As expected, Mr. Trump called on Congress to fund hiring 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to crack down on undocumented immigrants in the United States, including those he said pose a criminal threat, and added that the initial spending for his proposed wall on the Mexico border was just approved by the House.
Pakistans latest ouster of an elected leader looks, at least on the surface, refreshingly democratic.

Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister, was ordered out by the Supreme Court rather than the military, which had cut short his two previous terms. He was removed over corruption charges that are backed up by substantial evidence. Accountability and checks and balances seemed to carry the day.

But where some see democracys triumph, others see its corruption as just another tool for the powerful to subvert public will and the rule of law.

The court avoided other officials implicated in the scandal, deepening suspicion that its singling out of Mr. Sharif was opportunistic. The vastly powerful military, whether by luck or design, once again stood to benefit as its rival lost power. Normally timid watchdogs acted under enormous pressure from Mr. Sharifs rivals.
WASHINGTON  In most countries where the United States has national security interests, the toppling of a prime minister would prompt hurried meetings in Washington and concern over how the change in government will affect American strategy in the region.

But not so with Pakistan. The resignation of Nawaz Sharif, who was forced to step down as prime minister of Pakistan amid corruption charges, raised eyebrows at the State Department and the Pentagon, but little else. The Pakistani military is largely viewed as the real source of power in Islamabad, and that is not going to change with a new prime minister.

Still, the removal of Mr. Sharif comes as the White House is trying to determine a strategy for Afghanistan that officials say has stalled amid concerns about how to deal with Pakistan, where both the Taliban and the Haqqani network have a sanctuary. The White House has held up a Pentagon request to send additional troops to Afghanistan while officials grapple with how much pressure to put on the Pakistani government to crack down on the groups.

The Pakistani government has failed to take significant action to prevent those groups from threatening American and Afghan forces in neighboring Afghanistan, the State Department said last week in a report on terrorism. And Pentagon officials are withholding $50 million in military reimbursements to Pakistan for the fiscal year that ended in October 2016, signaling displeasure with Islamabads failed efforts against the Haqqani network, a ruthless wing of the Taliban based in Pakistan that has become an integral part of the insurgencys leadership.
The decision was more or less expected, and was greeted with mixed feelings by family members and colleagues.

We will keep working until we get them all back, Elif Gunay, the daughter of one of the released defendants, wrote on the same messaging application.

But a senior columnist, Aydin Engin, who has been running the newspaper since their arrests, said it would be a struggle for the paper to survive. It is very difficult to go on without those key people, he said. For nine months I was trying to take on their responsibilities, but I am 76 and it is very difficult.

Mr. Atalay in his testimony on Monday accused the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of trying to silence the paper or seize control of it. And he challenged the very premise of the trial. One of the main charges is that he and his colleagues had changed the editorial direction of the newspaper, which, he said bluntly, the court had no business to question.

Cumhuriyet, founded 93 years ago, is the oldest daily newspaper in Turkey, and nearly as old as the republic itself. Run by a foundation, it has a strong reputation of independent reporting, and its reporters and columnists have been in prison many times over the years for breaking government or military taboos.

Turkey was notorious for being the worlds leading jailer of journalists in the 1990s, but for a decade that began in 1998 the country and later Mr. Erdogans Justice and Development Party, or AKP, began reforming its ways. By 2008 only one journalist was behind bars.

In July 2008, though, the government accused a shadowy nationalist organization of plotting a coup and began a series of prosecutions that led Turkey once more to authoritarianism and media oppression. That has accelerated since the coup attempt in July 2016.
Daughters of Destiny follows five girls from Indias lowest caste who are hoping to change their fates. And Mad Max: Fury Road might just be even better than watching Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde.

Whats Streaming

DAUGHTERS OF DESTINY: THE STORY OF SHANTI BHAVAN on Netflix. The journey begins with tears, as boys and girls as young as 4 say goodbye to their parents at Shanti Bhavan, a boarding school that provides a free education for children of Dalits: the untouchables in the caste system that still shapes Indian society. Founded in 1997, its part of a social experiment to pull Dalits out of poverty by preparing these children for jobs that can support their extended families. This creates tremendous pressure on the five girls that the filmmaker Vanessa Roth follows across seven years in this four-part series. Daughters succeeds because Ms. Roth got so close to, and spent so much time with, her subjects, who are extraordinarily charismatic and open, Mike Hale wrote in The New York Times. The results are fascinating, even mesmerizing scenes and situations.
Adria Natalia Armbrister and Glaymann Franck Makouangou were married July 28 at the Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. Pastor Melvin Grant, a licensed marriage officer of the Bahamas, officiated.

Dr. Armbrister, 40, is a freelance project manager and gender and development expert based in Mount Vernon, N.Y. She graduated from Columbia, and received a masters degree in international relations and economics from Johns Hopkins. She also received a Ph.D. in sociomedical sciences from Columbia.

She is the daughter of Beryl D. Armbrister of Mount Vernon and the late Samuel C. Armbrister. The brides mother retired as a registered nurse at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. Her father was a clerk at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. He was also a classical pianist.

Mr. Makouangou, 39, is a French teacher at the Peruvian North American Abraham Lincoln School in Lima, Peru. He is also a model and actor who has appeared in television commercials in Lima. He graduated from the Universidad Facultad de Teologia Pontificia y Civil de Lima and received a certificate in French instruction from the Alliance Franccaise, also in Lima.
6. It is called trauma.

You keep going as long as you can, but when you are finally free, when the unrelenting pressures are gone and the body and mind are no longer fighting for day to day survival, the mind can at last begin to integrate the enormity of the violent experiences and complete degradation they have endured.

These women need rest and comfort.

I hope they can, with time, regain some of the trajectory of their lives before all this happened. It may take a long, long time, even under the best of circumstances, even with the love and support of their families.

Godspeed.

 Ellen in New York, reacting to an article about the trauma endured by women and girls in Iraqs Yazidi ethnic minority who were held in captivity by the Islamic State.
President Trumps admonition that the police should not be too nice while transporting suspects drew laughter and cheers from a crowd of officers on Friday, but police officials swiftly made it clear they did not find the words funny.

From New York to Los Angeles, law enforcement authorities criticized the presidents remarks. Experts worried that his words could encourage the inappropriate use of force. A defense lawyer even signaled that he might use video of the speech in court.

The criticism online started shortly after Mr. Trumps comments, which came at an event in Brentwood, N.Y., which was intended to support the police in their fight against La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a gang that has been accused of several murders on Long Island.

After calling for more immigration officers to help arrest the gang members, Mr. Trump told officers, Please dont be too nice.
Is the white working class losing economic ground because of policies intended to improve the lives of black people? Anxiety and resentment among some white voters about those policies certainly seemed to benefit Donald Trumps campaign last year, with its populist, ethno-nationalist message.

The problem with this belief is that it is false. The income gap between black and white working-class Americans, like the gap between black and white Americans at every income level, remains every bit as extreme as it was five decades ago. (This is also true of the income gap between Hispanic and white Americans.)

In 2015  the most recent year for which data are available  black households at the 20th and 40th percentiles of household income earned an average of 55 percent as much as white households at those same percentiles. This is exactly the same figure as in 1967.
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2010 by Karla K. Morton, Honeysuckle, from Accidental Origami: New and Selected Works, (Texas Review Press, 2016). Poem reprinted by permission of Karla K. Morton and the publisher. Introduction copyright  2017 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006
The device slipped over my arm like a blood pressure cuff. Eight domino-size electrodes were pressed against my skin. I heard a series of beeps and felt a small electrical pulse, like a pinprick. Then, before I knew it, my arm was quivering like a bowl of gelatin.

The demonstration took place this year at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The device, a new technology called the SymPulse, was feeding a signal into my arm that simulated the tremors of a patient with Parkinsons disease. My mother had Parkinsons. For years, Id wanted  and struggled  to understand what she was going through. That day I finally got my chance.

When the signal from the device reached full strength, my hand was flapping uncontrollably, like a flag in the breeze. It felt both heavy and somehow separate from my body. I was handed a pen and paper. My attempts at writing came out as chicken scratch, illegible even to me. When the power to the device was finally cut, I felt a relief beyond words.

The SymPulse is at the forefront of an effort called tele-empathy: using technology to improve insight into the patient experience. Movement disorders like Parkinsons are one aspect of this work, but there are others. Engineers are studying the airflow patterns of patients with emphysema to replicate their shortness of breath in others. A virtual-reality program is being developed to misalign sound from video, a technique called dephasing, in ways that mimic the experience of disordered thinking in psychiatric illness. Gadgets are being made to numb the feet to reproduce the symptoms of diabetic nerve disease.
Like other minorities, L.G.B.T. people are seriously underrepresented in our countrys political offices.

But Ive seen a few signs that one consonant in that cluster is especially well positioned to gain ground. Lesbians are on the march.

O.K., that probably overstates things. Lets say theyre on a brisk crawl. But consider: The Victory Fund, which supports L.G.B.T. candidates nationwide in races ranging from school board to governor, recently crunched the numbers on how its 1,162 beneficiaries over the last decade fared, and the results are particularly positive for women.

The results are encouraging overall  and theyre a subtle ray of light following a dark week in terms of the Trump administrations actions. Despite past statements of affinity with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, President Trump hastily announced a ban on transgender people in the military, and in court filings, his Justice Department went out of its way to enunciate the position that gay people are not protected by a federal civil rights law on employment discrimination.
CONDON  With a ballfield for a dance floor, surrounded by pine trees and flanked by the Swan and Mission mountains, a small community gathered recently for an evening celebration with an old-time tradition.

Couples of all ages stood in squares on the field just off a U.S. Forest Service airstrip and listened for instructions from the caller on stage:

Couple One lead out to the right

Circle to the left with all your might,

Put the Bird in the Cage and shut the door.

Bird fly out and the crow hops in,

Crow fly out and everyone swing!

Couples giggled, stepped on each others feet, hollered and exchanged confused looks. Most had only just learned the steps, and they did their best to remember in which direction to swing, and whose turn it was to be the caged crow.

On stage, the Beet Tops, a Missoula-based old-time string band, played lively dance music that accompanied Chelle Karcher, the bands fiddler and caller, as she instructed the dancers. The annual Shintangle event  which also included a barbecue, beer and wine, and a raffle  was put on by Swan Valley Connections, a conservation and education nonprofit in Condon, a community of about 400 people.

Tonight we are here to celebrate the fantastic place where we live, said Maria Mantas, executive director of Swan Valley Connections.

Mantas organization advocates conservation on multiple levels. Its members work with private landowners who need help managing forests on their properties, restoring their wetlands, handling weeds, and monitoring carnivores like bears and mountain lions. Swan Valley Connections also works with the Forest Service to support projects in native fish restoration and trail management in the Swan and Mission ranges.

Our mission is to conserve our intact ecosystem and to connect people with our landscape, Mantas said.

They also offer collegiate semester programs that are accredited through the University of Montana. Students from across the country come to enroll in programs like Wildlife in the West or Landscape and Livelihood, spending most of their time in the field, participating in conservation efforts.

The Shintangle is Swan Valley Connections way of thanking their community supporters and sponsors. In the past, theyve invited bluegrass or country bands, but this is the first year theyve had square dancing, an old dance form that many locals may have learned in grade school, but seldom have the chance to practice nowadays. Square dancing requires specially trained callers who instruct dancers on their movements and teach them the steps as they go. It makes the dances accessible to everyone, experienced or not.

The Beet Tops music style derives from the traditional music of Appalachia, where square dancing was born. As a result, the music is closely linked with the dances. Claire Baer, the Beet Tops fiddle player, grew up in West Virginia, where every spring her community cleaned out a barn and gathered to square dance.

The square dance calling is as old as the music, Baer said. Its a very traditional thing that goes with it, and a lot of the dances are like songs  there are stories weaved into them, and the dances have names.

Square dancing also creates a special connection between the musicians, the caller, and the dancers, said Brian Herbel, who plays guitar for the Beet Tops.

Everyones in it together, it's very inclusive, Herbel said. When everybody  the dancers included  when we all kind of come together and everything clicks, and it really lifts off, its fun to look out and see everyone laughing and smiling.

The calling aspect makes square dancing accessible to people of all ages, socioeconomic levels and dancing abilities, and it removes the need to have had formal dance instruction. While square dancing has its roots in English, Irish and Scottish dance traditions, it evolved into a uniquely American folk dance, according to Phil Jameson, a scholar of traditional dance and professor at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina.

Calling, for example, was not part of the European tradition.

So I became very curious about where it came from, and I started digging to see the earliest reference to a dance caller I could find, Jameson said. It turned out, all the earliest dance callers dated back to the late 1700s and early 1800s, and they were all black musicians.

He realized that back then, European Americans went to dancing schools where they learned the steps for each dance before going to balls and other events. Slaves knew many of the same dances, but it wasnt from lessons. Rather, musicians learned the steps and then came home and instructed others on how to follow along.

Thus, a calling tradition was born. At some point in the mid-19th century, Jameson said, white musicians adopted the practice of calling as well.

The blend of African and European influences is also evident in the instruments used in traditional Appalachian music. The handmade gourd instruments that became the modern banjo originated in West Africa and were introduced to North America through slaves.

The important thing is that people look at this music and these dances as white and European, but there's more to it than that, Jameson said. What makes it truly American and different from the European tradition is the African-American influence.

***

After a few minutes of instruction, Karcher, the caller on stage, asked the crowd if they were ready for the music to begin.

The dancers groaned and insisted they needed more practice. Karcher disagreed.

The great thing about square dancing, she told them, is when you almost get it.

The Beet Tops started playing, and despite initially not feeling ready, the dancers came to life as if theyd known the steps for years. More than 100 people came to the Shintangle, and couples of all ages held hands and danced together.

Sara Halm, 25, first came to Condon from Vermont as a college student to attend the Wildlife in the West education program through Swan Valley Connections. She has since graduated college, and now works as a conservation and education program associate for the organization. The Shintangle marked her first introduction to square dancing.

Its so fun  I mean, I think its great to be put in an environment where everyone feels goofy and not very good at dancing, Halm said. So its an equal playing field for everyone ... its as if we were all learning a foreign language together, like it just all sounds bad. And especially the generation gap is really wonderful, I think.

Halm fell in love with the West when she learned about public lands  something she hadnt heard of growing up on the East Coast. Its a feeling that binds many Montanans in that area.

I cant imagine ever living in a place that isnt surrounded by public land, Halm said. I think its a really special thing to be a person who maybe cant afford a lot of property, but then to feel so rich and abundant in the places you can go and recreate.

The Shintangle is a rare opportunity for community members, many of whom live miles apart, to come together to celebrate. After serving a buffet-style barbecue dinner, John Ryan, owner of the Brooklyn Rolls food cart, distributed sugar-dusted Italian cookies and fruit kebabs. The Whitefish-based Great Northern Brewing Co. donated beer, which no doubt helped embolden hesitant dancers.

Patti Leonas, 64, lives in Condon and came to the Shintangle to support a good cause and because camaraderie around small communities is important, she said. She knows Swan Valley Connections through their outreach and services to private landowners like herself, and is currently using their help to thin out the forest on her and her husbands 4-acre plot.

They do it responsibly to minimize the fire hazard, Leonas said. Its wonderful that thats available to people here.

Leonas spent the evening square dancing for the first time. For those who have never done it, she offers some advice.

They have to try it, she said, looking out at the dancers while resting between songs. They tell you exactly what to do. If you look at the faces of people, everybody is smiling.

The Beet Tops hold community square dancing at the Top Hat once a month, except during the summer. The next square dancing night at the Top Hat is Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. Admission is free.
Here are a couple instances that illustrate how odd this July has been.

Remember that thunderstorm on July 15 that crashed through the Northside-Westside Block Party and soaked dozens of other Saturday picnics around Missoula? It was so concentrated in its path, none of its rain hit the gauge at the National Weather Service station by Missoula International Airport. Thus, the official precipitation for the month remains at trace.

And yet, Missoula will probably close out its July logbook 1.33 inches of moisture above normal for the year. Through June, the area soaked up 10.05 inches of snow and rain, compared to the average 8.72. Kalispell didnt do quite as well, but still floats almost two-thirds of an inch above its average 10.5 inches year-to-date.

The heat everyones been feeling shows in the record, NWS meteorologist Lance VandenBoogart said Friday. Were on track to have the fourth-warmest high temperatures for the month of July in Missoula.

The month got started with several days of record-setting or -breaking heat in western Montana. Missoula hit triple digits on July 8 and 9, with a high temperature of 101 on July 9 that broke the old record of 99 set on that date in 1943. Kalispell also set a July 9 record at 96 degrees, topping the 95 mark from 1964. The next day, Kalispell also matched a record high temperature with a reading of 96, previously hit on July 10, 1985.

So far, Missoulas July has been 5.1 degrees hotter than normal. Its also received .87 inches less rain than usual, with the biggest single-day report for the month being a trace of precipitation on Thursday.

In the short term, a high pressure system has dug in over the Northern Rocky Mountains and looks to stay through next week. That means afternoon temperatures in western Montana valleys like Missoula and the Bitterroot should stay in the high 90s up to 100.

Thats already triggered hoot-owl restrictions on fishing east of Missoula, where Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials have imposed curfews on the Upper Clark Fork River and Silver Bow Creek to protect fish. Anglers must leave the rivers alone between 2 p.m. and 2 a.m. when the water is warmest and trout survival is threatened.

We impose those whenever water temperature goes above 73 degrees for three days in a row, FWP spokesman Greg Lemon said Friday. Numerous rivers in south-central Montana have already triggered restrictions, including parts of the Big Hole, Beaverhead, Madison, Gallatin, Jefferson, Sun and Smith rivers. Near Missoula, high temperatures likely will start affecting access to parts of the lower Bitterroot River in the next week, Lemon said.

On land, Stage II restrictions on activity in public property like national forests, county parks, wildlife refuges and state forests limit the use of open flame or fire-starting activity. Campfires are not allowed and all smoking must be done on hard-surfaced areas or indoors. Off-road motorized travel is prohibited and industrial work like firewood cutting, welding and blasting must be completed between 1 a.m. and 1 p.m. Workers must maintain a one-hour foot patrol for fire starts after ceasing activity.

So is relief on the way? Not anytime soon, according to the National Weather Service. Looking ahead to August, the NWS predicts above-normal temperatures across nearly all of the U.S., but the "largest probabilities'' for hot weather next month are in the northern Great Plains.
The Venezuelans go to the polls on Sunday (July 30) to elect delegates who will rewrite Venezuela's constitution.



In Latin America generally, society is broadly divided into three groups: whites, mixed race mestizos and the original native peoples. The elite ruling classes, namely whites, select and have elected white presidents. Evo Morales in Bolivia, the late Hugo Chavez and now Nicolas Maduro are new and notable exceptions. The mostly white opposition in Venezuela is peopled by those holding leadership and management positions in business and industry, and consequently wield substantial financial clout and the ability to inflict economic damage, even chaos.



Challenged on several fronts simultaneously, President Maduro has had problems including a drop in the polls. But the attitude of the Western press and its one-sided reporting has not helped. National Public Radio (NPR) in the U.S. calls itself an independent voice, is deemed sober and left of center, and sides usually with Democrats. But on Venezuela, the mainstream press is united -- also on Russia no matter how contrary the facts.



When the opposition decided to hold its own referendum/'consultation' (July 16) on the proposed constitutional change, NPR reported as follows: Headlined the following day as, "In Unofficial Vote, Venezuelans Overwhelmingly Reject Constitutional Change," the piece goes on to state 98 percent voted to reject. And more than 7 million voted including 700,000 expatriates comprising a third of the electorate.





The mainstream media in the West also declines to explore the sociological aspects of the Venezuelan divide. The opposition comprises the elite, predominantly white segment; the government side is mostly mestizo. The population is actually 43.6 percent white, 51.6 percent mestizo, 3.7 percent black African and 2.7 percent Amerindian. The political divide is also social with the white population less than willing to give up some of their share of the economic pie. It is a tough fight for the Chavez revolution aimed at greater social equity, given the economic power of the elite.





(Article changed on July 30, 2017 at 12:04)


(Image by Trebol-a, Author: See Source) Details Source DMCA



Donald Trump is failing to fulfill promises of his campaign. Who would argue with that? But how could he turn things around for the benefit of the American public?



Take the Russia issue for example. Establishing a positive working relationship was a consistent campaign theme. It apparently resonated enough with voters. Elected as president, Trump famously went on to say, "I would love to be able to get along with Russia. Now, you've had a lot of presidents that haven't taken that tack. Look where we are now. Look where we are now."



I get his point. Making an enemy of Russia has yielded no benefit for America. It's even dangerously increased world tension. That's what he means, I think, with his "Look where we are now" remark.





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An 19-year-old who has been out on supervision for almost all of the past year since being charged with raping multiple underage girls and exploiting them for nude photos is back in custody.

On Friday, a pair of Missoula judges set stacking bail amounts for Justin Robert Wieder, who is now held on an overall bail of $400,000 after new charges were filed. Those charges accuse him of again meeting up with one of the girls and recording sexual contact after repeated orders not to have contact of any kind.

Wieder has been out on supervision for almost all of the last year, except for two occasions where his release was revoked because he was contacting the girls. In September, he was arrested on those allegations and eventually posted a $20,000 bond. He was released before being arrested again in December under similar circumstances. In that instance, District Court Judge Karen Townsend eventually released him back to pretrial supervision.

In an affidavit filed this week, prosecutor Jennifer Clark charged Wieder with a new count of felony sexual abuse of children for his alleged contact with one of the girls in December, as well as for allegedly seeing her again in June. Included in the affidavit are allegations that Wieder recorded himself and the girl. She later told a detective she and Wieder had contact in June.

On Friday, District Court Judge Robert Dusty Deschamps set a $200,000 bail for the alleged violations of release conditions from Wieders two existing felony cases. That afternoon, Justice of the Peace Landee Holloway stacked a consecutive $200,000 bail on him for his new felony charge.

Last June, Wieder was charged with sexual intercourse without consent for allegedly raping an underage girl. He was placed on pretrial supervision after posting a small bond.

In early August, two more sexual intercourse charges and two felonies for sexual abuse of children were filed against Wieder, related to behavior that allegedly occurred in 2015. Those charges came after a detective with the Missoula County Sheriffs Office investigated a report from the principal at Frenchtown Junior High who, according to court documents, said two girls at the school, ages 12 and 13, said Wieder solicited nude photos from them.

Wieder was also charged with allegedly telling the girls that he had sex with a friend of theirs, and would tell people unless they sent him photos. One of the girls eventually sent the photos, court documents said.

The girls friend, a 13-year-old girl, told investigators Wieder wouldnt let her go home during a trip earlier in 2015, and had raped her. Investigators also found another 15-year-old girl who they believe Wieder raped and received nude photos from.
From To The Point Analyses

Part I -- BDS at Twelve

As of July 2017, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli racism and apartheid is 12 years old. This means that over the last dozen years, a worldwide grassroots movement has grown up -- a movement of civil society -- that has organized active opposition to Zionist racism and Israeli oppression. While the vast majority of governments have either ignored or assisted Israel's violations of international law and the basic principles of human rights, millions of "civilians" have refused to follow their leaders on this issue.

The BDS movement is now far ranging. It presses for divestment from companies that support or do business with Israel, particularly those that operate in the Occupied Territories. It urges the boycott of all Israeli products, from foodstuffs to cosmetics. It protests the appearance of Israeli cultural organizations outside of Israel. It urges the boycott of Israeli academic institutions that lend support to the state (an effort that, in 2015, Israeli president Reuven Rivlin called a "strategic threat of the first order"). And, it discourages tourist and artist visits to Israel, particularly by well-known celebrities. For more information about specific BDS achievements over the last 12 years, go to website of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

In all these efforts the movement has proved increasingly successful. Some surveys have suggested that as many as one-third of Americans and 80 percent of Canadians support BDS. The movement is also strong in Western Europe and growing in Australia and Latin America. Thus, no one should sell this ongoing campaign short. Certainly, the Israeli government does not. Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy devotes a lot of time and money to "push back" against the BDS movement. Israel's attempt to counter this growing popularity is grounded on a simplistic, libelous campaign that seeks to identify the BDS movement as a new form of anti-Semitism.

At least among the general population, there are two things that make this a very hard sell:

(1) a lot of BDS supporters are Jewish, underlining the fact that the Zionist state and Judaism are not the same thing, and...

(2) the State of Israel continues to reinforce the BDS characterization of it as a racist state by public acts of discrimination against Palestinians.

As more people come to support BDS, fewer people support Israel. A survey released in mid June 2017 by an organization known as The Brand Israel Group, "a coalition of volunteer advertising and marketing specialists" who consult for pro-Israel organizations, indicated that "approval of Israel among American college students dropped 27% between the group's 2010 and 2016 surveys" while "Israel's approval among all Americans dropped 14 points." Brand Israel's conclusion: "the future of America no longer believe that Israel shares their values." This is the case not because of any big increase in anti-Semitism, but due to ever-growing evidence of Israeli racism.

Part II -- Political Roadblocks

Unfortunately, Israel's inability to keep a favorable public image does not necessarily mean its near-term defeat. Here in the U.S. there are two reasons for this:

(1) as obnoxious as Israeli behavior is, and also as obscenely massive the U.S. aid package that helps to sustain that behavior, neither the behavior nor the aid package is yet a prime voting issue for most American citizens, and...

(2) due to the resulting lack of political pressure from the voters, American Zionists still have a clear field to use money and other forms of patronage to pressure both the U.S. Congress and the political parties to ignore the blatant racism and continue to strongly support the Zionist state.

That support can extend to becoming Israel's ally in the effort to defame and then try to destroy BDS. The argument that BDS is a modern form of anti-Semitism has become the backbone of an effort to make it illegal. As noted above, the BDS movement is not anti-Semitic. It is anti-Zionist, which in fact makes it anti-racist. There is plenty of evidence that the Zionists do indeed practice racism in Israel and its Occupied Territories, and therefore, in truth, the Zionist charge against BDS creates a paradox. It requires you to accept that a supporter of BDS can simultaneously be anti-Semitic and anti-racist. Alas, in the absence of voter pressure, this absurdity does not matter to most U.S. politicians. Nor does the fact that outlawing BDS constitutes an obvious violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Part III -- BDS, Human Rights and Jewish Morality

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Prime Minister of Pakistan third term in power ended unceremoniously Friday (July 28) after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding public office in a landmark unanimous decision on the so-called Panama Papers case.

"The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) shall issue a notification disqualifying Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif from being a member of the Parliament with immediate effect, after which he shall cease to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan," Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan told the packed courtroom Friday afternoon.

The prime minister was disqualified from holding his office as the judges ruled that he had been dishonest to parliament and the courts and could not be deemed fit for his office.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif, Captain Safdar, who is a member of parliament, were also declared unfit for office. Dar was disqualified for being unable to explain his ownership of assets beyond his means.

The judges ruled that Nawaz had been dishonest to the parliament and the courts in not disclosing his employment in the Dubai-based Capital FZE company in his 2013 nomination papers, and, thus, could not be deemed fit for his office.

"It is hereby declared that having failed to disclose his un-withdrawn receivables constituting assets from Capital FZE Jebel Ali, UAE in his nomination papers filed for the General Elections held in 2013 in terms of Section 12(2)(f) of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 (ROPA), and having furnished a false declaration under solemn affirmation respondent No. 1 Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is not honest in terms of Section 99(f) of ROPA and Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, and therefore he is disqualified to be a Member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)."

Tellingly, Nawaz Sharif has been ousted on graft charges once before, sacked by the country's then-president during the first of his three terms as prime minister in 1993.

Shortly after the Supreme Court Order, the PM House issued a notification saying that Nawaz Sharif, despite having "strong reservations" on the SC's verdict, has stepped down from his post as the premier.

Reacting to the court's order, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz spokesperson said that the party will utilize all legal and constitutional means to contest the verdict.

The federal cabinet was dissolved after Nawaz Sharif relinquished his responsibilities as the prime minister of Pakistan.

As the head of the ruling PML-N, he will still be able to nominate his successor. Sharif's chosen candidate will be put to a vote in the National Assembly -- a rubber-stamp affair as the PML-N holds a strong majority in the house.

Joint Investigation Team

On April 20 the Supreme Court appointed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the case and collect evidence, if any, showing that Nawaz Sharif or any of his dependents or benamidar owns, possesses or acquired assets or any interest therein disproportionate to their known means of income.

The six-member JIT's damning report, submitted after a 60-day investigation that sought answers to 13 questions raised by the Supreme Court's larger bench, had maintained that Prime Minister's family owned assets beyond its known sources of income. It declared that his sons, Hussain and Hassan Nawaz, were used as proxies to build family assets.

Consequently, the six-man JIT concluded that it was compelled to refer to sections 9(a)(v) and 14(c) of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, which deal with corruption and corrupt practices, though such charges are yet to be proven in an accountability court.

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From Our Future

Donald Trump's White House seems more like a Quentin Tarantino movie every day. Amid allegations of broken laws and self-dealing at the highest levels, the president has now hired a Communications Director called "The Mooch."

The name brings to mind the famous "Mr. Pink" scene from Reservoir Dogs, where a macho Harvey Keitel resents being given that appellation during a heist and wants to trade names with another crook.

You can almost hear it now: "Why am I The Mooch?"

It's true that most members of Trump's team, including the president himself, could easily trade nicknames with Anthony Scaramucci. They're all moochers. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was tied to a student loan firm and her department's actions directly benefited the family of a senior DeVos aide, who resigned after the conflict of interest came to light.

There are serious questions about Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's financial interest in the administration's investigation of OneWest Bank. And virtually every senior Trump official stands to gain financially by his proposed tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires -- an underlying conflict of interest that would let them "mooch" off the poor and middle-class families who would be hurt as a result.

Trump himself is the Moocher-in-Chief, monetizing his presidency to the limits of the law and beyond. He even skimmed from a fundraiser by holding it at a Trump Hotel so the family business could profit from it.

Of course, Anthony Scaramucci would only want to trade away his nickname if he were ashamed of it, but he shows no sign of shame. On the contrary, the brash, self-promoting huckster seems proud of his background as a Goldman Sachs banker turned hedge-fund super salesman.

Scaramucci's firm, SkyBridge Capital, isn't even really a hedge fund. It's more of a hedge fund retailer. Scaramucci closes the deal and then farms the money out to other funds to manage. The firm sponsors a schmoozefest called the SALT Conference every year, where famous speakers talk while everyone in the crowd tries to hustle one another for business. Think of it as TED for greedheads.

Celebrities like like Magic Johnson and Al "Say Hello to My Little Friend" Pacino have put in appearances at SALT. So have famous business people like Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and hedge-fund investor John Paulson, an early Trump backer who made billions off of the subprime lending meltdown.

And in our "money talks" political environment, it's not surprising that a number of politicians and officials have also wet their beaks at the Scaramucci trough, including Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Tim Geithner, and Tony Blair.

It's somehow fitting that a hedge fund investor who does no investing has now become the spokesman for a president who appears to do very little actual governing.

What Scaramucci does very well, however, is promote Scaramucci. You might think that would make the vain showman who occupies the Oval Office jealous, but you'd be wrong. The Mooch's antics make him Trump's ideal Mini-Me. He's another empty-hatted showboater, loudly distracting the audience from the pickpockets moving among them.

But just to be on the safe side, Scaramucci professes his love for the president loudly and frequently.

In his first few days on the job, Scaramucci has already shown his ability to dazzle and distract the press, turning attention away from the dirty dealing going on all around them. He has incited a showy feud with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, for example, a headline-grabbing move in which he says that the man he once called a "brother" is really only a brother in the "Cain and Abel" sense.

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Any time Ghanaians raise the issue of corruption in the Ghanaian society, a section of Ghanaians, particularly public office holders, raise the issue of perception and the argument has always been that those who allege corrupt practices against others in the society, particularly, public servants must provide the evidence to support their allegations.



Ironically, all governments since independence have talked about corruption in government or among the populace. The belief in the existence of corruption in Ghana, particularly among government officials and private business people have attracted some of the most drastic measures in the past against people suspected to have engaged in corrupt practices. Most of these drastic measures aimed at bringing an end to the phenomenon, were seen in the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) era and the eleven year period of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).



The use of violent and extra judicial methods to deal with suspected corrupt actors, did not address corruption. Subsequently, under the democratic dispensation, some other more civilized institutions were put in place to address the canker of corruption and its myriad of tentacles which has and continues to suffocate the economic and social lives of the people, particularly the poor.



These are the Commission on Human rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and the National Procurement Authority (NPA) all through the Parliament of the Republic. While former President Kufuor promised zero tolerance in the fight against the canker, the late President Atta-Mills pledged to investigate corruption should allegations of such appear in the media.



It is very obvious that almost all governments have at one time or the other identified corruption as a major challenge to development and the improvement of the living standards of the majority of Ghanaians. As to whether the methods used to deal with the canker have achieved results or not is very clear for all Ghanaians to see. The pervasiveness of the economic and social ill has become a major political tool in the nations democratic dispensation.



It is in this light that the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), in November/December 2015 undertook a corruption survey to unearth the nature, levels, causes and motives behind corruption in Ghana. The survey revealed that corruption levels are considered very high by 72.1 percent of the respondents. Fifty percent of the respondents stated that their major sources of information on corruption in Ghana are through the media -T.V., radio, newspapers and the internet while another 21.3 percent cited personal experiences of having had to part with gifts and cash payments or other favours for services to be rendered.



The above statistics indicate that the medias highlight on acts of corruption is creating major awareness about the phenomenon in our society than it used to be. The personal experiences by individuals also indicate how widespread the problem is.



In the opinion of 40 % of the respondents, corruption is about taking or receiving money or sex from people before helping them or delivering services to which they are entitled while 13% of the respondents indicated that corruption is about embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds or diverting the nations resources for personal gain. The survey revealed that 96.7% of the public identified cash payments as the most common form of corruption.



The above findings must be a source of great worry to the general society in its efforts to fight corruption. The reason being that most Ghanaians are much more concerned about the monies they pay as individuals to public officers or private citizens before services are delivered, which goes on in their lives on a daily basis than the grand corruption of embezzlement and misappropriation of huge public funds.



Even though petty corruption engaged in by public officers on a daily basis is so bad and unacceptable, most Ghanaians do not focus on the fact that the huge monies the state loses through embezzlement and misappropriation are the reasons why the state cannot provide adequate social facilities and infrastructure like good schools, hospitals, water, roads, electricity and housing among others to the citizenry. Discussions on grand corruption is seen by most citizens as distant occurrences that should not take their time. They are more concerned about the GH5.00 the Policeman collects from the driver or the GH10.00 he has to pay to the office clerk to retrieve a file from an obscure corner in the public office on a daily basis.



There are always motivating factors for such behaviors, and the survey identified greed and selfishness as the major causes of corruption which 27% of the respondents agreed on, the get rich-quick attitude among the youth was 26.3% while 22.7% said low salaries and income levels were the next major causes of corruption in Ghana. Corruption is viewed as alternative source of income to those who benefit from it while those who pay monies see it as the only way things or services get rendered as acknowledged by 12.2 % and 24.2% of the respondents respectively.



The survey put the Police Service on top of the Corruption League table, recording 28.6%, a jump from the 23% in 2014. The judiciary placed second in the race to achieve the highest medal in corruption. It recorded 18.4% according to the survey. These two institutions have contacts with the public every day for one reason or the other. 60% of Ghanaians believe that there is no alternative for them to obtain critical services from institutions other than offering bribes to those whose jobs it is to deliver such services.



The other worrying outcome of the IEA survey was the Office of the President which recorded 12.9% of the respondents as a very corrupt institution in Ghana during the year 2015. The Office of the President is the machinery that oils the machinery of the state, that is where the national cake is distributed for development, and if 12.9% of Ghanaians believe that there is such level of corruption in the Office of the President, then it stands to reason or to conclude that the Office of the President could not fight corruption. The army was the least corrupt institution in Ghana, recording 7% of the respondents assessment of corruption.



There is the hope that the canker can be dealt with since 54% of the respondents believe that citizens could help reduce corruption if the public abstains from paying bribes to public officers. This contradicts the belief by 60% of the respondents that the only way services can be obtained is through paying bribes. There is also the hope that two-thirds of Ghanaians are ready to report a corrupt act.



The worrying aspect of our efforts at fighting corruption in Ghana is the legal regime which makes the giver and the taker all liable for the criminal conduct. A citizen who is overtly or covertly compelled by a public officer to pay monies before a critical service is provided is considered an accessory to a crime. What then would motivate a victim of corrupt practices of a public officer to report the incidence when he or she could be dragged into the criminal net for committing a crime of corruption?



The survey also admits the fact that the fight against corruption is a daunting task because only 4.8% of the respondents were hopeful that corruption can be eradicated completely in Ghana, 25% of them opined that the canker cannot be reduced at all in Ghana, 19.9% thought that corruption can be reduced substantially while 45% said corruption can only be reduced to a limited degree.



The challenge is, how do we as a people address this canker that is a drain on us as individual citizens as we part with coins every day when we do not have to, and the state is bled through the massive embezzlement, misappropriation, over invoicing, under invoicing and outright dissipation of public funds without a blink?



Sadly, the three arms of the state mandated to deal with these crimes were themselves seriously embroiled in corruption, namely the Office of the President, the Police Service and the Judiciary. Where cometh our salvation then?



Daavi, please give me three tots of mahogany bitters.

Source: Kwesi Biney/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A political scientist Dr. Abass Mohammed has described as repulsive the continuous politicisation of critical matters bothering the country in Parliament.



This, according to him, has rendered the law making chamber very weak and toothless.



He further noted I dont see how our Parliament is going to work effectively when it comes to oversight that must run acrossrepresentation, lawmaking and financial function.



Dr. Mohammeds comments were in reaction to the partisanship exhibited in Parliament Wednesday, July 26, 2017, when the beleaguered commissioners of the Electoral Commission appeared before the leadership of the House over accreditation fees charged journalists prior to the 2016 elections.



The floor of Parliament Wednesday was chaotic after the Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu said the much-anticipated meeting between the leadership of Parliament and the EC commissioners was unnecessary.



The meeting was expected to commence immediately after the EC boss finished briefing the House about how much the commission made from the controversial fees it charged journalists for accreditation ahead of the 2016 general elections.



But referring to Order 93 of the Houses standing orders, Mr Iddrisu described the meeting as needless since president Akufo-Addo had forwarded the petition demanding the head of the boss of the Commission Charlotte Osei to the Chief Justice.



The meeting with leadership is mute legally therefore we have no business engaging her further until the matter is so judicially determined, he stressed.



But reacting to the development, Dr. Mohammed said We are practicing politics with a high level of ignorance. We are pretending we have the knowledge meanwhile we do not.



MPs, he said, are supposed to be Statesmen representing thinking and reasoning and that they should rise beyond partisanship, explaining that politics has nothing to do with the division but rather unity.



It will be recalled that the Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, bemoaned extreme partisanship in Parliament on July 12, 2017, edition of Starr Chat, warning the country risks having a democracy that will be useless.



According to him, for the countrys law-making chamber to meet the international standard it is incumbent on legislators from both sides of the House to be nationalistic in their attitude.



He told Starr Chat host Bola Ray then that we have a huge responsibility as a country to be able to grow our democracy beyond elections. If we dont get those two things fixed our democracy will just be reduced to mere elections.



If we dont [change the current situation] we risk having a democracy that will be useless. Because believe me, all the issues that we are talking about that our institutions are weak, there is corruption, there is this, there is that  it is because parliament is weak.

Source: StarrFmonline









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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Over eighty Ghanaians who illegally residing in Libya have been deported.



The deportees arrived at the Kotoka International Airport Thursday night to go through immigration procedures.



Many of deportees who looked weary claimed they were imprisoned for over 8 months by Libyan officials prior to their deportation.



In April, some 300 Ghanaians who were residing in the country came home voluntarily.



Many of them who travelled to Libya on foot through the Libyan Desert to seek greener pastures said that they were disappointed at the lawlessness in that country.



The north African country has become a transit zone for thousands of migrants who are keen to escape poverty and war to Europe.



Migrant numbers from Libya to Italy have soared dramatically in 2017 with more than 550 deaths recorded in the Mediterranean this year.

Source: StarrFmonline









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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Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has called for deeper and stronger collaboration between Ghana and Malta to boost the economic development of both countries.



The Asante monarch emphasised that such collaboration could be in the area of education where the University of Malta can partner with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to enhance academic activities.



Otumfuo Osei Tutu II made the call when the President of Malta, Marie-Louise Coliero Preca paid a courtesy call on him at the Manhyia Palace on Thursday, 27 July 2017 as part her three-day official visit to the country.



He also implored Mrs Preca to establish her country's High Commission in Ghana as a way of deepening collaboration between both countries.



Mrs Preca on her part stressed the need for Ghana and Malta to form a new module of friendship. She announced a partnership that will lead to job creation, improvement of infrastructural development and enhanced trade relations between both countries.

Source: classfmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Principal of the College of Languages Education of the University of Winneba (UEW) in the Central Region, Professor Ephraim Avea Nsoh, has appealed to the Chief Justice to investigate the Winneba High Court proceeding of June 13, that placed an injunction on the university.



Prof. Nsoh said the university had been bastardised as a result of the court orders, adding that academic and administrative activities are disabled.



All decisions of the UEW, during these trying times must be taken with utmost care, Prof. Nsoh cautioned.



Although the judge is reported not to have issued any injunction, in a suit brought before it by Supi Kofi Kwayera, a citizen of Winneba, Prof. Nsoh, in a lecture at the South Campus on Wednesday said, there has been an injunction on the university.



Drama unfolded on the campus when the members of the university community were prevented access to the J.N Ayitey Auditorium, where the programme was scheduled to take place at 5:00 p.m. by the security personnel on orders from above, forcing the lectures to be held in front of the building in the darkness.



The Principal of the College of Languages Education of the UEW, said projects which were being undertaken to secure a guaranteed pension for retiring staff had been stalled, pointing out that the bankers had withdrawn their interest.



Mr Kwayera has filed a suit in court requesting, among other reliefs, for the court to grant injunction barring the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mawutor Avoke and the Finance Officer, Dr Theophilus Ackorli, from performing duties as appointed by the defacto council, until final determination of the suit before it.



Following the court orders, the Pro Vice Chancellor, Reverend Father Prof. Afful-Broni, is said to be in acting position which has also been drawn into controversy.



The Principal of the College of Education said the action by plaintiff was an attempt to undermineand expose the university to governmental controlwe must resist it legally.



Prof. Nsoh who christened his lectures Making Sense of the UEW Court Case: Perspective of an Insider said, it was an intellectual exercise meant for the university community to exercise their academic freedom by bringing the issues home for debate and critique, as opposed to the radio hopping, in apparent reference to the counsel for the Plaintiff, Alexander Afenyo Markins, Member of Parliament for Effutu.



We are the authorities of UEW, we should be talking about the issues pertaining to the university, people should be asking us for the true information, he said.



Displaying documentary evidence, the university don said he had attended and followed proceedings of the court and that the lecture was an intellectual exercise, information giving exercise taking exception to the insults and the venom in a section of the media.



He ruled out any contempt, stating that he had tried to confine himself to what the judge said in open court stressing what the judge has said, I have the right to comment on it, it is like me writing a book and someone critique and tears it apart.



Prof. Nsoh also expressed concern over ethnic and political sentiments creeping into the affairs of the university and urged the university community to remain united and resolute to protect and defend the brand and image of the university.

Source: Ghanaian Times









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Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has said the absence of free internet services at the various airports in the country is an illegality.



According to her, per best practices, these entry points into the country and several others should provide free internet for the people.



Speaking to journalists after a forum organised by the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) in Accra on Friday, 28 July 2017, she said: I think it is criminal that we dont have free Wi Fi in our airports and other ports of entry, it is criminal.



She continued: In selected public spaces in Accra, we should be able to have free Wi-Fi and in the restaurants and drinking spots as well. You travel outside and it is one of the services they offer. It differentiate them from other establishments so you may think you are spending on free Wi-Fi for your clients but you are attracting more clientele who will come there and browse and buy the products that you are selling. So for me it also makes business sense.

Source: classfmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The ruckus continues as varied opinions on the Electoral Commission Chair, Mrs. Charlotte Osei emerge. There has been a mix-bag of reactions from politicians, public figures and sections of the public following the calls by some concerned workers of the institution for an impeachment of the Chair.



While many have criticized and hurled accusations and insults at the EC Boss, levelling a number of allegations against her, quite a number of others have lauded Mrs. Oseis efforts at steering the affairs of the commission since her appointment as Chairperson.



Former Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur is the latest to join the fray and for her, Mrs. Charlotte Osei is the best thing that has happened to the EC.



Mrs. Lithur described her as a reformist who has transformed the state of affairs at the commission since her assumption of office adding that she would unhesitantly, defend her to the core.



Mrs. Charlotte Osei is the best thing that ever happened to the Electoral Commission. I can vouch for her, I support her, Ive known her since she was a student at the University of Ghana Faculty of Law and the law school. Actually it was Professor John Evans Atta Mills picked her up for her strength, for her expertise, for her competencies to chair the NCCE...she is a reformist



She maintained that the success of the 2016 polls is evidential proof of Mrs. Oseis remarkable performance as Chairperson.



I would say without any doubt that Charlotte is the best Chairperson of the Electoral CommissionThe evidence is clear in the sterling high praise that she was given after the 2016 election, she stated.



She commended the EC Boss for her responses to queries by the house in Parliament.



I watched the Parliament briefing where Mrs. Charlotte Osei was questioned. She was asked a specific question about when she realized that there was that money in the Commissions account and she answered. The question was when did you?, and he answered it.



Mrs. Lithur expressed confidence in the fact that Mrs. Osei will be vindicated at the close of investigations, urging that all persons involved, leave the case to the appropriate authorities to be dealt with.



President Nana Akufo-Addo has rightfully forwarded the petition to the Chief Justice her Ladyship Justice Sophia Akuffo. I believe that we should allow the legal processes to work. A legal process has been set in motion subject to our constitution, we should allow it to work. I will say with confidence that I know that Charlotte will come out of this, stated.







Source: Ghanaweb.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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Acting General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr John Boadu, has commended members of the party in the Volta Region for their resilience in ensuring the reduction of votes for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the last election.



He said that contributed greatly to the victory of the party in the election and asked them to intensify the fight towards the equalisation of dominance of the NDC in the region.



Inclusive strategy



He further disclosed that the party had adopted an inclusive strategy to ensure that more activists were invited to attend meetings at constituency and regional levels in order to make them dedicated disciples of the party.



Mr Boadu was addressing the Volta Regional Delegates Conference for participants drawn from all the 26 constituencies in the region in Ho last Thursday.



He declared that the NPP was the only party that could move the nation forward and that every member should cultivate the spirit of keeping the NPP destiny afloat, adding that all party structures would be strengthened to effectively collaborate with government functionaries to open up all available opportunities for the benefit of party members.



Landmark



In an address, the Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, said the NPP was determined to use the opportunity given it to govern to leave a mark, and called on members to close their ranks and remain more united to achieve the objective irrespective of challenges they might encounter.



He said the government had formulated a multifaceted approach to solve the problems in connection with high expectations from the citizenry, especially in relation to employment and assured them that all would soon be well.



Dr Letsa asked the delegates to leave the conference with new hearts devoid of rancour and suspicion in order to make the party stronger to maintain power in the 2020 election.



The Minister of Lands and Forestry, Mr John Peter Amewu, said the Volta Region was moving towards a point of success as regard the records of past elections and paid tribute to past executive for their achievements.



He expressed the hope that the future was bright for the party in growing stronger roots and advised members to remain resolute and desist from infighting.



Celebration of victory



The Volta Regional Chairman of the NPP, Madam Esther Edjeani, asked members to celebrate the victory of the last election because that would enable them to showcase to the world that the party was the best in governance.



She reminded them that 2020 was not far away and therefore they should unite and deepen harmony among themselves to remain resilient to achieve their goals.



In a solidarity message, the Volta Regional Organiser of the NDC, Mr Henry Ametefe, congratulated them on the delegates conference, but said the government of the day must ensure the completion of all projects initiated by the NDC government, particularly the Eastern corridor road, roads at University of Allied Sciences(UHAS) and the Ho airport.



For his part, the Regional Organiser of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Mr Foster Segbe, commended the NPP for rolling up the free education programme but said the government should be bold to adopt the compulsory aspect of education in the country.



NPP delegates confab



The Volta regional branch of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) held its annual delegates conference on Thursday.



The conference, which was held at the OLA Senior High School in Ho, was on the theme: Moving forward together as a united family.



The conference, which was the first since the NPPs massive electoral victory in December 2016, provided party delegates from all 26 constituencies in the region an opportunity to take stock of their activities in the past one year and strategise to deliver on its mandate in government.



Top hierarchy of the NPP, including, the National Organiser cum Acting General Secretary, John Boadu; regional executive, government functionaries, as well as municipal, metropolitan and district chief executives (MMDCEs) attended the one-day conference.

Source: Daily Graphic









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 Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto on Thursday told parliament that the government has so far spent GH157,023,174.00 on its Planting for Food and Jobs programme in the southern sector and the three northern regions.



He said out of the amount, GH24,963,981.00 has been spent on improved seeds, especially for the production of maize, rice, soyabean, sorghum, tomato, onion and pepper, while GH132,059,193.00 has been spent on fertilizer and haulage or distribution of fertilizer to the farmers.



He said so far, 188,338 farmers and potential farmers have been registered under the scheme, out of the targeted 750,000 opportunities to be provided for the prospective farmers, particularly the youth. He disclosed that this year the ministrys target is to register 200.000 farmers.



Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, who was responding to a question filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South, Eric Opoku, on the status of the programme and expenditure so far made, said that the government plans to inject about GH650 million into the programme, which will eventually rake in GH1.3 billion for the nation.



The minister said the campaign or programme has five main areas of intervention which are the provision of improved seeds, provision of fertilizer, provision of extension services, marketing and e-agriculture platform.



Under the campaign, selected farmers are supported with farm inputs such as improved seeds of the targeted crops, fertilizers and extension services directly from the ministry, whilst other pillars are to be implemented with the private sector, the minister explained.



He said the aim of the government is to use the Planting for Food and Jobs programme to transform the agricultural sector; and this would be done by increasing productivity of the farm resources centred on small holding activities, to provide job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youth and to provide raw materials for the industrial sector.



According to him, it is not true that the fertilizers being given to the farmers are being smuggled out of the country as some members of the opposition NDC are claming, stressing that the government would ensure that the programme succeeds to boost food sufficiency and sustainability of raw material supply.

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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The Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) has sued some four telecommunication networks for not paying royalties for the songs they use.



According to the lawyer for GHAMRO Opoku Adusei, they have filed four cases in court against MTN, Airtel, Vodafone and Tigo.



We are complaining about the use of our works used as caller tunes and the performance. Basically, the cases were in different courts and now we want them to be consolidated in one court so that the trial can take place in one court and the consolidation has been granted, he disclosed in an interview on Onua FM.



Lawyer Opoku Adusei added that the reason they had resorted to the court is that they want the telecommunication networks to realise that the use of musical works for their activities via caller tunes, app application, performance in public, downloads, attracted royalties.



We want them to realise that the works of persons who are creative and genius for that reason those works should be rewarded when they are used. We want them to pay royalties for the use of the work since so far there is no consensus on it. So we want to litigate it through the judicial system, he further stated.



Section 49 of the Copyright Law, Act 690 of 2005 regulated by LI 1962 of 2010, gives the Ghana Music Rights Organisation to collect and distribute royalties from intellectual property users to authors and owners of copyright.



The organisation has stated its resolve to fight piracy and help take royalties for their members. They are by this embarking on education for the police, the media and the general public for the smooth administration of their goals.

Source: Citifmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Its goal is to be a one-stop shop for the various needs of online consumers.CRWE WORLD's visibility is available to consumers and other audience's communities in 184 countries, 56 dependent territories and their respective cities or communities. CRWE WORLD also provides businesses a tool to target potential consumers in a specific location, such as within a certain zip code (there are approximately 7.3 million ZIP / Postal codes available in the platform).About Crown Equity Holdings Inc.Together with its digital network of websites, Crown Equity Holdings Inc. (CRWE) provides and offers advertising branding, marketing solutions and services to boost customer awareness, as well as merchant visibility as a worldwide online multi-media publisher. The company focuses on the distribution of information for the purpose of bringing together its targeted audience and the advertisers that want to reach them. Its advertising services cover and connect a range of marketing specialties, as well as provide search engine optimization for clients interested in online media awareness. Crown Equity Holdings' objective is making its CRWE WORLD (www.crweworld.com)endeavor into a global online news and information source, as well as a global one stop shop for various distinct products and services. The company launches, invests and manages select businesses, projects and real estate endeavors. For more information regarding Crown Equity Holdings Inc., please visit: http://www.crownequityholdings.com.This news release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. 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The Scottish housing market has seen a mixed performance over the last few years due in the main to concerns regarding potential independence and economic growth. This together with the general Brexit concerns has seen Scottish housing prices subdued of late but there are some bright spots amongst a dark cloud.

Edinburgh property prices

For those who follow the Scottish housing market it will come as no surprise to learn that based on a single square metre of living space the average price paid in Edinburgh now stands at 2492. When you consider the figure was just 808 per square metre back in 1997 this is a mighty impressive performance. These figures do not include external space but they do give an indication of how markets have performed. Indeed Edinburgh is the only city/town north of the border to have an average square metre value in excess of the UK average of 2260.

Edinburgh is by far and away Scotlands most innovative business orientated city having attracted not only financial services but an array of other growing industries. Like London it should really be treated as an independent market because it is often so detached from the general Scottish housing market that comparisons are pretty much irrelevant.

Elsewhere in Scotland

The data was collated by Bank of Scotland and while Edinburgh is head and shoulders above any other town or city it is interesting to see the Aberdeen is still up there. The average price of a square metre of living space in Aberdeen works at the 2029 with smaller towns such as Inverurie and Dalkeith not too far behind. The reason Inverurie and Dalkeith are so prominent is because they are in easy commuting distance of Aberdeen and Edinburgh respectively.

It was also interesting to see that of the 37 Scottish locations used in the research a stark geographical divide emerged fairly quickly. Figures show that seven of the top 10 most expensive places were on the east coast while eight of the top 10 lowest priced houses per square metre were located in central/western Scotland. This may surprise many people because Central Scotland, otherwise known as the central belt, is often described as a prosperous area of the country.

Other interesting facts

Wishaw in North Lanarkshire was the cheapest area with housing costs equating to 1027 per square metre although Larkhall, Irvine, Airdrie, Dumfries and Kilmarnock were not too far behind. The most prosperous area over the last five years was Dunfermline with prices increasing from 1185 per square metre in 2012 up to 1416 today. Overall the Scottish property market has for some time now underperformed the rest of the UK and with political and independence uncertainty rife it is difficult to see any major improvement in the short to medium term.

Useful comparisons

When you compare the most expensive area in Scotland, i.e. Edinburgh, to Wishaw in North Lanarkshire the gap between the top and bottom of the Scottish housing market is laid bare. It is highly likely that Edinburgh will continue to lead the way in the Scottish housing market and there may be some interesting opportunities if Scotland is able to retain EU single market membership while the rest of the UK exits. Could we see financial companies using Scotland as a steppingstone into the European Union? Or will the UK government ensure that the whole of the UK is ripped from the grasp of the European Union once Brexit negotiations have been concluded?
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In PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakkers Evangelical Empire (Oxford Univ., Aug.), Wigger explores how a warm and cozy talk show grew into a media behemoth, which then collapsed into scandal and sin.

What about PTL and the Bakkers in particular drew you to their story?

What I really wanted to know was how PTLs rise and fall were connected. Jim and Tammy started the PTL network with half a dozen employees in a former furniture store in 1974. By 1986 PTL had annual revenues of $129 million, 2,500 employees, a 2,300-acre theme park, and a private satellite network that reached into 14 million homes in the U.S. Then it all came crashing down. In March 1987, Bakker resigned from PTL after his 1980 sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn in a Florida hotel room became public. Stories emerged about gay relationships and visits to prostitutes. By the end of the year, PTL was in bankruptcy, headed for liquidation. In 1989 Bakker was convicted of wire and mail fraud and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Were the Bakkers a political family?

Jim Bakker claims that his support was key to Trumps election. But Bakkers political turn is relatively recent. Before the 1980 presidential election, Bakker visited with President Carter and Ronald Reagan but declined to endorse either candidate. I suspect that Bakkers current interest in politics reflects where his audience is headed. Its more marketing than conviction.

How do you see the relationship between the religious right and big business evolving?

Bakker and PTL made it big in the 1970s and 1980s through innovation. They created the warm and cozy Christian-talk-show concept, pioneered the first independent satellite network, and built a Christian Disneyland, something no one else had ever done before. Theologically, Bakker aligned himself with the prosperity gospel, which fit the conspicuous consumption of the 1980s. It was always more about cultural relevance than political orientation. I dont see the link between religious innovation and popular culture going away anytime soon, though exactly where it is headed next is difficult to predict.

How was PTL different from other Christian networks?

From the start, PTL had a global perspective and was more open to putting women and black people on camera than the major networks. PTL programming was seen in 40 nations at its height. This reflects PTLs Pentecostal heritage and surprised most reporters who showed up to cover the scandal in 1987. [Televangelist] Paula Whites recent appearance at the White House seems to tap into the same impulse [for theological diversity]. We tend to regard all theologically conservative groups as far-right fundamentalists, but in the case of PTL this just isnt a very useful perspective.
Last Weeks Most-Read Reviews

The top reviews on publishersweekly.com last week were...

Unstoppable: My Life So Far

Gather the Daughters

The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life

Crash Override: How GamerGate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate

The Incest Diary

From the Newsletters

Tip Sheet

PWs editors pick the most anticipated books of the fall.

Childrens Bookshelf

Acclaimed picture book editor Neal Porter is moving his imprint from Roaring Brook Press to Holiday House Books.

BookLife Report

Indie author Raymond Depew on how an aggressive marketing campaign paid off.

PW Daily

Every days publishing news delivered to your inbox, for free.

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Podcasts

Week Ahead

PW senior writer Andrew Albanese breaks down one investors call for Barnes & Noble to consider taking the company private.

More to Come

Heidi MacDonald and Calvin Reid recap their annual visit to San Diego Comic-Con, highlighting show events and four days of live interviews from the show, and Kate Fitzsimons visits a fan show in New York.

KidsCast

Julie Fogliano and Christian Robinson talk about their new picture book, Whens My Birthday?

PW Radio

Gastroenterologist Seamus OMahony discusses his new book, The Way We Die Now: The View from Medicines Front Line. PW senior news editor Calvin Reid recaps San Diego Comic-Con.

Blogs

ShelfTalker

Even booksellers can have difficulty finding time to read.
Downing Closes Double at Berkley

In a six-figure preempt, Berkleys Jen Monroe bought two thrillers by newcomer Samantha Downing. Included in the deal is Downings debut novel, My Lovely Wife, which is slated for 2019. Barbara Poelle at Irene Goodman Literary represented the author. Berkley said My Lovely Wife, which features an unnamed narrator, is Dexter meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Monroe, an assistant editor who has made her first major acquisition with the book, said it follows a couple whose marriage is thrown into chaos when a serial killer strikes their Florida town.

Delacorte Nabs YA Debut

M.A. Bennett has inked a six-figure deal with Delacorte Press for her debut YA novel, S.T.A.G.S. Beverly Horowitz took U.S., Canadian, and open market rights to the thriller, slated for a February 2018 release, from the U.K.-based publisher Hot Key Books. Delacorte said the novel (which has also been optioned by Fox 2000) is the twisting, turning tale of what happens when boarding school student Greer MacDonald receives a mysterious invitationit says only huntin, shootin and fishin to spend a weekend at the country retreat of one of her classmates. As the publisher explained, Greer soon realizes that those being hunted are not wild game, but the very misfits their host has brought with him from school. Bennett lives in London and graduated from Oxford University.

Bloomsbury Staffer Sells Debut

Lizzy Mason, head of the publicity department for Bloomsbury Kids, sold her first novel to Soho Teen. Daniel Ehrenhaft took world English rights to The Art of Losing from Stephen Barbara at Inkwell Management. The novel, which is set for spring 2019, follows 17-year-old Harley, who learns her boyfriend has been unfaithful with her sister, Audrey. After a drunk driving accident leaves Audrey with amnesia, Harley relies on an old friend for help to, as the publisher put it, let go of the past so that she can rewrite her future.

Pelecanos Re-ups with Reagan Arthur

For Little, Browns Mulholland imprint, Reagan Arthur bought world rights to the latest from George Pelecanos, The Man Who Came Uptown. The book, the publisher said, follows three people in Washington, D.C.a librarian, a parolee, and a detectivewhose lives become intertwined. Arthur struck the deal with Emad Akhtar at Orion U.K.

Journey-man Signs with Zondervan

Jonathan Cain, the keyboardist for 1980s supergroup Journey, sold a currently untitled memoir to Zondervan. The book, which Cain is cowriting with Travis Thrasher, was acquired by John Sloan from Darrell Miller at the L.A.-based law firm Fox Rothschild. Scheduled for spring 2018, the book, Zondervan said, will relate Cains experiences in the band as well as his personal path to belief.

Librarian Lands at Philomel

Childrens librarian Shannon Schuren sold world English rights to her debut novel, The Virtue of Sin, in a two-book preempt to Liza Kaplan at Philomel. The author, who works at Wisonsins Sheboygan Falls Memorial Library, was represented by Barbara Poelle at the Irene Goodman agency. Poelle said the novel is set in a modern-day cult where womens voicesand choicesare suppressed. The 17-year-old heroine must therefore face an impossible decision: keep quiet and lose her secret love, or speak out and lose everything.
In the Details

Devils Bargain by Joshua Green, subtitled Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency, debuts at #2 on our Hardcover Nonfiction list. Green, a senior national correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek, has had his eye on the White House chief strategist for a long time. The book is the result of six years of reporting and follows Greens October 2015 Bloomberg Businessweek cover story about Bannon, titled This Man Is the Most Dangerous Political Operative in America.

(See all of this week's bestselling books.)

Story Mode

Debuting at #3 in Childrens Fronlist Fiction, Minecraft: The Island is the first officially sanctioned novel based on the open-ended video game. Author Max Brooks is best known for adult books, including 2003s The Zombie Survival Guide and 2006s World War Z, which was made into a movie; each of those two titles has sold well over a million print copies.

Movie Watch

The big-screen adaptation of The Glass Castle, based on Jeannette Wallss 2005 memoir, hits theaters August 11. The tie-in edition pubbed July 11 and, in its second week on sale, debuts at #14 on our Trade Paperback list. The 2006 conventional trade paperback enjoyed stronger weekly sales than the tie-in; its sold more than three million copies since its release, 73K of them this year.

New & Notable

The Late Show

Michael Connelly

#1 Hardcover Fiction, #1 overall

The author of the long-running Harry Bosch series here introduces Hollywood homicide detective Renee Ballard, who has landed on the night shift, our starred review said, in retribution for filing sexual harassment charges against her former boss. Its the authors first series launch since 2005s The Lincoln Lawyer.

The Breakdown

B.A. Paris

#9 Hardcover Fiction

Pariss sophomore effort is another first-rate psychological thriller, our starred review said, about a teacher who begins to question her sanity after the murder of a recent acquaintance. Pariss first novel, 2016s Behind Closed Doors, is at #4 on our trade paperback list.

Meddling Kids

Edgar Cantero

#20 Hardcover Fiction

Members of a teen detective squad (think Scooby-Doo) reunite as adults to put to rest lingering questions about their final case. Our review called the story a goofy, smart love letter to childhood adventure and enduring friendship.

Top 10 Overall

Rank Title Author Imprint Units 1 The Late Show Michael Connelly Little, Brown 53,956 2 The Whistler (mass market) John Grisham Dell 38,050 3 Camino Island John Grisham Doubleday 23,735 4 The Woman in Cabin 10 Ruth Ware Scout 21,265 5 House of Spies Daniel Silva Harper 20,112 6 Milk and Honey Rupi Kaur Andrews McMeel 19,770 7 Dangerous Milo Yiannopoulos Dangerous Books 18,678 8 Wonder R.J. Palacio Knopf 16,360 9 Lilac Girls Martha Hall Kelly Ballantine 14,623 10 The Whistler (trade paper) John Grisham Bantam 14,466

All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.
In the wake of the 2017 Womens March and the ubiquitous handmade pink knit hats that were its most distinguishing visual feature, its no surprise that craftivismthe intersection of crafting and activismis having a moment.

Betsy Greer, who wrote her masters dissertation on knitting, DIY culture, and community development, is credited with popularizing the term. She launched the website Craftivism in 2003 and has since written Knitting for Good! (Roost, 2008) and edited Craftivism (Arsenal Pulp, 2014).

The movement gained momentum in 2009, when Sarah Corbett founded the Craftivist Collective as a home for activists like herself who werent satisfied with traditional protest activities like marching and signing petitions. Corbett recently ran a successful crowdfunding campaign via Unbound to self-publish How to Be a Craftivist (Oct.), reaching 156% of her funding goal with 760 backers. Its one of several forthcoming titles that continue the conversation about how crafting can fit in with community activism.

Jamie Chalmers, whose The Mr. X Stitch Guide to Cross Stitch is due out in August from Search Press, started working as Mr. X Stitch in 2008 and honed his understanding craftivism through several collaborations with Corbett. He, too, ran a crowdfunding campaign, raising money on Kickstarter to launch XStitch, billed as a cross stitch magazine for the modern world. Having exceeded his 6,000 goal to raise more than 14,000, he published the first issuefeaturing an excerpt from Corbetts book and an article by Greerin July.

Chalmers, who has more than 29,000 Instagram followers, regularly combines cross-stitch with international humanitarian work; the Stitch for Syria project, for example, donated three wall hangings to a program that teaches embroidery to Syrian refugees. He also uses his platform to promote initiatives such as Fine Cell Work, an organization that trains inmates in the U.K. to do skilled, creative needlework. He believes in cross-stitch as a tool for social change because, he says, its a slower and more thoughtful alternative to clicktivism.

Resist and Persist

A number of titles spring directly from current discussions around feminism and womens roles in society. Feminist Icon Cross-Stitch by Anna Fleiss and Lauren Mancuso (Running Press, Oct.) includes 20 embroidery patterns that depict Beyonce, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michelle Obama, and Gloria Steinem, among others, as well as 10 patterns featuring text such as Nevertheless, she persisted and Smash the patriarchy!

Shannon Lee Connors, an editor at Running Press, conceptualized the book in response to the energy she saw after the 2016 presidential election and, she says, the renewed interest in traditionally feminine arts, and the rise of womens social and political clubs.

Jayne Parsons, publishing director at Bloomsbury, worked with several contributors on Protest Knits and Really Cross Stitch (both Oct.), the first new titles from Bloomsburys revived Herbert Press imprint, which focuses on arts and crafts. Parsons says she was inspired by the Womens March pussyhats and the Boundless Across Borders action held on Inauguration Day, when women in El Paso, Tex., and Juarez, Mexico, braided their scarves and hair together to protest the proposed border wall between Mexico and the U.S.

Id rather try to change the world with a funny cross-stitch or a sarcastic pair of mittens than with fear, guns, and bombs, Parsons says. The projects in Protest Knits include a Trump pincushion and so-called shy anarchist socks, with the anarchist symbol as a repeating border pattern above the ankle, therefore easily hidden. Really Cross Stitch includes patterns with sayings including Were not nasty women, were revolting and The oceans are risingand so are we.

Heather Marano and Lara Neel, coauthors of Crafting the Resistance (Skyhorse, Aug.) are taking their activism a step further, donating 10% of their royalties from the book to Planned Parenthood. Women, in particular, Marano says, have always turned to crafts as a sometimes subtle, sometimes pointed way to express their political views. Their book incorporates various disciplinessewing, knitting, hot-iron transfer, stenciling, needle felting, wet felting, basic quilting, and crochetfor projects including clear vinyl totes that allow quick passage through security at protests, a T-shirt that identifies the wearer as a bleeding heart, and small knitted ornaments to hang publicly with protest signs.

Rockport, part of the Quarto Group, is reaching out to the next generation of activists with Amazing Women by Anne Bentley (Dec., ages 812), part of its Scratch & Create series. The book is packaged with a two-sided scratch-off tool that allows users to reveal the names and full-color illustrations of Marie Curie, Billie Holiday, Yayoi Kusama, and others, with biographical details on each facing page.

Mary Ann Hall, who edits the Scratch & Create series, says that the activity could appeal to the adult coloring book audience, too, because of its meditative quality. Its a very similar process to coloring, Hall says, but sort of in reverse.

Artist Renee Rominger has her own take on girl power. She began selling embroidered feminist slogans through her Etsy store, Moonrise Whims, in 2014, and the following year was mentioned prominently in a Time article, What Hillary Clintons Campaign Can Learn From Etsy. In September, Page Street will release Romingers Edgy Embroidery, a book of 25 patterns.

Lauren Knowles, associate editor at Page Street, says that Rominger pushes back on the traditionally feminine art of embroidery by pairing the florals for which the craft is known with blunt statements including dont be a prick and can u not. In doing so, Knowles says, she challenges crafters to rethink quaint embroidery stereotypes and perhaps, by extension, other cultural stereotypes as well.

Catherine LaSota is a writer in New York. She earned her M.F.A. in sculpture from Parsons School of Design and runs the LIC Reading Series in Queens.

Below, more on the subject of hobbies and crafts books.

Social Fabric: Crafting Books 20172018

To connect with their hands-on readership of fiber artists, crafting publishers are getting creative online.

Write On: Crafting Books 20172018

In a time of rapid-fire media and tossed-off tweets, books on hand lettering teach readers to slow down their words and pick up a pen.
Embroidery, knitting, cross-stitch, and other crafts are natural stars on social media, where many practitioners have developed large followings of fans who log on to see their latest projects. And though strong social stats can boost almost any authors stock with an acquiring editor, hobbies and crafts authors and publishers are especially suited to making use of social platforms, where they can post tutorials, respond to feedback on patterns, and encourage a community of like-minded crafters to buy their books.

Social Studies

Ravelry, which launched in 2007, is one of the most popular social networking services for crafters. Kristin Nicholas, author of Crafting a Colorful Home (Roost, 2015), describes the site as the Facebook of knitters and crocheters. It has more than 7.2 million registered users worldwide, and some 800,000 of them are active in a given month.

If a pattern is available in a published book, its page typically will include a buy button and a WorldCat library link for the book. Community users can post works in progress as well as finished projects; if users discover issues with a pattern, they can submit corrections to the site.

With knitting and crochet books, sometimes there are errata, Nicholas says. So if theres a problem with your pattern, you can upload the fix.

Nicholas uses the site to market her self-published patterns and her book with Roost; shes among several of the publishers designers with patterns on Ravelry. And Roost plans to make a Ravelry page for Nicholass next book, Crafting a Patterned Home (Apr. 2018).

Jennifer Urban-Brown, an editor at Roost, had already been using Ravelry as a resource for personal craft projects when she suggested that the publisher use the platform to promote Hilary Grants Knitting from the North (2016). By contrast, Roost senior marketing manager Claire Kelley had never used Ravelry before pursuing it as a promotional tool.

One of the things about the crafting world is that each practice comes with its own vocabulary, Kelley says. Exploring Ravelry helped Kelley to understand the vocabulary of knitting culture. You have to fill out all these fields on Ravelry and be versed in the lingo, Kelley says, because consumers use these fields to search patterns. For example, is the pattern seamed or seamless? Worked flat or in the round? Kelley was also able to see people favoriting and engaging with the patterns she posted right away.

Elizabeth Martins, a public relations manager at DIY and hobby publisher Fox Chapel, says that when the company released a clutch of knitting titles in 2013 and 2014, Ravelry was a useful vehicle for introducing our books to a readership of devoted knitting fans.

Mary Beth Temple, who has worked on craft books for Interweave, Soho Publishing, and Taunton, among others, published Arm Knitting with Fox Chapel in 2014. Ravelry projects land very high in the search engines because the site is so big and so active, she says. Its free marketing.

Not long after Fox Chapel released the knitting titles, Martins says, the publisher turned its attention to the adult coloring book trend, and to sites including Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for promotions. Another coloring book publisher, Andrews McMeel, has looked beyond those established platforms to market its books. The company partnered with Meredith Corporation to develop Posh Coloring Studio, which launched in May with 1,000 designs from its Posh Coloring Book line. Shelly Barkes, senior brand manager at Andrews McMeel Universal, says that the publisher had been seeing its coloring book sales decline, even as social media analytics showed continued interest in the trend. So Andrews McMeel took its coloring pages online.

The Posh Coloring Studio site gives members access to previously published as well as exclusive designs, though some Posh content will only be available in book form, including Inspired by Nature and Coloring 2018 Day-to-Day Calendar (both Aug.). Coloring Studio members get a discount on books purchased via the site.

Storey Publishing, which maintains active accounts on all of the expected platforms, is launching a proprietary online feature of its own. Sara Delaneys Design Your Own Crochet Projects (Oct.) will be complemented by an online crochet calculator tool with multiple formulas.

Each calculator corresponds with a section of the book, says Alee Moncy, associate director of publicity. The calculators replicate the basic elements of the formulas in the bookroutine figures such as the number of skeins needed for a pattern or the total surface area of a hatand are meant as a companion to, not a substitute for, the book itself. The print and e-book editions will include links to the calculator. Storey will promote the tool on its website, as well as on Ravelry, where it will run an ad and create a page that indexes all of the patterns in the book.

Watch and Learn

Publishers in all kinds of categories use YouTube for promotion, with book trailers and author interviews, but hobbies and crafts publishers are uniquely positioned to use YouTube to enhance their books: tutorial videos can pique interest in a new concept or provide instruction for an especially tricky pattern. Having a telegenic author demonstrate a technique doesnt hurt, either.

Scholastic imprint Klutz will again create instructional videos to accompany its forthcoming Klutz Jr. kits, a book-plus line for ages four and up, including the August titles My Fantastic Foam, My Pom-Pom Pet Shop, My Fairy Wish Kit, and My Little Night Light. Netta Rabin, v-p of product development for Klutz, says that the goal is providing a step-by-step so that readers can understand the how and feel confident to make something on their own.

For the videos that Klutz posts on its YouTube page, which has more than 2,300 subscribers and almost one million views on more than 100 videos to date, the Klutz team creates storyboards that focus on particular product features. Klutz also outsources some of its YouTube coverage of some products to brand ambassadors with significantly larger followings than that of Klutzs channel. DisneyCarToys, with more than five million subscribers, recently posted an instructional video featuring four Klutz Jr. products. It was viewed more than 750,000 times in two weeks.

Zakka Workshop, which translates and publishes Japanese craft books, patterns, and kits, has posted just two videos to its YouTube channel. One of them, which demonstrates how to install a clasp in a coin purse, has garnered more than 20,000 views in less than a year.

In part because of the success of this video, Zakka Workshop is publishing The Purse Clasp Book in September, which will be packaged with enough hardware for two projects. A new video, offering instruction that covers all 14 of the books designs, will be released close to the pub date.

In 2016, C&T Publishing made a concerted effort to revamp its YouTube presence, creating an in-office studio and producing videos during Quilt Market, a multicity festival where many of its authors gather. The tutorials require a bit of work, but theyre worth it, says digital marketing and PR manager Lynn Merrill, who estimates that, on average, C&T sees a 20% increase in book sales when it posts a video about the book. C&Ts most popular YouTube video is Printing on Fabric Tutorial with Lynn Koolish, with nearly 60,000 views to date.

Merrill likens instructional videos in the craft industry to other kinds of tutorials, like learning how to change a tire, and emphasizes the importance of tagging videos so the desired audience can find you. She hopes to double the annual number of videos made by C&T in 2018.

Making Connections

In addition to partnering with their publishers, many crafters self-promote on their own websites, offering tutorial videos and marketing in-person workshops.

Quilter Angela Walters, who has written several books for C&Ts Stash imprint, launched her YouTube channel at the end of 2013; she has more than 27,000 subscribers, and her most popular video has more than 450,000 views. When Stash releases Walterss Free-Motion Meandering in October, the publisher will make Walterss relevant videos available on its YouTube channel as well.

Another example is artist Peggy Dean, whose Lettering in the Whimsical Woodlands, her first book with HCI, pubs in November. Dean maintains an active blog, The Pigeon Letters, and responds to every fan email (she receives more than 100 a day). Her Instagram account of the same name has 110,000 followers.

Social media has opened up everything, says Dean, who self-published her first book, The Ultimate Brush Lettering Guide, earlier this year, after winning a teaching contest for her class with the online learning platform Skillshare. That book has sold more than 11,000 copies in trade paperback, per NPD BookScan.

Dean will promote Lettering in the Whimsical Woodlands with 10 days of giveaways and her regular Thursday live chats on Instagram. Her online persona is fairly confessionalshe shares personal challenges and discusses the joy and purpose she derives from craftingso HCI, known more for self-help and spirituality titles, was a natural fit for her.

They reach out to people who are struggling, and who want to find resources, Dean says of HCI. Its a trend throughout the world of craft publishing, tooif a knitter is stuck on a tricky row or a quilter wants pattern inspiration, theres someone out there, online, who can help.

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Sometime before dawn on March 27, 2016, a 25-year-old American named Colin Madsen walked out of a cabin in eastern Siberia. His three friends, with whom hed planned to hike in the nearby Sayan Mountains just hours later, were asleep in the house, oblivious to his exit.

Eight days later, his body was found by a search party outside of Arshan, the tourist town 200 kilometers southwest of Irkutsk where the group had been staying.

It remains unclear precisely how Madsen ended up dead beneath a large tree, his body resting on its back on wilted spring vegetation with an extended left arm and clenched fists.

Investigators in the Siberian region of Buryatia, where Madsens body was discovered, opened a murder investigation, a standard procedure in missing-persons cases.

They eventually concluded hed been taking drugs -- an illegal cannabinoid -- with his friends shortly before he vanished sometime between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. and that he froze to death after wandering out of the cabin dressed only in light clothing.

But Madsens family was almost immediately suspicious of that conclusion.

Madsen's mother, Dana Calcutt, had traveled to Arshan shortly after her son vanished to participate in the search. On April 6, two days after his body was discovered, she wrote on Facebook that she believed authorities were trying to cover up the ineptitude that occurred here before we came and the pressure to find him was accelerated.

Fifteen months later, Calcutt believes there is even greater reason to suspect foul play in her sons death.

I think something happened, and they didnt want it to appear that an American had been murdered in Russia.

An analysis she commissioned from U.S.-based forensic scientists who examined a range of case materials has concluded that there is strong evidence that her son was physically abused and died in the process.

I think something happened, and they didnt want it to appear that an American had been murdered in Russia, Calcutt told RFE/RL.

A Trusting Person

Madsen, who arrived in Irkutsk from Missouri in 2013, was an avid and experienced hiker who fell in love with the physical beauty of the region. According to those who knew him, he enjoyed his studies at the state linguistics university in Irkutsk, a major industrial city on the edge of the worlds largest and deepest freshwater body, Lake Baikal.

Madsens love of the outdoors had led him to volunteer with environmental groups in the area, Calcutt said.

He helped build hiking trails around Lake Baikal for a Russian nonprofit called The Great Baikal Trail and volunteered with local activists from Greenpeace, participating in several protests. Months before his death, Calcutt said, he had received a warning letter from local authorities about his participation in the protests.

The American student and his Russian friends frequently ventured out into the Siberian wilderness, occasionally landing in challenging situations, such as difficult routes after dark with no obvious landmarks in sight. But Madsen was conscientious about preparation and knew how to stay safe in the mountains and forests, according to his family and friends.

On the day he disappeared, he and his three hiking mates -- two Russians and another American -- were set to head out on a 3.5-kilometer hike they had mapped out. They turned the lights out at 2 a.m., planning to wake three hours later and set off at 7 a.m.

But when the others awoke at 5 a.m., Madsen was gone. His backpack and other items had been left behind.

Arshan is a popular weekend destination for people looking to spend time outdoors along the banks of the Kyngarga River. One member of the group told RFE/RL it is unlikely that Madsen slipped out into the night and subsequently went to party with some other night owls in the area.

But he was a trusting person, the friend said on condition of anonymity, citing concerns about potential retribution from authorities.

Its possible he may have been hoodwinked and jumped, the friend added.

The injuries on the body and the tearing of his clothing do indicate that the victim was in some sort of fight.

When Madsen didnt show up by 7 a.m., his friends began to panic. They scoured the village for any sign of him and then went to the local police precinct house, which was closed. In the evening, they finally managed to contact police, and officials from the Investigative Committee -- the Russian analogue of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation -- soon arrived in Arshan.

Madsens friends say investigators first pressured them to confess to killing their friend in a drug-and-booze-fueled fight and hiding the body. They became irritated after learning that the hikers were teetotalers, the member of the group told RFE/RL.

If there was ever any serious consideration by authorities that Madsens friends were involved in his death, it went nowhere. The Buryatia regional branch of the Investigative Committee said in May 2016 that it would open a criminal case against unidentified members of the group based on alleged drug possession and use.

On April 1, the day she arrived in the area, Calcutt and a translator provided by Madsens university met with a police officer in a town near Arshan. The officer, she said, yelled and spat, insisting that Madsen was gay -- which Calcutt said he wasnt -- and insinuated that there had been some sexual orgy. Then he insisted on knowing how much money Madsen had, according to Calcutt. The translator, she said, got into a yelling match with the officer.

The other American with Madsen at the time, a man identified as Lucas Fagre, did not respond to requests from RFE/RL for comment. But last year, after Madsen went missing, he told a Missouri television station that the circumstances surrounding the disappearance were strange.

"On the one hand, it seems kind of like him, for him to just leave like that. But I dont know. Just a lot of things are off," Fagre said.

Asked about Madsens case, the U.S. State Department issued a brief statement.

We have closely monitored local authorities investigation into the cause of his death. We refer you to the Russian authorities on their investigation, an official told RFE/RL in an e-mail, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. We have no power to conduct investigations on Russian territory.

Flat On His Back

It took a search party that involved volunteers eight days to find Madsens body about 1.5 kilometers outside Arshan. Someone involved in the search appears to have snapped a photograph of his corpse that was leaked to the sensationalistic Russian news site Life.ru.

To Calcutt, who had arrived in Arshan four days after her son went missing, the photo helped highlight what she considered inconsistencies in details that had been emerging from the investigation -- including that he was wearing a T-shirt and succumbed to the cold. In the photograph, Madsen is wearing a long-sleeve blue shirt, which Calcutt called a thermal shirt.

If anyone knows Colin, he had an incredible tolerance to cool weather, Calcutt wrote.

She added that he was not huddled or covered with leaves but flat on his back in grass with his sleeves pushed up, his boots unlaced, no socks on, his eyes and mouth open. He was not in snow but on the grass under a tree.

He would have never walked to a place in the pitch dark with his shoes unlaced, no socks, and when he was leaving for a climb in just a few hours that he was so excited about, Calcutt wrote in the April 6, 2016, post.

She suggested her son may have left the cabin to use an outdoor toilet and that if Colin did any drugs [which we don't know] he would have smoked marijuana and that was hours before this event occurred. There was no alcohol involved.

Investigators found Madsen's wallet, containing cash, and his U.S. passport at the scene, suggesting he was not the victim of a robbery.

Suspicious Circumstances

In July 2016, some three months after her sons death, Calcutt returned to the Arshan district and obtained the Russian autopsy and toxicology reports, as well as crime-scene photos.

A Russian drug screening included in investigative materials seen by RFE/RL came back negative in tests of his hair, blood, and nails. But it states that Madsens urine test revealed the main urinary metabolite of cannabis products, with a concentration of 16.6 nanograms per milliliter.

Other suspicious circumstances include injuries all over [Madsens] body" that are not explained by running through the woods and injuries on his hands and wrists that indicate that the victim had been held.

For context, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) threshold for that urinary metabolite -- known as 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol -- is 150 nanograms per milliliter. Anything below that and WADA-accredited laboratories are not required to report an adverse analytical finding.

Atholl Johnston, a toxicology expert at Queen Mary University of London, told RFE/RL that the concentration that was found in Madsens urine, according to the Russian investigation, suggests he could have smoked or ingested cannabis up to several days prior to his disappearance.

But he said it was definitely not a large amount. The traces could have remained in his urine for several days if his body were outside in cool temperatures, Johnston added.

A laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis also conducted a toxicology test on Madsens liver. It came back negative for a range of drugs, including cannabis, according to a copy of the report obtained by RFE/RL.

Johnston said, however, that if the Russian investigation is to be believed, the negative test could be a result of how the samples were handled -- or that any concentration found was considered too small to report.

A television network in Buryatia quoted a regional Investigative Committee official as saying on the day that Madsen's body was found that the dead student and his group were using drugs over the course of the day.

But authorities conducted a drug screening on at least one other member of the group that Madsen had been staying with and planned to hike with. That test, which was conducted three days after Madsens body was found and seen by RFE/RL, came back negative for controlled substances.

Calcutt and her husband, University of Missouri professor Mick Calcutt, proceeded to commission an independent examination of their sons death.

They reached out to the Colorado-based Independent Forensic Services, which has worked on several high-profile U.S. criminal cases and also generated some local controversy over the firms credentials.

The firms Dutch-born forensic scientists examined a range of materials related to the case, according to a copy of the report seen by RFE/RL. These materials included video and documents from the Russian autopsy, the Russian toxicology report, crime-scene and U.S. autopsy photos, and the U.S. autopsy report.

The experts, Richard Eikelenboom and Selma Eikelenboom-Schieveld, observed that the reported stiffness of Madsens body at the crime scene -- such as his seemingly clenched fists -- suggested that he may have been alive for several days after his disappearance.

After eight days, one would expect this to be absent, they wrote.

They added that based on weather conditions and temperatures, it is very unlikely the victim was lying in the forest for eight days and that one would expect greater damage to his body from animals had it been at the site for that period of time.

It is unlikely that the victim died on the location where he was found, the analysis states.

Other suspicious circumstances include injuries all over [Madsens] body" that are not explained by running through the woods and injuries on his hands and wrists that indicate that the victim had been held.

The injuries on the body and the tearing of his clothing do indicate that the victim was in some sort of fight, Eikelenboom and Eikelenboom-Schieveld conclude.

The regional Investigative Committee branch in Buryatia did not respond to an RFE/RL request for comment on Calcutts criticism of the investigation.

Calcutt told RFE/RL that she is drafting a letter to send to the White Houses Russia point person, Fiona Hill, seeking assistance in the matter and that she plans to send the same letter to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Asked whether she believes her son may have been still alive when she arrived in Russia to join the search, Calcutt said: I don't know for certain when Colin was killed, but I do fear it was while I was in Arshan.
Ukrainian officials and local residents moved to stabilize conditions in the freshly recaptured southern city of Kherson, as Russian symbols were being torn down and with the restoration of Ukrainian radio and television service and a new police presence.

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 action on November 12 came after months of occupation by Russian forces following their unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February and as Ukrainian and Western officials hailed Kyivs latest extraordinary battlefield success and Moscows strategic failure.

As jubilant Kherson residents awoke the morning following the arrival of the first Ukrainian troops, Ukraines military said it was putting stabilization measures in place to ensure safety.

Ihor Klymenko, chief of the National Police of Ukraine, said about 200 officers were at their posts in Kherson and that checkpoints had been set up. Authorities also began seeking out any evidence of possible Russian war crimes, he said in a Facebook post.



The Ukrainian communications watchdog said national TV and radio broadcasts had resumed in the strategic southern city and officials said aid supplies had begun to arrive from nearby regions.

Social media postings on November 12 showed local residents removing memorial plaques put up by Kremlin-installed authorities during the occupation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials warned that while special forces had entered central Kherson, the full deployment of Ukrainian troops was still under way and that some Russian soldiers could have shed military uniforms for civilian clothing and remained in the city.

Even when the city is not yet completely cleansed of the enemys presence, the people of Kherson themselves are already removing Russian symbols and any traces of the occupiers stay in Kherson from the streets and buildings, Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

But he said that medicine, communications, social services are returning. Life is returning.

WATCH: Local residents welcomed Ukrainian soldiers into Snihurivka on November 10, as advance forces of the Ukrainian military recaptured the town in the southern Mykolayiv region.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, speaking to world leaders at an ASEAN summit in Cambodia, warned that the celebratory mood could turn grim with the possible discovery of war crimes evidence in Kherson.

Such evidence was discovered after Russian troops pulled out of the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions months ago.

Every time we liberate a piece of our territory, when we enter a city liberated from the Russian Army, we find torture rooms and mass graves with civilians tortured and murdered by the Russian Army in the course of the occupation of the territories," he said. "Its not easy to speak with people like this. But I said that every war ends with diplomacy and Russia has to approach talks in good faith.

The White House on November 12 hailed Russias withdrawal from Kherson as an "extraordinary victory" for Ukraine.

"It does look as though the Ukrainians have just won an extraordinary victory where the one regional capital that Russia had seized in this war is now back under a Ukrainian flag -- and that is quite a remarkable thing," U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters as he accompanied President Joe Biden to the ASEAN summit.

Sullivan said that the Russian retreat would have "broader strategic implications," including relieving the longer-term threat by Russia to other southern Ukrainian cities such as Odesa.

"It's a big moment, and it's due to the incredible tenacity and skill of the Ukrainians, backed by the relentless and united support of the United States and our allies," Sullivan said.

Asked about reports that the Biden administration has started to press Zelenskiy to explore negotiations with Moscow, Sullivan said Russia, not Ukraine, was the side that has to decide whether or not to go to the table.

"This whole notion, I think, in the Western press of, 'When's Ukraine going to negotiate?' misses the underlying fundamentals," Sullivan said.

Russia, he added, continues to make "outlandish claims" about its self-declared annexations of Ukrainian lands, even as it retreats from Ukrainian counterattacks.

"Ultimately, at a 30,000-foot level, Ukraine is the party of peace in this conflict and Russia is the party of war. Russia invaded Ukraine. If Russia chose to stop fighting in Ukraine and left, it would be the end of the war. If Ukraine chose to stop fighting and give up, it would be the end of Ukraine," he said. "In that context, our position remains the same as it has been and fundamentally is in close consultation and support of President Zelenskiy.

Separately, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on November 12 that Moscow's "strategic failure" in Kherson will sow doubt among the Russian public about the point of the war in Ukraine.

"Russia's announced withdrawal from Kherson marks another strategic failure for them. In February, Russia failed to take any of its major objectives except Kherson," Wallace said in a statement. "Now with that also being surrendered, ordinary people of Russia must surely ask themselves: 'What was it all for?'"

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
Toomaj Salehi's lyrical support for protesters in Iran has landed him behind bars before, but this time the popular rapper's fortune-telling has fans and family members fearing for his life.

Just days before his September 30 arrest, the 32-year-old Salehi released his latest music video, in which he makes foreboding predictions about the future of Iran's clerical regime if it continues its violent crackdown against ongoing anti-government demonstrations.

"I am the predictor, the fortune teller," he raps in the video for Omen, which shows him reading the patterns left in his coffee cup and warning that brute force will not prevail.

"I saw a cage in the coffee grounds -- a lion was hunting a jackal," he explains, alluding to a fairy tale about wisdom defeating physical strength. "We will rise from the bottom and target the top of the pyramid."

Salehi goes on to warn that the regime's protectors -- including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Basij paramilitary forces, the Intelligence Ministry, and the state media -- will all get their day in court.

Salehi followed up on the new video by posting on social media images of him standing alongside protesters and chanting against security forces in his native city in Isfahan Province. The rapper, an ethnic Lur who was arrested last year after releasing other songs critical of the government, offered to turn himself in if protesters detained in his hometown of Shahinshahr were released.

In subsequent posts, he called the provincial authorities "cowardly vermin" and "scum who suppress and arrest [innocent] people."

Shortly afterward, Salehi went missing and has not been heard from since.

State media reported on September 30 that Salehi had been arrested, and a news agency close to the IRGC published a photo of the blindfolded rapper inside a car.

A short video later released by a press club associated with Iran's state broadcaster purports to show the rapper admitting he made a mistake.

But the reports' claims he had been caught while "illegally exiting the western borders of the country" have been fiercely disputed, and the video confession has been labeled a fake by some and a coerced confession by others.

Family members as well as Salehi's official Twitter account have said the rapper was, in fact, arrested in the southwestern Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, hundreds of kilometers from Iran's western border.

In a statement, Salehi's uncle Eghbal Eghbali said his nephew was in the province's city of Borujen on the morning of September 30 when he wrote saying "suspicious things" were happening outside his home. Soon after, Salehi stopped communicating. Eghbali said he learned from Salehi's neighbors and friends that security personnel had arrived to take the rapper away.

Later on September 30, a prosecutor in nearby Isfahan Province was quoted by the Meezan news agency, which is close to Iran's judiciary, as saying Salehi was arrested "in one of the provinces of the country." The prosecutor alleged the rapper had played a key role in "creating disturbances and inviting and encouraging the recent disturbances in Isfahan Province and in Shahinshahr."

The official IRNA news agency, meanwhile, quoted a judiciary official from Isfahan Province as saying Salehi stood accused of "propagandistic activity against the government, cooperation with hostile governments, and the formation of illegal groups with the intention of creating insecurity in the country."

Thousands of Iranians, many of them from the younger generation, have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died shortly after being arrested for allegedly violating Iran's hijab law requiring that women cover their hair.

As the protests have continued, the authorities have intensified their crackdown, resulting in the deaths of at least 305 people, including 41 children, according to the latest figures released by the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) on November 6.

Salehi is among the hundreds of prominent young voices, including activists, artists, and athletes, who have been arrested for speaking out against the states bloody crackdown on the protests. Overall, activists estimate thousands of people have been arrested by the authorities since the rallies erupted.

Faced with a potential existential threat to Iran's clerical rule, 227 of 290 Iranian lawmakers this week called for even greater force by urging the judiciary to "deal decisively" with those behind the protests.

In recent years, Salehi has gained notoriety for his open opposition to the country's leadership, using his music and social media presence to take on issues that resonate with Iranian youths.

In the song Normal, he highlights the effects of poverty, saying "Our children sleep hungry at night" and asking Iran's leaders how their conscience can let them sleep.

The song Rathole, released in 2021, accuses members of the media and art community both inside and outside Iran of being an "ally of the tyrant," a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In another song, he blasts Tehran's close relationships with Moscow and Beijing, asking: "Haven't you robbed us enough? Now, you want to give away half [of our resources] to China and the rest to Russia."

Salehi was detained in September 2021 after security agents raided his home in Isfahan, with Human Rights Watch decrying the detention of the artist for "exercising his right to freedom of expression."

Salehi was charged with "spreading propaganda against the state," but after more than a week was released on bail. In January, he was sentenced to six months in prison but was released on a suspended sentence in February.

While out, he continued his work and released Omen amid the states increasingly violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.

"Someone's crime was dancing with her hair in the wind," he raps. "Someone's crime was that she was brave and criticized."

Listing a litany of violent acts carried out by the authorities against protesters, Salehi asks, "How many young people did you kill building a tower for yourself?" and predicts that next year, the 44th year of the clerical regime's rule, will be its "year of failure."

Salehi's arrest has led to widespread condemnation inside and outside Iran, and his advocates have spread the #FreeToomaj hashtag on Twitter to shed light on his situation.

His family has said they do not know Salehi's whereabouts or health, leaving them wondering if he is even alive.

But the authorities have shed some light on the fate of another Iranian rapper arrested shortly before Salehi. The judiciary announced on November 7 that Saman Yasin, a rapper from Kermanshah Province -- a northwestern region with a significant Kurdish population and that has been a focus of the government crackdown -- has been accused of waging "warfare" against Iran and acting against the country's security.

Based on reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, with contributions by RFE/RL senior correspondent Michael Scollon
Pakistans deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has named his brother, Shahbaz, as his successor and nominated former Oil Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as an interim premier.



"I support Shahbaz Sharif after me, but he will take time to contest elections, so for the time being I nominate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi," Sharif said on July 29 in a televised speech to his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The move comes following the resignation of Sharif on July 28 that was announced shortly after the country's Supreme Court ordered his removal from office in connection with corruption charges stemming from the Panama Papers leak in 2016.



Abbasi is set to be rubber-stamped as placeholder in a parliamentary vote, with the ruling PML-N party holding a strong majority in the 342-seat legislature. Abbasi, 58, is seen as a staunch Sharif loyalist. It was not immediately clear when the vote would take place.



The interim leader would be in power for at least 45 days until Shahbaz Sharif steps down as the head of the Punjab government and contests a by-election to the National Assembly.

Shahbaz Sharif, 65, has been in charge of Punjab since 2008. He has built a reputation as a competent administrator and has so far been unscathed by the corruption allegations engulfing his brother's family.



Opposition leader Imran Khan, who spearheaded the corruption complaint against Sharif, condemned the ousted premiers choice of his brother to eventually succeed him.



Sharif is insulting the nations intelligence and making a mockery of democracy by nominating his brother, Khan tweeted on July 29.

The Supreme Court court ruling came immediately after an investigative panel alleged that Sharif's family could not account for what it said was vast wealth in offshore companies.

Sharif has denied any wrongdoing.

The five-judge panel's unanimous decision, issued amid tight security in the capital, Islamabad, and Sharif's immediate resignation has plunged the nuclear-armed nation into a political crisis.

Raja Zafarul Haq, a top leader of Sharifs Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, said that the deposed prime minister will attend the meeting on July 29.

Geo TV reported that Sharif recommended his brother as his replacement as prime minister in a meeting held with senior party leaders after the Supreme Courts verdict.

Among possible allies to replace Sharif in the short term are members of his outgoing cabinet, including Defense Minister Asif Khawaja and Petroleum Minister Shahid Abbasi.

If elected, the interim leader would be in power for at least 45 days until Shehbaz steps down as the head of the Punjab government and contests a by-election to the National Assembly.

Shahbaz Sharif, 65, has been in charge of Punjab since 2008. He has built a reputation as a competent administrator.

Pakistani media report that Shahbaz has in recent years presented his country at several international forums, including the United Nations.

No prime minister has completed a full term in power in Pakistan since the country gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

Sharif, 67, is among the major political casualties of the Panama Papers leaks that brought offshore finance under the spotlight.

Documents from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm that were made public in April 2016 revealed that three of Sharifs four children owned offshore companies and assets not shown on his family's wealth statement.

Sharif's son Hussain Nawaz at the time acknowledged owning offshore companies but insisted they used legal money to set up businesses abroad.

In 2016, Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped down amid public outrage that his family had sheltered money offshore.

One of Sharif's two previous stints as prime minister was cut short by a military coup in 1999.

He returned from exile to win a convincing victory in parliamentary elections in 2013.

With reporting by Reuters, AP and Geo TV
Russian President Vladimir Putin has pardoned two women who were convicted of high treason for sending text messages to Georgian acquaintances about the movement of Russian military equipment on the eve of the brief 2008 Russian-Georgian war.



Two separate decrees pardoning Annik Kesyan and Marina Dzhandzhgava were posted on the Russian governments website on July 29.



The documents, dated July 28, say Kesyan and Dzhandzhgava would not have to complete the rest of their sentences, citing humanitarian principles for the decision.



The two women were found guilty of treason for sending text messages about the movement of Russian military hardware near the border with Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia shortly before the war broke out in August 2008.



Kesyan was reportedly sentenced to eight years in prison, while Dzhandzhgava was given a prison term of 12 years.



In March, Putin pardoned a third woman, Oksana Sevastidi, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in March 2016 for texting in 2008 about a Russian train full of military equipment heading toward Abkhazia.



Interfax reported that three other women were arrested in Russia since 2013 for sending text messages to Georgia during the brief war. The news agency didnt provide the womens names.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax
A Russian man accused by U.S. officials of running a $4 billion money laundering scheme using the virtual currency bitcoin has been transferred to a Greek prison.

Aleksandr Vinnik, 38, was arrested on July 26 in Greece at the request of U.S. law enforcement officials, who unsealed an indictment against him on the same day.

A Greek official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Vinnik on July 28 was being held at a Greek prison as U.S. officials seek his extradition.

The U.S. Justice Department said in its indictment that Vinnik, who is also known by the nickname Sasha Vemye, was the operator of BTC-e, a currency exchange used to trade the digital bitcoins since 2011.

In Russia, its one of the biggest such exchanges known for people looking to cash out large amounts of bitcoins into currency like dollars, euros, or rubles.

U.S. officials allege that Vinnik and BTC-e obtained funds from a Japan-based bitcoin exchange which collapsed in 2014 after being hacked.

A sizeable portion of the stolen funds stolen from the exchange, known as Mt Gox, were deposited in accounts controlled, owned, and operated by BTC-e and Vinnik, according to the indictment

Vinnik is the latest Russian citizen to be accused by the United States of cyber-related crimes, arrested in third countries, and then subject to extradition proceedings.

Moscow has complained vociferously that U.S. officials were kidnapping Russian citizens abroad.
South Korean car maker, and a subsidiary of Hyundai, Kia Motors announced today the appointment of top level management. Kookhyun Shim is their new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Manohar Bhat as Head of Marketing & Sales and Yong S. Kim as Executive Director, effective immediately.

This news comes in time ahead of the 2018 Auto Expo, where Kia will be having their first interaction with the public, their future customers. It is here that the company is expected to reveal their road map for India and what all cars it plans to launch in India.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Kookhyun Shim as MD & CEO for India, commented Han-Woo Park, President at Kia Motors Corporation. We recognize India as a major market with huge potential for our world-class cars. We are confident that Shims leadership will provide the direction we need to grow our presence in what is one of the worlds biggest new car markets.

Kia has big plans for India, commented Kookhyun Shim, new MD & CEO of KMI. The Indian economy is at an inflection point, and I am excited to work in an emerging market thats forecasted to become the third largest globally by 2021. India is a crucial market for all global automotive brands, and I aim to replicate the success that Kia has seen in many other major markets. Kias brand slogan, The Power to Surprise, will be present in everything we do here.

The appointments of Manohar Bhat and Yong S. Kim to pivotal senior roles at KMI is the next step in forming an experienced top management team who will realize KMIs vision and the big plans we have for India, commented Mr. Kookhyun Shim, MD & CEO of KMI. Kia is a car brand associated globally with being dynamic, youthful and extremely stylish. With a positive can-do attitude lying at the heart of everything that we do, Manohar is a perfect fit for our brand ethos and I am confident he will take us from strength to strength, he added.

Commenting on his joining KMI, Mr. Bhat said, It is indeed a challenging role and I am excited about making Kia the preferred choice in all segments across India. We are confident that we will be not only capture substantial market-share once we launch the brand, but also be a player who delights and has the power to surprise its new Indian customers.

Though Kia has not revealed what cars will be showcased at the Auto Expo, it is expected that the Kia Provo Concept may be revealed while Kia Stinger will also be on display. Kia Picanto and Kia Rio Sedan are also two models in the company lineup which could make their way to India.

Kia Motors is also in the process of setting up a local plant at Anantapur District in Andhra Pradesh. Work on this new plant commenced last year. This upcoming plant is being built at an investment of US$1.1 billion and will have annual production of 300,000 cars with a range of vehicles built exclusively for the Indian consumer.

Production is set to commence from mid 2019. The plant will be spread over 23 million sq ft and will house various facilities which will include stamping, welding, painting and assembly.
Yamaha Fazer 25 is based on the naked FZ25, which was launched earlier this year at a starting price of INR 1.2 lakh, ex-showroom. Based on this motorcycle, Yamaha India has now launched Fazer 25, which will take on the likes of Bajaj Pulsar RS 200, Honda CBR250R, Mahindra Mojo, KTM RC 200, upcoming TVS Apache 310 and more.

Launched back in August, deliveries of this new Yamaha motorcycle have not yet started in all cities. Recently, Yamaha India Facebook uploaded a photo stating that the deliveries have now commenced.

In terms of design, new Fazer 25 is a more sporty looking bike with a muscular fairing in the front, split seats, LED taillights at the rear, alloy wheels, disc brakes, and wider tubeless tyres for extra grip, among other things.

To be available in dual tone colours, the loud fairing design is the highlight. The bike in the images has a matte red fairing with bits of black and gold on it. There is also the FAZER 25 lettering. In fact, there is enough hint of gold shade in the bike, which makes it fit to be a three tone colour scheme, rather than a dual tone. The headlight unit is underlined by strip of LEDs. The number plate is housed on the fairing, which also provides slot for rear view mirrors. The fairing also houses LED turn indicators on its sides.

Powering the new Yamaha Fazer 250 will be a 250cc single cylinder engine, the same engine, which powers FZ25 in India. This fuel injected, air-cooled engine is mated to a five speed gearbox, and delivers peak power of 20.9 PS / 8000 rpm, and a peak torque of 20 Nm at 6000 rpm.

Most of the parts remain same as seen on FZ25 (suspension, tyres, alloys, brakes, instrument cluster, etc). Just like FZ25, ABS is not on offer. Two colour options are on offer  Soulful Cyan and Rhythmic Red. Price starts from INR 1.28 lakh, ex-Mumbai and INR 1.29 lakh, ex-Delhi.

Yamaha Fazer 25 Exhaust Note

Yamaha Fazer 25 Soulful Cyan Colour

Yamaha Fazer 25 Rhythmic Red Colour

[wp-review id=242747]
TARKIO  More than a dozen more homes were placed under mandatory evacuation orders issued Friday morning as the Sunrise fire in Mineral County lapped down the east side of Sunrise Mountain.

Residents of Quartz Creek were told by Mineral County Sheriff Tom Bauer at 11 a.m. to leave immediately, though most if not all of them were already gone by then. Sheriffs office and fire personnel were on scene to aid.

This proactive order is being issued considering the fire creeping down towards Quartz Creek, winds predicted to increase this afternoon, and to allow occupants enough time to vacate the area, said a notice posted on the Inciweb website.

Quartz Creek, to the south of the fire on Sunset Mountain, joins two other areas under Stage 3 evacuation orders. Sunrise Creek and Quartz Flats, on the north and northwest flanks, were evacuated on Wednesday. A fire official estimated those two areas involved about half the 60 structures deemed threatened.

Verde Creek, the next drainage to the northwest, remains on Stage 2 ready status, while Rivulet several miles to the east on the Clark Fork River has been placed on Stage 1 evacuation notice.

According to Fridays evacuation order, if residents choose to ignore it you must understand that emergency responders may not be able to assist you and no other persons will be allowed into the area.

The Sunrise fire has grown from 2,800 acres to 3,700 acres to 4,300 acres in the past two days. Fire crews in Shawn Pearsons Northern Rockies Type II Incident Management Team have been working since the team took over on Sunday to shore up point protection for homes on both sides of the fire while crews worked to cut open roads and build dozer lines along the ridge above Quartz Creek.

The Red Cross is staffing an evacuation center at Superior High School, 11 miles to the northwest of the fire front.

Fridays forecast called for 20 mph westerly winds with extremely dry fuels and no moisture for the foreseeable future. According to the latest Inciweb report, 423 personnel are on the Sunrise Fire, which remained the nations highest priority fire for the third consecutive day.

As part of the Stage 3 Quartz Flats evacuation, Quartz Flats Campgrounds east and west off Interstate 90 have been closed.

A public meeting is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. at Lozeau Lodge, off Exit 55 on Interstate 90.

***

By Friday afternoon residents in the mandatory evacuation zone had left their homes, and seven helicopters continued to collect water from the Clark Fork River to pour on the flames. A huge smoke column rose from the mountainside, obscuring the sun and covering everything below with an orange hue.

The Red Cross evacuation center at Superior High School was set up with cots for evacuees, but no one had arrived to stay for the night. Only one person slept there a couple of nights ago, according to those staffing the center.

Fire crews from Tuscon, Arizona, sought shade behind their vehicles at a helicopter base at the Superior airport while helicopters entered and exited. They've been there since July 21, but the fire continues to grow.

The terrain is too steep for crews to directly approach the fire, said Chuck Turner, helicopter base manager. Crews are making bulldozer lines and fire breaks instead. A few days ago, 70 firefighters had to be evacuated on helicopters while working near the fire because their road access was burned, Turner said.

Paddleboarders floated down the Clark Fork despite the nearby fire, while helicopters retrieved water from the river. A Boeing Chinook, which holds up to 2,000 gallons of water, flew overhead toward Missoula, where it's based.

***

Lolo Peak fire: A helicopter was to bring in firefighters to put out the three spot fires around the Duffy Lake area, according to information posted on the Lolo National Forest Facebook page.

Heavy equipment crews and hand crews continued work on the primary control line from Mormon Peak Road, south along the Highway 93 corridor, improving and extending the line south of Highway 12 and west of Highway 93, according to Inciweb, the national firefighting information site. Once completed, this line will provide firefighters a secure location to work from when the fire moves toward the valleys, according to the Inciweb report.

The fire is being managed by the Northern Rockies Incident Management Team led by Incident Commander Greg Poncin, and is under the jurisdiction of the Lolo and BItteroot National Forests and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. The Lolo Peak fire stood at 2,900 acres Friday.

Sapphire Complex: Four fires up Rock Creek in Missoula and Granite counties had combined to burn nearly 9,100 acres on both sides of the drainage by Friday. That was up from 7,600 two days earlier, with a majority of recent growth attributed to burnout operations. Cloud cover prevented an infrared flight Wednesday night, according to InciWeb, which said 395 personnel were on the fire Friday.

The Goat Creek fire, burning east away from Rock Creek Road, is the largest by a few acres at 4,540. Back burns began Thursday afternoon above Brewster Creek to reduce fuels and even the fires edge to better control its advance.

Little Hogback, at approximately 4,400 acres, is burning on the northeast flank. Heavy equipment worked to build and improve old fuel breaks.

Between those two is the smaller Sliderock fire of roughly 500 acres. It was moving slowly to the east. Hotshot crews built line from the south side to a trail on the east side.

A second hotshot crew arrived Friday to fight the Cinnabar 3 fire in or on the edge of the Welcome Creek Wilderness. It was spotted Sunday from the air and has been attacked by smokejumpers, helicopters and ground crew. The fire was approximately 20 acres in size, with line around about 80 percent of it.

Arlee fire: A young child playing with matches Thursday ignited a fire at Kellys Salvage Yard south of Arlee and near U.S. Highway 93. It was believed to have charred at least 250 wrecked cars, said C.T. Camel, fire prevention specialist for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

They found about 20 match sticks, lit and unlit, on property adjacent to the salvage yard, Camel said, who added the boy and his guardian both admitted to starting the fire.

An investigation is ongoing, and its results will be turned over to Lake County. A Type I helicopter and slurry bomber were used to douse the fire, which broke out in midafternoon and was under control a few hours later. Three ambulances and engines from Arlee, Frenchtown, St. Ignatius and Ronan fire departments were on the scene, as were four CSKT engines.

Liberty fire: Camel said there was little change on the fire burning on the Flathead Indian Reservation east of Arlee in the South Fork Jocko Primitive Area. Four ground crews are on the fire, which is at approximately 600 acres. A nearby fire of about 31 acres dubbed the Black fire also experienced little growth. Both were lightning-caused in a July 15 storm, though the Black fire didnt pop up until several days later, Camel said.

Rice Ridge fire: The fire burning near Florence Lake northeast of Seeley Lake has been slowed by retardant dropped around it earlier in the week. The fire is burning in fairly inaccessible terrain and is not threatening any homes or communities.
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An illustration of NASA's proposed Deep Space Gateway in orbit around the moon. A NASA request for information seeks ideas from industry on how to develop the gateway's power and propulsion module.

WASHINGTON  NASA is taking the next small step in the development of a proposed Deep Space Gateway in cislunar space by requesting information about one of its core modules.

A request for information (RFI), released by NASA July 17, seeks information from industry regarding their capabilities to build a Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), a module that will produce electrical power and provide chemical and electrical propulsion for the gateway.

As currently envisioned by NASA, the PPE would be the first element of the gateway, launched as a "co-manifested payload" on the first crewed Space Launch System launch, taking advantage of the additional payload capacity provided by the Block 1B version of the SLS. The PPE would go into what is known as a near rectilinear halo orbit around the moon within 100 days of launch.

The RFI describes the basic capabilities and requirements of the PPE as envisioned by NASA. The module would have a 15-year lifetime and be equipped with a solar electric propulsion system that uses xenon propellant, as well as chemical thrusters that use hydrazine. The module would weigh no more than 7,500 kilograms in order to be a co-manifested SLS payload, including a tank carrying 2,000 kilograms of xenon.

The PPE will produce electrical power, being able to transfer up to 24 kilowatts to other modules later added to the gateway. It will also support communications in several bands, as well as an optical communications demonstration payload.

In the RFI, NASA asks potential respondents their ability to produce the PPE, including a "conceptual schedule, rough order of magnitude engineering cost estimate, and recommended contract vehicle" for it. NASA expects to have the PPE delivered to the Kennedy Space Center for integration onto the SLS in December 2021, which would support a launch of the Exploration Mission 2 flight now expected for some time in 2022.

NASA hopes that the module can build on early design work for the Asteroid Redirect Mission, whose robotic spacecraft would have also used solar electric propulsion to travel to and from a near Earth asteroid. "Identify a conceptual design you would use as a starting point and what changes you believe are warranted to address PPE capability statements," NASA instructs industry in the RFI.

NASA also asks industry to address several other issues in the RFI. These range from the potential use of green propulsion alternatives for the hydrazine thrusters on the spacecraft and the use of a commercial spacecraft bus for the module to discussion of potential cost-sharing approaches for its development.

"Through the RFI, we hope to better understand industry's current state-of-the-art and potential future capabilities for deep space power and propulsion," said Michele Gates, director of the PPE effort at NASA Headquarters, in an agency statement. Gates formerly was director of the Asteroid Redirect Mission program.

The agency is moving quickly with the RFI. Released July 17, NASA seeks responses by the end of the day July 28. The agency will conduct a question-and-answer session online about the RFI July 24.

In addition to the RFI, NASA plans to release a broad area announcement in August, under its existing Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program, related to development of the PPE. That announcement will seek proposals for short-term studies to address technical issues involving the PPE, including its power and propulsion systems as well as other key subsystems.

The RFI and planned NextSTEP studies are NASA's next tentative steps in the development of the Deep Space Gateway concept. NASA describes the gateway as "a lunar-orbiting, crew-tended spaceport" that would also include a habitation module and docking ports for the Orion crew spacecraft and separate cargo spacecraft. The gateway's additional modules would also be delivered to cislunar space as co-manifested payloads on future SLS launches.

Crews would visit the gateway on Orion missions, spending up to several weeks there before returning. The PPE would allow the gateway to change orbits, including moving closer to the moon to support any potential later missions on the lunar surface.

NASA also foresees using the gateway to support the Deep Space Transport, a future spacecraft that would carry crews into deep space in preparation for Mars missions NASA seeks to fly in the 2030s.

The gateway and the transport, though, are currently only concepts and not formal NASA programs. The gateway remains under study, and NASA did not request funding for it as a standalone program as part of its fiscal year 2018 budget request.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
Bir-Lehlu, July 28, 2017 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, called on the African Union to intervene in order to expedite the release of the Sahrawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik group and all Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan prisons.

In a letter sent to Mr. Alpha Conde, current Chairman of the African Union, concerning the developments to resolve the conflict between the Saharawi Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco, the President of the Republic focused on the Moroccan mock trial which, on 19 July 2017, issued harsh sentences against a group of Sahrawi citizens, known as the prisoners of Gdeim Izik, which are hardly different from those had been issued by the Moroccan military court in 2013, ranging from twenty years to life imprisonment.

The President of the Republic, who referred to the Moroccan military attack on the camp of Gdeim Izik, the unjust arrest and detention for seven years, absence of evidence and use of torture and false records and testimonies, pointed out that the Kingdom of Morocco showed clear intransigence and insistence on violating international law and international humanitarian law, recalled that their only fault was demanding the implementation of the charter and resolutions of the United Nations and the African Union.

The President of the Republic stressed that the African Union must intervene to ensure the adherence of Morocco to the letter and spirit of the application of the provisions of the constitutive act of the African Union and its resolutions and recommendations as well as the rest of its institutions on the conflict between the two member states, the Saharawi Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco. (SPS)

062/090/TRA
A 17-year-old boy has been arrested after a protest over the death of Rashan Charles in east London turned violent.

A large group clashed with riot police and threw items at them as tensions came to a head in Dalston following a peaceful protest earlier in the day.

Protesters  many of whom were masked  were angry at how a man had died after being chased and apprehended by police last week.

Objects including mattresses and furniture were placed in the middle of Kingsland Road at around 3.40pm before violence broke out.

Protesters barricade road over man's police chase death

One police officer suffered an injury to his eye, while a member of the public was knocked off his bike and assaulted while he attempted to pass through.

Police said a number of parked vehicles were damaged, while several fires were started and items including bottles were thrown at officers.

Shop owners were forced to pull down shutters amid the mayhem, with some people barricading themselves in a Tesco store. The crowd eventually dispersed just before midnight.

Detective Superintendent Claire Crawley, from Hackney Borough, said: "The disorder of last night was separate from the peaceful protest at Stoke Newington Police Station that was held earlier that day.

"Thankfully nobody was seriously injured, but there was inconvenience to local residents and road users and damage caused to vehicles, a cash machine and a number of windows.

"We will always support the right to lawful protest but behaviour such as that seen last night cannot be tolerated."

Protesters hurl bottles at police in Dalston during a Rashan Charles protest

A teenage boy was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm. He was taken to an east London police station where he remained in custody on Saturday afternoon.

One man who witnessed the situation unfold from his bedroom window, said: "An enormous police presence with dogs, horses, riot gear and helicopters working their way up Kingsland High Street and pushing the crowds back.

The road blockade was set on fire as the protest continued later into the evening / PA

"It wasn't the same crowd to what I'd seen on social media from earlier in the day, just people in masks with fireworks setting mattresses alight.

At around 10pm, a lorry was seen driving through the barricade, hitting a line of wheelie bins in its path.

Police horses are drafted in to the riot / PA

Rashan Charles, 20, was chased into a shop by officers in Dalston on Saturday night. He was restrained on the floor and later died after apparently swallowing an object and being "taken ill".

The police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, has since launched a probe into his death.
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POLSON  They had been on his trail since April.

The 570-pound male grizzly had developed a taste for livestock in the Mission Valley this spring and had gone on a killing spree that included pigs, a 350-pound calf and llamas.

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes biologist Stacy Courville set culvert traps three different times earlier this year in an attempt to capture the bruin. In those attempts, they captured three other younger grizzly bears that were apparently drawn to the kills. All of those younger bears were moved to remote areas and released.

Last Sunday, Courville captured the large male that was causing the trouble east of Polson.

It was the second time in less than three years that he had been caught in a culvert trap. Unfortunately, it was his last.

The bear was euthanized Tuesday.

Grizzly bears are showing in places that they hadnt before in the Mission Valley.

Just like grizzlies out past the Rocky Mountain Front, we now have grizzlies going as far as the Flathead River, Courville said. We have had them on the Bison Range. The entire Mission Valley is now generally considered grizzly bear habitat.

The decision to kill a grizzly bear is never an easy one, Courville said.

If more people living in grizzly habitat made an effort to protect with electricity anything that might attract a bear to their property, that difficult decision would be less frequent.

This spring and summer has been an especially busy one for Courville and the people who work with him to manage grizzly and blacks bears on the reservation.

They trapped and relocated their first grizzly in April after a young sow decided to take a stroll through the town of St. Ignatius. That was the earliest grizzly bear that Courville has trapped in the 22 years that hes worked for the tribes.

We had such an extended winter this year that there was still snow on the ground when the bears appeared, Courville said. And then it turned hot and dry so fast. The huckleberries and service berries are starting to come on now. Maybe it will quiet down some.

While Courville said Mission Valley grizzlies typically dont have beef on their menu, they are drawn to smaller domesticated animals like goats, sheep, llamas and especially chickens.

Once they get started on chickens, its something they are always looking for, especially family groups or sows with cubs of the year, Courville said. Chickens are just easy. Since 2010, it seems like everyone has chickens.

Its also very easy for people to do their part in keeping their chickens safe and bears wild.

Electricity works very well for that, Courville said.

Courvilles crews use electrified netting that can be set up in less than an hour as a temporary measure while landowners put together their own electric fencing. The Defenders of Wildlife have a cost-share program that pays 50 percent up to $500 to keep bears away from attractants, like chicken coops.

Its been a great program and highly successful, said Jonathan Proctor, Defenders of Wildlifes Rockies and Plains Program director.

Now in its eighth year, the program has helped about 300 landowners in western Montana, Idaho and Wyoming keep grizzlies away from livestock and other bear attractants.

People need to contact us first so we can help build something with the specs that will work for grizzlies, Proctor said. We need to make sure that its done right.

Weve had overwhelming success rates with this program, he said. The electric fence has eliminated problems that people were having with bears. In a couple of cases, the landowners have video of a bear coming up to a new electric fence and running away after touching it. Its a highly effective and very affordable way to protect peoples property and grizzly bears by keeping them out of trouble.

The program is dependent on funding, but, so far, there has been enough to pay for the projects that have been approved.

Lou and Karl Klenck of Bigfork recently turned to Talmo after a black bear keyed in on a cherry tree in their backyard. It was the first time in 15 years of living on the mountainside overlooking Flathead Lake that they had a bear hit the fruit trees they planted in their backyard.

The bear wasn't just eating cherries off the tree, it was literally tearing it apart to get at the fruit.

The Klencks tried a number of different methods to drive the bear off, but it just kept coming back.

"It was totally unafraid of us," Lou Klenck said. "We were only 20 feet from the fruit trees yelling at it. It was completely unconcerned. ... We didnt' want to have that bear put down because of it, though. There were bears here before we were."

So they asked for some help and were directed to the Defenders program and Talmo. He explained what they needed to obtain to build an electric fence powerful enough to turn away a bear, and then showed up to help build it.

Then they left for more than a week on a trip. When they returned, they found that none of their fruit trees had been disturbed.

"This really seemed to be the answer," she said. "We were very pleased with the response we received from Russ and the organization. We didn't want the bear to be put down, but we also wanted the fruit off of our trees. It appears like we'll get both of those things."

CSKTs Wildlife Program Manager Dale Becker said the tribes' biologists work really hard to find ways to ensure that bears and humans can co-exist on the same landscape.

Its tough, Becker said. These guys work every day in the summer with odd hours to try to keep these bears on the straight and narrow. Sometimes you just run out of options.

Since 2010, Courville said the tribes have been forced to remove three family groups and send them to zoos when they became habituated to people after being drawn to homes by one attractant or another. In one case, the sow bear had to be shot and killed after someone shot it in the face with a shotgun and she abandoned her cubs.

I hate it when I have to destroy a bear over a chicken worth a dollar or even $20, Courville said. Securing attractants will go a long way in helping make sure that doesnt have to happen.
In 2017 the new French built Mistral amphibious ships were seen at sea using American Avenger air defense vehicles tied down on the flight deck providing protection from helicopters and other low flying aircraft. This may be a temporary solution until other systems can be installed. This improvisation was necessary because when the two French built Mistral-class LPDs (amphibious assault ships) entered service in Egypt ( June and September) it was noted that French modification for Egyptian service left out the Russian helicopters and air defense systems Russia was going to add once the LPDs were delivered. These ships were originally meant for Russia and are equipped with Russian electronics that were installed in France. The Russian aircraft for the Egyptian Mistrals will be delivered later but the Russian air defense weapons (two turrets each armed with eight Igla-S short range heat seeking missiles, and two AK-630 six-barrel 30mm auto cannon) were to be installed when the Mistrals reached Russia. Having any work on the Mistrals done in Russia is not possible now because of the sanctions that prevented Russia from getting the Mistrals in the first place. The Mistrals in French service each have two Simbad missile turrets each armed with two Mistral heat-seeking missiles with performance similar to the Igla-S and the Stinger used in the Avenger. The French Mistrals also had four 12.7 machine-guns mounted around the ship to deal with small boats and such.

What is different is that Avenger is basically a hummer vehicle with a turret mounted in the back. The turret contains two missile pods (each containing four Stingers). Under one pod there is a .50 caliber (12.7mm) machine gun. The weapons operator has use of a FLIR (night vision device) and a laser range finder to locate targets. The machine-gun, however, can't be depressed sufficiently to fire at ground targets towards the front of the vehicle. The missiles have a range of 4.5 kilometers, the machine-gun about half that. The Avenger is not built to be used on a ship although apparently the guidance system is considered capable of operating from a ship that would be moving in ways an Avenger on land would never encounter. Another problem is the damage constant exposure to salt water (from being stationed on the flight deck). Each Egyptian Mistral has four Avenger vehicles assigned to it and not more than three at a time were seen tied down on the flight deck. By moving the Avengers down to the hanger deck when the ship is not at sea or in a combat zone the salt damage can be limited. Moreover the Egyptian Army has been using the Avenger since 2008 when they received 25 of them and know how to take care of them.

Moreover the while the Avenger machine-guns cannot be used against small boats the Egyptians can simply mount similar machine-guns around the Mistral like the French do. Meanwhile while some amphibious ships mount one or two systems similar to the AK-630, the Egyptians are probably considering a system popular with Western warships. That would be the American Phalanx, which is found on many Western warships and dominates the market for this sort of weapon. The AK-630 was based on Phalanx.

France sold the two Mistrals to Egypt in 2014 after cancelling the sale to Russia and refunding money already paid for the Mistrals. The delivery to Russia was cancelled in mid-2014 just months before the first ship was to be delivered. This was because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2014 and the subsequent international arms embargo. While Egypt is the official buyer, Saudi Arabia provided most of the cash and helped get France and Russia to expedite the deal. Meanwhile France refunded nearly $1.1 billion to Russia and sold the two ships to Egypt for about the same amount. But France has incurred higher costs because of the delays and the need to remove some Russian modifications to the Mistrals before the ships can be delivered to Egypt.

The Mistrals are 21,300 ton vessels that carry 16 helicopters, 13 tanks, four landing craft, a battalion of troops and can reach speeds of 35 kilometers per hour. Egypt is apparently going to use Russian helicopters for their Mistrals. Each LPD will have eight Ka-52K attack helicopters, four Ka-29TB transport helicopters and four Ka-29TP ASW (anti-submarine warfare) helicopters.

Three Mistrals are in service with the French Navy. The Mistrals are similar in design to the American LPD 17 (San Antonio) class. Both classes are about 200 meters (620 feet) long, but the LPD 17s displace 25,000 tons. The French ships are more highly automated, requiring a crew of only 180, versus 396 on the LPD 17. On long voyages on the open ocean, the Mistrals require as few as nine sailors and officers on duty ("standing watch") to keep the ship going.

The Mistrals carry 450 marines, compared to 700 on the LPD 17s. Both have about the same room for helicopters, landing craft, and vehicles (2,650 square meters for the Mistrals, room for nearly a hundred trucks or 60 armored vehicles). Both have hospitals on board, with the Mistrals being larger (69 beds). The American ships however have more sensors installed and larger engines (and thus higher speed). The LPD 17 can also handle vertical takeoff jets like the Harrier or F-35. The French believe that the smaller complement of marines, who are very capable troops, are sufficient for most missions. And the smaller number of people on the ship makes it possible to provide better living and working conditions. This is good for morale and readiness.

One thing American marines and sailors notice about the Mistral is the wider and higher corridors. This came about because the ship designers surveyed marines and asked what ship design improvements they could use. It was noted that in older amphibious ships, the standard size (narrow) corridors were a problem when fully equipped troops were moving out. That, plus the smaller crew size, makes the Mistrals appear kind of empty but very roomy. That, plus larger living accommodations (made possible by the smaller ship's crew and marine complement), make the Mistrals a lot more comfortable. The French ships can be rigged to accommodate up to 700 people for short periods, as when being used to evacuate civilians from a war zone.

When the crisis in the Ukraine generated threats of economic retaliation against Russia France held off on delivering the two ships. Russia demanded either a refund or delivery of the vessels and France ultimately refunded the money. Efforts to find another buyer began in 2014 and there were quite a few interested nations (India, Singapore, Egypt, and Canada.)

Egypt has been a regular customer for French weapons. Recent purchases include a dozen Rafale fighters a frigate and four Gowind class corvettes. In the past Egypt bought Mirage 2000 and Mirage V fighters, Gazelle scout helicopters and Alpha Jet training aircraft from France.

The two Mistral-class ships will make Egypt a major naval player in the Eastern Mediterranean. They also will help cement a growing relationship with France as a major supplier for the Egyptian military. Unmentioned is the fact that Egypt depends on Saudi Arabia for the money to pay for all these new French weapons. The way things work between Egypt and Saudi Arabia is that Egypt is now expected to come to the aid of Saudi Arabia in case of an emergency. The two Mistrals could quickly carry Egyptian troops to Saudi Arabia in the event of an emergency.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/07/2017 (1932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A group of local kids are spending their summer months in the kitchen learning about nutrition, and about how they can cook and prepare healthy meals.

I think what Im learning will help keep me healthier and in better shape, 11-year-old Jasmin Schmik said, while working on a recipe in the kitchen at the Steinbach Family Resource Centre on Wednesday.

Schmik is one of 17 local children between the ages of eight and 12-years-old enrolled in the Kids in the Kitchen Program at the Steinbach Family Resource Centre.

DAVE BAXTER | THE CARILLON Jasmin Schmik cuts up some tomatoes while working on a recipe in the kitchen at the Steinbach Family Resource Centre on Wednesday. The 11-year-old is one of 17 children currently taking part in the resource centres Kids in the Kitchen Program.

The centre offers the program on Wednesdays and Thursdays as a way to get boys and girls into the kitchen at a young age.

Mikayla Plett, who runs and teaches the program, believes it could have lifelong advantages for those who take part.

Each session has a learning objective so they learn about kitchen safety, food safety, the Canada Food Guide, and today its learning about balanced meals, Plett said. And often they are going to leave here and take that home and it will become a lifelong knowledge, so its really important.

It provides them with important knowledge and skills about something that is so important.

Plett said the class is split up into a learning component and then a hands-on cooking component, but it always goes back to the goal of teaching kids about proper nutrition and balanced meals.

They are definitely learning about proper nutrition, and we cook something every class so its hands-on learning, Plett said.

For Schmik there has always been a love of cooking and baking, but she said the class gives her a chance to better understand what is going into the foods she cooks and eats.

She now wants to take those skills she is learning into her teen and adult years.

This gives me good practice for now and for when I am older, Schmik said. I always want to be cooking and making my own meals.
The Charles Schwab Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services. The company operates in two segments, Investor Services and Advisor Services. The Investor Services segment provides retail brokerage, investment advisory, banking and trust, retirement plan, and other corporate brokerage services; equity compensation plan sponsors full-service recordkeeping for stock plans, stock options, restricted stock, performance shares, and stock appreciation rights; and retail investor and mutual fund clearing services, as well as compliance solutions. The Advisor Services segment offers custodial, trading, banking, and support services; and retirement business and corporate brokerage retirement services. This segment provides brokerage accounts with equity and fixed income, margin lending, options, and futures and forex trading; cash management capabilities comprising third-party certificates of deposit; third-party and proprietary mutual funds; plus mutual fund trading and clearing services; and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including proprietary and third-party ETFs. It also offers advice solutions, such as managed portfolios of proprietary and third-party mutual funds and ETFs, separately managed accounts, customized personal advice for tailored portfolios, and specialized planning and portfolio management. In addition, this segment provides banking products and services, including checking and savings accounts, first lien residential real estate mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit, and pledged asset lines; and trust services comprising trust custody services, personal trust reporting services, and administrative trustee services. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had approximately 400 domestic branch offices in 48 states and the District of Columbia, as well as locations in Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The Charles Schwab Corporation was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Westlake, Texas.
LAKESIDE  The news was both good and worrisome for the crowd of Flathead Lakers.

Nearly 50 of the group gave up a night last week to hear the latest on the challenges facing the lake theyve been working to protect since 1958.

The University of Montanas Flathead Lake Biological Station Director Jim Elser offered the good news that the latest round of sophisticated DNA monitoring showed no evidence that invasive quagga or zebra mussels had set up shop in the pristine waters of Flathead.

But there was a caveat.

Despite the quick action thats been taken since last winters discovery of larvae of the invasive mussels at Tiber and a suspected detection in Canyon Ferry last winter, Elser said theres no way of saying for certain that an infected watercraft hasnt been launched in Flathead Lake.

In fact, Elser said its probably inevitable that it either has happened or will someday.

Considering that, Elser said the worst thing that could happen is for people to just give up and refuse to play an active role in ensuring the destructive mussels dont gain a foothold in the last uninfected major watershed in the country.

With their ability to reproduce quickly with devastating results to infrastructure for hydropower, recreation and municipal waters, Elser and Tom McDonald, the fish, wildlife, recreation and conservation manager for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said everyone who cares about the Flathead Lake drainage has a responsibility to do their part.

Its a new day in boating. Its a new day in fishing. Its a new day for recreation in western Montana, McDonald said. All of you are ambassadors in the fight to keep invasive mussels from spreading here. All of you are boat inspectors.

The Flathead Lakers honored CSKT with the group's annual stewardship award for the tribes quick response to address the threat of the new aquatic invasive species.

The tribes closed all water bodies, other than Flathead Lake, to motorized watercraft or watercraft launched from trailers, and required inspections of all boats using tribal waters. They inspected 3,900 boats at their Polson office and set aside $250,000 from mitigation funding to pay for a new position to lead the aquatic invasive species team and pay for additional efforts to keep mussels out of the watershed.

We knew right from the beginning that this was very serious, McDonald said. There wouldnt be an opportunity for a do-over.

***

Education will be a key in keeping Flathead Lake mussel free.

The notion of cleaning, draining and drying a boat every time its moved from one water body to the next has to become as automatic as putting on a seat belt, McDonald said.

Those prevention efforts can make a difference.

After invasive mussels showed up in the Midwest, the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota took two different routes.

Wisconsin opted for the route of least resistance and didnt make the effort to keep mussels from spreading. As a result, nearly every lake in that state is now infected.

On the other hand, in the State of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota started an educational program and used other efforts to stop the spread of invasive mussels. As a result of that effort, only about 20 lakes in Minnesota have populations of mussels.

Our lives and environment would change for the worse if invasive mussels gained a foothold here, said Flathead Lakers president Steve Russo. The experience in other states can teach us something.

Efforts to inspect boats at the edges of the Flathead Basin are making a difference.

Russo said boaters are learning  sometimes the hard way  that the law requires them to stop at the inspection stations.

He told the story of one boater who zipped by the inspection station only to be pulled over a few minutes later by a Lake County sheriffs deputy. The boater apparently told the deputy he didnt have time for the inspection. The deputy replied that he had the authority to impound the mans boat for 72 hours and fine him $500 for not taking the time.

He decided to go back to the station, Russo said.

***

Technology is also helping in the effort to keep invasive mussels from invading Flathead Lake.

While the states monitoring effort focuses on looking for mussel larvae, Elser said that method is actually a step too late. By the time there are enough larvae to collect, the invasive mussels have already reproduced and gained a foothold.

UMs Yellow Bay Biological Station is hoping to be able to discover the presence of mussels by testing the lakes waters for their DNA.

The station has some of the worlds leading experts in the technology that allows scientists to learn what species are present in water without ever actually capturing one. That technology continues to evolve to the point now that scientists at the Yellow Bay station are testing a monitor that cuts the time necessary to test samples from days to hours.

Environmental DNA is really a mind-blowing capability that we now have available to us, Elser said. Its the only way to find them before they have a chance to reproduce.

If invasive mussels are discovered in the lake early, it offers a chance for people to keep their spread to a minimum. At a lake in New York state, scuba divers were used to harvest as many mussels as possible in the early stages of an infestation.

Elser said that effort has so far kept the mussels from spreading.

Theres some that would say that its impossible to keep them out, Elser said. Im worried that some in state agencies have taken that attitude. Some believe that if one mussel larva finds its way into Flathead Lake, its over.

But thats not true.

For an infestation to occur, some things have to come together for mussels. There has to be a large enough concentration of them to procreate, reproduce and spread.

Its hard to be a mussel larva all by yourself, Elser said.

Thats why early detection is so important.

The station collected 120 samples from 30 sites around the lake in December shortly after the discovery of invasive mussel larvae in the state. That was repeated again in April.

There were no detections in the April sample, Elser said. Thats good news.  We will be repeating that again this summer and in the fall.

McDonald said the 10-foot draw-down that happens every winter at Flathead Lake could turn out to be helpful in stopping small infestations of invasive mussels from gaining that foothold.

There may have been little colonies that started in the fall and then were exposed during the winter draw-down, he said. If you look at the stats and the number of boats coming from all directions, you would have to think the lake has been exposed before. If you were a betting man and was asked which lake had the best chance for invasive mussels to appear, I think you would have to say Flathead.

But now theres been a paradigm change with the discovery of invasive mussels in the state.

McDonald said thats why the tribes required that every boat owner was required to have their boat inspected before it could be launched on waters managed by the CSKT.

It was meant to be a wake-up call to everyone, McDonald said. There were so many people who had never been through a check station. It was all new to them. We wanted them to see that its not a big hardship and have the opportunity to explain to them what is at risk.

People were asleep at the wheel, he said. They needed to wake up. They need to know that they cant be lazy boaters any more.
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A group working to ensure public access to the Jefferson River in a spot 10 miles south of Whitehall is in its last stretch of fundraising before a July 31 deadline.

Members of the Jefferson River Canoe Trail, a local chapter of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, have been working since January to secure money for the new public campsite, temporarily named Waterloo Grove. President Thomas Elpel said Thursday that they had about $6,000 left to raise in order to meet their $270,000 goal.

Currently a private property with limited public access, the 30.5-acre site will be the only substantial piece of riparian public land on the upper Jefferson River where people can walk their dog, go bird watching, or hunt for morel mushrooms, according to a press release from the organization. The details of management of the parcel will be hashed out with local stakeholders, Elpel said, but the plan is to build campsites along the length of the river.

Theres a lot of support, Elpel said. Its really the perfect site for a walk-in fishing access site and a paddlers campsite.

Much of the Lewis and Clark trail winds through land that has since been developed, altering the landscape that the explorers encountered on their travels, but this part of the river actually has retained a lot of the authentic character of the wilderness from when Lewis and Clark came through, said Elpel. Seeing the land up close makes the history of the region less abstract for visitors.

It kind of brings the story alive a little bit more, Elpel said. By acquiring the property, were hoping to preserve the viewshed. Because otherwise, it would turn into McMansions.

The name Waterloo Grove is temporary, Elpel said. The group plans to invite students from nearby Whitehall to rename the site based on the journals of Lewis and Clark. Elpel expects signs to be up around the parcel in the fall.

Elpel said that a grant from the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust thats partially funding the purchase included a stipulation that would ensure public access through the site. That grant, for $195,000, joins a grant from Barrick Gold Corporation for $10,000, the Cinnabar Foundation for $6,500, and NorthWestern Energy for $500 in contributing to the sites price tag. The Jefferson River Canoe Trail had $9,000 in the bank thats going toward the cost, according to Elpel, and raised the remaining funds through mail and online campaigns.

We have a very long list of donors thats growing longer every day, Elpel said.
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Inc., North Point Imports LLC, Ontario L LLC, Philpott Motors Ltd., SAI AL HC1 Inc., SAI AL HC2 Inc., SAI Ann Arbor Imports LLC, SAI Atlanta B LLC, SAI Broken Arrow C LLC, SAI Calabasas A LLC, SAI Chamblee V LLC, SAI Charlotte M LLC, SAI Chattanooga N LLC, SAI Clearwater T LLC, SAI Cleveland N LLC, SAI Columbus Motors LLC, SAI Columbus T LLC, SAI Columbus VWK LLC, SAI Conroe N LLC, SAI Denver B Inc., SAI Denver C Inc., SAI Denver M Inc., SAI FL HC1 Inc., SAI FL HC2 Inc., SAI FL HC3 Inc., SAI FL HC4 Inc., SAI FL HC7 Inc., SAI Fairfax B LLC, SAI Fort Myers B LLC, SAI Fort Myers H LLC, SAI Fort Myers M LLC, SAI Fort Myers VW LLC, SAI GA HC1 LLC, SAI Irondale Imports LLC, SAI Irondale L LLC, SAI Long Beach B Inc., SAI MD HC1 Inc., SAI McKinney M LLC, SAI Monrovia B Inc., SAI Montgomery B LLC, SAI Montgomery BCH LLC, SAI Montgomery CH LLC, SAI Nashville CSH LLC, SAI Nashville H LLC, SAI Nashville M LLC, SAI Nashville Motors LLC, SAI OK HC1 Inc., SAI Oklahoma City C LLC, SAI Oklahoma City H LLC, SAI Oklahoma City T LLC, SAI Orlando CS LLC, SAI Peachtree LLC, SAI Pensacola A LLC, SAI Philpott T LLC, SAI Riverside C LLC, SAI Roaring Fork LR Inc., SAI Rockville Imports LLC, SAI Rockville L LLC, SAI S. Atlanta JLR LLC, SAI SIC Inc., SAI Santa Clara K Inc., SAI Stone Mountain T LLC, SAI TN HC1 LLC, SAI TN HC2 LLC, SAI TN HC3 LLC, SAI Tulsa N LLC, SAI Tulsa T LLC, SAI Tysons Corner H LLC, SAI Tysons Corner I LLC, SAI VA HC1 Inc., SAI VS GA LLC, SAI VS TX LLC, SAI Vehicle Subscription Inc., SAI West Houston B LLC, SRE Alabama  2 LLC, SRE Alabama  5 LLC, SRE Alabama  6 LLC, SRE California 10 LBB LLC, SRE California 11 PH LLC, SRE California  1 LLC, SRE California  2 LLC, SRE California  3 LLC, SRE California  4 LLC, SRE California  5 LLC, SRE California  6 LLC, SRE California  7 SCB LLC, SRE California  8 SCH LLC, SRE California  9 BHB LLC, SRE Colorado  1 LLC, SRE Colorado  2 LLC, SRE Colorado  3 LLC, SRE Colorado  4 RF LLC, SRE Colorado  5 CC LLC, SRE Florida  1 LLC, SRE Florida  2 LLC, SRE Georgia 4 LLC, SRE Georgia 5 LLC, SRE Georgia 6 LLC, SRE Holding LLC, SRE Maryland  1 LLC, SRE Nevada  2 LLC, SRE North Carolina  2 LLC, SRE North Carolina  3 LLC, SRE Ohio 1 LLC, SRE Ohio 2 LLC, SRE Oklahoma  1 LLC, SRE Oklahoma  2 LLC, SRE Oklahoma  5 LLC, SRE South Carolina  2 LLC, SRE South Carolina  3 LLC, SRE South Carolina  4 LLC, SRE Tennessee 6 LLC, SRE Tennessee 7 LLC, SRE Tennessee  1 LLC, SRE Tennessee  2 LLC, SRE Tennessee  3 LLC, SRE Tennessee  4 LLC, SRE Tennessee  5 LLC, SRE Texas 10 LLC, SRE Texas 11 LLC, SRE Texas 12 LLC, SRE Texas 13 LLC, SRE Texas 14 LLC, SRE Texas 15 LLC, SRE Texas 16 LLC, SRE Texas 9 LLC, SRE Texas  1 LP, SRE Texas  2 LP, SRE Texas  3 LP, SRE Texas  4 LP, SRE Texas  5 LP, SRE Texas  6 LP, SRE Texas  7 LP, SRE Texas  8 LP, SRE Virginia - 1 LLC, SRE Virginia  2 LLC, SRM Assurance Ltd., Santa Clara Imported Cars Inc., Sonic 2185 Chapman Rd. Chattanooga LLC, Sonic Advantage PA LP, Sonic Automotive - 1720 Mason Ave. DB LLC, Sonic Automotive 2424 Laurens Rd. Greenville Inc., Sonic Automotive 2752 Laurens Rd. Greenville Inc., Sonic Automotive Aviation LLC, Sonic Automotive F&I LLC, Sonic Automotive Support LLC, Sonic Automotive West LLC, Sonic Automotive of Chattanooga LLC, Sonic Automotive of Nashville LLC, Sonic Automotive of Nevada Inc., Sonic Automotive of Texas LP, Sonic Automotive  1495 Automall Drive Columbus Inc., Sonic Automotive  1720 Mason Ave. DB Inc., Sonic Automotive  2490 South Lee Highway LLC, Sonic Automotive  3401 N. Main TX LP, Sonic Automotive  4701 I-10 East TX LP, Sonic Automotive  6008 N. Dale Mabry FL Inc., Sonic Automotive  9103 E. Independence NC LLC, Sonic Calabasas M Inc., Sonic Development LLC, Sonic Divisional Operations LLC, Sonic FFC 1 Inc., Sonic FFC 2 Inc., Sonic FFC 3 Inc., Sonic Fremont Inc., Sonic Houston JLR LP, Sonic Houston LR LP, Sonic Momentum B LP, Sonic Momentum JVP LP, Sonic Momentum VWA LP, Sonic Resources Inc., Sonic Santa Monica M Inc., Sonic Santa Monica S Inc., Sonic Walnut Creek M Inc., Sonic Wilshire Cadillac Inc., Sonic eStore Inc., Sonic of Texas Inc., Sonic  Buena Park H Inc., Sonic  Cadillac D LP, Sonic  Calabasas A Inc., Sonic  Calabasas V Inc., Sonic  Camp Ford LP, Sonic  Capitol Cadillac Inc., Sonic  Capitol Imports Inc., Sonic  Carrollton V LP, Sonic  Carson F Inc., Sonic  Carson LM Inc., Sonic  Clear Lake N LP, Sonic  Clear Lake Volkswagen LP, Sonic  Denver T Inc., Sonic  Downey Cadillac Inc., Sonic  Fort Mill Chrysler Jeep Inc., Sonic  Fort Mill Dodge Inc., Sonic  Fort Worth T LP, Sonic  Frank Parra Autoplex LP, Sonic  Harbor City H Inc., Sonic  Houston V LP, Sonic  Integrity Dodge LV LLC, Sonic  Jersey Village Volkswagen LP, Sonic  LS Chevrolet LP, Sonic  LS LLC, Sonic  Lake Norman Chrysler Jeep LLC, Sonic  Las Vegas C West LLC, Sonic  Lloyd Nissan Inc., Sonic  Lloyd Pontiac  Cadillac Inc., Sonic  Lone Tree Cadillac Inc., Sonic  Lute Riley LP, Sonic  Massey Cadillac LP, Sonic  Massey Chevrolet Inc., Sonic  Mesquite Hyundai LP, Sonic  Newsome Chevrolet World Inc., Sonic  Newsome of Florence Inc., Sonic  North Charleston Dodge Inc., Sonic  North Charleston Inc., Sonic  Plymouth Cadillac Inc., Sonic  Richardson F LP, Sonic  Sanford Cadillac Inc., Sonic  Shottenkirk Inc., Sonic  Stevens Creek B Inc., Sonic  Volvo LV LLC, Sonic  West Covina T Inc., Sonic  Williams Cadillac Inc., Stevens Creek Cadillac Inc., The Sonic Automotive Family Emergency Fund (SAFE), Town and Country Ford Incorporated, and Windward Inc..

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In a 4-2 vote Tuesday night, Buttes Zoning Board of Adjustment denied a special-use permit that would have given the green light to a residential facility for former criminal offenders.

At issue was whether Criminal Solutions Group Inc.  a nonprofit aimed at preventing recidivism among former criminal offenders by providing a stable living environment  should be able to establish the facility in a light industrial area south of Butte near MSE.

Prior to the zoning board meeting, the nonprofit had already been using the facility at 105 N. Parkmont St., the former site of Jims Custom Gun Works, which consists of a warehouse and 1,600-square-foot residential unit.

Jon Sesso, planning director for Butte-Silver Bow, told The Montana Standard Thursday that zoning rules once allowed business owners to attach residential units to their place of work in the industrial zone.

But that all changed in 1998 when zoning rules were changed so that even caretakers' homes were not allowed in the zone. Existing homes were grandfathered in.

Meanwhile, representatives for Criminal Solutions have said they were unaware of the restriction on residential units.

Phil Keating, the nonprofits chief executive officer, had high hopes for Criminal Solutions.

Keating said Friday that when he learned of residents complaints, he visited and called property owners along Parkmont Street in an effort to assuage their concerns.

Keating, who was convicted of threats in official matters in the 1990s, told The Montana Standard last week that his experience in the criminal justice system is part of what inspired him to create the facility.

On a national basis, recidivism is one of the biggest problems (in the criminal justice system), said Keating. (Criminal Solutions) is an effort to help curb that.

Safeguards at the facility included an employment requirement for residents, an on-site house manager, and a rigorous screening and application process for residents.

But these safeguards didnt pass muster with Butte residents who came to the meeting to speak out against the facility.

Kurt Marthaller, who operates B&B Mini Storage on Parkmont Street, resides there with his wife and two children in a caretakers home built prior to 1998.

Marthaller said he first heard of the facility through a UPS driver and soon issued a complaint to Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Dave Palmer and Buttes sheriff Ed Lester.

I have experience. I know about second chances, said Marthaller, who worked in corrections for 18 years. But when an organization comes in  and you find out (about them) after theyve been there a couple of months, I have concerns about that.

Roger Staley, operations director at Acadia Montana Treatment Center, a psychiatric residential treatment facility for children and adolescents located near the proposed facility on Basin Creek Road, also spoke in opposition.

I want to know what type of parolees theyre going to have there, said Staley, expressing concern that sex offenders might come to reside at the facility.

Julie Becker, who co-owns Becker Landscaping & Design on Parkmont Street, said there are indeed sex offenders living at the facility  a statement backed up by the states sex offender registry, which as of Friday shows three sex offenders listing their address as 105 N. Parkmont St.

I have two little girls who are at that business every single day, and they are scared to death to be there, said Becker, expressing a similar concern. Im scared to death for them. I dont even know if Im going to say I believe in second chances, said Becker.

Two Helena residents who spoke in favor of the facility seemed to indicate they did believe in second chances.

One of them was Frank Crowley, who described himself as a semi-retired attorney.

Crowley said hes been volunteering in and outside Montana prisons for eight years.

One of the greatest frustrations that I see as a volunteer in dealing with individuals on the inside who are so excited to finally be getting out (is that in) Missoula, Helena, Billings, Bozeman, and Great Falls, housing is so tight, said Crowley. To see them come out with a lot of enthusiasm and to see them just sort of sag when they cannot find a place (is frustrating).

In the end, however, the board ultimately sided with the opponents, with board members Rocko Mulcahy, Julie Jaksha, Tyler Shaffer, and Les Taylor voting to deny the special-use permit and Chairman Dave Wing and John Habeger voting for it. Board member Dolores Cooney was absent.

Jaksha said casting her vote wasnt an easy decision and that the deciding factor for her was the lack of local public support for Criminal Solutions and the vagueness of the nonprofits plans for the facility.

I didnt think they were very well prepared, Jaksha told the Standard by phone.

Chairman Wing said he voted in favor of the special-use permit, noting that residential uses are normally considered less impactful than industrial uses.

I was in the minority, he said.

The Standard was unable to reach the other voting board members.

As for Keating, he said he was surprised by the decision but doesnt harbor any hard feelings.

Acceptance is the key, isnt it? he said.

Keating did say he felt bad for residents. It feels like they cant get any traction to get straight.

Criminal Solutions has 30 days to appeal the zoning boards decision in district court.

Keating said he doesnt know yet whether the nonprofit will appeal. In the interim, residents will have to look for other housing options, he said.
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.
The following companies are subsidiares of Sherwin-Williams: Acquire Sourcing LLC, CTS National Corporation, Comex North America Inc., Compania Sherwin-Williams S.A. de C.V., Contract Transportation Systems Co., Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS B.V., EPS Shanghai Trading Co. Ltd., Geocel Holdings, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., Inver East Med S.A., Inver France SAS, Inver GmbH, Inver Industrial Coating SRL, Inver Polska Spoka Z O.O, Inver Spa, Invercolor Bologna Srl, Invercolor Ltd, Invercolor Roma Srl, Invercolor Torino Srl, Invercolor Toscana Srl, Isocoat Tintas e Vernizes Ltda, Isva Vernici Srl, Leighs Paints, M.A. Bruder & Sons, Omega Specialty Products & Services LLC, Oy Sherwin-Williams Finland Ab, PT Sherwin-Williams Indonesia, PT Valspar Indonesia, Paint Sundry Brands, Pinturas Condor S.A., Pinturas Industriales S.A., Piton Paints Limited, Plasti-Kote Co. Inc., Plasti-kote Limited, Productos Quimicos y Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Quest Automotive Products UK Limited, Quetzal Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Ronseal Ireland Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO  Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade Intelectual Ltda, Sherwin Williams Colombia S.A.S., Sherwin-Williams Argentina I.y C.S.A., Sherwin-Williams Aruba VBA, Sherwin-Williams Australia Pty. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams Balkan S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Bel Unitary Enterprise, Sherwin-Williams Belize Limited, Sherwin-Williams Benelux NV, Sherwin-Williams Canada Inc., Sherwin-Williams Caribbean N.V., Sherwin-Williams Cayman Islands Limited, Sherwin-Williams Chile S.A., Sherwin-Williams Coatings India Private Limited, Sherwin-Williams Coatings S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Czech Republic spol. s r.o, Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, Sherwin-Williams Deutschland GmbH, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Ireland Limited, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.r.l., Sherwin-Williams Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Nantong Coatings Technology Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams Nantong Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams Norway AS, Sherwin-Williams Paints Limited Liability Company, Sherwin-Williams Peru S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Pinturas de Venezuela S.A., Sherwin-Williams Poland Sp. z o.o, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings, Sherwin-Williams Realty Holdings Inc., Sherwin-Williams Services Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Shanghai Limited, Sherwin-Williams Spain Coatings S.L., Sherwin-Williams Sweden AB, Sherwin-Williams Thailand Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams UK Coatings Limited, Sherwin-Williams UK Limited, Sherwin-Williams Vietnam Limited, Sherwin-Williams West Indies Limited, Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Southland Paint Company, Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Specialty Polymers Inc., Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, Taiwan Valspar Co. Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Acceptance Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Headquarters Company, The Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing Company, The Sherwin-Williams US Licensing Company, The Valspar Asia Corporation Limited, The Valspar Australia Corporation Pty. Ltd., The Valspar Corporation, The Valspar Corporation Limitada, The Valspar Finland Corporation Oy, The Valspar France Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar France Research Corporation SAS, The Valspar Malaysia Corporation Sdn Bhd, The Valspar Nantes Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar Singapore Corporation Pte. Ltd, The Valspar South Africa Corporation Pty Ltd, The Valspar Switzerland Corporation AG, The Valspar Thailand Corporation Ltd., The Valspar UK Corporation Limited, The Valspar Vietnam Corporation Ltd., UAB Sherwin-Williams Baltic, Valspar Aries Coatings S. de R.L. de C.V., Valspar Automotive Australia Pty Limited, Valspar Automotive UK Corporation Limited, Valspar B.V., Valspar Coatings Guangdong Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings Shanghai Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings Tianjin Co. Ltd, Valspar D.o.o Beograd, Valspar India Coatings Corporation Private Limited, Valspar Industries GmbH, Valspar Industries Ireland Ltd., Valspar Industries Italy S.r.l., Valspar LLC, Valspar Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Valspar Powder Coatings Limited, Valspar Rock Company Limited Japan, Valspar Shanghai Management Co. Ltd., Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, Valspar Uruguay Corporation S.A., Valspar WPC Pty Ltd, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Cigna: Accredo Health Group, Accredo Health Incorporated, Alegis Care, Allegiance Life & Health Insurance Company, Allegiance Re, American Retirement Life Insurance Company, Benefits Management Corp., Bravo Health Mid-Atlantic, Bravo Health Pennsylvania, Brighter, CareAllies, CareCore National LLC, Central Reserve Life Insurance Company, Ceres Sales of Ohio, Choicelinx, Cigna & CMB Life Insurance Company Limited, Cigna Apac Holdings Limited, Cigna Arbor Life Insurance Company, Cigna Beechwood Holdings, Cigna Behavioral Health, Cigna Behavioral Health of California, Cigna Behavioral Health of Texas, Cigna Bellevue Alpha, Cigna Benefits Financing, Cigna Brokerage & Marketing (Thailand) Limited, Cigna Cedar Holdings, Cigna Chestnut Holdings, Cigna Corporate Services, Cigna Data Services (Shanghai) Company Limited, Cigna Dental Health, Cigna Dental Health Plan of Arizona, Cigna Dental Health of California, Cigna Dental Health of Colorado, Cigna Dental Health of Delaware, Cigna Dental Health of Florida, Cigna Dental Health of Illinois, Cigna Dental Health of Kansas, Cigna Dental Health of Kentucky, Cigna Dental Health of Maryland, Cigna Dental Health of Missouri, Cigna Dental Health of New Jersey, Cigna Dental Health of North Carolina, Cigna Dental Health of Ohio, Cigna Dental Health of Pennsylvania, Cigna Dental Health of Texas, Cigna Dental Health of Virginia, Cigna Elmwood Holdings, Cigna Europe Insurance Company S.A.-N.V., Cigna European Services (UK) Limited, Cigna Finans Emeklilik ve Hayat A.S., Cigna Global Holdings, Cigna Global Insurance Company Limited, Cigna Global Reinsurance Company, Cigna Global Wellbeing Holdings Limited, Cigna Global Wellbeing Solutions Limited, Cigna HLA Technology Services Company Limited, Cigna Health Corporation, Cigna Health Management, Cigna Health Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Cigna HealthSpring, Cigna Healthcare Holdings, Cigna Healthcare Mid-Atlantic, Cigna Healthcare of Arizona, Cigna Healthcare of California, Cigna Healthcare of Colorado, Cigna Healthcare of Connecticut, Cigna Healthcare of Florida, Cigna Healthcare of Georgia, Cigna Healthcare of Illinois, Cigna Healthcare of Indiana, Cigna Healthcare of Maine, Cigna Healthcare of Massachusetts, Cigna Healthcare of New Hampshire, Cigna Healthcare of New Jersey, Cigna Healthcare of North Carolina, Cigna Healthcare of Pennsylvania, Cigna Healthcare of South Carolina, Cigna Healthcare of St. Louis, Cigna Healthcare of Tennessee, Cigna Healthcare of Texas, Cigna Healthcare of Utah, Cigna Holding Company, Cigna Holdings, Cigna Holdings Overseas, Cigna Hong Kong Holdings Company Limited, Cigna Insurance Middle East S.A., Cigna Insurance Public Company Limited, Cigna Insurance Services (Europe) Limited, Cigna Intellectual Property, Cigna International Corporation, Cigna International Health Services, Cigna International Health Services BVBA, Cigna International Health Services Kenya Limited, Cigna International Health Services SDN BHD, Cigna International Services, Cigna International Services Australia Pty. Ltd., Cigna Investment Group, Cigna Investments, Cigna Korean Chusik Hoesa, Cigna Laurel Holdings, Cigna Legal Protection UK Ltd., Cigna Life Insurance Company of Canada, Cigna Life Insurance Company of Europe S.A.- N.V., Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York, Cigna Life Insurance New Zealand Limited, Cigna Linden Holdings, Cigna Magnolia Holdings, Cigna Myrtle Holdings, Cigna Nederland Alpha Cooperatief U.A., Cigna Nederland Beta B.V., Cigna Nederland Gamma B.V., Cigna Oak Holdings, Cigna Palmetto Holdings, Cigna Poplar Holdings, Cigna Sequoia Holdings, Cigna Spruce Holdings GmbH, Cigna Taiwan Life Assurance Company Limited, Cigna Walnut Holdings, Cigna Willow Holdings, Cigna Worldwide General Insurance Company Limited, Cigna Worldwide Insurance Company, Cigna Worldwide Life Insurance Company Limited, CignaTTK Health Insurance Company Limited, Connecticut General Corporation, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, CuraScript Inc., E-2 CIGNA CORPORATION - 2018 Form 10-K, ESI Mail Pharmacy Service Inc., ESI Partnership, ESI Resources Inc., Express Scripts Holding Company, Express Scripts Inc., Express Scripts Pharmaceutical LLC, Express Scripts Pharmacy Inc., Express Scripts Strategic Development Inc., FirstAssist Administration Limited, Firstassist Insurance Services Ltd, Great-West Healthcare of Illinois, Grown Ups New Zealand Limited, Health-Lynx LLC, HealthSource, HealthSpring, HealthSpring Life & Health Insurance Company, HealthSpring of Alabama, HealthSpring of Florida, HealthSpring of Tennessee, KDM Thailand Limited, LINA Financial Services, LINA Life Insurance Company of Korea, Life Insurance Company of North America, Loyal American Life Insurance Company, MCC Independent Practice Association of New York, Manipal Cigna Health Insurance Company Limited, Medco Containment Life Insurance Company, Medco Health Services Inc., Medco Health Solutions Inc., NewQuest, NewQuest Management Northeast, Olympic Health Management Services, Oz Parent, PT Asuransi Cigna, Provident American Life and Health Insurance Company, Qualcare, Qualcare Alliance Networks, Qualcare Captive Insurance Company Inc. PCC, Qualcare Management Resources Limited Liability Company, RHP (Thailand) Limited, Scibal Associates, Sterling Life Insurance Company, Tel-Drug, Tel-Drug of Pennsylvania, Temple Insurance Company Limited, United Benefit Life Insurance Company, Verity Solutions Group, Zurich Insurance Middle East, and eviCore 1 LLC.

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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand penned a letter to Defense Secretary Mattis, which was signed by nearly 50 senators. Photo: 2017 The Washington Post/Getty Images

While all eyes were on Senator John McCain during last nights health-care vote, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was seen quietly making her way around the Senate chamber asking for signatures on a letter to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The letter, which was published Friday with 45 signatures, urges Mattis not to impose a ban on transgender troops in the military  at least until hes completed a thorough internal review.

We strongly oppose this policy change, and urge you to advise the President against it, the letter reads. This announcement contradicts existing Defense Department policies, undermines our military readiness, and puts our transgender service members as well as their commanders in an impossible situation.

The Democrats not on this @SenGillibrand letter on transgender troops: Manchin, Udall, Nelson, King (I).



The Republican on it: Collins. pic.twitter.com/4ypIA6AJd0  Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) July 28, 2017

Lawmakers ask Mattis not to separate any service member  until you have completed the assessment that you announced on June 30, have reported back to Congress about any challenges that you foresee in the accession and retention of transgender troops, and determined the Department is unable to mitigate these challenges.

The letter comes in the wake of President Trumps surprise announcement on Twitter that transgender troops would not be allowed to serve in the U.S. military in any capacity. Several Republican lawmakers have criticized the ban (which, by the way, is unconstitutional), but only one signed Gillibrands letter: moderate Susan Collins. The rest of the signatures are from Democrats.

On Thursday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the militarys policy on admitting trans soldiers hasnt changed  There will be no modifications to the current policy until the Presidents direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidance, he wrote in a memo. With this letter, and with legislation she plans to introduce, Gillibrand is reportedly hoping to stop the ban before it starts.
DNA identified a child rape suspect in a 30-year-old Montana case, but a United States Supreme Court ruling and a 200-year-old constitutional principle might block prosecutors from ever taking him to trial.

Three sexual assault charges against Ronald Dwight Tipton should be dismissed because it took prosecutors too long to file them, defense attorney Rob Stephens argued Friday in a Yellowstone County District Court hearing.

He cited the statute of limitations in effect when the alleged crime was committed in 1987. He also said a 2007 state law leveraged by prosecutors to make the charges flies in the face of a 2003 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States that clarified definitions first established in 1798 of the U.S. Constitutions ex post facto clause.

The Montana law allows suspects in sex crimes to be charged after the usual time window if DNA provides a conclusive identity match. But in Stogner v. California, the Supreme Court concluded that people cannot retroactively be convicted of crimes if prosecutors did not file them before the deadlines outlined in law  even if the law later changes.

What is the justification for abandoning the rule of the law? Stephens questioned Friday, noting this case is 30 years old. Statutes of limitation guard against convictions based on faded memories and without the benefit of long-lost evidence, both of which he said would be issues if Tipton were to go to trial.

Science should not run the courtroom, he said. Science should not determine the statute of limitations. Science is not the arbiter of all matters legal.

He said the prosecutors have such a high regard for DNA that they want to disregard the other factors in this case that would make it unlawful to prosecute this man further.

No case more clearly outlines the intent of Montanas DNA law than the charges against Tipton.

On March 20, 1987, a stranger climbed through the bathroom window of a Billings home late at night, walked upstairs and raped 8-year-old Linda Tokarski Glantz three times before leaving. A teenager, Jimmy Ray Bromgard, was initially convicted of the crime and sentenced to prison but was exonerated 15 years later when DNA testing proved his innocence. Billings Police detectives restarted the investigation but found no solid leads until 2014. After being convicted of a drug charge related to a medical marijuana confusion, Tiptons DNA was entered into a national database that produced a match to the cold case.

Over the years, the state has repeatedly changed how long prosecutors have to file charges in sex crimes. In 1987, they had five years from the date of the crime. In 1989, it was changed to five years after a childs 18th birthday. In 2001, that was expanded to 10 years. In 2007 DNA exception was added to the law, allowing charges to be filed against Tipton in 2015.

Judge, Ill level with you, Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito said Friday. This is an exception (to the Stogner ruling) that were asking you to find.

He argued that the Supreme Courts 2003 decision did not take into account the unique weight and conclusiveness of DNA as evidence. Also, unlike the California case, he said all of the original witnesses are available to testify and all of the original physical evidence  except for fingerprints  remains. Twito said thats more than enough for Tipton to have a fair trial.

Theres a public interest in using the power of DNA, he said. We used the power of DNA in this case to exonerate someone. We should use the power of DNA to identify the perpetrators of serious crimes in our state.

Because this is the first time anyone in Montana has asked for a DNA exception to the Stogner ruling, District Judge Mary Jane Knisely said she would take several days to review the arguments before deciding whether to dismiss the case.

Richland County Attorney Mike Weber, who is Montanas representative to the National District Attorneys Association, said the issues being debated in the Tipton case are very uncommon.

I dont know how many other states have had to deal with this, he said.

Weber expected Kniselys order would be appealed, regardless of which way it went.

The appellate courts will ultimately decide the fate of the 2007 DNA statute, he said.

Glantz, who sat through Fridays daylong hearing with family, said she wants to see the case go as far as it can, as long as it takes. Beyond the facts of her own case, she said the states DNA law is important because that type of evidence is indisputable.

Tipton and family members declined to be interviewed after Fridays hearing.
Missoula, MT - After getting out of prison in 2008 for raping a child in Billings, Ernest Evans Coleman wasn't supposed to have contact with kids.

His parole officer says Coleman, who lives in Missoula, has had repeated contact with at least two children over the past two years. That includes volunteering with kids at a food bank without disclosing his sex offender status.

Coleman, 70, appeared in Yellowstone County District Court on Thursday in light of the new allegations. District Judge Mary Jane Knisely allowed him to remain free on a $10,000 bond that he previously posted.

Coleman's history of sexual crimes against children goes back to 1985, when he was convicted for sexual abuse of a boy in North Dakota. He admitted to abusing nine other victims at that time, according to court documents. He served three years in prison.

A 9-year-old boy reported to police in 1995 that Coleman molested him twice. Coleman was sentenced in 1997 to 25 years in prison. He was released in 2008 after serving 11 years.

Coleman reported to a parole officer in Missoula. That officer reported that Coleman seemed to be doing well and "did a good job making things look rosy on the surface," court documents state.

But earlier this year, the mother of a 10-year-old boy reported that Coleman took the child into his home "for a haircut." The report says that he took the same child out of town another time, and the boy helped Coleman with lawn work for five hours.

The contact was unsupervised.

His parole officer then learned that Coleman had been volunteering at the Clark Fork City Church Food Bank in Missoula, where he'd been meeting multiple boys for years.

Conditions of his parole include no contact with children and that he can't frequent places where children are present. The food bank utilizes kids as volunteers.

Through the food bank, Coleman began contacting one boy when he was 14, and the relationship lasted two years. In her report, Coleman's parole officer characterized it as an "opportunity to groom yet another boy."

The mother of that teen said Coleman never disclosed that he was a sex offender, court documents state.

Coleman offered the boy money, even for college. When the boy's family moved out of state, Coleman offered to pay for him to come back to Missoula, where Coleman would give him a job. He told the family that he "really liked" the teen and "wanted to help him," court documents say.

None of the contact in the report was sexual in nature.

When the parole officer asked Coleman about this, he replied that he "knew in his heart that he would not touch any kids again," according to the report. The officer included a signed note from Coleman admitting to the contact.

The officer noted that this was "nearly identical" to what Coleman said about his victim in the 1995 case. She recommended that Coleman receive another suspended sentence with the Department of Corrections and that he re-enter treatment.

On Thursday, Judge Knisely set a hearing for Aug. 21.
MUSCATINE  Two Muscatine School Board members  Tammi Drawbaugh and Tim Bower  announced they will seek re-election for their positions this week. A third board member, Randy Naber, will retire from the board when his term ends in September.

The deadline for announcing a run for the Sept. 12 school board elections is next Thursday, Aug. 3. Heres what you need to know about the two candidates:

Tim Bower

Years on the board: Bower has had two terms and a total of seven years.

Positions held on the board: President and vice president.

Occupation: Manager of quality, health, safety and environment, warranty and lean integration with Siemens Energy Inc. in Burlington.

Education: Graduated from Fairfield High School, has a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University and a master of business administration from University of Iowa.

Appointments and awards: Bower was appointed to the Iowa Governors STEM Advisory Council-Southeast Iowa region. He also is the director of the District 9 of the Iowa Association of School Boards and has received the Better Boardsmanship Award from the Iowa Association of School Boards seven years in a row.

Accomplishments: In an interview Friday, Bower said the districts financials have strengthened since he has been on the board, despite declining enrollment. At the same time, the board has addressed some student needs, including the plans to build a standalone gym at the high school and adding mental health supports for students next year.

We have to live within our means; we do it at home, and we have to do it at the district, he said.

Goals if re-elected: Bower said he wants to continue to work on improving facilities for students so students have the best opportunity to learn. He said that each of these improvement plans needs to be re-examined with proper eyes to make sure it meets current student needs.

Tammi Drawbaugh

Years on the board: Drawbaugh has had three terms and a total of 11 years.

Positions held on the board: President and vice president; she currently is serving as president.

Occupation: Training manager at Allsteel.

Education: Graduated from Muscatine High School and has a bachelor of arts in business administration from Iowa Wesleyan College.

Appointments and awards: Muskie Band and Choral Boosters, director of the Iowa High School Music Association Board, Muscatine Community Health Association and received the Better Boardsmanship Award from the Iowa Association of School Boards 10 times.

Accomplishments: In an interview Friday, Drawbaugh emphasized that the board works together to support and guide the district. She said the construction of the new Jefferson Elementary building and renovations at the high school have helped create a better learning environment for students. Throughout her tenure, AP class offerings have increased at the high school, "really giving students an opportunity to challenge their own learning," she said.

Goals if re-elected: Drawbaugh said she wants to "continue the momentum of many of the great things that have been happening," including the upcoming construction of the new physical education facility and the addition of a science wing at the high school.

"I will tirelessly and passionately advocate for every student whether it's someone that's experiencing great success or someone that's feeling that they are not meeting their goals," she said.
If people are still awake by the end of the film Peter Freedman just helped make, hell feel like he didnt do his job right.

The upcoming eight-hour slow-motion film Baa Baa Land doesnt include people, dialogue or a storyline . . . just hour after hour of sheep being sheep in a field near Tiptree, England.

The main purpose was to come up with something that was relaxing and would help people lie down and drift off to sleep, said Freedman, a London-based Torontonians who helped produce the film and runs Think Inc, a PR consulting group based in Britain.

The movie was commissioned by Calm.com, a U.S.-based website and app launched by two Brits that, as its name implies, aims to help its users relax.

Baa Baa Land, which is set to premiere in its entirety at a theatre in London this September and online at the same time, lands somewhere in between a film and a meditation, Freedman says.

There is no North American premiere scheduled yet, but Freedman said he hopes one can eventually happen.

Nowadays people are more and more focused on video and film and watching things rather than reading things, so we thought this could be the ultimate way to help them count sheep, he said. We thought it could be the ultimate insomnia cure.

He noted that the film comes at a time where the trend of slow cinema  a style of filmmaking characterized by long takes and lack of scripted narrative  appears to be starting to interest mainstream audiences.

Baa Baa Land was shot over a couple of days in a field about an hour and a half outside of London. Most of the shots included last for about half an hour and the films length is a nod to an often-quoted desirable amount of sleep, its producers say.

The movies trailer suggests it just might be the dullest movie ever made  a claim Freedman said he and his team are embracing as a compliment. Thats sort of an extreme way of saying we want it to be the most relaxing and slowest movie ever made, he said.

Its only competition might be the sort of really slow cinema that Andy Warhol championed, such as his 1964 film Empire, featuring eight hours of slow-motion footage of the Empire State Building.

And unlike its namesake La La Land, dont expect Baa Baa Land to elicit any Oscar nods  just nodding off.

Michael Acton Smith, co-founder of Calm.com and co-executive producer of Baa Baa Land, said his companys mission is to make people happier and healthier by making them more calm, and that theyre looking at finding new ways to do that.

We all know how addicted everyone is to Netflix and YouTube, and we thought, wouldnt be cool to create one of the worlds most relaxing films  an eight-hour epic just focused on sheep, said Acton Smith. We thought itd fun and a little bit quirky, and hopefully people find it super relaxing.

Alex Tew, co-founder of Calm.com and Baa Baa Land co-executive producer, said the idea for the film builds on Calm.com feature that offers audio bedtime stories for adults. His team wondered whether a video version might be possible. Talking with Peter (Freedman), we came up with this idea of a sheep masterpiece . . . we often talk about counting sheep, and now you really can, Tew said.

Mark Boulos, a neurologist at Torontos Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre who specializes in sleep disorders, said official sleep hygiene rules say staring at a bright screen before bed is not recommended. Still, he was intrigued by Baa Baa Lands concept, and believes activities that promote slowing down may help some doze off.

We have so many things going on in life, each and every one of us, that sometimes having all that action keeps you up at night and things are on your mind, he said. I think just slowing down and watching something like that may be beneficial for some people, he said, noting that some may still require formal treatment or medication.

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Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has asked Canadian officials to investigate reports immediately that Canadian-made military vehicles are being used against civilians in an escalating conflict in Saudi Arabia.

If confirmed, the use of armoured vehicles against civilians would be in violation of Canadas arms deal with the Saudis.

We are aware of reports that the current security operations have led to casualties of civilians and security forces, Global Affairs spokesman John Babcock told the Star via email.

The government is actively seeking more information about Saudi Arabias current efforts to deal with its security challenges, the reports of civilian casualties, and the reports that Canadian-made vehicles have been used.

Reports are stemming from videos posted across social media, which appear to show Canadian-made Terradyne Gurkhas. Middle East editor of Janes Defence Weekly, Jeremy Binnie, confirmed the identification of the vehicle via Twitter.

Combination/colour of vehicles (the one with turret is a UR-416) indicates they are Special Security Forces, Binnie wrote.

The new reports come on the heels of a statement made by a concerned Freeland on Thursday surrounding the escalating violence in eastern Saudi Arabia, which has resulted in the deaths of both civilians and security forces.

Death sentences for 14 people, which came from what Amnesty International called a grossly unfair mass trial, were upheld this week by the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia.

Amnesty has recorded a worrying increase in death sentences against political dissidents in Saudi Arabia since 2013, including the Shia Muslim minority, according to an update from the group this week.

At least 66 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia since the start of 2017, including 26 in the past three weeks alone  more than one execution per day, it reported.

In her Thursday statement, Freeland urged local authorities to work with all communities to defuse tensions, but noted that all challenges had to be addressed in a way that conforms with international human rights law.

Twenty-four hours later, Freelands concern became deep concern.

Global Affairs Babcock noted that the minister would certainly take action if Canadian exports were confirmed to be involved in cases that involved human rights violations. However, his email statement didnt specify potential actions or sanctions should this be confirmed.

The end use and end-user of exports, as well as regional stability and human rights, are essential considerations in the authorization of permits for the export of military goods from Canada, he wrote.

Canada expects export customers to abide by the terms in the permits issued to them, Babcock added.

In June, the Star reported that the government would face a multibillion-dollar cancellation penalty if it broke a contract signed by the previous Conservative government to provide Saudi Arabia with light-armoured vehicles.

Earlier this year, the Federal Court dismissed a challenge by a Quebec law professor to condemn the deal, citing Saudi Arabias poor record in upholding human rights. In June 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would be seen as a banana republic if it scrapped the deal.

Former foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion noted two months before that there was no reason to think Canadian-made vehicles have been misused in Saudi Arabia in the violation of human rights, but that hed monitor the circumstances.

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Electronic patient records in doctors offices across the country are being used by brand name drug companies looking to muscle market share away from generic competitors, a Star investigation has found.

Concerned physicians say a clinical tool they use to write prescriptions and care for patients is being co-opted, and they fear health records are being tapped so drug companies can increase profits.

In the battle for pharmaceutical dominance, this new tactic, deployed in software used by doctors, has allowed brand-name companies to capitalize on the moment a prescription is written.

Heres how it works:

The patient records are found in EMRs, or electronic medical record software, owned by Telus Health, a subsidiary of the telecom giant. The software is used by thousands of Canadian doctors to take notes during patient visits and to create a prescription to be filled by the patients pharmacy.

To drive business their way, brand-name drug companies have paid Telus to digitally insert vouchers so that the prescription is filled with their product instead of the lower-cost generic competitor that pharmacists normally reach for.

The vouchers are known in the industry as patient-assistance programs. It works like a coupon: If a patients insurance does not cover the full cost of the pricier brand name drug, the drugs manufacturer will cover part or all of the cost difference from its generic equivalent.

The voucher feature is offered in a number of other electronic medical record systems, Telus said.

Doctors had to agree to the new feature in the Telus software before it was enabled on their systems, and physicians can opt out at any time.

But some physicians may not realize the implications of the vouchers when they click to accept the softwares updated features, said Dr. Antony Gagnon, manager of the pharmacy program with the Hamilton Family Health Team.

The brand name companies are basically using physicians to redirect their prescriptions of generic drugs to the companies brand drugs, Gagnon said.

In an internal document obtained by the Star, the head of Ontarios doctor regulator, speaking generally, said vouchers being included on a prescription is not appropriate as they may lead patients to think their physicians favour brand drugs over generics.

Generics contain the same medical ingredients and can cost as little as one-fifth of the brand price. A former assistant deputy health minister, Helen Stevenson, said the vouchers can pile unnecessary costs on to private drug plans. These costs could ultimately be passed to the patient through higher premiums.

In an interview, Telus Health President Paul Lepage defended the program, saying thatelectronic vouchers streamline payment assistance programs already used by millions of Canadians who really use them to reduce the cost of their medication.

In the past, drug company reps gave paper vouchers to physicians who in turn could hand them out to the patient.

With the updated software, the voucher can be printed right on the patients prescription.

Our physician customers who use these programs have asked us if we can simplify the process, said Lepage of Telus. Were focused on offering cost-effective solutions to physicians and patients.

The voucher function has been very positively received by the majority of our physician users, a Telus spokesperson said.

Why do brand name companies offer these vouchers?

In an effort to keep costs down, many drug plans encourage pharmacists to substitute a cheaper generic drug when filling a prescription for a brand drug, unless the prescribing doctor specifically requests otherwise. Without the voucher, even if a doctor uses the brand name on a prescription, pharmacists may substitute the cheaper generic.

But when enabled, the Telus software feature detects when a doctor is prescribing a drug by its brand name, such as cholesterol medication Crestor. The voucher is printed on the prescription and the pharmacist takes that as a specific instruction to dispense the brand name. The voucher is not offered if the doctor enters the generic name (rosuvastatin, in Crestors case), Telus said.

The brand companies say the payment assistance vouchers are about giving the patient choice between brand and generic drugs without having to spend more money.

But for Gagnon, the vouchers are manipulating physicians prescribing practices, adding that many physicians use a drugs brand name when writing a prescription out of habit and arent necessarily instructing that a drug be dispensed over its generic.

The vouchers also reinforce a false premise that generics are inferior in quality to the original brand name drugs, say doctors critical of the program.

The first time Toronto physician Nav Persaud logged on to Telus PS Suite after its recent update, a text box popped up notifying him of the new feature that could lead to greater choice and lower cost for your patients.

But Persaud questioned how much his patients would get out of the vouchers.

It wasnt clear to me who was going to benefit from it. Was it going to further the marketing of brand name products, which I think are prescribed without any clear reason, given that they have the same effects (as generics), and they cost more? said Persaud, a family physician at St. Michaels Hospital.

He disabled the feature.

A Telus spokesperson said the voucher is offered only after a physician chooses a specific brand name drug to prescribe so there is no influence on what drug the physician selects.

As a technology provider, we are careful not to influence or restrict the clinical choices made by medical professionals.

Telus Health is a dominant player in Canadas electronic medical record industry. Its seven EMR systems impact more than 25 million patient-physician interactions each year.

Two of those programs  PS Suite and Nightingale  have the feature offering payment assistance vouchers. Telus plans to expand the feature to all of its EMR programs.

Brand companies pay on a fixed-fee basis for their vouchers being included, Telus officials said, but they refused to discuss the details of their agreement with drug companies, saying it was subject to commercial confidentiality.

About 7,000 doctors across Canada use PS Suite, and roughly two-thirds have chosen to use the voucher function. The company said doctors were involved in designing the feature.

In the medical practices of the Hamilton Family Health Team, a network of 165 physicians, some doctors were unaware of the voucher feature  nor were they aware that information about those vouchers was being shared with drug companies.

Some of those doctors send the prescriptions directly from their computers to the pharmacy fax machine and never saw the voucher that was included on the printout, said lead physician Dr. Monica De Benedetti.

Without the doctors being fully aware, they could not tell their patients about the program, De Benedetti said.

The health team encouraged its members to turn off the voucher feature. In 2016, De Benedetti, along with Gagnon and the Health Teams executive director, wrote a complaint letter to Telus Health.

There will certainly be a number of physicians who will be concerned that they are inadvertently participating in contributing data to pharmaceutical companies, the letter read.

Telus said all doctors had to enable the new voucher feature by clicking accept in a pop-up text box.

Drug manufacturers paying to have their vouchers in the EMR receive aggregated and anonymized, province-level statistics on the total number of vouchers printed off for their products, the company said.

No patient or physician information is shared, Telus said.

Telus said payment-assistance vouchers are offered in a number of other electronic medical record systems offered by other companies.

The company behind one of those systems, however, says it will be ditching the vouchers from its software.

When Loblaw Companies Ltd. purchased B.C.-based QHR and its Accuro software in 2016, it already included a voucher feature, spokesperson Kevin Groh said in a statement. He said they plan to remove the function in the coming months.

While some discount vouchers  commonly called brand cards  offer valuable financial assistance to patients, many keep patients on higher-priced brand products when more cost-effective generic medications are available, he said.

Brand cards can create confusion for patients, often leading to the perception that generic medications are inferior, Groh added. This is a problem for a system reliant on savings from generics.

In an internal letter obtained by the Star, Dr. Rocco Gerace, registrar of Ontarios College of Physicians and Surgeons said vouchers, in general, should not be printed on prescriptions as they may lead some patients to perceive that the physician is in a conflict of interest, or that they are recommending or endorsing the name-brand formulation of a drug instead of a generic or other alternative.

Geraces comments were in a July 2016 response to the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association, an industry group that contacted the College asking for the regulators view on brand vouchers being included on prescriptions, which it says appears to be increasing in frequency.

Telus says its voucher feature was not introduced until August 2016. That was after Geraces comments. A Telus spokesperson said its software follows ethical principles not present in all EMR systems with voucher features, adding that the company sets the gold standard on how things should be done.

In summer 2016, after learning about the voucher feature for Telus EMR, clinical pharmacist Cora Van Zutphen crunched the numbers. She estimates that a regular patient with diabetes and heart problems could be billing his private drug plan nearly $3,000 a year in unnecessary costs by using the brand name drugs over their generic equivalents.

Van Zutphen wrote a letter to her colleagues with the Upper Grand Family Health Team, advising the network of doctors in communities north of Guelph to turn off the vouchers.

When insurance companies pay for brand-name drugs over lower-cost generics, billions of dollars are added to the costs of private drug plans, she wrote to her colleagues. Ultimately, those costs are passed on to employers and employees.

Voucher programs are not designed to add costs to private plans, a Telus spokesperson said. Private plans choose what costs they will and will not cover, she said.

But in some cases, if the patients private drug plan doesnt cover the full cost of the brand drug, then the patients spouses health plan is tapped as the next payer  not the drug company, an industry expert said.

The brand manufacturer is typically the last payer. The claims system looks for every other payer first. Its a brilliant strategy for brands looking to grab market share but not for drug plans  it can unnecessarily raise costs, said Stevenson, former head of Ontario Public Drug Programs and CEO of Reformulary Group, a drug plan management company.

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Chief Gregory Nadjiwon was paying close attention as Habitat for Humanity broke ground on a house at the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation.

It marked the first time the charitable organization was building a home on a First Nations reserve in Ontario, and Nadjiwon and his band council want the project to work, not just because its important to their reserve, but because of the implications it could have for other Indigenous communities across Canada.

Im looking forward to it because its just another way we can address the Indigenous housing shortage, Nadjiwon said of the project that began construction July 21.

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Attawapiskat shacks put First Nations housing crisis into perspective

Indigenous housing crisis takes a terrible toll: Editorial

The more bridge building and partnering we can do with initiatives that can assist with First Nations housing, were all for. Its called thinking outside the box.

The project is one of 40 that Habitat for Humanity is currently undertaking through its Indigenous Housing Program.

Two more houses began construction at Curve Lake First Nation, north of Peterborough, Ont., on Friday afternoon, with Nadjiwon and other community leaders hopeful the efforts lead to improved conditions.

The idea for the housing project for the Chippewas of the Nawash Unceded First Nation, an Ojibwe community 60 kilometres north of Owen Sound, Ont., came in 2015 when Donna Akiwenzies home was condemned and torn down.

The widow, who has since been living with members of the community, serves as the primary caregiver for her granddaughter and needed help to find a new home while her son worked out of province.

A former band council member reached out to the Grey-Bruce region Habitat for Humanity and invited them to tour the reserve. The charity then entered negotiations with Nadjiwon and his council before signing a memorandum of understanding.

We want to make this a very successful venture. A lot will depend on the success of this first pilot project, Nadjiwon said. Weve been reading between the lines, the more successful the project, the more likely it is well have another build.

Housing for Indigenous people is a complicated issue because of the diverse range of First Nations experiences. Building a house on a reserve presents different challenges than providing housing in an urban centre. A fly-in reserve has more logistical hurdles than one that is relatively close to a city, such as Nawash.

Habitat for Humanity estimates it costs twice as much to build a new home in a remote community because of shipping costs, more expensive materials and difficulty finding donations, volunteers and tradespeople.

The charity began its Indigenous Housing Program a decade ago, but it has picked up steam it in the past two years, with houses being built at Tobique First Nation in western New Brunswick and Gift Lake Metis Settlement in northern Alberta, in addition to the projects at Nawash and Curve Lake.

When you look at what were doing relative to the need and the backlog, its small, said Peter De Barros, vice-president of government relations for Habitat for Humanity. Thats why we need investments from the government to help ramp up what were doing. We know the program is successful.

If youre going to start to deal with the backlog of Indigenous housing and poor housing conditions, you have to start somewhere.

Habitat for Humanity has created an advisory board with representatives from the Assembly of First Nations, Metis National Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. The goal is to collaborate with First Nations communities and have them determine their needs and then try and meet them.

Part of that is holding workshops in Indigenous communities that teach building and maintenance skills to create self-sufficiency in remote reserves.

Habitat for Humanity also built an elders lodge at Flying Dust First Nation near Meadow Lake, Sask., and is planning to retrofit 10 houses in Pikangikum First Nation, about 500 km north of Thunder Bay, Ont., with running water and sanitation because that was the communitys most pressing housing need.

Nadjiwon said hes impressed with Habitat for Humanitys efforts with the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation so far.

I would definitely give it a high grade, Nadjiwon said. Theyre very thorough. Theyre represented by designers, by their funders, theyre very well organized.

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Lets talk about a few bad apples, and what they do. Or, about a few bad apples  in permanent quotation marks, almost audible in the manner it is spoken  the go-to cliche invoked whenever an episode of apparently unjustified police violence or misbehaviour becomes public.

Ive heard it, and the phrase has sprung to mind, after news this month about an off-duty police officer who is accused of using a metal pipe to beat Dafonte Miller, a Black teenager from Whitby, so badly he will lose the use of one of his eyes.

Most cops are good people, many say. This is a just a case of a few bad apples.

My sense is that people repeating it mean to suggest that the alleged bad actions weve become aware of dont indicate a wider problem, dont show a system-wide problem, shouldnt reflect on entire police departments. From the context of the arguments it is used in, thats what it seems to mean. My colleague Shree Paradkar took on the bad apples contention this week, arguing against exactly that interpretation.

But what jumps out to me is that those using the cliche this way seem to be ignoring the rest of the old saying  perhaps theyve used it so much and so often they forget what it is supposed to mean. And thats particularly sad because police misconduct is one case in which the cliche seems particularly apt.

One bad apple spoils the bunch. Its metaphorical meaning comes from a literal truth: a rotten apple in a bushel full of apples will cause the rest to rot, because overripe apples emit a gas that will hasten the ripening and eventual rotting of all the others around them.

This is not a saying that warns against letting the behaviour of one or two members of a group affect your impression of the whole group. It is a saying advising you to remove bad members of a group before their toxicity contaminates everyone and everything around them.

Lets look at what we have learned about the case of Dafonte Miller: one night in December, around 3 a.m., Miller and some friends were walking down the street near where he lives in Whitby. It is alleged that Michael Theriault, an off-duty Toronto police officer, and Christian Theriault, a civilian said by Millers lawyer Julian Falconer to be his brother, approached the boys as they passed the house where Theriaults father (also a Toronto police officer) lives, according to Falconer. Its alleged by Falconer that Theriault identified himself as a police officer and demanded to know what Miller and his friends were doing there. When the boys refused to answer, the Theriault brothers allegedly chased them down, caught Miller and beat him with a steel pipe, breaking bones in his face and wrist and injuring his eye in way that means it will have to be removed. None of these allegations have been tested in court.

According to Falconer, the teen called 911 and attempted to bang on the door of a neighbour to get help. When the Durham regional police arrived, they did not conduct much of an investigation  they took no witness statements, for example. Instead they charged Miller  the teen who had been beaten  with a series of crimes, including assault. Those charges were later dropped by the crown.

Another thing Durham police did not do is call the Special Investigations Unit, which is responsible for handling investigations in which a police officer has seriously harmed or killed someone. They did, apparently, advise the Toronto police department that one of its officers had been involved in the incident. Toronto police did not report it to the SIU either.

It was Millers lawyer, Falconer, who finally alerted the SIU to the alleged violent attack. In mid-July, the SIU laid charges against both Michael and Christian Theriault for aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, and public mischief.

Now, let us assume  and hope  that there are very few police officers who would do what Theriault is alleged to have done: chase down and savagely beat a teen for no apparent reason other than, perhaps, that he was walking through the wrong neighbourhood at night  though it appears it was his own neighbourhood too, or close to it.

Most cops I dont believe would do something like that. Maybe just a few bad apples. But look what happened next: the on-duty Durham police called to the scene charged the alleged victim. Two different police departments failed to investigate and take action against the officer involved, and failed to alert the SIU who are supposed to independently investigate such allegations.

It is becoming harder to believe that this type of behaviour  covering up for misbehaviour or violence, looking the other way or refusing to co-operate in investigations of alleged police officer misconduct  is uncommon or accidental.

Its not fumbling Keystone Cops here, its a consistent  and Ive seen it in hundreds of cases  consistent thought process: Avoid the SIU at all cost, former SIU director and Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin told the Star recently.

My colleague Wendy Gillis reported this spring on more than 150 letters from the SIU to Torontos police chief complaining of actions by police that appear to have violated their legal duty to co-operate with the provincial watchdog, including allegations police failed to immediately notify the SIU of a serious civilian injury or interfered with a scene after the watchdog took over an investigation.

The apparent code of silence in the protection of officers extends to the highest levels, where reports on problems and investigations are routinely kept secret from the public.

Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders has called in Waterloo police to investigate the circumstances around the assault on Dafonte. Mayor John Tory has promised to make the findings public. Durhams police Chief Paul Martin told the Stars Peter Goffin he has ordered an internal review of his forces response to the beating. Martin could not say if the findings would be made public.

Some police or police supporters may think that anything that would make one officer look bad is bad for all police. So making sure it never becomes known, they might think, serves some greater cause.

But shielding bad behaviour allows it to continue, and to spread. It makes those with bad intentions certain they have licence to act on them. It makes others less inclined to suppress their own worst impulses. It makes everyone involved  not just those who may have initiated bad actions or made mistakes  part of a coverup that perpetrates injustice. It takes an isolated rotten act and allows it to infect the whole system. The police department is an organization set up to uphold the law  if they start undermining it for their own purposes, they have already failed.

And when such apparent coverups come to light, they rot out public confidence in the whole system, for good reason.

A few bad apples? Maybe to start. But the only way to ensure they remain only a few is if they are identified, removed, and discarded from the rest as soon as possible. Otherwise, the cliche tells us surely enough whats bound to happen.

Edward Keenan writes on city issues ekeenan@thestar.ca . Follow: @thekeenanwire

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A Toronto man has admitted in court that he killed his mother and two of his brothers out of fear of losing his fiancee three weeks before their wedding.

Brett Ryan, 36, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of his oldest brother, Christopher, and two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of his mother, Susan, and his younger brother, Alexander. He also pleaded guilty to attempting to murder his older brother Leigh.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for 25 years.

Ryans guilty plea Friday put an end to the mystery of why a man on the verge of his wedding day killed three family members with crossbow bolts at their family home in Scarborough on Aug. 25, 2016.

According to an agreed statement of facts submitted to court, Ryan planned to kill his mother, 66, out of fear that she would expose the lies he had told his fiancee, and that his fiancee would then call off the wedding.

Back in 2009, Ryan pleaded guilty to committing eight bank robberies. He was sentenced to five years in prison but, due to pretrial custody, served only three years and nine months.

In June 2016, Ryan got a job at an IT company, but before he could start he was fired after his employer found out he had a criminal record.

Days before the murders took place, Ryan admitted to his mother that he didnt have a job and that he was lying about it to his fiancee, telling her he was working from home while he stayed inside their Queens Quay condo throughout the summer.

According to the statement of facts, Susan Ryan told her son to admit the truth to his fiancee and that if he did so, she would continue to financially support him for a short time. However, Ryan was worried that his fiancee would break off the relationship if she found out.

As part of his plan, Ryan placed a crossbow in the garage of their family home on 10 Lawndale Rd. Then he set up electronic devices in the apartment he shared with his fiancee. The devices, a laptop and an iPad and an iPhone, were setup to be activated to create an internet footprint that would serve as an alibi.

Police later said that they were never activated.

On Aug. 25, 2016, Ryan arrived at the family home before 1 p.m. to confront his mother.

According to the statement of facts, Ryan only intended to confront his mother about the threats of exposing him and to convince her to continue supporting him financially until the wedding and until he got a job.

However, the argument between the two quickly became heated. Susan called her son Christopher, 42, to come and help her. During the argument, Ryan retrieved the crossbow and crossbow bolts from the garage.

Susan followed him to the garage. As the argument continued, Ryan stabbed his mother with a crossbow bolt and strangled her to death using a yellow nylon rope.

When Christopher arrived, Ryan shot him in the back of his neck using the crossbow. He moved their bodies into the garage and hid them under a tarp.

As Ryan exited the garage, he was confronted by Alexander, 29, who had arrived at the house. As the brothers fought, Ryan fatally stabbed Alexander with a crossbow bolt.

Leigh, 38, who was at home in his bedroom during the altercation, came outside to see what was happening. After seeing Ryan standing over Alexanders body, Leigh ran back inside the house and called for help.

Ryan followed Leigh into the house, where he assaulted Leigh in an attempt to stop him from calling police. After managing to escape, Leigh ran to a home across the street, where the residents called 911.

Police arrived at the scene around 1:03 p.m. They found Ryan standing near the steps of the home covered in blood. Ryan told police where his mother and three siblings were. He was later charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Autopsy reports say Susan died of ligature strangulation, while one of the brothers, Christopher, died from a perforating trauma of head and neck caused by a crossbow bolt and the other brother, Alexander, died from trauma of the neck by a crossbow bolt.

On top of the life sentence for first-degree murder, Ryan was sentenced to life in prison in the second-degree murders of his mother and his brother Alexander, and given a 10-year sentence for the attempted murder of his brother Leigh. The sentences will run concurrently.

With files from Star staff

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CARACAS, VENEZUELAFew demonstrators heeded opposition calls for a mass protest Friday in Venezuelas capital against President Nicolas Maduros divisive push to rewrite the constitution by a constituent assembly to be elected Sunday.

Streets in Caracas were largely devoid of protests a day after Interior Minister Nestor Reverol announced that authorities were prohibiting any demonstrations from taking place through Tuesday.

Opposition leaders had urged Venezuelans to demonstrate anyway in a protest they billed as the Taking of Caracas, hoping for a dramatic culmination of three days of protests that started with a 48-hour nationwide general strike. But the hundreds of thousands who have sometimes taken to the streets during nearly four months of anti-government protests were largely absent.

Here we are in the streets, just like the first day, opposition lawmaker Jose Manuel Olivares said, urging people to reject Reverols demonstration ban. Lets not be victims of fear.

There were isolated clashes between National Guard troops and small groups of young demonstrators who call themselves The Resistance. A few protest barricades went up in opposition-friendly eastern Caracas, but the city was relatively calms two days before Sundays constituent assembly election.

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Maduro has deployed the military and police to clear blockades and protect a vote that he says is meant to end the power struggle with the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which he blames for Venezuelas spiralling political, economic and social crisis. The opposition is boycotting the vote, saying the election rules have been rigged to favour the ruling socialist party and will only serve to tighten Maduros grip on power.

International pressure to cancel the vote intensified Friday, with U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence reiterating in a telephone call with opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez that the United States would respond with strong and swift economic actions if the election proceeds.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santo said he would not recognize the constituent assembly, given that it has illegitimate origins. His finance minister also told a local radio station the neighbouring nation would sanction the same 13 former and current Venezuelan officials cited by the U.S. on Wednesday.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, one of Maduros most vocal opponents, said in a meeting with two other U.S. legislators that he expects further sanctions if the assembly vote proceeds.

Maduro appeared unconcerned by the mounting international outcry, instead paying homage Friday to the late President Hugo Chavez on what would have been his predecessors 63rd birthday, telling supporters that with the constitution rewrite, Chavez is more alive than ever.

What would Chavez do July 30th? he asked. Would he call on us to sabotage the constituent assembly?

No! the crowd shouted back.

Delegates elected to the constituent assembly will take on the task of rewriting the 1999 constitution, which was crafted by Chavez to install a socialist administration. That constitution is considered one of his principal legacies, and the move to rewrite it has drawn rebuke even from some longtime government loyalists and Chavez supporters.

Residents in Caracas lined up for hours at grocery stores and banks to stockpile food and cash before what many expected to be a chaotic weekend.

The election has added fuel to near-daily protests that began in early April after the government-packed Supreme Court ruled to strip the opposition-controlled National Assembly of its last powers. The decision was quickly reversed but it sparked a protest movement demanding a new presidential election.

Deaths in the anti-government demonstrations and upheaval climbed to at least 113 on Friday. That number included a police officer slain in the town of Ejido in the western state of Merida, which has been the scene of violent clashes in recent days.

Meanwhile, Alfredo Romero, director of Foro Penal, a lawyers group, said that Wuilly Arteaga, a young violinist who has become a symbol of anti-government protest in Venezuela, had been detained while performing.

They took his violin and hit him with it, Romero said.

Air service to Venezuela continued to dwindle. Avianca was offering full refunds to the estimated 13,000 passengers who had booked a flight on the now-suspended service. Delta, one of the last airlines still serving Venezuela, said on Twitter that it could not guarantee service after September. The airline declined further comment.

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MUSCATINE  A Muscatine man was sentenced Friday for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, possession of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

Dayton Earl Michael Elliott, 22, was sentenced to up to 16 years in prison in Muscatine County District Court, according to the county attorney. Investigation by the Muscatine County Drug Task Force found Elliott was in possession of a distribution quantity of marijuana, plus a personal use quantity of meth and a firearm.
WASHINGTONThe United States punished Iran on Friday for launching a satellite-carrying rocket into space by hitting six Iranian entities with sanctions targeting the countrys ballistic missiles program.

Three European nations that helped broker the landmark Iran nuclear deal in 2015 joined the U.S. in condemning the launch, and said it was too close for comfort to the type of intercontinental ballistic missiles used to deliver a nuclear payload. At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Iran was breaking its obligation and added, We cant trust them.

Under this administration, the United States will not let Iran off the hook for behaviour that threatens our interests and our allies, Haley said. We will continue to impose consequences until Iran stops its provocations and complies fully with Security Council resolutions.

The U.S. sanctions hit six Iranian subsidiaries of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, described by the Treasury Department as central to Irans ballistic missiles program. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin cast the sanctions as part of an ongoing U.S. effort to aggressively oppose Irans ballistic missile activity, including what he called a provocative space launch carried out by the Islamic Republic on Thursday.

In another allegation against the U.S. adversary, Mnuchin said that missile attacks on U.S. partner Saudi Arabia over the weekend by Houthi rebels in Yemen had likely come with the support of Iran. The U.S. has long accused Tehran of shipping weapons to the Houthis, a Shiite group that controls part of Yemen and is being fought by a Saudi-led coalition.

The sanctions came a day after Iran successfully launched its most advanced satellite-carrying rocket into space, in what was likely a major advancement for the countrys space program. The Simorgh rocket is capable of carrying a satellite weighing 250 kilograms, Iran state television said.

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The U.S. National Air and Space Intelligence Center said in a report released last month that the Simorgh could act as a test bed for developing the technologies needed to produce an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM.

In a joint statement, the U.S., Britain, Germany and France called the launch inconsistent with the UN Security Council resolution enshrining the nuclear deal, adding that such activities destabilize the region. The grouping represented all of the Western nations that are part of the nuclear deal, which also includes Russia, China and the European Union.

We condemn this action, the countries said. We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities.

Yet beyond the U.S. sanctions, it was unclear what, if anything, the group could do to increase pressure quickly on Tehran. Notably, the nations stopped short of saying the launch had violated the UN resolution, saying only that it was inconsistent with the text. Thats because the resolution calls upon, but doesnt oblige, Iran to refrain from ballistic missile development.

Yet Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif pushed back on any suggestion his country had done anything wrong by launching the satellite into space. He said Friday that Iran is complying with the nuclear deal and drew a contrast with the U.S., accusing Washington of not complying with the letter and spirit of the deal.

Rhetoric and actions from the U.S. show bad faith, Zarif said.

He also rejected the notion that Iran was working to develop missiles that could carry a nuclear warhead.

Iran is not and will not be developing nuclear weapons; so by definition cannot develop anything designed to be capable of delivering them, Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Britain, Germany and France also said they were raising their concerns directly to the Islamic Republic. Despite brokering the nuclear deal, the U.S. doesnt maintain regular diplomatic relations with Iran.

The U.S. penalties reflect an attempt by President Donald Trumps administration to show its staying tough on Iran even though Trump has yet to scrap the 2015 nuclear agreement, despite threatening to do so as a candidate and labelling it a bad deal.

Under Trump, like under President Barack Obama, the U.S. has continued to sanction Iran for non-nuclear behaviour such as ballistic missile activity that isnt explicitly covered under the nuclear deal. Trumps administration has also been pushing for inspections of sensitive Iranian military sites where U.S intelligence agencies believe Iran may be conducting illicit activity prohibited by the nuclear pact.

The six entities being sanctioned contribute to Irans liquid propellant ballistic missiles, the Treasury Department said, including development and manufacturing of engines, launchers, guide-and-control systems and ground support as well as the liquid propellant itself. The sanctions freeze any assets the entities may have in the U.S. and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.

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WASHINGTONSix months into his presidency, Donald Trump is saddled with a stalled agenda, a West Wing that resembles a vipers nest, a pile of investigations and a Republican Party thats starting to break away.

Trump on Friday indirectly acknowledged the troubled state of his unconventional White House when he abruptly replaced his chief of staff with hard-nosed retired Gen. John Kelly, until now the Homeland Security secretary.

Kelly will take the desk of Reince Priebus, a Republican operative who was skeptical of Trumps electoral prospects last year and ultimately came to be viewed by the president as weak and ineffective.

Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump

Kellys ability to succeed will depend on factors outside his control, including whether Trumps squabbling staff is willing to put aside the rivalries that have sowed disorder and complicated efforts to enact policy.

But the big question is can Kelly do what Priebus couldnt? And thats curbing the presidents penchant for drama and unpredictability, and his tendency to focus more on settling scores than promoting a policy agenda.

No other aide or adviser has been successful on that front.

As a candidate, and now as president, Trump has cycled through campaign chiefs and advisers but has remained easily distracted by his personal interests and only loosely tethered to any policy plans.

Read more: Trump forces out embattled chief of staff Reince Priebus as White House turmoil grows

What happened on the night John McCain killed Donald Trumps signature health-care plan, ending a 7-year GOP fight

Please dont be too nice . . . Trump tells cops its fine if suspects hit their heads

Trump has spent a lot of his political capital on nothing but defending his own reputation, Alex Conant, a Republican strategist, said of Trumps first six months in office. There is no sustained strategy. His attention seems to shift with whatever is leading cable news at that moment.

Staff shakeups are a tried-and-true way for struggling presidents to signal that they are ready to shift course.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton elevated budget director Leon Panetta to chief of staff with a mandate to bring more discipline to a loosely organized White House. President George W. Bush made the same move with Josh Bolten in 2006 as the Bush presidency buckled under criticism of his handling of the Iraq War and the federal governments response to Hurricane Katrina.

Rarely, however, do presidents face as much turmoil as quickly as Trump has.

His Friday afternoon tweet announcing Kellys hiring capped a tumultuous week:

his new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, spewed vulgarities in public at Priebus.

Trump drew blunt criticism from GOP lawmakers over his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions for withdrawing from the federal investigation into Russian campaign interference.

Senate Republicans efforts to pass legislation that would have overhauled the nations health care law collapsed.

Some Trump allies tried to pin the blame for the health debacle on Priebus. The former Republican National Committee chairman had sold himself to Trump as a well-connected Washington operator who could help round up votes on Capitol Hill. He encouraged Trump to press forward with a health care overhaul early in his presidency.

But as Republicans sorted through the rubble of their health care failure, it was Trump, not his chief of staff, who was the target of criticism.

One of the failures was the president never laid out a plan or his core principles and never sold them to the American people, said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. He said Trump outsourced the whole issue to Congress.

Indeed, Trumps relatively rare public appeals for the passage of health legislation suggested he was more interested in a political win than in the details of policy. A former Democrat who does not adhere to all GOP orthodoxy, Trump frequently shifted his own stance as to whether the Republicans should repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act at once or simply repeal the law for now.

By weeks end, it was clear that some Republicans simply werent afraid of breaking with a weakened president. GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and John McCain of Arizona, who was back in Washington after a brain cancer diagnosis, doomed a last-ditch bill in Fridays early morning hours.

Murkowski, who was targeted by Trump on Twitter for her opposition, showed little sign of being cowed by the president.

Were here to govern, were here to legislate, to represent people that sent us here. And so every day shouldnt be about campaigning. Every day shouldnt be about winning elections. How about doing a little governing around here? she asked.

The U.S. Senate rejected a Republican measure to repeal portions of former president Obama's health care reform law. Republicans John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins joined the Democrats in voting down the measure, 49-51. (The Associated Pres

To this point, Trump has failed to shepherd a single substantial piece of legislation into law. His only major accomplishments have been by executive power  rolling back regulations and undoing a few of his predecessors achievements, like the Paris climate treaty  along with his successful nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Kelly, who spent his career in the military before being nominated by Trump to run the sprawling Department of Homeland Security, has limited political and legislative experience. But at least for now, he has the trust of the president.

He has been a true star of my administration, Trump declared.

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Re: Trump drags Boy Scouts down to his level, Keenan, July 26

Trump drags Boy Scouts down to his level, Keenan, July 26

U.S. President Donald Trumps long, rambling and very political speech was delivered to the young, impressionable minds of 30,000 applauding American Boy Scouts assembled at a jamboree.

This speech was indeed ominous. It reminds us how the Hitler jugend was used to stir up nationalistic German sentiments that led to the calamitous Second World War.

The speech also reminds us how violent jihadists recruit young men to their fanatical, bloody cause.

No wonder Sinclair Lewis 1935 novel It Cant Happen Here has become a bestseller following the election of Trump.

Stig Harvor, Toronto

Trump battling old boys club, Letter, July 26

Reader Craig Dunlop, in alleging media bias against Donald Trump, states, All anyone knows is what they read from the media.

On the contrary, the president has made his own bed on many occasions, in speeches, press conferences and his infamous tweets. Aside from covering his words by printing or broadcasting them, no further action by the media has been required.

His own words and actions have convinced many observers around the globe that he is a lying, whining, incompetent, intemperate, ignorant bully.

Terry Kushnier, Toronto

Letter writer and Canadian ex-pat Craig Dunlop, after reading Daniel Dales column on Trumps lies, finds it really aggravating that almost every person he speaks to around the world spews off about how bad Donald Trump is. I read this letter to two Americans who happen to be visiting and their response was, All you have to do is listen to the man or read his tweets.

I guess Mr. Dunlop has swallowed Trumps message of alternative facts, along with a heavy helping of apple pie.

Stephen Bloom, Toronto

Be it an article, letter or cartoon, the Toronto Star never seems to stop its hell-bent assault on the man democratically elected to occupy the White House (which is an assault on the American electorate) by regurgitating and parroting the unproven fake news and innuendo, spawned by the corrupt U.S. media.

Remembering that Trump is not the president of Canada, Id like to think that the Star can do better than blindly following some already red-faced, biased, corporate- and foreign-financed U.S. media.

Shahram Shimi, Mississauga

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For more than 150 years single unemployed men looking for work have been coming to Downtown East Toronto, one of the citys oldest working-class neighbourhoods.

Once known as Skid Row, the area surrounding Dundas St. E. and Sherbourne Ave. has long been a locale where the poor found shelter and support in flop houses and hostels, accessing soup kitchens, drop-in centres and other social services.

Since the 1970s, however, the emergence of major condo developments in Torontos central districts and the gentrification of the old Skid Row and its adjacent housing stock, has slowly eroded the fragile social infrastructure supporting the poor. Boarding houses are largely gone. Canadas largest mens hostel, Seaton House, on George St. is slated for closure, marking an end to a long tradition of Torontos dispossessed finding some respite in the Downtown East.

The extent to which the jobless and down-and-out have fought throughout Torontos history to secure better conditions and small entitlements for themselves is little appreciated. One important chapter in this ongoing struggle is the effort to improve conditions in the hostels during the tumultuous years of protests by the unemployed in the 1930s.

By December 1930, more than a year after the Great Depressions economic crash of late 1929, city officials were scrambling to shelter and feed thousands of poor, out-of-work, people in Toronto. More than 35,000 registered with the citys Unemployment Bureau by mid-decade, fully 16,500 of them young, often transient, unmarried men.

J. Allan Ross, a wealthy Toronto philanthropist, helped to found a hostel in an old warehouse at 21 Wellington St. E. Offering shelter to more than 600 single men nightly, Wellington House soon became a vital institution in Torontos Welfare Department services.

Living conditions inside Wellington House were never without their problems, however, and the hostel would become the focus of protest by the single unemployed throughout the Great Depression.

In the late winter of 1935 this mobilization peaked. On Friday March 8, 900 hostel residents from Wellington House, Seaton House, and the House of Industry gathered inside the Labor Temple the Church Street hall used for labour-related and trade union meetings. Shelter life was described as brutal and inhumane. Wellington House was condemned as a fire trap. Unsanitary, overcrowded, and disease-ridden, Torontos hostels were anything but idyllic retreats for the poor.

Indeed, evidence suggests that authorities wanted conditions within the shelter system to be unwelcoming. When confronted with protests, Toronto Welfare Commissioner Albert Laver explained to the disgruntled hostel residents that he did not want to make it too comfortable for them. Coddling the poor, in Lavers view, would only encourage more of the downtrodden to make their way to Torontos hostels, and stay in them longer.

Lavers counterpart at Queens Park was Liberal Premier Mitchell Hepburn. Elected in part because he seemed originally to want to improve the lot of the jobless, Hepburn quickly shifted his thinking, and in 1935 believed that, any single boy with initiative and backbone can get a job. Torontos unemployed knew differently. More than 1,000 of them were not amused when, on Aug. 1, 1935, they were evicted from the citys shelters, pushed into the streets to find employment that was simply not available.

Indicative of what might happen to the poor who expressed discontent was the case of Clifford Mashery, a resident of Wellington House. Mashery was involved in a late 1933 mobilization of Wellington House residents fed up with the hostels food. Tainted meat had resulted in more than 120 men suffering acute stomach pains, and some of the afflicted became seriously ill. Ascending a platform in the Wellington House dining hall, Mashery addressed a crowd of 200. Convinced that Mashery was inciting a riot, shelter Superintendent Harry Baker confronted the agitator, ordering him to step down and leave the hostel. Now homeless, Mashery was charged with vagrancy. Found guilty, he was sentenced to a years probation and banned from seeking relief at city shelters.

In February of 1937, Alderman Smith presented a protest petition to Toronto City Council signed by 500 residents of three city shelters, outlining a wide array of grievances. A month later, a Relief Reform Association formed, meeting regularly at the Metropolitan Church. Affiliates of the association included the Communist-led Ontario Federation of Unemployed, church groups, trade unions, and social workers. A key demand was the replacement of the hostel system with $5 cash relief per week for single unemployed men, to be used to secure sustenance and lodging. Welfare Commissioner Laver scotched the idea.

Late in 1938, single unemployed men residing in Torontos shelters organized against a forced labour test. On Oct. 28, Mayor Day had introduced new requirements for single unemployed men using the hostels. Plans were made to have these jobless men work at levelling and grading land on the bay front. The men were expected to work seven hours in return for a weeks lodging and food at Wellington House and other institutions for the homeless. Thought of paying the out-of-work for their labour on the relief project was judged beyond consideration.

The jobless fought back. On Nov. 2, 300 gathered to mobilize against the mandatory work test, passing motions that they took to city officials. Twelve men were appointed to organize among the residents of Wellington House, Seaton House, and the House of Industry. Our proposal is work with pay or no work, N.P. Walton, chair of the Unemployed Association warned the members of the Board of Control: We will not work on this scheme unless we are provided with wages. We do not want to remain in these hostels that are not fit for human beings.

Despite the strong opposition to this 1930s workfare scheme, the City of Toronto went ahead with the work test. However, although the unemployed had been promised food and shelter in return for completing their mandatory unpaid labour, some who undertook their seven hours work were actually turned away from city hostels, which were filled to capacity.

When the Star reported that Jack Parsons had been refused entry to the House of Industry after having completed the labour requirement, George Stagg, a staff member at the welfare office on Church St., confirmed that the story was quite true. We are at wits end, Stagg told the Star. Things are very bad. We turned about a dozen away on Tuesday night.

Soon after the Second World War broke out in the fall of 1939, Torontos shelters began to empty as the unemployed men were shipped off to fight in Europe. Wellington House was shut down a few years later, never to open again.

Since then, overcrowded living conditions in city hostels continue to worsen. Yet the city moves forward with its plans to close Seaton House, one of its oldest shelters.

Gaetan Heroux, a frontline worker with poor and homeless people in Torontos Downtown East for many years, is an anti-poverty activist with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. Bryan D. Palmer, a labour historian, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a former editor of the journal Labour/Le Travail. They are the authors of Torontos Poor: A Rebellious History (Between the Lines, 2016).

Share your story suggestions at OnceUponACity@thestar.ca . To search more about this story or your story go to thestar.com/archives . To purchase or browse more photos go to starstore.ca/collections/once-upon-a-city, or visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/TorontoStarArchives or on Twitter: @StarHistoricPix.

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A new $10 billion Foxconn (FXCOF) manufacturing plant is coming to Wisconsin, and the company bringing it is one you may never have heard of, although you've probably used the products it makes.

Headquartered in New Taipei City, Taiwan, Foxconn is the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics, producing items such as Apple's (AAPL) - Get Free Report iPhone, Microsoft's (MSFT) - Get Free Report Xbox, Blackberry undefined and Nokia (NOKBF) smartphones, and Nintendo's (NTDOY) - Get Free Report Wii.

Amid all of the headlines coming out of Washington this week, one of significant importance was Foxconn's announcement to bring a manufacturing plant to Wisconsin in an effort to launch a robust electronics manufacturing supply chain in the United States.

The new 20 million square-foot facility will make high-resolution liquid-crystal displays, known as 8K resolution LCD, used in televisions, smartphones and other devices. It has the potential to employ 13,000 people at an average salary of $53,000 annually, plus benefits, according to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Its opening is slated for 2020, when it will initially house 3,000 employees.

"This is a great day for American workers and manufacturers and everyone who believes in the concept and the label 'Made in the USA,'" President Donald Trump said when announcing the plant's opening with Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou in Washington.

The "Made in America" label has been a staple of Trump's campaign and his presidency, promising to revitalize U.S. manufacturing. Gou believes the plant will become a foundation for establishing a U.S. electronics supply chain that is now predominantly based in Asia.

A key factor in deciding to build the plant in Wisconsin is because Foxconn will be eligible to earn $3 billion in tax credits over 15 years, Governor Walker said. The agreement is contingent on Foxconn investing $10 billion in Wisconsin and creating 13,000 jobs by 2020. Its opening follows Gou's pledge in January to invest at least $7 billion in the U.S. and to create between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs.

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But is this week's announcement really that great for the American worker? And what will the specific economic impact be, not only for the electronics manufacturer but for Wisconsin workers and the state's local economy?

For starters, Foxconn comes to America with a less-than-stellar reputation. The company has come under fire over suicides at its Chinese sites, plant explosions, worker riots and child labor violations.

The jobs at the Wisconsin plant "probably will be pretty different from the kind of jobs that Foxconn is famous for in China," said Eli Friedman, associate professor of international and comparative labor at Cornell University.

"That being said, it is likely that Foxconn will be operating with similarly small profit margins, which means they will do whatever they can get away with to put downward pressure on wages. Probably these unskilled jobs will not be very well paid, and workers will likely face high work intensity."

Although the wage issue is still speculative, one thing Friedman said we can count on is that "Foxconn and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will do everything in their power to prevent the workers from unionizing. "

Walker has previously proposed a plan to abolish unions for federal workers.

Nevertheless, University of Wisconsin-Madison's Chancellor and former Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank is confident that Foxconn's move to the state has the potential to stimulate its economy.

In an emailed statement to TheStreet, Blank's office called the move "a major leap forward for our state's economy."

"It also illustrates the importance of a culture of innovation, along with a strong public research university, to regional economic development," she said.

Wisconsin has a 3.1% unemployment rate, the 9th best in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But, the state's labor participation rate has been falling and hit 68.3% in February 2017, meaning fewer people are in the workforce. That said, wages in Wisconsin are higher than any year going back to 2000, according to Politifact.

The factory will be located in the congressional district of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, a White House official told the AP, although the official declined to provide a specific location. Speaker Ryan serves Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, which includes Kenosha and Racine counties and portions of Milwaukee, Rock, Walworth and Waukesha counties.

"I'm thrilled that Foxconn ... decided to build their new factory in southeastern Wisconsin. This decision will create thousands of good jobs, and I'm excited for all the Wisconsinites who will benefit," Ryan said. "... [W]e look forward to working further with Foxconn as we begin a new era of manufacturing here in Wisconsin."

Since the announcement, Trump has praised the investment made by Foxconn and even suggested the company could increase their investment in the U.S.

While speaking at the White House, Trump said that Gou told him "off the record" that Foxconn could invest as much as $30 billion in the Wisconsin plant instead of $10 billion.

Apple is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells AAPL? Learn more now.

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If President Trump wants to widen his conspiracy theories beyond Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) - Get Free Report , Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post, he can now point his Twitter feed at Apple Inc. (AAPL) - Get Free Report , Atlantic Media and Laurene Powell Jobs.

Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, has agreed to purchase a majority stake in the magazine through her investment and philanthropy organization, Emerson Collective, the magazine announced on Friday, July 28. Terms were not disclosed.

Ropes & Gray LLP and Evercore Partners Inc. advised The Atlantic, while Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC and M. Klein & Co. counseled Emerson Collective.

That makes for yet another liberal-leaning, hard-charging, well-researched news organization with ties to Silicon Valley. If Trump's recent offensive against Amazon and Bezos are an omen of things to come, Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg or Powell Jobs herself can expect some late-night/early-morning zingers straight from the Oval Office. (Powell Jobs has stakes in both Apple and Walt Disney Co. (DIS) - Get Free Report , the latter holding thanks to Disney's purchase of Pixar Animation Studios Inc. Powell Jobs had a 4.05% stake in Disney as of Jan. 14, according to Bloomberg. As of Friday, her holdings placed her at No. 42 on Forbes' billionaires list, with a net worth of $20.7 billion.)

Watch:President Trump Just Took a Swipe at Amazon's Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post on Twitter

While Powell Jobs is acquiring a controlling interest in the magazine, Atlantic Media chairman David G. Bradley, who purchased the flagship publication for $10 million in 1999 from real estate investor and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman, will continue in the role for three to five years. Bradley, 64, told the magazine he was eager to find a new owner for The Atlantic given that his children have expressed little interest in running a news organization.

"While I will stay at the helm some years, the most consequential decision of my career now is behind me: Who next will take stewardship of this 160-year-old national treasure?" Bradley wrote in a letter to staff. "To me, the answer, in the form of Laurene, feels incomparably right."

The deal announcement said Bradley researched more than 600 potential investors over more than a year but Emerson Collective was "the only prospect he approached."

The organization focuses on immigration reform, education, the environment and other social justice initiatives.

Atlantic president Bob Cohn and publisher Hayley Romer will continue in their roles, as will Goldberg. Emerson Collective's managing director of media, Peter Lattman, will become vice chairman of The Atlantic.

The deal does not include other Atlantic Media properties such as online business website Quartz and Washington publication The National Journal. It does include digital properties, a live events business and consulting services.

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For Powell Jobs, 53, the acquisition puts her squarely into the body politic. While The Atlantic is small compared to The Post or New York Times Co.'s (NYT) - Get Free Report namesake newspaper, it carries a high profile among political followers, especially those critical of Trump. The Atlantic has had its share of investigations and critical essays aimed at the president's ties to Russia, among other issues.

Digital readership among Atlantic Media's publications has grown from 2 million in early 2009 to a monthly average of 33 million unique visitors for the first half of 2017, the company said. It also generates profits of more than $10 million per year after annually losing at least that amount during the early years of Bradley's ownership.

Like most successful media companies, Atlantic Media has steered from print to digital revenue. In 2006, 85% of revenue came from print advertising and circulation. This year, print will account for less than 20% of incoming revenue; the company's digital, events and consulting divisions make up the remainder, it said. In the past decade, the company's annual revenue has quadrupled, to nearly $80 million.

Powell Jobs' acquisition of The Atlantic also comes after Bradley did the hard work of transforming a staid, wonkish magazine into one that has won accolades for its journalism as well as its web design. Of course, The Atlantic was founded in 1857 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, a point Powell Jobs cited in announcing that her Emerson Collective would purchase a majority stake in the magazine.

"What a privilege it is to partner with David Bradley and become a steward of The Atlantic, one of the country's most important and enduring journalistic institutions," Powell Jobs said. "The Atlantic was co-founded 160 years ago by a group of abolitionists including Ralph Waldo Emerson, who is a primary inspiration for our own work at Emerson Collective."

One can only wonder if Powell Jobs will have second thoughts once the president finds out who owns The Atlantic.

Apple's shares fell 0.7% to $149.50 on Friday.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Mohawk Industries: A&S Energie NV, A&U Energie NV, Aladdin Manufacturing Corporation, Aladdin Manufacturing Of New York LLC, Aladdin Manufacturing of Alabama LLC, Alsace Logistique S.A., Avelgem Green Power CVBA, Avon Pacific Holdings Ltd, B&M NV, BGE Mexico S. de R. L. de C.V., Berghoef GmbH, Berghoef-Hout B.V., Bienes Raices y Materiales del Centro S. de R.L. de C.V., C.F. Marazzi S.A., Canterbury Spinners Ltd, Carpet Foundation Ltd, Cevotrans BV, Ceramus Bahia S/A  Produtos Ceramicos, DT Mex Holdings LLC, DTM/CM Holdings LLC, Dal Italia LLC, Dal-Elit LLC, Dal-Tile Chile Comercial Limitada, Dal-Tile Colombia S.A.S., Dal-Tile Distribution Inc., Dal-Tile Group Inc., Dal-Tile I LLC, Dal-Tile Industrias S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile International Inc., Dal-Tile Mexico Comercial S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Dal-Tile Operaciones Mexico S. De R.L. De C.V., Dal-Tile Peru SRL, Dal-Tile Puerto Rico Inc., Dal-Tile Services Inc., Dal-Tile Shared Services Inc., Dal-Tile Tennessee LLC, Dal-Tile of Canada ULC, Daltile, Daltile, Dekaply NV, Durkan, Dynea NV, Eliane Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Eliane S/A - Revestimentos Ceramicos, Emilceramica India Pvt Ltd., Emilceramica S.r.l, Emilgermany GmbH, Emilgroup Asia Ltd, Explorer S.r.l., F.I.L.S. Investments Unlimited Company, Feltex Carpets Ltd, Feltex Carpets Pty Ltd, Feltex New Zealand Ltd, Fibremakers Australia Pty Ltd, Flooring Foundation Ltd, Flooring Industries Limited S.a r.l., Flooring XL B.V., Floorscape Limited, Godfrey Hirst & Co Pty Ltd, Godfrey Hirst (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Godfrey Hirst Australia Pty Ltd, Godfrey Hirst Group, Godfrey Hirst NZ Ltd, Hytherm (Ireland) Limited, IVC BVBA, IVC Far-East Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., IVC France S.a r.l., IVC GROUP LIMITED, IVC Green Power NV, IVC Group, IVC Group GmbH, IVC Luxembourg S.a r.l., IVC Rus OOO, IVC US Inc., International Flooring Systems S.a r.l., International Vinyl Company - Vostok OOO, KAI Group, KAI Keramica Ltd, KAI Mining EOOD, KERAMA CENTER OOO, Kerama Baltics OOO, Kerama Export OOO, Kerama Marazzi OOO, Kerampromservis (LLC), Khan Asparuh - Transport EOOD, Khan Asparuh AD, Khan Omurtag AD, Koninklijke Peitsman B.V., Kraj Kerama OOO, MG China Trading Ltd., MI Finance SRL, MUD (Holding) Brazil Ltda., Management Co EAD, Marazzi Acquisition S.r.l., Marazzi Deutschland G.m.b.H., Marazzi France Trading S.A.S., Marazzi Group, Marazzi Group F.Z.E., Marazzi Group S.r.l., Marazzi Group Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Marazzi Iberia S.L.U., Marazzi Japan Co. Ltd., Marazzi Middle East FZ LLC, Marazzi Schweiz S.A.G.L., Marazzi UK Ltd., Mohawk Assurance Services Inc., Mohawk Australia Pty Ltd, Mohawk Canada Corporation, Mohawk Capital Finance S.A., Mohawk Capital Luxembourg SA, Mohawk Carpet Distribution Inc., Mohawk Carpet Foundation Inc., Mohawk Carpet LLC, Mohawk Carpet Transportation Of Georgia LLC, Mohawk Commercial Inc., Mohawk ESV Inc., Mohawk Europe BVBA, Mohawk Factoring II Inc., Mohawk Factoring LLC, Mohawk Finance S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Acquisitions S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Funding S.a.r.l, Mohawk Foreign Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Investments Inc., Mohawk Global Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Holdings International B.V., Mohawk Industries Inc., Mohawk International (Europe) S.a r.l., Mohawk International (Hong Kong) Limited, Mohawk International Capital N.V., Mohawk International Financing S.a.r.l, Mohawk International Holdings (DE) LLC, Mohawk International Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk International Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk International Netherlands B.V., Mohawk International Services BVBA, Mohawk KAI Luxembourg Holding S.a r.l., Mohawk KAI Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Capital S.A., Mohawk Luxembourg Financing S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Pacific S.a r.l., Mohawk Marazzi International BV, Mohawk Marazzi Russia BV, Mohawk New Zealand Limited, Mohawk Operaciones Mexicali S. de R.L. de C.V., Mohawk Operations Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk Pacific Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Resources LLC, Mohawk Servicing LLC, Mohawk Singapore Private Limited, Mohawk Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Mohawk Unilin Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk United Finance B.V., Mohawk United International B.V., Mohawk Vinyl Financing S.a r.l., Molber Beheer B.V., Monarch Ceramic Tile Inc., P.F. Onroerend Goed B.V., PF Beheer B.V., Pergo, Pergo (Europe) AB, Pergo Holding BV, Pergo India Pvt Ltd, Polcolorit S.A., Premium Floors Australia Pty Limited, RR Apex LLC, Rata International Pty Ltd, Recubrimientos Interceramica S. de R.L. de C.V., Riverside Textiles Pty Ltd, S.C. KAI Ceramics SRL, Sibir Kerama OOO, SimpleSolutions USA LLC, Soft Step (Australia) Pty Ltd, Spano Group, Spano Invest BVBA, Spano NV, Stroyagromekhzapchast ChaO, Stroytrans OAO Orelstroy, Summit Wool Spinners Ltd, The Flooring Federation Ltd, Tiles Co OOD, Unilin (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Unilin ApS, Unilin Arauco Pisos Ltda., Unilin BVBA, Unilin Beheer BV, Unilin Distribution Ltd., Unilin Distribution Ukraine LLC, Unilin Finland OY, Unilin Flooring India Private Limited, Unilin Flooring SAS, Unilin GmbH, Unilin Holding BVBA, Unilin Insulation BV, Unilin Insulation SAS, Unilin Insulation Sury SAS, Unilin Italia S.R.L., Unilin North America LLC, Unilin Norway AS, Unilin OOO, Unilin Panels SAS, Unilin Poland Sp.Z.o.o., Unilin SAS, Unilin Spain SL, Unilin Swiss GmbH, Unilin s.r.o., World International Inc., Xtratherm, Xtratherm Limited, Xtratherm S.A., and Xtratherm UK Limited.

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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 []
GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft engages in the development and production of systems and components for the food processing industry worldwide. The company operates through five divisions: Separation & Flow Technologies, Liquid & Power Technologies, Food & Health Technologies, Farm Technologies, and Heating & Refrigeration Technologies. It provides separators, decanters, homogenizers, valves, and pumps; and process solutions for the dairy, food, beverage, chemical, and other industries. The company also offers solutions for food processing and pharmaceutical industries, which includes preparation, marinating, and processing of meat, poultry, seafood, vegan products, pasta production, baking, slicing, packaging, and confectionary, as well as frozen food processing; and granulation systems and tablet presses. In addition, it provides integrated customer solutions for milk production and livestock farming, such as automatic milking, feeding systems, conventional milking solutions, manure handling, and digital herd management tools; and sustainable energy solutions for an array of industries including food, beverage, dairy, and oil and gas in the field of industrial refrigeration and temperature control. The company was formerly known as mg technologies ag and changed its name to GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft in 2005. GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Dusseldorf, Germany.
CrossAmerica Partners LP engages in the wholesale distribution of motor fuels, operation of convenience stores, and ownership and leasing of real estate used in the retail distribution of motor fuels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Wholesale and Retail. The Wholesale segment engages in the wholesale distribution of motor fuels to lessee dealers, independent dealers, commission agents, and company operated retail sites. The Retail segment is involved in the sale of convenience merchandise items; and retail sale of motor fuels at company operated retail sites and retail sites operated by commission agents. As of December 31, 2021, the company distributed motor fuel on a wholesale basis to approximately 1,750 sites located in 34 states; and owned or leased approximately 1,150 sites. CrossAmerica GP LLC operates as the general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as Lehigh Gas Partners LP and changed its name to CrossAmerica Partners LP in October 2014. The company was founded in 1992 and is based in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
This is a current list of the top 250 companies by market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Learn more .

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is one of the largest, and most recognizable, stock exchanges in the world. The NYSE is in New York City, New York at 11 Wall Street. The NYSE has been in existence since the earliest days of the United States becoming a nation, in 1792 and is primarily made up of blue-chip companies with large market capitalizations. In fact, many of the stocks that make up the Dow Jones Composite Index (i.e. The Dow) are listed on the NYSE.

This article gives a brief history of the New York Stock Exchange. In addition, it covers topics such as what kind of stocks trade on the exchange, what are the listing requirements, how trading is performed, and what the daily price movement of the NYSE tells investors about investor sentiment.

What Were the Origins of the NYSE?

Today, the New York Stock Exchange is known as the center of the financial universe. However, the exchanges origin is far more humble. On May 17, 1792, 24 stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement creating a centralized exchange to help provide order to the securities market in what was still a young nation. The "Buttonwood Agreement comes from the tree of the same name under which the founders signed the agreement.

An initial benefit of the exchange was how it removed the need for auctioneers when trading commodities like wheat and tobacco and to set a commission rate. The exchange initially focused on government bonds.

However, the exchange had no formal home. Business was usually conducted informally in the local coffeehouses. In 1817, the exchange changed its name to the New York Stock & Exchange Board which later became the New York Stock Exchange. At this time, the exchange adopted a constitution that set the rules for trading. A group of stockbrokers met twice a day at 40 Wall Street to trade 30 stocks and bonds.

Over time, the exchange moved became the financial hub of the country and moved to its current location in 1865.

What Kind of Stocks Trade on the NYSE?

As of June 2022, the NYSE includes approximately 2,400 companies with a market capitalization of over $28.2 trillion. Although the NYSE trades stocks of all market capitalizations, its best known for trading the stocks of large cap companies. These have the benefit of being mature companies in mature industries. And many of these companies reward shareholders with dividends.

However, that also means that many of these companies are better suited for value investors as opposed to growth investors. In bear markets this stability can be a benefit for investors as these stocks tend to perform less bad than more volatile stocks. But in a bull market, these stocks are not likely to provide investors with the growth that they look for.

An interesting fact about how the NYSE and NASDAQ operate is that the companies with the five largest market caps on the NYSE are also listed on the NASDAQ exchange.

What Are the Listing Requirements For the NYSE?

The NYSE has strict guidelines that govern the types of companies that can list on the exchange. Here are the major requirements that all companies must meet:

The company must have at least 2,200 shareholders

The company must trade over 100,000 shares per month

The company must have a market valuation of over $100 million

The company must generate more than $75 million in annual revenue

However, there is at least one advantage of having such stringent requirements. That is the companies that meet the requirements generally find it easier to get more investors funds when they hold their initial public offering (IPO).

Once a company begins trading on the NYSE, it must continue to meet these requirements. If it doesnt it can be delisted. In addition to these requirements, the stock must continue to trade above $1. If the price of a stock drops below $1 for more than 29 consecutive trading days, the stock receives an Initial Price Violation Notice.

At that point, the company has 10 days to provide the exchange with a plan for bringing their shares above $1.

How are Trades Executed on the NYSE?

For over a century, the floor of the NYSE was the place for investors to be. This meant trades were conducted by traders who ran buy and sell orders across the trading floor looking to broker a deal for their clients. But with the birth of the NASDAQ exchange in 1971, the New York Stock Exchange began conducting electronic trading.

However, the NYSE continues to conduct trades in an auction style. Brokers purchase stocks on behalf of their clients or firms. Every order features a broker who will enter the order electronically and a specialist who serves as the market maker for that stock. The specialist posts bid and ask prices and manages the actual execution of the trades. And there are still a handful of stockbrokers who still traffic buy and sell orders physically on the floor of the exchange.

How Does the NYSE Signal Investor Sentiment?

Like its counterpart, the NASDAQ, the NYSE measures the risk appetite of investors. When the NYSE is moving higher over a length of time, it signals that a risk on environment. Conversely when the NYSE moves lower over a significant period, it signals that investors are moving to a risk off position.

Some Final Thoughts on the NYSE

Financial news networks plan their programming schedule around the opening and closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Its still considered a distinguished honor when individuals or groups are invited to ring the opening bell. In fact, Warren Buffett is attributed with saying that in the short term, the stock market acts like a voting machine. A fact that many U.S. presidents will attest to.

The NYSE is the oldest and most recognizable of all the stock exchanges. It also has the most stringent requirements for inclusion. And those requirements must be maintained even after a stock begins publicly trading on the exchange.

Although the NYSE still has a small in-person Trading Floor, much of the trading is done electronically to provide traders with the speed to execute trades.
Rentokil Initial plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides route-based services in North America, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and internationally. It offers a range of pest control services for rodents, and flying and crawling insects, as well as other forms of wildlife management for commercial and residential customers. The company also provides hygiene services, including the provision and maintenance of products, such as soap and hand sanitizer dispensers, hand dryers, air care and purification, cubicle and surface sanitizers, feminine hygiene units, toilet paper dispensers, and floor protection mats. In addition, it engages in the supply and laundering of workwear, uniforms, cleanroom uniforms, and protective equipment. Further, the company installs and services interior and exterior plant displays, flowers, replica foliage, Christmas decorations, and ambient scenting for commercial businesses; offers property care services consisting of damp proofing, property conservation, and woodworm and wood rot treatment; and provides a range of specialist cleaning services, such as graffiti removal deep cleaning of kitchens and washrooms, trauma cleaning, and flood or fire damage cleaning, as well as specialist industrial cleaning and disinfection services, including the professional and discreet disinfection of areas that have been exposed to bio-hazardous situations, such as crime and trauma scenes, prison cells, void properties, emergency vehicles, and healthcare establishments. Additionally, it offers a range of healthcare waste management services comprising the collection, disposal, and recycling of hazardous and offensive waste produced by businesses and organizations associated with the provision of healthcare; and color-coded sharps disposal bins to deal with various types of waste. Rentokil Initial plc was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Crawley, the United Kingdom.
The flying car may never take off, but the personal jet has already landed.

While companies such as Google, Intel, Toyota and Uber are working on flying cars (actually, really big drones), Cirrus Aircraft has introduced the Vision Jet, the first single-engine private jet designed to be flown by its owner.

(Image credit: John Quain/Tom's Guide)

So while all those overhyped research projects may never become a reality, the Vision Jet has already received FAA certification and is available for about $2 million. Moreover, to prove just how easy it is to fly, Cirrus let me pilot (for a very short time) one of the first six Vision Jets off the line.

Flying your own jet is several orders of magnitude better than flying first class (never mind economy). There's no surly security personnel, no gate delays, no cranky passengers and no one to tell you what you can't bring on board.

Cirrus has been building small private planes for over 30 years in the U.S. The company is perhaps best known for its unique Airframe Parachute System. Essentially, it's a parachute for the plane  the entire plane  adding an element of safety that should be intrinsic to any mode of personal flying transportation.

Cirrus expects most Vision Jet owners will pilot the aircraft themselves -- you do need to be a licensed pilot. When you pick up the aircraft in Knoxville, Tennessee, customers also take a nine-day training course on the jet and its safety systems, including the plane's parachute.

Like a Flying BMW

With its low-wing and V-tail design, the Vision Jet is sleek but on the cute rather than sexy side. It offers excellent visibility from within the cockpit, lots of convenience (yes, there are cup holders), the latest technology and, of course, comfort.

(Image credit: John Quain/Tom's Guide)

In fact, the leather seats make you feel like you're ensconced in a BMW Series 7 sedan.

By the Numbers: Cirrus Vision Jet

Swipe to scroll horizontally Capacity Seats up to five adults and two children Jet Engine

Williams International FJ33-5A Top Speed 345 mph Range 1,200 miles Pilot license required? Yes Tech amenities Cirrus Perspective Touch by Garmin Cockpit, Sirius/XM radio, satellite phone, four powered USB ports Maximum Useable Fuel 2,000 pounds Wingspan 37 feet Weight 3,572 pounds

And flying your own jet is several orders of magnitude better than flying first class (never mind economy). There's no surly security personnel, no gate delays, no cranky fellow passengers and no one to tell you what you can or can't bring on board.

You can clip along at 4,000 feet at up to 345 mph. That's a good 75 mph quicker than even the fastest prop planes.

How Fast and How Far?

Compared with a typical prop plane (aka a piston aircraft), what the Cirrus jet offers is high-tech convenience  and speed. You can clip along at 4,000 feet at up to 345 mph. That's a good 75 mph quicker than even the fastest prop planes, like the Cessna TTx (Cirrus says it's actually 50 percent faster than the average private prop plane). So the Vision Jet can turn a typical 7-hour driving ordeal into a 1-hour hop.

(Image credit: John Quain/Tom's Guide)

The Cirrus jet seats up to five adults and two children, which is enough room for two families and their luggage. The plane has a range of around 1,200 miles before you have to land and refuel. To put that in perspective, you can't fly nonstop from New York to San Francisco but you can go directly from Los Angeles to Kansas City. (There's no room for a lavatory on board, so you'd probably want to make a pit stop, anyway.)

MORE: The Best Drones and Quadcopters on Any Budget

Enhanced Vision

Inside, the Vision Jet's cockpit is comprised of a suite of LCD displays called Garmin's Perspective Touch system, which includes what is known in aviation argot as a synthetic-vision system.

(Image credit: John Quain/Tom's Guide)

Not only does it provide an animated artificial horizon to follow  which made it relatively easy for me to see whether I was keeping the jet level or not  but it also reveals major landmarks, moving icons that represent other planes and critical topographical features, like mountains. Better still, the synthetic vision means you can see these objects on the screen should you become disoriented on a cloudy, moonless night.

(Image credit: John Quain/Tom's Guide)

The system also includes advanced navigation that will plot a flight path and return you to the original route and altitude should you stray for a little sightseeing. The autopilot proved smooth (constantly adjusting the trim) yet responsive (such as rapidly returning the plane to the pre-set altitude).

Cirrus is proudest of the plane's large windows, which give the tiny jet a more expansive, open feeling and makes much larger planes feel cramped by comparison.

In addition to these essential technologies, there are niceties such as Sirius XM radio (which plays through passengers' headphones), a satellite phone and USB-charging ports at each seat. For passengers, even though the jet engine is placed above and behind the cabin, the noise level while flying is less than what you'd experience in a helicopter but still more than what you'd hear on a large commercial flight. So headphones are required to muffle the din and allow everyone to talk to each other.

(Image credit: John Quain/Tom's Guide)

Cirrus is proudest of the plane's large windows, aided and abetted by the jet's carbon-fiber construction. The slightly bug-eyed fenestration gives the tiny jet a more expansive, open feeling, and makes much larger planes with their diminutive portals feel cramped by comparison. I particularly appreciated the wider view as we tracked along the West Side of Manhattan's concrete canyons. And the improved visibility made it easier to spot nearby air traffic, of which there was plenty on a sunny afternoon over New York City.

MORE: 10 Worst Data Breaches of All Time

A Joy(stick) to Fly

I got my chance to fly the plane for a few minutes in the much calmer skies above the beaches of Long Island. Despite my initial trepidation (I'm not a licensed pilot), I found controlling the Vision Jet was a remarkably easy task.

(Image credit: John Quain/Tom's Guide)

The side-mounted joystick provides enough resistance to let you know you've got a Williams International jet engine at your back but it's not overly sensitive, smoothly responding to any slight banking maneuvers. Garmin's synthetic-vision system can tend to make nervous neophytes like myself stare at the screens  am I still flying level?!  but experienced pilots will no doubt find it a helpful accouterment.

If you get nervous  or just lazy  and have trouble keeping the jet flying true, literally a push of a button kicks in the autopilot, which will straighten out the Vision Jet and take it to the altitude you preselected. Plot a route, and the system will follow that, too. It will do everything but land the plane, but even then, the automatic systems work overtime, tweaking the ailerons (hinged parts of the wings) to make sure your approach is smooth.

MORE: I Spent More Than $200 on Headphones: You Should Too

Whole-Plane Parachute

Anyone who feels less than confident relying on a single pilot (or single engine, for that matter), should be reassured by the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System.

(Image credit: John Quain/Tom's Guide)

The whole-plane parachute is triggered by pulling a red handle in the ceiling of the cockpit (it has a cover to prevent inadvertent deployment). It takes a good solid pull to set off a small, solid-fuel rocket that releases the parachute from its hidden compartment.

Harness straps simultaneously emerge from the fuselage, and within seconds, according to the company, the parachute fully extends to gently bring the plane back to earth. The system includes a hidden roll cage and energy-absorbing seats, but to prevent any fatalities, ideally the airframe parachute should be deployed above 400 feet (higher is better).

The parachute can save pilot and passengers should there be an event such as icing, engine failure, loss of fuel or other emergency. If you want to see the system in action, you can watch a chute deployment on a prop Cirrus aircraft in a real-life emergency over the ocean.

Bottom Line

For anyone who has endured the traveling torture that is commercial airflight today, the attraction of just hopping into your own plane is ineluctable. Furthermore, the Cirrus Vision Jet is a joy to fly and to ride in.

So while flying cars may forever be a George Jetson pipe dream, the personal jet is available today. Well, if you have $2 million --- and patience. Cirrus already has more than 600 customers lined up for the Vision Jet, so if you order it now, dont expect delivery for over three years.
LAS VEGAS  At the DEF CON 25 hacker conference here today (July 28), chess champion, political activist and Avast antivirus brand ambassador Garry Kasparov offered a surprisingly optimistic vision of human interaction with intelligent machines.

(Image credit: This is not Deep Blue. Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

"I believe there's plenty of room for both man and machine," Kasparov said. "I don't think we are facing digital Armageddon."

Twenty years ago, Kasparov famously lost a six-game chess match to Deep Blue, an IBM supercomputer. A Newsweek cover called the match "The Brain's Last Stand," and when Kasparov lost, the moment was hailed as the dawn of artificial intelligence.

Despite his loss, Kasparov said that intelligent machines will not replace humans. Instead, machines working together with humans will be able to solve more problems than either machines or humans could by themselves  if we humans can learn to trust intelligent machines, not try to stop them.

"Technology destroys the old world and creates a new one," Kasparov said. "The sooner it happens, the better we are."

MORE: How to Protect Your Identity, Personal Data and Property

Kasparov said that a few years after he was beaten by Deep Blue, other chess players took on supercomputers with the assistance of less highly-powered machines  and usually won.

"A human-machine team always dominated a single supercomputer," he said.

Interestingly, relatively weak chess players did better working with computers than did strong players. Kasparov said that was because a weak player would trust the computer's judgment, but a strong player would sometimes think he or she knew better than the machine  and make more mistakes as a result.

"In medicine, machines are far more accurate than doctors in giving diagnoses," Kasparov said. "So would you rather be diagnosed by a good doctor with a machine, or by a good nurse with a machine?"

For these reasons, he argued, humans will have to learn to trust intelligent machines and accept that the machines will make fewer mistakes.

"Our descendants are going to look back at us and think we were crazy to oppose self-driving cars," Kasparov said. "Human-caused auto accidents are one of the leading causes of death. Why do we want to keep that?"

But, he said, machines can only provide answers. They can't come up with the relevant questions. Intelligent machines are not much good without humans to use them, but can be tremendously useful in their ability to rapidly provide information and analysis.

"Machines offer an opportunity to take larger risks," Kasparov said. "Even the Terminator movies show humans working with machines to defeat other machines."

That will happen, he said. Resisting technological progress is always futile.

"One hundred years ago, one of the strongest labor unions in New York City was the union of elevator operators," Kasparov said. "The newer technology was already there  you just pushed the button. But people were afraid to.

"You know what changed things?" he asked. "One day, the union decided to go on strike."

Instead, he said, we should embrace the machine-assisted future for the betterment of humanity, even though it will initially be disruptive as intelligent machines take human jobs.

"New technology renders whole industries obsolete before it creates new jobs," he said. "If you try to slow down the process with regulations, you just make it more painful."

"But technology is agnostic. It's neither good nor evil," Kasparov added. "It's up to we humans to do what only humans can do: dream, and dream big, so that we can get the most out of these amazing new tools."
VOD Dubai International Jewellery Show, the Middle Easts only consumer and trade-focused jewellery industry event, has announced a strategic partnership with Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group (DGJG), a non-profit trade association.



DJGJ counts more than 700 members and represents companies accounting for almost 80 per cent of the regional jewellery trade.



The partnership evolves DGJGs previous support of VICENZAORO Dubai and Dubai International Jewellery Week, the emirates traditional trade and consumer-centric jewellery industry events which have been merged into the consolidated VOD Dubai International Jewellery Show, running November 15  18 at Dubai World Trade Centre.



One of five strategic partnerships aimed at ensuring the shows prolonged success in nurturing further growth in the robust regional jewellery sector, the partnership will leverage DGJGs knowledge, expertise and network to elevate the events commercial proposition and Dubais position at the fulcrum of the global jewellery industry.



As a promotional board for Dubai in the international jewellery industry, DGJG is the link between the government and the industry at large. We lay a platform for training, starting from the doorman of the jewellery store to the owner of the store; we train people on gemology and the purity of gold; we organise international conferences and we represent the trade in other jewellery shows around the world. We are a 360-degree business, said Tawhid Abdullah, chairman, DGJG.



VOD Dubai International Jewellery Show has the added edge of being a unique fusion between retail and trade  its something we have never done before in Dubai  and I believe we will be very successful. The regional jewellery market is flourishing, added Abdullah, citing the fact the UAE is the only country globally to achieve an average trade increase of five-to-eight per cent in the first five months of 2017 compared to the same period last year.



Dubai has managed to build its strong position thanks to a number of reasons: credibility, trade experience, the potential of the wholesalers, overall pricing  all these factors attract the global market. Dubai doesnt consume the 350 tonnes of jewellery it sees in a year, 80-90 per cent is re-exported, it comes and goes. This is what Dubai is all about. Its a service provider, a facilitator of goods, industry and trade. We manufacture, we import, we export, we assemble, and we facilitate the meeting of countries and companies to do business. Dubai is where the world comes to trade  we hope VOD Dubai International Jewellery Show builds on that reputation in the jewellery sector, said Abdullah.



In the UAE we are in a unique position in that we import almost 350 tonnes of jewellery annually; that means 14 per cent of all total manufactured jewellery globally passes through the region. This gives us immense negotiating power and our job now is to embark on serious road shows to the countries who produce and sell their products with us, meet manufacturing delegates and persuade them to exhibit and trade with us, he added, speaking of DGJGs initial role in the exhibition.



Spanning more than 200,000 sq ft of indoor exhibition space, VOD Dubai International Jewellery Show is organised by DV Global Link, a joint-venture company between DWTC and Italian Exhibition Group (IEG). This year, the all-new format will see more than 500 local, regional and international exhibitors launching brand new product lines, collections and jewellery innovations to a trade and consumer audience.  TradeArabia News Service
- Raila Odinga has promised to mend the frosty relationship between Kenya and Tanzania if he becomes president

- Raila said he is a close friend of Magufuli and will use this to mend the relationship

- He said the Kenya-Tanzania border at Namanga will be opened and ban on Kenyan goods and products be lifted

National Super Alliance (NASA) flag bearer Raila Odinga has claimed Tanzanian President John Magufuli is likely to listen to him more than he would do to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Addressing residents of Namanga town in Kajiado on Friday, July 28, Raila said that he will use his close relationship with Magufuli to make sure that sanity returns at the Kenya-Tanzania border.

He also said that once he is elected president, Tanzania will lift the ban it has imposed on Kenyan exports.

Magufuli and Raila are close friends Photo: BBC

READ ALSO: NASA denies it plans to boycott August polls, accuses media

"Magufuli is my friend. I will speak to him and ensure that this border is opened," Raila said as quoted by Nation.

As reported by TUKO.co.ke, the relationship between the two countries has been frosty in recent days, with Tanzania banning at least 20 Kenyan companies from exporting goods and products into its territory.

Among those affected are Uhuru's milk processing company Brookside Dairies.

Magufuli receives Raila at his home in Tanzania Photo: Wavuti

READ ALSO: Al-Shabaab militants ambush Jubilee campaign team in Mandera

Kenyans working in Tanzania were recently chased away with Kenya retaliating by sending away Tanzanians working in Kenya.

Raila and Magufuli have been close friends for a long time and it was suspected Tanzania was willing to allow NASA set up a parallel tallying centre there to tally its own results.

However, Raila and Tanzania have since denied the claims made by a section of Jubilee.

I've slept with over 100 men, tried taking away myself 5 times

Have something to add to this article or suggestions? Send to news@tuko.co.ke

Source: TUKO.co.ke
- Independent candidate Miguna Miguna has been dumped by his running mate nine days to the August 8 polls

- Migunas running mate Karen Wangenye stepped down citing pooor working relationship with the former advisor to Raila Odinga

- Miguna Miguna had picked Karen in June,2017 after dropping his first running mate ,James Gathungu

Nairobi County Gubernatorial aspirant Miguna Miguna has been dumped by his running mate just nine days to the August 8 General Election.

TUKO.co.ke has learnt that Miguna Migunas running mate Karen Wangenye has stepped down as his running mate citing poor working relationship and coordination with the former advisor to Raila Odinga.

Speaking to journalist moments after taking the drastic move, Karen said she would have loved to work with Miguna Miguna to the end but it is impossible because they are not compatible.

Miguna Miguna. Photo: Miguna Miguna/Twitter

READ ALSO: The tight security features of the presidential ballot paper that will bear Raila and Uhuru's names

Let it be known that I have nothing against the Miguna and I wish him well. All Im saying is that we are not compatible and I am not in a position to work with his methods of addressing issues. Karen revealed.

Miguna, who is seeking to become the next Nairobi Governor has however received blessings from Karen who stated that she believes in his ideas and that Nairobi needs to give him a chance.

READ ALSO: Powerful Jubilee Politician pulls a shocker as he endorses an ODM candidate

Miguna Miguna and his running mate Karen Wangenye. Photo: Maxdefault

READ ALSO: DP Ruto slams Raila's threat to boycott polls as hypocrisy,says Kenyans will elect Jubilee on account of superb record

Unfortunately Im here today to let the public know that I would like to resign from that position. Not that I do not believe in the cause; in fact, I very much believe his ideas are exactly what we need to implement to make Nairobi the green city in the sun once more, she said.

Miguna Miguna had picked Karen in June,2017 after dropping his first running mate ,James Gathungu.

Miguna Miguna with Karen Wangenye. Photo: K.H.N.O

Karens exit has dealt Migunas side a big blow as the election is only a few days away.

In a quick rejoinder,Miguna says he has not yet received any letter of his running mate's resignation.

''I've not received any letter of my running mate's resignation & I cannot therefore comment''Miguna told journalists who sought his word on the latest development.

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Was Uhuru justified to miss the Presidential debate;

Source: TUKO.co.ke
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 []
- Elite police have now been deployed at William Ruto's house after armed gangsters attacked

- The gunmen shot a GSU officer guarding the house after they manged to snatch his gun

- A fierce exchange of fire has been experienced after the elite squad entered the home

Elite police officers have now been deployed at the rural home of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto's home in western Uasin Gishu county after seven armed men forced their way into the home.

TUKO.co.ke can now confirm that heavy exchange of fire is being experienced at the home as the police force their way into the house where the gangsters are hiding.

The armed men attacked the house just 30 minutes after the DP left for Kitale rally where President Uhuru Kenyatta was waiting for him.

None of the DPs family member was at the residence during the attack.

READ ALSO: Terror attack at Deputy President William Ruto's House, GSU shot

Recce Squad have now taken over the situation. Photo: Courtesy

TUKO.co.ke can also confirm that police have been battling the attacker for the better part of the afternoon.

READ ALSO: Mohammed Ali warns Joho after his 'silly tactics'

A police chopper has also been deployed to the scene as residents and members of the media have been barred at least 500 meters away from the home.

The motive of the attack is still unclear.

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Source: TUKO.co.ke
A man viewed in a viral video, that circulated on social media, stomping on another man, who had fallen into a drain after being chased by armed men,...
The President General of the NUGFW and NATUC, James Lambert says, too many people in the cou
The Special Operations Forces are the pride of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko stated this in his greetings on the occasion of the Day of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"The Special Operations Forces are the pride of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. My congratulations to the servicepersons!" Poroshenko wrote.

July 29, Ukraine marks the Day of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The holiday was established to promote the further development of national military traditions, military and patriotic education of the youth and their readiness to defend the Motherland, as stated in the presidential decree of July 26, 2016.

The Special Operations Forces are a separate division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine which consists of the well-trained and motivated military personnel capable of conducting subversive activities behind enemy lines, organizing partisan fighting in the occupied territories, releasing or seizing important hostages.

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U.S. President Donald Trump is going to sign a bill on strengthening sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea.

"President Donald J. Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it. He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it," the White House said on Friday.

WH says President Trump will sign Russia sanctions bill pic.twitter.com/XF3zkIlayb  Jordan Fabian (@Jordanfabian) 29  2017 .

As reported, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to approve tough sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea.

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President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has awarded Ukrainian pilot Oleksandr Akopov, who landed a hail-damaged passenger plane at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport in extremely difficult weather conditions, the Order For Courage.

This is reported by the press service of the Head of State.

"Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has awarded Ukrainian pilot Oleksandr Akopov the Order For Courage. Akopov, who is working in the AtlasGlobal Turkish company, saved the lives of 121 passengers and 6 crew members by flawlessly landing damaged passenger plane at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport in extremely difficult weather conditions on July 27," the statement reads.

The decree, signed by the President of Ukraine, reads that Akopov was given a high state award for the courage and dedication shown in performance of his duty and high professionalism.

As reported, July 27, Ukrainian pilot made blind landing of the plane, which was badly damaged by hail, in the Istanbul Ataturk Airport.
Invisible children

As long as these children remain unregistered, what many in the world take for granted will be out of reach for the rest of their lives. They cannot marry, have a bank account, vote, own property or have a passport. In fact, officially, they have no name or surname.

In the Dominican Republic, 17.6 per cent of children under the age of five are not registered in the civil registry. The country has one of the lowest coverage of timely birth registration in Latin America and the Caribbean. Only 41 per cent of children born in public maternity hospitals are registered before leaving these facilities.

Across Latin America and the Caribbean, the birth of about four million children under five years of age has never been recorded as of 2013  nearly as many as the combined populations of Cuba and Uruguays capital cities.

Isabel explains that when she gave birth, Jorge Luis was working in neighboring Haiti and both had to be present for the registration. When he came back we went to the register and there was no one in the office. It was a Thursday and we had to wait until Monday, but with the birth expenses, medicines and milk, we couldnt afford to be away from home so we had to go back. Since then, this low-income family has not been able to do so.

They need to travel to the country's capital Santo Domingo, about 50 miles away, but the trip can take more than four hours by public transport.

UNICEF research shows that the child population without birth certificates is mainly from families marginalized in other areas of life. While 39.2 per cent of children under 5 years old in the poorest quintile are not registered, the rate drops to 6.6 per cent in families with higher resources. The consequences of this exclusion are so serious that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child compel States to provide the immediate and free guarantee of this right.
UNICEF/Dubourthoumieu

KINSHASA/DAKAR/GENEVA/NEW YORK, 28 July 2017  More than 1 million people have been forced from their homes by waves of violent conflict in the Greater Kasai region of the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC)  making the region one of the largest displacement crises in the world for children, UNICEF said today.



The lives of hundreds of thousands of children and their families in Greater Kasai have been turned upside down by this brutal violence, said Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF Acting Representative in the DRC. A total of 1.4 million people, including 850,000 children, have been displaced, with at least 60,000 uprooted in the month of June alone.



Most of the people who have been displaced in the region are now living with foster families and relatives in communities that are already among the poorest in the country. In many cases, they have lost or left behind all their essential goods and personal belongings.



A smaller number of displaced families have fled into the bush in the vicinity of their villages, surviving in improvised huts. These families are the most vulnerable and the least accessible to humanitarian workers. They suffer from lack of adequate food, shelter, healthcare, water and sanitation.



This is a rapidly growing humanitarian crisis, and with our partners, we are working amid great insecurity to try to help these highly vulnerable families, said Oyewale.



UNICEF and its partners have implemented a cash assistance programme for displaced people that provides households with 100 USD cash support that can be used for basic necessities. To date, UNICEF has supported 11,225 households through this programme.



In addition to the cash programme, a flexible multi-sectoral programme called Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) pre-positions materials and aid partners to rapidly respond to the needs of displaced populations. The assistance includes healthcare, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, and essential non-food items (shelter materials, kitchen utensils, buckets of water, blankets, etc.). Some 50,000 households are expected to benefit from this programme over the coming months.



So far this year, UNICEF and its partners have assisted 157,490 people in urgent humanitarian need thanks to the support of donors.

###

Notes for editors:

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) (UKAid) donated $US5.9 million to UNICEF for its response in Kasai. UNICEF is expecting an additional support from USAID/OFDA. The French and German Nationals Committees for UNICEF have also provided funding for UNICEFs response in the Kasai.
An inquiry is looking into allegations an Australian Special Forces soldier shot dead a man in Afghanistan then planted a firearm on the body to make it look like the trooper had acted in self-defense. The probe is part of a far-reaching investigation of Australias elite fighting units.

According to the allegation, a member of Australias Special Air Service, the SAS, killed an Afghan businessman during a raid on a warehouse in Afghanistans Uruzgan province in April 2011.

According to the militarys official version of events, the man, who was said to be a senior figure in the Taliban, had tried to escape and had drawn a pistol before being shot dead by an SAS soldier. However, a friend of the victim, who said he witnessed the shooting, said the businessman was unarmed and had not tried to run away. The provincial government also said at the time there was no evidence the man was linked to Taliban insurgents.

The shooting is one of a list of killings involving Australias SAS unit that are being examined by a high-powered inquiry.

It has already heard from a soldier who has claimed he helped cover up a war crime in Afghanistan.

Sergeant Kevin Frost described to Australian television his account of an unlawful execution of a prisoner of war.

The particular incident that I was involved in resulted in the POW [prisoner of war] that I had captured actually being executed, murdered. Now, I cannot remember if he cut the cuffs off first, or he cut the cuffs off after he shot him. That is one point I cannot remember there because I was not looking. I did not want to look. I turned around and the guy was dead. He had been shot through the forehead, Frost recalled.

The investigation is being carried out by the Inspector General Australian Defense Force with the help of a respected Supreme Court judge in the state of New South Wales.

The inquiry can compel witnesses to give evidence, and has the power to refer cases to other law enforcement and government agencies.
What does a president who campaigned on an "America First" foreign policy do with the longest war in U.S. history? That is the dilemma for Donald Trump as the White House conducts a policy review of Afghanistan, where U.S. troops have fought for nearly 16 years.

With Trump skeptical of committing more troops to what some see as an unwinnable war, one idea has come to the forefront: using Western companies to extract Afghanistan's vast, untapped mineral deposits.

How much is there? A 2010 U.S. study estimated more than $1 trillion worth of untapped mineral deposits, but Afghanistan's violence, corruption and poor infrastructure would make mining extremely difficult.

That's part of the reason why, although U.S. officials have discussed using Afghanistan's mineral wealth to bolster the government and economy, the plan has not gone anywhere.

There are also concerns about whether such a move would feed into the Taliban narrative that the U.S. military is only in Afghanistan because it wants to plunder the country's natural resources.

Still, Trump appears to be interested in using Afghanistan's minerals as a selling point for continued U.S. military engagement.

A recent New York Times report said Trump had spoken about mineral deposits with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who is also open to the idea.

White House officials declined to comment on the story, citing the ongoing policy review. But Afghan officials confirmed to VOA they were expecting a U.S. envoy for talks on mines.

Means of attracting investors

"We have received information about the U.S. delegation," Abdul Qadeer Mutfi, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, told VOA's Afghan service. "We are working on an orderly mechanism of attracting foreign investments."

The idea is consistent with Trump's long-standing practice of linking U.S. military intervention to the exploitation of natural resources.

Trump has lamented for years that the U.S. did not "keep the oil" when it invaded Iraq in 2003.

After Islamic State seized oil fields in Iraq and Syria, Trump felt his views were vindicated, and his "take the oil" mantra eventually became a standard part of his presidential campaign speeches.

The rhetoric continued during his early days in office. In a speech to CIA employees a day after becoming president, Trump spoke positively of the phrase "to the victor belong the spoils."

It's not clear how to reconcile those comments with Trump's at times heated criticism of costly U.S. wars overseas, or his opposition at times to the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan.

More recently, Trump has been said to be skeptical of a proposal by U.S. military generals to boost the number of troops in Afghanistan in a bid to regain Taliban territory.

Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to Trump for national security issues, declined to comment on whether the president was looking into mineral extraction in Afghanistan.

When asked more broadly whether the Trump administration intended to make foreign policy decisions based at least in part on the exploitation of natural resources, Gorka said that was a "gross oversimplification."

"Look, geopolitics are completely intertwined with geoeconomics," Gorka told VOA. "The idea that you can disconnect economics from national security in the age of a globalized market  that is a very dangerous assertion to make.

"The president can speak for himself, but would you prefer to have groups like ISIS profiting from things like oil wells in Iraq? We've seen the cost of that, which led to slave markets, mass destruction and hundreds of thousands of people killed in Syria," he said.

Challenges

If Trump did decide to prioritize the extraction of Afghanistan's minerals, the plan would face a dizzying number of challenges, including ongoing violence, regional competition from countries like Russia and China, and government corruption.

While Afghanistan has cleaned up its governance in recent years, it still ranks among the 10 most corrupt countries in the world, according to an annual index by Transparency International.

Without substantial governance reforms, any decision to press ahead with mining in Afghanistan "will likely backfire, possibly creating even more infighting in the Afghan government," according to Global Witness, a human rights group that has studied the issue.

The country also lacks the infrastructure needed to manage such massive projects, said Ahmad Shuja, a former Afghanistan researcher for Human Rights Watch who now works at the American University of Afghanistan.

"There's very limited national grid. So you'll have to develop your own electricity, you'll have to create your own roads, bring your own security teams. All of those are essential barriers to entry issues," he said.

Ghani is aware of these obstacles, which is why he has paused many of the mining development projects and is reviewing the country's mineral law that would govern them, Shuja said.

"But in the short term, I think this is a really smart pitch to President Trump," he said. "It plays to his business sensibilities."

If it's done correctly, it could help the Afghan people, said Aimal Faizi, an aide to former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"Generally, it is a good idea in the relations between the two countries," Faizi said. But in a country like Afghanistan, "where the government does not have control of its land or air," anything is possible, he said, "including looting."

Other ideas

Trump himself has been fairly quiet on Afghanistan. He barely mentioned it during the campaign.

Since becoming president, one of his most substantive comments on Afghanistan came this month, during a luncheon with U.S. service members who had fought in the country.

"I want to find out why we've been there ... how it's going and what we should do in terms of additional ideas," he said.

VOA's Afghan service contributed to this report.
Britain's progress toward life outside the European Union became more entangled Friday, with divisions deepening over Northern Ireland's border and even the type of divorce Britain actually wants.

The uncertainty coincided with the EU's top negotiator warning that formal talks are set to be delayed, eating up more of the two-year divorce timetable.

Negotiations on the future relationship between Britain and the EU are now less likely to start in October because of a lack of progress at the initial stage of talks about the breakup, Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has told EU ambassadors.

Britain responded that it was confident that enough progress could be made to start the second stage of talks, but as Prime Minister Theresa May vacationed in Italy, her ministers engaged in a public debate about how Brexit should look.

Finance Minister Philip Hammond, who opposed leaving the EU in last year's referendum and has one eye on the business community, said there should be no immediate change to immigration or trading rules when Britain leaves.

Five years away

A shift to new arrangements could last until mid-2022, he said, adding he wanted to avoid a cliff-edge. He stressed that British hospitals and care homes relied as much on EU migrant workers as many businesses.

"We've been clear that it will be some time before we are able to introduce full migration controls between the U.K. and the European Union," he told BBC radio.

May's loss of her majority in the British Parliament with a botched gamble on a snap election has prompted an apparent softening of rhetoric on Brexit. But some EU member state diplomats say it's now hard to discern what Britain wants.

Britain has less than two years to negotiate the terms of the divorce and the outlines of the future relationship before it is due to leave in late March 2019. Both sides need an agreement to keep trade flowing between the world's biggest trading bloc and the fifth-largest global economy.

"In the immediate aftermath of leaving the European Union goods will continue to flow across the border between the U.K. and EU in much the same way as they do now," Hammond said.

Britain's economy weathered the immediate shock of last year's vote to leave the EU much better than the government and most analysts had predicted.

But growth in the first half of this year has been the weakest since 2012, and earlier on Friday a closely watched consumer survey showed sentiment was its weakest in a year.

Households viewed the economy as the worst in four years.

Brexit transition

May expects what she calls an implementation phase, but she has given few details of how it would look. Any such deal will also be subject to discussion with the other 27 EU members.

Hammond's tone, meanwhile, is sharply different from that of some other senior ministers in May's cabinet who want a cleaner break with the EU, including swift controls on immigration.

"A transitional deal will delay all the benefits of being able to control our laws, trade and borders. We need to get on with it," said Richard Tice, a Brexiteer who helped fund one of the Leave campaigns in the EU referendum.

The anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party said Hammond's words indicated uncontrolled EU immigration would continue for years after the 2019 leave date.

Late on Friday, the Daily Telegraph reported that Hammond and Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, who favors taking a tough stance with the EU on Brexit, had issued a joint statement saying they were "working together to take the U.K. out of the EU."

It made no mention of transitional arrangements, the newspaper said.

Government representatives were unable to immediately confirm the joint statement.

It was unclear whether Hammond's proposals would become government policy, though the implications could be far-reaching.

The proposals could be read to mean that Britain would continue to pay into EU coffers during the transition, continue to accept EU laws and even effectively accept its four freedoms, allowing free movement of people, capital, goods and services.

"I am not sure if they fully know what they want themselves," one EU official who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

The European Commission said that discussions about a potential Brexit transition period could begin only once divorce issues were settled.

Three points

Before talks on a transition can begin, the EU wants to settle three main points: the future rights of expatriate citizens, the exit bill Britain has to pay and how to avoid the reimposition of border controls between the Republic of Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.

Neither side has proposed a solution to the Northern Ireland issue, which remains sensitive almost two decades after a peace deal ended years of violence in the province.

Ireland is against the imposition of an "economic border" with Northern Ireland, and the Irish government is not going to help Britain design one, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said.

He was speaking after Northern Irish Protestant politicians propping up May's minority government reacted with fury to a report that Dublin wants customs checks on boats and planes between Britain and Ireland rather than along its land border with Northern Ireland.

Ireland's foreign minister said no such proposal existed. "As far as this government is concerned there shouldn't be an economic border. We don't want one," Varadkar told reporters at a briefing in Dublin.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un claimed Saturday that his country possesses missiles that could strike the entire United States mainland, following a test launch Friday.

China has condemned the launch, while Japan, South Korea and the U.S. vowed to work together on a new U.N. Security Council measure aimed at curbing North Koreas nuclear ambitions.

North Korea has stepped up its missile testing under Kims reign, with the Friday launch marking its second such launch this month.

According to the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim boasted that the latest test is meant to send a grave warning to the U.S. Kim said the test confirmed all the U.S. mainland is within our striking range."

In response to the launch, U.S. and South Korean forces fired missiles into South Korean territorial waters Friday.

A defense official told VOA the exercise began around 5:30 pm EST.

A White House statement called the North's missile test a "reckless and dangerous action" which will further isolate the country.

The statement said "the United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said North Korea's latest launch was "in blatant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions."

The top U.S. diplomat added, "As the principal economic enablers of North Korea's nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development program, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability."

Second ICBM test in July

North Koreas intercontinental ballistic missile launch was the second in just a few weeks. The latest launch flew higher and longer than the first ICBM Pyongyang launched on July 4.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said North Korea launched the missile from Mupyong-ni arms plant in the countrys north.

Defense officials in Washington and Seoul, as well as private analysts, said the missile was in the air for 40 to 45 minutes, reaching a peak altitude of 3,000 kilometers and traveling some 1,000 kilometers laterally before splashing down approximately 160 kilometers west of Japan's second-largest island of Hokkaido.

Japan said the missile fell into its exclusive economic zone.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe termed Fridays launch a serious and real threat to his country's security.

After Fridays unusual late-night launch, the top U.S. general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, and the head of U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, called the Republic of Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin to discuss military response options and reaffirm their ironclad commitment to the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance, according to the U.S. Chairmans office.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the launch by the North clearly violates U.N. Security Council Resolution and it is a grave threat to international peace and security."

Moon added that once again we urge North Korea to awaken from a vain illusion such as developing a nuclear program and missiles and instead choose a new path for a dialogue."

While the type of missile tested is yet unconfirmed, the preliminary data is fully consistent with a Hwasong-14 tested with a larger second stage that is powered by a high-thrust engine, according to Michael Elleman, senior fellow for missile defense at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

If flown on a flatter trajectory, this missile could reach as far as 9,000 to 10,000 km,[easily putting Seattle or San Francisco on the US West Coast into range], according to Elleman, whose comments were published on the 38 North website of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Word of Fridays missile launch came as a bill approved by Congress calling for tougher sanctions on North Korea, as well as Iran and Russia, landed on the desk of President Donald Trump.
The European Union has launched an infringement procedure against Poland over reforms the country made to its judiciary, which the EU fears will affect the impartiality of Polands courts.

EU commissioners decided to start the legal action Wednesday, prior to the publication of the new Polish law, with the main concern that the justice minister now can extend the mandates of judges, and dismiss and appoint court presidents.

"The new rules allow the minister of justice to exert influence on individual ordinary judges through, in particular, the vague criteria for the prolongation of their mandates thereby undermining the principle of irremovability of judges," the European Commission said in a statement on Saturday.

Also of concern to commissioners is that female judges are required to retire five years earlier than their male counterparts.

Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party wants to push forward with the court reforms because it says the courts are too slow and bogged down with communist-era thinking.

According to the EU statement, the Polish ruling party has a month to respond to the notice, which informed the country it is infringing on EU laws.

The Polish government has called the court reforms an internal matter. Poland's deputy foreign minister for European affairs, Konrad Szymanski, told the PAP news agency that the EU decision was "unfounded," and he said the new law met legal requirements.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday pardoned two women who were sentenced to prison terms for sending text messages to Georgian acquaintances about the movement of Russian military equipment on the eve of a war in 2008.

Two orders published by the Kremlin said Annik Kesyan and Marina Dzhandzhgava would not have to complete the rest of their sentences. It cited humanitarian principles for the decision.

Kesyan and Dzhandzhgava were found guilty of treason for sending text messages about the movement of Russian military hardware near the border with Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia not long before a war broke out in 2008.

Kesyan was sentenced to eight years in prison, while Dzhandzhgava was given a prison term of 12 years, according to Team 29, an association of lawyers based in St. Petersburg.

Putin in March pardoned a third woman, Oksana Sevastidi, who was also convicted of treason for sending a text message to a Georgian acquaintance about a train carrying Russian military equipment.

Rights groups had criticized the sentences given to the women.

Team 29 said in an article on its website that in April 2008 Kesyan had sent a text message to a friend saying "Yes, they are moving", in response to a question about whether Russian tanks were moving in Sochi.

Dzhandzhgava was accused of treason for sending a text message to a Georgian acquaintance about the movement of a train carrying Russian troops, Team 29 said.
The east side of Houston is dotted with what look like skyscrapers from a distance, but are actually chemical plants, key parts of the Gulf Coast city's economy.

"Houston, here in Texas, is in many ways the center of the petrochemical industry universe in the United States, so [there are] a very large number of chemical facilities, oil refineries," said Dave Wulf, acting deputy assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Watch: Chemical Industry, U.S. Call for Global Culture of Chemical Security

Houston was the site of the 2017 Chemical Sector Security Summit, a three-day event ending Friday. Co-sponsored by DHS and the Chemical Sector Coordinating Council, composed of chemical industry trade associations, the summit is an event for sharing best practices related to securing chemical sites.

"We see terrorists globally continuing to seek out and actually use chemicals of this sort. ... They are using these in improvised explosive devices, among other things. They are using them in dispersion devices for toxic inhalation," Wulf said.

He pointed to examples such as the terrorist attack at the Brussels airport and metro station in 2016 and the 2015 attack in Lyon, France, where a terrorist drove into a chemical plant and caused an explosion.

Staying a step ahead

"Our challenge is always [to] be one step ahead, understanding what technology is coming, what's here," and then "to mitigate any of those threats or risks," said Gary Scheibe, security manager at Shell Deer Park refinery in Deer Park, Texas.

Wulf said it is not just chemical plants that could be targets for terrorists.

"We are talking about fisheries, wineries, breweries, semiconductor fabrication sites, food-processing plants" and more, he said.

In 2007, the federal government established security regulations, known as the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, that apply to chemical plants, electricity generation stations, refineries and other high-risk facilities, and it works with such facilities to develop site security plans.

Security experts said building a global culture of chemical security is key to keeping chemicals out of the hands of bad actors.

"No state can afford to ignore chemical security. States who have done so often find that they regret that decision later," said Peter Newport, director of security with the International Chemical Trade Association.

Traditionally, much of the chemicals have been produced in developed regions such as the U.S. and Europe, but developing nations such as China and India are stepping up production, said Krzysztof Paturej, president of the board of the International Centre for Chemical Safety and Security in Warsaw. He said Iran is a country where more production is also expected.

Paturej said it makes good economic as well as security sense for chemical producers to focus on having high security standards.

"If you want to go global, you have to apply the best standards, and the best standards are in developed countries and especially [the] United States," said Paturej.

Regardless of the country, security experts said chemical facilities hold symbolic and economic significance, so they become high-value targets for terrorists.
Hackers attending this weekend's Def Con hacking convention in Las Vegas were invited to break into voting machines and voter databases in a bid to uncover vulnerabilities that could be exploited to sway election results.

The 25-year-old conference's first hacker voting village opened on Friday as part of an effort to raise awareness about the threat of election results being altered through hacking.

Hackers crammed into a crowded conference room for the rare opportunity to examine and attempt to hack some 30 pieces of election equipment, much of it purchased over eBay, including some voting machines and digital voter registries that are currently in use.

Showdown between hackers

We encourage you to do stuff that if you did on election day they would probably arrest you, said Johns Hopkins computer scientist Matt Blaze, who organized the segment in a conference room at the Caesar's Palace convention center.

The exercise featured a cyber range simulator where blue teams were tasked with defending a mock local election system from red team hackers.

Concerns about election hacking have surged since U.S. intelligence agencies claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hacking of Democratic Party emails to help Republican Donald Trump win the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Russians targeted 21 state elections

A Department of Homeland Security official told Congress in June that Russian hackers had targeted 21 U.S. state election systems in the 2016 presidential race and a small number were breached, but there was no evidence that any votes had been manipulated.

Russia has denied the accusations.

Jake Braun, another organizer, said he believed the hacker voting village would convince participants that hacking could be used to sway an election.

There's been a lot of claims that our election system is unhackable. That's BS, said Braun. Only a fool or liar would try to claim that their database or machine was unhackable.

Call for paper ballots

Barbara Simons, president of advocacy group Verified Voting, said she expects Russia to try to influence the U.S. 2018 midterm election and 2020 elections. To counter such threats, she called for requiring use of paper ballots and mandatory auditing computers to count them.

More than 20,000 people were expected to attend the three-day Def Con convention.

The hacker voting village was one of about a dozen interactive areas where participants could study and practice hacking in fields such as automobiles, cryptology and healthcare.
A ban on pedestrians looking at mobile phones or texting while crossing the street will take effect in Hawaii's largest city in late October, as Honolulu becomes the first major U.S. city to pass legislation aimed at reducing injuries and deaths from "distracted walking."

The ban comes as cities around the world grapple with how to protect "smartphone zombies" from injuring themselves by stepping into traffic or running into stationary objects.

Starting October 25, a Honolulu pedestrian can be fined between $15 and $99, depending on the number of times police catch him looking at a phone or tablet device as he crosses a street, Mayor Kirk Caldwell told reporters gathered near one of the city's busiest downtown intersections Thursday.

"We hold the unfortunate distinction of being a major city with more pedestrians being hit in crosswalks, particularly our seniors, than almost any other city in the county," Caldwell said. Honolulu data on distracted-walking incidents were not immediately available.

Caldwell signed the legislation Thursday after it was passed in a 7-2 vote by the City Council earlier this month, city records show.

People making calls for emergency services are exempt from the ban.

Injury toll

More than 11,000 injuries resulted from phone-related distraction while walking in the United States between 2000 and 2011, according to a University of Maryland study published in 2015.

The findings pushed the nonprofit National Safety Council to add "distracted walking" to its annual compilation of the biggest risks for unintentional injuries and deaths in the United States, highlighting the severity of the issue.

"Cellphones are not just pervading our roadways but pervading our sidewalks, too," Maureen Vogel, a spokeswoman for the council, said in a phone interview on Friday.

Efforts to save pedestrians from their phones extend beyond America's shores. London has experimented with padding lamp posts to soften the blow for distracted walkers, according to the Independent newspaper.

In Germany, the city of Augsburg last year embedded traffic signals into the ground near tram tracks to help downward-fixated pedestrians avoid injury, local media reported.

Opponents of the Honolulu law argued it infringes on personal freedom and amounts to government overreach.

"Scrap this intrusive bill, provide more education to citizens about responsible electronics usage, and allow law enforcement to focus on larger issues," resident Ben Robinson told the City Council in written testimony.
Kenyans of South Asian descent, commonly referred to as "muindis" in Kenya, are now the country's 44th tribe.

Fred Matiang, Kenya's acting minister of interior, made the announcement July 21 on behalf of Kenya's president.

"Now you are part and parcel of us formally," Matiang said. "You are part and parcel of Kenya's great family, and we expect that we will continue this integration in all spheres of life, socially, culturally, economically, and actually even in terms of participation in government and government processes."

Indians started coming into East Africa in the 17th century. Colonial rule then expanded business and employment needs, including service in the British army in East Africa and construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway.

Shakeel Shabbir's father was among the thousands of Indian laborers who built the railway more than a century ago. Shabbir's family remained in Kenya, and the Member of Parliament is now one of four elected officials of Asian descent in Kenya.

Shabbir told VOA that while Indians have enjoyed economic success in Kenya for generations, many have remained on the political sidelines. He hopes the tribal designation will change that.

"You feel more comfortable now than you did before," he said. "OK, maybe it's a cultural thing. You needed to be recognized. Now what? It's a two-way job. You have been recognized by the system, now we want you to take your role in society."

The tribal designation recognizes Kenyans of Asian descent who already have Kenyan nationality, meaning their parents were born in Kenya.

Farah Manzoor is a fifth-generation Kenyan of Indian descent. She is also an activist who spearheaded the quest for recognition, beginning in 2010.

"How it will help us? You know, like, in the parliament even," Manzoor said. "The 'muindis' have been there, but now [that] we are a minority, we are a tribe, we will be given allocations in parastatals. Not all of us, [I] am not saying it should be given to all of us, but you will see 'muindis' now in government institutions."

While the tribal designation may raise the community's profile, it does not confer specific rights and privileges.

However, not everyone backed the push for tribal designation.

"In terms of our rights and our participation, Kenyans as a whole have been marginalized," said Zahid Rajan, a writer and a member of the Kenya Asian Forum Steering Committee. "The outcry in the body politic is that we want inclusivity in governance and in the running of our own lives. That inclusivity right now does not exist because we got dominance of one or two ethnic groups. I think to push for the rights of a minority community to seek special status is what's wrong and divisive."

Critics see political calculation in the timing of the government's announcement, with hotly contested nationwide elections just weeks away. The community of Kenyans of Asian descent numbers in the tens of thousands; the latest census data from 2009 puts the total at just over 46,000.

Kenya's decision has revived activism in the Indian community in neighboring Uganda. Activists there are reiterating the call they made to President Yoweri Museveni in 2014 to amend the constitution to make them Uganda's 66th tribe.
Snapping off a leaf of crisp baby lettuce, entrepreneur Andrew Shearer can demonstrate how colored lights in a hydroponic cabinet boost nutrients or alter the flavors and colors of plants that can be grown in a restaurant kitchen.



Strawberries, peppers and tomatoes are the next crops for his start-up Farmshelf, which aims to cut food miles and waste by selling the lighting units to grow vegetables for commercial use, home kitchens and even mobile vans.



"Going the next step, changing the way the food supply system can work for the highly perishable items that often end up in the landfill," said Shearer, 27, at the New Lab workspace at Brooklyn Navy Yard (BNYDC).



Farmshelf is one of 95 companies at New Lab in the former shipyard, home to firms such as Honeybee Robotics, which makes arms for Mars rovers and mouse-sized robots, and Spacial, where one of its drone blimps hangs from the ceiling.



Cities around the world are looking to BNYDC for inspiration as they struggle to replace declining industrial jobs with well-paid alternatives while regenerating areas left vacant and neglected by dying industries.



Once a thriving center on New York City's East River employing 70,000 people, Brooklyn's waterfront fell into dereliction as the shipbuilding business shut down, said David Ehrenberg, BNYDC chief executive.



Packs of feral dogs would chase prospective tenants away as efforts at a revamp got underway, he said.



Fifteen years later, the yard is home to 330 companies and employs 7,000 people in what has become a hip neighborhood dotted with housing projects and chic apartment buildings.

BNYDC partners with struggling local schools to get children interested in fields such as robotics and internships or jobs with one of the cutting-edge companies, Ehrenberg said.

"If things work out well, other cities can end up where we've ended up, he said.



Alongside entrepreneurs developing nanotechnology or designing kinetic furniture, other companies at BNYDC are creating hundreds of blue-collar jobs, which urban experts say is key to making communities economically resilient.



At Steiner Studios, where the hit HBO series "Girls" was filmed, more than half the employees work in jobs such as on-set carpenters or electricians.



Crye Protection employs more than 200 people, many of whom sew specialized camouflage gear and bendable body armor.

To be resilient, "any city can't be over reliant on a single industry, whether that be Rotterdam and the port, New Orleans and petrochemicals, New York and finance," said Michael Berkowitz, president of the 100 Resilient Cities program.



The Rockefeller Foundation-backed $164 million program aims to help urban areas protect themselves from stresses and shocks.

"There' no one magic bullet," Berkowitz said.



For cities such as Glasgow in Scotland, once the world's biggest shipbuilder, a challenge is making growth inclusive as it looks to fill the space left vacant by industry and find new ways to use existing manufacturing skills.



"We're looking at the diversification of our economy. We're too dependant on bashing metal. But those same engineering skills and links to universities are ones we can use again," said Duncan Booker, chief resilience officer for Glasgow. "We're not going to get that mass employment again, but we can get lots of lots of clusters of smaller companies and some of the larger manufacturing companies and utilities to take on people," he said.



Repurposing a one million-square foot (305,000 square meters) of space for entrepreneurs seeking solutions to flooding and climate change is an option being considered in New Orleans as the city tries to shift away from dependence on the petrochemical industry.



"For us, it's also about transitioning our people from the oil economy to the blue and green economy of the future," said Jeff Hebert, chief resilience officer and deputy mayor of New Orleans, using terms used to describe sustainable ocean and environmental practices.



"The most important part for us is to make sure we are training the people of the city, not just kids ... but people who are currently unemployed or underemployed so they can take advantage of innovations in the new economy," he said.

Although cities with fewer resources may struggle to replicate the success of Brooklyn, diversifying economies and nurturing innovation can pay off, said experts.



"You can't pick the winner," said Ehrenberg. "You need to create the basic environment and the basic infrastructure and then let the market sort out who had the best idea, and then be ready to capture those jobs when they're finally created."
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Saturday the second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile demonstrated his country can hit the U.S. mainland. Hours after the launch, analysts were concluding that a wide swath of the United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now in range of North Korean weapons.



The Korean Central News Agency said that Kim expressed great satisfaction after the Hwasong-14 missile reached a maximum height of 3,725 kilometers (2,314 miles) and traveled 998 kilometers (620 miles) before accurately landing in waters off Japan. The agency said that the test was aimed at confirming the maximum range and other technical aspects of the missile it says was capable of delivering a large-sized, heavy nuclear warhead.



Analysts had estimated that the Norths first ICBM launch July 4 could have reached Alaska, and said that the latest missile appeared to extend that range significantly.



The KCNA quoted Kim as saying that the launch reaffirmed the reliability of the countrys ICBM system and an ability to fire at random regions and locations at random times with the entire U.S. mainland now within range. The agency said that the test confirmed important features of the missile system, such as the proper separation of the warhead and controlling its movement and detonation after atmospheric re-entry.



Kim said the launch sent a serious warning to the United States, which has been meaninglessly blowing its trumpet with threats of war and stronger sanctions, the KCNA said.



On the streets of Pyongyang, North Koreans welcomed the news of their countrys latest missile test while state media broadcast images of a projectile launched into the night sky. Kim Jong Un was seen in the company of military commanders near a mobile missile launcher.



The North Korean flight data was similar to assessments by the United States, South Korea and Japan.



David Wright, a physicist and co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that if reports of the missiles maximum altitude and flight time are correct, it would have a theoretical range of at least 10,400 kilometers (about 6,500 miles). That means it could have reached Los Angeles, Denver or Chicago, depending on variables such as the size and weight of the warhead that would be carried atop such a missile in an actual attack.
Vice President Mike Pence visits three countries in Russia's neighborhood beginning Monday to signal support for them and NATO while drawing a line against aggression.



Pence's trip to Estonia, Georgia and Montenegro is viewed as a follow-up to President Donald Trump's visit to Europe earlier this month. Then, Trump used stops in Poland and Germany to try to pull off a tricky balancing act of improving ties with Moscow while also presenting the U.S. as a check against Russia's moves in the region.



Pence's mission will be encouraging those countries to continue to ally with the West and resist Russia's attempts to splinter the NATO alliance.



Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have previously been dispatched to try to allay the concerns of countries near Russia that the U.S. really will stand behind NATO and support the sovereignty of non-member former Soviet republics.



The concerns stem from Trump's suggestion during the campaign that the U.S. might not defend NATO allies and his apparent desire for closer relations with Russia. Trump received criticism on his first European trip for passing up the chance to affirm the NATO mutual defense commitment clause known as Article 5, which frames an attack on one as an attack on all. Trump did affirm U.S. support for Article 5 on his second trip to Europe.



The vice president is expected to deliver a message of support for U.S. trade and investment with the countries while underscoring the U.S. commitment to the security of the three nations, according to senior administration officials who briefed reporters about the trip on the condition that they not be identified by name. Pence also will stress the values of freedom of speech, democracy and religious tolerance.



In Estonia, Pence is expected to highlight bilateral ties with the U.S., particularly on trade, investment and cyber issues. Pence also is expected to thank Estonian officials for their approach to "burden-sharing,'' diplomatic speak for agreeing to spend a full share of 2 percent of their GDP on defense, the administration officials said.



The vice president also is expected to underscore the U.S. commitment to NATO, which sees Russia as a security threat and offers protection to concerned member states near Russia's borders.



In Georgia, Pence is expected to highlight U.S. support for its sovereignty and territorial integrity, the officials said. Georgia is the only country on the trip that is not a NATO member and, like Ukraine, has seen Russian encroachment on its territory. The administration officials said the U.S. is encouraging Georgia to continue to make reforms to its judiciary and expand anti-corruption efforts.



In Montenegro, Pence will celebrate that nation as the newest NATO ally.



On Wednesday, he'll attend the Adriatic Charter Summit in Podgorica, Montenegro, to highlight the U.S. commitment to the Western Balkans and underscore the importance of good governance, political reforms and rule of law. Also expected to attend are the leaders of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said Friday that Argentina's government should release jailed social activist Milagro Sala.

The commission said in a statement that there are many risk factors surrounding her detention, including alleged harassment, aggression and a death threat.

It granted a precautionary measure in favor of Sala stating that Argentina is obligated to fulfill a U.N. panel's panel resolution last year saying she was arbitrarily detained and asked the government for her immediate release.

Sala heads Argentina's Tupac Amaru social movement and won a seat in 2015 in the regional parliament of the Mercosur group of South American nations.

She was arrested on January 16, 2016, and accused of "inciting criminal acts" linked to a protest she led against authorities. The Jujuy provincial government in northern Argentina then broadened the charges, saying her movement "embezzled public funds" meant for the construction of housing for low-income people.

Sala has denied any wrongdoing.

The government's Secretariat of Human Rights said in a statement that it would relay the recommendations to Jujuy's judicial and administrative authorities and that it respected the rights commission.

OAS body

Members of the commission, which is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States, visited Jujuy and met with representatives of all parties. The commission said Sala is under constant harassment, including the initiation of legal cases without the guarantee of the right to defense, constant transfers and extreme surveillance.

The commission acted in response to a complaint filed by the Argentine human rights group Center for Legal and Social Studies and other human rights organizations.

"The commission makes it clear that Milagro Sala cannot remain in jail," said Horacio Verbitsky, the group's president. "The constant transfers are using a perverse methodology. It's as if instead of a social leader, this was [Mexican drug lord] 'El Chapo' Guzman."

Sala, a close ally of former President Cristina Fernandez, is accused of irregularly managing money that she received during Fernandez's administration for the construction of lower-income housing in Jujuy province.

Her supporters say she looks only to benefit the poor. They call her arrest a political move by provincial Governor Gerardo Morales and other political allies of current President Mauricio Macri.
Weary Republicans in Washington may be ready to move on from health care, but conservatives across the United States are warning the GOP-led Congress not to abandon its pledge to repeal the Obama-era health law - or risk a political nightmare in next year's elections.



The Senate's failure this past week to pass repeal legislation has outraged the Republican base and triggered a new wave of fear. The stunning collapse has exposed a party so paralyzed by ideological division that it could not deliver on its top campaign pledge.



After devoting months to the debate and seven years to promising to kill the Affordable Care Act, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican-Kentucky, simply said: It's time to move on.



But that's simply not an option for a conservative base energized by its opposition to the health law. Local party leaders, activists and political operatives are predicting payback for Republicans lawmakers if they don't revive the fight.



This is an epic fail for Republicans, said Tim Phillips, president of Americans For Prosperity, the political arm of the conservative Koch Brothers' network. Their failure to keep their promise will hurt them. It will.



To the American Conservative Union, the three Republican senators who blocked the stripped-down repeal bill that failed in the wee hours Friday are sellouts. A Trump-sanctioned super political action committee did not rule out running ads against uncooperative Republicans, which it did recently against Sen. Dean Heller, Republican-Nevada.



There are limited options for directly punishing the renegade senators - John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. None of the three is up for re-election next fall. McCain, whose dramatic no vote killed the bill, is serving his last term in office, has brain cancer and is hardly moved by electoral threats.

Failing the moral test

Still, broad disillusionment among conservative voters could have an impact beyond just a few senators. Primary election challenges or a low turnout could mean trouble for all Republicans. Democrats need to flip 24 seats to take control of the House of Representatives, a shift that would dramatically re-shape the last two years of Trump's first term.



If you look at competitive districts, swing districts, or districts where Republicans could face primary challenges, this is something that will be a potent electoral issue, Republican pollster Chris Wilson said of his party's health care failure. I don't think this is something voters are going to forget.



One such challenger has emerged. Conservative activist Shak Hill, a former Air Force pilot, plans to run against second-term GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock in a competitive northern Virginia district.



Hill told The Associated Press that Comstock, who voted against a GOP House health care repeal bill in May, has failed the moral test of her time in Congress.



The leaders of other groups, such as Women Vote Trump, have begun to court primary challengers to punish those members of Congress deemed insufficiently committed to President Donald Trump's agenda.



I expect that we will get involved in primaries, said the group's co-founder, Amy Kremer. You cannot continue to elect the same people over and over again and expect different results.



On Capitol Hill, some Republicans insist their health care overhaul could be saved in the short term. Yet party leaders - backed by outside groups - are signaling that they would probably move on to taxes. Republicans hoped the issue would bring some party unity, even as realists in Washington view the a tax overhaul - something that hasn't happened in more than 30 years - as one of the most complex legislative projects possible.

You can't have everything

The Trump administration has become engulfed in internal drama over personnel and personalities. Trump on Friday ousted his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, replacing him with Home Security Secretary John Kelly. The president did not appear to share conservatives' outrage about the Senate's vote, but repeated his promises to remake the health system.



You can't have everything, Trump said, adding: We'll get it done. We're going to get it.



Around the country, Republican voters continue to support efforts to repeal former President Barack Obama's health law, even if there is little agreement on an alternative.



A CNN poll released last week found that 83 percent of Republicans favor some form of repeal, while only 11 percent of Republicans want the party to abandon the repeal effort. Among all adults, 52 percent of voters favor some sort of repeal, with 34 percent favored repeal only if replacement could be enacted at the same time.



The political pressure on something like this is real, said GOP strategist Mike Shields. I don't think this is over.



Like others Republican operatives, Shields said the party's ability to enact the rest of Trump's agenda - taxes, infrastructure and the border wall - could help mitigate how upset people will be about health care.

If this is part of a general trend, he said of the GOP's governing struggles, I think that can be pretty disastrous for 2018.



Being held to account

Republicans will be held responsible for any negative economic fallout from the current health system's failure, said Paul Shumaker, a North Carolina Republican pollster and senior adviser to Sen. Richard Burr, Republican-North Carolina.



As early as October, voters are likely to see increased costs as insurance companies notify people about their new rates. By next October, it will be too late to unlink Republicans from the problem, Shumaker said.



For now at least, many Trump supporters blame the Republican Party's problems on its leaders in Congress.



They certainly didn't have their house in order, said Larry Wood of Waynesboro, Virginia, who voted for Trump only after supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the 2016 GOP primary. The 69-year-old retired homebuilder says the failure falls at the feet of Congress.



Trump seems content to let the current system collapse.



As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch! he said in a tweet.
Last year, aid agencies and the Kenyan government set up a new settlement for refugees in the northwestern town of Kalobeyei. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) made a point of saying that Kalobeyei would not be a refugee camp. Instead, it would be an "integrated community," where refugees and local residents could do business together, live in harmony and access services offered by UNHCR through local partners.

But for Galgalo Arero, an Ethiopian refugee and father of three, the real Kalobeyei is very different than the dream.

"When they brought us here, we were told that the place would be like a community village with many development projects, a school, clinic, market and almost everything close by," he told VOA's Horn of Africa Service.

Instead, he says, the nearest market is about 24 kilometers (15 miles) away. The nearest primary school is 16 kilometers (10 miles). The distances are far too long to cover by foot.

"We pay between 200 and 300 Kenyan shillings to go to market on a motorbike. [But] that is not possible during the rainy season," he said.

Clean water

Water is also a serious issue, says another Kalobeyei resident, Abdul Aziz.

"We get water once a week by water truck, sometimes [every] two weeks," he said. "Sometimes they say the truck is damaged and we don't get water at all. For sanitation, seven families use one latrine."

VOA learned of Kalobeyei's isolation and supply problems from contacts in Nairobi and then spoke to seven residents at the site. The residents say the site lacks the most basic of services, making it hard for them to survive.

Funded by the European Union, Kalobeyei sits on 1,500 hectares of land donated by the host community, Turkana County. It was built to relieve crowding at the Kakuma refugee camp, about 30 kilometers to the east. According to the most recent UNHCR report, it hosts about 36,000 refugees who come from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

It is not clear why conditions are so dire in Kalobeyei. VOA made repeated phone calls to UNHCR and Kenyan government officials in Nairobi and Kakuma for comment, but has not received a response.

Residents note there is no UNHCR office in Kalobeyei, and say if they have an issue, they must go to the nearest UNHCR office in Kakuma or wait for a UNHCR official to visit.

Money

Residents say the promises they received in advance of moving to Kalobeyei have not been kept.

"We were told that the new settlement is a facility ready with all the basic needs," said Jamal Mohamed, an Ethiopian refugee. "Because of that, everybody sold his property. We were only allowed to carry just 18 kilograms of load with us. But when we get there, reality on the ground is totally different."

The residents receive $14 (about 1400 shillings) per month from UNHCR to buy food, he says.

"The money is added to your card. You can't cash it out. When you go to Kakuma to buy food and grains, the transportation is 200 Kenyan shillings [each way]. So out of this 1,400 shillings, you end up getting 800 to 900 shillings. That is our monthly ration," he said.

Safety

Security is another issue.

"There is not enough security to keep us safe," said Galgalo Arero. "We are on the South Sudan border, a remote part of the country. There were times we are attacked by thieves. Thieves would come with all kinds of weapons to take our properties."

As for medical care, the refugees say there is only a small Red Cross office at the site.

"If there is an emergency, there are times when the ambulance arrives after an hour or two," Aziz said.
Seven Turkish journalists were freed Saturday after spending nine months in prison, but they expressed sorrow that four of their colleagues were still being detained on charges of having aided terror groups.

The staff members from Cumhuriyet, a Turkish opposition newspaper, were released from Silivri jail on the outskirts of Istanbul. They must still stand trial, with the next hearing scheduled for September 11. If convicted, they face terms of up to 43 years in prison.

The journalists are charged with using their news coverage to support three groups Turkey considers terrorist organizations: the Kurkistan Workers' Party, or PKK; the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party; and the followers of a U.S.-based spiritual leader, Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of backing last year's coup attempt.

"To be honest, I thought I would be very happy the moment I was released," said cartoonist Musa Kart in a statement. "But I cannot say that I am very happy today. Unfortunately, four of our friends are still incarcerated in Silivri Prison. I do not think that the image of journalists in prison is one that becomes this country."

An Istanbul court ruled Friday that the seven journalists should be freed, but it kept the most prominent of the Cumhuriyet journalists behind bars: commentator Kadri Gursel, investigative journalist Ahmet Sik, editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and chief executive Akin Atalay.

Sik, who was jailed in 2011-12 over a book he'd authored, was jailed again in December over the content of his Twitter feed. Prosecutors said they planned to charge him additionally for a statement in court Wednesday that was fiercely critical of Turkey's ruling party.

Indictment called 'trash'

In what was expected to be a defense statement, Sik lashed out with a tirade about press freedom. He called the indictment against him and his colleagues "trash" and referred to the judiciary as a "lynch mob." He said the purpose of the charges against him and his colleagues was to scare and silence people who would speak out against the government.

Following last year's coup attempt, Turkey instituted a crackdown on journalists that resulted in the closure of more than 100 media outlets.

The independent watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists, which tracks press freedom issues, says Turkey jails more journalists than any other country, due to broadly worded laws on supporting terrorism and "insulting Turkishness." As of December 2016, at least 81 journalists were being held in Turkish jails, all of them facing charges that they were working against the state, CPJ said.
A collection of yawing mouths and extracted teeth, booming stereo speakers and colorful hookah pipes adorn shop fronts in Somalia, a colorful contrast to the airbrushed artworks of big business.

Somali mural artist Muawiye Hussein Sidow, also known as "Shik Shik," is the man responsible for the art that features on more than 100 shops, including barbers, tea shops and supermarkets across Mogadishu.

Sidow's work has a hand-drawn simplicity, usually involving bright, eye-catching colors. Some pieces stretch over several meters.

Sidow's father was a commercial artist, who passed his knowledge and skills on to his son.

Sidow, 31, took on his father's business in 1998 and his painting supports not only his own family, but helps sustain his dad as well as many others.

"I make the pictures to get daily food for my wife and three kids," he told Reuters. "I also give daily food to [my] retired old father. Now I have become an art teacher there are many artists whom I taught how to make pictures, and they also get their daily food."

Sidow said he never duplicated murals and that inspiration came from Somali daily life.

Aside from feeding his family and brightening up the urban landscape, Sidow still has ambitions to do more with his art.

"God willing, I hope I will also make pictures in the neighboring countries."
One candidate is the son of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and another is his wife. A third is a socialist militant whom late socialist leader Hugo Chavez once called a criminal who should be jailed.

But of the 6,120 candidates in Sundays election for a 545-member legislative super body, none are from Venezuelas opposition, which is boycotting what it calls a rigged ballot meant to consummate a dictatorship.

Critics say Maduro is less interested in rewriting the constitution, which already provides generous powers to the executive branch, than he is in obtaining the near-absolute powers that the new legislative body would have.

It would be able to dissolve state institutions, and its decisions could not be overruled by any other government agency.

Opposition boycotts, Socialists flood in

The absence of the opposition, which won a landslide victory in 2015 legislative elections, means the pool of aspirants for the all-powerful assembly is a mixture of well-known ruling Socialist Party leaders and rank-and-file pro-government activists.

Two-thirds of them will vie for seats distributed via municipalities and state capitals. The remainder are running for seats allocated to specific demographic groups, ranging from students to fisherman and farmers.

The son of Nicolas Maduro, who has the same name, is running as a candidate for public sector workers. In an interview with local media, he said he is qualified because he led a presidential inspection team created by his father to monitor public works, giving him valuable information to protect workers rights.

We visited hospitals, public works, social programs, it was very advanced, the younger Maduro, 27, told local television station Venevision this week.

On the ballot to represent Caracas, the capital, is first lady Cilia Flores, a Socialist Party power broker who has been widely accused of installing family members in positions of power.

Big name candidates

The election gives disproportionate weight to historically pro-government rural areas at the expense of opposition-leaning cities because seats are distributed by municipalities, which opposition leaders noted when refusing to join the vote.

They also say that the use of sectorial candidates gave too much leverage to the government-leaning electoral council to weed out candidates.

A significant portion of the seats will likely go to well-known party leaders such as Socialist Party No. 2 Diosdado Cabello, hard-line former Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez and oil workers union leader Wills Rangel.

But less-influential players are also seeking seats.

One is Valentin Santana, best known for leading a group known as La Piedrita or The Little Stone that describes itself as a revolutionary community organization that helps organize citizens in Caracas poor west end.

The late Chavez in 2009 excoriated Santana for making death threats against government adversaries, labeling him a criminal and calling on the chief prosecutor to arrest him.

Santana has three outstanding arrest warrants and has evaded multiple attempts by authorities to detain him, according to local media. Reuters was unable to contact him.

World criticizes election

The election has been highly criticized by governments around the world. Opposition leaders say the Socialist Party will use it arbitrarily to arrest adversaries and to sack public officials who question the government, such as dissident chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega.

Since April, Maduros opponents have been staging violent street demonstrations to protest his refusal to respect the opposition-led Congress and to demand a resolution to a severe economic crisis.

More than 100 people have been killed in the unrest.

Some candidates say the oppositions withdrawal has opened possibilities for socialist activists without links to political parties to take part in the vote.

Orlando Toral, 33, is running as a candidate under the demographic of people with disabilities, citing a slight limp resulting from an infection he got after a skateboarding accident.

Im happy that people with disabilities also have rights, thanks to laws created in the revolution, Toral said as he prepared to join a rally with Maduro marking the close of the campaign. (The opposition) is seeking to delegitimize a process that is going to bring power to all of us.
Spain's high court has rejected an extradition request from Brazil for a lawyer accused of involvement in corruption involving oil company Petrobras.

Brazilian prosecutors have accused Rodrigo Tacla Duran of helping to launder money for homebuilders in a scheme between building firms and executives at Brazil's Petrobas, a police statement in November said.

The case against Duran, a dual Brazilian-Spanish citizen, will be processed in Spain, the high court said in a statement.

Duran is being investigated for belonging to an organized crime network, bribery and money laundering, the court added.

The office of Brazil's general prosecutor said in a statement it would evaluate whether to send the case to Spanish authorities in the hope they would prosecute Duran. They did not say when a decision would be made.

It was not immediately possible to contact Duran's lawyers.
Sri Lanka has signed a $ 1.1 billion deal with a Chinese company to sell a majority stake in a controversial deep port in a bid to slash debt and says it has addressed concerns that China could use the port for military purposes.



The deal was signed after months of renegotiation following strident opposition to the project. While critics at home warned that handing majority control to the Chinese threatens national security, neighboring India fretted about China gaining access to a strategic port in its immediate neighborhood in the Indian Ocean.



Built with a massive loan by China in 2010, the Hambantota port is seen as key to Beijings ambitious Belt and Road initiative that aims to connect roads and ports across Asia and Europe and to its efforts to shore up its presence in the Indian Ocean.



The Sri Lankan government says that under the terms of the deal, Sri Lankas navy will handle the security of Hambantota port and no foreign navy will be allowed to use it as a base.



We are giving the country a better deal without any implications on security," Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told reporters.



The Chinese stake in the project has also been scaled back from 80 per cent to 70 per cent to blunt domestic opposition that Beijing should not get control of national assets.



Sri Lanka will have a majority stake in the firm dealing with security, ensuring that it controls what ships can dock there, while China will run the company in charge of business.

Unease about Chinese presence

In New Delhi, South Asia expert with the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses, Sukh Deo Muni, said that while some of Indias concerns have been met, the Chinese presence in the port would remain a worry. The project is dominated by the Chinese which may not be a very pleasant thing for India. To what extent Sri Lanka would be able to monitor them on some of the sensitive areas remains to be seen.



Since Hambantota port was commissioned, it has failed to generate much business and piled up massive losses. Some analysts say the Chinese investment was prompted not so much by the projects commercial lure as its strategic location on the busy sea lanes between Asia and Europe.



India was alarmed when a Chinese submarine docked at Colombo in 2014 and has since pressured Sri Lanka not to let Chinese naval ships use its ports.



India worries about Chinas steadily expanding footprint in its neighborhood  Beijing has been pumping in billions of dollars to build infrastructure in South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.



The Sri Lankan government had promised to review the massive investments made by China during the tenure of the previous government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, but it has been constrained by the massive debt it owes China.



The government said money from the Chinese firm's majority stake in Hambantota will be used to repay part of its foreign debt.
The White House says President Donald Trump approves of Congress new sanctions against Russia and he intends to sign the bill.

In a statement Friday, the press secretary said the president had reviewed the final version of the bill, which outlines additional sanctions against a wide range of Russian industries. The bill also gives Congress the ability to block the president from lifting the Russia sanctions.

The Trump administration had opposed the sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for interfering in last years U.S. presidential election. The White House argued that it needed flexibility in trying to improve relations between the two countries. But after months of investigations into contacts between Russian officials and members of Trumps campaign team, there was broad bipartisan support in both houses of Congress for more stringent measures.

Russia responds with sanctions

Russia responded earlier Friday to the sanctions with new measures targeting U.S. missions in the country. Moscow said Washington must reduce the number of diplomatic and technical staff working in U.S. missions in Russia to 455 by September 1. Thats same number of Russian diplomats and technical staff Moscow said are working in the United States. It is unclear how many Americans that would affect, but it could be in the hundreds.

In addition to the reduction in U.S. diplomatic personnel, Russia also said it would block the U.S. Embassy in Russia from accessing its warehouses in Moscow and a vacation compound in Serebryany Bor.

We also reserve the right to take other measures according to the principle of reciprocity, which may affect the interests of the United States, the ministry said.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued a statement Saturday on the U.S. sanctions legislation, a day after a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"The near-unanimous votes for the sanctions legislation in Congress represent the strong will of the American people to see Russia take steps to improve relations with the United States," he said. "We hope that there will be cooperation between our two countries on major global issues and these sanctions will no longer be necessary.

"We will work closely with our friends and allies to ensure our messages to Russia, Iran and North Korea are clearly understood."

Putin approves decision

President Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian leader had personally approved Fridays Foreign Ministry decision.

The form in which the sanctions bill emerged from the Senate had greater significance, Peskov said.

The Russian retaliation was celebrated in Moscow as a long-overdue response to actions from the previous U.S. administration.

In December 2016, former President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats and seized Russian Embassy compounds in Maryland and New York as punishment for Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential elections.

At the time, Putin chose not to respond, a move many saw as a gesture of goodwill to the incoming Trump administration, which had expressed a desire for improved relations with Moscow.

Yet Fridays move reflected growing Russian frustration that the Trump White House, besieged by multiple investigations into its ties to Russia during the campaign, had not delivered on its campaign promises.

We did everything in our power to save relations from disaster, but the Americans did just the opposite, wrote Konstantin Kosachev in a post to Facebook. Kosachev, a Russia politician, went on to call the retaliation long overdue.

Sergey Markov, a political analyst close to the Kremlin, also cheered the Kremlins decision as inevitable, writing on Facebook that hopes that the president of the United States could change relations with Russia for the better are over.

The bill U.S. senators approved Thursday also imposes new sanctions on Iran and North Korea. For Russia, the measures are designed to affect a wide range of Russian industries, hitting the country squarely in the pocketbook.

The European Union has expressed concern about the new sanctions, saying they could affect the European energy sector.

Praise on Capitol Hill

Daniel Fried, an Obama-era official who coordinated the administrations sanctions policy, told VOA he didnt think the move by Congress to block Trump from altering sanctions would affect a bilateral settlement, but rather was meant to stop Trump from lifting the sanctions for no good reason.

I think if there were a settlement and if this were generally acceptable to all the parties, including Ukraine, I think that Congress would not stand in the way of the administration lifting the Ukraine-related sanctions, he said.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers praised the group effort to pass the bill quickly. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, a California Republican, said in a statement: I am pleased the Senate has acted overwhelmingly to give the administration much-needed economic and political leverage to address threats from Iran, Russia and North Korea. This bipartisan bill is about keeping America safe, and I urge the president to sign it into law.

Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat who is vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said, This bill passed with overwhelming majorities in both the Senate and the House, sending a strong message to Vladimir Putin that attacks on our democracy will not be tolerated. President Trump should sign this bill as soon as it hits his desk. Otherwise, he risks encouraging Russias interference in future elections.

VOAs Charles Maynes, Michael Bowman and Katherine Gypson contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans suffered a major political setback Friday when the Senate rejected a partial repeal of Obamacare, one of the president's key campaign pledges. The key vote against the plan was delivered by Republican Senator John McCain, who has clashed with Trump before. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
The U.S. government is proposing cutting the nicotine level in cigarettes for the first time in its history.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday it has directed the agencys staff to develop new regulations to make cigarettes less addictive. Tobacco stocks fell Friday following the news.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the agency plans to explore ways to limit the amount of nicotine in cigarettes.

A renewed focus on nicotine can help us to achieve a world where cigarettes no longer addict future generations of our kids,'' Gottlieb said in a speech to staff in Silver Spring, Maryland.

E-Cigarettes

Along with reducing nicotine, the FDA plans to ease the path of entry for less-harmful nicotine delivery systems, such as e-cigarettes. The agency said it will give e-cigarette makers four more years to comply with FDA oversight of their products, giving them more time on the market without regulation.

"While there's still much research to be done on these products and the risks that they may pose, they may also present benefits that we must consider," Gottlieb said.

E-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is addictive, but they do not contain tar or many of the other substances in traditional cigarettes, which make them deadly. Battery-powered e-cigarettes turn liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor.

"Nicotine itself is not responsible for the cancer, the lung disease and heart disease that kill hundreds of thousands of Americans each year," Gottlieb said. "It's the other chemical compounds in tobacco and in the smoke created by setting tobacco on fire that directly cause illness and death."

However, Gottlieb said he was concerned that e-cigarette makers are using kid-appealing flavors which he said the FDA would consider regulating.

"I have real concerns about kids use of e-cigarettes and I know many others share those concerns, especially for those products marketed with obviously kid-appealing flavors, he said.

Response

Anti-smoking activists hailed the announcement and said that reducing the level of nicotine in traditional cigarettes could make it easier for people to switch to e-cigarettes or less harmful tobacco products.

However, some activists say the amount of nicotine in cigarettes needs to be reduced dramatically, and say if nicotine is only reduced a small amount it will just encourage smokers to use more cigarettes.

Altria Group, which sells Marlboro and other cigarettes in the United States, said it would comply with all FDA rules, but said in a statement Friday that any new rules should be based on evidence and not lead to unintended consequences.

While the new policies could be bad business for cigarette companies, Altria and other groups, like Philip Morris International, have been spending billions of dollars to make to products that they say have less health risks such as e-cigarettes.

The FDA has had the power to regulate nicotine levels since 2009 but has not yet done so.

The U.S. government says tobacco use causes more than 480,000 deaths annually, and is the leading cause of preventable heart disease.
Republican U.S. lawmakers said on Friday they expected Washington would announce more sanctions on Venezuela if its government proceeds with an effort to elect a legislative body that critics call a plan to create a dictatorship.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who has worked closely with President Donald Trump's administration on Latin American issues, held a news conference with two other Republican members of Congress, all from Florida, to discuss the issue ahead of the controversial vote in Venezuela on Sunday.

Julio Borges, who leads Venezuela's opposition-led National Assembly legislature, telephoned in to the news conference to discuss the vote.

Rubio noted that the Trump administration had announced sanctions this week, and added, "You can expect more."

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on 13 senior Venezuelan officials on Wednesday, heaping pressure on unpopular President Nicolas Maduro to scrap plans for the new congress.

A senior Trump administration official told Reuters this week that the administration would make good on Trump's threat to take action and would act "very quickly" on further sanctions if Maduro goes ahead with his plan.

Another lawmaker at the news conference, U.S. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, said he hoped Maduro will "take a deep breath" and back off. "If they don't, the United States will not stand still," he said.

Rubio insisted the United States was not seeking to dictate to Venezuela. "What unifies us today in this cause isn't interference in another country's affairs, but support for its people," he said.

Rubio said Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin had been involved in the issue, and that Trump had spoken to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about Venezuela this week.

Rubio said he had spoken to Trump three times this month about Venezuela and that he had spoken to Vice President Mike Pence about it on Thursday and earlier in the week, as well.

"There is high-level engagement throughout this administration on this issue," Rubio said.
The United States imposed sanctions Friday on six subsidiaries of a company key to Irans ballistic missile program, citing continued provocative actions like Tehrans launch of a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit.

Iranian state television reported Thursday that Iran had successfully tested a rocket that can deliver satellites into orbit, an action the United States and others say breaches a U.N. Security Council resolution because of its potential use in ballistic missile development.

A joint statement Friday from the United States, France, Germany and Britain said the launch was inconsistent with a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Iran not to conduct such tests.

Six firms sanctioned

The U.S. Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms owned or controlled by the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group. The move enables the U.S. government to block any company property under its jurisdiction and prevents U.S. citizens from doing business with the firms.

These sanctions ... underscore the United States deep concerns with Irans continued development and testing of ballistic missiles and other provocative behavior, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement.

The U.S. government will continue to aggressively counter Irans ballistic missile-related activity, whether it be a provocative space launch ... or likely support to Yemeni Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia such as occurred this past weekend, Mnuchin said.

The six Shahid Hemmat units targeted by the U.S. sanctions manufacture missile components, missile airframes, liquid-propellant ballistic missile engines, liquid propellant, guidance and control systems. They also do missile-related research and maintenance.

US: Iran violates UN resolutions

The Treasury move was announced just hours after the U.S. Senate voted almost unanimously to impose new sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea.

The sanctions in the bill, which the White House says President Donald Trump will sign, also target Irans missile development programs as well as human rights abuses.

The State Department charged Thursday that Irans test of the satellite launch vehicle was a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions as well as the spirit of the multinational Iran nuclear deal, under which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear programs in exchange for a lifting of some economic sanctions.

Washingtons ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said the Trump administration would continue to impose consequences on Iran until it complied fully with U.N. resolutions.

The issue with Iran always comes back to mistrust. Irans widespread support for terrorists tells us we cant trust them. Irans breaking its obligation on missile testing tells us we cant trust them. Yesterdays launch proves that yet again, she said in a statement.

The Trump administration certified Iran as being in compliance with the nuclear deal last week, even though Trump has called the agreement negotiated by his Democratic predecessor the worst deal ever.

Trump issued a veiled threat against Iran earlier this week, warning Tehran to adhere to the terms of the nuclear accord or face big, big problems. He said in a speech in Ohio that the deal had emboldened Iran and added that wont take place much longer.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday said he would extend for two more months one of the extraordinary cash management measures that the Treasury is using to stave off a debt-limit default.

Mnuchin said in a letter to House of Representative Speaker Paul Ryan that he would continue to withhold investments from the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, until Sept. 29.

The Treasury's previous "debt issuance suspension period" for the federal employee pension fund was due to expire on Friday.

Mnuchin had to take the step because Congress has not passed an extension or increase in the federal debt limit, and the Treasury needs to withhold funds from the pension fund in order to preserve its borrowing capacity. It has taken several similar measures since the last extension of the debt limit expired in March at just under $20 trillion.

Mnuchin urged lawmakers this week to act on the borrowing limit before their August recess, but his request fell on deaf ears. The House of Representatives is on recess until Sept. 5.

Mnuchin and fiscal watchdog groups have estimated that the Treasury will fully exhaust its remaining borrowing capacity in October, raising the risk that the United States cannot meet all of its payment obligations with incoming tax revenue.

The Treasury is required by law to make the pension fund whole, including interest, when the debt limit is increased.

In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday, Mnuchin said that Congress' budgeting process, including the role the debt limit plays, "needs to be looked at."

"I'm all for [that] there should be very strong controls of spending money. But once we've agreed to spend the money, we should make sure that the government can pay for it," Mnuchin said.
Vietnam has asked Indonesia to investigate and clarify reports that the Indonesian navy shot and wounded two Vietnamese fishermen in the South China Sea.

Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh told Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi by telephone that the reported incident was very serious ... and not appropriate with the strategic partnership relationship between Vietnam and Indonesia, the Vietnamese foreign ministry said in a statement Friday.

Vietnam is deeply concerned about this incident and proposes Indonesia to quickly investigate and clarify the incident and inform Vietnam of the results and to stop repeating similar acts, Minh was quoting as saying.

Earlier this week, a local Vietnamese sea rescue committee said Indonesias navy had shot and wounded the Vietnamese fishermen last weekend.

The Vietnamese boat was about 132 nautical miles (245 km) southeast of Con Dao island when the fishermen were shot Saturday night, the Binh Dinh provincial search and rescue committee said on its website. The report was pulled off the website the next day.

Indonesias foreign minister told Reuters the information provided by her countrys navy on the incident was different and said illegal fishing involving Vietnam had been a long-term issue.

Marsudi said in a text message she had underlined to Vietnams foreign minister the importance of the countries settling negotiations on their exclusive economic zones. She said the two would meet in Manila during a regional forum next month.

The Indonesian navy has yet to comment on the incident.

Disputes over fishing rights and oil drilling have stoked tension in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in goods is shipped each year.

China claims almost the entire sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims.

Although Indonesia says it is not a party to the dispute, it recently renamed the northern reaches of its exclusive economic zone, asserting its own maritime claim.

The coordinates given by the Vietnamese search and rescue committee indicated that the shooting happened close to the area Indonesia now calls the North Natuna Sea.

Indonesia has sunk hundreds of mostly foreign boats caught illegally fishing in its waters since President Joko Widodo launched a crackdown on the poaching of fish in 2014.

Indonesia and Vietnam said in May they would launch a joint investigation after reports that Vietnamese coast guards had tried to forcibly free five fishing boats and their crew detained in waters near Indonesias Natuna Islands.
U.S. President Donald Trump's choice for White House chief of staff, retired Marine General John Kelly, was one of the military's longest-serving commanders before Trump named him secretary for the Department of Homeland Security.

Kelly, 67, is known for his blunt-spoken style and is popular with military personnel. Trump described him in a tweet Friday as a Great American and a Great Leader. Kelly will replace Reince Priebus on July 31.

He described the job Kelly has done as Homeland Security secretary as spectacular and said he has been a true star of my administration.

Kelly has worked to carry out Trump's election promises, including plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, deport undocumented immigrants and tighten visa screening efforts to thwart potential terrorists. Kelly had described his top priority as Homeland Security secretary as closing the border to the illegal movement of people and things.

Lost a child to combat

Kelly has had a long career in the military and is the most senior U.S. military officer since 9/11 to lose a child in combat. His youngest son, 1st Lieutenant Robert Michael Kelly, was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010. The younger Kelly was a Marine and was on his third combat tour when he died.

Since his son's death, Kelly has talked in stark terms about the threats the United States faces in the Middle East and beyond.

Given the opportunity to do another 9/11, our vicious enemy would do it today, tomorrow and everyday thereafter, Kelly said in a 2013 Memorial Day address in Texas. I don't know why they hate us, and I frankly don't care, but they do hate us and are driven irrationally to our destruction.

Rise up the ranks

Kelly was born and raised in Boston and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1970. He left two years later to go to college but returned in 1976 after graduating from the University of Massachusetts.



Kelly rose through the ranks to serve as the commanding general of the Multi-National Force West in Iraq from February 2008 to February 2009, and as the commander of Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North in October 2009.

Southern Command

He capped his military career as head of the U.S. Southern Command, an assignment that exposed him to border-security issues, immigration and drug trafficking.



His area of responsibility in that post encompassed 32 countries in the Caribbean, Central America and South America. It also included the military jail at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and led to a clash with the Obama administration over plans to close Guantanamo.



Kelly also sparred with the previous administration's order to open all jobs in combat units to women, including the most elite forces like the Navy SEALs.

Kelly is close to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, also a retired Marine general, and is generally well-liked and respected by both Democrats and Republicans in politically divided Washington.
The White House sits two miles from the U.S. Capitol, but this week, it might as well have been a world away.

In Congress, Republicans labored around the clock in an ultimately futile bid to overhaul the nation's health care system. At the White House, officials labored to keep their jobs amid a highly public  and at times, shockingly vulgar  feud between President Donald Trump's senior advisers that culminated with Friday's firing of chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Rarely has the gap between the priorities of a president and lawmakers in his own party been so stark. By week's end, Trump had become largely irrelevant as Republicans' tried to fulfill a seven-year promise to voters on health care. Trump's involvement was mainly limited to the occasional tweet. At a closed-door meeting of the House Republican caucus Friday, at least one lawmaker bemoaned the impact of the White House's internal drama.

"That which is weird is getting weirder at the White House," Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina said after the meeting. "Let's break through this stuff; let's produce results. The internal White House warfare is in fact an impediment to doing so."

The Pennsylvania Avenue divide stretched beyond the health care debacle this week. When the president issued a surprise edict-by-tweet banning transgender people from the military, several high-profile GOP senators rejected the decision. When Trump mused about firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Republican lawmakers quickly took Sessions' side.

Trump's flirtation with firing Sessions produced more blowback from Republicans than nearly any other matter this year. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said there would be "holy hell" to pay if Trump took that provocative step. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska said that if Trump was thinking about using a procedural move to temporarily replace Sessions without Senate confirmation, he should "forget about it."

'Build a fence around him'

Peter Wehner, a Trump critic who worked in three Republican administrations, said the GOP was moving into "uncharted territory" with a president who should be an ally, but often isn't.

"They have to embrace reality and begin to try to build a fence around him," Wehner said.

Some congressional Republicans have privately discussed the risks of continuing to stand with a president who sometimes appears to have no real loyalty to the party. But even at the end of a wild week, none expressed that sentiment publicly.

House members headed out of town for the August recess. And a dejected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky simply said it was time to "move on" from health care.

Again, working off a different script, the president spent Friday touting efforts to combat the street gang MS-13, an issue that has become something of a pet project for his administration. He largely shrugged off the health care defeat.

"They should have approved health care last night," he said. "But you can't have everything."

The relationship between Trump and the Republican Party has been complicated from the start. Trump, a former Democrat, was initially viewed as a sideshow by mainstream Republicans when he jumped into the 2016 Republican race and then as an anchor that was expected to drag others in the party down. After his surprise victory, the party and the president formed an uneasy alliance.

For most Republicans, the main factor in their relationship with Trump is the party's prospects in next year's midterm elections. Trump's job approval rating is at a feeble 37 percent, according to the most recent Gallup tracking poll, but still at 86 percent among Republican voters.

But one Republican congressional aide who insisted on anonymity said the party's biggest fear is heading into midterms with no significant legislative accomplishments.

Scaramucci-Priebus feud

Trump did little this week to ease those fears. Instead, he appeared to be the driving force behind a stunning public feud between his new communications director Anthony Scaramucci and Priebus, the embattled chief of staff.

On Thursday morning, as Republican senators began the most crucial day in their efforts to pass a health care bill,

spent the morning on CNN accusing Priebus of orchestrating leaks. "The fish stinks from the head down," Scaramucci declared in an interview he said was authorized by the president.

Hours later, as Republican leaders tried to cobble together votes for a scaled-back bill, The New Yorker published a vulgar screed from Scaramucci aimed at both Priebus and Steve Bannon, Trump's senior adviser. There was no condemnation from the president.

On Friday afternoon, just as Air Force One touched back down in Washington, Trump tweeted that he was naming Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as his chief of staff, ousting Priebus after six months.
As Islamic State militants continue to lose territory in their declared caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, officials and analysts are expressing concern that al-Qaida is making efforts to turn those losses into gains for itself.

Al-Qaida had been largely eclipsed by IS in recent years, with IS militants grabbing headlines by seizing territory in Iraq and Syria and carrying out attacks in the West. But there are signs that al-Qaida may be re-emerging as a regional power.

"Al-Qaida in Syria is using opportunities to seize additional safe havens, to integrate itself into parts of the local population, parts of other forces, and bumping into other forces as well," said Joshua Geltzer, a former senior director for counterterrorism at the U.S National Security Council.

Tahrir al-Sham, an offshoot al-Qaida group originally known as the al-Nusra Front, has recently emerged as the most powerful Sunni insurgent faction in Syria after consolidating its control over most of the northwestern province of Idlib.

"Idlib now is a huge problem. It is an al-Qaida safe haven right on the border of Turkey," Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the U.S.-led global coalition to counter IS, said at the Middle East Institute in Washington on Thursday.

McGurk blamed the flow of weapons and foreign fighters into Syria for al-Qaida's gradual strengthening in Syria.

Measures under way

McGurk added that the U.S.-led coalition intended to work with Turkey to seal the northern Syrian border to prevent more recruits from joining al-Qaida affiliates in the region.

Hailing the progress of the Iraqi forces and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, McGurk said the coalition's priority was defeating IS. But now that priority also includes ensuring that foreign fighters do not leave the region to cause trouble elsewhere.

"We do not want any foreign fighters getting out of Iraq and Syria," he said during a panel discussion at the Middle East Institute on the Trump administration's counterterrorism policy.

Experts warn that as IS-controlled territory shrinks, the terror group's foreign fighters will inevitably be drawn to al-Qaida.



"You may see on a local level al-Qaida affiliates being opportunistic and pulling in ISIS units who kind of feel lost," Charles Lister, a Syria analyst for the Middle East Institute said, using another acronym for IS. "They [IS militants] don't have the same kind of grandeur, they don't have the same powerful leadership, and they don't have the same powerful brand that they had before."

IS-al-Qaida alliance?

Led by Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, IS was founded as an offshoot of al-Qaida in Iraq in 2004. But as IS gained influence in Iraq and Syria in 2014, the terror group split from al-Qaida, and the two groups engaged in acrimonious and at times bloody competition over the leadership of the jihadist cause. For years, IS has been siphoning off followers of al-Qaida. That trend seems to have begun to reverse.

Iraq's Vice President Ayad Allawi told Reuters in April that he had information from Iraqi and regional contacts that "the discussion has started now" concerning a "possible alliance" between the two terror groups.

Referring to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Allawi said, "There are discussions and dialogue between messengers representing Baghdadi and representing Zawahiri."

While some analysts raise concerns about the possibility of IS and al-Qaida joining hands, others like Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute downplay it, arguing that an ultimate rapprochement between the two groups is unlikely, given the history of animosity and their fundamental differences on "global jihad."

Lister, however, highlighted that al-Qaida could take an opportunistic approach to draw IS members into its ranks as the terror group faces defeats on several fronts in Iraq and Syria.

Lister said Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden, who has recently appeared as a new face of al-Qaida leadership, has been trying to ease tensions with IS in an effort to encourage the merger of IS fighters into al-Qaida.

"Hamza has very purposely, I think, not spoken out against ISIS in all of his recent statements," Lister said.

Al-Qaida in a blind spot

Experts warn that as the U.S-led coalition is cracking down on IS-controlled territory in Iraq and Syria, it should not allow al-Qaida to move to other areas and operate at ease. They say the group is trying to gain sympathy of the local Syrian population by showing itself as a moderate alternative to Islamic State.

"We continue to underestimate al-Qaida," said Jennifer Cafarella, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank. "While al-Qaida in Syria is currently not actively attacking abroad, they have built an army. It has consolidated control in Idlib, and is preparing to do the same underneath the U.S.-Russian cease-fire deal in Daraa to expand that model of first destroying the moderate opposition and then begin instillation of al-Qaida governance to transform population over time."

She said the strategy of the U.S.-led coalition after removing IS from Iraq and Syria needs to shift to the reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed because of war, and that should be coupled with addressing the grievances of Sunni residents who feel marginalized by Iran-backed Shi'ite militias.

"This is a very long war and we haven't won it yet. These tactical successes are important but can be temporary if we do not set adequate conditions, which is much more than a military requirement," Cafarella said.


After completing Plebe Summer training, Regan Kibby, right, hugs his younger sister Elena Kibby during Plebe Parents Weekend, August 2015. (Photo by Tawnia Kibby)

On Wednesday, a few hours after President Trump announced, via Twitter, that he would ban transgender people from serving in the military, U.S. Naval Academy midshipman Regan Kibby drove to a nearby gym. In the locker room, he opened his bag and pulled out a T-shirt emblazoned with the word Navy and the academys mascot, Bill the Goat. Then he started to cry.

I might not be able to say that anymore, Kibby, 19, says. I might not be able to claim Navy. 

Kibby has just finished his sophomore year at U.S.N.A. One year ago, he had told his company officer that he wanted to transition from his biological sex, female, to the gender with which he had long identified, male. After months of medical appointments, paperwork, and discussions up the chain of command, he became the first midshipman to receive clearance to transition while enrolled at the Academy. In less than a week, he would schedule his first hormone therapy appointment at a clinic near his home in Sophia, North Carolina.

If all went well, he would submit a formal request to change the designation of his gender in official records. If he demonstrated physical and emotional stability for 18 months, he would take his final exams, graduate, and receive a commission as an officer: a goal that he has dreamed of since childhood.

But then, the tweet. Now, I replan my future, Kibby says.

On Wednesday, President Trump tweeted that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military, citing the tremendous medical cost and burden that transgender individuals pose to the military.

It remains uncertain how that announcement will affect transgender individuals serving in the military. General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the heads of the military branches that there would be no modifications to current policy until further direction was received from the president. It likewise remains unclear how the announcement will affect transgender cadets and midshipmen such as Kibby. When asked, a spokesman for the Pentagon referred The Washington Post to Dunfords statement.

Commander David McKinney, a spokesman for the U.S. Naval Academy, said that he does not yet know what the announcement will mean for the academy, or for Kibby.

Originally from San Diego, an area replete with Naval bases, Kibby had always seen the military as his obvious career choice. His father had served in the Navy, and Kibby enrolled in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps in high school. The summer after his junior year there, he attended not one service-oriented summer program, but three, at the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Military Academy, and U.S. Air Force Academy.

I felt if I could do it, I should, he says. It felt like a duty. The only question was which academy he would ultimately attend: Kibby settled on the Navys, because he felt a sense of comfort on the water.

But just as certain as Kibby felt about his future career, he also knew something else about himself. Since he was a child, he had simply not felt like a girl.

For a long time, Kibby didnt give that feeling a name. As a high school student, it wasnt that he didnt know what transgender meant, it was that he did: no academy, no career.

But in 2015, during Kibbys plebe summer  the intense training program for incoming freshmen at the academy  something happened. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter announced that the Pentagon would move to allow transgender people to serve openly. With that announcement, Kibby finally felt able to name the feeling that he had always had. He joined Navy Spectrum, an organization for LGBT midshipmen and their allies. He started identifying as transgender to a few members of the group, then to his roommates, and finally, in his second semester, to his company officer.



U.S. Naval Academy midshipman Regan Kibby appers in a January, 2016, cellphone self-portrait taken in an IHOP parking lot during winter break. (Photo by Regan Kibby)

At first, Academy officials could only offer acceptance and support. But when the Pentagon officially announced last summer that transgender people could serve openly in the military, Kibby emailed his company officer and asked about the prospect of transitioning.

Kibbys company officer helped put him in contact with a medical officer, as the first step toward that process would likely be obtaining a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Finally, this past November, the Navy issued a directive outlining the protocol for service members, including midshipmen, to transition. Kibby would be the first (and so far only) midshipman at the Academy to go through that process. It would entail not only obtaining a diagnosis, but consulting with multiple mental health care providers, endocrinologists, and plastic surgeons, sending his case to the Transgender Care Team at Portsmouths Naval Medical Center for review, and working with medical and legal teams to prepare an official request to take a medical leave-of-absence to transition. The Academys commandant and superintendent approved that request in May, almost a year after Kibby had initially inquired about transitioning.

Kibby and the Academy were navigating this new process under a veil of uncertainty, following interim guidelines on a policy whose full implications were not yet clear. The military branches had yet to release protocols for what are known as accessions, or the process of accepting new service members. Two cadets who came out as transgender  one while enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy and one at the U.S. Air Force Academy  graduated, but were denied commissions in May. In June, the Pentagon pushed back the deadline for developing an accession plan another six months. And since the 2016 presidential election, some advocates have expressed fear that transgender rights might be rolled back

Brynn Tannehill, a transgender Naval Academy alum and director of advocacy for the group SPARTA (Service Members, Partners, Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All), offered Kibby the only advice she could. Make yourself indispensable, she told Kibby. Youre going to have to work twice as hard to get the respect you deserve. Tannehill spoke from experience: After graduating, she served as a Naval aviator for ten years before retiring from service to transition, and to advocate on behalf of transgender service members.



Regan Kibby, left, reunites with his younger sister Elena Kibby and mother Tawnia Kibby, right, during Plebe Parents Weekend. (Family photo)

Kibby followed Tannehills advice: completing credits for a double major, playing the bagpipe for Pipes and Drums, taking on leadership positions in Spectrum. Days at the Academy begin with 7 a.m. formation and often dont end until past 2 a.m. There were moments when Kibby felt exhausted and discouraged, not knowing if all the appointments and consultations would ever come to anything. But he never thought about giving up. I just thought I could fly under the radar, graduate, and serve my country like I always planned to, he says. And when his transition plan finally received approval, it all seemed worth it. He wouldnt have to make a choice between two fundamental parts of his identity.

He started searching for clinics that provide transgender services and that accept Tricare, the militarys health insurance. He found one. He planned to schedule an appointment.

And then, on Wednesday, an email from a professor, offering comfort and support. Without asking what the professor meant, Kibby Googled transgender military. He saw the tweet.

It was devastating, Kibby says. Im very likely not going to be able to continue my education, the path that I planned for my life. No matter what happens, hell continue with the transition process.

Without guidelines from the Pentagon, McKinney could not say whether Kibby would be allowed to return to the Academy or receive a commission. Spokesmen at the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy said that they did not know of any currently enrolled transgender cadets at their schools.

Riley Dosh, the transgender cadet who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in May, now feels little hope that shell ever earn her commission.

Since graduating, she had been looking for work while awaiting clarification of accession policies that might allow her to earn her commission. [The tweet] kind of signaled the end for me, she says. Right now, shes focusing on advocating for the transgender service members already on active duty.

As for Kibby? He went to the gym. Just like every other afternoon. Im still a member of the military, he says. Right now, Ill keep my routine.


D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson said it typically takes five years for a principal to produce strong academic results and build a vibrant school community. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

More than a quarter of D.C. Public Schools have had at least three principals since August 2012, a pattern of upheaval that worries parents and teachers who say constant change in leadership can generate instability, inhibit trust and stall academic progress.

Capitol Hills Eliot-Hine Middle School, for example, is heading into its second straight school year with a new principal. In 2016, a fresh chief took over after the previous one left for another DCPS school. But the position will be filled anew this upcoming academic year.

With the constant churn, its impossible to build loyalty to the neighborhood school, said Joe Weedon, father of a seventh-grader at Eliot-Hine and a representative on the D.C. State Board of Education.

DCPS Chancellor Antwan Wilson is sympathetic, saying he expects principals to lead the same school for at least five years. Thats how long he and others believe it typically takes to produce strong academic results and build a vibrant school community through strong relationships with parents, teachers and students.

Wilson, who took office in February, acknowledged the high turnover at some schools. But he said that leadership continuity is extremely important to him and that he will work to ensure school leaders are in place as long as possible.

Our effort going forward is to do everything we can so that we have successful leaders, he said. We have to do everything we can do to keep them.

Since August 2012, 31 of the 115 DCPS schools have had at least three different principals, counting interim leaders, according to a Washington Post analysis of records. Some principals were forced out when their contracts were not renewed. Others quit to take jobs elsewhere, and some retired. Still others moved within the D.C. system, landing at other campuses or central-office jobs.

Its nearly impossible to know why every principal left the job, because the information is considered private personnel data. The Post sought to speak to principals who are no longer in the system, but most did not respond to messages. Others declined to comment on the record because they were in other education jobs or still looking for a job.

[One D.C. school lost more than a quarter of its teaching staff this year]

Educators say principals are the key to academic success. They set priorities for teachers and students and help build strong relationships between them and among parents and educators.

But the demands on principals are strenuous. They often face pressure to turn struggling schools around quickly, even if they have just taken over. Many are yanked out of schools within a few years and are unable to fulfill their plans for improvement.

The job comes with a lot of expectations, which require a great deal of emotional strength, Wilson said.

DCPS officials say they have made strides in stabilizing school leadership. The number of principals staying in the same school from one year to the next has risen over the past five years, from 84 principals returning to the same school in 2012-2013 to 92 doing the same in the coming year.

[1 in 4 U.S. teachers are chronically absent, missing more than 10 days of school]

Wilson said its important for principals to stay in place at least five years, but he also wants to have school leaders who are so effective that other districts will try to steal them away.

When most classes resume Aug. 21, 20 percent of DCPS schools will start under a new principal. Research shows DCPSs turnover rate is not unusual. Many systems lose anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of their principals each year, experts say.

Thats common, but its certainly not what we want for schools, said Ed Fuller, an associate education professor at Penn State University who has studied principal retention.

While DCPS has improved its overall year-to-year retention, Fuller said the churn in the 31 high-turnover schools is a troubling pattern. Thirteen of those schools are southeast of the Anacostia River in Wards 7 and 8, which have a large number of schools and low-income neighborhoods. Just one  Wilson High  is in Ward 3 in Northwest.

With rapid turnover, you can really create a dysfunctional school, in terms of structure, and thats when it translates to less academic achievement, Fuller said.

Academic performance tends to drop when there is principal turnover, Fuller said, and it can take several years to recover. Teachers see a pattern of new leadership and tend not to buy into the new principals vision, and the school also starts to lose teachers, which affects student achievement.

Burroughs Elementary School in Northeast had five principals in the past five years, counting interim leaders, most in the city system. In 2013-2014, a new principal took over, replacing one who had a four-year tenure. The new principal led the school for just over two years before she moved to another school in the middle of the 2015-2016 school year.

The system hired an interim for the rest of the school year. Then, a new principal was hired, but she quit in October 2016 for personal reasons, and another interim was appointed. Beginning this school year, he will serve as principal permanently.

Regina Coleman, a parent at Burroughs, said losing Principal Aqueelha James in 2016 was a big blow to the school because James had worked hard to strengthen the community there and was putting into practice good ideas for school improvement.

But Coleman, a self-described optimist who leads the schools parent organization, said the lack of continuity meant more teachers stepped up for leadership roles and parents started getting more involved.

We turned lemons into lemonade, she said. It revitalized us to come together.

Coleman said parents are excited that LeVar Jenkins is staying on as principal.

We need to be settled and need someone who is going to be here for a while, Coleman said.

[The Districts most coveted middle school is losing its principal]

Eliot-Hine, with about 200 students, will start in August with a new principal. It also had a new principal last school year.

Weedon said he and other parents at Eliot-Hine are upset. He said enrollment has fallen and some teachers have left. Although Weedon didnt blame principal turnover alone for the instability, he said it doesnt help.

It is incredibly frustrating to see the lack of planning, support and continuity, he said.

The school had stability for five years, starting in 2011, with Tynika Young as principal. But Young moved to another school in 2016, and Isamar Vargas took over.

Weedon said Vargas came with a vision to improve the schools technology, overhaul student discipline and boost the International Baccalaureate curriculum.

But Vargas left after one year. She is now a principal in Massachusetts. Eugenia Young will take over at Eliot-Hine. Weedon said he hasnt heard much yet about the new principal.

LaSalle-Backus Education Campus in Northeast has also had three principals in the past five years. In 2013-2014, Deborah Ann Cox replaced Richard Rogers, who was promoted to the central office. But two years later, Cox left. Justin Ralston has led the school since last year.

Ralston said he has no interest in moving to another school or the central office. He said it takes several years for a principal to build trust with parents and staff and to set a plan for meeting the academic needs of students.

Having a continual leader and that continuity is incredibly important, Ralston said.
Martin A. Sklar, a right-hand man to Walt Disney and a central figure in the development and expansion of the Disney companys theme parks around the world, died July 27 at his home in Hollywood Hills, Calif. He was 83.

Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown confirmed the death but provided no other details.

Mr. Sklar had roles in the development of every Disney park, from the original Disneyland in Southern California in 1955 to the Shanghai Disney Resort last year. He was revered by employees as a living link to the founder.

Mr. Sklar condensed Walt Disneys ideas into a widely circulated creed called Mickeys 10 Commandments, which many considered key to the parks remarkable success and longevity. He spelled them out in a 2015 book, One Little Spark!

They included: Know your audience; organize the flow of people and ideas; avoid overload; and for every ounce of treatment, provide a ton of fun.

Mr. Sklar was still a college student at UCLA when he was hired to create the Disneyland News for the original park and became a full-time Disney employee the following year.

For the next 54 years, he led the development and expansion of the companys parks. He was among the first to have the unique-to-Disney title of imagineer when he became the companys chief creative leader for theme parks.

Marty was one of Walts most trusted advisers and helped turn his most ambitious dreams into reality, said Bob Weis, current president of Walt Disney Imagineering. For us, its hard to imagine a world without Marty, because Marty is synonymous with Imagineering.

Mr. Sklar scripted speeches for Walt Disney along with design and marketing materials for the parks and a film showing Disneys vision for Walt Disney World and Epcot in Florida before they were built.

He had a hand in the design of memorable Magic Kingdom attractions such as the The Enchanted Tiki Room, Its a Small World and Space Mountain.

Like most Disney designers, Mr. Sklar had to face criticism from hardcore fans. He felt the need to respond to complaints when Its a Small World added characters from Disney films to its usual cast of international children.

We are not trying to turn this classic attraction into a marketing pitch for Disney plush toys, Mr. Sklar said at the time. We are not young marketing whizzes trying to make a name for ourselves.

When the company made over Disneylands Tomorrowland in 1998, he explained the companys constant intent to forge forward. The future is a moving target, and you have to keep aiming at it, he said.

Mr. Sklar retired in 2009, but he was still a frequent presence and ambassador at Disney events, including the companys D23 Expo earlier this month.

Survivors include his wife of 60 years Leah, and a son, Howard Sklar.

At Disneylands 50th anniversary in 2005, Mr. Sklar summed up his lifes work as he walked into the park.

I think Disneyland is so much about reassuring people the world can be okay, that things can be orderly, that you can speak to a stranger, he told the Associated Press. All those things that we are losing or have lost in our daily lives.

 Associated Press
Helen Webb, who survived breast and skin cancer, attended a health-care protest in Washington on Saturday. (Cheryl Diaz Meyer/For The Washington Post)

Addressing hundreds of people at a rally in the District on Saturday evening, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called on Americans to continue pressing for the updating and improvement of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

Her speech in Freedom Plaza came in the wake of the failure last week of a Republican effort to partially repeal the act. The effort was to be the Senate Republicans first step in replacing President Barack Obamas signature legislation.

Speakers at the rally told of how valuable the ACA had been to them and their families. People in the crowd held placards with messages such as Save Lives, Save ACA.

The D.C. rally  and others like it nationwide, including Annapolis  had been planned before the early morning vote in the Senate that doomed the Republicans effort.

Exhorting her listeners not to be satisfied with last weeks Senate action, Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged them to keep the pressure on.

From left, Joani Gammill, Art Hold and Chrissy Keane, of Annapolis, hold signs during the Annapolis Rally for Healthcare at Lawyers Mall in Annapolis on Saturday. (Matthew Cole/Baltimore Sun via Associated Press)

What had developed through the lobbying against the Republicans plans, she said, is a widely shared belief that health care is a right for all, not a privilege for just a few.

We have to improve and update the Affordable Care Act, she said. Moreover, she added, We want to do so in a bipartisan way.

That, she said, could be done only with your continued involvement.

Like the D.C. rally, the Annapolis protest also heard from people who said they had benefited from the ACA. They included Chrissy Holt, 50, and her husband, Art, 55.

They said they have been to about 10 marches in the past six months in hopes that someone will hear them. The couples 22-year-old son has severe hemophilia A, and they fear that he might not get the medication he needs. Holt said she believes universal health care is a human right.

Its scary because theres not a lot of people here, she said after the rally on Lawyers Mall. I wish more people cared and [would] stop voting for people who dont care.

Four of the five declared gubernatorial candidates spoke before the small crowd in Annapolis on Saturday morning, cheering whenever a speaker criticized the states Republican governor, Larry Hogan, for what they viewed as his overly measured response to congressional Republicans efforts to repeal and replace the ACA.

Gubernatorial candidate and Baltimore technology entrepreneur Alec Ross (D) told the crowd about his 10-year-old sons experience with a potentially life-threatening thyroid condition, for which he was able to receive treatment because of the familys health insurance plan.

[Candidate for Md. governor shares sons health story, slams Congress]

Prince Georges County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D), who is also running for governor, talked about his wifes struggles with Alzheimers disease, which left her without her memory and the ability to talk and walk.

Benjamin Jealous, former NAACP president and gubernatorial contender, told a story about a friend who came to him crying after a rally in Montgomery County.

That friend, he said, recently lost his girlfriend when she had a seizure and could not afford health care.

This is about all of us. This is about all of our families. Its about all of our circles of friends, Jealous said to cheers.

State Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery), who spent nearly 15 years as a state lawmaker and would be the states first openly gay governor, lambasted Hogan for refusing to either sign or veto a bill that reimburses Planned Parenthood clinics in the state if they are defunded by Congress.

[Maryland becomes first state to reimburse Planned Parenthood clinics if Congress cuts funding]

He hid, Madaleno said. Dont believe his rhetoric about wanting to work together, because he really doesnt want to work with us.

Gubernatorial candidate James L. Shea, an attorney and former chair of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, did not attend.

About a dozen people stood behind the rallys speakers, holding signs in support of the ACA and Planned Parenthood.

The speakers emphasized that the existence of the ACA is made possible by constituents making their voices heard at events across the country.
Several months ago I developed a stomachache after taking an over-the-counter medication for symptoms suggesting acid reflux.

When I told the doctor about my reaction, she said the medication, which she had prescribed, should not have caused my stomachache.

But the Food and Drug Administration lists stomach pain and upset stomach as among the drugs possible side effects. The episode reminded me that physicians rarely counsel me on side effects when they tell me to take a medication.

Other people feel the same way, Ive discovered, lamenting drug side effects and looking for answers and moral support on Internet message boards.

So I started to wonder: How much knowledge do doctors have about medications? What can patients do to educate and protect themselves?

For Liz Awbrey of Oklahoma, finding answers meant finding a new doctor.

Awbrey was in her 50s when a doctor suggested she try a sedative that would allow her to get a better nights sleep and help ease her chronic fatigue syndrome.

She lost 20 pounds and started falling during exercise class. Her doctor said he wouldnt be worried if the weight loss plateaued, which it did.

When she told her doctor she wanted to stop the drug  because it wasnt helping her condition  he didnt warn her about withdrawal. When she developed insomnia, depression and anxiety, the doctor suggested an antidepressant, which she declined.

I was, like, I was fine before I got on it, so its got to be the drug,  Awbrey said.

Awbrey, now 60, turned to an organization that helps people get off addictive drugs with tapering suggestions, nutraceuticals (medicinal food products) and other support. The organization suggested supplements, advising her to ask her doctor about them.

She also found a new doctor who talks to her about side effects and often suggests vitamin and supplement alternatives to drugs. She is now back to her old self.

The doctor who gave me that, hes not a bad doctor, Awbrey said of the physician who prescribed the sedative. Hes a nice man, she said, but added that drug companies may not warn doctors sufficiently about side effects.

Doctors learn about drugs in medical school and later during continuing-education programs. But those programs are often funded by drug companies, according to J. Douglas Bremner, a professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

Bremner said pharmaceutical companies even reach medical students by influencing those who train them.

Theyre not really trained to be scientists, theyre trained to be apprentices, Bremner said. Thats what the drug companies know. . . . If they can get the person who trains them to change what theyre prescribing, they can get them to.

When Bremner taught continuing-education sessions, the pharmaceutical companies that paid him provided the slides. Because the slides seemed to favor those companies drugs, he started using his own.

When I did that several times, they stopped asking me, Bremner said.

Adriane Fugh-Berman, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Georgetown University Medical Center, said doctors often prescribe irrationally, pushing branded over generic drugs, new over old, and suggesting medication for diseases invented or exaggerated by drug companies.

Were in sort of a bad situation now where the people in control of prescribing drugs know the least about the drugs, said Fugh-Berman, who directs PharmedOut at Georgetown, which researches drug marketing and educates health-care professionals about its influence.

But Andrew Powaleny, director of public affairs for PhRMA, said the pharmaceuticals trade groups Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals says that ethical relationships are needed to provide the latest information about prescription medicines. Information about side effects, Powaleny said, should be included in discussions.

Fugh-Berman said patients need to become their own experts, researching drugs on websites  such as the government database MedlinePlus  that are free of [the pharmaceutical] industry.

Doctors have a responsibility to listen to their patients about side effects, too, she said.

I tell medical students: If a patient develops a symptom after theyve gone on their drug, its always the drugs fault until proven otherwise, said Fugh-Berman.

Amy Thompson, a clinical pharmacist and an associate professor at the University of Michigans College of Pharmacy, said doctors have plenty of knowledge about drugs, but there are so many available they dont know the possible side effects of all of them.

But they have access to look into it, she said, referring to online databases, continuing education and pharmacists.

I think its important the patient understand what the medication is, what theyre taking it for, what they should expect to see, Thompson said. If the medication has some sort of very serious side effect, I would want them to know what to look for.

Marlene Beggelman, founder and chief executive of Enhanced Medical Decisions, a health information technology company in Cambridge, Mass., said the FDA might be underestimating side effects because doctors often dont report them. Although the FDA collects reports on its Adverse Event Reporting System, the reporting is voluntary and adverse reactions are considered underreported. Beggelman described her own experience with side effects in a blog post on KevinMD.com.

Beggelman, an internal medicine physician, said doctors mean well even when the care they deliver has negative consequences.

I think that very often its a human quality of not wanting to think that what youre doing to try to help people is actually causing problems, she said.

Awbrey, the woman who took the sedative, said doctors need to do better.

I feel like I was greatly harmed because all I did was take something that a doctor told me would make me better, she said. It ruined my life.

Read more

It pays to read the warnings when you open up a prescription

This physician wants her patients to use fewer medications

How a simple sandwich could be driving up drug prices
Forgotten memories have been reawakened in mice with Alzheimers disease, suggesting that the condition may not destroy memories but instead impair our ability to recall them.

It has long been assumed that Alzheimers disease completely erases memories. The condition involves clumps of proteins known as amyloid plaques and tangles of tau proteins that accumulate in the brain, where they are thought to destroy the neurons that store our memories.

But experiments by Christine Denny at Columbia University and colleagues suggest that memories may not be wiped by Alzheimers disease but just become harder to access. Whats more, these memories can be reawakened by artificially activating the neurons they are stored in.

The finding could be revolutionary, says Ralph Martins at Edith Cowan University in Australia. It has the potential to lead to novel drug development to help with regaining memories, he says.

To examine how memory is affected by Alzheimers disease, the researchers developed a way of visualizing individual memories in mouse brains.

They genetically engineered mice with neurons that glow yellow when activated during memory storage and glow red when activated during memory recall. Two sets of these mice were created  one set that was healthy and one with a condition resembling human Alzheimers disease.

Both sets of mice took a memory test. First, they were exposed to a lemon scent and given an electric shock. A week later, they were exposed to the same lemon scent. The healthy mice immediately froze in anticipation of being shocked again. The mice with Alzheimers froze almost half as often as the healthy mice, suggesting they did not remember the link between the smell and shock so strongly.

This behavior matched what the team saw in the mices hippocampi  the brain regions that record memories.

In healthy mice, the red and yellow neurons overlapped, showing that the mice were retrieving the lemon-shock memory from the same place it had been stored. But in the Alzheimers mice, different cells glowed red during recall, suggesting that they were calling up the wrong memories.

This might help explain why people with Alzheimers disease commonly experience false memories, Denny says. For example, many people with the condition incorrectly remember where they were during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The mouse experiments suggest this may be because they are retrieving information from the wrong brain cells.

Using a genetic engineering technique called optogenetics, Dennys team went on to reactivate the lemon-shock memory in the Alzheimers mice. By shining a blue laser down a fiber-optic cable into the brain, they were able to stimulate the memory-storing neurons, prompting the mice to freeze when they smelled the lemon scent.

This shows that lost memories may remain in the brain and can be recovered.

Optogenetics is not a technique that can be used in people, because it isnt yet safe or practical to tinker with our neurons or stick lasers into our brains. But in the future, targeted drugs or techniques such as deep-brain stimulation may help people with Alzheimers access their forgotten memories, Denny says.

The next step will be to confirm that the same mechanisms of memory storage and retrieval exist in people with Alzheimers disease as in mice, Martins says.

But there are already clues that long-lost memories can be reawakened in people with Alzheimers disease, Martins says. Music is the best example, which has attracted a lot of attention as a way for retrieving memories of the past in these patients, so it makes sense.

If Dennys techniques do work in people, they could have wider applications, such as helping witnesses better remember crime scenes or students recall their study notes. We may even be able to tap into forgotten memories from our early childhoods.

However, its unlikely we could select specific memories because we wouldnt know which neurons they were stored in, and some neurons might hold multiple memories, Denny says. You would not want to bring back bad memories, too.

Read More

MIT scientists find evidence that Alzheimers lost memories may one day be recoverable

Brain-zapping gadgets promise to make a better you  smarter, stronger even happier

Some people are tweaking their brains with smart drugs to get ahead
IRAN

U.S.: Satellite launch a provocative action

The State Department said Thursday that Irans reported launch of a space satellite was a provocative action that violates a United Nations resolution on ballistic missiles and the spirit of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said reports that Iran had launched a rocket carrying a satellite into space violated U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which calls on Iran not to conduct any activity involving ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

Nauert said the United States regards the launch as continued ballistic missile development.

She said, We consider this to be a provocative action, and a provocative action that undermines the security, the prosperity of those in the region and around the world, as well.

Iranian state media reported on the launch Thursday, but it was unclear exactly when it occurred. Officials in Israel and the United States fear that Iran could use the technology to produce long-range missiles, threatening the region and beyond.

Irans Defense Ministry denies that its space program is a vehicle for weapons development.

 Carol Morello

SYRIA

U.S.-allied SDF controls almost half of Raqqa

U.S.-backed Syrian fighters have captured almost half of the Islamic States de facto capital, Raqqa, but the push into the northern Syrian city has slowed because of stiff resistance and large amounts of explosives planted by the extremist group, a spokeswoman for the fighters and monitors said Thursday.

The assault on Raqqa by the Syrian Democratic Forces began June 6, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes.

Since then, the SDF has made steady advances from the eastern and western sides of the city, reaching the walled old quarter.

The fall of Raqqa would be a huge loss for the Islamic State, which this month lost the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Army Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said 45 percent of Raqqa is under the control of the SDF.

Meanwhile, senior U.N. humanitarian official Ursula Mueller told the U.N. Security Council by video from Jordan on Thursday that 20,000 to 50,000 people remain in Raqqa and that the city is encircled. She said the SDF controls 45 percent of Raqqa.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the SDF holds half of Raqqa.

 Associated Press

FRANCE

Firefighters tame fierce Riviera blaze

French firefighters have tamed one of the fiercest blazes to break out during four days of wildfires along their countrys southeast Mediterranean coast, which led to the evacuation of more than 12,000 people.

The fire in the town of Bormes-les-Mimosas calmed Thursday because of a drop in the wind.

Despite the progress, authorities fear there may be flare-ups because of lack of moisture and higher winds. Firefighters are still battling blazes in nearby Artigues.

About 3,000 firefighters have been deployed to contain the flames, which broke out Monday in the southeast of France and on the island of Corsica. The fires have consumed 17,300 acres of trees and other vegetation. There have been no reports of casualties.

Some fear the devastation in Bormes-les-Mimosas and other areas will keep visitors away and disrupt the tourism on which the Rivieras economy relies.

Wildfires also still burned in Portugal, where a fast-moving blaze killed 64 people last month.

 Associated Press

Brazil police arrest Petrobrass former CEO: Brazilian police have arrested a former chief executive of the state oil company Petrobras, Aldemir Bendine, on suspicion of receiving bribes from a construction giant involved in a sprawling corruption scandal. Construction conglomerate Odebrecht is at the center of a kickback scheme that prosecutors say inflated contracts at Petrobras and other state companies. The probe has ensnared dozens of executives and politicians.

Ethiopia to give ID cards to long-stateless Rastafarians: Ethiopia will issue national identity cards to the nearly 1,000 Rastafarians who have long been seen as stateless in the East African nation, the government said. This means they can enter without visas and live without residence permits. About 1,000 Rastafarians live in Ethiopia. Some Rastafarians believe Ethiopias last emperor, Haile Selassie, is God.

 From news services
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) advertise themselves as small-government, free-market conservatives concerned about government waste. But, as the July 27 front-page article Tech giant, courted by Trump, to build in U.S. reported, they have carried giveaways to businesses to a ridiculous low. Mr. Walker said the Foxconn factory he wants built in his state would create 13,000 jobs. The economic incentives to Foxconn could total $3 billion, or $230,769 per job created. That astronomical amount of corporate welfare will have to be paid by Wisconsin taxpayers and will leave every other business in the state aggrieved that it didnt get a similar sweetheart deal.

How big is the giveaway? In Montgomery County, Marriott swung a deal with the county to move its headquarters and 3,500 employees to downtown Bethesda in return for $62 million in tax breaks, or $17,714 per job. That figure is bad enough, but the Wisconsin deal is just breathtakingly stupid and will boomerang on the state if it goes through.

Edward Epstein, Chevy Chase
You know the scenario from 19th-century fiction and Hollywood movies: Mankind has invented a computer, or a robot or another artificial thing that has taken on a life of its own. In  Frankenstein, the monster is built from corpses; in 2001: A Space Odyssey, its an all-seeing computer with a human voice; in Westworld, the robots are lifelike androids that begin to think for themselves. But in almost every case, the out-of-control artificial life form is anthropomorphic. It has a face or a body, or at least a human voice and a physical presence in the real world.

But what if the real threat from artificial life doesnt look or act human at all? What if its just a piece of computer code that can affect what you see and therefore what you think and feel? In other words  what if its a bot, not a robot?

For those who dont know (and apologies to those who are wearily familiar), a bot really is just a piece of computer code that can do things that humans can do. Wikipedia uses bots to correct spelling and grammar on its articles; bots can also play computer games or place gambling bets on behalf of human controllers. Notoriously, bots are now a major force on social media, where they can like people and causes, post comments, react to others. Bots can be programmed to tweet out insults in response to particular words, to share Facebook pages, to repeat slogans, to sow distrust.

Slowly, their influence is growing. One tech executive told me he reckons that half of the users on Twitter are bots, created by companies that either sell them or use them to promote various causes. The Computational Propaganda Research Project at the University of Oxford has described how bots are used to promote either political parties or government agendas in 28 countries. They can harass political opponents or their followers, promote policies, or simply seek to get ideas into circulation.

About a week ago, for example, sympathizers of the Polish government  possibly alt-right Americans  launched a coordinated Twitter bot campaign with the hashtag #astroturfing (not exactly a Polish word) that sought to convince Poles that anti-government demonstrators were fake, outsiders or foreigners paid to demonstrate. An investigation by the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab pointed out the irony: An artificial Twitter campaign had been programmed to smear a genuine social movement by calling it . . . artificial.

That particular campaign failed. But others succeed  or at least they seem to. The question now is whether, given how many different botnets are running at any given moment, we even know what that means. Its possible for computer scientists to examine and explain each one individually. Its possible for psychologists to study why people react the way they do to online interactions  why fact-checking doesnt work, for example, or why social media increases aggression.

But no one is really able to explain the way they all interact, or what the impact of both real and artificial online campaigns might be on the way people think or form opinions. Another Digital Forensic Research Lab investigation into pro-Trump and anti-Trump bots showed the extraordinary number of groups that are involved in these dueling conversations  some commercial, some political, some foreign. The conclusion: They are distorting the conversation, but toward what end, nobody knows.

Which is my point: Maybe weve been imagining this scenario incorrectly all of this time. Maybe this is what computers out of control really look like. Theres no giant spaceship, nor are there armies of lifelike robots. Instead, we have created a swamp of unreality, a world where you dont know whether the emotions you are feeling are manipulated by men or machines, and where  once all news moves online, as it surely will  it will soon be impossible to know whats real and whats imagined. Isnt this the dystopia we have so long feared?

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ONE SCHOOL of North Korea experts has been arguing for some time that sanctions will never induce the isolated regime of Kim Jong Un to give up its nuclear weapons nor its race to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles that could carry them to the United States. A good answer is that while they might be right, sanctions are still the best available option  and unlike others, such as negotiations with the regime, they have never been given a robust try. Fortunately, that may be about to change.

After waiting in vain for China to apply serious pressure to the Pyongyang regime following President Trumps first meeting with Xi Jinping, the administration is readying sanctions against a number of Chinese companies and banks that do business with North Korea, a senior administration official said this week. A sanctions bill on its way through Congress mandates additional steps against North Korean shipping, countries that evade U.N. sanctions and those that employ the slave laborers whom the regime exports to other countries. Still-tougher measures are in a pending Senate bill developed by Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen.

If the administration aggressively and consistently exploits the new authorities  an open question, given the endless chaos in the White House and gaping personnel holes at the State Department  it might be able, over time, to cut off a substantial part of the flows of hard currency that last year allowed North Korea to increase its trade by nearly 5 percent and that financed $1.7 billion in imports from China in the first half of 2017.

The problem is a lack of time. Even successful sanctions campaigns, including that which induced Iran to bargain over its nuclear program, can take years to produce results  and the time North Korea may need to acquire the ability to threaten a nuclear attack on the U.S. homeland appears to be rapidly shrinking. The Post reported Tuesday that U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Kim regime could produce a missile that could reach the U.S. homeland with an atomic warhead in a year, years faster than previously estimated. On Friday, the regime carried out a new test of what appeared to be a long-range ICBM, the second this month.

Not surprisingly, both the administration and outside experts are debating other options. CIA Director Mike Pompeo recently hinted at a strategy to separate the Kim regime from its weapons. If that means regime change, it would require far greater cooperation from a Chinese government that so far has been unwilling to seriously pressure its neighbor. Some analysts suggest the United States should take up a Russian-Chinese proposal for a freeze on North Korean missile and nuclear tests in exchange for a halt to U.S.-South Korean military exercises. But history shows that any North Korean commitment to a freeze would be temporary and unreliable, while Washingtons agreement to the deal could introduce a permanent crack into its alliance with South Korea.

One helpful proposal comes from the State Departments former human rights chief, Tom Malinowski, who wrote in a Politico essay that the United States should ramp up efforts to provide the North Korean people with information, including about the far freer and more prosperous lives of South Koreans. Political change in North Korea forced by its own citizens, he says, is more likely than denuclearization by the current regime. That clear-eyed but ultimately hopeful forecast strikes us as sensible.
Perteria Allen, 68, of Greenville, Miss., is the sole caretaker of her 21-year-old grandson, Bertrand, who has severe autism. Bertrand is eligible for a Medicaid waiver that would pay for a caretaker to come into the house part time, but he is on a long waiting list. (Andrea Morales/For The Washington Post)

The July 27 news article Families struggle amid cuts to services for disabled, about the dangers of Medicaid cuts for people with disabilities in Mississippi and across the country, illustrated a critical national issue but missed the story closer to home.

According to a 2016 study, there are nearly 9,000 people with intellectual or developmental disabilities in the District, and they are under a dual funding threat. One of those threats affects the just-under 2,000 people now receiving supports via the Districts limited IQ-based disability program who would be hit directly by the ill-considered cuts to Medicaid under discussion in the House and Senate. The other threat is the chilling effect of the national climate on the prospects to expand eligibility for disability services to the far larger number of people with autism or other conditions who do not fit the outmoded definition of disability based on IQ score.

Sustained political courage is needed from local officials, and support from affected families, to pass legislation that will right this long-neglected injustice.

Carol Grigsby, Washington

The writer serves on D.C.s Developmental

Disabilities Council and on the board of the Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities.
FROM THE beginning, the Trump presidency posed a unique challenge to the American system of government and, indeed, to the political theory upon which it was built. By separating the legislative, executive and judicial powers among three coordinate branches and providing means for each branch to check or balance the others, the framers of our Constitution sought to protect liberty from the various menaces posed by human nature itself. Ambition, recklessness, greed, incompetence and excessive partisanship  any or all of these might gain a foothold in one part of government, but as long as countervailing forces existed they could be prevented from ruining the whole thing.

President Trumps rise tests the American system because he was elected on the strength of radical protest against it  the claim that its all rigged  and because his party dominated Congress as well as the White House. The erratic disrupter-in-chief came to power with a political escort of enablers. And so any hope that checks and balances would work to constrain Mr. Trumps worst impulses hinged, in part, on the willingness of Republicans in Congress to act in defense of values higher than short-term political advantage, or at least to interpret their short-term political interest as requiring them to counter Mr. Trump.

This week brought the most encouraging signs yet that members of the GOP are indeed willing to behave as the framers would have had them do. Republicans in Congress voted with Democrats in overwhelming, veto-proof, numbers to pass a Russia sanctions bill that constrains Mr. Trumps ability to indulge his strange sympathy for Vladimir Putins despotic regime. And they pushed back against Mr. Trumps increasingly aggressive and increasingly bizarre attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which were implicitly attacks on independent counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) made it clear that his committee would give the president no opportunity to appoint a replacement to Mr. Sessions if he tried to fire him. Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) announced a joint effort with Democrats to legislate a bar to firing Mr. Mueller, an eventuality which, he said, would mark the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.

To be sure, Mr. Grahams attempt to impose judicial review on a presidents firing of a special counsel might fail in practice, for any number of technical legal and constitutional reasons. We admire the spirit behind it, however, just as we support Republican efforts to rein in Mr. Trumps worst instincts on Russia policy, as well as the efforts of the Republican-chaired Senate intelligence committee to investigate the Russian nexus to the 2016 campaign. In the minds of many of Mr. Trumps harshest critics, especially Democrats, anything short of impeachment constitutes Republican submission to an unfit and illegitimate president. What GOP lawmakers first serious steps toward checking and balancing Mr. Trump showed this week, however, is that there is a middle ground, which members of his own party are no longer afraid to explore.
CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS misguided effort to reshape the U.S. health-care system, which appeared to collapse early Friday, had the virtue of clarifying where the country stands nearly two decades into the 21st century: Americans want universal health-care coverage, including for the poor and the sick, and they expect the government to ensure that it is provided. Republicans and Democrats can argue about how to meet this end  but if they are wise they will no longer dispute the goal.

This ground truth was visible in Fridays climax on the Senate floor, in which Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) unexpectedly issued a third, decisive Republican vote against moving forward with a GOP bill. Mr. McCain later explained that he objected to the GOPs partisan effort to ram through changes to the nations health-care system, which only became more unseemly at each desperate step. It could also be that he decided to take heat for some of his moderate colleagues, who did not want to significantly cut Americans health coverage but who also did not want to draw primary challengers by opposing the repeal of Obamacare. Either way, the GOP approach simply did not reflect what the majority of the country wants.

Even before Friday, Republicans sensed where the nation is. To the extent President Trump said anything specific about health-care policy during his 2016 campaign, he promised to make coverage better and more available. During the repeal-and-replace debate, Republicans decried rising premiums and deductibles, criticized health-care plans that were too stingy for people to use and denied that their proposals would harm people. They made these statements even though their proposals would have raised deductibles, made insurance plans far more stingy and curtailed vulnerable peoples access to coverage. They generally did not sell their policy on its substance, because its foundation was the notion that the government should be less involved in providing health coverage. The fact that they had to pretend their goal was advancing, not degrading, the availability of health care says as much as one needs to know about the national mood.

For much of the past decade, Congress has acted on the principle that beating the other side is more important than practical results, which require compromise. Fridays vote was a victory for the opposite view, and it opens a thin window of opportunity for fixing, rather than upending, the health-care system. That would start with Republicans rejecting Mr. Trumps calls to let Obamacare implode, by which he means continuing and probably intensifying the GOPs seven-year effort to sabotage the law.

Republicans would then have to accept the hand some key Democrats have extended in recent days, offering to work in good faith to shore up the existing system. If the goal were to pass Obamacare fixes with 60 Senate votes rather than dismantle the system with 51, many compromises were conceivable. Backstopping insurance markets, reducing uncertainty, relaxing some regulations, making the individual mandate less objectionable to conservatives, adopting automatic health-insurance enrollment  these are just a few of the ideas that could be in a compromise package. The pivot might be difficult for the GOP, but then theres this: It very likely would be popular.
Chelsea Manning, the transgender U.S. Army soldier responsible for a massive leak of classified material, poses for a photo in May. (Handout/Chelsea Manning)

Regarding the July 27 front-page article Transgender ban in military revived:

Transgender people already suffer from the stress of widespread prejudice and abuse, beginning in childhood with bullying and physical assault. Major depression is sufficiently common as to produce a staggering rate of suicide attempts and suicides. The lifetime suicide attempt rate for transgender people ranges from 32 to 50 percent; that rate is 4.6 percent in the population at large.

Yet there is ample evidence that gender affirmation, i.e., the acceptance of ones gender identity, can markedly improve mental health. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity, is an institutional model worth emulating. Unfortunately, such evidence is unlikely to convince President Trump that gender affirmation is worth supporting. We need a president who is more knowledgeable and compassionate.

Edward N. Squire Jr., Fredericksburg

As a service-disabled war veteran, I support transgender soldiers. Transgender soldiers match the honor and courage of all service members, and their bravery pioneers another frontier of integration. The experiences of gay, lesbian, women and black soldiers before them prove that change can come at high personal cost. And the social boundaries the transgender community face are often marked by violent normalization and marginalization.

I saw this firsthand at Fort Meade, as my company formed for physical fitness training across from the courthouse where then-Pfc. Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning) was being tried. Ultimately, her experience in Army imprisonment demonstrated how dangerous the treatment of transgenderism in the military can be. This cannot stand.

The transgender community is strong, and patriotism and selflessness will compel these soldiers into service undeterred. History will behold them with the gratitude and pride reserved for heroes of the two finest pillars of America, civil rights and national service.

Joel Usher, Washington
Larry Bays uses a mirror to get his first look at his new dentures, which he received during the Remote Area Medical clinic in Wise, Va., on July 22. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

The July 25 Metro article Giving more smiles to more folks was uplifting, but it brought to light a travesty. I was moved, humbled and inspired by the unselfish dedication of the Virginia dentists and staff  truly angels among us  who gave their time at the annual Remote Area Medical clinic in Wise, Va. Their commitment and devotion to humanity and their practice should serve as a model for all other practitioners. To see the excitement on Larry Bayss face as he got new dentures was outstanding. His wish was granted; we all owe a debt of gratitude.

It is disturbing, though, that it had to come that way.

This article highlighted the need and basic right of every American to have access to comprehensive health care. Period. Yet, there remains, as this article exposed, a gross indifference to and, worse, ignorance of those who do not have it.

We elect representatives to represent us, every American, wherever we live. They should acknowledge that every American has this basic right to health care. Our elected representatives should do their jobs and enact responsible, sensible, comprehensive health-care legislation. Its not unreasonable; it is expected and absolutely critical that they responsibly address the biggest issue facing the nation. Anything else is unconscionable and inhumane.

No American should ever have to drive hundreds of miles and camp out for the mere possibility of relief from grievous pain.

Jeff Kidwell, Bethesda
Looking, as prudent people are disinclined to do, on the bright side, there are a few vagrant reasons for cheerfulness, beginning with this: Summer love is sprouting like dandelions. To the list of historys sublime romances  Abelard and Heloise, Romeo and Juliet, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy  add the torrid affair between Anthony Scaramucci and President Trump. The formers sizzling swoon for the latter is the most remarkable public display of hormonal heat since  here a melancholy thought intrudes  Jeff Sessions tumbled into love with Trump. Long ago. Last year.

Sessions serves at the pleasure of the president, who does not seem pleased. Still, sympathy for Sessions is in order: What is he to do? If dignity concerned him, he would resign; but if it did, he would not occupy a Trump-bestowed office from which to resign. Such are the conundrums of current politics. Concerning which, there is excessive gloom.

To see what is in front of ones nose, George Orwell wrote, needs a constant struggle. An unnoticed reason for cheerfulness is that in one, if only one, particular, Trump is something the nation did not know it needed: a feeble president whose manner can cure the nations excessive fixation with the presidency.

Executive power expanded, with only occasional pauses (thank you, Presidents Taft and Coolidge, of blessed memory), throughout the 20th century and has surged in the 21st. After 2001, The Decider decided to start a preventive war and to countenance torture prohibited by treaty and statute. His successor had a pen and a phone, an indifference to the Constitutions take care clause (the president shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed) and disdain for the separation of powers, for which he was repeatedly rebuked by the Supreme Court.

Fortunately, todays president is so innocent of information that Congress cannot continue deferring to executive policymaking. And because this president has neither a history of party identification nor an understanding of reciprocal loyalty, congressional Republicans are reacquiring a constitutional  a Madisonian  ethic. It mandates a prickly defense of institutional interests, placing those interests above devotion to parties that allow themselves to be defined episodically by their presidents.

(Adriana Usero,Kate Woodsome/The Washington Post)

Furthermore, todays president is doing invaluable damage to Americans infantilizing assumption that the presidency magically envelops its occupant with a nimbus of seriousness. After the president went to West Virginia to harangue some (probably mystified) Boy Scouts about his magnificence and persecutions, he confessed to Ohioans that Lincoln, but only Lincoln, was more presidential than he. So much for the austere and reticent first president who, when the office was soft wax, tried to fashion a style of dignity compatible with republican simplicity.

Fastidious people who worry that the presidents West Virginia and Ohio performances  the alpha male as crybaby  diminished the presidency are missing the point, which is: For now, worse is better. Diminution drains this office of the sacerdotal pomposities that have encrusted it. There will be 42 more months of this presidents increasingly hilarious-beyond-satire apotheosis of himself, leavened by his incessant whining about his tribulations (What dunce saddled me with this silly attorney general who takes my policy expostulations seriously?). This protracted learning experience, which the public chose to have and which should not be truncated, might whet the publics appetite for an adult president confident enough to wince at, and disdain, the adoration of his most comically groveling hirelings.

Speaking of Scaramucci, and in his defense: His love interest, the president, was elected for his persona rather than his principles. Hence there is a vacuum at the center of the person who is at the center of the countrys absurdly president-centric conception of government. Therefore, loyalty inevitably manifests itself as sycophancy. Nevertheless, the smitten Scaramucci is himself evidence of something encouraging: Upward social aspiration is still as American as Jay Gatsby.

When plighting his troth to Trump, Scaramucci repeatedly confessed his love for his employer, thereby exceeding Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchins comparatively pallid testimonial to the presidents superhuman health. Scaramucci grew up in Port Washington, the Long Island community that is East Egg in F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby. Gatsby lived in West Egg, yearning to live across the water, where shone the beckoning green light at the end of Daisys dock. Scaramuccis ascent to a glory surpassing even that available in East Egg shows that the light on the lectern in the White House press room is, at last, something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

Read more from George F. Wills archive or follow him on Facebook.
The leaders of the Boy Scouts of America and all Americans should be embarrassed and disappointed by President Trumps speech to the National Scout Jamboree [Trump dives into politics, turning Scouts event into rally, news, July 25]. Apparently, Mr. Trump did not recognize that the point of his being there was to inspire patriotism and recognition of the privilege of being an American or that he was speaking to youths. To turn the event into a political rally and the opportunity to replay all of his favorite themes was a disservice to the Scouts.

To continue his rants about fake news, distrust of the media, maligning the opposition and his personal wins, including a reference to being at a party with all the hottest New Yorkers, reflects the fact that he had no respect for or understanding of his audience. What kind of message were the Scouts receiving regarding the making of a good citizen or the value of our national institutions? When chanting began, it was unclear how the audience was selected or if the Scouts were outnumbered by adults. At its worst, the audio was reminiscent of a Nazi youth rally; at its questionable best, it was another theatrical performance by a man who seems to have no understanding of the role of the president.

Jean Voss, Clifton

My formative years were spent as a Boy Scout, and as a result, the values of the Boy Scouts shaped my development. My son is an Eagle Scout, and for several years I held leadership positions. Boy Scouts are taught and expected to aspire to the highest ideals of citizenship and service to country and community. Yet, when speaking in front of thousands of Boy Scouts, President Trump referred to the U.S. government as a cesspool and a sewer, appalling language sharply at odds with the core principles of the Boy Scouts.

What are these young men supposed to think when they hear such statements? That they should not take seriously the ideal of U.S. citizenship and participation in government? If even one boy in that crowd felt that way, Mr. Trump has done a great disservice to our country.

More disturbing was the implication that service and loyalty to country should be replaced by service and loyalty to Mr. Trump personally. That kind of demagoguery is damaging to our country and our young people.

The voices of former and current Boy Scouts should be raised against such an inappropriate and disparaging speech. Mr. Trump cannot use this wonderful organization, a national treasure, to grandstand for his own political purposes.

Tom Barber, Bethesda
Donald Trump had his worst day since he was elected president  well just call it Friday  and his worst week since the last one.

Things can only get worser and worser, as the Bard would permit me to say.

Lets start with the vote-a-rama and the skinny repeal, which puts me in mind of a state fair ride and placing an order at Starbucks.

Id like a skinny repeal, please  venti, with mocha.

As all know by now, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) didnt get the skinny on repeal and shocked the chamber by voting no with a thumbs-down. Not even with a Republican majority could Trump dump Obamacare in its slimmest version yet. McCain, who postponed treatment for aggressive brain cancer and flew to Washington to cast his vote, joined fellow Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, as well as all the Democratic members, to put the kibosh on any real hope of repeal this year, much less replace.

(Gillian Brockell,Adriana Usero/The Washington Post)

In most ways, McCains seemingly last-minute maneuver should have surprised no one. Always the maverick, McCain, who has defied death before, is no ones wingman. If he thought this vote might be his last stand in the arena, he would make it worthwhile and memorable.

Back at the Ponderosa, Trump at least had a soul mate in whom to confide, Anthony Scaramucci, the White Houses new communications director. Mooch or Mini-Me to Washington insiders, Scaramucci is Trumps kneecapper. Good cop, meet seriously bad cop.

Scaramucci is the personification of Trumps deep brain. To the extent that the president ever withholds a thought, Scaramucci is there to express it for him. Hes his human Twitter feed. Thus, we may assume that what Scaramucci says, Trump thinks. Thanks to the New Yorkers Ryan Lizza, were privy to enough premium quotes to entertain ourselves for months.

As you may have heard, Scaramucci called Lizza on Wednesday in a rage over his leaked financial records and Lizzas reporting of an intimate Trump dinner that included Fox Newss Sean Hannity and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who, sources say, told Trump that then-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus is a leaker. When Scaramucci demanded that Lizza divulge his source, Lizza, a polite, erudite fellow, declined and did what reporters sometimes do: He taped the conversation, capturing a hailstorm of profane tirades against leakers and, specifically, Priebus  a [expletive] paranoid schizophrenic. By late Friday afternoon, Priebus was out of a job, with Trump tweeting that he was replacing him with Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly.

Next, we visit El Salvador, where, strangely, we find Attorney General Jeff Sessions. We know Trump wants to get rid of Sessions, but sending him into the maw of the beastly MS-13 gang seems excessively aggressive even for this president. While Poor Sessions (see previous column) was practicing Spanish for I have nothing against tattoos, but seriously?, Trump was making a play in Ohio for tighter immigration by focusing on the gangs murderous record.

And, lest we ignore the gold coin Trump magically pulled from his ear, the president randomly ordered transgender people out of the military. What, no women bleeding this week?

Health care, schmealth care, in other words. As buffer to the inevitable, Trump made sure to create a little sidebar drama  expelling thugs and transgender people, rooting out leakers and traitors, and threatening to fire anyone who says Russia in his presence.

So many shiny objects, so few left to fool.

A few Trump loyalists may wait for the last lifeboat, but its only a matter of time before this administration capsizes, titanically. Trumps first-year agenda is DOA along with health-care reform. Going after Sessions has hurt the president with conservatives. His chaotic White House operation is a constant reminder that no ones in charge. The cumulative effect of all of these affronts to normalcy, decorum and democracy is to reveal the profile of a deadly iceberg off the ship of states bow.

Light shifts to a small lifeboat off in the distance. Rowing slowly is an old man whose posture betrays a straight spine despite obvious injury to his arms and shoulders. A smile creases his face as moonlight catches a twinkle in his eye. A deep scar above it imitates a wryly arched brow. He chuckles at the memory of Trump saying he was a war hero only because he was captured and turns to make yet another final gesture.

This time, he doesnt use his thumb.

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Men on board ship live in particularly close association; in their messes, one man sits beside another; their hammocks or bunks are close together; in their common tasks they work side by side; . . . they form a closely knit highly coordinated team. How many white men would choose, of their own accord, that their closest associates in sleeping quarters, at mess, and in a guns crew should be of another race?

 Report from the chairman of the general board to the secretary of the Navy, Subject: Enlistment of men of colored race in other than messman branch, Jan. 16, 1942.

I cited that passage in a column that I wrote more than 25 years ago criticizing a Dec. 9, 1991, ruling by U.S. District Judge Oliver Gasch upholding the Navys right to expel a gay midshipman from the U.S. Naval Academy.

The spirit of that 1942 Navy report and a Jan. 28, 1982, Defense Department directive declaring, Homosexuality is incompatible with military service, guided Gaschs decision.

(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

The Defense Departments ban on gays in the military simply adopted the earlier, discredited rationale for a racially segregated armed services. Read the 1982 directive: The presence of such members adversely affects the ability of the Military Services to maintain discipline, good order, and morale . . . among . . . servicemembers who frequently must live and work under close conditions affording minimal privacy.

The biases and fears against gays in the military rested upon the same kind of stereotyping and myths used against black service members decades earlier.

Today, the country officially recognizes that the military was wrong to cater to prejudice against Americans based upon skin color or sexual orientation.

America agrees that the opportunity to perform as soldiers, sailors, Marines or Air Force members should rest upon qualifications and ability, not invidious distinctions based on race or sexual identity.

This week, however, brought fresh evidence that the respect for basic humanity explicit in U.S. policies on military service has been lost on President Trump.

Trump fully embraced the rancid prejudice that in the past turned away men and women ready to put their lives on the line for the United States. Without warning to Congress, the public or rank-and-file members of the military, the president resorted to Twitter to announce that he is banning transgender people from serving in the military in any capacity. He not only is turning away transgender people from the armed services. Trump is opening up the possibility of thousands of openly transgender members being expelled from service, and he has created the likelihood of many more having to conceal their identity and return to the closet.

Just like that, in a social media tweetstorm, Trump wiped out federal policy welcoming transgender Americans to serve openly in the military (although the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apparently blindsided, said sensibly Thursday there would be no modification to current policy unless the White House turns the presidents tweets into a formal directive that is conveyed to the armed forces by the secretary of defense). And he resorted to some of the same bogus military readiness excuses that once barred a racially desegregated military and the presence of gay men and lesbians in uniform. A 2016 Rand Corp. study found that allowing transgender service members to serve openly would not be a drawback to military readiness. The number [of members] would likely be a small fraction of the total force and have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs, the report said.

Yes, there are moves afoot among far-right conservatives in Congress to stop the Pentagon from paying for gender reassignment surgery and medical treatment plans for transgender troops. And the military was reviewing its medical standards to accommodate transgender service members. But Trump precipitously nixed all that.

He said kick them out and dont let others in.

Does he even know, does he even care about what he has done?

The president is subordinating Americans solely on the basis of their gender identity. His outrageous action has given a green light to subjecting transgender people to contemptible treatment and exclusion in other aspects of American life.

That ought to offend every American. Trumps attack on transgender service members joins the growing list of ignorant, irrational and morally offensive decisions he has made since Inauguration Day.

Read more from Colbert Kings archive.
Ron Johnson, a Republican, represents Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate.

As of July 22, the Senate has confirmed only 50 of President Trumps 229 executive nominations. Put another way, less than a month from the August recess, the Senate has confirmed only 22 percent of those nominated to serve in the Trump administration. By the same point in President Barack Obamas first term, the Senate had confirmed 53 percent of Obama nominations.

This situation is clearly the result of a breakdown in the Senate. The rules for nomination allow any senator to use hours  sometimes days  of precious Senate floor time to debate the confirmation of that nominee. But that rule is being abused, as evidenced by the first six months of the Obama and Trump administrations.

By the first August recess of the Obama administration, only four nominees needed cloture votes  that is, a vote to end the debate on a nominee so that senators can move on to a confirmation vote. Democrats, on the other hand, have required more than 30 Trump nominees to go through this burdensome and time-consuming process. Any president, Republican or Democrat, deserves better.

I have a simple proposal: Change the rules of the Senate to limit debate on sub-Cabinet and lower-court nominees to two hours on the Senate floor. Use Senate committees to vet nominees and report on them to the full Senate, where leadership can assign appropriate members to make the case for or against a nominee in the allotted two hours. Then vote.

For my Republican colleagues who might resist such a change in the Senate rules, let me remind everyone that the nuclear option  changing Senate rules with a bare majority of votes  has already been deployed by former Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). In early 2013, he and his fellow Democrats were frustrated that Senate Republicans were not allowing them to pack the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Reid, unable to bring about an agreement on future confirmations, eventually decided to employ the nuclear option on Nov. 21, 2013  despite bipartisan reluctance to altering Senate rules.

To gain public support for this unprecedented action, Democrats accused Republicans of obstructing the confirmation of Obamas nominees. These accusations ignored the fact that five years into Obamas presidency, 1,560 of his nominees already had been confirmed and only four had been formally blocked. But Reid never let truth get in the way of a good political attack.

Of course, Republicans are not innocent, either. There are many ways to hold up nominees, and both Republicans and Democrats have employed those tactics over the years. In fact, Republicans grew so frustrated with Democrats in 2005 for blocking President George W. Bushs judicial nominations that they also proposed changing the rules. It was only because of a bipartisan Gang of 14 opposing the nuclear option that their proposal was never enacted.

But it was Reid who then in 2013 acted and changed the Senate permanently: Now, whenever one party has a bare majority, it can follow the Reid precedent and change the rules with 51 votes. Republicans did so earlier this year to confirm Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. The Senates rules will inevitably be changed again in the future using Reids 51-vote precedent.

Regardless of ones opinion on Reids action, the precedent has been set. It cannot be repealed or undone. The post-nuclear Senate is now our reality. It would make sense to at least try to use this precedent and make Washington somewhat less dysfunctional.

The Senate committee process works well with nominations. Candidates are thoroughly vetted by committee members and staff who are well versed on the issues that nominees will be empowered to address. Once a nominee is processed and voted out of committee, it would be sufficient and entirely appropriate to hold an expeditious vote on the Senate floor.

But when it comes to nominations, the number of executive agency positions that must be confirmed  between 1,200 to 1,400  is absurd. Current Senate rules that allow for one delay after another in the confirmation process are equally so.

Our country is facing enormous challenges. An administration that is denied its nominees will be unfairly and unnecessarily crippled. We should not sit idly by in the post-nuclear world imposed by Reid and accept the dysfunctional confirmation process or allow these significant problems to remain unaddressed.
Rarely has one senator held as much sway over an issue as John McCain did this week.

A seven-year quest to undo the Affordable Care Act collapsed  at least for now  as McCain and Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) ended GOP attempts to rewrite the health-care law. Collins and Murkowski had signaled their concerns for weeks, but it was McCain who provided the drama. Seemingly aware of his place in history and his total control over the political moment, the senator from Arizona stood against his party again with the hope of returning the U.S. Senate to past norms.

Not since Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) publicly toiled over whether to support President Bill Clintons 1993 budget agreement had one senator held Washington in such suspense. But unlike Kerrey, who salvaged Clintons young presidency by voting for a spending plan that he didnt entirely like, McCain defied President Trumps attempts to revamp the health-care system and stared down Vice President Pence, who made a direct, last-ditch plea to the senator early Friday morning.

I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to trust each other, stop the political gamesmanship and put the health-care needs of the American people first, McCain said Friday. We can do this.

[The night John McCain killed the GOPs health-care fight]

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) speaks to reporters Thursday on Capitol Hill. (Cliff Owen/AP)

The week began with news that McCain would return to Washington just days after announcing that he had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive brain tumor. Bruised over his left eye and appearing pale, McCain jetted back to Capitol Hill on Tuesday in the midst of a vote to determine whether health-care legislation would survive. He walked into the Senate chamber to a standing ovation and voted with GOP senators to formally launch debate on the bill.

But afterward, McCain stood to speak as all of his colleagues watched, a rarity in the modern Senate. He then tore into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the fractured nature of the Senate.

Weve been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle, McCain said. Were getting nothing done, my friends. Were getting nothing done.

McCain felt that his Tuesday speech set out a marker, a clear marker, for how he would decide his final vote, demanding a good, clean amendment process with a chance to change the bill for the better.

In his estimation, by Thursday night, the process and the product had grown significantly worse than the bill he had vowed to oppose just Tuesday afternoon.

The idea of voting for a terrible bill that everyone acknowledged they didnt want to become law was anathema to everything he had stood for as a senator  and went against every principle he had laid out Tuesday.

As they began Thursday morning, GOP leaders believed that they could count on McCains vote to approve the skinny repeal, which would have repealed the ACAs individual mandate and rolled back a tax on medical devices. But by lunchtime, McCain popped into the front rooms of McConnells office suites on the second floor of the Capitol to deliver a new message to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), the majority whip in charge of counting votes.

McCain warned Cornyn: Dont count me as a yes.

He had switched his position, at least in the minds of McConnells leadership team, according to senior GOP aides.

Throughout the day, McConnells leadership team heard back and forth about the 80-year-olds plans, one minute believing he would vote yes, the next hour hearing he was against the plan.

McCains best friend in the Senate, Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), convened a news conference intended to get assurances that the legislation the Senate was considering would not be approved by the House and become law. Though Graham decided to support the plan as the only way to keep repeal negotiations alive, he went so far in thrashing the latest McConnell move  it was a disaster . . . a fraud . . . a pig in a poke  that McCain dug in even further against it.

At one point, according to GOP aides, McCain and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) huddled in the Republican cloakroom just off the Senate floor, putting their states governor, Republican Doug Ducey, on speakerphone to discuss what concerns he had with the skinny legislation. But with the proposed cuts to the ACAs Medicaid expansion no longer on the table, Ducey did not raise much of an objection; Flake was fine with voting for the bill.

Meanwhile, Democrats had been running their own full-court press to win over McCain, and not just inside the Senate.

According to a Senate Democrat, McCain heard from two longtime friends pleading with him to oppose McConnell: Joseph I. Lieberman and Joe Biden.

The former senator from Connecticut was long one of McCains best friends, forming the heralded Three Amigos along with Graham. Despite his more conservative leanings on national security, Lieberman remained loyal enough to Democrats that in 2009 and 2010 he supported the ACA and relayed that continued support to McCain.

Biden, the former vice president who often clashed in a collegial way with McCain on foreign policy matters, had a more emotional discussion with McCain. The Arizonans brain cancer is the same diagnosis that Bidens son, Beau, received in 2013; he died two years later.

Those conversations set in motion the most dramatic night in modern Senate history. Just ask the senators who were there. The decisions of Collins, McCain and Murkowski to buck their party put the Senate on the verge of protracted bipartisan talks that McCain might not witness because he is scheduled Monday to begin chemotherapy treatment for his cancer.

By Thursday night, rumors were swirling about McCains intentions. Reporters spotted him around 11 p.m.

Have you decided how youll vote? they asked.

Yes, McCain replied.

How?

Wait for the show, he said.

McCain headed for his stage  the Senate floor  around midnight, emerging from his office in the Russell Senate Office Building for the subway ride to the Capitol.

When he arrived, he had a brief conversation with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), an exchange that left the New Yorker smiling.

I knew it when he walked on the floor, Schumer later recounted, explaining that McCain had already called to share his plans.

But few, if any, of his Republican colleagues realized what was about to transpire.

Two votes were called just after midnight. The first was on a Democratic proposal to refer the skinny repeal bill back to a committee. It failed. The second vote was to pass the skinny repeal.

With Collins and Murkowski already poised to vote no, Republicans could not afford to lose McCain. Pence was at the Capitol prepared to break a tie, but instead focused on winning McCains support.

McCain was seated with Graham, and when Murkowski walked over to join the conversation, McCain winked and gave her a thumbs down  signaling his intentions. Collins eventually joined the group. In the well of the chamber stood McConnell, Cornyn, Flake and Pence. They eventually dispatched Flake to talk to McCain again.

He obliged, walked over to McCain and asked Graham to move over one seat. But McCain didnt initially acknowledge Flake, focusing instead on Collins and Murkowski.

That left Flake, one of the more earnest members of the Senate, leaning into the conversation uncomfortably with a pained look on his face, as if he had to tell his father that he had run over the family dog with his car.

Seeing that Flake was not making progress, Pence walked over at 12:44 a.m. McCain smiled, pointed at Collins and Murkowski, said something about marching orders, and stood up.

Mr. Vice President, McCain said, greeting Pence. For the next 21 minutes, Pence cajoled the trio. Twice, a Pence aide came to whisper in the vice presidents ear  it was the White House calling. Pence finally left to take a call, but later returned to speak with McCain.

By then, other senators realized what was happening.

You could see the body language in the entire chamber change in two hours, Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) recalled. One side was kind of ebullient, moving around and talking and the other side was subdued, and all of a sudden it began to change. There was an instinctive reaction that maybe this thing wasnt going to pass. Nobody knew for sure.

It was pretty somber, added Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

At 1:10 a.m., McCain crossed the Senate Chamber to talk to Schumer, Klobuchar and other Democrats, including Sens. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.). As he approached, McCain told them he worried that reporters watching from the gallery above could read his lips. When he realized that the press was indeed watching, he looked up at the ceiling and shouted, No! as senators and reporters laughed. Democrats beamed when McCain shared his news. Feinstein gave him a hug.

Walking back to the Republican side of the room, McCain was stopped by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who also offered a hug.

I love John McCain. Hes one of the great heroes of this country, Hatch explained later. Whether we agree or not, I still love the guy.

The vote on skinny repeal began at 1:24 a.m., but McCain was out in the lobby conferring again with Pence. In his absence, Collins and Murkowski cast their no votes along with the 48 members of the Democratic caucus.

McCain returned at 1:29 a.m. without Pence, approached the Senate clerk and gave a thumbs down  the third no vote.

Several people gasped. Others applauded.

McCain headed for his seat as Cornyn and Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) stood grim-faced and despondent. Cassidy rubbed his face several times with his hands. Thunes face contorted. The color in Cornyns face drained.

Certainly, Senator McCain knows how to improve the drama, Cassidy recalled later.

The vote concluded, and the results were announced  the bill was defeated, 51 to 49. Just days before, McCain had fired his warning shot in the floor speech that criticized the rushed, secretive process. Early Friday morning, McCain, Collins and Murkowski delivered the fatal blow.

McConnell, humiliated by the results, stood to address his colleagues. The color of his face matched the pink in his necktie.

This is clearly a disappointing moment, he said.

Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.
President Trump is trying to take command of his floundering administration by enlisting a retired four-star Marine general as his White House chief of staff, empowering a no-nonsense disciplinarian to transform a dysfunctional West Wing into the fine-tuned machine the president has bragged of running but which has not yet materialized.

John F. Kelly will be sworn in Monday at the nadir of Trumps presidency, with historically low approval ratings, a stalled legislative agenda and an escalating Russia investigation that casts a dark cloud.

Trump envisions Kelly executing his orders with military precision and steely gravitas, and without tending to outside political motivations or fretting about palace intrigue, according to Trump confidants. The president replaced Reince Priebus with Kelly, who had what Trump considers a star run as homeland security secretary, in the hope of projecting overall toughness and of inspiring the respect  and even fear  that has eluded him on Capitol Hill, where fellow Republicans last week defied the White House on health care and Russian sanctions.

But no matter how decisive his leadership, Kelly alone cannot turn Trumps vision into reality. Warring internal factions that have stirred chaos, stoked suspicions and freelanced policies for six straight months may not easily submit to Kellys rule. And the president  whose rash impulses routinely have sabotaged the best efforts of his senior aides  has shown no willingness to be tamed.

Kelly is an incredibly disciplined person who could bring order to the process if the animals in the zoo behave, said John E. McLaughlin, a former acting director of the CIA who served in seven administrations. The danger he has is that Trump will be Trump.

[Trump names Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as White House chief of staff, ousting Reince Priebus]

Kelly got a quick introduction to his new life on Saturday: an angry tweet storm from Trump in which he told Senate Republicans to Get smart! and change chamber rules to make it easier to pass his priorities, saying that the senators look like fools.

If Kelly has been recruited to bring order to a turbulent White House, the first decision he must make is where to concentrate his energies.

There is not a single model for White House chiefs of staff, as all are derivative of the presidents style and preferences. But broadly, chiefs of staff can be viewed as either managing the president or managing the government, managing up or managing down and out.

In Trumps White House, given the personality of the president and the clashing world views among the senior staff, Kelly might be forced to do both.

It will be a challenge for someone who has demonstrated great discipline, General Kelly, to be able to introduce President Trump to some of the discipline he should have in the Oval Office, said Andrew H. Card, who was President George W. Bushs first White House chief of staff. Great generals do not allow impulse to dictate how they are going to inspire other people to do their jobs. Generals appreciate the consequence of decisions.

No one disputes that Trumps White House lacks discipline. This dynamic was not an accident. It was designed that way by the president-elect during the transition. Experts on government management knew from the minute Trump named Priebus as his first chief of staff and anointed Stephen K. Bannon as chief strategist with virtual coequal standing that this was going to be a White House with competing power centers.

1 of 58 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  A look at President Trumps first six months in office View Photos Scenes from the Republicans beginning months in the White House. Caption Scenes from the Republicans beginning months in the White House. Jan. 25, 2017 Trump signs an executive order for border security and immigration enforcement improvements at the Department of Homeland Security in Washington. Chip Somodevilla/Pool photo via Bloomberg News Wait 1 second to continue.

These days, there are three camps in the Trump White House, factions that sometimes meld: family, represented by daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner; Trump campaign loyalists, including Bannon and counselor Kellyanne Conway; and GOP establishment figures, such as Vice President Pence and other senior aides.

[John Kelly, Trumps new chief of staff, wont suffer idiots and fools]

Kelly, who comes from none of those camps, is being grafted onto the existing body. He is well liked by all three factions and has forged a particularly close bond with two members of the Cabinet: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The three men have formed a rapport as older, calmer presences in Trumps orbit navigating tricky policy directives that frequently overlap.

In the White House, Kelly could form a natural alliance with national security adviser H.R. McMaster, a three-star Army general who has struggled to take full control over the national security process.

As some administration officials texted and called each other Saturday to discuss Kelly, there was widespread angst, since few of them were familiar with his leadership style.

To get a grasp of his personality, people familiar with Kelly urged White House aides and agency leaders to read books by conservative writer Bing West, a retired Marine, who has extensively chronicled Kellys military tenure in titles such as The Strongest Tribe and The March Up.

One particular scene in The March Up was passed around by several Trump associates as a sign of how Kelly operates: tersely and with little tolerance for complaints.

After Kelly saw the bodies of Iraqi civilians alongside a road, West writes, he warned his commanders that so many civilian casualties was not acceptable  a point that prompted a defensive response from the commanders about how they were just trying to protect their troops.

Dont go there with me, [Kelly] shot back, cutting off debate, West writes. He had been in the infantry thirty years and knew the range of every weapon.

Trump advisers also checked in with friends at the Department of Homeland Security, asking what they had gleaned from Kellys time there. They shared two immediate takeaways: first, that Kelly had not been directed with a heavy hand from the White House on whom to hire as his deputies, and second, that he is driven by duty and a passion for enforcing the law rather than by ideology.

[Inside Trumps fury: The president rages at leaks, setbacks and accusations]

Throughout his life, Trump has venerated military valor, and he recruited several generals into his administration, including Kelly. He admired Kellys decisive moves to crack down on illegal immigration and border crime and first sought him out for the chief of staff role in mid-May. Trump was rebuffed multiple times until Kelly agreed this past week to take the job.

Even as confidants suggested other options for chief of staff, Trump kept coming back to Kelly. The collapse this week of the Republican health-care bill sped up the presidents timetable to replace Priebus, according to people familiar with the move.

Kelly comes into the post as more of an equal to the president than Priebus, both generationally  Kelly is 67 and Trump is 71, whereas Priebus is 45  and in stature.

The kinds of people that Trump particularly likes are people with bucks  money  and braids  the military, said Martha Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project.

Although Kelly does not bring legislative experience, Trump sees him as part of the solution to his administrations legislative woes, according to people familiar with the decision to bring Kelly to the White House. Instead of hiring an insider who would ingratiate himself or herself on Capitol Hill, Trump wanted someone who adds stature and commands respect from congressional leaders, the people said.

Over recent months, Trump concluded that Priebuss close relationship with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) became a hindrance, giving Ryan leverage and insight into the workings of the White House. He resented the suggestion that Priebus was a Trump whisperer who had to explain Trump to Ryan and other GOP leaders, these people said.

So far, most of the administrations accomplishments have been overturning or reversing Obama-era policies. But Kumar said Kelly could help reorient the White House around a positive policy agenda.

When Kelly made the rounds on Capitol Hill before his nomination hearings in January, he did not know Trump very well and asked people there to share stories about the president-elect. He wanted to know how Trump made decisions. Told that Trump relished competing power centers around him, Kelly grimaced and said nothing.

[White House tensions flare in the open as Scaramucci rips Priebus in vulgar tirade]

Those who knew Trump before he became president knew that his management approach, short attention span and general lack of discipline were a recipe for trouble. Trumps early transition planners envisioned a White House table of organization that started with a strong chief of staff and that included clear lines of authority and limited direct access to the president.

But Trump got what he wanted: a White House in which the power and influence of individuals ebbed and flowed, with status affected by Trumps aims of the moment, his limited loyalty toward any of those in his employ and the backstabbing that has been a constant feature almost from Day 1.

Trumps transition documents included a lengthy memo about White House structure, based on past administrations. They didnt follow the product at all, said a person with direct knowledge of what transpired as Trump was setting up his administration. They did it instinctively  The president-elect didnt want to say no to anybody.

The result was the White House that now exists, populated by advisers with competing ideologies that reflect an administration that is an amalgam of populist nationalists, hard-line conservatives and establishment Republicans  and a few Democrats. Trump saw this grouping as his winning coalition in the presidential campaign and as encompassing his disparate views on the issues, but it has added greatly to the lack of coherence once he took office.

The only way a chief of staff can be successful is if he is empowered by the president, and I never had any feeling that Reince Priebus was fully empowered by the president, said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.). The success of Kelly will be significantly dependent upon how much authority President Trump grants him.

The environment is poised to change in the Kelly era. The new chief of staff is expected to have full control over the Oval Office and schedule, officials said. Trusted aides such as Hope Hicks, Dan Scavino and Keith Schiller  as well as senior advisers such as Kushner, Bannon and Conway  will continue to have casual access to the president.

But Kelly is expected to have a far tighter grip than Priebus was able to exercise on who participates in meetings and the process by which policy decisions are made.

The vast majority of people who work in the White House are quite competent and quite self-confident, Card said. As chief of staff, he added, You want to make sure that they recognize that their competence is needed, but their self-confidence should be managed.

One possibility mentioned by Kelly associates as a deputy chief of staff is Christian Marrone, a Republican who served in President Barack Obamas administration as chief of staff to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. Marrone declined to comment.

Many of Trumps top aides chafed at taking instructions from Priebus. When Anthony Scaramucci was hired as communications director this month, he received an assurance from Trump that he would report to the president, not to the chief of staff.

Chris Whipple, author of The Gatekeepers, a history of White House chiefs of staff, said Kellys task will be mission impossible if his control is not absolute.

If Scaramucci reports directly to President Trump, therein lies disaster, Whipple said. You cant have a loose cannon rolling on the deck. Kelly has to make sure hes in charge of the White House staff, in charge of the information flow to the president, and in charge of executing policy. And fundamentally, hes got to be able to go in, close the door, and tell Trump what he does not want to hear.
People have drinks at a bar in the town of Qaraqosh, south of Mosul, Iraq, on July 18, 2017. (Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters)

 This little Christian town in northern Iraq remains a sad, abandoned place more than nine months after the Islamic State was kicked out. Row upon row of houses stand burned and destroyed. The churches are vandalized and blackened with soot. Only a fraction of the population has returned.

But after the first bar was reopened two weeks ago, things have been looking up.

Ya Hala  which means welcome  was once one of eight bars in Qaraqosh, and its return offers one small glimpse of hope for the ancient Christian community uprooted by the Islamic State during its sweep through northern Iraq in August 2014.

Owner Hani Ayoub Yacoub al-Najjar, 63, is hoping the revival of the bar, which he ran for more than 10 years before the Islamic State swept in, will encourage more Christians to return to their homes.

When people see that theres a bar open, it means life is going back to normal, he said, speaking on a recent afternoon at one of the cloth-covered tables dotting the dimly lit bar.

A bar has reopened in the town of Qaraqosh, south of Mosul, Iraq, on July 18, 2017. (Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters)

So far, however, most of his customers have been Muslims from the city of Mosul, which was more recently liberated from the harsh rule of the militants. Denied the opportunity to drink during the three years they spent under the Islamic State, many are happy to make the 20 mile journey for the chance to drink at a bar again, he said.

Ahmed Ali Wagaa, 57, was a regular customer before the Islamic State takeover, and now he comes most days after work with a friend to smoke shisha and drink over lunch.

Sometimes we come during work, added his friend, Ismail al-Hajabi, 50. There still arent any bars open in Mosul.

[Here are some of the toughest battles still to be fought against ISIS]

Najjar set about repairing Ya Hala even before his family home, which is too badly damaged to live in, he said. In an act of deliberate vandalism, the Islamic State looted and burned most of the towns homes, shops and churches, rendering Qaraqosh almost uninhabitable.

The bar got off lightly compared with some of the other buildings, and it appeared to have been used by the Islamic State as some sort of base, he said. There was damage from the fighting, including two holes in the roof probably made by mortars fired during the battle to free the town, and bullet holes in all of the walls.

But the structure was essentially intact. The chairs and tables had been neatly stacked aside, the carpet was rolled back, and a collection of welding and other mechanical equipment was strewn around the concrete floor, leading Najjar to suspect the militants had used it as a factory for making weapons.

Most of his $17,500 stash of liquor and beer had been deliberately smashed, as happened to other stores of alcohol in the town, in keeping with the Islamic States strictly enforced ban. But mysteriously, the bottles lining the bar remained untouched, and there was a pile of beer cans belonging to a brand he had never ordered.

I think the Islamic State was drinking here, he said. Maybe. I dont know for sure.

At another table, a group of four taxi drivers cursed the Islamic State as they downed beers  at least five each, according to the empty Corona and Tuborg bottles on the table. They had seen their livelihoods collapse since the militants took over and Baghdad imposed harsh restrictions on travel to and from Mosul, measures that have not been lifted even though the city is now liberated. Life in the city still doesnt feel normal, and drinking at the bar is one of their only escapes, said Saad Mahmoud, 43, whose 12-year-old daughter was paralyzed by mortar fire during the battle to retake Mosul.

Its miserable, he said. Why do you think we are drinking so much?

This is the only place we can come to relax, said his friend, Omar Saleh Majeed, 34.

Whether a bar will be enough to lure Christians back to the area is in question, however. The ancient Nineveh plains, where Qaraqosh is located, once were home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, the Assyrians, who date their heritage back hundreds of years before Christianity.

Most of the Islamic State fighters who overran Qaraqosh were Sunni Muslims from surrounding Arab villages that were settled during the former dictator Saddam Husseins campaign of Arabization in the area, Christians in the area say. Many fear they may one day revive their insurgency if Iraqs wider political problems arent solved, said Daoud Baba Yacoub, a representative on Ninevehs provincial council.

We lost trust in our areas, said Yacoub, who is pressing the government to give Christians their own autonomous area within Iraq. They looted and burned our homes, even though their children used to get education in our schools.

More than half the Christians who fled have already emigrated to the United States and other Western countries after receiving asylum, and many more are waiting for their emigration to be approved, he said. Of over 8,000 households in Qaraqosh, only around 500 have returned.

Read more:

In Middle East, some Christians are wary of Trumps embrace

After Islamic State defeat, a daunting search for bodies in Mosuls rubble

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Hamburg's mayor, Olaf Scholz, lays flowers Saturday at a makeshift memorial in front of a supermarket where a man killed one person and wounded five others in a knife attack Friday. (Paul Weidenbaum/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES)

The 26-year-old man accused of carrying out a stabbing rampage Friday at a Hamburg supermarket had been reported to security forces as a radicalized Islamist, but he also suffered psychological problems, police said Saturday.

Authorities had not believed that the man, a Palestinian from the United Arab Emirates, posed an imminent threat, they said. But Fridays knife attack left a 50-year-old man dead and five people injured, Hamburg police said. A sixth person was injured attempting to overcome the suspect, who fled but was arrested at the scene in the Barmbek neighborhood of the northern German port city.

Hamburg police said that the man, whose name they did not release, was acting alone and that his motive remains unknown.

Still, the attack instantly renewed a political debate over Germanys asylum policies and whether a harsh enough line has been taken against criminals and migrants whose requests for asylum are turned down. It also shed light on the nexus of violence and psychological distress, an overlooked consequence of the torturous quest for asylum, advocates say.

[Merkel welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees. Now many are suing her government.]

A commission is probing the case, and a psychological investigation is being conducted before charges  likely murder and attempted murder  are filed, said Jorg Frohlich, Hamburgs state prosecutor. Officials said the mans asylum request had been rejected but that his deportation had been delayed because he did not have identity papers. They said he was living in a refugee home in Hamburg.

On the one hand, there are indications that he acted based on religious Islamist motives, and on the other hand, there are indications of psychological instability, said Andy Grote, the interior minister of Hamburg, at a news conference Saturday.

The mans only run-in with police came in April, prosecutors said, after he was caught shoplifting. The case was dismissed. Before that, a friend of the man had alerted security officials to his possible radicalization, said Torsten Voss, head of Hamburgs state intelligence agency. But Grote said the threat level was considered low; specifically, he was classified as an Islamist, not a jihadist.

The question of how a man known to authorities slipped through the cracks is politically vexed, coming less than two months before an election in which Germanys center-right chancellor, Angela Merkel, is seeking a fourth term. It carries echoes of an attack in December 2016 when a failed asylum seeker, Anis Amri, drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack.

What else has to happen in order for politics and society to finally rethink? asked Alexander Gauland, one of two leading candidates for the far-right Alternative for Germany party , which has fallen in the polls after a string of strong showings in state elections last year.

Merkels center-left challenger, Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic Party, has also criticized the chancellors reaction to the refugee crisis that brought scores of asylum seekers to Germany beginning in 2015. Schulz said Merkels open-door policy came without proper monitoring and consultation with other European states.

Merkel, who is on vacation, released a statement expressing grief for the victim and promising, The act of violence must and will be clarified.

Read more

Germans are learning to love Germany again, and Merkel takes note

Heres why Germanys left has dwindling hopes of unseating Merkel

Police, protesters skirmish in Hamburg as G-20 makes city site of global discord

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Your geopolitical nemesis is suffering a political meltdown and says youre partly to blame. Angry legislators have slapped you with new sanctions, which their president says he will sign. Whats a resurgent autocracy to do?

In Moscow, its time for some game theory.

Regardless of whether the Kremlin believes its own denials of interfering in the 2016 elections, there is one undeniable truth: Russia is now Washingtons greatest political foe. Understanding that President Trump is tied hand and foot, as one foreign policy hawk here put it, Moscow is weighing options for retaliation.

After a dalliance on the Trump train, Russia is once again channeling the ruthless realism that drives its political id and embracing its role as antihero.

Okay, you think were bad guys, were going to be bad guys, and well see whether you like it or not, said Konstantin Eggert, a television political commentator, describing the Kremlin thinking.

(Andrew Roth,Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Russias decision on Friday to expel dozens, perhaps hundreds, of American diplomats and other embassy staff marks the first salvo in retaliation to American sanctions that promises to be unpredictable and fraught with emotion. It is built on the frustrations of a Russian leader who perhaps thought that a Trump presidency could change everything, and then watched those hopes dissolve in scandal and recriminations.

The Russian establishment has been angry with the West before but rarely so filled with contempt.

It is far worse than several years ago, when tensions rose to fever pitch over a pro-Western revolution in neighboring Ukraine, sold on Russian television as a nationalist uprising with echoes of fascism.

No one was scared by the first [2014] sanctions, it was almost fun, said Andrei Kolesnikov, a veteran member of Vladimir Putins press pool, who co-wrote a 2000 book of interviews with the Russian president and traveled with him to Finland recently. Now theres a sense among Russian officials that everything is very serious. And theyre all looking at Vladimir Putin to see what to do.

A common adage about Putin is that he is a canny tactician but a poor strategist. He has taken the upper hand in conflicts with neighbors such as Ukraine and Georgia, and in so doing, surrounded himself with enemies. With Trumps growing political impotence, Russias cyber-intervention in the 2016 elections now seems similarly pyrrhic. I dont think he knows how this ends, Kolesnikov said. The rules are now being made up on the fly.

Predictions for autumn are frank: economic war.

If the bill is approved, and most probably it will be adopted, then we will inevitably enter the stage of what we call the Cold War, said Andrei Sidorov, an expert on international politics at Moscow State University and one of several hawkish Russian analysts who sat down for a roundtable discussion at a state news agency recently. And the Cold War means various responses.

(U.S. Senate)

Putin has said that will depend on the version of the bill signed by Trump. Kommersant, a Moscow daily plugged into Kremlin and foreign policy circles, suggested some options: cutting titanium or enriched uranium exports to the United States, which could harm the American airline industry or cut off an important source of nuclear fuel, respectively; blocking U.S. diplomatic initiatives such as a U.N. vote on new North Korea sanctions and cooperation in Syria; and seizing corporate property or even kicking out U.S. companies such as Google or Microsoft.

Moscow knows its outgunned in a trade war. It generally fights back by using its own market as a weapon, whether by imposing sanctions on European food imports in 2014 or, in a more cynical moment in 2013, by banning Americans from adopting Russian children (Trump discussed the adoption ban, and probably the associated sanctions, with Putin during an after-dinner meeting at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg this month).

Of course its very difficult for Russia to do anything to harm the U.S. interests unless Russia is ready to take steps, which will harm ourselves, said Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policies, an influential group of Russian foreign policy experts.

Hawks poring over the U.S. sanctions say Moscow needs to break the rules. It says that by no means shall sanctions apply to NASA projects, said Nikolay Platoshkin, a former Russian diplomat and professor at the Moscow University of the Humanities, referring to the bill passed by the Senate. Here we go, a perfect tip, let them apply [to NASA], let American astronauts ride horses to the International Space Station.

One idea voiced by the Kremlin is to expand cooperation with Europe, and possibly with China, to counterbalance U.S. power. European leaders have expressed anger over the planned U.S. sanctions, saying they could backfire, dealing a blow to transatlantic efforts to curb Russian aggression against Ukraine and sparking a trade war between Europe and the United States.

Of course for our entire lives weve held onto the hope that Europe is close to us and will align in its interest with us against the Americans, said Sidorov. But he was doubtful that the current crisis would bring about this schism.

Meanwhile, dialogue between the countries is minimal. American diplomats cant get their Russian diplomats to agree on facts about Moscows participation in the election hack, and they expect Russians to accept the testimonials given by American intelligence chiefs as evidence of Russias complicity. The Russians have demanded evidence, which the Americans say would compromise sources and methods of intelligence gathering. The impasse is total. Conflict is assured.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that a cutoff in enriched uranium imports could harm the U.S. uranium industry. In fact, it may stimulate a growth in uranium enrichment in the United States to replace supply lost from Russian imports.

Read more

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John F. Kelly was not the sort of Marine general who dreamed of working in Washington. He probably never expected he would work in the White House.

In choosing Kelly to be his new chief of staff, President Trump has turned to someone who in many ways is the opposite of his predecessor, Reince Priebus, a seasoned political operator.

Kelly, like the president he serves, has limited experience in politics and only passing familiarity with many of the big domestic issues that will cross Trumps desk. Instead of a deft political sense, he will bring some plain-spoken discipline to an often chaotic West Wing.

The 67-year-old Kelly, who is relatively close in age to Trump, has bonded quickly with a president who has often seemed overwhelmed and isolated in Washington.

Sometimes you feel alone and besieged, said a Kelly confidante who also knows the president. In Kelly, Trumps Homeland Security secretary, the president has picked both an enforcer for the West Wing and someone who can be a friend.

Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly testifies during a Senate committee In June. President Trump has appointed Kelly as White House chief of staff. (Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse Via Getty Images)

In his 40 years in the military, Kelly developed a reputation for bluntness that won him the respect of his fellow Marines and sometimes grated on senior officials in the Obama administration. He is best known in Washington as an experienced battlefield commander who led U.S. troops in Iraq and lost a son in Afghanistan in 2010 to a Taliban bomb.

[John Kelly, who lost son to war, says U.S. largely unaware of sacrifice]

But the most relevant experience he will bring to the chief of staff job is a tour as senior military adviser to Defense Secretaries Robert M. Gates and Leon E. Panetta in the Pentagon. The job demanded Kelly act as a disciplinarian, pressing to make sure the military service chiefs and the sprawling Pentagon bureaucracy were executing the defense secretarys agenda.

He also acted as a gatekeeper, deciding which of the military services top brass would get time with the defense secretary each day.

The president clearly needed some adults in the room, said Kellys longtime friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer frank opinions. Its the end of the chaos. Not with John Kelly around.

But in Trump, Kelly will be serving a boss who is far different from Gates and Panetta, two disciplined Washington hands. He will be working in a freewheeling Trump White House that has little in common with the regimented and hierarchical world of the Pentagon or Marine Corps.

As a four-star general, Kelly was frequently at odds with the Obama White House. He spoke out forcefully on issues including Obamas plan to shutter the prison complex in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the perceived vulnerability of Americas borders. At a time when the Obama administration was trying to wind down Americas wars and calm fears of a terrorist attack, Kelly often spoke of the threat posed by groups like the Taliban in dire terms.

Our country today is in a life-and-death struggle against an evil enemy, but America as a whole is certainly not at war, Kelly said in a speech to Marine veterans four days after his son was killed. Not as a country. Not as a people.

Kelly was similarly a voice of doubt as the Obama administration pressed to open combat jobs to women. Theyre saying we are not going to change any standards, Kelly told reporters at the Pentagon. There will be great pressure, whether its 12 months from now, four years from now.

As the four-star general in charge of U.S. Southern Command, Kelly oversaw the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay. His weekly updates on the prison, which were blasted out to dozens of White House and Pentagon officials, became well known for their candor. His vernacular wasnt the typical government prose, said one former White House official. He would call out some of the military commission judges, saying that they had no idea what they were doing.

Kellys move to the chief of staff job alongside Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, means military officers will now occupy two of the most important and senior positions in the White House.

Kelly is also a confidante of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine general and Kellys former commander during the 2003 Iraq invasion. The two men, both devout Catholics, frequently prayed together on Sundays.

When Mattis decided to relieve one of his regimental commanders in the middle of a battle, he sent Kelly to tell the officer he was being removed.

Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is one of Kellys closest friends and was the one who rang the doorbell at his home early one morning in 2010 to tell him his son had been killed in Afghanistan.

The instant he saw Dunford, dressed in his service uniform on the front porch, Kelly said he knew his son Robert was dead. It was disorienting, almost debilitating, Kelly wrote of that morning. At the same time my mind went through in detail every memory and image I had of Robert from the delivery room to the voice mail hed left a few days before he died. . . . It was as graphic as if I was watching a video.

As Homeland Security secretary, Kelly helped implement Trumps controversial travel ban and other initiatives aimed at curbing illegal immigration. Kelly also revoked an Obama-era initiative that sought to delay the deportation of parents of U.S. citizens, though he let stand a similar program for children.

He has seemed to share many of the presidents hard-line views on immigration, and he did not shy from advocating his position forcefully in public. In February, he told the House Homeland Security Committee it was entirely possible dangerous people were entering the United States without a ban in place, and that officials might not know until something bad had happened.

Not until the boom, he said when asked if he could provide evidence of a dangerous person entering the country.

He also has been quick to shoulder the blame when Trump administration initiatives, such as the travel ban, triggered a backlash from lawmakers who felt blindsided.

This is all on me by the way, Kelly testified.

I should have delayed it just a bit so that I could talk to members of Congress.

Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.


South Korean President Moon Jae-in, center, presides over a meeting of the National Security Council on Saturday at the presidential Blue House in Seoul. (Yonhap via AP)

The South Korean government wants greater firepower to counteract the growing threat from North Koreas missiles, which have apparently led the new liberal government in Seoul to prioritize tougher action against Pyongyang over diplomatic engagement.

This represents a significant shift for Moon Jae-in, who was elected president just two months ago and will be welcomed in Washington, where the Trump administration has been growing frustrated with South Koreas heel-dragging.

The catalyst for the sudden change was North Koreas second launch in a month of an intercontinental ballistic missile technically capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

The Pentagon said that the missile, launched close to midnight North Korea time Friday, flew about 2,300 miles almost straight up before crashing into the sea off Japan about 620 miles from its launch site.

Fixed cameras for NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster, appeared to capture the missile crashing into the sea not far from the coast of Hokkaido, the northern Japanese island.

If the ICBM had been launched on a normal trajectory, the missile could theoretically have reached Chicago and perhaps even New York, experts said after analyzing the launch.

North Korean state television on Saturday broadcast footage of the launch, showing leader Kim Jong Un in a grassy area surrounded by trees in the middle of the night, as the missile was wheeled out on the back of a modified truck.

The Rodong Sinmun, the Workers Party newspaper, ran a large front-page photo of Kim signing the order to launch the missile that North Korea calls the Hwasong-14. It was just one of many photos showing the 33-year-old North Korean leader in the control room and at the launch site.

The launch confirmed several key technical advances, showing the power of the motors and the ability of the missile to survive reentry into the Earths atmosphere, the North Korean state news agency reported.

It also demonstrated the capability of making surprise launch of ICBM in any region and place any time, and clearly proved that the whole U.S. mainland is in the firing range of the DPRK missiles, the agency quoted Kim as saying.

If the Yankees brandish the nuclear stick on this land again despite our repeated warnings, we will clearly teach them manners with the nuclear strategic force which we had shown them one by one, Kim said, according to the report.

[ North Korea fires another missile, its latest step toward putting the U.S. within reach ]

Within hours of the North Korean launch, South Korea showed off a more powerful ballistic missile of its own  although it still pales in comparison with the Norths ICBM  in drills with the U.S. military.

Our combined efforts showcase the capabilities of this alliance, Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, the commander of the Eighth Army, said in a statement. The allies were ready to deter North Korean provocations and defend South Korea, he said.

The Souths Defense Ministry released footage of two missiles being fired from a launcher in quick succession, the first hitting a target and the second destroying a bunker. The system can launch four missiles back to back, giving the South the ability to carry out fast and lethal strikes, the ministry said.

In particular, it can destroy not only North Koreas nuclear and missile bases but also the tunnel-shaped strongholds of its artillery posing a threat to Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province, the ministry said in a statement, according to the Yonhap News Agency.



As part of a flurry of phone calls after the launch, South Koreas national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, called his American counterpart, H.R. McMaster, to seek revisions to their countries bilateral ballistic missile guidelines.

Under an agreement written in 1979 but revised in 2001 and 2012, South Korea is limited in the capabilities it can pursue with its own missile program. The guidelines limit South Korean ballistic missiles with a range of 500 miles to carrying a half-ton payload, but the Moon administration is now seeking to double that to one ton.

It is fair to say that more weight will be given to the payload part rather than the missile range issue, the South Korean presidents chief press secretary told reporters Saturday in Seoul.

South Korean officials have been concerned about the growing missile gap between South and North Korea, but any increases are likely to alarm China in particular.

South Korea recently test-fired a new ballistic missile called the Hyunmoo-2 that has a range of 500 miles, enough to reach all of North Korea. The president watched the launch.

Earlier, Moon signaled a willingness to accept the planned deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Air Defense, or THAAD, system in South Korea.

[ North Korea could cross ICBM threshold next year, U.S. officials warn in new assessment ]

The previous South Korean government had agreed to host the U.S. antimissile system, and the deployment was expedited as it became increasingly clear that Moon, who had vowed during the election campaign to review the process, was going to win.

The radar and launch system, along with two launchers, had been deployed and was operational before his election in May. But Moon professed outrage when he discovered that four additional launchers had been brought into South Korea after his election without his knowledge. American analysts said that a full battery comprised six launchers and that this had always been the agreement.

But after Friday nights launch, Moon said that he was willing to discuss the temporary deployment of the four additional launchers.

The Trump administration has been frustrated by Moons unwillingness to join its efforts to crack down on North Korea.

Moons administration had declined to categorize North Koreas July 4 launch as an intercontinental ballistic missile and has not signed on to U.S. sanctions against a bank in China accused of helping the North Korean regime skirt sanctions. Japan, the other ally of the United States in the region, had done both.

Read more:

Kim Jong Uns rockets are getting an important boost  from China

The inevitability of North Koreas nuclear weapons

Experts: North Koreas missile was a real ICBM  and a grave milestone

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/07/2017 (1932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says its up to Omnitrax to repair the severely damaged rail line thats cut off ground transportation in and out of Churchill for more than two months now.

Speaking in Winnipeg Saturday morning, Trudeau recognized the need for immediate action, but wouldnt elaborate on what steps the federal government is taking to address the situation beyond previously announced temporary measures like the expansion of the Nutrition North food subsidy.

Omnitrax has legal obligations to clean up and to repair the tracks, he told a crowd at Assiniboine Park, that is something that we are very serious about making sure that Omnitrax lives up to.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS 'Omnitrax has legal obligations to clean up and to repair the tracks,' Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a crowd at Assiniboine Park this morning.

The Denver-based company has received millions in federal and provincial funds for the rail line, which it shut down in late May due to flood damage. As a result, the town of Churchill, which is home to 900 people, has been relying on expensive air shipments for food and other supplies.

Earlier this month, Omnitrax refused to pay the $20 to $60 million it would take to repair the line, saying it wouldnt be economically viable. The company, which has had problems for years now with grain exporters choosing other ports, already closed the Port of Churchill last summer.

When pressed on whether the federal government would consider suing the company for breach of contract and whether it had set a deadline for Omnitrax to step up and make the repairs, Trudeau neither confirmed nor denied.

There is a contract that needs to be respected and we expect that contract to be respected, he said, we will be using the tools at our disposal to ensure that and to stand up for the people of Churchill.

The Prime Minister, who met with Premier Brian Pallister earlier Saturday morning, said they were both in agreement that Omnitrax needs to be held to account.

Speaking shortly after the meeting, Pallister reiterated his earlier comments that the Manitoba government is awaiting federal action about the Port of Churchill  a federal area of responsibility  prior to making any decisions about spending provincial money on rail line repairs.

Rail and port are linked, he said, it isnt wise to consider one without the other.

Still, Pallister said Manitobans can expect an announcement from the government concerning the Churchill situation in the coming days.

Thats good news for Churchills mayor Michael Spence, who spoke with the prime minister Friday night and said he was pleased about the conversation between the province and federal government.

Its obvious that theres going to have to be some pressure put on by both levels of government, Spence told the Free Press Saturday afternoon.

Im expecting the governments to put the pressure on or come up with a solution so that the line can be fixed, he said, whether the governments need to force action or force Omnitrax to step aside how they do it is strictly up to them.

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @Jane_Gerster
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/07/2017 (1932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the grand scheme of things, Canadas organic industry is tiny, representing only about four per cent of an agriculture and food sector that generates about $108 billion annually.

But there arent many sub-straits of agriculture that can boast double-digit growth in annual sales, with no sign of slowing down.

A recent report released by the Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA) says the sector was worth $4.7 billion to the Canadian economy in 2015, up from $3.5 billion in 2013. That represents more than $1 billion in growth in just two years.

Over 55 per cent of Canadian consumers purchase organic products on a weekly basis, and over 80 per cent of these consumers have maintained or increased their organic purchases in the last year, the report released in early July says.

Not only is the sector thriving economically, it is also a key promoter of environmental sustainability and innovation, both of which are cited as key policy priorities by the federal government.

Thats a good news story by any definition. But the COTA report says the sector could be doing even better if not for some serious gaps in regulation, policy and extension support.

While farmers individually tend to rail against regulation as costly and time consuming, collectively they recognize that its a key pillar to growth in any industry  but especially for one that bases its success on public trust.

Consumers who buy organic products are usually paying a premium to get them. They are prepared to do that because they believe products produced organically are better for them and for the environment. The sector wants regulations to ensure that people buying these products get what theyre paying for  not knockoffs that havent been produced according to organic principles.

The federal government came in with a regulatory framework in 2009 that sets minimum standards for food, livestock feed or seed products that make an organic claim on their label and which are being sold between provinces or imported. Those rules are enforced by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

However, there is a hodge-podge of provincial regulatory regimes across the country.

The report gives high marks to Manitoba, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, which have all adopted the national standards. That means no one can sell a product as organic in this province, unless they have gone through the certification process.

Manitoba scored second highest in the country for its overall support for the organic sector. Manitoba Agriculture has one staff member devoted to supporting the sectors development, it offers crop insurance tailored specifically to the different pricing paradigms for organic crops, and it has one of the most comprehensive data banks of organic buyers, suppliers and processors.

Quebec has brought in its own regulations, and is seen as leading the country with organic production support, market support and data collection.

But Ontario, despite being the largest organic market in Canada, is among the provinces with no regulations. Uncertified vendors there can freely sell their products as organic.

This leaves significant gaps as provinces and territories without regulations cannot enforce or regulate intra-provincial/territorial organic claims, the report says.

COTA makes three recommendations it views as key to further growth of organic agriculture in Canada.

At a minimum, it wants all provinces to adhere to the national standards.

Without a regulation, there is the potential for false or misleading claims, which compromises the integrity of the Canada organic brand, it says.

It wants governments to invest in expanding and improving the data collected specifically on the organic sector, because it is a distinct area of production within agriculture. Increased data collection and associated research capacities will lead to better decision making and planning within the organic sector, it says

Finally, it wants more organic-specific programs and policies that range between helping farmers transition into the business, to furthering market development activities.

Its not a long wish list. But its an important one for a sector thats gaining ground.

Laura Rance is editorial director for Glacier FarmMedia. She can be reached at laura@fbcpublishing.com or 204-792-4382.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/07/2017 (1932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  The pig diarrhea that has killed tens of thousands of piglets in Manitobas pork heartland seems to have stopped spreading, as farmers slowly take stock of its financial impact.

Provincial numbers show there hasnt been a new case of the porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus reported since two weeks ago, when the 60th farm site reported an infection on July 14.

Speaking with reporters Friday, federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said hes focused on containing the spread before considering financial help for affected farmers.

Ryan Remiorz / The Canadian Press Files With no new cases reported in two weeks, the PED epidemic  which killed tens of thousands of piglets in Manitoba  appears to have come to a halt.

These issues are dealt with on an issue-by-issue basis, he said.

PED hit Manitoba in 2014 when it engulfed U.S. farms, but there were only 10 reported cases in the province up until fall 2016. The disease came back with a vengeance this year, starting on May 2.

This years outbreak coincided with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) removing a requirement that trucks be washed in Canada, after allegations that shoddy U.S. washes were helping spread the disease.

Provincial officials say a poorly washed loading dock of a cull-sow truck likely brought the disease to the area around Steinbach. And while the industry has pushed to bring back the 2014 regulations, the CFIA insists theres no proof trucks caused this years epidemic.

The issue is gaining cross-Canada attention. MacAuley said he discussed the truck-wash issue last week at a meeting of the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture.

The protection at the border is always the issue, and to make sure that whatever happens to enter the country, that we eradicate it, he said.

To that end, Manitoban farmers have hired more staff to quarantine workers and paid as much as $200,000 to clear a barn of contamination. As of last week, the province has 940,000 pigs under surveillance at 169 at-risk farms.

MacAulays office suggested the AgriRecovery program might be used to compensate farmers, but it generally cant accept applications until a situation has stabilized. MacAuley said Friday that Manitoba officials havent yet asked to assess the PED outbreak for eligibility.

Manitoba Pork Council head Andrew Dickson said some farmers might also apply for the federal AgriStability program, which compensates farmers whose profits fall under 70 per cent of what theyd normally make in a year. But that cant be tallied until the end of a fiscal year.

Everybody is just trying to deal with the disease, and theyre doing what they need to do financially, Dickson said.

Provincial Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler wouldnt say Friday whether the province would ask for federal compensation, or start its own ad-hoc program.

In a statement, Eichler did say the province has used its own staff and federal veterinarians to perform diagnostics and help pin down traffic routes that lower the risk of spreading the disease.

Next week, officials from both levels of government will meet with CFIA and the Manitoba Pork Council, but neither MacAulay nor Eichler would say what theyre hoping to achieve.

Dickson said he hopes the outbreak has stopped. It seemed to stop spreading June 6 for almost a week, but then nine more cases followed  including one west of the Red River.

Its one of those things you live from day to day.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/07/2017 (1933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A historical piece of art has been uncovered in the Main Street underpass and community members are hoping to solve the mystery of who painted it so it can be restored.

A mural of a bison and two smaller bison, about 4.5 metres in length, was discovered last week during a facelift project to make the walkway of the underpass lighter, brighter and safer for pedestrians.

Sel Burrows, the Point Douglas Residents Committee chairman, said the bison artwork emerged on the east wall when it was being prepared to be painted white.

Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press This mural in the Main Street underpass was discovered when the wall was pressure-washed in preparation for a cleanup/painting project.

When the Downtown Biz pressure-washed the walls for us on the east side, some very old murals were uncovered. One of them is of a buffalo. The other ones were too badly damaged but the buffalo, we think, we can save, said Burrows, whose group is leading the underpass facelift project.

So we didnt paint over the buffalo one, and were trying to find the original artist. Were going to see if we can get (Canadian Pacific Railways) permission to fix up that mural and keep that mural there.

Burrows said the age of the bison mural is not yet known.

It had three coats of paint over top of it, so its old, Burrows said. Wed love to hire the original artist to come back and fix up his own art. That would be wonderful.

He said Grafitti Art Programming executive director Steve Wilson has been consulted about finding the artist and for advice and direction on how to properly restore the mural.

Wilson said it is a typical Indigenous plains mural, so the artist possibly could be identified by finding out who commissioned the bison mural and the two others that could not be saved.

Were thinking that they are at least 20 years old, Wilson said.

They used different paints. The exterior paints were probably an enamel or an oil-based paint back then so thats why they stood up so well. Also, that created quite a seal on the concrete so moisture wasnt able to escape, like the latex or acrylic-based paints that we use now. So thats why those murals were so well-preserved under the paint, in my estimation.

Wilson said it is important to preserve old murals in the city because they represent a snapshot in time.

Sometimes it speaks to the efforts of people a generation or two ago doing some community development but also to raise the profile of Canadian art and especially Indigenous art, he said. Its also a celebration of the style. I saw on the one mural, it definitely looked like a West Coast or British Columbia style. It looked like they were painting salmon and the style led me to believe that. Its also having the West Coast Indigenous style of painting represented in Winnipeg which would be pretty cool, back in the day.

He said its possible the artist or artists were from B.C. because the painting styles were similar and that whoever commissioned the murals seemed to have a theme in mind.

Point Douglas MLA Bernadette Smith is assisting in the search for the artist while members of the North End Biz are searching the groups archives to try to locate a record of who commissioned the artwork.

The west side of the walkway was painted with the help of the Manitoba Metis Federations Core Pride group, the North End Biz and the residents committee green team. The east side, with the exception of the bison mural, was painted by the Mama Bear Clan and the Womens Centre. Funding support for the painting project came from the Downtown Biz, the Assiniboine Credit Union and the North End Biz.

In April, lighting in the underpass walkway was improved significantly with the installation of LED lighting by the city and Manitoba Hydro.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/07/2017 (1932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They were on the front lines of emergency work in the city, dealing with some of the worst society has to offer as part of their daily routine. And they told their stories to the Winnipeg Free Press, sharing their deepest, darkest secrets as they waged an internal battle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Last summer, we introduced you to several individuals who spoke openly about their mental-health struggles with the hopes of trying to chip away at the stigma they say still exists. The result was an outpouring of support that came their way, along with meaningful dialogue in their personal and professional lives.

Last week, we continued our coverage by introducing readers to Nicole Roch, a Crown attorney who has been on PTSD leave for more than two years. She spoke candidly about a toxic environment in her workplace, including heavy caseloads, that has left her struggling to survive.

Statistics show 95 Manitoba lawyers, representing nearly five per cent of the profession, took advantage of counselling programs offered by the Law Society of Manitoba in 2016.

Its clear this has become a major issue across many fronts.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service told the Free Press this week there has been another major jump in employees taking mental-health-related leaves in the 12 months since our story ran, with 32 in 2016 compared with 22 in 2015, 10 in 2014 and five in 2013.

WFPS is looking for ways to provide additional training to its members related to physical and mental health to provide additional strategies to maintain good mental health, reduce stigma, recognize declining mental health and encourage and support early access to care, a spokesman said.

This includes a Critical Incident Stress Management team that provides education, peer support, assessment and debriefing interventions to minimize the effect of acute critical incident stress for employees who are exposed to traumatic incidents, he said.

The Winnipeg Police Service wont provide specific numbers, but said about 25 per cent of all force members are utilizing behavioural health services within the department, which include a full-time psychologist. As well, a 2014 health and wellness survey of 400 city officers revealed about six per cent were likely suffering with PTSD.

The province introduced new legislation in early 2016 that made PTSD a presumptive diagnosis for front-line workers making claims through the Workers Compensation Board. No longer do they have to fight to prove they are suffering. Lawyers are not covered by that legislation at this time.

So while some positive strides have been taken, more work is needed. The incredibly moving stories shared by some of the front-line workers in the Free Press certainly drove home that point.

How are they doing now? What has changed over the past 12 months? We recently caught up with three key figures from our original feature story for an update.

  

Kevin Martin continues to be exposed to trauma on a daily basis. But the veteran Winnipeg paramedic says the big difference in his life is the ability to process it.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Kevin Martin, a city paramedic is back at work after dealing with PTSD.

Martin was reeling a year ago, having just gone off work on PTSD leave following a bad call that pushed him over the edge. He could not escape from the memory of a body that had been charred in a house fire after being brutally beaten.

Martin had seen numerous tragedies over his 16-year career. But there was something about this incident he couldnt shake. He ended up spending about three months on leave, returning to work last fall after being cleared by the forensic psychiatrist he was seeing on a regular basis.

The flashbacks from the event were very intrusive. I was feeling the heat from him radiating, the bright lights, the sound. It was like I was over top of everybody, Martin said. Now when I have a flashback or recollection of an event its like any other call. I see it as a victory for me. Its not stopping me.

One of the big tests for Martin was his first fire call, just weeks after hed returned to work.

It didnt impact me as much as I thought it would. Once it was over it was like it was just another call, said Martin. The same goes for being exposed to deceased persons, which is an all-too-familiar experience for paramedics.

Theres been some really awful calls in the past year, and I really havent missed a step, he said.

Following a death call a few weeks ago, Martin said he had about two dozen co-workers checking on him to ensure he was OK. And he was.

I think Im still seen in the workplace as damaged goods, to a certain extent, but everyones well-meaning, he said.

A lot of people didnt know what was going on until the story came out. I notice in the workplace  and its just people trying to be as helpful as they can but people are hyper-vigilant. Theyre always checking in.

Martin said many colleagues have approached him privately to share their own thoughts and experiences, concerned they might be dealing with PTSD as well.

They look at my story and say, Hey, maybe thats me, too. Im very open about what I went through. I tell them Im not a professional. But I know for medics, for sure, its a more open topic now. Its more acceptable. The groundwork is being laid where its expected of you to get help for the problem, he said.

  

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS City paramedic Kevin Martin is back at work after dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. He has had a few minor setbacks, but nothing significant. Im proof there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Derrick McLean knew he was in for the fight of his life. But he didnt anticipate just how difficult a battle it would be.

The 29-year-old corrections worker at the Manitoba Youth Centre said the past year has continued to be a struggle, with no end to his illness in sight.

I am still off work, still having frequent nightmares and triggers from the PTSD, he said.

When we first met McLean last summer, he revealed that hed made at least a half-dozen suicide attempts; sadly, those thoughts have not gone away.

I attempted as recent as a couple weeks ago, he said.

He is now 18 months into his medical leave and continuing with a medication that has produced more frustration than anything else.

Ive tried various medications and therapies with little success, he said.

In addition to his illness, McLean said hes also struggling to cope with the recent breakup of his marriage and being separated from his six- and two-year-old children.

Meeting with my psychologist weekly helps. Exercise, talking to people about it can help. Im starting treatment with the Marijuana for Trauma program, hoping it will help, he said.

The Marijuana for Trauma program was established in 2013 by two Canadian Forces veterans after their return from their tours of duty in Afghanistan; it was introduced in Winnipeg last year. On their website, founders Fabian Henry and Mike Southwell say their mission expanded from helping veterans and their families to now dealing with patients suffering from operational stress injuries that were not adequately responding to conventional treatments. They are in every Canadian province and territory and say staff members include a marijuana strain consultant, a natural health and detoxification expert and a compassionate client care registration team, all of whom are here to ensure our clients receive quality medical marijuana through impeccable service.

McLean is also in line to begin receiving visits from a service dog to assist with the PTSD through the Manitoba Search and Rescue (MSAR) program, based on a recommendation from his doctor that it could be beneficial to his treatment. And he continues to attend the Crisis Stabilization Unit in Steinbach on a needed basis, whenever it all becomes too overwhelming. The CSU opened in 2012 and is operated by the Southern Regional Health Authority, where patients are given intensive 24-hour during their short-term stays.

McLean said his distress is a product of dealing with a shocking number of inmate suicide attempts at the youth centre. He believes there have been as many as 50 over a four-year span prior to taking his leave, added to another 200 high-risk incidents such as fights, threats and assaults.

He cited one attempt in June 2015 when he struggled to save the life of boy who was hanging from fabric wrapped around his neck. The teen survived, but McLean said it marked a dramatic turning point for him.

That incident led to his thoughts of ending his own life; he managed to stop himself at the last second on one occasion, removing the rope hed placed around his neck. He has tried to overdose on his medication more than once.

McLean said he kept things bottled up inside far too long and was essentially lying to himself about how serious his symptoms were. Hes happy he spoke out publicly about his battle to help open a dialogue within his workplace about what jail guards can go through.

Everyone is struggling in some way there, he said.

And while he doesnt know when  or if  hell ever be freed from his endless nightmare, McLean said he hopes his story has inspired others to seek help.

  

Bryan Leach considers himself a PTSD survivor.

The advanced-care paramedic was in the midst of a legal battle with the City of Winnipeg when he shared his story last summer. Hed been fired after a 2014 incident with a patient at the Main Street Project.

Leach had been stationed at the so-called drunk tank and says he intervened when one guest tried to strangle himself. He jumped into the cell, along with two staff members, and quickly found himself in a physical battle.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Derrick McLean

The man began lashing out, and Leach responded by using a series of body blows in an attempt to subdue him. The man sustained minor injuries in the scuffle, and facility staff filed an excessive force complaint WFPS. Leach was ultimately dismissed despite police electing not to investigate or pursue any charges.

He fought that decision and was set to have a wrongful dismissal arbitration last fall.

The city in the 11th hour called the day before my arbitration and played lets make a deal. I declined their initial offer and it went back-and-forth a bit before I agreed on the terms, he said.

As part of the deal, Leach signed a non-disclosure agreement.

The deal provided me with closure and allowed me to move on, he said.

He was diagnosed with PTSD shortly after being fired and believes it contributed to his reaction at the Main Street Project. Leach had been assaulted, spit on and threatened numerous times while working at the facility and didnt realize at the time the impact it was having on him.

There will always be the odd dark day but I have a great support network of family, friends, colleagues, and psychiatrist and psychologists ready to help, he said.

He is still licensed as an advanced-care paramedic in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia and does some occasional contract work, along with teaching courses in First Aid, CPR and AED.

But he has no plans to ever return to the full-time career that wreaked havoc on his brain.

He said opening up about his battle has made a difference based on what hes learned over the past 12 months.

I hear that more and more paramedics suffering from some form of PTSD are reaching out for help, he said. Im glad Ive shared my experiences. I have helped others come forward and assisted others reaching out for help. The stigma still exists and will require time to change.

  

Kevin Martin didnt just speak out in the Free Press. He has shared his experiences at numerous conferences and seminars within the paramedic field and has spoken to new recruits and their families on a couple of occasions.

At the most recent, there were 16 fresh faces in the room eager to embark on their new careers. Martin asked them all to stand, then told 12 of them to sit down.

Everybody look at them. Theyre going to have PTSD, he told the room. It was a dramatic way to illustrate the disturbing stat; 25 per cent of paramedics will develop symptoms over their career, he said.

The Paramedic Association of Manitoba has also started a fund, through the purchase of specialized vehicle licence plates, with proceeds going to research and care for members whove been diagnosed.

Martin said one of the big obstacles within his profession  and those of doctors and nurses  is the ability to share details of traumatic incidents without breaching privacy regulations.

Theres a lot of baggage that comes with a lot of these careers that you cant offload, he said.

Martin stopped seeing his therapist as soon as he returned to work, with an open invitation to come back should he ever feel the need. He hasnt, so far.

I think I would know now if something started happening. Before, I didnt, he said. Like she said, you know its time to come see me when something is interrupting with your life. Youre going to go to bad calls, youre going to see ugly things. But when it starts interfering with your life, we need to talk.

Martin took advantage of a peer-support network through the WFPS, in which dispatchers, supervisors and fellow paramedics talk regularly about what theyve experienced.

He also credits his wife and other family members for pushing him to get help before it got out of control, which he believes made it easier to turn things around quickly and go back to work. He knows others are not as fortunate.

Life is certainly better now than it was a year ago. I dont think Ill ever be cured of this. And I wont ever get past this because its part of who I am. But it hasnt interfered with life, which is what I think everybody aims for, he said.

The key was having a fighting spirit necessary for a full recovery, he said.

I wish there was a magic wand that worked for everybody. But there has to be a buy-in from everybody, he said. I guess Im a success story. There are success stories. To others I would say trust the process. Keep at it. Theres a light at the end of the tunnel. It might just be a very long tunnel.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikeoncrime

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Bryan Leach JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Bryan Leach  former paramedic with ptsd, fired because of an incident at main street project, locked in battle with city- July 15, 2016 -(See Mike MCIntyre PTSD story)
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/07/2017 (1932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Like a lot of teenagers, Roweliza Lulu applied at her share of fast-food joints when she was a broke high school student in desperate need of a part-time job.

Considering Lulu went on to found Springroll Queen, a year-old venture that markets more than 20 varieties of hand-made spring rolls, including such royally inventive flavours as bacon-jalapeno, cheese-hotdog and blueberry-cheesecake, restaurant managers must have been tripping over themselves to hire her to flip burgers and scoop french fries all those years ago, right?

Wrong.

Strawberry cheesecake rolls (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

At the time, a ton of my friends worked at McDonalds and I was like, Im going to work there, too. Except I dont even remember getting asked to come down for an interview, says the 43-year-old mother of three, seated in a McPhillips Avenue coffee shop blocks away from Sisler High School, her old stomping grounds.

Things worked out OK in the end, she says, given she eventually caught on at some fabric place. For a long time, however, she wondered why she couldnt even land a job at Burger King.

Nobody is wondering any longer; from Aug. 10 to 12, Springroll Queen will be one of 50 specially selected vendors taking part in a pop-up event at The Forks in connection with the Canada Summer Games. During the three-day, open-air market, which will be staged at Parks Canada Place, Lulu plans to unveil her latest brainwave: a spring roll stuffed with quinoa, black beans, cilantro, lime and mango.

A few nights ago while we were watching TV, my boyfriend told me I should try doing a quinoa spring roll for the health people and I was like, yeah, thats not a bad idea.

So I immediately headed out the door to the grocery store, where I picked up some quinoa and a bunch of other ingredients, then started fooling around in the kitchen till 2 (a.m.) or so. What I eventually came up with is a little bit sweet, a little bit tart and I have a feeling its going to be a big, big hit.

"I don't want to brag, but I can make spring rolls with my eyes closed," says Roweliza Lulu. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

Lulu was born in the Philippines. Her family immigrated to Canada in 1977, settling in Winnipegs North End.

Referring to her mother as an absolutely phenomenal cook, Lulu, the second youngest of four sisters, says spring rolls, or lumpia, were as common a foodstuff in her childhood home as bread, milk and eggs.

In Filipino culture, theyre just a part of life. I mean, if youre having a birthday party or family get-together, there have to be spring rolls, right? she states matter-of-factly.

In June 2016, Lulu, a certified health-care agent, signed up for a course to improve her skill set.

Because her supervisors wouldnt approve a change in her work schedule to accommodate her classes, she was forced to take an alternative position with a completely different package of hours than what shed been accustomed to.

All I wanted to do was switch one day a week but nobody would budge, she says. That, combined with the way the home-care system was seemingly revamping its entire way of doing things because of the new (Progressive Conservative) government, made me think maybe I needed some kind of safety net. You know, just in case.

Lulu (centre) makes her rolls with her friend Heidee Bautista (left) and mother Norma Lulu (right) in the Knox United Church kitchen, but will be moving to her own store next month. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

For years, Lulu had prepared spring rolls for acquaintances and family members upon request.

Not long after she began debating what she would do if her chosen career ever went up in smoke, she thought back to all those occasions when people had taken a bite out of one of her treats and immediately remarked, Roweliza, you really should be charging for these.

Lulu began renting space in a downtown commercial kitchen in July 2016.

Within weeks, friends, as well as friends of friends, had shared posts from her Facebook page (facebook.com/springrollqueen) to such a degree that she was spending almost every day off from her real job churning out spring rolls.

Traditional Filipino pork filling (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

In the weeks leading up to Christmas 2016, she filled orders to the tune of 15,000 spring rolls  an amount that finally forced her to enlist the help of a few buddies.

(Lulu throws her head back and laughs when she talks about her pals, who, when they first began assisting her in January, couldnt quite get the hang of things.

I dont want to brag but I can make spring rolls with my eyes closed, whereas theirs were all misshapen or never the same size.

I was like, Cmon, you guys, youre Filipino. How can you not make a proper spring roll?)

Freshly deep-fried shrimp rolls (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

Lulus decision to think outside the box by marketing spring rolls made with fillings besides the traditional pork and chopped vegetables was sparked by her desire to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, she says.

Members of Winnipegs Ukrainian community, for example, are drawn to her perogy-inspired rolls, which boast a cheddar-potato filling, while people of Italian descent get a kick out of her lotza mozza spring rolls, which is her take on the popular, bar-room staple, mozzarella sticks. (Were not sure how popular Elvis Presley is in Manila but disciples of the King of Rock and Roll will want to give Lulus fried banana, peanut butter and jam spring rolls a go, thats for sure.)

When people come (to the commercial kitchen) to pick up their orders, sometimes we have samples of things like apple pie (spring rolls) and theyre like, What? But throw a little cinnamon sugar on top after taking them out of the deep fryer and youd think you were eating those mini-donuts, with an apple filling.

During a three-day event at The Forks in August, Lulu plans to unveil her latests Springroll Queen creation: a roll stuffed with quinoa, black beans, cilantro, lime and mango. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

About six months ago, Lulu started searching for a permanent home for her business. On Aug. 1, she takes possession of a 1,500-square-foot space at 975 Notre Dame Ave., which she intends to open to the public in early September, following a slate of renovations.

I signed a five-year lease so yeah, Im definitely committed, she says, noting besides spring rolls, shell also be selling barbecued pork skewers, which she recently added to her arsenal of goodies.

Im almost there, she says when asked if, somewhere down the road, she plans to don her Springroll Queen crown full-time, and permanently park her health-care career.

Right now I work evenings so Im free during the days, which gives me plenty of time to devote to the business.

It might sound like a lot of hours but when my kids were growing up I kind of put my life on hold. So for me to be able to do this feels like Im finally at a point where I can do something for myself, and thats a great feeling.

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca

From bottom left: quinoa, lotza mozza (centre), jalepeno and bacon (top left), strawberry cheesecake, pizza and shrimp. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Daimler AG, together its subsidiaries, develops and manufactures passenger cars, trucks, vans, and buses in Germany and internationally. It operates through Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans, Daimler Trucks and Buses, and Daimler Mobility segments. The Mercedes-Benz Cars segment offers premium and luxury vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand, including the Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, and Mercedes-EQ brands; small cars under the smart brand name; and ecosystem of Mercedes-Benz under the Mercedes me brand, as well as vans and related services under the Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner brands. Daimler Trucks and Buses segment offers its trucks and special vehicles under the Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star, FUSO, and BharatBenz brands; and buses under the Mercedes-Benz, Setra, Thomas Built Buses, and FU brands, as well as bus chassis. The Daimler Mobility segment provides financing and leasing packages for end-customers and dealers; and automotive insurance brokerage, banking, investment, and fleet management services under the Athlon brand. It also sells vehicle related spare parts and accessories. Daimler AG was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany
Two people were arrested following a police chase that started in Napa and ended in American Canyon Thursday night, according to Napa Police. One suspect is still outstanding.

Officers responded to the area of Second and Randolph streets at about 9 p.m. after receiving a report that a group of people riding in a red vehicle had been stopping and looking into parked vehicles. An officer began following the described vehicle and eventually pulled it over, Lt. Chase Haag said.

While speaking with the officer, the driver of the vehicle took off and continued driving south on Soscol Avenue, onto Highway 221 and Highway 29 into American Canyon, Haag said.

People inside the vehicle could be seen throwing items out of the windows as they continued south, reaching speeds up to 70 mph, Haag said.

American Canyon Police joined in the chase as the suspects were north of Airport Boulevard, Police Chief Tracey Stuart said. A spike strip was deployed, flattening the vehicles tires, she said. The vehicle finally stopped at Highway 29 and American Canyon Road.

The driver, Latara Marie Hawkins, 35, of San Francisco and one passenger, Deante Maurice Barton, 28, of Oakland were arrested, but a third suspect fled, Haag said.

Hawkins and Barton were booked at the Napa County jail on suspicion of burglary, conspiracy and receiving stolen property.

The investigation is ongoing as police try to reunite found belongings to their rightful owners.
Over 50,000 people have been forced from their homes over recent weeks by wildfires that are still raging in British Columbia. Air quality alerts have been issued as far away as Manitoba.

As of yesterday, thousands still remained homeless, while a further 20,000 were on evacuation stand-by. Those able to return home in recent days have confronted widespread destruction, including the loss of their homes, livestock, and agricultural equipment, and major damage to public infrastructure. Many have seen their livelihoods wiped out. The fires have burned some 377,000 hectares of land, meaning that ranchers will have the added expense of purchasing feed for those animals that survived.

Emergency Management BC deputy minister Robert Turner said EMBC is gearing up for a prolonged wildfire season. The long term forecast is for more hot and dry weather.

In Williams Lake and numerous smaller communities surrounding it, thousands of residents were ordered to immediately evacuate July 16 as fire threatened to cut off a nearby highway, the only remaining exit route. An area southwest of Prince George was also evacuated.

The chaotic evacuation of thousands of people in the face of rapidly expanding wildfires is the direct result of the failure of successive federal and provincial governments to act on warnings issued by scientists and other experts. BC has experienced a dramatic increase in large wildfires over the past decade, with the province overspending its wildfire management budget every year except one.

Following the last major wildfires to affect urban areas in BC in 2003, when over 300 homes were destroyed in Kelowna, the BC Liberal government commissioned former Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon to investigate. The Filmon Firestorm 2003 report made a series of recommendations, including altering land management practices to include community protection among its goals and the hiring of additional fire experts.

But many of these were not carried out. According to Phil Burton, co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, adequate safety measures would require establishing fire protection zones of between 5 and 20 kilometers surrounding at-risk communities, in which trees would be thinned out, parks created, and/or deciduous trees planted to cut down the fire risk.

There was funding for this sort of thing 10 years ago, Burton told the Vancouver Sun, but then funding fizzled, with only a small proportion of the needed work done.

In the 11 years following the publication of the Filmon Report, the province invested just $100 million in wildfire hazard mitigation.

On top of budget cuts, part of the reason for the governments failure to make such changes is bound up with the impact they would have on logging, a major BC industry and export. Burton pointed out that logging in fire protection zones would not be possible given the changed nature of the trees grown there. A failure to plant new trees in areas already logged has helped fuel wildfires. It also should be noted, logging large trees which are more resilient to fire is more profitable than cutting down smaller and dead trees.

Filmons report included 41 recommendations for governments at all levels over a wide range of areas, all of which were described as urgent. We believe that governments have a once in a lifetime opportunity to implement risk-reduction policies and legislation while the devastation of Firestorm 2003 is fresh in the publics mind and the costs and consequences of various choices are well understood, the report noted.

Close to a decade-and-a-half after these stark warnings were made, the inadequacy of government preparation has left charities like the Canadian Red Cross to fill the gap. The BC government has provided $100 million in funding for the Canadian Red Cross to provide assistance to communities, with direct financial assistance of just $600 to each evacuee. The funds began to be distributed last week.

Notwithstanding their best intentions, charities are unable to cope with such large-scale disasters. Jamie Hughes, an evacuee from 105 Mile House, told CTV she attempted to contact the Red Cross for three days to obtain the $600 payment without success. Other communities have had forms filled out and theyve been given food allowances and such and our community didnt have any of that, Hughes said. They were not prepared. She added, There has been a lack of organization and information and people are getting really stressed out.

A representative of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, one of the areas most affected by the fires, acknowledged that hundreds of people had to wait for hours to be registered at evacuation centers and that the location of one of the main centers in Kamloops had to be moved.

The lack of government preparedness, at both the federal and provincial levels, is made all the more scandalous by the inevitability of larger blazes breaking out due to ever longer fire seasons caused by climate change. BCs fire season now runs until the end of September, with the most devastating fires typically breaking out at the end of July, meaning the worst could be yet to come.

Last year a wildfire engulfed Fort McMurray, Alberta, forcing 90,000 people from their homes and burning more than 2,000 properties. The fire was exacerbated by the fact that the city, at the heart of Albertas tar sands operations, had virtually no protected areas between residential buildings and dense forest, and only one exit highway out. Just weeks before the inferno erupted, the newly-elected NDP provincial government cut the wildfire management budget.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to visit the BC Interior next week to tour areas impacted by this years wildfires. The federal governments principal role so far has been to send hundreds of police officers and military personnel to BC.

The scale of this years blaze in the BC Interior has even created difficulties for trained firefighters, many of whom have been treated for smoke inhalation. A team of 50 highly-trained personnel recently arrived from Australia in response to BCs request for aid.

Oil and gas companies are taking steps to protect their operations as pipelines are predicted to be within the fire perimeter within the coming days. Lumber mills have closed. Mount Polly mine, located 56 km northeast of the Williams Lake, ceased operation on July 17.

While all sections of the population are hit hard by the destruction wrought by wildfires, poorer layers of society are most at risk. Low-income households and families with a history of trauma struggle to bounce back, according to Jeremy Stone, a researcher with UBCs School of Community and Regional Planning. People with money, resources, and time, they generally fare better, he said.
TaiChin Preyor, 46, was executed by lethal injection in the Walls Unit in Huntsville, Texas on Thursday evening. The execution, scheduled for 6 p.m., was delayed by about three hours while the US Supreme Court considered a last-minute stay, which it ultimately rejected.

Preyor was convicted and sentenced to death for breaking into the San Antonio apartment of 24-year-old Jami Tackett in February 2004 and slashing her to death. Court records show that Tackett was Preyors drug supplier. He maintained that he killed her in self-defense when Tackett and a man with her attacked him.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice quoted Preyors final statement: First and foremost Id like to say, Justice has never advanced by taking a life by Coretta Scott King. Lastly, to my wife and to my kids, I love yall forever and always. Thats it.

Early Thursday afternoon the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected appeals on Preyors behalf. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles did not recommend clemency for Preyor and Republican governor Greg Abbott did not grant clemency or commute his sentence to life in prison. Abbot has not stopped an execution since taking office in 2015 and has now presided over 25 state-sanctioned killings.

Preyors attorneys argued before the federal and high court during earlier stages of his appeals and that he deserved a reprieve so his appeals could be reviewed more fairly. They argued that he was represented by a succession of inept counsel.

This counsel included a penalty-phase lawyer who failed to interview key witnesses or seek critical mental health testing; a post-conviction attorney who met him only once, on the day of his habeas evidentiary hearing; and federal habeas counsel by a disbarred lawyer and a real estate lawyer who failed to bring a significant constitutional claim of Preyors prior counsels ineffectiveness.

Preyors current attorneys argued that Michael Gross, the lawyer who represented him during his sentencing, also failed to present evidence about their clients abusive childhood, which they argued could have convinced a jury to give him life in prison instead of a death sentence.

Attorneys Cate Stetson and Hilary Sheard wrote in a filing to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last week, Gross failed to hire a mitigation specialist, failed to investigate known red flags regarding Preyors childhood, neglected to interview family members regarding Preyors childhood and social history, and neglected to follow up on not one, but two, medical professionals recommendations that Preyor be screened for mental illness or other executive-function issues affecting his capacity and judgment.

Gross claimed in an affidavit that he adequately represented Preyor and talked to family members, school officials, friends and Preyor himself and If they had given me any such information, I would have developed that evidence and presented it as mitigation at trial.

Frustrated over her sons legal representation, Preyors mother turned to Philip Jefferson, a disbarred California attorney who presented himself as retired, according to a recent court filing in Preyors defense. Preyor alleges Jefferson utilized the assistance of Brandy Estelle, a California attorney specializing in probate and real estate law.

Preyors attorneys allege that Estelle relied on Wikipedia to research Texas habeas procedures. They wrote: The federal habeas petition filed in this court  was so abysmal that it subsequently became an exemplar, circulated among habeas attorneys, as an example of what not to do.

The attorneys also allege that Estelle committed fraud against the court by requesting payment for her legal services from the appellate court, despite the fact that Preyors family had already paid her. A federal court dismissed these claims Monday, saying Estelle had competently represented Preyor.

Stetson told the press Monday evening, Mr. Preyor experienced severe sexual and physical abuse as a child, but that compelling mitigating evidence has never been heard by any court.

Preyors attorneys claimed that he suffered a harrowing childhood marred by severe physical and sexual abuse, and that he turned to alcohol and drugs at a young age to cope with this unrelenting abuse.

This abuse included witnessing his mother being beaten by numerous boyfriends, one of them threatening him with a knife when the young boy tried to intervene. Preyors attorneys say he was repeatedly sodomized by a close family member while still in elementary school. As a teenager he also broke his ankles when he jumped off a fourth floor balcony to escape his mother, who was chasing him with a knife.

All of these pleadings were rejected by Bexar County prosecutors, who requested that the execution proceed, saying that it has been postponed for over a year in order to accommodate [Preyor] and his attorneys, but at the expense of the victims and the states interest in finality.

Preyors execution was the fifth carried out in Texas this year, and the 16th nationwide. Texas has executed 543 of the 1,458 people put to death since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, more than any other state.
On July 25, Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti (Democratic Party) ordered representatives of nine non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in the rescue of refugees to attend a meeting at his ministry. There they were called upon to sign a Code of Conduct, restricting their activities in the Mediterranean Sea.

As the WSWS noted two weeks ago, the new code violates existing law: On the high seas international maritime law prevails, which obligatorily demands the rescue of people in distress ... this is precisely what the Code of Conduct is designed to prevent the NGOs and their rescue boats from undertaking.

Should NGOs fail to sign the sinister, illegal code, Italy has threatened to close its ports to their ships. This is the latest disgraceful attempt by Italian authorities to rein in the activities of voluntary aid organisations and thereby reduce the number of migrants arriving from Africa. They want to restrict the NGOs and drive them out of the Mediterraneanor at least transform them into reliable adjuncts of the European Union (EU) Frontex operation and the Italian coast guard.

The migrant flight route across the Mediterranean is extremely dangerous. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), as of July 23, 2,361 people had either died or gone missing in 2017, while some 95,000 migrants had reached Italy by sea. The dead include an estimated 300 children.

Without the NGOs, the number of drowned and missing people would be considerably higher. Currently more than 40 percent of refugees rescued at sea owe their lives to organisations such as Sea-Watch, Sea-Eye, MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station), Jugend Rettet (Rescuing Youth), Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, SOS Mediterranee, Proactiva Open Arms, etc.

We are just in mid-July, noted Timon Marszalek, the director of SOS Mediterranee Germany, and weve saved as many people in the Mediterranean as we did last year. In view of the failure of the European Union, the intervention of civilian organisations like our own is indispensable to prevent the deaths of thousands of people.

Marszalek pointed to one recent incident on July 11, in which a baby was born during a rescue operation. Mother and child were still connected by an umbilical cord when they were brought on board the Aquarius. This was the fifth birth at sea on this one rescue ship alone. What would have happened if our team had not been there on time? the SOS Mediterranee official asked. Such examples also show how desperate people must be to take to sea.

The Code of Conduct that NGOs are now being required to sign by the government of Paolo Gentiloni (Democratic Party) is a crude and deliberate attempt to sabotage rescue efforts. It establishes harsh guidelines and demands that refugees be transported directly to the Italian mainland instead of being transferred to larger ships belonging to the coast guard, merchant marine or navy. This forces the small NGO ships to undertake longer journeys and restricts their presence in the most dangerous waters where their work is most necessary.

Ruben Neugebauer of Sea-Watch told Deutschlandfunk (German radio): What they want to achieve is obvious: they are trying to keep ships out of the danger zone because we undermine the concept of dying on Europes borders.

NGOs are also forbidden to enter Libyan territorial waters, even if refugees lives are at stake. They must look on as people drown, without being able to intervene. NGOs must also accept Italian police accompanying their vessels to track down smugglers among the refugees. This can only lead to a worsening of relations between the rescue teams and refugees.

The Code of Conduct is not merely the work of the Italian authorities. It was agreed upon at a meeting of EU ministers in Tallinn, Estonia in early July. At that meeting German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere repeated his slanderous claim that NGOs were working with so-called people smugglers.

German newspapers have also run articles accusing NGOs of collaboration with smugglers. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung claimed, for example, that the rescue organisations were involuntarily becoming an important element in the smugglers strategies.

The Berliner Zeitung scandalously asserted that the NGOs role was not rescuing those in need at sea, but rather assisting refugees and the transfer of emigrants. The newspaper referred disapprovingly to Sea-Watch, based in Berlin. That organisation, which has not signed the Code of Conduct, rightly argues that there is already an International Law of the Sea, which obliges every boat owner to assist in sea rescue when necessary.

The Berliner Zeitung complains, however, that while it is self-evident that shipwrecked persons be saved, this does not answer the question as to where to land those rescued. Sea-Watch 2 does not return the stranded to Libya, but brings them all to Europe.

This slanderous article and the steps taken by the various EU interior ministers against the NGOs reveal there is a concerted campaign to drive private organisations out of the seas along the Libyan coast.

This campaign is bound up with unprecedented military deployment taking place in the Mediterranean off the North African coast. Taking part in the operation, which has been ongoing since June 2015 under the innocuous name of Operation Sophia (formerly known as Eunavfor [European Union Naval Force] Med), are the navies of Germany, Italy, Great Britain and other European countries.

On the same day the NGOs were summoned to the Italian Interior Ministry, the EU decided to extend the Sophia mission to the end of 2018. Officially, the remit of the operation is to combat smuggler criminality on the Mediterranean and thus prevent deaths at sea. In fact, the combined navies are responsible for just 8 percent of sea rescue operations.

In reality, mission Sophia is an important part of Europes plans for imperialist intervention in Africa. The Great Powers regard Africa as a strategically crucial area, with huge oil and natural gas deposits and other resources. With the war against Libya in 2011 and the fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the new colonial scramble for Africa entered a new phase.

For the past six years the imperialist powers have been trying to install a new, reliable and loyal regime in Libya, which is key for access to Africa as a whole. This explains the background of a third important meeting in Paris on July 25: the new French president, Emmanuel Macron, invited the two main rivals in the Libyan civil war, Fayez al-Sarraj, the unelected head of the Western-backed Libyan Presidential Council, and Khalifa Hafter, head of the so-called Libyan National Army and an asset of the CIA since the 1980s. The two men subsequently agreed to suspend their armed struggle and hold parliamentary elections in the spring of 2018. On Wednesday, Sarraj visited Italian government officials in Rome.

The EU has committed itself to continue financing the Libyan coast guard and equipping it with weapons. The European Union is supporting an organisation notorious for trafficking in human beings, torture and murder. At the request of the EU, the Libyan coast guard forces refugees into Libyan prisons, where around 300,000 people are currently being held under appalling conditions.

For their part, NGOs must decide whether or not to cooperate with the Italian government and sign the Code of Conduct. The NGOs rely on private donations and young volunteers. Their efforts demonstrate a widespread willingness to assist and defend refugees.

This readiness was confirmed a few weeks ago in a poll carried out by the European Broadcasting Agency. Almost 1 million young people between the ages of 18 and 35 were interviewed. Nearly three quarters (72 percent) said they were willing to actively support immigrants. Some 78 percent of respondents in Germany said they noticed growing nationalism, and considered it a bad thing. More than two-thirds (67 percent) of young people in Germany and the overwhelming majority of young people surveyed said they were not ready to fight in a war.

The poll demonstrates the abyss between the vast majority of the population and establishment politics. Millions of workers and young people express their solidarity with the refugees and are ready to help them, while the political elite and governments are permitting thousands to drown in the Mediterranean.
When Papua New Guinea (PNG) was granted formal independence in 1975, the promise was held out of a period of economic expansion and prosperity that would lift the country out of the backwardness and poverty bequeathed by Australian colonial rule. The people through parliament, not Australian bureaucrats, would determine the priorities and policies that would meet their pressing needs for jobs and basic services.

More than four decades later, the current national election is mired in bribery and corruption, ballot rigging and the wholesale omission of names from the electoral roll. It has underscored the utter contempt of the ONeill government and the opposition parties alike for the basic democratic and social rights of the vast majority of the population.

Peter ONeill, who seized office in 2011 by ousting Michael Somare in an illegal parliamentary coup, is determined to stay in power through any means. His promises of free health care and free education for all are an insult to the majority of the population, which has little or no access to essential social services. In its budget, the government has cut health and education by up to 40 percent, leaving schools and hospitals starved of basic resources.

Like his predecessors, ONeill has not hesitated to use the police and the military to suppress protests and strikes against his government and its policies. Last year, the police opened fire on unarmed and peaceful student protesters calling for his dismissal and a new government.

At the same time, the opposition parties denunciations of ONeill for corruption are completely hypocritical. The entire political establishment and state apparatus is riddled with graft from top to bottom. The opposition coalition, which includes former prime ministers, Somare and Mekere Morauta, have attacked ONeill from the right, accusing him of bankrupting the country and not going far enough in slashing budget spending.

Whoever leads the next government, its agenda is clear: a deepening assault on the already deplorable living conditions facing the bulk of the population, and police-state measures to suppress any opposition or protests.

The corrupt and venal character of the political elite is a product of the organic weakness of the countrys rudimentary capitalist class, which is completely dependent on transnational corporations and foreign investors. Successive governments have handed out lucrative tax breaks to the giant mining companies that dominate the economy, while making deep inroads into social services.

The worsening global economic crisis since 2008 has been manifested in a collapse of the mining boom, amid falling commodity prices, along with a crisis of government finance as tax revenues decline and debts balloon. The response of all the political parties will be another round of austerity measures that will place greater and greater burdens on working people.

The subservience of the ruling class in the economic sphere is paralleled by its kowtowing in foreign policy to the major and regional powers, above all to Australian imperialism. PNG is increasingly being swept up in the escalating geo-political tensions that are heightening the danger of war throughout the world, in particular the US-led confrontation and drive to war against China.

As the former colonial power, Australian imperialism has repeatedly used its considerable clout to protect its interests. In 2011, Canberra, which acts as the watchdog for Washington in the South Pacific, backed the ouster of Somare to put an end to his look north policy of seeking closer ties with China.

Australia is the largest donor of PNG aid, which it exploits to strong-arm Port Moresby into doing its bidding, including the installation of advisers in key positions. Australian police and military, along with other officials, have been closely involved in running the current election.

At stake are longstanding economic interests. Almost 5,000 Australian companies conduct business in PNG, with total investments worth $A5.8 billion. As well as substantial investment in mining, Australian corporations have major shares in other key sectors, including banking, insurance and retail. Strategically, Australia has regarded PNG and the other Pacific island states as its backyard.

While a tiny elite layer enriches itself on the crumbs from the profits of the transnational miners, the vast majority of the population lives in abject poverty and economic backwardness. Some 85 percent of people live in rural areas, many on the margins of the modern economy, eking out an existence on semi-subsistence agriculture and without proper access to basic services, including health and education.

The countrys social statistics reveal the appalling situation. PNGs ranking on the latest UN Human Development index is 154 out of 188, lower than any other country in the Asia Pacific, except Solomon Islands. According to UN figures, 39 percent of PNGs people live below the poverty line of $US1.90 a day and 66.5 percent of the workforce earn less than $3.10 a day. They are classified as working poor.

The deterioration of the public health system, compounded by a lack of roads and the remoteness of many villages, has had a devastating impact. Malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are widespread. Life expectancy is just 62.8 years with 44.5 babies out of every 1,000 dying before the age of one year, and 49.5 percent of children under the age of five suffering moderate or severe stunting. This is compared to Australian statistics of life expectancy of 82.5 years with 3 babies dying out of every 1,000 and 2 percent of children suffering stunting.

PNGs adult literacy rate is 64.2 percent, the average number of years of schooling is 4.3 and just 11.7 percent of the population over the age of 25 has some secondary schooling. As of 2012, only 18 percent of the population had access to electricity, only 40 percent to clean water and 19 percent to proper sanitation.

These figures make a mockery of the goal, embedded in the 1975 constitution, of achieving an equitable distribution of incomes and other benefits of development. None of the 44 parties and around 2,821 election candidates has the slightest intention of closing the immense social gulf between rich and poor.

The election campaign has been nothing more than a disgusting scramble for the 111 seats based on narrow, parochial appeals to tribal and regional loyalties. A seat in parliament not only guarantees a hefty base salary of $33,500 a yearcompared to a national average income of just $1,400but also access to development funds worth more than $3 million, which are used to reward supporters in each electorate.

A new political road is needed to fight for the rights of working people. More than four decades after independence, the capitalist class and its political parties have proven totally incapable of meeting the democratic aspirations and basic social needs of the vast majority of the population.

The struggle for democratic and social rights is indissolubly bound up with ending the economic and political domination of the major powers and transnational corporations. But the local capitalist elites are terrified of invoking any popular movement against imperialism because to do so would inevitably bring the working class into political struggle and threaten their class interests.

As a result, the working class is the only social force that is capable of fighting for the democratic rights and decent living standards for all. It can do so only on the basis of a program to abolish the capitalist profit system and reorganise society along socialist lines to meet the pressing needs of working people, not fatten the profits of a tiny wealthy few. A revolutionary movement of the working class against poverty, social inequality and oppression would find powerful support among the poor in the villages and urban shanties.

The struggle to put an end to capitalism is necessarily international in scope. Workers in PNG confront the same exploitation, often by the same transnational corporations, as their fellow workers throughout the Asia-Pacific and the world. Only through a unified struggle with workers internationallyabove all in the Pacific states, Australia, and Indonesiacan the working class in PNG establish genuine democracy, end neo-colonial oppression and gain control over the productive capacity and resources it requires to answer its social needs and those of the rural poor.

These fundamental political principles were first enunciated by Leon Trotsky in his Theory of Permanent Revolution. They underpinned the revolutionary movement of the working class, led by the Bolsheviks, that took power in Russia in October 1917 and created the first, and to date only, genuine socialist workers state. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 was not due to the failure of socialism, but rather was the result of its protracted decay and degeneration produced by the betrayals of the Stalinist bureaucracy and its reactionary conception that socialism could be built in a single country.

The way forward in PNG and all the Pacific Island states is the establishment of a section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), the world Trotskyist movement and publisher of the World Socialist Web Site.

A section of the ICFI, that is a revolutionary socialist and internationalist party, will fight for the complete political independence of the working class from all the parties and representatives of the ruling elites. It will be based on the scientific principles of Marxism and the strategic lessons of the struggle led by Leon Trotsky against Stalinism.

The Socialist Equality Party (Australia) and the ICFI urges workers, students and young people in PNG and the Pacific who agree with this perspective to contact us for further discussion.
On Friday, amid a collapse in relations between the worlds two leading nuclear-armed powerstriggered by the US Senates passage, by a lopsided 98-2 vote, of a sanctions bill targeting RussiaMoscow ordered hundreds of US diplomats to leave the country. The Russian government indicated it has concluded that the US political establishment is seeking a confrontation with Russia, which has the world's second-largest nuclear arsenal.

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry declared: The passage of the new law on sanctions shows with all obviousness that relations with Russia have become hostage to the domestic political battle within the US. The latest events show that in well known circles in the United States, Russophobia and a course toward open confrontation with our country have taken hold.

On this basis, it told Washington to make a more than 60 percent cut in its 1,200-strong diplomatic mission to Russia by September 1. The Foreign Ministry stated: We kindly ask the US to adjust the headcount of its diplomatic and technical staff by September to exact parity with the number of Russian diplomats and employees in the US. This means the overall number of personnel employed in American diplomatic and consular institutions in the Russian Federation will be reduced to 455.

It added that Moscow would retaliate against any further US cut in Russian diplomatic staff by imposing identical cuts to US personnel in Russia. American diplomats will also lose access to Moscow warehouses and a dacha compound on an island in the Moscow River on August 1.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed that these measures were taken on orders from President Vladimir Putin. On Thursday, Putin responded to the sanctions bill by declaring: We are behaving in a very restrained and patient way, but at some moment we will need to respond Its impossible to endlessly tolerate this kind of insolence towards our country.

A spokesperson for the US embassy in Moscow said: We have received the Russian government notification. [US] Ambassador [to Russia John] Tefft expressed his strong disappointment and protest. We have passed the notification back to Washington for review.

Hours later, Friday evening US time, the White House announced that President Trump planned to sign the sanctions bill, against which he had previously lobbied. The bill also increases sanctions against Iran and North Korea. It includes, in an unusual provision designed to target Russia, congressional power to veto any move by the White House to reduce or remove sanctions.

Moscows assessment that it expects the US government to launch an open confrontation with Russia points to the extraordinary level of international tensions and the immense danger of war. This assessment will not only guide the Russian governments policy statements. It will also guide the force posture and readiness status of military forces engaged in explosive proxy wars and military stand-offs in countries surrounding Russiafrom North Korea on Russias eastern border to Ukraine and the Baltics on its western border and Syria to the south.

These forces control sufficient nuclear weapons to destroy the NATO countries of North America and Europe, and, indeed, the entire surface of the planet, several times over.

During the war provoked in Ukraine by the February 2014 NATO-backed coup that toppled a pro-Russian regime in Kiev, when Russian forces occupied Crimea after its largely Russian-speaking residents voted to return to Russia, the Russian army was placed on full alert. In a TV documentary that aired in 2015, Putin said that he feared the most adverse development of events. He added that the Russian nuclear arsenal had been in a state of full combat readiness.

Now, Washington has again escalated the confrontationthis time imposing sanctions on any company investing in new pipeline infrastructure carrying Russian oil or gas towards European markets. While this threatens Europe with a cut-off of crucial energy supplies, it threatens Russia, whose economy depends completely on its energy exports, with economic strangulation.

If Moscow is again anticipating a confrontation with Washington and expelling US diplomats, a move typically taken when two states are preparing for war, Russian forces are doubtless again being placed on high alert. The danger that a clash, accidental otherwise, between Russia and the United States, starting in the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific or Eastern Europe, could escalate into an all-out conflict, has surged.

The Moscow Times cited Franz Klintsevich, who sits on the Defence and Security Committee of the Federation Council, as saying that Russias response to the Senate vote was just the first steps in Moscow's strategy. No doubt, others will be taken, he declared, adding that Russian responses could be unexpected.

This escalation of tensions between the worlds main nuclear powers testifies to the depth of the economic and geo-political crisis of world capitalism. In this, the main driving force has been the attempt of Washington and its European imperialist allies to dominate the Eurasian land mass. In the course of the quarter-century since the Stalinist bureaucracy dissolved the Soviet Union and began the restoration of capitalism, removing the main military counterweight to NATO, the Atlantic Alliance has threatened, bombed or invaded countries from Iraq and Yugoslavia to Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and North Korea.

Any notion that workers can leave the task of stopping the war drive of US and European imperialism to the Russian capitalist regime and its armed forces is a dangerous illusion. Instead, what is emerging ever more starkly are the disastrous consequences of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The corrupt Russian business oligarchy, which emerged from the social and economic collapse produced by capitalist restoration, is neither able nor willing to appeal to the international working class for support against imperialist war threats. Instead, it desperately seeks to work out ways to coexist with US and European imperialism, vacillating between pleas for collaboration and military adventurism.

The Kremlin regime is, itself, emerging as a dangerous factor in world politics. Even after Moscow confronted NATO wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the 2011 wars in Libya and Syria, NATOs backing of a coup in neighboring Ukraine, led by far-right anti-Russian forces, came as a shock to the Kremlin.

The Putin regime hoped, however, that a change of personnel at the top in Washingtonthe election of Trump and the installation of officials it believed would be more pro-Russian, such as National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Secretary of State Rex Tillersonwould improve its situation and lessen the dangers. After Flynn's resignation and the passage of the anti-Russian sanctions, however, the Kremlin is reaching the conclusion that these hopes were misplaced.

In a piece titled After Trump, pro-Kremlin commentator Boris Mezhuyev wrote: In less than two months, it has become clear that for the US political elite, Flynn and Tillerson are less than insignificant people; they will not be allowed to rule America Now this page of history can be considered turned, and Russian conservatives and Russia as a whole should learn to live in a post-Trump situation.

With tensions growing between Washington and the European Union, which sharply criticized the US sanctions bill, Moscow is hoping its somewhat strengthened geo-strategic situation will allow it to confront Washington. US-backed Islamist militias are losing ground rapidly in Syria to the Russian-backed Syrian regime, and pro-Moscow forces in eastern Ukraine recently set up a Little Russia state entity hostile to the NATO-backed regime in Kiev. Russia believes it can also count on support from Beijing, which sent warships to the Baltic Sea this week amid Russias confrontation with NATO there.

Some pro-Kremlin commentators are now proposing that Moscow play on growing conflicts between Washington and the EU. In Vzglyad, Pyotr Akopov wrote that the new law on anti-Russian sanctions, paradoxically, is already benefiting Russia. He continued: It is not only anti-Russian and anti-Trump, but also an anti-European law that is exacerbating contradictions among the Western powers. Europe is increasingly convinced that Americans words about Atlantic solidarity are nothing more than a cover for their own selfish ends It chased after Trump, it wanted to harm Putin, and as a result it tore one more thread out of the rope binding the Europeans to Atlantic unity. Bravo, Congress!

The Kremlins hopes that a more aggressive policy will force US imperialism to back down will prove to be no less illusory than its previous hopes in Trump. The sanctions bill is further proof that the American ruling elite will respond, as usual, with escalation, setting the stage for an even more dangerous conflict.
A 25-year-old Florida man was charged after allegedly leaving his 8-month-old baby in a trailer with no air conditioner, police said.

William Francis Hendrickson's baby, William Francis Hendrickson IV, was found dead in their Largo trailer on Thursday after police arrived to do a welfare check.

Read: Mother Gives Birth in Restaurant Bathroom, Grandma Helps Stash Baby in Trash: Cops

The temperature in the trailer was 109 degrees when officers arrived.

The baby's body temperature was reportedly 105.6 degrees when he was found inside of a playpen in the mobile home's bedroom. Paramedics were unable to revive the baby boy.

The boy's two-year-old sister, who was also in the trailer, suffered from dehydration and was hospitalized.

The children's mother, Elizabeth Michelle Rutenbeck, was reportedly arrested the week before and is being held in jail on battery charges after allegedly fighting with Hendrickson's mother.

Child services told the Hendrickson not to leave the children in the bedroom the day before the boy's death, but he told authorities he had "nowhere else to go" after his girlfriend was arrested, TampaBayTimes reported.

Read: Baby Dies From Meningitis After Deadly Kiss: 'Don't Let Anyone Kiss Your Baby'

Hendrickson was charged with aggravated manslaughter and child neglect.

He is being held on $150,000 bond.

Watch: 1-Month-Old Baby Girl Dies After Falling Down Malfunctioning Elevator Shaft

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The saddest, most frustrating moment in Al Gore's new climate change movie, An Inconvenient Sequel, involves the lonely former vice president walking into Trump Tower and boarding a golden elevator to meet with the then-president-elect.

That scene encapsulates both how far we've come in the climate policy arena, and how far we've fallen backwards in just the past six months. It also hints at a central theme in the film, which casts Donald Trump as just as much of a villain in the climate change story as the major fossil fuel companies that fund climate science disinformation campaigns.

SEE ALSO: One of the largest icebergs ever recorded just broke free of Antarctica

The Gore-Trump climate meeting was an utter failure, given Trump's subsequent decision to pull the U.S. out of the landmark Paris Climate Agreement. It's an experience that Gore says he's learned from.

"I was wrong in believing there was a chance that Donald Trump would come to his senses and stay in the Paris Climate Agreement, and underestimated the influence of the rogues gallery of climate deniers he has surrounded himself with," Gore said in an interview.

Al Gore in Greenland as seen in An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power, from Paramount Pictures and Participant Media.

Image: Paramount pictures/participant media

"I would make the effort again, but, I mean, under the same circumstances, but its clear to me now that the chances of him changing on the issue are de minimis at best. And barring some unforeseen set of circumstances Im not gonna waste any more time at all trying to engage President Trump on climate," he added.

Gore's new movie, which comes 10 years after the Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth hit theaters, is more subdued and workman-like than the first film. It accurately reflects the transformation of the climate movement into one akin to the civil rights movement: A long, hard slog that will ultimately prevail.

The film also focuses on the extreme weather events that scientists are increasingly tying to climate change.

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In the film and in the interview, Gore passionately makes the case that the costs of solar and wind power are plummeting, providing a viable alternative to coal-fired power plants in the U.S. and elsewhere. Unlike in the first movie, he isn't here to scare anyone, but rather to offer hope.

In the interview, for example, he hinted that Trump may not even be president for a full term, given the scandals and chaos swirling around him.

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A lot has changed since the first film, Gore said.

"...There have been two big changes since the first movie a decade ago. Number one: The climate-related extreme weather events are far more common and far more severe all over the world. And number two: The solutions are here now. A decade ago they were visible on the horizon, but now theyre here," he said.

(Gore had been criticized by some for not including enough information on climate change solutions in his first film.)

"In many regions, electricity from solar and wind, for example, is cheaper from electricity from dirty fossil fuel, and before long, that will be the case in the vast majority of locations throughout the world," Gore said. "And its important to give that hopeful news to people even as the sense of urgency about solving the climate crisis increases."

The movie also shows Gore in a role that largely went unnoticed by the press covering the negotiations that produced the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015. He served as a behind-the-scenes fixer trying to move reluctant nations, particularly India, toward a "yes" vote on a new climate treaty.

The new movie doesn't have the same punch as the first film, which helped reinvent Gore as an eco-warrior. It lacks the revelatory quality that the first film had, given that the first film re-introduced a public figure that had largely faded from view after his bitter election loss to George W. Bush in 2000.

Chances are that you'll go into the movie already knowing who Gore is, what he's about, and what he's been up to. So, there's not much mystery about the main character of this documentary. But that doesn't mean there aren't high stakes involved here.

As Gore makes clear, the more scientists know about climate change, the more concerned they are about just how fast the climate is responding to our greenhouse gas emissions resulting from burning fossil fuels.

The film wisely casts Trump as a villain, and ends with Trump's announcement that the U.S. will pull out of the Paris Agreement.

In the film, we see Gore travel to the Greenland Ice Sheet during the summer melt season, peering down as water pours deep into an open wound-like chasm on the ice, known as a moulin. Then there's Gore in India, making the point to the nation's energy minister and lead climate negotiator that the way that country has been expanding electricity access is literally obscuring the sun with pollution.

The film culminates with the Paris Climate Change negotiations in 2015 and Gore's behind-the-scenes role in brokering some of the side deals that allowed countries to come together to adopt the agreement.

Some of these scenes are rather droll, unless you have a keen interest in solar panel technology. But for climate geeks, activists, and diplomacy nerds, this film is a gold mine. The same goes for anyone vehemently opposed to Trump's pro-pollution agenda.

The crowd at a New York screening I attended was eager to lash out at Trump. When the text appeared informing the audience of Trump's Paris Agreement move, it was met with so many boo's and hisses you'd have thought Lord Voldemort had appeared on screen.

For these folks, Gore offers hope as well, strongly hinting that Trump may not last for a full four-year term.

"... None of us know how long Donald Trump is going to be president," Gore said. "Im not predicting any kind of near-term denouement, but voices in his own party questioning his leadership have begun to get louder."

But beyond that, Gore is still hopeful that people will find ways to combat climate change in spite of the political climate, adding that, "even when things look bleak and dark, there is always room for hope."
I will forever be an American soldier

transgender service members respond to Trumps Ban

By KARA MILSTEIN, KATY STEINMETZ and KIM BUBELLO

No one knows for sure how many transgender people have served in Americas armed forces, or are currently in uniform. But on July 26, President Donald Trump made it clear that he does not believe they should be allowed to serve in any capacity.

In a series of tweets, Trump argued that medical costs for transition-related care are too burdensome, and that having transgender people in the military causes disruption. The move seemingly reinstated a ban on open service that former President Barack Obama decided to lift last year, ending decades of what some describe as serving in silence. (The Pentagon says it is delaying action until it receives further guidance from the White House.)

Politicians, advocacy groups and LGBTQ individuals decried President Trumps announcement. Meanwhile, transgender troops currently serving are struggling to understand what the Presidents decision will mean for them in the immediate future. Among those who felt most blindsided by the reversal were transgender veterans, who by some estimates number more than 130,000 in the U.S.

Here, ten transgender troops and veterans respond to President Trumps announcement.

we as a people must unite

Courtesy of Akira Wyatt

2017. Courtesy of Akira Wyatt

Akira Wyatt, age 25

Serving in the Navy at Camp Pendleton, California

Im currently an active duty servicewoman . . . I have always had a strong lineage of military presence in my family. My dad is a proud and honorable Marine veteran who not only taught me to serve with honor but with truth to self and country. President Donald Trumps tweets came as a major realization that we as a people must unite for a better cause. We are in a pivotal moment in our history which will determine how our future generations will carry on the torch of our country. I do believe that our government and its people will make the right decision for our countrys future.

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Transgender people have served and died for this country

Courtesy of Jordan Blisk

2013. Courtesy of Jordan Blisk

Jordan Blisk, age 23

Served in the Air Force at Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana

Im a fifth generation serviceman, and my family has a tradition of honorable military service. I enlisted originally to pay for school and give me opportunities I didnt have elsewhere . . . I am disgusted with the announcement. Transgender people have served and died for this country for decades without recognition or support. By the [Commander-in-Chief] legitimizing transphobia and bigotry through military policy, he legitimizes it in the public sphere as a whole.

an assault on the marginalized

Courtesy of Caden Davis

May 2017 Courtesy of Caden Davis

Caden Davis, age 21

Serving in the Army National Guard in Palmetto, Florida

My service means a great deal to me. I take pride from laying down the widely accepted stereotype that my generation has an inability to exhibit selfless behavior. One of the founding mantras of military service is just that: selfless service. My twin brother, who is currently stationed at Patrick Air Force Base, has equally committed himself to the defense of his country. It is difficult for me to accept that one of us is free to serve his country honorably while the other cannot . . . When news reached me of President Trumps ban on transgender service, I was dejected and humiliated to say the least. This assumption that transgender soldiers are unfit to serve is not a personal attack against me, but an assault on the marginalized LGBT populous. The ramifications of this ruling, should it come to pass, would entail stripping capable soldiers of their part in the defense of this country.

it is in our core

Courtesy of Madeline Martinez

December, 2011 Courtesy of Madeline Martinez

Madeline Martinez, age 28

Served in the Army at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas and Fort Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia

My heart goes out to any of my military brothers and sisters who want to serve their country but now wont be able to do so. Being transgender isnt a choice. It is in our core that makes us exist as human beings. President Trump is not only banning Americans who want to serve, he is discriminating against a minority group who have been having to hide their gender issues in the service due to the discrimination and hardships that come along with being openly transgender.

These are individuals who are crucial to their missions and follow the Warrior Ethos: I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade. Yet President Trump is taking these soldiers out of their positions, out of their jobs and out of their mission to serve the American people. He is telling the world that transgender individuals in America do not have the same rights as most of the American public . . . As a President he is to accept all the of the people who fall under the American flag.

the military needs to stay united

Courtesy of Emery van Broekhuizen

July 2017. Courtesy of Emery van Broekhuizen

Emery van Broekhuizen, age 35

Serving in the Army Reserve at Denver, Colorado

The service to me is all about having the integrity to be courageous. In the past year, my choice to continue to serve my country had become a small act of courage. Now I am even more sure that my presence will continue to challenge those around me. The announcement . . . was shocking but mostly because of what it says to our transgender service members and citizens as a whole. Divide and conquer is not something that should happen within; the military needs to stay united in order to stay strong.

i was afraid of who i was

Courtesy of Kara Zajac

January 2016. Courtesy of Kara Zajac

Kara Zajac, age 29

Served in the Navy at Fort Meade, Maryland

What does my service mean to me? Everything. Without the military I would not be who I am today. I joined because I was afraid of who I was: a trans woman. The Navy is what gave me the courage and power to be myself and be accepted as myself among my peers. [When I heard Trumps announcement] I was angry and sad. The military is a great organization that teaches you that as long as you can do your job, it doesnt matter who you are.

a great deal of support

Courtesy of Natalie Rose

December 2014. Courtesy of Natalie Rose

Natalie Rose, age 28

Serving in the Army National Guard in the 386th Engineer Battalion, Texas

Being in the military means a great deal to me. Both of my grandfathers were field grade officers in the military (one was a general), and five of my uncles and cousins on both sides have served. It would be my privilege to follow in their footsteps and to continue to serve honorably, if allowed to do so . . . When I saw the news this morning, I was shocked that steps may be taken to remove me from the service on the basis that I am trans. Although I am not yet out to my unit, I foresee there a being a great deal of support, and I do not foresee my status negatively impacting our mission in the slightest.

I forever will be an American soldier

Courtesy of Jayceon Taylor

November 4, 2016. Courtesy of Jayceon Taylor

Jayceon Taylor, age 20

Serving in the Army in Seoul, South Korea

My service means everything to me, as it should. I have watched my father serve his country as a United States Marine for over 20 years . . . I came out as a trans man in 2016 before the ban was lifted and always thought that I would not be able to do what I wanted in life because it would comprise my happiness and who I am. Later that year an Army recruiter got in touch with me stating that the ban was lifted and that I did not have to choose anymore and that was the happiest day of my life.

Once I got to Korea, it took about three months for me to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria and start [hormone] treatment. My peers and commanders have just started to use the proper pronouns with me and give me nothing but support. Now its like all of this was for nothing: the doctor appointments, the long conversations with my peers, the time and energy spent on the readiness of all of this. I am capable of protecting my country despite what Im going through mentally and physically. How I define myself should not ban me from serving my country. If Im protecting everyone, why is no one protecting me? My name is Jayceon Taylor and no matter what happens, I forever will be an American soldier.

My service is my life

Courtesy of Kimberly Morris

2008. Courtesy of Kimberly Morris

Kimberly Morris, age 47

Served in the Marine Corps in Iraq

My service is my life. I enlisted out of college and spent the rest of my life in service of the defense of this nation. I guess I bought into the ideals that our country was founded on: democracy, freedom, equality, liberty. Those meant something, and I was proud to help perpetuate those ideals overseas while protecting them here at home. To this day, I continue to serve as a contractor working for the [Department of Defense] in the Pentagon. The difference is that I am happier and more eager to give back to the organization that has allowed me to live authentically for the first time in my life. Fortune 500 companies get it. I am shocked that the President does not.

I was disgusted [at Trumps announcement]. I know many of the brave men and women still serving. They are the best of the best. We are pushing away very talented people, not because they cannot do the job, but because they are different. My patriotism and service should not have an asterisk attached to it. I answered my nations call and served honorably, just as my brothers and sisters are currently doing.

I will never quit

Courtesy of Lauren Greenford

July 2017. Courtesy of Lauren Greenford

Lauren Greenford, age 23

Serving in the Army at Fort Hood, Texas

Ive served two years in the Army as a Signal Officer at Fort Hood. When I heard the news, I felt guilty at the thought of my brothers- and sisters-in-arms deploying soon without me. The time is 14:42 and Im still serving, following our Warrior Ethos: I will never quit. Ill step down when Im given a more official order.

Correction: The original version of this story misstated the military branch that Akira Wyatt serves in. She is in the United States Navy, not the Marines.
What went wrong? Take your pick: healthcare, transgender troops, the fallout from his savaging of Jeff Sessions, the Boy Scouts speech  it was the worst week in Trumps short presidency

Everything that has happened has been self-inflicted: can Trump ever get out of his own way? Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

Donald Trump began the week by turning a national scout jamboree into something resembling a youth rally. He ended it in front of more massed ranks in uniform, telling police officers please dont be too nice to suspects they arrest in what sounded to many like an endorsement of police brutality.

And then, amid a blizzard of stories about White House infighting, the chief of staff, Reince Priebus, resigned, becoming the shortest-serving occupant of the post in history. Though Trump seemed blithely unaware of it, it was a fitting finale to the worst week of his short political career.

In five torrid days, the US president alienated conservatives by savaging his own attorney general; earned a rebuke from the Pentagon over a rushed ban on transgender troops; watched impotently as the Senate dealt a crushing blow to his legislative agenda with the fall of healthcare reform; ousted Priebus; and threw a human grenade  the new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci  into his already dysfunctional White House.

This is certainly the week in which the Trump administration went off the rails, said Bill Galston, a former policy adviser to Bill Clinton. And its going to require some heavy lifting equipment to get it back on the rails and off down the track.

Where to start? The most tangible defeat was over healthcare. Trump had repeatedly promised during his campaign to repeal and replace Barack Obamas signature law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But when it came to the tough part, arm-twisting members of Congress or making landmark speeches, the self-proclaimed deal-maker was notably absent.

In the early hours of Friday, after months of wrangling, senators voted on a bill to undo major parts of the ACA, popularly known as Obamacare. In a moment of reality TV suspense that Trump might otherwise have appreciated, John McCain of Arizona, who had returned to the floor after brain surgery, was decisive in sinking the bill.

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McCain is an old adversary. The 80-year-old is a decorated navy veteran who was tortured during more than five years of captivity in the Vietnam war. Just over two years ago, Trump, who received five draft deferments, mocked him as not a war hero. McCain has become something of a conscience for his party, and country, as Trump tramples and trashes every norm.

His vote  along with those of Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska  left a seven-year Republican promise in ruins and Trump with zero legislative achievements after more than six months in office. The president had tried to intensify the pressure on Murkowski during the week, tweeting that she really let the Republicans, and our country, down.

His interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, phoned Murkowski and her fellow Alaska senator, Dan Sullivan, with a threat to withhold federal support for major economic development projects in the state. The dirty trick failed and Zinke may have cause to regret his actions: Murkowski is chair of the Senate energy and natural resources committee, with power over the interior departments budget.

Meanwhile, poison was seeping in at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Scaramucci, a mouthy Wall Street financier, publicly declared war on Priebus and Trumps adviser Steve Bannon in an expletive-laden interview with Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker magazine. He described Priebus as a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac, and predicted his imminent demise as chief of staff. Yet far from being punished, the Mooch was vindicated on Friday when Priebus confirmed his exit. He will be replaced by Gen John Kelly, who moves over from leading the homeland security department.

Both the president and the communications director have really defiled the temple of our democracy Bill Galston, former Clinton aide

The arrival of Scaramucci was, observers said, the moment the White House went full reality TV. Galston said: Its off the charts. Both the president and the communications director have really defiled the temple of our democracy.

Dangerously for Trump, the critics of Scaramuccis invective included loyalists such as the former House speaker Newt Gingrich, Fox News and Breitbart, which described the interview as a rambling rant that was so outrageous and discordant that reporters wondered whether Scaramucci drunk-dialed Lizza, was drunk with power, or reveal[ed] he was unqualified for his communications director job.

The Trump base had another reason to be upset. The president spent several days publicly humiliating Sessions, his attorney general, over his decision to recuse himself from the investigation into the Trump campaigns alleged collusion with Russia during last years election. Sessions refused to quit, perhaps consoled by conservative voices of dissent.

Kenneth Starr, a former US solicitor general who served as independent counsel in the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations during the Clinton administration, wrote in the Washington Post: Mr President, please cut it out. Tweet to your hearts content, but stop the wildly inappropriate attacks on the attorney general.

An honorable man whom I have known since his days as a US attorney in Alabama, Jeff Sessions has recently become your pinata in one of the most outrageous  and profoundly misguided  courses of presidential conduct I have witnessed in five decades in and around the nations capital.

Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, told CNN: If Jeff Sessions is fired, there will be holy hell to pay. If Trump tried to fire the special counsel Robert Mueller, Graham added, he would be crossing a red line: Any effort to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency unless Mueller did something wrong.

Sessions, a hardliner on criminal justice and immigration, is seen as the most Trumpist member of the administration. Taking on the former Alabama senator could prove a huge political miscalculation.

Galston said: He has managed to alarm and alienate a substantial element of his conservative base. Sessions is the conservative standard-bearer in the administration.

Retired sergeant says transgender ban hurtful

Trump faced blowback on yet another front. On Wednesday morning he tweeted, out of the blue, that he planned to reinstate a ban on transgender people from serving in any capacity in the US armed forces. He claimed he had consulted his generals but the Pentagon was blindsided and a day later it pushed back, insisting the policy would not be overturned until it received formal direction.

In a sign of how much America has changed, a decision seemingly calculated to rally the base played badly in media outlets in socially conservative states. The TV station WCIV in Charleston, South Carolina, reported: Lowcountry transgender veteran stunned by President Trumps transgender military ban. The Rapid City Journal in South Dakota said: Retired Ellsworth sergeant says transgender ban hurtful.

There was also rare defiance from Republicans in Congress. Senator Orrin Hatch, up for re-election soon in Utah, hardly a liberal bastion, said: I dont think we should be discriminating against anyone. Transgender people are people, and deserve the best we can do for them.

After months of bending over backward to accommodate Trump, Republicans gave other indications that they had run out of loyalty or fear. The Senate voted 98-2 to pass a bill increasing sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, blocking Trumps ability to cut a deal with Vladimir Putin. The White House bowed to political reality and announced that Trump intended to sign the bill.

Ever more isolated, with even Republicans turning against him, Trump went to feed off the dark energy of crowds. But his rambling speech at the National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia was widely condemned as inappropriate for its overt political content (along with a reference to a party with the hottest people in New York), prompting an apology from the head of the Boy Scouts of America.

And as all these dramas unfolded simultaneously, handing Trump a week of unmitigated disaster, North Korea conducted a new intercontinental ballistic missile test that landed in the sea off Japan. Experts have warned that North Korea will have the ability to strike the US mainland with a nuclear weapon as soon as next year. It was a sobering reminder of the high stakes facing a White House in disarray.

Its fair to say Trump has lost control of the narrative Frank Luntz, Republican pollster

Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster and strategist, said: Its fair to say Trump has lost control of the narrative. What I dont know is how and when he can regain it.

It might have been so different. Figures showed that US economic growth rebounded to 2.6% annual rate in the second quarter. Foxconn, an electronics manufacturer, announced plans to invest at least $7bn in the US and create between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs with a huge factory in Wisconsin. Trump buried his own good news.

Charlie Sykes, a conservative author and broadcaster, said: It could have been one of his best weeks with the Foxconn announcement. But this has been his worst week ever and everything that has happened has been self-inflicted.

You have a White House in meltdown because the president is a pyromaniac. The thing thats got to rattle Republicans is the damage hes doing to the administration, to the party and to the country.

Scaramucci is Trumps id, Sykes said. A friend said to me today, in a rational world, Scaramucci would have been fired for that interview. But in a rational world, Scaramucci would never have been hired. And in a rational world, Donald Trump would not be the president of the United States. Were well past the rational world.

It is far from certain whether Trump has actually hit rock-bottom. With Priebuss departure, he appears to be severing his links to the Republican establishment, even though he will have to work with Congress on tax reform in the hope of a better result than was achieved on healthcare. The potential for conflict between Kelly, a career marine, and Scaramucci seems high. And Trump has not yet been tested by a major international crisis.

Rick Tyler, a political analyst, warned: It could get a lot worse. North Korea just fired off a ballistic missile today that landed 230 miles from Japan.

There could be a lot of worse things and well be lucky if we survive them.
The Boy Scouts' chief executive apologised on Thursday to members of the scouting community who were offended by the aggressive political rhetoric in President Donald Trump's recent speech to the Scouts' national jamboree.

The apology came in a statement from Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh, three days after Trump's speech to nearly 40,000 scouts and adults gathered in West Virginia.

Other U.S. presidents have delivered nonpolitical speeches at past jamborees. To the dismay of many parents and former scouts, Trump, a Republican, promoted his political agenda and derided his rivals, inducing some of the scouts in attendance to boo at the mention of Barack Obama, his Democratic predecessor.

US President Donald Trump waves after speaking to Boy Scouts during the National Boy Scout Jamboree at Summit Bechtel National Scout Reserve in Glen Jean, West Virginia Credit: AFP

"I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree," Surbaugh said. "That was never our intent... We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program."

Surbaugh noted that every sitting president since 1937 has been invited to visit the jamboree.

"It is in no way an endorsement of any person, party or policies," he said. "For years, people have called upon us to take a position on political issues, and we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters."

Donald Trump gestures as former boys scouts, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, left, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, watch at the 2017 National Boy Scout Jamboree Credit: AP

Surbaugh contended that the Trump controversy has not diminished the success of the 10-day jamboree, yet he acknowledged its impact.

"Scouts have continued to trade patches, climb rock walls, and share stories about the day's adventures," he said. "But for our Scouting family at home not able to see these real moments of Scouting, we know the past few days have been overshadowed by the remarks offered by the President of the United States."

Surbaugh's statement echoed some of the sentiments expressed by the Boy Scouts' president, Randall Stephenson, in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.

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Scouts and their leaders listen to President Donald Trump Credit: AP

Stephenson said Boy Scout leaders anticipated Trump would spark controversy with a politically tinged speech, yet felt obliged to invite him out of respect for his office.

Hoping to minimise friction, the Boy Scouts issued guidelines to adult staff members for how the audience should react to the speech. Any type of political chanting was specifically discouraged.

Stephenson, who was not in attendance at Trump's speech, said the guidance was not followed impeccably.

"There were some areas where perhaps they were not in compliance with what we instructed," he said. "There's probably criticism that could be leveled."

Stephenson was asked whether the Scouts would invite Trump back to address the next national jamboree if he wins re-election.

"I don't see why we would break with tradition, whoever is holding office," Stephenson said. "We are not to going to censor or edit the president of the United States. That's beyond our pay grade, regardless of who it is."
President Trump's mess of a speech to the Boy Scouts at their annual jamboree earlier this week has caused enough of a stir that the head scout had to apologize for it.

SEE ALSO: Everyone is tweeting the Boy Scouts values after Trump turns jamboree into full-blown political rally

On Thursday, Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh wrote a letter about Trump's speech at the Boy Scouts of America 2017 National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia on Monday. He said that overall the jamboree hasn't been "diminished in recent days," even though "the past few days have been overshadowed by the remarks offered by the President of the United States."

Trump's speech, part of a long tradition to invite the sitting U.S. president to speak at the national event, veered into political territory quickly. That's strictly not what the jamboree and Boy Scouts organization is about  and it wasn't the intended result of inviting Trump to speak.

Surbaugh apologized for the president's speech: "I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree," he wrote.

Many longtime Boy Scouts and leaders weighed in, saying Trump's speech was offensive and off base. Sen. Bernie Sanders called it "outrageous."

Trump giving a political speech to kids at the Boy Scout Jamboree was outrageous. pic.twitter.com/fPZRl7G2RD  Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 26, 2017

At Thursday's White House press briefing, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed the notion that Trump should apologize for what became a political rally.

WH's Sanders on Trump speech for which Boy Scouts apologized: "I was at that event. I saw nothing but 40-45,000 Boy Scouts cheering him on"  John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) July 27, 2017

As the head scout noted in his letter, this is "a challenging time in a country divided along political lines." Of course, that still doesn't excuse the president's behavior.

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By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Britain plans to send a warship to the disputed South China Sea next year to conduct freedom of navigation exercises, Defence Minister Michael Fallon said on Thursday, a move likely to anger Beijing. Britain would increase its presence in the waters after it sent four British fighter planes for joint exercises with Japan in the region last year, he said. China claims most of the energy-rich sea where neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. "We hope to send a warship to region next year. We have not finalised exactly where that deployment will take place but we won't be constrained by China from sailing through the South China Sea," Fallon told Reuters. "We have the right of freedom of navigation and we will exercise it." The presence of a British vessel threatens to stoke tensions, escalated by China's naval build-up and its increasingly assertive stance. The comments by Fallon came after Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the country's two new aircraft carriers would be sent to the region. Johnson did not specify where exactly the vessels would be sent once operational in 2020, though the presence of such firepower will likely heighten tensions in the region. Speaking in Beijing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said none of the recent comments "playing up" tension in the South China Sea were made by regional countries. "Countries in the region are working together to safeguard and promote regional peace and prosperity, yet we see other countries who insist on stirring up trouble while the situation is trending towards calm in the South China Sea," he told a daily news briefing. China's construction of islands and military facilities in the South China Sea has stoked international condemnation, amid concern Beijing is seeking to restrict free movement and extend its strategic reach. Britain's move could also upset ties between London and Beijing, undermining efforts to shore up what the two governments have called a "golden era" in their relationship as Britain heads towards a divorce with the European Union. "We flew RAF Typhoons through the South China Sea last October and we will exercise that right whenever we next have the opportunity to do so, whenever we have ships or planes in the region," Fallon said. The United States estimates Beijing has added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment. To counter the perceived Chinese aggression, the United States has conducted regular freedom of navigation exercises that have angered Beijing. Earlier this month, the United States sent two bombers over the region, coming just a few months after it sent a warship to carry out a maneuvering drill within 12 nautical miles of one of China's artificial islands. China has repeatedly denounced efforts by countries from outside the region to get involved in the South China Sea dispute. The South China Sea is expected to dominate a regional security meeting in Manila next week, where Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. Meeting ASEAN diplomats in Beijing on Wednesday, Wang told them both sides must "exclude disturbances on the South China Sea issue, and maintain positive momentum", China's Foreign Ministry said. (Reporting by Colin Packham; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Philip Wen in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie and Clarence Fernandez)
Joseph Robinson - Joseph Robinson/Facebook

A British ex-soldier has been arrested by Turkish authorities for suspected terrorism offences while holidaying on the country's western coast.

The man, named locally as Joseph A.R., was detained in the Aegean holiday resort town of Didim, in Aydin province, on Friday, on charges of working with a Kurdish militia Ankara classified as a terror group, state media said.

Joseph Robinson Credit: Joseph Robinson/Facebook

A Bulgarian citizen detained was allowed by the court to go free under judicial control.

The man was identified as ex-soldier Joe Robinson, 24, from Leeds, and the Bulgarian as his fiancee Mira Rojkan, by the BBC.

Her mother, who was also detained, was later freed without charge.

Robinson was arrested after posting pictures on social media allegedly showing himself in camouflage gear taking part in Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) operations in Syria, according to the government-backed Anadolu agency.

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels taking positions as they storm a hilltop during military exercises in the mountains of northern Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region. Credit: David Furst/AFP/Getty Images

Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist group and the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984.

However, the United States government regards the YPG - the main fighting force on the ground in Syria against the Islamic State group - as a key ally.

The US is now openly arming the YPG and the group is heavily involved in the US-backed operation to remove IS jihadists from their stronghold of Raqa.

Joseph Robinson Credit: Joseph Robinson/Facebook

The YPG has also attracted the services of foreigners - many with no Kurdish family origin - to fight against IS in Syria and Iraq. Several have lost their lives.

According to the Hurriyet daily, the Briton said in his statement to police investigators that he spent three months in Syria providing medical assistance to the YPG.

Activists showing PKK-flags during a G20 peaceful protest on July 08, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. Credit: Alexander Pohl/Pacific/Barcroft

He said was trained on the use of weapons by the YPG but never took part in any clashes, Hurriyet reported.

Robinson had previously described his experiences with the YPG in media interviews with the British Press.

Anadolu said that Turkish police launched the raid to arrest him after receiving a tip-off by email.

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Silhan Ozcelik, 18, who became the first Briton to be convicted of trying to join the banned Kurdish group PKK. The teenager was on trial at the Old Bailey in 2015, charged with engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts Credit: PA

"They arrested us on the beach while we were vacationing with my mother," Rojkan told the Guardian in a message.

Robinson served with British forces in Afghanistan in 2012 and traveled to Syria in 2015 to work as as a combat medic in the YPG, the newspaper said.

He was arrested on suspicion of terror offences after arriving back in Britain but the charges were dropped after 10 months.
The Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump, Jr. was working on behalf of the Russian government to persuade the Trump campaign to repeal the Magnitsky Act, Bill Browder, the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management testified before Congress on Thursday.

On July 11, Donald Trump Jr., the presidents son, disclosed emails he exchanged arranging a meeting with a Russian lawyer named Natalya Veselnitskaya. He claims the meeting focused mostly on adoption.

Theres no doubt Veselnitskaya was working on behalf of the Russian government, Browder told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Not only was she working for a family in Russia closely tied to Putin, but she also worked for Russian security service the FSB in the Moscow region where shes from, Browder said.

Browder has been battling the Russian government for over a decade. He alleges that Russian law enforcement stole $230 million his company had paid in taxes. His lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died in Russian custody after investigating the affair, ultimately leading Browder to work with Congress to pass the Magnitsky Act, which levied targeted sanctions against powerful players in Russia.

According to Donald Trump Jr., who posted his emails about the July meeting, Veselnitskaya wanted to talk about adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act. While he said nothing of value came from the meeting, Veselnitskaya is best known for her effort to repeal the the legislation, and her representation of the companies that Bill Browder has accused of stealing from him. The case against her client, Prevezon Holdings, was settled by President Donald Trumps Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, just days before the trial was scheduled to begin.

Its absolutely clear the interest and the goal was to repeal the Magnitsky Act, Browder said of the meeting. What they were willing to offer in return I dont know. The FSB wouldve studied their targets carefully, offered something they thought was appealing and sizeable enough to be consistent with what they were asking for.

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Asked why one law matters so much to Vladimir Putin when the U.S. has levied other sanctions on Russia, Browder argued its because the sanctions targeted specific wealthy individuals directly tied to the Russian presidents own suspected massive personal fortune. It affects Putins money, Browder said.

One proposal discussed was removing a loophole that allows the removal of banks and other businesses from the treasury sanctions list without asking Congress first. That move would mirror a new Russian sanctions bill passed by both the House and the Senate this week that would prevent President Trump from loosening sanctions on Russia without Congresss input.

While it would be very challenging for Russia to repeal the Magnitisky Act entirely, even with the buy-in of the U.S. president, there are loopholes to relieve pressure on some of the high-ranking billionaires in Putins kleptocracy. For example, its possible to remove banks from the Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions list with executive action after theyve been added. No bank wants to be in violation of the treasury sanctions list, Browder said. You basically become a financial pariah.

Because pawns of the not only the Russian government but other nation states can get away with this behavior so easily, it demands changes in foreign lobbying laws, Browder argued.

The hearing, focused on the Foreign Agents Registration Act or FARA, was directed at finding ways to hold people accountable when they fail to register as lobbyists for other countries. Browder pointed out that one way to bypass the law is to register on behalf of an international company, though many companies, including oil companies in Russia, very often act on behalf of the government.

He described it as a loophole you can drive a truck through in the Lobbying Disclosures Act.

Browder argued that Fusion GPS, an American opposition research firm, has also functioned as an arm of the Russian government. Its founder Glenn Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, was one of the people in Washington who has helped Veselnitskaya lobby to repeal the Magnitsky Actby working for an American law firm hired to defend Prevezon.

Fusion GPS has denied that it worked on behalf of Russian interests to undermine U.S. law, because the law firm was an American company.

If people who havent registered as foreign agents are convicted, prosecuted, and imprisoned, then everyone in the future will register as foreign agents, Browder argued.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.), asked Browder why Fusion GPS would be working on behalf of the Russian government to help get Trump elected when the same firm was behind the effort to release the notorious dossier against Trump.

Putin is in the business of trying to create chaos, Browder said.

Photo Credit: LEON NEAL/Getty Images
A fighting bull killed itself Wednesday in Foios  a small town in Valencia, Spain  after event organizers purposefully set its horns set on fire with torches, according to the Independent. The fire on its horns spooked the bull and caused it to run head-first into a wooden pole, instantly killing the animal.

The incident occurred at the Bulls in the Street festival, a version of the Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain. The bull was originally tied to the wooden pole, but it was released before moving around erratically and slamming its head into the post, which proved fatal.

Read: How Noise Pollution Affects Animals And Even Plants

The crowd's initial excitement in the video footage quickly faded as audience members realized something had gone awry.

Video of the bull's death has circulated the internet after it was posted by Bull Defenders United (BDU). BDU is an international page dedicated to raising awareness around bull fighting and claims the practice is "animal abuse."

BDU claimed to have obtained the video from a Spanish Activist. In a post that included a screen grab of the video footage, the social awareness group urged viewers to "keep on testifying to denunciate those cruelties."

"Dramatic scene yesterday in Foios, Valencia (Spain) during a Toro Embolado (Burning of the Bulls)," Bulls Defenders United wrote on Facebook. "A bull despairs with the fire on its horns and crashes against the trunk in which it was tied. How many lives will be taken in the name of traditions that are nothing but barbarity?"

Viewers of the footage denounced what many described as a "disgusting" tradition.

"Cannot believe that this appalling cruelty continues in a 'civilised' country like Spain. Doesn't this country have animal cruelty laws?" one commenter wrote.

Read: 5 Animals Closest To Extinction Today, From Vaquitas To Tigers

The video footage was originally published to BDU's Facebook page July 23. It has been shared widely within international media markets, including France and the United Kingdom, among other overseas territories. The video has received over 240,000 views on BDU's page with 2,500 reactions and over 4,800 shares to date.

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USA Today reported that bullfighting's origins trace back to 711 A.D. in Spain, with the first event being held in honor of King Alfonso VIII. Spanish towns have faced criticism for maintaining the controversial tradition, which has increased the number of bull deaths annually. The bloody tradition has caused tension in Spain, ultimately dividing supporters and protesters on the issue.

Pamplona's Mayor Joseba Asiron spoke in opposition to the practice with local news reporters following a protest of the San Fermin festival, according to PETA.

He described the controversy around the practice as "a debate that sooner or later we will have to put on the table. For a very simple reason, and that is that basing the festival on the suffering of a living being, in the 21st century, is something that, at best, we have to rethink."

Fighting Bull

Photo: Getty Images

Follow me on Twitter @dory_jackson

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The executive director of the California Growers Association, Hezekiah Allen, said Wednesday the state would have to scale down the production of marijuana as it is currently producing eight times the amount than is normally consumed.

This hadn't been a problem until now, as the surplus was exported to other states, but a new law set to go into effect in January will ban growers from selling their products outside the state, leaving them with fewer outlets to sell their surplus weed.

Allen said their primary objective would be to prevent cannabis growers from illegally sending marijuana to other states using the black market.

We are producing too much, Allen said, adding that marijuana farmers are going to have to scale back. We are on a painful downsizing curve.

Marijuana

Photo: Getty Images/ Marc Piscotty

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Estimates of Californias cannabis overproduction vary. While Allen said the state produces eight times more than state residents consume, Joseph Devlin, chief of Cannabis Policy and Enforcement for City of Sacramento, cited estimates of five times the amount of consumption, and, the LATimes reported, an industry consultant put the amount of overproduction at 12 times what is consumed.

The state's immediate goal was "to get folks into the regulated market, as many as possible," said Lori Ajax, chief of the states Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation. She conceded, however, that there are some people who will never come into the regulated market.

After California became the first state in the United States to legalize it, marijuana production in the state flourished. While marijuana is largely seen as good for smoking or oral consumption for medical or recreational purposes, there are a number of other uses for cannabis.

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According to Weed Seed Shop, cannabis seeds are not only good for producing more marijuana plants but can also serve as a food product. Roasted cannabis seeds are excellent sources of protein and amino acids. They also contain minor quantities of vitamins and minerals. They are especially nutritious for people recovering from diseases such as arthritis. The nutty flavor of the seeds can also be utilized by grinding them into a powder and infusing it in smoothies, along with an array of other healthy ingredients; they can also be baked into cakes.

Cannabis Seeds

Photo: Getty Images/ MARTIN BERNETTI

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Most people are familiar with the oil extracted from the buds of the marijuana flower, which can be smoked or ingested orally for medicinal purposes. However, there is also the non-edible oil extracted from cannabis seeds that can be used in paints, lacquers, varnishes, and lubricants. This oil can also be used in cosmetic products and for skin treatments.

Cannabis seed oil is also an excellent replacement for non-renewable sources of energy such as coal, and has a far less negative impact on the environment. Theres a popular myth that American industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford, manufactured a car using all possible parts of a marijuana plant, including the oil extracted from cannabis seeds to fuel his vehicle. In truth, it seems the car was made in part from hemp.

In addition, cannabis seeds can be used as bird feed. It can also be used to lure in pests like rats or other rodents in order to catch them.

One alternative for cannabis growers can be a switch to production of hemp, a variant of cannabis with high fiber content and negligible psychotropic properties. The Chinese have been making clothes from hemp since 8000 B.C., and you can order clothes made from hemp online now, according to ScoopWhoop.

Due to its high fiber content, texture and durability, hemp is also useful in making ropes.

This form of cannabis can be used to produce plastics, which can be turned into soda cans, CD holders, shower curtain liners, furniture etc. Cannabis plastic is 100 percent biodegradable, easier to recycle and safer than traditional plastics.

Hemp plants can also be used to make pulp for paper, and jewelry can be made using the twines that grow around the plant.

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President Donald Trumps Twitter-announcement that he will ban transgender people from military service is not brave. Singling out and marginalizing a community has been done often enough throughout history. Trumps actions wont be the last. Minorities (and even majorities  women!) in the United States and around the world still fight every day  for dignity, for safety, for respect and for equality. The trans community continues to fight for equal rights, for safe places to live, for equal employment opportunities and for full participation in the daily life of an American citizen. We understand the importance of fighting for values, and the safety of not just ourselves but also those we love. Members of the American military are familiar with such a call.

The trans community has been fighting transphobia for many years, and although we will keep fighting for equality, this cut is still painful. To be rejected by society for being who you are is not something that is talked about enough. For many trans people, waking up every day and living their lives is a painful experience. Now, with a tweet, people willing to put their lives on the line, and some who have already served with distinction, will be banned from their right to defend their country and offer their most sacred possession, their very existence.

Those tweets not only single out the trans community, but they also give people permission to be abusive, violent and discriminatory. The President of the United States of America  land of the free and home of the brave  is engaging in the systematic suppression of the LGBTQ community. Whatever his strange or bizarre motivation (it seems political to me) to single us out, he seeks to erase us from every part of government  taking us off the GOV website, excluding us from the Census.

I know trans people who have served in the military and have been very proud of their service to their country. While I see a great future that includes every color, every gender and every sexuality living together in society  God bless everyoneno exceptions!  why does the GOP insist on driving us apart rather then bring us together as a nation? We are a small, feisty, fierce community, and we intend to fight for our rights. But we cant do it alone, we need the help of our LGB-Q brothers and sisters as well as our straight allies. People come up to me on the street every day and say, I love what youre doing! We also need those people to take a stand, because the abuse we endure needs to end.

We are an integral part of this great and diverse society. We are proud to live here. It is tragic and heartbreaking that our President is calling us a burden. We are tired of people dismissing us as a disorder. We are not a disorder. We are not flat feet or bone spurs; we are not asking for deferments. There is nothing wrong with us!
For millions of years, the underwater continent of Zealandia has done its own thing.

Once part of Australia, it broke off from the country about 75 million years ago and moved northeast. It stopped moving 53 million years ago, but recently the mysterious continent has attracted a lot of attention.

SEE ALSO: Two storms set to undergo bizarre 'Fujiwhara' dance, leaving only 1 standing in the end

On Friday, a team of researchers led by the Australian National University will embark on a two-month-long expedition to examine Zealandia, a 4.9-million square kilometer (1.9-million square mile) chunk of land now mostly submerged underwater.

Zealandia is made up of submerged continental crust, and would connect the islands of New Zealand and New Caledonia  if you removed the ocean water around them.

"The continental crust of Zealandia was thinned by stretching before it separated from Australia so that it lies lower than Australia," Professor Rupert Sutherland, from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, said in a statement.

"Zealandia's continental crust is thicker than the surrounding oceanic crust, and so it lies higher than that."

It's hoped the trip will provide more clues about the global tectonic configuration, and how the "Ring of Fire"  a large area in the Pacific Ocean that is a hotbed for earthquakes and volcanoes  came to exist.

Researchers on board the drill ship JOIDES Resolution will examine extracted rock core samples, useful in the study of oceanographic history, extreme climates, and plate tectonics.

The JOIDES Resolution.

Image: ANU

The region is also vital for studying changes in global climate and oceanography.

"As Australia moved north and the Tasman Sea developed, global circulation patterns changed and water depths over Zealandia fluctuated. This region was important in influencing global changes," Professor Jerry Dickens, from Rice University, said in a statement.

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The research is part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), an international drilling program which involves 23 countries.

Preliminary results of the expedition will be available at the end of September, when the ship docks in Hobart.
Senator Lisa Murkowski was criticised by Donald Trump over her opposition to GOP healthcare plans - REUTERS

Two female Republican lawmakers have become embroiled in infighting over efforts to abolish Obamacare, with the tone of the fierce debate said to be increasingly sexist.

Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski earned a high profile rebuke from Donald Trump this week for her opposition to efforts to amend the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Yet the president's language was comparatively mild compared to some of the threats being thrown around.

Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017

Ms Murkowski and Senator Susan Collins, from Maine, were challenged to a duel for not supporting Republican health-care proposals.

Criticising some Republican female senators from the Northeast, Blake Farenthold, a Republican from Corpus Christi, Texas, said: If it was a guy from south Texas I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.

Mr Farenthold was referring to the 1804 duel in which Burr shot and killed former treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton.

Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, has been under fire for her opposition to the healthcare proposals Credit: Bloomberg

Georgia Republican Congressman Buddy Carter, meanwhile, defended Mr Trump's calling out of Ms Murkowski in colourful terms.

"Let me tell you, somebody needs to go over there to that Senate and snatch a knot in their ass," Mr Carter told MSNBC.

Ms Murkowski also said she received a "difficult" call from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, adding that "it was not a very pleasant call".

Here it is: GOP Rep. Carter, asked about Murkowski: "Somebody needs to go over there to that Senate and snatch a knot in their ass." @MSNBCpic.twitter.com/1CVcENn9Kq  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 26, 2017

The insults have added to the injury of Republican women in the Senate being excluded from the chambers original working group on health care.

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Some believe the insults have escalated thanks to the videotape of Mr Trump that emerged during the campaign, in which he boasted in vulgar terms about groping women.

Masculine dominance in the Republican Party is not only in numbers but in culture, Kelly Dittmar, a scholar at the Centre for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, told the Washington Post.

Trump sexism tracker

When the person who is supposed to be the leader of the party shows its okay to use those sorts of attacks, whether they are specifically gendered or not, that is something that catches on at other levels, Ms Dittmar said. We see it in the [elected officials] who feel its okay to say things like this.

Julie A. Conway, executive director of VIEW PAC, which recruits and trains Republican female candidates, told the Post that "some folks are spending so much time creating cute catchy phrases in order to take potshots at colleagues".

I wish they would spend as much time and energy sitting down with these women lawmakers to help find solutions and a strategy to get real health-care reform that Americans can feel good about," she said.
Jameka Evans filed a Title VII case claiming she was discriminated against for being a lesbian. Source: Lambda Legal

This week, on the same day that President Donald Trump announced a ban on transgender military members, the administration weighed in on another issue involving the LGBT community.

That issue is whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964  which forbids discrimination based on sex  protects workers from bias based on their sexual orientation. In a friend of the court brief filed Wednesday in a discrimination case in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Department of Justice argued that Title VII does not in fact protect workers from being discriminated against (aka, fired) for being gay.

This interpretation of the law contradicts the official stance of another federal agency  the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which before Trump was elected, decided that Title VII does protect gay workers. The courts, for their part, are split on the issue.

I think its extremely likely that it will go all the way to the Supreme Court, says Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer who successfully argued the case against the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.

Title VII and discrimination based on sex stereotyping

Title VII is a federal law that bars employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Historically, the laws sex provision has often been used to protect female employers from being treated differently from their male counterparts.

But since its original passage in 1964, the laws bar on sex discrimination has been used to protect workers from sex stereotyping and even discrimination based on their sexual orientation.

Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Source: Wikipedia

In 1989, the Supreme Court paved the way for the sex stereotyping argument in a decision called Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. In that case, a Price Waterhouse senior manager named Ann Hopkins claimed that she was denied partnership because she didnt conform to gender stereotypes. (One partner said she was macho. Meanwhile, another advised her to walk more femininely, talk more femininely, dress more femininely, wear make-up, have her hair styled, and wear jewelry.)

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Ultimately, the high court established that sex stereotyping constitutes sex discrimination. That ruling opened the door for some LGBT workers to file discrimination claims under Title VII  particularly if those workers didnt fit stereotypes of masculinity or femininity.

The argument is youre in part punishing this gay man for not acting manly enough, says Jeffrey Hirsch, a professor at UNC Law School who specializes in employment discrimination law.

Facing discrimination for whom youre attracted to

Still, even after the Price Waterhouse ruling, it was difficult for LGBT workers to fight back if they were fired for being gay. As recently as 1991, the Cracker Barrel chain of restaurants adopted an official policy of not hiring gay people and fired at least nine workers under the policy.

At the time, only two states barred discrimination in hiring based on sexual orientation, The New York Times reported. (These days 22 states and Washington, DC bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.)

The Cracker Barrel once had a policy of not hiring gay employees. Photo: Flickr/Mike Mozart

Speaking of the Cracker Barrel firings back in 1991, William Rubenstein, then-director of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Project for the American Civil Liberties Union, said, Its outrageous and incredible, but its fair to say that as a general matter it would be very difficult to challenge these discharges other than in one of those places where there is a law specifically prohibiting it.

That has changed in recent years, as courts have become more amenable to the notion that Title VII shields gay workers.

Heres how Columbia Law School professor Suzanne Goldberg explained the legal argument supporting Title VIIs application to claims of bias based on sexual orientation: Its straightforward  The law prohibits discrimination based on sex and when an employer discriminates against an employee because of the sex of that employees partner [or prospective partner] that is sex discrimination.

The EEOC cites more than a dozen federal cases supporting the argument that Title VII covers sexual-orientation discrimination; many of those cases came after 2015, when the agency itself ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation is illegal under federal law.

Still, other courts have ruled that, essentially, it is legal to fire or not hire an employee simply because theyre gay. The disagreement among the courts, combined with the split between two federal agencies  the EEOC and the DOJ  suggests the issue is screaming for some clarification from a fully staffed Supreme Court, as Hirsch, the UNC law professor stated.

The next hot-button case in the Supreme Court?

While legal experts Yahoo Finance spoke to agreed the issue will hit the Supreme Court, its not entirely clear whose case will actually go before the justices. The Second Circuit case the Trump administration weighed in on involved a skydiving instructor claiming he got fired after disclosing to a customer that he was gay. While that appeals court ruled against the skydiving instructor, the full court is reconsidering his case in September. Either side may end up petitioning that case to the Supreme Court. (While the instructor has since died, his case is being pursued by his estate.)

If that case doesnt reach the Supreme Court, then the Supreme Court may end up considering the case of Jameka Evans, a lesbian who presented as masculine and claimed she was harassed, physically assaulted, and denied equal pay at her job as a security guard at Georgia Regional Hospital. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Georgia ruled that Congress never meant for Title VII to apply to sexual orientation.

Because Congress has not made sexual orientation a protected class, the appropriate venue for pressing the argument  is before Congress, not this Court, the court ruled.

If, and arguably when, the Supreme Court takes up this issue, the decision will likely be a close one that will depend on two justices who have reliably swung in politically charged cases.

Like any issue of this kind of importance and controversy, the one thing I can predict is that the Supreme Court vote is going to be very close, says Kaplan, the attorney who worked on the DOMA case. Its not going to be a huge majority one way or the other. As to which way it comes down, as in many cases that raise this type of issue, it is likely that the outcome will depend on the vote of Justice Kennedy and perhaps Chief Justice Roberts.

At the end of the day, this case likely wont force large multinational and national corporations to change their policies because many already bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Many, many national and global corporations prohibit sexual orientation discrimination against their LGBT employees, Goldberg said. In fact, the number of employers willing to stand up and argue that it is okay to fire someone because theyre gay is shrinking.

Still, if the Supreme Court ends up taking this case on and ruling for the employees, it will make it a lot easier for LGBT workers to file federal discrimination lawsuits, regardless of their employers internal policies.

Erin Fuchs is deputy managing editor of Yahoo Finance.

Read more:

A legal fight over New York City dogsitters highlights a bigger problem in America

FTC likely to approve Whole Foods deal even if Amazon did deceive customers

Why Mark Cuban is throwing his weight behind an arcane Supreme Court case
Kelly spent 40 years as a Marine, and six months as Homeland Security secretary where he cracked down on illegal immigrants

John F Kelly replaces Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Donald Trump is said to have been recently taken with the desire to have a general as his chief of staff to sort out a White House beset by internal warfare, not to mention its external problems.

While some advisers have questioned the wisdom of the move, the president has got himself a bona fide retired four-star US Marine Corps general in the shape of John F Kelly.

Kellys appointment, announced on Friday in a late afternoon tweet by the president, as his new White House chief of staff sees him move from his role as the secretary of homeland security, where the president says he has done a spectacular job and is a true star of his administration.

Kelly, aged 67 and a native of Boston, stepped down in 2016 from US southern command, where he was responsible for US military activities and relationships in Latin America and the Caribbean, including the controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

While at homeland security, Kelly has presided over a crackdown on illegal migrants and a more aggressive posture for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Kelly has won Trumps praise for a fall in the numbers of recorded crossing along the southern border, even though there has still been no construction of the presidents promised border wall with Mexico.

Kelly had told lawmakers during his confirmation hearings in January that he supported Trump about the need for a wall, though he also spoke about the need for extra border agents and better technology. A hiring spree of agents is under way, despite concerns over vetting of candidates.

Kelly, who had enlisted in the Marines in 1970, served as commander of US southern command under Obama from 2012.

While in that role, he differed with Barack Obama on key issues, and had warned of vulnerabilities along the United States southern border with Mexico.

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At the time Trump picked him for homeland security, he was the third general tapped for a high-level job in the new administration. Trump had also nominated retired Gen James Mattis to lead the Department of Defense and picked retired Lt Gen Michael Flynn to be his national security adviser  a shortlived move ended when he resigned over his misleading account of his Russian contacts.

Kelly, who is from an Irish Catholic family, is the most senior US officer to have lost a child in the war on terror. His son Robert, a first lieutenant in the marines, was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010.

At Southcom, Kelly quickly developed a reputation for opposition to Obamas intended closure of Guantanamo Bay.

Kelly will hope to have a better relationship with Anthony Scaramucci, the White Houses new communications director, whose relationship this month appears to have spelled the end for Reince Priebus in the chief of staff role.
What's happening?

Today, all of North America will witness an eclipse of the sun for the first time in 99 years, where the Moon will pass in front of the Sun casting darkness across swathes of the Earth's surface.

Dubbed the Great American Eclipse, the moment will see the Sun, the Moon and the Earth become perfectly aligned in a once-in-a-lifetime celestial spectacle seen from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.

Although we won't see a perfect alignment in the UK, we will be able to see a partial eclipse (where the moon covers only a part of the sun).

10 amazing places in America to watch the 2017 solar eclipse

Who will see it?

Everyone in North America, parts of South America, Africa and Europe - including the UK - will see at least a partial solar eclipse, where the moon covers only a part of the sun.

However, 14 states across the United States will experience a total solar eclipse with more than two minutes of darkness descending in the middle of the day over the course of 100 minutes.

More than 12 million Americans live inside the path of totality and more than half of the nation live within 400 miles of it. Millions more are expected to travel to cities along the path to witness the phenomenon.

Where and when to see the eclipse

What causes an eclipse?

The diameter of the Sun is 400 times that of the Moon but it lies 400 times further away - which means if you are in exactly the right alignment on the surface of the Earth at the right time, you will see the two celestial bodies overlap exactly.

What creates a total solar eclipse

Where can I see the eclipse in the UK?

Sadly Brits won't get a total eclipse like our friends across the pond, but we will be treated to a slight partial eclipse which will still be worth watching.

It will be visible in parts of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from around 19:35 on August 21 - but make sure you're in a spot where there's no cloud.

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UK eclipse circumstances for August 21 2017

What areas will see total blackout?

Anyone within the path of totality will see the sky become dark for several minutes as the moon completely covers the sun. The path is relatively thin, around 70 miles wide, and stretches from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina.

It will first be seen at Lincoln Beach, Oregon at 9:05 PDT, with totality beginning at 10:16 PDT.

Over the next 90 minutes, it will cross through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and end near Charleston, South Carolina at 14:28 EDT.

The lunar shadow will leave the US at 04:09 EDT.

Its longest duration will be near Carbondale, Illinois, where the sun will be completely covered for two minutes and 40 seconds.

What time can I see the total eclipse?

Here are the mid-eclipse times for some of the major towns and cities along the path of totality, according to Nasa. All times are local.

Where to see it | The Great American solar eclipse

Will there be a live stream?

Yes - Nasa will host an Eclipse Megacast for four hours during the eclipse which will be picked up by local, national and international TV stations. You can also follow all the action via the Telegraph.

How can I see it safely?

Never look directly at the Sun, even through sunglasses or dark material such as a bin liner or photographic negative.

Makeshift filters may not screen out the harmful infrared radiation that can burn the retina of the eye risking permanent eye damage and blindness.

Also, viewers must never use binoculars or a telescope.

Wear special eclipse viewing glasses - not ordinary sunglasses - or construct a simple pinhole camera which projects an image of the Sun onto a blank piece of paper.

When will Britain next see a solar eclipse?

There was a pretty spectacular eclipse in Britain in March 2015, but the last total eclipse in the UK was in August 1999.

You might be waiting a while for the next decent one too - it won't take place until August 12, 2026. On that date up to 95 per cent of the Sun will be obscured.

Britain will not see a total solar eclipse until September 23, 2090.

Total solar eclipses in history

Eclipses have both fascinated and terrified civilisations for centuries.

When King Henry I of England, the son of William the Conqueror, died in 1133, his death happened to coincide with a total solar eclipse plummeting the nation into darkness for four minutes and 38 seconds.

Historian William of Malmesbury wrote in 1140 that "the darkness was so great that people at first thought the world was ending."
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is such a part of our lives that its hard to imagine it not existing. But on July 29, 1958, Congress and the President moved to make NASA a reality.

It's also hard to imagine in today's world of partisan gridlock that the executive and legislative branches created by the Founders could create a major government agency in little less than one year's time.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the act to provide for research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes." Congress had already passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which became a priority after one shocking event in 1957.

The enactment of this legislation is a historic step, Eisenhower said. I want to commend the Congress for the promptness with which it has created the organization.

Link: Full Text of the 1958 Act

On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. The launch and later Soviet successes started the Space Race, a battle of will and technology between the United States and the U.S.S.R.

Congress immediately addressed the issue when Senate Majority Leader (and future President) Lyndon Johnson chaired hearings on American space and missile activities.

The United States had been involved in serious research and development activities about rocket technology for some time. The Department of Defense had been involved in rocketry and upper atmospheric sciences since World War II. And a separate agency, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), had considerable resources.

The NACA had about 8,000 employees, a $100 million budget and three research labs. About half of the NACAs work involved aeronautics.

President Eisenhower spearheaded the legislation effort on the executive side. Nelson Rockefeller was also involved in an advisory role. An important decision was the creation of a new civilian agency, instead of revamping the NACA or leaving space decisions solely in military hands.

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By April 1958, Congress was already holding final hearings about the act. Johnson was credited as the driving force behind the legislation within Congress, working with John McCormick.

When NASA officially started operations in October 1958, about a year after the Sputnik launch, NASA combined all the assets of the NACA with space science group of the Naval Research Laboratory in Maryland, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (managed by the California Institute of Technology for the Army), and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama.

The addition of the Huntsville facility was important because it included Wernher von Braun and his team of rocket engineers.

By 1959, NASA started Project Mercury, continuing a program that originated with the Air Force. NASAs successes over the following decade culminated in the first moon landing in July 1969, and its later successes included Skylab, the Space Shuttle Program, and International Space Station.
The Chief Scout Executive for the Boy Scouts of America apologized Thursday to anyone in the scouting community who may have been offended or alarmed by President Donald Trumps speech at the organizations National Jamboree earlier this week.

I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree, Michael Surbaugh wrote in a statement. For years, people have called upon us to take a position on political issues, and we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters. We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.

Read more: 3 controversial things Donald Trump told the Boy Scouts National Jamboree

During Trumps speech, the President invoked his election victory, slamming both his onetime opponent Hillary Clinton and his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, eliciting a series of boos from the crowd. He also derided what he called the fake news media.

Read Surbaughs statement in full below:

Scouting Family,In the last two weeks, we have celebrated the best of Scouting at our 20th National Jamboree with nearly 40,000 participants, volunteers, staff and visitors. The 2017 National Jamboree has showcased and furthered the Scouting mission by combining adventure and leadership development to give youth life-changing experiences. Scouts from Alaska met Scouts from Alabama; Scouts from New Mexico met those from New York, and American youth met youth from 59 other countries.Over the course of ten days, Scouts have taken part in adventures, learned new skills, made new and lasting friendships and completed over 200 community service projects that offered 100,000 hours of service to the community by young men and women eager to do the right thing for the right reasons.These character-building experiences have not diminished in recent days at the jamboree  Scouts have continued to trade patches, climb rock walls, and share stories about the days adventures. But for our Scouting family at home not able to see these real moments of Scouting, we know the past few days have been overshadowed by the remarks offered by the President of the United States.I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree. That was never our intent. The invitation for the sitting U.S. President to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition that has been extended to the leader of our nation that has had a Jamboree during his term since 1937. It is in no way an endorsement of any person, party or policies. For years, people have called upon us to take a position on political issues, and we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters. We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.While we live in a challenging time in a country divided along political lines, the focus of Scouting remains the same today as every day.Trustworthiness, loyalty, kindness and bravery are just a few of the admirable traits Scouts aspire to develop  in fact, they make up the Scout Oath and Scout Law.As part of our programs duty to country, we teach youth to become active citizens, to participate in their government, respect the variety of perspectives and to stand up for individual rights.Few will argue the importance of teaching values and responsibility to our youth  not only right from wrong, but specific positive values such as fairness, courage, honor and respect for others.For all of the adventure we provide youth such as hiking, camping and zip-lining, those activities actually serve as proven pathways and opportunities to develop leadership skills and become people of character.In a time when differences seem to separate our country, we hope the true spirit of Scouting will empower our next generation of leaders to bring people together to do good in the world.Yours in Scouting,Mike
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, addressing a security conference in Australia, said in answer to a question on Thursday that he would be prepared to launch a nuclear strike on China if President Donald Trump so ordered. The fleet spokesman later said the question was asked as an "outrageous hypothetical". Admiral Scott Swift was speaking at the Australian National University in Canberra when he was asked whether he would be prepared to launch a nuclear attack on China if ordered to do so by Trump. "The answer would be yes," he said. Swift said that all members of the U.S. military had sworn an oath to obey officers and the U.S. president as commander in chief to defend the constitution. "This is core to the American democracy," he said, in a recording of the event obtained by Reuters. "Any time you have a military that is moving away from a focus, and an allegiance, to civilian control, then we really have significant problems." Swift's answer reaffirmed the principle of civilian control over the military and was based on an "outrageous hypothetical" in the question, Pacific Fleet spokesman Captain Charlie Brown told Reuters. "Frankly, the premise of the question was ridiculous," he said. "It was posed as an outrageous hypothetical, but the admiral simply took it as an opportunity to say the fact is that we have civilian control of the military and we abide by that principle." Speaking in Beijing on Friday, a spokesman of China's Foreign Ministry also downplayed the remark. "Many people have paid attention to this but the spokesman for the Pacific Fleet has pointed out the ridiculousness of this report," Lu Kang told a daily news briefing. The United States and China enjoy a generally friendly relationship, with strong economic ties, albeit with frequent barbs about trade, jobs, currencies, human rights, Tibet, the South China Sea and North Korea. Trump has held high hopes for greater cooperation from China to exert influence over North Korea, leaning heavily on Chinese President Xi Jinping for his assistance. The two leaders had a high-profile summit in Florida in April and Trump has frequently praised Xi. (Reporting by Colin Packham in SYDNEY and Melanie Burton in MELBOURNE; Additional reporting by Philip Wen in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie and Clarence Fernandez)
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State militants attacked U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) east of Raqqa on Friday, setting off clashes and abducting a number of people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Observatory said the clashes had resulted in casualties among displaced people and SDF fighters, but gave no further details. The targeted area, al-Karama, hosts a camp for Syrians driven from their homes by the war. A Kurdish official confirmed the report but gave no more details. The SDF is dominated by the Kurdish YPG militia, and is the main partner for the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria. It is currently battling the jihadists for control of Raqqa city. The Observatory says the SDF has captured half of the city. Islamic State has lost swathes of territory in Syria over the last year to separate campaigns waged by the SDF, the Russian-backed Syrian military, and Turkey-backed Syrian rebels. (Reporting by Sarah Dadouch; Editing by Tom Perry and Alison Williams)
An elderly dog jumped into its owners arms after being saved from a Florida lagoon by a hero firefighter.

Read: Firefighters Pull Unconscious Dog From Burning Home, Revive It Using Pet Oxygen Mask

In a video of their reunion, Junior, a 12-year-old Chinese Shar-Pei and Rottweiler mix with arthritis and poor vision, walked up to his owner, Jose Ruiz, and buried his head in his chest.

You okay, buddy?" Ruiz says in the video, before gently chiding him for running away: "Dont do that anymore."

He said Junior, who he's had since he was 10, sleeps under a tree in their backyard and usually doesnt get up until noon.

But on Thursday, as Ruiz was heading out for his morning run, he was told his beloved pet had run off.

Thats when firefighter Emilio Sanchez of the Miami Beach Fire Department spotted a dog that had fallen into the Biscayne Bay about a block away from Ruizs home.

Sanchez immediately threw off his shirt and jumped in.

I could tell his head was starting to submerge under water. He was having a hard time keeping himself afloat, Sanchez told Inside Edition. We dont know how long he had been swimming in the water for but based on that information, it looked like we got there just at the perfect time.

Sanchez immediately offered the 50-pound dog a shoulder, which he happily took. Riding on the firefighters back, Junior was slowly taken back to safety.

The dog seemed pretty exhausted, he recalled. He nicked me right here on the cheek a little bit, him trying to climb onto my shoulder but its all part of the job.

Read: Stinky Situation! Man Rescued After Trying to Retrieve Girlfriend's Cell Phone From Garbage Chute

He put Junior on dry land to rest and brought him water. About 30 minutes later, Junior was ready to get up and walk around again.

With a little help from social media and community leaders, Ruiz was instructed to meet his dog at City Hall.

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I didn't expect this to happen to my dog. I'm just so grateful he was there to rescue him, Ruiz said of Sanchez. Im speechless to see that there are still good people left in the world.

Watch: Pup Squeals Excitedly While Reuniting With Owner After Being Lost and Trapped Under Car for Days

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Should you move for love? (Photo: Getty Images)

Some singles looking to pair up are taking drastic measures to boost their romantic odds and their self-esteem: moving to another state.

According to a story titled I Left New York City So I Could Feel Hotter, published by the New York Post, young single women (and some men) are fleeing Manhattans impossible physical standards to seek refuge in other U.S. states and abroad where the beauty barometer is set lower. As a woman, youre never enough, Zoe Barry, a CEO and former New Yorker who moved to Colorado, told the Post. I was never tall enough or slim enough. It grates on you after a while  that pressure to be a walking mannequin.

After relocating, all of a sudden I was the belle of the ball, said Barry. In Colorado, it was like, Look at her! In New York, I couldnt find a nice guy anywhere.

Likewise, publicist Sherry Smith settled in Paris and immediately experienced a change in how people viewed her. In New York, I felt average, like a 6, she told the Post. In Paris, I felt like an 8 or a 9. I was regarded very differently and got more attention, even though it was the same me.

Sure, its not exactly realistic for everyone to move, leaving behind loved ones, jobs, and other forces that keep one bound to a particular location, but theres evidence to support prioritizing romance. Studies have pointed to love, not work, as the most important factor in a persons happiness, even when income is doubled. Other research shows that married people are healthier and, in some cases, happier than singles.

However, according to Gail Saltz, MD, a psychiatrist and the author of The Power of Different, moving solely to sample from a new dating pool carries some risk.

If a person has difficulty finding a partner, they will likely have that same problem no matter the city, Saltz tells Yahoo Style. In most cases, its better to examine other factors, such as a fear of intimacy, an inability to compromise, or unrealistic expectations, that might be holding them back.

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Moving can also be impractical: If your new town doesnt fulfill its potential, do you pack up again?

And while Saltz maintains that committed couples often relocate in the interest of their relationship, single people grapple with a unique cost-benefit analysis: If you live in the capital of your career, will you be compromising your future for a person you havent yet met?

Ultimately, the idea of a soulmate waiting for you in a far-flung city sounds dreamy, but staying put may be more fruitful. People have the potential to find love with more than one person if theyre willing to examine how theyre undermining their own romantic success, says Saltz. The idea of nobody being attracted to you in a city of millions is absurd.

Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and @YahooBeauty.
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the end, it was a simple hand gesture - Senator John McCain pointing his right index finger in a downward motion to register a no vote - that ruined his party's seven-year effort to repeal Obamacare. But in that signal in the early hours of Friday, the 80-year-old McCain also delivered a political gut-punch to U.S. President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican and a man he has clashed with repeatedly over the past two years. McCain, who just last week was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, dropped a hint on Tuesday that if his legislative demands were not met he was prepared to take on Trump in the dispute over how to replace parts of Obamacare with a Republican healthcare program. We are not the presidents subordinates. We are his equals," he said in an emotional speech to the Senate - his first since being diagnosed. McCain's relations with Trump have been frosty for some time. At an election campaign appearance in Iowa in 2015, Trump responded to criticism from McCain by denigrating the senator's military service, which included 5 1/2-years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. He was tortured while in captivity and is seen as a war hero by many Americans. "He's not a war hero," Trump told a gathering of religious conservatives. "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." The following day, Trump said McCain's work on behalf of military veterans was "all talk no action." McCain, a leading Republican voice on defense and security, has generally been restrained in his criticism of Trump but has also at times let loose, including recent accusations that Trump has weakened America's standing in world affairs and kowtowed to Russian President Vladimir Putin. With his Friday vote that brought the tally to 51-49 against a Republican bill repealing parts of former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, McCain became the third Senate Republican to bolt, leaving no path for passage of the measure. The Arizona Republican, who was the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, also added another important chapter to his maverick, 30-year Senate career, stunning some of his fellow legislators and leaving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell with the worst defeat of his long political career. But most notably, McCain denied Trump what could have been the first major legislative victory of his administration, and demonstrated to the businessman-turned-president that Washington works in different ways from companies where CEOs have freer hands in dictating outcomes. Although Trump was minimally involved in the process of crafting the legislation, he had made plain it was a priority. When the Senate failed to push through bills drawn up by the Republican leadership over the past few weeks, Trump told Republicans to get back to work and try again. He has been publicly urging them to get the job done. PENCE OFFENSIVE FAILS Despite McCain's tensions with the White House, Vice President Mike Pence was assigned the task of trying to convince him to vote for the so-called skinny bill that aimed to pare away parts of Obamacare. That, after it became apparent that Trump's cheerleading tweet on Thursday night was not working: "Go Republican Senators, Go! Get there after waiting for 7 years. Give America great healthcare!" Pence spent 21 minutes, according to reporters watching inside the Senate chamber, talking to McCain on the Senate floor. McCain was not budging, even after taking a short phone call from the president. After the Senate vote tally was announced in the Senate, McCain was embraced by senators from both sides of the aisle. Democrats were delighted he had helped kill the Obamacare repeal effort and some Republicans just wanted to show their respect for the man. McConnell spoke bitterly of the defeat. "I imagine many of our colleagues on the other side are celebrating, probably pretty happy about all of this." Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer again called for bipartisan work to fix Obamacare's shortcomings, saying, "I would suggest we turn the page... We are not celebrating. We are relieved." Just three days ago, Trump praised McCain as a brave "American hero" for coming back to Washington from Arizona, where he had been recuperating from surgery, to take part in the healthcare legislative effort. Now the president was dejected. "3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!," Trump tweeted following his defeat. On Friday, McCain advised a much different approach: an immediate, collaborative effort with Democrats on healthcare. For McCain, who also hoped to shepherd a major defense bill through the Senate, his political and legislative tussles could now be interrupted by the more pressing need to treat his cancer. (Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Kieran Murray and Frances Kerry)
By Jack Kim and Elaine Lies SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea fired a missile on Friday that experts said was capable of striking Los Angeles and other U.S. cities and the United States and South Korea responded by staging a joint missile exercise, the South Korean news agency Yonhap said. The unusual late-night launch added to exasperation in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo over Pyongyang's continuing development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to deliver them. North Korean President Kim Jong Un's military had already raised alarms early this month with its first ICBM launch. "As a result of their launches of ICBM-level missiles, this clearly shows the threat to our nation's safety is severe and real," said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who planned to call a meeting of his National Security Council. Following a meeting of South Korea's National Security Council, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he wanted the U.N. Security Council to discuss new and stronger sanctions against the North, the presidential Blue House said. The top U.S. military official, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, and Admiral Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, spoke by phone with the top South Korean military official, General Lee Sun-jin, to discuss military response options to the launch. Later the United States and South Korea took part in a ballistic missile exercise. (Reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul, Elaine Lies and William Mallard in Tokyo, Idrees Ali and David Brunnstrom in Washington and Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels; Writing by Philip Blenkinsop and Bill Trott; Editing by John Stonestreet and James Dalgleish)
(PYONGYANG, North Korea)  North Korea launched a ballistic missile Friday night which flew longer than any of its previous missiles and landed in the ocean off Japan, according to officials from Japan, South Korea and the United States.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said officials were analyzing whether it was a second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. On July 4, North Korea test-launched its first ICBM in a major step toward its goal of developing nuclear-armed missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Suga said the missile launched Friday flew for about 45 minutes  about five minutes longer than the ICBM on July 4  and landed west of Japans island of Hokkaido. He said Japan has lodged a strong protest with North Korea.

North Koreas repeated provocative acts absolutely cannot be accepted, he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the launch a serious and real threat to the security of Japan, and said it would cooperate closely with the U.S., South Korea and other nations to further step up pressure on North Korea.

South Korea and the United States also confirmed the launch.

We are assessing and will have more information soon, said Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from North Koreas northern Jagang province near the border with China. President Moon Jae-in was presiding over an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, Moons office said.

Yoji Koda, a retired admiral in Japans Maritime Self Defense Force, said in an interview with Japanese public broadcaster NHK that information that the missile flew 45 minutes and landed west of Hokkaido suggests it was most likely another ICBM.

Jeffrey Lewis, a missile and nonproliferation expert with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said in tweet that early data from the test suggest a missile with a range of about 10,000 kilometers (6,250 miles) that would be capable of reaching targets deep into the United States mainland.

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There was no immediate confirmation of the launch by North Korea. The days broadcast on state-run television had already ended when the news broke at around midnight Pyongyang time.

July 27 is a major national holiday in North Korea called Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War Day, marking the day when the armistice was signed ending the 1950-53 Korean War. That armistice is yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula technically in a state of war.

North Korea generally waits hours or sometimes a day or more before announcing launches, often with a raft of photos in the ruling party newspaper or on the television news. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is usually shown at the site to observe and supervise major launches.

Late night launches are rare. North Korea usually conducts its missile and underground nuclear tests in the morning. Its likely the North launched the missile at night and from the remote province of Jagang to demonstrate its operational versatility. To have a real deterrent, its important for North Korea to prove it can launch whenever and wherever it chooses, making it harder for foreign military observers trying to detect their activities ahead of time.

Analysts say the Hwasong 14 ICBM launched by North Korea on July 4 could be capable of reaching most of Alaska or possibly Hawaii if fired in an attacking trajectory. It was launched at a very steep angle, a technique called lofting, and reached a height of more than 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) before splashing down in the ocean 930 kilometers (580 miles) away.
Senators have voted against a "skinny repeal" bill that would have rolled back health provisions under Obamacare.

Critics had warned that the measure would have led to the additional deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Republican senator John McCain was among those to defy the President and vote against the bill.

The vote deals a serious blow to Mr Trump's legislative agenda after a night of high suspense in the US Capitol.

In an impassioned speech the day he returned to Washington following his cancer diagnosis, Mr McCain had called for bipartisanship on major issues of national concern.

Three Republicans joined with all Democrats to reject the amendment, which would have repealed a mandate that most individuals get health insurance and suspended a requirement that large companies provide coverage to their employees.

It would have also delayed a tax on medical devices and denied funding to Planned Parenthood for a year.

The Congressional Budget Office had warned that 22 million more people would not be covered by health insurance if the repeal of the Affordable Care Act  otherwise known as Obamacare  had gone ahead.

Researchers have established a link between health insurance and mortality, with a recent study suggesting the move could lead to excess deaths totalling more than 20,000.

Republicans are about to vote to let 20,000 Americans die without health insurance. Think about that.  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 28, 2017

The final vote in the Senate was 49-51. Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine joined Mr McCain in voting no.

"This is clearly a disappointing moment," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor after the vote.

"I think the American people are going to regret that we couldn't find a better way forward," he said.

Despite controlling the Senate, the House and the White House, Republicans have struggled for months with repealing Obamacare, a complex law approved by Democrats in 2010 under former President Barack Obama that provided health insurance to millions of previously uninsured Americans.

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Mr Trump, who campaigned for the White House on promises to repeal Obamacare, has offered no legislation of his own and little guidance to the Senate, although he has berated them for their inaction.

Republicans hold 52 seats in the 100-seat Senate and McConnell could only afford to lose support from two Republican senators, with the tie-breaking vote to be cast by Vice President Mike Pence, who was on the Senate floor.

Mr Trump has singled out Ms Murkowski for criticism, saying on Twitter that she had let down the Republican Party and the country.

Mr McCain, who flew back from Arizona after being diagnosed with brain cancer in order to vote, was approached minutes before the vote by Mr Pence and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

Mr Graham had said on Thursday he had decided to vote for the skinny bill after reassurances from House Speaker Paul Ryan that it would not become law.

After speaking to Mr Pence and Mr Graham for some time, Mr McCain walked across the floor to tell Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Dick Durbin, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Dianne Feinstein that they had his vote.

Cheers erupted in the Senate chamber as Mr McCain cast what was believed to be the deciding "no" vote.

After the bill's failure, Mr Schumer told the Senate that it was time to heed Mr McCain's call this week to return to a more transparent and bipartisan legislative process.

"He's a hero, he's a hero of mine," Mr Schumer told reporters after the vote.

Additional reporting agencies
A man shouting "Allahu Akbar" stabbed to death one person and wounded six others in a supermarket in the German city of Hamburg on Friday.

The attacker, who was born in the United Arab Emirates, was overpowered by passers-by and arrested.

Olaf Scholz, the mayor of Hamburg, said the attack had been motivated by "hate" and added that the suspected attacker was a failed asylum seeker whose deportation had been blocked because he lacked identity papers.

Map: Hamburg supermarket attack

"I am outraged by the vicious attack that killed at least one Hamburger today," he said.

"It makes me especially angry that the perpetrator appears to be a person who claimed protection in Germany and then turned his hate against us."

Citing security sources, Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel reported that the 26-year-old perpetrator was known to police as an Islamist. News agency DPA reported that security authorities were investigating evidence the man had Salafist ties.

The attacker stabbed to death a 50-year-old man believed to be a German citizen

Police said that he "struck out wildly" at others, wounding five more in the supermarket - a 50-year-old woman and four men aged 19, 56, 57 and 64.

Another 35-year-old man was hurt while overpowering the attacker in the street alongside other passers-by shortly after the killing.

All of the wounded were being treated or operated on in hospital, some of them for serious injuries, police said.

Police officers secure the area after a knife attack at a supermarket in Hamburg Credit: Paul Weidenbaum/AP

A police murder unit and a specialist politically-motivated crime squad are investigating the attack and were able to secure the suspected murder weapon.

German daily Bild published a picture of the attacker in the back of a police car with a white, blood-soaked bag over his head, and reported that he cried "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) during the attack.

"Suddenly I saw a man smeared with blood running along the other side of the road with a knife," an eyewitness identified as Ralf W. told Bild. "He shouted out 'Allahu Akbar' as he was running."

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A female witness standing in line at the supermarket till also told NTV rolling news channel that "as he was running out... he held up his arms and shouted 'Allahu Akbar'."

"I thought I was in a horror movie, I thought he would kill me," an unnamed woman who had been in the supermarket told rolling news channel NTV.

She said she feared she would die, as she was "queueing for the till and couldn't get away".

Police investigators work at the crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg Credit: Morris Mac Matzen/Reuters

The suspect fled the supermarket after the attack.

But "people were running after him with improvised weapons, chairs and sticks... they ran after him into a side street," Ralf W. told Bild.

"People chased after the killer with chairs, they were throwing them at him," bakery worker Shaylin Roettmer told DPA.

The witnesses slightly injured the attacker while they were overpowering him, before handing him over to police.

Police cars outside the supermarket in Hamburg Credit: @MarcoZitzow

Police blocked off the lively and diverse high street dotted with cafes and shops in the northeast of the port city, Germany's second largest and host of the G20 summit of world leaders in early July.

Anti-terror officers armed with automatic weapons patrolled the scene and onlookers gathered behind strips of red-and-white police tape.

While the attacker's motives remain unknown, Germany has been on high alert about the threat of a jihadist attack, especially since last December's truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the carnage in which a Tunisian rejected asylum seeker and ex-convict, Anis Amri, 24, ploughed the stolen truck through a crowd.
If you live in New York, Chicago, London, or one of 47 other cities worldwide, Amazon can deliver orders in as little as an hour. Its a hell of a deal for those who have access to the Prime Now and are willing to pay the $7.99 delivery fee, but its not necessarily a good deal for Amazon itself  at least, not yet.

That is a service customers love, chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky said on Amazons second quarter earnings call Thursday. That is not an inexpensive service, though.

Prime Now is the perfect illustration of the companys overarching approach since Jeff Bezos founded it 23 years ago. Amazon is prepared to bankroll costly but popular services and figure out how to make them turn a profit later. The company emphasizes its focus on customer satisfaction and investment in long-term growth, sometimes at the expense of short-term earnings.

Thats the story coming out of Amazons second quarter earnings call, as the company shared with investors and the public its performance from April to June of this year. Amazons earnings were considerably below analyst projections, but this is more an indication of the companys long-term priorities than it is necessarily a cause for concern.

Amazons net sales, a solid indicator of how popular the companys products and services are with consumers, were $38 billion this quarter. This represents a 25 percent increase from the $30.4 billion in sales from the second quarter of 2016. Its also up from the $35.3 billion in sales for the first three months of 2017. The company has exceeded analyst projections for both of this years quarters  Amazon was expected to reach $37.18 billion in sales for this quarter.

This revenue, however, considers only what Amazon brings in from its myriad products and services. Its overall earnings, on the other hand, look at the full picture of the companys financial transactions, which in Amazons case involve major investments that trade short-term earnings for potential long-term growth. Those costly investments include things like video, drone delivery, and international expansion.

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Analysts had already figured Amazons earnings would drop this quarter, assuming a drop of 21 percent to $1.41 per share. The actual numbers are significantly lower, with the per-share earnings actually coming in at 40 cents. The companys net income in the second quarter was $197 million, less than a fourth of its $857 million income in the same three-month period last year.

Amazon Web Services, the companys cloud computing platform, remains its most reliable moneymaker. Its income in the past quarter was $916 million, compared with $436 million for Amazons operations in North America. Its ongoing international expansion operated at a loss of $724 million. The continued financial success of AWS is part of the reason Jeff Bezos is able to continue his strategy of more adventurous investment in the future, even when parts of the company lose money in a given quarter.

As for the next quarter, Amazon projects net sales to increase to between $39.25 billion and $41.75 billion, which would be a growth of between 20 and 28 percent from the third quarter last year. Its income is projected anywhere from a loss of $400 million or a profit of $300 million. Even the most optimistic projection is barely half the companys $575 million profit it posted in the third quarter of 2016. This means the company plans to continue to prioritize future-looking investment, at least in the near term.

One of those investments remains Prime Now, which Olsavsky said is something the company looks to improve. Were constantly working on our cost of delivery and our route densities, he said on the call. We like what we see and well continue to expand that. Well be working very hard making that not only a valuable Prime offering and Prime benefit but also a lower-cost operation as well.

Photos via Getty Images / Drew Angerer
Hamburg (AFP) - Passers-by gave chase and used makeshift weapons to tackle a knife-wielding man who killed one person and injured six others at a Hamburg supermarket on Friday, witnesses of the chaotic scene said.

"A crowd of about 30 people ran out of the supermarket. They yelled that someone had been stabbed... we saw a man go past with a big knife, like a butcher's knife, in his hand," eyewitness Ralf Woyna told AFP.

Woyna had been sitting at a cafe opposite the entrance to the shop where the chase began.

"Two customers who also looked Middle Eastern took all the chairs from the cafe and ran after him. I lost sight of them for a minute and heard a shout of 'Allahu Akbar' in the distance, I knew it was an attack straight away," he added.

An amateur mobile phone video published by news site Spiegel Online showed a handful of pursuers confronting the attacker, a bearded man wearing a T-shirt and jeans, amid dense city traffic.

They can be seen hurling chairs at him to keep him at a safe distance as he yells and brandishes the knife.

According to Spiegel Online, a 35-year-old man injured during the struggle was the one who finally forced the suspect to the ground, using a pole.

Police confirmed that they were alerted to the attack by witnesses, who had given chase and overpowered the as-yet unidentified suspect.

Plainclothes officers were able to capture the man, who was lightly injured.

Newspaper Bild published images of the man lying handcuffed on the ground and sitting in the back seat of a police car, a bloodied white bag pulled over his head.

Media reported that investigators are looking into an Islamist motive for the attack, and Hamburg mayor Olaf Scholz said that he had been motivated by "hate".

He arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker and lived in an accommodation centre for migrants, media reported.

- 'Horror movie' -

The man struck around 1510 (1310 GMT) on Friday afternoon at a popular supermarket on a busy high street in the northeast of Hamburg, Germany's second city and host of early July's G20 summit of world leaders.

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He stormed into the supermarket with a "huge knife," an unnamed woman told rolling news channel NTV, gesturing to show that the weapon was about 50 centimetres (20 inches) long.

"I thought I was in a horror movie, I thought he would kill me," she said.

Police said that he struck out "wildly" at people around him, killing a 50-year-old man believed to be a German citizen and wounding four others, a 50-year old woman and men aged 19, 56, 57 and 64.

"As he was running out... he held up his arms and shouted 'Allahu Akbar'," the female eyewitness added.

"I had just been eating next door to the supermarket and then heard loud noises outside. I went out onto the pavement and saw a man stab a woman who was riding a bicycle. She was hurt in the chest and didn't get back up," 64-year-old Sami Shaudhry told broadcasters.

A police spokeswoman said she was unable to confirm the "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest" in Arabic) accounts.

Police helicopters rattled overhead and officers with automatic weapons patrolled the area immediately after the attack.

Later on Friday evening, the usually-busy shopping street remained cordoned off as forensics teams and investigators did their work.

There were few onlookers at the lines of red-and-white police tape, with most inhabitants of the racially mixed, working-class district going about their business as usual.
(WASHINGTON)  Republican finger-pointing commenced Friday after the Senates dark-of-night defeat of the GOPs effort to repeal much of the Obama health care law, a startling vote that dealt a blow to President Donald Trump.

3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down, Trump tweeted early Friday after GOP leaders failed to patch party divisions and the Senate rejected a last-ditch bill to keep the effort alive. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!

The skinny repeal bill  erasing several parts of President Barack Obamas law  was rejected just before 2 a.m. EST on a vote of 51-49.

All Democrats were joined by GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and the ailing John McCain. The 80-year-old Arizona senator made a dramatic return to the Capitol Tuesday after being diagnosed with brain cancer to cast a decisive procedural vote that for a time had advanced the legislation.

Following rejection of two broader GOP repeal plans earlier in the week, the early Friday vote cast doubt on whether divided Senate Republicans can advance any health bill despite seven years of promises to repeal Obamacare.

House leaders had no hesitation about blaming the Senate for the collapse of one of the GOPs paramount priorities. In a statement, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., pointedly said the House delivered a bill and said he was disappointed and frustrated. Nearly three months earlier, the House approved its health care package after several embarrassing setbacks.

He added, But we should not give up. I encourage the Senate to continue working toward a real solution that keeps our promise.

Underscoring the Houses view of where the fault lie, leaders opened a morning meeting of the chambers GOP lawmakers by playing audio of Gordon Lightfoots The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which recounts the 1975 wreck of a freighter in Lake Superior. Several lawmakers said House deputy whip Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told them the song was meant as a reference to the Senate.

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One moderate Republican said Trump shared responsibility for the bills breakdown. One of the failures was the president never laid out a plan or his core principles and never sold them to the American people, said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. Outsourced the whole issue to Congress.

The measure defeated Friday would have repealed an Obama mandate that most people get health insurance and would have suspended a requirement that larger companies offer coverage to their employees. It would have also suspended a tax on medical devices and denied federal payments to Planned Parenthood for a year.

This is clearly a disappointing moment, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, said. I regret that our efforts were not enough this time.

Its time to move on, he said. McConnell put the health bill on hold and announced that the Senate would move onto other legislation next week.

Conservative Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., whos running for a vacant Senate seat, suggested it was time for McConnell to relinquish his post.

If theyre going to quit, well then by golly, maybe they ought to start at the top with Mitch McConnell leaving his position and letting somebody new, somebody bold, somebody conservative take the reins, Brooks said on CNN. He added, How is he going to get the job done on the rest of President Trumps agenda?

On Twitter, McCain said the repeal bill fell short of our promise to repeal & replace Obamacare w/ meaningful reform.

The amendment was a last resort for Senate Republicans to pass something  anything  to trigger negotiations with the House.

I hope this is a turning point, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York, said Friday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said in a statement that the Trump administration would pursue its health care goals through regulation. This effort will continue, Price said. But insurers, hospitals, doctors, and consumer groups are pressing the administration to guarantee billions of dollars in disputed subsidies to help stabilize insurance markets around the country.

Buoyed by a signal from Ryan, McConnell had introduced a pared-down health care bill late Thursday that he hoped would keep alive Republican ambitions to repeal Obamacare.

The Congressional Budget Office said the measure would have increased the number of uninsured people by 16 million, the same problem that vexed all the repeal and replace measures Republicans have offered. Obamas law extended coverage to some 20 million people, reducing the nations uninsured rate to a historic low of around 9 percent.

Still, Ryan had seemingly opened a path for McConnell earlier Thursday by signaling a willingness to negotiate a more comprehensive bill with the Senate. Some Republican senators had been concerned that the House would simply pass McConnells skinny bill and send it to Trump. That would have sent a shock wave through health insurance markets, spiking premiums.

Ryan sent senators a statement saying that if moving forward requires talks with the Senate, the House would be willing to do so. While Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., eventually said he was reassured by Ryans statement, McCain remained unconvinced.

Not sufficient, McCain said.

Numerous polls had shown little public support for the GOPs earlier proposals to repeal and replace Obamas law. A recent AP-NORC poll found only 22 percent of the public backing the Republican approach, while 51 percent were opposed.
(WASHINGTON)  President Donald Trump is likely to sign a tough new sanctions bill that includes proposed measures targeting Russia  a remarkable concession that the president has yet to sell his party on his hopes for forging a warmer relationship with Moscow.

Trumps vow to extend a hand of cooperation to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been met with resistance as skeptical lawmakers look to limit the executive powers leeway to go easy on Moscow over its meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The Senate voted decisively on Thursday to approve the new package of financial sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea two days after the House pushed the measure through by an overwhelming margin.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., had said he wanted to re-examine the bills North Korea portion, potentially delaying it before legislators take their August recess. But late Wednesday he announced that he sees a path forward on legislation to sanction Iran, Russia and North Korea following very productive discussions.

The proposed measures target Russias energy sector as part of legislation that prevents Trump from easing sanctions on Moscow without congressional approval.

Read More: Everything to Know About the Russians in Donald Trump Jr.s Emails

Two administration officials say that Trump is likely to sign the bill, despite last-minute wrangling over language and bureaucracy. Faced with near-unanimous bipartisan support for the bill in both the House and Senate, the president finds his hands are tied, according to two administration officials and two advisers with knowledge of the discussions.

The officials added that the president has been reluctant to proceed with the bill, even after it was revised last week to include some changes that American and European companies sought to ensure that business deals were not stifled by new sanctions. Trump has privately expressed frustration over Congress ability to limit or override the power of the White House on national security matters, saying that it is complicating efforts to coordinate with allies  particularly those in Europe that have taken a different approach to sanctions.

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The administration officials and advisers demanded anonymity to discuss the private sanctions deliberations. Trumps new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, hedged the inevitability that Trump will sign, telling CNNs New Day on Thursday that the president may sign the sanctions exactly the way they are or he may veto the sanctions and negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians.

There is a tremendous and unprecedented effort by Congress to assert its influence on Russia and foreign policy because it does not trust the president, said Elizabeth Rosenberg, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a former senior adviser at the Treasury Department.

Lawmakers are so distrustful of the administration that they are imposing requirements to conduct congressional review of attempts by the president to roll back sanctions, and in some instances prevent him from doing so, Rosenberg said.

Lawmakers have been keen to implement a sturdy clampdown on North Koreas confrontational actions  most recently after its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Theyve also traditionally favored a policy that keeps Moscow in check for its own aggressive measures in Eastern Europe and Syria, as well as its efforts to disrupt elections in the U.S. and across Europe.

The message coming from Congress on a bipartisan basis is these are hostile regimes and sanctions are warranted  sanctions are called for, Ryan told reporters Thursday. And we want to make sure that theyre tough sanctions and that theyre durable sanctions. It took us a while to figure this out and come together to get the policy right . . . and we all agreed we believe these tough hostile regimes deserve sanctions and this is the bipartisan compromise that produces that.

Read More: Inside the Secret Plan to Stop Vladimir Putins U.S. Election Plot

Trump hasnt threatened to reject the bill even though Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other senior administration officials had objected to a mandated congressional review should the president attempt to ease or lift the sanctions on Russia. Theyve argued it would infringe on the presidents executive authority and tie his hands as he explores avenues of communication and cooperation between the two former Cold War foes.

Russias ambitions to be on equal footing with the U.S. suffered a setback in 2014 when the Obama administration authorized sanctions against sectors of the Russian economy, including financial services, energy, mining and defense. The administration also sanctioned people in Putins inner circle accused of undermining peace in Ukraine. Add to that falling oil prices and a weak ruble, and Russias economy was shackled.

Sanctions relief is important to Russias broader objective of superpower status, shown by its bullish Syria policy. Syrias Russian-backed military made major gains in rebel-held eastern Aleppo in recent days and rebel resistance appeared to be crumbling. While Moscow and Washington are continuously at odds over Syria, the Obama administration did not impose any Syria-related sanctions.

Trumps positions on Russia are generally hard to assess because hes often stepped away from his more controversial proposals. In his meeting this month with Putin on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations summit in Germany, Trump said he repeatedly addressed the topic of Russias meddling in the U.S. election. But he never directly answered questions about whether he believed Putins claims that Russia had nothing to do with it.

There is a bipartisan consensus to confront Russia across the board  from its actions in Ukraine, Syria, cyber, its election meddling  you name it, said Boris Zilberman, a Russia sanctions expert with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Russia is the driving force in the sanctions bill, he added. So we see the legislative branch now trying to send a clear message to the executive branch on where they stand on the issue.
Insurance giant Aetna (AET) rewards its employees monetarily for sleeping, helps them pay off student loan debt, offers tuition assistance, encourages them to partake in yoga-mindfulness, and pays a minimum base wage thats significantly higher than the federal minimum wage.

In all, the company spends about $70 million per year on these programs without putting a dent in the bottom line, according to CEO Mark Bertolini. In fact, he says its helped the company by reducing health care costs, creating more productive and engaged employees, which results in higher customer retention rates.

This all started back in 2007 when Bertolini approached his team about doing yoga and mindfulness, something he practices on a daily basis. He was able to get the Chief Medical Officer to sign off on the initiative on the condition that they conduct a study on the impact of mind-body stress reduction.

What they soon learned is that the employees with the highest levels of stress had around $2,500 more per year of health care costs.

And so, we put them through mindfulness and yoga we measured their heart rate ability afterward, looked at their health care costs a year later, and we saw $3,000 reduction in health care costs and 69 minutes more in productivity, Bertolini said in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance.

During the study, the 700 participants were asked to keep a journal. In those journals, Aetna learned that quality of life is a major source of stress. For example, some employees were worried about having to pay bills or not having enough money to cover their bills. Some were on food stamps or had children on Medicaid.

People, planet, then profits

Those revelations led the company to look closer at its people and understand why they were facing these sorts of challenges at home.

Were a big company. We do well. Why arent some of these employees doing well? Bertolini said. What we did that we found that we had a vast majority of these families were female head of household, a lot of them were single female head of household. We had a lot of kids on Medicaid a lot of families on food stamps and what we did is we said, What is their wage like? And it was about $12, $12.50 an hour.

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Mark Bertolini

As a result, Aetna raised its minimum base wage for employees to $16 per hour.

That started a whole thought process in the organization that created this idea of What more can we do for our employees to make better people? Because these are the people taking care of our customers who need support, Bertolini said. And that began the whole idea of paying for sleep  $300 for twenty nights in a row seven-and-a-half hours. We increased our tuition assistance to $5,000 a year, and we now repay student loans up to $10,000. And now we have pet therapy, so we have dogs and cats and rabbits  people lined up and down the hall to have time with these pets. Its amazing.

Its a model that he thinks other corporations can and have to replicate.

This whole idea of dealing with a social ecosystem is about more moral authority than formal authority. Its about mission. Its about people, planet, then profits, Bertolini said. And so if you have to build an organization like that, it requires trust, and you only get that if you give it. And so this mission-oriented, trust-based model of running a business within a social ecosystem requires different leadership than weve traditionally seen in the CEO suite. And I think thats the next big step for corporations is to understand that and act on it. You can do good and do well.

Quality of life

A recent change Aetna announced is the relocation of its headquarters from Hartford, Connecticut to New York Citys trendy Chelsea neighborhood. Bertolini characterized the move as a quality of life issue.

Its about talent in a very specific way, he said. Because of what we do as a company and the way we behave everybody wants to come work for us, and they love to work for us. The problem is keeping them.

This generation of talent wants to live in communities where they can walk, go to restaurants, and access parks.

Hartford is a beautiful place, but it doesnt have the vibrancy it needs for us to keep people once we get them and thats the issue. Its quality of life.



Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
A woman in Sheffield Lake, Ohio, made a 9-1-1 call Thursday after a 5 1/2-foot long boa constrictor proceeded to wrap itself around her neck, according to reports. The snake, which she rescued the day before, also repeatedly bit the woman's face.

The Sheffield Lake Fire Department (SLFD) and Police Department (SLPD) reportedly arrived at the scene within minutes of the call, finding the woman lying in her driveway as the snake was wrapped around her neck, biting her face.

Read: King Cobra Snakes Smuggled To California In Chips Cans From Hong Kong

According to Fox 8 News in Cleveland, the woman called the SLPD to report the incident. "I have a boa constrictor stuck to my face," she told the dispatcher. The dispatcher responded to her claim with a question: "You have a boa constrictor stuck to your face?"

She requested for the SLPD to hurry because the snake was biting her nose. The dispatcher claimed that they had "never heard of this before."

Firefighters were forced to cut off the boa constrictor's head with a pocket knife, a precaution used to quickly protect the owner. The woman, who remains unidentified, was promptly placed into to an ambulance that transported her to a local hospital for treatment. She acquired injuries that were not life-threatening, according to Fox 8 News.

"The snake wouldn't release," Sheffield Lake Fire Lt. Wes Mariner told Cleveland.com Friday. "Because of how close it was wrapped around her, there were no other options, from what I understand."

The victim is no stranger to slithering reptiles. The boa constrictor that attacked her was one of 11 that she's rescued, which all reside in her Sheffield Lake home. She owns two boa constrictors, with the remaining nine snakes being pythons.

Read: Watch: Goat Pulled Out Of Python's Mouth, Robbing Snake Of Its Food

Boa constrictors are non-venomous snakes, but they are known for the way in which they vanquish their prey. The slithering reptile resorts to squeezing or constricting their victim, which will ultimately result in the prey's death, according to Life Science.

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There is a misconception about the method boa constrictors use to kill its prey, being asphyxiation. The Verge debunked this myth in 2015, reporting that the snake will cut off their prey's blood flow to make for a quicker death.

Boa constrictors are among the longest snakes worldwide but still falling behind anacondas and pythons. A boa constrictor can be as long as 13 feet and could weigh up to 60 pounds.

Boa constrictors are also commonly sold in pet stores worldwide though they are not considered to be intentionally aggressive pets. However, they can and have had the ability to kill humans.

Boa Constrictor

Photo: Getty Images

Follow me on Twitter @dory_jackson

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With Donald Trump reportedly announcing his third run for president next week, it should be all hands on deck for the adult children in his family. Yet if new reports ring true, the former presidents entourage will look much different than it did during his administration  it seems that daughter Ivanka Trump has quietly exited []
Are you finding it difficult to retain information? If you feel that you suffer from poor levels of retention power or a bad memory then you could resort to a simple solution  just grab a drink after you have learned or studied something new.

A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports on Monday claimed that alcohol can boost your memory and ability to retain information.

Read: Marijuana And Memory: Cannabis Could Help Elderly, Alzheimer's Patients

A group of scientists from the University of Exeter in the U.K. conducted a study to examine how alcohol consumption can affect the brain and its abilities. In the study, they took 88 social drinkers and split them into two groups. They were asked to drink as much as they wished to or none at all. Those that chose to drink, consumed an average of about four units. They were all then given a word-learning task.

After analyzing and examining the data, the researchers came to the conclusion that those who drank alcohol could remember more of what they had learned in the task as compared to the ones who did not drink. The following day they were again asked to do the same task and they performed in a similar manner  those who drank remembered more.

"Our research not only showed that those who drank alcohol did better when repeating the word-learning task, but that this effect was stronger among those who drank more," Celia Morgan, the study researcher said, according to the Telegraph.

"The causes of this effect are not fully understood, but the leading explanation is that alcohol blocks the learning of new information and therefore the brain has more resources available to lay down other recently learned information into long-term memory," she continued.

"The theory is that the hippocampus - the brain area really important in memory - switches to 'consolidating' memories, transferring from short into longer-term memory," Morgan noted.

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The results determined by the researchers have been shown earlier under controlled laboratory conditions, however, this was the first study to have tested it in a completely natural setting with people being allowed to drink at their homes.

"The results of this study support the notion that alcohol can facilitate memory for previously learned information. By replicating retrograde facilitation in people drinking in their own homes, this finding extends past laboratory findings," the study concluded.

Although it has been found that alcohol can boost your memory, its negative effects on your overall health should be kept in mind before you grab that drink saying it will help you retain information. Researchers stressed this is a limited positive effect of alcohol in the study, and mentioned the visible and damaging consequences of excessive alcohol consumption on your memory, mental and physical health.

There are other ways to keep your memory healthy, according to livescience.com.

Adequate sleep is an important part of how we consolidate our memories. Poor sleeping habits or patterns will make your memory suffer.

Stress is harmful to brain functioning and keeping your memory healthy. Thus scientists suggest living a balanced lifestyle with proper food, exercise and sleep could delay the risk of memory impairment.

Read: Woman Dies After Taking Mystery Alcohol Shot At Mexico Resort, Drowns In Pool

The most important way to reduce cognitive decline is to make your brain work every day and learn new things. Crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles and sudoku help keep your brain in shape and boost memory.

A healthy and adequate amount of food every day is the key to provide your brain the resources it needs to work well and retain what you learn.

As we know, practice makes perfect. That is true for your brains too. Practice building your memory, and keep your brain active.

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After deaths in a hot truck and drownings in the Rio Grande, border security experts warn migrants likely to take increasingly dangerous routes into US

Flowers, candles and bottles of water help create a makeshift memorial near the site where authorities discovered a tractor-trailer packed with people in San Antonio. Photograph: Eric Gay/AP

Donald Trumps immigration policies are likely to encourage migrants to risk more dangerous routes into the US, like the journey which this week ended with the death of ten people in a sweltering truck, border security experts have warned.

Dozens of people from Mexico and Central America were found packed into a non-air-conditioned cargo container in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio at about 12.30am last Sunday.

The deaths are thought to have been caused by heat exposure, dehydration and suffocation. About 30 people were hospitalised.

Days later, at least four people  including two children  drowned trying to cross the swollen Rio Grande near El Paso.

As part of its campaign to crackdown on undocumented migration, the Trump administration wants to force so-called sanctuary cities to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, beef up frontier security and surveillance, and  eventually  build a wall along the border with Mexico.



But Alonzo Pena, a former deputy director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), said simplistic strategies would not deter people desperate to join family or seek a better life. Instead, closing off simpler routes would prompt migrants to attempt more dangerous crossings.

I call it an unfortunate collateral consequence, he said. They will put themselves in the hands of unscrupulous criminals that see them as just a commodity.

Asked if a wall would help, Pena, now a consultant in San Antonio, said: Absolutely not  it probably will contribute to more tragedies.

He said building better binational relationships, encouraging information-sharing and more use of informants were key to breaking up networks of smugglers and traffickers.



In recent years, stepped-up frontier security has meant that smuggling activities once orchestrated by small, loosely organised enterprises are being run by bigger, more ruthless and profit-oriented criminal gangs with indirect links to drug cartels.

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Packing many people into a truck is a profitable strategy for such smugglers. A large vehicle is a better hiding place than smaller alternatives and reduces the number of trips, making evading detection more likely at busy interior US Border Patrol checkpoints placed along highways near the frontier.

The policies to enforce the border have the unintended consequence of strengthening transnational smuggling networks and the connection of business with transnational criminal organisations. Theres money there, said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, an associate professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley who studies migration and trafficking. You are increasing the incentives for corruption on both sides of the border.

Apprehensions on the south-west border have decreased sharply since Donald Trump entered the White House  a sign that fewer illegal trips are being attempted.

A senior Texas Republican claimed that lax enforcement was to blame for the deaths in San Antonio. Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor, told Fox News that the incident resulted from Democrat policies of today, of an open border and sanctuary cities.



Texas this year passed a law banning so-called sanctuary cities  places that offer little or no cooperation with federal immigration agents. Border security will help prevent this Texas tragedy, John Cornyn, a US senator from Texas, wrote on Twitter.

But critics say that such enforcement does nothing to remove the push factors behind migration from Mexico and Central America, such as the lack of economic opportunity and violence by street gangs, security forces and crime groups.

A report published in March by the risk analysts Verisk Maplecroft termed Trumps crackdown a gift to human traffickers by driving undocumented workers in the US deeper into the shadows, while a wall would increase criminal trafficking fees, leaving migrants more deeply mired in debt and vulnerable to exploitation.

But even this weeks deaths would not curtail demand, Correa-Cabrera said.

They will still take trucks. They have been taking the journey and nothing has stopped them, she said. How many women are willing to take the journey even though they know there is a very high possibility of being raped?


Brentwood (United States) (AFP) - President Donald Trump traveled to a crime-afflicted New York town Friday, seeking to magnify the threat from Latino gangs and encouraging police to dole out rough justice.

On a visit to Long Island, Trump described an urban hell where "animals" in gangs like MS-13 have "butchered" little girls, and "transformed peaceful parks and beautiful, quiet neighborhoods into blood-stained killing fields."

"They kidnap. They extort. They rape and they rob. They prey on children. They shouldn't be here. They stomp on their victims. They beat them with clubs. They slash them with machetes. And they stab them with knives," Trump said, using language unusual for a US president.

The gang, which is largely Salvadoran, has killed 17 people here over the past year and a half.

Trump has seized on the uptick in violence as evidence for the need for his restrictive immigration policies and less humane policing.

Some, but not all, gang members are illegal immigrants. Others are legal residents.

Flanked by uniformed police officers, Trump appeared to encourage them to abuse gang members taken into custody.

Trump asked them to "please don't be too nice" to "thugs," suggesting they be "thrown" into the back of police cars.

He also suggested that police should not place their hands protectively on detainees heads as they enter the vehicle. "You can take the hand away, okay?"

Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters waving flags and banners rallied Friday outside the community college where Trump spoke.

"Trump's visit here is an attempt to generalize violence and associate it with all Latinos. It is a pretext for winning votes, a way of promoting his racism," said Edwin Avila, a 44-year-old Salvadoran who has lived in Brentwood for 20 years.

On the other side of the street, several dozen Trump supporters insulted the protesters and chanted, "Eight more years."
Following an approval from the Senate on Thursday, the bill imposing sanctions against Russia, Iran, and North Korea is now headed to President Donald Trumps desk. The bill that includes a provision to bar the president from easing Russia sanctions without Congress approval was passed in the Senate with an overwhelming majority of 98-2.

The legislation has been passed with an aim to punish Moscow for meddling in the presidential election. It also imposes sanctions on Iran and North Korea over their missile programs and the sanctions may target organizations having business ties with the two countries.

Read: Why EU Extended Russia Sanctions On Crimea Imports By One Year

The White House, however, is giving mixed signals whether Trump will sign the legislation. After the bill was cleared in the Senate, the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Thursday night, Well review that and let you know what we do.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci was also unclear in his response. He may sign the sanctions exactly the way they are, or he may veto the sanctions and negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians.

The White House is specifically concerned with the provision that limits Trumps power; however, the presidents objection to the bill may put him into trouble amid deepening Russia election probe.

Read: Putin Blames New Russia Sanctions On 'Domestic Political Problems' In The US

Sanders tried evading the question on Monday too. In a Washington Post report, she was quoted as saying the president has been very vocal about his support for continuing sanctions on those three countries." While on Sunday, she told ABCs This Week with George Stephanopoulos program: We support where the legislation is now and will continue working with the House and Senate to put those tough sanctions in place on Russia until the situation in Ukraine is fully resolved and it certainly isn't right now.

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Some observers have also called it the first rebuke from the Congress to Trumps foreign policy as the president tries to maintain amicable relations with Kremlin.

The House of Representatives passed the bill Tuesday with an overwhelming majority of 419-3. While Republican Representatives  Justin Amash of Michigan, Tom Massie of Kentucky and Jimmy Duncan of Tennessee  opposed the bill in the House, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Bernie Sanders from Vermont opposed the bill in Senate. While Paul had earlier said the U.S. needed to improve cyber security to fight cyber attacks from Russia and China, Sen. Sanders has said he was not sure about the sanctions against Iran.

Some Republican senators are of the view Trump would not veto the bill. It's just not a good way to start the presidency to veto something and then be soundly overridden, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) told reporters after the Senate vote. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said it would be a mistake on Trumps part to veto the bill, reports said.

Meanwhile, referring to the sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said they were against the international law.

It goes without saying the bill has pushed Trump into a veto dilemma which was described aptly by Sen, Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) as he spoke to CNN. This bill gives the President a strong hand. Vetoing the bill is a weaker hand, he said. If he vetoes the bill, it shows presidential weakness toward Russia.

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Legislative agenda appears stalled and, after purge of establishment Republicans from White House staff, many in GOP are becoming more open in their criticism

Reince Priebus, shortly before he was fired as White House chief of staff on Friday. His dismissal, as well as Trumps targeting of Jeff Sessions, has rankled establishment Republicans. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Donald Trumps presidency was this weekend facing fresh turmoil after a week of unadulterated disasters that culminated in the removal of his chief of staff.



With his legislative agenda stalled and his White House descending into civil war, Trump appeared to be losing support in a Republican party that had previously rallied round him.

Senior Republicans in Congress scolded the president over his threat to fire the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and voted in favour of tougher sanctions against Russia, thwarting Trumps attempts to seek warmer relations with Vladimir Putin.

The president was also under siege over his abrupt Twitter announcement that transgender people would be banned from the military and his unscripted remarks in set-piece speeches, one of which appeared to endorse police brutality.

Commentators said the past week was the worst endured by any US president in living memory and warned that as Trump became increasingly isolated and volatile, the situation could rapidly deteriorate  especially if he is tested by an international crisis.

Charlie Sykes, a conservative author and broadcaster, said: You have a White House in meltdown because the president is a pyromaniac.

Frustrated by the failure of his healthcare bill in the Senate, Trump on Saturday used Twitter to demand a change in the Senate rules that would make it easier for the majority party to pass legislation.

Republican Senate must get rid of 60 vote NOW! he wrote. It is killing the R Party, allows 8 Dems to control country. 200 Bills sit in Senate. A JOKE!

If the Senate Democrats ever got the chance, they would switch to a 51 majority vote in first minute. They are laughing at Rs [Republicans]. MAKE CHANGE!

Trump has mused about Senate procedure before, returning to the issue whenever particularly frustrated with Congress and in doing so demonstrating a shaky understanding of how the upper chamber works.

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The Republican healthcare law failed because the party could not muster 50 votes from within its own 52-strong group, using a special budget process called reconciliation that avoids the 60-vote threshold.

A day earlier, in a major shake-up, Trump replaced Reince Priebus after only six months as chief of staff, installing in his place the homeland security secretary, John Kelly, a retired US Marine Corps four-star general with little experience in civilian government or the legislative process.



Trump announced the move in a tweet a day after his new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, accused Priebus of leaking information to reporters in a vulgar tirade that made Republican stalwarts wince. The brash Scaramucci called the chief of staff a fucking paranoid schizophrenic.

Trump, a former Democrat, styled himself as an outsider when taking on the Republican establishment during the party primaries. When he pulled off a shock victory, many were reluctant to embrace him but did so out of expediency. It is still said most would secretly prefer the vice-president, Mike Pence, to be in charge.

But Priebus  whose 189-day tenure was the shortest in modern history for a White House chief of staff  followed the deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, communications director Mike Dubke, press secretary Sean Spicer and press aide Michael Short in being axed or opting to resign. One by one, Trumps links with the party establishment are being severed.

While the establishment is in retreat, Trumps inner circle is dominated by two other constituencies: nationalists such as Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, and New Yorkers with Democratic leanings including Jared Kushner, Gary Cohn, Dina Powell and Scaramucci. Trumps allies had long been critical of Priebus for bringing Republican insiders to the White House and overlooking those who helped get him elected.

Trump himself is said to have regarded Priebus as weak and to have publicly demeaned him. The Washington Post reported: At one point, during a meeting in the Oval Office, a fly began buzzing overhead, distracting the president. As the fly continued to circle, Trump summoned his chief of staff and tasked him with killing the insect, according to someone familiar with the incident.

The paper added: The West Wing has a regular fly problem.

Despite his deep Republican connections, Priebus could not weigh in sufficiently to get the party to repeal and replace Barack Obamas healthcare law. That dismal failure may encourage Trump to revert to his old self, as a non-politician railing against the Washington status quo.

The president said in a speech to police officers in Long Island, New York, on Friday: They should have approved healthcare last night, but you cant have everything. Boy, oh, boy. Theyve been working on that one for seven years. Can you believe that? The swamp. But well get it done. Were going to get it done.

The feeling of blame appeared mutual. The website Axios reported: Heard at House [Republican] conference meeting [yesterday] morning, this was the reaction to the healthcare bill: Lots of Senate blaming. Lots of McCain blaming. But a surprising number of members [standing] at the mike in conference blasting Trump. One called him an embarrassment.

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said she did not think Priebuss departure would affect White House relations with the Republican party.

I think weve still got a good relationship, she said. Were going to continue working with the party and doing what we came here to do.

Trump has no legislative achievements to show for his first six months in office. His chances of introducing tax and infrastructure reform look increasingly precarious.

The president is also increasingly threatened by the investigation headed by the former FBI director Robert Mueller into links between his administration and Russia. And he faces a string of crises on the international front, from North Koreas increasingly active nuclear missile programme to growing tensions with Iran.

The focus on the presidents relationship with Moscow rumbles on, Trump insisting on Saturday that Russia had never wanted him to become president. Citing a news report claiming that a hostile research firm which produced a salacious dossier about Trump carried out other work commissioned by Russia, Trump tweeted: In other words, Russia was against Trump in the 2016 election  and why not. I want strong military and low oil prices. Witch Hunt!

On Friday, the White House said that Trump would sign a bill passed by Congress tightening sanctions on Russia. The Kremlin has demanded the closure of American properties in Russia and announced action against US diplomatic personnel.
By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Dockworkers at 29 ports in California, Oregon and Washington are expected to ratify a three-year extension of their contract with shipping companies, union officials said on Friday, likely ensuring labor peace on the West Coast waterfront until at least 2022.

Early returns from ballots cast by members of the International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) showed 67 percent of the rank-and-file voting in favor of the contract extension, the union said in a statement.

If ratified as expected, the existing five-year labor agreement originally scheduled to lapse on July 1, 2019, would expire instead on July 1, 2022, according to the union.

The current contract was agreed to in February 2015 after nine months of negotiations between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents major shippers and terminal operators along the West Coast.

Labor tensions surrounding those talks disrupted the flow of cargo through the ports and reverberated across the U.S. commercial supply chain for many weeks, bogging down trans-Pacific trade in industries ranging from agriculture to automobiles.

California farmers were especially hard hit by port congestion, with export losses from perishable goods estimated to have run hundreds of millions of dollars per week.

It took weeks for the flow of shipping and cargo traffic to return to normal after the settlement, which was brokered with help from then-U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and a federal mediator.

The contract at issue covers 20,000 dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports handling nearly half of all U.S. maritime trade and more than 70 percent of the country's imports from Asia.

Shippers and terminal operators have been eager to ensure continued stability for as long as possible, avoiding a potential repeat of prolonged labor turmoil that by some projections could have ended up costing the U.S. economy billions of dollars.

"With this contract extension, the West Coast waterfront has a tremendous opportunity to attract more market share and demonstrate that our ports and our workforce are truly world-class," the Pacific Maritime Association President James McKenna said in a statement.

The union said its Coast Balloting Commission would announce official results of the ratification vote on Aug. 4. The balloting, now over, followed a year of debate within the union on the proposed extension that ILWU leaders called unprecedented.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Tom Brown)
UK, France to Ban Gasoline-Powered Cars, Vans by 2040

Whether measures will affect motorcycles is uncertain

The United Kingdom has moved to combat air pollution by issuing a plan to ban new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2040.

Given a similar plan announced by France, does this mean everyone in Europe will be using electric cars and motorcycles in the near future? Hard to say.

Nonetheless, the trend is clear, and government agencies obviously hope to accelerate the process by motivating the car and motorcycle industries to wick it up a bit  moving them into the future by getting off the gas, so to speak. But given the complex network of logistics involved in such a plan, and the fact that automakers like Volvo are already moving into the electric and hybrid mode anyway, the UK proclamation may just be a smokescreen, as one National Public Radio reporter punned. So lets take a deep breath and look at the facts.

The French have already banned pre-1999 motorcycles from Paris. Dubai has put the city and some residential areas off-limits to (off-road) motorcycles. One report from the UK puts the number of early deaths from air pollution in London at 23,000 a year. Theres little doubt that the writing is already on the soot-covered walls. What will the growing demand for clean air mean for other large cities, and the transportation needs for expansive geographies like the Los Angeles basin?

In conjunction with its plan to ban non-commercial "petrol" (their world for unleaded) and diesel cars and vans by 2040 the British government has posted a 255 million (US $295.3 million) fund to assist local councils in addressing emissions issues, which includes a proposal to charge high polluters a fee in certain areas. Other schemes include encouraging the use of public transport, re-routing some roads, and helping locales implement the use of electric vehicles.

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It should be noted that the UKs program of renewed urgency comes from the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which, according to our own Director Cope, is one of the weakest government bodies imaginable, and has the teeth of a goldfish. Which sounds similar to the current status of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S.

The money for this plan will ostensibly derive from increased taxes on diesel vehicles, and cutbacks in existing government departmental budgets. A Clean Air Fund will provide more money for air quality control measures, (as yet unspecified), and the government can require the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles at existing gas stations.

Potential plans to increase taxes on diesels, or ban them altogether, have met with resistance from both government officials and the industry.

"The industry instead wants a positive approach which gives consumers incentives to purchase these cars, said Mike Hawes of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. We could undermine the UK's successful automotive sector if we don't allow enough time for the industry to adjust."

How, or even if, the proposed regulations will apply to motorcycles remains an unknown. Presently motorcycles and scooters are exempt from congestion charges in cities like London and Manchester because their impact is seen as nominal. Meanwhile, the challenges of making a hybrid motorcycle are greater than for a car, given the issues of limited battery space, weight, cost, fire hazard, etc. And while electric motorcycles and scooters may well prove economically feasible in congested urban areas, all that electricity has to come from somewhere, which can often mean burning stuff. (It should be noted, though, that the UK is investing heavily in wind, solar, and tidal energy)

In any case, it appears Europe will lead the way in the inevitable transition to cleaner transportation. Its combined components of more government pressure, shorter travel distances, and even more congested cities underscore the likelihood. However, the next 20 years may well reveal entirely new technologies that render the current plans obsolete before theyre even implemented. In the meantime, enjoy that gas-powered motorcycle while you can. Its future may be limited.
Nairobi (AFP) - Unknown gunmen attacked the home of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto on Saturday, less than two weeks before the country votes in high-stakes polls, two security sources told AFP.

Ruto was not home during the attack that left one officer from the elite police General Service Unit (GSU) seriously injured, a security official who was not authorised to speak to the press said.

"There are armed people who staged the attack and have shot the GSU officer and stolen his gun, the official said.

Security forces are trying to establish if there are still attackers in the deputy president's "expansive" home near the town of Eldoret, some 312 kilometres (194 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi, a senior police officer said.

"More security personnel have been deployed and a security operation is ongoing," the officer said.

Ruto's running mate President Uhuru Kenyatta faces a tight re-election contest on August 8 against longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Washington (AFP) - The heads of the US and South Korean militaries discussed "military response options" after North Korea test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, the Pentagon said Friday.

General Joe Dunford, who is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the US military's Pacific Command, spoke with South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Lee Sun Jin.

"During the call, Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance," Dunford spokesman Captain Greg Hicks said in a statement.

"The three leaders also discussed military response options."

While the Pentagon has long planned for the possibility of conflict with North Korea, the blunt language in the statement marked a departure from previous public reactions to missile tests.

Those earlier reactions typically decried the tests but did not emphasize military options.

It was the first time Dunford, who has been in his position for two years, had issued a statement raising military options, though he has discussed the topic in public conversations.

Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, who is currently on vacation, slammed North Korea's first test launch of an ICBM on July 4 as a "provocation," but stressed then that the United States seeks a diplomatic solution to the standoff.

"We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies from any attack or provocation," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said.
Hundreds of people provided a send-off for a military bomb-sniffer dog who served three tours in Afghanistan and who had to be put down after being diagnosed with terminal bone cancer.

Cena, a 10-year-old black labrador, was cheered and clapped as he was carried aboard USS LST 393, a museum ship in Muskegon, Michigan, where he was put to sleep. The dogs body was then carried off in a coffin draped with a US flag.

The Associated Press said that Cena was a bomb-sniffer for the Marines until his retirement in 2014. The goodbye was organised by his owner, Lance Cpl Jeff DeYoung, who was paired with the dog in 2009 and 2010 while on a combat tour in Afghanistan and who adopted him in 2014. Cena then became Mr DeYoungs service dog to help him with deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The labrador was recently diagnosed with terminal bone cancer (AP)

My whole adult life Ive had Cena, Mr DeYoung told the news agency. When I was 19 overseas, learning how to be responsible, I had Cena. And now I'm 27 and I'm having to say goodbye to one of the biggest pieces of my life.

Mr DeYoung said he had carried Cena across rivers and thrown his body over him while under heavy fire from the Taliban in Afghanistan. He said his dog had even kept him warm during freezing nights in the desert and was one of his few sources of comfort when he lost seven friends in three weeks.

Writing on Facebook the night before Cena was to be put down, Mr DeYoung spoke of dreading what he had to do the following morning.

My last night with Cena. Words cannot convey what Im feeling and thinking. I want to run away and not face what I must do, he wrote. But he needs me to be strong and set him free. He has blessed my life with love and admiration, happiness and strength. Because of him I got to have a family. Because of him I was able to live.

As part of the send-off, Mr DeYoung took his dog on a final ride in a topless Jeep that was decorated and named Cancer Response Team.

"It started off with my basically wanting to go to a dealership and wanting to borrow a Jeep for a day and really small to a community tribute or a community parade for him and he's truly deserved it all, said Mr DeYoung.

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The support, all the love people are giving him, he can see it and he can feel it.

Mr DeYoung said he dreaded having to put his dog to sleep (AP)

The ceremony was attended by officials from the US Marine Corps League, Michigan State Police, Muskegon County Sheriffs Office, Muskegon City Police, Muskegon Fire Department and officers from several other departments, including a canine officer named Rex.

There was a three-volley salute with Taps played on a bugle for Cena, who was wearing a decorated blue Marine vest. A GoFundMe page has been set up for donations to help build the dog a headstone.

Mr DeYoung added: Any dog that served overseas deserves exactly what Ive done for Cena, if not more.
Iranian state media said the USS Nimitz sailed near to an Iranian offshore oil platform

Iranian and US forces have reportedly engaged in another spat in the Persian Gulf as tensions between the two countries heat up following the US Congresss approval of new sanctions against Iran.

A US Navy aircraft carrier fired a warning shot in an unprofessional confrontation with Iranian vessels, Irans elite Revolutionary Guard told a state news agency in the country.

The USS Nimitz and an accompanying ship came near an Iranian offshore oil platform in the Persian Gulf, and a helicopter from the ship hovered near vessels manned by Irans elite Revolutionary Guard, the Islamic Republic News Agency said.

The confrontation occurred on Friday afternoon, according to the report. US Navy ships left the area following the encounter.

The US Navys Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet had no immediate comment.

The incident comes after a US Navy patrol boat fired warning shots on Tuesday near an Iranian vessel that American sailors said came dangerously close to them during a tense encounter.

Iran and the US frequently have run-ins in the Persian Gulf, nearly all involving the Revolutionary Guard, a separate force from Irans military that answers only to the countrys supreme leader. In January, near the end of then-President Barack Obamas term, the USS Mahan fired shots toward Iranian fast-attack boats as they neared the destroyer in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian forces view the American presence in the Gulf as a provocation. They have accused the US Navy of unprofessional behaviour, especially in the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil trade passes by sea.

Also Saturday, Irans parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy held an urgent meeting to review its response to a package of sanctions approved by the US Senate and sent to Donald Trump to be signed into law.

Deputy foreign minister and senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araghchi told state TV that the sanctions package is a hostile breach of the Iran deal, which was signed in 2015 during the Obama administration and sharply limited Irans ability to produce nuclear material in exchange for the countrys reintegration into the world economy.

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Mr Trump in the past has blasted the Iran nuclear accord as the stupidest deal of all time, but has certified to Congress that Iran is still complying with the terms of the agreement.

Mr Araghchi said the new sanctions are a breach of the deal in articles 26, 28 and 29.

A strong answer will be given to the action by the US, he said.

The articles say the US Administration, acting consistently with the respective roles of the President and Congress, will refrain from reimposing the sanctions or any policy specifically intended to directly and adversely affect the normalisation of trade and economic relations with Iran.

The US legislation imposes mandatory penalties on people involved in Irans ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. The measure would also apply terrorism sanctions to Irans elite Revolutionary Guard and enforce an arms embargo. Democrats said the new sanctions would not conflict with the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

On Friday, the United States, France, Germany and Britain  who brokered the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran along with China, Russia and the EU  said theyre raising concerns with the United Nations over Irans Thursday launch of a satellite-carrying rocket into space.

In a joint statement, they said that Irans launch was inconsistent with a UN Security Council resolution that enshrined the nuclear deal.

On Saturday Irans foreign ministry said the missile program is part of domestic policy of the country, deterrent and at service of regional peace and security.

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since 1979 when Iranian militant students stormed the US embassy and took 52 American hostages for 444 days.

Agencies contributed to this report
Venezuelas shield-bearing protesters A demonstrator holding a rudimentary shield and a knife poses for a picture before a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduros government in Caracas, Venezuela, May 27, 2017. He said: I protest because the situation is very tough and we are going hungry. We really need a change. (Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Venezuelan protesters blocked streets on Saturday, July 29, in a last-ditch effort to derail the election of a legislative superbody that opponents of President Nicolas Maduro say will give the Socialist leader a stranglehold on power.

The oil-rich but recession-racked country has been gripped by four months of protests against Maduro that have left more than 110 dead in confrontations against security forces, who have responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons.

Ahead of Sundays election, heres a look at Venezuelas young protesters, who, drawing inspiration from Ukraines 2013-14 revolt, don Viking-like shields in battles with security. (Reuters)

Photography by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

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The unprecedented, massive new sanctions bill that Congress sent to President Donald Trump on Thursday is a statement of outrage by legislators over the presidents failure to responsibly carry out foreign policy on Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Fundamentally, it is also an overt effort to seize the national security reins from the president.

Legislators are near unanimous in their support for a tougher U.S. policy stance on some of the gravest national security challenges. Many believe that Trump and former President Barack Obama have not acted strongly enough to check Irans ballistic missile program, support for terrorism, and efforts to destabilize the Middle East, as well as North Koreas alarming race toward long-range nuclear weapons capabilities.

Lawmakers took matters into their own hands and wrote the new sanctions legislation to address these threats. But the real target and virulence of their bill is the set of financial measures aimed squarely at Russia. A raft of new sanctions are designed to hold Moscow to account for its meddling in U.S. democratic processes and its continued aggressive actions in Europe and the Middle East.

In practical terms, the new Russia measures lock into statute existing sanctions, preventing the president from throwing them out. And they go much further: New provisions will cut deeper into the profit-making and international engagement of Russias defense, intelligence, energy, banking, rail, mining, and metals sectors. They also target Russian cyberintrusions, and the countrys military support for the Syrian regime. Taken together, these new restrictions send an appropriately tough message to the Kremlin that the United States will not tolerate Russias election meddling and thuggery.

As tough as the legislation is, however, serving up venomous financial sanctions is nothing new. The truly remarkable and unprecedented element of this piece of law is an innocuously dubbed congressional review of sanctions. It handcuffs the president in his exercise of sanctions by creating elaborate mechanisms for scrutiny and blockade to prevent watering down of Russia policy. Congress wants the president on a very short leash.

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This power grab is not dissimilar to Congresss creation of the War Powers Resolution in 1973 to check the executives ability to engage in armed conflict without legislative consent. Now, as then, many legislators see the current state of affairs as dire, necessitating remarkable measures.

But theres a very high price to pay for this assertion of legislative prerogative. Congress is taking an irreversible step to significantly undermine one of the most prominent nonmilitary foreign policy tools available to the United States. Sanctions will be less nimble, less available, and the countrys leverage to compel adversaries to change their threatening policies weakened.

Two factors explain why the Russia bill will curb the utility of sanctions as a tool of statecraft. First, Congress is ill-suited to tightly manage their implementation over a sustained period  it lacks the necessary intelligence assets, bureaucratic structure, and legal capabilities. Congress will slow down policy change and make sanctions more clumsy and punitive, and less flexible.

The other factor to undermine the utility of sanctions is that this law recasts them as less of a motivator for policy change. Congress, with its powerful hold over any diminution of Russia sanctions but cumbersome bureaucratic structure, will struggle to coordinate and act to give Russia relief from sanctions if political circumstances change. Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot practically negotiate on sanctions with the whole U.S. Congress. He will see no utility in making good on Minsk commitments. Even if he does, the sanctions appear locked in place.

The foreign policy consequences dont end there. Congress will likely replicate in other bills this straightjacket approach to review of sanctions. And if it does, this could have the effect of limiting the ability of the executive branch to recalibrate sanctions in a myriad of other areas. The next president, and successors, will all be handcuffed on sanctions and have less flexibility to lead U.S. foreign policy.

In a world rife with security threats, it is dangerous to diminish our foreign policy flexibility and nonmilitary tools of statecraft. Some in Congress realize what a high-stakes move they are making and will try to address the consequences later. But the overwhelming support of legislators for the new sanctions bill makes clear the danger they see in leaving Russia policy up to the president.

This is only the first round of the fight. The administration will chafe at the congressional strictures and find ways to push back, including by failing to fully implementing the new sanctions. In turn, Congress can be expected to ferociously micromanage any administration action to alter and enforce Russia sanctions. We will probably see hearings on specific license requests and narrow use of waivers, and a showdown over what constitutes significant foreign policy toward Russia.

Congress has scored a victory in passing this bill despite the objections of the White House, but the fight over who controls the direction of U.S. foreign policy is far from over.

Photo credit: MICHAEL REYNOLDS/Pool/Getty Images
Anthony Scaramucci tweeted to say he would not make the 'mistake' of trusting a reporter again: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Anthony Scaramucci says he made a "mistake" in "trusting" a journalist who then published details of their conversation - despite the fact the US Presidents new Communications Director appeared to know he was speaking on the record.

Mr Scaramucci, who joined Mr Trump's top team last week, sparked uproar after phoning the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza to rant about senior White House colleagues.

Under well-established and well-known conventions, anything a political source says to a reporter is considered to be on the record and publishable unless both the contact and the journalist agree otherwise. There is no suggestion that this happened during the conversation between Mr Scaramucci and Mr Lizza.

The New Yorker later said that Mr Scaramucci had requested a later part of the conversation be off the record, which it agreed to - suggesting the Trump aide was aware that the rest of the conversation was likely to be published.

A New Yorker spokeperson said: "Late in the conversation, Scaramucci requested that one part be off the record, and we respected that. The rest was on the record. Today [Thursday], Ryan and Scaramucci had another conversation and Scaramucci was clear and agreed that the conversation was on the record."

Publicly, Mr Scaramucci seemed to suggest he was unaware of the fact that comments are on the record unless stated otherwise and suggested Mr Lizza had betrayed his trust in publishing details of their conversation.

He wrote on Twitter: I made a mistake in trusting in a reporter. It won't happen again.

It comes after Mr Scaramucci called the New Yorker journalist to complain about leaks coming from within the White House.

I made a mistake in trusting in a reporter. It won't happen again.  Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) 28 July 2017

In an extraordinary conversation, the new Trump aide lambasted colleagues including Reince Priebus, Mr Trumps Chief of Staff, and Steve Bannon, his Chief Strategist.

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Mr Scaramucci reportedly called Mr Priebus a f*****g paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac and accused him of leaking details of a dinner between Mr Trump, Melania Trump, Fox News executive Bill Shine and right-wing commentator Sean Hannity.

Doing an impression of Mr Priebus, Mr Scaramucci reportedly said: Oh, Bill Shine is coming in. Let me leak the f******g thing and see if I can c***-block these people the way I c***-blocked Scaramucci for six months. 

The Chief of Staff is said to have been strongly opposed to Mr Scaramuccis appointment.

During the call, the new appointee also accused Mr Priebus of leaking details of the Communications Directors financial disclosure form and said he had asked the FBI and Department of Justice to look into the matter.

Mr Scaramucci also claimed Mr Bannon is trying to benefit personally from Mr Trump.

Im not Steve Bannon, Im not trying to suck my own c***, he said. Im not trying to build my own brand off the f******g strength of the President. Im here to serve the country.

He threatened to eliminate everyone in the comms team and start over after a series of damaging leaks.

Theyll all be fired by me, he said. I fired one guy the other day. I have three to four people Ill fire tomorrow.

Mr Priebus could be asked to resign very shortly, he added.
The FBI was investigating the death of a 39-year-old woman who died on board a cruise ship Tuesday. Kristy Manzanares was found dead inside her cabin on an Alaska-bound Emerald Princess cruise after an alleged domestic dispute. Police arrested her husband, Kenneth Manzanares.

The couple, from Utah, was onboard the ship with their three teenage daughters celebrating their 18th year of marriage, according to Inside Edition.

Read: FBI Searches Home Of Woman Who Disappeared On Boat Trip With Husband

Kristy was discovered inside the cabin with a severe head wound and blood was spread throughout the room, an FBI complaint said. Few details were released about the situation, though witnesses were able to shed some light on what may have happened.

She would not stop laughing at me, Kenneth reportedly told an unidentified witness. My life is over.

At least one witness said they heard a woman screaming for her life, according to ABC News.

Kenneth allegedly tried to jump overboard but was restrained by crew members. One woman recalled seeing a man with blood on him near the boats railing.

She thought he was going to jump over the rail, a witness, Charles Rowlen, told KTVA of his wifes experience that night. At one point he put his hand on the rail and set his rear on it. She started yelling Get back in!

As soon as Kristys death occurred, it was considered suspicious, Negin Kamali of Princess Cruises confirmed to KTUU. The ship was diverted to Juneau, Alaska, where it was docked and the 3,400 passengers on board were placed on lockdown.

They just said, Security breach! Security breach! a witness, Jen Larson, recalled to ABC News. We could tell by the sound of his voice that it was something really scary and really serious.

Larson also said a member of her family saw one of the Manzanares young daughters in the aftermath looking distraught.

She was just really scared, said Larson. She said, I just want to go and see my mom! I just want to see my mom! Whats happening?

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Read: Are Cruise Ships Safe?

Kenneth was appointed a public defender after his arrest. He appeared in court Thursday via video chat from Juneau, where he remained behind bars. Kenneth could be seen crying and wiping his eyes and nose, according to USA Today. Bail had not yet been set, but a preliminary hearing was scheduled for August 10.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those impacted by this tragic event, Princess Cruises said in a statement.

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Riyadh (AFP) - A ballistic missile fired by Yemeni rebels was shot down late Thursday close to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, a month before the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Islam's holiest site, the Arab military coalition fighting in Yemen said.

The missile was intercepted 69 kilometres (43 miles) south of the city in western Saudi Arabia, the coalition said in a statement, calling it "a desperate attempt by Shiite Huthi rebels to disrupt Hajj", which begins at the end of August.

Occasional ballistic missile attacks, as well as more frequent short-range rocket fire over the southern border, have in the past been conducted after coalition air strikes against the rebels in Yemen and is not the first time rebels have fired in the direction of Mecca.

In October they launched one of their longest-range strikes against Saudi Arabia, firing a ballistic missile that was brought down near the holy city, an attack condemned by Riyadh's Gulf allies.

But the new attack is thought to pose a threat ahead of Hajj, when some two million faithful from across the world will visit the site.

The Huthi rebels and their allies, former members of Yemen's security forces linked to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, began retaliatory attacks against the kingdom two years ago.

The Saudi-lead coalition intervened in the country in March 2015 to support President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who says the rebels are supported by its regional arch-rival Iran.

The war has killed more than 8,000 people and wounded 44,500 since Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the conflict.

Nearly two million Yemeni children are "acutely malnourished" and a "vicious combination" of war, hunger and cholera have left the country in desperate need of aid, the United Nations warned this week.

The alarm was raised at the end of a two-day visit by the directors of the World Health Organization, the UN Children's Fund and the World Food Programme to Yemen, which has seen more than 8,000 people killed and 44,500 wounded since March 2015.

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- 'Continued arms trafficking' -

The Arab coalition said the new missile strike was proof of "continued arms trafficking (for the benefit of the rebels) at the port of Hodeida" on the Red sea.

"The missiles continue to be smuggled in due to a lack of controls at the port of Hodeida," it said in the statement.

It said permits given by the Arab coalition for the delivery of humanitarian aid and commercial cargo were being abused at the port.

The Arab coalition has consistently accused the Huthi rebels of trafficking weapons, a claim they deny.

Hodeida is the main entry point for crucial humanitarian assistance to the north of the country and to the capital Sanaa, which is under rebel control.

The coalition wants to place the port under its control or that of the UN, which rejects the idea, fearing complications for the arrival of aid.

In the southern part of the country, which was taken over by the rebels in the summer of 2015, aid passes through the port of Aden.
Female enlistment to the Border Police is on a rise, and so the IDF decided to establish a new unit for the fresh recruits and name it after what they believe is one the reason for the increase in the branch's popularitythe female Border Police officers who fell in the line of duty.

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'Hadar Company,' named after a female Border Police officer Hadar Cohen who lost her life in a terrorist attack at Jerusalem's Damascus gate on February 2016, is an all-female recruit unit established in response to the much-larger-than-usual 252 female soldiers who enlisted to the Israel Border Patrol in the draft earlier this month.

The new Hadar Company (Photo: Amit Shabi)

Liora Diachenko, 18, a Jerusalem resident and one of the 252 draftees, said: "Since I was in high school I volunteered in Magen David Adom. A month and a half ago I arrived with one of the ambulances to the Damascus Gate and treated Hadas Malka, the officer who was murdered there.

"I always wanted to be in the Border Guard, and after Hadas' murder, the decision was bolstered: to protect my city, my home."

Not everyone accepted her decision easily. "My mother said, 'why not go to the Intelligence Corps, where you were offered to go. It's dangerous in the Border Police, mainly at the Damascus Gate.'

"Everyone also tells me that I am fragile, but I promise everyone that I will finish basic training and become an exemplary Border Guard officer. Do not let my looks fool you."

The human resources officer of the Border Police, Chief Superintendent Keren Meir, hears this and smiles. She is celebrating the largest recruitment cycle of girls in the unit's history.

L to R: Benhamu, Blanich and Diachenko (Photo: Amit Shabi)

"The desire to serve in the Border Police now stands in line with the desire to get to the pilots' course or to be a combat soldier in Karakal," she explains. "Until now, there was one company of girls out of the five regiments of the recruits, and in the current recruitment cycle we were forced to open another company of girls to meet the high demand of those who want to join the Border Police."

The Border Police explains the dramatic rise in demand with the stories of the deaths of two Border Police fighters in two separate attacks at the Damascus Gate: Hadar Cohen, who was killed a year and a half ago, and Hadas Malka, who was killed in June.

"My sister serves as a fighter in the Karakal, and I knew I was continuing the tradition in the family, to be a combat fighter," said Amit Korkus from Moshav Rinatia when asked why she joined the Border Police. "My mother objected, wanted me far from danger, but I love action and the Border Police is perfect for me.

"Mom and Dad offered to buy me a car if I gave up the Border Police, but I'm happy to be here," Korkus added.

Photo: Amit Shabi

"I made aliya to Israel from Lyon, France," says Laura Benhamu, 19, in Hebrew with a heavy French accent. "Mother saw on television in French the mess at the Temple Mount last Friday, and she knows what happened to Hadar Cohen, so she called and said to me: 'You're not going to the Border Police or to Damascus Gate. Come back home

"But I'm a Zionist. I came to defend the state and especially Jerusalem. I'm waiting to be a real fighter, in the action."

The parents also tried to discourage Rachel Blanich, 18, from Ness Ziona.

"They asked me (to reconsider). I replied that I dream not only of being a Border Police fighter, but an army officer, and the so the discussion ended," Blanich said.

Basic training lasts four months, but after two months the girls will make a trip to receive their Border Guard uniforms. "Come and see me in four months," Diachenko concluded. "Then you'll meet a real Border Guard officer."
The Islamists who incited and ignited the metal detector crisis at the Temple Mount wanted an intifada. They havent given up their wish just yet. Thats the main reason the Waqf was preventing Muslim worshipers from returning to the Temple Mount until Thursday afternoon , although the Israeli government had already removed the metal detectors

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One of these famous Islamists is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan , wholike in the Marmara crisisis leading the anti-Israeli religious incitement. Hes doing it in his speeches, but also behind the scenes.

Muslim worshippers outside the Temple Mount (Photo: MCT)

Erdogan wants to be the leader of political Islam in the Middle Eastin other words, the leader of all the Muslim Brotherhood movements, which both Hamas and Sheikh Raed Salahs Islamic Movement in Israel are affiliated with. Preserving the conflict at the Temple Mount serves the Islamist-radical camp in the intra-Arab conflict between the moderate Sunni Arab states and Qatar, Turkey and the different Muslim Brotherhood movements. Hamas is one of these movements, and its supporterstogether with Raed Salahs peopleare trying to maintain and leverage the violent energy that has accumulated on the Jerusalem-Palestinian street and in the Muslim world in general. Their goal is to turn this energy into a long intifada, which will encompass not only Jerusalem but also the territories and Israels Arabs, and will echo and be imitated in the Muslim world in general.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was also trying to leverage the negative energies and the rage that accumulated during the metal detector crisis. While the prevailing opinion is that Abbas is influenced by the masses in this crisis, there are many signs indicating that he is using the crisis for his own needs. He is trying to take advantage of the Islamist wave to advance what he refers to as a diplomatic intifada in the international arena. The goal of this intifada is to delegitimize the State of Israel, isolate it in the international arena and impose an agreement agreement which the Israeli government finds unacceptable through international pressure and sanctions.

Abbas isnt hiding it. Hes saying it openly and even shooting himself in the foot by reducing the security cooperation with Israel. He isnt cancelling it altogether because he knows that Hamas will bring him down if he doesnt have Israel to protect him, but he believes he can have it both ways.

These are the people who are interested in a continuation of the Temple Mount riots. Theyre hoping for more deaths and injuries in the clashes with the Israel Police and the IDF in the coming days, and for a local event which will inflame the Palestinian and Islamist street again.

Photo: AFP

Theyre also relying on the traditional tendency in the Arab and Muslim world to believe in mystic conspiracy theories. The facts at the Temple Mount at the moment are that the situation has returned to its original state before the murder of the Israeli police officers on July 14. The metal detectors have been removed, the cameras have been dismantled and the new smart cameras havent been installed and it will take a long time before they are installed.

Al-Jazeera, for example, which is inspired by the radical Islamist camp that Qatar is a member of, is promoting myths among the incited crowds in Jerusalem about hidden Israeli cameras allowing the Israeli security forces to see the naked body of the Muslim worshipper who innocently arrives to pray at the Temple Mount. The masses in Jerusalem and outside Jerusalem are enthusiastically buying into these theories, sticking to them and, most importantly, acting as if they were true.

All thisthe violent energy that has accumulated on the Palestinian street, Hamas and Erdogans aspiration to ignite an intifada and Abbas attempt to leverage the metal detectors crisis for diplomatic achievementsrequire the Israeli government to use force, many police officers, but to exercise maximum restraint. Erdogan, Salah and Ismail Haniyeh want deaths to inflame the intifada. We must not give them that. So we must ensure that there is a massive presence of police forces in any place where riots break out in the coming days, but there must be clear orders to avoid opening fire.

The forces on Jerusalems streets, and the roadblocks preventing the arrival of incited crowds from outside Jerusalem, should be reinforced as early as Thursday rather than on Friday morning. A massive reinforcement of the forces in Jerusalem is like throwing a blanket on a fire that has just started burning.

Another measure the Israeli government should take is to enlist the American administration and the European Union countries to pressure Erdogan, Abbas and Haniyeh. Erdogan is a NATO member, and NATO member states cant stand idly by while one of the alliances members incites against a democratic Western state in the Middle East.

Enlisting the Trump administration

Both Abbas and Haniyeh are receiving help and life thanks to the aid they get from the Americans and the Europeans. This aid is an influential leverage which could definitely restrain the Palestinian leaderships both in Ramallah and in Gaza. While Abbas is relaunching his diplomatic intifada because he is disappointed with the Trump administration, as he sees no progress in the efforts to advance peace negotiations according to his conditions, the Trump administration can still definitely make it clear to him that he must not bite the hand that feeds him.

Prime Minister Netanyahu with the Israeli security guard who returned from Jordan (Photo: Haim Zach, GPO)

As for the crisis with Jordan, the incident should be thoroughly investigated. Did the security guard have to shoot the Palestinian teen who attacked him with a screwdriver, or could the former Givati company commander have kicked and neutralized the youth? Not every incident requires shooting in order to kill. And in light of the international sensitivity, it would be advisable to look into the possibility of having Foreign Ministrys security guards undergo intensive Krav Maga courses that will prevent the need to shoot. The way the prime minister solved the crisis with Jordan proves that insufficient efforts had been made beforehand to enlist Jordan and Egypt to calm the situation down in the metal detectors affair.

Had US President Donald Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, telephoned Jordans King Abdullah last Thursday, we may have been in a different situation right now. Religious crises have a tendency of escalating quickly, and as time goes by without any significant change, they become chronic and are very difficult to settle, as we are witnessing now.

Most importantly, we must not be afraid. Israel must protect its right and its duty to keep Jerusalem safe and to use force for that purpose. It must, however, avoid killing Palestinians. Experience shows its the one thing that leads to lone-wolf terror attacks and inflames the situation more than anything else.

Dialogue needed with religious leadership (Photo: AFP)

Equally important, the Israeli government and its security organizations must do everything in their power to neutralized the religious rage and the violent energies on the Muslim street:

First of all, they must avoid public statements, like the one Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made, about individual security checks. While the statement was meant for the Israeli Rights ears, it echoes in the Muslim world and affirms the claim that the status quo has not been restored at the Temple Mount.

Second, they must avoid activities that could provoke the Muslim street and social media. They can, for example, wait a week or two before demolishing the home of the terrorist from the June 2016 shooting at Tel Avivs Sarona compound.

The Islamists should be allowed to blow off steam, but in a controlled manner which will be made clear to them in advance. A large force at the entrances to the east Jerusalem neighborhoods that are prone to violence will convey the messages to the incited Jerusalem residents as well.

Finally, there is a need for a continuous dialogue with the Waqf, and maybe even with Jerusalems mufti. Even it doesnt help, it wont hurt to try. The coordinator of the governments activities in the territories, Major-General Yoav Mordechai, can be tasked with that mission.
As was promised by Israel to Jordan, the Israeli security guard Ziv, who shot and killed two Jordanians after being stabbed by one of them with a screwdriver, presented his version of the events on Thursday. According to Ziv, the attack was of nationalistic motivation. Investigators additionally began to review evidence from the scene, including photographs from security cameras that documented part of the incident.

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This affair led to great tension and the fortification of the diplomatic team with the security guards, at the end of which the security guard was returned to Israel and Israel removed the security measures it placed on the Temple Mount after the attack in which two policemen were murdered. The investigation is being conducted by a joint team of the Israel Police, the Shin Bet security service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The investigation is personally supervised by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan.

PM Netanyahu meets with Israeli ambassador to Jordan and the security guard (Photo: Haim Zach/GPO)

Contrary to the reports published in Jordan, Israel did not promise Jordan to prosecute the security guard, but the state is looking to investigate the affair in depth. Shin Bet Chief Nadav Argaman, who visited Jordan one day after the incident, has already begun an initial investigation of the incident, as well as the security department of the Foreign Ministry, which is responsible for securing the Israeli embassies abroad, and which also recruited the security guard Ziv.

A senior legal source said that since relations with Jordan are very tender at the moment, the Israeli investigation will be thorough and not cut any corners. At first, it was assumed that the Shin Bet will be heading the investigation, but in the end it was decided to hand it over to the police.

Netanyahu hugs the guard (Photo: Haim Zach/GPO)

Political sources who were privy to the initial investigation said that it appears the security guard behaved properly under the circumstances after the 17-year-old Jordanian stabber tried to stab him with a screwdriver. The security guard was stabbed three times, twice in the back and once in the chest.

Zakaria al-Jawawdeh

As for the Jordanian doctor, Bashar Al-Hamarna, who owned the apartment and was also killed in the incident, the findings of the initial investigation indicate that after the attacker crept up behind Ziv and began to stab him, he jumped back and fired his weapon. Ziv apparently tripped as he jumped back, which caused one bullet to hit the doctor, who was injured and later died of his wounds. The State of Israel apologized to the Jordanians for his death and undertook to pay the family financial compensation.

King Abdullah consoles the father of the stabber

Jordanian King Abdullah II issued a statement following what he described as Israel's "unacceptable and provocative behavior" in connection with the deadly shooting incident at the Israeli embassy in Jordan, last Monday.

During Monday's incident, an Israeli security guard shot and killed two Jordanians after one of them, 17-year-old Zakaria al-Jawawdeh, attacked him with a screwdriver The second Jordanian was a landlord, and it remains unclear what if any role he played in the attack.

Israel's embassy staff, including the guard, left for Israel a day after the shooting. The incident has inflamed public opinion in Jordan where a 1994 peace treaty with Israel remains deeply unpopular.

Mourners stepping on an Israeli flag on their way to the funeral

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the guard upon his return, saying he had acted "calmly." Netanyahu also took created a photo opportunity, as cameras snapped shots of him embracing the security guard pon his return to Israel.

Jordan's King Abdullah II told senior officials on Thursday that Netanyahu needs to take legal measures that "guarantee the trial of the murderer."

He said the incident "will have a direct impact on the nature of our relations."
In recent days, Israel and Turkey have been waging a tit-for-tat twitter war following the verbal attack by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the metal-detector crisis on the Temple Mount, which intensified the diplomatic rift and could have led to the return of ambassadors to their respective countries for consultations.

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Following urgent messages between Ankara and Jerusalem, the hostile tweets were suddenly erased from the Twitter accounts of the two foreign ministries.

The ceasefire came after frantic talks between senior officials of the two foreign ministries, who saw how the hard-won reconciliation between the countries collapses before their eyes.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: MCT)

For two days, Israel and Turkey fought on Twitter.

It all began with Erdogan's attack after the removal of the metal detectors in which he called on all Muslims around the world to go to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and defend Jerusalem.

Erdogan rejected Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and said that the capital city of Israel is Tel Aviv and the capital of the Palestinians is East Jerusalem. He also claimed that Israel has hidden plans on the Temple Mount.

Erdogan said that in light of the steadfastness of the Muslims in removing the metal detectors, Israel would not be able to implement its plans. He also accused Israel of treating Muslim worshipers as terrorists and claiming that Israel was exploiting the Temple Mount incident to maximize its interests.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman tweeted a response: "Turkish President Erdogan statements to his party's activists are wacky, unfounded and distorted. It would be better for him to deal with the problems and difficulties of his country. The days of the Ottoman Empire had passed. The days of the Ottoman Empire are long gone. The capital of the Jewish people had been, is and will be Jerusalem. Unlike in past years, it is a city whose government is committed to security, liberty, religious freedom and respect for the rights of all minorities. He who lives in a glass palace shouldn't throw stones."

One of the deleted tweets

The next day, the Foreign Ministry spokesman in Ankara responded in a tweet to the Israeli response and described it as arrogant and said Israel should return to common sense by returning to the status quo on the Temple Mount and removing the barriers to freedom of worship. "It is clear that trying to cover up the fact that east Jerusalem is under occupation will not help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and achieve peace and stability in the region."

He noted that "the Israeli occupation is in its 50th year in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza."

"During the time of the Ottoman Empire, members of different religions lived in peaceful coexistence in Palestine, and the Jews are expected to know this and to appreciate this tolerance more than anyone else," the Turkish spokesman said. He also mentioned that Turkey guarantees freedom of religion and belief of the Jewish community in Turkey.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded with an even harsher tweet: "The days of the Ottoman Empire are over. It is ridiculous to hear that the Turkish government, which occupies northern Cyprus, brutally suppresses the Kurdish minority and imprison journalists, preaches morality to Israel, the only true democracy in the region."

The person who truly objected to the escalation in the Israeli reactions was the head of the Turkish Jewish community, Isaac Ibrahimzadeh, who tweeted that perhaps they should allow President Reuven Rivlin to respond. "He knows how to make peace and avoid escalation," he said.

President Reuven Rivlin (Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Sources in Jerusalem feared that because of the Foreign Ministry's harsh reaction, the Turks would call for the Turkish ambassador to be summoned for consultations and possibly even expel the Israeli ambassador.

Senior officials in the two foreign ministries who understood the potential of the crisis hastened to calm the situation and agreed to a cease-firestarting with Twitter. It is not clear whether this cease-fire will last beyond Twitter and whether Erdogan will continue his attacks on Israel in the coming days.

In Istanbul, a large demonstration initiated by the IHH organization, entitled "Free Jerusalem" is scheduled for Sunday. The organizers of the demonstration say that a million participants are expected at the protest.

The tweets from the Israeli Foreign Ministry caused the Turks a fair amount of damage. All the Israeli representatives in the world retweeted them and they have gained great popularity and exposure in Arab nations, most of which are not fond of Erdogan.
A memorial ceremony marking the third anniversary of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin's death in Operation Protective Edge was held Friday morning at the Kfar Saba military cemetery.

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His father, Simha Goldin, attacked the government's conduct, who promised to return Hadar's body from the hands of Hamas to be buried in Israel, but failed to do so. "IDF soldiers are repeatedly abandoned at the hands of the enemy," he said. "Defense Minister Lieberman is not working to correct the situation and promised before he was elected to return Hadar and Oron within 48 hours."

Simha Goldin stepping up to the podium (Motti Kimchi)

The father said that the defense minister had been invited by the family to attend the memorial, but claimed that Lieberman chose not to come.

"There was a guarantee from the state to bring them to be buried in Israel. There was a promise from the ministers and the prime minister. We demand that this will be the last year in which the things that are by government representatives turn out to be just talk," he said, adding that they need the aid of the Israeli leadership, but that he "unfortunately" feels "ashamed of the behavior of the leadership."

"Representatives of the State of Israel went to Cairo before the end of the operation and reached an agreement with Hamas and left Hadar and Oron in the hands of the enemy," Simha continued. "This needs to be fixed and we will fix it."

Gilad Erdan and Revital Swid at the memorial (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

The ceremony was attended by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, former Defense Ministers Moshe Ya'alon and Amir Peretz, Commander of the Southern Command Major General Eyal Zamir, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai and Knesset Members Moti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi), Yoav Kish (Likud), Oren Hazan (Likud) and Revital Swid (Zionist Union).

Former Knesset Member Shachiv Shnaan, whose son Staff Sgt. Maj. Kamil Shnaan was murdered in the Temple Mount terrorist attack earlier this month, also participated in the memorial service.

"Our hearts go out to you, we pray that you too will have the pride of bringing your son to rest," Shnaan said. "I have one request on this difficult day: We must be strong and our spirit must not break. None must learn that we can be extorted and are willing to pay any price. This country cannot exist under extortion."

Hadar Goldin

The commander of the Givati Brigade, Colonel Dado Bar Kalifa, said: "Hadar's path, which was soaked in the love of the people and the country, undoubtedly reflects the values he absorbed in his home at school and in the preparatory school. Hadar's friends tell of a special person with rare traits. He was a bold and courageous officer and commander who believed in the righteousness of our mission.

"The State of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces and the Givati Brigade are committed to bringing him home as quickly as possible."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared earlier this week that terrorist Omar al-Abed, who murdered three members of the Salomon family, should be sentenced to death, echoing calls repeatedly made in the past by Defense Ministry Avigdor Lieberman.

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Netanyahu paid his respects to al-Abed's victimsYosef Salomon, 70, and his children Haya, 46, and Elad, 35on Thursday during a visit to the family home in the West Bank settlement of Halamish.

"It's time we start giving death sentences to terrorists," the prime minister told the mourning family. "It's enshrined in law, it requires a unanimous decision by the judges, but they also want to know the government's position. And my position as the prime minister, in this instance of such a heinous murdererhe needs to be executed. We need to wipe the smile off his face."

Netanyahu visits the Salomon family (Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom, GPO)

The Security Provisions Order in the West Bank allows to hand down the death sentence to a terrorist convicted of murder, but sparingly. The decision must be unanimous, a trial must be conducted even if the terrorist pleads guilty to the charges, and the death penalty must be appealed even if the terrorist does not choose to appeal it.

Change in policy required

For such a sentence to be handed out, however, Netanyahu and Lieberman need to change the government's policy and instruct the military prosecution to ask the military courts for such a punishment.

The defense establishment has opposed implementing the law, because of the concern it would lead to abductions of Israeli soldiers and civilians as bargaining chips to release terrorists on death row.

Netanyahu has also been against changing the government policy on capital punishment. Two years ago, Netanyahu shelved a bill on capital punishment to terrorists, which was proposed by then-MK Sharon Gal (Yisrael Beytenu). The prime minister instructed the seven Likud ministers in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation to vote against the bill and ordered the formation of a team headed by Minister Yariv Levin to examine the issue

Last year, Lieberman demanded the move as his condition to joining the government, but eventually relinquished the demand.

Lieberman, joined by US Ambassador David Friedman and American envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt, visit the Salomon family.

Earlier this week, when the Cabinet discussed the murder of the Salomon family, Minister Yisrael Katz demanded the death penalty for the terrorist and the expulsion of Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the outlawed northern branch of the Islamic Movement, to Syria or to Gaza. The ministers decided to discuss the issue again after the Temple Mount crisis is resolved.

But unlike Lieberman, and Bayit Yehudi Ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, Netanyahu did not express support for capital punishment during the Cabinet discussiononly at the Salomon family home later in the week.

Lieberman, as the defense minister, and Netanyahu, as the prime minister, are the only two who can lead such a change in policy.

Such a move is not expected to face any bureaucratic or procedural delays. The Cabinet will likely seek the positions of the Shin Bet, the IDF, the Justice Ministry and the military judicial system on the matter, but eventually the decision will be down to the prime minister, who enjoys the support of his defense minister and right-wing Cabinet.

Terrorist asks for death sentence

Only several military judges in IDF history sentenced terrorists to death as an act of deterrence, but the verdicts were eventually not carried out over a minority opinion or an appeal that overruled it.

In July 1997, a military judge "undermined" the policy of the government (which was also led by Netanyahu) and sentenced Hamas arch-terrorist Hassan Salameh to deathbut his was the minority opinion. Salameh was convicted of the murder of 46 Israelis.

Salameh himself, who showed no remorse for his actions, asked the judges to sentence him to death.

The judges noted this was an "all-time record" of people killed in a terror attack by one terrorist, and the minority opinion judge, Col. (res.) Ilan Katz wrote, "The defendant said he intended to kill as many Jews as possible. He was aware of the results of the first two attacks and yet did not cease and carried out the third attack regardless. With that, he has lost his humanity and made himself an exception to the rule. He carried out these attacks while there is an ongoing peace process in our region in an effort to foil it."

Katz went on to note that "Even the judicial sources in Judaism, from the Sanhedrin to the Rambam, supported handing down the death sentence sparingly."

The judge further criticized "the way in which courts determine they are not handing down the death sentence because it was not asked for by the prosecution is not appropriate and undermines the duty of the courts to exercise independent judgment."
The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera news outlet has vowed a legal fight against Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pursued plans to shut its office in Jerusalem, and it also accused him of supporting a regional blockade of Qatar.

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Netanyahu said on Wednesday he would work to shut the network's office, accusing it of inciting recent violence in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has seen one of its most tense periods in years as Palestinians protested heightened Israeli security measures near the Temple Mount-Noble Sanctuary compound, one of the city's holiest sites. The events have been widely reported, including in hourly, live updates by al-Jazeera.

Al Jazeera's offices in Jerusalem (Photo: Reuters)

"Al-Jazeera stresses that it will take all necessary legal measures (if Israel) acts on its threat," the network said in a statement issued in Doha.

Al-Jazeera said Israel was aligning itself with four Arab states that have severed diplomatic and commercial ties with Qatar and have demanded the closure of the television network . They accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism, a charge it denies.

"While Al-Jazeera denounces (Netanyahu's) arbitrary accusations and hostile statements, it finds (them to be) yet another episode of the ongoing vicious attack (demanding) the entire closure of the network by the countries imposing a blockade on Qatar," the network said in its statement.

The four Arab statesSaudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrainalso want the tiny emirate to cut ties to Iran, their regional arch-rival, and to shut a Turkish military base on its territory, among other demands.

Qatar has been the main backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that led the "Arab Spring" protests across the region. The four Arab countries deem the Brotherhood to be a terrorist organization, a charge the group denies.

Netanyahu, who frequently warns about Shi'ite Iran's threat to the region, has said Israel should cooperate more with Sunni Muslim neighbors such as Saudi Arabia against Tehran.

Al-Jazeera has also faced government censure in Egypt. In 2014, the Arab state jailed three of the network's staffers for seven years and closed its offices. Two staffers have been released but a third remains imprisoned.
There are many rich and successful people in Ghana. Most of these wealthy men and women own many businesses and companies. Talking about the wealthy, powerful and affluent, one cannot leave out the men of God from the discussion.

Click here for all the latest arts and entertainment news in Ghana

File Photo

READ ALSO: Bishop Obinim gives church member money for eye surgery

Ghana boasts of many mega churches and these churches have powerful, rich and successful leaders. Most of these churches have huge congregations to say the least. Some projects of churches in Ghana include the building of banks and universities.

Some of these men of God drive in luxury cars, live in mansions in the best parts of the country and own significant businesses in and out of the country.

Today, YEN.com.gh brings to you seven of some of the rich and successful men of God in the country.

1. Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams

The man of God who is the founder and leader of Christian Action Faith Ministries International is also believed to be the founder of Dominion University College.

READ ALSO: Living the life of class: The luxury cars that some Ghanaian musicians drive (Photos)

2. Pastor Mensa Otabil

Pastor Mensa Otabil is the founder and leader of the International Central Gospel Church. He is also reported to be the founder of Central University. He is alleged to be living in a multi-million dollar mansion in Trassaco. He is alleged to also be the owner of Capital Bank.

3. Bishop Charles Agyin Asare

READ ALSO: Shocking pictures of Prophet Seth Frimpong shows he has totally changed! (Photos)

The Bishop is the founder of Word Miracle Church International which has now been christened, Perez Chapel International. It is alleged that the church is currently building its own university.

4. Reverend Sam Korankye Ankrah

Reverend Sam Korankye Ankrah has been nicknamed the "Apostle General". He is the founder and leader of Royalhouse Chapel International; a church that boasts of over 30,000 members.

5. Bishop Daniel Obinim

READ ALSO: Bishop Obinim gives church member money for eye surgery

Bishop Obinim, the founder and leader of God's Way International Church is believed to be very wealthy. The man of God has admitted owning many houses and luxury cars. He recently gave a church member GHc 8,500 to go and have a surgery on her eye.

6. Dr. Ebenezer Adarkwa Yiadom Opambour

The Kumasi-based man of God is the founder and leader of Ebenezer Worship Miracle Center. He is believed to also own many luxury cars and houses.

7. Reverend Isaac Owusu Bempah

He is the Founder and leader of Glorious Word Power Ministry International. The prophet has waded into a lot of prophecies that are on the lines of politics.

YEN is building a platform where Ghanaians can share local news and own experiences with each other. Witnessing an incident?

Want to tell about a local problem? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition?

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YENs official Facebook Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YENs official Facebook Facebook page, or contact us via info@yen.com.gh Facebook

Source: YEN.com.gh
Posted by Mark Williams | July 21, 2017

Ford revealed the first pursuit-rated pickup truck in the form of the 2018 F-150 Police Responder. Unveiled Thursday in Dearborn, Mich., the Responder gets 375 horsepower and 475 pounds-feet of torque from its 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine, the most offered by any pursuit-rated police vehicle, according to Ford. It also can reach 100 mph.

Engineered for on- and off-road terrain, the Responder will be suitable for use in rural environments such as those patrolled by sheriff departments, border patrol or fish and game authorities.

The Police Responder is based on the F-150 FX4, which is a four-wheel-drive crew cab equipped with heavy-duty cloth seats, a center console delete, a column gear shifter, vinyl rear seating and heavy-duty vinyl flooring in front and back.

Under the hood, the Police Responder's down-rated twin-turbo V-6 EcoBoost is mated to a 10-speed transmission. It also gets upgraded brake calipers, 18-inch alloy wheels, all-terrain tires and a full complement of underbody skid plating. Additionally, this police pickup will have a high-output 240-amp alternator to run the communications and database equipment different law enforcement agencies use.

There is no word about Ford offering a consumer version of this package.

Manufacturer images

Editor's note: This post was updated July 21, 2017, to correct the amperage of the alternator.








Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 02:58:13|Editor: huaxia

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LAGOS, July 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed on Friday, when a petrol tanker truck collided head on with a passenger bus in central north Nigeria's Kogi State, an official said.

Most of the victims were passengers travelling in an 18-seater commercial bus along Lokoja-Abuja road, Segun Martins, Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) told reporters in Lokoja, the state capital.

He said the death toll might rise as some of those who sustained injuries were in critical conditions.

Martins said the dead and injured victims were moved to various hospitals in Lokoja.

The poor condition of roads, over-speeding, over-loading and reckless driving are blamed to be the main cause of the frequent road accidents in Nigeria. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 06:54:36|Editor: ying

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WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States and South Korea have conducted a live-fire exercise after a launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Friday, said the U.S. Army.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 08:01:28|Editor: Yang Yi

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A guest delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 10th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, July 28, 2017. More than 1,300 people attended the opening ceremony on Friday. (Xinhua/Liu Xu)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 07:34:36|Editor: Yang Yi

Daowuran Duishanhan visits the Museum of Accordions in Tacheng of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, July 19, 2017. Daowuran is a teacher, a maintenance man and a collector of accordion who lives in Tacheng City. The 46-year-old man is known as an accordion fanatic. Dao started to learn accordion at 9 years old and spent 3 years on professional learning at a college in Tacheng and began his collection of accordion in 1987. He has collected nearly 400 accordions over the past 30 years and hosted a household museum of accordions in 2016. In the process of his collection, he has gradually learned how to repair accordions. (Xinhua/Hu huhu)
A worker counts Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB) at a bank in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu Province, Aug. 11, 2015. (Xinhua/Si Wei)

WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday that China's Renminbi exchange rate is broadly consistent with fundamentals and desirable policies.

"The renminbi, despite moving closer to the level consistent with overall assessment, remained broadly in line with fundamentals and desirable policies," said the IMF in its latest External Sector Report released on Friday.

According to the report, in 2016, the average real effective exchange rate (REER) depreciated by about 5.1 percent compared to 2015, reflecting in part the strengthening of the U.S. dollar.

China's policies that was put in place to stabilize the growth has led to recent appreciation of the RMB, and helped to ease capital outflows and foreign exchange reserve loss, Luis Cabeddu, IMF research department's division chief said at a press briefing on Friday.

In regard to China's external sector, the IMF said that China' s external imbalances have declined considerably since the global financial crisis.

China's current account surplus declined to 1.7 percent of GDP in 2016, falling substantially from its peak of about 10 percent of GDP in 2007, according to the IMF.

The IMF expected that China's current account surplus will continue to be narrowed if the country continues to implement reforms.

Despite the declines in foreign exchange reserves in 2015 and 2016, the IMF estimated that China's current level of forex reserves to be adequate.

The IMF warned that China may face potential risks of protectionist policies by its key trading partners in the future.

In order to further reduce imbalances, the Washington-based institution suggested China improve the social safety net, create a more market-based and robust financial system, and take measures to attract more foreign direct investment.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 10:30:26|Editor: ying

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SEOUL, July 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's military said Saturday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has fired a ballistic missile, which was believed to have been an intercontinental ballistic missile, into its east waters.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the unidentified missile was fired at 11:41 p.m. (1441 GMT) Friday from the area in Jagang province, the central northernmost part of the DPRK.

It was immediately reported to President Moon Jae-in who chaired the national security council (NSC) meeting of the presidential Blue House at about 1 a.m. Saturday.

Defense Minister Song Young-moo said in a statement that the ICBM test is a "grave provocation" that jeopardizes the stability of the Korean Peninsula and world peace.

He said as a stern response, the U.S. military will send "strategic assets" to South Korea, alluding to stealth bombers and aircraft carriers.

"South Korea and the U.S. ... will have strategic assets deployed (on the peninsula)," Song said.

The DPRK missile flew about 1,000 km and was lofted as high as around 3,700 km, according to the JCS. It was estimated to have been an advanced Hwasong-14, which was test-launched by the DPRK on July 4.

The July 4 launch lofted the missile as high as 2,802 km and made it fly 933 km.

The DPRK's state-run KCNA news agency reported that the country conducted a successful "second" test-launch of the Hwasong-14, which it described as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

It was lofted as high as 3,724.9 km and traveled 998 km for 47 minutes and 12 seconds before landing in targeted international waters, according to the KCNA.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 11:30:35|Editor: ying

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WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump has approved a bill that imposes additional sanctions on Russia and intends to sign it, the White House said Friday.

The U.S. president "read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it," the White House said in a statement.

"He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it," it added.

Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill that will slap tougher sanctions on Russia, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The bill will also grant U.S. Congress the power to block Trump from unilaterally lifting sanctions on Russia.

This bill came although Trump administration officials had called on lawmakers to grant "flexibility" to the White House in dealing with Russia.

Trump's approval of the bill came after Russia announced that it would scale down U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people and seize a U.S. warehouse and a recreational compound known as a "dacha" in Moscow in retaliation for Washington's anti-Russian actions.

Russia is forced to respond to U.S. sanctions while it is still willing to normalize bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by phone on Friday.

These moves were caused by a series of hostile actions by Washington, including "unlawful" sanctions and "slanderous" accusations against Russia, said Lavrov, according to a statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 11:40:37|Editor: Yang Yi

Ren Biao (C), disembarks from a plane under police escort at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, July 29, 2017. Ren Biao, one of China's most wanted fugitives, has returned to China and turned himself in to the police, the anti-corruption authority said Saturday. Ren, 44, former "actual controlling shareholder" of Daluo energy supplies company in east China's Jiangsu Province, fled to the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in January 2014 after being accused of fraudulently obtaining loans and fabricating financial bills, according to a statement released by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Ren Biao, one of China's most wanted fugitives, has returned to China and turned himself in to the police, the anti-corruption authority said Saturday.

Ren, 44, former "actual controlling shareholder" of Daluo energy supplies company in east China's Jiangsu Province, fled to the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in January 2014 after being accused of fraudulently obtaining loans and fabricating financial bills, according to a statement released by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

In April 2015, Interpol issued a "red notice" of 100 corruption fugitives wanted by China. Many of the fugitives were former government staff or employees of state-owned enterprises.

Ren was ranked 92nd among them and the 42nd to be returned so far.

Ren's return, once again, is a warning for fugitives and proves there is no safe haven overseas, according to the statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 11:55:39|Editor: Liu

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SEOUL, July 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's military said Saturday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has fired a ballistic missile, which was believed to have been an intercontinental-range ballistic missile, into its east waters.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the unidentified missile was fired at 11:41 p.m. (1441 GMT) Friday from the area in Jagang province, the central northernmost part of the DPRK.

It was immediately reported to President Moon Jae-in who chaired the national security council (NSC) meeting of the presidential Blue House at about 1 a.m. Saturday.

Defense Minister Song Young-moo said in a statement that the ICBM test is a "grave provocation" that jeopardizes the stability of the Korean Peninsula and world peace.

He said that as a stern response, the U.S. military will send "strategic assets" to South Korea, alluding to stealth bombers and aircraft carriers.

"South Korea and the U.S. ... will have strategic assets deployed (on the peninsula)," Song said.

The DPRK missile flew about 1,000 km and was lofted as high as around 3,700 km, according to the JCS. It was estimated to have been an advanced Hwasong-14, which was test-launched by the DPRK on July 4.

The July 4 launch lofted the missile as high as 2,802 km and made it fly 933 km.

The DPRK's state-run KCNA news agency reported that the country conducted a successful "second" test-launch of the Hwasong-14, which it described as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

It was lofted as high as 3,724.9 km and traveled 998 km for 47 minutes and 12 seconds before landing in targeted international waters, according to the KCNA report.

Local and global media speculations said the DPRK had been highly likely to test-launch another ballistic missile of intercontinental range around July 27 to mark the 64th anniversary of the armistice agreement ending the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Korean Peninsula is technically in a state of war as the three-year fratricidal war ended in ceasefire, not a peace treaty.

Right after the DPRK's missile launch, President Moon convened the NSC meeting, in which senior cabinet members and presidential secretaries participated.

During the meeting, Moon said this missile launch of the DPRK can make a fundamental change in security situations in Northeast Asia, senior presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan said.

Moon instructed security and diplomatic officials to cooperate with neighboring countries to take stern measures of the UN Security Council against the DPRK provocation.

The president ordered the consideration of South Korea's unilateral sanctions, if necessary, toward the DPRK, saying measures to secure the independent defense capability to effectively deter the DPRK's nuclear missile threat should be considered.

He added that measures should be drawn up to freeze and finally dismantle the DPRK's nuclear program.

South Korea proposed to hold talks on military affairs with the DPRK, but Pyongyang has been mum about the dialogue overture.

The dialogue offer was aimed to stop all hostile acts near the military demarcation line (MDL) dividing South Korea and the DPRK.

Seoul also suggested to hold Red Cross talks with the DPRK for the reunion of families of the two sides, who have been separated since the outbreak of the Korean War.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 12:00:42|Editor: Liu

RAMALLAH, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The new vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping is paving the way for a greater Chinese role and stronger peace and development in the world, said Palestinian analysts.

Palestinian analysts, observers and politicians said when commenting on an important speech delivered by Xi at a high-level workshop attended by provincial and ministerial officials in Beijing earlier this week in preparation for the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

In the speech, Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, raised a series of new thoughts, opinions, judgements and measures that can guide the development of the CPC and China.

In interviews with Xinhua, the Palestinian analysts, observers and politicians described President Xi as "a wise man with high charismatic political abilities."

Mohamed Eshtayeh, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a member in Abbas Fatah Party's Central Committee, told Xinhua that "Palestinians appreciate what President Xi and China do, not only for Middle East issue, but also for the development of the Middle East, Africa and Asia."

"China is the power that we look for in order to achieve greater stability and peace in the whole world," Eshtayeh said, adding that "this is what we hope to strengthen and develop in the light of President Xi's speech and his permanent calls to promote peace ..."

Eshtayeh welcomed every role and political contribution of China and its president to suit its status as a major country in establishing peace and stability in the region and world.

Meanwhile, Abbas Zaki, a Fatah member, praised the positions of President Xi, noting that he "lives for the principles he dedicated."

Zaki told Xinhua that when President Xi visited in the region and addressed a speech in Cairo, he wanted to develop investment and link stability in the whole region by restoring the rights of the Palestinian people and their right to establish their independent state.

Zaki said President Xi's vision over international relations, development and fighting terror "will have a promising role as an interest for all mankind, not only for China. President Xi also believes in partnership and co-existence, so his ideas and aspirations will have a great vogue."

Hani al-Masri, a Palestinian political analyst from the West Bank, told Xinhua that "Having a strong role, regional and international influence, of China, its president and the Chinese Communist Party, certainly serve the Palestinian interest in resolving the Middle East crises, especially the Palestinian issue."

"Some believe that China is very geographically far from our Arab region and may not have any prominent political interests, but that is not true," said al-Masri, clarifying that "President Xi's positions and his reiteration to resolve the Palestinian cause and end the Middle East conflict show the real truth."

He unveiled that Chinese interests in the Middle east "are larger and more important than other great countries' interests in the region, because the nature of the Chinese interests are different from others' interests, because Chinese interests meet the needs of the people and the countries in the region."

Abdul-Majid Sweilem, also a Palestinian political analyst from the West Bank, told Xinhua "China and its president Xi are now a major international player and active in all issues of the world and regional issues in particular."

"The Chinese role should become politically parallel to its economic weight," Suilem said, adding that President Xi "is carrying out several initiatives that enhance the political status and effectiveness of China has already made more progress than the previous situation."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 12:20:46|Editor: Yang Yi

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BUENOS AIRES, July 28 (Xinhua) -- China's embassy in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires Friday marked the 90th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), underscoring the country's peaceful development.

"In the 90 years since the founding of our armed forces, and under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, they have achieved a series of successes," China's military attache Liu Chang said.

Among the contributions Liu listed "national independence, the liberation of the people, safeguarding the country's sovereignty and security, and promoting world peace and development."

"Starting in 2015, China's Armed Forces have undergone the most extensive reforms in their history, including the creation of the Command of the Ground Force, the Rocket Force and Strategic Support Force," said Liu.

"They completed the readjustment of each force's general headquarters and created two command levels, as well as the Central Military Commission and the military theater zones," Liu added.

"China's development is a peaceful development. China's Armed Forces form an important part of the world's peacekeeping forces. Whatever our level of development today or in the future, the defensive nature of China's national defense policy will always remain the same," said Liu.

China "supports and actively takes part in United Nations peacekeeping missions. Until now, China has dispatched more than 31,000 soldiers to 24 peacekeeping missions and trained more than 700 foreign military troops for the same purpose," Liu said.

Regarding ties between Buenos Aires and Beijing, Liu said "the relationship in the area of defense is an important part of the bilateral ties," and involves "reciprocal visits, exchanges of professional delegations, and military courses and seminars."

"I firmly believe that thanks to the collaboration of my Argentine colleagues, cooperation and exchange between Argentina and China in the field of defense will bear more fruit," said Liu.

China's ambassador to Argentina Yang Wanming, officials and representatives of Argentina's Armed Forces and security agencies, and military attaches from other embassies attended the ceremony.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 12:25:47|Editor: Yang Yi

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WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Friday strongly condemned the latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The United States will "never accept a nuclear-armed" DPRK nor abandon its commitment to "the allies and partners in the region," said State Secretary Rex Tillerson in a statement.

Tillerson's remarks came after the Pentagon confirmed that an initial assessment showed the DPRK launched an ICBM at 10:41 a.m. EDT Friday (1441 GMT).

The United States and South Korea conducted a live-fire exercise early Saturday morning local time along the east coast of South Korea in response to the DPRK's launch.

It's the second time this month that the DPRK tested an ICBM.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 12:35:49|Editor: Yang Yi

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MONROVIA, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Liberia will start electioneering across the country on Monday ahead of the October polls, the electoral body announced Friday.

The process will close on Oct. 8, two days before the presidential and congressional elections, Jerome Korkoya, the National Elections Commission (NEC) chief told a news conference here.

Korkoya urged all political parties and leaders to conduct their campaign in a peaceful manner.

To avoid violence, the electoral body and the national police have demanded all political parties and independent candidates submit their campaign schedule.

According to data released by the electoral body, 20 presidential aspirants, 20 vice presidential candidates and 986 intending representatives are in the race. More than 2 million voters have been registered.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 12:40:51|Editor: Yang Yi

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BRUSSELS, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) on Friday lashed out at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the wake of the country's latest test launch of a ballistic missile, saying the move is in outright violation of its international obligations.

The European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU's diplomatic service, referring to a conclusion adopted at a meeting of EU foreign ministers earlier this month, said in a statement that the EU "is united in its assessment that these actions of the DPRK represent a serious threat to international peace and security."

"We expect the DPRK to refrain from any further provocative action that could increase regional and global tensions," the EEAS said.

The EU urged the DPRK to engage in a "credible and meaningful dialogue" to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, saying the bloc is ready to support such a process in consultation with its key partners.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, due to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial meeting in Manila on Aug. 6-7, will address the DPRK issue with her international counterparts in the margins of the meeting, said the statement.

The Korean Central News Agency of the DPRK reported that the country "carried out the second test-fire of intercontinental ballistic rocket Hwasong-14 on July 28, 2017," the second time in one month.

The DPRK test fired its first ICBM on July 4, which it hailed as the final stage of developing its nuclear and missile capabilities.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 13:11:02|Editor: ying

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VLADIVOSTOK, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Pacific Fleet will get the first two Varshavyanka-class diesel-electric submarines in 2019, RIA news agency quoted Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuriy Borisov as saying on Friday.

The Varshavyanka-class (Project 636.3) is an improved version of Kilo-class submarines that features elements of advanced stealth technology, extended combat range and the ability to strike land, surface and underwater targets.

"The production cycle of a submarine is decreasing, becomes less than three years. That is why we will look forward to the new submarines and we will run up a flag of the Russian Navy in 2019," Borisov said.

Two Varshavyanka-class submarines Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Volkhov were laid down on Friday at the Admiralteiskie Verfi (Admiralty Shipyards) plant in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.

A total of six such submarines have already been constructed for the country's Black Sea Fleet. The Pacific Fleet will also get six such submarines.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 13:21:04|Editor: Yang Yi

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BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to abide by UN Security Council resolutions and stop any moves that could escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks in response to reports that the DPRK had fired a second "Hwasong-14" intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday.

"The Chinese side is concerned about the current situation," Geng said, noting that relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council had explicit stipulations on launches conducted by the DPRK using ballistic technology.

He said the Chinese side opposed DPRK launches in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and the will of the international community.

China hopes that relevant parties can act prudently, avoid taking actions that could escalate tensions, and maintain regional peace and stability, Geng said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 13:26:06|Editor: ying

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SEOUL, July 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea on Saturday denounced the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) test-launch of what it called an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), saying it clearly violated UN Security Council resolutions.

Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement that the DPRK test-fired a ballistic missile of intercontinental range, which was more advanced than the one launched on July 4.

The statement said it was in a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and posed a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the world.

The DPRK test-fired an unidentified missile, which the country described as an ICBM called Hwasong-14, at 11:41 p.m. Friday (1441 GMT) from Jagang province, the central northernmost part of the DPRK, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The missile flew about 1,000 km and was lofted as high as around 3,700 km. It was an advanced Hwasong-14, which traveled 933 km at a maximum altitude of 2,802 km at the July 4 launch.

The ministry said it would be an anachronistic illusion for Pyongyang to seek to be accepted as a nuclear state by repeating nuclear and missile provocations, noting that the repeated provocations would only lead the DPRK to deeper diplomatic isolation and economic pressure.

It urged the DPRK to positively respond to South Korea's dialogue overture, vowing to strengthen cooperation with the international community to take stern measures, including the adoption of strong UN Security Council resolution.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha held phone talks with her U.S. and Japanese counterparts to discuss stern measures against the DPRK's Saturday missile launch, according to the foreign ministry.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 13:31:09|Editor: ying

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PYONGYANG, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Saturday confirmed the successful test-firing of a second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) simulating its maximum range, which it said can cover all the territories of the United States.

"The second test-fire of the ICBM Hwasong-14 was successfully carried out at night of July 28, 2017, under the supervision of (DPRK top leader) Kim Jong Un, who guided the test-fire on the spot," the Korean Central News Agency said in a report.

The report said the test-firing aimed to "finally confirm the overall technological specifications of the weapon system of Hwasong-14 capable of carrying large-sized heavy nuclear warhead, including its maximum range."

"The rocket (missile) that blasted off from the northwestern part of the DPRK reached an altitude of 3,724.9 km and flew 998 km for 47 minutes and 12 seconds before landing in the target waters in the open sea," it said.

The test-firing was carried out at the maximum angle launch system mocking maximum range, and had no adverse effect on the security of the neighboring countries, said the report.

Kim Jong Un congratulated the scientists and technicians in the field of rocket research and said the DPRK will develop "much more the most powerful strategic weapons," according to the report.

"The test-fire confirmed the reliability of ICBM system, demonstrated the capability of making surprise launch of ICBM in any region and place any time, and clearly proved that the whole U.S. mainland is in the firing range of the DPRK missiles," the report quoted Kim Jong Un as saying.

"The maximum range simulation test-fire of ICBM conducted by the DPRK today is meant to send a grave warning to the U.S. making senseless remarks, being lost to reason, that it would not go scot-free if it dares provoke the DPRK," Kim said.

This is the second time for the DPRK to have successfully launched its ICBMs, the first being launched on July 4.

South Korea's military said Saturday that the DPRK has fired a ballistic missile, which was believed to have been an intercontinental ballistic missile.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the unidentified missile was fired at 11:41 p.m. (1441 GMT) Friday from the area in Jagang province, the central northernmost part of the DPRK.

Defense Minister Song Young-moo said in a statement that the ICBM test is a "grave provocation" that jeopardizes the stability of the Korean Peninsula and world peace.

The DPRK missile flew about 1,000 km and was lofted as high as around 3,700 km, according to the JCS. It was estimated to have been an advanced Hwasong-14, which was test-launched by the DPRK on July 4.

The July 4 launch lofted the missile as high as 2,802 km and made it fly 933 km.

The Pentagon said on Friday that an initial assessment showed the missile launched by the DPRK earlier on the day was an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The missile traveled about 1,000 km before splashing down into the sea, said Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis in a statement.

The United States and South Korea have conducted a live-fire exercise after the launch of ICBM by the on Friday, said the U.S. Army.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday condemned the DPRK's launch of another "ballistic missile of possible intercontinental range," saying "this is again a manifest violation of Security Council resolutions."

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq urged the DPRK leadership to "comply fully with its international obligations and work together with the international community to resolve the outstanding issues on the Korean Peninsula."

China on Saturday urged the DPRK to abide by UN Security Council resolutions and stop any moves that could escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks in response to reports that the DPRK had fired a second "Hwasong-14" intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday.

"The Chinese side is concerned about the current situation," Geng said, noting that relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council had explicit stipulations on launches conducted by the DPRK using ballistic technology.

He said the Chinese side opposed DPRK launches in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and the will of the international community.

China hopes that relevant parties can act prudently, avoid taking actions that could escalate tensions, and maintain regional peace and stability, Geng said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 13:31:10|Editor: ying

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LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Afghan security forces raided a Taliban hideout in Gereshk district of Helmand province Saturday, killing seven insurgents and destroying a weapon cache, the provincial government said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 14:46:27|Editor: Yang Yi

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MONTEVIDEO, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Uruguay's state University of the Republic (Udelar) on Friday inaugurated a seminar titled "Chinese language and cultural traditions," to familiarize students and faculties with the Asian country.

Udelar's rector, Roberto Markarian, described the seminar as an "important event" that will "serve as a good trial for the opening of the Confucius Institute," which aims to promote Chinese culture and Mandarin learning, and is set to begin operating in Montevideo in October.

"The importance of ties with China lies not only in trade or in business, but also in having a deep understanding of a culture we know little about and that is now approaching at a dizzying speed," Markarian said.

High-level officials attended the seminar inauguration at the main hall of the university's Economic Sciences Faculty, including Education and Culture Minister Maria Julia Munoz, and China's ambassador to Uruguay, Dong Xiaojun.

The seminar is designed not just for students, teachers and university staff, but also representatives of national agencies, social organizations and the public in general. More than a hundred people have signed up for the seminar which runs through August 11, the university said.

Udelar signed an agreement in April with China's Qingdao University to open a Confucius Institute in the capital.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 15:01:30|Editor: An

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Hi, here's what you need to know about China for the past 24 hours.

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), on Friday awarded the Order of Bayi to 10 military officers and conferred a flag to a military company ahead of the Army Day, which falls on Aug. 1.

Approved by the CMC, the Order of Bayi is awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, and advancing the modernization of national defense and the armed forces.

- - - -

BEIJING -- China on Saturday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to abide by UN Security Council resolutions and stop any moves that could escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks in response to reports that the DPRK had fired a second "Hwasong-14" intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday.

- - - -

WASHINGTON -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday that China's renminbi exchange rate is broadly consistent with fundamentals and desirable policies.

"The renminbi, despite moving closer to the level consistent with overall assessment, remained broadly in line with fundamentals and desirable policies," said the IMF in its latest External Sector Report released Friday.

- - - -

BEIJING -- Ren Biao, one of China's most wanted fugitives, has returned to China and turned himself in to the police, the anti-corruption authority said Saturday.

Ren, 44, former "actual controlling shareholder" of Daluo energy supplies company in east China's Jiangsu Province, fled to the Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in January 2014 after being accused of fraudulently obtaining loans and fabricating financial bills, according to a statement released by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

- - - -

SHANGHAI -- China Eastern Airlines announced Friday it will invest 375 million euros (438 million U.S. dollars) to purchase a 10-percent stake of the European carrier Air France KLM to expand its European market.

An overseas affiliate of the Shanghai-based airline has signed two agreements with Air France KLM about the purchase and future market cooperation. It will also appoint a representative to the board of directors of the European airline.

- - - -

LAMU, Kenya -- A team consisting of archaeologists from the United States, China and Kenya has excavated skeletons of people determined to be with Chinese blood on Manda Island in Lamu County of Kenya, Chap Kusimba, who headed the group, announced at the first "Ancient and Contemporary Relations Between China and East Africa" conference on Friday.

Kusimba, a professor with American University, said it marked the first time such relics were found in East Africa. Zhu Tiequan, an archaeologist with Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University, said the excavation on the island began in December 2012. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 15:06:32|Editor: An

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MINSK, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Belarus will export 20 million U.S. dollars worth of beef to China in 2017, local media reported.

A protocol of intent on beef export to China was signed Friday by Belarusian companies including the Berezovsky meat canning plant, Pinsk meat packing plant and Brest meat packing plant, and Chinese trade and investment company "Great Silk Road."

Aleksei Bogdanov, head of the Foreign Trade Department of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry, said the Chinese side is interested in importing meat products from Belarus.

"However, we noted that it is necessary for us to slightly change the technology of boning meat to better cater to the demands of Chinese consumers. It will not be difficult for us to do this," he said.

Eight Belarusian meat processing companies have been certified to export beef to China.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 15:11:35|Editor: An

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HARARE, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe is benefitting from lucrative business deals with China, with the Asian giant becoming the biggest injector of foreign direct investment (FDI) in this southern African country.

The Zimbabwe Investment Authority approved 929 million U.S. dollars of FDI in 2015 with more than half of it from China.

"We would want to see them invest more in value addition and more on technology transfer and share more of their knowledge and expertise with local business people," ZIA spokesperson Nixon Kanyemba told Xinhua Friday.

"During the past couple of years alone we have seen the Chinese taking a keen interest in Zimbabwe's agriculture, energy and tourism sectors," said Joseph Ngwawi, head of the Regional Economic Development Institute at the Southern Africa Research and Documentation Center.

"We are bringing about 30 million dollars per month into Zimbabwe. China has become the largest source of foreign currency in Zimbabwe," the Financial Gazette, a Zimbabwe-based weekly English newspaper quoted Xing Shanshan, vice secretary-general of the Chinese Federation of Zimbabwe as saying.

Among the largest foreign importers is Chinese tobacco company Tianze, which helped revive the country's tobacco output which had plummeted to a low of 48 million kilograms in 2008.

Since inception, the company has injected 40 million dollars annually in interest free loans and subsidized inputs, in addition to free technical support, training and other services to its contracted farmers.

Through its support, Zimbabwe's tobacco output has rebounded and reached 217 million kilograms in 2014, slightly short of peak production of 231 million kilograms in 2001.

"Chinese investment in agriculture has to a large extent sustained Zimbabwe's tobacco industry through the outgrower scheme operated by Chinese firms. In addition to providing capital for farmers, the outgrower scheme has guaranteed a ready market for Zimbabwean tobacco and ensured viability of the sector," Ngwawi said.

In the area of infrastructural development, Chinese companies are taking the lead in power plant construction.

Chinese companies have struck multi-million dollar deals for solar power stations in Zimbabwe to help this country build its first batch of solar plants.

In 2015, power generating entity the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) signed an agreement with Intratrek Zimbabwe which would work with Chinese engineering, procurement and construction partner CHINT Electric to build a 202-million-dollar plant in Matabeleland South Province.

It also signed agreements with Chinese companies to build the other two solar power stations in Zimbabwe.

All three projects will generate 100 megawatts each to feed 300 megawatts into the strained national grid currently struggling at less than 1,000 megawatts against peak demand of 2,200 megawatts.

"Solar power plants are quicker to construct and are quite suitable for phased construction. As the technology matures, prices are expected to be going down so that it can come at an affordable tariff," a spokesperson for ZPC's parent company ZESA Holding said.

Many Zimbabweans have interacted with the Chinese at various levels. For those in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, the most recognizable Chinese feature is the imposing Long Cheng Plaza, a mall to the west of the city where they shop, enjoy Chinese cuisine and even hold parties and weddings in the glamorous amusement park.

The mall, built by Chinese Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Corporation (AFECC) at an estimated cost of 200 million U.S. dollars, opened in December 2013.

While engaging in economic activities, the company has also done some philanthropic work and brought in eye surgeons to perform cataract operations on many Zimbabweans and has also given donations towards flood mitigation and food aid.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 15:36:45|Editor: Xiang Bo

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KABUL, July 29 (Xinhua) -- A greenhouse to preserve fruit products has been constructed with the financial support of Nepal in Paghman, a district of Afghanistan's Kabul, the Ministry for Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock said on Saturday.

With a capacity of 60 tons of fresh fruits, the greenhouse was built at a cost of 36,000 U.S. dollars provided by Nepal within the framework of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

The Afghan Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock has so far built more than 2,800 greenhouses across the country to keep fresh vegetable and fruit products and would construct more greenhouses in the future to enable farmers preserve their products.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 15:41:47|Editor: Xiang Bo

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CARACAS, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday expressed confidence that upcoming elections for a National Constituent Assembly (ANC) will see the political opposition defeated at the polls.

"This Sunday July 30 the people are going to punish you at the polls," Maduro said.

Venezuelans are set to elect 545 members of the ANC, who will be tasked with debating amendments to the constitution.

The opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) is trying to stop the elections, fearing the amendments will serve to consolidate the ruling socialist party's hold on power.

MUD-led anti-government demonstrations, which have been taking place almost every day since April, intensified this week, along with a 48-hour general strike entering its second day on Friday.

Opposition protests have regularly vented their ire against government-run agencies, burning and vandalizing buildings.

"In 110 days, they have burnt, destroyed and attacked the headquarters of the GMMV (state-run housing program)," Maduro said at an event that marked the building of 1.7 million low-income housing units.

"But we have them beat, as we will see this Sunday July 30, when the people vote en masse for the constituent (assembly)," said Maduro.

In a jibe at opposition leader and legislator Julio Borges, who said he would shave his eyebrows if the constituent vote went ahead, Maduro said, "I will expect you on Monday well shaven."

Security has been bolstered in case the opposition attempts to disrupt the vote or block access to polling stations, with the government saying it has set up nearly 100 local centers to process those who commit electoral crimes.

Also on Friday, the MUD rejected the government's latest invitation for dialogue.

"We will not let up the pressure on false hopes," MUD spokesman Freddy Guevara told reporters at a press conference.

"The only way we are going to dialogue will be if they ties up and imprison us," said Guevara, calling on supporters to continue their street blockades to protest the constitutional initiative.

Maduro maintains only through the ANC can Venezuela find a negotiated way out of the political crisis and increasingly violent anti-government demonstrations, which have claimed more than 100 lives on both sides, including riot police.

Prosecutors announced the latest fatal victim during the clashes was Oneiver Quinones, a police officer in Ejido, in west Merida state, who died Friday after being shot Thursday during protests against the ANC.

His death is one of scores of cases now under investigation by authorities, who have also prosecuted several security officers for using excessive force against protesters.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 15:51:50|Editor: Xiang Bo

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GHAZNI, Afghanistan, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The police chief for Gilan district of eastern Ghazni province was killed and two policemen wounded in a clash with the Taliban militants on Saturday, an official said.

Spokesman for the provincial police Fahim Amarkhil said the incident took place early Saturday, when Abdul Mateen Hemmat, police chief of Gilan District, had been called for help to the policemen clashing with insurgents in Gilan district of the province.

"However, unfortunately, the district police chief Mateen Hemmat was killed in firefight and two others sustained injuries," the spokesman told Xinhua.

Ghazni has been regarded as a restive province where Taliban militants have been fighting the government forces over the past more than a decade.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 16:16:57|Editor: Xiang Bo

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WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The vicious infighting that has plagued the White House for months claimed Friday yet another victim: White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

U.S. President Donald Trump broke the news via Twitter as he made his way back to Washington from an event in New York, saying that Priebus was out.

"I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff," Trump said while still on board Air Force One.

"He is a great American and a great leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security," Trump said, adding that Kelly has been "a true star of my administration."

With that the substitution was done.

Even though Trump said in a third tweet that he and Priebus "accomplished a lot together," and that he was "proud of" Priebus, but it is no secret in Washington that Priebus has long been sidelined in the Trump administration.

According to Sarah Sanders, the newly appointed White House Press Secretary, Priebus' departure has been brought up since two weeks ago, while Priebus said in an interview with CNN late Friday that it actually started months ago.

The president wanted to go "a different direction" and that it was "a healthy thing," Priebus said during the interview, adding that he handed in his resignation in private on Thursday.

Despite long running rumors and speculations, the rift between Priebus and Trump was made public only a week ago when Trump recruited New York financier and Trump loyalist Anthony Scaramucci as the White House Communications Director.

Priebus reportedly strongly opposed the pick but was unable to convince Trump. Sean Spicer, former White House Press Secretary and an ally of Priebus, packed his bags just as Scaramucci unpacked his.

Priebus and Scaramucci has had a thorny relationship since the early days of the administration, when Priebus was successful in blocking Scaramucci from a senior White House post.

The hostility between the two men erupted this week when Scaramucci lashed out at Priebus on various occasions, including on Twitter and through multiple on-the-record phone calls with the press.

"In light of the leak of my financial disclosure info which is a felony. I will be contacting @FBI and @Thejusticedept #swamp @Reince45," Scaramucci tweeted Wednesday, hinting Priebus has committed a felonious crime.

Scaramucci further accused Priebus of being responsible for the damaging leaks inside the White House, and went as far as using profane words against Priebus during a phone call with a reporter of The New Yorker magazine.

Sanders denied allegations that Scaramucci was the reason behind Priebus's leaving, while Priebus told CNN that whatever was between him and Scaramucci was over and that he had "moved on."

Having just hit its half-year mark, the Trump administration has already lost a number of senior officials, including former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, former White House Communications Director Mike Dubke, former Deputy National Security Advisor Kathleen Troia McFarland and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Kate Walsh.

The drain of senior officials was seen by Washington pundits as a signal that the Trump administration is shedding its ties to the Republican establishment, while bringing in more reinforcement from what has become known as the New Yorkers.

Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner both were said to have played a role in edging Priebus, the former Republican National Committee chairman, out.

In addition to those that have left, more of Trump's top officials are said to be standing on shaky grounds.

Trump has repeatedly voiced his disappointment with Secretary of Justice Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russian probe, saying Sessions would not have been offered the job if he knew Sessions was going to recuse himself.

National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster has made the watchlist, after his plan to send more troops to Afghanistan was turned down by Trump.

White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon may also be falling out of Trump's graces, as Scaramucci openly criticized him of trying to make a name for himself and diverting from the president's agenda.

The instability in Trump's administration has raised serious questions on whether Trump is capable of running a united team, especially after a resounding defeat on the hill Friday morning that has all but tarnished his bid to repeal and replace Obamacare, a major campaign promise.

In an editorial, The New York Times described the Trump administration as "flailing" and "ineffective."

The biggest challenge for Kelly, the incoming chief of staff, will be "to bring discipline to the president," it said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 17:37:26|Editor: An

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NAIROBI, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The following are the news highlights in Kenyan media outlets on Saturday.

-- Opposition National Super Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga raised a political storm on Friday after claiming that ruling party Jubilee had elaborate plan to rig polls using the military.

Odinga who tabled documents that he said were evidence of the rigging plot fell short of declaring that he will boycott the August 8 polls. While the military acknowledged the documents as true, a spokesperson said they were quoted out of context. President Uhuru Kenyatta, however, castigated Odinga accusing him of not being ready for polls. (Saturday Nation)

-- Kenyan teachers receive 524 million U.S. dollars pay rise after the government honours a deal signed with the tutors last year. The money has been wired to their bank accounts. (Standard on Saturday)

-- Electoral commission bows to pressure from the public and commits to announce presidential results periodically as they trickle in. The agency had last week said they will only make one announcement of the winner. (The Star)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 17:42:27|Editor: An

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CAIRO, July 29 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court on Saturday has sentenced eight people to death over charges of breaking into a police station in 2013, official news agency MENA reported.

The defendants were convicted of assaulting a government institution, setting it ablaze, wounded 19 policemen and civilians, and burning 20 police vehicles and three other private cars.

The court referred the sentence to Grand Mufti, the country's highest Islamic official who will give the religious judgment of all preliminary death sentences.

The Mufti's opinion is non-binding as it is usually considered a formality.

The court will give its final sentence against other 60 accused with the same charges in October.

The case dated back to August 2013, when the Brotherhood members broke into some police stations, killing security men in retaliation for the police's crackdown on the supporters of the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who was ousted by the army in response to mass protest against him.

Morsi along with prominent figures of his Brotherhood group were sentenced to death over killing protesters, spying for foreign countries amid other charges. However, all the charges are still appealable.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 17:52:34|Editor: An

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WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump has approved a bill that imposes additional sanctions on Russia and intends to sign it, the White House said Friday.

The U.S. president "read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it," the White House said in a statement.

"He has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign it," it added.

Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill that will slap tougher sanctions on Russia, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The bill will also grant U.S. Congress the power to block Trump from unilaterally lifting sanctions on Russia.

This bill came although Trump administration officials had called on lawmakers to grant "flexibility" to the White House in dealing with Russia.

Trump's approval of the bill came after Russia announced that it would scale down U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people and seize a U.S. warehouse and a recreational compound known as a "dacha" in Moscow in retaliation for Washington's anti-Russian actions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has personally authorized the Foreign Ministry statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

"We have received the Russian government notification. Ambassador (John) Tefft expressed his strong disappointment and protest. We have passed the notification back to Washington for review," the U.S. Embassy in Russia said in a statement.

Russia will respond to U.S. sanctions while still willing to normalize bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by phone on Friday.

These moves were caused by a series of hostile actions by Washington, including "unlawful" sanctions and "slanderous" accusations against Russia, said Lavrov, according to a statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

In December 2016, 35 Russian diplomats were expelled and two retreats in New York and Maryland used by Russian diplomats for recreation and receptions were closed by the administration of outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama over accusations of alleged Russian hacking during the presidential election.

"The Russian decision to reduce U.S. diplomatic staff appears linked directly to the new Congressional sanctions bill," Steven Pifer, senior fellow of Brookings Institution, told Xinhua.

"Neither action will help the U.S.-Russia relationship, which was already at a difficult level," said Pifer.

Meanwhile, the security expert said plenty of work is needed to improve the frayed relations.

"It is going to take patient, hard diplomacy to move the relationship to a better point," Pifer added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 17:57:36|Editor: An

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SAN FRANCISCO, July 29 (Xinhua) -- A man killed his wife on an Alaska-bound cruise ship because "she would not stop laughing" at him, reports said Friday.

Kenneth Manzanares, 39, was charged with murdering his wife after he was found with blood on his hands and clothes, and with blood spread throughout the cabin on a Princess Cruises ship Tuesday night, according to a criminal complaint by the FBI.

Kristy Manzanares, 39, had a severe head wound, but authorities have declined to release other details.

The couple planned to celebrate their wedding anniversary on the 3,080-passenger Emerald Cruise that left Sunday from Seattle to Alaska for a seven-day trip.

Kristy was found dead Tuesday night when the cruise ship was travelling between Ketchikan, Alaska, and Juneau, capital of Alaska.

Passengers went into the couple's cabin before medical workers and security officers had arrived and saw the women on the floor covered in blood, according to court documents.

Someone asked Manzanares what happened and he said: "She would not stop laughing at me," according to the FBI complaint.

A ship security officer handcuffed Manzanares and while the FBI searched him, he said: "My life is over," said the complaint.

Manzanares made his first court appearance Thursday by teleconference from Juneau, where he is in custody, said an AP report.

He appeared to be crying at times before the hearing, the report said.

Bail has not been set and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Aug. 10.

Manzanares has no criminal history, according to online Utah court records.

Kristy, who was a real state agent in St. George, Utah, was "a dedicated and loving mother who juggled her business schedule to make her children the top priority," according to a statement from her company.

A statement from Kristy's family said she was "a devoted mother, daughter, sister and friend" and they are "devastated" by their loss.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 18:27:42|Editor: Xiang Bo

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WELLINGTON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee on Saturday denounced the further testing of a ballistic missile by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday.

"I'm deeply concerned that North Korea continues to flout its obligations to the international community by testing these missiles -- it's completely unacceptable," Brownlee said in a statement.

"New Zealand would encourage North Korea to look at the plight of its people, who are living in less than advantaged circumstances, while the regime spends millions of dollars on its weaponisation program," Brownlee said.

The DPRK test-fired an unidentified missile, which the country described as an ICBM called Hwasong-14, at 11:41 p.m. Friday (1441 GMT) from its northernmost province of Jagang.
Burundian youths practice Chinese martial arts on July 26, 2017, in Bujumbura, capital of Burundi. (Xinhua/Wang Junbo)

by Lyu Tianran

BUJUMBURA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- One late afternoon in July, a burst of shouts of practicing Chinese martial arts (Wushu) came out from a primary school and could be heard on a crowded street in Bujumbura, capital of Burundi.

Over 30 Burundian youths wearing training clothes donated by the Chinese embassy in Burundi were doing Chinese martial arts in the school. They were led by Chinese teacher Zhang Xuguang, associate professor of the University of International Business and Economics of China.

Burundian Wushu Federation invited Zhang, who is also the director of Lide Martial Arts Research Center at the university, to Burundi to teach them Chinese martial arts. The training started from July 17 and will last for a month.

During the training, Zhang taught them the basics and actions of Wushu and taught them Tai Chi. Zhang planned to teach some of them a kind of traditional Chinese swordplay sometime to spread the Chinese swordplay in Burundi.

"Some of them are very good at Wushu, they practice Wushu with heart and soul," said Zhang, adding that their passion for Wushu is beyond his expectation.

In the training, Zhang consciously help the students to have better understanding of Wushu's connotation.

The head and the founder of Burundian Wushu Federation and Wushu Bujumbura Club Yves Nilrenganya said currently there are 12 Wushu clubs in Burundi, with more than 400 students. These clubs prepare for a national Wushu competition of Burundi each year since 2015, he said, adding that even the first year's competition attracted 2,000 people to watch.

Nilrenganya started learning Chinese Wushu since 2003 when he was a primary school student in Rwanda. His teacher is a Rwandan, who learned Wushu from a Chinese.

"I learned martial arts for protecting myself and for health. After learning Wushu, I also learned philosophy of peace and know how to live with others," he said.

In 2008, Nilrenganya returned to Burundi and started spreading Wushu in different areas of Burundi. In 2017, he created Burundian Wushu Federation with support from the Chinese embassy.

"Wushu is a very important game that every Burundi needs to know," he said. According to him, everyone in Burundi are very excited to see Chinese movies, which include very impressive movements, but people can only see them in film, so he came up with an idea to gather people to do martial arts.

Nilrenganya expected that one day he could represent Burundi to compete in Wushu with people from other countries.

Technician Issa Havyariuana, 28, is Nilrenganya's first student, who started learning Wushu in 2008.

Havyariuana said because of movies of Bruce Lee, Wushu has become a favorite game in Burundi. "I first learned Shaolin Wushu, then we started learning the new forms referring to international Wushu," he said.

"I want to be Bruce Lee or Jet Li. Learning Wushu helps my technician work, I can do my job faster. I also know how to live with and respect others from Wushu."

Some Burundian Wushu students can speak Chinese, including 27-year-old Ininahazwe Bonfils Ildephonse.

"I like kungfu, it's my hobby. It is also a kind of Chinese culture," Ildephonse, whose Chinese name is Li Zhixuan, told Xinhua in Chinese.

Besides Wushu, he also likes Chinese dancing very much, said Ildephonse, who learned Chinese language at Confucius Institute in Burundi.

"Chinese martial arts could help Burundian people understand Chinese culture and traditional Chinese philosophy. We hope to enrich culture exchanges between China and Burundi through exchanges of Wushu," Chinese Ambassador to Burundi Zhuo Ruisheng told Xinhua in an interview.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 19:17:59|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BAGHDAD, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared on Saturday a new plan to liberate the town of Tal Afar from Islamic State (IS) militants, which will include the participation of the predominantly Shiite paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units and Sunni tribal fighters.

"I have put forward a plan to liberate Tal Afar with the participation of all (kinds of) security services, in addition to the Hashd Shaabi and Asha'iry (tribal units)," Abadi said in a speech broadcast by the Iraqi official television.

Abadi did not say to what extent the Hashd Shaabi would participate in the liberation of the ethnically mixed town of Tal Afar, some 70 km west of Mosul, as they were forced earlier to participate only in the open land outside Mosul, not inside the Sunni city.

The participation of the predominantly Shiite paramilitary units in the ethnically mixed region in northern Iraq, where Sunni Muslims form a majority, could spark sectarian tension with Sunni Arabs, Turkomans and other minorities.

The neighboring Sunni state of Turkey also has concerns about the participation of the Shiite dominated Hashd Shaabi, because Turkey does not want the Iraqi campaign to drive the IS from Tal Afar to change the ethnic composition of the region, which is predominantly Sunni.

Abadi also urged the political parties to act in a way similar to the army's leaders, who were racing to achieve their main goal of defeating IS group, instead of fighting each other for political gains.

"We want national political parties similar to the army's leaders in their race to defeat Daesh (IS group)," Abadi said, adding "the world states participated and supported Iraq in its war against terrorism because they found a real determination to fight Daesh."

On July 10, Abadi officially declared Mosul liberated from IS after nearly nine months of fierce fighting to dislodge the extremist militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq.

Later in the month, Iraqi military officials, including Abdul Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command, said after the liberation of Mosul the troops will advance westward to free Tal Afar, the last IS redoubt in Nineveh province. The town fell to IS in 2014.
An Egyptian worker cuts medicinal herbs at a herb company in Fayoum, Egypt on July 25, 2017.(Xinhua Photo)

by Ahmed Shafiq

FAYOUM, Egypt, July 29 (Xinhua) -- On a sunny summer day amid green fields in Egypt's Fayoum Oasis, Khaled Abdul Nabi sat under the shade of a mango tree watching his workers preparing lemongrass crops to be exported to Europe.

Just like most of his peers and neighbors in Agamyeen village in Fayoum Valley, 42-year-old Abdul Nabi inherited farming from his ancestors.

For decades, Abdul Nabi grew wheat, rice, cotton and corn in his 50-acre farm. But 13 years ago, the man decided to shift to the cultivation of organic medicinal herbs to earn more money.

The middle-aged man started a company to grow, process and export herbs and is now sending his produce of some 20 species of medicinal herbs and spices to Europe, the Americas and China.

"The idea to grow organic medicinal herbs came across my mind when some farmers in my village started to plant them here," Abdul Nabi said while the fragrance of dried lemongrass filled the space. "They told me that European companies have tested the soil and the weather here and said they are unique for growing medicinal herbs."

Carefully observing the workers packing the dried lemongrass at the collecting station near the farm, Abdul Nabi said herbs and spices grow well in the valley and dry areas since they need both, hot climate and small amount of water.

"These fertile valley farmlands that are surrounded by endless desert are exceptional for herbs growing," Abdul Nabi proudly said.

Egypt has been home to a variety of herbs for thousands of years as Ancient Egyptian relics, temples and tombs contained hundreds of medical prescriptions with medicinal herbs.

So far, Egypt still produces the finest herbs, with Fayoum as the only producer of organic Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs). These crops are mainly grown in Upper Egypt's provinces of Minya, Beni Suef, Assiut and Fayoum.

Some 1500 acres are cultivated with MAPs in Fayoum, while the whole country grows these crops in 100,000 acres.

Abdul Nabi says his products reach the standard specifications of the European and global markets, adding that he follows primitive ways such as hand farming and hand collection to maintain the high quality of the produce.

"We hand pick and harvest the crops with our hands, sun-dry and clean them and then pack the crops at the factory for export," he said. "My goal is to export high quality raw herbs to gain more customers."

The cost of farming organic herbs and spices are relatively high, Abdul Nabi said, "but we make good profits because most of the produce is exported."

Abdul Nabi said Fayoum has two farming seasons, the winter and summer seasons.

"In the summer season, we plant lemongrass, mint, sesame, moringa, basil and marjoram. In the winter season we grow calendula, chamomile, onion, garlic, fennel, caraway, anise and coriander," Abdul Nabi said, sipping from a hot cup of red tea.

Last year, Abdul Nabi managed to export 70 tons of MAPs, a number he believes that can be doubled if he finds more customers.

The man said that he started to export lemongrass to China two years ago, adding that he hopes to send more of his crops to the Chinese market.

"Chinese market is promising and big, hopefully Chinese importers would buy more herbs and spices in the near future."

Although Egyptian MAPs have a good reputation in global markets, the sector does not largely contribute to the size of global herbs trade.

Last year, Egypt's exports of herbs, seeds and spices reached 100 million U.S. dollars, while the total size of exports globally exceeded 60 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, according to Egypt's State Information Service.

"All we need is a good marketing system and relying only on organic farming because that's what foreign importers seek," Abdulnabi said. "I expect that this business will grow rapidly because we have the potentials for this kind of farming."

He believes that the government should strongly helps farmers of MAPS with expertise and marketing planning since the industry is mainly meant for export, which will help the country get badly-needed foreign currencies.

"This sector is more important than natural resources. It can be the main pillar of Egypt's economy," he said confidently.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 19:58:09|Editor: An

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MOSCOW, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said he hopes the Chinese army to deepen exchanges with armies of other countries to advance global military cooperation and further contribute to world peace.

International military cooperation boosts strategic mutual trust as well as global and regional peace and stability, Xi said in a congratulatory video sent to the Russia-initiated International Army Games 2017 as it convenes here Saturday.

Xi, also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), sent his greetings to attendees on behalf of the Chinese government and the CMC in the video.

The International Army Games 2017, which runs through August 12th, comprises of 28 events held in Russia, China, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 20:13:19|Editor: An

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BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for steadfast efforts to push overcapacity cuts after government inspections found that a number of steel mills were trying to resume production of inferior-quality steel bars.

"We must stand firm in capacity-cutting efforts to prevent shutdowns in production from flaring up again," Li said in an instruction note on the findings of an inspection by the State Council.

Those breaking government rules will be strictly punished, and authorities with weak supervision will be held accountable, the premier said.

China's State Council requires all facilities producing inferior-quality steel bars to be dismantled across the country by the end of June, but the inspection found two mills in Tianjin were still in business while one company shutdown in Hunan Province was seeking to restart production.

As excess capacity has weighed on China's overall economic performance, cutting overcapacity is high on the reform agenda. In 2016, China completed both its annual targets for coal and steel capacity reduction ahead of schedule.

The government work report this year stated that China would continue to cut overcapacity in bloated sectors, with targets to slash steel production capacity by around 50 million tonnes and coal by at least 150 million tonnes this year.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 20:43:26|Editor: Xiang Bo

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MOGADISHU, July 29 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were injured in a landmine explosion at Hilwaa district in the outskirts of Mogadishu Saturday.

A police officer, Abdi Khayliye told Xinhua the two were injured when the car they were travelling in ran into a landmine believed to have been planted along Ex-Control- Bal'ad road located some 10 kilometers south west of the capital Mogadishu.

"The blast caused the injury of two people who were travelling in a car. We are already investigating the matter," said Khayliye.

An eye witness recounted the incident to Xinhua, saying the blast sparked large black plumes of smoke that were visible throughout the area.

"There was a huge blast which hit a private car on this road and it's said two people who were in it were injured. Security forces arrived shortly and cordoned off the place," said Ahmed Nur.

Nur said the security has been beefed up at the scene which was later sealed as security officers launched investigations to establish the motive behind the incident.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but the militant group Al-Shabaab has carried out similar attacks against government forces in the past.

The militants have intensified roadside blasts in the recent past to stage major assaults on the government and African Union peacekeeping mission forces in Mogadishu and across the Horn of Africa nation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 20:48:27|Editor: Xiang Bo

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JUBA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Several warring groups of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) have signed an agreement to reconcile and unify the South Sudanese founding political party that has been fractured by bitter power struggle.

The accord dubbed, the Entebbe Declaration on operationalization of the Arusha Agreement on the reunification of the SPLM was signed Thursday evening in the town of Entebbe under the auspices of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, said a statement from Uganda's State House.

The groups who signed the pact included the faction under president Kiir (SPLM-IG), a team of former detainees known as SPLM-FDs and SPLM-IO under first vice president Taban Deng Gai.

The SPLM-IO faction under the country's former vice president-turned-rebel leader Riek Machar did not take part in the reunification talks.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir early this year requested the Ugandan leader to mediate the reconciliation and unity of the various SPLM groups based on the Arusha SPLM reunification agreement, signed in Tanzania in 2015.

The groups resolved to establish a working group to revitalize implementation of the Arusha agreement and it has been tasked to develop a matrix for the implementation of the Arusha Agreement with specific timelines and report to President Museveni after one week.

They further urged Machar and other SPLM groups and cadres, who are not part of the Arusha Agreement to join the reconciliation and reunification process in a bid to embrace the new spirit of reconciliation and unity for the interest of the South Sudanese and their country.

Bol Makueng, SPLM Secretary for External Affairs said after the reunification, they would work towards maintaining party unity by embracing tolerance, democracy and forgiveness.

He urges other disgruntled party members who are not part of the reunification process to shun violence and join efforts to rebuild the SPLM.

"The SPLM has always been in for peace, reconciliation and forgiveness. Let that spirit be adopted by everyone regardless of whatever harm that has been inflicted on you as whether as a community, individual or as ethnic group. Let us sit down to see into it that these mistakes shouldn't repeat themselves," Makueng said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 21:08:35|Editor: Xiang Bo

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ELDORET, Kenya, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen on Saturday raided Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto's rural home in Eldoret in northwest Kenya after overpowering the paramilitary police officers guarding the home.

A senior area police chief said the armed assailants stormed the home and shot a police officer, with gunmen still held up in the premises.

The incident happened a few minutes after Ruto who was on a political campaign in the area left for another political rally in neighboring town.

"Fighting is still going on but reinforcements have been sent to the home," the police officers said.
RIA Novosti quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying that Russia and Finland will expand cooperation in the Arctic. The President made the statement during his visit to Finland at the personal invitation of Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.

"We have agreed to build up our cooperation in the region, in particular, considering Finland's Chairmanship of the Arctic Council," said President Putin following his talks with the President of Finland.

President Niinisto said in turn that during his talks with President Putin they discussed an initiative to combat black soot pollution.

"President Putin showed great understanding with regard to the idea I put forward, the idea that Finland would make a proposal that would be very difficult to reject. This proposal is about fighting black soot pollution. This pollution is caused by aging energy production facilities, power stations, and flaring associated gas," the Finnish president said.

He said joint efforts of the Arctic Council participants to combat this form of pollution will not impinge on anyone's economic interests.

President Putin said Russia and Finland have many opportunities to work together successfully on environmental protection in the Arctic.

"Needless to say, we can certainly do much in this area if we combine our efforts," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 21:13:37|Editor: Xiang Bo

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KABUL, July 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has said he would support the peace efforts initiated by the Afghan government, according to a statement of the Presidential Palace posted on its website on Saturday.

In a video conference with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani late Friday, Pence commended Afghanistan's achievements over the past more than two years, the statement said.

It added that both sides agreed on cooperation for the development of the security sector, bringing reforms and campaign against corruption.

President Ghani hailed the United States for its support to Afghanistan.

The Afghan government-backed peace process, initiated more than 10 years ago, is aimed at bringing armed opposition groups into negotiating table to end the lingering crisis in the country.

However, Taliban has linked any talks with the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 21:33:42|Editor: An

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HOHHOT, July 29 (Xinhua) -- China's success in reforesting the once barren Kubuqi Desert has seen the region gradually prosper in the development of the green economy, while the country seeks to share and promote the model worldwide.

The sixth Kubuqi International Desert Forum kicked off Saturday in the Kubuqi Desert in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, attracting delegates and experts from home and abroad to discuss desertification.

Kubuqi is the seventh largest desert in China, covering an area of 18,600 square kilometers. It was once the source of frequent sandstorms hitting Beijing.

Over the past three decades, farmers and herdsmen in Kubuqi planted Chinese medicinal herbs, such as liquorice, to improve soil, built photovoltaic power stations for electricity and fostered tourism.

These efforts not only contributed to the greening of more than 6,000 square kilometers of Kubuqi, but also lifted 102,000 people out of poverty.

The core of success at Kubuqi is its sustainable business model, and the establishment of a system that incorporates policy instruments, private sector investment and active participation of locals, according to a policy report from the United Nations Environment Programme.

The greening project in Kubuqi has offered a model for the world to tackle desertification, said representatives of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

China has made great progress in the fight against desertification in the past few years, with shrinking degraded land and reduced poverty in desertified areas.

The area of desertified land in the country now shrinks by an annual average of over 2,400 square km, compared with an annual average expansion of over 10,000 square km at the end of last century, making China the first country in the world to achieve desert shrinkage, according to Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai, who addressed the forum's opening ceremony.

China will keep innovating taxation, investment and financing mechanism for desertification control, bring more parties to join efforts in the endeavor and improve local people's income by developing related industries, Ma said.

For the 2016-2020 period, China aims to rehabilitate 10 million hectares of desertified land and turn more than half of the country's reclaimable desert into green land.

In early September, China will host a United Nations meeting on fighting desertification in Inner Mongolia, which is expected to draw a roadmap to end desert expansion by 2030.

China is willing to uphold the Silk Road spirit and work together with the international community to build a greener world and contribute to global sustainable development, Ma added.
Police investigator work at the area around a supermarket in the northern German city of Hamburg, where a man killed one person and wounded several others in a knife attack, on July 28, 2017. (AFP/dpa/Markus Scholz)

BERLIN, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The man who killed one and injured six in a supermarket in northern German city of Hamburg on Friday was a known Islamist and failed asylum seeker, local police said Saturday.

Police spokesperson Andy Grote told a press conference that the man was known as an Islamist but not a jihadist, and added that the suspect suffered from mental illness.

The 26-year-old Palestinian, named as Ahmad A. who was born in the United Arab Emirates, stabbed a German man to death with a kitchen knife and injured other six in an indiscriminate and sudden attack, the police said.

Some eyewitnesses said the perpetrator shouted "Allahu Akbar" during hit act.

Joerg Froehlich, Hamburg's prosecutor general, said the offender was known to the Hamburg public prosecutor as an Islamist. In April the suspect had already been conspicuous for shoplifting, but the judicial procedure was stopped at that time for insignificance.

Torsten Voss, head of the Hamburg branch of the domestic intelligence agency, said at the press conference that the perpetrator was first registered in Dortmund and was later sent to Hamburg in March 2015. Two months later, the suspect filed an asylum application, which was rejected in November 2016.

The attacker should have been a lone, and had a destabilized, uncertain personality, suffering from an alcohol problem, Voss added.

The police on Saturday had searched a refugee shelter in the Hamburg district of Langenhorn, where the suspect was believed to have been staying.

According to Deutsche Welle, Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz said it appeared that the suspect was facing deportation but this had not proceeded because necessary papers were lacking.

"I am furious that the offender is apparently someone who has claimed protection with us in Germany and then directed his hate against us," the mayor said.

Since 2015, over 1.2 million refugees poured into Germany, leading to the deterioration of public security situation, especially the potential terrorist attacks.

Germany has suffered several terrorist attacks in less than a year. One of the deadly cases took place in December last year, when a truck was deliberately driven into the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, leaving 12 people dead and 56 others injured.

The suspect of the Berlin attacker is a Tunisian national named Anis Amri, who is also a rejected asylum seeker.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 22:03:54|Editor: Xiang Bo

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ADEN, Yemen, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Naval forces loyal to the Shiite Houthi group said Saturday they targeted a United Arab Emirates (UAE) military ship travelling near the western Mocha coast in Yemen's territorial waters.

In a statement, the pro-Houthi forces based in Sanaa said their naval forces fired several rockets at a UAE military ship of the Saudi-led coalition after it sailed within striking distance of their troops off the Mocha port.

Local media affiliated to the Houthi group said the footage and more details about the attack will be released later Saturday.

No confirmation or comments have been issued by the anti-Houthi forces in Yemen or the Saudi-led coalition.

The coastal Yemeni city of Mocha was captured by the Saudi-backed government forces in an all-out military offensive waged against Houthis earlier this year.

The Houthi forces have claimed responsibility for several previous attacks against Saudi, UAE and U.S. ships in the Red Sea.

Last month, the UAE Armed Forces General Command said its ship carrying medical aid was hit by a rocket launched by Shiite Houthi militia off the port of Mocha.

The attack caused no damage to the vessel, but left a crew member injured, the General Command said, adding that it is tracking down those behind the attack.

Since March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Arabian Peninsula country.

The UAE is part of the coalition of nine Arab states to support Yemen's internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in the fight against Houthis.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 22:18:58|Editor: Xiang Bo

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ADDIS ABABA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's minerals exports during the just ended 2016/17 Ethiopian Fiscal Year (EFY) stood at 231.25 million US dollars, down by 25 percent from the same period last year.

Ethiopia had earned 309 million US dollars in the 2015/16 Ethiopian Fiscal Year from minerals exports.

Speaking to Xinhua on Saturday, Kiros Alemayehu, Public Relations Senior Expert at the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas (EMPNG), said international minerals market volatility was the main factor for the decline in revenue.

He also blamed black market trading, in particular of Ethiopia's main minerals export of gold, smuggling of minerals to neighboring countries and lax control at local level over production and sale of minerals for the decline in revenue.

EMPNG is planning to establish five gold trading centers across Ethiopia to combat contraband gold trade and boost the country's minerals export revenues.

The five centers will be built in Tigray, Southern Nations, Gambella, Oromia and Benishangul Gumuz regional states, which together are source for the vast majority of Ethiopia's gold production.

Alemayehu further said that Ethiopia expects better minerals exports revenue for 2017/18 EFY, in part because of discovery of Emerald deposits in Oromia and Sapphire deposits in Tigray.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 22:39:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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RIYADH, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Saudi-led coalition announced on Saturday that Houthi militias have targeted Mocha port on the Red Sea coast of Yemen with boat bomb, Al Arabiya local news reported.

The coalition confirmed that no casualties were reported in the blast, citing the reason for the intention of the militias to hinder the arrival of medicines and food to Yemenis.

The coalition called upon the international community to pressure Houthis to deter to international decisions.

The coalition is developing the targeted port to be the gate for the arrival of humanitarian assistances, especially to Taiz city and temporary alternatives to Al Hadida port that is under the control of Houthis.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 23:44:29|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CANBERRA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Bill Shorten, Australia's opposition leader, on Saturday promised that any government he leads would hold a referendum on whether Australia should become a republic.

Shorten, leader of the Australian Labor Party, told an Australian Republic Movement event in Melbourne that Australians would be required to simply answer "yes" or "no" as to whether the country should cut ties with the British monarchy.

"The first, clear question we ask the people should be whether we want an Australian head of state," Shorten said in his speech.

"If the yes vote prevails - and I'm optimistic it will - then we can consider how that head of state is chosen."

The approach outlined by Shorten means Australians would have to vote again on what type of republic system Australia should adopt.

In order to successfully change the wording of the Australian Constitution, a referendum must receive a majority of affirmative votes in a majority of states as well as an overall majority of votes.

It is the third change to the constitution that Shorten has flagged after he has previously voiced support for recognizing Indigenous Australians in the constitution and establishing four-year term for politicians.

The Australian republic referendum of 1999 failed with 54.87 percent of Australians voting against the move.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-29 23:54:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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PHNOM PENH, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has set Sunday, July 29, 2018 as the date for the sixth general election, according to a decision signed by Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Friday and released to the media on Saturday.

"Minister in charge of the Council of Ministers, interior minister, economy and finance minister, all ministers, and heads of all relevant institutions must carry out this decision with high efficiency from the date of signature," he said.

The Southeast Asian country holds general election once in every five years.

In the last general election on July 28, 2013, the prime minister's ruling Cambodian People's Party won 68 parliamentary seats against 55 seats for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party in the 123-seat National Assembly.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 00:24:49|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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WASHINGTON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Just imagine blinking your eyes to get all things done.

Chinese researchers have designed a new sensor that, when attached to a pair of glasses, can detect the motion of an intentionally closing eye, enabling a range of hands-free tasks, including typing or turning a light on and off.

"The technique can be considered as having 'a third hand'," Professor Chenguo Hu of Chongqing University, one of the study authors, told Xinhua.

Hu said the newly designed sensor may one day help people with locked-in syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, and other disabilities, to communicate and perform everyday tasks.

Past approaches to detect eye movement have largely relied on body surface bioelectrical signals, which are very weak and unreliable, she said.

In the new study, Hu and colleagues designed a sensor based on the so-called triboelectric nanogenerator, or TENG, to detect the motion of the skin around the corners of eyes, which she said "has never been considered as a good trigger signal source."

"When the TENG sensor is attached to the inside of an eyeglasses frame, the miniscule muscle movement of a closing eye momentarily pushes the sensor's layers together, generating an electrical signal that can be reliably measured," according to the study published this week by the U.S. journal Science Advances.

"Compared to past approaches, the new sensors achieve impressive sensitivity in low-cost, highly adaptive devices that can be fabricated in a variety of forms," the study said.

Importantly, the sensor can distinguish between unintentional blinks and deliberate ones, it said.

When the glasses are connected to a computer screen, the wearer can blink as a cursor passes over different keys, typing out a message like "Hello TENG."

"Excellent performance of this system could be proof for the msTENG (sensor) as a supersensitive sensor to be applied in computer control," Hu's paper wrote.

"We believe that on the basis of the msTENG, many kinds of mechnosensational computer games will spring out to make life more fascinating."

The researchers also designed their sensor-equipped glasses to initiate other daily tasks, such as turning a light on and off and switching on a fan.

"Our work makes it possible to get a novel design concept of controlling electronic devices via eye blinks out of the lab to become part of our daily lives," Hu added.
In an effort to study photosynthesis, Fromme explored photosynthesis in its simplest form, in heliobacteria, which were first found in muddy soils, like near the hot springs of Iceland. ASU

Every day, enough sunlight hits the Earth to power the planet many times over  if only we could more efficiently capture all the energy.

With todays solar panels limited by their efficiency (currently, more than 80 percent of available solar energy is lost as heat), scientists have been looking into nature as inspiration to better understanding the way photosynthetic plants and bacteria capture sunlight.

Natures invention of photosynthesis is the single most important energy conversion process driving the biosphere, and photosynthesis forever changed the Earths atmosphere, said Raimund Fromme, an associate research professor at the ASU Biodesign Institutes Center for Applied Structural Biology and in the School of Molecular Sciences.

More than 3 billion years ago our planet had an atmosphere without oxygen. At this time, nature figured out a way to capture the sunlight and convert it food to take advantage of this everlasting energy source.

Now, a research group led by Fromme has gained important new insights by resolving with near-atomic clarity, the very first core membrane protein structure in the simplest known photosynthetic bacterium, called Heliobacterium modesticaldum (Helios was the Greek sun god).

By solving the heart of photosynthesis in this sun-loving, soil-dwelling bacterium, Frommes research team has gained a fundamental new understanding of the early evolution of photosynthesis, and how this vital process differs between plants systems.

Their discovery provides scientists with a brand new template for laying the groundwork for organic-based solar panel design, known as artificial leaves for solar energy, or possible renewable biofuel applications.

The findings appear in todays issue of Science.

Frommes research project was started seven years ago as postdoctoral researcher Iosifina Sarrou first improved the preparation of the heliobacterial reaction center. After many initial trials of crystallization, an X-ray diffracting crystal charge was found. This is the moment a crystallographer is waiting for, said Raimund Fromme, explaining the years it can take to grow the perfect protein crystal suitable for X-ray studies (shown on the left). The figure on the right is the diffraction pattern after the crystals were exposed to X-rays. Scientists can understand the 3-D structure of a protein from these patterns. CREDIT ASU

Nature knows best

ASU has long been a long-standing research leader in photosynthesis, going back to its first decade as a research university in the 1970s. It was a natural fit for scientists drawn to the unique beauty of the Sonoran Desert that, with its 300-plus days of annual sunshine, is simply the best spot in the nation to capture solar energy.

Lifes solar panels, which scientists call photosystems, are used by plants, algae and photosynthetic bacteria as an incredibly efficient system for capturing almost every available photon of light to grow and thrive, filling almost every nook and cranny on earth.

Fromme is part of a large structural biology research group at ASU, who are steadily gaining a better understanding by taking pictures of the key proteins that work within the photosynthesis reaction centers to help turn light into energy.

To truly and fully understand photosynthesis, one has to follow the process of converting light into chemical energy, said Fromme. This is one of the fastest chemical reactions ever studied, which is part of what makes it so hard to study and understand.

The timescales of photosynthesis turn a bolt of lightning into a snail-like pace by comparison. Photosynthesis reactions occur at the scale of picoseconds, which is one-trillionth of a second. A picosecond is to one second as one second is to 37,000 years.

But the ASU structural biologists are using ever more powerful x-ray technology to one day catch up to the light by capturing freeze-frame images of crystallized proteins throughout the whole process.

Using X-ray light at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, CA, and a beamline at Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Lab, IL., Frommes group has now visualized the heliobacteria reaction centers for the very first time at near-atomic, 2.2-angstrom resolution (an angstrom is the width of a hydrogen atom). They found an almost perfect symmetry in the heliobacter RC (shown by the mirror image pattern of the main protein motifs, indicated by cylinders (top image) and a close up of the exact placement of individual reaction center atoms (bottom). CREDIT ASU

Lightning in a bottle

In an effort to study photosynthesis, Fromme explored photosynthesis in its simplest form, in heliobacteria, which were first found in muddy soils near hot springs.

Single-celled heliobacteria are simpler, yet fundamentally different than plants. For instance, during photosynthesis, instead of using water like plants, heliobacteria use hydrogen sulfide. They grow without oxygen, and after photosynthesis, give off a rotten-egg smelling sulfur gas in place of oxygen.

Heliobacteria have used their unique place to successfully carve out their own ecological niche because they use a near-infrared wavelength of light for photosynthesis, which is perfect for low light conditions found in places like Iceland or muddy water rice paddies. Plants simply cant compete.

Scientists have wanted to understand how heliobacteria accomplish this.

Reaction to action

At the heart of photosynthesis is a reaction center; its an elaborate complex of pigments and proteins that turn light into electrons to power the cell.

Chlorophyll is the pigment that makes plants green. In plants, chlorophyll captures the suns energy and uses it to make sugars out of carbon dioxide from the air and water.

Oxygenic photosynthesis in higher plants, green algae and cyanobacteria make use of Photosystem I (PSI), which is a Type I RC, and Photosystem II (PSII), which is a Type II RC. These work together to extract electrons from water to ferredoxin and finally reduce an energy carrier NADP+ to NADPH.

In contrast, anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria, such as Heliobacterium modesticaldum, use a single RC to drive a cyclic electron transfer (ET) pathway that creates a proton-motive force across the membrane, which is used to drive energy production and metabolism by ATP synthesis.

The reaction centers enclose these participants like a cage to efficiently capture all the available energy and photons of light by bringing all the elements together in the same vicinity.

Reaction centers (RC) come in two main flavors of cofactors: iron (Type I) or quinone (Type II).

Heliobacteria have the simplest known reaction center and use unique chlorophylls.

The discovery of heliobacteria led to the identification of unique characteristics for its RC (in the 1990s, former ASU chemistry chair Robert Blankenship first led a group to help sequence and characterize heliobacteria RCs).

The heliobacteria RC has been proposed to be the closest thing alive to the earliest common ancestor of all photosynthetic reaction centers, when, around 3 billion years ago, the early Earth contained sulfur rich seas and little oxygen.

But successfully purifying an RC protein and growing crystals needed for X-ray experiments can be a lengthy, difficult process.

In particular, Frommes research project was started seven years ago as postdoctoral researcher Iosifina Sarrou first improved the preparation of the heliobacterial reaction center. After many initial trials of crystallization,

an X-ray diffracting crystal charge was found.

This is the moment a crystallographer is waiting for, said Fromme, explaining the years it can take to grow the perfect protein crystal suitable for X-ray studies.

Two to tango

Short after these encouraging results, Christopher Gisriel joined the team and improved the diffraction quality to the final quality of 2.2 Angstroms.

Still, the research team could not solve a crystallographic structure.

This hiatus took two years until August 2016. Then, finally, a breakthrough came.

At this point a thrilling discovery on unchartered territory began, as each new chlorophyll was cheered, Fromme remembered, and proved everyones initial prediction on the heliobacterias RC was wrong.

Using X-ray light at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, CA, and a beamline at Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Lab, IL., Frommes group has now visualized the heliobacteria RCs for the very first time at near-atomic, 2.2-angstrom resolution (an angstrom is the width of a hydrogen atom).

They found an almost perfect symmetry in the heliobacter RC.

First, the amino acid composition of a pair of proteins was identical, called a homodimer.

This was the very first time that a RC was found to contain just a single pair of protein homodimers to drive photosynthesis.

Finally, they mapped about 60 chlorophylls onto the RC protein complex, which was finally a way higher number than his colleague John Golbeck from Pennstate University who was part of the study predicted.

The core polypeptide dimer and two small subunits coordinate 54 (bacterio)chlorophylls and 2 carotenoids that capture and transfer energy to the core at the reaction center, which performs charge separation, stabilization and electron transfer it consists of 6 (bacterio)chlorophylls and an iron-sulfur cluster; unlike other reaction centers, it lacks a bound quinone.

Thus, the structure supports the hypothesis that electron transport in the HbRC does not require an intermediate cofactor.

High-resolution structures have been obtained from multiple heterodimeric (more than one protein) RCs (Purple bacteria RC, PSI, and PSII), but no homodimeric RC structure have been solved until now, said Fromme.

The ancient origins of photosynthesis

Furthermore, with the explosion of DNA sequencing technology, and with the potential ability to understand all of the genes and proteins across life, they also traced the evolution of the photosynthesis RCs.

Could this reaction center have spawned all others, leading to greater complexity over the eons?

In evolutionary terms, this means that the heliobacteria RC may have first come from a single gene.

This structure preserves characteristics of the ancestral reaction center, providing insight into the evolution of photosynthesis, explains Frommes colleague Kevin Redding. From the new structures we have, it would certainly make sense for a compelling case.

Then, the gene may have been duplicated to increase the evolutionary complexity.

A homodimeric RC almost certainly preceded heterodimeric RCs in evolution, said Fromme. Duplication of the core RC subunit gene followed by divergence of the two genes would allow for the conversion of a homodimeric to a heterodimeric RC. This likely occurred on at least three separate occasions, leading to the creation of all the different and more complex reactions center found in other photosynthetic bacteria and plants.

The sun will rise again

Frommes group is excited about the potential of the new results. Such an understanding could one-day help research groups around the world build an artificial photosynthesis center that could help develop next-generation hybrid organic solar panels, possibly using the heliobacter to boost light absorption and begin to boost solar energy efficiency or drive solar-based renewable biofuel technology.

After all, the sun will rise again tomorrow, awaiting more and more clever technologies scientists can dream up to capture the full potential of solar.

###

Paper: STRUCTURE OF A SYMMETRIC PHOTOSYNTHETIC REACTION CENTER/PHOTOSYSTEM

The structure of a reaction center from an anaerobic phototroph provides insights into the early evolution of photosynthesis.

Christopher Gisriel1, Iosifina Sarrou2, Bryan Ferlez3, John H. Golbeck3,4, Kevin E. Redding1,5, Raimund Fromme1,6*

1School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ 85287, 2Center for Free- Electron Laser Science, DESY, 22607 Hamburg, Germany, 3Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, 4Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, 5Center for Bioenergy & Photosynthesis, Arizona State University, 6Center of Applied Structural Discovery, Biodesign Institute, Tempe AZ 85287

This work was funded by the Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy through Grant (DE- SC0010575 to KR, RF, and JHG) and supported by X-ray crystallographic equipment and infrastructure provided by Petra Fromme of the Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery at Arizona State University.

The Berkeley Center for Structural Biology is supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The Advanced Light Source is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02- 05CH11231. Results shown in this report are derived from work performed at Argonne National Laboratory, Structural Biology Center at the Advanced Photon Source. Argonne is operated by U. Chicago Argonne, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental Research under Contract DE-AC02-06CH11357.
File photo taken on March 12, 2015 shows vehicles along the Ikorodu road in Lagos, southwest Nigeria.(Xinhua/Idbaba)

ABUJA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Eighteen people were killed in a road mishap in Nigeria's northwest region on Saturday, the country's road safety police said.

The accident, which occurred in Gumel area of the northwestern state of Jigawa, involved a stationary truck and a commuter bus.

The driver of the bus, on top speed, had rammed into the stationary truck abandoned on a busy road by its driver, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said.

A commander of the road safety police told Xinhua 15 of the bus passengers had died on the spot, while three others, who had sustained serious injuries earlier, died while receiving treatment in a local hospital.

An investigation is underway to ascertain the main cause of the accident.

The road safety police said preliminary investigation had revealed that the driver of the stationary truck did not place any caution sign to indicate that the vehicle was faulty and immovable.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 01:35:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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WINDHOEK, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese rice donated to the Namibian government is helping the country's citizens to meet their nutritional needs, following a dry spell and poor yields.

During the 2016 and 2017 harvest season, due to climate variability, Maria Matias from a far flung village in Namibia's Oshana region could not produce enough food from her farm to feed her family.

Following a poor harvest, she faced major challenges feeding her family.

"As a result of drought and subsequent flood, I had poor yields of pearl millet and other legumes. Further, I had no surplus yields that I could sell to earn money and buy supplementary food to add to our household food basket. It had been a struggle to make ends meet," said Matias.

Matias' story represents that of many Namibians in the norther region of the country.

As luck would have it for her, in mid-May this year, to her relief, the situation improved. Agents from the local Oshakati-west Constituency Office distributed Chinese rice to households in the local authority area.

To date, on sunny afternoons and breezy nights, Matias prepares the Chinese rice for her family. "Chinese rice has become our daily meal. I had poor yields, hence the rice is supplementary or even a substitute meal of the stable pearl millet in northern Namibia which is in short supply," said Matias.

According to Matias, the texture of rice is not so different from the regular rice sold in Namibia. "The advantage of the Chinese rice is that it does not require extensive cooking compared to other varieties we are accustomed to. As long as one soaks it in water, preparation period is minimal," she added.

Meanwhile, Kuku Agatus, a traditional leader in the Oshakati-West constituency said that the Chinese rice was distributed to households as directed by the Central Government as part of efforts to address food shortages resulting from the negative effects of climate change.

"In our area, should you randomly visit any homestead at lunch hour or dinner, they will be serving you Chinese rice. Chinese rice has helped our communities and its people to get by and meet the nutritional needs," he added.

In June, Li Nan, Charge d' Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Namibia, said that since 2016, to alleviate the drought disaster, the Chinese Government provided two batches of emergency food aid to Namibia, 4,000 tons and 2,600 tons of rice, totaling 100 million Namibian dollars(7.7 million U.S. dollars), benefitting more than 595,000 people.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 01:45:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ABUJA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria on Saturday announced the deployment of 230 troops, including 19 officers, to Liberia on a peacekeeping mission.

The country's army chief Tukur Buratai said the troops were deployed to partake in the ongoing United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), said Buratai.

Speaking at a four-week intensive training on leadership and peacekeeping for the troops in Kaduna, the capital city of Nigeria's northwestern state of Kaduna, Buratai said the troops were expected to shun acts that could tarnish the country's image.

"You must observe human rights, and respect the cultural and religious sensitives of Liberians," the army chief said, urging the troops.

Nigeria has deployed more than 20,000 troops to 40 peacekeeping missions in Africa and across the world since 1960, according to data by the Nigerian Army.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 01:45:20|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ELDORET, Kenya, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan authorities have sent more security officers to flush out an unknown number of attackers still trapped inside Deputy President William Ruto's rural home on Saturday.

Sources at the scene said the officers from the elite squad, Recce Squad have been sent to the home as two gunmen and a police officer were killed in the attack on Ruto's Sugoi home.

"We could still hear more gunshots in the compound and a police helicopter hovers over the home. The police have sent more reinforcement as gunshots continue to rent the air," said the police officer who did not want to be named.

Rift Valley regional coordinator Wanyama Musiambo and Uasin Gishu county commissioner Abdi Hassan are among security chiefs at the scene.

The sources said three gunmen ambushed the guards shortly after Ruto left for a political rally with President Uhuru Kenyatta in Kitale.

Workers and paramilitary police officers manning the home were the only ones at the residence at the time. A police officer guarding the gate was shot and injured and his gun snatched before fighting began.

Sources said a police in charge of the home's security was killed, adding that gunmen are Somalis and that they had pretended to be selling sheets.

Police have cordoned off the home as they suspect the attackers are within the compound. Members of the public were barred from accessing the heavily guarded home.

The deputy president is the second most guarded government official in the country after the president and his home is usually under a 24-hour watch by the paramilitary police officers.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 01:55:25|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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MANDERA, Kenya, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan security officers have launched a manhunt for Al-Shabaab militants who had hijacked a vehicle in northeast Mandera country near the Somalia border early Saturday.

Mandera County Commissioner Frederick Shisia confirmed that the vehicle branded Jubilee Party (ruling party) vehicle was hijacked by the insurgents at gunpoint at Kutulo and driven to Somalia. The occupants of the vehicle were on a political campaign trail.

"The vehicle which was on a Jubilee party campaign trail was hijacked and driven inside Somalia. It was taken at gunpoint at around 8 a.m.," Shisia told Xinhua.

He said the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) are pursuing the attackers who crossed into Somalia.

Mandera South Police chief Charles Chacha confirmed the incident and said the driver and passenger are missing after the ambush. Chacha said a rescue operation by the KDF is underway but so far no suspect has been arrested.

"The issue has been taken over by our military inside Somalia where we believe it was hijacked but the driver and another passenger are yet to be found," Chacha said.

According to the police, the vehicle had dropped several supporters of Mandera Governor Ali Roba who had attended a political rally in Kotulo town the previous day.

The Al-Shabaab have changed tactics and resorted to abductions and using improvised explosive devices to carry out attacks in parts of Coast region and North Eastern, according to police.

More than 30 police officers and civilians have been were killed in similar attacks in northeastern Kenyan counties in the past two months.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 02:10:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ADEN, Yemen, July 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 14 pro-government fighters were killed and nearly 20 others injured in a missile attack by the Shiite Houthi group near the Yemeni coastal city of Mocha on Saturday, a local army commander told Xinhua.

The Houthi fighters fired a number of heat-seeking missiles and targeted two battalions of armed forces loyal to the internationally-backed government in the Mawza district, the army commander said on condition of anonymity.

The attack occurred just hours after the pro-government forces restarted the anti-Houthi military offensive in areas near Mocha.

On Wednesday, the Yemeni state TV channel based in Saudi Arabia said the government forces recaptured a strategic military base from Houthis after months of intense fighting and airstrikes on the country's western coast, which left scores killed from both sides.

Yemen's internationally-backed government, allied with a Saudi-led Arab military coalition, has for years been battling Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels for control of the country.

In March 2015, a Saudi-led Arab military coalition imposed an air and sea blockade to prevent weapons from reaching Iranian-backed Houthis, who invaded capital Sanaa militarily and seized most northern Yemeni provinces.

Statistics showed more than 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in the civil war in 2015.

The impoverished Arab country is also suffering the world's largest cholera outbreak, where about 5,000 cases are reported every day.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 02:30:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ABUJA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Death toll in Friday's tanker truck collision in central north Nigeria's Kogi State rose to 13 on Saturday, an official told Xinhua.

The petrol tanker truck had a head-on collision with a passenger bus in Felele axis of the state.

Segun Martins, head of the Federal Road Safety Corps in the state, said most of the victims were passengers traveling in an 18-seater commercial bus along Lokoja-Abuja road.

Ten people had died on the spot.

The death toll rose as three of the injured victims died while receiving treatment in a government hospital, he added.

The poor condition of roads, over-speeding, over-loading and reckless driving are blamed for being the main cause of the frequent road accidents in Nigeria.
Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and DEF CON conferences, speaks at Black Hat USA 2017 in Las Vegas, the United States, on July 26, 2017. (Xinhua/Guo Shuang)

by Xinhua writer Guo Shuang

LAS VEGAS, the United States, July 29 (Xinhua) -- During the past 20 years since the first Black Hat conference in 1997, the security community, tech industry and the world have been on a wild ride.

No doubt, a sea of new technologies and services will rock our world over the next 20 years, which means there will be much more to protect than just computers.

Most conference goers think the world's top computer security conference acts as a "crystal ball" illustrating future trends. So when the "Hacker Summer Camp" celebrates its 20th anniversary here this week, it may be the right time to think about the question -- could we be safer in 2038?

Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos gives a keynote speech at Black Hat USA 2017 in Las Vegas, the United States, on July 26, 2017. (Xinhua/Guo Shuang)

HARSH REALITY

The summer of 1997 was marked by many historical events: the Pathfinder probe landed on the surface of Mars, and IBM's Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov, the first time a computer beat a world champion in a chess match.

The first Black Hat was also created in that summer. At that time, there weren't a lot of jobs in information security, according to the conference founder Jeff Moss, aka The Dark Tangent, who also started another "Hacker Summer Camp" DEFCON, which celebrates here its 25th anniversary this week.

Moss reflected on the early days of the event in his keynote speech this week at Black Hat USA 2017, saying the first conference speaker list was largely just his friends.

Today, the computer security conference provides security consulting, training, and briefings to hackers, corporations, and government agencies around the world, bringing in over 9,000 attendees from more than 80 countries this year.

However, the harsh reality today, many cybersecurity experts believe, is that the security community hasn't kept pace with the importance of technology in our society, even as the stakes have grown higher than ever.

The industry is still in its infancy. Moss noted in his speech that the conference isn't even old enough to drink in Las Vegas yet.

"I don' t think we are living up to our potential yet, and some of this is due to deep-seated facets of information security culture," Alex Stamos, Chief Security Officer of Facebook, said in the keynote speech at the event.

Stamos pointed out many gaps he observed: the security community pays more attention to complex problems, but ignores actual human harm; people in the industry "punish imperfect solutions in an imperfect world;" the community doesn't engage the world effectively.

"We're really at the edge of something. I can't tell you what but I know it's the edge," Moss said at the event.

Security expert Ping Look reflects on the early days of the event in a presentation at Black Hat USA 2017 in Las Vegas, the United States, on July 25, 2017. (Xinhua/Guo Shuang)

CHANGING LANDSCAPE

It's hard to imagine exactly what the information security world would look like in 2038. What can be certain is that threats in cyberspace are increasing.

The 2038 Unix Millennium bug that will drive industry worry on par with Y2K, major shifts in the way security community deals with Internet of Things devices, cryptocurrency, SSL encryption and national security, Mikko Hypponen, a cyber war veteran and the Chief Research Officer of F-Secure pointed out in a presentation at the event.

Among so many threats to all of us, "I am still really concerned about the scale of botnets," Moss told Xinhua. "And the Internet of Things would be the catalyst for software liability," he added. A botnet is a network of infected machines that allow hackers to take control of several computers at a time.

Cyber security has no border. However, there are still lots of challenges for cooperating across different communities when addressing issues of international security and cyberspace. "The international cooperation" is very important, Moss told Xinhua.

Hypponen predicted many upcoming developments: cryptocurrency is dramatically changing the landscape related to how law enforcement will chase the bad guys and follow the money; quantum computing is reaching a point where in the very near future it may pose a threat to SSL encryption; humans are also facing greater risks with the rise of IoT devices.

"In 2009, we didn't even have the Internet of Things ... of course, it's huge now, every device can be connected ... it's in every home," Ping Look, often referred at Black Hat to as the Ping of Death aka "The One You Don't Want to Piss Off (or you will die)", told Xinhua. "The Internet of Things is probably the fastest growing verticle within the information cyber industry right now", she added.

"Our work is not to secure computers, but our work is to secure society," security researcher Hypponen said.

Photo taken on July 25, 2017 shows Black Hat USA 2017 in Las Vegas, the United States. (Xinhua/Guo Shuang)

IS IT TOO EARLY?

"2038 is way off in the future. People think we have plenty of time to fix it, but I will guarantee you we will run out of time," Hypponen warned.

Over the next 20 years, "people and technology will play key roles to make the world safer," Qing Yang, the director of UnicornTeam and Radio Security Research Department at 360 Technology, told Xinhua. "The role of security professionals will rise in dramatic importance," he added.

In security expert Ping's opinion, "public awareness" is a major step to make us more secure in the future and people should understand the safety risks associated with connected devices.

Also, when addressing issues of war and peace in cyberspace, many experts with backgrounds in information security, Internet governance, diplomacy, international relations and law enforcement shared their opinions, stressing the importance of communities in cooperating outside of their own silos.

To address those gaps mentioned earlier and fulfill the responsibilities of security people, Facebook CSO Stamos said the community needs to focus on defense and diversity.

In his view, good defense comes from understanding offense. And secondly, the security community needs more diverse people, backgrounds, and thoughts to live up to its potential. Stamos said he has already seen some signs of a movement toward more empathy in security.

"I am optimistic," Stamos said, "I figure we'll do better this time than it taking the next 20 years."
Combo file photo shows John Kelly (L) on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. on Jan. 10, 2017 and Reince Priebus (R) at the Republican National Committee's headquarters in Washington D.C. on Nov. 5, 2014. (Xinhua/Bao Dandan)

WASHINGTON, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The vicious infighting that has plagued the White House for months claimed Friday yet another victim: White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

U.S. President Donald Trump broke the news via Twitter as he made his way back to Washington from an event in New York, saying that Priebus was out.

"I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff," Trump said while still on board Air Force One.

"He is a great American and a great leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security," Trump said, adding that Kelly has been "a true star of my administration."

With that the substitution was done.

Even though Trump said in a third tweet that he and Priebus "accomplished a lot together," and that he was "proud of" Priebus, but it is no secret in Washington that Priebus has long been sidelined in the Trump administration.

According to Sarah Sanders, the newly appointed White House Press Secretary, Priebus' departure has been brought up since two weeks ago, while Priebus said in an interview with CNN late Friday that it actually started months ago.

The president wanted to go "a different direction" and that it was "a healthy thing," Priebus said during the interview, adding that he handed in his resignation in private on Thursday.

Despite long running rumors and speculations, the rift between Priebus and Trump was made public only a week ago when Trump recruited New York financier and Trump loyalist Anthony Scaramucci as the White House Communications Director.

Priebus reportedly strongly opposed the pick but was unable to convince Trump. Sean Spicer, former White House Press Secretary and an ally of Priebus, packed his bags just as Scaramucci unpacked his.

Priebus and Scaramucci has had a thorny relationship since the early days of the administration, when Priebus was successful in blocking Scaramucci from a senior White House post.

The hostility between the two men erupted this week when Scaramucci lashed out at Priebus on various occasions, including on Twitter and through multiple on-the-record phone calls with the press.

"In light of the leak of my financial disclosure info which is a felony. I will be contacting @FBI and @Thejusticedept #swamp @Reince45," Scaramucci tweeted Wednesday, hinting Priebus has committed a felonious crime.

Scaramucci further accused Priebus of being responsible for the damaging leaks inside the White House, and went as far as using profane words against Priebus during a phone call with a reporter of The New Yorker magazine.

Sanders denied allegations that Scaramucci was the reason behind Priebus's leaving, while Priebus told CNN that whatever was between him and Scaramucci was over and that he had "moved on."

Having just hit its half-year mark, the Trump administration has already lost a number of senior officials, including former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, former White House Communications Director Mike Dubke, former Deputy National Security Advisor Kathleen Troia McFarland and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Kate Walsh.

The drain of senior officials was seen by Washington pundits as a signal that the Trump administration is shedding its ties to the Republican establishment, while bringing in more reinforcement from what has become known as the New Yorkers.

Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner both were said to have played a role in edging out Priebus, the former Republican National Committee chairman.

In addition to those that have left, more of Trump's top officials are said to be standing on shaky grounds.

Trump has repeatedly voiced his disappointment with Secretary of Justice Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russian probe, saying Sessions would not have been offered the job if he knew Sessions was going to recuse himself.

National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster has made the watchlist, after his plan to send more troops to Afghanistan was turned down by Trump.

White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon may also be falling out of Trump's graces, as Scaramucci openly criticized him of trying to make a name for himself and diverting from the president's agenda.

The instability in Trump's administration has raised serious questions on whether Trump is capable of running a united team, especially after a resounding defeat on the hill Friday morning that has all but tarnished his bid to repeal and replace Obamacare, a major campaign promise.

In an editorial, The New York Times described the Trump administration as "flailing" and "ineffective."

The biggest challenge for Kelly, the incoming chief of staff, will be "to bring discipline to the president," it said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 02:45:35|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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JUBA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese defense force will devote its might toward promotion of global security and peaceful development, a military official said recently.

Military Attache at the Chinese Embassy in South Sudan Lin Wei acknowledged that the monumental transformation the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has undergone in the last nine decades, adding that its contribution to global peace and stability remains profound.

"China has no intention for military competition or expansion. But because of the country's special strategic and security environment, China has to build and maintain a fairly strong defence force," said Lin at an occasion marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.

He told a gathering of senior policymakers, diplomats and military officials from South Sudan that the Chinese army has no intentions to dominate the world but to safeguard national and global security and economic interests.

He added that the People's Liberation Army is the embodiment China's socialist ideals, sovereignty, reform and quest for progress in all human endeavors.

Beijing has reassured the world its sophisticated defence force will not jeopardize peace, stability and economic development.

Lin said that despite its military prowess, China has no intention to pursue aggressive policies but will join forces with the rest of the global community to advocate for harmonious co-existence.

"The pursuit of peaceful development represents the peace loving cultural tradition of the Chinese nation over the past centuries, a tradition we have inherited and carried forward," Lin remarked.

He noted that China has drawn lessons from its painful history marked with poverty, foreign invasions and civil wars to champion for peaceful and orderly development.

China has actively participated in UN peace keeping operations in global hot spots in line with its commitment to become a responsible player in world affairs.

Lin noted that China has so far deployed more than 31,000 military personnel to 24 UN peacekeeping operations while 13 servicemen have died in the line of duty.

He hailed the robust military cooperation with South Sudan to help restore peace and stability in the strife-torn world's youngest republic.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 02:50:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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NAIROBI, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police said they have intensified search for an intruder who stormed the rural home of Deputy President William Ruto in Sugoi and later shot and injured a paramilitary officer guarding the fortified residence early on Saturday.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett said the armed suspect had approached Ruto's outer gate at around midday and hit an officer on duty several times with a machete and managed to enter the farm complex.

"Other police officers were quickly mobilized and the intruder was forced to hide at a building that is still under construction," said Boinett said in a statement issued on Saturday evening.

He said the deputy president was neither at the residence, nor any member of his family at the time and the residential house is secure. Ruto had left for a political campaign in neighboring county.

"The injured officer is undergoing treatment and is in stable condition. Specialist officers have been deployed to deal with the intruder," Boinett said.

However, sources said three suspects were killed in a shootout with security officers while the fourth was fatally injured as the attackers stormed the large compound.

Security officers also sealed off all routes to the home, cordoning off hundreds of villagers who had thronged the scene. Sources said the four suspects who looked Somali entered the home pretending to be hawking sheets.
A cholera-infected woman receives medical treatment at a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, on July 22, 2017. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)

SANAA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the cholera epidemic in war-torn Yemen has increased to 1,992 since late April, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on Saturday.

It said 419,804 suspected cases of cholera have been reported since April 27.

The highest number of fatalities were reported from the northwestern province of Hajjah and the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, according to WHO.

The epidemic has been "increasing at an average of 5,000 a day," it said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has expected the suspected cases of cholera in Yemen to double to 600,000 by the end of 2017.

Jamie McGoldrick , the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, has said cholera in Yemen is "entirely man-made as a result of the conflict."

More than two years into war, Yemen is facing a total collapse, where two thirds of the total population, around 19 million, need humanitarian aid. About 10.3 million people are at risk of famine and 14.5 million lack access to safe drinking water.

Fewer than 45 percent of the country's hospitals are operational, but even the operational ones are coping with huge challenges, especially the lack of medications, medical equipment and staff.

The blockade on Yemen, as part of a Saudi-led bombing campaign launched in March 2015, has deepened the crisis in the country which used to import most of its basic needs.

The war has pit the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi rebel movement against a Sunni Saudi-led military coalition, after Houthis toppled Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government in late 2014.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 02:55:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CAIRO, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian and Russian senior diplomats met here on Saturday to discuss efforts for no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The two sides underscored methods to enhance efforts for establishing a Mideast WMD-free zone through joint preparatory committees ahead of the review conference of the 1995 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) scheduled in 2020, said the ministry's statement.

The Egyptian side was led by Hesham Badr, assistant foreign minister for multilateral and international security affairs, while the Russian delegation was headed by Mikhail Ulyanov, Foreign Ministy's director of department of security affairs and disarmament.

Egypt was the first to propose a WMD-free zone in the Middle East in 1990, which garnered broad international support yet limited practical progress.

Egypt and Arab states argue that such a WMD-free zone would contribute to regional peace, while Israel repeatedly declined calls to join the NPT.

Egypt and Russia signed an initial agreement in 2015 to build four nuclear power stations in the Arab country by 2022, but the final deal hasn't yet been signed.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 03:15:43|Editor: ying

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TEHRAN, July 29 (Xinhua) -- National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Majlis (parliament) on Saturday passed the general outlines of a motion to reciprocate the recent U.S. sanctions on the Islamic republic.

The motion, if ratified in the Majlis open meeting, will "counter the terrorist and adventurous measures of the United States in the region," Press TV reported.

It also envisages measures to support the Iranian armed and security forces as well as those Iranians who would be affected by the U.S. actions, Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araqchi, who had attended the meeting of the commission, said.

Araqchi described the motion as an appropriate measure in response to the "hostile and malicious" policies of the United States.

The U.S. sanction measures would have adverse effects on the implementation of the landmark nuclear agreement, also known as JCPOA, which was signed between Iran and six world powers in July 2015, he said.

The United States imposed on Friday new ballistic missile sanctions on Iran in response to what it called Tehran's "continued provocative actions" including a recent rocket launch, said U.S. Treasury Department.

Iran launched on Thursday a space vehicle which used technologies "closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile," representing a "threatening step by Iran," said the U.S. statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 04:10:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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AMMAN, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Jordan said on Saturday that it does not spare any opportunity to place the Palestinian issue, as well as safeguarding Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, on top global agenda.

Jordanian King Abdullah II made the remarks at a meeting with chief editors and media professionals.

The king voiced support for the steadfastness of the Jerusalemites, stressing the importance of the Palestinian-Jordanian joint stance in the face of crisis.

The meetings also discussed Al-Aqsa Mosque crisis, including reopening of the mosque to worshipers and the restoration of its status quo.

The king said the Islamic Awqaf in Jerusalem played a key role in the restoration of calm in Al-Aqsa.

He stressed that the Arab kingdom will continue to play its historic role in protecting the Islamic and Christian holy sites in the city.

On the recent Israeli embassy shooting, the king said Jordan will not give up its rights and that the kingdom will take all measures to ensure that justice is fulfilled.

Last week, an Israeli embassy staffer in Amman shot dead a Jordanian teenager and a doctor near the embassy in Amman, after he alleged that the teenager attempted to attack him with a screwdriver.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 04:20:52|Editor: Liu

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LOS ANGELES, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Navy's newest guided-missile destroyer, USS Rafael Peralta, was commissioned on Saturday in its homeport of San Diego, the U.S. state of California.

The newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, DDG 115, is named for U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Rafael Peralta from San Diego, who was killed in 2004 in Iraq and posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for heroism.

Peralta smothered an enemy grenade with his body to absorb the majority of the lethal blast and shrapnel and saved the life of two U.S. soldiers with him in the battle of Fallujah.

USS Rafael Peralta is the 65th Arleigh Burke class destroyer. It is equipped with the Aegis Baseline 9 Combat System which includes an Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) capability incorporating Ballistic Missile Defense 5.0 Capability Upgrade and Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air capability.

The ship's IAMD radar will provide increased computing power and radar upgrades that improve detection and reaction capabilities against modern air warfare threats, according to the website of U.S. Navy.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 04:46:27|Editor: Yurou Liang

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (L, front) and his wife Grace Mugabe attend a ZANU-PF rally in Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe, July 29, 2017. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Saturday he is not about to step down leaving behind a fractured party. He said he was taking his time to anoint a successor until he is convinced that the party is united and that the person to succeed him has attained the same "stature and acceptance as I have managed to secure over the years for the party". (Xinhua/stringer)

HARARE, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Saturday he is not about to step down leaving behind a fractured party.

He said he was taking his time to anoint a successor until he is convinced that the party is united and that the person to succeed him has attained the same "stature and acceptance as I have managed to secure over the years for the party".

"There is the issue that the President is going, I am not going, that the president is dying, I am not dying," the president said while addressing his fifth youth interface rally in Chinhoyi, Mashonaland West Province.

He said despite his advanced age, he was still strong enough to continue as president, adding that recently his doctors were surprised that "I have a very strong bone system" which he attributed to routine body exercise.

"I will have an ailment here and there and I go to the doctors like anyone else. But body wise all my organs, the heart, the liver are very firm, very strong," Mugabe said.

Turning to factionalism rocking his party, Mugabe said some of those aspiring for presidency were tribalists who cannot unite the party and Zimbabweans.

"Some are divided tribally and look down upon each other and once you have that kind of talk, then you are not going to be a uniting person at all," Mugabe said.

He spoke after his wife on Thursday urged him to name a successor and tame the current infighting within his ruling ZANU-PF party over his succession.

Mugabe asked those fanning factionalism to "stop it" and urged warring party members to discuss and resolve their differences amicably.

The 93-year-old leader will seek re-election in next year's presidential polls after being endorsed by his party. But intense infighting continues in his party over his succession.

The veteran president repeated that the military should not be involved in the party's succession, reminding them that the liberation struggle that brought Zimbabwe's independence in 1980 was waged on recognition that politics leads the gun.

"Fighters are led by the party in terms of war ideas. That must not be forgotten and that must not be abandoned even today, as we are in government," he said.

Addressing the same rally earlier, Mugabe's wife Grace repeated that Mugabe will have a say on who succeeds him.

"When time comes for Mugabe to step down, no one will take over without his blessings," the First Lady said.

She said Mugabe cannot leave the party in chaos after all the work he had done.

"When the time comes for him to rest, he will anoint his successor and he will lead us in that process," she said, adding that while Mugabe appeared frail, he still had the energy to perform his duties as the president of Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, the First Lady publicly reprimanded Mugabe spokesperson George Charamba for his criticism of some government ministers and letting the state-controlled media lambaste some government ministers while positively covering others.

"You must know that you are below government ministers and you have no right to criticize them. If you have a problem with them tell President Mugabe," the First Lady said.

She also lambasted party members pushing for the ouster of Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere from his position as ZANU-PF political commissar.

"If you have any problems with him tell President Mugabe who appointed him. Kasukuwere has no capacity to dislodge President Mugabe as alleged. No one has a right to remove Kasukuwere without President Mugabe's approval," she said.

She also accused some party members of concocting false corruption allegations against higher education minister Jonathan Moyo.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 05:46:37|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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WASHINGTON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- A rare, solid gold replica of the 1969 Lunar Excursion Module that landed on the moon has been stolen from a museum in the U.S. state of Ohio, local police said Saturday.

Police in Wapakoneta, Ohio, said in a press release that it received a call of burglary alarm at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum just before midnight Friday.

The police found that the gold replica, which measures about five inches (12.7 cm) high and roughly 4.5 inches square (29 cm square), has been stolen, according to the release.

"This piece is very rare as it was presented to Neil Armstrong in Paris, France shortly after the moon landing," the press release said. "This piece is one of only three to exist. One was made for each of the three astronauts that completed this mission."

The replica was made by Cartier in Paris and police said its value cannot be determined.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the museum said: "Theft from a museum is a theft from all of us ... For every day that an item is missing, we are all robbed of an opportunity to enjoy it and our history."

Armstrong, born in Wapakoneta in 1930, was the first man to walk on the moon in a 1969 mission that also included Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Armstrong died in 2012 at the age of 82.
Gold replica of the 1969 Lunar Excursion Module. (Xinhua/Wapakoneta Police Department)

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- A rare, solid gold replica of the 1969 Lunar Excursion Module that landed on the moon has been stolen from a museum in the U.S. state of Ohio, local police said Saturday.

Police in Wapakoneta, Ohio, said in a press release that it received a call of burglary alarm at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum just before midnight Friday.

The police found that the gold replica, which measures about five inches (12.7 cm) high and roughly 4.5 inches square (29 cm square), has been stolen, according to the release.

"This piece is very rare as it was presented to Neil Armstrong in Paris, France shortly after the moon landing," the press release said. "This piece is one of only three to exist. One was made for each of the three astronauts that completed this mission."

The replica was made by Cartier in Paris and police said its value cannot be determined.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the museum said: "Theft from a museum is a theft from all of us ... For every day that an item is missing, we are all robbed of an opportunity to enjoy it and our history."

Armstrong, born in Wapakoneta in 1930, was the first man to walk on the moon in a 1969 mission that also included Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Armstrong died in 2012 at the age of 82.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 06:11:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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MADRID, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Over 22,000 people have been evacuated from a Spanish festival in the city of Barcelona after a massive fire on Saturday night, local emergency services said.

Pictures posted on social media showed festival goers running away from a stage engulfed by flames, Sky News reported.

The Director General of Civil Protection in Catalunya posted on Twitter that no injuries had yet been reported, according to Sky News.

Pyrotechnics on the stage have been blamed, British newspaper Daily Mirror quoted Spanish media as reporting.

A video shared on social media shows how the blaze erupted in a matter of seconds as the speaker system was engulfed in fire, triggering music fans to run for safety.

The emergency evacuation procedure flashed on the stage screen as the flames erupted, according to Daily Mirror.
The rain was pouring down at 8 a.m. when registration opened for the Fair Haven 12th Annual Run for Hospice of the Finger Lakes. Despite the soaking conditions, 275 people lined up at the start line and took off on the certified 5k course when Chuck VonHoltz fired the start signal.

The overall winner was Andrew Deming, who crossed the finish with a time of 18:02, beating last year's winning time by 14 seconds. Great finishes were also turned in by Patrick Hall and Elizabeth Lucason in the 16 and Under Division. Kyle Brayton and Hillary McDonald took first places in the 17-35 age group, while Kevin Sheehan and Jody Bergstrom finished first in the 36-59 age category. First across the finish line in the 60-99 age category were Chris Vargason and Janine Quinlan.

Race results can be found at leonetiming.com (click "results" on left), or at hospiceofthefingerlakes.org (go to "Donations and Support," then scroll the calendar of events to the Run for Hospice).

Special recognition went to the Hannibal XC team for being the Most Patriotic, the Richardson Reunion Runners for the Best Team Tee Shirt, and Team Nana for having the Largest Team. Jessica Homolya was the most patriotic runner, with Kenneth Homolya also sporting a fair amount of the red, white and blue. Garrett Waterman received special recognition for what now seems to be a tradition of running in his horse mask and patriotic clothing. Can we look forward to seeing him gallop across the finish again next year?

Young participants were awarded certificates and Tootsie Roll Pops.

Ontario Orchards provided the apples at the finish line, and Price Chopper donated the water bottles for our runners.

The combination of great participation and generous sponsorship has provided proceeds of nearly $50,000 for Hospice since this race began.

This years' sponsors include The Auer Family Foundation, Hannibal Pharmacy, Savannah Bank, HOA Centers for Cancer Care, The Great Race, Screwy Louie's, LNB Banking, The Otis Wiley House, Grant's Vacation Park, Great Lakes NY Real Estate, 7M Construction, Reflections Dermatology & Psoriasis Center and Erika's Hair Salon.

The race would not be possible without our dedicated volunteers, both before, during and after the race. The Hanford and Webster Families have kept our runners hydrated at the two water stations for years, Pete Hanford and Gus Taft, along with our Hospice volunteers, have kept the runners safe at intersections, and David Mendenhall and the village emergency crew have been available every year to ensure any medical needs were addressed. Terri DiGregorio has collected registration forms, and helped with any needs at the village level. Thanks, also, to Don Hesselman, who stepped up to man an intersection in the pouring rain. A team of 15 Hospice volunteers head out early from Auburn each year to volunteer and have the registration and tee shirt distribution running smoothly. Chuck VonHoltz marks our route, as well as officiates the start and finish lines. Al Avrich and Amanda Dean photographed the race.

A special thank you goes to Terry and Steve Kline, of Hospice, whose efforts make this race possible. Robert, David and Dawn Taubman are up early each year to help set up, operate the PA system and clean up after the race.

Mark your calendars now for the 13th Fair Haven Annual Run for Hospice of the Finger Lakes, to be held on July 7, 2018. Online registration will be available next spring at runsignup.com. See you at the start line!
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 06:31:51|Editor: ying

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by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan undertook the difficult task to regenerate both government and his ruling party ahead of the crucial 2019 elections, after having complained of a "fatigue" amongst his political entourage.

Erdogan, who has been ruling Turkey since 2002, first as prime minister and then president, had a very narrow victory, 51 percent in the April constitutional referendum, which granted him extensive executive powers.

Despite the victory, with the opposition claims of rigged results, the president expressed concerns that the state of things at his Justice and Development Party (AKP) was not as he expected.

After regaining the leadership of the AKP in May following constitutional referendum, Erdogan refuses any defiance inside his "home" which vowed to rejuvenate the cabinet.

He put up the first step of the rejuvenation with replacing and swapping 11 ministers on July 19, with a six-month "action plan" expected ahead of the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections.

This scheme will reportedly include new projects and reforms in several areas where the AKP already made significant improvements, such as transportation, energy, labor and health, winning votes for the party across the country in past elections.

With key ministries such as the foreign affairs, interior and economy unchanged, Erdogan appointed one of his fervent and loyal supporters, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, as deputy prime minister, and also the government spokesman.

It is Bozdag that oversees the massive purge launched against the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of having masterminded the failed coup attempt last summer, which resulted in arresting 50,000 people and dismissing more than 110,000 others from public service.

Most of the constitutional changes will come into effect after the elections and Erdogan will only be able then to assume his new powers, which critics claim will drift this NATO country into even more authoritarian rule.

"When a party has an exceptional longevity in politics, it is only natural that some people lose focus, get tired or simply don't have the necessary drive to do things the way it should be," said an AKP official, who preferred to remain anonymous.

His comments came less than 24 hours after Erdogan convened an unannounced meeting of local bodies of AKP, where, according to the press, he called on to those "exhausted" to quit their duties for the sake of the 2019 elections.

"The 2019 elections have a critical importance for us. We have to work hard in order to win the hearts of people. It is not easy to stay in power," said Erdogan, reported Hurriyet Daily News.

"Erdogan is our leader as he is the one who knows the party better than anyone else," said the AKP source, adding that the faith will bring dynamism and enthusiasm to the party.

Erdogan also made important changes in the party in recent days, replacing some of the high ranking officials with some young and ardent newcomers, or "fresh blood," as pointed out by the pro-government press.

Other than economic and diplomatic hardships with her neighbors and European powers, Erdogan also has to deal with opposition leaders who plan to leave their mark on the political agenda.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition People's Republican Party, Turkey's oldest political institution, led a 450-km-long and publicized "Justice March" from Ankara to Istanbul to protest the government's crackdown against all opposition circles in the midst of the state of emergency, which was imposed after last year's coup attempt.

The mild mannered and 68-year-old politician became a force to be reckoned rallying hundreds of thousands at the finishing line, and could be Erdogan's main rival for the next presidential election, said experts.

Moreover, Meral Aksener, a former interior minister and ambitious nationalist, is also becoming a prominent figure in Turkish politics and a possible challenger to Erdogan.

The Turkish "Iran lady" is reportedly planning to announce a new political party, which might draw attention from the religious and nationalist grass roots of AKP.

The new presidential system approved by Turkish voters in April changed things for Erdogan, elected as head of state in 2014.

In the past, when the parliamentary system was still valid, the charismatic crowd pleaser Erdogan had no real problem securing a government and a majority of seats with a vote of 40 percent. But under the new constitution, Erdogan has to obtain over 50 percent of votes.

The AKP will celebrate in August its 16th anniversary. The party, which was founded in 2001 and has never lost any election since 2002, is now trying to remain in full strength for the 2019 election campaign, said the party's spokesman Mahir Unal.

Meanwhile, some experts argue that the religious card will define AKP's policy in line with Erdogan' wishes to promote the mostly secular Turkey as a republic with Islamic ideals.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 06:52:00|Editor: ying

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RABAT, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Morocco's King Mohammed VI slammed on Saturday politicians and public officials for neglect of their duties, and failing to meet aspirations of the people.

The king said so in his speech to the nation on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of ascension to the throne.

He warned that the "evolution" in politics and development "has not led to the kind of positive reaction" when dealing with the real aspirations and concerns of Moroccan people.

He affirmed that the development policies remain sound, while the problem lies with lagging mentalities, as well as with the inability in practicing and innovating.

"The practices of some elected officials induce a number of citizens, especially young people, to shun political life," he deplored.

Referring directly to the alarming situation in Al Hoceima in northern Morocco, the king warned that political parties and their representatives are refraining from their duty, sometimes deliberately, and sometimes out of a lack of credibility or patriotism.

The situation in Al Hoceima has been tense since October 2016, when fish vendor Mouhcine Fikri was crushed to death after climbing into a rubbish lorry to retrieve his swordfish confiscated by police.

The demand for justice for Fikri in the northeastern region has evolved into a major grassroots movement to require greater government investment to create more jobs.

Morocco has not witnessed any protests of this size since the pro-democracy demonstrations during the Arab spring in 2011.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-30 06:52:02|Editor: ying

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CARACAS, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's prosecutor-general on Saturday confirmed two more deaths during a general strike and protests organized by the opposition with the motive of derailing Sunday's elections of a National Constituent Assembly (ANC).

In a statement posted on Twitter, the prosecutor-general confirmed the death of Gustavo Villamizar, 18, during a protest on Friday in the western state of Tachira.

According to the state body, Villamizar was shot when taking part in a protest outside the Alberto Adriani high school in the state capital of San Cristobal. National and state prosecutors have been ordered to investigate.

The prosecutor-general also confirmed a crash between a convoy transporting army officials and a private vehicle on a highway in Caracas, leading to the death of the driver of the car, Jesus Diaz.

Seven army official were injured and were being attended in hospital.

Venezuelans are set to elect 545 members of the ANC, who will be tasked with debating amendments to the constitution.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday expressed confidence that Sunday's elections of the ANC will see the political opposition defeated at the polls.

At least 110 people have been killed since protests began in early April to demand the resignation of Maduro, early elections and, more recently, an end to attempts to rewrite the Constitution through the ANC.
How can campus sexual assault victims have confidence in the system when an official responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination rules suggests most of the time women are to blame  or just make it up?

Any college-age man who thinks it's OK to force himself on women must be heartened to have someone like Candice Jackson in his corner.

Ms. Jackson espouses a view that we had thought was in large part left behind in the last century  that allegations of sexual assault on campus are more often than not either the result of women drinking too much, or made up.

That misogynist view might be expected from a throwback talk radio host, but Ms. Jackson is the acting assistant secretary for civil rights in the U.S. Department of Education. That puts her in charge of enforcing Title IX, the law governing gender discrimination in educational programs and activities receiving federal aid.

Ms. Jackson has understandably drawn concern from figures like U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., for comments to The New York Times earlier this month. She opined that 90 percent of campus sexual assault allegations "fall into the category of, 'We were both drunk, we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last sleeping together was not quite right.' "

In other words: Most of the time it's the woman's fault, or her imagination.

Critics point to a relatively few high profile episodes of false claims of campus rape to suggest the issue is overblown. Ms. Jackson says her comments reflected accounts she had heard and read of young men who were unfairly accused.

Ms. Jackson has apologized for her "flippant" statement, saying she and the department believe "sexual harassment and sexual assault must be taken seriously."

Rather than proffering an apology, Ms. Jackson should tender her resignation from a post for which she is so obviously unsuited.

 The Times Union, Albany

Donald Trump won't let even success intrude on his presidential ego, so naturally he couldn't let the Senate's health care victory stand as the story of Tuesday. Instead he continued to demean Jeff Sessions, and in the process he is harming himself, alienating allies, and crossing dangerous legal and political lines.

For a week President Trump has waged an unseemly campaign against his own Attorney General, telling the New York Times he wished he'd never hired him, unleashing a tweet storm that has accused Mr. Sessions of being "beleaguered" and "weak."

Mr. Trump is clearly frustrated that the Russia collusion story is engulfing his own family. But that frustration has now taken a darker turn. This humiliation campaign is clearly aimed at forcing a Sessions resignation. Any Cabinet appointee serves at a President's pleasure, but the deeply troubling aspect of this exercise is Mr. Trump's hardly veiled intention: the commencement of a criminal prosecution of Hillary Clinton by the Department of Justice and the firing of special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

On Tuesday morning Mr. Trump tweeted that Mr. Sessions "has taken a very weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes." This might play well with the red-meat crowd in Mr. Trump's Twitterverse, but Sen. Lindsey Graham was explicit and correct in describing the legal line Mr. Trump had crossed.

"Prosecutorial decisions should be based on applying facts to the law without hint of political motivation," Sen. Graham said. "To do otherwise is to run away from the long-standing American tradition of separating the law from politics regardless of party." Republican Sen. Thom Tillis also came to Mr. Sessions' defense, citing his "unwavering commitment to the rule of law," and Sen. Richard Shelby called him "a man of integrity."

We will put the problem more bluntly. Mr. Trump's suggestion that his Attorney General prosecute his defeated opponent is the kind of crude political retribution one expects in Erdogan's Turkey or Duterte's Philippines.

As a candidate, Mr. Trump thought he could say anything and get away with it, and most often he did. A sitting President is not a one-man show. He needs allies in politics and allies to govern. Mr. Trump's treatment of Jeff Sessions makes clear that he will desert both at peril to his Presidency.

 The Wall Street Journal

People aren't signaling. They're not yielding. They're not stopping for yellow lights, or, sometimes, even red. They're halting traffic behind them in order to turn around because they missed a turn. They're stopping for no reasons. They seem to have no consideration at all sometimes.

And have you noticed how many motorists of all ages are looking down and surfing on their smartphones, which, by the way, is quite illegal?

It's likely happening all over the nation, but a recent survey is particularly harsh on New York drivers. In a recent national survey conducted by Kars4Kids, a car donation program based out of New Jersey, reports New York drivers came in as most rude  earning a grade of "F'' are held in low esteem by others.

As part of its campaign for polite driving, called "Drive Human," the charity conducted a national survey to assess the state of courteous driving across the country. The most courteous drivers, according to Kars4Kids, are found in Idaho and New Mexico.

The No. 1 rule of the road today seems to be: Don't inconvenience yourself; inconvenience the other guy.

Besides all the human factors that cause bad driving, there are all the doodads and distractions, from eating on the run to smoking to putting on makeup to, of course, phones and other electronic devices.

It's not just manners that are going out the car window. It's a lot of basic sense, too. Better driving habits are needed.

 The Sentinel, Rome
To Valerio Ferme, Northern Arizona Universitys new College of Arts and Letters dean, the arts, music, literature, history and philosophy are not just electives to take to polish off your major -- they are important classes that teach real world skills like communication, writing and critical thinking.

Ferme steps into the shoes of former Arts and Letters dean Michael Vincent, who served the university for 10 years. Vincent stepped down last summer in order to focus on the research for his book on 17th century French literature.

Ferme, who is from Italy, served as the divisional dean at the University of Colorado-Boulders College of Arts and Sciences. He oversaw the administrative side of the Arts and Humanities division, where he was in charge of programs like the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and the Anderson Language Technology Center. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Religious Studies from Brown University, a Masters of Arts in Italian from Indiana University and a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of California at Berkley. Hes published two books on his own and co-written another on criticism and a bilingual book of poetry.

Ferme said he applied for and accepted the position at NAU because he likes the culture of diversity of the area and the university. He likes the mix of Hispanic, Native American and American cultures and the emphasis on the environment that makes Flagstaff unique. After living for several years in Colorado, he wanted to stay in the West.

To Ferme, a good background in the arts and humanities -- classes like art, music, history and literature -- is necessary to succeed in life, no matter what your degree is.

I have a friend who is a recruiter for Goldman Sachs, Ferme said. He gets thousands of resumes for every job posting, and nearly all of them have degrees in business. His friend looks for resumes that list double majors or minors or people who have interesting backgrounds, like spending a semester overseas or a minor in a language. He wants to know why they chose that path and he knows that they will have better communication and critical thinking skills.

He also pointed to a recent survey that asked business leaders what skills new grads need in the corporate world. They listed oral and written communication as some of the most important, he said -- if you cant communicate your idea in a clear, concise and calm manner then you wont succeed. Students who take arts and humanities classes not only learn how to write and communicate effectively but also learn to think critically and put together patterns and ethics.

Theyre soft skills that dont attract a lot of attention but are instrumental for those seeking jobs in todays technology, business, as well as art, music and movie fields.

It gives you a more interesting mind and a better appreciation of things, Ferme said. It also allows you to have a civil conversation with someone.

Ferme said its also important to follow your passion. A business major with mediocre grades is less likely to get a job and be happy with life than someone who followed their passion in college and excelled in their grades.

Ferme said he came to that philosophy after earning his bachelors degrees in biology and religious studies from Brown University. He realized after the fact that what he really enjoyed was reading and learning about literature from around the world.

I was brought up in a family that read and thought a lot, he said. The arts and humanities were a natural fit. He wanted to share that with others, so he got advanced degrees in order to teach at the college level. He moved into administration because he felt that he could be a better advocate for the humanities at that level. He wont be teaching a class this semester, but hopes to teach one in the spring.

He also wants to continue NAUs legacy of opening the doors to its arts, music and other performances to the public.
Imagine living in an area that has no traditional medical care facility for 40 miles. Imagine that the only medical care near you was a rural facility for Medicare and Medicaid services that is understaffed and unequipped.

Access, staffing and other issues such as mental health dominated the 44th annual Arizona Rural Health Conference attended by nearly 200 in Flagstaff this week.

The biggest issue, said Dr. Daniel Derksen, is the hiring and retention of medical care staff in rural communities like St. John, Springerville and other areas across Arizona.

Something like 70 percent of the population lives in the greater Phoenix area or Tucson, but 80 to 85 percent of health providers live in those areas," Derksen said. "So there is a mismatch and it is really hard to recruit and retain health care professionals to serve in the areas they are most needed.

Rural medical care providers were also worried about the new health care bill, which has stalled in the Senate. The draft bill would have cut 400,000 Arizonians Medicaid coverage and 100,000 Arizonians would lose subsides that help them buy health insurance.

The net loss of people who are currently covered in Arizona are about 500,000 Arizonans who would become uninsured over the next 10 years, Derksen said. About 40 percent of that would be in the first year, so there would be a dramatic drop in the insured rateit would reverse our progress.

Those cuts to Medicaid would have been devastating to patients in rural areas as well as to clinics and hospitals, Derksen said.

The bill would have caused a string of closures of Medicaid facilities in rural areas at a rate that has not occurred since the 2008 recession.

Poor access is already a problem, said some participants.

In our research we are trying to find what services are available to rural people, and in some cases they are so far away from some medical services that they are really limited in the choices they can make, said Emeka Iloegbu, an intern with Area Health Education Center (AHEC). You see stories on the news but you dont know the back story.

Getting to talk with the medical staff of rural areas also was a learning experience.

We are not from the region or the nation so we dont know what topics they wanted us to talk about," said Nina Williams. So actually having those intimate discussions with health care staff was crucial to developing our curriculum.
Diversify sources of funding

Addressing heads and representatives of eighty NGOs at a session of Scotiabank Insights at the Hyatt Regency, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, she said when the world was concerned about HIV and AIDS, she began to think about what would happen when another disease gains prominence.

She said that as NGOs they needed to think about the value they bring and what is the value that can be transferred to other programme areas. She said that the traditional donors are not there in the same way as before and this provides an opportunity to build new relationships with other organisations.

Hilaire-Bartlett said NGOs had to be prepared to do things differently in todays world.

She added that working together to form partnerships was critical and observed that while funding for NGOs has been changing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the countries in the region had been rising and the global community uses this as a measure to graduate these countries from aid funding, thinking that higher GDP meant that the region was in a position to address its own social issues.

She said against this background the donor nations and agencies would shift their giving to the regions they think might be in greater need and night shift their donations to sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

That is what the globe is seeing, so they are seeing that in the Caribbean we dont need to put resources there any more, but is that the reality? The social issues remain. She said the trend of diseases had changed to lifestyle diseases although HIV/AIDS remains a great concern and it is obvious that where the trends are going in terms of social illnesses the funds are not matching those changes.

She said that there are other issues such as inter-personal violence, ranked fourth by Google in terms of the burden of disease in Trinidad and Tobago; then there was also gender-based violence; gang-related violence; and self harm which was a critical social issue but said that while there were all these issues, the NGOs tended to deal with people as projects and this didnt make sense.

Anya Schnoor, Senior Vice President and Head, Caribbean and East and South, Scotiabank and Chairman of the Scotiabank Trinidad and Tobago Foundation, said through the foundation, Scotiabank had been helping NGOs and charitable entities for more than ten years.

She said that through the foundation the bank last year contributed over $4 million, sponsorships and other forms of assistance, in the process impacting 21,000 individuals and more than 1,200 organisations, schools, businesses and NGOs. She added that in addition to providing financial assistance, the bank felt it had an obligation to help them become better off and become sustainable.

However, she said that a 2017 Fund-raising Effectiveness Survey report from the Fund-raising Effectiveness Project conducted by the Association of Fund-raising Professionals showed that it is more important now than ever to make smart decisions around fund-raising and retention efforts for NGOs.

Schnoor said the survey found that NGOs are losing 55 percent of their donors from one year to another which she said was not a sustainable strategy.

If NGOs were a business where the majority of customers do not return, the business would soon be out of business, she said, adding that As an NGO, the work you carry out is critical. The role you play in society is of utmost importance and we want to help you to persevere as you continue to care
Shot, beaten man critical

According to reports, at about 9.15 pm, Akino Thomas was at Pentecostal Road in El Dorado when he approached by two gunmen who shot him. Thomas ran off but fell into a drain at the side of the road.

The video image shows a gunmen standing over Thomas and pulling the trigger, but the weapon appeared to either have jammed or was out of bullets. The second gunman attacked Thomas, kicking him several times in the head.

As Thomas appeared to fall unconscious in the drain, the man jumped onto his chest. He then jumped up and down several times on Thomas chest. Both gunmen then ran off.

Residents who heard the gunshots, contacted police and officers from the Tunapuna Police Station responded and found 34-year-old Thomas in the drain.

He was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope where he underwent emergency surgery and up to press time, was warded in critical condition.

Police sources said that Thomas was still in an unconscious state yesterday and they are hoping he can recover and hopefully can recall the attack and provide investigators with information that could lead to arrests.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Irwin Hackshaw told Newsday, We are looking into the video and working closely with the Cyber Crime and other units that could help with resolving this crime. We are asking the public to assist in identifying the people captured in the video so that they could be flushed out of their hiding places and brought to justice.
60 female foreigners freed

The women reappeared before Magistrate Indira Misir Gosein in the Fourth Court.

The magistrate heard from State attorney Daneia Myers that the court did not have an interpretator to continue with the case. The magistrate dismissed all charges against the 60 women. The women were the largest number of foreigners appearing at one time in the local courts for the offence, along with three Trinidadian men charged with managing a brothel in Vistabella near San Fernando.

When the women first appeared they created quite a stir inside and outside the precincts of the courthouse where a large contingent of heavily armed policemen stood guard. The charges stemmed from a raid conducted by police officers at the hotel where the 75 women were arrested in 2013.

The women are between the ages of 18 and 41 years.

The women had first appeared before Magistrate Margaret Alert.

The charge to them that they solicited passers by for prostitution.

The women had all pleaded not guilty to the charges laid by PCs Jason Dailey and Akeel Clarence.

When the magistrate announced that the matters were dismissed some of the women were seen hugging each other.
2 shot near police station

According to a police report at about 9.50 pm, Kern Moore, 36, of Powder Magazine in Cocorite experienced mechanical problems with his vehicle near the John John Towers.

Moore was trying to repair the vehicle when he was approached by a man unknown to him who began asking him about the whereabouts of certain people in the John John area. When Moore told the man he was not from the area and did not know any of the people, the man began making threats at Moore who turned and ran. On reaching the River Side Plaza which houses the Police Services Homicide Investigations Bureau, Moore fell as he was shot in the right leg.

A second man, Meshach Quamina, 21, of East Dry River who was walking nearby was also shot in the leg.

Officers on duty at the Bureau later took the men to the Port of Spain General Hospital where they were treated and kept overnight. No arrest has been made and investigations are ongoing.
3 shootings in West Trinidad

According to reports, at 1.15 pm, Matthew Birch, 25, also known as Jockey of Hillview Drive, La Puerta, went to a shop in the area when he was accosted by a gunman.

A scuffle ensued and Birch was shot in the abdomen and left leg.

He was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital where he was warded in serious condition.

Police are working on information that Birch was accused by the gunman of being linked to a recent serious crime.

Five minutes later, two men who were searching for scrap iron were robbed and shot.

According to reports, Junior Joefield and Leston David who are both from Claxton Bay were at Simeon Road in Petit Valley when they were approached by a group of men who promised to give them some scrap iron. While the victims were awaiting the scrap iron they were approached by a man from the group who robbed them of cash.

The gunman then shot Leston David on both hands, while Joefield was shot in the abdomen. Both were taken to the General Hospital where they were warded. Assistant Commissioner of Police Irwin Hackshaw along with Acting ACP Radcliffe Boxhill and Acting Inspector Godfrey visited both scenes and investigations are continuing.
LAWYER JAILED

In sentencing Melville, Justice Maria Wilson said she considered the employee/employers trust relationship and noted that the attorney was the mastermind and participated in the commission of the offences. Melville was before the court on charges of conspiring to murder his then secretary Patricia Cox on June 28, 2001. He was also charged with kidnapping and assault and found guilty of these charges as well. Melville was also sentenced to nine years for conspiracy to murder, 14 years for kidnapping and four years for assault. These sentences will run concurrently and because he has spent four years and nine months in prison, while awaiting trial, this will be deducted from the 19 year sentence.

So he will serve just over 14 years in prison.

Melville was represented by attorneys Ravi Rajcoomar, Larry Williams and Radeyah Ali. Senior State attorney Anju Bhola prosecuted.

It was Melvilles second trial. He was first convicted in March 2004 and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for his role in Coxs kidnapping and attempted murder.

He successfully challenged this conviction in the appeal court and a retrial was ordered. Another man, Hilton Winchester was also convicted in 2004 and was jailed for ten years. Winchester lost his appeal. The States case was that Melville, Jason Holder, Ainsley Beetle Alleyne and Winchester, planned to kill Cox on June 28, 2001, after the attorney found out she had reported him to the police after he cashed in two insurance policies on behalf of a client and failed to pay the money to that client.

Melville hired the hitmen at a cost of $40,000 and told them it had to be a skilful operation and Cox must not, rise back up again. This was part of the testimony of one of the three men whose evidence was read to the jury at the trial which took place in the Port of Spain Fourth Criminal Court.

During her testimony, Cox said the men took her up to Fort George and then up to Cumberland hill and one of them said he was paid $1,000 to kill her. She offered to pay him $20,000 to spare her life.

Realising she was going to be killed, Cox flung herself off the steep hillside and down a precipice.

She was eventually held and bought back partially up the hill where Holder squeezed her neck until she became unconscious.

When she revived, Cox begged her kidnappers to spare her life and eventually managed to escape by jumping off precipice a second time
Eversley: Rename Abercromby St

Eversley who was a hostage during the coup, was joined at the Red House by Congress of the People (COP) leadership contender Carolyn Seepersad- Bachan and Shernifa Gibbs, 18, a student who also walked from Arima with Eversley.

Alleging that Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez had wrong priorities to focus on renaming Queen Street after former miss universe Jannelle Penny Commissiong, Eversley said, Im calling on the prime minister and the authorities to rename Abercromby Street the July 1990 Street.

This is our history too. Eversley hailed former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for her commission of inquiry into the coup, but he bemoaned the failure of successive governments to enact the inquirys recommendations, including victim compensation. He lamented many cases of disinterest shown by politicians in the coups aftermath, including their failure to attend yesterdays event. Only Seepersad-Bachan had accepted his invitation.

Eversley hailed former prime minister, the late ANR Robinson, for defending the countrys Constitution and defying insurrectionists some 27 years ago. While Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had said chapters 11 and 12 of the inquiry report will be dealt with, pertaining to national security, Eversley lamented that in the past year he had got no further word from Rowley.

Eversley said, Right now our country is on the verge of another coup, if we dont sit and take heed at whats taking place. He alleged that both sides of the political divide had used the services of the Jamaat al Muslimeen in their election campaigns over the years. Today we are hearing of a lot of cells. Look at whats going on in Enterprise. There is talk that it is a training grounds, over 200 people being recruited. Scoffing that at the behest of the United States Embassy, local politicians will lay a wreath over the 9/11 attacks, but will avoid a July 1990 commemoration, Eversley said, Charity begins at home.
No pay for month of July

An employee who spoke with Newsday on Thursday said, All 112 of us continue to show up for work every single day. Why arent we getting paid? The worker said that employees at the TDCs sites in Maracas, Las Cuevas, Manzanilla, Vessigny and the Pitch Lake in La Brea, plus those at TDCs Port of Spain head office and the office at Piarco International Airport have been fulfilling their obligations.

We normally get paid between the 25th and 26th of each month but as of today, we havent been paid. In an effort to sort out the situation, branch representatives of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) met Wednesday with TDCs interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Cliff Hamilton.

The meeting began in the morning and ended around midday.

The CEO said the board is fully aware of staffs monthly standing orders which are usually deducted from the bank accounts starting on the 27th of each month, so the board will meet again to discuss salary payments, the worker said.

The TDC employee lamented that Hamilton did not give a specific date by which staff could expect their July salaries. Back in March, Government announced it planned to dissolve the TDC and establish two new entities to manage tourism - one for Trinidad and one for Tobago.

On June 30, the Industrial Court granted the CWU its request for an emergency injunction, which restrains the TDC from, terminating the services of any of the workers or doing any such action until and unless the entire matter is heard before the Court. The union filed two previous complaints, relative to a decision to shut down the TDC without consulting the CWU and the development of VSE P packages to be considered by the Cabinet. A decision to dissolve the TDC was announced at a post-Cabinet media briefing on March 9.

The TDC employee who spoke with Newsday yesterday expressed concern about how this latest uncertainty would affect a fellow employee who is seven months pregnant.

As part of the injunction, the status quo remains, so persons should get paid and should get their gratuity.

My colleague had an emotional breakdown last week - her contract ended in June and, as was custom, she was supposed to receive her gratuity for that contract and continue to work as normal while waiting to sign her new contract. However, the TDC still hasnt given the pregnant woman any indication of when she can expect to get her gratuity. Now, shes owed her July salary too. This woman is the sole breadwinner in her family and in addition to medical expenses for her upcoming delivery, she was counting on her gratuity to pay her sisters medical school fees. Two banks have turned her down for a loan. What are we to do? the TDC employee asked.

Apart from not getting paid yet, she wanted to know why TDC staff were not given the opportunity to apply for jobs in the new Trinidad tourism entity.

Staff are frustrated, no longer motivated but we still continue to do what jobs are left for us to do. All we want to do is work and we cant understand theyre looking to dissolve the TDC when theyre going to open up another entity to perform the same task.

When TIDCO (Tourism and Industrial Development Company) was dissolved 12 years ago, employees got the opportunity to apply for positions in the TDC, the TDC employee said. Newsday was unsuccessful in its attempts yesterday to speak with both TDC CEO Hamilton and Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe.
Look at the bigger picture

Speaking with Newsday on Thursday, the former minister of National Security said both leaders needed to look past politics and look at the bigger picture.

Griffith said: The Opposition Leader needs to support legislation to make kidnapping a non bailable offence as well as being arrested as a gang member and the possession of illegal firearms. He said the Prime Minister needed to look at the 25 to 83 per cent drop in serious crimes between 2009 and 2014.

In the year 2009, there were 22,000 serious crimes. In the year 2014, there were 11,000 serious crimes. That means in 2014, in every hour of every day of every month, one less person was killed, robbed, abused or had their car stolen, Griffith said.

The Prime Minister needs to understand that two years ago, there was less fear and people felt safer. Political blinkers need to be taken off though some lieutenants see politics more than patriotism, he added. Griffith also said that the incorporation of the National Operations Centre (NOC) into the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) was a bad move on the part of Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon.

What we need is a single National Operations Centre, he said. There is no doubt that when the NOC was in action, people felt safer. He also said the NOC fulfilled the role of a centralised coordinated agency which was a major recommendation of the 2014 Commission of Enquiry into the attempted coup. He added that the NOC was a pivotal crime-fighting body and was important for communication between police agencies and the state as well as between the people and the state.

Commenting on the 27th anniversary of the July 1990 attempted coup detat, Griffith believed history would not repeat itself. Griffith said the country possessed the capabilities to prevent the re occurrence of such an event, as long as the government heeded the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry.

He added the country had learned from its mistakes and the lack of intelligence gathering and breakdown in communication with police services had been corrected.

We have good police officers, contrary to what the wider population thinks, Griffith said.

Also, thanks to the foresight of the then prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, that Pandoras box has been opened and we are aware of our shortcomings back then. If the government adheres to the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry, I am fully confident that a situation like that will not happen again, he added.

Griffith said there was no need to reinvent the wheel and Dillon was not heeding the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry.

He added that, because of that, we were actually opening a window that could be closed.

We also have no counter terrorist unit, Griffith said. Look at Belgium, the United States, England, those countries. They have an elite body of armed counter terrorist forces to deal with terrorism.

The government needs to reinstate the National Operations Centre, establish a counter terrorist unit and a national security alert state. All of these were the biggest recommendations that came out of the Commission of Enquiry. He also said that an increase in national security apparatus was vital at this stage.
The Japanese government on Friday unveiled a plan to build underground repositories for the storage of highly radioactive waste from the disaster-struck Fukushima and other nuclear power plants in the country.

The government hopes to begin talks with local authorities in September to get their approval for building the repositories after explaining the technical advantages and logistics of every area, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko told a press conference.

The plan drawn up by the government includes parts of the Japanese archipelago designated more favourable on account of their geological conditions, reports Efe news.

Around 900 locations have been identified as the safest places to store the waste, most of which are along the eastern coast of the main island of Honshu, including the Tohoku region, devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, as well as the islands of Shikoku and Hokkaido.

In contrast, the areas designated as unfavourable are those located near seismic faults and hence more prone to earthquakes, or those with logistical access challenges.
Thanks to its steady efforts in fighting AIDS prevalence, Morocco was commended by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), which lauded in its latest report the Kingdom as a model in the MENA region.

UNAIDS highlighted in the report, issued last Thursday, that Morocco has achieved impressive results in fighting HIV, which makes of it one of the most successful countries in the MENA region in this regards.

The report indicates that 2016 estimates show a very low HIV prevalence (0.1% of the population), adding that the number of people living with HIV is 22,000, with 1,000 new HIV cases and 700 AIDS-linked deaths in 2016, while the number of new HIV infections dropped by 37% between 2011 and 2016.

UNAIDS said under the nationwide program of HIV prevention, nearly 150,000 pregnant women underwent HIV testing in 2016 in an effort to prevent transmission from mothers to their babies, against 43,000 in 2012. The number of HIV positive pregnant women admitted in health centers in the year 2016 was 215, with a rise in the coverage rate from 33% in 2011 to 62% in 2016.

The said rate exceeds the one associated with the MENA region, which is less that 20%, the reported noted.

The report also highlighted that the development of screening services through the setting up of 70 centers belonging to civil society associations enabled to carry out more than 2.6 million HIV tests since the year 2012. The proportion of people living with HIV who know their HIV status have increased from 37% (in 2011) to 63% (by the end of 2016), exceeding the proportion of 53% in the MENA region.
To boost their economic competitiveness in an increasingly globalised world, the normal solution for countries is to take steps towards economic integration, facilitating the flow of goods and investments, only two regions show anomalies from this trend persisting on closing borders and hindering the achievement of their regions full trade potential: the Korean peninsula and the Maghreb.

Indeed, there is a spat of analyses on the cost of non-Maghreb in international media and Think tanks. This time the alarm bell was rang by The Economist, which draws a bill of the sapped regional integration in north Western Africa and compares between the dynamism of Moroccos economy to the sluggishness of its Algerian counterpart.

The article opens with a future scenario of an integrated North Africa with open borders between Morocco and Algeria, which will make the two countries economies double their current size.

Yet the magazine fails to note that closing borders was a decision taken by Algeria in the wake of the 1994 attacks on Atlas Asni hotel in Marrakech in which Algerian nationals were involved. Morocco suspected a hand of Algerian secret services in the attack that aimed at tarring its image as a peaceful tourist destination at times of upheavals in North Africa marked by the civil war in Algeria, which cost 200,000 lives. Following the attack in which several tourists were killed, Morocco imposed the visa on Algerian nationals as a security measure at times when terrorism was spiraling in Algeria. Algiers for its part responded with closing the borders, a decision that aimed to stifle economically Moroccos border areas.

Since then, the Maghreb project- a regional grouping bringing together Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania- was stalled. Today the Maghreb remains the most separated region on the continent, The Economist deplores.

In contrast to other regions in Sub-Saharan Africa such as the ECOWAS where countries agree on common currencies and trade zones, Algeria digs deeper ditches and concrete walls rise on both sides, hijacking the dreams of their peoples to a regional integration and making hard the lives of families on the borders.

Yet, despite Moroccos calls for opening borders, which fell on a deaf Algerian ear, the Economist notes that the North African Kingdom is catching up fast, thanks to its greater economic openness under Hassans son, Mohammad VI.

The kingdom ranks 68th on the World Banks measure for ease of doing business88 places above Algeria, highlights The Economist, which draws a comparison between the economies of the two heavy weights of the Maghreb.

Exporting goods from Algeria takes six times as long as from Morocco, and costs almost four times as much. Algerian businessmen complain that centralisation, corruption and red tape have crushed local production, underscores the UK publication, adding that investments in Algeria are deterred by a law that requires foreigners to limit their shares to 49%.

Look at Renault, they say. Its production line in Tangiers, in Northern Morocco, is the largest car manufacturer in Africa to be sourced from locally made parts. But its plant in Oran, Algerias second city, is little more than an assembly line, said The Economist.

The Maghreb remains one of the world sub-regions where intra-regional trade is stagnating at 3%, one of the worlds lowest.
In a bid to revamp rail transport in the Maghreb region, the Secretariat of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) is supervising a feasibility study worth $1.7 billion, funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The train aims to link the three countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The feasibility studies are launched at a time the land borders between Algeria and Morocco remain closed although their nationals have visa wavers.

The AMU secretariat said in a statement that the feasibility study examines the upgrade and renewal of the railways between Morocco and Algeria.

In December 2014, the three countries of the Maghreb signed a cooperation agreement in the field of rail transport development providing for connecting their rail networks and unifying the measures and techniques used in the construction of railway infrastructure, in accordance with international standards of the International Union of Railways.
Will the former Marine general go into culture shock after exposure to the Trump White House? Photo: Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images

When word arrived that Donald Trump had hired DHS Secretary (and retired Marine General) John Kelly to be his White House chief of staff (suggesting by implication that Reince Priebus has hit the bricks), the first thought many had was of the welcome discipline a career military man might bring to his new surroundings. Indeed, that was his new bosss hope, according to the Washington Post:

One outside Trump adviser said that the president is drawn to the discipline that Kelly and his other advisers who are former military officers bring to their roles.

But perhaps the more pertinent question is how Kelly comes to grips with the indiscipline of the Trump White House, where an aversion to decorum and norms of presidential behavior most definitely starts at the top.

Marines thrive on clear assignments and fixed objectives. Trump changes direction without warning every other day and oscillates constantly between his various obsessions.

Marines are no-nonsense. The Trump White House is all-nonsense.

By most accounts, the president actually enjoys a fractious atmosphere of competing power centers, extreme insecurity, and the occasional stab-in-the-back (so long as the back is not his own). Perhaps a military man can help stop leaks and keep people more or less focused on the jobs they are actually supposed to be doing. But the idea of this presidents White House operating like a strictly hierarchical, interdependent unit goes against everything we know about the commander-in-chief and his preferred environment.

It has been often noted that Trump likes to surround himself with ex-generals, though it is unclear whether that signifies respect for the uniform, a taste for violent people, or incipient caudillo tendencies. In Kellys case, the president pretty clearly feels a bond with him because they share a strong interest in border security, which remains the administrations signature preoccupation. But theres a great psychological distance separating 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from a federal cabinet agency, and its probably easier to deal with Trump from afar. It is not at all the same as having the rapport a president and chief of staff need.

In some respects, hiring Kelly to run  if that is not too strong a word  this White House is like bringing in a button-down corporate CEO to head up a motorcycle gang. Whatever his issues, Reince Priebus had spent years tugging the forelock of the many fools and knaves he had to ask for marching orders, money, and personal patronage. The military has its own culture of ass-kissing, careerism, and coattail-riding, but its mostly logical and barnacled with tradition. My fear for General Kelly is that he will spend two weeks in the Trump White House and go into profound culture shock. The place resembles a battle-ready military formation about as much as Anthony Scaramucci resembles a communications director.
Trump and his new chief of staff, John Kelly. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Trump announced on Twitter Friday that General John Kelly, the now-former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is his new chief of staff.

I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017

...and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017

Trump also thanked outgoing Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who he wrote he is proud of.

I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017

The Times tells a different story. Priebus, the paper says, was pushed out Friday because he was seen by Trump as not strong enough. Other reports, meanwhile, say Priebus quit  on Thursday.

Reince tells me he resigned yesterday.  Jon Ward (@jonward11) July 28, 2017

New: A source close to now former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus says he resigned privately yesterday  Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 28, 2017

If true, Priebus decided to spend one last day on the job, flying with the president on Air Force One to Long Island. As soon as they arrived back in D.C., though, Trump sent his tweets, and Priebus was apparently put into an SUV and whisked away.

Priebus is in this van on tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, as Potus has not yet disembarked. Driver pulled van away as press moved toward it pic.twitter.com/mlrV2s3U8P  David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) July 28, 2017

In Kelly, Trump now has a chief of staff with no political experience, but a reputation as a no-nonsense hard-ass. John Kelly will do a fantastic job, Trump told reporters. Well see.
Trump. Photo: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

On Friday, North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, leading to an eruption of concern from the security community. The Trump White House, however, has this week focused its belligerence less on Pyongyang and the weapons it has, and more on Iran, despite the nuclear weapons it is prevented from getting. Last week, Secretary of State Tillerson pleasantly surprised his critics by certifying that Iran is complying with the terms of the 2015 deal that iced its nuclear ambitions and subjected it to intense inspections and restrictions for the next decade and more. This week, his boss fired back: I would be surprised if they were in compliance at the next review in 90 days, President Trump told The Wall Street Journal.

This has less to do with Iran and more to do with Trumps frustration with his own Cabinet for supporting the deal  reportedly so great that he commissioned a parallel working group of lower-level, less-experienced officials to advise him before the next review.

So the threat of a major conflict with Iran is high  because the administration wants it that way. Most if not all of the administrations key national security players, and their allies in Congress, see stepped-up U.S. military activity in the region as important to confronting Iran. Far from believing that the Iran deal contained the most serious U.S.-Iran flashpoint, they believe Iran, even without nuclear weapons, poses an existential threat to the U.S. and our allies. They believe that regime change  switching out Irans theocracy for a (hypothetical) secular democracy  is the only way, long-term, to deal with that threat. (Hands up if you recall hearing that one before about a country beginning with I.)

This belief, by itself, isnt the problem. Many, though far from most, Iranians, share their longing for a government that is more liberal and democratic, and less allied with extremist groups elsewhere in the Middle East. And though there is often hyperbole in the accusations, they are grounded in truth: Iran supports armed extremist groups in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, and to a lesser extent Yemen  including the worlds most potent non-state fighting force, Hezbollah. Irans government mistreats its people badly  though not, say, worse than our Saudi allies. The anti-Tehran faction believes that its worth putting pressure on Irans willingness to comply with the nuclear deal in order to push on these other issues  while the Obama administration believed the U.S. and the region could live with problematic behavior but not with nuclear empowerment.

No, the problem is that the combination of a highly militarized standoff, multiple shooting wars across the region, and an administration that combines high rhetoric and low predictability is a recipe for escalation.

Just Tuesday, a U.S. Navy vessel fired warning shots at an Iranian boat, apparently operated by the hard-line Revolutionary National Guard forces, that came within 150 yards of it. Such incidents had decreased significantly during 2016, but still occur with some regularity. As far as we can tell, the hotline communication Secretary Kerry developed with Iranian foreign minister Zarif has been discontinued. The Iranians are well aware  though most Americans are not  of the stepped-up tempo of U.S. military operations in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, and the heightened presence of ground and naval forces.

Add to that the package of new sanctions that the president apparently demanded as the price for certifying the deal this time. Within 24 hours of the certification, the administration put economic sanctions on 18 new Iranian individuals and corporate entities for a range of alleged offenses including harassment of U.S. naval vessels and attempts to build ballistic missiles or steal U.S. software. Most offenses had no direct connection to the nuclear deal. Tehran responded with rage, saying that these sanctions themselves violated the terms of the nuclear deal.

The White House has help from Congress in ratcheting up tensions. The House and Senate have now each passed versions of a bipartisan sanctions bill. While it has gotten attention for the new penalties it imposes on Russian entities and foreigners who collaborate with them to harm U.S. interests on cybersecurity, energy, human rights, and other areas, it also sets a range of new penalties on Iranians for actions related to ballistic missiles, regional terrorism, or human-rights violations. Now we wait to see whether President Trump will sign or veto legislation that puts on Moscow the very pressures they hope will bend Tehran to the breaking point.

So anyone in Iran who wants to claim that the U.S. is implacably opposed to Irans existing government and actively seeking to undermine it economically, while challenging it militarily, has plenty of data to point to.

Given Irans regional goals, the means it believes are acceptable to employ, and the groups with which it is allied, defending U.S. interests and the nuclear deal was always going to require both strong regional presence and adroit diplomacy. What we have instead, though, is the unpredictable and bellicose rhetoric of the president and his team. Deterrence theory says that countries can be frightened into remaining peaceful if they know exactly what the consequences for aggression would be.

But the range of tweets, offhand remarks, threats, and past ruminations about regime change leave quite a bit of room for Iranian actors to believe that Washington is determined not just to contain their government, but to remove it from power. Michael Crowley points out at Politico that key Trump officials are on the record as saying that Iran will remain a U.S. enemy until the clerical leaders and military officials who control the countrys political system are deposed. And they have continued to make such statements  earlier this spring, Secretary Tillerson sparked a public protest from the Iranian government when he told Congress that the U.S. should work with opposition groups toward the peaceful transition of that government.

The nuclear deal was never intended to resolve all the problems between the U.S. and Iran. It was intended to take off the table the question of nuclear weapons, which all sides had identified as the flashpoint that could most easily flare into war. But given both Washingtons differences with Tehran on key issues from human rights to Syria, and this administrations addiction to incendiary and off-the-cuff rhetoric, thats exactly where we (still) are.
Opposition activists clash with the police during a recent protest. Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images

This Sunday, Venezuelans will vote to elect a constituent assembly that will be charged with rewriting the countrys constitution, which President Nicolas Maduro claims is the only way to restore stability to the troubled country after months  well, years  of unrest. The Venezuelan opposition, however, and much of the international community have decried it as a transparent effort to consolidate power in the hands of the presidency and neuter the opposition-controlled National Assembly, completing Venezuelas transformation into a one-party dictatorship.

To say that Venezuela is on the verge of a crisis is an understatement. Despite having the worlds largest reserves of crude oil, corruption and mismanagement (or a vast, American-led, international capitalist conspiracy, depending on your sources) have driven the economy into the ground over the past few years. Hugo Chavezs socialist Bolivarian revolution, launched in 1999, has descended into an abject nightmare under his successor. What was once a relatively wealthy country with a functioning democratic system is now literally starving, its currency nearly worthless, its politics polarized to the point of crisis, and its government increasingly authoritarian in its behavior.

The crisis has been mounting for years, going back well before Chavezs death in 2013, but has reached an acute phase over the past several months. In March, the Venezuelan Supreme Court held the legislature in contempt for allegedly blocking efforts at economic relief and stripped it of its powers. The court soon backtracked in the face of overwhelming international condemnation, but the confrontation set off an ongoing wave of protests in which over 100 people have been killed  though most of the violence between police and protesters has been nonlethal and relatively restrained.

A banner placed by antigovernment activists against President Nicolas Maduros constituent assembly reads The Constituent Means Hunger. Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images

The opposition, which Maduro has sought to paint as right-wing terrorists, is boycotting Sundays vote. It also called a general strike last week and had planned massive demonstrations for Friday, prompting the government to impose a ban on all protests ahead of the vote and deploy some 370,000 troops throughout the country (a few small protests took place on Friday anyway). The U.S. is preparing for chaos, ordering relatives of diplomats to evacuate Caracas, giving embassy workers permission to leave as well, and warning Americans not to travel to Venezuela.

Employees of the U.S. government may be smart to get out of Dodge, as the Venezuelan government is now accusing the U.S.  specifically Florida senator Marco Rubio and the CIA  of plotting to topple it. Pro-Maduro media has leapt on comments made the other day by CIA director Mike Pompeo  that the agency was hopeful that there can be a transition in Venezuela and that he had recently been in Mexico and Colombia to discuss the situation with officials there  as proof that the U.S. is plotting regime change with these countries.

Rubio has been instrumental in the Trump administrations response to Maduros power grab, which has entailed adding more names to the list of Venezuelan officials under financial sanction. The Miami Herald, whose home city hosts the largest Venezuelan-American community in the U.S., praised this move in an editorial published on Wednesday, arguing that the Venezuelan people need the strong support of the international community to save their country from the mess into which their incompetent government dragged them kicking and screaming.

Not every expert agrees that sanctions will help matters, however: In an op-ed at the New York Times, Washington Office on Latin America senior fellow David Smilde counters that sanctioning Venezuelan officials only cements their loyalty to and dependence on the regime. Broader economic sanctions that would punish Venezuelas nationalized oil industry would be even worse, Smilde argues, because they would only impose more suffering on the Venezuelan people and none on its leaders, helping bolster Chavismo in Venezuela for the next 55 years, just as they did for the Castros in Cuba. His less-than-satisfying solution is for the U.S. to help facilitate (but not lead) a coordinated, multilateral diplomatic effort by a group of other Latin American countries.

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduros supporters take part in an event for the campaign to elect members for the countrys constituent assembly that would rewrite the constitution. Photo: Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images

With the opposition boycotting Sundays vote, the outcome looks like a foregone conclusion. But that also means it wont give an accurate picture of how much support Maduros plan for a new constitution actually enjoys (which is why opposition boycotts of elections are often counterproductive). How many Venezuelans still back Maduro, heir to his mentor Chavezs revolution, is virtually unknowable, given the paucity of independent polling data and the partisan nature of every available source.

One recent poll by Datanalisis, for instance, put Maduros support at roughly a paltry 20 percent, but Datanalisis is a pro-opposition pollster, so the Chavista establishment and its international supporters consider its numbers little more than right-wing propaganda. The opposition claims that 7 million opponents of Maduro voted by vast margins against the constituent assembly in a symbolic plebiscite they organized earlier this month, but that vote has no bearing on Sundays outcome, and pro-government analysts say the oppositions reported-vote total is impossible. (The government, of course, denounced the unofficial vote as illegal.)

Indeed, few countries draw such polarized coverage as Venezuela has under Chavez and Maduro, whom many on the American and European left consider unfairly maligned democratic visionaries, while depicting the opposition as right-wing racists propped up by Western imperialism. But now that the realities of this corrupt crony socialism have been laid bare, with Venezuela enduring mass hunger and the highest murder rate in the world, Chavismo is getting ever harder to defend. Democracies just dont deploy the army to quash protests, imprison opposition leaders, shut down disfavored media outlets, or rewrite their constitutions at the presidents whim.

Sundays vote and its aftermath could spell one of two disasters for Venezuela: the consolidation of dictatorship or outright civil war. If Maduro persists in his attempt to stifle all opposition, at least one of these outcomes is bound to occur. The country is unstable enough, and elements of the opposition angry enough, that violent conflict is very much on the table. As Slates Joshua Keating points out, Latin America has made great strides toward democracy and stability in recent decades, but those gains remain fragile. If Venezuelas last vestiges of democracy collapse this week, he fears, this could have consequences beyond its borders.
The more you look at it, John McCain may have saved his party and his Senate GOP colleagues a lot of grief. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Given the storybook drama of the 2 a.m. Senate vote that was the latest coda in the GOPs quest to repeal and/or replace Obamacare, its not surprising that people are casting about for heroes and villains. Many people have become fixated on the three Republican heroes  or traitors, depending on your point of view  who broke with their party to deal the death blow. Donald Trump certainly called them out. And the opinion editor of the right-wing Washington Times got personal with John McCain, the surprise no voter:

McCains vote is no doubt a sigh of relief for him.

He can spend his dying days in open friendship with the Democrats he so loves.

No more hiding in the shadows. No more feigning Republican. No more pretending to support the conservative cause.

Im sure Republicans were even more venomous about the Maverick privately.

But lets not get carried away with what McCain really accomplished, whether you view him as hero or villain. Consider the trajectory of events had he gone the other way.

Yes, Vice-President Pence would have broken the 50-50 tie, and the skinny repeal would have replaced the House-passed American Health Care Act as the underlying bill on the Senate floor. Several hours later, following the windy ritual of the vote-a-rama, the Senate would have almost certainly passed the Health Care Freedom Act (skinny repeals skinny title) by the same 50-50-with-a-tiebreaker vote.

Then what? Well, one possibility is that the House Speaker Paul Ryan would have made good on his promise to send the bill to a conference committee. There, some sort of repeal-and-replace legislation similar to the discarded House (AHCA) and Senate (BCRA) bills would be hammered out. Then, the conference report would return to both chambers, be ratified, and sent up to the White House for Trumps eager signature.

But, even if you buy the idea that a little more time and a little more negotiation was all that separated congressional Republicans from a consensus bill that eluded them all year, there would have been the unavoidable problem of rulings by the Senate parliamentarian. Her ability to make various provisions of a repeal-and-replace bill unpassable would not have been diminished by passage of a skinny repeal. Yes, perhaps clever draftsmanship could have resolved some of the problems. But it is clear that there would have been no way to undertake the repeal of Obamacare insurance regulations that conservatives demanded without running afoul of the budget rules, and thus eliminating the ability to pass legislation with a simple majority. It didnt get much attention in all of this weeks hysteria, but the parliamentarian added the state waivers of Obamacares essential-health-benefit requirements to her list of items that didnt meet budget rules. Without this, AHCA would have never passed the House.

Since theres no reason to doubt Mitch McConnells repeated and adamant statements that he would not countenance blowing up the Senate by overruling the parliamentarian by fiat, the odds are very high that any new version of Trumpcare would either fail to attract majority support in both Houses or fall to the parliamentarians red pencil.

So if that possibility is foreclosed, theres another alternative in this imaginary future weve concocted: What if the Senate had passed the skinny repeal and the House double-crossed those senators begging Paul Ryan not to let it become law? Well, for one thing, given the complaints about skinny repeal from House conservatives, its unclear if Ryan would have had the votes to pass it, even if he was determined to screw over unhappy senators and avoid a conference. Its also not 100 percent clear if Trump would have signed the skinny repeal, depending on who tried to explain it to him.

But even if the skinny repeal had become law, it would have left the entire regulatory structure of Obamacare in place, along with most of its taxes and all of its Medicaid expansion authority (and without the Medicaid per capita cap that was in all of the repeal-and-replace bills). It would have been a hollow victory at best for Obamacare-hating Republicans  and one they might have had to reverse if the CBOs assessment of its impact on coverage and premiums turned out to be accurate.

In the end, none of the three Senate apostates can be blamed individually or collectively for the basic political and substantive problems with every GOP bill dealing with Obamacare. Had any of them gone the other way last night, Republicans would have probably wasted a lot of time reaching the same end point, with even more frustration, finger-pointing, and damage to their reputation of competence than they are suffering from now.

Lets hope as they call McCain, Collins, and Murkowski RINO traitors, some congressional Republicans have the good sense and decency to privately thank them for saving the GOP from a Pyrrhic victory. Pretending viable health-care law was just around the corner until John McCain gave it a thumbs-down would represent a delusion from which the GOPs legislative aspirations might never fully recover.
Awkward. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

President Trump will indeed sign a bipartisan bill imposing Trump-proof sanctions on Russia, the White House press secretarys office announced on Friday night. That legislation was passed almost unanimously by the House and Senate this past week, meaning the bill would likely have survived a presidential veto  which seemed like a real possibility up until now. The White House originally opposed the bill, and its statement on Friday followed a week of mixed signals about whether Trump would sign or veto the legislation. Just one day earlier, new White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci told CNN that Trump may sign the sanctions exactly the way they are, or he may veto the sanctions and negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians.

The new bill imposes sanctions on Russia for its interference in last years U.S. presidential election. The White House originally opposed the sanctions package, which also targets Iran and North Korea over their ballistic-missile programs, because the legislation includes a congressional-review requirement. What that means is that Congress will have the power to review and block any changes that Trump or any other president might make to these sanctions in the future. Any presidential administration would resist such an attempt to limit its foreign-policy power, but the Trump administration is in a particularly tight spot since it hasnt done anything in response to the Russian attack on the U.S. election system or anything to prevent such attacks in the future.

Of course, Trump is also facing an ongoing investigation into his campaigns possible links to the Russian interference. As a result, the president has repeatedly sought to cast doubt on whether or not Russia meddled at all, thus attempting to single-handedly refute, without evidence, the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies. When he has seemed to acknowledge the interference, it has typically only been in such a way as to profess his campaigns innocence or victimhood:

In other words, Russia was against Trump in the 2016 Election - and why not, I want strong military & low oil prices. Witch Hunt! https://t.co/mMSxj4Su5z  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017

Also on Friday, Russia retaliated against the new sanctions even before the White House confirmed that Trump would sign them into law. The Kremlin closed two U.S.-owned properties used by American diplomats and ordered the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to reduce its staff.

Its not clear if the president was allowed any input into the sanctions legislation. According to the White House, Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it and has now reviewed the final version and, based on its responsiveness to his negotiations, approves the bill and intends to sign. In fact, its more likely the White House had next to no involvement in changes to the bill and didnt get anything they wanted. In reality, Congress effectively boxed Trump in, and he now has no choice but to sign the bill. If he didnt, not only would Trump look even more friendly toward the Kremlin than he already does, but the first major legislation of his presidency, after more than six months, would be a law which was put in place without him.
You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.

(William Jennings Bryan -- aka, The Cowardly Lion, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, July 9, 1896.)

The crowd went wild, and Mr. Bryan was nominated the next day. This speech ended with the following words: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. And so it has always been known as the Cross of Gold speech.

Mr. Bryan, who lost three presidential elections, including that one to William McKinley (then again in 1900 & 1908) was clearly wrong about that bit. He was not wrong about what happens if we destroy our farms. Nor was he wrong about the great cities [resting] upon these broad and fertile prairies.

However, in 1896, when Henry Ford was still trying to rustle up $25,000 to finance his start-up, most Americans lived and worked on broad and fertile prairies. Today that is true for very few, however, the great cities now rest upon the energy supplies that come from elsewhere.

Hard to believe this fellow would sell 15 million vehicles in 30 years

Even as the Renewable superpowers (Sun and Wind) begin to tighten their grip on the future and drive the ancient conventional sources to their well-deserved retirement, one must wonder where we are going put enough PV panels, windmills and dams in the cities so that, in this regard, they pay their way. And if we dont, what kind of a future do cities have? I will try to answer the first question; as to the second, I have no idea.

Related: China Outpaces Competition In Renewable Race

Urbanites, central planners and monopolists alike probably think the solution to how cities pay their own way, in terms of energy production, is nuclear power. The Indian Point plant up the Hudson River is an example. It is 36 miles from Manhattan and has a capacity of 2 GW (2,000 MW), which is a lot. Trouble is, from time to time, New York City and environs need about 13 GW, especially when its hot out and the AC units start to crank all at once.

(Im not sure where Con Ed gets the extra 18 or 19 hours, ie, there are ~ 8,765 hours in an average year; its an easy number to commit to memory. 4 3 2 1 -- Earth below us, drifting falling, floating weightless . . . But I digress. Life in the big city doesnt take longer, it just seems that way.)

It is probably axiomatic to say that if you dont know where you are going any road will take you there. The cities are united in understanding that efficiency comes first; it is the One Thing to Rule Them All. From there the roads diverge and, so far, most of them arent leading anywhere.

The first thing we do, lets kill all the inefficiencies. Start by not making the problem worse, ie, every new structure could show it will be net zero or not get a permit. What would be the price for non-compliance? A stern warning seems weak.

Full of sound and fury: Signifying anything?

Among those in the vanguard, the NRDC, under its City Energy Project banner (Better Buildings, Better Cities), makes the following salient point: The building sector is the single largest user of energy in the United States, accounting for roughly 40 percent of total energy consumption. In cities, however, that figure can be even higher: 60, 70, even 75 percent, and much of that energy is wasted.

New York City has put forth its Roadmap to 80 x 50, ie, an 80 percent greenhouse gas reduction by 2050. (For details see the 134-page pdf) Is GHG reduction the right objective? Isnt GHG reduction, in fact, best described as a beneficial side effect of getting up to speed with renewables? An economic depression is the fastest, though arguably not the best, way to bring about massive GHG reductions. How about aiming to produce enough energy to meet your citys needs? How much of that will be renewable? 80 percent? By when? How would that be done?

Offshore Wind and Underground Water

To date, most of the fun in the renewable sector has been had by power producers. But cities have just as much to worry about, if not more, from heat. And it isnt just a matter of staying warm in the winter; our concrete jungles have more heat than they know what to do with on a hot summer day. It isnt always sunny in Philadelphia, but when it is, sometimes that becomes too much of a good thing.

Related: Libyas Oil King Wont Be Stopped By OPEC

Renters in Philadelphia, Manhattan, or Chicago and plenty of other big cities, may or may not have access to efficient air conditioning units. Even for those who do, the price of power during those hottest hundred hours may be more than their budget can handle. Is there any way to cool things off? Wouldnt it be nice to take the summer heat and use it in the winter when the opposite problem comes into effect?

The good news is that a simple, cheap and effective way to do that is readily at hand. The next time city planners decide to repave a street, it would be sensible to lay pipes right in the road. In fact, it would be foolish not to. Running water through those pipes will draw heat from the street. Storing the hot water in tanks underground is extremely efficient (high 90 percent) and it can be used for space heating in the winter. It is hard to think of a cheaper way to go. There is no need to invent anything and there is plenty of spare labor around to replace street surfaces.

As for more power, Scotty, it turns out there is plenty of that around, too, though in the U.S. it depends upon whether you live beside the deep blue sea or in a sea of wheat and corn in the Midwest.

http://atlanticwindconnection.com/awc-projects/atlantic-wind-connection

Though the U.S. is lagging the big offshore developers in the North Sea, Denmark, the UK and Germany, progress is at hand.

In case you dont live anywhere near a coast, there are windy cities in other places. The Denver/Dallas/Chicago triangle will get fed from Midwestern gales. San Francisco has plenty of wind offshore; ask any sailor. But for the most part, cities in California and other SW states will probably get their power from the sun. Those of us who must endure periodic ultraviolet catastrophes, living through Puget Sound winters, already have plenty of virtually free hydro power, courtesy of the rain. Well manage, but will the worlds cities, drawing more and more people, like filings to a magnet, really be able to meet the load, not just for energy but for clean water?

More than half the people on earth now live in cities. The UN expects that ratio to reach 2 out of 3 by 2050. Most observers would scoff at the notion that this trend could go into reverse? Absurd. Unthinkable. Not if they cannot find ways to meet their growing energy appetite. If they dont, many of them will be under water anyway. Rome, in Caesars day, probably had a million or more inhabitants. By the time the Black Death rolled into Europe (in the mid-1300s) that figure had fallen to around 50,000. Mutatis mutandis, which means something to the effect that the more things change, the more they stay the same (ie, the mutations mutate).

The good news is that corn and apples taste best from your own dirt, not the local supermarket. The Gravensteins will be ripe in about a month and if you havent ever made your own blackberry pie you havent lived. M-mmm, good; please pass the Sockeye, another feature leaping out of the rain-soaked forests stretching from the Redwoods to Bristol Bay Alaska. Amazon will drone the wine over as soon as the Whole Foods purchase closes. No doubt those will be electric. A local Pinot sounds about right.

By Henry Hewitt for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Moves to privatise utilities assets in Saudi Arabia and expand the reach of its networks through increased investment should create new opportunities for private operators and service providers.

Near-term asset sales

The government is gearing up to sell a state-owned power generation firm and a water desalination company by the end of this year, according to Mohammed Al Tuwaijri, the vice-minister for economy and planning, who said each would be a multi-billion-dollar deal.

The privatisation process for these is in a very, very advanced stage, he told the press recently, not only financial advisers hired, but we have appetite secured.

The generation firm is the first of four owned by state utilities provider Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) to be privatised over the next few years  one per year  under the countrys five-year development plan released in June 2016, the National Transformation Programme.

The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), meanwhile, announced last month it had hired US-based management consultancy DuPont Sustainable Solutions to help optimise its operations and risk management in preparation for a potential sale by years end. The SWCC currently supplies 70% of the countrys desalinated water.

The move dovetails with a government target for private partners to supply 52% of the countrys desalinated water requirements by 2020.

We want to create an environment that will allow SWCC to compete internationally so that ultimately, we have a sustainable business that the people of SWCC and Saudi Arabia can benefit from, Ali Al Hazmi, its governor, said at the announcement.

Privatisation path

The approaching sales are part of a broader government plan to raise some $200bn by selling state assets over the next few years under its overarching Vision 2030 blueprint for economic and social development. Related: Oil Rises To 8-Week High Following Unexpected U.S. Inventory Draw

In mid-May Al Tuwaijri said authorities had conducted detailed valuations to calculate this figure, identifying 16 entities as top priorities for a sell-off and over 100 opportunities for pursuing public-private partnerships.

This is in addition to revenue from plans to sell an up to 5% stake in the national oil company, Saudi Aramco, next year and invest the proceeds in development projects.

As for the utilities sector, late last year officials announced that SEC  the state entity responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of power  would be divided into four separate companies and transferred to the Public Investment Fund ahead of privatisation. Each of these would have around one-quarter of the companys current 60 MW of generation capacity at the time of sale.

Investor appetite may be further whetted by the prospect of private sector involvement in power distribution: last year the SEC said it would retain its transmission and distribution operations after selling its generation assets, but was open to an expanded role for the private sector in downstream operations.

Economic transformation

Demand for cost-effective utilities is set to rise as the government pushes for greater efficiency in public service delivery amid lower oil prices, including by cutting electricity subsidies.

In particular, the public sector will either move to transfer secondary activity to private operators or to co-invest in energy-efficient utilities solutions, Kamal Pharran, CEO of Saudi Tabreed District Cooling Company, told OBG. Related: Barclays: Oil Could Rise By $7 If U.S. Sanctions Venezuela

The increased investments called for in the National Transformation Programme  in large-scale housing, infrastructure and industrial developments  will also drive demand for utilities expansion, Pharran said, as the country seeks to lift both output and efficiency in delivering water, power and district cooling services.

Among the programmes goals are to enhance utilities capacity by improving performance, productivity and flexibility as well as expanding coverage. The plan also calls for an optimisation of operations through privatisation.

The current cash shortage and privatisation drive by the government is only going to lead to more outsourcing, Pharran told OBG. Smarter investments in long-term costs savings will be more likely as entities focus on their core businesses and spin off services where they are less efficient.

By Oxford Business Group

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
A politically turbulent six-year period has impacted the Egyptian business environment, adding a new layer of political risks to investments made across the national economy. Despite this, the outlook in certain sectors is largely positive; and the gas sector may be one of the first to see profitability.

With the third largest gas reserves in Africa, behind Algeria and Nigeria, and the 17th largest globally, international interest has always existed in Egypts gas sector. However, management of gas pipelines has been a controversial issue, leading to concerns over how viable the industry is set to be once fully developed under President Sisi.

To Zohr and Beyond

The discovery of vast gas reserves in the East Mediterranean basin is generating renewed impetus from the Egyptian government to attract investment into the sector. As a result, steps are being taken and compromises made in the name of boosting investment incentives into the gas sector, with Cairos political elite laying the groundwork for gas sector development.

Shake-ups to the Ministry of Petroleum have occurred thick and fast in recent years, as is the general narrative in Egypt. In March 2017, the Chairmen of both Egypt General Petroleum Company (EGPC) and Egypt Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) were replaced in elite level changes to the two most important state energy bodies.

With Chairman of these entities averaging one year in position, investors could be forgiven for showing little interest in the new figureheads. The quick turnover in staff is a worrying sign and one that suggests top level strategic decision-making is somewhat removed from the figures who, on paper at least, sit at the top of two very important pyramids.

Related: Oil Rises, But Saudis Face Daunting Dilemma

But for their part, commercial entities have expressed their interest in Zohr, the gas field set to fill state coffers, with business set to pick up at the end of 2017. Tarek El Molla, Oil Minister, and Sherif Ismail, Prime Minister, are by all accounts the chief decision makers with regards oil concessions and contracts. The two have been working together at high-level for the better part of four years, which is the kind of longevity indicative of stable decision making.

For all intents and purposes, Zohr is set to be a game changer for energy politics in the region. That said, the legal and political lay of the land is set to change and it will be prudent for investors to stay in tune with how this impacts business dynamics.

Privatisation

As confirmed by El Molla in early July 2017, the gas sector is introducing executive regulations to liberalise the gas sector, expected to come in September. This will allow private actors to import and distribute natural gas, with the aim of turning Egypt into a hub for the industry.

A new draft gas law was sent to Parliament in December 2016 and is believed to have come into effect. This is set to alter the dynamics in Egypts gas sector and contains some important points of note for energy companies going forward.

Most notably, it establishes the Authority for Regulating the Activities of the Gas Market and thereby adds a new government body into the mix when doing business. According to a review of the law by Shawkawy & Sarhan, a Cairo based law firm that specialises in industry specific laws, the Authority is an independent public entity affiliated to the Ministry of Petroleum.

In particular, investors should be wary of the risks this Authority may pose to transparency and accountability, which will become more evident as and when it appears in earnest. The President is known for taking moves to override government officials and heads of authorities, suggesting that it could yet be beholden to the political elite. Its independence will be its strongest asset, and should this be compromised from the outset then the body risks being stillborn.

The President is known for taking moves to override government officials and heads of authorities, making this a very real and worrying reality facing investors. The removal of Hesham Geneina from the Central Auditing Organisation (CAO) in March 2016 is the most high-profile example of executive empowerment.

Control and Influence

Although a collection of five companies, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources in Egypt uses two main entities in the energy sector. Namely, these are EGPC and EGAS and are the bodies leveraging the states position vis-a-vis international energy companies vying for exploration licenses and production contracts in Egypt.

In particular, the EGPC has long been the main artery of public engagement with the energy sector. Established in 1956, the remit of the EGPC has gradually eroded as the Ministry developed out EGAS and other institutions such as the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company and the South Valley Egyptian Petroleum Holding Company. Even though the actors involved have been diluted in the period since 2002, the layers of corporate companies still show that the EGPC footprint is fairly large across the energy sector.

As such, any new authority will likely have to wrestle for control vis-a-vis the EGPC, given its prized status in Egypt historically. Likewise, private entities coming into the fore must also grapple with state dominance and the opening up of Egypts energy sector may happen more gradually than many investors will be hoping for.

Challenges and Opportunities

Egypt is at a cross roads once again in terms of energy sector management. Politically speaking, the fruits of Zohr bring a two-folded benefit to the political elite in Cairo.

Related: The Next Big Catalyst In The U.S. Oil Export Boom

On one hand, the ability to meet domestic energy demand is a huge motivating factor in developing out the necessary infrastructure. Egypt has had problems with electricity shortages since 2011-2012 and currently imports gas from Algeria and Norway in order to meet its electricity needs, with gas generating 75 percent of the countrys electricity. Regaining a relative degree of energy security will bode well for President Sisi ahead of an expected Presidential election in mid 2018.

On the other hand, harnessing Zohrs export potential brings much needed inward revenues to the state. Having turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) almost a year ago for aid, the countrys financial status needs a boost. Cutting subsidies, raising taxes, and scaling back government spending has incurred huge sacrifice and uncertainty  with political stability ultimately at risk.

Furthermore, GAN Business Anti-Corruption Portal (2017) points out that companies involved in Public Procurement faces a high risk of corruption and that transparency in the Natural Resources sector is particularly poor. Given the forecasted privatisation of the energy sector, this sends out some early red flags.

That being said, the Petroleum ministrys structured response to tackling its debts with energy companies is a welcome sign of relief. Longstanding relationships between public bodies and international oil companies mean that financial opportunities will almost certainly outweigh political risks, but a heightened level of due diligence may be required in order to safeguard entities from reputational damage or unfair competition.

By Shadow Governance Intel for Oilprice.com

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Nigeria is one of Turkeys largest trading partners in Africa, and trade remains an integral component of Nigeria  Turkey bilateral relations. In 2014, trade between the two countries reached approximately US $2.5 billion. However, this figure fell to US $1.5 billion in 2015 and approximately US $1 billion in 2016, largely due to a drop in global oil and gas prices.

Over the past several decades, Nigeria has become one of Turkeys most important providers of liquid natural gas (LNG), currently accounting for more than 20 percent of LNG imports. However, this trade relationship has the potential to develop and expand as the global LNG market flourishes, and both the Turkish and Nigerian governments invest in furthering their domestic LNG sectors.

Nigeria: Small but Important

Nigeria's oil and gas industry is the largest on the continent, with attention traditionally focused on oil production. However, with global oil prices having remained lower than expected for longer than expected, attention has increasingly shifted to Nigerias natural gas sector.

In fact, Nigerias most significant natural resource is natural gas. Boasting the 9th largest gas reserves in the world, and the largest in Africa, Nigerias gas reserves are estimated at 187 trillion cubic feet (Daily Mail, 08.03.2017).

Although only 3 percent of Turkeys natural gas is sourced from Nigeria, Nigeria accounts for more than 20 percent of Turkeys LNG imports. The natural gas is imported through a contract between Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) and Turkeys state-owned BOTAS Petroleum Pipeline Corporation, and since November 1999, Nigeria has delivered more than 4,000 LNG cargos to BOTASs Mamara LNG Terminal in Turkey.

Furthermore, in 2014, Nigeria exported about 900 billion cubic feet of LNG, accounting for some 8 percent of LNG traded globally and ranking Nigeria as the world's fourth largest LNG exporter (Practical Law, 01.05.2017). Notably, the global LNG market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world, and is set to increase by about 50 percent between 2015 and 2020.

This is nothing but good news for Nigeria LNG (NLNG)  a private company in which the government holds a 49 percent stake.

Since production began in 1999, NLNG has been one of the fastest growing companies in the world. With six trains currently operational, NLNGs gas plant in Finima, Bonny Island in Rivers state, has a total processing capacity of 22 million tonnes of LNG a year, and up to 5 million tonnes of natural gas liquids (LPG and condensate).

Related: The Next Big Catalyst In The U.S. Oil Export Boom

It is also estimated to contribute about 4 percent of Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (NLNG, 24.07.2017); and with plans to add a further two trains, NLNG could unlock three times as much gas as the countrys proven reserves.

NLNG currently has contracts with several buyers across the world, as well as with Turkeys BOTAS. However, the Sales Purchase Agreement (SPA) between NLNG and BOTAS is set to end in October 2021, and no further deal has yet been agreed.

Notably, Shell, a 25.6 percent shareholder in NLNG, has already made clear its desire to provide more LNG for Turkey, believing that Turkey has the potential to become a regional natural gas trade hub.

Turkeys Energy Dilemma / Turkey as a Transit Point

Turkey has become one of the fastest growing energy markets in the world. Strong economic growth over the last decade has contributed to a 4.4 percent average annual increase in energy consumption by Turkey between 2005 and 2015. And despite a slowdown in the economy in more recent years  due to both domestic and international political tensions  Turkeys energy demand is expected to continue rising for the foreseeable future.

Despite this increasing demand for energy, only around 25 percent of Turkeys total energy demand is being met by domestic energy resources, leaving the country extremely reliant on external sources. Notably, 98 percent of Turkeys natural gas  which has become Turkeys main source of energy in recent years  comes from external sources, imported through pipelines from Russia (60 percent), Iran (20 percent) and Azerbaijan (10 percent), and increasingly from LNG sources (Nigeria and Algeria).

This dependence on foreign imports has become a point of concern for the government in Ankara, particularly following a deterioration in relations with Russia, Turkeys biggest natural gas importer. Ensuring its current and future energy security is a top priority.

Notably, any interruption in gas flows  from Russia in particular  could not only severely damage Turkeys growing economy, but also increase domestic political tensions. Furthermore, Turkeys gas consumption remains limited by import capacity and, with imports already operating at close to maximum capacity, natural gas shortages - particularly during peak winter months - are not uncommon.

This increase in domestic demand is actually helping drive the development of energy infrastructure.

Furthermore, despite having no meaningful natural gas reserves of its own, the Turkish government has made no secrets about its desire to establish Turkey as a regional natural gas hub  receiving natural gas from sources from the Middle East, Africa and Asia and distributing it throughout Europe.

In order for this ambitious goal to be realised, the government has already begun investing in expanding its natural gas infrastructure.

Two of the main projects currently in development are the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), designed to transport Azeri gas to Europe and Turkey, as well as the TurkStream natural gas pipeline which will transport Russian gas across the Black Sea to Turkey.

As well as developing its gas pipeline infrastructure, the government is also investing in expanding its LNG infrastructure, and Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak has pledged to almost double Turkeys annual natural gas storage capacity to 11 billion cubic meters (bcm) by 2023  making its total storage capacity one of the biggest in the region.

In an apparent contradiction, although the Turkish government appears keen to transit natural gas across the country through pipelines, it has discouraged LNG transit through pipelines. Furthermore, the government also does not allow LNG vessels to transit through the Turkish Straits for safety reasons, essentially making itself a gateway to Europe and Russia for LNG.

In this context, Nigeria could play a major role in Turkeys energy sector.

Turkey already possesses an offshore storage facility in De?irmenkoy (Silivri) (operated by the Turkish state-owned energy company TPAO), and three LNG land terminals: Marmara Ere?lisi (operated by BOTAS), Alia?a  ?zmir (operated by the Azeri SOCAR and the Turkish energy company Ege Gaz), and the Lake Tuz storage facility (operated by BOTAS). In December 2016, Turkey's first LNG storage and re-gasification facility (FSRU) was launched in ?zmir's Alia?a district (operated by Etki Liman, a joint venture between Kolin and Kalyon groups, two companies with reported close ties to the Turkish government).

Furthermore, the Turkish government has announced several projects that will complement the countrys already existing infrastructure. The most imminent one is likely to be the commissioning of a second FSRU, which would be owned and operated by BOTAS. Further plans are in place to increase the storage capacity of both the De?irmenkoy and Lake Tuz natural gas storage facilities. Most of these projects are to be completed by 2020-22.

While BOTAS is clearly one of the most important actors in Turkeys natural gas sector, accounting for about 80 percent of natural gas imports, it is also the only institution that deals directly with NLNG, and the Nigerian government. Therefore, as both institutions are under some degree of political influence, it is likely that the relations between the Turkish and Nigerian governments could play a part in the signing of a new contract between BOTAS and NLNG  as the current one expires in 2021.

Notably, on the Turkish side, the main players are BOTAS and the Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EMRA), two key institutions that play a role in President Erdogans ability to exert informal influence over the energy sector. As the chairmen of these two entities are strongly believed to be under the indirect control of President Erdogan, the contracts reached with the NLNG would have to be pre-approved by him.

Related: Oil Rises, But Saudis Face Daunting Dilemma

However, with both Turkey hoping to increase LNG imports, and Nigeria hoping to increase both the production and export capacity of its natural gas, an extension  or even an expansion  of the current contract could serve to benefit both countries.

Will Nigeria Help Turkey Become a Regional Gas Transit Hub?

As a resource-poor country, Turkeys reliance on imported energy, and high domestic demand, is leaving little natural gas for export. In this sense, Turkey is still primarily considered a consuming country, not a transit country.

However, significant investments in infrastructure, particularly in terms of developing pipelines and increased LNG storage and processing facilities, suggests that Turkey is serious about establishing itself as a regional natural gas transit hub.

And with Turkey aiming to become a regional energy hub, Nigeria  and its nascent LNG sector  will want to retain a foothold in the country.

Furthermore, by investing in the LNG sector, Turkey will be able to reduce its dependency on Russia for natural gas if needed. And if future circumstances mean that this does indeed occur, Turkeys requirement for LNG will merely increase. A continued relationship between Nigeria and Turkey therefore remains firmly in the cards.

As Nigerias economy shifts away from oil, investment opportunities for Turkish companies will increase in sectors including power, manufacturing, mining, construction, agriculture, aviation and security.

Ties between Nigeria and Turkey are thus set to expand; a relationship that would inevitably benefit the perceived business culture of both  where political exposure and questionable business practices are often regarded as a fundamental of commercial success.

By Shadow Governance Intel for Oilprice.com

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Pakistan has won today: Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Friday said Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharifs disqualification by the Supreme Court marked the beginning of a new era where all the big robbers will be held accountable. We are happy and hopeful today.



Pakistan has won today. Now we can also move forward as a nation, Imran told a media conference after chairing a party consultative meeting here after the apex court judgement in the PanamaLeaks case.



Imran said a powerful prime minister, who had full control of state institutions for the last 30 years, was subjected to the rule of law by the Supreme Court.



He said Nawaz Sharif's disqualification was the first step towards saving Pakistan. "The Supreme Courts decision has given hope to the people of Pakistan today, he believed.



Emphasising the need for the rule of law, he contended that bombardment could neither ruin a nation, nor earthquakes or floods. Germany and Japan were devastated during the world war but within ten years they were back on their feet.



Corruption had brought Pakistan to a state where its survival was seen in obtaining more and more loans. A nation will only ruin after its judicial institutions are done away with.



Third World countries, like Congo and Nigeria are blessed with resources but have no institutions, as they are also having their share in the loot and plunder of the national wealth, he noted.



I have no personal agenda against Nawaz Sharif; I have known his family for 40 years. He did not take anything of mine  he had done wrong to the people of this country and that was why we wanted him to be held accountable.



"Historically, there have always been two kinds of laws prevailing in the country  one for the weak and poor and the other for the rich and powerful," he said.



He said during his eight days in jail, he saw scores of poor prisoners held on minor charges while big thieves sat in the assemblies.



Were those poor people rotting in jails responsible for laundering money in this country, or those crooks responsible for illegal practices, who live in houses worth billions of rupees?"



The country was on the brink of destruction; we have never taken more loans than we took in a year. There is no money to run the country without loans. A US report says $10 billion is laundered and sent out of Pakistan each year," he said.



He said it had been established that the chief of the National Accountability Bureau and SECP chairman were involved in covering up Nawaz Sharif's corruption. Was their job to safeguard Pakistans interests or protect a corrupt family, he asked.



The ministers knew that money had been laundered and they also knew that Sharifs owned the London flats (from 1990s) and told a lie in the assembly and the apex court. Still they were seen outside the apex court and on the media siding with the corrupt family.



He said corruption had played havoc with Pakistan. The rulers would go for mega projects, they pocketed commission and transferred it abroad. They would not provide funds for education, health and provision of clean drinking water. It was because of this that 45 per cent children had stunted growth and faced mental and height growth problems.



"I hope and pray that this victory (SC judgement) brings the nation together and we are able to save Pakistan and turn it into the country Allama Iqbal dreamed of and Quaid-e-Azam would be proud of," he said and urged the nation to continue the struggle for a better Pakistan.



He paid glowing tribute to the Supreme Court bench and said the JIT members were the heroes. "What the JIT did in 60 days could not have been done even in the West," he remarked.



With this investigation it is obvious now that we have the capability to put check corruption. The Supreme Court has proven that today. Everyone will be held accountable now. This is the beginning, said Imran.



He said the PTI will hold a day of thanksgiving gathering at the Parade Ground on July 30 to celebrate Pakistan's victory against corruption.



He instructed the party workers not to engage in any kind of actions causing chaos and wait for July 30 to celebrate the victory. Imran assured the workers that he would announce the partys future course of action that day.



He urged the masses to come out on that day, as the rule of law was being made a reality. A very good time is before us. The nation has woken up, none can stop us now, he said.



He regretted that the ministers had targeted his charity Shaukat Khanum Memorial Truest Hospital for pushing the Panama case and charged they were enemies of the people of Pakistan, as the hospital extended cancer treatment to 75 per cent poor patients. Even during wars, hospitals are spared, he noted.



Imran claimed that despite having never held a public officer, he had provided all the details of his income and how the London flat was bought and then Banigala property purchased.
Professor Alexander Nii Oto Dodoo, a clinical pharmacologist, pharmacist and pharmacovigilante with extensive experience in drug safety, vaccine safety, harmonisation initiatives and the development of norms and standards, now heads the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA).



His nomination as the Executive Director of the GSA was made possible by President Akufo-Addo. He assumed office in June.



As an Associate Professor, Centre for Tropical Clinical Pharmacology & University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Advocacy and Training in Pharmacovigilance, Prof Dodoo brings a wealth of diverse experience to his new role, he told the Ghana News Agency in Accra.



He has served for many years in leadership positions in a number of organisations and committees.



He is a member of WHOs Advisory Committee on the Safety of Medicinal Products, as well as the immediate Chairperson of its Global Vaccine Safety Initiative.



He is a member of the Expert Committee on Drug Dependency Disorders and has been supporting regional efforts in harmonisation.



Prof Dodoo has been to a number of African countries to assist their ministries of health in the setting up of safety surveillance infrastructure.



He works closely with the African Union and the African Medicines Harmonisation Initiative and currently heads a NEPAD/AU designated Regional Centre for Regulatory Excellence.



Prof Dodoo served for two terms as the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) and for three years as the President of the International Society of Pharmacovigilance, the leading global international scientific organisation for drug and vaccine safety.



Prof Dodoo holds MSc (Biopharmacy) and PhD (Pharmacy) degrees from King College, London, University of London, UK, and University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana.



He also spent a year working as a Research Assistant at the University of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 1991-1992.



He has a proven record of facilitating long term professional, scientific, technical, and business relationships with both customers and industry luminaries.



He is a Fellow, Ghana College of Pharmacists, Fellow, PSGH, Fellow, West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacy, a Registered Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council of the UK and a Member, Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.



By his new position, he will be responsible for the leadership of driving GSAs vision to become a model of excellence in Standardisation in Africa and its mission to promote Standardisation for the improvement of the quality of goods, services and sound management practice in industries and public institutions.



Commenting on his appointment, Prof Dodoo stated that his main aim is to build a world-class organisation that is customer-focused.



I am humbled to be appointed by the president to undertake this critically important role that has the potential to transform industry and commerce in Ghana. I want the GSA to be the leading organisation in facilitating trade and improving business practices in Ghana. I want to champion the presidents call for us to expand intra-ECOWAS trade and create jobs in Ghana by making made-in-Ghana goods the natural choice for everyone, he said.



Prof Dodoo added that he wants the citizenry to patronise made-in-Ghana products not just because they are made in Ghana, but because they are of excellent quality and represent value for money.



He said the GSA would work with industry to make this possible within the shortest possible time, adding, The GSA will also work in improving practices in Ghana so that ministries, departments and agencies will have ISO-certification for their practices and procedures.



I am thrilled to be part of the GSA team. We have work to do. We have contributions to make in all sectors of the economy, including mining, agriculture, oil and gas, construction and aviation. We have a key role to play in modernising agriculture and commerce. We have a responsibility to protect the health, safety and well-being of Ghanaians. We have so much to do so the hard work starts now, Prof Dodoo mentioned.



GSA is an agency that regulates standards in the country and ensures that products and services are safe, reliable and are of good quality.

Source: GNA









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Robert D. Carota Jr., 52, admitted in Washington County Court to violating an order of protection his girlfriend had against him. Carota had got into a car with the woman following a court proceeding on June 10, 2016. He later fled to Vermont and was arrested at the KOA Kampground a few days later.
FORT ANN  There are no state regulations that prevent a small farmer from polluting a stream with cow manure, state officials confirmed after a Fort Ann man was accused of that very action.

State officials said they searched for any possible way to stop Adam Tracy from polluting, because the pollution may have contaminated his neighbors well. But, they said, their hands are tied. State laws protect farmers, except in the case of very large commercial enterprises.

That means that even though Tracys neighbors well has been contaminated with E. coli, the state cannot take any action against Tracy.

There is no state law that exclusively regulates manure application or manure storage on farms that dont meet the CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) permit thresholds, said Agriculture & Markets spokewoman Lisa Koumjian.

CAFO permits are for very large farms. For bovines, CAFO permits are required if the farm has more than 200 cows. Tracy has about 20 cows, bulls and heifers.

For small farms, the state has tried to encourage farmers to remove manure or handle it in some way other than simply piling it up. But its not required.

The state has also created the Agricultural Environmental Management Program, a voluntary, incentive-based program, to help farmers of all sizes understand and implement best on-farm practices to reduce their impact on the environment, Koumjian said.

Fort Ann could choose to add its own rules, but the town has not done so and also has chosen to not add a zoning code.

Koumjian noted other municipalities have taken action by creating a local law that requires manure to be stored and properly applied to the land at agronomic rates.

The town supervisor is on vacation in Europe and the deputy supervisor is not speaking for the town about the issue because she is suing Tracy privately. Deputy Supervisor Deborah Witherell is the neighbor whose well has been contaminated.

She said she asked the town not to take action because she wanted to avoid the appearance of impropriety, although she did ask the town last year to order Tracy to remove the cows. The town ordered Tracy to remove them, but Tracy challenged the towns assertion that he was breaking local codes or animal cruelty laws.

He moved the cows for a few months, then brought them back to his land for the winter, and they have remained there ever since. He also vowed to fight the town in court if it tried again to order him to remove the animals. The town has not sent any orders since then.
Just when you think President Trump couldn't do something more outlandish and repulsive he strikes us with this transgender ban for the military. Men and women have been fighting side by side with other men and women, not giving a hoot if one of them happens to be a Debbie now. Want to know why? It's simply because a bullet doesn't discriminate, a bomb, an enemy that is shooting at the United States military, doesn't care what's underneath that uniform. These are brave men and women fighting for our country and our lives. Seems to be Trump wants to bring us back to 1948, where President Truman signed the Executive Order of 9981 that abolished racial discrimination in the Air Force and eventually all the other services. But see? Even back in 1948 we were making progress with human rights and the military. Seems Trump has a problem with direction, maybe it's the fact none of the Trump family, including our so-called "commander in chief," have served in the U.S. military. Guess he better start pulling his weight because this ban affects 10,000-20,000 transgender military members who have been defending his thankless and prejudice presidential term. Time for Trump to suit up and not at Trump Tower. How about Syria?
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
The first water station of the Quad-City Times Bix7 road race is the busiest and has the most volunteers, somewhere between 60 and 100.

Thats because we get hit twice, as they come up the hill and before they go down on the way back, Lori Piatt said.

And she said the runners are ready for water after just the first mile.

Coming up that hill? Definitely.

She and husband, Rick, of Davenport have chaired this spot between 14th and 15th streets on the east side of Brady Street since taking over for Ricks sister in 2004. Before that, they had worked with her for 12 previous years.

Its a bit less than a mile from the starting line to this water station, which is unofficially named for longtime race supporter Wayne Montgomery.

Rick's preparation really begins days before. He said the water barrels are sanitized before theyre dropped off.

I keep my hoses at home for the Bix run, only," he said. "I pour bleach through them and then run water for some 30 minutes to get out any bacteria or mold.

The great thing for the Piatts is that most of their volunteers have been doing it so long they dont even have to be given a reminder call beforehand.

With Saturdays cooler weather, they didnt go through as much water or as many cups.

On a hot day, well go through 25,000 cups, Rick said. Today, itll be ten or fifteen thousand.

And you dont hand the cup out just any old way. The mantra is "palm it, dont pinch it." If you pinch the edge with your fingers, the runner will end up crushing the cup and not get much, if any, water. You have to hold it out in your palm for an easier grab.

One volunteer dips the cup, another puts it on the table, another grabs it from the table, and the final person stands at the curb with the cup in their palm.

Theyve quickly learned over the years that if youre standing behind another "cup-holder," as the runner grabs the cup, the force will slosh the water out of the cup, giving you a morning shower. The good news is the cups are only half-filled to ensure more gets into the runner instead of on the street or the volunteers.

Its a thrill to see those runners come up the hill and youre helping the community, Rick said. "And we get thanked a lot, especially on hot days."

Marcia Hogle of Davenport insists, Ive stood out here in pouring rain sometimes, and its still fun.

The former Nichols Aluminum plant in west Davenport, now called Aleris, brought a group of new volunteers this year, one of seven volunteer groups at this station.

Connor Tinper was the youngest, at age 5, handing out cups. His mother insists this was his fifth year at the Bix 7.

Volunteer Mark Uitermakt laughed and admitted, We do it for fun, because the pay sucks.

Theyve also learned to squash the cups: Theyre easier to rake and take up less space in the garbage bags. Otherwise, with the spilled water, the cups can become slick and people could fall. The cleanup includes raking up the cups some six blocks in either direction and then the trash crews come by to pick up the refuse.

Rick also keeps a lookout for runners who dont look well, like they might pass out or fall and pulls them out of the race. He took a Red Cross class to be better prepared.

He thinks its a successful effort because of all the great volunteers, everyone has fun, and the EMTs told him that by 9 a.m. they had only five calls for help because of the cooler temperatures.
Rock Island County Soil and Water Conservation District, Tri-County Cover Crop Group, Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership, Mercer, Rock Island, and Henry Farm Bureau, and the Illinois Department of Agriculture are sponsoring a cover crop field day event on Wednesday, Aug. 9.

Check-in is from 8:30-8:45 a.m. The farm tour will start at Sherrard High School, 4701 176th Ave., Sherrard, at 8:30 a.m. and travel to two farms in Henry County. After the field tours, the bus will return to Sherrard High School by noon for a light lunch and meeting, ending by 1p.m. A rain date for the event is Tuesday, Aug. 15. For more information and to pre-register, call 309-764-1486, ext. 3 by Monday, Aug. 7.

Scheduled stops include the Bottens Farm east of Cambridge, Illinois, and Dan Wolfs farm near Geneseo, Illinois. Participants can visit the FFA corn and soybean variety plots.

Speakers on the tour will be area farmers discussing their corn and soybean operation utilizing cover crops to reduce erosion and reduce the amount of nutrients leaving their farm field. Speakers will also present information about soil health using soil pits to explain how different tillage systems and crops affect water infiltration, root growth, and biological properties of the soil.
John Schultz does what most people not dare do. He does the Quad-City Times Bix 7 backwards. He goes up and down seven miles of steep hills and tricky curves on the back of a motorcycle, facing the mob of front-runners.

There is a purpose in his daring way of handling the race. He is a photographer for the Quad-City Times who is so close to some runners that he sees their eyeballs. He gets some sensational race pictures.

SCHULTZ HAS been doing this for nine years and says its a lot of fun. His idea for photographing the Bix backwards came from the Tour de France, the bike race that always has photographers in front of the riders.

Schultz rigs his Harley Sportser 1200 with a backpack, or T-bag as it may be called, atop the luggage rack. That is his backwards photo seat. From the very start of the race, he is exactly in front of the lead runners. No one is closer, no vehicle. He sees the tense look on the faces of the head of the pack, crouched and waiting for the boom of the starting cannon. He has foot pegs to keep him steady.

His driver all these years has been Bill Jones, who says some spectators look at them funny. Its a ball, a lot different but not scary, a special feel having Johnny on the bike, riding backwards, facing the runners and the crowds, says Jones. "After all these years, we make a team."

Both are experienced motorcyclists.

SCHULTZ NEVER wears a helmet or any kind of seatbelt. I suppose they would get in the way of his cameras, two Canons and a handy little Go Pro. Hell shoot thousands of pictures while sitting backwards. I dont get dizzy, riding in the opposite direction, Schultz says.

Its something wonderful to see all those runners in front of you, facing them backwards, nothing but air and runners in front of me. Thats all I see, runners, runners, runners. Last year I was there when one of the lead runners slapped a competitor.

Schultz and his driver slow down when theyre about a block from the finish line, a quick turnabout in front of Sergeant Peppers auto shop in the 300 block of East 3rd Street. They make a quick turn to head back up Brady Street to catch photos of the women runners. We really roar, maybe 50 miles an hour to catch the first of them, Schultz says

When its all over, Schultz slowly climbs off his backwards perch and stretches. He says the only ill-effect is, My bottom falls asleep sitting so long in the same position on an awkward seat.
With Donald Trump in the White House and Bruce Rauner in the Illinois governors office, Democrats are looking for inspiring candidates capable of winning and governing.

I support Democrat Chris Kennedy for Illinois governor because he can win, govern effectively, and make us all proud in Henry County.

In Henry County and the region, agriculture is a top economic engine. Thirty-years ago, Chris Kennedy moved to Decatur, Illinois to work in the food and agriculture industry.

Chris Kennedys speech at the Rock Island County Democratic Partys Labor Day picnic last year addressed the economic problem facing Illinois, and that the American Dream is fading for far too many families.

As the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, Chris understands his familys unique role in government and politics. But when you meet him, you are struck by his humble personality.

When you listen to him, you hear the same issues the Kennedy family is known for. Chris Kennedy understands job creation. As head of Merchandise Mart, more jobs moved to Illinois and stayed in Illinois than at any other single location.

He knows our public universities are economic engines in every region of the state. As former chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, he values the states public universities, community colleges and K-12 schools.

Chris Kennedy will fight to restore the promise of the American Dream to every region of Illinois and I urge you to support him on March 20.

John Sovanski

Kewanee, Illinois
If President Trump ordered a senior government official to support the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller, how should that person respond?

Adm. Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, answered my question about that onstage last week at the Aspen Security Forum. He began with the usual caveat that he wouldn't answer a hypothetical, but then offered a comment that brought spontaneous applause:

"I will not violate the oath I have taken in my 36 years as a commissioned officer." He said he regularly reminds NSA employees to recall their own oaths and ask themselves: "Why are we here? What are we about? What is it that we are defending? ... I won't sacrifice that for anyone."

In Trump's Washington, it's a fact of life that officials must now weigh whether they would follow presidential orders that might be improper or illegal. Officials mull (and occasionally, discuss quietly) what to do if a presidential request for loyalty conflicts with their sense of right and wrong.

A possible order to fire Mueller is an imminent concern, but there are other tests of loyalty and conscience that could arise with this impulsive, policy-by-Twitter chief executive.

Take Trump's proclamation Wednesday that transgender people shouldn't serve in the military. This apparently caught the Pentagon by surprise and contradicted a wait-and-see statement by Defense Secretary James Mattis. How should he and his generals respond to the president's edict?

Mattis and his commanders must also ponder how they would react to an impulsive order to conduct military action somewhere. Can they say no to the commander in chief?

Presidential orders cannot ordinarily be ignored or dismissed. Our system gives the commander in chief extraordinary power. Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor and former assistant attorney general, explains in an email: "A subordinate in the executive branch has a presumptive duty to carry out the command of the president. If one doesn't want to for any reason, one can resign -- or refuse the order and face a strong likelihood of being fired."

For a military officer, the standard is even tougher. Soldiers must obey orders unless they're unlawful. Under our system of civilian control, if the president issues an order (as on transgender soldiers), the military's default response is to carry it out. Courts may find the presidential order to have been unconstitutional, but the military cannot make its own policy or law.

How should Congress and Justice Department officials weigh their choices as Trump threatens openly to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions, presumably to clear the way for firing Mueller? It's useful to think about the unthinkable -- as a way of surfacing, and hopefully preventing, abuse of power.

Let's start with Justice. Since Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, an order to fire Mueller, for now, would go to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein -- who has strongly indicated he would refuse. In June, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee got this commitment: "I am not going to follow any orders unless I believe those are lawful and appropriate orders. Special counsel Mueller may be fired only for good cause, and I am required to put that cause in writing."

Can Congress obtain similar pledges from other senior officials of the Justice Department who would be in the chain of command? During the Watergate scandal, Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy, William Ruckelshaus, felt bound by the commitments they had given Congress not to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. A similar chain of obligation should be forged now, to circumscribe Trump's ability to sack Mueller.

Given the expectation that Rosenstein (and probably others) would quit rather than fire Mueller, the White House seems to be thinking about installing a new attorney general who wouldn't have the recusal problem and could be counted on to fire Trump's nemesis. Members of Congress are said to be gaming this option, thinking of ways to block a recess appointment or to extract a promise from any Sessions successor to leave Mueller alone. That's another good firewall.

Protecting Mueller by statute may be impossible because of the constitutional separation of powers. If he is fired, though, Congress could enact a new independent counsel law, at least providing the authority needed for a continuing investigation that will get to the truth of what happened. In dealing with this administration, lawmakers and other officials can't wait until the bomb detonates; they should begin to take precautions now.
WATERBURY, Conn. | For Waterbury resident Almeida Rosario, attending Mass on Sunday at the Shrine of St. Anne Church on South Main Street was sort of a homecoming.

"I came here a long time ago," Rosario said after the 10:30 a.m. Mass there Sunday. After that, she and her family were parishioners at Sacred Heart Church.

That was until that parish and three others  St. Margaret, St. Lucy and St. Stanislaus  closed, merging with St. Anne and Our Lady of Lourdes Church, to form a new parish called "All Saints  Todos Los Santos."

Rosario and other parishioners who now attend Mass under the new arrangement, which began nearly a month ago, appear to be making the adjustment.

"We're all here," Rosario said. "It feels really good."

"We're extremely happy," said Judith Regan, a fellow former Sacred Heart parishioner, after that same Mass. "We're impressed by the devotion of all the parishioners."

The doors to the church facing East Clay Street were wide open, enabling a breeze to fill its high ceilings.

Marcel Lafontaine, of Waterbury, an usher at St. Anne, said he's seen attendance at Mass increase by more than 100 people at each service and he's seen collections during offerings double. They used to be around $2,300, he said. On July 16, it was $5,355.55 for St. Anne alone.

"There's a lot more people. You couldn't keep going the way it was," Lafontaine said. "It's a beautiful church."

"I miss Sacred Heart, because it's the church I was married at. But this is a beautiful church. I'm happy to be here," said Bobby Dwyer, another parishioner.

Cynthia Santiago, another former Sacred Heart parishioner, appeared to agree.

"It's always bittersweet when you have to make a move. But these are people we've known our whole lives, so we're all moving as one big family," Santiago said.

Santiago, who is a religious education volunteer, added that she thinks the merger is "a fantastic opportunity," as there is a large group of students "coming in this year."

"We're going to have a lot of volunteers that can work the programs," she said, and looking across the parking lot to the former St. Anne School building, "We have a fantastic new building that's being renovated for us."

"It's like moving from one house to another," Santiago said.

The new two-church parish is the only parish to provide Spanish language Masses in the Waterbury area, serving a large Latino community, explained the Rev. Diego A. Jimenez, pastor of the newly merged parishes.

Jimenez said he's seen 500 people attending each of the Spanish language services and more than 250 attending the English Masses. Some 1,300 parishioners attended the first Mass under the new arrangement on July 2, Jimenez said. So far it appears the community has been receptive to the mergers.

Summer is typically quiet as far as church attendance goes, Jimenez said.

Parishioner Lucila Colon, who attended the 12:30 p.m. Spanish language Mass, agreed. She said she expects attendance to increase when religious education classes start back up in the fall.

"10:30 Mass I'm sure is going to be full," she said. "You'll see more."

Colon, a former Sacred Heart parishioner who had previously lived in Massachusetts, has experienced other mergers.

The other buildings that had closed will still see use, but only for funerals, weddings and special Masses, Jimenez said.

"I know for the people it's hard and very difficult to change," he said. "But little by little, the people are very flexible. The majority understand the faith needs to increase."
A housekeeper and mother of four who has secured sanctuary inside a church says she's comfortable being a symbol in the push to change immigration laws.

Nury Chavarria says she's unsure how long she'll stay at Iglesia De Dios Pentecostal church in New Haven. She sought refuge there last week rather than obey a U.S. immigration order to leave her home in Norwalk and board a flight to Guatemala, where she hasn't lived for 24 years.

A lot of Hispanics are in similar situations, she said.

"I'm here to raise my voice to tell we are not criminals," she told The Associated Press during an interview inside the church Monday. "We are people, hardworking, who came to this country to get a better life."

Chavarria is among at least 13 people across the United States living in churches to avoid deportation, according to Church World Service and the Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice Center for Community Change.

She says she needs to stay in the United States for her children, all U.S. citizens. The children range in age from 9 to 21, and the oldest has cerebral palsy.

Chavarria is living with her youngest, Hayley, in a converted Sunday school room inside the small annex of the church. The bathroom is through a common room, near the church's sanctuary. There is no real shower, though a plumber has volunteered his time to make one.

Relatives are caring for Chavarria's other three children, including her oldest, Elvin.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, Khaalid Walls, said the agency considers Chavarria a fugitive but has a policy to avoid conducting enforcement activities inside sensitive locations, such as churches.

There are about 800 churches in the U.S. that have agreed to be sanctuaries, up from about 400 a year ago, said the Rev. Noel Anderson, the grassroots coordinator for the sanctuary movement with Church World Service. The group is holding a national meeting in Austin, Texas, this week to discuss strategies for what it sees as a growing need.

Iglesia De Dios is among three churches in Connecticut that have agreed to open their doors in certain deportation cases, said the Rev. Hector Otero, the church's pastor.

The idea came up during an interfaith service last Thanksgiving with other religious leaders from the area who had been discussing the recent presidential election and what it might mean for New Haven's immigrant and refugee population, he said.

That led to a larger meeting in February with national sanctuary organizers from 40 churches and synagogues across Connecticut. All of those institutions agreed to help in some way, such as accompanying people to immigration hearings, said Rabbi Herbert Brockman, with Congregation Mishkan Israel in Hamden.

Otero said his church planned for months to become a sanctuary, getting legal advice and making other preparations. It developed detailed criteria. It will not, for example, accept anyone who has a criminal history.

He said people have threatened to burn his church and have him arrested for harboring a fugitive.

"We don't want to do anything that is against the law," he said. "In this case, we do the right thing."

Chavarria acknowledges defying a deportation order in 1999, but she has checked in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement yearly since 2009. During each visit, she was given a deferral and a work permit, until last month. This time, she was fitted with an ankle bracelet and ordered to get on a plane by July 20.

She said she was given no explanation.

"I was in shock," she said. "My daughter, Haley, was with me at the time. We both cried, a lot."

She does not consider herself a fugitive. She still wears her ankle bracelet and said immigration officials know where she is but have not contacted her.

With President Donald Trump's administration, Anderson said, "the patterns are not very clear to us as to when ICE uses its discretion to let people stay and when they don't."

Chavarria said she understands it could be months before she can leave the church. But, she is hopeful that support from people such as Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Connecticut's two U.S. senators will prompt ICE to take another look at her case.

Brockman called her "the poster child for why not to have this deportation policy."

"It just does not make a lot of sense," the rabbi said. "Why with all these drug dealers and gang members out there, why pick on her?"

As for the Republican president?

"I would say to him, 'I am not a criminal,'" Chavarria said. "I want to tell him (to have) compassion for us."
VBS at Emmanuel Episcopal Church

Emmanuel Episcopal Church at 717 Quincy St. in Rapid City will hold vacation Bible school from Aug. 7 to Aug. 9.

Each session will start at 5:30 p.m. with a dinner. The session will conclude at 8 p.m. every night.

Pope prays for ill baby Charlie Gard and parents

Hours after his parents dropped legal efforts over the treatment of a critically-ill baby, Pope Francis has called Monday for prayers for Charlie Gard and his parents.

The 11-month-old boy is hospitalized in Britain because of a rare genetic condition. Connie Yates and Chris Gard ended their efforts in court to send their child to the United States for an experimental treatment. They said that the window of opportunity to help him had closed. Recent tests found Charlie has irreversible muscular damage. The hospital previously concluded that the infant had already suffered "irreversible neurological damage" and that treatment would be "futile." The case has drawn international attention.

The Vatican said in statement Monday evening that Francis "feels especially close" to the Gard family "at this time of immense suffering." Francis requested prayers from the faithful.

Michigan church celebrates 150th anniversary

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. | Maxciella Latimer walked into Grace Episcopal Church as an orphan and came out with a family.

"It's been a family to me since 1942," said Latimer, who was a foster child of 12 when she attended her first Grace service.

Now the church parish is observing the 150th anniversary of its founding in 1867. It launched six months of sesquicentennial events July 4 with an entry in the National Cherry Festival's Heritage Parade. And Latimer, 87, is still around to celebrate.

The Traverse City octogenarian first attended the church  a downtown landmark  six months after the U.S. declared war on Japan and has been an active member since. Over the years she has seen its ups and downs, including the construction of a new building in 2005 and revelations in 2016 of sexual misconduct by a then-interim rector in 2008.

She said the church began to realize its full potential in 1974, when the Rev. Tom Stoll became rector. Now the church is best-known for its outreach and community service programs, including Friday community lunches, a food pantry open two days a week, and Jubilee House, where people with housing and employment challenges can shower, do their laundry, store personal items, pick up mail and connect with others.

"He opened the windows and let the community in," Latimer told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

In its earlier days Jubilee House was used for everything from a church library to a rectory, said Parish Administrator Ann Hackett. But it often sheltered people in need, including a family who'd fled a hurricane.

"It was the precursor to Goodwill Inn. Out of that came talk in town to help those who are homeless," said Hackett, noting that the church was an early participant in Safe Harbor, then a rotating church shelter program that operated during the winter months.
Summer  well ahead of hunting seasons  is a great time to obtain hunter education certification.

Although classes are available year-round, most traditional classroom courses and Hunt Safe Sessions are offered in the fall and spring. Mid-August through mid-November is packed with course offerings throughout the state. February and March also offer many classes.

Firearm and bowhunter education covers the safety aspects of firearms and archery equipment, as well as the conservation management and ethics that go with hunting.

In Nebraska, all hunters age 12 through 29 must carry proof of successful completion of a firearm hunter education course when hunting any game species with a firearm or air gun, or proof of successful completion of a bowhunter education course while hunting deer, elk, antelope or bighorn sheep with a bow and arrow or crossbow.

Although hunter education is not required until age 12, students can complete the course at age 11. A number of options are available. A traditional, 10-hour classroom course for firearm or bowhunter education is available. Dual classes that include the curriculum for both firearm and bowhunter education also are offered. These dual classes are a minimum of 14 hours of instruction.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission also offers online hunter education. Students age 16 and older may complete all of the course requirements online. Students age 11 to 15 may also complete their hunter education online, but they also are required to take a two-hour Hunt Safe Session. During the Hunt Safe Session, volunteer hunter education instructors spend face-to-face time discussing the most important safety aspects of the course.

For a listing of all posted traditional classroom courses and Hunt Safe Sessions, and information for the online courses, visit huntsafenebraska.org. All traditional classroom courses and Hunt Safe Sessions are free of charge.
Editor's Note This is the final installment in our "Eight Over Seven" series exploring the eight named peaks in the Black Hills that are 7,000 feet or higher in elevation.

Many South Dakotans know a lot about Black Elk Peak, especially after the past several years, when the granite summit was in the news repeatedly during its controversial name change from Harney Peak.

Many of them have even stood atop the peak, which is officially listed at 7,242 feet above sea level and is South Dakotas highest point and probably its most-hiked mountain.

Yet some South Dakotans and many tourists are under the false impression that there is only one route to the top, from the popular Trail No. 9 trailhead at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park.

In fact, more than a dozen trailheads ring the Black Elk Wilderness around Black Elk Peak, enabling an even greater number of hiking routes to the top for those who engage in creative route-planning. The alternate routes see much less foot traffic, and while some of the alternate routes are significantly longer, a couple are about the same length as the hike from Sylvan Lake.

So, as we reach the pinnacle of our Eight Over Seven series examining the eight recognized Black Hills peaks standing at least 7,000 feet in elevation, we invite South Dakotans to take a new look at an old destination by hiking one of our recommended less-traveled routes to Black Elk Peak.

At the top, you'll enjoy an incredible view of the Black Hills and surrounding plains and see a historic stone fire lookout tower. While hiking up the steps to the tower, look closely and you'll notice a small plaque fronting the entombed ashes of Valentine McGillycuddy, who made the first recorded ascent of the summit in 1875 and went on to live a colorful life that included a stint as mayor of Rapid City.

Some of the signage on the mountain may still say "Harney Peak," which was the name given to the mountain during the 1850s in honor of Army Gen. William S. Harney. Because the Black Hills are an important spiritual center to many Native Americans, and because Harney was a leader in deadly military campaigns against Native Americans, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved a request last year to rename the mountain to Black Elk Peak. The new name honors Nicholas Black Elk, a late Sioux holy man who is famous for the spiritual teachings he related to the author John Neihardt for the 1932 book "Black Elk Speaks."

Before you go to Black Elk Peak, beware: All of the routes are long hikes (the distances listed below are estimates), and every route requires prior planning, a good trail map of the Black Elk Wilderness, plenty of water, and free but mandatory wilderness registration on forms available at the trailheads. Some people may not be able to complete the longer routes in one day and should consider backpacking overnight or taking the shorter routes.

Little Devils Tower route

Starting point : Little Devils Tower Trailhead, about three-fourths of a mile east of Sylvan Lake on state Highway 87 (Needles Highway).

: Little Devils Tower Trailhead, about three-fourths of a mile east of Sylvan Lake on state Highway 87 (Needles Highway). Route : Trail Nos. 4, 3 and 9.

: Trail Nos. 4, 3 and 9. Distance of hike : 7 miles out-and-back.

: 7 miles out-and-back. Tips: While on Trail 4, consider taking a couple of spurs: the unmarked (but clearly visible) spur to Poets Table, a high granite alcove with a beautiful view where visitors have installed a table, chairs and a bookshelf lined with visitor-contributed poetry and other writings; and the marked spur to Little Devils Tower, a granite summit with a 360-degree view that rivals the one from Black Elk Peak. The Poets Table spur is about a third of a mile long, and the Little Devils Tower spur is about two-thirds of a mile with some rock-scrambling. Both spurs run steeply uphill.



Or, for a slightly different route, consider starting from the Cathedral Spires Trailhead, which is two miles east of Sylvan Lake on Needles Highway, and use that trail to link up with Trail No. 4.



Starting from either the Little Devils Tower or Cathedral Spires trailheads assures a hike of about the same length as a hike starting from Sylvan Lake, but with far less company.

Norbeck route

Starting point : The Norbeck Trailhead in Custer State Park, about five miles east of Sylvan Lake on state Highway 87 (Needles Highway); or the Iron Creek Horse Camp, about three miles farther east on Needles Highway and a short drive up Forest Road 345.

: The Norbeck Trailhead in Custer State Park, about five miles east of Sylvan Lake on state Highway 87 (Needles Highway); or the Iron Creek Horse Camp, about three miles farther east on Needles Highway and a short drive up Forest Road 345. Route : Norbeck Trail No. 3 and Black Elk Peak Trail No. 9.

: Norbeck Trail No. 3 and Black Elk Peak Trail No. 9. Distance of hike : 10 miles out-and-back from the Norbeck Trailhead, or 14 miles out-and-back from Iron Creek Horse Camp.

: 10 miles out-and-back from the Norbeck Trailhead, or 14 miles out-and-back from Iron Creek Horse Camp. Tips: A Black Hills National Forest brochure describes the Norbeck Trail No. 3 as a steep and rocky trail known for its solitude. The brochure adds that adventurous hikers can make a loop by hiking Norbeck Trail No. 3 and Trail No. 9 to the summit of Black Elk, and then hiking Trail No. 9 and Grizzly Bear Creek Trail No. 7 down from the peak, followed by a small segment of the Centennial Trail, to end up back at the Iron Creek Horse Camp.

Grizzly Bear Creek route

Starting point : Grizzly Bear Creek Trailhead, one mile north of Iron Creek Horse Camp on Forest Road 345.

: Grizzly Bear Creek Trailhead, one mile north of Iron Creek Horse Camp on Forest Road 345. Route : Grizzly Bear Creek Trail No. 7 and Black Elk Peak Trail No. 9.

: Grizzly Bear Creek Trail No. 7 and Black Elk Peak Trail No. 9. Distance of hike : 13 miles out-and-back.

: 13 miles out-and-back. Tips: "The rugged Grizzly Bear Creek Trail climbs sharply for a 1,500-foot elevation gain through the most remote areas of the Black Elk Wilderness," says a Black Hills National Forest brochure. As noted above, the Grizzly Bear Creek Trail can be hiked as part of a loop with Norbeck Trail No. 3.

Horsethief Lake route

Starting point : Horsethief Lake Trailhead, about two miles west of Mount Rushmore National Memorial on state Highway 244.

: Horsethief Lake Trailhead, about two miles west of Mount Rushmore National Memorial on state Highway 244. Route : Horsethief Lake Trail No. 14, Grizzly Bear Creek Trail No. 7, Norbeck Trail No. 3, Black Elk Peak Trail No. 9.

: Horsethief Lake Trail No. 14, Grizzly Bear Creek Trail No. 7, Norbeck Trail No. 3, Black Elk Peak Trail No. 9. Distance of hike : 13 miles out-and-back.

: 13 miles out-and-back. Tips: According to a Black Hills National Forest Brochure, the Horsethief Lake trail segment "wanders through granite peaks and twisting spires that poke through the thick forest canopy" and includes two saddle-like areas with sweeping views of the surrounding area.

Willow Creek route

Starting point : The Willow Creek Horse Camp, across from the Mount Rushmore KOA at Palmer Gulch Resort about six miles west of Mount Rushmore National Memorial on state Highway 244.

: The Willow Creek Horse Camp, across from the Mount Rushmore KOA at Palmer Gulch Resort about six miles west of Mount Rushmore National Memorial on state Highway 244. Route : Willow Creek Trail No. 8 and Black Elk Peak Trail No. 9.

: Willow Creek Trail No. 8 and Black Elk Peak Trail No. 9. Distance of hike : 12 miles out-and-back.

: 12 miles out-and-back. Tips: This route leads up Black Elk Peak's northern side, past a massive granite formation known as Elkhorn Mountain. Two-thirds of the way up to Black Elk Peak is an overlook and hitching rail popular with horseback riders. To make a loop, hike south on Trail No. 9 from the summit of Black Elk Peak and then take Lost Cabin Trail No. 2 back to Willow Creek Horse Camp.

Lost Cabin route
Billie Sutton does not want anybody to feel sympathy when they see him belt-buckled to his saddle atop a horse in downtown Deadwood today.

If things had worked out differently, he might have been participating in today's Days of 76 rodeo performances instead of riding in the parade.

The 33-year-old Democratic candidate for governor was a rodeo cowboy until 2007, when a bucking horse slammed him into the back of a chute, causing a spinal injury that paralyzed him from the waist down and ended his rodeo career.

So, instead of riding a bronc in the Days of '76 arena as he once did, Sutton will use his customized saddle to ride his 23-year-old former calf-roping horse, named Purple, down the parade route in Deadwood as he attempts to win support for his campaign.

But Sutton said he would not change anything about his past, even if he could go back in time and stay off the horse that injured him.

That's because I was very focused on myself, he said Friday in a Journal interview. I was very focused on the next rodeo and what I was going to do and how I was going to be successful.

The accident forced him to be less selfish, he said. He settled down, got married, and now has a 15-month-old son. He works as an investment executive at a bank in his hometown of Burke, helps with his familys ranch and is serving his eighth year in the Legislature, where he is the state Senate minority leader.

And as a candidate for governor, he is chasing an opportunity to influence hundreds of thousands of people, rather than temporarily entertain a few thousand at a rodeo.

I dont know if I would have all of that right now if I hadnt gotten hurt, Sutton said.

He can still turn wistful when he thinks about his rodeo days, which included competition at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. He competed several times at the Days of 76 and remembers completing a potentially high-scoring saddle bronc ride on a horse named Queenie  he thinks the year was 2006  only to be told afterward that he had failed to mark out the horse. Thats the rodeo term for the mandatory placement of a cowboys feet above a bucking horses shoulders as the horse lunges out of the chute. A failure to mark out a horse results in a no-score.

On Friday, as Sutton recalled that rodeo judges ruling, which he still disagrees with, he cast his eyes downward and appeared to replay the ride in his mind.

Then, in a manner that has become ingrained since his 2007 accident, he pivoted to brighter topics and spoke of the future  specifically, his belief that he can break the Republican stranglehold on gubernatorial politics in South Dakota.

By the time Sutton appears on the November 2018 general election ballot (assuming no other Democrat arises to take the party's nomination away from him in the June 2018 primary election) it will be 44 years since a Democrat last won an election for the office.

Sutton insists he is different than other Democrats who have been nominated since that last victory by then-Gov. Dick Kneip in 1974. One unique trait is Sutton's understated and unpretentious style, which is reminiscent of fellow Democrat and former U.S. senator and representative Tim Johnson, who has so far directed $15,000 in contributions to Suttons campaign.

When Sutton appeared Friday in his wheelchair at the Journals office, he was wearing jeans, a belt buckle from a 2006 rodeo, a long-sleeved Western shirt and a straw cowboy hat. When he removed the hat, it left an indented ring on his hair, and it also revealed the remnants of a condition known as cauliflower ear  which he suffered during his days as a high school wrestler.

When asked about his no-frills style, he shrugged and said, This is who I am. This is who Ive always been. And I honestly think that one of the things that has always set me apart is that I like to listen to people and Im authentic.

What some South Dakotans do not like about Sutton is that he is a Democrat, and curiously so, given his upbringing in a West River cowboy culture that is predominately Republican.

Asked why he chose to become and remain a Democrat when it might have been easier to enter politics as a Republican, he spoke of family tradition. His late grandfather, also named Billie, served six years as a Democratic legislator during the 1970s.

Then he spoke of his definition of a South Dakota Democrat, which he distinguished from the liberalism of the American East and West coasts. Sutton said he is not the kind of Democrat who wants to take your guns away or force big government down your throat.

But he does think success in South Dakota has been too concentrated in the hands of a privileged few, and he professes a belief that everybody deserves a fair shake.

And although he seldom sounds partisan, he is critical of what he describes as a "stale" culture in Republican-led state government, evidenced by recent scandals that have come to be known by the names of the programs in which alleged corruption occurred  EB-5, an immigrant-investor program; and GEAR UP, an effort to increase the number of low-income students who attend and graduate from college. In both government programs, money is alleged to have been misappropriated by private contractors, and a total of seven people who were connected directly or indirectly to the alleged corruption have died by suicide or murder.

Sutton saw further evidence of a stale political culture in the repeal by the Republican-dominated Legislature of last years voter-approved anti-corruption law, known as Initiated Measure 22.

He is counting on voter anger about those issues, and voter attraction to his plainspoken persona and style, to carry him to victory against the odds in this Republican-leaning state.

My base voter, he said, is any everyday South Dakotan who wants a change in state government.
Firefighters who responded to a raging mobile home fire near Black Hawk on Friday morning were told that people might be inside, but the blaze was so hot they were unable to go into the home to rescue them.

They put out the fire, but not before three people had died inside the burned-out home. Two other people in the home were able to escape with only minor injuries.

The fire that started about 4:56 a.m. Friday destroyed the mobile home at 4640 Sturgis Road in B&J Mobile Home Park northwest of Rapid City and caused a grass fire and damage to another nearby home. Firefighters on their way to the blaze could reportedly see the flames from several miles away.

At a Friday afternoon news conference, officials announced that three people were found dead in the home.

Officials with the Rapid City Fire Department, Pennington County Sheriff's Office, Black Hawk Fire Department and the Pennington County Fire Administrator's office said two of the victims were adults but that one victim's age was unknown. Identities of the victims were not released by authorities by Friday evening.

Rapid City Fire Department Lt. Jim Bussell said when firefighters arrived, they found one trailer engulfed in flames and that despite attempts to enter the home, it was too hot to get inside.

"The structure was fully involved, so the amount of fire that was presented to the firefighters when they arrived was such that it didn't allow for entry," Bussell said. "They do what they can with what they have at that point."

The fire also caused a small grass fire. Bussell said the mobile home fire was so hot, it damaged some of the siding on the exterior of an adjacent home. Officials don't believe any of the second mobile home's interior was damaged.

Law enforcement officers were able to evacuate the second mobile home quickly.

The first mobile home is a total loss. Officials are now worried about the stability of the floor in the trailer due to the heavy damage sustained from the fire.

More than 12 agencies responded to the fire, Bussell said.

"We appreciate the cooperation of all responding agencies, and that's how we handle things in this part of the world, part of western South Dakota," Pennington County Fire Administrator Jerome Harvey said. "Everybody works together and this was, again, another example of that."

Bussell said mobile homes are lightweight construction, so fires burn "quickly and hot."

He said B&J Mobile Home Park is a "fairly densely populated" area with several structures within a small piece of land.

There was one other minor injury as a result of the fire, and that person was being treated. No firefighters were injured during the blaze.

The cause is being investigated by the state fire marshal.
In the Senate, we are continuing our work on comprehensive health care reform that is sustainable, provides quality care and is truly affordable for all Americans. We are working around the clock to relieve families from the government-run health care system known as Obamacare, which has forced millions off the health care plans they enjoyed, driven up the cost of health care and caused insurance companies to leave the marketplace in droves. We believe affordable health care is best achieved through a competitive, market-based system that allows for innovation, competition and optionality.

In the quest to address Obamacares failures, some have been advocating for a single-payer, government-run health care system in which health care is provided for every single citizen for free and financed by taxes. Care is rationed, and citizens cede their health care decisions to a central government bureaucracy. Additionally, the cost makes it unsustainable for future generations. Either taxes  which are already too high  will continue to skyrocket in order to pay for universal care, our debt will spiral even further out of control, or both. Our ability to make decisions for ourselves and our families will suffer.

And we have many examples to substantiate this: In the U.S., California and Vermont recently tried to implement universal health care at the state level; both were abandoned as quickly as they were enacted due to its cost. In Canada, long wait times in their single-payer system are the norm. According to a Fraser Institute report, British Columbia residents have to wait up to six months just to get an MRI. Ontarios own Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care states that residents may have to wait up to 11 months for hip replacement surgery. Droves of Canadians seek care here in the U.S., at an additional cost to their already-high taxes to pay for government-run health care.

Here in the U.S., the federal government has proved inept at running any large nationwide program effectively, especially when it comes to health care. Look no further than Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Indian Health Service (IHS) for proof. While there are good employees in South Dakota at both agencies, nationwide these programs have been plagued with decades of long wait times, bureaucratic mismanagement, corruption and  most importantly  providing inadequate quality of care to Americans. In some cases, patients have even died waiting for care. Meanwhile, administrative costs have skyrocketed, wasting countless taxpayer dollars on paperwork instead of focusing on patient care.

I wholeheartedly believe that everyone should have access to quality health care if they want it. No one should be priced out of health insurance for themselves or their families. But forcing all Americans onto a costly, ineffective system that will reduce the quality of care and making them surrender all control of their health care decisions to the federal government is not the answer.

America is home to the best health care providers in the world, due to a free market system that allows for innovation and competition. Replacing Obamacare with a competitive, free-market system that actually controls costs, allows for innovation and focuses on the patient will allow us to continue our proud tradition of being the worlds health leader.
Proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, would empty Montana food pantry shelves and leave tens of thousands hungry, according to anti-hunger advocates.

Last week, U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee passed a resolution for fiscal year 2018 that would make drastic cuts to the American social safety net. The program makes specific cuts of $10 billion to the Department of Agriculture, of which SNAP would be the primary loser. An additional $150 billion worth of cuts to SNAP is suggested, according to a press release.

The cuts to SNAP could have a ripple effect in the state of Montana, impacting not only those who receive the benefit, but also businesses like local grocery stores that rely on constituents having assistance to purchase food.

The Montana Food Bank Network has been collecting signatures on a letter urging Montana legislators to oppose cuts to SNAP. Lorianne Burhop, the chief policy officer for the Montana Food Bank Network, said that cuts to SNAP would put too much pressure on food banks in Montana.

It would empty them out of food. We could not fill that gap, Burhop said. Most agencies are very small and run by volunteers. The emergency food system cannot make up for the weakened social safety net.

Nearly two-thirds of the people who receive SNAP benefits in Montana are children, seniors or have disabilities, according to a press release. SNAP is the largest anti-hunger program in the nation and serves 122,000 Montanans.

Burhop explained that cuts to programs in the social safety net are short-sighted. And while it is still early in the budgeting process, people should be paying attention to what is happening in Washington because the threats are real.

So I think the goal is to try to find some immediate budget savings, but any immediate budget savings would be offset by long-term costs in our nations health, Burhop said. Now is the time for people to reach out to their legislators. SNAP is working well in Montana. It is doing exactly what its supposed to do, which is reduce hunger.

One of the food banks that has signed on to the letter is Haven House in Hamilton. Larry Pittack and Charley Larson were volunteering their time by measuring out bags of sugar to include in food boxes.

Pittack said the Haven House serves around 1200 people in the Hamilton area and gives people enough food to cover about 3-5 days at a time.

"We're very fortunate her in that we get many donations," Pittack said. "But cuts to SNAP would severely impact us."

Pittack disagreed with the House Budget Committee's ideas of making big cuts to the program, despite being a self identified conservative.

"I'm not a big believer in government solving everyone's problems, but there are people who need help," Pittack said.

Both Pittack and Larson explained that the most generous donations the food pantry receives often come from people who have the least.

"We had a regular come in and I asked him what he wanted in his box this week, he said no thanks and handed me a $100 bill," Larson said. "He told me that we had helped him out for a while and that he was working and wanted to pay us back."

The House Budget Committees Building a Better America describes a culture of dependency in America that it's aiming to end with the new policies. But Kelly Rosenleaf, the executive director of Child Care Resources, said that image does not add up.

I think a lot of our policy makers dont know a lot of poor people, Rosenleaf said. SNAP participants are not deadbeats.

Citing numbers from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Rosenleaf said that 58 percent of SNAP recipients are currently employed, and 82 percent were employed during the year prior to data collection or the year after.

Rosenleaf received SNAP benefits when she attended college. She described the program as a hand-up rather than a hand-out.

If people could afford to not be on SNAP, they wouldnt be, Rosenleaf said. Its more expensive to be poor than it is to have money,

The people who receive SNAP benefits are financially boxed out of cost-efficient shopping opportunities, Rosenleaf explained.

If youre poor. you probably cant afford to buy a Costco membership, Rosenleaf said. So you cant buy in bulk, where the unit prices of individual items are lower. Even if you could, you probably dont have a place to store it anyway.

For Rosenleaf, cuts to programs like SNAP make little sense.

For school children these are very important years in the development of their health, Rosenleaf said. Inadequate nutrition in your childhood impacts your lifetime health.
A former respiratory therapist is suing the Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital, alleging he was wrongfully discharged after he made an honest mistake in documenting information about a patient.

Bob Hansen, who worked at the hospital since 2004, said he had complained for years to his supervisor, Shaun Twardowski, that inadequate staffing and an overwhelming workload, as well as the data collection and entry protocols, would lead to errors.

In a lawsuit filed in Ravalli County District Court, Hansen said staff typically used a clipboard and paper to record patient information, then later transferred that to a computer. On March 9, he made his rounds in the morning but was called to the emergency room, and didnt immediately input the patient information.

When he sought the clipboard, he was told Twardowski wanted to see him, and accused him of falsifying documentation about one patient. Hansen was suspended immediately without pay pending an investigation.

Hansen claims he made an honest mistake, and asked the human resource department to investigate his boss for creating a hostile work environment, according to the lawsuit. However, his concerns were looked into by Twardowski, not the human resource department.

Because he was accused of falsifying patient information, Hansen claims hes been defamed and blacklisted by the hospital, and will be unable to find work as a respiratory therapist in the future. Hes seeking actual and punitive damages.

The hospital did not return a call for comment. Hansen did not respond to a telephone message, and his attorney, David Steele, responded to an email that he was not available for comment.
America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance!
Guwahati: Assam's well known Dispur Hospitals will conduct the evening OPD clinic at Guwahati Press Club on 29 July, where Dr Udayan Saikia will be available for free consultations to media persons. The participants will also get their weight, blood pressure & sugar checked in the camp, which is scheduled to start at 4 pm and continue till 6 pm.

The last camp, organized under the series of 'Evening with a Doctor' was graced by Dr Patta Radhakrishnan from SIMS Chennai Hospital on 22 July. The same hospital will also conduct the 5 August camp at the press club, where Dr Vijay Sankaran (neurosurgeon) will be available for consultations. The press club members along with their dependents may participant in the camp starting at 2.30 pm (to continue till 4.30 pm).

Till date, practicing doctors from Apollo Chennai Hospital, Manipal Bangalore Hospital, Fortis Hospital, Medanta-the Medicity Hospital, GNRC Hospitals, Down Town Hospitals, Narayana Super-Specialty Hospitals, Swagat Super-Surgical Institute, Shankardev Nethralaya Guwahati, Wintrobe Hospital, Barthakur Clinic, Nemcare Hospital, Rahman Hospitals, Sun Valley Hospital, Sight First eye-clinic,

Government Ayurvedic College, MMC Panbazar etc have attended the camps.
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Saturday the second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile demonstrated his country can hit the U.S. mainland, hours after the launch left analysts concluding that a wide swath of the United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now in range of North Korean weapons.

The Korean Central News Agency said that Kim expressed "great satisfaction" after the Hwasong-14 missile reached a maximum height of 3,725 kilometers (2,314 miles) and traveled 998 kilometers (620 miles) before accurately landing in waters off Japan. The agency said that the test was aimed at confirming the maximum range and other technical aspects of the missile it says was capable of delivering a "large-sized, heavy nuclear warhead."

Analysts had estimated that the North's first ICBM on July 4 could have reached Alaska, and said that the latest missile appeared to extend that range significantly.

Immediately after the launch, U.S. and South Korean forces conducted live-fire exercises. South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo called for the deployment of strategic U.S. military assets  which usually means stealth bombers and aircraft carriers  as well as additional launchers of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the missile, launched late Friday night, flew for about 45 minutes  about five minutes longer than the first. The missile was launched on very high trajectory, which limited the distance it traveled, and landed west of Japan's island of Hokkaido.

The KCNA quoted Kim as saying that the launch reaffirmed the reliability of the country's ICBM system and an ability to fire at "random regions and locations at random times" with the "entire" U.S. mainland now within range. The agency said that the test confirmed important features of the missile system, such as the proper separation of the warhead and controlling its movement and detonation after atmospheric re-entry.

Kim said the launch sent a "serious warning" to the United States, which has been "meaninglessly blowing its trumpet" with threats of war and stronger sanctions, the KCNA said.

The North Korean flight data was similar to assessments by the United States, South Korea and Japan.

David Wright, a physicist and co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that if reports of the missile's maximum altitude and flight time are correct, it would have a theoretical range of at least 10,400 kilometers (about 6,500 miles). That means it could have reached Los Angeles, Denver or Chicago, depending on variables such as the size and weight of the warhead that would be carried atop such a missile in an actual attack.

President Donald Trump issued a statement condemning the missile test as a threat to the world, and rejecting North Korea's claim that nuclear weapons ensure its security. "In reality, they have the opposite effect," he said.

Trump said the weapons and tests "further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people." He vowed to "take all necessary steps" to ensure the security of the U.S. and its allies.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said he told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a phone call that the second missile test greatly increased the threat from Pyongyang. He said two sides agreed to consider all means necessary to exert the utmost pressure on North Korea. They reiterated calls for new sanctions and to work closely together with South Korea along with efforts by China and Russia.

China, meanwhile, urged its ally North Korea to abide by U.N. Security Council resolutions and halt any moves that could escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Washington and its allies have watched with growing concern as Pyongyang has made significant progress toward its goal of having all of the U.S. within range of its missiles to counter what it labels as U.S. aggression. There are other hurdles, including building nuclear warheads to fit on those missiles and ensuring reliability. But many analysts have been surprised by how quickly leader Kim Jong Un has developed North Korea's nuclear and missile programs despite several rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions that have squeezed the impoverished country's economy.

Trump has said he will not allow North Korea to obtain an ICBM that can deliver a nuclear warhead. But this week, the Defense Intelligence Agency reportedly concluded that the North will have a reliable ICBM capable of carrying a nuclear weapon as early as next year, in an assessment that trimmed two years from the agency's earlier estimate.

The French Foreign Ministry condemned the launch and called for "strong and additional sanctions" by the United Nations and European Union. "Only maximal diplomatic pressure might bring North Korea to the negotiating table," the ministry said in a statement.

"This is a 4G threat: global, grave, given and growing," France's U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre told The Associated Press. That's why we call for a firm and quick reaction including the adoption of strong additional sanctions by the Security Council."

A spokesman for Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Dunford met at the Pentagon with the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Adm. Harry Harris, to discuss U.S. military options in light of North Korea's missile test.

The spokesman, Navy Capt. Greg Hicks, said Dunford and Harris placed a phone call to Dunford's South Korean counterpart, Gen. Lee Sun Jin. Dunford and Harris "expressed the ironclad commitment to the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance," Hicks said, referring to the U.S. defense treaty that obliges the U.S. to defend South Korea.

Abe, too, said Japan would cooperate closely with the U.S., South Korea and other nations to step up pressure on North Korea to halt its missile programs.

The Hwasong 14 ICBM test-fired earlier this month was also launched at a very steep angle, a technique called lofting, and reached a height of more than 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) before splashing down in the ocean 930 kilometers (580 miles) away. Analysts said that missile could be capable of reaching most of Alaska or possibly Hawaii if fired in an attacking trajectory.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from North Korea's northern Jagang province near the border with China. President Moon Jae-in presided over an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, which called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council and stronger sanctions on North Korea.

July 27 is a major national holiday in North Korea called Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War Day, marking the day when the armistice was signed ending the 1950-53 Korean War. That armistice is yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula technically in a state of war.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's ruling party will appoint Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as interim prime minister after the ouster of Nawaz Sharif, two sources close to the toppled premier said on Saturday, while Sharif's brother has been chosen as his long-term successor.

Abbasi, 58, is a staunch Sharif loyalist and had been the petroleum minister in his cabinet until Friday, when Sharif resigned following a Supreme Court disqualification after a corruption probe.

One senior PML-N official close to Sharif said Abbasi should be appointed "in an hour", while a second source confirmed the appointment and the plan to have Abbasi in place until Shahbaz contests a parliamentary seat and becomes eligible to take over.

Shahbaz Sharif, 65, the chief minister of the vast Punjab province that accounts for more than half of Pakistan's 190 million people, will also need to resign from his regional post.

Nawaz Sharif's resignation on Friday has plunged the nuclear-armed nation into political turmoil after several years of relative stability. Sharif quit after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court over undeclared assets.

The court has also ordered a criminal investigation into Sharif, 67, and his family.

The ruling PML-N party has a strong majority in parliament so should have no problem appointing its choice as the new prime minister.
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In the latest salvo from the Trump Administration against sanctuary city policies, Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan spoke out during a White House press corps briefing Thursday vowing to crack down on cities like San Francisco that he calls a "magnet" for crime by immigrants.

As CBS 5 reports, and as you can hear in the video above, Homan took the opportunity to lash out at sanctuary cities during a press briefing about the MS-13 gang and some recent violence attributed to them on Long Island.

President Trump himself visited a county on Long Island Friday to give a speech that blamed poor border enforcement and lax immigration policies for the MS-13 gang violence. As the Washington Post reports, the president also spoke out against sanctuary cities and "used his remarks to push Congress to boost funding for the administration's immigration crackdown, including the start of construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, 10,000 new ICE agents and 5,000 new Customs and Border Patrol officers."

But Homan focused specifically on sanctuary cities in his remarks Thursday, saying, "Ill say it once again  sanctuary cities are a criminals best friend. If you are an alien smuggler and you are smuggling people illegally into this country, thats one sales pitch. We can get you to a sanctuary city where that city will help shield you from immigration."

He vowed to send "additional resources to look for [immigrants] at [their] home[s]" in sanctuary cities, suggesting that ICE agents can not get access to immigrants in county jails in sanctuary cities  which is false in the case of violent criminals.

"Sanctuary cities not only endanger the publics safety, but they endanger my law enforcement officers because when we cant get a violent alien out of county jail, it means that one of our officers will be forced to knock on a door which anyone in law enforcement knows that is one of the most dangerous things to do," Homan said, adding that MS-13 gang members "walk out of country jails everyday."

CNN argues the opposite side, speaking to several gang members and FBI agents, saying that the MS-13 gang may be emboldened and growing under the Trump Administration because immigrant victims fear going to the police thinking they may get deported themselves under the current crackdown.

As the Washington Post notes, ICE arrests of illegal immigrants went up by almost 40 percent during Trump's first 100 days in office, and Honan said today that ICE has arrested 3,311 gang members so far this year.

The MS-13 gang last made headlines in San Francisco following a brazen 2008 triple murder in the Mission of a father and his two sons, shot while driving through the neighborhood. The accused killer, Edwin Ramos, was an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, and it came out in the investigation that the shooting was a case of mistaken identity, and a retaliation for a gang killing earlier that day. Ramos was tried and convicted in 2012, receiving three life sentences with no chance of parole.


A judge in Alameda County today denied a bail reduction request from Max Harris, one of the two defendants in the criminal case tied to the December Ghost Ship fire in Oakland. Harris, who along with co-defendant Derick Almena has been in jail since their June 5 arrest on involuntary manslaughter charges, had his bail initially set at $1.08 million, and with his attorney was seeking a significant reduction in that number. As KRON 4 reports, Judge Kevin Murphy said in court Friday that he was "concerned that Max Harris ties to Northern California arent deep enough to support him while he awaits trial on 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter," and he reduced his bail to $750,000.

One of Harris's attorneys, Tyler Smith, tells KRON 4 "He is extremely disappointed."

Harris is 27 and Smith argued in court that he is neither a flight risk nor a danger to society, as involuntary manslaughter is "not a serious felony."

Prosecutor Autrey James told the judge, "We are not here because Max Harris is a horrible person. A mistake was made that cost the lives of 36 people," but James said that two victims' families had written letters urging the judge not to release Harris on minimal bail.

The judge appeared concerned that Harris, who was arrested last month in Los Angeles, may not be likely stick around the Bay Area for upcoming hearings given that he had been living in Oakland for four years without steady employment.

Attorneys for Almena are also expected to make a request for bail reduction at the pair's arraignment, which is now scheduled for August 4 after several delays.

Previously: Derick Almena Said To Be Having Mental Breakdown In Jail; Wife Speaks Out


The business of mastication had some bright spots this week, with more details about Stonestown's depressing Macy's becoming a food/cinema destination, more news about the Mid-Market hotel with a rooftop bar and ground-floor restaurant, Ippudo Ramen opening in Berkeley, and Proposition Chicken heading to Oakland. And if fish is your fancy, we've listed SF's 18 best sushi joints. So what else is going on?

Tablehopper brings the news that Roma Antica is serving handmade Roman pizza and pasta in the Marina. Their space is located at 3242 Scott Street, and they're having a neighborhood welcoming party today, soft opening on August 1.

Shuttered Jackson Square stalwart Bocadillos is making way for Nico, a name you might know for its Michilin-starred Presidio Heights location. The Chron reports that that spot will close August 26, and will reopen at 710 Montgomery Street by January 2018. The break means the restaurant, known for its "California-inspired versions of Spanish and Basque small plates," will lose their star, but owners Andrea and Nicholas Delaroque don't seem worried, saying they'll "hit the ground running" when renovations start this fall.

The Bi-Rite empire is expanding into Civic Center, Eater reports, after a $1 million donation to the Civic Center Community Benefit District for a street cafe left them the CBD's top pick. Expect breakfast sandwiches, soft serve, and salad to a yet-to-be constructed structure at Grove and Larkin. Opening could be as soon as next February, timed with the debut of two new playgrounds in the spot.

After Pizza Orgasmica closed their 823 Clement Street location in October 2015, the spot has been vacant  but no more, Eater reports, as Barrel Head Brewhouse hopes to open early next year, following an "extensive" renovation.

As long as we're on far-off openings, the Marin Independent Journal reports that Rohnert Park's beloved organic and vegetarian restaurant Amys Drive Thru is eyeing a vacant Denny's right off 101 in Corte Madera. The 5839 Paradise Drive spot has been vacant since 2014, and current zoning and planning regulations prohibit drive-through restaurants, so expect it to remain vacant for a while longer while those details are worked out (or not).

Bel's only been open at 3215 Mission Street for about two years, but it's already curtains for the beer-focused European joint. It its place will rise Outer Orbit Pinball and Restaurant, Mission Local reports, "a pinball arcade that will also serve craft beer and dinner," opening date unknown. Are pinball restaurants the new poke? Discuss.

Speaking of Mission Street, Little Baobab, once a West African restaurant and nightclub at 3380 19th Street between Mission and Capp, will reopen next month as a Senegalese-inspired pizza place, Mission Local writes. This is the second pivot for the venue, after owners briefly tried a West African crepe concept last year. A soft opening is planned within the next couple weeks.

The Impossible Burger, Jardinere's version of which we first tried last fall, is now available at even more places. The fake meat concoction, which Traci Des Jardins tells the Chron has been "a boon" for her spot, is now being served at the Ferry Building's Gott's Roadside. When I saw the news on Eater, I crossed town to try Gott's version, and was impressed  they get a great char on the patty. Expect more Impossible options soon, here's a map of where you can find it today.

This Week in Reviews

SF Weekly's Pete Kane visited Petit Marlowe, terming it the best place in SF for a first date. (Best place for a third: Pete Kane's house.) "Virtually the entire menu is good," Kane writes, singling out their deviled eggs, cote de boeuf tartare, and chop salad.

Chron reviewer Michael Bauer arrives with an update for Dona Tomas. Open since 1999, the years have apparently been unkind to the Oakland spot, as Bauer says "the service was lacking and the kitchen seemed in disarray." He was left hanging on at least one order, and waited too long for others... and food that arrived was "tepid" and "had a leftover taste." Two stars.

For the weekend, Bauer's at Acacia House, Chris Cosentino's newly-opened restaurant inside St. Helena's Las Alcobas hotel. Bauer revels in the "luxurious" feel of the place, and says Cosentino's bold style has been refined to fit the setting. The kampachi collar is "another level," Bauer writes, and he was blown away by the crudites. But, really he seemed to love everything about the place, hence a glowing 3.5 star award.


Gulping nervously for air and sweating profusely, Georg Elser set sticks of dynamite into a basement crevice and attached a ticking timer to the charge. On Nov. 8, 1939, two months into World War II, Elser planted the bomb in the Munich beer hall where Hitler conducted his annual address to party comrades on the anniversary of the failed putsch that propelled him from local rabble-rouser to the national spotlight.

13 Minutes Starring Christian Friedel

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel

Rated R

But with the diabolical luck that accompanied Hitler up until the end, he left the hall 13 minutes before the bomb went off. The time between his departure and the explosion provides the name for the film based on those events by German director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall), 13 Minutes.

Quietly haunting the film, Christian Friedel portrays Elser as determined to maintain his dignity and conscience under unconscionable conditions. Elser has been chalked up as an enigma in the history books, a lone bomber acting from uncertain motives, and a nimbus of mystery clings to him throughout 13 Minutes. Elser is accurately depicted as a Christian who hung around with Communists but never joined the partyand as a suave proletarian ladies man, a dancer and a musician and as much a bohemian as his small-town life allowed.

Not improbably, the Elser of 13 Minutes is a pacifist finally driven to kill in the name of peace. He has deep remorse for the casualties he caused, including a waitress, but regrets that Hitler, driven by some unnamable impulse, cut his speech short and exited before the blast that surely would have claimed him.

With a strong sense of the past seeping into the present, much of Elsers story is revealed in flashbacks triggered by incidents during his captivity. His bomb may have been well made but his escape was ill planned. After he was arrested, Elser is subjected to medieval tortures, the worst of it barely off screen. Hirschbiegel depicts a fissure in Germanys officialdom in the attitudes of police official Arthur Nebe and his Gestapo counterpart. Nebe is shown as a professional cop concerned with establishing the truth. He believes Elsers profession of acting alone. But as the Gestapo insists, We create the truththe Fuhrer believes it was a conspiracy and they are determined to force Elser to confess to being part of a network. The relatively sympathetic portrayal of Nebe will be controversial.

Aside from painting a plausible portrait of Elser, 13 Minutes excels in depicting the process that drove the would-be assassin to build his bombthe Nazification of everyday life in Germany. The party boss in Elsers town praises Hitler as the avatar of progress and technology and promises new streets paved and lit and a radio in every home. Hitler delivered on those promises even as he plotted the war and genocide that killed millions and left the continent in ruins.
A breeze of nostalgia will blow on Milwaukee as inhabitants get the chance to eat Big Boy hamburgers, 22 years after Wisconsins last Big Boy restaurant closed its doors. Ovation Sarah Chudnow, a retirement community in Mequon, will host a Big Boy Reunion, complete with classic food from the restaurant chain  double-decker burgers, onion rings and strawberry pies are on the menu that day. Dinner is $10 per person, reservations are required.

The evening will be animated by guest speakers Steve and Greg Marcus, respectively Chairman of the Board and CEO of The Marcus Corporation, owner of Big Boy restaurants. They will bring back the Big Boy magic to Milwaukee for one more night.

Marcs Big Boy restaurants were an icon in Milwaukee for many years. It was one of the most popular franchises weve ever been a part of and we had a lot of fun with it, said Steve Marcus in a press release. We are thrilled that the Ovation Sarah Chudnow community has chosen to celebrate this classic burger that is a delicious memory in the minds and taste buds of many.

People are encouraged to dig out their Big Boy mementos and join Ovation Sarah Chudnow members for a fun evening reliving the Big Boy days.

Friends of the Shepherd Help support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly newspaper. LEARN MORE

Wednesday, Aug. 9 at Ovation Sarah Chudnow (10995 N. Market St., Mequon). Dinner at 6 p.m. Program at 7 p.m. For reservations, call 262-478-1500.
STORM LAKE, Iowa | On today's Sioux City Journal front page, arborist Jerry Kahl talks about the scourge of disease that may eradicate many of Iowa's -- and the country's -- ash trees.

On this page, Kahl describes the beauty found in trees of all kinds, even those damaged and misshapen.

"They have character," says Kahl, owner of Jerry's Tree Service in Storm Lake, and, as of this week, founder of Synergy Gallery, which celebrates an open house Saturday and Sunday.

For more than three decades, Kahl has climbed, pruned and removed trees, or parts of trees, in Storm Lake, Cherokee, and cities and rural areas that surround those county-seat communities. Until a decade or so ago, Kahl and his four-person crew would focus on disposing of unwanted trees and branches.

That has since changed as Kahl embarked on a hobby, or second career, perhaps; that of artist.

On Saturday (Aug. 5), he'll invite the public to view and purchase select pieces of furniture he's created from wood he's collected on hundreds of jobs through the years. There's a coffee table, an end table, a dining room table, a console table, a trestle table and more.

The flooring alone at Synergy Gallery is worth a visit to 824 Vestal Street, in an area deemed "light-industrial" by city planners. Each plank in the floor was cut, heated, dried, treated and put into place by someone with Jerry's Tree Service of Storm Lake.

"The floor is a combination of 12 species of woods found here," says Kahl. "We cut the wood from trees in our sawmill, then put pieces in our dry kiln before installing them and finishing them."

Tables are live-edged, which means Kahl has preserved the natural edges on those pieces, rough as they might be. Again, imperfections heighten the unique character each piece of wood sports.

Synergy Gallery connotes the energy or connection that exists between the tree business and wood.

"I like the word 'synergy' because it notes we're building upon the strengths of others," says Kahl, a 1974 Storm Lake High School graduate who attended the University of Iowa to study geology and also worked in Alaska and Oregon, where he learned to climb and prune trees for a living.

He also earned an associate's degree in solar technology from Western Iowa Tech Community College.

"You could say I'm diversified," Kahl says with a laugh.

He started Jerry's Tree Service in Storm Lake in 1986, a time when maybe two such firms served "The City Beautiful." Kahl's enterprise zoomed ahead in 1991, the result of work gained in the wake of two powerful ice storms, one on Halloween and the other at Thanksgiving.

"I decided at that time to invest in aerial lift equipment," Kahl says. "It was a wake-up call for the business."

Emerald ash borer serves as a wake-up call for U.S. residents these days. Kahl will address concerns from homeowners during an informational tree-care seminar at his business on Saturday. He'll team with Duane Kent, of Spencer, Iowa, on the presentation. Kent, a retired school principal, is versed on the topic of tree selection.

"We need to replace trees due to the emerald ash borer and Duane can advise on replacements," Kahl said.

Kahl and Kent will conduct a come-and-go seminar from 1-5 p.m. Saturday on the shop side of Jerry's Tree Service. Attendees are free to ask questions or simply wander into Synergy Gallery at any point. The gallery will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The gallery will feature works for sale by up to 10 area artists as well, ranging from wood sculptures on metal by David Boelter, a Buena Vista University professor of art, to bird carvings out of tupelo wood by Jennifer Felton, of Storm Lake.

Wood turners Perry Polson, of Spencer, Iowa, and Ron Erickson, of Remsen, Iowa, will have works present, as will Storm Lake artists Ron Netten and Hugh Perry, Barbara McGee, of Peterson, Iowa, and more.

Mary Mellon-Nee, an art professor at Buena Vista University, will display works arrange the show, Kahl's first in what's still an avocation for him.

"I like art, though I've never considered myself an artist," Kahl says while standing at a wood-slab display he built with black-iron pipe, incorporating yet another past job, in plumbing.

"I have begun to look at wood in a whole different way," he adds. "I used to see a deformed piece and knew it was meant for the furnace. Now, that piece might be the most valuable because those imperfections which show its character."
DES MOINES | Amid concerns that local law enforcement was, in some cases, taking advantage of a program that allows them to seize the money and property of individuals suspected of a crime, Iowa lawmakers earlier this year approved legislation that put restrictions on the program.

But a recent order from the federal government threatens to undermine Iowas new law.

The program is called civil asset forfeiture, and it was used more than 800 times and led to the collection of $2.6 million in fiscal year 2016 in Iowa, according to figures from the states nonpartisan fiscal estimating agency.

Previously, Iowa law enforcement could seize an individuals money or property merely on suspicion that the goods were related to the commission of a crime.

Earlier this year, however, Iowa lawmakers passed legislation that requires a criminal court conviction before law enforcement can use the civil court system to seize any individuals property valued at less than $5,000. Former Gov. Terry Branstad signed the provision into law in May.

Iowa is far from alone in adding restrictions to civil asset forfeiture. Nearly half the country  24 states  has passed some type of civil asset forfeiture reform since 2014, according to the Institute for Justice, a national law firm and research company that advocates for individual liberties.

But on July 19, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Justice Department will resume using equitable sharing, a civil asset forfeiture program that allows local law enforcement to process forfeiture cases under federal law.

The Justice Department under Democratic President Barack Obama halted the use of equitable sharing; Republican President Donald Trumps Justice Department has put the program back in play.

President Trump has directed this Department of Justice to reduce crime in this country, and we will use every lawful tool that we have to do that. We will continue to encourage civil asset forfeiture whenever appropriate in order to hit organized crime in the wallet, Sessions said in announcing his plan to law enforcement officials, according to a department transcript. At the same time, we must protect the rights of the people we serve. Law-abiding people whose property is used without their knowledge or without their consent should not be punished because of crimes that others have committed.

Circumventing state law

Equitable sharing, in essence, gives local law enforcement officials a way to circumvent state civil asset forfeiture laws that may be stronger than federal law.

Iowas new law is one such example. Neither Iowas new $5,000 threshold nor requirement of a criminal conviction are required under federal law.

Essentially, what the policy will allow local police departments to do is circumvent their state laws  often more restrictive state laws  to have property forfeited at the federal level, said Kanya Bennett of the American Civil Liberties Union. I think its no coincidence that you see this (policy) reversal at a time when state legislatures are responding to the calls from constituents that civil forfeiture is to end.

Wesley Hottot, an attorney who litigated a civil forfeiture case in Iowa for the Institute for Justice, said he has similar concerns.

This is about state law enforcement using federal forfeiture laws to circumvent protections put into place by state legislators, Hottot said.

In 2014, Hottot represented Carole Hinder, whose Spirit Lake restaurant was raided by authorities. The IRS seized more than $32,000 from Hinders business bank account. Hinder had made numerous deposits over the years that were thousands of dollars but came under a $10,000 threshold that triggers a federal reporting requirement, a practice called structuring that is sometimes employed by criminals to avoid detection.

Hinder, however, was never charged with a crime, even as her money was seized.

Eventually, federal prosecutors dropped the case, and Hinders money was returned.

Caroles case, I think, powerfully illustrates the core problem with civil forfeiture, Hottot said. The civil forfeiture process, because it doesnt require proof of an underlying crime, lets prosecutors get away with highway robbery. They just assert that propertys connected to a crime, and that turns the presumption of innocence on its head and changes the incentive so that the property owner is under a lot of pressure just to give up and walk away.

Hottot said forfeiture programs without at least some protections  such as those in the new Iowa law  put undue burden on individuals because of the cost to protest a seizure in court. He said the cost of pursuing a grievance in forfeiture cases often is more expensive than the money or value of the property the person is trying to retrieve.

Hinders case, which Hottot gave as an example, accumulated more than $70,000 in attorney time to retrieve her $32,000.

Upholding state law

In Iowa, county attorneys make the final decision as to whether to permit the use of civil asset forfeiture. Scott County Attorney Michael Walton said Sessions order does not change the way his office will operate; he will continue to pursue civil asset forfeiture only within the confines of state law.

Walton also is president-elect of the Iowa County Attorneys Association, but he made clear he was speaking only for himself and not other county attorneys.

We would not use Attorney General Sessions order to circumvent state law, Walton said. "We only pursue state forfeiture."

That is what Gov. Kim Reynolds expects will happen, according to her spokeswoman.

County attorneys decide if seized assets suspected of being involved in criminal activity qualify as forfeitable civil assets, Reynolds spokeswoman Brenna Smith said. "We expect all county attorneys and local law enforcement will abide by the Iowa code in making these decisions."

Hottot and called for federal civil asset forfeiture reform similar to what has been passed in the states. He said the return of the equitable sharing program shows why legislative reform is needed.

It was only a policy before during the (Obama) Justice Department. And although it was a step in the right direction, we pointed out then it was only worth the paper it was written on and could be changed with the stroke of a pen. Its now been changed with the stroke of Attorney General Sessions pen, Hottot said. That just illustrates the need for Congress to pass meaningful forfeiture reform now. ... This issue needs to be a priority.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowas senior senator and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has had the issue of civil asset forfeiture on his radar for a few years. In 2016, he introduced legislation with Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that would have added modest safeguards to federal civil asset forfeiture.

After Sessions reinstated equitable sharing, Grassley cautioned the program must be used properly and in a way that only targets criminal activity.

Adoption and equitable sharing of seized assets between federal law enforcement and state or local agencies have created perverse incentives in the past that jeopardized the rights of law abiding citizens, Grassley said in a statement issued after Sessions announcement. Efforts to improve safeguards for the rights and property of law abiding Americans and increase scrutiny of civil asset forfeiture are important steps to curb any abuses or mistakes, but the program will also require stringent oversight to ensure it is accomplishing the intended outcome of helping victims, not creating new ones.
THUMBS UP

RAGBRAI hosts do it right

Who needs the Missouri River when youve got the folks in Orange City?

Kicking off RAGBRAI in high style (and bringing river water to Orange City), the residents gave participants in the annual bike ride an excellent launch last weekend, sharing their heritage and hospitality.

The rest of Siouxland didnt disappoint, either. As those thousands of riders made their way through Alton, Granville, Paullina, Primghar and Hartley, they saw why were proud to call this home.

At the end of the first day, Spencer organizers demonstrated what kind of pros they are at hosting large-scale events.

New school celebrates

Siouxland Christian School hosted a community celebration for its new school at 6000 Gordon Drive on July 18.

The $10 million, 62,000-square-foot (nearly double the size of old Siouxland Christian), pre-K-to-12 school will convene classes for some 230 students and the 2017-2018 school year on Aug. 23.

We offer our congratulations to school leaders, families and supporters for a wonderful contribution to education in our community.

Cracking down

A Wednesday story from The Journal's Des Moines bureau detailed new, creative methods employed by the Iowa State Patrol as it seeks to step up enforcement of the state's ban on texting while driving.

As of July 1, texting while driving is a primary, not a secondary offense, in Iowa, meaning law enforcement officers for the first time can stop a driver and issue a ticket for it without another traffic violation taking place.

Because we long have supported a get-tougher approach to this menace on our state's roads, we applaud the State Patrol for doing its part to make the new law effective.

Expansion plans

Keizer Refrigeration plans to open an expanded, 55,000-square-foot facility at 5200 Harbor Drive sometime in 2018, The Journal reported on Monday.

The move represents an investment of between $7 million and $8 million, will double the company's present square footage and produce 12 new jobs.

THUMBS DOWN

Disappointing

The Iowa Board of Regents canceled the first of four planned meetings for its new tuition task force due to lack of interest, according to a Cedar Rapids Gazette story published in the Tuesday Journal.

The meeting was planned for Thursday, but only three presenters were scheduled to address the panel.

"Unfortunately, we were not going to have a high enough turnout of presenters to hold the July 27 meeting," Larry McKibben, the Regent who chairs the task force, said.

The committee plans three additional meetings in August - one on each public university campus.
International Relations  July 3, 2017  Adam Hanieh

The June 5 decision by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt to suspend diplomatic ties with Qatar has sent shockwaves through the Middle East.

The ensuing blockade shut down much of the Gulfs maritime and land trade with Qatar, provoking fears that the tiny state would soon face food shortages. Major air carriers, including Emirates, Gulf Air, flydubai, and Etihad Airways, canceled flights, and Qatari citizens living in the participating nations had just two weeks to return home. Even immigrants with Qatari residency permits would be caught up in the expulsion.

The UAE outlawed any expression of sympathy for Qatar  including on Twitter  and threatened offenders with jail terms of up to fifteen years.

Governments closely linked to Saudi Arabia and the UAE quickly expressed support for the blockade, including the Tobruk-based House of Representatives in Libya (one of the countrys warring governmental factions), the Saudi-backed Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi government in Yemen, as well as the Comoros, Mauritania, and the Maldives.

Bad Press: Financing Islamist Groups and Closer to Iran

The move against Qatar came after months of bad press in American and Gulf media, in which state officials repeatedly claimed that Qatar was financing Islamist groups and growing closer to Iran.

Yousef Al Otaiba, UAEs ambassador to the United States, played a major role in this campaign. Since the beginning of the 2010 Arab uprisings, Otaiba has roamed Washingtons corridors of power, warning that these popular revolts threaten the regions established order and claiming that Qatar supports movements and individuals hostile to both Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Former American government officials and think tanks  notably the neoconservative, pro-Israel Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), a prominent supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq  have taken up this anti-Qatari crusade. On May 23, the FDD convened a high-profile seminar to discuss the Gulf nations relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood and how the Trump administration should respond. There, former secretary of defense Robert Gates called on the American government to relocate its massive airbase in Qatar unless the country cut ties with such groups.

According to emails released shortly after the conference, Otaiba supposedly reviewed and encouraged Gatess comments. Indeed, this leak reportedly helped trigger the blockade, revealing the ambassadors cozy relationship with Gates, the FDD, and other figures close to the Trump administration.

Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have also claimed that Qatar has sought to strengthen ties to Iran over the past months. One piece of evidence offered for this is the claim that Qatar recently paid $700-million to Iran in order to secure the release of twenty-six Qatari royals who had been kidnapped in Iraq in 2015, and had been held in Iran for a year and a half. This story  which also allegedly involved a separate payment of up to $300-million to Al Qaeda-aligned groups in Syria  was denied by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who stated on June 11 that the money remains in the Iraqi central bank.

For its part, Saudi Arabia decried a statement attributed to Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, which appeared on the state-owned Qatar News Agency. During a graduation speech for national guard officers at the Al Udeid base, Al Thani purportedly praised Iran and criticized the Gulf states that see the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Qatar explained that the website had been hacked  an assertion the FBI later supported  and that Al Thani had made no such statements.

Amid all these claims and counter-claims, some observers argue that Donald Trumps visit to Saudi Arabia on May 20 represented a key moment in the campaign against Qatar, alleging that Trump gave Saudi Arabia and the UAE the green light. Indeed, one of his characteristically eloquent tweets seems to confirm this, as the president bragged that the blockade came out of his meetings in Riyadh.

Not everyone in Washington, however, fully supports Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Other officials  notably Rex Tillerson  are calling for an easing of the blockade and a peaceful solution. The United Kingdoms foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, also weighed in, calling for an end to the conflict while also stating that Qatar urgently needs to do more to address support for extremist groups.

Internecine squabbling is nothing new for the Gulfs fractious ruling families, but the decision to isolate Qatar marks a significant escalation. How should we understand the blockade in the context of wider developments in the Middle East, particularly in the wake of the Arab uprisings? Do these events mark an irreconcilable schism in Gulf politics or a fundamental shift in the historic patterns of American alliances in the region?

Shared Interests and Rivalries

We cannot understand the current conflict without analyzing the wider regional integration project, embodied in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman established this organization two years after the 1979 Iranian revolution and at the beginning of the war between Iraq and Iran that would last until 1988.

At the time, the GCC was widely seen as an American-backed response to these regional upheavals, designed to establish a security umbrella across the six member states, which the United States would encourage, equip, and oversee.

Not only do these states have rich oil and gas resources  the ultimate explanation for the United States interest in such an alliance  but they also share similar structures, marked by authoritarian ruling families and a labour force that primarily consists of largely rightless temporary migrant workers  a feature often forgotten in the flurry of media discussion about the Gulf over the past few weeks. The GCCs integration project reflected these states collective interests, which are uniquely aligned with Western powers.

The relationship between the United States, other Western powers, and the GCC has strengthened considerably since 1981, as Qatars Al Udeid air base demonstrates.

Now over fourteen years old, Al Udeid hosts over ten thousand American troops and is the United States largest overseas airbase. As the forward headquarters of Special Operations Central Command and Air Forces Central Command, Qatar helps coordinate the United States military footprint throughout the region, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The United States also runs its principal naval base from Bahrain, home to the Naval Forces Central Command and Fifth Fleet. More than twenty thousand American military personnel are stationed throughout the rest of the Gulf.

The sale of military equipment to the Gulf by the United States and European nations, particularly the United Kingdom and France, is closely linked to this military presence. Trumps recent visit to Saudi Arabia put this aspect of the U.S.-Saudi relationship on display: the dealmaker-in-chief reportedly signed contracts for more than one hundred billion dollars. (The precise values remain disputed, as they are largely based on letters of intent and include deals agreed upon with the Obama administration.)

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institutes Arms and Military Expenditure Program, nearly 20% of world military imports went to GCC nations in 2015; Saudi Arabia and the UAE ranked first and fifth. Saudi Arabia and the UAE accounted for 80% of all GCC military imports that year, but Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman also appear on the list of the worlds top forty importing countries. The GCCs share of the global market has more than doubled since 2011, and it has become the largest market for weapons in the world.

These purchases recycle a portion of the Gulfs petrodollar surpluses to the companies that produce the worlds military hardware. The GCC not only hosts American forces, but it also pays handsomely for the privilege.

The Gulfs Political Economy

But the significance of the GCC project extends beyond protecting an exclusive club of oil-rich monarchies and maintaining the regions role as forward headquarters for American military power in the Middle East, Central Asia, and East Africa.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the institutional framework laid down by the GCC encouraged the six member states to devise a much closer political and economic alignment, an arrangement often compared to the European Union. The last two decades have seen considerable progress toward this goal: increased levels of pan-GCC capital flows, a move toward standardized taxes and tariffs for imported goods, policies that encourage the free movement of citizen labour, and more unified political institutions. A common currency, the khaleeji, was even proposed.

This regional integration process supports the specific form of capitalism GCC states share. The large Gulf conglomerates (both state and privately owned) that dominate the Gulfs political economy operate across Gulf borders, and  similar to the European Union  are also marked by a pronounced interpenetration of capital ownership structures across different Gulf states.

Importantly, however  and this helps us understand the latest conflicts in the region  this integration project did not extinguish the members rivalries or competitive tensions. A sharp hierarchy of political and economic power has marked the GCC since its inception, with the main pivot revolving around a Saudi-UAE axis.

These two countries have become the primary sites of capital accumulation, and firms from Saudi Arabia and the UAE dominate the GCC economy in the real estate, finance, trade, logistics, telecommunications, petrochemicals, and manufacturing sectors. There are also significant cross-border investments between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

This axis is not without its own tension  reflected, for example, in the Emirati rejection of the Saudi-backed unified currency project in 2009  but their political alignment has developed alongside their economic ties.

Bahrain is closely integrated into this axis as a junior partner. Its ruling Al Khalifa monarchy depends on Saudi financial, political, and military support, as the 2011 uprisings clearly demonstrated.

This sub-alliance influences how other GCC states relate to the rest of the world, a feature clearly illustrated by the regions trade patterns. Due to relatively low levels of non-hydrocarbon manufacturing and small agricultural sectors, the GCC relies heavily on imports. The Saudi-UAE axis mediates these shipments: they bring goods in, then re-export them to other states, sometimes after value-added processing.

Food imports are of particular importance. The four other GCC states import more food from Saudi Arabia and the UAE combined than from any other country in the world. In 2015, Saudi Arabia and the UAE each ranked as either the first or second food exporter to every one of the other GCC states.

Remarkably  particularly since these figures include major wheat and meat exporters, including the United States, India, Brazil, and Australia  Saudi Arabia and the UAE were responsible for 53% of the total food export value to Oman, 36% to Qatar, 34% to Bahrain, and 24% to Kuwait.

These trends not only underscore the importance of placing the Saudi-UAE axis at the center of our understanding of the rest of the Gulf, but they also help explain the potential effects of the current blockade.

The Regional Scale

Dominated by this Saudi  UAE axis, the other smaller states have played a more marginal role in the Gulfs political economy. With a tiny citizen population (only 313,000 citizens out of a total population of 2.6 million, an astonishing 12% of the country) and enormous wealth from its vast natural gas reserves, Qatar has particularly chafed at this hierarchical structure.

On a per capita basis, it is the richest country in the world  with 17.5% of its citizen households worth more than one million dollars  yet it has largely been denied a place in the GCCs wider political and economic structures, muscled out by its bigger neighbors.

Limited by the size of their domestic markets and flush with surplus capital from nearly fifteen years of rising oil and gas prices, a key consequence of these internal competitive hierarchies has been the attempt by all Gulf states to grow beyond the GCCs borders. Large private and state-backed conglomerates have expanded their operations globally, investing in real estate, financial institutions, emerging technologies, agribusiness, and other sectors. While all GCC states have participated in this process, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar have led the way.

Although Gulf capital flows have largely concentrated on North America and Europe, the Middle East has also become an important target. As Arab states opened their markets and liberalized key economic sectors  a process led by the World Banks neoliberal poster child, Mubaraks Egypt  Gulf capital took a leading role throughout the 2000s in buying up privatized assets (often through corrupt deals with state elites) and benefitting from the market opening that followed in the wake of neoliberal reform.

From 2003 to 2015, GCC states accounted for a remarkable 42.5% of total new foreign direct investment (FDI) in other Arab nations. In this period, around half of all foreign investments in Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Palestine, and Tunisia came from the Gulf. Further, from 2010 to 2015, European, Gulf, and North American investors spent just over twenty billion euros on mergers and acquisitions in the Arab World. The GCC share made up almost half, at 44.7%.

As stunning as these figures are, they actually understate the level of internationalization. They do not include, for example, the considerable levels of bilateral aid from the Gulf, nor do they necessarily incorporate Gulf firms portfolio investments in regional stock markets.

As this process unfolded, the GCCs political role became increasingly prominent. The Gulf not only drove the construction of a regional order marked by authoritarian states and liberalized economies, but also benefited from it. All of this occurred under the auspices of Western powers and international financial institutions.

As this process drew the GCC states closer together, it also intensified their rivalries. One of the most important manifestations of this tension came when Qatar attempted to adopt an autonomous regional policy, relatively independent of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Qatar began sponsoring different political forces  the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the Taliban  and hosting a variety of exiled dissidents  the Egyptian cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who hosts popular television shows on Qatari channels, and the Palestinian intellectual Azmi Bishara. Qatar also used its extensive media network to promote itself as a regional force, notably through Al Jazeera and its affiliates and, more recently, the daily newspaper and TV channel Al-Araby Al-Jadeed , launched in early 2015.

The Arab uprisings that began in Tunisia in late 2010 accentuated these divisions, but they also emphasized the Gulfs shared interests. By profoundly threatening the regional order and its authoritarian regimes, the uprisings presented the GCC states with a sharp challenge: how to head off the popular movements and reconstitute the authoritarian, neoliberal order? Each state had a common interest in this counterrevolutionary process, but their responses differed along the lines described above.

Qatar supported forces allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE looked toward people like Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Egypt and former CIA asset Khalifa Haftar in Libya. A contradictory and rapidly changing constellation of alliances formed around the GCCs common interests and their internal rivalries.

Qatar supported the Saudi-led intervention in Bahrain, participated in the war against Yemen, and, in Syria, opposed its supposed new ally, Iran. In Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Palestine, however, Qatar tended to back rival factions. The lines blur even in these cases: Qatar expressed support for Sisi following the 2013 coup, despite its clear alliance with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

These diverging alliances also extend to other participants in the current blockade; Sisis Egypt, for example, supports the Assad regime in Syria, lining up with Iran but against Saudi Arabia, despite its almost complete dependence on the Saudi  UAE axis.

The key point, often overlooked in the media commentary on the blockade, is that there are no principled political positions involved in these alliances  this is about calculated expediency and a pragmatic assessment by each state of how best to further their regional influence, always within the framework of reordering the region in a way amenable to their collective political and economic power.

We need to keep both these tendencies in mind when we assess the current situation. A strong unanimity of interests underpins the Gulf states position on top of the regional order, a situation fully supported by  and in full support of  Western powers. Simultaneously, the GCC is split by rivalries and competition, reflected in the members different visions of how to maintain their shared interests.

The Question of Israel

In the wake of the Arab uprisings, we are now seeing an assertion of both of these tendencies. Specifically, the current blockade is a play by Saudi Arabia and the UAE to fully assert their hegemony over the region and to put Qatar back in its place.

But this is not just about Saudi Arabia and the UAE; it fundamentally expresses a general counterrevolutionary process that has been present since the beginning of the uprisings  restoring the status quo of authoritarian neoliberal states that has served the interests of the GCC as a whole (including Qatar) for several decades. All of this must also be seen through the lens of the Gulfs continued and ever-strengthening alliance with the U.S. and other Western powers.

Within this process, the place of Israel plays a key role. Since the 1990s, American regional policy has sought to bring the GCC and Israel closer together, normalizing economic and political relations between the two pillars of U.S. power in the region. Since the Arab uprising, this rapprochement has appeared more and more likely.

It is no accident that Trumps first international trip had him visit Saudi Arabia and then Israel (flying directly between the two), a travel schedule that perfectly illustrates the United States strategic priorities in the region. Despite the Arab Leagues long-standing boycott of relations with Israel, the Gulf region (particularly the Saudi  UAE axis) and Israel agree on key political questions, and both sides are actively seeking to build closer ties.

In late March 2017, Haaretz reported that the UAE and Israel participated in joint military exercises in Greece alongside the United States and several European countries. This was not their first collaboration: a year earlier, Israel, the UAE, Spain, and Pakistan participated in Red Flag, an aerial combat training exercise that took place in Nevada.

In late November 2015, Israel opened a diplomatic office in the UAEs capital city, Abu Dhabi, as part of the International Renewable Energy Agency  the first time an official Israeli diplomatic presence appeared in that country. Bloomberg Businessweek reported in February 2017 that the office could act as an embassy for Israels expanding ties in the Gulf.

Israeli security firms have reportedly set up more than $6-billion worth of security infrastructure in the UAE; this comes after Israel sold an estimated $300-million worth of military technology to the Gulf nation in 2011.

Israeli high-tech military and security firms are also active in Saudi Arabia, where they are purportedly helping Saudi Aramco set up cyber-security, selling advanced missile systems, and even conducting public opinion research for the royal family. Israeli media has stated that the country has offered the Saudis its Iron Dome military technology to defend against attacks from Yemen.

These once-clandestine relationships are now being spoken about openly. The Times of Israel reported in June 2015 that Saudi Arabia and Israel had held five secret meetings since early 2014. In May 2015, then-director general of the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs, Dore Gold, appeared publicly with retired Saudi general Anwar Eshki. The next year, Eshki visited Israel to meet with the former spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces and current coordinator of government activities in the territories, Major General Yoav Mordechai.

It shouldnt come as a surprise, then, that Israel supports the blockade against Qatar. But that doesnt mean Qatar hasnt also tried to normalize its relations with Israel. Like the other GCC states, Qatars involvement in Palestine has been designed to guarantee itself a better seat at the table  a goal the Israelis have happily supported when it serves their interests.

In 1996, Qatar permitted Israel to open a trade office in Doha, making it the only Gulf state to maintain official relations with Israel at that time. Although the office closed following Israels bombardment of Gaza in 2008, Qatar has repeatedly offered to re-establish ties in return for being allowed to supply financial and material aid to Gaza. An Israeli trade delegation that visited Qatar in 2013 reportedly learned that Qatar was interested in investing in the Israeli high-tech sector.

Qatar is the only GCC state that admits Israeli visitors and has allowed Israeli athletes to participate in sporting and cultural events. In 2013, Qatar chaired the Arab League meeting that changed the 2002 peace initiative to allow Israel to keep its settlement blocs in any final agreement. Tzipi Livni, the Israeli justice minister, described the development as very positive. And in early February 2017, Muhammad al-Imadi, head of Dohas national committee for the reconstruction of Gaza, claimed that he maintains excellent ties with Israeli political and military officials.

All of these trends indicate that none of the Gulf states  including Qatar  should be viewed in any way as a reliable ally or friend of the Palestinian struggle. But the current tensions in the Gulf also hold potentially important implications for political power in Palestine.

Mohammed Dahlans increasing political influence speaks to this possibility. Dahlan, a Fatah factional leader some believe will replace Abu Mazen (the current head of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority), lives in Abu Dhabi, and the UAE has long supported him politically and financially. He has close ties to Israel and the United States and has become their preferred candidate to succeed the octogenarian Mazen.

Although rivalries within Fatah may cut Dahlans rise short, his growing importance points to how the current tensions in the Gulf might realign the power balance in neighboring areas.

Future Directions

Not all GCC states or regional actors support the current blockade. At the time of writing, Oman has allowed Qatar-bound ships to use its ports, and Kuwait has been engaged in frantic diplomatic efforts to calm the tensions. Only Bahrain has stood fully behind Saudi Arabia and the UAE, largely thanks to the Al Khalifa monarchys long-standing dependence on Saudi Arabia.

Turkey has offered to send troops to a Turkish military base in Qatar, and Iran has pledged to send food and water to overcome the closure of Qatars sole land border with Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabias attempts to recruit other countries with large Muslim populations  such as Senegal, Niger, Djibouti, and Indonesia  have largely failed. Arab countries like Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia have also rejected the blockade.

In light of these disputes, we should remember what the GCC represents as a whole. This bloc of states is fully integrated into a U.S.-aligned regional power structure, has massively benefited from neoliberal reforms in the Arab world, and has become more and more intertwined with the regions political dynamics.

These states share an interest in preserving their regional position and their long-standing political structures. These commitments outweigh the potential benefits of fracturing the project. Likewise, the West and Israel want to see the GCC hold together, as it has served their interests so well over recent decades.

Despite the current schisms, some kind of negotiated solution that sees Qatar defer to the Saudi  UAE axis and accept diminished regional influence is the most likely outcome.

This settlement would ultimately strengthen the Saudi  UAE axis and help consolidate the counterrevolution; it would also likely precipitate a realignment of political power in places like Tunisia, Libya, and Palestine.

But the Left must realize that none of Qatars putative allies  specifically Turkey and Iran  represent a progressive alternative for the region. While they may be lined up against the Saudi  UAE front in this context, these states have participated in the post-2011 counterrevolutionary process just as enthusiastically as their rivals.

Perhaps the most important lesson of the current crisis is that we must avoid simplistic readings of the Middle East, especially those based on the notion that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

It would be utterly foolish to consider Qatar, Turkey, or Iran as representative of some progressive realignment just because they happen to be  at least for the moment  on the wrong side of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Israel. Jostling for regional power sparked these tensions and produced all sorts of contradictory and shaky political alliances, but none of the states involved represent any kind of political alternative worthy of the Lefts support. 
Environment  July 26, 2017  Brad Hornick

In Militant Particularism and Global Ambition: The Conceptual Politics of Place, Space, and Environment in the Work of Raymond Williams (1995), David Harvey discusses the challenges presented by moving from place out across time. In the midst of his involvement in a participatory research project within a high-stakes local struggle against the closure of an automotive plant, he was accused of being a free-floating Marxist intellectual, an outsider, and he was given the evil eye and asked to explain where his loyalties lay. (p. 71) This is in an environment where people were losing jobs, and families and communities were being destroyed. Harvey takes the accusation to heart and proceeds to explore the alienation inherent in the intellectuals role and the responsibility of abstracting concepts from the lived experiences of local activism.

Harvey approaches this research with an eye to understanding the politics of community and broader social forces as a parallel force to the politics of the workplace in a context where working-class solidarities at the particular worksite were diminishing. But Harvey is reproached by his co-researchers for his allegiance to methodological distance and his perceived shift to reactionary intellectualism in his contextualizing the passion of struggle within the closure of political categories. In negotiating a broadening of the conceptual space of interpretation, he is disloyal to local union and community activism  the active, vivid, and unique lived experience of struggles for socialism in his midst. (p. 70-73)

His preoccupation with larger theoretical and strategic concerns potentially undermines the structures of feeling that embolden the activists involved in the immediate struggle. His

motivation comes from the desire to positively influence local militancy but also to extend its program toward broader socialist aims, to break out of its local bonds and become a viable alternative to capitalism as a working mode of production and social relations. (p. 73) But what right does Harvey have to intervene and impose layers of scientific strategy to divert the energies of a group of people in a particular place toward a more universalist political project? He asks,

What might it mean to be loyal to abstractions rather than to actual people?  What is it that constitutes a privileged claim to knowledge, and how can we judge, understand, adjudicate, and perhaps negotiate different knowledges constructed at very different levels of abstraction under radically different material conditions? (p. 73-74)

Harvey confronts a paradox: In order to understand and contribute to the militant particularism of local struggles and not become a spectator abstracted from the local situation, he needs to immerse himself in and identify with that struggle. In order to accurately account for scientific and analytical causalities and meaningfully appraise particularism and become strategic, he needs to maintain distance from the struggle. One threatens loss of subjectivity from approaching the object (embodiment), the other from receding (disembodiment).

Naomi Klein, John Bellamy Foster, Richard Smith

Harveys idea is that a militant project begins in a place, and if it maintains its energy and gets properly strategic over time, it will translate into a more consequential movement. An intellectual parachuted into the midst of an incipient militant particularism would betray a sense of entitlement, privilege, and potentially reactionary energy by saying, What youre doing is wrong. Rather, traditional intellectuals (working within studied social scientific rules) might more usefully ask, How can we contextualize what is happening in relation to larger issues. This would occur in discussion and solidarity with what Gramsci calls organic intellectuals, individuals usually within subaltern groups working within grass-roots language and practices.

In recent debates within the ecosocialist community, Richard Smith and John Bellamy Foster discuss similar themes of moving from place out across time. For ecosocialists, capitalism and the Anthropocene are the global signifiers upon which all worker and environmental movements must focus with urgency. The fate of humanity in the short term literally rests upon this universalist pursuit. Ecological alternatives are not possible within the framework of capitalism, so socialist demands must be articulated alongside transitional concrete ecological demands and reforms. In recent posts to climateandcapitalism.com, Smith and Foster (2017) brew over the subject of Naomi Klein and the ongoing tug-of-war to claim or disclaim her as an ecosocialist. At issue is her theoretical rigor and tendency to straddle the organic and traditional.

Ecosocialists can be quick to identify the dramatic irony in how the aims of environmental activism are consistently neutralized by activists themselves. Constrained by time and place, local activism is compelled by immediate circumstances to act on the self-evidential nature of particularist truths at the moment of apprehension. Capitalist culture is powerfully resilient for the very reason that it incorporates these contingent system threats into its own reproduction. If activism remains compartmentalized or reformist, it remains embedded in, and will not threaten the global power and inertia of, capital. If theory is neither precise nor rigorously explicit, it also evacuates revolutionary potential.

Klein positions herself within movements where people are already engaged in forms of making sense of the world while responding to immediate vital and existential needs. She is

also, as are Foster and Smith, a free-floating intellectual maintaining methodological distance in order to infuse, widen, and contextualize conceptual abstraction and offer strategic direction. Her book, This Changes Everything (2014), is important for popularizing the critique of our whole socio-economic system and the geological time scales of climate science. As I have argued elsewhere, whether intentional or not, she appeals to wide audiences in part because of theoretical and strategic ambiguity, or wiggle room. (Hornick, 2015)

In Smiths writing, there is a potent sense of climate emergency and the desire to keep the (strategic) eye on the ball. Read Smiths short book on Green Capitalism: The God that

Failed (2015), which could have been subtitled Ecosocialism: How to Be Loyal to Abstractions. It is a series of smartly written polemics, but with a sober theoretical foundation. Smiths irreverent, in-your-face fury is infused with the will to impose abstractions with different versions of scope and truth upon the impeccably respectable premises (p. 22) of conventional economics (and environmental activism).

Smith argues that Klein has broken open the mainstream discourse, cataloguing the failures, contradictions, and corruptions of so-called green capitalism, and that she nails climate change squarely on the door of capitalism with a withering indictment. (p. 72) But when Klein talks about capitalism, she does so in an equivocating sense, qualifying capitalism with adjectives such as neoliberal, extractivist, and so on, which also reconfigures strategic goals. Kleins Blockadia is not a strategy, says Smith, and neither are her other maddeningly confusing, contradictory, even incoherent prescriptions. Klein is thus an eloquent liberal-radical investigative journalist  but she is no ecosocialist  with no systematic analysis or critique of capitalism as a system whatsoever. (p. 73)

In Smith, you will not see pithy pronouncements like Kleins to change the world we need everyone. You will read sharp, interrogative distinctions drawn between ostensibly radical economists and environmentalists and a forceful evocation of Marxist and political economic positions geared toward the contemporary ecological crisis. Warrior up on a rhetorical level!

Ruthlessly reveal mainstream environmentalist absurdities, deconstruct platitudes, call out euphemisms! Strike at the heart of false gods and zero in on the unequivocal message: shut the system down  move beyond technological visions of decoupling and dematerialization  depose the 1 per cent, halt market and profit driven growth, bring on radical global industrial economic contraction that the ecological crisis demands.

fuck-you-to-power

By contrast, John Bellamy Foster responds that while he may not agree with everything Klein says, her influence and her radicalism, at the left end of the climate movement, are beyond question, that she walks a fine line between social democracy and socialism/anarchism, and is openly anti-capitalist. Foster argues that we dont want so much a movement that is limited to advanced ecosocialists but a broader movement that can actually be effective today. Ecosocialists should stay to the left of those like Klein and sharpen the critique within the movement but also support and work with them so as to not separate themselves from broader radicalism.  If she does not always articulate this explicitly in terms of an ecosocialist strategy, it is because her strategy is rooted in the real movement as it exists today. (Smith and Foster, 2017)

Foster is confident that he knows Klein as a comrade. He concludes the exchange with Smith with a personal story that is emblematic of the role of relationship and solidarity-building in action. Foster and Klein are together being chased by police in Johannesburg at a climate meeting in 2002. Outfitted in military gear, police throw percussion grenades, then kettle and point rifles in a stare-off with climate protestors. Foster claims Klein heroically disregard[s] the danger. He remembers prophetically thinking at that time that she was the kind of leader that the movement needed  if she would once embrace the issue of capitalism versus the climate. As it turns out, Klein later penned a book with that name, Fosters uncanny prescience realized.

Fosters and Kleins shared fuck-you-to-power moment of anarchist rebelliousness is a powerful performative statement. The embodied moment concretely codifies political position vis-a-vis the state, capital, and ruling class as well as international, class, and gender solidarity. The moment is felt as something immediately trustworthy and an alternative to the certainties that abstract concepts promise but rarely deliver. The story illustrates that as much as conceptual clarity is important in moving goals forward, a sense of discernment about the metaphoric and affective dimension that initiates and builds associations and relationships requires cultivation.

To use Walter Benjamins vocabulary, the moments auratic quality imbues the relationship with profound symbolic density and meaning. A redemptive moment, it connects their present with historys revolutionary acts and cements their personal pact. In these moments, Foster seizes on the dialectical image of revolutionary negation and exits the argument with Smith without further explanation. Foster wants to enable Klein as a comrade rather than diffusing the power of the moment with theoretical dissimulation. Smith, in equally necessary moves, wants to embolden and equip comrades with revolutionary intellectual tools by asserting objective and logical necessity into vital and existential necessity.

Radicals are a tricky bunch. Anyone who has attempted to rouse significant numbers of Marxist intellectuals to action, or coalesce disparate groups of direct-action anarchists to a shared cause, knows it is like herding cats, and it is much easier to attract hoards of environmental nonprofit careerists, with their banal spectacle activism, with an ounce of foundation funding. This makes anti-(green)-capitalist and ecosocialist organizing that is directed to undermining the systemic logic of capitalism challenging. Yet, what inspires ecosocialist faith in their own relevance is the methodically reasoned account of a stable, identifiable conceptual and affective fault-line of the entire social whole that divides our present totality from the future, one that if we can name and permit ourselves to cross, and then recruit others, will open a new set of (non-catastrophically terminal) possibilities for the world.

Both Smiths and Fosters life work has done as much as anyone to point the world toward identifying and engaging with that fault-line, rather than pursuing much less ambitious or

counterproductive goals. (The latter would include COP21-inspired, market-based adjustments such as carbon pricing, alone, as the holy grail of climate mitigation.) Climate scientists reach toward comprehensive and authoritative understanding of earth systems, which by now are sufficiently objectively definitive to be actionable. But if we believe that progress is even possible within the severe time limits that ecological crisis imposes, we also recognize that action at the level of wholesale change (for instance in terms of relations of production) is dormant in this deadly game of catch-up  and the procrastination penalty to be paid for inaction is getting beyond reach.

Marx showed how history was materially transformed through a series of contradictions toward greater complexity, but held out the promise of one particular class representing the universal interests of humanity, if activated within objective conditions by political agency. The problem today is that cyclical and conjunctural crises that have propelled capitalism to hegemonic global reach and to the point of near absolute structural crisis have also eliminated resistance in the form of a consequential collective agent that would avert ecological collapse.

Harvey concludes the above episode referencing a kind of intellectuals sovereign exceptionalism, the notion of the intellectuals role being at once inside and at the same time outside of experience. (Agamben, 2005) The right to engage and impose interpretations follows from the need to fulfill obligations to comrades who are simultaneously political allies as well as obligations to the considered political saliency of the immediate and long-term objectives of a political act.

The former may lead toward a more arbitrary or instrumental relationship with immediate objects and objectives, the latter toward suspended intellectualism, abstract deconstruction of the immanent rationality of a particularism. Both are potential vehicles toward immobilization, or toward empowerment. In the meantime, our atmosphere is well over 490 parts per million CO2 equivalents. Welcome to our apocalyptic, or revolutionary, future. 
International Relations  July 27, 2017  Pierre Rousset

Jean-Luc Melenchons presidential and legislative campaign this year was different from the previous ones. There was a huge change in the relationship to political parties in general and to his former Left Front allies in particular. Its important to understand the reasons for this change, as well as the implications and the specific context in which it took place.

First, lets take a quick look at who Melenchon is. He called on voters to get rid of traditional politicians, successfully skirting over the fact that he himself is a rather caricatural example of such figures. He was a member of the Lambertists, a current of Trotskyist background with a symbiotic relationship to the apparatuses of Social Democracy, the Freemasons and the Force Ouvriere trade-union confederation. In this capacity, he was sent into the Socialist Party (PS) in 1976 and built a career there. In 1983, he was elected as a municipal councillor and then to the departmental level. He became a professional politician and didnt put down roots in any particular constituency; he moved up to the Senate, in a country where senators arent elected directly by universal suffrage but indirectly by other elected officials, and then was elected as a member of the European parliament on the PS party list. He was appointed to cabinet in the government of prime minister Lionel Jospin, who himself had come out of the Lambertists. Only now has he finally been elected directly to the parliament, but only after parachuting himself in to a constituency in Marseilles, the large Mediterranean port city. Lacking local roots, he was still able to lead the left-wing Gauche Socialiste current within the PS. This was a genuinely activist current that enabled him to leave the PS in 2008 and found the Left Party (PG).

What are his political points of reference? As I said, he originally comes out of the Lambertist current, not exactly the most democratic strain of French Trotskyism. He didnt burn his bridges with this part of his past but nonetheless fully immersed himself in the Socialist Party. In fact, one of his main points of reference, and perhaps the main one, is Francois Mitterrand, French president from 1981 to 1995, to whom he was close. He considers Mitterrand to be a political genius. Though somewhat of a loner, Mitterrand was able to take over the PS, turn the Communist Party (PCF) into a junior partner by forging an alliance with it (the Union of the Left), win the presidency and hold on for two seven-year terms (a record for longevity, though not for radicalism!).

Melenchon feels absolutely no connection at all to the revolutions of the 20th century. Its almost as if they had never taken place. Theres before  the Paris Commune, Jean Jaures; and theres after  for example, Hugo Chavez. Its a huge understatement to say that he feels no empathy whatsoever for my generations revolutionaries.[1]

He is part of a current of opinion thats quite strong in France  one that is simultaneously left-wing on socio-economic questions (public services and so forth) and nationalist. Ill come back to this later.

2012-2017: From Presidential Ambition to the Benches of Parliament

What has made Melenchon tick since he left the PS in 2008? Well, Melenchon has made Melenchon tick, and its not a clever one-liner to say so but rather an important insight into what he believes. He identifies with figures who embody important political change (beginning with Chavez  but also Mitterrand in 1981 after 25 years of right-wing rule in France). It took me some time to get my head around the idea, since it seemed so odd and so foreign to me, but it was indeed Jean-Luc Melenchons ambition to become president in the 2012 and 2017 elections. If you havent understood that, you havent understood anything. The change in orientation from 2012 to 2017 was tied first and foremost to a sense of opportunity. He chooses the character he will play and the political tack that he pursues on the basis of a tactical assessment of the period rather than a strategic project. This is the point Podemos citizen-council member Jorge Lago makes in his description of how Melenchon changed tactics in 2017 after realizing that he had misread the presidential contest (with Fillon winning the right-wing nomination, not Sarkozy; Hamon as the PS candidate, not Valls or Hollande; and Bayrou supporting Macron).[2]

When Melenchon speaks of a citizen insurrection, he means a revolution through the ballot box. His aim was to quickly secure the presidency  with the hopes of doing so either in one fell swoop in 2012 or by becoming the third man in those elections with a view to winning in 2017. In the event, he came fourth in 2012  behind National Front (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen. He ran as the candidate of the Left Front (FdG), an electoral alliance between the Left Party (PG), the PCF and the various groups and networks that came together in the Ensemble! grouping. With 11.2 per cent of votes cast, he took the bulk of radical Left votes. This was a respectable result; but in his eyes it was altogether insufficient.

Debates at the time ran along familiar lines, having especially to do with the question of electoral alliances with the PS, on which the PG (Melenchon) and the PCF disagreed. The PCF has a number of elected officials whose re-election often depends on reaching agreement with the PS, whereas the PG had very few (and ironically those they did have had been elected while still members of the PS).

In reaction to this initial setback, Melenchon opted to break free any constraints placed on him by the established parties  free from his allies in the Left Front, but also free from his own party, the PG.[3] He made a Bonapartist turn by declaring his candidacy for the presidential election without consulting or negotiating beforehand and by creating his own movement vehicle for the elections, La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) (LFI). He has aggressively pursued this tack and its no longer a matter of rallying forces together (behind him) but rather of replacing forces much further afield.

Melenchon always builds in opposition to something or someone, carefully selecting his target. For many years it was the Front National (FN). He took on Marine Le Pen one-on-one in the 2012 presidential elections and again in the northern constituency of Henin-Beaumont in the subsequent legislative elections. He lost each time. In 2016-2017 he switched targets. Kick them all out became the new rallying cry. In the 2017 legislative elections, he ran in Marseilles  not in a constituency where the FN is strong but rather in one where he had done very well in the first round of the presidential elections and where the outgoing MP (from the PS), Patrick Mennucci, no longer had any hope of being re-elected  going down to defeat along with most PS MPs.

The economic program has not changed qualitatively. Its essentially a radical Keynesian approach, absent any kind of anti-capitalism, with a far greater emphasis on ecological questions than in the past. Over the months, though, language, symbols and communication techniques did indeed change. Melenchon has taken a close look at what has worked in other countries, such as Obamas use of social media and the Sanders campaign in the USA, or the history of Podemos in Spain. He has taken stock of the traditional medias declining influence. He has worked on his image down to the smallest details (such as the clothes he wears on different occasions). He likes PR stunts, such as using holograms to address two rallies simultaneously  an expensive trick that has already been used abroad (contrary to what he has suggested), and especially by Indian prime minister Modi. He works very closely with PR consultants. He is a professional politician, more than at any time in the past.

Facing a threat on the Left from dissident PS candidate Benoit Hamon, he intensified his campaigns populist profile. Jorge Lago approvingly highlights this turn and only regrets that it came rather late, and for reasons of tactical expediency rather than strategic commitment:

[Melenchons] campaign has been superbly crafted. For example, the campaign video depicting how France will look in 2018, one year after his election, is really smart because he speaks the language of government and state. [] The French understand and identify with this kind of language. When I lived in France, the fact that this language of government and state was so widespread among people is one of the things that struck me most. In short, the idea of obliterating the language of the traditional Left and radical-Left shibboleths, and of banishing red flags and certain references from campaign rallies, was executed really well in my view, albeit perhaps a little late in the day.

Speaking the language of government and state, obliterating the traditional language and shibboleths of the radical Left, banishing red flags, Melenchon has systematically and deliberately built LFI by breaking with the historic references and symbols of a class identity (and not only of the so-called traditional Left). Though promoting the creation of a Sixth Republic, he has fully immersed himself in the Fifth Republic tradition by which the presidential election creates a personal relationship between a man (rarely a woman) and the French people. He has catered to the rejection of political parties, just as Emmanuel Macron has. From this angle, a candidates profile, his media brand and what it embodies are more important than the content of the campaign program. Before getting to that, though, a few more words on the elections.

Bouncing back from his defeat in the presidential election, and emboldened by his 19.6 per cent score in the first round, Melenchon called on voters to elect an LFI majority in the legislative elections  which would have made him prime minister, setting the stage for a conflictual cohabitation with the Macron presidency. In the event, LFIs first-round legislative score had a sobering effect even if Melenchon was happy with his own win in Marseilles.

In the end, having run for the presidency, Melenchon had to be content with his own election to the lower house and with that of enough fellow LFI candidates to form a parliamentary caucus  LFI has 17 MPs in total and 15 are required to form a caucus. This was actually a better result than what the polls forecast. In fact, all opposition parties gained from a relative demobilization of the Macron electorate in the second round of the lower-house elections. The PCF, for example, won in 11 constituencies and the FN in eight  depriving Melenchon of the satisfaction of indirect revenge over FN leader Marine Le Pen.

The PCF has formed its own parliamentary caucus, separate from LFI, thanks to the addition of five overseas MPs, who enable it to hit the 15-member cut-off.

The new LFI caucus has positioned itself clearly on the left. Like the PCF, it has made defending the labour code its main focus. Its too early to know how Melenchon will remould himself or what he will do with la France Insoumise (whose remit, in its present form, was time-limited to the election campaign). Still, we can and should look at the recurring features of Melenchons orientation and at the implications of the populist moment of 2017.

Populist Symbolism

Melenchon often demonstrates a keen sense of political timing. This was the case, for example, when he broke with the Socialist Party in 2008 in order to create the Left Party (PG) and then the Left Front (FG) with the PCF. That same year, we had launched the idea of the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) and received a very favourable response  a fact which probably hadnt escaped Melenchons notice at the time. The NPA could only be built as the outcome of a lengthy and complicated process; whereas the PG was built overnight on the basis of forces already organized within the PS.

The NPA process was initiated at a time when the Left Party (PG) and Left Front (FG) didnt yet exist. But the NPAs actual foundation took place after their creation and when they were very much on the offensive. As a result, the entire dynamic surrounding the launch of the NPA was thrown off kilter.

When the Left Front began to run out of steam (created for purely electoral purposes, it ultimately became an empty shell), Melenchon tried to break free from the arrangement in a number of ways, in particular by launching the Movement for the Sixth Republic (M6R). At the time, I found this initiative to be completely off the radar, since working-class concerns were primarily socio-economic in nature. Though the M6R itself was stillborn, the idea of the Sixth Republic did get some traction, with the crisis of the Fifth Republics institutions and the related system of parties going into full-blown crisis in 2017.

Melenchon is always on the lookout for novelty, and this is certainly one of his qualities. Hes also an excellent stage performer, a talent he uses and even abuses. In a presidential system like Frances, this is an asset. The PCF was unable to find a candidate that could rival him in this respect, and this allowed Melenchon to dominate  and subsequently abandon  the Left Front.

Here we come up against the question of an individual embodying a political future; with a project closely tied up with their own personal fate. I submit that this is the common ground between Melenchon and the protagonists and theoreticians of Left populism: especially Chantal Mouffe and Ernest Laclau; and Pablo Iglesias and Inigo Errejon.

On the Verso website, Chantal Mouffe herself supports Melenchon as a radical reformist against a mounting oligarchy.[4] She makes a careful distinction between the Latin American context (societies with powerful, entrenched oligarchies) and Europe (where the Left-Right divide remains key). But in Europe, too, she argues, its a matter of bringing an end to the domination of an oligarchic system, by way of a democratic reconstruction.

One of Melenchons spokespersons and a member of his inner circle, Raquelle Garrido, is less finicky in an interview with Jacobin .[5] The watchwords of the 2017 campaign were humanism, populism, patriotism and Constitution. LFI is a a grassroots citizen movement, our ideology is humanist populism. In many ways we have adopted the populist strategy of Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau. [Populism] is a program. It is a demarcation strategy between a them [the oligarchy] and an us [the people].[] our movement [] is intended to build something beyond parties. It has constructed itself by design  really deliberately  as something different from the cartel of parties we had in 2012. The situation is ripe for what were saying  that we need a peaceful solution to the numerous tensions that run through French society. In 2012, Melenchon may have appeared too radical, too subversive. He now seems wise.

It continues to be said of Melenchon that he is an eternal Jauresien (after the early 20th century French socialist leader Jean Jaures), maintaining the reference to class but squarely within the reference to the Republic. The election campaign nonetheless saw a deliberate blotting out of the symbols of class-struggle politics. As the weeks went on, red flags vanished, giving way to a sea of French tricolor flags; and the Internationale made way for the French national anthem, The Marseillaise. The word humanist, unqualified, was seen as self-sufficient. Going the way of the hammer and sickle, even the raised fist has been upstaged by the Greek letter Phi ().

Phi has become the movements logo, used everywhere including on ballot papers. Theres some wordplay here (Phi sounds like LFIs usual acronym FI, just as Emmanuel Macrons initials, EM, are the same as those of the En Marche! vehicle created to support his presidential run), but much more. Phi evokes philosophy, harmony and love and is unburdened by a political past. A symbol of neither Right nor Left. When it comes to harmony, Melenchon often disrupts things with his deliberately arrogant and contemptuous remarks, but Phi remains a neutral marker all the same.

Labour issues were at the heart of the Melenchon campaign (against stripping workers of labour-code protection; on paycheque and taxation questions; and more), but not social classes as such. The idea of the 99 per cent is about the people against the oligarchs. On repeated occasions, Melenchon organized the biggest rallies of the campaign season. For the tens of thousands of people in attendance, class identity had been rendered invisible. This will have consequences, since France is among those Western European countries where class identity has been effectively pushed from centre stage to the fragmented margins  much more so, I would argue, than in Belgium or Britain, for example. A win for the neoliberal ideological offensive. In fact, although both come out of a left social-democratic tradition, in this respect Melenchon is the antithesis of British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

In Left politics, is populism a temporary tactic? For one of the founders of Podemos, Juan Carlos Monedero, it should only be used temporarily, during what in Spanish he calls the movements fase destituyente (deconstruction phase)  and then surpassed in the fase constituyente (constituent phase).[6] He specifically criticizes Inigo Errejons approach:

Defenders of the populist hypothesis, and especially Inigo Errejon, felt that it was enough to mobilize those sectors who could deliver victory and that we shouldnt raise issues that might lose us votes. That is, that we should only raise abstract matters in order to secure the broadest support possible: country, [the oligarchical] caste and corruption. [The idea] is to empty signifiers, but in fact its the very possibility of change that ends up being gutted. When Laclau says that politics and economics are the same thing, he brushes aside the material conditions for class struggle. I think thats a mistake.

Its possible that Melenchon will opt to resurrect a class-based approach in parliament and not leave it to the PCF alone. Still, and the question can just as well be directed to Monedero, is it really so easy to rebuild something that you have deftly dismantled in the first instance?

Replacement and La France Insoumise

Replacement has become a central part of Melenchons message and political choices. Theres nothing to regret about the death of the PS, which long ago ceased to be a workers party. Nor should anyone want to breathe new life into it. If that were all this was about, then replacement would be fine and dandy.

However, for Melenchon the era of parties is finished. So long live the movements! He doesnt merely take note of the decline of said parties, he actively contributes to their marginalization. This dovetails nicely with the current situation in France, and its precisely how Macron and his En Marche (now La Republique en Marche  LREM) movement have succeeded.

In the present context, the consequences of this approach might be especially serious. With whom can a coalition of social and democratic resistance against Macron be organized when ones ambition is to replace all of ones possible party allies? After having carefully separated the field of electoral politics (a matter for politicians) from that of socio-economic action (a matter for trade unions), Melenchon now appears to be portraying himself and his parliamentary caucus as the natural parliamentary expression of the struggles that the trade-union movement will undertake.

There is an urgent need to unite all resistance forces at the risk of being summarily defeated by the offensive that Macron is preparing around a range of questions  from granting employers more workplace-level powers; to enshrining in ordinary law the temporary measures of the present state of emergency in the country.

The problem is that replacement is the antithesis of unity.

Question: whats going to happen to La France Insoumise? What does it mean to say that the era of (traditional) parties is over?

Melenchon toys with the notion that its possible to circumvent parties, totally marginalizing and shattering them. But he hasnt explained what will replace them.[7] LFI wasnt conceived to be a lasting formation but as a temporary instrument for the 2017 elections. It was created in February 2016. No one could join, it was impossible to pay dues and the only thing you could do was make financial contributions for the upcoming elections. Dues imply membership and the rights and responsibilities that go with it. Signing up to the LFI process entailed neither rights nor responsibilities. Nothing is expected of you and you have no formal power.

There were perhaps up to 500,000 Internet clicks of people supporting LFI. Thats a lot. Internet users submitted their ideas online. A synthesis, or program, lAvenir en commun (Our common future)[8] was posted for approval and about 97 per cent of respondents were in favour. Restrictive rules were handed down: LFI support groups were not to have more than 15 members, and shouldnt straddle constituencies or coordinate their work between each other within larger geographic zones. There should be no local LFI conventions or general assemblies. These highly unusual rules (which havent always been abided by locally) obviously strengthen the authority of top leadership, while not necessarily doing away with the need for electoral horse-trading among different competing internal party-type groupings. Overall, horizontal functioning was at once very informal and circumscribed, with tight vertical control by the core leadership.

Activist teams were established, often at the initiative of the top leadership, and took on a number of tasks  in particular doing an excellent job of getting out the LFI message on social media. While there have been analogies to the Spanish party Podemos, its not quite so simple. We didnt have a mass movement on the same scale in France and there was no space within LFI for a founding organization like the Spanish far-Left group Anticapitalistas.

The core leadership group was drawn from the Left Party (PG). Theres an all-in-the-family feel to it, with people who have a long history together. Some of them are now LFI members of parliament, some of whom had been LCR/NPA members before getting involved in the Ensemble! group.

Close identification to the leader has given rise to highly sectarian forms of behaviour from the Melenchon fan club, which swarms together against any criticism online, to the point where their targets online accounts have occasionally been blocked. Melenchon himself is no fan of criticism. I really want to stress this point because its part of a deplorable trend on the radical Left, where debates on substantive issues are mediocre at best and demonization has become commonplace. Disagreement is seen as illegitimate as soon as it touches upon a sensitive question.

So thats how things have gone so far, but where are we headed? Melenchon and the tight-knit group around him have to spell out the kind of lasting movement they hope to build. And they have to explain how the pluralism of society will be expressed if, as they have argued, it is not meant to do so via the plurality of parties.

Its not hard to see why parties have been discredited. Its not because of Macron or Melenchon. The PS in particular self-destructed under the recently concluded Hollande presidency. And nor should the PCF and far-Left blame their own failures on anyone else. The same goes for the parties of the Right. But what must we (re)build now?

LFIs social roots are very shallow. It would be quite ironic were it to make the same hegemonic claims as the PCF used to during its Stalinist phase. Long-time PCF member and faithful Melenchon supporter Roger Martelli raises this very question in decidedly measured terms:

Like the PCF in its heyday, La France Insoumise could very well choose to argue that there is no space outside its ranks for politics that are both realistic and revolutionary. Yet at a time of crisis and reconfiguration, where broad regrouping and collective invention are the order of the day, it is advisable to steer clear of any approach that in one way or another appears to call on other forces to pledge allegiance.[9]

The People and Patriotism

Melenchon sings the praises of France and always has. He sings the praises of France as global power, spanning all the worlds seas and oceans. He wants France to quit NATO  but a la Charles de Gaulle, in order better to defend its interests and prestige around the world.

This has nothing to do with the actual relationship of forces in todays world, but it was very much part of LFIs campaign. Running for the presidency, Melenchon enjoyed speaking as the countrys (future) commander in chief of the French military, whose capacities he wants to strengthen (and whose nuclear weapons he wants to keep).

The people is a national-people, the foundation for patriotism. In an imperialist country, patriotism is not a sure bet for the Left! For Melenchon, though, France is not imperialist. LFI doesnt fight against French imperialism because such a fight is unwarranted. Its view of foreign policy is not based on an internationalist outlook but a geostrategic one.[10] So its view of the situation in the Middle East is based on an assessment of the relationship between global powers  hence the calls to cooperate with Russia and too bad if this means negotiating terms with Assad.

The same approach of rival global powers can be applied to Europe  so the target becomes Angela Merkels Germany (with borderline Germanophobic rhetoric).

Melenchon also sees the unity of the Republic  Frances one and indivisible character  as sacrosanct. He inveighs against the countrys Regional Languages Charter; he attacked Hollande when he called for strengthening Corsicas regional powers; and on and on it goes. All this prompted a retort from Philippe Pierre-Charles of the Martinique GRS[11] which concludes:

The moral of the story is that progressives on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean cannot evade a serious and fraternal debate on how to bring about the total eradication of colonialism.[12]

It has to be said, though, that Melenchons stance around these matters has not elicited much response within the French radical Left. Its a worrying and indeed demoralizing symptom.

Contradictory Impact

Its quite natural, especially from abroad, to see LFIs success solely as a hopeful sign of radical-Left recovery and renewal. And it is indeed the case that to a large extent people voted for LFI for left-wing reasons. The flipside, though, is that this success was also built upon a policy of shattering the Lefts identities, symbols and historical reference points (in the true meaning of the word Left).

This apparent paradox cant be grasped within the usual analytical framework. But we must come to terms with what is taking place. The danger is that the net outcome will be more negative than positive  with the destructive ramifications on peoples consciousness weighing more heavily in the balance than the underpinnings of renewal and reconstruction. LFI requires a specific analytical framework that takes in its contradictory features.

LFI is clearly a multi-faceted space. A number of radical-Left activists have gotten involved based on the compelling argument that we should be in those spaces where things are happening. Unfortunately, this involvement took place without in-depth debate (with a few exceptions, such as Samy Johsua). In any event, a chapter is now closed. The long 2016-2017 election cycle is over. The important choices now are the ones that will be made over the coming days and weeks. There can be no getting around a substantive debate on the very notion of Left populism, its ambiguities and the serious dangers that they entail. As Samy Johsua and Roger Martelli have pointed out, populaire (working-class) and populist are not the same thing:

Of course, theres nothing disgraceful about finding populism appealing; there are solid arguments in its favour. But these same arguments can also lead us into a dead-end. Populism claims to be combative but it could well be paving the way now for future defeats. We arent about fighting with the far-Right for control of the nation; rather, we seek to extend the realm of popular sovereignty toward all political spaces without distinction. We arent about wresting collective identity, be it national or of any other sort, away from the far-Right; rather, we advocate the free embrace of identities and belonging  with a massive increase in equality, the only lasting basis for common endeavour. We arent about taking populism back from the far-Right; rather, we undermine their influence by building an emancipatory force rooted in the working classes. Populaire (working-class) is not the same as populist. Our efforts must focus on building this force for working-class dignity.[13]

Once Again on the Political Situation

Overall, the results of the presidential election are very worrying. In the first round, the top three candidates were of the Right and far-Right. Emmanuel Macron is man of the Right in every respect  economic, of course, but also philosophical (his conception of the role of the individual in society); his profile differs only in that he hails from a modern Right on societal questions, unlike the very conservative Catholic third-place finisher Francois Fillon. As for the second-place finisher Marine Le Pen, she is the figurehead of the far-Right Front National (currently facing internal challenges following the calamitous end to her second-round campaign and the broad range of voters that coalesced against her).

The presidential race also shed light on the fragile state of bourgeois governance in the country, given the important role played by unexpected bumps in the road. After the right-wing primary, Fillon was seen as a shoe-in to win the presidential election. But he then got embroiled in a series of what can only be described as unprecedented financial scandals. The striking thing about it all, though, was how his party was unable to find a replacement, placing the hangmans noose around its own neck. Had it been otherwise, Macron wouldnt have won in 2017.

PS party rebel Benoit Hamon had a stroke of luck, securing his partys nomination in the Socialist primary. At one point, he was ahead of Melenchon in the polls. But he was unable or unwilling to break with the PS and the apparatus of the moribund party clipped his wings. Had this not occurred, its not certain that Melenchons campaign would have taken off in time to reach his final 19.6 per cent result.

Melenchons campaign crossed over into shooting distance of the presidency during a short period of time and in a number of stages  first, the shift of polling numbers from disgruntled Hamon supporters; then a TV debate where he got the better of the four other candidates; and finally, the growing sense that he could make it into the second round.

Macron and Melenchon were adept at seizing the opportunity that the paralysis of the two government parties opened up for them. As a result, the political-institutional stage in France is now dominated by two movements that are works in progress  on a large scale on the Right (Macron and LREM) and on a small scale on the Left (Melenchon and LFI). There has been an unprecedented 72 per cent turnover among members of parliament. We are in uncharted waters.

That being said, I think that the outcome of the legislative elections, coming on the heels of the presidential contest, have revealed the limits of the changes that have taken place. The president got his majority, but it wasnt a landslide. In the first round, opposition tickets experienced the usual decline relative to their presidential candidates scores. They rebounded somewhat in the second round thanks to the estrangement of many Macron voters, no doubt troubled by new scandals involving newly appointed ministers (Richard Ferrand and Francois Bayrou among others). And through it all, abstention broke all previous records  hitting 57 per cent in the second round of the legislative elections!

Melenchon probably paid a price for refusing to make a clear call to come out against Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election (as part of an attempt to hold together the wide range of voters that supported him in the first round); and for appearing excessively ambitious at each stage. Macron paid a price for scandals involving ministers in his first cabinet. But ultimately there was neither left-wing insurrection at the ballot box nor right-wing landslide. Even at a time of great party-political and institutional upheaval, political disaffection remains the dominant feature.[14] The democratic crisis is deepening.

Emmanuel Macron knows full well that he has not won a landslide. He also knows that his opponents have been seriously weakened, for the time being. So he does indeed have room for manoeuvre  and will do so for the worse. We are in a defensive position. We will probably need time to build a broad coalition of social and democratic resistance (instances of resistance already exist, but they are still marginal). No such coalition will be built without unity and absent renewal of political practice on the radical Left and in social movements. 

This article first published by europe-solidaire.org.

This article was written for the German monthly Sozialistische Zeitung (SOZ), and written just after the last round of legislative elections. La France Insoumise is holding a convention in October; that should be the occasion for a more open discussion on the questions raised by this novel experience in French politics.

Translation from French by Nathan Rao.
Economy, Labour  July 28, 2017  Autoworkers Caravan

The following resolution calling for the repeal of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the work of the Autoworkers Caravan. It is an organizing, educating and mobilizing group of current and former autoworkers, largely located in the USA, but with some Canadian Unifor members as well. The group is somewhat of a successor to the once active oppositional movement within the U.S.-centred International, the United Auto Workers (UAW)  the now defunct New Directions movement. The Autoworkers Caravan, formed in 2008 and based in the Detroit area, continues to challenge the leadership of the UAW, and works to democratize and energize union locals across the USA. Caravan activity has included opposing concessions, unequal tiering of workplaces and lack of union democracy. It champions international solidarity and support of autoworkers across the NAFTA zone  as is clear from the resolution below. The resolution, in the words of one of the Caravan activists, Scott Houldieson, will be broadcast to as many local and international unions as possible. One of the goals will be to rally opposition to another corporate trade deal that sacrifices our environment and our standard of living. The NAFTA renegotiations are set to begin on August 16, 2017. We would like to see simultaneous rallies across North America on that date in opposition to NAFTA. Lets rally opposition to NAFTA on August 16th and at regular intervals afterwards.

Whereas, President Trump made a campaign promise to scrap NAFTA, and Whereas, there is an attack on immigrant workers documented and undocumented in the United States and NAFTA has been used to pit U.S. workers against Mexican workers to benefit multi-national Corporations from the U.S. and around the world, and

Whereas, the escalating attack on immigrant workers and people of color is a threat to all workers and organized labor in the United States, the immigrant community and

their children in schools are being terrorized by ICE and the racist attacks on immigrants, and

Whereas, NAFTA has been used to privatize railroads, telecom, oil, education and the dismantling of Mexicos agricultural industry causing forced migration of 18 million people from their homelands in Mexico. The U.S. and other multi-national Corporations have colluded with the Mexican government using NAFTA to prevent unionization at the 1500 maquiladora factories in Mexico, and

Whereas, the privatization of land has forced hundreds of thousands of indigenous people off their indigenous homeland as many as 80,000 farmworkers and their families forced to move outside their communities, towns, cities, and Northern states to find work often under horrible inhumane working conditions that are designed to enslave people/workers, like the Driscolls corporation in Baja, Mexico and other subsidiary farms, and

Whereas, the Trump administration is increasing the militarization of the border of the United States and Mexico that is dividing families and children from their parents, relatives, and grandparents who have not been in reachable contact in many cases over 20 years, and

Whereas, the Trump administration has said that the Mexican people are responsible for the failure of NAFTA, and the U.S. will renegotiate NAFTA allowing U.S. multi-nationals and businesses to expand, exploit, and renegotiate this agreement without the input of unions, human rights environmental organization groups, and health and welfare coalitions

to improve the agreement, rather the Trump administration will use this opportunity to further attack workers in Mexico, USA, and Canada, and

Whereas, the same companies and multi-nationals that pushed NAFTA will be in charge of renegotiating NAFTA to benefit these same corporations and to further the expansion of the Guest Workers programs, and to further privatization and deregulation without the input of unions, and workers, and

Whereas, labor should support the unification of workers in Mexico, USA, and Canada against the same multi-nationals and union busters that are weakening workers in the world, and the U.S. labor force should call for the cancellation of NAFTA and for the nationalization of property and lands expropriated from the people of Mexico, and

Whereas, the Sacramento, California Central Labor Council has endorsed this resolution,

Therefore Be It Resolved, the U.S. unions need to support full unionization of workers in Mexico and Canada by building direct worker-solidarity, by enforcing international strike-actions in USA, Mexico, and Canada as all three countries are under attack, by the same multi-nationals, and

Be it Further Resolved, we oppose NAFTA being reformed to benefit global multi-nationals thieving off the poorest labor force in particular Mexico, USA, and Canada no longer, and

Be It Further Resolved, the Autoworker Caravan calls for united solidarity action of workers in Mexico, United States, and Canada for the cancellation of NAFTA, and calls for an end to the massive ICE attacks on immigrant workers documented and undocumented in the U.S., and

Be It Further Resolved, the Autoworker Caravan calls for all unions, Labor Councils, the AFL-CIO, immigrant rights organizations, LGBTQ, environmental, womens, student, religious faith, Civil & human rights organizations to support this call and urge solidarity action on August 16, 2017 the day the Trump Administration starts NAFTA re-negotiation. 
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.
Oh, if only Joe Faraldo knew how many times he had to go around on the half mile track in a mile and a quarter race perhaps he could have won two races Friday at Cesena and boosted the U.S.A.s chances to at least make things closer in the Italian-American Challenge. But thank goodness for Tony Verruso and Alan Schwartz yelling out Joe, we got a another round to go, did Joe start to drive again before pulling up thinking he had won.

In the end the very heavy favourite driven by one of the three Italian champions they threw at the Americans, just buggy rode past a newly awakened Faraldo who ended up second said Alan Schwartz who garnered the show dough in that contest.

But Faraldos mistake was indeed costly. But truthfully, no one was beating the Italian champion even with a faultless drive. Verruso and Ciuffetelli faced a wall of blocking Italians who demonstrated the art of team racing and how to measure points.

In the next race, at a one mile distance, Joe once again found the front with Only One Diamond and he backed into every challenger over a measured first half and then poured on the gas for a faster last half to win for the second time in the six-race USA-Italy Challenge. Tony Verruso, the Billings capo, finished third after a little traffic trouble.

All in all, the lost ground on day one couldnt be made up but the American team was valiant in their efforts in the last four races of the challenge.

The Italians put a hurtin' on us early as we got acclimated to their driving style and we had to wade through the myriad of detailed instructions said Alan Schwartz, the American with the most wins of any U.S. competing amateur today.

After all was said and done, the Italians, from Moretti, Ruffato, Zorretto, the brothers Mecheloto and Stefano De Lano could not have been more understanding and accommodating to their American friends.

Touring Venice and Padova, a trip to the most famous Scuderia of the Biasuzzi , to the he most enjoyable lunches and dinners at some of the finest restaurants in the Veneto region, especially the Villa Italia, in Padova the Italians treated their visitors like royalty sparing no expense to make team America feel most welcome just as the French had recently for a team of Americans in May.

The intent now is to have the Italians come to America, perhaps around the time of the famed Hambletonian in August of 2018 for a rematch and hopefully for America, some final revenge.

Truly making friends abroad, cultivating interest in our product and hoping to see a renaissance in Italys harness racing as well as worldwide, takes work nothing else suffices. Many of the Italians are still interested in American blood and also wish to see the books of America and France opened for the betterment of the sport.

When you hear Italian or other languages spoken at a U.S. sale, like Harrisburg or Lexington, remember these are people who love our sport and in Italy they are demonstrating much patience and love for the sport as you can see from the note below, and how they are all coping with a less than ideal situation, said Joe Faraldo.

An interesting aside to the Italian trip concerns the Hippodromo (racetrack in Padova ) which because of the governments pull back of support for the industry, initially was just shut down. But then after three years it reopened with a disco open every evening with live music to attract young people despite racing only two days a week. On those two days the food at the track is free, but for drinks you must pay. There is outdoor seating with umbrellas at each table and areas some for children to play. As one might imagine attendance is up and so is wagering. In short, the track has been resurrected from the dead.

The government still has the industry in a state of limbo and the horsemen have to wait seven months to get paid purse money and theres always the chance in Italy that it might never happen. Like horsemen all over the world who keep this game going, those in Italy are survivors, because they truly love this sport."

In Cesana, the track was so soft and perfect for the horses, not so much just for the timer. One could not hear these beautiful animals as they navigated this half mile oval near the sea. While we will not be there Saturday evening we are told the place is sold out. Apparently they are still doing some things very, very right.
The essential component of totalitarian propaganda is artifice (het toepassen van kunstgrepen. svh) . The ruling elites, like celebritie...
Cowlitz County health officials have released a plan they hope will save the countys controversial needle exchange program. But one county commissioner already says he will reject it.

The plan outlines measures to make the program a one-for-one needle exchange, issue quarterly reports, limit the number of needles exchanged at any one time and take other steps demanded of the commissioners. But it also, citing legal issues, resists some of the commissioners other demands.

On June 27, the commissioners voted to suspend the countys syringe exchange program within 90 days unless the health department met five conditions within 30 days.

The five conditions: implement a true one-for-one syringe exchange; report quarterly how many participants entered substance abuse treatment; report quarterly how many new IV drug use-related infections are reported by the medical community; limit the number of syringes given out at once to 80; and prohibit the issuing of drug starter kits.

Health and Human Services sent their plan to the commissioners Thursday. Mortensen, the one commissioner in the office this week, said he was upset with multiple aspects of the plans and was frustrated with health officials lack of communication with commissioners.

In my knowledge, nobody was in contact with the board, asking, Is this what you have in mind?  Mortensen said Friday.

Neither of the other two commissioners, Joe Gardner or Dennis Weber, was available for comment as of Friday.

The needle exchange is intended to reduce the spread of bloodborne diseases through shared use of tainted needles and encourage users to get treatment. According to the health department, the county last year exchanged nearly 890,000 needles last year with 850 clients (an average of about 1,050 per person). Twelve other counties, including Clark, King and Grays Harbor, as well as the cities of Tacoma and Spokane, run needle exchange programs, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

The health department plan states that all changes will take effect on Sept. 1, 24 days before the 90-day cutoff. However, Mortensen said he believed the changes should have been implemented by now.

I had anticipated in the spirit of the offering that the plan was supposed to be presented to us shortly, implemented by the end of the month, then we see if we continue the program after 60 days, he said.

The health department plan says the needle exchange program will become a one-for-one needle exchange, although the plan warns that doing so will mean CCHHS will discontinue using common safety practice. Mortensen said although he was happy the exchange would be one-for-one, he didnt like the documents tone in that section, particularly the common safety practice part.

Thats a prejudicial statement, he said. Were not asking them to endanger themselves, but here it says that were endangering them. I dont like that.

Dr. Luke Rosen, a member of the PeaceHealth medical group who has been board-certified in addiction medicine, warned after the June commissioner meeting that a one-for-one needle exchange would potentially increase exposure risks to the service staff as a result of extra handling of used needles.

The Health Department plan also says it is illegal to comply with one of the commissioners conditions: reporting how many exchange clients enter chemical dependency treatment. It would violate federal rules to directly report the number of clients entering a substance use program, according to the plan.

Mortensen said he believes this lack of information means theres no point to the needle exchange at all.

Fundamentally, theyre saying, Were providing a service, but were not allowed to see if were doing anything substantial with that,  he said.

For the third request from the Board, CCHHS will make an effort to report quarterly the number of new HIV and Hepatitis B and C cases in Cowlitz County in which IV drug use could be a risk factor.

The document does note that there was already a law in place that required health care providers to provide CCHHS with new HIV/Hepatitis B and C cases, and that because those diseases have multiple causes, it might be tricky to determine whether IV use played a role.

Mortensen said he was frustrated with the wording in this section, and he would like to have will make an effort to report quarterly replaced with will report quarterly.

Finally, CCHHS stated that they would limit the amount of syringes given at one time to 80, and that it prohibited issuing starter kits in May 2017 and will continue to do so. Mortensen had no objections to these two aspects of the plan.

The Health Department points out that the exchange program operates only three hours a week. Because the program would limit each client to 80 needles per visit, the agency said they might need to increase the hours or days the exchange is open to accommodate a potential increase of visitors.

Mortensen said he was annoyed by this add-on, stating, This is typical bureaucracy saying, If you make me do what I dont want to do, its going to cost you. 

Mortensen said that he is going to try to eradicate the entire syringe exchange program soon.

Will I be successful? I dont know, it takes two out of the three commissioners, he said. Theres not a mention of safety issues for the public, no focus on that. I just dont think its very good.

Health Director Chris DesRosier did not return multiple phone calls for comment.

The commissioner said he will attempt to bring up the issue at one of the Board of Commissioners weekly Tuesday morning meetings, likely Aug. 8.
Dr. Amy Meoli remembers driving the wrong way of one-way streets in medical school. Back then, there were no limits on how many hours medical students could work, and she was constantly sleep-deprived.

A few years later, when I was actually caught up in a normal sleep pattern, I realized oh yeah  I was really impaired, said the new medical director of PeaceHealth St. Johns sleep center.

Meoli, who started at PeaceHealth in May, comes to Longview from Penn State Universitys Sleep Research and Treatment Center. Shes been studying sleep medicine since 1997, when she was selected for one of 14 sleep medicine fellowships available in the country at the time.

Meoli is now presiding over an expansion of PeaceHealths sleep center services. PeaceHealth has the only accredited sleep center in Cowlitz County, where disorders such as sleep apnea and insomnia are common. The center is expanding its services to pediatric patients in September and is developing a chronic insomnia program that focuses on non-medication treatments. Its also expanding its home testing program to people living in more remote areas of the county.

The countys above-average rates of obesity, substance abuse and smoking make the population more susceptible to sleep disorders, Meoli said, although county-level data is scarce. Between 25 and 30 percent of adults in Cowlitz County report sleeping less than seven hours a night, according to a 2016 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Typically, your sleep apnea and insomnia rates are going to go up exponentially in a lower socioeconomic group, Meoli said.

Sleep apnea  the most common condition patients are treated for at the sleep center  is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a persons breathing is interrupted during sleep. There are two types: one, where a persons airway is blocked; and another, where the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe. About 22 million Americans suffer from the disorder, while about 80 percent of moderate and severe cases go undiagnosed, according to the CDC.

A University of Wisconsin study found that over an 18-year period, people with severe, untreated sleep apnea died a rate more than three times that of those without apnea. The disorder is also a factor in many vehicle collisions and accidents with heavy machinery.

Treating the disorder is relatively straightforward. Patients can come into the sleep center for an overnight study conducted in one of the sleep centers six bedrooms. Medical staff will measure metrics such as blood-oxygen levels, brain-wave activity and the apnea-hypopnea index  or the number of partial inhalation incidents the sleeper experiences per hour. Sometimes insurance companies require a home test first.

After a patient is diagnosed with sleep apnea, Meoli works to develop a care plan that includes routine follow-ups. The patient will also be prescribed a CPAP machine, which stands for continuous positive airway pressure. The machine creates pressure in the sleepers throat to ensure it doesnt close. CPAP machines generally cost around $1,500. Insurance will usually cover most of the cost.

Its kind of like a glorified expensive air compressor, Meoli said.

While only about 40 percent of people who have been prescribed sleep apnea machines actually use them, PeaceHealths sleep center regularly achieves a 75- to 80-percent compliance rate for its devices, Meoli said. Thats because the sleep centers staff work hard to educate patients about the devices before they take them home and perform regular follow-ups, she said.

Meoli said the current wait time for a consult is usually less than a week, and most new patients can be seen in one to two days.
Harassment, violation of protection order  Longview police Thursday arrested Andrew Robert Gaze, 42, of Longview on suspicion of felony harassment and violation of a protection order.

Drugs  Longview Police Street Crimes Thursday arrested Katie Marie Mayfield, 32, of Kelso, on suspicion of a felony drug charge.

Witness tampering  Longview police Thursday arrested Donald Lee Ruiter, 47, of Longview on suspicion of tampering with a witness.

Possession of stolen vehicle  Castle Rock police Thursday arrested Desarae Dawn Minges, 37, of Longview on suspicion of possessing a stolen vehicle, taking a motor vehicle without permission and a felony drug charge.

Possession of stolen vehicle  Castle Rock police Thursday arrested Erwin Boyd Bartlett, 54, of Longview on suspicion of thirddegree driving with a license suspended, possession of a stolen vehicle, taking a motor vehicle without permission and a felony drug charge.

Impersonation, fugitive, stolen vehicle  Woodland police Friday arrested Mary McAbee, 28, of Woodland on suspicion of first-degree criminal impersonation, driving with a license suspended, fugitive eluding, possession of a stolen vehicle, second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and a felony drug possession charge.

Drugs  Lewis County Sheriffs Office Thursday arrested Jonathan R. Brown, 28, of Longview on suspicion of a felony drug charge.

Vehicle prowl

200 block of Kelso Drive, Kelso. Friday. Two laptop computers and a Canadian passport were stolen. No sign of damage or forced entry.
craigslist: thailand jobs, apartments, for sale, services, community, and events

craigslist provides local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, services, local community, and events
IS claims deadly attack in Syria against US-backed force

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters, prepare to fire a mortar shell, at one of the front lines, in Raqqa city, northeast Syria on Thursday.

Reuters, Hamburg :

A 26-year-old migrant to Germany who was supposed to leave the country went on a stabbing spree with a kitchen knife in a Hamburg supermarket on Friday, killing a 50-year-old man and leaving six others injured, police and city officials said.

Germany is less than two months away from parliamentary elections on Sept. 24 in which Chancellor Angela Merkel is likely to win a fourth term despite tensions about her decision in August 2015 to open the door to over one million migrants. Security has been a big issue in the campaign.

Passersby threw chairs and other objects at the attacker as he fled the scene, enabling plain clothes police officers to take him into custody near the store, according to police and videos posted on Twitter.

Police said the man, who was born in the United Arab Emirates, suddenly began attacking customers in a supermarket in the northern city on Friday afternoon.

Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz said in a statement that the assailant was "apparently a foreigner who was supposed to leave the country," but could not be deported because he did not have the necessary identification papers. Police said they were still trying to determine his citizenship.

"It's also infuriating that this perpetrator is someone who asked for protection in Germany and then turned his hate against us," Scholz said.

A police spokeswoman said she could not confirm that the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar", Arabic for "God is Greatest", as he ran out of the supermarket, as one witness told German broadcaster n-tv.

Bild newspaper reported late on Friday that armed police forces had searched the migrant housing center where the attacker had lived.

The police spokeswoman said the motive for the attack was still under investigation. She said she had no information that the attacker was known to authorities as an Islamist, as reported by the newspaper Tagesspiegel.

Police said a 50-year-old woman and four men aged between 19 and 64 were injured in the attack, all of whom were German. A 35-year-old Turkish man was also injured while trying to stop the attacker, they said. Media reports said he injured his shoulder while throwing a metal rod at the attacker.

Police have been on high alert in Germany since a spate of attacks on civilians last year including a December attack on a Berlin Christmas market, when a hijacked truck plowed into the crowds, killing 12 and injuring many more.

The man responsible for that attack was also denied asylum, but had not been deported because authorities were waiting for his home country of Tunisia to issue identification papers.

Bild showed a picture of a man said to be the Hamburg attacker sitting in the back of a police car, his face concealed with a bloodied shroud.

A video on Bild's website showed a helicopter landed outside the supermarket with armed police in body armor patrolling the neighborhood.




July 7 wedding Two nerds in love Arriving at Jeopardy in 2013

A New Brunswick teacher, Maryanne Lewell, has married a fellow Jeopardy! contestant, American Michael Townes, this month and become a media sensation in the process. Lewell, a teacher of history and social studies at Saint John High School, says shes surprised by all the attention theyve received because she and Townes are just two nerds in love. Lewell met the South Carolinian four years ago during the quiz shows annual teachers tournament and fell for him after he visited her several times in Saint John. Their July 7 wedding in St. Andrews By-The-Sea, N.B., was featured in the coveted Vows section of The New York Times a notation that started a cascade of stories in publications ranging from People to Martha Stewart Weddings. We are just a couple of boring nerds, who met doing something we love, Lewell told The Canadian Press in an email from Texas where the new couple is visiting family. And while the attention and support has been wonderful and affirming, its also overwhelming. But its cool that people love our story: we love it too.
Top US senator calls for tough action aganist Pak for supporting terror

A top US Senator called for tough action against Pakistan for supporting terror.

PTI, Washington :

Top US Senator John McCain has moved a legislative amendment in the Senate to impose gradual diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan if it continues to provide support to terrorist groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The move, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2018, is part of an effort by Senator McCain to establish lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, and to prevent this war-torn country from being a launch pad for terrorist attacks against the United states.

Mr McCain is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and legislative moves by him always get through the Congress.

The Senate amendment 609 to NDAA-2018 says that it is the sense of the US Congress to deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy the ability of terrorist groups to conduct attacks against the US, its allies, and its core interests. The amendment also allows it to prevent Taliban from using military force to overthrow the Afghan Government and reduce the Taliban's control of the Afghan population.

As part of this objective, Mr McCain calls for strengthening the Afghan security forces, authorisation of US forces to target terrorists of the Haqqani network and the Taliban and others. He also calls for regional diplomatic initiatives including India under this move.

The legislative amendment calls for "imposing graduated diplomatic, military, and economic costs on Pakistan as long as it continues to provide support and sanctuary to terrorist and insurgent groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

"It calls for simultaneously outlining the potential benefits of a long-term United States-Pakistan strategic partnership that could result from the cessation by Pakistan of support for all terrorist and insurgent groups and constructive role in bringing about a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan."

Moved on the Senate floor on Thursday, the amendment also calls for intensifying America's regional diplomatic efforts working through flexible frameworks for regional dialogue together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and other nations to promote political reconciliation in Afghanistan. The move is also aimed towards advance regional cooperation on issues such as border security, intelligence sharing, counter-narcotics, transportation, and trade to reduce mistrust and build confidence among regional states.

The McCain amendment proposes strict conditioning of American economic, and governance assistance programs for Afghanistan upon measurable progress in achieving joint United States-Afghanistan benchmarks for implementing necessary institutional reforms, especially those related to anti-corruption, financial transparency, and the rule of law.
Memorial meeting on AL leader Ishaque Mia held

BSS, Chittagong :

Awami League (AL) advisory council member Dr Anupom Sen paid glowing tributes to AL advisory council member, elderly politician, liberation war organizer and former member of the parliament late Mohammad Ishaque Mia for his outstanding contributions to politics.

"We have many things to learn from the prolonged political legacy of unselfishness that he has left for the rank and file of the party", he said in a memorial meeting.

Eminent social scientist and vice-chancellor of Premier University Prof Dr Anupom Sen was addressing the memorial meeting on the late Mohammad Ishaque Mia, AL advisory council member, as chief guest.

Swdhinata Utshab Udjapan Parisad Chittagong organized the function, held at Shishu Academy on Friday night.

Paying rich tributes to late Mohammad Ishaque Mia, a freedom fighter of the country's liberation war, Dr Anupom Sen said late Ishaque Mia became politician from the grass-root level.

Engineer Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, secretary of the Swdhinata Utshab Udjapan Parisad presided over function and was addressed, among others, by city AL vice president Muktijuddah Noym Uddin Chowdhury, Central Sramik League leader Shofar Ali, AL league leaders Sheikh Mahmud Ishak, penel mayor Chowdhury Hasan Mahmud Hasni, Mahbubul Hoq Mia and Chittagong Press Club vice President Monjur Kader Monju.

Other speakers said Ishaque Mia silently worked for the independence and prosperity of the country throughout his life and worked for flourishing culture and literature of the region.

Ishaque was a Member of the National Assembly in 1970 and a member of parliament from Doublemooring and Port constituency in 1986.

Fire guts 3 shops : At least three shops were gutted in a fire at Bay shopping center at Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) in the city early yesterday.

Fire service officials said the fire originated from an electric short circuit at a shop in the market around 2.30 am and it quickly engulfed the adjacent shops.

Four units of fire fighters rushed to the spot and brought the flame under control around 4.30 am.

The extent of loss from the fire could go up to TK 10 lakh, they said, adding none was reportedly injured in the fire.
Gender-based violence advocacy meeting held

A Correspondent :

Nari Jogajog Kendra of Chittagong metro organised an advocacy meeting about Protected Gender based Violence on Thursday.

The programme took place at GEC Palace Hall room on Thursday morning.

The advocacy meeting was held under Humanity and Equality to Accelerate Rights through Therapeutic Theatre (HEART) projects and supported by United Theatre for Social Action (UTSA), a non-government organisation.

Speakers in the programme talked about gender violence in home and outside to women. They also gave some points and solution to administration.

Presided over by Nadira Sultana Helen, Programme Officer of UTSA the programme addressed by Lutfunnessa Baby, Councilor of Chittagong City Corporation (CCC), Subra Biswas, President of Inner Wheel Club of Chittagong and Sultana Tahamina Khanam, Social Welfare Officer of Women Affairs Department.
How women can rise in academia

Alyssa Walker :

The goal of International Women's Day is to encourage women, and men, to continue to fight for equality and gender parity in all aspects of society. You probably already know that women around the world are often paid less than their male counterparts, but education is helping to equalize the gender pay-gap. Still, even in academia, where the playing field is levelling, women face inequalities in both compensation and representation. Despite women's outnumbering men in university enrollment and graduation rates, women on many campuses continue to make at least 20 percent less than their male counterparts, often experience discriminatory hiring practices that force them into adjunct positions as opposed from tenure-track positions, and are frequently overlooked for under-represented positions, especially in STEM fields.

So: what's a woman in the academic world to do? Continue to be herself. Here are five strategies for women who are pushing and making cracks in that glass ceiling. How can women rise in academia?

1. Ignore stereotypes

You're not bossy. You're assertive. You're not meek. You know when to be quiet-so that you can be heard when you have something to say. You're not obnoxious. You're funny.

You're not trying to act like a man. You are yourself.

Do not let others call you out on behavior that they would never even comment on in a man. In academia, a man's bossiness is often seen as an asset-a guide. A man's quietness is seen as wisdom. And a man's humor-sometimes-is appropriate to the situation. You have all the same qualities. Don't fall for men's stereotypes about you-and sometimes other women's stereotypes about you. Be yourself. Don't let others dictate who you are and how you act.

2. Build confidence: Apply to jobs

You can't get a job or a promotion or recognition without putting yourself out there and applying. Women need to roll up their sleeves, focus on what they want, and then go and get it-with realistic expectations. You need to be resilient and not balk at failure.

Own the decisions you make-apply frequently, take jobs you want, and do the best you can do.

No, you can't have it all-no one can. But women: you can have more than you think. Get yourself out there. Tell yourself you can do it and do it. Give it a try.

3. Network

Women need to work together and support each other. Women benefit from mentoring and networking programs. A few programs, like Journeys in World Politics, Women in International Security, Women in Conflict Studies, the Society for Women in International Political Economy, and the International Studies Association Pay It Forward program offer mentoring programs to women who want to make it in academia. Connect yourself-and put yourself out there.

4. Showcase your work

Studies suggest that women are less likely than men to write op-eds, blogs, Twitter posts, and use other social media. Start doing those things. Make yourself a website where people can visit and read your work. Start a blog post about your academic work. Promote your work social media like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Send out a press release when you've achieved something in your department. Write letters to the editor. Make yourself known.

5. Never give up

If at first you don't succeed try again and again and again. Consider the story of Robin Sakamoto, Kyorin University's Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Studies. Sakamoto is the second foreign woman ever to earn a deanship in Japan-she's American. One of her goals is to help improve attitudes and regulations about gender equality and work-life balance in Japan. Sakamoto, a woman in academia, pushed through boundaries-but not without falling first. She got back up, and continues to do so.

So can you.

(Alyssa Walker is a freelance writer, educator, and nonprofit consultant. She lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with her family).
What does bilingual education mean for California?

Joanna Hughes :

While the presidential race garnered the majority of attention in last month's US elections, there were plenty of other noteworthy results. In the educational sphere, California made history by lifting an 18-year-long restriction on bilingual education, with Proposition 58 passing by a significant 73-27 margin. Let's take a closer look at the vote, along with what it means for the future of multilingual learning in California.

About Senate Bill 1174

Dubbed the Non-English Languages Allowed in Public Education Act (Senate Bill 1174) and referred to as Proposition 58, the ballot tasked California voters with deciding whether to repeal or let stand 1998's Proposition 227, the "English in Public Schools" Initiative, which virtually eliminated bilingualism from state schools by relegating "Limited English Proficient" (LEP) students to special classes while simultaneously eliminating the majority of these classes. Per Proposition 227's requirements, LEP students took one year of intensive English before switching to English-only classes. Parental waivers were also required for students to participate in non-English-only coursework.

Having voted a resounding "yes" to Proposition 58 in November, California will no longer mandate English-only education in its classrooms. Students will not only regain access to bilingual educational programming, but also the opportunity to learn from teachers who speak their own native languages as well as English. Parental waivers will no longer be required, and school districts and government officials will be required to solicit annual feedback from parents and the community on language education programs.

While Proposition 58 is cause for celebration for the many advocates of bilingualism in schools, the path to change is complicated. According to a report from NPR, state and school officials will face questions related to how schools will transition to offering bilingual instruction, how much that will cost, and where to find bilingual teachers.

We can, however, expect the following three things:

1. English proficiency will still be required.

California is home to the US's highest proportion of students who speak a non-English language at home. While Prop 58 will permit dual-language programs in order to support these students, it will also maintain an English proficiency requirement.

This now narrows the field down to just three US states with laws restricting bilingual education programs: Arizona, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Others, meanwhile, have launched aggressive initiatives aimed at promoting dual-language educational programming in public schools. And with good reason: a growing body of research indicates that a well-executed bilingual education stimulates the brain's learning center across everything from dealing with ambiguities to problem-solving. Some scientists even suggest that a multilingual brain is more resistant to dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.

2. Dual language programming will grow.

While county and state administrators may still be wrestling with the specifics, experts agree that California can expect to see a significant spike in students taking advantage of bilingual programming. According to Governing.com, Prop 58 will immediately impact approximately 1.4 million English learners-or 22 percent of the state's public school population-in currently enrolled in California's public schools.

But access won't be limited to non-English speakers. Dual-language classes are increasingly popular with English-speaking students, for whom enrollment in bilingual immersion program is also expected to grow.

And while the specifics of what bilingual programming is offered will be decided at the local level, that decision ultimately rests in the hands of parents, not administrators. If even a small proportion of parents express a demand for bilingual instruction, schools may be forced to comply. And just as local districts will offer or not offer programming based on this demand, so will the cost of new programming remain at the local level.

3. Language teachers will be in great demand.

Many parents are eager for bilingual programming but now that it's a reality, will there be enough teachers to support demand when the law goes into effect on July 1, 2017?

Already, the state of California is managing a deficit of teachers with the skills to instruct in multiple languages, according to National Association for Bilingual Education Executive Director Santiago Wood as reported by EdSource. EdSource also reveals that the number of teachers receiving credentials to teach in California's bilingual or dual immersion programs has been on a steady decline for the past six consecutive years.

A large part of the issue? Recovering from Prop 227, during which bilingual education in the state was essentially forbidden. In order to successfully navigate what's ahead, insiders say, California will need to incentivize teachers to invest in preparing themselves for working in bilingual programs.

In the meanwhile, school districts are employing diverse tactics to find more teachers, including conducting national searchers, increasing training opportunities for teaching assistants who may have the abilities but lack the credentials, and even recruiting overseas through the Exchange Visitor Program for Teachers.

Although the path to implementing Prop 58 is indeed fraught with challenges, the vast majority of educational experts agree that it's a worthwhile endeavor. In addition to better meeting the immediate needs of California's non-English speaking students, research increasingly shows that learning more than one languages comes with tangible, lasting social and cognitive benefits for all.



(Joanna worked in higher education administration for many years at a leading research institution before becoming a full-time freelance writer. She lives in the beautiful White Mountains region of New Hampshire with her family).


Belarus to supply $20m worth of beef to China in 2017

Xinhua, Minsk :

Belarus will export 20 million U.S. dollars worth of beef to China in 2017, local media reported.

A protocol of intent on beef export to China was signed by Belarusian companies including the Berezovsky meat canning plant, Pinsk meat packing plant and Brest meat packing plant, and Chinese trade and investment company "Great Silk Road."

Aleksei Bogdanov, head of the Foreign Trade Department of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry, said the Chinese side is interested in importing meat products from Belarus.

"However, we noted that it is necessary for us to slightly change the technology of boning meat to better cater to the demands of Chinese consumers. It will not be difficult for us to do this," he said.

Eight Belarusian meat processing companies have been certified to export beef to China.
Irish PM rules out economic border after Brexit

AFP, Dublin :

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Ireland would not accept an economic border with Northern Ireland after Brexit and urged Britain to come up with alternatives in an unusually blunt statement.

"As far as this government is concerned there shouldn't be an economic border.

We don't want one," said Varadkar, who came to power last month.

He warned Ireland would not "design a border for the Brexiteers" and said that the onus was on Britain to come up with proposals since it had created the problem by voting to leave the European Union.

"It's Britain that has decided to leave and if they want to put forward smart solutions, technological solutions for borders of the future and all of that that's up to them," he told Irish media.

Some British ministers have suggested the installation of an "smart" and "invisible" border including cameras and pre-registration checks for trucks carrying goods.

"What we're not going to do is to design a border for the Brexiteers because they're the ones who want a border," Varadkar said.

The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is currently open as both countries are in the EU, with a free flow of goods and tens of thousands of people crossing it every day to work on the other side.

The Irish border issue is one of three key Brexit problems-along with the divorce bill and the status of EU nationals living in Britain-that Brussels and London have to resolve before moving on to negotiations about future trade ties.

Varadkar said that an economic border no longer existed in practice and he was keen to keep it that way.

"We're not going to be helping them to design some sort of border that we don't believe should exist in the first place," he said.




BTRC Chairman hands over Merged Co License to Robi

UNB, Dhaka :

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood handed over the Merged Company License to Robi Axiata Limited on Saturday.

BTRC chairman handed over the license to Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, managing director and CEO of Robi, at a programme at Bangabandhu International Convention Centre.

State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim was present during the programme.

Speaking at the ceremony Tarana Halim said "We are happy to see the biggest ever merger of the country taking place in the telecom sector. We are confident that the merged company Robi will play a greater role in implementing the vision of Digital Bangladesh with increased investment."

BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood congratulated Robi family for completing the biggest ever merger of the country.
Disqualification of PM Sharif : The message is really powerful

THE Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding public office in a landmark decision on the Panama Papers case. Shortly after, the PM House issued a notification saying that Nawaz Sharif, despite having "strong reservations" on the SC's verdict, has stepped down from his post as the premier.



The decision brings Sharif's third term in power to an unceremonious end, roughly one year before the scheduled general elections which would have seen him become the first Pakistani Prime Minister to complete a full five-year term. It is unclear at the moment who will be appointed to take over the post till the next general elections, which are scheduled for 2018.



The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has de-notified the Prime Minister from his National Assembly seat to fulfil the technicalities of implementing the order. The Supreme Court said the ECP should de-seat the PM for not disclosing his role in the Dubai-based Capital FZE company in his nomination papers, saying that this meant he was not 'honest' and 'truthful'.



The ouster of Sharif, 67, who has now had three separate stints as Prime Minister, raises questions about Pakistan's fragile democracy. No Prime Minister (of Pakistan) has completed a full term since independence from British Colonial Rule in 1947. Sharif's two previous stints in power were also cut short, including by a military coup in 1999, but he returned from exile to win a resounding victory in general elections in 2013. This is not new news for Pakistan as the Supreme Court in 2012 disqualified then-Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani over a contempt of court case.



Pakistan's military has denied any involvement in the legal case and did not respond to requests for official comment. The Supreme Court ruled in April there was insufficient evidence to remove Sharif from office - by a 3-2 verdict - but it ordered a probe by an investigative panel that included members of the military intelligence agencies.



The Supreme Court's decision to include two members of the country's military intelligence agencies as part of the six-person JIT team fuelled rumours Pakistan's powerful generals had a hidden hand in the probe against Sharif. The military, however, has distanced itself from the proceedings.



So who wins? The people -- perhaps, if there is a stable transition to power. PMs may come and go but in theory democracy should win. It should send a clear message to those civilians who are elected in Pakistan that they can't be corrupt. However it is noteworthy that not a single army backed leader has ever been impeached or put on trial for corruption -- only the civilian ones.



While this is a victory for the separation of powers, it can also be a reminder to our nation's politicians that they should respect the rule of law and be aware of their accountability for corruption. The Judgement of the Supreme Court of Pakistan is a strong message from the judiciary as protector of the Constitution.






Student-teacher scuffle in front of Senate Bhaban

Arefin Siddique, 2 others named for DU VC panel

A scuffle broke out where some students of Dhaka University tried to enter the Nabab Nawab Ali Senate Bhaban along with the teachers as there was no representative from students for long for electing Vice-Chancellor. The photo was taken on Saturday.

Staff Reporter :

Dhaka University senators on Saturday nominated a three-member panel including the incumbent Vice-Chancellor (VC) AAMS Arefin Siddique for appointment of its new VC.

Two others are incumbent treasurer Professor Kamal Uddin and former Awami League-backed Blue Panel convener Professor Abdul Aziz, our DU correspondent reports quoting senate member Professor AJM Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan.

Senators, in a special meeting, endorsed the names proposed by the meeting convener Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul Islam, Professor Bhuiyan said.

The tenure of incumbent VC Prof Arefin will expire on August 24.

As per the Dhaka University Order, 1973, the VC shall be appointed by the Chancellor for a period of four years from a panel of three teachers. He shall be nominated by the university senate, and be eligible for a re-appointment for a second term.

Meanwhile, a group of Dhaka University students demonstrated against the special session of the university in front of the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban on Saturday as the session was held without any representative of the students.

The students without any banner first gathered at the entrance of the Vice-Chancellor's Office on the way to the Senate Bhaban and chanted slogans against holding the session.

They termed the special session of the senate 'illegal'. They also demanded holding Dhaka University Central Student Union (DUCSU) election.

At one stage, the students locked scuffle with the teachers as the teachers barred them from entering the Senate Bhaban.

Earlier in the morning, they also broke the lock of the gate and entered to the VC Office premises and locked in brawl with the university's proctorial body and security guards.

A special session of the university senate will begin at 4:00pm to nominate a three-member panel for appointing the vice-chancellor amid boycott by BNP-Jamaat-backed teachers' group White Panel.

The pro-BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami 'White' panel boycotted the meeting as it was held with the participation of only 50 members.

Awami League-backed Blue Panel convener Professor Abdul Aziz said that they would finalise their selection of the VC panel candidates one hour prior to the Senate session.

Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique on July 17 convened the special-Senate session.

Some 55 senate members out of 105 will cast their votes in the election to choose the three-member vice-chancellor panel. Later, the chancellor, also the country's president, will appoint one as the VC for four years.
Theyre a living part of history, and on Wednesday night, they got the award to prove it.

On Wednesday night at a ceremony at the Gage County Fair, Orville Meyer and Larry and Debbie Husa were given the Nebraska Pioneer Farm Award from the Aksarben Foundation and the Nebraska Farm Bureau. Both farms have been owned by a single family for the past 100 years and they join the 221 other Gage County farms that are able to claim the honor.

For us, this is a strong part of Gage County, because a lot of people really wait to apply for that, said Lisa Wiegand, whos on the Gage County Ag Society board and is Gage County Tourism director. It's acknowledging their heritage and preserving what that farm's gone through in the last hundred years and beyond that point.

Meyers 160 acre property, located just southeast of Ellis, got its start on February 12, 1917. The farm produced corn, wheat, hogs and cattle and was passed onto Henry and Lydia Meyer in 1929, who passed it down to Orville and Helen Meyer in 1960.

The Husa farm also started in 1917 at 92 acres, 45 of which are still owned by Larry and Debbie Husa. The farm passed down through the family over the past century and produces corn, wheat and cattle.

The Aksarben Foundation was founded in 1895 with a mission of preserving Nebraskas heritage through grants, scholarships and philanthropy.

Paul Hay, who is a UNL Extension educator and Aksarben ambassador, presented the awards to the Pioneer Farm winners. As an ambassador, Hay said, he spends a lot of his time championing causes and writing letters of support for community grants.

This year, I'm 50 percent, Hay said. I'm one out of two. We got one for Auburn, but I didn't get one for Brownville. Last year, I got three of them, Denton got one for a water park, Hebron for their theater and Plymouth's for lighting on the street that they dedicated this last spring.

The Pioneer Farm Awards for Gage county families come with some items that look nice on display, Wiegand said, but theres much more to it than that. Theyre keeping the spirit that created Nebraska alive and relevant.

They get a recognition plaque and a plate that they can put out on their farm, Wiegand said. But what's more important is the recognition that they are truly pioneers in the longevity of agriculture and how it's changed in our area.
2 suspects killed in B`baria `shootouts` hours after arrest

Staff Reporter :

Two persons were killed in separate 'shootouts' with police hours after their arrest in Brahmanbaria district early Saturday.

The deceased have been identified as Yusuf Mia, 28, son of Nurul Islam, from Suhelpur area of Kasba Upazila and Rokon Uddin, 45, son of Yakub Mia, inhabitant of Islamabad area under Sarail Upazila, police said. The two incidents happened in the district's Kasba and Sarail upazilas.

On Friday night, police at Kasba arrested 28-year-old Yusuf Mia from the upazila's Suhelpur with 90kg of marijuana.

Kasba Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Mahiuddin said, "Police took Yusuf to raid his hideout in the Kuti Union after seven hours of arrest from the upazila. Yusuf's accomplices opened fire when the police team reached. The suspect was caught in the cross-fire and died on the spot,"

Police seized country-made fire arms and ammunition from the spot, the OC said.

Sarial Police OC Rupak Kumar Saha said, in another incident "Police took Rokon to raid several spots in the upazila. As soon as the police team reached Islamabad, the suspect's accomplices attacked them. During the shootout, Rokon died but his accomplices managed to flee."

A team of Police arrested Rokon Uddin with a stolen auto-rickshaw on Friday afternoon. The suspect told police during interrogation that he was in possession of 38 more stolen vehicles, the police official said.

The bodies were sent to the Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital for post mortems.


Trump's aide Curtis' Dhaka visit postponed

The planned Dhaka visit of US President Donald Trump's Deputy Assistant Lisa Curtis has been postponed at the last moment. The US side cited "bad weather" in Washington as reason behind the postponement, a senior foreign ministry official told UNB on Saturday afternoon. Lisa Curtis, also Senior Director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, was scheduled to arrive here on Sunday morning in a brief visit and both sides took all the preparations for the visit. She, as per the draft programme schedule, was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque and others.
Charge-sheet after Rashed`s remand

Another 3 'Neo JMB' men held in N'ganj

Staff Reporter :

Police will finalise the charge-sheet of Gulshan cafe attack case on completion of the interrogation of Aslam Hossain Rashed, a key 'Neo JMB' militant, who is one of the planners of the last sensational carnage on July 1 last year.

"The investigation into the case reaches the final phase with the arrest of the key Neo JMB militant," Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit Chief Monirul Islam said while briefing journalists at DMP media centre on Saturday.

"We will finalise the charge-sheet after getting information from Rashed after grilling during remand at the custody of the law enforcers," said Monirul, also Additional Commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

If Rashed gives confessional statement under Section 164, the law enforcers will take help from the statement also, the CTTC chief said. Rashed alias Rash, 20, allegedly a close aide to chief coordinator of 'Neo JMB' Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, was arrested by the law enforcers early Friday. He oversaw the arms training of Gulshan attackers, according to the officials.

He was placed on remand after producing before a court with remand prayer on Saturday.

Metropolitan Magistrate Nurunnahar Yasmeen passed the order after Rashed was produced before the court with a 10-day remand prayer by Inspector Humayun Kabir of the CTTC.

"After Rashed's arrest, we are now trying to arrest another 'Neo JMB' leader Hasidur Rahman Sagor alias Joypurhat Sagor, who played vital role in the attack," the CTTC chief said.

"Although he (Sagor) is on the run, we are sure he is in the country," he added.

Earlier, Monirul had said that they would be able to submit the charge-sheet after the arrest of five 'Neo JMB' leaders who played vital roles in the attack.

The five are: Sohel Mahfuz, Mizanur Rahman alias Chhoto Mizan and Hasidur Rahman Sagor alias Joypurhat Sagor, Basharuzzaman Chocolate and Rashed alias Rash.

Of the five, Sohel was arrested by CTTC on July 8 in Chapainawabganj. Chocolate and Mizan were killed in an anti-militancy raid on a 'Neo JMB' hideout in the same district on April 27.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said they arrested Rashed based on information from Sohel Mahfuz, who supplied bombs for the Gulshan cafe attack.

According to CTTC sources, Rashed joined 'Neo JMB', an offshoot of banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, at the end of 2015 and later became the coordinator of its training programmes.

Meanwhile, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) claimed to have detained three suspected militants of "Sarwar-Tamim group of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh" in Fatullah of Narayanganj on Thursday night, said Lt Col Kamrul Hasan, Company Commander of RAB-11.

The detainees were identified as Waliullah Chishti alias Abu Omar, 27, of Muradnagar in Comilla; Al Amin Sheikh Rajib, 25, of Mollarhat in Bagerhat; and Kamrul Hasan Hridoy, 35, of Debidwar in Comilla, the RAB official said.

The detainees have confessed that they were operatives of the Sarwar-Tamim group of the banned militant outfit, he said.

During the drive, the team also seized one foreign made pistol, one foreign made revolver, five rounds of bullet, two knives, explosives and Jihadi books and leaflets, he added.
Rain waters make city roads unusable

Huge water logging, potholes, cracks developed on Rampura-Malibagh road

City\'s Malibagh Chowdhurypara to Rampura road is in dilapidated condition due to incessant rains and lack of proper drainage system, waters being logged, causing sufferings to commuters, and local residents. This photo was taken on Saturday.

Staff Reporter :

Torrential rains in last few days made the city roads unusable. Water logging, potholes and rugged roads have made it quite difficulty for transports to ply on.

"Starting by bus from Progati Sarani at 3:15 pm, I reached Maniknagar at 6:45pm. It takes around four hours instead of normal one hour," Sumon Biswas, a commuter told The New Nation yesterday.

He said, water logging, potholes and dilapidated condition create huge tailback. The transports cannot run with normal speed. Moreover some development work by the city corporation and other utility services has worsened the situation.

The heavy and incessant rainfall made roads dilapidated. In some areas, drainage systems were also damaged.

The roads from Malibagh level crossing to Chowdhury Para, Rampura, Banasree, Gulistan, Jatrabari, Mirhajirbag and Sayedabad looked like water bodies.

The transport drivers also became annoyed and disappointed as they failed to run vehicles with normal speed.

"We cannot drive our buses with normal speed because of numerous potholes. The danger rises when rainwater hides the potholes. It makes possibility of accidents," said Ali Akbar, a bus driver in Motijheel.

Drivers said, most of the roads in the Dhaka city are unusable due to heavy rainfall of past few days.

The Rampura to Demra Road is rugged in many places. The road from Khilgaon level crossing to Malibagh level crossing is more vulnerable.

The road from Khilgaon flyover to Bashabo-Nandipara areas has become unfit. Jurain-Gulistan and Jurain-Jatrabari roads and Bashabo-WASA roads are also in vulnerable conditions. Toyenbi Circular Road to Motijheel-Kamlapur have numerous potholes.

Roads at Uttar Goran, Sipahibagh, Jatrabari, Sayedabad and adjacent areas also unusable due to huge potholes and broken conditions. Roads at Moghbazar, Tejgaon and adjacent areas and Mohakhali have numerous potholes.

Md. Asaduzzaman, the Additional Chief Engineer of DSCC and Director of the Road Development project, said, " DSCC has taken initiatives to repair all damaged roads."

Qudrat Ullah, the Additional Chief Engineer of DNCC said,"We have already started some repair work."
Brussels takes massive swipe at Poland as crisis continues

The Daily Express :

The European Union's top court has ordered Poland to immediately stop a large-scale logging operation in the primeval Bialoweiza forest as Warsaw continues to clash with Brussels.

It is the latest clash between the EU and Poland after the bloc waded into Warsaw's plans for judicial reforms.

The ruling comes as part of attempts to save the trees at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed forest, as a European Union lodged case against Warsaw looks likely to drag on for years.

A spokeswoman for the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave no immediate reason for the interim ruling, but it follows a legal appeal from the European Commission earlier this month.

In an interim decision, the ECJ said the logging should stop immediately as it could cause "serious and irreversible damage" to the forest.

The main case filed by the Commission against Warsaw at the ECJ could take years to conclude.

The European Commission says the ongoing logging at the forest, which is near the city of Hajnowka, violates the bloc's wildlife protection laws.

Straddling the border between Poland and Belarus, Bialowieza is one of Europe's oldest and last remaining ancient forests.

Covering around 350,606 acres, it is made up of mixed forest, wetlands and river valleys.

The forest is home to Europe's largest herd of bison, and more than 250 bird species - some incredibly rare.

Environmental campaigners have held regular protests at the site as part of efforts to halt the logging, with UNESCO appealing to Poland to stop chopping down trees.

Despite the outrage, Poland's right-wing, eurosceptic government says the process is necessary to protect the forest from beetles, thus safeguarding local communities living in the area.

Warsaw officials have also increased the quota of wood that can be harvested there.

Environmental activist group ClientEarth welcomed the decision, saying continued logging would cause "serious and irreparable damage to this priceless natural environment".

Agata Szafraniuk, the group's lawyer said: "In the history of the EU, emergency measures like this ban have only been used three times in nature conservation issues.

"So far there is no case in which an interim measure of the court was not respected.

"If Polish authorities do not follow that decision, it will be a serious conflict with the EU law."

However, Poland's Environment Minister Jan Szyszko - himself a hunter who enjoys the backing of forester and hunting lobbies - claims that more than one million trees will be cut down in Bialowieza this year to curb a bark beetle invasion.

Should Poland lose the main case at the ECJ, it faces a fine in excess of 3.58 million (4 million), as well as the possibility of daily penalties of up to 268,500 (300,000) for each day Warsaw defies the court's decision.
NY Times asks Bangladesh govt to allow UN investigation

More than 320 people have been unlawfully detained or have disappeared in Bangladesh since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party took office eight years ago, according to Odhikar, a Dhaka-based human rights group. Plucked from their homes or off the streets by plainclothes members of Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion or the detective bureau of the Dhaka police, the victims increasingly include members of the political opposition, as well as suspected criminals and Islamist militants.



Among the 90 people who disappeared last year, according to Odhikar, of which 21 were killed and nine remain missing, was Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, a lawyer for the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami political party. The men who took Quasem from his home in August, as his wife, sister and two young daughters watched, refused to identify themselves. Quasem has not been seen since.



Alarmed by these practices, the United Nations called in February for "Bangladesh to act now to halt an increasing number of enforced disappearances in the country." But the pace of disappearances only appears to be quickening.



Hasina's government has responded by denouncing its accusers, making a mockery of international and Bangladeshi law when faith in democratic institutions is crucial for the nation's struggle to counter terrorism.



When Human Rights Watch published a meticulously documented report this month on the disappearances, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan responded with sneering contempt, "This organization had launched a smear campaign against us."



"Whom will you say disappeared?" Khan said. Insulting the anguished loved ones of victims, who can get no answers about their fates from Bangladeshi authorities or action from its courts, he continued: "Many businessmen went into hiding failing to repay their loans in this country. Some people went missing after developing extramarital relationship."



Khan further disparaged the report, and legitimate alarm about government thuggery, by falsely claiming the United Nations had expressed no similar concerns.



If Khan respects the United Nations, his government should invite the organization's human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, to conduct an investigation. Only then can the government face honestly its people, world opinion and the truth.




The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
A Eucharistic Conference at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Laurel, set for Aug. 6-11, will focus on Fatima, and on the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

It will also put the spotlight on a traditional type of Mass thats seeing a resurgence among Roman Catholics.

I strongly value the Traditional Latin Mass, said the Rev. Bart Stevens, parish priest at St. Anthony. And learning it and now being able to actually offer it myself, it has enriched the new Mass for me.

This is the third year the conference has been held at the Laurel parish. It contains several elements, including 40 hours of Eucharistic devotion, Eucharistic processions and a daily High Mass.

A Eucharistic conference is a time for Catholics to renew their faith and devotion to the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, Stevens said.

We believe that the Eucharist, the bread and wine consecrated at the Mass, are truly transubstantiated into the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, he explained. Which means that we can and do give worship to the Eucharist.

During the Eucharistic devotion, the Eucharist is placed in a vessel called a monstrance, which contains a window in the middle to display the host. People sign up to pray in the presence of the Eucharist for three days of the conference.

They also take part in two processions that bookend the devotion, during which the faithful join a priest who carries the monstrance either around the outside of the church, around the block or even around the town.

Its sort of like a holy parade, a way of giving even more public honor to Christ and the Eucharist, Stevens said.

Every night, a guest speaker will focus on an aspect of Fatima, whose 100th anniversary is being celebrated worldwide. In 1917, the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to three Portuguese shepherd children on six occasions between May 13 and Oct. 13.

The talks will focus on the story of Fatima, its message and the children, with one night focusing specifically on Jacinta Marto, the youngest of the three. Bishop Michael Warfel is scheduled to give one of the presentations.

Every night of the conference, at 7:15, a Solemn High Traditional Latin Mass will take place. That style of Mass harkens back to the time before Vatican II, Stevens said.

Its in Latin, with Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony the only kinds of music you hear, he said. There are three sacred ministers, all priests, and one acts as a celebrant, one as a deacon and one as a subdeacon, who assist the celebrant.

For people who are unfamiliar with the Mass, a booklet with translations and explanations will be provided.

Vatican II, which concluded in 1965, focused on the Catholic Church in relation to the modern world. It touched on many subjects, and one of those was how Mass was celebrated.

Revisions included switching the Mass from Latin to the language of the people of the countries where they lived. The priest faced the people, rather than facing east and the Crucifix.

There was more participation by lay people. And significant amounts of prayers were taken out, Stevens said.

At the time there was a backlash against the changes.

A lot of older people actually left the Catholic Church because the new Mass was unpalatable to them, he said.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI decreed that all priests of the Latin Rite were free to offer the Traditional Latin Mass. Since then, a growing number of Catholic churches have reintroduced the traditional Mass, according to the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei.

The number of churches have grown from 230 Sunday masses in 120 U.S. dioceses in September 2007 to more than 410 masses in 166 dioceses, the coalition said.

Stevens, who learned how to conduct the traditional Mass about three months ago, said it has broadened his understanding of the post-Vatican II Mass that he normally leads. He has always been drawn to that kind of formal Mass.

Stevens is in an unusual spot, having grown up an evangelical Protestant, becoming an Episcopal priest and then converting to Catholicism and being ordained a Catholic priest. While he was in seminary, he attended an Episcopal church and found himself drawn to a more liturgical form of worship.

The choir often sang in Latin, and there was chanting and times of silence. When he came to the Catholic faith, he saw similarities in the Traditional Latin Mass.

I like it because of its ancientness, Stevens said. This is the very same Mass said by so many saints.

The prayers recited in the traditional Mass have been echoed throughout the ages, he said.

Catholics have been praying this way for over 1,000 years, and theyve also believed the same way in that time.

Once Stevens became proficient in leading the traditional Mass, he began offering it as his daily 5:30 p.m. Mass on Tuesdays. He also has incorporated some of the elements of the traditional service into his weekend masses, including his facing east during the Mass and adding Gegorian chant.

Stevens also joins three other Montana priests who offer a bimonthly traditional Mass, rotating among the different parishes.

They include the Revs. Ryan Erlanbush, parish priest at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Great Falls; Samuel Spiering, priest at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Lewistown; and Garrett Nelson, vocations director for the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings.

All four belong to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Joseph, an organization they and others formed to lend each other support in ministry as well as to promote use of the Traditional Latin Mass. Many of the members, which number "between 20 and 30," Stevens said, will travel from around the country to Laurel for the conference.

At St. Anthony, Stevens has seen the Traditional Latin Mass draw people from as far away as Livingston and Bozeman. But not everyone embraces the Mass, which Stevens agreed is an acquired taste, and he has seen some people leave.

You really need to go to the Latin Mass at least three times before making a judgment, he said. Its so different and theres so much to become accustomed to. And I think some people who go once really dont like it and they never try it again, unfortunately.

Some older Catholics who left the church after Vatican II have returned for the traditional Mass. People who were young at the time of Vatican II seem to have a harder time going back to a traditional Latin Mass, Stevens said.

But the younger people seem to be more attracted to the quieter Mass and the element of mystery that the ancient rite has embedded into it, he said.
BISMARCK, N.D.  Stephanie Munro took a huge leap when she decided to leave the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana and enroll at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck.

She had many questions about how this could work for her, a 41-year-old mother returning to school. One of her biggest hang-ups was how she could live on campus and receive insulin medication for her diabetes and other counseling services she received back home at an Indian Health Service facility.

"I just thought, I'm in Browning (Montana), I have all the resources here," she told the Bismarck Tribune (http://bit.ly/2tKoFAl ). "Just one of my medications is $591, and that's a two-week supply. That's why (I wondered), could I even stay here? Could I even go to school?"

To ensure out-of-state students on Medicaid receive medical assistance, United Tribes recently became a certified third-party biller. So rather than having students go to the nearest IHS facility in Fort Yates for medical care, UTTC can provide it right there on campus and get reimbursed.

United Tribes offers basic care, addiction services, social work services, counseling and domestic violence advocates to students and their families. The problem was the tribal college couldn't get paid for these services they provide, as they weren't approved as a Medicaid facility, according to Stephanie Isaak, director of the college's Wellness Center.

So, Isaak hired Martina Dia, a third-party billing specialist who previously worked at the Blackfeet Community Hospital, an IHS facility, as a Medicaid enrollment provider. Dia understood the process about how to get the college enrolled as a third-party biller and immediately went to work getting all eight providers on staff certified.

Isaak said before third-party billing, funding for services provided on campus came out of the college's IHS contract for medical care, which is about $100,000 a year.

"We would have money to provide services, but once it's gone, it's gone," said Isaak, adding that reimbursement through third-party billing is key, so services can be provided to another student.

"We're very excited, as a department," Dia said. "We're more excited that we can provide that service to our students, that's our main goal."

The option to receive services on campus has put Tonia Rides Horse at ease, knowing she can easily get help for her and her kids on campus. Rides Horse, originally from Montana, relocated with her five kids to Bismarck in 2015. She's studying elementary education, and one of the things she liked about the college was the domestic violence services it offers.

"We can utilize the counseling for mental health, especially being domestic violence survivors, there's pretty much constant triggers wherever you turn," said Rides Horse, who visits a domestic violence advocate on campus. "With the facility here, we can walk three minutes, five minutes from our house because we live on campus."
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